Chapter Text
It was a cold day. A breeze shifted through trees in a city that Yuzu did not recognize. Billboards advertised the different objects of desire, just in time for the season. Lights could be seen plastered all over the concrete jungle. Hung from rooftop to rooftop. The sounds of birds were infrequent, however their song was welcome into the several choirs that were happening throughout the city.
With no control over her body's actions Yuzu saw as she was walking toward an area she recognized. The same park that she had seen almost every night in one form or another. As the pink haired girl watched on, she felt the cold air on her cheeks, seeing the mist of her own breath against the chill of the winter’s night.
As she felt herself sit firmly on a freezing cold wooden bench she gazed off into the beautiful and strangely familiar city, its lights dancing like comets moving across the sky in her eyes. As she admired the beauty of the location, she heard the creak of the bench as another figure sat next to her.
Looking over she couldn’t quite make out the face of the figure but for some strange reason it felt like she had seen it many times before. Yuzu noticed her mouth began to move but couldn’t make out the words she was producing. Her hand reached into a pocket and felt her fingers wrapped around some sort of wrapped rectangular box.
Pulling out the box she handed it over to the figure. More words spilled out of her and the strange figure’s mouth’s, but she noted the presence of butterflies in her stomach upon hearing laughter coming from the figure. As the laughter died out the figure pulled out a golden locket and placed it in the gloved hand of Yuzu.
As her eyes glanced over the inside of the locket she tried to perceive what picture was in it, however she could not make out any discernable figure as her sight became a bit fuzzy with warm tears against her cheeks which were red from the cold.
“Thank you _ _ _ _ !” Were the only intelligible words that the pink haired girl could make out from her mouth.
Yuzu suddenly woke up. As she did, she looked down at her silver and rose-pink bracelet with a small tear still in her eye. For a second she could swear she saw it glow a hue similar to yesterday.
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Steps could be heard echoing throughout the near empty halls of the top floor of the massive skyscraper of the LEO Corporation. The lack of any other noise, a testament to the prestige that many lack to be able to simply be in these halls.
A woman completely in red, dark red hair, a bright red business suit and even brighter red lipstick and high heels were the ones creating the cacophony of steps throughout this floor. As the woman opened a grand set of doors into a board room she made her way over to the comfy blue armchair at the end of the room.
Sitting down wearily she waited patiently for the person who would fully explain the current situation to her. ‘Hmph, hopefully Reiji can fill me in on this concisely. It’s been a while since having a simple and straight conversation.’ The woman thought as she remembered her travels and all the deals and loopholes she had to navigate on her recent travels abroad.
As she sat, the door directly to the side of the giant display system opened up the sound of computers coolers whirring could be heard briefly before being shut off again by the sound. “Mother.” A grey-haired duelist greeted his mother while nodding. Wearing a clever looking blue sweater, white pants and business shoes along with bright red glasses and a long flowing scarf.
“Ah Reiji, it’s good to see you again after my business trips.” Himaka Akaba said showing a bit of informal happiness at seeing her son again. However, the grey-haired CEO just shifted his glasses as he began to mentally prepare to answer the questions that were inevitably going to be asked. “Yes, it’s been a while mother.”
“Well, enough with reunions anyway. Just as I arrive back from all of those long trips of making deals and forming new locations for LDS, I come to find that there’s an entirely new summoning method developed right here.” The older woman said with an entertained smirk on her face.
“Yes, that is correct. It is known as pendulum summoning. Using pendulum cards, it allows the user to summon multiple monsters at the same time. Even high-level monsters without tributing.” Reiji explained as the red-haired woman sat with a more serious look on her face taking in all the information that was being presented as the display screen lit up.
“Fortunately, we have already detected the energy type and the basics of it already, but we need a closer look for more information about it to be able to fully replicate it.” Reiji continued. “And do you think it has anything to do with the enemy?” Himaka asked her eldest son.
“Potentially, the real interesting fact are the duelists who possess the knowledge of this summoning method. Yuya Sakaki and Yuzu Hiiragi.” Reiji put up both of their profiles on the display screen.
“Both of their win rates are under 60 percent... They don’t seem to be anything special.” Himaka commented as she glanced over to her son neglecting to read past the first couple of statistics that she had grown used to glancing at.
“The founder, Yuya Sakaki, is the son of Yusho Sakaki.” Reiji replied simply as he shifted his glasses. The woman looked over with panic on her face before speaking. “Don’t tell me it has something to do with him, does it?”
“I don’t know. But I have reasons to believe that it doesn’t. Either way I would need to get a closer look at them before making a final conclusion.” Reiji finished. The air got tense as both people in the room remained silent.
“Well either way that can be tested somewhat soon.” Reiji broke the tense air, his mother looking up at him with intrigue. “Yesterday, mayoral candidate Sawatari’s son was attacked...”
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Yuya had finally arrived at Yusho duel school. Despite it being a great day and a Saturday, they still had to do study work on the basics. As Shuzo was going over the basics of tribute summoning Yuya noticed the sound of munching as Sora was snacking in class ‘As usual’ Yuya thought.
He turned his head around to look at Yuzu as Tatsuya was answering a question, she appeared to be in a daze. ‘She seemed really off-put ever since yesterday...’ Yuya thought to himself as he returned his attention back to the lecture.
“And finally monsters of level 7 or higher need 2 tributes to summon.” Tatuya finished. ‘Showoff’ Ayu and Futoshi both thought at the same time.
“Full marks Tatsuya! That concludes our segment on tribute summoning. I’m going to talk more about fusion summoning now but I’ve never done it before, so I'll only cover the basics of it.” Shuzo explained as he moved the slides of the projector in the dark room.
“Here I'll show you how!” Sora shouted. “I fuse this bagel of mine, and this donut I found in the kitchen into a delicious combo!” Sora said with a cute crocodile grin on his face, knowing well that Shuzo was about to erupt.
“Hey that’s mine! I was saving that!” Shuzo cried out almost deafening the students before calming down. Sora giggled before putting the food down and looked on with amusement.
