VCR_CAT

Overall Thoughts:

- Harvester - Can't complain, just generally a fine card to start with and use.
- Rock Anchor - Not AS good, but not bad.
- Cancer Crane - Now that we know what Expand does, don't... run this unless you're actually using that, but Expand isn't that great.
- Drag Shovel - Spin Turn isn't good. Cya.
- Trencher - Hey this is pretty good! Too bad it only summons Infinitrack monsters, but hey whaddya gonna do.
- Roadheader - This is a pretty snazzy card, and I welcome it with open arms.

- Reverstorm - Good card! Great show!
- Colossal - zzzzzz
- Earthshaker - okay but why though

- Goliath - Great when used with Reverstorm
- Megaton Gale - Dios mio

- Outrigger Expand - Nothing spectacular or worth paying attention to unless we suddenly got a rank 10 Infinitrack.
- Spin Turn - zzzzzzzzzzz


My complaints:
- This deck is desperate for a self-summon playstarter. It's what was really needed, and all the level 5's needing to tribute for their special is just... it makes me wonder why I would ever want to summon them normally and not just use them as discard fodder or summon with other effects. Really that self-summon is nothing more than a -1 to make a body on your field to be level 5.
- Gonna be thinking of a compact engine of Harvester/Trencher/Roadheader to put into Machine decks, 'cause that wouldn't be too bad for EARTH ones if they're fine with that extra normal. I'm thinking something along the lines of 3/1/2?
- I'm really hoping the extra support they get in a future main set makes up for this deck's weaknesses. These are so close to revolutionizing EARTH Machine decks, but just... fall short.
- Hurts that Symphonics are WIND.

Tora Mori

Right after Tora had agreed to rooming with Leiko for the night, Zirco approached and confronted her about wanting to quit the program. With each passing second the scene became more and more heated, and Tora found herself shrinking away from the crowd little by little. Shannon had done her best to calm the situation and come to Leiko's help, but her efforts were in vain as a duel was agreed to. Soon enough, a few of them were making their way to the garage. Tora felt a sinking feeling in her stomach, having hoped to spend a more calm time in the garage and not having to deal with such drama around what would soon be her work space.

As their D-Wheels were pulled out, Tora had taken a moment to circle around each quietly, examining them closely and even going as far as popping the hood briefly on one of them. They were both much larger models than her own with bigger engines. While they could both reach faster maximum speeds, they sacrificed both their handling and their acceleration to achieve this. The D-Wheels might be appropriate for the oval-track, and do exceptionally well there; but for the varied track, they would find themselves slowly to a crawl with each hairpin. Tora made a mental note to remind herself of this if ever the situation arose.

The work done on them was good, though. Both vehicles were clean inside and out with shining, new parts, and this worried Tora greatly as she stomped over to her Crosswhip and started examining each part. She popped the side open and looked closely, rummaging through the shining, new parts, and her growling frustration could be heard growing louder and louder.

"Gil!" She shouted. "What the hell did you think replacing the model 5 booster with a model 7?! You better have not thrown out the model 5!"

"Hey hey hey! Don't be so quick to judge!" Gil said, rushing over. "That model 5 was at the end of its days, I had to replace it before it blew out your whole engine mid-ride!"

"The model 7's a piece of crap and you know it! Besides, all that rust was nothing but aesthetic damage! I'll have you know I kept that piece in mint condition! Besides, that model 7 puts out way too much power! You'd have to reinforce the wheels and frames to keep them from shattering, and if you did THAT then all you're doing is adding more weight! This isn't a drag racer, GIL. If I can't make a turn because the momentum carried me into the wall then it's on you!"

"Hold on a second there! That might be true for a run-of-the-mill garage, but this is Kaiba Corp! We used woven carbon nanotubes to reinforce the wheels and frames! The bike's much lighter than it was before and are more than ready to handle the extra beef this engine has to offer!"

Tora growled even louder than before. "When that duel's over, I'm going for a test drive. I swear to god, Gil, if I have to relearn how to ride all over again because you specc'd the Crosswhip to be an oval racer WHEN IT CLEARLY ISN'T I'm gonna be so pissed!"

"How much you wanna bet you'll love it more than ever? I breathed some new life into that old budget piece, and I think you'll be surprised at how many new tricks it has up its sleeves!"

Tora stared daggers at Gil before crossing her arms with a loud "Hmph!" as she returned to the bike and continued to rummage around its insides.

