Private/Closed Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Duel Academy RP

[DarkHydraT]

Bob shook his head as he chuckled. "And that's all we'll see of our favorite mustelid. I swear, he's like a walking migraine. He comes and goes as he likes and we just have to tough it out. He shows up after going missing and just casually returns to the daily order of things, I'm surprised he didn't make a giant spectacle out of it. I thought he liked being the centerpiece of attention?" The Ra Yellow put a hand on his hip and absentmindedly stroked the head of the Blowback Dragon plushie as he looked at Bix and Tracy without truly seeing them. He knew that he should keep an eye on them in case Bix tried something that Tracy didn't like, but Weasel's behavior once again confused him. One moment he was a detective, the next he was a prankster and now he was a hero who acted like he just walked the dog? For as much time he spent with the hooligans, he felt like he knew just as much about Weasel and by extention the rest of the gang as he did on that fateful day in the hallway. Just what was his plan if he even had one? Did Braxer and Bix struggle this much to understand him or was it the fact that he was pretty much forced into joining coupled with being in Ra Yellow that made connecting with him, Braxer and Bix so difficult? He knew how they met, but what else? He didn't even know their decks before the tournament! What did they like, aside from Bix liking anyone remotely looking like a girl? Why did they use the cards they did? What were their home situations like? Granted, he didn't tell them either, but it irked him that he felt like he had more of a connection with Tracy who he ran into twice as she was crying than his supposed friends.

---------

Willow took a second to process the way Tobias asked for good food before flashing a grin. "I'll try my best." As she made her way to a food stand, she saw the funnel cake Jira brought and could practically feel her teeth develop cavities and her veins clogging up. No festival food was going to be healthy of course, but the funnel cake really took the cake in her opinion. She never was that big of a fan of overly sweet food to begin with though, so she couldn't judge too harshly. "Let's see, what would Tobias like?" The Slifer Red questioned out loud in an attempt to ignore the fact that she had no clue whatsoever.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

“Huh? O-Oh, Weasel?” Bix perked up. “Well, Weasel is sorta the marshmallow in a s’more- or well...y-yeah I think that’s a good analogy . He found us all at a low period in your lives and r-really flipped it around! S-So we kinda said we’d back him up like he did us!”

Leaving out any of the shady bit about the sickeningly sweet boy, Bix gave a sheepish chuckle, nervous about her as well as the secret. Looking side to side, he cupped a hand to the side of his mouth.

“Why do you ask?” He said in a quiet whisper.

Meanwhile Braxer inched closer to Bob, giving him a shake of his head, the bone club resting above his shoulder.

“Shouldn’t a done that.” He uttered. “You don’t mess with boss. Might have made things a bit harder for yourself.”


.......

The door to the principle’s office was pushed open, Weasel finding surprise that Doctor Crowler was the fine sitting in the principal’s seat. Suppose the last guy just have gotten a lot of flak for him to receive this position. The new principal got up from his chair, a stretched smile crawling up his face.

“Weasel! I’m so GLAD your back!” Crowler clapped his hands together. “Now we can get you all settled in, have everyone accounted for, have those missing persons charges dropped, and have everything going back the way it’s supposed to!”

“Golly! I didn’t mean to make you so worked up professor! Makes me feel bad about clearing out the intruders...”

Crowler’s jaw dropped. “Wait...you WHAT?!?”

“Mhm! I chased them off this ol’ rock, dueled their leader and set ‘em packing!”

Now Crowler was conflicted. This was a lot of positivity and good feats for a Slifer Red to have under their belt. He couldn’t just let this much positive attention go to Slifer, nor even Ra for that matter. That’s it. He knew a way for the obelisks to get something new in the forefront to put all the lesser dorms in line. Smiling wide in a manner that screamed scary clown, he put his hands on Weasel’s shoulders.

“Now now, that’s quite the tale you have! I must say I am very impressed. How about I give you a token of gratitude as recognition for your daring feat?”

Weasel coyly twiddled his thumbs, trying to look as innocent as possible. “Aw shucks, I couldn’t accept anything like that...”

“I insist! You need to set an example about everything a student SHOULD be!”

Weasel turned his back to Crowler, flashing his snicker whilst no one could witness it. Cake.

“What did you have in mind?”



........



Tobias flashed out a fork from seemingly nowhere, drawing it from behind his back. With a movement that seemed like that of a ninja, he jabbed at the funnel cake, taking it directly from Jira’s possession and into his. He pinched his scarf, allowing him to insert the food into his mouth. His face got all serious, his amber eyes focusing on the empty fork in front of him.

“Sugary, texture crisp yet hollow. Minimal chance of error yet little risk for reward. This dish is an experience... although it not might not be one that I am in favor of seeking out once more.”

He tried to hide the fact he didn’t like funnel cake, putting it down in a way that was respectful to the effort. He hadn’t been exposed to sweets much in general, perhaps this was just the taste of sugar? He wasn’t sure, but it felt vastly alien.

 

[Fructus]

"Tell me about it," Kenny sighed, hearing about the Obelisk Blue's lastminute efforts to create a costume, "Thankfully this isn't the first time I've used my lance and helmet, so those were already ready. The remainder of my costume on the other hand..." Kenny awkwardly brought his hand up to scratch the back of his head, but quickly stopped when he felt his lance touch his neck. Oops. Wrong hand.

"Anyway!" Kenny quickly continued, hoping that Dahlia didn't notice how he messed up, "I met these two just outside my dorm room earlier. 'Know' is maybe too big a word to use." Kenny glanced over to the two guys behind him. Fen hadn't really said much yet, and Goule... Well, he didn't think anyone currently at the academy could claim to really know Goule.

"So how have you been? What's new?"

Kenny briefly pondered over whether he should answer her question truthfully. He'd heard that during the raid, some of the cards of students who lost against the invaders went missing, so he checked his deck last night. Sure enough, his deck was mostly still fine- however, his Fusion Deployment spell was gone. Luckily he still had a spare copy, but even so it didn't do wonders for his mood the night before.

But today was supposed to be a happy day, probably meant to push away those bad memories of those events. Kenny was also glad to see Dahlia being as cheerful as she was today, which was in stark contrast with her worrisome demeanor while Tracy had been missing.

"Apart from meeting these guys, I haven't been up to much in the meantime," Kenny replied, judging that it would be best to not bring up that day again, "What about you?"

 

[DarkHydraT]

Bob huffed. "So he's petty, what's he gonna do? Burn my deck? Ruin friendships? Cast me out of the group? Seems a bit too much for what I did, don't you think? Besides, I already have both of my decks here and it's not as if I've got flocks of people around me. Weasel might be a massive pain, but I'd assume that he has at least some deceny in his body. It's not my fault that people decide to go to the person who was missing when they hear their name." The Ra Yellow tried to defend himself, though he knew fully well that Weasel would ruin him if he wanted to. After all, he had stronger cards and a connection to Crowler. If Weasel truly wished to get back at him, he could very well do so and Braxer and Bix would probably choose Weasel over Bob. The Slifer Red helped them to get out of their crummy lives after all whilst Bob mostly complained and gave them both one card in total. If he was in their shoes, he'd pick Weasel too.

-------

"Let's see, what would he like?" Willow scoured the stands, looking for something that Tobias would like. She wanted to get something different from the funnel cake, which really looked more like deep-fried noodles to her than cake, but so far she had no luck. That was, until she looked at the next stall. It sold Giant Soldier of Stone styled rice crispies and even if the Ra Yellow wouldn't like them, surely he would appreciate the design of them? Buying a bag of them for Tobias and one for herself, she returned to Jira and Tobias. "Special delivery for Tobias, hope you enjoy!" The girl grinned as she joined the two boys in Tobias' costume and handed a bag to the archeologist.

