From Dragan's perspective, this was the second time in two days that he'd been struck by silver. Fortunately, there was far less of it this time. And of much reduced quality. The blessed metal still burned, of course. But its corroded state meant that the bulk of his strength remained intact.
The Death Knight hissed in pain as he was cut and knocked back, his hammer still in his grasp. He wasn't given much time to collect himself, as the paladin was on him, blade raised up and drawn back for a vertical cleave. Dragan only narrowly evaded the blow, sidestepping the swing. Given how much the skeletal knight had committed to that blow, Dragan was out of immediate danger as it tried to recover. The only issue was that they were both too close in for him to effectively get a swing in with a two-handed hammer.
Instead, the vampire lord lashed out with his free hand, a plated fist crashing into the skeletal paladin's skull to attempt to knock him back before Dragan took up his hammer with both hands and swung for the open wound that he'd already made with his first blow.
Ah, yes, of course. Jests and japes. Fine. If that was how they were going to be regarding what he said, Renar wouldn't push the issue. If they didn't have a real point to rebuff him with, there was little need to continue the debate. Instead, he fell back on companionship and gossip to pass the time while he moved on to sharpening the spiked butt of his weapon.
"Does anyone even know who exactly allowed the boy into the order? Because I'd like to thank them profusely. Thank the goddesses that no one outside the order's caught on to the fact that we let some fool boy in with no training or feats to his name." Renar continued to grumble in response to Fionn and Serenity.
"Do as you want with that plan, Fionn. But I'll have no part in it." He said flatly, wiping the spike down and moving on to maintaining his arming sword. "The boy's sheer presence in the order spits on everything I've worked to achieve. On everything any other Iron Rose has done to simply be considered for candidancy. And frankly? I hope the Flower will be his new mentor. It only means he'll get himself killed quicker. As for Sir Fleuri..." Renar stared down at his sword, choosing his next words with deliberate care.
"His skill backs up his absurd thinking. Had anyone less adept attempted that nonsense with mounting the griffin, we'd have had to haul back another corpse. Would that he'd just killed it outright once he'd gotten atop its back, but I suppose our tourney champion desired a shiny new steed for himself." Renar sighed, shaking his head as he seemed to slump somewhat. This was why he didn't like to think about the Flower of the North too much.
"Enough with all that. Your thoughts on our new commander, Fionn? Considering she'd managed to slay Jeremiah with the slightest amount of aid from yourself and Gerard, I assume that she at least meets expectations?" Renar's gaze flickered to Serenity for just a moment, as if testing her reaction.
It took some time, but with Roche's help, Valerie unpacked all her luggage. She hadn't brought all too much of it, but unpacking was still a pain no matter how used she was to the process.
"Thanks for all the help." Valerie thanked her roommate after they finished, her staring in admiration at her Chazz Princeton posters for a moment. "I owe you, lemme get you something once I get some more DP to spend." She told Roche as she moved to leave the room, waving goodbye behind her. "Gonna head out for a while, look around. See you later, yeah?"
As she started walking through the halls of the dorm, Val pulled out her PDA, idly checking her DP balance after her first win. Did they really need to use that acronym? Whoever came up with it really hadn't thought the whole matter through, considering it was for an island of hormonal teenagers. That, or they thought it was funny.
Apparently their first day's food budget had already been allotted to their balance.
"Divide by three per meal..." Valerie muttered to herself, doing some quick mental math. "Subtract the win...wow. One win doesn't count for squat." Her winnings were just a fraction of a third she'd allotted from the food budget per meal. It'd get her a light snack, at most. She'd check the card shop on the island later, but considering how much cards cost on the outside, it'd probably take her several more wins to afford anything beyond a single booster. Or if she skipped meals...
"Girl, your expression reveals what you're thinking." Ceruli cut in, an eyebrow raised at Valerie's expression. "Do not think to skip meals to afford additional cards. Need I remind you that you're still growing?"
Valerie just sighed and rubbed the back of her head, reluctantly shrugging. As much as she appreciated having Ceruli around in place of her parents, there were times when she was reminded of the downsides of having a constant companion looking over her shoulder.
