(A/N: Man, Titan Quest is really eating up a lot of my time lately. Sorry for the wait everybody!)

Rebecca and Miaka stood across from each other, ready to duel and Miaka was already going for the top card of her deck. "I draw!" She looked at the six cards in her hand. "I set one monster onto the field and set one more card face-down and end my turn! Your move, and please, take as long as you want."

"R-right, sure," Rebecca said, unnerved, drawing. She looked at the cards in her hand. "I summon to the field Luster Dragon number two in attack mode!" The mightiest 4-star wind-attribute dragon stormed onto the field with its whopping 1,900 attack points. "And now, I'll attack your face-down monster immediately with my overwhelming power!"

Miaka's monster was revealed to be Hiita the Fire Charmer. Its meager 1,500 defense points didn't stack up to Luster Dragon's higher attack stat.

But Miaka didn't like that, so she spoke up. "Wow, did you wake up this morning and decide "I'm going to face check my opponent's traps like an amateur?" Cause that's what you just did. I activate Castle Walls!"

A tall barricade suddenly erected itself between Luster Dragon and Hiita. The dragons claws raked against the stone walls, but could not scratch through the brick work. Rebecca's life points dipped to 3,900.

"Using a castle to keep a dragon out, huh? Nice job, but that won't protect you for long. I set two cards face-down onto the field and end my turn."

Miaka nodded and quickly drew the top card of her deck, looking at it and nodding to herself methodically as she placed it in her hand. She then looked at the card second from her right, Rebecca's left, placing her hand on it. Then she took her hand off the card, adjusted her glasses and rubbed her chin before nodding more firmly as if to say "Yeah, that'll do" but kept silent.

"I set a monster!" Miaka exclaimed. "And next I activate, from my hand, Book of Taiyou!" The magic card's artwork appeared face up on Miaka's side of the field. "This special book lets me flip any face-down monster face-up into attack position!"

"Oh no! But Miaka's monsters are all charmers!" Serenity exclaimed, covering her mouth.

"That means her monster must be a wind attribute," Bakura deduced.

A calm, unnervingly serene smile swept across Miaka's face before she raised her finger to the air and pointed it at her face-down monster. "Let's go, Wynn! Time to blow her away!"

Matsuda looked up from his book, assessed the situation, thought about heckling his bespectacled classmate and then decided he didn't care enough to speak.

From the safety of her face-down position, Wynn the Wind Charmer was launched into attack position. She had 500 attack points and 1,500 defense points.

"And since Wynn was just flipped face-up and is still on the field, I can take any Wind attribute monster on the field and snatch it for my own. So thanks so much for giving me an almost 2,000 point beat stick there. I'll be sure to give you my thanks with your own monster!"

Wynn twirled her scepter round and around and then aimed it at Luster Dragon, brainwashing it and causing it come over to Miaka's side as Wynn pet its scaly head.

"No! Luster Dragon!" Rebecca exclaimed. "Thief!"

"Thief is such an…ugly word. The monsters are charming your monsters for a better master," Miaka winked. "And now, Luster Dragon attacks your life points directly!"

"I don't think so!" Rebecca exclaimed. "I thought you might try something tricky like that, so I planned ahead with this trap card: Go, Gravity Bind!"

A blue sphere locked down by a green grid was the card artwork for the card Rebecca had just flipped face-up. "This trap card prevents all monsters with 4 or more level stars from attacking at all. That means Luster Dragon can't attack me!"

"Oh darn," Miaka said sarcastically, snapping her fingers, "And here I figured that the National US Junior Champion was a pushover. Would've been nice though. Oh well, I'll just have to get around your trap card's glaring flaw by having Wynn attack your life points directly. It's not much, but it's better than nothing."

Generating wind from her shoulders, Wynn pushed the wind down her arms and then fired a powerful gust of wind from her hands at Rebecca, who fell on her butt, shaking her head, dropping down to 3,400 life points.

Miaka sucked in a deep breath and raised her arm to spout out a one-liner, only to drop her arm, shrug and shake her head. "No. Too easy."

"Heh, not bad," Rebecca said, adjusting her glasses. "But it's gonna take a bit more than chipping me down to beat me."

