(source)

Name
Miyazaki Miku

Age
15

Personality
Determination lies at the core of Miku's character. This has many implications; She's stubborn, never gives up, sets her mind to things... all of those are traits of hers. She's by no means intolerant or unpleasant, but her strong personality can, and has, rubbed people the wrong way. Miku is kind and polite to her peers, but also feels a sense of insecurity and inferiority around others due to her family's upbringing. The girl also has a habit of clamping up under pressure, and keeps slightly too many secrets.

History
Not everyone comes from a family who's particularly well-off. Miku was born into a couple of coal miners on an island off the coast of Japan. The people there are poor, sometimes barely able to afford basic necessities or healthcare. Luckily, he parents were always able to scrape just enough money by to get her at least a basic education, something which the local ruling force tries desperately to suppress. Her parents worked day and night to make sure their daughter grew up healthy, sacrificing themselves and working to the bone to accomplish this. Most of Miku's clothes are old and second hand, something she was teased for by her classmates, all of more well-off families.

Around the age of thirteen, Miku learned of the game Duel Monsters. In her first year of middle school, some kids were waving around their duel disks and dueling each-other. Miku didn't have many friends, but she did manage to get along with at least one other girl. That girl was also a duelist and taught her how to play the game. After a year, this friend gave Miku a deck and her own Duel Disk for her birthday. They encouraged her to go to a duel school, same as her!

Unfortunately, most duel schools were expensive. Those that weren't usually weren't in the best shape, either. Still, Miku decided to go to one. She couldn't let her family slave away forever and wanted to get a better life for both her and them. She managed to eventually find a new upstart school, Mitsuri. She got in contact with the staff and after countless letters, she managed to work something out with them. She could board over at the campus for a reduced fee if she scored high on the entrance exams.

Miku wasn't going to let the chance slip by, studying and practising furiously in any way she could. She even looked into getting a part-time job near the campus, finding something as a waitress in a nearby café. Unfortunately, everything about this was done in secret. She was afraid of what her parents would think, and when the time came for the entrance exams, she ran away from home and only left a letter behind.

Getting into Mitsuri was her only chance to turn things around for her and her family. She only had one shot. It wasn't going to slip by her.

Monsters: 15
Gem-Knight Crystal x 1
Gem-Knight Garnet x 1
Gem-Knight Tourmaline x 1
Gem-Knight Sapphire x 1
Gem-Knight Lapis x 1
Gem-Knight Alexandrite x 1
Gem-Knight Sardonyx x 1
Gem-Knight Emerald x 1
Gem-Armadillo x 1
Gem-Knight Amber x 1
Gem-Knight Iolite x 1
Gem-Turtle x 1
Gem-Knight Obsidian x 1
Crystal Rose x 1
Gem-Knight Lazuli x 1

Spells: 12
Unexpected Dai x 1
Gem-Knight Fusion x 1
Particle Fusion x 1
Card of Sanctity x 1
Absorb Fusion x 1
Card Destruction x 1
Soul of Fire x 1
Brilliant Fusion x 1
Dimension Explosion x 1
Dark Factory of Mass Production x 1
Battle Fusion x 1
Half Shut x 1

Traps: 13
Gem-Enhancement x 1
Brilliant Spark x 1
Half Counter x 1
Pyroxene Fusion x 1
Balance of Judgement x 1
Fragment Fusion x 1
Premature Return x 1
Krystal Avatar x 1
Paradox Fusion x 1
Fusion Guard x 1
Pinpoint Guard x 1
Destructive Draw x 1
Justi-Break x 1

Extra Deck: 9
Gem-Knight Zirconia x 1
Gem-Knight Prismaura x 1
Gem-Knight Citrine x 1
Gem-Knight Amethyst x 1
Gem-Knight Ruby x 1
Gem-Knight Topaz x 1
Gem-Knight Aquamarine x 1
Gem-Knight Lady Lapis Lazuli x 1
Gem-Knight Seraphinite x 1

Ace Monster
Gem-Knight Lady Lapis Lazuli

Name
Thomas Arashi

age
15

Appearance



Personality
If one word was to be used to describe Thomas that word would have to be Pride. This can go both ways. On the one hand, he never backs down and won't let himself or others be run over by people regardless of who they are. He also won't give up when he has a goal in mind. However, this also means that he hardly ever accepts help from people especially when it comes to dueling.

