Griffin Talon

"Why does that matter? Even if I'm doomed to failure, it's not going to stop me from trying. It won't stop me from doing what's right. That's the kind of person I am."

### Status

Alive

Griffin is a side character for the most part in the Rumble series, though takes a leading role in most of Seaside Ride 1. Probably known best around Uminari City for "being Azure Talon's older brother", he works odd jobs in the city while playing, for the most part, games not called 'Duel Monsters'.

## Personality

Griffin is the sort not to do something unless he truly believes he can excel at it.  If he finds he has no talent for something, he'll probably just drop it and move on to something else. He also can be honest to a fault, and much prefers straightforward solutions to problem. He grew very close to Odyssey while learning Vanguard, but after she was kidnapped and mentally broken by Charna, he finally moved past those emotions, and ended up in the arms (and bed) of Machen.. and eventually Lavender.

## Biography

### Backstory

Grew up spending a lot of time with his childhood friend, Kendar Rdan. Wasn't entirely pleased when Kendar began dating his little sister, but it wasn't entirely his place to say, right? It turned out to be as bad as Griffin thought it might be, considering Kendar broke up with Azure due to her unfortunate habit of beating him regularly in Duel Monsters, and Kendar couldn't stand 'losing to a girl'. This not only strained Griffin's relationship with his sister (as he refused to verbally take sides), it also strained things with Kendar because he really didn't like what Kendar had done.

### Seaside Ride 1

Griffin was among the first regulars seen in Card Capital, spending time in the introduction with Mary and Iris in the aftermath of their card fight, and spending time with Lavender, Odd, Taiyou, and meeting the Link Joker playing Machen as well. He started off using Seal Dragons, but quickly set them aside to find a deck that spoke to him more. Following the cue of his favorite Duel Monsters deck, he picked a Narukami deck featuring Dragonic Vanquisher - like his most recent deck in Duel Monsters, a Synchro-based ABC deck it used multiple techniques to banish the opponent's cards (or in Vanguard's jargon, binding them).

His first encounter with anything unusual came when he met a little girl, lost and alone on the street. She called herself Charna, and was seeking out someone named Lucille. Naturally, Griffin didn't know any Lucille, but offered to help Charna anyway. After finding out she played Vanguard, Griffin offered to take her to Card Capital to maybe find Lucille, but Charna began walking off on her own distractedly, and quickly began approaching a portal of glowing light. Fearing for the girl's safety, Griffin followed her across. Where... well, when really... Griffin found himself was in a terrifying place. A ruined Uminari City, with Loptr coiled through the city was what Charna referred to as "Home". The oversized serpent she simply referred to as "God", as Griffin continued to follow Charna through the city, watching in horror as construction was being done by what Charna referred to as the Devourer's "Leftovers". Before she entered what used to be the KC/I2 building, however, she sent Griffin back - he didn't belong there, and she returned him to when he came. Worse, once he got back and started mindlessly explaining what he had seen while seemingly passed out on the side of the road to Lavender, she had him look at the sky outside, where he could now see Loptr above (after the dysjunction at the end of Seaside Rumble 1), as well as learning that Lavender was a Lesser Ba'al.

He made an alliance with Odd and Taiyou to try to form "Team Rising Stars" for the upcoming Vanguard 3v3 tournament planned in Uminari City, while also learning from Jas that his sister, Azure, had become somewhat famous in the Duel Academy before the midterms and break, even defeating the famous Vanguard and Duel Monsters former champion, Suenami Midori (surprising him quite a bit). He also discovered after pressing Jas further after Jas had offhandedly mentioned Ec Tisia that Azure and the Academy was involved with the Ba'al he had been learning about from Lavender since his trip to the future.

When Charna re-appeared, he learned more of her goals given to her by Lucille, specifically the gathering of "Seeds", as well as learning that it was both genetic and that he was one. On learning that Griffin wasn't going to cooperate with her, she displaced them both from the flow of time, challenging him to a cardfight that Griffin won, causing Charna to leave this timeline once again. Of course, he was unaware when immediately after when he was walking with Odd, that she had also got pulled out of time by Lucille and Rii, putting a condition on her as well so that Griffin couldn't 'contaminate' her.