"Yes, mom." She groaned quietly, after confirming that there was no one else in the hallway to overhear her even whispering. Whatever. Time to keep moving. She'd work all this out later.
The dorm lounge was already somewhat filled, with some people already out socializing. Valerie idly glanced over as she made her way to the vending machine, purchasing a bottle of iced tea as she tried to decide where to sit. As much as she knew everyone was in the same situation as her where no solid friendships had been established yet and they all had a clean slate in social terms, breaking old habits was still hard. She wanted a quiet corner. But the closest she could find to that was a block of seats where some gray-haired guy was sprawled over, looking half-dead. Screw it. Hopefully this guy wasn't a creep or anything.
Valerie sat down a few seats away from who she didn't know was Flynn, opening her bottle of iced tea and taking a few swigs. After seeing that he wasn't going to initiate conversation, she figured she may as well. It was still the first day. Couldn't hurt to be sociable yet.
"Dead already, huh? Was the trip over that bad, or something else? Roommate a bit too much?" Not that she was speaking from experience or anything.
The smithy wasn't Renar's first choice of venue for exchanging gossip while maintaining his weapons, what with the blacksmiths and apprentices being able to listen in, but he supposed that the noise and the work the smiths were doing would go some way to ameliorating that issue so long as they kept their voices low. So while Serenity began to work on her shield, Renar set about the business of sharpening and oiling his weapons, pulling out a whetstone, a file, oil, and cleaning cloth from the satchel he'd brought along.
He listened to the conversation as he worked, chiming in when he felt the need to say something. Fionn's musings on Jeremiah were interesting, but in the end, inconsequential. Renar understood why the bandit's motivations disquieted his friend, but to him? He understood.
"I don't disagree that he wanted to die." Renar said plainly, working on his poleaxe first, wiping the head down. "I simply think it's not something to worry over. The man knew he had no future after throwing in with the wrong side and not throwing his sword down after all was said and done. Were I in his position, I can't say I would do the same, but I can understand his thought process. Personally, I would have fled the country and tried to eke a living out as an adventurer or sellsword in another nation. But Dame Serenity is correct. Best to move on."
The conversation flowed on to the matter of the griffin, and Renar allowed his expression to warp into a scowl as he sharpened and oiled the ax head of his poleaxe.
"Unfortunately," He responded with venom to Serenity's query first, keeping his voice low so that the clangs of the smithy obscured his words to anyone on the outside listening in. "The idiot turned out alive. I don't know where he went, and frankly, I don't care. The boy still isn't cut out for this. I watched our illustrious Flower save him from getting killed from a bandit, and I had to step in to make sure others didn't flank him." As much as Renar would have liked to express how he should have just let the fool boy die, he wasn't quite so stupid as to express some of his more...severe thoughts out loud.
Fionn's own inquiry towards Renar had him roll his eyes only slightly. This again? Goddesses help him, how many times would he have to explain himself?
"Hardly. But we all knew those men were bound for the gallows anyway. I simply wanted to expedite the process. One would think I should be thanked for trying to make things just a bit more efficient for everyone involved. Less men to spend time judging, less hangings to conduct, and less space and provender to waste on dead men."
By the time any of Sawyer, Nordrin, or Isaiah made it to Wyndon, the commotion would have been obvious from at least a few blocks away. Explosions, screams, and rumbling could all be heard on the approach. Once the lab was in sight, the scene before them would be desperate:
Most of the police were already knocked out of the fight, their Pokemon splayed unconscious across the street. Some officers remained to command what few police Pokemon were left standing, but most were either tending to their own Pokemon or recalling them to their balls. A veritable horde of Pokemon were charging out of the lab, commanded by about a dozen thugs in hoods, long coats, and electronic masks and goggles. A majority of the criminal Pokemon seemed to be the usual assortment of various Dark and Poison types, but there was enough type diversity among the lot that just about anything could be thrown at the defenders.
"Too many of these bloody fuckin' bawbags!" A familiar voice could be heard cursing up a storm from the middle of the street. Fiona stood in the thick of it, commanding her entire team as they were the only major point of resistance left preventing the robbers from escaping. "Cannae even Earthquake spam, everyone an' their mum'd have my arse pullin' that in th' middle of Wyndon," She murmured under her breath before barking out commands.
