Zai

Dragons and even more dragons tore into the hoards of fungi with their attacks, and from behind them came shambling forward a massive skeleton king- a worthy challenger for Relinquished at last. The repulsive demon fired yet another blast from its eye, but the King shrugged it off and continued to advance, grappling Relinquished when he at last came close enough. Yushiro weaved in and out of the crowd, trying to inch closer to the piper. His legs hurt, and occasionally he came close to getting caught by an attack from a monster, but he soldiered on as the battle raged and the students began to rally. Then a blast from one of the cyber dragons shook relinquished, and it was enough for the King to win out of the moment, hoisting Relinquished into the air and moving it back toward the duel field. "You munchkins think you have the strength to defeat us?! Absurd!" The piper yelled, angry that he seemed to be losing some ground. "Now's my chance!" Seizing the moment, Yushiro dove at the piper, tackling him to the ground and knocking the pipe out of his hands as Kuriborhn flitted in and snatched it up. The pain from the burns came searing back into his shins as Yushiro and the piper struggled on the ground, and Yushiro gritted his teeth. Still, they had managed to succeed for the moment. The hoard immediately lost cohesion now that the magical instrument was no longer controlling them. Fungi turned on each other, possums exploded, d boyz went flying, and soon all hell broke loose as the one unified force of low level monsters morphed into a free for all, giving the students the perfect chance to clean house. The piper, however, was stringer than Yushiro was, and soon he overpowered the boy, rolling on top of him and tightening his hands around his throat. "You'll pay for that, impudent brat!"

"Coming Noah? i think we ought to take the Aegis over there and try to catch up with Ash before he gets into any trouble." He nodded, following her as she ran below decks. It wasn't long before they came upon their other four compatriots. "We've got something! It isn't much but it's more than the nothing we've been seeing. We gotta get the ship over there!" "A rocket just crashed over the hills." Noah added on. "Maybe somebody was on board." With that, he waited for everyone to head up to the deck before following suit. "I would appreciate it if the two of you stopped hitting random buttons on my control panel. The engine isn't even on yet, young ones." A motherly, but slightly annoyed voice echoed in the minds of the two digimon at Aegis's main control panel, bouncing into the heads of everyone else present a moment later. "Please pull the lever on the far right of the panel downward, Grudge. Slowly. Quill, if you would be so kind, make your way to my stern- the back. There is a tiller there that will help us steer, dear. As for the rest of you, I would suggest raising my sails. You will find deployment panels located around the deck for the hard light array. Please switch them on. You may also want to make your way to the bow once your finished- I can only perceive things that are close by, and so we shall need a lookout." Instructions. Great. Not quite the same as a manual, but Noah wasn't going to complain about a boat that walked you through everything herself. Noah wasted no time putting his goggles over his face and running up front, Kicking on one of the sail projectors as he ran ahead. The cluster of hard light sails unfurled with a flourish, and surely the other four sets around the deck would do the same. Once they did, Aegis would begin to lift off the ground, and then it would be up to the eyes of the lookouts, Grudge's management of her controls, and Quill's pulls of the tiller to move her in the right direction. Something of a gamble, the ship reckoned, though she did not share this trepidation with her erstwhile crew. ---- Ash, meanwhile, was in a flat out run, covering hills just as fast as he could. His instincts told him he needed to get to that rocket, and soon, and they were rarely wrong.

