Arkars

"Humph!  Whatever! But you two better promise to carry my bags back! And I won't take no as an answer! Let's get this over with as soon as possible then! Chop, chop!" 

Oh, good. Midome exulted internally as both Yu and Miyu agreed to his plan. Now he just needed to go on with the second part.

As they entered the shop, it became clear that the cover wasn't hiding great surprises to be found in the book. The place was quite unimpressive, with stocks of supplies placed with little eye for placement or being customer-friendly. It wasn't disorderly, not as far as he could see at least, but it was wide and everything was anonymous enough to be dispersive and a chore to navigate through.

Overall, a good place for someone wanting to waste time.

"Ok, I have the list here..."

"This store owner needs divine punishment. Can I leave the list to you boys for a bit?  I have a complaint to register."

Before he could finish, Miyu had left the group. Divine punishment? Midome wasn't sure what she was talking about, but it sounded more than a little worrying. As he made to reach for her, however, he stopped. Didn't this benefit him? His current goal was to lose as much time as possible, so he intended to have them to not split up and instead go together from one item to the other, possibly losinfg more time while traversing the shop. He could do it like this, doing even better without the girl's presence to hurry them up, starting with larger supplies to mask the relative lack of progress.

However, he could also simply wait with Miyu, losing time anyway without progressing with the shopping trip... though she did already tell them to start on their own... Not to mention, if she were to cause trouble, he would have been back at the first problem: avoiding problems during the shopping trip.

As Midome was busy wandering in his mental castles, Miyu had made her way to the counter. At least, for now she seemed content to wait. Uncertain on what to do,he turned towards Yu. Then he realized that probably plant boy wouldn't have had any suggestion to offer on a plan that Midome was the only one to know about.

"Soo... I just realized we didn't take a shopping cart, wanna go fetch one? I'll wait here."

Midome stared at the 'Job Hutt'. Things had gone, so far, without any problem. Now they just needed to step in, not break anything, pick everything on the list and go back to school. Right, the list. Where did he put it?

He had began to rummage through his pockets, yet found nothing.

No.

Nononononononono. NO.

Did he lose it? Drop it? Accidentally ate it? He was pretty sure to have kept his hands in his pockets at a point down the road... But he would have surely noticed if something like that happened, right? At the very least he would have felt the polymer breaking...

Oh, right.

Midome reached for his flask and took out the list and card tucked between the bottle and the cover.

"Here they are."

"Can't you guys do this alone?  There's a shopping mall so close by...and I can totally pick up a new outfit with this card!"

Oh well.

Midome eyed Yu. Sure, theoretically he could have made it just with him... but handing over the card was out of discussion. If it came to that, he wasn't sure he would have been able to prevent her from taking it from him however. Also, was that a tear?

Quite dumbfounded by the unexpected show of emotions, Midome wondered if the girl quirk was fueled by fashion or something. Or did she really want to go shopping that badly? Either way, the question needed an answer. One that didn't involve... however much the girl intended to spend on clothes, possibly.

"It may be a chore, but it needs to be done anyway, right? If we do it well now then nobody will have to do it again. Look, if we're quick in doing this and we end up with spare time, we can hit the mall on the road back if you want, ok?"

Then he would have just needed to do his best to make them lose as much time as possible in this supplies-gathering endeavor.

Ah.

"Feeling insecure about your chances, Blazing Roxy?"

Of course that foul-mouthed woman would stir up a fuss.

Aster scowled as the most recent winner of the qualification rounds went on about the french duelist making it in without qualification... And so what? The only thing to do would have been to beat her as well, no different from what would have been with another duelist. Not that it mattered, since Aster intended to arrive on top anyway. The alternative was simply unacceptable. He wondered if he should have been more direct, but Roxy stormed off before he could decide.

Damn street celebrity.

Putting away his things, Aster sent a few instructions from his phone. Somewhere not too distant, a D-Wheel turned on and engaged the autopilot, guided by the phone's GPS.

"I thank you all for your welcome. Please, do not think badly of your fellow duelist for what just happened. I know in her place, or yours, I too would feel suspicious. But I intend to prove to you all that my heart is true, and that I'm worthy to be a part of this tournament alongside all of you. I just hope this will not compromise our future relations".

"I hope so as well" He replied as he made his way out of the room. He needed to perform a full check of his D-Wheel and have someone do the same for his protections... and eat something... and take a shower... and look up as much about Lydia Maupin as he could...

As he made his way through the mental list, and out of the stadium, he noticed Roxy, and on the other side of the barriers, what had to be her fans.

Luckily for him, his D-Wheel had also made its way up to that point, slowly advancing towards him. Better this way, he though as he mounted on and put on the helmet. If the Satisfaction folks were busy chanting for their idol, he wouldn't have had to deal with them starting to shout at him.

And with that, the history lesson was over. Midome wasn't familiar with the Starkiller City incident, so that had been quite informative to him.

