Yugioh: Forsaken Legends [IC/PG-16/Not Accepting]

[~Faytl~]

"Right, your match is over. We should probably go watch the one on now, since that'll be your next opponent."

 

"One guess who that is, wimps."

 

If Furiko looked to see who had responded to her, she would see the leering face of Hibiki throught the door Yugo had left slightly ajar. He was wearing his Duel Disk now, and his eyes had a very off-putting excitement to them, different than what they had been all day. They were the eyes he had held during his duel with Furiko, where he constantly lashed out and dealt harsh damage to her. They were hunting eyes.

 

"Don't bother catching my match; It's wasted on punks like you." He pointed at Furiko directly, words harsh. "I even agreed to an Action Duel today... I'll take on the dueling method of your own city and show you how even your own turf can't stop me. Then I'll come for you." He then turned his attention to Yugo, pointing directly at his face. "Even if you've inherited the dueling prowess of Fudo Yusei, you're no match for me, so get used to losing now, Banana-head."

 

He set off down the hallway, his hands rubbing together excitedly. This was what he lived for; A chance to prove he was worthy of Kyouji's title, and everyone would be watching.

 

Soon Hibiki was entering the arena to the sound of his name being called out by the announcer. Amid the applause was a bunch of uneasy murmuring. Those would be Turbo CIty resisdents; People who had seen his qualifier. What he had done to Sei. 

 

You bastard, Kyouji... I'll rip through everyone here to reach you! he thought, greeting his opponent as she was introduced with the leering snake smile he knew so well.

 

 

- - - - - - -

 

At Izayoi's words, Kuriboh floated down to Tycho, trying to catch his attention. Tycho did not respond, he just kept staring with devastated eyes at the floor. 

 

"What makes you think that someone that rejected the Spirit World, a place filled with their peers, would be considered worthy by them?" asked Izayoi then. Kuriboh bumped softly against Tycho's head, and was met with a sudden and violent smack from the man, sending the Duel Monster spirit spiraling towards a dark corner, screaming out in dismay and pain.

 

"You don't understand me!" Tycho roared, voice torn by his sorrow. "The Spirit World... I have seen it, Izayoi! It's a tumultuous, war-torn place... It remnds me too much of my own home." He trailed off, sounding sad now. "They face a danger of a different sort, but it is much the same." He placed a hand over his chest, massaging it gently. "I have given... every drop of my life to Hearthome. To my city."

 

His voice cracked now, as he looked up at Izayoi with a tortured expression. "That realization, Izayoi... It brought me nothing but despair. I'm willing to sacrifice my... I HAVE sacrificed my life." His voice took a bitter growl into it now. "I've sacrificed my very life, and I've not made a blind bit of difference... And now I'm expected to save the world? And you expect me to believe that a few more who dedicate themselves can turn the tide? Can save Hearthome? The Spirit World? And the other cities all as one?" He scoffed, turning his head away. "Don't insult me, Izayoi... I've been alone all my life, and it will STAY that way."

 

Kuriboh watched these proceedings from the corner with watery eyes, finally turning and floating off melancholily into the darkness, out of sight of both duelists. Tycho didn't even seem to notice. 

 

"Tycho-" Izayoi started, but he was cut off by Tycho slamming a fist into the ground, body quivering in anger. 

 

"I'll die if I keep this up... But it's the only life I know, Izayoi. Heraldry Bloodline's effect activates!"

 

"What?!" Izayoi asked, taken aback, amazed that Tycho was continuing the duel as the man took on the red aura again, gritting his teeth against his Life Points dropping. 

 

Tycho: 4300 > 3500

 

"By paying 800 Life Points," Tycho growled, the red aura now taking hold over Gravity Warrior as well, "I turn Gravity Warrior into a Rank 6 Xyz Monster!"

 

"But why?" asked Izayoi. "Heraldic King lies in the graveyard... Does he have a means to-"

 

"Activate Trap! Xyz Reborn!" A violet portal opened in the ground, Heraldic King rising from it as Tycho's trap turned into a sphere of golden light, circling around his beast. "When this card is activated, I restore life to a fallen Xyz Monster in the graveyard, then attach Xyz Reborn to it as an Overlay Unit!"

 

"He's determined to keep reviving his Xyz Monsters..." Akaryuu observed, with a touch of sadness in his voice as Tycho activated Heraldic King's effect, the life energy sapping out of Gravity Warrior and into Tycho's own monster as it morphed into a near-perfect likeness.

 

Gravity Warrior: 3500 > 0

 

Heraldic King: 2400 > 3500

 

"I activate the absorbed effect of Gravity Warrior granted by Heraldry Bloodline! Take 1000 damage, Izayoi! And now, Heraldic King! Attack his Gravity Warrior!"

 

Izayoi raised his hand to his Duel Disk as Tycho's mirrored Warrior took ahold of the head of his own, beginning to crush it in its hands. "Activate Trap: Blade Wing increased the attack power of the equipped monster by 1000!" Even as its head imploded, two wings of metallic sheen erupted from Gravity Warrior's back, beating and knocking Tycho's own monster back to his side of the field, Tycho punching the ground again with a frustrated swear, voice choked and mangled beyond recognition.

 

Izayoi: 4000 > 3000 > 500

 

"You will not win this duel, Tycho!" Izayoi promised him, taking a step forward. "You can't surpass me, not as you are now! Not until you accept what you need to save your home! When you bring life to that blank card is when you will be able to win!"

 

"I don't need that damn card!" Tycho snarled, grabbing it off his Duel Disk and placing it in the slot for Spell and Trap cards. "Heraldic King has absorbed another effect thanks to my Trap card! Once each turn I attach a card in my hand to this card! I attach the useless blank!"

 

Izayoi shook his head sadly as a golden orb left Tycho's disk, circling around his King. "Next turn," Tycho swore, seething, still on his knees, but raising a hand to point at Izayoi, his arm shaking. "Next turn I'll use Heraldry Bloodline to grant your Seven Swords Warrior the effect to inflict 1000 damage by detaching an Overlay Unit. Then," he went on, as his Heraldic King began to morph back to its previous shape, attack points dropping back to 2400, "I'll send that blank card to the graveyard, and you will lose the rest of your Life Points, Izayoi Aki!" By the end of this speech he was shouting, his face filled with hatred and anger, a terrifying imitation of what it normally looked like.

[Tesability Black]

~Miero's POV~

 

"I-I'm sorry, Miero."

The librarian tilted his head slightly, allowing him to see Daichi and catch him rubbing the back of his head.

"To be perfectly honest, if I hadn't tried going after you, I probably would not have found that out as soon as I did. Fortunes tend to become favorable in unusual ways, after all." Finishing with eating what he could, he made mental note of at least three dishes from the buffet he wanted to ask about at a later time for his son's sake before hesitantly pulling out the occult-decorated deckbox. This whole time, he was quite pointedly ignoring Wade, refusing to listen to his stupidity any more than he had to.

Though the coloring was permenant by now, he could still see signs of his father's dried blood staining the leather box. With care did he open it, revealing the deck inside before pulling from the top six cards, all of them with names starting with 'Séance Beckoned', and laying them in a line across him.

Headless Horseman. Bloody Mary. Vântoase. The Wild Hunt. Moroi. The White Lady.

Each of these names belonged to a spectral legend of some sort in varying parts of the world, some linked with events in reality, others more mythological in nature, and at least one legend made up but held strong by the cognition and belief of humanity. He knew the legends behind most of them, though some were far more obscure than others. And Miero was as familiar with all of them as he could be.

Elbows on the table, he allowed the fingers on his hands to weave into each other before resting his chin on the back of his hands in thought.

"You purchased that, yet you have no intention to use it."

Miero flinched at the line that echoed in his head, one said to him earlier that day by one of these six souls as she scolded him for having a duel disk with no real intent to use it for its prescribed purpose. It still had him thinking about how things were going...and that he would probably have to pull back to the forefront something he thought he swore off after his old deck was taken and destroyed in front of him

"I...admittedly need help," Miero stated hesitantly before looking up towards Henry and Dread Knight, pointedly avoiding looking at Wade. "It's been a long time since I've last dueled, and these cards have been sealed away for almost the same amount of time. If I was to duel any of those Wicked Gods now, I probably wouldn't stand a chance. So..."

Sheepishly, Miero raised a hand to the back of his neck, rubbing it. "Would anyone mind helping me out?"

 

About the only one he would not accept a duel from is the madman the others referred to as Wade...

[Yui]

---

"This Akaryuu does seem dangerous... two psychic duelists... Well, as for you, Yugo, and Furiko being dangerous... it's possible they sensed your blank cards. Those cards would be dangerous to their plans of world domination. Crazy they're trying again over fifty years later...,"

 

"So, about Mokuba. He's creepy. That's all I was able to get before I was called up to duel. Sorry."

 

"Alright. I think we got some important info. For now, rest up in here. Or head out to the stands. Either one. I'll look around next. Perhaps have Hanae looking around as well. We'll see."

 

"Oh right. Before we came in here, Ao approached us and told us that Tycho was working with Wicked Gods. I'm not saying we should trust him. In fact, there was actually something about it that bothered me. But, I thought it was important that you knew."

 

It was then that Furiko inquired as to Yugo's grandparents. Aika hadn't really paid much attention the first time around, but thinking back to what he had said...that woman was his grandmother!? "Wait, what!?" she asked. "Yer tellin' me that major-league psychic's yer granny!? An' you ain't even a lil' bit psychic yerself? What?" City folk were bad for her health, Aika was beginning to conclude. She needed to sit down and hopefully watch some normal people duel. And looking at the tournament brackets, the next duel was...that psychic creep. Not Akaryuu, the one whose name she didn't even get. The rude one.

 

Aika wanted to hit that guy. Glancing at the rest of the brackets, her opponent didn't seem all that tough. It was Furiko Aika was more worried about dueling. Only one of them could win. And Aika wanted it to be herself.

---

"So how's about you? Got anything you do for fun?"

 

"Not lately, I'm afraid," Valeria answered. "I've been training for the Fortune Cup. I'm still getting used to this new deck, so I've been dueling nonstop ever since I got it to learn as much about it as I can."

[senorchavez]

As Eizar walked through the crowd, he noticed a familiar black and red fedora sitting atop a blonde head a ways ahead. He called out "Hanae," a few times only to have his voice drowned out by the crowd. put his hands together around his mouth to help better project his voice to the gumshoe girl and called out a final time at a hopefully high enough volume to be heard before trying to move towards her and waving. 'I have to tell her about the meeting and the mysterious man wandering around the stadium,' he said to himself. 'That and ask her if she's seen Tycho anywhere. He may not want to join the meeting but it's for everyone's sake.'

[King K. Azo]

"Oh right. Before we came in here, Ao approached us and told us that Tycho was working with Wicked Gods." Holding up her hand as if to try and dismiss any response she said, "I'm not saying we should trust him. In fact, there was actually something about it that bothered me. But, I thought it was important that you knew."
 
Blues folded his arms, thinking to himself. He had no idea of what to think of all of this. A strange man was trying to tell them that Tycho was a traitor? Why would he be so privy to such information? It made little sense to him. Furiko then spoke up, shaking him out of his thoughts. 
 
"Good luck," as she made her way out of the room. 
 
As they did, Furiko realized something. Turning over to Yugo she said, "Right, your match is over. We should probably go watch the one on now, since that'll be your next opponent."
 
"Oh yeah, that's probably a good idea," Yugo muttered as he stroked his chin.  
 
"Also wait. Just who are your grandparents?" Furiko added. Yugo sighed to himself before shaking his head.
 
"I don't really wanna talk---,"
 
"Wait, what!?" Aika suddenly asked. "Yer tellin' me that major-league psychic's yer granny!? An' you ain't even a lil' bit psychic yerself? What?" Yugo sighed and shook his head. He supposed that was his own fault, they heard that from his own mouth. Thankfully, that was a simple answer, one that in the end, wouldn't be so annoying. 

