Yu-Gi-Oh! Skies [IC]

[Super Chaos Sonic]

-The Action HERO Duelist-

 

"You got a problem with Salutiger, Souji? Cause I'll have you know that Salutiger is a standard everyone should meet in terms of outfits, on Spirit Day anyways."

 

Souji only chuckled at the comment that Dirk gave him. "Not at all, Dirk-sensei." he nodded, giving Dirk a thumbs up. "Just a little surprised that you went with Salutiger and not a costume that reflected your deck. But you do have a point...Salutiger is a style everyone should try to meet."

 

Now that pleasantries were out of the way...Souji could finally mention it to Dirk. "By the way, I had the esteemed pleasure of watching your brother Salem Duel yesterday." he said, chuckling some. "It was against that Spectrum kid. Anyway...he seemed to have the upper hand, but those Goyos of his couldn't match up to the playstyle of his opponent's Crystal Beasts." He moved back slightly, nodding at Dirk. "Needless to say...Salem lost...pretty badly."

 

 

-The Crystal Apprentice-

 

"You did pretty good."

 

Upon hearing this, Roy was taken back, acting a little insulted as he held his chest. "Pretty good? Kimiko...you wound me with your words!" he chuckled, before rolling his eyes. "I'd like to think I did more than good. Exceptional probably would be a good word to use too. But yeah...Salem really does have some Pro Duelist blood in him...I mean...that opening move was just amazing!"

 

Roy's small smile faded a bit, before sighing. "But...that was actually the first time someone legitimately got upset with me winning a Duel...wasn't expecting that at all..."

[The Warden]

Coach Hardass

 

"By the way, I had the esteemed pleasure of watching your brother Salem Duel yesterday. It was against that Spectrum kid. Anyway...he seemed to have the upper hand, but those Goyos of his couldn't match up to the playstyle of his opponent's Crystal Beasts. Needless to say...Salem lost...pretty badly."

 

This was met by an almost brutal devouring of cupcake, if that were somehow possible given the flinging of soft sponge everywhere. Wiping the icing off on his sleeve, the coach addressed his student with a rather intimidating glower. "What makes you think I even give a DAMN about that little dweeb or who he duels?" he replied harshly. "Besides, it's SALEM. He always loses. Has done since he first picked up a duel disk."

[a coffee]

 

Elizabeth sighed, "Always with the helping me stuff, isn't it? You know, there was a time where our friendship wasn't purely some kind of doctor's appointment." Elizabeth swiped her own deck off of the coffee table, cycling through the cards, "A duel you say? Sure. I guess I could go for one of those. The last duel I took was with Pat, but Yushiro had my Vishnu in his possession at the time, so my combo slipped right through my fingers. Sad really." She motioned for Emma to take a seat on the couch, doing so herself. After examining her deck fully one last time, Elizabeth took a deep breath and began what would develop into somewhat of a story:

 

"That Yushiro character, he's been something of a frequent sight as of late; we quite literally ran into each other outside of the campus center after his duel, where we got to meeting each other. He had knocked me over when we ran into each other and it sent my deck about the pavement, so we bonded a bit over picking up my cards, right? Well, what neither of us had noticed, at the time, was that I accidentally left my Cyber Angel Vishnu behind, and he picked it up for me. Fast forward to yesterday night, and he's tracked me down to give the thing to me after I've turned into a bit of a wreck the whole day looking for it. Which, by the way, I sent you a text asking you if you had seen it, but you didn't answer. I suppose you've been rather busy yourself?" Elizabeth waited for whatever answer may or may not come, hoping, at least internally, that the answer would be brief. As soon as the next opportunity arose itself, she began speaking once more,

 

"So he gives me my card back, and I ended up hugging him because I was so relieved which melted his cheeks rather quickly, and created this sort of... tension between the two of us. What eventually comes around is that he's told me he's got somewhat of a wager match in a few days with this Blythe character, and that he wants me to tutor him for the duel! This would have been no problem, as I fancy myself quite the tutor, but this Katsu girl asked if we were in a relationship of some kind!!" Elizabeth began to blush at even the thought, "Which had sort of gotten me thinking... am I really still desirable? Was there something for us, and that's why we've found each other three times in a week, then? He came over this morning for the tutoring and, in fairness, we did some, but it sort of just ended up turning into a lunch date and... the display of blush and god knows what else you saw before." Elizabeth's face had now become rather red; she was embarrassed over the situation, and the very talk of the day's events with Yushiro caused her stomach to feel an uncomfortable bubbling; like a soda about to burst from the top.

 

Elizabeth fixed her hair back into her classic ponytail with speed, doing anything to take the attention away from her constantly reddening face, "So yes, your weekend, how was it then, darling? Should I be worried about a new friend circle stealing you as well?"

[Draconus297]

Emma Pathos

 

At this last, Emma laughed, a sound that managed to carry restraint even with its mirth. "New circle of friends? No, dear Elizabeth, just another possible case. You have managed to become quite possibly my only friend, but I don't typically make friends with those I study. That would be . . . impractical, Elizabeth." Still the smile pervaded, a tight-lipped grin that showed nothing more than it needed to. "Regarding me treating you as a patient . . . quite honestly, I only initially wished to heal the wounds of loss by returning you to the friends you had before we had met. You adding me to your personal circle was a happy accident, and while I appreciate that, you must understand that I am not exactly used to having friends, so my default outlets typically involve making a patient out of all the interesting people in the world."

 

Emma nervously coughed, having caught herself in an expansive gesture of pure grandeur. "But I digress. I had quite the exciting Saturday, mostly taken up by preliminary study on the Noir boy. Brother to professional Duelist Syndri Noir and our own Coach Dirk Noir, you know. He caught my eye in a Duel with the Spectrum boy . . . a perfect specimen for study," she sighed softly. Given any other choice of words, or any other girl, and that tone of voice would be reserved for a crush. However, given that this was the one and only Emma Pathos, this was merely her dedication to study- pursuing someone until she'd dug up their secrets and either "fixed" them or gotten bored. "An unusual Dueling style, and quite quick to frustration. A very interesting human being."