“Ok well anyway that aside... Fusion is the combination of two monsters normally through the application of a fusion card called polymerization. Monsters are sent directly from the hand or field to the graveyard and the fusion monster is summoned from the extra deck.” Shuzo concluded as he showed a step-by-step guide.
“And what about Xyz summon??” Yuzu asked standing up from her desk. She realized her position and decided to sit back down with a bit of a blush. Sora looked over at her with a bit of intrigue and the others with a mix of concern and confusion at the outburst.
“W-well I know the basics of the summoning, but I've obviously never been able to obtain the cards necessary to actually perform it. Even LDS has decently few Xyz teachers in their course...” Shuzo clarified.
“A-ah sorry then I just... I just wanted to know more about it.” Yuzu said while glancing over to Yuya with a heavy look in her eyes. ‘Yesterday... I’m so sure that it was him... and even still I also am so sure it wasn’t.’ She thought to herself before the group were interrupted by a loud shouting originating from outside.
“Oh, what is it now?” Yuya complained as he got up from his desk, Yuzu shortly yet hesitantly following soon after. Once the duo got outside into the fresh air and light of the Saturday afternoon they were met with a couple of familiar faces.
The first of which was one of their oldest friend Gongenzaka, the others being not so friendly faces. Many of Sawatari’s friends were currently engaged in an argument with the steadfast duelist.
“Hey Gongenzaka, why are these guys here?” Yuya queried. “Well I was just out for a run to train my legs, until I found them loitering around the school for some reason.” The larger teenager explained.
“We’re here to get payback for what happened to Sawatari!” The one with bright green hair shouted at Yuya. “Yea! He’s currently suffering in the hospital because of what you did yester!” The goon next to him added on.
“Wait what?! I didn’t do anything to Sawatari!” Yuya protested. “Oh really?? Why don’t you ask your friend there? You saw it you know you did.” The green haired one said pointing to Yuzu with a grin on his face.
“What? Yuzu what the hell are these guys talking about?” Yuya asked Yuzu with a look of sheer confusion on his face. “W-well I don’t know...” Yuzu responded, her eyes filled with worry.
“I was at the school basically all day yesterday and I stayed behind with the rest of the guys! I showed up at the port and you were the only one there!” Yuya tried to reason.
Yuzu looked to the ground and stayed silent as she became lost in thought. ‘I know he was wearing different clothes... And his hair and eyes weren’t the same either... But even still...’
Yuzu did not answer Yuya’s plea.
“Tch, Tch, Tch. Well either way we’re here to get payback!” The shortest member of the gang piped up. “Yea, we’ll make sure that everyone knows about what happened!” The green haired teen piped up.
A commanding feminine voice spoke up. “Now, now boys. I applaud you for your loyalty, but I can take it from here.” A fairly tall woman walked just behind the group. Himaka Akaba looked at the argument before smirking.
“Apologies for my manners. I’m here as an official representative of LDS, I’m here to discuss the incident that involves some of the students of this school that happened yesterday.” The woman explained in a slightly condescending tone.
“Please boy’s just head out. I have it from here.” she said quietly. The group looked at each other before nodding. “Allright but Yuya Sakaki, this isn’t over!” The tallest member of the group said as they moved off the property trampling on the poor grass in the process.
“What even is this all about?” Yuya asked the older woman. “I don’t know about all this talk with Sawatari in the hospital, but Yuya would never do that!” Gongenzaka supported his best friend. Yuzu remained silent.
“How about we talk more about this inside?” The woman in red didn’t ask for permission before making her way through the duelists into the building. Yuya took a look at Yuzu who was still looking down not making eye contact with an almost pained expression on her face.
‘What happened at that warehouse yesterday?’ Yuya thought before following the woman into the building.
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The air was almost electric. Himaka had made herself known to the rest of the school along with the reason for her arrival and went to go wait in the breakroom to discuss the matter at hand. Sora had been told to watch over the younger students.
As the woman sat down on the blue couch in the school’s break room the rest of the group moved over to the other side of the room. Shuzo sat directly opposite Himaka with a small creak from the old chair.
“So, you really think that Yuya injured Sawatari?” Shuzo questioned the woman with a protective look in his eye.
“He was seen at the scene by 4- no, 5 people” The woman said as she looked over to the pink haired girl. “So, what’s the plan? Are you planning on trying to seek damages?” Shuzo said trying to cut straight to the point. “While we could, no that is not the avenue that we wish to pursue.” Himaka answered.
Yuya and the others breathed a silent sigh of relief, however this respite was quickly cut off by the woman sitting across from them.
“However! Because of this act our pride as a school has been damaged! We won’t back down until this has been restored!” Himaka shouted out breaking the expectation of her normally stoic behavior.
Shuzo looked at her with surprise as he thought to himself ‘LDS has been going on a crusade recently, taking over other schools all over the world... I wonder if this whole thing is just one giant set up to get to us...’
“And what’s the deal to bring your ‘honor’ back then, huh?” Yuya asked a little annoyed at the woman’s aggressiveness. Everyone looked at the tomato haired boy. Some with a look of approval and others with uncertainty. But Himika simply looked at him with intrigue before answering.
“Quite simply, we will have a competition of sorts. Some of our best duelists against yours, if we were to win the Yusho duel school and all of its students would become a part of LDS and if you were to win this entire matter simply goes away.” Himaka explained.
‘With this I can see what truly makes both Yuya Sakaki and Yuzu Hiiragi capable of pendulum summoning by having access to their decks. And more over to find out if they really are connected to him.’
“ So, you’re using this whole event as a scapegoat to get to Yuya and my daughter then hm?” Shuzo accused the businesswoman. The rest of the group now really started to pay attention; the air was so dense that you could practically choke on it.
Himaka took a moment to prepare herself, almost patting her already pristine suit down for any flaws with her eyes before answering. “Around 8 years ago, at the dawn of the concept of action duels Yusho Sakaki pioneered the concept of entertainment duels. He even today, despite his recent *ahem* shortcomings, is celebrated as a revolutionary duelist. Now today his son manages to create a brand-new summoning method, I simply want to allow pendulum summoning to be a common factor amongst dueling. LDS could have several courses that can learn to really tap into the potential of the method. You really should just join us right now it really would be for the best.”
