Hey everyone, I hope you're ready for this latest chapter, To be honest, the hardest part of writing these chapters is the duels since I like going against the grain but I want to make it seem plausible enough to play.

Closed Fist to an Open Palm
Chapter 25: An Invitation to Learn

"Why should I put that card in my deck?" Blair questioned. She looked upon the recommended card and jostled it like as if it asking it to do something flashy.

The two junior Makai Busters were in an empty classroom, dedicating their after-school time to improving their deck.

"Well because Blair, it provides card advantage. Your Little Fairy wastes cards to increase its level, it's also pretty much a dead draw when you're behind." the Olive Green-haired boy replied honestly.

Glaring, Blair gave her friend a quick flick to the forehead, clearly upset by his blunt but fair criticism.

"Um Excuse me? She's a great addition to my deck! Without her, how could I ritual summon my Vennu!?" Blair argued. The girl began to imagine a disastrous duel scenario in which she couldn't finish her opponent off because she had Vennu in her hand, but with no Little Fairy to tribute for it.

"Speaking of which Blair...You want to focus on one type of summoning, I know you use Parshath so why not we just center your deck around summoning him out as soon as possible?" Brier suggested, more tacitly than before.

"We should also add in a couple of staple spells and traps, Bottomless Trap Hole, Solemn Judgement, and Lightning Storm should be good for this deck, especially since-" Blair's was once again flicked in the forehead.

"But what if my opponent has something that negates my Parshath? That means Vennu is important and that means Little Fairy is important!" Blair pouted as she folded her arms, still unconvinced.

Brier let out a tired sigh as he rubbed his forehead "Blair, you're going to need to learn that situations like that are...Situational." He felt like he was talking to a brick wall, a brick wall that can talk back and flick him when it didn't want to hear him.

"You need to put your heart in the cards Brier! That's why you lose a lot!" Blair childishly stuck her tongue at him, unmoved.

"...Last time I checked I had a positive win rate..." Brier mumbled under his breath, with a hint of passive aggression in his voice.

"That's what Yugi Muto said-wait what? How do you know that?" Blair tilted her head, catching his words with her keen ears. Without another word, Brier would take out his Duel Academy PDA and after pressing several buttons and applications went to a screen displaying a picture of himself, information about his full name, age, dorm, deck, and other information. True to his words, Brier's win rate was at an impressive 70%.

"Your PDA tracks your win and loses with anyone who has one, you can also search up other people's win rates," Brier explained as he then showed the girl the way to get to that particular screen.

Blair's face lit up with an arrogant laugh. "Ohoho! I never use that phony smartphone, I bet my win rate is like 100%! Because I'm not a Negative Nate like you Brier I have faith in the Heart Of The Cards! And that means my win rate is gonna be" Blair's face, once filled with excitement, shattered like a broken mirror, and her jaw dropped as she got a good look at her record.

"So Blair...What's your win rate?" With the opportunity within his hands, Brier flashed a smug grin as Blair stared at her true record.

"...forty-five! How?! I should be like, at the top!" Blair exclaimed, completely dumbfounded. The only loss that Blair could remember was when she dueled Jaden Yuki that was the only duel she vividly remembers, besides that tag duel in which she dueled with Jaden against those two paper makai monsters.

"Maybe it's because you didn't believe in the 'Heart Of The Cards'?" Brier remarked. In a similar vein to her short-tempered Jasmine, Blair began to flare like a volcano.

"You...You!" Blair was ready to tackle Brier before Mindy rushed into the room, her face white with worry.

"You guys! Zenn and Jazz have gone missing!" Mindy exclaimed. The two young duelists looked at each other before turning back to Mindy.

"What?!"


At the base of the volcano, from the smoky sky to shaded forestry were four students, with one of them carrying a fifth newcomer that arrived after a shadow duel in the fiery depths of the mountain.

The journey back to the academy was awkward and silent, only marred by the sounds of steps and chirping morning birds. Perhaps this silence was ushered by fatigue from the life-threatening duel that all four teenagers had to go through. Perhaps it was the unfamiliarity of the duelists that drove them into silence, unable to get a banter going due to being from two different cliques.

Jasmine would try to break the silence by asking Alexis something about her brother but any words that came up died before they left her lips.

Sure Alexis is Jasmine's friend, but ever since she met Jaden, their interactions have reduced to a minimum as she started to hang out with him and his friends. This relationship would only grow more distant as Jasmine met Zenn and made a little group of friends of her own.

To Jasmine, it felt like an unofficial parting of ways, not on friendly or sour terms, but with nonchalance, as if their friendship wasn't that strong, to begin with.

Even Jaden was quiet, a rarity for him. Granted, just an hour ago, both Alexis and Jasmine were trapped in glass domes ready to take a lava bath and after that, they found Alexis' missing brother. All in all, It was an eventful evening with next-to-no sleep and it seemed like the four just wanted to go back to the academy in peace.

"So..." To Jasmine's surprise, it was Zenn that broke the silence. Zenn had Atticus slung over his shoulder like a wooden log. The sleeping Atticus didn't phase Zenn at all, in fact, out of the group of tired duelists, Zenn was the most lively as if sleepless nights and deadly duels were the norms for him.

The rest of the group perked up, giving their attention to the blonde martial artist. "Would you rather have lobster claws for hands? Or a snake for a tongue?" Zenn asked.

Zenn was met with complete silence.