After yet another instance of displacement, Griffin and Odd both made a summons, and found themselves facing Ec Tisia, the Sovereign of the Ba'al; in Ec Tisia's domain they could actually explain what had been occurring, without the risk of Odd being pulled out of time to find out. They also then discovered more of what Seeds were, and how they were bound to be attracted to one another. Griffin also learned the amusing story of Ec Tisia's knowledge of Azure, mentioning that she was a seed of particular strength and that "*Most would have broken under the strain of the soul she's endured."* He was also a bit surprised when Ec Tisia casually mentioned she had settled with another Seed, as they tended to do, however *"I am unclear on her intentions, as it is not as though she can produce what you have called a 'flower' with her."*

He encountered Azure the next day, and remembering what he had learned started gently trying to figure out how involved she truly was - casually mentioning things like "eye in the sky" to try to see a reaction; Odd continued on with a snake reference. Of course, she gave him what he feared, reacting exactly like he would in the circumstance, showing him just how involved she was in this Ba'al mess. When Nao appeared, he was quite shocked how casually Azure announced her "prince and girlfriend". After some small talk between Odd and Griffin to Nao and Azure, Nao surprisingly asked Griffin outside to chat with him a bit; and verbally tore into him for bringing up the Ba'al situation around Azure, even subtly, after what Azure had gone through... which, of course, Griffin knew almost nothing about. Nao explained of Azure's time corrupted by Loptr's power, including how Azure had almost killed Celeste, and Griffin shared with Nao the information about the Flowers from the future as a way of warning her about their ability to pull people out of time.

After Charna and Lucille capture Odd, Charna returns to Griffin; this time, however, his resistance is insufficient, and he loses the fight with her, being dragged out of time himself, a prisoner of Charna. He's not there long, before he gets literally dragged back out by, of all people, Machen - the Link Joker Fighter he fought with his old Seal Dragons. She had saved him because she had changed her mind about Lucille's plans, he learned - she was a Flower as well, but unlike the ones who simply traveled back and forth between the timelines, she was sent farther back, and lived some time normally in this era. She was, essentially, the anchor that allowed the Flowers to travel back in time. She did offer him a quite simple solution to their flower problems, although it being Griffin, he refused to even consider such an approach - "Alternatively, you could kill me." He did however offer to form a team with her and potentially Lavender, and told Taiyou to go form another team; he assumed the worst in the tournament, and didn't want to risk his friend by him being around. Of course, this drove Taiyou right into the arms of Sol=Firle, so his plan once again backfired. He also ran into Azure again, who was pushing him further on trying to get him to open up about what was happening, prompting him to message Nao to try to get Nao to back Azure off.

He met with Kerath, Akahito, Jas and Namiko at Card Capital soon after while introducing Machen and Lavender to try to gather his new team, right around when Akahito and Namiko were getting the information that they were some of the Seeds (deduced based on Akahito's romantic draw to Azure, and the fact that they were siblings). He let them know about the Flower's likely involvement in the upcoming Vanguard tournament, and explained what happened to Odd and why he drove Taiyou away. He also convinced Lavender, for her own safety, to begin living in Machen's house with them.

The next day he ran into Isao at Card Capital, who let him know that Taiyou had gone missing. When Griffin prompted him to call, Isao got an out of service message, which confused Griffin until he was told that typically means you're in a High Ba'al's aura. To make a bad day worse, Delaga shows up shortly after, full of passive aggressive threats towards Griffin for a) being close to Odd, and b) having let her get disappeared. Griffin is vastly unimpressed by Delaga's verbal dance, and tries to just get him to say what he wants to say, and even starts things off by handing Delaga Odd's phone. After what felt to Griffin like forever, Delaga finally started asking questions, and Griffin described what happened, as well as showing him the goodbye note Odd had left in her bag for him. After that, they had a sort of uneasy truce, and left it at that.

He had a cardfight and made up with Azure a few days later, and then while having a discussion with Jas and Namiko (and Akahito on speakerphone) Loptr appeared before them, seeking information about the Flowers. After giving her the information she wants, Loptr still insists on a game before she goes, after finding Namiko's reactions to her appearance amusing - and unfortunately, Loptr comes out on top, defeating Namiko handily. Loptr vanishes with Namiko, right before the now-unsealed door opens to allow Akahito and Aoi in. Griffin says nothing, just sitting in shock as Akahito rages off into the street, Jas on his heels. Shaken by Loptr's raw power, he gives Nao a warning about her appearance there.

