"All the duels have been concluded, I would like to congratulate the winners and remind those who lost that there is always the next exam, put in the effort and you will succeed. That being said, the promotions are as follows…"
As the man behind the mic, our chancellor Shepherd began his speech I sat beside a pissed-off Chazz Princeton in the stands, time to do a little blackmail.
"Those rare cards didn't serve you well eh?" I asked as I perched my bottom on the seat next to him.
"Crowler did it," I scoffed at the notion, "You still played them, anyway you are still coming to the group study?" He nodded and said, "I expect some good treatment for the quick delivery."
"Sure. We can also go over your deck…" He cut me off, "No. My deck, my build," What a disagreeable fellow, "Fine, fine," These people if anything were too serious about this game, I mean kinda got it, the pride of having something of your own but man, to be entirely honest, if someone were to offer me say a Raidraptors deck right now? I would give them my deck no questions.
I am pragmatic like that.
"You know, that [Ascended wings] card play? I thought that was pretty good," I lied through my teeth, since you have been good to me I will be good to you too and provide you with some juicy info, "And isn't it kind of weird that in every one of his duels, he draws exactly what he needs at the end?" He looked at me utterly surprised, "You think he is cheating?" Do you think protagonist-kun will? "Nope."
A voice interjected into our conversation, "Hey guys!" I turned around and smiled, perfect timing, "Jayden you are a good sport tell me, have you heard roars from my deck?" His eyes widened for a second before returning, "Ah yeah. Since I saw you at the duel in the entrance exam. Like it always happens sometimes or the other in your games."
"Oh? Well, Zane can hear them too, can't you Zane?" I spoke to the older of the approaching duo of Kaiser and Blonde.
"So you finally acknowledged them?" His smile was ever condescending as he walked down the stands towards us.
"The what?" Chazz sounded utterly confused, I won't blame him if my mindset was not stuck on the constant loop of, 'Adapt, survive and thrive,' and had I not watched the anime I would have been just like him.
"Well, apparently this bullshit that we have been experiencing is called duel spirits," I don't sound like a cult recruiter, right? Well, whatever.
The word "What?" summed up the collective response of Chazz and Alexis. While Jayden and Zane retreated to their thoughts.
Yugi-lite, aka Jayden, then pulled out his card, [Winged Kuriboh, "This little one is always floating around but since none of you ever responded I just thought you guys couldn't see it."
"I can't Jayden though I will not lie, with how many times it has saved your hind, I find the fact that it is a spirit not unbelievable," Zane just nodded, "True it has saved him in every major Duel, against Mira on that boat had he had any other monster he would have lost," I gave him a wide smile, "So you did watch the duel? Why haven't I heard any complaints about it then?" He was an asshole about my games after all.
"I gave up trying," He said as he took a seat pulling Alexis down next to him.
"Whatever," I turned to Jayden, "Yep, that, bo damage clause has saved you so many times. And today that thing won you the game."
Jayden scratched his nose, "Well what can I say? I always said my cards and I have a bond."
I acknowledged it, "You do Jayden. Anyway, that's not what this discussion is about. My eyes caught wind of a few rumours in the second and third years, any shit card and cards that spook their owners with voices can be exorcised if they are dumped in a so-called 'Rejection well,' is that true Mr Kaiser?"
The man to whom the last part was directed took a deep breath and nodded, "Unfortunately so, I have tried to have it curbed to effect," I laughed, "Makes you wonder if that title is only symbolic isn't it? Don't reply, it was a rhetorical question."
He just shook his head as he leaned back, "And what does that have to do with this?" Chazz asked. He didn't seem to be buying it.
"Put two and two together for once Chazz, It seems very similar to our situation, doesn't it? Roars out of nowhere, seeing monsters where no one else can. I say we check it out. And get to the bottom of this," I said as if the most obvious thing in the world, and Chazz shot me a look that one would a crazy person, "Come on Chazz have you ever regretted listening to me?"
He sneered, "Many, many times," For that he deserved the elbow he got, "This is why you will never get a girlfriend."
"Oh really? The Chazz will not? I just have to say it and girls will throw themselves at me," The sheer arrogance he was emitting made me want to take him behind a shed and do the earth a favour. I could be the better person and let this go but nah, I am not, "At Chazz or Chazz Princeton?"
His teeth instantly ground, and in a tone with sheer contempt I did not think teens were capable of, "Fine you've made your point."
"Anyway, I say we go now and find out, originally I wanted to do it alone but after having watched Jayden's duels I am seeing a pattern very similar to mine. He always gets that flying dog out. I always get a certain card out. So I wanted to check with the rest of you in case I missed something, so you guys are in?" I stood up and looked at the nifty group that had gathered.
Alexis had not said much deep into thought with her eyes locked onto her deck, I didn't care what she was thinking but we were going, "I will put Alexis down as a yes," She blinked as I said her name and said nothing.
"I am in," Jayden said, "Even if we don't find other spirits I want to get those thrown-out cards, man I can't believe people would just throw out their cards," I shrugged. He was never a question.
