The summer has ended and Yumi must return to school. Friends old and new await her as she first starts to feel the effects of being a winner.
Saying she didn't expect this would be a lie. No matter how early she woke up normally or how many alarms she set that morning, Yumi couldn't remember a semester where she managed to get out of the house on schedule for the first day.
The good news, though, was that she wasn't that far from school. Peddling faster than normal, she'd make it with time to spare so long as nothing got in her way. And the second she thought that, she knew for a fact something was about to get in her way.
The obstacle of the day turned out to be another human, running out to cross the street just as she was coming to the same intersection. Had she not been slowing down already in order to make the turn herself, she'd likely have run the stranger over. Instead, she merely hit her before coming to a stop.
"Are you okay?" she shouted, waving her arms wildly and running over to help her. "I'm sorry, I didn't see you come out and I was already going and couldn't stop in time and wasn't paying attention and-" She stopped herself, noticing the girl's clothes as she shook the confusion out of her head. "That's my uniform," she said.
Looking at herself, then to Yumi, the other girl nodded. It was the same white collared shirt, pleated red skirt, and red mini tie for the both of them. "Oh, yeah. Hey, are we classmates?"
"Yeah, I think so. Are you new?"
She nodded. "We just moved here. Sorry for making you crash. I should have paid more attention to the road."
"No, it was my fault! I was going too fast." It was then she realized the other girl was still sitting on the pavement, deciding to extend a hand and help her up immediately after that.
"No one got hurt, so it's not a big deal." She brushed herself off, then took Yumi's hand. "My name's Suzy Q," she said with a well-timed snap of her fingers, giving Yumi even more goosebumps than the sensation of holding hands with a pretty girl would on its own. "What's your name?"
"Oh, uh, Yumi," she said, trying to get her head back in order. "We should probably go, though. We're going to be late if we stay here much longer."
Glancing at her phone, she nodded. "Yeah, you're right. See you at school, Yumi." Suzy pulled free of Yumi's grip, surprisingly unaffected by she'd been holding onto her far longer than the original handshake would entail.
Yumi stood there like a weirdo in the middle of the street watching her new friend run off before she was shocked back to reality by a car horn. She wanted to stay and speak to her more, unable to stop herself from daydreaming about her the whole ride to school.
All she really knew right now was her name, that she was new in town, and that they went to the same school. Also that she was really forgiving about getting run over. She might even be a foreigner given how she looked, though her Japanese didn't even have a noticeable accent to it. "Wonder where she moved from," Yumi mumbled to herself while passing through the school gates.
The morning assembly was pretty typical, the students welcomed back and wished a successful new semester by the principal. No one seemed entirely interested in what was being said, least of all Yumi who kept trying to find anyone she knew. If anything positive could be said about the whole affair, it was that it was over quickly, allowing them to hurry things up and get to class.
Class 1-B hadn't changed much since the summer ended. The same desks with the same students as before all in the same spaces. This familiarity at least meant she didn't have to look far to find a friend. "Ami!" she screamed in a volume much too loud for a classroom.
"Hi," another girl greeted, catching Yumi as she leaped into her arms for a hug. "Please stop doing that already," she said, though she didn't let go just yet. "One of these days I won't be able to catch you."
"You have good reflexes," she said with a smile. "And I missed you over the summer. Where'd you go? I didn't see you at all around the city."
"Sorry," she said. "I didn't know until we got out of school on the last day. My parents wanted to visit my relatives in the country, and I didn't get any reception so I couldn't call you."
"That sounds fun. Did anything cool happen while you were there?"
She sighed. "Well, my aunt called me fat a lot, so that wasn't very nice. But I did find this." Taking hold of a strand of twine around her neck, she pulled out a rough looking yellow crystal of some kind.
Yumi's eyes widened, watching the gem-like rock glistening in the sunlight. "What is it?" she asked, poking it a few times for good measure.
"I'm not sure what kind of stone it is, but it can do some pretty neat things." She tucked it back into the front of her shirt.
"Like magic powers?" Though Yumi laughed, intending it as a joke, Ami suddenly looked nervous. "Can you use it to magnify the sun and turn it into a laser, or something?"
"Closer to your first guess," she said sheepishly. "I don't know what this rock is, but it has some kind of weird powers that let me fight evil. And I get a cute costume."
"Is that why you dyed your hair? For some cosplay stuff? It looks really cool." Ami was naturally dark haired, though at some point during the summer her shoulder length curls had transformed into an auburn, almost copper color.
"No, it just happened when I first used it. And it's not cosplay. I just told you it's some kind of magic stuff." She looked side to side, suddenly realizing she might have been talking too loudly. "Please don't say anything about this to anyone else. I just told you because I know I can trust you."
Yumi laughed. "Okay, I won't tell anyone about your cosplay, but you have to show me sometime. I like cute costumes."
Needless to say, Ami's secret would remain perfectly safe with how firmly in denial her friend was. "Anyway," she said, changing the subject, "did you do anything interesting while we were on break?"
She nodded enthusiastically. "A ton! I made some friends and they all helped me train for the prefectural tournament that happened last week, and I actually won!"
Ami grabbed her in another hug. "You really did it? Congratulations! I thought it would be at least a few more years before you made it that far."
"Me, too," she said, bouncing on her heels. "But Sakuya was a really good teacher and always pushed me to be better, and I kept winning until I made it all the way to the finals!"
They took a moment to squeal together before Ami asked, "Who's Sakuya?"
"She's this really cool girl I met at the park. She's super strong and smart and cute and wears this neat French hat and can beat anyone in a duel. You can't meet her right now because she goes to a fancy private school in Gunma, but we can all get together after the end of the semester."
Before Ami had the chance to say anything, Yumi continued. "Oh, and a couple days ago I got this." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a pink flip phone, a tiny pumpkin monster charm hanging off it. "Now I can finally call you in my room instead of standing in the hallway."
"Finally," she said excitedly. "Text me so I can have your number." Yumi did as requested, sending her a random string of 26 different emoticons she typed out at random. "Got it."
Their time together was interrupted right after as another girl pushed Yumi aside to take her seat near the window, one above the last desk and right in front of Ami. She was rail thin with greasy lavender hair that nearly reached the floor, with thick, smudged glasses that did little to hide the dark circles under her eyes. In general, she looked like a walking corpse, or maybe just someone who hadn't slept or showered in a few days.
"Good morning, Kaguya," Ami said halfheartedly, her distaste for her classmate not much of a secret. In truth, neither her nor Yumi particularly liked her, but they almost pitied the fact that she had absolutely no friends and let her sit by them and eat lunch together. Outcasts as the two of them always seemed to be, Kaguya's extremely toxic personality and unearned superiority complex made them seem like celebrities by comparison.
She looked Ami up and down with a smug expression. "Dying your hair won't distract from how fat you are," she said, apparently deciding this was the most appropriate greeting for the first time you see someone after a long break.
Ami sighed and sat down at her desk next to Yumi. "Okay, then." She figured she was done talking to her for the day.
Trying to relieve some of the tension, Yumi stepped in. "We were talking about what we did this summer. Did you...do anything interesting?"
She scoffed. "Obviously. bI/b started a new webcomic, and so far it has at least three dedicated readers on each chapter."
"What happened to the old one?" she asked. This had been at least the third one Kaguya had declared she was making. No one ever really had an interest in reading them.
"I ended it since none of these simpletons could appreciate it." Her failure to attract readers was a very obvious sore spot. "And what about you? I assume you lost another tournament, as usual."
"No, I won this time!"
Kaguya's expression darkened, feeling threatened and now having to try and think up some kind of quip on the spot. "Was it some kind of consolation prize? They felt bad for the poor kid and wanted to give you something nice?"
She shook her head. "No, first place. It was really hard, but I won. I even dueled last year's runner up."
"Really?" Ami said. "You didn't tell me that part."
"Yeah. His name was...Shigeo, I think. He had this really neat deck with some kind of roleplaying theme. I hope we can have a rematch sometime, since it was really fun." Unable to find any way to twist this situation into a negative, Kaguya immediately stopped talking and opened up a notebook to do some sketching.
Ami and Yumi spent the next several minutes talking before class officially begun. Their homeroom teacher, an older woman with an extremely monotone voice, stood in front of the class with an announcement. "Today," she spoke in the most boring way possible, "a new student will be joining our class. Please try to get along."
The door to the classroom opened with the girl Yumi had nearly run over earlier in the morning walking inside. She was instructed to introduce herself, and after clearing her throat, she did just that. "Hello! My name's Suzanna Quallenberg, but you can all call me Suzy Q! My family just moved here from America, and I'm really excited to be in Japan! I like Duel Monsters and anime, and I really want to be friends with everyone!" She ended her introduction by striking a pose not unlike one performed by a pink ghostly catman, just in case anyone wasn't entirely sure what she was about yet.