 

[Captain Cardboard]

"No, I mean..." Tracy sighed and shook her head. "I don't know. When I've heard about Weasel, it's like I've been hearing about two different people. On one hand, my friend Dahlia said he was the one behind that big prank at the hot springs. But then everyone else said he was the one that had returned everyone's clothes. And then when Raikiri and I dueled him and Bob, well..."
Tracy sighed, leaning against one of the game booths.
"My friend's brother used to say that in a duel, people's true selves would be revealed. I didn't really understand it until I came here to Duel Academy." Tracy said. "Weasel acted really nice when we dueled, but then occasionally it was like... I don't know, he'd break character? On my first day here, I got tricked into dueling a 2nd or 3rd year Obelisk Blue. And for some reason when I dueled Weasel, it kind of gave me a sense of deja-vu, you know? Even just now, when people started to actually notice that he was here and head over to him, his whole posture changed."
Tracy rubbed a hand across her face.
"It's just been really strange to me, and I've been trying to figure it out." Tracy said. The D.D. Warrior Lady looked over to Bix. "Am I just overthinking this?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jira leaned against the side of the costume as Tobias tried the Funnel Cake. At Tobias' matter-of-fact description of the sweet goods, he couldn't help but to smile. Translating Tobais' normal speaking to Jira-speak, Jira was unsurprised to hear that Tobias wasn't a fan of the funnel cake.
"Yeah, I'm not surprised! To be honest, Funnel Cake didn't really seem your style. It's hit-an-miss with other people as well." Jira said, taking another bite of the Funnel Cake. Some of the powdered sugar fell onto his costume, and Jira did his best to wipe it off.

The Slifer Red stepped aside as Willow walked back into the stone cube.
"Oooooh." Jira said, eyeing the bag of rice crispies. "Those look pretty good. Funnel Cake?"
Jira offered some of the Funnel Cake to Willow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dahlia shrugged.
"About the same, nothing too much. I've just been focusing on studying and perfecting my deck, really." Dahlia said. The Obelisk Blue girl looked back to Fen and Goule again.
"I'm sorry, but I don't recognize your guys' costumes." Dahlia said. "Are all of you going to be trying for the costume contest?"

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

“Woah woah, kill the motor there.” Braxer would grab onto Bob’s shoulders. “Your letting the stress of this whole thing go to your head. What’ll happen is what happens, ain’t nothing we can do but wait, eh?”

Last thing the stout boy wanted was for this to devolve Into a more stressful event. The festival was all about having a good time and getting away from harsh realities, not about absorbing anxiety like a sponge.


.......


“I-I uh...oh.” Bix stuttered, knowing exactly what she meant. Looking to the side and tensing up a bit, the passively rattled boy pulled on the collar of his shirt. “Well uh...maybe he has multiple personality disorder?”

He couldn’t bring himself to outright say he wasn’t a prankster to her face, something in him refused to let that happen. So instead of lying, he told possible truths, at least what he assumed was the truth.

“N-No! Your not overthinking it at all! He can just be a bit uh...sporadically different at times.”



........



Tobias peered over his orange scarf, eyeing the delivery before him. He was offered a familiar shaped dish in the form of rice crispy treats. The stone formation of the dessert was already enough to peak his curiosity. So he swiftly plucked his fork out once more, stabbing the treat before bringing the bite to his mouth.

“Sweet yet not overbearing. Not hollow nor oversold, gooey yet coarse...the almost harsh and dense nature of the delicacy reminds me of home somehow. Hm! This shall be most satisfactory, well done.”

Tobias was impressed with it to say the least, almost too quickly grabbing the bag from the gladiator beast clad duelist. If he was trying to hide his eagerness for the flavor he was failing.



......



“Me...? Heh, I don’t do acting.” Goule chuckled. “Fortune tellers and other phonies make money off of acting like they are occult, it’s really disturbing. So I’d like to stay far away from that stereotype if you don’t mind.”

He wouldn’t mind watching the show, but entering it was not on his agenda.

 

[DarkHydraT]

Bob looked Braxer straight into his eyes, shrugging at his words. "I'm just keeping all the options open. I've always been second choice and I would not put it past Weasel to do something drastic. He's the leader of this little group after all and you and Bix have more history with him than with me. It's a waiting game now like you said, and I'm prepared to lose." The words Bob said felt like those of a stranger, someone who said what the Ra wanted to but didn't out of restrictions. Self-inflicted or not, it didn't matter. His mind was screaming to shut up, but his mouth kept going. Perhaps a part of his brain had already accepted that the possibility that Weasel would kick him out of the group as a reality. It would seem that there was something beneath the snarky, gambling Machine user, but who could say for sure?

-------

Willow looked at the funnel cake and shook her head. "No thanks Jira, it really does not look that appetizing to me and is probably way too sweet for me. But hey, that means more for you right?" The excitement of Tobias that was aimed at the rice crispies was almost comedic to see, especially since she couldn't really imagine him without a stoic face. "Enjoy yourself! I've got some for myself too." Opening the second bag, she grabbed one of the treats for herself before offering a second to Jira. She couldn't really talk due to having the top half of the Giant Soldier of Stone between her teeth, but it was pretty obvious what she meant.

 

[Captain Cardboard]

Tracy watched as Bix responded, and even the Ra Yellow was able to see that Bix seemed to act a little strange about the topic of Weasel. With the nudges from Braxer when he had talked earlier, for a moment Tracy's suspicions were beginning to increase. She did feel a bit of a weight lifted off her shoulders when Bix agreed with what she was saying.
"That's a bit of a relief. At least I'm not going crazy." Tracy said. She paused to think about it a bit more before shaking her head. "Still, the stuff I hear about him can be so different it still weirds me out."
It was about then that Tracy noticed how rattled Bix looked, and her expression turned to one of concern.
"Are you okay, Bix?" Tracy asked. "You're, uh... looking a bit shaky."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Well, well, well~!" Jira said as Tobias reacted to the Giant Soldier of Stone crispies. Although Tobias was trying to hide his excitement, for Jira it was easy to notice. The Slifer Red grinned a toothy grin as Tobias snatched up the sweet. Maybe this would help his friend learn to relax a little bit. Jira retracted his offer to Willow, taking another bite from the funnel cake. Noticing Willow offer him one of the treats, he accepted it gratefully.
"Don't mind if I do!" Jira said.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Braxer grumbled, not liking all the drama coming out of Bob’s mouth. Sure he was one of the three B’s, but even he had to keep Bix in line sometimes. So he knew what he had to do. He would deliver a harsh bonk to his head with the bone club.

“Just cut it out, won’t cha? There’s more to think about than yourself ya know.”

looking over Bob, he spotted several people moving toward a central area. It seemed like people were starting to gather for the big costume contest.



......


“H-Huh?! Shaky? Who’s shaky?? Never met them w-whoever they are. Phew...is it a bit hot outside today? Crazy!”

Bix began to get uncomfortable from this line of questioning. Looking for a way out of this, he spotted the movements of the crowd, pointing over to it.

“H-Hey! That’s probably for the thing! The costume contest!”



...........



“My compliments.”

The loud sound of munching was heard as Tobias gorged on the sweets presented to him. He was glad that he could spend time with only those he cared about, the others of the world being separated by a literal wall. Crossing his legs on the ground, Tobias continued to munch on, quickly decimating many soldiers of stone before his mighty jaws.

“This is...nice.”

Unusually short for words of Tobias, the stoic boy gave a small smile underneath his scarf that could easily be mistaken for a neutral expression. He didn’t usually lay back and have fun like this. So it was...pleasant for him.

 

[DarkHydraT]

"Ow! Stop that already, do you know how to solve problems without hitting something? Do that again and I will duel you, no holds barred." Bob snapped at Braxer after the Slifer Red hit him again. Whilst he definitely didn't like the way Braxer stopped his whining, it was damn effective at getting the hint across. "You can just tell me to shut up, I ain't gonna try and force myself when face to face with you." Huffing, the Ra Yellow crossed his arms and looked to the left. "Sounds like the costume party is starting soon, are we gonna join or are we going to stand here looking pretty?"

--------

Willow bit into her own Soldier crispie and smiled at Jira's and Tobias' enthousiasm. Her mouth was too full to talk normally and she was raised to have manners, so she just enjoyed in silence. Whilst the speed at which the archeologist devoured the treats was a bit unsettling, it was a lot better than flat out ignoring the food she brought. Swallowing, she pulled out her phone and checked the time. "Does anyone know when the costume contest starts?"

