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Interview 4 - Cochlea the Namekian by Chaos Sonic (Ft. Guest Interviewer - Yui)

This sucked. Inu hated the fact he smelled the dolls all the way on the top of this building. To make things worse, he had to fight off robots to even get close to the dolls. They were easy enough, a few punches taking them down, but then something weird happened. Two robots dropped from the ceiling. Not only that, but they had really weird designs. One looked like a giant turtle covered in spikes, buzzsaws spinning out from the sides as flamethrowers sprouted from its back, the turtle staring blankly as jets of fire spewed from the weapons. The other had a long thin body, one Inu was pretty sure was supposed to be a baguette. Looking it, he saw a silly hat on its head, and a small curly mustache on its face, solidifying that idea. The poor robot had no hands, instead ending on what looked liked scythes, but looking closely, Inu realized the scythes were modeled after croissants. "What idiot made these designs...?" Inu muttered. Watching the screens, seeing students come across bizarre and impractical robots only brought a smile to the Pro Hero's face as he held up a notebook full of crazy robots designs. "They're even more beautiful than I thought," He said as he went back to creating robot designs with the skills of a preschooler scribbling in a coloring book. The support teacher Mr. Deerc looked over his shoulder, sighing. "One day I'll figure out how you keep slipping these designs into my tests," He muttered. "Don't worry about it, John," Terro commented. Inu sighed to himself as he rolled passed the two robots, picking up the two human sized dolls, one on each shoulder. "Alright, you pile of scraps, let's do this!" Inu barked as he bared his teeth. The baguette robot only flexed its metal arms angrily before it walked behind the robot turtle, rearing its leg back, obviously trying to kick the dangerous turtle into Inu. However, when it swung its leg, the foot got caught in the buzzsaws, shredding its foot instantly, which caused the robot to lose its balance, falling forward and having its entire body shredded to bits, neither robot reacting to the turn of events. Inu stared blankly as the turtle fired off the flamethrowers, the flames falling short a few inches from actually hitting him. He looked down at the turtle's feet. Waiting for it to move, but soon realized it had nothing. No legs, no wheels, not treads. The turtle couldn't move. With a sigh of relief, he went to leave the building, when the whole structure shook. "What the H-E-double fuck was that?!" Inu called out. Tai sighed to himself as he placed down over 30 dolls on the sidewalk, wiping his brow. He was really lucky that the test was in the afternoon, and not at night. He dusted his hands off and went to find more dolls to help when a loud booming noise caught his attention. "What was that?" He turned, looking at the giant building that was starting to fall over, its giant shadow covering the entire area. "Shinobu, what the heck did you do?" He muttered to himself, having a good guess at the actual answer. With a sigh, he cracked his knuckles and ran over. The building fell over, a deafening sound being heard as the building began to break everything around it with its sheer weight. Tai stood in its shadow defiantly, holding out his hands, and catching it before the building could touch the ground. Gritting his teeth, he lifted the sideways building over his head, struggling to make sure it didn't topple into the ground. "No need to fear, I got it," Tai stated as he began to walk down the street, carrying the building to the outskirts of town. "I... I need to think of a better catchphrase," He muttered. "Maybe 'there's no need to feel, I am here!'?" he decided to leave that for later, focusing on leaving the building balanced as he made his way out of town. "Shit, shit, shit, fuck, fuck, fuck!" The poetic words of Inu rang out as the building he was inside began to topple over. He couldn't keep his footing as the floor became the walls, and the glass windows became the floor... that couldn't withstand the weight of both him and the robot, who began to fall over hundred feet down towards the unforgiving ground. Thinking fast, Inu spun himself around, taking a deep breath in before letting out a torrent of flame, the force of which greatly slowed his descent. Keeping his grip tight on the dolls, he felt a foreign feeling in his chest, a sense of pride. He was going to make it out okay, thanks to some fast thinking! But pride always comes before a fall. Some debris from the building were falling as well, and a particularly large rock nailed the wolf boy in the head, causing the boy to stop breathing fire and fall back down to the ground, his vision getting dark. "No, no, no!" His mind called out as his body spun through the air, steam coming out of his eyes. "It's not fai---," He was knocked out the instant his body crashed into the ground, leaving the injured boy laying in a crater, his grips on the dolls lost.

I Have no Mouth

Arden, now without a field and down some LP, drew her card. Then she stretched her arms and neck, looking more alert by the time she’d finished. “That’s on me. I played my Zombie World too early. Now that I’ve got a workable hand, we can really Duel.” This was far from the first time Arden and Yuliya had dueled, but to have it be on the greatest stage Persica had to offer shot a spark of excitement through Arden’s body. “First, I’ll activate the spell card Foolish Burial, sending a monster from my Deck to the Graveyard. Let’s go with this Mezuki.” No sooner than her monster reaching its destination, complete with a hologram of the card being dropped into an open grave, did Arden place another monster down, this time from her hand to the field. “Next, I summon Zombie Master from my hand.” Zombie Master: Level 4/DARK/Zombie/1800/0 “And then I’ll activate its effect, which lets me discard a monster, then target a Level 4 or lower zombie in my Graveyard to Special Summon. What’s interesting about this effect is that since you discard and then choose a target, the monster you discard and the one you summon can be the same. So, I’ll go ahead and discard this Gozuki from my hand, to summon the very same Gozuki.” Gozuki: Level 4/EARTH/Zombie/1700/800 “Oh, that’s cute,” Yuliya said. “I don’t think any of my ‘discard to do a thing’ effects do that.” “Not many do,” Arden shrugged. “In any case, with Gozuki now on the field, I’ll activate his effect, to send a zombie from my Deck to the Graveyard. I’ll be sending Uni-Zombie to the Graveyard, and activating that Mezuki from earlier afterward. By banishing itself, Mezuki can summon any zombie monster from my Graveyard, so I’ll bring back the Uni-Zombie I just set up for.” Uni-Zombie: Level 3/DARK/Zombie/1300/0 “And this is where things get really interesting. Next, I activate the second effect of Uni-Zombie. It lets me send another zombie from my Deck to the Graveyard, but it also increases the level of one monster on the field by one. In exchange, however, I can’t attack with anything that isn’t a zombie for the rest of this turn. I’ll increase the level of Gozuki.” Gozuki: Level 4 -> 5 “Now, with all the setup finished, we can get to the main event! If nothing else, I like to think I’m about to make it into this tournament’s highlight reel, because I Synchro Summon. By tuning my Level 3 Uni-Zombie with the Level 4 Zombie Master, I summon a Level 7 monster. Rise, Red-Eyes Zombie Necro Dragon!” BGM As Arden removed her two monsters from the field, accompanied by a graphics animation on the screens above the duelists and a hologram to match on the field, the two zombies were soon replaced by a much bigger one. A black dragon, eyes aglow and body wreathed in ghastly blue flames, appeared behind Arden. No sooner than its appearance, however, did Arden make her next move. “Now, I activate the effect of the Mezuki I sent to the Graveyard just a moment ago, banishing it to bring back Zombie Master, and then activate his effect as well. I’ll be repeating that trick we talked about, this time discarding the Plaguespreader Zombie from earlier to summon him!” Plaguespreader Zombie: Level 2/DARK/Zombie/400/200 “And then we… Synchro Summon! By tuning my Level 2 Plaguespreader Zombie with my Level 5 Gozuki, I’ll summon another Red-Eyes Zombie Necro Dragon!” Red-Eyes Zombie Necro Dragon: Level 7/DARK/Zombie/2400/2000 “Almost done! When Gozuki is sent to the Graveyard, I can activate its second effect, banishing any other zombie from my Graveyard to special summon any zombie monster from my hand. By banishing the Goblin Zombie you destroyed last turn, I’ll summon Vampire Grimson from my hand.” Vampire Grimson: Level 5/DARK/Zombie/2000/1400 “Don’t get used to him; he won’t be here very long. I still have one more card left in my hand, and I’ll be using it to activate Plaguespreader Zombie’s effect. Now I can tell you what that does. If it’s in the Graveyard, I can put a card from my hand on top of the Deck to summon it. Which I will. And by tuning my Level 2 Plaguespreader Zombie with… you get the idea. Red-Eyes Zombie Necro Dragon!” Having started from an empty field and six cards in her hand, three of the same undead dragon now loomed behind Arden, growling at the dragons assembled on Yuliya’s side of the field. Yuliya grimaced. “I don't think I've seen this one from you before, Arden. Well, you’ve got three of them now and you haven’t even told us what they do yet.” “They do two things, though one of them doesn’t matter very much right now, with Zombie World gone. However, the other thing they do is gain 100ATK for every zombie in both of our fields and Graveyards, including itself.” Yuliya brought out the fingers, counting through the turn. It had been a complicated one, though, so she did it again. “So that means…” “Indeed. With four zombies on the field, and four more in each Graveyard, each copy of Red-Eyes Zombie Necro Dragon has 3200 points to strike with! Just a little bit more than your own monster.” “Ah! Well math’d” “Thank you, thank you. Without further delay, let’s put those points to use! First, I’ll use one of my dragons to attack Thunder Dragonlord!” The center dragon of the three reared its head back, raising its long neck upward and taking in a deep breath. Before suddenly slinging its head forward, aimed directly at the larger of Yuliya’s monsters and spewing out a stream of blue flames not unlike the ones shrouding its own body. Yuliya: 8000 -> 7800 “If Zombie World were still active, this would be the part where I go on about its other effect, but I suppose I got a bit too eager playing that before having a major play ready.” “Yeah, well, against a worse opponent you might have still gotten some use out of it.” Yuliya stuck her tongue out, mostly playful, but with a hint of upset as she moved her monster to the graveyard, dead for real this time instead of just pretending to be because of a field spell. “Against a worse opponent, I wouldn’t have realized I need to actually do something like this,” Arden retorted. “But enough about us, because it’s time to deal with a worse opponent for my dragons. Using the second Red-Eyes Zombie Necro Dragon, I attack Thunder Dragondark!” The process repeated, this time washing away a considerably smaller - though still large - dragon in fire. Yuliya: 7800 -> 6200 “Yah, well, you’re smart enough to attack the reinforce effect second,” Yuliya said. “Dragondark has the same effect when destroyed as it does when banished, after all, and who knows what tricks I might have in here.” She patted the deck slot on her duel disk. “I guess I have to actually choose what that is now, though. How about something as innocuous as a spell card, hm?” A card popped out, Yuliya showed the tell-tale green border to everyone, and “Thunder Dragon Fusion” showed up on all the screens in the arena. “Look forward to that,” she said. “I don’t have much of a choice, do I? I can’t quite end the duel this turn, but I can attack directly with both my third dragon and Zombie Master!” At her cue, a third gout of flames - now accompanied by a significantly less threatening purple bolt of magic - fired off in Yuliya’s direction, knocking her Life Points down, quickly bringing them close to 0. Yuliya: 6200 -> 3000 -> 1200 “Ugh. Well, ‘close to zero’ isn’t the same as ‘at zero.’” Yuliya said. “And you’re handless now, right? Are you doing anything else over there besides beating a poor girl half to death?” “Goodness me, you make it sound so violent. Unfortunately, as you’ve observed, I have no cards left in my hand.” Arms crossed, Arden nodded in Yuliya’s direction. “And having already attacked with everything I can, my turn is now over. The floor is yours, dear friend. You’d best stage a comeback real quick if you want to win.”

