Hey guys I'm back, nothing major about this chapter, hope you guys like it and have fun. And again, thanks for al the comments on the story.
It was late at night as Yuya sat at his desk, finishing his homework before putting them aside and sighing, head in his hands. After a few seconds of silence, he looked up the poster on his bed with his dad on it, smiling confidently, entertaining everyone.
Yusho Sakaki always made people smile, made them happy, put his heart and soul into each and every step and word he shouted. He loved his job and fans, his friends and his family, Yuya had no doubt about that. He was Yuya's hero, the reason he wanted to be a Dueltainer too, because he wanted people to feel what he felt when his father would perform, to spread smiles to others.
For the past three years, Yuya often wondered where his dad disappeared to, if he was okay, and what motivated him to just vanish like that. No one could tell him what happened to his father, not even his mother. And so Yuya decided to try and duel like his father would, to keep his memory in people's minds alive, to feel closer to his father. It was difficult, of course it would, but his dad didn't give up and neither would Yuya.
Yuya knew his father wasn't a coward, but because of his disappearance people just labeled him so as if forgetting everything that he'd done before, all the entertainment, all the enjoyment, and all Yuya wanted was to keep them reminded of how great his father was. It's why he wanted to duel like his father, but over and over again, he failed. He wanted to be a great duelist and he wanted to keep his father's legacy alive, and while Shuzo, Joey and the others were helping with the school itself, people still look at Yusho as a coward, and Yuya hated that.
So instead he became preoccupied with entertaining others over winning a duel. Win or lose, as long as the audience had fun then that was okay. Just seeing people smile and laugh was more important than a victory.
'...But should that really be my priority?' A thought went through his head. 'I tried so much and people can't see it my way. Maybe if I win, maybe if I keep winning they'll see.'
Yuya took his deck and reached for Odd-Eyes Dragon, his most precious card, his favorite Dragon and sighed. 'But am I good enough? Am I strong enough? And even if I was, how could I prove it to people, show them what I can really do? I still want to entertain them, to see them smile.'
'But copying dad's dueling doesn't work."
"No, it really doesn't," Yuya agreed.
He blinked as he sat up, staring at Odd-Eyes and filled with a fire he hadn't felt in a long time. 'I should find my own way to duel…'
Back and forth the mental battle continued, with Yuya wanting many different things yet unable to compromise with himself on what to do. He looked at the cards in his deck deciding what to add and what to remove several times over, by the fourth time he finished but he really wasn't satisfied with what he had inside it, he might need to buy more cards tomorrow.
Yuya took his phone out, laid on his bed and texted Yuzu.
PreformaYuyal :Hey, wanna head with me to buy some new cards after school tomorrow?
He hit send and gave a sigh, shifting through some apps on his phone until Yuzu sent a text back, it didn't take more than a few seconds for her to reply back.
MelodyYuzu:Sure. It would be a good idea for me too.
PreformaYuyal:Great, see ya tomorrow.
MelodyYuzu:See ya.
Yuya smiled, a sense of ease washing over him. A week ago he could feel that something was off, feeling like he was being watched, and the sense of panic he felt in that second made him want to go see if Yuzu was alright. She was, to his great relief, but she started acting a bit...different. While Yuzu prided herself on being a good duelist, Yuya had never seen her become as detected as she had became after that day, trying to constantly come up with new strategies, and continuously changing cards in and out of her deck, but he couldn't remember seeing the last time she dueled someone, not even him or Gongenzaka.
Speaking of, the older boy was worried about Yuzu as well, she did seem like the same girl most of the time, cheery and happy, but in small moments they could see a worry in Yuzu's eyes, a calculated look, and a big focus on the way others duel than on the duel itself. They had asked her if something was wrong, but she kept smiling and reassuring them that everything was okay, and that she was trying something new but she refused to tell them what it was.
Yuya gave a sigh and yawned, putting his phone in the charger and turning the lights off and just collapsed in his bed.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Yuya waved at Yuzu as they met while walking to school. Yuzu gave the red eyed boy a smile as they headed to the gates.
"Are you looking for any specific cards Yuya?" Yuzu asked, as the conversation shifted around.
Yuya sighed, grabbing his deck. "No, I'm just… trying to update my deck, I'm just… not sure how, something seems missing from it."
"Maybe you should try something like Extra deck summoning? I'm sure our friends can give you some pointers."
"Maybe, but I don't think my deck is consistent enough for it, and I don't think that there are any extra deck Performapals around," Yuya answered, putting his deck back in his pocket.
"Yeah, you do have a point," Yuzu conceded with a nod. Performapals was Yuya's deck, and he'd had it since he was a kid. The colorful animals and their creative effects gave for some entertaining combos, and had always managed to bring smiles to her, Yuya and Gongenzaka. Back when winning wasn't all that important, she missed those times.
She would give anything to go back there, no dimensions or war, or a crazy megalomaniac who wages war on other dimensions for his own selfish reasons.
Yuzu clinched her hands in anger, she wasn't aware of anything but her fear and anger for a few seconds before Yuya grabbed her attention back to him.
"Hey, earth to Yuzu, where did you go off to this time?"
Yuzu blinked but shrugged her shoulders. "Just thinking that's all, I'm also working on improving my deck ya know.
"Yeah, so are you ever gonna show us? Like come on duel me, I promise to take the duel seriously, no happy hippos unless necessary."
Yuzu snorted. "That is tempting," she teased. "Alright, after you're sure about your deck, the two of us can have a duel, I do need to test my cards against other people."
"Oh, so glad to be regulated to 'other people now'" Yuya teased back, and Yuzu elbowed him slightly in the chest making him laugh.
…
…
…
The school day went as normal, well, this time with both Yuzu and Yuya getting distracted over their own situations. Both of them got reprimanded and were told to focus on the lesson but other than that things were fine.
