Sekhmet: The story is officially underway with Chapter 2: Island Arrival. Now that you've met almost everyone important, we get to put them into a weird new setting.
Susano-o: This chapter is just introductions, also our first Manga only character, because we needed a Chumley replacement.
Sekhmet: Honestly Midori's a way better character then Chumley anyway. But we still gotta have him cause if we get rid of everyone that's not important, we don't have enough commentators.
Susano-o: Chumley's not bad, we just can't interact with him as much.
Sekhmet: True.
Susano-o: Also here comes Chazzy Boy, our resident punching bag.
Sekhmet: HMMMMMM Chazzy Boi!
Susano-o: Every name in Yugioh sounds hilarious if you say it like Pegasus.
Sekhmet: Especially a later nickname we gave a later character, but that's spoilers. Also, any time Crowler comes on screen, you can hear me shout out to Sean Schemmel for breaking my ears.
Susano-o: Yes, which is why I had to take over the writing for him.
Sekhmet: With that said, let's get into chapter 2!
Duel 2: Island Arrival
Yuko gazed out the window of the transport helicopter. She and the rest of the accepted students had been in this copter for hours, and she was starting to doze off with nothing to look at but water.
A loud snore cut through her thoughts as Rose's head lolled over to the side. Yuko tried her best to ignore it, and looked fruitlessly for sea life under the waves.
"Ha you activated my trap card!" Rose yelled in her sleep. "Take that marshmallow man! Your frosting based strategy is no match for me!"
Yuko chuckled, trying to imagine a dessert themed duelist. No sea life, unfortunately.
"Now I attack with 'Elemental Hero Clayman, Clay Clobberer,'" She muttered. "And that's game the Candy Kingdom and Princess Bubblegum's hand in marriage are mine."
"A candy kingdom? Must be some dream." Yuko thought.
"My lady, let us ride our rainbow dragons to our honeymoon tree," Rose said rolling over and leaning against Yuko. "I will serenade you for the rest of our days."
"Rose, wake up. You're in people's spaces." Yuko said, trying to shove her away, or at least off her shoulder.
"What?" Rose muttered removing her sunglasses and rubbing her eyes. "What happened?" She asked leaning away from Yuko to stretch.
"Something about a bubblegum princess of a candy kingdom." Yuko said.
"Oh sounds like quite an adventure," Rose whispered yawning. "Where are we?"
"Still over the ocean, I think." Yuko said.
"Slifer protect us how long is this flight!" Rose whined rubbing her face.
"Why would they build this place so far from Japan? It's in the middle of scenic nowhere. There's nothing to do but watch for sea life." Yuko said. "I haven't even seen any seagulls yet."
"Umm hey guys I think we're here," Syrus interjected pointing out the window.
Yuko looked out the window. One of the first things she picked out was the presence of a volcano. She didn't think it was a wise idea to have a school on an island with a volcano. The next thing she noticed was the towering building that she could only assume was the school, and then a crescent shaped beach.
"Ooh," Rose said pressing her face against the window. "Pretty cool looking."
"I know. That beach looks really nice. A little worried about that active volcano though." Yuko said, voicing her thoughts.
"I'm excited about it," Rose said smiling widely. "I heard Yugi prepared for the Battle City Tournament by training in an active volcano."
"I don't think that's true." Yuko said.
"No seriously, he spent the entire week leading up to the tournament doing mock duels in a volcano with nothing but his deck, didn't even bring food or water," She explained spinning around to face Yuko. "It's how he grew a foot in less than a week, at least that's what the forums guessed."
"I think those are just exaggerated rumors. Think about it, if he trained in an active volcano, not only would his cards burn up, but wouldn't he have died as well? Volcanoes are REALLY hot." Yuko said. She knew the truth of course, but refrained from telling. That would clue her in to her true identity, of course.
"No it's totally believable, did you see what Mai Valentine said in her interview about Yugi after Duelist Kingdom?" She asked raising an eyebrow.
"No, I was kind of young when Duelist Kingdom happened. That was ten years ago, after all. I was just getting into the game back then, I didn't even know who Yugi was." Yuko said, lying through her teeth.
"Well so was I, but I had to look through the backlogs of old magazines when I did a report on Duelist Kingdom in school, since the tournament was never recorded we only have the hearsay from the people there, and I doubted Kaiba would be an unbiased source," She said rolling her eyes though no one could see the action. "So I looked around and managed to find one interview where Mai was talking about Yugi."
"What did she say?" Yuko asked, actually kind of intrigued on how this rumor came to be now.