"As you can plainly see, we don't have much staff around here. It's pretty much just me, our resident engineer, and a couple of wardens to keep the place safe. Due to the fact that this school was erected in such a hurry, we're kinda low on supplies. Look, look, I know it might've been my job to do most of the shopping, but I'm only one guy, so please bear with your teacher." He bowed to them. "This also gives you an opportunity to conduct yourselves in a proper manner outside of school, spread our name around and get people to start noticing your efforts!"  He clapped his hands together once more. "Well, let me list off our groups!  Toshiko, Akuma, Keika, and Hane will be responsible for the groceries.  Kiburi, Nanami, and Juryo will be the ones to grab electronics.  And last but not least, Yu, Midome, and Miyu are off to get the office supplies!"

Oh, right. I almost forgot where I was

Grocery shopping and office supplies? What was next, they would have had to fix the plumbing?

As he looked around searching for his group, he overheard his roommate calling for his own. Freeze girl and the others interjected, and they began to bicker with each other.

As for him... Yu and Miyu.

"WHAT!?  Office supplies!?  Are you joking!? This some kinda prank?!" 

Well, Midome kind of agreed, but he couldn't hep but feel like he was in the middle of two opposite charges about to collide. And he just knew he would have been dragged in whatever happened, one way or another. Maybe he could just ignore them and let them discharge on each other... Midome shook his head. Turtling down was no option, if he let something happen, everyone knew he was with them. For the good of his prolonged stay in the hero course, he needed to make sure things went smoothly.

"FINALLY! Someone with a brain! Bounce Boy over here is right! It's JUST grocery shopping. Nothing grandiose about it! I'd understand a strategy meeting if this store we were going to was behind enemy lines or just nothing but a supervillain supermarket, but it's not. ...can't believe I'm actually agreeing with Bounce Boy this time..."

Keika's shout pulled him out of his mumbling. Okay, he didn't like being called... did he need to make a scene about it?

There was something that rubbed him off the wrong way about that boy, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what. Oh, well, thankfully they weren't roommates anyway.

He leaned back to speak with the two seated at his sides. As if in preparation for this moment, his seat was also in between Yu and Miyu.

"So, It's all right for you guys if I keep list and credit card?" First step to make sure things went well: Keep an eye on the money.

Well then, look at who I ended up with. Not that there were safe picks in the competition.

His roommate was the one that looked like he had just came out of house arrest. Hell, for all the Midome knew that might have actually been the case. The thoughts on how to organize his future staying with that mountain of a man accompanied him the whole lesson. Then again, who knew, maybe he was actually a softie underneath... yeah, sure.

He took a sip from his flask while returning to the desk. It would have helped to get at least the hunger out of his mind, and he needed to remake the skin on the arm anyway.

Before Mr. Arai launched himself into a lecture on the origin of heroes and quirks, their... sponsor? Came to visit them. Midome wasn't sure if the man truly believed that they could have made fine heroes or if he was just screwing with them for whatever reason, but without him he wouldn't have had such an opportunity, so Midome felt quite thankful to the man. if this Mr. Bakker had made as much progress as he claimed, there wasn't reason why Midome couldn't manage to reach at least a bit of the same success.

As the class ended, Midome checked his stuff to see if he had recovered everything. Pencils, papers, rubber... that Yu had made a true mess. At the very least, Midome thought, nothing seemed to have been broken. Well, nothing of his at least, but the rest wasn't his concern.

it's no use to keep procrastinating, you'll have to go to the dorm eventually.

With an internal sigh, he walked towards his soon-to-be roombuddy. Midome wasn't short, but this Akuma felt like he was higher than him even while sat.

"So, wanna go see the dorms?"

Aster was absently listening to the commentary as he watched, far more interested in what the earphone connected to his mobile phone was saying, his right ear filled with real-time updates on the quotations of GranD-Wheel as the qualifications went on. Far more interesting, as far as he was currently concerned.

Nonetheless, Roxy shouting was difficult to cut off.

Loud, randomly vulgar and seems to believe herself the next Yusei Fudo. Truly the quintessential Satisfaction supporter.

His irritation wasn't helped by the dip in value the quotations all Momentum-technology based sectors and company took as soon as one of the most prominent satisfaction supporters passed the last qualification match. Nothing more than a temporary fluke, but for Aster it was an ominous reminder of what would have happened had the Momentum technology been outlawed.

With a sigh, Aster shut off his phone and put back the earphone as the door opened.

“Thank you for your patience, competitors. As the qualifiers are already over, I would normally announce who of you ended up in which bracket, and close the qualifiers officially. But today there is a special announcement I must make. See, one of the competitors has retreated from the race, and their place has been reassigned. The lady who has just graced her with her presence is madame Lydia Maupin, representative of the dueling circuit of Paris. She had initially intended to be only an observer in our Cup, but she has graciously accepted to fill in for the disappeared ms. Kotodara. Normally, we wouldn’t accept such an arrangement, but madame Maupin has already proven her valor by holding onto the championship in the European circuit for various years in a row already, so we gladly accepted her presence among you. I hope there will be no problems here”.

Aster took a mental note to look up Lydia Maupin and her past duels. He would never have admitted it, but with how much he had focused on the Fortune Cup the last few months, everything regarding competitive dueling that hadn't been directly related to it was in dire need of a refresh.

Seeing that everyone was still stunned by the development, Aster resolved to walk over to the woman and greet her, extending an handshake.

"Welcome to New Domino Miss Maupin. I'm Aster Granduchi, please, come in." He motioned for her to enter the room.

