Roxy's Reports 11: Demeter

At Café Matsuo, after the events of Chapter 19, but a week before Chapter 20...

"IT'S PIZZA TIME!" Roxy shouted at the top of her lungs, startling Yuhiro and Progleo as she entered the kitchen carrying a large and medium pizza.

"Do you really have to do that, Roxy?" Yuhiro asked her, as she set the large pizza down on the table. Note to self, Yuhiro thought. I gotta get back at her at some point.

"Hey, you did want pizza, remember?" Roxy reminded him, as she set down the medium pizza for Progleo. "Go on, little buddy. It's delicious."

Progleo, who was curious about pizza, munched on it. "It's delicious!" And he then proceeded to eat the pizza further.

"I'm aware, Roxy." Yuhiro said, standing up and grabbing two plates for himself and Roxy before sitting down at the table again. He then grabbed a slice of pizza and bit into it. "Okay, this pizza is delicious."

"Of course it is!" Roxy stated, grabbing a piece herself and biting into it. "It's from that pizza place I keep telling you about, remember?"

"You mean 'E che pizza!'?"

"Bingo!" Roxy confirmed. She then opened up her laptop and turned it on. "Anyways, let's get to the duelist you dueled against today, okay?"

"Alright." Yuhiro agreed. "If it weren't for your encouragement, Roxy, then I would have seriously lost."

"But you didn't lose. You won." Herald stated, emerging from Yuhiro's Duel Disk. "However, for someone we don't know much about, she was indeed powerful."

"Which is why we should document down all the details we can now!" Roxy pointed out, giving Herald a slight scare. "By doing so, Yuhiro will be more prepared in dealing with her deck and its strategies."

"Okay, okay." Herald conceded. "But must you scare me like that?" Yuhiro rolled his eyes in amusement at seeing a scared Herald.

"Okay, let's begin." Yuhiro said, putting a hand on his chin. "We don't know much about Demeter, other than her VRAINS ID and her occupation, which is being one of Watchman's allies."

"We also know her deck," Roxy added, typing down the information into her laptop. "I've done some research on the 'Simorgh' archetype, Yuhiro. From what I've deduced, the deck focuses on locking down the opponent's moves while swarming the field with powerful monsters."

"However, there's a catch." Yuhiro pointed out. "The deck performs at it's best only when the opponent controls no Spell or Trap cards. That's why she prefers to go first."

"Duly noted." Herald said. "In the event the opponent does have Spell or Trap cards, Demeter can use Simorgh Repulsion to discard a Winged-Beast monster from her hand to return all Spell and Trap cards the opponent has right back to their hand."

"So her strategy's basically all about keeping the opponent's backrow empty?" Roxy asked, to which Herald nodded.

"Indeed."

"Okay, then. What about her ace monster?"

"Right now, Demeter's ace monster is the Link 3 monster, Simorgh, Bird of Sovereignty." Yuhiro answered, taking a bite out of his pizza. "It may not have lots of attack points, but that bird has plenty of effects to compensate. One: At the end of each of Demeter's End Phases, she can Special Summon a Winged-Beast monster from her hand or deck, whose level is equal to or less than the total number of unused Spell & Trap card zones on the field. Two: Both it and all monsters that it points to cannot be targeted by card effects. Three: If it would be destroyed by battle, the user can destroy one other 'Simorgh' card they control instead."

"Who knows what else Demeter can do?" Roxy wondered out loud, as she typed down the information on Simorgh, Bird of Sovereignty.

"Oh, there's something else." Herald realized. "Her Dark Simorgh prevented us from Setting any face-down cards."

Roxy whistled upon hearing that. "Well, then. No wonder she was challenging for you, Yuhiro. You had to think outside of the box for this one."

"I'm afraid so." Yuhiro admitted. "She also dumped a quarter of her deck just for two cards with Pot of Desires, which shows she's a risk-taker."

"But Demeter did get the cards she wanted." Herald pointed out. "And Pot of Desires did help her settle the conflict in your heart."

Yuhiro chuckled. "Yeah. I hate to admit it, but it definitely drove a point home." He bit into another piece of pizza. Boy were they good.

"So with that information out of the way," Roxy said, typing down what was recently discussed, "what Duel Grade would you give Demeter?"

