"Astral?" Iroha called out in a tired voice as she woke up at midnight to see Astral watching The Sparrow on her TV with the volume low as he turned to see her awake as Baby Tiragon whimpered as Iroha cradled the little monster so it doesn't cry and wake up as it cuddled into her shirt.
"It's the middle of the night, I shouldn't be up this late." Iroha mumbled as Astral looked at her before she sighed. "Alright, I could watch this episode with you until I fall asleep." She said watching the tv until the end of the episode showed a cliffhanger for the episode and Iroha was fast asleep holding Baby Tiragon like a little baby.
Then when the sun came up, Iroha was ready for school, instead of wearing the key in her hair, she wore a loose sky blue ribbon in her hair and she wore the key around her neck as she rushed to school with Baby Tiragon held onto her shoulders before she walked down the hallway where she met up with Tori and Bronk before Tori spoke about the Sparrow in Heartland.
"Iroha! I also scored tickets for a concert for us, have you ever dreamed of going to a concert?" Tori asked in a dreamy tone hoping that maybe she and Iroha would be together but Iroha told her about crowds and never having the time to watch The Sparrow.
"It's true, I mean despite what's going on, I guess I don't have time to watch it." She said rubbing the back of her head as Tori whined. "Then I guess you can come with me to meet the Sparrow." Tori said as she held onto Iroha's hand before the bandage fell off. "Hey, you're all healed up." Bronk said as Iroha looked at her hand as Tori dragged her to the seaport where the Sparrow would be.
"I hate this." Iroha said as Baby Tiragon chirped to agree with Iroha before she was dragged by Tori again through the tall metal objects before Flip walked up to the security and tried to get in but the guard caught him quickly and Iroha was getting dizzy from being dragged around.
'This has to stop!' Iroha thought as she accidentally walked onto an empty set and fell to her side feeling dizzy as Baby Tiragon cuddled up to her before the light came down on her as she covered her eyes and before she knew it, she was being lifted away by someone. "Sorry milady! But don't worry! I am the Sparrow!" He said as Iroha looked at him as he blushed before heading to a room.
When they entered the room, he set Iroha down on a seat where she saw Baby Tiragon in his arms. "I believe she belongs to you." He said as She nodded before Baby Tiragon jumped into her arms before she smiled at Sparrow who blushed and cleared his throat.
"Now that we that out of the way, why don't we introduce ourselves with a lavish duel my lady?" He asked as Iroha nodded before Astral showed up next to her with an excited look on his face waiting for the duel to happen.
Before he screamed when he was pointing at something that made her shriek. "Spider!" He shouted as Baby Tiragon floated to it and Iroha calmed him. "Look, she's not afraid." She said as Tiragon sniffed the spider and ate it which shocked them all.
"Did she just...eat a spider?" Iroha asked as Tiragon swallowed the spider she ate before sitting on a chair. "That proves our answer." Sparrow said as he cleared his throat and Iroha smiled. "It's okay to be afraid of a little spider, even when you act, it's okay to be afraid." She said as he smiled and took his mask. "I'm just a middle school kid, I'm not a hero," he said to her.
"I can't even talk to girls properly because I stutter." He said before he realized that he was talking to a girl. "W-Wait I mean...nevermind." He said as she smiled before sitting down next to him. "I get it, behind the mask, you're a different person and without it, you're scared and it's okay to be scared and that's what makes us human." She said as Sparrow blushed and took his mask off along with ruffling his hair.
"I'm Nelson Andrews, it's nice to meet you." He said introducing himself to Iroha as she smiled and introduced herself as well. "Iroha Tamaki, it's nice to meet you Nelson." She said with a smile before a lady opened the door with a strict look upon her face. "There you are! Who is this girl Nelson?!" She asked as Iroha backed away along with Tiragon.
"M-Mom!" He stuttered as she paled completely, this was his mother and boy was she scary just by looking at her made the room very cold when the woman looked at her before snapping her fingers.
"You...You're perfect, come in sometime for the role of Mystic Archer but for now please leave." She said as Iroha left the building with Tiragon in her arms as they walked home while Astral was talking to her. "Why was the Sparrow calling himself 'Nelson'?" Astral asked as Iroha tried to find a reason to tell him before he had a saddened look before telling him it was okay.
Astral looked at her with a small smile as she smiled back before they head home so they could catch up on notes and homework, as they did, Astral could feel a sudden warmth within him as he placed a hand over where he would have a heart and he could feel that warmth there.
Then Iroha went to bed as usual after doing her homework and Astral watched over her before closing his eyes to rest a bit, though, it seemed like he really didn't need sleep but he thought of resting his eyes.
It felt strange at first, but he let his own self rest a bit.