Yuya and Yuzu headed out at the end of the school day to their favorite Game Shop, meeting up with Gogenzaka, who thought that it was a great idea, and getting good cards can never be a waste. The shop was a cute place in a nice neighborhood, and while it was small, it had the best booster packs and best cards. As Yuya was discussing what would go best with the Performapals - seeing as they were all about changing the ATK/DEF of monsters - Yuzu was looking at cards that would help support Fusion and Xyz summoning.
"You alright Yuzu?" asked Gongenzaka. "You usually get Fairy and Light support."
"I do, but I wanted to try something new," Yuzu answered. "Joey, Mana and Yugi use Extra Deck Summoning and I want to try it for myself."
"Didn't your dad say -"
"Yeah he did say that they are 'too difficult'. But I decided to try it anyway."
"So which is it? Xyz or Fusion? Do Melodious Monsters even have Extra Deck monsters?" Yuya asked.
"Well, I'm actually not sure, I think I might try both methods," Yuzu answered.
"Both?" Gogenzaka asked. "That might be far too difficult don't you think?"
"Yeah, like, depending on which method you go with there are cards that support these methods, but if you mix them together you might get cards that brick in your hands and that might make the deck weak or useless wouldn't it?" Yuya added.
"Well you do have a point, but Joey, Mana and Atem use multiple Extra Deck summonings and that hasn't stopped them. I mean, Reiji himself uses different Extra Deck summonings and Atem beat him fair and square! Why shouldn't I try to be better?"
"Yeah but Reiji's monsters are made to swarm the field and get every kind of summoning out."
"And you're saying the Melodious monsters can't do that?"
"Well, no, but..."
"Yuya, the Melodious monsters are made to swarm the field. And many of them are Level 4, so they're perfect for Xyz summoning. And most of the time all people need to Fusion Summon is a single Polymerization card, right? And if not, aren't there monsters that are essentially Polymerization?"
"Uh…"
"...There are?" Gongenzaka asked the person behind the counter.
"Uh… yes some archetypes do have them, not all, and some cards are used to substitute for fusion materials," They said.
"You've really been studying these things a lot, huh Yuzu?" asked Yuya. "Where did you find all this information? Were you sneaking off to Leo Duel School when we weren't looking?"
Yuzu froze before snorting. "Wouldn't you like to know."
"Yeah we kinda would," Yuya said with a smirk.
"It does still present the question of you balancing the deck out," Gongenzaka brought up. "For example, if you use a card that can only be used for a Fusion Support and yet all you have is Xyz monsters on the field, that would make the card quite useless in your hand wouldn't it?"
"The opposite would be true too," Yuya said. "If you had Fusion monsters yet the only card in your hand was Xyz support. I mean, it's not like there are cards that can be both...right?"
The person behind the counter shrugged.
"It's gonna take a lot of trial and error," Yuzu said with a nod, and sighed. "Mixing supports could be a hindrance but it also can give me more options."
"In that case you would have to rely on monster effects most of all and only use spell and trap Support that can be used for other summons as well," Gogenzaka reasoned.
"Or, you can rely on one summoning method more than the other. Like your monsters are pretty great for swarming and you can get an Xyz out pretty quick like you said, so make your deck more Xyz reliant, and easy recovery with fusion as a backup, with little to no support for it in your deck," Yuya suggested.
"Hmm, that might be a good idea, but what if my Fusion cards are better than my Xyz?" Yuzu asked.
"Then why use Xyz at all if that's the case? If you wanna focus on Fusion then there are cards to search Polymerization to your hand, cards that can retrieve it back, monsters that can be stand-ins for monsters you need. The same can be with Xyz: cards can change levels, ranks, Special Summon and turn to different levels that Fusion just doesn't need," Yuya said, and Yuzu groaned, they do have a point, which method should she focus on more? And which support should she rely on?
"Ugh this is harder than I thought," she muttered. "I'm not actually sure what's best to use," she confessed.
If it helps... Ray whispered in her mind. Recall that Ruri is bringing Shun and Yuto to Standard soon. You need to obtain Yuto and Shun's trust and showing off Xyz would be the right way to do it.
Really? Yuzu thought.
Yes, and if I recall, those 'mentors' of yours specialize in Xyz. It really is simple to Xyz Summon with all the Level 4 monsters in your deck. For now, just focus on Xyz Summoning and retrieval and leave Fusion Summoning to when you could need it.
Yuzu thought hard. That's right Mana just showcased her new Xyz monster against Shingo, and she's seen Yugi with his Illusion monsters pull off things that she'd never seen before. She knows that most Xyz summoners need some special card to bring in higher rank monsters; all Yugi had to do was change the attribute of one monster and that Rank 4 becomes a Rank 6. And her Fusion monsters don't need a lot of Support; if she can get Polymerization to her hand, she can get an easy enough Fusion monster and a Melodious Maestra to get the really strong Fusions. In that cause she would focus on playing with the Level 4 Melodious monsters more with maybe a copy of each Maestra in the deck. That did sound like a good plan.
"Excuse me," Yuzu said to the counter person. "Can you point me to any good Xyz support?"
"So you choose Xyz Summoning then?" Gogenzaka asked.
"Well, more I'm doing the third option and relying on Xyz more, but leaving some room for Fusion Summoning if things go wrong," Yuzu answered.
"Okay that's good but, do you have any actual Xyz or Fusion Monsters?" Yuya asked.
"As a matter of fact, I do."
"What?! You do?!" Both of the boys asked.
Yuzu giggled. "Of course I do."
"Where did you get them?" asked Yuya.
"Oh, I had to do a lot of searching to find them, they're pretty rare but I did eventually," Yuzu replied.
"Is that part of the secrets you've been keeping?"
"Yeah pretty much," Yuzu said, "Look I know I've been acting weird for a while and I know you two have been worried about me, but it's fine. I was just trying to be a better duelist and this was the best way I thought of. I want to get strong to help you out, Yuya. If I learned more summoning methods and combined them with what Yusho taught us, perhaps we could open up an entire world of possibilities."
