CARD GAMES

[Alter Ego]

Tacey raised an eyebrow at Achan's suggestion, "Stalk?" she echoed, "Let's make one thing clear, Smith: I do not stalk people. I may happen to overhear a thing or two, but I DO NOT STALK." she maintained her sunny expression, even as she had all but deafened the poor boy with her last scream, sweetly elaborating; "Stalking is very unladylike."

"At any rate..." Tacey continued, "I do not particularly feel like trudging in Pegasus' heels like some lower-class groupie. A good inside scoop is one thing, but blindly fishing for something by following that silly man around the city is another. Besides..." she added poignantly, "You were already caught once, in case you forgot. No more offense than what is due, Mr.Smith, but obtaining information on the grapevine" or, as normal people would say it, snooping around for gossip, "Requires a delicate touch which you seem to lack. Now, if this is all for today I simply must get into a more sanitary area before this horrible city air inflicts any permanent damage to my delicate body, and mother would be most distressed if I did not keep her informed so I really must call her too. Raymond, Rufus, Ewans, and..." she paused, critically eyeing the last suit, "Whatever your name is." Tacey concluded haughtily, giving him a dismissive little wave, "We're leaving. But don't you worry." she added in her remaining teammates' direction, "I shall be here at ten o'clock tomorrow as promised; none of you had better be late." even though these words were trilled out, there was a subtle hint of a threat buried in the sweetness. One could have described it as a nuclear warhead in a kinder surprise wrapper...if one had a taste for peculiar metaphora, that is, "Ta-ta for now!" Tacey called, giving them all a dainty little wave and one of her trademark smiles before daintily sauntering over to the cab she had threatened into her control, suits in tow, soon disappearing inside.

As soon as the cab had rolled out, well out of view and earshot of her team, Tacey went to business, however, procuring the handheld device she had been given from her belongings and quickly scrolling over to the e-mail function. Ohh...she was not only clever, beautiful, and skilled at card games; she was also a top-notch actress. No doubt Achan and the others had been completely taken in by the way she had pretended to snub Pegasus! Oh, Tacey had no interest in following the eccentric millionaire around the city, of course; but that didn't mean that she was going to leave him alone. Not only was Pegasus one of the tournament's arrangers (and thus just the person to see about splitting up the atrocious little 'team' concept); he was also the very creator of the card game and thus privy to the details of every card ever printed...Tacey's glance absent-mindedly shifted to the suitcase containing her deck, yes...if anyone could unveil a certain 'mystery admirer' it was him. The girl's smile gained a slightly insidious edge; it was like killing two birds with one stone, and even Pegasus couldn't deny someone of her standing an audience. Yes, it was still good to be rich.

 

[Scarlet Weather]

Achan stared at Tacey as if she had three heads and six eyes, and possibly a nose the size of her ego. The moment he had suggested "stalking" Pegasus, she had exploded like a fourth-of-July firework* and proceeded to give yet another of her self-glorifying speeches. "You do realize that about five minutes ago we were stalking Jonouchi and you were the first to agree to it, right?" He called after the debutante as she packed up her team of no doubt highly-paid security guards and left. Whatever she was up to, she definitely wasn't fooling Achan. If she had really had an objection against tailing somebody, she wouldn't have agreed to follow Jonouchi to the island in the first place. No, he knew Tacey well enough from the bit of exposure he'd had to her to know that this was simply a bluff, and she hadn't disguised the way her eyes shone when he mentioned "Pegasus" very well. Still, whatever she wanted to do with him obviously didn't involve anyone else. Achan penciled in some "Tacey-stalking" into his plans for the next day, then turned to Michel for confirmation that his idea was okay. "Hey, Michel, do you think Tacey really-"

Acan stopped abruptly. Michel was already nowhere to be seen, apparently he had deserted the party the minute Achan had suggested they head back.

"Rurian?"

Achan slapped his forehead. Rurian had dashed off barely moments before, of course.

"Strange dude who acts all paranoid whose name escapes me?"

Absent, presumably with Michel.

"ANYONE?"

No answer.

Achan suddenly felt very alone in the world, and stuffing his confirmation of the latest banlist into his pocket after quickly folding it, he ran to the waterside, preparing to head back to his hotel for some quality time with his online journal.

MEANWHILE, THOUSANDS OF MILES AWAY...​

"It's over," the shadowy figure whispered, "You belong to me..."

His victim, a middle aged man with a duel disk attached to his arm, trembled involuntarily. He knew that what he was experiencing was a battle with holograms, a children's card game transformed into a slightly more realistic format, but he still couldn't help shuddering at the beast his opponent had summoned. The monster was at least seven feet tall, with long, silver hair and six black, exquisitely patterned wings jutting from its back. It was clothed in a dark robe, completely opaque, and its gleaming blue eyes provided a source of light in the dim arena, a massive cathedreal in which the only other source of illumination were the stained glass windows through which pale, fragmented light shone forth, focused on the monster of the opponent. The walls of the church were rowed with unlit torches, and were built from stones of pure obsidian black. In the upper rafters, visible to the tiny congregation, a group of angels stood lying in wait, their faces and bodies grey, as well as their garments and wings, as they fluttered to and fro, unable to escape the confines of the sanctuary which had apparently become their prison. Among them could be recognized a group of very familiary duel monsters, which might have been an inside joke on the part of the artists who had designed the holo-animation for the field or something slightly more sinister. The field's controller suggested that, his motions and expressions revealing nothing and his voice flat but tinged with contempt and malice.

The victim stepped back in horror. Against his commmon sense, which seemed to have completely abandoned him or else temporarily moved to a warmer clime, he pleaded with his assailant "Please, please spare me!"

"Those who break the will of the most high will perish in flames, and those who draw on magic will be destroyed by their own art.." the opposing duelist intoned before pointing at his cowering victim. "Lucio, direct attack on the player."

The angelic being roared, a terrible sound which reverbated from the stones of the chapel, rebounding against them and creating a sound not unlike the tolling of a huge, rusted iron bell. He lifted the obsidian-black spear in his right hand, aimed it, and hurled it upward. The weapon landed, and its target had just enough time to look up before he was instantly impaled.

The duel ended. The church and the monster vanished. The man didn't change his expression of perfect horror until his opponent, less then half his age, strode to his side and removed the unfortunate's deck from its duel disk and, selecting a card, allowed the rest to drop on the sidewalk, before stalking away. It was midnight on the eastern seaboard at the time.

Back to the Present​

Reprinte with permission from the private online journal of Achan Smith:

So today, the tourney kicked off. It was kind of fun, in a weird, in-your-face sort of way. Turns out we're getting drafted into teams until the finals. On the one hand, it's fun because now I'm not traveling alone. On the other, it's annoying 'cuz my teammates are teh succorz in terms of personality, and the only two I've considered a civil relationship with are too wrapped up in their own issues. Isn't anyone else here to have fun?

First, there's Miss Look-At-My-Massive-Ego Edgeworth, AKA Tacey. She's got security guards, custom cards, the works. I did a quick online check when I got back to the hotel (Man, I love DSL) and it turns out that the reason she's that rich is because her father is the president of a company that supplies parts for Kaiba Corp. I guess the big KC hasn't ever heard of General Electric, huh? They could give at least a little credit to those of us in America, after all, we're the ones who perfected the lightbulb, and where would electricity be without that? Try making cathoid tubes and whatnot without the discoveries Mr. Edison made. >.< She's full or herself, arrogant, and... well, I'll save the rest till we meet in the finals. I'm so totally gonna kick her tail so hard, she'll wish she had never insinuated that because I'm not rich I'm socially inferior. Earth to Tacey, "all men are created equal" does not apply to the USA alone.

Moving on, we have Michel whateverisnameis. He's a real enigma, nicer guy then Tacey but still kind of unapproachable. He gets lost in thought as often as I do, but when he does it it looks more like he's plotting world domination (ha, ha). A real confusin' indivijul that 'un, yup. (LOL, Redneckspeak) All I could find out about him is that his company is in competition with Tacey's, which explains the fact that he doesn't seem to like her much.

Then there's Rurian, who's supposedly from Japan, same city as Mutou, no less. I note with distaste that he doesn't have the starfish cut that mom said was all the rage there. Come on, Mom, do some research next time. His deck is weird. I don't think it has all that much unifying strategy. Maybe that's why Natsumi thought he had Miracle Draw, or whatever-it's-called. (Oh yeah, I ran into her and beat her. SCORE!!!!11!!!)

Finally, we got Ed Pepper. He's a bit paranoid though. All I know about him is that his Dad is employed by Pegasus (that took a bit of digging), and he's a student at Duel Academia. (That was easier to find out, they have an online enrollment list.) He seems to be afraid of me for some reason, but I can't imagine why.

Anywayz, today we ran into Pegasus J. Crawford, Kaiba, and Jonouchi at the Statue of Liberty. (No, not a bad joke set-up, for real.) Turns out they introduced a mid-duel banlist change, and somebody made off with a set of cards connected to those Yami no Game things. I'm gonna research those next, they sound interesting. A lot more interesting then my team mates. XD

Well, till next time!

OOC: (Not sure how well known it is in Britain or wherever else we're from, but Fourth of July is Independence Day here in America. I say this only for those who, like me, completely disregard foreign holidays' existence. Well, I do celebrate Guy Fawkes Day (Bonfire Day), so that's a bit of an overstatement, but you get the point. >.<)

 

[Alter Ego]

The hotel suite was posh, and not just posh in the commoner's sense of the word. No, this suite was the kind of posh that secretly looked down on standard-issue posh and made fun of it at private tea parties to which regular posh would very much have liked to be invited but never was. Even Tacey had to admit that the place was posh, and that was already saying something. 'Finally...', she had thought for herself as she noted the gilded taps, the soft, supple, and above all clean vermilion-colored carpeting covering the floor and the exquisitely expensive furniture spread across the room, which - incidentally - could easily have housed a family of ten and their pet elephant, '...civilization.'

Her first order of business, after stationing her bodyguards outside and promising royal hell to anyone who dared to peek, was to take a nice, long, warm bath. It took two hours to reach a state where she was positive that all of the offending city grime had been purged from her skin, but eventually she had stepped out, allowing the water to drain from the bathtub as she eyed herself in the mirror, duly noting that she was completely back to her usual, incredibly pretty self, right down to the last inch of skin.

Tacey leaned back in the comfortable chair, studying the cards spread out on the table in front of her with a look of intense concentration on her face, a sizable binder of cards firmly seated in her lap. She had already switched into her night gown, a pink one which brought the concept of frilly to a whole new level, and while the light and clean material had helped her to relax a little, this new deck build still called for concentration. Yes, those cards were definitely a neat fit, as was this...but should she add another copy of-? Yes, that was it! Triumphantly scrolling through the binder until she reached the card in question, placing it onto the table with a triumphant little grin. Perfect, this deck was absolutely perfect. Granted, she had been forced to drop some of her exclusive cards from the line-up, but it was a small price to pay for a strategy this devious. The girl carefully arranged her chosen cards into a deck and placed it onto the table, placing the binder next to it before leaning back in her chair again, stretching her delicate arms back complacently and releasing a soft, dainty little yawn. She had weathered this new banlist and come out even stronger than before; ohh...yes, Tacey was simply brilliant. And now...

Now there was only one more task to complete before she could get some well-deserved sleep. Tacey quickly snatched the little digital device from its alloted spot on the table, scrolling over to the e-mail function and typing in two distinct e-mail addresses before proceeding with the actual message:

Subject: Inexcusable

Dear slackers of team seven,

Your absence from the rest of the team, which lasted for the entirety of today's tournament, was simply inexcusable! In case it somehow slipped your minds, this is a tournament; not a sightseeing tour. We have already lost a lot of valuable time in searching for you and I for one have no intention of wasting any more.

The team will gather tomorrow at ten o'clock by the Statue of Liberty, and I expect you to be there. Fail to attend and I shall personally request Mr.Pegasus to evict you from the team and - preferably - the tournament as well. This team does not need any deadweight members.

Sincerely,

- Tacey Edgeworth

Carefully re-reading the message, Tacey nodded contentedly. Yes, that ought to do it: unless their missing team members were as poor at reading as they apparently were at orientation, they'd turn up. And if they didn't...well, they couldn't say she hadn't warned them. Content with this thought, the girl made her way over to the royal-size bed, tucking herself in between the silky-smooth linens and drifting off to sleep with dreams of an utterly humiliated Achan and her coming tournament victory dancing in her head.

-------------------------------------------------------​

Morning had come awfully quick that day, but Tacey took it in stride. At 8 o'clock sharp she was already out of bed, and fully dressed, sporting a similar - though of course clean - outfit as she had the day before. The filthy city air would clearly not be kind to her prettier outfits, and besides: she was going to a business meeting so reserved colors were best. The new deck and her duel disc were both readied, just in case, and after about half an hour of preparation, she was out in the streets, suits in tow. 9 o'clock, that was the time that silly Pegasus had set in his reply and it suited Tacey just fine. Certainly, disbanding this stupid team of hers couldn't take more than an hour, and knowing the slackers she was teamed up with they'd be late for the meeting anyway. Besides, he had promised an escort-

"ATTENTION, DUELIST!"

Tacey flinched at the sudden assault on her eardrums, whirling around to face a suit with the most ridiculous hair in existence. She couldn't help staring a little; that hair was a downright security hazard, why you could poke someone's eye out with that spike.

