Chapter Text
The room rang quiet. The hum of the solid vision died down as the action field disappeared leaving the duelists on the ground. Rushing in Yuya went to go check on his taller friend.
“Gongenzaka you alright? That was a pretty big blast.” He kneeled down trying to lift his friend's torso up from the floor. Gongenzaka opened his eyes in a wince as he looked to his friend with goggles.
“I-I’m sorry Yuya buddy, even trying my hardest. The most I could pull off was a draw.” The immovable duelist looked into his friends' eyes trying to hold back a look of utter disappointment in himself. Yuya chuckled lightly at seeing his friend's reaction.
“Are you kidding? That was amazing! A nail-biting duel to the very finish! You definitely showed up my duel. And hey you even learned to Synchro summon, where did that come from? You hiding something from us huh?” he said cheekily.
Gongenzaka was on the verge of manly tears as his friend comforted him. Meanwhile, Yaiba picked himself up from the floor. He heard an impatient voice call to him, Himaka beckoning him with a stern look on her face. Masumi and Hokuto had small smiles on their faces. Not as large mainly due to the fact that Himaka would likely lose the remainder of her patience at any jokes made at this moment.
------------------
The students reconvened in the waiting room. The smaller duelists were unsure of what was about to happen next. A voice over the PA system made its way into the room.
“Our agreement was that if you won 2 duels you would get the school. You only one duel, so please get out of our school and stay out of Yuya’s business.” Shuzo said much more demanding than anyone had ever heard him before.
Himaka’s eyes flared with indignant rage. The ferocity of her voice almost matched the noise of the PA system. “No, a winner has not been decided yet. You have not won twice either. There is no such thing as a draw in a matter of pride between schools.”
“But very clearly there was a draw. There are no more duelists to go through.” Shuzo retorted trying to convince the insatiable woman.
“Then we’ll have overtime. The winners of the two duels will win.” In response to her teachers words Masumi confidently stepped forward with a confident smirk.
Shuzo sighed to himself. ‘Geez this woman is relentless; she won’t back down until she gets her way...’
Yuya walked through his friends with his signature goggles on. He still had some light bruises but the cut on his cheek had stopped bleeding. The students looked in concern for what he was about to say.
“After that last match, I'm all fired up. Gongenzaka managed to last long enough that I'm feeling way more energetic than before, so sure. I’ll duel whoever comes my way.”
Yuzu looked down at her shoes desperately, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone. If she hadn’t lost then Yuya wouldn’t be in this situation at all...
A voice cut through the silence as Masumi was just about to speak.
“Actually, if it’s alright with you I'll be your opponent.”
A tall silver-haired teenager spoke. He was older than the rest of the students with silver hair and wearing a long red scarf which draped to his middle section, red glasses, blue shirt and white pants and shoes.
Yuya looked back to the voice at the door. Tension built again as he didn’t take off his goggles, which were hiding the fact he was trying to analyze this new challenger to the best of his ability.
“Ah Reiji. It’s good to see you.” Himaka smiled knowingly as she glanced at the CEO.
-------------------
“Yes Reiji, it’s me. I’m currently at Yusho Duel School. The first match is already underway and almost about to finish. We are most likely going to lose from the looks of it though.” A woman’s voice said through a phone. She could almost hear the cogs turning on the other side, thinking intently of the exact words to use.
In a clear and precise tone Reiji on the other end spoke back. “And of what you’ve seen how the prospect of him is looking.”
Himaka paused thinking about the boy’s demeanor. “Immature, he’s trying too hard to replicate his father. He has no clue about the true potential or identity of what he just did.”
A small ‘Hmph’ of acknowledgment came from the other side.
“I want to see for myself. If things turn out the way you are expecting, then try and bargain for one more match with him. I’ll be there by that time.”
Himaka’s eyes widened in shock. Her breath filling the empty hallway outside the viewing room. Reiji almost never directly made an appearance unless it was something he considered of utmost importance. Although she supposed that this was a very special occasion.
“Very well. We’ll discuss the full events after.”
The phone hung up with no room for any sign of conventional affection from either side.
--------------------
The young adult walked closer to the group; a strange sense of superiority radiated of him to the others. He looked down to the shorter duelists with a deadpan look on his face.
Yuya peered back locking eyes with the challenger. Yuya nodded at the previous proposition wordlessly beginning to walk into the room awaiting whatever opponent showed up.
‘Who is this guy? He seems strong... I hope everything will be alright... I just keep my game face on not to worry everyone. I have to win this duel no matter if it’s him or Masumi or whatever!’
Reiji looked to the rest of the challengers from LDS, Masumi had a look of intrigue and slight confusion. Hokuto and Yaiba not talking and standing upright in front of him, despite not knowing who he was they understood he had a certain level of power if Himaka knew him specifically.
Himaka nodded to her son with a smile on her face. ‘Thanks to Reiji, this school and the secrets of pendulum summon will be ours.’ Grateful she had such a reliable chairman leading them.
Reiji stepped past the Yusho students to enter the duel arena. They also understood that he must have been strong or at least believed it from the almost arrogant level of self-confidence he carried himself with.
Sora in particular looked interested in him as he walked by as he stopped licking his lollipop for a brief moment.
--------------
As both duelists took their place on the field Shuzo got a good look at the young man who had made a dramatic entrance to the battle between the schools. ‘Reiji Akaba...’ The burning man thought as recognition burst into his head.
Yuya looked up to the control room and gestured to the man with orange hair that he would trust him with choosing the field.
‘Is he that Reiji Akaba? From 3 years ago?! He stopped dueling around that time but before even making it to the junior youth championship he had become a pro duelist before stopping suddenly. It was right around the time Yusho-san went missing too... Either way even if it feels unfair for the good of the school, I need to pick a field that Yuya knows in and out...’
“YUYA THIS FIELD IS PERFECT FOR YOUR GRAND ENTERTAINMENT!!! KEEP BURNING! ACTION FIELD SPELL: ACROBATIC CIRCUS!”
The duelists were lifted up onto a stage as it along with the rest of the environment made up of floating balancing balls, running wheels and tightropes formed around creating several places that could only be reached with some level of acrobatic know-how.
“This is Yuya’s favorite field!” Ayu said happily aware of her older friend's interest in acrobatics and gymnastics. “Finally, Principle picked something that helps us.” Futoshi said cheerily happy that the curse of fields that they had disadvantages on had been broken.
Gongenzaka and Yuzu looked on with worry for their friend, but decided to cheer, nonetheless. “You got this Yuya!” “Show him what you have best buddy!”
Himaka stifled a snort of laughter at their cheers showing a clear sign of amusement on her face at the hope of the enemy. ‘This duel is already over.’
As the grand circus finished forming spotlights from the top beaming around the arena with the majority pointed at the center platform where the two duelists were standing. Yuya finally took of his goggles to look his opponent in the eye with nothing blocking his own.
“I hope that you can bring a good show for everyone! I’ll do my utter best to make sure that everyone has a great time, even you! That’s the Yusho style of dueling!” Yuya proudly declared his ideology to the crowd and his opponent. “That’s it Yuya! You’re really going to be burning!” Shuzo said to himself thankfully not talking into the microphone which spared everyone’s eardrums.
