The Castle of Chaos stands half-toppled on the action field, its throne room displayed for all to see through the bars of the Battleguard Battlecage surrounding it like a rotting carcass' exposed chest cavity.

Yuya examines the wall in front of him, and confirms that even if he did climb up, there's a top to the cage. His plans of escaping on hippoback are moot. He dismounts his monster with a sigh, and kneels on the ground behind his three set cards while Performapal Hip Hippo takes position in front of him protectively. "Oi, I didn't sign up for a cage match!"

The Sledgehammer grins predatorily. "Too bad, freak show! You're going nowhere. And I still got you for three minutes. Three minutes of PLAYTIME!"

[Rec. BGM: No More Heroes "Hell on Bare Feet"]

"I start the Battle Phase! Battleguard King, attack!" The Sledgehammer declares with a chop.

Battleguard King, outside the cage, pokes his hand through the side. He does manage to get his fingers through the bars, but nothing else. Then, he has a smashing idea! He picks up his giant kanabo, and swings it at the side of the castle, -CRAAASHHH!- causing a good portion of it to collapse, giving him just enough room to squeeze under the bars of the cage. Battleguard King's upper torso, arms, and bestial face take up nearly half of the caged area. He reaches out with a clawed hand to grab Hip Hippo!

"Not so fast! I play the quick-play spell, Hippo Carnival!" Yuya shouts. Three other Hippos poof into existence on his activation of the card, and from Sky Iris appears three spotlights for each of the lovely ladies, who wave at the crowd, wink, and blow kisses.

Strangely enough, Yuya can hear loud groans coming from the part of the audience his friends are in. Huh, crowd must be tough over there but he knows his friends will cheer twice as hard!

"What the hell is that!?" The Sledgehammer asks, more from this display throwing him off than any actual curiosity.

Pleased that his opponent is asking what he's in store for with such an awesome card, Yuya happily explains, "For the rest of this battle phase, when you want to attack a monster, you'll have to choose a Hippo Token as the target!"

The Sledgehammer huffs, "Fine! Crush the orange one like an orange!"

Battleguard King grabs the flowery hippo in its hand, and holds her up in front of his face. The Hippo looks scared, but has resolved herself to defend her friends, and shuts her eyes.

Hip Hippo, Hippo Token #2, and Hippo Token #3 wave farewell to their friend while drying their eyes with handkerchiefs, and Hip Hippo blows his nose with his.

With a flex of his muscles, Battleguard King's grip tightens around his prey, and… -SQUEAK!- after her eyes and tongue bulge out, Hippo Token #1's form bursts into a shower of confetti and flower petals!
The Sledgehammer laughs at this, and then taps his duel disk. "If a monster on your side of the field is destroyed, I remove one counter from Battleguard Battlecage. It originally had three, and now it has two."

Yuya narrows his eyes. "What happens when you remove a counter?"

The Sledgehammer raises a finger… and pauses to read the card. "...nothing, yet! Now take your turn, Clown Boy!"

"Gladly!" Yuya says, going to draw. He pauses, thinking to himself, "Oh yeah, I could get Wonder Balloons and Stargazer Magician with this next draw…"

"刀口內'七 了口臼 刀月尺三!"

Yuya smirks. "Nah. Now's not the time for his appearance anyway." He draws Wonder Balloons, adding it to his hand. "Besides, I could never replace you, Xiangke Magician! You're the only one I can use for this next part!"

"升月, 七升月七'弓 七升三 下工尺弓七 弓冊月尺七 七升口臼巨升七 了口臼'人三 升月刀 月心心 刀臼三心-"

"I activate the continuous spell card, Wonder Balloons!" Yuya announces. "Once per turn, I can send a number of cards from my hand to the grave to place the same number of counters on this card! For now, I'll be sending just the one, and only, Xiangke Magician!"

"山月工七, 內口! 啊!" the voice in Yuya's head screams till it peters out into the GY.

A balloon counter pops up from Wonder Balloons, and a balloon appears in Battleguard King's hand as well. The monster looks at the balloon in confusion, unable to release its string from his grip. Battleguard King's ATK decreases to 2700.

"For each counter on Wonder Balloons, the attack points of your monsters will decrease by 300!" Yuya explains. "And to ensure these balloons don't ever go pop, I'll be needing a helping hand or two for a minute and a second! Punch in for watch duty, Timegazer Magician!"

Timegazer Magician is normal summoned to the field, crossing his arms while tapping his foot.

"Too many time puns?" Yuya asks sheepishly, rubbing his dual-colored hair. "Well, my bad. Keep an eye on Wonder Balloons for me, though?"

His monster sighs, then stands ready, activating his arcane duel disk-looking time mechanism. It gleams, and the magician directs the energies toward Wonder Balloons with his gaze. What the energies do to Wonder Balloons, only a trained eye trained wise in the mysteries of time itself could tell for sure, as well as the text on Timegazer Magician the Effect Monster's wiki page.

The Sledgehammer grins. "What an analog ass-hat, anyone can tell time these days! And with 1200 ATK, his time on this Earth may as well be Zero when Battleguard King comes calling!"

Yuya nods, "You have a point there, Champ. Timegazer's effect is handy, but his attack doesn't quite measure up! Timegazer, time to take your leave! I activate the field spell, Sky Iris!"

Timegazer Magician nods, and takes a step back, a past copy of himself left looping in time near Wonder Balloons outside of cause and effect. Timegazer looks up at the sky, squinting a bit as he shields his eyes, more used to looking down at shadows than up at the gleaming light.

A beam of light shoots down from Sky Iris, disintegrating the Magician instantly, and in response to the monster's destruction, the hole in the sky glows colorfully! A card in Yuya's duel disk begins to glow as well, and it juts out from the rest.

"With Sky Iris' effect, I can destroy one face-up card on my side of the field, and if I do, I get to add Odd-Eyes Dragon to my hand!" he explains, presenting the card he's had since baby time on his duel disk for all to inspect. His deck then auto-shuffles, making the next draws he'll make unknown to him, but that's okay. Preparation is key for an entertainer, but the unexpected is key for a duelist!

The Sledgehammer snarls, "A level 7 monster, and you have three monsters out on the field… but you've used up your normal summon for this turn! And all that remains on your field is a bunch of weaklings ripe for the slaughter!"

Yuya shrugs, "Can't tribute summon using the Hippo Tokens anyway." He bows, favoring one leg as he does so. "That's all for me, your move!"

The Sledgehammer glowers at being corrected, and draws a card in silence. When he examines the card he drew, he grins. "Well, well. Seems your clock's striking Zero after all, now that I summon Battleguard #0 to the field!"

"You suck!" an audience member yells.

"Shut it!" The Sledgehammer barks, summoning his monster.

A short, scrawny little Battleguard carrying a club too big for him appears on the field, losing his balance from his weapon's weight before standing back up, leaning on his club to keep steady. Then a balloon appears in his hand, taking him off the ground but for the club weighing him down.

