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

[Alaina]

 

Furiko stood back while Aika had decided to showcase the power of a psychic duelist. As the girl began to play her cards, Furiko was a bit curious as to what the girl was going to do, only for the wind to start to pick up in the room. What started as a strange gust of wind, considering they were inside, then started to pick up into a full on howling gale. The roof the building soon was torn away as what appeared to be a very angry looking storm cloud. Furiko felt like she should back away from the creature, though the way back was towards the first monster that barged into the room. As such, she decided to more trust the one that Aika had summon, and started to move away from the Thousand-Eyes Restrict as a bolt of lightning was fired from the cloud, exploding on impact against the creature and charring the area around it. While the girl couldn't see what had happened to the monster, her attention was immediately taken by the sudden sound of a D-wheel revving up, before it crashed through the room. 

 

Furiko didn't have much time to process what was happening, before she was quite literally swept off her feet. Kyouji, driving inside his own room, picked up everyone in it before driving through the window. Letting out of a surprised yelp as they drove out of the room, Furiko's eyes widened as her hat began to fly off her head. Reaching out, she managed to grab it before it floated too far away, though continued to yell as the D-Wheel skidded across the ground, before stopping from a large impact with the wall. Lurching away from the wall, the girl took a few deep breaths, trying to return her breathing's pace to normal, before fixing her hat back onto her head saying, "w-well, we could be dead so," she chuckled a bit at this. Letting out one last deep breath, she said, "what, what was that thing? Or, rather, why was that there?" 

 

Kagami, meanwhile, looked in surprise as a D-Wheel suddenly fell from the sky and landed on the track. Her face turning into a smile, she gave a round of applause saying, "my, what a splendid way to make a entrance." Turning back to her opponent she said, "apologies, I did not mean to ignore you. But once again, it is your turn." 

 

 

Hanae's face became visibly more angered as the man vanished, after telling them what they had asked. Kicking the ground she yelled, "funk!" There was nothing fulfilling about the situation they were in. The Wicked Gods had managed to turn a former pro into their puppet, more like a foot-soldier than anything else. And even if they beat him, he wasn't even evil to begin with. To make matters even worse, not only did they have more opponents to worry about, but they also had no idea who they were. Shouting, "funk!" once again, the girl started to take deep breath's to calm herself down. "Alright, whatever, we got what we came for, I guess." Turning towards the others she said, "well, anyway, let's get out of here, we both have matches soon Blues. And Iwaki-senpai," her eyes narrowed at the girl. "I'll see you later." With that, the girl merely began to walk out of the room after that.  

[~Faytl~]

Tycho threw up an arm, shielding his face from the billowing gusts taking place all around them, his black coat snapping and flapping around him. He looked up at the ever-darkening sky. Unlike Kagami, he wasn't amused at all. His face was grimmer than ever.

 

I have to end this. As soon as possible! "Draw!"

 

He processed the card he had drawn in an instant, moving it to his Duel Disk immediately. "I activate Monster Rebor-!"

 

"Artifact Durendal's effect!"

 

"What?!" Tycho balked as Durendal slashed through his half-formed spell, before turning and slashing through Kagami's final set card as well. "Durendal can stop my Magic and Trap cards too?"

 

"I don't wield weapons that aren't versatile, Mr. Bosko," Kagami assured him, shouting to be heard over the wind. "You playing Monster Reborn has also activated one of my strongest cards: Artifact Scythe!"

 

A violet-bladed scythe rose from the ground, a spectral being grabbing hold of it and chuckling as it swung it at Tycho. Though he braced himself, the blade went through him harmlessly, but his Duel Disk blade dimmed.

 

"You now can't Special Summon any monsters for the rest of this turn," Kagami explained. "You're more than welcome to Normal Summon or Set, though." 

 

Tycho growled, looking down at his hand. Kagami of course knew some of it, she had seen him add a monster to his hand. But which one did he throw away?

 

"I can't do this..." he whispered, too low for anyone to hear it over the wind. "I've failed..." He gritted his teeth, hand trembling as he slowly reached to try and pick a monster to play in defense mode.

 

And then the shattering of glass happened. Tycho whipped around, seeing the overcrowded D-Wheel soaring through the sky. Kyouji, Aika, Furiko, and-

 

"Yugo!" he shouted, surprise splattered across his face. He turned and ran towards the duel track. "What the hell happened?" he called over the wind as he fought his way towards them through the gusts. He hopped over into the track, coming to a stop and leaning against the wall separating them from the audience. A wave of tiredness washed over him, and he slumped against it, his shoulder aching.

 

"You all are having a time as well, are you?" he asked, his face looking saggy and lifeless. He looked back at the duel field, at the surprised Kagami. "If I can't overcome this... How can I overcome the Wicked Gods?" He sounded thoroughly defeated.

[Wind Rider]

"Sounds a lot like here. It's odd. I expected it to be much different. It was a world where Seto Kaiba lived in, after all," Gandora mumbled.

 

"Oh don't get me wrong, my world is nothing like yours... There are just some similarities and..." Helena's explanation was cut short when the sound of some kind of airship passed by them and continued on in the opposite direction, back to the citadel.

 

"Huh, was that the Fandra?" the dragon muttered. "Looks like Buster Blader made good on some old favors," He muttered. Old favors? That peaked Helena's curiosity, but besides that, they had arrived at their destination. Gandora landed on a flat part of the mountain and let his two passengers off his back. There were a number of dragons in the area, Helena walked over to a Decoy Dragon and petted its head. "H-hello, little guy..." she said smiling.

 

Shiren looked around at all the dragons in the area, but only one caught her attention. "That looks like..." No doubt about it, it was Black Rose Dragon. She seemed to be keeping watch for any at all attacks. Shiren walked over to her. "Excuse me, Black Rose? I was told you had experience with psychic duelists, I was hoping that you could help my duelist." she asked

[Alaina]

 

As the man had seemed to look at the ground, dejected and defeated, Kagami merely sighed as she said, "my turn. Draw." With no argument to be had from either the opponent or the officials, the girl began her turn. Looking at her card, the girl looked back to Tycho. "Well, if this is all that there is, I suppose that's that." In spite of the rising storm winds and the bike that had just fallen from the sky, with whom she presumed to be the duel king and two other people she had already seen duel, the girl's face looked completely disinterested and disastisfied. "Scythe, Durendal. Attack him directly." Her tone was flat and bored as the spirits holding the weapons floated away from her. Gripping onto them tightly, the purple spirit wielding the ethereal scythe struck first. Following that, the red and blue one wielding the blade lunged forward, knocking Tycho's life points down even further. 

 

Tycho LP: 5600 ---> 1000

 

As the spirits floated back the girl said, "if I may, Mr. Tycho Bosko. I am quite fond of using stars as analogues, and I don't think I shall stop any time soon. So, consider me a listless comet, flying through a sea of stars. Unburdened yet unmotivated. A chunk of ice lacking flame or passion, merely watching the stars go me by. It is of course, unreasonable to think that such a pointless object could ever stand up to a star. Power, strength, purpose. Those are all things a star inherently has, that a comet lacks. And so, for a sun to defeat a comet, it must merely exist as it should." The girl's apathetic look broke into a soft smile as she looked towards her opponent. "And so, for this duel to result in my win, it does not mean that I, the comet, has bested you, the star. But instead, that the star did not think it could win to begin with, and such, lost on its own." Taking the cards from her hand she said, "I set two cards face down. Now show me Mr. Bosko, do you intend to win, or will you just hand it over to me?"

[Yui]

---

"I rather be safe than sorry. Rise, Shining D-Wheel!"

 

Next thing Aika knew, her and the rest of the group were scooped up in the Duel King's D-Wheel. Aika, for good measure, removed the copies of Stormlet Gust from her Duel Disk. They'd already served their purpose anyway; best to get those off the Duel Disk before any unintentional damage... well, any further unintentional damage, happened. And then they jumped out of the window, and fell to the ground on the D-Wheel. This was her first time on a D-Wheel. Aika wanted it to be her last.

 

"Is everyone okay?"

 

"W-well, we could be dead so. What, what was that thing? Or, rather, why was that there?"

 

"I'm fine," Aika commented, getting off the D-Wheel a bit shakily. "Dunno what that thing was, but I reckon I killed it real good." Or at least, she certainly hoped so. She wasn't willing to throw down another bolt like that near so many people. She'd have to get creative if that thing was somehow still alive.

---

"So far... Two people have the Wicked Gods... a man named Glaeris... who was injured in an assault against the Spirit World... and another... someone in this tournament..., I wish I could say more, but I don't know exactly who it is... A month ago... I was in a car crash... I died that day... but before my spirit could move on, a voice asked me if I wanted to live... of course... I said yes... and became a mere puppet of the Wicked Gods... If I'd had known... I'd have let myself die that day. As far as I know... the Meklords are not... they do have... the Ruler of Dragons... the keepers of the Spellbooks, and the wearer of the bringer of winter..."