Another long silence followed her answer. “Are you done with your sales pitch?” Yuya said with more visible annoyance. “I’m not sure what this is all about, but you using whatever happened to Sawatari as an excuse to throw your weight around is annoying.” He stated plainly.
“The Man agrees with Yuya, you don’t care about this place or the honor of your school. You just wanna’ get your hands on Yuya and Yuzu’s pendulum cards.” Gongenzaka backed up his friend. Yuzu looked back and forth with uncertainty and Shuzo just continued his stare down with the woman.
“Well, I guess it can’t be helped then. I assume you'll want to put up a fight instead of going to face charges though, right?” Himaka said with a small smirk.
Shuzo looked to Yuya and both nodded. “Of course!” He shouted out getting fired up. “Let’s get ready then!” The woman said standing up with incredible haste and walking toward the entrance of the building. As Shuzo quickly followed afterwards the 3 friends were left alone in a moment of solace.
“Yuzu... do you really think that I did that yesterday?” Yuya said as he stood up looking over to the pink haired girl.
“I- I honestly don't know."
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The Yusho group reconvened in the viewing room next to the solid vision system. With this the younger of the group were all incredibly confused about the current situation. The woman with red hair finally came back except this time she was followed by several duelists.
One of them had purple hair along with several ornaments with gold plating around his hair, he wore a blue and indigo suit and a cocky grin. The second one was a girl, dark brown skin and ruby eyes, she wore a simple cardigan and practical skirt with combat shorts underneath. Finally, a shorter teenager followed up the rear, wearing a baggy kendo uniform and carrying a practice sword with him.
“These are the some of the highest-ranking duelists in the junior division of the Miami tournament.” Himaka introduced the group with a sense of pride in her voice. She looked up to Shuzo who was currently in the booth and smiled.
“Each of them is a master of a unique summoning style as well.” She concluded.
“Wait what?!” The children of the Yusho group gasped in suprise. The purple haired one spoke up. “Yup! That’s right, we’re basically top of the food chain!” He bragged while styling his hair.
He pointed to himself his confidence infecting the very atmosphere around him making it seem more sparkly “My name is Hokuto Shijiima! I'm a master of Xyz summoning and I’ll be your opponent today, so don’t lose too fast, ok?” he pointed towards Yuya.
‘This guy is completely full of himself...’ Everyone thought (including his allies)
“Tch, fine. Don’t underestimate me though, I’ll put on a show like one you haven’t seen yet!” Yuya responded, getting riled up. Both duelists locked their eyes and started to enter the space where their monsters would have the chance to duke it out.
“Good luck Yuya! Show him our schools burning passion!” Shuzo shouted. “Yea good luck big bro! Show him who’s boss!” Ayu Tatsuya and Futoshi cheered.
“The Man will be cheering for you buddy!” “Good luck Yuya!” Gongenzaka and Sora added on.
Yuzu felt immense guilt cloud her mind. ‘All day, the only thing I've been thinking about was if I really believed what I saw. I never actually considered Yuya in any of it... I can make it up to him here though!’
“YUYA YOU GOT THIS SO DON’T LOSE OK!?” Yuzu shouted at the top of her lungs. Yuya after rubbing his ears (much like everyone else) looked over to the glass and gave small chuckle and made a silly face breaking some of the tension in the room.
‘Ah she really did pick up some enthusiasm from her old man... But not to focus on that now!’ A voice cut through his thoughts “The ones who are being challenged will get to pick the action field, so if you wouldn’t mind Mr. Hiiragi.” Himaka said.
‘For the field... well Yuya is a star so...’ “Boil your blood Yuya!!! Fight with the power of the stars! Action field spell activate! Cosmic Sanctuary!” Shuzo yelled through the speakers causing everyone in the building to almost go deaf.
As the environment shifted a beautiful skyline was painted onto the roof, ruins made themselves around the two duelists along with the twinkling stars in the sky that beckoned adventurers to explore them.
As Hokuto looked around, he started to laugh as he realised his position. “How hilarious! He picked a field that I'm an expert in!” He laughed as he started to attach his duel disk.
“WHAT??!!” Shuzo said in dispair. “His name means Big Dipper... You really could have seen this coming.” Sora jabbed at Shuzo.
Tatsuya started to tap on his own duel disk as he suddenly made a worried face. “What is it Tatuya?” Ayu asked concernedly. “He’s played 58 duels this season and won 53 of them. He’s an amazing duelist...” Tatsuya remarked looking up. “But Yuya will win- right?” Futoshi replied with a worried smile on his face.
The other two remained silent.
The duelists started their chant.
Action Duel! Yuya V.S. Hokuto
Yuya: LP: 4000 Hand; x 5
Hokuto: LP: 4000 Hand; x 5
“I’ll take the first move!” Hokuto declared. “First up I’ll normal summon my Constellar Algeidi!”
Constellar Algeidi: Lvl; 4 Atk: 1600 Def: 1400
A dark-skinned woman wearing pure white armor and cape with a sprinkle of small sparkling. “I activate its effect! When it’s normal summoned, I can special summon one level 4 or lower Constellar monster in my hand! Appear! Constellar Klaus!”
Constellar Klaus: Lvl; 4 Atk: 1800 Def: 700
A centaur clad in white armor appeared on Hokuto’s field, it wielded a large glistening and golden bow. “I’m not done yet though, since I have a Constellar monster on my field, I can special summon my Constellar Caduceus from my hand!”
Constellar Caduceus: Lvl; 4 Atk: 1600 Def: 1550
A humanoid form with large golden armor with blue orbs embedded in it, holding a large scepter like caduceus in its hand appeared in a burst of starlight.
“He summoned so many so fast...” Ayu commented worriedly. ‘Three monsters with the same level...’ Yuzu thought, thinking back to the evening prior with the stranger wearing the face of her best friend.
