Kazooie

╔. .═════════╗ Kendra rubbed at her cheek for a moment, propping her head up on her arm as she glanced down at her desk. Her pen idly scratched along the paper, her notes were awfully scarce today, even compared to usual, but… She wasn’t surprised about it for once. Sai’s match. It spoke for itself. There wasn’t much she was going to need to say about that, she trusted that he already knew what he did wrong. She’s sure someone will be surprised she doesn’t have more to say about it, but it’s pretty likely that it won’t be Sai. Eve did well. She won on a technicality, but that happens. Her opponent is the one who has more to learn from that duel, she didn’t make any overly glaring mistakes compared to him. Rosalia. She isn’t… Sure what to say about that one. Rosalia was in a bad spot. Scraping by with a tie, while not the most exciting, keeps them going. And that’s good enough for her right now. She’s sure it wasn’t for Rosalia though. She’ll cross that bridge when she gets there, if she gets there. There’s a very non-zero chance that Rosalia won’t want to talk about the whole thing, she can’t really fault the captain for that either. She took a deep breath, before just closing the notebook in front of her. Sleep was sounding more helpful than sitting here, trying to sort out thoughts that weren’t going to be helpful at all. — Kendra let out a tiny breath as she rubbed at her cheek, walking into the meeting room properly after a brief pause outside of it. She had to take a moment to brace herself for entering, Sai was already here, that wasn’t a surprise to her. Daichi was to be expected too, but there was another person standing there as well, someone she didn’t really recognize. She dropped her bag down on a table as she walked towards the stranger, “...Kendra Brooke, vice captain. Can I ask who you are?” “Geeze, I just introduced myself,” Adrian dramatically pouted, “Buuut that’s okay. Adrian Nimue, Vega’s girlfriend. I suppose you’ll be taking the lead today, in the absence of the captain?” Kendra paused briefly, a little surprise on her face, before nodding her head slightly, “I suppose that’s what it means, yeah. Without Rosalia here, there’s… Less to talk about, considering how complicated her duel was, but we can still cover it at least…” She trailed off after that, lost in thought for a moment, “I suppose that means Vega isn’t coming either, she did look pretty rough yesterday…” “Oh, yeah, she kinda had a madras when she went out with Charlie… She really should know better than drinking the night before a game. But she’s fine, even she won’t be out from a single drink for too long. She just asked me to run ahead, cause I was coming to today’s meeting anyway.” Kendra let out a tiny sigh, planting her face down against her hand for a moment as she did, “Yeah, well… Today’s meeting will probably be a bit on the shorter side then. Vega normally just doodles a bit on the board and updates us on what the next match is the bulk of it. Sometimes we talk about particularly…” She glanced at Sai for a brief moment, “Interesting duels.” “Abooout that…” Adrian smirked a bit, “You’ll get the chance, but your coach decided you needed a bit of a break before that. Sooo, why don’t you guys head down to the training room, and we’ll meet you down there once everyone is here? You too, Ms. Outsword!” Kendra let out a tiny chuckle as she waved her hand, "Alright everyone, down to the training room. Let's go." She yawned as she stretched her arms up into the air... She regretted setting her bag down now, she just wanted to sit down before, but she had to be official and do her 'job'... And now she had to take the extra time to pick up the bag. Inconvenient.

Honestly, considering my top wants this year were either. I am very very happy with the results here.

It worked! Rika was in disbelief, she managed to strike just at the moment Atsushi was distracted enough to get his points. She felt a little bad sniping them from him specifically, considering he had been really helpful to her during the first round, but what else could she do? The others were all too focused and guarded and he was the easiest to tag at that particular moment... Especially with the end so close. She laughed gently, her hands were shaking a tiny bit as the buzzer rang, calling the end of the chicken fight... "if you will all direct your attention to the big screen, the bracket for the last phase will be visible, displaying our top eight." She took a deep breath as she turned her attention to the screen, her colors started to shift towards a pale blue, swirled with green as her hands pressed together. She was probably lucky, honestly. If she had been put up against someone like Sun or Shannon right away, she wasn't sure she was going to have a chance. Instead, she was up against Risa, the rising force from the Support Course who had stunned audiences, and some of the contestants. Did she really have much of a chance there, either? She took a deep breath, her hands clenching together as she did. Those thoughts weren't helpful even a tiny bit, and she wasn't going to dwell on it! She had more important things to do, like go as far into this as possible. She might've be new to the Hero Course, but Risa wasn't a Hero Course student either, they were on pretty similar footing here, and Rika wasn't going to psyche herself out because of the big talk from others! She took one, deep breath as she stepped out of the battle arena, she had to prepare herself mentally for this, and there were two people she knew she could count on when she needed to get ready for this upcoming task. ──── ⋆⋅✦⋅⋆ ──── "Hoshino Rika! How does it feel to be a replacement student for the undercover villain, and now be receiving clout for two successes in the Sports Festival!" Crap. Rika took a deep breath as she was jumped on by cameras, her eyes narrowing a tiny bit as she tried to look for a quick escape. She wasn't able to spot anything in time sadly, and was doomed to the endless torture for the time being. She flinched for a moment after the question about the undercover villain, but... She wasn't a replacement for that, seems like information got a bit muddled over time, she was even there when Tsubasa had been arrested... Her face fell for a moment, her skin turning a soft shade of red as she finally addressed the questions, without turning towards the cameras. "I'm proud of my performance so far. We'll see if it holds up." She figured keeping it brief was the best plan here, it wasn't like she had any valuable input on the whole traitor situation anyway. "How far do you expect to get when you will be facing off against someone with a legacy like Kawashima Risa?" She had hoped they would've just left it there, she wasn't really that big a name, she couldn't imagine too many people were taking an interest in her. But then nights of angry rants from both her parents about how awful this particular publication was came back to her. Her father hated the way it played favorites with heroes and used them as toys for its sick game. Her mother hated the total and utter lack of anything resembling actual journalism, and how often a hero would come into her shop while touting their newest article as if it meant anything. Rika shrugged her shoulders a tiny bit, her hair flicking behind her as she tilted her head back, "Legacy doesn't mean much when we're all still learning. Risa is a strong contender, but so is everyone else here. My goal is to just get as far as I can, and I've already made it further than I expected to." "Fine. Is there anything else you'd like to say to the audience?" She hummed briefly, "...Nope!" It was a cheap trick, but it was pretty good at catching someone off guard when they weren't expecting it. Her colors quickly shifted to blend in with her surroundings, now that she had time to think. She ducked down through the crowd while she had the opportunity. It wasn't the cleanest getaway, but hopefully it would catch them off guard enough for her to flee. ──── ⋆⋅✦⋅⋆ ──── "There she iiis!" Rika was the one caught off guard again, but her search wasn't in vain all the same. She beamed as she saw her father approaching her, running forward to catch him in a tight hug as she let out a deep breath, "You made it into the top eight, that's amazing!" Rika smiled softly, a little mumble escaping her, "I had help from others to get there. Without Atsushi and Takehiko, I don't think I would be here now." She pulled back for a moment, before tilting her head a tiny bit, "Mom's not here, huh? I knew you were going to have your work cut out for you on getting her to come, but..." She trailed off, before feeling his hand pat her back, "She's here, just not right here! Some... Clients wouldn't leave her alone, so she's been barking at them all day, trying to get them to back off so she could watch in peace. It hasn't been going well." He chuckled a tiny bit, before ruffling Rika's hair lightly, "She wanted me to pass on the message to meet her after the next round, she wanted to talk to you privately, you can find her..." Rika let out a sigh of relief, she really thought her mother was going to skip the Sports Festival entirely. She listened to her dad go on about how proud he was of her performance so far, but she had a question that was starting to bother her a little bit. "...What do I do against Risa? She apparently descends from, well... You heard what was said on stage. Everyone is building her up, I feel like even if I do win, that'll just turn people against me for knocking out a favorite." "Why worry about it?" He responded almost instantly as he pulled back Rika, his hands on her shoulders as he looked down at her, "It isn't your fault if people want to see things play out in a particular way, you're here to do the best you can. Put up the strongest fight against her you can, win or lose, you've already had a performance you can be more than proud of." She took a deep breath, her skin swirling red and yellow, her heart pounding in her chest as she did her best to steady herself, "Maybe... I guess..." He rolled his eyes for a moment, before ruffling her hair gently once again, "Come on, we're getting something to eat before you have to go back. You've still got some time before the next round." He started to pull her along, making it clear that there wasn't a choice in the matter for her...