Hiraku Tsukino

"A Dueling Team? Wow... I didn't know we had one of those here!" Hoshiko said, letting out a small giggle as she clasped her hands together. "It sounds like a lot of fun, but..." She scratched her cheek slightly. "I was kinda hoping it'd be something more casual. I don't think little ol' me would do well on a team like that." She slightly shrugged. "I'd love to cheer you guys on when you duel, though!" She gave the boy a sincere smile.

Hiraku stared at her with the most exasperated expression that a human being could muster. "Neat," he said simply. "Do that. Go check out other clubs, then." In all honesty, it was taking a great deal of effort to keep his patience in check. It wasn't even that just he had no time for casuals like this, this mindset was the exact opposite of what the duel team should be. If anything, he had half a mind to tell her to piss off and stop wasting the team's time. Granted, he kind of did, but if he had to say it again there was little chance that he would be as polite as he was before.

Itsuki Watanabe

"I am Itou Yuuka, a pleasure to meet you Watanabe," Yuuka said, but Itsuki had only time to open his mouth in reply before a fist slammed into the side of his head, sending him flying towards the ground. Instinctively, Itsuki threw down a barrier just where he would land. With such little time he wasn't able to make one properly strong enough, so the sickly yellow barrier was barely visible with how weak it was. He threw out his arms reflexively, and as they hit the barrier there would be a brief flash of light as it broke into a million tiny pieces. Then, Itsuki impacted against the hard pavement hands-first. A sharp pain lanced through his left arm, but he was at least able to stop his head from hitting the ground hard.

Then everything went black for a moment, and he was awake on the ground as if he had just nodded off. He could make out Yuuka's voice, but could only hear enough to really get the gist of what was going on. ...king at least one though, after all, if we didn't at least confiscate something from him it would simply be a random act of violence." At that, one of them reached down and Itsuki could feel hands patting down his pockets to find where the medals were. As their hands went for the one where all three would be found, their fingers would bounce off a faint pane of yellow light.

"Hey hey hey... at least buy me a drink first... don't I get a say in this?" Itsuki said, his voice slurred as he pushed himself to more of a sitting position. A wave of dizziness washed over him and he felt, for a moment, as if he would throw up. Tentatively he tested his left wrist, but the pain was too much for him to try and see if it was broken. He reached over with his right arm and gingerly squeezed the bone, feeling pangs each time. From what he could tell it wasn't broken, but at the very least it was one hell of a sprain.

Aria

"My my, Aria." Mauvache said, causing Aria to visibly twitch before freezing in-place. "I see the day off hasn't doused your fire for combat now has it! I look forward to seeing how you'll fight when we come back to it tomorrow. But for now it's time to relax. You all have something in common after all, no need to be so unfriendly. Isn't that right, Cyanthrax?"

"Of course!" Cyanthrax replied, looking over at Aria and scoffing, causing her face to turn a little red as a low growl began to escape her throat. "Can't blame her, though. I tend to bring that sort of attention. Everyone wants a piece of the champ."

"Well what do we have here? You didn't tell me you were having a party, Cyan. Aren't you the popular one," a familiar and unwelcome voice soon followed.

"What can I say? You get a little famous when you're numero uno!"

"Yeah, forgive me if I have a little trouble relaxing around these two," Aria said bitterly. Thanfully it wasn't long until one of the robot waiters returned with a big bowl of steaming ramen, and the smell alone was almost enough to quell the annoyance and anger that Aria felt. However, as she pinched one of the eggs with her chopsticks and slurped it up noisily, she had hoped that the food would be a good enough distraction from the stressors around her, but she was wrong. "You better watch yourself, though," Aria growled barely coherently between mouthfuls of golden noodles. "I'm gonna knock you both right down a few pegs, just you wait!"

Tora Mori

"But of course. Welcome aboard," Blues said with a smile. That was it? Was it really that easy?

"Now, please dear, sit down for a bit. You look like you're going to pass out," Mr. E added, smiling gently. Tora nodded, stepping backward steadily and taking her seat again, practically collapsing on the chair. The others went one by one, announcing their intention of joining, until finally it came down to... Zirco, his name? As would be expected with his degree of anger, he exchanged a few blows with Blues Kaiba. There was a moment of silence before Zirco helped the CEO back to his feet and returned to his own chair. The terms for their "employment" were laid down, and it wasn't long until Mr. E was leading them on a tour of the facility.