"Nope. I do have a bit of pain resistance, but other than that, I didn't inherit a lick of psychic powers from Grandma,"
 
"Don't bother catching my match; It's wasted on punks like you." Yugo looked up to see some weirdo pointing at Furiko. "I even agreed to an Action Duel today... I'll take on the dueling method of your own city and show you how even your own turf can't stop me. Then I'll come for you." He then turned his attention to Yugo, pointing directly at his face. "Even if you've inherited the dueling prowess of Fudo Yusei, you're no match for me, so get used to losing now, Banana-head."
 
Yugo rubbed the yellow parts of his hair before looking at Hibiki. "Alright, now that's what I like to hear!" He clenched his fist in excitement. "When we duel, I want you to come at me with everything you got! I won't settle for less!" As Hibiki left, Yugo turned to the two with him. "Imma go to Kyouji's special little perch and watch the duel. Maybe touch his stuff. Wanna come with?" Whatever the answer, he headed off down the hall, whistling to himself. 
 

---

 
"Next turn," Tycho swore, seething, still on his knees, but raising a hand to point at Izayoi, his arm shaking. "Next turn I'll use Heraldry Bloodline to grant your Seven Swords Warrior the effect to inflict 1000 damage by detaching an Overlay Unit. Then," he went on, as his Heraldic King began to morph back to its previous shape, attack points dropping back to 2400, "I'll send that blank card to the graveyard, and you will lose the rest of your Life Points, Izayoi Aki!" By the end of this speech he was shouting, his face filled with hatred and anger, a terrifying imitation of what it normally looked like.
 
Akaryuu sighed to himself as he drew his final card. "Then it seems I must beat you on this turn," He looked at his hand. "I activate the Spell Card, Pot of Greed!" He said as he held up the card. "It allows me to draw two cards from my deck!" He drew his card and looked down. "Heh... it seems you're going to see my Black Magician. This card will let me summon it," He said as he held it over his head. Something in his Extra Deck began to glow, shining brightly, like a beacon in the dark. To their surprise, the blank card underneath of Heraldric King began to glow in response, and voices began to fill the air. 
 
A similar phenomenon happened through the tournament, as everyone's blank cards began to glow, shining brightly, to the confusion of people around them. The holders could feel a sense of urgency, as if a danger was nearby, and it sounded like someone was trying to speak to them. It was almost as if they just tried to listen a little harder, they could hear, but no matter what they did, the voices were just unable to be heard.
 
All except one.
 
Tycho could hear clearly a voice speaking.
 
"HE IS COMING," Akaryuu obviously heard it too, as he turned to see if anyone was behind him. Sure enough, at the end of the hall stood Yugo with anyone that decided to follow him, staring at the slowly dying glow entrancing him. Akaryuu sighed as suddenly, the duel he and Tycho was having was forcibly ended, the word "DRAW" flashing on both Duel Disks. 

"We'll continue this later," Akaryuu stated before he ran off, rushing past Yugo and the others, headed to the crowd.

"Hey wait a---," Yugo sighed to himself. "Well, so much for that," He turned to Tycho, hands behind his head. "So how did it go with Mokuba?"
 

---

 
"Oh, here you are Hoshimi. I thought I would find you here." Kyouji turned his head to see Dr. Achi enter the room. "And in the presence of the Duel King himself, I see."
 
"No need for such titles. Right now, I'm just checking on the wounded," Kyouji stated.
 
"D-Dr. Aichi?" Jet spoke, before nodding and rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry to keep you waiting sir." Kyouji's eyes narrowed a bit. It seemed Jet was afraid of Aichi. Now, what could be causing him to be so afraid...?
 
"It's alright. I was engrossed in the quite beautiful Duel that had just ended." Dr. Aichi nodded, before turning towards Kyouji. "My apologies, Kyouji. But I need to speak with Jet here. We have much preparation to attend to in the realm of his next Duel."

"Ah, yes, he's going against a mystery opponent, Akaryuu, right?" Kyouji stated. That would be interesting to see... 

Suddenly, Jet's deck began to glow with a bright light, and a sharp pain shot through his arm. It was much more intense than any pain he had felt before, almost as if his blood was replaced by magma, and the pain was tearing him apart form the inside...
 

 

Clear Wing Dragon was glancing over at Dark Rebellion, a bit of jealousy welling up inside of him. Why did the edgelord get to interact with his human? That was just no fair! He laid on the ground, pouting to himself. No, he didn't care how he looked! He would pout and no on would stop him! Well, except for someone approaching him, he supposed. 
 
"Excuse me... Sorry if I'm bothering you... But I wanted to ask a favor... Your familiar with Psychics correct? Could you maybe help my duelist?" Shiren asked. Clear Wing blink and sat up, resting his head in one of his claws.

"I'm not really familiar with Psychics... my mom is though. If I can find her, I can ask her to help you out," he said.
 

---

 
"I'm sorry..." Helena told Silent Magician. "Whatever I said... While I was losing my head... I didn't mean it... I'm sorry if anything I said hurt your feelings..." Silent Magician smiled.

"It's okay. We don't hold anything against you. So please, don't lock yourself away from us," She said. As if to confirm what Silent Magician said, Buster Whelp sat up and licked Helena's face.
 

---

 
"I...admittedly need help," Miero stated hesitantly before looking up towards Henry and Dread Knight, pointedly avoiding looking at Wade. "It's been a long time since I've last dueled, and these cards have been sealed away for almost the same amount of time. If I was to duel any of those Wicked Gods now, I probably wouldn't stand a chance. So..." Sheepishly, Miero raised a hand to the back of his neck, rubbing it. "Would anyone mind helping me out?"

Henry stood up, putting on his helmet. "I will be more than willing to help you out," He said as he slipped on a duel disk. "Are you ready?"

 

---

 

Dread Knight walked over to Daichi, sitting down next to him. "How are you doing?" He asked. "You went though a lot, you know,"

[Wind Rider]

"I'm not really familiar with Psychics... my mom is though. If I can find her, I can ask her to help you out," Shiren nodded. "Thank you, that would be appreciated."

 

She looked back at Helena and smiled when she saw her actually talking with the others, the fact that she wasn't using an eyepatch was even better.

 

"It's okay. We don't hold anything against you. So please, don't lock yourself away from us," Almost as if to prove Silent Magician's point, Buster Whelp licked Helena's face. She couldn't help but smile as tears formed in her eyes. "Nobody but my brother has been this nice to me... Thank you..." she wiped her eyes with her arm to try and hide the tears.

[Super Chaos Sonic]

-The Moonlit Magician-

~Citadel of Endymion~

 

"How are you doing? You went though a lot, you know,"

 

Daichi looked up and saw Dread Knight approaching him and immediately sitting beside him. "Dread Knight." he said, before nodding, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah...I guess I have." He pulled out his deck and spread the cards out on the table and slowly picked out the Gagaga Girl card.

 

"Ya know...when coming here, I was so confident on showing up...dazzling the stage..." Daichi shrugged. "As Entertainment Duelists do, and beating Glaeris down and save the Duel Spirit I lost. But..." he sighed and lowered the card and his head. "It was like he was one step ahead of me...like through the entire Duel HE had control of the outcome. The moment we started, it was like I fell right into his trap and he played me like a violin...only to cut my strings afterwards."

 

The Duelist scooped his cards up and held them in his hand, before sighing. "I'm...Dread Knight to be honest...I'm wondering if I should've even come. Not only did I lose terribly to Glaeris and the Wicked Avatar...but I almost got Haruto taken from me too." Daichi said, shaking his head. "If the Gagaga clan didn't step in...I...I don't know if Haruto would've been by my side. For a moment, I feared he'd be like Rinko...and I guess...maybe that's why I couldn't Duel properly against him..."

 

 

-The Starry Exeperiment-

~Fortune Cup~

 

"Ah, yes, he's going against a mystery opponent, Akaryuu, right?"

 

"Indeedly so, Kyouji." Dr. Aichi simply adjusting his glasses, before he and Jet began to leave the room.

 

That's when it happened...

 

Jet stopped suddenly as his deck began to glow with a bright light. But the minute this occurred...there was a pain felt. It shot right into his arm and it wasn't any type of pain he'd ever felt previously. It was almost ten times...no...twenty times worse. Almost as if his blood was replaced with magma, it was like his arm was on fire and it wouldn't cease.

 

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" the Duelist yelled out in bloody murder, swiftly dropping to his knees holding his arm. He began to writhe on the ground, only seeing through tears how both Kyouji and even Dr. Aichi were scared about what just occurred.

 

"Medics!!" Dr. Aichi shouted, flagging down quite a few of his personal medical assistants to bring a stretcher for Jet. "Get him to my quarters immediately for diagnosis!"  he demanded, watching the pain filled young man just scream down the hall. Hmm...what on earth caused such a reaction to manifest? he thought, making a quick mental note of this instance as he made his way to his quarters.

 

Meanwhile, Jet kept holding his arm and screaming. What happened...? What was going on...? Truthfully, he didn't fully know or understand. However, the moment the pain shot through his arm...he could've swore he heard a dragon's roar emanating from his deck.

[Alaina]

 
Furiko looked a bit curious as Yugo seemed to avoid talking about his family, though it subsided a bit as he said he hadn't inherited any of the psychic powers his grandmother had. While Furiko was still interested, before pressing the matter any further, their conversation was interrupted when a familiar voice struck her ears. Furiko had both a mix of surprise and concern cross her face as she saw the familiar white haired man had popped his head into their room. She was starting to wonder if this man had a bit of a problem, as he seemed quite hung up on their duel, and was becoming more concerned for herself. Though, not out of fear of pain and more so out of having a potential stalker. As he finished and Yugo retorted,Furiko sighed as he left. "Maybe I should look into getting a restraining order for him."
 
Regardless, the group seemed ready to get their move on, when Yugo said that he was going to Kyouji's personal room. A bit hesitant about it, Furiko said, "uh, I don't think we shou-" but could only sigh as the boy started to walk off without them. Putting her hands in her pocket, Furiko said to Aika, "well, I guess we should make sure he doesn't get into any trouble." With that, the girl started to walk along with the blue-yellow haired boy. On their way there, though, Furiko suddenly started to feel uneasy. While there were any number of people in the tournament hall, the girl could start to make out a distinct voice. It wasn't as if it was a voice in the crowd, more so like it was a voice specifically directed at her. Looking around, the girl couldn't tell where it was coming from, but noticed that her deck box had started to glow. Before she could examine it, though, she saw that Yugo had continued to walk through the building. Thinking it'd be bad to lose track of each other, the girl continued to follow after him, only to eventually see what had caught his attention. 
 
There, standing secluded from others, was the familiar figures of Tycho and Akaryuu dueling each other. Furiko was a bit confused by the scene, but concern crossed her face as she saw the glow coming from both of the duelists' hands. It was at that point that it seemed the hooded man had taken notice of them, and the duel had ended suddenly. Before Furiko could ask what the elder man was doing, he simply rushed past them, with Furiko being a bit stunned to do anything. However, once she recollected herself, she walked over to Tycho alongside Yugo she followed up with, "yeah, he's a weird one so was everything alright?" After the questions were answered Furiko then delayed a bit before, with some concern present in her expression, asked, "also...Why were you dueling Akaryuu just now?"
 
 

 
As Hanae continued to walk through the crowds, making her way back to the others, she eventually heard her name in particular being called out. She wasn't sure how many "Hanae's" there were in the world, and so after some scouting around she had eventually found the source. The voice belonged to one of the people who were with the blank card holders, though, she couldn't exactly remember what his name was. Regardless, she walked towards him and said, "hey," to get his attention. Once she did, the boy had come over to her and told her about how the people were meeting up back at the main room, to which she said, "oh, I was just heading over there myself. Though," she glanced a bit upward as she somewhat dryly stated, "I uh, don't really have anything to report." She was a bit curious about Ao, but didn't really get much of a chance to ask as the boy asked her if she had seen Tycho. The girl looked at him with a completely straight face as she said, "I have no idea who that is." As she said this, she then started to think more on why the name sounded familiar. Soon enough, she remembered the tournament brackets, specifically the one next to Kagami as she said, "oh right, him!" She seemed to light up a bit before her expression went back to flat as she said, "yeah, I haven't seen him anywhere."
 
