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Yu-Gi-Oh! Skies [IC/PG-16]

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To: BishFish
From: Jun 
might be a vending machine around there 
dunno
proud of u for not punching
even if theres no one to punch yet 
but keep to it! 

Putting her phone away in her pocket, the girl looked over to see how Hiraku was doing, only to be made amused at his very polite, by his standards, manner of speaking. Curious to say where it would go next, the girl continued to look at them before her attention was snapped back to in front of her. Seeing a blond haired boy standing before her, asking about the duel team, the girl smiled brightly at him saying, "it sure is. Here, is where all of your competitive dueling dreams will come true and all it requires is," she pulled a paper and pen from behind her. "A signature of this form right here." 

“Uhhhhh, sure.” He grabbed a pen off of the table and signed the form without really reading it. “There’s some kind of tryout or something, right?”

Looking at the sheet and the name given, also seeing that there was more to fill out then just a signature but not really caring about it at present, Jun tossed it behind her. "Ufufu, how perceptive of you Shiro." Her voice took on a tone not too disimilar to a certain dark princess before going to back to normal. "Well, by signing the form you're pretty much on the team, but we have a trial process where one of the club members duels you to help gauge where you should fit on the team. Since Captain already took the one I wanted to duel," she pouted a bit before perking back up saying, "how about I test you?"

Yushiro grinned, now a bit more in his element. “Sure thing. Its Yu-Shiro though. Okay?” He gave her a thumbs up to indicate that he wasn’t mad about it. “So… when and where, Miss Co-Captain?”

Grinning widely at being called “Co-Captain” the girl said, “well, why not here and now?”

Edited by Skaia

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"Thanks Captain Obvious..." Souji grumbled, rubbing the back of his head as he motioned towards Kyouko. "Already established that...so thanks for that. ...I'm still keeping this."

"Obvious Man, fighter of the Subtle Man," Sai sang jokingly before his little choking episode.

"Now, as I was just explaining to her...I was up here doing thinking. Sorta helps clear my head, you know how it is. I was thinking of possibly joining the Duel Team again...if only to be able to get plenty of chances of Dueling Hitomu. Gotta get better than him...he's the goal line for me."

"Not me, man. He's captain of the Duel Team," Sai said when he finally got over his fit. "He's part of the 'winning is everything' club. I just wanna entertain people and make them smile with my dueling, win or lose,"

"However...now that you popped up here...a thought occurred. The Entertainment Duel Club we had...we might be able to do that...if..." Souji finally stood up as he took off his fedora and ran a hand through his hair, sighing deeply. "...if...I bite the Magical Musketeer bullet...and be the club leader. Then again, we both know my people skills are complete shit...so dunno if that's back to square one or not."

Sai let out a laugh, one loud and clear. "S-sorry, but, imagining you as the club leader... pffftt... we... we wouldn't be able to keep members for a week," After his laughing, he thought to himself. "Besides, we'd need to have four people for them to even consider letting us have the club," He thought to himself. "We'd make half of it... maybe we could convince that girl you dueled the other day to join?" He rubbed his chin. "Got nothing for a fourth though...,"

"I'm going to a vending machine. If either of you have something you want and can pay me back for it, speak up."

"Um... n-no thanks, I'm good," Sai muttered, hoping not to draw her ire on himself.

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Gabriela looked around at this “Coffee Cards” with a rather underwhelmed expression. While Gabby thought it was a really cute and comfy place she didn’t feel it would make sense for her to express this. Instead...

“You think this is a good place to test my remarkable ability?” Gabriela asked Hitomu. “Would not a stadium, or a castle, or a space station be much more fitting?” She hesitated. “I suppose I shouldn’t expect such from a commoner’s school. I apologize for having such high expectations.”

She marched herself over to the table, fighting the blush as she realized everyone in the place had turned to look at her, or maybe at Hitomu which by extension meant her, and pulled up a chair. Instead of sitting on it she put one foot atop of it and pointed dramatically at the Team Captain. “Now I shall show you the power I hold within my cards!”

She held her position for a moment. Another. And her stomach growled. Once more fighting to not blush she stated “I...One such as me needs sustenance before battle. For the intense power I hold inside of me would consume everything were it not satisfied!”

Hitomu laughed. “Well, what would one such as you like to eat? Better hurry up and decide before your ‘intense power’  destroys the place.”

Gabby blinked. Did he actually buy it? She hurriedly glanced around for a menu of sorts and, when she found what she thought must be it, got somewhat overwhelmed by all the drink names she saw. “I would...er...Ah, but it would be rude of me to choose myself. I wish to sample the foods of your commoner folk. Why do you not tell me. What is it people of your ilk eat?”

“My ilk?” Hitomu scrunched his face up and scratched his chin. “I’m actually a king around here, you know. King of Cartoons.”

“And cartoons are the creation of the common folk. A king of commoners is still a commoner, himself, compared to a Princess of my calibur.” Gabby grew a bit nervous. Wondering if perhaps she was going a step too far. But it was too late now, she had already said it.

“No one can better lead the people than a man among them,” Hitomu said, nodding while acting like what he had said was somehow profound. This was kind of fun. “We need to get you a meal fit for such a high-ranking member of the kingdom of Castlevania, though, and in a hurry. Do you like sugar?”

Mentally taking notes on what Hitomu was saying, Gabby completely missed what he called her ‘kingdom. She did, however, hear his question. “Oh, mother never le- Ah that is to say that sugar was a poison that was limited in our land. I suppose the sugar here must be much less potent if you can so casually ask that….Sugar is acceptable in this case.” She finished, somewhat lamely.

Oh-hoh-hoh. The Princess of Darkness hadn’t ever had any sugary treats in her life. Hitomu’s smile was more than a little devious as he walked up the counter. The girl working it grinned when she saw him. “Hitomu! Thought today was your day off?” she asked.

Hitomu motioned over his shoulder at Gabby. “Working the Duel Team’s booth today, but I sorta owe her a lunch. Remember that girl whose chips I ruined -- or well, Masked Chopper ruined if we’re going to be technical. Either way I promised to take her to lunch to make up for it, and I’m meeting up with Tess here after this anyways, so figured two birds with one stone.” 

The girl behind the counter (her name tag said her name was Rebecca) shot Gabby an comical look of pity. “So sorry about Hitomu. We really try to keep him from harassing other people, but sometimes he just can’t help himself.” 

Hitomu mocked indiginancy. “I’m the picture of politeness, Becca!” 

Rebecca rolled her eyes and interrupted his theatrics with a shove. “What can I get you, sweetie? Aside from all the junk food, we do make some pretty good sandwiches and tea.”

Gabriela slowly took her foot off the chair as she realized she was being addressed. She didn’t respond at first, the girl’s demeanor catching her off guard, and she glanced over towards Hitomu. “I will let my future servant decide for me, this time!” She announced.

Rebecca glanced at Hitomu for an explanation. He shrugged. “Well… Alright, future servant, what’ll she be having?”

The Toon duelist’s devious smile resurfaced. “Caramel macchiato, two slices of coffee cake, and a bowl of ice cream.” It was a gauntlet he had invented his freshman year, a combination of food that would induce the ultimate sugar high; the Sugar Bomb. “Go ahead and pour some fudge on the ice cream while you’re at it,” he said, reaching into his back pocket for his wallet.

The barista seemed horrified. “Hitomu, that’s not lunch! You’re just going to give that poor kid a stomach ac--”

Hitomu smacked his card down onto the bar. “Ah-ah! Customer is always right, Becca!”

“...” Rebecca sighed, dejected, and rang the order up. A few minutes later Hitomu and Gabriela were seated at one of the duel tables with their order. The Duel Captain was sipping on a glass of water, but Gabby was surrounded by sugar treats that were all but begging her to eat them in unhealthy amounts. 

“So… what do you think of our ‘peasant food’ now?” Hitomu asked. 

Gabriela eyed the food with a passive eye. Inwardly Gabby was screaming in excitement. She hadn’t seen so much food at a time let alone all this sugar.
“I suppose your common fair is more...decadent than I expected.” Trying to keep a straight face she took a sip of the drink.

Her eyes widened. “It’s...p-passable.” She muttered, taking a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth and letting out an unintentional happy sigh. 

Gabriela tried to cover it up with a cough. “Passable indeed.”

When she got to the cake she couldn’t hold back anymore. And she began to nearly inhale the food before her. The girl’s eyes widened as the sugar began to hit her in waves.

Realizing how improper she was being she did her best, once most of the food was cleared, to calm down. Leaning back she started to dab at her face daintily with a napkin. Though, oddly, she noticed she was missing half of the time. 


It was then she realized she was bouncing in place. Unable to contain herself anymore she shot up and pushed the chair back. “Now! Captain of the Duel Team, we must do battle!”

 


 

Edited by Cheshire Toon

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The single coherent thought Melissa could manage as Elizabeth shot out of her chair was not related to Elizabeth’s profanity, nor was it related (directly, at least) to the various sentences that followed. Instead, she recalled the previous week, when the girl by the burger truck -- Akari, right? -- had had a similar reaction to Melissa approaching her. It couldn’t just be her, right? She just was trying to help. And yet…

It took a moment, too, for Melissa to parse what Elizabeth had been saying. Some of it -- the first bit -- seemed to be the realization of her worst fears. “The coffee’s a bit stale,” Elizabeth had said, as if that was everything. “I’m fine. I just don’t like stale coffee,” she could have said. But there was also her introduction and the implicit invitation that came with it.

Um, okay. I guess I can get you sugar,” Melissa said.

Already, Melissa was having second thoughts about her decision. “Stupid stupid stupid!” she thought, or mumbled, or… whatever. Instead of, you know, committing to either of the two obvious options presented to her -- staying or leaving -- she’d fallen slap-dash in the middle: walking away with the promise to return. All she was doing was prolonging the choice. Why couldn’t she commit?

