Mike Jones
Jason sat in his coffee shop. He usually ate breakfast there before work. It was part of his morning routine. It meant he had to get up a bit earlier, but dammit, having a mug of hot cocoa with some really good pancakes and bacon while reading a newspaper was a helluva way to relax before his job. He had just cleaned his plate while he awaited the waitress' return.
As Jason sipped his drink, he happened to pick up some conversation as he waited to pay. A duelist breaker? Jason rolled his eyes. That kind of thing only happened in anime. Then again, the world had been looking increasingly like one of his Chinese cartoons over the past five years. So maybe the rumors had some merit. Jason wasn't worried. At all. He wasn't exactly vulnerable looking. He was over six feet tall, and he was kinda ripped. He was no body builder. But he was wearing a tank top, and most robbers would likely choose easier targets. His toned, thick biceps had more than a few scars, and the neckline on his top was just low enough to reveal the top of a particularly large one adorning his nicely-defined chest.
Jason's waitress came and took his bill, and then he left. No, he wouldn't be looking over his shoulder as he walked to the library. Jason did have a car. A pretty nice one, too. But he liked to walk when he could. Part of it was that it saved money. The world may have been devolving into a card battle anime, but gas would always be expensive. But another thing was that he really liked the city he lived in. San Francisco was known as a marvel of urban planning. It was a beautiful city.
Sometimes he'd even get the chance to watch street duels. Like the one that was visibly going on in the apartment district. Jason checked the time on his phone, and subtly increased his pace as he went to go see what was going on.
edited 24th Oct '15 2:56:32 AM by HeroicSociopath
Killian had just gotten himself a cup of coffee just as his co-workers started chatting about the crystal. "A Crystal, huh? I've heard those things seem to be more trouble than they're worth." The math teacher chimed in, taking a sip out of the cheap plastic cup in his hand. "Personally I couldn't care less for 'em, but the fact one showed it's face here... That might spell some issues." After finishing his contribution to the conversation, Killian decided to glance down to his watch. There was a perfectly god clock hanging right above the door, but a watch was more reliable to the man. Class was going to get started in a few moments. He'd have to teach for an entire day, save a break on the third hour, so they'd better be on their way. "Well, people, looks like I've gotta move." Quickly downing the cup, Killian nodded his co-workers goodbye and made for class, bag in hand.
Mr. Rayne had arrived before the bell rang, opening the door to his classroom. Students knew he was a little lenient with being on time, so arriving after the bell wasn't always the issue. Some had already gathered in front of the door, the usual ones that were never late to any class, and entered along with him. The bell rang and most other students flooded into the classroom moments after, Will being among one of the stragglers in the last batch. The poor lad looked terrible as always, which concerned the teacher... He was partly responsible for the well being of his students, so Killian felt pretty bad for not being able to do much. "Alright, students, open your books on the pages I'm about to write on the chalkboard, and ready your homework you had to prepare today. Those who forgot, deliver it to me tomorrow for half your grade and after that you get none." Mr. Rayne wasn't particularly lenient with his students being late with turning in their assignments. He began writing down pages on the chalkboard and went to collect the homework straight after.
The lesson went on pretty standard for the hour, with Killian sometimes asking the students for solutions to certain problems. He'd actually purposefully avoided letting Will answer for now, instead focusing more on the delinquents who felt like they didn't need to pay attention. Once the signal came for class ending, the blonde teacher addressed the class with "Alright, that's it for this hour. I expect you all to be back later today." With that, Killian let his class off the hook and collapsed in his chair. The man hadn't got time to look over all homework yet, so he used the minute or two of downtime to correct the rest. The ones that turned in their assignments had mostly expected grades, some better, some worse. Will though... Well, they needed some help. It wasn't bad, but many of the mistakes he made seemed to have been a lack of concentration rather than a lack of knowledge, as this was a pretty simple test... He'd have to continue this train of thought later as the second batch of students entered, half of them missing. Oh man... What was Killian going to do with these guys...?
edited 24th Oct '15 2:38:39 AM by Nickpws
To Amy's ears, a Duelist Breaker sounded uncomfortably like Pegasus's Eliminator and Marik's Rare Hunters. Even five years on, it was still strange to think that the cards she'd seen in the anime and manga (and every other card) had come to life—if anything from media came to life first she would have bet on Pokemon or Digimon.