It was then that she noticed a strange glowing coming from where, presumably, the boy kept his deck. At this moment, Hanae suddenly felt a lot more guarded as her expression scowled and her gaze narrowed. She wasn't sure what it was, but she could feel something strange. Some sort of foreboding danger that was looming near her, and as the strange whispering entered her hearing. She started to glance around, seeing the faces of those around her look at her curiously only for them to avert their gaze as Hanae's met theirs. Trying to look for the source of the noise, the girl eventually noticed that her deck was glowing as well, as she opened the deck box and saw it coming from specifically the blank. While all she could see from it was a blinding light, the light eventually subsided as the voices started to fade as well. While all that remained in her hand was a blank card, Hanae looked at it as if she were inspecting it under a microscope. 'Just what the hell are these things?' the girl thought to herself. However, placing the card back in her deck, she looked at the boy and said, "well. That was weird. We should probably get to reporting this so get the lead out of your socks and let's get moving." With that, the girl started to move back to the meeting room. 
 

 
Zephine rose an eyebrow saying, "oh, oh. Sounds like a fun time." While her voice wasn't flat it wasn't as excited as when she were talking about herself. Yet, the white haired girl had still found the girl's passion to the card game admirable. Shifting gears slightly the girl then said, "so I guess you must really be passionate about this then, right? You join this tournament 'cause you were lookin' to make a livin' off this or something?"
 

---

 

"Heeeeelllllooooooo there everyone! It's your host, Ishihara-san bringing you your neeeeexxxttt match up!" The rather enthusiastic commentator announced. "Ms. Juri Lee had to step out for a bit and the booth was open so I just figured, 'hey why not.' Anyway, first up we've got the Little Witch Academic herself, Nakagawa Kaede! And her opponent, the White Haired Wizar-  er, Lizard, Hisakawa Hibiki!" As the two duelists stepped into the dueling arena, the announcer then spoke up, "And now! We've got an action duel on our hands here folks, so let's deploy the Action Field, Junglemire Trenches!" 

 

With that, the field around them shifted and changed, going from the usual plain arena-esque field to a much different scenario. Swamps covering the land with flooded trenches littering the area. A canopy of trees sheltering the area, with vines either tied and strewn around the trunks or hanging from the branches above. As the field finished materializing, a large orb of flowing cards was shifting about. "Alright you rascally duelists you, get ready to kick your feet in the mud and begin! Ready and Action!" 

 

"Duel!" With that exclamation, Kaede drew her hand. Looking at the cards, the girl tried to take a deep breath calming herself. "Alright Kaede, it's ok, you can do this. No issue." As she seemed to be pumping herself up, she then looked at the field with a slight start and said, "r-right! I'll take the first go. Uh, my turn!" Picking the first card out of her hand she said, "alright, well, first I'll summon Hannibal Necromancer in attack mode!" As she played the card, a heterochromatic purple, ghoulish looking creature, with golden spikes shooting out of most of its body appeared. 

 

Hannibal Necromancer

Lv. 4 | DARK

ATK 1400 | DEF 1800

 

"Right, next, when Hannibal is summoned, it gains a Spell Counter onto itself." Letting out a bit a howl, the creature gained a bluish aura over it as its effect went off. "And now to finish it off, I activate the continuous spell, Arcane Barrier." As the card hit the field, a blue spell circle adorned with runes appeared above her. "And with that, I'll end my turn." 

[Tesability Black]

~Kuria's POV~

"Ah, yes, he's going against a mystery opponent, Akaryuu, right?"

Mystery opponent, Kuria questioned in his head, his face still covered by both of his hands.

When the scream became heard, however, Kuria was immediately on his feet, doing his damned best to ignore the sudden swoop of vertigo that threatened to make his face one with the floor from the rush. He saw the deck glowing and heard the continued scream, even as Dr. Aichi called for medics that got him out of there fast. Kuria followed them out of the room, but he lost sight of them as soon as they turned, unable to follow them without the risk of losing himself in this place.

There was something he had noticed in those few seconds before losing sight of Jet.

That mark on the youth's arm was glowing bright with light that normal sight wouldn't see. He didn't know if it was glowing in the regular sense as well, though. Turning back towards Kyouji, whom he figured followed him, Kuria asked him a pointed question.

"Was I the only one that saw his arm glow just now?"

~Miero's POV~

"I will be more than willing to help you out." A relieved look cross his face as Henry took up that offer, slipping back on his helmet that designated him as the Phantom Falcon before getting himself ready with duel disk on arm. "Are you ready?"

Steadying his breath, he soon stood up before picking up the cards in front of him and shuffling up his deck. It felt wierd handling a deck like this after so long, and he knew it. Sliding the deck into its slot on the duel disk, he found himself gulping before moving away from the table and laying his staff against the crook of the same arm that the duel disk was attached to after pulling it out of the ground. "As ready as I can be," he said with a faint tremor to his voice.

Once the duel was called and both drew their starting hands, Miero took a few moments to read over the cards he had drawn.

That's a girl's deck you're playing.

The man winced as a past voice whispered in his head, though nowhere near loud enough to keep him from hearing anything else...

[Yui]

---

"Maybe I should look into getting a restraining order for him."

 

"Ya should. Somethin' like, if another psychic can sense ya, yer too close to Furiko."

 

Yugo then went off to watch the duel from "Kyouji's little perch". And Furiko wanted to go make sure he didn't get himself into trouble. A sentiment Aika could relate to. She tagged along with Furiko, before being met with...quite the sensation. She could hear something. Some sort of voice. But she couldn't really make it out. Something felt wrong though, and as Furiko continued onward, so too did Aika. If there was something dangerous going on, splitting up was a bad plan. However, instead of any sort of danger, they found Tycho. And Akaryuu. Dueling. And then not doing so anymore once they'd arrived, before the robed man took off.

 

"Well, so much for that. So how did it go with Mokuba?"

 

"Also...Why were you dueling Akaryuu just now?"

 

The question Furiko had given Tycho after the first questions had been answered. It was a good question. "He carryin' one of them Wicked Gods?" Aika added to the line of questions.

---

"Oh, oh. Sounds like a fun time. So I guess you must really be passionate about this then, right? You join this tournament 'cause you were lookin' to make a livin' off this or something?"

 

"Something like that..." Valeria picked up the last of the small pile of fries she'd started with, and put it in her mouth. She swallowed, followed it up with a quick sip of her drink, then continued "I've got a sick relative, and we can't afford to get him treated right now. Then I got this offer from some rival printing company to KaibaCorp; join and win the Fortune Cup with one of their decks, and they'll give me a big paycheck on top of the prize money. We'd be able to get him treated, and still live comfortably for a while afterwards." Valeria followed her answer with another sip of her drink. The next duel was starting on the screen.

 

"Do you need a refill on your drink or anything?" Valeria asked.

---

[~Faytl~]

"The Black Magician?!" Tycho asked, suddenly tense as he prepared to face against the monster he had come here for. "He can summon it now, even in this situation?" A bead of sweat rolled down his face as he breathed hard, still shaking from his bout of anger. His head was still reeling, and the news that the Black Magician was coming just threw it completely askew, Tycho rapidly losing focus.

 

The voice did not help. Tycho's mind splintered as he tried to process what was going on around him. He cluthced his hands to his head, eyes wide. "What... IS this?!" he shouted, words echoing through the parking garage, his fear more than evident. 

 

He barely even processed the fact that the duel had come to a draw. He was breathing hard, hunched over, still on his knees when Yugo and Furiko approached him. He turned his gaze up to meet Yugo's, and with the sight of his face, one sentence dredged itself from his memory, piercing through the confusion and fear, and Tycho latched onto that one concrete thought:

 

"Also... I'd watch out for that Yugo boy. Whether you know it or not... he is in cahoots with Izayoi. If you want to save your town, you better make sure the ones that are attempting to help don't fall apart from a traitor."

 

"Fudo Yugo," he snarled, reaching up and grabbing Yugo by the collar, dragging himself up to tower over the boy, his face snarling. "You think you can fool me? Don't act like you're my friend, Fudo!" He shoved Yugo away, barging past Furiko, giving her a disdainful look. 

 

"I fought Izayoi for my own reasons," he growled. "And you, and Yugo, and that damn Kaiba can stay out of my way!" He stormed towards the exit to the parking garage, yelling out in rage: "Izayoi! IZAYOI!"

 

- - - - - - -

 

Hibiki rolled his eyes at the cutesy nickname the announcer had used for him. He was so over the cliches of pro dueling. When he defeated Kyouji, there would be none of that. Just Duel King would suffice.

 

"Hey girlie!" he yelled across the field, as Junglemire Trenches took shape around them. "Relax, will ya?" A leer broke across his face. "It's just a game, right?" he asked jeeringly, looking over the cards in his hand. "Or were you not aware of the stakes that a simple duel can have against someone like me?"

 

"Draw!" He yelled, drawing a card from his deck, placing a monster on the field. "Reptilliane Euryale, in attack mode!"

 

The green-skinned gorgon woman that had graced Hibiki's duel with Furiko as well appeared, slithering around the tres and hissing loudly at Kaede, demonic red eyes glowing bright.

 

Reptilliane Euryale

Level 4, DARK, 1000/1900

 

"I hope you're watching, Furiko," he sneered under his breath. "Remember this little number from our duel? I activate Reptilliane Curse!" he proclaimed, raising his voice again to a normal level as he activated his magic card. A circle of red light appeared on the ground at Kaede's feet, and she looked down at it nervously as the announcer started yelling nonsense.

 

"Ooooh! Hibiki has played a weaker monster than Kaede's Hannibal Necromancer! But can his Magic card turn things around-"

 

"Of course it does, you clod," Hibiki interrupted, pointing at the Necromancer. "Euryale attacks Hannibal Necromancer, and drains its attack power to 0 during this battle!"

 

Kaede's eyes widened as Euryale writhed around her monster, sinking fangs into its neck as it spasmed, attack power lowering. She bolted, about to run off.

 

"Where do you think YOU'RE going?" asked Hibiki tauntingly, as snakes of crimson light sprang from the ground, clamping onto Kaede's arms and legs, pulling her up short and tethering her to the ground as she yelled out in surprise and, more importantly, pain. "Reptilliane Curse inflicts 400 damage when your monster loses attack points. Euryale can't destroy the monsters it attacks, but you'll stay still and take 1000 points of battle damage!" He sneered. "The fact your Arcane Barrier doesn't gain a Spell Counter from your monster being destroyed is just a bonus."

 

Euryale loosened her grip on the limp Necromancer, then snapped her snake body out, throwing the monster into Kade just as the snakes released their hold, the pair of them tumbling to the ground.

 

Kaede: 8000 > 6600

 

"I hoped for more of you... But I expected this little," Hibiki drawled lazily, the crowd uncomfortably silent as he finished up. "I lay 2 cards face-down. Your move, if you have one worth making against a Psychic Duelist." He snickered as Kaede's monster struggled to its feet, attack points restoring to normal. "Of course, you don't... You're just something to pass the time until I get to Kyouji!"

[Alaina]

The girl stood up slowly, her body in a bit of pain having just been struck by the white haired man's attack. Her expression revealed surprise at first, having never faced off against a Psychic Duelist before. However, this soon turned from surprise to wonder as she said, "oh, wow, so that's what that feels like." Shaking herself off she then grimaced saying, "no, that was not quite as pleasant as I thought it'd be. And I didn't think it was going to be pleasant. But man, will the guys at the Occult Club not believe this!" It was then that she realized her opponent was taunting her to which she didn't have much of a rebuttal. She merely just shrunk back a bit before looking at him with a bit of spite saying, "w-well, your hair is stupid!" After that she then said, "uh, anyway, my turn!" 

