CARD GAMES

[Alter Ego]

Tacey gave a little martyr's sigh as both Achan and Judai burst into uncontrollable laughter, "I hope you realize that you're both being terribly immature." the fourteen-year old remarked to the late-teenagers she was forced to share her team with, "Manjoume asked for my company and I was courteous enough to grant it to him." she nonchalantly stamped the black-haired duelist's foot as he attempted to voice a protest, causing it to dissolve into a sharp yelp of pain as she focused her glare on Achan's eyes, "Besides, Smith; whoever I have or don't have a crush on is none of your concern, so I'd appreciate it if you stopped trying to pry into my personal life. I swear, if I catch you stalking me again I shall-"

It was then that Judai's furry complement appeared, creating quite the racket in the process. The creature was cute, Tacey gave it that much, but it looked a bit too soft and fluffy for battle; probably monster or tribute bait at best. The creature was currently at work with fervently pointing out a certain person in the crowd, so Tacey's gaze was naturally led to the same direction as Judai's, the latter soon excusing himself under the pretext of getting a program.

Tacey raised an eyebrow in suspicion, turning to her captive escort, "Alright, spill it." she said bluntly, "What's Judai up to?"

"Getting a program." Manjoume retorted, "What? Am I supposed to be a 'gentleman' by listening for you too?"

"Very grown." the girl retorted levelly, "I meant what is he really up to? This is not Smith you're talking to; I saw how worked up that little puffball of Judai's was and I'm not stupid enough to buy into that cheap program excuse. But by all means, keep that cheap facade up..." she leaned over to whisper the end of her message into Manjoume's ear, well away from prying plebeians, "...and we can get back to our date."

Needless to say, Manjoume's face didn't turn any sunnier as Tacey pulled back, leaving the black-blazered duelist to weigh his options.


OOC: Okay, yeah, I had no idea as to whether you want the others to catch on to Judai's little dueling escapade or not, so I'll let you do Manjoume's response. :3

 

[Scarlet Weather]

Achan listened indignantly as Tacey interrogated Manjoume. "Hey, I don't appreciate the bashing," He chimed in, slightly red in the face, "It's pretty obvious that a program wasn't what he's after. I'm holding his program and mine right now." He waited for a moment to gauge his team mates' responses but both seemed preoccupied with a private conversation, Tacey going so far as to whisper something inaudible into Manjoume's ear. Achan was, however, able to catch the word 'date' at the end, and judging by Manjoume's reaction, it was probably a case of classic manipulative blackmail.

Psst! Idiot!

Achan felt his imagination tugging at his conscious thoughts as an image of the Vampire and Hero, his own personal metaphor for his process of thought, emerged in his mind's eye.

The Hero, hands on his massive blade, held out his hand to Achan. Hurry up and help Manjoume out of this! It's obvious that Tacey's tormenting him, and whatever Judai's doing isn't any of our business! We've had enough trouble with secret meetings today already!

The Vampire hissed and countered the Hero's statements. Hold on there! Jeez, Achan, what are you thinking? This could be your chance to find out something about your team mates! It can't hurt, right?

Slowly, Achan leaned towards the Vampire's suggestion, just as the Hero broke in.

I hate to resort to this, but... the mental image seemed to say to Achan, If you go with your base desires, Tacey's going to benefit!

Achan snapped back to reality. True, he wanted to find out more about Judai, but he couldn't just let Tacey screw around with the rest of the team. This was his chance to assert whatever authority he had, and his only shot at getting back at Tacey. No way was he going to let this team become a monarchy with Princess Tacey at the throne. Hastily stepping between Manjoume and Tacey, the redhead extended his arms, the universal symbol for "shut up for a moment and listen", before launching into his rebuttal of Tacey's questions. "First of all, whatever's going on here is Judai's business, second of all, you've been meddling in other people's affairs enough already, Tacey, and third, blackmailing someone is pretty much illegal no matter where you're from."

Manjoume, visibly relieved to have the answer dropped in his lap, joined Achan's protests. "Don't worry about what Judai is involved in," he replied, "And don't ask me either, because I'm not sure. I have a theory, and that's about it. I will say this: if Judai left us out of it, it's probably because it's a potentially dangerous situation. If you want details, ask him." He finished by giving Tacey an icy stare, and shooting off quickly. "Anyway, shorty here isn't the only one being immature. What do you call blackmailing and harassing somebody who's just given you a free gift, mmm?"

Achan's mouth dropped open in shock. For once, somebody agreed with him. A miracle had happened.

Somewhere Over The Rainbow...​

The Romanian duelist groused, his English tinged with a hint of a Slavic accent. "Remind me again why we're playing on the roof?"

Judai smirked, his face still an almost angry mask, resembling the calm before a storm. "I have two reasons. First, it's much more interesting then dueling in a back alley, and second, up here you can't extend your shadow territory enough to ensnare anyone else to blackmail me with." With that, the red-blazered duelist inserted his deck into his duel disk, before activating it. "Enough talk. Let's get this started."

"Agreed," his opponent replied passively, inserting his own deck into a KC duel disk that appeared to have been refinished with black lacquer. "And now, if you'll permit me to begin our fight..." he continued, before extending his hand to the sky. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, without warning, a burst of black smoke shot from the black-clothed combatant's duel disk, extending itself to build a dome of darkness over the battlefield. "For most of my opponents, I prefer to simply extend the powers my master has lent me into my field spells," the duelist continued, "But in your case, Yuki Judai, I suppose I can make a small exception." Making a few passes with his hands, the shadow duelist smirked as the mist formed into a dome of dark energy, encircling the two combatants. "As you've already guessed, this dome prevents anyone from entering into it, and it is completely soundproof. In addition, normal humans are completely unable to see us in it or the dome itself, so no worries about innocent bystanders. That is not my agenda anyway." With a self satisfied smirked, the shadow duelist assumed an agressive stance. "Shall we begin?"

"With pleasure," Judai replied, also smiling, "And permit me to make the first move."

Both combatants stared, the air around them charged with energy, before yelling the magic words. "LET'S DUEL!"

Duelist: Yuki Judai
Hand: Flute of Summoning Kuriboh, Neo-Spacian Aqua Dolphin, Premature Burial, Card of Safe Return, E-Hero Wildman

Draw Phase->>>>>>E-Hero Neos

"Ikuze! I draw!" Judai began, adding a card to his hand. Musing, he searched through the cards already available before selecting one. "I place one card facedown...." he said, inserting it into his duel disk and allowing the large image to appear before continuing, "And I summon this monster: Elemental Hero Wildheart!" As the duelist completed his statement, he was joined in battle by a large, grumpy looking figure who could only be described as an overly-buff Tarzan figure with long, black hair tied into a ponytail knot and an enormous sword strapped to his back. Nude from the waist up, the creature possessed a pair of strange, red markings inked on its pectorals, which, like the rest of its muscles, were insanely large. "I think that'll do me for now," Judai continued, "I end my turn. By the way, what's your name?" He asked, his eyes alight with a flame of pure excitement.

"My name is Nicholas," his opponent replied, his face inexpressive, "But that is of no importance. We are neither friends, nor are we likely to encounter each other once I defeat you. I draw," he stated flatly, removing a card from his deck, "And I shall activate the spell card Terraforming." A large image appeared on the field as a burst of green light shot from the epicenter of the dome's floor towards the edges, as momentary holograms of pine trees followed in its wake. "Next, I believe I shall activate this: the field spell Dark Sanctuary." Nicholas allowed a secret hinge in his duel disk to swing open before placing the card in it, transforming the interior of the dome of darkness into that of a dimly lit church, illuminated only by rays of ghostly light streaming through its stained glass windows. Above, a ghostly congregation of grey monsters fluttered with angelic wings, crying in sorrow as they did so.

Judai reared back in shock at the apparitions above him. "What is this? What have you done to those Duel Spirits? They never harmed you!" he demanded, his face burning with anger and his voice edged with disbelief.

"I have entrapped them to await judgement," his foe replied nonchalantly, watching the creatures swoop by above him. "My ability to create Yami no Games was specifically given to me not so that I could entrap human souls, but instead to deliver them from the demons they have given their hearts to. These monsters who you call 'spirits' are in reality beasts that draw the life force from human beings. It is the goal of all of us who duel in shadow to return these spirits to their own realm and destroy those who wish to abuse their power for their own purposes. And that, Yuki Judai, includes you." He finished by pointing accusingly at his opponent.

Judai was, at this point, consumed with what appeared to be anger. "Those spirits aren't 'demons'!" he denied vehemently, "They're people's friends and allies! True, they aren't human, but that doesn't mean that they're evil either!"

"You are mistaken, Yuki Judai. The fiends have entrapped your mind and soul as well. It does not matter. All will be made clear shortly," Nicholas replied, his face still a mask of inexpression. "And now to continue our duel, I will summon a monster of my own, a beast tamed by my master in order to entrap your fiends." Placing the monster upon his holographic device, Nicholas leveled his accusing finger at Judai once again. "I summon Dark Seraph Trumpeter!"

With a resounding crash, the stained-glass window behind Nicholas burst as a being whose body appeared to have been cut from purple-stained marble emerged into the room, its slightly frame covered with a dark-stained robe and its wings, black as night, unfurled. Tall as Wildheart was, the new monster towered above him as it lifted the black trumpet in its right hand to its lips, awaiting its master's orders. Nicholas nodded, and the beast launched itself into the air, wings beating furiously, as it fired a blast on its trumpet that caused every window in the church to shatter, as well as Wildheart, who burst into myriad shards with a mournful cry. Nicholas permitted himself a tiny smile as he watched the life point counter on Judai's duel disk dropp by six hundred points. "I end my turn," he announced.

Judai smiled the smile of a hunter as he prepared to bag an unsuspecting buck. "Don't think you're ahead of me just yet," he announced, pulling a card from his deck. "I draw."

Judai-LP 7400
Draw Phase- E-Hero Stratos

"I'll start by activating my spell card Card of Safe Return," Judai announced, placing the card into his duel disk. "This is a nifty little spell that gives me a card every time I special summon from the graveyard. And I'll give you a little grief to go with it." Placing a second spell card into the appropriate spot, he smiled as a massive card appeared on the field. "I'll activate Premature Burial, which allows me to pay eight hundred of my life points in order to special summon a monster from my graveyard. I think we all know what that means..." Judai finished his statment by pointing to the graveyard. "Come on out, Wildheart!"

At Judai's words, the Tarzan-like figure sprang onto the field again, brandishing his blade angrily. "And it just keeps getting better," Judai continued, as he drew two cards from his deck. "Are you ready for this?"

Draw Effect->>>> Torrential Tribute

"I'll place one more card facedown," Judai continued, adding one more face-down card image to his back row, "And I'll summon Elemental Hero Stratos from my hand!"

The frame of the large window which had previously existed behind Judai crumbled even further as a monster which appeared to be a man dressed in some sort of bizarre silver and blue jumpsuit smashed through. The man appeared to have heavily sculpted muscles, as well as a hang glider on his back that resembled a pair of jet-engine turbines held together with a piece of metal. His face was hidden by a gleaming, silvery mask which caught and reflected what little light remained in the dark chapel. Judai continued smiling as he addressed his opponent. "Stratos can wipe out one spell card on your side of the field for every Elemental Hero or Destiny Hero I have in play, so say goodbye to your Dark Sanctuary. Stratos, wipe it out with turbine flare!"

Stratos obeyed readily, allowing his turbines to begin rotating as identical funnels of wind were launched from them, destroying the entire sanctuary and ripping it from the field. Nicholas stared blankly as his monster burst as well. "I see you found Trumpeter's weakness," he said placidly. "He is particularly powerful for a level four monster, but requires the solace of his sanctuary in order to survive."

"That's usually the case with low-level monsters with that many attack points- there's always a drawback." Judai agreed, pointing at Nicholas. "Wildheart, Stratos, direct attack! Hit him with wild buster and turbine boost!"