Reiji remained expressionless as he began to speak. His voice commanded a certain level of respect. “I’ve been informed of the previous duels, apparently, we’ve all taken the first turns so far, correct?” The silver haired duelist asked completely ignoring his opponent's affirmation.
“H-huh? Well yea that’s right.” Yuya confirmed confused at why his opponent was asking this question. “In that case you may take the first turn if you wish.”
Yuya gulped nervously, this guy was completely unresponsive to his words! Even people like Hokuto or Sawatari would at least have a reaction to his style of dueling, but this guy just kept trying to get to brass tax!
Yuya slowly readied his duel disk as Reiji did the same. Their duel disks fired up and their decks shuffled. The duel began.
---------------
Reiji V.S. Yuya
Yuya: LP; 4000 Hand; x 5
Reiji: LP; 4000 Hand; x 5
Yuya took a look at his opening hand and smiled, although a bit nervously. Regaining his composure he began to move.
“Here we go ladies and gents! The opening act will consist with our leading lady! I summon my Entermate Uni!” A blond woman with spiky hair and a horn of ivory peeking out at the center of its head. She was wearing a showgirl's outfit, a leotard with long flowing sides with a somewhat dubious jacket with a section cut out leaving a portion of its chest exposed.
Entermate Uni: Lvl; 4 Atk: 800 Def: 1500
Yuya knew what was about to come so before anything could happen, he continued as fast as he could to complete his turn. “Due to Entermate Unis effect I can special summon a level 4 or below Entermate monster from my hand! Appear to the stage Entermate Corn!”
In a flash as the former performer pulled at a large blanket in space next to it and quickly pulled it off to show the new monster. This time a woman with long flowing blue hair in several pigtail-like places and a horn on its forehead appeared. She was also wearing a showgirl's uniform with long leggings leading into almost horseshoes and a leotard with two diamond cut outs on its stomach and chest area.
Entermate Corn: Lvl; 3 Atk: 600 Def: 1000
As some of the boys were goggling at the monster’s Gongenzaka and Futoshi knew better. They had seen the reaction before and they too, like Yuya, braced for impact.
“ Yuyaaaa... ” the songstress duelist’s voice echoed throughout the school. Putting ice in the veins of several of the students (mainly the poor tomato-haired boy). Even Sora was caught off guard from the level of vitriol in her voice.
“WHAT THE HELL YOU JERK! YOU KNOW THERE ARE KID’S WATCHING SO WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! DON’T YOU DARE EVEN THINK ABOUT ENJOYIN’ YOURSELF LIKE THAT DURING A DUEL!!!” Despite not having a PA system her voice was almost as loud as Shuzo’s when she got worked up.
Yuya recognizing if nothing was done, he would most likely end up as a tombstone, he tried to continue on expeditiously. “Well- uh... Due to Entermate’s Corn’s effect! By swapping 2 of my Entermate monsters from attack position to defense position I can add one pendulum monster from my deck to my hand! I add Odd-Eyes Pendulum dragon!”
Entermate Uni: Atk -> Def
Entermate Corn: Atk -> Def
Yuya Hand: x 3 -> x 4
The two girls seeing their summoner would most likely be brutally murdered after this duel if nothing was done looked to each other before swapping to defense mode putting up capes that protected themselves in more ways than one.
“He managed to get Odd-Eyes to his hand!” Tatsuya noted happily, feeling free to speak now that the Yuzu bomb was no longer ready to explode.
Yuya took a deep breath glad that he should be safe now before speaking. “Now it’s time for the showstopper! With Scale 1 Stargazer Magician and Scale 8 Timegazer magician I set the pendulum scale!” The two magicians floated up in the air flying high the white and black of their garbs serving as an adequate contrast for the pendulum carving through the sky.
“All right! It’s time to pendulum summon! It’s already giving me shivers!” The more rotund boy claimed excitedly. “Why does he always manage to get at least 2 pendulum cards?” Hokuto complained still slightly salty at the match he had just played.
Reiji looked at the arc appearing in the sky with a look of intrigue in his eyes, for one of the first times since he actually paid attention to his opponent. “Swing pendulum of souls! Draw an arc of light across the sky! Appear my monster friend! Today’s main attraction, Odd-eyes Pendulum Dragon!”
Yuya’s ace monster hit the field. A red dragon with a red and green eye, multiple orbs sticking out of two spines like spikes sticking out of its main body. Roaring proudly, it shocked the other two entertainer monsters on the field as they attempted to gesture with a bow at the summoning while still remaining mostly covered by their capes.
Odd-eyes Pendulum Dragon: Lvl; 7 Atk: 2500 Def: 2000
Yuya started to jump up on separate floating bouncy balls doing incredible flips showing his felxibility up to one of the ends of the tightrope board. The onlookers watched with interest the stunts that the boy was pulling with Shuzo smiling proud as he could knowing that his training was paying off.
“And with that I set 1 card face down, the opening act has come to an end! I end my turn. Well then sir lets show everyone else a good time!” Yuya said looking down with several lights shining behind him casting a large shadow over the field.
Reiji looked up before looking down again. ‘On this field action cards aren’t particularly well hidden, they are in quite obvious positions, but the catch is that they need to be obtained through acrobatics. He’s already positioned himself close to a miracle just in case.’
The chairman started to speak. “Very well. My turn, I draw.”
“Your father is Yusho Sakaki right? I can see the resemblance.” These words caught Yuya off guard, he didn’t quite know if it was a compliment or not yet. “Y-yea he is, I want to do my best to live up to what he managed to do.”
Yaiba snorted a small amount from the side. “Well to be fair, I wouldn’t imagine that surpassing that guy is a very high bar.”
“ Silence. ”
The mood that was previously high from Yuya’s first turn dropped at the command from the young man with silver hair. Himaka dropped her eyes down at the mention of that man.
Reiji looked back up to Yuya and took a deep breath to calm himself down. “I apologize for that. The truth is I hold a great deal of respect for your father; he was a true pioneer in the world of dueling. Carving a brand-new world for duelists.”
Reiji continued, both Yuya and the rest of the students from Yusho had a bit of sweat run down their backs, unsure of where this was going.
“I never got the chance to duel him myself, but I do hold him in high regard. However,...” Reiji paused causing the tension to ramp up even further like a rollercoaster right before the drop.
“That’s exactly why I wish to see what you are capable of.” In a flash, with near inhuman movement, the duelist jumped upon several bubbles, swing on a rope around the tower opposing Yuya’s and in a turn worked the slack in the blue rope that was coming unwrapped from the tower disappearing from eyesight in a moment before letting go at the vertex of his swing launching him onto the tower.
Yuya gawked at the movements he just witnessed. Pretty much everyone had wide eyes at the acrobatics of the duelists. ‘I couldn’t even see him... How hard did he train to move like that?’ Sora pondered as the young man in the red scarf stood up from his kneeling position, fixing his glasses.
“I'll start my turn with activating 3 spell cards. The first two are the same. Dark Contract with The Gate. And the third Dark Contract with The Swamp King” 3 cards showed themselves to Yuya turning around.
“At the start of my turn while I control these cards, I take 1000 points of damage for each.” He explained.