The first stop was simple: a large, sprawling garage filled with D-Wheels, parts, tools, and equipment. Most of the other signers had a look of disinterest to them, but Tora's eyes completely shone with a light of newfound energy. There weren't many people in there, besides one blonde, young man working on one of the D-Wheels. Mr. E cleared his throat, causing the boy to look up.

"Oh, you guys are here!" with a large grin, the new guy walked over, wiping his hands on a cloth. "Wazzup? Welcome to The Signer Haven's garage. I'm Gil, and I'm---," He suddenly struck a pose, raising his hand to his face. "The one that fixes and improves your D-Wheels, the mighty mechanic!" With a smile, he continued. "If you need your D-Wheel fixed, or have an improvement you need installed, feel free to ask me," He dropped his pose and looked further down the garage. "That path leads to the race tracks. We got two, a standard oval track, and a track with a lot of sharp turns and other obstacles. If you wanna race, feel free to, just try to not drive out there too late at night, yeah?"

One of the other signers began to exchange a few words with the mechanic while Tora flitted between the D-Wheels and examined the workspace very closely. However, once they stopped talking Tora's voice could be heard shouting, her words echoing sharply in the open space.

"Hey!" She shouted, standing next to a sleek and clean, but rather simple D-Wheel. "I swear to god, if you touched the Crosswhip at ALL I WILL kill you!"

"Hey! All I did was tune it up a bit and get it all clean! You can relax, this old hunk of j--" The glare Tora gave Gil could stop even Blues in his tracks. "Th-this uhh... fine piece of machinery should work good as new now!"

The tour, however, was already beginning to move on. "I'll be back, and I'll be the judge of that!"

After the garage they went their way through the rest of the facility, seeing the gym, the kitchen, and finally meeting the researchers they would be working with. The entire time Tora's mind was fixed on the garage, and was more than ready to head back there and spend the rest of the day tinkering.

However, the first order of business was deciding who was going to sleep where. Zirco proposed drawing straws to see who would have to share a room with Mr. E, but the thought of that alone was making Tora's skin crawl. Unfortunately, she was never good with this whole "split up into pairs" action, and found herself standing nervously as others were grouping up.

"Tora?" Tora felt her heart sing as she was saved from this situation, and she turned to the direction of the small voice to see Leiko. "Could... Could I stay with you, for the evening? It would only be one, you'd have it to yourself after tomorrow."

"Yes! Please! Thank you!" Tora said with a huge sigh of relief. "And if you end up joining you can stay with me, no problem!"

Hiraku Tsukino

"And who are you calling kid?" The girl snapped back. "I'll have you know that in my country the 'kids' are already far more advanced in maturity than adults of this land. Why, I should be calling YOU kid."

Hiraku stepped over, taking in a breath to release a stream of savage comebacks, but Hitomu had stepped in and started talking about interviews and tests, causing Hiraku to let out an exasperated sigh instead. "Friggin' chunni's," Hiraku muttered to himself.

"Excuse me," a voice spoke to Hiraku, who at first did not realize that someone was talking to him, but a hint of surprised flashed across his face as he looked over to see Hoshiko standing in front of the booth. "I'm new around here. Is this some sort of Dueling Club?"

At first Hiraku felt annoyed, but he let out another sigh. This was a reasonable, normal question. Nothing worth getting mad at. "Yeah this is the Dueling Team. We practice together and represent the school in local tournaments and team matches against other schools. Why, were you thinking of joining?" His demeanor wasn't his usual stand-offishness, and anyone who knew him would find this Hiraku to be much more friendly, but to anyone that didn't he would still give off an aura of unwelcome, or one that gave the impression he didn't want to be there. Which he didn't.

Itsuki Watanabe

"well, I'm never one to turn down help from a prospective hero. And, I suppose I don't have much of an idea where anything is here, so yes, I'm lost. Do you know where you're going here?"

"Sure don't!" Itsuki replied with a tone that was a bit too cheerful. He folded his arms behind his head, partially because he wanted to and partially to give off the impression that he appears harmless as he walked towards the girl with long, relaxed strides. "But hey, I figured that if I was gonna be lost, why not be lost with a cute girl? Sounds like a much better deal to me."

Once Itsuki was close enough, he made the attempt to generate a barrier behind the medals pinned to the girl's shirt. There were a few, small flashes of bright, blue light and the girl would definitely feel something pushing lightly against the medals. "Yoink!" Itsuki said triumphantly, holding out his hand where the medals were expected to fly towards, but there was nothing. With a few more attempts, the flashes of light slowly changed from blue, to green, and then to yellow. "Uhhhhh shit," Itsuki cursed. He underestimated how hard it would be to imagine a proper shape for the barrier to fit between the medals and the shirt and nothing could properly form, with the attempts becoming more fruitless as he got more stressed. "Uuhhhh let's start over? My name's Itsuki Watanabe, pleased to meet you?" He said with a nervous laugh.