 

"But back to your interactions with the Midori boy," Emma quickly shook her head and changed tacks, leaning forward with a nigh-conspiratorial hush to her tone. "You do qualify as conventionally attractive, Elizabeth, and I have little doubt that your quite obvious attractions are in some way requited. After all, his blush was just as red as yours, and no human being smiles that nervously unless they are attempting to hide something." The bespectacled redhead adjusted the frames up the bridge of her nose, her eyes gleaming with a passion that bordered on sinister. "I could investigate for you, if you so desire . . ." However, before Elizabeth could respond to that thought, Emma switched gears a final time, without missing a single beat.

 

"And I do apologize regarding your text. You should have sent me a message over my Duel Disk- my phone has been sitting in my dorm all weekend, and I've yet to check it. I've been keeping my notepad in that pocket," she proudly produced the small pad of paper, covered in three different colors of ink in the short analyst's handwriting. "However, I am glad that Vishnu was found. Truly, it is the cornerstone of your Deck, the single largest playmaker in a Cyber Angel Deck.

[~Faytl~]

"Hey! Meikoooo!" Meiko would now see the tall form of Balthazar Gilliad, or as she would know him, Balthy, approaching through the crowd. He was quite a sight. He was covered in pieces of spray-painted cardboard, all vibrant shades of orange and blue. They stuck out at odd angles, including one hinged piece that kept falling shut over his face in some beak-like fashion. He pushed it up, grinning as he held up a card with his other hand.

 

"I'm DInomist Pteran, Meiko!" he said cheerily, looking ecstatic at his makeshift costume. "I hope there's a contest for these; I'll take it for sure!" It was at that point he caught sight of the fellow dressed as Guardian Dreadscythe, and his jaw plummeted. "Aw, MAN!" he yelled, looking despondent. "How fair is THAT? Where do you even GET a scythe?" He fell in beside Meiko, clearly dejected.

 

"Well, now what am I gonna do?" he asked, looking down at his shabby costume.

 

- - - - - -

 

Dee would suddenly feel a hand on her shoulder before she was roughly spun around, pushed up against the side of a boothe as Blythe pushed her face into hers, expression pinched and irritated.

 

"There you are, Midori," she said irritably. "I've been looking for you everywhere. Your robot: I need to talk to you about him." Her eyes glared into Dee's not quite yet realizing that this wasn't Yushiro she was speaking to.

[King K. Azo]

"Of course, Mister Hoshi!" Akira's mouth neatly watered as he looked "Pick whatever looks the most appealing, my friend." The sad thing was everything looked amazing to Akira. However, he was a martial artist as well as a player of card games. He needed to take the healthiest snack there was, which would be the blueberry pie. He reached down, taking a slice of the pie. It looked amazing!

Akira placed it on his booth, on top of a flyer he had set aside for just such an occasion. There was really only one thing he could do to make this day even better. Beat Katsu at something. before turning to call over to Katsu. "Hey, the woman Katsu. Do you want to make a bet? Whoever gets more people to join their dojo wins. Winner gets to make the loser do any one thing they want," 

Man, Yushiro was rubbing off on him.

[Alaina]

Wandering about for a bit, Meiko hadn't actually found anyone that was good to go gallivanting about the spirit festival with. Sure there were people she knew or was friendly with, but they were either caught up in their own things or weren't really going about doing things of interest. And other than Katsu and Akira, who were likely going to be stationary all day, Meiko just couldn't seem to find any of her usual friends that she'd hang out with. So, that just meant that she had to go on her own solo adventure and live up the festival by herself. Walking about, the girl noticed that there was all manner of games that she had to get through playing first. One such thing was a shooting game, simply using a cork gun to knock off as many bottles as one could in three shots. Of course, Meiko would not be one to pass such a challenge up, and with the prize of a large sized plush Gandora on the line for knocking everything down, there was no way she could lose! 

 

Walking away from the game, only having knocked down about three quarters of them, the girl had a bit of a huff in her expression. Displeased with herself, the girl soon shook off the feeling and went on to searching for more things to do. Of course, having rushed out the door, she was hungry. And so stopping by a quick noodle stand, the girl was able to try and sate her hunger with a cup of said noodles. Eating from the cup, the girl continued to walk about, looking for what else next to do, when she heard someone call out her name. Looking over to the source of the voice, the girl saw it belonged to someone completely deck out in boxes on boxes. Realizing who it was, she then responded by gulping down the noodles in her mouth and waving. "Hey Bal-kun!" Going back to eating from her cup she then realized that Balthy was likely wearing a costume.

 

Trying her best to figure out what it was that he was wearing, she came to the conclusion that he was likely cosplaying one of those robots from that series that Yushiro was fond of. As he told her what he actually was, a robot dinosaur, she figured she was close enough and with a smile on her face and thumbs up given to him she said, "oh, good job!" She started nodding as he said that he would definitely win in a contest for costumes. However, she was then startled as he suddenly yelled in dismay, seeing that there was someone in a far more elaborate costume that was on campus. As he started to doubt himself, Meiko looked at him with confidence and determination, declaring, "don't worry Bal-kun! I'm sure people will enjoy your costume regardless of what anyone else's might be. You just have to have confidence," as she said this, she swung her arms to the side, accidentally letting go of her cup and sending it flying to the ground. While her hand twitched when she realized what she did, she made sure to keep her expression the same as she continued declaring, "and I'm sure people will take your hard work to heart!" Turning herself, so as not to face her wasted food she pointed forward saying, "now let's go find some place where costumers are gathering!" 

[VCR_CAT]

​Katsu Tanaka

 

"Hey, the woman Katsu. Do you want to make a bet?"

 

​Katsu turned to face Akira, a strong spark of annoyance igniting before it was immediately snuffed out by another bite of blueberry pie. "What did you have in mind?" ​Katsu asked with a full mouth.

