Yugi eventually managed to… Well, not escape exactly, but at least narrow down his massive entourage to two. The still peppy and touchy-feely Dark Magician Girl and her asshole of a teacher, who kept smirking at his situation. "So we go through here?"
She bounced on her feet… Which was quite a sight to see. "Yep! There's normally a staff member waiting here to make sure you passed and stuff, but we told him you'd be fine long ago."
He couldn't help but smile at the confidence his Deck had in him… And then she squeezed him again! EEP!
The woman seemed slightly dejected. "I'm afraid however there are a few restrictions from here on… For example, to keep the castle from being too crowded? Only one Duel Monster can accompany their duelist at a time. And to avoid causing a bigger commotion, we are asked to stay away from the outside areas so that most people will just assume we are just cosplayers or something..."
The Dark Magician chuckled as he stood behind them, leaning on his staff. "Even with such restrictions, that is far too many people for my tastes! I shall stay behind and resume my research. Take my place, girl."
And the girl's eyes sparkled! "REALLY!? I get to stay with our Duelist!?" And he was pulled into another VERY warm and soft hug, feet leaving the ground. "HUZZAH! What a glorious day!"
Getting… Dizzy…
The older man huffed. "I consider it to be exposure therapy training for the young Pharaoh... If he can't even handle ONE young lady, I have no clue how he will be able to endure his harem in the future."
Please… Stop… Spinning…
The over enthusiastic girl spun to a stop, giving her master a bow which just pushed her assets even more firmly into the boy in her arms. "Leave it up to me, teacher! I am up for the challenge!"
Off balanced and in an odd position, Yugi honestly was a bit surprised he was this flexible. Apparently there WAS a point to gym class. Go figure.
And then he was standing again and the door was open and…
Focus. Settle.
Straightening his ruffled outfit, he tried to compose himself. "This way, yes?"
The sunny emotive girl nodded with a grin!
…And seemed dangerously close to cuddling him again. "Well, let's find Joey then. I'm a bit worried how his deck will treat him, considering he just went through a major redesign and upgrade session…"
And he was pulled back, as the Dark Magician Girl materialized a cloth and began cleaning his face. "Let me just… There, some of my lipstick left a mark. You're good to go, my Pharaoh!"
God he was blushing like an idiot. "Y… Yep! Let's go!"
~~~Pocket System~~~
Squish.
Squash.
Squish.
Squash.
Squish.
Squash.
"...Sure that he is this way? We've already passed a lot of people already."
Squish.
Squash.
"Yes Pharaoh! The [[Home]] has magically directed me towards… Oh dear."
Squish.
Squash.
"What? Is something wro… JOEY!?"
Squish. "Hey Yugi."
His friend rushed forward, but halted a few steps away. "What HAPPENED to you!?"
Joey shifted in place…
Squash.
Sigh. "I met the Red-Eyes Black Dragon in person."
He held forth his slime soaked arms to the side. "She licked me."
A cute girl in a cosplay outfit was standing a bit further back than his friend… Probably due to the powerful smell of sulfur that was soaked into this slime covering his body. "My Pharaoh, perhaps we could direct your friend to get a bit cleaned up?"
Oh god yes. "Please, that would be appreciated."
Even his friend looked thankful by the girl's interjection… Speaking of which. "By the way, that is an amazing costume. For the record."
And the girl puffed up her very impressive chest and grinned. "Thank you, I conjured most of it myself! And most of the time it stays stable enough that it doesn't magically collapse into potential energy during combat!"
Uh. Alright. "You mentioned something about a place I can get clean?" Dear everything righteous in the world, PLEASE have a place he could deslime himself!
She twirled her short staff thing and pointed to one side. "That way! My Pharaoh, let us lead the way!"
…Right, because he was leaving a horrible smelling goo behind his every step. "Sounds like a plan, then. Lead away, thank you."
~~~Pocket System~~~
The body of Hirutani exited the 'Corridor of Judgement', with its master Malicious Bane striding at its side. Both nodded at the agent standing by the exit. "My Duelist has passed my Judgment and is qualified to compete in this tournament."
The woman in sunglasses gave him a look… And then shifted her focus on the glassy eyed body next to him. Then back. "Do you agree to follow the rules, terms, and obligations mandated by this competition?"
Odd… She seemed able to see through his modifications. Perhaps he should…
The building itself loom̝̠̫͇̼͜͝ͅe̢͏̛̞̜̭̼̗̲̦͔̹̹͔̠͎ḏ̸̛̙̱̙̰͈͖̬̟̟̠̕ over his existence, ready to take action.
The air shivered.
Power stirred, and something fundamental was being threatened.
…Never mind then. "Yes, conditionally… I require a full listing of said requirements before I commit."
The woman nodded, ignoring the body at one side as she passed him documents. "Please take your time. I am able to answer any questions, or pass them along to those qualified to answer such if they are beyond my ability to handle."
How professional! Perhaps he wouldn't devour ALL of them after all this was done.
~~~Pocket System~~~
John winced. "Ouch… That's like what, the tenth person to be devoured so far? Sis isn't going to be thrilled about this."
Temptation shrugged. "Meh, their Souls were corrupted LONG before arriving here... Your Corridor of Judgement just makes the issues more obvious and less hidden than it normally would be."
Grace sighed, leaning against them both. "If anything, it allows the tormented souls of the Duelists a chance to move on instead of being trapped in a 'living' corpse. At least, for the ones who were subsumed by the Soul Fragments directly."
He frowned as he tapped through the visual feeds. "Yeah, there is a LOT of half possessions, harmonic dualities, and parietal reincarnation scenarios going on here… Can't we ban that somehow? It feels like cheating to have other people on your side of the Duel."