"50 ATK?" Yuya blinks at the little guy. "Wow, for you to summon a monster that weak, his effect must have to be really good."

The Sledgehammer growls, "Laugh at his ATK all you like, Battleguard #0's effect will make you choke on it!"

Yuya responds, "I wasn't-"

The Sledgehammer ignores him, and explains, "When Battleguard #0 is summoned, I get to search for Feast of the Wild LV5 and add it to my hand! And now, I'll activate the spell!"

In the center of the cage appears a fire with a spit Hippo above it. Swamp Battleguard and Lava Battleguard rise from the grave at the scent of meat, coming out of the castle's stonework while holding balloons.

Yuya frowns at the sight of the monsters. Sure, he said "Fu*k Battleguards'' earlier, but he did like their red and green color scheme. These two battleguards in particular had a brotherhood that powered each other up when they were on the field. It wasn't what you'd call meta by any stretch of the definition, but it was little things like that which gave Yuya more reason to love Magic Wizards. Even a single monster could have a whole world they lived in and fought for.

The way The Sledgehammer used these monsters took anything resembling comradery and stomped it on the curb. "Now that three other Warrior monsters are on the field, I'll have Battleguard King use its effect! You've been lucky so far, for a newbie. But my boss monster eats green duelists for breakfast… and right now, he's very hungry!"

Battleguard King looks down at the Battleguards who are dancing around the prepared feast. The giant battleguard's own stomach begins to growl, and he reaches his balloon-free hand down. Battleguard #0 goes in his mouth, and lets out a meek howl before getting chomped. Lava Battleguard is too distracted by his volcano insurance dance to notice his king's hand squeezing him until it is. Swamp Battleguard turns around, and roars, "Ay, what are you doing in-" before getting snatched up as well, a meal fit for his king.

"With every Warrior monster I tribute for its effect, Battleguard King gets one additional attack in the Battle Phase!" The Sledgehammer announces.

"Huh, never really got a good look at him using that effect before," Yuya comments. "But I think I have it burned in there now. For the rest of time, eh buddy?" he says while nudging the time-looping phantom of Timegazer Magician, meeting only air and silence.

"Battle Phase!" The Sledgehammer yells. "Wipe his field out!"

Battleguard King raises his club above the three Hippos, who get the shivers in its shadow. The bigger monster then drops his club on them, an anvil sound effect resounding from the impact.

Yuya lets out a frustrated sigh. Hip Hippo had been helping him all duel, and he would've liked to use the Miracle in his hand… but he had a play to make with his set trap.

"And now here comes 2700 points of direct damage!" The Sledgehammer shouts in triumph as his monster rears a fist back to punch Yuya through the bars like play-doh.

"Nope!" Yuya retorts, flipping over one of his set cards. A curtain appears between him and the monster's oncoming fist, and when the fist punches through the fabric, Yuya is not there! …just five feet to the side, having ducked and rolled with a bad leg. "Sssss… aaahh… Your direct attack is negated by Performapal Call… And! I get to search for two Performapals whose combined DEF… is lower than your monster's ATK!" He gets his deck out, and curls up on his side as he looks through it. "I'll be adding Performapals Swordfish and Whip Snake to my hand!"

The Sledgehammer sneers. "Another way to stall the duel? Seems like that's all you can do with those trash cards!"

Yuya frowns. "My cards aren't trash! Performapal Call is awesome! It was even limited to 1!"

The Sledgehammer laughs at this. "All it does is prevent me from winning now instead of later. Whatever puny cards you've added with it can't hope to get over my Battleguard King, you're just wasting my time!"

"'Wasting your time'?" Yuya repeats, then gestures to Battleguard King. "Well, with how your matches normally go, Battleguard King doesn't even have a chance to activate his effect before you 'beat' your opponent. Isn't it fun how you got to unleash his true power?"

Battleguard King scratches his chin, as though considering Yuya's question. Which is impossible, as the duel monsters aren't actually real and any solid vision construct is merely a pale imitation of actual lifeforms. Then, Battleguard King muffles a burp with his fist, making the castle shake.

"Oh, it'll be fun when I smear you across the pavement." The Sledgehammer spits. "And since you like my monster's effect so much, you'll love what comes next! Now that I've destroyed three of your monsters this turn, I get to remove the remaining counters on Battleguard Battlecage! And when I end the Battle Phase, its effect finally activates!"

The cage around them rumbles, and raises off of the ground. Yuya curses not using Miracle when he had the chance, since he could've escaped with Hip Hippo… but he had no way of knowing the cage would be let up, and with his ankle sprained and him seeing stars every time he tried to put weight on his knee, he had to stay put.

Coming from the edges of their current platform are some new arrivals. First is a trio of tan battleguards slowly advancing towards their king while keeping a protective circle with each other. Then, a beast's skull rises up like a periscope… no, that's a hand wielding a beast skull. A spiked head pops up, another battleguard wearing a beast's jaw on its face. It grins at Yuya, and flips onto the field by Battleguard King, getting in a low stance with its skull gauntlets that remind Yuya of castanets.

Then, they all get one balloon each from Wonder Balloons.

The Sledgehammer explains, "When there are no counters on Battleguard Battlecage at the end of the Battle Phase, I get to summon as many Battleguards from my deck to the field as possible! I special summon three Boulder Battleguards and Shaman Battleguard in defense mode!"

Yuya stares up at the sky, wide-eyed. He points a finger, "Is that also part of its effect?"

"Hm?" The Sledgehammer grunts, looking up at the raised cage.

The Solid Vision construct that used to be recognizable as "Battleguard Battlecage" is having some issues with existing at the moment. Its textures are stretching out in the wrong places, its polygons have started inverting themselves into ever-shifting triangles, and error messages keep popping up around it.

The Sledgehammer gazes up at this in confusion, before he smells something unusual. He looks down at his duel disk to see smoke wafting up from the field spell slot! He waves the duel disk around a bit in panic, before smashing the eject button with a chop of his hand. The field spell burns away, its image of Battleguards photo-shopped into a wrestling ring curling in on itself. The glitch hanging in the air above them pops out of existence as well, leaving just one error message in its wake.


Declan Akaba lets out a weary sigh, but straightens up. This was what testing was for. Better an exhibition match like this than it happening in a real battle. Still, that card was, admittedly, a quick copy-paste job of a field spell he saw used in a recording of a VR match from the Link Dimension's data cloud, and if the bug wasn't sorted out quickly, it would reflect poorly on the quality of Leo Corporation's product. He is now reviewing what worked with the original, and what it specifies with its effect. No problems there, but upon reviewing the archetype itself… ah. The highest leveled monster is a 6-star. And using this bootleg copy of Gouki Cage Match, The Sledgehammer had summoned the 10-star monster, Shaman Battleguard.

With a wave of his hand, a hologram interface appears in front of him from the projector's light, and he readies a message.


