We quietly walked through the hall together towards the staircase leading to the foot duel arena. Two attendants were waiting for us, holding a bunch of wires. I slowed down, and tilted my head slightly, "What are you holding?"

"These are microphones that hide under your clothes so the audience can hear you. We put them on because those doing foot duels don't automatically have microphones on them like those who are doing Turbo Duels."

Aki took one, and put it on with ease, "I've worn one for each of my duels so far."

Copying her, I carefully put my own on, making sure my shirt didn't ride up too high. One of the attendants helped me to hook a small box to my hip, "This is the transmission box, once the cord is through your shirt, we attach it here. The clip directly next to the microphone goes on the collar of your shirt."

I clipped it in place as I felt the microphone cord being plugged into the box, "There you go Fudo-san. That should be everything."

The attendants walked away, leaving just me and Aki waiting under the foot duel arena.

Aki sat down as I leaned against the wall, "Hey, Aki? I had a question for you."

"Yeah?"

"Why did you freak out when you saw my mark the first time?"

She looked at the ground, "The mark showed up the same day as my powers. I just kind of connected the two until I realized that you didn't have my curse but you still had the mark. Then once I got to know what your talent was, and started to understand you, I realized that this mark doesn't make me a monster."

I poked her in the side, making her squirm, "A monster is created because of what choices are made, rather than what it is. I'll admit to you that I actually have put a couple people in a coma, but would you call me a monster?"

Her head shook rapidly, "No, because you try your hardest to help other people."

"And I can tell that you just want people like you, and that you don't want to hurt anyone. You've just been told for a long time that you weren't human because everyone around you is just as scared as you are. That's why I don't expect you to go easy on me. I want to show everyone that it is nothing to be afraid of, and it might help you calm down."

Both of her eyes locked on me, "Are you serious?"

"Are you sure?"

I smiled at her, "Bring it on."

Once again, we could hear the announcer's voice echoing through the stadium, "Are you ready for the semi-finals match?"

Both of us scrambled to our places, and I sent a wink to her just before the voice came back, "First up is the Black Rose, Aki Izayoi!"

She braced herself as she rose up to deafening boos, causing my brain to spiral out of control, Will they cheer for me? Or will we both be scorned as we duel?

"Up next is the Satellite Shooting Star, Yusei Fudo!"

As I rose up, voices drifted down answering my question:

"Kill the witch!"

"Take out the freak!"

"Better a Satellite than a freak!"

I bit my lip, wondering if they would still be saying those things if they knew the real me.

The floor clicked to a stop, and I made eye contact with Aki while our duel disks swung into position on our arms. She sent me a weak smile as she drew her first card, "I will take the first turn, and I will summon Wall of Ivy in defense mode!"

Wall of Ivy-1200

Said monster exploded onto the field as Aki spoke again, "I end my turn."

My first card seemed to leap into my hand, "I start my turn by summoning Speed Warrior in attack mode, and his attack points double the first turn he's out."

Speed Warrior-900

Speed Warrior-1800

I flicked my hand out towards Aki, "Now, would you please take out that Wall of Ivy?"

Aki interrupted me, "My Ivy's special effect comes into play. If it is the target of an attack, you get an Ivy Token in defense mode on your side of the field."

Ivy Token-0

Speed Warrior still shot forward, slamming his heel into the Wall of Ivy. It shattered instantly, and he jumped back to his position in front of me.

Glancing at my hand, I knew that I couldn't do anything else, "I end my turn, and my Speed Warrior's points drop back to their original 900."

Speed Warrior-900

I quietly watched her draw her next card, which she played immediately, "I use the spell card Cursed Ivy, which brings an Ivy monster back from the graveyard and then equips to it."

Wall of Ivy-1200

The second I saw the card that I had drawn, I knew what my next move would be, "I release my Speed Warrior to advanced summon Turret Warrior. When it's summoned, it gains the points of the monster sacrificed to summon it."

Turret Warrior-1200

Turret Warrior-2100

"Now, my Warrior is going to attack your Wall of Ivy."

Aki didn't miss a beat, "Then you get another Ivy token on your side of the field."

Ivy Token-0

My Warrior took out her Wall of Ivy again, and Aki spoke up, "When the monster Cursed Ivy is attached to is destroyed, you get two Ivy Tokens on your field."

Ivy Token-0

Ivy Token-0

A grimace appeared on my face as I responded simply with, "I end my turn."

Good news is, she's not holding back. Bad news is, she's not holding back.