"Skeletons, Dragons, and Superheroes. Oh my!" The Piper laughed manically as the gathered students switched from defense to offense and came at his hoard with everything they could muster. For his part, Yushiro spent a good few seconds stunned at the sudden turnaround and the loss of Zetsuei to Relinquished. Clear Wing was his best, after all. What was he supposed to do now? "You're going to have to do better than that!" The piper played another note, and on command a hoard of Explossums, probably the rest of the same group that had burned Yushiro's legs, rolled up and dove into the path of as many of the oncoming attacks as they could, exploding on contact with any projectiles or lowly monsters. As for the rest, Relinquished didn't seem fazed in the slightest, probably thanks to all the power it had absorbed from Clear Wing. "Take the big one with the gun next!" On command, Relinquished absorbed Rampart blaster this time, her agonized form appearing opposite Clear Wing on its membrane shell. It seemed about ready to rear up and attack, were it not for another large threat appearing before it. "Calamity! Null Terminal Pulse!" A grotesque mechanical dragon had appeared on their side- powerful enough to give Relinquished pause with a blast from its gaping maw. As the smoke from the impact began to clear, Yushiro trailed the cyber dragon's movements back and found the person who had summoned it a few more feet back. He didn't look like anyone Yushiro had seen before... a new student? And then Liz caught his eye again. She was staring at him with a look in her eyes that, in some part of his mind, he would have hoped she'd reserve for him. Jealousy wasn't exactly foreign to him, but in the context of the situation it certainly felt alien. Why should it matter? Especially at a time like this. The pulse of a laser blast snapped him out of his haze before he could dwell on it further, though. Relinquished's eye beam hit Cyber Dragon Calamity with tremendous force, sending it careening back through a crowd of students and skull servants. Some jumped out of the way, but others weren't as lucky, and found themselves knocked down and bowled over by the semi-real hologram... Wait, that was it! Yushiro began sprinting through the crowd toward, dodging bones and minor fiends and anything else in his way until he found a familiar face. Kuribohrn's, in this case. As he ran, pandemonium erupted around him. Studendts started screaming and running for their lives in panic, and it seemed even more monsters were coming out of the woodwork. "Hmmmwaaaah!" The little puffball let out his trademark cry to let Gabby know that Yushiro was approaching. "Hey, princess!" He'd forgotten her name, but the impression Gabby had left on Yushiro was much harder to forget. "We have to pull that thing into the duel field!" Gabriella looked at her skinny arms then back at Yushiro in surprise. "I can't pull THAT!" "Your Skeletons can! You practically have an army of them! That Cyber dragon got less solid when it entered the duel field. If we pull relinquished and the piper in here, it'll do the same to them!" "A-ah right. Of course! Get them, my minions, so that I may...enact my punishment directly!" It took them a couple of seconds to process what Gabby meant by "Get them" but thanks to duel space the gathered skull servants did as they were told, and began to converge on Relinquished. Yushiro looked back toward Elizabeth for a moment, then to his duel disk, and finally to the one monster that he still had. He wasn't gonna sit this one out. "I'm gonna need your help too, pal." Kuriborhn nodded, understanding what Yushiro's plan was without him having to say it. Then he landed back on Yushiro's head, and without another word, they took off running again. This time toward the Piper himself. Kuriborhn's magic would keep the pain from the burns at bay after they left the field, but Yushiro would still be open to further harm from the hoard of low level monsters. Still, he had to get close. He only had one shot. "Now, then, munchkins, care to keep playing?!" The Piper cackled, playing his instrument again and bringing forth an entire hoard of Fungi of the musk. As the killer shrooms shambled forward, the Skull servants threw themselves at relinquished, doing everything they could to drag the behemoth closer. Through this mess Yushiro ran, hoping the others would pick up on what he was trying to do. There hadn't been time to explain in full to Gabby that, if they could get Relinquished into Melissa's duel field, they would likely be able to destroy the monsters within it, making it weak enough to defeat. They were treated as spell cards right now, after all. If he could just get in close enough to the piper, maybe he could distract him long enough for everyone else to handle relinquished, or at the very least toss a mystical space typhoon at Zetsuei and try to get him out of that thing. Another blast from Relinquished to knock Cyber Dragon Calamity around some more. Somehow, it wasn't down yet- it was a tough bag of bolts, that was for sure. As for the rest of the students' assembled monsters, the fungi were on them now, and they would have to deal with the hoard first if they wanted to help the skull servants dog pile relinquished.

"So Ash, you've been doing patrols for a while huh? Ever seen anything out there? Where are we even going for that matter?" "Nothing. This Island seems to be just a dead ball of rock. You can never be too careful, though. As for where we're going-" "He has no idea." Noah interjected. Ash seemed to visibly deflate. "Yes." He growled a bit. "I don't actually know. We will probably have to leave son. Maybe search for leads on another island." "I asked the ship- did you know she can talk? She doesn't have any solid leads, either. Wonder if-" This time, Noah was the one interrupted. Not by Ashardalon though. Instead everyone on deck's eyes were drawn to the sky as a sparkling, silver shooting star streaked across the sky fro out of the data stream. At first Noah was silent because he was distracted by how pretty it was, but then it got larger, and closer, and the awe turned to fear, then relief as it passed barely a few hundred feet over their heads. It was nearly perfectly round and crystaline, not at all like what Noah imagined a meteor would look like. Weirder still its tail was in fact not debris being ejected off of it, but rather... flames?" "A rocket?!" Ash was right. It was a rocket! Noah barely had time to process this before it impacted the island perhaps a mile or two away, on the other side of a high ridge. The island shook from the explosive impact, so much so that everyone aboard almost lost their footing. "Well, there's something to see." "Lets go check it out. If anyone was aboard they're probably going to need our help!" Before anyone could respond or go after him, Ash jumped over the railing and down to the ground. He ran off as fast as he could, having completely forgotten that they were aboard a boat that could fly. Noah looked Orianne, wondering whether they should go after him or get below decks and help get Aegis ready to go.

