"Argh, why is it all so tight?" Yugo groaned as he pulled off the costume. "When I get my hands on Yuri and Yuto—" Yuya passed him the new costume through the crack in the door, and after thanking his lucky stars, Yugo put on the new outfit. It had been… difficult to find a new costume on the day itself, but the woman at the counter had pitied him so much that she had offered him a different one instantly.
He opened the door. "Man, Yuya, you—"
Yugo paused, before he waved to Rin. "Hey," he said, voice cracking a bit. Rin raised an eyebrow, purple wig looking oddly familiar on her, dark violet feathers threaded into long wings and peeking out of the back of her dress, with simple dark fabric forming waves around her legs in a skirt. "What's that costume?"
"Better than your previous one," she said. "Yuri sent me photos." Yugo let out a squawk. "Come on. Let's get going."
"Huh?"
Rin turned to Yuya, who was watching them with a smile. "Hey, Yuzu's waiting for you outside."
"Sure," Yuya said. "Have fun!" Rin gave him a smile as well, before his younger brother left him to her mercy.
"So…" He said slowly.
"We're all pairing up, aren't we?" She said. "Ruri and Yuto, Yuri and Serena, Yuya and Yuzu. So that leaves you and me. Try not to slow me down." She stalked towards the entrance of the shop, and after a moment, Yugo let out a yelp and followed her.
"Oi, Rinnn…"
"Don't drag out my name like that," she said. "I'm going to the special card shop first, ok?" She walked off immediately, and Yugo shrugged.
Well, at least this might be fun.
It was not fun.
Yugo watched Rin haggle with the person at the shop with her usual attitude, and he zoned out for a while, heading into the aisle. He stopped in front of a couple of packs and stared at them blankly, until Rin came over and pushed him slightly. "Oi, Yugo. Did you fall asleep?"
"What? No, no, I just—"
He saved himself a moment later.
"I was wondering what your costume was."
"Oh," Rin said. "Well, you could have just asked."
I did though, and you just commented on mine! Jeez, Rin…
"Do you know what Assault Mode is?" She said.
"No," Yugo said. "Is it when you assault someone?"
She punched him in the gut casually. "No," she said as he recovered. "It's an… evolution of Synchros, sort of. So my costume kind of supports that archetype. It's Night Wing Sorceress." She shrugged. "I'm sure I put more thought into mine than you did."
Yugo was definitely not pouting. "Yuri got me that, ok? I hate it." He glanced at the packs a bit longer. "I don't really need more cards."
"Neither do I," Rin said, and thankfully, they left it at that and left. When they left the shop, they glanced up at one of the camera screens that was projecting scenes from around the carnival. Coincidentally, they spotted a few familiar faces in it. Rin sighed.
"I can't believe that they got in a duel with the teachers," she said.
"I can believe it! Man, that Yuri, getting into fun stuff while I'm struggling with a costume…" He fist-bumped the air. "Now I'm fired up! I want to duel someone too! How about you, Rin?"
"I might be," she said. "I'll see how it goes first though."
It must have been a curse by the gods of irony, because immediately, they were stopped by someone in front of them. It was a girl who was taller than both of them, with red hair in braids that were tucked under a hat and a confident smile on her face.
"You're Rin Kurosaki," she said.
"Yes," Rin said. "What—" She was about to ask a question, clearly, but then the other girl cut her off.
"This year's Miss Duel Academy. I did like your duel a lot." The girl shrugged, before she held out a hand. "I'm Olga Johansdatter." She paused. "You can just call me Olga. I'm not really one for the fancy honorifics. Anyway, I was Miss Duel Academy last year, but I decided not to take part this year. Had better things to do and all that."
Rin nodded, suddenly looking a lot more interested. "What specialised course are you in?"
"Synchro," Olga said. "Just like you'll be, I suspect."
"Not really," Rin said. "I was thinking about choosing something else." Yugo gave her a confused look. "I mean, I already use Synchro all the time, so I'm pretty alright with it. So I wanted to learn about other Summoning Methods too. I might specialise in Ritual, Xyz or Pendulum instead, those are the ones that I've never bothered experimenting with."
