“It’s cliché, but it keeps them hidden I guess.” Besides, given the size of the building they were entering it kind of had to be an underground lair; if this operation was of the scale that they could produce and hold dozens of experimentally enhanced individuals then they weren’t all going to fit on the second floor or a pain clinic. “Still, seems like a waste of money to build all this when you could just buy a larger building.”
Kitsune began to descend the stairs, skipping two or three at a time as she hurried down multiple flights in pursuit of the lowest floor of this place. She’d made it maybe four or five floors down when the first bullet ricocheted off of the railing next to her hand, fired from somewhere below, and she pressed herself against the far wall to avoid the rest of the volley of shots. Below her, she heard heavy footfalls of booted thugs making their way up the stairs towards their location.
“Found the guards.”
She had yet to see any doors leading out of this stairwell, no way out other than further down or back up the way they came. Trying to outrun bullets up a flight of stairs didn’t seem like the best idea, but then neither did running towards the source of the bullets either; if Kitsune had to pick one however, then the option that gave her a chance to fight her way out seemed like the better choice.
Ducking down, Kitsune braced herself with the wall behind her back and waited until she could see shadows dancing on the opposite wall. Pushing off the wall, she flung herself over the railing and the open stairwell below, narrowly avoid another gunshot from below, and crashed knee first into a group of armed men.
Personality: Brash, aggressive, unmannered. Leo is the type who is quick to anger, quick to confront people he has a problem with, and to hold a long grudge afterwards. He is also the type to quickly latch on to people as friends, the type to go to bat for people and the type to be loyal. In other words, his first impression of you decides a lot about how he will interact with you from that point on and it takes a long time for him to change his mind about someone once he has had that first impression.
History: Leo is an orphan. Or at least, that’s what he says he is.
To be honest, he doesn’t know if his parents are still alive or not, nor does he know if he has any other family out there; all he knows is that when he was around ten his parents disappeared. He woke up one morning and he was alone, his parents were both gone, packing their belonging and taking everything with them except for him. He doesn’t know if they chose to leave him behind or just forgot about him, but ever since and that he has been living at the Verdant Sanctuary Orphanage ever since. So he is an orphan; whether he has parents or family out there or not. They chose to forget about him so he chooses to forget about them.
It’s better that way.
The orphanage he spent the rest of his childhood in wasn’t the most well-funded place; he and the other children living there didn’t have a lot, even compared to their old lives most of the time, but the people who ran the place were kind and caring and that counted for a lot. What little they had beyond the necessities mostly came from donations and that happened to include a number of Yu-Gi-Oh cards; a motley collection made up of donations, cards left behind by previous residents and cards that Leo and the other kids bought themselves. The kids would share all of the cards between them, mixing and matching them so that they could all play together. Leo was always the best among them and would always be the one to teach the younger and newer kids when they wanted to learn. Over the years Leo even managed to build up something resembling a proper deck, which he would use to duel people outside of the orphanage, either at school or just around town; sometimes betting against people to earn a little extra money or for some of their cards, his winnings always going straight to the other kids at the orphanage and his losses coming out of his own pocket.
Though he still attended school, he was never a very good student and knew that he didn’t have many prospects waiting for him when he graduated and when he was old enough that he would need to leave his home behind. For the most part, his plan was to try and get a job at the orphanage itself, both so that he would be able to stay and also so that he could pay back the people who had raised him and continue to look after the younger kids there, most of whom looked up to him as a sort of older brother. A part of him did also want to become a professional duellist, to out one of the few skills he had to work so that he could become famous and earn a bunch of money.
That was just a dream though. Not something that a person like him could hope for.
Until he heard about the duel academy and its entrance exams. Anyone could apply, anyone with the right skills could pass and anyone with the right drive to get that far could eventually use that school as a stepping stone towards greater things. Gathering his cards and packing his few other possessions, Leo set out from the orphanage with the duel academy in his sights.
Spirituality: They have a feel for the presence of spirits, but cannot see or hear them. The sensation they get is something more akin to animal instinct than true spirituality; like feeling eyes on the back of their head, or another presence in the room, or even a feeling of danger when their opponent’s spirit is particularly active.
