Yu-Gi-Oh! Skies [IC/R-16]

[The Frost King]

"Ahh, unfortunately I can't. I still have plenty of unpacking to do after class gets out. I only arrived here the other night, you see." 

 

“Oh, okay,” Akari was a bit disappointed to hear this, but honestly, she should have guessed that he wasn’t done unpacking.

 

At this point they had reached the front of the science building, and Kazu stopped. "Well, I'd best be off to class. Wouldn't want to be late on my first day." He gave her a slight bow before turning off toward the front door, then stopped and turned back to her mid-stride. "Thank you for showing me the way. Perhaps we'll get a chance to see one another again when I have a bit more free time. Take care."

 

“Yeah, you too!” she responded with a smile at the swinging door that Kazu had just went through.

 

With Kazu now gone, Akari turned a complete 180, heading towards her dorm room at a fast pace. Even though Kazu wasn’t going to the duel, she still was, and there was no way she was going to be late.

 

. . .

 

Akari took a seat overlooking the duel field, thankful that she had decided to come early. Even though she had arrived a good 30 minutes before the duel was supposed to start, there was already a good amount of people already there. With more people piling in by the minute, it wasn’t long before the seats were packed with excited students.

 From her seat, Akari was far enough away to see the entire duel field without needing to turn her head but close enough so that she could experience the full action. Just thinking about the duel made her energetic with excitement, as she couldn’t wait for the duel to start. Luckily for her, the duel started right then as both duelists made their way onto the duel field. They both said a few words to each other before taking their places on each side of the dueling field.

 

 

"I'll go first." Elizabeth said as she looked at her hand, placing a card from it onto her duel disk. "I'll start off my turn by normal summoning Lunalight Kaleido Chick!" A short, punkish looking beast with a resplendent, rainbow-colored veil appeared, and let out a taunting giggle towards Hitomu, "Kaleido Chick is special, because she allows me to send another Lunalight monster to the graveyard, and I choose Lunalight Wolf! That doesn't do anything just yet, but we'll get back to him. In the meantime, we've got some fusing to do. Let's start by using polymerization on Kaleido Chick and a card in my hand, Lunalight Black Sheep!"

 

Lunalights, eh? From what she could remember, it was a fusion based archetype, mainly focusing on bringing out the fusion monsters out as fast as possible so that they could wreak havoc with their high ATK and crazy powerful effects. But while the archetype was certainly fast and dangerous, it had some major weaknesses. The first weakness being that since it was a type of glass cannon, it was far too easy to have little to no cards in your hard within a turn or two. On top of that, Lunalights didn’t really have any counters for spells or traps, so they could be taken care of with a well-played card. In the end, this duel was most likely going to end fast.

 

"Now, don't get too distracted by my lovely Cat Dancer, as sending Black Sheep to the graveyard as a Fusion Material allows me to return Kaleido back to my hand, and since Kaleido was sent to the graveyard by a card effect, Polymerization will also return to my hand. For now, I'll leave tricks as just that. Wouldn't want to end this little shindig too fast, now would we?"

 

With Elizabeth’s turn over, it was now Hitomu’s time to make his move.

“Anyways, guess that means it’s my turn now. I’ll gonna start things off simple. I’m gonna set a monster and play a card facedown, then I’ll activate Pot of Greed to draw two cards, bringing my hand up to five cards.” As the two facedown cards appeared on the field, Akari wondered what Hitomu’s next move was.

“That’s all. It’s your move, Lizzy,”

 

Huh?! That was his turn?!

 

With Hitomu being the amazing duelist he was, having that as a starting play was kind of disappointing. But then again, those two facedown cards could be anything. That fact alone would make any duelist think twice before making attacking. . .or so Akari thought.

 

As soon as Elizabeth’s turn came around, she pulled out of the gate at top speed. First upgrading her Cat Dancer to Panther Dancer, then using Kaleido Chick to add Polymerization back to her hand before finally bringing out the top boss monster of the Lunalights: Leo Dancer. From what she could remember, it was a 3500 ATK behemoth of a monster that could attack twice AND couldn’t be targeted or destroyed by opponent card effects. Certainly a major threat, but with Hitomu’s facedown monster, the best it could do was 3500 damage. But it seemed Elizabeth had already thought of that too.