"Well she said when he dueled, he became a totally different person, his mannerisms, speech, hell she was almost certain he even changed physically when he dueled," Rose explained. "And all these strange things seemed to happen around him, things she couldn't explain, but the biggest thing that confused her was during Yugi's duel against one of the Eliminator PaniK, she to this day is convinced that he literally bent the fire the PaniK shot at him away from his body, like there was some sort of magical aura was protecting him, hence the rumor he's fireproof."
Oh dear. This was getting into some stuff that the general public didn't need to know. To be a relative of a great duelist was one thing, but if word got out that her brother had been "possessed" for the early days of his career...
"So the guy's got nerves of steel. Big deal. You kind of have to to play this game, especially if you're doing it professionally." Yuko said. "Like I said, her words were most likely taken out of context and then exaggerated."
"Nerves don't control fireballs," Rose countered. "But the biggest clue was during the final duel with Pegasus, Mai came back to watch after packing up, but when she got to the arena the entire thing was covered in this weird black ball of energy that gave her chills just looking at it, and similar things happened during the Battle City finals," She said with a conspiratorial smile. "And you know what the linking factor is?" She asked.
"Atmosphere enhancing Special effects?" Yuko asked sarcastically.
"Nope, they all had a weird golden item that had an eye of Wdjat on it," She said smugly. "Yugi, Bakura, Marik, Ishizu, and Pegasus all had one."
"I dunno, it all seems just too far fetched for me to believe." Yuko said, not being able to find a better way to deflect her theorizing.
"Nope, look at the photos," Rose said grabbing her PDA and scrolling through to the right file. "See," She said turning the device to Yuko. "Yugi and Bakura have those pendants, Marik that rod, Ishizu her necklace, and Pegasus's is a little hard to see, but when the wind blows his hair right you can see he's got a golden eyepatch," She explained flipping through the photos.
"Well maybe the Illuminati is real after all. Who knows." Yuko said, pretending to be defeated.
"Alright fine don't believe me," Rose huffed putting her PDA away. "-But mark my words I know something else was going on in those tournaments, and I will find out eventually," she said crossing her arms and turning away from Yuko to watch the copter's descent onto the island.
"Alright, good luck." Yuko said, brushing some stray hair back into her beanie.
The two sat in silence as the copter made its final descent onto the helipad near the main school building. Filling the copter with a slightly awkward silence as well.
"So umm, anyone know where we're suppose we go after we land?" Syrus asked.
"Not a clue." Yuko said, looking around from a ground level.
"We're supposed to go straight to the main building," Bastion explained. "There we will be split up based on our dorm assignments."
"Ah." Yuko noted. "I wonder if my luggage is there too." She thought.
The mob of students quickly made their way into the main building where staff started directing them into the main dueling area of the school, a massive amphitheatre with a dueling platform at the bottom where Chancellor Sheppard was standing with two other men, a tall lanky man holding a cat, and another shorter man in a Ra yellow waistcoat.
"Man, I'm jealous. I thought pets weren't allowed on campus." Yuko whispered to Rose. "I guess it's different for teachers."
"Well they let Chazz on campus so I guess they changed that rule," Rose chuckled, their earlier argument already forgotten.
Yuko giggled. "Fair point. I'm starting to get why you hate those rich boys the more I think about it." Yuko said, her face staining red in remembrance of how embarrassed she was back then.
"Rich kids are awful," Rose said annoyed. "Like act so stuck up just because they went to a dueling prep school, again this game is half luck, you could spend thousands of years practicing and strategizing and you could still lose to some random kid with an MST."
"Gotta love MST, and Dark Hole." Yuko said. "The best cards in the game are always the simplest."
"Yeah," Rose smiled. "Always have a backup plan, and a backup for you backup plan."
"That's like my whole deck." Yuko said.
"Ok first thing we have to due when we get to our rooms is duel," Rose said grinning. "I want to see this awesome card of yours."
"Ok, but I'm warning you not to get your hopes up. I run a basic stall deck, nothing more." Yuko explained.
"Rare card don't care," Rose said happily. "I got a new card recently I need to try out anyway, got it on my way to the exams actually."
"Oh, cool. You find it on the ground or something?" Yuko asked.
"Nope, I was given it by Yugi himself," Rose said happily.
"You met Yugi? How lucky." Yuko said. That was a weird coincidence for Rose to have met her brother. Must have been on the way back to the card shop. And he gave her a card too...
"Yep, was just walking down the street away and I ran into him," Rose chuckled awkwardly. "And by that I mean I may have accidentally lariated him Killer Bee from Naruto style sending us both toppling to the ground and spilling my cards everywhere."
"Oh dear. He must be one of those chill celebrities then, like Keanu Reeves." Yuko notes. Of course he was chill, he's always been chill. He used to get bullied for being too chill.
"Yeah, he gave me a card as a good luck charm," Rose said blushing slightly with a smile.