Olga nodded. "Makes sense," she said. "So… want to have a duel, Miss Duel Academy? I'd like to see how strong my successor is."
Yugo glanced at Rin, who was looking… well, it might have been unnoticeable to most, but she actually looked tired. He made his decision immediately and stepped forward. "Yo, Rin!" He said cheerfully. "You've been taking most of the duels lately, so mind letting me have this?" He grinned at Olga. "Hi, I'm Yugo Sakaki. How about you duel me first? If you win, you can go against Rin!"
"Why should I do that?" Olga said, raising an eyebrow. "It'd just tire me out more."
"W-ell…" Internally, Yugo scrambled around to actually find a reason. "You know how Rin plays, but she doesn't know how you play, y'know? So to be fair, shouldn't you show her what you can do?"
Olga stared at him, and then she gave him a small smile. "Sure," she said. "That's an… alright reason then." She gestured. "Let's back out of the street, though."
Once they got to a nearby grassy area, they both raised their duel disks.
I'll take you down so that Rin can take it easy today.
Rin tapped his shoulder. "Look," she said bluntly, though it was quiet enough for Olga to be unable to hear. "I don't need you to protect me. But thank you, anyway."
Oh.
He pretended that he wasn't blushing, and turned back to the duel.
Yugo Sakaki: 4000LP
Olga Johansdatter: 4000LP
"I'll start," Olga declared. "And I'll activate Moray of Greed. I'll shuffle two WATER monsters from my hand into the Deck to draw three cards." She glanced at the new cards. "Excellent. I'll activate Water Hazard. And when I don't have any monsters, it lets me bring out a Level 4 or lower WATER monster from my hand, like Glacial Beast Blizzard Wolf!" (4*/1400/700/WATER/Aqua/Effect) A blue lupine appeared, paws striking the ground in a protective stance. "I'll then Normal Summon Mother Grizzly. (4*/1400/1000/WATER/Beast-Warrior/Effect) I'll set a card. Over to you."
Man, that was… really methodical.
This is going to be fun!
Yugo grinned. "Alright! Draw! I'll start off by Special Summoning Speedroid Terrortop (3*/1200/600/WIND/Machine/Effect) from my hand!" One of his most reliable Speedroids appeared. "And Terrortop can add a "Speedroid" monster to my hand, so I'll add Speedroid Taketomborg (3*/600/1200/WIND/Machine/Effect) to my hand. And since I control a WIND monster, I can Special Summon Taketomborg from my hand too!" He grinned, giving a high five to his monster as it emerged. "And Taketomborg can tribute himself to bring out one of my Tuners, as long as I don't bring out any non-WIND monsters this turn! Not a problem for me though."
He plucked out a card from his deck, spinning it around before placing it on his duel disk.
"So that will be my Speedroid Red-Eyed Dice!" (1*/100/100/WIND/Machine/Tuner/Effect) He smirked. "And I can change the Level of another of my Speedroids to a Level from 1 to 6! So I think that I'll be picking Level 6!" (Speedroid Terrortop: 3* - 6*) Terrortop glowed, and then it spun around the dice, both of them rising into the air. "Now, I'll tune the Level 1 Red-Eyed Dice to the Level 6 Terrortop! Spread those wondrous and beautiful wings, and strike down your enemies at the speed of light! Synchro Summon! Appear now—Level 7, Clear Wing Synchro Dragon! (7*/2500/2000/WIND/Dragon/Synchro/Effect) His ace emerged, and Yugo grinned.
He hadn't really gotten the chance to bring out Clear Wing Synchro Dragon recently. His ace had been… more lethargic. But… he wasn't going to waste this moment.
Olga nodded. Her set card flipped over. "Eisbahn," she declared. "While I control a WATER monster, all non-WATER monsters that are Normal or Special Summoned are changed to Defence Position."
Ah, and he had no non-WATER monsters to bring out, right? What could he do?
Yugo blinked.