 

"Truthfully, the thing giving me the most pause is that rotten Set monster. were it not there, I would simply summon Blue Cat from the graveyard and double her attack, certainly spelling your doom. But with that there, I must resign myself to summoning Wolf by way of my Lunalight Perfume, which will give my monsters piercing damage, and turn up the heat on that bum of yours a tad!"

 

With Lunalight Wolf on the field, the end of the duel suddenly looked a lot closer. And just like Akari had thought, Elizabeth now had no more cards in her hand. This was an all-or-nothing play.

 

"No more wasting time! Ladies, attack and show Hitomu what we came here for! Wolf, take care of the Set Monster, and Leo Dancer, go straight for the enemy!"

 

Unless one of Hitomu’s two facedown cards could save him, this duel was as good as done.

[radio414]

“When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, Lord God Almighty.”
-Jeremiah 15:16 (NIV)

The world was a blur. There was the duel going on, sure, and that was probably filled with as much excitement as any other duel that required a stadium, but Melissa couldn’t really pay attention to that, what, with all the cross-talk closer to her being, you know, about her.

For example, Gabriela had said, “Your kindness will not go unrewarded if the time comes that my country decides to have dealings with your own.” Which was a nice sentiment, really. And if she really was a princess (she said she was from Romvania, right?), it wasn’t like it wouldn’t be a rewarding friendship, right?

Not that she should be expecting rewards from friendships outside of the actual friendships themselves, right? That was probably not the best look, all things considered. But they were friends, or on their way to being friends, at least probably. Or rather more at least, Yusuji said they were friends (“Another friend for Melissa!” she had said), and Yusuji seemed more experienced than Melissa was in terms of friendship.

And Jun was over there already talking about visiting Hitomu so that they could… complain? Was she reading their row correctly? Like, she understood why Gabriela was upset, and perhaps she was right to be so. Those were her chips on the ground at their feet right now, and if it wasn't Hitomu's fault, whose was it? The person who designed Duel Space in the first place? That seemed like too nebulous of a person to put blame on, or at least complain in person to, so yeah, Hitomu it was then. Jun was actually already getting up to leave, too which confused Melissa a little.

Like, she got why Jun wanted to beat the crowd -- and a quick scan of the field did indicate that, unless Hitomu had a trick up his sleeve, there certainly was about to be quite the crowd funneled through what couldn’t be enough exits -- but on this specific day, this day out of literally every other day of Melissa’s life, she actually wanted to be part of that crowd. That was her plan for getting back to her dorm, after all, and her focus on this plan was one of the things keeping her going.

Besides, from what she’d heard of Hitomu, didn’t he always have a trick up his sleeve? So unless the only trick his sleeves could do was tear up a bag of chips out near the edge of an area of Duel Space, this duel wasn’t over just yet.

Either way, Melissa remained firmly in her seat.

[VCR_CAT]

Katsu

 

"Awww nuts, guys. Guess we missed out on the catfight this time." Yushiro said, prompting Katsu to fold her arms and scowl at him as he alone laughed. "My money was on you too Katsu." 

 

"Hmph!" Katsu said in response. Soon after, Kyokou had returned from the restroom, more dry than before yet still noticeably damp from the accident. Still, she sat down in silence and devoured a fist-sized pile of cookies in no time flat, washing the sweet mass down her throat with a big gulp of coffee.

 

"Doesn't look like I missed much," she commented. "So, what's the big deal with this duel you wanted to see?"

 

"It's a match with the captain of the duel team," Katsu replied, matter-of-factly. "Anyone who wishes to become a strong duelist will want to see any matches that he participates in!" She then turned to Yushiro as well. "Who was it that he was playing against, again? I, Katsu the Strong, only remember it being an Upperclassman."

[BANZAI!!!!]

 

"Doesn't look like I missed much. So, what's the big deal with this duel you wanted to see?"

 

"It's a match with the captain of the duel team," Katsu replied, matter-of-factly. "Anyone who wishes to become a strong duelist will want to see any matches that he participates in!" She then turned to Yushiro as well. "Who was it that he was playing against, again? I, Katsu the Strong, only remember it being an Upperclassman."

 

"Yeah Elizabeth's a senior." Yushiro replied matter-of-factly. For a moment he looked like he was going to say something else, but instead he too out his phone, and subsequently went pale. "Crap they've probably started already."