"Hmmmwaaaah!" Kuribohrn responded to Gabby the same way he responded to, well, everything. Then he added to it by tipping his hat to her, only to remember that the hat was what was keeping him aloft as he fell toward the ground. He hurriedly put it back on before he crash landed, and hovered back up to eye level with her, playing it off like nothing had happened. --- "She wanted to get us all to have happy thoughts so we could use duel space to stop the monsters. I don't know how, but it's duel space I'm sure it'll work out." Jun waved that last comment aside before brightening up and gesturing to the sky, "so yes! Welcome to our great starlit palace of happy thoughts! Be sure to have fun and happy!" "Happy thoughts, huh?" Yushiro said, scratching his chin for a moment. As strange as it sounded, that was exactly what seemed to be happening around them, and it was working quite well! Sure, there were some stray monsters who found it wise to try and make a move against the students, but any that weren't promptly dealt with by Gabriela's collection of Skull Servants would meet an equally swift defeat at the hands of the various HEROs Souji had assembled for his own display. Quite the successful defense! "Gonna join in or what? I don't see any good thoughts in here." "You know what?" Yushiro thought back, a sly little grin appearing on his face. Quickly, he flipped through his deck and took a couple of monster cards out. As he did, the sky above started to take on a slightly more blueish tint, and if one looked closely they could see gold lines running through it. --- "What did you just do?" Kazu asked as he glared at the fit, well built teenager who was presently putting on a Blue Yonder uniform in front of him. The other boy finished stuffing himself into the sweater, his spiky red hair poking out of the top like some sort of fiery hedgehog for a moment before he spoke. "Hey prettyboy. Just livening things up a bit, is all." "The macro disk is not to be tampered with, you know that." "Relax Kaz. Its just level limit area B. Wouldn't wanna make things too easy for the kiddies." "I set up the macro disc with mystic piper precisely because the situation would be easy to defuse. We can't afford to overtax it and risk a malfunction- it was designed to work in Ichor, not Ambrosia." "Same damn thing. That's why we're here in the first place. Besides, its not gonna break from one extra spell card." "We can't be certain of that." "You worry too much. And what's it matter anyway?" "It might cause more damage than I intended." "Good." A predatory slash crossed Trey's face. "Give em a taste of what home was like." "Why Chou placed her trust in a bloodthirsty brute like you, I'll never understand." "Because." He walked forward and placed his hand on Kazu's shoulder, gripping it too tightly for it to be at all pleasant. "Even after everything you two had to go through, you're still too soft to do what needs to be done. You're a weakling, and why she makes an exception for you, I'll never know." Kazu brushed his hand off. "There is more than one way to show strength. She's always been able to recognize that. You, apparently, still can't. But fine, you can have it your way. Attempting to dissuade you is a fool's errand anyway." "You've learned to pick your battles, at least. Good. Now lets get outta here." --- "Wait, what are you-" "Synchro Summon! Clear Wing Synchro Dragon!" Yushiro called out, going through the summoning motions on his borrowed duel disk, and expelling Zetsuei from his mind and out into reality. The dragon appeared above the gathered crowd, roaring angrily. There was more to it than just getting back at his companion, though. Yushiro had summoned him above them for a specific purpose, and as the light from Melissa's duel field began to shine upon his wings, it became clear. Reflected and refracted through Zetsuei's crystalline wings, the light shone in a beautiful rainbow of colors, bathing the whole area in a spectacular brilliance that seemed to energize everything it touched. "Yes!" He shouted. "With all these people here, looks like the duel field can even support something as big as Clear Wing!" He flashed a thumbs up in Melissa's direction and called over to her. "Hey! Your plan's working great!" Or at least, it was. Until a deafening and prolonged toot could be heard from within the procession of duel monsters making its way through the area. The mob stopped, and after two shorter toots, split open to make way for what must have been the leader. He sure didn't look like a leader. He looked more like a clown, what with that strange blue hair, his gaudy outfit, but most important was the shiny golden flute he was carrying as if his life depended on it. Once he had stepped fully out of the crowd, he gave the assembled students an introductory bow, but his cheery expression didn't do much to hide some frustrated body language. "So, you're the ones making a muck of my machinations," the piper hissed. "Can't have that, no sir!" He took a deep breath, then blew into his flute with all he had once again. The golden lines in the sky lit up, and suddenly, Clear Wing fell from the sky. Similarly, all of the HEROs present dropped to the ground, as if something was pinning all of the stronger monsters in the area to the ground. "Now, why don;t we even the playing field, little munchkins?!" He blew into the instrument one more time. This time though, from the other end of his flute, something other than noise emerged. A black creature, that seemed to stare right into the students with its singular eye, slipped and squeezed its way out of the flute That mirror in the middle of its body didn't do a very good job of reflecting anyone, either. "Now, eeny-meeny-THAT ONE! GET HIM, RELINQUISHED!" The creature's stalk eye locked onto Zetsuei, and as its arms reached out, a vortex appeared, sucking the dragon into the mirror in its body. After Clear Wing dissapeared, the creature's fleshy wings folded over itself, and a moment later the form of the monster it had absorbed appeared there, grotesquely fused to the flesh. "Now, everyone, get 'em!" Another big toot from the flute, but this one was quite a bit shorter. As the piper continued playing away at his flute, it seemed the gathered mob of monsters all agreed that strength in numbers was the way to go, as each and every one of them made their way toward the students and their defenses. --- "Hmmmwahh-wah!!!" Contrary to what one might expect, Kuriborhn didn't look the least bit terrified. Instead, he fluttered over and tugged on Gabby's arm, urging her toward the oncoming hoard of monsters. Maybe he had an idea?

"It will be! It just... hasn't started yet, I guess. Maybe the ship's waiting for someo-" "Still nothing all that interesting Quill." Ash stopped mid-sentence as both he and Noah turned to look at the source of the voice. It was one of the others, though neither of them had said much to the girls yet in the few days or so they'd been aboard. "Hey there!" "Heya." Noah was the first of them to respond, giving Iris and Quill a short wave with his gloved hand. The bell on his neck jingled a little. "Don't think we've properly met yet huh? My bad, my head's been spinning so long I just wanted to hole up somewhere to think. How are things on your end?" "Sorta the same." Noah shot a quick glance at Ash. "I've kinda been on my own for a bit too." He wouldn;t say it outright, but he very much didn't appreciate being left alone until now. "You're welcome to come with me next time I go out on patrol, you know." Ash let out a reptilian grunt that passed for a "Hmph." "Dude, there's nothing here." This place is just a dead ball of rock and wind. What could you possibly need to patrol for?" Ash's expression darkened. "You never know, Noah. The digital plane can be very dangerous... and besides, I hate sitting still." He added on, quickly shifting the topic away from anything that might bring up some bad memories. "Ahh, the real motive." Noah let out a short laugh, then turned back to Iris. "I'm Noah, and my uhhh...." "Partner." Ash interjected. "Yeah, that. He's Ash." "Ashardalon. At your service. Most mons call me Ash, though. Its easier." He bowed as he spoke. "And you guys? I like your hair by the way." He sort of blurted that last part out, but at least it fit into the conversation. It was the truth too, she looked cute with that hair color.