Spells (16) 3x Polymerization 2x Miracle Fusion 3x Mask Change 1x Form Change 2x H – Heated Heart 2x R – Righteous Justice 1x Reinforcement of the Army 2x A Hero Lives
Extra Deck (14) 1x Elemental HERO Gaia 1x Elemental HERO Sunrise 1x Elemental HERO Nova Master 1x Elemental HERO Escuridao 1x Elemental HERO Absolute Zero 1x Elemental HERO Great Tornado 1x Elemental HERO The Shining 1x Masked HERO Blast 1x Masked HERO Dian 1x Masked HERO Anki 1x Masked HERO Divine Wind 1x Masked HERO Acid 1x Masked HERO Koga 1x Contrast HERO Chaos
Name: Cassandra Moore
Gender: ♀
Dorm: Obelisk Blue
Personality: Something of a loner, Cassandra likes to keep to herself most of the time and prefers peace and quiet to loud and excitement, but despite her gloomy and creepy appearance she is a surprisingly cheerful and friendly individual if given a chance. She has an affinity for things that are commonly viewed as creepy or disturbing; a friend to those which are mistreated or vilified. She is fascinated by insects and reptiles and snakes, thinks black cats are the cutest, rats are adorable and that haunted houses are quaint places to live.
When it comes to duelling Cassandra tends to be laid back, perhaps too much so. While talented, duelling is a passion for her but not an obsession and she does not have the killer instinct needed to become a top duellist.
History: The only daughter of a veterinarian and her assistant, Cassandra had a fairly easy and normal life growing up. She learned to care for and love animals at a young age, being around them so often, and in particular acquired a strong empathy for those creatures that seemed lonely or were rejected by others. In particular to felt herself drawn to lizards and reptiles, even adopting and caring for several that were left at the clinic her mother ran that were dropped off by people who found them. Her parents encouraged this, seeing it as something worth fostering in their daughter, even if it was a strange hobby for a young girl to have.
As a result, among her peers Cassandra was always viewed as a little… strange; whether it was her interests, her tastes, the way she dressed or whatever else, she found never quite fit in with others her age. She was the type to walk to the beat of her own drum and she was treated as a bit of an outcast as a result. This never seemed to bother her however, seeming content to be alone or even being oblivious to the way other people viewed her.
Cassandra first discovered duel monsters when she found some cards that the kids at her school had thrown away and picked them up because she liked the way they looked, even feeling a special connection to them. Every so often she would find more and more, until eventually she had enough to make a deck with them, which she took to school the next day to try and play with the other students. With her deck of abandoned cards she won every duel she played, but quickly found that people were reluctant to play with her again for some reason. Even so, her talent was noticed by her parents, who gave her the option of enrolling in a duel academy if she wanted. After some thought, she decided to take the entrance exam for Duel Academy.
Spirituality: Cassandra has always felt a sort of connection to her cards; from the moment she picked them up she knew there was something special about them, something that drew her towards them. It wasn’t until after her first duel however that she realised what that special thing was. Her cards have their own spirits, their own wills, sometimes even their own personalities; she treats them as such, talking to them, listening to them, being friends with them. Others cannot see what she can, or refuse to accept what she knows to be true and often view her as odd for it; well, odder than she already was.
@Ryik here's my guy. I still need to add pictures for every card in his decklist, I'll do that tomorrow, but for now here's the profile.
Name: Leo Wilde
Gender: ♂
Dorm: Slifer Red
Personality: Brash, aggressive, unmannered. Leo is the type who is quick to anger, quick to confront people he has a problem with, and to hold a long grudge afterwards. He is also the type to quickly latch on to people as friends, the type to go to bat for people and the type to be loyal. In other words, his first impression of you decides a lot about how he will interact with you from that point on and it takes a long time for him to change his mind about someone once he has had that first impression.
History: Leo is an orphan. Or at least, that’s what he says he is.
To be honest, he doesn’t know if his parents are still alive or not, nor does he know if he has any other family out there; all he knows is that when he was around ten his parents disappeared. He woke up one morning and he was alone, his parents were both gone, packing their belonging and taking everything with them except for him. He doesn’t know if they chose to leave him behind or just forgot about him, but ever since and that he has been living at the Verdant Sanctuary Orphanage ever since. So he is an orphan; whether he has parents or family out there or not. They chose to forget about him so he chooses to forget about them.
It’s better that way.
