Fubuki stretched as she woke up, glancing to her side as she did so. She was still there.

The Nekroz of Gungnir. It wasn't a lie in the first place. The monster was sleeping there, leaning against the wall like a bodyguard would. The armor made of the original Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier glistened in the light of the room, even though the Sun was only beginning to rise. They even got that down, huh?

As Fubuki silently moved from her bed and changed her clothes, the monster slowly woke up and, as if recognizing a major error, bowed in apology. Fubuki waved it off; after all, it wouldn't do to have someone feel so subordinate to her. It felt too strange for her to go along with. Changing into her regular outfit from the clothes she slept in, Fubuki and Gungnir quickly walked to the dining hall. Luckily, not many people were awake, so she was free to eat her meal in silence. Eggs, rice, and soy sauce. Simple, but she didn't want to look too greedy shoving her face with all of this heavy American cuisine.

More and more people showed up as time went on. Fubuki went largely ignored, and instead spent most of her time building a different deck. There was probably a different deck that might work better for her when she wasn't using Nekroz, but figuring that out was proving to be... Troublesome.

Then the Khan's announcement came. Well, it didn't matter much- she was already there, doing her own thing off to the side. When he arrived and came on stage, her expression changed to one of slight distaste. So she'd have to work with [i]him[/i]...

Well, at least she had the ability to converse freely with Gungnir now. Fubuki turned to the monster, who seemed like she just had a giant load taken off her shoulders, before speaking.

"Given your history in the Duel Terminal lore... Is it alright if I just call you 'Emi' for now?" she asked, not wanting to have to call her 'Gungnir' or some variation thereof all the time. The monster replied with a bitter smile.

"I haven't heard that name in ages... It's fine. Do you need help finding your partner?" Emi asked earnestly, to which Fubuki shook her head no.

"I've found him already. He gives off this unmistakable sense of uneasiness, even with all of these people here." she sighed. "By the way, do you know who Misaki Motorei is?"

Emi was silent for a few seconds before responding.

"Your mother. She was responsible for the development of the M-Tree, wasn't she?"

So she knew. It had taken her ages to find that information out, but this hologram knew. There was definitely something afoot. But that could wait- for now, she had to continue along for the tournament. Walking over to Jack and Lily as they were about to leave, Fubuki casually grabbed Jack's shoulder.

"You're not going to research on your own, right?" she asked slowly, a sharp edge to her voice.

[h1][/h1]
Joseph yawned as he work up. His room was still dark, only illuminated by the presence of Constellarknight Diamond. Well, he had closed the shades and whatnot, so waking up to that would probably be expected. Hopping out of bed, Joseph cracked his shoulders and looked confidently at Diamond.

"Hey. Know what time it is?" he asked casually before beginning to change.

"...10 AM." the monster responded. Joseph's eyes widened in shock. 10? His parents would kill him if he ever slept in that late, even on a weekend. No, ESPECIALLY on a weekend. Scrambling to finish changing clothes, Joseph remembered a few seconds later that he was in Regno Ricco for a tournament. Right. His fear was definitely unneeded.

"Any news from our host?"

"Meeting in the banquet hall for brunch. Attendance highly recommended."

Well, it's not like he wasn't planning to head there anyhow. Opening the shades and taking in the late morning sunlight, Joseph grabbed his Duel Disk and deck and followed Diamond to the hall.


When they arrived, the place was already bustling. Choosing to grab a bowl of chowder and a small panini for his meal, Joseph took a seat. Almost as if on cue, the Khan burst in with his usual grandeur and announced the day's events. A Tag Duel? With Kenta? Huh. This was interesting. Noticing Kenta excitedly searching around (probably for him), Joseph waved to the boy and his monster as he continued eating. Today was gonna be fun.