 

Drawing her card, she looked and nodded muttering, "alright we can do this Kaede." Playing it down she announced, "first, I summon Spellbook Magician of Prophecy." With that, a boy in a blue rode with a glowing blue cap appeared, wielding a book radiating with magical energy and having a generally bored expression across his face.

 

Spellbook Magician of Prophecy

Lv. 2 | Water

ATK 500 | DEF 400

 

"Next, I activate his effect. When Spellbook Magician of Prophecy is summoned I can add one Spellbook Spell card from my deck to my hand. And with that I add, Spellbook Star Hall." As she proclaimed this, the book the boy was holding started to glow before he opened it. The energies started to arc of the pages and coalesce together, until finally they formed the shape of a card. With that, the card became solid as it was sent over to Kaede who snatched it. After doing that, there was a slight pause before Kaede said, "right, I then activate it! Spellbook Star Hall that is." Once the card was played, a grand hallway appeared, contrasting the swamp around them. "Next, from my hand I'll activate Spellbook of Secrets."

 

As she played the card, a similar magical book to the one that Prophecy Magician was using appeared. "It's effect lets me add one Spellbook Spell card from my deck to my hand. And I choose Spellbook of Power!" The book then erupted into a similar flow of energy as before, this time breaking down into raw magical power and turning into card form. As this happened, a blue light shimmered on the roof of the hall. "Next, I'll use Spellbook of Power. This increases one spellcaster monster I control's attack by 1000. And I choose Hannibal Necormancer."  As she said this, a book similar in design to Secrets, though with a harsh red and orange aura, about it appeared before the monster. As it did, the creature smashed both covers of the book, a fire like energy exploded out, covering the body of creature in a similarly fiery aura as its power increased. As this happened, another blue light appeared on the top of the hall, creating a thin line of energy between it and the first. "And that's not all, with every spell card played, Star Book Spell Hall, er- Spellbook Star Hall gains a spell counter. And for each counter it has, my monsters gain 100 attack points." 

 

Spellbook Magician of Prophecy: 500 ---> 700 ATK

Hannibal Necromancer: 1400 ----> 2600 ATK

 

"Now, Hannibal Necromancer attack his Reptile Eurayle." As she declared the attack, the creature roared as it started to gain magical energy around it. As it charged at the reptile, Hibiki decided to act fast and jump after an action card. While he had managed to grab one, it didn't seem to suit what he needed to do at this moment, and thus, the Necromancer managed to bite down on the reptile. As it did, the monster exploded and left behind some residual energy, that all flowed towards the spellcaster. 

 

Hibiki LP: 8000 ---> 6800

 

After the attack went through, the energy fiery energy started to arc off the creature and swirl into a more rectangular shape. "Next, I activate the other effect of Spellbook of Power. When the monster it was used on destroys another one, I can add one Spellbook Spell Card to my hand. And I choose Spellbook Tower." Once she finished explaining, the fiery energy solidified into a card which the girl then grasped. "Now, with your field wide open Spellbook Magician of Prophecy attacks you directly!"  With her attack declared, the magician then opened up his book, drawing energy from it. This time, it formed in the shape of water like orb before being fired towards the white haired man. 

 

Seeming prepared for this, the man then shouted, "I don't NEED an Action Card to screw you over! I activate Damage = Reptile! This lets me summon any Reptile lurking in my deck directly to the field, so long as I've not taken damage less than its own attack points. I summon the 0 ATK Reptilliane Naga, in defense mode!" When he did this, his grin went wild and he was sneering and some sheet. "My monster will protect me from your weak direct attacks." 

 

Somewhat flustered from this the girl stammered out, "w-well, I'll just attack it then! So there. Spellbook Magician of Propheceeow," she stopped as she bit her tongue on the name. "Uh, these are a mouthful. Uh, Prophecy Magician, attack his Naga!" With that, the spellcaster nodded, sending out the same orb from before towards the creature. 

 

The man, in turn, began to laugh at the girl's attempt. "You MORON! My Naga can't be destroyed by battle... but your magician will have its attack power reduced to 0 for even trying! Suffer Reptilaianne Curse's effect!"

 

Kaede LP: 6600---->6200

 

As the magician had been weakened, snake appeared from out of the bog and bit down on Kaede, which then prompted her to let out a small yelp of pain. "Owow." The girl shook herself off, before continuing her turn. "Well, uh, anyway. I'll just activate this card, Spellbook Tower!" As she played the card, a large silver spiraling tower erupted out from the bog below, dwarfing everything in its sight. "And because of that, Star Hall gets another spell counter added to it, and my monsters another 100 attack points!" As she said this, another faint blue light appeared, connecting itself to another one of them. After that was over, the girl then looked at her cards, looked at the field and then said, "well, uh. I guess I set one card face down and it's your turn now, so there." 

 

Spellbook Magician of Prophecy: 0 ATK ----> 100 ATK

Hannibal Necromancer: 2600 ATK ----> 1700 ATK

[senorchavez]

'So she doesn't know where Tycho is either, huh?' Eizar thought to himself. 'It seems like she doesn't even know him, which isn't surprising since she just joined us. Just where could he-.' His thoughts were interrupted as he felt something at the back of his mind. It felt like it was trying to establish a connection, or rather communicate with him, but all he ended up receiving was something akin to white noise which nonetheless gave him a feeling of dread. He checked his surroundings to make out any suspicious figures in the crowd, his stance uncharacteristically on edge. He looked back at Hanae to see that one of her cards, presumably the blank one, had a brilliant glow and checked his deck holster to see it exhibiting similar phenomena. He pulled the card out of the box, squinting his eyes to try to make something out of pure white light shining into his face, but to no avail. After a couple more seconds, the glowing stopped as did the noise. The boy blinked his eyes a couple o times to help them readjust to the stadium lighting.

 

 "Well. That was weird." Eizar turned his head towards Hanae as she began to speak. "We should probably get to reporting this so get the lead out of your socks and let's get moving." With that the tomboy went ahead of him, leaving him to think to himself for a bit. 'The card was trying to warn us of somebody. The question is: who? One way or the other we have to report this to Blues. I just hope Tycho will be alright.' With that he went off to catch up with Hanae and meet up with the others.

[King K. Azo]

"Fudo Yugo," he snarled, reaching up and grabbing Yugo by the collar, to which Yugo looked up to the man, blinking a bit. "You think you can fool me? Don't act like you're my friend, Fudo!" He shoved Yugo away, barging past Furiko, giving her a disdainful look. "I fought Izayoi for my own reasons," he growled. "And you, and Yugo, and that damn Kaiba can stay out of my way!" He stormed towards the exit to the parking garage, yelling out in rage: "Izayoi! IZAYOI!" Yugo watched him leave before holding out a hand weakly.

 

"Stop, don't, come back," Yugo stated with the passion of a dying man. He sighed and put his hands behind his head. "Man, I dunno what his deal is," With a shrug, he walked off. "I wonder if this is what it was like to deal with Jack Atlas," He commented as he stopped in front of an elevator, with a keypad on its side. Yugo cracked his knuckles and started to type away at it, a few seconds later cracking the code. The elevator door opened, and with a grin, he climbed in. "Ha, Kyouji really needs a new password,"

 

The ride up was quiet, with only the elevator music in the background. Soon, however, the doors opened up to a small hallway, and at the end was the special perch Kyouji sat in to watch the duels. It was, however, devoid of the dueling king at the moment. Yugo rubbed his hands together and with a grin, took a running start, leaping up and landing in the throne like chair that overlooked the entire stadium. "Man, this seat's so comfy," He said as he slumped into the seat lazily.

 

If Furiko and Aika looked around the room, they could see things like trophies and medals decorating the room, and pictures of Kyouji standing next to people. One that stood out the most though, was one with Kyouji standing next to Jack Atlas. The man was certainly older, as his blond hair had turned closer to white, but in his eyes held a passionate fire in them. There was also a picture of Kyouji, looking to be only a teenager, posing for a picture with what looked like a younger Maggie and Yugo, with two green haired kids on the champ's shoulders, and a girl they never saw with blond hair and a similar fire in her eyes to Jack. It was almost like they didn't step into a perch, but Kyouji's living room.

 

---

 

Kyouji could only have a look of concern and shock as Jet was wheeled away. What was going on? Something horrible had to be happening...

 

"Was I the only one that saw his arm glow just now?" Kuria asked. Kyouji shook his head.

 

"No, no you weren't," He said as he turned. "C'mon, we need to tell the others. It may have nothing to do with our current predicament, but it's going to be trouble in the future, I know it," he said as he walked off.

 

---

 

As Tycho ran after Izayoi, he suddenly felt someone grabbing his shoulder. He whipped around, ready to yell at Yugo, but instead, he found himself face to mask with Dread Knight.

 

"Dread Knight? What are you doing here? I thought you were in the Spirit World," He asked, confusion etched on his face. Dread Knight shook his head.

 

"No, the morning we were supposed to go, I was jumped, probably by those Wicked Gods users, and was not able to go," He answered. Tycho felt relief, genuine relief at this statement.

 

"Listen, Izayoi has all the answers to our problems. Please, you must help me find him," He clenched his fist. "I've also learned that Yugo is a traitor. So we should avoid the two for now," Dread Knight stroked his chin in confusion.

 

"You don't want to tell Blues...? Well... alright... we'll look for Izayoi. I actually saw him go down this way," With that, Dread Knight rushed down a hallway, one that led away from the general stadium. Tycho followed with homicidal determination.

 

"I'm glad we're working side by side... friend," Tycho said as they ran.

 

---

 

Blues spotted Eizar and Hanae, seeing their cards glowing. He ran over to them, hope leaping in his heart for what felt like for the first time in months. He stopped as soon as he got to them. "That glow... was it...?" He looked at their confusion and realized quickly that it couldn't have been. They would have told him just with their expressions if the blank cards had filled. With a sigh, he stood up and adjusted his glasses. "Nevermind. It seemed I was mistaken. Anyways, how goes the...," For the second time though, he didn't finish his sentience as he say Tycho running away... with... Dread Knight? Something was wrong. Very wrong. "Hold that thought and follow me," He said. "And be prepared. I think I just spotted the enemy," With that, he ran off.

 

If they actually followed, they would find themselves running down a hallway, taking many twists and turns until they came to what looked like a basement of some sort. Blues finally decided to let their present be known. "Stop right there!" He called out, whipping out his duel disk. "You aren't going anywhere...," Dread Knight turned around, looking at Tycho before back at Blues.

 

"I guess you were right, Tycho," He commented.

 

"I don't know who you are," Blues stated, pointing at Dread Knight. "But some cheap impostor like you isn't fooling me, You aren't Dread Knight! Who the hell are you?"

 

"What the hell are you talking about?" Dread Knight said. "Are you turning against us...? Trying to stop us from saving Hearthome?" As the bickering was going on, the ones that followed Blues would be able to see Izayoi walking towards Dread Knight and Tycho, a knife in hand.

 

 

"Ya know...when coming here, I was so confident on showing up...dazzling the stage..." Daichi shrugged. "As Entertainment Duelists do, and beating Glaeris down and save the Duel Spirit I lost. But..." he sighed and lowered the card and his head. "It was like he was one step ahead of me...like through the entire Duel HE had control of the outcome. The moment we started, it was like I fell right into his trap and he played me like a violin...only to cut my strings afterwards." The Duelist scooped his cards up and held them in his hand, before sighing. "I'm...Dread Knight to be honest...I'm wondering if I should've even come. Not only did I lose terribly to Glaeris and the Wicked Avatar...but I almost got Haruto taken from me too." Daichi said, shaking his head. "If the Gagaga clan didn't step in...I...I don't know if Haruto would've been by my side. For a moment, I feared he'd be like Rinko...and I guess...maybe that's why I couldn't Duel properly against him..."

