Okay I published this on my Deviantart account and I decided I might as well publish it on my fanfiction account because I might as well XD Mari Kotone belongs to Tiruru and Yumi Tsukumo belongs to me, if this story becomes popular I may turn it into dueling oneshots ^^ Enjoy and please review :3


Topaz locked onto sapphire eyes in a heated battle. Mari Kotone could no longer stand aside and watch the old bully, Shark just walking around as if nothing had happened all those months ago when he preyed on all those innocent students. He could not get off that lightly because that was not justice, justice was when people paid for their actions and the fact that Shark could just walk around virtually unscathed sent out the wrong message.

Mari herself had been bullied in the past (not by Shark but she knew his type) and she had a firsthand experience on how the system had failed her in the past, well not this time. She was standing up for everybody who had ever been bullied (and not just by Shark); however she would never stand a chance in a physical fight with the fourteen year old (plus he wouldn't take that threat seriously) so what else could Mari do but challenge him to a duel.

At first, Shark didn't take the thirteen year old girl seriously, but after pestering him endlessly for a week he finally relented and now here they were, in front of Heartland Middle School where a small group of students had already gathered around them to see who would win.

"Are you ready to lose everything?" Mari threatened the purple haired boy as she readied her Duel Disk.

Shark just shrugged his shoulders with a bored expression on his face. "Whatever."

That infuriated Mari, how could he just brush off everything she said with a roll of his eyes and a shrug of his shoulders. She was going to enjoy destroying him in this duel. However before Mari could even activate her D-Pad, a girl wearing the pink first year uniform ran across the field and up to Shark.

The girl seemed vaguely familiar to Mari, maybe she was in some of her classes or something like that. She had long black hair with an orange fringe, tan skin and red eyes, Mari had definitely seen this girl before, she just couldn't place her.

"Shark-kun what have you gotten yourself into?!" The girl exclaimed before shaking him.

Shark clearly knew the hysterical girl because he gently pushed her out of his way, "Stay out of this Yumi. I don't need you looking out for me; I already have Rio for that so I don't need you for that as well."

The girl called Yumi puffed up her cheeks and stomped her right foot, "You are such a...a...caca head sometimes! When will you admit that you sometimes need help in life to overcome certain stuff?!"

The pair started to argue and it got to the point where Yumi stuck her fingers into her ears and started to sing, "Lalalalalalalalalalalala-I-can't-hear-you! Lalalalalalala-"

"Enough!" Mari could no longer handle their persistent babbling because she came here to duel, not to watch a silly squabble between two teenagers who were acting like five year olds! "You two are acting like babies! I came here to duel Shark in order to show him that he can't just walk all over people without repercussions!"

"Walk all over people?" Yumi tapped her chin in thought.

This girl is such an airhead, Mari scowled.

"That's right. Once a bully always a bully, people never change. They just say they've changed but it's a lie, I'll never forgive you for what you did to Reizo!" Mari exclaimed.

"Reizo...?" Yumi and Shark stated which caused Mari's hands clenched her hands into fists.

He doesn't even have the decency to remember his name! She thought as she tried to calm herself down.

"He doesn't even leave his house anymore, he rather be homeschooled." Mari tried not to let her voice waver or else people might think that she's weak.

"Shark-kun may not seem like it but he really is sorry for everybody he hurt when he was going through some...issues. He really has changed for the better." Yumi informed her.

Shark shot the younger girl a look, "Stay out of this. I don't need you to defend me, I can defend myself."

"Oh, just like how you defended yourself when you got mixed up with those idiotic duelists who tried to frame you for the theft of that rare card from the museum! Yeah, you sure know how to defend yourself (!)" Yumi countered in a sarcastic tone. "Mari is it?"

"What do you want?" Mari answered in an irritated tone.

"A chance to prove that people can really change for the better, so please let me accept this duel instead. If you win then you can get revenge on Shark any way you want. If I win then...um...you can't use dueling as a way to get your revenge on Shark as you can't use dueling as an answer to solve everything." Yumi shrugged. "Even if I do win this duel, I can't stop you from feeling all these vengeful emotions towards Shark-kun and it would be wrong of me to assume otherwise."