Hokuto smiled before continuing. “I activate the effect of Constellar Caduceus! I can add one Constellar spell card from my deck to my hand. I’ll add Constellar Star Cradle.”
“Next up is Constellar Klaus’ effect! Twice per turn I can either raise or reduce the level of a monster on my field. I’ll raise both Klaus’ and Algeidi’s levels by one! Constellar Raise!” Klaus raised its bow and shot two golden arrows into the sky. The two arrows split apart and rained down in a glorious shower of light.
Constellar Klaus: Lvl; 4 -> 5
Constellar Algeidi: Lvl; 4 -> 5
“Say what you want about Hokuto, but he certainly does know how to put on a light show.” The ruby eyed duelist commented with a bit of a snark on her face. “It’d be more enjoyable if he could shut up about his ‘greatness’ for 2 seconds though.” The swordsman added on.
“This isn’t good...” Tatsuya said out loud, however he was cut off by an unexpected voice. “It’s ok, there’s no way Yuya would lose to a guy using summoning like this.” Sora responded while unwrapping a lollipop.
“Now with level 5 Constellar Klaus and Algeidi I build the overlay network! Through the beautiful cosmos travels the shining warrior! Xyz summon, Arise! Constellar Pleiades!”
Constellar Pleiades: Rank; 5 Atk: 2500 Def: 1500 OVU: 2
A monster appeared in a flash of radiant light from the black void, a humanoid form carrying a double-bladed sword, draped in armor with golden accents and a long flowing cape made from a nebula.
Yuya gazed on with an uneasy look, despite this he tried to give a confident smile. “He summoned an Xyz monster on his first turn?!” Gongenzaka said with an uncomfortable look on his face. “Don’t give up Yuya!” Shuzo screamed over the microphone.
“This is the power of someone at the top of LDS! You don’t stand a chance even with your weird form of summoning!” Hokuto challenged his opponent with an extended finger. “You seem way too sure of yourself, it’s not good to have that big of an ego you know.” Yuya snarked back. “It’s not ego it’s the truth!!!” Hokuto shouted.
“Tch, I'll show you on the next turn, I end my turn.” Hokuto declared.
“I draw!” Yuya shouted. He took a good look at his hand as he started formulating a plan of attack. ‘Ok... good, I have two pendulum monsters with different enough scales and also drew a monster with more attack points than his. I should be able to wipe out his monsters this turn.’ Yuya nodded.
“With Scale 3 Entermate Turn Toad and Scale 8 Timegazer Magician I set the pendulum scale!” As Yuya set the pendulum scale and a gigantic pendulum appeared in the sky there was a small glimmer on the horizon. Seeing this Hokuto gave a noticeable smirk.
‘What is he smiling about?’ Yuya questioned for a brief moment before continuing. “With the pendulum scale set I can summon monsters with levels 4 to 7 at the same time! Pendulum of my soul draw a grand arc of light across the sky! Pendulum summon! Appear my monster friends! Entermate Whipsnake and Entermate Elephammer!”
Entermate Whipsnake: Lvl; 4 Atk: 1700 Def: 600
Entermate Elephammer: Lvl; 6 Atk: 2600 Def: 1800
Two monsters descended onto Yuya’s field, one being a swordfish with glasses and a bowtie and a gigantic blue elephant wearing a circus hat, vest, and tie with a gigantic hammer at the end of its trunk. “Yuya managed to get a monster with more attack points than Pleiades!” “He can do it!” Futoshi and Ayu cheered. “Don’t celebrate just yet.” Yuzu wisely said waiting to see what the opponent's monster could do.
Several beautiful blue lights shined in the sky of the field, Hokuto gave a confident toothy grin as comets began to enter the atmosphere of the dueling arena, crashing into several key locations.
“Next up on the act, I'll activate my-” As Yuya was about to continue his turn he was cut off by his purple haired opponent. “I activate the effect of my Constellar Klaus! By detaching one overlay unit I can return one card on your field to your hand, I’m sending Elephammer.” Hokuto smiled as the large elephant made a shocked face as in a burst of light in returned back to Yuya’s hand.
Constellar Pleiades ORU: 2 -> 1
“Elephammer!” Yuya shouted in worry as he looked over at his opponent with an annoyed look on his face. “Oh no! His monster got sent back to his hand, he won’t be able to attack Hokuto now...” Futoshi said in a disappointed tone. “Did you forget?” Tatsuya replied to his friend with a concerned and slightly incredulous look. “Forget what?” Futoshi said looking between his two friends. He soon got his answer, however.
“In that case I activate Whipsnake’s effect! I can swap the attack and defense points of one of your monsters, I choose Constellar Pleiades!” Yuya declared as his monster began to hypnotize his opponent's monster.
Constellar Pleiades Atk: 2500 -> 1500
Hokuto, acknowledging the situation he was in hung onto his golden monster’s arm as it jumped away using its cape almost as a glider. “You won’t get away! Battle, Whipsnake attacks Pleiades!” Yuya declared his attack as he wound up his monster which made itself at home on his arm and slung it at his opponent.
With a series of quick dodges as fast as a comet Hokuto managed to dodge for long enough to land on top of a large pillar, beautifully crafted out of stone. Whipsnake began to charge up another attack as Hokuto held up a hand as a familiar blue light of a comet shined.
“Why isn’t he moving anymore?” Yuzu said out loud confused. “Don’t doubt his methods, even if he constantly brags about them.” The auburn brown-haired duelist replied still looking at the duel. As whipsnake was just about to reach the larger of the two monsters next to Hokuto a beam of blue light streaked by right through Hokuto’s hand.
“I activate Action Magic: Star Sacrifice! When a monster would be destroyed I can pay 500 life points to negate that destruction, then the monster gains 500 attack points until the end of the next turn!” Hokuto declared as Whipsnake recoiled off the monster. Its golden plating and white armor started to shine a luminescent glorious glow as its attack power grew.
“But you still take some damage.” Yuya concluded.
