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

[senorchavez]

Eizar Lutio V.S. Mitchell Pryer

 

"Alright everone," a voice rang out within the courtyard of Reffo's 'Old Town', it's origin being a rather energetic old man. "This is the final Duel of our preliminaries for the Fortune Cup, or, as our ancestors used to call it, the Starlight Dueling Festival! This time around we have the familiar face of Mitchell Pryer and his son Eizar Lutio! This will be Eizar’s first Fortune Cup and qualifying is going to be a daunting task, given who he is facing. Mr. Pryer is regarded around these parts as the gatekeeper of the town, given his high win rate over the past 10 years. Let’s see if the son can surpass his elder! As tradition decrees, both duelists must bow to each other before the duel can get underway.”

 

After the two bowed in the center of the court, Mitchell looked down at Eizar solemnly. “I’m going to take a gander and say that you’re not here for the hell of it?” to which the boy nodded. “I understand how important this must be for you, boy, but if threat is as grave as you told me then I must bring it upon myself to protect you.”

 

Eizar didn’t respond, instead walking to his end of the field, which got a slight harumph out of the Mitchell, but turned around to the older man. “If that’s the case, then don’t hold back! I want to be ready for anything!” This declaration put a smile on the middle-aged man who quickly bounded over to the opposite end of the field.

 

“As if I’ll hold back, even for a shorty like you!” Mitchell declared before raising his Duel Disk, almost in-sync with Eizar.

 

Turn One

Eizar: 8000

Mitchell: 8000

 

“As this is your first time in this tournament, I’ll let you have the first turn.”

 

“Alright then,” Eizar began as he drew a card. “I begin by Summoning Revol Sage in Attack Mode!” After he made that declaration, a mechanical figure bearing the resemblance of an elderly man in blue metallic robes rose from the ground, with what appears to be two halves of blue differently-sized halos spinning around within a hole where the heart would typically be for a human.

 

Revol Sage

***

1200/1500

 

‘So that’s a Revol monster, huh?’ Mitchell mused. ‘Let’s see what it can do.’

 

“I activate Revol Sage’s first ability! If Revol Sage is Summoned and Revol Shinobi isn’t in the Graveyard I can send the latter monster from my Deck to fill that space!” Eizar states as he takes a card from his deck and puts it in the grave slot. “I then activate his special effect, allowing me to Summon any Revol monster from my hand to the field, and I choose Revol Shaman!”

 

As he placed the card on the tray a new monster arose from the earth, revealing a male dark brown figure in tribal attire, sporting a bone necklace and a skull staff, all with the same metallic hue to it's body and a brown set of halos within its chest area. It also had a noticeable hunch to it's back.

 

Revol Shaman

*****

2000/1500

 

“And just like Revol Sage Revol Shaman also has an effect that can activate when a specific card isn't in the have, but I have to pay 500 Life Points to do so. The card that gets sent is Revol Lycan.” The ticker on his Life Points goes down as he puts another card in the Graveyard.

 

LP

8000→7500

 

“I now activate Revol Shaman's special effect: by sending one Revol monster from my hand to the Graveyard, I can bring a different one into the field in exchange! In this case I send Revol Reaper to the Grave in exchange for Shinobi-!”

 

“Don't get ahead of yourself, kid. I activate Effect Veiler’s effect from my hand! By sending it to the Graveyard I can stop the activation of any monster's effect until the end of the turn.” With that a blue-haired seraph appeared, enveloping the head of the cybernetic mage's staff in a white light before disappearing, leaving the offended mage disgruntled, to say the least.

 

“Hm… then I activate the Field Spell Revol Zone and set a face-down to end my turn.”

 

After placing the blue card in the respective slot of his duel disk, the Field began to glow as a large multicolored gyroscope appeared and began to spin. When it reached its maximum RPM, a large ring encircled the courtyard and began slowly rotating. “This field passively gives all Revol monsters a small boost of 500 ATK points.”

 

Revol Sage

***

1200/1500→1700/1500

 

Revol Shaman

*****

2000/1500→2500/1500

 

“And since I ended my turn, the final effects of Revol Sage and Shaman activate! If I attacked or activated their main effects, I can send them to the Graveyard to Special Summon their partner cards, Shinobi and Lycan, in their place!”

 

Revol Sage and Shaman began to shine blue and brown lights respectively before changing into two green forms. The lights died away to reveal a green mechanical version of what a typical ninja would be, and a similarly-colored canine beast that stood upright on a pair of digitigrade legs.

 

Revol Shinobi

***

1400/800→1900/800

 

Revol Lycan

*****

2300/1200→2800/1200

 

“That's an interesting gimmick you got there, shrimp,” Mitchell started. “However, gimmicks can only get you so far in a tournament!”

 

Turn Two

Eizar: 7500, 0 Cards in hand

Mitchell: 8000 5 Cards in Hand

 

Mitchell looks at his hand pensively. ‘He lost all of his hand advantage in his opening. Very reckless, shows that he still has a lot to learn.’ He then shook his head. ‘Focus, you can't go easy on him just because he is newbie. Capitalize on his mistake then make him learn from it.’ After putting together a plan, he placed a card in a Spell slot. “To begin, I activate Gishki Aquamirror and sacrifice my one Gishki Beast and Gishki Zielgigas!” Mitchell's side of his field suddenly morphed into water. Out from the surface flew the iconic Gishki Aquamirror, it's reflective pane of glass beginning to ripple.

 

“Oh, great glass of transformation, reveal to us the true form of our faith so that our enemies may fall as they face our unbridled fury! May the sacrifice of your worshippers not be in vain as you smite those who dare oppose us! Come forth Evigishki Soul Ogre!”

 

Once again the mirror flashed revealing a slightly smaller, but nonetheless threatening, mer. This one was more reserved in its entry, choosing to slowly rise from the water.

 

Evigishki Soul Ogre

********

2800/2800

 

“And Mitchell doesn't hesitate in bringing a powerhouse on his first turn, Soul Ogre!”

 

“And I'm far from done!” Mitchell continued. “I activate Soul Ogre’s special ability. By discarding one Gishki monster from my hand, I can return one of your monsters on the field to your deck, so I choose to get rid of another one of my Gishki Beasts to spin your Revol Lycan!” Soul Ogre began to whip up a whirlpool, intent on literally spinning the Revol Lycan back to the deck when Eizar spoke out.

 

“Not if I have anything to say about it. I activate Breakthrough Skill, negating the effect of Soul Ogre and keeping my Lycan on the field!” As he said that, the aqueous vortex slowly died down until Revol Lycan was able to stand upright, who let out a sigh.

 

“Well-played kid,” Mitchell began. “But don't think it's over yet. You remember that Zielgigas that I sent to the Graveyard?” he inquired, to which Eizar nodded. Worry crossed the boy’s face when he realized why the middle-aged man asked that question. “That's right, it's coming back, kiddo. I activate Gishki Aquamirror's special effect. By shuffling Aquamirror back into the deck I can bring any Gishki Ritual monster back to my hand, from the grave, and I choose Gishki Zielgigas.” He took the offending Spell card or of the grave slot and shuffled it back into his deck, placing his Soul Ogre back into his hand afterwards.

 

“Now I activate Salvage, allowing me to add two Water-Attribute monsters who have fifteen hundred or less Attack from my grave into my hand, and I choose both of my Beasts!”

He then smirked as he pushed a Spell card into the slot, revealing a familiar mirror.

 

“Oh, great glass of transformation, reveal to us the true form of our faith so that our enemies may fall as they face our unbridled fury! Come forth and send our foes to the never ending depths of despair, Gishki Zielgigas!”

 

It was then that the mirror flashed, a gargantuan four-armed leviathan breaking the surface of the water below. It uncrossed is arms and let out a furious roar, one that made Eizar's face pale.

 

Gishki Zielgigas

**********

3200/0

 

“I then activate Zielgigas's effect. allowing me to return an opponent's monster on the field to the deck if I discard a Gishki monster! His LP counter ticked down to 7000 as he drew a card, revealing it to be a third Gishki Beast. “Well, won't you look at that. Since I drew my third Beast, I choose to spin your Lycan again!” This time Eizar had no way to respond to the effect, the beast quickly drowning.

 

“I then summon Gishki Beast from my hand, activating its effect! If this monster is Normal Summoned, it allows me to Special Summon a second Beast from my Graveyard!” Out from the depths arose a pair of mermen, who were more akin to lizardmen.

 

Gishki Beast (1)

****

1500/1300

 

Gishki Beast (2)

****

1500/1300

 

 

“Now I Overlay my two Gishki Beasts to build the Overlay Network! Appear before us, Number 103: Ragnazero!”

 

The sky above the courtyard darkened, the two material monsters morphing into dual spheres of light that ascended into crevice. A light erupted from the hole and from it, descended a violet-skinned maiden with shards of ice protruding from is back. Rotating around it are the spherical pair of lights.

 

Number 103:Ragnazero

R****

2400/1200

 

“And there it is, the thing that differentiates me from all the other residents of Reffo, an XYZ monster. While other tend to shy away from them because of a perceived taboo, I just see them as another card. I will now detach an Overlay Unit to activate Ragnazero’s special ability, which allows me to target an opponent's monster that has an unnatural amount of Attack Points and destroy it! That would mean you Revol Shinobi, the only between me and your Life Points disappears, and I even get to draw a card for it as a bonus!”

 

One of the spheres of light disappeared into Ragnazero's body, who then stabbed one of her blades into the water. A line of ice jetted along the surface until it reached the unfortunate ninja, who didn't get to cry out before it was enveloped in a pillar of ice and shattered.

 

“Well,” Mitchell began solemnly. “It appears you have no more--” He was cut off as the large ring began to spin faster.

 

“Revol Zone’s effect activates, allowing me to draw a card.” Eizar stated. “If it's a Revol monster I get to Special Summon it into the field.”

 

“Is that so? Well let's see if Lady Luck is on your side, shorty.”

 

Eizar subtly nodded before drawing his card, revealing it to be be a golden 8-star dragon. Eizar grinned as he knew he was safe for at least the rest of this turn. “Since I drew a monster, I will decide to put it on the field in Attack Mode instead! Come on out, Golden Revol Dragon!” A shadow loomed over the courtyard, slowly growing closer until the dragon in the card landed in front of Eizar, roaring at the opposing monsters. “As usual for higher-level Revol monsters, if their partner card isn't in the Graveyard, I can pay 500 Life Points to send them there. In this case it would be Sapphire Revol Dragon.”

 

Eizar: 7500→7000

 

Ruby Revol Dragon

********

2800/1000→3300/1000

 

Mitchell let out a sigh of exasperation as his plan to end the duel in one turn just got walled off. “Alright. I end my turn. Not sure how you're gonna be able to come back from this but it'll be interesting to see you try, nonetheless.”