 

"Whoever gets more people to join their dojo wins. Winner gets to make the loser do any one thing they want,"

 

​Katsu's chewing slowed down, as he brain's annoyance and rationality fought a failing battle against the overwhelming flavor of the pie itself. At first, her mind started to think of all the humiliating things she could force Akira to partake in. However, the narcotic qualities of a very delicious pie removed those outer layers of inhibitions, forcing Katsu's thoughts into areas reserved for trashy romance novels; romantic, sunset walks, movies, dinners, danc--

 

Katsu swallowed her current bite of pie, and her brain jarred itself back into a much more sober position, leaping away from her previous train of thought. Yes, yes humiliating scenarios seemed perfect.

 

​"You're on, Akira!! My dojo's gonna blows your's out of the water during this festival!!" ​Katsu proclaimed with a competitive vigor.

[a coffee]

 

Elizabeth could only roll her eyes; of all the people she had decided to pick for friends, this was the one? 

 

"Ugh, Emma. You're so weird. You know most boys like it when you actually -talk- to them instead of 'studying' them or 'analyzing their behavior' or doing whatever it is you do with me 3 times a week." Elizabeth playfully ribbed Emma; that tone in her voice would be unmistakeable if she didn't already know who she was talking to. She wasn't even sure if Emma knew how to crush on a boy, "If he's so interesting maybe you should ask him to come over for lunch." Elizabeth chuckled, "It certainly found me in a fine mess of a day."

 

Elizabeth swiped her deck up off of the table and pulled a duel disk out from a drawer inside of the furniture, "Fine, we can duel. You wanna just duel here? Or did you want to go to one of the grounds? No reason we can't talk and duel at the same time; we've done it plenty of times before." Elizabeth blushed slightly at Emma's comment; she was terrible at taking compliments, and given the subject matter, it was rather flattering to hear Emma bolster her confidence in an area where she lacks some nowadays.

 

"You think so? I mean, he's kind of a huge dope... He probably didn't even notice how nice I looked today." Elizabeth looked down at her outfit until Emma made a comment about investigating Yushiro, the blush immediately faded into a stark white, and she looked up at Emma with eyes widened, "Oh no you don't, Emma! You've got more than enough investigating to do with the Noir boy and me, don't you think? No reason to get involved with Yushiro, heh."

 

Elizabeth began shuffling her deck, now only waiting for Emma to get her own cards ready for their duel, "Maybe when this nonsense with his big duel coming up in a week is over I'll invite him out one of these days. You know Pat is going to be bugging me any day now with that ridiculous party he throws every year. Are you going to go? I feel bad, I didn't go to his last one, and Pat's always been there for me." Elizabeth's mind began to wander to typical secondary school stresses, only half waiting for Emma to answer. Her mood was uncharacteristically lifted this morning.

[Draconus297]

Dee Skize

"Eh?" The cosplayer grunted in confusion, looking into the other girl's eyes with a hint of nervousness. Dee had never seen this girl, but every bit of this interaction stank of bullying. Did Yushiro Midori have a bully? "Wh-what about him?" Dee trembled- if this girl pushed around Yushiro, then a skinny cosplayer had no chance.

 

======

 

Emma Pathos

 

Emma laughed- banter like this with Elizabeth was surprisingly fun, and she never got over that fact. Did this qualify as banter? Emma made a mental note to find her dictionary again.

 

"That is an interesting idea, Elizabeth," Emma smiled softly, "but unfortunately last I saw the Noir boy he was in no mood for discussion. It will take some careful chipping at his barriers to get to the meat of what makes him so intriguing," she discussed as she pulled her Deck free of its box on her waist and slid it into place on her Duel Disk with a satisfying click indicating it was ready.

 

"As for where we could Duel . . . perhaps the Duel Grounds. Mental implications aside, spending all this time indoors isn't conducive to good health. I'm willing to bet you are deficient in Vitamin D," Emma chastised, already back on her feet hand heading towards the door. "Even pretty girls need to soak up some sun," she said somewhat teasingly.

 

Emma did get a good grin out of Elizabeth's reaction to the suggestion of analysis of Yushiro. "Dope or not, romantic attraction is a natural part of adolescence, and it is quite likely that he was distracted by your efforts to look nice." This did leave Emma questioning if there was anyone she was interested in . . . preposterous. The little redhead was firmly wedded to research, and naturally that curiosity had supplanted the explorative curiosity of one's teenage years. Still, she supposed that was something she needed to rectify . . . eventually. "And there is no need to go so far as to shout, Elizabeth. Certainly a simple 'no, thank you' would have sufficed."

 

"As for the party . . . my attendance is unlikely," Emma admitted, "unless you wanted me to attend with you to defuse unwanted awkward situations. I have very few topics I am versed in that many would find worth talking about at a social event." Technically true- yes, she tended to know much about people, but that usually devolved to people asking her for information they would eventually twist into sickly gossip.

 

In any case, Emma held the door open. "After you, Elizabeth."

[a coffee]

 

Elizabeth nodded, speaking as they walked out the door, "I hadn't much expected you to tag along, but it felt rude not to mention I'd like to have you around. Ho hum." Elizabeth locked her door behind them, and they quickly made their way towards the Dueling Grounds. The cool, morning air breezed through the holes in her sweater created by the knitting pattern, brushing lightly against the a-shirt underneath, and through the other side. It felt nice, and despite the fact that she had already gone through a fair bit of drama by now, Elizabeth felt an aura of zen around her. She stared at her deck in her right hand, even with how the day felt, though, she simply did not feel the inspiration to duel today. She would, of course, duel at Emma's request, they were friends after all, but she began to wonder if the spirit would ever come back. Something about tutoring students to care about quality and dueling excellence while she could not muster up half of what she expected felt hypocritical, but nobody would want to hear her moan and complain about how she does not feel like being good at the game anymore.

 

Elizabeth sucked her teeth, What a posh problem to have, Elizabeth. She thought to herself.

 

Finally, after a bit of walking, they had arrived at Elizabeth's more favored of the Dueling Grounds. There was nothing particularly special about it, at first glance, but this was the Grounds in which she had won some of her finest duels, including the duel that had cemented her as the once-top duelist in the school... but that was a story for another time.