Oh.
He could fight against that card another way…
"I'll set a card facedown," he said. "Over to you!"
"Planning on buying time?" Olga said. "You won't get the chance. Draw!" She nodded at that card. "I'll Normal Summon Geomancer of the Ice Barrier!" (3*/800/1200/WATER/Spellcaster/Tuner/Effect) A young woman in pretty long robes appeared. "I suppose that since you showed me your monster, I'll show you mine too. I'll tune the Level 3 Geomancer to the Level 4 Mother Grizzly!" The two monsters shot up into the air, before ice blasted over the grass, forming a crystal-like sheen. The air got colder, and Yugo shivered, while Rin let out a contented sigh.
"Weak," she said to him.
Yugo facepalmed, before he glanced back at Olga.
"All those that underestimate the cold shall be consumed by its void! Let the ferocious winter corner every foe with the shivers of fear! Synchro Summon! Level 7! Glacial Beast Iceberg Narwhal!" (7*/2700/1600/WATER/Aqua/Synchro/Effect)
A dark blue humanoid figure appeared, ice forming most of its body with green rock underneath the ice. It floated behind Olga, more cold and ice swirling around her as it stared down at Yugo.
Yugo let out a nervous chuckle.
"I'll activate Forbidden Chalice," Olga declared. "I'll target your Clear Wing and negate its effects. It does get 400 more attack points, but that's not really important considering what position it is in…" (Clear Wing Synchro Dragon: 2500 + 400 = 2900ATK) Ice coated Clear Wing's body as it fell a little closer to the ground. "Now, battle. Iceberg Narwhal will attack your monster!"
"Activating Waboku!"
"You should have activated it earlier," Olga replied. "During the Battle Phase, when you activate a card or effect while I control a monster other than Iceberg Narwhal, I can negate that card and destroy it!" His trap shattered, and a moment later, Clear Wing was destroyed. Yugo winced. "And don't let your guard down, because Blizzard Wolf is going to smack you down too!"
Yugo's eyes widened, and then ice smacked into him and knocked him backwards.
Yugo Sakaki: 4000 – 1400 = 2600LP
"I'll end my turn. Over to you."
"Draw," Yugo frowned.
Well, he didn't like to think too hard about this kind of stuff, but he was definitely a sitting duck right now. So, if he had to think about what to get rid of first…
"I'll activate Shock Surprise! I can banish up to two Speedroids from my graveyard, and for each?" He grinned, and he pulled out Taketomborg and Terrortop from the graveyard, flicking out a hand. "Well, I can tell one of your cards to get lost! So say goodbye to your Eisbahn and your Synchro!" The duo vanished, and Olga nodded.
"Not bad," she said. "Not a lot of people can push past that. Can you follow through?"
Yugo glanced at the four cards in his hand. "Don't underestimate me," he said with a smirk. "I'm going to take you down! I'll start that off by Normal Summoning this guy! Speedroid Marble Machine!" (2*/200/100/WIND/Machine/Pendulum/Effect) A machine made of large blue and green marbles appeared, a red cape streaming around it as though it was a superhero. "And when I Normal Summon Marble Machine, I can cut off all non-WIND monsters to add a "Speedroid" monster to my hand." He revealed it. "And who better than Speedroid Taketomborg? I'll Special Summon him again too!" The mechanical skater appeared, skidding next to Yugo. "I'll activate his effect to tribute him and bring out another one of my Tuners from my deck!"
"Not bad," Rin said, folding her arms. "Why don't you act smart more often?"
Yugo sputtered. "You're learning too much from Yuri!" He protested.
"No, that's my own opinion."
"Rinnn—"
"You're being annoying. Cut that out."
"Interesting to watch as this is," Olga interrupted, "you two can flirt in your own time. I believe you were having your turn?"
Yugo blinked. What? "Rin and I would never date!" He said loudly. "I'm not her type! She and Yuri are more likely to date than me and her!"
"Exactly," Rin said. "We're not together. Hell would freeze over before that happened."