"Oh, I'm sure you can take a helluva a beating, Rebecca. Question is only if you can dish out what you can take."

"Just watch me!" Rebecca said, pushing the bridge of her glasses against her face so that the sunlight reflected off the frames. "This is all a part of my plan." She went for the top card of her deck. "Watch and learn! I draw! And I summon to the field my Cure Mermaid in attack position!"

A 4-star 1,500 attack point water monster emerged on Rebecca's side of the field. "And next, I activate my face-down card, Ultimate Offering! This lets me summon more monsters from my hand at the cost of 500 life points per monster. So, as I lose 500 life points," Rebecca said as her life points dropped to 2,900, "I can summon Fire Princess in attack mode!"

"Ah, the old lockdown and burn strategy," Miaka said. "Be a shame if someone stole a piece of your little puzzle there,"

"Well unless you activate another Book of Taiyou, my monsters are safe for now, and I feel pretty confident with those odds," Rebecca said. She looked at the remaining two cards in her hand. "My turn is over for now."

"All right then," Miaka said. "I draw!" She smirked when she saw what she just drew. Hopefully she was far enough away that her opponent didn't see her facial expression. "I'm setting a monster!" Miaka exclaimed. "Next, I switch Wynn back to defense position." Wynn crouched down next to Hiita. "That concludes my turn."

"Works for me," Rebecca said and drew the top card of her deck. "And since it's the start of my turn, I gain 800 life points thanks to Cure Mermaid."

Rebecca's life points shot up to 3,700.

"And since I just gained life points, Fire Princess inflicts direct damage to your life points."

Fire Princess fired flaming arrows at Miaka. She slowly and deliberately put up one arm just to keep the harsh light of the hologram out of her eyes, but that was it. Her life points fell to 3,500.

"And just like that," Rebecca said, adjusting her glasses. "I have the lead."

"Not bad," Miaka said, holding her shoulder, smirking. "But I have news for you, that won't be enough."

"We'll see," Rebecca said. "I end my turn immediately. It's your move, Miaka."

Miaka nodded and drew the top card of her deck. "I flip Eria the Water Charmer into face-up attack position! Now your monster belongs to me!"

Cure Mermaid's eyes glowed as Miaka's monster charmed it and brought it to her side of the field.

"There goes your strategy pretty much up in smoke, I'd say," Miaka said with a straight face. "No more cheap burn effects for you, missy."

"Not bad, but you've played right into my hands."

"Excuse you?" Miaka asked bluntly.

"Your field is full, which means you can't summon any new monsters, which means you can't steal any more of mine. And that, I'd say, is exactly the board state I was hoping to get you in."

Miaka blinked multiple times. "You can't be serious."

"Oh I'm pretty serious, Miaka!" Rebecca exclaimed. "You're about to see my dueling prowess in action first hand! I draw!"

"I summon to the field Injection Fairy Lily!"

The tiny, innocent looking fairy-like, winged spellcaster took to the field with its meager 400 attack points and 1,500 defense points…and carrying the biggest fuck off syringe in existence under its right arm.

"Oh! I get it! Rebecca's gonna use Injection Fairy Lily's special ability to wipe out Miaka's monsters!" Tristan exclaimed.

"Wow, I guess a stopped clock really is right twice a day," Rebecca remarked at Tristan's expense. "But he's absolutely right! I activate the special ability of Injection Fairy Lily in order to destroy Eria, the Water Charmer!"

"Urk!" Miaka exclaimed, sweating.

"You left yourself completely open to my attack! So I'm free to not only attack with a powerful monster but essentially seal your fate!"

Rebecca gave up 2,000 of her life points, leaving her with 1,700 to put Injection Fairy Lily at 3,400 attack points. It would be nothing compared to the damage she was about to inflict on Miaka.

Injection Fairy Lily slammed into Eria with the tip of her syringe and destroyed her, dropping Miaka's life points all the way down to a mere 600 points. "And next turn it's game over. Well, unless you put all of your monsters in defense mode, but that will only buy you a couple of turns."

