It was a respectable answer. Jack thought it was probably even a good one. But it would not do. "So I guess it would be inappropriate for me to ask what happened to your mother, then?" Jack asked, watching Fubuki's eyes. Watching the gears turn in her mind.

Ryo ate his brunch, being slightly annoyed for the fact that the dragon doesn't follow any unnecessary orders like biting someone... He made a slight yo to his teammate Alexander, getting underwhelmed for the tag duel. "Not as if I'm going against Khan anyways >_>"

Looking here and there, Kenta kept on looking for Joseph, for a while he thought that he would not be appearing, or maybe he had overslept like him. Wouldn't that be a coincidence? "Isn't that him over there?" Laquari exclaimed, pointing to Joseph who was waving at both of them. He quickly ran up to the boy and his monster, motioning for the beast to come along with him. Approaching the table, Kenta's lips curled into a big smile. He lightly lowered his head to bow at both Joseph and his monster. "Good morning!" He paused for a while, thinking that his monster would do the same. Lightly bumping him on the soldier when he wouldn't greet as well. Laquari growled in return, he halfheartedly greeted the other boy. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever..." the beastman scoffed before crossing his arms. Displeased at the crude attitude his monster is giving both him and his friend, Kenta just sighed. While he was there, he got a good glimpse of what Joseph's own monster looked like. It was a dragon-like creature that looked like it was wearing the same armor of the knights the boy specialized in, gold highlights and all. For Kenta, the most noteworthy thing about the creature were its wings, it's like you could see outer space in them. He stared in awe before snapping back to reality. "Ah, it would seem that...We...are partners, Joseph!" Although he was slightly anxious, Kenta's enthusiasm overpowered those doubts and he was more than ready to get started with dueling. "Mistress, isn't that the ruffian over there?!" Madolche Puddingcess cried out as she pointed towards a table. Miwa could see that near him was the Void Ogre Dragon, it definitely looked terrifying...What more if it was close up, near both of them? Both Miwa and the princess shuddered at the thought as they slowly made their way towards Aono and the dragon. Then, just as they were on their way to both of them, he stood up and walked into the hallways. "Ugh, see?! A plebeian such as himself walk off as we gracefully stride towards him? Have he no manners or shame?!" Madolche Puddingcess said with a furious tone, Miwa tried her best to calm her down before she could cause any commotion. "Now, now...I think he must not have seen us...Let's just follow him." Grumbling under breath, the princess followed her mistress into the hallways where Aono was. After making a few rounds and giving chase to the boy, Miwa finally caught up to him and exclaimed, "A-Aono! Y...Y-You're going to be my partner, right?" She was uneasy with the dragon in their presence and the princess herself hid behind the girl while slowly peeking.

Fubuki stood there silently for a while after Jack asked that question. The only reason he would bring that up now... "If you're asking, you should know the story already. It was a big uproar- an entire plane full of passengers disappeared, but no crash was detected. The wreckage was found a few hours later with no trace of any dead or any survivors. My mother... She was on that plane when it went down. There's something I'm clearly missing something here, but she wasn't the only important person there on that plane. I need to know the truth behind the incident, but all of these cover-ups make it difficult." she said, staring at Jack. She probably sounded insane, but that didn't matter. If she was going to tell the truth, might as well go all the way... Right? "Hey, Kenta! Mornin'!" Joseph replied, looking at both him and Laquari as Diamond made its own silent greeting of nodding his head. Well, he wasn't that talkative anyhow. "Don't worry about Diamond here- he's a bit less talkative than most. Anyways... Yeah, we're partners now! That's some freaky timing, eh? Actually, since have the chance now... Want to see if we can tune up your deck before we get into the heat of things? I noticed yesterday that your Extra Deck wasn't complete, so I was hoping we could remedy that situation. The Main Deck is also something we could work on, if you'd like." Joseph said as he pulled out a small pack of cards he had gathered overnight from the collection he had brought along. "For a start, take these." he said, handing over a few rank 4 XYZ monsters to Kenta. "Your Extra Deck is a go-to method to get out of a bind, so it's nice to be ready with responses like these."

