Houki's first duel in Conner's tournament ended up being a tough one. His name is Lance and he holds quite a powerful deck. Houki's life points are already down to 2900LP with her having Reversal Samurai at 1800atk points with two facedown cards. Lance had his most powerful monster, Lord Gaia the Fierce Knight, with 2300atk points. His monster also is equipped with a powerful card called Power of the Guardians. He also had 3000LP.

"Well, Houki Shinonono, I'm afraid you won't be able win so easily now." Lance said. "With my Power of the Guardians equipped with Lord Gaia, he's only going to get stronger and stronger with each attack, no matter who attacks."

"That might be, but it's only a matter of time until I neutralize that spell card. It might be a powerful one, but it's not invincible." Houki said. "My samurai might not be strong enough, but I do have my two face-downs. You say you have a way to counter what I throw, like you somehow know what I'm using, but I wonder if that's really the case."

"It is. I have a feeling your two face-downs increase your monster's power while also saving them, but even that won't be enough." Lance said. "Lord Gaia, attack her Reversal Samurai and bring me closer to victory!" His knight went on the attack as the dragon flew up and the knight gathered power in its lances.

"I play my trap: Graceful Light!" Houki said as she played one of her traps. "This trap card increased Reversal Samurai's attack points by 500 while also preventing him from being destroyed!" Her samurai was basked in a bright white light and gained extra power as his attack points rose to 2300.

"That won't help you as much as you think!" Lance said. "Don't forget that my Power of the Guardians gains one counter whenever my monster engages in battle! For each counter it gains, he also gains an extra 500atk points!" One counter was placed on his spell and increased his knight's power to 2800. "Your monster might survive, but you still take damage!"

"Actually, I won't. I do have another face-down." Houki said.

"Nice try, but that's another Graceful Light, isn't it. You're only allowed to activate one per turn." Lance said as he thought he had her, but Houki smirked and chuckled.

"What made you think this is Graceful Light?" Houki said. She activated her second trap card that looked similar to Graceful Light, but it was a different card.

"Disgraceful Light?! Is this a trick?! Don't try to cheat me!" Lance said as this wasn't what he was told at all.

"Disgraceful Light lowers your monster's attack points by 1000, but it does ensure your monster doesn't get destroyed." Houki said. There was another change in attack points. Lord Gaia was caught in a dark light and his power dropped to 1800. "Attack now!" Her Samurai went on the attack and slashed against Gaia, but he blocked the sword. Lance's life points still dropped to 2500.

"A good effort, but my best monster wasn't going to be destroyed no matter what." Lance said.

"Perhaps, but this does prove something." Houki said. "Everyone was saying that it was like you knew what cards were being played and knew how to counter them. That didn't appear to be the case this time."

"So what? I was wrong." Lance said.

"But you seemed to have thought both my cards were the same. How did you come up with that card?" Houki said. "I don't know how you're doing it, but the only way you can figure out what cards I'm using is that you have eyes in the sky!" Houki is accusing Lance of cheating and Lance was busted.

"Hey! She's right! You lousy cheat!" Flint said as the crowd was turning against him.

"You're full of it! You don't have any proof that I'm cheating!" Lance denied.

"Maybe, but I can tell you that I'm not going to lose this duel." Houki said as she was as confident as ever.

"Houki!" Houki looked to the side and saw Charlotte and Laura were able to find her.

"Charlotte... Laura... I was wondering when you two were going to show up." Houki said.

"Sorry it took us so long. How is your duel going?" Charlotte asked.

"Who is your opponent?" Laura asked.

"His name is Lance. He says he's a strong duelist, but I think this guy is a rotten cheat. I think he might have some eyes in the sky that's allowing him to see what's in my hand." Houki said.

"Eyes in the sky..." Laura said as she knew Houki wouldn't bluff about something like that. She looked around to see where they are and might have a way to help Houki. "Charlotte, stay here and support Houki. I will investigate." Laura disappeared into the crowd and tried to find those eyes.