 

 

[spoiler=Current Status]Eizar Lutio: 7000

0 Cards in Hand

4 Cards in Grave

Mitchell Pryer: 7000

1 Card in Hand

3 Cards in Grave

Field Status

Eizar:

Golden Revol Dragon

********

3300/1000

 

Mitchell:

Gishki Zielgigas

**********

3200/0

 

Evigishki Soul Ogre

********

2800/2800

 

Number 103: Ragnazero

R****

2400/1200

 

[King K. Azo]

Yugo: 5300
Hope: 4000

Yugo clicked his tongue as he looked over at the giant Xyz monster looming over him. It was a challenging wall, but if he didn't break through this wall, how could he believe he would someday surpass his grandfather? With a grin, he reached into his deck. He figured out how to beat it.

"My turn, draw!" Yugo called out, reaching into his deck. "When I control no monsters, I can Special Summon Speedroid Terrortop from my hand!" A line of tops spun around, rolling on the field. "Its special effect activates. I can add a monster from my deck to my hand! I choose another Bamboo Horse, which I summon right now!" Another horse appeared on the field. "And now, I activate its effect to Special Summon Speedroid Red-Eyed Dice from my hand!" A small dice bearing a red eye appeared on the field. "Its effect activates! I target Terrortop, and I can change its level from between one to six! I choose five! Now I tune my level one Red Eyed Dice with my level 5 Terrortop!"

He then closed his eyes, being to chant. "Sacred wings that command the meteor shower!! Ride the wind of souls around the world!! Synchro Summon! Level 6, Stardust Charge Warrior!" (ATK:2000) From the skies came a warrior that wore armor resembling Stardust Dragon, blades that looked like wings coming from its torso. "His effect activates! When he's summoned, I can draw a card!" Yugo explained. "Now I activate the first Bamboo Horse's graveyard effect! By banishing it, I can place a different Speedroid in the graveyard, so I'll send Speedroid Den-Den Archduke!" He then took a sharp left turn around the track before explaining. "I activate Archduke's effect! When I banish him, I can special summon a Speedroid tuner from my hand or graveyard! I summon Red Eyed Dice!" The small toy appeared back on the field. "And now, I use its effect to change the Bamboo Horse on my field to six! Now, I'll synchro summon!"

The two toys flew into the air, synching together to make a new monster, all while Yugo chanted. "Spread those glorious wings, and go supersonic! Break every speed barrier! Synchro Summon! Level 7, Clear Wing Fast Dragon!" A legless dragon descended, its bulky chest resembling a green chestplate, with the wings and five fingered gauntlets having cyan plated blades.

"Those are pretty snazzy cards, but how do you expect them to overpower Utopia the Lightning?" Hope asked, nearly gloating. Yugo just shook his head in response.

"You asked earlier if I was a Fudo. Well, here's your answer. I am, and here's a lesson my grandfather taught me. Many in harmony can overpower one in perfection!" He raised his hand into the air. "Once per turn, I can choose a monster summoned from the extra deck, and negate its abilities, as well as dropping its attack to zero!"

"What?!" Hope cried out. "H-how?! NOT EVEN UTOPIA CAN SAVE ME NOW!!"

"Sealing Sound Cannon!" Clear Wing Fast Dragon opened it mouth, shooting out a beam that caused Lightning to fall to a knee. "And now, Stardust Charge attacks! Shaving Sonic Strike!" The warrior dashed forwards, slashing Utopia the Lightning in half.

Hope: 2000

"And finally, Clear Wing Fast Dragon attacks! Sonic Boom Cyclone Slasher!" The dragon roared, flying into the air before diving at Hope, crashing into her D-Wheel, causing her to spin out of control and smashing into a wall. She groaned as she climbed off the D-Wheel.

"Guess I never really had a chance against the grandson of Yusei Fudo...," She said with a chuckle. Yugo gritted his teeth and kept driving. It seemed he still needed to prove himself still.

---

"Hey... Have either of you seen Kuriboh?" Helena asked. Silent Swordsman shrugged as he looked up, yawning.

"The fuzzball probably went home to his family. Anyways, g'night," He muttered as he closed his eyes. Azaelle looked over to Helena, sighing.

"Y-yeah, he probably did. We'll see him tomorrow, okay?" She said with a yawn. "Anyways... goodnight," She stated as she fell asleep.

The night was quiet, and nothing too exciting throughout it. However... the next morning, the tower was in a frenzy, some people speaking of the 'Forbidden One' appearing in the courtyard. Perhaps Helena should check it out?

---

"Is it me...or is he a little too cheerful?" Meiro muttered. Wade chuckled, placing an arm around Meiro's shoulder.

"That's my secret Cap. I'm always cheerful," With that, he rushed into the ruins of the stadium.

"Good morning," Lyall told all of them while walking past them to follow Wade. The stadium looked like it hadn't been used in a while, and despite the repairs being done to it, he doubted anybody might accidentally stumble upon them here. Downstairs, he approached Dread Knight and Phantom Falcon.

"Nice to know we won't have to go out of our way to get this. I trust it's ready for us to use." Phantom Falcon nodded.

"Yes it is. Step on in... let us see where we end up...," The portal opened up once more, allowing the group to step in. The ride over was... disconcerting to say the least. However, no one seemed to be harmed as they landed in what seemed like a large city, one with massive towers surrounding them.

"The Magical Citadel of Endymion...?" Dread Knight muttered. The spellcasters looked at them with interest. Even more humans appeared...? Suddenly one called out in fear.

"It's the Forbidden One!!" He cried, pointing at Wade. Wade blinked and pointed to himself questioningly. The group of monsters quickly dissipated, leaving the group alone.

"Huh. That was weird. Anyways! Let's go to the big tower!" Wade called out, headed to the big tower in the center.

---

The duel stadium was buzzing in excitement. The stands were filled to the max, and people were even standing just to get a view. The stadium itself a track circling a main stage, so it could accommodate all duel styles. In the very north was a tower, one where Blues and Kyouji could sit, watching over everything.

The blank card users were placed in their own special waiting room, where Blues was waiting to speak with them. The CEO looked at the group, sighing to himself.

"Well, we're all here...," he folded his arms, "The Fortune Cup. Now, I know a lot of you want to see your opponents, and just duel to the top. However... We will need some of you to investigate some of the other participates. Any one of them could be a wielder of a Wicked God or Sacred Beasts. I'll send someone to you when the time comes. Just be prepared...," And with that, he left the room.

Outside, the MC was getting ready, clearing her throat. She was a cute looking woman, with her black hair in two short horn-like ponytails and wearing a purple jacket. "Hello world! It's Juri Li here, live at the Fortune Cup! We're waiting for the computer to generate a bracket! And on top of that, it will pick one lucky duelist to participate in a special exhibition duel with the Duel King Kyouji!" She looked over at the computer, seeing the names being set out. Soon, the bracket was made. "And the lucky duelist for the exhibition duel is...," she paused for dramatic effect. "Furiko Hoshizora! Please, come to the stadium!"

And with that, the Fortune Cup had begun!

[spoiler=Brackets and OOC]

For now, Furiko vs. Kyouji will be the match. It shouldn't take too long, so just sit tight and watch the fireworks.

 

[Super Chaos Sonic]

-Moonlit Magician-

~Citadel of Endymion~

 

After the group walked through the portal, they were astonished to see the location they ended up in. The sky overhead, from what Daichi could see, was a beautiful shade of blue, painted with white clouds. But that wasn't all. He could see the three rings of runes above the citadel and its little city. It was literally as though they stepped right into the card art of it.

 

"The Magical Citadel of Endymion...?"

 

"It looks like it!" Daichi responded, already seeing Haruto nodding. "And this place is crawling with so many Spellcasters!"

 

"Well of course. This is where we Spellcasters are raised." Haruto spoke, now currently in a physical body and being heard by the others. "So, its with great honor that I welcome you to my home, Daichi."

 

"This is your home? Well, gotta say its pretty awes-"

 

"It's the Forbidden One!!"

 

Daichi was caught off by one of the Spellcasters pointing and shouting at Wade of all people. With that, mass panic and hysteria ensued, before the group found themselves alone in the square. "Uh...Haruto?"

 

"Truth be known, I have no earthly idea myself." Haruto shrugged, before watching Wade immediately head towards the center tower. "Well, at least our friend here knows where he's going. Master Endymion resides in that tower, along with those who he seeks council with."

 

"Heh, then lets get to it, Haruto!" Daichi said, giving Haruto a physical high five, before the pair began to walk towards the center tower.

 

 

-The Starry Experiment-

 

"Hello world! It's Juri Li here, live at the Fortune Cup! We're waiting for the computer to generate a bracket! And on top of that, it will pick one lucky duelist to participate in a special exhibition duel with the Duel King Kyouji! Furiko Hoshizora! Please, come to the stadium!"

 

Jet watched from the stands, sitting beside Dr. Aichi as well as some other personnel of Kaiba Corp's Turbo Branch, just in regular street clothes. The Fortune Cup was finally beginning and right now was the exhibition Duel between the Duel King himself and some young girl. However...

 

"Your match is the first match of the tournament, aside from the exhibition match." Dr. Aichi spoke, his eyes never leaving the announcement of the roster and bracket. "This, Kuria Bijorn fellow. You said he is an ally to Blues?"

 

Jet remained silent for a moment, before finally acknowledging him. "That is correct sir. He's the one who stopped me."

 

"Excellent. It means that you know his playstyle and you can fight to beat it." Dr. Aichi smirked, throwing his left leg atop his right leg, crossing them slightly as he clasped his hands. "As always, if you shall pass out or anything during or after the match after you summon your Stardust Spark, a medical team will be present."

 

"Yes sir..." Jet nodded, looking at the floor for a moment, thinking on how he was going to Duel against Kuria. If he knew anything, Kuria would most likely be awaiting an answer to that question of his...but the answer he had...he knew Kuria wouldn't want.

[senorchavez]

“I can barely believe what just happened. Mitchell not only did he fill the field with three huge powerhouses managed to almost win the duel in one turn on the process! This will be a most difficult obstacle for Eizar to overcome.”

 

Turn Three

Eizar: 7000|0 Cards in Hand

Mitchell: 7000|1 Card in Hand

 

“My draw,” said a disheartened Eizar. He looks at the card he drew with a furrowed brow. ‘This card may be good but I don't know which cards to use afterwards. Odds are that even if I get rid of Zielgigas this turn I will still have to deal with him the very next one.’ After a few moments a different thought popped into mind, with a feminine tone.

 

‘Actually, we may have just won the game by drawing this card.’ Really?

 

'Yeah and we know just how to do it,’ a second, more masculine, voice seemingly responded. Okay, now Eizar knew that wasn't his thought. ‘That's not important right now though, what is important right now is winning this duel.’

 

Just as that thought passed his mind, Eizar experienced an odd sensation before getting snapped out of their thought by Mitchell's voice.

 

“Hey kid, you alright? You've been standing there for quite a bit.”

