Dark: Been out of it for a while, things needing to get done, etc. I'm definitely not the most consistent writer, but I hope I make up for it with quality. Also, as a note: I was typing this up for a forum, so if I accidentally left in some bb code by accident, please ignore it D: Anyways, Jack, Manjoume and Kaiba aren't here right now for super happy fun time because they need to hide from-

Kaito: LET ME HUNT FOR YOUR SOUL!

Dark: God dammit ZeXal...

Kaito: Galaxy-Eyes! Kick this show off! Photon Stream of Destruction!

Dark: Start the damn fic already. -

Chapter 7: With Great Power Comes Great Trouble Part 1

Tyler got back to his dorm room later that day, as the sun began its descent beneath the waves of the Atlantic Ocean. Even as Tyler twisted his key into the lock, he had to admit to himself that the view was breath-taking. That date he wanted to take Violet on should have been on the beach instead of in that boring courtyard. But no, she had decided to just get it over and done with using a small lunch period.

And now that Tyler had time to think about it, that date was interrupted by Nick and his love life. Anguished, Tyler bonked his head on the door and groaned. His only chance on a date with Violet and he blew it helping out his friend. Granted, that was a pretty serious situation, and on a plus side, he managed to get Violet's PDA ID. Mumbling to himself, he entered the room he shared with Adam, "I'll have to invite her over to a beach party or something next day off we get."

Because the students lived at the school, the faculty expected them to go to school 6 days a week, only getting holidays and Sundays off. And only the big holidays, like Thanksgiving and Christmas and them. Sunday was usually spent doing the mass amounts of homework the students received. Mostly from Professor Weinhammer, Tyler noted to himself. Inside his room, he found Adam sitting there on the floor, cross-legged with his cards laid out in front of him.

"Hey, Tyler. Just tweaking my deck a bit." Adam spoke as he resumed his thoughts.

"Oh well, have fun with that. I just got back from joining the Disciplinary Committee, no big deal." He shrugged.

No, he wasn't trying to hide his smugness, yes, he was proud of himself, and yes, he would like a cookie for his troubles.

"Oh? So how was that?" Adam asked, half-curious, half-indulging.

"Weeeeeeeeeell, I kinda got my assed handed to me. But I went down fighting!" Tyler punched the air. "And my partner was Zephyr in a tag match! He was really something! If it weren't for him I'm pretty sure we would have lost earlier than we did."

"Cool, cool. Hey, wanna help me test out my deck a bit? Not anything fancy like with our disks, just a quick tabletop game. The new banlist came out, so I was just editing my deck to fit it. Gotta keep my game up to date if I wanna get better, you know?"

"Sure, no prob. Hunter and Nullita, they're people in the Committee, they helped me with my deck a bit. Gave me a couple of tips and stuff when I lost epically, showed me the new banlist. I'm surprised they finally got around to banning Spellbooks Inside the Pot! Card is crazy good! And I used to love Soul Resonance! Helped me win my duel with Allen."

"I know, right?" Adam laughed and gathered up his cards. "Alright," he announced, shuffling his deck, "Let's do this!"

Tyler pulled out his deck from his duel disk and started manually shuffling it. He felt a surge of nostalgia as he shuffled with his hands, far too used to his duel disk's automated shuffling system. The duel disk was a gift from his mother for his 15th birthday, to replace his old one: a Battle City model with rusted edges and a tarnished shine he got on E-bay for $60. Best 60 bucks he had ever spent. It didn't have the auto-shuffle mechanism the newer models had, so he always had to manually shuffle.

He sat down and placed his deck on the floor in front of him as Adam pulled out a piece of paper. "I'll keep track of life points, okay?"

Tyler nodded, then inquired, "So how do we choose who starts? Coin flip? Die roll?"

Adam shrugged. "Well, me and my friends back home, when we played on tabletop, always cut our decks, and whichever card had a name that started with the letter closest to 'A' would choose." He cut his deck to reveal a Counter Trap Card: Extrio's Fang.