The class stayed silent in a mixture of embarrassment and confusion, no one seeming to fully believe whether this girl was real or not. All except for Yumi, who was immediately taken with her, gesturing wildly to an empty desk next to her as she went for a seat. Recognizing each other, they flashed a pair of wide smiles as classes commenced.
If you asked either Yumi or Suzy what happened during school leading up to lunchtime, neither of them would be able to give you a straight answer other than that class had certainly taken place. They were paying far too much attention to each other to focus on what a teacher was saying, doing their best not to get caught as they got to know each other.
Amazingly, they managed to evade detection all throughout the day, mostly because Suzy had the bright idea to exchange numbers during the first break between classes. Though reluctant at first, Ami eventually relented and joined in, texting between the three of them during the next several classes. By the time they were pushing desks together to eat, it was like they'd known each other for years.
"What do you normally bring to lunch?" Ami asked Suzy, opening up her lunchbox and taking a bite out of a tiny hot dog shaped into an octopus (she always loved those despite how much Yumi hated the animal they were based on).
"It depends, but today I wanted to do something different." She opened her own lunchbox to everyone's amazement.
"You brought sushi?" Yumi said, already halfway through with devouring last night's dinner leftovers.
She nodded proudly. "Yeah, I learned how to make it when I lived in New York, so I thought I'd use some real Japanese ingredients to make some for lunch. It's definitely not as delicious as the kind people make here, but I think I've gotten pretty good at it." She held out a tuna roll towards Yumi. "Want to try? Tell me if I got close."
Nodding enthusiastically, Yumi was expecting to be handed the piece to eat on her own, taken off guard as Suzy moved it closer to her mouth for her. Fighting back her natural gay urges, she allowed herself to be fed without making a scene. "Is it any good?" She responded with a flustered thumbs up.
As Suzy repeated the process with a much more composed Ami, Yumi felt the need to address the elephant in the room. "Kaguya," she said, turning around in her chair to look towards her. "Did you...want to eat with us?"
Not even bothering to turn around, she rebuffed her. "Looks like you already have a third." It wasn't entirely clear whether she was jealous or just being an asshole, though either option forced Yumi to the conclusion she didn't want to join them today. It was probably for the best, as Kaguya had a habit of deliberately trying to ruin any joy in her immediate area once she joined a group. Being able to enjoy making a new friend without that kind of blight was a nice change of pace. In any case, there wasn't much point in worrying over it.
"Yeah, I usually straighten it since it's easier to deal with," Suzy told the two of them, pointing at her hair. "If I didn't, it would curl up a ton. It's not dyed, though, it's just always this yellow." They'd started out talking about Ami's change of hairstyle, eventually leading to discussing Suzy's sunflower blonde bob cut.
"There was one thing I wanted some help with," she said after that. "What kind of clubs do you have here? I always wanted to join a school club, but they don't really work the same way in America, so now I'm trying to think of what I'd like to do."
Yumi swallowed hard to choke down the rest of her lunch, having decided it was a good idea to cram it all into her mouth as fast as possible to have as much time as possible to talk. "We have a lot of clubs here, so I guess it depends on what kind of stuff you like."
"What about a host club? Or a light music club? I don't know much about being in either, but I could learn."
"I don't know about the first one, but I know we have the second," Ami said, vaguely sensing some sort of reference having gone over her head. "There's a calligraphy club, and a literature club, and lots of sports teams if you like that."
"Are you two in any clubs?"
She nodded. "Yeah, I run track, and Yumi was part of the Duel Monsters club. Didn't you quit, though?"
"Yeah, I guess I couldn't get into it. Everyone was nice, but we didn't really do anything besides duel and talk. And I just thought I could do all of that at the park but with more people." She was beginning to reconsider that decision now that she was unsure of being able to return to the park, given that it might be somewhat awkward to be hanging around the place her friend had been publicly banished from and all.
"That doesn't sound so bad," Suzy said, thinking over her options before switching conversations abruptly. "Oh, and before I forget, I want to duel you today."
Yumi perked up. "Sure, that sounds fun. We could do it now when you're done eating."
She shook her head. "No, like for real. When school lets out, we can do it outside. You have a duel disk in your bag, don't you?"
"Yeah, I do. How did you know that?" Apparently, Detective Conan was one of Suzy's favorite shows, too.
"I just figured someone who likes Duel Monsters as much as you would carry one around pretty much all the time. And I saw a little bit of it earlier when you ran me over. It's a new model, isn't it?"
"Did she just say you ran her over?" She looked to Yumi accusingly, reminded of how they met in elementary school. "Stop doing that already."
"It's not like I planned for it to happen twice."
"Was it just twice or have you hit someone else?"
She grew quiet. "I'm feeling really attacked right now," she said with a pout.
"You attacked us with your bike!" Despite how it might appear to outsiders, neither of them was taking the conversation very seriously. Ami had been able to laugh about the way they met almost as soon as it happened and was always pretty forgiving about the accident, though she'd never pass up an opportunity to remind Yumi of it.
They spent the rest of lunch as well as most of the school day getting to know each other, Ami and Suzy bonding over their shared experience of being hit by a bike. The end of the day came around with the three having learned little that didn't involve one another. Though they'd quickly come to regret goofing off for an entire school day, that regret wasn't coming until at least the next day.
"I'll be outside when you're ready," Suzy said to Yumi before bolting from the classroom. She was too excited to wait for the others to pack up, heading towards the front of the school immediately once they were dismissed.
Yumi pulled on her backpack shortly after, looking to Ami who was taking her time getting her things together. "Are you going to stay to watch us?" she asked, hoping her friend's track commitment wouldn't get in the way today.
"Sure. I've got some time before practice starts. I haven't seen you duel in a while, so it should be a lot of fun." They began walking down the hallway, Yumi hop-skipping in anticipation for what was sure to be a good duel.
"Oh, one second." She opened one of the classroom doors, specifically the science lab. "Professor!" she yelled in a way that would probably get her in trouble with any other person of authority.
An older man in a white coat looked towards her, brushing back his graying hair. "Yumi, glad to see you back." He pushed up his thick glasses and placed a graduated cylinder onto a shelf. "Tidying up a little. Did you need something or did you want to help?"
"Not today," she said, dropping her bag to the ground and reaching inside. "I just wanted to show you my new duel disk." Strapping it to her arm, she raised it up for him to see. "Now I won't have to keep bothering you to help fix my old one. Thanks for always doing that, though."
He stroked his neatly trimmed beard, nodding in approval. "I like how it looks. Have you tried it out yet?"
"Just once, but I'm on my way to a duel right now. We're in front of the school if you want to watch."
"I've still got some stuff to take care of here, but I'll catch the end of it if I can. Good luck out there." They parted ways shortly after, the professor returning to organizing the supplies. He always enjoyed it when Yumi popped in, whether it was just for a quick talk or to get help keeping the ramshackle duel disk she used to use in working order. She was a lot like her father, he thought, remembering back when he was a child attending the same school.
Once outside, Yumi spotted Suzy almost immediately, running over to her and jumping into position. "Alright, you ready?" She was positively giddy to start.
"You know it," she answered, attaching a modern-style blue and white duel disk to her left arm. Yumi activated hers in turn, still feeling enthralled with how new it felt. "Duel!" they shouted in unison.
A small crowd began to form, mainly composed of students whose club activities hadn't started up yet or those who would otherwise just be heading home. "I'll let you have the first move," Yumi said, confident in her skills as well as wanting a real challenge to test out the new changes she made to her deck following the duel with Sakuya.
"That's nice of you. I'll start my turn, then!" She looked over her hand quickly, taking hold of a card. "I should probably say I'm still a little new to using this deck, so I might make some mistakes."
"No problem," Yumi said with a nod. "If that's the case, I'll just help you test what you have now."
"I'll start things off by activating Pot of Duality, which lets me excavate the top three cards of my deck and add one to my hand. In exchange, I won't be able to Special Summon this turn." Large holograms appeared behind her to show the top cards of her deck. They included a Book of Moon, a Cyclone, and a second copy of her Pot.
"Hmm." She tapped her lips before taking hold of Cyclone, adding it to her hand and letting the other two be shuffled back into the deck. "Now, I think I'll summon Kozmo Scaredy Lion in Attack Mode and set two cards before I end my turn."
Suzy's monster appeared on the field, shaking in fear despite its tough appearance. Almost immediately, Yumi's excitement tripled. "It's the same!" she declared.
"What is?" Suzy asked.
"That card! It's the same as mine!" Drawing for her turn, Yumi revealed a monster in her hand before summoning it. "My own Scaredy Lion!" The two lions met face to face, initially trying to intimidate the other with roars only to end up even more frightened than before.
