Sekhmet: Well… That's an ominous title right off the bat.
Susano-o: Why did Aster need to exist? He was just there to be ANOTHER snooty asshole.
Sekhmet: Didn't we only keep him around by a hair's breath to be an exposition orphan? What happened to that plan?
Susano-o: Isn't that what we did? He has like 5 scenes and 2 duels at max.
Sekhmet: Sure, But he didn't really provide any exposition as far as I remember. He has his stuff here, but after that he's an afterthought.
Susano-o: Well we didn't need an exposition orphan after the turn we took with the story.
Sekhmet: Guess not. On with the show then…
Duel 30: Gone Too Far
The next day was as normal as a day at Duel Academy could be, Camula and Tania had taken over as Duel Alchemy professor and Gym Teacher respectively.
"Come on, pick up the pace!" Tania egged on some first years in their laps. Truth be told, the tiger was enough motivation as it chased them around the track.
"You'd better hurry up!" Rose laughed as she got ahead of everyone, being one of the few who actually worked out regularly.
"I don't have to be the fastest, I just gotta be faster than at least three other people." Yuko said.
"Glad you started working out," Rose smirked as she watched her friend who last year nearly died running with Syrus to the docks actually stay together for more than a few laps.
"Well running around dueling for our lives will do that to a person." Yuko said.
Syrus on the other hand, was still huffing and puffing like he was last year. Since he hasn't been involved in the apocalypse, this was reasonable to see. "Guys, wait up!" He yelled but they were too far ahead.
Alexis jogged up beside Syrus. "Syrus," She said smiling. "I think Yuko would think it's cute if you could keep up with her," She suggested.
At that, Syrus sprinted as hard as he could to catch up with Yuko, and actually managed to keep up for a while. Yuko smiled a kind smile to him, and he blushed a bit.
"Nice job babe," Rose said backing up a bit to talk with Alexis.
"Thank you," Alexis said with a fake poshness. "I am a master of relationship manipulation, after all that's how I got you," She laughed before kissing Rose's nose, making her stumble and fall to the ground in a blushing heap.
"Rose!" Tania yelled. "Get up or Kitty will have a new chew toy!"
Rose scrambled to her feet and took off, determined to get back to the front of the pack, Alexis laughed at Rose's face and ran in front of Yuko to keep the chase up. "Loser buys the winner dinner!" She laughed.
"You'd better be prepared to buy me kobe beef then!" Rose responded.
….
Rose looked at her cleaned out wallet with anime tears in her eyes, she had let Alexis win and now was paying for it.
"And what did you learn?" Alexis asked smirking as she finished her expensive desert.
"Don't intentionally let you win to try and be cute," Rose whined.
"Exactly," Alexis giggled.
….
"Hey," A voice said behind the group as they were walking back to the dorms after classes. Turning around they saw a student dressed up in a silver suit with a black shirt on underneath.
"Oh wow." Yuko said in a bit of disbelief. "What brings you here, Mr. Phoenix?"
"I'd like to talk to my old friend," Aster said smiling at Rose, who's eyes widened in recognition.
"Aster?" She asked before smiling. "Holy fuck it's been like five years since I've seen you," She chuckled.
"Yeah," Aster smiled back. "Industrial Illusions Junior League Finals," He recalled. "You were shorter than me then," He chuckled realizing Rose now stood taller at him.
"You two know each other?" Syrus asked.
"In a way," Aster explained. "We were in a lot of tournaments together, though you dropped out of the blue," He said raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah," Rose said running a hand through her hair. "I wanted an actual education to become a teacher, you need a dueling degree to be one," She explained. "Being a pro helps but it's not enough."
"Ah," Aster said nodding in agreement. "I understand now."
"I didn't know you wanted to be a teacher." Yuko said.
"Eh," Rose shrugged. "I want something to fall back on," She explained.
"Cool." Yuko said. "You'd be a great one."
"Thanks," Rose smiled.
"Well this has been fun," Aster said smiling. "-But I have to get going, got an important duel tomorrow night and I need to catch my flight."
"See you around then." Yuko said. "Oh, by the way, who are you dueling?"
"Oh you'll be interested in this one," Aster said. "Zane Truesdale."
"You're dueling my brother?" Syrus asked.
"Yep," Aster said nodding. "His debut duel, you should tune in, channel 45 at 7pm," He said before looking at his watch. "Oh shoot I have to go, bye," He said before walking away quickly.
"You never told me you had these kinds of connections." Yuko said jokingly.
"I just forget how many I have until I need them," Rose explained. "I still have a few victories from Industrial Illusion tournaments to cash in for free cards."
"Nice. I've only done locals myself so far." Yuko said.