A message begins to circle around the Action Field, and a pleasantly robotic voice reads aloud, "Though Battleguard Battlecage is physically destroyed due to unforeseen technical difficulties, the duel will continue, and The Sledgehammer gets to draw one card as compensation."

The Sledgehammer frowns, looking down at the burned card, but shrugs, and draws a card. At the sight of it, he grins, and plays it immediately. "This card will blow you away! Mystic Space Typhoon!"

Yuya grits his teeth. "Mystic Space Typhoon!?" The Sledgehammer was infamous for using that card.

Sometimes, he would use it to destroy Action Cards before his opponents could get to them. There were even a few instances where he destroyed the Action Field itself and the ensuing tornado left his opponent comatose. Yuya looks to his continuous spell, and shouts, "My Wonder Balloons!"

The Sledgehammer grins. "Aw, little Clown Boy's balloons are gonna fly away!" He points at the spell card, "I will destroy it using MST!" His quick-play spell shoots a whirlwind out at Wonder Baloons. When the dust clears, he sees that "IT'S STILL THERE!?"

"Of course it is!" A smug Yuya smiles cheekily, wagging a finger. "You forgot about Timegazer Magician's effect!"

Timegazer Magician stands over the still-there continuous spell, Wonder Balloons, his effect forever effective.

The Sledgehammer asks, "What effect? What did it do!?"

"Nothing!" Yuya explains, "Once per turn, Timegazer Magician gets to target one spell or trap magic in my control, and it cannot be destroyed by card effects. There is no limit to how long this condition lasts, and there's no need for Timegazer Magician to be on the field to keep it going!"

The Sledgehammer feels another vessel about to pop at having misplayed, but sees an out! "Th-that's not okay, you can't do that!" The Sledgehammer insists. "You didn't tell me what that effect did, so I get to choose something else!"

"Huh, I seem to remember you got a good look at Timegazer's attack points when it was on the field, and his effect was right above those…" Yuya says, tapping his goggles in thought. Then, he shrugs, "And you waited to explain Battlecage's effect too. But if you want to take some things back, and put all those monsters back in your deck… Well, we can let it slide, right?"

"No, no, no! We're cool, frosty even! I can let it slide for now!" The Sledgehammer says politely while waving his hands frantically. Damn it! Even if he tried to redo his turn, the way he got his board so massive has literally gone up in smoke, and getting to use MST was small potatoes compared to what he had now. Well, if he used the spell on Castle of Chaos, it would be funny to see the boy go flying- no, that wouldn't work either. For one, The Sledgehammer was on the Action Field with Clown Boy. And he still had to win the match by reducing the brat's life points to zero instead of his heart rate.
The Sledgehammer feels increasingly nauseous from getting pulled into one of Clown Boy's tricks again… then takes a deep breath in, and out. He then looks at the field again to review the state of the board. Though he no longer has that buggy mess of a field spell, it did its job at making sure his field is packed with strong monsters. As for the spell card he failed to destroy, it's just a 300 ATK decrease, a drop in the bucket for his Battleguard King at 2700 ATK, even his Battleguard Shaman at 1700 ATK… and 3000 DEF. And with his wall of Boulder Battleguards, not to mention his set cards… He smirks viciously at his opponent, and taunts, "Well, you can have that worthless spell going forever, but let's see how long you can last. On my next turn, you're dead meat."

Yuya scratches his head. "Uh, wait a sec. You mean after raising that fuss, you're not going to tell me what your cards do?"

"..." The Sledgehammer facepalms. His fans don't come to watch him read paragraphs upon paragraphs, but with how he just screwed himself, he's gotta now. He pulls his now-bloody hand away from his face, and announces with a chop to get the blood off, "Fine! Okay, each Boulder Battleguard can negate one attack on a Battleguard per turn. And Shaman Battleguard can steal one monster on your field-"


"-and while a monster is in my control with this ability… you can't attack Shaman Battleguard!" The Sledgehammer finishes, shaking his fist at Yuya.

Yuya exclaims "Whoa!" in response to the effect, waking up some of the audience who nodded off. "So basically, attacking that wall would be useless, because even if I did get one of the Boulder Battleguards, I would be leaving you space for my monster to be snatched into."

The Sledgehammer laughs. "Yes, you may as well give up now!"

Yuya shakes his head. "A true duelist never gives up till the last card has been played, and I have one I've been keeping an eye on for a while. Besides, one way or another, a dueltainer has to bring on the climax so everyone can leave feeling satisfied!"

Most of the younger audience members enthusiastically agree and cheer at this statement. The older demographics cringe, blush, or narrow their eyes.

Behind the cheering You Show Juniors, an inquiring Zuzu, Skip, and Gong look to Yoko Sakaki, who is massaging the bridge of her nose. "With all the times I've cleaned his room and found nothing but cards and magic props, I can tell you that he meant what he said 100% in the best way possible," she explains with a sigh. "...which is really the problem."

Back on the field, The Sledgehammer says, "Gross. Take your last turn already, Climax Boy!"

"'Gross'? Well, hey! From 'Clown' to 'Climax,' that's a big promotion! Neat! Anyway, I draw!" Yuya says, drawing a new card, and sees Performapal Revival. It's been a while since Yuya's had his thoughts apparent to the reader, so let's have a look-see, shall we?

[Rec. BGM: Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V "An Unstable Thought"]

"AAAAAH! How in the heck am I going to get over that? He's saying I'm stalling? With all those cards I've never even heard of till now, he's guaranteed that I can't even touch him! Maybe on my next turn, I can get Odd-Eyes on the field if on this turn I play Whip Snake and discard Sword Fish with Wonder Balloons to bring out again with Performapal Revival… but if I play Whip Snake as higher ATK shield, he can sack one Boulder Battleguard with Battleguard King and steal Whip Snake with Shaman Battleguard, then attack… well, maybe that's for the best, with my other trap. And if I do it that way, that means one of the Boulder Battleguards is taken care of!" Yuya thinks to himself as he looks at the trap card in his hand. Then, he frowns a bit. "But if I place down another trap card, he might get suspicious of what I have in store. And by the time Sword Fish gets special summoned and uses his effect to lower their ATK and DEF, it won't make that much difference if I still keep getting negated. Maybe on the turn after this one."

Yuya sports a worried face as he considers his hand, then shakes his head as he plucks a card from his hand. "Time to whip this board into shape! Watch where you step, otherwise you're in for a world of hurt when he lashes out! Performapaaallll Whip Snaaake!" Yuya announces with an obviously desperate gusto as he summons his monster. Performapal Whip Snake raises itself elegantly, and toots with a party horn that uncoils, then recoils before the snake puts it back in its pocket. No, not that pocket.

The Sledgehammer points at the monster, "Tell me its effect, Premature Climaxer!"

Yuya raises an eyebrow. "Eh? Bit of an odd way to say 'Climax Boy'… Well anyway, once per turn, during either player's turn, Whip Snake can target a face-up monster and switch its ATK and DEF till the end of the turn!"