"That… really does sound amazing Yuzu, you're really amazing!" Yuya said with a big bright smile on his face.
Yuzu smiled back. Seeing Yuya smile made her even more motivated to help become stronger. "So what about the two of you?"
"Hmm," Yuya though. "Honestly I'm not sure yet, again, it's pretty hard to get a lot of consistent strategies with my performapals. I could try Fusion Summoning though, I think I heard of some Performapal and Odd-Eyes Fusions."
"I the man, Gongenzaka, will have to think about it," Gongenzaka replied. "However, I will absolutely have to omit the use of Fusion Summoning since it will go against my deck."
"Maybe Synchro Summoning could work?" said Yuzu. "All you need are Tuner monsters and seeing as many of your Superheavy monsters act like Spell and Trap cards, then it'll be easy to work around."
"Could be, but I'm going to need someone to tutor me in that regard, and find tuners for my deck."
"If you're sure that that's what you want then you might find Superheavy Samurai Synchro cards here," Yuya suggested. "I mean we all know that you need two monsters on the field right?"
"Yeah, it's only Fusion that requires very specific materials, the stronger the Fusion the more specific or the more material that you need," Yuzu said."Then Synchro you have a Tuner and a non-Tuner monsters with levels add up. Xyz, is mostly down to levels.
"Okay, let's search then," Yuya said with a nod and the three of them checked out packs that Leo Corp. and Industrial Illusions websites informed them with the cards needed. Both companies had come to an agreement to help promote the art of Duel Monsters, with Leo Corp. suddenly showing off Extra Deck summonings that, back then, no one had ever heard about. Since then, many schools have tried their hands in teaching students Fusion, Synchro and Xyz summoning but only Leo Corp. did all three (You Show focusing on the spectacle of the Duel so it only had Tribute Summoning until, Mana and Joey arrived and began teaching Xyz and Fusion).
The two companies had come to an agreement that Industrial Illusions would be responsible for creating monster archetypes while the extra deck monsters would be the responsibility of Leo Corp. Along with the consulting of Industrial Illusions specific employees in order to keep the decks synergized. Pegasus was known to have an eye for finding t
Each of them bought several packs and headed to You Show. By then, Shuzo, Joey and Mana along with several students were there, and the classes had begun. While You Show was not as popular as LDS, they had a good amount of students, happy and eager to learn how to become great entertainers and duelists. To them, it didn't matter about how powerful a card was or about seizing victory; what matter was winning the hearts of the audience. They were taught to be the best they could be, but never be cruel and never to have winning be the primal goal, but to have fun, and give others a reason to smile.
"Well, look who's finally here!" Mana said, greeting the three.
"Hey Mana, how are the classes going?" Yuya asked.
"Oh pretty good, these kids have the talent for this! they'll do great with some more training," she said with a big smile. Yuzu and Yuya smiled widely and waved at the kids in the class room, who waved back at them with a smile.
"So, what have you been up to?" Mana asked.
"The three of us bought new booster packs and wanted to see what we could use to make our decks better," Yuya answered.
"Really now?" Mana said with a squee. "Oh I know what this calls for!"
"A demonstration!" A young girl with red hair and golden eyes squealed.
"That's right, Ayu!" Mana giggled.
"Well we'd love to, but we do have to construct our decks first, cause we were uh… planning to change a lot of things about them," Yuzu said.
"Change? What do you mean?" Mana asked, tilting her head. Then she gasped. "You're not getting new archetypes are you?" she asked with wide eyes.
"Oh no, not at all!" Yuya reassured her. "Yuzu wanted to try and use Xyz and Fusion Summoning in her deck, and we discussed it and agreed maybe we should try upgrading our decks too."
"I want to see Yuzu nee-san use new summoning methods!" Ayu said, and so did many of the students there.
"It'll give me shivers!" Ayu's companion, a slightly tubby boy with yellow hair added.
"Maybe another time," said Yuzu. "After all, you can't expect to master a new technique in one day, right? It requires practice, hard work and dedication, so you kids need to promise me that you're training hard too."
"We promise~" The children said, grinning at Yuzu who smiled back at them.
"I wanna see what you guys got," Mana begged.
"Okay, we can wait for you until the classes are over," Yuya said.
"Wohoo! This should be fun," Mana said before returning back to the class she was teaching. Yuya, Yuzu and Gogenzaka headed for the main room in the building and sat on the couches. Yuya headed for the mini fridge and brought sodas for the three of them. When Shuzu's familiar voice rang in the three's ears
"Yuya!" Shuzu yelled, slamming the door open and looking in panic at the red eyed boy. The three teenagers blinked at Shuzo's strange behavior.
"Dad, what's going on?" Yuzu asked, confused.
"Someone important is requesting for you," Shuzu explained in a hurry.
"Who could that be?" Yuya asked before Shuzo moved away with a sigh and a strange man with a mustache and striped yellow and black suit with red glasses came in.
"Hello there," The man said with a very wide grin on his face. "The name's Nico Smiley. And you young man must be Yuya Sakaki," he said, rubbing his hands together.
"Uh...yeah...hi?" asked Yuya.
"Well it's good that I have found you my boy, you see, I've come to ask for a favor," Nico said. "Yuya Sakaki, how would you like to showcase your dueling skills against the First Regional Champion of Miami City."
"WHAAAAAAT?!"
…
…
…
"You want me to duel Strong Ishijima?" Yuya gasped when the five were in Shuzo's office..
"Why yes," Nico said. "You see, three years ago your father was supposed to challenge him for the Championship...but of course we all knew what happened."
"Yeah okay, two questions, why would Yuya accept that and what's in it for you?" asked Yuzu.
"Why it would be a good way to clean up Yusho Sakaki's good name after all!" Nico answered. "The Champion versus the child of Yusho Sakaki, the boy wishing to prove that he's not a coward and to clear his father's good name to bring smiles onto people's faces!" Nico sighed. "It just touches my heart so for Yuya to try and take the title his father did not have the chance to duel for!"