Both Wildheart and Stratos complied admirably, launching themselves at Nicholas, who barely noticed their attacks, not even deeming it necessary to watch the falling life points on his counter. Judai smirked. "How about that, shadow duelist?"

"I've faced such odds before. This duel will be no different then the many others before it," Nicholas replied, his hand already poised to draw. "Do not become overconfident, Yuki Judai."

OOC: TO BE CONTINUED.....

 

[Alter Ego]

OOC: OMG! Major misplay! Card of Safe Return is one card per summon; not two. I mean c'mon, if it was two Zombies would be freakin' unbeatable instead of just brutal. ACC, I will have you know that I'm deeply disappointed by your lack of knowledge concerning a card so central to a dominant decktype of the metagame. O= *Smacks* Go do your children's card games homework. xP

IC:

"Blackmail?" Tacey echoed in a thoroughly offended tone, "I was just stating the facts, at no point did I threaten him." she glared at both of them, "Excuse me for not pretending to buy into Judai's cheap excuses. If he has personal business to attend to why didn't you just say so? I could respect that..." fat lie, obviously, but at this point Tacey's own mind was so wrapped up in proving the nobility of her character that she actually believed it at some level, "...but not treating me like some ignorant little child. And I don't need his stupid protection attempts either. In case it somehow slipped your mind, I already have plenty of people taking care of that." she gestured towards the suits - all of them still making a desperate attempt at melding into their surroundings.

"And you're fine with this?" she turned her assault to Achan, pointing her index finger at him as if it were a spear that she was intending to thrust through his chest, "You stalked me the moment I tried to conduct some personal business, but I suppose you're only keen on sticking that abnormally large nose of yours into my affairs?" the girl felt like exploding. This was not good, this was the complete opposite of good! Why couldn't the lout make himself useful even once?! "No, what am I saying...of course you're fine with it. You'd do just about anything just to spite me, wouldn't you, Smith?" she glared at him, giving a small score of mirthless laughter, "If it wasn't so twisted and pathetic, it would almost be cute. Looks like I was right after all: you are just a jealous, spiteful little boy. And you-" she was about to turn her verbal assault to Manjoume, but then seemed to reconsider, "No, I'm not even going to dignify your behavior with a comment. You're both horrible and I'm not going to spend another minute with either of you!"

With that, Tacey turned on her heel and began marching off, her head held high even as her face was flushed with anger and embarrassment. She didn't get to wander far, however, as the sleeve of a black blazer suddenly appeared in front of her, the arm occupying it and the rest of their owners' body and outfit located in their immediate vicinity as Manjoume coldly stopped her advance.

"Nice try." the older duelist said, "You're not getting to follow Judai and that's final. Now get back in line and try to act your age or we'll have to gag you."

Tacey was absolutely livid, "You wouldn't dare..."

"Try me."

The suits held their breath, staring at the showdown in awe along with the better part of the queue, but the black-haired duelist's expression betrayed no sign of fear or doubt as he stared down his furious adversary.

"You-" Tacey stamped her foot in frustration, "You're absolutely horrible!" with that she stalked back in the same haughty manner as she had attempted to depart, arms folded across her chest, "I'm going to file a complaint about you."

"I'm terrified beyond words." Manjoume deadpanned, earning an indignant harrumphing sound from the rich girl.

 

[Scarlet Weather]

OOC: It was either read metagame articles or research why America needs to get rid of the penny for debate. I went with the logical choice.

IC:

"I'm waiting," Judai said as he tapped his foot impatiently. Nicholas, the supposed duelist of darkness, was still lollygagging around with his next play.

"Patience, Yuki Judai. I need only to decide which of my cards to play." Nicholas countered, before selecting one. "I believe I shall set one monster..."

The gigantic card back materialized on the field, its sideways position indicating it was a defensive monster.

"And I shall activate the spell card 'Wings of Dark Angel', which allows me to special summon any Dark Seraph or Dark Cherubim monster from my deck providing that another monster is already on the field." Nicholas finished, inserting the card into its appropriate slot. A scattering of black feathers dropped from mid-air, before gleaming and solidifying into another marble-skinned being, this one much less impressive looking then his Trumpeter counterpart and wholly without armament of any sort. His raiment, however, was virtually identical. "This monster," Nicholas continued, "Is known as Dark Seraph. He may be weaker then most, but as long as he remains in attack position, he is completely immune to destruction through battle. I will now place one card face down, and end my turn." With that, he placed a final card into his duel disk and brought his turn to and end.

"Looks like I'm up, then," Judai responded, reaching for a card from his deck. "Let's wrap this up quickly!"

Draw Phase->>>>>Skyscraper 2-Hero City

A satisfied smile graced Judai's lips as he activated the field slot on his duel disk. "You like field spells, Nicholas? Here's one of my personal favorites. Go, Hero City!"

As soon as Judai finished speaking, the entire interior of the dome began to shake as a large, circular building with a red-domed top that gave it an appearance reminiscent of a large mushroom burst from the floor, followed by identical buildings of red, green, and yellow. Each building continued to rise until they towered over both combatants, creating the illusion that a futuristic city had appeared. The buildings seemed to gleam in anticipation. Judai was only too eager to explain his new field spell's effects to the opposition. "Hero City is a special favorite field spell of mine. Basically, if one of my Elemental Heroes is destroyed by battle, I get to bring it back free of charge during my next standby phase. And then, thanks to Card of Safe Return, I get a free draw every time that happens. Any questions?"

"Only one," Nicholas responded. "How do you feel about losing it?" Judai was about to reply when his opponent flipped his face-down. "Reverse Card, open. Dust Tornado!"

Judai's face fell for a moment as a burst of wind shot from the trap card, completely sweeping away the city he had just played. "Not a bad move. You're better then I thought," he replied not unkindly.

"As are you. I'm not usually picked to fight against pro-level duelists, on the other hand, so I suppose I was asking for that turnaround earlier." Nicholas responded flatly. "Carry on with your move, Yuki Judai."

"With pleasure," Judai grinned. "I summon Neo-Spacian Aqua Dolphin!"

The new monster appeared on the field in a burst of bubbles and immediately stood to attention. Its blue skin and dolphin-like head gave it a distinctly marine appearance, while its posture and body indicated some degree of humanity. The monster turned to Judai momentarily, crossing his finned arms. You sure know how to pick them, Judai. It said, rolling its eyes. This guy looks like a total nut.

"You have no idea how right you are," Judai replied, his face set grimly. "Could I get some help with removing whatever he's got up his sleeve?"

One Echolocation coming up! The dolphin replied before pulling back and releasing a stream of sonic waves from his mouth. Nicholas stared in surprise as the waves struck his hand, revealing the identity of each individual card.

"Neat ability, huh? While Aqua Dolphin is on my side of the field, I can choose any monster in your hand and send it to the graveyard, provided that it has fewer attack points than a monster on my field," Judai explained. "Since my most powerful monster is Stratos I get to snipe any monster with fewer than eighteen hundred attack points in your hand. And it just so happens that you have one- say goodbye to Dark Cherubim!"

Nicholas watched without reaction as the monster, which resembled a large, black-scaled alligator with several golden wings covered with eyes arranged along its back, exploded in a burst of white light as he inserted its card into the graveyard slot. "Is that all?" he asked, obviously bored.

"Well, not quite. See, when Aqua dolphin wipes out a monster from your hand you take five hundred points of direct damage. And I'm not quite done yet- Aqua dolphin, attack his facedown monster!" Judai commanded. The dolphin obeyed, launching himself at the facedown card before bringing down his arm on it with a gesture akin to launching a karate chop. The card buckled slightly before changing positions, revealing an angel with grey skin, wings, and robes, holding its arms up in a defensive block. The creature seemed to be a young girl who had apparently died in sadness, as tears ran down her face and stained the grey robe that was her only covering. Contrary to the depiction of most female duel monsters, this one appeared to be little more then five years old. Judai nearly balked in surprise. "What on earth?"

"Dark Seraph Miseres. She is by far the most useful monster in my deck," Nicholas replied, still wholly without emotion. "Were Dark Sanctuary still on the field, I could have destroyed either of your monsters merely by summoning her. However, her secondary effect is the next-best thing: while I have another Dark Seraph or Dark Cherubim in play, I may add a card to my hand." His statement finished, Nicholas completed the action he had just described before leveling his finger at his opponent. "Do you wish to attack again?"

Judai stared at the monster he had just attacked, as did his retreating Aqua Dolphin. Something seemed to strike him as he turned to Nicholas, his face a mask of anger. "Hypocrite," he accused, "You say that duel spirits are demons, but there's one in your own deck! What is she doing there if all spirits are evil? Tell me that!"

Nicholas laughed coldly. "If you are referring to Miseres, it is a subject best forgotten. Rest assured, she is completely at my mercy, not the other way around, as it is with you, Judai. Keep yourself from pitying her. She is no more then another card in my deck."

The angel continued to stare at Judai, tears streaming afresh from her eyes.

Judai had reached his breaking point. "You're dead," he muttered, before pointing at his opponent's monster. "Stratos! Wildheart! Attack Dark Seraph!"

"I assume I already told you that Dark Seraph is not destroyed by battle. Why bother attacking him?" Nicholas inquired, emotion still wholly absent from his voice.

"Because I, unlike you, know how to play this game." Judai responded. "Any good duelist would know that just because a monster isn't destroyed doesn't mean that you don't lose life points when it gets attacked." As he finished speaking, the Dark Seraph found himself on the receiving end of a massive downswing from Wildheart's blade, which, while it knocked him over, failed to destroy him. The moment he had pulled himself to his feet, a gale of wind from Stratos's turbines sent him reeling once again.

Nicholas barely noticed the dropping life points on his counter. "A good duelist, Yuki Judai, would have removed Miseres from the field. I could now tribute my monsters for a higher-level monster, you realize." he countered.

Judai lowered his gaze. "I don't want to bring more pain to an obviously tormented spirit," he replied, "Which you seem to have no qualms with doing. Aside from that, however, I did see your hand when I used Aqua Dolphin's ability, so I knew there were no high-level monsters in it."

"For the time being..." Nicholas replied levelly, "For the time being. I believe it is my turn."

-------------​

Achan stared at Tacey, who had unsuccessfully attempted to make her way past Manjoume. He should be happy that he had successfully one-upped her, and yet his heart wasn't really in it. Sure she had gone behind his back earlier, but did that really make his doing the same thing right? She had a point there. And wasn't doing something just to spite her lowering himself to her level? If these thoughts were all that prevented Achan from crowing in triumph he probably could have brushed them away, but something in Tacey's reaction had caused him to stop. For the first time, he had to consider the distinct possibility that Tacey Edgeworth was a fellow human being and, pompous and misguided though she was, she was no more immune to embarassment and having her feelings hurt than he was. Though he would never admit it, Achan actually felt a little sorry for her. In the same position, come to think of it, he would probably have gone after Judai if Tacey hadn't wished to do the same thing. Though he hated to admit it, Tacey was right. He really was an idiot, though it seemed a bit too late to do anything about it now... or was it? Achan looked closely at his program and made his decision. Tearing a page from the booklet, Achan removed a pen from his pocket and hastily scribbled the words 'I distract you watch' on it before forming the note into a crude minature paper airplane and launching it to Tacey. Without waiting for her reaction, he stepped between her and Manjoume. "Excuse me, Manjoume," he asked, careful not to mispronounce the older duelist's last name, "But why is it that Judai called you 'San-da'? Is that your middle name or something?" He made sure to keep his voice and face the picture of innocence.