"Fair enough, but I call getting to hold on to Elizabeth if we're vaporized by some sort of Duel Monster related neutron bomb." Ashley's comment caused Yushiro to let go of Elizabeth's hand, partially from her intimidating presence, but also out of a slight feeling of embarrassment. "Well there won't be anything of the sort, so no one's gonna need to hold onto anyone for dear life." "Smooth. Nice comeback, kiddo." "If you're not gonna be helpful, then would you please just shut up?" Yushiro grumbled internally as the trio arrived at the annex-side entrance to the duel team offices. "Alright, lets see if we can find those spare disks." He said as Ashley unlocked the door. Luckily for them, the spare duel disks were all more or less stored out in the open, and it took less than a minute of rummaging for Yushiro to locate them. Quickly, he clipped one that was his size onto his arm. "Doesn't come in my color, but it'll do." He smirked, trying to muster up a bit of confidence to steady his nerves and maybe possibly convince the girls that he was, perhaps, at least somewhat on top of things. Then he slid his deck into its slot and went toward the front door. It seemed, however, that several other people had already beaten him to the punch. Outside was... well the monsters were gone, and in their place a crowd had gathered. Everyone was bathed in a soothing, white light, and several people had duel disks and were playing cards. The displays were spectacular to behold, and it was plainly obvious that what had been a dangerous area a few minutes before had now become a sanctuary of sorts. HE stepped through the doorway to get a better look. "Hmmmwaaaah!" Kuriborhn jumped off of Yushiro's head and started to fly off. Yushiro braced himself for the pain in his legs to return, but was pleasantly surprised when the burning stayed mild. Perhaps the duel space field he was in had a similar effect? He looked around for a moment, and was about to run back inside to get the girls when he spied a familiar looking hat on the head of what could only be its owner. "Hey, Juju!!!" He called out to Jun as Kuribohrn floated on over toward her general direction. "What is all this stuff?!"

-Digimon Divers- OP Episode 1: The Shooting Star They Saw Moored on a lonely, deserted island in the digital plane, Aegis sat, waiting for the winds to pick up. The last of the her crew had arrived a scant few days ago, and now that everyone was settled in, all that was left to do was to set off in search of the source code. Of course, without a strong wind or a set destination, there wasn't much use in actually setting out. Her crew, meanwhile, both human and digimon alike, were still getting used to their new surroundings. Introductions were out of the way, but no one had truly broken the ice yet, and the fact that there wasn't much to do aboard only added to the rather awkward, dreary atmosphere of being stuck on a ship with people you barely knew. Noah Takenouchi stood alone on the upper deck, watching the data gently drift by far above them. The terrain of the island was barren and rocky, with few visually interesting features. He hadn't started to feel homesick yet, though the fact that he'd worn the same clothes for a few days now with no sign of wear of foul odors was a bit strange to him. Being data had its perks, at least. Still, he was apprehensive. How were four kids supposed to save the world? Was that even what they were doing? "Whatcha thinkin' about?" He looked down. There was Ash: the little dragon who'd pulled him into all of this. Though they were supposed to be partners, they hadn't spoken all that much over the past few days, with Ash constantly going off "scouting" the island and leaving him to his own devices. Him coming up to Noah was something of an anomaly. "Nothing, really. Honestly I'm sorta bored. I thought you said this was supposed to be an adventure."

Forgot to accept this. oops.

"Once we're in here, we should be able to cut through a couple of halls and get to the duel team office. Say, what is your plan, anyway?" Elizabeth asked as she ushered Yushiro toward the annex. "I wanna see if those duel disks are in there. If I'm right about what's going on and someone really has activated a bunch of disks all over campus, then we might be able to do something about it ourselves with duel disks of our own." He paused a moment. "Unless of course they're the root cause, in which case we'll know what to look for... though I'm kinda hoping there's at least one or two. It'll be easier if I can use the cards in my deck to help us out." There was another huff from Kuribohrn in his hair. "Not that I don't appreciate the healing magic, buddy. You're a lifesaver, but I don't think you can keep me on my feet and fight off a bunch of monsters at the same time. Not without help." The word of thanks seemed to appease the moody little puffball for the time being, which was good, since they were now next to the locked door and underneath the overhang- safely out of sight for the time being. Yushiro's heart was racing, though not in the good way it usually did when he was with Elizabeth. The possibility of getting his skin melted off really drove home how dangerous the situation was, not to mention the dull ache in his shins- Kuribohrn's magic could only do so much to something that wasn't actually dead, it seemed. "Stay calm kiddo. Panicking won't help anyone." "Gee, thanks. You try not freaking out a little at a time like this." "Could be worse. You're not alone, you know." He was right. At least Elizabeth was here. Yushiro had probably never been more thankful for her presence, actually. Except maybe when he dueled Hiraku. Instinctively, he reached for her hand, hoping she'd reciprocate. "You scared?" He asked, finally looking at her a little sheepishly. It was plainly obvious that he'd left the "because I'm a little scared too." unsaid.