History
Thomas was born into a medium income family. One that wasn't to rich or too poor, just middle of the road. Both his parents who massive duel monsters fans and both shared a love of history both of the world and the game. From near birth, Thomas was filled with stories and tales of old about the ways of old. As a kid, he would sit there starry-eyed at the amazing feats of people and duelist before him. It was from these stories that Thomas knew that his goal in life was to become a duelist that would rival the greats of old.

But of course, every great duelist needs a deck that they can call their own, one that they trust wholeheartedly with every duel. This part Thomas struggled with in his early years of learning the game. No matter how hard he tried he could never find that card that ever really reached out to him. He had almost given up hope of the idea of finding that card that would connect to him the way he thought the cards were meant to until he found what he was looking for in his parent's shop.

One day while helping in his parent's antique shop he swore he could feel something coming from a small box that his father had brought back from a short business trip as a gift for him. It was a small yet beautiful wood box with many cravings on it. Picking up the small ornate box he looked closely at the wooden carvings on it depicting three giants with immeasurable power seemingly unstoppable. As soon as he opened the box he knew that this was what he had been looking for. Grabbing the top card he realized that the card was a depiction of Thor that matched one of the carvings on the top of the box. From that day onward Thomas would only ever use the power of the Nordic cards he received cherishing the Mighty Thor most of all. He dreams of one day reaching the top with Thor but hopes to one day the other two Nordic gods that are depicted on the box.

Of course he had to start somewhere and the new dueling academy would be the perfect place to show off his talent. With his parents permission and support he got his things ready for the entrance exams. Grabbing his duel disk and his beloved deck he headed out to the campus to start his own journey.

Name
Jonathon Harper

Age
15

Appearance


Personality
Jon is best characterized by his ever-present calm demeanor that is more relatable to a mountain than anything else. This calm is fueled by the knowledge that there will always be circumstances outside of anyone's control, and the best he can do is roll with the punches and not to panic. Even though he rarely breaks his bearing, he is known to always have a "smart" comment for most people, which hasn't exactly endeared him to too many people.

History
Jon grew up an only child in a military household that moved constantly. His parents were childhood sweethearts who married before his father enlisted. While they struggled early in their marriage, they came together once they learned his mother was pregnant. They both cared deeply for the boy and supported him while he was growing up. Though he knew his parents loved him he always wished he had somewhere to go and talk to people his own age. The constant moving around never let him connect with anyone, and this made the young boy quite solitary. He modeled his personality after how he saw his father; strong and silent, and in no need of anyone else. After he began acting like this he struggled, even more, to interact with anyone at new schools, always left watching from afar.

At every school he went to, he always saw students playing duel monsters and he became incredibly interested in that. He began to build up a collection in hopes that someday he would be able to play with someone else. While he was building his deck by himself he became ever more fearful that he will never really connect with someone. At his lowest point he found Demise and Ruin. His memory of how he got them still are spotty, but he is sure that the cards chose him. Afraid that his parents would think he was insane for thinking that he has never brought his theory up with anyone. All he knows is that he is connected to the cards in some way, but he doesn't know why.

Now that Jon is going into high school he decided he wanted to choose where he moved next. After putting a good amount of thought into it he chose Mitsuri because of how new it is. The last thing he wanted to do was deal with too many returning students that felt like they owned the place. Those kinds of people never like his seeming indifference to their authority. With this new school that he hoped to stay at for a while, he hoped to avoid making a big splash and would rather fly a bit under the radar. While his parents were surprised by his choice of school, they decided to support his decision hoping the people there could break him out of his shell. As a parting gift, they gave him a duel disk and new bag to carry his luggage in. As his plane took off Jon couldn't help but feel a bit excited, even if he didn't show it.

