Jesse resolves to take action. (Injured)
Jim finds a new approach. (Infected)
The crew prepares for the festival. (Costume)
Important notes from Injured on tumblr: #this one...so usually i take inspiration from life when i write i would much rather write things i know than things i don't#and with this one i was like kinda stumped bc i was like. write a character w/ an injury?#i'm not an active person and i rarely actually hurt myself bad enough to say it's an injury. i've sprained my wrists a couple of times?#and then i was like haha wait in like eighth grade or so my back became permanently fucked up and still is#to the point where i have two prescriptions for it and still often go to the chiropractor. would go more if it was easier#so that is probably considered an injury so let's do my favorite: project all my problems onto various characters#and that's how this prompt happened. this is a callout myself i haven't planked in like two weeks and that's bad
Important notes from Infected and Costume on tumblr: #the fact that i have barely written jim at all ever is a crime and needs to be fixed i love him
Important notes for Costume: atticus,,, i know,,, but listen? i would've done harpie's brother if it wasn't for the whole thing with harpie's brother being changed to the sky scount and the sky scout actually like, being a gx character, and i just thought he would enjoy matching with alexis and there's no way that jasmine and mindy aren't already doing the harpie sisters with alexis again,,, don't me
Year Three, First Half
Jesse winced in his chair. Nope, Duel Academy's chairs did not agree with his back.
Not that his comfort level should be the standard for what is or isn't a good chair, he just didn't have the best back in the world. It wasn't just the chairs, either, the beds weren't the best either. North Academy hadn't been any better, either, of course, but again, he was the problem here, not the school.
Jesse stood up from his desk and looked through a drawer. How much was he going to be moving around today? Class was over, so likely not much. The pain medicine would be fine, but could affect his ability to focus, and he had homework to work on. If he wasn't moving around much, the pain patches wouldn't be as likely to fall off too soon, so that'd be fine.
With a pain patch in hand, Jesse carefully maneuvered his shirt and pants so that he could get the patch in the right spot. Curse you, fracture vertebrae. When the patch was in place, it started out cold, but soon started to warm up.
Jesse shifted his clothes back in place and sat back down again.
Part of it was his own fault. Sure, beds and chairs here weren't optimal for him specifically, but it's not like he was doing everything he could to help the problem, either. Walking around the island to get to class helped a little, and he hadn't done physical therapy for awhile now, but Jesse hadn't been exercising his back as much as he should be lately, either. The least he could do was try to get into planks again, and maybe stretch out the muscles in his legs.
He should've been at a point where he could plank for around twenty seconds (it was a work in progress), but the last time he'd tried recently, he'd only been able to go about ten seconds before he needed a break. And honestly? He hadn't had the energy since.
Jesse was finding himself more and more exhausted lately, ever since the day he'd arrived at Duel Academy.
Was it something about the island? The environment, the people? He was especially tired after duels lately, and dueling shouldn't be so exhausting. Then again, it wasn't just him, either. More people seemed to be oversleeping for class lately, according to some of his friends who had been at Duel Academy for longer than he had. And his friends seemed fatigued, too. Jesse could feel his focus fading as he tried to work.
Maybe if he wasn't so tired all the time he could take better care of himself, and he wouldn't be in so much pain. As it was, he hadn't even been able to sit in class the whole day, and had had to ask to leave early. He just couldn't handle the chairs any longer.
But it wasn't just him. Something weird was definitely going on around here, and Jesse hoped that whatever it was made itself clear fast.
Year Three, First Half
Duel Ghouls. Why did it have to be Duel Ghouls?
Animals, Jim knew how to deal with. He was used to solving problems with animals; often,
the animal wasn't at fault, and deescalating the situation was an easily made change in the environment. He could understand and find these issues easily by now, he'd been doing this for years. So, Kangaroo Ghouls? Would've been no problem.
Humans, on the other hand… Jim was human himself, sure, but Shirley had been his only friend for a very long time. He was attending Duel Academy now, but even a couple of years ago his dealings with people had been far and few between. He still sometimes slipped up, misinterpreted or misread situations. That's why he trusted Shirley's opinions of people so much, she could be more accurate than he was on that. It's not that he disliked people or didn't want to talk anyone, that's just the way the cookie crumbles sometimes.
Thus, with this ghoulish dueling-obsessed behavior spreading around other students like some kind of infection, Jim didn't entirely know how to handle it.
Defeating them in duels did nothing, since they'd get back up and immediately demand a rematch. Turning down their requests was impossible because they were relentless. If they were rejected, they'd keep at it, following their desired opponent around until they got what they wanted. And dueling them wasn't ideal in the first place, since this behavior was spreading from the Duel Ghouls winning against non-ghouls, making every duel a risk of conversion. It was best to avoid them altogether, then, when possible.