Even worse was the fact that CoffeeCards had way, way too many sweetener options. Melissa personally didn’t care -- whatever was available worked for her. But she knew some people did. Some people preferred the yellow kind, some people thought the yellow kind gave you cancer, some people thought the pink kind was better than anything else, and some people thought that whatever was in those green packets was the way of the future. There was also a bottle of honey, too, and Melissa was pretty sure that that didn’t normally go in coffee, but was she sure sure?

The solution, of course, was to grab a handful of everything -- she grabbed some of each creamer too, just to be safe -- and walk back, arms full of just… stuff. It was a little difficult getting everything set out in a way that didn’t cover any of Elizabeth’s cards, but she managed. “Sorry, sorry, sorry,” Melissa said through the whole process. “Uh, you don’t have to use all of this.

But then, of course, was the other half. The “introduction” half. The time spent on trying to help had provided the sunk cost. It was an easier decision, even if it was still a little painful to make.

Um, my name is Melissa,” Melissa said. “We haven’t met, though I did, uh, I did see you, what was it, a week ago?


Elizabeth could only help but cock an eyebrow and chuckle a bit as the girl, who still had no name, as far as she knew, came over with armfuls of… well, it appeared to be anything with a hint of sweetness. She rushed to quickly move her cards off to the side into a small pile so that they would be out of the way of any potential catastrophe involving creamers and milk. Elizabeth’s cards were, of course, double sleeved with the best you could get from the card shop down the road, but they were far from indestructible.

“I- ah- oh no that’s-” Beth made a series of awkward hand motions and half reaches over to the girl to assist her in putting the various sweeteners on the table, to no success. This was the issue with lying, no matter how small: Elizabeth hated sugar in her coffee most days, and the stress of the most recent duel, as well as her emotional run-ins with Yushiro and Ashley, had been rather unkind to her diet; she was far from in the mood for sugar in the first place. But what was she going to do? Let this girl bring the whole service station over to her table and not use it? Even worse, was she only going to use one kind? Elizabeth didn’t even know what the yellow packet tasted like, but she was positive she read something in the news about it causing cancer.

As Elizabeth weighed her options, she noticed a certain warmness fall over the room, as the small of her back began to perspire, Am I sweating right now? She continued to look at the various sugars, then back to the girl, and then to her coffee. Panicked, Elizabeth reached for the plain sugar and some honey and quickly poured it into her coffee. She gave a small smile to the girl, and took a sip: it was horrendous.

Who the f--- puts honey in coffee, Elizabeth? Was all she could think to herself as the girl finally identified herself, post sugar fiasco.

“Oh, you saw the duel, did you? Wish I could have given you something more exciting then, Melissa. Whole performance was a bit of, well let’s say it wasn’t very good now, was it?” her accent hung on the vowels for a bit longer than normal, as if she was unsure or thinking about something while the words were coming out of her mouth. She looked back to Hitomu and the other girl near him,

“I’m surprised you’ve not joined her with the winner over there. Bit more deserving of the attention if you’re here to talk about the duel, no?” she took another sip of her coffee, not remembering that she had previously ruined it with far too much honey. A grimace crept across her face, trying her absolute best to hide it, in combination with gently tap dancing around the actual question asked.


Melissa frowned. The whole ordeal with the sugar had distracted her a little, but she was pretty sure she hadn’t actually asked anything about the duel. Yeah, she’d brought it up, but…

In the background, she could hear Gabriela voice. “...sugar is a poison that was limited in our land,” she said. That got her really worried. With all the different kinds CoffeeCards offered, who was to say any of them weren’t imported from... Romvania (right?). That, plus Elizabeth’s face (she’d clearly asked for sugar, right?) and… and…

No! She had to focus. Elizabeth had apologized- well, expressed regret, right? The least she could do -- the least she could do -- was at least respond to that. “No, um, I actually don’t do excitement that well, to be honest. I, uh, do you remember that Masked Chopper during the duel? How it tossed a knife into the crowd and Hitomu had to say ‘Sorry!’ and all that? That was enough- that was more than enough excitement for me. Um…” She trailed off, a little unsure of how to continue. “Um, but you’re not- no, I guess I won’t talk about that then.

A single question -- the single question -- floated back to the front of her mind. Now that they were into the swing of conversation (as much as was possible for Melissa, at least), it seemed a little intrusive, almost too intrusive, but it also refused to be dismissed. It forced itself past the anxious lump in Melissa’s throat and came out almost like a single word. “Areyouokay?

She hated herself for saying it, and immediately tried to cover it with phrases like, “Sorry,” and “I know I said that already, but, um,” but the damage had been done. It had been said.


For all her gamesmanship, tactical avoidance, faces, diversions, whatever you would like to call it, sometimes, there was no defense against persistence. Elizabeth seemed to be running into a lot of that lately. On one hand, it was comforting; she had been approached by two separate strangers as of late who both seemed concerned with her well being. That was nice!

But on the other, and perhaps the more dominant thought, was she really that broken looking? Had it gotten so bad that even the unknowing stranger could identify that she was a mess?

Elizabeth's half smile from the sugar episode faded, and a deep sigh quickly accompanied it. She had become exhausted by this conversation before it had even begun because of how many times she's had this exact talk before. It truly wasn't Melissa's fault, but the days always seemed longer when she went down this road.

“I've had better days, Melissa. Not many people who have been dealt my hand would be very chipper, especially not after losing a highly publicized match, as infantile as that may sound.” She moved her coffee off to the side and gathered her cards into a deck again, doing anything to keep her hands busy as the nerves began to creep into her chest again.

She adjusted her bangs to keep her occupied, all while fiddling with her bag to open it and return the cards from whence they came, more pointedly attempting to avoid Melissa's stare that Elizabeth was positive would be inquiring about her body language. This was Elizabeth's least favorite part about the “are you okay” talk; the part where the person inquiring knew that you were obviously not okay, and where they didn't say anything because who could possibly predict something so innocuous could turn into a full-on breakdown? It wasn’t like they'd been a part of this mental circus every day for the past two years, and they certainly hadn't had the “are you okay” talk bi-weekly. Why would you, if you were a normal person? Aft-

Elizabeth stopped herself; “What I can't figure out, I guess,” turning towards Melissa, throat beginning to once again become sore from sadness, “Is why people keep asking me that like they care?”


"But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds," declares the Lord, "because you are called an outcast, Zion for whom no one cares."
-Jeremiah 30:17 (NIV)


After everything, after hanging flyers on the community board, after making the impossible decision to approach the only-not-a-stranger-by-reputation Elizabeth, helping her with her coffee (no matter how unappreciative she seemed after the fact about all that), and sitting down with her, all Melissa had left was a rather thin stack of Community Service club flyers. She looked down at them and found that, without her being aware of it, she’d crumpled them into a ball.

She was shaking. And, sure, that was normal for most conversations Melissa had had, but this one felt different. Sure she was nervous, sure she wanted to scream, but the normal accompaniment, that “fight-or-flight-without-the-fight” feeling wasn’t there. “Cower” was normally the remaining option, but that wasn’t there either.

“Now! Captain of the Duel Team,” Gabriela said, far off in the other corner of the room, “we must do battle!”

I do care,” Melissa said. How dare Elizabeth say that she didn’t? “No, I mean, okay, you don’t know me but I don’t say things I don’t mean. I- I don’t really say anything at all, really, if I can help it. And okay, I guess you don’t have to believe that either, but, I don’t know, if I said, ‘Trust me!’ you probably wouldn’t accept that and on and on and on up the chain and we’d get nowhere and do you know where I’d be at the end of that? I’d be miserable! And yeah, I’m miserable, uh, about five-sevenths of the week anyway, but I try!

I don’t kn- do you know how I try? To not just, just wallow, sink into the earth and...?” Melissa made a gesture with the paper ball in her hands. “I care. I care so much. Sometimes I care too much and I wonder why I’m doing what I’m doing, or freak out at how many sweetener options there are at a service table and I’m stuck wondering which one I’m supposed to bring this one person -- this one person -- who I notice might need somebody to talk to.

Melissa was running out of breath. “It’s- would I rather that somebody they talk to be anybody else? Of course I would. Of course I would. I- last week, someone dragged me into a conversation I wasn’t ready for and- and I spent minutes -- full minutes! -- in the bathroom afterwards just screaming into my hands.” She made another gesture with the paper. “But it didn’t look like anybody else had noticed you, talked to you, so I guess you’re stuck with me.

It was only then that Melissa realized what she was doing. What she’d done. The damage control “ohs” and “sorrys” immediately came out, but they were in obscured by some pretty heavy breaths. Her heart was pounding a mile a minute. The only other thing she could manage to say was to repeat herself. “I do care, Elizabeth,” Melissa said.

I care.

Edited by radio414

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"S-sorry, but, imagining you as the club leader... pffftt... we... we wouldn't be able to keep members for a week. Besides, we'd need to have four people for them to even consider letting us have the club. We'd make half of it... maybe we could convince that girl you dueled the other day to join? Got nothing for a fourth though..."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Sai..." Souji rolled his eyes, adjusting his fedora and his clothes some. "What, would we be voting for you to be the leader? We both know how you get around other people...your people skills suck just as much as mine...and that's saying something."

Then Sai mentioned a potential third member to this Entertainment Duel Club, the girl he Dueled for that Exhibition Duel...Rose. The HERO Duelist started to rub his chin slightly, the gears starting to turn in his mind right now. Aside from himself and Sai, Rose seemed like the perfect choice. How she Dueled that first day against him, it was obvious she knew how to work the Entertainment Duel field and Duel Space to create an amazing performance.

"Sai...your a damned genius." he said, looking at his roommate with a wide smile. "I could work with trying to find a way to contact Rose and we'd have three members right there. As for the forth...maybe Jun? ...wait no...shit, we can't. She's already a part of the Duel Team with Hitomu. Damn...ya know what, I'll text Jun. She's good with knowing someone who could help...either way, you...me...we're going to get this club finalized."