Suzy laughed, sharing Yumi's enthusiasm for the coincidence. "That's really cool! I've never even seen that card before. I think it might be one of the really early ones that never got released outside of Japan, right?"
She nodded. "Yeah, it's one of the first ones I ever got from my dad. I didn't think there was another card out there so similar to it." Taking another card, Yumi was about to get serious. She wanted to show off what her own lion could do now that it seemingly had a rival. "I'll use Pot of Greed now, which lets me draw two more cards from my deck."
It was probably a more advantageous move to activate Pot of Greed prior to summoning, just in case she were to draw something more viable to summon than Scaredy Lion. Strategy kind of went out the window the moment she saw her opponent use the Kozmo equivalent to it, though. Luckily for Yumi, there wasn't an appreciably better move to make at this point in time, so she wouldn't have to endure any penalty for acting rashly.
"Now you can really see the power of my Super Common Deck!" She hadn't actually said that name out loud since thinking of it a few days ago, but hearing it now was...less than impressive. The crowd sure didn't seem to like it that much, either, though Suzy was more than taken by it. Charging forward, she placed a card into her duel disk. "I equip Scaredy Lion with the Equip Magic, Broken Wand! This gives Scaredy Lion an effect to increase its ATK by 500."
Grabbing hold of the sparking wand, Yumi's monster seemed to gain some measure of confidence. Snarling towards the Kozmo monster, it prepared to attack. "Go, Scaredy Lion! Destroy Kozmo – Pavid!"
A bolt of energy shot out towards Suzy's card, but she was entirely unafraid. "I activate Kozmo Scaredy Lion's effect!" Her monster began to glow with a deep purple aura. "During either of our turns, I can banish my monster to summon another Kozmo monster that's at least 1 Level higher than this one from my hand."
The lion transformed into light, dodging the attack against it and blasting off into the sky. "I'll use this to summon Kozmo Dark Destroyer from my hand!" Above the field, a starship appeared out of thin air as if it had just dropped from hyperspace travel. Engines roared as it circles around to float behind Suzy, guns locking onto Scaredy Lion as they began to charge.
"When Dark Destroyer is summoned, I get to destroy a monster on your field." She pointed towards Yumi's lion. "Fire!" Blasting at the field, the lasers traveled up towards Scaredy Lion, eventually hitting the mark and shooting at its spot on the field several times. As the dust settled, though, it appeared like the effect did little to actually harm it.
"I don't think so!" Yumi declared, a card appearing beside her. "When one of my monsters equipped with a Magic Card would be destroyed, I can use Armored Block to negate that destruction." A thin yellow barrier had surrounded Scaredy Lion prior to the attack, shattering to pieces now that the effect was fulfilled.
The battle ended, obviously, as there would be no point in attacking a monster so much stronger than her own. "I'll set two cards, then. Turn end."
"At your End Phase, I use my set card, Mystical Space Typhoon!" Suzy's card flipped up, tearing across the field to break one of Yumi's own set cards. "Yes! Lucky!" The card she'd managed to destroy was none other than Mirror Force, Yumi lamenting the fact she never seemed to be able to use it before an opponent would inevitably blast it to pieces.
Ami stepped forward from the sidelines, nudging Yumi. "Hey, why does Suzy keep calling cards different things?" Though none of them spoke up, preferring to simply watch, a few other students silently nodded. They were all a bit confused as to the reason behind the differences.
She shrugged. "I don't know." Turning towards Suzy, she shouted, "Hey, why do you keep calling your cards weird names?"
"I didn't say they were weird," Ami said, suddenly feeling a bit self-conscious for calling it out like that.
Suzy shrugged herself. "Sometimes they change a card's name when it gets translated into a different language. I don't really get why. I'd definitely use the Japanese names since most of them are way cooler, but I'm just really used to these." She held up her Cyclone card, pointing towards the text. "Plus, all my cards are in English, so it's hard to remember some of the original names without having cards in another language."
"Oh, I get it now," Yumi said, nodding to Ami. "I'm not bothered by it, so call your cards whatever you like. My duel disk translates everything, anyway, so it's not a big deal."
"Thanks," Suzy said as she began her turn. She seemed pleased by what she'd just drawn, immediately summoning it with a smile. "I play my Kozmo Goodwitch," she declared, the monster appearing on her field in a shower of golden light. Waving its wand around in a circle, bubbles began to shower Yumi's field, glistening in the sunlight as they seemed to position themselves around her monster.
"By paying 500 Life Points, I can flip one of your monsters face-down." Pointing to Scaredy Lions, the bubbles began to pop with enormous force, turning the card over against its will and causing Broken Wand to drop off.
It was a clever plan, that much was certain. Without Broken Wand, Yumi couldn't end the Battle Phase, meaning there was a clear path to her Life Points for a 3000 ATK direct attack once her monster was taken out. That seemed to be the plan, at least. "Attack! Kozmo Goodwitch destroys Scaredy Lion!"
Plans do change, however. "Not this time! Trap Card, Majesty Guard!" Her card flipped open, forming a barrier around Scaredy Lion as it was forced into battle. "Until the end of this turn, none of my monsters can be destroyed by battle and all the damage I take is halved. You won't be destroying anything this turn."
Suzy nodded, agreeing with this assessment. "Looks like you managed to get around me this turn. I still have my Dark Destroyer on the field, though. Good luck trying to get around that. Turn end."
Beginning her turn, Yumi could feel something good coming. Drawing a card, her instinct was proven right, demonstrated as she played it to the field. "I activate my Magic Card, Instant Fusion!" As the enormous cup of instant ramen rose up from behind her, she explained the effect. "To use this card, I need to pay 1000 Life Points. Then, I get to Special Summon any Fusion Monster from my Extra Deck that's Level 5 or lower."
As the cost deducted itself from her Life Points, steam began to spew from a small opening at the rim of the cup. The lid burst off soon after, a monster jumping through the vapor cloud that escaped to take its place on the field. "Come out, Rare Fish!"
Fusion Monster or not, however, Rare Fish hardly inspired much fear in Suzy. It barely had more ATK than Scaredy Lion and was unable to attack on the one turn it occupied the field due to Instant Fusion's effect. She was well aware that Yumi hadn't just summoned this card for the fun of it, though.
Throwing her hand in the air, both monsters began to glow. "I overlay my Level 4 Rare Fish with my Level 4 Scaredy Lion! Xyz Summon, Rank 4!" The two merged inside the glowing vortex, a new monster exploding out of it. "Zubaba General!"
The monster stared menacingly towards its opponents, driving its sword into the dirt in front of it. "Zubaba General isn't here just to look scary," Yumi said, one of her monster's Overlay Units orbiting faster and running into the monster's weapon. "By detaching one of these, I can take a Warrior-Type monster in my hand and equip it to my monster, adding their ATK together!" She revealed Big Bat Knight, sliding it into her duel disk.
With a roar, Zubaba General's ATK grew to 3100, the ghostly image of its equipment appearing behind it. "Now, battle! Attack Kozmo – Grindol!" Hoisting its sword, Zubaba General raised the weapon skyward, drawing in power before letting loose a wide swing through the air, blasting its target with devastating air pressure without even making contact. With a small scream, the Kozmo was destroyed.
"That was pretty good," Suzy congratulated as her Life Points fell to 2200. "I wasn't expecting a Xyz Summon like that, especially using a Fusion Monster. Where'd you learn to do something that advanced?"
Ami nodded, adding, "Yeah, you've never used cards like this before. It looks so easy for you."
With a smile, she explained, "It was part of my special training for the tournament. My teacher helped me learn a lot." Yumi ended her turn after the battle. "Xyz Summoning becomes as easy as breathing when you do it fifteen times day for a month. I'm still trying out some new tricks with Fusion, too."
"I hope you'll show me some of them before I win," Suzy said, introducing a little trash talk into the duel. "Draw!" With seemingly nothing to do, she set a card and switched her monster to Defense Position, then ended the turn. Without Grindol on the field, taking out Zubaba General would be a bit more difficult than she'd like, though it was far from an insurmountable task as she'd soon demonstrate.
"I don't know if I can if that's all you can do now." With a smile, Yumi started her turn, immediately launching into an attack. "Battle!"
"You activated my Trap Card!" she declared with a dramatic laugh. "Kozmojo!" An instant before Zubaba General's sword could make contact with the starship, it froze in place. Dropping to the ground, then to its knees, the monster grasped at its own throat as if it was being choked. "This card destroys one of my Kozmo monsters to banish a card you control. That'll be all from Zubaba General."