Is she a hippie or something? What's with all this 'touchy-feely' crap? Nevertheless it would be good to get some practise in before dueling Shark, I heard he used to be a professional duelist and he's only a year older than me. Mari thought out before looking at Yumi.

And why does she care so much about this scoundrel when he clearly doesn't care about her?

"Fine, I'll show you what happens when people stick their noses into matters that do not concern them. I don't have anything against you, but if you choose to stand between me and justice then we do have a problem." The blonde girl narrowed her eyes.

"Fine with me, here we go!" Both girls threw their Duel Disks into the air before attaching them to their wrists.

"Duel Disk set!" They both exclaimed.

Mari had the light pink version of the standard Duel Disk whereas Yumi had the same Duel Disk although hers was light purple.

"D-Gazer set!"

Mari attached her D-Gazer to her left eye; it matched the colour of her Duel Disk except it had a green lens. Yumi unfurled her own D-Gazer and attached it to her left eye as well; it was the same light purple as her Duel Disk albeit with the same colour lens as Mari's.

"AR Vision link established."

"Duel," they shouted.

Mari: 4000
Yumi: 4000

"As the challenger I take the first turn, I draw." Mari drew a card from her deck, giving her hand a total of six cards. "I summon Hermit of Prophecy (3/1200/700) in attack mode." An elderly man appeared onto the field, his skin wasn't wrinkled but his curly, white beard betrayed his age. To show that he was a magician, he wore a royal blue magician's hat that was bejewelled with cerulean gems and a matching magicians robe. A golden wand then tumbled out of the air and he grabbed it, while scowling at the crowd.

"I set two cards face-down to end my turn." She said in a firm tone as two cards materialised in front of her.

My two face-down cards are Gagagashield and Dark Bribe so I can counter all of Yumi's attempts to attack my Hermit, let's see if she really is as dumb as she looks. Mari chuckled in her mind.

Yumi examined Mari's side of the field and drew her sixth card.

Alright, Hermit of Prophecy is quite weak so Mari must be baiting me with her two face-down cards. Yumi thought before deciding her next move.

"I summon Constellar Algiedi (4/1600/1400) in attack mode." She said.

A woman wearing silver armour with pink accents appeared and she was holding a wand. The Capricorn sign appeared behind her in a splash of stardust.

"When Algiedi is normal summoned, I can special summon one level 4 Constellar monster from my hand. I special summon Constellar Acubens (4/800/2000) in attack mode." Yumi explained as she plucked a card out of her hand and slammed it onto her Duel Disk.

A silver mechanical man with orange pincers materialised onto the field, and the Cancer constellation appeared it in a splash of stardust.

The noirette held her hand out in front of her, "I overlay level 4 Constellar Algiedi and Constellar Acubens to construct the Overlay Network." The two silver monsters transformed into two beams of bright gold light and flew up into the air, intertwining before flying into the large red portal that had suddenly appeared in the centre of the field.

"I Xyz Summon Fairy Cheer Girl (4/1900/1500) in attack mode, take this." In a bang of gold light, a small blue headed girl flew out of the red portal. She had porcelain skin, ruby red eyes and a silky cap of light blue hair. Her outfit consisted of a blue and green cheerleaders dress with two giant yellow pom poms that she affectionately slammed together. Two yellow overlay units orbited her.

Mari sweat dropped, "That's your big move? I was expecting something more than an oversized firefly!"

I can't believe she summoned such a stereotypical girl monster. I can't take her seriously at all.

A rose coloured blush spread across Yumi's nose and cheeks. "I-I detach one overlay unit from Fairy Cheer Girl to draw one card." Fairy Cheer Girl absorbed one of her overlay units into one of her pom poms.

Yumi added one card from her deck to her hand and instantly beamed.

Perfect! This'll show Mari that Fairy Cheer Girl is more than just an 'oversized firefly'. But first...

"I activate Heavy Storm to destroy every spell and trap card on the field!" She exclaimed, heavy winds erupted onto the field and destroyed both of Mari's face-down cards.

Oh no, my defense! Could I have underestimated this girl? No, I can't start to doubt my abilities now. It was just the luck of the draw, that's it.