A good thing about the whole mess was that it had given her an excuse to finally buy a real deck instead of living duels through games. A bad thing about the whole mess was that it reminded her of the anime's season 4, as well as Yami Bakura's anime-exclusive powers to bring cards to life. What could cause something like this to happen? In the show it was because of ancient magic, and in real life Ancient Egypt was a far cry from the monster-infested society seen in the show.
But it had happened regardless.
Sighing, Amy downed a cup of water, making sure her deck was in her pocket—the last thing she wanted was to get challenged to a duel unawares, or worse, mugged by someone else's card. (It seemed most thieves lately, sadly, had quite a bit of money to spend on rare cards. Most likely it was why they were broke.)
As for Crystals, Amy had only heard Internet rumors, nothing substantial. Some said they were from Atlantis, others said they didn't exist at all, and still others said that the people looking for them had created them themselves. The whole business sounded strange—
And that was when, just as she stepped outside, Amy heard a sudden rush of wind powerful enough to rattle windows. A Duel had to be taking place!
Thankful that this was one of her days off, Amy cautiously headed in the direction the wind had come from, hand clenched tight around the deck in her pocket.
[I hope this is okay.]
The Protomen enhanced my life.
Back after a long hiatus
Marcus opened his eyes and winced at the sunlight streaming into them. Last night... what happened, again? Oh yeah, he and Adrian had stayed up and marathoned Monty Python's Flying Circus. They had debated about a friendly duel, but figured that it'd be a bad idea, considering that "friendly" duels were pretty much a thing of the past. He glanced over at his boyfriend, who was still fast asleep. He was so cute, lying there asleep like that. Marcus ruffled Adrian's hair (to which he eloquently responded with "mfgbl" and a shift to the other side of the bed) and slid out from under the covers, careful not to wake up Adrian. He went through his morning routine - shower, get dressed, brush teeth, grab deck and head outside to go down to the coffee shop at the corner of the street.
When suddenly...
WHOOSH
"The hell?" Marcus muttered. "Someone havin' a duel or somethin'? Sounds like a pretty damn powerful attack... Maybe I oughta check if they're alright." Seeing as it came from an alley just ahead of him, he picked up his pace, one hand in his pocket, on top of his deck.
edited 24th Oct '15 11:05:11 AM by Tojin
“Not a promise, not an oath, or a malediction or a curse. Inevitable." - Taylor Hebert
Something something DBZ
Clay was doing his job cleaning the floors noticing some missing kids "Of course I guess it was the Duelist breaker." He thought he notice Mr.Rayne waving to him but continued to mop. He made sure his deck was in the left pocket of "Purple Thunder." If this Duelist Breaker attacked he would be ready.
Then Clay remembered some teachers talking about the Crystals "This all thing is just odd, I rember when this was a game what happened to that."
He then noticed one students Will was seemingly out of it today like he was thinking of something else "God I wish I could help the kid but I have to clean." He continued to mop the floor.
edited 24th Oct '15 2:25:11 PM by YOLOisfox
What is a man? A miserable pile of secrets, but enough talk have at you!
All three of Amy, Marcus and Jason ended up getting there just in time to see a truly ghastly scene. One player was left sprawled out on the ground, groaning, just barely keeping himself conscious. It looked like he had a lot of bad thorn-related injuries across his body. The entire area looked torn up similarly, like some sort of thorns had dug into the ground and surrounding area.
Both men would see someone running away from the scene, a tall but slender individual covered in a lot of clothes, including what looked from a distance like wrappings made to bind wounds.
They would see Thorn Over Server - Van Darli Zuma
linger there for a moment before dissipating with a final tormented moan.