Tyler cut his own deck and revealed a monster: Exploder Dragon. Tyler chuckled, "Wow that was a close cut. I'll start us off."

He drew his starting five, as did Adam, then declared his turn and drew.

"I'll Normal Summon Spear Dragon in Attack Mode…" he declared, placing the monster onto the floor in front of him.

The Next Morning…

Micah stood outside the door, arms folding and foot tapping. Where were Adam and Tyler? If they didn't wake up soon, they'd be late for class. And no matter how much Adam hated waking up in the morning, he never slept in.

She knocked on the door again, her knuckles rapping loudly against the wooden door, which was in need of replacing. As was pretty much everything else about the Slifer building. She decided to call them out, "Adam! Tyler! Wake up!"

Once again, her calls went without response. She decided to actually try to open the door. Respecting their privacy was a moot point at this stage. What she saw forced her to hold in a laugh. Adam and Tyler were lying down on the floor, asleep, hands on their cards, playing tabletop. Next to Adam were four or five sheets of paper with varying numbers on it, each set starting at 4000. Upon a closer inspection, it turned out that both sides of the papers had been used to keep score. Micah accurately deduced that they had spent the entire night dueling.

And now they were about to pay the price of irresponsible bed times. "HEY! WAKE UP NUMBSKULLS!"

You've never seen anyone wake up like Adam and Tyler did just then. Heads crashed into the low bed, the crappy dresser, each other, hands scrambling for cards, eyes glancing at the clock, shock spreading out on their faces as they saw the time. Really, it was priceless. As the two bounded around the room in hysterics, they shouted at each other.

"Dumbass!" Tyler exclaimed, "You shoulda just let it end after round 15!"

Adam shot back, "And what about you, Mr. 'One-More-Then-We'll-Call-It-A-Night'!"

"That's such a lame comeback."

At this point Tyler had removed his shirt and was in the process of dropping his pants when he noticed Micah standing there in the doorway. "The hell! Micah, get out of here!"

She laughed at them some more and glanced over at Adam, whose head was stuck in his shirt. She walked over to him and told him to stay still as she unbuttoned a few buttons on his shirt, which let him slide it off easier.

"Better?" She asked gazing at him.

Adam turned red, and replied with a whisper into her ear. Micah smiled and kissed him on the cheek, then announced she would be heading to class. "I'm not sure if Jack will let you off the hook for this one Ty, and I know Mrs. Yuki hates tardy students! So yeah, later!"

Tyler stuck out his tongue after her, then turned to his roomie, his face still red from embarrassment. "Your girlfriend annoys the crap out of me, I hope you know that."

Adam smiled, and faced him. "Maybe it's because she's like a female you. Loud, obnoxious, mocking, yet she has a softer side. Kinda like what you got for Violet."

Tyler groaned. "Don't remind me of her. I haven't gotten anywhere with that."

Adam laughed, suddenly choking on his laughter as he remembered why he was in such a rush.

Later That Day…

Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock.

"Alright, the reasons you're here are all different, but let me tell you maggots something!" the imposing man shouted as he stood at the head of the room. He was Coach Carpenter, the gym teacher, and also head of discipline. He was the guy the Disciplinary Committee turned all of their people into after they caught them. Tyler hadn't met him before now.

"We treat all of our troublemakers with strict discipline! This is why you are all to remain in this room, without speaking a word for the next hour and a half!"

Tyler sat with his head resting on his arms, trying to go to sleep. He sighed. Not a good way to tell people he was in the Committee. He saw Vic sitting there, silently working on his homework. When they had entered the room, they greeted each other warmly, but were cut short by the Coach and his 'No Talking' rule. Immediately he had been singled out, due to his newfound status as a member of the DC. Chewed out for no other reason than him being late.

