Yu-Gi-Oh! Horizon [IC/Not Accepting/PG-16]

[yui 576]

"Hey, everyone. Sorry about yesterday, I had some things to take care of."

The short version was that there was gonna be a practice match! Against a whole other school! And, by what Makoto could only assume was cosmic fate or something equally crazy, the other school was that Ocean's Coast place! That was where Makoto and the others had gone yesterday! And she'd be dueling them?

“Does anyone else want one while I’m over here?”

Duels later! For now, granola bar. Raising a hand, Makoto replied "Yes, me, toss me one please!" A healthy snack was a good way to fill those empty spots in one's stomach while they got ready to go on a little road trip, even if it wasn't that far.

[Chaos Sonic 443]

“We should strive to welcome change and challenges, because they are what help us grow."

---

David, who had a few bandages on him from the day prior's adventure on being chased by a badger, sat there with the rest of the club to listen to Coach Clara explain the whole deal with them today. To be blunt: it was Practice Matches against another school, more specifically Ocean's Coast Academy. That was one of the places he thought about going to in order to take classes, but he chose Horizon instead.

Regardless, David glanced at the whole team...he wondered how this was going to work. Remembering the specifics, their Duel Team had Blue-Eyes with the prodigy, Toons with the Captain Avi, Ancient Gears with Makoto, Generaiders with Terry and Fish with Hana. They would've had Fluffals and Frightfur, but Charlie wasn't there today... Needless to say, David was pretty uneasy with how things were right now. Sure a good portion of the team's Duelists were competent enough to do what they could, but would it be enough?

"right. We'll probably get ready to leave in the next 15 minutes. Anyone have any questions?"

"I have a few actually, Coach Clara." David spoke up, raising his hand for a moment. "Firstly being, do we have any way of reading up on the opposing Duel Team? This would get us better acquainted with who we're up against. Secondly, how will the practice matches be conducted? Will we all be Dueling at the same time, or will it be more or less like it would be at a tournament, one from each team Duels, the victor is decided and then the next pair go?"

[Tiamat's Circus 117]

It would have been strange to see everyone involved in the badger incident at school the next day, yet, there they were. Glancing around, Terry was surprised to see that the only person really missing was… The one who had left the situation early; the captain she had looked up to the most, was… Missing. Frowning, Terry waited until everything seemed to begin, fidgeting with her cloak to see who all would show, before letting out a quiet sigh at their disappearance. Letting the hand-crafted cape fall from her hands, she couldn’t help but drop her hands to her side, slipping them in the pockets she wore beneath.

It wasn’t until their coach pointed out the bags and what they were doing, that Terry seemed truly surprised. She had figured the errands the other group were sent to do had something to do with the week ahead, but… A practice match? Like an actual, real, practice match? Her shock must have been evident, as she shook her head a bit, before nodding. “Yes Ma’am! But, um, question first!” She paused, raising her hand. “Who all’s going to be dueling in the practice match?” Terry paused, realizing she had just repeated what David had asked verbatim. “Oh, and David's right on the second question too. Who all are we dueling? Who’s going to face up against our transparent tirade of terror? Our ingenious and exceptional evil? Or our… You get the point.” She trailed off, letting out a sigh. “And, finally… Th-there won’t be any more badgers, will there?” She asked, her timid personality cracking through with memories of yesterday.

Edited August 2, 2020 by Feral Pistol

[Skaia 578]

Coach Clara looked towards Hana as she asked about the quantity of food. Raising a skeptical eyebrow the girl said, "it should be. You guys got plenty - actually, I'm surprised how much you got with how much you spent. But, regardless, it  should be good. Remember, the goal is to keep yourself refreshed enough to keep your brain at full capacity. Actually getting full will probably just make you play worse." 

Looking over to David she said, "normally, were this a tournament match we'd have some videos to review. There are some for this team too, but it's not going to matter that much. This is just a practice match and the coach told me it wouldn't be necessary." 

Looking over to Terry she added, "because the purpose today is mostly to get you kids experience against people who aren't on your team. The focus will be mostly on the first and second years of the team. Thankfully? You're all mostly in that category anyway, so it'll be good to help our team overall. As for...badgers?" The woman looked over to Sarah, who seemed to have a spooked expression herself on her face. Looking back to Terry she said, "there won't be any badgers." 

Clapping her hands together, the woman said, "alright team. Let's head out." Motioning for Sarah to follow and others to grab the food bags, the woman lead the way to the bus. 

 

---

 

The bus ride to Ocean Coast's academy was as eventful and rowdy as the students had made it and had taken them around an hour to get there. Once they did, however, the group would note that this part of the city was much sparser on buildings and bled into a more suburban style area. The school, true to its name, was also on the coast and so the group would be able to see the ocean on their way towards it. The school itself rivaled Horizon in size and quality, as well as seeming to have a dock extending off of it. 

Once the group had arrived, the bus stopping near the entrance of the school, Clara took the first step off. Standing there to greet everyone were two familiar faces to some. Laurie and Leila seemed to have been waiting around, the former of which looked to Hana saying, "I guess it was destiny after all. Welcome Horizon Academy to our -" 

"Horizon friends!" Leila called out with her usual mix of low energy yet enthused tone, as she began to charge forward. Her walk was stopped short, as Laurie grabbed onto her collar and in spite of the girl still trying to move forward didn't seem to get anywhere. "Laurie, you're really strong." 

Clara looked towards the students saying, "you know them?" 

The girl didn't seem to mind, instead clearing her throat as she said, "right. Well, I suppose I should introduce myself again. My name is Laurie Aurand, second year and captain of the Ocean Coast's academy duel team."

"I'm Leila!" 

Stretching out her free hand to shake for anyone who would take it, the girl said, "I'm here to show you to the gym of the school. And I look forward to facing you today."

Edited August 3, 2020 by Skaia

[LordCowCow 841]

“Hana, you were the one who put all that stuff in the cart. It better be enough food,”

She frowned at the pile. "But this isn't all of it...did someone eat the rest already?" She was alarmed by this. Not because she didn't think it possible but simply because they did so without her!

The offer for some food now made Hana even more uncertain it would be enough. If people are already hungry it wouldn't last long at all! Despite this Hana herself didn't, surprisingly, grab any. She would probably have plenty on the way there but this exact second she was fine.

"it should be. You guys got plenty - actually, I'm surprised how much you got with how much you spent. But, regardless, it  should be good. Remember, the goal is to keep yourself refreshed enough to keep your brain at full capacity. Actually getting full will probably just make you play worse." 

Hana stared at her blankly but then her face split into a wide smile. "Don't worry! I ALWAYS have room for more food!" She declared proudly.

Her mind wandered as the coach talked about something she didn't have much interest in. Something about where they were going which wasn't all too important information to the girl.

Hana spent the trip in a loop. Sit on the top of the seats rather than on the seats themselves, get yelled at, sit down again, get up to grab food, and forget being yelled at and end up on the top of the seat again.

She was telling anyone that would listen about various things she saw on her hunt for badgers this morning. Spending great detail on her made up life's story about a couple snails she saw that she swore were in a feud due to how they kept avoiding each other while crawling across the ground.

By the time that they reached their destination much of the food had found itself into Hana's belly and the girl was wondering out loud when dinner would be.

Her attention was stolen away by her shock at seeing who it was that they had come here to meet.

"Horizon friends!"

"It's the High Noodle Priestess!" Hana called out enthusiastically. She noticed the girl was unable to approach as the other girl was holding her in place. So Hana took it upon herself to surge forward to hug Leila even while Laurie had her in her grasp.

“Hana!” Leila, in spite of the grip Laurie had on her, still managed to hug her back.

"We're here for duels! I think! Wait...are we dueling you?" Hana gasped. What an exciting development!

Laurie looked between Hana, Peter and Makoto saying, “Noodle Priestess?” Laurie as well laxed grip as the two hugged.

"That's her!" Hana said, giving Leila a small shake.

[radio414 909]

Peter’s immediate impulse upon hearing “Toss me one!” was to just lob a granola bar across the room in a way that Makoto would have to try pretty hard to catch. But he wasn’t thirteen anymore, and he especially wasn’t going to do that in a room full of onlookers. So instead, he just brought the whole box back over and passed it around the room that way. More boring? Yes, but after dealing with Hana for half the previous day, boring was good occasionally. Besides, it also let him grab a second bar for the ride to Ocean’s Coast.