╔. .═════════╗ Huh. Kendra let out a tiny cough as she turned her attention towards the screen. Sai's duel ended... Quickly. Truth be told, that was not what she expected. He was usually... Flashier than this, maybe something got into his head while she had been busy tweaking her own deck. She let out a little breath, shaking her head gently, before returning to focus on the other duels. Eve was steadily making progress... Even if she was only about to win on a technicality. Kendra let out a tiny sigh as she rubbed at her cheek, the opponent made one of the classic blunders, one that she sees all too often. She just shook her head for a moment, not really sure what to do with her deck at this point. With the duels starting to approach their inevitable ends, she started to pack up the cards she brought, a little breath escaping her as she glimpsed the note from Rosalia once more. --- "Me personally...I think you three did great out there. And really, if you want to look at it...we technically didn't lose this match up. I mean, it's not a win but it's also not a loss...so I'd call that an accomplishment too!" Kendra propped her head up on the arm of her seat as she lazily yawned, waiting for Daichi to finish, before starting to speak, "...I won't pretend it was perfect." She glanced up for a moment, her voice soft spoken again as she did, "But it wasn't worst case scenario. We tied, didn't lose, that's the most important thing. It might have been on a technicality, a misplay, whatever you want to call it, but we didn't get a loss here." She glanced towards Eve, giving her a small smile as she did, "I don't know how your opponent made such a blatant mistake, but we take those, yeah?" She laughed gently, before rubbing at her neck gently, "...Rosalia, you did what you had to do. I respect that. I appreciate you taking the bullet here, because... I don't think I would have pulled through that match with a tie." "Whether his card would've won him the game or not is irrelevant to me. It was a gamble and if you were unlucky, we would've been out of luck. You did exactly what you said you would." Whether that was a good thing or not, Kendra wasn't sure. ╚═════════. .╝

╔. .═════════╗ Kendra glanced to the table where Daichi and Falisha had been opening packs, a pair of folding tables in front of her where she had her own deck sprawled out on one... And a binder full of cards right on the other. The little conversation the two of them had caught her attention for a moment, Sai was representing Daichi here... And technically, Rosalia was representing her. She had no issues on her side, Rosalia was reliable. She didn't got into a duel without being prepared for the worst, meanwhile... She would've just made of mess of it with the state of her deck at the moment. She wanted her first duel on the stage to be explosive in a way people wouldn't expect. She wanted to catch them off guard. If that meant she needed to throw her full power into it, that's exactly what she would do. The problem was getting her deck into that position. As the other two sorted through cards, she noticed the little envelope getting shifted around, her eyes narrowing in on it for a moment... And just barely able to make out her name on it. She muttered underneath her breath, already having an idea where this was coming from... And she would have to have a talk with Rosalia at some point. That handwriting was too precise to be anyone else's, except for maybe Sai's. She never knew what to expect with him. "Oh for fucks sake..." Kendra stood up as she adjusted the tables to make room for her to pass by, taking a little glance between Daichi and Falisha, straight at the envelope, "Uh, sorry. Just need to kinda... Get in here for a second." She pointed to the envelope positioned underneath the cards, "...Rosalia snuck something in for me there. I don't know how she managed that..." "Perhaps some of my sleight of hand tricks have finally rubbed off on her." Daichi laughed at this thought. "If that's the case, I'll have to commend her for it." Falisha would look down at the envelope before giving a small chuckle, slipping it out from under the cards and holding it out to Kendra, "Seems like you'll need to be keeping an eye on what she does with your belongings if she's going to be hiding messages around for you. What, got a bet with an egg hunt going on?" Kendra let out a muffled sigh as she rubbed at her head gently, "...I have an idea on what it is, and if it is... Well, I'm gonna have to do something later..." She let out a small sigh as she took the envelope from the two of them, opening it... And letting out a brief sigh as she turned her attention to Rosalia's duel. The captain wasn't in the best spot, she was playing around something, Kendra wasn't entirely sure what. But it was obvious from the way she paused before making certain moves. With her opponent ending the turn, Kendra propped her head on her hand, elbow on her arm rest as she paused her thoughts to focus on it briefly. But in the end, all she could think about was the frustration sinking in on her. ╚═════════. .╝

Amelia was delighted as they walked into the boutique, she hadn’t had many opportunities to explore the islands in the first place, but more importantly, she hadn’t had time for clothes shopping! She browsed through those racks of clothing, swimsuits weren’t exactly her favorite, but there were plenty of other options too… She had to make sure to put Artemis back inside of her bag as the stubborn bird wanted to fly around the shop, but once she did, she was free to dig through those racks. She didn’t have much to spend, her allowance was relatively small at the moment considering she was still rather fresh to the foundation, but she could afford to pick up a few little things here and there. Right now though, it seemed like the best thing to grab was a pair of sunglasses… If they were going to be out and about when investigating those ruins, it seemed like a good investment! The continued exploration brought them to the Tourist Bureau next, a little gasp escaping Amelia as she made a beeline straight for the television, listening to the news story as the broadcast carried on. She had read some of those rumors online at one point, when she was looking up what the Kanto Gym Leaders were like… “I remember… Everyone said that the previous Gym Leader there was super secretive and hardly ever showed up. The gym used to be locked all the time, it was really weird…” She frowned for a moment, tilting her head slightly as she looked up, “Of course those rumors are still going around, the whole gym was just weird…” She was glad, at the very least, that it looked like no one was really hurt in the situation at the gym. The Gym Leader, Blue… He was pretty famous at this point, but she didn’t know enough beyond the fact he was a bit cocky and he liked to smell people, which was also strange… “...Maybe that’s why he took over that gym.” ⊱ ────── {⋅. ✯ .⋅} ────── ⊰ Sitting down for food sounded good… She wasn’t that hungry earlier, truthfully, but roaming around in those shops and around the island had worked up a bit of an appetite. She waved towards the others once they had entered the mall, a grin on her face as she did, “Hey, over here! This place looks good!” Her hand waved towards the Battle Buffet, a little hum escaping her softly, “Plenty of people in here too, it’s gotta be a good spot!” She slipped into that restaurant, blinking a tiny bit at the chaos. It was busy, there were plenty of people around and there was something even more interesting than the food… Those battles in the back of the shop! She tilted her head a tiny bit, listening to the chaos of the shop… "Heading out there first thing tomorrow. Pa says that thing that fell from the sky was a good omen for me; The Totem Pokemon doesn't stand a chance!" “Urgh…” Amelia muttered underneath her breath a bit, the constant bragging… It reminded her of some of the challengers of the Galar League back at home. One year there was a trainer who was so fill of himself, you’d think he was the reincarnation of Arceus himself. He wound up dropping out when the stretch to Motostoke and Hammerlocke beat him down after an unfortunate encounter with a Rhyperior… She glanced back to the others, her face suddenly soured, “...If you guys want to find a different place to eat, I’m good to leave now.”