He grabbed his phone and immediately started to text Jun, surely she'd know someone...

From: Souji Kazuraba

To: Jun Shui

Jun, it's Souji. Need some information...possible students who maaaaaaaaay have a knack for Entertainment Duels, putting on performances, and maybe even putting on a flashy outfit to entertain the masses. Me and Sai are gonna try and get that Entertainment Duel club up and running...pls help.

 

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"Yeah this is the Dueling Team. We practice together and represent the school in local tournaments and team matches against other schools. Why, were you thinking of joining?"  Oh, it seemed like this was more than just a casual dueling club. She was sort of hoping it'd be something more casual, but it still sounded like a lot of fun! Any sense of unwelcome coming from the boy seemed to be completely missed by Hoshiko as she let out a small gasp.

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

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might be a vending machine around there 
dunno
proud of u for not punching
even if theres no one to punch yet 
but keep to it! 

A small smile cracked across Kyouko's face. The boys may well have not noticed it at all if they weren't paying attention because of just how small it was, but Kyouko knew it was there. Back to the boys, Kyouko kept an ear open for whatever they may have had in mind for vending machine snacks.

"Um... n-no thanks, I'm good,"

And the other boy... said nothing at all about it. It was probably safe to assume he was fine too, then. FIne by her. It meant she could go elsewhere and not have to come back up to the roof. Maybe find some other quiet place. Maybe the library wasn't busy with all the club activity? At the very least, it'd be quiet there, being a library and all. New course set, Kyouko went back inside, shutting the door behind her as she started down the stairs from the rooftop. She wanted to check for a vending machine first though. Luckily, as Jun predicted, there was one not far from the stairs.

The chips she liked were out of stock. Go figure. She could have done with a healthier snack anyway. Kyouko put in the money for one granola bar... then followed up with two more. Content, she started back along the way to the library. And when she did get there, she found that she wasn't alone. A couple of different clubs were gathered here as well, but they were keeping quiet, and there was plenty of room for her to separate herself from them.

As such, Kyouko grabbed a book off the bookshelves, picked the corner of the room furthest away from any clubs, and sat down to read. Might as well kill the time somehow, right?

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Hiraku Tsukino

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

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

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Yushiro vs Jun

“If you don’t mind making a mess of the place, sure. I have my disk on me. You have yours?” Yushiro put his duel disk on and activated it; its green blade reflecting light off of his clothes. 

“Silly Shiro, as Co-Captain of the duel team,” Jun rolled up her sleeve, revealing her disk underneath it, “I always have it on me.” Activating the device, the blade, with colors shifting like that of a rainbow, lit up. “As you’re the challenger here, you get to decide who goes first.” 

“Cute duel disk, uhh…” He paused, realizing that he didn’t know her name. “I actually don’t know what I should call you. Tell you what: you can go first if you tell me your name.” 

Yushiro would see a faint hint of a smirk crossing her face for a moment as she went back to smiling brightly saying, “well, with conditions like that, you can call me Jun. Jun Shui. Most people leave out the Shui. Now, let’s duel!” Drawing her first five cards, Jun didn't quite seem to care about the mess they were bound to make for all of the other club members. “I’ll start by setting two cards face-down, and summoning a monster face-down. That’ll be my turn.” As she said this, she seemed looked as though she just remembered something saying, “oh, and Shiro. Try to have some fun with this duel, but, also try your best.” 

“I always try my best, Juju.” Yushiro fired back. If she wouldn’t get his name right, he’d respond in kind. “Draw!.” He looked through his hand for a moment, a move plainly obvious to him. “First, I’ll set two cards face-down, and then I’ll normal summon this: Speedroid Pachingo-Kart!”

ATK: 1800 Level: 4

“And now, I’ll activate its special ability. I’ll discard Speedroid Tri-Eyed Dice from my hand, and in doing so, I get to destroy one monster on the field. So let’s get rid of your set monster, eh?”

“Oh, nice opening. Unfortunately,” as the card was flipped up, it reveal a white serpentine like dragon, that was then swiftly destroyed. “When Chiwen, Light of the Yang Zing is destroyed and sent to the graveyard, I can special summon 1 Yang Zing monster from my deck to the field. So, come forth, Bixi, Yang Zing of Water.” As she called out its name, a strange mix of a blue turtle and dragon took to the field. 

DEF: 2000, Level: 2 

“Not bad. Guess I won’t get to take a round 1 shot at your life points after all. It’s your move then.” Yushiro shrugged.

“Then my turn!” Drawing her card, the girl then started with, “well, first I’ll activate the spell card Supply Squad. Next, I summon Suanni, Fire of the Yang Zing in attack mode.” 

ATK: 1900, Level: 4

“Let’s see if I have any more luck than you did. Go, Suanni, attack Pachingo-Kart!” As the red lion dragon was issued its command, it took in a deep breath, before expelling a large gout of fire at the toy machine. The impact sent a blast of wind outward as panchingo-kart’s hologram shattered. 

LP: 8000->7900

Raising an eyebrow as her attack managed to go through, this was swiftly replaced as the girl let out a cheerful, “looks like I was luckier. Well, I don’t have much left, so your turn Shiro.” 

Edited by Skaia

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One look was all Akari needed to decide that this was the spot. The perfect spot, in fact. The right amount of shade, neat yet soft grass with no grass burrs or ant hills in sight, and almost perfect positioning for a soft autumn breeze to smooth right on by. Yes indeed, this spot was perfect. With a stretch of her arms and a deep breath, she sat down cross-legged on the soft grass, her back resting on the trunk of the mighty, yet peaceful oak tree that stood there.

 Spending time alone had been her way of relaxing, which helped greatly whenever she had a tough week or something troubling her. She usually spent her alone time thinking about upcoming tests, new cards or duel equipment that was coming out soon, or just anything that interested her or happened during the week. And sometimes she’d just sit lay down and watch the clouds go by as she let her mind relax.

 As a good few minutes passed as Akari was taking in the beauty of the new spot she found, her mind wandered to her old spot. For a good portion of last year, the rooftops of the Blue Yonder’s buildings had been where she used to spend alone time, watching as people walked below and feeling the cool air drift by. But after one too many encounters with her head and the rooftop doors, she ended up choosing to find a different place. At first it had been the library, but the almost constant silence began to drive her crazy, so she moved on. She tried her dorm room next and, not surprisingly, had the same result as the library. After that, she tried looking anywhere and everywhere she could think of, but the search would be fruitless in the end. As the school year came and went, she hadn’t been able to find what she had been looking for.

 Until now.

 Resting her hands behind her head, she looked up at the leaves above, not looking at them in particular, but rather the vast blue sky beyond them. It was so beautiful, even if it was all artificial. With the clouds softly floating by, the sun shining high, and birds soaring swiftly through the air, it brought a smile to her face. This is what she loved about Blue Yonder. It wasn’t the students, the staff, or the classes. It was the freedom, the freedom to do whatever, whenever, however she wanted to do it. The freedom she never got to really experience living at home with her family.

 With a ten-foot high wall and iron gate, the only time she could ever leave the Ito property was either with one of her relatives or with a ton of hired guards (of course, the latter was always a package deal with the former), and she couldn’t even do the latter until she was 13! Of course, she understood that her family was one of the most well-known families in the dueling community, and with them having a large following of fans, bodyguards were a necessity for keeping her and her family safe, but still. All she ever wanted to do was play outside and make friends like every other young girl in Ambrosia, but it was kind of hard to do that when a body guard stopped anybody who stepped within 10 feet of her.

 That’s why she loved Blue Yonder. She could do whatever she wanted or go wherever she pleased without having to have constant supervision. It was something she wouldn’t give up for anything, and yet. . .

 The familiar ring of a cell phone broke Akari’s train of thought as she

Instinctually reached into her pocket to pull it out. The smile on Akari’s face grew in size slightly as she saw who was calling. It was her big brother, Reo.  Since last year, he had always checked up on her almost every single week she had spent at Blue Yonder. Her sister did the same thing too, but Akari hadn’t received any contact from her yet.

Taking a second to think about what to say, she answered the phone. “Hey Reo!”

“Hey sis! How’s it been at Blue Yonder so far?” Just by hearing his voice, Akari could tell Reo was wearing the bright, positive attitude he always had on.

“It’s been going great! I got to see one of the best duelists in the campus duel it out a few days ago.”

“That’s awesome!” Akari could imagine her brother throwing his fist into the air as he said this. “It must have been an amazing duel.”

“Yeah, it was. It reminded me how much I want to be a duelist like that.”

“And I’m sure you’ll get there very soon!” Reo was as positive as ever.  “Has anything else exciting or interesting happened so far?”

There was something else that happened in fact, or to be exact, someone. The kind boy, Kazu, who had helped her pick up the papers she dropped. That was something that had happened, but there was no way she was gonna tell her brother that.

“No, nothing else really happened,” Akari replied, although her mind was still on Kazu. Ever since that day, she hadn’t seen him anywhere on campus. Maybe she’d spend the rest of the day wandering campus just to see if she could find him. . .which reminded her.

“Oh right, club recruitment week starts today,” she answered, feeling silly for almost forgetting the reason why school was out today.

“I almost forgot about club recruitment week! It was one of my favorite times at Blue Yonder, even if I spent most of the week in the hot sun trying to get people to join the club I was in.”

Akari laughed at the mental image of her brother, covered in sweat as he tried desperately to hand club flyers out. “Yeah, I can imagine working the duel team club booth was a pain.”

“Huh? I wasn’t in the duel team. I was in the art club.”

“What?!?” Akari exclaimed in shock.

“Yeah! Don’t you remember all the paintings of Rainbow Dragon and the Crystal Beasts I did for you when you were younger?”

“Well, yeah,” Akari’s mind flashed to the several chibi artworks of Rainbow Dragon and the Crystal Beasts that were hanging on the walls of her room back home. “But I thought you would be in the duel team because, you know, you’re such an awesome duelist.”