Bored out of his mind, Tyler began to sort out his favorite songs in his head, as he wasn't able to listen to his iPod. A song found its way worming into his brain.

He started whispering to himself the words, the drums, bass and guitar all flowing in his head in time to the lyrics.

He briefly wondered what all of his friends were doing…

Well, except for Adam, whom he was sitting right next to.

Micah was lying in her bed, reading a magazine she had bought at the student store. Her roommate, Lenore Swiss, was sitting on the floor filing her nails.

"So where's this boyfriend of yours? I thought you two were hanging out tonight." The blonde asked the redhead.

Micah sighed. "Oh, he's in detention." Her tone was nonchalant, almost uncaring.

Lenore immediately perked up. "Oooo, so what did he do? Get in a fight? Mug someone?"

Micah giggled and replied, "No, the dummy stayed up all night dueling and woke up late. He was pretty cute when he couldn't work himself out of his shirt though."

Both girls giggled in their girlish ways.

"Okay, so if I play Shrink during my opponents Damage Step, they'll have fewer options to counter with since only a few cards can work at that point?" A Slifer with black hair asked Nick Stryder, as they were in the library.

"That's right. Shrink is a good card because almost all the time it will make your opponent's monster weaker." He replied. "And since very few cards work in the damage step, your opponent will have fewer things that can stop Shrink."

Nick had taken up being a student tutor, which was odd considering he was a first-year but due to his exceptional grades, the faculty made an exception. Mrs. Yuki and Jack had both already recommended him to be graduated to Obelisk Blue, which he was excited to hear about. Weinhammer had stated that if he could tutor students and raise their grades, then he would consider letting him join the dorm. The Chancellor agreed to this, which was why Nick was helping out Slifer students.

When he heard this announcement, he thought to himself, 'Amelia…I'll do my best to become someone strong you can depend on!'

Allen placed his knight next to Zephyr's bishop, knowing it would be safe there. 'Idiot…' he thought in reference to Tyler. Kid goes and joins and says he'll do his best, then gets late to class the very next day, causing him to get detention and not be able to get to the Committee room like they had planned. Zephyr contemplated his next move as Allen thought silently to himself.

Hunter was on the computer updating the Academy's web page, introducing their two newest members, Zephyr and Tyler, and Nullita was sitting down, reading a book.

The whole scene had a vaguely familiar feel to it, but Allen couldn't place it. He shrugged and continued to place his chess pieces in methodical order, almost as if the game were playing itself.

A knock was heard at the door. Nullita glanced at Hunter, who glanced at Allen, who glanced up towards Zephyr, who glanced towards… the seat where Tyler should have been sitting. He sighed and stood up to get the door. Upon opening it, he found a brunette girl with green eyes, a neutral expression on her face.

"Is Allen here?" She asked the Committee newbie.

Zephyr turned to let her inside, "Allen, this girl wants to talk to you."

Allen stood up. "Violet? What are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to talk to you."

Allen turned to Hunter, who had leaned back in his chair to listen in. "Go ahead. We got Zephyr here to pick up the slack." He waved him off. "Go on," he commanded, "We'll be fine."

Allen nodded and turned back to the Obelisk girl. "Alright, looks like I'm free at the moment."

Minutes later, they found themselves in the student courtyard, a large, open area with picnic tables where students could sit, eat lunch, and bask in the sun, duel or generally just chill. "So what's up?"

"Ah nothing," She replied. "It's just that we haven't hung out like we used to. I haven't seen you in so long I almost forgot what you looked like." She laughed as she sat down at a picnic table.

Despite himself, he really couldn't blame Tyler for falling for her. If he were here, he would be stumbling all over himself if he saw her, the way the sun hit her, her hair lighting up, almost adding a golden glow to it. Which brought up a memory of when they first reunited…

"Why did you dye your hair?"