The next day, Iroha heard that the Sparrow had gotten into trouble as she saw Nelson's mom trying to tell them that the Sparrow fights for justice and honor as she and Tori decided to help find the Sparrow and prove him innocent as they went through the day of school and headed home where they got ready.
That night, Iroha was holding a flashlight and calling out Nelson as loud as she could before thinking back to how Nelson was when he spoke to her. "Nelson! Please! I'm sure your mother didn't mean to place pressure on you, it's not her fault! Maybe we could talk about it?!" She asked before no response came to her as she looked down at the ground.
Until a noise brought her to her senses as she shone the flashlight around to find the source of the noise but no luck until she felt like someone was behind her as she turned around slowly only to be silenced by a kiss on her lips.
She could only stare at who was kissing her as it was Nelson as they ducked away from Tori as he pulled away for her to get air as her cheeks burn from the sudden kiss from Nelson. "N-Nelson! Wh-What-?" She tried to speak as he held a finger to her mouth.
"Don't follow me." He said before vanishing leaving Iroha stunned before Astral asked her what kind of contact that was and she stuttered with her words of how to explain a kiss and love to a spirit before being lost of how innocent of a bean Astral can be when he sees something new.
"W-Well, u-um, a kiss, haha...um, well...it's a symbol of love to show between two people and love...it's like a warm feeling within and your heart will begin to beat so fast, it feels like it'll pop." She said as Astral nodded at the explanation as they walked down to the set and waited before the spotlight shone on him and she saw Nelson there.
"Nelson, why are you doing this?" She asked as he looked at her. "I told you not to follow me!" He yelled as she placed her light down and thought of talking to him. "Why are you doing this? Attacking people and kissing me suddenly like that?" Iroha said as he growled a bit.
"I have to fulfill my duty to the Galaxy Queen!" He said as she thought back to the woman who looked like the Galaxy Queen. "Your mother?" She asked as he clenched his fists. "I swore to defeat Dark Emperor Furious Max and his minions!" He yelled as she looked at him with sympathy.
"Nelson…" She called out but he looked at her with anger. "Why do you call me that?! I am known throughout the entire galaxy and yet you still call me by that name! The Dark Emperor must've sunk his darkness in your pure heart and soul, alas, I must purge it by dueling you!" He said as he whipped out his duel disk.
"Very well, after all, you owe me a duel when we first met." She said activating her duel disk almost realizing how broken it looked as they both began the duel. 'I have to finish this quickly otherwise my duel disk will break!' She thought as the red light cracked which made her flinch at it.
"I draw!" Nelson said as he drew a card and began his turn. "I summon Beast Warrior Puma in Attack Mode!" He said as Astral began to explain his abilities to her as he ended his turn so Iroha could have her turn. "My turn, I draw!" She said carefully drawing the card from her deck before summoning her monster.
"I summon Witch of the Black Rose in Attack Mode!" She said placing her monster carefully on the duel disk as her monster appeared on the field before placing two facedowns. "I suppose that you're gonna attack with Witch of the Black Rose." Nelson said as Iroha nodded before beginning her battle phase.
"Now! I attack Battle Warrior Puma with Witch of the Black Rose!" She said as the monster held up her wand and began to cast a spell to attack before a trap was sprung. "I activate my trap, Trion Barrier and force your Witch of the Black Rose into defense mode! And then I can summon my three copies of my Triple Star Trion to the field!" Nelson said as three small monsters were on the field as Iroha groaned before placing another facedown and ending her turn.
"Then it's my turn! I draw, first, I'm releasing two of my Star Trions, so that I can Tribute Summon ESPer Star Sparrow is ready to crash the party!" Nelson said as the glass shatter by the impact of ESPer Star Sparrow who flashed a wink at Iroha.
"And now, I'll activate my Trion's special ability! Which means I can re-stack my field by bringing back my other two Trions in my Graveyard! Go Lavish Return!" Nelson said as his two Trions appeared and he greeted them back.
"Next! I'm activating the spell card Space Ration from my hand, and I can activate this card's power because ESPer Star Sparrow is on my field! Thanks to that, I can draw two cards from my deck and with that done, I overlay my three Trions to build the overlay network and XYZ summon, kneel before Number 83: Galaxy Queen!" Nelson said as Iroha saw the number looking similar to his mother.
"You summoned your mother…" Iroha said in a low voice, knowing that Nelson still loved his mother despite the strictness from her as Iroha went through her messages on her phone and sent one to Tori and Bronk to find Nelson's mother, she also sent a description of his mother.
"I equip the Galaxy Queen with Furious Max's curse! While under this spell's influence, the Galaxy Queen can't be destroyed in any situation! And now, I use one overlay unit to activate the Galaxy Queen's special ability! The Galaxy Queen can grant every monster on my field immortality until my next turn and allow them to deal damage even if your monster is in defense position!" Nelson said as the Galaxy Queen spoke like she would on the TV.