Both Accepted. Welcome to the boat!

Some WIP stuff Noah Ash

Not 100% sure I follow, but what I think you’re suggesting is playing a human without a partner digimon? Or perhaps the opposite? either way, my answer is: Go for it! The Divers are not be the first humans to enter the digital plane, so if you’re ok with playing a supporting character who might not participate in combat, then I have no objections. I’m interested to see what you can come up with. If the discord link is expired, lmk. I’ll send you another one.

OOC is officially live!

https://discord.gg/ZBydYa Discord server is live. OOC proper should be up in the next few days. Still looking for 3 more people.

You don’t hate me.

~Digimon Divers~ A Digimon RP by Zai Dedicated to everyone who still remembers their innocence, and everyone who loved, laughed, and cried. To all the tamers, and all the digidestined out there, and to all of them that might follow. To the friends I've made, and every biggest dreamer who ever shared their love for a digital monster with me. This story, whatever it turns out to be, and wherever it might end, is for you. It comes from my heart, and my love for a special part of my childhood. There are pieces of me in it, from my past, and from my present, and whether you're reading it, or helping to write it, I hope it brings you some of the joy that digimon has brought me. All my love. -Matt Rules and Information Premise Setting Apps Accepted Apps

"Zo youz think you can buzt a rhyme and throw down. Aight. But check thi-" "Yo, Bozz" The sound of a record scratching echoed throughout the hall as the boss stopped and looked at Baseball Cap, who had tapped him boss on the shoulder. "Whatz you tryna do, yo? Youz throwin off my flo-oh." It was now plainly obvious what had caught his attention: Wifebeater was on the floor, a giant dent in his skull where Kyoko had smashed him with her bat. And then, to make matters even worse, there were skeletons shambling in, and one of them began to drag Wifebeater out of the doorway for some nefarious purpose. "One verse and they already got Freddy! Bozz grab hiz gangly azz and letz go!" And with that, Baseball Cap was out the door in a cartoonish cloud of dust, leaving the leader to slowly back off while the skull servants were distracted doing horrible things to his friend. "Yo, thiz ain't ova. Remembuh dat." And with that, he was gone too. Even the Skull Servants, with their expressionless bones, seemed far less than amused by all of this once they noticed, and took it out on their current victim with additional gusto- chunks of the fiendish beatboxer flying all over the hall and making overly gross sounding splat noises as they tore him apart. Thankfully, he was already mostly dead to begin with, so there was no blood to go with the entrails. "Yushiro, where do you think all of this is coming from? I mean, have you ever seen something like this? I mean in my four years here, I've never had such a situation. And have you noticed they all appear to be level one monsters?" "Ouch. She barely listened to you at all." Yushiro let out an audible groan, but otherwise didn't say anything. Mentally or otherwise. He and Kuribohrn (who made quite the show of coughing when she blew smoke at him) gave her a minute to take a puff of her cigarette. "Are you finish playing with that thing? As much fun as it is to wait around and see what pops up next, I can't help but feel like something bigger, nastier, and probably not any friendlier, is coming. That and... I don't have any level one monsters in my deck. I'm not sure if that matters, but it certainly couldn't help. We either need to get you to the infirmary, or to the duel team office; there are some duel disks there. If we're going to be in duel space I at least want to be able to protect myself, and I left mine back at the flat." "Hmmmmmwah." Kuriborhn let out a rather agitated... whatever it was the noise kuribohs made was called. He clearly didn't like the insinuation that he was here to play. As if to accentuate the point, he fluttered up to Yushiro's head and landed in his hair, placed his claws together as if in prayer, and did... something. Yushiro couldn't see it, but if Liz cared to notice she'd witness him using what appeared to be a spell, since he started glowing. "Whenever you're ready." The pain in Yushiro's legs started to fade, and he stood up, much more easily this time. "Guess I'm ready." He gave Elizabeth a smile and took her hand. "Duel Team office. I actually have an idea." ---------- The trek to the duel team office was, thankfully, uneventful (other than Kuribohrn giving Elizabeth a sideways look or two from atop Yushiro's head every now and again). When the group arrived there, however, they saw yet another series of obstacles in their way. Ugly ones. They were clustered around the building as if guarding it. Perhaps they'd claimed it as their territory? OR worse, they were under the thrall of something stronger. Shouldn't rule anything out yet. "Fungi of the Musk? Really?" Yushiro sighed as he peeked out from behind a bush. "Those evil mushroom things can melt you- assuming the flavor text on that card is correct. If we wanna get inside, we'll have to either distract em or clear them out. Got any ideas?" He looked at Elizabeth expectantly, hoping maybe she'd have something.