"Attention, duelist!" the suit repeated in a slightly lower tone; probably his equivalent of a discreet cough, "If you can stop staring for a moment, my hair would like to direct your attention to this car, which will take you to mister Pegasus." he nodded towards a black limousine next to him, which was currently taking up a good two parking spots all by itself, its windows stylish darkened to prevent anyone from seeing inside. Tacey's irritation over the chosen escort faded at the sight, the girl - for once - following instructions without argument. Finally! Finally someone who knew what posh was all about...

"Oh, Rufus!" she called out from the window, halting the spiky-haired grunt with a little way, "Run along to the team meeting and tell them that I might be coming a little late. Say I needed to have some beauty sleep, okay?" she gave him her most endearing smile before closing the car window as the limousine set out into the streets of New York.


OOC: O-kay, not the best new day opening ever, but it should be passable. For reference purposes, Tacey's e-mail is [email protected] (And no, hopefully that's not a real person's address. Why the flip does it insist on sticking e-mail tags in there? xP). Also, I'll have her arrive at the meeting with Pegasus in my next IC; any preferences on the meeting location, oh great RP master? xD

 

[Scarlet Weather]

OOC: Hmm... how about the Statue of Liberty again? Easiest decision in the world. XD

Achan groaned as he made his way down the sidewalk. It was only three in the morning, but he was having trouble sleeping anyway, and he'd spent much of the night doing research, trying to dig up a bit more about what the Yami no Games had been all about. What he had found read more like a sci-fi novel then real life. As far as he could tell, Industrial Illusions had modeled their game of Duel Monsters on an ancient game played over five thousand years ago. The old game had involved real monsters and magic, and had erupted into a war in which seven golden items were key parts: the Sennen items, each one possesed by one who wished to control the others for his own reasons. Understandably, this led to tension, which everyone settled by playing games of Duel Monsters where the loser got killed. Granted, that was scary enough on its own, but apparently one of the sennen items was owned by none other then Mutou, the famed Sennen Puzzle. Of course, now all seven items were gone, lost underneath the sands of time, and buried in a tomb in the valley of the kings in Egypt. He'd tried to get more detailed information, but not even his most extensive phrasebook had been able to decipher the text on the more in-depth sites, which were always in Japanese. Silently, he cursed the hotel computer for not being able to accurately copy the text, thus preventing him from Babelfishing it.

As he meandered down the street, Achan kicked an empty pop can. This day wasn't going his way at all. Right after logging on to his journal and doing Yami no Game research, he had spent no small amount of time going over professional decklists, most notably those used by the opponents of Miss Tacey Edgeworth, esquire. His face had paled considerably as he replayed the matches in his mind. This girl was a dueling monster, and her bragging about being the Queen of Games hadn't been for nothing. The decks she had crushed were at least sixty times the strength of his own, and the margins she had won by... unthinkable. He seriously had to rethink his strategy. With the new banlist in his hands, he at least had the advantage of knowing what belonged in his deck now. His strategy had too many links and too few avenues along which to travel. He needed either a strong, unifying theme that could be easily implemented or else a deck that could operate multiple different ways while still remaining functional. Unfortunately, with only the shattered remains of a Jackal Knight Lock deck and his Wanderers, it wasn't going to be easy to build such a deck. He needed a bigger cardpool.

It was while Achan was thus lost in thought that he bumped into the other pedestrian. Thrusting the older teen away, Achan growled at him. "What you out here for?" (Grammar was not one of Achan's priorities at three in the morning.)

The other pedestrian stared at Achan, his eyes two chips of ice in a taught, gimlet face that held a menacing aura, supported by his clothing, which consisted of a black motorcycle jacket and jeans filled with various chains, small metal objects, and more chains. His long hair was jet black, and stuck out in odd angles towards the back. Around his waist, he wore a belt, and in his left hand was a deck of duel monsters cards. He spoke gruffly, a single sentence. "Do you play?"

Achan nodded, instinctively reaching for his own deck.

Noticing his movements, the older boy shook his head, and offered the cards in his own hand. "Listen. I found some guy on the street, got hit hard or something. He collapsed after a duel, took him to the hospital, they said he was suffering from major shock. Woke up, gave his deck to me, told me to give it away, saying he'd be giving up the game. Now, my deck's just fine, so I don't need this, but I figured I'd run into some lucky punk who would, so I decided to give it to the first person I met with something ridiculous about them, and my friend, your hair qualifies as ridiculous. Take 'em." With that, he slapped the deck into Achan's hands before he could protest and marched away, humming softly to himself.

Achan stared at the cards in his hands. It was a standard build Warrior's Toolbox, no real variations in it other then the Battalion monsters, a recently released set. On the other hand, it also contained some powerful support spells that Achan had never had access to before, and he could tell that it included something from a recent booster pack... double summon, or something like that. At the very least he should add that to his deck, it was a definite improvement over his own Road Goes Ever On design. An idea sparked in his imaginitive brain. This deck would definitely be more powerful, if less thematic, and would go a long way towards helping him beat Tacey... he sighed melodramatically, pocketing it. Sorry Wanderers, he couldn't help thinking, But I'm not going to be able to use you all this time around. It's time my deck build got a bit more... flexible.

Today is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life:​

Achan straightened up in bed, his once-bleary eyes now charged with excitement. Granted, it had taken him more then a few minutes to get to sleep after building his deck, and he hadn't gotten much sleep to begin with, but it was nothing that some stimulants hadn't been able to fix. His breakfast had been brought up earlier by room service, a new experience for him, and he smiled as he waited for the waiter to approach his room.

The man did so, smiling. "Good morning, young man! The Illusionist Hotel welcomes you to-" he stopped, pointing at the cans piled by Achan's bed. "Wha-What are those?"

"Red Bull," Achan replied, smiling, "Six cans worth. Enough to get me another twelve hours of alertness, sleep-deprived though I may be."

The waiter stared. "I know, but... six cans? Your caffeine tolerance is incredible!"

Achan nodded solemnly. "True. Listen, I'm heading out, can you add my tab, along with a tip of oh, say..." he whispered the amount to the waiter, who nearly fainted in shock, "Pegasus D. Crawford? After all, he's footing the bill for this trip, right?"

The server nodded, smiling. "Certainly, sir. Enjoy the day!"

"Thanks, dude. Later!" Achan called, grabbing a duffel bag containing his duel disk and dashing out the door at speeds which must have knocked the poor man attending him sideways.

MEANWHILE, THOUSANDS OF MILES AWAY....

Achan stared at his watch. It was nearly nine in the morning, and he was still waiting for a cab. Apparently, the driver he had duped had spread the word not to pick up a kid with Achan's description. Well, that just stank. Anyway, Lady Liberty awaited, and the ferry wasn't all that far away. With a sigh, Achan prepared to go on foot. It was then that he noticed Tacey, mere feet away, apparently wrapped up in her own affairs. Achan's gut wrenched. Much as it killed him to do it, he had to ask Tacey about getting a ride out. Without hesitation, he stepped forward, just as a bellowing voice called out "ATTENTION DUELIST!"

Achan quickly leaped behind the bushes, an instintive reflex, and stared at the tall suit, whose hair was only rivaled by Achan's own in terms of complete and utter siliness. As he listened to Tacey's exchange with him, realization dawned on him. Pegasus. Tacey had been lying after all then. She intended to meet with Pegasus. Rage surfaced in Achan's throat. How dare she meet with a celebrity without including the rest of the team! This called for some quick action.

Unzipping his duffel bag while still camoflaged by the thick bushes cultivated in strips along the hotel's front walk, Achan made a few adjustments to his outfit, first, replacing his trademark floral print shirt with a more conservative black T-Shirt bearing the legend "Duelist Luau '07" on the back. He had already traded in his khaki shorts for a pair of faded blue jeans. Achan smiled. With his final outfit change, he would be completely unrecognizable! Removing a bottle of conditioner from his duffel bag, he held it a moment in reverence. He had been forced to sell a good portion of the unused cards he had acquired during the night in order to pay for this bottle, but it would be worth it: it was a conditioner so powerful that it would force his hair to return to some semblance of normal for three hours. His heart swelled with excitement as he applied the spray before quickly slicking down his hair so that it hung down the back of his head and around his ears. Pulling out a pocket hand-mirror, the duelist grinned. He didn't look any different from an ordinary kid with long hair. Checking his watch, the duelist smiled again: A new personal record for changing clothes and hair, exactly 10.3 seconds. He was a master.

Lifting his head, Achan stared at the car Tacey had climbed into, which was now making its departure. Taking advantage of the heavy traffic blocking its progress at an intersection, Achan stepped up to the plate. Using his usual celebrity lines would have no effect on cab drivers now... he would have to resort to that.

Placing his fingers to his lips, Achan emmited a whistle so loud and painful that no less then six mirrors, including his own, shattered.

A cab driver nonchalantly pulled over, opening his doors. "Whaddya want, kid?" he asked impatiently.

Achan pointed as he stepped into the vehicle. "Just follow the black car, my good man, follow the black car." Removing his cab fare, along with the most generous tip he could muster, from his pocket, he slapped it into the driver's hand and whispered "And please, step on it!"

As Tacey's vehicle rounded the bend, Achan followed after at a brisk pace.

 

[Alter Ego]

OOC: Ahh...the irony. Statue of Liberty it is, then. xD

IC:

"Attention duelist, we are in a traffic jam!"

"Yes, I can see that." Tacey grit back, glaring at the annoyingly plebeian cars obstructing their passage. Idiot commuters blocking the road, didn't they realize that some people had important business to attend to? Sighing in the manner of the stoic martyr she was, Tacey leaned back in her seat, glancing into the rear-view mirror to check that her hair was really perfect. It was then that she caught sight of him, the boy sitting in the cab just behind the luxurious vehicle she was riding in, though the spotting obviously couldn't have been mutual since the windows of the limousine were designed to only be translucent in one direction. Granted, she didn't get a very good look, but the stranger with his long, red hair seemed familiar somehow. Maybe he was someone from her fanclub? Well, either way he was no Achan - the lack of that ridiculous hairdo and cheap, Hawaiian shirt was enough evidence of that - which was always a good start. As the limousine began moving again, Tacey was lightly surprised to find that the cab remained firmly on their tail. Her eyes narrowed slightly, a bit too firmly, actually. Oh dear...this wasn't one of those obsessive stalker type fans, was it? Well regardless, he would be forced to give up the chase when they entered Peagsus' private grounds.

They were holding this meeting somewhere private, right?

"Hey, excuse me!" Tacey called out as the scenery outside the car windows began to look all too familiar, "Just where is this meeting?"

"The statue of liberty!" boomed the murder-weapon-hair suit in the driver's seat, "And my hair would like to announce that we are arriving momentarily!"

"Great..." the girl replied sourly, "...real great.". Inwardly, she was cursing Pegasus. Didn't that buffoon know the first thing about secrecy? Then again...considering yesterday's meeting maybe that was a pretty stupid question.

-------------------------------------------------------​

"Attention, duelist! We are at the statue of liberty!"

'Gee...who would have thought it?' Tacey deadpanned in her mind as she sauntered out of the limousine, noting that Pegasus had indeed chosen the very same meeting location for this meeting as he had for yesterday's. The eccentric millionaire was currently stretched out in a white, foldable deck chair which had apparently been set up there by the impassive-looking grunt standing next to him. A glass of red wine was clutched in the multi-billionaire's hand, but as soon as he caught sight of the new arrivals he got up to his feet, placing the glass on a small, one-legged table made out of white plastic and apparently placed there by the same person who had brought the chair, walking over to Tacey with his usual overly energetic stride.

"Ahh...Tacey-girl, what fabulous timing!" he announced, beaming at her with that same, fruity smile that had been on the covers of so many dueling magazines and had sprung the rumors about him and Kaiba as he reached out a hand in greeting, "I was just thinking about that wonderful team of yours and here you are."

"Good morning, Mr.Pegasus." Tacey replied in her most dignified voice, shaking the offered hand and performing a dainty little half-curtsy, "Before we get down to business, might I ask why we are holding this meeting here instead of somewhere private?"

"Why, I thought you'd like this place, Tacey-girl." Pegasus replied with such an overblown display of surprise that Tacey wasn't sure whether he was being sarcastic or not, "After all, it's the only landmark in New York that wasn't made by Americans. But we didn't come here to talk about landmarks, did we?" he continued, "I understand that you've had some difficulties with your team?"

"The only difficulty here is that I'm stuck with a bunch of incompetent louts." Tacey retorted, folding her arms, "Mr.Pegasus, do I really have to do this team thing? They're just being jealous and holding me back!"

"Achan-boy too?" Pegasus inquired, raising an eyebrow, "I thought those wanderers of his were quite fabulous, myself."

"Especially Achan." Tacey retorted, "He's rude, and obnoxious, and self-righteous, and always argues with me. He's embarrassing, he's a failure at children's card games, he has no fashion sense and-" the mental list of Achan's bad traits was nearing its dramatic finish, "And he's got that ridiculous hairdo!" Tacey blurted out in frustration, taking a few moments to regain her composure before speaking up again, "Mr.Pegasus, I don't need any of this team nonsense. Just let me go solo."

"Oh come now, Tacey-girl, that's not very fair." Pegasus retorted, "After all, ridiculous hair used to be an entry requirement for these tournaments. And quite frankly, I don't think you've got what it takes to do this on your own. Team seven stays, unless..." his grin widened to that of a Cheshire Cat.

"Unless?" Tacey echoed.

"Unless you can beat me at a children's card game." he replied.