"Guys we have to watch!" Syrus said with puppy-dog eyes.
"Well of course we're gonna watch. Why wouldn't we?" Yuko said.
"Yay!" Syrus said hugging Yuko, smooshing his face into her boobs by accident. Yuko hugged back, pretending to be unaware of the situation.
…
"Come on, the commercial break is almost over!" Yuko nagged.
"We still have like 10 minutes till the duel starts!" Rose yelled from the kitchen.
"Yeah that's why it's almost here!" Yuko said, bouncing her knee and Syrus with it.
"Yuko, Rose has a point." Syrus said, and Yuko leaned her head on his head.
"But the anticipation is killing me!" She fake whined.
"It's just a little longer." He sighed. Yuko fake whined again, and he started running his fingers through her hair to calm her down. Somehow this became mutual, because Yuko started doing the same. It was actually really relaxing.
"Aww," Rose said bringing over some drinks and snacks. "You're adorable, but get a room," She smirked gesturing to the full room of people before falling down in Alexis's lap. The two quickly separated.
"Has it been ten minutes yet?" Yuko asked.
"Yes," Rose said turning the tv back up.
"Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the 6th annual "Jamming of the Frog" National Championships! I'm your host, Mifune Hazawa, and joining me tonight is my co host, Junko Stone!"
"Pleasure to be with you, Mifune. I have a feeling that tonight's duels are gonna be Toadally awesome!"
"That's right. While we've been chatting, the final brackets have been submitted, and we go to our first duel, Aster Phoenix vs. Zane Truesdale!"
"This is an interesting matchup Mifune. Cyber Dragons, an incredibly rare archetype, vs. whatever Aster brings to the field."
"Yes, Aster Phoenix is notorious for switching up his deck practically every time he duels, so it's a complete mystery what he'll bring to the arena tonight."
"Well let's see how it's going then! Let's duel!"
…
"What an ending move, can you believe that Junko?! Aster Phoenix just clutching it out with 'Shining Phoenix Enforcer'!"
"What an amazing play indeed. Unfortunately, it just wasn't in the cards for Zane tonight, as Aster takes the win and moves on to the next bracket!"
"You're washed up already old man," Aster said to Zane with a sneer.
….
"That's fucked." Yuko said, her hands crossed above her mouth in a contemplative pose.
"I can't believe he said that," Rose glared. "On live tv too."
"That's completely uncalled for!" Syrus practically yelled at Aster through the screen.
"I take it that he's changed since you last saw him?" Yuko asked Rose.
"Yeah," Rose sighed. "It's a complicated situation."
"Well that's unfortunate, to say the least." Yuko admitted.
….
"We're here now with Aster Phoenix himself!" Junko said as the camera panned over to him and Aster. "Mr. Phoenix that was an amazing duel, what is next for the great Silver Phoenix duelist?"
"Well," Aster said with a smile. "I've decided to go back to school, specifically Duel Academy, if I want to follow in my father's legacy I will need my P.H.D.," He explained.
"Ah yes your late father Kyle "The D." Jables, once top of the circuit then top of the Industrial Illusions board of card creation your father has quite a legacy for you to live up too," Junko said sadly. "-But enough sadness for now, I have a question for you Mr. Phoenix," Junko said happily causing massive whiplash. "It's been rumored and then confirmed that Rosaline 'Rose' Warren is also attending duel academy," Junko said and a much younger picture of Rose with glasses and extremely sad eyes appeared on the screen.
"Awww you were a cute kid!" Yuko said, fake fawning over the younger Rose.
"I was not," Rose pouted as Alexis awwed over her photo and Syrus quickly stole a picture, everyone else seemed slightly hypnotized by her haunting eyes.
"Yes," Alexis said smirking as she tweaked Rose's nose.
"I will eat you," Rose growled. "And not in the way you like!" She added at the end.
….
"And we want to know if your past rivalry has anything to do with your decision to attend?" Junko asked.
"Well," Aster suddenly sneered. "She did drop out of the circuit, apparently became too good for us," He fake joked.
….
"I dropped out for school you twit," Rose shouted. "I told you that today!"
"What the hell is up with this guy, he's completely different from when we met him earlier! Does he have bipolar or something?" Yuko asked.
"Rose calm down," Alexis said holding her girlfriend's clenched fist. "You're gonna hurt yourself."
….
"We also see you two both use the 'Elemental Hero' archetype," Junko said. "Care to comment?"
"Well," Aster said. "Obviously she copied me after I started using them," He said dismissively. "Heroes were always my families deck of choice, from my mother's 'Vision Heroes' to my father's 'Destiny Heroes' we used them first."
….
"You asshole!" Rose yelled standing up and pointing an accusing finger at the screen. "I used them in every tournament I went too!" She screamed. "Who cares who used what first you douchebag!"