As Yumi's card disappeared, Suzy's began to explode. Falling out of the sky, it too vanished. "Now the real fun starts. When Dark Destroyer gets taken out, I get to banish it and summon another Kozmo from my deck with a lower Level. So come out, Kozmo Forerunner!" No sooner did one ship leave the field did another take its place. Slightly less powerful than the last, it was no less intimidating now that Yumi's field was entirely cleared.
"I set two cards and end my turn," she declared, a monster and a Trap set to her field. Losing her Xyz Monster was a major blow to momentum, especially now that she was staring down Forerunner. No matter how well the next turn went, she'd likely be taking some damage.
"Draw!" As the turn moved to the Standby Phase, Forerunner positioned itself over Suzy, showering her with silver sparks. "Every Standby Phase Forerunner is on the field, I get 1000 Life Points back. And I'm going to need them to use this!" Placing a monster on the field, she proceeded with her plan to show how truly fearsome the Kozmo deck could be.
"Kozmo Strawman, use your effect!" The flimsy straw doll began to shake and jitter in place, some kind of ethereal glow materializing around it. "For just 500 Life Points, I get to bring back a Kozmo monster I've banished for this turn without its effect. Come back, Dark Destroyer!"
Thrusting her arm forward, Suzy proceeded to the Battle Phase. "Let's go, Dark Destroyer! Infiltrate Beam Destroy!" Goofy attack name aside, the monster more than took care of business, the furry creature's pitiful defense shattered with a barrage of proton torpedoes.
"That just let me use my Critter's effect!" Yumi said, selecting Crane Crane to add to her hand. She took the other two attacks directly after that, banishing Majesty Guard to halve the damage from Forerunner. Even so, she was left with a paltry 1100 to start her next turn.
"I set one card and end my turn. That means Dark Destroyer goes away again, but since it's destroyed, I can use its effect to summon Kozmo Landwalker from my deck." Closing out the turn, Suzy more than took the advantage when it came to their fields. Two strong monsters plus another that could fetch something banished, which would only help her to swarm the field even more at the end of each turn. She even had two set cards to serve as defense now, potentially countering anything Yumi might be able to mount as a counterattack.
That being said, this turn did provide some helpful information. Suzy's choice of attacking with Dark Scimitar over Forerunner showed her to be cautious, making sure to use her strongest card with the least value to proceed into the unknown rather than take the extra 200 (100 after Guard's effect) damage. As minor as that detail might seem, it was important to keep in mind when trying to predict her opponent's move.
If nothing else, it meant that at least one of those set cards wouldn't just be for show. "My turn, draw!" Assessing both the field and the cards in her hand, Yumi decided the best approach to the situation would be to attack. If she tried to play it safe, she'd almost surely be run over by the army of high powered monsters accumulating on the field.
"I activate my Trap, Charity of the Ordinary. I'll draw two new cards, then banish a Normal Monster from my hand or discard everything." Taking a moment to look over what she'd drawn, she held out a card. "Trakodon," she declared, banishing the dinosaur.
"Next, I activate my Magic Card, Unexpected Guy! Since I don't have any monsters, I get to summon a Normal Monster from my deck." Ejecting it from her deck, she played a card to her field in Attack Position. "Hat-Trick Magician!"
Finally, she played the Crane Crane she'd added to her hand last turn, summoning back Critter in what appeared to be the preparation for another Xyz Summon. "I overlay my Level 3 Crane Crane with my Level 3 Critter! Xyz Summon, Rank 3! Illusion King Robbins!"
Suzy looked impressed with how quickly Yumi bounced back from an empty field. "That's a pretty cool monster, but I don't know what good it's going to do you."
"Then maybe I need to show you a magic trick. Robbins!" As both Overlay Units came to a point above the monster's head, it clapped its hands together on top of them. Opening them back up, it began to pull a rope made of colored handkerchiefs from thin air. "When I detach two Overlay Units from Robbins, I get to steal one of your monsters from the Graveyard to use as equipment, giving it half as much ATK."
Given how much of Suzy's deck was banished currently, about the only viable target was Grindol. Even so, it was more than enough to take care of the strongest monsters she'd seen so far, Robbins' ATK growing to 3200.
"That's not the only increase I have, though. Equip Magic, Rusty Sword! Hat-Trick Magician gains an effect that increases its ATK by its DEF." With 2700 ATK, both her monsters were poised to do some real damage to Suzy's field. "Now, att-"
"Not so fast! I use my Trap Card as soon as you enter the Battle Phase. Go, Threatening Roar!" Her card flipped up, blasting out a series of booming noises that forced several people to cover their ears. "When I use this card, you can't attack this turn."
Yumi had expected something to stop her attack, though it was a bit refreshing to see it be far less devastating than she thought it might be. "Guess I have to end my turn, then," she said, passing to Suzy. With so many troublesome monsters on the field, this would be trouble. Her hope was that at least one of her cards could make it to her next turn, at which point she'd be able to go on the offensive again.
Drawing a card, Suzy's Life Points became 3700 by Forerunner's effect. The gap seemed to be widening, Yumi keenly aware that the longer this duel continued, the less chance she'd have of winning. "I pay 500 Life Points to summon back Dark Destroyer," she declared.
"Then, I'll switch both Strawman and Landwalker to Defense Mode and activate my Trap, Kozmourning. Now whenever one of my Kozmo monsters destroys one of yours, it goes back in your deck instead of the Graveyard." As beneficial as it could be for her, having her deck cluttered with monsters would only make it harder to draw what she needed, especially those like Critter that wouldn't be able to gain their effects after being returned.
"Battle Phase, attack! Dark Destroyer, blast away Hat-Trick Magician!" The attack connected, kicking up a cloud of dust that obviously hid an unscathed Hat-Trick within it. "It's still there?" she questioned, noticing Yumi's Life Points had dropped, as well.
"If one of my monsters that's equipped with a Magic Card would be destroyed, I can banish Armored Block from my Graveyard to stop it from happening." She knew that wasn't the end, though, bracing for the next attack from Forerunner that managed to finish off Hat-Trick once and for all, leaving her with 700 Life Points left. It returned to the deck, just as Suzy said.
"I'll end my turn now, which means Dark Destroyer is destroyed again. Then, I banish it to summon a second Kozmo Forerunner from my deck." Her two ships flanked the monsters on the ground. "That Xyz Monster is kind of troublesome, but it can't stop me forever. Just you wait. Turn end."
As Yumi began her turn, she couldn't help but smile. This was the card she'd need to turn the tables and finally get the duel running in her favor again. "Robbins has another effect, you know. This one's a disappearing act!" With a snap of the fingers, Robbins was engulfed in a puff of smoke. Slowly, it faded away to reveal the white-clad magician Yumi was most known for. "Take the stage, Majesty Magician!"
"Flashy entrance, but that monster has less ATK than the other. What are you planning?"
With a chuckle, she answered, "Just watch. I activate a Magic Card, Treasure Cards from the Heavens!" Golden light shone over the field, Yumi holding out both her hands. "With this, we both get to draw until we have six cards. As you can see, I don't have any right now."
With one swift motion, she added six new cards to her hand, one more than Suzy. "Majesty Magician has a special ability," she began, taking a card from her hand. "Even though it's a high powered effect monster, I can still equip it with cards that only my weak Normal Monsters would be able to use. Just like this!" She placed it into her duel disk. "Equip Magic, Golden Fiddle."
Taking hold of the instrument, Majesty Magician's ATK grew to 4100, more than enough to do some serious damage. "Battle! Majesty Magician, attack Kozmo – Fowlmeat!" Before the attack could connect, however, the monster warped away.
"Too late for that. I use its effect to summon a new monster from my hand. Come out, Kozmo Wickedwitch!" It took the field in Defense Position as one would expect, Suzy hoping its heartier effect would give it more staying power than her other card.
"Fine, then. Majesty Magician, change targets to Forerunner!"
"Landwalker, use your effect!" Suzy shouted, her monster leaping in front of Majesty Magician's attack to take the blow for Forerunner. "If one of my Kozmos would be destroyed while Landwalker is on the field, I can destroy a different one. I pick Landwalker."
"But you still take the damage," Yumi said, watching her attack deal 1300 damage based on Forerunner's ATK.
Recovering from the blow, Suzy banished Landwalker to use its second effect. "Now I can summon a Kozmo from my deck with a lower Level. Come out, Kozmo Sliprider!"Appearing on the field with a booming noise, the ship charged its weapons almost immediately. "That's just the start, though. When I summon Sliprider like that, I can destroy one of your backrow cards. So get rid of that Equip Spell!"
Golden Fiddle was destroyed, lowering Majesty Magician's ATK back to normal. While it was definitely going to be an issue later, Yumi resolved to make the best of it and protect herself until the next turn gave her a chance to turn things around. "I set three cards and end my turn," she declared.