"Look on the bright side. You just got out of having to admit to your girlfriend that you're into monster girls in tight clothes." Supremely un-helpful ribbing from Zetsuei. The perfect icing on top of Yushiro's burn-cake. "You look hurt, can you walk at all? We have to get out of here." A moment later though, Liz was standing over him, looking worriedly from side to side. Yushiro was still in a bit of a daze (and the pain wasn't helping things, either), so he didn't respond right away. "Oh, forget it. Hold on." The next thing he knew, she was carrying him, and in a few moments they were elsewhere- under a nearby tree. He winced as Elizabeth put him down. "Duel space rarely if ever covers this wide of an area, Yushiro. You would need a very large number of duels going on concurrently for this to happen, which means...." "Christ. You look burnt to a crisp. What even was that?! It looks like the whole bloody campus is covered in duel space. I've never seen anything like it, and I've seen my fair share of insane moments in this blasted school." "Yeah... it really stings." He finally managed to say. "I dunno where the monsters are coming from, but the only way for the whole campus to get covered in duel space like this is if somebody turned on a lot of duel discs at once. They might have hacked a bunch of the students' somehow. You don't have yours on you do you?" He sucked his teeth and winced again as the breeze picked up slightly and his burns, well... burned. "I'd check mine, but I don't usually take it with me to class." "Can you stand, mate? We should get you to the infirmary. Those burns look pretty rough. Hopefully we can dodge all these monsters on the way and figure out what the hell is going on later. This is sort of scary, innit?" Liz still seemed to be a little panicked. Fantastic. "I can walk, and I'll be fine." He lied. His legs killed, but he didn't want Liz to worry even more. Besides, wasn't he trying to toughen up? "I dunno if we can make it all the way to the infirmary with me slowing us down, though. Might be better if-" "hhhwwwahh!" The reverberating cry startled him, and Yushiro looked up just in time to have a familiar looking winged mitre hat drift down onto his face, followed by a white puffball who had suddenly lost his ability to fly in the tree branches above. Both rolled off his head and onto the ground, and Yushiro sneezed. Kuribohrn quickly recovered his headdress (and dignity) and floated back up so that he was more level with both of their faces, doing his priestly entrance pose with all the gravitas he had probably intended for his entrance to begin with. "hhhwwwah-wahhhh!" "Hey, I know you. You're in my deck! You helped me win my duel the other day!" The little fiend nodded in the affirmative. "D...do you think you can help us out here?" -------------------- "Yoyoyoyo! Lookz like we got some bad bitchez up in here boyz!" Before the girls could exit the bathroom, the door had opened, and three- well they weren't exactly boys- walked in. And they certainly weren't polite. "Heheh, brah, which one ya wanz?" The snively one in the baseball cap spoke up. "Yo man, show a little decorum." The tall one wearing a wife beater replied. "We'z here to showz em a good time, not scare em half to death- don't want em lookin like uz! Now drop da beat!" "Oh yeahhhhhhh." Baseball Cap agreed, and started beatboxing, while the leader wearing the hoodie and the beanie stepped forward. "Now here's the deal, before y'all squeal." he rapped, while Wifebeater began to freestyle breakdance in plain view. "We'z the D-boyz and now we'z real. Bitchez aint where ya zupposzed to be, and that shitz quite irksome.. to me. Zo if ya all want, to get on out, youz gonna have to win thiz hip-hop bout." Wifebeater stopped mid-headstand as Hoodie paused, keeping perfect time. "Check it." said Baseball cap, before he went back to the beat. But if ya lose, then I gotz ta zay, you girlz iz gonna be our, uhh..." Hoodie put a devilish smile on his face. "Datez... today."

"Well. If you've gone and made such sweeping upgrades to your deck, you may very well be on your way to longer needing my services." she snickered, taking a small sip from her tea, "I've put some thoughts into upgrading my deck lately myself. It's been a while since I've had something fresh; something I enjoy out of my deck. Perhaps a deck change is in order. Who's to say." "But... I like your Lunalights... they're cute." Yushiro said, somewhat quietly, half hoping she wouldn't hear him. He could hear Zetsuei laughing at him in the back of his mind. Thankfully Elizabeth saw fit to change the subject. "I think after 1st session I'm going to go to the gym to work out; I've been terrible about that as of late, just going straight to the dance studio instead of building muscle mass and all that. What about you? Any other plans for the day?" The thought of Liz in shorts and a sports bra flashed into his mind for a second, but he quickly banished it before it started showing on his face. "I dunno. I didn't have any plans for today, actually. Dunno if Akira's around, so- wait what the heck?" What had caught Yushiro's attention was an animal on the concrete in front of them. It was blue, unlike anything he'd ever seen before, and curled up in a ball. Out of curiosity, Yushiro walked up to get a better look, and then immediately recognized it, though this only added to his confusion. "Explossum? What's a duel monsters hologram doing out-" BOOM!!!! Before he could finish his sentence, the monster did as its name would suggest; the explosion at his feet hurling Yushiro several yards backward into a nearby bush. As if on cue, several additional Explossums began floating, or rolling their way out from nearby cover, until Yushiro, Liz, and anyone else in the area were completely surrounded by explosive rodents. The Sky above had turned the familiar magenta of duel space, as well, but instead of being concentrated in one area, the entire campus seemed to be shrouded in overcast red. "aaaahhhhhh.... dangit that really burns!" Yushiro winced as he looked at his scorched ankles- the pant legs that had been there moments before now having been completely charred away to reveal blistered, red skin. In the distance, they could hear the very faint sound of a flute... --- Elsewhere too, more holograms began to appear seemingly at random, wreaking all sorts of havoc around campus. Some were openly hostile, while others seemed content to wander around and ignore the students. The only constant was that they were everywhere... and for some reason all of them were level one. The faint flute sounds accompanied them wherever they went, too. Before long, the school was in a mixture of awe and panic.