"You know what, think whatever you want. It's not going to matter because I'll win in the end." Lance said. "Now that we've reached the end of this turn, our monster's attack points returned to normal." He claimed as their attack points went back to 2800 and 1800. "My monster still holds the most attack points."

'For now, but I still have Reversal Samurai's ability.' Houki thought. 'I might not be able to destroy his monster because of his spell card, but I can deal some damage. I just need to get my monster stronger.'

"Come on, Houki. You can win this." Charlotte supported.

"My turn!" Houki said as she drew her next card and tried to think of her next move carefully. While she was trying to think of what to do, Lance's two brothers were trying to continue with their little scheme.

"Make sure you get the card right this time. We don't want to mess up again."

"I know. I'm looking as carefully as I can."

"Aha! Houki was right! I have found the eyes in the sky!" They both looked behind them and saw that Laura was able to find them. Now they felt like they were in real trouble. "So, you two are trying to rob my comrade of her victory? Well, now you and her opponent shall pay the price."

"Wait! We're really sorry!"

"Yeah! We're only trying to help our brother make sure he wins!"

"That is no excuse." Laura said as she looked ready to discipline those boys the hard way.

"Please just listen." The brothers pleaded. "We know it was wrong, but we had to do it. That's our big brother dueling down there, and he's dueling for us. He's always taken good care of us, and that's why he's dueling down there. If we wins; bullies will stop picking on us, we can live better lives, and life will be a lot easier."

"We're sorry we're cheating your friend, but please don't do anything. At least let him finish this duel." From what Laura could hear, these brothers are just trying to help each other. Sounds like they don't have it easy. Laura just couldn't turn them down.

"Fine, but he better win with his own skill. Otherwise, it will all mean nothing." Laura said with the boys glad they caught a break. Now, this duel can be decided fairly.

'I'm in a real pickle here.' Houki thought as she was caught in a real situation. 'If I attack, his Lord Gaia will only grow stronger. If I don't do something, I can't win against him. Looks like all I can do now is play defense and try to hold on until I get something.' "I'll switch my Reversal Samurai into defense mode." She claimed as her samurai switched modes and had 1400def points. "Since I have a warrior-type monster on the field, I can also special summon this monster. I bring out Imperial Guardna to the field." She summoned out another warrior in samurai-like armor with it having 2200def points.

"That actually wasn't the smartest move." Lance said. "Once per turn, whenever you special summon a monster, Lord Gaia grows even stronger by 700atk points." His knight's power grew even more as his power grew to 3500.

"Oh no! It grew even stronger!" Charlotte said as this wasn't looking good at all.

"Didn't see that one coming. All I can do now is end my turn." Houki said.

"That's it? I'm disappointed. Are you realizing you're really no match for me?" Lance said. "That's too bad. I thought you would be more of a challenge. It's my turn!" He drew his next card and seemed glad with what he got. "First, I'll summon my Leading Knight to the field." He summoned out a knight with it riding on a horse, and it looked like a knight that leads it's soldiers into battle. He also had a 1600atk points. "Next, I activate his special ability! If I pay 500 of my life points, I get two knight tokens!" Lance's life points dropped down to 2000, but two knights appeared on his field with 300atk points each. "And now, I set my monsters in the link arrows to link summon!"

"Link summon?!" Houki said as she's never seen or heard of that before. That was when some sort of square gateway with arrows appeared on the ground. Then, his tokens and his Leading Knight turned into spiraling energy. Each one went into an arrow that pointed left, right, and down. That was when the gateway opened with electricity shooting out. "I link summon Link 3 Gaia Saber the Lightning Shadow!" He summoned out a brand new monster that looked more mechanical and had 2600atk points. "Link summoning?"

"Allow me to explain how it works since you clearly never seen anything like this before." Lance said. "Link monsters are monsters that have no defense mode and have links instead of levels. The links are the arrows on the cards, one for each monster. In order to summon a link monster, you need to meet the summoning requirements on it."

"And that sounds like all kinds of trouble for me." Houki said.