“Wait what?!” Yuya exclaimed shocked at such a steep cost. “That means...” Ayu pondered off. “At the start of his next turn he’ll take 3000 points of damage.” Sora finished actually intrigued in what was happening ever since the last duel with Gongenzaka.
“I use the effects of my two Dark Contracts with The Gate. I can add one D/D monster from my deck to my hand, so I’ll add two. D/D Berfomet and D/D Lilith.”
Futoshi looked around to see if anyone else was confused before asking his question. “Uhh, what does D/D stand for?” Sora was also quick to answer this question leaving the other surprised that he was actually speaking. “D/D stands for ‘Different Dimension.”
“So, they come from another world?” Tatsuya asked looking up. “‘The Man’ has a bad feeling about this...”
Reiji added the two cards to his hand and tilted his glasses. “Next up is the effect of Dark Contract with the Swamp King. This card allows me to fusion summon without polymerization!”
“WHAT?!” Everyone was shocked at this, but Reiji was too focused on his turn to react to them. “I fuse my D/D Lilith and Berfomet! Chimera of the abyss, vamp of the dark night! In a whirlpool of light from the realm of dead becomes one and gives birth to a new king! Fusion Summon! Be Born! D/D/D Flame King Temujin!”
D/D/D Flame King Temujin: Lvl; 6 Atk: 2000 Def: 1500
A giant demonic looking creature, wearing heavy armor, with the head of some sort of horse or goat and carrying a great shield and sword in each hand. Its very presence caused the inside of the circus to heat up with a burning red aura around it.
“That monster, the amount of energy... he really is the real deal huh...” Sora remarked in actual awe, something quite rare from him. “Another fusion user? This is going to be rough...” The smaller red-haired girl said worrying about her friend. Yuzu couldn’t agree more, especially after her match; she looked up to the two duelists who were nearing the roof. ‘Please keep going Yuya.’
This time Tatsuya looked confused at the monster. “So, if D/D stands for ‘different dimension’ then what does D/D/D stand for?”
Sora, for the first time that the group had seen not eat sweet treats for 10 minutes in a row, answered for the silver haired duelist. “It must mean, ‘different dimension demon’.”
Masumi, Hokuto and Yaiba all looked at their new comrade in a new light. They had heard tale of him, Reiji Akaba the duelist who qualified to become a pro at the age of 13, the youngest in the world to hold that title.
Shuzo looked down at the monster in thought. ‘Reiji Akaba, he managed to become a pro, but he randomly decided to stop dueling for 3 years. Could it be he spent them training instead? If so, what kind of monster is he?’
Reiji fixed his glasses. “I’m not done with my turn though. Next, I summon the tuner monster D/D Nighthowling!” A giant grizzly maw, teeth pointed and as long as knives barked onto the field.
D/D Nighthowl: Lvl; 3 Atk: 300 Def: 600 (Tuner)
“A-A a tuner?” Yuya cried out. His opponent was quick to respond. “Yes, and with its effect I can special summon a D/D monster from my graveyard without its attack or defense points! Revive D/D Berfomet!”
Appearing from a hole right next to Yuya on the tight rope board a chimera with several parts of different beasts seemingly mashed together on a vaguely human body. Matted mane and hair, two horns one semi broken, a single arm with sharp claws, crowlike feet with talons, a single wing sticking out awkwardly from its body and a metal muzzle around its face.
D/D Berfomet: Lvl 4; Atk: 0 (1400) Def: 0 (1800)
Yuya leapt back in surprise along with the two showgirls, all three of them holding onto the tower they were standing on. Even the dragon looked worriedly to its master because of the shock.
“A tuner monster, then that can only mean-” Tatsuya was going to finish his sentence, but he didn’t have to.
The D/D duelist continued to move. “I tune level 3 D/D Nighthowling with level 4 D/D Berfomet!” The two monsters latched onto bars attached with ropes from the ceiling and jumped down from their boards. Nighthowl was almost crushing the bar with its teeth before gaining the momentum along with Berfomet to let go and meet the other in the middle of their ascent.
“Howls that tear through the night. Gain the swiftness of a gale and become the cries of a newborn king! Synchro Summon! Be born! Level 7 Gust King-Alexander!”
In a flash of light, a new monster formed. A large silver knight with glowing red eyes. A green cape flowing with a constant wind that blew around it making it seem much like a giant leaf in the wind. It wielded a one-handed sword and this time the summoning of the monster inundated the room with a powerful gale of wind.
Gust King-Alexander: Lvl 7; Atk: 2500 Def: 2000
“A synchro monster and a fusion monster on the first turn?” Gongenzaka shouted his brow furrowed as he had a feeling that the chairman wasn’t done yet.
He would be correct in this assumption. “Now the effect of Flame-King Temujin activates! When a D/D/D monster is summoned to my field I can special summon a D/D monster from my grave! Revive D/D Lilith!”
This time a plant like woman ascended from the bottom of the room. It had a dark mossy vine growing out of its shoulder and descended down into a lower body, pink tattered flower’s almost for its shoulders and the top of its head along with sickly yellow eyes.
D/D Lilith: Lvl; 4 Atk: 100 Def: 2100
“Then D/D Lilith’s effect! I can add one D/D monster from my grave to its hand when it’s special summoned. I add back Nighthowling. But at that same moment Gust King-Alexanders effect also activates! When a D/D monster is special summoned I can bring back another D/D monster grave. Return D/D Berfomet.”
Reiji Hand; x4
The Chimeric monster made its return next to the demon-like plant. Yuzu looked at the monsters with a sense of recognition, flashing back to that day at the warehouse. “Two level 4’s... there’s no way...”
Everyone in the school looked up expectantly awaiting the next move with bated breath. The inside was already warm enough thanks to Temujin, and it was only getting warmer. Unfortunately, things would not be getting any better for Yuya anytime soon.
“I overlay my level 4 D/D Lamia and level 4 D/D Berfomet to construct the overlay network!” The two monsters turned to dark orbs dancing in the sky before entering a gaping opening in the top of the room. The light that came down was now not only from the chromatic circus.
“In order to subjigate all that resides in the world, now, descend unto the peak of the world! Xyz summons! Rank 4 D/D/D Wave King- Caeser!”
A black monster also carrying a giant overbearing sword floated down next to Reiji. It had a turtle-like plating on its back and green eyes akin to the raging oceans. It had a blue aura around it that projected a cool feeling into the room which mixed with the other kings creating a cacophony of sensations.
“Fusion to synchro to xyz...” Hokuto said in wonder, unaware of how someone was actually able to use all 3 in such perfect unison.
Reiji smiled to his opponent in an almost cocky way, yet it didn’t quite feel as overblown as the previous LDS students smiles. He began to hold a hand up to his chin almost in thought of what to do next.
“Is he really pondering what he’s going to do after all that?!” Futoshi
“Is he not taking him seriously?!” Tatsuya said in a state of both shock and wonder at how somebody could be so arrogant.
“That’s really cocky!” Ayu pouted her face squishing into one of anger that didn’t
“Ragh!!! He doesn't deserve to be called a duelist!” Gongenzaka shouted gripping his hands causing his knuckles to turn white. outraged that somebody would act so nonchalantly after pulling out all the stops on their first turn.