Hokuto: LP; 4000 -> 3300
Constellar Pleiades Atk: 1500 -> 2000
“Pft, a measly 700 points means nothing. Is that really all you can do?” Hokuto said pridefully standing above Yuya quite literally now. Yuya looked at the cards in his hand and groaned internally. ‘This guy’s going to be a problem. This is the first duel as well... I can’t afford to lose this for the school!’
“I set one card face down and end my turn, at this point Whipsnake’s effect ends. Come at me!” Yuya said trying to confidently provoke his opponent.
Constellar Pleiades Atk: 2000 -> 3000
“I’ll finish you this turn Sakaki Yuya! I draw!” Hokuto said drawing for his turn. “First up is Constellar Caduceus’ effect, I can add a Constellar spell card from my deck to my hand. I add Constellar Twinkle!” Hokuto declared.
Hokuto Hand; x5
More comets with some carrying action cards fell around the arena.
Yuya began to shift over to one of the cards slowly walking while keeping his eyes fixed upon his opponent. Unphased Hokuto continued. “I then activate my Burden of The Mighty spell card!” Hokuto said happily sliding it into his duel disk.
“Bah! How annoying!” Gongenzaka noted on the sidelines. ‘A classic huh?’ Sora noted in his head. “Wait what-” Ayu went to ask a question before hearing Hokuto go to explain his spells effect.
“Now all monsters lose attack points equal to their level x 100.” Hokuto said with a cruel smile on his face. ‘Tch, Xyz monsters don’t have levels...’ Yuya thought trying to conceal how badly he wanted to break out into a sprint to the nearest action card.
Constellar Caduceus Atk: 1600 -> 1200
Entermate Whipsnake Atk; 1700 -> 1300
“Now I activate Constellar Twinkle, this card levels up one of my monsters by one or two, I level up my Caduceus by 1.”
Caduceus: Lvl; 4 -> 5
“Oh no, the only reason he would raise his monster's level is...” Yuzu mentioned to have her statement finished by her biggest friend. “He plans to Xyz summon again.”
Yuya seeing the warning signs, immediately began to sprint toward a temple where an action card could be seen at the roof. He wore a serious expression as he tried to focus as much as possible. As he went to reach for Whipsnake, it grabbed onto a pole sticking out of the monolithic temple.
“I got you! I activate Pleiades’ effect! I return one card on your field to your hand!” As Whipsnake began to be covered in light it lost its strength as it made a shocked face.
Yuya who was in the middle of a swing began to fly upwards towards the invisible ceiling. “YUYA!” A majority of the school screamed. Luckily Yuya managed to with the last of Whipsnake’s strength to spin back around onto his legs landing onto the ceiling with a small crack. “Gyah!!” Yuya grunted in pain. The Yusho gang let out a sigh of relief that their friend was not grievously harmed.
“How dirty! Using that during a move like that!” Gongenzaka shouted indignantly toward the LDS students. They simply looked at him with a brief glance of superiority before returning their attention to the duel.
As the final bits of light surrounded Whipsnake Yuya looked up from his pain and touched his duel disk. “I activate my trap card! Commanding Prescence! Since I control an Entermate monster I can change all monsters on your side of the field into defense position!” Yuya revealed. Shuzo’s shouts of support rang through the stage as Whipsnake took it’s bow back to Yuya's hand.
Constellar Caduceus OVU: 1 -> 0
‘I know that card on the roof is Meteor Shield, it’s a card that will allow him to take my attack’s this turn... But I can plan around that.’ Hokuto thought. Yuya began to move towards it and very deliberately before adding it to his hand.
“That’s not my turn over though. I then summon my Constellar Siat!”
Constellar Siat: Lvl; 1 Atk: 100 Def: 1600
A childlike figure wearing the same white luminescent armor of all of Hokuto’s other monster’s carrying a giant jar made an appearance.
‘It looks kind of cute...’ Ayu thought to herself starting to blush a bit. “I activate Siat’s effect It can copy the level of one monster on the field or my graveyard! I copy Caduceus’ level.” Hokuto explained, eyes glaring at his opponent.
“Here it comes again... Let’s see how I can get out of this one...” Yuya said under his breath clutching his pendulum to give him strength. Hokuto began his summoning chant. “Appear! Rank 5! Constellar Pleiades!”
Constellar Pleiades (#2) : Rank; 5 Atk: 2500 Def: 1500 OVU: 2
“Now you’re in for a real treat.” Hokuto said with an extremely detestable face, filled with pride and arrogance. “Just get on with your turn.” Yuya replied still wincing.
Ayu looked on with concern. “Yuya seems so serious...” she noted. Yuzu continued to look out onto the field, and she couldn’t help but agree. ‘She’s right, he’s so concerned with the school and winning he’s forgetting to have fun and entertain the crowd... I’m not sure if Yuya would like to win that way at all.’
Yuzu took a deep breath before speaking. “YUYA! FORGET ABOUT WINNING AND START HAVING A GOOD TIME! THERE ARE PEOPLE WATCHING STILL!” she cheered at the top of her voice. Everyone and even Sora
“SHE’S RIGHT KEEP YOUR HEART BURNING, YUYA!” Shuzo joined in content with his daughter’s burning cheering.
Yuya looked up at the crowd waiting in the room before it fully crossed his mind. ‘They’re right, I completely forgot. How stupid of me, I don't need to worry about winning. I just have to show everyone a good time in this duel and that will be good enough for me. Yuya smiled as he looked at his opponent.
“Well? I’m waiting for that super special secret move that you’re planning! C’mon let’s give everyone a great time!” Yuya said with a smile on his face, standing up on the roof trying to forget about the pain in his leg he looked down on Hokuto.
A small blood vessel could be seen on Hokuto’s head. “You really think you’re in a position to joke around with me?” Hokuto said outraged someone would dare not take him 100 percent seriously in a duel at all times.
“I’ll show you! I can summon this monster by using a Constellar Xyz monster! Rank Up Xyz Change! Soar through the endless horizon of deep space and become the light of humanity! Appear Rank 6, Constellar Ptolemy M7!”
