Leaderboard

An hour or so later, Yushiro made his way to a specific bench located just outside the fence surrounding one of Blue Yonder’s dueling grounds- the usual spot where he and Akira would meet up between classes or before going out to do whatever it was they had planned on doing. As usual, Yushiro got there first, but he didn’t need to wait long. “Hey man, how’ve you been?” “Well, I, the man Akira, have been very busy recently, trying to get my club in shape in time so that the woman Katsu and I, the man Akira can convince the school not to combine our clubs. Anyways, how have you, the man Yushiro, been?” “I’ve been…. Well it's been a strange couple of weeks.” He paused a moment, thinking about how exactly he would bring this particular subject up. “Strange how? Do you have a teacher that is unusually mean to you, the man Yushiro?” Akira guessed. “Or, does it have something to do with the duel?” “Sort of. It's actually about this girl I’ve been talking to. I... kinda need some advice before I get all up in my own headspace about it.” He braced himself, knowing that he was about to be bombarded with questions at high volume. Surprisingly, the loud volume didn’t come right away. Yushiro could see the gears in Akira’s head turning as the man tried his best to process what Yushiro just said. “Wait, wait, wait, I, the man Akira, am just double checking. You, the man Yushiro, have been talking to a girl? For more than one conversation? In a way that maybe more than friends? And now, you, the man Yushiro, want me, the man Akira, to advise you on this girl?” He paused, thinking to himself. “Is she cute?” That got a laugh out of Yushiro, which was good. It cut the tension. “Yeah, she’s really cute. Her name’s Elizabeth.” “The woman Elizabeth… that is a cute name,” Akira admitted. “So, what seems to be the issue?” “Well….” Yushiro began by recounting how they’d met, then got into the odd set of circumstances that had ultimately resulted in them going out once, and, after swearing Akira to secrecy (and low volume), shared the details of their second date. “...But, I dunno… it was like, like she pulled away from me when I told her how I was feeling. It’s been bugging me. A lot. And I don’t really know what to do about it.” He sighed. “Not that you’re an expert or anything, but I think I need another opinion before I overthink things and do something stupid.” Akira mulled over all the information Yushiro gave him. It certainly was a puzzle, like most women were… He wanted to tell Yushiro not to worry about it, to rush through it all with confidence, but… no, that’s what he, the man Akira, would do, and Yushiro was not him. The girl went out twice with Yushiro and his lovable personality. Still, it was quite strange, the way the girl pulled away… “I, the man Akira, have an important question for you, the man Yushiro,” Akira finally spoke up. “How… how well do you know the woman Elizabeth?” “Decently, I guess. Not sure what you mean by that.” “I, the man Akira, am struggling to put it into words, but…,” He paused once more, trying to arrange his thoughts. “I think it is obvious that she, the woman Elizabeth likes you, but… when you told her how you felt, she pulled away. It makes me, the man Akira, think that perhaps she is… either wanting to take it slowly, or is scared. Maybe something has happened in her past that makes her unwilling to just… rush into it. You know what I, the man Akira mean?” Yushiro nodded. “I think so, yeah… I don’t know what that could be though. Should I maybe ask her what’s bothering her?” Akira paused, thinking to himself again. This was such a hard question with so many answers, and he didn’t want to give his friend the wrong advice. He was sure smoke was coming out from his ears as he thought long and hard, but he finally came across an answer he figured worked. “Hmm… I, the man Akira, don’t know,” He answered. “Maybe it would be best to just… be there for her, you know? Show her you, the man Yushiro, can be her steadfast one she can lean on. Do that, and I, the man Akira, believe she will eventually open up and share what is going on with her, the woman Elizabeth,” It was, admittedly, the same conclusion that Yushiro would have come to himself, but hearing it in that reverential sort of phrasing Akira tended to use made him feel a bit more secure about it. And if that was what Akira- a guy who was both (mostly) unbiased and probably incapable of overthinking, well, anything, thought, then it seemed like as sound a course of action as Yushiro could take. “Thanks man. I think that’s what I’m gonna do.” His stress relieved, at least for the moment, Yushiro relaxed a bit. “So are you going to kickoff later? With Katsu maybe?” “Of course, I, the man Akira, will be going to the kickoff!” Akira replied with a bright smile, his volume returning to its loud self. He then blinked and cocked his head as he processed what Yushiro said. “With the woman Katsu? Well, I figured she’d be there, but why would I, the man Akira, go with her, the woman Katsu?” “Well ‘cuz you’re definitely not going there with me!” Yushiro chuckled. “I’ll be dueling, but I’m sure she’d like someone to hang out with. Can’t imagine a lot of the martial arts people are going to be flying solo tonight, you know?” “Ah, yes, I, the man Akira, see what you mean,” Akira said with a nod, more than likely missing the entire point of what Yushiro was implying. “Then I shall seek out the woman Katsu later and ask if she will go with me, the man Akira!” There was a part of Yushiro that wished he could see that scene unfold. It was sure to be entertaining. But alas, it was definitely for the best that Akiro handle this one himself. Maybe it’d even work out this time. “Sounds like a plan. Hope you guys’ll be there to cheer me on, too. Gonna be a tough game and I think I’ll need all the people in my corner I can get.” “Of course, I the man Akira, will be cheering for you. Between I, the man Akira, and her, the woman Katsu, it’ll be like you, the man Yushiro, have an entire stadium cheering for you!” "That's what I'm counting on, pal." Yushiro said as he gave his best friend a thumbs up. ----- Kickoff time. Kickoff at Blue Yonder was always an exciting time. Whereas most high schools threw a similar event (sometimes referred to as homecoming, if its main focus was on the senior class), either in their gymnasiums or in some other large venue area that had been decorated for the occasion, Blue Yonder had an actual space reserved specifically for formal events on campus: Maiden Hall. Essentially a large estate, Maiden hall had two (three, if you counted the roof deck) floors and could accommodate a large majority of the student body at once. The first floor was the typical venue- a stage, dance floor, tables with seating aplenty, nice carpeting. The second was a quieter space, with several smaller rooms that encircled a balcony looking down onto the first floor. Then there was the terrace on the roof, which surrounded the skylight that acted as a ceiling for the first floor and had yet more places to sit and carouse. There were also the grounds outside, which consisted of a perfectly manicured lawn, as well as a path lined with a few trees that encircled an artificial pond that had a fountain in the center of it. For the occasion, the first floor had been provided with a fully stocked bar (for those students old enough to drink), and platforms that connected to the second floor balcony had been extended so that they hung out above the dance floor. It was on each of these that the two players scheduled to duel in the night's main event would stand, so that everyone in attendance could look up , down, or across from wherever they were and watch the game unfold. It was about 6:00 pm when the doors opened and students and faculty began arriving. The "official" time for everything to get underway was 7:00, but usually how things ended up playing out was that everyone was already in attendance and the event itself got rolling by around half past six. As for Yushiro, he'd gotten there early to make sure that he was mentally prepared for whatever was going to happen tonight, and also to make sure that Ashley Rendleman didn't have to hunt him down when it was time for the game to start. He gulped audibly as he looked himself over in a mirror. It had taken him awhile, but he'd finally managed to tie his tie just right and throw on his jacket. He looked good when he dressed up, or so he'd been told- the jacket helped bulk up his silhouette a little. Judging by the sounds coming up from below, people were starting to arrive. There wasn't all that much time left. He took another look at his phone: there was a message from Liz! From: Liz Of course I'll be there. Can't miss your big duel! Are you at all nervous? Nervous? Well, only a lot. To: Liz A little, yeah. I'm feeling a lot better after all that practicing we did last week though! He hit send. It was a half truth- he wasn't feeling any better, per se, but Yushiro was for sure more confident in his game than he had been, and Liz's tutelage wasn't the only reason. He pulled his secret weapon back out of his deck one more time. He hadn't even shown Clear Wing to Elizabeth when they were practicing- lest word, by some cruel twist of fate, reach Hiraku with enough time for him to side in a counter to it. His opponent had a whole deck full of strong boss monsters, but Yushiro only had this one, and he intended to make it count. His phone buzzed again, interrupting his train of thought. From: Liz Oh, good! Just focus on the fundamentals. Then again, if you win, who knows if I'll even get a chance to see you tonight with all the attention you'll be getting That was a big if. But even so, no matter the outcome, the first person Yushiro intended to see after the game was Elizabeth Hall.