"Congratulations, then. Not everyone gets to meet him by sheer coincidence." Yuko said.
"Yeah now that you mention it is, it is odd he was so close to the convention center," Rose pondered rubbing her chin. "He must have came from there, but why would he go to the freshman orientation for Duel Academy?"
"Who knows. Celebrities can be mysterious, even if in reality they're just regular people. Maybe he was just in the area by coincidence." Yuko said, trying real hard to deflect Rose's train of thought.
Before Rose could respond the sound of microphone feedback cut through the arena as Sheppard moved to address the now filled arena.
"Welcome everyone to Duel Academy!" He said with a jovial smile.
"Oh, the presentation's started." Yuko whispered, and straightened herself out a bit.
"Congratulations to all of you who passed the exams and now have the privilege to call yourselves students at this academy," He said smiling at the beaming students. "Now I know you're probably all eager to get right into it, but first we need to get you into your dorm assignments," He said gesturing to the small squad of staff standing off to the side. "The staff members here have your assigned dorms and room number, they'll split you into two lines via alphabetical last name order and give you your new uniforms, from there if you're assigned into Slifer Red you will be Professor Banner here," He explained gesturing to the cat man. "And if you're assigned to Ra Yellow you will be with Professor Sartyr, now I expect you all to work hard, study hard, and duel even harder," He finished with a laugh.
"Ah well we'd better get in line then," Rose said standing up. "So what's your last name?"
Yuko stiffened, but pulled a last name she used for forums off the top of her head. "Mishami, so… That line." She said pointing to the first line, A-M.
"Ah shoot I'm in the other," Rose said. "Warren, so I'll be waiting forever too," she grumbled good naturedly. "Well guess we'll have to meet up after we get our uniforms," She said giving Yuko a pat on the shoulder as she walked away.
"Meet you out front?" Yuko asked.
"Yeah, sure!" Rose yelled from down the stairs. "The professors already left to the dorms so I guess we'll have to make our own way there!"
"Alright, see you then." Yuko said.
After what seemed like an eternity waiting in line, Yuko finally got to the front of her line. Once the staff double checked her real name, which she hoped was lost to others in the chatter of the remaining students, she was gifted a uniform in a beautiful shade of red. Yuko went into a nearby bathroom to change, and admired the uniform. Overall she liked its design, but was a bit wary about how short the skirt was. She had a few pairs of leggings in her luggage, she guessed that she would be wearing those under them from now on. She stuffed her remaining clothes in her backpack, and exited the bathroom, looking for Rose on her way out.
"Hey Yuko!" Syrus yelled as he spotted her walking out. "Glad to see a friendly face in the red dorm!"
"Oh, Hi Syrus. Nice to see you in red too." She said.
"Yep! I saw Bastion going to yellow though, so that means we'll probably only see him in class now," Syrus said sadly. "And now I'll be rooming with someone I don't know."
"Well, best of luck, and I hope they're nice." Yuko said, and smiled.
"Yeah," Syrus said smiling slightly. "So are gonna you heading to the dorms?"
"Nah, I'm looking for Rose and then I'll head over with her." Yuko said.
"Oh well she was behind me so I think she'd be done by now, want to check out front?" Syrus asked.
"Yeah, I was just headed there." Yuko said.
"Ok, I guess I'll stick with you then!"
"Alright, let's go then." Yuko said, and started looking for the front entrance again.
With Syrus's help the two managed to find the exit in the confusing mess of hallways that was the main academy building and outside onto grounds of the island.
"There you are!" Rose called out from where she was leaning on one of the giant stone monster cards.
"Hey Rose. How'd you get out here so quick, other than having a bit of a head start?" Yuko asked.
"Ah didn't have much to change," She said gesturing to her new uniform, a male Slifer Red uniform.
"Oh. Well that's convenient." Yuko said.
"Yep," Rose said adjusting her new jackets collar. "These jackets sure are comfy though."
"I know, I love the material. I just with there was more of it." Yuko said, alluding to her skirt. "I've got some leggings in my luggage though, so I should be fine."
"Yeah no I can't wear skirts," Rose explained. "It was a fight to get a male uniform."
"I know. I mean this is basically a censor bar." Yuko joked.
"Oh yeah," Rose said looking away from Yuko's legs. "Yeah it's way too small."
"Anyway, we're not gonna get anywhere just by standing here. Shall we go see where we'll be living?" Yuko asked.
"Oh it's this way," Rose said walking towards the edge of the island.
After what seemed like an hour of walking, the trio came upon two small buildings, the red dorms, Yuko assumed. One of them looked older and run down, and remembering what Rose said, assumed it to be the male dorm. That would make the newer looking building the female dorm. Both of the buildings were somewhat small, two floors with an outdoor walkway. Yuko counted about a dozen rooms per building, one of which would no doubt be her's and Rose's.