((Take your pick- go or stay. Thought I'd throw you a curveball with this one. It also gives me a chance to draw out the duel another post, since I'm completely undecided as to how Nicholas is going to make a turnaround just yet. And yes, that spell card Nicholas played wasn't in the original Dark Sanctuary set, but I meant to add it so it's only fair that I do so now. XD))

 

[Alter Ego]

OOC: Decision time, eh? In all honesty, there's only one choice that Tacey would make in a situation like this so I feel inclined to go with it. xD

Oh, and I'm using some deducted abilities for duel spirits in this post so if you think there's something going overboard in this post, feel free to request edits. I'm just a bit stumped as to how Tacey's supposed to find an unnoticeable target. D=

IC:

Tacey was still seething with anger, but rather than wasting it on kicking and screaming like she wanted to, she had forced herself to maintain an air of dignity instead, merely standing with her arms folded and avoiding all eye contact with either of her companions to let them know how horribly she was being mistreated. Manjoume, of course, could not have cared less and it only served to further aggravate the rich girl. What was with this guy? He wasn't intimidated, he wasn't nice to her on account of her being a girl - and a very pretty girl at that, if she did say so herself -, and he didn't care about the fact that she was way richer and more influential than he would ever be. He didn't even have the decency to be jealous of her like Achan! Tacey was used to quite a wide range of reactions, but complete indifference wasn't one of them. She was used to getting under people's skins one way or the other, and her sudden inability to do so terrified her. Yes, though she would never admit it, this Manjoume was the first person that Tacey had ever feared. A lot of people had handed ridiculous threats to her, but this was the very first time that she actually had to consider the option of someone going through with it and the thought didn't sit well with her.

"Tacey!"

Pikeru's warning cry reached the rich girl just too late, a crude paper airplane striking her on the side of the head. Annoyed, Tacey snatched the projectile with every intention of giving its sender a piece of her mind, but then her eyes fell on the fragments of writing sticking out from between the folds. She may not have had many people to exchange such things with, but Tacey knew a secret message when she saw one. Quickly unfolding the the paper, her eyes widening in surprise at the contents. Sure enough, Achan was already busily at work chatting up with Manjoume and there were no other distractions to be seen. But...that didn't make any sense. Achan had been the one who objected to her leaving in the first place, why would he suddenly want to help her with it? Maybe this was some kind of trick to embarrass her further?

"Or maybe..." Pikeru suggested in a hushed voice to ensure that Manjoume wouldn't overhear, "He's trying to be nice."

"By helping out with cleaning the mess he himself got us in?" Curran retorted, "Yeah, what a regular gentleman."

"Everyone makes mistakes." Pikeru said levelly, "The important thing is that he's making amends for his one now. And didn't you want to go too? This is our chance."

The trio paused for a moment of silence, but then they nodded in unison. It was now or never.

Manjoume, meanwhile, was far too preoccupied by Achan's question to pay attention to the debate, "No, it's not." he replied, sounding slightly offended by the other's ignorance on this - the most important of all subjects - but it was soon covered up by a self-satisfied little smile. This was quite clearly a subject he wasn't shy about discussing, "But I suppose can't blame you for not knowing the difference, you being American and all. It's a title of sorts; I really just asked for the honorific 'san' originally-"

"Boss.."

"Later." Manjoume wave off Ojama Yellow's interjection, idly swatting at the gremlin who was tugging his blazer, "Considering that I was school champion of North Academy, it was only appropriate that I be addressed with the appropriate honorific. Some people, unfortunately, needed constant reminding on that point-"

"Boss..."

"I said later." the duelist hissed, decisively shoving his duel spirit aside, "So anyway, I'd correct them 'Manjoume-san da!.', you know, and the 'da' just stuck when I made my grand re-entry to Duel Academia. Hence, Manjoume Sanda." he shrugged, "It doesn't matter too much as long as they say it with the appropriate level of respect."

"Boss..."

"What?!"

The Ojama tumbled back in the air as Manjoume lashed out at him, requiring a few moments of regaining his balance before timidly pointing behind the black-blazered duelist's back. Irritably following the direction pointed out to him, Manjoume's gaze fell on a spot of empty floor, the realization of what he was seeing (or, rather, not seeing) sinking in as a stream of very colorful Japanese escaped his lips.

"When did this happen?" he asked as levelly as he could manage.

"A few minutes ago, boss."

"And you saw this?"

The Ojama nodded.

"So which way did she go?"

"Well, uh...she..." the gremlin twitched under Manjoume's intensifying glare, "Well, you see...the thing is...she has this really cute duel spirit...with this pretty red hair and..."

"And?" the tone of Manjoume's voice brought a glacier to mind.

Ojama Yellow blushed, "Well, she said she had a surprise for me, but"

Manjoume face-panned, "Let me guess...you'd have to promise to keep your eyes shut and not peek?" he finished.

The gremlin nodded timidly.

The black-blazered duelist sighed in irritation, "So much for the show, then." he scoffed, turning to Achan, "Come on, we've got to find your prissy teammate before she sticks her powdered nose into something that gets her hurt."

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

"I can't believe you actually did that."

"Can we please drop the subject?" Pikeru retorted, blushing slightly as her sister looked about to burst into another fit of uncontrollable laughter.

"Seduction...you of all people!" Curran couldn't control her inner mirth anymore, nearly tumbling over as she clutched her stomach in between the bursts of laughter before floating over to pat her twin on the back, "You're finally learning to live a little!"

"I only did it because I didn't want Achan's kind gesture to go to waste!" the white-robed princess retorted, her blush deepening, "It-it was a terrible thing so please don't make fun of it! What if that poor spirit gets into trouble? I should go back, and-"

"Hold it, little miss saintliness." Curran interrupted, grasping a firm hold of the other's hood and dragging her along through the air as they floated in front of Tacey, "Going back there now will only result in us getting busted. We agreed to go with this, so that's what we'll do!"

"But-"

"But nothing." the black-robed spirit interrupted, "Now stop being such a worrywart and help me get a fix on this energy, will you? There's something fishy about it."

"So is it his?" Tacey interjected, trying her best to keep her run properly ladylike as they proceeded up yet another flight of stairs. Just what was Judai up to holding a duel in such an unaccessible place, anyway? Couldn't he have taken it somewhere that didn't require going up this many staircases?

"Is my robe black?" Curran inquired rhetorically, "Of course I'm sure! It's right...here."

The wind went out of Curran's little rant as Tacey swung up the door to the rooftop, revealing...a rooftop. For a few moments, the trio just stared dumbly at the scene of nothingness in front of them, but soon enough two pairs of eyes turned to the black-robed princess.

"I'm telling you it's right here!" Curran insisted, "They're just hiding behind-" she paused, searching in vain for any kind of hiding spots on the theater rooftop, "Well, they're here!" she insisted, folding her arms in a manner reminiscent of Tacey's before turning to her sister, "You can feel it, right?" she insisted, "The duel energy? Come on, Pikeru; you're the clairvoyant one here, make with the spirit powers!"

"I..." for a few minutes, Pikeru peered intently at the continuously empty rooftop, her brow knitted in concentration. Just as Tacey was about to interject with an impatient question, however, the white-robed princess' face suddenly brightened in realization, "I get it!" she chirped, pointing at the continuously empty space in front of them, "Curran, look right...there, and then there."

Now it was her black-robed sibling's turn to have an epiphany, "Clever little sneak..." the spirit mumbled with a mixture of admiration and realization in her voice, "So that's the trick!"

"What is?!" Tacey demanded, annoyed to be the only one not getting it, "There's nothing there!"

"Look closer." Pikeru prompted, "Start with that part over there." she pointed towards the left-hand side of the roof, "Do you see that crack there? The one shaped sort like a 'y'?"

"Yes."

"And that place on the opposite end of the roof where a bird has...you know?"

"Yes, I know." Tacey replied evenly, "What's your point, Pikeru?"

"Look at a point between them. Any point where you can't see either of those."

Still nonplussed, Tacey did as she was told, the obvious realization striking her only a moment later.

"I..." she squinted her eyes in disbelief, "I..."

"Can't do it." Pikeru finished triumphantly. "Which means that there's an illusion there that keeps your eyes from focusing on whatever is between those two points."

"Now aren't you glad you have us?" Curran chimed in, "I told you this was the right place."

"But...that doesn't make any sense." Tacey persisted, staring at the sight - or rather, lack thereof - in front of her, straining her eyes in a vain attempt to see the numerous meters of roof which, common sense told her, had to be located somewhere in front of her, "There's no such thing as magic and-"

"Little fairy creatures no-one but you and a few others can see?" the black-robed spirit suggested.

"Good point." the rich girl conceded, taking a deep breath as she tried to come to terms with this change in her understanding of reality, "So assuming that Judai and some other guy are there, dueling invisible and inaudible, what are we going to do about it?"

"I say we put their little parlor trick to the test." Curran said, "Onward to the barrier!"

"Are you sure that's such a good idea?" Pikeru interrupted, anxiety evident in her voice, "I-I don't know about this, Tacey. I really don't know what kind of power could do something like this, but I have a bad feeling about it. There's...there's something horribly wrong here." she gave an involuntary shudder as she stared at the illusion field.

"You always have a bad feeling, you big scaredy-cat." Curran scoffed, "We've gotten this far so we might as well go all the way with it. Come on, we're better than some silly spell!"

"Tacey..."

The rich girl swallowed hard, staring for a moment more before finally coming to a decision. "We're going." she said, bracing herself, "But wait...how do we get there if I can't see where I'm going?"

"Oh, that's the easy part." Curran replied, seating herself on the girl's left shoulder, "We know it's right ahead of us, so just shut your eyes and walk straight forward. We'll tell you when there's something worth seeing."

"If...if we're going through with this then that's for the best, yes." Pikeru conceded, settling on the shoulder opposite to her twin's one, "But Tacey, let's be really careful, alright?"

"Right." Tacey replied, taking another deep breath as she shut her eyes, feeling slightly helpless as she began wandering towards the invisible barrier and dearly hoping that neither spirit was sleeping on the watch.


OOC: Oh, and just as a small note: I based the 'clairvoyance' remark about Pikeru on the card "Pikeru's Second Sight"; that's a fair enough justification, right? Aaaand I have no idea what the barrier thing would do if someone walked into it (I mean, is it just a solid block or something sneakier) so it's your show. xD

 

[Scarlet Weather]

OOC: Actually, you just gave me a huge out. And no problem with Pikeru and Curran- I mean, so far in the fourth season we've had people with hypnosis, pyrokinesis, and teleportation. And that's from a spirit who isn't even remotely connected with fire. I don't think that it's god-moddish to give a magician clairyvoyancy. And as for people not being able to see the barrier, you'll notice that I said normal people. I figured that you might catch that hint, since I originally intended it to be visible to people with duel spirits. Ah well, not like that was a plot point or anything, and I like your way of working around it better then mine. Don't worry about editing, just carry on. [/OOC]

As Nicholas drew his card, his hand stopped. The Romanian duelist looked up from his hand irritably, glancing around as if a fly or some other annoying insect had entered the room. "Who at a time like this..." he muttered.

Judai paused as well, as if an icy hand had clapped itself onto his shoulder. "What on earth..."

Nicholas met his opponent's gaze. "This is not good. Somebody is trying to penetrate the barrier," he answered, "Apparently we are not as invisible as I thought."

I sense another Spirit... Aqua Dolphin muttered, shaking his head sadly. Who would be dumb enough to enter a barrier like this one?

"What do you mean?" Judai inquired of his spirit, scratching his head in puzzlement.

The fishlike creature narrowed his eyes before meeting Judai's gaze. You're perfectly capable of figuring that out yourself, Judai. Just look at it!

"I've been looking at it since the duel began, though," Objected Judai, "And I still don't get what you're saying here."

With a sigh, the duel spirit nudged him. I meant look at it with your other eyes, he replied.

Understanding the statement at last, Judai folded his arms across his chest, careful not to damage the cards still clutched in his right hand. Slowly, he allowed himself to descend into the depths of his soul in order to pull the energy required for his powers to the surface. Locating his center at last, Judai opened his eyes revealing once again their heterochromatic qualities and their strange glow. One eye green, the other orange, he stared at the dome. "Weird... it looks like the energy is linked to something..." he murmured, "And that something is..." Judai's eyes immediately zeroed in on Nicholas's duel disk. "This barrier... it's a part of your Dark Sanctuary spell, isn't it?" He asked.