 

Elizabeth turned and faced Emma from the other side of the Dueling Grounds, "Alright then, deary. Ready to begin?"

[King K. Azo]

​"You're on, Akira!! My dojo's gonna blows your's out of the water during this festival!!" Akira chuckled as he looked around. Seems like they had a bet. He watched the crowds passing by him and Katsu. Yes, a few people stopped by and took a flyer or something, but he didn't think he could win at this rate. He needed a gimmick... something to draw in interest... but what could he do...? He pondered this to himself for a few seconds, before an idea struck him. He needed to show the product he was selling worked right?

 

"Alright, this is a challenge for any duelists out there!" Akira said with a smile, strapping on his Duel Disk. "I'm going to prove the strength of my dojo! Anyone who wants to challenge me can step right up!"

[The Warden]

She Who Resides

 

What a lovely day~ What a lovely, clear day. Ooooo~ What a lovely day for observation. Standing in the observatory/chancellor's office was the owner of the room. Straightening her monocle, a glamorous middle-aged woman with powdered cheeks looked down upon the festivities. Her expressionless mouth lifted into a small ca-like smile as Chancellor Pauline watched her students at work. "My my, what festivities we have this year" she murmured to herself, her delicate gloved hand idly swishing about her plain powder blue dress.

 

Yes, powder blue to match her silver hair tied in a bun, with a trail running down to between her shoulders. Idly dusting at her dress, Pauline straightened out her poofy bell-like sleeves, and straightened her jabot collar adorned with a broche of a unified sun and moon. Ensuring her high-neck collar was secure to her shapely neck. "Today feels like a good day to get some sun, I should think."

 

Gracefully gliding over too a hat-stand, the chancellor collected her wide-brim hat and donned it, a shade cast over her soft blue eyes. A parasol was claimed from the umbrella stand, and soon Pauline was off to the festival.

 

 

Twirling her delicate parasol, the chancellor drifted around the various stalls, a smile on her dainty face as she nodded politely and waved back to those who waved to her. Dress drifting in the gentle breeze, this woman of the 40s radiated sheer grace and sophistication. And then she noticed someone not looking too happy. Smiling with devious air, Pauline drifted up alongside Nijiro, her cat-like smile returned. "Fine day, would you not agree Nijiro?" she inquired politely.

[~Faytl~]

Balthy's smile renewed as Meiko brightened up his day. "Meiko-chan, you know how to cheer up anybody, don't ya?" he asked, grinning. "Let's go find the other costumers, yeah!" He jumped ahead into the crowd, occcassionally holding up for the shorter-legged Meiko to catch up to him. 

 

"That guy with the scythe must really be somethin'" he continued, still stuck on the Dreadscythe cosplayer a bit. "But nothing beats a costume you make yourself!" he proclaimed, clapping a hand on his cardboard chest, which dented a bit. "Look at Yushiro-san! I keep seeing people comment on the video for his duel with Hatekayama."

 

He turned around, talking to Meiko as he walked backwards, several people squawking and doding out of the way. "Stuff like "Tyrant Wing in a machine deck, whaaa?" But then almost everyone loves his dueling, even if its not technically the best!" He threw out his hands to the sides, grinning. "Much better than Hatekayama's boring old dueling, anyway!" As his hands flew out, one of them struck the cotton candy that Kimiko was holding, Balthy having walked right up to her without even noticing, his back still turned. 

 

Balthy turned, face apologetic before it quickly stiffened in awkward terror. "Eh... Hatekayama, is it?" he asked, a little strangled.

 

- - - - - - - 

 

Blythe smiled in satisfaction as Dee answered her. "Good," she said under her breath. She reached into a pocket, pulling out a photograph she held in front of Dee's face. The picture showed Yushiro's robot, looking sorry for itself as it sat inside what looked like a hamster cage. The cage was in the middle of being hugged by a heavily grinning girl who couldn't have been older than six, a dark-haired girl who looked elated.

 

"As you can see, he's being taken care of," she went on. "Now, I need to know if he has..." she trailed off, frowning as she pushed her face even closer to Dee's own, eyes narrowing. "You look... different," she said slowly, her grip on Dee's shoulder tightening. Her eyes ran over Dee's face before she finally blinked in surprise, shoving Dee away.

 

"Oh my god," she fumed, looking legitimately furious. "Are you kidding me? Get out of here! The kid even has his own fanclub dressing up like him..." She scowled at Dee. "Where the hell is Midori? And who the hell are you?" she asked, turning her head around to try and spy Yushiro.

 

What she found instead was a nearby booth that had Katsu behind it. She scowled, tramping past Akira's booth and slamming her hands on the booth, glaring down at Katsu.

 

"Tanaka, right?" she asked briskly. "And you..." she said with distaste, looking over at the booth for Akira's dojo. "Hoshi. I've seen you guys with Midori. Where the hell is he?" she asked, scowling harshly as she pointed over at Dee. "And I don't mean that little faker, I have serious business with the kid."

[VCR_CAT]

Katsu Tanaka

 

"Alright, this is a challenge for any duelists out there!" Akira said with a smile, strapping on his Duel Disk. "I'm going to prove the strength of my dojo! Anyone who wants to challenge me can step right up!"

 

"Shoot, that's not a bad idea," Katsu muttered to herself, scrambling around her booth. "Where's my duel disk? I can't let him one-up me like this!" She did, however, leave her duel disk at home. She didn't bring much, and even her dad had scolded her to leave it at home, to "focus on showing people what our dojo is about before you run around wasting time with your friends!"

 

Of all days to leave something like that behind.

 

Her search was cut short when two pairs of hands slammed down on her booth's table, prompting her to stand up and look directly into the eyes of a rather determined looking individual.

 

"Tanaka, right?" she asked briskly. "And you..." she said with distaste, looking over at the booth for Akira's dojo. "Hoshi. I've seen you guys with Midori. Where the hell is he?" she asked, scowling harshly as she pointed over at another individual behind her dressed just like Yushiro. "And I don't mean that little faker, I have serious business with the kid."

