Яeverse of the Earthbound Immortals [IC|5D's Sequel RP]

[Maeriberii Haan]

“Relying on big beatsticks, huh?

 

…Urk, this could actually be problematic.”

 

Adelais’s deck was not very fine-tuned to handle bigger cards, but still, she probably could handle those if she drew her precious…ah, there was it.

 

“Say goodbye to your Raiden~”

 

She managed to draw her precious, precious Forbidden Lance during her draw phase. Looking to the cards available for her…but nah, she decided to save her cards for later. The problem was that she would be unable to create an actual push this turn, and yeah.

 

“Ah, nevermind.

 

Well then, I Special Summon Fantasia Maiden Fugue using Grand Hall’s effect, and using her effect, I add the fallen Tsai back into my hand.

 

And then I set one card, and during the End Phase, I add 1 Fantasia Prima Prodigy Mozart from my deck to my hand and discards Sonata.

 

Your move~”

 

Her field now consists of a lone pianist, sitting alone in front of her grand piano on the great stage. Alone, in the limelight. Somewhat reminded Adelais of herself, to tell the truth.

 

But yeah, neither player seems to have pulled out their best cards yet. And to make things worse, combo-wise, she’s league behind from Lightsworns, who could drop ridiculous monsters from out of nowhere. Her Torrential was pretty much the only way for her to stay in the game.

 

…Well, aside from one card. But that should be best left unmentioned until ‘she’ was necessary.

 

“Oh, as for myself, I think I’m ready enough. Still deciding the best way to screw Synchro decks, really. Like, should I maindeck Maxx ‘C’, and things like that.

 

But yeah, basically, I’m going to show the world that we, as the people closest to Lady Catty, doesn’t need those lame Synchros or Dragons to win.

Yeah, that probably sounded a bit silly, but…

 

Ah, nevermind.

 

Let’s just finish this duel.”

 

---

 

Akai was quite exasperated about how even the great leader of the Dark Signers mocked her Earthbound Immortal.

Lemon Llama was just –that- silly apparently.

 

She had waited for quite a while for the other Dark Signers to arrive, but it seemed like that some of the Dark Signers didn’t get the note already.

 

“Uh…sorry, but I think we should start this meeting immediately, I thought the great King of the Underworld had little tolerance to incompetence, no?

So yeah, let’s just start, and if it’s really necessary, we could fill in the late members about the important points later on.”

 

---

 

After she packed her proper ‘journalism’ equipment, Marie immediately returned to Mika’s flat. Hidden camera, nano-tracker, and a master keycard for the standard issue security system that was used widely on the area. That was the only tools she needed right now to reach for the all-wonderful truth.

Marie was a psychic, yes. Her psychic power was fine-tuned already for just one simple purpose. Reading memories.

 

But it was impractical at best for the purpose she wanted. The power required her to actually get contact with the person whose memories she read during the entire course of the reading. And really, aside from knocking the person unconscious (which was against her own moral code), she needed for the person to be willing.

 

“Hah, as if anyone wants to be read by me.” Marie thought.

 

So, as the one that desired for truth to be shown to the world, she would have to resort to more mundane means.

 

---

 

The business she had on Mika’s flat was over quick. She only went in, placed the camera in a strategic place, fantasized a little, and immediately left the place. On her way back into her own flat, she silently hoped that no-one noticed her or thought that she was some kind of thief or something.

 

“Eww, thieves.”

 

---

[Premier Alexander Romanov]

Friday, April 7th, 2084
1802 Hours Local
VTOL Gunship Accipiter
Barbaric Area after Damage (Restricted Zone Alpha), Old Domino

Jaeger, the rough-and-tumble leader of this operation, looked over the contact list as his gunship roared over the barren wasteland that is Restricted Zone Alpha. He and a dozen other cutthroats from across the planet were called in by an anonymous contractor to take a special package to a certain site, and ensure the package is properly detonate. Jaeger, of course, wasn't stupid, as he brushed his scraggly beard with a gloved hand, feeling the cybnernetic implants on his face, and looked to the other soldiers of fortune around him. B.L. Tyranus, "Cannibal" Schmidt, Benedict Richards, and B.S. Murphries, the Go-Getters, a quartet of rejuved Resource Wars vets who did as they please without any regards for the law. "Bishop" Okasada, Ramona Li, Butch, and Jackson, the crew of another gunship, the Transylvania, were the only survivors of the previous attempt to plant this device, and were out for revenge. Slim Williams and his crazy brother Wally tried to be cool, slick assassins, but one was too grumbly and the other wouldn't shut up. And the elite "Raptor Pack", a sextet of wetware agents from some pharmaceutical company that dabbled in nanite experimentation it wasn't supposed to dabble it, and used these guys to clean it up. How they had been assembled from around the world here, to work under Jaeger, he didn't really care, but their objective was to drop off this bomb, and make sure it went off. Already, a group of more expendable mercenaries had been tapped out a while back, so these men and woman, most of which wanted to kill each other, were humanity's last hope. Jaeger lit a cigar for humanity, as they didn't have much time before they were screwed.
 