"... So this is a PR scheme?" Yuzu asked, crossing her arms and glaring at the man.
"Oh no, not at all," Nico replied. "I am simply here from all the goodness of my heart trying to give the boy a chance to clear his father's name!"
Gongenzaka frowned. "I, the man Gongenzaka, am not convinced." In fact no one was.
"He also said that if Yuya won, Leo Corp. will throw in a new Solid Vision System for free," Shuzo said.
"And you accepted?!" Yuzu exclaimed. "Do we even need a new one?" She asked frustrated.
"With the new influx of students coming in, it's best that we have top quality equipment, as well as Leo Corp having the mobile version on the way it would be best to save as much money as we can, if we want to keep these students then we need to remodel, rebuild and get new working Solid Vision Systems."
"Dad!" Yuzu yelled.
"Listen, the choice is gonna be up to Yuya if he wants to or not," said Shuzo. "But still, the benefits are just too hard to resi-OWWW!"
Yuzu held onto the harisen tightly with flames of rage flying around her making Shuzo and Nico Smiley shrink back.
Yuya placed his hand on Yuzu's shoulder startling her as she looked back at Yuya with a small sad smile on his face, if a grateful one. "Thanks for the offer," he told the manager, giving him a brighter smile. "I'll have to think about it though."
"Why of course dear boy, here's my number," Nico Smiley said, handing Yuya his business card. "Call me with a decision tomorrow at the latest.
"Sure thing," Yuya said, looking at the card, lost in thought.
"Well then I wish you all good luck," the man said and left the room, heading back to his car.
Yuya gave a tired sigh and crashed back on the couch placing his goggles down his eyes.
"You okay Yuya?" Yuzu asked, sitting beside him, and gently grabbing his hand.
"Yeah, I'm okay," Yuya said, looking at where Yuzu's hand is, his heart skipping a small beat.
"You do not have to accept this offer Yuya," Gongenzaka reassured.
"Yeah but… I think I want to," Yuya answered.
"Really?" Yuzu asked.
"Yeah I mean, I've always wanted to show people that my dad wasn't a coward, remind everyone how amazing Dueltaining I did this then maybe…"
Yuzu nodded in understanding.
"Yuya," Shuzo said. "I hope you know that I'm not pressuring you into this. That-"
"I know," Yuya said with a grin, placing his goggles back over his head. "No need to worry, uncle. I'll just show everyone what my monsters can really do."
"...Okay then," Shuzo nodded. It was Yuya's choice after all.
…
…
…
The classes were over, as Yuya told Mana and Joey about what had just happened. The two dulists had their jaws fall to the floor in shock.
"I mean Yuya are… are you sure?" Joey asked.
"Yeah I mean with what happened with your dad and all, the crowd might not be kind," Mana pointed out a little worried.
"Yeah I am, if I do this, and if I win, I can remove the stain from my dad's record, and remind people how good his Dueltaining was, that it'll never go away, wherever dad had gone off to."
"Well if that's how you feel," Joey said grinning, "We're right behind you in this!"
"Really?" Yuya said grinning.
"You bet!" Mana said grinning as well and nodding. "We'll even help you train and build your deck!"
"I, the man Gongenzaka shall help as well!"
"So will I," Yuzu said confidently smiling encouragingly at Yuya.
"That's right, whatever you need. You can do this Yuya!"
Yuya's smile widened, feeling grateful for his friends' encouragement and confident in him. He gave them all a nod, promising to do the best he could in that duel, and to be the best Dueltainer that he could be.
Later Yuzu took Yuya to the side, needing to have a talk with him. Yuya wasn't sure what it was about, but Yuzu looked serious.
"Yuya," she said, placing her hands on Yuya's shoulders, "I need you to listen to me, okay?" Yuya nodded, looking at Yuzu's blue eyes. "Yuya, I need you to do anything you have to to win this."
"Yuzu-"
"Listen," she said softly, gently rubbing one of his shoulders. "I know that you love entertaining the crowd, love making them smile, but this is too important. For your sake, you need to take things more seriously, not act like a clown. You can entertain the crowd as well as duel, it's what Yusho has always managed to do, win despite the odds, win and dazzle and entertain. And you need to do the same, show people that you can win. Unless you do it, the smiles will be muddled, they will never respect what you or Yusho or everyone here is doing, okay? You can dazzle and entertain the crowd as much as you like, but the mark of a great Dueltainer is that they can also win, not get distracted by the shine and sparkles, I need you for us, just to be a little more ruthless, and a little more focused."
"She does have a point," A thought came to Yuya's head. "I have to prove myself to everyone, show them."
"Show them that I can do this, that I'm a Dueltainer, that I can win…"
"You're right...You're right!" Yuya said with a confident grin on his face. "I promise I'll take this seriously, and I'll entertain the crowd and win!"
"That's the spirit!" Yuzu said, hugging him close. Yuya's eyes widened before hugging her back. "We should get you ready then, we'll keep dueling until we perfect our decks and until you can go toe to toe against anyone."
Yuya nodded in agreement. There was no time to waste.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Finally, the day of the duel arrived.
It was a big day, that's for sure and Yuya had to make a big impression. He didn't want to show off that he was nothing more than a clown, so he ditched the costume he was originally going to wear - even though Mana thought he looked cute in it - and came out as himself. No frills, no smoke and mirrors. He wanted to entertain the crowd, Yuzu was right, make a spectacle out of his every move and not simply make others laugh at your actions.
The duel was intense for Yuya, for once in a long while he was actually pushed beyond his limit. Strong Ishijima's Battleguard monsters were savage. Even though Yuya kept training and took everything seriously he wasn't used to the Action Field of a humongous castle like from the books he read. And while it did make for some good entertainment and spectacle, as well as giving advantage and second chances, Yuya just didn't know what to do. He drew another card and looked at his hand, seeing that all of them were monsters.