Aria

Aria marched into Tegur's bar without paying much heed to her surroundings. With a steady pace she marched up to the bar and practically slammed her fist down on the counter as she sat down on the stool.

"Tegur," she said with a strong confidence. "I have a deep fever, and the only prescription is the most robust bowl of ramen you can muster in the 'food from home' category." Aria sat upright, eyes sparkling in anticipation of what she hoped was going to be the largest bowl of noodle soup she could imagine. By chance she looked off to her side and spotted Cyanthrax, and immediately her mood took a turn for the worse.

"Feh," she grumbled to herself quietly, though still perhaps too loud. "Wouldn't have come if I knew there was gonna be trash in here."

Tora Mori

It wasn't long through their introductions that a loud boom echoed through the room and Mr. Blues Kaiba himself had dropped from the ceiling. Tora leaped to her feet with a startled yelp as the man landed on the floor gingerly and turned his jetpack off. The pleasantries were short as he gave a short history of Project Crimson, teased Tora with the hope of simply being let go free, but stamped that hope quickly as he described the situation going on right now.

"Right. So, this is my offer to you all. You work with me for six months as Branded Signers, and help me save the world. When those six months are up, however, you're free. You'll be able to leave, a million dollars in your pockets, and a house provided in any city you want, no rent and no bills. What do you all say?" Blues Kaiba said.

A million dollars? And no rent, no bills?! Ideas raced through Tora's mind of all that could be accomplished with that money. No more living paycheck-to-paycheck, and more than enough money that she would possibly need that she could help those around her. Her thoughts then strayed to the Grand Prix, the entrance fee, being able to upgrade a runner, enter and--

No, there was no way she could do any of that. There was no way she could possibly win any of the smaller tournaments as it was. Tora was a terrible duelist; Ms. Katsuki knew this, Tora knew this, and there was no way Blues Kaiba didn't know this as well. Even if Tora helped out, would she even be a help? Were they in danger, would she just be getting herself killed? And if she turned it down... could she go home?

The others accepted one by one. Some reluctant, some oozing a confidence that Tora could only dream of having, others insisting they didn't want compensation, and some even daring to drive the deal even higher.

Tora wasn't a hero, she wasn't a savior to anyone. She was a girl that just wanted to go home and be with her loved ones, that wanted things to be like they once were...

...But could that even happen? What was she going home to? Hiroto always knew what to do, he never had any doubts. Even when they were kicked out of the orphanage and things looked bleakest, he always seemed to crack a smile and know just where to go, even if it meant working the hardest to get there.

"I mean, where else can we go but forward? You don't win the race goin' backwards!"

Tora shut her eyes tight and growled. She didn't like any of what was going on and every instinct but one was screaming at her to turn back and go home. But Hiroto wouldn't turn this down, not for the world.

"E-excuse me," Tora said tentatively, but the noise in the room from everyone else talking drowned out her voice. "Excuse me!" She said louder this time, but still no success. Tora took a deep breath.

"Everyone, shut up!!" She shouted, her face a bright, beet red as she felt every eye turn on her. Fists clenched, she marched right up to Blues Kaiba, arms shaking and knees threatening to buckle at any minute. "L-look, I know I got the mark and the claw and all... but I feel like... the whole thing must be random. I'm not... I'm not a good duelist, I only know the rules and I've never really played much with anyone but my brother. I-- your offer is very, very generous, and... any of us would be stupid to say no. I want to help, but I don't think I will be a help." Tora took a deep breath. "But... but even so! I'm not going to back down easy. So if you'll have me... I'm in!"

Hiroto was never someone who turn down an opportunity to help someone else, and for his sake... she shouldn't either.

On 1/30/2019 at 4:56 AM, Darj said:

That Megaton Gale, damn. Could it ensue shenanigans with Zoodiacs? Since Chakanine can revive a Xyz with relative ease, then it's just a matter of generating an additional Xyz.
Rock Anchor looks decent in Trains at first glance, but I'm no expert on that so IDK how good it actually can be.
Seems all the Xyzs share the attaching and revival effects.