Aduain, Morgan, and Fen had begun moving to the athletic section of the clothing store. The fish was still a touch confused at Fen's mention of his goal and Morgan's encouragement. But he didn't want to delay their moving further away from the photographer so he chose not to question it much more than that. Aduain was curious to see what Prana felt athletic equipment should look and feel like. A lot of it was stretchy but most all of it felt like it would slow him down in the water so he wasn't immediately keen on buying anything. Morgan seemed to be enjoying herself anyway as she held a shirt out toward him. She was right, it definitely would be big on him. But that could be fun in its own way and like she said, enough room his gills wouldn't be obstructed. "Mouth's for eating, sides' for breathing." The hunter succinctly summarized Morgan's open pondering about how he breathed. The flaps of his gills even lifted up for a moment as he took a big breath to show her before taking hold of the shirt. He held the article of clothing up to himself to try and see just how big it would be on him. It was going to be long more than anything that was for sure. As it happened this section of the store didn't have much of a wall as it bled back out into rest of the mall. And the group had caught the attention of a man just across from them. Adonis' laugh pierced the air as he stood in their path just as they were moving in the general direction of his store. Aduain had been looking over his shoulder half the time since they had moved and continued to do so now. The fish hadn't entirely registered everything the muscular human had said but an excuse to go into a different store altogether was perfect. "Yeah yeah, sounds great let's go-" Aduain cut himself off as he finally got a good look at Adonis. "Wow that sure is some shape." he said in awe of the physique before him. "Yes, it is indeed quite majestic isn't it?" Adonis said as he tossed his hair and admired himself in the nearest window. "I'm sure even one as small as you could look, well, something like me if you tried." Aduain had to try not to laugh at the idea of his body looking anything like what he saw before him. It was funny enough he almost wanted to take the deal purely to see what it would be like. "Hmm... seems like that might slow me down. I know! A demonstration! I wanna see what muscles like that can do!" Aduain said as he began looking around for the heaviest object he could find in the mall. If he was going to look ridiculous like Adonis he had to be sure there were benefits. The body builder instead offered an arm to the fish to grab onto which Aduain did gigling all the while. The man then looked to Fen and said "Excuse me, little lady" as he proceeded to lift her off the ground and into the air along with Aduain. "Not bad big guy!" the hunter cheered, enjoying the display. "But I ain't the biggest fish in the sea, let's see you go all out!" Adonis laughed and moved to pick up Morgan as well. But upon closer inspection of her he decided against it. "This was just child's play of course! The great Adonis can lift more than you can even imagine." Adonis declared as he motioned for a staff member to join him outside the store. Without warning they too were lifted. Aduain could only laugh. Without nen, at least he assumed this was without nen he couldn't tell if Adonis had any like most of the Pranans, this was fairly impressive. "Not just for show!" The hunter said as he let go and hopped to the ground. "If you can really lift more than I can imagine then... what'd people call it again? Oh yeah! We should arm wrestle!" he said, bouncing from foot to foot at the idea. Adonis busted into laughter for some several seconds before settling with a look of surprise. "O-oh, you're serious! Well, I suppose Adonis does not mind but I wouldn't want to hurt you little man." the buff man said. "No problem! I'm tough as they come! Even a couple giant squids can't hold me down" Aduain boasted in an attempt to assure he was up to the task. "Giant...squids...Well, alright if you say so just don't feel bad about losing!" Adonis returned with confidence. Adonis escorted Aduain, and either of the girls who wished to follow, into the athletic store across the way. At his word staff set a table and two chairs down in the middle of the room which caught the attention of any shoppers in the area. Surrounded by workout equipment and other buff, though perhaps not Adonis level, people, Aduain seemed even smaller than he already was but his excitement was bigger than any of them. A small crowd was forming around the table, knowing Adonis must have been issued a challenge. Several cheers were already sounding from some fans of the man. Though he seemed conflicted as though there should have been more people clamoring to see him all the time. Disbelief shot through the crowd as Aduain stepped up to his seat. Several concerns could be heard among the whispers of the still growing spectators. Surely he was out of his mind to challenge Adonis. He was so small. What was this fish person doing here? Would his arm survive even grasping Adonis'? Where were his pants? Endless angles to the same conclusion: Adonis was sure to win before it even got exciting. The two contestants shook hands first then transitioned smoothly into the standard positions, each elbow on the table with fists above. Though the size difference made the posture somewhat difficult. Aduain readied himself and visible only to Morgan his nen was very calm and stable at the moment. Adonis offered him one last chance to back down which Aduain assured wasn't necessary. At a staff member's call the two began pushing against the other. Despite the talk it was clear neither was pushing all that hard against the other yet. Smirks were exchanged and the hunter obliged and began pushing as Adonis' hand began moving. "Good, good that's the way! But the great Adonis will not be beaten!" the man shouted. Cheers erupted from his fans while others turned away, not wanting to see how badly the fish's arm would be crushed once Adonis finally exerted himself. With his ever present flair for the dramatic the man let his hand come nearly to the table before the veins in his arm began visibly popping out as he forced Aduain's hand over and nearly to the opposite side of the table. But to everyone's alarm, none more so than Adonis himself, the fish's hand did not go all the way. The nen in the hunter's arm was flowing faster now and was the cause of the deceptive strength. Adonis exerted more and more of himself trying to push the fin hand the final inch yet it wouldn't budge. Aduain's smirk grew all the bigger as new murmurs went through the crowd. Finally someone shouted for Adonis to stop messing around. The moments seemed like eternities for the body builder at this unflinching tiny hand. For Aduain this was a light warm up. "Pretty sure I can imagine this big guy." Aduain mocked as his nen began really surging. Slowly Adonis' hand was moving back. Up and through the middle, back down close to the other side of the table. Visible panic set in to Adonis' face at the prospect of losing to one less than half his size. The crowd now was souring as his defeat hung over them. How could he be losing to someone so much smaller than him? Were they wrong to have believed in him? Aduain, who had been ready to beat the man and show the error in judging strength purely by muscle size, took note of the crowd and saw the pain on the man's face. These people meant a lot to him. Their respect and admiration obviously kept him going. And as a guardian of this place... well Aduain didn't feel it right to take that from him. So he completely relaxed his nen, his arm taking on the strength one might expect of such an untoned limb. Adonis felt the unbearable strength leave his opponent and he looked deeply into the fish's eyes and found only understanding. With a genuine smile and a nod Aduain told him silently to do what he had to. A single manly tear fell down the body builder's face as he slammed Aduain's fist into the opposite side of the table in one motion. The Great Adonis had triumphed. Renewed cheers sounded, faith was restored in his fans. "That was a dirty trick letting me think I'd won!" Aduain cried out in feigned bitterness. "There, there. Prana wasn't built in a day! And neither were the muscles of the Great Adonis!" The man cheered with another of his hearty laughs. The store joined him and even Aduain couldn't help but try it out himself.

OOC ----- "Aiwass activates! By equipping itself to Dingirsu, I gain control of it!" At the duelist's command, the frame-like body of the angel seemed to shift, the eyes closing as the rest of its body opened up, almost unhinging. It then shot forward, clamping around the towering knight and steed, making it look as if it was in pain... Before Dingirsu walked over to the duelist who activated Aiwass and turned around, looking down on its original player. "In addition, it gains 1000 ATK and DEF while equipped with Aiwass! Attack your master directly!" The monster's massive lance was thrust forward, bearing down on the duelist before it. His hand moved to activate a set trap, before cursing loudly and standing up straight, the attack hitting him head on. With that hit, his life points fell to zero. "Team Trinity wins yet another match! It may not have been a 2-0 this time, but the showing was still impressive, especially from Captain Primrose Goitea!" As the monsters began to fade with the end of the duel, Primrose stood solemnly, staring at Otto across from her... And then the footage cut out. ----- Saturday, February 15 "Aaand that was the most recent championship match." Vega clapped as the lights in the room came back on, the screen behind her silent but playing the footage of the duels once more. The team would find themselves sitting at a conference table, though it seemed it may just be two foldable white tables stuck together and covered with a tablecloth. There were some windows covered with blackout blinds along one wall, with a sink and some cabinets on the wall opposite it. "Of course, you don't learn much from watching pros in this sort of sport as you do others, but... y'know, can't hurt!" She hummed happily as she walked to the side to a whiteboard, she began to scribble some general observations she had made about the duels the team had been made to watch. However, there were plenty of doodles of the @Ignister blobs on the whiteboard as well, with encouraging messages written to appear as if they were saying them. Turning around with a big grin on her face, she revealed that there were plenty of bullet points left to be filled. "If anyone wants to discuss what we watched, and what sort of strategies you got from it, let's go for it! But that's the only thing I'm forcing you to do for the day, so if you guys just wanna talk amongst yourselves, that's fine, too! Just be ready for our first match next week!" Vega turned around to doodle Achichi @Ignister with a red dry erase marker, making sure it gave an approximation of a thumbs-up to the group behind her, before freezing. "Though, uh... you guys really need to decide on a name before then. Team ____ isn't really gonna cut it, y'know?" ----- OOC

OOC Over its years of service, the Janissary had filled many a purpose. Military vessel, mining ship, a brief stint as a diplomat's private ship, and these days, a cargo ship of all things. Armed with a crew of misfits, plenty of room for cargo and crew alike, and a lack of allegiance to any organization or government, the ship did rather well as far as independent cargo ships went. Usually, the hard part was finding clients, enough so that the Janissary's crew was known to pick up other odd jobs on the side if the pay was good, but at present, the ship was on the last legs of a very standard cargo run. Well, standard if not for the slew of obstacles it had presented. This was supposed to be a perfectly normal shipment of foodstuffs. Pick up the cargo from Earth, leave, bring it to Bekkik, get paid. As if an omen of things to come, the job had so graciously started with a quarter of the cargo getting completely lost in an earthquake just moments before the Janissary landed. Then there was the Union's navy briefly mistaking the ship for a pirate vessel and very nearly opening fire, an emergency landing on a desolate, unmapped chunk of space rock when one of the engines nearly exploded due to a fuel leak, and the eventual discovery that one of the cargo crates had a vermin problem. Disposing of the filthy creatures was an incident all of its own, but it was preferable over throwing away an entire extra crate of cargo when so much of it had been lost before the ship even took off. Quite a few of its contents had to be dumped anyway, given the vermin had gotten their teeth into the food. And yet, Oru would have preferred any of that over what she was now going to have to deal with. Up ahead, a bright red star sat in the empty void of space, with three planets orbiting around it. Same distance, same speed, as if put there by design instead of sheer cosmic chance. The Eova system, home of the Sarvatti race. As soon as the Janissary entered the space designated as belonging to the Sarvatti, the ship's communications buzzed alive with the raspy sound of one of those snakes' voices. "Welcome, unidentified vessel. Please state your business in this system." "Food delivery for Bekkik, port 14," Oru answered. "Port 14, port 14... hm. There must be some sort of error. Port 14 was shut down months ago." "Oh, for crying out..." "Please enter Bekkik at port 13 for the time being. We will inspect the cargo there and check our orders of food for recent matches." With no further room for discussion, the communications were cut off. Presumably to prepare the port for an unexpected arrival. As much as Oru wanted to complain that of course a job involving the Sarvatti would be nothing but bad news, the job was at least almost over now. Just land, hand over the goods, and that's that. Flipping on the ship's intercom, Oru cleared her throat and made the announcement to the crew. "Alright, someone back on Earth must have made a mistake, because the port we're supposed to be landing in has been out of commission for a while. We'll be landing somewhere else on the planet instead so the Sarvatti can inspect our cargo and figure out where we're supposed to take it. If they ask about that one crate, just be honest with them." Shortly after announcing the change of plans, the Janissary finally made its landing on Bekkik. The entry hatch - situated near the back of the ship - opened up, inviting in the hot, dry air of the planet. For the time being, until the crew was told where to bring the cargo, everyone on board was free to step outside, get some fresh air, and bask in the morning sunlight. The surface of Bekkik was best compared to a grassy desert. Hot, dry dirt rested beneath the feet of anyone stepping outside, as the yellowish grass crunched underfoot. While there was a brief period of the year where this planet was incredibly fertile, that time had passed and would not come again for quite a while, making food shipments like the one on the Janissary incredibly important. Around the port in which the Janissary had landed, the crews of other ships - as well as locals to the town in which the port was situated - mingled about. Looking for work, spreading rumors, the like. Despite being in the system that was home to the Sarvatti race, it wasn't hard to tell that while there were people of all different races around here, very few of them were one of the four-armed serpentine people that owned this planet. Oru, for her part, stayed near the ship, keeping her eye open for the inspectors that were supposed to check the ship's cargo. "Welcome to Bekkik, everyone," she said. "The best worst place in the Galactic Union."

-Glimmer of Hope- Diana's jaw dropped as the scores were revealed. Sure, she had put her all into it... But 5th place? That was more than she had ever dreamed of! She held her hands tight together in front of her face, eyes closed as the biggest grin spread across her face! "[I can't believe that someone with a Quirk like mine can...!]" She spoke excitedly in her native tongue, visibly shaking with excitement. "Mm? What do you mean, a [Quirk like mine]?" Diana whipped around to see Shannon standing behind her, that same soft smile still plastered on her face, "Perhaps I am not one fit to judge, Ms. Seigi, but I do believe you give it your all. Especially given what I saw befo-" "Shhh! Not so loud!" Diana looked around warily, even though Shannon had barely spoken above a whisper, "I told you, I don't... I don't want it to impact this. And I got fifth place somehow, so why would I want to ruin my chances now?" "That is indeed fair," Shannon hummed, taking a step closer to Diana, "By the by, would you happen to have a partner yet?" "[I-Ieh], I don't. Why do you ask?" "From what I gather, I am led to assume you are the optimal partner for me, Ms. Seigi." "E-eh!?" the taller girl recoiled, "I-I don't have high mobility, I'm not very impressive overall, and I'm probably the weakest person in my class... What could you possible want from me?" "The weakest person?" Shannon cocked her head, the smile falling to a confused frown, "Ms. Seigi, I don't know your quirk. It is the one Quirk that Madame Orikami absolutely refused to tell me about. However, your strength of character is why I believe you to be my best choice. With the little I know of you, your heart is soft, but you are tenacious and determined. What better traits are there when it comes to a competition of maintaining and reclaiming your lead?" Diana froze, staring at Shannon as the smile crept back onto the smaller girl's face. She had only had three interactions with this girl now, yet here she was... giving Diana such praise. Tears came to Diana's eyes, raising her left arm to wipe them away. "But surely someone else offered? There has to be someone whose quirk matches up better, or who knows you better!" "Mmm... Only one other girl, and I barely even recognized her. Ayako? Akane? Something like that." The dragon girl shook her head, "Besides, between you and me, Tai would be my next choice, and... Well, you will see soon enough." Shannon gave a mischievous little giggle, prompting Diana's eyebrow to raise, but the smaller girl did not continue on her point. "So, we will be big targets, but we will also be airborne. Out of the rest of the competitors here, I do not believe any of them can easily reach us in the air. You are more than fit to be a great hero, Ms. Seigi. Please, by my partner for this round, and shine brightly." Shannon held out her right hand, palm slightly up as if to beckon. Maybe this wasn't the right choice. Diana felt as if she didn't belong here, much less teamed up with someone this highly ranked and impressive. But, even so...! The dragon girl yelped in surprise at how forcefully Diana took her right hand in her own as she nodded, shaking hard as more tears welled up. With a small laugh, Shannon looked up. "I knew I was making the right choice. Now, let us begin discussing our strategy..."

"Boys, boys, calm doooown," Vega waved at Daichi and Sai, wearing a dramatic pout on her face, "There's merit to both. You're right that trying to win is absolutely in the best interest of a competitive player... But making a show is what earns you fans and sponsors, more often than not. Primrose used to play a lot flashier, as I'm sure our little superfan brought up. It's only natural that he's a bit concerned. After all, she even changed her ace not long after entering the majors..." The coach paused mid-sentence as something Falisha said caught her ear, prompting a raised eyebrow. "I suppose we could make an educated guess, after all, most tournament decks get registered and are public knowledge afterwards. I'll probably go look it up later and see what Spell or Trap cards hang out in his deck." "Sssadly no. Decklists for teams are very rarely available, as the league found it largely too difficult and time consuming to track every single card. On top of that, it hampered players in some matchups, since it's a best of one format." "I see... Though I really want to know what that face-down was... Do you know, Vega? After all, you're just as much part of this discussion even if you're doodling." "Hey, the doodles are important!" Vega huffed a bit before continuing, "But... I don't know the exact card. Given the type of guy he is, it's likely it was Blazing Mirror Force, but he knew it wouldn't stop his Dingirsu in that situation. He could have reached for an action card, but he was too confident in whatever he set saving him, is what I'd wager." "Please excuse my tardiness!" Eve said, swinging the door open and power-walking into the room, box of donuts in hand. "My phone wasn't plugged in and ran out of battery overnight, but I brought something to make up for the delay. It looks like you were talking about the latest championship, but what else did I miss?" "You're fine, you're fine~" Vega smiled and picked up one of the plain, cream-filled donuts, free hand motioning to the screen to the side, "We were just watching them and discussing some points that came up. The footage is still going if you wanna watch it, but this is mostly free time now. So, if any of you have anything to ask me before your first official match... Now's the time, y'know?"