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, it's quite simple, Tacey-girl." Pegasus replied, motioning towards his suit, who quickly procured a black suitcase from his side, "Since you claim that you can defeat any duelist in this tournament on your own, I say that you should prove it to me." he gestured towards the suit, who obediently stepped forward, opening the suitcase to reveal an interior coated with red velvet, a duel disc strapped to the open side of the suitcase and a deck of cards resting on the other, "That deck contains a collection of my very own, state-of-the-art prototype duel monsters cards, never before used in an actual game of duel monsters. I will play with them and you will use your own deck. If you truly are such a fabulous duelist, you should have no trouble defeating me."

Tacey gave the deck an appraising look, "So if I win, you will take me out of this silly team and let me play this tournament on my own terms?" she inquired.

"No questions asked." Pegasus confirmed.

"And if I lose?"

"Then you play this game by my rules." the multi-billionaire replied, "That means no more complaints."

Tacey smiled in a decidedly haughty way. After all, Pegasus no longer had that Sennen Eye cheating-thingie, and it had been years since his last duel. Special cards or no, this would be a breeze, "You have yourself a deal, Mr.Pegasus."

"Oh, goodie!" Pegasus cried, clapping his hands in a decidedly juvenile manner that made Tacey inwardly roll his eyes, "Let's not waste any time, then. Oh, Croquet-boy!" the suit didn't reply, merely picking up the duel disc and attaching it to Pegasus' arm before picking up the deck and handing it to him, the millionaire clicking it into the slot, "Whenever you're ready, Tacey-girl. Ohh...this is going to be so much fun!"

"Oh, fun indeed." Tacey replied, motioning for her own two suits, the black-haired one whose name she still couldn't remember procuring the duel disc from its case while Ewans handed over the deck, both of them stepping back as the two duelists stared each other down, as was customary before the beginning of a game. Secrecy was obviously out of the window, and a small crowd was already gathering around the two. After all, it wasn't every day you got to see a millionaire face-off, and - Tacey decided for herself - they were going to get a show to remember.

 

[Scarlet Weather]

Achan peeked out from behind a convenient shrubbery. His arrival at Ellis Island, home of the Statue of Liberty, had gone off without a hitch. Blending in with the crowd, on the other hand, took a bit of talent. Granted, without the ridiculous hair it was easier to walk around the crowd unheeded, but the fact that he was now wearing clothing that marked him as a duelist was going to be a bit of an issue. Glancing about, he scanned the landscape for Tacey and her suits. If they were meeting with Pegasus, they were probably somewhere incredibly covert and secret. Maybe Pegasus had a Crawford-cave? It was completely plausible, after all, the existence of a secret Kaiba-cave had been recently confirmed, though the multimillionaire insisted on referring to it as his "Summer Retreat". Achan snorted involuntarily. Any summer retreat with an underground computer lab definitely had an ulterior motive involved somewhere.

It was then that Achan spotted Pegasus. No... it was too ridiculous. This had to be a stunt double, or a twin brother, or something like that. There was no way that anyone would be so nutty as to walk out in public after obtaining celebrity status. He was surprised that Pegasus's army of fangirls (or, in some cases, fan-boys) hadn't come crawling out of the woodwork, and the conspicuous lack of reporters was nearly as shocking, especially considering those rumors about him and Kaiba. (Of course, Achan wasn't entirely sure that those rumors had any real founding after seeing Kaiba in person on the previous day.) But no, it appeared to be the real deal. When Tacey approached him, it closed the deal: this guy was no impostor. Achan gulped in surprise. But that still didn't solve the "no reporter" problem. Edging forward, he stared at the ring of security guards behind Pegasus. His eyes fell on the one with the hair that seemed nearly as ridiculous as Achan's usual 'do. Oh, that explained it. That guy was one of the most successful masters of child grabbing, though by no means the reigning one, and definitely not one you needed to get mad at you. And the way the other two were pointing... obviously, they were armed with the latest in weapons technology, a.k.a. invisible guns. Pegasus had spared no expense.

Achan witnessed Tacey's minor explosion about her dislike of him with mounting anger, though he did have to agree about the ridiculous hair. On the other hand, he could only laugh at Pegasus's rebuttal. The multimillionaire's idea of a solution, however, appealed to Achan immensely. It was a win-win scenario for the underdog from America: He got to witness Tacey's latest deck in action, and if she won, he'd challenge her before she had time to recover. If Pegasus beat her on the other hand, he'd definitely be taking down notes on how the man did so, regardless of wether he could duplicate his strategies or not, and of course, he could always use it as proof to Tacey that she was not invincible. The small crowd, on the other hand, was a problem. There were at least a few duelists in there, he knew, and if Tacey lost and they got a look at her deck, the team was in trouble. It was then that a brilliant idea took hold of Achan's mind. Slipping into the crowd, he poked one of the younger kids in the back and whispered "Don't move. I'm with Pegasus's covert ops group. We're here to make sure that nobody gets an eye on these new cards before their official release, and in order to do so, I have been authorized to use this-" Achan held up a hand apparently grasping air, "Invisible Taser to... uh... discourage you. Please, don't make it harder on yourselves then it has to be."

In no time, Achan's proclamation had gotten around, and the small crowd had dispersed. Achan himself, feeling quite smug, wandered next to Tacey's suits and plunked his duffel bag on the ground before collapsing onto it, using it as a chair. Yes, this was entertainment.

OOC: Tacey and Michel aren't the only ones capable of being manipulative. XD

 

[Alter Ego]

OOC: Ho-kay, now that PC is finally up and running again it's time to try to figure this one out...dang, I've forgotten my original plan for this duel. xP Oh well, I'll just have to improvise.

IC:

"ATTENTION, DUELISTS! IT'S TIME TO DUEL!"

Tacey gave an involuntary flinch as the killer-hair suit announced the beginning of the match, pausing to nurse her assaulted ear before drawing her opening hand.

"Ladies first, I believe?"

"Be my guest, Tacey-girl."

Duelist: Tacey

Hand: Bountiful Artemis, Magic Drain, Negate Attack, White Magician Pikeru, Royal Double

Draw Phase->>>> Harvest Angel of Wisdom

At the sight of the cards, a satisfied little smile crept onto Tacey's face.

"Excellent." she remarked for herself before turning back to the game. It was a pity that the spectators had vanished now that she was about to utterly crush Pegasus, but she supposed that less spectators meant less information on her deck leaking out, "I summon Bountiful Artemis."

Accompanied by the standard blur of the projection software, a peculiar creature descended onto the field. The lower half of its silver-colored body was mostly resemblant of a spinning top, ending in a sharp, needle like point while the upper half was vaguely humanoid in shape, save for the precariously thin waist and the claw like appendages at the ends of its hands. The creature's bald face was dominated by a single, green orb which probably served as its eye, a pair of large, silver colored wings protruding from the points where its ears should have been. The creature wore a dark purple cloak with gold lining around its shoulders and a number of decorative, persian green patterns were located across its slender body. Despite its surreal appearance, the monster held a certain air of grace about it as it floated a few inches above ground level, its cape flowing behind it under the influence of the small, simulated gale. Even Tacey had to admit that for not being a royal monster, the creature wasn't too bad appearance-wise.

"I play two cards face-down and end my turn." she announced.

As he drew his card, Pegasus' face lit up like that of a child at Christmas Eve, "Oh, goodie!" he cried spontaneously, clapping his hands before a more sinister expression replaced his childish mirth, the card he had drawn held ominously in the air, "Prepare yourself, Tacey-girl, for you're about to witness a world the likes of which you have never-"

"It's that lame Toon World card of yours, isn't it?" the rich girl interrupted in a bored voice, "I've watched the tournaments, Pegasus."

"Oh, it most certainly is not!" the billionaire retorted in a rather offended tone, "I'm moving the times Tacey-girl. Now, for the first time in world history and for a mere admittance fee of 2000 Life Points, I am proud to present..." he twirled the card dramatically as he guided it towards the spell card slot, "Manga World!"

As the card made contact with the slot, it was time for the air on Peagsus' side to blur, son making room for a thick comic book with a picture of a conspicuously child-like Dark Magician Girl with wide, starry eyes striking a pose on the cover. The book then proceeded to flip itself open, a surprisingly life-like cityscape protruding form the pages.

"I'm afraid that premiere is going to have to wait." Tacey replied, "I activate Magic Drain!" she flicked her hand towards the face-down on her right and causing it to rise, causing a worn old man, completely teal in color save for his silvery hair to appear on the field. The specter raised a wrinkled hand towards Peagsus' spell card, and as he did so a vacuum of some sort seemed to form around his palm, the sharp intake of air tugging violently at the comic book's pages. Apparently, some of those KC graphics designers really needed more things to do with their life, "Now unless you give up another spell card from your hand, your little premiere is canceled. Either way, that means one more card for me, courtesy of Artemis."

"Ah, well..." Pegasus replied with a light, unbothered shrug, "I suppose we must all make sacrifices for the greater good." he picked up another card from his hand, briefly revealing its green surface to Tacey before slipping it into the graveyard slot on his duel disc, "Bye-bye Toon Table."

Effect draw: Hammer Shot

'Perfect...' Tacey thought for herself, 'That's one third of his opening hand and one fourth of his Life Points already. You're playing right into my hands, Mr.Pegasus.'

"Now that that's over with..." the billionaire continued, the familiar grin spreading to his face, "...the fun can begin." he procured another card from his hand, "Come out and play; Cyber Toon Dragon!"

Accompanied by the standard blur of graphics, a serpent-like monster appeared on Pegasus' field. The creature with its shiny metal plating and draconic head was hardly a new sight; after all, it seemed to be modeled after none other than the infamous Kaiser gone Hell Kaiser Ryo's favourite lead monster; the card that every competitive duelist had been pining for ever since first seeing it, though Industrial Illusions had always been adamant about not reprinting. The regular Cyber Dragon was, Tacey was quite sure, not in possession of two ridiculously large, watery anime eyes and a row of razor-sharp teeth, however, and the girl was quite positive that smiling endearingly at the opposition had not been part of the original graphics either.

"Isn't he just too precious?" Pegasus cooed, "And the best thing is that since you had monsters but I didn't, he came out free of charge. That means I can still play this!" he pulled out another monster card and slapped it into the slot next to his first, "Presenting...the fabulous Toon Harpie!"

At his command, a creature spawned next to Cyber Toon Dragon. At first, it didn't look that different from your average aerobics instructor in blue gone vicious man-eating monster, but as the creature slowly pulled its wings away from the front of its face, she revealed a pair of ridiculously long eyelashes, a chest that could in no way be natural, and an over-lipsticked mouth. The creature giggled, batting her two-meter lashes at Tacey, half-smiling and half-smirking in that way which cartoonists apparently found particularly enticing for reasons known solely by cartoonists, a saxophone solo erupting in the background.

"So, Tacey-girl..." Pegasus remarked, "...what do you think of my fabulous new monsters?"

"I think you need a girlfriend." the millionaire-heiress replied tartly, "Now can we please get on with this duel already? I know that your lame toons can't even attack on the turn they're summoned, so get on with it."

To say that she found Pegasus annoying would have been an understatement. He was simply intolerable with his flouncy antics, flowery speech, and obsession with creating monsters that were a disgrace to women everywhere. Quite frankly, if it weren't for his social status and obscene heaps of money, Tacey would have lunged at the annoying little pixiepoof's throat already.

"Lame?" Pegasus retorted, raising an eyebrow at Tacey's remark, "And that's coming from the one who's into noble knights. And that black and white color scheme too...talk about tacky. But let's not get into that-" he added, forestalling Tacey's inevitable burst of righteous indignation, "I'll teach you just how fabulous these new cards of mine are, starting with this." he pointed dramatically at his Manga World card, "Do you know why I like Japanese toons, Tacey-girl?"

"I imagine I will." the girl grit out.

"They're so active and full of life!" the billionaire trilled, completely ignoring Tacey's reply, "So...vibrant, so much action and drama! There's really never a dull moment. So, naturally I wanted to incorporate that into this card. While Manga World is in play, all of my toon monsters are free of that pesky first-turn attack restriction. Oh, Cyber Toon Dragon..." he chirped at the metallic beast, "Let's show Tacey-girl how it works! Destroy Bountiful Artemis with comic blaze!"

The dragon nodded enthusiastically, its cheeks puffing up in a ridiculously exaggerated manner and its eyes shut in concentration as it inhaled, the face - for some absurd reason - turning red before it finally spewed out the payload, a burst of electric blue energy surging towards the monster on Tacey's field.

"Reveal face-down, Negate Attack!"

In a decidedly undramatic manner, a small swirl of energy appeared between the two monsters, absorbing the attack while Tacey calmly drew another card from her deck, "So much for action and drama." the rich girl taunted, "Manga World or no, your Battle Phase is over."

Effect draw: Coronation of the Princesses

"So it is." Pegasus replied nonchalantly, "I play a card face-down and end my turn."

"It's about time." Tacey remarked, "I draw."

Draw Phase: Judgment of the Princesses

"Alright..." Tacey began, "I'll activate the spell card Hammer Shot!"

As slot and card connected, the air blurred once more, a sizable hammer briefly hovering over the field.

"Now as you know..." the girl continued conversationally, "This means that the monster with the highest attack power gets destroyed. In this case that would be your obnoxious little dragon."

The hammer, it seemed, had reached a similar conclusion and the serpentine creature only managed a few minutes of terrified 'pity me' staring before the object swung and flattened it, causing the creature to burst into a small cloud of sparks and vanish.

"Then, I'll summon Harvest Angel of Wisdom, in Attack Position."