The Sledgehammer considers the monster, then looks to his own field, and smirks. "I see. Well, go right ahead then! Fat lot of good it'll do you!"

Yuya frowns at this, but declares, "And using Wonder Balloons' effect again, I discard Performapal Sword Fish to the GY to lower the attack of each of your monsters by 300!"

Another balloon is added to each of his monsters' hands, and the Sledgehammer growls. "Just get on with it already!"

Yuya flinches in response to the big mean man's harsh words, and stammers, "Uh, okay… another Balloon Counter is added, and um," he glances at The Sledgehammer's monsters, and gulps, "I, I end my turn."

The stadium audience groans at this. For all the game Climax Boy had been talking up, all he had to show was a fly-by-night emission of hot air. Worst of all, he got their hopes up that someone would finally send The Sledgehammer falling from his high tower.

Zuzu wrings the railing in her hands in exasperation at the current situation. She has dueled Yuya many times, to the point that she can read his mood like that back of her hand whenever he duels. This meek Yuya, if believed to be by his opponent, would eventually inherit the board. It was part of You Show's 101 course on "Fake It Till You Make It." When you have a plan, pretend you don't. When you don't, play like you do. Zuzu did this all the time with Score the Melodious Diva, who may as well be her ace monster with how omnipresent she is even when she is not in the hand.

There is a drawback to Yuya's strategy though. It makes you look weak in front of a crowd, and when the crowd expresses their disappointment, your plays suffer.

Zuzu has considered all she can remember of her friend, and has drawn a conclusion. For all he tries to not let what others say get to him, it does. When he's had a bad day and duels to vent instead of for fun… Well, in those duels, when he's put in a tough spot and puts on his goggles, it is absolutely not to get himself focused. And his excuse of his goggles steaming up from the intensity of their duels… her friend was a real dummy if he believed anyone believed he was fine.

"The biggest dummy," Zuzu mutters, craning her head to look up at the Sky Iris as she thought back to that one day in elementary school.


The Friday before Mother's Day, 6 Years Ago

A younger Zuzu Boyle tries to wash something off of her arms in the outside faucet, but to no avail. It might be because it's permanent ink she's trying to wash off, it might also be because she can hardly see from the tears blurring her vision.

"Zuzu, what's wrong? Recess is over!"

She looks over and sees the stupid cross-eyed boy who she has to hang out with sometimes because of their dads. It would be a different story if she had a m… "Mmmm… go away."

The idiot boy grabs her arm and looks at it, seeing the horrible things the other girls wrote. "What's it say?"

"Just leave me alone, Yuya!" Zuzu snaps, pulling away from Yuya.

He doesn't let go though. "Wait, tell me what's got you sad!"

"Grrr! Leggo!" Zuzu grits her teeth, as well as her eyes shut, and tugs herself away from Yuya, sending him flying over her shoulder! …but since he finally let go, she lost her balance, and falls on the ground with her wet arms. She picks herself up, and tries to wipe off some dirt with her hands… and succeeds in smearing more dirt into her clothes. She bawls up at the noon sun, "Waaaaaaaaaah!"

"You didn't have to throw me," Yuya grumbles, sitting in front of one of his bestest friends in the whole word besides Odd-Eyes.

[Rec. BGM: Umineko "Thanks for being born"]

He gives her a hug, not minding the dirt. "Trust me!"

Zuzu wails, shaking her head, "Abawah, uddergrlz mean tolldem nomomma, now armz got words on 'em!" When the other girls in class learned she had no mother to celebrate the holiday with, the ringleader suggested something to help her find her long-lost mother. Hence, the writing that all the girls took turns at, teasing her.

He concentrates his vision on one part of the writing on her arms. "'Return to Sender'? What's that mean?"

Zuzu wipes her wet face with a dirty hand, and sniffs. "It means I'm adopted, and if I want a mom I should go put myself in a box so the mailman can take me back where I came from!"

Yuya raises a finger, "Ooh, what about those tubes that suck up mail? That looks fun! They even give you a sucker if you ask nicely!"

"I don't wanna get in a tube!" Zuzu snaps at the boy. Then, she realizes she's smiling a little, and fights it down. "You don't get it, Yuya! You got parents. I just have Dad. He's not even my Dad!" Zuzu whines.

Yuya says, "I'm adopted!"

"Wuh?"

Yuya nods, "Mom said she found me dangling from a stork's leg over the hippo pit in the zoo one day. Since Mom and Dad couldn't make babies the regular way by hugging till they popped out of her tummy, I'm their son now!"

"My Dad found me hoarding lemons in an orchard," Zuzu sniffs. "So your mom and dad aren't your mom and dad?"

"No, they are! And don't forget it!" Yuya shouts at the still-crying girl. "Uh, sorry!"

"No, it's OK," Zuzu says. "Dad is my Dad too. But I… I still don't have a mom…"

Yuya inspects the other words on her arm, wincing when he nudges her glowing bracelet, but still asks, "Who did this?"

Zuzu says the names of the girls, now forgotten to her… but even now, she remembered what Yuya did next.

Yuya nods, and stands up. He unbuttons his school jacket, and lays it on Zuzu's shoulders. "That'll hide your arms. I need to go do something."

Zuzu hugs the shirt to herself, and timidly looks up at her bestest friend besides Score the Melodious Diva. "What are you gonna do?"

Yuya grins as he fills a bucket with water, and then handfuls of dirt. "It's gonna be mess-tacular!"

The boy carries the bucket with him back to class. The teacher asks him if he found Zuzu, and thanks him for already having a tardy bucket with him.

Yuya walks over to the girls who picked on Zuzu, and asks them, "Hey, you got a problem with Zuzu?"

The girls turn from their combined desks to sneer at the boy. "And what if we do, Lazy Eyes?"

"If you got a problem with Zuzu," Yuya says, before lifting the bucket! "Then tell it to ME!"

-SPLOOSH!-

After Yuya splashed that concoction on the clique of girls during class, he was then punched, scratched, bitten, and kicked while he was down several times before him and the bullies were sent to the office. After he got in a heap of trouble, he was then sent to the nurse.

Zuzu got permission to go to the nurse to give Yuya his shirt back, and when she saw the 8-year-old boy's swollen, bloody, and mosaic-covered features, she said to him, "You're a dummy."

Yuya huffs. "Oh yeah? Would a dummy have this!?" he retorts, holding up a permanent marker.

Zuzu frowns at him. "What's the stupid marker for? I don't want it!"

Despite his split bottom lip and lost teeth, Yuya grins. "It's not a stupid marker, it's a permanent marker! It means when you write something with it, it's there forever! That makes it magical!"

She frowns at the writing on her arms. "It's magical? Forever?"

"Don't worry!" Yuya takes her hand in his. "We can turn your curses into charms! Just close your eyes while I do the trick!"

"...okay." She didn't think Yuya could make the words disappear, but he believed he could. So she decided to believe in him, and squeezed her eyes shut.

