Yu-Gi-Oh!: Poker Face(IC)

[RandomRoninKitten]

Chapter 1: Into the Dark

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

In the distant future... or a distant future... the world has been ravaged by mechanical entities, created by Ener-D in order to stop the rapid evolution of humanity, which had been using Synchro Summoning to control Ener-D's acceleration. Most of humanity was eradicated by these machines, but the remaining survivors, in an effort to stop this future from happening, resorted to time travel. Most of these survivors only traveled to when Synchro Summoning began to see its most widespread usage...

...but one time traveler, seeing this is too weak of a solution, chose to travel further back in time to shortly before the Battle City Tournament, in order to kill the owner of Industrial Illusions.

The Time Traveler was met with resistance that he could never have predicted; The Crimson Dragon had brought powerful duelists from different time periods to defeat him. He was indeed defeated... however...

This interference in the time stream caused a paradox in this timeline, resulting in a rapidly and infinitely expanding multiverse, creating more and more mixed-up worlds.

*****
Sunday, January 5th, [YEAR REDACTED], 6AM(Morning).

The moment you touch down on solid ground, you receive a message on your Duel Terminal...

The message is from Domino Duel Academy.

"Hello! Welcome to Duel Academy Island. Before you move any further, we're obligated to inform you that any who step foot on the island until 12AM will be treated as participating in the first ever, live broadcasted, Domino Duel Academy Entrance Battle Royal, or DDAEBR. Any duels you participate in will be broadcasted to everyone viewing, so do your best!

The rules are as follows:
You must wager 1 or more Star Chips, and one other thing, for each duel.
If you lock eyes with a duelist, you must duel.
If you take a duelist by surprise, you get the first move.
If you leave the island, you forfeit.
If you run out of Star Chips, you will be provided with 1 Star Chip. Star Chips are an important part of determining whether or nbot you pass, and which dorm you are placed in.
Eliminators were hired to eliminate the weakest. We are not legally responsible for anything they do to you.

Most importantly, have fun!"

Nova Maxwell/Blue

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

The boat was a rickety thing that looked at least one-hundred years old, covered in rust, the wooden sections of the boat looking as though they've been rotting for a long time. Much like the boat, the owner was extremely old, as well. The man was at least 6 feet tall, but he was so hunched that he may as well have been four feet tall, his head was completely bald, he was missing an eye, which he covered with an eye patch, his remaining eye was a dull gray. Despite being hunched and old, the man had large muscles, as if he worked out twice per-day, every day.

While the boat didn't look as though it would hold itself together for the trip from Satellite to Duel Academy island, everyone else had asked for a large some of Cawks to make the trip, while this guy asked for only a few. Given the crumbling shake behind him, it was possible that he just wanted to eat that night.

Naturally, during the trip, they ended up in stormy weather, having to sail through a full-blown thunder storm, during which the creaky old boat felt like it would fall apart at any moment, at one point the mast catches fire from a lightning strike, however the old captain manages to put it out.

Subsequently, they were attacked by a massive tan-colored, slimy, squid-like creature with glowing yellow eyes and numerous massive tentacles with red suction cups. The creature swatted the old boat out of the water and into the air, sending it spiraling across the water, skipping several times, before finally stopping with a large splash on the surface of the water, drenching Nova and the Captain, which made the biting cold weather even worse, having already been chilling her to the bone before she was soaking wet.



When the monster approached once more to finish the job, the captain took the only logical course of action... he activated his Duel Disk System and challenged the creature to a duel for the fate of the boat, however the creature forfeited by leaving and sinking back into the water.

Nova is dropped off on the northern side of the island, which turns out to be a desert, basically, but with more mountain and only slightly less sand. As far as she can see. Rocks to the left of her... rocks to the right... one would think that when you ask someone to take you to Duel Academy Island, they would take you to the populated side, with the forest. The sun beat down on Nova heavily, despite the fact that just a bit ago, while she was still at sea, it really wasn't that hot... it was pretty cold, it was as if simply being on this side of the island made it 90 degrees. Upon examining the area around her a bit more thoroughly, she can see the green of the forest around Domino Duel Academy in the GREAT distance, across the water OR around the water if she walks along the desert. To the left side of a distant mountain, which seemed to be shaped like some kind of volcano, she could see an odd white-colored forest, where the ground seemed to be covered with odd white sand, and near the base of the distant volcano, she could see a few shapes that could potentially be houses, and the dark of a cave formation. To her right, much closer than the forest, she could see a grassy section of island connected by a bridge, with a helicopter pad on it, and a port, where she could see a large, white boat leaving.

If Nova turns back to the boat, after reading her message from Duel Academy, should she choose to, the Boat is nowhere in sight, seemingly having bolted from the Duel Academy Island to return to Satellite.

Mina Rossi/Soru

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

For Mina, due to living in Domino, finding a boat to take her to the academy was fairly simple. The journey from her home to the port was completely uneventful, the captain of the boat accepted her Cawks without question, of which she had more than enough, the boat was in seemingly perfect condition, and the captain seemed to be a nice man. He was a tall man, with short-cropped dark hair, blue eyes, and he wore the traditional white captain's uniform of a boat captain.

The trip was short, the water was calm, and the captain's crew was competent at keeping the boat ride smooth. It'd be hard to imagine that there was a storm anywhere near here, with how pleasant the weather was and how calm the water was. There was even a gentle breeze guiding the boat directly to Duel Academy Island.

The boat arrives at the Duel Academy's designated port, a section of island that's separate from the main one, but connected by a long bridge. On the port island is a double helicopter pad atop a small building with a crew in it, which runs the port itself and guides the helicopters down when landing.

Once Mina was off the boat, the captain wishes her luck in the exam, before turning the boat around to return to the other port... and Mina sees, for a split second, the movement of a shadow just across the connected bridge, within the woodline, but before she can get a good look at its shape, it's gone.

On the other side of the Bridge, Mina can see a pathway leading through some thick woods, and towering over the treetops, she can see the distant main building of the Duel Academy itself.

Mircalla Le Fanu/Whiteknot

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Mircalla was on her way to Duel Academy Island by boat, however it was suddenly hit by massive storm. One could even say that it was a Heavy Storm. Freezing cold rain pelted Mircalla and the crew, soaking her to the bone, the wind knocked her to and fro, nearly knocking her over the railing every time the boat shifted. The massive waves tossed the boat around like a toy, knocking the captain and crew overboard, all of them disappearing beneath the waves in seconds. Suddenly a massive tentacle appears from beneath the water and wraps around the boat, before pitching it into the air. Despite the boat flipping and tumbling through the air, Mircalla manages to remain onboard, but it wasn't long before everything goes black.

When Mircalla wakes, she's laying in shallow water up to her waist at the very edge of Duel Academy Island, and she finds the rubble of her boat all around her, fragments of the white hull, with the single red stripe at the top. Pieces of the deck stuck up out of the ground. When Mircalla checks herself, she finds that none of her bones are broken, and more importantly, her Duel Disk System is, miraculously, intact. All of her cards are accounted for, including her side deck and spare cards.

To the east is a large mountain in the shape of a volcano, which she's at the base of, to the north is more wasteland and mountain. To the south, she can see a round white structure in the distance, mostly surrounded by forest. Naturally, to the East is nothing but a large body of water, the storm that she had been caught in is gone.

Regallia Silva/Kitty

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

A metallic clanking and grinding can be heard as Regallia is moved through the interior of the aircraft that she had been placed in for deployment. The metal track moved her through the darkness as an electronic voice briefed her on the goal. "This duel academy is your ultimate test, you are to rise from your entrance position, to the top duelist within the academy, thus proving your dominance over even the most advanced of Ghost Units. Report your progress as necessary." it said, after which a countdown started.
10.
A mechanical whirring sound could be heard as a metal container was assembled around Regallia.
9.
The metal flaps were connected with metal bolts.
8.
All of the bolts had caps attached to them to keep the container from breaking apart.
7.
Thruster units were attached to the container.
6.
A strange gel was poured into the container through a tiny opening in the top, which created a cushion around Regallia.
5.
The container was angled slightly.
4.
A hatch was opened outside the contained.
3.
The top was closed off, and a second layer was placed over the pod, allowing it to glide to a specific target location.
2.
The ship performed an aerial roll and the launcher cocked itself.
1.
The launcher beeped as the target came into view.
0.
The drop pod was launched towards the ground, the thrusters slowing the descent as the wings automatically angled themselves to guide the drop pod towards its destination. The ride felt smooth, due to the gel keeping Regallia from being shaken and jarred. After only a few moments, the pod rams through several trees before slamming into the ground, without jarring Regallia at all. After landing, the container slowly rights itself, turning straight up, after which the bolts undo themselves, and the segments of the shell open like the petals of a flower, exposing Regallia to the world outside.

Checking her surroundings, Regallia would see that she was drop podded into a forest near a waterfall. Behind her is a dense forest, and beyond that, in the distance, she can see a massive wall of rock with even more forest at the base of it. In front of her is the waterfall, creating a stream, beyond which there's more forest leading up to a steep mountainside. To her right is a steep hill, leading to what appears to be a beach in the distance. To Regallia's left is more dense forest, but just beyond that is what appears to be a structure of some kind, too far away to tell exactly what kind of structure from where she is.

Abigail Athena/Misc

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

It didn't take too awfully long for Abigail to find a boat from Satellite to Duel Academy Island, primarily because her dueling for Cawks had been particularly lucrative lately, due to all of the more serious duelists preparing for the entrance exam. This turn of events, naturally, left the types of duelists who had decided that they know everything already, their deck is perfect, and that "Itsu Turbo" was the next level of meta. Things that would shock actual competent duelists, such as using "Vile Germs" at all, were in full swing. People who witnessed such painfully terrible dueling technique and deck-building would likely never recover, it was truly a sad state of affairs.