X-X-X-X-X-X
Will opened up his math book, his skinny little fingers moving from problem to problem - he had no trouble with the problems and assignments, it was more or less his...condition...that kept him from performing as well as he could. I'll wither away and die if I don't confront this.
He also noted the teacher went for the delinquents at the back of the class instead of him, even when he raised his hand to answer something. Was this pity...? He supposed, looking at Will right now, he deserved pity. He detested receiving it, but he could understand why he received it.
After class ended, Will got up and supposed he should go explain why he was not performing so well on the last test, "...Sorry, teach, I know the material, but...its just that...I kinda blanked out..."
He also noted as the next class started to come in, that half the students were missing. He remembered hearing a rumor that more and more students were either being attacked by someone, if not the Duelist Breaker then some sort of raving bunch of Crystal Cultists.
Diceley was saying there would be a dangerous group associated with the Crystals. How this tied into his insistence about that Tournament, Will couldn't figure it out.
...As long as the Mayor doesn't see my arm, I'm fine.
He also noted the fact the janitor was moving past, and how he seemed to be acting. It seemed despite the danger, even more people were dueling. Japan by now was said to resemble an Arc-V Scene.
In some ways better than others. One area was still rebuilding from that time Raidraptor - Revolution Falcon launched a particularly intensive attack during a tournament.
Amy looked about ready to throw up. "W-what happened here!?"
Stupid question. Obviously a duel had happened here, and the person lying on the ground needed medical attention. Not only that, whoever was responsible was getting away!
As if in a dream, she noticed the two men around her. "D-did any of you recognize that monster? What should we do!? Someone needs to stop them!"
The Protomen enhanced my life.
Mike Jones
As Jason arrived on the scene, he was met with a gruesome site. A mangled corpse, with many puncture wounds. Two others were on the scene, a boy and a girl, and the man was still conscious, so Jason took off after the culprit. He grabbed the lid from a garbage pail as he rushed by it, taking long strides. Walking everywhere did him good: He was fast, and as soon as he got a clear shot, he tossed the pail, sending it flying at beanpole like a frisbee. As he ran, he took out his cell.
"Uncle Joe? I might be a little late." He said, completely casually as he pursued the attacker.
Back after a long hiatus
Marcus didn't say anything, just sped past the man in pursuit of the person he had mentally dubbed "Weird Bandage Guy". The other two would probably be able to get the guy to safety; he was going to try and remove the source of the problem.
And then the other guy chucked a trashcan lid at Bandage Guy. Well. That was certainly one way to do it.
edited 24th Oct '15 10:09:35 PM by Tojin
“Not a promise, not an oath, or a malediction or a curse. Inevitable." - Taylor Hebert
The perpetrator was too far away for Amy to pick and choose a card to slow them, but the other men seemed to be on their way to taking him down. At the very least, she could help this man's injuries. ...Or she would if she could. Of all the times to leave Life Point-healing cards at home.
Maybe there was one card she had that could help, though...
Amy searched her deck and pulled out Injection Fairy Lily, raising it to the sky and calling its name. The card began to glow, and a red-headed angel with a nurse cap appeared, cheerfully holding a giant green syringe. "Lily," she commanded, "Can you stabilize this man? And, uh, try to keep that needle away—we don't want to cause him any more injuries. If you need some of my own energy to help... do whatever you need to."
edited 24th Oct '15 11:10:24 PM by lalalei2001
The Protomen enhanced my life.
Killian hadn't noticed Will walking up immediately, having been busy with work and all. Only when the starving boy talked was he aware of their presence. "Hm, Oh Will? We understand your condition, but you need to take better care of yourself. I know you can handle the material, you've proven as much. But you're not healthy, at least, not the way you are now. The entire school faculty is worried sick." The Janitor, Clay, seemed to be having a good time cleaning the floors. Mr. Rayne decided to give him a quick hand wave of acknowledgement, then turned his attention back to Will.