Yuhiro thought about it before responding. "I think Demeter deserves an S for Savage. The fact that she's willing to take risks, as well as have a simple, yet powerful strategy, makes her a formidable duelist."

"And since she's working with Watchman," Herald added, "she may have other cards and strategies we haven't seen yet. After all, Watchman and his Cubic Kings and Beasts are a great example of that."

Roxy typed up the information while taking a brief bite from her pizza. "Anything else? Like her Skill?"

Yuhiro shook his head.

"Okay. Well. This will have to do until we obtain more information." Roxy concluded, turning her laptop to show Yuhiro and Herald Demeter's finished profile:

Name: Unknown

VRAINS ID: Demeter

Other Aliases: Bird Lady (why, you may ask? Because she has an army of birds at her disposal.)

Gender: Female

Age: 30's (but when in her 30's, I don't know.)

Residence: Unknown (we know almost nothing about this duelist. UGH!)

Job: Unknown, Watchman's ally (currently.)

Deck: Simorgh

Ace Monster(s): Simorgh, Bird of Sovereignty (It may have low attack points for a Link 3 monster, but boy does it come with three nasty effects. Poor Yuhiro had to experience them firsthand.)

LINK VRAINS' History: On Watchman's orders, she duelled Raguel to settle the inner conflict in his heart and prepare him for the 'Crisis' to come (What really gets my attention is that the conflict in his heart had something to do with Miyu. Aww.)

Notes: Demeter's Simorgh deck focuses on locking down the opponent's moves while swarming the field with powerful monsters. However, the deck performs its best only when the opponent has no Spell and/or Trap cards in their backrow.

With her ace monster, Simorgh, Bird of Sovereignty, she can Special Summon more of her birds, protect them and itself from card effects, and destroy a different 'Simorgh' monster to prevent battle destruction.

In the event the opponent has Spells and Traps in their backrow, Demeter has two cards that can halt their strategies. Dark Simorgh can prevent the opponent from Setting face-down cards, while Simorgh Repulsion returns all Spells and Traps right back to their hand.

Oh, and I found this out: The 'Simorgh' archetype is based on the bird of legend called Simurgh, a benevolent deity from Persian Mythology. Wonder if it has any connection...

"A well-constructed profile." Herald said, looking at it. "With a pinch of making fun of Yuhiro in the first place."

"What are you talking about, Herald? Where?" Yuhiro asked, to which Herald pointed it out for him. Yuhiro couldn't help but groan in embarrassment. "Do you really have to do that, Roxy?"

"Like I told you at the first profile." Roxy replied, a mischievous look on her face. "I will keep it forever..."

"Yeah, yeah. I know." Yuhiro said. "But changing the topic, I was thinking of ending our business relationship with Monty. When do you think would be the right time?"

Roxy's face turned serious as she thought it over for a moment while taking a bite of pizza. "I'd say after the Hanoi. If we tell Monty that we're ceasing business with him in the midst of everything that's going on, he'd probably send in some of his 'friends' of high places to distract us. Right now, our attention needs to be one-hundred percent focused on the Hanoi."

"Got it." Yuhiro then put his hands behind his head and looked up. "You know, I wonder what life will be like once the Hanoi's defeated."

"Simple." Roxy replied. "As soon as Miyu wakes up, we'll both be helping her as she readjusts back into society. And trust me when I say, it's no easy task."

"That we can agree on, Roxy." Yuhiro said, laughing along with Roxy.

"Uh, guys?"

Both Yuhiro and Roxy turned to Progleo, who's face was clearly stuffed with greasy, oozy cheese. They then started laughing again.

"What's so funny?" The cub raised an eyebrow.

"Just promise me you'll never change, Progleo." Herald said, chuckling in the process. These humans, Herald thought, give me hope that co-existence can be possible one day. The fact that you're finally seeing the bigger picture Yuhiro clearly shows a growth in maturity. Keep it up, partner.

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Next time on Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS Obscured Truth: Roxy's Reports 12: Reidrith, Jeanne Azaria, and Go Onizuka and Stregone (Updated)

Author's Notes:

Hello, everyone! I do hope you enjoyed the profile page for Demeter. The next profiles will focus on Reidrith, Jeanne Azaria, and updated ones for Go Onizuka and Stregone. Once those are done, I'll be able to get started on Chapter 21. Stay tuned for more to come!