Violet looked surprised. "Huh? Oh, so you noticed. I thought you wouldn't remember. Yeah, I've been dyeing it for about 2 years now. A year after you moved." She laughed and turned to the side, grabbing some of her hair in hand.

Allen narrowed his gaze. "That's not answering the question."

Violet rolled her eyes. "Okay okay, just stop with the third-degree. I just felt like a change was needed. People always saw my hair first and me second, and I just couldn't take it anymore."

"I didn't think your old hair color was so bad."

"Your hair is dark green. Naturally. How could anyone compete with that?"

"Yeah but…"

"Hey Allen!" That was when Tyler had come running up.

"Yeah well, I think it's mainly because you've been doing your thing and I've been doing mine." Allen sat down across from her, after the foreshadowing had finished.

"But we should see each other more often!" Violet whined. "You're like the pseudo-brother I never had."

Allen leaned off to the side and laughed, conceding. "Okay, okay. I hear you." He propped up his head with his right hand. "So what do you think of the school? As a concerned pseudo-brother of course."

Violet smiled a bit. "It's pretty cool. I've been learning a lot, meeting new people, making new friends, you know, new kid at a new school stuff. Classes take up so much time though, I haven't really gotten to duel much. So far it's all been theory."

Allen chuckled. "That's how it is. Don't worry, eventually you'll start getting some more hands-on experience in the classroom. Or you could just challenge random people out here."

Violet shifted slightly. "I dunno, I would feel a little awkward about asking for a duel. I think I'll just wait for the right challenger to appear."

"So, anyone in particular got your eye?" Immediately she knew where he was hinting at.

"You mean Tyler, don't you?" He nodded in response. "I think he's a cool guy to hang with, but I don't know about anything other than that. He seems pretty…guarded if you ask me. He wants to be close to people, but never opens up to them. Or maybe I'm just making something from nothing."

Allen nodded. "Yeah, that's what I'm getting too. You know, he's got a lot of Duel Energy. Enough to knock me off balance."

Violet nodded back. "Yeah, I felt that in our first duel. It was tremendous. But I think he held back subconsciously. If he used enough power to knock you over, then he must not have much control. Have you talked about this with anyone else?"

"Only Hunter and Null. They said that if he got into anything, it'd be my job to bail him out." Allen scratched his head. "Geez, that's so troublesome."

"So what are you gonna do about it?"

He shrugged in response. "I don't know; maybe just outright tell him he needs to stay in check or something. Subtlety isn't really something I'm practiced at. Not like Hunter or Null…"

Violet laughed. "You know what would be fun? We haven't had a game in a while, and I wouldn't want you to get rusty. After all, Tyler was the one who beat you…"

Allen laughed. "I'm not on the same level I was back then. I've grown leagues stronger. Tyler caught me off-guard is all."

Violet laughed. "From Tyler's side it sounded like he ran you through the washer, dryer and back again just to make sure."

"Nope. He lied. He had two lucky cards I never thought he would pull out." Allen responded.

"Tyler definitely is a wild card. I think that's why people are attracted to him." The brunette mused.

"'Attracted' you say?" Allen teased. The girl gave him a playful smack before answering.

"I didn't mean like that!" She laughed. "I just meant that despite being a complete goof, he manages to get people together."

Allen quickly laughed to himself. "Yeah, he has that air of 'main character-ness'."

The conversation quickly died down between them and Allen smirked at the joke he made that only he would understand. Violet took the moment to drink in the surrounding area, a beautiful fountain in the middle spouting water into a koi pond. The tree branches swaying in the wind, the sun shining down upon the courtyard, the few students standing together and laughing at inside jokes and past experiences, it all came together into a serene tapestry of the high school life. A high school with card games, mind you, but a high school nonetheless.

But the serenity was broken by a shaky call. "Uh, V-Violet Nors!"