Alexander managed to find Ryo with the help of Shi En. Alexander returned the greeting, "Sup. Guess we'll be partners." Alexander looked at Ryo's monster, seeing that it was the iconic Blue-Eyes White Dragon. "I guess someone likes to be a bit old school. Find with me, but let's hope we can get past our first match." He then started to look around the place, saying, "I wonder who we'll be fighting against." Plasma eventually stopped next to someone. Michelle looked ahead of him to see a boy leaning against a wall, with a seemingly old and worn Duel Disk. "Um, hi," Michelle greeted, raising a hand. "My name's Michelle. Um, what's yours?"

Aedan’s blue eyes stared down everyone in attendance as the moved about the room, their favorite monsters following them like puppies. He had only been there a short time but he was already very much aware of the types of people he was dealing with, he had seen most of these monsters in his card shop back home and these were some of the most powerful he had ever seen. This was going to be a tough fight but if he was going to reach his goals then he was going to have to be every last one of them in order to come out on top. Aedan’s thoughts were interrupted by the presence of one such monster a Destiny Hero-Plasma if he wasn’t mistaken and not a moment after he noticed the monster the quiet voice of a teenage girl caught his attention, ”Um, hi…my names Michelle what’s yours?” It was odd to have someone come up to him so casually, he was more used to people assaulting him for no apparent reason. ”Hey…it’s Aedan. So mind filling me in on what I’ve missed so far Michelle?”

Michelle began to explain, "Well, we're supposed to find partners for the upcoming tag duels." She then paused for a moment before asking, "Um, would you like to be my partner?"

"You can learn a lot about a person by how they react to you," Jack told Fubuki in a somber tone. "I actually knew nothing about your mother before I asked the question. It was a lucky guess." Jack explained. "Your father, Itsuki Motorei, correct? He is a senior team member of the Starlight Shipping company, yes? There was a whole wealth of information for me to find about that. The academy your first tournament paid for, it was their idea was it not?" "But I couldn't find anything about your mother. I thought it was odd, myself. I figured something must have happened to her, and I also suspected it might have happened some time ago. But I couldn't determine why someone would go to such great lengths to cover it up, which appeared to be the case. Not even so much as an obituary." Jack let out a soft sigh. "Forgive me, Fubuki, I had hoped I was over analyzing the situation. Now I understand my suspicion was justified. I needed to know." "I'm sorry for your loss," he said dolefully. "I understand why your so hesitant around me. You have every reason to be. I'm a valuable asset, but I am not your friend. Is that correct?" Jack asked her, looking straight into her eyes. "Despite what you think of me, I want you to know that I do in fact trust you. I just had to be certain. If you don't believe me, I intend to prove it." "Listen carefully," he whispered, "this information if extremely dangerous and no one else can know about it. Can you promise me this?" Jack's voice was laced with a sincerity it had not known in years. But there was something else to it as well. It was fear. It was a bold move, what he was offering her right now. He wasn't sure which would be more precarious: if Fubuki declined or not. And Jack was terrified.