The blonde managed to keep all shred of emotion off of her face and stated in a bored tone, "Was that supposed to frighten me?"

Yumi puffed her cheeks in irritation, "If you think Fairy Cheer Girl was tough before, then this'll blow your mind. I equip her with Shine Palace," the blue haired fairy was covered in a sparkly, silver powder that made her shine even more.

Mari felt the urge to shield her eyes, but she decided to fight against it and waited for the feeling to pass. "What does it do besides making your oversized firefly, even more annoying?"

"By equipping Shine Palace to a LIGHT monster, I can increase the attack of that monster by 700 (4/2600/1500). Fairy Cheer Girl, attack Hermit of Prophecy!" Fairy Cheer Girl flew over to Hermit of Prophecy and she threw one of her yellow pom poms at him, causing him to digitise.

She threw her other pom pom at Mari's head, "Ouch!"

Mari: 2600
Yumi: 4000

"I set one card face-down to end my turn." Yumi concluded as the brown card backing appeared in front of her.

"I draw!" Mari was glad to see the card that she had just drawn; she figured that some higher being must have been smiling down on her. "I activate Foolish Burial to send Apprentice Magician to my graveyard. Now I activate Spellbook of Life, by banishing Apprentice Magician from my graveyard and reveal Spellbook of Power from my hand. Confused? Spellbook of Life allows me to special summon Hermit of Prophecy from my graveyard in attack mode, just as long as I equip it with this card. Rise again Hermit of Prophecy!"

A black portal emerged in the middle of the field and the blue clothed mage floated out if it.

"Furthermore, the equipped monster's level is increased by the level of the monster that was banished for this card's activation. Apprentice Magician is a level two monster, so Hermit's level is increased to level five (5/1200/700). I haven't normal summoned this turn, so I summon Star Drawing (4/1600/1000)." Mari could feel her confidence increase tremendously when she saw the minuscule white spellcaster with his gold and pink wand.

Yumi breathed out a sigh of relief; thank goodness she doesn't have the correct monster levels to Xyz Summon this turn.

Mari could see that Yumi wasn't worried, "Oh and if you think that you're safe, allow me to prove you wrong. Star Drawing's ability is a very special one for when I use it in a Xyz Summon; it can be treated as a level five monster (5/1600/1000)!" Star Drawing raised his golden wand and drew a childish five pointed star in a gold colour.

Yumi gasped, she has two level fives! This isn't going to end well!

Mari raised her right hand in front of her, "I overlay the level five Hermit of Prophecy and Star Drawing to build the Overlay Network!" The two EARTH monsters transformed into two beams of brown light and flew up into the air, intertwining before flying into the large red portal that had suddenly appeared in the centre of the field. "Appear before us! The emissary of darkness that will destroy everything in its path! Adreus, Keeper of Armageddon (5/2600/1700)!"

In a bang of purple light, a black cloud floated out of the red portal before a set of red eyes appeared in the middle of the cloud. A pair of black feathery wings followed, along with a black robe, black gloves, long black hair which shrouded the monster's face and finally, a red sword hung by Adreus' side. Two purple Overlay Units orbited him.

The huge crowd of people gasped, apart from Shark who just crossed his arms across his chest and looked mildly impressed.

"I swear if Yumi can't counter this move, then she clearly still has a long way to go before she can call herself a duelist." He murmured under his breath.

Yumi then went on to panic, "I'm doomed, I'm doomed, I'm dooooooooomed!"

Shark then went on to roll his eyes, "You baka! Look at Adreus' attack points and Fairy Cheer Girl's attack points, they're equal."

"...Oh yeah,"

Mari proceeded to face palm. How she got me down to 2600 Life Points, I'll never know.

"It's not Adreus' attack points you should be worried about. I activate his ability and detach one Overlay Unit, this lets me target one face-up card my opponent controls and destroy it. I choose your Fairy Cheer Girl." Adreus drew his sword out of its sheath and pointed it at the tiny female monster, red light zapped out of it, digitising her.

Yumi could only watch in horror as Mari continued her move, realising that she could still attack this turn.

"I'm not done yet, Adreus! Attack that girl directly!" The DARK attribute monster complied and flew over to Yumi, he slashed her across the chest and she screamed, falling to her feet.

