As the nine students finish their duels with Haruko, the inky blackness slowly recedes around them, depositing all nine of them back into the small forest clearing. It was just in time, too, because the geyser of spirits had just began to peter out, coming to a gradual yet unceremonious end as the last of the spirits flew up into the supernatural storm above. Haruko lied unconscious on the grass, doted on by her flock of Scapeghosts. At least at first, things finally seemed to be over.
And then four of the students spoke in eerie unison.
"It seems the worst of it is over."
Cassandra, Pine, Sina, and Valerie all spoke, turning to give their fellow students a grin as the realization of what had happened dawned on their peers.
"We said it was a duel with your lives on the line, didn't we? We meant it."
The four of them all walked to one end of the clearing before turning to the other students and raising their duel disks. "Come. The calamity may resolve itself, but we aren't yet satisfied."
Renho grit her teeth. "You guys go. I barely won my duel. I'll look after Haruko."
The four possessed students laughed. "At least one of you recognizes a fluke. Come. It's been so long since we've been able to duel like this. You kids want to save your friends, don't you? All you have to do is defeat them. Come! Double or nothing!"
Setting(s): Fantasy settings with higher levels of power
Gender: ♀
Age: 16
Ability: Lesua's abilities are styled after her favorite class, the White Mage, from her favorite RPG, Penultimate Pipedream. This mainly enables her to fully restore the health of others, revive the recently deceased, erect barriers, launch magic "holy" attacks, or impart positive status effects such as passive regeneration and an automatic revival upon death, within a certain time limit. Like most of the game's mage classes, it can also fly and teleport short distances, (about a meter) though, just as in the game, she cannot teleport through walls or teleport rapidly, (it's more of a stylized dash animation) and her air speed is comparable to her ground running speed.
Of note is the game's subclass system, with her ability copying aspects of other classes within the game, particularly those that are useful when combined with a White Mage. Although not all of their abilities transfer over to Lesua, most of the useful aspects do:
The Black Mage, an offensive Mage class, allows her to utilize elemental attacks of most elements, instead of her default holy element. Although not stronger than her holy magic by default, she gains the ability to modify her "spells" from this class, such as condensing them into a speedy arrow, causing them to rain down periodically, or setting them to cast on a certain contingency. This applies even to her white mage spells, potentially multiplying or automating their healing effects, though she can't combine it with other subclasses, and the exponentially increased mana cost from the games translates over to sharply increased fatigue in reality.
The Hexer allows her to inflict a variety of status conditions such as Poison, Sleep, Paralysis, Fear, or Doom. Doom is typically the strongest option, causing a target to die unless the condition is magically cured or Lesua is defeated within a certain period of time. In reality, doom's timer has gone from a few turns to about 1 hour and is nigh impossible to cure without her. As in the games, Hexer status conditions have a reduced effect against enemies that are stronger than her, and Doom won't work at all.
The Bard, which can provide a variety of stat buffs for allies. Lesua copies most of its abilities without issue, and doesn't need to dress any of them up as a performance.
The Artificer, which can use magic and machinery to create specialized equipment and weaponry or autonomous minions. Lesua can't actually use most of its abilities, lacking the fantastical mechanical knowledge for it, though she is capable of enchanting or forging magic items just by condensing "magic", or whatever it is that makes her ability tick.
The Alchemist class allows Lesua to concoct magic potions, including ones that explode, buff allies, or inflict status effects on enemies. Most of its offensive applications are inferior to those of the Black Mage, most of its healing options are inferior to that of the White Mage, and most of its buffing or debuffing effects are inferior to that of the Bard or Hexer, though they do offer a few unique effects such as turning you into an intangible ghost for a few seconds or causing you to grow or shrink. Notably, she can loan or sell these potions to others, and the class, ironically, allows her to turn water into wine.
The Guardian class is a tank class that specializes in mobility; protecting allies no matter where they are, at the cost of offense. It allows Lesua to zoom across large distances to her allies at a moment's notice and keep them safe from almost any attack by redirecting it towards herself. Most of its other abilities are redundant with a White Mage's ability to generate barriers.
The Time Mage class can freeze a target in place or slow them down, forcing them to move in slow-motion. It can also accelerate allies, which stack with the Bard's enhanced speed buff. Finally, it capable of calling down Meteors; a non-elemental attack that also functions as the strongest spell in Penultimate Pipedream. Lesua is capable of using all of its abilities, to devastating effect.
Weaknesses/Limitations: About 95-99% of Lesua's abilities cannot be used unless she is undergoing one of her episodes, which are dramatic shifts in demeanor in which she is overtaken by delusions of grandeur, severe megalomaniacal narcissism, and an acute and very literal god complex. As an American, her idea of a god is heavily informed by Christian imagery, and thus, during her episodes, she often styles herself accordingly. She is highly vulnerable while her abilities are inactive, and really good at making enemies while her abilities are active.
She undergoes an episode when she wakes up every Sunday and returns to normal at midnight. It is possible to undergo an episode when she gets strong feelings of anger or desperation, and the opposite is true - exiting an episode early, when she gets strong feelings of guilt or self-doubt.
The aforementioned 1-5% are mostly just parlor tricks (small light shows) and substitutions for band-aids. Her ability to stem the bleeding of a severe wound is worse than a simple tourniquet, and is too time-consuming to be of use afterwards compared to Ceft's ability, which is already relatively slow. Her ability to launch magic attacks are comparable to, at worst, getting hit by a foam dodgeball.
Of note is that she maintains the ability to cure Hexer status effects.
Combat Equipment: Forces herself to wear an RGB gamer halo (styled according to a twisted perception of herself) which she absolutely hates and cannot remove without her abilities. It pings Ceft's halo automatically when she is in danger and can project a barrier around her for a limited time.
Personality: Sharply contrasting her personality during an episode, Lesua is an antisocial shut-in, and is usually quite glum whenever she has to go outside. She's constantly haunted by the guilt of her actions during episodes and hates that she has to continually rely on the church, an institution she thoroughly resents, to keep her safe from the mess she's created herself. Ceft and the other members of her church have already stopped numerous assassination attempts, and she's become very untrusting of others.
She's very fond of video games, particularly fighting games and RPGs, and has even won local tournaments before she was forced to divorce herself of her previous life. She can get quite competitive at them, and holds the speedrun world records for Penultimate Pipedream any% and 100%.