Friday, April 7th, 2084
1804 Hours Local
Dr. Ushio's Private Laboratory and Clinic (Floors 86-87), Strailey Industries Headquarters Sector
Municipal Operations/Administrative Center, Capitol District, Old Domino
 
Entering the room, both Brand Signers would see the doctor they regularly consulted: a woman in her prime with black hair, golden eyes, a slightly tan complexion, sharp features, and wearing a labcoat over practical clothing. She indicated to the pair of seats to either side of her while she examined something on a datapad. "Please sit down, boys, and we can begin the physicals to clear you for tomorrow's festivities." Dr. Makoto Ushio told them warmly but businesslike, almost as if she was a bit more of a mother than a doctor, which was partially true. For most of these children, she had been there since they were young, monitoring them throughout their development for any abnormalities to their Brands. "Have any of you summoned your Signer Dragons, or felt any strange reactions, since our last appointment?"
 
Friday, April 7th, 2084
1746 Hours Local
New Duel Runner Stadium
Academy Level (Level 3), Academia Stack, Hartmann District, Second Wave
 
For a brief moment, through the narrow crack of the limousine, the poor fan could see a pair of piercing purple eyes boring directly into his soul, judging whether or not he was worth living for the next while, until they averted their gaze to look forward. "Do not call me that." Catherine was not the kind to allow anyone to butcher her full name and use a PET name. She was Catherine, not a mangy feline, rubbing against others for affection and begging for her litterbox to be changed or for more food and water to be put into her bowl. She was not dependent on anyone for anything, as she had proved on the track. Even this limousine was a courtesy she was supposed to respect, as she could have driven herself back to her home in the Scrapes without an escort, but she needed the rest, especially after being pushed to summon Red Hot Dragon Archfiend. She quietly told Gavin. "Round up the other Brands here at the Academy and bring them to me. I can lock the car and seal it up so I am safe. We need to discuss our plans before tomorrow." Again, Gavin did this out of her authority, obeying her orders instead of simply being used as a tool to provide a crutch. Catherine needed to collect herself in these precious few moments she had to recharge, and collect she did, closing her eyes and meditating in her soundproofed limousine.

[Super Chaos Sonic]

"Please sit down, boys, and we can begin the physicals to clear you for tomorrow's festivities. Have any of you summoned your Signer Dragons, or felt any strange reactions, since our last appointment?"

 

Festivities? What did Ushio mean about that? Jet wasn't even in a right state of mind as he sat there, trying not to fall back asleep, when he heard the second sentence about their Signer Dragon...oooohhhh what Jet wanted to say.

 

Have I felt anything? DAMN RIGHT I HAVE!! Tried not to use that card, being forced to anyway...because of it, the pain is always coming from the arm this stupid mark is on! And yet you and your brilliance HAVEN'T thought that it just MIGHT be doing something to us?! Indeed this was Jet Hoshimi's first immediate response...had he not tried his best to stay his tongue.

 

"Yes ma'am..." Jet started first. "Stardust Spark...I-I summon him and...I get an overwhelming pain starting in my right arm...a-almost feel like being shocked or electrocuted..." He looked at the Brand on his right arm and sighed again. "I think because of it...I-I haven't been able to get sleep...I continue...to have those nightmares..."

[Love of Ghibli]

Adrian sat quietly as he let the other person speak first. The tension that came behind that mans voice was astounding and the deadpan macabre at which he spoke was borderline magical. As he went on to discuss the pains of having to actually summon his dragon Adrian simply nodded. Though when it came to the added mention of nightmares Adrian could only raise an eyebrow. 


While do not have nightmares about my dragon, I do have the same throbbing pains. They get more severe with each summon or I'm just getting weaker. If he is having nightmares though I humbly offer that he go lives with my sister... Meanwhile down stairs Clarice looks up in the air wildly as if she just sensed a disturbance in the force. I'm sure she would like a new friend and if since he has a brand she would find him most entertaining. Clarice began to look around quickly as if her world was crumbling. What's going on here she thought to herself. 

Adrian then turned to this broken stallion and offered his hand. If you hate your surroundings so much come with me. I'm sure I could use someone who knows more about these brands. And it looks like it would be a warm break from your current living arrangements. With that said my name is Adrian, what do you say there...Adrian extended his hand out to the boy expecting the name and correct answer to his question.