 

“Huh? Oh, um, yes we--I am fine.” Eizar responded before smirking. “I just figured out how to win this duel with a single card!” he continued before holding a finger up.

 

“That's a bold claim to make, there kid. You sure you got a way to back it up?”

 

“As a matter of fact, yes. Just try to keep up because I activate Revol Rush!” Eizar said as he put the Spell Card in the spell slot. “By paying 1000 Life Points, I can add any two Revol monsters from the grave to our hand and Normal Summon without Tributing for this turn! I choose Revol Shaman and Revol Sage.”

 

7000→6000

 

“I then Summon Revol Shaman and activate his effect! By paying 500 more Life Points I can put Lycan, who you rudely gave a bath, back into the Graveyard.”

 

Revol Shaman

*****

2000/1500→2500/1500

 

6500→6000

 

“I discard Revol Sage to bring Lycan into the field with Shaman's effect,” Eizar continued as the familiar green lycanthrope appeared once again.

 

Revol Lycan

*****

2300/1200→2800/1200

 

“Now this,” Eizar began with an enthusiastic tone and raised finger, “is where the fun begins! Now that both Revol Lycan and Revol Shaman are on the field, I can perform a Revol--erm--Contact Fusion!” The half-rings inside both Revol Shaman and Revol Lycan's chest begun to spin rapidly before the bodies faded out of existence, leaving the rings to spin faster until they became streaks of light, continuing their revolutions in midair.

 

“Two souls, one relationship. As they stand together their connections amalgamate into a single form! Solidifying the bonds of paternity, arise, Revolfusion Primal Druid!”

 

The lights converged at one point in the air, creating two gray rings that begun to spin rapidly on axes. The light generated became so bright that everyone in the courtyard shielded their eyes or averted their gaze. After the light died down there stood a light brown metallic lycanthrope garbed in a green and silver robe, donning a grey staff that had the head of a wolf carved into it. The being then raised its head into the sky before letting out a bone-chilling howl.

 

Revolfusion Primal Druid

*******

2700/2100→3200/2100

 

“Amazing,” Mitchell breathed out before regaining composure. “That's not all there is to it, is there?”

 

“You'll see as we enter the Battle Phase! Golden Revol Dragon, attack Gishki Zielgigas with Revolution Stream Burst!” The dragon reared its head back before letting loose a jet of golden energy, erasing the Gishki from existence.

 

Mitchell: 7000→6900

Eizar: 6000→6800

 

“If Golden Revol Dragon inflicts Battle Damage, I heal the damage dealt plus an additional 500 Life Points. Now Primal Druid, destroy Soul Ogre with Nature's Reprisal!”

 

The bestial mage slammed its staff into the beneath it. A giant hand of seaweed encircled the leviathan before catching it within its crushing grip, pulling it back into the abyss from whence it came.

 

6900→6500

 

“Primal Druid’s effect activates, allowing me to Special Summon a monster from the grave onto the field whenever it destroys a monster. In this case, it will be Revol Reaper!”

 

The druid raised its staff into the air, letting out another howl, this time an arcane circle appeared on an adjacent panel. Out from the circle arose a black seraphic being, holding a two-handed scythe.

 

Revol Reaper

******

2500/1500→3000/1500

 

“You know, I'm really starting to dislike that Field Spell,” Mitchell quipped.

 

“Revol Reaper, attack Ragnazero!” Eizar declared. The dark angel faded out of existence before reappearing behind the maiden, slashing it in the back and teleporting back to its original spot.

 

6500→6000

 

“I end the turn by switching Golden Dragon and Revol Reaper for Silver Revol Dragon and Revol Guardian in Defense Position.” The two non-Fusion monsters began to glow yellow and purple before seemingly switching colors, leaving in their place a silver-scaled dragon and a white seraph.

 

Silver Revol Dragon

2200/3000→2700/3000

********

 

Revol Guardian

******

1300/2500→1800/2500

 

Turn Four

 

Mitchell drew a card from his deck and furrowed his brow. “Well, I'm not going down without a fight. I use another Salvage to grab two of my Beasts then activate the effect of Gishki Shadow. By discarding this monster I can add any Gishki Ritual from my deck to my hand, and I choose Aquamirror.” He put the monster card in the grave slot and drew another Aquamirror from his deck. “I then activate the effect of the Aquamirror that's been sitting in my Graveyard to bring back Zielgigas. Then I summon Gishki Zielgigas with the Aquamirror!”

 

Gishki Zielgigas

**********

3200/0

 

“Now I’ll activate his effect to draw a card,” Mitchell days as he drew a Gishki Vision “and send Revol Zone back to your deck!”

 

6000→5000

 

The ring surrounding the courtyard disappeared and, as a result, the ATK of all Revol monsters on the field reverted to their original values. Primal Druid, the only Attack Position monster had its ATK went back down to 2700.

 

“And now, Gishki Zielgigas, attack Primal Druid!”

 

The gargantuan Gishki wrapped the bipedal wolf in a bear hug, slowly crushing it until it exploded in the familiar shards of light. The two halos, however, remained in the air.

 

6800→6300

 

“Destroying Primal Druid activates is final effect. If Primal Druid is destroyed we can bring back one of its Fusion Materials, which means Revol Shaman is coming back!” Eizar interjected as the tribal mecha returned.

 

“Why does he always come back?” The middle-aged man said exasperation. “Fine, I end my turn.”

 

Turn Five

 

Eizar drew a card and immediately put it in the Graveyard. “We activate Rebuild Shaman's ability to bring back Golden Revol Dragon and switch all of our monsters into Attack Mode.”

 

Golden Revol Dragon

********

2800/2000

 

Eizar's Life Points went down by another 500. “I then activate Silver Revol Dragon's special effect. By paying 500 Life Points it can destroy any card on your side of the field, meaning your Zielgigas goes back to the grave and you take 800 Life Points of damage as a result of it.” The silver dragon reared its head back before firing a concentrated beam of purple light, petrifying Zielgigas and causing a subsequent explosion.

 

Eizar: 6600→6100

 

Mitchell: 5000→4200

 

“Now Golden and Silver Revol Dragon, end this duel with a dual Revolution Stream Burst!” Eizar exclaimed with finality. Both dragons opened their jaws wide open before letting loose a violet and gold beam of light, enveloping Mitchell before disappearing along with the other two monsters on the field.

 

4200→0

 

The two duelists walked to the center of the courtyard and bowed to cheers from the crowd. Mitchell placed a hand on Eizar's shoulder. “Good job on that comeback, kid.” Eizar responded with a “Thank you,” before walking out of the courtyard. The moment he stepped out of Old Town he shook his head, wondering if that actually happened but dismissed it as stress before retiring to his room to prepare for the tournament tomorrow.

[Alaina]

 

Sitting back in the private room for them, Hanae's focus seemed to be elsewhere than the people around her. She didn't quite care for the excited roar of the audience. She didn't care for any of the announcers trying to hype things up. All that mattered was that she was here. She was at this tournament. The Fortune Cup. The one place she'd be able to finally validate everything she had worked for, and finally shove it in her pretentious family's oh so pristine asses. She knew that this opportunity was only given to her because of a stroke of luck, yet still she had managed to qualify here on her own. And while she didn't quite know what it was these people were dealing with, nor was she really paying much mind to what Blues was saying, at the end of the day it only boiled down to one thing. Win. Trying to think of it as anything more would just be lying to herself, and she didn't really care to do that. Her thoughts were brought back as she heard the announcement of the exhibition duel. Ah yes, the thing that made this all not really matter anyway. If that was the crux of the enemy's plan then it didn't much matter. As the girl in their group was called, Hanae simply looked her with an expression of indifference saying, "well, go show them why trying to beat the duel king is pointless." 

 

 

Raising an eyebrow, not sure of what to make of the comment the girl simply said, "alright?" Looking to the rest of the group with a smile, one that Hanae couldn't help but feel something was off about, she said, "well I'm off. See you guys in a bit." With that, she had left the group, leaving them to watch whatever was coming on the big screen. Ah well, it didn't really matter anyway. 

 

Furiko had left the room and started to walk slowly through the hall. She had to keep breathing in and out, slowly but steadily. Hearing her name called to partake in the exhibition match washed a surreal feeling over her. She had worked her whole life towards this moment. To duel the duel king. To defeat him on a public stage and become the next king. In order to not only prove to herself what she was capable of but also capture the hearts of audiences all around. To then provide an entertainment that would be able to reach everyone, no matter where they might be, and truly spread joy to them all. Yet, she knew she had to work for that. And it had always seemed like an unreachable goal. Even now, she couldn't quite grasp that she was in a tournament that was basically a staircase to that goal. Sure, she had seen Kyouji duel before, it would have been impossible not to, and she had even seen in it first hand in person. Yet, to be immediately placed against him, she felt a huge weight coursing over her body. 

 

Yet nevertheless she had to steel herself, and so taking one last deep breath, she had tried to calm her nerves. Walking at a more steady pace, the girl walked outside, where the King would be waiting for her. Walking onto the platform of the main stage, Furiko looked to the man before her. The current duel king. With a smirk on her face she asked, “This wasn’t on purpose was it?”

 

“I may or may not had Blues do some rigging,” He admitted, rubbing the back of his head. “I figured since you wanted to be King… or Queen, so badly, you should have a taste of what you have to overcome,”

 

“Well, then I guess you better show me what a King’s like. Because I’m going to show you what a challenger’s got in her.”

“I can do more than that,” He said with a chuckle before turning to address the crowd. “So, how many turns will it take for me to defeat my aspiring challenger?” He smirked as he heard several answers, a lot being calls of a one turn kill. With a shake of his head, he turned back to look at Furiko. “Six. It’ll take six turns to beat you,”

 

“Is that so?” As she said this, her usual look of confidence started to give way to something else as she just did a small gulp. Her expression returned back to normal as the girl said, “then let’s see if I can’t defy this King’s decree.”

 

“Alright, show me your best,” Kyouji just grinned before taking a dueling stance.

 

Letting her duel disk light up, the blade shooting out, she said, "will do. Let's duel!" Taking the five cards from the top cards of her deck, she looked to the man saying,"well, if you're going to end this in six turns, then I'll go first. I summon Dragonvein Magician." As the card hit the duel disk a female magician with an extraordinarily long pony tail wielding an almost bow like staff appeared before her. "Next, I place two cards face down and end my turn."

[Tesability Black]

~Miero's POV~

Miero tensed up and froze upon Wade wrapping an arm around his shoulder suddenly.

"That's my secret Cap. I'm always cheerful." Without really bothering to remove the arm first, Wade then randomly rushed back into the stadium ruins, almost toppling the librarian over. Fortunately, he was able to easily stop himself from faceplanting literally by bringing his staff in front of him and using it as a prop.

"Nice to know we won't have to go out of our way to get this. I trust it's ready for us to use," was the line he heard after finally getting to where the machinations for the portal were, glancing momentarily towards the source, only to be drawn to another.