Nicholas nodded, frustrated. "Unfortunately, that is so. But spell cards cannot create energy on their own for tricks like this, so I am forced to borrow power from... other sources." His eyes swept across the back of the still-sobbing form of Miseres, who looked back at him momentarily before bursting into still fresher tears. For a moment, Judai thought he could detect a pang of guilt on his opponent's face before Nicholas turned back towards him. "Aside from the energy of captured fiends, the barrier also has one regrettable side-effect: anyone who touches it will have their life-force drained. That's why the illusion is built in- to stop idiots from wanting to come near it." He muttered something inaudible in a foreign tongue, before waving his hand. "I suppose I have no choice..." he murmured as the barrier reverted to a cloud of black smoke before collapsing in on itself and returning to the duel disk, just as Tacey stumbled onto the field. Nicholas stared at her nonchalantly before returning his gaze to Judai. "Friend of yours?"

"I guess you could say so," Judai replied, his gaze equally level. "She's one of my team mates."

"Is that so?" Nicholas responded, his voice completely casual. He paced for a moment, before finally bringing his gaze back to Judai's face. "I'm afraid that our duel will have to wait. My intention was to strike you alone, where no innocent bystander could be hurt." He turned to Tacey, apparently completely oblivious to the spirits resting near her. "Young woman, next time, don't interfere in my affairs. I'm afraid some of my colleagues are less forgiving of interruptions." With that, he prepared to hit the deactivation button on his duel disk.

"Hold it right there."

Judai's voice arrested Nicholas, who turned to face the Japanese duelist again. "Yes?"

"Our duel isn't over yet." Judai replied, his face still set angrily. "Forget the shadows and your master. I want to finish this out."

"Fine, I suppose," Nicholas replied, returning to his original position. "Though I have to say, this is most inconvenient." With a wave of his hand, the barrier was restored, this time with Tacey caught between the two duelists. Nicholas continued, not noticing her now that she was no longer in potential danger. "I was about to tribute Miseres and Seraph in order to summon a monster. Yuki Judai, prepare to meet your fate at the hands of Dark Seraph Abidos."

Judai could only stare in horror as the still crying Miseres and her Dark Seraph counterpart dissolved into particles of energy which floated in the air momentarily before being struck by a bolt of energy which condensed together, crackling with power, to form a tall, powerful-looking figure. Like the other Seraphs, this one was covered in a black robe. His hair, however, was entirely different. The golden sheets of it dripped down the back of his head like rays of sunlight as he raised a large, vicious looking black spear into the air and roared in triumph. "The funny thing about Abidos," Nicholas explained, "Is that he doesn't like being alone. In fact, If Abidos is the only monster on my side of the field, he gets to destroy any two of your monsters. Yuki Judai, say goodbye to your Stratos and Wildheart." As Nicholas finished his statement Abidos leveled his javelin and launched it at Judai's monsters, releasing a bolt of energy that immediately consumed them. "And now I believe I shall wrap this up: Abidos, attack Aqua Dolphin!"

Judai watched as Abidos leaped forward, impaling his monster in mere moments. He was forced to avert his eyes as the monstrous angel allowed Aqua Dolphin to fall from the spear before stamping on him, reducing the creature to nothingness. "Not a bad turnaround, for an amateur." Judai conceded. "But this time it's your turn not to get cocky. My move.

Duelist: Judai
LP: 4100
Draw Phase->>>>>>>E-Hero Neos Alius

Judai smiled as he began his move. "I'll summon Elemental Hero Neos Alius!" he began with enthusiasm. The monster appeared moments after his statement was completed, a creature about the size of an average teenager wearing a strange, white jumpsuit covered with red lines that ran the length of the outfit. Blue, spherelike ornaments also seemed prevalent in the clothing's design, as well as a strange, hornlike appendage that graced the forehead of the suit. "And I'll be showing off a facedown of mine: Go trap card, Torrential Tribute!" Judai proclaimed, allowing the trap card to launch itself into the activation position, revealing its illustration. "Torrential Tribute destroys all monsters on the field, including your Abidos, so say goodbye!"

"I think not," Nicholas replied. "You see, Abidos is unaffected by trap cards. I'm afraid all you've accomplished is the needless destruction of your own monster."

Judai cursed himself for his idiocy while Neos Alius burst into white light before disappearing. Of all the stupid things to do, he had to have attempted a potentially two-sided attack on a monster he knew nothing about! "Does that thing even have a weakness?" Judai demanded.

"Abidos can only be summoned while Dark Sanctuary is only the field or in the graveyard, and only by tributing 'Dark Seraph' monsters. However, once on the field he tends to dominate." Nicholas replied, his face set grimly. "Make your last move."

"I end my turn."

"Good. Now I can begin mine, and end this duel," Nicholas replied, drawing. Shuffling through his hand, the shadow duelist selected a card. "I'll summon another copy of Dark Seraph."

Judai rolled his eyes as yet another dark angel descended to his opponent's field. "Anything else?" he asked sarcastically.

"Be silent when addressing your future conqueror, Yuki Judai. Now, both my monsters will be attacking your life points!"

"Not gonna happen," Judai countered. "Reverse Card open: Flute of Summoning Kuriboh!"

A flash of light illuminated the field as the spirit that had earlier followed Judai appeared on the field. Kuri, Kuri! It shouted, waving its tiny wings agitatedly.

Nicholas seemed bored. "Abidos, destroy that thing. As for you, Yuki Judai, I'm ashamed. All you've done so far is postpone the inevitable." As the shadow duelist finished his statement, Abidos's spear punctured Winged Kuriboh, destroying it.

"Well, you'd be surprised what one turn can do," Judai countered tenaciously. "My draw."

Draw Phase->>>>>>A Hero's Last Stand

Judai smiled appreciatively at his latest draw. "I place one card face-down and end my turn," he stated to his opponent, allowing the hologram to appear.

"Giving up so soon?" Nicholas responded as emotionlessly as ever. "I believe it is high time to end this duel anyway. I activate Premature Burial, allowing me to special summon Dark Seraph Miseres from the graveyard.

Judai's heart wrenched as the tiny form of the angel appeared on his opponent's side of the field, cowering in fright. "You're using her as insurance against Mirror Force, aren't you?" he accused.

"Precisely," Nicholas responded. "Now I declare a direct attack on you with all three of my monsters. Yuki Judai, meet your end by your own art."

Just as Abidos lifted his spear, Judai smirked and tapped the button on his duel disk. "Reverse Card open: A Hero's Last Stand!"

"I don't recall seeing that card before," Nicholas replied, genuinely surprised.

"The IDF is basically just a league of pro duelists that Pegasus uses for guinea pigs with these weird cards, so I've got access to a few that are still in the beta-testing stage. This card is one of them." Judai explained. "A Hero's Last Stand allows me to summon a monster from my deck, then force all of your monsters to attack it. At the end of your turn, my monster is destroyed. Any questions?"

"What monster are you summoning?"

Judai smiled and laughed. "Well, I think this would be appropriate. You called duel spirits fiends, so let me introduce you to the one real fiend in my deck. I summon Yubel!"

A burst of dark energy shot from the trap card, swirling with power as a form began to emerge. First came the muscular, clawed purple arm, followed by its counterpart. They were followed by a single, purple leg, devoid of any covering whatsoever. This leg, in turn, was followed by the creature's main body and the other leg, this one completely covered in what appeared to be black spandex, which wound around the entirety of the creature's body with the exception of its face, left pectoral, and right leg. The creature's face was strangely hideous and yet somehow attractive at the same time, though in a weird, creepy kind of way. The major distinctive features of its face were the large eye in the center of its forehead, as well as the spiky hair that ran down either side of its head, one side blue the other white. More impressive still then its main body were the dragonlike black wings, which it spread triumphantly, as if shielding Judai from harm. The creature's eyes, other then its middle eye, had been shut until this point. It was only when they opened that something familiary was revealed to all standing around it: the creature's eyes, like those of Judai, were heterochromatic.

Nicholas started back, as if frightened. "What fiend is this?"

"This fiend, as you call it, is me." Judai replied without a trace of emotion. "We are the same being."

"But I do not understand this. You are human. How can you also be a spirit? Explain yourself!" Nick demanded furiously.

"I would, but I'm afraid we don't have that much time. You see, when Yubel is attacked it isn't destroyed, and any battle damage I would normally take is given to you instead. End of the line." Judai replied, watching as the effect of his trap card caused the three remaining Seraphs to strike the creature he had just summoned, causing the life point counter on Nicholas's duel disk to drop to zero.

The dome vanished. Nicholas stared at Judai, who was still standing alongside the fading hologram of his duel monster. For a moment, the two images, duelist and monster, overlaid themselves as Judai gave his opponent the explanation he desired. "Yubel and I... we had a job to do, to defeat the forces that want to destroy the universe, but Yubel had... an accident and became possessed by it. In order to save Yubel, I fused the two of us together. That's why I said I was Yubel: the two of us are inseparable now." Judai chuckled for a moment. "To tell the truth, sometimes I wonder how much of me is still me, and how much of me isn't, you know?"

Nicholas stepped back, his face a picture of horror. "You... that thing? One being?.... this is... outrageous...."

"And this from the one with the dome of pure darkness." Judai fired back. "And I'd like my spoils, please."

Nicholas stared blankly. "What?"

"The Spirits trapped in your card. And your Miseres. Hand them over, right now, or I'll let you see just how angry a fiend can get."

Nicholas shook his head. "As for the spirits in the card, I'm afraid I can't do that. But you may take this..." he said, removing Miseres from his duel disk and tossing it into the air, "For a reward. It is no longer of any use to me." With that, he leaped from the edge of the roof.

Judai shook his head before turning to Tacey. "I assure you, there's a perfectly good explanation for all this..." he began, "And don't worry about that guy, he's not dead..."

 

[Alter Ego]

As she approached the thing she apparently couldn't see, Tacey began feeling increasingly anxious about the whole affair. For one, she was not the least bit comfortable about walking towards a gathering of unknown energy with her eyes shut no matter how many times she reasoned that opening her eyes wouldn't help anything. There was something else, though, a certain ominous chill that seemed to hang in the air, as if whatever lay ahead was draining the very warmth from its surroundings. The girl shed any thoughts of retreat from her mind, however. She was no coward and she certainly wasn't about to let some stupid illusion scare her off. That was what this was, after all, an illusion; all smoke and mirrors. No way was she falling for it.

As if on queue, an inconveniently placed crack in the roof picked this precise moment to snag the rich girl's right foot, sending her tumbling forward in a far from graceful manner.

"Oh, sugar!" Tacey swore, indignantly rising back to her feet and brushing the dirt off her clothes. The only good thing about this was that no-one was able to witness-

"Friend of yours?"

Tacey's inner monologue went through a wide assortment of most unladylike words as the implications of the indifferent question. Throwing the bit about waiting for feedback from her spirits to the winds, she opened up her eyes, only to see the person who had spoken - a goth kid that she found strikingly resemblant of Rurian, save for the cold fish manner and Romanian features - on one end of the little field and Judai on the other, the active duel discs on their arms and the holograms between them indicating that there was indeed a duel going on. The rich girl quirked an eyebrow at the conversation that followed, her expression turning even less pleased than before at the warning she received. Harm to innocents? From what? A children's card game? This guy was apparently an escapee from the happy hotel, and - if the way he addressed her was anything to go by - a clear dropout of the charm school as well.

"Interrupting what?" she scoffed, all of her anxieties over the situation suppressed by indignation towards this rude little boy, "A card game? You seriously need to get things into perspective, don't you know that-hey, are you even listening to me?!"

As the punk kid continued his conversation with Judai without even acknowledging Tacey, the answer to that question became quite obvious, "How rude!" the rich girl harrumphed, folding her arms.