She continued, "I activate Seed of Deception, which allows me to summon a level 2 or below monster to the field from my hand. Say hello to Dark Verger."

Dark Verger-0

"Then I release him to summon Rose Tentacles."

Rose Tentacles-2200

Her hand pointed over to the only monster on my side of the field that I had brought out, "Take out his Turret Warrior!"

I braced myself, and it hurt like getting punched by a kid.

Life Points Yusei=3900

If it hurts that much losing 100 points, this is going to test my pain tolerance.

I almost missed what she said next, "If Rose Tentacles successfully destroys a monster on your side of the field, she can attack again for every plant type monster on your field."

The announcer started to yell, "Whenever those Tokens are destroyed, Yusei will get 300 points of damage, but due to Rose Tentacles effect, for every plant type monster it destroys, Yusei will get 300 points of damage. So for every attack, Yusei will get 600 points of damage!"

Almost immediately after that announcement rang through the arena, I saw many people in the audience starting to flee in droves. While I couldn't exactly blame them, I turned my focus on bracing myself for what was about to be a world of hurt.

Her voice rang out throughout the arena, "Take out the Ivy Token on the far left!"

One of Rose Tentacles's whips shot out, shattering the Ivy Token before wrapping around my left arm, piercing through my jacket.

Life Points Yusei=3300

"Now, take out the one on the far right!"

The second Ivy Token shattered, however, the whip wrapped around my right leg this time.

Life Points Yusei=2700

"Take out the one next to it!"

Yet again, an Ivy Token broke into pieces, and this whip wrapped around my left leg, and fear started to trickle into my consciousness.

Life Points Yusei=2100

Her voice shook slightly as it rang out again, "Now take out the final one!"

When the fourth whip came at me, it wrapped around my torso, pinning my right arm to my side, and I was lifted into the air.

Aki looked shocked, so I tried to remain calm. Panicking would be a terrible idea, because it might ripple into her.

That is what I kept repeating to myself, until I was slammed into the ground and I mentally freaked out until I realized that the pain was minimal considering what just happened. If anything, it felt like I jumped off a tall ledge and missed the landing. I staggered to my feet, trying to not shake.

Life Points Yusei=1500

I weakly looked at my cards, trying to not drift away mentally, and saw one that would help, "I summon Shield Warrior in defense mode and place two facedowns."

Shield Warrior-1600

Her eyes scanned her cards before looking up at me, "I activate my spell Ivy Shackles, which turns every monster on your side of the field into a plant type monster, starting with your Shield Warrior."

This is not a good omen. I guess that this duel is going to be harder than I thought.

The thought barely passed through my head before Aki continued to talk, "Since you now have a plant type monster on your side of the field, Rose Tentacles can attack one extra time. So go Rose Tentacles!"

Yet another whip shot out, going straight through Shield Warrior to hit me in the stomach.

Life Points Yusei=1200

Aki kept going, "Here comes the second attack!"

"I activate my trap, Card Defense! I discard one card from my hand, and you can't attack me directly. Not only that, but I get to replace the card."

Sending a smile to her, I started my turn, "I summon Junk Synchron in attack mode."

Junk Synchron-1300

"Then his special effect brings Speed Warrior back from the graveyard in defense mode."

Speed Warrior-400

The faintest smile appeared on her face as I kept talking, "You might be able to guess what's coming next. I synchro summon Junk Warrior!"

Junk Warrior-2300

"Finally, I equip him with Junk Barrage. Which means that he is ready to take out your monster!"

As the attack hit, a thought crossed my mind, I'm so glad that my powers never hurt my opponents during a duel. Sure, they got pretty strong during a duel, sometimes giving me an advantage, but they never hurt other people.

Life Points Aki=3900

Rose Tentacles shattered into dozens of pieces, yet Aki looked unbothered by the whole situation. I sent her a brief smile before continuing with my turn, "Junk Barrage deals you half of Rose Tentacles points since my Warrior just destroyed her."

Life Points Aki=2800

Passing the turn back over to her, I became aware of the cheers going through the stadium. The chants remained the same, though were growing in intensity:

"Burn the witch!"

"Shut down the freak!"

"No more witch! No more witch!"

I mouthed to her, "Sorry. I wish they weren't doing this."

She took a deep breath before continuing the duel, "I summon Copy plant, and your Warrior gets turned to a plant type thanks to my Ivy Shackle spell."