He was present when SaaZe, wearing Namiko's body, appeared in Card Capital - along with Celeste, Delaga, and Akahito. Celeste received a worm from SaaZe at that point, as an offer for information on Odd. Griffin refused, citing that information on his lost dear friend was not enough to give up Celeste, who was one of their aces in stemming SaaZe's potential for propagation - though SaaZe did offer for free that Odd was working for Loptr, not for Charna. This convinced Griffin that she was in fact broken (as Charna likes breaking her toys), and that in his mind she might as well be dead - whoever she still was, it wasn't who he had come to like so dearly. This resulted in his return to where he lived with Lavender and Machen, a brief rant about what had happened, before finally taking Machen up with her offer from the first day she saved him, and sleeping with her.

The next day, he was chatting with Delaga when there was a surprise visit from Nao - without her fanclub **or** Azure in tow. After getting confirmation from them (and Celeste via text) that it seems highly likely Loptr herself is joining the tournament, Nao left with the unenviable task of telling Azure she wasn't going to participate in the Vanguard Tournament.

During the Vanguard Tournament, he was second fighter for Team Paradox Busters (with Lavender and Machen) - however, with Lavender decking herself out against Mary and Griffin losing to Iris's 6th damage Heal, they were eliminated in the top 16, leaving him to watch in horror as the events of the rest of the tournament played out.

### Seaside Rumble 2

Azure and Griffin were both present (her giving him a tour of the school) when Lord dropped the news of zombies being sighted, and Azure and Akahito both explained what had happened with Kay and Talon's eye as well. After a whisper of "hurt" when Akahito blasted Jas in a duel (and caused damage), Azure got Akahito to stop the duel immediately while Griffin moved to intercept another victim of a Talon piece. He defeated the student with the kind of overkill Griffin was going to get famous for amongst the Raiders, and Akahito claimed another piece of Talon - her hand. Which had a creepy habit of moving around on its own.

Griffin was tasked by the Raiders with investigating his old friend, Kendar Rdan (despite Azure's whining about it). He brought Jas as an insurance policy and as extra set of eyes. Unfortunately, his meeting was cut short, and Jas found himself dueling NoNoN. When he lost to the Priestess, he was sent upwards into the stratosphere by her gravity manipulation powers, leaving Griffin once again having to spar (physically as well as verbally) with Delaga after someone Delaga cared about vanished in Griffin's company.

Griffin had the unfortunate honor to be in Akahito's presence when Akahito was pulled out of time by Neue Talon, who was attempting to kill Akahito. Again. Given Neue's appearance as "a miniature Azure" and looking towards Griffin when mentioning her 'mother and father' Griffin was relatively certain that the Flower was either his or Azure's offspring in the Bad End - he didn't guess that Neue was actually the offspring of them both, because that would never occur to him, though Akahito pieced it together and implied as much in the group chat after. He actually saw Neue not long after, when Akahito refused to trade himself for the broken Namiko, though the two didn't speak.

Griffin met with Aoi and Kerath (being hired by the latter to help the former) in order to save Ryuko as well as retrieve the rest of Talon's pieces from her - Griffin quipping that in a way, he was trying to help both of their little sisters. When they found Ryuko, XaaCi appeared as well, but Aoi intercepted the High Ba'al while Griffin engaged Ryuko. Given that they knew ahead of time that Ryuko/Gorgon was using Majespecters, Kerath had loaded Griffin's normal deck with counterpicks for the deck, and although Ryuko/Gorgon had access to Beast of Seven Heads it wasn't enough to play through Griffin's deck, and he quickly dispatched the Pseudo High Ba'al while Aoi distracted XaaCi.

He contacted Aoi again after Nao pointed him at her for where Azure might be, when she wasn't answering his texts. Initially, Aoi advised him to not worry her because Azure was still unconscious after reclaiming the rest of the Talon pieces, but when Azure continued to not wake, Aoi revised course, and had him contact Nao to meet them at Suenami HQ. He met Nao, Chyva (who he was *not* aware of) and Aoi there, and after a clue from a finally woken and delirious Azure, contacted Ec Tisia to inquire about who the "Quiet One" Azure had spoken to had meant, when she said there was someone who could help her. Finally, Ec Tisia answered, and when Midori interjected a plan was quickly established - Nao, Chyva, Griffin, and Midori would go to Greater Ba'al to facilitate the travel of the Wise One, for his attendant was The Martyr who could help relieve Azure of her pain - considering the Martyr is who Caritas got its power from.