"Lightning, strafe th' left flank, as many Dragon Pulses as ye can give 'em! Raptor, Felon, straight down th' middle! Clear these dobbers out-" Fiona cut off as something caught her gaze, eyes widening. "Berkut, bank right, now!" Fiona's Talonflame did as he was told, narrowly evading a Feint Attack from...something. It wasn't clear, with the Pokemon still engulged in Dark-type energy. Two more of the exact same silhouette burst from the shadows and struck the Talonflame with two more simultaneous Feint Attacks, knocking him out.
"Motherfuckers!" Fiona cursed, hurriedly returning Berkut to his ball as she looked over the newcomers. "Gonna-" She did a double-take, staring. "Th' hell is that?!"
As the Feint Attack energy faded from the three new interlopers, released by what seemed to be the lead thug in charge clad in a gas mask, a confusing sight greeted everyone:
Three Pokemon with what seemed to be the body of what looked like a Scizor, and a Bisharp's head and claws.
Fiona looked nonplussed for a moment before getting her game face back on, and that was exactly when she managed to notice her fellow Gym Leaders just arriving.
"Good, backup's finally here!" Fiona bared her teeth with a grin, raising her Dynamax Band with the back of it facing outwards instead of the front. "Just in time fer me tae start playin' hardball! Let's get these bastards!" The Key Stone on the back of Fiona's Dynamax Band gleamed, and Felon roared to the heavens as he Mega Evolved, the newly formed Mega Salamence hovering in the air for a brief moment before charging back into the fray.
All in all, this entire expedition hadn't been too much of a victory for Renar on a personal level. He'd slaughtered his fair share of bandits, certainly. Some recognition was bestowed upon him by his peers for how well of a showing he'd put up against even the veterans left over from the war. But compared to bringing down the Bandit King himself or (horrendously botching) the slaying of a griffin, it wasn't that much.
Still, Renar hadn't been expecting immediate glory and honors, especially not from a bandit hunt. So long as his star continued to rise at a steady pace, that was all he could ask for at the moment. Some mention of one Sir Rickert's passing was made, but frankly, Renar had never known the man all that well and he couldn't care less. No matter how well-trained or well-armed, the vagaries of the battlefield ensured that people would die, even against all odds. To say nothing of the fact that Jeremiah had apparently been a formidable foe in his own right. Renar merely bowed his head as obligation expected at the news of Sir Rickert's passing, made no comment about the matter, and let it fade from his mind before long.
Once he'd returned to his quarters, Renar changed out of his armor and took some time to clean himself before changing his clothes. He doffed a linen shirt and a pair of gray trousers before putting a crimson tabard on over his shirt bearing his own personal coat of arms: his family's stag atop castle battlements, with two crossed swords behind it. Or through, if one looked closely enough. With personal grooming out of the way, Renar belted his sword and dagger back on before hefting his poleaxe up onto his shoulder and grabbing a small satchel filled with equipment for weapon maintenance. He made his way out of his quarters, intent on finding somewhere quiet to oil and sharpen his arms.
Or he would have, if he didn't encounter Fionn and Serenity on the way out of the keep. Just in time to hear the last bits of what Fionn was saying, as well. Before Renar said anything in response, he looked around the hall they were in for a moment. Upon confirming no one was listening in, he raised his free hand in greeting.
"Oh, I think both of us have plenty to say about that. Especially regarding some of our comrades. If we'd care to abscond somewhere we can moan and complain with no one listening in...?" He gestured towards the way leading out of the keep and towards the yards.
Dragan's previous ingestion of blood hadn't restored as much strength as he'd thought it would. Otherwise, his strike would have utterly shattered the giant skeleton's arm. Instead, Dragan found himself straining against the bastard as said arm bore down on him. He could still get himself out of this predicament, but it would sap a good portion of his strength to muster up the magics required.
Fortunately for Dragan and his blood pool, Luna's chains pulled the skeleton's arm off of him, and Dragan's helm tilted in her direction before dipping slightly as thanks. He picked himself back up and hefted his warhammer, taking a moment to send yet more mental commands to his undead even as he began to focus on the fight before him.