"Zane?" I looked at the Third year who shook his head, "I need to find my answers," He said and left. And then I turned towards the last person, "Chazz?" He looked conflicted, "Fine. I will go along with this farce."
"I will come too," Midget said from behind Jayden, he was here? I didn't even notice him.
"Sure."
———
——
—
The green and brown of the trees parted, as we walked down a well-trodden path as witnessed by the animal trail that had formed in the grass. Many people had come here to dump cards, I don't know why, they should have just burnt them if they were so concerned.
"We should get back," Syrus urged as the canopy shafted more and more light around us, "May-maybe we can come back here another day?"
"Does the dark scare you?" I asked, my smile had not changed even a little since we entered the woods.
Syrus bit the bait, "The dark hides…things. I don't like the dark," I laughed at the blueberry, "No one does Syrus, you just get used to it."
"Experience?" Alexis asked and I nodded, "Yep, now I even prefer it."
"Prefer it? Well, I guess you dress as you do at least," Chazz said, hinting at my clothes, which were in all fairness, just black. Perfect to blend into the night, "There is a reason I do, ever heard the saying, 'In the night you will not see it coming?'"
Jayden interjected, "First time," as his eyes went to the surrounding wood.
I scoffed, "Well that's because it is my saying, 'In the night you will not see it coming, and neither will the other person.'"
Making myself more sympathetic one step at a time so that when the world comes crashing down. I will be the first one they save.
Alexis just shook her head as the rope ladders she had rattled with her every motion, "Mira, some days I wonder just deprived of a life have you lived to say things like that."
"Hahahaha, not too bad. Just did a few things that no rational person would do," I shrugged and then pointed to the embankment appearing in my sight.
"Hey, Mira," Jaiden said and paused, "Maybe tell us one day if you want," I tilted my head, "Maybe one day Jayden," But Jayden there is nothing good there. I don't know about this girl whose body I have taken, but me? I was not, I am not a good person.
Even this body, I felt no remorse, no pity, for the little girl whose life was no doubt snuffed out for me. Or maybe I was well and truly dead with memories ripped from a corpse to overwrite a young girl's. There are a thousand questions there and I am not one to try and find out the answers.
I gazed at the sky, it was a bright day and I could audibly hear a sigh of relief from the Midget, "We are here," The stone that surrounded the well was grounded, it was old and it was dusty, it had been out of use for some time. I glanced at Alexis and Jayden, the former taking the ladder and wrapping it to a tree and the latter hammering the nails into the ground.
Soon the ladder was cascading down the well, "I and Alexis will be the first down," I said to the boys and immediately Jayden protested, "It could be dangerous, why don't we…" I cut him off, "You want to peek up our skirts?"
He shut up. But I could see the concern swaying in his eyes, oh please Jayden, the dark is my best friend. Well, that and those torches we bought.
I was the first to take the ladder, holding the torch with my teeth. I started making my way down the ladder and just behind me was Alexis.
One by one we trickled down, the last one being Jayden.
"Well this is the rejection well, just look at all the cards," Alexis said as she picked one of the cards up.
"Wow, just look at all those cards," Jayden said as he touched down and from behind him, "Kuh!" All three of us—the midget was there too—so I guess four jumped back as a ball of brown with two small white wings and four green limbs appeared and flew up from behind him.
I knew about these things but this was the first time I had seen one in real life.
Slowly every card turned and hundreds of spirits started appearing, "Good God, you weren't crazy Mira," Chazz said.
I didn't retort as my eyes scanned the place, "There you are," I said as I saw a hint of the armour of who I wanted to see, "[Chaos Emperor Dragon: Envoy of the End," It started to phase into existence, the glittering lines of the wings were first to appear, the tail came next, the limbs third, the torso fourth, the neck fifth and the head last.
It opened its mouth, and with rows of razor teeth and a crimson red tongue, it roared. What the fuck is wrong with you…oh, you son of a bitch. You wanna put on a charade.
I took a step back and all the duel spirits fled, "Calm down, calm down," I said as I moved towards it.
"It's Dangerous!" From behind I heard someone shout, ignoring them I moved closer. Almost wrapping the Dragon into a hug, it showed hesitation but allowed me to dit regardless, I stuck to it and whispered, "You really know how to put on a show don't you?" I could hear something choke on laughter, I turned to it, "[Black Lustre Soldier: Envoy of the Beginning, it is good to finally meet you two in person."
They both nodded before vanishing and in hand appeared a copy of [Chaos Emperor Dragon: Envoy of the End]. I pulled out my deck from my holster and checked, I did not have my [Chaos Emperor] there, this Dragon was putting on was shown to justify my playing it without drawing any suspicion from the rest.
Well, the reasons I came here were to meet him in real life and to get the crew up to snuff with Duel spirits, the better these fools performed the easier it will be for me to gain immortality.
I placed my deck back inside my holster and turned to the rest who were looking at me with a myriad of expressions.