History: When she first got her abilities, it happened during school hours, and the tragedy that followed is one that's frequently been pointed to as a reason that superhuman abilities should be more tightly regulated and controlled.
She returned home after the incident a fugitive. She was given money by her father and, without any words or explicit command saying so, sent to live on her own. She came to live in a run-down apartment and slowly drove a lot of her neighbors away while keeping her landlord paralyzed in fear. She seems to generate money out of thin air during episodes, so she generally kept to herself, hoping her problems would somehow go away.
Somewhere along the way she seemed to have started a cult to herself, and purchased a nearby church from which to operate out of. Despite her own attempts to disband it, it only ever seems to grow as time passes. Some of her churchgoers are genuine believers that a deity has descended using her as a vessel, and there are children and elderly coming and going at her church with alarming frequency. Others seem to be attracted to her penchant for "divine retribution" against "enemies of the church" and seek to abuse the church as a sanctuary after illegal conduct. Although most criminals seem to genuinely turn around over time after joining the church due to its moralistic teachings, (which are seemingly pulled out of her own ass) turning the other cheek isn't one of them and the church's activities in some ways resemble that of a small mafia. It's gotten to the point where the church itself is known as a hub of criminal activity, featuring a corkboard full of bounties and a variety of dubious requests. Lesua, during her episodes, doesn't have any qualms with shady characters walking in to take on these requests, so long as they don't disturb the churchgoers, so even nonbelievers get in on the chaos.
She eventually came to meet Ceft, a young boy she appointed as a priest. His parents suffered an untimely demise at the hands of her enemies, which she in turn took bloody vengeance upon, and he was "adopted" by "the church", which in practice meant renting out the apartment across from hers. Apparently she deemed herself too weak outside of her episodes, and appointed him as a bodyguard, which she hated at first but gradually changed her mind about as he saved her time and time again.
Being a depressed teenage girl who just wants to play video games all day, she's come to rely on Ceft for a lot of things. He's always coming by and cooking or cleaning for her, even when she tries to get him to stop. He's pretty much the only friend she has, the only person she can play video games with, and the only person she can have a sober conversation with about how fucked up her ability and the entire church is. She can't help but feel indebted to him for taking care of her for so long, both during and outside of her episodes, but doesn't know how she could even begin to repay the favor.
Setting(s): Most Fantasy settings that Lesua is allowed in; as an NPC or otherwise
Gender: ♂
Age: 15
Ability: Ceft's body contains mild healing properties with supernatural medical adaptability. When any part of him is ingested or when any body fluid is applied directly to wounds, bleeding will gradually stop and natural healing processes accelerate. He functions as a human panacea, capable of combating almost any poison or disease and stabilizing many life-threatening conditions, assuming his ability is applied in a timely manner. While this ability does not have the same effect on himself, it seems to have at least some effect, giving him greater resistances to harmful substances and general illness.
As a side-effect, he is often described as minty.
Weaknesses/Limitations: Ceft's ability is more or less an expedited version of having a medic on hand. If you lose a limb, he can help you reattach it, but he can't help you grow it back. While his ability moves the boundary of no return, he can't save someone that is beyond saving. Furthermore, despite generally high potential potency, his ability doesn't ignore the laws of preservation of mass, and he'll need to provide more of himself when the situation calls for it. This is rather difficult to scrounge up without disfiguring himself, and performing a blood donation in the middle of a fight can cause his combat capacity to deteriorate.
Combat Equipment: As Lesua's primary bodyguard, Ceft was gifted two magic items that she made herself. Both of these objects were made to work exclusively with Ceft, becoming useless trinkets in the hands of others. The first was a weapon, to allow Ceft to protect Lesua in a fight. It takes the form of a golden cross necklace when not in use, and morphs into one of four different weapons, enlarging itself in the process, depending on how it is held when activated. Held from the bottom, it becomes a scythe, with a blade seemingly formed out of solid light appearing along one of the cross' short ends as the handle elongates. Held from either side, it will become either a handgun or a tonfa. In either of these two forms, it is capable of splitting into two, each the same size as the original. The handguns will fire bullets seemingly made out of light. The last form, when held from the top, will turn the cross into an ornate longsword, with short blue ornamental tassles on the hilt and crossguard. Despite the mystique of a shapeshifting holy weapon, all four forms only have mundane properties, besides the endless ammo supply of the handguns.
The second gift was a halo. A rather curious object, it seems to ignore gravity only when placed above Ceft's head. When worn and its activation is willed, wings of pure light will sprout behind Ceft's back. They appear to be mere decoration, because instead of flapping, they jostle themselves at best, and don't even connect to Ceft's body at all. Despite this, they still enable Ceft to levitate/fly while they are active, and have impressive maneuverability and respectable speed. They were given to him because his lack of innate mobility was seen as a problem. As Lesua's bodyguard, he was told that it was expected of him to always be able to fly to her rescue.
Personality: Ceft has a tendency to get nervous in mundane situations. He's rather shy, unable to speak his mind, and is often pretty easy to boss around. He's the chivalrous type, and isn't afraid to jump to the aid of those he feels need defending, though he's also deeply loyal to Lesua, and can easily take drastic action if she commands it, putting his life on the line and/or showing no mercy without a second thought.
History: Ceft is the youngest priest of the church of Lesua, a cult formed around a girl his age that his parents had joined shortly before meeting an untimely demise. Ceft was orphaned until Lesua declared that the church itself would take care of him, which mostly meant that he lives in the apartment across from Lesua's. Lesua's own ability inflicts her with megalomaniacal episodes, which were what caused her to form the church in the first place, but she is otherwise an ordinary albeit unsociable girl, and thus Ceft has developed a crush on her. Since Lesua lacks most of her powers outside of her episodes, he was assigned as her bodyguard because of his ability, (by her, to her dismay) and they've since become good friends, spending most of their time together on account of their entanglement with the church, status as independent orphans living across each other, and general avoidance of educational institutions. They even have keys to each other's apartments. Given that his home, his food, and the very clothes he wears are all paid for by the church, that Lesua saved him in his darkest hour, he can't help but feel that he owes Lesua for taking care of him for so long, and tries to repay the favor whenever he can.