"What am I gonna do? I'm gonna lose this aren't I? I don't want to… I don't want to lose..."
"Yuya…" Yuzu muttered, clasping her hands in prayer. Come on Yuya please…
Yuya's heart hammered in his chest, adrenaline spiked and the audience' voices and cheers rang in his ears. He could do nothing at this point.
Oh, I know...
Yuya gasped as he felt a spark go through his body, and he watched the five cards in his hand glow and began to transform, becoming different, strings of gold irises appeared in Yuya's own. His voice rang in his ears, acting out of instincts with knowledge he wasn't sure where it had come from. Taking Stargazer Magician and and Timegazer Magician in his hand and showing it to the audience and Strong Ishijima with a confident smirk.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" Yuya said, raising his hands with a confident smirk. "I would like to present to you something brand new, never seen before this moment!"
Whispers and murmurs began to come from the crowd, having no idea what Yuya could do, or what new thing he could be planning to show them.
"I play my Scale 1 Stargazer Magician and Scale 8 Timegazer Magician and set the Pendulum Scale !"
The two magicians, one in pure white robes, the other in black rose in the air with a number 1 under Stargazer and a number 8 under Timegazer. The people gasped in amazement as something like that had never happened before, but it was amazing.
"Hold on, what's happening?" Yuzu asked, her eyes wide at the two monsters floating in the air.
I… I have absolutely no idea… Yuzu could hear the amazement, shock and confusion in Ray's voice, they very much matched her own.
"So… this isn't a summoning method from another dimension or something?" Yuzu asked.
No… but I think I know what's going on...
"What?"
I'll need to make sure first, don't worry, and enjoy the show, this is gonna be a spectacle. Laugh and joy filled Ray's voice, as well as anticipation, filling Yuzu with the same, wanting to know what could happen next, and if Yuya could get out of this.
"Now since I set the Pendulum scale I can special Summon from my hand any number of monsters between the levels of one and eight!" Yuya extended his hand up as a pendulum swung in the air in smooth oscillations. "Swing Pendulum of Souls, draw an arc of light across the ether! Pendulum Summon! Appear Level 2 Performapal Sword Fish!"
A lightning bolt struck the field at Yuya's call, and the monster was a blue Swordfish with black hair slicked into a pompadour with pink sunglasses. Its only other accessory was a hot pink bow tie and light pink polka dots. Just like its namesake, its tail's end was shaped like the handle of a sword. (600 ATK)
"Level 4 Performapal Whip Snake!"
Next was a purple snake wearing a top hat and a yellow cloth around it. He had a star on each cheek, one was a light blue the other was orange, and a yellow bow tie with orange polka dots, with its tail ending with a heart shaped decoration. (1700 ATK)
"And last, behold my Level 7 Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon! "
The familiar red dragon appeared with a roar, with big curved horns coming from his head, a green and red orb floating around with a purple one showing on his stomach. (2500 ATK)
"Holy shit, Yuya!" Joey yelled, wide eyed and amazed at these cards, having no idea where Yuya even got them.
Atem and Yugi exchanged a confused look as well; no one just creates a new type of summoning, especially not this easily. There were sparks in the air, a feeling of heavy power that both of them could feel, but not understand what it could be.
Yuzu was shell shocked, her jaw almost hitting the floor, this was amazing, how did Yuya do any of that?
"How is this possible?" Strong exclaimed. "You can't summon multiple monsters in one turn!" Strong turned to his Duel Disk where he contacted Nico Smiley. "He has to be cheating!"
Nico shook his head. "The Duel Disks are working perfectly and they can't be hacked or Leo Corp would have stopped the Duel; this is all perfectly legal and legit."
"WHAT?!"
"There's more where that came from," Yuya grinned. "Now I activate the effect of Performapal Whip Snake and switch the ATK and DEF of Battleguard King until the End Phase!"
Performapal Whip Snake flew in the air and wrapped itself around Battleguard King's arm and bit him The savage ogre gave a roar as he seemed to stager and lower his arms as his attack and defense switched. (Battleguard King: 5000/1100 -) 1100/ 5000)
"Next I activate Performapal Sword Fish's effect, if it was Special or Normal Summoned, your monster loses 600 ATK points!"
Swordfish summoned six more copies of himself before they flew into the air and stabbed him at the arms, chest and legs. Battleguard King fell to his knees as he was almost fully drained. (1100 -) 500 ATK)
"Now for the final turn!" Yuya said, raising his arms in the air. "Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon attack Battleguard King!"
"Stop!" Strong exclaimed. "I activate my Trap Card, Battleguard Howling. If a 'Battleguard' monster I control is being attacked, this would let me target and return the attacking monster to the hand and inflict damage to his opponent equal to that monster's ATK!" Strong Ishijima had a manic grin on his face as he said that, knowing that Yuya had no cards in his hand and no Action Card could stop this effect.
But Yuya smirked, and it turned sharp, the golden strings in his irises glowing, "I activate the Pendulum Effects of Timegazer Magician!" he said, waving his hand as if introducing his magician, and Timegazer extended his hand stopping the Trap Card with a white seal like that of a clock. "If a Trap Card targets exactly one monster, Timegazer negates its effect and places it back face down!"
The Trap Card went back face down making Strong Ishijima gasp. He looked around wanting to find an Action Card that could help him evade the attack or the destruction of his monster. Thankfully he found one hiding in a tree behind him which he quickly snatched.
"I...I activate the Action Card Evasion! And now this allows me to negate an attack!" Ishijima said, placing the card in the slot. Yuya raised his hand and closed it making a first as his grin became a little sharper.
"Stargazer's Pendulum effect activates! Spell Cards that target one of my Pendulum Monsters are negated and placed face down until the end of this turn!"
Stargazer summoned a cluster of stars that made the Action Card also turn face-down, causing Strong to shrink in fear. At this rate, he'd have no time to find another one!