"Yes it is. Step on in... let us see where we end up..." he heard from Phantom Falcon, prompting him to take a deep breath before walking up to the portal upon its opening...

...Miero was ready to hurl after he got out, his staff helpful in keeping him standing as he focused on getting his stomach to not empty out everything in front of whatever gods may exist in this alternate reality, his mind zoning out on everything else for the moment.

 

"This is your home? Well, gotta say its pretty awes-"

 

"It's the Forbidden One!!"

 

The sudden shift in sentences by different beings caught his attention, prompting him to lift his head and catch the monsters of the world fleeing in various directions away from Wade in specific. "...what did I miss," he mouthed to himself, not even making a sound before standing straight after his stomach finally settled. He saw Wade, then several others head in a specific direction, but one among that number he didn't recognize...

...wait, did a monster not run from them afterall?

"Wait for me," he shouted before running to catch up...but something suddenly appeared after only a few steps, causing him to crash and fall backwards onto his ass and hands. "Owowow..." Shaking his head, Miero opened his eyes after the flinch reaction to look up towards what he bumped into....and his eyes widened in response.

A transparent, feminine and blindfolded figure stood before him, gave him a quick smile, before disappeared into the winds themselves in front of him. "...was that Vântoase," he asked himself before gingerly standing up and running to catch the others...though after that, he couldn't help but feel that he was always being watched.

~Kuria's POV~

Kuria was leaning back in his chair in the room set assign for the people on this strange mission of Blues', thinking on the events that have transpired as of recent.

To date, he still didn't know what all his friend had landed face-first into, and he was half-tempted to take his friend and run from this bullsh!t. He didn't know what set Miero into a standing panic attack earlier, but considering what he did see of that underground room...

Rubbing his face with his flesh hand, Kuria let out an annoyed sigh before leaning forward, catching the sound of the beginning of the Fortune Cup being announced. "At least that will make sense," Kuria muttered to himself. "I don't know jack about what all this other stuff's about." Turning his head so he could see and hear what was going on in the stadium from the large screen, he saw and heard the lady announcer on the screen.

"Hello world! It's Juri Li here, live at the Fortune Cup! We're waiting for the computer to generate a bracket!"

"Of course," he muttered to himself. "Though that probably means..."

"And on top of that, it will pick one lucky duelist to participate in a special exhibition duel with the Duel King Kyouji! Furiko Hoshizora! Please, come to the stadium!"

"Yep."

If asked, he wouldn't lie about being disappointed by not getting the chance to duel the current Duel King. Considering the competition, he wasn't sure he would make it to the final battle to challenge him.

He did know that he had to at least last long enough to duel Jet again and get his answer to the last time they dueled.

As the exhibition duel began, Kuria crossed one leg over the other and rested his crossed arms over them to lean forward slightly. "Project Crimson...just what the hell is that," he muttered to himself.

There was one thought creeping into his head that came from the history of the region...but he was taking the thought that the project was related to the supposed Crimson Dragon with a massive dose of salt...he needed far more than a similar part of a name to entertain that possibility.

[Wind Rider]

The silent duo reassured Helena that Kuriboh had more than likely gone home, wherever a Kuriboh lives anyway. She took their word for it and shortly went to sleep.

 

Next morning, the tower was a buzz with a rumor that the "Forbidden One" would soon make an appearance at the courtyard. Exodia himself? Or idle gossip? Either way Helena was interested, she made her way down to the courtyard after readjusting her eyepatch.

 

On her way there, a crowd of spellcasters rushed past her in the opposite direction of the courtyard, they looked like they were in a panic. When she looked at the courtyard, she saw nothing even resembling Exodia. Except she did notice one thing. "G-guys?" No mistake about it, it was the other duelists from that meeting with Blues, including Dread Knight and Phantom Falcon. "D-dread Knight! Wait up, it's me, Helena!" she called, following after the group.

[King K. Azo]

“Here I thought you would show me your Pendulum Summon. I suppose I’ll have to take that initiative!” Kyouji stated. ”My turn, draw!” he looked at his cards before grinning.

 

”Using the scale 1 Crystal Stego and the scale 5 Jade Ptero, I set the pendulum scale!” he placed the two cards in their zone, causing two dinosaurs that looked like they were made of precious stones to appear at his sides.

 

Furiko appeared as if she were planning to brace for something, a slightly nervous smile on her face as she said, “So this is the King’s Pendulum up close.”

 

”And now I Pendulum Summon Tunersaurus (Level 2), Raptor Hunter (Level 4), and Stego Gardna (Level 2)!” A small baby T-rex, a pack of raptors, and a Stegosaurus appeared on the field, all looking at Furiko. “And now, I Synchro Summon!” He raised his hand into the air as the monsters flew up to summon a new one. “Ancient King of the cleansing tides, flood the world with your power! Synchro Summon! The very waters of my soul, Dinozhar Tidal Spino!!” A flood of water shot out of the synchro rings, crashing into the ground. When the waters subsided, the stadium could see a large blue Spinosaurus, the fin on its back resembling a shark’s dorsal fin. (ATK: 2500) He chuckled as the monster stood before him. 

 

“If Infernal Tyranno is the passion and flames of my soul, then Tidal Spino is the calm and still waters of my soul,” Kyouji stated with a grin. “And now, Tidal Spino attacks Dragonpulse Magician! Hydro Blaster!” The dinosaur responded to his command by opening its mouth and firing a high pressured stream of water at Dragonpulse, destroying it on impact. “And with that, I end my turn,” Kyouji stated, folding his arms and waiting.

 

Kyouji: 8000

Furiko: 7300

 

---

 

As Wade approached the tower, the doors opened up, Buster Blader and Gaia dashed outside, holding their sword and lances at his throat.

 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa… what’s all this this?” Wade asked.

 

“That’s what we’re curious about, Forbidden One,” Buster Blader commented. “Didn’t Maho banish you from this realm of existence?”

 

“Yes, but I found a loophole!” Wade commented. “What’s your deal, anyways? What have I done to deserve such treatment?” 

 

“Well, you sunk Atlantis…,” Buster Blader stated.

 

“Twice!” Gaia added.

 

“You helped give birth to the entire Alien Race,” Buster Blader added.

 

“And I regret that one to this very day. That kinky alien sex was not worth the gold I won from that bet,” Wade commented.

 

“And there was the time you broke the floation ring from the Castle of Dark Illusions!”

 

“... Gaia did that first, and actually killed people!” Wade cried out.

 

“He has a point there,” Gaia admitted. Buster Blader simply grumbled under his breath. 

 

“Fine, we’ll take that off his list, but he still has countless more reasons not to be here!”

 

“Peace, brothers!” Dark Magician called out as he floated outside. “Forbidden One… I hate to say this… but we require your help,” Dread Knight was groaning as Phantom Falcon rubbed his helmet.

 

“Of course he’s been here before,” Phantom muttered. “Now things are going to be even harder…,”

 

"D-dread Knight! Wait up, it's me, Helena!" Dread Knight looked up to see Helena running towards them.

 

“You’re alright. Thank god. We were worried when you didn’t return,” Dread Knight stated to Helena.

 

“Humans,” Dark Magician called out. “I’m sorry to ask this of you… but our world is in grave danger… the Wicked Gods threaten to destroy our very world… can you assist us in protecting it…?”

[Super Chaos Sonic]

-Moonlit Magician-

~Citadel of Endymion~

 

Daichi and Haruto got to the tower, moments after Wade was apparently stopped by Buster Blader and Gaia the Fierce Knight. Apparently the three were chatting about something...one of which happened to be sinking Atlantis about two times. How does one even do that? Nevertheless, their heated discussion/argument was put to a halt when Maho, the Dark Magician descended.

 

“Peace, brothers! Forbidden One… I hate to say this… but we require your help.”

 

"Whoa...didn't think I'd get to see the Dark Magician so soon." Daichi smiled, as Haruto nodded.

 

"That is Maho." Haruto said, watching the others come up to the group as well.

 

“Humans. I’m sorry to ask this of you…but our world is in grave danger…the Wicked Gods threaten to destroy our very world…can you assist us in protecting it…?”

 

Daichi blinked a bit, looking at Maho before looking at Haruto. The two exchanged glances before looking back at Maho. "Uh...that's pretty much the only reason why we're here, sir." he said, chuckling. "Here we thought you guys were expecting us."

 

"Nevertheless..." Haruto cleared his throat. "We are here to lend our strength to protect this world, Maho. After all, some of us have already made contact with those who work under the Wicked Gods themselves."

 

"Yep. And me and Lyall can attest to that, alright." Daichi nodded firmly.

 

 

-The Starry Experiment-

~Fortune Cup~

 

“So, how many turns will it take for me to defeat my aspiring challenger? Six. It’ll take six turns to beat you,”

 

"Six turns? That's very bold of him to be declaring such a feat." Jet said, watching the two in this exhibition match intensely.

 

"Yes, well this is what happens when your the Duel King..." Dr. Aichi scoffed. "The power goes to your head and you underestimate your opponents."

 

Jet nodded, continuing to watch the Duel. The challenger, Furiko, only summoned Dragonpulse Magician and that was all. However, Kyouji did MUCH more. On his turn he immediately performed a Pendulum Summon with his Crystal Stego and Jade Ptero. Soon he had a total of three monsters on the field before he performed a Synchro Summon.

 

That...that was a flawless Synchro Summon. Jet thought, seeing how everything in this Duel flowed. It was obvious that the Duel King had a true bond with his deck. He closed his eyes and thought about his own deck...the Crystrons. Did he have a bond and connection with it? He wasn't exactly sure about it...but he knew he had a forced connection to Stardust Spark. But that's different...

 

“And with that, I end my turn.”

 

Jet opened his eyes, seeing the exhibition Duel again. With the King's turn over, Furiko was down to 7500 Life Points. He had a lead with both Life Points and current field set up. How was the challenger going to follow suit?

[Alaina]

 

"My turn, draw!" As Furiko started, she grimaced a bit at the field she was facing down. Trying to bring down the calm of the king's soul was by no means an easy task, but she needed to figure out a way to do so. Trying to study the cards in her hand she couldn't immediately come up with something from just these, and so she said, "first I set one scale with my scale 8 Black Fang Magician. Next I activate my trap card, Echo Oscillation. With this, once per turn I can destroy one card in my pendulum zone, and when I do, I can draw one card." As she said this the black cloaked magician in her first scale was destroyed, with the remnants of the monster forming into a card in her hand. With her eyes widening at the card she said, "now, to show you my own pendulum summon, king."
 