 

"Actually guys I gotta go!" Without saying another word, Yushiro snatched up his coffee and sprinted out the door, faster than anyone present except maybe Akira had ever seen him run. He almost kicked a dust cloud up behind him. Down the road he went, narrowly dodging other pedestrians until at last he made contact with another body and went tumbling rather theatrically.

 

 

It took him a few moments to register what had just happened. Yushiro was on the ground now, and there was a small trickle of blood running down the side of his face from the spot where his forehead had made contact with the pavement. It stung. Before he could attempt to pull himself up though, there was a gloved hand offered to him.

 

"You might want to watch where you're going next time. You almost took me down with you." The hand belonged to a rather peculiarly dressed young man, clad head to toe in black, complete with a flowing coat and a wrapped face. Without waiting for Yushiro to grab his hand, he grabbed Yushiro's and rather forcefully pulled the smaller boy to his feet. "That looked like quite the nasty fall. Do you feel alright?"

 

Yushiro rubbed his hand on his cut head. "I'm a bit woozy but I think I'll be alright. Sorry about that..."

 

"Pay it no mind. I am fine. I would suggest, however, that you be more mindful of your surroundings. Only two kinds of men charge forward with all their might without watching where they are going: those who fear for their lives, and those who feel that their destination is important enough to ignore the journey entirely. Both are fools."

 

Yushiro looked at the stranger for a moment, puzzled. Then decided it wasn't worth it to ponder. "Well anyway, sorry again, but I've really got somewhere to be so." He turned and continued running, keeping his head up this time.

 

"Your dedication to keeping your promises is admirable, I must say. Perhaps you'll be worth my interest after all..." The stranger said to himself. "Now for the reason I came out here..." He moved further down the street with purpose, and after clearing a few blocks, entered coffeecards minutes later, turning some heads as he did so.

[Dova]

---

“...right now is not the place for such a discussion. For...it requires a more mystical and private setting. To...fully soak in the glory and mystery.”

“Of course!” gasped Yusuji in realization. “If it’s that exotic, I completely understand. We need the perfect environment for the maximum ambience! Or something.”

Unfortunately, thoughts about Romvania took a back seat as Elizabeth took her turn. The show of lights granted by Fusion Summoning amazed Yusuji just as much as they had every other time she’d seen it performed on other duels, even earlier this duel. It was just such a tasteful mix of colours. Still, even with all these beautifully designed cats and panthers artfully weaving in and out of one another as their owner’s plays continued, there was a part of Yusuji that managed to marvel just at her skill in going into this all or nothing play. She was so focused in there here and now, in fact, that Jun’s invitation to leave took a while to penetrate.

"Well, let's get going. Gotta make sure we don't get stuck in a huge crowd right?"

“Huh?” Yusuji muttered, her eyes lost in the bright splashes lighting up the whole stadium. Then: “Jun, wait!” She scrambled over various seats in an attempt to catch up to her friend. It probably wasn’t the fastest nor the most direct route, as opposed to just walking up to her, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.

“There’s still like, things to go and stuff!” The paintress continued, gesturing frantically towards the duel. “The attack hasn’t landed, and Hitomu could still do a thing! Elizabeth could even stop her own attack!” A pause. “Okay that’s silly, but still, even Melissa is staying!” She grabbed Jun’s arm and turned her gestures to the slowly filtering crowd. “Everyone else is going too, so the crowd wouldn’t be that bad. And besiiiiiiiides that, we still have to meet up with Hitomu, which would be easier to do if we waited up for him!”

---

[Yui]

---

"It's a match with the captain of the duel team. Anyone who wishes to become a strong duelist will want to see any matches that he participates in! Who was it that he was playing against, again? I, Katsu the Strong, only remember it being an Upperclassman."

 

That made enough sense. If you wanted to get good, watching the best was a good start. And while the boy did explain who the duel captain was up against, did it really matter? But with that, he was off, leaving the others to their own devices. Which was fine by Kyouko; he had things to do, and she wasn't all that interested in getting in on them herself. Likewise, if anyone was planning on following him, that was none of her business.