Yuya ignored the jeers of his allies (and the thoughts in his own head) to marvel at the monsters in front of him. “Holy cra- wow.” He stopped himself realizing that the younger kids were still listening. “3 types of summoning in one turn? That’s incredible! You really took what I said last turn seriously huh?”
Reiji stopped his visible planning to look directly at his opponent. He blankly stared with an expressionless look. “It was my obligation after all, I wonder can you survive the onslaught of attacks?”
Yuya smirked with a large grin. “You bet! After all, even if you have all 3 types of extra deck summoning, I have something unique to Yusho, Pendulum Summon!” Yuya smiled but he still felt a bit of anxiety ball up in his chest staring down the three monsters, what he was fighting for? He couldn’t afford to lose.
Reiji’s blank face broke for a second into a small smile at Yuya’s statement before slipping back into its usual no nonsense expression. “Very well! Battle. I attack Odd-eye's Pendulum Dragon with D/D/D Gust King-Alexander!” The monster raised its blade high above its head seemingly channeling the winds which were generating around it directly into the blade.
“Wait what!???” Yuya exclaimed shocked that his opponent would just throw away his monster to attack him.
“All right! On the next turn Odd-eyes will revive! He just threw away his monster!” Futoshi cheered happily putting his hands behind his back.
Yuzu looked on confused at the move that Yuya’s opponent made before something clicked in her head. “Yuya get an action card!”
‘He must not know pendulum’s can reviv-’ Yuya looked more closely at his opponent and did an extremely quick count in his head as the winds started to ramp up in speed.
There was a card in his hand that shouldn’t have been there.
‘An action card?! Back when he did that stunt to get up here... he definitely passed it, he must have picked it up then!’
“Odd-eyes throw me!” Yuya exclaimed running up the back of his monster to its head, the wind had reached its maximum speed as the attack launched. Yuya soared through the air, spotlights casting multiple shadows across the jester's battlefield.
“Action Magic: Amazing Acrobat. My monster can’t be destroyed in battle this turn, and if it battles you take half of its attack points as damage!” Reiji revealed the card in his hand as Yuya reached for a giant set of monkey bars which had a card that would soon be in his grasp.
“Stop him, Alexander.” The Gust King swung its sword covered in winds in a diagonal strike aiming toward Yuya first. With a nasty thud it connected with Yuya’s chest *winding* him and knocking him out of the air in a headfirst free fall, but not before continuing to strike toward the bright red dragon.
“YUYA!” Everyone said out loud in a state of shock that Yuya was in a swan dive toward the ground. Yuya heard his allies' cries and quickly opened his eyes. Just as he was passing by a floating balancing ball, he quickly flipped himself around and pushing off the edge of the ball he aimed for a trampoline on the far end of the room.
With a THUD Yuya both heard his leg crack and the blade of the monster with the flowing green cape meet his dragon. A huge boom of wind overtook him and pushed him further toward the trampoline which he thankfully hit. Nearly touching the ground, the springs strained as it launched the entertainer up into the air and onto a nearby ball.
Yuya Hand; x1
Yuya LP: 4000 -> 2750
Yuya clambered to saftey as he sighed a huge gasp of relief under his breath. He looked to his opponent wide-eyed who met his gaze with a look of intrigue. Because not like that could have hurt him or anything!
“HEY, WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!!???” Yuzu shouted in a rage. I mean the nerve of that guy?! He could have maimed Yuya by pulling a stunt like that! If she was on the field oh boy, he would have it.
“Yea no she’s right more careful! That could have ended terribly!!” Ayu said not having the same level of situational awareness as her older classmate to understand the full implications of what just happened.
The chairman ignored their outrage and stared at his opponent wordlessly. He paused a bit to gauge Yuya’s reaction. The tomato-haired boy looked down with a nervous look painted all over his face. He could feel his heart racing from that, although it wasn’t technically illegal to stop your opponent from getting an action card with monsters most people have the awareness to know when somebody could get really hurt.
A voice came over the PA system. “Mr., I would appreciate if you did not attempt to do something like that again.” The dark-red haired woman scoffed almost condescendingly.
“Don’t worry guys I'm all good! After all I'm basically a master at this sort of stuff!” Yuya shouted trying to reassure his teammates and also prevent the murder of his opponent after the duel. Nonetheless Reiji continued with his turn
“If you’re done. Alexander’s effect activates, since I destroyed a monster in battle I can destroy one other card on the field.”
Yuya’s face dropped from his normal happy go lucky smile that he wore like a mask falling off. ‘I managed to pick up an action card when I was climbing up that ball but there’s no way he doesn’t know about it. Miracle. I can protect one of my monsters from being destroyed in battle once. I can survive this turn without taking any more damage, but both of my monsters will be destroyed...’
Reiji fixed his glasses. “I’ll destroy... Timegazer Magician in the pendulum zone!” Alexander placed its heavy straight sword in front of itself horizontally reading its special effect.
Futoshi spoke up. “Oh no! That means next turn-”
“He won’t be able to pendulum summon.” Hokuto answered somewhat giddy that he was getting some form of ‘revenge’ on Yuya despite it coming entirely from someone else.
“Go Tyrant Tornado!” A single swipe of the sword crashed into the monster in the pillar of light destroying it. “Pendulum monsters go to the extra deck when destroyed, even when in the pendulum zone...” Yuya explained to his opponent placing his magician in the extra deck, preparing himself for the uncoming attacks.
“Now! Wave King Ceaser attack Entermate Corn!” The black turtle-like monster swung its heavy club creating a huge tidal wave toward the blue haired monster. Yuya debated his options before ultimately using the opportunity to jump back over to his original position on the stage near the bottom.
Tatsuya noticed this. “He has an action card so why isn’t he using it?” Yuzu kept looking toward Yuya, despite the situation his eyes held a focus and his face its usual smile. “It’s because he wants his monsters to be destroyed probably.” the songstress said looking down to Tatsuya whose face lit up with recognition.
The tidal wave connected, and the monster was crushed by the pressure, leaving a little jacket floating in some of the puddles near the board before disappearing into sparkles.
“Now Temujin attack Entermate Uni!” Reiji ordered another assault; this time the demonic beast rushed toward the monster as it attempted to use its cloak like a bull fighter taunting it before it’s face dropped as it was smacked with the behemoths shield.
Yuya looked up to his monsters. “Sorry guys... but now I can activate my trap; Entermate Finishing Act! For every Entermate monster that was destroyed in battle this turn I can draw a card, two were destroyed so I can draw 2!” Yuya revealed his trap card now looking up to his opponent.
He heard the commanding voice beckon down. “Are you able to do it?”
Yuya was confused at the mysterious question which stopped him from drawing his cards. “Sorry but what exactly are you talking about?”
Reiji looked down with almost disappointment plastered on his face. “Ah you haven’t figured it out yet, I wasn’t expecting that. I expected that after your duel with Ishijima that you would know, especially after your friend accomplished it.”
Yuya continued to stare incredulously, his desire to entertain gave way to curiosity and confusion. Reiji continued. “Well, if you don’t remember how to, I’ll just say this, how you are now, you won’t be able to defeat me.”