“True, I am a good duelist, but back then I was discovering I had a talent for art and wanted to pursue it further. And besides, competitive dueling isn’t my kind of thing. You know entertainment dueling is my kind of style.”

“Yeah, I know. . .I guess I just kinda assumed you would’ve been in the duel team.”  Akari rubbed the back of her head nervously as she said this.

“Yeah,” her brother admitted, “I might’ve joined back then if they had a place for entertainment duelists, but they were strictly competitive only.”

An awkward pause followed before Reo picked the conversation back up. “But anyways, do you have any idea on which club you’re going to join?”

“No, not really,” With how busy the past few days had been, she couldn’t even remember what half the clubs were, let alone which one to join. “I’m not really sure if I should even join a club.”

“Well, if you’re not sure if you should join a club or not, then I think at the very least you should take a look around at all the different clubs.  If none of them interest you, then you’ll know not to join a club. But if you find a club that interests you, and your heart is calling you to it, then I think you should go for it.”

 “That’s. . .actually a really good idea, Reo. I think I’ll do that.”

When Akari didn’t get a reply back, she got a little worried. Had he hung up the phone? A quick check showed that the call was still connected, but she couldn’t hear anything. . .wait! She could hear him, although it sounded like he had covered the mike with his hand. She couldn’t make out what he was saying, but she could tell that he was talking to someone else. As a few more seconds rolled by, Reo finally uncovered the mic.

“Hey, sorry about that but I’ve got to go. Got some duel training stuff I have to do, but I’ll make sure to call you later this week and find out what you chose to do, alright?”

“Okay,” Akari replied.

“Alright, I’ll hear from you then! Bye!”

“Bye!” As Reo ended the call, Akari placed her phone back into her pocket and looked at the distant campus buildings, catching a glimpse of the club fair behind them. Well, if she was going to go look at clubs, she had better start right now. It was going to be a long day after all.  Using the trunk of the tree to steady herself, Akari stood up from her sitting position and headed off towards campus, in search for a club that called to her.

Edited by The Frost King

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Souji didn't get any response back from Jun after he sent the text. No big surprise there, to be honest. She was already busy with the Duel Team, so it stood to reason why he didn't get an immediate response. No doubt testing another potential applicant for the team. Still, it didn't matter to him. At this moment, he was already making his way to the one location he knew he could get some work done...the headmaster's office.

His...relationship with the headmaster had been one of, well, a few trips to his office here and there. A few times for bullying another student...who was in fact bullying another student and Souji was being a hero and helping the kid out, but didn't seem that way. Other times, it was regarding his grades. A sort of, "Get your grades up or you'll end up getting kicked out", type of meeting on that. Needless to say, Souji had some respect for the headmaster. First thing was first...needed to get to his office.

"Alright. So it's probably gonna be me, you, and Rose for the members of the club firstly..." Souji started rambling to Sai, as they walked. He glanced at his roommate and noticed he seemed to have a look of relief now that they left the roof. "You okay there? ...wait, was it the girl? GASP! Don't tell me your still afraid of girls!" he teased, with a sly smirk.

"I mean, I am, but she's a totally different reason man! That girl has sent people to the hospital. She took out a gang with her bare hands! People even claim she tore a motorcycle in half once!"

He didn't deny it... Souji paused mid-step and turned to look at Sai. "...you feeling alright? Cause that sounds like something you dreamt up in some sort of fever induced dream." he shook his head, though he did cross his arms slightly. "Still...the 'sending people to the hospital' thing does sound familiar...trying to remember what those rumors were for."

"That girl. That was on the roof. That was her. She did those things,"

He looked at Sai and then nodded slowly, starting to understand. "So she's the one most people have been talking about... Okay that seems to make sense. Would've imagined her being more of the 'bancho' type however...but seems like she'd fit the bill." Still...hmmm...she might be a potential candidate. I mean...what the hell do I have to lose at this point? he thought, before continuing his stride.

iU8EggM.png

Finally Souji and Sai made it to the headmaster's office, and the HERO Duelist now stood before the headmaster and took a deep breath, preparing to plead a case for this club.

"Sir, I want to make a club with your permission." Souji began. "I have...potentially...3 members at the present. Myself, Sai, and if I can get her, the idol, Rose. ...still working on a fourth."

"And that club would be...?"

"The Entertainment Duel Club, sir."

"There's already a Duel Team."

This answer did sort of upset Souji, but he didn't care, he was determined to try and get this going. "Yeah, I'm aware there's a Duel Team...but unlike the Duel Team, they don't deal with giving the audience a fun show to watch." Souji shrugged, crossing his arms. "What I'm basically saying, while the Duel Team that Hitomu leads is already strong and in full swing...the Entertainment Duel Club is basically going to give a different outlet. We'd focus on showmanship, presentation, and overall entertaining the audience." He stepped forward and placed his hands on the headmaster's desk, lowering his head to look at the headmaster. "Take the Exhibition Duel between me and the idol. We literally rocked the house and everyone was on the edge of their seats. Hitomu and me have different styles and ideas...and that's why I respect the guy. But I want to show him, that my style of Dueling can be just as effective as the old classic style."

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“Now! Captain of the Duel Team, we must do battle!”

Hitomu slurped on his straw. “No rush, your highness. Tell me about yourself first. Why does one as regal as you want to join my team?”

Gabby’s face was red then. Though at least now she could pass it off as excitement for the duel. She wasn’t sure how to answer that one. The truth was that she felt she had to join it. To become a proper duelist and make up for the way she entered the school. But it wasn’t as though she could say that.

“Fufufu, is it not obvious? My country wishes to test your own and to do that I must duel your strongest. What better place to do that than this ‘team’ of yours?”

“Well, you could go to the pro-circuit and ask to duel some of them,” Hitomu pointed out. “They’re the best Ambrosia has to offer.”

Gabby panicked internally. She wasn’t sure how to handle logic. This act was there so she could become someone else but she didn’t really think out the details. “Well, that’s, you see...I wouldn’t want to embarrass your country by defeating your idols. Yes, I clearly need to start down here before then.”

“Can’t fault that logic.” Hitomu pulled his deck from his the protective box on his waist, shuffling his cards. “Well, as Blue  Yonder’s King of Cartoons, it’s my job to give you a royal welcome, so I can’t be slacking at my duties.” He placed his cards on the table. “Do you mind if we play without the holograms? I love my Toons, but sometimes they can be a bit… much.”

The question caught Gabriela off guard. “I suppose that would be fine. It’s a shame you don’t get to see the full splendor of my deck but I understand it could be overwhelming.” The girl reached for her own deck. She hesitated. The last time she actually used them was during the tournament she had won to gain a scholarship here. When she…

No, this was different. She couldn’t let that hold her back. So with a flourish she brought out her deck and slammed it onto the table. There was a moment of silence and then she awkwardly picked it back up to shuffle. “You may go first. I wouldn’t want to scare you off on the first turn.”

“Alright.” Hitomu drew five cards from the deck with a single, practiced movement. “Good luck. Show me your best moves, alright? I’m excited to see how you all duel up in Megalovania.”

“Romvania!” Gabriela corrected in a huff. “I don’t need luck.” There was a hint of bitterness in the girl’s words but she quickly followed it up with, “Just play your cards and lets get this started.”

Hitomu tilted his head slightly at her reaction. “Right, sorry. My move.” He plucked a card from his hand and slapped it down onto the table without hesitation. The art on the card was of a cartoon dwarf with a big, bushy beard and a horned helmet that covered most of his face. “I’ll start us off by summoning Toon Dwarfzerker in attack mode. He’s pretty cool, huh?” Hitomu regarded the card fondly. “He looks pretty mad most of the time, but he and his friends are on this epic quest to summon the Three Gods and save the world, so it makes sense that’s he probably stressed out. Or, well… that’s the story I came up with.” He laughed. “Have you ever given any of your cards a story before?”

Gabriela gave Hitomu a look of disbelief as she drew her cards. It wasn’t nearly as smooth as Hitomu. People always made drawing look so easy… Glancing at her hand she smiled. “No, my cards don’t need a story. They are my loyal servants and that’s all. Now watch as my servants prove their superiority!”

1200 Attack, not very high, Mathematician could go over it easily. But was that really the right option? No, she had a much better plan in mind. “Now!” She said loudly, pulling one card from her hand with a flourish. “Meet the beginning of your doom! I summon Nightmare Horse in attack mode!”

The monster summoned was clearly weaker than the Toon. Gabriela laughed and pointed at Hitomu. “Nightmare Horse’s effect allows it to attack directly. Sound familiar? Now go, my steed, lower his life points for me!”

HITOMU LP: 8000 -> 7500

“Nightmare Horse?” Hitomu was taken off guard by the card. “Haven’t seen that since I was a kid.. What makes you run him?

“What kind of question is that?” Gabriela snapped. “I run it because it’s one of my powerful servants. It managed to best your dwarf after all!” Truthfully she ran it because it was cheap and all she could afford. But she wasn’t about to tell him that. “I now set one card face down and end my turn.” She gave her opponent a smug look.

Hitomu drew a card and clucked his tongue disapprovingly. “Your Nightmare Horse is a fearsome opponent, Your Majesty, but don’t count my Dwarfzerker out yet. He wouldn’t be an ambassador of Toon Kingdom if he didn’t have a trick or three.” He took another card from his hand and laid it on the table, this time a brightly illustrated spell card. “I activate Toon Table of Contents to search out a ‘Toon’ card from my deck, and I’ll use it to find Toon Kingdom.” He smiled at Gabriela as he explained the effects, but the startling speed in which he located his Field Card and then shuffled the deck belied his casual demeanor.

“And now we see how your made-up kingdom fairs against mine….My real kingdom, that is!” Gabriela rushed to correct herself.