With a deft hand movement, Tacey placed a monster card of her own into one of the empty slots, a second figure emerging next to Artemis. Though this creature was more humanoid in shape, it was certainly no less bizarre. The whole length of its muscular body looked as if it was covered in armor, alternating between orange and persian green and framed by normal metallic gray, a length of blonde substance which was presumably its hair extending from the back of the helmet-like head and another patch around the back of its waist, though what this was precisely Tacey had never felt like probing into. Sizable, white angel wings protruded from both of the creature's heels, and a horn with a smaller pair of wings attached to it was grasped firmly in its hand. Like its partner, the angel proceeded to hover just a few inches above the ground, waiting for orders, and it didn't need to wait for long;

"Harvest Angel, attack his Toon Harpie!"

"But-" Pegasus protested as the creatures swooped towards each other, "That way both our monsters will get destroyed!"

"And that..." Tacey replied calmly as both battlers dissolved into yellow fragments, "Was my plan. You see, whenever my Harvest Angel is destroyed by battle, I get to bring back one Counter-Trap from my graveyard. And I think I'll pick this one." she demonstratively reached into her discard pile, pulling out the Negate Attack card and placing it in her hand, "Now, Bountiful Artemis: attack Pegasus directly!"

The second creature nodded, briefly gathering energy in its clawed hands before unleashing it towards Pegasus, the glow of the visual effects briefly encasing the billionaire as 1600 additional life points were deducted from his counter.

Tacey smiled contentedly, "I play a card face-down and end my turn." she announced.

"There's no call for getting so smug yet, Tacey-girl." Pegasus scolded as he drew his next card, "This duel has only just begun. I activate Dark World Dealings! Now as you might know, this means that we both get to draw one more card from our decks, provided that we discard a card after it."

"I know what it does, Pegasus." Tacey retorted haughtily. This move made little sense, apparently the billionaire was getting desperate.

Effect draw: Princess Curran

Tacey briefly examined her options before sighing, "Sorry, Curran." she muttered in a barely audible, placing the card she had just received into her graveyard.

"Luck of the draw not with you, Tacey-girl?" Pegasus inquired casually, slipping his own discard into the graveyard without a care in the world, "I drew something quite fabulous myself. I activate Scapegoat!"

As he uttered the words, four familiar-looking pastel-colored sheep appeared on the field, expressions of blissful ignorance on their faces.

"And that ends my turn."

"Seems pretty desperate." Tacey remarked, "My turn."

Draw Phase: Royal Sharpshooter

'Well isn't this handy?' it didn't take long for Tacey to decide on her next course of action, "I discard Royal Emissary to add Court of Nobles to my hand." the girl announced, slipping another card into her graveyard before probing her deck in search of the all-important field spell, "And of course I'll activate it." she added matter-of-factly, the familiar courtyard with its regal banners and ornate plants enclosing the duelists, "Then I'll summon Royal Sharpshooter."

At her command, another figure appeared on the field, looking quite dull in comparison to the exotic creatures who had preceded him. It was a man, an honest-to-good human man, well-built and upholding a proper, military-discipline posture. He was wearing a simple but neat black leather tunic inscribed with the same symbol that the banners around the courtyard bore and a pair of black trousers to match, a hood attached to his tunic obscuring his face, a sturdy longbow grasped in his hands and a quiver of arrows slung over his back.

"And I suppose that is meant to impress me?" Pegasus inquired in a bored voice, "I've still got my four goat tokens."

"It doesn't really matter." Tacey replied, "While Court of Nobles is on my side, my sharpshooter can aim straight for your Life Points, which is just what I'll have him do. Royal Sharpshooter, attack Pegasus directly!"

The archer nodded, crouching down to load his bow and aiming it straight at Pegasus, the holographic arrow passing straight through the effeminate billionaire's chest with pin-point accuracy and another 1500 points leaving his counter.

"Bountiful Artemis, destroy the first one of his goat tokens."

The angelic creature set to work in turn, releasing another burst of energy and blasting the red sheep into oblivion.

"I end my turn." Tacey remarked casually.

"And I begin mine." Pegasus replied, the previous smile returning to his face as he he noticed the card he had drawn, "And what a fabulous turn this is going to be."


OOC: Okay, yeah...for the sake of my sanity I've decided to split this duel into two parts. Hope that's okay with you. ^^

 

[Scarlet Weather]

OOC: Oh man, I just realized that Team Seven is the same number assigned to Naruto's squad. (At least, that's what I think it is...). Oh man, ROTFLMBO (Rolling on the floor laughing my brains out.) XD squared.

IC:

Achan settled in as he watched the duel disks of Pegasus and Tacey leap to life and the duel begin. He could hardly restrain himself from clapping his hands in glee. Tacey was playing into his hands, and she didn't even know it! He felt something akin to the joy of an evil mastermind who has recently completed his plan to destroy the universe. Whipping a sketchpad from his duffelbag, he immediately began recording the images of Pegasus and Tacey's cards and jotting down notes on their respective strategies. Pegasus's deck, predictably, was stocked with new and improved toon monsters. Nothing completely unexpected there. Tacey, on the other hand, began the duel with something completely unexpected: a Counter Fairy. Achan's eyes narrowed. He had heard of Counter Fairy decks before, decks that used high-speed counter traps in combination with fairy-type monsters who yielded effect draws and other nice little surprises when a counter-trap was activated, but he hadn't thought Tacey would be adding them to her deck. Tacey Edgeworth was a stuck-up prissy snob with bad taste in themes, but she was no fool when it came to deck-building. Whatever she had right now was probably something Pegasus should be wary of.

Ten minutes later, Achan's mouth was dropped open in shock. Tacey had just turned the entire duel around. Now he could see her deck's strategy, and a painful one it was, to be sure. Despite Pegasus's ability to attack right away, Tacey had set up a field designed to first negate the opponent's attack, thereby yielding yet another free draw for herself, and return the attack-negator to her hand for another free use. She had also crushed Pegasus's monsters and set up a direct attack for herself in the process. In a matter of a few turns, she had reduced Pegasus to less the half of his original life points while at the same time leaving her own without a scratch. At least she had tipped her hand: Her deck was now a hybrid, relying on the synergy of her many counter traps with Harvest Angel and Bountiful Artemis to stock her hand while shutting down the opponent's battle phase, meanwhile allowing her royal monsters to destroy the bigger monsters on the opponent's side of the field and burn away their life points or replenish her own, and further restrict the opponent's attacks. To top it off, she had thrown in a few destructive spells to get rid of anything her Royals couldn't run over. Achan was flabbergasted, but far from disheartened. If what he had just seen was any indication, there was probably something in his deck to take care of her field presence. The only problem was finding it.

Achan brought his gaze back to Pegasus, who was now smiling and preparing to begin his turn. Achan could only stare and shake his head. Did the inventor of Duel Monsters really have something that could reverse such a horrible disadvantage? It seemed that way, but Achan couldn't think of what it might be. If Pegasus didn't destroy Tacey's facedown this turn, Tacey would just negate his attacks on her life points and summon another monster. Then all she'd have to do was attack his sheep tokens and leave his field free, giving her a clear shot at his life points. Then again, knowing Pegasus, he'd know that, and he'd have a way around it in that weird deck of his. At least, Achan hoped so. It wasn't as if he wanted to see Tacey win, despite the fact that he'd be able to immediately challenge her afterwards. They were rivals after all, and if she could accomplish something he probably wouldn't be able to, she had one-upped him. He wasn't about to sit there and let that happen...

Well, then again, it wasn't as if he had a choice.

 

[Alter Ego]

OOC: What, you only realized it just now? And I thought that was an intentional decision on your part. xD

IC:

"Well?" Tacey demanded haughtily, "Are you going to play that 'fabulous' card of yours or not?" her voice practically oozed with sarcasm at the word 'fabulous', "If you think I'm falling for a cheap bluff then you're sorely mistaken."

Pegasus shook his head at the statement, "Tacey-girl, has anyone ever told you that you sound just like Kaiba-boy?" he tutted disapprovingly, "I'm most certainly not bluffing." his grin widened, "My toons are quite genuinely magical. Observe."

The graveyard slot in his duel disc began to glow with visual effects, "For my first trick, I shall bring back the monster I discarded last turn; Toonborn Frog!"

The card slipped dutifully out of the graveyard slot and into one of the empty monster card zones, the air on Pegasus' field blurring once more, only to reveal a small, harmless looking frog with disproportionately large eyes. Its skin was orange in color, with black stripes criss-crossing over it and a pair of white, angel wings seemed to have been attached to its shoulders by means of a length of tape.

"You see, Tacey-girl." Pegasus continued as the peculiar amphibian continued staring at the rich girl, "Should Toonborn Frog happen to be in my Graveyard during my Standby Phase while Toon World is in play, my amphibian friend can come back for an encore."

"Big deal." Tacey replied indifferently, "It's only got a measly 100 points."

"Now really, Tacey-girl." Pegasus tutted disapprovingly, "You should know better than to judge a toon by its cover. Observe." he raised the solitary card in his hand into the air, "I tribute Toonborn Frog and one of my Goat tokens to summon..." he purposefully withheld the end of his statement as the yellow sheep and Toonborn Frog vanished from the field and were replaced by a black box with gold-lining and a large, white question mark inscribed on it, a dramatic drum roll emerging from the background, "Toon Dark Magician!" in a puff of smoke, the box burst open, an ominous figure in dark purple clothing emerging. Well, that is to say that the figure would have been ominous had he not been the size of a five-year old. In all other respects he looked just like the Dark Magician, but the hat was ridiculously oversized and kept threatening to tip over and the staff was so big that the tiny creature had to hold it with both hands to keep it steady.

Tacey raised an eyebrow, "From little girls to little boys, Pegasus?" she remarked, "You really do have issues."

"Once again, Tacey-girl, you sound just like Kaiba-boy." the billionaire retorted calmly, "Don't let his innocent appearance fool you, Toon Dark Magician is quite the powerhouse. Why just by summoning him I'm allowed to bring back a spell card from my graveyard, provided, of course, that it has 'Toon' in its name or specifies toon monsters. And as it so happens, I have a card just like that in my graveyard, so welcome back: Toon Table of Contents. But that's not all." he reached out a hand dramatically, "Reveal face-down, Toon Anvil!"

Pegasus chuckled as a giant, black steel anvil appeared on the field, "Classics are always the best, aren't they - Tacey-girl? With this card, I can flatten any monster on the field whose defense points are at most half the attack points of one of my toon monsters. Now which one to choose?" he pretended to contemplate his decision thoroughly before slipping into one of his usual expressions of childish glee, "Oh, I know!" he exclaimed, clapping his hands as Toon Dark Magician pointed his staff at the anvil, an aura of dark energy encasing the object and lifting it up into the air, "Bye-bye, Sharpshooter."

At these words, the dark energy dissipated, causing the anvil to descend with the usual cartoon effects and land down on top of the archer on Tacey's field, a cloud of dust with 'CRASH!' written onto it with large, red letters accompanying the creature's disappearance.

"And now..." Pegasus continued, "Toon Dark Magician, attack Bountiful Artemis!"

"Reveal face-down, Negate Attack!"

Effect draw: Divine Wrath

"Who would have thought it?" Pegasus remarked as the familiar swirl of energy blocked his magician's attack, "I end my turn."

"Like you had a choice."

Draw Phase: Ebon Magician Curran

Neither was hardly a high-utility card at the moment, but then again...Tacey glanced at her full six-card hand, she really had all she needed already.

"I summon Royal Double."

Following the girl's announcement, a the recently vacated spot became occupied once more, though the creature was far less masculine this time around. Though the creature was draped in a gray cloak which effectively concealed its features, the generally slender body build and slight hint of curves beneath the cloak identified it as a girl. A dainty little hand extended from beneath the cloak was holding into a large fan of alternating black and white patterns which effectively covered the creature's face while the hood of the cloak kept the back of her head away from view.

"She might not look like much right now, but she's got quite the ability." Tacey continued, "You see, if I summon her while Court of Nobles is in play, my Royal Double can become a near-perfect copy of either princess, provided that the subject is on my field or in my graveyard. And as it so happens, your Dark World Dealings card helped me out in that regard. Royal Double, replicate Princess Curran!"

The creature nodded, tossing aside its cloak with a deft little hand movement to reveal a large, billowing dress, its color alternating between a dark pine green and black, with elaborate patterns embroided in white around the hem and upper parts of the dress and a robin egg blue ribbon connected to a sizable, gold-colored ornament at her chest. Her orange hair, no longer concealed by the hood, was tied into two neat braids, one on each side of her face, and as the creature clasped her fan shut and placed it aside, a face identical to Curran's was revealed, complete with a self-satisfied little smirk, while the familiar blue rabbit in the suit quickly hobbled over, placing the ridiculously styled royal hat on the creature's head before proceeding to keep them hem of her dress away from the ground.

"Next, I'll switch Bountiful Artemis into defense position." Tacey announced, the creature dutifully crossing its arms over its chest and lowering into a defensive position as she gave the card on her duel disc a quarter turn, "Then, I'll place two cards face-down and end my turn."

"That works just fabulously for me." Pegasus trilled as he drew another card, "First, I'll bring back my Toonborn Frog again, in Defense Position." with a cheerful little croak, the peculiar amphibian with the taped-on wings appeared once more, crouching in a defensive stance on the Billionaire's field, "Then, I'll activate this: Toon Table of contents, which of course-"

"Let's you add a toon card from your deck to your hand." Tacey interrupted, "I know what the card does, so stop stalling and use it."

"Patience, Tacey-girl, patience." the billionaire replied calmly, investigating the contents of his deck, "Ah...this one shall do the trick!" he announced triumphantly, selecting one of the many cards and deftly shuffling the rest before placing them back in the deck slot, "And I'll play it straight away; so goodbye Toonborn Frog and Goat Token." just as one the previous turn, both the peculiar amphibian and one of the pastel colored sheep vanished from his field, "I summon, Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon!"