Himaka smiled at her son’s proclamation.
Yuya winced at the harsh words before painting a smile on his face that felt a little too wide to be natural. “H-heh! We’ll just have to see about that!” Yuya drew his two cards.
Sora was staring intently at the duel, specifically Reiji. ‘He knows about it. He’s definitely the one, Yuya really does have no way to win this duel.’
Masumi looked to her shorter ally “Do you have any idea on what he was talking about?” The swordsman looked up to his friend. “I’m not sure for certain, but I think I have a good idea.”
Gongenzaka looked angrily at the duel, “Tch! What is he blabberin about! He needs to just get on with the duel!” Both Ayu and Futoshi agreed.
“I set two cards face down and end my turn. Please do show me something interesting.” He said dryly. Yuya looked down at the cards he drew and began strategizing.
‘I just need to find a way to deal 1000 points of damage, but Timegazer was destroyed and the cards I drew won’t help me get Odd-eyes back out... I need to draw something here that lets me summon Odd-eyes. But even if I manage to do all that, do I really want to win this way?’ He shoved that thought to the back of his head, he didn’t have time to worry about it.
“Ladies and Gentlemen! The first act has come to a close, however up next may be deciding factor!” Yuya built up both the tension of the crowd and his own courage to do what needed to be done. Taking a deep breath the boy’s eyes focused as he ripped the top card from his deck creating a small breeze.
‘Not enough yet.’
Yuya looked at the card in his hand and smiled. ‘I’m glad you came friend!’ Yuya spread out his arms starting his show. “Please welcome a new castmember! With the already set Stargazer Magician I set the pendulum scale with Entermate Odd-eyes Unicorn!” A cyan unicorn with a small jacket, different colored eyes and an electric blue mane floated up next to the magician as a glowing ‘8’ appeared underneath it. The pendulum started to scrape the sky once more.
“Oh hey Yuya got that card recently, didn’t he?” Ayu said happily her face morphing into a marshmallow as she admired the cute animal. Sora turned his eye to the younger girl after her statement before locking in again.
“With the already set pendulum scale I pendulum summon! Swing pendulum of souls! Appear my monster friends! Entermate Kaledioscorp from the hand and Timegazer Magician and Odd-eye's Pendulum Dragon revive from the extra deck!”
Odd-eyes Pendulum Dragon: Lvl; 7 Atk: 2500 Def: 2000
Timegazer Magician: Lvl; 3 Atk: 1200 Def: 600 (Def)
Entermate Kaledioscorp: Lvl; 6 Atk: 100 Def: 2300 (Def)
The Dragon, Magician and obnoxiously cute scorpion crashed down in beams of light mixing with the stage lights to Yuya’s field. “Crap! He managed to get his monsters back!” Hokuto cursed. Yuzu looked to him with a deadly look that screamed ‘Language.’ despite him not having cursed.
Yuya breathed a sigh of relief now that he had monsters on his side of the field. “You may have mastered all the types of extra deck summoning, but I have a power that only us from Yusho got!” he declared, pointing up dramatically to the pendulum moving through the big-top.
“We’ll see about that.” Reiji responded.
Ignoring that dangerous idea Yuya continued with his turn. “Anyway, let’s get the main act on the road! First up is the pendulum effect of Odd-eyes Unicorn! I can target one monster on my field and another Entermate monster I control, then the first monster gets the attack points of the first one!” The dragon roared as a sparkly aura surrounded it, raising its strength.
Odd-eyes Atk: 2500 -> 2600
“Aw yea! His monster is stronger than all of Reiji’s! It’s already giving me shivers!” The green-haired child said eyes glued to the window starting to fog it a bit. “And he also has the monster he used to beat Sawatari with!” Tatsuya added on.
Yuya then pointed to a scorpion friend. “Get ready one and all for the magical light show! Due to Kaleidoscorps effect I can target a monster I control, and this turn it can attack all special summoned monsters you control once each!”
A hurricane of lights filled the room as different shapes appeared in the shadows, cubes and different types of triangles coalesced into each other as the brilliant scorpion flashed its tail to the dragon splitting it into 3. Reiji remained perfect still, not even bothering to reach for another action card.
“Here we go! Battle! Odd-eyes Pendulum Dragon attacks D/D/D Flame King Temujin! Spiral Burst!” The first copy of Odd-Eyes started to trample across the ground, jumping up and charging a searing wave of flame toward the demonic figure.
Reiji waited until it was at the apex of its leap to strike. “I activate my revers card! Dark Contract with The Witch!”
“Another one!?” A majority of the crowd yelled simultaneously.
“That means on his next turn he’ll...” Tatsuya didn’t even get to finish.
Reiji explained as the dragon continued its attack. “Much like my other contracts I take 1000 points of damage at the start of my next turn, in return my monsters attack points increase by 1000.” Temujin’s aura flared to life as the heat rose to match the dragon’s attack, swinging back with a powerful strike.
Temujin Atk: 2000 -> 3000
‘Crap I'll have to use my action card here!’
“I activate Action Magic: Wonder Leap! My monster gains 500 attack points when it battles a monster!” The monsters slash of flames crashed against the first copy of Odd-eyes' breath of fire creating an explosion that knocked the silver-haired duelist back a bit and destroyed the flame covered demon.
Odd-Eyes Atk: 2600 -> 3100
Reiji LP; 4000 -> 3800
Odd-Eyes Atk: 3100 -> 2600
“And because your monster was higher than level 4 the damage is doubled thanks to Odd-eyes! Reaction Force!" Yuya celebrated with a fist bump in the air.
“Tch! That was pretty risky... But to keep this going, I still have a couple of attacks left! Odd-eyes attack Alexander next!” Yuya knew that a majority of cards around the area that Reiji was standing around were all mostly offensive cards that worked when attacking, so there shouldn’t be any more surprises on that front.
The second copy of the vibrant red dragon leapt up into the air and sent out its duplicate torrent of crimson flame. This time as the air around Alexander raised trying to protect it, the strength of the gale waned and was ultimately engulfed causing Reiji to be pushed back a single half step.
Reiji LP: 3800 -> 3600
Yuya commanded his dragon with his usual playful smile. “And here we go the last attack! Odd-eyes, Spiral Flame Strike!” The attack managed to collide, eviscerating the monster. Reiji did not move from his spot as the damage was dealt this time.
Reiji LP: 3600 -> 3400
“Due to Caeser’s effect, I can add a Dark Contract from my deck to my hand when it’s destroyed. I add my 3rd Dark Contract with The Gate.” Reiji replied still bracing from the shockwave.
Brushing himself off the chairman looked down at the stage. Yuya was petting his dragon for all the work he put in (and also almost being destroyed again.) The tomato-haired boy looked back, this time his smile had faded slightly and instead he had a look of uncertainty.
“I think I learned a bit more about you.” The young man with the scarf explained to Yuya. “And that’s supposed to mean?”
“Despite it clearly being the obvious move, you hesitate to end your turn and attempt to finish the duel. Could it be out of some sense of dissatisfaction?”