-squigglesquiggle-

She heard him begin to write, but she didn't feel him write anything on her. "Can I open my eyes now?"

"Not yet!"

"...now?'

"No peeking!"

"I wanna see!" she shouts.

He puts his other hand over her eyes. "Annnd… done!" he says while removing his hand with a flourish, gesturing to his work. "Voila!"

Zuzu sees that on Yuya's arm is a copy of all the things the other girls wrote. "Lost Child," "Adopted," "Stupid Hair," and the like. But on his hand… "Why'd you just write 'Sender'?"

Yuya explains with the marker stuck in between his nose and duck-lips, "We match with all the other stuff. But on this, we got each other! So when you get lonely, you'll have me!"

"..." Zuzu looks down at the ground. Her body starts to shiver, making Yuya think she's going to cry again.

Yuya removes his hand, "Shoot, I'm sorry! Did I make you sad?"

[Rec. BGM: Mother "Pollyanna"]

The girl grabs Yuya's hand, and holds it with her own. "...hehehe, you're a dummy."

Yuya pouts. "Am not!" He puffs out his cheeks, and turns the other way.

-peck-

"Eh?" A confused Yuya looks over at a smiling Zuzu, and then rubs his cheek. His face twists in disgust "EH? EW! What'd you do that for!?"

Zuzu smirks at him, "Wahaha! Cuz you're my dummy! And I'm wearing permanent lipstick today! You'll have my cooties forever!"

"Nooooo!" Yuya wails, his cheek now quite red from the bruise, his rubbing, and his complexion. And at the corner of his mouth is a smile fighting to break out.


Zuzu smiles as she fiddles her bracelet along her arm, and looks down towards the field again. Yuya always reacts strongly to what others say… which swings both ways.

So, all she has to do is push back twice as hard! To do so, Zuzu takes out her paper fan, and fashions it into a cone. With a deep breath, she shouts from the diaphragm, "You can do it, Yuya~!"

Yuya perks up. "Zuzu?" He turns his head towards her, and the rest of his friends.

Gong beats his chest once, "So long as your heart drums, your man's fight isn't over! Advance!"

Skip raises a fist, "Take all the duelist spirit within you, and let it explode! Overflow with this fire!"

"You Show him what you're made of!" "Make him feel the shivers!" "You're gonna ace this test!"

"Yuya, the important thing is to have fun!" Yoko shouts. "So have fun taking him down!"

Yuya Sakaki sees them all out of the corner of his eye, and hears their words, but his face does not change expressions. He keeps his other eye focused on The Sledgehammer, who draws for his turn.
As soon as The Sledgehammer adds the card to his hand, Yuya gives his friends and family a wink, then turns back to activate Whip Snake's effect. Some duelists like to do this with a tap on the card itself, Yuya prefers a more hands-on approach. "When you enter your Main Phase, I'll use Performapal Whip Snake," he places a hand on Whip Snake's tail, which coils around him in return, then whips the snake's fanged mouth at Battleguard King's big arm! "And switch Battleguard King's ATK and DEF for the rest of the turn!"

Battleguard King swats Whip Snake off his arm, and rubs his bruise. Then, he doubles over, holding his head in his hands as the wooziness kicks in. Current ATK and DEF: 500/3000.

The Sledgehammer's eyes go wide at the sight of this, and… "AHA! Yes, you finally fell into my trap!" He flips up a trap card. "In response to you targeting my Battleguard King with a monster effect, I activate Battleguard Howling to send your pesky snake back to your hand, and you take its attack points as damage!"

Battleguard King howls at the snake that bit him, and Whip Snake goes flying back towards Yuya's face! -hiss, crack!-

"Owie!" Yuya cries as his bruised face gets lashed, falling on his ass. He sniffs from the pain, and lowers his goggles over his eyes. Yuya Sakaki's Life Points decrease to 2300!

The Sledgehammer gloats, "I'll admit, it was a smart move to lower Battleguard King's ATK before he crushed you… Thing is, you did it before I used his effect! That's a rookie mistake, junior. You're clearly in over your head!"

Yuya swallows the pain down, a frown on his face for all to see. With Whip Snake back in his hand, his set Illusion Balloons couldn't be used this turn.

The Sledgehammer raises a finger. "In fact, why don't I point out just how screwed you are? Right now, my monsters have a combined total of 3700 ATK." He changes Shaman Battleguard and the Boulder Battleguards to Attack Mode. "If I use Battleguard King's effect to sacrifice them all for four more attacks, that's 2500 damage. Since your facedown is most likely another loser negate card, that would just be 2000 damage and give you one more chance to be an eyesore.

"So instead, I will attack you with all my monsters this turn! Not even the Miracle in your hand can save you now!" The Sledgehammer boasts, entering the Battle Phase… but he stops, oddly enough. "But, unlike you, I know what the crowd wants."

A hyperventilating Yuya tries to keep his eyes focused on The Sledgehammer.

The Sledgehammer flips up yet another trap card. "I activate Battleguard Rage. This card gives one Battleguard I control 1000 more ATK. I choose Shaman Battleguard!"

Shaman Battleguard grips the Balloons in his hands very angrily, and bellows in rage! Current ATK: 2400!

"And now, little Sakaki," The Sledgehammer grins, "I'll offer you a rare opportunity. I will allow you to go for an Action Card before I have my Shaman Battleguard finish you off in one blow. If you're lucky, you may even find an Evasion!"

Yuya looks behind him over the edge of the castle, and sees some jagged cliffs before the moat.

"And once you get that Action Card after crawling like the worm you are, I will have the rest of my monsters deal you exactly Lethal," The Sledgehammer finishes. He then asks the crowd, "How's that for mercy!?"

Some of the crowd get back into it with The Sledgehammer. Sure, he's an asshole who barely plays the card game, but he just played the card game! If he's brutal but he wins, that's just spice on the top! "Crush him!" "Smash him!" "Crucify him!"

The Sledgehammer turns back to Yuya. "Or, you can accept a quick defeat at the hands of Shaman Battleguard here. It'll only hurt like a bitch for the next," he checks his turn's timer, "Minute and a half!"

"Argh, just get it over with!" Yuya cries out in desperation, clawing at his hair.

The Sledgehammer raises an eyebrow, but nods. "So, you're not gonna run like dear ol' dad? Your funeral." He gestures his monster forward.

Yuya grits his teeth, looking as though he's about to lose it. He is barely hanging onto his emotions right now. How much longer does he have to handle this pressure?

Shaman Battleguard stands above him, skull gauntlets ready to tear him apart.

"Any last words, Sakaki?" The Sledgehammer grins, standing in the midst of his three Boulder Battleguards' invincible defense. "How about something that'll look good on the Sakaki Legacy's tombstone?" The Sledgehammer then holds out his hand, and a fan who really puts in the "fanatic" tosses The Sledgehammer his namesake. The Sledgehammer holds up his tool. "Especially when it's smashed to bits!"