That strategy still wouldn't return the ghouls to normal, though. And Jim didn't like that; even if most of his friends were fine, he didn't want to leave anyone in that ghoulish state. It was clearly bothering Jaden, too. There had to be some way to save their classmates they hadn't thought of.
Shirley growled, and Jim turned to see a Duel Ghoul headed his way. Maybe he should worry about saving himself before helping someone else. Unfortunately, he didn't work that way. Never had. Come on, Jim, think, there had to be something he could do. Dueling them didn't help, so what else could he do?
What did all the Duel Ghouls have in common besides a lose on their record? The bio bands, sure, but everyone had those, and last Jim checked he wasn't a bumbling shuffling zombie. Well, wait, the ghouls wanted to duel. What if they couldn't? It might not revert them, but they wouldn't be a threat. That would buy them some time to come up with a plan.
Jim bent down to the ground and picked up a rock. With careful aim, he stood up and tossed the rock at his impending opponent. The rock smashed into the duel disk and managed to deactivate it, with no hope of turning it back on.
He may have had only one eye, but his aim and perception were as accurate as ever.
The Duel Ghoul stopped to push buttons on their duel disk, but it was no use. Jim smiled. Well, maybe this plan of his would work after all.
Year Three, Second Half
Jim looked at himself in the mirror. He hoped this Alligator's Sword costume would be good enough for the school festival.
After the whole Dark World mess, he, Jesse, and Axel were supposed to go back home, but the weather was looking to be too dangerous. Not a good time to be going around in a boat. So in the meantime, they were staying at Duel Academy's main branch.
Most of the students had risen the ranks out of Slifer, except for Jaden, so Jim had taken residence in one of the newly empty rooms after getting back from Dark World. Most of the students weren't used to Shirley, so she gave them quire a bit of a fright. Since Jaden got along well with her, keeping her out of the way in Slifer worked out better for the other students. Plus, no one should be living alone. And Jaden hadn't been the same for awhile now, anyway. He needed the company, even if he wouldn't admit it.
Jim had tried to ask Jaden about his festival plans, see what he was dressing up as, but when he went to his room, Jaden was gone. It was more and more common, these days.
This costume was looking good, though.
He met up with the others soon enough. Chazz, dressed as Armed Dragon. Syrus, dressed as the Dark Magician. Alexis making an appearance as Harpie Lady (which Chazz confirmed she had done in previous festivals) with Atticus attempting to match as Harpie's Pet Dragon. Jesse went as Sparkman. There were so many amazing costumes that there was no way Jim could remember them all, unfortunately.
He kept an eye out for Axel, to see what costume Axel had chosen, but Axel was nowhere to be seen. That, too, was being more and more common.
Jim carefully snuck up behind Jesse. "Well, if it isn't the hero Sparkman himself! Should I ask for an autograph?"
Jesse spun around with a squeak. "Don't scare me like that, Jim! I wasn't paying attention!" he protested.
"You've been keeping an eye out for Jaden, too, haven't you?" Jim asked. His scanned around the area with his eye; of course, he didn't find what he was looking for. "He disappeared before the festival even began. I was hoping he'd turn up, but I can't say I'm surprised."
"Yeah, you caught me." Jesse sighed. "I just wish I knew he was up to. He's been so distant lately. I wish I could help…"
Jim didn't have the full story on that, so he couldn't really comment. Instead, he looked around the area again, a little more fondly this time. "We don't have festivals like this back home," he told Jesse. "Can't imagine North Academy does, either. So, what do you think?"
Jesse smiled. "Yeah, it is," he agreed. "I love all the costumes, and it's perfect for duelin'. Rumor has it Duel Spirits even show up to duel during the festival, but I don't think I've seen any yet. Duel Academy's just full of surprises. North Academy's great, but they'd never have anything as relaxed as this."
"I'll tell you what," Jim said. "I haven't seen any spirits, either. But the festival's all about dueling, right? And somehow, I've never gotten the chance to duel you during everything. So what if I challenge you to a duel now? If you win, I'll help you keep an eye out for spirits. Or, well," he laughed as he looked over his shoulder, to Shirley, strapped to his back, "Shirley will. She's got a better sense for this stuff than me, especially now that I've only got the one eye."
"And if you win, I'll, uh, help you on your next dig for fossils? Though, honestly, I'll help you either way, it sounds fun," Jesse added. He smirked. "Honestly, a duel with you sounds fun. I can't wait to see your monsters in action."
"And I've been itching to see your Crystal Beasts first-hand," Jim said. "Especially now that Rainbow Dragon's in play."
"Well then, we better get our game on," Jesse declared. "It ain't gonna be easy on either side, but that's what makes it fun, right?"