 

[Captain Cardboard]

Tracy looked in the direction that Bob pointed, seeing that the crowd was starting to congeal and move. Checking the time on her phone, she nodded.
"I think you're right! We should get going." Tracy said. The thought of the costume and acting competition pushed the confusion about Weasel back. She could always focus on that later... But it definitely was a little suspicious how rattled Bix was getting from these questions. Her curiosity was piqued, and she couldn't help but to dig deeper into this. Perhaps if she asked Bob... Then again, she could try asking Weasel himself...

She really should start focusing on the competition.

"Hey, Bix, are you doing the competition as well?" Tracy asked.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jira leaned against the wall of the costume, just taking in the moment. When Willow asked about the time of the costume contest, Jira checked his phone as well.
"I think it's supposed to be pretty soon." Jira said. His face seemed to light up as he remembered something. "Oh! Willow! So I was doing some thinking for like Gladiator stuff for the contest, here's what I got. Gladiator were like... the show fighters of the ancient world, right? So I'm willing to bet they did a lot of poses and stuff already, since they were showing off for the crowd. Maybe stuff like flourishing your weapon, or hitting it against your shield like you're egging on an opponent. Or maybe a victory pose, and yell something like 'are you not entertained?' Something like that, and mix it up with some animal stuff since they're beasts too? That's what I got."

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

We should get going? Wait, does that mean she wants me to attend with her? Like some kind of date? Oooooh!

“Y-Yes I’m attending!” Bix nodded up and down so fast it would break a weaker man’s neck. “C’mon, let’s go!”

Trying to be as alpha as a scrawny rat could manage, he lead the way. But first, he hooked over to Bob and Braxer first.

.....


“Psht, I don’t have to accept no duel. I just like bonking you when your being stupid.”

Braxer chuckled to himself. Best part of his job. If he was going to play babysitter for two short stacks he’d at least have some fun with it. When asked about joining the costume party, Braxer rubbed the back of his neck.

“Eh, I dunno. Just seems a tad too flamboyant for my ta-“

“BRAXER! DUDE!” Bix barged in, hooking his arm. “To the competition! You too Bob!”

“Hey-Hey! Don’t I get a say in this?!”

“Nope! Let’s goooooo!”

Bix of course didn’t have the muscle mass to actually budge Braxer, but the taller boy just allowed himself to be dragged in some kind of pity.



........


“Welcome everyone to the annual Duel Academy Spirit Week Costume context!” Ms Dorothy, the card shop owner spoke through the intercom. “Please line up so we can get the line ups started with the face off portion of the competition! Remember, this is all in good fun!”

The was a makeshift stage made in the center of the area, the stage being just a clearing with bleachers and walls erected around it. The seats began to be filled as the viewers found their places in the crowd. The contest was imminent.


......



Tobias crossed his arms. “Hm...knowing the time of the event...it should be accepting applicants...”

That’s when the the intercom spoke overhead, the lovely Ms. Dorothy being heard throughout the campus grounds. It announced the entry to the contest, Tobias opening his eyes.

“...Now.”

Looking over to the pair inside his Bunker, he began to wonder what they had planned to do for the contest they’d presuming it enter

“...The voting panel is who you should bear in mind. Go for the throat.” The archaeologist advised coldly.

 

[DarkHydraT]

Bob groaned at Braxer's reasoning. "Why am I not surprised? God, who did I offend in a previous life to get stuck with Weasel, El Hopaness Romtic and the best Whack-A-Mole player around?" Letting out a sigh, the Ra Yellow shook his head and followed the other two hooligans as he rubbed his neck. "What a day, and it only just started." As he took his place in the line, he grabbed his Blowback Dragon plushie and looked for Tracy. "Hey Trace, could you hold this for me when I'm on stage? It's kinda hard to be treated seriously when on stage with this thing." As the Machine user asked for the favor, a sheepish smile crept onto his face. After all, it wasn't every day that he asked someone to hold his plushie for him.

----------------

Willow chuckled at Jira's suggestions. They were a bit dramatic, but she could imagine some gladiators doing that. Besides, the effort was hard to not appreciate. "You're not wrong, gladiators were entertainers of the public. They either fought other gladiators or wild animals if they were a bestiarius, and their equipment depended on their class. For example, a retiarius fought with a net and a trident whilst an andabata was blindfolded. Thankfully, Attorix is based on a gladiatrix and has a simple sword and shield combo. Sadly I don't have wild animals, but I can work with the rest of your ideas. I'd like to give you advice as well, but I can't get much further than roaring and tearing stuff apart. Maybe with like hair spray and a lighter, you can recreate Dogoran's attack? It does sound like a safety hazard though."

Tobias' 'advice' was a bit unsettling, but it wasn't given in bad will. The Slifer Red girl grinned at him as she pointed her thumb at her. "Gladiators always went for the kill when given permission and I plan on doing the same. I might have been unable to reach the finals of the tag-team tournament, but I'm confident that I can win here. Let's go, we don't want to miss this, now do we?"

 

[Captain Cardboard]

Tracy giggled at the antics of the three, and blinked when Bob asked her to hold onto his Blowback Dragon plushie.
"So you actually managed to win the claw machine game? Nice!" Tracy said. The Ra Yellow girl crouched down to inspect the plushie closer. "He's a little cutie, isn't he? A cute little engine of random destruction!"
Tracy stood back up.
"Sure, I'll hold onto him while you perform. Although if we end up going head-to-head on the versus part, you might need to find someone else." Tracy said as the group made their way towards the stage and waiting area.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I'm pretty sure if I did that, I'd get kicked out of school." Jira said. "Roaring and stomping around is really all I got."
Jira chuckled at the thought of himself stomping around on stage. He'd definitely look more silly than scary, and his costume wasn't going to help with that. "To be honest, I'm not sure I'm even going to be able to do this performance with a straight face. I don't think I have a ghost of a chance to win, especially if people have costumes like yours! So I'm just going to try to have fun with it."
Hearing the muffled announcement through the wall of stone, Jira stood up and tried his best to brush off the powdered sugar that had accumulated on his costume.

"I think that's our cue!" Jira said. Jira smiled a toothy grin at Tobias' advice, showing off his pointed teeth, and gave Tobias a thumbs up. "I'll give it my best shot!"
With that, Jira made his way out of Tobias' costume/bunker. The Slifer Red took some of the extra tape on his person and, standing on the tips of his toes, taped his phone Tobias' costume so that the camera was pointing to the stage. It was up high enough so that Tobias would be able to see over most of the crowd. Giving his friend another thumbs up through the camera, Jira made his way towards the stage.

 

[DarkHydraT]

Bob scratched the back of his neck and laughed. "It's cuter than the actual thing, that's for sure. Got it with a bit of help, and I can probably get Braxer or Bix to hold it if we're going face to face. They won't mind. Probably. Maybe. Hopefully." Stopping his train of thought, the Ra Yellow changed subjects. "Do you have any plans for acting? Just flailing your sword about can't be enough to win and I don't think you can banish yourself and your opponent unless you both jump off stage, which would be awful and hilarious." Letting out a chuckle, Bob looked to the sky.

"I am not that familiar with D.D. Warrior Lady, after all I am not the expert on banishing. That role is yours. Maybe there's some lore or something that involves her? Some Machine monsters refer to the Machine King in the flavor text like Mechanicalchaser, so I'd say it is safe to assume there are other cards with stories like that." As the boy tried his best to give Tracy some advice, he scratched the chin of the Blowback Dragon plushie as laughter akin to clattering cans filled his ears again. Either he was having auditory hallucinations or Goule put a curse on him too. "Y'know, I really should just ask my brother about this stuff. He's big on banishing after all, that Skullgios and Megarock Dragon won him many matches against my family."

-------

"Hey, atleast you'll be remembered if you pull that stunt! You'd get disqualified and possibly expelled, but you'd make a lasting impression like your Kaijus." Willow laughed at the idea that really was too dangerous to use, but it created a nice mental image. "Don't worry about your placement Jira. This is what, your first year? You'll have plenty of time to refine your costume, last year I didn't even participate because I felt my costume was bad. If you don't win, atleast you'll have a good time and happy memories are better than any trophy in my opinion."