A fortuitous decision, all things considered, because it allowed him to connect up his phone and his earbuds, play some music, and just focus on chewing, ignoring all the nonsense that was surely going on on the rest of the bus. He was always a front of the bus sort of person, too, so he didn’t even have to look. Even as he cranked the volume higher and higher, though, scolds of needing to remain seated still managed to needle their way in. He could have looked, but he instead focused on savoring every last morsel of his granola bar.

He kept his earbuds in even once they were off the bus, though that only served to keep him unawares as to just who was greeting them at the door until it was too late.

“You know them?” Coach Clara said. Even with high volume, Peter could tell she was talking to him.

He took an earbud out and fiddled with his phone until the music was barely audible. “It’s a long story,” he said. “Hana could probably tell it better.” He still sheepishly waved to Laurie and Leila, even if Hana’s combined hug of the two of them distracted them from seeing it.

---

The gym they wound up in was much nicer than the one they’d been using back at Horizon. It was bigger, for one; the seating areas on either side by themselves probably took up more space than anything Horizon had been allotted. And yet, despite its size, there were only eight people -- seven students and one significantly older gentleman Peter presumed was the coach(?) -- all sequestered to one side, and huddled together flipping through cards.

If there was Duel Monsters being played, it was on the floor. “Feels like you could make better use of the space,” Peter said to nobody in particular before quickly realizing just what sort of impression that put upon both him and the school he was representing. He turned to Laurie. “Um, so are we supposed to sit across from them? Over here? Or, uh…?”

Laurie pointed over to the other side and said, “You guys will be sitting on that side. During the duels at least. Just set down whatever you have over there too.” She pointed to everyone else and said, “We'll be over there.”

Peter couldn’t help but still be curious as to what everyone “over there” was doing, though it made sense that they couldn’t, like, fraternize with the enemy or whatever his parents would say in such a situation. He dutifully lugged his bag over to about the area Laurie indicated and finally took his earbuds off. Was he ready for this?

“I’m not sure I’m ready for this,” he mumbled. But, then again, didn’t he have to be? This was the first step on the path laid out for him, and it was that thought that got him to turn around to the rest of Team Horizon. “Is there a chant or anything we have to do? Team spirit sort of stuff? My parents didn’t really prep me for that part but it’s probably important, right?”

[Chaos Sonic 443]

"...I feel like there was something I missed from the other day..." David muttered, seeing that apparently Hana and one of the Horizon girls, Lelia, were already hugging. Did they know each other? And furthermore, did the others already know about the Horizon students like this already? Would this mean that he and Terry were the odd ones out?

If anything...the answer to those questions were all probably the same: Yes. Nevertheless, David followed the Horizon group towards where they would be setting up shop, so to speak. Though he did make note of the seven students that were there and them flipping through their cards as such. It made sense...these were Practice Duels against another school...they needed to make sure they were prepared.

“I’m not sure I’m ready for this. Is there a chant or anything we have to do? Team spirit sort of stuff? My parents didn’t really prep me for that part but it’s probably important, right?”

David glanced at Peter, before adjusting his glasses slightly. "First off, I'm positive your ready for this...thus far you've done perfectly fine." he said before crossing his arms slightly. "As for the chant...I'm unsure...orientation didn't exactly say much about that first day...you'd think they would."

[Tiamat's Circus 117]

With a small sigh of relief at the ‘no badgers’ bit, Terry would simply nod and begin rummaging through her backpack, making sure she had everything. Nodding occasionally as she listened to the coach’s replies, she’d eventually pull out a small pair of dinky, at most, ten dollar headphones from her pack. “Oh thank god.” She smiled, slipping the backpack as she closed it up, and hoisted it onto her back; silently following the rest of the group as they began to make their way to the bus.

On the bus ride over, Terry would have been more than a bit quiet; actively doing her best to pour all of her focus into the music that blasted over her cheap-headphones, occasionally nodding along as she hyped herself up for the day to come. Said-Hyping-Up only stopped once they arrived, removing her headphones as they filed off the bus one-by-one, Terry was surprised to see that Hana and the others seemed to… Know, their opponents? Or at least people who went to this school?

With question-marks almost visible over head, Terry’s confusion absolutely threw her off her rhythm; prompting the evil-overlord to simply follow in silence as the group made their way to the gym… And what a gym it was. Dwarfing their own gym, the gym they were brought to seemed to be the school’s main gym-room, they were quickly ushered off to one side, opposite their opponents. Sitting down in a way as to take up as little space as possible, Terry watched as Peter’s own anxieties began to run rampant; along with some confusion about what exactly it was they were supposed to do.

“Worry not, Lord of Dragons!” Terry announced, bringing her hands up to her chest in a grin. “You’ve trained your entire life for this! As a hero of light, you’ll trounce your enemies with unrivaled power just as it seems they have the upper-hand!” She exclaimed, nodding. “After all, you’re one of the heroes of this story! One of the few beings fit to be my eventual rival, as a final boss!” She continued, animatedly talking the whole time. “As for chants, just say whatever comes to mind! Let the enemy team know that they’re only able to see the horizon of our talents, and that our power expands far beyond what they can see!”

Edited August 7, 2020 by Feral Pistol

[Skaia 578]

Clara nodded as Laurie explained the situation to them, as the girl made her way back to her side of the gym. Looking towards Peter as he asked his question, the woman  raised an eyebrow saying, "Peter, do I look like the "team spirit" kind of person?" Waving the comment aside she pointed towards Terry saying, "she's got the right  idea, more or less. Team chants are just there to help psyche you up and I've never really needed them to get that way. So," the woman shrugged. "Still, everyone stretch yourself out before going out there. We're not a physical sport but loosening up can help you get into a proper "sports" mindset. I'm going to go clear things with the other coach now, figure out whatever chant you need to get yourself psyched." 

With that Clara had made her way to the center of the gym where the, presumably coach, of Ocean's Coast Academy had been as well. As the two seemed to discuss some things the woman looked back and nodded over to Sarah, who had silently been trailing along with the rest of the group. Putting her bag down the girl started to pull out what seemed to be a collapsible tripod along with a video camera, starting to set it up. After some time had passed, the two coaches had shook hands and returned to their respective sides of the field. 

Looking to everyone, the woman said, "alright. Makoto, get ready. You're  going up first." 

---

Over on the other side of the gym, the coach of Ocean's Coast said, "our first match has been decided. Leila, your going up." 

"Alright! Go show them what you can do Leila!" An older looking and enthusiastic male said to her side. 

The girl had a somewhat vacant expression on her face for a moment, but then stood up and nodded. Nodding, clenching her hands into fists and pumping herself up she said, "right." 

As the girl began to walk away Laurie spoke up saying. "Leila." The girl turned around. Holding a duel disk in her hand, Laurie smiled saying, "you forgot this." Leila looked at her arm, realizing it her duel disk was a missing from there. The girl seemed absolutely looked shocked by this, quickly looking back to Laurie who let out a small sigh. "Go on, don't keep them waiting." 

Leila nodded intently, taking the duel disk and hastily putting it on. Pumping herself up again, the girl walked towards the place she was supposed to stand with both arms stretched out as if she were balancing herself on a tight rope. Then, with a small hop, she landed in her spot, before looking over to her opponent. 

[LordCowCow 841]

“Is there a chant or anything we have to do? Team spirit sort of stuff? My parents didn’t really prep me for that part but it’s probably important, right?”

"Oh oh oh, like, like...Goooo fish!" Hana said, pumping her fist in the air and jumping. "I should've grabbed a uniform from the cheerleading club! Wait, maybe they have one here..." She looked over towards the two girls from the school but it seemed that everyone was starting to flock inside of the gym. And so Hana flocked along with them. Swinging her arms forward and back and forcing anyone walking nearby to have to dodge to avoid getting smacked.

Hana wasn't all too interested in the inside of the gym. It wasn't all THAT different from what she was used to. But she was excited to see that Leila was in the first match. She wondered what the girl might use! Actually thinking about it she didn't know what Makoto used either.