[BANZAI!!!!]

Friday, April 7th, 2084
1812 Hours Local
Corner of West 729th and North 311th
Entertainment Alley, Daimon District, Old 'Burbs

 

"Well, someone's confident." Marina had a little snark in her tone as she quipped to Kurivolt, who was still floating excitedly around her head as the two watched Kazuki make his way out of the crowd and issue a challenge. Though upon further observation he seemed to know what he was doing. Marina could feel confidence coming from him, as well as an eagerness. At the very least he wasn't intimidated. This looked like it was going to be an entertaining game.

 

Before she could think on the matter further, however, a the confused boy next to her spoke, and both she and her spirit companion turned around, almost with a start.

 

"Excuse me, but are you okay?"

 

It took a second or two for the context of what he was saying to sink in, and during that time Marina stared at him blankly. Then the blatantly obvious hit her. He must have overheard her talking to Kurivolt. She immediately let out a giggle, gotta play down the weirdness somehow. There was a bit of nervousness in it, though.

 

"I'm fine, thanks." She smiled. Being friendly made it easier to divert the conversation. "Though I'm not sure what you mean by that." She paused for a moment, trying to come up with something else to talk about. Remembering his facial expression from a minute ago she continued. "Maybe I should be asking you that question. You seemed kind of angry before. Something the matter?"

[Kōsuke Ueki]

"Eh?"

 

Shugo was surprised. Does she know about him? About what happened to his father? More than likely not, since he never shared that with anyone. Then again, it's possible to say that his father ended up on the news the day he vanished. But who's to say that this girl knows? With a more upset expression, Shugo looked away from the girl and responded, "It's personal." He then took a deep breath and looked at her again. "Plus, I have no real reason to trust you, since we just met." Looking out towards the duel-to-be, he realized something. She WOULDN'T know about that. Looking back towards her with a nervous smile and a hand scratching the back of his head, Shugo chuckled embarassingly.

 

"Oh, did you mean what's about to happen with the duel?" He made a nervous chuckle as he composed himself. "Well, to be honest, the guy who just challenged that upbeat duelist? Well...he works for me, ironically enough. I run a duel repair shop my father used to run and I made it available for anyone looking for a job." Shugo pointed towards his shop to show the girl where it was. "He came in one day, asked for a part-time role, and we've known each other since. I feel bad for giving him a shift today, though, since he had classes at the Academy and what not. But I needed him in case we get a spike in customers. 'You're never too careful,' my father used to say." He then chuckled again,sighing almost immediately afterward, whispering, "I miss him so much..."

 

 

Recomposing himself, Shugo cleared his throat. "If you ever come around here, stop by if you like. You might like what you see. Just a consideration." He then realized he was kinda rambling. "I'm sorry, but was I talking too much? I do that a lot. I'll let you talk now." He then gave another nervous chuckle.

[The Warden]

Gavin rolled his eyes as Cat...therine chewed him over what he thought was a rather cute pet name. "Duely noted" he sighed as she barked her next set of orders at him.

 

He rolled his eyes again. Clearly this was just another ploy to get rid of him, and it wasn't going to cut it this time. "You know I can't leave your side, your mother's orders. Besides, we have the Academy PM system for that."

 

Digging a small organizer from his pocket, displacing a scrunched up receipt and a gum wrapper, Gavin logged in to the Academy system and entered the password so he could enter the private chat set up amongst the Brand Signers. As he was Catherine's personal guard, he was allowed to enter the chat. Granted, that was because he set it up in the first place, but semantics. His thumbs moved swiftly across the screen and he placed down the messages for the other Brands. Hopefully their devices weren't on silent.

Burning Brands Club

G-Man: Yo, G-Man here.                                                                                  5:40 pm
G-Man: Catherine wants you guys @ the Duel Arena pronto                                                 5:40 pm
G-Man: Its @ the 3rd level of the Academy                                                               5:40 pm
G-Man: Come immediately                                                                                 5:41 pm
G-Man: G-Man out                                                                                        5:41 pm

Lowering the device, Gavin knocked on the glass twice. "Done" he declared.

[Phantom Roxas]

"I am not trying to 'pull' anything." Naoya smiled to Koharu, hopefully assuring that he was speaking the truth. It was a pity that she showed reluctance to trust Naoya, but it was hard for him to blame her. For all he knew, the last thing the young woman had seen was being placed in that freezer. The four long decades that she had spent there could but a few minutes to her. Regardless, he came here to free her, and he was going to do just that. Looking around the room, he quickly found the console near the freezer. The green button was protected by a wall of glass, and Naoya simply gestured to the Hyper Psychic Blaster, who was still following him. The monster tapped one of its guns against the glass, shattering it. Naoya pressed his hand against the button, and the freezer began to slow open, frost flowing out of it. Naoya snapped his fingers, commanding the Hyper Psychic Blaster to fade away, which it did, then Naoya began to unbutton his trench coat, taking it off as he began to approach the freezer. Standing before he freezer, but keeping his head down, he presented the coat to Koharu, telling her, "Welcome back, Miss Taguchi."