After reassuring the Kaiju user that he was going to do fine, she followed the boy out of Tobias' costume and took a deep breath. "It's time to enter the colosseum, no turning back now. Death or glory, there will be no alternatives!" Willow raised her sword into the sky for three seconds before cracking and bursting out in laughter. "Ahahahaha! Oh, I just could not resist! Okay, I got that out of my system. Let's get this show on the road!"

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

“Excellent. Then if you go for the kill then none shall stand in your path to success.”

Nodding in this assessment of Willow’s skill, he turned to Jira, who seemed a bit sheepish to say the least about his own costume.

“...Perhaps it’s not about just seeming ‘Cool’ or ‘Amazing’, but rather keeping the audience entertained as well. Making them laugh uproariously is not a negative aspect...”

Tobias have this parting advice as Jira ran toward the woman over the intercom. He contemplated watching it, as he wasn’t exactly jumping to see a whole lot of students in new clothes make a fool of themselves...but he had a feeling he would regret the spectacle if he were to abstain.


.....


“Welcome everyone! Now that the participants are piling in, we can now start off the first leg of this show! First come, first serve after all! So without further ado, let’s get this ball rolling!”

Ms Dorothy waved up at the judges, signifying them to be ready to judge the first round of students.

“This is the Acting side competition! Where you get to show off the creativity of your costumes and how the resemble the monster you dressed up as! First up is Tracy, dressing up as the deadly D.D. warrior lady!”

There was shuffled applause as they awaited the first student to make their way up to the stage. Being first couldn’t be easy, but it was also the firsts that tend to make the biggest splash

@Captain Cardboard

 

[Captain Cardboard]

"Skullgios...? Oh, with Fossil Fusion!" Tracy said. At the thought of D.D. Warrior Lady and card lore, the smile on her face grew. "Oh, yeah. There's quite a bit of lore that comes with D.D. Warrior Lady! Her story is amazing, so I'd totally check it out when you have the chance! In fact, I'd go as far as to say she's pretty much the base for the lore of the Different Dimension. Anyway, don't worry about it. This isn't going to be my first rodeo doing an event like this!"
She gave Bob an 'okay' sign, when Ms. Dorthey stepped up to the mic once again. To the Ra Yellow's surprise, she found that she was up first!
"Alright, wish me luck!" Tracy said, before heading towards the stage.

Tracy climbed onto the stage, facing the crowd and the judges. She felt that familiar shiver of nervousness, the same she would feel before a duel in front of a crowd, like in class or during that tag-team tournament. But this wasn't one of those things. This was acting! Giving a nervous nod to the judges, Tracy closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and got into character. Her posture changed, becoming more confident. She fixed the crowd with an intense grin, reaching onto her belt and grabbing what appeared to be some sort of handle.
"My journeys through the Different Dimension have made me stronger..." Tracy called out. Even her voice sounded different, more mature and full of combative energy. She walked towards the crowd with confidence and a seriousness that was unusual for Tracy. She came to a stop at the edge of the stage, crossing her arms and look across the crowd. "So there's no way I'm going to let a punk like you beat me! Let's see how you'll survive the Different Dimension! Dimensional Banishment!"

Tracy swung the handle, and a blade of white plastic telescoped out of it. Pressing a button on the handle at the same time, it appeared to light up with an glowing energy. Sure, it was a toy that resembled a lightsaber. But it worked with the character and costume. As she yelled, "Dimensional Banishment!", Tracy pointed the prop at the audience in a similar pose to that depicted on the card 'D.D. Designator'.

Tracy did a few more poses, before bowing to the judges, ending her performance and making her way back off the stage. She made her way back over to Bob, Bix, and Braxer, smiling happily. She felt pretty good about that!
"So, how did I do?" She asked the trio.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Whaaaat?! No, no, ya gotta keep that energy going! That was good!" Jira said when Willow posed. "That's what the whole competition is about!"
The pair made their way over to the waiting area for the competition, and Jira watched each performance eagerly.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

There was applause from the crowd upon the performance, definitely not as tacky or cheaply acted as one would expect from a student act. The judges hastily began scoring, a good sign indeed. The use of the props alongside the cold hearted demeanor she brought to the table certainly made a wake in the pool.

As the warrior lady exited the stage, Bix couldn’t help but find swirls in his eyes and a flush on his cheeks.

“That was sooo ho- urm! Hefty! Y-Yeah, that’s a tough act to follow. I feel for the poor sucker that has to follow after that!”

Braxer rolled his eyes at his friend’s loose lipped nature. Meanwhile, Ms.Dorothy giggled to herself and the enthusiasm of the crowd.

“What a lovely performance! I’m sure the next one will be quite as impressive. The next one up is Kenny, playing the role of the majestic Gaia the fierce knight!”

The crowd welcomed Kenny with a round of applause, awaiting his arrival on the stage.

@Fructus

 

[DarkHydraT]

"Yup, the most annoying fusion card I know of. Using material from your opponent's graveyard is just mean." Bob commented before listening to Tracy go on about D.D. Warrior Lady. Raising his eyebrows, the Ra Yellow cupped his chin. "That's a bold statement, you've got me curious now. I'll check it out, maybe you can tell me where to start? Having a lead is always useful for finding something, and you seem to know where that lead is. Good luck up there, I'll be cheering you on!" Giving the girl a thumbs up, he applauded with the crowd as the D.D. Warrior Lady got on stage.
The performance was in one word, incredible. Bob didn't let his jaw drop, but there certainly was a moment that he was considering it. As Tracy left the stage, he clapped and whistled with the crowd in approvement. He wasn't good at whistling, but it beat potential wolf whistles from Bix. "Tracy, that was incredible! You didn't say your sword could light up, though it was a great surprise! Did you act this out before or something? Because I doubt that this was all improv, it was way too professional for that." After practically fanboying over Tracy's act, Bob chuckled and shook his head. "And here I thought it would be easy, look at you raising the bar to the max. I'm actually going to have to try my best here, can't look complacent now. On the bright side, you can hold Backie when I'm on stage now."

----------

"I can't show you all the tricks in the books this early Jira, how can I blow your socks off when you already know what I am going to do? Like you said, gladiators were entertainers and who will watch a comedian who keeps making the same jokes? Variety is the spice of life, and I have plenty of tricks up these sleeves." Willow grinned as she followed Jira. The contest had begun with a strong start, as a D.D. Warrior Lady set the bar high for anyone who followed. "Alright, that's what I like to see! That is a potential sword fight right there, a real crowd pleaser in the making!"

 

[Fructus]

No two ways about it, Kenny was nervous when his name came up second. He'd never participated in an event like this before, and the performance right before him was... Well. Suffice to say that the girl he just witnessed on stage was an entirely different Tracy from the last time he saw her. Her performance as D.D. Warrior Lady wasn't just good, it was amazing.

He grinned uneasily at Dahlia and the others that had come with him. "My turn!" he said, hoping he sounded more confident than he actually felt. As he walked up on the stage, he went over the performance he'd practised one more time in his head. His costume wouldn't be winning him any prizes, but luckily he still had some trump cards up his sleeve- quite literally, in fact.

Kenny briefly glanced at the audience before he got in position. Deep breaths. In this moment, he was who he always aspired to be- the greatest knight in all of Duel Monsters. And Gaia had fearlessly fought any evildoer. Surely he would not be afraid to stand in front of a crowd!

He cleared his throat. Step one of his act was to make sure he at least sounded like a millennia-old knight. As much as he hated it, his voice was still fairly squeaky. Gaia's voice wasn't squeaky, or at least that wasn't how Kenny envisioned it to be. Gaia was a man amongst men, with a booming, powerful voice. "He who was born from chaos," he began in a voice much deeper than he usually spoke in. He elected to look into the distance first, as if he was reminiscing about something. "Balancer of light and darkness. Conqueror of heaven and earth. I have been blessed to have amassed many names over the years. However..." Kenny's head snapped towards the audience. "I must admit that I have grown to be particularly fond of the name your folk has chosen for me. Gaia the Fierce Knight, the warrior who rides faster than the wind."