As the two approached the dueling area Hana began to cheer while pumping either fist up in the air one at a time after every beat. "Go go Ma-ko-to! Go go no-oo-dle!" She shouted. Not wanting to leave either of them out. She then pointed both hands towards Terry. "Your turn!" She declared. Suggesting Terry join in the cheer.

She then chomped down on a granola bar that she had somehow snagged on the way there as her eyes wandered around the room. There were plenty of new people but she paused on David. She had dueled with Terry. Went to the store with Peter and Makoto. And Avi was Avi. But she never really got to have friend time with David now that she thought about it.

So she sidled around behind him and put her arms over his shoulders from behind, still holding the half eaten granola bar, she pushed her face up near his. "Hey there David! How's it goin? Ya know if you wanted a chant when you joined you shoulda said so!"

[radio414 909]

“Do I look like a ‘team spirit’ sort of person” seemed like such a loaded question to Peter, like, “No,” was the obvious answer, but who was he to say what sort of life Coach Clara lived? He’d only really known her for, like, a few weeks, after all. Instead of verbally responding to the question, then, he kind of just shrunk in his seat a little bit more, and while David tried to console him, it wasn’t about that. He still said, “Thanks,” but his heart wasn’t really in it.

Whichever answer was correct, Hana clearly had enough team spirit to compensate for all of them. Still, Peter felt like he had to jump in. “Fish? I didn’t think our team was the ‘Horizon Fish,’ I thought we were the-” he said, before being cut off by more of Hana’s antics. In truth, Peter realized, she probably had enough spirit for both teams combined. Meanwhile, all he could really do was clap along. It was something, at least.

He settled in a bit more comfortably this time, awaiting the duel to follow, when another voice chimed in with comfort as well. “Worry not, Lord of Dragons --” (it took a moment for Peter to realize this meant him) “-- You’ve trained your entire life for this! As a hero of light, you’ll trounce your enemies with unrivaled power just as it seems they have the upper hand!”

There was more, but that was the gist, and it stood out a bit more than the others for obvious reasons, and Peter turned to face the speaker directly. “Oh, yeah, uh, Terry, right?” he said. “I mean, I’m not inconfident, or, uh, unconfident, whichever it is, it’s just like a pit in your stomach, you know? I’ll be fine once the duels start going.” He mentally added an “I hope” to the end of that sentence, but he didn’t say it out loud.

The addition also made him realize exactly what he’d just said. “Uh, that probably doesn’t make a lot of sense, sorry. Especially to someone like you who’s confident all the time, huh?”

[yui 576]

What had followed the meeting at school was a bus ride! It wasn't her first one ever, but it was the context that made it new and exciting. Instead of being shipped off away from home to pursue a new and super cool life, she was going from her school to a different one for some practice duels with another duel team! And to think it was Ocean's Coast, where Leila from the other day went! Did that mean somebody on this bus would be dueling her? That just got Makoto wondering what sort of deck Leila would have. Something cute, probably.

More than that though, Makoto was stunned by the scenery as the bus got closer to its destination. This place had an ocean view! If only she'd known about that when picking a school! This must have been why people toured schools they were interested in. As the bus pulled up, Makoto spotted a couple familiar faces among what she could only assume was the school's duel team.

"I guess it was destiny after all. Welcome Horizon Academy to our -" 

"Horizon friends!"

"You know them?"

"Mhm! We met them while we were getting groceries!"

---

The gym Ocean's Coast had was nicer than what was available at Horizon. Maybe she should have applied for this school instead after all. The teams went to their respective sides, and as Makoto equipped herself with her duel disk and got her deck in order, she listened in on the rest of the team.

“Is there a chant or anything we have to do? Team spirit sort of stuff? My parents didn’t really prep me for that part but it’s probably important, right?”

"I'm unsure...orientation didn't exactly say much about that first day...you'd think they would."

"Just say whatever comes to mind! Let the enemy team know that they’re only able to see the horizon of our talents, and that our power expands far beyond what they can see!”

"Then," Makoto interjected, "how about something like..." Um... Thinking up chants was tougher than she'd imagined. It had to make sense in the context of the school, probably. And having been at Horizon for all of... very little time, she wasn't really sure what sort of direction to take with that. "...I don't know. But let's figure something out sometime! It could be fun!"

"Alright. Makoto, get ready. You're  going up first."

"Oh! That's my cue! Off I go!" After double-checking her deck and duel disk, Makoto trotted on along to her spot, opposite Leila. It was time to get this show on the road!

Seeing who her opponent was, Leila gave a large wave saying, “hi Makoto. Nice to see you again.”

“Hey there,” Makoto smiled back. “It sure is wild that we’re here dueling each other so soon after we helped you out, isn’t it?”

The girl nodded earnestly. “I think Hana and Laurie called it “destiny” or something. Hope you have fun.” The girl then looked towards her duel disk, and put a finger to her chin as if trying to figure something out. Looking back to her opponent she asked, “should I go first?”

“Go for it,” Makoto nodded, bringing her duel disk up and drawing her first hand of the game. “I’m no pro, but that doesn’t mean I’ll go easy on you either!”

BGM

Leila stiffened up her posture at the sight of Makoto’s confidence and nodded. Drawing her first hand, the girl looked at it. Pondering for a moment, seeming to go between a few, the girl nodded. “I summon Madolche Mewfeuille. With its effect I can also summon Madolche Cruffsant.” As the girl played her first two cards, a pink cat coming out a pastry and a cheery dog bursting out of a croissant appeared onto the field. The cat, quickly left as the dog let out a few cheery barks however, returning to Leila’s hand. “Crussfant lets me put Mewfeuille back in my hand, and it gets waaay stronger.”

Madolche Crussfant: 1500 ATK → 1800 ATK, Level 3 → Level 4

Seeming proud of herself for a moment, Leila then went back deep into thought taking a card out from her hand. “I’ll place this face down. That’s my turn.”

“And that makes it my turn! I draw!” Makoto drew her card, looking her hand over. “I activate the field spell, Geartown!” Behind Makoto, buildings and spires made up of cogs, pipes, and pistons rose up, as the girl explained “It lets me summon my Ancient Gear monsters for one less tribute. Like this Level 6 monster not needing any now! I summon Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Chimera!” From the city behind her, a large three-headed machine leapt forward, with a roar more akin to the grinding of gears and hissing of pistons than any organic sound.

Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Chimera: Level 6/EARTH/Machine/2300/1300

“And now I battle! Even if it’s super adorable and I feel bad for doing it, I attack your Madolche Crussfant with Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Chimera!” The green beast in front of Makoto lowered its heads, charging up a beam of energy in each. From each head, a gray beam fired out toward the relatively helpless dog.

Leila looked at the steampunk city in awe, not entirely paying attention to everything Makoto was doing. However, when her dog’s well being seemed in danger, the girl looked back to the duel. Pausing for a moment she said, “oh. Right. I activate my trap. Madolche Waltz So, you take damage for attacking Crussfant.”

Makoto: 8000 -> 7700
Leila: 8000 -> 7500

“Oof. Even if I take damage, you still take damage too! That ends my turn.”

Leila seemed sad as Crussfant was destroyed, but then pulled the card back out from her graveyard. “Just because Crussfant was beaten doesn’t mean he’s gone. He gets to go back from my graveyard to my deck.” Putting the card back into her deck, the disk then auto-shuffled the cards. Without declaring anything, Leila then drew a card.

The girl looked at her hand. Then at the field. Then back to her hand. Then back to the field. After about 20 seconds, the girl then seemed to figure something out. “I summon Mewfeuille again, and calls Madolche Bapple.” As the girl summoned her pink cat again, this time alongside it rolled in a sheep with maple covered horns. Leila smiled joyously at her monsters, before realizing she needed to still go with her turn. “And uh, now I’ll play, this. Madolche Chateau.” In stark contrast to the city of gears and pistons, a castle that seemed to be more reminiscent of a giant ornate cake sprouted forth behind Leila. “Now my Madolches can play allll they want.”