╔. .═════════╗ Kendra sighed gently as she watched the match on the screen, her eyes only half lidded... Enough to make most of them think she was really asleep, she was sure. She figured she owed some attention to this duel, it was a championship title match, only seemed fair. She'd like to be in that spot sometime. But the match was so expected. A standard duel was usually like that though, that's why she liked it. It was steady, familiar. With just enough room for experimenting without her having to pretend to be something she isn't. Could she Action Duel? Probably, but she doubted the crowds who flock to that sort of thing would be interested in her demeanor. So she stuck with what she knew. She could appreciate the technical skill that went into the Extra Link during the Dritte vs Arkhan duel, that sort of thing wasn't easy to pull off, she didn't even use Link monsters and she knew that. It took a lot of planning to be able to do that in a fashion that the opponent couldn't respond to, and it wasn't a foolproof strategy most of the time. But against Dritte, it seemed like a knock out for sure. She felt a bit bad, it highlighted the weakness of specialization, even if in this case it wasn't entirely that. Links to enhance a deck, but it almost felt like he got too dependent on them at the same time... She really needed to branch out to keep up with the best. Maybe she'd get a chance. Rosalia's response was as diplomatic as ever, she would have to be the one to be a bit blunt it seemed. Her hand rose up to catch the paper football that flew in the air towards her, Kendra slowly pulling her head up from the desk as she sighed out gently. "I've only played in locals mostly, there were a few more serious events, but they weren't... Anything like this. It will take us a lot of work to get there." She knew she wasn't asked, her fingers curling around a can of soda she had been nursing over the course of the day. She squeezed it gently, the can crinkling underneath her grip, "...And they already know that. They've put in the work, yeah? Sai is right, she isn't putting on a show anymore, it's her livelihood. Maybe she did it on purpose, maybe she's doing it subconsciously, it really doesn't matter. Staying on top takes twice as much work as getting there does." She waved a hand in the air gently, before glancing towards Daichi, "To them, it isn't just a show or a game, it's how they earn their living. Like most sports, it's not a stable career, if they're smart, they know that... Maybe she didn't realize it at first, or she didn't expect to make it big, we can speculate all we want, but yeah, she's changed. I think anyone in her shoes would." No hint of condemning that perceived change to Primrose in her voice, no hint of anything... "...I respect that myself. The pressure of being at the top has to weigh on them. The fact they didn't go undefeated will probably make a dent in their earnings, either through merchandise or by unhappy sponsors..." It wasn't a happy thought, but that was business, "Dritte probably feels the brunt of that, even though I can't really say it's entirely his fault. A Link versus Link-heavy deck matchup is... Stressful, I imagine, I wouldn't know." She finished off her drink, crushing the can underneath her hand as she tossed it from her seat into the trash. It landed in the can as she put her head back down, a low sigh escaping her as she did, "Team Whatever works for me, Genesis makes the most sense. We're starting from scratch." ╚═════════. .╝

Violence is not the answer

T-Bear

[Let's Get this Show On the Road] ”We all have roles to play, you’re just unsettled that I know mine.” Name: Sai Sashisematta Age: 24 Birthday: February 2nd Role: Not turbo I fuckin know that much. [Appearance:] Height: 6 feet, 1 inch. 6 feet, 5 inches in his geta wooden sandals. His everyday wear varies greatly, but maintains a similar theme to that pictured, extremely ornamental and showy. His hair is bleached and toned to ivory white, and he wears colored contact lenses every day. [Personality:] A living oxymoron, Sai is a man who is both absolutely formal and completely unconventional. Every action he takes is done with great showmanship, as if he were an actor on a stage. He often comes off as a control freak, freely tweaking anything that doesn’t suit his frenetic fancy. He views dueling as a performance art first and foremost, and would be the first to admit he threw a game to make it more exciting. He lives his life seeking fun, and is unapologetic and unabashed in his pursuit. Breaking social convention to do so is something Sai does without second thought, even gaining amusement from the reactions his behavior garners. Sai’s worldview is that each person’s purpose in life is to be themselves, and the structures of society simply get in the way of this noble goal. He considers himself to be a fully realized individual, occasionally even a savior for the lost masses. Seeking fame (as well as the associated fortune) to lift him up above the rest to show everyone exactly what they can be if they cast aside what they were told they were. [Biography:] The Tokyo red light district of Kabukichō may not be the best place for a child, but it was where he grew up. The son of a hostess and her manager, Sai witnessed the evils of the world at a far younger age than most, but he also learned of the great joys that could be found swept under the world’s rug. He learned to duel at some point earlier than he could remember, playing against both the children of those visiting Tokyo’s red light district as well as some of the patrons. It wasn’t long before games for fun became games for fun and cash, gaining Sai notoriety on the street as Kabukichō no Itachi, or The Weasel of Kabukichō who fed upon unsuspecting rats. Sai entered into the minor dueling circuits in Japan at the age of 16, with a good amount of success. He bounced between several decks before landing on Despians, who had a grim depiction of entertainment that he found incredibly amusing. When he reached adulthood and graduated high school, he decided to further pursue a career as a duelist, declining college to move to the United States, seeking a new hunting ground. After dueling solo at various levels for several years, he decided to try out the Team Circuit, joining on with the team organized by the younger Vega. Who was to know what kind of chaos he’d be able to sew with this new reach. Deck: Despia Ace Card: Despian Quaeritus

Another one! Risa had to hop up to catch the stuffed horse out of the air, having biffed the angle, but she managed to catch it all the same. She twisted off the weight as she dropped the horse onto a nearby bench (taking an extra half a second to make sure he sat upright, for no particular reason) before rushing off down another street. She definitely wasn't rescuing plushies at the rate the Hero Course was managing, she was confident there, but she wasn't doing too bad for Support numbers, at least she hoped so. The weights had been surprisingly handy, letting her knock plushies off of high ledges and windowsills and bring them sailing back toward her. The stabilizers hadn't been much use, and neither had the bolas, which had been sized for the average human size and not for the bulky robots, in a crippling lack of foresight. Why had she sized them so uniformly when there was such a myriad of different shapes and sizes with how Quirks worked? It's fine, it's fine! She kept telling herself this as she rushed down a side street, avoiding a duo of Class B students. She had been avoiding Hero Course in general since she split off from Ben. So long as I stay where the Hero Course isn't, I'm free to show off! The weights will just have to do! I can't match up to the Hero Curse, but I can- This is Beyond Me[/i] She was violently divorced from her thoughts by a great rumbling crash less than a block away from her. She stumbled, almost tripping over her stabilizers before she whipped around to see a building beginning to topple. She made to take a few steps back, gulping at the sight as one of the front corners of the building had great, splitting cracks run across the surface, cracks that quickly broke and released plumes of brick and dust. Did the school cause it to fall? They really trust the Hero Course to take care of things... She thought, noticing that one of them was rushing up. She recognized him faintly, though she couldn't place a name or Quirk to this particular one. Class B, though, she was pretty sure. Immediately she felt the tension in her chest that had built up at the noise relax a little. Class B had a lot of powerful Quirks, and he certainly seemed confident. He probably had this in hand if he was running to it so aggressively. "Amazing..." she whispered under her breath as he ran to the structure that was still crumbling more and more, threatening at last to tip over. "The Hero Course really is fearless, huh? No wonder they took in Fumiko." She took a deep breath, turning to walk away. "I'll get any of the animals in the area; Keep them away from the debris, that'll be worth a few points, surely-" It was then she saw, just out of the corner of her eye, as the building began to finally tip over. The Class B student was already leveraging it, grabbing at the center and lifting it (how he didn't snap it in half she had no idea) up over his head, preparing to take it into a great overhead carry. But debris was, as Risa had guessed, falling from the building. And one piece of it looked less like brickwork and more like a person- The Desire to Want to Help[/i] Risa ran, stabilizers banging with a jolt against the asphalt with every step. "Hoki!" she called out loudly, taking a stab at the 1B student's name. "Look out!" But he didn't seem to hear her over the crumbling of the building he was holding. Risa's eyes darted back to the falling boy, one she didn't recognize in her frantic run, just seeing a tousled head of gray hair amidst a plume of fire that very suddenly went out. She assumed that to be a bad sign. She tossed a weight at him, cursing the action even as she did it. He's heavier than you, Risa! she thought to herself as she saw the weight sailing up towards Inu, knowing it would do no good. Her mind flew through a million thoughts at once, none of them helpful as she saw him fall toward the ground. Oh no; Unless he's got a physical enhancement Quirk- She didn't let herself finish the thought. She was interrupted by a memory that was, amazingly, actually helpful: The training dummy she had used with Fumiko. The scrap body she had made was always falling over unless Risa used her Quirk to hold it upright, and it had knocked her back whenever Fumiko exerted a lot of force on it; It had outweighed her, exerting her Quirk's power on her. But one time it had happened while she leaned against a wall, and after a brief moment of pressure she had been effectively braced- She renewed her push on the weight, sending it shooting in a renewed arc to Inu. It hit him in the shoulder, latching on just a half a second after Risa tapped her stabilizier heel on the ground to send the iron peg into the street. She felt an uncomfortable pressure across her body as Inu's weight had a brief contest with her own, but Risa was firmly attached to solid ground and Inu was supported merely by thin air. He spun away from her, his downward momentum briefly interrupted, greatly reducing the speed at which he fell. Risa hissed in a breath as she saw him hit the ground, but at a glance it at least looked like his legs were both at the proper angles. A knocked out fall was better than a bone-breaking fall, and as she felt the shadow of the building blot out the light heat from the sun she did see he was indeed knocked out. Which complicated matters. "Sasori? Er, I mean Satori? Salieri? Whichever one you are?!?" she called out over the sound of the crumbling brick above and suddenly around them. Her head darted up with alarm as she saw that while Tai had the building relatively in hand, debris had fallen to the strike the sides of the buildings on either side, which had been smaller and thus sustained major hits. They too, were crumbling, and she saw already that a large section of rooftop was starting to slide off towards her and Inu. "No no no no no no no," she muttered incoherently, giving rhythmic light slaps to Inu's face in a frantic and completely ineffective attempt to revive him. "Pleeeease wake UP," she begged, her plea turning into a nerve-wracked shout as a metal sheet of roofing spun through the air towards them, reflexively pushing on it to thrust it away as it clanged onto the street just a few feet from them. More and more debris was starting to fall, and Risa wasn't nearly as physically capable of moving Inu as he would have been at moving her. She struggled to pull him, drag him out of the danger zone by the armpits, to no avail. "Someone help! Anybody! Hero Course! Please!" But the only one anywhere near them had a building over his head to deal with. Risa struggled to pull Inu. Why was she so small?!? Her sister had maintained their father's height, why couldn't she have- Desperation Idea[/i] Another metal sheet of roofing fell next to the pair and Risa finally processed the METAL part of that equation. She swiftly rolled Inu over, that much she could do, trying not to look over her shoulder every other second at the building she could hear collapsing behind her. As she rolled him onto the metal sheet, she rapped her heel against it, accomplishing a twofold purpose: Steadying it so she could get Inu on it easier, a well as having the peg of her stabilizer punch a hole in the thin metal. That done, she swiped at her belt with numb, shaking fingers. An eternity later that was actually two seconds, she pulled a small cluster of iron spheres out, jabbing at a depressed button that released a spring audibly inside that caused the spheres to fall away from each other, separating them into three orbs connected by a length of steel cable. That was what she needed. With fervor she detached the spheres, looping the cable with difficulty through the hole in the iron sheet. There's no way this works, she told herself all the while, using the mantra to drown out the chaos around her. But upon turning around she saw that it would have to, as the top half of the nearest building was sliding down at last, and the opposite wasn't far behind, waiting to sandwich them between two groups of rubble. "AIIEEEEEEEE!" she screamed in fright and adrenaline, as she took off running and pulled at the metal sheet behind her. It was not graceful and it certainly wasn't quick, but it was definitely faster than if she had been dragging just Inu by herself. She finally started putting distance between herself and the buildings, even with her impromptu sled knocking against the back of her heels every few seconds. I can't believe it's working! she thought feverishly, looking over her shoulder to see they were almost out of danger. Maybe I- She stopped that thought process as she saw several robots falling from the rightmost building, dressed up to look like robbers as they looked very dismayed and fell into the deluge of bricks. But something else noticeable were several tied-together plushes, groups of four or five bundled together in rope restraints. Groups of plushes that gave her an idea. Three weights were tossed out, slowing her progress a little as she had to give up on pulling Inu in order to push her weights as they sailed out towards the bundles. She missed one, but they latched on to two others. She quickly pulled them back, releasing her Quirk just as they flew over the sled, allowing them to fall softly onto Inu below them as she began yanking at the sled with her Quirk, speeding up the final push just as a deluge of rock and pebble narrowly missed crushing Inu's foot beneath it. Risa finally tripped on her stabilizer cages, falling to the street and gasping for breath as Inu's sled slid to a grinding halt beside her. "... Deerc-sensei didn't warn me about this," was all she could muster. She pulled herself into a sitting position, taking in the growing dust cloud before her, coughing as grit plumed into her face. It was uncomfortable, but it certainly wasn't lethal. She reached out for the bundles of plushes: Eight animals in total that she didn't bother to undo the rope on. She gently lifted Inu's head and settled the two bundles beneath it like pillows, before falling back to the ground to lie with her arms spread across the curb as she let out one long, tired sigh.