"For centuries I have travelled your lands, saving those in need and vanquishing any creature foolish enough to get in my way." Kenny rambled on for a while about Gaia's tales of chivalry and combat experience. He'd never felt better- this was absolute bliss. But the show had to end sometime.

"Before I shall take my leave to explore these lands," he announced, spreading his arms, "Allow me to introduce you to my stalwart companion and good friend." This was his final act, and Kenny prayed to a variety of gods that he hadn't forgotten to activate the duel disk hidden in his lance. "My mighty steed, come forth!" As Kenny dramatically pointed his lance at the audience, he slipped a card onto his duel disk. For a second, nothing happened. Had he accidentally forgot to activate the duel disk? Did he not place the card well?

His doubts were shattered in an instant when a shrill screech could be heard. A skeletal-looking dragon materialized between him and the audience. "Curse of Dragon, let us depart!" He jumped off the stage, through his Curse of Dragon, which disappeared when the Gaia duelist jumped through it. With a nod, Kenny let the judges know that that was the end of his performance.

His heart was still hammering in his chest when he rejoined Dahlia, Goule and Fen. "So? What did you think?"

 

[Captain Cardboard]

Tracy blushed slightly and sheepishly rubbed the back of her head at Bob and Bix's compliments. While she looked a bit confused by Bix's comment ('hefty' wasn't exactly a common reaction), she seemed pretty pleased with her performance.
"Thanks. I did have a bit of an edge for this competition. My cousin was really into cosplay and stuff, so we would go to conventions together. She helped me get this costume, and I did kind of a similar act for other cosplay competitions at the conventions we went to." Tracy explained. When Bob introduced his plushie as 'Backie', a slightly goofy smile spread across Tracy's face.
"...Backie...?" Tracy asked with a grin. But before she could say anything more, the next contestant started his act.

It was a boy, one Tracy recognized as another Ra Yellow. His act was very good, using the card hologram of Curse of Dragon as a 'mount'. That was a technique that Tracy hadn't seen before. Very clever! She clapped as Kenny made his way off the stage.
"That was pretty good!" Tracy said to the three other boys.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dahlia gave Kenny a thumbs up as he came back to the group. Even though she wasn't competing in the competition, she had joined the three others just to have someone to talk to during the competition. Sure, Fen had been quiet and Goule was more than strange, but Kenny was a nice guy, and Dahlia was having some fun hanging out with the group.
"Really good job, Kenny! That was cool!" Dahlia said. While she definitely supported her friend's act a bit harder, she had to admit that Kenny hadn't done a bad job himself. He had definitely sounded like a knight up there, and for a moment Dahlia was able to believe it. But only for a moment. She gave Kenny a supportive smile.
"I think you knocked it out of the park." Dahlia said.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

The crowd had a mix of interest and curiosity mixed in with a few snickers from Kenny’s performance. Some viewed it as cheesy while others saw it as a faithful iteration. The judges looked on, writing notes as they went.

However, when curse of dragon came out, the judges quickly began chattering to themselves as the crowd roared in applause.

“...Can he do that?” One asked.

“There’s only rules saying he can’t use his duel disk for the monster that they are representing, doesn’t say anything about other monsters.”

“We should change that rule next year...”

Bearing that in mind, they began to scribble down notes as he left the scene. Ms. Dorothy cleared her throat as she once again rose to attention.

“What a surprising finish! The judges will think about that one very carefully. Speaking of careful judging, the next one is a union monster! Two monsters acting as one! Give it up For Mr. Bix and Braxer, acting as the dynamic duo of Coach Goblin and Giant Orc!”



.....



Hearing their names, Braxer sighed as he recalled the recently used curse of dragon. Following up a dragon was brutal. Welp. Not like he wanted to win anyway. Bix on the other hand...

“Oh! I can top that! Giant orc has more attack points than that monster! We’ll do it! Y-You’ll see!”

Determined to see himself as better than Kenny’s performance, Bix stormed on stage, Braxer going along with. Bix’s demeanor trudging on stage was confused by being in character. Braxer’s unwillingness seemed to be similarly misconstrued as the big brute sighed.

“Ya gotta take a chill pill.”

“Y-Yeah? Why should I?! You saw that dragon-“

Braxer bonked Bix on the head with his club, the crowd laughing at the sudden three stooges-esk humor. Bix hadn’t seen to register he was yet performing, instead rubbing his head and shaking his fist at Giant Orc.

“Hey! What was that for?!”

“For bein’ a dunce.”

“Gimmie that!”

“No!”

“Gimmieeee!!”

They had a tug of war for the club, Bix jumping on it like a monkey and clawing at it to bring it down. The crowd howled in laughter, thinking this was scripted. Bix started to wonder where all the laughing was coming from. Getting self aware, he looked at the crowd, going pale as soon as he realized where he was.

That’s when the goblin dressed boy plunked to the ground, falling off of Braxer’s club. Skittish and completely embarrassed, he scrambled off stage, the audience pointing and laughing as he did so. The judges shook their heads, cracking a couple smiles before writing it down. Braxer, not knowing what else to do, chased after him.

“Well that certainly wasn’t what I was expecting...guess even goblins need to get it out huh?” Ms.Dorothy chuckled with the crowd. “Let’s hope that the next one can keep their temper at bay! Next is Jira, playing the role of a powerful monster! Dogoran, the mad flame Kaiju!”

There were a few ooo’s and ahh’s inches the crowd, as they knew Jira had lots of huge boisterous monsters had his disposal, so they knew he had to have some pretty impressive costume!


.
..
...

Bix caught his breath as he made it off the stage, back where Bob and Tracy were. He looked left and right before turning back to them. It’s like he was trying to tell if they caught any of his his so called ‘performance’.



........


“Hehehe...I think you knocked them dead. Not literally though unfortunately.”

Goule let out some hoarse coughs as he complimented Kenny’s performance. Looks like he really was getting into his card lore, as well as the character of Gaia. It seemed that this likeness was genuine, maybe there was a bit more to it than one could determine at first glance...

 

[Fructus]

Kenny grinned widely at Dahlia and Goule's praise. Of course he'd been proud of his performance, but it was still nice to hear others enjoying it as well! "To be honest, I wasn't entirely sure whether summoning a monster would be fair play, but..." He tapped his lance on the spot where he hid his duel disk. "Technically my duel disk is part of my costume anyway. And they haven't disqualified me yet, so I'll take that as a good sign!"

While responding to his friends, two Slifers dressed as Coach Goblin and Giant Orc came up on the stage. Their performance was...uh...unique, if nothing else. Kenny got a few good laughs out of it. Overall an enjoyable show, but he doubted that he'd have to be afraid of the duo as serious competitors. Kenny couldn't entirely rule them out, of course. But having seen Tracy's show, he definitely considered her to be a way greater rival. And judging by the sounds the crowd made, this Jira person seemed to also be expected to put on a good show. This was getting interesting!

 

[DarkHydraT]

"So you did stuff like this before, huh? So winning should be a piece of cake for you, I need to up my game then." Bob commented before Tracy smiled at the name of the Blowback plushie. "Yep, Backie the Blowback dragon. I couldn't come up with a better name at the moment, so it's subject to change if you know a better name or one that is less on the nose." He admitted with a sheepish grin before he turned his attention to the stage. He recognized the boy as Kenny, he helped Dahlia to find Tracy after she disappeared. "This should be good, time to see what Kenny can do."

As Kenny's performance came to an end, Bob let out a whistle. "Impressive stuff, I did not expect Curse of Dragon to show up there. How did he summon it with no tributes though? That should not have been possible, but hey. It made for a good show. You two are up, do your best." Giving Braxer and Bix a thumbs up, the Ra Yellow watched them get on the stage and hoped for something that would impress the judges.

The act of the Slifers was....it was something, alright. Bob had to refrain himself from keeling forward from laughter, which resulted in heavy snorting and hiccups as laughter was forced to stay behind his lips. When Braxer and Bix returned, the Ra Yellow tried his best to talk calmly. "W-well d-done g-guys!" After one sentence, he finally broke and burst out in laughter. "BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh my god, you should've seen you two! It was hilarious!" Catching his breath, he brushed a couple of tears away from his eyes. "Ohohohoh, I wish I had recorded that. If you two win because of that, I'm going to be both surprised and impressed. It's gonna be hard to surpass that!"