"Greek god of Doom hmm... Working together with the last member of the Bloodriver family.. that works." She said smiling. Emily looked at the King of Skull Servants once again. "So he kinda avenges his family.. Yeah, That does make sense." "Anyways, this is Vampire Vamp.." She says, as she points to the monster who is standing next to Emily, who bows towards Moros. The Vampire Vamp looked a bit like Emily if you looked well. "I got this card from my father... Alone she is quite weak, but once I summon another Vampire, I can equip any monster my opponent controls that has more Attack to it, and it gains all of its Attack power. " She said, smiling. "Alright, lets go find a tag team to battle." She said, looking around searching a tag team to battle. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Aono was walking through the halls, unable to find Miwa. "Damn... Where is she.." He thought to himself, as he turned towards Void Ogre Dragon. "Wait a second.. You are supposed to know where Miwa is! Why don't you help me out!" Aono ordered the dragon, who started to laugh mockingly. "Why would I help you?! Its way too much fun to see you running around, not knowing where to go." The dragon said, as he started rolling on the ground. Aono sighed, as he continued walking for a while, but after a while, he was about to give up. "Damnit... Maybe she already got eliminated by the Khan?" He thought to himself. Suddenly, he heard the voice of Miwa behind him, and as he turned around, he saw Miwa. "Don't tell me you were chasing me, alright?" Aono claimed, as he facepalmed himself. "Anyways, yes Miss Miwa... We are gonna be tag partners.. if thats okay with you..." Aono said, as the irritated look on his face turned to a friendly smile. "First of all... This young lady is way too gentle for you. Second of all.. She looks way to weak... Third of all.. She isn't your type." Void Ogre Dragon said to Aono, totally ignoring the fact that Miwa could hear him clearly. "You know... I don't care what you think..." Aono said, as he turned towards his dragon. "But if you continue on like this, we will make a special episode of Will it Blend? Yu-Gi-Oh card edition!" Aono shouted, as he turned back towards Miwa. "Anyways.. This is my Void Ogre Dragon... He is an idiot... Where is your partner?!" Aono said, as he started to look around, unable to find Miwa's monster.

"Ah, yes! That would be...Nice." Kenta said while taking the cards in his hand. Now that he thought about it, since the fighting is about to happen sooner or later, fixing his deck would be a great idea. Taking his deck out, the boy gave it a light shake as he handed it to Joseph. "I don't trust him, kid. For all we know he's putting some sort of trash in your deck." Laquari contemptuously said as he eyed Joseph and Constellar Diamond with a weary look. Kenta just elbowed his monster lightly, telling him that he should stop being serious. Besides, in times like these, isn't the best course of action to trust your partner? In return, the tiger-man gave no response and shrugged, perhaps he was being a stick in the mud. Miwa had a confused look on her face when Aono asked her if she was chasing him, to which she replied by giving a light nod. The boy seems to be a tad...uneasy with being partners with her, the girl couldn't blame her, with partners pairing out of the blue who knows what deck he uses? Would it even work about between them? Suddenly, the dragon that accompanied him began to say all these words about her. Miwa just felt bad and embarrassed, a part of her agreeing to the statements made by the beast, but behind her...Madolche Puddingcess wouldn't take these blasphemous words directed to her mistress! She practically darted herself in front of the boy and the ferocious dragon, her face red with anger. With a very furious tone, she began to shout a few words of her own. "Gentle? Gentle?! I'll have you know my Mistress has dominated battlefields consisting of sword-wielding men, masked ruffians, walls of stone and dragons of your kind using PLUSH DOLLS!! Does that sound gentle to you? She puffed her cheeks and pouted, about to continue her assault of words. "And another thing, weak? Need I remind you that my Mistress uses nothing but plush dolls to fight but still manages to claim victory with a bunch of animals, a butler and a maid! In spite of all of that, we still manage to look adorable!" The girl's face too was red, but not out of anger...but out of embarrassment...Her monster couldn't control her temper and look where it got her. At this point he probably doesn't want to partner up anymore as the princess' assault was not done yet. "And what makes you think that your Master is anything to be proud of anyway? Does he even have proper education when he's been committing acts of crime? Sorry, but my Mistress doesn't partake in endeavors of peasants much less hooligans such as yourself." With her anger being released, the princess turned her face back to Miwa, who was covering her face with her hands. "I...I'm so sorry." The girl hung her head down in shame, this is it. She's going home, she's going solo, she's dead. Now she's done it.