Mari: 2600
Yumi: 1400

But Mari showed no signs of stopping, a wild look had appeared in her eyes and she plucked another card out of her hand before placing it into her pink Duel Disk.

"And just so I can destroy any last shred of hope you have, I activate Night Beam! This allows me to target one set spell or trap card on your field and destroy it, plus you can't activate that card in response!" A thick yellow beam hit Yumi's face-down card while Mari smirked. The tan skin girl hung her head down in shame, her hair curtained her face.

"There, that'll teach you to keep your nose out of matters that don't concern you. I have nothing against you and you don't have to suffer like this, I just want Shark to pay." Mari sighed, flinging one of her ponytails over her shoulder.

Oh God, she's probably crying like the little baby she is. Yumi acts like a tough girl, but she's so wimpy.

Yumi didn't say a word; she rose to her feet with her head hung low and held her right hand out, causing a face-up trap card to appear to the right side of her body. "Trap activate, Light of Hope."

Mari's eyes bulged out slightly, "What? I just destroyed your face-down card and Night Beam's effect doesn't allow you to activate it in response!"

Yumi lifted her head up and instead of crying like Mari suspected, she had a determined look in her eyes and her lips were set in a straight line. "Light of Hope symbolises the hope I have in my heart for protecting Shark-kun, even though this duel looks bleak for me, I won't be giving up anytime soon."

Mari had to hold back a yawn, "You finished with your vomit inducing speech yet?"

"How can somebody my age be so full of hate? You're only thirteen, what reason do you have for being so angry at the world?" Yumi demanded in an annoyed tone of voice, although she was mildly curious.

The blondette knew that the noirette wouldn't stop pestering her until she answered her question, so with a groan, she told her story.

"I used to be as naive as you. Back in kindergarten, I was popular and had many friends but when I reached first grade, they all found somebody better than me and left me. Eventually during second grade, I met this girl and we were friends for the next three years. Her name was Trisha and I thought she was my friend, but she was just using me to make herself look better!

"That ruined my reputation and everybody thought I had some sort of mental disability, how could an eleven year old girl defend herself?! I ended up having to move schools; I was foolish enough to believe that the worst was over. Once again I was used to make other people look better, making myself look disabled in the end. Well after leaving that school and coming to Heartland Middle, I decided that I was destined to be alone. However one boy made me think different, that was Reizo. Like me, he was an outcast who couldn't trust other people, he was my only ally in this school and he gave me a reason to stay at this school. At least until..." Mari pointed over to Shark and gave him the direst look she could muster.

"He destroyed Reizo in a duel, along with Reizo's confidence! After that day, Reizo decided that he rather be homeschooled then come back to school and once again, I was alone. That's why I believe that people will never change! Every single person is a selfish bastard who is only looking out for themselves, so that's why I can't comprehend why you continue to defend Shark!" Mari finished, clenching her left hand into a fist.

A couple of tears trailed down Yumi's face, "You mean you lost your only friend because of Shark-kun?" She snapped her head over to Shark's direction and there was a look of uncertainty in her eyes.

Maybe I shouldn't be defending Shark, I mean, I know that he's changed but is that enough to make up for his past? He practically did take away Mari's only friend and turned her into a vengeful bitch.

Mari nodded in agreement, "He should pay and suffer like Reizo suffered."

Shark chose that moment to step in, "But then what? Sure you can duel me and maybe even by some miracle you defeat me, is that really going to bring your friend back?"

"Shut up! You don't deserve to speak!" Mari roared, tears threatened to spill out of her eyes and she only just managed to hold them back.

"I do if I'm defending myself an-wait, why am I even trying to defend myself to the likes of you?! My conscience is clear and if your friend doesn't choose to speak to you anymore, well it's not like I told him to do that." Shark said in a matter-of-fact voice.

Mari was stunned, even though she didn't want to admit it, Shark did have a point. Sure he was responsible for Reizo not coming to school, but it was Reizo's choice to not speak to Mari. She talked about how every person in the world was selfish...so didn't that make Reizo selfish as well?