Fen had walked alongside Morgan and Aduain to the athletic section of the clothing store, only for Fen to stop in her tracks briefly as soon as they saw the statue of the man named Adonis. Or perhaps it was better to say the man himself was like a statue, as he began to extoll praises to himself and seeming to think they were here to learn from him. Fen was indeed impressed by the man's physique, more so in how he had managed to reach such a state, even if she didn't exactly seek the same results for herself. She was fine with her figure as it was and the idea of being a hulking woman of muscle moving around the kitchen and doing delicate work with such bulky arms didn't appeal to her. Though, it would probably help when it came to using iron. As the girl continued to think about the pros and cons of having such muscles in the work place she realized she was suddenly being reached for by the man, who was already holding Aduain as it was. "Eh?" She wondered what exactly was happening but was suddenly hoisted into the air, resting on the man's arm as he seemed to effortlessly be lifting just about everyone who was in the immediate area. The girl let out an, "oooh," impressed at the man's display of herculean strength, noting that the muscles he had here were also not just for show. She wasn't really sure what went into getting this level overhead lift, but she let out a small applause as the man's show came to an end. After the display, the Aduain had then seemed to want to challenge the man to a duel of pure physical strength. The girl wasn't particularly sure why, wondering if he was like some of her more combative and fight happy guild members. All the same, she joined the rest of the audience as the arm wrestling match began. Fen had already known how strong Aduain was, seeing the force he could strike and jump with. But she hadn't realized that it was more than just explosive power that he could generate. Watching the match carefully, she had been impressed with how the fish man had been able to match and start to overtake Adonis in this contest. As the crowd had been cheering for Adonis earlier as well, Fen couldn't help but let out a, "go! fight, Aduain!" Though, her voice was much softer and singular compared to the roar of the crowd. As the match seemed to be resolving, though, Adonis's hand nearly hitting the table something happened. Aduain suddenly seemed to lose all strength in his arm, and the body builder came out the victor. As the crowd roared back to life, celebrating the man's victory, Fen thought about what had just happened. She wasn't sure how his power actually worked, but he didn't seem to particularly be in pain or exhausted so it didn't seem like he ran out of...whatever magic he was using. He didn't seem particularly upset about losing either. But, as Adonis had let out a hearty laugh and the whole crowd, including her teammate, had joined in the girl couldn't help but smile along. Walking over to the fish, going to pat him in consolation but realizing that both his shoulders and back were blocked by his head, reached out a hand to do so but ended up pulling it back a bit confused. All the same, she said, "well, that was a great effort there Aduain, unfortunate how things ended but," the girl gave a small chuckle before simply giving the fish man a thumbs up for a job well done. Looking back to Adonis, she gave a small bow saying, "good job to you too Adonis. I've seen what you can do but well, uh, I'd rather keep myself how I am now. Oh but, really, I do hope things go well for you on your muscle building uh...journey."

Blue Rose Tournament, Round 1, Duel 1: Yuliya Sekelsky vs Arden Fitzroy After Arden came out the two met in the middle of the arena for shuffling and the coin toss. “How’s tricks, Arden? It’s been a bit,” Yuliya said as she presented her deck. “I mean, I guess you’re well enough to make it here as a one seed, nice job, but I meant besides that. Oh, and I bet the coin’s going to land tails, I know the higher seed gets to make the official call there; I’m just telling you what you should pick.” "Always a pleasure, Yuliya," Arden smiled as the two duelists met at the center of the stage. Presenting her deck, the girl shrugged and said "Living the life, as always. Thought about relaxing down by the beach last night, but that didn't pan out. Yourself?" "Oooh, I was at the beach yesterday!" Yuliya said. "I was with Iris -- you've met Iris, right? -- and then she and some other cool people, we all went to the boardwalk and hung out. Shame we missed you, really. Have you had linner by the beach before? Five out of seven, would recommend. Maybe after this we can go on a little celebratory slash commiserating trip, how's that sound?" "Oh, that sounds wonderful! My treat." Out of the corner of her eye, Arden could spot one of the tournament staff, gesturing at the duelists to get on with it. Only very briefly sneering at them in exchange, Arden brought her attention back to the matter at hand. "Let's make our plans a bit later. Right now, we have a score to settle. I think I'll go with calling it tails after all." At her call, the coin was flipped up into the air, spinning gracefully as it ascended and promptly returned downward, back into the referee hand that had flipped it. When the referee's hand was opened, the coin was revealed to have landed on... Yuliya was actually shocked. "Oh, heads? Unlucky, though I guess since I also said tails that's both of us unlucky. Hopefully that's all the unlucky out of the way, and Gee Ell Aitch Eff, Arden, or whatever the kids are saying these days." "And good luck to you as well. Let's get this show on the road. And afterward, you can tell me all about that place you ate at." "It's time to duel!" Yuliya went through her opening five cards with a look of curiosity on her face. “Well, it’s not the luckiest hand, but I think I can manage a few tricks,” she said. “First, though, I’ll activate the effect of my favorite card, Thunder Dragon!” She held up the card and, out of the corner of her eye, saw the monster appear on the arena jumbotron along with many smaller LED screens along the perimeter. “You probably know what it does at this point, but for our dear viewing audience, I can discard it to search for up to two more copies. Thankfully you only shuffled one to my hand, so I’ll just get the other two now.” She slid the card into the Graveyard slot of her duel disk and the machine immediately spit out the two others. “I’m not done pulling cards out of my deck just yet, though,” Yuliya said. “I’ll also activate the spell card Allure of Darkness. This one’s got a pretty simple effect too: it lets me draw two cards from my deck and add them to my hand. But! There’s a catch, of course. If I don’t banish a DARK monster, I have to discard my entire hand.” Another two cards, these ones randomized, popped out and Yuliya surveyed them both, shuffling them into the rest of her six card hand. “Don’t worry, I’ve got one. I’ll banish Thunder Dragondark, and the rest of my hand is safe and sound. It’s also getting one more member, since when I banish Thunder Dragondark, I get to do just that. I think I’ll add…” She paused, but only briefly. “I’ll add Thunder Dragonlord to my hand, that sounds good. Especially since, because I used Thunder Dragon’s effect this turn, I can already summon it! All I have to do is banish another Thunder Dragon from my hand, and…” She placed the monster right in the center slot of her disk. “I Special Summon Thunder Dragonlord!” Thunder Dragonlord: Level 9/LIGHT/Thunder/3000ATK/2000DEF The monster that came out was more like a writhing serpent than a dragon, though Yuliya supposed some dragons just looked like that. Really, dragons could look however they wanted, and this one just wanted to be coils on coils, wrapping around itself before staring down at Arden’s empty side of the board. “Unfortunately, I can’t attack what with being the first turn and all, but that doesn’t mean this bad beast doesn’t have a few nifty effects, one of which that matters on your turn, and one that matters on my End Step. I’ll explain that one in a moment, just let me set a couple cards… Alright.” A pair of facedowns appeared behind Thunder Dragonlord, and the monster let out a roar. “So what happens at my endstep is I can send a Thunder Dragon card to the Graveyard from my deck. Pretty simple, I think. I’ll send another Thunder Dragondark, I think. You saw how useful that last one was, right? I want another right where I can see it.” The card popped out of her deck and, after briefly showing it to her opponent and the crowd, she tucked it into her Graveyard. “After that, I mean, that was my End Step. Show me how a one-seed does it.” “A one-seed needs a bit of setup first, I’m afraid,” Arden commented, drawing her card and surveying the contents of her hand. There was definitely something she could do here, but at the moment, the plays just… weren’t there. “First thing’s first. I don’t like all these Thunder monsters being… you know, alive. So I’ll activate Zombie World, changing all monsters on the field and both of our graveyards into Zombies.” As Arden set down the card, the hologram of Yuliya’s monster lost much of its saturation and some parts of itself entirely, and the area between the two filled with stacks of bones and other unsavory bits. “Wow, that’s not cool.” Yuliya tried to play it up for the audience. “But hold on, I’ve got a little bit of time before you completely undead-ify me, Thunder Dragonlord’s other effect is that I can banish two cards in my Graveyard to make it untargetable as long as one of the cards banished is a Thunder monster. Since they won’t be Thunder monsters soon, I guess I’m going to do that now.” Allure of Darkness and Thunder Dragondark popped out of the Graveyard slot and Yuliya flashed them to her opponent. “See? Thunder. Still says it on the card. That lone Thunder Dragon left behind, that can be a zombie, I guess. But hey, since that’s Dragondark banished, I guess that means I get to find another Thunder Dragon, huh? I’ll find Thunder Dragonhawk.” Another card shown to everyone, another infographic on all the screens. “Anyway, sorry, yes, Zombie World. Gross, but you got it.” “And now, at the risk of sounding anticlimatic after all that, I set one monster face-down.” The hologram of a face-down monster appeared in front of Arden as she placed the card on the Duel Disk. Giving her arms a quick stretch, she commented “Like I said, a one-seed needs a bit of setup. That should be just about it. Do your worst, Yuliya.”

me as a small child: "nice! i just learned how to spell pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis! i don't have a reason for this knowledge but it is very important to me. me now: "nice! i just learned how to spell asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar i don't ..."

Benjamin O'Hara There was a feeling of shock and awe as Benjamin stood there seeing the now sideways Ferris Wheel and two students from 1-B basically atop it...those being the two who truly stopped it. For an instant, he felt his body have a chilling sensation...this both frightened and excited him all at the same time. The hair on the back of his neck and his arms stood up on end with the chilly feeling as he just stood there for a moment or two looking at them. Of course, something came back to his mind almost immediately... "I will be transparent with you all, class 1-B completed the challenge in approximately one fifth of the time it took you all to do so. The student who encountered the Thunderjaw managed to defeat it on her own." This...this was 1-B...they were able to complete their challenge faster than them and even take down the giant kaiju bot. ...this was what they were up against... "...[Amazing]..." Of course, he and Risa had a bit more of a conversation after bonding over seeing this Ferris Wheel now like this. Risa did of course, praise his abilities and Quirk, saying that his was the most memorable due to how interesting it was. This did make him smile a bit, maybe even boosted his confidence a little. But then, she continued. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to be a Hero with a Quirk like mine… all I can do is push and pull on metal things. My big sis got the real good one, so I have to do my dad proud like this instead.” Benjamin looked at Risa, giving her an honest smile. "Risa, I'm sure you can still be a Hero. I mean, I don't know what your Quirk is, but you just have that...desire to want to help. I mean, you showed that off immediately by chasing down a runaway Ferris Wheel. Anyone else would just run the opposite direction." What he got...wasn't the response he was looking for or even expecting... “Well that’s so nice of you to say! But no, I really… Why would I want to be a hero? I’d be no good at it! But I’ve kept you long enough… After all, you’re Hero Course; You’ve got people to impress! Good luck, O’Hara-sama! I know you can do it!” Before Benjamin could say anything more, he watched Risa rush off past him. His eyes followed her the entire time, and he even was about to reach a hand out to stop her...but he didn't. ...w-was it something I said...? he thought, watching Risa leave his sight. Something felt very similar in the way she said that which struck a chord with him. Why did it? "...I said that once before...didn't I?" Benjamin muttered, now realizing something. Risa to an extent...was similar to him in his past, the version of him that said he couldn't become a Hero. BGM He glanced back in the direction of the Ferris Wheel then back in the direction of where Risa rushed off. ...Heroes rise to any challenge...and she was heading towards this. Support Class or not... His nerves and motivations to continue were now steeled. With that, he ran off and immediately dove into an alleyway, immediately grabbing a hold of the fire escape and parkouring his way up it. Once he made it to the top of the building's roof from the fire escape, he exhaled slowly. "Whoever told her she couldn't...was the wrong type of person to tell her that." Benjamin muttered, already proceeding to leap to a few nearby rooftops, tucking and rolling in the process. "And her meeting me...I'll have to say, if it's for the reason I think it is...then history repeats itself." He jumped and with webbed hands and feet, landed on the side of the building, immediately crawling along it towards his goal: a hostile situation with two maybe three robots, a "bomb" and roughly about 25 to 30 civilians in need of a Hero. As he infiltrated the building undetected, Benjamin had small flashes of a memory play out in his mind again. That day...he could see it clear as day...and this time...it would continue. This time, HE would be the one to inspire another to become a Hero. The young arachnid Hero began to do what he could, immediately sending out spiders to distract the robots the best they could, giving him ample time to free the citizens. However, the moment came around where he was caught...and had a fourth robot with a gun to the back of his head. Benjamin slowly raised his hands up, sighing. "Alright...I give up..." he said, standing up slowly and immediately turning around to throw some of his spiders at the robot. A shot rang out and hit Benjamin's shoulder...and rubber bullet or not...it still hurt like crazy. He held his shoulder some and still began to improvise. Office chair? Perfect! Grabbing that, he slid it around and pushed it towards the robot who now lost it's footing while dealing with the spiders. "Take a seat and stay a while..." Benjamin said, watching the spiders now disabling the robot and tying it up. "Alright...that's that...did you guys deal with the...-" Other three are dealt with. Sorry about not realizing there was a fourth. "No worries about it..." he rolled the shoulder he was shot in, before making it over towards the "bomb". "Now...let's take care of this." With a few moments, a couple of spiders left Benjamin and entered the fake bomb, doing what their host said and disabled it almost immediately. Once his spiders returned to him, Benjamin rushed out the front door of the building and proceeded to scale up it once more. Just wait Risa...I'll show you that you can become a Hero...like Silky showed me... Herculean Hero - Atlas ”You’re welcome. You know, the last two hero course students we encountered didn’t last this long. How about you join my agency after we graduate? I’m always looking for good support. You should forfeit the Sports Festival now, Akagi, I don’t think you want to get hit by this one." "...I spoke too soon on the fact that one of which is acting like Gin...maybe even more so. Didn't think that was even possible." Atlas sighed, shaking his head at seeing this display. At least this Akagi Kio was standing his ground against this individual. He turned his attention, however to another screen which showed two young Hero prospects: Shannon and Diana. These two worked in tandem together with the bridge situation, which was definitely impressive. Both seemed very interesting... "Hmmmm..."

