A young girl with long crimson pigtails, tanned skin and turquoise eyes scowled in annoyance as she was pushed outside of her house by a woman whose hair was the same shade of red as her's. By the way they resembled each other; it was obvious that they were related to each other.

"Mamaaaaaa, you can't force me to go outside in this hideous frock!" The seven year old whined as she billowed the skirts of her frilly, pink dress for emphasis.

The older woman crossed her arms across her chest with a bemused look on her face. "Well Robin, I think you just look precious. Now go outside and play, enjoy the hot Alabama sun!" She insisted before she gave the pigtailed girl a final push.

Robin fell facedown onto the lush green grass that surrounded the front porch of her house. Thankfully the grass had cushioned her brief fall and within a few seconds, she was standing up and dusted herself off. She looked at the closed door of her house before sighing.

"…I really hate Mama sometimes. She knows how much I hate pink and dresses." She whispered as she examined her surroundings.

Every summer, Robin and her parents would visit Alabama because it was her father's hometown. After her parents had gotten married, Aiden Chase decided to leave Alabama and move to his wife's home country: Japan. However he still wanted to keep in touch with his roots and insisted that every year during the summer, his family would have a small vacation in Alabama in his family's old house.

Robin usually loved coming to Alabama because it was nice to leave the busy streets of Tokyo and come to the small town of Maplesville every once in a while. Plus there were plenty of creeks and walking trails to explore which was heaven to a seven year old. The only downside was that Robin never had anybody to play with and she was usually stuck entertaining herself.

That is until Robin spotted something or rather someone that she had never seen before, sitting on the grass that was a few feet away from her. She was intrigued because even though the person had their back to her, it was clearly a boy because of the person's garments but their teal hair was pretty long. However it was clear that the person was occupied and Robin wanted to know what they were doing here.

So she walked over to the hunched over boy and peered over his shoulder, and was surprised to see him holding a Duel Monsters card: Rose Papillion.

"Ewww, that card looks so creepy! It ruins the beauty of that rose!" Robin declared in a disgusted tone of voice before the boy jumped slightly as he looked up at Robin with a huge grin on his face.

"Hey I wouldn't say that, they are just the cutest things ever." He gushed over as Robin pulled out a card from her own deck that she kept in her pocket.

"No, Charmer monsters are the cutest things ever." She declared as she showed him Hiita the Fire Charmer.

Jesse gave the card a quick glance before scrunching his nose.

"It's alright, but not as pretty as Rose Papillion." He insisted as Robin plopped to the ground next to him.

"If you say so Bug Boy," she teased as his face flushed.

"My name is not Bug Boy, its Jesse. What's yours, Fire Girl?" Jesse asked as he gestured to her hair.

Robin nearly smiled when she heard Jesse's nickname for her, she decided that she liked it. "Its Robin and you have a girl's name." She giggled.

"Actually Jesse has always been a boy's name and so is Robin." He informed Robin as she almost keeled over in shock.

"Robin is not a boy's name!" She screeched as Jesse had an absent minded look on his face.

"There's Robin Hood, Robin Williams and Robin Roberts. Their all boys so that means that you have a boy's name." He noted as Robin's face started to turn a beetroot red with anger.

"I am not a boy! I'm a girl! A G-I-R-L! Girl," Robin fumed as Jesse burst into laughter at the sight of Robin's face.

"I know, I'm just teasin ya! I can tell that you're not a boy from your pretty pink dress." He pointed at her pink dress as Robin slowly calmed down and her mouth had dropped open instead.

"Y-you really think it's p-pretty?" Robin stuttered as she decided that maybe she had judged this dress too soon. After all, weren't parents meant to know best?

Jesse smiled, "Yeah, a pretty dress for a pretty girl."

It was clear that the seven year old boy had no idea that he was paying the young red head such a big compliment. Robin's face was now as red as her hair, except for different reasons. She now decided that this was her favourite dress and maybe not all dresses were bad.

"I-I haven't seen you around here before." She noted as Jesse put his card back into his deck and shuffled it.

"I've just moved here from Montgomery which isn't too bad, but I've had to leave all my friends behind." It was clear that the young boy wasn't too pleased with his parents leaving Montgomery.

Poor Jesse, he must feel lonely. But that was before he met me, I know! I'll challenge him to a small duel, maybe this will make him happier.

"Awww, but Maplesville isn't a bad place to live. There are loads of creeks and places to explore, its only as boring as you make it. Not to mention I'm here, how about we have a duel? Your bugs against my Charmer, whatcha say?" Robin declared with a grin on her face as she stood up and grabbed Jesse's hands while pointing to a tree stump.

Jesse looked surprised but it transformed into a big grin, "I like you already Robin. Sounds like a swell idea, and maybe after our duel you can show me the creeks you told me about?"

The duo sprinted across the lawn to the tree stump that Robin had pointed to; Jesse got their first due to Robin's inability to run in her current outfit.

"Beatcha slowpoke, you'll have to do better next time." He stuck his tongue out at her as she panted before kneeling in front of the stump and placing her deck on it.

"Yeah...but at least...I'm smarter...than...you." She wheezed slightly as Jesse kneeled in front of her and took out his own deck.

"No I am." Jesse insisted as Robin shuffled his deck and he shuffled hers.

"Fine, whoever wins this duel is clearly smarter than the other. Agreed?" Robin asked as she handed Jesse his deck back.

He nodded, "Agreed but it doesn't matter who wins or loses. All that matters is having fun."

Jesse is really nice, unlike the other boys at school. They are so dumb and do the stupidest things, plus they think that girls shouldn't duel!

Both children drew five cards each before deciding who took the first turn.

Robin: 4000
Jesse: 4000

"Duel," they both chorused.

Robin: 1400
Jesse: 500

Robin controlled one Familiar-Possessed – Aussa (1850 attack /1500 defense) equipped with Black Pendant which had increased her attack to 2300 and she had no other cards on the field.

Jesse on the other hand controlled one Butterfly Fairy (2900 attack/2000 defense), however even if Jesse destroyed Aussa, Black Pendant would cause him to lose the duel. Although it was now his move so there was a chance that he could turn the duel around.

"Alright, I draw." He exclaimed as he grinned at the sight of his drawn card.

Boy am I glad to see you. He thought as Robin pouted slightly.

"Did you draw a good card?"

He nodded with glee, "I sure did! I summon Rose Papillion (1400 attack/800 defense). When I control another Insect-type monster on the field, this lil fella can attack directly."

Robin: 0
Jesse: 500

Robin's eyes widened as she realised that she had lost the duel. By attacking directly, he was able to avoid the cost of Black Pendant.

"And that's game. Great duel Robin, you're really good." He held out his hand for her to shake it and with a shaking hand, Robin was able to return it.

Jesse...he's amazing.

"You were better." She admitted as Jesse stood up and pulled Robin up.

"Dueling isn't about winning; it's about making new friends and having fun. Since we dueled, you're now my friend." Jesse answered.

Friends, the one thing I've never had before. It's really hard to make friends; most children are too rough or not very nice. Jesse doesn't seem to be like that and he considers me a friend. Robin couldn't help but blush at his statement while trying to hold back a giggle.

"So how about you show me some of those creeks you told me about earlier?" The teal haired duelist asked before doing a cartwheel and falling onto his back.

Robin grabbed Jesse's hand and tried to pull him to his feet. "Come on Bug Boy, I know a good one that's only a few seconds away!"