Rock Anchor can be summoned with Revolving Switchyard, whose effect doesn't negate the effects of the level 4's it summons from the deck. Pegasus gets more money off that deal, but Anchor can work off of no setup and get things from the hand.

Itsuki Watanabe

Itsuki was steadily beginning to realize that he had taken too much time looking for medals. The more he looked around, the more spots he could find that he could tell a medal was probably once found, but that it was now empty. Right now he had three medals, so he was almost there, but he needed two more in order to make it into the school. There was also a lot of commotion surrounding him-- shouting, explosions, sounds of rushing wind. Itsuki now regretted joining up with any of the other students. At least then he could make all of them do the work and then knock 'em down and take the medals or something. Damn, that should've been his strategy from the start.

At some point Itsuki came across a larger building that looked as if it was ready to topple in on itself at any moment. From inside there was the faint sound of screaming, obviously from a recording if it was anything like the previous medals, and through one of the upper floor windows Itsuki could see the glint of a medal. Just then, a chunk of concrete fell loose from one of the upper floors and crashed on the ground with a loud thud, and any small desire that Itsuki had to dive into the building was quickly expunged. Even if there was more than one medal in there, it wasn't worth it.

Turning around and heading down another street, he then came across a girl, approaching from the down the street. She seemed to be alone, but more importantly had two badges pinned right in the center of her shirt, displayed proudly for all to see. Itsuki needed two more badges, and had he been a more careful and calculated person he would have realized that this had the smell of a trap written all over it.

"Yo, girl," He called out, waving one hand while keeping the other cupping his medals in his pocket, partially to try and keep them hidden but also to keep his pants from slipping any more. "You look lost. Need some help?"

Tora Mori

"...Where is Biggus Dickus, bearer of the Left Nut?"

Tora's face turned red and her nerves only seemed to increase. "B-biggus who?" She muttered.

"O-oh... he passed on this morning. Died of... well... well then, I certainly didn't think one could die of that. How odd."

"W-what?!" Tora said much louder this time, but she seemed to be mostly unheard as introductions continued.

"I am known as the Magus of Knowledge, but you can call me Mr. E," he said with a bow. "I will be you new 'handler' as it where. I want you all to rely on me." Mr. E explained, and Tora breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't have to deal with Ms. Katsuki anymore, so at least it looked like things would actually start looking up for once. "You all will be faced with more trials and tribulations, so I hope I can help you in any way I can." Tora sunk to her knees. Nevermind. "Especially concerning love. You're always welcome to receive my consultation."

"EEHHHH?!" Tora cried out. What was with this place?!

"As for why you're here, well, I suppose you can call this the next stage of your tests," He explained as he folded his arms, tilting his head. "It'll be the hardest thing you all have faced, but I believe in you. You've been gathered here to...," He then smiled and threw out his arms, confetti flying out from his sleeves and filling the air. "have a sluuuuuuuuuuumber paaaaaaarty!!!"

Tears rolled down Tora's dumbfounded face. "I just want to go home, everyone here's crazy..." she mumbled.

One by one each of the other candidates introduced themselves while Tora remained slumped there on the floor, staring off into space. There was Shannon with Luster Pendulum, Kiyoko with Michael, Raijin with Thunder Spark, Hotaru with Dragonecro, Hypatia with Void Ogre, Natsumi with Scrap Dragon, Jet with Stardust Spark, Octavia with Heartlandraco, and then that one angry dude who was off harrassing Mr. E. Oh, and another that Tora had missed the name of who began to sputter off their confusion over the whole situation.

"These are the marks, like this," Tora mumbled, lifting up her right arm while remaining slumped on the ground, tears streaming down her face in miniature waterfalls. Her sleeve rolled down just a bit, revealing on the back of her hand and extending onto her forearm somewhat, the mark of the claw. "And the duel dragons are like these." She fished into her pouch and took out Mach Accel Dragon and lifted it up to be seen. "Mine's Mach Accel Dragon. At least I think, I don't... really have any other dragons, so I dunno what else it would be." She let her arms fall down, placed Mach Accel back into safety and let herself fall backwards so that she was laying down on the cold, concrete floor. "I'm Tora Mori and I just wanna go home..."

Tora Mori

This morning started the same as every other. By now, Tora expected that she would have been used to it, but it never got easier each time it happened. At 4:30 on the dot the door to Tora's bare-bones dormitory burst open to the sound of a blaring air-horn. Standing in the doorway was a very tall, well-built woman with very short black hair and a thin scar running from her right eyebrow down to where her neck met her jawline. Tora awoke with a loud yelp, practically leaping out of her cot and landing on the ground in a heap of limbs and bed sheets.