From the stands, Yuya's friends keep cheering, "Don't give up, Yuya! Get outta there! Win!"

Even people he's never met before are throwing desperate fits of support. "Don't disappoint me, Clown Boy!" "On your feet!" "Get an action card, that's your only viable future!" "You can't submit to his half-baked dueling!" "Show that imbécile how wrong he is!" "You miss all the fish you don't reach for, so cast your line!" "Your stars are shining-" "Your diamond is unbreakabl-" "Swords!"

Yuya frowns.


A younger Yuya curls into a sit-up with his legs hooked on an inactive telephone wire. "Dad, you always say to smile no matter what," he says before going back down, then up, "But is it okay for a dueltainer to frown sometimes?"

Yusho Sakaki takes a sip of his drink, and leans forward on the lawn chair he's balanced on two telephone wires. "Son, a dueltainer always has to be ready to wow the crowd. Even when they have to take a loss, they still have to do it in style!"

"Okay," Yuya says, finishing his set and hanging from the wire loosey-goosey. "And done!"

Yusho Sakaki leaps up from his chair, which falls 30 feet to the ground with a clatter, and walks over to his hanging son. He crouches down on the wire, and picks his son up by the legs. "But there is a time when a dueltainer is allowed to frown, my boy."

"When?" Yuya asks while his father begins the walk home by hopping onto a nearby rooftop.

Yusho pokes his son's mouth with a V, and forms an upside-down frown on Yuya's face. "Well, the only time a dueltainer can frown is when-"


"It's over."

[Rec. BGM: Umineko "Dread of the grave"]

The Sledgehammer holds a hand up to his ear. "'It's over'? Well, seems you do have a brain in that tomato head of yours. Too bad for you, it's gonna splat just the same! Shaman Battleguard, rip him a new hole in the head!"

Yuya's goggles shine brightly as he snaps his head up. "The show's over!"

"Huh?" The Sledgehammer actually takes a step back at this. "Those words-"

From the stands, Yoko Sakaki looks at her son and sees a phantom. She blinks a bit, then grins.

Yuya raises himself to a knee, and flips up one of his set cards. "You just activated my trap!"

The Sledgehammer snorts, "So what? Use your last pathetic negate, your Performapal Call is trash and will always be trash!"

"Performapal Call is limited to 1 and in my GY! Now take this!" Yuya declares, a red beam shooting out of his trap card and dispersing into five like it's Starkiller Base, enveloping each of the Sledgehammer's monsters, "Wall of Disruption!"

When the beam dies down, Shaman Battleguard uses that moment to strike! -squeak!- His fanged fist bounces away from Yuya. The monster looks at his balloon covered hands, then back down at Yuya. The air is slightly off in front of his target. Shaman pokes his hand testingly towards the boy, but cannot reach due to meeting significant resistance. The air ripples gleams the monster's hand, unveiling a glimmering barrier around Shaman Battleguard, as well as each of the other Battleguards, who as well cannot escape their predicament.

At the sight of the five monsters being kept imprisoned by a dimensional barrier, an amused Xiangke Magician lounges on the GY's threshold. "下工尺弓七 七工冊三?"

Beside him, Performapal Sword Fish pops up, wearing Xiangke's hat! "Look guys, I'm the Supreme King! 升工七口七弓臼 內工工工~!"

"月升 升月, 月升 升月, 巨工人三 冊三 七升月七!" Xiangke Magician growls, snatching his hat back, but cuts it in half on Sword Fish's proud pompadour. He chases the fleeing fish back down into the grave, "山升了, 了口臼 心工七七心三!"

Each of the Battleguards but the woozy Battleguard King let out a howl of frustration as all their ATK drops to 0!

Yuya leans back on the ground, and exhales. "It worked! Oh man… I managed to get his monsters down to nothing without nuking my hand for Wonder Balloons. So many times I almost let it slip, and if I put too much on Wonder Balloons he wouldn't have gotten gutsy just then! Well, it's not that impressive, just another stall tactic. I still won't be able to deal damage to him. There's one thing he's right about, this Climax is a bit premature so far. But next turn, I'll get a bit more wiggle room, probably gonna play Whip Snake and set Performapal Revival, then the turn after that-"

"Turn already, you dumb monsters! Get back in defense mode!" The Sledgehammer growls, face desperate as he attempts to have his monsters switch battle positions on his duel disk, but keeps getting "Invalid Move" messages.

Yuya sits up, confused. "You already put them in attack mode this turn. You won't be able to set them till your next turn."

"Shut up, I know that!" The Sledgehammer retorts, before finally getting an affirmative from the duel disk. "There we go, Battleguard King's falling in line!"

Battleguard King sluggishly climbs atop the castle, and kneels in front of his master while massaging his headache. Currently in defense mode!

"And as for the rest of you bottom feeders," The Sledgehammer declares, waving a hand at the rest of his monsters, "You get to be Battleguard King's next meal! I activate Battleguard King's effect, sacking these dead weights!"

"You're doing what now?" Yuya asks, raising his goggles off of his eyes.

Battleguard King squints at his master a moment, before complying with a shrug, and grabs the rest of the Battleguards. Though they squirm within his grip, Battleguard King successfully forms a Boulder Bun around Shaman Battleguard, and chomps down. -crunch, munch, munch-

The Sledgehammer spits on the ground. "I don't need you losers weighing me down with your 0 ATK anyway! All I need is Battleguard King in defense with 3000 DEF!"

The stadium goes quiet at this turn of events, though some small children are crying at the display of cannibalism. To put a bow on it, the audience is amazed at the play the current Champion just made.

Allie asks, "But why would he-"
Frederick asks, "Wouldn't his monsters still-"
Tate asks, "Does he know what 'advantage' means?"

The Sledgehammer points a muscly-veined hand at Yuya. "Try to get over that! You can't! Now take your turn!"

Yuya blinks. "...Performapal Whip Snake's effect wears off at the end of the turn." He then gives his cheek a pinch in response to this, and winces from the area still being plenty tender. "Okay… that moved some things up a bit. Good thing I won't have to risk boring everyone with building up my field for an offensive."

Battleguard King perks up a bit due to the effects of Whip Snake's bite fading away. He flexes as he feels his power coming back! …which he should really not do with a full belly. -CLANG!- The monster's armor goes flying off into the woods, exposing his torso for attacks! Current DEF: 0!

Sora nudges the audience member next to him, "So, I am from out of country, you say this is the Champion of this dimen- sorry, whole world?" His neighbor scratches their head, perplexed as well.

The Sledgehammer slams his hammer into the ground in a rage, "WHAT THE HELL!?"

Yuya looks through his pocket rulebook. "Is that how Wall of Disruption works with Whip Snake's effect? Hmm…" After flipping through some pages, Yuya gets bored and tosses the pamphlet over his shoulder. "Same deal anyway, Battleguard King's DEF is low. And now, it's time for me to swing into action! Here's a blast from the past who's come to bite you in the neck, Performapal Whip Snake! We're gonna attack your monster!"