Baaple: ATK 0 → 500, DEF 1800 → 2300
Mewfeuille: ATK 500 → 1000, DEF 800 → 1300

“Baaple can use his effect to make people go into not fight mode and stay that way for a while.” The sheep let out a resounding, “baaaa” as both it and Chimera were shifted to defense mode. Seeming pleased with herself, Leila looked at the field. Her cards. Then Makoto’s. Pondering for a moment she said, “Mewfeuille attacks Chimera.” The pink pastry cat leaped forward, giving a soft punch to the Chimera. Seeming to take a bit of recoil from it, hurting itself more than the monster, a hologram cupcake came hurtling straight towards Makoto and hit her.

Leila: 7500 → 7200
Makoto: 7700 → 7400

“Ow,” Leila spoke, vicariously feeling the pain of her cat. After pondering for a moment longer she said, “that’s my turn.”

“Clever girl,” Makoto muttered to herself, drawing her next card. This hand was more backrow-heavy than she would have liked at the moment. Except for one monster in particular. The one she would have summoned last turn, but she wanted to get some quick shots in first. “I summon Ancient Gear Hunting Hound! And when I do, he deals 600 damage immediately.”

Leila: 7200 → 6600

Makoto looked over the green robot dog that had joined her chimera on the field, clearly jealous that the dog in Leila’s deck was way cuter. “He isn’t much in the looks department, but… really, most of this deck isn’t. But that’s beside the point! I activate Hunting Hound’s effect, letting me Fusion Summon a monster. By using himself and Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Chimera, I’ll summon Ancient Gear Howitzer!”

Ancient Gear Howitzer: Level 8/EARTH/Machine/1000/1000

“And much like Hunting Hound, he isn’t cute at all! But, also like Hunting Hound, he has an effect that lets me deal damage. Once per turn, I can deal 1000 damage to my opponent!”

Leila: 6600 → 5600

“That’s not all he does, either. I’ll show you what I mean when our monsters battle! I attack Madolche Mewfeuille with Ancient Gear Howitzer!” The dragon-like robot standing before Makoto aimed its cannons down, toward Leila’s cat. As the tiny feline pounced, the machine fired its cannons, making a clean and direct hit, only for the cat to pounce out of the smoke as it faded away, driving its tiny paw directly into the face of Makoto’s monster. Even the small force behind its attack was enough to prompt the machine to fall apart.

Makoto: 7400 → 7100

“This is where that other effect comes in. If Howitzer gets destroyed by battle, I can special summon any Ancient Gear monster from my deck, ignoring its summoning conditions. That means even monsters that can’t normally be special summoned are a-okay. For example… this Ancient Gear Golem!”

Ancient Gear Golem: Level 8/EARTH/Machine/3000/3000

“You can’t activate spells or traps when it attacks, but it doesn’t say anything about effects, so your field spell and trap still work normally. Buuuuuuut, there’s one other thing about Golem. It does piercing damage. Which is why I don’t mind using it to attack Madolche Baaple!” Just as the rusted metal titan appeared behind Makoto, its joints creaked and groaned as the machine raised up its arm, before, with a resounding crash, it slammed its fist down on Leila’s remaining monster, as if crushing a bug it found on the table.

Makoto: 7100 → 6800
Leila: 5600 → 4900

“And then, I set two cards face-down, and end my turn.”

Leila, without explaining anything, took her two cards from the graveyard and added them back to her hand. Drawing her card as her turn came around, the girl looked at her life points and then back to the field in front of her. Looking at the golem, she said, “Makoto. Your cards hurt a lot and they’re like super big.” The girl gave Makoto a thumbs up as if to say she approved of the girl’s deck.

[Chaos Sonic 443]

"Hey there David! How's it goin? Ya know if you wanted a chant when you joined you shoulda said so!"

David had a mental face palm moment occur when Hana said this, seeing that she obviously missed the point of what this conversation was about. Not to mention, that the young girl was pretty much attaching herself to him. It even made the young man blush a little, as he wasn't expecting this. With a quick clearing of his throat, he shuffled himself out from Hana's grip and grasp. "A-Ahem! ...you misunderstood, Hana." he said, adjusting his glasses. "I personally didn't ask for a chant when I joined, I was simply stating a fact to Peter, that a school spirit chant would've been something we would've had to hear on our first day or during orientation, that's all."

She seemed harmless, if only just a bit...the best way David could put it, was not all together there and a few fish shy of a full fish platter...oh no he was using fish in his mental analysis of Hana. The infection had already begun!

Aside from this, the Duel between Makoto and Leila began: Ancient Gears versus Madolche...a Fusion deck versus an Xyz deck. He instantly had flashbacks of his Duels against Charlie, but he immediately shook them off.

"Hmmm an interesting set of turns...on both ends of this." David commented, crossing his arms slightly before putting his hand to his chin. "Makoto has already done the set up and has already summoned Ancient Gear Golem in quite a quick manner. Now the possibilities of what will happen now for her are determined on this next turn as well as her face downs. On the other hand, her opponent's Madolche's are...in a manner of speaking...going to be something that will be a bit trickier to deal with aside from just using the beatstick that is Ancient Gear Golem or whatever Makoto has up her sleeve."

With an adjustment of his glasses, he continued. "Madolche can gain card advantage and like to maintain it...so if Makoto even slips up once and gives an opening, her opponent may take advantage of it and just continually just recycle their resources whilst depleting Makoto's. What's more...is that archetype is generally unaffected by any widespread destruction effects, just simply swarming even more than they did before."

Edited August 21, 2020 by Chaos Sonic

[Tiamat's Circus 117]

To be blatantly honest, the reply she received from Peter was the last one she had expected in a million years. Confident? Even as she wiped the confusion from her face, she was more than surprised to learn that her facade had been taken at any level of face-value. “Ah, don’t worry about that!” She replied,  cackling. “It’s simply the role of the antagonist to always have the upper-hand; to be gloriously overconfident!” She explained, throwing her arms out to the side in laughter. “That pit in your stomach is an important lesson to hold on to, and to never lose sight of! A grounding tool, to make sure you never lose sight of your limits!” She explained, hoping her advice was at least a tiny-bit helpful... Before nodding, as Hana pointed at her. "And yeah! Go-Go Ma-ko-to! Go-Go... Noodle...?" Terry paused, not sure what 'noodle' was referring too, as she waited for the duel to start.

And start the duel did; and with that, came watching the duel, and with watching, came commentary; mostly from David as Terry turned to face him, the glasses-bound student explaining his thoughts on the match-up with each movement. “Ooh. Good analysis, but I do disagree a tiny bit.” Terry chimed in, bringing a hand to her chin as her villainous persona seemed to melt away, into a more eager observer. “While Madolche has a lot more reliability in their recycling, I’m not sure that’s enough to be giving it as much leeway in this match-up as you seem to think. After all, Ancient Gear is a deck that seems to focus on limiting opponent reactions as much as possible, while also focusing heavily piercing and effect damage. Even if Madolche can stall out a traditional deck, Ancient Gear is going to be an entirely different beast for them to handle, meaning this can go either way, y’know?” She explained, practically wiggling in her seat. “Which, is why we HAVE to continue cheer for Makoto, because she’s got this! You hear me Makoto?! You’ve GOT this!” She called out, raising her voice; the persona switching back into place like a light-switch, as she began cheering once again. “As the first line of defense in our Armada of Agony, you’ve GOT this! Show them the Horizon of our power!”

Edited August 22, 2020 by Feral Pistol

[Skaia 578]

---

As with all of her turns before, Leila paused as she looked at her cards very carefully. Then, after some time had passed yet again, the girl went wide eyed as she looked at her cards. Nodding, she said, “I summon Mewfeuille and Bapple again. And, and, and now I can also summon Petingcess-uh -Petingce- uhhh. Smaller Puddingcess. And regular Puddingcess!” Without explaining what either of her cards did, in addition to the cat and sheep, two small plates of flan appeared, with two blonde girls falling from the sky and breaking their fall on them. The two girls were empowered by the field around them, with Puddingcess being further so. 

Petingcessouer: 1400 ATK/DEF → 1900 ATK/DEF
Puddingcess: 1000 ATK/DEF → 2300 ATK/DEF, Level 5 → Level 4 

Seeming more energized by how full her field had gotten, Leila then continued saying, “Bapple uses its effect again on Golem. And Puddingcess attacks.” At her behest, the pastry princess marched over to the golem. Then pulling back her hand, she slapped the machine, waving her hand as she seemed to hurt herself more than the monster. 