"You're slightly wrong about my father; it was not his company's idea to start the academy... But at the moment, that information is irrelevant." Fubuki stated, clarifying Jack's earlier remark. "But yes, your claims are well grounded. You are an ally and an acquaintance, but not a friend. I can't hope to rely on my own strength alone- that I know." But Jack's next set of statements was definitely not like him. Jack, that strange man who always put up an act to slip around and tell half-truths... Was being sincere. Well, it could probably considered kindness for kindness, in a sense. "At the moment, you're the only one outside my family that I know of that is aware of the situation. If I gave your information away like that, then what kind of person would that make me? I'll trust you on this, then- what is it that you want to keep a secret like you are now? "Oh, come on now." Joseph said, looking as Laquari as if he wasn't thinking everything through. "If I did something like that, then I'd have an even lower chance of getting through this stage." Taking Kenta's deck, Joseph immediately sorted the cards by spells, traps and monsters before laying each section out on top of the table he was sitting at. "How about this? You two can watch as I edit the deck. That'll get rid any suspicions you have, right?" Not waiting for an answer, Joseph immediately got to work adding and removing cards from the deck. It was a practiced set of actions- he had gotten so used to moving cards around to build decks that it almost felt like second nature to him now. "There we go." he said, brushing off his hands as the last of his changes was completed. "Removed some clutter, finished the Tenki playset, added a Bear and two Tensu, triple Wolfbark... Actually, it might be better to check those changes out yourself." he said gesturing to the deck laid out on the table. "You get how Wolfbark and Bear work wonders in the deck, right?"

Moros pointed at his king, "Lead us to victory!" he said confident that his king would obey him. The skletal lord merely nodded his consent and lead the way to... Miwa and Aono, what a surprise. Miwa seemed embarrassed over something but something silly like that wouldn't stop him. He sprinted, jumped and slid on his low traction shoes between them while spinning and came out of it on the other side pointing one finger at both of them. "My partner and I challenge you toooooooo... A DUEL!" he said confidently, sure that he wouldn't be refused.

"You're slightly wrong about my father; it was not his company's idea to start the academy... But at the moment, that information is irrelevant." Fubuki stated, clarifying Jack's earlier remark. "But yes, your claims are well grounded. You are an ally and an acquaintance, but not a friend. I can't hope to rely on my own strength alone- that I know." But Jack's next set of statements was definitely not like him. Jack, that strange man who always put up an act to slip around and tell half-truths... Was being sincere. Well, it could probably considered kindness for kindness, in a sense. "At the moment, you're the only one outside my family that I know of that is aware of the situation. If I gave your information away like that, then what kind of person would that make me? I'll trust you on this, then- what is it that you want to keep a secret like you are now?

"My name," he said quietly. "My name is not Jack. Jackson DuBois is a complete fabrication. Do you understand why this is significant?" Everything was on the line now. He had many secrets left, but he had just given Fubuki the gateway to them all. Now, he could only hope he had made the right call, and that the play was worth it.

I remember thinking taking the detour yesterday was a bad idea. What do you know, you were wrong for once. Your opinion means nothing. Turn right here. Ava Kore found herself speaking to "the voice" once again. And as always, it was telling her what to do. And as always, she trusted its guidance; it hadn't let her down yet...except maybe how it told her to attend a small tournament yesterday after her flight instead of finding her lift to the bigger one. Ava wasn't even really sure how she got where she was now; it was a part of town she'd never seen before, and all the voice told her about how it knew where it was leading her was that "spirits leave tracks." Whatever that was supposed to mean. There is no need to be there, yet. This "Khan" will have to wait, as it appears there is a small tournament being held near here. What do you expect me to do about that? It should be obvious. Crush the competition, and turn whoever meets you in the finals into a broken, lifeless husk. Well. Seemed the voice's guidance, as always, led Ava in the right direction. Probably following whatever tracks it talked about, the voice had led Ava to a large mansion. The people stationed outside seemed to recognize her, and even led the way in. Even so, the voice's guiding words didn't cease. I sense a powerful spirit. Turn left down this hallway, now. Following the advice, Ava turned left. And there she saw a boy. One boy. A dark-haired boy. The voice had stopped telling her where to go, so this must have been the source of the spirit it felt. Knowing how the voice operated, it would tell her to turn any threat into a husk. But first Ava would have to assess if he was even a threat in the first place; that power was something she preferred not using whenever possible. Stepping up within speaking range, Ava cleared her throat and made her request very clear in what she said. "I would like to duel you." That was it. Nothing more, nothing less.