Constellar Ptolemy M7: Rank;6 Atk: 2700 Def: 2000 OVU: 1
A dragonesque machine of pure white and gold rose up from the hole that swallowed Constellar Pleiades. Its wings seemingly taken from the former warrior’s cape as they were made of nebula.
“There’s Hokuto’s strongest monster; this should be ending soon.” The dark-skinned girl said.
“What do you think of my monster? It’s really awesome right? Unfortunately, it can’t use its effects on the turn it’s summoned this way.” Hokuto gloated; however, he only heard a “Mhm” of agreement. He looked up at Yuya only to find that he had a calm demeanor with a pleasant smile.
“Let’s see if you can still look down on me after this then... Battle! I attack directly with Constellar Pleiades!” As the purple-haired duelist attacked, he hopped on the back of his dragon-like machine and started to fly to the other end of the arena. A mass of floating rock, meteor-like. He grabbed an action card. ‘This should help on the next turn.’ Hokuto reasoned with himself as he saw his monster charge up a slash with its sword.
“I activate Action Magic: Meteor Shield! Whenever I would take battle damage this turn, that damage is negated!” Yuya activated his action card as he flipped off the roof to dodge the remainder of the attack perfectly landing in front of the temple.
“Alright then! I set one card face down, then I activate my continuous spell Constellar Tempest. I then end my turn!” Hokuto stated.
“KEEP BURNING YUYA!” Shuzo cheered happy that Yuya managed to survive the turn. “It’s not over yet! At this moment, the effect of Constellar Tempest activates! By sending all the overlay units of at least 2 Constellar Xyz monsters to the graveyard I can half your life points!” Hokuto said with a manic look up at the sky where a large sigil was forming.
“Wait what?!” Yuya screamed in shock as the blast charged. A large pink ball of glowing energy built up like a star in the sky in contrast to the normally white and blue stars shown in the field. “Yuya stand strong!” Gongenzaka advised.
The ball erupted into a small energy meteor storm as Yuya covered himself with his school jacket. “Agh!!” Yuya grunted as several pellets hit his body almost like being pelted with several stones.
Yuya LP: 4000 -> 2000
“Ahahahaha! How’s that now you idiot! Don’t ever look down on me again!” Hokuto screamed, getting his anger out. Yuya unveiled his cloak still wearing a bit of a pained smile on his face. ‘Why would he do that? He knows that now he won’t be able to stop my monsters, right? Unless...’ Yuya suddenly took note of the action card still present in his opponent's hand. ‘I need to work my way toward an action card, one that will either help with the attack this turn or survive the next. Regardless of that I need to act!’
“It’s my turn I draw!” Yuya looked at the draw and his smile widened. ‘This will help out, thanks for showing up’
“With the already set pendulum scale I pendulum summon, Pendulum of souls draw a fantastical arc of light through the sky!”
Entermate Whipsnake: Lvl; 4 Atk: 1700 Def: 600
Entermate Elephammer: Lvl; 6 Atk: 2600 Def: 2000
Entermate Partnaga: Lvl; 5 Atk: 500 Def: 2100 (Def)
Whipsnake Atk: 1700 -> 1300
Elephammer Atk: 2600 -> 2000
Partnaga Atk: 500 -> 0
This time along with the previous actors a new friend joined the show. A much bigger snake with a cartoonish glove for a rattle with a top hat and bow tie.
“Hold on there! I activate my set card, Xyz Reborn!” Hokuto activated his face down card. “This card allows me to summon one Xyz monster in my graveyard! Then I can attach this card to it as an overlay unit! Revive Constellar Pleiades!”
“Oh no! Now he can return a monster of Yuya’s back to his hand!” Futoshi complained. “Don’t worry he’ll be fine.” Sora, who had opened yet another lollipop. ‘After all this guy is a complete amateur, I can’t even feel his Xyz summons.’
Yuya continued. “At this point Partnaga’s effect activates! When it’s summoned, I can choose one monster I control, and have it gain 300 attack points for every Entermate monster I control! I choose Whipsnake, since I have 3 Entermates Whipsnake gains 900 attack points!”
Whipsnake Atk: 1300 -> 2200
Hokuto let out a grunt of annoyance. ‘Tch, clever. Thanks to that damn snake and toad’s effect the obvious choice to send back Elephammer is now way more complex. Even If I send one of them back, he can still normal summon a monster. Even still...’
“I activate the effect of Constellar Pleiades! I use one overlay unit to send Elephammer back to your hand!” Hokuto made his decision as Pleiades sent a wave of light which encompassed the giant monster sending it back to the entertainment duelist's hand.
“Trying to keep an actor off the stage is rude you know! Thankfully we have someone willing to sub out! I tribute Entermate Partnaga to summon Elephammer! Pendulum monsters go to the extra deck instead of the graveyard when destroyed or tributed on the field.” Yuya explained as the giant snake gave a friendly wave with its tail before disappearing into the form of the blue elephant.
“Next up is Turn Toad’s pendulum effect! Once per turn I can swap a monster's attack and defense points! I swap Pleaides number 1’s attack points. Then I’ll use Whipsnake’s effect swapping Ptolemey M7’s attack points with its defense points!” Yuya shifted over to the side of Hokuto while still remaining near the entrance of the temple to get a better angle as he declared his monsters' effects.
Pleiades 1’s Atk: 2500 -> 1500
Ptolemy M7 Atk: 2700 -> 2000
Hokuto looked at him in confusion at what the boy was doing running around. Nevertheless, he braced himself for what may come. “Battle Elephammer Attacks Pleiades!” Yuya declared his attack.
“Idiot! I activate Action Magic: Star Force! This card boosts my monsters attack by 1000 until the end of the next two turns!” Hokuto gloated as his monster started to shine brighter.
Pleiades Atk: 1500 -> 2500
“I wouldn’t be so sure Hokuto-san! I activate Elephammer’s effect when it attacks all of your spell and trap cards are returned to your hand! Hammer shot!” Yuya activated his monster's effect as instead of attacking the knight in shining armor it slammed the ground letting out a huge gust of wind.