 

"So... is there some way we could help or---"

 

And before another word was spoken, a giant hand appeared from beneath the floor, grabbing Nero and dragging him down! Ayame jumped back a bit, but promptly tried moving forward to help. She tried, anyway. As much as she wanted to help Nero - she was quite a fan of him, after all - her legs refused to move forward. Fear? What am I afraid of? I'm Ayame Iwaki! I'm going to win this tournament, I'm going to go pro, and so help me I'm going to help Nero! But by the time Ayame was finally able to will herself forward, it was too late. The hand was gone, and the crack it had come through was sealed up as if it never happened in the first place.

 

"funk! Fuck! Alright, whatever, we got what we came for, I guess."

 

"You did, anyway." Ayame, for one, still had no idea just what the hell was going on. She'd have to ask about this. If not to Hanae, than to Mr. Kaiba himself.

 

"Well, anyway, let's get out of here, we both have matches soon Blues. And Iwaki-senpai... I'll see you later."

 

"Looking forward to it." Well, the flower girl was leaving. That left some boy she'd never seen before and Mr. Kaiba. Best to ask the latter what was going on. "So, Mister Kaiba," she started, turning her attention to Blues. "I only just stumbled in here right before the duel with no idea what's going on, so... what just happened? With all that? What sort of weird voodoo stuff is Hanae getting caught up in exactly?"

---

[Tesability Black]

~Kuria's POV~

"Rise, Shining D-Wheel!"

"Huh?" Kuria dared to peek out of underneath the table, glancing up towards Kyouji and seeing his hand raise up towards the sky. "What is---" His words were halted upon hearing the familiar vroom of a duel runner that sounded like it was approaching closer and closer.

Kuria had to cover his face with the metallic arm upon seeing the shower of wall as the called Duel Runner literally broke through it and over the monster that was trying to strike them down where they were. Once the Duel King was on his ride, the cybernetic duelist found himself manhandled for the second time that day as he was lifted up and dropped on the back of the vehicle, then had another shoved between him and Kyouji (making him feel a bit awkward, admittedly, and had him debating in his head if he should apologize now for a possible...embarrassing...event), then another behind him.

As soon as movement was felt to get out of there, Kuria forgot about all else and leaned forward, covering the smaller girl with his own body and hooking around her and Kyouji with his living arm and wrapping around Aika behind him with the metallic arm locked in place in a way that would keep her secure but wouldn't literally squeeze the air out of her lungs. He felt as Yugo took advantage of the arm to hold on for dear life as he hopped onto the back of the vehicle before the group went flying out of the danger zone and over the duel in progress to the other side. The whole time, his eyes were shut behind his glasses, adrenaline flooding him from the sudden flight into the sky.

When Kuria registered Yugo letting go of the metallic arm, which felt like a slight tug and release to him, Kuria loosened said arm at the joints to let Aika go from behind him before falling off to the side of the ride himself while thankfully not pulling anyone else down with him, plopping onto the ground as he felt the crash kick in on him. For the second time that day, he found himself on his side near a duel runner, but at least this time it wasn't because of a wreck.

"Yeah...I'll live," Kuria managed to say in response to Kyouji's question. "I've officially had too much excitement today if I'm already feeling the crash," he grumbled before forcing himself to turn onto his back and sit up, propping himself up on his elbows. "I thought I was gonna get round two of the feedback I got earlier in my duel against Jet, yikes..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Miero's POV~

His shoulders drooped for a moment upon hearing the reasoning behind the creation of the Wicked Gods before raising them back up to normal after remembering that one of their number had his son. "Fear...so much pain has emerged because of it," he said in a low snarl as he tried to keep himself calm.

Flying off the handle would not help him find his son and get him out of whatever cruelty was being dealt to him... Tapping the floor once with the bottom of his staff, Miero looked around to see the others outside of Wade and Knight scattered about. He sighed at this before beginning to walk out of the room that everyone ate in finally. "Well, if everyone else will be exploring this place, I might as well do the same," he admitted before finally leaving the building he was in and taking in the sun above.

A gust of wind gently blew past him before collecting itself next to Miero, forming into a spectral blind-folded woman that had been earlier identified as Vantoase. Her coloration as a whole shimmered seamlessly like a gentle rainbow that was seen through a cloud and she gave a feminine bow towards the summoner.

 

"I am able to use my gales to track all movements within the city to prevent another sudden attack," she suggested, which had Miero look towards her for a moment. He could see that she was trying to snap him out of his thoughts, and to focus on the goal for the moment.

Probably for the best.

"Fine," Miero agreed and the woman disappeared into winds, creating a gentle breeze throughout the entirety of the city.

[senorchavez]

'So the Meklords are acting on their own, but they--'

Eizar's train of thought was derailed as a ghoulish hand retrieved their captive, likely to set him upon another task. His body froze, urging him to stay still for his own safety, despite consciously wishing to do otherwise. Hanae kicked the ground after it disappeared, throwing out a curse to express frustration, an emotion he, and possibly everyone else, was also experiencing. After that outburst, the girl left, stating that she had a duel to prepare for and bidding the purple-haired girl, "Iwaki-senpai" farewell. 'Well, we know her last name, at least,' he noted. The girl turned to Blues, asking him multiple questions that all amounted to the same answer.

 

Eizar would've answered himself, but Blues is more knowledgeable on the subject, so he instead focused on what Nero said before being abducted. 'I know for a fact that "Keepers of the Spellbooks" is referencing to the Spellbook archetype, and have a good idea what "Ruler of Dragons" alludes to, but what does "Wearer of the Bringer of Winter" mean?' He then crossed his arms, sinking further into his world of pondering. 'If my guesses are correct then we're going to have a much harder time that we already are.'

[King K. Azo]

Forsaken Memories

 
Kyouji sighed to himself as he looked at the smoking remains of his room. That really sucked, losing all that stuff. Still, it was better that everyone else was okay. The alternative would be much worse. Turning to the crowd, he waved to signify he was alright. 

"Don't worry about us! There was just a gas leak in my room. Thankfully, we were able to get away before any one was hurt!" He explained. "Now, let the show go on!" With that, he headed to the backrooms, away from the crowd. Yugo followed him, hands in his pocket. 

"Hey man, sorry about all your stuff...," Yugo muttered to Kyouji. The champ sighed and rubbed his neck. 

"All that matters is that everyone is okay," He said. "Now come on, let's get to Blues so we can tell him what's going on," He went to the private room, a smile on his face, but much quieter than usual.
 

---

 
"f***!" Hanae cursed, causing Blues to raise an eyebrow. "Alright, whatever, we got what we came for, I guess." Turning towards the others she said, "well, anyway, let's get out of here, we both have matches soon Blues. And Iwaki-senpai," her eyes narrowed at the girl. "I'll see you later." With that, the girl merely began to walk out of the room after that.
 
"She doesn't seem to like you very much," Blues commented. 
 
"So, Mister Kaiba," Ayame started, turning her attention to Blues. "I only just stumbled in here right before the duel with no idea what's going on, so... what just happened? With all that? What sort of weird voodoo stuff is Hanae getting caught up in exactly?" Blues sighed as he folded his arms. 

"Do you want the full version, or the abridged?" He asked. 
 
"The full version."
 
"Give me a second on that then," He stated as he turned to Eizar.
 
Eizar would've answered himself, but Blues is more knowledgeable on the subject, so he instead focused on what Nero said before being abducted. 'I know for a fact that "Keepers of the Spellbooks" is referencing to the Spellbook archetype, and have a good idea what "Ruler of Dragons" alludes to, but what does "Wearer of the Bringer of Winter" mean?' He then crossed his arms, sinking further into his world of pondering. 'If my guesses are correct then we're going to have a much harder time that we already are.'
 

"No joke," Blues muttered as he started to walk off. "The wearer of the Bringer of Winter might be Nekroz," He mentioned as he started to walk back to the room. "Let's regroup for now, while I explain to Ms. Iwaki what's going on," Taking a deep breath, he began to recount the events. "Back when Duel Monsters was first made, Pegasus made the Egyptian God cards. Fearing their power, he made the Wicked Gods to keep them in check, but he then feared THEIR power, and sealed them away. The spirit of the cards are now pissed off, and people have stolen them, and their trying to destroy the world. So we have two teams trying to stop them. One here, and the other in the Spirit World. They're working on a solution, as they try to awake a blank card, and cause its evolution,"  He walked away. "You're free to do what you want with that info," He stated as he walked away.