Great, I'm starting to doubt my own cause. But why am I fighting for somebody who has clearly forgotten about me? I hate myself for saying this, but that douchebag Shark is right. Reizo deserves to burn in Hell for ignoring me, this duel is pointless now. I might as well leave now with some of my dignity still intact.

"You know what? I quit, I can't take this duel anymore. Combined with," she gestured to Yumi, "your perkiness and his existence. I'm going home."

However just as Mari got ready to leave, Yumi wiped her tears with the back of her hand and stopped Mari.

"Hey you can't leave now Mari-san, we still haven't finished this duel. And a true duelist never leaves a duel half finished." She smiled, stopping Mari in the act of removing her D-Gazer.

"What are you saying?" Mari inquired.

"I'm saying I activate the effect for Light of Hope. When this card is destroyed, I can target one Xyz Monster in my graveyard and special summon that monster in face-up attack mode. Unfortunately its attack and defense points become 0, and it is treated as having a level monster that is one level higher than its rank. Welcome back Fairy Cheer Girl (5/0/0) in attack mode."

A black portal outlined with black runes emerged in the centre of the field. Fairy Cheer Girl shooted out of it, banging her yellow pom poms together once again.

Mari was intrigued; I wonder where she's going with this? Surely she realises that unless a miracle happens, she's going to lose next turn.

Yumi noticed Mari's curiosity, "You might as well stay until the end of this duel."

Come on Mari, ride this duel out. Let my feelings of friendship come through to you.

Mari started to weigh up her options; I've never left a duel half finished before. It would be wrong for me to start now, plus I clearly have the advantage.

"Fine, this duel won't last long anyway. I set two cards face-down to end my turn." She nodded her head in Yumi's direction.

"Here I go Mari, I draw. I banish the Constellar Algiedi in my graveyard to special summon the Ghost Ship (5/1900/1000) in my hand." A decrepit brown ship with a ripped white pirate flag sailed onto the field. A few wailing white spirits surrounded it, which creeped Mari out slightly.

"I see you have two level five monsters, are you going to do what I think you are?" Mari noted.

Yumi nodded, "You better believe. Here I go! I overlay level five Ghost Ship and Fairy Cheer Girl to construct the Overlay Network once more." The two monsters transformed into two beams of bright gold light and flew up into the air, intertwining before flying into the large red portal that had suddenly appeared in the centre of the field. "Descend before us! The emissary of light that will restore everything in its path! Tiras, Keeper of Genesis (5/2600/1700)!"

In a bang of yellow light, a white light illuminated the field and a man with golden wings descended onto the field. He had long white hair tied into two bunches, soft gold eyes, brilliant gold wings and white battle armour. In his right gloved hand, he wielded a long silver sword and in his left, a large white circular shield. Two yellow Overlay Units orbited him.

"I equip Tiras with Mist Body; this means he cannot be destroyed in battle. Now battle!" Yumi shouted.

Tiras obeyed Yumi's command and flew over to Adreus, the fiend-type monster used his own blade to attack Tiras but the fairy-type monster blocked the attack with his shield.

"I activate Waboku! This prevents my monster from being destroyed by battle this turn." Mari managed to counter with one of her face-down cards.

The two monsters rebounded off of each other and returned to their previous positions on the field. But Yumi was prepared for a move like this and with a devious look on her face, she revealed the effect of Tiras.

"Your monster won't survive this turn! The light will always brighten the darkest of places, or in this case, destroy Adreus. You see, when Tiras still has its overlay units and attacked or was attacked this turn, it can destroy one card you control. I choose Adreus." She explained as Tiras once again engaged in combat with Adreus, except he managed to stab Adreus in the gut which digitised him.

She destroyed one of my strongest monsters! Most people fall when they face Adreus, but she didn't. Yumi is definitely a strong duelist, that'll make my victory all the more satisfying.

"I set two cards face-down and its back to you Mari-san."

Mari looked over her current hand, Adreus may have been one of my strongest monsters but it isn't my best monster.

"I activate Pot of Greed; this lets me draw two cards. Now I reveal Spellbook of Power, Spellbook of Secrets and Spellbook of Eternity. This lets me special summon High Priestess of Prophecy (7/2500/2100) in attack mode!" She cried out as she held up the four cards in her hand, slamming one of them onto her Duel Disk.