“Wait, then that means-” Hokuto realizing the implications of what just happened. “Yup! Burden of the mighty is returned to your hand! Thus, raising my monsters attack points again!”
Whipsnake Atk: 2200 -> 2600
Elephammer Atk: 2000 -> 2600
“Keep going Elephammer!” The massive Elephant with the roar of a trumpet raised its hammer above the warrior as it brought it down smashing it to pieces.
Hokuto LP: 3300 -> 3200
“Ptolemy M7!” Hokuto called out to his monster to let him ride it. But his opponent was just a bit too quick. “Don’t think you’ll get away from this time! Whipsnake attacks Ptolemy M7!” The huge machine did it’s best to avoid the lashes of several strikes of the whip but the snake in the top hat just kept extending.
After several missed bites Hokuto realized that no more action cards near him were available at the time. He managed to jump down onto the middle of the arena again just before the monsters made contact. The shockwave knocked him off balance.
Hokuto LP: 3200 -> 2600
‘That was annoying, but I still have another Pleiades. On my next turn I can overlay it again an-’ His train of thought came to a screeching halt at his opponent’s next words.
“I activate Action Magic: Asteroid Entry!” Yuya declared. “Oh?” The girl in the blue sweater looked surprised at the activation of such a card. “When did he get that?” Ayu questioned struggling to keep pace with the high speeds the two were moving at. “Well, he-” Yuzu attempted to knowingly explain before being cut off.
“I had Whipsnake grab it for me from behind one of those pillars when you were flying around!” Yuya explained. Yuzu did not look amused to have her sentence cut off mid-way.
“Anyway, due to the effect of Asteroid Entry I can draw one card, then if it’s a monster as long as it is a lower level than any monsters you control, I can summon it.” Yuya smiled cheekily.
“Xyz monsters don’t have levels, so as long as he draws a monster, he can summon it.” Tatsuya went on. Yuzu looked at him a bit indignantly, annoyed that he got to finish his sentence uninterrupted.
‘C’mon I'm waiting here for you. My friend.” Yuya thought, trying to gather his concentration for this draw. For some reason, whenever he thought like this, when he desired for his favorite card to show up it somehow more often than not did.
“I draw!” Yuya drew his card and looked at it. “All right! The showstopper is here! Come on out Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!”
Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon: Lvl; 7 Atk: 2500 Def: 2000
Pointing at the opponent's monster he directed his own to start a battle. “Odd-Eyes attacks Pleiades! Spiral Strike Burst!” The dragon jumped up and let out a sea of flames as it connected with the knight. However, the knight also jumped up and let out a slash of light which let out an explosion which destroyed both monsters.
“I hope everyone enjoyed my turn and look forward to more on the next one! At this point Partnaga’s effect ends It’s your move Hokuto.” Yuya said bowing.
Whipsnake Atk: 2600 -> 1700
The younger children clapped with excitement at the evening of the odds. Now it was Hokuto who was in the worse situation.
“You... you think you’re going to win this? Someone like me couldn’t lose to someone like you not ever! I draw” Hokuto now wore a furious expression on his face.
“First up, Ill activate my continuous spells Constellar Tempest and Burden of the Mighty again!”
Whipsnake Atk: 1700 -> 1300
Elephammer Atk: 2600 -> 2000
“Then I activate the effect of Constellar Twinkle in my graveyard! I banish Constellar Klaus to add it back to my hand!”
Hokuto Hand; x 4
The air suddenly got much more intense, the purple haired duelists desire to win infected the atmosphere itself. The Yusho duelists (plus Gongenzaka) were a bit off put by this. The group from LDS were staring with a bit of confusion before the swordsman came to a conclusion. “He’s really mad huh? He shouldn’t have done that.” His fellow student gave him a small side eye in agreement.
“I then normal summon Constellar Pollux!” A monster with similar white armor appeared, it had duller gold outlining and was carrying a sword with two blades attached to the hilt.
Constellar Pollux: Lvl; 4 Atk: 1700 Def: 600
“I activate Pollux’s effect. I can normal summon a Constellar another time this turn! I normal summon Constellar Aldebaran!” This time, in a burst of light, a shorter monster still clad in armor holding a big orange ring of light appeared on the field.
Constellar Aldebaran: Lvl; 3 Atk: 1300 Def: 800
“I activate Constellar Twinkle! I raise Aldebaran’s level by 1”
Constellar Aldebaran Lvl: 3 -> 4
“Now he has two monsters with the same level again!” Ayu noted nervous about what comes next. The Constellar duelist looked on with a serious and angry expression, his brow completely furrowed. “I overlay level 4 Pollux and level 4 Aldebaran! Brave knight fighting through the darkness, with your fist break through the void of space! Xyz summon! Appear, Rank 4 Constellar Praesepe!”
Constellar Praesepe: Rank; 4 Atk: 2400 Def: 800
‘Oh, I could slightly feel that one.’ Sora noted.
A large monster, almost mechanical with several machine-like attachments on its back leading into a gigantic goldeb cannon on its right arm descended from the hole in space made from the Xyz summon.
“I’ll crush you this turn!” Hokuto said with a menacing grin, Yuya after seeing the monster immediately began to turn and run into the temple behind him.
“Run Yuya!” Shuzo shouted into the room through the microphone. “I’m not just going to let you get away!” Hokuto said as he tried to begin chase but before he made it anywhere close to the building, The giant blue elephant blocked the entrance. “Elephammer’s stopping him from reaching Yuya it’s giving me shivers!” Futoshi shouted.
Hokuto looked at the blockade of the Elephant. ‘Dammit, why is he running in the- Oh wait! It’s probably appeared there by now at the very end of the temple! Evasion! I need to attack before he gets there, thankfully it’s pretty well hidden.’
“Battle! I attack Entermate Whipsnake with Praespe! I now activate its effect! When a Constellar monster battles I can use one overlay unit to increase its attack points by 1000!” Hokuto’s monster dashed into the air and started charging its canon with golden energy.