Iroha looked a bit scared at his monsters before her duel disk crack more at the red light which frightened her more. 'I'll have to activate my trap!' She thought as Puma destroyed her monster then ESPer was sent in to attack her before activating her trap.
"I activate my trap! Half-Off! This will cut ESPer Star Sparrow's attack in half and I draw a card after the Battle Phase!" She said as ESPer Star Sparrow attacked her which lowered her life points before she drew a card as Nelson ended the battle phase before Iroha drew another card before Nelson spoke up.
"Can't you see? You can't win! I am the Sparrow! I have traveled throughout time and space to fight the forces of evil and restore justice to the galaxy!" He shouted as Iroha kept her mouth shut.
"You can't defeat the Sparrow!" Nelson yelled as Iroha had enough of the Sparrow talking like that as she Aromage Rosemary to special summon Fallen Angel of Roses but it wasn't enough to attack ESPer Star Sparrow before she saw the spell card she needed.
"I activate the equip spell, Thorn of Malice! And I equip it to Fallen Angel of Roses to have an additional 600 Attack Points and then I'll place two facedowns and begin the battle phase. Go! Fallen Angel of Roses, attack Battle Warrior Puma!" She said as Nelson activated a trap.
"Not so fast! I activate the trap card Wings of Unity! And since ESPer Star Sparrow is on my field, I can put a stop to your attack!" Nelson said as the whip withered away and Fallen Angel of Roses went back to Iroha. "Not only that, it also allows me to summon Phoenix Beast Gairuda to the field!" Iroha looked up at the golden light before a phoenix appeared and Iroha felt the heat rising.
"Did someone call my name?" Gairuda asked as Star Sparrow and Puma looked at the Phoenix. "Glad you could swing by." Star Sparrow greeted as Puma growled at the firebird. "What took you so long?" Puma groaned before Iroha blinked at what was going on.
"Ludwig captured the Syndarian Princess again!" Gairuda said as Iroha 'sweatdropped' at what was going on before Tiragon chirped at her as she gave an awkward smile at the small monster.
"You didn't abandon the princess did you?" Puma asked in annoyance before Gairuda yelled back at him. No! I defeated the troll, saved the girl and now I'm here! And speaking of a girl, she might be a princess right in front of us." Gairuda said as ESPer Star Sparrow smiled at Iroha.
"And quite lovely as well, I must say." Star Sparrow flashed another wink at her before Tiragon hissed at him.
"I'm glad that you're here Gairuda, you too Puma." Star Sparrow said as Iroha and Astral admired the unity before snapping out of it. "Go with Ivy Shackles and then when you have the chance, discard Puppet Plant to take control of a warrior monster." Astral said as Iroha nodded at him. "I set one card facedown and end my turn." Iroha said as Nelson began his turn which made the turn for the worst.
"I activate Gairuda's ability! I draw a card from my deck and when ESPer Star Sparrow, Beast Warrior Puma and Phoenix Beast Gairuda are united on my field, I get to summon their friend from my hand--forged in a factory on the D-6 asteroid--the hero of Kaylos! Ironhammer the Giant!" Nelson said as a giant robot showed up and Iroha was knocked down by the huge gust of wind as the red light shattered which startled both Iroha and Astral as she saw the red broken glass before knicking her thumb.
"Ah!" She cried out as a bead of red water began to swell up which caught Astral's attention to the red bead coming from her thumb as she sucked on the blood so none would get on the cards she held before the giant robot looked at her. "Sorry tiny lady, I didn't mean to hurt you." He said as she smiled at him before Tori and Bronk showed up with Nelson's mom and she was surprised when she saw Nelson.
"Nelson?! Is that you? What are you doing here, it's past your bedtime and how did you sneak past the guards? Explain yourself, young man, right now!" She yelled as Iroha jumped a bit as Tori and Bronk saw some smoke coming from Iroha's duel disk as it nearly caught fire and Iroha saved her deck and herself before Tori handed Iroha her duel disk.
"Why do you call me by that name?" Nelson said as his mother looked at him with a saddened look upon her face before Iroha felt sympathy for the woman. "Nelson may be acting this way because of the pressure he felt when he was the Sparrow, he was shy when he first talked to me and he stammered with every word but as soon as he talked his feelings out, he began to feel okay," She said as she continued talking to Nelson's mother.
"All that pressure made the number card think that he IS the Sparrow, he doesn't know who he is anymore!" She said as Nelson's mother looked sorrowful and defeated as she tried to reason with her son but he kept on talking as Iroha got ready for what he was going to do.
"Let us continue, I'm using one overlay unit to once again activate Galaxy Queen's ability! Just as before, the Galaxy Queen grants all my monsters immortality--and the ability to deal damage even if your monster is in defense mode this turn!" Nelson said as the Galaxy Queen waved her massive wand before ESPer Star Sparrow smirked at Iroha who casted a glare at him.