Odd-Eyes fired his attack, the orbs on its body starting to glow before a blast of fire erupted from his mouth, ready to incinerate the once powerful king.
"I'll still have life points left, this isn't over!" Strong said.
"You see dear sir, you are quite wrong!" Yuya said cheerfully, tilting his head. "I activate Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon's effect. If it battles a monster with a level of five or higher the damage gets doubled!"
"Wait no…" Strong whimpered. He knew the math; it would end up with him losing nearly all his lifepoints!
Odd-Eyes destroyed Battleguard King, the Tribute Monster howling in pain as he was incinerated, taking a lot of Strong's lifepoints on him.
(Ishijima: 1300) …... (Yuya: 2000)
"And I still have two monsters that didn't attack yet! And I shouldn't take the fun from either of them, should I? So Performapal Whip Snake and Sword Fish..." Yuya said, getting grabbed into Odd-Eyes' horns and jumping up, doing a flip in the air and landing on Odd-Eyes' back. The cheers were overwhelming and Yuya extended his hand, issuing a command to the other two monsters. "End this duel!"
The two monsters attacked Ishijima directly, Swordfish summoning more copies of himself and Whip Snake constricting him so he wouldn't leave. Without anything else he could do, Ishijima's lifepoints fell all the way down to 0, ending the duel.
Ishijima fell to his knees in shock as the crowd cheered happily at having enjoyed a great duel. Yuya blinked and his eyes widened, he couldn't believe it. Did he...did he win?
I did. I really did.
He had no idea where any of that had come from, it's like he just knew exactly what to do, and just put on a show. It was amazing! Yuya bowed to the crowd and waved cheerfully all around and as more cheers and chants of his name rang through the audience.
"I'm still shocked as everyone is!" Nico said. "Yuya Sakaki pulled a victory from out of his deck and defeated the champion with a brand new summoning method! It truly looks like the boy had pulled a magnificent miracule!"
In a special viewing box, Maximilian Pegasus watched the duel unfold with interest and excitement. He had to speak with Yuya later but that was quite the show, he was very glad that he and Cecilia had decided to come and watch such a magnificent duel. The silver haired man stood up clapping with the rest of the crowd, smiling down at Yuya.
Bravo, Yuya-boy... Pegasus thought to himself. Your father would be quite proud of the way you dueled today.
…
…
…
Yuya walked out of the stadium after everything was finished walking through the building, where his friends and family were waiting for him, excited to see him and ask questions.
"Yuya!"
Yuya looked in surprise when Mana tackled him to the ground like she was a large cat.
"I, the man Gongenzaka am quite proud and happy of the outcome of the duel."
"You really did it!" Yuzu said, jumping excitedly before pulling Yuya to her and giving him a kiss. On the lips. "You were amazing!"
Yuya's eyes widened, while several jaws in the background became unhinged. Joey dropped his large popcorn cup to the floor.
Yuya had to blink a few times to register what had just happened. "Okay is this a dream? I think I'm dreaming at this point," Yuya said, his mind basically short circuiting.
"Well I did not expect this today." Mahad noted.
"Yuya just won a big duel and got himself a girlfriend in one day that's gotta be a record," Joey commented slapping Yuya on the back. "Way to go kid."
"Wait, hold on-" Yuya tried to say but Mana cut him off.
"We need to celebrate!" She yelled, jumping up.
"Now hold on just a minute! What is this about a girlfriend!" Shuzo shouted, finally making it out of the crowd.
"It was just a kiss…" Yugi noted.
"JUST A KISS?!" Shuzo said, grabbing Yuya's shoulders. "Now listen here young man-Ow!"
Yuzu's harisen was brandished and had hit Shuzo, Joey and Mana in quick succession. "First of all, You two," she said pointing at Mana and Joey. "Let him breath." The blond boy and the brunet girl nodded and took a few steps back. "And dad, we'll talk about this later."
"But-"
" Later ! With me there."
Yoko came closer laughing and hugged her son. "Way to go Yuya, your father would be really proud of you today, you were just amazing."
Yuya smiled brightly, having won not only the duel but the crowd as well as they kept chanting his name over and over.
"And Mana is right! This does call for a celebration!" Yoko continued. "So I'm taking you to a good yakinuku place that doesn't charge you for every single piece of meat you order."
"Mom is that really necessary?" asked Yuya.
"Of course it is, Yuya, you were amazing today, you deserve this," Yoko reassured him, ruffling his hair with a grin.
"A'right sounds great!" Joey cheered.
"Anything that involves food sounds great to you," Téa remarked, but it was a playful one.
"Well yeah, food is great!" Joey replied, and everyone laughed.
Yuya looked at Yuzu laughing and smiled, it was as everyone else faded away into the background, and he wanted to hug Yuzu again and kiss her, it was as if the kiss gave the incentive to see his best friend in another light. Yuzu was always a precious friend to him, always stayed by his side and always tried to keep him focused. But there was always an undefined line between, he wanted to define it, to be sure, now.
"Hey Yuzu, um can we talk?" Yuya asked, turning to the pink haired girl.
"Yeah, sure," Yuzu replied with a nod.
"Now wait a minute!" Shozu said, trying to stop them.
"Dad!" Yuzu interrupted whatever he was gonna say and crossed her hands.
"B-but Yuzu-"
"No dad, you can't just stop us from talking."
"R-right…" Shozu sighed as the two of them slipped away to be alone.
"Oh cheer up Shozu, who'd be a better match to Yuzu than Yuya? It was bound to happen sooner or later," Yoko said.
"Yes but… I did expect it to come far later…"
"Um, it's uh…" Yuya started talking but got a little tongue tied.
"It's about the kiss, isn't it?" Yuzu took a guess.
"Y-yeah," Yuya answered, rubbing the back of his head with a small blush on his face.
"I just… got excited that's all," she explained.
"Oh…" Yuya said, looking away.