The armored woman smiled and bowed again to him, replying: "Happy to meet you, mr. Granduchi. I will, uh, come in, then".

If the stares of the people in the room were making her uncomfortable, she wasn't showing it: her face was a perfect picture of almost unnatural serenity as she stepped inside the room and slowly made her way to the last free chair in the room.

Geez. Who cares. Idon't even remember your guys' names. I say we play a little rock, paper, scissors. Losers room with losers. Winners room with Winners. That's how this hero industry works, right? Get a little lucky, and you room with the best. That is...unless you all got a better idea or somethin'."

Not... exactly what Midome had in mind. Juryo didn't seem minimally as concerned as he was about Roommates. But any advantage this could have given to Midome would have been rendered useless by random chance. And it seemed Juryo wasn't the only one

"I'm fine with that...rock...paper...scissors."

Before Midome could think of an answer, volcano boy began to... flip them off, apparently.

Well then, with the enormous basis of one observation total, for now I've reached a conclusion of who I don't want to end up with.

Now then, it was already two for the rock-paper-scissor thing... Even if Akuma was to oppose the idea, it would still have bee two against two. Nothing to do but to hope in lady luck. "Very well."

The rather... aggressive rant from the teacher had turned into an encouraging apology all of a sudden. The shift had been so sudden that Midome switched from questionig what exactly he did wrong, since Mr. Arai had seemed pretty satisfied with his performance before, to question what was up with the teacher.

Eh, "retired" pro hero right? If those mood swings are the norm for him...

Midome smirked a bit

Like teacher like students? It seems that we're not the only problem children here.

His amusement on such information was interrupted by the very basic realization that the guy was still their homeroom teacher. He stopped smirking when he realized what that would have meant for his school career.

He kicked the leg of the desk in frustration. Even if that was off its mark and that was just an oddity of the teacher, the idea of having his future prospects in such unstable hands worried him to say the least.

Whatever, I'm not good enough to play with half-baked assumptions against a teacher anyway.

He just hoped that Mr. Arai's rage outbursts wouldn't have been an obstacle in learning to control his quirk. On that, at least, the teacher seemed he would've been invested.

Now then, dorm mates, right?

That was important. Even assuming there would've been the possibility to change roommate, which was not a given from what he had seen so far, bunking with someone he could get along at the start would've been rather...crucial, if he hoped to make it nicely to the end of the year.

The girls seemed to have already started to group up. For the boys instead...

He eyed the shy kid. Quirk excepted, he was probably the least likely to give problems. Speaking of which, he should've gathered back his scattered stuff before something went missing. Still, that fact also meant that if there was someone who would've have ended up picked on, the boy felt like the prime candidate. Again, quirk excepted. Swallowing down the guilt, he told himself that the bouncing guy seemed to have taken already interest in him anyway, and he turned back towards the two seated behind him, and the one that had just approached the one nearest to him. In order of distance, delinquent, annoyed delinquent and more delinquent. Or at the very least none of them seemed to have joined the course with the hope of becoming a beacon of law as their life goal... then again, who was Midome to judge? Not unlike how Akuma had done, he approached Juryo's desk.

Confident air. And pretend really hard you know perfectly what you're doing.

"Yo, Juryo was it? Care to be roommates? Honestly, none of the other guys seem like the kind I want to hang with."

"Juryo, right? And you're Keika. You guys did some pretty cool stuff with your Quirks up there."

And before they decide on their own

"So, assuming that we're the only four left" he pointed towards Yu and Hane "How do we split?"

Maybe this way we can see a bit better how we would be as roommates. And hopefully, I'll manage to get a good one.

As expected, as soon as they got out of the rain, things had immediately gotten better.

The class was small, the desk was shaky, and Midome wasn't sure for how long the chair he was sitting on would have remained in one piece, but as long as it didn't break the very first day, he was fine with that. Also, the girl who patted him on the back seemed to be fine. At the very least, she wasn't acting like her hand had just been burned by acid. Midome sighed in relief.

He looked around taking note of his classmates. They didn't even reach the dozen, whoever planned this thing probably didn't want to have too many problem children gathered in one place. Or maybe they just wanted to save on the budget. Either way, that was fine for him. Less people would have made it easier to bond with them... he hoped.

It was in that moment that their teacher entered the class, presenting himself as a retired pro.

"So now that I've introduced myself, please do the same.  While you do so, give us an accurate description of your Quirk.  If you try to lie at all, I'll fail you automatically. Trust is the first thing a hero needs in others, and himself.  That is your first lesson."

Midome's eyes widened as he heard those words. Quirk demonstrations? Here? Now? By attacking the teacher?

Wh... how am I supposed to do this one?

Unveiling their quirks would have been inevitable, they were at a hero school, at least officially, after all. However, he had counted on being able to reveal his more slowly, get people used to it before going into the details. But now the teacher was saying that an inadequate explanation was basis for failure. And he had no illusions about the teacher having read about them all in advance.

"Trust" my amorphous ass, what am I supposed to do? "Hi, I'm a blob, touch me and I eat you". Sounds very trustworthy.

He waited to see the others while he racked his brain for a solution. He felt a glimmer of hope when his classmates got away with relatively broad descriptions of their powers, then sank again when the pink-haired girl got the win, and the teacher commented on being at disadvantage against quirks like that. There went the hope of just being neutralized without problems. Or maybe not, the guy was a pro hero after all. Still not very promising.