The boat that Abigail ended up taking to the island was a decent one, it was neither rickety nor brand new, with some dents and scratches, as well as a bit of rust, but it was certainly holding up just fine. The captain seemed nice enough, a man with short dark hair, a clean-shaven face, wearing an improvised sailor's uniform. When the Cawks were transferred to him from Abigail's Duel Terminal, he nodded, gave her a smile, then invited her onboard.

During the trip from Satellite to Duel Academy Island, the water was relatively calm, but the wind was very heavy. This made sense, as not too far away from their ship, they could see an extremely violent storm taking place, though they could only see it if they used the captain's improvised telescope. The boat in the distance looked extremely rickety, and the raging storm was tossing it around like a toy and soaking the two people on deck to the bone. Unfortunately, if the captain took his boat in their direction to try to help them, there was really nothing he could do, and it would be almost as dangerous for them.

Somehow, both Abigail and the distant boat manage to make it to Duel Academy island, opting to drop Abigail off on the West side of the island, while the boat in the distance awkwardly circles around for unknown reasons. If that's a duelist, they seem to be going the long way. When Abigail steps off onto solid land and reads the message on her Duel Terminal, however, she gets a hint as to why. When she turns back, captain wishes her luck and begins to sail back towards Satellite.

To the west, she can see more of the rocky wasteland, as well as a cave at the base of a large mountain that looks like it could be a dormant volcano. To the south, she can see some rocky, mountainous terrain that should lead towards the forest around Duel Academy. Otherwise, there seems to be nothing but water around her. As Abigail was looking around her, she suddenly spots an object on the ground that she had almost stepped on. Reaching down and picking it up, she discovers that it's a Duel Monsters card, specifically "Forbidden Lance".

Adalene Frixell/Embers

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Adalene ends up waking up at 6AM, when the first Domino Duel Academy Entrance Battle Royal. Having been camping on the Island in preparation for it, due to having nowhere to stay and relatively few Cawks to spend. The spot she had picked was on the furthest south part of the island, near the face of a cliff, by a water fall, which would provide her with water and fish. To the north, there was a large lake, to Adalene's east is a stream, cutting off the woods that Adalene was in from the rest of the island, keeping her and her Duel Runner from being discovered, and behind her is the cliff face leading down to the large body of water.

After Adalene finishes reading the message on her Duel Terminal, then begins making preparations to make whatever move she's planning, she hears the sound of leaves rustling and a twig snapping. When she turns to face the source of the sound, she can see a figure moving out of view, followed by the sound of a Duel Disk System activating and moving into position, however the figure remains quiet and out of view for a moment, before finally speaking up "How about you turn away, and we try that again? I kind of want the first turn." a high-pitched boy's voice says.

Morgana Avalon/Mark3000

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Morgana's trip from Satellite to Duel Academy Island was speedy and smooth, having arrived fairly quickly due to being able to afford a good boat from outside of Satellite, due to her spare Cawks that she had on hand. The boat quickly drops her off on the beach, which causes her to recieve a Duel Terminal message from the Duel Academy. As she reads it, the boat swiftly speeds away, leaving her there on the beach.

When she finishes reading her message and looks around at her surroundings, she finds a beach house with a blue roof, just beyond a main road that leads across the beach and onto a pathway that leads between two tree lines, each belonging to separate wooded areas. Towering over the treeline to the north is a mountainous region which resembles a dormant volcano, while to the west she can see the massive Duel Academy itself, with its golden towering structures and dome-shaped white and gold roofing.

As Morgana was admiring her surroundings, she suddenly heard a voice from behind a nearby changing room that she hadn't noticed when she had first reached the beach. "You know, you shouldn't drop your guard just because you only just arrived here." it says, as a dark-haired boy in pink and white striped pants with a white studded belt, black slip-on shoes, a gray button up with a white and black tie, and a blue short-sleeved hoodie steps out from behind the changing room. His purple eyes scan Morgana as he activates his generic silver Duel Disk System, running his other hand through his short dark hair. "If I was looking for a way to get ahead, I'd have snuck up behind you and taken the first turn. Lucky for you, I'm a good guy, and I don't feel right taking advantage of someone like that. What would you have done then?" he says in a soft, slightly high-pitched voice, the blade of his Duel Disk System sliding into place, both halves connecting to each other as the blue gem of his Duel Disk System flashes, and it automatically shuffles his deck.

[Littlemankitten]

Regallia stood motionlessly as the metal around her groaned and creaked due to the stresses placed on the airframe. Her eyes flickered a little as she heard the mechanical clanks and grinding noises start up while her pod was readied. Her head finally moves a little as the speaker in her pod crackles to life, and tells her what she already knew. This was her final test, the very reason she was built. The reason she had to endure so much torment and cold isolation. Just to prove that she, no, that her creators were better than the rest. A show of greed and envy. She didn't really care for it, and she had no intention of following their lead for the rest of her existence. For now it was beneficial to continue the role as a sycophant however, as she could finally get a test of her own abilities now as well, instead of controlled environments. As the pod around her began to move and the countdown to her decent started. She listened for every unique sound and catalogued every fluctuation in the pod's movements. It was second-nature for her to do such things. Not only was she taught to investigate every detail she could, but she enjoyed it as well. There was something satisfying about discovering all there was to a situation, and perhaps finding out more than most would realize based on those observations. Indeed she knew more about her creators than they probably knew about each other based on casual observations about their mannerisms and personal preferences. At least she was pretty confident she knew that much.

When the pod finally launched, Regallia tenses up slightly, aware of the gel that surrounded her keeping her safe, yet still hesitant to fully trust it. When she felt the pod slam into the ground, she let out a grunt, a sound she made in a attempt to restrain her from overreacting anymore than she already has. She took a quick look at her now open pod, casually observing it for any defects more out of habit then anything else. Afterwards she took in her surroundings, looking at the beautiful waterfall and pleasant forest before her with a look of reserved curiosity. This wasn't her first time outdoors, far from it, even cooped out in the lab her creators were aware that actually sending her outside at least a few times a week would be good for her development. However she had never seen a stream of water flow down a rock face in such a way that created a colorful optical illusion in the shape of an arch. It was quite fascinating to her, and she spent a few moments studying the phenomenon before the sound of her Duel Terminal receiving a message interrupted her pondering. After reading the message, she frowns slightly. A battle royal? She had never heard of such a term before, though after a quick gander through the rules she felt she got the gist of it. Everyone was her enemy, and she had to defeat others to gain a form of point system in order to be placed higher in the rankings. It was simple enough, though the mention of things called 'eliminators' worried her slightly. She had never been tested for adversaries specially designed against the weak. It seemed like an inefficient method of punishing those who were unskilled or idle. Surely being at the bottom of the scoreboard would be punishment enough for those wanting to take part in the exam. After thinking for a few more moments, Regallia looks out towards the structure she sees in the distance. It was impossible to tell what it was, yet it was a clear landmark. Was it the center of the island? Or simply a random structure that was placed there with little significance. Regardless, it stood out for quite the distance, and she knew in order to place the highest she needed to defeat the most competitors. So surely a stand out structure would drawn in the most competition for her to duel. However she felt the urge to stay near this stream of water. It was quite pleasing to be around, and it was unlike anything she had seen before. After looking back and forth between her two main options, she grimaces. She knew standing was more important than a pleasing area here, especially if eliminators were sent to those that were idle. Sighing heavily, she made a mental note of where the location of this falling water stream was to return to later. She straightened herself out and brushed herself off and began to walk towards the structure.

[Soru]

Due to her upbringing in Domino and support from her parents finding and paying for a boat to the Duel Academy was rather easy and simple. Her traveling to the port was uneventful and her ride to the island was rather calm and relaxing. Normally such a smooth and calm boat ride would have Mina take a nice nap but she was too excited about arriving there to sleep so instead she looks over her deck and checks her dual disk during the trip, first taking it out of her small suitcase she brought with her from home.

The ride was shorter than she thought it would be due to the competence of the crew and the nice captain and that they were able to avoid a storm that was near them but not in their way. She thanks the captain for the ride and his luck before she steps off the boat and onto the port. When she does she hears her duel disk going off as she receives a message. However when she received it she thought she saw something, a shadow or similar, on the other side of the bridge and within the tree line and it was gone as soon as she saw it. 'Was that one of those Duel Spirits?' She thought as she approaches the bridge. She then remembers her Duel Disk got a message and reads it as she crosses the bridge. "Huh? Entrance Battle Royal? Star Chips? Do I have one?" She wonders as she tries to remember if she got anything like that. "Huh, lots of rules... and wagers? Are duels usually like gambling here?" When she crossed the bridge she sees the pathway through the woods and sees the buildings behind the treetops. Not really knowing where to go she heads towards the buildings, following the path through the woods.

[Embers]

Although living in a makeshift camp on the southern edge of the island wasn't Adalene's first choice for lodging accommodations, it wasn't her first time doing so either. She had successfully found a good hiding spot for Duel Runner and set up camp close to it. Her camp had a fire prepped along with a basic set-up to boil water, waking up early is the only way for Adalene to enjoy some cold water before ambient temperature turns it lukewarm. After a few moments of stretching, and bottling away her precious cold water, Adalene was starting to pack up her hammock when the message from Domino Duel Academy came through.

