Chapter 2: The Almighty Stall, Part 1

Things had been slow with the try outs. After the first two people had been sent in the rest had sat down, some socialized and a quite a few did some last minute editing of their decks.

At first no one had paid attention to just how long everything was taking, until someone noticed, as well as spreading it around, those first two duelists hadn't actually left those arenas yet. This was quite distressing to a number of people, as that meant those two duellist had been in there for half an hour.

Those two eventually walked out of the duel arena. One ran out in tears, the other had a firm scowl on his face as he marched out. It was later confirmed that the latter had passed but the former hadn't.

Then two more people went in.

This time 3 quarters of an hour passed before someone stepped out of those rooms. She scowled, having lost. Someone took her place.

Another half an hour passed before that fourth try-out stepped out. She had passed.

Yuri, a look worry on his face, turned to Sora, who looked visually annoyed.

"Do you know what system they use to decide who goes?"

Sora shook his head rather dejectedly, "I thought it was alphabetical, but I was wrong. I know the people that have already gone in, miles away from each other on the alphabet."

Yuri sighed, "So we have no idea how long we're gonna be here?"

"It would look like it." Sora crossed his arms.

It was a long time. Some people took half an hour, some took longer than an hour. Everyone was becoming increasing frustrated.

There were, however, some exceptions. A young girl with deep blue hair had walked in and walked out ten minutes later. Everyone was frozen with shock.

After finding out she had passed, this girl quickly gained a fan club for her skill.

A teen with ginger hair had also managed to win in under twenty minutes. He smiled at everyone as he passed them to leave after his victory.

People were starting to gain some hope, but that was eventually ripped away when it went back to be soul crushingly slow.

Eventually there were only four candidates left. It was also late at night. At some point someone had sorted out a means of contacting some of the younger one's parents. There had been quite a lot of yelling.

Those remaining were as followed; Yuri, Sora, a young boy wearing white framed sunglasses with purple lenses and a girl wearing a maids outfit who hadn't stop grinning in all those hours.

At the same time, the two people currently being tested walked out. One had rough facial features, the other seemed remarkably pale. They both passed.

Kita was still standing on the stage, though his colleagues were sitting down on chairs along with laying on the floor. Professionalism seemed to have died for them.

"Congrats you two, great duelling. Now, can I have Finlay Kline and Sonia Cazal?" The boy in the shades and the maid girl walked up to either side of the room to the vacant duel arenas.

That left Yuri and Sora, who hadn't noticed any of this. Why? Because they were asleep.

Both were pressed as closely as possible to the wall. Sora's head was resting on the nook of Yuri's neck, likewise Yuri's head was resting on top of Sora's. Sora was snoring lightly, whereas Yuri had remained silent.

They were remarkably calm sleepers. They'd been like this for around eight hours.

Neither knew how long this sleep would last, until they were being lightly shook awake around ten minutes later.

Yuri leaned up, arched his back and stretched with a yawn leaving his mouth. His eyes blinked open lazily, till he was looking up at a man in a red suit jacket. It took Yuri a moment to realise that he was looking at Kita.

Kita had a goofy grin on his face but it quickly left his face and he looked serious again, "I'm sorry for your long wait. Sora Perse and…Yuri, right?" Kita's eyes widened for a moment, before returning to normal.

Sora rolled his eyes, "That's not my name. Sora Shiun'in."

Kita crossed his arms, with a look on his face.

"Then why does it say Perse on my chart?"

Before answering Sora got up from the floor. He stretched himself, and had some trouble staying standing up. Yuri followed his lead, also having trouble. He stabilised himself with the wall.

"Perse is easier to spell then Shiun'in." He said as if it were obvious.

Sora turned to Yuri, nodded with a smile, and then ran off with a skip in his step to the duel arena.

It was in that moment that Yuri realised that the room was basically empty beyond himself, Kita, Sora and the rest of the staff.

Yuri blinked in surprise, "How long was I asleep?"

"Several hours. It's nearly midnight, actually. Which is why you should stop talking and go to that duel arena." His eyes widened, and he quickly ran to the remaining arena.

Yuri had been here before. The large room with dim lights didn't surprise him. The metal floor and walls, nor the empty stands.

Regardless of his lack of surprise, he did find the old red duel arena to be amazing. At one point it had been the height of holographic technology. They were rarely, if ever, used after the creation of duel disks.

He walked up to a metal pad in front of the duel arena. He stood on it, and in a moment on either side of him metal blocks appeared. They were there so the duellist couldn't fall.

After that the stand rose from the ground, before sliding forward slightly. There was a ring in the general area, informing all that his side of the arena was ready.

He took out his deck, glanced at the Duel Arena's grip interface, before place his cards in the lowest left corner.

Finally ready Yuri glanced across the arena at his opponent. He was facing off against an adult. He wore a grey jacket. It was difficult to tell anything about the guy's face because of his beard, shaggy hair, and large sunglasses.

"You the next victim?" He said in a bored tone.

Yuri raised a brow at this, "Victim?"

The man shook his head, "Never mind. I'm Lars. You have first turn. Begin."

With that word the room flashed to life, the lights came on and the arena was covered in greens, purples and oranges as it came online.

Yuri was slightly unnerved, but shuffled his deck and drew his five cards. Lars shuffled and drew five as well.

Yuri studied his hand; Elemental HERO Sparkman, Elemental HERO Avian, Polymerization, Negate Attack and Cyclone Boomerang.