Hitomu regarded Toon Kingdom fondly. It was old and had seen better days (the card wasn’t new when his Mom had first gotten it twenty years before), but the holographic print still gleaned from inside the protective sleeve. He gently placed it down in the Field Zone. “Toon Kingdom is as real as you believe it is. My Mom taught me that. These were her cards, before they were mine. They are actually the only deck I’ve ever used, believe it or not,” he shook his head. “They aren’t exactly the most meta thing in the world, but we manage alright. What about you? Any story behind your cards?”

She didn’t understand. Weren’t they supposed to be dueling? Why was he asking all these questions? And how was she supposed to answer? “These cards…They came to me in a time of need. These cards, my most faithful servants, knew I needed their assistance and came to my hand to allow me to conquer a great opponent! Is that the kind of thing you were expecting?”

Hitomu shrugged. “Everyone comes by their cards in their own way. See, take Toon Loremaster here,” he stuck the cartoon monk’s card beside his dwarf. “My Mom didn’t actually run him in her deck, but I found his card in one her old books because she used him as a bookmarker. Now he’s one of my main playmakers. Crazy how fitting it is that I found Loremaster in a book though, now that I think about it. But speaking of books… I’ll activate Toon Loremaster’s effect; by discarding a card from my hand, I can summon two ‘Forgotten Toon’ tokens in Defense position.” He pulled the two greyed tokens from his deck box and placed them on the field, bringing him up to a grand total of four monsters.

Gabby’s expression was growing more confused by the second. Hitomu paused his turn to look at her. “Something bothering you?” he asked.

Gabriela hadn’t realized she had been showing her confusion but evidently Hitomu picked up on it. “Why are you doing this? All this explanation. What does this have to do with the duel?”

“Oh, is that all?” Hitomu was evidently relieved. “I thought all that sugar was messing with you or something. As for your question, well, I’m just trying to get to know you. Your character matters a lot more than the result of this duel, in terms of getting onto the duel team.” Seeing she was still perplexed, he continued, “I can teach anyone to duel. What I’m looking for is if you have the drive to be one of us. That’s what separates the Pro Circuit from the playground, you know?”

“Teach? I don’t need to be taught! Once I can actually have a turn I can show you just how far I can go!”

“Ohohoho, that’s the spirit.” Hitomu leaned forward in his chair and finished his turn in a heartbeat. He slid Toon Dwarfzerker forward slightly, removed a token from the field, drew a card, and laid a facedown. “I’ll attack directly with Dwarfzerker; you take 1200, his effect activates and I tribute a token to draw a card, then I’ll place a facedown and end my turn.” He laid his cards down on the table and leaned back in his chair. “Now show me what the best duelist in Transylvania’s got, Your Majesty.”

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“Finally.” Gabriela said and drew her card. She glanced at it. Wightprince. A smirk came across her face. It was time.
“First, while you watched cartoons I was given lessons on the important things. Science, history, and perhaps most importantly, math. And now you get to witness that power for yourself! I summon Mathematician in attack mode!” She slammed the card onto the table, slightly overeager, and continued. “By using his effect I may send a Monster from my deck to the grave. And I choose one of my Wightprinces!” She went through her deck, the pause a bit awkward, before finally finding what she needed. “And in addition when Wightprince is sent to the grave I may also send a Skull Servant and Lady in Wight along with it!” She then played a spell from her hand as well. “And now I activate Foolish Burial which allows me to send yet another Wightprince to the grave. Which as you know means his two minions go with.”

The girl seemed to be getting excited now. So much so that she pushed the chair back and stood up before playing the second spell from her hand. “And next, One for One! By discarding a Monster from my hand I can special summon a level one Monster from my deck! And look what I have in my hand.” She revealed the third Wightprince and began the process again.

“Fufufu, what kind of madness is this you must be wondering. To send so many Monsters to the grave and only for a level one? Well, perhaps it is a madness. A dark, powerful, madness that none could ever overcome! For now with all the pieces in place I summon the mighty King of the Skull Servants!” Still standing she slammed the monster down on the field. Her grin wide now. “This Monster is special. It gains 1000 Attack for each Skull Servant in the grave. And while in the grave all the Monsters I currently have their count as Skull Servant. So what say you to my 9000 Attack Monster?”

Hitomu flipped over his facedown to reveal his trap card. “I consulted my lawyers and they said you’re not allowed to do that, so I’m gonna have to throw the book at you. Toon Briefcase shuffles King of the Skull Servants back into the deck.”

Gabriela’s smile twitched. “Uh.” She seemed to be thrown off by that. Still standing. Though now with much less triumph in her pose. “W-well little do you know that my prince has another effect! I banish it and two Skull Servants from the grave and I get to special summon the King back from the deck! Sure he only has 6000 Attack but that’s much more than most Monsters even so!”

Hitomu smirked, the same devious little twist of his lips from when he had been buying her lunch. “You sure you want to do that?”

She pointed at Hitomu. “Afraid? Well you should be, I now have it attack your dwarf! Even if it isn’t destroyed you take the damage anyway! And then Mathematician attacks as well and, finally, another direct attack from my Nightmare Horse!”

Smiling once again she put both hands on the table to steady herself. She only had one card in hand, Polymerization, but that was fine. This was more than enough.

“I’ll go ahead and banish two cards from the top to prevent Dwarfzerker from being destroyed, which will leave me at 1900 life,” he said, removing the top two cards from his deck. Just like in the duel Gabby had witnessed several days before, Hitomu looked far too relaxed for the position he was in. “Is that your turn?” he asked. 

There was a slight pout on Gabriela’s face. He hadn’t reacted very strongly at all. It was kind of disappointing. Especially now that there were people watching… “Yes. That’s all.” She said. “Go ahead and take your final turn before I finish you for good.”

“Well,” Hitomu drew his card for the turn. “You’re right about one thing. It is my final turn. I’ll attack you directly with Toon Loremaster and Toon Dwarfzerker, then move to Main Phase II and activate Shadow Toon targeting King of the Skull Servants.” He shucked the spell card from his hand onto the table for Gabby to read, the mischievous ghost that rose up from the grave in the artwork all but taunting her.

Spoiler

Shadow Toon: If you control "Toon World": Target 1 face-up monster your opponent controls; inflict damage to your opponent equal to the ATK of that face-up monster. You can only activate 1 "Shadow Toon" per turn.

Quote

Hitomu: 1900 LP

Gabriela: 0 LP.

“You lose, Your Majesty.”

Edited by Cheshire Toon

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EGWCLdk.png (and Melissa)

 

Why would you, if you were a normal person? Was the last thought Elizabeth had to herself before Melissa’s outburst, although that question had become quite a bit clearer as the vomit of sentences continued:

Melissa was not what you would call “normal”.

“oh” “sorry” “sorry “oh my” “sorry”; the cycle seemed to continue infinitely as Elizabeth could do nothing but stare. Truthfully, Elizabeth was stunned; who on Ambrosia was this girl? She looked around, and as fate would have it, it appeared that nobody really took notice of the stranger’s meltdown at her table.

Gently, Elizabeth reached her hand over and reeled it back in some sort of anxious reaction to her breakdown before putting her hand down on Melissa’s “Ah, hey, mate I didn’t mean it like that. Hey come on now, let’s not be too loud about all of this.” she chuckled, nervously, “After something like that I think I’ve no choice but to believe you!” she gave an anxious smile.

“But -- I’m terribly sorry, I’m not positive I’ve understood a single word you just said.” she pulled a napkin from the holder on the edge of the table and slid it over to Melissa discreetly, “But I have plenty of experience crying in washrooms by myself. I’m not much of a therapist; most days mine wants to send me to the bin, I’m sure of it, but I’d be more than happy to… what was it? Talk to you for only a few minutes at a time?” 

Elizabeth took her hand away from Melissa’s, then settled them in her own lap, “Although if you do genuinely care, I’m sure it’ll take a bit longer than a few moments to sort me out.”

-------

Melissa let her papers fall from her hand and onto the table. Elizabeth’s reassurances had only made her feel worse about the whole situation. She -- Melissa! -- was the one approaching, asking if there was anything Elizabeth needed, and it seemed like what had ended up happening was the other way around!

She picked up the napkin Elizabeth had offered her and smothered her face with it. After a few deep breaths, she folded it up and placed it back on the table next to her crumpled literature. She still felt terrible, but maybe less so.

Maybe.

Still, Elizabeth hadn’t immediately left the table, so perhaps not all hope was lost? She’d responded (thankfully not in kind!), so maybe that was enough? “I don’t know,” Melissa said. “I don’t really- I don’t really know what I was talking about either. I’m glad you believe me.” She paused a moment. “Um, actually what does help is just texting? Instead of talking, I mean. Like, um, I don’t think the only thing wrong with me is a voice thing. I don’t know.”

Melissa took out her phone. “I’m almost a normal person with this thing!” she said. She even almost laughed! “Um, especially if neither of us are getting our problems solved today, probably, it’d probably, I don’t know… I think it’d be a good idea to swap numbers.”

------

While it was a bit of an understatement to say that this was a strange way to make a new acquaintance, Elizabeth felt okay about accepting Melissa’s request to exchange phone numbers, “Well, alright then. I’ll say this: you’ve made quite the introduction, and… it got my mind off of things for a bit so, I’d be glad to.” Elizabeth slid her phone across the table with the contacts book open, inviting Melissa to put in her own information.

“But before that, I really must ask: what exactly was it you were set out to do before this? Surely it wasn’t just a mission to find those in need?” She looked back down at the table, and the mess of things that had occurred as a result, “And I certainly hope I didn’t fit that description if it was; it seemed like things were finally starting to get a little better.”

Elizabeth sighed,Last thing I need is for it to all come down again.”

-----

Six six nine, two two one, six two five one Melissa typed into Elizabeth’s phone. She also typed in her name, though she shied away from adding a picture or anything like that. To Elizabeth, she said, “Um, I don’t- I’m part of a community service club. Just, you know, picking up trash, um, volunteering for fundraising efforts, sometimes a soup kitchen if we can coordinate that. I don’t know, I like helping out.”