"WAKE UP, SLACKER. IT'S TIME TO GET A MOVE ON!" The woman shouted, planting the air-horn down to her hip.

"Y-yes ma'am!" Tora shouted instinctively.

"THAT'S MISS KATSUKI TO YOU, SLACKER. NOW MOVE!"

Miss Katsuki was not Tora's original handler. Originally she was assigned a kind lady, but this was quickly changed as Tora had given them a difficult time. Tora was never a kid known to be problematic, but from day one of experimentation she did all that she could think of or stomach to get out of it. Then, she was assigned Katsuki, a handler to "whip her into shape". She insisted on being called by her first name, as "it means victory and that is the path that you will learn from me". Of course, Tora was only ever called "Slacker", for her performances in dueling as well as other tests. Miss Katsuki said that Tora would have to earn being called by her name.

Every morning had the same routine: running, stretching, exercises, practice drawing cards, more running, and finally when it seemed like Tora would pass out, breakfast. At first it was never this hard, but once Tora's mark manifested, Miss Katsuki started working her to the bone. However, today was different, as after breakfast Tora was immediately lead to a vehicle waiting for her outside. Then Tora remembered: today was the day that she would be moved to the other facility in Domino City, and her stomach sank at the prospect that she would continue to be stuck in this program.

The drive from Turbo City to Domino was long and boring. As soon as they had left Turbo City, the roads and the layouts became a lot more empty and boring, the routes just simple grids without anything of the sort to especially accommodate duel runners. Eventually they arrived at the facility. They weren't the last, but they certainly weren't the first, One by one they introduced themselves, mostly girls who were all more finely dressed and done-up than Tora who, in her hoodie and sweatpants, hair still tangled and disheveled from her running this morning, looked completely unkempt in comparison. Soon, it came to her turn, and Tora had not realized she was slouching in her stance until Miss Katsuki smacked Tora in the middle of her back.

"Stand up straight and introduce yourself!" Katsuki barked.

"H-Hello! M-m-my name is Tora M-mori! P-please to meet you all!" Tora said, bowing perhaps a little too deep, and so quickly she felt the blood rush to her head in an instant. With a sigh and a nod, Miss Katsuki turned on her heel and marched out of the room, leaving the teens to their devices, or whatever it was the administration had in store for them.

Hiraku Tsukino

If Hiraku had to pick one thing that he didn't like about being on the dueling team, he would have to say it was entirely the captain. In fact, that was the one and only thing he disliked about being on the duel team, but it was something he more or less had to swallow his pride on to a degree. If he ever wanted to cement his position as the school's number one duelist, then being on the duel team wasn't something that he could just neglect, even if the captain was the one to make a mockery of him at last year's tournament.

In fact, this was even considering Club Day and how every member of the duel team was tasked with helping out at the booth. Hiraku, as voted unanimously by the entire team, was not considered to be a good person to have at the front of the booth talking to new students. "It's not that we don't think you can be polite," they had said. "It's just that... your reputation kinda... follows you around. We just don't want any drama at the table, okay?"

"Reputation indeed," Hiraku scoffed to himself, as he spent the entire time behind the scenes unpacking boxes of fliers and grabbing various things for the members at the front of the table. It wasn't Hiraku's fault that most of the new students that wanted to be on the team weren't of particularly good stock, and most of them couldn't even duel half as good as the game they talked up.

As if on cue, a short girl who introduced herself with perhaps the longest name that Hiraku had ever heard, and definitely one that couldn't be true. Princess, yeah. As if any monarchies still existed around these parts.

...would be willing to allow you to have me on your team." And that's when Hiraku couldn't take it anymore.

"Allow us? I'm pretty sure it's the other way around, kid," Hiraku called out from near the back of the booth.

Aria

Dear Fighters. I apologize if you feel a bit unlike yourselves this morning. There was a rather unusual magic surge overnight but I assure you there aren't any changes, beyond perhaps a couple superficial, that you must worry about. I hope you enjoy today as it's the start of a new week. Which means a free day for you all! Of course you may still participate in an Event if you so choose, just know it will be prerecorded and shown other days of the week, but I personally would take this time to relax and enjoy this most wondrous of cities.

PS: Your regular meals are on me today.