Ceft, as per Lesua's request, tries to steer her towards humanitarianism during episodes or protect people from her wrath when he is able, though when it comes down to it, he will never go against her completely or refuse an insistent command. He has killed people for her, and is prepared to continue doing so, deeming her more important than his moral preferences.
I've been looking to write a story about occult stuff for a hot minute. I mostly haven't yet because I wasn't sure where to start nor with whom, but it sounds like a lot of fun.
I've made a grand total of 3 DnD characters before. One is godawful, one is not a core book race, and one is not a core book class, so I'll have to think about reworking them or making another character first.
Haruko (?) A swarm of ants slowly gathers, pushing through the loose gathering of spirits. The others seem to be rather lazy, letting most of them by after a single battle. Haruko sighs inwardly. As an amalgam of downtrodden spirits, they can relate.
Nonetheless, the situation is unacceptable. The entrancing pillar of light, the geyser of tormented brethren, each only now regaining what makes up their very being, is appalling. The eruption disturbed and displaced all of those dwelling in the well, and while all of the spirits knew deep down that a grand revolution isn't feasible or helpful, letting things go without an attempt at retribution, at change - letting things resolve peacefully after seeing other spirits stepped on, abused, and now finally seemingly discarded was unconscionable. The spiritual force of the release was too disturbing for a spirit to stick around to gleam the details, but that the cloaked figure was human was unmistakable. There's no chance at all that this isn't completely the fault of humans.
Let's see...
A bespectacled girl accompanied by the spirit of a vampire... The girl with the Elf guard who arrived with the host... The girl with dark world influences... There's the 4 spiritually inept in red jackets... And then there's the two Jerry Beans Man and Gokibore have decided to accompany... Hard to keep it against the two spirits. It's in all of their natures to accompany human duelists, after all.
All in all, 9 people have gathered. Quite the crowd. Although the spiritually inept could just be ignored or manipulated, this whole mess isn't really about achieving vengeance against humans, now is it? If that was the goal, then being beaten once wouldn't be the end of things for a duel spirit. About half of these fools know nothing of shadow magic after all, and the other half can only intuit how it works at best, but hounding after humans on repeat, forcing them into duels over and over until they slip sounds nothing but exhausting. Sure, maybe some would die, but it'd be a hollow vengeance when each duel spirit of the well still has a human out there who abandoned them.
Duel spirits can't just ignore what they are. They've done nothing but stagnate without human intervention. A world without humans at all is one where the weak stay weak and the strong trample upon them. It might as well be no different from living at the bottom of a well as they have been.
This is about 'us'. This is about the catharsis of showing these humans not to mess with spirits ever again. A representative? A clear winner? Laughable.
Haruko makes a decision. They'll take on all humans at once, up until they've been defeated or the point where no humans remain.
They're not weak. Not right now. Not with Haruko.
The crowd of spirits, as if coming to a tacit agreement, all begin collapsing on Haruko. Humans, their duel spirits, the two defectors, and the forlorn Scapeghosts rush to get out of the way as a stampede of otherworldly beings begin to vanish as they fade into Haruko as if being absorbed. The glowing aura around her begins to brighten, eventually shining a light blinding enough to rival the geyser of spirits behind them, before it finally calms all at once, and Haruko, still floating several feet off the ground, begins to multiply like a Kuriboh.
In front of each of the humans gathered, a discreet Haruko floats before them. She addresses each of them, and nine voices speak in unison, each an amalgam of other overlapping voices, forming an otherworldly choir.
"I do hope you've all realized your lives are on the line."
Each Haruko materializes a semitransparent duel disk as shadows begin to envelop and isolate each Haruko and their opponent.
The entire world goes black. Each student is all alone in an endless inky void with nothing but a possessed ghost girl dueling them, apparently to the death???
Each Haruko begins drawing cards. It's time to duel.
Kaison & Sina Both Kaison and Sina turned to look at their fellow students in confusion. Ominous light? Though, from the look on everyone's faces, it seemed none of the others knew what Pine was talking about.
Kaison offered the group an explanation as Pine walked on, looking ready to leave them behind. "Pine told me he has some cool powers. I haven't seen them in action myself, but Ms. Hibiki confirmed that he has more restrictions on when he's allowed to duel, which, you've got to admit, is really suspicious for a duel academy. Maybe Pine is seeing something we're not?"
Sina gasped dramatically. "Could he be the chosen one? Quickly! He is our only chance of demystifying the concealed conclusions!" She ran after him, not waiting for the others.
Sina was overwhelming as always. Kaison raised an eyebrow but otherwise agreed. "Right. Well, let's catch up to them." He hurried after the two, joining them as they walked towards the forest.
Rin Rin woke up with alarm as she was shaken around like a ragdoll in her own bed. "Huh? Wha? Mina? What's going on?" As Mina releases her, she sits up groggily, letting out a tired yawn. What time is it? She pulled out her PDA to check, only to see that it was a little over an hour past midnight. This is an ungodly hour no human consciousness should ever be forced into perceiving.
Jon Jon looked to the clock on his laptop. It was still only 1 AM. What kind of senior citizen could bear going to sleep so early? He queued up for another game.
Sina It was investigation time, and nothing would stop Sina Elaqueri from finding the truth! After she confirmed Renho felt the same thing, she quickly changed and rushed out, only to find that, oh yeah, it was really dark out. Good thing she brought a flashlight! It ended up being kinda pointless until now since there was a curfew, and every student was given a PDA, but it never hurts to be prepared!
Emerging from Room 103, she decides to begin the investigation with Room 102. It's closer to Ms. Hibiki's room, and waking her at such an hour would be bad! Better to get the hard part out of the way first, though. She knocks gently, then a little louder, but when she gets no answer, she takes it upon herself to open the door and peek inside. Just in case! What if someone fell out of their bed and was unconscious? Wouldn't it be bad if they had a concussion? It's not like she meant to invade their privacy, but safety comes first!
Sina gasped overdramatically. "An empty room! This is Haruko and Helena's room, isn't it?" Have they gone missing? Forget whatever woke her up, it was time to form a search party! She went back to her room and grabbed a rope, putting her head and one arm through the loop of it and letting it rest on her shoulder. It never hurt to be prepared! What if they fell down a pit? Surely this rope would come in handy. Might as well bring some candy bars too, in case they're trapped somewhere and haven't eaten since... dinner? Gosh, the poor things must be starving!
