Time to Duel!

'Thoughts' 

'Sign language'

"Speech"

Grabbing his deck, Jack steadied himself as the platform lowered. Reaching the floor, Jack was surprised to see Annie right in front of him.

"Where did you get such a heroic-looking card!?"

"Did you jump off the platform?" She nodded.

"You're quite slow."

"-Sigh- You shouldn't copy Crimson and jump off moving platforms." She rolled her eyes. 

"Nonsense if a HERO can jump off several-story buildings then I can survive a 2-meter fall. Also, don't try to change the subject!" Jack chuckled as he slung his bag over his shoulder. "I'll tell you over some dinner." Arriving at the Gathering Hall, Jack ordered some rice and stew while Annie ordered a foot-long BLT. As they waited Jack handed Apex of the Night and New Dawn to Annie who gawked at them. 

"When did you get these? I don't remember you having them last week when we browsed through your collection." Annie said while handing the cards back. 

"You how the Trade Center was having a sale on Wild Packs for the last couple of weeks?" He answered as he put the cards back into his deck. 

"Yeah," she nodded while taking a bite of her BLT.

"Well let's just say that they couldn't sell enough before the new cards are scheduled to be released so they decided just to buy the leftovers and sell the singles."

"Really?! When will they sell them?"

"The cards they pulled will be available in about a week. Though they should be available on their website by tomorrow."

"Let me guess they allowed you to buy cards early because you were the only one who bought Wild Packs," Annie said with a snicker, while Jack rolled his eyes at her comment.

"I wasn't the only one, I just happened to buy the majority." Annie laughed a bit louder. "Either way, you're right that they allowed me to look at the cards they had pulled from the Wild Packs two days ago. Despite their sheer variety of cards, it took a while for me to find anything that interesting." 

"Gasp! Is the Garbage Collocter finally realizing why no one wants to open Wild Packs?"

"Heh, not a chance. It's just that I already had multiple copies of almost every card available and didn't see the need to buy more."

"Why am I not surprised." Annie sighed while taking another bite of her sandwich. "So what else did you get?" 

"Hmm, I think it would be easier for you to come to my room so I can just show you them, and while you're there I can show you the other things I got."

"Other things?" Annie tilted her head as she thought about what it could be. After a few moments of thinking, her eyes widened as she realized the only this it could be. "They allowed you to buy the new Packs early didn't they?!" She yelled while standing up.

"Shhh. Don't yell you are disturbing others." 

"Sorry," Annie murmurs while sitting back down. Finishing up their dinner, Annie ran straight to Jack's room. Only for her to realize that her Duel Watch can't open the doors to the boy's dorm, resulting in her having to wait for Jack to catch up. Arriving at the dorms, Jack let Annie in and the both of them headed to his room. Though along the way Jack couldn't help but wonder why some of the other boys were grinning at him while occasionally giving him a thumbs up.

Entering his dorm room Jack went straight to his bedroom while Annie waited in the dining room. A few moments later Jack came out of his bedroom wearing comfier clothes and two booster boxes in hand. "15 HERO packs, 15 EVO, 10 Premium, 5 Fusion Support, and 5 Wild." Jack counted as he laid the packs on the table.

"HERO? You bought me some too?!"

"Yup." With an excited squeal, Annie gave Jack a tight hug.

"Thank up! I'll pay you back later." Calming down Annie looked over the packs once more. "Premium? I never heard of that Pack before."

"It's a new product that is like Wild Packs but only contains new cards." Annie tilted her head as she thought about what she just learned.

"Doesn't sound as exciting as the name suggested." Jack shrugged.

"Well for traders they can be a gold mine, but to most, they're just more expensive Wild Packs."

"Speaking of new cards, would you be able to use them for Deuls?" Jack shook his head.

"Not until they are officially released in two days." Jack looked over the assortment of Packs. "Well what are we waiting for, let's open these up."

"YEA!" With an excited grin, Annie went straight to opening the new HERO packs while Jack calmly opened the Premium Packs. Reading the cards he pulled Jack would occasionally hear squeal in excitement as she opened packs.  After half an hour Jack opened every EVO, Premium and Wild packs while Annie opened the HERO and Fusion Support Packs. With a satisfied sigh, the duo looked over their new cards. 

"Pulled anything interesting?"

"I did! Look at this!" Annie handed the card to Jack, while he handed her one of his own. "Maxx "C"? What does the C stand for?" Jack shrugged as he read over the card Annie handed over. 

'Mask Change? Hmm, no wonder Annie got so excited, she always loves it when they make more HERO cards. However, I wonder what makes these different from Vision, Neo or Elemental HERO cards?' 

"Hey did you pull anything interesting from the Priumim Packs?" 

"Hmm not really, well I did get this." Jack held up a card for Annie to see, who in return gave him a confused glance as she read it.

"Exxod, Master of The Guard? Am I missing something? Because I can't see why you'll think this is interesting. Like even for you this card's effect seems way too specific to find any use."

"Do you remember Dante?" Confused by the sudden question, Annie just nodded. "Well, it reminds me of the card he wanted."

"Oh yeah! What was it he wanted again? Fire Hand or something?"

"No, he wanted the Left Leg of the Forbidden One I had."

"I remember it now! Though back then I didn't recall any Forbidden One archetype. Did they print any since then?" Jack frowned as he shook his head. "Then why does this remind you of it?"

"I'm not sure." Annie just shrugged her shoulders and gave Jack a wide grin.

"Well, the card doesn't look like they are related so let's just forget about it and look at the other cards we got!" Chuckling a little he placed the card down. With his worry easing away, the duo spent the next hour and a half together looking at the new cards they got. The two Duelists would have spent longer looking at the cards, but Annie had to get back to the girl dorms before it got too dark. Remembering what his mother taught him, Jack walked Annie back to the girl's dorm. 

"Thank you again for the card! And I'll transfer you the Credits tomorrow." Annie gave Jack one last hug before entering the dorms with a satisfied smile. Once he saw that she was inside, Jack turned around and started walking back to his own dorms. As he walked he thought about the new cards he got and all the new strategies he could use once they were officially realized. 

"I better look over the new cards released, the online list should be updated by now." Jack groaned as he remembered that they released over a hundred new cards. "This is gonna be a long night." Jack let out a tired sigh. "Well, it's better than losing because of a new combo or interaction." Entering his dorm room, Jack started preparing some coffee for the night ahead of him.