Violet snapped her head around at the call of her name. She saw nobody who would be looking her way, but suddenly she realized that someone actually was there. He had blonde hair and blue eyes, wore a blue blazer marking his Obelisk dorm status, and was about Tyler's height. He would be mistaken for a prince of some faraway land if not for his cowardly demeanor. He was hiding behind a tree, and that was just the start of his problems.

Violet stood up slowly. "Yes?"

"I-I would like to request a duel!" He stepped out from behind the tree, his hands shaking at his sides. He bowed in politeness. "Please accept my offer!" His voice was strained, like he was forcing the words out.

Violet raised an eyebrow and turned to face Allen, who just shrugged. "I don't know him."

"M-My name is Guy O'Ryan." He gulped audibly. "The re-reason I wish to duel you is because..." he took several deep breaths, "...because I wish to show you my resolve. I love you!" His face was a bright red, practically glowing in intensity.

Violet's eyes widened. Allen coughed. Both were thinking the exact same thing: 'Coming on a little strong there, buddy.'

"Calm down there, Guy." Violet responded. "I'll accept your challenge. I wonder if you can keep up." Her voice had a hint of playfulness, but Allen caught the hidden meaning. She was really saying 'Can you relieve my boredom?' This can't end well.

Guy immediately brightened up. "R-Really! Yes!" He quickly smacked the activation button on his duel disk and it whirred to life, the solid vision plates turned rainbow as it prepared to reveal his cards.

Violet walked over to the side of the table and activated her own disk in a calm manner. Allen suddenly felt her duel energy flare up. Why was she going so hard on the guy? Allen checked Guy's energy levels, and trust him, they were nowhere near 9000. This won't end well.

V: 4000

G: 4000

"Since you challenged me, I'll take the first turn." Violet declared. She drew her sixth card as Allen took a glance at her hand. He had to keep himself from choking on air. Violet had topped into [i]the nuts[/i]. Unless Guy did [u]something[/u] he wouldn't be showing Violet anything other than his life point counter dropping to zero. The ending to this was paved in this guy's blood.

"I'll set one monster. Your turn." Violet ended. This would be her giving him a chance at least.

The poor guy, however, had no idea. He drew his next card. "Phantom Beast Cross-Wing (1300/1000) in attack mode!" A golden bird appeared, with wings serving as both arms and legs. "Attack her monster!"

Guy's beast leapt forth and rended Violet's sole monster to shreds. "That was Apprentice Magician. When he's destroyed in battle, I can call upon any level 2 or lower Spellcaster from my deck. I'll summon Night's End Sorcerer to my field." The dark mage appeared with his scythe and set himself facedown.

"With this facedown I end." The reversed card appeared, Guy smirking. Whether it was from excitement, or happiness it was about to be wiped from his face faster than grease on a grill.

Allen groaned. This wouldn't be pretty. Violet however, smirked. "My turn, draw!" As she declared the beginning of her turn, several people had walked up to view the duel. A few people behind Violet saw her hand and laughed out loud.

"I'll flip summon my Night's End Sorcerer, then summon Magical Exemplar to the field." The green robed woman appeared to do Violet's bidding. "Spell card, activate. Terraforming." Violet's voice turned dark and mysterious. "With this, I can add any Field Spell from my Deck to my hand. I'll add my Magical Citadel of Endymion." A card slid out from the middle of Violet's deck, which she grabbed. "Then I'll play it right now! Arise, my Magical City!"

As the field slot closed with the card set into place, the walls of the student courtyard suddenly began to shift. What was once red brick became grey stone, runes adorning the walls. What had once been viewed as the school's fountain became covered in magical stones, sprouting water in impossible fashions, attainable only by the use of magic. The far off sight of the tower that served as the main building transformed into the bell tower of Endymion's Citadel. People who weren't aware of the duel suddenly were as their surroundings were altered drastically to the whim of a single duelist.

