YU-GI-OH! NEO
Chapter 8: Overextended
"Sis!" Yumi screamed as she saw her sister walking back into the dorm. "Where have you been!? The Welcome Party is about to start!"
"Welcome party?"
"Yes! The dorm mother said that we will be having a party to welcome us into Alina!"
"I see…"
"Quick!" Yumi took her older sister by the hand, dragging her through the dormitory's common area known as the first floor. "We're gonna be late and all the food will be gone!"
"Yumi! Hold up!"
"Nah, this is your fault for being late!"
And just like that Yumi dragged Yuri off into the banquet hall, which is rather moderately sized and takes up about half the room of the dormitory's first floor, being the largest and most prominent of them all.
The hall is rather simple, with tables and chairs lining up for the students to sit in and eat, and a place where the staff serves the eat-all-you-can buffet that would typically serve four main dishes and two desserts, if the handbook is to be believed. But for tonight, it seems that they will serve more of both, as all occupants of the dorm are all currently in the room to eat and talk and be acquainted with each other in general.
The students themselves are pretty diverse in terms of styles and origin. They're all oozing with personality that will likely never be seen due to the sheer amount of people that lives in the dorm. But each and every one in here has a story to be told, and each and every one of them has a life to live. At least, that's what Yumi saw when she walked into the room all starry-eyed from all the food she can see.
Everyone seems to be having fun chatting together, eating their food and drinking their drinks. If Yumi ever wants to join them, she'll have to start now. The problem is that she doesn't really know where to start. Although Yumi didn't really have trouble making friends, she also never saw too many people at one room before coming to Alina, so she's not sure how to approach others in this setting. And there doesn't seem to be anyone else she's familiar with in the crowd, as even William will be staying at his home instead of taking the dorms.
"Hey!" someone said from behind her. "You're that Yumi gal aren't you?"
The speaker is a girl her age, wearing a similar freshman tag as Yumi is. Her long deep blue hair flew freely in the still wind of the room, contrasting with the sisters' bright golden locks.
"Yes I am," Yuri said with a smile.
"Great! I saw your duel with Ms. May and that was a really impressive victory! The way you beat the director's deck was stunning!"
"The Director's deck? Isn't the Director Mr. Wright?"
"Well of course he is! However, it is his deck that's used to test the students, so they're not really expected to win in the entrance exams, but you did! That in of itself is an amazing feat!"
Yumi is in cloud nine as the girl continued her praises. "Is it really that impressive?"
"Yeah! This year, only one other student managed to beat their proctor, and that's the head teacher's son!"
"The Head Teacher?"
"Yup! He's a former professional duelist that made it all the way to the world championship finals before retiring, and now his son is studying here in Alina!"
"Wow, he must be a really good duelist then! I'd definitely want to meet him!"
"Well that shouldn't be too difficult! After all, he handles the practical dueling class for all levels, so you should be able to met him there!"
"I see, thanks! And… by the way…"
"Yes?"
"What's your name? You haven't told me yet."
Her face turned grim soon as Yumi asked her the question. "My… name…? OHMYGOSHIHAVENTOLDYOUMYNAMEYET! I'm sorry! I'm so sooo sorry!"
"It's okay! It's okay! I'm not mad!" Yumi chuckled nervously, sweat dropping from her forehead as her hands try to gently give comfort.
Tears are still streaming out of her eyes as she looked up to Yumi, as if she lives in a cartoon world despite the medium being written and so visual gags aren't really a thing. "Really?"
"Really!"
"Okay…" She composed herself, wiping away her tears. "My name is Marie Posse. A freshman like you!"
"I see! I'm Yumi Mayumi! Though I guess you already now that. And this is my sister Yuri, three years ahead of us!" she said, pointing in the air that definitely contained no Yuris. "Wait, where did she go?"
Yuri sat in her room, her duel disk projecting itself on the whiteboard in front of her bed. As of the moment, she's sitting in her bed, head deep in thought, staring at her deck laid out in front of her. "Where do I keep going wrong?" she thought to herself. "That's twice now that I lost… How will I ever defend Yumi like this?"
She took a single card from the neatly arranged deck in front of her - Exorsister Mikhaelise, her mother's favorite card.
"Please give me guidance…"
Back in the forest, hours earlier. Yuri and Barett stand together as they discuss what just happened. "You really need to work on your dueling skills."