With a high-pitched roar slightly resemblant of a squeak, a new monster appeared on the field. It was a reptile of some sort and about the same size as Tacey's monsters, white in color with a pair of stunted wings growing out of its scaly back and a ridiculously over-sized head with two, swirly toon eyes. Sharp teeth lined its abnormally large mouth and equally sharp claws on both its fore- and hind-legs glinted as the creature struck a pose, its bicep swelling up and erupting into a small volcano.

"But the fun doesn't end there." Pegasus continued, completely disregarding the fact that Tacey hardly considered the pitiful new 'fabulous' by any stretch of imagination, "I activate Toon Parade!"

This was a move that Tacey hadn't anticipated, "What in the name of all that is sweet and sugary is that?!" she inquired sharply.

"Oh, it's one of my most fabulous support cards." Pegasus replied, grinning contentedly, "You see, if I activate this after summoning a toon monster, I can bring out up to two his little friends to play, provided that they are of the same level as the monster I summoned. And is it so happens..." his grin grew more sinister as two more dragons, identical to the first, spawned on the field, accompanied by cheerful marching band music and a shower of colorful streamers and confetti, "...that's precisely as many as I have. Now of course powerful cards like this don't last forever. At the end of my turn, all toon monsters on my field go back into my deck."

Tacey relaxed visibly. Things were still under control, then; Pegasus thought he could sweep her in a single turn with a triple direct attack from those overgrown newts, but the moment he declared that attack he'd be in for a nasty surprise. He really should have known better than to play all in with Tacey Edgeworth on the other side.

"Now prepare yourself, Tacey-girl!" Pegasus trilled, "For you're about to witness a power the likes of which you have never seen!"

'And you're about to fall down right on your powdered face.'

"I remove my three toon dragons from play."

"Say what?!" Tacey shrieked, looking up from her reverie in time to see the three lizards diving towards Pegasus' Manga World spell card, the creatures squabbling and shoving each other in an attempt to fit in between the pages before finally slipping inside, the comic book shutting with a loud bang before beginning to rumble fiercely, energy crackling around it and the virtual sky around them darkening ominously, "Just what are you doing, Pegasus?"

"Why I'm summoning the strongest monster in my entire deck." Pegasus replied, his expression now shifted firmly away from childish and effeminate in favor psychopath on the verge of world domination, "Behold and be amazed, Tacey-girl, for you shall be the first duelist to face the greatest, most devastating, most delightfully fabulous toon monster of all time; the one, the only-"

Tacey stamped her foot in irritation, "Just play the stupid card already, you silly little man!"

Pegasus gave her a disapproving glance, "Tacey-girl." he remarked, "You have no sense for drama. Very well then, I summon Blue-Eyes Ultimate Toon!" he raised his right hand into the air to give his proclamation additional dramatic effect, and on queue the comic book sprung wide open again, a burst of brilliant white light shooting up into the sky, spreading out into a massive shape in the sky above. As the lights slowly died down, Tacey found herself staring down three pairs of swirly toon eyes and identical shark smiles, each one attached to its respective head, which in turn were connected to the creature's massive torso by means of three, long necks. Like the creatures used to form it, the monster was bright white in color, but in terms of size it was easily three times as large as its predecessors, looming threateningly over the cards on Tacey's field with its scaled wings spread wide and the even larger-than-before claws glinting threateningly.

"Isn't he just the most adorable thing you ever saw?" Pegasus chirped, beaming at the grotesque being as if it was a cute little kitten, "Now for his first ever performance, I think he deserves some privacy. I switch Toon Dark Magician into Defense Position." the spellcaster - who was looking even more dwarfed than usual now that he was standing next to the gigantic beast - obediently followed suit, lowering itself into a protective stance, "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Toon, attack her Royal Double!"

Three identical, roguish grins spread across the monster's faces at the command, all of them inhaling so hard that all creatures on the field were tugged violently by the breeze and the pages of Manga World fluttered helplessly in the wind. Apparently, Pegasus had seen to it that this particular card really put on a show. Well, it was heading towards an embarrassing finale.

"Reveal face-down, Judgment of the Princesses!"

Effect Draw: Mirror Force

There was a distinctively sadistic touch to Tacey's smile as the chains sprang forth, binding the massive beast, "It looks like your ultimate monster just got the death sentence, Pegasus."

"Oh?" the billionaire replied nonchalantly, just as his dragon flexed its muscles, the chains snapping.

"What?!" Tacey stared in disbelief at the scene, "Your monster should have been destroyed!"

"Really, now..." Pegasus tutted, wagging his index finger at her, the beast mimicking him, "If my dragon could be destroyed by just any trap card it wouldn't be much of an ultimate toon now, would it? My precious toon is immune to all card effects - so bye-bye, Judgment of the Princesses." sure enough, the likeness of the card on Tacey's field shattered into pieces, "Now where were we before I was so rudely interrupted?" he smirked, "Oh yes, Ultimate Toon: destroy her Royal Double."

The dragon nodded enthusiastically before proceeding to unleash its attacks, the resulting visual effects so bright that Tacey had to shield her eyes, and by the time she opened them again her monster was long gone, the life point counter busily at work as it deducted 3000 points from her score. Suddenly, a thought struck her, however, some of her previous confidence returning.

"That means your time is up." Tacey remarked, "All toons go back to the deck, including that overgrown newt of yours." she pointed an accusing finger at Blue-Eyes Ultimate Toon.

"Oh, I should think not." Pegasus retorted as he shuffled Toon Dark Magician back into his deck, "Like I said, my Ultimate Toon is immune to all card effects; that includes Toon Parade, so you won't be forced to part yet. I end my turn."

"Lucky me." Tacey grit back.

Draw Phase: Solemn Judgment

Dismal, that card would have saved her skin one turn earlier, but it was no good against something already on the field. Come to think of it, what was good against something like that? She bit her lip as she stared down the opposition, if card effects were a no-go then her only shot at victory was to take it down in battle, but when faced with 4500 points of non-deductible attack power that was easier said than done; there was certainly nothing that powerful in her hand or deck. Tacey felt like screaming; this couldn't be it, she wouldn't allow this! She had been so close to utterly eliminating the flouncy millionaire, too close to just let it all fall down because of one cheaty card. That thing had to have a weakness; everything did. That was the whole point with duel monsters, but what could possibly...her glance swept across the field in search of answers, finally settling on the most obvious one. Of course! An improved Toon World it may have been, but in order to empower toon monsters this 'Manga World' had to cater to their common weakness as well. The only problem was drawing into it...but that she did have something for.

"I summon White Magician Pikeru."

At her command, the familiar, red-haired girl in her white robe whom Tacey was used to encountering when she had done something socially reprehensible appeared on the field, peering anxiously at the situation.

"Tacey, do you have plan for this?" the spirit inquired cautiously, "You know I'm not strong enough to-"

"I know." Tacey replied, "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing." Out loud, she did her best to not give off the impression of a weirdo who talked to her cards, "I activate Coronation of the Princesses." the girl announced, slipping her Solemn Judgment card into the graveyard and barely paying attention to the little crowning animation. Compared to her twin, Pikeru had something distinctively pleasant to her appearance as she stood on Tacey's field, clad in white, puffy dress with peach-colored lining around the hem and the ends of the sleeves, which were so long that they all but covered her hands from view, elaborate, pink ornaments with a few dots of teal around the shoulders granting the outfit a bit of color. Like her sister's, her hair was arranged into two neat braids, and she also wore a rather ridiculous-looking hat, though this one had been styled to resemble a goat's head, complete with a spiral horn design on each side. She held her scepter firmly clutched in both hands, maintaining a defensive pose while a peculiar little goat dressed in a black smock covered behind her, still dutifully hodling up the hem of her dress.

"I place a card face-down and end my turn."

"Now who's the desperate one?" Pegasus inquired, "I summon Toonborn Frog once more. Now, attack her Princess Pikeru with super special awesome dive bomber attack!"

"Come again?"

"Oh, never mind what it's called." Pegasus snorted as the tiny amphibian sprang into the air, preparing to lunge at Pikeru, "The bottom line is that your princess is about to meet a Frog who's going to change her life."

"Reveal face-down, Mirror Force!"

Effect Draw: Harvest Angel of Wisdom

"Now that was just plain mean." the effeminate billionaire remarked as the power of the trap card blasted the little amphibian into pixels, "Oh, Ultimate Toon...attack Tacey-girl directly!"

The dragon sprang to work enthusiastically, once again forcing Tacey to cover her eyes as another burst of blinding light struck, this time directly at her, and her life point counter dropped down to 500.

"I play a card face-down and end my turn."

Tacey took a deep breath, gathering her composure. It was now or never, if she didn't get the card she needed this turn the duel would be over.

"I draw."

Draw Phase: Mystical Space Typhoon

Tacey's face lit up at the sight and she experienced a rare urge to punch the air triumphantly, but that would have been all too Achanish so she restrained it.

"Make your move already." Pegasus remarked, feigning a yawn, "You know my Ultimate Toon is indestructible, so spare yourself the trouble and let me end this."

"Oh, I'll end this alright." Tacey replied levelly, "Your dragon might be invincible, but your Manga World card isn't!"

"You wouldn't-" Pegasus protested.

"Oh yes I would." Tacey retorted, "And I will too. But first, I'll activate the effect of my Princess Pikeru, granting me a grand total of 1600 additional Life Points." it seemed slightly redundant, but Pegasus had already turned around a losing situation in this duel once, and she had no wish to let him do so again, "Next, I'll activate Mystical Space Typhoon!"

As spell card and slot connected, a sizable twister appeared on Tacey's field, small sparks of energy crackling around the vortex as it zoned in on the comic book on Pegasus' field, "This duel is over!"

"Indeed it is." the billionaire concurred, "I activate Dark Bribe!"

Tacey flinched, "But that means..."

"Your typhoon is negated." Pegasus remarked calmly, the storm on the field dissipating just before it managed to reach its mark, "But don't feel bad, Tacey-girl, you'll get another card in replacement. Two, actually, thanks to that fabulous Artemis of yours."

Effect Draw: Royal Justice, Magic Jammer

"Oh joy." Tacey replied woodenly, "I place a card face-down and end my turn."

"Then I'll end this duel." Pegasus remarked, Toonborn Frog rematerializing on his field once more, "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Toon, direct attack!"

Tacey, quite frankly, was numb, allowing the arm with her duel disc to slip to her side as the final attack made contact, causing her life point counter to flatline and the holograms on the field to fade. She had lost, granted against overwhelming odds, but it was a loss nonetheless. The rich girl grit her teeth; this was unfair, completely unfair! By all rights she should have won! She always won! Pegasus had cheated again, she was sure of it.

"Oh, wasn't that just a fabulous duel?" the flouncy little cheater trilled, stashing his deck and duel disc into the safety of their designated suitcase again, "Why I haven't had this much fun since that time I defeated Kaiba-boy back in Duelist Kingdom. Oh, don't give me that look." he added as Tacey was about to mention the way he had blatantly cheated in the aforementioned duel, "A duel's a duel and a deal's a deal. Besides, it could be worse, wouldn't you agree...Achan-boy?"

His last remark was not directed at the millionaire-heiress in front of him, but instead at the sole non-suit wearing spectator of their little match, a knowing grin on his face.

"Achan?!" Tacey twirled around, the embarrassment-induced reddening of her face now complemented by that of righteous indignation, the girl taking a threatening step against her now-identified teammate.

"Ahh...the camaraderie..." Pegasus chirped in a pleasant tone, "Why this is starting to feel like Duelist Kingdom all over again, but I've really got to get going; I have an important dinner to attend to." he beamed at the both of them as he gestured for his grunts to gather, waving a last farewell before stepping into the limousine, "Have fun!"

Quite a few messages could be read from Tacey's expression, but 'fun' just wasn't one of them, "You've been spying on me?!" she thundered, her own suits preoccupied with dutifully securing the perimeter - a rather large perimeter, come to think of it - "How dare you?!"

OOC: 3648 words filling about 8 and a half pages of a standard Word document...just for this second half...*Dies* proper duels take time to describe, it seems. xD

 

[Scarlet Weather]

OOC: Well, even Achan's short duels take a while. Jeez, that was fun! I can only imagine Tacey's reaction to Harogigas. XD

IC:

Achan chuckled as he pulled himself to his feet, straightening his recently slicked-back hair. "Aw, man... you recognized me? I was sure that changing my hair would keep you from noticing." he replied, winking at Pegasus and Tacey. "Dang, that was some duel! I-" his thoughts were cut off as Tacey charged forward, her face blazing with embarassment and righteous anger, as she began shouting at her teammate, demanding a reason as to why he was spying on her. Achan, however, was unintimidated, especially after witnessing his rival's fall. Meeting Tacey's gaze levelly, he grinned and responded in a near-perfect falsetto impersonation of Tacey "Miss Edgeworth, let me make one thing clear: I do not spy. I may happen to witness a few things by chance, but I DO NOT SPY." Attempting to stifle his laughter, the American underdog slipped his duffel bag onto his shoulder. "Besides, if it had been me dueling Pegasus and you were the one who found out about it, would you have just stayed home and waited?" he asked, making sure to keep his gaze level, "Be honest here. Anyway, if it's any help to you, I'm probably not going to be able to defeat you the same way Pegasus just did, even with my updated deck."

A familiar sounding voice rang out behind Achan at that moment, causing him to pivot around on his foot. There, standing behind him, was Katsuya Jonouchi, in the living flesh. Achan stuttered, "How-"

"No time ta explain! Look, youse all are Team Seven, right? We got an emergency situation on our hands! We need ta get ya to the hospital right away!" The bizarrely-accented MC announced, grabbing Achan's shoulders and shaking him violently.