[The Warden]

Once again, Kirkmond's cheeks would have blushed crimson if had enough blood to actually flush his cheeks with. The cold wasn't very kind to him; nor had it ever been, even back in England he hated the cold. "Nao-Naoya is co-co-correct my dear. We-e-e are he-ere to help you-ou. Please-please, someone assist misssss Taguc-chi out of container-ner. Beeee gentle, ple-ease" he said, his arms nearly cutting in his sides.

 

As his body continued to rack from the chills, Kirkmond roared with anguish as he hurried out of the cold room and back into the tunnel. He moved as far as his frozen joints could allow until the chill was gone, and the warmish tunnel embraced him. He blew hard on his hands in order to bring feeling back into the digits.

[Premier Alexander Romanov]

Friday, April 7th, 2084
1812 Hours Local
Corner of West 729th and North 312th
Entertainment Alley, Daimon District, Old 'Burbs
 
Haruka sized up her competition as the crowd parted to give them some room to duel. He seemed like a pretty normal kid, with slightly messy black hair and a skinny teenager's build, though the suit was a bit odd. The eyes, on the other hand, were similar to her own, in that they were full of youthful determination and resolve, something she could respect. As she readied herself to duel, she told him. "Everyone here knows my name, but I don't think they know yours, but I'll be polite and tell you anyways! I'm Haruka Izayoi, the best duelist in this circle, and I'm gonna show you what my crew is capable of!" She proclaimed with him. "LET'S DUEL!!!"
Haruka started things off by going first, drawing 5 cards, and then proclaiming. "First, I will Normal Summon Artistreet Forcheshire!" As the card hit the field, a hunched-over figure emerged from the crowd, clad entirely in purple robes with a huge hood on top of her cloak, and purple scarves obscuring her features. Clearly female, the old woman didn't seem like much of a threat. (1300 ATK|LV4) "And because I control an Artistreet monster, such as Forcheshire, I can Special Summon Gemini Jockey from my hand!" Appearing in front of Haruka was an arcane circle of golden runes, allowing a slender figure to emerge, bearing long red and blonde dreads, white and black clothing that looks rather mismatched, and a red visor attached to a pair of headphones over blue eyes. Floating beneath each hand is a strange turntable with gears rotating beneath the records, and a pair of floating, ring-shaped objects floating behind her, vibrations coming from the rings that started to build in intensity. (1200 ATK|LV4) "I'm not sure how much experience you have with Gemini monsters, but Forcheshire here is treated as a Normal Monster for now, until I Normal Summon her again to treat her as an Effect Monster, but guess what? My MC here is gonna start this party off with some jams! Gemini Jockey, let's crank up Artistreet Forcheshire with Einstein-Rosen Beat!" The magical DJ formed some runes in the air, and started to spin on her records, the turntables' gears spinning faster and faster as the steady pulses from the floating rings for stronger and stronger, forming into an actual groove to dance to. People around the dueling circle started to tap their feet or hands to the beat as Forcheshire also began to move, getting more and more limber, until she threw off her cloak onto her back, revealing her to be a rather beautiful purple-colored catgirl, big greenish-blue eyes looking at Kazuki while her big paws hold an ornate crystal ball, one that is glowing in time to the beat. "This special request tune is going out across space and time, unlocking the true potential of my friends! Forcheshire now has some fun effects that you'll find out later, but for now, I set this facedown card and end my turn!" As the card materialized on Haruka's side of the field, she looked rather confident, despite having two monsters without any heavy offensive power. Either she was a fool...or she really was as good as she claimed...
 
[spoiler=End of Haruka's First Turn]
Haruka: 8000 LP
Hand: 2
Monsters: Gemini Jockey (1200 ATK|LV4), Artistreet Forcheshire (1300 ATK|LV4)
Spells/Traps: 1 FD
[/spoiler]
 
Friday, April 7th, 2084
1807 Hours Local
Dr. Ushio's Private Laboratory and Clinic (Floors 86-87), Strailey Industries Headquarters Sector
Municipal Operations/Administrative Center, Capitol District, Old Domino