From completely horrified like Midget to blanked out like Alexis and Chazz. Well, except Jayden. Jayden was being Jayden.
He asked while everyone else was being idiotic, "Wow! What was that Mira?" Oh, I have no clue, I was winging it, copying that beauty and the beast motif.
"There was another reason I wanted to come here, I was feeling a calling and you saw from what," I said as I scratched my hair. I can bullshit quite well. I just remembered that when Jayden and Chazz descended here they saw thousands of spirits so I just guessed that I may be able to meet it here.
"There is only one copy of [Chaos Emperor Dragon] and now you have it…" Alexis said as it slowly dawned on her what I had just gained, this was a card that was more powerful than any card on this island. As long as a card did not have protection? It was dead the moment I summoned [Chaos]. And this was pre errata [Chaos, I could Yata lock someone. Hahahhahahah.
It would be fun doing that to Kaiba or Yugi.
"Why? Why? Would that be here?" Chazz stumbles over his words, "Why would—" He was interrupted by a duel spirit, [Aitsu, a small red man on a Kite, "It is [Chaos Emperor Dragon] he must have travelled here because of the sheer number of us, 'Duel Energy' has perforated every corner the well, he must have been here specifically for her. But I can not say for sure," He ended and following him many duel spirits started coming back from all corners of the well.
I wanted to laugh at how fucking wrong he was but it helps me so I kept it in, "So why did you all run?" I asked the Kite man.
"He is called the Envoy of the End for a reason," I tilted my brow at him but chose to not ask something different, "What about [Relinquished] can I meet him here? I have his cards."
He hesitated and looked around the room at his kin, "[Relinquished] is…he is mindless. If you call him, he will come. But he can't talk, he is not much more than a monument to destruction, he will devour his opponent's allies and use his prey's strength to harm its allies," What a lovely card isn't he?
"Anyway then, I guess this proves Duel Spirits exists, right guys? By the way, why aren't we able to see our spirits normally like Jayden?" I asked the kite fellow.
"It is more a question of why can he? But well, the reason is that this place is saturated with our energy, so it makes it easier. Outside it would be difficult, but all that aside, I came here to propose something to you four," He said.
I scanned the room, spirits were flooding back in hundreds, and the number was still growing, "Go on."
"Having duel spirits with you increases your power, physically and mentally," I nodded, "You can live years longer with us and have a much better body…so, please take us with you even if only a few! Some of us are old spirits, we have a lot of knowledge..." Jayden cut him off, he was already gathering the discarded cards, "You don't have to, we would take you regardless. After all, every card is a good card, you just need to support them well."
"[Aitsu] I fought one earlier today…" He stopped me, "I have been here for many years but that boy came and picked me up, I thought I was out of here until he crushed me and he tossed me back here."
"Oh, I am sorry," Again he tried to stop me, "It is not your fault…see we are so weak that we didn't even notice the [Chaos Emperor] besides…" Fine fine, don't give me your sob story, I really can't be bothered to hear it, I swiped his card off the ground and placed it in the stack Jayden was creating. Soon Chazz, Alexis and Midget joined in to help.
I did not want anything there so I pulled the ladder a bit, "I will go back up and bring a few boxes, you guys collect them okay? And don't you boys dare look up," and bailed.
———
——
—
I was back with them in about an hour having grabbed lunch and a pack mule called Bastion. To be entirely honest I wanted to take the formula kid there too but realising that I did not want to waste the effort in trying to convince him I had just decided to show him hard facts.
I looked down the well and spotted the beams of torchlight bounce in the well. In retrospect, there are probably snakes there. Ugh.
"Guys I am here," I said as their heads turned up towards me, "And I brought lunch."
"Awesome Mira," Jayden cheered, ah season one Jayden, optimistic, lazy…ugh do you have any other character traits? Right, I am in an anime about card games…what has my life come to.
"Oh right, Pack mule—Bastion is here too. He helped me carry the lunch," I said and joked it off, real thoughts just leaked there.
"Mira, did you just call me a pack mule?" I pretended not to hear him, and just kept looking down, "Hey guys I will come down with the boxes."
"Oh, Bastion is here too? We wanna show him?" Alexis asked and I pretended to think for a moment and turned to the posh fuck, "Bastion, can you go down there? They will show you something."
"You know, out of context that sounds incredibly inappropriate," He said as he took the rope and bag of boxes from me.
"And you look like a Bond villain made love with a drug dealer, aka a posh fuck," I said as I started checking the two picnic baskets Bastion had been carrying.
"Do you even know the latter?" He said with a roll of his eyes and started stepping down.
"I used to run a rig," I heard something slip and a "What!?" ring from his mouth.
I closed the baskets and perched myself down the well, "I dealt to the local gangs."
Their faces were priceless.
Ha, I used to sell to the local police, not the gangs, well if you look at it one way I used to deal with the biggest gang around.
[A/N: And another chapter finished. Also, I figured something out. Fuck trying to write this like the anime, I will stick with what I know.]