Yuya flinched, he didn’t want to admit it, but it was somewhat true. Despite the situation, he found a victory in this sort of way to be unrewarding. There wasn’t a bang or due to his own efforts, he simply won because his opponent got too cocky and spent something they shouldn’t have.
Yuya looked down. “I can’t lie, yea it’s disappointing, you’re really strong so to beat you in this way feels... off. I don’t like it.” Reiji for one of the few times that Yuya had seen smiled genuinely. However, it hastily returned to his usual expressionless viasge.
“That is the philosophy of those without ‘Hunger’. If you see a chance to win you should take it, it’s foolish otherwise not to.” The entertainment duelist looked directly up the lights getting in his eyes. He was clearly annoyed that his words hadn’t gotten through to Reiji even if he was about to win. Yuya waved his hand to his silver-haired opponent and clenched his fist. “I end my turn. Now your turn begins, and you will have to pay the cost of the 4 contracts you activated!”
“Contracts? What contracts?” Reiji said now actively grinning. His cards flipped around revealing themselves to Yuya before smashing into pieces.
“What!!??” Yuya cried out in shock, his face going pale.
Gongenzaka was in a state of clear confusion. “Why didn’t he take the damage?!”
Reiji adjusted his glasses and spoke. “During the end of the battle phase, I activated my trap, Contract Laundering. This card lets me destroy all the contracts on my field and then I can draw a card for each one at the end of the turn.”
Yuya took a few steps back in complete panic and shock. He quickly reoriented himself. ‘This isn’t too bad he’s going to draw 4 new cards... If he does a combo like last time, I can probably survive it and even if he tries to destroy my pendulum card’s Timegazer’s effect stops him...’
Reiji’s voice echoed to the top of the canopy. “I promise you I will finish you this very turn!” Reiji drew his 4 cards before starting a powerful rush blasted through the arena. ‘Oh, it’s actually just over.’ Sora concluded.
Reiji Hand; x6
“I draw!” Reiji looked at his hand and immediately knew what was to be done, acting with complete certainty. The next words that would come out of his mouth would be a complete upheaval to everyone in the room.
“With scale 1 D/D Savant Galilei and Scale 10 D/D Savant Kepler, I set the pendulum scale!” Two machine monsters soared into the sky with their respective pendulum scales hovering beneath them. Galilei was made out of two boulders being held together by machinery inlaid into the seams of the boulder with a large blue screen. Contrarily Kepler was made entirely out of glorious silver and metal with several planet-like orbs orbiting each other inside of it.
Yuya wanted to puke right then and there with how sick to his stomach he felt.
“He can... use pendulum?” Yuzu said quiet as a mouse, she looked down to Yuya who had a similar horrified look in his eyes.
Sora unwrapped his lollipop and started to pay only half attention.
‘Ah so he mastered the technique already? I should expect nothing less from Reiji. Well, I suppose I don’t need this school for much anymore, after this I could always just tear it down. I’ll see about it.’ Himaka thought, trying to contain a laugh in front of the awe-struck students.
“With scale 1 Galilei and scale 10 Kepler I pendulum summon! Grand power that shakes my very soul, arise within me and become a new light that rends the darkness. Pendulum Summon! Come before me, my monsters!”
x3 D/D/D Doom King Armageddon: Lvl; 8 Atk: 3000 Def: 1000
A trio of identical monsters, large and crystalline flashed down in three beams of purple light. They did not have any discernable limbs with only black and gold plating around their heads affixed to the top of the deep purple pendulum shaped objects.
Ayu had a look of fear on her face for her older friend “T-this is bad, three monsters with 3000 attack each?”
Gongenzaka and Yuzu both gritted their teeth, not wanting to scare the 3 other smaller kids.
The crimson-eyed boy placed his goggles over his eyes with ruffle of metal, he once again plastered a jovial and confident look onto his face, he spoke with the circus lights gleaming of the glass of the goggles. “T-that’s a neat trick, where did you learn to do something like that? And where did you get those cards from?”
Reiji responded simply. “I made them, same as yourself really.”
Yuya was thankful that he managed to hide his eyes before asking that question, his eyes almost bulged out of their sockets from that alone. Reiji continued to speak. “I’ll ask you out of common courtesy, would you like to see the true potential of pendulum summoning this turn?”
“The true potential?” Yuya queried the young man above him.
Reiji tilted his glasses back into position. “Very well, I'll hold off for now. I do hope you can survive this turn though. I normal summon my D/D Nighthowling.”
The gaping maw of a monster summoned itself to the field with a ear bleeding scream.
D/D Nighthowling: Lvl; 3 Atk: 300 Def: 600 (Tuner)
“Now for Nightholwing’s effect, I can special summon a D/D monster from my graveyard again. Revive D/D Berfomet!”
D/D Berfomet: Lvl; 4 Atk: 0 (1400) Def: 0 (1800)
The chimera revived from the graveyard with a large growl. Yuya started to search for his surroundings before what would come next.
“He has 2 monsters again...” Tatsuya noted, head turned down in anxiety.
A fiery voice could be heard from the PA system. “Yuya don’t just give up here! Ignore it and keep entertaining! No matter what!”
Yuya nodded swallowing the ball of nerves in his throat. He hopped on his dragon which started to charge around the arena in a circle building up speed. Reiji this time ignored the efforts.
“D/D Berfomet’s effect, I can change a D/D monsters' level I control from anywhere in the range of 1 to 8, I change Nighthowling to level 4.”
Nighthowling: Lvl; 3 -> 4
Reiji raised his hand to the sky as Yuya started to build up even more speed, a large trampling sound could be heard all through the arena. The crowd wondered what Yuya was planning to do but for the most part their attention was on Reiji.
“I tune level 4 Nighthowling with level 4 Berfomet! Climb over the corpses of heroes carrying your blood-stained blade! Synchro Summon! D/D/D Cursed King Siegfried!” Another shock filled the room, nearly knocking Yuya off his feet.
The crimson-eyed boy thought to himself. ‘What the heck is causing that?’
A glorious knight, white hair, dull silver armor covered in yellow inlays. Carried a sword with a giant split down the middle over its back with a long flowing red scarf draped down to its feet.
D/D/D Cursed King Siegfried: Lvl; 8 Atk: 2800 Def: 2200
“Another synchro huh? Figures that the strongest would use the strongest method the most.” Yaiba said shrugging with a confident smile Masumi glanced over about to call him out on only getting a draw instead of winning, but she was cut off.
“Battle!” Reiji declared as his monsters moved to strike. Odd-Eyes was now at full blast running at full power with incredible amounts of momentum.
“Here’s the moment of fate everyone! Will the intrepid hero get out of this, or will he ultimately fall?” Yuya exclaimed holding onto his best monster friend during its high-speed charge.
This play into character lifted the spirits of Yuya’s allies, he wasn’t worried after all! He could definitely pull his way out of this! “Go on Yuya!” “It’s all on you!” multiple cheers cried out.
“Cursed King Siegfried attacks Timegazer magician!” The fiendish warrior raised its sword high above its head as it charged a yellow beam of pure light. Swinging down, the magician of time couldn’t hope to defend itself or move out of the way of the attack.