"Now I activate my Gairuda's ability! Now he gains 300 attack points!" Nelson said as Iroha hoped that her facedown monster would work as she activated Negate Attack and Flip Summoned her monster to be Aussa the Earth Charmer. "Since I Flip Summoned Aussa, her effect activates! And I control your Ironhammer!" She said as used Stop Attack on Aussa to put her in defense mode.
"What are you doing Ironhammer?!" Nelson shouted as the giant monster could only tap the top of his fingers together. "Sorry boss, but I felt like protecting the young girl and the wonderful little mage." Ironhammer said as he blushed before Aussa pushed her glasses up as Iroha and Astral looked at each other.
Then he began to whisper in her ear about the plan from the episode he watched on TV as Iroha nodded at him before he smiled at her as she placed down two facedowns and thus ending her turn. "You're just stalling! Since you ended your turn, I will activate Tribute to the Doomed and by discarding one card, I'll destroy your Earth Charmer!" Nelson said as Aussa screamed in pain before her hologram shattered and Iroha waited for the right time.
As Nelson talked, Astral told her to wait for it and then when she saw the amount of attack points and she didn't look scared for a little bit, then during the battle phase, Iroha smirked and activated her trap Mirror Force as every monster Nelson had in play was destroyed except for Galaxy Queen before activating her Harpie's Feather Duster to destroy all spells and traps before the spell Nelson had for Galaxy Queen was gone and that left him vulnerable as Nelson ended his turn with a facedown before Iroha drew a card and began her attack turn taking the risk.
"Go! Fallen Angel of Roses! Attack with Poison Thorn Whip!! Iroha said as Fallen Angel of Roses raised her thorny whip and sent it at Nelson who activated a trap that didn't counter her attack but instead summoned Star Sparrow in attack mode without any life points as Star Sparrow was in front of Nelson to protect him and the Galaxy Queen, thus in the end, Iroha won the duel.
"I knew it...even under the influence of the number...he still loves his mother and protecting her proves how he still loves her no matter the pressure." Iroha said as she smiled and returned Tori's duel disk to her as she saw Nelson and his mother hugging before Tori tapped her shoulder.
"If you knew he was behind the attacks why did you send a text to us to find his mother?" Tori asked as Iroha sighed before she spoke to Tori in a gentle tone. "Because...I know that the Sparrow is your favorite and if I told you, you would've been heartbroken." She said as Tori blushed at Iroha.
"You really care for my feelings, do you?" Tori asked as Iroha nodded before Tori bushed even more as Iroha talked with Nelson's mother about the episode for the Sparrow.
Then Iroha got into her costume and practiced her lines with Ui, Touka and Nemu before the day of the episode practice came and they all did wonderful as they all reviewed the episode before it aired and all approved of the scenes as they began to air the episode as Iroha headed home with Tori so they could watch it together.
~~Episode~~
Sparrow was struggling in his chains as he watched his companions become tortured from the Galaxy Queen, he began to lose hope as he felt the darkness take over him before hearing the glass shatter and he saw a girl in a white and pink cloak.The darkness that nearly took over vanished and the Galaxy Queen looked afraid of the girl who appeared before her as she fired two pink arrows at the Crystal Staff she held to release the dark curse on Sparrow and his companions. "No!" The Galaxy Queen shouts as she placed a barrier around her."Sparrow...I need your help on this...do you think you could stand up?" She asked as he nodded before taking her hand and a magic circle formed when they connected hands as she felt the courage and determination from Sparrow as she healed him of the injuries before they fired off an arrow at the ground as rubble was shot at the barrier as it shattered before the archer shot an arrow at the crystal as it shattered as Sparrow saw his companions return to normal.Then she pointed her crossbow at the queen before she saw the glass crystal holding a woman before firing at it as it shattered and broke the curse inflicted upon the queen, the queen had tears in her eyes as the scenery changed to the kingdom of light."Mother!" Sparrow called out as he hugged the queen while she stared at the two reunited along with his companions before she walked away before he saw her leaving and she smiled. "Maybe someday, we'll meet again." She said before disappearing.Sparrow held onto the promise as he held onto a pink ribbon she had before kissing it. "I shall hold onto that promise." He said as the episode ended with a happy ending.~~Episode End~~
Iroha blushed while shoving a pillow in her face as Tori and Ui cheered for her and Astral was happy to see the new episode as Iroha blushed at the compliments given to her as Tori headed home as Iroha's face was still red from blushing and Astral had to know why she was red in the face. "J-Just let me sleep!" She said as she threw the blankets over her.
"Observation #9: Humans can express embarrassment through their red faces." He said as Iroha looked about ready to throw something. "GO TO BED!" She yelled.