The doctor seemed rather surprised until she pulled out the information on the Strailey Industries Legends League Invitational on a datapad, scrolling through the participants until they come across both Adrian's and Jet's information in the roster. "The secret invitations were sent out today, and you should have them in your personal inboxes, though representatives are going around the city to confirm the entries. This checkup here not only confirms your own qualifications, but let's us gather some crucial data. Now, hold still." The mechanisms on their right arms created a tingling sensation as little needles injected themselves into the nanostructures the brands were made out of, to retrieve that week's report. A graph appeared holographically in front of each Brand Signer, displaying a line going up and down, though Jet's seemed to be more radical than Adrian's. "Hmm...Adrian seems to be alright, peaking at at a synch rate of 79%, and averaging a nice, healthy 52%, but Jet, I'm a bit worried." The doctor was passive before, but just a hint of concern was now present in her voice. "You have multiple peaks over 80%, with the highest at 91%, and your synch rate flow is a bit erratic, with an average of 66%. Fortunately, I can only disqualify you from entry if you average out to 67%, and have any peaks over 100%, so you're in the clear." She glanced down at him. "Take it easy, Jet. We don't want any incidents."

Friday, April 7th, 2084
1903 Hours Local
Strailey Industries Main Building
Justicar Tower, The Scrapes

While the global headquarters of Yliaster was inside of Strailey Industries' special sections of the Administrative Center in Old Domino, the actual corporate headquarters of their main facade, Strailey Industries, was in Justicar Tower, an hour's drive in good traffic away from the Administrative Center. Here, after some finagling with the receptionist, Mika found herself in an elevator on the way to the upper floors of the building, taking the express route straight up the spine of this Scrape to get to the executive sectors. As the doors pinged for the 169th floor, they opened to reveal a lush, indoor zen garden, complete with stonework, plants, chirping birds, babbling brooks, and a blonde woman in a white gi sitting in the middle of the serenity on a stone dias, meditating. It was easy to recognize her, even though her hair was much shorter and in a practical braid than it usually was: this was Jesse Strailey, the CEO of the largest energy producer on the planet.

Friday, April 7th, 2084
1749 Hours Local
New Duel Runner Stadium
Academy Level (Level 3), Academia Stack, Hartmann District, Second Wave
 
The ruler of the school was once more disturbed by her bodyguard, wishing she could be rid of him, but she understood the need for him. After that incident a while back with that Izayoi girl, her personal safety was a top priority. She hoped the message had made its way to Adelais, somewhere in the building. She preferred practicing in her music room or dueling some random punk who happened to come across her as opposed to socialization, but Catherine was glad she had such a close friend. Sure, their own paths had separated them somewhat, but they were still in close contact, despite the pressures of their positions. Catherine pulled out an antique-looking white and silver flip phone and started to select a number from the handful of contacts before sending a text message. Unlike the chat system used by Gavin for more public announcements, Catherine utilized a more archaic, yet effective form of communication. As opposed to the GlobalChat available thanks to the WWW (World-Wide Wifi) Initiative from the early 2060s, Catherine and her posse tapped into a series of 4G cell relays still operational in the city, unbeknownst to the general public. With everyone connected with the Internet all over the planet, no one had any need to use telephones anymore, so Catherine had secretly reactivated the old phone lines and made it insular, so only a handful of people could use the system. This archaic technology, over half a century old, was so outdated that no one would bother messing with it, the signals disguised amongst the petabytes of information in the air already. And thus, typing away on something that should belong in a museum, Catherine sent the following message:

To: AliceInBSharp

From: DragQueenRedHot
Ice cream is in the cooler out back. Come and grab some with us. We'll study for the Civics exam together.

 
Friday, April 7th, 2084
1818 Hours Local
The Pit
Barbaric Area after Damage (Restricted Zone Alpha), Old Domino
 
Interrupting Pener's thought processes were the sounds of gunfire and several screams, along with cries in Russian, South African English, American English, some corrupted version of Thai, and a few other languages until the explosions, weapons fire, and sickening sounds of humans being taken down by a supernatural force stopped as abruptly as it began, and a figure started to come down the hallway. Crawling into the assembly room was a man with the lower half of his body missing, trailing blood behind him as his cybernetic implants kept him alive enough to realize where he just ended up, until a meaty, blood-soaked hand grabbed his skull and lifted him up by the head. Said hand was attached to a black, red, and gold military dress uniform, cloaked in a black cloak with purple lines criss-crossing its length, while its owner had his face partially obscured by the cloak's hood. The giant grinned at his companions as he squeezed, putting Jaeger's miserable last moments behind them as the man finally died like he was supposed to.
"Am tearrably surry, Meeztreez." A heavily-accented voice spoke from the massive man, clearly Russian. "Eentrudurz meneged to geet furthur eento kumpownd theen projeected. But they half bin...teakin kear uff."