Hero Queen While the dragon girl had intended to take care of the ferris wheel, she noticed it coming to a halt, earning a bemused smile. Why, who else was strong enough to do that? Surely not Meguru, as he would have sent it flying the other way. Shannon flew over to the area to inspect, only to suddenly giggle giddily from up above. There it was! Shoshiki had actually found a bit of heroic spirit inside, and managed to save the day! She always knew he had it in him, though the boy himself did not... But she was proud of him, all the same. Hopefully this symbolized a change for her compatriot. On top of that, Mayu seemed to have begun to assist him. With not much left to do there, Shannon smiled softly, looking around at the rest of the area. Even though she already had a count nearing 40, she probably should keep going. After all, the idea was that this emulated real life. "Surely Mmmadame Orikami would not design a test that cares only about points. So, where to next?" Finishing her scan and flapping her wings, Shannon shot down towards a small bridge that seemed to be collapsing. Swooping underneath it, she caught the bridge, holding up the middle of it as some pedestrian plushies sat atop of it, doing her best to rise up, with only a slight faltering in her smile. This was nothing. She was the hero, so this had to be easy to resolve. CRACK Shannon's head whipped to the east entrance of the bridge, seeing the concrete begin to fall down from it, underneath where she had seen some of the plushies. She grit her teeth, trying to power through and lift it faster, but she was just a little shy of achieving it, the pieces of the bridge dropping into the water below...! "[Watashi ga kitaaa!]" ----- After getting the clowns safely off of the train, Diana had felt bad enough to turn back and try to stop the ferris wheel, but it seemed that she was beaten to the punch. Not that she minded, she had no plan for how to take care of that thing. Instead, she headed off towards the residential district, grabbing the occasional plushy from a tree as she did. Normally, an area like that wouldn't have a lot of issues... Or so people though. Diana knew better. Or, at least, she thought she did. The area seemed to mostly be fine, just a few more trees with plushies... And she didn't feel like she was racking up enough points from the ones she was saving, having only managed a grand total of 12 so far. She was sure they were a good ways in by now, but she couldn't find anything else. She just had to hope that if she pressed on...! CRACK From ahead, Diana heard the loud noise, seeing a bridge on the horizon, with plenty of plushies on it. Heading towards it as fast as she could, she didn't even question why it would make that noise without falling suddenly. She just had to make it there in time. What if this was real life? What if people were actually in danger? She couldn't stop and question things at a time like that! As she got close enough, she lowered herself to the ground just enough to prepare, seeing those pristine wings flapping from either side of the bridge below as she did. "I'm here!" Then she leapt. She grabbed the plushies in her arms, letting out a bit of air as she felt her body skid across the pavement... and off the other side, holding the "citizens" tight as she panted, not a scratch on them, earning a grin from the hero-in-training as she stood up, just a bit shakily. As soon as the pedestrians were safe, Shannon dropped the bridge into the water below, panting for just a moment before composing herself. She flew over to the road and landed right next to Diana, looking over the plushies. "My, I must say that I am quite impressed. You showed up right on time, and you also kept the civilians from being hurt. Though, I suppose I cannot say the same for you..." Shannon looked over at Diana, looking her up and down... finding one of the legs of her pants hiked up from the sliding. As the dragon girl looked all the way down, her eyes widened for a moment. "Wait, you-" "[Don't!]" Diana snapped back, before catching herself and holding a hand over her mouth, "I... I'm sorry. But this is nothing. I can make it. I'm used to taking a beating, so I'll walk it right off!" "... Well. You are certainly more impressive than I gave you credit for, Miss Seigi." Shannon smiled, but to Diana this one felt... warmer. Like it was a genuine smile. "I will be off then, if you are sure you do not need assistance. Good luck, and I hope to see you in the next round." "You too!" Diana grinned, holding out her right hand to bump fists with the dumbfounded dragon girl, earning a small chuckle from the latter. But, in the end, Shannon obliged, bumping her fist against Diana's before she took off, flying back into the sky. Diana watched until she was gone, then knelt down to adjust her clothing. Shannon may have a different viewpoint from her, but... maybe that was just something she had to understand. She seemed to try her best, same as Diana, and that was all she could really hope for from a fellow hero.

I'd like to give a shout out to @Chaos Sonic who somehow has been consistently reliable for...ever, basically. An RP VIP right there.

"So, what's the brilliant plan to deal with this? I mean, aside from chase down this massive attraction like it's a weekly special at the supermarket!" Risa turned to look back towards Ben, looking surprised at the question. "Eh? I thought you might know better than I would. Support students don't really get trained in things like this... We're more about giving you guys the tools to do it." She scratched the back of her head, looking apologetic. "... Which I guess doesn't help us much here where I have the tools and the Hero Course doesn't, huh?" "Ah, so improvisation...honestly, that's a specialty of mine." Benjamin joked. Late to the Party[/i] It took the pair longer to catch up to the Ferris Wheel than Risa had assumed, and by the time they reached an intersection that showed the gouges of the wheel moving around the corner Risa was developing a nasty stitch in her side, breathing hard as she looked around in complete confusion. "Eh?! It turned? How did it turn?" She finally found it, peering down the street to see the two figures at the end of it. "Class 1B... Is that Shoshiki and Oozei?" she asked, heart sinking as she saw the lanky white-haired boy and the pile of plushies that he and Mayu had accumulated between them. “Did the two of them stop it all by themselves?” she asked, wide-eyed, unaware that the situation was even crazier than that. “Wow… So this is the kind of thing possible in the Hero Course…” "Those are...1-B Students?" Benjamin muttered, recalling the day Orikami explained that their one exam with the roborex...that they did it in a faster time than them. "...[Amazing]..." “Yeah, a bunch of them are really strong… But I didn’t think Shoshiki could… They got to it so fast…” Risa scratched the back of her head again, but this time she was turned away from Ben, glancing sidelong at the wheel. “I guess I slowed you down… I’m sorry! You could have maybe gotten some points if you hadn’t had to wait for me. No… You for SURE could have! After all, your Quirk is really good...” "No, no...not at all." Benjamin shook his hands dismissively, chuckling nervously. "You didn't slow me down, Risa. Honestly, I was hesitant on trying to deal with something that huge, but a Hero is always ready to rise to the occasion, right? So it's not an issue." Then he paused, sighing as he ran a hand through his hair. "As for my Quirk, well...it's nothing to write home about. But I thank you for that vote of confidence." “No, no way!” Risa protested, turning back to wave her hands to and fro. “All of us in the Support class get dossiers on you guys to design for you, I remember yours on account it was so interesting! Spider Colony is a really neat Quirk, you’re lucky to get something so versatile! And obviously you’re real skilled at using it, else you wouldn’t be here, yeah?” She looked down at her hands, smiling sadly. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to be a Hero with a Quirk like mine… all I can do is push and pull on metal things. My big sis got the real good one, so I have to do my dad proud like this instead.” Benjamin looked at Risa, legitimately surprised on hearing that his was memorable due to it being interesting. A small smile could be seen for a moment, before he simply broke the silence. "Risa, I'm sure you can still be a Hero. I mean, I don't know what your Quirk is, but you just have that...desire to want to help. I mean, you showed that off immediately by chasing down a runaway Ferris Wheel. Anyone else would just run the opposite direction." Can’t Be Like You[/i] She looked up at him in surprise as he said this, a few seconds of awkward silence between the two before she laughed suddenly, holding up her hands in front of her as if to ward off the compliment. “Well that’s so nice of you to say! But no, I really… Why would I want to be a hero? I’d be no good at it!” She started checking each of the items on her body, one by one and beginning to walk away from Ben, backwards towards a side street. “But I’ve kept you long enough… After all, you’re Hero Course; You’ve got people to impress!” She gave Ben one last thumbs up, turning to go. “Good luck, O’Hara-sama! I know you can do it!” She turned to run away unimpeded, her face losing the happy smile and changing to a frown. Ben was wrong about her being able to be a hero. Clearly just being nice. Yet Risa felt a strange sensation in her belly, almost like a light, breezy sensation moving up towards her throat. Guess that’s just another thing about being a Hero, she thought to herself as she continued. They're able to make you feel better than you are sometimes. Her dad had been very good at that. Maybe that was why so many spoke so highly of him, about things Risa had never fully been old enough to understand at the time. She paused beneath a rickety fire escape, looking up to see two small stuffed frogs hanging from the grate as it swung slightly in the wind that was funneling between the buildings. She put out her arms to catch them, knowing they would fall any second, then stopped, huffing in frustration. "No, Risa!" she said out loud, to nobody in particular. "You're supposed to show off your Support items here!" You just have that... desire to want to help. So let me ask you the real question, sounded Deerc's voice in her head alongside Ben's. Kawashima Risa... Why do you want to be a hero? What I Can Be[/i] She reached impulsively to the bandolier around her chest, pulling out two small metallic triangles. They were heavy in her hands, each one much denser than its small appearance would have implied. She held one up, closing an eye to aim at one of the frogs, and pushed. The metallic plate soared up, impacting the frog and detaching it from the fire escape, sending it careering into the air. She heard a small tic sound, seeing that the weight had latched on. She released her Quirk, then as it began to fall she pulled, and with a small stumble the heavy weight, frog attached, landed in her hand. She shook her head as she lined up a shot on the second frog. It wouldn't matter if I ever wanted to be a Hero... she thought to herself, rushing to get beneath the frog to make it an easier catch. I'm just not Onee-sama, Ben, Almaz, Shoshiki... And I'm definitely not like Dad. I told Ben it was just my Quirk, but... How can I be like people who are as amazing as all that? She set the frogs down on the pavement, detaching her weights and renewing her run down the street. No, I'll just have to do what I can to make sure they lead everyone else! she thought, retrieving a trio of parrots from a locked car that sat on a set of train tracks by piercing the lock mechanism on the door with a judicious stab from the peg inside one of her stabilizers, her foot held up to the lock. She probably could have opened the door with her Quirk, but that wasn't what she was here for, she kept telling herself. I have the worst items in the Support class, and the worst grades... But I have to show them off as much as I can. It's like Setsu said: Aesthetics are overrated!

”If you think that duel was any less exciting just because it only lasted a single turn, then you have such a distaste for ambition that it’s going to make me weep.” Ah...the theater buff and the Entertainment Action Duelist were going to be starting their disagreements early today...however, Daichi paid no mind to this, despite Sai getting to eye level with him and staring a hole into his soul. He knew what he was talking...but at the same time, so did Daichi. They had differing opinions and that was that. "To them, it isn't just a show or a game, it's how they earn their living. Like most sports, it's not a stable career, if they're smart, they know that... Maybe she didn't realize it at first, or she didn't expect to make it big, we can speculate all we want, but yeah, she's changed. I think anyone in her shoes would." And then the sleeper awoke to provide her insight, though it seemed to only be bolstering Sai's argument to him. Did it hurt that it seemed like he was getting ganged up on due to the fact of his specific opinions about this particular style and topic? Yes...yes it did. But Daichi still wore a smile. Thankfully, the ever present coach that was Vega came to assist. "Boys, boys, calm doooown. There's merit to both. You're right that trying to win is absolutely in the best interest of a competitive player... But making a show is what earns you fans and sponsors, more often than not. Primrose used to play a lot flashier, as I'm sure our little superfan brought up. It's only natural that he's a bit concerned. After all, she even changed her ace not long after entering the majors..." "Thank you coach. I knew at least you would understand the plight I've brought up." Daichi flashed a toothy grin, looking past Sai. "Besides...the way I see it, you can treat this as a way to earn your living while still dazzling the audience with a fantastic Action Duel!" That's about the time Evelyn came waltzing in...and with a peace offering to her tardiness...ahhh, what couldn't be solved by the wonderful and appealing scent of fresh donuts? In one fell swoop of a movement, he moved past Sai and immediately pulled a donut from the box without even looking...and jackpot: a strawberry iced donut with rainbow sprinkles on it. A donut truly befitting the group's Pendulum Magician. "Eve, yet again you come through with getting me just the right one." Daichi smiled, savoring the smell of the donut before taking a quick bite out of it. He then was brought back up to the idea of "Team Genesis". "On the topic of Team Genesis...well, I suppose it could work like that...still partial to Gestalt, but alas, if the rest of the crew is on board with it...then you'll have the magician's agreeance on it too." he said, taking another bite out of the donut, before noticing Rosalia, they're fearless team captain, offering a brief and apologetic glance his direction. After polishing off the donut and wiping his face of the crumbs, he offered her a glance back...oddly enough, it wasn't one of disdain or anything like that...it just was a joyful expression he had, apparently thinking it as simply water under the bridge. Now to address the elephant in the room (...and no, not Sai). "What do we know about the team we're up against? Like, any specifics? Also...is there any word on anyone possibly sponsoring us for this first official match?"

Rosalia felt guilt mounting as seemingly everybody piled onto Daichi. If she had known they were going to object this much maybe she wouldn't have brought it up. She winced visibly when Sai said he thought Daichi didn't know what he was talking about. Sai had a way of agreeing with her that made her regret voicing the opinion in the first place. The blunt delivery made her own thoughts seem so much harsher in hindsight. She took a low, deep breath as she endured the conversation that had been birthed by her speaking out. She agreed with all of it, that was true, but she couldn't help feeling like she'd placed Daichi at the end of a company of bayonets. She was glad when Eve finally arrived, giving her a chance to change the subject, after Vega had done her best to curtail the conversation. "We've just been discussing the last championship match," she told Eve gently as she reached out and took a donut that was at the edge of the box, a cinnamon-sugar one that everyone else's hands had seemingly avoided. "Thank you," she added softly as she took the donut for herself. "Miss Sterling wanted us to see the duel of champions, the kind of competitors we might be facing." She left it at that, leaving out the debate that had followed. "She thinks it might be helpful to us... Not that it will be, for you and me, at least not immediately." She looked up, back over to Vega. "The first match will be Sashishimatta, Daichi, and.... Falisha, is that right?" she asked, clarifying. She was about to let Eve know that they still needed a team name that she processed fully what several of the team had told her. "Oh... Team Genesis?" She hadn't meant to use the word in the context of a team name, and was surprised that so many of them seemed on board with it. It struck her fancy, too, now that she actually thought about it. "... Yes, I think that's... quite a good one," she said carefully, glancing to Vega. As team captain (a position she still wasn't entirely comfortable with having, but Kendra had been on that side of the vote, and she was relentless), she knew she was supposed to take charge on matters like this, but she felt uncomfortable calling it already, so she had a definite delay in her voice, inviting any other names implicitly. At least she hoped it came off that way. She swiftly stood, walking over to a nearby window with the dull thud of her heels on the floor, drawing aside the blinds that had been lowered for the presentation. Seattle's iconic skyline greeted her, the ever-present Space Needle backed by a gray, rainy sky that matched Rosalia's own eyes. She spared one glance back at Daichi: Brief, but apologetic, with her eyes not quite meeting his own. First meeting as a team and already I'm stumbling as Captain... I wonder if I wouldn't have been better in the solo circuit.

I'd say this Planets episode introduces the best character but I already said that for Nono. I hope Gigalt's okay with second-favorite.

Since it's the birthday today, if you had to forego cake in favor of a different food to celebrate, what would you pick? And the (very anticlimatic) 100th question! What's your favorite question you've received in this thread?