"Draw!" With a smile, Suzy added her newest card to her hand, her Life Points automatically increasing to 3900 despite the damage last turn. "You'll regret giving me all these new cards. I activate Allure of Darkness!" A dark void appeared behind her, cards appearing to drift out of it. "It's kind of like your Trap from before. I get to draw two cards, but if I can't banish a DARK monster after that, I ditch my whole hand."
That didn't prove to be much of an issue, as Kozmo – DOG Fighter disappeared right after. "After that, I activate another Spell, Pot of Greed! This card also lets me draw two cards and add them to my hand, but for free." Her absurd amount of draw power was merely the beginning of her turn, though, as another card placed into the backrow proved.
"I activate Fissure! Now, destroy the weakest monster on your field!" She pointed towards Yumi's magician, given that it was currently the only monster on her field.
"That's not happening!" A Trap activated on Yumi's field. "By discarding Rusty Swordsman, I can use Majesty Sanction! Now your Magic and Trap effects can't destroy my monsters one time for each."
"Tricky," she said. "Then I'll just have to take the direct approach on this one. Go, Kozmo Tincan!" The unassuming little robot appeared (more accurately, fell) onto the field, shooting out tiny clouds of white smoke accompanied by the sound of a train whistle.
"I can pay 500 Life Points for Tincan's effect. This lets me pick three Kozmo cards from my deck and have you choose one at random. I get to keep that one and the rest go to the Graveyard." The cards she chose were Kozmo - Dark Planet, Kozmo – Dark Eclipser, and another copy of Kozmo – Dark Scimitar. Yumi nodded to confirm.
Three holographic card backs labeled 1, 2, and 3 appeared in front of her. Thinking hard, Yumi chose the second, since 2 was her favorite number and there wasn't much you could do as far as strategy when it came to random guesses. Flipping around, her choice appeared to be Dark Eclipser.
"That works," Suzy said, pitching the other two while adding the selected card to her hand. "Now, I banish Kozmo Tincan to summon the Kozmo Dark Eclipser you added to my hand!" An even bigger spaceship – the largest yet – flew overhead, guns trained on Yumi's field. "Now attack!"
"I activate Emissaries of Reconciliation, meaning my monsters can't be destroyed by battle this turn and I take no damage."
Suzy wagged her finger. "Not this time. I activate Dark Eclipser's effect!" Its cannons began to charge as she said this. "If you use a Trap Card, all I have to do to negate it is banish a Kozmo monster from my Graveyard. I'll use Goodwitch to stop your effect!"
"That's exactly what I was waiting for," Yumi said, flipping over one of her cards. "Trap activate, God's Providence!" The card began to glow, slowly charging up its effect. "I can negate one of your effects by discarding the same kind of card, then it destroys your card. And since it's a Counter Trap, your monster can't do anything against it."
Discarding Butter Fly, God's Providence blasted a golden stream of energy at Dark Eclipser to ground it. Not only had it been destroyed, though, but the effect was also negated, meaning Yumi and her monster were safe for the turn.
This wasn't any indication for Suzy to give up, though, as she was already working on a counterattack. "Since you destroyed Dark Eclipser, I'll banish it to use its effect. Instead of summoning a monster, this card just lets me add one to my hand." Choosing a card, it ejected itself for her to take. "I choose Kozmoll Dark Lady."
Raising a hand, the Kozmo – Dark Rose on her field began to glow. "Now, I banish my Wickedwitch to summon Dark Lady from my hand. And just in case you want to try something clever..." She held up two copies of Kozmo – Rayblade. "I equip both of these onto Dark Lady, making her ATK 3200."
This put Yumi in an undeniably bad place. She made it out of the last turn by the skin of her teeth, but now she was relying on her next draw to give her something with enough power to beat any of the several tough monsters Suzy controlled. To make matters worse, her monster's effects were now sealed with the newest Kozmo. While it certainly wasn't as devastating for her as with others, it would still be irritating to work around.
Needless to say, however, she remained optimistic as ever. Tense struggles like this only made her even more fired up. "Then I guess I'll have to be more clever than you could have predicted," she said, drawing a card. While it wasn't anything game changing on its own, it certainly had the potential to open the door to victory.
"I'll bet everything on this card. I activate Pot of Avarice!" Making this the third kind of Pot used in this duel, Yumi began to look through her Graveyard for targets. "I get to put five monsters back in my deck, shuffle, and draw two new cards." After a few moments of consideration, she chose to return Crane Crane, Rusty Swordsman, Rare Fish, Illusion King Robbins, and Big Bat Knight.
By returning two of them to the Extra Deck, she lessened how many cards were actually being put back in her deck. All in all, it would only be one card heavier after drawing. Every card she could cut would be for the best, as a dead draw here would decide the game.
She stopped to take a short breath before drawing, composing herself before revealing the cards that would decide her fate. Wordlessly, she took the two on top of her deck, raising them up to take a look. With a smile, she continued her turn.
"I guess you'll get to see some of my new tricks after all," she said. "First, I equip Majesty Magician with Burning Slugger. When I use this, Magician gains the effect to destroy one of your monsters by sending cards from my deck equal to its Level to the Graveyard, then inflict the same amount of damage to you."
Perplexed, she began to say, "But you can't target-" before realizing the truth. With a chuckle, she corrected herself. "I see what you're after, but I don't know what you hope to accomplish like that. If I'm reading this right, you have to give up your monster's attack the turn you use that effect. What do you plan to do about my other monsters?"
"Let's find out," she said confidently. "Majesty Magician, target Kozmo – Dark Elphaiber!" As the cost, she sent five cards from the top of her deck. Komboriboh, Djinn of the Lamp, Armaduriboh, Terriger, the Magic-Equipped Warrior, and Big Bat Knight (so much for returning that) were all taken.
Suzy could more than afford to take the damage the damage and lose her monster to this effect. The rest of her cards would more than compensate for a Majesty Magician that couldn't attack and had lower stats than all of them. But maybe that was all part of the plan.
Dark Elphaiber's effect only worked once per turn, so regardless of the outcome, she'd lose that effect. But maybe it wasn't the effect Yumi wanted gone, but the monster itself. It was certainly believable that she could manage to get a monster out with more than 2800 ATK but less than 3200 ATK, especially if it involved buffing Majesty Magician through another Equip Card.
She couldn't just stand there thinking. She had to act. Gritting her teeth, Suzy made the only play she could think of. "I activate Dark Lady's effect to negate another monster effect." While it cost 1000 Life Points to do so, her monster would survive, Yumi's Magician being destroyed as a result. As soon as it was, though, she realized her mistake.
"Perfect," Yumi said, holding out a new card. "I activate the Magic Card, Common Fusion!" Sending even more cards, Yumi ejected Invader from Another Dimension, Wallrus, Violentist, and Flame Viper as materials for this summon. And from the amount of effort she'd put into thinking up a cool chant to go along with it, it was sure to be something big.
"Forces of the ordinary, join hands to form a storm of change! Combine together to reach a new power! Fusion Summon, Level 10! Helpful, Knight of Commons!" A towering figure emerged onto the field, patchwork armor and dingy sword and shield doing nothing to conceal how massively strong it really was. With a shout, it raised its weapon, ready to do battle.
Suzy started to laugh, unable to help herself as she realized how she'd been set up. "You planned all of this, didn't you?"
With a smile, Yumi nodded. "I had to bet on you being too cautious to let Burning Slugger destroy your monster, so I made sure to remind you it became a monster's effect instead of just a Magic Card. Now your Dark Elphaiber's effect is used up, so it can't stop me from doing this!"
As soon as she said that, a little brown fluff ball wearing a red spiked helmet rose from the Graveyard. "Armaduriboh, use your effect!" With a soft cooing noise, it began to shine. "I can banish this card while it's in my Graveyard to add an Equip Magic to my hand from my deck. And the only choice that makes sense would Power of Unity."
Taking the card in hand, she almost immediately played it. "Helpful gains 800 ATK for every one of my face-up monsters, so now it has 4600!" She pointed forward with a slightly more flirtatious than intended wink. "You know what happens now. Helpful, attack Kozmo – Dark Elphaiber! Good Spirits Impact!"
"That was pretty good, but I'll still be able to hold on by 1000 Life Points! Dark Lady, protect me!" As Helpful began to emit a rainbow glow from the open spaces between its armor, Dark Elphaiber conjured up an aura of violet energy. Rushing forward, the two met in the middle of the field, Helpful's sword striking against the Kozmo monster's lightsword.
"Don't count on it," Yumi said, Helpful beginning to overtake Dark Elphaiber. "When my Fusion Monster battles yours, I can banish Common Fusion from my Graveyard. Then, your monster's effects are negated and it's forced to battle with its original ATK and DEF!"