"Ha, useless!" The Sledgehammer snaps. "Once per turn, one of my Boulder Battleguards can negate one attack on a Battleguard!"

...

"Speechless, are you?" The Sledgehammer taunts.

Yuya Sakaki is stumped for words. He and Whip Snake look at each other for confirmation that this is happening.

A former The Sledgehammer fan rises from his seat, and shouts, "Do you even know what you're doing!?"

Another audience member responds, "I don't think he does! He's a phony!"

"Checks out!" The audience then begins to throw snacks and garbage at the field.

Skip Boyle wonders if he should start selling tomatoes with Yuya's brand on them. Step 1 towards Profit: Get Yuya a brand…


Nico Smiley smiles at the current state of affairs… then lets out a sigh, relaxing his face to just that of a tired man's. The Sledgehammer had the duel in the palm of his hand, and threw it away. The crowd went with it! Time to distance himself from the fallout, and find the next rising star. He had said some things to Sakaki and his coach which he now had cause to regret, but a new ARC system for their school should oil the wheels of his next gravy train.

Heh, the last time he had to consider his career path like this, why, that would have been three years ago. Nico pulls out his wallet, and takes out a picture of him and another smiling for the camera. "Sakaki… I'm gonna have your son eclipse you completely, you schmuck!"


The Sledgehammer glares at the heckling and booing crowd. "I don't need any of you fools either, there's only room for one Champion on this field!" Then, he turns his attention back to the duel. "Wait, why don't I have any Boulder Battleguards?"

Yuya draws Whip Snake back, then lashes out at Battleguard King's belly repeatedly! "Hiyayah!"

The fat Battleguard King's stomach gets slashed many times from the snake's fangs, already struggling to keep its meals within, but now swelling up to boot! The monster puts a fist to his mouth, not feeling so good… -kaBOOM!- and pops much like the balloons he was holding, as one last belch blasts out in a shockwave.

Yuya and the audience pinch their noses shut as Solid Vision is assisted by Solid Smell.

The Sledgehammer gawks at this. "But how? My Battleguard King was invincible!"

Yuya wags a finger, "You put too much emphasis on ATK is why! If you had left the Boulder Battleguards right where they were, it wouldn't have mattered if they got attacked since they could negate up to three attacks!" Yuya crosses his arms, and smirks. "But don't let it get you down. It's an easy mistake to make… for a rookie!"

The Sledgehammer stares at Yuya. Then, his eye twitches involuntarily. His muscles tense up, veins throbbing. The Sledgehammer notices this, and looks around for something to vent the pressure pronto! He is not losing to this brat by Redout… or worse!

A manic The Sledgehammer wields his hammer with both hands, and runs up to a pillar, smashing it! -CLANG, CLANG, CLANG!- As his hammer chips away at the stone, the top half of the pillar falls over, and the Sledgehammer roars as brings the hammer down on what's left standing!

-kacrack!-

The shaft of his hammer breaks in two, and he looks at the mostly intact pillar in confusion, then at what his hammer is missing, not putting two and two together in his mania. Then it finally hits him, -bop- literally. Luckily, the head of his hammer that went spinning in the air only bounced off his head, but The Sledgehammer still falls to the ground, KO'd!

Yuya limps over, and checks his opponent's pulse. He gives an OK sign, and stands back up on one leg, leaning against the pillar. "Welp, that's it for our show for today, ladies and gentlemen!"

[Rec. BGM: Phoenix Wright "We Won the Case! ~ The First Victory"]

YuThe entire stadium erupts in cheers, awe, and despair at lost bets.

Nico Smiley swooshes in with his recovered mic, and asks the new wonderboy, "Yuya Sakaki, now-that-you've-beaten-the-sledgehammer, how's-it-feel-to-be-the-new-Champion?"

Yuya smiles sheepishly. "I don't know about that. It feels a little cheap to win by default like this!" He then gets an idea. "Tell you what, when I become a Pro Duelist, I'll challenge The Sledgehammer again, and then we'll have a duel we'll both be happy about! We'll settle who the Champ is then!"

Nico Smiley nods with a grin, grateful that there's still an opportunity to infuse himself into the golden boy's coattails as he makes his way to the top, and raises the boy's arm into the air! "Outstanding-talent-matched-only-by-his-humility! Let's-hear-it-for-Yuya Sakaki! We-hope-to-see-more-of-you-at-the-upcoming-Junior Youth Championship!"

The crowd cheers! Yuya gives bows, waves, and peace signs in response!

Xiangke Magician's specter floats beside Yuya, and comments,
"山口山. 工'冊 月匹七臼月心心了 工冊戶尺三弓弓三刀, 了臼了月.
了口臼 冊月內月巨三刀 七口 山工內 七升三 刀臼三心 了口臼尺 口山內 山月了.
三人三尺了 冊口內弓七三尺 了口臼 臼弓三刀 升月刀 月 尺口心三 七口 戶心月了.
了口臼 戶心月匹三 月 心口七 口下 七尺臼弓七 工內 了口臼尺 冊口內弓七三尺弓.
工內 尺三七臼尺內, 七升三了 匹口臼內七 口內 了口臼 下口尺 弓臼戶戶口尺七.
七升口臼巨升 了口臼'尺三 弓七工心心 月 匹升三月七工內巨 匹升三月七三尺 山升口 匹升三月七弓 月 心口七.
月內刀 山升月七 七升三 升三心心 山月弓 山工七升 弓月匹水工內巨 冊三!?"

Yuya smiles in response, "Like I've said before, I don't understand any of that. But thanks anyway!"

"Urgh," a man grunts behind Yuya.

[Rec. BGM: Record Scratch, No BGM]

The crowd gasps, and starts pointing at the field.

Yuya and Nico turn to see The Sledgehammer rising from the ground, and Nico takes this as a queue to back off for now.

The Sledgehammer, face bloody, gasps out, "The duel's not over yet. I haven't surrendered, my life points aren't zero." He points a finger at Yuya, "It's fine to continue, right?"

"Are you okay?" Yuya asks. "You're bleeding?"

The Sledgehammer growls, "I'm fine. I can still duel." He picks up the top half of the sledgehammer he broke earlier.

Yuya nods slowly. "Okay…" Then, he raises his duel disk again, "I'm game! So with my Main Phase 2, I will- huh?" Yuya's drawing hand is gripped by The Sledgehammer. "What are you- OW!"

The Sledgehammer squeezes the boy's hand as hard as he can, crushing both the card and bones in Yuya's hand! After a bit, he releases the boy's broken hand, and then,

-WHOCK-

The Sledgehammer hits Yuya in the head with a hammer, and Yuya falls over. The Sledgehammer then kicks the boy in the gut, sending him rolling across the stone floor. After a running leap, The Sledgehammer jumps onto Yuya's curling form with a stomp, and then brings down his hammer on the boy's body several times. He takes a look at the scared boy's face, and smirks as an idea crosses his mind.