-Mauvache

Aria awoke that morning staring in the mirror. Despite having gotten what seemed like a full night's sleep, she was sure that she spent much of it tossing and turning. Not only that, her muscles ached from head to toe. There was no way that Aurea was going to give any leeway after the day that Aria had spent skipping out to waste all her time at the arcade.

"This sucks," Aria mumbled. "I just. Want to play. Video games."

Aria checked her watch and read the message. Mauvache made this sound like it would be a nice, relaxing day, but Aria could already tell that this would just mean more time for training. Letting out an exasperated sigh, Aria realized that there was no way she could get away spending the day goofing off without feeling guilty about it anyways.

Either way, Aria figured that it would best to figure out her day on a full stomach after breakfast, and the one thing that she knew for certain was that she didn't want the basic meals that day. With that in mind, Aria made her way towards Tegur's.

Itsuki Watanabe

Eventually, Itsuki's travels had him come upon the edge of the city area in the exam space. Right there was what looked like a large car accident, several cars piled up on top of each other with lights flashing, at least one horn blaring, and a steady stream of smoke curling out from the smashed hood of one and up towards the sky. Through one of the windows the familiar glint of a silver badge could be seen. The accident looked authentic, but considering the nature of the city area and the forest it couldn't be anything but staged.

"Oh I see," Itsuki muttered to himself. "The badges must be in places where a hero would be needed or some shit." Itsuki walked up to the wrecked pile, shards of broken glass crunching underneath his feet, and peered through the crushed window of one of the cars to get a better look. The badge was just out of arm's reach, he'd need to break the door off. "Well, guess it can't be helped." Itsuki stepped to the side and closed his eyes, taking a slow breath in through his nose and out through his mouth. Then, inside the car, a shimmering square of gray light materialized and began to move towards the door. As it reached and touched there was a sound of creaking metal and a low bass note like a metal drum being hit repeatedly. A droplet of sweat trickled down Itsuki's furrowed brow until there was a sharp squealing and a pop. The car's door went flying out, tumbling and skidding across the ground before it found itself lodged into a tree a few meters away.

Itsuki let out a sigh of relief and looked at where the door had gone. "Yeesh, that coulda hurt someone." Regardless, he shrugged and leaned into the open door of the car, grabbing the badge and slipping it into a pocket. Had he known he would be doing something like this today he would've worn cargo pants or something. But, it was a good start. The badge itself was easy to get and, to top it off, this was the perfect spot for attracting attention. All the noise he had just made was icing on the cake as well.

As if on queue, he could hear a distant sound not unlike that of something rebounding off of one of Itsuki's barriers, only a bit different. Almost nonchalantly, Itsuki made his way to the corner of the nearest building and lean against it, peering out and scanning the trees in the direction of the approaching noises. There, through the trees, he caught glimpses of some white kid, probably an american gaijin or somesuch, seemed to be a few of those in the crowd, with lavender hair, a really tacky-looking bright red coat, and goggles for some reason. In his wake he seemed to be conjuring glowing squares in mid air and propelling himself with them, straight towards the sight of the wreckage.

"Alright, show time," Itsuki said, and focused once more. Just as the purple-haired gaijin got close Itsuki conjured another barrier right close to the edge of his range, directly in the path of the american. There was a loud cry with the usual sound like a metal drum and a tumbling sound. Itsuki smirked and pushed himself off the building's wall and walked over to where the american was, lying face-first in the dirt with his behind sticking straight towards the sky. "Hey, hey gaijin, ya dead?" Itsuki walked up and poked the kid with his foot. He could see breathing so that was a plus, but he was out like a rock. Itsuki looked the kid over and found, tightly gripped in the kid's hand, one of the badges. Itsuki reached down and, prying the fingers loose, relinquished the badge and added it to his own collection. "Sorry kid, them's the breaks. Better luck next year."

By now he could really feel the weight of the badges pulling down at his pants, and after a few adjustments wished that he had worn a belt today. Still, three down and two to go. Itsuki conjured another barrier-board and hopped on, pushing off the buildings to propel himself to another location.

Badge Count: 3

Itsuki Watanabe

"<JUSTICE!>" "<Justice.>"  <"Hell yeah, JUSTICE!">

"<J-justice...>" Itsuki said with a minimal-effort pump of his fist. So far, the crowd here was on an energy level several notches above his own. Even the scary girl, who seemed to get angry at the enthusiastic individuals for this, was displaying far more enthusiasm than Itsuki was. Of course, not the same enthusiasm, mind you.