"Hmmm? Lock eyes? What if they're wearing glasses though? How do you enforce that kind of rule if one person claims otherwise?" A puzzled and confused Adalene finishes reading the message before looking up into the sky. Although the morning birds were already up and chirping, the sky was still dark and asleep, minutes away from dawn. Adalene gives off a shrug before moving both hands to fix her long flowing hair, that plan coming to an abrupt stop as the sound of a twig breaking pulls her attention to the forest on the west.

The early morning darkness acting in favour of the unseen figure, Adalene was unable to spot the person in the woods no matter how hard her eyes scanned that region, it wasn't until they spoke up that she got a clearer idea where they were hiding. "Trying to take a poor maiden by surprise? My, the boys of this time sure are desperate." Adalene replies to the unseen voice, her own Duel Disk System activating and shuffling her deck right away. "How about you toss me one of your stars, and I'll tell you my rock paper scissor preference. Isn't that an equally reasonable offer?"


First Duel

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

When Adalene suggests tossing her a Star Chip, in exchange for giving him her Rock Paper Scissors preference, the boy replies “W-well, I guess that’s resona-” he starts, but as he steps out, he interrupts himself by firing a metal claw attached to a wire at Adalene’s disk, which latches on. On contact with the disk, it immediately goes into duel mode, and the boy, who she can now see is a tall and lanky one, wearing glasses with short-cropped hair, and a blue school jumpsuit, immediately begins his first move. With five cards already in his hand, he calls out “I summon Geometry Knight - Square!” he says, playing a monster card.
A metallic monster with a black body and green armor appears with a square-shaped green shield with silver edges and a green sword. He then continues “Upon summon, his special ability activates, allowing me to Special Summon Geometry Knight - Triangle!” immediately, a second monster appears, this one almost exactly the same, but with red armor and a triangular shield. “When Geometry Knight - Triangle is summoned, I get to add a Geometry Knight monster from my deck to my hand!” he says, adding another “Geometry Knight - Hexa” to his hand, a monster which looks the same as Triangle and Square, but with yellow armor and a Hexagonal shield.
He then activates a spell from his hand “Next, I’ll activate Geometric Exchange!” he says, adding “It allows me to add a Geometric Knight monster from my deck to my hand, then forces you to send the top card of your deck to the Graveyard!” he says, as he adds another Geometric Knight - Triangle to his hand. He then points to his two monsters “Next, I’ll activate the effects of Square and Triangle, forcing you to send two cards from the top of your deck to the Graveyard, one for each!” he says, as he activates a spell from his hand “And then I’ll activate Angel Baton!” he says, “Which allows me to draw two cards, and discard a card from my hand!” he explains, as he draws two and then discards Geometry Knight - Hexa, after which he activates Revival Knight “Then I’ll bring him back with Revival Knight!” he says, as the yellow knight with a Hexagonal shield is summoned to the field by his spell.
“Of course, Hexa Knight will then force you to send another card from the top of your deck to the Graveyard, before I use him with Square Knight to Synchro Summon!” he says, as the two monsters, Square Knight and Hexa Knight, are enveloped in a pillar of light, becoming a white-armored knight with a shield that rapidly changed from one shape to another, as if it couldn’t be correctly perceived as a single shape “Geometry Knight - Shapelord!” he says, adding “His effect then sends another card from the top of your deck to the Graveyard!” after which he sets a card and says “Your move!”.

Although Adalene had long since adapted to waking up early since getting dragged into the Dimensional Stability Theory ranks, her time on this island has been particularly challenging due to the lack of Captain Mimi and her habit to force vegetables and similarly nutritious supplements into Adalene’s mouth.
Adalene’s expression shifts from a half-asleep very hungry one, to an annoyed expression when the claw tethers to her dueling disk. “Do we really have to? It’s still so early…” she complains, her finger reluctant to draw five cards as she offers up the first turn to the nameless challenger.

“You could just say ‘mill one’ you know.” Adalene replies to the activation of Geometric Exchange, her left hand reaching over to the top of the deck and moving that card into the graveyard. Adalene’s starting hand was unusually short on trap cards making the Space-Time Trap Hole she just milled a slightly annoying sight.
“Yes yes, mill two.” Adalene nonchalantly moves two more cards from the top of her deck to the graveyard and takes a moment to stretch out her arms, suppressing a yawn as the Synchro Summon animation completes. Being the first turn, Adalene has no response to Hexa Knight’s mill effect nor the Synchro Summoned Shapelord’s mill effect, so she adds even more cards into her graveyard.


At the start of her turn, Adalene draws and consequently activates Traptrix Dream “This lets me send Mantis into the graveyard and gives a free draw.” she explains briefly before moving the spell card into the graveyard. Adalene uses the normal summon to bring Traptrix Genlisea to the field, and immediately uses her effect. “With her effect, I will set Time-Space Trap Hole, and Traptrix Trap Hole Nightmare.”

“You already knew this, but this trap card here.” Adalene reveals the trap card in the center of her field “is called Traptrix Trap Hole Nightmare. And by revealing it, I satisfy the summon condition for my Deadly Stinger.” A white pillar of light fills the arena as the figure of a young woman dressed in black and yellow outfit appears in the center rectangle, two blades extending out of her forearms, one serrated and curved while the second straight and narrow. “With her effect, I will send Traptrix Nepenthes to the graveyard and target your Shapelord, this effect will send him back to the extra deck.”

“Not so fast! I use my Shapelord’s quick effect to make my Triangle Knight invulnerable to damage once this turn!” he says, as his monster flings its shield at Triangle, the shield transforming into a barrier as his Shapelord is sent back to the deck.

“Alrighty then, Deadly Stinger will do battle with Geometric Knight Triangle.” Adalene explains as she taps the interface on her duel disk and conducts her battle phase. “In my second main phase, I will play Resonator Engine. This will bring the resonators you milled last turn back into my deck, and give me a free level 4 monster into my hand.” Adalene reveals that she’s adding Traptrix Atrax to her hand, before shuffling her deck and returning it into the duel disk.

Adalene then moves her spell card from the field into the graveyard and nods her head subtly, her duel disk sounding an electronic beep to indicate end of turn. Adalene takes this opportunity to search her the side pockets of her jacket, pulling out a snack bar and tugging the wrapper apart with one hand and her teeth. “Go on mister… Did you introduce yourself? I’m still a bit sleepy...” her voice muffled and distorted as she speaks out while chewing a chocolate and peanuts energy bar.

“That’s alright, I don’t need Shapelord.” he says, as he flips his facedown card “I activated Call of the Haunted during your Endphase!” he says, flipping it face-up and placing it back into his Duel Disk System. His Geometric Knight - Square rises from the ground, clawing its way out of Solid Vision Dirt. His turn then begins, and he summons another Geometric Knight - Triangle, slamming it onto the Duel Disk System with vigor “Summoning another Triangle Knight allows me to add Hexa Knight to my hand!” he says, as his disk spits it out into his hand, he then adds “You also need to mill one.” he adds, saying it in a manner that mocks how Adalene recommended it.
He continues “I’ll then Banish my Revival Knight to add another Hexa Knight to my hand, and then-” he starts, as a series of green spell circles appear in the air, and each of his monsters becomes orbs of light. The lights combine into a new card, a huge monster that looks mechanical, yet muscular, with orange armor like that of his knights and a circular shield. “Geometric Knight - Circle!” he says, the creature brandishing its sword and circular shield.

“Ooooo this one looks like a big shot! I’ll respond with my set card; Time-Space Trap Hole.” Adalene speaks out just as the Circle Knight was about to manifest. “Your Synchro summon goes back to your deck and I give up a thousand Life Points. A win for me~” she explains with a smug smile. The loss of LP does send a small jolt of electricity through her right arm. “Ughhaa.. Grrr.” Adalene growls at the shock and moves her left hand to unzip the jacket a little.

“Urk! Only a minor setback!” he says, as he activates a spell from his hand, slotting it into the disk “I use The Warrior Returning Alive to add Triangle Knight back to my hand from the Graveyard! Then I discard one monster to summon Hexa Knight from my hand, and use his Special effect t-“

“Oh no you dont, I’m not dealing with that guy again. Activate Traptrix Trap Hole Nightmare, it will negate your monster’s effect and send it to the graveyard.” Adalene interrupts, the holographic model of the set card rises to reveal its art, an image of a group of warriors being devoured by carnivorous plants and insects.

“Fine!” he says, starting to sound annoyed now, adding “I’ll just set a facedown card and end my turn. Do your worst.” he says, crossing his arms defensively.

Gulping down a mouthful, Adalene wraps the plastic wrapper around the opened end of the snack bar and returns it into her jacket then pulls the top card of her deck. “Let’s see here… Hmmmu hmmmu” the girl eyes her cards for a solid minute, contemplating her strategy and planning out the next few steps as her mouth shifts back and forth, recovering from the caramel-filled snack.

“Red Resonator to the field. Since he’s normal summoned, it’s effect allows me to special summon Traptrix Atrax. Since your side of the field distinctly lacks any monsters, I’ll go into the battle phase and hit with all three.” Adalene’s expression relaxes as the attack from her hardest hitting monster, Deadly Stinger, goes through without a response. This clues her in that the face down card isn’t something to protect from direct attacks.

“In my second main phase I will set a card, and resume my snack-- I mean end my turn.” Adalene’s hand lets go of the energy bar to press the ‘end turn’ button on her disk before slipping back into the jacket to pull out the sugary treat.