The energy weapon Suzy's monster held began to short out, the blade disappearing to allow Helpful's sword to strike its target. With one swift motion, Dark Elphaiber was sliced in half, an explosion rocking the field as exactly 2400 damage hit the card's owner. Yumi had won.
The crowd, which had grown significantly since the duel first began, clapped and cheered for the two in recognition of the show they'd just put on. Ami made sure to give Yumi a hug, telling her how impressed she was to see her improving so much over just one summer. "It's not like I could have won the prefectural tournament if I didn't get to at least this level, you know," she said with a laugh.
It only took her a moment to realize what she'd just done. Immediately, she was swarmed by the crowd, pouncing on the news that she was now officially one of the strongest duelists in Chiba.
"You really won the tournament?" one asked.
"No wonder you're so strong!" said another.
"I knew you'd do it eventually, I always said so!"
"Yeah, that's really cool!"
While the compliments were nice, she couldn't help but be reminded of the park. The other kids had kowtowed to Sakuya because she was strong, too, but all they really admired about her was her strength. Yumi couldn't help but wonder if this was a similar situation here, given at least a few of the people singing her praises had been openly antagonistic to her in the past, sometimes even a little racist.
Suzy, though, was a different story. Fighting her way through the crowd after trying to avoid as much awkward conversation and autograph signing (!) as possible, she met back up with her two friends. "That was a lot of fun," she said.
Suzy nodded in agreement. "I can't believe you managed to set up that last move so easily. You really are a champion."
Yumi laughed, shaking her head. "Honestly, it was mostly luck." Calling it a calculated risk was more accurate, given her plan relied on milling the right card while avoiding dropping the wrong one. Reducing her deck to as small as it was certainly helped, but it all came down to luck in the end. It was something she wanted to try to change in the future.
"I really want to duel you again sometime," Suzy told her with a smile. "I learned a lot about how to improve my deck, so if it's not too much trouble, could we play again soon?"
"Definitely!" Yumi took her hand with a smile. "Anytime you want a rematch, just ask. I'm always ready." They wouldn't get another chance that day, though, as the crowd force them apart shortly after. None of them stayed for much longer, either, with Ami needing to get to track practice while Suzy went to look for a club to actually join.
Yumi, on the other hand, simply went home early. For once in her life, she felt like getting a head start on her schoolwork rather than try to finish every assignment at 9:30 the night before. She spent the train ride home texting Kazuhiko, Hideo, and Kyoko to see how their first day back went. To her surprise, it turned out the former two actually went to the same school and never saw each other before due to being in different classes. Kyoko, of course, was just on the complete opposite side of the city.
She greeted her grandmother after getting inside, running to her room to try to get some work done before an early dinner. Predictably, it was hard for her to focus, especially with so much on her mind. She ended up spending about as much time looking at her phone as she did writing answers.
Finally, the anticipation was just too much for her. Grabbing her phone, she punched in the last number left on her scrap of paper that had yet to be set to a contact. With a wide grin, she started to type.
"heeeeey"
No response after three seconds.
"heeeeeeeeeeeeeeey"
Still no response.
"( ≧Д≦)don't ignore me sakuyan(ू˃̣̣̣̣̣̣︿˂̣̣̣̣̣̣ ू)"
Unable to tune out the buzzing of her phone any longer, Sakuya was forced to put down the book she was reading in her dorm room. Given how exceedingly unpopular she was just about everywhere, she was fairly curious as to who could possibly be messaging her.
Her eyes narrowed at the bizarre string of texts she'd just received from an unknown number, several more bothering her for attention having appeared since she opened the messenger app. Her first instinct was, of course, to block this strange person and move on with her life, but something hit her the moment she saw "fuck (╬ﾟ◥益◤ﾟ) ╬ﾟ" appear on the screen.
She covered her mouth to try and contain a laugh, though it proved fairly ineffective. Lucky for her reputation as an unapproachable killjoy, her roommate wasn't there at the time. "That's a rude word," she finally replied, only to see several more flash across the screen. "I've only been gone for a few days and you're already like this. Who's responsible for this?"
After another series of joyful emoticons, Yumi sent, "one sec" followed by total radio silence for the next eight minutes. "look!" The next message was a not quite centered picture of Yumi in her uniform trying (and in Sakuya's opinion, more than succeeding) to strike a cute pose.
"That's a really nice uniform," she said, working past a moment's hesitation and steadying her nervous hands to take a picture back. "Mine isn't very good." She sent one of herself in her school's signature blue blazer, white skirt, and white tie looking quite a bit less enthusiastic about it compared to Yumi.
Of course, Yumi found it to be the cutest sight imaginable, telling her so with excruciating use of emoticons. The two spent the next several minutes catching up before Yumi announced she had to leave to eat dinner and would be back "soon".
An hour and a half passed by, Sakuya trying unsuccessfully to pick up her book once again in the meantime. It was hard to get back into the story given how happy she was to be speaking to her friend again. There was so much she wanted to tell her, making the wait feel that much more excruciating.
Suddenly, her phone began to ring, the default ringtone playing through the room. "Hello?" she said, hearing an almost speaker-shattering squeal on the other end. "That was loud."
"Sorry. I got excited because I missed hearing your voice." Sakuya's heart skipped a beat. "I would have called sooner, but I didn't want to have to hang up to go eat first."
"That's fine. You made a friend, you said?"
"Yeah. She's American and makes sushi, and we dueled and I won."
"Your first day sounds a lot more interesting than mine. Just the usual stuff and nothing happening." Shifting into teacher mode, she asked, "Did you change your deck at all since we last dueled?"
Yumi nodding, forgetting for a moment she couldn't be seen on the other side of the line. "Yeah. I used what I learned with you to try and focus more, and I got some new cards recently, too. The company gave them to me with this schedule kind of thing."
"They're scheduling you to start training?"
"I think so. In a couple of days, I'm supposed to meet someone who's going to help me get ready for the next tournament."
"That makes sense," she said. "Since I'm going to have to turn you over to someone else now, I've got one last piece of advice as your teacher."
"You already told me to stop picking my nose."
"Yes, but that's not what I was going to say. Stop doing that, though, it's really gross." She cleared her throat. "What I wanted to tell you about was research. The higher up you get, the more important it's going to be."
"Researching what?" Yumi asked.
"Cards, strategies, opponents. On the small time level you've been competing at right now, doing what you do is perfectly fine. You've built a solid deck that can go up against a lot of different things without being overwhelmed. That's not how it's going to work at the regional level, though."
Yumi stayed silent to listen to the whole explanation, thinking that she might already have an idea of what Sakuya was telling her. "Charging in without a plan isn't going to work against these people, so you're going to have to look ahead and try to predict what your opponents could use before you even set foot on the field. If you do that, you'll have won before you even play a card."
"I've actually heard of that before," she said, remembering back to finding different notes and outlines her parents had made for other professionals they were slated to go up against.
"That's good. I'm sure your trainer is going to tell you more about this when you first meet, but I wanted to give you a heads up before that."
"Thanks." The rest of the evening was spent talking about other things, the two losing track of time until Yumi inevitably realized how late it was, scrambling to finish as much of her homework as possible before falling asleep. It wasn't much.
Cards Used in Order of Appearance
Pot of Greed and Humility (Pot of Duality)
Normal Spell Card
Excavate the top 3 cards of your Deck, add 1 of them to your hand, also, after that, shuffle the rest back into your Deck. You can only activate 1 "Pot of Duality" per turn. You cannot Special Summon during the turn you activate this card.
Book of Moon
Quick-Play Spell Card
Target 1 face-up monster on the field; change that target to face-down Defense Position.
Cyclone (Mystical Space Typhoon)
Quick-Play Spell Card
Target 1 Spell/Trap on the field; destroy that target.
Kozmo – Pavid (Kozmo Scaredy Lion)
LIGHT
Level 2
Psychic/Effect
1200 ATK/500 DEF
During either player's turn: You can banish this card; Special Summon 1 Level 3 or higher "Kozmo" monster from your hand. You can only use this effect of "Kozmo Scaredy Lion" once per turn. Once per turn: You can pay 500 LP, then target 3 of your banished "Kozmo" monsters; return them to the Graveyard, and if you do, inflict 500 damage to your opponent.
Scaredy Lion
EARTH
Level 4
Beast
1300 ATK/ 1000 DEF
Pot of Greed
Normal Spell Card
Draw 2 cards.
Broken Wand
Equip Spell Card
You can only equip this card to a Level 4 or lower Normal Monster with 1500 or less ATK and DEF. The equipped monster gains these effects: This card's original ATK increases by 500. When this card attacks or is attacked by a monster with higher ATK: You can return this card to your hand and end the Battle Phase.
