Alex was walking down the hall headed to the waiting room when he met up with Yusei.

Yusei: Way to go Alex.

He looked and see Yusei leaning against the wall.

Alex: Just doing what I do best. Thanks for the pep talk Yusei.

?: Excuse me.

Alex: Wait, that voice sounds familiar.

He looked up to see Akiza Izinski walking down the hallway in his direction. She walked past Alex and Yusei, glaring at the latter of the two as she passed.

Alex: Yusei, do you think she's?

Yusei: Positive. She's the Black Rose.

Alex: Let's go the waiting room and watch her duel.

Yusei: Right.

They both walked off towards the waiting room. They got to the waiting room just as Akiza's duel got underway. She was dueling Randsborg, the Iron Knight, who acted like a stereotypical medieval knight.

Alex: Yusei, when she passed, I could hear the spirits in her deck. They sounded like they were in pain.

Yusei: What do you mean? Why were they in pain?

Alex: I don't know, but maybe we'll find out as the duel goes on.

Akiza and Randsborg activated their duel disks and began their duel.

Both: Let's duel!

Akiza: 4000 LP

Randsborg: 4000 LP

Randsborg: I shall begin this duel. I play Masked Knight LV 3 in attack mode.

Level 3/Light/Warrior

ATK 1500/ DEF 800

Randsborg: And now I shall activate his special ability. By not attacking this turn, my monster can inflict 400 points of damage to your life points.

Akiza: 3600 LP

Akiza just stood there silently, not moving a muscle.

Randsborg: And now I activate the spell card Level Up. This card will allow me to send my monster to my graveyard to summon Masked Knight LV 5.

Level 5/Light/Warrior

ATK 2300/ DEF 1300

Randsborg: And now I shall use his ability. By giving up his attack, he can inflict 1000 points of damage onto you.

A laser beam came out of his monster's helmet and struck Akiza, who once more neither moved nor spoke.

Akiza: 2600 LP

Ransborg: I shall place 1 card face-down and end mine turn.

Akiza: My turn. I summon the tuner monster Twilight Rose Knight in attack mode.

Level 3/Dark/Warrior

ATK & DEF 1000

Akiza: And now I activate his special ability, which means I can summon a level 4 or lower plant type monster from my hand, so I summon Revival Rose in defense mode.

Level 4/Dark/Plant

ATK & DEF 1300

Akiza: And now I tune Twilight Rose Knight with Regenerating Rose, in order to synchro summon Black Rose Dragon!

Alex: Yusei, that's the dragon from earlier this week.

Yusei: Right.

Level 7/Fire/Dragon

ATK 2400/ DEF 1800

Akiza: And now I use Black Rose Dragon's effect. When this card is summoned, it can destroy every card on the field. Go, Black Rose Gale!

A tornado rocked through the arena as every card on the field was destroyed.

Akiza: Now, I place one card face-down and activate the field spell Black Garden. I end my turn with that.

Randsborg: My turn, I draw! And I shall activate the spell card The Warrior Returning Alive. With it, I can bring a warrior monster from my graveyard back to my hand, and I choose my Masked Knight LV 3, who I shall proceed to summon.

The monster appeared again. but no sooner had the monster appeared then vines from the field spell wrapped around it.

Randsborg: What is going on here?

Akiza: The power of my Black Garden. When we summon a monster, that monster's attack is cut in half, and then a rose token is summoned to our opponent's field. And by the way, tokens summoned by my garden can't be destroyed in battle.

Level 2/Dark/Plant

ATK & DEF 800

Randsborg: In that case, I shall activate my Knight's special ability. By skipping his battle, 400 points of damage are inflicted onto your life points.

Akiza: 2200 LP

Akiza: But now my Doppelganger trap card activates. With it, whenever I take damage from your monster's special ability, you take the same damage as me.

A gust of wind mixed with rose petals flew from the trap in Randsborg's direction.

Randsborg: 3600 LP

Randsborg: I shall place 2 cards face-down and end my turn.

Akiza: My turn then, I draw. And I play the equip spell Mark of the Rose. This will let me gain control of your Masked Knight.

Suddenly, a rose symbol appeared on Masked Knight's forehead and he teleported to Akiza's side, kneeling before her.

Akiza: And now Masked Knight, attack your former master!

Randsborg: 2850 LP

Akiza: And next I equip Masked Knight with the Vengeful Servant spell card. With this, when he switches control, his new owner takes damage equal to his original attack points. I end my turn, which means Masked Knight returns to your field.

Masked Knight jumped to Randsborg's side and slashed him across his chest with his sword.

Randsborg: 1350 LP

Randsborg: Before my turn begins, I activate the trap Level Change, so by sending my Masked Knight LV 3 to the graveyard, I can resurrect my Masked Knight LV 5.

Said monster returned to the field and vines wrapped around it, draining half of its attack points and creating a rose token on Akiza's field.

Masked Knight LV 5: 2300-1150

Randsborg: It's my turn. I draw. And now my Masked Knight shall evolve to his final stage. I send Masked Knight LV 5 to my graveyard to summon Masked Knight LV 7.

Randsborg's monster appeared and was ensnared by vines, reducing its attack power.

Masked Knight LV 7: 2900-1450

Randsborg: I now equip my monster with Glory Shield, and with it, you cannot activate spells or traps when my monster attacks, and if my monster inflicts damage, one of your spells or traps is destroyed. And now, attack her rose token. Even though your token won't be destroyed, you shall still take damage.

Akiza: 1550 LP

Randsborg: And using the effect of my Glory Shield, your Doppelganger trap card is destroyed. And now that it has been destroyed, I activate my monster's ability, which will deal 1500 points of direct damage to your life points.

Akiza: 50 LP

Randsborg: I shall place one card face-down and end my turn.

Akiza: My turn, I draw. And I activate the effect of Black Garden. By destroying it and my rose tokens, I can summon a monster from my graveyard whose attack equals the total attack of my rose tokens, meaning Black Rose Dragon is revived.

Randsborg: But since your garden is gone, my Knight's attack points return to their original value.

Akiza: Which is why I activate Black Rose Dragon's other effect. By removing a plant type monster in my graveyard from play, your monster's attack points become 0.

Black Rose Dragon's vines glowed purple and wrapped around Randsborg's monster, taking all its power away.

Akiza: Now Black Rose Dragon, attack! Black Rose Flare!

Randsborg: 0 LP

Winner: Akiza

The crowd started booing Akiza, saying she was too dangerous to stay in the tournament.

Alex: I feel bad for her Yusei.

Yusei: Why, Alex?

Alex: Because I understand how she must feel. Before I learned to control my powers, I hurt a lot of people. Everyone but my parents looked at me like I was a monster. If I didn't have them, I'd probably be the same way Akiza is now. I want to help her. No one deserves to be treated this way, especially if it's over something they can't control.

Yusei: I understand, but there's not much you can do for her.

Alex: Maybe not yet, but that won't stop me from trying when the time comes.

Alex has had a past similar to Akiza's, but thanks to his parents, he was able to control his powers and live a normal life. Now he wants to help Akiza achieve that. I'll go into detail with Alex's past later on, so be patient. Yeah, not much changed from her duel on the show, apart from me changing how she summoned Black Rose Dragon at the start of the duel, as well as me taking out a lot of Randsborg's ridiculous dialogue because I refuse to torture myself and the readers. See you all in the next chapter.