 

Katsu stood up straight, and looked this girl right in the eyes with her own fierce glare. "You must be Blythe," Katsu returned without a shred of friendliness in her tone. "I've heard about you, and what makes you think I'm just going to tell someone like you where Yushiro is? I got half a mind to teach you a lesson before I tell you something like that!" Of course, now she was getting in over her head, knowing she had to leave her duel disk at home...

[Yui]

---

bgm

 

"Pretty good? Kimiko...you wound me with your words! I'd like to think I did more than good. Exceptional probably would be a good word to use too. But yeah...Salem really does have some Pro Duelist blood in him...I mean...that opening move was just amazing! But...that was actually the first time someone legitimately got upset with me winning a Duel...wasn't expecting that at all..."

 

Kimiko shrugged in response to Roy's sentiments about his opponnet. Yes, Salem had started off strong, but Roy came back in the end. That was what mattered! Both for his own sake, and for Kimiko's revenge. It was very important, and at the end of the day, there was no changing who won or lost a duel. The best Salem could hope for was to pick up and regain his reputation, much like he'd forced the Hatakeyama heir to do herself.

 

"Much better than Hatekayama's boring old dueling, anyway!"

 

Excuse me!? Normally, Kimiko would jump right into the fray to prove just how un-boring and not-old her dueling was. However, today, she was here to enjoy a festival. This was a rare chance, so Kimiko paid the stray comment she picked up on no mind. For now. "Maybe he's just a sore loser," Kimiko mused, taking another bite of the cotton candy in her hand. Shoving the candy into one cheek instead of bothering to swallow before continuing, Kimiko resumed her guess with "Or maybe he's in the same spot I was in just a bit ago? He's got pro blood in him, no doubt that's high-pressure, so--"

 

Boop.

 

Kimiko was cut short by somebody bumping into her, startling her and throwing off her balance just enough to loose the cotton candy from her hands. If her grip hadn't cost her the cotton candy, somebody's hand swung carelessly into it, putting an end to the short time Kimiko's hand and the cotton candy got to know each other. Time seemed to freeze to her as it fell to the ground below. By the time the event had settled into her mind, it was already too late. The candy had hit the ground everyone's feet had stepped all over today, and already small amounts of insects were gathering with interest in the light blue cloud of delicious Kimiko had dropped. Apparently having a pleasant day this one time wasn't allowed. Kimiko turned to face the owner of the stray hand that had ruined this cheerful moment for her, murder in her eyes. It was the same person who had called her dueling "old and boring". Go figure.

 

bgm

 

"Eh... Hatekayama, is it?"

 

"Yes...it is Hatakeyama," Kimiko seethed, forcefully planting her now-candy-free hand on the barbarian's shoulder and gripping it tightly. "Old and boring Hatakeyama, right? I don't suppose you'd mind telling me what the hell you're doing talking about somebody behind their back. My schedule was supposed to be tight this morning, but now it looks like I have a sudden opening for a duel...right now, as it so happens. But you'll be fine, right? I'm old and boring, after all."

[Alaina]

With Balthy's spirits raised and the overall mood of the duo in high spirits, they had continued onward with going through the festivities. As the man in the odd ramshackle cardboard suit declared his pride for his costume, Meiko could only nod in agreement saying, "exactly!" With that, the two continued to walk through the crowd, the people in question wading around the man in the dinosaur robot costume in the process. As he begun to talk about the duel that had happened on the first day of school, she continued to nod at his statements. "Mhm, it was like, "whoooa" when he pulled that out. It was like something no one could've expected," which was true for good reason. However, he got to a part that made her cock her head in confusion.

 

When he commented on Kimiko's playing style she asked, "boring?" She didn't quite understand what he meant by that. After all, what she did was just as exhilarating to watch as what Yushiro did. It was then that she looked behind the man, seeing two other people in question. Her face lighting up as she saw the girl they had talking about, she said, "hi there Kimiko-chan." Looking just a bit past her, she then saw Roy, giving him a short wave as to acknowledge him being there. It was at that point that Kimiko seemed to be upset at Balthy, which there was no reason to question why. Dueling styles and, of equal importance, cotton candy was serious business. However, at the end of her short tirade towards him, she challenged him to a duel. 

 

"Huuuuuh?" Meiko couldn't help but be taken aback by the whole situation. Here she was, wanting to challenge to the girl before her and there she went challenging someone else again. Just like that. Wait. Yushiro had seemed somewhat rude towards when he challenged her. Balthy had been rude to her just now. Maybe all she had to do was say something rude towards her! As if agreeing with the statement said about her dueling being boring, sort of, Meiko exclaimed towards the other girl, "yeah! You're dueling is like, really cool - No. Not cool, fire. It's fire!" Yeah. Nailed it. That'd rile her up. "Now, I'll take on your challenge instead, straight fire dueling Kimiko-chan." Despite her attempts at being rude, the girl's face looked at Kimiko with an all too eager and peppy expression on her face.

 

---

 

 

 

 

Walking around the campus had proven to be quite boring. He didn't really feel like doing anything that the festivities had to offer, nor did he really care about them in the first place. He was tired, and really, going home was a much more preferred option at this point. Even though he had a job to do at the moment, no one seemed in immediate aid that he needed to step in and take care of something, and so all it really amounted to was a lot of him just walking about. While he was brooding on his life decisions, it was then that he heard a voice come from nowhere that sent a small shiver down his spine. That voice was familiar, one that anyone who worked here would recognize in an instant. Turning to face the woman, his expression becoming one that was resigned to whatever it was that was about to happen, he turned to face the voice. "Absolutely wonderful, Chancellor," his voice conferred no joy in it. "So, I take it you're here to join in on the whole, School Spirit thing too? Because I'm sure there's a lot of people, other people, who would love to have your brand of spirit spread to them." 