"So...this looks...cozy?" Rose questioned.
"Speak for yourself, mine looks like an outhouse with a deck," Syrus muttered looking at the dilapidated structure.
"Look at the view though, you get direct Oceanside property." Yuko said, not really knowing what that meant but hoping it was a positive.
"Hell yeah," Rose said running over to the cliff edge. "The sunset will be amazing from here!"
"I like sunsets." Yuko offered.
Rose quickly found her and Yuko's assigned room and opened the door that required a bit more force than necessary. "Guess newer doesn't mean good," She muttered inspecting the kick marks at the bottom of the door.
"Yeah, and an ill fitting door bodes really bad in the event of an emergency." Yuko added.
"Well you're gonna have to learn to deal with it," A voice called from behind them.
The two turned around and where met with the sight of another woman standing behind them with her hands on her hips. "It's the price we pay for being Slifer's, but I don't expect it to make you try any less hard to be the best," She said authoritatively.
"Oh, hi. You must be our roommate. I'm Yuko Mishami." Yuko said, introducing herself.
"Rose Warren," Rose said holding out her hand.
The other woman smiled as she grabbed the outstretched hand. "Midori Hibiki!" She said happily. "Fourth year Slifer Red, well come on in we need to get you two set up and be down in time for dinner!"
"Oh right, my luggage!" Yuko realized. "My cards are in there!"
"You don't carry them with you?" Rose asked. "I keep mine on me all the time," She said gesturing to the duelbox on her belt.
"I keep one with me, but I brought a couple extra decks just to have fun with. I figured they would be safer in my luggage." Yuko explained. "Sometimes it's good to mix it up. Keeps opponents on their toes."
"Oh cool," Rose said looking away. "I just have the one."
"Ok then!" Midori said clapping her hands together. "Lets go inside you two!" She said shoving the two forward lightly into the room.
The room was small, a triple decker bunk bed was shoved up against one wall, with two bare desks against the opposite wall and a third covered in papers and cards was shoved underneath the back wall window, finally there were three small dressers behind the door and a small single burner kitchenette shoved into a small nook. "I know it's not much," Midori said smiling. "-But it has everything we need."
"That's alright. The triple bunk bed is one of the coolest pieces of furniture I've seen in a while." Yuko noted. Honestly, she really liked the room. It was small and cozy, just like her room back home.
"So who's got what bunk?" Rose asked. "Cause I get up early and would like the lowest bunk."
"Well I took the bottom, but I also get up early so it shouldn't be a problem, if it's ok with Yuko you could take the middle bunk," Midori suggested.
"That's good with me. I was going to ask for middle anyway." Yuko said, climbing the ladder a bit and placing her backpack on the rung of the top bed.
"Sweet," Rose said setting her bag on one of the unoccupied desks and crawling into her bunk. "Ooh comfy."
"Your luggage is in there," Midori said pointing at the small closet hidden beside the bunk beds. "I've already got the middle dresser so you two can fight over which one you two want. "But hurry up, we've got dinner in 10 minutes and I won't have you two be late on your first night!" She said before walking out of the room. "Dining rooms on the first floor of the male dorms!" She called out over her shoulder.
"Well she's certainly perky," Rose commented as she started shoving her clothes haphazardly into the top dresser.
"I know, she scared me a little when we first met her." Yuko said, piling some shirts and pants into one dresser and the rest of her clothes into another. She set two decks of cards on top.
"Why?" Rose asked trying to force the dresser shut. "Shit, close!" Rose cursed shoving against it with her shoulder.
"Maybe I misinterpreted the atmosphere, but she just seemed a little intense is all." Yuko said, jimmying with her dresser drawer.
Rose finally closed the drawer with a triumphant cry. "Well I like her," She said dusting her hands. "So want to go see how Syrus is fairing?"
"Sure. We've got time." Yuko said.
Rose and Yuko walked a short distance to the male dorms and searched the sliding name plates for a familiar name. They had to go up a floor, but the two found Syrus' room.
"Huh, Chumley," Rose muttered knocking on the door.
"It's not the weirdest name I've ever heard. My name is one letter away from being reminiscent of an egg yolk." Yuko joked.
Rose thought about that for a second before chuckling lightly. "Yeah I guess so," She said standing back as the door opened.
"Hello, oh it's you guy!" Syrus said happily. "What are you doing here?"
"We were just checking in." Yuko said, brushing some hair under her beanie.
Syrus beamed at her comment. "Thanks," He said opening the door some more. "Well come on in then."
Rose walked in, and Yuko followed. The room looked a bit more lived in, but otherwise was identical to theirs.