The guy cries out and stumbles as each of the monsters attack him, Red Resonator with a Fireball, Deadly Stinger with a slash of her weapons, and Atrax with a giant spider. The third Solid Vision attack knocks him over completely, forcing him to have to spend a moment getting back to his feet hurriedly.
Brushing himself off and pretending he hadn’t just fallen “Not bad, but not nearly enough to take me down! I’ll start my turn by summoning Triangle Knight! Again!” he says, summoning yet another Triangle Knight, which allows him to search a monster that Adalene had not yet seen; Decago Knight. As he adds Decago Knight into his hand, he grins “You’re in for it now, Bilbo Baggins.” he says, after which he adds “Also, mill 1.” he says, his voice mocking Adalene as he tells her to mill again.

He then begins shuffling two Hexa Knights and a Triangle Knight into his deck as he says “I’ll shuffle three Geometric Knights into my deck as a cost to summon the mighty DECAGO KNIGHT!” he says, a pillar of light appearing, before a purple-armored knight with a decagonal shield appears, wielding a sword. “When Decago Knight is summoned, his special ability activates, allowing me to summon a Geometric Knight from my Deck… COME, HEXA KNIGHT!” he says, as Hexa Knight is summoned to the field.

“Hexa Knight’s effect then activates, summoning a second Hexa Knight from my Graveyard!” he says, as a second Hexa Knight is summoned. “Hexa Knight and Deca Knight then force you to mill a card for each with their effects!” he says.
Both Hexa Knights then turn into glowing orbs of light as a pillar of light forms, creating a Teal-Armored knight, holding a tower shield “I’LL THEN USE MY TWO HEXA KNIGHTS TO BUILD THE OVERLAY NETWORK, ALLOWING ME TO SUMMON RECTANGLE KNIGHT!” he says, as the knight draws its sword.

“Mill 2. Got it.” Adalene interrupts in a soft and hushed voice, a stark contrast to the screaming and shouting manner her opponent was conducting himself with.

“Rectangle Knight then uses its special effect to equip Dionaea to it from your Graveyard, and gain half of its attack as its own, boosting its attack points to 1850!” he says. One of the orbs that are floating around Rectangle Knight is then absorbed into its body, and the boy explains “I’ll then detach an overlay unit to send my face-up Call of the Haunted to the Graveyard, as well as your Deadly Stinger!” he says. The Knight then creates a pillar of light, which forms a catapult with Call of the Haunted loaded into it, after which the knight swings its sword forward, causing the Catapult to launch Call of the Haunted at Deadly Stinger, causing a huge explosion, creating a mushroom cloud in the middle of the area.

Once Deadly Stinger is gone, the catapult vanishes. “Next, I enter my battle phase, and Triangle Knight attacks Red Resonator!” he says, his knight charging forward and cutting Red Resonator in half, the ensuing explosion knocking Adalene backwards. “Next, Rectangle Knight attacks Atrax!” he says, the knight similarly attacking Atrax, slashing her in half and causing a small explosion that merely creates a strong gust of Solid Vision Wind that buffets Adalene.
“Lastly, Decago Knight attacks you directly!” he says, after which Decago Knight charges at Adalene, slashing her body directly with his sword, creating a Solid Vision gash in her clothing, then slamming her over the head with his shield, sending her tumbling sideways into a nearby tree. He grins as he ends his turn “Give up, you’re no match for my Decago Knight, he’s far too powerful. Fear the power of shapes.” he says, smugly.

As the field starts to tip more and more in favor of her opponent, Adalene’s grin gradually fades, she finishes off the last bits of her snack and stows the plastic wrapper into her jacket. The attack targeting Red Resonator sends an impressive gust of wind from the field and in her direction and she grunts as her feet step backwards from the field a little “Ughh.”

The attack resulting from Atrax’s destruction creates a mild gust of air as the LP exchange was a minor 50 points. When Decago attacks directly though, the Solid Vision effects ramp up once more, the manufactured winds send Adalene five feet backwards despite her legs staying put.
When Adalene looks down she notices that her Jacket had been ripped into tatters, with her HP so low, her entire torso and belly were exposed. The damage from this battle phase cut the front section of her jacket, displaying her pink bra and modest chest, while also tearing the fabric of her sleeves off.
Adalene doesn’t notice her hair accessory flying off as a result of the wind, but she does notice her disk flashing that her turn is ready to start.

“You’re all wind and no-... Hmnn... HGgnnn… My turn. I’ll draw” Adalene furrows her eyebrows as she stares at the newly drawn Traptrix Mantis, this makes her hand exclusively Effect Monsters. The girl fidgets and shifts in place, trying to shift her attention away from the fact her bra is visible to the public, focusing her best on the cards at hand.

“I’ll start out by activating Traptrix Party, this lets me search out Dionaea from the deck and add her to my hand.” Adalene summarizes the spell card’s effect as she inserts the physical card into the Duel Disk System. “Next up I normal summon Traptrix Dionaea.” Adalene speaks softly, nervousness clearly painted across her expression.

“Her effect lets me bring back Nepenthes from the graveyard in defense position.” she continues, her hand gently placing the card onto the Duel Disk System.
Adalene then activates Traptrix Party once more “When this card is in the GY, I can banish it to special summon one of the Traptrix waifus--monster cards. Monster cards. Not waifus...” An awkward silence fills the air for a solid few seconds as Adalene digs through her graveyard and pulls out the effect’s target. “Atrax, in attack position.” Adalene remarks. Closing the cards in her hand together and pushing Traptrix Party into her jacket’s pocket.

Adalene pulls out the stack of cards that represents her extra deck and begins going through them “Hmmm, this one? Mmmmmnn maybe this? But it won’t hold out against Rectangle Knight. Hmmmm…” Adalene flips through all 15 cards multiple times before finally pulling one out. “Alright Geometry boy, this is where the tables turn in my favor!” Adalene cries out, her smile returning as she stacks up her two Traptrix Cards for an XYZ summon.

“Traptrix Allomerus enters the field!” Adalene’s confidence slowly returns as a hologram manifests of a red-haired young girl in dark blue attire. “I use her effect to detach both material cards and special summon Traptrix dionaea.” The short girl continues, her expression radiating confidence as the field becomes filled with her friends.
“When Dionaea is special summoned, I can set a Hole card from the grave onto my Spell/Trap zone. Time-space trap hole will be the lucky winner.” Adalene explains as she sets the card face down.

After staring at the field with a smile on her lips, a light goes up in Adalene’s head and she remembers that Traptrix Dream can be activated from the graveyard. She pulls out her extra deck and shuffles through it some more, this time only needing a few moments before deciding on the special summon target. “Next up I will banish Traptrix Dream from the grave to activate its effect. This will mark Atrax as a Tuner card. With Atrax and Dionaea sent away, I will Synchro Summon Traptrix Pterophorus, the moth waifu!” Adalene exclaims, as she excitedly slaps down the card onto her Duel Disk.

“I activate her Pterophorus’ effect, which lets me return a spell card from the grave to my hand.” (Bent the rules here for the sake of brevity) Adalene reveals Raigeki to her opponent before shuffling the card into her hand. “I activate the spell card; Raigeki” The girl grins, eager to declare her attacks and take the game now that her opponent’s court was empty.
“Go my adorable waifus! Blow away his life points!” With a flash of eagerness and excitement, Adalene’s hand extends outwards and she commands both Allomerus and Pterophorus to attack directly, emptying the opponent’s LP and knocking him off his feet.

Adalene smiles warmly as she stares at the cards in her hand, she returns the graveyard cards and the hand cards to the top of her deck before hugging the deck to her chest for a moment. After a subtle moment of gratitude to her cards, Adalene stows them away and walks towards her challenger, noticing that a star chip had fallen out of his pocket as a result of the game-winning attack.
Ada bends over to pick up the chip with an excited smile “Mmmmnn breakfast, duel, and a star chip. This is starting to feel like a Saturday, hey mister, is it Saturday today?”

After hearing his reply, Adalene decides to pack up her belongings and prepare to hike her way over to the Academy’s main building, “I hope they have some snack vending machines in that building.” With her mood lifted from close victory, Adalene trods her way over to the center of the island with just a backpack full of snacks and water.
Stepping through the noise of the morning forest, Adalene checks her Dimensional Stability Digital assistant to make sure her Duel Runner was still in the same place.

[whiteknot]

The vast blue sky was the first thing to greet Mircalla as she opened her eyes. The second thing the girl was aware of was the feeling of being half-submerged in water.The young girl let out a sigh, her body getting washed up on the shore of Duel academy island.
“No father, I refuse to take the plane! Being trapped with people I don't know enclosed inside a metal bird that can very easily fall from the sky. Ships are much safer anyway…”
She stood up, clothes soaked, hair clinging to her face, seaweed and sand stuck in various places. “Well that decision bit me in my cute tush...but who could’ve predicted giant tentacles?” She squeezed out the excess water from her hair and clothes, then looked around, noticing the wreckage of the ship, but no other human being in sight. She seemed rather saddened by this. “Not a people person, but I still don’t wanna see them die like that. Maybe I can report this…”
Soon her thoughts were interrupted by her duel disk receiving a message. “Oh right, card games...welp nothing else to wash away the trauma of near death experience.” She had three options: Climb a mountain, return to the ocean, or enter a forest in search of the building she could see the roof of. She inspected her deck, safely stashed in her coffin shaped box. She opened the box, the card ‘Vampire impaler maiden’ was looking at her from the top of the deck. Putting the box away, the girl licked her lips. “I wonder if I get something to nibble on my way...a nap would be good too right now..” Mircalla then was on her way to the forest, wondering what awaits her on this island.

[Mark3000]

Morgana ran her fingers through her hair as the boat left Satellite. She gave the rundown area one last look before making her way to Duelist Academy. She had checked in on her parents before leaving Satellite. To her delight, they were still as destitute as when she sold them out. The two lived by a homeless settlement in a makeshift tent. Her father took any work that got thrown his way no matter how demeaning. Her mother had resorted to selling her body for scraps. It was a pitiable existence, but Morgana had none to spar. "You should have given me a bigger cut of the profits" She whispered under her breath before leaving the two.