"Your next class is about to start. I think you'd better go." The missing students were a concern to Killian as well, seeing as how only part of them showed up. There was this rumor of some... Duelist Breaker, or, whatever. But that can't be right, can it? The school forbids students to pick duels willy nilly, they always have to be overseen by an adult to ensure things don't go horribly wrong... That reminds him of his own deck and disk, laying in wait inside of the back next to the man's chair. Let's just hope that this Duelist Breaker doesn't decide to pick on any more of his students, at least, let's hope for them...
edited 25th Oct '15 1:29:45 AM by Nickpws
It looked like the man on the ground was badly battered, so badly in fact he resembled a corpse outright, but he was just barely hanging on. As if his opponent wanted him to live, but with potentially crippling injuries.
Fairy Lily produced a draining aura on Amy, and promptly stabilized the man on the ground, rejoicing when he showed signs of stabilized breathing.
Meanwhile, the Bandage Guy seemed to slide forward a little when the trash can lid hit him, but immediately got right back into running away. Given his deck of choice, it was obvious he had worked up an insane pain tolerance. He looked back at the two people pursuing him, bloodshot eyes visible though his face was covered in bandages, the right eye having a strange sigil seemingly burned on to the eye lid.
He swung into an alley and slid out a single spell card from his deck and activated it, releasing a large number of shadowy thorns that promptly clogged up the alleyway behind him.
X-X-X-X-X
Will looked at his arm as Killian said what a lot of people had said before. He was a worry and a burden. He couldn't very well go out and say why he was not eating. Or things would happen. He clenched his right hand, remembering what he was warned.
"...Sorry for worrying everyone. I'll...I'll try to eat..." The simple fact was, food tasted horrible to him as he was now. But the alternative right now was more attention and possibly death by starvation.
"Alright, I'll move on to my next class." Will turned and left with that, moving his backpack up on his skinny little shoulders, grimacing for a moment and then proceeding out the door and heading to the next class.
It seemed some of Killian's students were chatting about some of their missing friends. There was a rather odd feeling to today's subjects of gossip. Almost like something foreboding.
"Hey, did you hear? The Varcity QB's gone too..."
"I hear they found him pretty badly beaten up outside town. Whoever did it made a point of wreckin' his legs."
"...You think it was the Duelist Breaker?"
"They say the chief suspect is a buncha Crystal Cultists, revering an "Unborn God". Creepy, huh?"
"Diceley's gonna clean up those Crystal freaks."
edited 25th Oct '15 2:37:15 AM by NickTheSwing
Killian watched Will go with a frown on their face. Maybe he shouldn't have been so blunt about it, but the teacher can't afford to get friendly with his students on the job. Plus, he wasn't that good at dealing with people's problems anyway... Letting out a sigh, the math teacher rose from his seat. "Alright, people. Grab your books and open them on the pages written here," he pointed at the chalkboard, which still had the writing on it from the previous class. "and we can start the lesson. I don't want to hear any more rumors until after you have left the class room."
And so Killian spent his hour teaching again, making sure the students that did attend know their stuff. These guys were reviewing the same material as the previous, though it would be a waste to test only half the class. He'd have to wait until a bit more were in attendance and he was able to properly explain the subjects to them as well.
Mike Jones
"Photon Thrasher!" Jason said, pointing at the wall before them. In a burst of light, a monster appeared. Humanoid in apperance, it had metallic skin, with glowing arms and a huge sword. It slashed through the thorns. It ran alongside Jason as they continued their pursuit. Jason made sure to keep an eye on the man's hand, prepared to dodge if he made a move for his cards. Meanwhile, Thrasher would also chase after him, attempting to subdue him if he caught up. Jason usually made a point to tell his monsters not to kill, so he didn't need to instruct it to be non-lethal.
"You." Jason said to Marcus. "Can you duel?" He asked.
Something something DBZ
Clay decided to take a break from cleaning looking through his deck, when he saw Will going to his next class. He decided to walk towards him "Hey kid you okay you seem out of it?"
edited 25th Oct '15 7:41:27 AM by YOLOisfox
What is a man? A miserable pile of secrets, but enough talk have at you!
Lily faded back into the card once her effect had been used, and Amy was relieved, if drained, when the man began to breathe normally. "Are you okay," she asked. "Who was that?"