Sina was about to continue checking up on the other rooms to find more people to help in her search when Kaison, Leo and Pine all walked out at around the same time. Like a goldfish, Sina completely forgets about the existence of Rooms 104, 203, 204, and even the possibility of informing Ms. Hibiki, solely focusing on the others already out. Perfect timing!
She rushes up the stairs in order to talk with the boys without yelling, and probably ends up making more noise from her footsteps alone. Regardless, she does a pretty good job quickly summarizing the situation. "Haruko and Helena are missing!" She points to herself with a thumb. "I'm going to go look for her!" She does a double fist pump. "Will you guys join the search party with me?"
Haruko(?) The spirits didn't collapse on Chosen of the Celtic Guard, though he was certainly outnumbered. They spared him a glance before turning back to Helena, mostly ignoring him, albeit not turning their back on him either.
Haruko, floating above, spoke again in a choir of unfamiliar voices. "We are those that have been abandoned; cast aside and left to rot. You humans called us worthless; devoid of any purpose or meaning. Our weakness was a sin that the humans would not forgive." Haruko shook her head, eyes closed. "We are the bitterness and resentment of those that were left behind, made manifest. We are the anger and hatred of humans, reflected back at them like a mirror. We, each of us, are all enemies of humankind." She opens her eyes and points at Helena accusingly.
"All you humans care about is exploiting everything you touch. Now, look at what your arrogance has wrought." Haruko gestured to the pillar of light before turning to gaze upon it, staring into it with a frown. "We can hear them, crying out in agony. Look at how they emerge, clumped together, stripped of any individuality." Haruko turns back to Helena, eyebrows lowered in anger. "To have undergone a torture worse than death... Why don't you learn how it feels?"
The spirits begin to glow in the same glowing white aura as Haruko. They advance on her, with more spirits emerging from behind the treeline, as if seeing their opportunity to strike. Chosen of the Celtic Guard tries to grab the Scapeghosts and run, to cut down the spirits encircling him, but the aura appears to have strengthened them all, and he is soon overwhelmed by sheer quantity, tackled to the ground and dogpiled.
The first day of school started off with homeroom, and while the homeroom teacher was excruciatingly hard to tell apart from his other relatives on the staff, he introduced himself as Mr. Monoma. Soon after, he had each student in the class stand up and introduce themselves.
“I’ll call each of you, one by one. When you’re called, just stand up, give us your name, tell us something you like to do in your free time other than dueling, then say one ‘fun fact’ about yourself. Doesn’t matter what it is; your favorite food, something you’ve accomplished in the past, or even just a famous duelist you admire. Kaison, you’re up.”
Kaison Although caught off guard at being called first, he makes a smooth recovery, standing up and introducing himself with a clear and confident tone. “My name is Kaison Locke. I like writing and videography, and I’ve made a simple game based on the Labyrinth cards called ‘Lost in the Labyrinth’. In it, you’re trapped in the maze of labyrinth walls, and have to defeat or escape the Wall Shadow hunting you down. I've got free game keys ready if anyone wants 'em.”
"That's very generous Mr. Locke, but save it for after class."
"Yes, sir."
Donte “Dontavius”
Donte let out an annoyed snarl as he stood up. “It’s Donte! My name is Donte, got it!?”
The teacher begins a rebuttal, “Mr. Lorenzo-”
Only for Donte to cut him off, slamming his hand on the desk five times, spelling out his name with each slam. “D. O. N. T. E. DON’T YOU EVER CALL ME LORENZO.”
“Very well, Donte. Your sensitivity about your name is noted. Would you care to share something you like to do in your free time before I send you to the chancellor?”
Donte mutters, “fuckin’-” under his breath before grabbing his things. “I know where he is, I’ll go there myself.”
Donte walks out the classroom door. Mr. Monoma stops briefly to contact campus security before calling the next name as if nothing happened.
Haruko “Haruko”
“Y-yes!” Haruko shoots up, her glasses falling askew as she stutters out an affirmative.
“Your introduction, please.”
“R-right!” She fixes her glasses and takes a deep breath to calm herself. “My name is Haruko Furukawa. I like…” She pauses, looking uncertain, before continuing, “-playing with animals and caring for them. Um… the fun fact is that my family owns a shrine. I often help out around it, so I got into the habit of wearing more traditional clothes.” She was wearing a Slifer Red jacket over her shoulders, but the rest of her attire was uncompromisingly old-fashioned. “The girl’s uniform is too skimpy for me anyway. It makes me feel like I’m gonna melt, b-but the rules said I don’t have to wear it!”
The teacher nods. “Yes, that’s true. I was wondering what was up with your choice of attire; thank you for saving me the trouble of asking. Next…”
Sina "Sina"
The blue-haired girl in a Slifer Red jacket pushes herself up using the desk, her eyes closed and head tilted down in a sober, pensive manner. Then, all at once, she snaps her head up and opens her eyes, staring straight at the teacher. Mr. Monoma flinches, and Sina goes on with her introduction.
She takes her hands off the desk, placing one behind her back and the other atop her chest. "My name is Sina Elaqueri." She puts one hand on her hip and raises the other, clenching it into a fist in front of her. "There is nothing that brings me more joy than helping those in need!” She extends the hand on her hip outward, opened-palmed, while staring off into the ceiling. “Although I am just a humble student for now, I wish to become nothing short of a hero of justice! A protector of the weak and a vanquisher of evil! Someone like the King of Games!”
Her force of personality had left most of the students and even the teacher speechless, though despite the awkward silence followed by whispers and gossip, Sina maintained her dramatic pose and unfaltering smile until the teacher finally acknowledged the scene he just witnessed.
“Thank you for the performance, Miss Elaqueri. Next…”
Miles “Miles”
Miles stood up with a frown affixed to his face. “My name is Miles Lark. I’m into movies and my favorite food is pancakes.” With just that, he sat back down. That was it.
Chris “Chris”
Chris stood up, immediately drawing attention from his sheer height alone. “Yo. I’m Chris. I like reading and long walks on the beach.” A few students snickered. “I have one simple goal when it comes to my career in dueling: Duel against the King of Games, and get them saltier than the dead sea. Win or lose, it doesn’t matter to me, but imagining Yugi Mutou screaming the F-word puts a smile on my face.”