Placing both her cards on her disk, she said, "I set my scales with the scale 4 Wisdom-Eye Magician and the scale 8 Tune Magician." The rainbow words "PENDULUM" appeared across her duel disk as the familiar pink haired magician appeared alongside a more stoic, masked magician. "Next, I activate the effect of Wisdom-Eye Magician. When there's another magician card in my pendulum zone, I can destroy Wisdom-Eye and replace it with another magician card from my deck." As she said this, a golden eye appeared over the forehead of the silver haired magician as it then was destroyed, reforming into a new monster. "Now with this, I set the scale 1 Violet Poison Magician." The monster in its place was one that had a purple pointed hat, a red visor and a wicked smile across its face. "Now I Pendulum Summon Dragonvein Magician and Wisdom-Eye Magician."
 
As she said this, the familiar looking hole opened in the sky as streams of light shot out from it, erupting into the two recently destroyed magician. "Now then, I overlay my level 4 Dragonvein Magician with my level 4 Wisdom-Eye Magician." The two turning into a gold and brown colored swirl of energy entered the overlay network vortex that had formed before chanting, "master of chronospace, dance across all the lights in the sky. Xyz Summon! Rank 4, Startime Magician." As an aura began to glow around it she said, "furthermore, because of Tune Magician, all my monsters gain 100 attack points for each magician card in my extra deck."
 

Startime Magician Attack: 2400 ---> 2500

 

Kyouji chuckled as he watched Startime com to the field. "Well, I wasn't expecting that kinda monster. Looks neat. What can it do?"
 
"It can take down your monster is what it can do. Startime Magician, attack Dinozhar Tidal Spino!" With an influx of energy around the tip of the staff, forming an almost outer-space like appearance, the magician fired a bolt of energy at the Dinozhar. "And while they might be even now, Violet Poison's effect activates! When a dark spellcaster of mine battles a monster of yours, I can give it 1200 attack points, but then Violet Poison is destroyed."With the scaled magician destroying itself, the particles left behind joined the bolt, adding a more dark purple hue to it. Wishing to just punch through and deal as much damage to the king in one fell swoop she continued with the attack. 
 

Startime Magician Attack: 2500--->3800

 
"Not so fast! I activate the effect of Stego Garnda in my graveyard! I can banish it from the game, and if I do, negate one attack!" The ghostly figure of the stegosaurs appeared in front of Tidal Spino, blocking the attack. "Nice try, but it'll take more than that to stir the waters of my soul."
 
Gritting her teeth a bit, Furiko watched her attack be stopped. How could she have forgotten about Stego Gardna? Despite having seen the king's dueling before, she had been a bit brash in her attack. Regardless, she decided to simply shake it off a bit saying, "once the battle is over, Startime's attack returns to normal. And with that, I end my turn."
 

Startime Magician Attack: 3800---->2600

 

Furiko: 7300

Kyouji: 8000

[Tesability Black]

~Miero's POV~

"..."

Miero was just stunned silent from what he was hearing, finding himself taking the occasional step back from the seeming madman that was supposed to be leading this group.

In fact, he would have probably flat ran back towards the portal, if still there, if it wasn't for a few voices catching his attention.

“Humans,” he heard, prompting him to turn and see that ...a Dark Magician? called out to them. “I’m sorry to ask this of you… but our world is in grave danger… the Wicked Gods threaten to destroy our very world… can you assist us in protecting it…?”

"Uh...that's pretty much the only reason why we're here, sir."

We are here to lend our strength to protect this world, Maho. After all, some of us have already made contact with those who work under the Wicked Gods themselves."

"Maho," he soundlessly repeated to himself, before daring to walk forward to rejoin the rest.

He was in over his head and he knew it. "You all need to tell me what all is going on, because I obviously missed things during that one discussion," the librarian finally managed to say, his voice slightly higher than it should be. "I came with you guys to try and save my son...I was not expecting anything like this!"

Miero obviously looked distressed and panicked, hand on his staff gripping tightly as the pointed end near the bottom began to dig into the ground. "Ever since taking that accursed card, things have been becoming far too overwhelming. I'm a librarian, not a godsdamned hero!"

~*^*~*^*~*^*~*^*~*^*~

~Kuria's POV~

"And...I saw that coming a mile away," Kuria remarked about the negated attack, before standing up. "I can get that update later," he muttered to himself before leaving the room to head to the stands and maybe see with his own eyes what was happening instead of through a screen. As he walked out, he pulled out of his pocket a simple-looking pair of goggles, placing them over his head and allowed them to rest around his neck. After entering the stands, he looked around for an open place to sit, preferably near the front, but ended up seeing something else.

"Hey, Jet," he exclaimed with a slight smile on his face, waving with his left hand high in the air before finally moving to sit up in a higher seat past the group the tattooed male was in but also a decent distance away. The whole time, the false arm shimmered faintly in the light that hit it.
 

Not like that bothered Kuria, anyway.

[King K. Azo]

“Alright,now it’s time to defeat Startime,” Kyouji stated. ”My turn, draw!” he looked at his cards before revealing one in his hand. ”I activate the effect of Drawing Bronto! By banishing this card and any number of Dinozhars in my graveyard, I can draw an equal amount of cards! I banish Tunersaurus and Raptor Hunter along with Bronto to draw three cards!” he looked at his options before continuing. ”And now I Pendulum Summon Dinozhar Baby Dino (Level 2) and Dinozhar Tunetops (Level 3) from my hand!” A small baby brontosaurus and a small triceratops appeared on the field.. “And now, I Synchro Summon!” He raised his hand into the air as the monsters flew up to summon a new one. “Ancient Beast of lightning, causing the skies to crash and strike my opponent with its full fury! Synchro Summon! Level 5! Dinozhar Teravoltops!” Lightning struck the ground, revealing a yellow triceratops with lightning bolts for horns. (ATK: 2200)

 

As the king performed his next sychro summon, Furiko's eyes widened in realization as she said, "Wait... that's-"

 

”So you know this monster,”” Kyouji stated with a grin. “But for the audience, I’ll explain anyways. When Teravoltops battles a non-Dinosaur monster, he destroys it without damage calculation! Now go! Lightning Javelin Strike!” The dinosaur responded to his command by charging forwards,covering itself with lightning before spinning through the air and piercing through Startime, destroying it instantly.“Now, Tidal Spino attacks directly!,” Kyouji called out, the dinosaur roaring in response. Furiko could only brace herself as the waters crashed over her.

 

”And with that, I end my turn. You’re on turn five Furiko. Better have a way to turn the tides if you want to defy my decree,”

 

Kyouji: 8000

Furiko: 4800

 

---

 

"You all need to tell me what all is going on, because I obviously missed things during that one discussion," the librarian finally managed to say, his voice slightly higher than it should be. "I came with you guys to try and save my son...I was not expecting anything like this! Ever since taking that accursed card, things have been becoming far too overwhelming. I'm a librarian, not a godsdamned hero!" Phantom Falcon looked at Meiro and sighed.

 

“I’m sorry. I suppose we didn’t do a great job explaining it to you. You see, we are fighting against a force known as the Wicked Gods… They wish to come to our plane of existence… Escape this one… In order to do this, they have been kidnapping people… Trying to feed on human and duel spirit’s souls to come back to their full power,” he explained. ”Your son… Is probably one of their victims. We’re hoping to find him here,”

 

“Haruto. It is good to see you,” Dark Magician stated. He then looked to the town. “Mana says she hasn’t seen Rinko in a few days. With everything going on… We’re a bit worried about her,”

 

Buster Blader looked over at Lyall, checking him over. “... Evilswarm Virus?” He asked as he took a look. This might not end well.

[Super Chaos Sonic]

-Moonlit Magician-

~Citadel of Endymion~

 

"You all need to tell me what all is going on, because I obviously missed things during that one discussion. I came with you guys to try and save my son...I was not expecting anything like this! Ever since taking that accursed card, things have been becoming far too overwhelming. I'm a librarian, not a goddamned hero!"

 

“I’m sorry. I suppose we didn’t do a great job explaining it to you. You see, we are fighting against a force known as the Wicked Gods… They wish to come to our plane of existence… Escape this one… In order to do this, they have been kidnapping people… Trying to feed on human and duel spirit’s souls to come back to their full power. Your son… Is probably one of their victims. We’re hoping to find him here.”

 

Daichi nodded at Phantom Falcon's response to Meiro. "Guess we probably should've mentioned that up front. Sorry about that." he said, shaking his head. "Still, its not a problem. I'm fairly certain that at the end of this whole situation, your son will be within reach. That's how these quests go, right Haruto?"

 

"I question your reasons on taking adventure stories to heart sometimes Dai..." Haruto sighed, his palm meeting his face. However, he stood straight up as he heard Maho speak and address him.

 

“Haruto. It is good to see you. Mana says she hasn’t seen Rinko in a few days. With everything going on… We’re a bit worried about her.”

 

However, Haruto spoke not one word. He knew, of course, Mana was the Dark Magician Girl...but the name Rinko was a new one for him. The Gagaga Magician slowly crossed his arms as he began to think on who this Rinko was. It was a long few moments, silence filling the air, but he finally came to a conclusion. One he really didn't want to think about again. But unfortunately, when he turned to Daichi, his conclusion seemed to be the same as his partner's.

 

Daichi's face turned solemn as he looked at his Duel Spirit. Rinko...that...that was... he thought, slowly lowering his hands from the back of his head.

 

Haruto slowly turned to face Maho, about to speak, but Daichi stepped in. "Daichi..."

 

"Maho...sir." Daichi began, swallowing hard. "If Rinko was who I think she might've been...I...neither one of us knew she was in the deck. We...we fought against a man named Glaeris, a servant to the Wicked Gods. And...Gagaga Girl...no...Rinko was taken." He paused a moment, looking away as his fists clenched tightly. "I-I'm afraid she's...she's..."

 

Silence fell on Daichi as he avoided eye contact with Maho or the other Duel Spirits. His smile once more gone as he thought about the loss of that Duel Spirit. "If...if I only knew she was there..."

 

 

 

-The Starry Experiment-

~Fortune Cup~

 

"Hey, Jet."

 

Jet's eyes widened when he heard his name being called, as he turned to see Kuria walking past in order to get a seat in the stands. Oh sheet... he thought, doing his best to keep his composure, as Dr. Aichi turned slightly.

 

"He knows your name." he spoke softly. "Is he, Kuria Bijorn?" Jet reluctantly nodded his head to this. "I see. Well, I suppose its customary for Duelists to both know their opponent's names and faces."

 

He let out a small, silent sigh of relief, hearing this. Jet dodged a bullet that time, but nevertheless, he was worried that Aichi was going to be pissed off at him for revealing both his name and face to an opponent like that. Still...he focused on the exhibition Duel.

 

“Alright,now it’s time to defeat Startime. My turn, draw! I activate the effect of Drawing Bronto! By banishing this card and any number of Dinozhars in my graveyard, I can draw an equal amount of cards! I banish Tunersaurus and Raptor Hunter along with Bronto to draw three cards! And now I Pendulum Summon Dinozhar Baby Dino (Level 2) and Dinozhar Tunetops (Level 3) from my hand! Ancient Beast of lightning, causing the skies to crash and strike my opponent with its full fury! Synchro Summon! Level 5! Dinozhar Teravoltops!"