╔. .═════════╗ Kendra let out a tiny sigh, this is part of what she was afraid of happening today. She knew her deck wasn’t ready for Rosalia, but if this was what it took to give the captain some semblance of.. Confidence wasn’t the right word, but if this was what it took to reassure her that she was better equipped for the coming duel, Kendra could handle it. At least the others weren’t going to be around to see it. She let out a tiny mumble as she let her fingers drag across her ‘refurbished’ duel disk once she dragged it out of her bag. It wasn’t much, an older model that had been modified to work with the newer hardlight technology, a reminder to her… She strapped it onto her wrist finally, before turning towards Rosalia as the two of them prepared for what was about to happen, “...I’m not sure this is necessary, but if this is what it takes, I won’t hold back. We’ll see what happens.” - - - Rosalia strode to the far end of the duel field, pulling her Duel Disk and deck from her bag. She placed the bag a few feet behind her, off the field of play. Setting the Duel Disk over her arm gently as a metal band issued from the underside, moving to enclose her arm. She took a deep breath, eyes closed, as she placed the stack of cards into the Disk. It was swiftly shuffled, and with a burst of sound the blade of the duel disk flared to life, a curled image of a dragon’s head, with a single glowing eye blossoming to life. Even as her duel disk turned on, Rosalia’s eyes opened, now for the first time looking across the duel field to meet Kendra’s eyes without an ounce of hesitation. Where previously her gaze was docile and her expression quiet, she now had a hard, flinty gaze as she drew her hand of five cards. “Best of luck to you, Kendra,” she said softly, then, with a fierceness that belied her usual demeanor entirely: “DUEL!” “The first turn is mine,” she continued, taking only a few seconds to look at the five cards in her hand. “Come, Autorokket Dragon!” A dragon bedecked in copper-toned metal appeared on the field, wings of green light issuing from the back. Autorokket Dragon Level 3, 1600/1000 “I set Autorokket as Link material! The materials for this monster is a single Dragon of Level 4 or lower. Link Summon! Striker Dragon!” Autorkket flew into the rectangular portal of light that bloomed to life before Rosalia, streaking into the border on the left-hand side, which lit up with a bright red arrow as the portal exploded into light, a lithe blue dragon in its place. Striker Dragon Link 1 (Left), 1000 “When Striker Dragon is Link Summoned,” Rosalia continued, placing her hand over her deck as a card was ejected from it, “I add Boot Sector Launch from my deck to hand. Striker Dragon’s effect activates.” A long, metallic piece on the back of the dragon’s neck slowly pulled back. Gun enthusiasts would have been able to identify it as a gun hammer. This precipitated the very sudden explosion of Rosalia’s monster, which sent a great gust of wind and smoke billowing out across the duel field. Rosalia didn’t flinch as her hair was tossed behind her, focused purely on what this great burst of sound and noise communicated. “By destroying this card, I return Autorokket from my Graveyard to my hand. Now I’ll activate the field spell Striker Dragon found: Boot Sector Launch!” The ground around Rosalia was outlined in green light as a circular gear was shown beneath her. A gear with six glowing green circles. “This card lets me summon 2 Rokket monsters from my hand every turn,” she continued, as the gear rotated with several clanking turns, two of the glowing circles centermost on Rosalia’s field, “so long as I summon them in Defense Mode. I summon the returned Autorokket, and Shelrokket!” With two flares of light, Autorokket returned to the field, alongside a bulky, yellow-armored companion. Shelrokket Dragon Level 2, 1100/2000 Both glowed with a green light as their attack and defense points both rose. “Boot Sector Launch also strengthens every Rokket monster’s attack and defense points by 300,” she went on. It was almost robotic, how her tone of voice was, as was the regularity with which she took every action on her turn. “I set Autorokket and Shelrokket as Link Material. Link Summon! Dillingerous Dragon!” Once again her monsters became darting motes of light that slammed into a portal of light, a dragon with the body of a gleaming revolver chamber and violet armor plating appearing before her, letting out a chattering roar as long gleaming barrels issued from its hands. Dillingerous Dragon Link 2 (Up, Down), 1900 “I set two cards face-down,” she said, almost before her dragon’s roar was finished, swiping her hand over her Duel Disk as the final cards for the turn left her hand. “Turn end.” She assumed a neutral pose, duel disk held in front of her, watching Kendra with sharp eyes. There was no thought of the hesitation from before. Merely a string of cards and applications of those cards running through her head, as well as one overbearing thought that tied it all together: I will make sure the best duelist possible faces Team Free. Whether that is myself or Kendra. - - - “Draw.” Kendra’s hand tugged the top card from the deck, taking a quick glance towards it before adding it to her hand. She scanned the cards briefly, before plucking up the far left, “I activate the effect of Danger! Thunderbird. By revealing this card, I shuffle my hand…” She slipped it back into the group of cards, giving them a quick shuffle, “And have you pick one.” Without even a second of thought, Rosalia raised her hand to point to the fifth card in Kendra’s hand. With six in hand, she knew there was little chance of hitting whatever Kendra wanted kept safe. She flipped the chosen card around, revealing Batteryman D to Rosalia, which she quietly slipped into the Graveyard, “I discard the chosen card. If it wasn’t Thunderbird, I can special summon it from my hand.” She took a little breath as she placed the card on the disc, ready for the crackling thunder to sound as the sky above her started to gather storm clouds. They parted with a gust of wind, the sound of giant wings beating down as the colorful avian descended from the sky. It landed on the ground, wings curling around its body now, as Kendra’s outstretched hand pointed towards Dillingerous Dragon, “Battle Phase!” A loud bellow suddenly cut Kendra off, a great growling roar that resounded through the entire mall crossroads. Heads turned to see Kendra’s hair flying back under the force of the noise, as Rosalia stood behind a face-up card, her expression unchanged. “Trap card: Threatening Roar,” she said calmly, her voice ust audible over the last echoes as the Trap card disappeared. “This card prevents the opponent from declaring an attack the turn it’s activated.” Kendra winced at the trap card, mumbling lightly to herself underneath her breath. “Well, that’s unfortunate…” She looked at her hand for a moment, letting her fingers slip across the cards gently, before plucking up two of them. “I’ll set a monster and a card facedown.” The cards materialized on the field in front of her, Kendra’s eyes closing for a moment as she let out a tiny sigh, “That’s the end of this turn. And probably the duel, huh? Not a great showing.” For the first time since the duel started a crack formed in Rosalia’s unflappable expression, causing her to frown briefly. It wasn’t a frown of anger or irritation. If anything she looked slightly sad. “You’ve figured out the path forward for me as well, haven’t you?” Kendra laughed gently, shaking her head softly as she glanced towards Dillingerous once again, “...I needed to get rid of that, I only really had one way to do it with this hand. I’m confident enough you have a way to close out the game, but maybe I’ll be wrong.” Rosalia closed her eyes, taking another deep breath. “... We’ll see,” she said softly. “During the End Phase, Dillingerous Dragon’s effect activates… I can destroy an Attack Position monster that didn’t declare an attack during this turn.” Her dragon raised its guns, pointing them towards Thunderbird. “... Fire.” A barrage of gunfire flew forward, striking into Thunderbird as a massive explosion surrounded the giant bird, Kendra’s monster consumed by a ball of flame. But there was more. “The monster destroyed by Dillingerous also has its attack points inflicted to the opponent as damage. Thunderbird’s 2800 attack is inflicted to you.” The fireball suddenly expanded with fresh explosions within, the explosion swallowing Kendra for several seconds as her Life Points flew down. Kendra watched as the gunfire engulfed Thunderbird, the explosion and resulting fireball’s expansion surrounding her. She closed her eyes as the gust pushed her back on her feet, sliding her against the ground as she dug in her heels. She opened up her eyes once the carnage started to calm down, a small smile on her face, though her eyes betrayed the disappointment she was feeling, “Goodbye, Thunderbird.” Kendra's LP: 4000 -> 1200 - - - “Draw.” Rosalia’s next draw was less energetic. She turned the card around to see that it was the sole thing her turn depended on: A monster she could summon. She breathed deeply, thinking it over. She saw the path through. Based on her previous experiences with Kendra’s duels, she was confident this way could see her through. But she also knew what happened if that was the case. If I win, I have to remain captain in place of Kendra. She took one last deep breath… “I summon Anesthrokket Dragon.” Once again short and clipped, her tone was back to the way it had been before. All business. A small, needle-headed dragon appeared on the field. Anesthrokket Dragon Level 1, 0/2200 ‘I activate Monster Reborn,” she continued, as a spot on her field began glowing. “Using this summons any monster from the Graveyard. Be reborn, Autorokket.” Her old dragon rejoined the field, but it wasn’t around for long, it and Anesthrokket once again becoming Link Material to shoot through the air. “I set Autorokket and Anesthrokket as Link Material! The materials for this monster are 2 Rokket monsters. Link Summon, Booster Dragon!” A black-bodied dragon with a scope for a head joined the fray, spreading wide wings to let out a metallic shriek. Booster Dragon Link 2 (Down-Right, Down-Left), 1900 “Reverse card, open. Quick Launch.” This was a card that should be very familiar to Kendra. The card was as close to a signature Spell card for Rosalia as any. “This lets me summon any Rokket monster from my deck, but during the End Phase it will be destroyed.” “I summon Metalrokket!” This dragon was blue-armored, thin with a long, orange bullet protruding from the head. Metalrokket Dragon Level 4, 1700/1400 “Booster Dragon’s effect can increase the Attack and Defense Points of any monster by 500 once each turn,” Rosalia continued, as the great scope-head turned towards Metalrokket. “You can’t activate cards or effects when I use this aspect of Booster… But what that does do is activate Metalrokket!” She raised a hand, pointing towards Kendra’s field as Booster moved in front of Metalrokket, the smaller dragon becoming a line of green light that shrunk down into a sphere only a few inches wide before siphoning into Booster Dragon’s head. As Rosalia picked Metalrokket up off the blade of her Duel Disk, the monster zone where Metalrokket had been blinked briefly. So too did the zone that Kendra’s monster occupied. “I summoned Metalrokket to the same zone as both of your face-down cards,” Rosalia said quietly. “When Metalrokket is targeted by the effect of a Link Monster, I can destroy it, as well as every card in the same column as Metalrokket. Anti-Enemy Snipe… Fire.” The scope flared, and the green sphere shot forward, massive holes being blown through both of the holograms of Kendra’s cards before they crumpled into light particles, a small, red disk of a monster appearing briefly before it too was blown asunder. Kendra let out a tiny sigh, watching as Micro-Cell was blown to pieces and scattered to the winds, her hands scooping the cards and sending them to the grave. She smiled softly, “Looks like I’m wide open, huh? I should’ve thought about that happening, guess I have nothing to blame but myself this time.” Rosalia tried to think of something to say that might be able to assuage Kendra. Between Kendra’s disappointment in herself and the fact Rosalia was remaining in a position she didn’t feel at all qualified for, she wasn’t sure what to do now. She tried to think of something, anything, Something Daichi would say, to make kendra feel better about her dueling efforts. Something Sashisematta would say, to make it something they could both laugh off. But all that came was: “Battle. Booster Dragon attacks you directly.” One last blast, another bolt of light smashing into the ground in front of Kendra, and that was that. Kendra: 1200 > 0 Kendra didn’t flinch as that bolt came crashing down in front of her, a little breath escaping her once all was said and done. Once again, she felt her feet dragging against the ground for a moment, before she steadied herself. She gave a small smile to Rosalia, tilting her head back a bit as she did, “There. Definitely confirms that I need a bit more… Time to get this sorted out. I won’t be winning anything like this.” Rosalia strode back across the duel field, bag once again in her hands and almost held in front of her like a shield. The second the duel had ended her general demeanor had resumed, the girl no longer assisted by the confidence of wielding a dragon. “I wish I had the time to do the same for my captainship,” she admitted, gazing up to the skylight ceiling of the mall junction, head tilted back at the same angle as Kendra. “Do you… still want to be left out of the match with Team Free?” Kendra collected her own items as she hummed for a moment, “You do have time. It might not feel like it, but… Considering how things have gone, it’s surprisingly quiet at the moment. And like I said, I’ll always be happy to help you sort through a decision.” She smiled for a moment, before nodding her head again, “...You saw that performance. That draw was awful, I need to optimize a little more, I think.” Rosalia snorted gently. “Optimize… What a pair we are, one most effective in a duel and one most effective outside it… I do think there’s no time left for one decision, though.” She pulled her phone from her bag, firing off a brief text. She made no effort to turn her body away to conceal it from Kendra. It was a message to Sai. Sashisematta, Meet me before the match with Team Free. There is something we have to discuss. “Whether I agree with you or you agree with me, something has to be done about Sashisematta… And I think I know what.” She looked back to Kendra, a weak smile on her face. “Thank you, Kendra… You’re a better co-captain than I think you realize. Our duel helped me realize that we all have something to contribute to the team… Even Sashisematta.” Kendra raised an eyebrow at the short message Rosalia had sent off towards Sai, a little sigh escaping her as she nodded her head, “...Something does, and I trust your instincts on this one. I think I would be a bit too heavy handed with him. And I’m glad you got something good from that. For now… I think this is a good time to start thinking about heading home. I could use a nap…” “Yes… I’m sorry you couldn’t get ahold of that card just yet,” Rosalia apologized, beginning to walk with Kendra back towards the exit of the mall. “And I’m… sorry I dragged you here to offer you a position you didn’t want.” She held up the phone again, dialing a number swiftly before holding it up to her ear. “Miss Sterling… I was speaking to Kendra and we… She convinced me. I’ll be the one dueling in the Standard slot against Team Free.” And just briefly some of that authoritative tone that her voice had had during the duel took over. ╚═════════. .╝