Soon, he came back to the room, being the first one to get there thanks to his Kaiba powers. As the others walked in, he was sitting in a seat, looking  "So, what is there to report?" He asked the entering Kyouji and crew.

 

 

"H-hello, little guy..." Decoy Dragon looked up as Helena started to pet its head, and the tiny dragon cooed softly, nuzzling into her hand. Gandora flopped down next to them.

"Using your cuteness to get favor. jabroni," he muttered.

 

"Excuse me, Black Rose? I was told you had experience with psychic duelists, I was hoping that you could help my duelist." Black Rose Dragon looked up to Shiren and nodded. 

"I indeed might be able to help. Tell me, what is wrong?" She asked as she motioned to a different dragon to take her place.

 

---

 

As Miero walked outside into the sun, he could see people rebuilding the town, working to fix what the Wicked Gods did, both with magic and their own hands. All in all, it was a display of unity that a place like Hearthome could take notes from. The people would greet him as he passed, and a few did a gesture, like giving him an apple, or a drink. 

All was calm... until a shadow came over the city. At first, people were panicking, but they paused when they saw what appeared to be a flying pirate ship land inside the city walls. It seemed to have no evil intentions... but it was a flying pirate ship. That was sure to attract attention.  

[~Faytl~]

Tycho raised his view back to Kagami, eyes narrowed in confusion. "What are you trying to say?" he asked guardedly. He thought that he knew, but it didn't make much sense to him. Is she saying that I can beat her... Because I have something to prove?

 

He looked down at his coat pocket. The Dark Riot Dragon resting in his pocket practically felt like it was radiating heat. I do have something to prove. Not just to Katagiri. But to myself.

 

"It's my turn. I draw!" Tycho pulled a card from his deck, wincing as his shoulder wound snapped into his body with pain. It didn't look good for him. Limited cards in hand, his ace in the graveyard. And she still had most of her Life Points. He looked at the card he had drawn. His eyes widened. He looked at the field, eyes narrowed. I can win this... But I need Genom-Heritage back!

 

"If I am the star in your analogy... Then I will show you how bright I burn! Reveal Trap card: Xyz Soul!" The card Tycho had set the first turn of the duel flipped up, gleaming brightly as his Genom-Heritage rose up from the ground, suffused with light.

 

"You managed to revive it," Kagami observed. "Or not, I should think; Xyz Soul doesn't bring your monster back to the field, does it, Mr. Bosko?"

 

"That's correct," he said, nodding as the light drifting from his monster flowed across Tycho's field. "It returns it to my Extra Deck, and my monsters all gain attack points equal to its rank multiplied by 200."

 

"But of course, you don't have any monsters?"

 

"I discard Heraldic Beast Aberconway to special summon Heraldic Beast Amphisbaena!" A roaring dragon appeared on the field, aquamarine scales glimmering brightly. 

 

Heraldic Beast Amphisbaena

1700/1100

 

"When multiple Aberconway are in my Graveyard, I can banish one to return the other to my hand. I summon Aberconway!" A white-armored dragon now took the field, roaring at Kaede in challenge.

 

Heraldic Beast Aberconway

1800/900

 

"Using these two monsters, I construct the Overlay Network! Reign again, Heraldic King Genom-Heritage!" Tycho's ace returned in all its glory, tossing it's head and allowing its trails of golden hair to fly free as it stood before Tycho, staring down Kaede's monsters.

 

Heraldic King Genom-Heritage

2400/1800

 

Kagami clapped her hands together, pleased by the events unfolding before her. "Wow, Mr. Bosko; Quite a complex method you had to bring back your ace monster!"

 

"Yes," Tycho acknowledged, nodding. "Without its Overlay Units your Durendal was unable to stop its return. And now nothing stands between me and victory!"

 

"Are you sure about that? Activate Safe Zone!" One of Kagami's set cards flew up, a bubble of blue energy suddenly forming around her Durendal. "With Safe Zone protecting my Durendal, you can't destroy it or target it with Heraldic King." She shrugged her shoulders. "You could have dealt a lot of damage to my Life Points, but your Heraldic King can only target an Xyz Monster with its effect. And I no longer have any valid targets on my field!"

 

"Are you sure about that?" Kagami's words echoped back to her, and she blinked, surprised, looking at Tycho. Something was off about him. He looked like he was... shimmering. No, he wasn't... The air in front of him was, slowly forming, changing color to a deep purple, forming into-

 

"Nebula Phoenix?" she asked, taken aback as Tycho's monster spread its wings, letting out a cry as it fully formed on the field. "But that monster was put into your graveyard ages ago!"

 

"Nebula Phoenix has an effect that can only be used from the Graveyard!" Tycho raised a hand, clenching it into a fist. "You were wrong, Kagami; My ambition isn't a star, it's a galaxy! Nebula Phoenix can banish itself from the graveyard to forcibly convert any monster on the field into an Xyz Monster, with a Rank equal to it's Level!"

 

"What?!" Kagami asked, legitimately surprised for the first time, her cry echoed by most of the audience as Nebula Phoenix flew towards Scythe, folding its wings around the monster and then vanishing in a pulse of light, two trailing lines forming briefly around Kagami's monster before disappearing.

 

Artifact Scythe

Level 5 > Rank 5

 

"Nebula Phoenix also grants your monster the ability to detach an Overlay Unit to inflict 1000 damage... Which Heraldic King has now absorbed. Take this!" One of Heraldic King's Ovaerlay Units flew towards Kagami, swerving over her before exploding into fireworks.

 

Kagami: 5400 > 4400

 

"I see," Kagami observed, crossing her arms and nodding. "So now through the effect of Genom-Heritage, you have reduced the attack power of Scythe to zero and can destroy it. I just have one question: Where in this plan do you have a contingency for the fact that my Artifact Durendal will be able to destroy it again on my next turn?"

 

"The fact that you won't have a next turn," was the very blunt reply.

 

Kagami blinked, looking baffled, though intrigued. "I'm sorry?"

 

"Activate Magic card: Advanced Heraldry Art!" Tycho tossed the card onto his Duel Disk, two glowing orbs of light appearing beside him, humming with power. Turning within one was his Heraldic Beast Leo, Aberconway in the other. "This card lets me Xyz Summon using 2 Heraldic Beast monsters in my Graveyard!"

 

"He really had another Xyz Summon in him with one card?" Kagami asked, the audience enthralled as Tycho's monsters swirled together, blasting into a portal that exploded. The bright light that issued forth held a large, hulking shadow within. A great shape, rising up high, something large protruding from the top.

 

"King of exalted bloodlines, run through the starlight to crest existence itself! Xyz Summon! My true ace... Heraldic Lord - Dominus Crest!"

 

Horse legs of silver fur, with hooves of gold. A sculpted human body where the head would be, bare-chested and imposingly muscular. Dominus Crest towered over Kagami, looking down with its masked face, twin yellow eyes gleaming from beneath the massive silver antlers that supplanted its head. It raised a scepter of interwoven golden twigs, letting out a call like a war trumpet, a call of challenge. 

 

Heraldic Lord - Dominus Crest

2500/2000

 

Tycho pointed at the decrepit Scythe. "BATTLE! Dominus Crest attacks Artifact Scythe!" Dominus Crest raised its staff, which slowly formed into a great golden bow, an arrow with the head of a stag in place of its head pointed at Scythe and released to fly through the air.

 

He's not attacking my Durendal? Kagami thought. But why? He could do more damage to my Life Points if he-

 

"Dominus Crest's ability." Tycho's growling voice brought her back to reality. "Any battle damage it inflicts through fighting an Xyz Monster... is doubled."

 

Kagami took a deep breath, realizing a half-second before the audience caught up with her and roared, raucous calls of disbelief showering around her. She calmly reached for her Duel Disk, smiling. 

 

"You did well, Mr. Bosko... But it looks like I will just be drifting by still. Reveal Trap card: Mirror Force!" The shouts renewed as the arrow was met with a glowing barrier of reflective force, light exploding off, gouging at the ground to either side of Tycho, small scorch marks scored across the entire field. "This destroys both your Heraldic monsters when they're in attack mode!"

 

Tycho stood unperturbed, even as Genom-Heritage fell to one of the bright rays of rebounding light. One flew towards Dominus Crest... And it swept a hand aside in response, an orb of golden light sweeping into its palm.

 

The barrier shattered, shredding into hundreds of tiny pieces. Kagami stared as the light faded away, the arrow no longer impeded.

 

"Dominus Crest's second ability: It can detach an Overlay Unit to avoid destruction." Tycho turned, sweeping out a hand even as he began to walk away. "Battle resumes. Silver Heraldry!" 