Achan was puzzled. "The hospital? Why, are we sick or something? And how the heck did you recognize me?"

In way of answer, Jonouchi pointed at Achan's shirt. Cursing, the American duelist slapped his forehead for the first time that day. He had forgotten to remove his nametag from the shirt's back after the tournament in Hawaii had been completed. Jonouchi, meanwhile, continued his babble. "Listen, a coupla ya team mates were found on the streets, like they'd been hit by a car or somethin' only dere was no physical injuries. Ya need to get goin' over there now, ya dumb-" the blonde haired duelist caught himself before continuing "Whatever ya are. Now get movin'!"

Achan turned to Tacey, shrugging. "Well, looks like we're off and moving," he stated, shaking his head sadly. "Pity, too. I was looking forward to the rest of your reaction."

 

[Alter Ego]

OOC: Actually, I don't think Tacey would be very much bothered by Harogigas. She's got Magic Jammer (And, for a less reliable measure, Magic Drain) to negate the ritual, Divine Wrath to negate King of the Blackland, and Solemn Judgment that can negate both of those and the actual summon of Harogigas too. (Since Harogigas isn't considered to be 'on the field' when Solemn resolves, its protection effect doesn't work) Besides, her deck is bent on ripping cards out of the opponent's hand with Royal Justice (working in tandem with Bountiful Artemis for some monstrous CA) anyway, making assembling the ritual requirements a rather bothersome task already. Should the worst happen, she could always keep negating Harogigas' attacks and attack past it with Royal Sharpshooter (or burn with Justice and Curran) as a last resort. Now triple Skill Drain on the other hand; that would mess up her gameplan big time.

IC:

"Why, I'd never!" Tacey fumed, her face turning into a deeper shade of red as her fury mounted; a natural warning signal preceding the inevitable meltdown. How dare he? How dare he stand there and mock her?! "Don't flatter yourself, Smith." she remarked in her most withering voice, "I would never skulk after the likes of you. If you had a high-profile duel coming up I'd be there to witness your inevitable first turn defeat, but I'd never disguise myself. And don't even start with this nonsense about defeating me, we both know that Pegasus only saved himself on a lucky topdeck back there; you wouldn't even be able to-"

It was then that annoying male number two - formally known as Jonouchi Katsuya - decided to butt into the conversation, informing them that they needed to get to the hospital right away; apparently a team emergency of some sort. Achan remained obnoxiously cocky as he suggested that they follow the instructions, jokingly remarking that he was disappointed not to have caught the rest of her reaction.

Tacey grit her teeth in response, but seeing as how she was now officially stuck with this team for the remainder of the tournament this crisis was something she now had a vested interest in, whether she liked it or not, "Fine." she replied, breaking off into as close to a run as she could get while still moving in a dignified manner as they set course toward the hospital, her suits cautiously following...well, following suit for lack of a better expression, "Remind me to slap you when we've got this mess sorted out, Smith."

 

[Scarlet Weather]

OOC: Alright, I'm about to do something that I think you may or may not slap me for: I'm piling everyone into the car and pushing us into the hospital immediately, because we need to move the plot along a bit. XD

IC:

Achan turned to Tacey and nodded. "Duly noted. I will be sure to remind you to slap me." he replied, before marching after Jonouchi, who was already halfway to the ferry. "And I'm not in disguise, persay. I just figured that I could use a change in appearance."

From ahead of the tiny band,Jonouchi shouted again. "Come on, ya dumb broads! Get ya bodies ovah here, and I mean now!"

Achan glared at the pro duelist pointedly. "Do you have any idea what a 'Broad' is?" he yelled in reply.

Jonochi shook his head. "Nah, I just heard some dude on the street yellin' it and I figured it was da American equivalent o' baka." he replied.

Achan slapped his forehead again, before turning to Tacey. "I'm officially sorry for thinking you were unreasonably proud," he moaned, "Because if this is what you feel like all the time, then your ego is definitely understandable."

MEANWHILE, THOUSANDS OF MILES METERS AWAY....​

Achan and Tacey sat in the waiting room of the New York general hospital, awaiting the time when they could visit their team mates. It had only taken a few minutes drive after the group had left Ellis Island to reach the hospital, and getting in had been easy enough. The only problem was that the ward they were currently visiting was understaffed at the moment. Aside from the usual number of medical emergencies of this nature, which was understandably high in a city the size of New York, there had also been a recent upswing in the number of shock victims, mostly duelists. For some reason, a fairly large number of people had collapsed in the street overnight, all of them wearing duel disks, and according to recent reports the team members of the victims had mostly gone missing. The state of the victims was usually somewhere in between complete lunacy or simple terror once they recovered enough to speak. Achan couldn't help feeling bad for his team mates, despite the fact that he hadn't met these particular two: Cain Ritham and somebody else whose name escaped him at that moment in time.

The nurse stepped in, bedecked in white gown and cap. "They're ready to receive visitors now. They're a bit delusional right now, so it's best that only one goes in at a time," she stated, beckoning to Achan. Slowly, the red-headed teenager moved to his feet and followed the nurse down the halls, stopping in front of a room marked "Recovery". Holding his breath, Achan pushed the door open.

There, on the twin hospital beds in front of him, sat two teenagers, barely his own age. On the ground nearby sat two duel disks, each one devoid of a deck. The two appeared to be hyperventilating, and tears ran down the face of the one nearest Achan. Slowly, one of them motioned. Stepping forward, Achan bent forward to listen. The other boy's lips chattered in fear as he whispered "He was insane... insane... he had too much power, too much! It was impossible to defeat him... and he said I was a demon, that he'd have to kill me... that thing stabbed me... I feel so cold..."

A nurse stepped forward, placing her hand on Achan's shoulder, and guided him back to the waiting room. The red-head turned to Tacey, his own face a bit pale. "You don't want to see them," Achan said, shaking his head slowly, "You don't. It's like they're trapped in a nightmare or something. It's seriously freaky."

"How freaky is that, Smith?"

Achan jumped, staring at Michel, who had walked through the door. "I heard about the accident from the tourney officials, and came to pay my regards before I left." The tycoon explained.

Achan nodded in understanding before his mind clicked. "Wait... before you leave? What's going on?" he demanded.

Michel shook his head. "Something came up with the company, and I have to take over for a bit. Nothing you'd understand, Smith. Anyway, looks like I'll have to drop off from the team for a bit."

Achan's jaw dropped. First these two, now Michel? "Just how long are you planning to drop out?" Achan inquired harshly.

"Dunno. Might be until the end of the tournament, depending on how long it takes to resolve this mess." Michel replied nonchalantly. "Anyway, I'm sure you'll do fine without me." With that, the corporate head strode off towards the room of the downed team mates.

Achan sat down. "If this keeps up, you and I will be the only ones left on the team," he said, attempting conversation with Tacey.

"Don't be so sure!" a voice boomed, causing Achan to leap from his seat in agitation. Now what?

The two people who walked into the room were probably in their early twenties or late teens, Achan wasn't sure which. What he did know was that the one on the left had been to Duel Academia, as evidenced by his red blazer and the duel disk on his left hand. Grinning, the brown-haired duelist stepped forward, leaving his partner skulking off to the side. "Achan Smith, right?" he asked, offering a hand. "My name is Yuki Judai, and my irritable partner back there is Jun Manjoume." The other duelist simply grunted his agreement, leaning against the wall, clutching his black blazer around him. "Anyway, we're with the IDF- that's the international duelist federation. Basically, we're pros for hire," Judai continued, not allowing his partner to slow him down in the least, "And Pegasus just called in and said a personal favorite team of his had just lost two members. We're on payroll at the moment, so he sent us in as replacements until after the tournament."

"Whatever. I can't wait to get out of this city and back home. This whole thing is boring." Manjoume replied, his dark, spiky hair bouncing slightly as he turned. "Anyway, point is, you all aren't alone."

OOC: What's this new plot development? The arrival of GX characters? The loss of the characters that JBCPeace and Lex_Rextron were supposed to play? What is this "IDF" anyway, and is it important to the plot? Guess we'll have to tune in to the next episode of CARD GAMES to find out! (No, this does not mean I'm signalling an act change. It does, however, mean I've finally figured out how to weave together a few loose plot ends. Judai is mine, btw, because he's cool. In Japan, that is. In America, he hits new levels on the idiot meter. 0_o)

 

[Alter Ego]

OOC: Oy, since we're going surnames first that's Manjoume Jun, not the other way around. *Smacks ACC* Besides, he always insists on the 'sanda' bit (Speaking of which, are we translating that to English or keeping it as it is?). Get it right, please; he's like one of the few GX characters that don't make me want to scream and throttle a writer, though the dubbers did their best to make him suck. xP It's too bad that the new banlist limited Snipe Hunter, 'cause otherwise Ojamachinegun would so have been his deck of choice. xD

Anyways, I claim dibs on Manjoume. It's only fair, no? I'll wait for a clear before controlling him, though. ^.^

IC:

Tacey, quite frankly, was miffed. Not only had she lost a duel against a jumped up pixiepoof of a billionaire, right in front of the now insufferably cocky Achan, but now she was being hauled about towards a situation she didn't know enough about. If there was one thing Tacey hated, it was being kept in the dark about things that concerned her. The millionaire-heiress' bad mood practically radiated into her surroundings as she sat down in the crowded waiting room for what felt like an eternity, only to be told that the people they had come to see had a 'one visitor at a time' policy. The girl was about to voice a loud and bitter complain at this, but then decided against it, sitting back down to revel in her private misery instead, well as private as anything could get when four muscular bodyguards in black suits were trying their best to look inconspicuous in the middle of a crowded hospital ward anyway. This whole day had turned out completely rotten right from the get-go, why the only thing that had been even vaguely resemblant of an improvement had been-she stopped herself in mid-thought. No, she would not allow her only positive thought for the day to be that.

"But you have to admit..." Pikeru's voice remarked carefully, its owner floating up into view from within Tacey's right shoulder, a tiny hint of a smile on her face, "He does look kind of cute with his hair like that."

"Oh please..." retorted Curran, popping up on the girl's left shoulder and staring at her starry-eyed twin in a decidedly disapproving manner, "You say that about all the boys, you hopeless ditz."

"Well, it's still true!" Pikeru persisted, a blush creeping up on her face, even as she held up a defiant stance towards her sister, "And besides, he's been very nice lately, maybe you two could finally stop bickering and admit to being frien-"

"I swear..." Curran remarked acidly, "If you're going to start fangirling over that lout I'm going to be sick. Need I remind you that Achan is also poor, scrawny, poor mannered, dresses like a tourist on a package holiday and has a hairdo that makes him look like a starfish climbed up on his head and died?" she scoffed, "Besides, he smells like cheap hair gel. No way am I calling him a friend."

"Well Tacey likes him." the white-robed spirit replied, receiving a withering look from her host, "Don't you, Tacey?"

"No I don't, actually." the rich girl replied as levelly as she could when faced with something akin to high treason from what she had been led to believe was a figment of her addled mind. Not a single part of her mind would ever be allowed to like Achan Smith in any fashion; she would rather die than face that. The girl leaned back defiantly, her arms folded, "He's just someone who's going to get to the finals thanks to my peerless dueling skills and whom I will crush afterwards. End of story. I do not like him."

"Michel-"

"I don't like him either!" Tacey yelled in frustration, only realizing moments later that the person in question was standing right in front of her, currently engaged in a brief exchange of words with Achan. As she realized what she had just done, a single thought flashed across Tacey's mind:

'Oh snap.'

On the girl's shoulders, Curran facepanned while Pikeru looked thoroughly embarrassed, "I didn't mean that..." the spirit muttered, though this was painfully obvious at this point. Fortunately, the awkwardness was cut short as two strangers interrupted Achan's feeble attempt at striking up a conversation, introducing themselves as stand-in teammates brought onto the team via Pegasus' money.

Tacey gave the two of them an appraising look. The black-haired one she had a vague recollection of; Manjoume Jun, rogue child of the Manjoume group. This was one of the many families that Tacey had been instructed to keep an eye on during her lessons to become the future head of Edgeworth Electronics, but this one wasn't another Michel; after all, from what she had heard Jun had broken away from the family tradition in favor of carving out his own path at Duel Academia. Some path he had made; Tacey felt like making a sarcastic remark about it, but held her tongue...she certainly didn't want to draw anyone's attention to her own awkward moment. Judging by her information this Manjoume was a passable duelist - not nearly in the same league as her, of course, but still...he had won that silly gimmick tournament at the academy, so she supposed that counted for something. But this Yudai character...Tacey strained her mind as she peered at the brown-haired kid, trying to recall where he had heard that name: and then it struck her; Edo. That snotty little brat had made a big deal about this Yudai character, going so far as to announce an open challenge to him on television, only to later appear praising his dueling skills to the skies. But then again, the aforementioned competitive duelist was well known for having his little occult fetishes, so Tacey had never placed much weight on his words.

"Very well, then." the rich girl remarked at last, "I'm Tacey Edgeworth, though you may simply refer to me as 'miss' if you like to use a less syllable-intensive title. A pleasure to meet you, I suppose. Just follow orders and try not to get in the way of my tournament victory, will you? I know you can't be as good as me, but at least try to, alright?"

"A pleasure to meet you." Pikeru chirped, politely curtsying for the two boys.

"Oh give it a rest, goat-girl." Curran scoffed, placing her hands at the back of her head and leaning against them, "It's not like those academy dropouts can hear you anyway."