"I'll say." Curran chimed in, her body language mimicking that of her host, "He didn't even acknowledge us!"

"I-I actually prefer it that way." Pikeru interjected, giving an involuntary shudder at the sight of Miseres, "Tacey, this person...he-he's capable of doing horrible things, so please...please don't try to annoy him on purpose?"

"Horrible things?" Tacey echoed sceptically, her attention clearly focused on the duel, "Come on, Pikeru. He's just a depraved card player. Besides, those cards of his don't look so tough. I can beat him any day if it comes to that. I mean I'd certainly do better than that." she indicated the last-ditch summoning of a Winged Kuriboh to Judai's field at this point.

Hinging the whole duel on a single topdeck, how foolish. What were the odds of him drawing...just what he needed? Tacey felt a sting of jealousy as she witnessed Judai playing a state-of-the-art not-yet-released card to turn the duel in his favor. It wasn't the card itself she was jealous off - such reckless strategies had never been Tacey's thing - it was the thought that someone could get a card that she couldn't that irked her. Who was this Judai, anyway? Rambling on about some kind of job to defeat the evil in the universe and fusing souls; such absolute rubbish! Didn't either of these two realize that this was a card game they were dealing with?! Okay, obviously domes of pure darkness weren't exactly normal, but there was probably just some trick to it; no way could anything that had just been said be true.

"Trust me, that's the least of my worries." Tacey remarked dryly as Judai proceeded to assure her that his opponent wasn't dead, despite having jumped off the theater's roof; considering the other things that had happened this day that was actually quite normal, "What was that about fusing with spirits and trapped souls just now? Why did you want that card so bad when you can't even use it without the rest of the set? Who was that guy? What was that black dome thingie just now? And why are you two treating children's card games like it's a matter of life and death? If you've really got an explanation for this then let's hear it." she folded her arms, "And it had better be a good one."

 

[Scarlet Weather]

Judai folded his arms as his spirit partner floated besides him, a buoyant, fluffy ball of energy. "Somehow I knew she'd ask that," he muttered to the spirit.

The tiny creature waved his arms frantically, pointing to the discarded Miseres on the ground. Kuri, Kuri!

"Oh, right! Can't forget that!" Judai agreed, stooping to pick up the card and add it to his deck for a moment. His task accomplished, the duelist turned to face Tacey, his face completely serious. "I have an explanation... but you may not believe me. I suppose I'll start with your easiest questions: I want Miseres because she's a duel spirit, and that... person I just defeated was hurting her. I'll explain my theories on that later. As for treating children's card games as a matter of life and death, in some cases they are.

"Listen carefully, because this story goes back over five thousand years, to before the land of Ancient Egypt. Long ago, spirits lived in a dimension separate from our own- twelve dimensions in fact. Each of these dimensions fought against a powerful force called the Light of Destruction, a force that seeks only to engulf the universe and destroy it. But one man possessed the power to defeat the light. That man was known as Haou, whose name means 'Supreme King' or something like that in your language. Haou held the power of the darkness of justice, an ancient force that kept the light of destruction at bay and purified those influenced by it. By wielding this power skillfully, Haou was able to keep the dimensions safe for many millennia. Though Haou was mortal, each time he died he would be reincarnated into a new body. Eventually, Haou was reincarnated into the body of a young child. Haou needed a guardian to protect him against the light of destruction, so a childhood friend of his sacrificed his humanity to become the being needed to guard against the light of destruction. His name became Yubel. Years later, Haou died once again, and was reborn into a human in this dimension.

"At the same time, this dimension had been brought into contact with the spirits of duel monsters five thousand years earlier through the power of the Sennen items. These seven objects possessed the dark power to seal spirits in slabs of stone and summon them to protect their wielder. I'm not sure what happened, but eventually a powerful pharoah wielding the Sennen Puzzle sealed the magic away in order to prevent it from getting out of hand. Eventually, Pegasus J. Crawford discovered the legend and, after attaining one of the seven Sennen items, transformed the ritual summonings of spirits into a game known as 'duel monsters'. Consequently, each of the duel spirits of old has at some point been transformed into a card. In fact, sometimes the process works in reverse these days. Anyway, one of these cards held the spirit of Yubel. Yubel had been warped slightly by the death and rebirth of the Supreme King, and its sadness caused it to become overprotective to the reborn Supreme King. Eventually, it hurt one of his closest human friends. This made Haou concerned, and he sent Yubel into space along with a monster of his own creation, unconsciously hoping that in space it would contact the source of the Darkness of Justice and free itself. Unfortunately, his own card made contact with the source, while Yubel collided with the Light of Destruction and was driven mad as a result.

"Years later, Yubel found a way to restore its body after crash-landing on earth. Using powers amplified from exposure to the Light of Destruction, it proceeded to attempt to make Haou feel pain. See, it was so insane at that point that it believed that in order to express its love for Haou it had to make him feel the pain it had experienced. Anyway, it ended up forcing him and his friends into another dimension. This dimension was one of the twelve dimensions that was home to duel spirits. Haou fought many battles against Yubel there, and some of his friends nearly died. Haou became evil himself for a short time. Finally, Haou and Yubel fought each other, and Haou's memories of Yubel returned. He came to grips with his identity as he faced Yubel one last time in a duel. As the duel built to its climax, Yubel activated a card powerful enough to combine all twelve dimensions into one, planning to rule them with Haou by its side. To its surprise, Haou chained another card to it in order to fuse their souls together. Then he returned to his own world. In case you haven't already guessed, that's my history in a nutshell. In order to save Yubel, I fused it with myself.

"Now, as for that guy I just fought: I don't know much about the Shadow Duelists. Okay, their name is technically 'those who fight in shadow', but that's beside the point. All I know is that they popped up a little while back and started making trouble. Their main goal, as far as I can tell, is to capture as many duel spirits as possible. The strange thing is that they all seem to have different reasons for doing so, but they all claim that their 'master' was the one who gave them the power to do those weird things like create those domes. Basically, when inside one of those things monsters aren't just summoned in hologram form. Those monsters were really standing there. Obviously, this makes duels a little more dangerous then usual. To make matters worse, when you lose in there the other person seals any duel spirits you have into some sort of receptacle. See, the thing about duel spirits is that in order to stay in this world they have to share duel energy with someone, so if your duel spirit vanishes you lose a good portion of your duel energy. Since duel energy is linked to our will to survive, it can really heavily affect people when their duel spirits are taken. Most people go into shock, like your team mates in the hospital. Others get depressed and sometimes commit suicide. It's understandable- I mean, imagine losing to the most idiotic opponent in the world by the highest margins imaginable and then magnify your feelings by a hundred. That's what it's like. Understandably, I want to get rid of these guys, but doing it is kind of a shaky business. And no, I can't just call the cops. Who would believe me? Only people who see duel spirits could see my proof." Judai shook his head sadly. "So, there's your explanation, Edgeworth-san. But in case you still don't quite believe me..."

Judai's eyes glowed momentarily as he held up the card Nicholas had just dropped. "I summon the spirit of Dark Seraph Miseres!" he intoned as he placed the card on his duel disk.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then the entire roof began to tremble as a strange, runic symbol appeared on the roof of the tower in front of Judai. A burst of light cut the sky as a small, huddled shape appeared in the symbol's center. The symbol itself then vanished, leaving only the figure. Miseres sat huddled on the floor, still crying. Suddenly, a flash of realization seemed to cross the face of the small seraphim as she straightened herself up, glancing around in surprise. The tears seemed to have stopped flowing for the moment.

Judai turned his gaze on Tacey, his eyes still glowing. "Go ahead and touch her. She's as physically real as you or I right now."

OOC: Yes, Judai can bring monsters to life for short periods in the anime, in case you hadn't had a chance to watch his rematch with Mr. T yet. And sorry if that post was too much dialogue. I'm one of those people who likes lots and lots of speech text so I can avoid describing my character's actions. [/laziness]

 

[Alter Ego]

OOC: Actually, I did watch it. (Mr.T...lawl, are they running out of original names, maybe? xD) Sorry for the posting delay, I just had to drag my muse out of sulking over the cold I got and it took a while. :3

IC:

Tacey's expression at the beginning of the explanation Judai presented could well have been classified as 'sceptical', but it was nothing compared to the one she was donning by the time the red-blazered duelist had made his way from alternate dimensions and reincarnating kings to playing cards gaining mystical powers from outer space and a duel spirit that had - at some time - apparently not been a duel spirit using a children's card game to fuse all of these alleged dimensions together only for its opponent to pull a sneaky counter-trap (apparently made for the sole purpose of countering this one specific move) and dramatically proclaimed himself to be a reincarnated king of old.

At this point Tacey would have been more than ready to inform the boy that he was spouting utter nonsense and that she for one would not believe a word of that drabble he had put her through and didn't he know that it was rude to lie to a lady, but Judai just droned on, now addressing the issue of the rude goth duelist and his wrist-slitting buddies. He was right about one thing, at least: no-one in their right mind would believe that kind of nonsense. Just as Tacey was about to give voice to that particular opinion, however, the red-blazered lunatic in front of him decided to top himself, stating that he could prove his words. The rich girl couldn't help staring in disbelief as Judai then proceeded to activate his duel disc, ceremoniously intoning that he'd be summoning the spirit of Miseres. As expected, nothing happened, after all; there was no way duel spirits - even if they did exist like she was now supposed to believe - could be summoned that easily. Why that would mean that the monsters in the cards could come out in duels too, didn't it? The very thought was absurd!

For a moment, Tacey just stared Judai as he proudly proclaimed that Miseres was as real as they were right now, as if expecting the weirdo in academy blazer to crack up into that roaring laughter of his and explain that it was all a joke. When no such thing occurred, Tacey reluctantly turned to Miseres. Sure, the hologram looked a lot more impressive than it had in the duel just now, but there was no way that could be anything but virtual reality. Why was she being so hesitant about touching it? Her hand would just go right through anyway.

Nodding, as if to convince herself of the fact, Tacey finally reached towards the specter in front of her, placing a hand on her ghostly arm while expecting it to go through, only to find that her hand indeed felt skin, somewhat cold skin, of course, but skin nonetheless. Maybe it was a tactile simulation too? Still not convinced, the rich girl experimentally prodded the arm a few times, only to find that her finger was stopped each time and - much to the horror of her common sense - even left a tiny mark on the grayish skin. With a slight shriek, Tacey backed off, staring at the spirit in front of her as if she had just seen a ghost.

"It's-" she mumbled, "...she's...she's really...but...how?"

"Tacey, try to show a little respect." Pikeru scolded, floating over to the spirit, and performing an apologetic little bow "I'm sorry about her, she's not really used to being able to touch spirits. My name is Pikeru, that's Tacey, and that-" she nodded towards her black-robed counterpart, who merely observed from a distance, "Is my sister Curran." the spritely princess gave one of her characteristic curtsies, "Pleasure to meet you."

"So it can actually touch things?" Curran remarked in the spirit's direction, "Lucky bug...how come that big crybaby gets the special treatment? She's not even that pretty! Come on, Tacey, make me like that too, don't tell me that you're worse than that second-rate Slifer-mmmph."

"Curran!" Pikeru scolded, duly clamping a hand over her protesting twin's mouth before giving both the people the latter had just insulted an apologetic smile, "So sorry, she didn't mean it like that."

"MMMPH!" Curran protested, struggling against her sister's grip.

"I..." Tacey was still dumbstruck, slowly turning to Judai as an idea struck her, "If you can really make duel spirits physically real then how come you didn't just show a spirit to the police too? They can't deny something that they feel, right? This-this just doesn't make any sense."