It seemed Ilena and Giselle already had their assaults under way, and Dragan charged forward to join them, following up on their attacks. As Giselle kicked off of the undead paladin, Dragan leapt onto it, bringing his hammer down onto its exposed and weakened chest with as much force as he could muster. Hopefully this time, his target would shatter after having received blows beforehand.
Roché's eyes light up at the mention of a duel. "Sure! That sounds like fun!"
Valerie gestured towards the door, and the two of them stepped outside the building. All the while, Ceruli kept deliberately hovering within Roché's field of vision, trying to see if he could elict any reaction from her, to no avail.
"Girl, I believe this one is spiritually blunt. No reaction." Ceruli said after several moments of trying, to which Valerie responded with the barest of nods, not wanting to alarm her new roommate. Though given how she seemed to be, Valerie doubted Roché would have cared much.
As they reached an outdoor field, Valerie brandished her newly-assigned Duel Disk, with Roché following suit. A quick coin flip later, and Valerie found herself on the wrong side of it.
"Damn," She murmured under her breath, before calling out across the field. "Your pick." As they drew, Valerie kept a stoic poker face, though cursed internally at her opening hand. A bit of a brick. Double damn. Behind her, Ceruli winced.
"I guess I'll go first, then! I activate Machina Fortress in my hand to discard a card and special summon it in attack!"
Machina Fortress - 2500/1600
"I set one more monster and end my turn!"
"Alright, draw." Valerie stared at her new card for a moment, her outward expression not betraying much. Internally, she kept cursing. Really not what she needed to break this board. As it stood, she could either go full defense, or at least deny Roché an extra monster on the field. If Roché was playing a Machine deck...yeah, no. There were too damn many cards in that type for her to remember if there were any good Flip Monsters. Screw it.
"I summon Snoww, Unlight of Dark World in attack mode." She said calmly, her blood not quite up yet despite the crap hand she'd drawn.
Snoww, Unlight of Dark World - 1700/0
"Battle phase, Snoww attacks your Set monster."
It flipped face-up to reveal a red contraption with four claws that immediately latched onto Snoww.
"That's Blast Sphere! It latches onto your monster and explodes during your next turn! Isn't it cool?"
Valerie took a brief moment to read the card's effects, before nodding. "Yeah, that's a decent chunk of damage. So, you gonna just let it blow or..."
She stops to think, seemingly genuinely uncertain. "Hmmmmmmmmmm..."
"Alright, guess we'll see anyway. Main 2, I set two backrow and end my turn. Over to you, Roché."
"Draw! Hrmmm. I think this will be better. I summon Cyber Phoenix in attack position."
Cyber Phoenix - 1200/1600
"Sorry Blast Sphere, but you're too slow! Machina Fortress, attack!"
Valerie bit back a curse as Machina Fortress's holographic fist crashed into her, kicking up simulated dust and wind. Yeah, that was fair. She saw where this was going, this was more damage to her anyways.
[8000 LP > 7200 LP]
"Ahahaha! I love that part. Now, Cyber Phoenix, attack directly!"
[7200 LP > 6000 LP]
"Alright, your turn!"
"Right! I draw." Valerie seemed a bit more animated now that she'd started to take damage. Beiige. Still not what she needed right now. She could definitely survive this next turn as long as Roché didn't run some crazy Synchro or XYZ spam, but it was still dicey. That was just fine with her. More interesting than if she'd just ran the girl over with Grapha.
"I Normal Summon Beiige, Vanguard of Dark World."
Beiige, Vanguard of Dark World - 1600/1300
"Sorry, not letting you keep material on the board. Beiige, go for Cyber Phoenix." Not the greatest option, but really the only one Valerie had.
Beiige charged forth, impaling the cybernetic bird on its spear before the bird explodes into tiny hologram shards. Roché lets out a giggle.
[8000 LP > 7700 LP]
"Cyber Phoenix's effect activates, letting me draw one card."
"I end my turn. Go off."
"Alright, my turn! I activate Dangerous Machine Type-6! It'll shake things up every turn from now on. Then, I summon UFO Turtle in attack."
UFO Turtle - 1400/1200
"Now, Machina Fortress, attack Beiige!"