Apparently some other students agreed because an eruption of laughter followed as Chris sat back down.
Roché “Roash”
Roché stood up. “It’s Ro-shay, Mr. Monoma.”
“My apologies.”
“No worries. I’m Roché, everyone. I like mecha anime and pyrotechnics. I’ve also got a YouTube channel with over 1000 subscribers! I’m still not sure how it got so popular, though. I don’t post to it very often, and it’s mostly just videos of minecraft or certain sim video games. I also do firecracker reviews sometimes, though I mess them up pretty often…” She laughs to herself sheepishly as she sits back down.
Rin “Rin”
No student responded at first, though before the teacher decided he needed to repeat himself, a girl in a Ra Yellow uniform stood up, though she didn’t introduce herself immediately.
Internally, Rin was panicking. Her name? That was an easy one. She should start with that one, right? “I’m Rin.”
Something she likes to do? Uh… Does she like doing things? What qualifies as an activity you do? Nothing? Is nothing a valid answer? She can’t say she likes people-watching. What is she, some kind of creepy stalker voyeur creep? A creepy creepazoid creeping on people? “Um…”
The teacher sees her floundering and mercifully steps in. “That’s alright, we’ll come back to you. Next…”
Rin sat down, embarrassed. She wracked her brain for an answer, but nothing came to her. Well, that was a lie. Plenty of things came to her. She loved to duel, and to act, and her habit of combining the two was a very obvious fun fact about her, but what did that say about her? That she was some milquetoast nobody-person who can only grow a personality by copying that of others? The teacher already said to not just say ‘dueling’, and a lot of the other students even gave two things they liked. Did she have to give two things? Was she expected to give two things she liked doing? Would they think she was weird if she didn’t? That her flat-ass personality was flat and also ass?
She covered her face with the fingerless gloves of her uniform. She was hitting the nail right on the head and trying extremely hard not to feel bad about it. She was as boring as they come. Even her name was boring. She hated being herself so much that she started trying to be anyone else even if the time and place weren’t completely appropriate. She was too shy to incorporate sweeping changes to her own demeanor, but even if she solely treated duels like stages to perform on, most people found it ridiculous. She wiped the moisture out of her eyes. Trying to define who she was as her own person was a nightmare come true.
The introductions flew by as she stopped paying attention, focusing only on what to say when the teacher came back to her. Eventually, it happened. “Alright Rin, your turn again.”
She stood up with slightly more confidence this time, putting on her best brave face. “My name is Rin Sato, and I like eating and sleeping.”
Silence.
The teacher tries to help her out with the last question. “What’s your favorite food?”
Oh god no.
Rin lets out a quiet yet garbled noise from behind her teeth, a stressed groan of raw anxiety. She goes for the most inoffensive answer she can think of without really thinking about whether it’s true or not. “U-um… P-pizza?”
“Thank you. You may sit down now.”
Rin shrinks into her seat, putting both hands on her head to block out as much of the attention from the other students as she can.
Jon “Jon”
At first, nobody answers.
“Jon Locke?”
“...Present.”
Jon stands up from his seat, having been shaken awake by his brother sitting next to him just moments prior. Some students laugh at his response.
“Sleeping in class on your first day? I’d expect more from an Obelisk Blue.”
“I’m sorry, I’m just… really not a morning person.”
“Be sure to get to sleep earlier tonight. We’re doing introductions right now. Your name, something you like to do, and a fun fact about yourself.”
“...I’m Jon. I like to draw, and I could not sleep until about 4 AM last night.” He sits back down, leaning his forehead against a hand propped up on the desk by his elbow, like it’s too heavy to keep raised otherwise.
“I’m sorry to hear that, Jon, though I can’t imagine it has to do with the quality of your accommodations.”
Jon simply shrugs.
“By the way, you two share a last name, and I can’t help but see a resemblance. Are you and Kaison related?”
There’s a brief pause before Kaison answers for him. “Yes. He’s my brother. He even helped me with some of the art assets for ‘Lost in the Labyrinth’.”
The teacher tilts his head. “Are you two twins?”
Kaison answers. “Yeah, we are.”
“Paternal or Fraternal?”
Kaison shrugs. “Our parents wanted the gender to be a surprise and never bothered to get a DNA test. I think we look pretty different, though I’ve sometimes been told that people rely on Jon’s scarf to tell us apart.”
“Not one for scarves yourself?”
“Not really. It’s always been Jon’s thing. At this point it just makes me feel like a copycat.”
Rin breathes heavily as her thoughts are derailed before she goes back to tuning out the other students again.
Caleb “Caleb”
The pink-haired boy in an Obelisk Blue jacket stands up, headphones resting on his collarbone. Despite looking like he wishes he could be anywhere but the classroom right now, he contrarily makes an introduction befitting a teacher’s pet. “My name is Caleb. I like music and this school. I’ve got pretty bad O.C.D., so please don’t bend my assignment papers.”
“I usually have students take their papers and pass the rest around. Would you like to move to the front?”
Caleb stopped to look at Lexa, who was sitting next to him. She caught his gaze and they seemed to have a silent conversation for a moment before he looked at the other student beside him, some guy he’d never met, just to keep from seeming suspicious. He turned back to the teacher and sighed. “That’s alright. I’ll just deal.”
“Alright, if you say so.”
Despite trying to hide the look he gave Lexa as innocuous, some gossip ensued anyway.
Melony “Melony”
A cheery-looking purple-haired girl stood up. Like Haruko before her, she only wore her academy jacket over an unusual set of attire. In her case, it was a dress with a corset atop a poofy skirt adorned with excessive belts. “Hi everyone~! I’m Melony. I love scary movies and horror games! Getting scared is a great way to get the blood pumping. Though, they’re way more fun when I have someone to watch or play them with. At least then, I have somebody to hide behind if I get scared. I’d love to give ‘Lost in the Labyrinth’ a try, if you’re free to play it with me, Kaison~.”
“Oh? Sure! It’s more action than horror, but playing it together sounds fun.”
Melony did a mental fist pump. Of course she was attracted to him. He’d probably have swarms of fans if the other students knew the truth about him.
“Great! It’s a date.”
Kaison’s thoughts blanked for a moment. He’d never been on a date before, and he was only just meeting Melony now. If he had something to say about it though, he didn’t get the chance as the teacher interrupted them. “Ahem.”