“Um, Melissa Ashforth.” "And my name is Kazu Eilhardt Shioda. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Kazu replied, with a very genuine looking smile. She didn't respond to him for a few seconds, evidently lost in thought. Thankfully, Kazu's patience was nigh-infinite, and so he waited until she finished whatever mental gymnastics she was performing with the same friendly look on his face. “Sorry, I, um… If you- If you’re asking what it sounds like you’re asking, um, I’m not sure how good my advice is going to be here. I could reference the Theology of the Body if you like, but I don’t know it that well." Kazu resisted the urge to shake his head in the negative as the prodding feeling grew in intensity. “But, um, I also don’t think that’s what you’re asking? At least, I wouldn’t be asking random girls that. If you’re uncomfortable talking about it. Without that, though… I’m sorry, um, I don’t mean to pry more than I already have, but what’s the difference between what your heart wants and what your head wants? With me, I’ve found they’re often a lot more similar than I first thought. I understand you want to be vague about it, I probably would be too. I promise I won’t judge if you’re more in-depth, but I won’t pry any more either. That’s about as much advice as I can give.” Rather surprisingly, Melissa's words gave Kazu actual pause. She would never know the exact context, of course, but they resonated nonetheless as Kazu replayed the past few weeks in his head. Melissa could probably see the gears turning in his head as his answer dawned on him, and the next course of action became clear. "My dear, I dare say that you've given me precisely the advice I was searching for!" He said, rather excitedly, but with a warm, genuine thankfulness that replaced the rather sterile, polite air he'd been projecting up to that point. "I don't think I need to go into more detail, though...." he paused, bashfully scratching the back of his head. "Lets just say that I've been overthinking my love life. What's most important is that she and I are happy together, and if she feels the same way that I do, then she will support me like I do her. In short- I actually have nothing to worry about." He stood up, reached back into his deck box, and pulled out one of the two cards he'd been looking at earlier. The prodding feeling in the back of his mind subsided. "A token of my gratitude. For taking the time to listen to me. I think this Rain Bozu quite suits you, Miss Ashforth." "Yushiro, I have to tell you something about the dance actually." Yushiro looked back over at his girlf- could he even call her his girlfriend? With a mixture of curiosity and a little fear. Maybe he'd done something wrong? "I didn't want to distract or ruin our night, because I had a lovely time but I also don't want to be dishonest with you, and I feel it's better to tell you now rather than later. I... well I didn't actually get to see most of your duel." she faced him, wincing a bit, hoping he wouldn't be too angry, "A friend of mine, she was feeling rather overwhelmed and I didn't want to leave her feeling alone. I understand if you're mad, it meant a lot to you. You don't have to say it's okay just for me." Yushiro smiled at her, relieved that it wasn't anything he'd done. Perhaps, under other circumstances, he would have been a bit disappointed to hear that she missed most of his game, but between his fondness for Liz and her reasoning the emotion he felt was decidedly not disappointment, or anger, for that matter. "I was going to see if I could track down video of the duel so I could at least watch how you did it. There was certainly plenty of cheering from the bathroom. Sounded like it was a rather entertaining bout... I really am sorry for missing it. I wasn't sure what to do at the time. Perhaps after I watch over it, though, we could review the duel and keep practicing?" He put his hand up, as if to reassure her. "I'm not mad at all. Heck, believe it or not..." He leaned in and gave her a quick kiss on her forehead. "I'm proud of you. I'm a little bummed that you missed it, sure, but you had something more important to do, and we spent the whole rest of the night together. Plus, you came out and told me about it, too, which tells me that you care enough to consider how I feel about it, even if you were a little too nervous to tell me right then." He started to blush a bit, and took another bite of his breakfast to give himself a break from making eye contact with her. "And knowing you care, and that I make you a little nervous, makes me... really happy." He looked back at her again, this time with a bigger, more bashful grin. "If you can find some footage, I wouldn't mind watching it with you, but don't feel obligated. I would like to practice with you some more, though. You're a big part of why I won in the first place, and I think I'm gonna be needing the help."