At least, even those who don't have a weird quirk make up for it by being quite vicious. Especially that red girl. If everyone's a bit of a freak then I won't stand out. Truly, this is the best possible class for me.

He felt a bit of guilt at being happy for the others problems, but hey, worked in his favor. Looking at the bright side was important, right?

As Nanami returned to her desk, Midome decided to cut it and stood up. Better now than being the last one.

"Thanks" Midome took position and faced the class. Relax he thought. The teacher's breathing didn't gave him much confidence.

"Hello everyone, I'm Midome Doro, nice to meet you all." he greeted the class. Please don't mess this up. "I too have a mutation quirk, mine's Amoeba." to demonstrate, he pulled up a sleeve of his uniform and retreated the false skin inside. Only on the arm. The polymer creased and broke as it was pulled away and then disappeared inside Midome's sleeve, no point in showing the digestion process in live, revealing the translucid flesh under it. "Long story short, I'm basically a giant slime, but I don't give exp even if you beat me, I'm sorry."

Just as Midome had finished congratulating with himself for making it all the way to the school without getting wet, a cold, soaked revenge had struck his hubris from behind.

That is, he got patted on the back. The one who did that seemed like an enthusiastic girl... fish? Midome barely registered what seemed to be words of encouragement, while his mind was in a daze. The skin... he groaned internally. The hit hadn't been that strong, and the clothes helped, but the water that had been absorbed during the impact had given the coup the grace. Under the wet imprint on his uniform's back, which was disappearing by the moment as the water was drained from the cloth into his body, the skin had been ripped in several points. Also, passed the immediate worry about walking all the way to school under the rain, and with the last dose of integrators several minutes ago, he was starting to feel hungry. Not much, just the familiar feeling in the background, that he knew would have slowly grown in time, until he either ate or got another dose.

He eyed his flask. And shook his head. While he did carry more than what was needed for a single day, there was really no point to take a sip already. "Also, at the very least the damage on on the back, so it shouldn't be visible."

He just hoped that his acid hadn't come in contact with the girl's skin. Between the clothes, skin, and the small amount of time it was unlikely that she would have found herself with anything worse than her palm suddenly being dry, but if that wasn't it... well, it would have been awkward to say the least. He recalled seeing the girl wearing what had probably been a tidy and dry uniform similar to his before getting soaked by the rain, and while he didn't recall her words exactly, she had sounded like and expansive, energetic type... those kind of people were usually the popular ones. If he entered her shit list the first the fist day, his high school life was likely done for.

Oh, and also she would have been really hurt by having his digestive acids on her hand. That too of course.

It was at that point that Midome realized he had remained frozen since the pat on the back. In the meantime, the fish-girl had disappeared and more people had approached the horned girl on the ground, who was not on the ground anymore. A pink-haired girl with a... puzzling appendage instead of her legs, which was currently shielding her from the rain. A blue-haired boy with a potted plant in his hand and... a living teddy bear at his side, or at least a moving one. the most normal-looking of the bunch was also the most imposing, and had zero respect for the dress code from what Midome could see. The last was a rather provocative looking girl, not helped by the fact that she too had apparently gotten the rain on the road to school. That was the third one, and Midome idly wondered if that would have been a recurring thing in this school. He hoped not. He couldn't the negate the... allure of such a prospect, but amongst the other things, that would have meant it was raining. Again.

But enough. He regained his composure and approached the small group of people.

"Why don't we all walk to class together!"

"I agree." Added Midome as he reached them "Doro Midome by the way, pleased to make your acquaintance. Shall we move someplace drier?"

Ah.

Rain.

Of course it had to rain his first day of highschool.

Midome looked at the droplets that fell relentlessly from the sky, wondering why exactly it was raining.

Perhaps a thread of fate needed for him to start his day with the wrong foot? Or maybe a cold front had made its way up to this city, unforseen by the meteorologists, to strike exactly this day. Or, more outlandishly, there could have been someone, maybe a villain, whose quirk had altered the weather.

Or maybe it was just raining.

Midome sighed, and turned away from the window. No matter how much he looked at the water falling from the sky, it wouldn't change the simple truth that is was, well, raining.

Fixing his tie, he went to check the thermostat. The apartment's rent was cheap, a single room which had to contain everything he could need, the space of his parent's home given up in exchange for being able to live close to the school. Yet another thing he had to thank his parents for, they trurily were too good for a walking headache like him.

Speaking of headaches, the humidity and temeperature in the room seemed okay, at least by what was being shown in the thermostat's display. Given his particular biology, being able to control such things had been a priority in choosing the apartment. Midome wouldn't have died for a night too cold or too hot, or with too much or too little humidity, but he would definitely would have been up for an very unpleasant awakening.

Bringing out a small mirror, he checked that his uniform was in order while he formulated a plan for the morning. Rain wasn't as bad as being submerged. Being still in contact with air meant that there was still a way for the water to get out and reach an equilibrium before anything critical was reached. He couldn't die just by standing under the falling water, he was pretty certain of it. Still, given how much it was raining, and the humidity that was most certainly filling the air...

"Arriving at my first day of school weighting several pounds more than when I started is something I'd rather avoid, thank you" He muttered to himself.