She uncrumpled her stack. “I- it’s the club fair, right? So one of the things we had to do was pass these around.” She showed one flyer to Elizabeth. It was a simple thing, just a watermarked stock image of someone picking up litter with the words SERVE YOUR COMMUNITY on it, and CONTACT CONNOR AT: with his email address right after.

“I wasn’t doing so great handing these out, so I, yeah I came here.” She put down her flyers again and handed back Elizabeth’s phone. “Um, just shoot me a text or something so I can get yours,” she said.

The last quip from Elizabeth, the “I hope I didn’t look like somebody in need,” gave Melissa pause. She tried to replay the encounter in her head, searching for any sort of thought process, but it had all been wiped away by her outburst. But she still wanted to reassure her! Even if she had to-

“I just- I don’t know how to explain this, I’m sorry, Elizabeth,” Melissa said. “I don’t know. I --” She brought a hand up and rubbed her crucifix necklace. “-- I have to help people, I think. I know you said you didn’t think you looked it, but- I don’t want to lie to you, um, you looked like you needed help.”

------

Ever had a question you asked but didn’t really want answered? The type of question that would have been better off just voiced into nothingness? Those types of questions, it would appear, do not fly well when a brutally honest, potentially mentally unstable church girl is looming over your coffee table.

“Yeah, yeah I kind of already knew the answer.” she looked down at her phone and sent Melissa a quick text from her phone saying “it’s me, elizabeth so that they could firmly exchange numbers. She was about to go on and talk about the crucifix, something that had caught her attention and her interest when she noticed a notification in the upper left corner of her phone’s screen. It was a text from Ashley, reading:

“Hey, are you like, actually coming to the duel team tryouts? They already started and you’re… kind of not here.”

Then, another just a few minutes later,

“I didn’t mean it with the kiss from Yushiro if you’re ignoring me, Beth. Just having fun.”

Elizabeth shot up from her table and grabbed the back of her head,


“Oh! Oh no! Ah!” she looked at Melissa and then back to the absolute carnage that had happened on their table, “I’m terribly sorry, I was supposed to be meeting a friend of mine and I completely forgot about it, what with our… episode. But I’ll be talking to you again soon, I’m sure of it!” she rambled on while quickly accumulating the garbage from the table, then rushing over to the trash and emptying it on her way out.

Well Elizabeth, two complete strangers in one week both believe you to be insane, and you went on a date completely by accident! Couldn’t just have a quiet senior year, could you? Ugh. Let’s just get to this stupid duel team thing so Ashley can beg me to make things like they were and I can get back to smoking, alone, in my apartment.

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“What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me. I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil.”
-Job 3:25-26 (NIV)


It was only after Elizabeth cleared off the table and left did Melissa realize she should have at least assisted with the cleaning process. After all, it was she who had brought all the stuff over, the least she could do was help remove it. But no, instead she had to sit there in almost-stunned silence as Elizabeth rattled off some excuse about appointments with other friends (must be nice), moving in between the trash can and the table with such a rushed efficiency that it was clear she wanted to be as far away from Melissa as possible.

Of course it was an excuse, yes. With how vague it was, how could it be anything else? The worst part was how Elizabeth had referred to their conversation. Their “episode”, she had called it. Melissa could name a hundred different terms that were better than that. “Conversation”, for example. “Encounter”. “Meeting”. “Talk”, even. So there were two interpretations that came from that, Melissa reasoned. Either Elizabeth misspoke, but misspoke in a way that required her to reach deep into a thesaurus, missing all the better ways she could have expressed her hurry, or she simply didn’t care for the encounter and wanted to be rid of it, using a word only vaguely coded in malice to avoid making Melissa -- to her, a stranger -- angry.

The simpler answer, to Melissa, was obviously the latter. She checked her phone, searching for any other insight. Maybe Elizabeth only realized her mistake once she’d left and was too embarrassed to go back and apologize. Melissa could sympathize with that. But the only new messages on her phone were of Jennifer desperately begging for company over at the Community Service booth. Nothing from Elizabeth.

Way off in the other corner, Gabby said, “Is that the kind of thing you were expecting?” And the answer was no, not really. But as the moments -- mere seconds, probably, even if they felt like so much more -- ticked on, that expectation faded away, replaced by that all-too-familiar feeling of alienation. She’d really tried that time, too.

it’s me, elizabeth

Melissa immediately straightened up in her seat and began typing a reply. Hey, it’s Melissa. Sorry you had to rush off like that but I hope things work out for you. I really do. I know we just met and all but seriously, text me if things get rough. I don’t know your story, but at least I can be a good listener. That’s all I know how to be, honestly--

No, that was stupid. She’d only end up overwhelming Elizabeth like she had when they were face to face. She held the “backspace” button on her phone until all that remained was the “Hey, it’s Melissa.” part and just sent that.

“Why are you doing this?” Gabriela said.

Melissa could feel another stomach ache coming on. She was pretty sure she knew the answer; Elizabeth had asked her a similar question and Melissa had answered pretty clearly then but was that the right answer? “I care,” she’d said. And she did -- again, she was pretty sure, at least-- but why did she care? Because if she cared for the wrong reasons, she was just being self-serving at best and actively harming towards a vulnerable person’s psyche at worst.

The questions piled on. Melissa could fend off a few of them with answers like “I’m part of a Community Service club, of course I had to help!”, “Anyone in my position would have done the same!”, or “I’m a good person!”, but those were vague in their own right, and only served to either push the question down the line or worse, add more unanswered (unanswerable?) questions to the pile.

And through all this, the main question still remained. “Why are you doing this?” Gabriela had said. And she certainly hadn’t meant it in relation to Melissa, but Melissa had heard it, and of course had to go and ponder its meaning towards her. The question echoed again and again between every thought.

“Why are you doing this?”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Why are you doing this?”

Melissa’s actions in the CoffeeCards bathroom were eerily similar to those she’d done just over a week ago at the stadium during the Rose/Masked Duelist kickoff duel, so much so that it’d be easier to describe the differences between the two panics. CoffeeCards did have that “artisanal hand-crafted foam soap” that smelled of lavender even long after you washed it off, for example, so that was nice. It was something that Melissa took full advantage of. But her fixation on a single thought, as opposed to the multitudes that had challenged her the previous week, meant that the panic was harder to appease and while she didn’t throw up this time (another plus!), that only made her stomach ache take longer to subside.

When Melissa exited the bathroom, whatever was going on between Hitomu and Gabriela seemed to be wrapping up. “You lose, your majesty,” Hitomu said. 

So, so much of Melissa just wanted to crawl away. She knew with the crowds and the noise and all the other things she hated outside that she’d never make it back to her dorm, but so, so much of her wanted to try. The other, louder voice in her head called her forward, though. And again, Melissa found herself mumbling under her breath with protests like, “You’re intruding in on their conversation and for what? Just to check in?” and “You know what Gabriela is like. What are you doing?” but it seemed like today was a vicious cycle kind of day. Curiosity, empathy, whatever it was (probably the latter. Her protestations were right: she did (at least, kind of) know Gabriela), it drove Melissa forward.

The worst part was, she didn’t even know what to say when she got there. At least with Elizabeth she had a question in mind! But no, when she arrived, all she could do was stand over the board state and gawk like some tax collector waiting to be called down.

Eventually (again, it was probably only seconds, but it definitely felt longer), Melissa managed a “Hi.” All she could do after that, though, was hope that it was enough.
 

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"Neat," he said simply. "Do that. Go check out other clubs, then." Hoshiko nodded her head.

"Will do! Sorry for wasting your time." She said simply, turning towards the duel that was happening right next to them. The girl with the rather nice hat who seemed to be a part of the club was dueling another boy who seemed to be interested. She quickly gathered both of their names by hearing them talk, and a read of what decks they were playing. Jun was playing Yang Zings while Yushiro was playing Speedroid, two decks that Hoshiko hasn't really seen at all. She felt fortunate to catch the duel while it was starting too, clasping her hands when she saw the dragon attack the machine. She was a big fan of the holograms; they made it pretty easy to follow the duel and added a thematic flare that made it all that more fun to play and watch. She wondered what Yushiro was going to do now.

 

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The grin that was on Gabriela's face didn't fade away. It in fact seemed frozen on her face. As was her pose of standing triumphantly and pointing at the older student in front of her. Silence. Silence. Silence. "Whaaaaaat?" Gabriela said. "How can this be? What foolishness is this?"

Of course Gabby knew she wasn't going to win. That would be ridiculous. But, still, near the end she was starting to get hopeful. The excitement and hype she had created herself, the front she had put on to fake confidence, had oddly morphed into a form of confidence on its own which was quickly dashed away. Leaving an empty feeling. So this is what losing felt like.

And in front of all these people. Who were watching. Listening to her reaction. Oh. That's right. She was still in public.

Hi.

Gabby glanced over. Oh, it was Melissa. She had seen that? How...awkward. "Ah Melissa, my lovely little lamb. As you can see I was unable to punish this chip defiler as I had meant to. But no matter!" She swept her arm in an arc. "I, Gabriela von Draculesti won't take this laying down. You, Duel Captain, shall be my servant yet! Your days of freedom are numbered so enjoy them while you can! Before long I shall best you and you will serve my court! Fufufufufufu!" She turned towards Melissa and put a hand on her shoulder. "And you, of course, are already one of my flock yes? And as one of the first you of course will have superiority over Hitomu here."

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“Allright, Draw!” Yushiro took a second to look over his hand. The card he drew hadn't changed the move he wanted to make. “First up, I’ll activate my set trap: That Six!” The card’s hologram flipped up, and out of the art came a large mechanical contraption, cartoonishly leaking puffs of steam and not looking all that stable.

 

“Oh? Dice rolling? That’s something new.”