Aedan’s eyebrows rose up in curiosity, to be paired up so early in the game was an interesting move. As the he eyed the Destiny Hero beside the quiet girl pretty much told him everything he needed to know about her deck, and the Destiny Hero decks he’s seen in the past have been strong so hopefully hers would be to. ”Alright, lets team up…” Taking his deck out he handed it to Michelle and watching her as she flipped through the cards, ”…it’s a Scrap deck. So who looks strong in this turn out? I’ve seen a Samurai, and a Vampire for certain.”

Aono sighed, as he looked at his Void Ogre Dragon. "If you could just shut your mouth for once... Geez.." He said, as he looked back at Miwa. "Pardon my Void Ogre Dragon for being such an idiot... He can't help it." He claimed, as he looked at Miwa's duel spirit. "As for you... I might not be the smartest or most gentle person around, thats true." He claimed, as he looked down. "But atleast I am smart enough to realize you can't judge people by their looks! That statement made you look as dumb as my Void Ogre Dragon" He claimed to the living Madolche monster. Aono looked back at Miwa. "I can't blame you for your duel spirit being an idiot, because mine is even worse... So don't worry.. " He said, as he noticed Miwa was getting quite ashamed. "You know, I am interested in all styles of duel... And I wonder how somebody like you duels..." He said, inspecting Miwa once again. "As for us tagging together... Both our favourite monsters are idiots... So thats one thing right?" Aono said with a smile on his face, offering Miwa a handshake. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Emily walked behind Moros in her usual slowish walking pace. "You know... I am actually looking for strong duelists... So don't disappointment me." She calmy said, as she kept following him. Emily noticed that Moros jumped 2 other duelists, who were standing next to their favorite monsters, seeming to be in conflict. "Well well.. What do we have here..." She said, inspecting both duelists with a blank stare. She started to walk around Void Ogre Dragon, inspecting his details. "Thats quite the strong monster... Void Ogre Dragon right?" She said, as she kept inspecting it. "It seems like quite the powerful and epic monster..." She said, as she turned towards Miwa's monster. Emily started to laugh. "This thing however? How can you even call this a monster? Something like this is a disgrace to the entire game of Yu-Gi-Oh." She stated, inspecting the Madolche monster. "Oh god I am so afraid, please don't tickle me to death!" She sarcastically said, as she turned towards Miwa herself. "Give me one good reason why I would even waste my time on you.." She mockingly said, as she was about to walk away, clearly not interested in dueling her.

Michelle was relieved that he accepted. She noticed him looking at Plasma, and was about to say something when he took his deck and handed it to her. She started flipping through it, and recognized this archetype. Aeden's next words, "it’s a Scrap deck," only served to reinforce her belief. Then Aeden asked, "So who looks strong in this turn out? I’ve seen a Samurai, and a Vampire for certain." Michelle gave it some thought as she looked around, then something caught her eye. "Hey, it looks like there's going to be a tag duel," Michelle said, pointing in the direction of Aono, Moros, Emily, and Miwa. "Maybe we should check it out," Michelle suggested.