Yuya recognised his monster's sacrifice. ‘Thanks for taking a hit, Timegazer.’ The entertainer quickly nodded to his dragon and with a roar of approval it managed to circle around to the opposite beam of the trapeze podium and jump with a massive amount of force directly onto another trampoline. This launched both the dragon and Yuya high into the air right toward the top of the ceiling which contained an opening in the circus showing the artificially produced night sky.
Unfortunately, his opponent was all too aware of this. “Doom king Armageddon number 1, attacks Odd-Eyes pendulum dragon!” The first of the pendulum shaped monsters readied a beam of malicious purple energy to fire at the couple in the air. However, the duo had already succeeded in their plan. As Yuya dropped, now disconnected from Odd-eyes he slotted the card he found into his duel disk.
“Action Magic: Dramatic Close! All monsters except the monster with the most attack points on both player’s field are destroyed and then, the battle phase ends!”
Every monster on the field except the attacking Doom King and Odd-Eyes which now plummeted to the bottom of the field leaving Yuya atop a floating ball started to glow with a blue energy, reading to be shattered to pieces.
“THATS WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT YUYA!!!” Shuzo screamed at the top of his lungs. “Is he really going to survive?” Hokuto complained clearly annoyed that his former opponent managed to escape from the skin of his teeth yet again.
“Dramatic Close, only a single copy appears on this field at the very top of the field...” Reiji looked down not looking to Yuya before slowly turning his eyes to him.
“But because of that it is extremely obvious what you’re going for.” His expression radiated intensity and almost dissatisfaction. “I activate the effect of Cursed King Siegfried! Once per turn I can target a spell or trap card on the field and negate its effects! I choose your Dramatic Close!”
“Oh no...” Yuya looked to his action card as the knight-like monster converted the blue energy that surrounded it back to yellow, before straining itself letting out a blast of wind smashing it into stardust.
“His action card...” Yuzu started.
“Was completely stopped.” Sora this time concluded.
“Doom King Armagedon continue your attack!” The purple light resumed its process before firing at the dragon now on the ground.
“Odd-eyes!”
It collided with the monster causing an explosion knocking Yuya down again.
Yuya: Lp; 2550 -> 2050
“My 2nd Doom King Armageddon attacks Kaleidoscorp!” The alien from another world readied its purple ball of energy before sending it in the form of a giant beam toward the poor scorpion which attempted to hide its face behind its shield to no avail.
“He doesn’t have any monsters left...” Futoshi said worried that his school was now about to be shut down. “Yuya find another action card!” the young man with the pompadour yelled to his friend. The others had noted that the situation had gotten so dire that even Gongenzaka was advising the use of action cards.
Yuya looked at his opponent. “I don’t have any monsters left to cover me; you’ll just slam into me again when I try to go for it”
Reiji nodded thoughtfully. “I want to see if this will make push you far enough, next turn do try your best. My final Doom King attacks.”
Yuya clicked his tongue. Damn so that guy didn’t forget, he really was way too damn good. The woman in deep red narrowed her eyes at that sentence. “Wait what does he mean ‘next turn’?” The swordsman asked aloud, gaining everyone’s attention.
The final piece of energy was finished charging, standing by readied to be fired from the behemoths head, in a bright flash it originally went in a straight line before making a sharp 80 degree turn to meet Yuya directly.
“Yuya dodge!” Yuzu screamed worried about her friend. However, the entertainer simply stood there unmoving.
An explosion.
Smoke covered half the arena with the young man wearing a long red scarf unmoving from his position, standing over the majority of the arena.
“Yuya... lost.” Ayu had tears in her eyes, she attempted to raise her hands to cover her face to not let the others know. Yuzu had a look of both worry and despair; it looked like Yusho had finally come to an end.
But then the smoke cleared.
Yuya stood there, unharmed next to two monsters. The two showgals from before! They both aided each other in lifting up a giant hat with an enormous bulge that appeared far too large to fit in the relatively small tophat.
Yuya stood there smiling happily. “Thank you, my lovely assistants! Would you like to wish everyone one final bow out from your part in this duel?” He asked them playfully.
Giggling the monsters threw the enlarged hat in the air before it exploded into sparkles glittering off the spotlights of the circus as the girls bowed into the starlight.
“W-what?” Sora said completely star struck, he didn’t realize that he had a trick like that up his sleeve this time! Yuzu was so happy she didn’t even bother to yell at Yuya for flirting with those monsters again (although she would do that later). Shuzo was practically crying with pride, not even able to give his ‘burning speech’ over the microphone.
“Thanks to Entermate Uni’s effect I can banish it and another Entermate to reduce any damage I would take to 0.”
Tatsuya’s face lit up. “So that’s why he didn’t use miracle on those monsters earlier!” Gongenzaka had a huge smile on his face, he too had forgotten about the effect of Uni.
The silver-haired duelist remained resolute. “Well, that should be enough. You have no other option but to show me it. Sakaki Yuya.”
“With that I end my turn. It’s your move.” The tension on the side of the Yusho students was relieved for just a second. Although they all knew that they weren’t close to being out of the woods next.
Yuya looked to his deck, he was hesitating. Despite the bang of the last turn he didn’t know if he could pull it back. He started to plan out his turn in his head like a mad man going over all possibilities of what he could draw. ‘As much as I want to keep going, I don’t know if I can. I can pendulum summon back all of my monsters that were destroyed at the very least. But even if I draw another Entermate and use Unicorns pendulum effect it wouldn’t work thanks to that synchro monster...’
After nearly 20 seconds of deliberation, he placed his two fingers on his deck and tried to channel all of his will into this next draw, hoping that he would get something to get him out of this bind.
Reiji looked across to the circus ball Yuya was standing on with expectation, however a noise was soon heard. A noise coming from Reiji’s duel disk. “- Sir, we have to inform you of something.” a deep voice came out of the disk.
Reiji looked down slightly annoyed. “What is it? I’m in the middle of an important matter right now.” The voice responded with words that made Reiji’s eyebrows go up.
“We have a new reading and also about Marco, we found him. He isn’t in a good state however.” A picture appeared on Reiji’s duel disk that was unseeable to everyone else.
Masumi and the others looked to each other with concern before turning to their principal. “What’s happening?” the dark-haired girl asked the older woman with a look of panic on her face. Masumi couldn’t make out many words of what was said to Reiji, but she did hear the names ‘Marco’ and ‘Pualani
Himaka looked down at the girl with a stern expression. “I don’t know, you shouldn’t worry about it anyway.” she said decidedly.
Reiji quickly jumped down in an impressive series of movements from the tight rope board that he had been standing on for a majority of the duel. “I need to leave immediately; we can settle this some other time.”
Yuya and everyone else stood in shocked silence, they could not believe that the chairman would just throw a winning position away so easily. “H-hey wait atleast tell me your full name before you leave.” Yuya tried to question the young man who was already headed for the exit.
He turned back around matching Yuya’s goggled gaze. “Akaba Reiji.” He soon left the room and with no regard to the other students of LDS or Yusho he left the school.
“What the hell?” Gongenzaka asked rightly confused.
------------
Himaka was undoubtedly confused, she did not know the specifics of why her son left in the way he did but she did see enough to conclude that wasting anymore time here was unnecessary. Reiji had already found a way to synthesize pendulum cards and as such she did not need Yuya or Yuzu’s decks.