 

Dread Knight stroked his chin before flicking Daichi's forehead. "An Entertainment Duelist, you say?" He asked. "You know, my sister had dreams of becoming one. She would watch countless duels, trying to find her own style, her own way to bring people happiness," He sighed. "It was one of the few happy times in our lives," He added. "Now, an Entertainment Duelist wishes to bring joy to people's lives, right? Was that what you were trying to do when you dueled Glaeris, or were you too focused on revenge?" He folded his arms. "I know Glaeris has wronged you in a horrible way... but you need to keep it in perspective. Glaeris himself is mostly likely a victim," He held up a finger. "The thing they did to Rinka was probably done to him to,"

 

He looked over to see Helena, who had tears in her eyes, and yet was smiling, Buster Whelp trying to lick away the tears. "You've had a troubled teammate all this time. You should do your best to help her. And it doesn't have to be through words. Sometimes, just being there with a smile is more help than anything you ever say," He looked back to Daichi. "This won't be an easy time. But it's when the worst of times are when Entertainers have to force their biggest smiles."

 

---

 

"Alright, Miero. Here I come," Henry said as he started his turn. "I summon Field-Commander Rahz to the field!" A knight in cracked armor wielding a cracked golden sword and wearing a red handband appeared on the field.

 

Field-Commander Rahz

Level 4 Earth Warrior

1600/1200

 

"When he's summoned, I can take a level 4 or lower Warrior in my deck and place it on the top of my deck. I'll place Rose, the Warrior of Revenge on the top of my deck!" He looked at his hand, smiling. "And with that, I end my turn,"

[Super Chaos Sonic]

-The Moonlit Magician-

~Citadel of Endymion~

 

-BGM-

 

"An Entertainment Duelist, you say?. You know, my sister had dreams of becoming one. She would watch countless duels, trying to find her own style, her own way to bring people happiness. It was one of the few happy times in our lives. Now, an Entertainment Duelist wishes to bring joy to people's lives, right?"

 

Dread Knight had a sister? And she was an Entertainment Duelist? Daichi made a mental note that he probably should ask who it is, probably to meet her in person. However, when he asked the last question, the Duelist only nodded slightly.

 

"Was that what you were trying to do when you dueled Glaeris, or were you too focused on revenge?"

 

Daichi remained silent. He knew the answer to this. "...there wasn't any joy in the Duel whatsoever..." He only continued to listen to Dread Knight speak.

 

"I know Glaeris has wronged you in a horrible way... but you need to keep it in perspective. Glaeris himself is mostly likely a victim.The thing they did to Rinko was probably done to him to."

 

Glaeris...a victim? he thought, sitting back as he pondered on his thought. It could be that this was the case. After all, from what he's seen so far, no one is ever born evil. Even in stories and fairy-tales, more often than not, the villains were villains because of something that happened to them. It might've been a plausible explanation.

 

However, from his pondering, Daichi noticed Dread Knight glancing over at Helena before continuing.

 

"You've had a troubled teammate all this time. You should do your best to help her. And it doesn't have to be through words. Sometimes, just being there with a smile is more help than anything you ever say. This won't be an easy time. But it's when the worst of times are when Entertainers have to force their biggest smiles."

 

He was right. Helena through this whole ordeal was the one who seemed the most troubled, well aside from Miero who lost his son. And he could've done his best to put a smile on their faces...to help alleviate the pain. Daichi glanced over at Helena and then over at Miero, before his gaze returned to Dread Knight. A small smile began to manifest on his face, as he slowly nodded.

 

"Yeah...I think your right, Dread Knight." Daichi said, looking at his cards before putting them back in the deck box. "Thanks. I think...I think you really put things in a better perspective for me about being an Entertainer."

 

 

-The Starry Exeperiment-

~Fortune Cup~

 

-BGM-

 

"What is the current status on Jet and the readings of his mark?" Akihiro spoke, watching Jet who was currently passed out due to his horrible little episode.

 

"Right now, his readings have...stabilized. Whatever caused his readings to spike and grant him such pain seems to be over."

 

Akihiro frowned, staring at the young man as he glanced at the readings he was given. This was something that had never happened before. In all the time he worked and prepared in Project Crimson, such a phenomenon had never occurred. From the babbling he heard from Jet...

 

 

"Jet...Jet calm down!" Akihiro said, as they finally got him into his medical room, as the scientists and medics began to sedate the young Duelist.

 

"I-It burns!!" Jet shouted, still holding his arm with the mark on it. "I-I...funk! Take my arm off...take it off I can't handle the pain!!!" He yelled and shifted rapidly, making it harder for those trying to sedate him to get a hold of him. "T-That roar..."

 

"Roar?"

 

"I-I...I thought...nnnnggghhh...I thought I heard...a-a dragon's roar...t-the moment before my arm...g-gahhh...started burning!"

 

 

In all his research and tests done before...a strong burning sensation to the point where it feels like what Jet described when he was finally calmed down had never happened before. A shocking pain overcoming the Duelist and even sharp knife like pains in the arm, perhaps...but never a fiery magma burning sensation.

 

What caused this shift in his readings? And what of this dragon's roar he swore he heard? Akihiro thought, pulling his tablet up and preparing to send all the information on the situation and Jet's readings before and after and during this ordeal to his scientific team at the Turbo Branch. There had to be more to this...

[Tesability Black]

~Miero’s POV~
 
Unfortunately for him, the second card name his current opponent mention meant nothing to him, since he did not know the effect of such a card off the top of his head. Gritting his teeth, he glanced down at his hand while drawing another card off the top of his deck.
 
He couldn’t help but grit his teeth slightly.

“I place two cards facedown in the Spell and Trap zones and end my turn,” Miero stated, uncertainty in his voice as he looked back up towards Phantom Falcon.
 
He expected to be defeated, but that didn’t help the fact that his nerves suddenly decided to feel like he was on pins and needles…
 
Life Points: 8000
Cards in Hand: 4
Monsters: None
Spells/Traps: 2 facedown cards
Field Spell: None
Graveyard: None
Banished: None

 

 

~Kuria's POV~

 

"No, no you weren't." Kuria's eyes widen at this confirmation. "C'mon, we need to tell the others. It may have nothing to do with our current predicament, but it's going to be trouble in the future, I know it," he said as he walked off.

Kuria bolted after him to catch up before keeping at Kyouji's pace, subconsciously scratching at his arm once more. "Jet...under another's orders, he tried to take out Mr. Kaiba while we were at Academia. I got between them and dueled in his place while Blues and the others fled." He looked down towards his feet as he walked. "The most I was able to get out of him was that people in the Turbo Branch of Kaiba Corp were the ones whom sent him and I had to piece things together for that info."

 

"He's a kid that's been trapped in a horrible situation," he said in a low volume, though it was more to himself than anything else.

 

In the back of his mind, he barely heard a low melodic moan of sorrow...

[Alaina]

 

After Tycho had stormed off in a ballistic rage, he had said something to Yugo that made her pause a bit."Wait a second. Fu-"  but before she could, Yugo had tried to call back to the man with the most dispassionate of calls she had ever heard. After he shrugged it off, Furiko wasn't quite sure what was going on here, though his word choice made what she just heard make all the more sense. Nevertheless, before she could say anything else, Yugo was already off and walking towards Kyouji's suite. As the girl followed after him, she was stunned by the sight. While there stood a large collection of awards across the walls and stands, and a significant sense of affluence could be felt within the room, it had also had a much more warm and comfortable feeling to it. Pictures that one might describe as family photos, even if the people there weren't actually family. 

 

The more she looked around, the more it became apparent. Her eyes rested on the picture of the young Kyouji, Yugo, Maggie and other people she hadn't seen before. Her eyes locked, in particular, with the blonde girl who seemed to have a strange and almost charismatic fire to them, one that she was far too familiar with. Without taking her eyes off the pictures she said, "sorry, I think I'm a bit slow on the uptake here but...Fudo Yugo, you're a descendant to Fudo Yusei aren't you?" Her tone was flat and matter of fact. Not one of admiration nor condescension. It was spoken with a frankness that made it more rhetorical than anything else, yet still expecting an answer all the same. 

 

 

While Hanae and that other guy had been recovering from the strangeness  that just happened, they were soon approached by Blues. While the man had clearly seen what had just happened, he didn't feel like pressing it much further and instead asked for a status report. Before Hanae could give one though, which was pretty much just the other guy's report, Blues seemed to have his attention drawn to someone else. As he told them to hold off and follow him, the girl just shrugged and said, "oh, ok then." With that, she followed after the man before stopping to see that there was something odd going on here. One of the blank card holders she recognized with someone who she only remembered from their meeting at the Kaiba Corps building due to how bizarre he looked. 

 

It was clear that Blues was suspicious of this person, as was Hanae as she hadn't seen him at all since then, yet both side seemed to think the other was about to do something evil. It was at that point the girl's eyes noticed an incredibly suspicious man with a knife, that behind both the blank card holder and the caped crusader. While she could've drawn attention to him, the girl felt that this would be way more interesting to watch things play out and probably more informative. After all, everything about this was suspicious so what was one more suspicious danger to it. Though, if he actually stabbed and killed a person that would be bad, as such, she looked to Eizar with an expression that said 'get ready,' assuming that he had as good a handle on the situation as she did and walked up.

 

"Now now, let's all just stop this traitor talk." Hanae walked between Blues and Dread Knight. Looking at the masked man, her eyes lit up in realization as she said, "oooh, so that's what's going on. I see, I see." She nodded to herself, as if understanding the situation entirely. "Dread Knight, was it?" Her expression was serious, though, there was a slight pause. The girl's expression broke a bit, as she let out a small chuckle saying, "man, I can't believe you actually run around calling yourself that." Shaking her head, she let out a sigh before returning to a more serious look. "Now then, why don't you and I have a duel?"

 

The girl kept the same look on her face, only to have a slight smirk crawl across it. "Ridiculous, I know. But, they say you can learn a lot about a person through one of these things, and I think everyone in this room could stand to learn more about you. Unless you're that afraid of it?" She waved her hand dismissively at any counter argument saying, "besides, it's not like you're in any real rush. Tourney's not even half way over in its first round and I doubt someone would make themselves stand out this much to only take part in one round. So come on, let's go." 

[Yui]

---

Things happened. Tycho, Yugo, Akaryuu, they were involved. City life was complicated apparently. She had a lot to think about concerning the events that had just transpired, and wound up not paying much attention to her surroundings because of it. Perhaps that was why, by the time she'd pulled herself from her thoughts - without much to show for it - she found she'd followed Yugo and Furiko onto an elevator. It went up, bringing the three to Kyouji's room. It looked far cozier than Aika had expected something for this kind of occasion to look; more like he lived here as opposed to just watching tournaments from this special room.

 

Aika wasn't really sure where to take things from here. Furiko, on the other hand, had a question. "Sorry, I think I'm a bit slow on the uptake here but...Fudo Yugo, you're a descendant to Fudo Yusei aren't you?"

 

Is he now? Real hotshot kid we've got here. Aika almost wanted to duel the boy here and now if that was true, just to see if his dueling was any bit as special as his heritage. Doubt Kyouji would appreciate the mess if I did though.

---

[~Faytl~]

Tycho had been storimng through the stadium hallways, trying in vain to discover where the hell Izayoi had gone. While he ran, turbulent thoughts ran through his head. Why had Izayoi canceled the duel? His ally was there to help him, with Yugo he he had no reason to. Was he afraid of Aika and Furiko lending their own assistance?

 

"Izayoi," he growled under his breath, barging through a group of tourists, one man turning to yell at him, then thinking better at it when he saw just how large the man was. "You'll face me in battle like a duelist..."

 

The storm of his disquieted mind was suddenly quieted by Dread Knight's arrval. Tycho felt as if a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders when he turned to see his friend. Dread Knight was one of the few people in the city of Hearthome Tycho felt understood what he was going through, who dedicated himself like he did. 

 

"I'm glad you aren't in the damn Spirit World," he confided as the two rushed down the hallway. "I've experienced problems here from all sides. I don't trust the Kaiba kid, Izayoi is the only one with a card capable of beating the Wicked Gods, he's working with Yugo..." He bitterly shook his head. "All I want is to save Hearthome... And now I have you to help me."