The orphanage he spent the rest of his childhood in wasn’t the most well-funded place; he and the other children living there didn’t have a lot, even compared to their old lives most of the time, but the people who ran the place were kind and caring and that counted for a lot. What little they had beyond the necessities mostly came from donations and that happened to include a number of Yu-Gi-Oh cards; a motley collection made up of donations, cards left behind by previous residents and cards that Leo and the other kids bought themselves. The kids would share all of the cards between them, mixing and matching them so that they could all play together. Leo was always the best among them and would always be the one to teach the younger and newer kids when they wanted to learn. Over the years Leo even managed to build up something resembling a proper deck, which he would use to duel people outside of the orphanage, either at school or just around town; sometimes betting against people to earn a little extra money or for some of their cards, his winnings always going straight to the other kids at the orphanage and his losses coming out of his own pocket.
Though he still attended school, he was never a very good student and knew that he didn’t have many prospects waiting for him when he graduated and when he was old enough that he would need to leave his home behind. For the most part, his plan was to try and get a job at the orphanage itself, both so that he would be able to stay and also so that he could pay back the people who had raised him and continue to look after the younger kids there, most of whom looked up to him as a sort of older brother. A part of him did also want to become a professional duellist, to out one of the few skills he had to work so that he could become famous and earn a bunch of money.
That was just a dream though. Not something that a person like him could hope for.
Until he heard about the duel academy and its entrance exams. Anyone could apply, anyone with the right skills could pass and anyone with the right drive to get that far could eventually use that school as a stepping stone towards greater things. Gathering his cards and packing his few other possessions, Leo set out from the orphanage with the duel academy in his sights.
Spirituality: They have a feel for the presence of spirits, but cannot see or hear them. The sensation they get is something more akin to animal instinct than true spirituality; like feeling eyes on the back of their head, or another presence in the room, or even a feeling of danger when their opponent’s spirit is particularly active.
Spirit Partner: N/A
Ace Card: Gladiator Beast Heraklinos
Waifu/Husbando: N/A
Deck(s):
Monsters (22) 3x Test Tiger 2x Elemental Hero Prisma 2x Laquari 2x Darius 2x Bestiari 2x Equeste 1x Hoplomus 1x Mumillo 1x Secutor 1x Retiari 1x Augustus 1x Spartacus 1x Sagitarii 1x Alexander 1x Samnite
I would prefer to go with a simulated but realistic approach to the duels as in 1A; real decks and randomised draws for most duels. But if we need a certain outcome for a narrative moment then we can have someone "heart of the cards" into exactly what they need and go for a scripted finish.
Rolling her shoulders to limber up, Kitsune followed Bouncer into the building. As she did she spared a glance for the now destroyed door, the metal surface crumpled by the impact and the hinges torn from the frame; the other girl could definitely hit a lot harder than she could, though the fact that she needed teleportation to get a run up probably meant it wasn’t as simple as just enhanced strength.
For all of the rabbit masked girls concerns about their entrance attracting attention there was nobody to greet them in the back hallways of the clinic. Any guards who might have been there had probably been called up to the front to deal with Joel’s distraction, leaving their path completely open. Even the gunfire seemed to have stopped, meaning the guy was either dead or he’d dealt with everyone sent his way.
Kitsune followed along after Bouncer, stopped to open doors and peer into each room she passed only to carry on when she found nothing of interest. This continued without interruption until she opened a door leading to a stairwell that led downwards. She stepped inside and peered over the railing to find that the stairwell went down a lot further than one would expect if the only place it led to was a basement; a lot further. Returning to the hallway, she called out to Bouncer to get her attention and nodded her head towards the door.
“Hey, this way. I think I found the way to this lab.”
It didn’t take long for the gunfire to start up. Evidently Joel wasn’t wasting any time in starting his ‘distraction’, meaning they had to find a way inside the building as soon as possible if they wanted to take advantage of it.
Kitsune agreed with Bouncer that their best option was to find some kind of back entrance to this place; a side door or a fire exit. If this place really was operating as a pain clinic as a front then they would need to make compromises on security in order to make it look like a normal building; or so she hoped. Leading the way towards the side of the building, Kitsune walking around the exterior in search of a door or, failing that, a sufficiently person-sized window they could climb through and let Bouncer do all of the talking. She listened with half an ear as the younger girl brought up strategy and while she could tell that Bouncer was trying to use as many buzzwords as she could fit, the plan itself was sound.