Olga stared between the two of them in a way that made Yugo very confused and very uncomfortable. She looked almost like she knew something that they didn't. "If you say so," she said, sounding amused. "Why don't you carry on?"
"Ok, ok!" Yugo scowled to himself for a moment. He was having enough trouble with how pretty Rin looked already, alright? It wasn't even like he liked her that way, she was just his friend. His… yes, his friend, his very scary friend. That was all Rin Kurosaki was. "I'll… I'll Special Summon my other dice! Spin and dance, Speedroid Tri-Eyed Dice!" (3*/300/1500/WIND/Machine/Tuner/Effect)
He distractedly declared his next move.
"I'll tune the Level 3 Tri-Eyed Dice to the Level 2 Marble Machine! Slash out with the power of the fierce blade! Synchro Summon! Level 5! Hi-Speedroid Chanbara!" (5*/2000/1000/WIND/Machine/Synchro/Effect) He pumped his fist in the air as a large red and green blade appeared, looking like something that would be packaged with the pirate toys he had seen as a kid. He nodded to Chanbara with a bright grin, before he pointed at the wolf. "Take it down! And when Chanbara declares an attack, he gets another 200 attack points! Power-Up Slash!" (Hi-Speedroid Chanbara: 2000 + 200 = 2200ATK)
The attack hit, and Olga winced as the wind blew off her hat.
Olga Johansdatter: 4000 – 800 = 3200LP
She grabbed it from the air, shoving it back down on her head. "Is that it?" She asked.
"Nah," Yugo said with a smirk. "Chanbara can declare two attacks every turn! So do it again! Power-Up Slash!" (Hi-Speedroid Chanbara: 2200 + 200 = 2400ATK)
The second attack hit, and Olga skidded back, grimacing.
Olga Johansdatter: 3200 – 2400 = 800LP
"I'll set two cards facedown and end my turn!"
Olga laughed. "You're pretty enthusiastic," she said. "But you haven't won just yet. Draw." She glanced at her graveyard. "I'll Normal Summon Glacial Beast Snow Seal." (4*/1200/1000/WATER/Aqua/Effect) A small, fluffy white seal appeared, ice crystals forming a crown on its head. "And with its effect, I can revive a Tuner when I summon it, so I'll be bringing Geomancer back. And I think it's pretty obvious what I'm doing at this point, isn't it?" The two monsters swirled around in a vortex, before Iceberg Narwhal reemerged on the field with a loud and melodic cry.
"Obvious," Yugo said. "Yes? I guess."
Rin facepalmed. Yugo heard her muttering something about idiots with no capability to speak properly. He didn't get it. Olga's speech was pretty clear for someone who wasn't natively Japanese.
"She'll destroy your monster! Startling Blizzard!" The ice shot out again, and this time, Yugo confidently flipped over his set card.
"Guess what?" He said. "You have no other monsters. So you can't stop this. Meet Re-Dyce-Cle!"
Yugo paused. Everyone around him gave him expectant looks, as though they were waiting for something.
"Did I pronounce that properly?"
Rin smacked his back.
"Ok, ok." He sighed. "Essentially, this Trap lets me bring back a Tuner and roll a dice to determine its Level, but I have to negate its effects. I will bring back Red-Eyed Dice." The dice monster appeared, before rolling across the field and revealing three dots. "Well, not ideal, but…" (Speedroid Red-Eyed Dice: 1* - 3*) He smirked. "And by banishing it from my graveyard, I can Synchro Summon a WIND Synchro Monster with monsters on my field, including a Speedroid! So I'll tune the Level 3 Speedroid Red-Eyed Dice to the Level 5 Hi-Speedroid Chanbara!" The two monsters spun around each other, before green light flashed. "Now, dragon with the power of the soaring winds, take down all those who would stand in the way of evolution! Synchro Summon! Level 8! Hi-Speedroid Kitedrake!" (8*/3000/2800/WIND/Machine/Synchro/Effect)
One thing that Yugo had always appreciated about Kitedrake was the fact that somehow, despite being such a large blue dragon, its wings still managed to distinctively look like a kite instead of some airship or something. Anyway, he grinned.