"You're right about that! Gaia Saber, destroy her Reversal Samurai!" Lance said as he ordered his monster to attack. Gaia Saber charged in and smashed his lance against her samurai and destroyed it. "Now, your turn, Lord Gaia! Grow stronger and attack!" Lord Gaia gathered more power as Power of the Guardians gained another counter and his power grew to 4000. Lord Gaia attacked Imperial Guardna and took him out in one shot.

"That just activates Imperial Guardna's ability. On the turn that he's destroyed, I get to draw one card for each warrior that was destroyed." Houki said. She was able to draw two cards, but neither of them were ones that could help.

"I say this duel is just about over." Lance said as he ended his turn. "There's no way you'll be able to beat both of my monsters."

"Don't listen to him, Houki! There must be some way you can pull off a win." Charlotte encouraged.

'I hate to admit it, but Lance has a point. If I can't win this duel now, I'm done for. However, I believe in this deck.' Houki thought. 'Dueling is about believing in your cards, and I believe in mine.' She was putting everything she had into this one draw because if she doesn't draw what she needs, this duel is over. She drew her next card and hoped it could help her. When she saw what it was, it was a spell card that could do just that. "Perfect."

"Perfect? What's perfect?" Lance said.

"I play Curse of the Sealed Sword!" Houki said. "I can only activate this by taking three warriors in my graveyard and removing them from play, but doing so allows me to take control of one of your monsters."

"You're doing what?!" Lance questioned.

"The downside to doing that is that I can't deal any damage by attacking with that monster. Since I never battled with a link monster before, I think I'll take your Lord Gaia to be safe." Houki said and Lord Gaia switched over to her side of the field, almost like it was being possessed by a curse.

"You took my best monster? But you just said that you can't deal any damage with him." Lance said as he didn't understand this.

"I can't deal any BATTLE damage, but if this monster does attack, both monsters are banished and you take damage equal to Lord Gaia's attack points." Houki claimed.

"What?! No!" Lance said as he didn't like this at all.

"You got it! Attack, Lord Gaia!" Houki said. She used Lance's own monster against him as he went on the attack. The two knights clashing together caused a massive power surge that caused both of them to be obliterated. Lance got hit by the power and Lance's life points dropped all the way to zero.

"Houki won!" Charlotte cheered with many pleased with her win. Winning the duel gave Houki points in the tournament and they rocketed all the way to 1020.

"Wow... I can't believe how many points I got from just one duel." Houki said as she was amazed by it. "That was a great duel, Lance." She said as she walked over to him as she held out her hand to him. Out of anger, Lance just knocked her hand away.

"Spare me your pity! I can't believe I lost! I have to win! I have to be the best!" Lance cried.

"Come on. Don't be a sore loser." Houki said.

"You don't understand! I'm not doing this for me! I'm doing it for my little brothers!" Lance claimed. "My brothers look up to me! I've always taken care of them! I have to win for them, and being the best is how I can take care of them!"

"I see..." Houki said as she understand why Lance does what he does now. Lance now feels like he's failed and let his precious brothers down.

"Stand up, Lance. You were awesome, and it was a great duel." The two of them looked and saw Laura brought both of Lance's brothers down. Rather than being disappointed, they were proud of their brother. "It doesn't matter to us that you lost. We still think you were great, and you did it by yourself." Lance was touched as he was able to stand up proud.

"Well, come here." Lance said. Both of them ran towards Lance and hugged their brother like a happy family with Houki glad for them. After the whole thing settled, Lance and Houki shook hands. "Thanks for a great duel, Houki. We should do it again."

"Yeah, but let's make it fair next time." Houki said. With that, she parted ways with Charlotte and Laura following. "You know, I don't think you need to be the best, Lance. You got your brothers, you're already a skilled duelist, and they already think you're great. Sounds like to me you already got a good thing going." Lance was glad to hear that. With that, the samurai won this battle and Houki won her first duel in the tournament. That makes her one step closer to the finals just like Ichika.