 

[Scarlet Weather]

"Edgeworth-san, we live in a universe where the fate of the world occasionally hinges on, as you called it, a children's card game. Nothing makes sense here." Judai replied, sighing and shaking his head. "As to why I don't bring this to the police, it's simple. I don't want to reveal more than I have to. If I go to the police, chances are that word will get out that Yuki Judai's spirit is fused with a being from another dimension. Honestly, would you want everyone to know something like that about you? You'd never be able to show your face in public without some overprotective mother whispering for her child to stay away, or for a man on the street to hurl a brick at your head? I'm a proffessional duelist, Edgeworth-san. If I let the public know something like this, my career would be over. Besides that, telling the police won't change anything. What are they going to do? Last I checked, bullets aren't exactly a useful method of stopping people who suck out your life force with ancient magical powers. All I'd be doing is adding a few more victims to the list. I'll stick with handling situations like this myself. What kind of a Supreme King am I if I can't prevent a little thing like a universal imbalance, after all?"

It was at that moment that Judai stopped, stunned as he stared at Miseres. The crying spirit had latched onto his leg, though it had long since faded from tactile existence. Don't let me go, please! it begged. Don't let him take me back! I don't want to go back! The being continued to cry, its tears leaving a very real stain on the leg of Judai's blazer.

The face of the pro duelist softened as he stared at Winged Kuriboh, who still hovered above his right shoulder. "What do you think, Anbou?"

The spirit lifted its wings slightly, its method of shrugging. Kuri, kuri! Kuri kuri kuri?

"I know that Manjoume is good at handling weaker duel monster spirits, but that doesn't mean he'll take care of every homeless spirit we ask him to! No, I can't just give it to him," Judai replied, before turning to Tacey's spirits. "Pikeru and... Curran, correct? Delighted to meet you," he stated, before meeting Tacey's gaze. "I realize you already have two spirit partners at the moment, but will you do me a favor and take care of Miseres until I find a suitable partner for her? I'm not all that good with female duel spirits, and you look like someone who has experience." Something then struck Judai. "By the way, Edgeworth-san, how did you get past Manjoume? Don't tell me. It was Sumisu-kun, wasn't it? Don't worry about it, I understand. You two were probably better friends then I expected after seeing you fight. I should have known that a pair of bright sparks like yourselves would pick up on the whole program excuse." Judai shook his head, sadly. "Well, now that you're involved, do me a favor and explain this whole thing to Sumisu-kun, and tell Manjoume that you already know about the Shadow Duelists? He'll be furious, but don't worry. Outside of challenging you to a duel, there's not really much he can do to you." Finishing his sentence, Judai stared at the sun, which had long since reached its midpoint. "I'll be staying here a while. I need to do some thinking. Alone."

 

[Alter Ego]

Tacey would have wanted to make a snappy remark about Judai's reluctance to come clean about the whole spirit fusion thing, but even the rich girl's mind was self-conscious enough to remind her that she had been doing the very same thing about Curran or Pikeru for several years now, and even though she had a future career as CEO over the family company to add weight to her situation, she could still understand where Judai was coming from.

Well, as much as anyone could understand that crazy person anyway.

That was...she understood him right up to the point where he decided to thrust Miseres onto her conscience as well, "But..." Tacey began, staring at the teary-eyed spirit as she rather reluctantly accepted the card whose occupant she was now expected to look after, "Doesn't this mean that I'll have to...you know...play her? That's so..." she gave the card a far from enthusiastic look; well that was just great. Of course Miseres had to be one of those extreme support monsters; worthless offensive and defensive power and an effect that did nothing outside of its chosen thematic. And that design. She had to suppress a shudder; there was just no way such a rag-tag creature could fit in with-

"Don't worry." Pikeru said, interrupting Tacey's thoughts as she hovered over to give the still crying Misers a sympathetic pat on the shoulder, "You'll get to shine and forget all about that horrible boy who did this to you. Isn't that right, Tacey?"

There was decidedly demanding tone in the white-robed princess' voice which caught both Tacey and Curran off guard. The rich girl and her black-robed spirit exchanged looks of astonishment; had little miss goody two-shoes just made a veiled threat?

"Of course." she said without much conviction, inwardly kicking herself for being such a softie, "You'll be a first class spirit again in no time. I've just got to..." she shot Pikeru a discreet glare, "...figure something out. Come on. We should not keep our teammates waiting."

"Whatever..." Curran muttered, her arms folded as she followed Tacey back down the staircases, "Just remember who the real duel spirits here are, stand-in girl."

"Typical." Pikeru scoffed, rolling her eyes as she lifted her hand off Miseres' shoulder and grasped her arm in a gentle but firm grip instead, "Don't mind those two. They just need some time to get used to you, that's all. Let's get moving, alright? And...Mr.Judai?" she briefly turned to address the red-blazered duelist, "Thank you for your trust. We won't let you down, I promise." she gave a quick curtsy before starting to escort her new companion after the other two.


OOC: So yeah...maybe it's time for an update on Manjoume's and Achan's situation? It would make the rejoining a lot easier. x3

 

[Scarlet Weather]

OOC: I happen to be spending the night in a hotel with Wi-Fi, so I get to make this post. Yay me! Oh, and slight bunnying of Manjoume in this post, so Gomen.

Meanwhile, Thousands of Miles Away...​

Achan was sweating bullets. Manjoume's gaze was piercing, and it was coupled by the unnerving fact that the debutante appeared to be preparing to break a blood vessel. Achan was forced to contend with the facts. He had just alienated a potential ally in his struggle for power. Not only that, but he had done it in order to help the person he hate quite possibly more then anyone on the planet. This turn of events beggered the question that Achan found himself asking more and more, recently. Why me?

"Excuse me, sirs, but you're next in line. Stubs, please?" A thin, high-voiced usher asked.

Achan winced at the shrillness of the woman's voice. "Sure, sure, just hold on a moment..." he replied, reaching into his pocket. To his surprise, all that he encountered was emptiness. Achan's mouth dropped open in shock. Quickly, he tried to remember where his ticket had gone. It was only then that he realized what he had done. The page of the program he had torn earlier had contained his ticket when he had tossed it, and he doubted a rich girl like Tacey would have kept such an insignificant object once she was through with it. Achan cursed his fate mentally, and with expletives that would have caused even the most hardened convicts to blush. Brilliant. Not only had he managed to get a guy who probably could've tolerated him before mad at him over Tacey, he was also about to miss out on the musical experience of his short but recently exciting life. Unless... didn't Judai say that there were four tickets? It stood to reason that Manjoume would be holding the other two. Slowly, Achan turned to Manjoume, who still seemed preoccupied with his failure to prevent Tacey from leaving. "H-hey...." he began nervously, "Do you have the tickets, or...."

OOC: Reallly uninspired at the moment. 0_o Anyway, Manjoume might or might not really be made at Achan. Perhaps Achan just reads the wrong thing from the big guy's expressions. Anyway, I'll leave it up to you to decide.

 

[Alter Ego]

OOC: Well, losing his temper sounds more like the old Manjoume, but he's matured a bit for the fourth season so I think I'll just have him be cold and mocking instead. xD

IC:

"Only one." Manjoume replied to Achan's remark in a tone so glacial that it would have put the Ragnarok to shame as he deftly procured the slip of paper from his pocket and presented it to the usher, "That stubborn little girl took the other one right off the bat, so you'd have to ask her about it-" his glare intensified again as he gave the red-haired duelist a last look, halfway past the usher, "Too bad she isn't around, isn't it?"

"Ohh...you're so witty, boss!" Ojama Yellow cooed, floating after him.

"Shut up." the black-blazered teenager retorted, swatting the spirit away and earning a confused look from the usher before he stalked out of view, leaving Achan in the hallway with a last "Try not to do anything more stupid."

Not too long after Manjoume's departure, the sounds of a poorly hushed conversation resounded from a nearby staircase. Well, that is to say that someone who could hear spirits would have heard a conversation, but to most it was just a solitary, female voice ranting to herself.

"Rule one." Tacey remarked in her usual authoritative tone of voice, her words directed towards the gray spirit by her side who was still being escorted by Pikeru, "As part of my deck you'll have to maintain a certain air of dignity. Back straight, chin up, and can't we do something about those clothes?" she gave Miseres' tattered rags a disapproving glance, "Well, I suppose we shall just have to make do for now. But correct that horrible stance, I refuse to let you look like a beggar in the middle of a duel. And can't you stop trembling? It's very unseemly and not at all fit for my Royal deck."

"She's hunching her shoulders again." Curran remarked with poorly masked glee.

"Stop it!" Pikeru snapped, "Miseres is doing the best she can so stop picking on her!"

"I was just pointing it out." the black-robed princess replied innocently, "No need to get your panties in a knot, Pikeru. If we're going to be stuck in the same deck as the servant girl we might at least teach her to act proper."

"And could you stop calling her servant girl?" the white magician demanded, "She's got a name, you know."

"I could..." Curran replied slowly.

"...but you aren't going to." Pikeru finished flatly, earning a grin from her counterpart.

"You're catching on, goat-girl." she replied, giving Pikeru a patronizing little pat on the head.

"Just try to hang in there..." the white-clad princess whispered to Miseres, rolling her eyes at her sister's antics, "They're already starting to get used to you. Trust me, it gets better later on."

This was perfectly true, Tacey - it seemed - had already gotten over her moping phase and far quicker than Pikeru had expected her to. The problem was that Tacey's phase of self-pity was always followed by the one of self-interest, so - having resigned to the fact that she would have to keep Miseres with her for now - the rich girl would now undoubtedly turn the poor spirit's existence into a royal hell until she had been molded to as close to a royal monster as possible, and Curran would no doubt be making snide remarks every step on the way. Pikeru cleared her throat, this situation called for a diversion:

"Tacey?" she inquired, forestalling a new stream of lectures from the rich girl as they trod down another flight of stairs. Well, that is to say that Tacey trod, the trio of spirit girls following her had the luxury of floating, "What are you going to say?"

"What, to Manjoume?" Tacey said, "That I know all about their little secret of course, what else?"

"No, not him." Pikeru replied, "I meant Achan."

"Smith gets to hear the same thing as I tell it to Manjoume. I'm not going to explain all of that twice."

"I meant about the way he helped."

Tacey's expression immediately hardened, her chin rising defiantly, "There's nothing to say about that." she grit out mechanically, her voice barely audible.

"But-"

"I said there's nothing and that's final."

"But-"

"Just drop it, Pikeru!"

The white-robed princess sighed in forfeit, shaking her head at her host's stubbornness, "Alright, then. But you know you should really say thank you."

Tacey seemed to be conveniently struck by temporary deafness at this point as she paid no heed to the last comment, merely wandering down the last flight of stairs between herself and the ground level with a particularly tall and dignified pose. The inner Tacey, however, was working herself into a frenzy over an obnoxious little sentence that kept playing in her head again and again:

'It was Sumisu-kun, wasn't it? Don't worry about it, I understand. You two were probably better friends then I expected after seeing you fight.'

Tacey grit her teeth. Her hands clenched into fists without her even telling them to. Judai was stupid, absolutely stupid.

'You two were probably better friends then I expected after seeing you fight.'

How could anyone even think of something that stupid? She hated Achan and Achan hated her. Hate, hate, hate that was all there would ever be to it! What did he think he knew? Stupid supreme king upstart, no way could he know more about either of them than she did.

...right?

'Friends.'

"I won't have it!"

Tacey's sudden exclamation, punctuate by a loud stamp of her right foot, sent both Curran and Pikeru backwards in shock.

"Won't have what?" Pikeru inquired, cautiously approaching the rich girl again, "Tacey, are you alright?"

"Is servant girl finally getting kicked out?" Curran suggested hopefully, receiving a discreet little kick in the shin from her continuously innocent-looking twin.

"No, it's..." Tacey quickly swept the room with her glance, glad to see that the line had vanished in her absence so that few people had been around to witness the embarrassing situation, "...it was something else. Look, never mind that, where's...Smith."

The girl's mood immediately sank as she noticed that the starfish-haired boy was the only person left in the hall besides the usher. Brilliant, just plain brilliant. So much for getting to avoid the issue by just talking at Manjoume...