"Oh my Gods, you don't do that!" Yuko said.
"Rose," Alexis said trying to hold her back from breaking the tv. "You need to calm down."
….
"Yes but she has her own set, the 'Masked Heroes'," Junko said. "Anything to say about them?"
"Nothing more than cheap heroes made by an amateur," Aster said crossing his arms. "They're worthless."
….
The room was silent, no one dared to move for fear of what their friend would do.
"Sweetie?" Alexis asked the now silent Rose. "Honey talk to me," She pleaded.
Rose said nothing but after a few seconds she started shaking, a few thought she was crying but Yuko and the rest could see she was enraged.
Yuko wanted to disappear. She'd never seen Rose so angry, not even when they fought, and she didn't want to be here when the other shoe hit the floor.
Syrus was so afraid he couldn't move. He knew he had to get out, but he was frozen to his seat, and he knew the first person to move would set off a chain reaction that would no doubt lead to some hardcore violence.
The silence was broken by an ear-splitting scream of all consuming rage from Rose and then the sound of the tv exploding like someone had put a bomb inside it, spraying everyone as far back as the kitchen with plastic shrapnel as the sound of Rose's agonizing wail of rage caused their ears to almost bleed from the intensity.
"Fucking hell." Yuko finally said, Dreadroot's hand blocking her from the deadliest of the shards, and had also saved Syrus too since she had immediately went to protect him.
"That was a power we are not familiar with." Dreadroot said, bewildered.
"I want to fight it! Our battle would be legendary!" Eraser yelled.
"Search insufficient. Instantaneous power burst scales at 150%. Chances of full continuous power overwhelming our capacities: 76%." Avatar commented.
"In other words, scary power, do not interact with?" Yuko asked, knowing the answer already.
"Yes," Dreadroot said. "Look even her little furball is having trouble holding her back."
'Winged Kuriboh' fluttered around Rose, trying desperately to distract her in some way.
"He's gonna die." Yuko whispered.
"He'll live," Dreadroot mumbled. "Stupid thing has Ma'at's feathers, it would take a blast from all three of those foolish god cards your brother owns to kill the furball."
"No, not the Kuriboh, Aster. The bastard's gonna die, and it won't be my fault, that's for sure." Yuko thought.
"Hehehe his bones will make a delicious broth for our soup," Eraser chuckled.
"Logically, murdering him will completely remove him from the situation in the most efficient way," Avatar said.
"I won't say you're wrong." Yuko simply thought. "Take it up with Rose if you want the leftovers, IF there are any."
Rose finally stopped screaming only to pick up the coffee table and throw it through a nearby window. "I'm gonna kill him!" Rose roared. "I'm gonna fucking kill him I swear it!" She yelled stomping over to the door and literally ripping it off the hinges as she walked to the docks.
"Rose!" Alexis yelled running after her. No one moved until they were sure that Rose was gone, and they scrambled out of the building as fast as they could. Yuko in particular picked up Syrus and just ran, not going anywhere in particular, just getting out of there.
...
"Rose slow down!" Alexis yelled as she ran after the raging girl. "What are you planning on doing?"
"I'm gonna put my fist so far up his ass I'll be able to tickle his teeth!" Rose yelled as she grabbed the cord to unhook the V.H.S. Betamax. "And then I'm gonna rip his teeth out from the inside out and make him swallow them!"
"Stop it!" Alexis said grabbing Rose. "You can't go beat him up on national television!"
"I can try!" Rose yelled back before Alexis tackled her into the water.
The two sputtered and choked on the salty water while trying to get over to the ladder to climb back onto the dock. "The fuck was that for?" Rose asked.
"You needed to cool off," Alexis said trying to be serious, but then giggled, Rose blinked and tried to keep a stern expression before starting to laugh. "Ok," She said more calmly.
"You can't go off the handle like that," Alexis explained. "Wait till he comes back monday, then confront him."
Rose sighed but nodded. "Fine," She growled, Alexis gave her a proud smile and a kiss.
….
"Fuck this, fuck this, fuck this." Yuko said, stopping in the middle of a small moss covered clearing. "I don't think she can find us here." She said, putting Syrus down.
"Yuko, we have to go find Rose! If we don't, we're gonna be witnessing a murder live on television!" Syrus said.
"Rose just turned into Carrie, I'm not going anywhere near her until she's not exploding things with her mind and almost killing people." Yuko said.
"She's only gonna get worse if we don't find her!" Syrus insisted.
Yuko weighed the options in her mind. Get killed trying to stop a now psychic, or watch her kill someone who totally deserves to be punted around…
"Fuck it. Let's go save a jackass then." Yuko said, and started back.