Miaka looked less than pleased. In fact, she seemed to be seething with rage on the inside. She growled and glared. "Okay, that's it. It. Is. On."

Matsuda sighed, rubbing the side of his forehead.

"What? Manga not going well?" Aiko asked him.

"I can hardly concentrate when the class parakeet is quipping in earshot."

"Um, I think if anyone's a parakeet it's class 77-B's musician," Aiko remarked, "But continue. You had a point to make it sounded like.

"Miaka's a sore loser," Matsuda said. "You're about to see a side of her most don't: frustration."

"How do you know Miaka's frustrated side?" Kotomi asked him. "I thought you two hated each other."

"That would be my doing," Madarai confessed. "I brought Miaka to Matsuda because I stormed into her room when I heard her screaming. I thought she was being attacked, so I stormed into her room. Turns out she was just playing Dark Souls."

Aiko looked at him like she was trying to connect the dots of events.

Matsuda was quick to fill in. "He brought her to me to have her head examined because she was losing her temper over a videogame."

"Okay, but it's Dark Souls," Aiko belabored the point. The rest of the class gave her funny looks. "…What?"

"Now, now, let's not bicker," Murasame said, speaking up. "Miaka!" He called with motivational cheer, "Try to keep a cool head!"

Miaka did not answer Mursame. She did, however, gaze at him with an empty, dead inside glare, that would've been even more unsettling if her eyes were shaded by the sun, but thankfully were not.

Kotomi felt a chill run up her spine.

Miaka's glare settled upon Rebecca and she silently drew the top card of her deck, nearly crinkling the card in the process. Her voice dropped to a near contralto pitch as she spoke. "I activate Remove Trap, clearing gravity bind from the field," Miaka said. "Then I activate the special ability of Familiar-Possessed Wynn directly from my deck. By sacrificing your Luster Dragon and Wynn, I can special summon Wynn's Familiar-Possessed form to the field."

A massive armless and legless dragon swirled about this new version of Wynn. She had 1,850 attack points and 1,500 defense points.

"Familiar-Possessed Wynn attacks Injection Fairy Lily, destroying it," Miaka stated as her monster utterly blew away Rebecca's Fairy Lily, reducing it to nothing and knocking Rebecca on her backside again. She only had 250 life points left. "Turn over."

"Jeez, put a little enthusiasm in, would you? Have some fun," Rebecca requested.

Miaka's glare only intensified. "Sheesh, okay, okay, fine."

"Boy, some people sure take dueling seriously, huh pal?" Yugi asked his counterpart. Yami could only nod in agreement.

Rebecca drew the top card of her deck. "Unfortunately, this duel just became my victory," Rebecca said. "And I don't even have to attack to do it."

"YOU LIE!" Miaka shouted, snarling.

"Nope. Total truth," Rebecca responded. "First, Cure Mermaid increases my life points by 800, bringing me out of the danger zone." Rebecca's life points increased to 1,050. "And since I gained life points, you lose 500."

Miaka's life points dropped to only 100.

"And since I have two monsters on the field, I can sacrifice both of them to bring out Felgrand Dragon!"

A shining gold dragon with 2,800 attack points and 2,800 defense points stormed onto Rebecca's side of the field. "And now to finish you off with this magic card: Dragon's Gunfire! And since I control a Dragon-type monster, that means I inflict 800 points of damage directly to you! Lucky for me, you only have 100 left."

Miaka's glare remained as the giant fireball scorched the rest of her life points. When the smoke cleared and Rebecca was the clear victor, she didn't say a word. In fact, from the time the fireball hit her to the time of its dispersal, Miaka was no longer glaring. She was instead, smiling, very calmly in fact.

"Well, how about that? She got herself under control after all," Murasame said with a smile.

Matsuda took a deep breath. That gentlemanly kindness was so nice it blunted his usual snarky attitude.

"Welp, I lost," Miaka said, and vaulted off the arena. "Guess I'll go join my class."

"Wait, that's it? No, "You were a worthy opponent", or "Next time, I'll beat you for certain."?" Rebecca asked.