What are your top five favorite Heroic Spirits from Fate?

Yeah, short-cutting into Meliae, Ingunar and other Plant Xyzs is sweet and all, but still, what if they make a stand-alone Rank10+ Plant with a potent effect and intended to be Summoned normally or with a RUM effect? After all, they did randomly make big Xyzs like that Super Giant Robo Destroyer whatever. At least you could make it require the Rank of the Xyz to match 1 of the Levels of the targeted monster. That way there is little risk of dropping big Xyzs unless Sylvans get Level9+ members, and requires further set-up to access the bigger Xyzs.

Well if you look at like 80% of my posts in Yui's music rating thread, I'd just give you something from a Pokemon Spinoff

Reminds me of Evo-Singularity, although this gets a bit more of support from Sylvan, for whatever that's worth because their supportive effects can be a bit awkward due to the reliance on excavations. I guess that's something xD Summoning any Plant Xyz is too broad and IMO lascks futureproofing because no one knows if/when koomy will ever make an OPed high-Rank Plant Xyz that this card would be able to access. IMO Summoning any Sylvan Xyz should suffice, ad the choices they have are decent to good. Also, I would be more comfortable with the card if it required to you to target at least 2 monsters, that way it needs a bit more of set-up and deck dedication, or at least give the illusion that it does.

The intention is to help more with Chateau's wincon of enabling a Machu Mach OTK, but I realized, however, that Machu Mech doesn't actually do anything to modified ATK, it just picks up the bonus for itself (which is cool, but making the opponent's monster stronger isn't the point). The problem is that it's hard to give the card some character without it being another Isolde (in that it just does a search and summons a guy for minimal cost). I agree, after looking at it again, it's a little underwhelming. I've changed some things around to give it a more interesting niche and be a bit more helpful in getting out Xyz.

sAmUs Is A gIrL??

Thanks! I figured there are a lot of cards whose effects fall by the wayside because they are opponent-reliant, and I wanted to help those cards out a bit. I recognize though that there are a lot of cards that fall into that category though, so I'm not certain how powerful this card really is. Personally, I thought of the ol' Attribute battle summoners/Attribute Link monsters/Charmer Links to work alongside this, but Rokkets and Graydles each sound like really cool applications too.