Frowning, Zenn lowered his head, avoiding eye contact with everyone else, his attempt at easing the mood ending in complete failure. Jasmine curved a brow as she glanced at the down-trodden

"Well, the answer is a snake for a tongue! That means whenever I tell someone off they can get bit!" Jasmine suddenly answered aloud, almost as if she noticed Zenn's disappointment.

"Really Jazz? I would go for lobster claws, at least I don't have to deal with a living reptile in my mouth!" Alexis suddenly replied, perplexed by both Jasmine's answer and reasoning.

"Can I do both? If you have both of those things, you can look like a Duel Monster!" Jaden added, joining in the weird conversation.

"Why would you want to look like a Duel Monster?" Alexis poked with a curved brow to Jaden.

"Why wouldn't you want to look like a Duel Monster?" He chuckled back with a little wink.

"You look like a monster already Jaden!" Jasmine chirped, half in jest and half in mockery.

Zenn smiled silently as he listened to the discussion that he started, content to carry Atticus and observe his friend's banter. The aura surrounding the four duelists, once cold and distant warmed up like the morning sun that peaked over the horizon.

As the conversation drifted from just Jaden and Alexis exclusively Jasmine whispered to Zenn's ear "Feeling better?" She asked with a small smile,

"Yes...Thank you, Jasmine, I didn't want this river to be riddled with standing stones," Zenn recited honestly, Jasmine chuckled lightly before she flicked Zenn's forehead.

"You're such a dork Zenn," She mused, after a pause, something came up in Jasmine's mind "Before we got scooped into that weird shadow duel...What did you want to talk about?" Zenn would pause as he would be reminded of the secret he wanted to share.

"It's...Nothing..." He mumbled weakly, looking straight ahead, avoiding Jasmine's gaze. Jasmine curved a brow, Zenn has been very forthcoming ever since they've meant, why is he being distant now?

Noticing his hesitation, Jasmine called out to Jaden and Alexis "Hey you two! Zenn's tired so we're gonna take a break! Can you carry Atticus back to the Academy?" Jaden and Alexis both gave Jasmine an understanding nod and after a quick exchange with an unconscious Atticus, left Jasmine and Zenn alone.

With a nod, Jasmine then looked over to Zenn "Now talk," She demanded, her eyes locked into an authoritative glare. Zenn flinched back, he tried to fight back with listless silence but Jasmine's gaze was stronger and he eventually relented.

"You've seen it yourself Jasmine, the Makai are capable of creating cards out of their pure will." Zenn began to explain as he struck the same pose as Nightshroud did before, bringing a hand up to the air and demanding the revenant emperor for power.

"It is the anathema to what Gendai Reiki teaches, power from without rather than within..." Zenn's said somberly.

"My training is not complete but with this revelation, I must undergo the final test...And become a true practitioner of Gendai Reiki." He said as he stared up at the sky, taking in the cascading colors of red, orange, and blue.

"Okay...What does that mean then?" Jasmine replied as she folded her arms, confused and annoyed by Zenn's sudden standoffish attitude. After Zenn finished observing the dawn he turned back to Jasmine.

"My master once said," He stuck up a single finger to the air, "Not one can undergo the final lesson alone..." He then suddenly struck a closed fist to an open palm and then bowed to Jasmine.

"Wait wait, what are you doing?!" Jasmine exclaimed, blushing at the sight of Zenn bowing before her like she was some sort of queen.

"Jasmine Makurada, your strength and bravery have inspired me ever since we met..." Jasmine's face got red, it was like he was proposing to her!

A dark thought popped into Jasmine's mind: maybe he WAS proposing to her!

In an instant, Jasmine's face turned into a deep shade of red as she covered her mouth with her hands.

They haven't even begun dating yet!

'This can't be...HAPPENING!' Jasmine freaked out.

"Wait, wait, Zenn,-" she tried to stop in a fit of stammers.

"Will you..."

'AHHHH!' Jasmine's mind was racing a hundred miles a minute, this can't be happening!

"Along with Mindy," Jasmine immediately crooked a brow.

"Mindy?" Jasmine mumbled, the sudden interjection brought a dampening feeling to her flaring cheeks.

"Brier, and Blair...Undergo the final lesson with me?" After he finished his bow he smile at Jasmine, completely unaware of how much of a blushing wreck he made her become.

Jasmine quickly calmed down as she realized what Zen was asking for, her face turning back to its usual fair tone.

"Uh...Well, of course! What does it entail though?" She asked, curious. Zenn has been forthcoming about Gendai Reiki but he never really explained what you have to do to learn it.

"The final lesson requires us to read the final scroll, given to us by a master...Thankfully, one of them is a teacher of this school, we shall take on its trials and there we shall learn..." Zenn put his hand in the air, mimicking the motion of holding a card between his fingertips.

"Gendai Draw!" He then offered the same hand to Jasmine.

"To fight the darkness, we shall use the light!" He declared triumphantly.

Jasmine blinked several times, completely befuddled by this entire conversation. She seriously believed that Zenn was proposing to her, and while she was relieved that he didn't, she couldn't help but feel a tad bit disappointed for some reason.

Jasmine chuckled at her own nerves as she took Zenn's hand. Like Zenn himself, his hand was strong and firm, but gentle, and warm.

"Of course, if we do it together, we can pass any test!" Jasmine confidently declared, trying to match Zenn's enthusiasm.

"Indeed, let's go meet up with the rest, I can message the master while we inform them." Despite Zenn's stone-faced expression, he sounded excited. As if he always wanted to share his secret art with whatever friends he had.

The two would give each other a nod before returning to the trail, blissfully unaware that they were still holding hands.