 

Once more, another flawless Pendulum Summon into a Synchro Summon. Jet was impressed with the obvious skill that Kyouji had, skills that truly befit the title of Duel King. However, he had to admit that although she was taking all the damage, the opponent Furiko was holding her own well enough.

”And with that, I end my turn. You’re on turn five Furiko. Better have a way to turn the tides if you want to defy my decree.”

 

"Seems like Furiko may end up losing." Jet nodded.

 

"That, my dear Jet, was an absolute." Dr. Aichi scoffed, crossing his arms. "Kyouji is clearly on a higher level of Dueling than Ms. Furiko down there. The gap in strength is an obvious one."

 

Jeez. Way to stick up for the underdog... Jet thought, mentally rolling his eyes. Then again, he knew Aichi was only here for HIS Duels and for him to get to Blues and literally curb stomp him in order for things to go smoothly.

[Alaina]

 
She grimaced as Kyouji taunted her, unsure of how to actually respond. Looking at her hand she had no immediate way out of this and couldn't really see much beyond the two monsters looming in front of her. As such, all she said was,"my turn. Draw!"Looking at the card she just drew, she still didn't have much to go for and thus said,"during my turn I activate the effects of Echo Oscillation. Destroying the Tune Magician set in my scales, I draw another card." As the gears started grinding from the trap card, the pink haired magician was destroyed, being removed altogether. Trying to calm herself just a bit, the girl closed her eyes, deep breathing in, as she drew her next card. Looking at it, her eyes lit up as she saw the light out of this dark situation. 
 
Setting the new cards in her scales she said "I play the Scale 3 Timesword Magician and Scale 8 Dragonpit Magician, setting my scales with them!" As she did this, the short haired sword wielding magician appeared alongside the older robed one wielding the large staff. "Next, I pendulum summon the Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon in my hand and the Violet Poison Magician in my extra deck." While the dragon appeared, roaring ferociously, the mage seemed to sit back in a more defensive posture. "Now then, Odd-Eyes, attack Dinozhar Tidal Spino. Spiral Strike Burst!"Letting out a roar, the dragon let loose a torrent of dark red flame from its mouth, striking towards the dinosaur. 
 
"A crash course, huh? It seems you're willing to do anything to clear my field. Alright, Tidal Spino. Let's meet her determination head on!" Spino roared and fired its own breath weapon, determined to take Odd-Eyes out with it. As the two streams collided with each other, the two breath eventually managed to break past one another, completely enveloping the other in the process. As both monsters were destroyed by the attack, Furiko didn't seem much too phased by the loss of her monster. 
 
Revealing her next face down, she said,"now I activate my trap card! Pendulum Reborn! With this, I can revive one pendulum monster in my grave or extra deck. And so I choose to bring back the star of my show, Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!" As she called out its name, a giant light streaked down from the sky and struck the ground, the dragon coming back. A smile now returning to Furiko's face as she knew what to do next, she said,"and now, I'll have my dragon go for a round two now. Attack, Dinozhar Terravoltops!"
 
As the dragon seemed prepped to attack, the duel king seemed slightly quizzical about it. "Attacking Teravoltops? Why would you unless...," he looked at the scales. "You have protection...,"
 
"That's right."As the lightning of Terravoltops struck Odd-Eyes, a large clocked seemed to form around the dragon, pushing the lightning away."Once per turn, when a Pendulum monster would be destroyed by an effect, Timesword Magician negates that destruction. Now go on Odd-Eyes, Spiral Strike Burst!"As the dragon seemed to be completely unhindered by the lightning, it let loose its torrent of dark flames, striking the dinosaur. "Next, because of Odd-Eyes's effect, when it battles a monster all damage dealt by it is doubled. Reaction Force!" With that, the dark flames seemed to intensify in strength, completely enveloping the dinosaur and destroying it. Confident with what she had just done, Furiko said, "and with that, I end my turn."
 
"Well, Furiko, you managed to clear my field, and all without triggering Spino's negation effect. I knew you had potential in you! Looks like I'll have to pull out all the stops to carry out my decree!"

[King K. Azo]

Kyouji: 7400

Furiko: 4800

 

“Looks like it’s time to defeat you,” Kyouji stated. ”My turn, draw!”. He looked at his cards and shook his head. “You should be proud of yourself, Furiko. You’re forcing me to do a combo I haven’t done ever since I became the Duel King,”

 

”I Pendulum Summon Dinozhar Disruption Anklyo (Level 4), Dinozhar Tankasaurus (Level 3), and Dinozhar Stratos Ptero from my hand!” The three dinosaurs appeared on the fiel, all ready for battle. “And now, I take the level 4 Disruption Anklyo and the Level 4 Stratos Ptero and overlay them!”

 

Furiko’s eyes widened as the two monsters began to overlay. "Xyz summon?!" she blurted out. "Since when have you...?"

 

“Ancient Beast of Chaos, roar and disrupt the natural order! Xyz Summon! Rank 4! Dinozhar Chaosaurus!” A black raptor-like creature appeared, it looking as dark as the void of space, with tiny galaxies swirling within it. (ATK: 0) ”I know what you’re thinking. ‘A 0 ATK Xyz monster? What can it do?’. Well, I now I activate its effect! By detaching both materials, its rank are now levels, and it is a tuner monster!”

 

"An Xyz monster that's a tuner? I guess a trick like this is why you're still the King,"

 

”Now, I tune my level 4 Chaosaurus with the level 3 Tankasaurus!” Kyouji called out. “Ancient King of Destruction, heed my call and lay waste to my enemies! Synchro Summon! Level 7, Dinozhar Hakaisaurus, King of Destruction!” This time, the monster produced was more humanoid, more like a man wearing a dinosaur for armor. “And now, Chaosaurus’s ability activates! When it’s used as a material for a Synchro Summon, the monster’s attack doubles!!”

 

Furiko’s eyes widened as she watched a black aura surround the monster, which caused Hakaisaurus’s attack to reach 5000. Kyouji simply grinned.

 

”I should tell you, Hakaisaurus's effect is that any battle damage that comes as a result of this monster being in a battle is also doubled!” he threw his hand forwards. ”This is the end, Furiko! Hakaisaurus, attack Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!” With a yell of confirmation, Hakaisaurus dashed forward, rearing his arm back. Time seemed to slow down as it reached Odd-Eyes Pendulum and threw the fist, causing the dragon to shatter and explode, dropping Furiko’s lifepoints to zero.

 

Kyouji: 7400

Furiko: 0

 

“And that’s it!” The announcer cried. “Kyouji fulfilled his decree!” She smiled and posed for the camera. “And now, the bracket has been created! Take a look!” The screens were filled with the brackets, clear and easy for everyone to see.

 

Kyouji walked over to Furiko. “Hey, that was a good try. You’ll go far if you keep improving,”

[Tesability Black]

~Kuria's POV~

Kuria winced and breathed in through clenched teeth upon the final hit, subconsciously feeling the pain he would have taken if he had been the one on the receiving end. "And that makes me glad I'm not there," he remarked to himself. "Pretty sure I'd be on the floor for a whole minute."

“And now, the bracket has been created! Take a look!”

Scratching at his left forearm at random, Kuria couldn't held by look up towards the bracket that was made...while wondering how the hell they got that shot of him. Taking his glasses off to clean the lenses for a second, he closed his real eye to better zoom in...

"...wait, I got him first," he whispered with a question on his voice, before a yipe left him as he jumped up and dashed through the audience, spouting off a dozen "excuse me!"s, "pardon me!"s, "sorry!"s, as well as at least one "whoa!" from a random faceplant on his part, Kuria waved towards Jet for the moment. "See ya in the arena!"

Bringing his goggles from under his chin to over his eyes as he moved his glasses to a pale-blue case for them, Kuria made a mad dash for his Duel Runner, taking off the dark-aquamarine jacket he had hanging from one of the handles and putting it on and sliding his deck into the vehicle from under the handles.

With a rev, his precious ride came to life and the touchscreen in front of him registered the deck as it scanned in its current card order before randomizing and creating a new card order for the duel digitally.

"Welp, let's see how things play out," he remarked to himself as he slid his helmet on over his head before looking up towards the TV nearby. "I hope you're alright, Miero...wherever you are right now..."

 

~Miero's POV~

"Still, its not a problem. I'm fairly certain that at the end of this whole situation, your son will be within reach. That's how these quests go, right Haruto?"

 

"I question your reasons on taking adventure stories to heart sometimes Dai..."

Normally, Miero would agree with the spirit, with Haruto, on this subject, but right now, he focused on Daichi's words instead as he brought his fingers to his temples, one hand still holding his staff as he did.

"I really hope you are right on that...I don't I could live with losing---"

“Haruto. It is good to see you." Hearing Maho speak caused him to stop mid-sentence. "Mana says she hasn’t seen Rinko in a few days. With everything going on… We’re a bit worried about her.”

Miero raised an eyebrow and was about to say something, but seeing how both human and spirit was reacting, he quickly shut his mouth.

"If Rinko was who I think she might've been...I...neither one of us knew she was in the deck." Miero's eyes widened slightly at this. "We...we fought against a man named Glaeris, a servant to the Wicked Gods. And...Gagaga Girl...no...Rinko was taken."

"If...if I only knew she was there..."

"..."

"Oh, don't worry."

"..!"

"There will be hell to pay...and the fires of the damned are feeling most-generous as of recent."

"Th-that's---" Miero slowly turned around, and as he did, a figure manifested into view. The figure looked like a colonial American, the jacket it wore fancy and colored with a purple hue lined with faded red along the edges and pockets. The horse it rode trotted forward, dark for all but pale-blue and piercing eyes. In the rider's left hand, it held a bright red orb, illuminated internally by a bright yellow flame.

The figure's head, however, was missing.

 

And Miero was fast into a defensive stance, pointed end at the bottom of the decorated staff aimed at the horse and rider.

"H-how?!" Miero managed to exclaim with a heavy shake to his voice. "I haven't seen you since my father summoned you!"

 

"I will not lie, none of us appreciated him sealing us off like that a decade ago..."

[Alaina]

 

As the dinosaur had destroyed her monster, and Furiko's life points dropped to zero, she could only stand there. Stunned by how decidedly it had all ended, the difference between the two duelists were clear. It wasn't as if she had never lost before, nor was this the first time she experienced such a convincing loss. But here before her was no ordinary opponent, it was the duel king. Her end goal, to think that she had messed up so horribly in front of him. To think that he was still so far ahead of her. To think that there was still more in his arsenal that she couldn't even begin to imagine. Those thoughts were things she couldn't get out of her head. He was like a mountain peak and she was at its base; just in sight, but always out of reach. As her expression was definitely a more downed one than she had had in quite some time, she still had a face to put on here. As Kyouji came up and congratulated her on a good try, she reached out to shake a hand. 