 

"Stop right there!" Tycho wheeled around, eyes narrowing as he saw who was accosting them. "Speak of the devil," he muttered sarcastically. "What do you want, Kaiba? I have Wicked Gods to defeat, I don't have time to waste on you." His gaze narrowed further still when Blues started being accusatory. 

 

"Back off, Kaiba," he said threateningly, stepping forward and presenting his Duel Disk in kind. "You don't get to judge the people who are actually trying to save the city you think is already gone." He reached into his disk, pulling something out. "All you've done is chase fairy tales and expect us to use them as our weapons in this war!" he proclaimed, therowing a card to sail through the air, landing at Blues' feet. It was the blank card, which Tycho pointed at, eyes accusatory as they glared at the boy.

 

"I've given my life to the restoration of my city... All you've given me is a blank card. You have NOTHING, and you can judge my friend for nothing!" He gave Blues a dirty look, and flashed one to Hanae for good measure as well. "Crush her," he said shortly to the Knight, stepping aside and leering at the girl. "I have full confidence in you." He raised his Duel Disk, looking a little too excited at the idea that had just crossed his mind. "Care to try your luck with me, Kaiba? Or are you just all talk?"

 

- - - - - - -

 

Hibiki sighed, looking at the card he had grabbed from the tangle of the jungle with irritation. "These Action Cards really are nothing special, are they?" he asked, sounding exasperated he hadn't found one he could use. His gaze flicked to Kaede briefly as she stammered her way through the rest of her turn. "Looks like Cradle in general is a bit like that, huh?" he asked bluntly, not even trying to hide his rudeness. This drew several loud shouts of dissaproval, boos rising from Cradle citizens in the crowd. Hibiki smirked, drawing his card for the turn.

 

"Whatever," he drawled, placing a monster on his duel disk. "I GUESS I'll find a way to make it work... I summon Reptilianne Scylla, in attack mode!"

 

A giant, four legged beast surmounted by the dessicated-looking corpse that rose centaur-like above a great slathering maw appeared, blasting through the trees towards Kaede, claws scrabbling on the metal surface of her Field Spell as it drew closer, halting just in front of her monsters and growling hideously. Hibiki would have preffered for Kaede to be stuck in the thickness of the jungle, but beggers couldn't be choosers.

 

Reptilianne Scylla

Level 4, 1800/1200

 

He looked up towards the box he knew housed Kyouji, but was greeted instead by the distant heads of someone he was pretty sure was Furiko and the unmistakeable hairstyle of Yugo. Hibiki grinned, spreading his arms wide in a greeting gesture. 

 

"Ah! I see my opponent for the next round is here to catch a glimpse of what he's in for! Well then," he snickered, turning his attention back to Kaede, who had begun protesting at his presumption of victory. "I can hardly dissapoint him, can I? I switch Naga to attack mode!"

 

"What?" asked Kaede, surprised as the grinning Naga was changed into attack mode, of all things.

 

"Battle! Naga attacks Hannibal Necromancer!"

 

"Has Hibiki lost it? He's attacking with a monster that has zero attack points! But wait folks, I think I know what he's-"

 

"Naga can't be destroyed by battle!" Hibiki interrupted the announcer shortly, Necromancer swiping at Naga, but quickly getting wrapped in her coild as she sunk her fangs into its neck. "And a monster that battles with it loes all of its attack points! I don't think so!" he yelled, seeing Kaede turn to run towards her Tower. "Reptilliane Curse activates!"

 

Kaede was slammed to her knees as she was tethered once more in place, falling to the ground with a harsh thud as the snakes wound around hr yet again. Hibiki cackled even as his own Life Points dropped.

 

Hibiki: 6800 > 5400

Kaede: 6200 > 5800

 

"You think that's all?" asked Hibiki with a sneer as he saw Kaede gasping for breath. "Scylla can now consume your newly weakened Necromancer! Attack!"

 

Scylla bounded forward, the great maw on its body swallowing Kaede's monster in one go. The beast kept going, however, ramming into Kaede and sending her tumbling across the metal surrounding her Tower, bouncing once before landing prone on the ground. 

 

Kaede: 5800 > 4000

 

"Oh, Kaede, please, no," Hibiki catcalled, feigning distress. "Please stop, you're proving such a challenge to me." He smirked as he raised the Action Card to his eyeline. "Bit flowery of a card, but I GUESS I can use it here. Action Magic, go! Wonder Chance! This gives my Scylla a second attack! Destroy her Magician!" Scylla leaped forward, stomping down on Kaede's Magician and shattering it into a million shords of light before bashing her body to skid thirty feet away, dropping her Life Points again.

 

Kaede: 4000 > 2300

 

"Oh, I suppose I forgot to mention something," Hibiki went on, as Scylla returned to his side, panting heavily as it suddenly layed a sickening green egg on the jungle floor beside him, the egg cracking open to reveal a warped, dessicated version of-

 

Hannibal Necromancer

Level 4, 1300/1800

 

"Any monster destroyed by Scylla while it has 0 attack," Hibiki explained over the cried of revulsion from the audience, "Is summoned to my field in defense mode!" He shrugged theatrically. "Lucky you, you managed to increase your Magician's strength by 100. I appreciate the use of your Necromancer, though!" He laughed cruelly, his predatory gaze mocking Kaede as she struggled to her feet.

 

"My Arcane Barrier card-" she began. Hibiki cut he roff with a wave of his hand.

 

"Yeah, yeah, I destroyed two of your monsters, so you get 2 Spell Counters on it. Nobody cares, girlie, this duel is done with." He took a card from his hand, sliding it into his Duel Disk. "I'll play this card face-down. Now hurry it up already. Unlike you, I've got a tournament to win!"

[Alaina]

Kaede was wobbling on her legs as the man's turned had just passed. She wasn't strongest of girls out there, and the pain she felt from the psychic duelist was much greater than what she would've ever imagined. As such, the duel had taken a good toll on her, and it was more a matter of pride than anything else that kept her still in this duel. When the white haired man had taunted her further, the girl grit her teeth and got ready to keep going. Gritting her teeth, Kaede shouted, "my turn! Draw!" The girl didn't even look at her card before saying, "next, I activate the effect of my Spellbook Tower. During my Standby Phase I can target 1 Spellbook card in my graveyard, and place it at the bottom of my deck. Following that, I draw one card."

 

As she held her hand to the sky, the tower near her flared to life with energy. The blue arcane fire pulsing off of it traveled all the way up to the top, coalescing into one rectangular shape at the top. As the card finished materializing, it fired off from the top of the tower, into the girl's deck, sending one card from the top out of it. Looking around, the girl's eyes lit up as she started to climb her tower, and jump off to a nearby tree. Barely catching herself on a branch, the girl picked up the nearby action card saying, "and now-" she paused for a moment, taking a few deep breaths from the fatigue. Dropping down from the tree, she felt a small tinge of pain as she landed on her feet. "Ow. Um, I mean. Now! I activate the action card, Search. With that, it lets me draw another card." Taking the next card from her deck, the girl nodded saying, "alright, you can do this Kaede." 

 

Taking a deep breath, the haggard girl said, "first! I summon Breaker the Magical Warrior." Placing the card down, a sword and shield wielding knight clad in red armor. "Next, when he's summoned, he gains a Spell Counter on him. However, I also use that spell counter to destroy your Curse." With that, the warrior's sword started to charge with blue energy, only to be swung in an arc of energy at Hibiki's spell card, destroying it. "Now, Breaker, attack his Euryale!" While the sword was traveling towards the reptile, Hibiki had responded with activating his trap card, "Attack Guidance Armor," forcing Breaker's blade towards Naga instead. 

 

Hibiki: 5200 ---> 3300

 

While the state of the field wasn't any better for her, Kaede felt a bit pumped that her attack had gone through. "Alright, next on the list, I activate the effect of my Arcane Barrier. By tributing it and my Breaker, I can draw cards equal to the number of Spell Counters it has...Which is two for your information!" When she declared this, the spell circle collapsed on her warrior, and with it, they exploded into two balls of arcane energy. Drifting over to the girl the, they became cards to which she seemed quite happy to get. "Now, for the finale of this turn! I activate my trap, Tower of Babel!"

 

 As she declared this, a large brown tower of sandstone appeared opposite to the side of the Grand Spellbook Tower, but equal in size and scale. "Next, I set my two scales with the scale 3 Magical Abductor and the Scale 4 Pandora's Jewelry Box." As she did this, the Tower of Babel began to glow brighter, as an effeminate mage and a dragon inside of a treasure chest appeared on either side of Kaede, encased in a pillar of light. "And with the spell card Pendulum Shift, I turn my Pandora from a Scale 4 to a Scale 10. Now, let's Pendulum Summon High Priestess of Prophecy and Breaker the Dark Magical Warrior!" Out from a rift in the sky appeared a man similar to her previous Breaker and a woman in gray cloth. "When Breaker is summoned, he gains 3 Spell Counters, and with those, I destroy your two face down cards. Furthermore, with Priestess, I banish Spellbook of Secrets from graveyard to destroy your Naga!" 

 

With both the warrior and the priestess channeling energy, a barrage of magical energy was let loose, bombarding Hibiki's field and destroying three of his cards. Looking around, the girl then grabbed an action card lying around before finally saying, "I end my turn." While the girl was bolstered with confidence from her turn, it was clear that she was barely standing, panting a bit in exhaustion and still wobbling on her legs. 

[senorchavez]

As they made their way to the meeting room, Eizar and Hanae ran into Blues, who seemed elated at first. The Kaiba boy began to ask a question about the glow but stopped himself, quickly reverting into the cool and collected self he usually was. Eizar noticed that Blues was looking in a certain direction and followed his gaze to see Tycho running off with Dread--no, that isn't right. Dread Knight was supposed​ to be in the Spirit World with Daichi and Helena. Blues quickly took chase, with the other two not far behind. The hallway seemed to go every which way, twisting and turning so much it made Eizar wonder who the architect of this building was.

 

After an extended period of running, the three ended up in what appears to be a basement of sorts. Blues ordered the two adult men to stop, prompting them to turn around, “Dread Knight” saying something to Tycho before Blues stated what was in Eizar's mind.

 

"I don't know who you are, but some cheap impostor like you isn't fooling me, You aren't Dread Knight! Who the hell are you?"

 

"What the hell are you talking about? Are you turning against us...? Trying to stop us from saving Hearthome?"

 

‘This faker is trying to appeal to Mr. Bosko emotions, make his thinking less rational.’ Eizar surmised. ‘C'mon Tycho, can't you see that this is a trap?’ He caught some movement behind the two men, accompanied by what appeared to be a metal glint. Eizar's eyes widened but the boy quickly composed himself. ‘That just about confirms it, the Dread Knight is just distracting Tycho to get him killed!’ Hanae glanced at Eizar sternly, as if to tell him to prepare for something. Prepare for what? Hanae then took​ an attempt to goad the Fake Knight into a Duel, whereas Tycho attempted the same too Blues. Eizar just looked at the girl incredulously. ‘Seriously? Tycho’s probably about to literally get stabbed in the back and their first instinct is to Duel?’ Eizar thought, before looking back from Hanae to Dread Knight. ‘Unless Hanae's plan was to create an opening via distraction! What am I supposed to do though?’ Eizar's brow furrowed as he started glancing around the room. ‘They already saw us so I wouldn't be able to sneak around them.’ He then looked back at Tyco and Dread Knight. ‘And judging by Tycho's behaviour he isn't going to listen to us. Which means the only option available to us is...’ Eizar bent his knees, ‘To charge!’ and broke off into a sprint towards the trio reaching out to grab Tycho by his right arm and pull the man forward in hopes of giving himself enough room reach the hooded man.