Name
Adrian Amore

Age
19

Appearance


Personality
Open, friendly, and as thick as a sack of hammers, Adrian is the kind of guy that'll fight for you even if he doesn't know what he's supposed to be fighting, or why. Rambunctuous, excitable, and loyal to a fault, he has a bad habit of acting on impulse and often gets himself into trouble. He's not the brightest, which makes him easy to manipulate, but he makes up for it in wit, passion, honesty and a strong sense of justice. The idea of betraying someone is an alien concept to him, and while he gives his trust quite easily, it's very difficult to reclaim once lost.

History
Adrian was a less-than-stellar student from a less-than-well-off family even at the best of times, but he got by. He had friends, family, decent food, a part-time job, a place to stay, and even somehow managed to barely pass most of his exams. Sure, he wasn't the greatest duelist, and his academic ability left a lot to be desired, but his life was good enough as far as he was concerned, and so he maintained an indominably upbeat attitude.

That all changed when he opened a seemingly normal booster pack - something he saved up for every month with what little money he had left over, in the hopes of improving his terribly subpar deck - to find that it contained only a single card. Dokuroizo. The Grim Reaper. A feeling of dread washed over him at that moment, and he could feel the chilling aura of a bad omen radiating from this anomalous card. But... that sort of thing wasn't real, right? Just a weird mistake. Nothing to worry about.

He went home. Added the weird card to his collection, and went to bed, thinking nothing more of it. And yet, the next day, going through his deck before a duel... there it was, mixed in among the other cards. Unusual. Discarding it onto the table, it got left there, and eventually forgotten in the heat of the game. Later on, someone tried to return it to him, but he told them to keep it. But he guessed they didn't want it either, as it turned up in his locker later on. An odd string of coincidences, but nothing too alarming, even if the card itself was creepy. Tossing it carelessly into a dumpster behind the school before heading home, he tried to push the whole strange day out of his mind.

And yet, when he got home, and emptied his bag... there it was. Mixed in among his schoolbooks and other cards. Had he somehow forgotten to get rid of it? Or had it managed to end up in his bag again through sheer chance? That didn't make sense, but he was prone to making these kinds of mistakes, so he grimaced, reprimanding himself for his absent-mindedness. The card was promptly thrown away again, this time out a window. Homework was done, dinner was cooked and eaten, and just as he was preparing to retire for the day- there it was. In his room. Lying on his desk. He was starting to feel unnervingly paranoid about the situation...

One more time, away it went. Into the trash. And making sure it stayed in there this time. That should have been enough to forget about the whole thing, and get a good night's sleep. Instead, Adrian was tormented by a strange nightmare - this ghostly specter of death, looming over him. Taunting him. Haunting him. He awoke with a start, wide-eyed and covered in a panicked sweat, and could sleep no longer. Not until he checked. His deck. His cards. Among them, an intruder. Dokuroizo. How? Why? Why was this card following him relentlessly? This thought burrowed its way firmly into his mind. Days, and then weeks passed. Attempts would be made to dump the card. To hand it off. Destroy it. Trade it, sell it, even just leave it at home for a day. Every time, somehow or another, the damn thing would find a way to follow him. In his bag, his books, his locker, his bed, his clothes - more than once it had even been returned to him by friends, shopkeepers, teachers, his own family...

Fine. If the card was following him so badly, it clearly wanted to be played. And so, to put the damn thing out of its misery, that was what he did. He challenged a friend to a duel. Outside of school. By the old bridge, away from prying eyes. And he played his card. Dokuroizo. The Reaper. Almost immediately, he felt as though he had made a mistake. Like the world had gotten colder, and time had stopped. His friend seemed not to notice, but was acting nervously. Surely he knew something. He had to, right? He wasn't going crazy. It was the card. It was going to do something.

Adrian didn't win that duel. He didn't have to.
His friend, caught off-guard to begin with by the strange shift in attitude from someone he cared about, freaked out when Adrian lunged towards him, demanding information he didn't have. He took a wide step backwards, lost his balance. And plummeted into the river. Adrian came to his senses, and searched desperately for something to use to help his friend. After a few frenzied seconds that may as well have been an eternity, he knew he had to take matters into his own hands. He lept into the river and attempted to pursue his friend. Swam with all his power, clawing at the water like a deranged animal, to try and catch up with the limp body floating downstream in the current. After what felt like years, he managed to grab on to his clothing. Tangled up in the current, he pushed to try and make it to the river bank with the drowned weight in his arms. Body on the verge of collapse, he dragged them both up the rocks. But it had been too late. His friend did not get up. Not out of the water. Not after CPR. Not when the paramedics arrived.