Machina Fortress's fist crashed into her spearman, and Valerie awaited the next, direct blow, adrenaline starting to pump through her veins. Her next draw had to be a good one, or she'd just get chipped out and swarmed as Roché continued to ramp.
[6000 LP > 5100 LP]
"UFO Turtle! Your turn! Attack directly!"
[5100 LP > 3700 LP]
"With that, I end my turn."
Valerie drew, and a small yet vicious grin formed onto her face, her facial expression changing for the first time since the duel began.
"Alright, now we can start playing. Main phase, I activate my face-down Mystical Space Typhoon!"
Valerie pointed towards Dangerous Machine Type-6 even as she readied her next card. "Only popping that one. Now I activate Dark World Dealings. Each of us draws one and discards one. I'll discard Broww, Huntsman of Dark World, which lets me activate his effect. When he's discarded to the grave, I get a free draw." Valerie did so and drew two, her grin not fading.
"I place the Field Spell The Gates of Dark World, and now I activate Dragged Down Into the Grave! We both reveal our hands, and choose one card from our opponent's hand to discard to the Graveyard." Valerie flipped her own hand over to be visible. "I've got two Goldds, so it doesn't really matter which you pick."
"Hmmm... I choose the one on the left."
"..."
"Alright, now show me what you got."
"Here it is~" Roché reveals the two cards in her hand: Machina Metalcruncher and Desperado Barrel Dragon.
Valerie let out a low whistle as she inspected both cards for a moment, thinking her decision over. The only things in her deck that were going to out Desperado Barrel Dragon were Grapha, Dark Hole, a Synchro, or Ceruli into Goldd. And right now, none of those were an option. Still, Desperado wasn't a sure thing for her opponent. Machina Metalcruncher was. Best to minimize the risk and hope she didn't draw a Dark Machine next turn.
"I'll send Machina Metalcruncher to the grave. We both draw one. Now that Goldd's been discarded, I get to Special Summon him to the field. Get out here!"
Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World - 2600/1700
"Since he's a Fiend, The Gates of Dark World pump his attack and defense by 300 each. Now I activate my Field Spell. I banish one Fiend in my Graveyard and discard one Fiend in my hand to draw one card. I choose Broww as my banish and my second Goldd as my discard. You know what he does by now."
As a second Goldd arose onto the field, Valerie checked the two cards she'd drawn. Much better. Plus, this solved one of her problems this turn.
"Main 1's nearly done, sorry. I Normal Summon Doomcaliber Knight!"
Doomcaliber Knight - 2200/2100
"Right, now we can battle. My first Goldd attacks your Machina Ruinforce!" The Goldd on the left roared, and tore into the opposing machine with its claws. The sound of crunching metal resounded before the fortress exploded all at once.
[7700 LP > 7600 LP]
"Machina Fortress has been destroyed by battle. That means it gets to blow up one of your cards! I choose Gates of Dark World. It's pretty scary~"
"Too slow! Doomcaliber Knight's effect activates! When a monster effect is activated, I Tribute this monster, negate the effect activation, and destroy that monster. Since Machina Fortress's already in the grave, that part doesn't take. The negate still does, though."
"Aww. Lame."
"Now I flip up my face-down Trap. Call of the Haunted lets me target one monster in my grave and Special Summon it in attack mode. When either card leaves the field, the other's destroyed. I pick Snoww, and I use her to attack UFO Turtle!"
Snoww, Unlight of Dark World - 2000/300
The partially skeletal medusa lookalike pointed her staff at the turtle. It withdrew into its shell, but alas, it still perished in a explosion of dark magic.
[7600 LP > 7000 LP]
"Because of UFO Turtle's effect, I can special summon another monster from my deck. I'll summon another Cyber Phoenix."
"Lot of draw power, huh? Fine, my second Goldd knocks Cyber Phoenix off the board!"
Goldd Two bellowed a war cry, and surged forward to grasp Cyber Phoenix by the neck and slam it into the dirt repeatedly, shattering the hologram into pieces part by part.
[7000 LP > 5600 LP]
Roché draws, as per Cyber Phoenix's effect.
"Turn end. Anything good off two draws?"