 

"Thanks, but I'll be sure to give you another try before this tournament is over." While her words were pretty in line with what she would usually say, her voice didn't seem to carry the same kind of confidence in it. After shaking his hand, she gave one last wave before leaving the tournament grounds. This wasn't good. The strength of the duel king was still far out of her reach. And yet hers was exactly in line his expectations. She had proved good enough to not lose immediately but she wasn't any better than he thought she would be. Once back indoors and away from prying eyes, she bit down on her lip in frustration as her eyes took on a similarly frustrated look. Slamming her fist against a wall, she tried to let out a deep breath. This wasn't any good. Even if she did make it through the tournament, things would just end the same way against Kyouji again. And so, she needed to get stronger and she needed to get better to make sure that didn't happen. And in order to do that, she needed to win her first match. 

 

 

As the duel had ended, Hanae had simply sitting back, looking rather unimpressed by the whole spectacle. She did whistle a bit as the king brought out an XYZ monster, not having been able to expect that at all, but ultimately things ended the way they did. "Well, can't say that's surprising." As the stage was cleared off, the MC of the event then went on to announce the actual brackets for the tournament. The girl didn't think much of the brackets before their release. It didn't matter who she dueled, all that mattered was that she win, and she was confident enough that losing wasn't exactly something that'd happen easy to her. However, as her eyes started to comb through it, trying to find where she was, she stopped at one person. Someone who looked kind of odd, given that they were in a maid dress, but at the same time kind of familiar. Looking at the name, she saw that it was a "Junko." That too sounded familiar, and as the realization was starting to dawn on her, she looked over to the match next to that one. 

 

Were she drinking anything, she would no longer be as a shocked expression crossed her face. "K-kagami?" What the hell was she doing here? That girl was an odd one, and for the most part Hanae was never able to tell if they were mocking her or being genuine. But her being in a tournament made no sense to her. There was no reason for her to ever join, unless...Hanae's expression started to turn more serious as she looked between both Junko and Kagami, realizing that it didn't matter why they were both here. All that mattered was that they were, and that it was now a perfect opportunity to finally kick either of their ass and prove something. As her eyes finally settled on her match, they went wide for a moment before turning into a more serious glare. 

 

Ayame Iwaki. Of course she'd be here. There was no reason not to think so, after all. Yet she was still surprised by it nonetheless, simply because of who it was. There was no way, that she would ever be able to lose that duel. Not this time.

 

---

 

As the roar of the crowd had been thunderous at the king's victory, somewhere outside standing in the stands was a girl in a beige suit. Clapping softly with a smile on her face, the girl said, "ah, so that's what the splendor of the duel king looks like." Turning to her traveling companion and friend she looked to them and said, "oh but I'm sure you'll be able to shine just as bright Junko. Oh look," she said as her attention was drawn to the brackets being displayed. Looking to Junko's match, she wasn't sure who this Yuria person was, but she was sure they would give off a dazzling radiance against the maid. Her eyes continuing across them, completely skipping over hers as if she had no interest in it, she stopped at the last of the top bracket. Adjusting her glasses a bit she said, "oh, Kana is here too? How wonderful, it's been so long since we last saw them, I can only imagine that she's been doing well." With the glossing over the tournament brackets done, the girl then said, "well, it looks like we have some time before our matches, so why don't we just sit around for a bit longer and watch them for now."

 

---

 

Having been drowning out the sound of the duel with their headphones, the end had come rather suddenly as the noise pierced through their music. Sliding the headphones off their ears the white haired girl looked at the match, with a neutral expression on her face saying, "oh, it's over already." Reclining a bit, the girl then watched as the brackets for the tournament were posted saying, "Raiko, hm?" She hadn't the faintest idea as to who that was, but that didn't stop a smile from forming on her lips. She wasn't sure what to expect, all she knew was that things were going to be real fun Starting to get hyped just thinking about it, the girl slipped her headphones back on trying to kill time for the upcoming match. 

 

---

 

Standing atop the stadium stood a girl, one who had their scarf blowing through the ever present breeze. Looking down, she couldn't really make much out between the monsters and the duelists, but the one lizard thing seemed to be better than the other, and so bigger lizard won. Woo. After that happened, the results for the bracket started to come out, and showing just what was in store for her. Seeing just who her opponent was, the girl said, "of course!" It was her. Best friend. Arch rival. Some other third thing. Puffing out her chest and clenching her fist, with a determined look on her face she said, "just wait Leona-chan, I won't lose this time." Pointing to the sky she then declared, "and nothing's going to stop me from winning here! Hahaha.," with a resounding laugh the girl then opened her eyes and looked around her. "Now how do I get down from here..."

[Super Chaos Sonic]

-Moonlit Magician-

~Citadel of Endymion~

 

Nothing further at this moment...

 

 

-The Starry Experiment-

~Fortune Cup~

 

“Ancient Beast of Chaos, roar and disrupt the natural order! Xyz Summon! Rank 4! Dinozhar Chaosaurus! I know what you’re thinking. ‘A 0 ATK Xyz monster? What can it do?’. Well, I now I activate its effect! By detaching both materials, its rank are now levels, and it is a tuner monster!”

 

This revelation of a monster summoning simply floored Jet. An Xyz...Tuner!? When could this be done?

 

"You're surprised, am I wrong, Hoshimi?" Dr. Aichi asked, seeing Jet nod slowly, still engrossed in watching the Duel.

 

"I-Its...its something I never would've thought would've ever been possible." Jet said in awe, immediately seeing Kyouji using the Xyz Dinozhar to perform a Synchro Summon. "I mean. I know Duel Monsters is always evolving...but to be able to perform an Xyz Synchro..."

 

"There are reasons why he is the Duel King, my boy." Dr. Aichi spoke, watching Furiko's Life Points drop to zero after Kyouji's onslaught. "Six turns exactly. Perhaps he didn't underestimate his opponent as I originally thought. Nevertheless, its clear Ms. Furiko was indeed skilled." Dr. Aichi just looked at the two Duelists leaving the field, his gaze directed towards one of them as he smirked.

 

“And now, the bracket has been created! Take a look!”

"See ya in the arena!"

 

Both Jet and Dr. Aichi looked and saw Kuria waving. As they watched him leave, Jet turned his attention back towards the doctor. "Defeat him quickly. Remember, he kept you from your goal last time...this time, you will defeat all obstacles. Are we clear?"

 

"Y-Yes sir..." Jet slowly nodded, standing up to end up heading to the garage where his D-Wheel was. Was he ready for this? He wasn't really sure. But, Jet knew he had to do it. Tossing his deck into the appropriate slot in his D-Wheel, he activated it and brought it to life...just awaiting for the MC to announce his Duel.

[Yui]

---

"I should tell you, Hakaisaurus's effect is that any battle damage that comes as a result of this monster being in a battle is also doubled! This is the end, Furiko! Hakaisaurus, attack Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!"

 

Aika's eyes went wide at the display of unmatched dueling power Kyouji presented. That was what she was trying to be. A pro, just like that, though it didn't take a genius to tell that - as she was - Aika was no match for somebody like that. With the duel ending after a massive attack on Furiko's life points, the brackets were revealed at last. Aika looked through, recognizing...well, not many people here. Blues was here. A few of the people he'd recruited to help with the Wicked Gods problem were here. There were also those two guys in robes that looked suspicious, but unless she got to the finals, Aika wasn't dueling either of them. Eventually, her eyes fell upon her own match and her opponent, her expression turning sour at the realization.

 

That creep with the trains.

 

Aika wanted to end that duel fast, but quick finishes weren't really in the Stormlet playbook. And if she won that she'd get to duel...probably Furiko. She'd seen Furiko at tournaments a few times, but never got the chance to personally duel her. It would be exciting, not to mention different from the usual strangers or loose acquaintances running around in Cradle's tournament community. If she had to say so herself, Furiko was easily one of the best duelists in Cradle. But she wasn't here just for fun! Aika still had a job to do and an older brother to save from the Wicked Gods or whoever else could have taken him. Business first. She had to win.

---

"I should tell you, Hakaisaurus's effect is that any battle damage that comes as a result of this monster being in a battle is also doubled! This is the end, Furiko! Hakaisaurus, attack Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!"

 

That's a pretty big monster, Valeria mentally noted from her spot in the audience. The exhibition duel between the Duel King himself and some name she'd never heard of was something, to say the least. The brackets were then revealed and Valeria wasted no time finding both herself and the Furiko girl Kyouji had just beaten. Valeria would be dueling last. Not that she minded; it meant she'd get to see what kinds of decks everyone else was using before having to step up to the plate herself. And by the looks of things, she wouldn't duel that Furiko girl until the semifinals, assuming she won all of her duels.

 

Even the head of KaibaCorp is here, wow. They really went all-out for this. Looks like my competition's stepped up a bit. Challenge accepted.

---

"That was something," Ayame nodded. She'd opted to show up to the stadium early that day so that she could secure a front-row seat to the start of the Fortune Cup, and the decision had paid off as she got to see in great detail the end of the duel between Kyouji and some girl named Furiko. And then the brackets were revealed at long last! Ayame took a sip from the drink in her hand as her eyes slid along, in search for herself and her opponent. Finally, she'd get to--

 

Ayame was once again glad she opted for a front row seat, as upon seeing who her opponent was, the drink in Ayame's mouth spewed forth like liquid shrapnel. She's here too? Well...free pass into round two I guess?

[senorchavez]

Well, it was just as the Duel King predicted, six turns. Eizar has seen this play out multiple times before: Kyouji chooses a certain amount of turns for him to end the duel and just does it. He was honestly rooting for Furiko to take it a turn further, and she probably would have, hadn't Kyouji summoned that Xyz Tuner. Come to think of it, Eizar had never seen that Xyz monster before. 'Makes you wonder what else a Duel King could have up his sleeve,’ he mused. He then looked through the bracket, finding himself in the 3rd-to-last pair, against somebody who looks straight out of ancient Egypt, and last to duel out of the group. “Good,” Eizar began under his breath as he pulled his deck out of its holster. “That gives me plenty of time to look through different strategies.” As much as saving the world was important, he wasn't going to settle for placing anywhere lower than the top 4. Where to begin was the question running through his mind whilst shuffling. He took note to study the preceding duels so as to learn from the mistakes made in them and keep from making them himself.

[Wind Rider]

“You’re alright. Thank god. We were worried when you didn’t return,” Helena gave a small smile to Dread Knight, it was good to see a familiar face... Well, helmet. She looked over at the others that came with him, one of the duelist's she recognized as Daichi and... Gagaga Magician? So that was his duel spirit... Well, obviously it was. And this Miero person... The monster that was with him gave Helena the creeps.