-----------------

Willow looked on in awe as Kenny summoned Curse of Dragon. "That's awesome, maybe I can do something like that?" As she looked around, she saw the judges discuss something and caution took over for her. "On second thought, the judges seem to be less enthousiastic about it. Maybe I'll pass." After watching an admittedly funny duo of Slifer Red students perform, it was Jira's turn. "Alright buddy, your turn. Do you want me to hold your phone for Tobias? It can't be all that useful to have on stage." The Gladiator Beast duelist asked.

 

[Captain Cardboard]

"No, no! I like it. It fits the little guy." Tracy said, taking another look at the plushie. It was kind of impressive in it's own right, making a large and scary monster look so small and cute. It kind of reminded her of those toon monsters one of the other Ra Yellows would use. Plush monsters. Wasn't that already a monster archtype?

Tracy watched as Bix and Braxer took the stage. She didn't know that the competition was allowing combo acts. Hopefully that might give them the edge to become a contender. The Ra Yellow girl was interested to see how this was going to play out.

Tracy couldn't stop herself from laughing at Bix and Braxer's act. Although how much was an act and how much was their actual personalities, that was a bit harder to tell. She did wince when Braxer bonked Bix on the head with his bone, but still laughed at the pair. When the two returned, Tracy tried her best to keep a straight face like Bob had. And much like Bob, she failed and fell into a bout of giggles herself.

"You two did good! At the very least, your depictions of your cards was very good. Not to mention funny, and people remember funny." Tracy said to Bix and Braxer. "Are you okay? It looked like you actually got hit in the head."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the crowd mumered at the name of Jira's monster, the Slifer Red shifted nervously. Willow's question brought him out of his thoughts, and he nodded.
"Yeah, here.' Jira said, handing Willow his phone. He gave both the other Slifer Red and his phone a thumbs up, and grinned nervously. "Wish me luck!"
With that, Jira made his way towards the stage.

"RRRROARRR!!!" Jira yelled, jumping onto the stage and raising his arms. He proceeded to stomp around the stage and roar, occasionally yelling out the names of attacks like 'Atomic Fire Breath!' and 'Flaming Claw!'. Overall, not too impressive.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Bix’s face turned red after Bob broke into a fit of laughter, Braxer just cracking a smile in response.

“SHKSINJKIIK! None of that was an act!” He muttered through his grit teeth. “You can go and throw yourself off the nearest-“

He stopped as soon as he heard further giggling. Looking to his right, he saw the approaching Tracy. As soon as he connected the voice to the face, his face remained red but for a different reason.

“Hahahahahaha, it’s nothing!” He said quickly. “Just a little part of the act, no big deal at all! Totally planned!”



.....



The crowd blinked in disbelief as Jira took the stage...dressed as...a Kaiju? I think? He stomped around making sounds, pretending to be a Kaiju whilst acting like a 5th grader in their newest costume. There was a stifled laughter in the audience to offset the cringes. A few of the obelisk blues began to point at him, bursting into laughter. Some saw it as an ironic taste while others simply chose to mock him. Either way, Tobias glared at them from the phone.

 

[Fructus]

Jira's performance really lived up to the hype. The way the boy jumped around, calling out the names of his no doubt terrifying attacks... Kenny almost wanted to climb back up on the stage and calm the raging Kaiju himself!

It was then that he noticed that the majority of the students present didn't seem to share his sentiment. Giggles erupted from all parts of the audience, with some going as far as to point and laugh! Kenny didn't understand- what else did they want a Kaiju to do other than walk around and destroy stuff?

"How rude! His performance isn't even that bad, is it?" He began to clap, hoping that the Kaiju duelist would at least be able to hear there were some that appreciated his show.

 

[DarkHydraT]

"Don't worry Trace, that club looks a lot heavier than it truly is. Trust me, I've felt it twice already. Bix is perfectly fine. And if you have brain damage, I'm sure that no one would treat you any differently." Bob couldn't say that last sentence out loud without Braxer whacking him, but he couldn't stop the Ra from thinking it. Chuckling to himself because of Bix' behavior and his thoughts, he turned to the stage to see who was performing now. To say the performance didn't quite live up to the ones before this one was an understatement, though the bar was set high from the beginning. The outfit was low quality and the monster that the Slifer Red chose was far from easy to reenact. The boy tried his best, but the goal was just a tad too ambitious for the materials that were at his disposal. Still, Bob knew how to respect creativity and ambition. Ignoring the laughter coming from the crowd, he began to clap.

------------

"You got this Jira! Keep going!" Willow cheered Jira on as she kept the camera on her friend. The crowd didn't share her enthousiasm, but she didn't care. Jira's costume was not the highest quality, but he tried his best to put up a good show. Was that not enough to win over people? Were they really only paying attention to the costume and the flashiness? It didn't sit right with her, surely effort had to be taken in account when deciding the winner? She'd have to ask the judges for that, but that was a problem for future Willow. Right now, she had to support Jira.

 

[Captain Cardboard]

Jira stomped around on the stage and roared some more, seemingly unaffected by the various reactions of the crowd. He had tuned it all out, just doing his act and focusing on that alone. Doing his act for a little bit longer, Jira finished, bowed to the judge, and walked off the stage. He could tell there was quite a few reactions of people laughing at him, but that didn't really affect the Slifer Red all that much. It was an expected response. In fact, in a more unusual response he heard was a few cheers from the crowd. Perhaps he wasn't that terrible.

The Slifer Red made his way back over to Willow, still managing to keep a smile on his face despite the negative reception.
"Well, I gave it a shot. Rough crowd, huh?" Jira said to Willow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tracy raised an eyebrow at Bix's sudden change, and couldn't help but to giggle at it again. It seemed like he was perfectly okay from being bonked on the head.
"So what was it then? It wasn't an act, or it was?" Tracy teased. She turned her attention to the performance that was happening. It wasn't too terrible, and she had certainly seen a lot worse. So she applauded politely as well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dahlia couldn't help but to cringe a little at the last two performances, but still applauded anyway.
"I mean, it's not exactly what I would call good either." Dahlia said to Kenny, clapping politely.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

“Ahahahaha! What are you talking about? Where did you hear that?” Bix began to sweat. “A-Anyways! We both did well and that’s all that matters!”

Braxer could practically taste the sap pouring from Bix’s mouth. He wished that Weasel would come back soon and make sure Bix would stay in line. This was getting too much.



.....


The judges didn’t have much activity written down on Jira’s act, something that made Tobias’s blood boil. He had spirit, which is what the spirit week was about right? It didn’t matter the craftsmanship as long as it had heart. But it seemed that some shallow individuals thought otherwise. Sighing, he composed himself as Ms. Dorothy cleared her throat on the microphone.

“What an...unique performance full of spirit!” Ms. Dorothy made a Segway to the next act. “Let’s see if the next student has that much spirit! Next Is Bob, going as our first trap monster! Power hold the moving battery!”

Some newbies to the game looked at each other in confusion, not knowing trap monsters even existed while others clapped and awaited Bob the rapper’s stage debut.

 

[DarkHydraT]

"Bix, you're drooling. Don't make me call Weasel." Bob stated deadpan as his name was announced over the speakers. "It's my turn, huh? Alright then, time to show them what machinery can accomplish. Trace, hold Backie please." Grabbing the plushie, he tossed it at Tracy before stepping onto the stage. As he reached the middle of the stage, the Ra Yellow leaned forward with his torso, his head dangling. "Starting reboot program." He said with a monotone voice that had to sell the emotionless machine act. Straightening his back in one, stiff motion, he let his head hang before raising it to be above his shoulders. There was no expression on his face as he began to speak again. "Reboot completed. Rules of conduct will be listed now. One: Humans may not be directly or indirectly injured. Two: Orders must be executed unless they break the first rule of conduct. Three: Self-defense is encouraged as long as it does not conflict with the first two rules of conduct. Rules of conduct must never be broken, override is only possible with the card 'Limiter Removal'. Card shall be shown."