[Super Chaos Sonic]

Jet could hear the worry in Doctor Ushio's voice when she addressed the reports of the Brand. He could only sigh as he looked down at the floor, just listening to Ushio say what she needed to....

 

"Jet, I'm a bit worried. You have multiple peaks over 80%, with the highest at 91%, and your synch rate flow is a bit erratic, with an average of 66%. Fortunately, I can only disqualify you from entry if you average out to 67%, and have any peaks over 100%, so you're in the clear. Take it easy, Jet. We don't want any incidents."

 

"I-I understand ma'am..." Jet simply said with a slow nod. He looked at Adrian, who seemed to be doing just fine, as he sighed again. Always seemed like he was the one that had the most problems with this...but in actuality, with what he's been through, who would really blame him. He slowly slipped his hand onto his Brand as the mechanisms on his arm finally stopped, as he clenched a bit. I have to remain calm...t-this is the first time their letting me go out...for something like this. And if things go well...perhaps...maybe I could finally find a way to escape this hell hole... Jet thought, as he looked back at Doctor Ushio. "I-Is there anything else...you need from me...doc?"

[Maeriberii Haan]

To: AliceInBSharp

From: DragQueenRedHot
Ice cream is in the cooler out back. Come and grab some with us. We'll study for the Civics exam together.

 

“Heh, ‘Drag Queen’."

 

Adelais smiled a little. Catty's handle always sounded funny to her.

 

"Kat, sorry. I gotta go now. Catty wants my booty now.

Let’s have a rematch sometimes in the future.

 

And no dammit, I'm definitely not forfeitting because I'm going to lose! No, not at all!”

 

Receiving Catty’s message in the middle of her duel, Adelais immediately decided to stop the duel immediately since the message was apparently quite important, though, Adelais was not very amused that Catty was still using that sort of coded message.

 

Using ridiculously outdated technology was one thing, but using the weirdly coded message was something else, and Adelais was not very cool with it.

 

Before she left the place, she decided to reply Catty’s message to confirm that she indeed was going to her location.

 

To: DragQueenRedHot

From: AliceInBSharp

Geez, okay. I'll be there Catty-sama~

(Also, stop using these kind of messages, please...)

 

“With that done and sent....

 

Well, see ya, Kat!”

[Love of Ghibli]

Needless to say Adrian was pretty annoyed that Jet didn't even bother to respond to his offer or even acknowledge the hand shake. But what can one do? You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. He was happy to hear that his synchronization readings were what the doctor called "healthy." Also his secret invitation to the SILLIES was already in route meaning he definitely needed to be in top condition for the tournament. He noticed that the other one had some rather high readings. Did this mean that Jet was vastly more powerful with his Signer Dragon than Adrian? It surely was an interesting thought nonetheless. It seemed that the stallion wasn't broken just yet. Adrian tried to hide his smirk as the youngster began to leave. 

Adrian simply nodded to the good doctor as he could tell that the majority of her concern was with Jet. As well it should be. Adrian is a grown man. It would be pretty frivolous to worry about him with such matters. Furthermore, if the good doctor had a history with Jet then his issue became more personal. As he left her office he simply made his way down to the lobby where the evil glares of his sister were waiting from him. He tilted his head and rolled his eyes as he knew this was not something that was going to go away with simple discussion. Paranoia was a pretty annoying quality in his sister. 
 

What did you do? Clarice said very loud and defiant. Nothing. Can you try to use your inside voice? The two simply stared at each other as they knew there was only one true way to end this. But this was neither the time or the place to attempt such things. They did however both nod in agreement to settle this little dispute later. Clarice pulled out Adrian's phone from her bag and it showed that he had one unread message. Why do you have a message from a Duel Academy School? I thought we graduated already. Really I got a message from them you say. Adrian understood this meant that this was some kind of official brand business. Just as he was getting ready to train too. On the bright side his sister may be of some use deciphering of all of this Signer Business. Well it looks like you're about to see some of my "workmates." Adrian said as he put up the phone in his pocket. The two of them proceeded to head out to the gathering of Brands.

[BANZAI!!!!]

Friday, April 7th, 2084

1812 Hours Local

Corner of West 729th and North 312th

Entertainment Alley, Daimon District, Old 'Burbs

"Everyone here knows my name, but I don't think they know yours, but I'll be polite and tell you anyways! I'm Haruka Izayoi, the best duelist in this circle, and I'm gonna show you what my crew is capable of!"

Kazuki already knew her name, although correcting her seemed inappropriate and he therefore neglected to inform her of this fact. She was still confident, though whether or not she really really knew what she was doing remained to be seen. At any rate, she'd accepted Kazuki's challenge, and he joined her in triggering the voice activation on their duel disks.

"LET'S DUEL!!!"