As four flaming orbs appeared over Exemplar, Violet explained, "When I activate a Spell card, Magical Exemplar gains two Spell Counters. Since I played Terraforming and Citadel, she gains 4 Counters. But the fun isn't over yet. By removing any number of Spell Counters, I can call upon a Spellcaster in my hand or graveyard of the same level! I remove 4 counters and call upon this from my hand, Madou Senshi - BREAKER!" The red armored warrior appeared as Violet slammed the card down onto her disk, his sword gleaming in the sunlight.

Allen groaned. Violet had called out her swordsman just like Mutou Yugi had always done, introducing him by his original name.

"Next up, Spell Power Grasp!" Violet placed the Spell within her duel disk, the card rising up and glowing with power, as Exemplar gained 2 flaming orbs above her. Simultaneously, the bell tower rang and glowed a red light, a flaming orb hovered in front of the face of the clock.

"I can now add 1 Spell Counter to any card on the field that can hold them. I choose Madou Senshi - Breaker!" The Magical Warrior's sword turned a bright red color, as his attack points rose. (1600 -1900) "And with his power, I can now remove that counter to wipe away your facedown card! [b]Break Slash![/b]" Breaker swung his blade and an arc of magical power erupted from the tip, shattering Guy's facedown Horn of the Phantom Beast.

"And now I can add another Spell Power Grasp to my hand from my deck." Violet said as the card slid out for her to grab. "However, I'm limited to only one Power Grasp a turn."

Guy gulped. What was happening? Violet was...so overwhelming. He found himself falling for her all over again, a look of awe plastered on his face. The jeers of classmates around him never reached him. He had eyes and ears only for Violet at this point.

"Now, I'll tune my Night's End Sorcerer with Breaker." the brunette declared. The dark mage spun his scythe around in an intricate fashion before transforming into two rings of green light. Breaker floated through both rings and transformed into four shining white orbs as Violet chanted her creed.

"Force of magic, appear now in a storm of lightning! Strike the hearts of the weak! Synchro Summon! Raze, Tempest Magician!"

Exemplar's twin appeared, wielding Night's End Sorcerer's scythe and black bats hovering about her. One bat turned a bright red color as Violet continued her move. "When Tempest Magician is Synchro Summoned, she immediately gains 1 Spell Counter. Next, I can discard any number of cards to grant any card I choose more Spell Counters." Violet discarded the last 3 cards in her hand, bringing her Citadel to 4 Counters. "Tempest Magician, attack Cross-Wing."

A scythe swing later, and the Phantom Beast was split in half neatly.

V: 4000

G: 3100

"Exemplar, attack directly." Violet calmly declared. Seconds later, Guy was down to less than half his life points.

V: 4000

G: 1400

Guy gulped. He had been maneuvered around so easily. Was his skill so affected by his infatuation that he wasn't playing right? Or was Violet that powerful? He had one more turn to save himself. To prove to Violet that he was worthy to be hers.

But it wasn't meant to be, as Violet finished her turn in the most dramatic way possible. She pointed up into the sky and declared her next action, as her green eyes seemed to shine in the light, "Finally, I can use Tempest Magician's effect. By removing every Spell Counter on the field, I can inflict you 500 points of damage for every counter removed." Tempest Magician gathered up all 7 orbs of magical fire in a circle. As she began to spin her staff around, the sky darkened as storm clouds appeared, thunder rumbling and lightning flashing across the heavens. "[b]Arcane Lightning![/b]"

Harsh winds picked up. Several students held their things close to their bodies, as Violet's powerful energy literally transformed the holographic winds into real gusts that threatened to tear apart the courtyard. Only Allen sat completely still. People held onto their things for dear life; they clung to each other and anything that was rooted to the ground.

'What is she thinking!' Allen squinted in order to make out the rest of the duel. But all he could see was a torrent of lightning cascade down and strike Guy, who let loose a pained cry as he dropped to his knees and his life dropped to nothing.