As the boy stared off into the distance, he drew the spell card and showed it to the crowd. "Limiter Removal is only allowed during emer-. Recalibrating." Bob's hand shook as the card fell out of his grasp, straight onto the Duel Disk. "Limiter Removal recognized, initiate o-overdr-dr-drive!" Suddenly the stiff mechanical movements became faster and more erratic. Arms spun and his head turned faster than it normally would. He crouched and made an X with his arms before kneeling and turning to the audience. "Target scan is in, charging up Sol Cannon. Charge is at 10%. Charge is at 20%." As the cannon charged up its attack, the Ra Yellow clenched his fists and pulled his arms back past his torso as if he was pulling on something. "Charge is at 80%. Charge is a-at....charge is at 90%........" As Bob 'malfunctioned', his arms and head went limp, leaving behind a lifeless machine. That was all that the crowd saw for atleast three seconds until he got up and bowed to the judges before walking off the stage. The realization that he was done with acting made him feel really hot for some reason, but he didn't mind it. "Well? Whaddaya say?" Holding the back of his head, Bob grinned widely as he spoke to the BB Boys and Tracy.

-----------------

"You can say that, but I think you did wonderful." Willow said as she gave Jira's phone back to him. "You did your best, and that is all we can ask from you. If it is worth anything, you have my vote." Attempting to comfort the Slifer Red, she patted him on his back before looking to the stage where a Ra Yellow was performing. It was the same one that beat her during the tag team tournament, but she didn't recognize his monster. It wasn't that important though, as his performance was not half-bad in her opinion. His outfit was for sure better than that of Jira, but she'd never admit that to his face.

 

[Captain Cardboard]

Tracy quickly caught the plushie, looking it over in her hands. It really did feel just as soft as it looked. Tracy crossed her arms and held the plushie to her chest, watching as Bob performed his act. The Ra Yellow clapped at Bob's performance as he walked off the stage. In her opinion, it was a very good performance!
"That was great, Bob!" Tracy said, complementing her friend. "Incorporating other cards into your act is always a great idea. And Limiter Removal goes great with it! I think you did a great job at capturing the rigidity of machine monsters. I think that you have a pretty good shot at this contest!"

Tracy then looked to Bix, then Braxer.
"Uh... Is he usually this sweaty? He seemed to be sweaty when we were playing carnival games too." Tracy asked Braxer quietly, in the hopes that Bix wouldn't overhear.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jira's smile turned to more of a sheepish one as he took the phone back from Willow, scratching the back of his head.
"Well, if you say so." Jira said. The Slifer Red aimed his phone camera towards the stage once again, watching the next performance. Powerhold the Moving Battery? He hadn't heard of a card like that. Plus, a Trap Monster? Jira knew nothing about that. But whatever it was, the Bob guy did a pretty good job performing as a robot. Pretty cool. Jira clapped politely for the performance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"The first trap monster?!" Dahlia said when Bob's costume was announced. The Obelisk Blue crossed her arms grumpily, watching enviously as Bob walked onto the stage. That 'first trap monster costume' was supposed to be her! Gosh dang it, why did they have to move the spirit day up a week? Still, Bob did very good with his performance, and it (begrudgingly) won Dahlia's respect. The Obelisk Blue girl clapped as the Ra Yellow made his way off the stage.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Moving through the audience, Lance made his way towards the large concrete cube that was located towards the back. The third-year Obelisk Blue was wearing a costume, a simple green hooded cloak. It wasn't a costume of any particular monster, instead choosing to go as the character depicted on the Spell card, 'Card of Demise'. Not that anyone would recognize that, but Lance wasn't competing in the competition so it didn't matter that people would recognize him.

The third year made his way to the stone cube, regarding it coolly. He looked around the concrete cube with a small smile, then knocked lightly on one of the sides.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

The crowd had wondered where Bob’s performance was going, but as soon as he ‘shut down’, they leaned in, not exactly knowing how to react. But after hey came back to life, he truly acted like a machine, almost as if he were possessed by the monster itself!

As his performance came to a conclusion, the was applauded, Ms. Dorothy beaming as he held her Mic once more.

“Wow, what an in character performance! I sure wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of a Sol cannon, that’s for sure!” She laughed. “Let’s see if our final act can stand out just as much! Introducing Dahlia, playing the mysterious Warrior of the wasteland!”

Notably, there were a couple fans of that card in the crowd as they whooted for her to take the stage.


.....


“Y-Yeah that was good Bob! Better than mine...!” Bix stuttered. “Like,I thought you turned into him for a second!”

Braxer was going to compliment him too until Tracy pulled him to the side, asking about Bix’s rather peculiar nature. He shrugged, pointing to the boy with his thumb.

“He’s a scrawny rat with a duel disk, it’s expected that he’d have some ticks and fidgets.” Braxer passive aggressively mocked the younger boy whilst covering for him. “Maybe he just needs some water. A bucket of it.”



.....



“The actions of our peers were most uncalled for.” Tobias growled through the phone. “Judging on appearance alone and not the spirit this festival stands for is both hollow and contradictory! I cannot looks away from such grievances!”

Tobias was also aggravated that they had laughed his friend off the stage, especially since he had some of the most fiery spirit on that stage. Before he could continue, there was a knocking on the outside of his fortress walls. Composing himself, he slowly approached the parameter.

“Who seeks my audience?”

 

[Captain Cardboard]

Dahlia perked up when Ms. Dorothy announced the final act of the contest. Who would it be? But to the Obelisk Blue girl's surprise, it was her name and costume that was called.
"Wait, wait, what?" Dahlia said as she was guided to the stage. "Hold on, w-wait. I didn't sign up for this. There's been a mistake."
But before Dahlia had the chance to fully explain her situation, she found herself on stage. In costume. In front of a crowd of students. A small blush of embarrassment spread across her face. She was used to dueling, not performing! But it looked like she didn't exactly have a choice.

Dahlia made her way to the center of the stage, putting a hand on her hip and glaring at the crowd. She was trying to look tough, but it really came off more tsundere. Now what the heck would the Warrior Lady say? In the name of justice? No, she was more of a bandit.
"If you think this is going to be some sort of a team-up, you're dead wrong." Dahlia said. Yeah, that sounded good. "The Warrior Lady of the Wasteland works alone. So don't even try to follow me."
With that, Dahlia turned, flipped her cape, and made her way off the stage.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Braxer's response didn't do much to ease Tracy's concern. But the Ra Yellow girl was distracted from that when she heard that Dahlia was going to be performing.
"What the? Really?" Tracy said. Sure enough, Dahlia was pushed onto stage. Tracy cheered for her friend before and after she performed. In Tracy's opinion, while the performance was short it did a good job at depicting the attitude of the Warrior Lady of the Wasteland. "Wooo! Go Dahlia!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~

A muffled voice spoke from inside the stone block. Lance stood for a moment, shifting his weight as he considered the best response for this situation. After a moment of consideration, the cloaked student responded.
"Someone who has interest in the welfare of this academy." Lance replied to Tobias.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

The crowd was silent for a moment before hearts swooned in the audience. There was applause and some that were a bit...too enthusiastic. Her performance was liked by some and loved by others. She hid her performance anxiety and turned it into appeal. They reached out their hands as if they were to actually follow her off the stage to her words, that is, until Ms. Dorothy covered her back by going on the stage herself.

“What a lovely performance from the gentle yet stern Warrior of the wasteland!” She announced. “But bear in mind boys, even she can destroy weaker monsters.”

She gave a smile, snapping a pencil in her palm, forcing those that were too enthusiastic to gulp and sit back down. Adjusting herself, she went to welcome the next guest...


.....


“...Is that so?”

Tobias emerged from the back end of the Costume, working his way to the front of it where Lance stood. Hanging up his phone and putting it away, the scary wearing teen looked to him with his golden orbs.

“Then we are of similar mind. Speak your intentions.”


......
......