When the boat stopped, Morgana disembarked and took in the surroundings. It was a sight to behold, that was for sure. Before she could take it in, she received a message on her duel terminal. 'So the entrance evaluation has already begun' Morgana said as her face twisted into a wicked grin. This was the first step to her dreams of becoming a professional duelist and living the high life in New Domino City. Unfortunately for her, the Domino Duel Academy Entrance Battle Royal (She was never going to use that acronym) was being broadcast live so she couldn't resort to her usual tricks. But she would find a way to make it work.

Just as Morgana was scheming, the voice of a young boy caught her off guard. Damn it! First Battle and I'll already at a disadvantage she thought as she prepared for the worst. But he didn't, and Morgana couldn't be happier. Changing her grin to a bright smile, she turned to the dark haired boy. "Oh that's really kind of you. As for me, I don't know. It's allowed in the rules but it does feel a bit under handed" She said with a shy expression. Though her words were different then how she really felt. What a fucking dope! He gave up a free turn for nothing. Of course I'd take the free turn. She thought as her Duel Disk System started up. Like the boy, hers was a generic silver model. "I'm ready to go when you are. So for this duel, I'll wager 1 Star Chip and ..." Morgana paused for a moment. "why not a few Cawks to make things interesting. I'll put up six Cawks. What do you say, call or raise?"

Duel (Vs. Chuck)

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

When Morgana says that it’s kind of him not to take the advantage and that it seems underhanded, he nods slowly as she speaks, as if this was an obvious thing that everyone else should think as well. After she suggests wagering one star chip and some Cawks, he replies “That’s fine by me. I’d be impressed if someone had more than a single Star Chip already.” he says, smoothly. With that, he presses a button on his Duel Disk System, causing a metal wire to connect the two together, after which a Solid Vision blue and red coin is projected, the blue side having Morgana’s face, while the red side had the boy’s face. The coin flips through the air, then lands on the ground, kicking up Solid Vision sand. When the cloud clears, the coin landed with Morgana’s face up, indicating that she was first. “Looks like it’s your lucky day, my lady, be sure not to over-extend.” he says, with a friendly but confident smile, as he makes a sweeping bowing motion with his hand.

Morgana smiles as the coin flip lands in her favor. “Always the gentleman.” Morgana replied, returning his bow with a polite curtsy. With her Duel Disk System ready she draws her starting hand. While her face maintained a steady expression, she’s smiling on the inside. “Everything I need to make quick work of this idiot” she mused to herself as she started her turn. “I’ll place one monster face down in defense mode and end my turn.” She said placing her Prediction Princess Coinorma on the field in face down defense. “Your move.”

He smiles as Morgana finishes her turn, having already drew his starting hand when she did, he then draws one card slowly, commenting “I may have said that you should be careful not to over-extend, but that move may have been a bit too conservative.” he says, playfully, as he activates a spell from his hand “I activate Summoner’s Art, which allows me to add a Level 5 or higher Normal Monster from my deck to my hand.” he says, his deck automatically ejecting Shapesnatch into his hand, which he then reveals. “Does he frighten you?” he asks, with a smug grin. He then activates another spell “I’ll now activate Ancient Rules, allowing me to Special Summon a level 5 or higher Normal Monster from my hand, and I’ll choose Shapesnatch!” he says, as he places the card onto his Duel Disk System, causing a brilliant flash of light as a monster in a suit and top hat, with a cylindrical head appears. His one giant eye glares at Morgana as he fixes his bowtie. The boy grins “If you’re not alarmed, you should be. You see, if Shapesnatch is on the field, I can activate this!” he says, revealing a spell card that displays Shapesnatch with a huge explosion behind him “Invasion of the Shapesnatches is a spell that allows me to Special Summon two more Shapesnatches from my deck if I control one!” he says, slotting it into his Duel Disk System, causing two more brilliant flashes of light as two more Shapesnatches appear, after which all three strike a pose, one crouching in front of the other two, in the middle, while one crosses its arms and leans against a Solid Vision stone wall, and the other turns its back, jutting its hip out and flexing. As the three Shapesnatches posed, japanese characters which read “Menacing” appeared in Solid Vision form. The boy then flips his bangs with one hand as he adds “I then get to draw one card for each Shapesnatch summoned by this effect.” in a smug tone, as his Duel Disk System shot two more cards into his hand. The Duel Disk Systems then notified them that the boy was moving the duel into the Battle Phase. “Shapesnatch, attack her facedown card!” he shouts, but as the Shapesnatch rushes the facedown card, he reveals another card from his hand “Oh, and I activate a Quickplay Spell, Necktie Upgrade! It doubles the attack of my Shapesnatches, and causes them to inflict piercing battle damage!” he says, as the attack power of all three Shapesnatches doubled to 2400. The first Shapesnatch destroys Morgana’s facedown card and causes her to take 1000 damage, the explosion causing the Duel Disk System to emulate a VERY toned down explosion that knocks Morgana back and sets parts of her clothing on Solid Vision fire, causing the Solid Vision to project her clothes burning.

Morgana braced herself against the explosion as it appeared some of her clothing were set ablaze. She let out a tempered yelp, but behind the billowing smoke she hides a devilish smirk. “With your attack, you’ve activated my Prediction Princess Coinorma’s effect” She says as the card flips over to reveal the hidden monster before being destroyed. “With this I can Special Summon one Level 3 or higher Flip monster from my hand or Deck in face-down Defense Position” She said as she pulled a card from her deck and placed it in face-down Defense Position. “Sorry to interrupt you. What else do you have?”

When another set card replaces Morgana’s Coinorma, the boy replies with a soft ‘irk!’ sound before replying “A powerful ability, but it’s only going to delay the inevitable, Shapesnatch is far too powerful to be stopped by a mere set card.” he says, before turning to his second Shapesnatch “Attack her new set card!” he says, causing the Shapesnatch to rush forward, flinging its fist downward towards the Solid Vision of the set card. As the attack proceeds, the set card flips, creating a Solid Vision of massive pot with purple demonic face designs on each side, and a grinning one-eyed face staring from inside. Just as it looked like the boy would take damage for the attack, he reveals another spell in his hand “I activate Limiter Removal!” he says, confidently. The attack of all three Shapesnatches doubles to 4800, allowing Shapesnatch to unleash a destructive punch on Pot of the Forbidden, inflicting 1800 damage to Morgana, the explosion ripping a Solid Vision hole through her blazer and knocking her back again. Just as she looks up, the third and final Shapesnatch is unleashing a 4800 attack power punch to her gut, the attack sending bone-shattering force into her body, after which the punch exploded blasting away Solid Vision patches of her clothing, however despite the impressive turn, Morgana retained 400 Lifepoints. “It seems that I may have misplayed. I should have activated Limiter Removal before my first attack.” he says, tapping his chin with his index finger. The turn then moves to Main Phase 2, and he says “Oh well, I’ll use all three of my Shapesnatches to Link Summon Formsteal!” he says, the three monsters forming into a single monster in a Tuxedo, with an even larger, blazing red eye, and a top hat. On his suit collar is a bright red rose tie, and his bowtie is twice the size of a Normal Shapesnatch’s. “When Formsteal is summoned, he Special Summons three Shapesnatches from my Deck or Graveyard!” he says, as pillars of light form, returning all three Shapesnatches to the field in their previous pose.

Morgana was bent over coughing as she received a devastating blow from the Shapesnatch. When she looked up, her polite mask had fallen away revealing a face filled with scorn. It might have been the long boat trip or the fact that this nobody had forced her into a corner but she was done playing with him. Drawing from her deck, she gave her opponent a wide, sadistic grin. “First I’ll play Shaddoll Fusion! When my opponent controls a monster special summoned from the Extra Deck, I can use monsters from my deck as fusion material.“ As she says this she discards two cards from her deck, Shaddoll Beast and Shaddoll Hedgehog. As she does, the two creatures encircle each other forming a portal from which El Shaddoll Apkallone appears. “Now be sure to pay attention, this is where the fun begins” Morgana said in a condescending tone

“By sending Shaddoll Beast and Shaddoll Hedgehog to the graveyard with a card effect, I can draw one card and add another Shaddoll to my hand respectively.” As she explains, Morgana draws a Spellbook of Power and picks out a Reeshaddoll Wendi to add to her hand. “Now I’ll sacrifice my Reshaddoll Wendi to summon Orchid, Shadow Doll Puppeteer.” Right beside Apkallone, a large skeletal like creature rises from the ground. It’s eyes glow with an unholy power. But it’s movements are unnatural. A closer inspection reveals a series of spider-like threads to puppet the monster. As it twists around, a young girl steps forward with white hair and a black dress. “Orchid can be quite the troublemaker. She gains 300 Atk for every monster in the graveyard, and when summoned I can send one dark monster from my deck or hand to the graveyard to take control of one of your monsters. But first Reshaddoll Wendi’s effect. When sent to the graveyard, I can special summon one Shaddoll from my deck to the field in Face-Down Defense” She said as she placed a Shaddoll Squamata on the field in. “Now where was I? Ah yes Orchid’s effect.” She said as she discarded another Shaddoll Beast from her hand. “I think I’ll be taking your Formsteal” As she said this, a bevy of dark threads sprang from Orchid’s hand and wrapped around the unsuspecting monster. Puppeting the creature, Orchid walked the monster over to her side of the field.