“Alright, fine. Let’s go with that.” If Bouncer was confident that she could take point and deal with most of the people inside, people with guns, Kitsune would let her. They still needed to find a way in though and as they turned another corner towards the back of the building, she finally spotted one; a metal door with a fire exit sign above the frame; one of the ones with a push bar on the inside that was wired up to an alarm that went off when it was opened. There was a handle on their side, but at Kitsune approached and tried it she found that it was locked. The door itself didn’t look too strong, made of flimsy and most likely hollow metal that she could dent easily enough, but since it opened outwards breaking it down would mean hitting it hard enough to rip the hinges off the wall.
Not something she could manage with her regular, non-superhuman strength.
“What can you do? Besides teleport. Can you break this down or teleport inside?”
As the gunfire finally ceased and the others returned, Morgana stepped out of the car provided by the OMR and met them halfway. She never did find out if the thing was bulletproof, which was by most measures a good thing, but she was confident that the additions she had made to her personal wards would have dealt with things had it not been. As for the ‘spell’ she had been working on…
“It’s done. Just step back and give me some room unless you want to be exorcised yourself.” Once the others had cleared room for her, the witch flicked a hand towards the ground and the magic circle that had been hovering above her fingers expanded and flew towards the pavement, growing and rotating a few degrees before settling down into a solid shape. “Hmm, the spirit is bigger than I expected. Shouldn’t be an issue though.”
Turning towards Madeleine and the giant wolf. Rather than capturing the creature, it seemed the pair had made friends with it somehow, the demoness in particular; she had been expecting an immobilised but still hostile spirit when she had created the circle and had designed it with containment and restraint in mind, rather than a willing participant. That too, was not an issue, but it might mean that the experience was a little more uncomfortable than it needed to be.
Too late to change things now however, not without starting from scratch, so the Roggenwolf would just have to put up with it. Turning her attention away from the circle and towards the spirit itself, Morgana found herself staring into eyes that were not exactly intelligent but were certainly aware; she wasn’t sure how to classify the sentience of such a creature or if it was even capable of understanding what she needed to explain to it, but all she could do was speak and hope it was listening. “Just to explain what it is I intend to do, our goal is to return you back to where you came from but because your being summoned to this world was rather… unconventional that is not an easy thing to do. We can attempt to do it by force, but this would be rather painful for all involved, so instead I would like you to make a covenant with me.”
She gestured towards the circle on the ground, faintly glowing and surely able to be sensed by anything with an innate magical ability. “If you step into that circle, you will be bound. It will not be gentle as I didn’t expect you to be cooperative when I designed it. Once bound, I will ask of you a service and you will agree; it will be minor, I have no need of anything from you but a bargain must be made for this to work. That will be the basis on our covenant and I will become your link to this world. Once the service has been rendered, I will dismiss you back to where you came from, as would be my right as your anchor.”
Morgana waited until she saw understanding in the beasts eyes, some sign that it grasped what she was saying. She wasn’t sure if it came, but she saw something in its gaze and took that as sign enough. “Does this sound agreeable to you?”
They were dealing with an organised clandestine group seemingly with a vast amount of resources that allowed them to kidnap experiment on and give superpowers and jetpacks to dozens of people that they knew of. They were approached by a man who gave no explanation - actually, scratch that – a very confusing and disjointed explanation of who he was, admitted that he was part of whatever experimentation these monsters were doing and expected them to just trust that he was not trying to lead them into a trap or was actually still working for these people in order to earn his freedom, same as every other person running around tonight.
No, really it was fine, just get in the back of the car with the stranger who said he died and came back to life twice and had a superhero girlfriend and let him take you to somewhere.
She still got in the fucking taxi though.
What other choice did she have at this point?
Kitsune was silent during the short trip to the pain clinic and it seemed like Joel wasn’t going to say anything either. It wasn’t until they arrived and stepped out the car that either of them said anything, with the stranger laying out a very basic plan of approach. She wasn’t entirely sold on the idea of letting this person out of her sight when he still might turn around and betray them, but she wasn’t sure going with him would end any better for her. All she could do is stick with Bouncer and hope that between them they could deal with whatever they ran in to.
The girl was sort of bulletproof after all. They could probably handle themselves.
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