Kozmo – Dark Scimitar (Kozmo Dark Destroyer)
DARK
Level 8
Machine/Effect
3000 ATK/1800 DEF
If this card is Normal or Special Summoned: You can target 1 monster on the field; destroy it. Cannot be targeted by an opponent's card effects. If this card is destroyed by battle or card effect and sent to the Graveyard: You can banish this card from your Graveyard; Special Summon 1 Level 7 or lower "Kozmo" monster from your Deck.
Armored Block
Quick-Play Spell Card
Target 1 monster you control equipped with an Equip Spell Card; it cannot be destroyed by battle or card effects this turn. If a monster you control equipped with an Equip Spell Card would be destroyed, you can banish this card from your Graveyard instead.
Holy Barrier – Mirror Force (Mirror Force)
Normal Trap Card
When an opponent's monster declares an attack: Destroy all your opponent's Attack Position monsters.
Kozmo – Grindol (Kozmo Goodwitch)
LIGHT
Level 4
Psychic/Effect
1800 ATK/1000 DEF
During either player's turn: You can banish this card; Special Summon 1 Level 5 or higher "Kozmo" monster from your hand. You can only use this effect of "Kozmo Goodwitch" once per turn. Once per turn: You can pay 500 LP, then target 1 face-up monster your opponent controls; change it to face-down Defense Position.
Majesty Guard
Normal Trap Card
Monsters you control cannot be destroyed by battle this turn, also halve all damage you take this turn. During either player's turn, except the turn this card was sent to the Graveyard: You can banish this card from your Graveyard; halve the battle damage you take from one opponent's monster this turn.
Instant Fusion
Normal Spell Card
Pay 1000 LP; Special Summon 1 Level 5 or lower Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck, but it cannot attack, also it is destroyed during the End Phase. (This is treated as a Fusion Summon.) You can only activate 1 "Instant Fusion" per turn.
Rare Fish
WATER
Level 4
Fish/Fusion
1500 ATK/1200 DEF
"Fusionist" + "Enchanting Mermaid"
Zubaba General
EARTH
Rank 4
Warrior/Xyz/Effect
2000 ATK/1000 DEF
2 Level 4 monsters
Once per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; equip 1 Warrior-Type monster from your hand to this card. This card gains ATK equal to the combined ATK of the monsters equipped to it by this effect.
Big Bat Knight
EARTH
Level 3
Warrior
1100 ATK/500 DEF
Kozmo – Energy Arts (Kozmojo)
Normal Trap Card
Target 1 "Kozmo" monster you control; destroy it, and if you do, banish 1 card your opponent controls or in their Graveyard. You can only activate 1 "Kozmojo" per turn.
Kozmo – Forerunner (Kozmo Forerunner)
LIGHT
Level 7
Machine/Effect
2800 ATK/1400 DEF
Cannot be targeted by an opponent's card effects. During your Standby Phase: Gain 1000 LP. If this card is destroyed by battle or card effect and sent to the Graveyard: You can banish this card from your Graveyard; Special Summon 1 Level 6 or lower "Kozmo" monster from your Deck.
Kozmo – Fowlmeat (Kozmo Strawman)
LIGHT
Level 2
Psychic/Effect
500 ATK/1800 DEF
During either player's turn: You can banish this card; Special Summon 1 Level 3 or higher "Kozmo" monster from your hand. You can only use this effect of "Kozmo Strawman" once per turn. Once per turn: You can pay 500 LP, then target 1 of your banished "Kozmo" monsters; Special Summon it, but its effects are negated, also destroy it during the End Phase.
Critter (Sangan)
DARK
Level 3
Fiend/Effect
1000 ATK/ 600 DEF
When this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard: Add 1 monster with 1500 or less ATK from your Deck to your hand.
Crane Crane
EARTH
Level 3
Winged Beast/Effect
300 ATK/900 DEF
When this card is Normal Summoned: You can target 1 Level 3 monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon that target, but its effects are negated. You can only use this effect of "Crane Crane" once per turn.
Kozmo – Landwalker (Kozmo Landwalker)
DARK
Level 6
Machine/Effect
2400 ATK/1200 DEF
If a "Kozmo" card(s) you control would be destroyed by battle or an opponent's card effect, you can destroy 1 other "Kozmo" card you control instead. If this card is destroyed by battle or card effect and sent to the Graveyard: You can banish this card from your Graveyard; Special Summon 1 Level 5 or lower "Kozmo" monster from your Deck.
Charity of the Ordinary (Common Charity)
Normal Trap Card
Draw 2 cards, then remove from play 1 Normal Monster Card from your hand. If you don't have any Normal Monster Cards in your hand to remove, send all cards in your hand to the Graveyard.
Trakodon
EARTH
Level 3
Dinosaur
1300 ATK/800 DEF
Unexpected Guy (Unexpected Dai)
Normal Spell Card
If you control no monsters: Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower Normal Monster from the Deck.
Hat-Trick Magician
DARK
Level 4
Spellcaster
1200 ATK/1500 DEF
Illusion King Robbins
LIGHT
Rank 3
Spellcaster/Xyz/Effect
2300 ATK/1500 DEF
2 Level 3 monsters
Once per turn: You can detach 2 Xyz Material from this card and target 1 monster in your opponent's Graveyard; equip that target to this card. When a monster is equipped to this card by its own effect, it gains ATK equal to half the ATK of the equipped monster. While this card is equipped with an opponent's monster: You can Tribute this card; Special Summon 1 monster from your hand, Deck, or Graveyard with ATK equal to or less than this card's ATK on the field.
Rusty Sword
Equip Spell Card
You can only equip this card to a Level 4 or lower Normal Monster with 1500 or less ATK and DEF. The equipped monster gains these effects: This card's original ATK increases equal to its DEF. When this card attacks, during the Damage Step: You can pay Life Points in multiples of 100 (maximum 500); this card gains ATK equal to that amount.
Threatening Roar
Normal Trap Card
Your opponent cannot declare an attack this turn.
Kozmo – Epilogue (Kozmourning)
Continuous Trap Card
Monsters destroyed by battle with "Kozmo" monsters you control are shuffled into the Deck instead of going to the Graveyard. You can banish this card from your Graveyard; the first time you would take battle damage from a battle involving a "Kozmo" monster you control this turn, gain that much LP, instead.
Majesty Magician
DARK
Level 8
Spellcaster/Effect
2500 ATK/2000 DEF
You can Tribute Summon this card by Tributing 1 monster that was originally a Level 4 or lower Normal Monster with 1500 or less ATK and DEF. This card is treated as an appropriate target for a card that specifically designates a Level 4 or lower Normal Monster with 1500 or less ATK and DEF while face-up on the field or in the Graveyard (its Level and ATK/DEF do not change).
Treasure Cards from the Heavens (Card of Sanctity)
Normal Spell Card
Each player draws until they have 6 cards in their hand.
Golden Fiddle
Equip Spell Card
You can only equip this card to a Level 4 or lower Normal Monster with 1500 or less ATK and DEF. The equipped monster gains these effects: This card gains ATK equal to its Level x 200 while in Attack Position and DEF equal to its Level x 300 while in Defense Position. If this card is selected as an attack target while in Attack Position: You can switch this card to Defense Position.
Kozmo – Dark Rose (Kozmoll Wickedwitch)
DARK
Level 4
Psychic/Effect
1900 ATK/300 DEF
During either player's turn: You can banish this card; Special Summon 1 Level 5 or higher "Kozmo" monster from your hand. You can only use this effect of "Kozmoll Wickedwitch" once per turn. Once per turn, during either player's turn: You can pay 1000 LP; this turn, this card cannot be destroyed by battle or card effects.
Kozmo – Sliprider (Kozmo Sliprider)
LIGHT
Level 5
Machine/Effect
2300 ATK/800 DEF
If this card is Normal or Special Summoned: You can target 1 Spell/Trap Card on the field; destroy it. If this card is destroyed by battle or card effect and sent to the Graveyard: You can banish this card from your Graveyard; Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower "Kozmo" monster from your Deck.
Allure of Darkness
Normal Spell Card
Draw 2 cards, then banish 1 DARK monster from your hand, or, if you do not have any in your hand, send your entire hand to the Graveyard.
Kozmo – DOG Fighter (Kozmo DOG Fighter)
DARK
Level 6
Machine/Effect
2000 ATK/2400 DEF
Once per turn, during the Standby Phase: You can Special Summon 1 "DOG Fighter Token" (Machine-Type/DARK/Level 6/ATK 2000/DEF 2400). If this card is destroyed by battle or card effect and sent to the Graveyard: You can banish this card from your Graveyard; Special Summon 1 Level 5 or lower "Kozmo" monster from your Deck.