"You didn't like it?" Yuzu asked.
"N-no, I didn't say that I ah… I liked it… I really did."
Yuzu smiled, "So you wouldn't mind if I kissed you again would you?" She asked.
Yuya smiled back. "No, I wouldn't."
"And you wouldn't mind if we actually started dating, would you?"
"Of course not! I mean, it's thanks to you that I've managed to keep it together these past few years. I mean, Joey and his friends were also a big help but you were there even before Joey shook a can of soda onto those bullies to scare them away and-"
"Yuya," Yuzu said gently, placing her hand on Yuya's shoulder, "You're rambling," she said.
"Sorry," Yuya said, rubbing the back of his head.
Yuzu smiled. "It's okay, I know just the thing," she said and pressed herself closer to Yuya, giving him another kiss. Yuya smiled and kissed her back, his heart beating quickly in his chest. Yuzu cut the kiss with a confident grin. "How was that?"
Yuya's smile widened and he gave Yuzu a short kiss of his own, wrapping his arms around Yuzu's waist and Yuzu having her arms around Yuya's neck. "Breathtaking."
0-0-0-0-0-0-0
The day after the Championship Duel was full of people praising Yuya and wanting his autograph, as well as wanting to see his Pendulum Cards in action again, Yuzu and Gongenzaka had to pry fans away from him just so Yuya could walk to You Show Duel School without being mobbed...and even there there were plenty of children wanting to enroll (mostly for the cards, from what Yuzu could hear) which Shuzo and Mana handled, before a very familiar man arrived halting everyone, and putting a very wide smile on Mana's face.
"Yuya!" Shuzo slammed the door once again coming in panting.
"Dad? What's going on now?" asked Yuzu.
"Yeah did someone else come with an offer to duel me again?" Yuya asked jokingly.
"Well… not exactly…" Shuzo moved aside as Pegusus walked in along with a man wearing sunglasses and a mustache holding a briefcase.
"Hello Yuya-boy~!" A familiar voice rang.
"P-president Pegasus?" Yuya said wide-eyed. "What are you doing here?"
"Yuya-boy, I come here with an offer," Pegasus said in a cheery voice with a wide warm smile on his face.
"An offer?" Yuya blinked.
"Indeed," said the silver haired man with a nod. "May I sit?" he asked.
"Oh yes, please, go ahead, would you like something to drink?"
"Some tea would be delightful," Pegasus said.
"Oh, right away!" Shuzo said as he took Yuzu with him to help prepare some tea for their… guest.
In a few minutes the tea was ready and brought to their guest with Yuzu sitting beside Yuya, with Gongenzaka on his other side, Shuzosat on a lone seat with the three kids on his left and the president on his right, and the man Pegasus came with standing behind him. Pegasus added three cubes of sugar to his tea and stirred it with a silver spoon as he began to speak.
"You see Yuya-boy, I watched your duel with Mr. Ishijima yesterday, and I must say I was quite impressed, the duel, the showmanship, oh the excitement was simply breathtaking! Bravo, my boy."
"Oh um… thank you!" Yuya said, blushing at getting so much praise from someone like Pegasus, the head of Industrial Illusions himself. Yuzu and Gongenzaka smiled proudly at their friend; he did deserve all that praise after all.
"However," Pegasus continued, making Yuya look up at him, and everyone's eyes look at the silver haired man. "There is a small detail about your cards."
"My cards…" Yuya said, looking at his deck.
"Indeed, Pendulums, you called them? Such odd and fascinating cards. For years now Leo Corp. has been responsible for bringing the Extra Deck summoning to the masses, and we at Industrial Illusions making more and more archetypes, and yet, I am quite sure that Pendulums were never a thing in either of our companies, and you seem to be the only one who has them. They are quite powerful too, doesn't that seem a bit… suspect and unfair?"
"Mister Pegasus, if you are accusing Yuya of cheating-" Yuzu began.
"I am doing no such thing," Pegasus interrupted. "In fact I am quite fascinated by these Pendulum Cards you see, but other people will accuse the boy of that, and he might get discredited and his achievement stripped away from the eyes of others."
"That's true… I mean Yuya where… where did you even get these Pendulum cards from?" Shozu asked.
"I...I don't know…"
"You don't know? How can you not know? You have these cards!" Shuzo shouted.
"I… I know that it might be hard to believe but…"
"But?" Shuzo encouraged him.
Yuya took a deep breath and pulled out his deck, revealing all the new pendulum monsters, making Pegasus, Shuzo and even Yuzu's eyes widen. "When I was in the duel, when I realized that I couldn't do anything with five monsters in my hands, I was so worried. I wanted to win so badly, and then my cards just… glowed and transformed as if… as if…"
"As if by magic," Pegasus finished.
Yuya nodded. "Yeah..."
"Yes I understand, so here is where my offer comes in," Pegasus said. "You see Yuya-boy, I see potential in your cards; they allowed an archetype to evolve and become something new and magnificent. So I'm asking you to allow us at Industrial Illusions to study your them, release a statement saying that you were chosen by me to test our prototype Pendulums in your duel as, let us call it a 'marketing ploy', and create more of them, more archetypes, enhance more decks and let the public have them."
"But Yuya's the one who made these cards, not Industrial Illusions," said Shuzo, coming to Yuya's defense. "You can't simply turn him into your marketing ploy!"
"Of course, I am not without a sense of honor, and I do not plan on scamming the boy. This is why I brought Croquet here. You see if we could have a talk with Yuya-boy and perhaps his guardian, Ms. Yoko Sakaki was it? Ah yes, we could draw a very beneficial contract on both sides, with Yuya getting a share."
"Are...are you serious?!" Yuya gasped. The money from this contract would help his mother out immensely.
"Of course! So what do you think, Yuya-boy? Does it sound like a good offer?"
"I uh...well… I don't know, I...I need to think about it, I need to talk about my mom about it..." Yuya said. His mother probably would be more firm on the matter on Pegasus using her boy for some scheme.