This time, Chris chose the latter option, the one that meant he was hanging on to his one remaining dagger for dear life, though the bugbear didn’t give him much of a choice anyway, clamping its arms together in the roughest hug he’d ever gotten, beating out that one time his aunts visited the Ellwood estate. It was nice to know he was hitting the thing where it was doing some damage, though, if it was resorting to something like this, a solace Chris held onto as he felt his ribcage start to crack. He had to do something soon. With what leverage he could manage, Chris wrenched his dagger from its spot in the bugbear’s shoulder -- and winced as that made the thing squeeze him even tighter -- brought it back as far as he could, and jammed it into the creature’s neck. There were two things he would have liked to happen in that moment, the first was that he’d stop getting squeezed to death and the second, well, was that the bugbear would just die already, though only the first one ended up happening, sending Chris tumbling back down to the ground. “Gods, why won’t you die, huh?” Chris muttered as he stood back up. The bugbear had dropped any pretense of defending itself and was now swinging wildly, alternating between trying to haymaker Chris to death or scoop him up in another deadly squeeze. He had just enough time to draw his one remaining weapon -- his sword -- and ready himself, just in time to duck under one punch that went straight into the rock behind him. The monster was wide open, and he seized it as much as he was able, striking upwards, sending his sword straight up, aiming right for the underside of the monster’s chin.

It was a pretty average Seattle afternoon. Rather chilly, given the time of year, and Evelyn never did like overcast weather, but while it could be better, it could certainly be worse too. She'd take what small victories she could. Especially when right now, she was taking a pretty serious loss. Of all the days for her to learn the hard way that her phone wasn't actually plugged into its charger... why today? Today was fairly important, as there was supposed to be a team meeting. And being relatively new to the team - which didn't even have a name yet - Eve didn't want to make a bad impression by running late! So, to compensate for already running late for the meeting, Eve had decided to make a detour or two. First was a quick walk to the coffee shop nearest her apartment. There was certainly no trouble finding coffee in Seattle of all places, so that was no problem. Then she had made a stop by a donut shop along the way, to pick up a variety box of a dozen donuts. That was a few more minutes added to Eve's tardiness, on account of waiting in line then having to actually get the donuts and pay for them. And when the building they were meeting at - a crappy old office building of some sort or another - was finally in sight, Eve picked up her pace, hurrying in through the door and following the directions to the room. As she approached the door, she could hear the tail end of a sentence. "...of this discussion even if you're doodling." "Please excuse my tardiness!" Eve said, swinging the door open and power-walking into the room, box of donuts in hand. Glancing around, she could see the footage of some duel or another on the whiteboard, where Vega was doodling some creature from her deck. It looked familiar. Recent. Right, the championship match! Setting down the box on the table, Eve continued "My phone wasn't plugged in and ran out of battery overnight, but I brought something to make up for the delay. It looks like you were talking about the latest championship, but what else did I miss?"

All accepted.

As the recorded duel played on the large screen that Vega had set up, Sashisematta Sai’s eyes darted around the recorded video, taking in everything he could not unlike how a predator animal would inspect its prey. His hands, however, seemed to be acting of their own accord, frantically folding an intricately-printed sheet of origami paper. "If anyone wants to discuss what we watched, and what sort of strategies you got from it, let's go for it! But that's the only thing I'm forcing you to do for the day, so if you guys just wanna talk amongst yourselves, that's fine, too! Just be ready for our first match next week!" Sai had completed his creation, a carefully-creased origami triangle, also known as a paper football. His focus redirected toward his target, the sleeping Kendra on the other end of the table, and with a flick he let loose his folded ordinance fly true through the air, embedding itself delicately among the girl’s bangs. Though he had been doing his best to let the young Daichi be blissfully foolish, he was pulled directly into the conversation by Rosalia. “You have experience in these matters, Sashisematta. What did you think?" Leaning back and kicking his feet up onto the table, Sai stared at the ceiling and tapped at his chin a few times, ”What I think… what… I… think…” he deliberately let his words hang in the air, until just the moment he heard someone, he wasn’t completely certain who, take a breath to speak. At that time, Sai pushed himself up off of the chair in a way that was somehow both graceful and haphazard, teetering into a standing position atop the table. ”I think that Daichi has no idea what he’s talking about.” Within a few short bounds, Sai had jumped off of the table, performed a front flip in mid-air, and landed directly behind the team’s other action duelist. He was considerably taller than Daichi, especially with his stilt-like sandals, and loomed over him like a cat would a mouse with a broken leg. Sai gripped Daichi’s shoulder tightly with one hand, using the other to ruffle the boy’s hair, "To-mo-Dai-chi, don't tell me you expect the strongest player to pump the brakes for your own enjoyment." Despite the sudden and deliberate invasion of personal space, Daichi appeared unfazed. "It's more than that, Sai!" Daichi said quickly, surprisingly not mentioning the "TomoDaichi" nickname, almost like it being an unspoken rule. "This is Primrose we're talking about! When she started out, she and her Magistus deck were a spectacle to be sure! Her Dueling Style was ten times different than this general aggressive nature, more elegant and full of joy. She's just not the same as she once was, is what I'm saying." Sai’s eyebrows furrowed, and his jaw visibly clenched for a second before he responded, "She's dueling like her throne depends on it, because it does. Perhaps you misjudged the threat Ava posed. I should hope you won't make the same mistakes against your own opponents." "Oh my sweet theater buff..." Daichi gave a wide smile, tossing his hands behind his head. "Whatever the cards have in store for me and my Magicians, it'll be a show for the masses nevertheless!" Dragging his hand across his face as if he were wiping sweat, Sai grimaced, before sighing and pulling his phone from his pocket. In an instant, he was beside Vega’s screen, before he plugged his phone into it and a video flickered to life. The video seemed to be footage from a recent solo-circuit pro duel, the camera zooming in on a masked man in an elaborate costume as he began the first turn of the duel, surveying his hand. ”First, I will special summon my Grinder Golem to your side of the field!” His voice came out distorted and robotic as an enormous monster made of chains and saw blades appeared opposing the masked duelist, two smaller facsimiles of it appeared in front of him, ”This gives me two Grinder Tokens, but I don’t think I will be needing them to beat you.” Slamming another card onto his duel disk, he continued, ”I activate Polymerization! Fusing my Diamond Dude and Disk Commander from my hand to summon Destiny HERO - Dystopia!” two monsters appeared before shattering into tiny fragments, combining and reforming to unveil a purple and golden armored figure, wielding a black hole in one hand. ”Dystopia’s effect will now banish Diamond Dude from my graveyard, inflicting 1400 points of direct damage to your life points!” 4000 -> 2600 ”And now I will use my strongest card! Fusion Destiny! By sending Dogma and Plasma from my deck straight to the graveyard, I can summon my ultimate monster: Destiny End Dragoon!” The masked duelist’s duel disk shuffled his deck, ejecting two cards into the graveyard before an enormous winged monstrosity appeared before him, matching the Grinder Golem in size. One hand had a mounted blade, while the other was the head of a demonic dragon, which now aimed itself toward the Grinder Golem. ”Now, Destiny End Dragoon, win the game! Invincible Destiny! Destroy Grinder Golem and inflict its attack points as direct damage!” The dragon maw opened, and an enormous fireball shot out of it, consuming both the Golem and the masked duelist’s opponent. 2600 -> -400 GAME END Sai unplugged his phone and reapproached Daichi, nearly looking straight down to meet his gaze directly, ”If you think that duel was any less exciting just because it only lasted a single turn, then you have such a distaste for ambition that it’s going to make me weep.” Turning his face to Rosalia, his expression promptly switched back to cheerful, ”Genesis should work perfectly, after all it’s clear this team is full of amateurs~!”

Rosalia had spent the first section of the meeting with her eyes locked on the screen Vega had placed before the six, shutting out Kendra's occasional snores to focus purely on the duels before her. She had sat in the exact same position throughout the meeting, hands clasped just under her eyes as she watched the current champions of the Circuit acclaim their victory. It was impressive, to say the least. Even without the clean sweep. The one loss Team Trinity had taken in particular kept running through her mind. Dritte of Team Trinity had lost the Turbo Duel against Team Demiurge's Arkhan Jacobs. That one match, the single flaw in an otherwise flawless victory, kept being circled back to in her mind's eye. - - - - - - - - - - "You and I are the same, right, Dritte? We both are users of Link Summon... In which case you know of the greatest weapon a fellow user of Link Monsters has to use against you." "Nani??!?" "Link Summon! Knightmare Unicorn! And with these arrowheads... Extra Link!" "What's this?!? In an amazing upset, Jacobs has turned the tide against Dritte and performed an Extra Link before us today!" "Knightmare Mermaid and Knightmare Unicorn in my Extra Monster Zones both lack Link Arrows that point towards any zone on your field... You've lost, Dritte. With this, your Link Summoning is sealed!" - - - - - - - - - - Extra Link... It was an intimidating display of skill to be able to create that situation. Not only to establish, but to create so flawlessly as to reduce the actions of a champion-tier team member to a sliver the width of a hair. This is the kind of prowess we are up against, Rosalia thought to herself soberly, her mind going to the deck that sat within a small box attached to the dark belt she wore over the sensible black skirt. She had performed many Link Summons but never had she managed to set up something as elaborate as Extra Link. Attempted, certainly, but never coming close to succeeding. Definitely none that were so brutal a shutout either. And his team didn't even win. It was at this point that her thoughts were broken by Daichi speaking. She paused in her contemplation, turning to look at him throughout the entirety of his little speech. She didn't meet his eyes, though, keeping them turned down towards the table where his hands were, shuffling the cards to and fro as he was wont to do. As usual, he seemed to find everything she always had trouble finding in a duel: The sense of pizazz and style. Or as he seemed to think, the lack of it. Rosalia took the diplomatic approach and chose not to voice her opinion to Daichi on the matter; After all, he was in the team specifically for Action Dueling, for all she knew he had a point. But the fact that Primrose had been so antithetical... "I found it very helpful, Miss Sterling. That's the caliber of duelist we should expect to face someday, provided we do well starting out?" She stressed the last two words lightly, glancing around at everybody else. "We are just beginners in the Circuit, even those of us who have been dueling for years... You mentioned us being Team Gestalt, Daichi?" She drummed a finger on the table, looking down at it with a preoccupied gaze. "An organized whole that is more than the sum of its parts? Well... As fun an idea that is to entertain we're not really an organized whole yet, are we? We haven't even had our first match in the public eye yet. We have a bunch of skilled duelists but we still have a long way to go before we can even begin..." She paused, glancing briefly over to Daichi. "... to think to challenge anything like the duelists in Team Trinity. This is our start line. Our genesis." She lingered on that sentence, still tap-tap-tapping a finger awkwardly on the table before suddenly: "Except for one of us, I suppose. You have experience in these matters, Sashisematta. What did you think?" She almost seemed to shrink back into her chair, inwardly wilting away. The rest of the team was likely used to this visual queue. It always heralded a long, drawn-out bout of silence from Rosalia, one where she talked very little and engaged with the discussion with as few words as possible. The thoughts whirling through her head were too distracting for her to talk much further, at least for now. A lot of the old members of the club, before they had spit off to become this team now, had often identified it as Rosalia being stuck-up. She didn't know if the five around her now thought the same way; She had never had the courage to ask.

←Previous Post -- Next Post→ Phase 08 -- A Place To Cling To Or: You Can Tell This Was Animated In 2003 Because They’ve Still Got GBA Link Cables In Space (Remember Link Cables?) I hesitate to call this a Fee episode. I mean, it is, but the hesitation is because it’s more of an episode around Fee than one that specifically focuses on her. To put it more clearly, most of the episode is spent with the rest of the crew talking about her, whether that’s spying on her and her potential lover or trying to do a difficult cleanup job without her help. She gets some action, especially when the crew’s storyline and hers converge, but even her half of the story is her shared backstory with Dolph. This also isn’t to say any of this is bad, it just means the character work is more spread out. Arvind goes from just a company man desperate to climb the corporate ladder to also being the section gossip, for example, Claire and Ai butt heads in front of Hachimaki so we get to see what he has to say about that, and even Edel gets in on the action both by showing her briefly out of office attire and also willingly participating in the scheme to get Fee away from the Toy Box for the mission. But we should talk about Fee Carmichael. The center of the episode’s conflict is stock -- a potential promotion to an office job is offered to someone who likes working in the field has certainly been done before -- but the melodrama comes from herself, her reasons for continuing. The episode is called “A Place to Cling To,” after all, so what is Fee Charmichael clinging to? The obvious answer is space itself. She enjoys her work as she is now. After all, that’s the answer she gives Dolph at the end of the episode. But there are other answers the show also gives out through the series. Take Fee’s son, for example. Ai constantly brings up her marriage and child as the reason she’s not sleeping around with Dolph, so that’s certainly another way to answer that question, like, she does what she does for her husband and child, though that doesn’t really answer why she would turn a promotion down. You could argue, then, that she’s doing it for the crew’s benefit, since they demonstrate they’re much less effective without her to guide them, but given that Hachi and Ai believe up until the debris is secured that their completing the mission even with Fee’s help on comms means she’s leaving, I don’t think the show wants us to come to that conclusion either. I wonder, though, if she’s turning the promotion down for Dolph’s sake, not out of any romantic interest, but out of a sense of nostalgia for the company she and Dolph helped run years ago. That’s the other half of her monolog at the end, using it as an excuse to try and bring Dolph back to the sort of person he once was, not the hardened section chief he is in the present. Unfortunately, we’re not going to be able to see a lot of that former Dolph, there aren’t too many more flashbacks of him to my memory, though he’ll get a few moments later in the show (and I hear he’s more active in the manga). And you know what? Cheers for just two people being friends. -r Next Time: Two more recurring characters to introduce and they’re both bangers ←Previous Post -- Next Post→

Iris had been seated in the reserved area for the competitors, chilling as it was more colloquially referred to, watching the ongoing duel. Normally, Iris would've probably stayed in her room to watch these, or find a nice cafe of some sort to sit down and eat at while watching. But as Yuliya was dueling today, and opening the tournament off no less, Iris had decided to be there in person to watch it to either congratulate or console her friend depending on the outcome. Of course, Iris had every bit of faith that Yuliya would win this, even if her opponent was technically more favored to do so. Only adding to this confidence, as the girl had struck Arden with her dragons Iris let out a rather loud cheer. From a seat nearby, she heard the scoff of a pink haired male with a beanie, saying, "she got first blood, big deal." Raising an eyebrow, clearly irked by this boy, Iris retorted, "what do you mean 'big deal'? She cleared her opponent's board and blocked out her set up. All while still having the resources to deal damage. I would say that's cheer worthy," and in fact she had verbalized it so. "Yeah, yeah, I'm sure the zombie player is super on the ropes now with having more things thrown in the grave," the man sarcastically retorted. Iris's frown only grew as she glared at him, he glaring back at her, before a third voice joined in. "Now, now, let's not get worked up here." The voice belonged to a purple haired woman wearing a nice hat - not so nice that everyone would be inclined to call it as such though, but still nice enough. Hat not withstanding, the woman as well was easily recognizable to anyone who had been even remotely interested in the dueling scene for the past few years. The third place of last year's Blue Rose tournament, and having placed second many times before that, was a woman by the name of Furiko Hoshizora. Giving a smile to the both of them, prompting the boy to click his tongue and frustratingly look away from her, she then looked back to Iris. "It's true though, she has bought some space for herself at the very least. And now Arden's the one who has to be mindful of a continuous card..." Furiko put a hand to her chin, thinking for a moment before she looked over to someone else. "How about you," she called out to Itsuki. "What do you think of this match so far?"