"Well here's my room," Syrus said awkwardly. "Or really mine and Chumley," He stuttered before turning to the bunks. "Hey Chumley, come down here and meet my friends."
"No, now quit bothering me," A voice called from the top bunk as the lump in the blankets rolled over to reveal a guy that vaguely resembles a koala. "Oh more Slifers," He said with a small glare. "Well I'll give you two the same advice I gave him, get out of here pronto."
"Like out of the room or?" Yuko asked, legitimately confused. Maybe the long flight was getting to her and she didn't hear him properly.
"Out of this dorm," Chumley finished. "There's nothing good about being a Slifer, and there's only two ways out, either you leave or you move up."
"Wow you're quite the optimist," Rose muttered crossing her arms.
Chumley glared at her. "I know what I'm talking about, no one respects us, even Midori gets looked down on," He said rolling back over. A little metaphorical lightbulb went off in Yuko's head, and though it showed on her face, she didn't say anything.
"Umm lets go," Syrus said nervously looking at Rose's death glare. "I think dinner is about to start."
"Yeah, you're right Syrus." Yuko said, remembering what had happened the last time she saw that face on Rose.
"Yeah," Rose growled "Lets go."
The trio exited the room and headed downstairs, making their way into the dining hall.
"Man, I know that Kaiba was infamous for his ego, but I didn't think it would go so far as to affect this kind of thing." Yuko said.
"Rich kids are always like that," Rose muttered clearly still angry about their earlier encounter. "Even people like Duke Devlin, they always have a that hauntingly rich arrogance about them."
"I heard he got better about that once Yugi beat him at his own game, literally." Yuko said. Inside, she was a bit hurt that Rose would say something like that about one of her brother's friends. They had always been kind to her, at least.
"Yeah but he still rigged the whole thing in his favor, and what he did to Joey was just cruel," Rose countered. "Getting beat was the only reason he got better, had he won you know he would have lorded over everyone so hard it would make Kaiba look nice by comparison."
Yuko cringed hard at the memory. "You've got a point. Still, in the end he did change for the better, and that's not easy for some people."
Rose's glare softened at that. "Yeah I suppose you're right," she said with a sigh. "Sorry about that you guys," She said awkwardly rubbing the back of her head. "If you couldn't already tell I've got a bit of an anger problem," She said with a rueful smile.
"It's fine, I've seen worse." Yuko said, sitting down at a table.
"It's alright." Syrus said with a nervous chuckle.
Rose gave them a true smile as she opened the dining room door. "Come on, let's eat."
….
Yuko plopped down on her bunk. "Man, I don't care what Chumley says. Red is my favorite color and I'm proud to have Slifer as our mascot." She sighed.
"Yeah red is this best," Rose said leaning back in her new desk chair.
"I'm glad you two feel that way," Midori said proudly. "-But you should still look to be moving up in rank whenever you get the chance."
"I know, I'm just saying that if I never do end up going up in rank, I'm not going to be upset about it." Yuko said.
"If that's the case why didn't you move up?" Rose asked. "Chumley implied you were pretty good."
"Well someone has to watch over you first years," Midori explained with a smile. "If everyone left then there would be no one here to explain things to you newbies," She said giggling.
"That's awfully thoughtful of you." Yuko said.
Midori smiled. "Thanks, now you two should turn in for the night, you've got a long day of classes ahead of you."
"Yeah, you're probably right." Yuko said, pulling her beanie down so that it covered her ears.
"Well I'm not ready to sleep," Rose said throwing herself out of her chair. "Hey Midori, think we could check out the dueling arena?"
Midori shook her head. "Sorry, but the arena's are closed after hours," She said sadly.
"We'll be at school tomorrow, surely they'll have us duel there at some point." Yuko offered.
Rose sighed. "Yeah I guess," She muttered before grabbing her night clothes. "I'll be back," She said walking outside to the bathrooms. Yuko got down from her bunk and dug her nightclothes out as well, waiting for her turn to change in private.
…
In a weird twist of events, Yuko did not find herself ranting about the California Raisins Band in her dreams tonight, instead she was woken up by Rose before she could even get to that point.
"Gah? What is it?" Yuko asked the person shaking her drowsily. She looked over to see Rose shaking her foot.
"Quiet Midori's still asleep," Rose hissed.
"What's up?" Yuko whispered.
"I can't wait," Rose said bouncing on her toes. "I have to see the duel arena tonight!"
"What? It's a duel arena, it's not going anywhere." Yuko said quietly.
"Yeah but I'm not getting any younger so let's go," She said excitedly. "Come on we'll get Syrus and the gang will be all here!"