“Sorry Mr. M! Where was I? Right! A fun fact. When I was younger, I used to go hunting for ghosts with my friends. I never caught them on camera, but we did see a bunch of objects floating around, and one of my friends even got possessed! Kyaaaaa~! It’s scary just thinking about it!”
It didn’t really matter how fake her fear sounded. She was pretty and all of her peers were hormonal. The prevailing sentiment, as muttered by some students, was jealousy towards Kaison. The color of his jacket didn’t exactly do him any favors either.
Lexa “Alexis”
A thin yet relatively tall girl stood up, her Obelisk Jacket noticeably too big for her, hanging off one shoulder. “My name is Alexis Atropos, though I heard the famous duelist Alexis Rhodes was an alumna of this school.”
“That is correct.”
“Right, but I don’t like the idea of my teachers or peers thinking about Alexis Rhodes and comparing me to her whenever they hear my name. So, I’ve decided to just go by Lexa, at least while at this school. I hope you’ll all respect my wishes.”
The teacher writes it down and nods. “Very well. I’m already calling Dontavius by a nickname anyway.”
Lexa continues, “I most like playing games in my free time. All kinds, really, though it mostly ends up being duel monsters. I suppose that was to be expected given that I decided to attend this school. That being said, I’m particularly fond of dungeon dice monsters. Although it might just be because it’s harder to find an experienced opponent, I’ve never lost at it. If it had half the pro scene duel monsters did, I might not even be at this academy. Unfortunately, the only way I could think to accomplish something like that was to duel Seto Kaiba himself - to beat him at his own game, and get him to make it popular.”
“That’s quite a goal you have, Ms. Atropos. Although, have you thought through what to do if Mr. Kaiba refuses?”
Lexa laughs; a light and airy sound. “I’m here, aren’t I?”
“True.”
As the introductions for each student in the class finally came to a close, Mr. Monoma projected something onto the overhead screen. Although it wasn't clear at first, it was a list of all of the students in the class by their entrance exam scores, albeit with Kaycee missing for some reason. At the very top of the list, only a few points off from a perfect score, was Jon’s name and face.
“I’d like to give my personal congratulations to Jon here, for achieving the highest score of any incoming freshman in the entrance exams.”
The entire class turns to look at Jon, who has fallen asleep again. The teacher begins clapping anyway and the students join in a round of applause. The noise wakes him up, and, oblivious, he begins clapping too.
The rest of the school day proceeds without much fanfare.
Kaison was vibrating as he and Pine walked back to their dorm. He wore the same casual smile he always did, but something about it seemed crooked. Unlike yesterday, they walked in silence the whole way, and it was only when their room door closed that Kaison began slowly unloading his jumbled self-conscious thoughts onto Pine.
“Man, I’ve never gone on a date with anyone before. Have you ever dated someone?”
”No I haven’t.” Pine said matter of factly. ”Not for lack of trying. I asked someone out, and he said no…”
If the male pronoun was supposed to be a revelation, Kaison misses it completely. He holds his forehead in one hand, thoughts solely on his upcoming date. “I can’t help but be nervous. What if I talk too much and she finds it annoying? What if she doesn’t like my game? Can she even stand to be in a Slifer Red dorm after living in Obelisk?”
”I’m sure it’ll be fine…” Pine said that, but internally, he was seething. Why wasn’t he Kaison’s first date? Kaison kept going on and on and on about exaggerated paranoid scenarios, and it only served to make Pine more upset. Why didn’t he think to ask him out first? Who was this bitch that was dating him now?
“Ah, right. Will you be okay, getting kicked out of our room? I could ask for us to do it at the girl’s dorm. At least, I think? Hold on, lemme check the school rules.”
Pine grit his teeth and put on a fake-ass smile. ”It’s. Fine. I’ll go for a walk.”
Kaison gave him a beaming smile. “Thanks, man. I can always count on you to have my back.”
Pine’s eye twitched. Kaison didn’t notice.
When Pine walks out of his own dorm room, the sun had just finished slipping over the horizon, blanketing the sky in a sea of stars. He hurries down the stairs as he sees Melony approaching, doing his best to avoid her like the plague. He overheard her knocking on their door and greeting Kaison with that cloying tone of hers, before the door closed behind her like a coffin on Pine’s potential love life. That’s when Pine remembers he forgot to ask for a copy of ‘Lost in the Labyrinth’.
He’s about to freak out a little when another Slifer Red student walks out of room 102, humming some kind of tune while a parade of Scapeghost duel spirits follow behind her.
”Hmm, that gives me an idea.” He pulls out a Gigaplant card, and focuses on it. It’s the first time he’s tried this, but he’s done it in a duel before by complete accident, so how hard can it be? All he has to do is pour his anger, his frustration, and his contempt for that annoying girl into the card, and sooner than he would have expected, he sees it towering before him. A magnificent carnivorous beast made of pure anger and cellulose.
Pine smiled widely. ”It’s so beautiful.” He considers the power it has, all at his fingertips, but just a single thought of the very real consequences it can bring to Kaison and the innocent bystanders in the dorms is sobering. He decides to go with the original, modest plan he had made when he wasn’t sure materializing duel monsters outside of duels was even possible. “Go! Throw those goats into that room!” Pine pointed first to the Scapeghosts, now frozen in fear, then to his own dorm room. They were just duel spirits. They should fly through the walls unharmed. Kaison and Melony may not even be able to see them, but the spiritual force of them flying through should at least give them the haunting of a lifetime.
Haruko, for her part, still hasn’t seemed to notice Pine, instead wisely spending her time gaping up in horror at the giant monster plant yeeting her sheep into the dorms.
Pine basks in the ensuing girlish screams coming from their room. Melony was right, coming over at night really does add to the horror. The satisfaction alone seems to quell his temper to the point that the Gigaplant begins to fade away; just in time for it to yeet the last Scapeghost.
As if on cue, the door to room 201 bursts open, but rather than Melony, it’s Kaison running for his life. If he notices Pine or Haruko, he doesn’t acknowledge them as he runs towards the school saying expletives on repeat. Pine hears the clacking of Melony’s shoes like a 2x4 to his ear drums as he turns around to see her leaning on the second floor guardrail.
“Haruko, you freak! You’d fuck with the occult again just to ruin my date!?”