The Protomen enhanced my life.
Back after a long hiatus
Marcus looked at the other man askance. "Hun, are you kiddin'? Of course I can duel! What you should be askin' is, 'Can you get rid of these vines?' To which the answer is, damn right!" He took a Mystical Space Typhoon out of his deck. "Watch and learn, hun!" Marcus aimed the card at the thorns ahead of them and shouted "Mystical Space Typhoon!", shooting a blue-tinted miniature tornado at the thorny vines.
“Not a promise, not an oath, or a malediction or a curse. Inevitable." - Taylor Hebert
The injured man, Hector Joni, answered Amy, barely getting out, "I didn't want to duel...he trapped me...my research notes..." However, he passed out before he could give anymore information.
This sounded way too close to one of Nightmare Troubadour's Shadow Games—though with all of the cards being real, every duel was like a Shadow Game if not properly contained. And what was that about research notes...? Clearly this guy had stumbled onto something big.
Amy reached down to try and support the man, but, not used to the dead weight, found she couldn't lift him much. He needed a doctor, that much was clear.
The Protomen enhanced my life.
However, after the thorns were slashed through by Jason's monster and scattered for good by the Mystical Space Typhoon, it became apparent the bandage covered man had escaped - he was nowhere to be seen. And just as quickly as he disappeared, there was a blaring sound as police vehicles started to approach, the police already getting ready for pursuit of any suspects by summoning a large variety of Goyo monsters well suited to holding down enemies.
One of the officers stopped by in front of Jason, followed in short order by a Goyo Chaser. He was a tall, muscular black haired young man, though slightly smaller than Jason himself. "Excuse me, have you seen whoever was responsible for this latest assault?"
Back over with Amy and Hector, another officer, flanked by a Goyo Predator, approached them. As soon as he saw what kind of condition Hector was in, only barely stabilized by Fairy Lily and all, he called for a stretcher to get Hector into a hospital.
X-X-X-X-X-X
There was a collective groan from the class and as Will left, he looked back at all the students having a reasonably normal life in comparison to his own. The emaciated boy then turned and looked at the janitor and forced a smile, "I'm...I'm fine..."
He started to head off to his least favourite class, P.E., due to the fact it might well make his time even more difficult.
No matter how it hurts, I cannot call upon that. Otherwise...
Something something DBZ
Clay decides to follow Will to make sure the Coach or any kids give him any trouble, but he keeps his distance acting like he is cleaning.
What is a man? A miserable pile of secrets, but enough talk have at you!
Intimidated by the officer and his Goyo monster, Amy rattled off how they'd found Hector and how she stabilized him with Injection Fairy Lily.
She wasn't entirely sure whether to mention the research notes, though...
The Protomen enhanced my life.
Back after a long hiatus
Marcus stayed to the side. No sense in leaving, that'd just make him look suspicious, but he wasn't exactly jumping to answer the police's questions either. He'd leave it to the other guy for now.
“Not a promise, not an oath, or a malediction or a curse. Inevitable." - Taylor Hebert
Will looked back at the janitor and noted it seemed he was both concerned and following him for some reason. Concern. The young man sighed, breathing in and out as he went into the locker room. Managing to find a place to change without many people there, Will shed his street clothes and got dressed.
Anyone looking in would see a form that looked at once disquietingly emaciated, thin, small shoulders, skinny arms, ribs able to be seen through his skin...it was definitely apparent that the other students avidly tried to look away from him.
After getting dressed in PE Clothes, Will brought himself out front, where the young PE teacher took role, and again seemed to pity the boy, telling him to walk while the rest of the class ran, and that if he felt tired, to excuse himself.
X-X-X-X-X-X
Oddly, the officer questioning Amy took another look around the area, and then down at Hector and asked, quite pointedly, "Did you see anything laying around? Was there any sign of a collection of papers? Did you see the man who did this take anything?"
It looked like another car was pulling up, an all-black armored car with several strange emblems across it.
Meanwhile, the officers questioning Jason seemed terse, like they were here for something in particular.