[King K. Azo]

"Jet...under another's orders, he tried to take out Mr. Kaiba while we were at Academia. I got between them and dueled in his place while Blues and the others fled." Kuria looked down towards his feet as he walked. "The most I was able to get out of him was that people in the Turbo Branch of Kaiba Corp were the ones whom sent him and I had to piece things together for that info. He's a kid that's been trapped in a horrible situation,"
 
Kyouji sighed to himself, walking down the hallway. "So something horrible is happening to people in my home turf... I don't like it...," He then froze, looking upwards as he did. "I... sense a disturbance...," He muttered before grabbing Kuria's left arm, pulling him close... and then tucking him under his arm, carrying the man as he broke off into a giant sprint. "Hold on tight!"
 

---

 
"Sorry, I think I'm a bit slow on the uptake here but...Fudo Yugo, you're a descendant to Fudo Yusei aren't you?" Furiko asked, which caused Yugo to sigh and lean back.

"Yeah, he's my granddad," Yugo muttered, scratching his cheek. "Man, I was hoping you didn't piece it together," Before he could say more, the elevator was heard opening, followed by the loud roar of Kyouji.
 
"YUUUUUUUUUUGOOOOOOO!!"  Yugo looked over the back of the seat in time to see Kyouji's soles connecting to his face, the vicious dropkick sending the banana haired boy crashing into the glass, which by some miracle didn't crack. After plopping Kuria down on the chair, Kyouji ran over, peeling Yugo off the wall and placing him into a headlock. "I told you to stop coming in here and sitting on my chair!"
 
"It's not my fault you haven't changed your password in ten years!" Yugo snapped, suddenly yelling as Kyouji suplexed him. 
 
"I was going to let you and Maggie come up here after you had finished your assignment," Kyouji stated, flipping to his feet and dusting himself off. "But I guess only Maggie's going to be able to enjoy the view,"

"What?! Man, you are so lame!!" Yugo yelled, getting up and trying to punch Kyouji, who simply held Yugo back with his superior reach. It was almost like watching a younger brother futilely trying to attack the older one.
 
"I don't want to hear no crying! You were raised by Yusho to be a man, not a cry baby!" Kyouji stated before grabbing Yugo into a headlock. However... it was at that second that he noticed Furiko and Aika, dropping Yugo and clearing his throat. "So, I've been a bit out of the loop because I was busy doing...champion things," He stated. "I did learn that whatever Jet's from... it's not related to the current crisis, but may become important later...," He looked at them. "What did you two learn?" He sounded like he was hoping they'd just forget the display that happened in front of them.
 

---

 

"Now now, let's all just stop this traitor talk." Hanae walked between Blues and Dread Knight. Looking at the masked man, her eyes lit up in realization as she said, "oooh, so that's what's going on. I see, I see." She nodded to herself, as if understanding the situation entirely. "Dread Knight, was it?" Her expression was serious, though, there was a slight pause. The girl's expression broke a bit, as she let out a small chuckle saying, "man, I can't believe you actually run around calling yourself that." Shaking her head, she let out a sigh before returning to a more serious look. "Now then, why don't you and I have a duel?" The girl kept the same look on her face, only to have a slight smirk crawl across it. "Ridiculous, I know. But, they say you can learn a lot about a person through one of these things, and I think everyone in this room could stand to learn more about you. Unless you're that afraid of it?" She waved her hand dismissively at any counter argument saying, "besides, it's not like you're in any real rush. Tourney's not even half way over in its first round and I doubt someone would make themselves stand out this much to only take part in one round. So come on, let's go."

 

Dread Knight said nothing, only getting into a stance, but before anything else could be happen, Eizar charged forwards, managing to throw off Akaryuu enough that the knife missed the intended target of Tycho's back, and instead slashing his shoulder. Painful, but he would live. Dread Knight turned and got in a defensive stance. 

"He just tried to kill you Tycho!" Dread Knight stated. "They're all after us---,"

"That's enough out of you," Blues stated. "You want to know why I know you aren't Dread Knight? Because, Dread Knight told me something when we first started... all of this," Blues took a step forward. "He told me that he was going to find his way into the Spirit World, and save all the Hearthomians taken by the Wicked Gods. ... Which included his own sister. He also told me he trusted Tycho would take of things on this side of the dimensions, work together with us to save both Hearthome and the world," Blues took a step forwards. "You aren't Dread Knight, because you contradict everything that the Hearthomian hero has said up until this point! Now, I ask you again... who the hell are you?"

 

'Dread Knight' glared at Blues, before finally speaking up in a distinctly feminine voice. "You think you're so clever, don't you, Blues-Boy?" Dread Knight then began to turn completely black, morphing into an inky substance that finally took the shape of a short girl with white hair and in a black dress. Her mere presence would cause everyone to feel uneasy, and the voices to come back, although much more softly than last time. 

 

Blues clenched his fist, unsure what this feeling was, but he decided to keep pressing. "Perhaps I'm more clever than you imagine," He countered, before narrowing his eyes behind the sunglasses. 

"Nero, the plan to eliminate one of the blank card wielders has failed," The girl said, ignoring Blues. "Be a dear, and duel these people into submission,"

"Will I have the honor of the Wicked Avatar fighting by my side?" The man in the cloak asked, his voice most definetely being too deep and echoy to be Akaryuu. 

"No. Glareis is still recovering from our assault on the Citadel...," She opened a dark portal. "I must return to his side... make sure he will be fine," She then vanished into the portal, it closing as soon as she stepped through. 

"Whatever you say, goddess. For now, depend on me to defeat them!" He threw off his cloak, revealing a tall man with blond hair. It was easily recognized as Nero Dmitri, a formerly famous entertainment duelist. There was something off... like how the whites of his eyes were instead a pitch black...

 

And the fact that he was alive, considering he died about a month ago in a car accident. Blues clicked his tongue and turned to the others. "I need someone to take Tycho back to the surface and get him medical attention. Also... he's obviously not in the right state of mind to be dealing with... this," Blues said. "And I'll need someone to stay here and help me duel this man," 

"Ah, not coming at me all at once? That's too bad!" Nero stated with a laugh. "Don't worry though. I'll make short work of all of you, before I come after the two that flee! No issues there!" Blues shook his head, reaching into his pocket and throwing what looked like a card at Tycho.

 

"You stormed off before I could give this to you. It's a message from Dread Knight. The real one. Insert the card into your field spell slot when you out of here, and the message will play. For now, we need you to get out of here," With that, he activated his Duel Disk and stared down at Nero.

 

 

 
~Miero’s Turn~
 
For the moment, Miero’s body was not his own. Sure, he was aware of the duel happening in front of him, but he could not do anything on his own anymore. The moment he summoned the Ritual Monster in front of him, he felt chained down within himself, which caused him to panic at least internally. Did my father have this same problem during his duels?
 
I’m sad you see this as a problem, summoner.
 
Huh?
 
Considering how long it has been since you have partaken in this sort of event, be thankful that we can take over as needed. Now, watch, listen and learn.
 
The next card drawn, both the female spirit dressed in silk and the male duelist nodded in unison before placing onto the field a new monster. “I summon forth the Séance Seeker to the field.” From the card that appeared on the field in front of the duelist and to one side of Vantoase, a golden four-winged owl appeared with a radiant glow. “Upon its Normal Summon, I may search my deck for any ‘Séance’ card, but at the cost of 1000 points each.”
 
It did not take Miero long to select a card from his deck, though technically, it was the Ritual Spirit he summoned selecting for him. “Words of the Forbidden Séance is my choice for that 1000 Life Points,” he declared with the altered voice, showing the green card to verify the name before adding it to his hand and shuffling up the deck afterwards. 
 
Miero Tammabukku: 8000 ---> 7000
 
This was the moment that Miero became glad that Vântoase was in control at the moment, because he would have been on his knees and letting out a sudden cry of pain from the sensation of internal burning he was feeling, a feeling he wasn’t sure if he should be feeling normally during a duel. Even if he couldn’t scream on the physical sense, he still let out a sharp one in his head.
 
...before you think such a question, yes, your father did experience similar, but he soon pulled through it. In order to strike at the Wicked Ones, we needed a willing vessel to channel our power through…
 
So, you tricked him into your dirty work.
 
No, we did nothing to trick him. He knew that his death, if early, would cause our contract to pass on to you. He knew of what would happen to Hearthome and was rendered unable to stop it, even with our help.
 
“And now, it’s time for you to feel my gusts for yourself, hero.” The winds began to stir throughout the entire room, causing many smaller objects to fall over and for various papers and other objects light enough to fly to be captured by the gusts. Miero’s waist-long hair began to blow wildly around him as well in addition to his green cloth trenchcoat billowing out around him.
 
“Gales of Revelation!”
 
Both duelist and monster made a backhanded swing in unison with their right hands, though Miero made the same motion with the staff still in hand, to beckon the winds to fly hard and fast against Henry.
 
The winds were so strong in fact, Henry was thrown through the air, the winds threatening to smash him against the wall. However, Henry reoriented himself, holding out his hand and adjusting his footing to land against the wall without injury. 
 
“You activated the effect of the monster in my hand, Battlin’ Boxer Veil!”
 
“Hm?” Both duelist and monster tilted their heads slightly to this, though the monster had a curious smirk showing on her ethereal face.
 
“When I take damage, I can special summon this level four monster from my hand, and I regain all the lifepoints I lost from the attack!” He stated as a man in protective boxing gear appeared on the field, two shields in his hands that he slammed together in a defensive stance. (DEF:1800)
 
The feminine spirit looked towards the glowing bird next to her and gave it a sad smile. “Sorry, friend, it shall be another time for you.” A dejected chirp became heard at this before the duelist placed two cards facedown below both of the monsters. “I place one card face down and end the turn. On turn end, Séance Seeker will return to the hand due to being a Spirit Monster.”
 
~Miero Tammabukku~
LP: 7000
Number in Hand: 2
Field:
~Monsters: Séance Beckoned - Vântoase (ATK Position, 2700/1800)
~Spells/Traps: 1 facedown
~Field Spell: None
Graveyard:
~Unexpected Ritual, Chains of the Séance, Séance Beckoned - The White Lady, Séance Hound
Banished: None
 
~Henry’s Turn~
 
“Alright then, my turn!” Henry drew his card. “I activate the Spell Card, The Warrior Returning Alive! I can select a Warrior Type in my graveyard and add it to my hand. So I’m adding Rose back to my hand!” He pulled the card out his graveyard and added it to his hand, only to place it on the field. “Now I summon her, and use her to synch with Veil!” He raised his hand over his head and started a new chant. “Lord of the Dimensions, come to our plane and bend space to your will! Synchro Summon! Level 8, PSY-Frame Lord Omega!” The armor wearing psychic appeared on the field, hovering in the air and folding his arms. 
 
PSY-Frame Lord Omega
Level 8 Light Psychic
2800/2200
 
“And with that, I end my turn,” Henry stated, folding his arms in a similar fashion to his monster.

 

---

 

Dread smiled a bit before standing up and sitting down to Helena. "You feeling okay?" He asked her as he looked over to her. "Being in the Spirit World seems like a tough time...," 

[Super Chaos Sonic]

-The Moonlit Magician-

~Citadel of Endymion~

 

Daichi watched Dread Knight standing and heading over to Helena. With a small sigh, he put his deck box back on his belt before standing up and running his hands through his hair a bit. He kept pondering over what Dread Knight said to him all the while:

 

"You've had a troubled teammate all this time. You should do your best to help her. And it doesn't have to be through words. Sometimes, just being there with a smile is more help than anything you ever say. This won't be an easy time. But it's when the worst of times are when Entertainers have to force their biggest smiles."

 

He crossed his arms and closed his eyes a bit, nodding slightly. He was an Entertainer after all, so he had to live up to the expectations of those who saw him. When times are the worst, an Entertainer has to force their biggest smile. Daichi thought, before finally smiling and turning quickly turning on his heel. He began to walk towards Helena before stopping in front of her.

 

"Hey Helena." he said, quickly taking a sitting position. The Entertainment Duelist smiled at the young girl before chuckling. "I won't lie, that frown of yours just isn't suitable for a pretty girl as yourself." He only smiled and pointed at his own smile. "C'mon! Turn that frown upside down! You can do it!"