 

A few minutes, some small talk, and upwards of a dozen assorted small snack foods later, the little bell at the door rang. It wasn't the first time someone had walked in since... Shun? had left, but this one was a bit different. The first one was just after Yushiro left; some white-haired kid - had Kyouko seen her on campus before? - who got enough coffee for five then immediately left. A bit later was some pompous brat and her entourage, but they didn't seem too keen on sticking around. This latest guy was different because he looked like he was here for something besides coffee. Also, his outfit was stupid. Kyouko nearly spat out the final sip of her coffee on seeing the guy, trying her best not to laugh that someone would wear that in public.

 

"And here I thought the entertainment duelists at our school had some dumb getups," she couldn't help but comment.

---

[King K. Azo]

 

---

 
"And I'm Katsu, the Strong," The other girl giving a short, courteous bow. "You should count yourself lucky to have gotten away so unscathed. But, fear not, for I, Katsu the Strong, would have leaped to your defense without a second thought!"
 
"And I, the man Akira, would have done the same!"  The big guy added, smacking his fist against his chest. "It would be a disgrace otherwise!" Sai just rubbed the back of his head, chuckling nervously. 

"So, are these the Demon's jail wardens or something?" Sai thought to himself. There was no way she went to jail already, right?
 
"Awww nuts, guys. Guess we missed out on the catfight this time." Yushiro said, suppressing another laugh as he looked at Sai, Akira, and then Katsu in turn. "My money was on you too Katsu."
 
"As was mine," Akira added. Sai wasn't too sure they should be betting on fights, but hey, they could do them. His train of thought was ended though, as Kyouko came back.
 
"Doesn't look like I missed much," she commented. "So, what's the big deal with this duel you wanted to see?"
 
"It's a match with the captain of the duel team," Katsu replied, matter-of-factly. "Anyone who wishes to become a strong duelist will want to see any matches that he participates in!" She then turned to Yushiro as well. "Who was it that he was playing against, again? I, Katsu the Strong, only remember it being an Upperclassman."
 
"I, the man Akira, didn't care enough to remember," Akira muttered.
 
"Yeah Elizabeth's a senior." Yushiro replied matter-of-factly. For a moment he looked like he was going to say something else, but instead he too out his phone, and subsequently went pale. "Crap they've probably started already." Sai tilted his head as he heard Yushiro whisper, but then suddenly... "Actually guys I gotta go!" And with that, the boy ran away.

"I told him he could do well in the track team," Akira joked as he watched Yushiro vanish into the distance. Sai turned, doing his best to sneak away, but then someone else came in. He was dressed so sharply, so cool! That hat and scarf seemed to compliment each other. However, it seemed not everyone appreciated it. 
 
"And here I thought the entertainment duelists at our school had some dumb getups," Kyouko commented. Sai wanted to say something, talk about how hard it was to work on a 'getup', the hours he put into it, but in the end, he decided rather than blow his identity, he'd just throw Souji under a bus. 

"Like the Kamen Rider, right?" Sai added. "I really can't imagine how he walks in public with that..,"

[Hakima]

---

“Not gonna be that easy Lizzie!” Hitomu threw his arm to gesture forward. “Turn the page on them, Toon Loremaster!” His facedown monster flipped over to reveal a cartoon monk clutching a dusty tome as Wolf launched his attack.

 

[spoiler=Toon Loremaster]

 

Toon Loremaster squealed and held his comically large book up over his head as a shield. “Now normally, Loremaster would be destroyed, but I’m pretty sure you already know what’s about to happen.” Hitomu was surrounded by a blindingly bright green aura, encompassing his body his body from head-to-toe like a protective barrier. “Duel Skill: Plot Armor, activate! The first time in a Duel a Toon monster I control would be destroyed, it’s not.” The protective aura around him suddenly surrounded Toon Loremaster. Lunalight Wolf’s attack bounced off the monster, stil cowering behind his enormous tome, harmlessly. “Then I get to bring Toon Kingdom from my deck directly into play.”

 

Hitomu was grinning from ear-to-ear when he caught the Toon Kingdom card that shot out of his duel disk. “Legend has it there is a place where all the cartoons we see are real, where the deepest fantasies that we dream up as children thrive and come to life; that place is very real.” He slapped the card onto his disk. A gigantic storybook appeared on his side of the field, spinning furiously and creating gale-like winds, before slamming into the ground hard enough to shake the stadium. It slowly creaked open and purple smoke billowed from the pages, blasting out exaggerated bubble text words ‘BAM’ and ‘POW’ as it did.