The competition winded down the first stage, there were many cringeworthy acts such as a girl pretending to be a blue eyes ultimate dragon using sock puppets, and a boy laying on the ground flopping pretending to be an earthquake spell card. But as the last act left the stage, Ms. Dorothy took their place.

“While we are electing those that have passed, we shall move onto the second stage of this competition for those we’ve already judge to pass. Don’t worry if you aren’t called yet, that doesn’t mean your out! So hang tight!”

Pulling out a white card from her pocket, she read it’s contents before smiling up to the crowd.

“A brief explanation on how this will work. Two acts will be brought to the stage, and they will be pitted against each other like an actual duel monsters match! They will duke it out without touching the other person and you the watchers will fill out how many points should he give to either from one to ten! We will tally it all up at the end!”

One of the judges from the first stage of the Contest walked up to her, handing off part of the list he had.

“So our first act shall be Powerhold the moving Battery VS D.D. Warrior lady! Now let’s summon these monsters to the stage!”


.......


“You can do it Tracy! I believe in youuuuu!”

Bix instantly began to fanboy over her, hoping she would beat Bob easily. If one looked carefully they could swear they saw hearts coming from him. Braxer crossed his arms, glaring at him.

“Traitor...”

 

[DarkHydraT]

Bob grinned as he took his helmet off. "Thanks Trace, glad that it had the impact I was hoping for. You really shouldn't come up with acts like these, but improv has its place in competitions I guess. Hopefully this act can carry me far enough." The Ra's grin died down as he pulled Bix to the side and smacked his head with a flick of his wrist. "Stop drooling for Tracy, you're gonna scare her away and make our costumes rust. If you behave and act as something else than a nervous wreck, maybe I can get you two closer as friends. If I didn't know better, I'd say you are afraid of girls. Which is sad to be honest, as I'm the closest to a nerd of our little group. Don't make me give you 'How to talk to girls for dummies' as a birthday gift." Shaking his head, he put his helmet back on and pattted the shoulder of the Slifer. "Get those nerves under control, maybe go drink some water to calm down." Turning his head to the stage, he recognized Dahlia and approved of her act. It was short and sweet, not to mention he could see the monster say the lines that the Obelisk said.

As Ms. Dorothy explained the next round, Bob learned about the people who were forced to start the second round. Not only was it his turn, but also Tracy's. "Huh, Tracy's gotta start again. Welp, hopefully I last longer than the actual card against her." He wasn't overly worried about the whole acting thing, he had a plan in mind. Something that did bother him was Bix going absolutely mental next to him, and not because he was about to go onto stage. Glaring at the Slifer Red, he cracked his shoulders. "Hopefully you show the same enthousiasm for me, or our deal is no more." Leaving Bix with that threat or promise, he wasn't quite sure yet, he made his way to the stage. "Tracy, you can leave Backie with Braxer. It's gonna be awkward to explain that during our duel. Just don't pull out Cosmic Cyclone and we'll be just fine." Smiling after the quip, he stepped onto the stage.

---------------

"Relax Tobias, they didn't mean anything by it. Besides, Jira can take out their prized monsters in no time. It isn't over yet, and he wasn't wearing the worst costume we've seen today." Willow reassured Tobias as she looked at the stage. Her own performance wasn't too bad if she had to judge, after she got over the initial nervousness the acting just...kinda happened on its own. She felt as if she was an actual gladiator in a stadium, just without the whole death and human trade thing. Those were the less glamorous aspects of gladiator life, thankfully she didn't have to go through all that.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Bix was pulled to the side, the scrawny Slifer growling as Bob berated him on being a dog for the girl in the group. It was humiliating for him to be talked this way! It was worse than Braxer! Before Bob could walk away entirely, Bix called out.

“HEY! I’m not bad at—“

Bix caught himself, his eyes looking over to Tracy, who was still very much there. As his eyes went back to Bob, he gulped and rearranged his wording.

“—it...am I?”

Getting self conscious, he put a hand to his chin, thinking over equations in his mind as to how he was going about this. Braxer meanwhile rolled his eyes, bopping the shoulder of the robot-dressed Bob with his club.

“You got this, The team never deserts it’s own.”

He gave him a confident grin as he held out his left hand for Backie, the prized plushy. Whoever won this, he knew at least it would be a sight to see.

 

[Fructus]

Kenny had quietly watched his chances slink more and more with every performance. First there was the darker-skinned guy he'd met the other day, Bob. It was mostly a robotic performance, but that worked really well given the monster he'd been acting out was the mechanical Powerhold. Overall a really good performance that'd probably give him a run for his money.

And then even Dahlia got called up! Her act as Warrior Lady of the Wasteland was short and sweet, but sweet it was indeed. The person up there on stage was like a completely different person from the Dahlia he'd known up until now. "I thought you weren't going to participate!" Kenny grinned widely as the Obelisk Blue girl came back down from the stage. "That was good, though! Did you come up with all that on the spot?"

His attention snapped to the stage when Ms. Dorothy began announcing who would be performing in the second round. When Powerhold and D.D. Warrior Lady were mentioned, he was a little disappointed, though not surprised. Both Bob and Tracy performed very well. It would have been a shame for either of them to be eliminated in the first round. And, after all, his name not coming up yet didn't mean he hadn't made it- Kenny still had a chance!

 

[Captain Cardboard]

Tracy handed Braxer Bob's Blowback Dragon Plushie and started to make her way towards the stage. When Bix cheered her on, Tracy just turned back and waved at the Slifer Red, giving him a smile. She turned to Bob.
"Don't be too sure, Bob. I'm not going to be pulling any punches in this 'fight', so I hope you don't either." Tracy said. Letting out a deep breath to calm herself, the Ra Yellow made her way on stage.

Tracy spun to face off against Bob, activating her energy sword. She looked over to Powerhold with a confident grin.
"Alright, you oversized toaster! I've gone toe-to-toe with bigger machines than you before, and I've walked away just fine." The D.D. Warrior Lady took a fighting stance, holding the sword above her head and pointing to Powerhold. "Show me what you've got!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I didn't think I was going to participate either." Dahlia confessed when she made her way back to Kenny. "I kind of had to come up with something. But that was annoying, getting pulled up on stage. I just hope they don't call me up for the next event too."
The other events passed quickly, and Dahlia didn't really think much of them. There were some that were okay, and some that were more cringe like the kaiju slifer. But then the event changed. Upon hearing that her friend was getting called up once again, Dahlia perked up.
"Go, Tracy! Yeah!" Dahlia called up to her friend.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lance looked down at the Ra Yellow. The mysterious student was a lot more intense up close, seeing to radiate an intimidating aura off himself. But Lance didn't seem to be affected by it. He paused for a moment, as if inspecting Tobias.
"This school, and this island, have many secrets." Lance said. "I fear that the true intent of those that have been raiding our island have been to uncover those secrets and use them to their own ends. Especially when the raiders would utilize..."
Lance trailed off before giving Tobias a curious look.
"Do you believe in magic, Tobias?" Lance smiled and shook his head. "Forgive me, I have yet to introduce myself. My name is Lance. I suppose what I'm saying must sound rather strange."
Although his words sounded of one who would be embarrassed, his tone and expression was focused on Tobias, attempting to gauge the reaction of the other student.

 

[DarkHydraT]

"I didn't end up in Ra for being kind to opponents, let's do this." Bob flashed a cheeky grin before 'booting up' again. Staring right at Tracy with a blank face, his monotone voice droned forward. "Bioscan complete. Bio signature similar to humans, trace amounts of Different Dimension energy detected. Boot up attack program. Objective: Complete eradication. Charging Sol Cannon." Kneeling down onto his left knee, he charged the attack. "To protect humanity, enemies must be eradicated. You will not endanger innocent lives today. Leave or face the consequences of your actions. Charge is at 30%. Charge is at 60%. Charge is at 90%. Sol Cannon is fully charged, prepare for assault." The boy reeled back as if there was an immense amount of recoil on his body, firing the cannon blast at Tracy. It wasn't real of course, but it would definitely hurt if it was. The problem with the attack was the fact that he was left wide open for an attack if the Sol Cannon missed, and Tracy was way more agile than he was in his lumbering suit of armor.