And the best part, absorbing water wasn't even the only problem currently. Midome grabbed his bottle of integrators, checked that it was full and made to take a sip. Then he stopped.

"No, more liquids is the last thing I need right now." He thought.

Midome opened his drawer, and among its contents he drew out a white plastic container, covered in medical prescriptions. Inside, a white powder with a small measuring cup. Carefully using it to pick an even smaller quantity of the integrator, he lifted his head and swallowed the powder. Shortly after, from inside the mix of organs and oversized organelles within him, a polymer similar to white bandages started to unfold and drift towards his external membrane, progressively covering his whole body as he directed its palcement. After completing the procedure, Midome's semi-transucid body now presented a pale, milk-white skin. Not exactly the most healthy of colors, but better than going around with the last of his digested breakfast showing. Which brought him to the second problem given by the rain. His artificial skin.

While not fragile, the polymer that constitued it wasn't exactly the sturdiest, and with a rain this strong, coupled with his natural tendecy to drain in water... if he didn't pay attention, he would have had holes everywhere by the time he arrived at destination. Maybe a bit stupid, since it wasn't like his quirk would have remained unknown to his classmates for long, but hey, it was the first day. Presentation matters.

Sighing again and taking the umbrella, Midome prepared himself for a slow and careful march to school. Running was really out of the question.

"At the very least, I'm relatively close..."

-------------------------------------

Damn.

Step to the right.

Puddles.

Longer step, careful on the next one.

After dodging a small stream of water and no less than three car-spalshes, Midome's march had come to an halt in front of an onslaught of small ponds that had formed on the sidewalk.

"Seriously, what is this? It's almost as if someone cracked the asphalt at regular intervals, and with this rain the water filled the depressions in no time."

It was akin to walk on a minefield, between having to see were he was putting his feet, being mindful of the road ahead and watching out for a potential fourth car.

"Well, I don't suppose it would be a problem if I..."

It was hardly likely that someone would notice such a small detail with a similar weather, but Midome still looked around to make sure nobody was paying attention to him. Then, pulling with his cytoskeleton, he slowly rotated and moved his left eye downwards. The artificial skin creased at the unnatural movement that made his eyes point in two different directions, but it didn't tear.

Now able to see more or less clearly both in front of him and on the ground, Midome did his best to ignore the nauseouss feeling growing in his would-be-gut and to accelerate his pace.

As he finally approached the School's gates, he tugged his eye back in position, and checked his face and arms with the help of a mirror to make sure that all the skin was still there.

"Perfect!" He exulted internally "No damage and I managed to remain dry! Take this, accursed rain!"

Seeing more people, presumably other students, in front of him, Midome recomposed himself. One of them was laying on the ground some reason. They also had horns and hooves, but mainly they were on the ground.

"Okay, relaxed expression. We want to make an amicable first impression, not make someone wonder what's up with our vendetta against the weather."

Wandering Stable Boy

Hungry Boy

...The more I think about it, the more threatening  with arrest people deemed at risk of falling into villany sounds like a bad idea...

Oh, who cares, this seems interesting.

Thanks, I'll do!

I'm a bit busy IRL this week, but I should post my app in a few days

Hello! Can I make a couple of questions?

1- Is it still possible to join?

2- What knowledge is needed if yes? Should I read the IC?

Spoiler

 

 

Name: Aster Granduchi

Gender: Male

Age: 26

Personality:

Spoiler

"For all my life, I was not Aster Granduchi, but my parents son. Of course I would succeed at something, people said, I was Julia's pupil. Of course I would get something, I was Laurence's heir. Of course I would start my successful company, I had my parents backing me."

"And you know the most infuriating thing? They were right. All of them. That's why, I need to prove them wrong."

Not exactly snobbish, Aster still has a certain air of superiority around himself, and  and is the kind of person who will not accept to be bossed around. He won't throw a fit in public, he's received too good of an education for that, but he will refuse to let someone get between him and what he wants, and he knows what he wants. Even though he was helped to fund GranD-Wheel, he still cares for the company and wishes to see it ans its workers prosper, and he's aware that the current administration of the city is just backsliding to the times of his childhood, just in another form. He's just very, very determined when he sets his sight on something, be it a whim or a long-term-goal. He grew up in the high qarters of Neo Domino after all, and if he has to play the games of power to get said power for himself, then he gladly will, rotten system or not.

In this specific instance, he joined the Fortune Cup as representative of his own company to promote it. If his D-Wheel wins the cup, the popularity of the GranD-Wheel brand, winner of the famous Fortune Cup of Neo Domino, will skyrocket, and so will his popularity and name, as the duelist who triumphed in. The popularity, alongside the capital gained from his then-enriched company, he intends to use to candidate himself to the next elections. The problems with the current administration aren't going to fix themselves, he says. Might as well get to the top, and see what can be effectively done by himself. Also, and perhaps more importantly, managing this would allow him to one-up both his parents at once. Of course, anything but "he joined the Fortune Cup with a sponsorization by GranD-Wheel" is known by no one but himself.

A not-so-secondary reason, is that he likes speed. To an almost obsessive level. The idea of having to, literaly and metaphorically, slow down due to a Satisfaction victory and the ban of Momentum energy scares him perhaps more than a company bankrupcy.