An Orphan Werewolf on The Janissary

As the shifter walked off in a huff, they noticed the rat-like man weaseling off, and wondered if they should follow after... But something else caught their eye as well, causing them to freeze up. There she was in the middle of the food court, the source... Well, no, the victim of the maelstrom. She looked a little lost alongside a... was that a Quagsire? Aduain was one thing, but a literal P*kem*n? Huh. Wonders never ceased here. “We were supposed to be getting fishsicles, right? We still need to look for those. They have to be here somewhere.” The voice hit the shifter's attuned ears, causing their stomach to sink a bit. She seemed okay... Was she really okay? Other than looking for those things. No one looking for those had to be okay, if their taste test had anything to say about it. But... "Well, if yer looking for fishsicles, they're right over there," The hulking "Kyubaru" walked up to the duo, scratching their neck and trying not to make eye contact, "I don't know why anyone would want one, but... Y'know, different strokes for different folks, I guess. Er, sorry, guess ya don't want a random stranger butting in, even if it's helpful, haha. Name's Kyubaru. I consider myself something of a foodie, so I can tell ya what places ARE worth eating at."

Ryia listened to the explanation that Madelyn and Keres had given about the elves. She was made only more curious about the elves themselves and what their magic was like here, but ultimately figured that it would be best for all of them if they didn't have to experience it. She also couldn't help but imagine exactly how things would go down with Madelyn were they to run into any of them, very clearly being able to see how that conversation would end up playing out. All the same, in spite of entering the forest they had still not managed to see any of the aforementioned elves that were supposed to live here so far. Instead, the first very clear and present thing that greeted them was a strange beaked reptilian creature. Looking at them, she couldn't help but be a bit on edge with Damien's comments doing little to assuage her nerves on them. And as they started to charge at her it seemed she had every right to be as nervous of them. The creature's did little to actually give room to pass by them; in fact they seemed to be charging directly towards the group with the intent to ram them. With one of them moving towards her, Ryia thought to bar its path with her rock wall but had remembered what Keres had said prior, feeling like it would be incredibly disrespectful on her part if she were to just uproot the ground. As such, she decided a less magical solution was in order and quickly vaulted out of the way, still not wanting to actually engage them in combat if she could avoid it. Of course, the large reptile didn't seem intent on just charging past her and going it's merry way, instead skidding to a halt and turning to face her. Getting back to her feet, she locked eyes with the creature, clearly seeing the fear it had in them. Furrowing her brow, Ryia drew her shield and mace as she knew that it wasn't about to back down against her. As it charged her again, the girl went for a shorter hop this time, getting to its side before striking at it with her mace. As it had been a solid hit, the creature let out a groan before going to swing its tail at her. Bringing up her shield, the girl was knocked back by the attack, tumbling backwards from the hit before getting back to her feet. As she stood, with the creature so close she wanted to keep its attention focused on her rather than either of their mages, and so she struck her mace against her shield. Feeling threatened by the clanging noise her weapon and shield made, the beast started to charge towards her once more. Before it could get to her, a barrier of light appearing in front of her. "Oh you are far too reckless aren't you?" Madelyn called out to her, letting out a gasp as the beast collided with the wall, the barrier still holding in spite of it. With it stopped right in front of her, Ryia called out a, "sorr- er, thanks." Twisting herself around the barrier, the girl went to smash her mace into its beak like face.

Back by... a degree of demand! IC In the not-so-distant future, Duel Monsters has continued to work towards its latest and greatest evolution! Each of the headlining events of the past, such as Action Duels, Turbo Duels, and maybe even Deck Masters are the headlining events of major tournaments for the world’s most popular sport, with duelists specializing in each! But the real stars are those who participate in Team Duels, matches that feature multiple types of duels at a time! You are a member of a team in the Minor Circuit of the World Duel Monsters Organization. Formed by some students attending college in Seattle, WA, your group came together over a flier for a Duel Monsters team, open to anyone in their age group attending or otherwise, though it was never anything serious… Just some duels for fun here, there, wherever, particularly against groups from different colleges. That is, until you were approached by a manager who saw the talent your group exhibited, and offered you a chance to form a team. With the official team being newly formed, your first order of business will be to give your team a name. After that, it’s off to the races! Where your journey into the world of Professional Dueling will take you is anyone’s guess… But what you do know is that a new path has opened before you. Rules + General Info Database Application ----- One last thing. This IS limited acceptance. I am looking for 6 RPers to make the team of 6. I know that sort of thing doesn't sit well with a lot of people, and I apologize, but the structure comes first in this situation. And, as mentioned, only one player per summoning type, at the start.

Takao Bell

I'll be back again, and I'll be ritual again! Haunted Friend of the Outback Requiem

.... Do I dare try and go for the Mathmech player again? Trick Question...I ain't! 24K Magic Thoughts on the Team

This one's the vtuber who "graduated" recently

←Previous Post -- Next Post→ Phase 07 -- Extraterrestrial Girl Or: Hachimaki Meets Someone Who Has Never Set Foot On Planet Earth??? (NOT CLICKBAIT) The thing I was thinking about last week was Cowboy Bebop. I want to get a better sense of the relationship between these two shows, because yeah, I did kind of introduce this as the “other” show or the “second” show. I said it in a way that implies these two shows are comparable, but when I was coming up with the concept for this section, I started to doubt if that was really true. I mean, sure, they both have the three Ss -- Space, Sunrise, and Steve Blum -- and they both have more than a bit to say about the systems they both inhabit, Planetes with its focus on blue-collar labor and Bebop with its gig economy. Without wishing to spoil, you could even argue some similarities between the shows’ main characters if you really tried. But I won’t, because they’re really not. For example, despite the setting, the two shows are very different genres. Cowboy Bebop famously markets itself as not having any genre, that such a label would only tie it down (though “space western” is really apt and it’s certainly the one the show defaults to), while Planetes is firmly in Slice-of-Life, only stumbling into its metaplot halfway through the show. Not only that, but the themes are different. That isn’t to say that Planetes doesn’t have any “characters must reconcile with their past” moments, but it doesn’t do it to the same degree that Bebop does it, and, by the same token, while Bebop is critical of the systems that make up its world, it certainly isn’t to the same degree as Planetes. I don’t think you can really judge them comparatively, either. Cowboy Bebop is regarded as a “gateway anime”, the thing that gets people into other anime, which is why Planetes is given second billing in Sunrise’s filmography (okay, even less than second given some of the other shows Sunrise has produced), but there isn’t really a reason Planetes can’t be. And yeah, maybe I just say that because Planetes into Bebop is the order I saw them in, but still. There is one anime that people do compare Planetes to, though. From 2012 to 2014, A-1 Studios released Space Brothers, directed by Ayumu Watanabe, based on the manga of the same name by Chuya Koyama. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen it yet -- its 99-episode span has scared me off a bit, admittedly -- so I can’t comment as to the veracity of these comparisons, but that is something to consider for people looking to move on after this show. I mean, you should probably watch Bebop anyway too, if only to get every weeb in your vicinity to shut up about it. I’m just saying if you got sold on watching Planetes because of its pedigree (which, again, I am definitely guilty of contributing to), I hope you enjoy it for what it is instead of the things surrounding it. Because it’s good at that, but it would be a terrible Cowboy Bebop. The other joke I had for this title was “Because We’re Living In An Extraterrestrial World And I Am An Extraterrestrial Girl”. That doesn’t have much to do with the rest of this episode but I had to put the Madonna joke somewhere. That’s my first thought. My second thought is that I honestly forgot Nono’s circumstances were treated like a twist by the show. Like, whole scenes are portrayed as the two flirting (“I’d sure like to see your ocean someday, Hachimaki.”) when, once that knowledge is gained, it’s clearly just a kid not getting the connotations of the scene. In that way, Ai’s half of the conflict, that she thinks she’s now in a love triangle competing for Hachi’s hand is kind of weak, but that plot really only has second billing to the main one of the episode so I’ll give it a pass. It’s also dropped for obvious reasons as soon as Nono reveals that yes, she is actually twelve years old and she’s only six feet tall because she was born on the moon, so I guess it’s fine. The main plot is certainly more engaging anyway, as the show continues its attack on Hachimaki’s character by introducing Harry Roland, a veteran astronaut who has resolved, for various reasons, to die in space, a sentiment Hachimaki agrees with. But it’s also the only thing they agree about, or, at least, it’s the only thing that Hachi wants to agree about. Harry, like the dead astronaut from four episodes ago, is what happens when you get obsessed with space. To become obsessed, the show says, is to lose sight of what truly makes you human, or even mortal. After all, Harry wonders, if space is infinite, why can’t he be too? Last week, I mentioned the marriage between the space themes (“It’s pretty great, but Earth is too, don’t forget”) and the capitalism themes (“It tries to kill you but that doesn’t mean you’re not alive”) and it is apparent here in Harry Roland. This is the first time we’ve seen someone break down because of space and it distinctly mirrors other antagonistic characters, namely, the pickpocket. They were abandoned by their desires in the same way, because what they want doesn’t actually care about them. As we’ll find out eventually, both of their solutions are found through the same medium. Remember, Hachimaki’s dream is inherently selfish. He wants his own spaceship to do with as he pleases. The show has tried to attack this dream as childish, and it’s something that he has seemingly started to internalize, what with his monolog that starts the episode, but he’s still got a long way to go before his actual epiphany. It does mean he’s holding onto that spaceship dream in absence of anything else, though, which means he’s vulnerable to even the slightest breeze from the winds of fate. Anyway, my third and final thought is that yeah, Nono is the best character in the series. I see a lot of “small child as the moral focus,” as a tiresome trope, and yeah, Nono is definitely within that sphere, but then again, though Hachi’s dream is childish, he’s certainly lacking in the childish wonder that brought him to space in the first place, something he regains (about Earth, too, which is certainly important) in his conversations with her. Her decree that the Sea of Tranquility “is my ocean” after spending the whole episode asking about Earth’s still brings me to tears and it’s not even the best moment she’s going to get in the show. Be on the lookout for those. -r Next Time: Vacation’s over, time to go back to work! ←Previous Post -- Next Post→

Tomorrow my transformation into a 5G cell tower will be complete. Soon I shall take over the entire planet and there's nothing you can do to stop me. So I wanna get one of these done before that happens because I heard that the second dose hits like a truck. Tagforce 1 #25: Jaime Ivan has a friend he hangs out with all the time, and so does Jaime. But Jaime's friendship is clearly stronger because Jaime's friend doesn't leave him for dinner. Get rekt nerd! Actually, jokes on him, Obelisk Blue doesn't have a place to eat at. Slifers may have shitty food but at least they have food. Jaime instead has to make his own sandwiches. His friend Syun doesn't like sandwiches though, so he has to starve to death. Maybe if Jaime didn't make bad sandwiches. In the mornings, Jaime and his friend hang out at the Duel Field. He isn't shocked to lose to a Slifer Red and may mention that he should reconstruct his deck. This makes it seem like Jaime likes to experiment with many different decks, the weirdo. All the cool people pick one deck and stick with it! Unfortunately, the game doesn't care about that character detail I probably just made up in my mind, and he only has one deck throughout the entire game. It would've been neat if Jaime would at least constantly modify his deck throughout the game as he tests out many different cards, some improving his deck, some not. Maybe the real story behind Jaime is that he's one of those students whose parents paid their way to Obelisk Blue instead of progressing there naturally, which would explain why his deck has more questionable choices than most of the other Obelisk Blues out there. In the afternoons, you can find them at the Obelisk Blue Boys dorm. Just two dudes being guys. Jaime's temporary deck that he playtests with forever is A neat thing about this deck choice is that it actually makes sense with the dueling tip he gives you if you talk to him, which is basically "If you use monsters with high ATK, watch out for cards like Magic Cylinder or Dimension Wall." In fact, his deck actually counters monsters with high ATK in general. His gameplay tip is to protect you from him. Unfortunately, Aliens in a format this early into Yugioh are not capable of much. The only thing that makes Jaime strong is the loads of monster stealing cards he runs, like Brain Control and Snatch Steal. Yes, Tribute Summoning Gangi'el for one Tribute is nice, but even with that condition met I would rather bring out a Monarch instead. Aside from Gangi'el, Aliens Grey ew british spelling and Warrior are how he gets A-counters onto the field. Honestly, this isn't really enough to make Alien Mother and especially Alien Hunter viable cards. Alien Skull is a bit situational but it's great against Marshmallon, Spirit Reaper, or A Legendary Ocean. Flying Saucer Muusik'i is unplayable without Shining Angel. Gagagigo doesn't make much sense in this deck. He has no synergy with it for being a Reptile, so he could instead run a card like Gemini Elf instead if he really needed a vanilla beater, which he doesn't actually. In fact, it being a Reptile makes it worse for him if you decide to run Tribe-Infecting Virus. Rush Recklessly is outclassed by Shrink, which could be a neat card to work with Alien Mother or Alien Hunter. Crop Circles is a weird card that you use so you don't have to give your opponent their monster back and can't just Tribute Summon with it. The 2000 damage failcase is pretty steep but it would be better than giving the monster back, unless you're stealing bad cards. Brainwashing Beam is an amazing card like holy shit god damn wow I love it so much. It's definitely the best A-Counter payoff until you get to the Alien Synchro age, and even then it's pretty strong. Orbital Bombardment counters targeting effects and turns them into MSTs, which is nice but I'm pretty sure Dust Tornado is better. Waboku is purely for turning Alien Grey into Alien Mother, whether by Tribute Summoning or via Crop Circles. But since Grey only draws a card if it is destroyed by battle, Waboku isn't really that great. Embodiment of Apophis... isn't bad, but it also doesn't feel necessary here. And finally, Micro Ray. Micro Ray is a garbage card. Why is it here. Go away. No decklist image available this time because I don't have all the cards I'd put in this deck I think that to fix the deck, you would need to take out the Gagagigos, two of the Alien Hunters, the Muusik'is, Rush Recklessly, Embodiment of Apophis, Micro Ray, Orbital Bombardment, and Waboku. And now that there are 14 open spots, it's time for replacements. First, I wanna add Breaker the Magical Warrior and D.D. Warrior Lady because they're both incredible cards. They also have synergy with Crop Circles; you can counter cards like Bottomless Trap Hole or Sakuretsu by swapping them out for Alien Warrior. I'd also like to add a third copy of Brain Control and Brainwashing Beam. Maybe even add a third Sakuretsu and 1-3 Bottomless Trap Holes for defense, though this isn't too necessary. Add a Call of the Haunted, two Nobleman of Crossout because Aliens despise face-down cards, and that leaves about three empty spots. One option would be to run 3x Nimble Momonga to offset the LP cost of Brain Control and because they sorta work with Crop Circles. Another would be to run Zaborg the Thunder Monarch and/or Mobius the Frost Monarch to give you a strong card to Tribute Summon off of an opponent's monster. If you do this, you can take out a Gangi'el for more space. Option three is remembering that I mentioned Shrink, adding that, and also My Body as a Shield. This is to protect Alien Warrior from effect destruction to force your opponent into having to fight it in battle. Swords of Revealing Light is also stronger than normal here because not only do you buy yourself three turns of protection, you can use it to flip your opponent's monsters up and then steal them. The strategy of this deck is pretty simple: If an opponent's monster can beat your Alien Warrior, then steal it. Alien Warrior's effect works well with Brainwashing Beam. You can use Alien Grey or Crop Circles to try to get it faster. You can also add Cyber Jar, but I'm not sure if this deck has enough low level monsters to make this a safe bet, but Alien Warrior is important and you do have Sakuretsu to help keep you safe. With seven cards devoted to changing control of your opponent's monsters, you can just steal your opponent's frontrow and beat them over the head with it to win. I went back and retroactively did this with the previous duelists, but I'm going to start offering a numerical score to these characters. These numbers aren't really strict but they are in the ballpark of what I think of them. As for Jaime, he's a 5/10.

Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. -1 Timothy 4:7 (NIV)Melissa’s plan to just take one of those elevators (the ones that were really only moving platforms) down to the first floor and look for everyone starting where she’d left them was a good one in theory, but she hadn’t accounted for just how crowded the elevators could get, especially after a movie had just finished and everyone was streaming out. She had to wait just to get on one! And when she did, it was packed to the brim and she found her back pressed up against the force field keeping everything contained and that was like every nightmare she’d ever had. She managed two floors before stumbling back out and deciding to look for the stairs. But the fifth floor was packed too! It was packed for a different reason -- this was apparently the floor with a giant combination meatball factory and furniture store, so anyone who was anyone would be there, of course -- but that didn’t mean Melissa wasn’t constantly dodging elbows or avoiding eye contact with anyone who deigned to approach. Despite all that, she still heard the occasional annoyed grunt, and each one certainly did a number on her. She must have apologized at least a dozen times. Keeping her head down, though, meant that she didn’t see Dora walk up to her until she was practically in her face. Dora’s “You’re like me!” proclamation very nearly bowled Melissa over, and it was really only then that Melissa noticed Dora’s very-much-not-like-hers arms. “Well, you’re not a Quagsire,” was Dora’s follow-up, as if that was supposed to explain things, but Dora didn’t really look like a Quagsire either. Like, Melissa wasn’t really into Pokémon but she knew what a Quagsire looked like and Dora didn’t look like that. It was right around “You’re a hoomin!” that Melissa started to piece things together. She was still hung up on how Dora was able to pick her out of a crowd like that but all the other questions she had started to get answered. it was at “Fishsicles!” that Melissa became increasingly aware that not only had she not spoken in response to any of this, she was also staring with what was definitely a dumbfounded expression on her face, so first impressions were off to a great start. Still, Dora eventually let up and gave Melissa a bit of room to breathe and take her turn speaking. “You got it, I’m Melissa the human,” she said as she offered her hand to shake (and immediately wondered if a handshake was even the proper greeting). “Um, I’m from- I’d have to show you on a map where I live since I’m still a bit new and don’t know all the neighborhood names yet, but before that, I lived in a place called Ambrosia, though I’m sure you haven’t heard of it. I don’t know if we had fishsicles, but I think the food court is on the lowest lowest level so if we just keep going down, I think we can find it and you can show me what they are then.” Each sentence came out kind of stilted and she wasn’t really sure she wanted to get too sidetracked, especially since she still remembered the situation they’d been in when she left, but yeah, guess that was happening then if her ramblings hadn’t scared Dora off. “What else was on your world that you should tell me about?” she asked, trying to focus the conversation back Dora’s way.

"Don't you worry about me just" he stifled a yawn, "just gotta work hard you know. Bills to pay. Parents to take care of, how it goes right, ahaha..." "Ah I understand. However, I would say that getting the proper sleep and making sure your sleep schedule is in working order would benefit you. Remember, while you can take care of others, it's also necessary that you take care of yourself." Trevor gave a smile towards the rabbit man. Benjamin gave a weak smile "Yeah." he agreed, though his tone implied that he was just saying that. About this time, he apparently got word from Mauvache that he could see the boss. "Miss Mauvache says she'll see you. Don't know how she knew you were here but that's the boss for you." Hmmm, perhaps this one's influence here is a lot different than I originally thought...if she was able to know I was here before they even informed her I was here. Trevor thought, nodding slightly. With a nod, he planned to walk past the secretary, but immediately casted a small Cure spell on the rabbit man. "I hope that does help you out some. Keep up the good work." he flashed a smile and thumbs up before making his way towards the elevator. Once on the elevator, Trevor watched the doors close and immediately pulled his grimoire out. "Now, you are to be on your best behavior...nothing like the situation with Morgan, are we clear?" Ah but of course, Masters. What do you take me for? An uncivilized piece of literature that will squander a chance with someone like our benefactor? "...that's EXACTLY what I think." Trevor sighed, putting the grimoire back on his side. The elevator sprung to life, but at second glance, Trevor noticed something...this was taking him to an unmarked floor...there was no button for it on the panel. One could suppose, that this meant the only way to see here was if she wanted to see you. Perhaps he could count his lucky stars that this was such a moment. BGM Nevertheless, the elevator finally stopped and presented Trevor with a room, in which he saw Mauvache sitting there in quite the extravagant chair. The moment the young sorcerer entered the room, he could feel cold and clammy...or at least, the room itself did. It was there for a moment, and then it lifted and was gone. He exhaled slowly before adjusting his tie slightly...had to look presentable. She seemed to have been waiting and gestures for a, much less extravagant than her own, chair in front of the desk. "Go on, sit, sit, I was just enjoying a cup of coffee." "Apologies if I was interrupting anything, Miss Mauvache." Trevor gave a smile, sitting down in the less extravagant chair. "Further apologies are being made in not scheduling an appointment with you. Had I known about that, I would've penciled in an appointment with you post haste on our first meeting. Alas, I suppose there was no time then...but regardless, I do thank you for meeting with me." Her eyebrow raised a moment before she took a sip of her coffee. Setting the cup down and sitting up right herself, she proved that even sitting down she's clearly got a tall and commanding presence. "I take it you did not come here just to say hello? As you imagine I often deal with people...with concerns about all this. I'm sure whatever ails you will be something I've figured out already." "As perceptive as you are a fantastic judge of hats." Trevor tipped his own, making a light joke. "What ails me happens to be something in which you said the day prior, my dear. In which greeted those of us you called 'Guardians' to this world of yours...and made it clear of the worlds outside of this one." The young sorcerer also began to sit up straight in his chair, staring at Mauvache. "What I wish to know is, why give confirmation and credence of this? There's a World Order that should be upheld...one should not let others know that they're from another world...lest this leads into the possible destruction of another. The balance of separation of worlds must be upheld. However...this is a ruling within my own...I suppose universe or multiverse would be the proper term." He paused, now crossing his one leg over the other. "That said, I wish to know...is if the rules of the World Order that I was dealing with on my side of things, if it actually applies here. If not, then this is quite an interesting discovery to hear." As he finished, Trevor immediately noticed a sharp look in Mauvache's eyes that faded away after a few moments. She took another, slow, sip of her drink and then once again sat it aside. Placing her elbows on her desk and interlocking her fingers the woman stared at Trevor for a couple seconds. "Why would I not? You all were brought here without warning the least I could do is be honest." A smirk on her face is quickly hidden behind her collar and she continued. "I can assure you no such rule exists here. And the only one who needs to worry about any....balance, is myself." "I see...so my hypothesis was correct." Trevor nodded, his hand being brought up to his chin. "So the rule that was bound within my own world and the worlds surrounding it, don't apply to Rama-Indri...this is truly fascinating indeed." He snapped his fingers and his grimoire sprung to life, a pen immediately conjuring up beside it. "Do make a note of that..." While the grimoire wrote this down, Trevor gave a light smile towards Mauvache. "This was truly the reason I sought an audience with you. As someone who was tasked to keep the worlds separated and to make sure none would realize there were other worlds, I had to know the inner workings of this world itself. However, seems that this has been a weight lifted off my shoulders in a way." She shook her head with a smile. "As I said you don't have to worry about that; all you should concern yourself is the job I asked of you...and when you're not doing that you just have to relax and enjoy yourself." She thought a moment, before following up with something else. "By the way, you should let me see those notes of yours some day. I'm something of a lover of knowledge myself." "You wish to view the Cabanomicon?" Trevor asked, looking at the book who seemed to suddenly become bashful. This caused the sorcerer to chuckle lightly. "Well, my dear, I don't see why not. As long as nothing gets used in any evil schemes." He laughed a bit more, waving this off. "I jest... either way, Cabanomicon, if you will." Thus, the grimoire floated towards Mauvache, it's chain slightly assisting the book make a bowing motion. "That book is a culmination of the knowledge of my master's master, the great wizard Merlin. Within its pages are the magic I perform, along with my general notes thus far. Though it's ever changing and growing, learning more and more...it's a special tome that Merlin had great use of. There may even be more and more magic and spells that will reveal themselves to me when the time comes." She laughed as well. "Perish the thought." She reached for it and paused. She looked at the book for a moment with furrowed brow. "On second thought, perhaps another day, I wouldn't want to rush through it and I really do not have time to do this properly." As she pulled her hand away, however, Trevor would and surely did notice a small spark of electricity connecting her hand with the book for a moment. "Ah you are correct. After all, you did say you are quite the busy one." Trevor smirked, snapping his fingers as the grimoire returned to him and at his side. He noticed the electricity connecting her hand with the book, which was the reason he smirked, but he chose not to say anything else. "I suppose, with that in mind...we'll most likely have another chance at a private meeting. I will say, out of all those in other worlds, you are by far the most interesting individual I've had the pleasure of coming across." She chuckled. "You're bold, young man, but I assure you there are many interesting things and people to see here." "With my adventures before this...the boldness came with it." he simply tipped his hat once again. "But I trust your word on meeting and witnessing many other interesting things. Let's pray that they are able to catch and keep my attention." With a wink, Trevor stood up and bowed slightly. "Alas, I believe I've taken up enough of your time, my dear. I thank you for the audience you provided me with today." With that, the sorcerer's apprentice took his leave of the room and exited from the elevator in which he came. However, while now this issue of the World Order was off his mind, now came a new one... What was that spark of electricity that connected her hand and the grimoire? Furthermore...that sharpness in her eyes...there may be more than I'm realizing at face value...perhaps the rest will be revealed in due time. he thought, now lost in his thoughts.

i am sick and tired of being sick and tired but i am not sick and tired of sick and tired 8/10 Dug most of it, didn't enjoy the breakdown or the ending as much but still 7/10OP Suggestion: Might want to stay standing for this one 7/10

wow hot take click the link below for even more space-related hot takes

Watching Roxie soundly wallop one of the shadows chasing them, Flurry almost thought he could get used to running for his life. Under any normal circumstances it'd be pretty low on his list of priorities but the presence of a cool, attractive friend did a lot for making it suck less. The distraction was just enough that he fumbled a bit on the catch when Roxie tossed her chaos tracker to him, asking for him to keep it safe before jumping off into the canyon. Flurry's heart skipped a beat, purely out of alarm, as he didn't have a hold of her and couldn't ensure a safe landing as well if he had to use his wind to move her around in the air. But to the lemur's surprise, the hedgehog's ship was hovering not all that far below to receive them. The S.S. Titan she called it and reached her hand out to take his as he followed. Flurry jumped off towards the ship with little hesitation. With a welcome like that and an army of death behind him it wasn't much of a choice. Almost immediately his powers kicked in, they were second nature at this point. Winds were slowing his descent so he didn't crash onto the deck or into Roxie and damage her chaos tracker in the process. Just as he was expecting to make contact, the lemur blinked and he couldn't see Roxie anymore. Colors enveloped him as the sight of the canyon and the Titan vanished. His sense of direction, weight and orientation all seemed to vanish. Panic started to set in, Flurry's powers naturally readying a large overreaction as his emotions grew out of control. So when the lemur emerged, a large blast of wind filled the area which rattled loose bits of the junk piles scattered about and would be felt by Zane who had arrived just before him. The lemur's landing wasn't as graceful as it could have been but neither was it quite as rough as the wolf before him had been. Wait, a wolf? Who was this and why were they here? Where was here for that matter? Flurry could hear sounds in the distance. Clashing metal. Metal seemed to be all there was here. Aside from again, this random wolf. The lemur wanted to ask a million questions as he got to his feet. But given the wolf hadn't yet done the same it didn't seem much like he was the mastermind behind the portal. So for now only one question needed to be asked. "Hey, are you okay?" Flurry asked Zane hesitantly. He reached a hand out as he knelt by the wolf but didn't fully commit to touching the stranger. No need to take too bad a risk here.