Leila 4900 → 4200 
Makoto: 6800 → 6500

“After Puddingcess attacks, she gets to destroy one card on the field. Which means she gets payback for Bapple.” Stepping back, princess brushed her hair aside with her hand as a giant flan from the sky fell on top of the Golem, crushing it and destroying it. “Mewfeuille and smaller Puddingcess can attack directly now too.” 

“Not so fast! I activate one of my face-down cards, Ancient Gear Reborn! If I don’t control any monsters, I can special summon an Ancient Gear from my graveyard. I’ll be bringing back Ancient Gear Howitzer, in defense position.” The floor in front of Makoto sparked a spark of electricity, as scraps of metal gathered around the area, piling up and clunking onto each other to eventually build up to the fusion monster that had been destroyed not long ago. “How bout that?”

Leila seemed at a loss for words, more so because her own train of thought was interrupted then anything else. As such, she blankly stared at the machine, blinking a few times before saying, “whoa. That’s cool.” Looking at her cards again, the girl paused before saying, “then smaller Puddingcess attacks Howitzer.” 

Makoto: 6500 → 6200

“When Howitzer is destroyed, I summon a monster! This time, it’s Ancient Gear Wyvern!” From the gear city behind her, a green figure shot up above the duelists, as it swooped down to land just between the two duelists with a metal growl. “And when it’s summoned, I can add any Ancient Gear card from my deck to my hand. Like this spell for example, Ancient Gear Workshop.”

Ancient Gear Wyvern: Level 4/EARTH/Machine/1700/1200

“Oh. Right. Whoops.” The girl looked at the wyvern, then back to her own field and then back to Makoto. “I end my turn.”

---

[radio414 909]

The duel started while Peter wasn’t looking. He’d been too busy listening with one ear to Terry talk about how he was supposedly a hero and how he was supposed to turn his adversity (if one could even call a nervous stomach pit “adversity”) into his strength, meanwhile, the other ear had been taken over by Hana’s cheers. By the time Terry joined in and both sides were in sync, Makoto and Leila were at least one or two turns in. And he knew he was supposed to probably offer mid-match commentary, or at least try to analyze the situation, but without those initial play actions, he didn’t really care to try. Especially since there was such a good alternative in nodding along to David, making non-committal noises. “Mm-hm. Uh-huh. Sure.” And so on.

The pit, despite his claims, still hadn’t gone away. He almost wanted to pull out his earbuds and tune everything out again. Tune everything out, and all that. Not that he would, of course, just that he wanted to.

Instead, he tried getting into the cheer squad. Hana, still atop David’s back, had never really stopped in her attempts to get everyone to follow her unbiased cheering. Peter wasn’t that lively, though he did quietly clap along to at least the Makoto parts of the cheer, occasionally even saying, “Go Makoto,” along with the other participants. When the turn came back around to their side, he even, in the heat of the moment, added a “Let’s go, Makoto. Come on!” right in the silence between cheers and he felt pretty okay about that. It wasn’t getting better, but it wasn’t getting worse either.

[LordCowCow 841]

There was a duel happening. Hana knew that. But she couldn't really bring herself to focus much on what was going on. According to the life totals Makoto was winning which was...good, right? That's what they wanted to happen?

"I personally didn't ask for a chant when I joined, I was simply stating a fact to Peter, that a school spirit chant would've been something we would've had to hear on our first day or during orientation, that's all."

"Hm, hm, hm." Hana said, stroking her chin. The boy had managed to pull away from her which was a shame but he did at least answer. "I dunno I think you actually do want one. Don't worry, I'll figure something out!" She thought some more and as David said something about the duel Hana muttered under her breath "He's got glasses he's got...classes...no..."

She made sure to flash Terry a thumbs up. "You got it! That's what I call spirit!" She was about to go over towards her when she noticed Peter, as well, cheering.

Hana felt somewhat proud for having started a cheer train among at least some of the younger members. But now she had to choose one of them to give the attention that David had rejected.

She couldn't decide very easily so she took out her lucky Rare Fish and gave it a flick. Flipping the card much the same as one would a coin. She snatched it and took one look before nodding.

Much like David she circled around her prey and took the dive. Though as her target was shorter she instead rested her head on top of theirs. "Teeerryyyyy" She said. "That was a good cheer. We need to get some costumes next time!" She shook the girl side to side. "Hey, hey, who do you think is gonna win? I can't tell! What if it was a tie wouldn't that be neat?"

She then flashed a look over at Peter. A look that clearly stated "You're next".

[yui 576]

 

“My turn. I draw!” No later than her card being drawn did Makoto immediately proclaim “I activate Ancient Gear Workshop! This card lets me return an Ancient Gear monster from my graveyard back to the hand, and I choose Ancient Gear Golem!” After adding the monster back to her hand, Makoto looked over the cards available to her for a moment, before deciding on a course of action. “Next, I activate Ancient Gear Castle, which increases the attack of all my monsters by 300.”

Ancient Gear Wyvern: 1700 → 2000

“Normally, Ancient Gear Golem needs two tributes to be summoned, but if you remember the start of this duel, Geartown reduces that number. I tribute Ancient Gear Wyvern to summon Ancient Gear Golem! ...again!” A smug look flashed across Makoto’s face as her relatively weak dragon-like machine was replaced once again by the towering mass of parts.

Ancient Gear Golem: 3000 → 3300

“Let’s not waste any time, and get right to the battle! I attack Madolche Mewfeuille!” Similarly to its last appearance, the golem’s arm groaned upward, before slamming down on the rather helpless cat, squishing it thoroughly.

Makoto: 5900 → 5600
Leila: 4200 → 1900

“And that’s not the only trick I’ve got either. Now that we’ve had some battles, I activate Ancient Gear Explosive! By destroying my Golem, I can deal half of its original attack to you in damage.”

Leila: 1900 → 400

“And now for the big finish! Now that I have no monsters, I activate Ancient Gear Reborn’s effect again! Come on back, Ancient Gear Howitzer! But don’t get too used to him, because I activate his effect, to deal 1000 damage. And that’s more than you’ve got.”

Leila: 400 → 0

“And, scene. At least, I think that’s what he says.” As the holograms dispersed, Makoto gave her opponent a thumbs-up. “That was a good duel! Your deck is super cute, and I’d totally get one myself if I wasn’t already so used to this deck instead!”

Leila looked to the field, then back to her duel disk blankly as the duel ended. Blinking, she simply commented, “oh, it’s over.” Looking back over to Makoto she smiled saying, “oooh thanks. I think they’re really cute too. That’s why I picked them out.” The girl nodded before saying, “and your deck is just like Laurie’s. Which means it’s super cool too.” The girl gave an oddly proud smile in spite of her loss, and a thumbs up to Makoto.

[Skaia 578]

Once Makoto had made her way back, Clara seemed to be deep in thought and had both been glad she hadn't been assaulted by the cheer squad as well as not really paying much attention to it to begin with. After a few more moments had passed, she shrugged and looked to Makoto. "Good job on the win, Makoto." Her tone was flat and didn't really seem to have much praise behind it, as she instead looked back to the others. Seeing that two of the eligable students to go up next were currently being hunted by a cheer shark she looked over to the last one. "David, you're up next." 

---

After giving her thumbs up Leila simply stretched both of her arms out to the side and walked back, as if balancing on an imaginary beam, to her team. The green haired male gave her a smile saying, "good try, Leila! You were a bit shaky out there to start with but you really showed that girl what your monsters can do. Next time I'm sure you'll get it for sure!" As he beamed with positivity, this cracked a bit as he could feel Laurie's intense gaze on him.

Letting out a small chuckle, the boy looked away as Laurie shifted her attention to Leila. "There's a lot to review there but, at the end. Why didn't you XYZ Summon?" 

Leila thought about it for a moment, before saying, "because I had four monsters on the field, and four is better than three. Besides, the Puddingcess Sister are invincible together." 

"But you lost." 

"I believe in the Puddingcess Sisters." 

Laurie sighed a she gave Leila a rather hearty pat to the head, followed by several smaller ones. "Well, like I said, we'll review it for later. Only thing to do now is play the next." Laurie looked to her coach, who gestured to another of the students, to which Laurie's eyes then followed. "Lily, you're up next. Good luck out there."  