"Well, you'll see! Draw!" Roché stared at her cards. She had absolutely nothing of value in her hand. "Hmmm... Alright. By discarding Desperado Barrel Dragon, I can special summon Machina Fortress again from my grave. I set one monster face down, then attack Snoww, Unlight of Dark World."
[3700 LP > 3200 LP]
"With that, I end my turn."
"Fine, let's see what we've got here, then. I draw!" And there it was. Valerie stared at the card in her hand for a moment before over to Machina Fortress, formulating her play.
"Unless your facedown's Cyber Jar, this's over. If it's Cyber Jar, I'm requesting a new roommate, I swear to god."
"Hehe. Over already?"
"First, I normal summon another Beiige, Vanguard of Dark World. Then I activate Gates of Dark World again, banishing Doomcaliber Knight and discarding Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World! When Grapha is discarded, I target one card my opponent controls and destroy it. Machina Fortress goes back to the grave, while I draw one!"
"Oh no." Machina Fortress' effect activates as it crumbles into dust, firing a shot at Valerie's hand.
"Yeah, pretty much."
Valerie flipped her hand over again to reveal the one card left: Sillva, Warlord of Dark World. She discarded it, activating its effect and special summoning it to the field.
Sillva, Warlord of Dark World - 2600/1700
"Since Sillva was discarded by your card effect, his secondary effect activates: you return two cards from your hand to the bottom of your deck. Say goodnight to whatever you drew."
"Oof."
"Now, let's finish this off! I activate Grapha's effect. By returning one Dark World monster I control to my hand, I Special Summon him to the field. Beiige comes back, and now say hello to my ace!"
A hole in the ground opened, and from it rose a fiendish black dragon, screeching and roaring to the heavens.
Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World - 3000/2100
"Battle phase. Sillva, go for the facedown monster!"
The face-down flips face up to reveal the third Cyber Phoenix in Roché's deck, screeching in cybernetic agony as it explodes into dust.
"Grapha, Goldds, go for the kill!" Valerie threw her hand out to command her monsters to deliver the finishing blow, and all three surged forward with claws outstretched towards Roché.
...And she simply explodes.
[5600 LP > 0 LP]
As the dust of the fake explosion clears, Valerie hears Roché's hollering from within the smoke before she sees her walk out of it. "Wooo! That was pretty fun!"
As the duel ended, Valerie's battle high seemed to fade away with it, and she simply nodded coolly at Roché, walking up to offer her a handshake.
"Good duel. Seriously. Don't think I've actually been knocked that low in a while."
"Yes, well, when your average victims in your last school, sorry, training partners, can't muster up much better than a Summoned Skull on a good day, that tends to happen." Ceruli snarked at Valerie, giving her a slow clap. "Well done, though. For a moment, I was afraid you'd just brick out the entire duel."
Ceruli turns to look back at Roché. "Now that I get a closer look at her and her cards, I do believe there is something within her deck. A pity she isn't even aware of it." Valerie's eyes flicked towards Ceruli for a moment and down to Roché's Duel Disk as acknowledgement.
"We should do this again sometime! Oh, right! I should send you a contact request." Roché whips out her PDA, doing just as she says. "This way we can keep in touch whenever."
Valerie fished her PDA out in response, accepting the friend request. "Sure, sure. Was gonna ask you about that in a bit anyway. Anyways, we should probably get back. I gotta unpack my stuff, too."
"Gotcha. I'll help you out too, if you don't mind me handling your stuff."
Valerie paused for a moment at that. "Uh...yeah, fine. Just not the posters, alright? You have no idea how much of a pain in the ass it was to get my hands on those."
"Ah yes, your Chazz Princeton poster collection." Ceruli sighed, rolling his eyes. "What you see in that moronic catchphrase, I'll never know."
As the two girls walked back to the dorm, Valerie took a moment to flip Ceruli off out of eyeshot of her roommate. Nobody insulted The Chazz.
As Valerie stepped off the boat and onto the grounds of Central Duel Academy, she couldn't help but give a low whistle. The brochures and web pages hadn't really gotten across just how impressive the entire setup was, especially the volcano looming over the entire island. Of course, her spiritual hanger-on decided to chime in with a different opinion.