 

The arrow suddenly shot forward again, as if from a cannon. A sphere of silver light was born between the antlers of Tycho's monster, and it released a beam of force that swallowed the arrow, then Artifact Scythe, and then Kagami, a massive explosion rocking the arena, though this one was purely Solid Vision, unlike the last one. 

 

Kagami: 4400 > 0

 

"W... Winner is Tycho Bosko!" The crowd was in an uproar, a mixture of applause and boos from those in the crowd that didn't like him, but overwhelmingly cheers. Tycho paused, looking back over his shoulder at Kagami. 

 

"You dueled well." He nodded to the girl. "Give yourself a bit more credit. A listless comet doesn't have that kind of dueling spirit." He reached into his coat, pulling out the Dark Riot Dragon card, and slid it decisively into his Duel Disk's Extra Deck slot. I did it, Katagiri... And I'll be sure to keep doing it!

[Alaina]

 

With the crowd cheering over the victory of Tycho, Kagami's mood didn't seem to be any worse for the the wear. In fact, quite the opposite. With a smile across her face, the girl bowed to her opponent saying, "you flatter me with your words Mr. Bosko. And I thank you for your compliments. All the same, we all have our role to play, and I am aware of mine, just as you should be aware of yours. All the same, I can now say that I am excited to see what comes next from your duels. Especially with the brilliant stars that inhabit your bracket. Good luck Mr. Bosko," with that, the girl waved the man goodbye as she began to walk away from the stadium. 

 

 

"Oh? Artifacts huh? Figures." Hanae was standing around, having been able to catch the tail end of the duel. While she was disappointed that Kagami lost, she wasn't at all surprised that that was the outcome. The girl was about as hard to read as a book in the dark, and she wasn't quite sure why someone dispassionate like her even dueled to begin with. All the same, Kagami wasn't a pushover, which meant that the old man was probably more than just hot air. A part of her looked forward to seeing how he'd do against the maid as well, but, she wasn't all that invested in it all the same. She had her own match to prep for, one that was far more pressing. 

 

 

As Furiko and the others went back to their private room, the girl let out a sigh of relief. Sitting down, she wasn't quite sure what to make of what just happened. Sure, she was a bit skeptical at first on the idea of psychic duelists, but the constant showing of real power made a believer out of her. However, either there was a duelist hiding in the wings or...that monster just came out of nowhere to kill them. Normally she'd try to think calmly about and through the situation but she was currently faced with something that defied common sense. As Kyouji made his comment about telling Blues their info, the girl heard the roar of the crowd, looking back to Kyouji saying, "well, that might just have gotten a bit more difficult." She had no idea where Blues was, and as his match was up, she figured they wouldn't be able to until it was too late. Looking back to the others she asked, "so, that monster. Do you think it's still around?" 

[Yui]

---

"Hey man, sorry about all your stuff..."

"All that matters is that everyone is okay. Now come on, let's get to Blues so we can tell him what's going on."

 

Aika was still amazed the entire crowd bought the gas leak story so easily. And that he'd made it up on the fly like that. He must have been pretty good at thinking of stuff on the fly to tell that one.

 

"So, that monster. Do you think it's still around?"

 

"If it is, there's no killin' it," Aika shrugged. She'd hit that thing pretty hard. It wouldn't make sense for it to still be moving around after that. All this investigating wasn't working out though, was it? Aika would much rather find one person who had some sort of connection to the Wicked Gods, then get info out of them the old-fashioned way. Way faster like that. However, Kyouji was right. It was probably best to report what all they'd gathered so far to Blues.

"So, what is there to report?"

 

"Whatever's goin' on at the root of this Wicked God thing, someone's out to make sure we don't figure it out," Aika reported. "They've got psychics on their side, and sent some sorta monster out to get me 'n' everyone that was in the room with Kyouji. It should be dead though."

---

"Back when Duel Monsters was first made, Pegasus made the Egyptian God cards. Fearing their power, he made the Wicked Gods to keep them in check, but he then feared THEIR power, and sealed them away. The spirit of the cards are now pissed off, and people have stolen them, and their trying to destroy the world. So we have two teams trying to stop them. One here, and the other in the Spirit World. They're working on a solution, as they try to awake a blank card, and cause its evolution. You're free to do what you want with that info."

 

That was a lot of information to digest. Ayame reviewed it a couple times in her head. So basically, it all roots back to the creation of Duel Monsters. Wicked Gods are bad news, Egyptian Gods can't stop them, the former wants revenge... although, destroying the world seems a bit extreme. Blank cards seem to be the key to winning this. Blank cards, eh? ... Ayame reached deep into her pockets, pulling out the card she'd picked up earlier. Blank. Might this have been one of those blank cards Mr. Kaiba was talking about?

Finding the place wasn't easy. It took a lot of asking, some smooth persuasion, and just a little bit of stalking. However, Ayame found the room where Mr. Kaiba was. This was supposed to be a private room. She could faintly make out voices on the other side of the door. One of them sounded like Mr. Kaiba. She wasn't sure what the other ones were saying.

 

No time to waste. Ayame opened the door, and stepped in, blank card in her hand. She held it up for Mr. Kaiba to see, and said "Sorry to interrupt your meeting, but somebody dropped this earlier. I was going to return it to you earlier, but you'd already left by the time I finished working through the information you'd given me."

---

[Super Chaos Sonic]

-The Moonlit Magician-

~Secret Sanctuary of the Spellcasters~

 

"Champion of what?"

 

This was still quite the reaction Daichi had, as he watched Gagaga Head held out his hand towards him.

 

"I must apologize. You are still new to the whole ideals and the like within the Spirit World." Head said, before taking a deep breath. "You see, there are those in your realm who tend to share a strong bond with certain cards. And from those bonds, there can be a chance where a Duel Spirit will come forth." he motioned towards Haruto and nodded. "You've seen this happen with Haruto here."

 

Daichi looked at Haruto before nodding slowly.

 

"There are times where some take this a step forward." Head continued. "Two such examples would be the Champions of the Dark Magician Clan and the Blue-Eyes Clan." he paused, before putting his hands together and showed off two spectral images comprised of magic. "Of course, you within the world of mortals, would know these two better by their real names: Yugi Muto and Seto Kaiba."

 

Looking at the two spectral images of Yugi as well as Kaiba, Daichi fell silent. "So...I suppose this means, they were chosen by their archetype to be the chosen champions?"

 

"In a manner of speaking...yes." Head nodded, waving his hand before the images faded away. "Now, knowing this...allow me to tell you this. From what I've seen and from what Haruto has spoken of you...we find you worthy of becoming our champion in the times of the impending war that is almost certain to come."

 

"I...I think you've somewhat seen the wrong person though." Daichi spoke up now. "If you don't remember, I lost a Duel Spirit. Rinko was lost because of my ignorance against Glaeris. And I lost her again, so am I really good enough for your champion?"

 

Head only chuckled and nodded slowly. "But of course." he said, making Daichi look at him strangely. "If you recall, Haruto told me about you. And that includes, everything. And out of everyone that has come to use this clan, I can truly say, that you, Daichi Raimu...have put your own spin and passion into utilizing the power of the Gagaga Clan. And as such...we wish to help you further...to better your bond with your deck...with the Gagaga Clan...and more importantly...give you the tools you'll need to confront Glaeris one more time."

 

 

-The Starry Exeperiment-

~Fortune Cup~

 

Jet, as he was still trying to get himself back together after his reaction to whatever, he heard a loud boom and was in somewhat of a panic. He watched Dr. Aichi walk in, looking calm as can be, before finally speaking.

 

"Dr. Aichi, what was that?" Jet asked, watching the doctor just adjusting his glasses and smiling.

 

"It wasn't anything, Jet." he said in quite the calm manner. "If anything it was the air conditioning kicking on. Just relax. You still need to prepare for your battle against Izayoi."

 

Jet wasn't so sure about Dr. Aichi, if he was telling the truth, however he sighed before nodding. "Y-Yes sir."

 

With that, Akihiro Aichi left the room. After closing the door, he immediately accessed his tablet and began to scowl some. "Can we tell what that was?"

 

"Dr. Aichi! Thank goodness your alright!!"

 

"I'm fine. Now, what was that?" Akihiro quickly repeated.

 

The man on the other end of the call nodded, before proceeding to do a few things. "A-According to the satellite imagery we've collected...it appears to have been an explosion that originated from...oh my."

 

"What is it?"

 

"Apparently it originated from Kyouji's special perch."

 

Akihiro's eyes widened a bit, before nodding. "An attempt on the current Duel King's life?"

 

"Unsure at this moment, doctor. However, we can determine that Kyouji and a few others are actually made it safe from the explosion. Apparently they were all aboard the D-Wheel of the Duel King."