 

[Chaos Sonic 443]

“And you cannot move at all in Time, you cannot get away from the present moment.”

---

Not too surprising, Makoto brought the win home for Horizon in the first match. While Madolche was an Xyz deck, it was fairly obvious that Ancient Gears with their Fusion mechanics and general monsters with higher attack and effects would end up winning in the end. Once Makoto got back to the others on their side, David simply flashed a thumbs up at her direction. Now...who's the second match to be? he thought, rubbing his chin slightly.

"David, you're up next."

With an adjustment of his glasses, David nodded. He moved to take one last glance at the deck and how things would be. Satisfied with the results of this, he put the deck into his Duel Disk. A sharp exhale escaped his lips in the process. Okay David...remember the Duels you’ve had thus far...remember what the Captains were showing you. he thought, before proceeding to make his way towards the appointed Dueling field.

He stopped on his side, just in time to see his opponent. A young girl with black hair and glasses with quite an assortment of piercings in her left ear. This somewhat amused him, having two glasses facing off against one another...it was either poetic or ironic. “David Kripaldi...” he said, simply nodding towards his opponent.

Scratching at her arm, Lily couldn’t help but give a bit of a smirk at his name; before shaking the smirk right off her face, and nodding. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mister Kripaldi. My name is Lily Williams.” She gave a short bow, before dipping her hand into her pocket, watching the other duelist carefully. “Also, um,” she glanced back at her coach, giving a thumbs up. “Thanks, Boss. I’ll do my best.” She called out, before turning once again to face David. “So, you first or me?”

“Well, I believe the saying is ladies first. If you wish to go first, I won’t stop you, Miss Williams.” David said in a cordial manner, adjusting his glasses yet again.

“I see.” She nodded, bringing her hand out from her jacket; deck-in-hand. “Then let’s begin.” She smiled, slotting it into her duel-disk. “Then let’s begin.”

BGM

“I draw.” Lily announced, as five cards were practically ejected into her waiting hand; eyes scanning the hand multiple times, as she hovered her free-hand over two cards. “...Is it bad-manners to apologize to your opponent before the duel has even truly begun?” She wondered aloud, the smallest hints of a smirk appearing on her face, before placing the cards onto her duel-disk. “I play Melffy Puppy in attack-position, and place one card-face-down.” She explained.

Immediately, a blank obelisk of a face-own card appeared flatly in front of her, as in front of that, pastel paints began to splatter the air in front of her. The paint continued, until the faint outline of a dog slowly began to make itself apparent as the paint stopped mid-air to create the monster. The puppy let out a loud bark, its tail wagging, as it shook itself into the third dimension; an outrageously fluffy appearance being given to the monster, as it looked expectantly towards David.

“Your move.”

“Melffy? Hmmm this should be interesting.” David said, drawing his card for the start of his turn. “Regardless, I believe I’ll do this.” His eyes scanned his hand, after he grabbed one card from his hand. No second guessing...be less rigid and remember...wait for the proper opportunity. he thought.

“I summon in Attack Mode, Time Thief Regulator!” he declared, watching the monster he placed on his Duel Disk spring to life, as the strange mechanical creature that resembled both a phone and a dog let out a mechanical howling noise. “They do say, dogs are man’s best friend...so it’s fitting that he gets summoned first. Unfortunately, he won’t be staying long. I activate Regulator’s effect!” Regulator stood at attention, before morphing slightly into its phone appearance. From there, it simply began to have a few buttons pressed, starting to glow brightly.

“I tribute Regulator due to having no other monsters on the field. And with it, I can Special Summon two other Time Thief monsters!” David said, now selecting two other monsters from his deck. “From my deck to Defense Mode, I Special Summon Time Thief Bezel Ship and Time Thief Winder!!” Regulator vanished in a bright light, before having Bezel Ship and Winder now in place of where they were, in Defense Mode.

“By Winder’s skill, I’ll be adding one Time Thief card from my deck to my hand as long as it isn’t Winder.” he said, taking another card, revealing it to Lily: Time Thief Hack. “I’ll now play my Time Thief Hack that I just added. And now...with two Level 4s...I construct the Overlay Network!” Winder and Bezel began to glow and become balls of light as the Overlay Network opened before David, to which they dove right into it.

BGM

“Through time you dive, correcting that which is wrong! Let the laws of time guide you to the path that presents victory!” David said, adjusting his glasses with quite the smirk. “XYZ SUMMON!! Descend through the timestream: Time Thief Redoer!!” From the Overlay Network, ascended an individual clad in quite the fanciful cape, now standing cross armed in front of David.

“Redoer, thanks to Time Thief Hack, now gains 300 attack for each Xyz Material it has...meaning 600 attack.” David simply said.

Time Thief Redoer: 2400 ATK -> (+600 ATK) -> 3000 ATK

“Also, thanks to Hack...during the turn they’re summoned, my Xyz Monsters can’t be destroyed by your card effects nor can you target them! With that in mind...Redoer! Attack Melffy Puppy...Chrono Strike!!” David declared the attack, as Redoer rushed towards Melffy Puppy, proceeding to strike at it.

“Melffy Puppy; activate your effect. Since you’re being targeted for an attack, return to my hand, and replace yourself wiiiiith…” She trailed off, bringing a hand to her chin. “Melffy Catty, in defense position!” She nodded, taking Puppy’s card into her hand, as with a colorful splash of paint, a card was ejected from her deck; the dog, being replaced with a yellow cat, which rolled on the ground, mewing pathetically. “I assume you continue your attack, annihilating my poor, defenseless, innocent kitten?”

“Hmm...not too familiar with the Melffy archetype...so this comes as quite the surprise.” David let out a small chuckle. “But yes, I continue with the attack. Redoer, attack the now present Melffy Catty! Chrono Strike!!” The attack resumed, this time, Redoer’s target being Catty.

Redoer’s strike cleaved clean through the pastel-kitten, sending paint flying, and the card to the graveyard, without a hitch… As Lily continued to tap away at menus that seemed to pop-up at the same time. “Using Melffy Catty’s effect, in response to being targeted - and attacked - I’m adding one beast-type monster to my hand, from my deck.” She explained, smiling.

“Very well. I’ll set one face-down card and I’ll call it a turn. As such, Redoer's attack will return to normal.” David said, gesturing towards Lily with his hand. “It’s back to you.”

“As you end your turn, I’ll also take the opportunity to play the second half of Melffy Puppy’s effect; allowing me to special summon this good boy straight from my hand.” She interjected, a collage of colorful paints accenting her point, before she cleared her throat. “And with that out of the way… I, enter my Draw Phase. Next I'll...”

“And that’s where I’ll interject.” David quickly said with a smirk appearing on his face again. “Redoer’s effect activates. During the Standby Phase, he can steal a card from your deck and add it to his Xyz Material. Redoer, if you don’t mind...Time Snag!!” The top card on Lily’s deck immediately was snagged by Redoer, simply forming it into a ball of light and having it join the other two that were orbiting him. “Oh, seems like it was Valerifawn, Mystical Beast of the Forest. Interesting...” he said, checking the card on his Duel Disk. “Alright, you may continue.”

“...Right.” Lily puffed out her cheeks in frustration, which she proceeded to scan meticulously at the card she drew. “...Hm… Guess that means I’ll have to…” She paused, a hand hovering over her face-down, before flipping it face-up. “Entering into my Main-Phase, I activate the Quick-Play Spell-Card: Melffy Tag, which allows me to special-summon Melffy Catty back from my graveyard.” She explained, a colorful array of bushes appearing over her graveyard, as the card was ejected onto the field - and her cat jumped from the bushes, onto the field of play.

“I’ll then use my normal summon, to play Melffy Pony, onto the field.” She paused; the typical splash of pastels overtaking the field as a pink-colored pony sprang to life; trotting around her field. “And I’ll use those two, to make…” She trailed off, swiping a pair of cards from her Extra-Deck, and scanning them. “To… Make…” She repeated, squinting. “...To comfort those in need, to chastise those who do wrong; to create that which has yet to be, and to keep that which should never come to pass from passing.” She calmly announced; a swirl of paints surrounding Melffy Cat and Pony, respectively. “XYZ Summon: Melffy Mommy.” She gave a quick nod, as the swirl of paints exploded into shades of pink, a white and pink Marmot, clutching a heart, looming protectively over Melffy Puppy. “I’ll also activate her effect, to attach a Melffy Rabby from my hand to her as an extra XYZ material, bringing her up to three materials,” Lily paused, as a small rabbit ran under the massive-marmot, to hide. “And… I’ll end my turn.”