 

“Welcome to Toon Kingdom, Lizzie!” Hitomu shouted, throwing his hand into the sky, and a huge cartoon castle burst forth from the smoke like a pop-up book. “Now it’s time to get serious! Hurry up and get into the castle, Loremaster!” he called, jumping off the ground and somehow flying through the air to land on the tallest of Toon Kingdom’s towers, the center one.

 

Toon Loremaster awkwardly scrambled to grab several faded pages that had fallen out of his tome before huffing and puffing over to Toon Kingdom, tiny feet kicking as he pulled himself up onto the storybook.

Hitomu couldn’t help but chuckle at the display.

 

“Change of plans. Leo Dancer, attack his Loremaster!"

 

“Loremaster, move it!” Hitomu commanded. The chubby little monk managed to dodge the Leo Dancer’s first swipe by diving into the moat, buying his duelist just enough time to respond. “Cool it Leo! I activate my Trap Card, Toon Index!”

 

[spoiler=Toon Index]

 

A tornado of intensely scribbled on parchment flew out from his trap card, swirling around Toon Kingdom to create an ever-rotating ring of pages. “While Toon Index is in play, I don’t take any damage when you attack my Toons, and thanks to Toon Kingdom I can prevent any destruction by discarding a card. You’re not getting rid of my poor little librarian this turn.” Lunalight Leo Dancer went through with the attack as a soaking wet Toon Loremaster was pulling himself out of the moat. The much larger monster’s attack launched him through the air, and he would have hit the castle wall, but before he could one of the pages circling the castle shot out and caught the miserable creature, halting his momentum and dropping him back onto the ground.

 

Hitomu grimaced. “Sorry little buddy. I’ll go ahead and banish a card from the top of my deck to stop him from dying, and Toon Index will activate so the card goes to my graveyard instead. Thanks for toughing it out pal, ‘cause it’s finally our turn! Draw!” He glanced at his head and then looked down at Elizabeth. “No holding back, right? … Alright. I’ll activate Toon Loremaster’s effect by discarding four cards to create four Forgotten Toon tokens!”

 

Toon Loremaster licked his finger and thumbed through the pages of his tome very carefully, then settled on a page and dropped it onto the ground. The book glowed and four wispy, shapeless creatures marched out of the pages to stand in front of the chubby little scholar. “Don’t get too attached to them though. I’m going to tribute three Forgotten Toon tokens to Special Summon one of my strongest monsters!”

 

The sky was suddenly blanketed with thick, swirling wall clouds. Thunder rumbled, and an enormous bolt of lightning split the sky and slammed down onto the three Forgotten Toon. All that was left of them was a giant smoking crater where they had standing a second before, and three smoking orbs that floated out of the crater and up into the center of the clouds.

 

A roar cut through the air. Not of something beastly, but of something not of this world; both sides of the Duel Space shook and the ground beneath fractured. Toon Loremaster nearly fell back into the moat and Hitomu had to grab onto something to prevent being thrown from his tower. The wind suddenly kicked up, tearing hats from people’s heads, snatching half-finished homeworks, and anything else that wasn’t firmly grasped or bolted down. “I’m not holding back one bit Lizzie!” Hitomu roared to be heard over the storm. His Duel Team jacket was whipping around him wildly, and he had to raise one arm to keep the wind out of his face. Glistening red and black scales started to peek through the clouds here and there, along with huge claws, parting the surface of the storm. “Let’s show them all what they came to see! Take the stage, Osiris, the Toon Emperor!”

 

Osiris finally swooped beneath the clouds. His head was the size of Toon Kingdom’s castle, golden eyes as large and as deep as swimming pools, and two mouths of wicked teeth gnashed at the sight of Elizabeth’s monsters.  The sheer power rolling off him in waves was so palpable several people in frontrow screamed and ducked underneath their seats.

 

Osiris was still a Toon, but he was every bit as massive and powerful as the real Egyptian god cards, with a dash of cartoon cruelty tossed in.