Yuri's face didn't shift, personally he felt his hand was okay, but he still had a nagging feeling about his opponent.

He glanced warily at Lars, 'Why did it take so long? Inexperienced duellists or…a master of stalling?'

Yuri didn't like the thought, grabbed his sixth card; Elemental HERO Lady Heat.

Yuri put on a smile, "Okay, for my first turn I'll place a card face down," He took Negate Attack, and placed face down in in central spell/trap card zone.

"Also, I'll summon Elemental HERO Sparkman, in attack mode!" Yuri slammed the card down, and in a flash of light a tall man in blue spandex and golden armour appeared. He wore a blue visor that covered his face.

Elemental HERO Sparkman – Level 4, Normal, Attack: 1600/ Defence: 1400

"With that I'll end my turn, you're up Lars."

Lars silently drew his next card. He put up to eye level, and nodded.

"So far I'm not very impressed." Lars said softly, "I'm afraid you're going to lose."

Yuri glared at the man across from him, "You can't know that! It's all the first round."

"Doesn't really matter." Lars sighed.

He took one card from his hand, "I summon Emissary of the Afterlife, in attack mode."

A cloaked fiend appeared, a scythe in hand. Its blade rested calmly by its owner's shoulder. Its face was little more than a charcoal coloured mask, with glowing eyes and mouth piece.

Emissary of the Afterlife – Level 4, Effect, Attack 1600/ Defence: 600

"Next I activate the spell card Upstart Goblin." A green skinned humanoid appeared to in front of Lars.

"Upstart Goblin lets me draw an extra card." He did so as he spoke, his face remained neutral however, "And you get 1000 extra life points."

Yuri's Life Points: 4000 – 5000

Yuri raised a brow at this, "You do realise the point of this game is to lower my life point, right?"

Lars shrugged, "Is it? I had never really noticed. I place two cards face down."

Lars sighed, "I declare an attack on your Sparkman, with my Emissary of the afterlife."

Yuri's eye widened, "Why would you do that, they'll destroy each other!"

Lars hummed, "Maybe so. Attack."

The cloaked fiend dashed over, blade at the ready.

"Stop! Trap card activate," Yuri flipped Negate Attack face up, and a blue and red spiralling portal appeared in front of Sparkman.

"Negate attack does exactly what you'd expect. It also ends the battle phase. Nice try." Yuri said with smirk on his face.

"You saved your monster. Hmm. I place another card face down and I end my turn."

Yuri drew another card; Elemental HERO Wildheart.

Yuri laughed.

"I summon Elemental HERO Wildheart in attack mode!"

Once again a giant man with bronzed skin appeared in front of Yuri. His face was relevantly serious.

"I also think I'll boost him up a little with his favourite card, Cyclone Boomerang!" Yuri took on of his four remaining cards and placed it on the field.

In a moment a big gust of wind appeared, heading straight for Wildheart. A moment later the wild man grabbed a boomerang. It was a grey-green mix.

"This lovely card increases my man Wildheart's attack by 500!"

Wildheart – Attack: 1500 – Attack: 2000

Yuri was grin was wide now, "So I think it's time to-"

"I activate a trap card. Threatening Roar." Lars said in a monotone, "It stops my opponent from declaring an attack." A gold coloured winged beast appeared on the field, and screeched for all to hear.

Yuri covered his ears in annoyance, as did his monsters.

After a while Yuri's eyes narrowed as he glared at his opponent, "I was talking."

"I noticed. Anything else to add, or is it my turn?"

Yuri glanced at his cards again; Polymerization, Elemental HERO Avian and Elemental HERO Lady Heat.

Yuri could fusion summon at the moment, but since he couldn't attack he saw it as rather pointless.

"No…I end my turn."

Lars nodded. He drew his next card, looked at it and nodded.

"So, Wildheart likes equips, huh?" Lars said calmly, "Well I guess he can have this as well."

Lars placed the card he just drew onto the field. A moment later a strange mask appear. Its forehead had a strange symbol on it, its eyes were solid yellow and appeared to have nails going through them. The chin had tiny metal spikes protruding out.

"What the heck is that?" Yuri spoke of a hint of fear to his voice. He found the nails to be unnerving.

"Mask of the Accursed." Lars supplied, "Whichever monster's equipped with this can't attack till this card leaves the field. I choose Wildheart." In that moment the creepy mask flew across the field and forcefully strapped itself to Wildheart's face. The wild man tried desperately to get it off, but he simply couldn't manage it.

Yuri clenched his teeth, 'Okay. He's shut down the strongest monster on my field. I don't have much I can work with in my hand. What do I do?'

No matter how many times he asked himself that he couldn't find an answer.

"Also," Lars spoke up, barely managing to pull Yuri from his thoughts, "This card takes 500 life points from you during your standby phase. So I guess, at worst, this duel'll be over in ten turns. Have fun with that."

Yuri's eye started to twitch. He hadn't been expecting this. His doubts were starting to circle his head again.

'Need to keep duelling. Can't lose.' But could he mange it?


Sorry about...being gone for three weeks. College started up and I'm adjusting. Anyways, I should hopefully have the next chapter up soon. Now that I've said that you'll probably never see me again.

On a different note, I'm not going to mention who but Lars deck is based on a character from Legacy of a duelist. I hate him, so much.

And thanks for the reviews! I really brighten my day.

See ya later.