Copy Plant-0

"Next, if you have a plant type monster, my Copy Plant gets the same level as your monster. Then when I have a tuner monster on my field, Dark Verger can come back from the graveyard."

Dark Verger-0

Biting my lip, I mentally got ready to face her strongest monster. She yelled at the top of her lungs, "I synchro summon Black Rose Dragon!"

Black Rose Dragon-2400

Pain shot up our arms as they started glowing, and I could feel Aki's disgust focus on it rather than the crowd. Then she looked up, "I send one plant type monster to the graveyard to drop your monster's points down to 0."

Junk Warrior-0

"Black Rose Dragon, attack Junk Warrior!"

I flicked my hand towards the field, "I activate Shield Warrior's effect. If I remove him from play, my monster can't be destroyed in battle this turn. Then I activate Spirit Force, which makes it so that not only do I not take damage, but I also get a tuner monster from my graveyard."

My face almost turned into a full blown smile when I saw Junk Synchron, but I forced it down as Aki continued, "Then I place two facedowns and end my turn."

A sigh of relief slipped out of my mouth, "I summon Junk Synchron to the field, and his special effect brings Speed Warrior back as well."

Junk Synchron-1300

Speed Warrior-900

Junk Warrior-3200

Well, that power rise isn't going to matter much in a second. I shook that thought out of my head and kept going, "Now I tune my Junk Warrior and Junk Synchron together to synchro summon Stardust Dragon!"

Stardust Dragon-2500

My mark started to burn even more, but that was nothing compared to the pain that occurred when I shouted, "Take out Black Rose Dragon!"

Life Points Aki=2700

Aki let out a small smirk when her dragon was destroyed. Her face was now a mixture of eager competition and stress, "My turn, and I activate the spell Magic Planter. If I send a continuous trap to the graveyard, I can draw two new cards. So I send my Ivy Shackles away."

I breathed a sigh of relief, glad that at least one problem was solved.

She wasn't done with me yet, "Next, I activate Wicked Rebirth, which brings back a monster of my choice and equips to that monster when I sacrifice 800 life points. I choose my Dragon!"

Black Rose Dragon-2400

Life Points Aki=1900

"Essentially, the only way to destroy my monster is to destroy the spell. If you destroy her any other way, she will come back at the end of the turn. Now I activate her special ability, which allows her to destroy every card on the field including herself."

I shook my head, "I don't think so. Stardust's special ability negates any effect that would destroy all cards on the field, and releases itself along with the card that would do that. So both of our Dragons go away, and nothing happens to the other cards on the field."

The jeers were getting to her, because she was starting to take pauses between each move. After a couple of deep breaths, she continued, "Well then, I summon Phoenixian Seed, but instantly release it to summon Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis."

Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis-2200

"Now my monster takes out your Speed Warrior!"

I knew what was coming, so I braced myself for a large amount of damage as she yelled, "But, when my Amaryllis attacks, it destroys itself and you get 800 points of damage."

Life Points Yusei=400

My body was starting to burn from all of the mild injuries that I had been collecting over the length of the duel. I was extremely grateful when Aki spoke, "I place one facedown and end my turn, which means that both of our dragons come back."

Black Rose Dragon-2400

Stardust Dragon-2500

Aki continued, "Before I finish, I activate my trap Overdoom Line, which adds 1000 attack points to a monster that was brought back from the graveyard."

Black Rose Dragon-3400

Yusei, prepare yourself for a world of hurt.

"Then my Amaryllis comes back due to it's special effect in defense mode."

Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis-0

I was starting to feel the pressure from both Aki and the crowd, "I put my Dragon in defense mode."

Stardust Dragon-2000

"Next, I can activate the spell Prevention Star. It equips to a monster that I just put in defense mode, and it equips to one of your monsters as well, stopping it from attacking or switching modes. I choose Amaryllis."

Aki wasn't exactly happy about that move, "I activate my spell Synchro Back. As it implies, one of my Synchro monsters goes back to the extra deck. I end my turn with a facedown."

Since her turn was over, Black Rose came back yet again, "Black Rose Gale!"

As the stadium around me was destroyed in her hatred of the crowd, I hurried to execute my plan, "Victim Sanctuary!"

Both dragons disappeared yet again, and she instantly switched her Amaryllis to attack mode. But I beat her to it, "I activate Cosmic Blast, which takes the attack points of a monster I just sent to the graveyard, and deals those points to you as damage."

Life Points Aki=0 Defeat!


A/N: Thanks to Let's-Go-To-Vermont for reviewing on the original version of this chapter!