“Orchid has one last effect. One-per-Turn she can special summon one DARK monster from the graveyard in Face-up Attack or Face-Down Defense. And I choose to summon my Shaddoll Beast in Attack!” Once Shaddoll Beast was on the field, the army of dark creatures stared down the opposing duelist and his trio of Shapesnatches. “And for the finishing touch, I’ll play Spellbook of Power on my El Shaddoll Apkallone, raising her attack by 1000.” She said taking a deep breath before looking at her opponent with the innocent smile she started the duel. “It’s put an end to this farce. Formsteal, Shaddoll Beast and El Shaddoll Apkallone each attack one of your Shapesnatches” In an instance, the three monsters descend on the bow-tie wearing machines as they are ripped to shreds. Each explosion from their destruction blows away more and more of his life points. First 2400 due to Formsteal, then 1000 after Shaddoll Beast’s attack, and finally 2300 after El Shaddoll Apkallone after. “Can’t forget about Spellbook of Power’s effect. Each time Apkallone destroys an opponent's monster by battle this turn I can add 1 "Spellbook" Spell from my Deck to my hand” She said nonchalantly adding another Spellbook of Power from her deck to her hand. “Last but not least, I’ll have Orchid attack you directly” Morgana said with a hint of glee as she watched her prized card attack. Orchid uses her strings, forcing her skeletal puppet to slash away at the last of her opponent’s life points.

The boy watches Morgana as she makes her moves, seeming unconcerned when she summons her Shaddoll Fusion monster, but losing his composure to a degree when she uses Orchid to take control of Formsteal “Oh. That’s not good for me.” he says, nervously, as Formsteal changes positions on the field. When the first attack destroys his first Shapesnatch, he’s knocked backwards across the sand a short distance, kicking up a cloud of sand, then when the second attack destroys his second Shapesnatch, he’s knocked backwards. He manages to stand up just in time for the third and final Shapesnatch to be taken down, raising his arms to shield himself from the blast, after which Orchid’s attack lands, slashing at him and cutting a Solid Vision gash across his body and knocking him down, causing him to cry out as his lifepoints drop to 0. “Uhg, well, a wager is a wager.” he says, as the Starchip and Cawks are transferred to Morgana. Otherwise, he remains on the ground, due to the damage from the Solid Vision attacks leaving him too fatigued to stand. “Good game. I guarantee, it won’t be so easy next time, my lady, you’ll see even more powerful Shapesnatches.” he says, with a wink.

Morgana checks to make sure she received the Starchip and Cawks. Letting out a relieved sigh, she relaxes a bit. If anything else, the duel had given her a chance to blow off some steam. Though it still annoyed her just how positive her opponent was despite losing. She hated these overly cheery types. “ Feel free to challenge me again. But next time we duel, we’re going to bet more than Cawks” She said, giving him a wave before leaving him to sit in the dirt.

Off her first successful duel on the island, Morgana begins to plot her next move. She didn’t know how many Starchips she would need to place near the top of the class. If she ended up with the dregs of the academy, her hopes and dreams would be all but over. But if she placed too high it would put a target on her back in the future. With this in mind, the Shaddoll duelist made her way to the paths leading into the wooded area. She picked the one that looked like it would head towards the actual academy. But with no clear signage, she wouldn’t know for sure until she reached the end. All the while, she kept a close eye on the tree line, trying to avoid possible ambushes by other duelists.

[MiscChaos]

“No, Mimi, the place I’m going to likely does not have a castle with a prince I can introduce you to. You have got to get your head out of the fairy tales, silly! You’re 14 already!” Abby says, her phone to her ear as she passes the boat ride by talking to the younger of her two sisters. Her ass in a chair and her feet on a rail on the deck of the boat, she has a fabulous view of the sky and the sea around her as she talks. Too bad the wonder of it all was gone by day 2. But it beats sitting in her room all day. She takes special care to make sure her feet end up on one of the rust free spots. It’d be shitty to make it all this way and die of tetanus or something because she got cut by a rusty piece. “No, I’m not jumping all over your dreams. I’m just saying that if there was some handsome man with lots of money here, he’d be a duelist. Enthusiastically. You don’t even like Duel Monsters. That relationship would last, like, 2 weeks before you clawed his eyes out just to hear something besides Duel Monsters.” She takes a moment of quiet in the conversation (meaning she’s tuning her sister out) to once again be glad she’s in the calmer part of the sea and not the storm the crap boat seems to be stuck in. Well, she hopes the passenger(s) don’t die or anything, but it’s really not looking good. “We’ve been over this before: Murdering someone and hiding the body is terrible for keeping his money. Looks too suspicious. And you’re way too young to get pregnant in order to trap him even if I’d ever allow that. ...Bitch, I will stomp your belly out myself if you try that shit! Better to hurt a bit now than to be stuck with the brat for 18+ years! And if you bring up not having a relationship to judge off of again, I’ll do it with a damn smile on my face!” She might have a few concerns about how her littlest sister is turning out. She’d have thought after The Incident, she’d be more like Cici and not want a man to touch her at all. Instead Mimi seems to be all about how to manipulate them to her will. Well, Abby didn’t discourage that much when she first saw it, but now she thinks it might be going a bit far. “OK, look, I can see the island I’m gonna be stuck on for the foreseeable future, so I’ve gotta go. I’ll call you when I get to my dorm room. ...Love you too. Say hi to Cici and Melissa for me. Bye!” She hangs up her phone before Mimi can say whatever else she’s cooking up in that mind of hers.

Putting it away, she takes her first look at the island, trying to put both the conversation and the weird path the other boat is taking out of her mind. She waves the captain off as he leaves, but her mind is mostly occupied with the area around her. Which is mostly water, but there’s a cave she can duck into if she needs to and the forest heading to Duel Academy. Well one strategy she might use is heading South to the Academy right now, picking off anyone she sees along the way, and set up camp nearby it for her Star Chips. Anyone in the area is confident enough in their skills to do the same thing, so she’d probably have to prepare for some hard duels. But it’s also a damn near guaranteed way of surrounding herself with people to fleece Chips off of. So she’ll do that for now and adjust her strategy if she needs to. As she sets off for it, she almost steps on something. Picking it up, it’s a spell card. “Nice! Hopefully this is a good omen.” She says as she adds it to her inventory. Forbidden Lance doesn’t fit into her strategies yet, but it’s not a worthless card so it might be worth it to hold onto.

[Blue56]

Leaving home for the Duel Academy was a lot harder than Nova expected. It wasn't because of their lack of Cawks which forced her to rent something that could barely considered a boat though, it was leaving her two brothers behind that was the hardest part. She had never been separated from them for more than a day before now... Jules was only 12, was he really old enough to look after the house and Nat all by himself? It wouldn't do for them to eat convenience store junk food, that definitely wasn't healthy, but the thought of them trying to use kitchen equipment terrified her. And she would never admit it, but Nova had relied on their love and support while recovering from her incident awhile back. Deep down, she worried about how well she would handle being alone and so far from home. But despite all that, she still managed to hold back her tears and put on a bright smile while saying her goodbyes at port, her brothers clutching her tightly while sobbing. She was doing this for them after all! They would be safer without her around, and becoming a high level duelist would get rid of all their money problems.

Nova had hoped for an uneventful trip so she could focus on strategizing and improving her deck, but nature seemed to have other plans. When the storm caught them unaware, Nova felt the need to help out on deck, the captain being as old as he was. It was close, but they made it through safe, albeit soaked to the bone. She had thought they were done for when that giant squid showed up, but the captain somehow managed to send it packing with his duel challenge. Could underwater creatures even play Duel Monsters? Maybe she would learn more about that at the academy. But after that last hurdle, they finally hit land. The captain seemed to have dropped her off in the wrong spot though, the port was over there, and the school was way far away. Nova turned back to see if he couldn't take her a little closer, but his tiny boat had made great time and he was nowhere to be seen.

Nova sighed, resigning herself to a long walk, when a message on her Duel Terminal catches her attention. So the entrance exam had already begun, eh? This wasn't quite what she expected, but it sounded exciting! She would get to show what she's got in a number of duels this way. The last note did get her hero senses tingling though. What could these eliminators do to people that the academy needed a legal disclaimer? Nova's thoughts turned to her mask and hoodie, tucked securely in her backpack with her other belongings. No.... It was too soon to get up to her usual antics just yet, but if she caught a whiff of any wrongdoing, she wouldn't hesitate to dispense justice! "Right... For now, let's get moving!" Nova says aloud, pepping herself up for the battles to come. The desert sun was beating down on her from above, and it was actually kinda nice since her clothes were drenched, this would help her dry off faster. But this would probably get old after too long... She needed to get out of here, and find someone to duel. The docks to her right seemed like the best place to start. A boat was just leaving, so maybe it had dropped some people off there? It seemed as good a plan as any, so with her duel disk and deck at the ready, Nova began making her way in that direction.

[RandomRoninKitten]

Sunday, January 5th, 7AM(Morning)

Nova Maxwell/Blue

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Nova decides to make her way to the docks from her current location, taking her along the water, towards the bend that would lead into the distant forest. Due to the rocky and mountainous terrain around her, there WOULD be plenty of places for any potential enemy duelists to take her by surprise. On the other hand, it would be easy to spot a duel that's already underway, since the holograms would be too large to be hidden by the terrain if she has her Duel Gazer on.

As she was passing by a particularly large boulder, she's suddenly alerted to the presence of another person by the sound of a male's voice "I knew someone would pass by here eventually." says a slightly high-pitched voice, which sounded a bit too much like they were attempting to sound moody and dark. When Nova turns towards the voice, she spots a skinny brown-haired boy with glasses, parted hair, peach and white striped shirt, white jacket, and gray pants. He already had his duel disk activated, and was firing the Duel Wire at her as she turned. Her reflexes were a millisecond too slow, and the wire connects, forcing her into the duel. It was only now that the boy cocks his head, and his voice cracks due to surprise, causing his voice to return to normal instead of being forced lower as he comments "Why are you all wet?" looking her body up and down slowly.