 

[spoiler=Osiris, the Toon Emperor]

 

Hitomu looked over the people watching. He was searching for Tess, hoping she had been there to watch the play that he was relatively sure was going to win him the game. His face fell when he didn’t spot her. “Osiris loses 500 attack for every card in my hand, but I’ll fix that. I’m going to discard both the cards in my hand to activate his effect; once per turn, I can discard as many cards as I want, then the attack of your monsters is reduced by 1000 for every card I discarded, and if their attack is brought down to zero they’re destroyed.”

 

Hitomu slid the last of his hand into the graveyard. “I discarded two, so Lunalight Leo Dancer and Wolf both lose 2000 attack, which destroys Wolf.”

 

Osiris made no move to attack either monster. Both his mouths opened and he roared again; Leo Dancer was pushed back by the wind and shaking earth, but held her ground. Lunalight Wolf was obliterated into a thousand pixels before he even had time to react.

 

"Now I'll attack you directly with Loremaster!" The exhausted monk floated into the air and threw his hand out; a blast of razor thin paper would buffet Elizabeth, not doing any real harm aside from annoyance. Hitomu tried his best to muster the same excitement as before. “Your move, Lizzie. Whatever happens, this duel isn’t gonna make it past the third turn.”

Hitomu (8000)

Elizabeth (6400)

[Super Chaos Sonic]

 

 

Elizabeth's turn came swiftly. She ended up summoning Lunalight Leo Dancer and both the dancer and the Wolf began an assault on Hitomu and his field. At least, that's what it would've been. Souji watched as the face-down monster revealed to be Toon Loremaster.

 

“Duel Skill: Plot Armor, activate!"

 

"...looks like things are finally going to get interesting now." Souji chuckled. A nicely timed use of Duel Skill and it saved him some time to where now Elizabeth had to attack his monster twice in order to do anything. Even better, it was the one skill that helped him turn the tide of this match, given he had his Spell now. But it wasn't this move only that was starting to excite him. Grant it, he was able to stop Leo Dancer's advances in attacks and he was able to keep Loremaster out thanks to Toon Index. No...it was Hitomu's turn itself.

 

“Don’t get too attached to them though. I’m going to tribute three Forgotten Toon tokens to Special Summon one of my strongest monsters!”

 

Wait a minute... Souji thought, his eyes glued to the match more then they were. Four tokens...and immediately tributing three? ...wait, don't tell me he's seriously...! At this moment, Souji's eyes went wide. If he was right on his assumption...he'd actually be witnessing the summoning of one of those monsters.

 

“Let’s show them all what they came to see! Take the stage, Osiris, the Toon Emperor!”

 

The hunch was right on the money...Hitomu summoned up the Toonified version of an Egyptian God. "J-Jeez...the captain is going hard in this, isn't he?" he chuckled over towards Jun. Then again, this was almost like the Duel he and Hitomu had before...except he met his end at the cartoon hands of a different God. But this here, it definitely showed why Hitomu was the captain of the Duel Te-....

 

Suddenly Souji began to sneeze quite a bit, as he groaned and shook his head some. "Jeez...someone's probably talking about me again..."

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Gabriela decided that it would be for the best to just ignore the girl's refusing to call her by the name she chose for herself. There was no way she knew the truth, right? Not even her roommate had figured it out...she hoped.

 

And then the girl started to leave. Which didn't seem right. The match wasn't over, right? She glanced back at the field. Yeah, it wasn't over. Did Jun know something she didn't know? Should she go with or stay here?

 

The funny, and thankfully gullible, girl seemed to think that Jun wasn't right in leaving. And Gabriela had to agree. She wanted to watch the entire duel after all. She needed to see what the best duelist was like if she planned on getting any better herself.

 

"I must decline your offer of an early leave. For it would be of utmost rudeness not to see it through. I will continue to grace this duel with my presence as is befitting of one such as I!"

 

And then the attack began. And this Captain...

 

Gabby stared as he made his moves. He had barely anything on his field and was facing down a powerful Monster and he didn't even flinch. Not only that but he casually turned it around completely.

 

And that Monster....it was absolutely incredible. She hadn't ever seen something like it before and it left her...shaken.

 

"W-well." Gabriela said, trying to keep her composure. "A fitting...minion for the one who may become my servant." She nodded firmly, struggling to keep the awe out of her voice.