Three strange books emerged onto the field: A lavender one, an orange one and a light blue one. All of them had strange carvings on their covers, with a crystal core embedded into each of them. All three books opened up, creating auras of magical energy that focused on a single point in the centre of them.

The combined energy changed form. The energy dispelled, revealing the monster within: A well-endowed woman, clad in an elegant yet revealing silver-white outfit, an odd hat covering part of her bubblegum pink hair. The woman's green eyes shot open, and a neon greenish book materialised, which she grabbed. Most of the male onlookers began to whistle at the sight of female spellcaster.

I swear some men are so immature, Mari thought and scoffed.

"Amazing move Mari-san, I can just feel your passion." Yumi complimented.

Mari could feel this strange sensation in her stomach that was unusual, but it wasn't unpleasant.

"Thank you, but don't expect me to go easy on you because I activate my face-down trap card, Magician's Peril. By sending one Spellcaster-Type Xyz Monster in my extra deck to the graveyard, I can detach all Overlay Units from every non Spellcaster-Type Xyz Monster on the field. Tiras may have a lot of special abilities, but only if it still has its Overlay Units. I choose my Empress of Prophecy." Mari could feel her confidence increase, tenfold.

"Darn it, not many people figure out Tiras' ability that quickly. I activate the trap card, Solar Ray. This allows me to inflict 600 points of damage to my opponent's Life Points for each face-up LIGHT monster on my side of the field. Tiras counts as one, so you lose 600 Life Points." Tiras pointed his sword at Mari and a lightning bolt hit her, causing her to fly backwards.

"Oooof," she could feel the air getting knocked out of her lungs.

Mari: 2000
Yumi: 1400

That's one face-down card gone; I wonder what the other one is? Mari contemplated as she rose to her feet.

"I banish Spellbook of Secrets from my hand to activate High Priestess' effect! This allows me to destroy one card on the field and destroy it, I choose Tiras." High Priestess grabbed a lavender book that had appeared in front of her, it transformed into a lavender ball of light that she threw at Tiras.

Yumi tried to keep her footing, but ultimately failed and landed onto her stomach.

"I'm not finished yet! I activate Spellbook of Power, this powers up High Priestess by 1000 attack points (7/3500/2100)." An aged orange book became visible in the pink haired mage's hands; she opened it and as her eyes scanned over it, she was surrounded by an orange aura. "Now attack Yumi directly and win me this duel!"

High Priestess balled her hands together and an orange ball of energy gathered in her hands. With a yell, she threw the ball at Yumi. Luckily Yumi managed to activate her second face-down card at the last second.

"I activate Scrap-Iron Scarecrow! If a monster declares an attack, I can negate that attack." A blue pole with a grey pilot's helmet and barbed wire popped up in front of Yumi, absorbing the attack. "Plus I can set this card again instead of sending it to the graveyard."

"Humph, I end my turn."

Mari has some serious skills and my hand is horrible, unless I draw something good then I am finished. Yumi tried to calm herself down, she knew that if she panicked then she would definitely lose the duel.

"I draw, yoshi! I activate Card Destruction; we discard our hands and draw the same amount of cards we discarded."

At first, Mari was annoyed because she was rather fond of her hand, though her face brightened at the sight of her new hand. Yumi was a bit irked because her hand had improved, but only slightly.

"I...I...I...I special summon Cyber Dragon (5/2100/1600) in defense mode." Yumi stuttered, a silver serpent monster slithered out of the ground and curled its body. "I haven't normal summoned this turn, so I summon Fairy Archer (3/1400/600) in defense mode. I activate her effect, by not attacking this turn then I can inflict 400 points of damage to my opponent for every LIGHT monster I control. I control two, so you lose 800 Life Points."

The brunette fairy pulled back the arrow on her yellow bow before releasing it; two pink arrows flew at Mari. The blondette raised her arm to shield her face.

Mari: 1200
Yumi: 1400

"I'll end my turn on that note." Yumi sounded rather cheerful but secretly she was worried about Mari's next move.

"It's my turn, draw!" Mari locked her eyes onto Yumi's in a heated stare. "This is the last turn!"