Mina Rossi/Soru

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

After Mina reaches the end of the bridge and begins making her way towards the distant buildings, she sees the shadowy figure, once again, this time even further in the distance, in the wood line alongside the path. It leaps from the ground, onto a high tree branch in a single leap, then begins leaping from tree branch to tree branch at incredible speed until once again vanishing out of sight. The nearest building that Mina could see was the Striking Thunder dorm, a huge yellow building with huge glass windows along the front and sides, a gazebo out front, a garden, and an indoor pool that could be seen through an opening in the front.

Suddenly, deep in the woods, she can hear a girl's scream, followed by a maniacal cackling. The girl screams twice more before going quiet, meanwhile the cackling doesn't stop for several moments. Accompanying these sounds, Mina could feel a heavy weight, as if it was pressing down on her very soul, followed by what felt like a dark presence all around her. The sounds seemed to have come from the north, while the shadowy figure seemed to have gone to the north-east, but it'd be hard to say if she could keep up if she wanted to follow it.

Mircalla Le Fanu/Whiteknot

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

The forest was as plain as could be, yet she couldn't help but feel on edge in it. It was completely still, not even a breeze or a falling leaf, as if the forest had been frozen in time by a flamboyant blond man who looks like David Bowie. Even when Mircalla stepped on the dead leaves covering the ground, it didn't make a sound. After walking for what seemed like an hour, it felt to Mircalla like they had only just stepped into the woods, and she had made no progress whatsoever. Finally, after a second hour of nonstop walking, she finally comes upon a clearing with a fresh fire in the middle, and a circle of ragged tents that looked as though they had been sewn together with strips of ripped up cloth. Over the fire was a large chunk of meat that looked like it had been cut from a boar, and it looked as though it was on the edge of being overcooked, as if nobody had been watching it for the better half of an hour. With no sound being made nearby, it seemed as though the campers weren't on their way back quite yet, it they even intended to return.

Regallia Silva/Kitty

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Regallia decides to head for the distant structure. A gentle breeze blows through the woods, causing all of the trees around her to rustle peacefully, which in turn causes leaves to blow off the branches and gently fall to the forest floor. The closer she gets to the structure, the quieter the forest seems to get. Likewise, the trees seem to get taller in this area of the woods, and the light is further blocked out by the outstretched branches. When Regallia reaches the structure, she can see that it's a huge, rundown, abandoned building. It has crumbling structure, boarded up windows, a broken-down door. The structure towers over the trees, and is just as wide. It's difficult to tell in the darkness, but it appears to have a glass dome-shaped top, and while the paint is cracked and peeled, it appears as though it used to be blue.

As Regallia is scanning the building with her eyes, she can see a figure move past one of the boarded-up windows, from one side of the room to the other. After the shadowy figure had passed, she could see a lit candle on a desk in that room, flickering brightly, yet with all of the dust in the air, she cannot see the room any better than before.

Abigail Athena/Misc

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

As Abigail makes her way towards the main building of the Duel Academy, managing to get a solid mile into the trip, she's suddenly showered by a massive amount of paper airplanes. This normally would have confused anyone, however Abigail had received this treatment before from someone in satellite numerous times before. One may ask themselves where this individual gets all of this paper, and how much time it takes to make so many paper airplanes, but those questions would be wasted on the individual responsible for this, as they'd simply tell you that a magician never reveals their secrets. Is the person in question a magician? No.

With that, the person solidifies their complete waste of the element of surprise, and doesn't even begin to use their Duel Wire while their opponent would presumably be off-guard, they instead reveal themselves completely by spinning out from behind a large boulder and tossing one more paper airplane in Abigail's direction, dramatically, with a flick of their wrist, tossing their head back as they do. It was, of course, Aurele, who had been challenging Abigail to duels for as long as she had been a duelist, and of course losing most, if not all, of them. "Hello, my dear princess, we meet again." they say, with a smile, as they pose with with their arms pointed vertically, one up and one down, their hips out and their back arched, with one leg forward, bent at the knee. Aurele was a slim, pale-skinned individual with long legs, long pale-white hair tied into a long ponytail with a black bow, reaching their thighs, with bright pink eyes, wearing high-heeled black boots, with black thigh-highs, black shorts, and a gray sweater over a pink button-up. "The games have only just begun, and who better to be my first opponent than my beloved Guardian Princess~? Truly, luck has smiled upon me today to have met the loveliest woman of all, so early in exam, yes~?" they say, in their usual high-pitched, friendly, and cheery voice. Why do they call Abigail their 'Beloved Guardian Princess'? Because this person can't stop themselves from flirting with her constantly.

Adalene Frixell/Embers

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

When the Star Chip is transferred to Abigail's Duel Disk System digitally, because the star chips have already been established as digital, and therefor cannot fall out of the pocket of an opponent, let alone be picked up, she can see her Star Chip count rise accordingly. After Adalene asks what day it is, the boy cocks his head "Uh. Sunday. Saturday was yesterday..." he replies, as it dawned on him that he was so bad at duels that he lost to someone who didn't even know what day it was.

As Adalene walked, she could feel a heavy weight, as if it was pressing down on her very soul. It was as if some strange, dark presence was permeating the entire woods, and it clung to her like the smell of smoke. Despite all of the leaves on the ground, Adalene couldn't hear anyone following her. As she walked deeper into the woods, on her way towards the main road that separated the woods from the main building, the heavy feeling only grew heavier. Suddenly black fog began to fill the area, starting first at her feet, then rising until it was all around her. The smoke smelled like a decaying corpse, and the voice that spoke up from within the smoke sounded like a shallow grave. "The darkness consumes the weak. Your weakness has beckoned me here, it clouds the island like the stench of a corpse beneath a bed, clinging to all who walk the halls of that dark abode." says the voice, after which Adalene could hear the sound of a Duel Disk System activating. That voice is then accompanied by another, this one sounding feminine. "The shadow games begin." says the other voice as their Duel Disk System activates. The two move a little closer, and Adalene can get a poor view of them. The first voice came from a figure cloaked entirely in black, wearing long black boots, black khakis, a black overcoat, and a black hooded cloak, with a skull mask. Much like their entire outfit, the figure's Dusk Disk System was completely black. The other figure was a very feminine individual with long black hair tied back in a ponytail and bright purple eyes, wearing a purple and lighter purple striped shirt with a long-sleeved black shirt beneath it, a black and purple checkered skirt, black tights, and black and gray knee-high boots.

Morgana Avalon/Mark3000

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

As Morgana attempts to make her way along the pathway, between the two wood lines in such a way as to avoid being ambushed while trying to reach main building of the academy, she is met with the sight of thick black fog floating out of the forest in the distance. It wasn't normal black smoke, like that of a burning tire, it was more like someone had dyed the smoke black and was releasing it into the air from the ground. The smoke quickly spread out over that patch of forest, no doubt making it damn near impossible for those within to see so much as their hand in front of their face. Whether Morgana stops to admire this or not, she can soon hear slightly uneven footsteps behind her, following her. It turned out to be the boy she had just dueled, attempting to keep pace with her "Oh wow, my lady, look at all of that smoke. I know it seems a bit early to just say it's probably an Eliminator, but I heard from people in Satellite who failed the test that they tended to go overboard on the presentation." he says, as he seemingly struggles to walk due to the fatigue from their duel.

As the two are walking, Morgana looks down to see that she stepped on a Duel Monsters card. Upon closer inspection, the card is "Book of Moon". Noticing this, the guy speaks up again "Oh hey, you found a card. Lucky, just finding a card on the ground like that. Hey, do you mind of I tag along with you for awhile, my lady? I'm a bit tired from our duel, and I don't want to be ambushed in this state, you know?" he explains, nervously.

[Littlemankitten]

Regallia was somewhat mesmerized by the peaceful nature of the forest, though it made her feel like a dumbass to be intrigued by some leaves falling to the ground. Though she supposed that was what being stuck in a pure white clinical room for most of your life did to you. This peace didn't last all that long however, as the closer she got to the strange structure, the more ominous the forest felt. The sounds of the forest seemed so slowly die with every step she took, and while at first it wasn't noticeable, it wasn't long before the forest was near silent. The trees themselves also grew more wicked and taller, making it increasingly harder to see, not that low light mattered much to Regallia thanks to her more advanced eyes. Thankfully Regallia wasn't one to get spooked by such things, being scared by more forward and concrete threats over creepy atmospheres. When she finally reached the structure, Regallia frowns. It was far more... Decrepit than she was expecting. It look intact from a distance, but now it looked as if it was going to fall apart if she looked at it funny. When she notices a figure move past a window across one of the rooms and sees a lit candle as well, she cocks her head. It seems she wasn't alone here, which was good as that meant there was someone to duel, meaning she could gain star chips. She didn't entirely like the location however, and she hoped the person would just come out and get it over with. Though she knew better and figured the person was either going to try and avoid her or spring some sort of surprise attack in the room they were in. With a shrug, Regallia walked towards the building to enter it to search for the strange person, keeping a eye out for some kind of trap as she did so.