[King K. Azo]

Akira smirked to himself as he could see Katsu scrambling under her booth. Oh yeah, that was great, it meant he was out thinking her. With a combination of Steadfastness and his brains, he would win this bet, and when he won---! Um... he wasn't sure what he would actually have Katsu do. That wasn't good, not at all. Oh well, he'd think about it later. Suddenly, his b**** radar went off at full power...there was one nearby?!

 

"Tanaka, right?" a woman asked briskly. "And you..." she said with distaste, looking over at the booth for Akira's dojo. "Hoshi. I've seen you guys with Midori. Where the hell is he?" she asked, scowling harshly as she pointed over at another individual behind her dressed just like Yushiro. "And I don't mean that little faker, I have serious business with the kid."

 

"You must be Blythe," Katsu returned without a shred of friendliness in her tone. "I've heard about you, and what makes you think I'm just going to tell someone like you where Yushiro is? I got half a mind to teach you a lesson before I tell you something like that!"

 

"... Do you want to date Yushiro to?" Akira asked as he looked at the woman. "I haven't seen him all day, to be honest. I can pass a message if you need me to,"

 

---

 

Sai shook his head as he gathered up his cards and walked away from the table he was sitting at. He needed to try to have some fun today! Losing yesterday wasn't the end of the world! He'd be fine!

 

"Yes...it is Hatakeyama," Sai froze as he heard that voice. "Old and boring Hatakeyama, right? I don't suppose you'd mind telling me what the hell you're doing talking about somebody behind their back. My schedule was supposed to be tight this morning, but now it looks like I have a sudden opening for a duel...right now, as it so happens. But you'll be fine, right? I'm old and boring, after all."

 

Oh HELL no. He quickly spun on his heel and walked back to the table he was at. He was not touching that with a 150 foot long pole.

[Super Chaos Sonic]

-The Action HERO Duelist-

 

"What makes you think I even give a DAMN about that little dweeb or who he duels? Besides, it's SALEM. He always loses. Has done since he first picked up a duel disk."

 

Souji only lifted his hands in defense, giving out a chuckle. He didn't know all the details about the relationship between Dirk and Salem as brothers...cause family matters are to be something that one shouldn't press and dive straight in. That and he respected Dirk too much to pry too much into the psyche of the coach.

 

"Heh, yeah yeah I know." he said, before shrugging as he crossed his arms a bit. "I just think he might need a new hobby soon. Especially since he lost to that rich Spectrum kid. Still, I suppose this ain't the time to be chit-chatting with ya about your brother and his terrible Dueling skills, Dirk-sensei."

 

Souji moved as he put his arm to his side and his other hand on his hip. "It's a Spirit Day festival...there's too much fun to be had."

 

 

-The Crystal Apprentice-

 

"Maybe he's just a sore loser."

 

"That seems to be answer for everything nowadays." Roy rolled his eyes, chuckling slightly. But it did beg the question...why was Salem so distraught in their Duel? Roy only crossed his arms with a shrug, still not able to come up with an answer.

 

"Or maybe he's in the same spot I was in just a bit ago? He's got pro blood in him, no doubt that's high-pressure, so--"

 

That thought might've been a good reason...if Kimiko finished that sentence. However, she was cut short by the fluid motion of her cotton candy dropping on the ground due to someone's carelessness. Ohhhh sheet....

 

Roy stood there, mouth left agape as he watched Kimiko's demeanor change as she lashed out at the young man, Balthy. He wanted to say something, but this was one of those moods that if he DID try to calm her down, he'd probably be the next one on the chopping block. He just swallowed hard and backed up slightly, as if to try and give Kimiko some room.

[Yui]

---

"Yeah! You're dueling is like, really cool - No. Not cool, fire. It's fire! Now, I'll take on your challenge instead, straight fire dueling Kimiko-chan."

 

Kimiko's eyes shifted toward the other girl for a brief moment. She recognized that voice. One of the commentators from the duel against Yushiro. What was her name again? Meiko? Yes, definitely Meiko. She looked really eager to duel Kimiko, like she was a big fan or something. Kimiko thought about the duel situation for a moment.

 

I really, REALLY want to put this klutz back in his place! Calling me old and boring would have been fine on its own, but he had to ruin the start of my fun day too. How dare he! But this Meiko girl. Is she a fan? I didn't even know I had those. How good would it look for me if I accepted a fan's challenge and even let this nitwit boy off the hook? Good publicity is pretty tempting...screw it! As long as I get the message across it doesn't matter who I duel!

 

"Okay then," Kimiko said, straightening back up and releasing the rude clumsy idiot's shoulder from her clutches. "I'll take that offer. As for you," Kimiko added, glaring daggers in the boy's direction ever so briefly, "Just sit back and watch. You can even pretend you're in her shoes if you miss having the chance to duel little old me." With that, Kimiko put her arm down over Meiko's shoulders, and started toward the nearest dueling field on campus.

The Blue Yonder Duel Sp...Blue Yonder Spit Shine...it was a festival. Leona never really cared much for the thing's formal name; she was just here for the sweets and festive atmosphere. That said, in a fairly un-Leona-like fashion, she was actually a bit late to the festival. This wasn't because she just decided not to show up until now either. Leona wanted to win the cosplay contest, and took way too much care into her costume and makeup for this. It wouldn't even be that hard to mistake her for somebody else; she certainly didn't look like Leona at a glance. Instead, it was more likely for people to confuse her for a Lunalight Blue Cat. School colors, key card in her deck, and not extremely outlandish like some other costume ideas Leona had.

 

Of course, she perhaps went a bit too all-in on the costume itself. Leona had spent hours making sure her costume makeup was perfect; she wanted to embody this monster so well that Leona wasn't content with her cosplay until she couldn't even recognize herself in the mirror. Only then did she depart to join in on the festivities. The result was a blue-skinned catgirl walking about on campus. There was only one thing she hadn't considered, however. People who wanted her to pose for a photograph. Even if she couldn't even recognize herself, total strangers having pictures of her just didn't sit well with her, but she wasn't the sort of person who could turn down such a simple request.