He is a supporter of Anthem, due to his current business benefiting from the Momentum technology, and his utter despise for the idea of a technological regression. From his point of view, anything but try to fix and improve the Momentum energy production is just a coward's reaction, that will bring far more harm than the good Satisfaction expects.

While dueling, especially Turbo Dueling he's... passionate. He loves speed, he likes dueling and he definitely appreciates crushing whoever stands in his way. Being able to show off the product of his company doesn't hurt either.

Growing up, he distanced from his parents for a variety of reasons. Other than different politic views, even from before, he was growing irritated by having to live in the shadow of his parents. No matter what he did, he had started as a privileged. No matter what he accomplished, it was but a reflection of his parents success.

This feeling exacerbated with the political conflict caused by the second Zero Reverse, to the point that he decided that the only way to get out of the shadow of being "the Granduchi's son" playing with his parent's money, he needed to surpass them on his own, and put his company, the GranD-Wheel, in a precarious position to be able to cut ties with them, which he intends to solve by winning the Fortune Cup and boosting the sales and growth of his company like never before.

Physical description:

Spoiler

A tall, thin man with glasses, on would not imagine the amount of ferocity that Aster is capable of bringing to the table. He stands at 176 cm and 56 kilos, with green eyes and white hair he keeps into a ponytail. He usually wears formally, with shirt, necktie and trousers, but when he duels on a D-Wheel he uses his own dueling suit, with boots, gloves, jacket and protective trousers in gradients of green and metalized grey.

Both is D-Disk and D-Wheel keep the metalized grey, while adding Red and white to the color scheme, a choice Aster made in honor of the duel that changed his life. Both are some of the best pieces produced by his company, and both, in particualr the D-Wheel, have the GranD-Wheel logo seamlessly but clearly meshed in the painting.

Alignment: Anthem, despite the disagreement of his parents on this matter. Also, and especially, GranD-Wheel.

He has become a member of the Pro-Dueling circuit for the Fortune Cup, not due through the Duel Academy since he never graduated, but as the representative of his own company he has enough money to sponsor himself.

GranD-Wheel:

Spoiler

"To borrow from someone else: I do need capital. And votes. And to obtain those, I need fame."

A relatively small company founded by Aster, of which he is both the owner and the CEO. The company produces D-Wheels that use the Momentum technology, and as such it would be a devastating blow for it if Satisfaction prevailed, especially since it is still growing.

While relatively small and niche, the company is currently doing quite well thanks to it's excellent work policy and ethics, a good quality control and use of cutting-edge technologies whenever it is possible to contain the costs. Aster wants the company's name to be synonym with "quality", and it shows.

Deck:

Spoiler

Heaven Dominion

Aster uses an updated version of Greiger's (Bommer) Reactor Deck, that still uses all three the original lineup of the three Reactors (Trap, Spell and Summon) and SKY FIRE, with the trap card Fake Explosion, but it adds a few powerful addtions that turn the deck playstile from using the burn effect of its monsters to using them to more efficently control the field and gain power for them and their user instead, while making it easier to swarm the field and summon boss monsters. In the Extra Deck, he uses several copies of a retrained version of the Dark Synchro "Dark Flattop" (a.k.a. the normal TCG version). The deck also contains many generic good cards to support it and cards that synergize with the deck's strategy, such as Allure of Darkness, Black Salvo and even Dark Strike Fighter in the Extra Deck.

The new Reactor strategy focuses on bringing out their new Field Spell, which avoids the limitations of Turbo Duels by only affecting the user, as fast as possible, and then maintaining it on the field, which is very important sine once the field spell hits the fiels even once, for the rest of the duel Aster is mostly locked out of his burn effects.

Once the field is established, The Reactors keep the opponent in check while SKY FIRE is Summoned more easily thanks to the field spell and picks apart the opponent's defenses, all while his machines keep boosting themselves.

Aster boss monster is "Flying Dominion Momentum Fire", a level 10 Pendulum Synchro monster that can be summoned to quickly close the game in a single blow.

Custom cards

Spoiler

Spoiler

Prototype Reactor ● SF
Level 14 DARK
Machine/Tuner/Effect

1. Cannot Synchro Summon using this card as Material, except for DARK Machine monsters, in witch case this card can be treated as DARK, also, you can treat its level as 3, 4, or 5.
2. If you control no monsters OR if you control a DARK "Reactor" monster, you can Special Summon this card (from your hand). You can only Special Summon "Prototype Reactor ● SF" once perturn this way.
3. If this card is Special Summoned from the GY, banish it when it leaves the field.
4. You can tribute this card; Special Summon 1 DARK "Reactor" monster from your Deck, also you cannot Special Summon monsters from the Extra Deck for the rest of this turn, except DARK Machine Synchro monsters. You can use this effect of "Prototype Reactor ● SF" only once per turn.

ATK 0/DEF 800

 

Spoiler

Reactor Blueprint
Spell Card

      1. Add 1 of the following cards from your deck to your hand:

• WIND Machine effect monster that lists "Reactor" card(s) in its text.
• Spell/Trap card the lists "Reactor" card(s) in its card text, except "Reactor Blueprint".