I don't know much at all about using Xyz Summoning, but I'm sure that's something that we can square away for you. And of course you at least have your ace..." Kendra let out a tiny yawn as she nodded her head lazily, “I have the ace… But it doesn’t fit every situation, you know? Can’t plow through with sheer force all the time. I like to keep things open for options…” Her ramblings were relatively tame, considering how the other members of the team could get. She was quiet often, scanning across the cards in the shop as she mumbled gently, “I just need more options…” The two of them just looked at cards in near silence for a while, before they finally got the card she had her eyes on for a while. She gave a little smile, “Right?” She glanced around, the workers busy in other parts of the shop as she mumbled, “Don’t give them too much to work with though, they’re already price gouging it as much as they can. If they wanna sell it at all.” Her eyes rolled for a moment, her finger tapping at the glass over it… "... Maybe better instincts than me, in some regard." She then clarified the point further: "About Sashisematta." Kendra paused for a moment, a tiny snort escaping her as she shook her head gently. She already had an idea where this was going, she had replayed the events there in her head a few times herself, she wasn’t surprised to hear Rosalia had as well. “You didn’t need to do more. It was our first outing, you know? In any case, if either of us pushed Sai more, you know what he would’ve done? He would’ve tripled down. He already doubled down when he made his opponent hurt that way.” There was a bit of scorn in her voice as she said that, glancing towards the clock for a moment as she mumbled to herself, something quiet underneath her breath. “...I don’t think next round is a good one for me, though. Everything is rough, seeing the duels we went through, my deck isn’t nearly ready to put up a real fight just yet. It’s close, but I have too many dead first turns…” She let out a tiny laugh, her hand rubbing at her cheek for a moment as she looked at Rosalia, raising an eyebrow, “As far as the ‘shortcomings’ of the captain… Then you’re going to pick yourself up and prepare for the next time something needs to be done, yeah? That’s how it goes.” She went quiet after that, waiting for Rosalia’s reaction. "You did a better job confronting Sashisematta than someone like me could ever do. I was too afraid to even push him on the subject. I... I intend to ask Miss Sterling to make you captain of Team Genesis. In my place." “That won’t be happening. This is entirely selfish, like absolutely, but I won’t be the captain here.” She tilted her head towards Rosalia, giving a little grin, “You really think someone like me will be able to herd these wild cats we’re dealing with? I’m glad you can let this out to me, you need an outlet, but…” She tapped at the glass for a moment, “How do I put this?” She hummed for a moment, “I’m too lazy. You’ll find your voice, and I’ll support you as best as I can, but… Too much work to try and lead our misfit band directly.” She grinned, giving Rosalia a wink as she did, “I think you can handle it. You don’t give yourself enough credit.”

Amelia listened patiently as she folded her hands over her lap. The situation wasn’t much more developed than what Wicke had told them after all, which wasn’t surprising. Still, she had hoped that something would have come up that they could use to get a bit more information. She closed her eyes for a moment, humming gently as she did. If where that object had came from didn’t matter, then… "The Ruins of Conflict sit atop that hill and that projectile may have disturbed the guardian of the place." There it was. She wasn’t entirely sure what the Ruins of Conflict were, but considering the name being as ominous as it was, it was likely something important. He went on to say that they were an important part of Alola’s history, which meant she was right on the money. She opened her eyes, only to find that Artemis had emerged from her bag, now sitting on her lap while glaring at the Popplio. The seal, meanwhile, had just taken to curling up in a small ball beside Amelia. She let one hand pet along her back gently, the other one rubbing across Artemis’ head. The bird let out a low coo in approval of the attention, a little sigh escaping her as she let her hands work along the two. “So… We should expect the guardian to not be happy to see us, most likely…” She wasn’t sure what to make of that. Admittedly… She didn’t exactly do her homework when she jumped on a plane. She did a bit of light reading on the way over… She knew there were four Island Guardians, but beyond that, she knew basically nothing about them. "Well, we won't get to see the sights by just standing here. I don't suppose any of you could go for a malasada or something? I'm buying." Amelia blinked for a moment in confusion as she looked down at the assorted malasada’s in front of their little group, then back up to Kukui. She really hoped that didn’t hurt his feelings. Either way, she took a little breath as she rubbed at her cheek, “Well, I’m not super hungry now, but… I’d still like to see the city a little bit. I haven’t been to any of the islands other than Ula’ula so far… So I’d like to see some of the others. I’m in!”

Kendra was savoring the bit of time she had before she had to meet with Rosalia. It wasn’t something she was exactly eager to do… Not because of Rosalia, but because she would have to justify her decision to sit out of the duel. Her decision. Was it really? She wasn’t about to go into a duel where she was unprepared. Sai would have a field day with it, and she didn’t want to even have to think about dealing with the aftermath of that. This co-captain position was definitely more trouble than it was worth. She didn’t want to be dealing with the team’s management, she didn’t want to be in this spot, but she was. It was her job to try and figure out how to guide the team. Why did they even need this position? Vega was practically the team captain. Rosalia should’ve been co-captain, second to her. Is it purely because Vega can’t duel as part of the team? Maybe, it’s still a pain. Because of it, she had to monitor the others way more than she felt she was capable of doing. She sat at her desk, her pen tapping against it as she looked down at her notebook. Work didn’t call her in, she couldn’t use it as an excuse to avoid the mall for a bit. She knew they wouldn’t call her in though, it was just a stray thought. She took a deep breath as she crushed the can of soda next to her in her hand, the can crinkling underneath her grip as she rubbed at her head gently. “Maybe it isn’t too late to duck out of the team and let them find a replacement… Ha.” She glanced at the clock, it’d be time to go see Rosalia in about an hour. She was running on fumes, honestly. The wind was out of her sails and she was ready to just pass out, but… “Time to go.” --- She approached the mall after a brief detour at her local convenience store, she needed some caffeine. She took a swig of her energy drink as she approached the mall steadily, a deep breath escaping her as she saw Rosalia approaching her, bracing herself for the oncoming discussion. "Thanks for coming, really. Are you nervous about our upcoming match at all? I mean, after the last one…" Kendra shrugged her shoulders, “...Sai has his reasons. I don’t agree with them and I think he needs to consider all the angles, but it’s his choice. I don’t care about being in the same duel session as him. I care that I’m not ready.” She let her hand clench on the strap of her bag lightly, a little sigh escaping her as she did, “...Long story short, deck isn’t consistent. Not for this stage. I need more… Everything. I need to tweak some tech options in the main deck, but more than anything, I’ve got some more Extra Deck cards I need to grab before I’m comfortable taking place in the duels…” She paused there, her fingers squeezing around the can, causing it to crinkle underneath them as she did, “...So yeah, I’m nervous, but it’s not Sai’s fault. I just don’t have the tools I need to feel good about going in yet.” The two of them had reentered the mall at this point, a little breath escaping Kendra as she rubbed at her cheek gently, “One of the shops here has a card, I've been haggling for it. It’s not a super rare card, but hard enough to get a hold of that I’m kinda still trying to get them to sell it. I have weaker options that can fill the gap, but the Extra Deck is the most important part of my deck, I’m only as good as it is flexible, if that makes sense. I’ve picked up a lot of stuff over time, I have lots of sub optimal filler options, but I want quality options too." She paused there, before taking a glance at Rosalia, "You did the right thing, asking him why he did that, you know? I jumped in too quickly. I was thinking about the way he could hurt the others' own images. I still think he might've, but... I haven't been fishing to see what people think of Daichi and Falisha. Hopefully nothing too negative."

╔. .═════════╗ She could accept Sai’s reasoning. At least he HAD a reason, that was her concern. Brutality for brutality’s sake wasn’t something she would support or condone, especially if she was going to be forced into this co-captain position. That said, his attitude didn’t sit right with her. She hadn’t even dueled him yet as far as she can remember, she hadn’t dueled very many of her teammates really, and she didn’t consider that relevant to the matter at hand. And regardless of what Sai thought… She very much believed this was going to inspire people to come back at them with more venom just by association with Sai. The antics weren’t going to just disappear. “I won’t be joining for food, I’ve got a late night ahead of me. Work needs me in, had to pull some favors to get the afternoon off for this. And then I’ve got stuff to check on. Have fun celebrating you all.” She waved her hand towards the rest, heading off as she put her hands in her pockets. - - - All of her leads were a bust. It was slightly annoying, to be honest. The little card shops, those were fine, she didn’t expect to find much of help at them. A few main deck tech cards that might be useful were great, even. But the larger shops that she expected to be more useful, those had let her down. Very few of the rarer things she was looking for, very little Extra Deck options that she didn’t already have access to... Kendra sighed gently as she laid out the cards of her deck in front of her, the problem was still right here. No matter how many changes she made, no matter what little alterations she made, there was always that risk. It was starting to grate on her, no number of tests was making things just right for her. Her toolbox options were lacking. She had plenty of power behind the deck, Ultra Electromagnetic made sure of that. But she needed more options, she had even been considering asked Vega to postpone putting her into the next round just because of that, and yet she still hadn't solved her problems. Card shops weren't selling what she needed, at least not at a decent price, and even the more budget options weren't so easy to get a hold of at the moment. It was frustrating. She knew, realistically, she could bring it up with Vega. She could get a bit of help on getting the cards she wanted to put in the deck and just get to work from there, but she didn’t want to do that, at all. She didn’t want her deck to be made through the efforts of others more than her own. If she was going to follow this path, she was going to do it right. But that meant things were progressing slowly. Her toolbox was missing a few flex options, her deck wasn’t consistent enough to the point she was happy with, all of this… “Kendra, Eve, do you two think you're up for this next match?" Kendra propped her head up on her arm, resting her elbow on the table as she considered the question. “...I don’t think so. My tests haven’t gone well, if no one is available to fill in, I’ll do it, but I think I need a bit more time. There’s a few cards I’ve got my eye on and I’ve almost got them sold to me, but I just need to do a bit more persuading… I don’t know if it’ll be done in time for the match.” "Kendra, I'll have to be going to the mall today to get a bit of shopping done... If you would like to accompany me we could discuss your strategy there." She winced for a moment, a little breath escaping her, she wasn’t prepared for that. It was easy enough to confront the fact she wasn’t prepared on her own, having someone else experience that was definitely not something she wanted… But she also knew she had no way to outright deny it. She didn’t make plans, her schedule was always nearly empty, she was even going to be in that area trying to get a few more of the cards she wanted to grab for her deck… Which meant she would probably end up running into Rosalia there anyway. She took a little sigh, “...Yeah, sounds good. I was going to be in the area. One of the shops there has a card I’m trying to get my hands on, I’m just waiting to see if they’re going to sell it or if they’re going to keep using it as a pride piece…” She cursed her luck for a moment. Rosalia will see right away that she isn’t ready, it wasn’t even just the Extra Deck she was dealing with right now. As if the day couldn’t get worse. ╚═════════. .╝