 

"Unorthodox...but still, at least no one else was injured." Akihiro nodded. "Keep me posted on any other findings. We are too close to our goals to have it be whisked away from us by petty things." With nothing else said, he closed out the call on tablet, before walking away.

[Wind Rider]

Helena smiled and giggled slightly as the little Decoy Dragon nuzzled her hand. She was so focused on the tiny dragon that she forgot about Gandora, and as a result, was surprised by the ground shake a bit as the large dragon flopped down next to her. In the back of her mind, she was scared. She was in the presence of monsters belonging to the powerful Dragon type, a type well known for its strength in battle. Any one of these creatures could harm humans, even the little Decoy Dragon. Helena was just glad to know they were friendly.

---

"I indeed might be able to help. Tell me, what is wrong?" Shiren gave a sigh of relief, she was glad that she had found someone who could help. "My duelist, Helena, suffers from a condition that is brought on by her powers. When she becomes extremely stressed, whether through physical or mental pain, she loses herself and takes on an entirely different personality." she explained as she glanced over at Helena.

 

"The shy, innocent girl you see becomes highly aggressive, volatile, and sadistic. She can't tell friend from foe and wants nothing but pain. This condition nearly caused her to quit dueling all together." Shiren paused as she thought about Helena's brother, if only he were here. "If could help her to at least control her powers to an extent, I would be most grateful."

[Tesability Black]

~~Miero's POV~~

 

Miero couldn't help but smile sadly as he graciously accepted some of the offerings given to him, though he would often turn around and give most of the more edible things to younger monsters that looked like they were hurting for food or drink at that moment. Only when he really needed either did he dare to eat or drink. After a bit, he soon rolled up his sleeves and did his best to help out some of the monsters with the many tasks that could be had, though directly aiding in building would still be out of his limits. Delivering messages and lighter things could be done easily, however.

 

As he did what he could among the light breeze that kept the air moving throughout the place, a thought flickered into his mind.

 

Sky vessel incoming.

 

Looking up towards the sky, it was a few moments before the vessel in question entered his view, causing him to raise an eyebrow fairly high. "What family resides upon a...I think pirate ship?"

 

The most likely is the Skyfang Brigade, but I am not wholly certain myself.

 

Skyfang Brigade? If Vantoase spoke truth, that's definitely a group he knew nothing about, nor was he going to pretend to know anything. He excused himself from his current task to head back towards where he last knew the others to be...

 

~~Kuria's POV~~

 

Kuria had been silent as he re-entered the room and slid into a chair, the others doing decent enough to fill in Blues without him adding to the conversation.

 

Not that he could add to it, anyway. Sighing to himself, he subconsciously scratched at his left forearm with the metal hand before pulling out his deck and looking through it. The hell am I doing here, I'm not sure I'd be able to do anything to help that can't be done and better by the rest.

 

"Sorry to interrupt your meeting, but somebody dropped this earlier." It was the fact that it was a new voice that snapped Kuria out of his thoughts for the moment, eyes falling upon the girl with the...

 

...wait, isn't that one of those blank cards? Who dropped theirs?

 

"I was going to return it to you earlier, but you'd already left by the time I finished working through the information you'd given me."

 

He had seen a few of those cards change hands by now, and it had Kuria worried that the same may happen with Miero. Usually, once someone lost it, he didn't seem to see hide or hair of the former owner, so he hoped Miero didn't lose the card he had, or Kuria was likely to lose his old friend for good. "How many of those cards were made? It's almost unreal at this point."

[senorchavez]

Eizar stepped into the room slightly after Blues asked for a report from the others gathered at the time. Aika mentioned an assassination attempt, one that used a Psychic projection of a monster, which made him think about what Nero mentioned about there being accomplices. "Did you recognize what monster it was, by any chance?" he inquired hastily. 'Not only do we have more enemies to deal with than the Wicked God users, we also have to be aware of physical monster threats as well? Just how far is their reach?' he thought in a panic.

 

A few seconds later, Ayame came through the door, sporting a Blank Card. Eizar looked at Ayame for a few seconds then turned to Blues. "She's a part of this know, isn't she?"

[King K. Azo]

"Whatever's goin' on at the root of this Wicked God thing, someone's out to make sure we don't figure it out," Aika reported. "They've got psychics on their side, and sent some sorta monster out to get me 'n' everyone that was in the room with Kyouji. It should be dead though. Blues put his hands together and placed his hands in them, thinking to himself. 

"Now would that be the case...?" he muttered. There had to be something. "I think we should make finding this duelist a top priority. I don't know how we could find them though...," 

"Leave that to me," Kyouji said as he bumped his fist against his chest. "I don't have a duel for a long time, and it'll be good to exercise again,"

"But, they're actively trying to kill you," Yugo pointed out.

"All the better," Kyouji countered. "That means they'll just come to me,"

 

Suddenly, the door opened, causing the group to spin in place to see who was coming in. "Sorry to interrupt your meeting," Ayame stated. "but somebody dropped this earlier. I was going to return it to you earlier, but you'd already left by the time I finished working through the information you'd given me."

 

"Ah, yeah, good thing you grabbed that," Kyouji stated as he grabbed the card, looking over it. "Geez, I wish we knew where these came from...," With a quick flick of his wrist, Kyouji slung the card at Blues who caught it in his hand. The glasses wearing man looked at it before moving to put it in his pocket... but then the card began to shine, filling the room with a bright light and the sounds of a whisper. The other blank cards in the room began to faintly glow as well, but the light show died down quickly. Blues blinked before looking up at Ayame.

"The card says it's yours," He said before tossing it at her. "Take care of it. It'll serve you well in the future," Blues then stood up, dusting himself off. "You all take a break for now. You've been through a lot today, and it'll just get worse as the week goes by,"

"I'll be on the lookout for the psychic duelist," Kyouji said. "Wish me luck," He gave the group a two fingered salute before heading out the door. 

"And it's my turn to duel," Blues commented as he headed out the door, straightening out his coat. "Let's get this over with,"

 

---

 

Blues walked up to his spot on the platform, his duel disk snapping to life. Ao Mokuba stood across him, his duel disk glowing with a purple hue.

"And now, let the seventh duel of the tournament begin! Blues Kaiba vs. Ao Mokuba! Go!" Juri Lee called out from her stand.

"I'll go first then," Blues stated as he looked at his cards. "I activate the Field Spell Card Geartown! This allows the both of us to summon Ancient Gear monsters for once less tribute than needed!" He looked through his hand and smiled. "I set a card face down before summoning the level 6 monster Ancient Gear Beast!" A large robotic wolf appeared on the field, howling before staring down Ao. "I then set a card and end my turn,"

Ao smirked and drew his card. "By revealing the Blues-Eyes White Dragon in my hand, I can Special Summon Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon!" On the field appeared a dragon that looked similar to the legendary Blue-Eyes, but it looked like it was from the future, with its sleeker form and colored lines resembling a circuit board. "Now, I activate its effect. I can target one monster on the field, and destroy it. Go Blues-Eyes Alternative Dragon! White Stream of Destruction!" The dragon opened its mouth, firing a beam that caused the robot wolf to explode instantly. Blues stared stoically as dust flew past his face.

"Blue-Eyes... good thing I've dueled my father so much, I know the deck inside out," Blues thought to himself. "Is he afraid of my backrow though? He could have damaged me if he battle. Now he doesn't have his battle phase due to Blue-Eyes Alternative's effect...,"

 

"And with that, I end my turn," Ao chuckled. "I hope you can entertain me, boy,"

 

 

 

"The shy, innocent girl you see becomes highly aggressive, volatile, and sadistic. She can't tell friend from foe and wants nothing but pain. This condition nearly caused her to quit dueling all together. If could help her to at least control her powers to an extent, I would be most grateful." Black Rose Dragon looked over to the young child that was currently petting Decoy Dragon. It seemed odd to her, but then again, she had seen what psychics could do. The rose covered dragon headed over to Helena and sat in front of her. 

"Hello, little one," She said gently. "Are you enjoying your time in the Spirit World?"

 

---

 

As Miero headed back inside of the Citadel, he saw that the monsters gathered had slowly left, leaving the gathering hall empty, except for his human friends and Buster Blader.

"Did you enjoy your walk?" Buster Blader asked, his arms folded as he leaned against the wall. "sadly, we're just kind of stuck here until we've given the clear to march. It probably won't be until tomorrow, so get some rest, if you can,"

"What, but, he could hang out with us!" Wade said, placing his arms around Henry and Dread Knight.

"Off," The two said at the same time, causing Wade to roll his eyes. 