      2. If this card is in your GY: You can banish this card; Send 1 DARK Machine "Reactor" monster from your Deck to the GY.
You can only activate 1 "Reactor Blueprint"per turn.

 

Spoiler

Aircraft Hangar - Haven
Field Spell Card

1. For the rest of the duel after this card was activated, you can choose in response to witch Summon activate the effect of "Summon Reactor ● SK" you control. Also, all effect damage that would be inflicted to your opponent by the effect of your monsters whose original level is 8 or lower is reduced to 0 upon resolution, but as long as "Aircraft Hangar – Haven" is face-up on your field you can have those effects increase your LP by the same amount instead.
2. Once per turn: you can discard 1 card, and if you do, add 1 "Reactor" monster from your Deck to your hand.
3. If the effect of a "Reactor" monster you control is activated in response to the activation of an opponent's Spell/Trap or Summon of a monster(s), you can also negate that card's activation (if a Spell/Trap) or destroy 1 of those monster(s) (if a monster(s)). then negate the effects of that face-up "Reactor" monster.
4. Once per turn: You can send to the GY from your field and/or banish from your GY 3 DARK "Reactor" monsters with different names, then Special Summon 1 "Flying Fortress SKY FIRE" from your hand GY (it is treated as being properly Special Summoned by the effect of "Summon Reactor ● SK").

 

Spoiler

Engine Overheat
Continuous Trap Card

1. You can only control 1 face-up "Engine Overheat".
2. "Aircraft Hangar – Haven" you control is unaffected by your opponent's card effects.
3. Each time the effect of a Machine monster you control would increase or decrease the LP of a player, that Machine monster gains that much ATK and DEF, but these changes last only until the End Phase for level 8 or higher monsters.
4. If "Flying Fortress SKY FIRE" is properly Special Summoned to your side of the field OR leaves the field due to an opponent's card: You can banish this card form the GY; Special Summon 1 DARK Machine monster from your GY, but negate its effects if it is level 5 or higher. You can use this effect of "Engine Overheat" only once per chain.

 

Spoiler

Flying Dominion Momentum Fire
Level 10 Scale 8 DARK
Machine/Synchro/Pendulum/Effect

Pendulum Effect:
(Quick Effect): You can banish 1 monster you control and tribute this card; Special Summon "Flying Fortress SKY FIRE" from your GY, ignoring its Summoning conditions.

Monster Effect:
1 DARK Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner Machine monsters

1. For this card's Synchro Summon you can treat a level 3 or 4 "Reactor" monster as a Tuner OR "Dark Flattop" as a level 2 Tuner.
2. If this card attacks a defense position monster, inflict piercing battle Damage to your opponent..
3. When this card declares an attack: You can inflict to you opponent damage equal to half their LP.
4. If this card was Synchro Summoned using "Flying Fortress SKY FIRE" as material it gains the following effect: "● This card is unaffected by your opponent's card effects, except during your opponent's Battle Phase.
5. If this card in the Monster Zone is destroyed by battle or card effect: You can place this card in your Pendulum Zone.

ATK 3200/DEF 3000

 

Biography:

Spoiler

"That day, the dragon that descended from the sky, the pure crimson speed of the one who wielded it... I was humbled. The sad pathetic worldview I held with such ignorance could not stand before the spectacle in front of me. Now I know, even if I burned in the Momentum, even if I was crushed by my own Sense, to be able to be that speed I witnessed even only for a moment... it was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen"

Aster was born in the upper class of Neo Domino city, and for most of his childhood his life had been mostly uneventful. His parents, Laurence and Julia Granduchi, were set to become a successful politician and a businesswoman, like their parents before them. Instead of the Duel Academy or other schools when he came of age, they hired private tutors to teach him everything he needed, which meant he grew up relatively isolated form his peers, but for a stroke of luck or genetics, he matured quite fast for a kid. Not that his parents neglected him or forced him to stay in the house all the time. They liked to spend their scarce free time going out with Aster, and noticing his growing discomfort, they would later send him to take lessons of Kādoken, where he could at least socialize a bit and learn the discipline, but this happened when he was already ten.

In particular, his instructor in the following years managed to channel the restless boy's energy into the Monsutā Kādoken, though his skills are a bit rusty nowadays due to lack of practice.

Overall, he didn't have a bad childhood. On the contrary, one would not be mistaken to say he was quite spoiled. A true kid of Neo Domino, complete with the derision for the Satellite that his parents tried to correct with no avail, witch accompanied him during the first decade of his life. It was perhaps in this period of life that he developed his stubbornness and refusal to have things not go his way. During this period he developed also a passion for turbo duels, also thanks to the support of his parents.

He held strong with his conviction even as the world around him changed due to the actions of a Duelist known as Yusei Fudo. Laurence was honestly worried that his kid held such refusal to face of what he viewed as the most positive change in Neo Domino sice its foundation, and while his mother managed with time to put some sense in him, he still didn't understand how his parents, two respected members of Neo Domino upper class, could say such things. He was but a seven years old, but he was a bratty seven years old.

This came to an end when he witnessed Yusei duel against Z-ONE with the other citizens, and found himself cheering and crying at the end. After that, he apologized to him mom and dad, and becoming more open to listen to them he came to surpass and be ashamed of his older prejudices.