"Since Chanbara was sent to the graveyard, I can add one of my banished Speedroids to my hand. And now for the main course! When Hi-Speedroid Kitedrake is Synchro Summoned, I can either negate the effects of all your face-up cards or destroy all other cards on the field. I'll choose the first! Rend it all! Leisure Hurricane!"
Fun-sounding attack name aside, the dragon breathed out a large whirlwind that tossed all the cards on the field away. Meanwhile, Yugo's other set card had flipped up.
"That's my Wonder Garage. And when destroyed, I can bring out a Level 4 or lower "roid" monster." He placed the last card in his hand on the field. "I'll Special Summon Speedroid Pachingo-Kart!" (4*/1800/1000/WIND/Machine/Effect)
Olga stared at him speechlessly, before she laughed. "Good play," she said. "I'll end my turn there. Come get me."
"Draw!" Yugo declared with great gusto. "I'll attack you directly with Kitedrake—"
"No," Olga said. "First, I'll activate the effect of Blizzard Wolf. If I control no monsters at the start of your Battle Phase, I can revive it!"
"I can still attack it!"
"I'll activate Snow Seal's effect," Olga continued. "I'll Special Summon her from the graveyard and negate the attack."
Yugo frowned. "Pachingo-Kart!"
The smaller machine shot forward, destroying Snow Seal. Olga placed it in the spot for banished cards, before looking back at him. "Are you done?"
Olga Johansdatter: 800 – 600 = 200LP
Was he?
"I'll Normal Summon Speedroid Red-Eyed Dice!" He declared. "And I'll change Pachingo-Kart's Level to 5!" (Speedroid Pachingo-Kart: 4* - 5*)
"Can you actually defeat me this turn?" Olga asked.
"Yes," Yugo said with a grin. "And man, I don't know why I'm so fired up, but I just want to push that bit more. Can you blame me? I'm so close to defeating you! Tuning the Level 1 Red-Eyed Dice to the Level 5 Pachingo-Kart! Magical sword with the form of a cross. Use your power to destroy our enemies! Synchro Summon! Appear now—Level 6! Hi-Speedroid Kendama!" (6*/2200/1600/WIND/Machine/Synchro/Effect) Devil Sword Dama, he thought internally, but he did not voice the alternative name. It was actually a kendama, after all.
Not that he would admit it in front of Yuri, the bastard.
"Your Battle Phase is over."
"That's fine," Yugo said. "I'll banish a Machine from my graveyard to deal you 500 damage! Brutal Swing!"
He saw the realisation on Olga's face, before her life points were wiped out.
Olga Johandatter: 200 – 500 = 0LP
Olga stared, before laughing. "Very nice," she said. "Guess we'll duel another day then, Rin Kurosaki. See you." The redhead left, and Yugo grinned.
Rin sighed. "You're odd," she said. "Is there a reason you finished that duel off with effect damage?"
Yugo blinked. "You noticed?"
"You could probably have brought out Clear Wing Fast Dragon instead," she said. "And then you could've sealed it off and taken the win right there. Instead, you chose to go for Kendama. Is there a reason why?"
Yugo nodded. "Hey, don't you already know?" He said with a chuckle. "It was 'cause I stole the duel from you, obviously. I wanted to finish it off with your specialty."
Rin stared at him. She then sighed and rolled her eyes. "That sounds like you," she said. "You're sentimental. Overcomplicated things for yourself too." She let out a light giggle, and for a moment, Yugo stared at her. "Idiot."
Yugo stayed there, speechless.
"Come on." She flicked out a hand. "I want to look around a bit more."
He continued to follow her.
He wasn't sure why he still felt like blushing.
Whatever.
Rin wasn't sure why she had laughed like that. She wasn't really a… well, the type of person to giggle. And she was especially surprised that it was Yugo Sakaki who had prompted it, considering that most of what he had prompted from her so far was derision. (And sometimes violence. She would admit that sometimes, she chose violence when it came to him.)