"Can you please send Kai, Tia, Amelia aaaand Charlie to the briefing room in Observation? I'll need them for the day... and maybe more beyond that. We're not quite sure yet, we'll let you know once we figure it out!" Amelia blinked for a moment as she heard the voice over the speaker calling for her… She had barely even been here for two weeks, why would they be calling for her in the first place? She felt her hand tense up for a moment as she glanced towards Faba, waiting to hear what he said… Of course, he wasn’t going to object. She gulped for a moment, thinking about what she could possibly be in for. Her hand trembled for a moment as she reached up, her fingers gently running through Artemis’ feathers lightly, making them ruffle a bit as the bird adjusted on top of her head. Her fingers gently ran through the feathery down as she sighed out, pulling herself away, “Sorry, Mr. Faba. Good luck with the Snorlax, everyone!” She waved her hand to the members of the foundation, turning herself away as she took a deep breath, bracing herself for what was to come… ⊱ ────── {⋅. ✯ .⋅} ────── ⊰ "So: What do you say?" Amelia wasn’t sure what to think, honestly… On one hand, she definitely wanted to know what that strange shape, the crash, what all that was about. But she had only been in the Foundation for a few weeks, and in the region barely longer. She took a deep breath as she rubbed at her cheek gently, “...I’m not sure I’m the best choice for this, ma’am, but… If you all want me to go, I will. I’m still relatively green to the foundation, but I won’t let you down!” ⊱ ────── {⋅. ✯ .⋅} ────── ⊰ Amelia took a deep breath as she made her way back to her little room, her hands trembling a tiny bit. It was hard to believe she had actually accepted this task. Her hands quickly scooped up the backpack she had brought with her, the sack was barely even a backpack to be honest, but whatever, that didn’t matter. She quickly changed her outfit to something less immediately Aether uniformy, it seemed unnecessary to wear it when she was going to be away for a few days, maybe even longer depending on how long this took. She scrambled to collect her necessary supplies, toiletries, a few bits of spare clothing just to make absolutely sure she would be fine… “Artemis!” Amelia puffed gently as the Rookidee hopped his way underneath her bed, forcing the girl to get down, her arm reaching in to grab the small bird. He cawed at her as she pulled him out of the makeshift nest he built underneath the bed, “Get… Outta there, we gotta… Go!” She yanked him out, plopping him down on her shoulder as the bird seemed to pout, “Alright…” She took a deep breath and prepared herself… It was time to leave. ⊱ ────── {⋅. ✯ .⋅} ────── ⊰ To be fair, she wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. The entire affair was pretty low energy, they got an escort to a boat… And then they were off, taken off into the endless ocean. Artemis had insisted on sleeping inside of the rucksack which she had carefully placed besides her now, waiting for him to eventually emerge and demand feeding as he was prone to doing. "Think that's your guy?" It wasn’t until their guide had spoken up that she tore her attention up from her bag, looking towards the coast as they approached the beach city. She took a deep breath, glad to be close to land once more… "You must be the four Chief Wicke sent!" Amelia shakily pushed herself off the boat, jumping to land as she took a deep breath, "That's better... Oh, uh, yes! I'm Amelia, it's nice to meet you, Professor." She smiled to Kukui, once he had introduced himself, it was hard to not realize who he was… She had read a lot of books back home about the various studies different Professor’s specialized in, she’d love to have a conversation with him sometime… But it seemed like it wasn’t the moment for that, because almost immediately, he had fished out a small box which flashed with light, and out popped a collection of little Pokemon. She let out a little squeak, they were all adorable… Unfortunately, she had to rule out that adorable bird immediately. One of her companions had already swooped in, which wasn’t a problem on it’s own, but Artemis… She knew that bird would pick a fight if she tried to introduce another little, round avian to their group so soon. She wasn’t quite ready to deal with that… Luckily… The other girl, Tia, she didn’t seem to be making any move. That meant that Amelia could take a few steps forward cautiously, bending down at the corner with the deep, sea blue seal… “Aren’t you cute… Is this really okay, Professor?” She glanced back to him, her hand gently cupping the Popplio’s chin, rubbing underneath it for a moment as the ‘mon tilted its head up towards her. She let out a little laugh, “Aw, you’re affectionate, aren’t you? Ceto, maybe…” She trailed off as the Popplio nudged itself against her hand again, clearly not quite ready for the affection to stop. She let her hand draw around her head slowly, a small smile on her face, “I can certainly take you with me for now… This is really generous Professor, it’s nice to have some extra help for, well, whatever’s about to happen… Did you maybe have any clues about the crash? The Aether Foundation didn’t seem to have a lot...” She settled down as she took one of the malasadas from the table, she didn't eat that much at breakfast today, she was definitely a bit peckish after the boat ride... But after a moment, she blinked. "Oh, I guess getting to know each other means no work talk, huh...?"

“...If we’re going for vulture strats, we might want to be patient. No one’s going to be fully worn out in the first minute.” Rika’s hands clasped together, squeezing for a moment as she took a deep breath. Her focus drifted for a moment, but she snapped back to reality once Takehiko started to speak. “That’s the idea… nobody really knows about you know what yet so I think our best bet might just be hanging out in a corner and waiting for people assaulting the dragon duo to eventually fail and fall back down here.” “In that case… We’re just going to be waiting. It’s not flashy or exciting, but it’ll give us a chance to… Think. I guess.” Her arms crossed over her chest, the coloration of them shifting as they mimicked her outfit, minus one very important detail. The lack of a target. “...For now, I’ll just try to obscure this. If we can throw anyone off in the process, it’ll make it easier to pick them off if they target us.” Takehiko gave a grin, “Well… they’re going to be pretty disoriented if they’re going after the dragon duo, yeah? Help me keep an eye on when nobody’s looking and I can ‘do it’ to different parts of the arena, yeah?” He flashes her a peace sign and grins, “If we get them -really- disoriented we should be able to snatch some points before they realize what’s going on.” “...If they go after those two.” Rika’s eyes looked up towards the sky. A familiar streak of red in it, and a figure that she had much less experience with, were circling around the arena, Atsushi was making sure to keep his distance from the other blot in the sky, “I hope someone does, getting up there won’t be easy, it’ll give us a good opening if they try.” He hums and gives a small nod, “You’re not wrong, there’s definitely the chance that someone is planning to go for targets with low point totals so keep your eyes on that. And getting up won’t be easy, no, getting down is going to be the hard part for it. Think your tongue can handle that much whiplash if we need it?” Rika’s eyes narrowed a little bit as she considered the question, a little sigh escaping her as shrugged her shoulders lightly, “...He owes me a favor for helping him out during the first test, if something goes really wrong and we wind up in a bad spot, I’m sure he won’t mind if I use him as a springboard for a bit. Or, well… A grappling target maybe. Whatever.” Takehiko gives a small laugh and nods, “I’m sure he’ll forgive ya after too long, yeah. Glad to know we have that to fall back on since I haven’t had much practice under pressure with this.” He rolls his shoulders a bit as he tries to get Rika to a more comfortable position, “I’m hoping we can blindside them enough before they realize what’s going on, the only thing that’s a pain is the time limit… I kind of wish it was a bit shorter…” Rika’s eyes turned towards the rest of the arena. Ben was already under attack by a girl shooting lasers and growing eyes, that was probably concerning for him and the other girl. Ayane had sent a pair of people flying, but they seemed to recover okay. “...The time limit is definitely a problem. We’re going to have to run it out one way or the other once we get started.” She lowered her voice to a whisper, “Ayane and Syo, watch out for those two. Syo is in the general course like I was, but he’s a bit… Concerning. I just don’t want him to be underestimated.” He frowned a bit and rubbed his chin, “You’re not wrong that Ayane and Syo might be an issue, there’s a couple interesting combinations that people went for like you and I. Man there goes thinking I’d be the only one with that idea. Ah well.” He glanced up before stretching, “Mmmm alright, soon as someone falls I’m gonna do the thing, alright?” Rika nodded her head, before quickly realizing that might not be the best signal for Takehiko, “R-Right, I’m ready to go as soon as we see an opening.” ──── ⋆⋅✦⋅⋆ ──── The boy gazed upon the arena from the sky, his eyes scanning across the field. Mayu had already begun her assault, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. If she could even sow confusion for a bit, that would give her a chance to tag someone in the mess potentially… But she stopped for a moment as Risa and Ben reacted to her attack, pointing up to him briefly. He snickered a tiny bit, he was pretty sure he knew what was going on down there. His hand reached up, giving the faint duo a wave, he wasn’t sure if they could really tell it was directed at them… “Hey there, if you can hear me, just hand over your points, yeah? Make this easy.” He shouted from the sky, his wings billowing red flames from the end, his eyes watching Mayu as she ran towards the duo once more… Before seeing her get entangled by the support Risa’s little toy. He let out a tiny chuff, “Damn it. That was careless.” He stretched his arms up into the air, a deep breath escaping him as he drifted through the air, keeping his distance from the other pair flying around. She was surely going to be focused on defense, he needed to avoid her at all costs, but at the same time… He couldn’t disregard Mayu while she was ensnared. His wings adjusted, pivoting around his body as he started to descend from his position in the sky… Crackling energy formed around the ends of those sharp wings, red energy building up. And with a flash, it burst from the ends of his wings, blasting Atsushi back into the sky where he started, while a bright red, sizzling orb of burning energy flung itself towards Risa and Ben, aimed slightly behind them to avoid giving them an option to retreat. “I just wish I was able to be more aggressive. I can't afford to burn out.” He brushed some hair out of his eyes as he glanced around in the air once more, taking tabs on where the other airborne duo was at...