"Looks like we have some enthusiastic competitors! Let's not keep them waiting any longer, shall we?" The old man said, and the Samurai stepped forward.

"Before you head into the exam, please come up to me and state your name. At that time, I will mark you off the Attendance List and hand you a starting badge. These badges will count towards your 5 total badges and also clue you in as to what you're looking for specifically." The samurai held up a thick, silver badge in the shape of the U.A. logo. "After that, you will be allowed into the practical one at a time. This process will be volunteer based, so the first ones to volunteer will be the most likely to find badges in the exam. Those who wait last will most likely have to ambush others for theirs... or must have a sharp eye."

One by one, with the scary girl in the lead, the students went up, announced their names, and received their badges. Not many of them looked terribly interesting, and that one angry short girl seemed to be trying a bit too hard. Reminded Itsuki of any of those blowhards at the arcade that were all talk until they went 0-10. Then they tried to be all fist, of course then Itsuki's quirk would come into play and--

And that was it. A light-bulb went off in Itsuki's head and he realized how he could pass this exam without having to work terribly hard. When a gap in the flow of students showed up, Itsuki walked up with a smirk on his face. "Yo, Itsuki Watanabe. I'll take my badge, thanks." The Samurai cocked his head at Itsuki and handed him the badge, that Itsuki promptly almost dropped. Getting a tighter grip on the weight, he walked through the gate and into the trees.

He glanced into the trees of the forest, and every now and then he spotted the glint of silver way up there. He let out an exasperated sigh. His quirk was good for horizontal movement, but the last time he tried to do anything vertical it didn't work out terribly well. But that didn't matter, if his idea worked then he wouldn't need to climb any trees. Itsuki stopped walking and performed a small hop. Just below his feet, a large, shimmering, yellow rectangle appeared just before Itsuki landed on the ground. As he stood on top of the rectangle, it would slide off to the side subtly. "Alrighty then, let's get goin'," Itsuki said to himself, gripping a tree to his side and pushing off hard, sliding off into the forest as if he road on a snowboard.

The Unwilling Participant

Stoked to see you around again! What's the project on?

5 minutes ago, Sleepy said:

Oh so you Tribute the Link 1 to revive this card and then the Link 1 attaches itself and now this can't be destroyed by effects.
Then I suppose it won't matter if it gets detached as cost, It'll retain protection. 

Rank 5 is not something I can picture Geargia, Gadget, Machina, or Ancient Gear doing much with, and CyDra being LIGHT-focused neither. Then again, there's a Geargia Xyz for that sort of thing. I am gonna bet on Trains and Main Deck Infinite Ignition monsters for this one. Archetype's got my attention xD

We still have the maindeck cards as a mystery, not to mention that we have cards like Flying Pegasus that makes Xyz plays for EARTH Machine quite a bit easier

6 minutes ago, Sleepy said:

This looks pretty cool on its own, but I can't seem to find Main Deck monsters. It'd be neat if they could be splashed in Machine Decks. Can picture this inside CyDra Infinity or Trains.
Or Wind-Ups, that'd be fun.

All we have revealed so far is one Xyz and this Link.

The Xyz is entirely generic so far, and actually pretty decent. There's reason to believe that, with the sort of support Trains got in the Duelist of Roses set (being among the best in that set), along with the various support that machines have gotten in general, alongside I think a few other reasons I'm forgetting right now, it really seems like they very much intend for this theme to be mostly generic and highly splashable. I certainly hope that it opens a lot of new doors for EARTH Machine decks.

From the 20th Anniversary Challenge Pack

20CP-JPC09 Mugen Kidou Goliath (Infinite Ignition Goliath)
Link 1 EARTH Machine Link Effect Monster
ATK 1000
Link: Bottom Right
1 “Infinite Ignition” monster, except a Link Monster.
You can only use the 1st effect of this card’s name once per turn.
(1) If this card is sent from the field to the GY, you can target 1 Xyz Monster you control; attach this card to that monster as Xyz Material.
(2) While this card is attached as material, an Xyz monster whose original Type is Machine gains the following effect.
• This card cannot be destroyed by effects.

5 hours ago, Sophia said:

Have you read the Gospel of Judas? Gnosticism, as the second esoteric pillar, influences my philosophy, and I understand you had taken a scholarly pursuit to Christianity. Did that include apocryphal works?

I only took two years, so the classes I took were pretty lower-level and about more general topics than the deeper nitty-gritty stuff. Had I continued my studies I'm sure the opportunity to take such classes would have arose, but I did not.