Hours later, when the sun fell from the sky and the moon replaced it, dusk replacing day, Yarden found himself sitting at the docks that would lead towards the Obelisk Blue girls dorm.
He'd made sure to come out here once he'd saw Syrus leaving the dorms behind. It was maybe a bit creepy of him, but if he wanted the attention of Alexis and the other girls around, intruding on the first duel against her after they caught Syrus would be the best time to do it.
Plus, as cold as it was, and this body definitely wasn't as used to the mild cold as his old one was, it did give him some peace and quiet to come to terms with his situation.
He'd panicked earlier about not having any cards and about all the crap that would hit the island he was on in the next couple of years, and now realised how incredibly silly he was, he had so much time to prepare at this point it wasn't even worth being a major worry right now.
Not to mention. He was in another world now, in a different body, one not his own, one belonging to someone he'd previously believed to be fictional. He didn't really want to think on it too much, because he'd left everything behind, his family, his possessions, his life. But it was daunting nonetheless, and he was very sure that this wasn't some fever dream.
He really had no other choice but to throw himself right in at this point. He had no idea where to even start on returning home, and in the end, he might not want to considering the possible options open to him here. But regardless, to make a life for himself here in the meantime, he'd need to abuse his knowledge of the world and take every advantage he could get, with ruthless efficiency.
At least if he focused on gaining as much as he could, he wouldn't need to focus on what he'd lost coming here
'Are you done wallowing?' the voice of Petit Dragon asked within his mind.
'It's not nice to eavesdrop you know,' Yarden replied back with a roll of his eyes, 'But yes, I'm done being a little bitch, I'm just passing the time now for Jaden to come along.' and it shouldn't be that long until then, Syrus had already rowed off in a boat twenty minutes ago.
'Good, then if you have nothing else to do, I'll let you know that the bonding is complete,' the small dragon told him, 'You should bond with Decoy Dragon now.'
That was quick. 'I thought you guys told me that it would take a while for my souls power to grow accustomed to housing you.' Yarden replied.
'And I told you earlier, I'm a fairly weak monster,' Petit Dragon replied with a huff, 'You may see a very minor increase to your physical ability and senses, but other than that nothing much. Because I'm weak, it didn't take long at all for your soul to grow accustomed to the bond with me. Decoy Dragon should be enough to boost your soul to a strength needed to bond with a stronger monster like Fairy Dragon or Baby Dragon, then you can bond fully with the rest of the other low levelled spirits you picked up today.'
Well, fair enough Yarden guessed. Petit Dragon would know better than he did. "Alright," he agreed. Reaching into his deck box, Yarden lifted his deck out and flicked through his cards until he found the one he was looking for. Decoy Dragon. "You ready?" he asked the card.
The card shimmered, and a moment later, Decoy Dragons translucent for appeared in front of him. The tiny turquoise blue dragon, little bigger than his hand looked up at him shyly, "..Okay." he squeaked. And before Yarden could say anything else, the little dragon turned into a ball of light and entered his chest.
He shuddered a bit as a warm energy flowed through his veins, but he shook it off. It wasn't unpleasant at all. And he was quite happy with how things were progressing. Weak or not, that was the second bond he'd formed today with his new monsters. He was well on his way to gaining the power he sought!
"I have returned master." the silky voice of Serpent Night Dragon suddenly spoke up from behind him.
Yelping in fright at the voice coming out of nowhere, Yarden jumped up from where he was sitting, whirling around fists up in preparation to attack. Only to find his boss monster looking at him with a dry expression, "Really now?" the graceful, serpentine dragon huffed, rolling his eyes, "The master of one such as I should not be so skittish."
Yarden huffed, lowering his fists and pressing one hand to his frantically beating heart, "Yeah yeah," he growled at the dragon monster spirit, "So? Was my hunch right? did he toss any of his cards?"
Serpent Night Dragon eyed him drily for a few more moments before sighing and narrowing his head, "..Indeed you were right," the spirit responded. He lifted his tail and brought it around and Yarden noted there was a card held with his tail coiled gently around it in the air, "Only the one though."
He deposited the card into Yarden's hand, and he couldn't help but grin as he saw the card looking back at him.
Curse of Dragon - Level5/Dark/Dragon - 2000/1500
"Perfect, this will go well with this deck." he noted in satisfaction, placing it in his deck box along with the rest of his deck.
"If you say so master," Serpent Night Dragon bowed his head slightly, "Now, I believe I shall take the time to have a little rest and meet the newest spirit you have obtained." with that parting farewell, the dragon shimmered out of view and returned to his card.
Just in time for the rhythm of rapid footfalls to enter, followed by the sounds of loud, large breaths of exertion.
Yarden looked over to the path that led through the tree line towards the Slifer dorms, just in time for a familiar kuribo haired individual to bust out of the tree line running towards where he was now, the docks.
Jaden Yuki. Despite himself, Yarden could barely contain the excitement of seeing one of his favourite characters in the Yugioh franchise in the flesh.
Jaden slowed to a stop as he caught sight of Yarden. "Hey dude, what are you doing out here?" the brown haired teen asked, eyebrows narrowing a bit.
Yarden resisted the urge to blink, that seemed completely out of character for Jaden. It took him a moment to remember just why he was out there, and remembering that Alexis sent him an audio clip, masking her voice and blackmailing him with Syrus' safety as a selling point to make him turn up for a duel.
Not letting anything show on his face, Yarden raised an eyebrow at him, "I was sitting out here enjoying the view," he lied blatantly with a shrug, "What are you doing out here though? And rushing this way so fast? The only thing in this direction is the girls dorm."
Jaden tensed up, and Yarden could see the indecision on his face. The second generation protagonist was a very open person early on before Yubel came back, he wore his heart on his sleeve. "Is something wrong?" Yarden asked, faking some worry into his voice.
It was a dick move, and made him feel bad for manipulating a guy like Jaden. Because this wasn't fiction anymore for him, this boy in front of him was a real person. But, this was his life now. To gain a good life here, one he desired, a few white lies and manipulations were necessary.
..He'd make it up to Jaden and co later when he made sure they got through things easier later on.
Shoulder slumping, Jaden sighed in defeat, "..My buddy Syrus got caught trespassing at the girls dorm apparently," he admitted reluctantly, "I got a call telling me to come meet them or he's gonna get expelled."
"..Shit!" Yarden cursed. "Is someone targeting us Slifer's?" he asked, continuing the ruse.
"Dunno dude, but I really need to get a move on." Jaden shrugged. Now that he had apparently confirmed Yarden wasn't a part of things, he was eager to get a move on. The kuriboh-haired teen walked over and passed Yarden, stepping down the dock and jumping into one of the row boats floating in the water.
Now was his chance. And Yarden was going to take it with arms wide open. Turning, he walked down behind Jaden and jumped into the boat beside him. "What are you doing?" Jaden asked.
Yarden clenched his hand into a fist and held it up with a grin, "I'm your back up in case this is some plot by some Obelisk's to jump you," he responded, "If it is, I'll kick their asses."
Jaden snorted, "Well glad to have you watching my back pal," he responded. He sat down and began to row the oars, "Grab a seat to make sure you don't fall into the water."
Following his advice, Yarden sat down on one of the benches in the boat, "Let's do this mate." he grinned, clapping Jaden on the shoulder.