Temptation snorted. "For most of them it was an ability gained at or before birth, with no input of their own involved! Like incredible talent or inherited skills, that sort of thing is just part of the game in the end. All of it can be overcome by hard work or luck."
Like maybe… But it was still sort of messed up when a partially possessed baby could decide to wobble up to a dueling arena and babble 'It's time to duel!' with the mind and memories of a long dead ancestor.
Not that anything that extreme had HAPPENED yet, of course, but it theoretically COULD, and that was crazy. "I'm still going to list them both as part of a Duelist Team instead of marking only the host Body as the opponent. You should at least KNOW you are fighting more than one person, right?"
Grace looked hesitant. "Wouldn't that be a breach of privacy? I don't think they would like that…"
Temptation snorted. "Maybe, but the REAL issue is they can't cheat anymore. Or pretend to be someone else, or whatever. NO one likes giving up a secret cheat ability like that."
John hummed as he tapped the screen… "A compromise then. Each duelist will be treated as a team. They can pick their team name, but they MUST mark how many people are giving advice during the duel."
He waved at the groups that were eagerly conversing with their Duel Monster Partners. "That way their Duel Monsters OR their secret other selves can be tapped for insight during the duel without the details being made clear to anyone, but their opponent will STILL be aware that they aren't simply fighting a single powerful baby or something."
Temptation began snuggling into his frog cape, ignoring the video feeds. "Won't some of them just put down all their monsters as part of their team then?"
John couldn't help but chuckle. "Sure, if they want to argue with forty or so people about what card to play when half of them are biased towards one monster or another." In fact… "We should add a time out rule just to cover that too, so one Duel can't be held up for a month while a committee argues over every turn."
The mental image of someone taking three hours per turn was more than a little horrific, after all.
Grace hummed at the mess. "We need to focus on the welcome speech… I'm pretty sure that, despite the delays, the last of those attempting to register will finish their walks of judgment in the next fifteen minutes. Maybe a bit longer? Twenty minutes at most, give or take… Are you ready, my Lord?"
Oh yeah! "Get the smoke machine ready, then let me know when to go live!"
John adjusted his crown and sent off an update to his sister so she'd know it was almost time.
This was going to be so awesome!
~~~Pocket System~~~
Joey luxuriated in not being coated in slime. "It's incredible they had a duplicate of my outfit just ready to use like that…" And a bit disturbing. For one thing, his underwear felt MORE comfortable than it had before… Didn't it?
Yugi grinned, clearly relieved that his friend was no longer a horrific mess of smells and goo. "Apparently the Frog Emperor offers stuff like that as a free service, since some Duelists can have wardrobe malfunctions if their battles get a little rough."
Joey snorted. "Especially since our Duel Monsters can actually exist in the real world here…" Speaking of which. "Have I complained recently about me becoming a dragon's chew toy while YOU got glomped by attractive women?"
Though apparently Red-Eyes herself was a woman, one who had 'collected' Joey into her Hoard.
Not that he would be telling people that.
Yugi blushed as his Dark Magician Girl pulled him into a hug once more! "My Pharaoh is simply blessed by talent and fate… But thank you for the compliment, Joey. A girl likes to be appreciated!"
Then she winked, and Joey coughed and looked away. Lucky bastard. "I'm honestly surprised your Dark Magician isn't here… Did he not show up?"
Both the others sighed as Yugi slumped. "The Dark Magician is a bit… Well, he kind of enjoys seeing me flounder a little."
The magical woman nodded. "My teacher prefers research and mystical studies rather than politicking, social gatherings, or… Well, anything that ISN'T active combat and he tends to avoid it when possible. But that's okay! I'll just offer DOUBLE the support to my Pharaoh instead!"
Joey watched her squeeze an awkward squawk out of his friend…
Such a lucky bastard.
Yugi caught his balance again and coughed, trying to look as mature and calm as possible. "What about you, Joey? I mean, where is your Duel Monster? Aren't we allowed to bring one with us?"
He couldn't help but chuckle. "Oh, I did."
His shadow lengthened backwards into the dark, bright glowing red eyes smirking down at the suddenly still Dark Magician Girl and a VERY focused Yugi Muto.
And then she curled back up in his shadow, claiming him as her own once more. "She just doesn't feel like walking about in areas like this. A bit too small for her, really."
Something unseen huffed and poked his dark reflection while pouting… Geese, he wasn't calling her fat or anything! She was MASSIVE, a wall of teeth and scales and claws! A building of death and destruction and chaos, a raw force of nature!
…And now she was purring in that odd Shadowy place that was connected with the Concept of Joey Wheeler.
Great. "Anyway, Red-Eyes has basically dominated my deck now so they all just follow her lead." Speaking of which, she was nudging him due to his growing hunger. "Since you knew where the wash up room was, would you also know good places to grab something to eat? I admit I didn't have as large a breakfast as I usually would have."
Mostly due to nerves and lingering trauma from the LAST tournament he had participated in.
The Dark Magician Girl hummed. "We have time to get a snack, maybe, but then the Frog Emperor will be having the opening speech so we need to start wandering over in that direction."
She pointed towards one of the more crowded hallways. "The castle will alter the route to make things easier for everyone to get there in time, but we will have better seats if we head over early."
Sweet, they had a plan! And hopefully some snacks. "Any chance we can get some Takoyaki on the way? I mean, I'll take what I can get, but some fried octopus balls would really hit the spot."
Apparently a deadly dragon from beyond reality and reason loved seafood. Who knew?