[Blue56]

As Nova walked, she kept a close eye out for anyone she could duel, but it never occurred to her that someone would be hiding in ambush for her. So when the boy shows himself, she visibly jumps, caught off guard to find herself forced into a duel so suddenly. After the shock wears off, Nova can feel her anger spike just as quickly. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" She shouts before she can really think through what she's saying. It wasn't that he had scared her certainly, but her tolerance for sneaky people like this had always been low. "We're all here to duel obviously, so of course I'll accept, but what's the point of ambushing people like this?!" This boy didn't seem like an obvious villain, but if she could somehow change into her outfit without him noticing, she'd be heavily considering it right now.

And to make matters worse, he was eyeing her up now. Nova had really hoped the heat would dry her out before it came to this, but she wasn't so lucky it seemed. "Hey! Eyes on the cards pal!" She tells him firmly. "My boat got caught in a storm on the way here, that's all. Now, I'll bet my star chip so let's hurry up and duel!" Nova says, activating her duel disk and shuffling her deck as she prepared to face her first opponent in this entrance exam.

[Embers]

When the defeated boy explains that it's actually Sunday, Adalene's lips curve into a slight pout as she steps into the forest "We really need better backwards compatibility on these things, I feel like a complete savage being cut off from the net and digital world." the girl complains as she stows the Digital Assistant device into one of the numerous pockets in her jacket, making sure to lock its screen to conserve whatever little charge it had left. Even though the Dimensional Stability Theory had impressive accessories and gadgets, their software followed the strictest security standards leaving Adalene with a bricked assistant now that the captain's squad was no longer around and her equipment lost signal to the Temporal Gateway attached on captain Vaylie's Duel Racer.

As Adalene's thoughts drift to her captain, fantasies of captain Vaylie's body begin to form in her head, fantasies of the captain's thick and mushy thighs, of the captain's athletic and refined belly, of the captain's abundant chest and most importantly of the captain's-- Adalene's thoughts come to an abrupt halt as the stench of the fog register in her sugar-addicted brain. Adalene's face contorts and shifts to a disgusted expression, her upper half leans forward as she coughs and gags for a few seconds. A few seconds in, it dawns on her that the smell isn't coming from an animal, Adalene then pulls the collar of her jacket over her nose and inhale deeply through the fabric. Her eyes dart around the blackness-engulfed foliage in search for the source of this stench while she tries to regulate her breathing to reduce the fog intake and to gradually ease her body into it. This wasn't Adalene's first shadow game and a far shot from the last her squad at the Dimensional Stability Theory was exposed to this magic before, they even instigated a few shadow games in the past for the sake of the mission's objective.

It doesn't take long for a creepy voice to speak up and claim responsibility for the fog, Adalene hears them out and replies with a slight smirk "Don't try and blame this smell on me! this nastiness is like pickled death. If anything, my weakness would smell like excess corn syrup and food coloring!" Adalene's duel disk activates at the end of her reply. "Two on one shadow game huh? I'll be taking both your chips and my choice between the two of you should I win." Ada declares, and begins shuffling her deck in preparation for the duel.

[Mark3000]

Morgana paused when she saw the black smoke. Luckily, the idiot from before was following her and provided the most likely explanation. Eliminators? This early? She thought to herself as she plotted a course through the misty obstruction. That was when the no name duelist asked to follow her around like some lost little puppy. At first she was going to tell him to scurry by into the forest. But she paused and smiled. Looking at the Book of Moon card she had found, Morgana turned her attention back to him. “I wouldn’t mind the company” she said with a wry smirk. It couldn’t hurt to have another pair of eyes watching her back. If nothing else, it might be useful to have a lackey at her disposal before she starts classes. And she couldn’t lie, being called ‘My Lady’ was really turned her on. “Now quiet. And if you notice anything, tap me on the shoulder.” Morgana said as she continued to wade her way through the smoke in the direction of the school.

[Soru]

Once across the bridge Mina starts to make her way towards the distant buildings while wondering which one of them will be her new home. She also wondered if other new duelists like her are already there and how many of the newcomers have already gotten to their duels. It was also a bit surprising that she hasn't run into anyone already despite coming from the main dock and going through what she assumes to be the main path to the main Academy buildings. However before she could get too far on the path she noticed the shadowy figure again, this time further away within the words along the path. Before she could look at it before long it leap from the ground and into the tree tops before jumping from tree branch to tree branch at amazing speeds. Was that a person? Probably not; it moved in a way that no ordinary human could. A duel spirit maybe? She couldn't tell but... she wasn't sure if it was wise or not to follow it.

As she kept going for a bit after seeing the shadowy figure and notices the yellow building. Before she could start approaching the building though she jumps as she head a scream followed by some sort of maniacal cackling coming from the north, around the same direction she saw the shadowy figure head off towards. Even after the screams when quiet the cackling went on for a bit longer and she felt a heavy weight on her as if there was some sort of dark presence all around her. Her breathing got heavy and she presses a hand to the center of her chest as she tries to calm herself. For some reason instead of running for the buildings her curiosity got the better of her and she heads north where she heard the screams and cackling.

[whiteknot]

This was a creepy experience. Mircalla found herself walking through a forest. At first her spirits were high, she was skipping at her own pace, her wet clothes making squishy sounds, but as she jumped over some roots is when it dawned on Mircalla. She was the only thing in the forest making sounds. No wind, no rustling of leaves, no animals sneaking around her, no birds chirping. Her clothes also didn’t seem to be any drier.
“How curious, first giant sea creatures and now a soundless forest?” She wondered but continued one, trying her best to walk straight so she would get closer to the building she saw before entering this place.
She wanted to finally meet someone, not that she felt lonely but she was worried about the crew of the ship that traveled with her. The Le Fanu were above humans, but they weren’t ungrateful and treat kindly those who serve well. If there was still a chance for them to be saved she was willing to take it...or at least sent out other people to look for them. Especially Kevin, he was the bravest man she ever met. Their nightly sessions of duel monsters were very filling and…
...then she jumped over another root that looked awfully familiar.
“For the love of Nosferatu, am I going in circles? I am sure I have been going straight for quite a while...and my garb is still wet?” It was quite warm in the forest and sunlight was shining through the leaves and branches, but the warmth wasn’t really drying her.
“Oh come on, am I getting pranked here? I am too esteemed to be pranked by some supernatural forest! Wait, am I talking out loud or am I just hearing my thoughts? Darn it, an esteemed daughter of the Le Fanu family does not go crazy!”
She declared, arms in the air.
“I shouldn’t be dealing with this, I got my trusty servants for that!” She opened up the little coffin shaped box on her hip and reached for her cards, pulling out a “Vampire familiar”.
“Alright, show yourself and show me the direction! I demand it!” She commanded from the card. She has seen her parents and sisters do it before. They would talk to their cards and the creatures would come out and do their bidding, even if they weren’t dueling. But the card in her hand did nothing. “Why doesn’t it work for me?” Her frustrated inquiry echoing through the forest as she threw the card. Instead of falling to the ground, the card floated softly like a feather. It circled around Mircalla and landed on the ground behind its owner.
“Is...Is that the right way?” Mircalla crouched down and picked up her card, smiling at it. “It’s a start I suppose, thank you. You may be rewarded if I get out of this forest.”
Her mood lifted, the young heiress of a noble family proceeded to follow the way her card pointed towards and sure enough she could see fewer and fewer trees and finally came across a clearing.
“Now where did I come this time?” The sight was strange. A bunch of very suspicious looking stitched-together tents were surrounding a campfire with what looked to be a piece of meat getting burnt. If nothing else, Mircalla was relieved to be hearing the world around her again, from her footsteps, the crashing waves of the ocean to the crackling of the campfire.
“People are certainly dueling on this island. I can almost taste it...man I could sink my fangs into a nice juicy duel about now…”
She walked towards the fire, looking around at the tents, wondering if they were inhabited, but that didn’t seem likely. She would sit down next to the fire, hoping it would dry her clothes, but she wasn’t a fan of the heat. Without hesitation the girl would remove her top and skirt, leaving her in nothing but her lacy underwear, thigh highs and boots. She stabbed some sick that were close to the campfire into the ground and hung her clothes on them to dry. As she was waiting she was curious if there was anything inside of the tents, but snooping around would be beneath her, so she was just sitting on a rock, feeling antsy due to not being able to feast on a duel right now.

[MiscChaos]

From the very first paper plane that Abby sees, she feels her shoulders droop and a sigh tear itself from deep inside her. She knows what comes next. Of course she does. It’s been happening on and off for years now. So step one is looking for something the idiot can be hiding behind. Well, the real step one would have been looking for however the moron managed to launch all the damn paper so she could avoid the encounter entirely, but she’s already failed that part. And of course it’s a rock the androgynous imbecile is ducking around. And from there, she completely gives in to the urge to facepalm. She does it so hard she leaves a palm print on her forehead. Luckily, she knows that it’ll fade soon. She’s had far too much experience in that regard. She really wishes she was less familiar with Aurele’s habits, but, well, some wishes just don’t get granted.

“Aurele, because some part of me, likely the utterly insane part, admires your persistence, I’m giving you one chance: get the hell out of my way and I won’t take every star chip you’ve got.” She says, purposefully keeping her head in her hands so she doesn’t make eye contact with them. After all, the rules say if they lock eyes, they have to duel. Nothing about just bumping into a duelist. And it’s not like it’s hard to do that when they all only start with one star chip. If they had more then she probably wouldn’t though. Beyond how damn annoying they are, Aurele never pegged her as a bad person. It’s about the only reason she tolerates the “Beloved Guardian Princess” bullshit. If she has to wander this island, she’d rather have someone she semi-trusts at her back. Still, if they won’t back down, she’s perfectly willing to take their Star Chip and then recruit them. The rule is to bet a Star Chip and something else each duel after all. Betting their loyalty to her seems right down her alley even if she’d really rather make the bet something like leaving her the hell alone for the rest of their life.