But sometimes, despite him being an idiot, he could be surprisingly thoughtful.
She had taken note of the fact that the Sakakis were alone, back when she first won as Miss Duel Academy. Come to think of it, that was also when Yugo first stood out to her.
An idiot with an odd amount of sensitivity to the people around him.
She sighed.
Best not to think about it too much.
She still didn't get why Olga had been implying that they liked each other. She would never like Yugo that way.
"Hell would freeze over before that happened."
"Rin!"
She blinked, and then she noticed Yugo waving to her from in front. She walked forward. "Yeah?" She said. "Something happen?"
"Want a drink?" He offered. "It's pretty hot."
She glanced at the menu. "I'll get black tea," she said, fumbling for her wallet.
"I got it," he said. Before she could decline, he continued. "I stole some of Yuri's earnings from last time, the smug bastard."
Ah.
Rin smirked.
How devious of him. How… unexpected.
Yugo got them both drinks, and they carried on wandering around. Eventually, they stopped in the forest to take a break from the crowds.
Rin glanced at her deck. "I didn't really want to duel her," she said. "I… don't know. I'm pretty burned out from dueling people who want to duel Miss Duel Academy. It was this close to being Ruri, Serena or Yuzu, you know? But it's surprisingly stressful to be… yeah."
Yugo nodded. "So dueling people with expectations is stressful for you right now?" He said. He gave that big, idiotic grin again. "Well, then you can just duel me!" He lifted a hand. "I don't have any expectations for you, after all."
What a…
What a stupidly simple solution.
"Yeah," Rin said. "That sounds good. Don't cry when you get crushed though."
"I won't," Yugo said with a grin. "I want to win, after all!"
"You won't," she said. "Let's see how long you last, then."
They begin.
A/N: And I'm alive again! Welcome back to Dragons' Awakening, everyone. I actually had this chapter half-typed up a week after the previous one, but then my hand got fractured by an incident, so I had to push back finishing it off. But I did feel a lot more refreshed while doing it :D
One thing that I'm really glad about is that I finally got to write a duel with Speedroids again. I've always really liked them and Clear Wing, and it's crazy to me that I've gone ten chapters without giving Yugo a duel. It's also an odd feeling, because it was that same chapter that broke me out of my author's block way back then, so maybe it's just something about writing Yugo that makes me get back into the swing of things. (Which is crazy to me, because Yugo is actually the hardest for me to write? I'll have to talk more about that at some point.) I was trying to show off more Speedroids, which is why Clear Wing admittedly got shafted in this chapter, but he'll definitely get to show off more the next time Yugo duels.
For costumes, Rin was dressed up as Night Wing Sorceress, while Yugo (not really described) changed to Junk Speeder from Swordsman of Landstar.
So, this is a pretty short chapter, since I wanted to avoid more padding. I didn't feel the need to toss in an entire Yugo vs Rin duel, and besides, while I do need to take a rest from using my hands at all, I wanted to get something out for you guys. If you wanted more from these two, don't worry, that'll come… eventually. A bit more eventually for Yugo than Rin, but eventually all the same.
Chapter Preview: Chapter 21—Carnival Fun
The start of the Duel Monster Spirit Day is bright and happy, and Yuzu and Yuya are just having fun going around. Then, all of a sudden, Yuzu challenges Yuya to a duel...
I actually can't wait to write the next chapter, because there's a good reason I saved Yuzu and Yuya for last here. Also, the next on-screen duel between matching counterparts since Yuri and Serena :D In general, I just think that you guys will enjoy it, too. Alright, see you!
~ Blaise
OC Cards:
Glacial Beast Snow Seal
(4*/1200/1000/WATER/Aqua/Effect)
If this card is Normal or Special Summoned: Target 1 Tuner in your GY; Special Summon it. If an attack is declared while this card is in your GY: Negate the attack, and if you do, Special Summon this card in Attack Position, but it is banished when it leaves the field. You can only activate each effect of "Glacial Beast Snow Seal" once per turn.