Although Laquari still had his suspicions, he reluctantly let Kenta hand his deck over to Joseph as he and his monster watch him with eyes attentively fixated on the cards that had been set on the table before them. As the other boy removed this and that from his deck, his hands working like there's no tomorrow. When he was done, he grabbed the newly-constructed deck and began to examine the changes. Although a part of him wasn't all too pleased with the changes, he did welcome the new faces that he'll probably being seeing a lot once he and his friend begin dueling. Thanking him for all his effort, Kenta bowed his head, Laquari just scoffed and thanked the other boy while trying to cover up his pride. Joseph began to ask Kenta something about how Wolfbark and Bear would work in his deck. He looked at the two cards from his deck and began to examine them. Although the print made it a tad difficult to decipher, his monster read it aloud for him. Kenta slowly began reaching a conclusion, although still unsure, he answered Joseph. "I think that...It is because they compliment each other, correct? With Bear, I can get...Tensu or Tenki to the field...quickly or send them to destroy a monster." The boy scratched his chin for a moment, trying to gather his thoughts in order to continue his conclusion. "Wolf can summon...Bear, himself or...Laquari, I think?" The boy was unsure of himself, he doesn't even know if anything he said made sense. But Joseph wanted an answer, so he gave him one. Miwa's composure slowly began to reform itself into something more...calm, she was at ease again and she couldn't help but agree with what Aono said. So much for a princess...Talk about a royal pain. The frown she had before had formed into a smile and she giggled, listening to what the boy had said about his dragon and how both of their monsters seem to be...dim. Certainly not the brightest. "Hmph." The princess pouted as she diverted her eyes away from the boy, taking his words to heart but not accepting it. Without another word, she began to stay beside her mistress, who was looking down on her with eyes full of disappointment. Miwa slowly took out her hand to accept Aono's handshake, that is until... An eerie woman suddenly appeared before them, dressed in black and her gaze certainly piercing, yet blank. The woman started to circle Aono and examined his dragon, eyeing it like some sort of predator having captured their prey. She gave it nothing short of praise. Miwa could feel a chill around her when the woman turned to both her, and Puddingcess, she wanted to leave but her wobbly and shaky legs were practically frozen in the presence of the woman. Things started to turn for the worse when she began to laugh. She insulted the very existence of her monster! At that moment, Miwa's ego practically shattered like glass...Her mind practically telling her to "get out of there ASAP" but the woman's assault didn't stop. The princess having just had an outburst earlier, could feel the frustration inside of her rising to dangerous levels once more. It was one thing to insult her mistress, but things start to change when it's directed to both of them. Especially her. The princess wanted nothing more than to challenge them head-on, prove them that a bunch of stuffed toys can send her sorry behind smacking any day. But Miwa on the other hand was still shaking with fear and anxiety, when she was posed with the question, she tried to get an answer in, "A-Ah...W-Well, th...that is to say that...Excuse me!" Not being able to handle the pressure anymore, the girl darted out of the hallway and ran away from the group of people, wanting to escape into her room. "I guess a leech is still a leech, no matter how regal it dresses or acts." Puddingcess said, giving chase to her mistress, hoping she'd be fine.

Bristlebane very nearly frowned and pointed at Emily, "Heeeeeeeey, you scared her away, now we can't have a duel." he said exasperated. "Hmmmm, King point me to more opponents!" Faithfully the skeletal lord pointed his crooked finger at Michelle and Aedan. "Good now go attempt to comfort Miwa and report back to me when your finished!" The king gave a mock salute with that permanant skeletal smile of his and went off to attempt to console Miwa. His robes flourished behind him blowing in an invisible wind as he chased after Miwa, "Please fair maiden pay no mind to the vampire, her words are mere trifles and you should pay them no mind, Puddingcess seems to know you well perhaps you should take heed of her words. Meanwhile Moros headed towards the pair that the king had indicated, "Try two, I challenge you poeple.... to a DUEL!" he said excitedly, they both looked to be made of sterner stuff than Miwa sweet and gentle as she was, and he was sure they wouldn't refuse his request. As long as Emily didn't scare them off by being creepy again.

Fubuki stood there silently as Jack had stated that 'Jack' wasn't his real name. That... That was definitely not the kind of revelation she had expected him to put forth. But, as he had stated, telling her that had given rise to so many more questions. But that was exactly what he had prepared for, right? "...Somewhat. If that's simply an alias you go by and you were invited here personally... Your true identity has to be important enough not to divulge here, correct? I won't be so rude to ask that of you right now, but I expect I'll learn in the near future." she said as she turned towards the doorway. "Is there something inside you need to look at?" "Well, you've got Bear's utility down pat... For the most part. Wolfbark's a bit more versatile, since any Beast-Warrior works. Sadly, their effects are negated, so you can't tag anyone in or out. You can go into Tiger King or any generic rank 4, though, so that works." Joseph added before rising from his seat. He had kept Kenta waiting for a tad too long, and it was probably about time to start a duel. "But... Yeah. Think that's about enough tinkering for now. How about we find someone to test ourselves against, huh?" he asked, looking around before turning back to Kenta. "Actually, you wanna choose? I'm bad with this kind of thing, to be honest."