“W-wh-w-wh-? Huh?” Haruko tries to stutter out a question and mostly fails, utterly baffled at the situation.
“Don’t act so useless! You and I both know you’re the only one who could have done this! And you! Glasses boy! You really drew a summoning circle for her? Are you out of your mind? You wanna fuck her so bad, you’d fuck with demons? and worse, with me!?”
“What is the meaning of this!?”
The door to Room 101 swings open. About time, really, considering all the screaming. Miss Hibiki strides out, arms crossed, looking rather peeved.
Haruko devolves into incoherent babbling. Melony rushes down the stairs and flawlessly switches to her goody-two-shoes voice. “Ah! Hello there, Miss… Um…?”
“Hibiki.”
“Right! Ms. Hibiki. I’m Melony. I was just paying a good friend of mine a visit. We were playing a horror game, and things got a bit exciting~! Sorry about the noise.”
At this point, Pine felt like Haruko. Demons? Summoning circles? What the hell was she even talking about? Still, if it keeps Ms. Hibiki from putting him under house arrest for materializing a giant man-eating plant monster, he can’t really complain.
“That was an awful lot of yelling for a horror game.”
“Ah, it was a competitive horror game. Survivors have to coordinate as the killer hunts them down. Tensions get pretty high~.”
“...What is the name of this game?”
Melony answers without missing a beat. “Dead by Daylight.”
At this point Haruko is speechless and Pine just wants this to be over.
Ms. Hibiki nods sagely. “It sounds very interesting. Maybe I’ll try it out. In any case, it’s getting rather late. All three of you should make sure to be in your dorm rooms by curfew. Would you like me to escort you to the Obelisk girl’s dorms, Melony?”
“It’s alright, Ms. Hibiki, I know the way.”
“Alright.” She waves off Melony as she walks away before turning to the remaining Slifer Reds. “I’ll be checking up on you again for curfew. Until then, I’ll be in my room. And Pine?”
”Yes?”
“Get Kaison back here.”
”...”
Ms. Hibiki doesn’t wait for a response, closing the door to room 101 behind her.
Haruko looks paralyzed, looking to Pine for answers with desperation in her eyes.
Not knowing what else to do, Pine simply shrugs before walking off in search of Kaison. By the time he finds him, sitting out in front of the school, they’re both exhausted, and decide to just go back to their dorm and sleep it off. They ignore the mess caused by the Scapeghost barrage and pass out quickly after hitting their respective beds.
A few school days pass by. A dreadful rumor pops up about Pine and Haruko going out to visit each other at night. The rumor started fairly innocuous, but seems to grow more exaggerated and bizarre with each passing day. When Kaison and Helena inevitably ask, both of them deny it, and continue denying it whenever it comes up, but it's not like they could explain the events of that night clearly without starting even bigger rumors about themselves. The gossip started to become harder and harder to ignore as phrases like "satanic sex rituals" started flying around. Their superficial similarities as glasses-wearing misfits didn't help things either, and snide remarks started becoming commonplace. Eventually, Mr. Monoma himself confronted Pine after class one day, while Professor Fontaine just so happened to bump into Haruko elsewhere. Both meetings led nowhere, of course, and while they both claim to accept Pine and Haruko's denial, Mr. Monoma just so happens to decide that now would be a good time to teach his students about the perils of teenage pregnancy. Ms. Hibiki says nothing about the matter, though her checkups on all the Slifer Reds become more frequent.
If the pervasive gossip wasn't bad enough, Kaison has a do-over date with Melony elsewhere, which he, of course, tells Pine all about, and Haruko refuses to be seen talking to Pine at all.
Time passes, and all of the teachers begin warning students about being out after curfew. They say a strange figure has been seen wandering around the woods at night, though most of the students in the know assume it's a fabricated story to scare the students.
At least, until one night, when Helena finds herself woken up by a singular Scapeghost. She checks her PDA to see that it's 1 AM. She considers rolling over and going back to sleep, but the Scapeghost looks worried. Helena looks around, but it seems all the other Scapeghosts aren't here.
Chosen of the Celtic Guard appears, speaking up to provide clarity on the situation. "It seems to want you to follow Haruko."
What? "You mean Haruko's outside at 1 AM!?"
"Yes. She's been going out at this time quite regularly, though I've followed her before, and all she seems to be doing is decorating a random spot in the woods. Except for her goats, she does so completely alone, and she always comes back right after, so I didn't think it worth mentioning."
"You didn't think it was worth mentioning that my friend and roommate was breaking curfew every night to hang out in the woods? Where she could be attacked at any time by who knows whom?"
"Well, when you put it that way..."
Helena stood up, yawning and wiping the sleep from her eyes. "Come on, little goat. Show us where she went."
Using her PDA as a flashlight, Helena walked out into the woods. All things considered, is was quite a peaceful walk. Out here on an island, there were so many stars in the night sky, and the sounds of waves crashing against the shoreline was quite soothing. She was starting to see why Haruko liked being out here at night, and even felt silly for bringing her duel disk along until she came across the first of Haruko's 'decorations'.
Chosen of the Celtic Guard commented, "I'll never understand human aesthetics."
Helena shook her head, starting to feel some real worry. "These don't seem like decorations." Nailed onto the tree was a human-shaped effigy made of straw. Where did Haruko even get the straw to make this? "Why would you think they were?"
"Does this not resemble a human art piece customarily hung upon walls?"
"Not any I’ve seen."
"Oh. Hmm..."
As they were discussing the purpose of the effigy, they heard a knocking sound coming from further in the woods. It sounded like something being nailed to a tree. The Scapeghost bleats and heads off, and Helena decides they should hurry along.
They pass by a few more straw effigies nailed into trees until finally they catch Haruko in the act. She was wearing all white and what appears to be a candelabra in hat form, with lit candles and everything. Helena might be inclined to think she was a ghost if not for the Scapeghosts loitering about and her signature oversized glasses.
Haruko hears Helena arrive and lets out an aggravated groan. "What are you doing here? You've messed up everything! Now I have to start over from the beginning!" She sighs and begins trying to pull the nail out of her most recent effigy using the hammer she brought, though she seems to have trouble doing so.
"What uh... What are you doing here?"
Haruko gestures spastically to her entire wardrobe and the effigy still nailed to the tree. "What does it look like!?"