Yuko supposed that she wasn't going to be able to convince Rose otherwise. Seriously though, she's going to potentially get the three in trouble before school even started? Yuko stuffed the stray hairs that had fallen out back into her beanie.
"How can the have a duel arena and not expect us to go see it!" Rose asked. "It's like dangling a giant steak in front of a tyrannosaurus!"
"By making it a stationary room that's only closed when no one would use it?" Yuko said, yawning.
"Now you're just playing semantics," Rose said dismissively. "Fine, I'll go see if Syrus wants to go," She said sliding down the ladder and tiptoeing to the door.
"Well don't leave me here alone. Three is better than two." Yuko whispered, and climbed down the ladder after her.
"That's the spirit!" Rose said shoving a pile of clothes into her arms. "Get dressed and meet us out front," She ordered before slipping outside.
Yuko put her uniform back on, adding a pair of black leggings as well. While Rose was out, she recoiled her long braid back into its circular shape inside her beanie and made sure none of her hair stuck out. Last thing she needed was to get her cover blown because of some bed head.
When she was sure that she was good, Yuko wrapped herself in her blanket before she snuck out the door and onto the walkway.
"Finally Slifer protect us it took you long enough," Rose joked from her perch at the bottom of the steps.
"Umm hey Yuko," Syrus said waving. "Wonderful night huh?"
"Yeah, Syrus. I'm really glad you came with us." Yuko said.
"I didn't have a choice," Syrus whined. "Rose dragged me out here, barely gave me time to change!"
"Same here. Honestly, it's not like a room is going anywhere." Yuko agreed, and then yawned.
"Lets go you two!" Rose said ignoring her companions comments. "The duel arena awaits!"
"At least the moon is pretty and it's not winter yet." Yuko offered, and started walking.
"Oh please we're in southern Japan, this place will barely be any different in winter," Rose snorted. "Now come on we've got to go quickly!"
"Hey, wait up!" Syrus called out, and then ran to catch up with them.
The three made their way into the main building, making their way through dark halls till they found an arena that still had it's lights on. "Oh these are awesome!" Rose yelled running onto the dueling platform.
Yuko rubbed her eyes. "Sure is, isn't it?" She said, half sarcastic, half still asleep.
"Woah theses are the latest dueling platforms," Syrus said looking over the raised platform. "They're even better at making projections than the ones made by Pegasus, they really spare no expense here."
"Impressive indeed." Yuko said. "I bet that if this kind of stuff ever goes VR like they tried in the 90s, this will be cited as the keystone of its development."
"Yeah," Rose said grabbing her duel disk and miming a duel. "I play 'Elemental Hero Ocean' in attack mode!" She yelled loudly.
"Rose, you might want to simmer down a bit. We're here after hours, I'm pretty sure this is trespassing." Yuko said.
"Yes you are," A voice called out from one of the entrances. Three Obelisk students walked into the arena, and the three quickly recognized them as the ones Rose had snapped at during the exams. "What are you three doing here?" The middle one, Chazz, asked with a smirk. "Didn't you see the sign?"
"Rose wanted to see the dueling platforms, and no, there wasn't a sign." Yuko said, although she was a bit unsure. WAS there a sign and she had just missed it?
"Yes there it," Chazz said pointing to the entrance behind them, where a crest with a picture of Obelisk carved into it was hanging. "This is the Obelisk dueling arena," He said condescendingly. "As in, no Slifer slackers allowed."
Yuko turned her head around to look at the crest. Yep, that was an ugly Obelisk mug on that metal plate. She sucked her teeth. "I see. Well, it was about time we got back to the dorms anyway, so we will just be on our way." She said, and turned to leave. She just wanted to go to bed, to be completely honest.
"Oh no you don't," Chazz said with a sneer. "Imagine what will happen when I tell Dr. Crowler that you were here tonight," He chuckled. "I bet you won't even make it to first period before he kicks you all out."
"You could do that," Rose said taking a step forward with a menacing glare. "Or I could shove a wad of flex seal down your throat and make you keep silent about it," She smirked cracking her knuckles. "That sounds like the better option."
"Rose, we're already in trouble…" Yuko warned.
"Yeah guys," Syrus said from his hiding spot behind the platform wall. "Lets just all go our separate ways and forget about tonight."
"No!" Chazz yelled matching Rose's step with his own. "I'm not gonna let her get away with that!"
"Yeah," One of Chazz's goons Raizou yelled. "You can't talk to him like that!"
"It's three on one Slifer Scum," The other goon, Topher, said smirking.
"Oh that's a shame," Rose smirked throwing off her jacket. "You'll need about three more then," She said cracking her knuckles.
"There's no need for a three on one fight." Yuko said. "Instead of fighting with your fists and getting blood all over the new tech, why don't you guys just settle it with duel monsters? That's why we're all here, after all." She suggested.