"Nah, I'm not the type," Miaka said. "I'm a classic case of textbook shut in. What I need is a quick trip to a bathroom or somewhere else private so I can put on a cosplay outfit. I feel so exposed like this. I've never really dueled as me before. And dueling against you of all people you have no idea how hard that was! Stop being cute!"

"I mean…" Rebecca could not find a rational defense against such an irrational statement. "I'd at least like to be friends. I think you're pretty neat."

"You…what?" Miaka asked flatly.

Rebecca got down from the stage as well and stood much closer to Miaka than they had all duel, causing a big blush to creep upon Miaka's face, along with lots of perspiration, followed by a big smile.

"Awww, look at that Miaka, you made a friend," Kotomi said with a big smile.

"Friend, right," Matsuda said, turning the page of his manga. "And totally not something else."

Rebecca and Miaka stared at each other in utter silence before Rebecca finally spoke up. "Ah! Right! I gotta get to the break room so I don't glimpse the next duel! Bye, Miaka! See you later!"

Miaka watched her go, simply let out a sigh and walked to the one of two empty chairs where her class was and sat down. "Hey, has anyone seen—?"

Before Miaka could finish her sentence, Kaiba called, "Nagito Komaeda and Ace Konami, please report to the dueling arena now!"

"Oh shit, never mind! This oughta be worth a laugh," Miaka said and sat down quickly.

Aiko got out her camera. Even if Miaka was overselling it, a cheap laugh highlight reel made for good clickbait.

"Hmm, the Ultimate Lucky Student against one of the finest world level duelists from Japan is it?" Matsuda mused, lowering his manga.

"Wow, Matsuda's actually invested," Kotomi remarked. "Someone get me a thermometer. I think he's ill!"

"Ikuta, I can and will put you in a coma with only my fingers," Matsuda responded.

Kotomi instantly tried to use Matsuda as a shield by hiding behind the opposite side of him, crouching and grabbing his shoulders.

"Now, now, Matsuda, it's not nice to threaten the Vice President even as a joke," Murasame told him.

"I…" Matsuda said and then sighed. "I'm sorry."

Nagito and Ace strolled towards the dueling arena. Ace silently waved to Yami as he took his spot on the arena.

Nagito however…was far more in the mood to be chatty. "Pharaoh! Yugi! How are you guys?"

"Good to see you in good health, Nagito," Yami replied.

Nagito laughed. "That's…an odd choice of words, but I guess I'll take the compliment for its intended purpose. Really though, while Chiaki told me I should try my best, I really would like to lose to the person that ends up facing you."

"Still pushing that philosophy of yours I see," Yami replied.

"Well, I mean, I never know the day I'm going to die, so I want my life to have some kind of meaning," Nagito said to him.

"Well, do your best. I would be honored to face you, if it was you that made it to the end of the tournament," Yami told him.

"Yeah, you and I both know that's not going to happen. Honestly, I only accepted Kaiba's invitation because of him and Chiaki. Well, that and hope," Nagito said with a smile.

Ace smiled at his competition and activated his duel disk.

"Ah, guess my opponent is getting a little eager. Well, win or lose, this won't take long," Nagito stated.

"You seem…oddly confident about that," Yami said.

"Pharaoh, there's one thing I trust above all else in life," Nagito said as he went for the top five cards of his deck. "And that's my talent."

When the buzzer sounded for the duel to begin, Nagito was barely even surprised by his opening hand. He almost burst out laughing. "Hey, um, Mokuba, The Pharaoh is functionally the judge, right?"

"Huh? Yugi as the judge. I mean, yeah, that's true enough."

"So then, um, what do I do if this is my opening hand?" Nagito asked. He showed Yami all five pieces of Exodia.

Ace's face went slack with despair. Yami did a double take.

"ALL FIVE PIECES OF EXODIA?!" Yugi exclaimed.

Téa, Tristan, Bakura, Serenity and Miho had equally shocked faces.

"What's going on? I can't see from up here!" Hiyoko complained. "Mahiru, put me on your shoulders!"

"Um, Hiyoko, you'd crush me," Mahiru told her. "You're not 4 and a half feet tall anymore."