 

Defeated by her own costume, Leona had fled into more crowded areas where it would be harder to have people tell her to post for a picture. Then she found it. A table, with just one boy sitting at it. Nearby were lots of other people, but the girl had to breathe for a bit. Leona weaved and slipped her way through the crowd, before reaching the table and seating herself opposite the boy.

 

"Hey hey," she weakly greeted, resting the side of her face on the table, but not averting her gaze. "Today's supposed to be fun right? Are you having fun?"

The students seemed to be enjoying the baked goods Bronislav was handing out. This was good. "Enjoy your time at the festival!" the teacher happily exclaimed, making his merry way around the festival grounds. It was this very meandering, in fact, that brought him to encounter two fellow staff members. Nijiro, an art teacher, and Pauline, the school chancellor! What a wonderful occasion!

 

"Ah, Miss Chancellor! And Nijiro too! A pleasure to see you!" Bronislav - as he had with so many encounters before this one - opened up a large plastic container from the Madoclhe Baaple wagon behind him, revealing baggies cookies, cupcakes, and blueberry pies. "Please, take one! Pick what you think looks the most appetizing!"

[Alaina]

As it turned out, it had seemed that Meiko's "taunting" had worked out perfectly. The straight fire duelist had ended up diverting her attention from the man who had destroyed her cotton candy, and accepted her challenge. Mission accomplished! Great! As the two of them had walked away from the rest of the festive events, Meiko briefly turned to Balthy giving a thumbs up, a look of triumph on her face. Eventually the two of them had managed to find an unoccupied field to duel, to which Meiko had wandered over to one side of the field. Priming up her duel disk, having the blade come out, she cracked her knuckles together with an overall joyful look on her face. "Alright Kimiko-chan, let's duel!" Before starting it she then thought a bit and said, "since I'm the challenger I'll let you choose who goes first." 

[King K. Azo]

Sai sighed to himself as he sat at the table. Man, was he that much of a coward? He couldn't even go near the angry short girl... the angry short girl that was extremely rich and could make his life a living hell. It didn't help his dad worked at the Hatakeyama Corporation. She could probably get him fired if Sai pissed her off enough. Hurray... a bully that didn't even know the immense power she had over him. Fun fun.

 

"Hey hey," a girl suddenly greeted, sounding exhausted. Looking up, Sai could see she was resting the side of her face on the table, but not averting her gaze from him. "Today's supposed to be fun right? Are you having fun?" Sai blinked at the girl. She looked exactly like a duel monster! That was pretty cool. Sure, he dyed his hair white and all, but he was still just a dork in a girl's outfit. She put a lot more effort into it!

"F-Fun? Yeah, I am. Kinda," He said as he rubbed his head. "Are you having fun?" He asked as he looked at her. "You look like you were up half the night,"

[BANZAI!!!!]

 

*achoo!*


Yushiro cocked his head to the side, looking past Elizabeth and observing the origin of the sneeze: a girl that he didn't recognize. Before he could get a really good look at her, or even smile and say hello, his eyes were drawn back to Elizabeth, who was now a whirlwind of activity. Reflexively, Yushiro stood up and got out of her way as she zoomed around the table, picking up the dishes (though Yushiro hadn't quite finished the last bit of his food), hurriedly brushing herself off, and motioning for the girl to come inside.


"Oh, Emma! Hi! I wasn't expecting you so early... Yushiro and I here were just finishing up our tutoring session. I think it's going well! Have you two met?"  The sentences came out of her mouth much too quickly... was she nervous? What about? She knew this girl Emma, after all, and its not like anything particularly out of the ordinary for Liz was going on here, right? Just a tutoring session. Before he could really think on it further though, he felt himself being not-so-subtley nudged toward the doorway. He took the hint and hurriedly gathered his things, throwing his half disassembled deck into his deck box. "Alright well, this was good Yushiro... maybe we can meet again soon? If you don't want to walk all the way out to the Azure dorms we could always meet at the tutoring center or... somewhere else, I guess."


"Uhh, wherever works best for you is fine with me... I don't really mind walking anywhere." was his response as Elizabeth walked him out the door, giving him a wave so awkward that even Yushiro found it off-putting as she closed the door behind her. He could here the two of them talking inside as he began to walk down the hall, but he couldn't clearly make out any of what they were saying, and he figured he didn't have much right to listen in either.


What in the heck was all that about?! He hadn't done something wrong, had he?


---


OST


The abrupt, strange ending to Yushiro's tutoring session wasn't enough to dampen the mood for long, however. It was spirit day, after all, and even Yushiro couldn't resist the opportunity to take part in all of the fun. For the moment, he put the hanging specter of his duel with Blythe and... whatever what had happened this morning was, out of his mind, and chose instead to bask in the warm sunlight and happy atmosphere of the festivities. Blue Yonder's campus was abuzz with activity: booths, events, pickup duels. Everywhere one looked there were things to do and people to meet. Especially in evidence were all of the duel monsters cosplayers. Some of them had clearly put a lot of effort into their outfits, and Yushiro couldn't help but stare and marvel at them. It was something that Yushiro had always secretly wanted to try, but he was too self conscious to ever actually go through with it.

 

Some time had now passed since he'd arrived, and between exploring and having to dodge the odd student who recognized him from his game against Kimiko, Yushiro was feeling a little bewildered. Maybe it was time to find someone he knew, both for safety in numbers and for something more involved to do. Wandering was bound to get boring, anyway.

 

Thankfully, it didn't take him long to happen upon the booth that Akira was running, his dojo's familiar logo hanging on a banner above the stand. It was admirable, trying to recruit for his family business instead of enjoying the festivities, though Yushiro doubted that he'd be very successful in getting Blue Yonder's decidedly un-athletic student body to take interest in martial arts. He eagerly made his way toward his friend, and was about to call out to him when he heard other familiar voices nearby. He stopped in the middle of the path, in plain sight, and listened for a moment.

 

"-I don't mean that little faker, I have serious business with the kid."

 

"You must be Blythe. I've heard about you, and what makes you think I'm just going to tell someone like you where Yushiro is? I got half a mind to teach you a lesson before I tell you something like that!"