Rose snorted. "Fine," She said pulling out her new duel disk.
"Alright," Chazz said grabbing his disk as well. "What are the stakes?"
"You win we'll go to Crowler willingly and I won't shove a flex seal wad down your throat," Rose said as a feeling of calm washed over her.
"Sure," Chazz said walking onto the platform. "And what do you want if win?"
Rose smirked at this. "I win, we go free and the Slifer's and the Obelisk's switch dorms."
Chazz laughed loudly at the proposal. "Alright Slifer Slacker," He said activating his duel disk. "Since it will never happen, you've got yourself a deal."
"Sweet," Rose said activating her duel disk too.
"Lets Duel!" The two yelled together.
"Well this'll be interesting." Yuko muttered sleepily. She was starting to fade back out.
"Yeah, but I'm nervous," Syrus said rubbing his hand nervously. "Rose may talk down about them, but Obelisk Blues do have some skill, and Chazz was considered the best duelist in his graduation class."
"Maybe. I may be underestimating him, but an attitude like that may bring him more trouble than victory." Yuko wondered. "Besides, a two turn KO like she pulled last time may have been an extremely lucky hand."
"I'll go first," Chazz said drawing his first card. "I'll play two cards face down and summon 'Chthonian Soldier' in attack mode (1200/1400)!" He yelled as the monster appeared on the field from a black portal of darkness on the floor. "That's it for me, you're turn Slifer Slime."
"Alright I draw," Rose said drawing her card. "Oh good," Rose said smirking. "I play 'A Hero Lives' She said slotting the card into her disk. "When I have no monsters on my field and you have a monster I can pay half my life points to special summon a level 4 or lower hero
monster from my deck," (Rose LP 8000-4000) She explained looking through her deck for the appropriate card.
"Half her life points on the first turn? This slime is absolutely nuts!" Raizou declared. "Chazz has this one in the bag."
"Interesting maneuver. I wonder where it'll go." Yuko thought out loud.
"Ah here we go," Rose said with a smirk. "Time for an old favorite, you know her, you love her, you can't live without her…"
"Get on with it!" Chazz yelled.
"'Elemental Hero Shadow Mist'!" Rose declared as her monster appeared on the field with its trademark pose. "And that means I get to add a Change spell to my hand," She said adding the card to her hand. "Now I place two cards face down and end my turn," Rose smirked. ''You're turn Chazzy boy."
A vein popped out of Chazz's forehead. "I'll show you!" He yelled drawing a card.
"Ha got you now!" Rose yelled. "I chain my facedown to your draw phase, go Masked Change!" She yelled as the card rose from the field. "Now I tribute my 'Shadow Mist' to summon my 'Masked Hero Dark Law (2400/1800)'!" She yelled as a small mask appeared in Shadow Mist's hand before she put it on, causing her to become enveloped in a purple and black light show.
"You need to pay attention to the field," Chazz laughed. "I activate 'Chthonian Polymer'!" He declared. "When you fusion summon a fusion monster, I can tribute one monster on my field to take control of your monster!" He explained as he tributed his 'Chthonian Soldier'. "So hand it over!"
"Oh no, that's not good." Syrus whined.
"Ha! What a move." Topher cheered.
"Hmm no," Rose smirked. "I don't think so."
Chazz sneered. "Oh so now you're cheating?" He asked making Rose sigh. "Predictable," She muttered. "Just like your headmaster," She said shaking her head. "Just because you don't understand something, which probably isn't a new thing to you, doesn't mean it's cheating," She said with a condescending smirk. "'Mask Change' isn't a fusion summon, it's a regular special summon, so your 'Polymer' doesn't work and you just wasted both your cards!" She laughed as 'Dark Law' appeared on the field. "Now the real fun begins."
"Huh, weird." Yuko said. "Never seen that one before."
Raizou sneered. "Look like the scum got lucky."
"Lucky move punk," Chazz sneered.
"Yep," Rose said with a smirk. "Now 'Dark Law' attack him directly Revolcrash!" Dark Law arm started glowing bright blue before he gilded impossibly fast across the field and slashed at Chazz faster than the eye could see before returning just as fast to Rose. (Chazz LP 8000-5600). "And that's my turn."
"Yeah and it will be your last!" He yelled drawing his card. "I activate my facedown card 'Call of the Haunted' reviving my 'Chthonian Soldier' (1200/1400)!" He announced. "Now watch I play 'Inferno Reckless Summon' when I special summon a monster with less than 1500 ATK while you control a monster, the two of us can summon as many monsters as possible with the same name from our hand, deck, or graveyard," He smirked as two more 'Chthonian Soldiers' appeared on the field. "Oh but you can't do that with your little monster." He said chuckling.