"Is that an active volcano? On a secluded island with naught but hapless teenagers? I'm inclined to believe this Seto Kaiba may be a tad mad." Ceruli, Guru of Dark World murmured from his position hovering over Valerie's shoulder, unseen and unheard by the vast majority of the students around the two. Valerie simply responded to his snark with a roll of her eyes for stating the obvious. They'd watched some of the Battle City reruns just two weeks ago, of course he should know by now that the most famous billionaire in the world was just a bit batshit insane.
"Look, just remember what we came here for, alright?" Valerie murmured as quietly as possible, trying not to alert anyone around her to the fact that she seemed to be talking to herself, for all intents and purposes.
"For you to finally be able to settle down and have some stability for an extended period of time without those irresponsible louts you call parents pulling you from place to place?" Ceruli responded pointedly, to which Val narrowed her eyes at him in annoyance. "Yes, yes," He sighed, throwing his hands up in surrender. "I will keep an eye out for other Duel Spirits. Should I see one, especially one partnered to another human, I shall inform you."
To this, Valerie finally relented, favoring her spirit partner with a slight upturn of her lips. One blink, and it was gone. It was time to move on, anyway. Seemed the horde of students entering the Academy were starting to head off towards the main building.
___
Following the speech and explanations, Valerie made her way to the Ra Yellow dorm, silently noting that for all it was touted as the "middle" grade, the amenities here were a damn sight better than most of what she'd seen from any other school she'd been to. Of course, average by Kaiba standards were probably inflated from what average meant to most people. According to her PDA email, she'd been assigned to room 101, and her luggage had already been shipped over, so time to bite the bullet and meet her roommate.
Valerie opened the door to her room with some trepidation. By this point, she'd grown throughly used to and sick of having to introduce herself to new, unfamiliar faces year after year. Hopefully, this was the last time she'd have to do something like this. She'd be seeing the same faces around for the next three years, plus, everyone else was in arguably the same boat as her for once, instead of Valerie just being the constant outsider trying to break into friend groups she'd be leaving in a year anyways.
"Go on, girl." Ceruli quietly encouraged her before ducking down so as to make himself scarce in case his partner's new roommate did have any spiritual sensitivity. Best to evaluate the other first before revealing himself. Valerie suppressed a gulp and nodded, walking in...
...Only to be immediately accosted. Valerie let her hand be grabbed, looking slightly nonplussed as her new roommate immediately burst out with a motor mouth.
"My name's Roché."
"Hey, I'm Valerie-"
"Here, I have a gift for you!"
"Wait, what?" Valerie blinked as something was shoved in her hand. A second blink brought clarity. A firecracker? What the fuck? She turned her gaze back up towards Roche to ask her what this was about, but balked as she saw the other girl clutching a lit utility lighter. What the fuck?
"Woah, woah, woah, wait!" She hurriedly yanked the firework out of the utility lighter's way, backing up.
"My, oh my." Ceruli remarked with a raised eyebrow as he popped into vision from the commotion, staring straight at Roche. "What unfortunate luck that you've been saddled with a pyromaniac, girl."
"Hold on!" Valerie said frantically, trying to bullshit her way out of having to deal with a lit firecracker in the dorms while also trying to not offend the person she'd be spending the next year in the same quarters with. "You light that up here, staff's going to be on our asses so fast. Let's uh, wait and pop it in the forest at night?" She tried, desperately hoping that the crazy redhead would take the offer. This shit had to be contraband, right? "...Want to duel instead?"
And of course he was interrupted. Unfortunately for Renar, he actually liked Sir Sergio and valued the man's opinion of him. And going directly against Paladin Tyaethe was just asking for trouble.
Still, he couldn't bring himself to agree, even if just to mollify them. They were already executioners. What did it matter whether a man died in the heat of battle, or on the chopping block? At the end of the day, they resulted in the same outcome: a dead man. As for the concept of knightly nobility, frankly, he expected better from someone who'd been around for centuries. Surely she didn't actually still believe in such a thing?
"For the record, I still disagree. But I'll drop the matter, regardless." Renar sighed, lowering his weapon before looking back towards the kneeling bandits. "Apologies, gentlemen. It seems the offer has passed you by. Now, hands behind your backs. Don't even think of trying something clever."
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