╔. .═════════╗ “So this is where we’ll be watching from, huh?” Kendra stepped inside of the viewing box as she rubbed at her cheek gently, she was honestly glad she wasn’t dueling right at the start. She had a few… Quirks with her deck she wanted to solve still. Batterymen weren’t the most prestigious of archetypes on their own, she had a lot of editing to do to make them presentable on even the minor league circuit… And honestly, that was a daunting task for her. She could put it off a little bit longer. Daichi was the first duel she was interested in keeping an eye on. Falisha would probably be able to handle herself, she had a hard time keeping up with those motorcycle duels… And of course, Sai sure did exist. It was going to be a bit hard to keep up with everything at once. “Alright Daichi… It’s your opportunity to speak to the audience…" She hummed gently as she grabbed a little bag of chips from the snack table, opening up a bottle of sugary diabetes she had brought herself, and reclined back, ready to watch her team get to work… Realistically, she should have had more to say. Her focus was mostly on Diachi’s duel, and true to his word, he was flashy. Pendulum Summon was practically made for flash, it was hard to imagine who could use it and be boring. The thought actually made Kendra smirk a little bit. His Magicians kept rising from the dead like zombies, despite being Spellcasters… Honestly, it was just a bit unfortunate he was up against their captain, she was consistently batting off his attacks and preparing to retaliate during his own turns… She wasn’t sure if any of them would’ve have had a better showing against the captain of the team. ...But more than anything, the end of the duel left a sour taste in her mouth. Card games involved a certain amount of luck, but… Honey’s victory there was ultimately a draw of a card on a field… That just so happened to counter the card from the field that Daichi had grabbed? There was a reason she didn’t like Action Duels. Daichi would’ve lost without the Action Card anyway, but he loses with it as well, it just felt futile. She let out a tiny sigh, her head resting on her hand as she leaned against the arm of her seat, “...Well that was anti-climatic. I feel bad for him.” “So we lost our first duel, huh… That’s a shame. Mostly because it really hurts morale, both for the other two and for him moving forward. You guys, don’t be too hard on him, got it?” “Not a great start to our first match. But at least Sashisematta still seems confident." “Definitely not a good start… Daichi put up a good fight and he got the crowd’s approval... That counts for something.” --- That left Sai and Falisha. Falisha… She could not keep up with that turbo duel herself. She’d have to catch the replay of it later on if she really wanted to analyze what the hell was going on. That meant Sai was going to be what she focused on… And she wasn’t a fan of what she was seeing. Sai’s first turn was fine. Logical. His opponent was ready for the Fusion Summon, took his turn… But that goading. That prodding at the opponent, it wasn’t necessary. It made him look bad, and it had the added downside of making him look like a fool if he lost… “Is this really the stage presence you want?” She took a sip from her drink, a little sigh escaping the tired woman as she leaned back to watch the duel continue. It definitely didn’t get any better. Outright insults were starting to be flung by Sai now as well, disregard for what his opponent is doing, then… A bomb. Admittedly it did break theme, but it wasn’t like she didn’t have options that broke theme. Xyz Summoning was a toolbox, it was meant to cover a wide variety of options, that’s what made it so appealing to her. It would’ve been silly for that Avery to not have options in his deck that were different from the rest of it. But then, the two of them started to talk once more. Sai starting to prod at his opponent, Avery finally replying back in kind… Kendra just frowned. The final turn played out more, the return of the Fusion Summon method to pull out another monster from his Extra Deck... Even if Sai was right, and she was inclined to agree with him… Platitudes don’t create victory after all, but his brutal methods clearly didn’t bond him to the audience. The booing crowd made perfect sense in this situation… In fact, it made more than perfect sense. Daichi, for his loss, had won the crowd’s heart. He had pulled them into something ‘special’ and that counted for something, even if she had been hard on him in the earlier meeting. Meanwhile, despite the show of strength coming from Sai, there’s more to this than just winning, the crowd was angry that it ended on that note, not that she can really blame them… --- “Would anyone like to weigh in first?” Kendra raised her hand, “Yeah, just a quick question. Sai, what the fuck?” She gave him a pointed glare, a firm look in her eyes that normally that tired girl didn’t show. She put her hand down in front of her arm rest, before turning to look back at the fields, “...Did it never occur to you that the crowd wouldn’t like what you did? We’re not just trying to win, we do have to get some support. It doesn’t matter how good we get if the crowds refuse to show up for us.” She didn’t stop though, her fingers curling against the rest of her seat as she did, “I understand you have your own views on this. I don’t even disagree. You need strength to back up your convictions. But what you did was beyond a show of strength. It made us look like bullies. It makes Vega look bad. It makes me look bad. It makes Rosalia look bad. Your duel will affect how we’re all perceived. First impressions matter. And the first impression we made now is that we’re willing to talk down to our opponents. Demean them. Treat them like that when there was no reason. When people talk about your victory, it’ll be in the context of how unnecessary your behavior was. Daichi, despite his loss, is the main reason we have any good will with the audience.” ╚═════════. .╝

I DIDN'T DO /SHIT/ WITH THIS THREAD BUT IT'S OKAY Cause I'm here to actually do something. People in a few Discord servers know this already, but I'm finally dabbling in Pokemon Romhacking. This is something I wanted to do for a long time, and honestly, now seems to be a great time for it? The tools have gotten a lot more sophisticated than they used to be and even someone as dumb as I am can pick them up and start to mess things up! So, I'll finally be making use of this thread... And documenting some of the details and thoughts I have while hacking! So first things first... Which game? Well, the one I went with was Emerald. Why? Cause... Honestly, there isn't a very solid difficulty hack for one I've seen yet? Blazing Emerald was a cool hack, I enjoyed playing it quite a bit. But it still had some moments of stupid stuff that bothered me... So I'm gonna make one! A few things that I want to do to separate it from other hacks? DOUBLE BATTLES. I feel like they fit in perfectly in a difficulty hack. They take a lot more thought than a single battle and as a format, I think they're underused in the main games. So I'm going to be making this a double battle focused hack. Every battle aside from the very first 'rival' battle in this hack is going to be Doubles. I want this to be something that'll set the hack out from others, but... I know that alone probably won't be enough. Stuff like new Mega Evolutions and even regular evolutions, while definitely nice and something that can help add to the experience, aren't exactly novel anymore for hacking. Megas are super common in hacks and people add new Pokemon all the time, so while I want to make that something in the hack, I don't think it'll drive anyone in to try it... So this hack is heavily focused on Double Battles... And the nuzlocking experience. I want to make this a hack that is made with Nuzlockes in mind. Better diversity obviously, interesting early game Pokemon, buffing Pokemon that traditionally aren't so strong... All these things are stuff I want to do. So this thread is going to be used to document that journey a bit. I'm already making progress, I'm currently up to Route 104 and Petalburg Woods. I want to go through and kinda... Show things off, cause while I'm not anything special at hacking, this is the first time I felt like it was within reach for me to do it properly. The next post, which probably be next week, is gonna go into the Starter options I've chosen for the hack and things I've done to update them. One line received a massive overhaul. One line got a few buffs to give it more to standout with. And one line was... Kinda nerfed a tiny bit. The next post is gonna go into my decisions and why I did what I did to each one of them. It'll take me a bit to collect my thoughts and figure out exactly what to say on each one, but... If this is something that interests you, if you play Pokemon hacks at all, I'll be happy to hear thoughts and input, cause I'm not a super objective audience when it comes to this sorta thing. So that's it for now, this post is kinda boring, I know, but next time I'll have some actually interesting things to talk about.