"There's no homo here guys, even if it is a sausage fest,"  

 

"Anyways, we should probably simmer down for the night," Dread Knight commented. "Maybe find the others and make sure they don't get lost,"

"We'll send someone for Gandora and Helena," Buster Blader said. "For now, Endymion wants to speak to the blank card users, when they all have gathered back. For now, relax for a bit," 

[Super Chaos Sonic]

-The Moonlit Magician-

~Secret Sanctuary of the Spellcasters~

 

Daichi almost couldn't believe what he was hearing from Gagaga Head right now. And it was all because Haruto spoke so highly of him...even in spite of his faults. It was obvious that Head was quite fond of the Duelist and thought that he would truly do them good as their champion. All this...it almost was enough to make him cry. But he kept his composure before looking at Gagaga Head.

 

"The tools to defeat Glaeris?" he asked. "What could be so strong to stand up to the Avatar's...well...avatar?"

 

-BGM-

 

Gagaga Head chuckled, waving his hand as a holographic scenario was put into motion. "Simply put, two of our clans greatest. Long ago...back before I became the head of the clan and even longer...there were two Gagagas who led our clan and allowed us to prosper as well as it has." As Gagaga Head spoke, Daichi could see two silhouettes before him. However, before long, there was a silhouette of a much larger beast now behind them. "While they were the strongest, they were halted by a powerful monster. We know not of the exact one that fought them that day, however, we do know they sacrificed themselves...they used the last of their powers to protect the clan and drive the beast away."

 

With that, Gagaga Head sighed, lowering his hand as the silhouettes faded before Daichi. "Legend has said, however, that their power will be given to one who's will is that of a pure heart. And from what I've been told...Daichi Raimu...your intentions...your will...is quite pure." he slowly got up from his knelt position, making his way towards Daichi. He stopped in front of the Duelist and extended his hand. "That is why I ask. Allow us to help you in your endeavors. Utilize our powers...to dazzle the field of battle with your style of Dueling. Will you become our champion?"

 

Daichi looked at Gagaga Head and down at the extended hand. He didn't move nor did he react for a long moment. Finally, with an exhale, the Entertainment Duelist moved his hand and met the Duel Spirit's hand in a firm grip. "You all have a lot of faith in me..." he started, a small smile appearing. "I'll do my absolute best as your champion."

 

-BGM-

 

After these words were spoken, a bright light was shone from the two gripped hands, as Daichi did his best to shield his eyes from the bright light. However, when the light died down and he removed his hand, Daichi saw two cards now in it. Both of these were something that were new for him...Fusion Monsters. Then he heard a pair of voices that seemed to emanate from nowhere.

 

Duelist who has taken the mantle of champion...

Your power and will has awoken us...

With our wand and blade...

We will serve...

 

"Gagaga Grand Sorcerer..." Daichi read the names off the cards. "And Gagaga Paladin..." He looked at them before smiling and putting them in his deck box. He took a quick bow towards Gagaga Head and nodded at him. "Thank you. I promise you, I'll learn how to utilize the power of these two and make you all proud."

 

"I have no doubt you will..." Gagaga Head chuckled. "Now get out there and save Rinko..." With another wave of his hand, Daichi found him and Haruto back at the Citadel.

 

"Well Dai?"

 

"Yeah...we probably need to meet up with the others." Daichi chuckled. "Probably wondering where we went off to."

 

 

"For now, Endymion wants to speak to the blank card users, when they all have gathered back. For now, relax for a bit,"

 

Daichi caught the very end of that sentence, as he and Haruto made their way into the room. "Relax? What so you guys haven't been doing that already?" he asked with a chuckle, as he strolled up to the others. "Sorry about that...had a bit of a talk with Haruto and the others."

 

 

 

-The Starry Exeperiment-

~Fortune Cup~

 

Jet finally got the OK to leave his medical room as he was escorted back to the stands by Dr. Aichi. They were wanting to watch the next Duel, as it was Blues Kaiba versus Ao Mokuba. After all...it was an opportunity to see how Blues Dueled. An opportunity to study how the opponent did things.

 

"I want you to pay extra close attention, Hoshimi." Akihiro spoke, adjusting his glasses as he sat down. "This is your next opponent. This Mokuba person is just a stepping stone for the boy..."

 

"Yes sir..."

 

"I'll go first then, I activate the Field Spell Card Geartown! This allows the both of us to summon Ancient Gear monsters for once less tribute than needed! I set a card face down before summoning the level 6 monster Ancient Gear Beast! I then set a card and end my turn."

 

"He's playing Ancient Gears." Jet noted, seeing the immediate starting combination of Geartown and Ancient Gear Beast. "If he has that Field out then any high level Ancient Gear monster will be only easier to summon."

 

"Only if its Level 5 or 6." Akihiro scoffed. "If its any more, then Blues will have to tribute. Hardly the great beginnings of a turn so far. Let's see how his opponent fairs."

 

"By revealing the Blues-Eyes White Dragon in my hand, I can Special Summon Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon!"

 

Both Akihiro and Jet saw the summoning and were shocked. But Akihiro more so... A Duelist with a Blue-Eyes deck? How can this be? Damnit...an unforeseen turn of events. If this is what Blues' opponent is utilizing then...NO! he thought, shaking his head quickly. Calm yourself, Akihrio. Its impossible for some commoner to utilize the full power of a Blue-Eyes deck. Everything will go according to plan.

 

"This guy..." Jet started. "He went for destroying the monster by effect rather than attacking...if he's running something like this, why wouldn't he attack?"

 

"Perhaps the fool doesn't know what he's doing." Akihiro simply replied. Let's hope that is the case...

[Alaina]

 
With the next course of action decided, Furiko felt a bit powerless but to just sit back and wait for what was going to happen. She wasn't a psychic like Aika nor was she as strong as Kyouji, and so she would more than likely be a liability in their quest to find who had summoned the monster to attack them was. As Blues left, the girl gave a wave to him, merely saying, "good luck," before looking to the new person. She didn't recognize the girl before her, though it had seemed that she had both found and was chosen by a blank card. Thinking this made them allies, Furiko figured it would be good to get to know her, an so she asked, "hello there. I guess you have a lot of questions about what all this is but, let's start easy and go with introductions." Standing up, walking over to the girl, she extended out a hand saying, "my name's Furiko. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance Miss."
 

 
As there was one more duel to watch before her own, Hanae had made her way into the stands, wanting to see just how this duel would go. Not only was she curious to see how Blues would duel, but there was also the mystery that Ao was, which made her all the more curious. That, and whoever had won this would be her next opponent, so she had a bit of vested interest in how this match would go. As Ao summoned a blue-eyes, though, the girl couldn't help but let out a laugh, the irony of the situation being too great for her. As she moved through the stands, she noticed a familiar looking boy talking with someone else about the duel. As they seemed to question what Ao could be doing, Hanae leaned down in-between the two saying, "or maybe he knows exactly what he wants to be doing here." Looking at the two, she looked at the younger of the two, saying "hey there star boy. You were the one in the first duel right? Freaky stuff that was."

[Tesability Black]

~~Miero's POV~~

"Did you enjoy your walk?"

Miero lifted his head at this, finding himself looking up towards the Buster Blader, who continued to say, "sadly, we're just kind of stuck here until we've given the clear to march. It probably won't be until tomorrow, so get some rest, if you can."

"What, but, he could hang out with us!" Miero slightly paled at the thought of being stuck with the madman before the pair that Wade wrapped his arms around lifted their heads as one towards him to tell him one thing.

"Off."

Miero couldn't help but giving a muted snicker, as Wade grumbled loudly,  "There's no homo here guys, even if it is a sausage fest..."

"Anyways, we should probably simmer down for the night," Miero heard Dread Knight comment, nodding to himself in response. "Maybe find the others and make sure they don't get lost."

"We'll send someone for Gandora and Helena," Buster Blader said before anyone else could add in their words. "For now, Endymion wants to speak to the blank card users, when they all have gathered back. For now, relax for a bit."

Miero brought up his free hand to his chin, slowly tracing random patterns on the ground with the emerald-tipped golden staff in his other hand. "Well, there is a skyship that has arrived in the area. Vantoase claimed it was the Skyfang Brigade, but she is unsure." After this, Miero looked back through the entrance he came through, almost lost in thought. "And I was more helping with what I could around the city instead of just leaving for a walk." He glanced back towards the group, his gaze focused on Wade for a moment as a sly smile fell on his face. "Unlike a certain someone that tends to make things worse, I was focusing on making things a little better in this place."

"Relax? What so you guys haven't been doing that already?" Miero heard from nearby with a chuckle, prompting him to turn towards the source as Daichi strolled up to the others. "Sorry about that...had a bit of a talk with Haruto and the others."