David kept quiet, only glancing at the monster that Lily summoned on his Duel Disk. “An Xyz...and...it’s similar to Redoer in a sense.” he muttered, rubbing his chin slightly, before drawing his next card. “...this is quite interesting. Regardless...my Standby Phase...Redoer! Time Snag!” he said, as Redoer yet again took another card from the top of Lily’s deck, adding it to his Xyz Material. “This turn’s bounty is…Rescue Cat.” David then began to assess the situation he found himself in..

Hmm...her Melffy Xyz currently has three materials...obviously meaning it can’t be destroyed by battle. This would mean that she’d still take the damage. She’s going to try to make it to five material...therefore making me lose Life Points in the process. David’s glasses showed a slight glare in the light. If she gets that far, however...she’ll take no damage whatsoever. Okay, remember what Charlie said...don’t rush it...wait for even an opportunity longer.

“There’s always another idea...which I have...” he smirked. “I activate Time Thief Hack! Firstly, Redoer has a total of four Xyz Material attached to it.”

Time Thief Redoer: 2400 ATK -> (+1200 ATK) -> 3600 ATK

“With that, I’ll go for the second effect it has in this regard. If my Xyz Monster has Xyz Material that is owned by you, my opponent...” David paused, adjusting his glasses. “I can have it attack directly.”

“Woah! That’s… Pretty, really, not great!” Lily winced, as the Time Thief leapt forwards; slashing through her with temporal magic. “Ow, that actually stings,” she groaned, as her life-points dropped dramatically; stumbling back. “Guess there’s no reason to hold-back then, huh?” She laughed, keeping one of her eyes closed as her life points settled.

Lily Williams (8000 LP) -> (-3600) -> (4400)

“You were holding back? You insult me...” David chuckled, before setting another face down. “I’ll end my turn there. Redoer's attack returns to normal as a result.”

Edited September 3, 2020 by Chaos Sonic

[radio414 909]

Oh, Makoto had won. Peter had to admit to himself that he hadn’t really been paying attention; his most recent distraction had been Hana latching onto Terry, trying to get her to elucidate her opinions on the match more forcefully than Peter thought necessary. Even worse was when Hana leered at him (or as close as Peter had ever seen Hana get to leering), a move that could only lead Peter to assume he was next to be shaken down. He scooched his seat away from them, but only a little. It was probably a useless gesture -- any distance could be assumed to be negligible with Hana involved, really -- but the idea behind the action still mattered to him.

He also tried to focus on other things, like Makoto walking back to the rest of the team and David moving to replace her. “Nice job, Makoto” and “Go get ‘em, David,” were things that came out of his mouth in those moments, though his mind was still elsewhere. He tried to follow along, too, when the duel actually started, but he kept making offhand glances over to Hana and Terry on the bench, and he continued to scoot away each time.

Peter did pay enough attention to watch David nearly halve his opponent’s life, total, though, and he did clap along for that. “One or two more attacks, just like that, David,” he said.

[yui 576]

“With that, I’ll go for the second effect it has in this regard. If my Xyz Monster has Xyz Material that is owned by you, my opponent... I can have it attack directly.”

“One or two more attacks, just like that, David.”

"That's how it's done!" Makoto cheered. At first, Makoto had her doubts about David's duel. It had started out rather unimpressively with a quick xyz summon, which still looked cool at least, but then suddenly David had nearly cut his opponent's life points in half! That Time Thief Redoer sure was a neat monster! She wouldn't have minded having something like that in her own deck, that was for sure. "An all-guns-blazing assault! The best defense is a good offense!" After all, the opponent couldn't attack if they were too busy stopping your own attacks. That was why she liked Ancient Gears. They couldn't really be stopped.

[Tiamat's Circus 117]

To be honest, Terry had been so caught up in the duel that when Hana placed her head atop hers, it took all her self-control not to headbutt upwards in defiance. Instead, the diminutive final boss would basically vibrate in place, possibly chattering Hana’s teeth, before finally composing herself. “Y...Yeah! Costumes! Like mine!” Terry would announce, a sparkle practically visible in her eye as she ruffled her scarf. “I-I made it myself, y’know? Based it off my favorite construction that spreads a cacophony of chaos within it’s every movement!” She exclaimed, proudly. “Er… I based it off my boss monster.” She corrected, looking up to beam proudly at Hana.

“O-Oh! But… I think… Makoto! Makoto’s got this!” Terry finally answered the question, turning her head back to face the duel. “Because, she’s part of my army of anarchy and agony! The malevolent madness incarnate!” Terry continued, eyes narrowing on Makoto’s duel. “So you can do it… You got thi-You did it!” Terry cried out, pumping a fist into the air as Makoto won the duel, possibly slapping Hana in the process if she was still hovering overhead.

Her joy faded just as it came, turning back to excitement as the next duelists were announced. “Ooh, next one’s beginning…” Terry murmured, practically on the edge of her seat as she watched the duel unfold, occasionally chiming in with the others. “Yeah! You got this, David! Steal their victory out from under them! Take not just the time from their lives, but their hearts as well!” She called out, clearly far too enthusiastic.

---

“What can I say? You like to know what you’re dueling against before you go all-out.” Lily explained, smiling. “Anyways… I draw.” She nodded, taking a card.

 

“Redoer, if you please. Time Snag!” David declared, as Redoer took another card, this time it was Called by The Grave. “That’s five material.” And a Spell Card this time...excellent. He was about to just detach it now, but again, he harkened back to what he was told...wait for even a moment more before using an effect.

 

“Hm…” she grit her teeth, staring at her hand. “If you’re not going to attack my Melffy Puppy, or summon monsters…” She trailed off. “Then I’ll have to use him for something more interesting. I use my normal summon to summon another Melffy Catty,” she paused, placing the card onto the field; a ball of paint raining from the sky. “And then, overlaying Melffy Puppy and Melffy Catty…” she trailed off, taking in a deep breath.

 

“Surrounded by powers not your own, you skulk and there you wait. But once you place your armor on, a hero you will stay!” Lily called out, the two monsters intertwining as a beam of light swallowed them whole. “Summon, XYZ: Number 64, Ronin Raccoon, Sandayu!” She called out, slamming the card onto her duel-disk, on top of the overlaid materials. Bursting forth from the light, came a golden tanuki racoon emerging from the dust, a rolled up, golden-sheet in hand. “Sandayu, activate your effect, and summon your alter-ego; the master of shadows, Ronin Raccoon!” She exclaimed, detaching a material from her monster.

 

In a flash, the Raccoon unfurled it’s rolled-up cloth, a massive set of red and black samurai armour appearing beneath it, as the raccoon stepped back behind the hulking monster. “As a note, when I summon a token with his effect, the monster’s attack is equal to that of the highest attack on the field.” She explained, smiling. “And I’d like to ask my token… To attack your Time-Thief Redoer, the strongest monster on the field!” She exclaimed, pointing in an accusatory manner.

 

David seemed a bit worried at first, but he slowly began to exhale. “Very well then. I suppose I can’t help this.” he said, before snapping his fingers. “Redoer! Time for your effect to take hold!” The strike from the Raccoon token halted, almost as if it was frozen in time. “By detaching one Xyz Material from him, I can activate a myriad of effects, corresponding to the type of Material I remove. And I remove...the Monster Card, Rescue Cat! And with it...Redoer is able to banish himself until the End Phase. Downside to this, I lose all the Material attached to him...meaning you not only get your Rescue Cat back, but your Called by the Grave and Mystical Beast.”

 

Redoer absorbed one of the light orbs orbiting him, before beginning to fade in and out of existence. “Time Thief Redoer...Monster Material Effect - Time Hop!!” Once this was said, Redoer vanished and the Raccoon token began to move freely again. “Will you re-declare an attack, Miss Williams?”