 

All these duel spirits... Everyone seemed to have a friend in these cards, except Helena. It saddened her to know that she would alone again when this is all said and done... But now wasn't the time for thinking about that, now was the to help these spirits in their fight. "I already gave my opinion... You can count on me Dark Magician... Sir." she said in a bit of a quiet tone, her headaches at least haven't been bothering her much lately.

[~Faytl~]

Hibiki had been low down in the arena, away from his traditional bird's-eye view. He was just outside the tunnel that led into the arena, leaning against the wall. He had been alternatively paying attention to Furiko's duel and running over the duel Yugo had taken part in in his head. As the brackets popped up, showing up on television screens dotted throughout the stadium, he caught an eyefull of it from a small wall-mounted one across from him. His first opponent was some girl, didn't matter. His next, however, should the both of them win, was the one he had seen in Turbo City... That Yugo kid.

 

His face split into a hideous grin when he saw that further down the bracket was the potential for a rematch with Furiko in the finals. So that was her name, he mused. He had been surprised when she had been allowed the exhibition match with Kyouji. So they all were here in this tournament, were they? Kyouji and his friends were all incredibly strong duelists... Not as strong as he was, he was sure. Even though Yugo had put on an impressive showing at the qualifier, he was sure he could come out on top in that matchup. And Furiko...

 

As he thought of her, she came trudging in from outside, punching a wall in frustration. Hibiki smirked as he stepped out of the shadows of the hallway, walking up behind her.

 

"You think you're having a hard time now, girlie?" he hissed maliciously. "You haven't even started... and this time your precious Kyouji won't be around to save you when I fight you in the finals... if you can even make it there."

 

- - - - - - -

 

There was one notable absence from the room of assembled blank card holders: Tycho's large frame was conspicuous in its absence. He was in the nosebleed section of the stadium, far away from the loudest of the cheers and most enthusiastic of the audience. He had stopped by the room Blues had messaged him to meet with the rest of the group only briefly, just long enough to toss Kuriboh at a very dismayed Blues. "Your problem now," he had said flatly, before shutting the door and leaving. 

 

Now that the exhibition match was over, his eyes were scanning the brackets, eyes narrowed. He was looking for anyone he didn't recognize. Anyone who could be a holder of a Wicked God. He set off towards a set of steps, eyes on the lookout for any of the other tournament players. 

 

"I'm coming for your Wicked Gods!" he said under his breath with fierce conviction. He had time now, before his first match; If he had to, he would find and eliminate the threats before he had the chance to do so on the tournament course!

[Krein]

It would be obvious to say that Lyall didn’t know what to expect to see when he stepped onto the machine. One flash of light later, though, and Lyall found himself… surprised, but not in a completely awestruck wonder kind of way. He was more surprised at how similar this world and his looked; were it not for the mystical energies swirling about and odd creatures here and there, Lyall could have made himself believed he had been sent back in time due to the prominence of medieval architecture surrounding them. Still, he was not unimpressed, and it took a shout of fear and a collective gasp to knock him back to his senses.

 

"It's the Forbidden One!!" He cried, pointing at Wade. Wade blinked and pointed to himself questioningly. The group of monsters quickly dissipated, leaving the group alone.

"Huh. That was weird. Anyways! Let's go to the big tower!" Wade called out, headed to the big tower in the center.

 

“This better not turn into one of those scenes from books where the villain was among you the entire time,” Lyall muttered as he followed Wade. Some commotion behind him caused him to glance backwards, allowing Lyall to see Miero rushing himself to stand before a ghostly woman. This spirit quickly vanished before Lyall could get a good look at her, but it was enough to make Lyall start keeping an extra eye out for the man.

 

“Looks like I’m not the only one with spirits that don’t want to be seen.”

 

…

 

"You all need to tell me what all is going on, because I obviously missed things during that one discussion," the librarian finally managed to say, his voice slightly higher than it should be. "I came with you guys to try and save my son...I was not expecting anything like this! Ever since taking that accursed card, things have been becoming far too overwhelming. I'm a librarian, not a godsdamned hero!" Phantom Falcon looked at Meiro and sighed.

“I’m sorry. I suppose we didn’t do a great job explaining it to you. You see, we are fighting against a force known as the Wicked Gods… They wish to come to our plane of existence… Escape this one… In order to do this, they have been kidnapping people… Trying to feed on human and duel spirit’s souls to come back to their full power,” he explained. ”Your son… Is probably one of their victims. We’re hoping to find him here,”

 

“Why do you people always rile yourselves up when you realize more is expected of you?”

 

Lyall’s question directed Buster Blader’s attention towards him.

 

Buster Blader looked over at Lyall, checking him over. “... Evilswarm Virus?” He asked as he took a look. This might not end well.

 

“How can you tell?” Lyall asked with a small grin. He looked away from the monster towards everyone else.

 

"Maho...sir." Daichi began, swallowing hard. "If Rinko was who I think she might've been...I...neither one of us knew she was in the deck. We...we fought against a man named Glaeris, a servant to the Wicked Gods. And...Gagaga Girl...no...Rinko was taken." He paused a moment, looking away as his fists clenched tightly. "I-I'm afraid she's...she's..."

 

Lyall caught the Dark Magician’s attention.

 

“This servant of the Wicked Gods took the monster in question along with my own. My monster was Ophion, and I honestly hope that you can give us a clue on how to get them back before anything bad happens in the wrong hands.”

 

"Oh, don't worry."

"..!"

"There will be hell to pay...and the fires of the damned are feeling most-generous as of recent."

"Th-that's---" Miero slowly turned around, and as he did, a figure manifested into view. The figure looked like a colonial American, the jacket it wore fancy and colored with a purple hue lined with faded red along the edges and pockets. The horse it rode trotted forward, dark for all but pale-blue and piercing eyes. In the rider's left hand, it held a bright red orb, illuminated internally by a bright yellow flame.

The figure's head, however, was missing.

 

And Miero was fast into a defensive stance, pointed end at the bottom of the decorated staff aimed at the horse and rider.

"H-how?!" Miero managed to exclaim with a heavy shake to his voice. "I haven't seen you since my father summoned you!"

 

"I will not lie, none of us appreciated him sealing us off like that a decade ago..."

 

The new monster had arrived suddenly, breaking the conversation, and it did not seem too happy to be before its master. This looked like it was about to get messy…

 

“You were with someone else when we got here,” Lyall said to Miero, “… and now we’re greeted with this. Care to tell us what this is all about?”

 

Lyall began to wonder how they would fight in this world. Maybe they would be able to call forth their own monsters to fight alongside them real time, devil summoner style. If not… well, he still had that gun in his coat, but he doubted it would do much against many things here.

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

 

As the exhibition duel went on outside, Yuria was still in her room trying to practice for her round in particular. She looked at the brackets one last time and studied them hard. Of course, her match was against this... Junko woman, whoever she was. But she was evidently more concerned about the one after, in which she was anticipating that she'd square off against Tycho. And if by some miracle she won that? A part of Yuria wanted Blues to be the next person to face, and at first glance that could easily have been the case. But after one last look at his current opponent, a cloaked figured whose eyes were hidden, doubts started to form in her mind.

 

"Could he be one of those cultists we're after?" wondering this out aloud, she then found herself looking all the way over to the left side of the bracket, only to find another cloaked person who appeared just like the one Blues was set to face, "Hey, there's another...! Oh sheet. What if I wind up facing both in the same run?"

 

"You're getting ahead of yourself, Yuria," Neobis stated, "We don't even know what this Junko woman's capable of yet."

 

"But we can't ignore the two cloaks either," Yuria replied in a tone of worry, "Especially not if they actually work for this... Gayis, or whoever Daichi said his name was."

 

"There's not a helluva a lot we can do about that right now," informed a stern Neobis, "Let's just watch their matches and see if anything suspicious crops up during them. You might be right; those two are definitely the most likely to be cultists just on their appearance alone. But it can just as easily be you just being paranoid."

 

"Wwwwwhhaaaaaaaa?" Yuria's mouth opened wide in disbelief of "such an accusation". There was no way she could be paranoid, right?

[King K. Azo]

Maho nodded to the responses he heard. "Thank you. We are forev---," his thanks was interrupted by a loud explosion in the front of the city. Turning towards the front, the group could see the fire and the flames threatening to eat up the buildings. In the center of those flames was one lone Mage... One that Daichi would instantly recognize as Gagaga Magician Girl.

 

However, there was something different about her. That being the black ooze that was clinging to her body, acting as makeshift clothes and creating an eyepatch over her right eye. Her visible eye glowed a bright red, and the large sadistic smirk on her face was extremely off putting.

 

Behind her, stood Glaeris, folding his arms and laughing. On his shoulder sat a short girl with white hair and in a black dress. Next to him stood a tall man with white hair and a crazy look in his eye. He wore a black shirt with a skull on it and a bandanna on his head.

 

"Are you kidding me? You lot made it here to?" he laughed hysterically. "You call yourself heroes and yet you killed on one of our altars to open a portal? You all amaze me with your hypocrisy,"

 

"Isn't it pathetic?" the other man called out. "I, the great Aladjinn, will erase their entire existence!" He held up his hands, a weird curved blade appeared in front of him, and he began to place cards on it. Instantly, a group of monster that could be recognized as the Igknights appeared. "Torch the place to the ground!" The monsters dashed off to different parts of the city.

 

"Stop!" Buster Blader called as he ran off after one. Gaia whistled for his horse, leaping on it and rushing off to another direction. Maho dashed off as the Silents grabbed Helena's hand.

 

"C'mon, we gotta stop them and save people!" Silent Swordsman called out, before the two dragged her away. Before Daichi could run off, a black tentacle wrapped around his waist. Looking back, he could see Glaeris grinning like an idiot.

 

"You and Glaeris have a rematch to do," The girl stated. Glaeris whipped his arm, throwing Daichi through the air, and causing him to fly up into one of the Citadel's side towers, landing on the roof. As he got up, the Wicked God user walked out of a portal, brandishing a duel disk. Daichi's activated automatically... However, he could see Action Cards starting to materialize out of thin air.

 

Seems he was on home turf.

 

---

 

Blues muttered and shook his head as he tried to calm down the ball of fluff in his hands.

 

"Anyways, this is what's going to happen," He stated, looking at the group. "The bracket information is in your duel disks. While Kuria duels, I want Furiko and Aika to investigate the man known as Akaryuu Izayoi. Eizar and Yuria will investigate Jay Nitsua, and Yugo, go look into Ao Mokuba. When we did a background check, all three of these people have absolutely no history to speak of, so they're likely candidates to be Wicked God wielders. Please, look into them. The rest of you are free to do as you please,"

 

Yugo nodded, yawning a bit before getting up. Why was he alone, and what was with Tycho? He supposed he should take care of the stubborn old man. He walked around the arena, looking for the old man. It took him a bit, but he did find him in the end. "Yo, old man!" He said as he walked up to the Hearthomian. "What are you doin' here all alone?"