Both players drew their first five cards, with Haruka, having been the one challenged, taking the choice of first turn. From Kazuki’s perspective, she seemed competent enough. Her setup wasn’t anything too special, just a couple of offensively weak monsters and one set card. Shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Besides, Haruka seemed to be a bit more focussed on playing to the crowd than giving herself an advantageous position, something Kazuki was sure to take advantage of. Still, not bad, all things considered, though Kazuki himself was hardly a critic. He stayed silent throughout Haruka’s first turn, more focussed on observing her plays and her facial expressions (something Sho had taught him to do, as it could sometimes reveal the purpose and pitch of the opponent’s set plays). When she finished, he finally spoke.

“Not too bad, Haruka.” He was smirking just a bit, and though his tone of voice was playful, there was just a hint of sarcasm in it, turning the compliment into a taunt of sorts, albeit a playful one. Kazuki continued as he drew his sixth card, completing his opening hand. If one was paying close attention, they might have observed an ever-so-slight waning of his smile. His hand wasn’t as strong as he would have liked, though this was most likely not discernable to his opponent.

“Guess I should get started crashing this party now, shouldn’t I?”

He looked over his hand for a moment, the phase indicator on both players’ duel disks going from a yellow “DP” to an orange “SP” for the duration of Kazuki’s thought process, before switching to a green “MP1” as he played his first two cards.

“First thing’s first. I’ll set two cards face down.” He paused a moment as two holographic cards appeared hovering inches above the ground in front of him. “Next up, I’ll activate a field spell: Legion’s Fortress!” This time, he played the card with a bit of a flourish, and less than a second later a large, floating citadel, roughly the size of one of the nearby buildings, appeared about 20 feet above the field, casting a shadow over both players as well as the crowd around them.

“My crew’s got to have a home base, after all. And better yet, as long as the fortress stays on the field, all of my “Dragunity” monsters gain an extra 100 ATK thanks to the additional equipment they’ve got stored up there.” He gestured upward with his index finger as he spoke, obviously taking just a little bit of pride in the admittedly large and impressive hologram above them.

“Speaking of equipment, the fortress has an additional effect. I can send a card in my hand to the graveyard to search out a tuner from my deck and put it in the grave as well. Have to requisition supplies for any military campaign, after all.” He revealed Dragunity Decurion, a level 4 monster, from his hand and sent it to his graveyard before removing his deck from his disk, briefly leafing through it before taking his target tuner, Dragunity Tacitus, and sending it to his graveyard as well.

“Now that I’ve gotten everything in place...” He ran his fingers through his hair again before taking the monster card from his hand and continuing. “I’ll normal summon Dragunity Alaris!” Right on cue, Dragunity Alaris (1500 ATK|LV3) appeared on the field, clad in light leather armor; polearm readied in a fighting stance as it stared down Haruka’s assembled monsters. “Now then, the fun part. You see, when I normal summon Alaris, I can equip him with a dragon-type tuner from my graveyard, and it just so happens that I’ve got one handy: Tacitus.” On command, a golden, ethereal Dragunity Tacitus appeared on the field, wrapping itself around Alaris’s torso like a bandolier. “When Tacitus is equipped to a monster, he gives it an extra 500 ATK thanks to all of his strategic combat experience. Even better, Alaris gives himself an extra 500 ATK if he’s got a “Dragunity” monster equipped to him, and that combined with the bonus all of my “Dragunity” monsters get from the fortress brings Alaris up to 2600 ATK.” Alaris, for its part, looked like it was itching for a fight, ready to eliminate whatever its target happened to be.

“Sorry to keep you waiting so long.” Kazuki’s tone was still as confident as it had been, but there was a hint of flirtatiousness in it as well. “Hope you didn’t fall asleep on me over there." Kazuki took a glance at his field for a moment before continuing his turn, the phase indicator on both players' disks switching to a red "BP".

 

"Now, Alaris, take out that Artistreet Forcheshire will ya?"

 

Alaris complied, twirling its polearm before lunging at Forcheshire with great speed.

[宇佐見 蓮子@C94]

While she was stuck in the elevator, Mika couldn't help but feel an odd mixture of anxiety and excitement. The moment she was found herself in an express elevator that cut straight through the Scrapes and into the executive sectors, she knew she was onto something big. The payment would surely be massive, and the fact that she's making a large enough name for herself to stop taking petty "Please spy on my wife to see if she's cheating on me" cases is very exciting. Despite that though, it's still her first ever major case, and despite having full confidence in her abilities, she was rather nervous about receiving work from the largest company on the planet. Still, it's not like the anxiety is large enough for her to lose the confident look on her face. If she learnt anything at all from the last year or so of being a private eye, it's that showing signs of weakness is a one-way ticket to lose client trust.