“But wait! Whipsnake’s still in the building with Yuya!” Yuzu shouted out. Hokuto replied with a laugh. “He shouldn’t have run in there if he didn’t know the risks! Go Praespe bring the house down! Star rail cannon!” Hokuto declared. Yuya could hear noises of something charging up outside as he ran through the hall. ‘Where is it? Where is it? Oh dam-’
Praespe Atk: 2400 -> 3400
Praespe Atk: 3400 -> 2400
As the golden energy shot out it was met with the roof of the temple. “YUYA!” The group shouted at the same time. The attack connected. The duel was over.
The girl with dark hair sighed and nodded. “Figures, it’s impressive he got Hokuto this far but to be fair both of us would just beat him outright.” She reasoned.
But something was off.
The Solid vision was not deactivated.
“Wait what?” The LDS student’s said almost simultaneously. As the smoke of the attack cleared, they were met with a familiar sight. A young man with goggles on, next to him were monsters which were the exact same of Yuya Sakaki’s
“Phew that was dangerous.” He said happily while taking his goggles off. He had several bruises on his body; his cheek was cut lightly and had a line of fresh blood running down it.
Wiping the blood off his cheek, he looked to his opponent. “Confused right? I couldn’t find Evasion, but I did find this!” Yuya stepped aside and revealed the glowing card. “Action Magic: Miracle! Luckily, I had Whipsnake with me, who pulled me out of most of the rubble in time! Thanks, buddy!” Yuya thanked his monster who started to blush a little from the praise.
The school breathed a collective sigh of relief. “That was so scary!” Ayu cried out. “Don’t do that again Yuya!” Yuzu said anger over taking her now that the fear had worn off. “To be fair, Yuya always had been a risk taker!” Gongenzaka said proud of his friend who managed to survive.
Yuya LP: 2000 -> 900
“So is that is Hokuto?” Yuya said grinning. “I- I end my turn.” Hokuto said in response looking down. “Ok lets go! I draw! With the already set Pendulum Scale I pendulum summon! Revive my monster friends!”
Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon: Lvl; 7 Atk: 2500 Def: 2000
Entermate Partnaga: Lvl; 5 Atk: 500 Def: 2100
Odd-Eyes Atk: 2500 -> 1800
Partnaga Atk: 500 -> 0
“I activate Partnaga’s effect! One Monster I control gains attack points equal to the amount Entermate monsters I have x 300! Odd-Eyes gains 900 attack points!” Yuya activated his monsters effect causing Partnaga to attach its hand-rattle to Odd-Eye's spinal cord.
Odd-Eyes Atk: 1800 -> 2700
“Then I activate Turn Toad’s pendulum effect, I swap the attack and Defense points of your monster!” Yuya continued. Hokuto looked up to see his monster lose some of it’s shine as it grew weaker.
Praesepe Atk: 2400 -> 800
“Battle! I attack with Entermate Elephammer.” Yuya declared his attack as the elephant rushed at it’s opponent. Hokuto racked his brain for an action card that would save him, but the only ones anywhere near grabbing distance were for support purposes.
“Elephammers effect returns all spell and trap cards you control to the hand!” The cards flew back with a gust of wind to the controllers hand. “No, wait we can talk about this!” Hokuto tried to reason with his opponent.
Elephammer Atk: 2000 -> 2600
Whipsnake Atk: 1300 -> 1700
Partnaga Atk: 0 -> 500
Odd-Eyes Atk: 2600 -> 3400
“Sorry! Go Elephammer!” Hokuto tried to run away and as he did, he activated his monster's effect. “Due to Praesepe’s effect I can use an overlay unit to give it 1000 attack points...” He said faintly trying to survive.
Praesepe Atk: 800 -> 1800
“Not enough!” Yuya claimed as the hammer came down on the machine. This sent a shockwave which knocked the purple haired duelist off his feet.
Hokuto LP: 2600 -> 1800
Hokuto looked up and he saw it there! An action card! Anything would help him now just anything. It’s so perfect that it was lying right in grasp on the floor! He went to go pick it up. As he did the announcer’s voice for his duel disk came up. It echoed into his ears like a drum. “Action Trap: Star Fall. Action cards in the duelists hand will immediately be sent to the graveyard.”
Hokuto just lied down and accepted his fate from the embarrassment of forgetting a card’s placement on his own favorite field.
“Time for the finale!” Yuya jumped on his favorite monster’s back and watched the fireworks. “Odd-Eyes attacks directly! Spiral Flame Burst!” As a spinning circle of flames connected with the duelist on the ground he bounced up and down about two meters in the other direction.
Hokuto LP: 1800 -> 0
Yuya: WIN
-----------------------
Somewhere in Miami City
A man was walking down the street, wearing cloth over his face and goggles. He wore a long purple overcoat and had his hands in his pockets.
Currently he was hunting down prey. “You, you still haven’t told me about Reiji Akaba. Why is he here? What is he planning?!” The voice was gruff and indistinct due to the mask. Behind him was a giant shadowy figure, resembling that of a hawk or falcon, talons that tore into the brick and mortar and concrete of the buildings they were in between.
The man who was crawling away looked horrified, he was bleeding a bit from the nose and he got a bit cut from a previous duel. His uniform, proof he had made it into and surpassed the stages of a simple student at LDS.
“P- Please, I d- don't know what you’re talking about...” The man said clutching his wounds trying to kick away.
“Willing to go down for the cause huh? You really are that loyal to get carded for this huh? Oh well, better luck next time.” The cloaked man pressed a button on his duel disk as in a flash of purple light there was no longer a man in front of him.
A few moments of silence filled the air as the whirring of the duel disk died down. “DAMMIT!!!” The cloaked man cursed out. Taking a deep breath he composed himself. ‘I’ll definitely find out why he’s here. Professor... Why would you send your son some place like this???’
The man heard sounds of several people, concerned about the noise that had just been made for the last couple of minutes. And the man in the mask slipped away.
‘Ruri... what would you think of this now?’