Amelia hummed to herself as she pulled herself out of bed slowly, a little sigh escaping her as she rubbed at her cheek gently. She took a small glance around, occasionally when she woke up, it still felt a bit odd to see her new surroundings, even though she had been here for a couple of weeks now… She set her feet down on the ground as she moved herself to her trunk, opening it up to dig around a tiny bit. The uniform she had been given was settled on the top of it, but a bit further down… She pulled out a small journal, opening it up to jot down something real quickly… And then closed it, slipping it back into the trunk as she got that Aether uniform out and set it across her bed. As she did, a little fluttering noise from the other end of the room caught her attention, a little smile on her face as Artemis hopped around a bit. “There you are…” She moved over to scoop up the tiny bird, holding him up into the air as he started to wriggle around in her hands, an agitated caw escaping him. She snickered gently, “You really shouldn’t be hopping around the room first thing in the morning. If you need something, just wake me up.” The little bird tilted its head for a moment as it looked at her, that eye narrowing just a tad, before she let it flutter free. He perched at the end of her bed as she returned her attention to preparing for the day… She was scheduled to deal with tasks in the Conservation Area today… She had been in there a handful of times since she arrived, one particular task involving injured Corsola stuck with her particularly thanks to the pain they had been in… She collected the outfit and entered the attached bathroom, closing the door behind her to start getting dressed. It took a few minutes to get herself ready, between changing clothes, brushing her teeth, straightening her hair and tying it back into a ponytail… But it was definitely worth it. It might not be her usual style… But she felt like she looked the part! She was ready for the day. ⊱ ────── {⋅. ✯ .⋅} ────── ⊰ She made her way out of her room after a few minutes of waking up, she had time to get a quick breakfast, but… She really didn’t want to. Something warm to drink would’ve been enough, but honestly, she didn’t want to do that either right now, mostly from laziness. As she closed the door, Artemis hopped from the ground into the air, fluttering up before perching on top of her head. That hat that came with the Aether uniform definitely made a good cushion between the two of them. She let out a little laugh, reaching up to give the bird a pat, before starting to make her way through the foundation towards the second floor… As the elevator brought her up to the brightly lit real-fake habitat, her hand moved up to cover her eyes a tiny bit. The real light was an adjustment when she was coming out of the artificially lit interior of the massive floating fortress… She took a small look around, keeping an eye out as she moved to avoid stepping on any of the wandering, smaller Pokemon. Things weren’t due to start getting busy just yet, but… She took off from the main path towards a smaller, beach-like section where a small handful of Corsola were. She hummed gently, looking over them, the stubbed horns that had been gnawed on were still bandaged up, which was a relief... "Alright, everybody, hustle, hustle! And no, I do not mean the ability!" She blinked, the voice… That was the Assistant Chief… She had heard some rather unsavory rumors about the man from some of the longer term volunteers at the branch, bits of idle gossip probably, but she still wasn’t super excited to be working around him. He seemed a bit… High strung. Either way, she wasn’t quite paying attention as people had started to dive out of sight, she was still a bit focused on her examining of the Corsola that were injured before… Right up until the moment he started to call out who was doing it. She blinked, sitting up as she turned her attention towards who was being called out… And she was one of the few who hadn’t ducked out of the way. She gulped for a moment, rubbing at her cheek for a moment as she started to stand up, that was… Unfortunate. She wasn’t quite sure how to deal with one of these creatures… She approached Faba and plucked up the medication for the Exeggutor… “Okay, Artemis, I need you… H-Hey!” The Rookidee had taken off from her head already, fluttering its way up towards the giant tree Pokemon. Her eyes widened as the bird rested itself on top of the leafy top of the Exeggutor, a low groan escaping her, “Hey, I didn’t say you could do that!” She waved up at the bird… Which promptly hopped around, turning it’s back to Amelia as she huffed out gently. “Stubborn little…” As she tried to get the bird’s attention, the Exeggutor watched her hopping up and down, those dopey looking heads alternating attention between her. As the other girl started shimmying up the neck of her charge, the one that Amelia was dealing with had started to kneel over slowly, that neck bending down. She blinked for a moment, a little laugh escaping her, “Aw. Are you helping me get that lazy bird back?” She grinned, giving the side of one of those heads a little, gentle pat, before starting to fish around for the provided medicine. “If you could each just take one of these…” She hummed gently as she started to administer the medication to the different heads… Then hopping up, she grabbed her Rookidee right from the Exeggutor’s top. “Hmph! You’re lucky that the Exeggutor was nicer than you right now.” She turned the little bird around in her hands as it started to wriggle about, chirping about before it popped free, settling back down on top of her hat as she let out a tiny sigh, “… That works...”

The Air Child

She had originally planned on getting paired with Atsushi, that was the obvious path to go down. She knew they could work together, but her brief conversation with him had left her slightly confused... "You sure?" Rika raised an eyebrow at the boy, "Of course I'm sure, unless you have a reason..." "I'm planning on being the rider. That's the problem. If we pair up, we're going to sink. this way, if either one of us fail, we aren't bringing each other down. That's the important thing, you know?" Her arms crossed a tiny bit, "Do you have a good reason for that? Together, we'd be unstoppable on defense..." "That's the problem. We have no offense together and our point total isn't nearly high enough to be on defense the whole time. So you need to find someone you can be on the attack with. Same with me." His eyes scanned across the field, those wings behind him flexing a tiny bit. He grinned for a moment, giving Rika a thumbs up as he did, "I have no intention on letting myself fall out of the this competition so easily. But if I do, I expect you to make it onto the next round, lizard." He turned away from her quickly, not giving her an opportunity to respond. The weight of what he said was not lost on her. She had no desire to disappoint him, but... That meant she had to figure out who to pair with instead, which did not make things easier. The others had already started breaking up into groups. That support student, the one who managed to pull off a real rescue, was pairing up with Ben. That probably was good for her, she liked Ben enough, but she wasn't sure if his spiders could handle being paired with her for another task judging from the way he seemed to get a headache around her... As she tried to plan though, she was surprised to have someone else approach her... Even more surprising, it was Takehiko. As far as she was aware, he barely even realized she was in the class... "Rika, I do believe it would be beneficial for us to partner up. Your abilities are actually a bit perfect for what I have planned. Though... if you accept we need to get out of earshot of everyone else." Rika's eyebrow raised for a moment as the boy approached her, before she brought up a finger, "Me?" After a quick discussion between the two of them... "This is a newer mode so I can't guarantee I can switch between them fast enough. In an emergency I probably can but when I don't have enough focus I'd probably use all of my reserve material to make up for it. So I'd say I can do it once with the material I collected extremely fast, luckily pawns don't require any so I can go into that mode but quickly switching back to the mode would require either enough focus and time or a surplus of material to make up for it. Though I believe we have our plan figured out then, no?" Rika nodded her head, she was more than a little surprised that he had paid enough attention to her to come up an idea that she could be pretty useful in. In fact, she felt pretty... Optimistic about the plan. There were holes in it, they could definitely be caught off guard, but there was a non-zero chance they could get through to the next round. "We just need to make sure we don't get into any particularly risky situations before we're close to the end of the line. If we do that too soon, we might have some... Issues. But I'm feeling good about this. I think we have a shot." ──── ⋆⋅✦⋅⋆ ──── Atsushi took a deep breath as he closed his eyes briefly, a little grin on his face, "Sorry Rika. I think we have better chances apart on this one." He stretched his arms up into the air, those wings flicking for a moment as he glanced around. He needed someone who could hold their own on the ground and score points for their team, while he took to the sky and played on defense. If he partnered with Rika, he wasn't sure if she was fast enough to get those points on the ground, even if he offered assistance from the skies. With that one from Class 1B, he didn't want to risk it, he would have focus as much as possible on just being in the air. His wings flexed a bit as he considered his options... That big monkey fella could probably hold his own on the ground, he apparently had an impressive showing on the first task. But it looked like he already had someone picked up. "Crimson Wings. It lets you fly, right?" Atsushi turned around, his brow raising for a moment as the girl approached him. It was a brief conversation, to the point about what they were going to do, but they didn't need more than that. It was rare to find someone who was on the same page right at the start, he wasn't about to push his luck on that one. He could go back to planning. They didn't have a good score, Mayu would need to be aggressive, but... She knew that, he trusted. They were two of the lowest scorers so far. But that wouldn't matter too much, they just needed a few good tags... "So, aside from the dragon bitch, you'll need to watch out for those two." He raised an eyebrow briefly, taking a glance over in the direction Mayu had motioned towards. The gummy, stringy boy who had gotten caught up inside of the Ferris Wheel Rika and him were warning people about. He paused for a moment, nodding his head, he could see how that might be some trouble. He didn't recognize the other... "The redhead won't be a threat to you on his own, but that partner of his can be. He can stretch his body out to some frankly impressive lengths. On his own he'd be too timid to think of anything unless you throw an entire damn ferris wheel at him apparently, but the other guy might think of some crazy shit we won't expect." He rubbed at his cheek gently, nodding his head a tad as he did. "...Got it. I don't know what redhead might try, but I can keep the stretch boy off me. Even if he can reach me, I've got tricks up my sleeve." He tilted his head back a tad, giving Mayu a thumbs up as he did. "I'll be your eyes in the sky." ──── ⋆⋅✦⋅⋆ ────

╔. .═════════╗ Kendra let out a tiny sigh as she closed her eyes a bit, slowly lowering her head back down to her desk. She rubbed at the back of it lazily, her head turning towards Vega, "Maybe being flashy earns some sponsors, but being at the top also does that. If you aren't flashy, you work your way to being the best. Whatever the issue is with her, it's not our job to uncover it and bring back her spark, you know?" She let her hand set her own deck of cards on the table next to her head. She flipped one over, Battery Charger. "In fact, it's probably better for us that we don't. Find a way to use it against her maybe." She set the card down, a little hum escaping her as she flipped over the next one, "If we ever get to that point, maybe Daichi can get underneath her skin. I doubt she'd like hearing it more than he liked saying it." She gave a soft smile as she set the card down as well, taking a glance towards Eve now that she had joined the group. She pushed herself up, making her way over towards the donuts brought in. She fished out a creme-filled chocolate one, nibbling on it as she plopped back down onto her seat, "I guess I'll bite with a question... Did they already determine the match ups the others have to face? I'm not dueling in round one, but the others would benefit from knowing, yeah? How far ahead do we get to know the match up?" She ate the donut lazily, thinking about her deck. She needed an opportunity to make small tweaks to her deck before each match, Batteryman was her deck, but it wasn't always the easiest to make small tweaks to. The more time she had to work on the deck, the more she could focus on actually getting something together... She took a little breath as she rubbed at her neck for a moment, "I'm mostly asking cause I need time to kinda... Edit my deck a bit to prepare, you know? It's nice to have the time to think about it, if that's available." ╚═════════. .╝

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

The Sleeper Still working on the profile, gonna do touch ups and update some stuff, so things might change, but the skeleton should be roughly the same.