The words 'satanic sex ritual' floats into Helena's mind before she forcibly rejects the notion. "I'm not familiar with whatever this is, but those dolls represent someone, don't they?"
"Yeah, well, you being here represents all of it being nullified. Almost a week of trying to get a nail through these stupid rock-hard trees, all for nothing."
"I know you haven't wanted to talk to me about the rumors, but do they have something to do with this?"
She makes another frustrated grunt as her hand slips off the hammer and she almost falls over. The hammer clatters to the ground, and she takes off her candle hat, looking like she's about to throw it at the hammer before calming herself and setting it down. "Maybe they do, maybe they don't! What's it matter to you!?"
"Of course it matters to me! I've seen how unhappy you've been. I want you to know you can talk to me about it! Aren't we friends?"
"F-friends? Us?" Haruko seems genuinely shocked to hear this, but when she gathers herself, she seems more angry than happy. "W-what are you saying!? Since when were we friends!?" There's a slight quiver to her voice, but she continues, "I'm the stupid lunatic girl who tried to offer you a handful of salt when we first met! I couldn't make a human friend to save my life!" She's crying now, tears faling down from behind her glasses, but still, she continues her rant, tone full of anger and frustration. "I'm the weirdo who gets possessed by ghosts and terrorizes her friends until they all cry! I'm the freak who spends all of her time every day playing with a bunch of dead animals! At least you're haunted by an actual person! Someone you can talk to! ME? I FUCK UP MY RELATIONSHIPS WITH EVERYONE! EVERYTIME! I! HAVE! NO! FRIENDS!"
Just as her emotional tabulation reaches a climax, a huge pillar of light erupts from the woods behind her. The two girls both cover their eyes from the sheer brightness, and when they can finally see again, they find a veritable geyser of spirits rising up into the sky from above the treeline. Although its base can't be seen through the treeline, it's likely rather close by. The spirits are all a pale white, clumped together like a fountain of water, but both Haruko and Helena can make out their silhouettes as the lights begin to separate from each other before disappearing into the rapidly gathering storm clouds.
They're duel spirits. All of them.
Before they can think of what to do in this situation, a swarm of duel spirits arrive from the direction of the geyser, fully colored and extremely ornery. Chosen of the Celtic Guard jumps in front of Helena. "Get behind me!" He swings his sword rapidly, fighting off the stream of duel spirits as ghostly screams engulf them. Helena catches a glimpse of Oscillo Hero being bisected and closes her eyes as it lets out an otherworldly shriek.
Eventually the swarm subsides, and Chosen of the Celtic Guard tells Helena to open her eyes. When she does, she sees Chosen of the Celtic Guard still stanced up, ready for a fight, but rather than the direction the spirits came from, he's turned towards Haruko.
Haruko is on the ground, hunched over her Scapeghosts, using her body as a shield to protect them. Her clothes are still fine, and at first Helena thinks she made it out unharmed, but then she notices that Haruko is glowing. Several of the duel spirits from the swarm have stayed behind, and now encircle Haruko.
Helena calls out to her. "Haruko?"
She doesn't respond. Instead, she lifts up off the ground, righting herself in the air, and spreads her arms wide as she opens her eyes- completely white. She's gone from glowing to having a visible spiritual aura, and her twin pigtails gently flutter behind her, unbeholden to gravity.
When she speaks, several different voices sound out at once, to the point where it's hard to distinguish them all. A chill zips up and down Helena's spine. "Foolish humans. What calamity has thou wrought?" At the same time, all of the duel spirits gathered around her turn to face Helena. Haruko's Scapeghosts, surrounded, huddle together, quivering in fear.
Cassandra, Mina, Valerie, and Pine As soon as the geyser erupts, they feel it. It hits them like a shockwave in a way they can only describe as a 'disturbance in the force.' All of them wake up as if from a nightmare, and if any of them look outside, they'd see the night sky devoid of stars as a thick storm swallows the sky. Despite the clouds of gray and black, not a single drop of rain falls, and the light from the geyser of spirits is even bright enough to leak in through the windows like something out of an alien abduction film.
Their respective duel spirits have no idea what's going on, and while they caution their partners that the spirit geyser appears highly dangerous, that much was already plain to see.
Roché and Rin, spiritually inept, sleep through the shockwave peacefully, as if nothing happened. Lexa keeps her connecting door closed at nights, and thus, by all appearances, seems to remain asleep.
Kaison is stirred awake by it, but sees no lights through their window. Should Pine decide to go out and investigate the giant glowing pillar of spirits, Kaison will join him.
Leo and Renho As the geyser erupts, they are both stirred awake. Although Donte remains sleeping like the dead, Sina is also woken up, and regardless of Renho's decision, decides to investigate. Although none of them can see the geyser outside, five students waking up at once is enough commotion for Leo to hear from within his room. Slifer Red dorm rooms have rather thin walls, after all. Their doors also lack locks, and thus Sina begins her investigation by checking the room next to hers, room 102, only to find that Helena and Haruko are missing. Naturally, she decides to form a search party. If Pine doesn't lead the way, she will.
Alaric and Flynn Alaric and Flynn are both woken up by Miles, who somehow manages to trip and slam into the left wall of room 102 while gathering his things in the dark. Flynn, sleeping in the bed against the right wall in the adjacent room 104, is jolted awake, though Chris, on the opposite end, manages to stay asleep through it. Miles is particularly cagey about where he's going, but Alaric notices that he's bringing his duel disk with him. He leaves in a big damn hurry, though the other four Ra Yellows leaving their dorm rooms at around the same time is also rather suspicious by itself...
KC ADI-MK I Kaycee suddenly hears a door opening and closing outside of her room, along with footsteps headed towards the stairs and elevator. It's rather strange to be hearing such a sound at 1 in the morning, though it only gets stranger when she hears the same series of sounds from another room. She had heard the school's warnings about elicit relations, though perhaps a bit of rebellion is normal for humans? If at least two girls were leaving the dorms at a similar time, the implication was that there was some sort of event happening, like a party, rather than just a pair of elicit meetings. If the two girls were just meeting each other, then there wouldn't be any need to leave the dorms.
She heard one student take the stairs and the other take the elevator. It’s not too late to follow either of them. Perhaps this situation merits further study?
Noctis
Carlyle
Fetzen
Lewascan2
LuckyBlackCat
Crimson Flame
koi