 

“I sure will, Mister Kripaldi.” she announced, moving her pointed-finger towards him, smiling as her materials were returned; albeit, returned to her graveyard. “Ronin Raccoon, smite that which evil beckons; that which steals from the innocent! Direct Attack, with all of that attack!” She announced, almost getting too into it. “And Melffy Mommy! The original Ronin Raccoon, Sandayu! Don’t make him attack alone; aid him!” She announced, grinning wildly as her monsters moved forwards; the suit of armour and the creature, which was decidedly not a Tanuki, attack in conjunction with one another, while the mother of Melffy blew a stream of pastel, paint-covered hearts.

 

“And now...I proceed to activate my face-down!” David snapped his fingers again, as the card rose up and revealed what it was. “Quick-Play Spell...Time Thief Startup! Now, thanks to this, I can Special Summon one Time Thief monster from my hand! The rest of the effect, we won’t need to get into right now...” he paused, adjusting his glasses. “But nevertheless, this allows me to bring a monster out to assist me! So come forth, my second copy of Time Thief Bezel Ship, in Defense Mode!”

 

Once again, the ship monsters arrived on the field, seeming a bit less colorful than prior, but it was to be expected now that it was in Defense Mode. “This will only prevent one of your monsters from inflicting Life Point damage...but that’s all it’ll take for the moment. So Bezel Ship shall be destroyed by Ronin Raccoon, correct?”

 

 “Un...Unfortunately, it’ll have to be destroyed by the Token, yes.” Lily frowned, hesitating. “I continue the attack; this time targeting your ship with my Token, and you with the other two monsters.” She nodded, frowning as time once again began to move; the attack carried out as she had announced, with the mechanical suit of armour attacking the ship this time, and the other two monsters aiming their attacks towards the duelist himself.

 

David only brought his arms up, hoping to lessen the impact presented to him, but alas...the strikes were still that...and they damaged him greatly...well, metaphorically anyway. “...a nice chunk of Life Points...but could’ve been much worse if I didn’t play that card.”

 

David Kripaldi (8000 LP) -> (-2000) -> (6000 LP)

 

“Will that be your turn then?” he asked, straightening out some.

 

“Unfor...Er...Yes, Yes-Sir.” Lily nodded, furrowing her eyebrows.

 

“Very well. At your End Phase, Redoer returns to the field due to his effect. So Redoer, Time Hop!!” David declared, watching Redoer return to the field with the same amount of flair as the first time. “My turn...I draw. And at the Standby Phase, Redoer...Time Snag!” As if nothing had happened the turn prior, Redoer immediately snagged the top card from Lily’s deck. “Alright, the first new card to be added to Redoer’s Material is...” David selected Redoer and proceeded to look at the Material list. “....Melffy Playhouse, a Trap Card...interesting.”

Once this order of business was done, David grabbed one card from his hand. “First, I activate Overlay Regen! Simply put, I target Time Thief Redoer and Overlay Regen becomes an Xyz Material...thusly bringing Redoer to two Material. And thanks to Time Thief Hack, his attack will increase by 600.” he said, now seeing a second orb of light orbiting Reoder.

 

T.T. Redoer: 2400 ATK -> (+600) -> 3000 ATK

 

“Next, I summon Time Thief Chronocorder in Attack Mode.” he said, now watching a small device appearing and springing to life as something that looked like a bit of a butterfly. “Then...I set a Pendulum Scale...or at least...part of it, by placing Abyss Actor - Curtain Raiser in the Pendulum Zone!” Now to David’s left side, a large beam of light appeared as Curtain Raiser appeared, just hovering in the air with a “7” appearing right underneath it.

 

“Now...I proceed to activate Redoer’s effect again.” David declared, as one light orb was absorbed into the monster. “I detach the Melffy Playhouse, a Trap. This allows me to send one face-up card you control back to the top of the deck. And between the two...I wish for your Ronin Raccoon to be returned to the Extra Deck. And since this isn’t the card being destroyed by battle or a card effect, Redoer can definitely deal with this.” A slight adjustment of his glasses was seen, before David nodded. “Time Thief Redoer...Trap Material Effect - Rewind!!”

 

T.T. Redoer: 3000 ATK -> (-300) -> 2700 ATK

 

Redoer turned his gaze towards the Ronin Raccoon, rushing towards it before stopping in front of him and holding his hand out, to where the glove on his left hand began to glow and the area around the opposing Xyz Monster began to warp and change. Soon the monster seemed to be moving in reverse, even so far as to disappear from the field as it returned to the Extra Deck.

 

“Granted, I still have to deal with your Melffy Mommy and the Ronin Token...but this shouldn’t be too much of an issue.” he said, before pointing straight at Melffy Mommy. “Battle Phase. Time Thief Redoer will attack Melffy Mommy! It won’t destroy it, due to your monster’s effect...but as they say...you’ll still take the damage! 1700 to be exact! Redoer! Chrono Strike!”

 

Redoer rushed towards the pastel colored creature and immediately struck it with it’s attack, though obviously knowing it would destroy it...but the blowback from the attack was sent directly to Lily.

 

Lily Williams (4400) -> (-1700) -> (2700 LP)

 

“Tch…” Lily grit her teeth, frowning at the loss of her monster. “You’re good, I’ll give you that.” She shifted her frown into a smile, taking in a deep breath. “I assume that’s the end of your turn?”

 

“With my setting two face-downs, that’ll be my turn.” David smirked, adjusting his glasses again. “I will say, you aren’t bad yourself, Miss Williams.”

 

[LordCowCow 841]

“I-I made it myself, y’know? Based it off my favorite construction that spreads a cacophony of chaos within it’s every movement!”

"Ooooh then you can make us some outfits yourself! I tried to make a costume before but I got bored. I might still have the fish head somewhere...." Hana's mind drifted for a few moments as she thought about where she may have put it.

She smirked as the girl mentioned how she thought Makoto would win. "It's always good to believe in your teammates I guess. But isn't it fun to cheer for everyone?" She pumped her fist in the air "Goooo everyone!" She called out.

As it turned out Makoto did in fact win and Terry seemed to be laser focused on the next match. So much so that Hana was somehow pushed off of her. The girl giggled and called out for all to hear "Don't worry David, we'll come up with a cheer for you yet!" Nudging Terry she followed up "I'm counting on you!"

Now that she was detached from Terry the girl locked onto the one underclassman that she hadn't attacked yet. It looked like Peter was nervous, or at least wary, as he kept looking over at her. She realized he must know what she was thinking. Wow, he really was a smart cookie! Hana's stomach growled a bit as she thought about cookies. Did they have any in their stock of food? She'd have to check...

But first. "Peeeeetteeeeeeeeeeeer!" She called out as she dove across the bench and tackled the boy to the ground and hugged onto him. "Isn't this exciting? All these new people and duels and stuff! Hey you'll be next right? Do you want me to figure out a song for you or something? I can totally do that you know. I was in a music writing club before...or am I still in that? I forgot."

Her stomach growled again. "I think it's snack time, don't you?"

[radio414 909]

The fact that Makoto had joined along in his cheer picked Peter up a little bit. Like, he was still trying to focus on the duel, especially since, badger incident notwithstanding, David seemed most likely out of everyone to ask for feedback, win or lose, and he did at least want to try. But if he put in too much thought, he ran the risk of losing track of Hana, who, despite (or perhaps because of) his scootches, kept eyeing him hungrily. Terry was doing an admirable job of holding her at bay, but he still wanted to be ready.

David managed to wade through more counterplay, nearly halving Lily’s life total again in the process. As he ended his turn, Peter found himself wondering what his two newest facedown cards were. He wasn’t absolutely familiar with Time Thieves, but he could make a few guesses. Maybe-

Before he could even finish his thought, he found himself lying on the ground, with a Hana-sized mass right on top of him. “Peeeeetteeeeeeeeeeeer! Isn’t this exciting? All these new duels and people and stuff?”

And so on. All Peter could manage as a defense was “Mmph.” Not even a “Yes” or a “Hana, please get off of me before my ribcage implodes, while I don’t know your weight (and it would be rude to ask), I do know that my body cannot handle much more,” just “Mmph.” Only when Hana started asking about snack time did Peter find the right words that he hoped would allow him to stand up. “I think snacks are by Coach Clara,” he said.

He braced his arms against the ground, trying to stand up. “Please don’t make me carry you there.”