 

Allowing his heart to stop racing from the sudden addition, Miero sighed before giving him a small smile. "Hopefully, things are well with you and them."

~~Kuria's POV~~

Kuria noticed that his question regarding how many of those cards were made was ignored, though it was answered in a way he wasn't expecting, which took him a physical effort to not visually react to. However, as he saw Blues went to try to pocket the found blank card, Kuria found himself blinded momentarily. The cybernetic eye cleared up as soon as the light left, but he was still seeing spots in his living eye forcing him to see primarily through the cybernetic eye.

That was when he saw finally the naturally-faint glow from the card, a light that was either in the IR or UV spectrum of light. "What the..."

"And it's my turn to duel," Kuria heard, breaking from his thoughts as he reopened his right eye. "Let's get this over with..."

Knowing full well that he wouldn't be allowed on the field with Blues, he decided to get into the stands, potentially close enough to the front to jump the barrier to intervene just in case sheet happens. It would be better than him searching for something he had no idea what to look for. He found a miraculously-empty seat in the front, taking full advantage to take it for himself. Some of the people near him were disgruntled about him being so close, one of them off-putted by his cybernetics and left one of the seats near him empty. Kuria was unbothered by this, however, used to most reactions to his appearance by now.

He had to be used to it after having both a fake right arm and left eye for five years now...

Subconsciously scratching at his left forearm with said cybernetic arm after leaning back, he hadn't realized that Jet and Dr. Aichi were behind him a few rows back as he sat down to focus on the match. This allowed him to fully focus on the duel ahead, watching out for anything unusual as it played out.

And his shoulders slumped upon seeing the various Ancient Gears, his qualifier into this tournament flashing through his head. "funk offensive Earth decks," he ended up saying a little too loudly, his aggravation towards such decks overriding the surprise of Blues not using a Blue-Eyes deck. "They always drive me up a---"

"By revealing the Blues-Eyes White Dragon in my hand, I can Special Summon Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon!"

"---wait, what?" He said with a sudden addition of confusion, leaning forward as he did. Considering the omonous glow around the user's duel disk, he had expected Dark monsters, not...that. Definitely not that, considering the Blue-Eyes user wasn't a Kaiba.

"This guy..." Kuria heard behind him with a familiar voice, prompting him to see Jet and Mr. Creeptastic as the former continued talking. "He went for destroying the monster by effect rather than attacking...if he's running something like this, why wouldn't he attack?"

"Perhaps the fool doesn't know what he's doing." Kuria looked back towards the match, running his mind through the scenario.

 

"Now that I think about it, there's a lot of traps that trigger during battle," Kuria remarked more to himself. "Maybe he figured it a safe play, since it would guarantee destruction instead of taking the risk of losing his monster..."

[~Faytl~]

Tycho made his way quickly back into the arena proper, stalking through the hallway even as his shoulder twinged with pain. "Got to find Kaiba... tell him I'm back on board," he muttered distractedly. 

 

The tournament organizer who had swept him into the infirmary before whipped around the corner, eyes widening as he saw the large man making his way forcefully through the hallway. "Mr. Bosko! There you are! Excellent dueling, I-"

 

"Out of my way," Tycho said simply, moving to breeze through the small man, but the medical orderlies that came around the corner barred the way.

 

"Mr. Bosko, sir," the organizer rambled quickly, "We have to get you to the infirmary, the patch on your shoulder was just a quick fix... THANK you so much for dueling through it, but now we can fix it, I'm SO sorry it-"

 

"I need to talk to Kaiba!" Tycho snapped irritably. "Let me through."

 

"But Mr. Kaiba's match is next, he's already making his way in by now!"

 

"Your bandages are going to break if you keep walking around like that," one of the orderlies replied bluntly. "If you don't want to start bleeding out again, I recommend you come with us. Get some rest. You've been stabbed AND had a difficult duel, sir, take it easy."

 

Tycho narrowed his eyes at the orderly, but as he did so he caught a glimpse of someone down another nearby hallway making their way towards the arena. Blues, a look of determination on his face. Tycho turned, raising a hand.

 

"Kaiba!" 

 

Whether he caught Blues' attention or not, Tycho levered his gaze at the boy, raising his Duel Disk, nodding in assent. "I don't think you're fit to lead us yet. But I'll give you the chance to prove me wrong. Duel well, kid."

 

The orderlies and organizer looked at him with a touch of exasperation before leading him off to the infirmary, Tycho acquiescing an following them. He took a seat on one of the beds, tossing his new coat aside as the orderlies went to work changing his bandages. Tycho winced several times during the procedure, but looked around for a few moments before his eyes alighted on a remote control. 

 

He snatched the remote, pointing it at the TV. Live coverage of the match outside came on, the face of a massive blue dragon appearing before him as it obliterated Blues' monster. Tycho's face spasmed brioefly in surprise.

 

"Blue-Eyes?" he wondered aloud. "Kaiba is facing his own legacy in this duel, it seems." The camera panned away, revealing Blues' opponent. Tycho frowned as he saw who it was. Ao Mokuba... So he holds the power of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. What else is he capable of?

[Wind Rider]

"Hello, little one," She said gently. "Are you enjoying your time in the Spirit World?"

 

"Huh?" Helena looked up at the rose covered dragon as she sat down beside her. It was an... Odd question, for her anyway. Helena's experience in the Spirit World has had its ups and downs, mostly downs. She thought for a long minute, a nervous expression began to appear on her face. She was worried of multiple things, of insulting the great dragon's home, of not sounding grateful for the hospitality. Finally, she took a deep breath and spoke up to Black Rose Dragon.

 

"My experiences here in the Spirit World have been... Different, to say the least... I... Tried to make friends. I faced down a Wicked God... Almost attacked my friends... I... I just don't know what to think these days..." she spoke in a melancholic tone.

[Yui]

---

"Ah, yeah, good thing you grabbed that. Geez, I wish we knew where these came from..."

 

Mysterious cards that came out of nowhere? Ayame would normally have trouble believing it, but she was still fresh out of seeing all that weird sheet with Nero just earlier. She was willing to suspend her disbelief with that in mind. Kyouji handed the blank card to Blues, who seemed to stare at it for a while before telling Ayame that it was hers now, and to take good care of it so it could serve her well in the future. And it seemed everyone was taking a break now? She got more and more curious, but it seemed she wouldn't be getting any answers from Kyouji or Blues, as the former was off to go look for a psychic duelist, and the latter was up for his duel. For just a brief moment, Ayame had forgotten about the tournament. It was easy to let even something important like that slip for a bit in the face of everything that had just happened.

 

"I'll be on the lookout for the psychic duelist. Wish me luck."

 

"Hold it!" Aika exclaimed, following the Duel King, "I'm goin' with ya!"

 

Fortunately, it seemed Ayame would be getting her answers from someone else.

 

"Hello there. I guess you have a lot of questions about what all this is but, let's start easy and go with introductions. My name's Furiko. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance Miss."

 

"Iwaki. Ayame Iwaki." Ayame took the extended hand and shook it. "I do have a lot of questions, but let's start with the important ones. What are these blank cards, and where do all of you fit into all of this? The CEO of KaibaCorp and the Duel King are one thing, but everyone else seems to just be random people."

---

[senorchavez]

"Each of these blank cards house a monster that can defeat the Wicked Gods, the ones who were controlling Nero earlier, according to Blues," Eizar responded. He paced around a bit before continuing. "We don't know why they chose us specifically, but a common pattern has been that we are all missing somebody who've been spirited away as sacrifices for the Wicked Gods. That's why we're all here," he finished before crossing his arms. "Unfortunately they have a Psychic Duelist that's out to make sure we don't accomplish that, though Kyouji is on his way to take care of it."

[King K. Azo]

Blues narrowed his eyes as stared down the Blues-Eyes in front of him. "You've made a mistake coming at me with a Blue-Eyes deck. I know that deck inside and out," He stated as his scarf flowed in the wind. "Now, it's my turn, draw!" He pulled out his card and smirked a little as he saw it. "I activate the Spell Card Ancient Gear Catapult! I can only activate this card when I have no monsters! It allows me to destroy a face-up card on my side of the field and Special Summon an Ancient Gear Monster from my deck, ignoring its Summoning Conditions! I choose to destroy Geartown!"
 
A large catapult appeared on the field, firing a shot, the hunk of metal flying high into the sky. It soon came crashing down however, destroying the town of gears. "And when Geartown is destroyed, I can Special Summon a monster from my hand, deck, or graveyard... however, I can't ignore Summon Conditions there. So off of Geartown, I'll summon Ancient Gear Wyvern!" A large robotic wyvern appeared on the field, roaring at the Alternative Dragon. (Level 4, ATK: 1700) "and now..., from Ancient Gear Catapult's effect..."
 