 

“You should get used to it. Now, next up, I’ll normal summon this: Speedroid Ohajikid!” On cue, the monster appeared, tipping its hat to Jun. “When Ohajikid’s summoned, I can special summon a tuner from my graveyard, and use it for a synchro summon.” Yushiro fished Tri-eyed dice out of his grave. “Three plus three is six, so I’m gonna drop a level six synchro monster. Place your bets, ‘cuz I’m summoning Hi-Speedroid Kendama in attack mode!”

 

As Yushiro spoke, the synchro rings appeared around ohajikid, and in a flash of light, Kendama appeared, its lance aimed squarely at the Wyrms opposing it.

 

ATK: 2200

 

“Next, I’m activating Kendama’s special ability! By banishing the panchingo-kart in my graveyard, I can inflict 500 points of damage directly to you, Juju. Sorry if it hurts a bit!” Kendama charged past Jun’s monsters and poked her in the gut with its lance, just hard enough for it to be mildly unpleasant.

 

LP: 8000 -> 7500

 

“I’m not done yet, though. I’ve still got a battle phase, too, and in it I’ll destroy Suanni. Kendama, you ready?” Kendama responded with a lightning quick 360 degree spin; it was raring to go. “Good. No go get ‘em!” Again, the armored top was off, and it stabbed through the fiery wyrm at a much higher speed than it had hit its master.

 

“Oh no, my Suanni! But, it’s a shame about your synchro monster too Shiro.” As she jokingly feigned danger, while the dragon had been speared through, there seemed to be a large collection of flames burning down Kendama. “Because, I activate my trap card, Yang Zing Brutality. So, during a battle, a Yang Zing of mine doubles its attack, but it also gets destroyed once the battle is over.”

 

ATK: 1900 → 3800

 

As the attack values changed, the flames expanded, destroying both Suanni and Kendama.

 

LP: 7900->6300

 

Yushiro grimaced. It was a surprisingly good move, and he’d walked right into it. This was gonna be a hard game. “Wow… guess I had that one coming. That’s the end of my turn, unfortunately.”

 

Smiling to herself, she said, “well, sadly before your turn is over, because of Supply Squad, when a monster of mine is destroyed I get to draw a card. And, when Suanni is destroyed I can bring a Yang Zing monster from my deck onto the field in defense mode. And, I guess when a Yang Zing of mine is destroyed, Chiwen can also come back from the grave too.”

 

“Seriously!?” Yushiro hadn't seen a play of his turned completely around so quickly in a long time.

 

“I know, aren’t my wyrms awesome? Yes you are,” she gave a bit of a cooing noise as she pet Bixi still on the field. “Anyway, I bring out Bi’an, Earth of the Yang Zing and Chiwen onto the field. Now then, my turn. Draw!”

 

Looking at the cards in her hand the girl seemed very happy, humming to herself as she looked at her hand. “Well, Shiro, did you know the fun thing about Chiwen. It’s also a tuner. How lucky am I to get to test a fellow Synchro user?” With her smile only growing wider she declared, “now, with the level 1 Chiwen I tune it with the Level 2 Bixi and Level 3 Bi’an.” The light wyrm moved into the sky, turning into a single ring of golden light as the two other Yang Zings turned into glowing spheres of Blue and Brown respectively. “Drake beneath the reef, bring a great deluge with you. Synchro Summon! Come forth, Level 6, Coral Dragon!”

 

A giant column of light shone where the ring and spheres had been, revealing an orange and gold coral covered dragon in their place.

 

ATK: 2400  

 

“Sadly, when Chiwen is summoned from the grave, it’s banished when it leaves the field. But, it’s sacrifice will be well worth it! Now, I activate Coral Dragon’s effect, allowing me to discard a card from my hand, to target one card you control and destroy it. Sadly, I’ll be getting rid of your dice roller.” Discarding a second Bixi from her hand, the dragon roared as it shot out a gout of water towards Yushiro’s revealed trap card. It got soaked, and almost instantly short circuited and exploded, covering Yushiro in some soot.

 

“Awww, gross. Gotta remember to make it cleaner next time.”

 

“Well don’t worry Shiro, because Coral Dragon will clean you right up. Go!” At the command of the owner, the dragon took in yet another deep breath, before firing yet another gout of water, though, this time directly at Yushiro himself.

 

“Can we no-” his sentence was lost amid a stream of gurgles as the water went in his mouth and covered the rest of him.

 

LP: 6300 → 3900

 

“See, all better.” Flashing a grin and a thumbs up, Jun finished saying, “and I’ll just set one card and one monster face down and end my turn.”

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This book, as it turned out, wasn't all that interesting. Maybe it was the glances she kept feeling from the nearby literature club. Maybe it was that the library was too tranquil. Whatever it was, something wasn't sitting right with her, which would have been fine had the book been any good. When in doubt, some mindless wandering often did good. And so, Kyouko put the book she'd been reading back in its proper place, left the library, and stepped outside. While the initial burst of activity in front of the school had passed, it would still be a lie to call it quiet in any capacity. Students were still buzzing to and fro, working with new club members who had just now joined clubs, or doing the paperwork for members who had been waiting their turn in long lines for the more popular clubs. That was a hard pass from Kyouko, and so her feet found themselves guiding her somewhere else.

Until, as she turned the corner, she bumped into someone. A girl, also with blue hair. Hadn't she seen this person before? Something seemed different, but the same. She was at that duel Kyouko had watched, right? She didn't seem like she was paying much mind to where she was going.

"Watch where you're going," Kyouko commented.

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“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?”
-James 4:1 (NIV)


Melissa still wasn’t really sure how to deal with Gabriela’s “lamb” comments, but she was too exhausted to really dig into the theological implications and instead could only focus on the more pressing “She’s referring to me”. “Lovely” and “little” were nice adjectives, though. Much better than the “lost” she used to be.

Also comforting was Gabriela’s promise of a higher station. It wasn’t that Melissa actually wanted the position -- she was perfectly happy- well, she was happy enough where she was -- but the idea that it was offered to her was a nice relief. She wasn’t a complete miserable wreck just yet.

The only other thing that stood out was the “chip defiler,” Hitomu. The week between that particular incident and the present had blurred the more specific details, but she did remember it. She also remembered not really holding a grudge or anything, so why the worry?

It’s alright about the chips,” she said, addressing both Gabriela and Hitomu in equal measure. “I, um, yeah it just took another visit to concessions to fix. I kind of feel bad for the cleaning staff, though…

Then something clicked in her head, and a question barrelled past her mental defenses. “Did you- that’s not what you were dueling over, was it?

Edited by radio414

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“I wouldn’t really call this ‘better’.” Yushiro groaned as he drew his card. Things were looking dire, with just one set card on his field. Hopefully, what he drew would be enough to squeeze a little life out of his deck. “But this might improve things for me. I play the spell card Cup of Ace!” A gold goblet appeared in the middle of the field, two cards sitting inside it. “Know how this card works, Juju?”

With somewhat playful ignorance the girl, “oh, please explain it to me Shiro!” 

“Wow, really? It’s just like pot of greed, except we flip for the cards. You seriously never heard of it?” Yushiro was kind of surprised.

Letting out a sigh, Jun said, “there’s a lot we’re gonna need to work on, Shiro.” 

Yushiro frowned as he fished his yen coin out of his pocket. “And would you stop calling me that!? I call heads!” With a flick of his thumb, the coin was airborne, landing squarely in the goblet, which flew over to Yushiro. “Guess I called it right. I’ll draw two cards”

Yushiro’s next two cards, thankfully, gave him a play. “Alright, first I normal summon the Tuner monster Nitro Synchron, and then I activate the spell card Speedrift! This spell lets me special summon a speedroid from my deck, and neither of us can play cards in response to it. So, I choose Speedroid Marble Machine!

Level: 2

“And for my next move, I play the spell card speed recovery! Which lets me summon Ohajikid from my graveyard. And with all three… I get to play a level 7 synchro!”

Nitro Synchron’s pressure gauge redlined and a moment later it transformed into a synchro ring around ohajikid and marble machine. “Place your bets folks, ‘cuz I’m synchro summoning Nitro Warrior!” Out of the light emerged something not entirely mechanical, with horns and a jet engine for a tail. As if to call out its nemesis, Nitro Warrior raised a finger and pointed menacingly at Coral dragon.

ATK: 2800

Letting out a few “ooh,” and “aah,” Jun gave a small round of applause as the monster was summoned. “What a big guy he is. Is he your ace card Shiro?”

“He’s an old favorite, and I’m gonna show you why! See, since I activated a spell card this turn, Nitro Warrior gains 1000 ATK points during battle this turn. Oh, and I almost forgot, since He’s a Nitro Synchro Monster, Nitro synchron gives me another card draw when he’s summoned. Not bad right?” Nitro Warrior punctuated this with a round of flexing. “Now, lets get rid of COral dragon, shall we!? Nitro Warrior, take that thing out with Dynamite Crunch!”

Using its engine tail for propulsion, Nitro Warrior launched into the air, both fists outstretched. 

ATK: 3800

“But that’s not all! I activate my set trap card: Graceful Skull Dice!” This time a massive six sided die, flanked by the gremlin from the old trap skull dice and his angelic counterpart from graceful dice, appeared on the field. “Depending on what I roll, coral dragon’s gonna lose ATK points, and Nitro Warrior gets the same amount. Let’s see what lady luck has in store, shall we? Roll!” 

The pair of them pushed the die over together, and it rolled and bounced around a few times before landing on the 5 side. “That’s 500 points! Coral Dragon loses 500 ATK, and Nitro Warrior gains 500!

ATK: 3800->4300

ATK: 2400->2400

“Wait… Why isn’t it going down?”

Scratching the back of her head, Jun said, “well, see, floating isn’t all my Yang Zings do. Depending on which one they’re summoned with, the synchro monsters also get cool effects as well. And, because of Bixi, Coral Dragon’s immune to trap cards.” 

“Seriously? Geez these cards are so overpowered. Fine, this is still gonna hurt!” Now allowed to continue on, Nitro Warrior slammed into coral dragon, knocking the beast into the ground.