Hiyoko puffed her cheeks and grumbled incoherently under her breath, arms folded. It sounded like "Something, something, four feet tall."

"Mokuba, what's going on down there?" Kaiba asked via their two-way communication.

"Nagito drew all five pieces of Exodia in his opening hand."

"Komaeda did what?!" Kaiba exclaimed, slapping his desk, leaning over.

As murmurs arose from the crowd, Yami stood there with his eyes closed. If it were any other duelist, I'd call it cheating. Still…

"You can have Ace reshuffle my deck if you're that uncomfortable about it. I literally let him do it on our walk over here from the break room."

Ace, dumbfounded, confirmed this with a nod.

"Then, I guess I have no choice," Yami said and held up Nagito's arm so he could show off his opening hand to the crowd. The camera zoomed in on it. "By virtue of drawing all five pieces of Exodia in his opening hand, Nagito Komaeda is the winner of this duel by default!"

A collective gasp rose through the audience at one of the most unexpected events to grace duel monsters.

This is absurd! Kaiba exclaimed inwardly. Komaeda's luck has always been off the charts, but all five pieces in his opening hand?

Nagito, however, knew that this was an ill omen for him. Well, bad luck's coming my way soon. Wonder when it will strike.

An extended commercial break was needed after Nagito's little stunt essentially dropped an entire duel's worth of expected tournament run time off the advertising block. So, the Kaiba brothers could afford it.

Of course, to Junko Enoshima, precious seconds meant an even longer amount of prep time for her goals, both short term and long. To that end, she found Monaca tip tapping away at her laptop.

"How goes it?" she asked her.

Monaca closed her laptop screen. "Oh, it's just you, big sis. Everything's fine. No one suspects a thing," Monaca said. "It helps when you have a back door into what you need." A weird smile crept along her face. "And sooner or later that back door will be a big, gaping wall."

"Excellent," Junko said, patting Monaca on the head. "You're such a helpful little apprentice."

Monaca giggled. "Welp, I better get in position." She shoved her laptop into her bag and Junko carefully placed said bag in the back pocket of Monaca's wheelchair. The young girl then spun the rims to get her over to the buffet table as she began feigning helplessness, her body a bit too far to reach the ladle in punch bowl.

Of all the remaining contestants to help her out of this faked predicament, Makoto approached and spooned Monaca some punch. "Here you go."

"Ah, thanks," Monaca said, receiving the cup.

"You're Monaca, right?" Makoto asked.

"That's right," Monaca said with a cheery smile. "I'm Monaca Towa. It's nice to meet you…Makoto, is it?"

"Yeah! You got that right!" Makoto exclaimed enthusiastically.

Monaca giggled. "You were in Battle City's finals. I remember all of those people that are at this tournament. I must say though, you don't look like much."

Makoto sighed, feeling slighted. "Yeah, I get that a lot."

Monaca laughed some more. "Don't feel bad. Being underestimated is a secret weapon that only people like you and me understand."

"Huh. I never really looked at it that way," Makoto said.

Monaca sipped her punch loudly. "Ahhhhhh. This is my first tournament, you know. I'm kind of nervous. I usually just play a lot at local tournaments, but I guess you could say I was…inspired to have a stage this big."

"Oh? Really? What inspired you?" Makoto asked.

"Wellllll…" Monaca said, preparing to launch into a huge story, but then the announcements came on.

"Makoto Naegi and Monaca Towa, please report to the arena now!" Kaiba exclaimed.

"Eh?" Makoto blinked, not sure if he heard that correctly.

"Oh! Well lucky you, you get to duel me in the first round, big bro!"

"B-Big bro?" Makoto stuttered.

"What? Can I not call you that? I always wanted a big brother," Monaca said, pouting.

Makoto's chronic kindness gave into Monaca's adorableness. "You can call me big bro as much as you want, Monaca!"

"Yay!" Monaca exclaimed, eyes closed, throwing her hands in the air. "Big bro is the best big bro!" She opened her eyes. "Hey, big bro, can you wheel me out onto the arena. I'd ask big sis to do it, but she's not allowed to watch me duel."

"Sure, Monaca, no problem," Makoto said and got behind Monaca's wheelchair and started pushing.