"Of course Yuya-boy take your time," said Pegasus, handing the boy a business card. "Here's my number if you want to contact me, or simply ask Mana."
"Thank you Mr. Pegasus," Yuya said with a bow.
"Oh my pleasure," Pegasus said with a wide smile on his face and shook Yuya's hand, and Shuzo's. "I hope I'll be hearing from you soon, Yuya-boy. Oh and if I may ask you for a favor?"
"A favor?" Yuya asked.
"Indeed, would you mind giving us another live demonstration? Show us what your Pendulum cards can really do."
"Yo-you want me to duel you?!" Yuya asked.
Pegasus laughed and even Croquet couldn't help but crack a smile. "Oh heavens no, although I'm sure it would have been quite fun. But no, you could duel any of your friends. Just simply give me and the fans a good duel, if you will."
"Now?" Yuya asked.
"If you don't mind of course."
0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Ray looked at the cards in her hands with glee, wanting to laugh and cackle and lose it. If she could she would have tackled Zarc to a bed and fucked his brains out."That brilliant bastard," she said with a laugh.
"You mean Zarc?" Yuzu asked.
"Oh yes, he created a whole new summoning method out of the eather."
"He was the one who gave us these cards?" Serena asked, looking at the two new Pendulum Cards in her hand, the moment they appeared in her deck she was surprised, and wasn't sure what to do with them, but it seemed that all four of them had gotten these types of cards along with Ray herself.
"Of course," Ray said with a laugh "You four are basically his princess, he'll do anything to make us stronger."
Ray was gleeful at how Yuya emulated her beloved Zarc. Even the way he flipped onto Odd-Eye's back was just like how Zarc would do so way back when. Oh she just wanted to hug Yuya right now.
" How do you use these things?" Rin asked, sounding a little frustrated.
"Well, if you don't want them…" Ruri teased.
"Oh shut up!" Rin said with a pout. "And come on, none of you know how to use them. I was kinda surprised since Yugo actually got his first, and had no idea how to use them either."
"Yugo got them?!" Yuzu asked. "Aren't your entire decks made to quickly summon and swarm the field? What do you need these for?"
"Well yeah, and he didn't exactly use them for that, in fact he just used one card," Rin said.
"One?" Yuzu asked. "I thought you needed two!"
"Maybe to summon I guess but their other effects can be used with only one card," Rin answered.
"Second effects? You mean the weird new box texts?" Serena asked.
"Yep. So Yugo kinda put the card at the very edge of the duel desk, and the cards that he banished returned to him by sending others from his hand to the graveyard. He didn't know how to use it again after that until he placed it on another edge."
"And you didn't destroy it?" Serena asked. Getting banished cards back is a pretty powerful effect.
"I couldn't attack it," Rin answered. "Not while it was on the edge, any other time the second effect didn't work, but I was able to get rid of it if Yugo hadn't already used it as a synchro material. It's a level 2 Tuner, which in Yugo's deck, is pretty rare."
"So it's both a spell card and a monster card, but it can't be both on the field at the same time. You have to choose what to use it as," Ruri surmised.
"Basically, yeah," Rin answered.
"Did you use yours?" Serena asked.
"No, though they're quite good, I can search them out but without knowing how to use them properly I could have wasted them when I have other strategies. I mean, I did have trouble with Xyz."
"Fair point," Yuzu said. "And you, Serena?"
"Nope, had no idea how or why and if I had dueled anyone other than Yuri, who was busy at the time with the Professor, I'm pretty sure someone would have reported about them, I just kept them in my side deck."
"Is there any discussion on bringing someone from Academia to Standard soon?"
"I did over hear it but, no one was specifically chosen. Yet according to Yuri, the professor will do it soon though."
"Is there any chance you can hitch a ride?" Yuzu asked.
"Still trying to convince him, he might say yes just to stop me from nagging him at this point. Told him to send a bodyguard who can actually beat me."
"What about you, Ruri?" Yuzu asked.
"We're planning on coming to Standard in two days' time," Ruri answered. "We'll be going to pick up some supplies and explain the situation to the people who can help. We have video evidence about what happened so convincing people, it shouldn't be that hard."
"I've got my duel against Akiza soon," Rin brought up. "This will be the perfect chance to show off my Xyz Summoning. And with any luck, my pendulums too."
"Your pendulums?" Serena asked.
"Mhm," Rin said with a nod, grinning.
"You'll have to search it out, won't you?" Yuzu asked.
"I have amazing searchers: Glass Bell and one of my traps can get me any monster I want."
"You're certainly not holding back," Ray said, amused.
"Nope, I'm bringing my all." Rin said with a grin.
"I wish I could see it!" Ruri said with a pout. "Any other duel outside of our war I consider a fun one."
"I promise to record it," Rin said with a grin.
"Yuzu? Yuzuuuu…."
…
…
…
"Yuzu? Helloooooo? Yuzu!" Yuya asked, shaking Yuzu's shoulder.
"Huh? Oh Yuya, sorry I blanked out," Yuzu said, shaking her head.
"Are you okay?" Yuya asked, a little worried. Yuzu had been blanking out a lot lately.
"Yeah I'm fine, what did I miss?" She asked looking around.
"Well, mister Pegasus asked me to give him another demonstration over my Pendulum cards, do you mind if we dueled?"
"Oh... " Yuzu said, looking at Pegasus and back at Yuya and smiled brightly. "Not at all, I'd be happy to."
"Splendid!" Pegasus said, clapping his hands.
"Right this way please," Yuya said, gesturing the entrance as Shuzo led the way. The red eyed boy turned back to Yuzu. "You sure you're okay?" he asked worriedly.
Yuzu smiled and kissed Yuya's cheek. "Yea I'm fine, come on, can't wait to kick your butt!" she said and ran out.
"Hey, wait up!" Yuya called back laughing, and Gongenzaka followed the both of them as well.