 

 

Meanwhile, Haruto was standing with the Gagaga Samurai a bit a ways from the festivities.

 

"The Head of the clan requested him?" Haruto asked in quite a surprised tone.

 

"Indeed." Gagaga Samurai nodded, crossing his arms as he leaned against the wall. "Gagaga Head-dono has requested your Duelist by name. He wants to speak with him as soon as possible."

 

Haruto only nodded. This was a first for the magician. The head of the clan, Gagaga Head, was never one to just outright request an individual by name like this. Whatever was needed...it was a big deal. "Understood. I'll bring Daichi as soon as possible." he said, watching the Gagaga Samurai depart.

 

 

-The Starry Exeperiment-

~Fortune Cup~

 

Currently Jet is still recovering from his little happening with his arm. At the moment, nothing else currently...

[Tesability Black]

~Kuria's POV~
 
Kuria...

...he was still trying to process what just happened.

At one moment, he was walking alongside and slightly behind the current Duel King.
At the next, said Duel King stops long enough to let Kuria catch up before grabbing his still-flesh arm and tucking him underneath the grabbing arm and sprinting like a madman towards a certain direction.

To Kuria's credit, the initial jolt from the pull wasn't enough to let out the yelp that tried to escape at that moment.

The last thing he could register was being literally ragdolled into a padded chair and seeing Kyouji headlocking someone, scolding them for sitting in his chair...the chair Kuria could have sworn that he saw Kyouji dropkick the kid out of...

Kuria was quick out of the chair he was in once his brain managed to catch up to the present, dusting himself off. "I wouldn't mind being caught up in all that was going down as well." At this point, he winced, closing his left eye and looking away with his right. "Me wiping out when I did definately wasn't part of any plan..."

He couldn't help but subconsciously roll his right shoulder, rubbing the area near his neck where metal met flesh with his left hand for a few seconds as he carefully pulled out of his deck a single card with his cybernetic arm and brought in into his view.

Ancient Pixie Dragon.

He had suspected that there was something wrong about it for the past few years, not bad-wrong, just wrong, but to finally have confirmation that it wasn't a real card after about half a decade? "What's your role in all this," he couldn't help but faintly mutter to himself.

A low, comforting moan became heard in the minds of all in the room, one Kuria had come to recognize as the Pixie Dragon's call. He would feel the need for caution from it, as it it knew something would soon happen...
 
...and in another room, Jet would hear the soothing song from the same creature in his own mind, in an attempt to ease the young man through the pain caused by her twisted counterpart.

 

 

~Miero’s Turn~

Hm, I had hoped for a different outcome.

You’re insane for actually hoping he would have struck a blow there.

No, tactical sacrifices are required in games like this one.

“I shall draw,” Miero stated with the unusual voice, a grin emerging on both monster and duelist at the card seen.

“And now, Omega’s effect will activate!” Henry stated. “You see, during your Standby Phase, I can take a banished card, and return it to their owner’s graveyard. So I’ll return Colossal Fighter to my graveyard,” He stated as Omega held out his hands, a small portal opening between them. Aiming it at the graveyard, Omega focused, until Colossal Fighter managed to get his body into the area. With that, Henry motioned for Miero to continue with his turn.

The monster only shrugged at this. “A waste, honestly,” she admitted, this time no action or movement from Miero. “Had you caused me to leave the field, your precious monster would have arrived directly back to the field in its former position.”

“Duly noted,” Henry stated. "But since it was such a waste, I suppose I’ll have to make the most of Omega now. His second effect activates during either of our Main Phases. I can banish it and one random card in your hand until the next Standby Phase. Take your shot, Omega. Dimensional Snatch!” Omega held out his hand like it was a gun, and fired a thin blue beam from it, hitting one of Miero’s cards. The two then promptly vanished, disappearing without a trace.

Miero rose his hand above his head, careful to not let the cards become seen by the opponent before the shot was made.

The card that wound up disappearing was one of the two Henry had seen earlier, the Séance Seeker. Henry clicked his tongue, and waited for Miero’s next move. A shrug left the female spirit as she turned around, motioning for the facedown card behind her to rise. “I activate the Trap Card, Possessive Seance. On its own, it does nothing, but you will see what its power is in time.”

Miero mechanically placed a card from his hand to the field, revealing the card drawn. “I also activate Preparation of Rites, allowing me to return a Ritual from my grave to my hand and allowing me to add one Level 7 or lower Ritual Monster from my deck to my hand.”

His hands were shaky after he pulled the deck out of its place, as if two were trying to control them at once. “I add Séance Beckoned - The White Lady to my hand from the deck as well as Unexpected Ritual from my graveyard to my hand.”

Vântoase turned back towards her current foe, a sigh leaving her mouth. “I was hoping to deal with you on my own, but I will not begrudge aid.” She looked over her shoulder, towards Miero, whom blankly nodded before sliding another green card onto the field as the staff began to glow once more. “I activate Words of the Forbidden Seance...time to add another voice to the building choir.”

Like before with Vântoase, Miero shifted all the cards in his hand to the one holding up the duel disk, lifting the golden staff into the air once more. Another voice, this one softer than her regal companion’s, added itself into the chant to come.
 

“O mournful voice of creation!

Send unto me a creature of the abyss,

my thrall to command,

that I may smite mine enemies!

Empowered by the Soul's mirror,

May fellow souls know of your safely!

Séance Beckoned - The White Lady!””

The woman that formed near Vântoase could only be described as a featureless ghost. Only the facts that the figure wore some form of dress and had long hair could be discerned from it.

Oddly enough, both of the Spirits flickered for a moment, causing them to turn towards their shared summoner as the newly summoned one of them began to glow brighter from the sacrifice made. Miero was slightly doubled over, the look of strain on his face. The female spirits looked towards each other and shook their heads. “This is not good, dear Lady.”

“No, this isn’t. His lack of dueling has made him barely able to handle us two, let alone all six of us.”

“No matter,” Vântoase declared before turning back to their opponent. “Unfortunately for you, while Words of the Forbidden Seance banishes monsters from the Graveyard for its method of Tribute, it has a unique effect if the monster Tributed in this way shares its name with the monster being summoned.”

“Namely, my overall strength becomes doubled while I stand,” the featureless spirit, the White Lady, stated simply as she turned to face Henry.

Séance Beckoned - The White Lady: 2200 ATK -> 4400 ATK
Séance Beckoned - The White Lady: 2100 DEF -> 4200 DEF

“Sister, would you be a dear?” Vântoase asked, waving a hand towards Henry.

The White Lady gave a curtsey to this. “My pleasure.”

Letting go of her dress, the White Lady spread out her arms to either side, the being of light beginning to glow bright...as Henry did the same unusually from the chest to create a steady building pressure within. “Allow thy Inner Light to release itself into the world!”

Kuria never really left himself open without something to do about it, what if he’s---

Severely doubt it,summoner.

And if he does, I should be more than able to handle such an obstruction.

“I activate my Trap, Call of the Haunted!” Henry called out. “I can Special Summon a monster in my graveyard into Attack Position! I summon my ace, Colossal Fighter! And since there are now three warriors in my Graveyard, his Attack is now 3100!” The white giant’s hand broke out of the grave, and pulled himself up into the field, ready to fight.

Henry stopped glowing, the White Lady’s hands pulling back for a second before a minute laugh emerges and instead attacks the Fighter in front of her, forcing it to glow. “I still can make my strike! Inner Light!”

Henry watched as Colossal Fighter began to glow like a light bulb, shining brighter and brighter until it exploded, Henry covering his face from the explosion. He watched as his life points dropped by 1100. “When Colossal Fighter is destroyed by battle, I can Special Summon any warrior in my Graveyard… including the one just send there! Fighting Spirit! Revive in ATK Position, Colossal Fighter!” The white giant rose once again, like a spirit that refused to leave.

“...well, I now know what needs to be done then,” Vântoase sighed before leaning forward with her arms crossed in front of herself, shifting into Defense. “I will become defensive for the time being, then. The turn is yours.”

~Miero Tammabukku~
Number in Hand: 1
Field:
~Monsters: Séance Beckoned - Vântoase (DEF Position, 2700/1800), Séance Beckoned - The White Lady (ATK Position, 4400/4200)
~Spells/Traps: Possessive Séance
~Field Spell: None
Graveyard:
~Chains of the Séance, Séance Beckoned - The White Lady, Séance Hound, Preparation of Rites, Words of the Forbidden Séance
Banished:
~Face-up: Séance Seeker (Temporary), Séance Beckoned - The White Lady
~Face-down: None

[Alaina]

 

As Yugo had confirmed her suspicions, Furiko simply said, "I see." Before she could say anything more on the matter, though, the group was interrupted by a sudden appearance of Kyouji. Flinching away, as if she could feel the pain coming from Kyouji's drop kick on the boy. She smiled a bit at the clear friendship these two shared as they had a small back and forth, though caught onto something else that Kyouji had said. Yusho. There was only one person who she had known by that name, and it was a man that anyone in Cradle would deeply respect. A man who, while he may not have created the Action Duel, was credited as if he had. A person who had shown the true way to go about doing them and continued to preform more and more amazing tricks within them. With Yugo being related to two giants of the dueling world such as them, it was starting to make sense why Mr. X had declared that he was the most dangerous of them all. 
 
Furiko also couldn't help but give a sympathetic look towards Kuria. While he was definitely out of place here, for more reasons than one, he had seemed like he was more or less dragged into this room by Kyouji than anything else. Soon enough, though, Kyouji had taken note of the girls who were in the room and requested to figure out what they had found out. "Well, it's a bit of a long story," she started. After the duo recounted what had happened between their experience with Akaryuu, Ao, Mr. X and Tycho, Furiko had turned towards Yugo. 

 

"Yugo, about your lineage." She started, her voice even in tone. "Ever since I could remember, there was one man who inspired me to duel, inspired me how to duel above all others. One that I thought was the best. But even then, there was person he could never beat. One person who always managed to outpace him." Who she was referring to was more than likely clear to Yugo."Even beyond that, Yusho was one of my greatest inspirations to learning how to Action Duel. He had a style about him that others didn't carry, and made the Action Cards truly feel like part of his performance rather than a crutch. And even still, that monster that you had summoned and that duel you had against Maggie was something I had never seen before. Something that left me in awe. So what I'm saying is," a fiery look of determination appeared in her eyes as she looked towards Yugo. "To settle an age old rivalry, to prove who learned best from Yusho, and most importantly, just because I want to beat you, make it to the finals. and I'll be sure to meet you there."

 

 
Hanae raised an eyebrow at the ferocity that Tycho had displayed in trying to stop them. She was mostly doing it just to stall for time and see how things played out but he was more like a wild beast than anything else. Though, the hatred he had in his eyes towards Blues was one that she felt like she could relate to, though she dwelled on it for very little time as it seemed they were primed to get ready to start this thing. However, as the hooded man lunged for Tycho, Eizar had ran at him, shoving him away and keeping him from getting stabbed anywhere important. It was at this moment that things got a bit weird, as the masked man before them morphed into a...white haired girl. Hanae looked baffled as she said, "alright, what excuse me. Did that just happen?" Blues seemed pretty unsurprised by this, so Hanae could only let her shoulders drop, sigh and say, "alright, whatever." 
 
As the girl started to talk more, Hanae couldn't help but feel irritated by the tone these two gave off. They seemed pretty up themselves, and didn't really take much note of the four of them. However, as the girl then opened up a dark portal, Hanae looked baffled again saying, "wait they can do that?" Before she could get an answer, the girl left and up to bat stood the hooded man. His black sclera didn't really put the girl off at all, being far from the weirdest thing she had seen in the past 30 seconds, but the way he spoke only further caused the girl to grow increasingly impatient. "You know what, fine. funk it," she flatly said. "I would love to put you down myself, but I got a match soon, he's got a match soon," she pointed to Blues, "and there's a match I'm interested in coming up even sooner. So let's just get this over with as quickly as possible freak-show." With that, the girl seemed ready to duel.