As the duo entered the last stretch of hallway out of the break room and to the sight of the audience, Monaca spoke up again. "Hey, big bro, can I ask you a favor?"

"What's the matter?" Makoto asked.

"Well, as you can see, I'm…not exactly the sturdiest person out there. Heck, I don't even know if I can take a direct attack without threatening my health. Big bro, can you promise not to direct attack me during the duel?"

"Huh?" Makoto was surprised by the request. That was an awfully tall order.

"I mean, if I fell out of my wheelchair, who would help me get back into it and I could really get hurt. I mean, what if you attacked me with one of your big nasty dragons and I fell backwards off the arena and broke my neck?" Monaca asked, looking worried and on the verge of tears.

"I…" Makoto thought it over a lot. Direct attacking was a vital part of the duelist's toolkit, but…could he afford to make an exception in this case?

"Please, big bro," Monaca pleaded.

That was all the last bit of convincing Makoto needed. "Okay, Monaca," he said, ruffling her hair. "For you."

"Yay! Thank you so much!" She turned her head to face the audience and simply thought. Sucker!

Mukuro blushed the second Makoto emerged out into the open. "D-do your best, Makoto!" She cheered.

"You can do it, Makoto!" Sayaka cheered, deliberately louder than Mukuro.

"Mr. Naegi against a girl in a wheelchair?" Hifumi mused. "Talk about your mismatched matchups."

"What makes you say that?" Hina asked.

"Really? You're seriously asking that?" Toko asked.

"Yes, Toko. I'm seriously asking that," Hina responded.

Toko grabbed Chihiro and stood the short young teen in front of her.

"Ohhhhhhh," Hina responded, getting it.

"MAKOTO! WIN FOR CLASS 78!" Taka shouted.

"Boy, where was this kind of cheering for Celeste?" Homura asked.

"That was Celeste though. This is Makoto," Hina responded.

"Ouch. Don't you guys like, eat at the same lunch table?" Homura asked.

"Yeah, but…it's Celeste," Hina responded.

"Oof. I can just taste the disrespect," her teacher responded. "Guess I should expect a similarly cold turnout when it's Byakuya's turn."

Pushing her way to the front of the crowd, Komaru began cheering while standing up. "You can do it big brother! Woohoo!"

Monaca giggled. "You have a whole cheering squad."

Makoto laughed nervously.

"It must be nice to have such a supportive sibling," Monaca said with a straight face.

"Yeah, Komaru's always kind of been an entire cheering team in one person," Makoto chuckled, smiling.

"Hey, if I win can your little sister be my big sister for the day?" Monaca asked.

"Huh? I mean, that's a weird request, but I don't see why not," Makoto responded.

Monaca giggled. Oh, this was going to be fun.

As the two finished loading their decks and activating their duel disks, Monaca spoke again. "Remember what you promised, big bro. I'll be really angry and upset if you go back on your word."

"I promise, Monaca. And I won't break it."

And you'll lose, Monaca thought. Junko was going to be so proud of her.

Yami briefly wondered what was going on between these two, but decided against asking anything. Above him, the big screen began rapidly switching back and forth between Monaca and Makoto before finally deciding that Makoto would be the duelist to go first.

Good, that gives me an extra turn to set up and worry less about direct attacks, Makoto thought.

"All right, big bro," Monaca said. "Show me what you can do."

"You too, Monaca," Makoto said with an exuberant smile. "Let's have fun."

"Let's Duel!" The two declared simultaneously.

(A/N: Uh boy. Makoto, you idiot! You're being manipulated XD. But yes, Monaca Vs Makoto. Fun fact, Monaca was originally slated to be not only Leon's first opponent, but also Rebecca's at one point as well before I started switching stuff around to be more interesting. But forget that noise, let's focus on the fact that Monaca just manipulated Makoto into dueling her with a handicap. Can Makoto hope to win against this devious little gremlin? You'll just have to wait and see the next chapter of Dueling Trigger Finger to find out! And until next time, as always, from all of me, to all of you, let your hearts stay human and your wrath draconic! Ja ne!)