She caught herself in mid-thought. Avoid? No, no way was she avoiding Achan. No way was that lout and whatever he did or didn't do worth getting embarrassed over. She would not give him that much credit. What did it matter what he thought of her, after all? Nothing, nothing at all, and the usher was a non-issue, so there was no need to panic. Everything was under control.

This reasoning seemed to calm Tacey somewhat, the rich girl putting on her usual demeanor as she strode towards her teammate, as if the little outburst that the boy had undoubtedly witnessed had never taken place, "Smith." she acknowledged his presence with a brief nod of her head, "Is Manjoume already inside? Why are you loitering here in the hallway instead of watching the show?"

 

[Scarlet Weather]

OOC: As I see that you have not yet really done much with Miseres, I'm bunnying her one last time. Then she's all yours.

Achan stared at Tacey as she arrived. On the one hand, she hadn't insulted him as she was wont to do. On the other, she had drawn attention to his most recent misfortune. He was unsure on whether he should react in anger or simply let it go. After deliberating for a moment on how to reply, he decided to let his common sense win out for once. "I'm out here because... remember that paper airplane I threw you? Well, I accidentally folded my ticket into it, and now it's gone, unless you still have the airplane, which I doubt." He shook his head sadly. "I hope that whatever happened out there was somewhat interesting, because I just gave up what'll probably be my last chance to see a broadway musical for it."

Ga....gaja...Grrr...

Achan involuntarily leaped in surprise. "Wha..." he murmured under his breath. "Did you hear-" he started to ask Tacey before shaking his head. "Oh, never mind, must be hearing things again..."

Miseres, meanwhile, reached out. She had never seen hair quite like Achan's, and like any young child she was curious. With a quick pluck, she passed her immaterial hand through one of the massive spikes atop Achan's head, which had reappeared as his conditioner had slowly worn off.

Achan shuddered, leaping slightly as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over him. "Brr.... what the? What's going on here? Okay, this is just too weird..." He passed a hand over his duel disk reassuringly. This was probably just a case of nerves after so much excitement, that was all, or hallucinations brought on by a delayed caffeine spike. That was it. Still, Judai and Manjoume had mentioned spirits. What if he was being stalked by one? Despite Judai's earlier pep talk, Achan didn't like the fact that these creatures were invisible to him. Anything that couldn't be seen but possessed intelligence could quite possibly be dangerous. Shaking his head as if to clear it, Achan returned his gaze to Tacey. "Sorry about that... I think I drank too much Red Bull earlier, I'm starting to have a caffeine spike or something. I mean, I'm hearing... growling."

Grr... Gra.... Grikll...

"And there it is again! I mean, this is just-" Achan stopped short as he stared at his stomach. "Oh you've got to be kidding me," he moaned, as his belly continued rumbling. "This is what I get for skipping breakfast." A sudden thought struck him as he returned his gaze to Edgeworth. "Oh yeah, what happened with Judai? Anything interesting? I mean, he was doing something out there, right? And come to think of it, where is he? Why didn't he come back in with you?"

On the Set of Fiddler Duelist on the Roof

"And who does Papa teach/To Draw and Play and Win/Preparing him to defeat/The World Champion. THE DUELIST/THE DUELIST!"*

"Could you quiet down, Armstrong? I know you're excited about this whole broadway thing, but we need to stay focused. Our target is nearby, and we need to net her for the boss by the time the tournament plane leaves for England," a teenager complained. He was dressed in a long, blue coat with tails hanging to the floor, and a push of his hand revealed that the immense yellow-and-purple spikes of hair atop his head were actually a wig. Rubbing the real mass of unitdy black hair beneath, the teenager, whose facial features were distinctly Asian, stepped forward and drew forth a set of cards with which he loaded his duel disk.

"But Kenta, you said-"

"I know what I said! We'll wait until after the show. In the meantime, you have to make sure that nobody leaves this theater. Not only would it be very bad for business, but we'd lose track of our target. You saw how she vanished from our radar without us noticing. Those spirits of hers make it hard to pin her down 'cause of the multiple readings," Kenta commented.

"Well it still didn't do her much good! She ran straight into Nicholas!" His partner protested, his slight German accent ringing out in the small dressing room. Armstrong ran a hand through the mass of blonde hair that crowned his head as he adjusted his costume, a green, floor-length jacket and pair of trousers that gave him an appearance distinctly reminiscent of Jounouchi Katsuya.

Kenta glared at his partner severely. "Nicholas is a loose cannon. He wants the spirits destroyed, not put to use. He is only as good to the order as the order is to his goals. And he's such a pansy! He refuses to allow anyone hurt unless they're his target. If he had let our target contact the barrier he could have drained her life force and snapped up her spirits without resistance. But no, all this 'only the target, always the target'- If he really hates spirits as much as he says he does, he should just get rid of anyone who carries one!" The apparently Asian actor clenched his fists in frustration. "Doesn't he understand that time is of the essence here? If we don't complete our object before we reach Egypt, then-"

"Enough, Kenta. It's curtain call, and we delivered the tickets to Edgeworth's future team members. Master's premonitions never fail. She is in this building. Can you sense her energy?" Armstrong questioned.

Kenta gripped a duel monsters card lightly between two fingers. "Yes... she's outside. Interesting," he muttered, "Very interesting. Well then... can we keep her from getting out or in?"

Armstrong smiled. "I've already taken the liberty of creating a selective barrier. Nobody attached to a duel spirit is moving in or out. It'll be just like walking into a brick wall."

Kenta smirked. "Excellent."

Atop of Old Broadway... All Covered in Villains...

Judai's eyes flashed open. He had been dangling his legs over the roof of the theatre as he thought, but the sudden flash of energy intrigued him. "Edgeworth!" he exclaimed in realization.

*To be sung to the tune of "Tradition" from Fiddler on the Roof, starting at the line "And who does Mama teach/To mend and tend and fix..."

 

[Alter Ego]

OOC: Umm...yeah, it's just that I don't have the faintest idea of what the heck Miseres is like personality-wise. x.O

IC:

For a moment after Achan's explanation, Tacey was quiet. This alone was quite the rare occurrence, but it didn't last for long as the behavior of certain spirits caught her attention. First Miseres decided to prod the boy's hair in a most unladylike manner, and when Curran noticed the reaction it elicited from Achan, an impish little grin appeared on her face, the black-robed princess floating over to give him a sharp, ethereal poke between the ribs.

"Curran, Miseres, stop that at once." the rich girl scolded in a voice that made her sound surprisingly much like an elementary school teacher, "That's most unladylike. And Smith..." she turned her gaze back to the boy, shaking her head slowly, "You really are an idiot. Here." before the boy could protest, or voice any other opinion for that matter, a ticket had been forcefully thrust into his hand, "And I don't want to hear a word about this. I have no intention of sitting in the same room as that jerk Manjoume and I suppose this is better than tossing that ticket in the trash. Just don't go tossing that about like you did with the first. As for what happened on the roof..." she paused, "It's a long story and you really don't have time to hear all of that out right now unless you want to miss the play. Just go, tell Manjoume that Judai said to tell you about the Yubel incident and that I've witnessed a shadow duel so he can stop his silly charade. Oh, and let him know that there's a new duel spirit on the team too. Pretend that you know what you're talking about. I know it's probably a new role for you, but give it a try."

She really wasn't about to let Achan get as much as a word in edgewise, firmly parading the boy past the - by now rather confused - usher, with a quick explanation of "He has a ticket." It was easier this way, and she really didn't look forward to the inevitable question of why she had sacrificed her own ticket for someone she hated, and who had fumbled away his own, no less.

Pikeru, meanwhile, was smiling for herself. Tacey really wasn't half as cold-hearted as she pretended to be, and even Curran and Miseres seemed to have found some common ground - even if this was only in prodding people. It was times like this that made being a good conscience all worth it.


OOC: Eh...yeah, you can always have Achan refuse to go in if you want. I just figured that Tacey would be feeling pretty embarrassed about the whole situation and would sooner brush is aside than deal with it herself. x3

 

[Scarlet Weather]

OOC: Well, this is going to be the fun part. Oh, how would Achan react?

Achan stared at Tacey in disbelief as the girl shoved a ticket into his outstretched hand and pushed him past the usher. He had no idea what was happening, and the explanation of shadow duels flew over his head, as well as the insults. Not because he couldn't comprehend them, of course, but because he was shocked that Tacey Edgeworth, Queen of Mean, had just done something basically nice. He knew that her explanation was bull. She had intended to sit with Manjoume from the beginning or she wouldn't have arrived on his arm, making him incredibly uncomfortable. This was actually a gesture of... kindness? She was reciprocating him for his sacrifice? Achan could barely tell that he was across the ticket line and in the room. There was no way that this was possible! And yet apparently, it was happening. Or maybe this was another illusion brought on by his caffeine spike? Achan couldn't think of what on earth he had done to deserve this sudden change in fortune. It was too good to be true, he thought.

As a matter of fact, it was.

Achan stumbled backward as he stepped forward, his nose slamming into a nonexistent brick wall. Rubbing the injured appendage, he turned to Tacey. "Alright, what gives? Why can't I go through?" he demanded. Of course, if Achan had realized that contact with Miseres temporarily blocked him from entering through the selective barrier Armstrong had set up he wouldn't have been so quick to start looking for a scapegoat, but that was beside the point. At the moment he was staring angrily at Tacey, before his gaze suddenly lost its fire. Why on earth was he blaming her? Tacey had been as ignorant of what Duel Spirits were as he was until Judai and Manjoume had come along. Why would she set up a barrier? Besides, it would do her no good to needlessly cause him misery, and she had given him a message. "I mean, this is weird," he continued in a calmer tone, "Just... watch this." Raising his leg, Achan kicked at the doorway of the theater only to stub his toe. "It's like somebody built a brick wall in here," he complained. "I can't get in!"

"Could ya move then, kid? There are other people in line." The usher groused.

"Oh, right, sorry," Achan replied, stepping deftly to the side to allow the person behind him to pass through. Stepping closer to Tacey, he continued with his statements. "I mean, it's like some kind of selective wall. They can get through but I can't," The red-haired duelist shook his head. "I'm really not kidding." Another thought struck Achan. "Hey, this doesn't have anything to do with what Judai was doing, does it?"

 

[Alter Ego]

Tacey raised an eyebrow at Achan's little display, ignoring the protests of the usher and the people in line as she made her way to the spot the boy had collided with by a mixture of elbowing and strategically treading on the right feet while glaring daggers at anyone who dared to protest as she strode over to inspect the...thing Achan had apparently collided with. She still wasn't ready to rule out a bad attempt at humor on his part, but when she reached out a tentative hand, only to find that it did indeed meet very solid resistance from thin air, her eyes narrowed.

"Don't tell me..." she mumbled as a number of other people from the queue passed then without a hitch, "Is this another one of those invisible barrier things?!" a slow nod from Pikeru did little to improve her mood, the girl folding her arms, "I thought that business was sorted out already."

"I...don't think this is the same person, Tacey." Pikeru replied, her brow furrowed as she peered at the thin air in front of her, "Miseres? Miseres!"

The grey-clothed spirit was still transfixed by Achan's hair, tentatively prodding the spike again, but as the white-robed magician raised her voice, she eventually looked up, peering at the invisible barrier again, "Not his." she remarked at last, "It sort of looks the same, but it's different." her task thus finished, she turned back to wondering over Achan's hair again.

"Yes, that really is his hair." Tacey replied in an off-hand sort of way, shaking her head at the spirit's childish antics, "Don't worry, I mistook it for a dead starfish too." she then turned her attention back to the boy whom she had just managed to insult again, nodding at his question, "I think it is. That goth freak Judai was dueling against had a barrier like this, only you couldn't look at it, but Miseres says this isn't his. She is-" she quickly corrected herself, "-was his duel spirit, so she would know. Guess he has friends around." the girl stamped her foot in irritation, "Of all the times for mr.haou to go soul searching!"