 

A while later, the elevator opened, revealing to her a rather beautiful indoor zen garden, completely unlike what she had in mind. The unexpectedly breathtaking scenery helped calm her down, but when she saw the one other person in the room, the nervousness came back full force. Jesse Strailley. "My client is the most powerful woman on the planet...? Holy crap, what kind of dream is this?" She thought to herself, as she slowly inched her way towards her, a cold sweat trickling down her neck. The moment she saw her client, she felt some kind of repressive, restrictive aura emanating from Jesse, similar to the one she feels in her brief flashbacks, yet... It was completely different. For now, though, Mika would handwave it as just her psychic powers going berserk. 

 

"Miss Jesse Strailley...?" Mika asked in an uncharacteristically low voice, sitting down wariza style and looking at her client square in the eye so that her powers can activate, as per usual procedure with all her clients. "I am detective Mikado Kanaberal. I came here after I received an e-mail..." The repressed feeling she felt from before got even stronger, to the point where she can't even finish her sentence, ending it at a rather awkward point. 

[Never_this_again]

Ellyon was starting to get tired of the waiting for the remaining Dark Signers. However, she thought, she had been waiting for this day for quite a long time now, so a few more minutes wouldn't matter at all. At this point, her thoughts were interupted by the distinctive sound of a battle with heavy arms. A few moments later, a crippled corpse was crawling into the hideout, followed soon after by one of her kind, another Dark Signer. Once he had ended the life of that human, Ellyon was convinced that this guy definitely had a thing for an awesome entrance. And generally, Ellyon had a thing for death, so this scene was brightening her mood slightly.

So, another one of the missing Dark Signers had shown up. If Ellyon recalled Peners words correctly, one was still missing though. However, she wasn't entirely sure, so she decided to ask the little girl that was their leader: "Are we still waiting for someone, or is everybody here?"

[Premier Alexander Romanov]

Friday, April 7th, 2084
1814 Hours Local
Corner of West 729th and North 312th
Entertainment Alley, Daimon District, Old 'Burbs

Haruka was a bit surprised by the sudden appearance of the massive floating fortress looming over them, barely able to fit in between the towers and spires surrounding them, taking half a step back on reflex, before she was informed of the effects of the various monsters, but all of the military descriptions were staring to bore her, causing her to give off a yawn as her opponent droned on like some sort of history lecturer, only for her to jolt back to attention once he asked if she was falling asleep. Scanning the field quickly let her know that her kitty had half the attack of the combination birdman-dragon that prepared to assault them, the green-armored serpent coiling around the halberd of the avian. Finally, the equipped monster lunged at the purple-robed catgirl, resulting in three things to happen nearly simultaneously.
The first of these things was the light from the set card Haruka had on the field being flipped up, revealing that it was a Spell Card, not a Trap Card, which was an uncommon thing.

The second happened right after the first, as two people burst out from the crowd, one a lithe woman with glasses over brown eyes, brunette hair in two pigtails, a black bowtie on a chocker around her neck, and a black shirt with jeans beneath them accompanied by a larger man with finely-styled brown hair, a trimmed beard, and sharp green eyes wearing a brown suit with a teal shirt and tie beneath it, both figures simultaneously shouting in song "WE'RE A DISTRAC-TIOOOOON!!!".

And the third thing was Forcheshire taking advantage of the distraction, her catlike reflexes springing into action to let her sidestep the charging eagle-man and narrowly avoiding the fang-lined jaws of its companion, both monsters occupied by the interlopers enough that they had slightly drifted off course from their intended direction.
The girl was beaming as the pair of intruders melted back into the crowd as soon as they had appeared. "Fellow small-time artists have gotta look after each other, especially when one is in trouble. Nothing like a little distraction, or, in this case, my Artistreet Dis-Action, to make your monsters incapable of continuing their fighting. Plus..." Gemini Jockey resumed the music, handing Haruka a card in the process. "...I get a card if I have Jockey here. Anything else, or should I go on to my turn?"

 

Friday, April 7th, 2084
1908 Hours Local
Strailey Industries Main Building
Justicar Tower, The Scrapes

The psychic wouldn't have known this, but she had been monitored and analyzed the moment she stepped foot into the building. Jesse knew everything there was to know about the detective before the elevator doors even opened, which suited the CEO, as she loved to have all of the cards in her hand...only she didn't. She had no idea what Mikado was talking about, so she motioned to the space in front of her, where a pillow waited for Mikado to sit down. "You may call me Miss Strailey." She calmly but politely instructed, an upper-class British accent coming through her flawless Japanese. "Please, take a seat and explain this situation. What is this email you are talking about?"