"What?" Yumi gasped, "How?"

"I'll show you how, with my Card of Demise. This handy spell card allows me to draw until I have five cards in my hand, but in five turns I have to send every card in my hand to my graveyard." She quickly replenished her hand and closed her eyes, visualising her new card combo.

"I activate High Priestess' effect and banish Spellbook of Judgement from my hand, say goodbye to your face-down card." High Priestess grabbed the black book that had appeared in front of her, it transformed into a black ball of light that she threw at Yumi's face-down card which exploded on impact.

"Next I activate Spellbook of Miracles which allows me to target one Spellcaster-Type Xyz Monster in my graveyard and up to two of my banished 'Spellbook' spell cards; then I can special summon that monster, and if I do, I can attach the targeted 'Spellbook' spell cards to it as Overlay Units." The familiar black portal reappeared in the centre of the field, except a multitude of rainbow lights rose out of it with a regal looking woman in the middle of it.

She had creamy porcelain skin, piercing green eyes, long silver hair that was covered with a green and white headdress. Her outfit consisted of a stylish sleeveless ankle dress that matched the colour scheme of her headdress; in her gloved left hand she wielded a silver and gold sceptre. Two yellow Overlay Units shooted out of the black portal that Empress of Prophecy had appeared from, they began to orbit her.

"Empress of Prophecy (5/2000/1700) gains 300 attack points for every Overlay Units attached to her, she has two so her attack power increases by 600 (5/2600/1700). However I detach one Overlay Unit to activate her effect, it forces me to shuffle my deck and reveal the top five cards in my deck. Let us see what the future has in store," Mari picked up the first five cards on her deck and exposed them.

The five cards were: Spellbook of Wisdom, Spellbook Magician of Prophecy, Strength of Prophecy, Magician's Circle and Spellbook of Fate. Just what Mari wanted.

"For every 'Spellbook' card I revealed, I can destroy monsters equal to the number of 'Spellbook' cards. I had two so I choose to destroy your Cyber Dragon and Fairy Archer." Mari explained as Empress of Prophecy lifted her sceptre high in the air, suddenly two rays of yellow light vaporised Yumi's two LIGHT monsters.

Yumi gasped before covering her mouth with the back of her left hand, "No, I'm wide open for an attack!"

Mari nodded, "This was a...interesting duel but all good things must come to an end. High Priestess of Prophecy, attack Yumi directly with Rune Blast!"

The scantily clad spellcaster disappeared into thin air and abruptly reappeared in front of Yumi, she blasted the noirette with a golden ball of energy which sent her flying backwards.

"Ahhhhhhhhh," she exclaimed while landing onto her back.

Mari: 1200
Yumi: 0
WIN: Mari!

The Augmented Reality began to disintegrate; Mari removed her D-Gazer along with the rest of the spectators. Yumi stayed on her back for a few seconds in shock before finally rising to her feet in silence, Mari could tell that something about Yumi's mood had changed.

"Mari-san..." Yumi trailed off while slowly walking towards the tarot card duelist who was silently panicking in her head.

She was considering running away when Yumi suddenly looked up at her with a cheerful expression on her face, and wrapped her arms around Mari's neck. Mari almost tripped up but the star duelist's grip didn't loosen.

"I'm your new best friend!" Yumi practically sung, causing Mari's face to slightly blanche.

"Excuse me?" Mari choked out, not believing what she just heard.

"We dueled so that makes us friends, but because you told me how you don't have many friends, that makes me your new best friend. Yaaaaay, I've always wanted to have a female friend my age that can duel amazingly. Now we can have sleepovers, do makeovers, duel each other, and talk about boys. It sounds like so much fun!" Yumi recited as Mari started to viciously thrash about, trying (and failing) to escape the girl's octopus grip.

"We're going to be BFFs foreverrrrrrrr!" She practically sang.

"Waaaaaaaaaahhhhh somebody save me! I don't know what 'BFFs' mean and the forever part sounds horrible! I can't even stand to be around this girl for one millisecond, let alone forever!" Mari wailed as the spectators began to laugh at her dilemma.

"What's your favourite colour? Mine's purple! What about your favourite cake? I love hot chocolate fudge!"