 

[Scarlet Weather]

OOC: Thanksgiving dinner prevented me from posting last night, so I didn't. I had too much fun with my family to care though, so I refuse to give any sort of apology. XD

Achan turned to Tacey, the ice-cold-bucket-drenched feeling pervading his body. "Wait a minute, here: You mean this weirdness I've been feeling is a duel spirit playing with my hair? Okay, this day has officially gone from completely insane to totally inconceivable." It was true. Never in his wildest dreams had it ever occured to Achan that this entire tournament would turn out to involve ancient magical creatures that lived in children's playing cards. If it weren't for the distinctly inexplicable wall of invisible bricks or whatever-it-was preventing him from entering the theatre, he might have been skeptical. As it was, he really couldn't argue with the whole thing. He wouldn't put it past any spirit of Tacey's to annoy him anyway, so in that respect it wasn't hard to believe that his hair was of special interest. "Anyway, I completely agree with you about my hair, God only knows how much I hate it, but my Mom paid good money to get it done and I can't get rid of it for a few weeks at the very least. Something about the hair gel they used, I think."

Realizing how far he had moved from the point and how this conversation was beggining to border on friendly banter versus pumping Tacey for information, Achan immediately snapped to attention. "But that's completely beside the point and I have no idea why the Chthonian I even decided to comment on it, so let's cut to the chase: First of all, who was the guy Judai was dueling, what is a shadow duel, why did you call Judai 'Haou', and who is Miseres? What really happened out there, and what did Judai tell you? Tell me everything," and then as an afterthought, "Please."

The theatre, the theatre, what happened to the theatre? (Especially where dueling is concerned.)

Armstrong adjusted his poofy blonde hair as he entered the stage, which was currently occupied by an enormous paper-mache replica of the vessel which had carried Yugi and his companions to duelist kingdom. "Showtime," he muttered to the ever-present Kenta. His fellow shadow duelist nodded, before both actors-***-cultists leaped onstage in a pair of poses as strange as they were over-the-top. Armstrong began the song first, warbling at a pitch that seemed to threaten to tear the roof in half with its height. "OH HOW DUELING SEEMED SO SIMPLE, WHEN WE WERE KIDS AT SCHOOL..."

Kenta chimed in, making sure to sing in his 'little Yugi' voice, "AND MILLIONAIRES WITH PRIVATE ISLANDS, AND DARK GAMES SO CRUEL..."

"WERE NOT TRYING TO PREVENT MY SISTER'S EYES FROM BEING HEALED..."

"OR ATTEMPTING TO ENSURE THAT MY GRANDPA'S FATE WAS SEALED..."

"BUT NOWADAYS OUR CARD GAMES SEEM TO BE JUST A BIT-COMPLICATED..."

"BECAUSE IF WE DON'T WIN THEN WE MIGHT GET EMACIATED..." Kenta finished, drawing out the last note.

Armstrong elbowed his partner, still in character as Jonouchi. "Hey Yug, what the heck does 'emaciated' mean?"

Kenta, also playing the part, shook his head so vigorously that his ridiculous wig threatened to unseat itself from his head. "No clue Joey," he began, remembering the 'localization' of the character's names, "But it sounded cool!"

"Hey Yugi, let's dance!"

"Right on!"

As blaring, upbeat rock music filled the stage, both performers launched into what could possibly be termed as one of the most clumsy and ill-thought-out dance routines ever. The routine began with a game of leapfrog that concluded with Kenta colliding with a wall, followed by Armstrong attempting a ballet move called a grand jete that ended with his legs stretched out in a position known as the splits. Not missing a beat, Kenta pulled himself to his feet while his partner groaned in agony on the ground and tried to copy the feat. His own leap, however, ended with a spectacular collision with the model boat resulting in a Yugi-shaped hole through its sides. By this time Armstrong had picked himself up and the two cartwheeled towards each other, impacting each other's faces with their feet in the process. In an attempt to salvage the horrible dance, the actress portraying Anzu raced onto the scene to contribute her talents only to take an unintentional elbow to the jaw as Kenta leaped to his feet. The actor turned to stare at his colleague in horror before falling victim to an airborne Armstrong. The impact sent him hurtling along the floor and offstage, straight into the laps of the audience. Armstrong stared at his partner in horror before grimacing in pain as the hands of the injured actress gripped his hair and twisted upward painfully. The German duelist had no chance to resist as he was bodily lifted and thrown into the audience after his partner. Pouting, the actress marched offstage, knocking over the model ship in the process. Without missing a beat, both Kenta and Armstrong leaped to their feet and gripped hands before bowing.

The members of the audience stared in horror.

"They hate us! This is a disaster!" Kenta whispered to his partner.

Armstrong shook his head. "Oh liven up Kenta. They love us! Just watch..."

One member of the audience smirked. A dance routine that made both of his rivals look like complete buffoons was always okay in his book. Raising his hands, Kaiba Seto proceeded to give the two a round of applause.

One member of the audience nudged another. "Hey, isn't that Kaiba Seto applauding? He's supposed to be a real judge of talent!"

"He is? I suppose we should be clappping too, then," his neighbor responded, before frantically joining in the ovation. In no time, the entire theatre was up and clapping.

Armstrong smiled. "Told you so," he mouthed to Kenta.

"Whatever. I still think this is all some sort of cruel practical joke," The Asian growled, adjusting his wig as he followed his fellow actor offstage.

OOC: Oh how I love Villains who tap dance. xD

 

[Alter Ego]

OOC: Family before RPing...*Shakes head* You're a disgrace to RPers everywhere, ACC. >O

Nah, of course you don't need to apologize for something like this. Besides, that tap dance scene was well worth the little delay. Yay for dancing villains. xD

IC:

In the midst of the applause, a solitary voice groaned, its owner staring at the scene in a mixture of horror and disbelief. Manjoume Jun, after having been a pawn of evil powers twice, fled to the far north to redeem himself as a player of children's card games and being banished to a distant dimension by a loony duel spirit, thought he had had a pretty good idea of what bad was, but nothing he had experienced thus far had prepared him for this kind of horror. Trapped in his seat and forced to endure a performance which completely transcended the concept of 'bad' and took it to a whole new level, he found himself vaguely wishing for a re-run of the Society of Light. At least then he had gotten to win the card games.

"Amazing!" Ojama Yellow cooed, completely mesmerized as he clapped his hands together, "Encore! Encore!"

Manjoume shot the yellow gremlin an irritated glare, once again wondering what on earth he had done to deserve a duel spirit like that. What puzzled him even more, however, was how anyone could watch this performance - which, surely, must have been outlawed as torture in some countries - and applaud at the end, let alone hail it as the masterpiece he had been led to believe it was.

"Damn you, Judai..." he mumbled, turning to blame the one person he could always safely pin the mishaps in his life on, "You knew about this."

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Upon discovering the funny reaction that Achan gave when she touched him, Miseres let out a small squeal of delight, unable to resist prodding the hair again.

And again.

And again.

Tacey gave a tired sigh at the sight. She had thought that Nicholas was keeping Miseres on such a tight leash out of the usual 'I'm a bad person so I do bad things' reasons, but by the looks of it he had had a far more practical explanation. This duel spirit was ADHD incarnate.

"Miseres, Curran! Please, stop already!" Pikeru pleaded, apparently not feeling quite as protective of the gray-clad spirit anymore.

"Oh shut it, goat-girl." Curran retorted, "First you want her to be herself and then you're scolding her. Make up your mind already." she the turned to their third wheel with newfound appreciation, "Hey Miseres, you should try between the ribs instead." she demonstrated the poke once more, "Makes them squirm a lot better. Look, I'll show you."

Pikeru frowned at this scene of duel spirit bonding. Miseres was coming out of her shell, it seemed, but was it really a good thing to have her come out like that?

Tacey, however, was too preoccupied with other matters at the moment. Achan's confession about his hairstyle had been a pleasant surprise, but what came after it was up to his usual standard, well...up to that last word, anyway. Were it not for that, she probably wouldn't have answered. Crisis or no, Tacey still had a claim to some manner of respect.

"You're learning, Smith." she remarked, clearly indicating the last 'please', "Concerning those questions, though..." she took a deep breath in preparation, "This is going to be the weirdest story of your life..."

And she told him, recited the whole of Judai's ludicrous little fairy tale about dimensions and duel spirits, though she of course made a point of reiterating that she still wasn't buying it and that the 'supreme king' line certainly wasn't an established monarchy. No way would she admit to Judai having any royal blood in him.

"...and that's the short of it." she finished, "At least, as far as Judai's story goes. He says he's sharing his body and soul with Yubel, that's why his eyes go all weird at times. I've never been into this shadow game nonsense, but if I understood correctly it's supposed to be some form of ancient magic that calls in the real duel spirits through the cards that represent them, so the attacks and everything are also real. If you lose, you lose your soul too." she shook her head, "I'm still not sure if I'm buying that nonsense, but I do know that that Nicholas creep does. He's convinced that duel spirits are all demons or something and that he's on a sacred mission to save the world from them." she scoffed, "In other words, he's a religious nut with an obsession for children's card games and since I apparently 'interfered in his business' he's trying to get even by sicking his bookburner friends on us too. And this is Miseres." she demonstratively pulled out the gray-robed angel's card, holding it up for Achan to see, even though the crying figure on the illustration bore very little resemblance to the one who was currently giggling together with Curran as they took turns prodding their victim, "Like I said, she used to be Nicholas' duel spirit, but he just threw the card to Judai when he lost and Judai handed it to me for safekeeping."

She gave a brief moment of silence after her lecture, allowing the full absurdity of the situation to sink in, "To make a long story short, we're the victims of lunatics armed with ancient magic and children's playing cards."

 

[Scarlet Weather]

"EVERYBODY HATES MAKO..."

"HE SMELLS LIKE ROTTEN TROUT..."

"EVERYBODY HATES MAKO..."

"HE'S A FREAKY FISH GUY, NO DOUBT..."

"OOH! OOH! EVERYBODY SAY OOH!"

"OOH! OOH! MAKO IS JUST EWW!!!"

"Get it?"

Kenta and Armstrong, still clad in their costumes, proceeded to perform yet another horrible dance routine as they sang off-key, off-pitch and off-tempo. In fact, pretty much everything about their performance was off in one way or another. Seto Kaiba, meanwhile, continued clapping as hard as he could at the end of each number and the audience followed suit. The performance could probably have been conceived in the mind of the average insane duelist, but choosing such idiotic actors as Armstrong and Kenta drove the show over the edge. Indeed, if Kaiba had not chosen to attend then the entire cast would have been run out of town on a rail by the time the first number was completed. But he was, they weren't, and everyone continued applauding.

That is, until Armstrong made the one brilliant move of his life onstage and saved Kenta from falling over the edge of the stage.

It only took a moment, but that action sparked a quick ad-lib between the two that blew away the audience. It would be completely superfluous to relate it, but by the end all of the audience was impressed. Kaiba, on the other hand, did not enjoy seeing his rivals being enjoyed by the audience and sent up a boo. The audience followed like idiotic sheep, and within ten seconds the two useless actors found themselves bodily seized and hurled through the door of the theatre. Irate, Kenta turned to his partner. "I told you it was a horrid practical joke!"

Armstrong shook his head. "I blame you," he replied.

Achan stared at the two idiots who had been tossed like old trash through the theatre door. "Alright... weird dudes thrown through a door the moment I finish hearing the weirdest story of my life. This must be some kind of omen," he said to Tacey before shuddering again. "And can you tell that spirit of yours that I'm not a pincushion?" he exclaimed.

"Spirit? Then you must be our target! Let us introduce ourselves!" Armstrong shouted, leaping to his feet. "I am Armstrong Hughes, captain of the-"

"Ow!" Kenta exclaimed as Armstrong's wildly flailing arm knocked him to the floor.

"-Pair of shadow actors." Armstrong finished, disheartened, as he stared at his partner.

Achan rolled his eyes. "Tell me these aren't the people that Judai is fighting against," he groaned.