LP: 7500->5600

Clapping again, she said, “that was great. Unfortunately, you missed something else.” After having been slammed with the attack, Coral Dragon was still on the field, before it slowly picked itself back up off the ground. “See, because it was also summoned using Bi’an, it can’t be destroyed by battle either.” 

Yushiro was visibly agitated now. Between being outplayed and being patronized, he was starting to crack. “That’s the end of my turn. Go.” 

Her own energy dwindling at the sight of this, the girl said, “alright, my turn. I draw.” Looking at the card in her hand she said, “well, let’s see how this goes. I summon another Chiwen, Light of the Yang Zing in attack mode. Now, time for yet another Synchro Summon. I use the level 1 Chiwen with the Level 6 Coral Dragon.” As Chiwen turned into another ring of light, the dragon in turn turned into 6 blue spheres all lined up in the ring. “Corrupted dragon of the stars, bring ruin onto the field. Synchro summon! Level 7, Yazi, Evil of the Yang Zing.”

As the summon completed, the ring and spheres were replaced by a column of black darkness in its place, a serpentine black dragon, dark aura flowing off of it appearing in its place. 

ATK 2600

“Now, I activate Yazi’s effect. I can target one card I control, and one card you control and destroy both of them. So, I choose my face down monster and your Nitro Warrior.” As she called this out, Yazi fired an orb of darkness into the sky, two black lightning bolts striking both Yushiro’s and her own monster as they came down. 

“Geez can’t I catch a break?!” 

As the two monsters were destroyed, the green wyrm Pulao was revealed to be Jun’s set monster. “Now, with Pulao destroyed, I can summon 1 Yang Zing Monster from my deck into attack mode, and with supply squad I can draw yet another card. So, come forth, Taotie, Shadow of the Yang Zing!” As she called out its name, yet another dark dragon, this being bulkier and with the form of dragon and demon mixed together appeared. 

ATK 2200 

“And finally, when a Yang Zing of mine is destroyed I can summon Chiwen from my graveyard. So, come back!” On her command, the white and gold wyrm appeared once more. “Now, let’s go. Yazi, attack Shiro directly!” The wyrm reeled its head back, a dark sphere forming in its mouth before it let loose a blast of black lightning at the boy. The blast knocked Yushiro back a few feet.

LP: 3900->1300 

As she raised her hand to command Taotie to attack, the girl paused before smiling again saying, “hey Shiro. Do you want to see a cool synchro summon before we end here?” 

“What?”

“I’ll take that as a yes. Feast your eyes and be amazed at your senior in synchro summoning. I activate my trap card, Yang Zing Unleashed! This thing does a few things, but the coolest one is this. By sending it from the field to the graveyard during either player’s battle or main phase, I can synchro summon a monster with my Yang Zings. So let’s go, I use the level 1 Chiwen to tune the Level 7 Yazi. A light that pierces all darkness and returns all to their origin, shine forth. Synchro Summon, Level 8, Baxia, Brightness of the yang zing!” As she called this out, the two wyrms she had called erupted into a large stream of light, bringing out a burly dragon in gold armor, two wings spread out behind it and a large brown mane stretching from its head. 

ATK: 2300

“See, isn’t that the coolest?” 

Yushiro was still confused. He wasn’t sure if she was rubbing the victory in his face or legitimately was just enjoying herself. Naturally, his response was a confounded “Uhhhh…”

Sighing at the response, she flatly said, “alright. Baxia attack him directly.” The dragon roared as it let loose one final blast of light at the boy. This shot knocked Yushiro off his feet and onto his rear. 

LP: 1300->0

Tipping her hat Jun said, “and that’s the game.” 

“Well, you walked all over me.” Yushiro replied, a half hearted smile on his face. He took a second to switch off his disk, then continued. “Guess this means I don’t make the team?”

“Well, with an attitude like that…” Jun thought for a moment before saying, “well, let me ask you a question Shiro. Was the duel fun?” 

It struck him as an odd question at first, but then everything clicked, and suddenly Yushiro felt a little bad for assuming she was patronizing him. “Yeah, I guess it was.” he replied.

Surprised by this, Jun said, “well, then that’s perfect! Here’s my first lesson to you. Make sure you always have fun in a duel, because if you don’t well, then it becomes unfun for both parties, and you’ll just play really badly. You won’t be a starter, but, if you want to have even more fun, then,” reaching out a hand to shake, the girl said, “welcome to the team.” 

Yushiro took her hand, and gave it a firm shake. “Thanks, miss co-captain.”
 

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Alison smiled tepidly as the Star spilled her life, while ignoring the dropping of several cards. They were well-used yes, but still, being on the ground was not a nice place for them. “Oh, maybe we can be friends! After this of course, still wanna see happens!”

The fortuneteller paused, or rather flinched. "I don't quite see that happening" she mumbled as she took the cards back, holding them in her hand. Tilting her head, she could feel that familiar pulse in her arm. She needed to stall, just for the moment. "Just as I hope I do not see ill in your future. The cards can hold grudges, and they would be wont to do so when churlishly tossed to the ground, I'm sure you know" she mused, drawing back on her former confidence.

Straightening herself, Alison tilted her head as three cards were placed on the table before the artist. "These three cards will decide your fate together. They will tell you what your future holds, be it good, bad, or quite mundane. Now Star, let us see what your future holds!"

Flipping each card over, the fortuneteller paused, a little bemused. "Yes," she murmured, "yes, I do not see a friendship blossoming between us, any time soon" she uttered, reading the cards.

Before her stood the Reversed Justice, then the Upright Death, ending with a Reversed Lovers. "What these cards tell me is that there will be a schism, a breaking of bonds. The Upright Death and the Reversed Lovers tell me there will be a break between one closest to you. A friend you love, and through the transience brought about by the Justice being reversed, something terrible will happen. Some twist of judgement, or unhappiness wrought by abuse or falseness. Something errs your friendship to shatter by the swing of Death's scythe, and so ends the mutual love of friends. So... it... ends" was the grim foretelling.

Alison bit her lip, before staring into Yusuji's eyes. Without a word, she took the next two cards from the deck and flipped them up. Before Yusuji was the Reversed Star, and the Upright Tower crossed over it. "You shouldn't have come here. You would have been far better off not knowing these things" she said in a low, disturbed tone.

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Hiraku Tsukino

"Will do! Sorry for wasting your time," the girl said. Hiraku shrugged as she turned around, and out of curiosity he looked towards what it was she was watching.

Just to the side of the booth was a duel that was currently going on between Jun and none other than Yushiro. Hiraku narrowed his eyes as he scrutinized the moves made during the match. Jun played as Jun plays, although it seemed as though she started off taking it a little easy on him. Yushiro's moves were very amateur, as expected. He used a lot of cards to summon a single synchro, responding to Jun's field with simple attack strength and neglecting to even read the monsters that were used for the synchro summon. When Jun ended the duel handily in a single turn, Hiraku could only think of how deserved that loss was for Yushiro. With a display like that, there's no way he should be allowed on the tea--

“Welcome to the team," Jun said, shaking Hiraku's hand.

Hiraku stood there, growling to himself with his arms crossed. With this luck, there was a good chance that Hitomu let the chuuni join the team as well. At this rate, their team was about to become the laughing stock at any event. Of course, with so many people around, now wasn't the time to draw a scene. But, either way, chances are that Hiraku would need to have a word with either captain, but regardless, he would probably need to prove that Yushiro wasn't good enough for the team through their exhibition match, and he intended to.

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Akari was starting to have flash backs to Syllabus day, and for good reason too. Making her way from club stand to club stand had made a rather large amount of different club flyers appear in her hands. Some of the flyers were for clubs that she had found some interest in, while other flyers had more or less been forced upon her by different club members. But what was she going to do about it? She didn’t want to seem rude by rejecting the flyers, but at the same time she didn’t want to be overwhelmed by a bunch of flyers for clubs she didn’t even want to join.

As she tried to think of a way to kindly say no, she followed some rather brightly colored signs that announced “More clubs this way!” in bold text with an arrow pointing in the direction of the campus library.  Along the way, she noticed a crowd had sort of formed around what Akari assumed to be the duel club, as a duel was obviously going on there. Who was dueling though, she couldn’t really see. Yet she continued to look on as she walked, wondering if she could get a slight glimpse of at least one of the duelists, when her movement was suddenly stopped when she ran straight into something.

"Watch where you're going," A rather familiar voice spoke up as Akari turned to face the rather tall person, who she recognized instantly as Kyouko.

“I’m sorry!” She apologized, backing up a bit as her face flushed red with embarrassment, “I wasn’t watching were I was going.” Letting out a nervous laugh, she quickly searched for a way to break the ice. “So, uh, how are you doing today? I’m currently looking for a club to join,” she held up the stack of club flyers to emphasize. “Are you looking for one too?”

Edited by The Frost King

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“I’m sorry! I wasn’t watching were I was going.”

I noticed. If she'd been paying a bit more attention, this could have been avoided. Though which "she" Kyouko meant was a bit hazy, even to her. Now that the initial shock of the surprise collision had come and gone, Kyouko turned her attention away from her thoughts and back to this other girl whose name escaped her. At least she remembered her face. Somehow.

“So, uh, how are you doing today? I’m currently looking for a club to join. Are you looking for one too?”

"The opposite, actually. I'm trying to keep all these clubs looking for new members off my back. A room full of strangers doesn't sound all that appealing, even if it's for a common interest." Even from here, Kyouko could hear the chatter around all the different booths, taking new members, advertising their clubs, the usual stuff for this time of the school year. She could just barely spot Jun at the duel team booth, along with that Double Down kid and the guy he'd dueled a while back. The swim team was nowhere to be seen, but that made sense; they'd be at the pool.

"You should join the swim team and try to pass off as me," Kyouko joked, though her tone of voice didn't sound joking. "Maybe then they'll stop bothering me."

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