After they returned, Griffin ran into Charna in the aftermath of learning that Akahito had been exploded (not quite literally) at the school after being pulled out of the time stream, and Charna admitted Lucille was the one responsible - it couldn't be helped if she fought full out, Charna told him. Intuiting that she's not visiting him aggressively or to try to make him feel better, he actually invited her out for some food, sharing some hot chocolate and pastries with her. She did offer the rather disconcerting news that Neue was looking for him, that the girl wanted to meet her parents - this worried Griffin, since he really didn't enjoy dealing with the Flowers in general, and with Azure planning on splitting from The Gorgon she would soon no longer have powers to defend herself - Akahito had mentioned Neue used Powers in Duel Monsters, on the other hand. He also did get the tidbit of information that Akahito was taken alive, as little as that could help them in this situation.

During the Season 2 finale, he joined up with Azure and Nao when they made their way to the Academy from the Maglev in the city. They were on their way to the main building when Charna appeared, along with a veritable army of Flowers. Most of them weren't the problem of the Talon siblings though, their difficulty was Neue who appeared before them to "save" them. First challenging Griffin with her Gladiator Beasts, she actually somewhat quickly surrendered, rather than risk taking the damage to herself with a Warrior Disk from Griffin's Gren Maju Da Eiza. Azure dueled her next, and though she was shakey her skills were still sharp, and the little huntress fell to her mother as well. Neue began throwing a High Ba'al powered tantrum, but Griffin actually gets through her fury, upon uttering the line she herself uses so frequently - "We won't lose to anything!" After hearing that, Neue just seems to drop, her energy spent. Griffin refuses to just leave her around, so takes her with them to the main building.

After Midori breaks Loptr with Aoi's help, Griffin finds himself in an unusual alliance with Serah and Delaga to duel against the former Devourer - with many of the rest of the Raiders unavailable for their fights earlier, the three of them take up Ec Tisia's warrior disks and do battle against the broken mess. Given this particular team, Griffin quips that "I guess this one is for Jas." Griffin's banishment strategy backfires for a bit, with Loptr sometimes able to restore life points when cards are banished, but thanks to Delaga destroying her hand with the Virus cards paired with his Darklords, they're able to maintain pressure. Delaga was eliminated from the 3v1, but thanks to them using Warrior disks only his soul was damaged, not his body. In the end, Loptr's Number 37: Spider Shark fell to a powerful blast from Griffin's Avatar, Gren Maju Da Eiza, winning the duel for humanity.

### Seaside Ride 2

Griffin didn't have any intention of actually playing Buddyfight when Vanguard and Duel Monsters' popularity dropped after the near end of the world, but then he had the unfortunate pointed out to him by Machen - "Well, if Azure's playing it, chances are something bad is going to happen with it." His first taste of a cardfight was first person, but not him playing as Neue pummeled Muse into the ground a couple times, playing with her core deck case from Griffin's back. The girl didn't appreciate Muse demanding a round 2 after being OTK'd, and appreciated it even less with Muse winning round 2, getting a third round and beating Muse into the ground once more, and Muse didn't get back up that time - meanwhile, Griffin and a newly arrived Azure calmed down their daughter. His own first fight was against his longtime friend Ken, and his core deck case took on the aspect of an Hourglass; as if Griffin needed a reminder that everything about his life in Uminari revolved around *time.*

## Abilities

Unlike his sister, Griffin never manifested any significant power, though he occasionally had tools beyond ordinary mortal equipment, such as one of Ec Tisia's Warrior Disks.

### Seed

Griffin is what is referred to as a "Seed" - a human on the cusp of the evolutionary leap that will manifest humans with a physical soul, like the Lesser Ba'al (although in the Bad-End Future, such humans were referred to as "Flowers"). One of the main characteristics of Seeds is a kind of drawing in attraction to other Seeds - for Griffin, this was his instant attraction to Odyssey, though it was dampened significantly when he wrote her off as dead after a meeting with SaaZe.

## Decks

### Seaside Ride

In Vanguard, Griffin (after a disasterous fight using Seal Dragons) used a Narukami deck focusing on Dragonic Vanquisher, since it matched the playstyle he enjoyed from Duel Monsters. While playing Buddyfight, he followed the thunder theme of his Vanquisher, and ran a Thunder Emperor's Fangs deck using cards from many different worlds in harmony.

### Seaside Rumble

Griffin used two different decks in Duel Monsters - starting off with the sister-archtype to Azure's Electromagnets, a Synchro based ABC Dragon Buster deck, using the fact that the pieces triggered when used as Synchro Material to plus while summoning punishing banishing Synchros like Trishula. Once additional support came out (such as Pot of Desires and Golden Castle), Griffin reverted to a self banishing deck based on Gren Maju Da Eiza, and became known by the Raiders as a duelist who used Vanguard level attack power in Duel Monsters.