Rika watched as the Ferris Wheel started to roll to a stop, a little sigh of relief escaping her. She knew the two of them weren't going to be able to stop it, Atsushi was definitely not happy about that fact, she was glad that someone else had managed to scratch together a plan for it while they warned some people and got them out of the path of it. "Good... You wanna get back to the stuffed animal hunt, lizard?" Atsushi grinned to Rika as he gave her a thumbs up, his wings flaring behind him as they started to move once again. She let out a little laugh. "You're still gonna drag me with you? I thought you'd wanna split up now." "Nah, two is better than one, plus I like the company. It was getting real boring have no one to talk to." The crimson trail behind them slowly faded as they launched across the sky, looking for potential trouble as the trial continued. Atsushi was rambling about some goingons in the General Course since Rika had transferred over, but she wasn't really listening... And he didn't really care, she was sure. He just needed to distract himself, just like she did. Her nerves were starting to get to her, despite everything, she didn't really have that many points, she was sure. If someone stopped that Ferris Wheel, that had to be worth more than just the handful she had gotten so far. The two of them swooped through the air, a crane had been knocked out of it's intended location and had a stuffed monkey dangling from the hook by the tail, it seemed like it was about to fall. As they dashed, Rika scooped the monkey up and they dropped it off at the construction site, plopping a little hardhat on the creature's head. "I'm surprised you're doing this, did someone talk you into it?" Rika adjusted the hat for a moment, before the two of them started to take off into the sky once again. She glanced towards the rocketboy as he let out a tiny laugh. "My old man did. He said if I'm serious about my path, I need to understand how heroes think. I'm watching them during this, plus..." He glanced at Rika, "You know, I think you'll get it." She frowned for a moment, but their conversation was cut short as they saw a building with the glass shattered on the topmost floor, Atsushi rocketing them up towards it suddenly. The base of the building was on fire, smoke was quickly rising as they landed on the top floor, "Rika! I'm gonna check the rooftop, you evacuate here, bring any stuffed animals you find here and we'll get them down after this." She gave Atsushi a thumbs up, running through the floor she was left on. "He said I'd understand, but talking about how heroes think?" She rolled her eyes for a moment, she should've known it wasn't a good idea to hold a conversation while they dealt with the festival event. She ran around, grabbing little stuffed animals in business suits, whatever this building was, it was clearly an office building. It seemed like not many animals were in for work today at least. After her scan of the office, complete with no way to get down to the lower levels thanks to the elevator being out of order and the stairs in a massive blaze now, she had managed to gather three little animals. She ran back towards the 'entrance' they used, holding her hand up as she whistled out... And with a flash, Atsushi was there. He had a pair in his hands, a little bear and a caterpillar. "Great, there were a couple on the roof, let's go!" She grabbed onto his hand once she took the bear from him, holding on tight as they started to descend towards the ground, "I can't imagine we've got much time left. For now... Let's take a breather..." She blinked as they landed on the ground, a little sigh escaping her as she did, "Damn, I didn't even think... I must've taken a lot of extra out of you, huh?" He gave a small grin, along with a thumbs up, before he sighed out. He plopped down to the ground, those wings drooped behind him as he did, "...Yeah, I'm tired. I've got a great Quirk, but I still need some endurance for long flights like what we did. We did great though, thanks for flyin' with me, Rika." She let out a tiny laugh, "Thanks for taking me with you, I couldn't have covered nearly enough ground on my own. Maybe I've got a shot now."

i like little shell friend more than big shell friend. ?

i like crobat more cause he was the savior of one of my hardcore Y nuzlockes but i feel bad for poor fishie

"Hey, Rika!" A voice called down from above her as Rika ran down the street, her eyes widening for a moment as she paused. She knew that voice, back in the General Course... She had spent a lot of time hanging around with him. And hell, they still met up after classes now and hung out, it was a chance for them to blow off some steam about their courses. From what she knew, he didn't even want in the Hero Course in the first place, he didn't plan on becoming a hero. It was more about connections, he planned on a political career once he was able to... Think It Over "I've been looking for you, do you realize what an annoying task that is?! You left the gates and didn't even bother checking to see if I was there? What've you been doing?!" The boy landed on the ground in front of her suddenly, offering a hand as he smirked. Red wisps fluttered around his head as he reached up with the other one, brushing them away as the mechanical-looking wings attached to his back rotated around him, aiming outwards, "I need your help, there's a situation nearby and I don't think I can handle it on my own. There's a huge cache of stuffed animals there, we can split 'em down the middle! Sound good?" Rika paused for a moment, "Wait, work together? This is an individual event, you know? We might get points docked for it, Atsushi." "Bah, this is a Hero themed event, if they wanna dock points for heroes working together, they've got management issues! Heroes have to work together a lot of the time, so here I am, asking for help from the one person I know I can trust here!" Those slender mechanical wings aimed towards the ground, "We've done this before after all." Rika gulped for a moment, before taking his hand. She grabbed onto Atsushi as she nodded her head, "Alright, tell me about the situation and we can get going." Those sleek limbs pointed to the ground... Before suddenly bursting with flames, lifting the duo off and into the air rapidly. Rika swallowed her nervousness, this was the fastest way for them to get anywhere right now. "Of course, of course! First things first, there's a Ferris Wheel rolling out of control, I flew over it, down the expected trajectory..." Rika nodded her head, if there was anyone equipped to travel that distance quickly, it was Atsushi. Speed was no problem for him, wind rushed in her face as she took a deep breath, "So you know where it's heading? We can't stop it ourselves, but..." "We can get the poor civilians outta the path of it. But I can't do it alone, as much as I wish I could. There's too many and the wheel will be there in... A few minutes, probably. This park is in a lot of danger now. I'm gonna work on getting them out of the path closer to the wheel, you aim down here!" Atsushi let Rika drop to the ground once he hovered close to it, a grin on his face as he flashed a thumbs up, "There's about a dozen stuffed animals littered around in the path of the wheel, six here, six where I'm heading, I don't remember the exact spots, but they should be easy enough to find. I'm off!" Searching Atsushi's wings pointed to the ground, angled behind him slightly and launched him right into the air. The red glow from the wings faded away as he zoomed off, and Rika began to get to work. The Ferris Wheel was visible in the distance, slowly approaching the park they were in, it would no doubt pass through here and destroy the environment, but they weren't equipped to stop that. No, instead... Rika pulled herself up as she scanned the area around her. There was a creek, that was probably going to end up carved through as the wheel came down, “Okay little buds, time to evacuate!” She dashed forward suddenly, her tongue lashing out to wrap around a stuffed animal ‘climbing’ up a tree, pulling the toy otter right back to her as she caught it in her arms carefully. She held it close, looking around the bubbling creek meadow. There was a bench with a pair of stuffed lovebirds on it, sharing a snack, they were in an easy to grab spot, they were last. She glanced around, a little play area sported a stuffed monkey climbing around on it, hidden in the bars, and a parent absorbed in a newspaper a few feet away. She jumped and ran towards the little group, this wouldn’t have been a great spot for Atsushi to try and navigate at all. He wouldn’t have slowed down at all… The Ferris Wheel came barrelling over a nearby hill as Rika’s eyes widened, it shouldn’t have been here yet. It seemed to have sped up during her frantic running, there was still one missing animal in the park according to what Atsushi said. She ran, the ground shaking from the violent rumble of the wheel starting to roll down towards the poor civilians. As she passed the park bench, she grabbed the doting lovebirds, holding them against her as she continued to charge deeper down into the park. There had to be one more… Sure enough, down the creek, there was a stuffed bear, holding a little fishing rod with the hook dangling just above the water. Rika ran faster, taking a deep breath as the Ferris Wheel grew ever closer behind her, and her tongue lashed out, curling against the bear to tug it back. It wasn’t gentle, but considering the circumstances… She let her teeth sink into the collar of the fisherbears rain coat, holding it tight as she shot an arm into the air… And a bright, crimson flash dove down from above, swooping in to grab her. It almost knocked the wind out of her sails, but she had practiced that before… The fact he grabbed the arm that had been shot in the shoulder, on the other hand, didn't help matters, a sting of pain running through it as she gasped out, “Cutting it close there, lizard. You almost got squished!” Atsushi let out a low laugh, Rika taking a deep breath as she collected all the stuffed animals into her arms properly. She closed her eyes for a moment, “...Someone really needs to stop that Ferris Wheel before it goes any further. I think it’s heading straight towards some of the taller buildings.” Atsushi nodded his head as his wings angled them towards the Ferris Wheel, following behind it as they spoke, “...That ain’t gonna be our job at least. Someone else will have to take care of that thing, I don’t have the strength to move it off course, let alone stop it.” Rika nodded her head, taking a deep breath as she landed, depositing the rescued stuffed animals along with the ones Atsushi rescued from upstream, “Yeah, I don’t think we’re gonna be the ones doing that.” “...Should we at least go to help? I don’t feel right about hoping someone else catches that thing.” Atsushi’s wings sparked as the crimson light from the ends of them picked up, the duo rushing forwards. “Seems like you already picked, but sure… Maybe whoever’s stopping it could use your speed.” She gave him a thumbs up, the pair rocketing through the sky, following the Ferris Wheel close by as they… Tried to figure out something to do about it. ──── ⋆⋅✦⋅⋆ ────