His world was shattered. His friend was dead. His friend was dead. By his own hand? No. That card had killed someone. Not him. He started to spiral out, wracked with both guilt and grief. He started losing sleep. Avoiding people. Eating less and flunking classes. His attendance suffered. Became overcome with paranoia and lost his job. He even started hallucinating the damn thing was talking to him. But that was impossible. He might have been going crazy, but even he knew that much. One, two, three years went by. The scars never went away. Not the mental pain, the wounds on his arms, or that godforsaken reminder of what had happened. No matter what he tried. Boxing. Alcohol. Skipping town. There was no escaping that day.

But... maybe he could at least put things to rest. Make sure it didn't happen to anyone else. If he could get into a good duel school... well, if anyone would know about weird cards, it would be them. So maybe. Just maybe. They could help him get rid of this one. His grades were in shambles, he had to build a new deck out of leftover cards, and everyone avoided him when he returned, but... he finished school. Pulling all-nighters for months on end, and even cheating on some tests, but he did it. Passed just enough of his classes so that he went on to graduate, and then applied to every single option he had.

There was only one response.
But that would be enough.

Name
Kyouka Yutaka

Age
15

Appearance


Personality
Kyouka Yutaka is a loser. The fact he takes pride in his ability to keep laughing under the worst circumstances is a testament to both his resilience and his loss record. The latter has just as much to do with his bad habit of challenging opponents far above his weight class as it does the personal weakness he's trying to overcome. To him, every challenge that ends with his loss is an opportunity to test his limits and examine his deficiencies, but by no means does this mean he's okay with losing. It is true that Yutaka is more familiar with failing than anyone, but there is nobody who hates failing more than he does. Every loss fuels the flame, and like a starving animal, he keeps desperately straining himself just for the chance to sink his fangs into his target.

On an interpersonal level, Yutaka seems to be a difficult person to deal with. Many of his superficial traits do not do any favors either; he is irreverent, rebellious, and ruthlessly straightforward. His Devil-may-care attitude can be grating and he has a bad habit of dying on hills he doesn't need to. However if you can accept those qualities, he's actually quite easy to get along with, as nebulous as that sounds. More than anything, don't look down on yourself or others, and especially don't look down on him--an irony considering that he's always looking down on himself on some level.

Yutaka's hobbies are reading weekly manga releases and watching conspiracy theory videos late at night. His favorite foods are hamburger steak and kitsune udon, and his least favorite food is cup ramen. His dream is to become the King of Games(?).

History
If you were to ask him, Yutaka would tell you the only thing exceptional about his family was their bad luck. Then he would laugh and probably make a joke about how the first thing he ever did was disappoint his parents. And what he would say is not necessarily incorrect. There was nothing exceptional about the Kyouka Family at the time of Yutaka's birth, not their house, not their jobs, and especially not their circumstances. Perhaps it is because of this unexceptional life that they desired an exceptional child so fervently. Unfortunately for them, their first child was Yutaka whose only exceptional trait was his thirst for strength.

For as long as he could remember, he always been living under pressure. He was pushed from a young age to succeed, because that was where his worth supposedly lay. When it became evident that effort alone wouldn't be enough, he started throwing himself into various activities in a misguided attempt to discover any latent ability. As it became clear that he possessed no talent for anything, his parents' gaze began turning every so slightly away from him, which came to its logical conclusion once it was apparent that his annoying little sister was everything they were looking for.

But rather than give up on himself once they gave up on him, their rejection only made him more motivated to succeed. Not for their sake, but for his own. One could say that Yutaka was even more unreasonable than his parents in this regard. He would constantly seek out the top students in arts, academics and athletics, and challenge them in their specialties over and over, losing all the while. And when the school finally got sick of him, he would go out to other schools and challenge their exemplars instead.