Pot of Greed
Normal Spell Card
Draw 2 cards.
Fissure
Normal Spell Card
Destroy the 1 face-up monster your opponent controls that has the lowest ATK (your choice, if tied).
Majesty Sanction
Normal Trap Card
Discard 1 card; monsters you control cannot be destroyed by a Spell/Trap effect (once each) until the End Phase. During either player's turn, except the turn this card was sent to the Graveyard: You can banish this card from your Graveyard and target 1 monster you control; once this turn, if it would be destroyed by an opponent's Spell/Trap effect, it is not destroyed.
Rusty Swordsman
EARTH
Level 4
Warrior
1500 ATK/1000 DEF
Kozmo – Fer-blanc (Kozmo Tincan)
LIGHT
Level 1
Psychic/Effect
0 ATK/0 DEF
During either player's turn: You can banish this card; Special Summon 1 Level 2 or higher "Kozmo" monster from your hand. You can only use this effect of "Kozmo Tincan" once per turn. Once per turn, during the End Phase: You can pay 500 LP; reveal 3 "Kozmo" cards with different names from your Deck, your opponent randomly picks 1 for you to add to your hand, and you send the rest to the Graveyard.
Kozmo – Dark Planet (Kozmo Dark Planet)
DARK
Level 10
Machine/Effect
4000 ATK/4000 DEF
Cannot be Normal Summoned/Set. Must be Special Summoned (from your hand) by banishing "Kozmo" monsters from your hand whose total Levels equal 10 or more, and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. Cannot be targeted by an opponent's card effects. During either player's turn, when a Spell Card is activated: You can banish 1 "Kozmo" monster from your Graveyard; negate the activation, and if you do, destroy that card. If this card is destroyed by battle or card effect and sent to the Graveyard: You can banish this card from your Graveyard; add 1 Level 9 or lower "Kozmo" monster from your Deck to your hand.
Kozmo – Dark Eclipser (Kozmo Dark Eclipser)
DARK
Level 9
Machine/Effect
3000 ATK/2600 DEF
Cannot be targeted by an opponent's card effects. During either player's turn, when a Trap Card is activated: You can banish 1 "Kozmo" monster from your Graveyard; negate the activation, and if you do, destroy that card. If this card is destroyed by battle or card effect and sent to the Graveyard: You can banish this card from your Graveyard; add 1 Level 8 or lower "Kozmo" monster from your Deck to your hand.
Emissaries of Reconciliation (Waboku)
Normal Trap Card
You take no battle damage from your opponent's monsters this turn. Your monsters cannot be destroyed by battle this turn.
God's Providence (Ultimate Providence)
Counter Trap Card
When a Spell/Trap Card or monster effect is activated: Discard the same type of card (Monster, Spell, or Trap); negate the activation, and if you do, destroy that card.
Butter Fly
WIND
Level 3
Insect
900 ATK/700 DEF
Kozmo – Dark Elphaiber (Kozmoll Dark Lady)
DARK
Level 5
Psychic/Effect
2200 ATK/1800 DEF
During either player's turn: You can banish this card; Special Summon 1 Level 6 or higher "Kozmo" monster from your hand. You can only use this effect of "Kozmoll Dark Lady" once per turn. Once per turn, during either player's turn, when another monster's effect is activated: You can pay 1000 LP; negate the activation, and if you do, destroy that monster.
Kozmo – Rayblade (Kozmo Lightsword)
Equip Spell Card
Equip only to a Psychic-Type "Kozmo" monster. It gains 500 ATK and DEF, it can make up to 2 attacks on monsters during each Battle Phase, also if it attacks a Defense Position monster, inflict piercing battle damage to your opponent. If this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard: You can pay 800 LP; add this card to your hand. You can only use this effect of "Kozmo Lightsword" once per turn.
Pot of Avarice
Normal Spell Card
Target 5 monsters in your Graveyard; shuffle all 5 into the Deck, then draw 2 cards.
Burning Slugger
Equip Spell Card
You can only equip this card to a Level 4 or lower Normal Monster with 1500 or less ATK and DEF. The equipped monster gains these effects: Once per turn: You can target 1 monster your opponent controls, then send cards from the top of your Deck to the Graveyard equal to its Level/Rank; destroy it, and if you do, inflict damage equal to its Level/Rank x 100. This monster cannot attack the turn you activate this effect.
Komboriboh
DARK
Level 1
Fiend/Effect
300 ATK/ 200 DEF
When a monster is targeted by an Equip Spell Card: You can discard this card and target 1 Equip Spell Card in your Graveyard that could be equipped to an appropriate monster on the field; add that target to your hand. When a monster you control is targeted for an attack while it it equipped with an Equip Spell Card: You can banish this card from your Graveyard to target that monster; this turn, that target cannot be destroyed by battle and you take no battle damage from attacks involving that target.
Djinn of the Lamp (Lord of the Lamp)
DARK
Level 4
Fiend
1400 ATK/1200 DEF
Armaduriboh
DARK
Level 1
Fiend/Effect
300 ATK/200 DEF
During your opponent's turn, when an attack is declared involving a monster you control equipped with an Equip Card: You can discard this card; make the attacking monster's ATK 0 until the End Phase of this turn, also it cannot be destroyed by that battle. You can banish this card from your Graveyard; add 1 Equip Spell Card from your Deck to your hand.
Terriger, the Magic-Equipped Warrior (Terratiger, the Empowered Warrior)
EARTH
Level 4
Warrior/Effect
1800 ATK/1200 DEF
When this card is Normal Summoned: You can Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower Normal Monster from your hand in Defense Position.
Common Fusion
Normal Spell Card
Fusion Summon 1 non-Effect Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck, using Normal Monsters from your hand, field, or Deck as Fusion Material. When the card Fusion Summoned by this effect battles an opponent's monster: You can banish this card in your Graveyard; negate that monster's effects and apply its original ATK and DEF when calculating damage until the end of the Battle Phase.
Invader from Another Dimension
DARK
Level 4
Fiend
950 ATK/1400 DEF
Wallrus
WATER
Level 2
Beast
400 ATK/800 DEF
Violentist
LIGHT
Level 3
Fiend
650 ATK/1300 DEF
Flame Viper
EARTH
Level 2
Pyro
400 ATK/450 DEF
Helpful, Knight of Commons
EARTH
Level 10
Warrior/Fusion
3800 ATK/3050 DEF
4 Level 4 or lower Normal Monsters
Power of Unity (United We Stand)
Equip Spell Card
The equipped monster gains 800 ATK and DEF for each face-up monster you control.
First and foremost: I did not intend to call them Ami and Yumi. That was a complete coincidence, but I refuse to change it because I think that's hilarious.
So now we officially begin the second story arc on this jumbled mess of nonsense. If I'm not mistaken, this might be the first or second longest chapter I've ever written here, so that's kind of neat. Kozmos take up a lot of words explaining themselves.
Part of the reason I really wanted a character like Suzy to show up now is because of a thing I noticed watching DSoD for the 9th time, where the stats that pop up next to monsters actually feature their TCG names under the Japanese names. That kind of perplexed me since we've seen American or otherwise non-Japanese characters in the show call them by their original names before (though they using Japanese cards, too). Either way, I figured it would be a fun little detail to add as far as world building is concerned (that I totally didn't steal the idea for from that Negative Zero story that I like so much). Also just wanted a character who's Jewish to join the main cast, since there's basically just Spike Spiegel and no one else in anime.
I think I speak for everyone when I say: Sakuya, let👏Yumi👏say👏fuck
This is probably going to be the only time I use a word like that within the actual story and not in the end notes. I like to try and keep things around the level of a teen audience, so I generally restrict my language with things like that. [Was originally in a special font, but I guess this site in particular doesn't allow that, so now I had to write it out normal like some kind of troglodyte.]
In terms of having something substantive to say, I got a neat message recently that got me to label this as ARC-V now. I didn't want to originally since it wasn't really about the show, but Pendulums are in it and I don't really care if people get mad at me, so we can all deal. Also mentioned something about the duels I hope gets followed up on, since I'm curious about whether it was a "not really my thing but still cool" or a "I think you can do better". If it's the latter, I'd definitely like to know what I could do to improve, since I'm always striving to get better at this (especially concerning duel writing). I'd say this in a message, but they're a guest and I have no way to do that.
And if you, too, want a nigh-incoherent block of text in the end notes sometime, leave a comment. I usually try to respond to anything I notice that's not left by someone I already know (i.e. someone I forced into reading this), so if that's the kind of drama you want in your life, get at me.
This is coming dangerously close to being the longest end notes, too, so I'll stop talking before we hit that mark. Thanks for reading and making it into the second arc with me. Always remember to shoot Kyubey.