 

Katsu and Blythe. Man was Yushiro's luck all over the place today.... if it were a person, it'd be drun-

 

"... Do you want to date Yushiro to? I haven't seen him all day, to be honest. I can pass a message if you need me to,"

 

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaa....?" Yushiro's jaw dropped open and the blood left his face as the malformed word escaped his mouth. Akira could be as dense as his superheavy samurai monsters were, but even for him that was an insane leap of logic. He was stunned to the point that he haddn't even thought to get out of sight, as all three of them could probably have heard him from where he was standing.

[Yui]

---

"F-Fun? Yeah, I am. Kinda. Are you having fun? You look like you were up half the night."

 

That obvious, huh? As if to make it more fair for herself, Leona considered just how long it took to get this costume perfect in time for the festival. Admittedly, she'd done a marvelous job of procrastinating the entire process, meaning she had to rush herself from the wee hours of the morning with all the makeup and details. Still, to pick up on that so quickly, the boy was perceptive. No point hiding it, then.

 

"Because I was," Leona answered. "I wanted to get this costume perfect before showing up. But now I've done it so well a bunch of people want me to pose for photographs and I can't really say no because really, that's a pretty simple thing to want. It's been a real lesson in things and stuff. If you do a cosplay in the future, try not to be a really cute catgirl in tight clothing, m'kay?"

 

Leona then thought about her situation for a bit. Here she was, with a boy, at a table, during a festival, just them. There was one part of the whole thing that bugged Leona, however. She had no idea who he was. "By the way, who are you? Like your name and stuff." That would fix that.

---

Kimiko brought her newfound opponent with her, away from the festivities. They had to duel, after all, and that required a dueling field. After all, they weren't vagrants who just dueled on the streets! It wasn't too hard to find one though, what with everybody occupied with the festival and all. Kimiko moved to the side opposite Meiko, firing up her lovely red Duel Disk and getting ready for action.

 

"Alright Kimiko-chan, let's duel! Since I'm the challenger I'll let you choose who goes first."

 

"I'll take the first turn then," Kimiko replied. "Now then, let’s get right into it!"

 

Turn 1 - Kimiko: 8000 | Meiko: 8000

"I activate the spell card Foolish Burial, and send Shiranui Spectralsword from my deck to the Graveyard!" As the Solid Vision copy of the ghostly samurai fell from above only to land in a coffin, a face-down monster appeared next to it. "I also set one face-down monster and end my turn."

 

Turn 2 - Kimiko: 8000 | Meiko: 8000

"Alright then, my turn!" Taking the top card off her deck she yelled, "Draw!" Placing one card in her monster zone, Meiko said, "First I summon Raidraptor Napalm Dragonius. Next, I activate its effect and deal 600 points of damage to you." The metal bird opened its mouth spraying flame from it directly onto Kimiko. "Next, because I control a Raidraptor monster, I special summon Raidraptor Fuzzy Lanius. Now, I overlay my level 4 Napalm Dragonius with my level 4 Fuzzy Lanius." The two monsters turned into dark purple swirls of energy as they both entered a dark vortex.

 

"Miniature Falcon, spread your wings and give rise to a new flock. Xyz Summon, Rank 4, Raidraptor Force Strix." The small robot bird appeared with its wings closed, in defense position, as two spheres were orbiting around it. "Next I activate the effect of Force Strix and use one overlay unit to add 1 Raidraptor monster from my deck to my hand." With that, the girl added Raidraptor Vanishing Lanius to her hand. "Next, because Fuzzy Lanius was sent to the graveyard, I can add 1 more Fuzzy Lanius to my hand. Finally I set one card and end my turn."

Turn 2 - Kimiko: 8000 7400 | Meiko: 8000

[~Faytl~]

Balthy had been cowering behind Meiko, failing to hide his tall body behind that of the much smaller girl, for the duration of Kimiko's tirade. "I didn't mean to make you mad, Hatekayama-sama!" he crowed, shivering. He egged Meiko on quickly when she stepepd forward. "Right, right, duel her!" he said happily, leaning over Meiko's head and flashing a thumbs-up. "I can't duel in this costume... gotta keep it PRISTINE for any contests, eh? Duel Meiko-chan, she'll sate your vengeance nice and easy!"

 

He sighed with relief as Kimiko moved away from him, looking over to Roy plaintively. "Hatekeyama's sure scary when she gets mad, eh?" he asked, a touch lamely. He ran after Meiko, yelling "Yeaaaah, Meiko-chan! Beat Hatekayama so she won't beat me!" 

 

He plopped onto the ground cross-legged, the dueling field centered in his sights as he took the duel in. "Hey, guy," he called over to Roy. "You know Hatekayama well? Why is she not dueling as hard as she did against Yushiro-san, eh?" He looked at Kimiko's set monster, eyebrow raised. "I expect she would have Synchro Summoned by now, right?" he asked, curious. "Instead she's sending her own monsters to the graveyard, and playing defensive-like... And Maiko-chan's already dealt damage without even attacking!" He twisted his face in consideration. "Maybe she's lost her touch, eh?"

 

- - - - - - -

 

Blythe snorted, face slipping into a smirk for a second before regaining her composure. "Teach me a lesson? Please... You're remedial compared to me, Tanaka. You have second-rater written all over your face."

 

Her own face soured as Akira spoke, slowly turning to the thick-skulled idiot and glaring witheringly at him. "I have IMPORTANT stuff to talk to Midori about... As if I'd date a kid as weak-willed as he is. I'll talk to him myself, wherever he-"

 

She whipped around as she heard Yushiro's exclamation of disbelief, eyes widening in recognition, then narrowing as she stalked over to him, pushing him up against a stall wall and getting into his face, holding up the picture she had shown Dee. "Goddammit, Midori, there you are," she groused. "Your idiot little toy. What kind of maintenance does he require? Any upkeep? Spit it out, already, I've wasted enough time looking for you."

 

Her face didn't twitch or change at all, expression rigid. Clealry the strange question wasn't meant as a joke. If Blythe ever told jokes.