"Yeah…"
Barett handed her a card. "That's called a memory card. It can be played on your duel disk by placing it in the field zone. You can use that to improve yourself."
Back in Yuri's room, she took out the memory card that Barett gave her earlier. It was definitely not unlike regular cards, and the difference wouldn't be noticeable unless you read it. The layout's similar to the normal ones, but the card name instead contains the title and the effect box a description.
"Dueling for Dummies," Yuri read. "'To help improve your dueling skills from beginner to intermediate.' Does he think I'm a beginner or something? Whatever."
She placed the card on her duel disk's field zone, just as Barett explained earlier. And it did work. The duel disk projected the card on the wall as it loaded, before finally turning to a video.
"In this lesson, you will learn how to minimize your mistakes during a duel," said the narrator. "Everybody makes mistakes, especially in the heat of the moment when our instincts take over our common sense, and there's no greater example of this than in a duel. In a duel, everything can happen. You will feel various emotions - happiness, anger, pride, frustration - and they will affect how you play the game. As such, many people, even the greatest of all duelists, make the most basic of mistakes in the heat of passion. As such, it is your job as a duelist to be able to control these emotions, to keep them in check, so as to ensure that you'll make as little mistakes as possible."
The video will continue for two hours, discussing various ways to make less mistakes in a duel and giving various scenarios in where a superior duelist loses a game due to their emotions. One such scenario - the hubris of Richard Atlas - resonated deeply with Yuri's recent loses. Richard Atlas was a finalist of the World Championship five years ago. He was a favorite among those who followed the tournament going up against another. Known for his incredibly analytical play style, Richard cut through the tournaments leading up to the event like a knife going through butter - he took not even a single point of damage up until the semi-finals, and even that was nothing but a small scratch. The finals, however, is much unlike his other duels in the tournament. It was a gruelling, drawn out battle between the two duelists. In the end of the long fight, both duelists have exhausted themselves and are down to one attack, which Richard is poised to deliver. However, even though he needed only one final attack, Richard did not deliver. Instead, he went on a spiteful rant of how inferior his opponent is before going into a lengthy combo that would've been overkill in a normal situation, and is going to be a slaughter in this one. But, just as he finished, his opponent activated a single card that swung the duel on his opponent's favor - Nibiru, the Primal Being - and costed him the duel and the championship. He quit the professional scene after that.
It was pitiful, to say the least. And demonstrates clearly how hubris can completely destroy a person. How hubris can one day cost more than you are prepared to pay. So it will be far better to nip it as a bud before it can ever blossom, and it seems that Barett agrees with this.
The first day of the semester in Alina finally arrived, and students flooded the classrooms as they meet each other for the first time. Yumi, in particular, is really excited at the prospect of finally going into a class after all these years, and meeting new friends at that. The scent of a new beginning filled her nostrils as she walked into the classroom, her lips smiling wide from the joy she is currently experiencing at this instance. As the light of her dreams faded back into her mind, she saw that the class isn't really awfully big. There's about 20 students in here, chatting with the new people they met today. As for familiar faces, Yumi did see the two people she knew prior to today - William and Marie Posse. William sat on the far corner of the room, seemingly alone, while Marie sat with a group of students near the entrance. Once she was noticed, Marie immediately waved to her.
"YUMI!" she shouted.
Yumi waived back to say hello, though did not shout back her reply. "Hey!" she said cheerfully.
But she's not going to her, though. Instead, Yumi walked to the far corner of the room where there are multiple seats left open, placing her belongings on the seat adjacent to William's.
"Hey," she said.
He replied similarly, but less enthusiastic.
"So you're staying home, huh?"
"Yeah. Father don't trust the dorms to take care of my needs. And my home isn't really far, so travel isn't really difficult."
"I see…"
"Anyways, class is about to start, so you better prepare for it. The first teacher will be pretty strict."
As he said that, the classroom went silent and the first teacher walked in. A middle-aged man, probably in his 40s, wearing glasses and all that. A stereotypical teacher, to say the least. The only thing that stands out about his appearance is his regal violet hair, acting like a cape worn by the olden kings.
"Good morning, everyone," he said in a deep, commanding voice. "I am Richard Atlas, your instructor on Practical Duels."