"Hey Yushiro, I was nervous you had forgotten about our little morning rendezvous! I wasn't quite sure if you fancy a breakfast on your way to class, but I erred on the side of caution and prepared you one if you'd like." Yushiro blushed. He certainly wasn't expecting her to have made him food, and he didn't usually eat breakfast on weekdays anyway, but he took it regardless. "I made a poppyseed scone, an oven baked egg and some fresh fruit, but if you don't want it give it to one of your friends or something, I've no use for another breakfast. I just want the container back." "Thanks Liz." He gave her a smile, and she leaned in and pecked him on the cheek, which caused Yushiro's cheeks to get redder. "Shall we, then? I'm in Moto Hall first today." He offered her his hand. "Yeah. Let's get going." So this was what having a girlfriend was like. He could certainly get used to this. As they were about to leave though, Yushiro's phone buzzed. From: AkiraTHEMAN To: THEMANYUSHIRO Vigorous Right Fist Fukuryu is a kickass name. The Man Akira is proud. So he was watching! Yushiro had gone the entire night with barely a hint of his best friend. Not that he minded at the time of course, but it was reassuring to note that Akira had seen him win. He let go of Elizabeth's hand for a moment to shoot Akira back a quick text. From: THEMANYUSHIRO To: AkiraTHEMAN Came up with it on the spot! Glad it sounded cool! Where were you though?! I don't think I saw you all night. He put his phone back in his pocket, and then, a little hesitantly, took the scone out of the container and had a bite. He didn't know what he'd been expecting, but Yushiro was pleasantly surprised. "Its good." --- Kazu sat in silence for a few moments, considering how best to phrase things. He damn well couldn't tell the girl the truth (not that she'd believe it), but perhaps a well disguised metaphor, peppered with little nuggets of his actual emotional turmoil, would be enough to get an insightful opinion out of her. "Well, you see..." He pretended to scratch the back of his head out of nervousness. "My girlfriend and I, ahh... you see..." Now there was actual nervousness mixed in. Talking about his love life always made him feel awkward, even if in this case it wasn't actually what was going on. "My girlfriend went through something pretty traumatic a few months ago- she's fine now though, fear not- but ever since, well, she seems to be taking things far too quickly in regards to our relationship. I... I do not know if I'm ready for that yet. It worries me quite a bit. Don't get me wrong, I love her with all my heart, but we are still in high school you know? I do not want to hurt her or make the wrong decision, but at the same time I'm also scared to rush into things with her. Like, what if I am unable to perform, or-or gods forbid she finds someone else?" Oops. He hadn't intended to steer things into that direction, but there was no backing out now, even if it was an area in which he actually had complete confidence and experience. "I do not know what the right choice to make is, you see. Do I follow my instincts, or do I use my head?" He only now turned his head back to look the girl in the face, silently hoping to himself that he hadn't made her far too uncomfortable my mistake. Best to include an apology, actually. "Sorry... I didn't intend to go into such... lurid detail. Please forgive me, miss... What might your name be, by the way?"

“Excuse me. I don’t mean to presume, but, um, you look like you need someone to talk to? I’m sorry if I’m wrong, but um…” Kazu relaxed a bit. He'd never seen this girl before, but she was just about the least threatening individual he had ever come across. Small, conservatively dressed. In some ways she even reminded him of... nah, it was best not to think about such things at present. Just as he finished that thought process, she sat down next to him. Intriguing. “I’m not the best talker, but I like to think I’m a good listener, at least.” "I do not think you could be of much use to me, I'm afraid." He said, with a polite sort of sadness in his tone. "My current conundrum is rather complicated, you see, and I-" He stopped. Kazu felt as though something was... prodding him? The feeling was certainly not physical, but that was the word for it. Prodding. A moment of thought longer and he figured out what it was. Most intriguing. Perhaps he was not as far behind as he thought. "Actually miss, while I do not need someone to vent my frustrations to, I could use another person's insight into how I might best solve my problem. Do you have a few minutes to spare, perhaps?"

--- ED --- OP Episode 6: The Sound of Music The Monday after Kickoff was always a little bit dreary. No one really looked forward to going back to class after what was often the most exciting weekend of the year up to that point. Kazu Shioda was, on the surface at least, no different. In reality though, class had nothing to do with his melancholy. "Today?" he asked, clutching his phone to his ear with both hands just to be extra sure he heard correctly. "Yup. Your girl's got it all lined up for me." "But, this is all so sudden. I haven't even finished loc-" "Sorry prettyboy, vacation's over. Just make sure you do your part, alright?" Kazu grimaced. "Of course. I wouldn't dream of disappointing her." "Man you're so whipped. Anyways, I'm out. See you later." The boy on the other end hung up. Kazu let out a growl. Things were moving too quickly. Much too quickly. He took a break from his walk and sat down on a campus bench, deciding that being late for English was an acceptable trade off for having a few minutes to himself to process. "If that brute's on his way... she must be getting antsy. Damn. I was hoping to have more time than this." He pulled a pair of cards out of his deck box. "If you two care at all about this silly dome, you had better make up your minds. And soon." He stopped as he heard footsteps coming up the sidewalk, and just like that back into the box they went. He had to avoid drawing too much attention to himself. Especially considering what he now had to do. Monday morning. Time to go get Liz and walk her to class. True to form, Yushiro had managed to get himself out of bed a full half hour earlier, which gave him plenty of time to get ready and make his way over to her dorm. "Color me impressed. You must really like this girl if you're willing to lose sleep to take her to class." Yushiro blushed and frowned as Zetsuei's voice echoed in his head. "Yeah, so what?" "Good! Glad you're man enough to admit it, kiddo. Believe it or not, that's a big step" "Toward what?" "Being a man, of course! A real man is comfortable with his own feelings. I figured you would have picked that one up from your buddy Akira a long time ago." "He and I don't... really operate the same way. And who are you to comment on my manliness anyway Mr. disembodied dragon voice?!" "Can't help it. Its my directive. Gotta make sure you're worthy of handling this card." "You keep saying that. But you're just a Duel Monsters card at the end of the day. The only thing really special about you is... well, you." "There's a lot more to this that you're not ready to know yet, Yushiro. Just focus on doing right by your lady friend for now, ok?" He groaned, but mentally gave Zetsuei an affirmative answer. He'd given up on getting rid of Clear Wing's resident by now, but Zetsuei's running commentary on his life was still hard to get used to. Yushiro tried putting the dragon out of his mind for the moment as he made the left that took him up the path to the senior girls' dorm, hoping he'd see Liz inside waiting for him. SHe did remember that he was supposed to come get her today, right?