X-X-X-X-X-X
The students in Killian's class somberly nodded along and started getting into discussion of their homework and what the test results were. But there was little enthusiasm and a lot of worry. Whatever was happening to take the students out was hitting the morale of the remaining ones.
Kim, the girlfriend of that football player who went missing, was still shaking a little, obviously direly worried about her boyfriend.
Though there were a curious pair of students near the back, friends apparently, who were not too badly affected by all of this. The one at the left was a muscular, large sort, with short red hair and an oddly mature look to him. Ruben Keyton, known around school as a rather popular, social sort.
His friend Bart Riggs was a very tall but skinny, awkward kind of guy. His long black hair and somewhat appealing face lent a sort of old 1980's boyband rebellion to him, which resulted in the awkward, mostly quiet boy being rather bewildered by some of the attention.
Both wore rather official clothes, and had an air like they were intending to go into some form of business soon after high school.
edited 25th Oct '15 9:32:49 PM by NickTheSwing
Doctor Barth Diceley slammed one hand against the table he was sat at for the City Council Meeting, “This is thug behavior! I cannot believe that the lot of you would sink this far in opposition to a...a sport...!”
His figure was distinctive and while old in age, he made a very distinguished impression when looked upon. His three piece suit was well ordered and with no wrinkles or stains, giving the old man an orderly appearance clashing against his fiery rhetoric.
The chief of the Council, a younger man who simply went by Grey nodded, “Recall that Congress is aiming to ban this “sport”. I have never seen anything quite so morbid, as one of your little games in session.”
Barth Diceley made an immediate cutting remark, “And I suppose that your enthusiastic enjoyment of mixed martial arts is entirely different. A crushed nose and broken ribs...so...very...elegant.”
Grey went red in the face, “Go any further on this road, Doctor Diceley, this mad quest, and you'll discover your little anti-gentrification plans both laid bare and thoroughly opposed.”
Diceley looked down, “I did not want to do this. But it appears you all leave me little choice...” The doors to the meeting room shut suddenly.
“...I am invoking my right as Mayor to declare immediate emergency.”
X-X-X-X-X
A group of students dallied near the front of the school, a good five minutes before class began. The local St. Armond High School's Yugioh Battle Club was as far as most had heard struggling. According to the rumours, it had few good duelists left after the majority graduated last year...and promptly either quit or were retired due to injuries sustained.
There were rumors about a “Duelist Breaker” roaming the city, though a large number considered that to be an urban legend. He does have his “believers”, apparently...
Will was among these students dallying near the entrance. He knew he should've ate before school today. He groaned and held his stomach. I'm wasting away...slowly. Surely. Ever since that day...
I cannot eat. It tastes like...like something rotting...
He silenced his pain. He would force it down no matter what. He would keep moving. He also ignored the chatting of his fellow students as best he could.
Heading right along to class, Will almost collapsed into his desk, breathing in and out, in and out, counting every breath he took until the pain stopped.
He was in math class, and he looked up, taking out the last night's homework. He'd managed to get it done, though he still struggled somewhat with math.
X-X-X-X-X
In the teacher's lounge, the teachers are getting their materials for the day together, readying themselves for another day's teaching. One English teacher was rather rattled looking, “Doctor Barth declared a state of emergency, did you hear? He claimed it was due to imminent activities related to a Crystal...”
A PE teacher, a fit, muscular young man leaned back, “...A Crystal? Here? In SF? I thought those things only cropped up in out of the way places...”
X-X-X-X-X
In one of the local coffee shops, people are chatting on their pit stop on their way to work.
One of the young businessmen checks his watch, and states aloud to his group of friends likewise on their way to work. “You hear? The Duelist Breaker struck again.”
Another man chuckles, “Nah, its all sour losers making up stories...I swear, some people get their extreme sport wrapped up in their daily life...”
X-X-X-X-X
In the Apartment district, there is a sudden burst of wind just down an alleyway.
Loud enough that people still getting up in their apartments might hear it. To duelists, it is immediately identifiable as the result of a particularly forceful attack.