And so Aster grew, learning Monsutā Kādoken while cultivating his dueling abilities as a hobby, even joining the open dueling circuit sometimes when he finally could drive a D-Wheel. Though he never attended the Academy as previously stated.

His passion for those machines, that started to blossom the fated night when the Ark Cradle was stopped, pushed him to decide to found his own company to make D-Wheels at the age of 20, so he did.

However, such a thing didn't come on its own. Aster parents, now well established as wealthy members of Neo Domino "paradise neighborhoods" financed him quite a lot when he needed to start before the second Zero Reverse. Not a problem at the start, he came to dislike his debt to them as distance grew after the birth of Anthem and Satisfaction, both due to differing political views and Aster's personal issues. It came to the point where Aster used the wealth accumulated up to that point by his company just to erase the debt, become the only owner of the company, and be able to cut ties with the rest of the family with peace of mind. This move however put the company in a precarious position. While GranD-Wheel could have, with difficulty and help, return to work properly even if it needed to completely change its production methods due to a Satisfaction victory, now it would be forced to declare failure as soon as such a thing happened. But Aster wants to go big or go home, and just to make sure, he burned all bridges to said home since he has no intention of taking the second option.

Despite their position in society in fact, his parents, who had always tried to encourage politics of equality, became convinced supporters of Satisfaction, even financing some of the Pro duelists who shared that side. Aster instead supported Anthem, and in time this helped create the current family situation, to the point that son and parents hardly talk to each others anymore.

Misc. Information:

- Music themes: Aster Theme ("Dark Pit" from kid Icarus Uprising) , Duel Theme ("The Shining Law of the Strong eating the Weak" from Touhou 17)  , Altenate/Diffculty Duel theme ("Destroyed Skyworld" from Kid Icarus Uprising, fitting considering his deck's theme)

- His studio in his company's building is completely soundproof, and the entrance is equipped with a machine to pick up hidden cameras, microphones, chips and other stuff. Call it paranoia, but he intends to not let anyone bring out something that could be twisted against him, now that he intends to enter into politics in the future. There are enough privacy laws he managed to put that studio under, that anyone trying to use anything taken form there against him would find themselves sued and processed into oblivion before even a single thing could be used against Aster.

- While he now uses a D-Wheel produced by his company, he used to ride a different one before. As a gift from his parents, he now refuses completely to use it, but he still keeps it in his garage.

- While riding he wears an helmet customized by his own company to allow him to put it on and duel without taking out his glasses. He has been considering an on-custom-order-only limited lineup for those duelists who need glasses like him.

-Ruling notes:

• The effect of "Summon Reactor ● SK" to negate an attack activates during an attack declaration, targeting the attacking monster, and not during the Summon of the opponent's monster.
• The Summon effect of "Fake Explosion" is optional, as such the card can be activated even if there is no appropriate target to summon.
• Effects such as the effect of "Dark Flattop" that could Special Summon "Flying Fortress SKY FIRE" from the GY ignoring the Summoning conditions do NOT count as properly Special Summoning it, and thus still require for it to have been properly Special Summoned by the effect of "Summon Reactor ● SK" or by an effect that counts as such first.
• The parts of the first effect of "Aircraft Hangar - Haven" that allows the player to decide on which summon activate the effect of "Summon Reactor ● SK" instead of being mandatory on the first, and that reduces to 0 the effect damage inflicted by level 8 or lower monsters is a condition that does not activate, and it's applied for the rest of the duel once the field spell is activated succesfully at least once. The part that allows the controller of the field spell to make those effects increase the contolling player's LP, instead of inflicting damage on the opponent, is a continuous effect that does not activate, but requires "Aircraft Hangar - Haven" effect to be active on the field upon resolution to be applied.

 

For the need of spending speed counters to summon pendulums during a turbo duel, is it needed even when one synchro summons a synchro pendulum monster?

P.S. How do you do the hidden contents box?

Well, then time to search for that old Reactor support I designed a while ago

Noted interest

On 5/9/2019 at 4:07 AM, |0P| said:

not a problem, i've had similar issues, i'll hold off on replying until everyone says whether or not they still want to continue though. also if you could pleasse in spoilers put the cards on your field (with effects and what not) it would be much appreciated

Still here

Soo... I assume this is dead then?

Let's ping @Princess Raven then.

"Oh, where it is where it is where it is"

Rhea searched frantically in her backpack. After reading the note her excitement had turned in horror the moment she realized she did not remember taking her deck with her. It was a thing that she did almost automatically at this point, but the fact that she didn't seem to be able to find her deckbox only worsened her increasing anxiety.

Why it did have to happen today of all the days?

Her heart skipped a beat when her hand met a familiar shape. A moment later she was running out, hoping that none of the adults saw her. She really didn't need other delays. Luckily, she managed to arrive to soon enough to get the explanations of the rules of the tournament. However, arriving late meant finding herself at the back of the crowd gathered around the organizers, and no matter how much she waved her hands, someone else was picked for the showcase duel.

"Uuh... I wanted to duel..." Rhea pouted and stomped her feet to the ground. Well, at least the other girl could have fun.

"Those squares of cardboard... you said we can personalize them, right?" She asked to Souta "Why not hand them over while they're dueling, so we can start immediately after they finish?"

Aaand I'm here.