OOC: And just to be perfectly clear on the matter: no, Tacey does not like Achan. Pikeru is just being ditsy. For a more accurate opinion, see Curran's feelings on the matter. x3

 

[Scarlet Weather]

OOC: Thank goodness. I already have one situation where the girl I like hates me going in my life, I don't need to roleplay a variation. 0_o

Manjoume is all yours, please, take him. And yes, the "San-da/Sanda" pun remains in Japanese, since there really isn't a way to translate that pun into English. His cheer also remains the same, and I expect you as his controller to use it at some point. (Never have him refer to himself as "The Manjoume" or say "Manjoume it up!" or I swear I will eviscerate you with fiction and humiliate you with words.) Oh, and I bunny him for one quick line, if ya don't mind.

BTW, since we're going by Canon, Judai has fused with Yubel, and I'm unsure whether or not you've kept up that far with the plot. Point is, he is no longer ordinary Judai, he is now SUPA JUDAI WITH GLOWING EYES.

IC:

It was at the point of Pikeru's curtsy that Judai's smile widened to a grin the size of a peeled bannana. Walking over to the spritely princesses, he bowed and proffered his hand. "Delighted to meet you, miss. I had no idea that others on this team had duel spirits." Turning once again to face Tacey, the horrendously optimistic duelist treated her to yet another massive smile. "You're lucky. It's not often I meet another duelist able to see spirits," he continued, "So this is a special occasion. What say we commemorate it with a duel?"

"Judai, give it a rest. She probably doesn't even know what the hell you're talking about. Besides, you celebrate everything with a duel." Manjoume interrupted, staring at his companion, who, from Achan's point of view, was chatting amiably with thin air.

"Oh whatever, 'Manjoume-San-da.' Relax a little! Besides, I've heard of Miss Edgeworth before, and you know the rule: strong duelists seek each other out." Judai rebutted, laughing.

Achan stared at the two before moving in accusingly on Judai. "First of all, who the heck are you talking about? What spirits?" he asked, pointing first at Judai and then at Tacey. "Come on, if we're a team, why am I the one left in the dark here? Is poor little Achan nowhere near good enough to be given a chance at learning what's going on? Is there something too secret for his poor little head? Huh?" he snapped, advancing. "And another thing. What's with your eyes? They're all weird."

Judai stepped backward, and the momentary bi-colored gleam Achan had glimpsed in his eyes vanished. "Easy there, kid," he continued, still smiling, "You'll hurt yourself. I was just talking to your friend's duel spirits, that's all."

That pushed Achan even farther. Advancing once again, he pointed his finger at the mysterious duelist's face. "Listen once and listen good, pal. Tacey is not my friend. She and I are rivals. Got that? Focus less on her and more on me, 'cause one of these days I'm going to surpass her." His anger thus vented, Achan continued on in a less threatening tone. "And what the heck are duel spirits? I have no clue what you're talking about."

"Guess you can't see them, huh?" Judai replied, shaking his head. Turning to his companion, he adopted a more serious expression. "Manjoume-kun, could you explain? I'm a bit tired of being the one who always lays these things out for people, and you're better at it anyway."

 

[Alter Ego]

OOC: Dude, I've only watched until his duel with Brron yet. Way to go spoiling the grand finale, you anime spoilerer person, you. xP

Seriously, where do you get your subs? I can't find any subs beyond the Brron episode except for the "funny" ones that are never funny. x.x

And trust me...I hate "Chazz it up!" with the passion of a thousand suns. Seriously, that's not only stupid; it's rather suspect too, especially when he's going "I'm going to Chazz you up!". Seriously, WTF, dubbers? <.<

IC:

Pikeru giggled in a decidedly girly manner as Judai greeted her, "I hate to say I told you so..." she trilled to her sister.

"You didn't." Curran replied tartly, folding her arms, "You were just acting like a ditz, as usual."

Tacey, meanwhile, was amazed. Were these two for real? Sure, she had always been able to see Pikeru and Curran, but she had never met anyone else like that. Either this Judai had the power to see figments of her imagination or he was seriously nutty. Possibly both. Before the rich girl could verify any of this, Achan had stepped forward, loudly demanding an explanation. Judai took it calmly, redirecting the question to Manjoume.

"San-da." the black-haired duelist corrected his partner, irritably brushing some imaginary dirt off his own blazer, "So anyway, duel spirits are basically critters from another dimension. Normal people can't see or hear them, but duel monsters is based on old rituals that were used to summon them for battle, and apparently some of the stuff that makes them tick still exists in the card game. There's this thing called duel energy that spirits need to survive, and the better a duelist you are the more of it you emit. Duel spirits are attracted to this energy, so when they see someone with a lot of it, they'll reveal themselves to that person and try to join up with him-"

"Or her." Tacey interrupted.

"Whatever." Manjoume retorted, "Point is, you won't see or hear them until you become a real duelist like me." there was a slight tinge of self-promotion in his voice at this point, "Anyway, most duel spirits try to make themselves helpful-"

"Hear that?!" interrupted a high-pitched voice, a yellow gremlin-like creature with two eyestalks sticking out of its forehead and a pair of red fishlips, floating up to the right of Manjoume's head, an expression of pure bliss etched on its face. The creature was donning nothing but a red thong and was hardly a pleasing sight for Tacey, who took a cautious step back, "The boss called us helpful."

"Figures..." grumbled a deeper voice, another creature appearing next to the first - this one black in color and far flabbier than its partner, with a ridiculously large nose and a pair of tiny light brown eyes at the very top of its head, "He's always calling us things."

"No, no!" interjected a third voice somewhere between the two first ones in pitch, its owner - this one green in color with a more muscular body than the others', a single yellow eye with a purple pupil sticking out of its forehead, and a long, purple tongue sticking out of its mouth - "I think that was a comple, comply-uhh...a something you call people when you're not calling them names!"

"I knew that." the black one retorted defensively, "I was just checking to see if you knew!"

The green one scratched its head, giving his brother a quizzical look, "Knew what?"

Manjoume gave an irritated sigh, "Some are more useful than others." he finished, swatting the trio with his right hand and causing them to disappear into thin air again, "Anyway, duel spirits always inhabit a card depicting them and they can move from one card to another, but unless they decide to show themselves there's no telling where they are." he shrugged, "That's the short of it."

"I've got a question." Tacey interrupted.

"What?"

"If duel spirits are attracted to the strongest duel energy, does that mean that stronger duelists get stronger spirits?"

"Who knows?" Manjoume retorted, scoffing, "And why'd you ask, anyway?"

Tacey couldn't help a smug little grin, "You got ojamas." she said calmly, allowing the contents of these three, simple words to seep in, "Figure it out."

"Tacey!" Pikeru scolded, "That was mean!"

"It's true, though." Curran replied, "To settle for the three stooges you have to be pre-tty desperate."

"Well, I think they're kind of cute."

"What else is new?"

Ignoring her bickering duel spirits, Tacey turned to Achan instead, realizing that now was a perfect time to strike, "So...poor little Achan." she began in her most sugary-sweet voice, "Did that make it clearer or is it too much for your poor little head? If he used any big words you didn't understand, don't be afraid to ask." she gave the boy a patronizing little pat on the head, "After all...we're a team, aren't we?"


OOC: Okay, yeah...I'll admit to not quite understanding the finer points of duel spirits, so I hope that's about right. The canon seems sort of...confused on the subject. o.o

 

[Scarlet Weather]

OOC: Who said anything about me getting subs? I had no idea there was even a sub for vs. Bronn at this point. 0_o I get all my information from episode spoilers on the Yu-Gi-Oh Wikia. I had to admit, the fusion of Judai and Yubel was pretty out there, but the new GX opening pretty much confirms it since there are several shots of Judai using a weird Yubel-esque eye-glowing power and one of Yubel doing Yami Yugi's old job (i.e., appearing as a transparent shape next to Judai.) Where did you get your subs? I've got to know this.

Anyway, I think you messed up the explanation a bit, since strength as a duelist doesn't really have all that much to do with it. (Remember the dude with the Koalas? Case in point.)

IC:

Achan's face turned red with anger as Tacey condescendingly concluded Manjoume's lecture by patting him on the head. How dare she treat him like a little kid? It wasn't as if not being privy to all the mysteries of a children's card game barred him from being any good. Besides, this Manjoume dude was a hack anyway, and anything he and the other guy said was obviously not to be trusted. They were loonies! Completely insane, that was the only explanation he could find. As hard as he tried, the red-haired duelist couldn't accept the possible fact that Tacey Edgeworth, jerk extraordinaire, had something he would never be able to duplicate. Her being better at dueling was one thing, her being able to do something he would quite possibly be unable to accomplish for the rest of his life... unthinkable. He wanted to scream, shout, or do something else completely immature. His fist and jaw both clenched and his teeth grated as he attempted to find a witty retort. Having none, he opted to go for the other option: leave and have a good tantrum back at the hotel while he tried to sort this whole sordid business out. Straightening up, Achan stared at the girl who would probably forever be labeled as "@*$&@" in the back of his mind. "I'm sure you have much better things to do, Miss Edgeworth, then share time with the poor, completely blind likes of an amateur like me," he spat at her sarcastically, "Because after all, I can't expect to hold you back. I'm out of here. You want me, I'll be in the nearest pizza joint." With that he stalked from the room, the door slamming behind him.

Sighing, Judai ran his fingers through his brown hair in mild annoyance and frustration. "Hooboy..." he muttered, before turning to his other two team mates. "Manjoume, you just had to emphasize the whole 'strength' factor didn't you?" he asked, not unkindly. "We really still aren't clear on that part of the process anyway. It definitely doesn't explain a couple of the duelists we've met." Stepping forward, the former academy student opened the door. "I'm going to try and sort things out," he called back, "See if you can meet me near Broadway later. Manjoume, you still have those tickets for The Duelists right?" Without stopping to wait for an answer, he continued, "Good. Oh, and Miss Edgeworth?" With that, Judai proceeded to direct a withering glare at the duelist, a glare that was made doubly intense by the fact that his eyes seemed to glow, one green and one orange, as he did so. "Please, don't antagonize him. We're a team after all. If one member goes down, in the end we all will." With that, he exited the room, hurrying after the fuming Achan.

SEVEN DAYS MINUTES....​

"Hey! Hey, Sumisu-kun! Wait up!"

Achan turned to see Judai racing after him along the sidewalk. He didn't care much. The older duelist was probably just trying to convince him to come back so Tacey could get in a few more minutes of abuse. Achan wasn't going to stick around for that. With a face as red as his hair, he lengthened his stride, hoping to leave Judai behind. Couldn't that idiot see that he was having a mental breakdown at the moment?

"Sumisu-kun! Got you!"

Achan stared. Judai, who had been well behind him mere moments before, had easily caught up with him and was now staring him in the face. His face and voice even, the older duelist placed his hand on Achan's shoulder. "Come on, Manjoume-kun and Edgeworth-san are waiting for us. We need to get going."

Achan shook his head and proceeded to extricate his shoulder from Judai's grip. "Fat chance," he spat back irritably, "Not after you've given Tacey another excuse to lord it over me. That... Oh, that woman!" Achan continued marching, scarcely caring that Judai was now following beside him. "Thinks she's so tough with her custom cards, and her dueling skills, and her nobility, and she lords it over me and she's so self-confident and-" he continued babbling until he felt Judai's hand gently rest upon his shoulder.

"It's okay," Judai said, squeezing gently before removing his arm, "I know how you feel."

Achan stared at him like a child who has just had his big brother explain the mysteries of the universe (he thinks) to him. "Really?"

"Mm," replied Judai, nodding his head sagely. "See, my best friend Sho always had this rivalry with his older brother Ryo, and..."

"Just a minute. Sho? As in Kaiser Sho? Isn't he on the pro duelist circuit?" Achan interrupted.

"Well, yes. We did graduate in the same year, don't forget," Judai replied, nudging Achan. "Anyway, he always wanted his brother Ryo's title for himself. You should have seen him fume when he lost out! But he never gave up," Judai continued, throwing himself into his speech, "And he stood up against all sorts of odds. It didn't matter that Ryo could see duel spirits and he couldn't! And one day, he won. It was sudden and quick, but it was amazing. The amount of progress he made was nothing short of astounding." Judai finished, breathing heavily.

"And what the hell does that have to do with me?" Achan retorted.

"Not sure, but it makes a good story," Judai replied, scratching his head. "But it's better then nothing. Now listen, I know you and Edgeworth-san don't get along, but the point is that you can't let that get in your way when you team up. I mean, Manjoume-kun and I are old rivals, but we don't let that get in the way of our partnership. In fact, we're practically buddies-in-arms now... I think that's how you say it in English?" Judai asked, scratching his head.

"Pretty much, yeah. But why should I try to be friends with Tacey? I mean, we're rivals, and in the end we'll have to fight anyway. Why should I even attempt to be civil around her? She obviously doesn't care about the team!" Achan retorted.

Judai rolled his eyes. "Look, I realize you're probably jealous that she sees duel spirits and you don't," he replied, training his gaze on Achan as he spoke, "But that doesn't mean she can't help you out. Nobody is perfect, true, but I don't think anyone is one hundred percent evil either, and half the time when you meet someone who is they're possessed by the Light of Destruction."

"What the heck is-"

"Never mind that! The point is that Edgeworth-san isn't as bad as you make her out to be. Though I have to say that I pity that one duel spirit. She looks too nice to hang out with a girl with Tacey's problems."