"Yeah but so what?" Rose asked raising an eyebrow. "Your three soldiers aren't strong enough to take on my 'Dark Law'?"
"Not yet," Chazz said with a huge grin. "But when I equip one of them with 'Chthonian Alliance' It will be more than enough!"
"'Chthonian Alliance'?" Syrus said nervously. "What does that do?"
"For every face up monster on the field with the same name, the monster equipped with that card gains 800 attack. In this situation, one of those 'Chthonian Soldiers' is getting a 2400 attack boost." Yuko said, double checking her math on her fingers. She grimaced after finding her math correct.
"Oh man, Rose's monster only has 2400 attack points!" Syrus said nervously turning back to the duel. "He's gonna get diced up!"
"It's not great, that's for sure." Yuko noted.
Chazz laughed as his 'Chthonian Soldier' tripled in size (1200-3600/1400). "Attack her monster Wind Storm Slash!"
Rose hissed as she watched the giant soldier charge at her. "I activate my facedown card 'Draining Shield' your attack is negated and I gain life points equal to your monsters attack (Rose LP 4000-7600)."
"Lucky break," Chazz muttered. "I place one card face down and end my turn."
"One of those backup plans." Yuko thought. "Maybe it was luck, maybe not."
"A 'Draining Shield'? That won't buy her much time. Chazz still has this." Topher said.
Rose took a deep breath as she drew her next card. "Ok then," Rose whispered looking at the card with a smile. "I play 'Lightning Vortex'!"
"That's great!" Syrus said. "She can clear Chazz's field with that!"
"Indeed she can." Yuko mumbled. The sleep was trying to take back over.
"My monsters!" Chazz yelled as three bolts of lighting destroyed them.
"Not only are they destroyed, but because of 'Dark Law's' ability, any of my opponent's cards that are sent to the graveyard are removed from play instead!" She laughed. "'Dark Law' Attack!" (Chazz LP 5600-3200).
"Well this sure is a motley crew," A voice asked from the entrance. Rose turned around and was stunned by the appearance of a beautiful Obelisk Blue women glaring at the two of them. "What are you all doing here, you know it's against the rules to be here after hours," She asked crossing her arms.
"Oh umm...really?" Rose stuttered with a nervous blush.
"Yes, you all could get in serious trouble. Chazz knows this, but he didn't tell you, did he?" She said, giving a glare to the blushing teen.
"No," Syrus said with a glare. "He just said we'd be in trouble for being at the Obelisk arena."
"Well Alexis it doesn't matter," Chazz snorted. "I've seen what I wanted to see," He said walking away. "And frankly I'm disappointed."
Rose growled at looked like she was about to charge Chazz before the blue girl spoke up again and left her a blushing mess.
"Campus security is coming. We're all in trouble if they find us." Alexis warned. She could hear faint footsteps from down the hall getting closer.
"Rose, it's time to go home." Yuko urged.
"She's right, let's go!" Syrus agreed.
"Umm yeah sure," Rose stuttered following Alexis out of the arena just as security entered from the other side.
Now outside the building, the four gathered by the door.
"What were you three thinking by coming here anyway? Did Chazz call you here?" Alexis asked.
"Actually, Rose wanted to check out the arena and couldn't wait until tomorrow." Yuko replied.
Rose went red at this. "Yeah," She whispered nervously. "I couldn't wait to see it."
"Thanks for showing us out." Syrus piped up.
"No problem. Sorry you didn't get to finish your match." Alexis replied.
"Oh no it's fine," Rose stammered waving her hands around. "I was gonna win anyway," She said chuckling.
"Really? No offense, but it looks like it could have gone either way." Alexis said.
"Nah," Rose said trying to look cool. "I had this," She said holding up her next card. 'Masked Charge'.
….
"Now I play 'Masked Charge!'" Rose yelled. "This allows me to bring a HERO and a Change spell to my hand, With my Avian I can summon 'Masked Hero Divine Wind! For a double attack'" She yelled.
…
Alexis gasped in realization.
"Yep," Rose said with an embarrassed blush. "Shame I couldn't play it, I would have won us the blue dorms."
"Rose, can we please go home now? It's like two in the morning." Yuko pleaded. Her eyes were already scrunched shut.
"I'll tell you what time it is," Rose said her personality instantly switching once she looked away from Alexis. "Time for me to make up some new strategies to beat Chazz, I'm not gonna stop till I win those dorms!" Rose yelled grabbing her friends hands and dragging them away. "Come on you two are helping!"
"I just wanna go to bed!" Yuko wailed as her and Syrus were dragged away.
Alexis smiled. "This is going to be an interesting year."