Blues' Castle

"I summon my ace monster Ancient Gear Golem!" (Level 8, ATK: 3000) The large metal monster's fist punched its way out of the ground, pulling itself on the field, towering at an equal height to the dragon. "The two monsters have equal attack, so I won't attack now. But I will activate Ancient Wyvern's effect, which allows me to add an Ancient Gear card from my deck to my hand. I'll search out Ancient Gear Fusion!" He added the card to his hand before looking over the field. "And with that, I'll end my turn,"
 
"Bah, you didn't even activate that Fusion to summon a bigger monster? Pathetic, you'll lose like this," Mokuba stated.

"It's all part of my plan," Blues stated.

"Fine then, I'll draw!" Mokuba drew his card and looked at his hand. "First, I'll activate the Spell Card Trade-In! I can discard a level 8 monster to draw two more cards, so I'll discard my Blue-Eyes White Dragon to draw two more cards!" He discarded his monster, drawing two more cards and looking up. "Now I activate the Trade-In I drew to discard Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon and draw two more cards!" He discarded the ritual and dug even deeper into his deck. "There we go," He said with a smirk. "I now activate One for One! By discarding Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon, I can Special Summon a Level 1 monster from my deck! The monster I summon is Maiden with Eyes of Blue!" A maiden with long white hair appeared on the field, placing a hand on Alternative Dragon. 

"All that work for a level one monster?" Juri Lee called out from the stands. "What is this man up to?" 

"Now, I tribute my Maiden to summon Zaborg the Mega Monarch!" A large white monster with red horns on its shoulders appeared on the field, standing to his full height. "Now, I activate his effect! By destroying itself, I can send 8 cards from our Extra Decks to the graveyard! And since Zaborg was a Light Monster, I get to choose your cards as well!" He made a dramatic flourish to his Extra Deck. "From my Extra deck, I'll send two copies each of Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, Neo Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, Blue-Eyes Twin Burst Dragon, and Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon!" The cards rapidly filled up his graveyard as he turned to Blues. "Now, you're going to dump all 3 Chaos Giants, Ultimate Ancient Gear Golems, and two Megaton Ancient Gear Golems!" 

Blues clicked his tongue as he emptied out his Extra Deck. That was inconvenient, to say the least.

"And now, Blue-Eyes Alternative will activate his special ability to destroy your pile of rubble, Ancient Gear Golem. Go, White Lightning of Destruction!"

"I activate my trap card, Cross Dimensional Duel!" Blues suddenly called out. "I banish my Ancient Gear Golem off of the field until the next standby phase!" Blues grinned. "Looks like you missed. And due to Alternative Dragon's effect, you don't get a Battle Phase," Mokuba, however, seemed unfased.

"And with that, I end my turn," He said.
 

---

 
There was a knock at Tycho's door, and the door swung open to reveal Yugo, leaning against the door frame. "Yo, Tycho, are you okay? I heard you were dueling with a nasty wound. What happened?" After he got his answer, he walked in, looking at the TV. "Huh. That Mokuba guy dumped his entire Extra Deck... what kind of move is that?"
 

---

 
Kyouji walked down the passageway quietly, pushing his bike towards the garage. "Thanks for accompanying me, Aika. Still, you didn't have to," The walk was... oddly silent, with nothing but the whispering of the wind sweeping past them.
 

---

 
"or maybe he knows exactly what he wants to be doing here." Looking at the two, she looked at the younger of the two, saying "hey there star boy. You were the one in the first duel right? Freaky stuff that was."
 
"You think that's weird? You obviously haven't done your research...," A voice called out. Sitting behind the group was a sliver haired boy wearing a hat. His eyes were green, and he wore plain clothes. Anyone that paid attention to the brackets would know he was Furiko's opponent, Rando. "Tournaments have always been magnets for the odd... speaking of...," He looked at Jet. "You have an odd power, don't you? ... Kinda like me," As he said his final line, a bluish rune resembling the letter P appeared in his left eye, flashing for a second before fading away.
 
 

 
 
 
"Relax? What so you guys haven't been doing that already?" he asked with a chuckle, as he strolled up to the others. "Sorry about that...had a bit of a talk with Haruto and the others."

"That's understandable," Buster Blader stated. "It's not everyday duel spirits can talk to their chosen like this. I never even had the chance to do with mine,"
 
"Hey, I'm going to go get Helena and Gandora," Clear Wing suddenly called out. "It seems Endymion's getting impatient," With that, it took of in a streak of green. Henry folded his arms as he watched the dragon take off.

"I'm surprised, to be honest," He said. "Despite the fact the Wicked Gods are free in the Spirit World, they aren't rampaging across the lands...,"

"Well, they haven't directly attacked us duel spirits," Buster Blader said.

"Yeah, if anything, they don't attack unless they're attacked first," Gaia stated as he rode in on his horse. "But their hatred of humanity is driving them to kill all of them. That's not something we can allow. We're quite fond of humans, you know,"

---

 
"My experiences here in the Spirit World have been... Different, to say the least... I... Tried to make friends. I faced down a Wicked God... Almost attacked my friends... I... I just don't know what to think these days..." she spoke in a melancholic tone. Black Rose nodded, laying down around Helena, smiling a little, letting her flowery feathers shield Helena from the cold mountain winds. "Well then, child, tell me, what do you---," Suddenly, a streak of green came hurtling in at them, stopping on the ground next to them. Clear Wing panted a bit as he stood tall.

"Endymion said he wanted to see the blank card users... that includes Helena," he explained. Black Rose nodded. 

"I'll take them back myself," She said as she wrapped her tail around Helena and placed her on her back. She waited for Shiren to climb on before taking off. "Now, as I was saying... I have to ask you an important question. What do you think of your own physic powers?" She asked gently as they flew back to the Citadel.

[Super Chaos Sonic]

-The Moonlit Magician-

~Citadel of Endymion~

 

"That's understandable. It's not everyday Duel Spirits can talk to their chosen like this. I never even had the chance to do with mine."

 

Daichi took this to heart, making him feel a bit better knowing that he was one of the lucky ones to be able to talk with the Duel Spirits and become their champion. "Yeah well...at the same time, it's not everyday people end up coming here to the Spirit World." he chuckled.

"I'm surprised, to be honest," He said. "Despite the fact the Wicked Gods are free in the Spirit World, they aren't rampaging across the lands..."
"Well, they haven't directly attacked us duel spirits."
"Yeah, if anything, they don't attack unless they're attacked first. But their hatred of humanity is driving them to kill all of them. That's not something we can allow. We're quite fond of humans, you know."

 

"That is shown quite a lot to be honest." he said, looking at Haruto, shaking his head some. "But I will agree. The fact that the Wicked Gods or their Duelists have attacked again. Then again..."

 

"What are you thinking, Dai?" Haruto spoke up.

 

"Just thinking out loud here. But...maybe they're just waiting for the right opportunity? Sort of like how an entertainer puts on a real showstopper at the end of their show." Daichi explained. "Maybe they're trying to figure out what note to go out on and then they'll strike."

 

 

-The Starry Exeperiment-

~Fortune Cup~

 

"Or maybe he knows exactly what he wants to be doing here."

 

Akihiro looked over at Hanae and scoffed slightly. "Highly unlikely, young lady. A deck that powerful can only be used properly in the hands of a Kaiba. And unfortunately, Blues is using Ancient Gears."

 

However, as Akihiro said this, it seemed as thought this Mokuba fellow was making use of the deck a lot more than he originally thought he would. It was almost scary to see that he was doing so much like this...and NOT be a Kaiba.

 

"Hey there star boy. You were the one in the first duel right? Freaky stuff that was."

 

Jet was unglued from the Duel for a moment, glancing at Hanae as she spoke. He didn't say anything, but felt Akihiro nonchalantly bump him with his elbow. Jet guessed he was allowed to speak right now. "Nothing more than just a Duel Runner malfunction." he explained. "That's what my opponent said. But thank you."

 

"You think that's weird? You obviously haven't done your research...Tournaments have always been magnets for the odd... speaking of..."

 

Hearing a new voice, Jet turned quickly and noticed that there was someone else making a bit of conversation with him. This one was Rando. He remembered his face and name from the brackets...he was going up against someone named Furiko, he believed. He watched Rando just staring at him for a bit, before speaking once more.

 

"You have an odd power, don't you? ... Kinda like me."

 

In a quick moment, Jet noticed a bluish "P" shaped rune appear and fade away. "I...don't know what your talking about actually." he said, slowly turning away to watch the Duel. Still right now, he felt something about the guy behind him...he couldn't put his finger on it...but there was something about him. What is this feeling...? A-And who the hell is he? he thought, slowly holding his right arm in the process.