Achan shook his head. "I get what you're saying, and I know that Tacey isn't completely evil, but why the heck should I come back anyway? I mean, after what Manjoume said, what am I supposed to do? Do I not get to be a great duelist because I can't see spirits? What the heck am I supposed to do with someone who can? I'd probably just drag the whole team down if I went back."

"Is that what this is about?" Judai laughed, before seeing the despondent look on Achan's face. "I'm sorry, it's just that this whole thing is a bit of a misunderstanding. Yes, the ability to see duel spirits and the probability of having one does increase if you're a strong duelist, but that doesn't mean that you can't be strong if you don't have one. Didn't I just tell you about Sho-kun? He still can't see spirits, and neither can his brother Ryo, really, or Ed Phoenix for that matter. Most of the great American and European duelists don't do it either. There's Jonathan Labounty, Martin Billay-"

"I get the point! Being unable to see spirits doesn't necessarily mean that I'm always going to suck at dueling," Achan broke in, "But if that's true then why is it that Tacey can see spirits and I can't?"

"Same reason you're a guy and she's a girl: you were born that way. I'm not kidding. I've done a bit of research, and as far as duel spirits go there are two factors. First, you've got to have great strength or potential for great strength. Second of all, you've got to be born with the ability or have some way of duplicating it. That's about all there is to Duel Spirits," Judai replied, "Just a matter of whether you're born with it or not. There's also some amount of predetermination, since the duel spirits people meet are almost always ones that match their inner personality. That really doesn't explain Manjoume and those Ojama Brothers of his, but you get the point."

"So... this whole duel spirit thing doesn't really matter?" Achan asked, a new edge of hope in his voice.

"Pretty much," Judai replied, "Pretty much."

"In that case, I'm going to go back and kill Tacey." Achan replied, marching towards the hospital. Once again, however, he was arrested by Judai's hand. "Now what?"

Achan stared in awe at the tickets held in Judai's hand. "Manjoume and I won some sort of contest," the red-blazered duelist explained, "And we got four tickets to the new Broadway smash hit The Duelists. Anyway, we were planning to go with a few friends, but they canceled so we had two left over. Anyway, when we found out that you two were the only two team members left at the hospital we figured we may as well invite you. So, what do you say?"

In his heart, a small part of Achan remembered that this wasn't just a tournament. It was a vacation as well. His focus and willpower crumbled. Forget Tacey, he had always wanted a trip to Broadway. Why not? Reaching out, he accepted the tickets. "Why not?"

"Alright! Let's go!" Judai yelled, grabbing Achan's arm and racing ahead, pulling the hapless teenager in tow behind him. It was really rather amazing the speeds that one could attain on foot...

OOC: Manjoume has the other two tickets, BTW. And yes, I just made an Abridged Series and an actual real-life TCG reference in the same post. Kudos to whoever finds both first and points them out in the OOC thread. XD

 

[Alter Ego]

"Tacey, that was horrible of you."

"I was just joking." the rich girl replied to her duel spirit's accusing look, folding her arms defensively, "It's not my fault that Smith is such a big crybaby."

She knew her annoyingly goody two-shoesy extradimensional figment of imagination had a point, but she would absolutely not admit it.

"You know you need to apologize." Pikeru said at last.

"I most certainly do not!" the girl huffed, "It's not like he's apologized for stalking me."

"Well it's not like you apologized for trying to break up the team behind his back."

"That's different! It's..." Tacey made a few vague hand gestures, "Well, it's just different, alright?! I'm not going to grovel for Smith!"

"Are you two done?"

Manjoume's passively annoyed voice interrupted the argument, both arguers turning their respective glares to him instead.

"Trust me, I have nothing against you making an ass of yourself in public." the black-blazered duelist continued, casually ceasing to lean against the wall and taking a few lazy steps towards the door, "But this is getting boring."

"Oh, and I suppose you've got something better to do?" Tacey retorted.

"As a matter of fact, I do." Manjoume replied, flashing a pair of tickets in his hand, "Won tickets for some big Broadway hit, actually. I was really going to invite...someone else, but since they were busy and I've got a ticket to spare, I guess you can tag along." he paused, "That is if you can make your self-righteous little spirit chum shut her yap."

Pikeru scowled, "Why I never-!"

Tacey gave the boy in front of her a critical glance. On one hand, he had been very rude to interrupt her private conversation like that, but on the other...a smile crept up on her face, broadway was broadway, and it sure beat Pikeru's lecturing.

"Alright." she replied at last in her most dignified voice, striding over and snatching one of the tickets from Manjoume's hand, "You've got yourself a date."

"What?!" the black-haired duelist spluttered.

"Ohh...you're such a smooth operator, boss!" his yellow little gremlin cooed, spawning out of thin air with a conspiratory grin on his face.

"When a boy asks a girl to go out with him, it's called a date." Tacey explained matter-of-factly, snatching the protesting teen's arm in her standard vicegrip, "Do I really have to hand-walk you through this? Come on now, we don't want to be late. As for you..." she cast a haughty glance at her suits, "I expect outmost discretion on your part."

"Yes, miss." Rufus took up the queue, the others chiming in, and though their eyes were concealed, their expressions all stated the same message loud and clear: 'rather you than me'.

"This is not a date!" Manjoume wailed, struggling in vain to get out of the girl's grip as she hauled him towards the door.

"Oh, don't be so bashful about it." Tacey scoffed, "You're the one who asked me out."


OOC: I pity Manjoume, that's all I'll say. Sorry, I just couldn't resist... xD

 

[Scarlet Weather]

"Faster Sumisu-kun! We have to be at the theatre in thirty minutes!" Judai exclaimed, exuberantly as always, dragging his hapless team mate behind him.

"Hey, stop pulling! And call me Achan, already!" Achan replied, attempting futilely to keep up with the older duelist's step.

Judai shook his head. "We stop for no man! Or woman for that matter!" he annuounced, marching forward.

Achan felt like screaming. Jeez, this guy was a regular energizer bunny! Every step he took, it was like he had more energy! Then something occurred to him. "Judai, can I ask you a question?" he inquired.

"Eh?" Judai slowed his pace momentarily. "What is it?"

"Who were you planning to go with before?"

"Oh, that?" Judai chuckled. "Just some friends from back in our Academia days who were taking part in the tournament, but they cancelled at the last second. Something about one of their team mates getting beaten by a girl and having a nervous breakdown or something." He scratched his head, confused. "Couldn't remember who they said it was, though."

Achan had his own suspicions about what was happening there, but then something clicked. "Wait. You said they were involved in the tournament and they were in school with you, so that means they're-"

"Pros." Judai finished with a smile, "Pros registered with the IDF. They took time off for the tournament, but Manjoume-kun and I had both spent our vacation time involved in... something else." His face darkened momentarily, his eyes taking on a slightly melancholy quality that had seemed foreign to them before. Before Achan could ask what he meant, the duelist shook his head and was back to all smiles. "Oh well, it's in the past now, and we're getting to take part in the tournament anyway! So don't worry about it!"

Achan could tell that his companion was hiding something, but pursuing it right now was a bad idea, especially since Judai made the announcement. "We're here! Wow, must have been closer then we thought, Sumisu-kun!"

"Achan!" the younger duelist corrected automatically, staring at the massive theatre which was Broadway, home to and birthplace of some of the finest musicals ever performed onstage.

"Got your tickets?" Judai asked.

Achan smiled gratefully, nodding. "Yup!"

"Well then, we're going in!" Judai announced, and before Achan knew what was happening he was through the double doors and beside a ticket line, awaiting the arrival of his other team mates.

Meanwhile, from the shadows, an unseen assailant watched and waited, pausing only to take a bite from a handy granola bar. Judai would be his, he knew. After all, hadn't the master told him so?

 

[Alter Ego]

OOC: Whooo! Finally finished watching the third season of GX (Yubel is hands down the best villain in the whole freakin' series. <3). And yes, the Yubel/Yudai fusion is indeed 100% canon, it does make sense...well, as much as anything makes sense in YGO, anyway. If you need any info on stuff that happened in the third season, just ask. I couldn't find fansubs for everything, but I get the general gist of what was said there. :3

IC:

"I hate you."

There seemed to be no reaction from the purple-haired girl as she continued hauling her older captive through the streets, only gracing his indignant remark with a brief turn of her head.

"Did you say something?" she inquired, "Don't mumble; it's very impolite."

"I said-" Manjoume began indignantly, but his female tormentor was not about to give him that much maneuvering room.

"Oh, look, we're here." Tacey trilled, beaming at the front of the theater, "And just in time too." she cast a disapproving glance at the line inside before coughing ever so slightly, the four suits in the background following their given queue and wandering inside, clearing a path through the protesting people in the routined manner of men who had been in this situation countless times before while the rich girl nonchalantly hauled her involuntary escort through the created gap. It was then that she spotted two strangers in the crowd who turned out not to be strangers after all.

"Ahh, Judai and...Smith." she barely acknowledged the latter's existence, "What a coincidence that we should meet here. Try not to have another outburst during the performance, will you?" the last remark was aimed at Achan.

"Yeah, the boss is on a date." Ojama Yellow added, though he was clearly addressing Judai, the conspiratory grin not leaving the duel spirit's face for a second.

"This is not a date!" Manjoume protested, his face deep red and his eyes sending over a 'don't you dare laugh' to his fellow mercenary as he made another vain attempt at dislodging his arm from Tacey's unyielding armhook.

"I'll admit that you've done a poor job at it thus far." the girl riposted in an oh-so-understanding voice, "But that kind of chidlishness isn't helping matters. Now why don't you try to act more like a gentleman and less like an insecure little schoolboy and try to make these plebeians move a little faster? This line is being awfully slow."

 

[Scarlet Weather]

OOC: Sorry for lateness. Last night I had my first debate meet, so I was away from the computer for a while. XD

IC:

"What? No 'I'm sorry I tried to assert superiority even though I'm clearly not dueling goddess of the world'? Tacey, you really know how to get on a guy's bad side. I don't care how awesome you are at dueling, you don't get to mistreat me." Achan spat, staring at the recently arrived Manjoume and Tacey. Then something struck him. Tacey had her hand looped around Manjoume's arm, and the older duelist didn't seem to happy about it. Apparently, even people that Tacey liked didn't enjoy her company. Achan smirked, pointing at the two. "You don't have a crush on Manjoume or something, do you Tacey?"

"This is not a date!" Manjoume protested. Achan chuckled, thinking the remark was directed at his comment before realizing that the black-coated duelist was speaking to Judai, who seemed to be attempting to restrain a giggle fit that would quite possibly overrun the entire theatre. Achan could see the situation here: Manjoume had probably produced the tickets, and Tacey had jumped on it for whatever reason, taking him as her official escort. Knowing her, she was probably just doing it to spite him. The situation was like something out of a bad sit-com. Judai and Achan faced each other, and then, unable to hold back, both burst out laughing, causing no small number of heads from the line to turn and stare at them. As soon as he realized the scene he was causing, Achan allowed his laughter to peter off, but Judai seemed to be completely unable to stop chuckling. At last, however, his laughter ended and he turned to face something in the air beside him, something completely invisible to Achan. The teenager groaned- it was probably another duel spirit thing.

Judai kept his attention on what appeared to be a brown puffball with large yellow eyes, green feet, and angelic wings. The tiny creature, apparently his duel spirit, frantically attempted to get Judai's attention, yelling Kuri! Kuri! in a high-pitched voice as it pointed towards an "inconspicuous" boy standing in the corner, a boy who appeared to be of possible Romanian descent decked out in what could only be described as the attire of a stereotypic goth, aside from the total absence of black make-up.

"I see him, don't worry." Judai muttered to the flying creature. "Keep calm. I'll take care of him now."

Kuri, kuri? the spirit questioned, fluttering inquisitively.

Judai smiled, apparently able to understand the spirit. "I'll make sure he's taken care of. I'm here to protect this team, remember?" he muttered under his breath, before suddenly turning to Manjoume and slapping his forehead. "Ah! I completely forgot to grab my program!" he exclaimed, winking furtively at the other duelist, "Hold my place in line, will you? I'll be right back." With that he dashed off, leaving Achan wondering why Judai was so excited about this program in the first place.

The kid was still skulking as Judai grabbed his shoulder, pulling him behind a column conveniently placed nearby. He smirked, removing a deck from his pocket. "You knew I was there?"

"In all fairness, you're not all that hard to spot," Judai replied, scratching his head sheepishly. "I mean, it was pitifully obvious you were tailing me."

Mechanically, the goth kid shook his head. "That does not matter," he replied in a monotone voice, "What matters is that I carry out the master's wishes. And Yuki Judai, he wishes me to take you and to seal the demon in your soul away for good."

"Not gonna do you much good, since that 'demon' you're talking about happens to be fused with my soul right now." Judai replied viciously, his eyes taking on an eerie quality that hadn't been visible before. "You must be pretty dedicated to follow me all the way from the hospital though, especially when I used Yubel's power to pull myself ahead."

"I see. You were only anxious about coming here because you wanted to protect that Smith person." his opponent fired back, equally angered. "And now that you no longer need to worry about him?"

"We can duel," Judai replied, pointing to the doors. "But not in here. I'm not getting innocent bystanders involved in a shadow duel."

The goth duelist nodded, before removing a necklace adorned with a crucifix image from where it had rested earlier beneath his clothing. "Agreed," he replied nonchalantly, "I'm fine as long as I am allowed to face you, as per my master's orders. You choose the location."

Judai grinned. It was not a grin typical of the persona he had displayed earlier, however. This smile seemed to be one of charged excitement fused with anticipation of the destruction of a powerful rival. His eyes were gleaming now, revealing their distinctive bright green and orange coloration. "Follow me," he replied, motioning towards the doorway.