Predictably, Yutaka would get into a lot of trouble with students, staff and parents alike. Eventually his poor reputation, performance and attitude led to him being called a delinquent, a title he eventually embraced. His school life was friendless for the most part, and full of derision from all angles. "Just give up" became the chorus of his adolescence, not that it meant much to someone as obsessed as him.

He was formally introduced to Duel Monsters in the summer after his first year of junior high school. Although he knew of the game previously, he had no cards and no money. And even if he did, nobody was interested in teaching him in the first place. But due to constantly loitering on the premises and injecting tournaments full of old people with his "youthly vigor", he became well-acquainted with Zenkichi Seigen and Chiyo, the couple who owned a local gaming shop. Through them, he met their son, Zenkichi Mitsuyo, a C-list turbo dueling celebrity. He was the one who taught Yutaka how to duel, and the one who gave him a job fixing Duel Runners so he could buy cards of his own¹.

Regardless, Yutaka didn't really consider Duel Monsters anything more than just another game until after he gave Kyouka Tsugumi, his annoying little sister, a box of cards for her birthday, hoping to introduce her to something he could beat her at. Instead, what he introduced her to was something that she was truly passionate about. She would challenge him daily, and since it was about the only thing they had in common, these duels deepened their sibling bond. One could even say they were friendly with each other... as long as it was on the duel field.

Unfortunately, much like many of Yutaka's efforts, something went wrong. When Tsugumi eventually became open about her dream of becoming the next King of Games, they shut her down almost immediately. They gave her a thorough tongue-lashing about why her dream was unstable, unreasonable, and unachievable. They even took shots at Yutaka himself, essentially blaming him for the entire situation. And if breaking his sister’s spirit wasn’t enough, they tried to get rid of all her cards too.

It was in the wake of this incident that Kyouka Yutaka, frustrated, enraged and holding a handful of salvaged cards, made a promise to his heartbroken little sister.

"Since you can't be King of Games anymore, I'll just do it instead. So quit crying and leave that dream to me."



_{¹It only later occurred to Yutaka that (1) this was definitely illegal according to Japanese labor laws, and (2) that he was being grossly underpaid. But that's a story for another time.}

Name
Lucille Descartes

Age
15

Appearance


Personality
A strange girl with an affinity for the mystical, and sometimes absurd. Lucille is driven by a desire to seek out the forbidden power lying within the cards. What she plans to do after is anybody's guess. This overarching desire has seemingly pushed out her other attributes, as she has no real interpersonal skills to speak of. She is rude and standoffish, and makes no attempt to display herself as anything but. In a duel, she can become openly malicious, viciously taunting her opponents if she's not too busy reciting incantations for her own cards like some kind of wicked witch. Overall, a strange and hostile girl. It's hard to find people who actually end up liking her. Not that she minds.

History
Born with a silver spoon, Lucille's childhood was warm with happy memories, with a mother and father who always supported her interests. At the private school she went to, Duel Monsters was a popular game, and so she picked it up at an early age. She wasn't very good though. Duels on her record resulted in more losses than wins, but she didn't really mind. It wasn't why she was interested in the game anyway. Rather, she loved Duel Monsters because of the art. Having picked up the same interest from her art collector father, she would collect any card whose art caught her fancy, and would even paint them herself from time to time. Her parents were all too happy to indulge in her hobby, and so they frequently bought cards for her to collect.

Eventually, they brought her the card, and suddenly things began to change. Lucille became closer and closer to Condemned Maiden, never allowing the card to leave her side. Her interest in the art of the cards was all but gone. Then her demeanor began to change. She became colder and more distant. She started causing trouble at school, making kids cry, beating them down in duels and insulting them. This was also strained her relationship with her parents, pushing them away. No longer knowing how to deal with these changes in their daughter, all they could do was just give her space.

Soon, Lucille grew restless. The duels at school were not enough to satisfy her. Everyone at her school was too weak, she was never going to find what she was looking for. To get what she truly wanted, she needed to surround herself with strong duelists, and so she started looking for duel schools. When she asked, or rather demanded to go to Mitsuri, her parents just could not say no.