She simply decided that it would be worthwhile to keep an eye on both of them to see where they stood overall. Turning around to her students she spoke in her usual authoritative tone. “We’ll be leaving now, I thank you students for your participation.”
She then turned around and looked up to the control room with Shuzo. “Consider your debt paid, we don’t need anything from here anymore.”
Shuzo looked her dead in the eyes. ‘She really was just here for the pendulum cards then huh?’ His eyes remained steadfast. “Please see yourselves out.”
The LDS students all looked to each other with nervousness about what the reason for their ‘surrender’ was, but they quickly put on a serious expression as they were leaving.
The Yusho students could only burn holes in the back of their heads as they saw them walk into the hallway out of sight, their footsteps proof that they were leaving the premises.
Everyone else turned around to look at each other and breathed a sigh of relief. Sora finally could relax and just enjoy his lollipop without having to worry about anymore suprises for today.
“That was really scary... Luckily big bro Yuya held on! He gave me shivers!” Futoshi said scratching his head happy that the worst was over. “Yea! He did great, it was awesome!” Ayu cheered also trying to lighten the tense mood that covered the viewing room.
The sound of humming died down as the action field disassembled. Shuzo could be heard making his way down the stairs before appearing to everyone. “Yikes. That was a close one! That woman sure is scary huh?” Shuzo said ruffling his hair trying to take his and the other nerves down even further.
Yuya walked out of the room with his head down. “Yuya, best buddy you couldn't have done better!” Gogenzaka said looking down wanting to give his shorter friend a hug. (He would have too if he also wasn’t covered in injuries.)
Yuya attempted to look up to everyone but almost immediately collapsed to his hands and knees panting heavily. “Yuya!!!” Everyone shouted Yuzu kneeled down and tried to check for any discernible injuries. She found heavy bruising on his arms and a small bit of purple on his chest from the hit by Alexander.
But more than that as Yuya kneeled down he let out a shout of despair. “I... I couldn’t do anything!” This shocked everyone in the room, it was the first time that they had seen Yuya this frustrated.
“H-hey c’mon now you did better than me...” Yuzu said trying to console her friend. Yuya gripped his hands so tightly that a speck of red could be seen coming from them. “He had pendulum summoning... I was so sure I held some sort of advantage over him... something to help tip the scales even a tiny bit back toward me... but even he beat me in that.” Yuya got up off his knees.
Yuzu couldn’t meet her friends' eyes as he stood back up. Here she was trying to console him when it was her fault that he went through that because she failed in her duel against Masumi.
The younger kids looked at each other with timid eyes; they didn’t have the experience necessary to comfort their friend. Thankfully there was someone in the room that did.
The orange haired coach walked over to Yuya and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Yuya, if your father had seen that duel, I think it might have been the proudest he would have been in his entire life, and I mean that with all of my heart.”
Yuya broke away from staring at the earth to looking up, his goggles still glued to his eyes, but not quite as strongly. Shuzo continued to speak.
“And I also understand how you feel about our school having a ‘special advantage’ over other schools and how it could help us. But the truth is someone will always come along and find ways to adapt to what someone else has made. I mean it’s what happened to your father!”
Yuya this time raised his head to eye level, that last line definitely caught his attention.
“During Action Duel’s infancy, your father was the first entertainment duelist. Someone who focused on making sure everyone had a good time in action duels, even his opponent! It was revolutionary! It was surprising. And soon others followed in his footsteps. But despite that it doesn't change the fact that it was his footsteps. Everyone will develop entertainment dueling in their own way. Even us. Just like how eventually everyone may be able to pendulum summon. So, all you have to do is keep on improving and striving to adapt to how you want to grow.”
The spirit in the room was starting to brighten at the principal’s words, despite his occasional obnoxiousness, he was a damn good leader. Yuya was trying hard to not break out into a gentle smile.
“Today, you faced a pro level duelist- no. Someone stronger than nearly all pro level duelists and managed to hold your own! And you did so while entertaining the crowd! That’s what we’re all about so just keep going and keep trying to find out what it means to entertain like Yuya Sakaki.”
Shuzo finished his speech. Everyone in the room had some amount of hope returned to them about the future. Yuya’s face broke out into a smile at the words. Taking off his goggles he looked around to his friends.
“Yea, your right principal. Thanks for the words, I- I just never thought that things would get that intense. And you're also right about pendulum summoning. It won’t remain ours forever, so we need to find a way to make it even better! Right guys?” He said trying to rally the smaller kids who all looked up in admiration. Even Sora looked pumped up. Yuzu smiled to herself. ‘He looks so much better when he has a smile on his face...’
The group immediately picked themselves up and got back into the dueling room to start trying to find a way to train themselves.
------------------------
In an abandoned parking lot, covered in scars from a battle, the sun had begun to set. It had officially been a day since the purple-haired girl had made her voyage to a brand-new world.
She was currently leaning against a wall, several empty plastic bags drifted in the wind by her, creating a small rustling sound. This sound covered the footsteps of another, larger person.
With dark-cyan hair, an eyepatch and a large scar. He walked over to the girl and stood with her against the wall. Not making eye contact he started to speak.
“I see you weren’t very subtle. As always.” He criticised.
The girl with the orange headband let out a ‘hmph’ in response. She very clearly didn’t want to be lectured about ‘Making too much noise’ during a mission that required some level of combat.
Barrett sighed. “Did you get your target?” The girl reached into her pocket and pulled out a card. Emblazoned on it was a defeated and partially bloodied man. “He wasn’t it. He was way too weak, I thought he might have been masquerading as an officer but nope.” She said roughly, clearly frustrated with herself for not choosing the correct target.
Barrett glanced a singular eye before looking back to the empty roads. “Well, that’s too bad. We’ll keep searching the city then, just always keep your life energy sensor on.”
Serena sighed. “Y’know... I know that it’s not right to talk about this sort of thing with an officer but... never mind.” Serena looked down annoyed at herself for even getting so unprofessional with her commander. Barrett looked up at the clouds with an orange tint floating through the sky, the shape of the moon could be seen just in the distance starting its rise.
“N-no. Psyche evaluations can be good during expeditions in a battlefield. Tell me what's on your mind.” The larger man said awkwardly, it was his duty to make sure Serena was both safe and as content as she could be.
“It’s just that... it sucks that Yuri isn’t here. He would have been great at this sort of thing. Better than me at least.” She said kicking a nearby can causing a rattle to echo out through the quiet parking lot.
Barrett avoided meeting her face, he couldn’t let her see the guilty look in his eye as he spoke. “Serena... it’s best to let it go. It happened a while ago, soldiers, even young ones, can fall in battle all the time. It’s just lucky that you weren’t in the crossfire at the time.” The man said gritting his teeth hoping that the girl wouldn’t press the matter further now that he knew what she wanted to talk about was about him .
Serena grunted, the memory of that day flashed in her mind. She then quickly got up from her leaning and started walking away. “Yeah, yeah. I get it. Sorry for bringing it up again.”
Barett breathed a sigh of relief under his breath, he wasn’t the most capable liar.
She could never know.
----------------