V: 4000

G: 0

The clouds parted and sunlight rained through, bathing the courtyard once more in its warm glow. Violet deactivated her disk, and with it the runes upon the walls and the magical stones adorning the fountain vanished. The courtyard returned to its original state as the crowd became silent. Guy was still slumped on the ground, face blank.

Violet smirked in victory. She felt good, letting out all that stress. Everyday was work and study. But this was her day off. And this was her venting. And it was glorious. Allen, however, was less than thrilled. He stood up and roughly grabbed her arm. He dragged her away from the piercing stares of the other students. Violet didn't care that he was about to lecture about her lack of restraint, rolling over Guy had felt good.

As soon as they were out of eyesight, Allen let go of the girl's arm and rounded on her. "I don't care that you don't care about my lecture. I don't want you to [i]ever[/i] do that again. It doesn't matter who they are, what they did, or who's mother they insulted. Dropping 3500 points of lightning on somebody isn't kosher. You hear me?"

Violet smiled, the euphoric feeling of pure domination still welling inside of her. "Come on, don't tell me you've never cut loose just once and completely train-wrecked somebody just because you could."

Allen fell silent. He had. Many times. And he knew how addicting the feeling was. "Violet, please listen to me. The more you abuse your power, the higher risk there is of you never being able to duel. Ever again. Playing cards will become so strenuous you probably wouldn't be able to play a game of solitaire. That's how duel energy works." He shook his head. "You shouldn't do that to good people. You shouldn't do that just to relieve stress. You shouldn't even do it to prove a point. And who knows how that kid is going to be after this. You might have just wrecked his entire self-esteem. Maybe even destroyed his very Duelists' Soul."

Violet suddenly felt her stomach drop. That kind of consequence wouldn't sit well with her. "I-I'm sorry. I should go apologize." She turned around to dash back to the courtyard.

Once she arrived, she was met with the crowd of people, but no sign of Guy. Looks of fear flashed across faces and Violet shuddered. Was this how she wanted to be viewed? She turned to the nearest person and asked, "Where did he go?"

The boy responded, "Well, he uhh, he suddenly jumped up and ran away. He looked like he was crying!" The words poured out quickly, Violet only just caught them. That euphoria she felt earlier suddenly didn't feel as worth it as it did before.

She walked numbly back to Allen, eyes downcast. "I'm sorry..."

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to." He responded in his 'older brother/I-told-you-so' voice. Allen sighed. Violet really was sorry, but he saw her when she trounced over Guy. That was her uninhibited. Uncut, as it were. Allen had a knack for seeing the truth beneath a person's facade. Tyler was the one person he couldn't completely nail yet. But everything about him seemed to be so...guarded? Violet set up barriers because she was secretly afraid of hurting people, like she did Guy, but the feeling was too alluring.

Hunter was an asshole straight out and out. He would talk his way around you any way he could just because he could. And Nullita was a vicious lot. Kind and sweet? More like poison honey. Only one person Allen had ever seen actually had an inner personality as nice as her outer persona. But Allen would never let the writer talk about her just yet.

"I want you to know Violet," Allen began, "If you never need to cut loose, and I'm talking only when it's completely unbearable, I'll duel you." He put a hand on her shoulder. "I'll be your punching bag when you need it."

"Thanks..." Violet's voice was hollow. Allen sighed again. Kids these days were too much trouble...

Dark: Yeah, that was pretty harsh Vi.

Kaito: Not bad, but for now, the card of the week! Let's choose from Phantom Beast Cross Wing, Magical Exemplar, Horn of the Phantom Beast, Breaker the Magical Warrior and Tempest Magician!

Dark: I'll pick Magical Exemplar. It's got an easy 1700 ATK, and gains 2 Spell Counters per spell, and in Vi's deck allows it to summon high-leveled monsters with ease, like Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl. And maybe a new headliner or two.

Kaito: You mean Endymion the Master Magician?

Dark: ...*sigh* Yes, that's exactly who I mean.

Anyway, please RnR!