"Let's see you try to smile without teeth." He brings down his hammer yet again, then after hearing a crunch, he tosses his hammer away to view his handiwork. "Hmph," The Sledgehammer grunts as he crouches down to pluck something from the boy. He holds a cracked and warped pair of goggles up. "I remember Yusho used to wear these." He crushes them in his grip, then scatters the shards on Yuya's broken body. "They do nothing."

Zuzu looks about ready to murder, and Gong looks about ready to move. Skip Boyle himself is making sure the younger students don't see anything to further sour them on Professional Dueling, but takes a moment to size up The Sledgehammer. The man is much bigger than him, but running on fumes. There's a good chance that he'd only have to get a few casts from putting The Sledgehammer in the ICU. Skip glances to the side to gauge Yoko's reaction, but doesn't see her there.

-VROOMMM!-

You Show Duel School and Gong look behind them to see the source of the noise coming from the tunnel, and see Yoko Sakaki in her medical coat atop her motorcycle, Karen riding bitch and hissing in response to the heat welling up from Yoko. Without any warmth in her eyes, Yoko takes off speeding down the stadium's tunnels. The echoes of her engine give off the impression of a tiger.


[Rec. BGM: Umineko "Stupefaction"]

Back in Declan's office, he swivels around. "Well, I've seen enough. The Sledgehammer has proven to be useless when it comes to utilizing cards correctly."

Declan picks up his phone, and goes back to playing Duel Links, surrendering immediately on the sight of another Cydra player only to match against a Harpies player. He puts the phone down, and looks out the window. Across the city is the Sky Iris hovering above the stadium. Perhaps in a few moments, it would serve as a halo for Yuya Sakaki.

He frowns beneath his muffler. Yuya Sakaki honestly brought this trouble on himself. The boy knew of The Sledgehammer's methods, the boy would have to be an idiot to think this would have gone any other way. Was it idiocy, or excessive pride? Either way, the cure was the same.

A cure was also coming for The Sledgehammer's brand of idiocy, with the crowd shouting for his head and all. At the very least, The Sledgehammer's way of dueling was a good way to prep LID's duelists for the upcoming war, against merciless enemies who would use all means of force. But if he can't even duel, that's not going to do anything when Academia crushes him and those like him beneath their giant metal boots.

Yuya did put on a show with his dueling, while he lasted at least. Of course his plays would get overwhelmed by Ancient Gear Hunting Hounds, but he had managed to turn the tables with a bluff. Decent, but Declan had honestly been expecting a bit more from that monster's incarnation.

Well, the duel should be over when Yuya's remaining time runs out, then he could receive medical attention. With the Takahashi particles flooding the Action Field as they are, Yuya was in more danger of suffering Strains if anyone interfered with him until the duel was over. A curious side-effect of the things making Solid Vision possible.

For a given arena, a certain amount of energy is required, and after dishing it out with ARC projectors, the duel is kept going from an unexpected source of fuel: the audience watching. The more entertaining the duel, the more people who watch, and the more bombastic the duel becomes. The ARC Reactors (which Leo Corporation is responsible for building, overseeing, and monopolizing) then redistribute this energy across the city, making Action Duels an integral part of his company's, nay, the current civilization's livelihood.

There were some drawbacks, but they were ultimately negligible, or could be swept under the rug. Several players have had their heart attacks, and luckily for publicity's sake, all of them survived, or went on permanent retirement to the Bahamas which was private property owned by his corporation. In actuality, what remained of them could fit in a 2.8 x 6.4 x 1.8 inch box.

Declan takes the box in question out of his pocket, and plucks one card in particular from it to inspect. The former pro duelist champion circa three years ago smiles at him, tipping his top-hat. That man had given his all on Declan's say-so years ago, and had lost it all. Like father, like son, charging headlong into trouble, devil may care.

Should Sakaki's son not make it, he would also have to go in that box as well, at least until his company could figure out a way to cure that too. Though, it was more likely that any cure for this side effect would have to be measured against how much energy it took to remedy, and in comparison to how much energy was gained from leaving the current system in place.

They would have to keep the cameras centered on The Sledgehammer while they covered up the boy's state. But, Yuya Sakaki wouldn't die so long as he lost, ran out of time, or surrendered. After all, no one's that dumb.


[Rec. BGM: Umineko "Death (from stupefaction)"]

Yuya Sakaki once again tries to play a crumpled trap card on his sparking duel disk, but he is interrupted when his hand is stomped by The Sledgehammer, and grinded into the floor. "Ow."

The Sledgehammer steps back from whaling on his victim, and looks around. He spots Nico Smiley trying to make himself inconspicuous and out-of-frame, and points at him. "Mic!"

Nico Smiley curses under his breath with a smile, and begrudgingly hands his mic over to the one exception of Bad Publicity.

The Sledgehammer raises a finger to the heavens, the Sky Iris shining above. "I am still the number one duelist out of any of you, and today doesn't change that! 'Victory-by-default,' 'Champ-by-default,' a win is still a win, and I'm still Champion!"

A good portion of the stadium boos this arrogance, but a decent portion actually vocally support the Champ even still. That's Champ supporters for ya.

Over the crater where what remains of Yuya's body lays still and twitching, Xiangke Magician's spirit looks down on his vessel with disappointment etched on his face. He then glares up at The Sledgehammer who is watching Yuya's turn timer tick away to nothing. He lets out a weary sigh, "下臼匹水 工七."

The ghost dives into the boy's pendant, which starts to shine. As the light washes over Yuya's body, bones get reset with a snap, cuts are welded shut, and muscles pulse in response to a new influx of energy. "Ow…" his vessel groans.

From the audience, a hooded man inspects his own pendant which has begun to glow in response with a similar light. His odd-colored eyes narrow in interest, his full attention now captured by the duel.

Yuya stands up, though with all the pain he just went through, he wants to lay down and die. No, it's not Yuya who commanded his body to stand up. In fact, Yuya feels a disconnect between him and the rest of his body. He can still control an eye though, meaning he can now only bear witness to what comes next.

In response to Yuya standing up, the audience gasps, and some cheer.

The Sledgehammer turns around, and looks like he's seen a ghost.

The current master of Yuya's body growls out, "'Understand the opponent,' huh?" He spits out some teeth, and rubs his jaw. Two rows of sharp teeth pierce out of his gums, and snap together in a wicked grin. "Welp, the way I see it, odds are good that violence is the only thing people will ever understand!"

[To Be Continued]


Outro: "Roundabout" by Yes

A stone tablet showing a big scary dragon gleams with rainbow light, then explodes.
I'll be the roundabout

Underneath the former surface is a bas-relief showing five crying babies
The words will make you out 'n' out

Pan up to an image of Yusho Sakaki holding up the spell magic, "Smile World"
I spent the day your way

Beside Yusho on the tablet, there are carvings of a Serpent by Enochian runes
Call it morning driving through the sound of

Above the serpent is a carving of a woman with long hair covering half her nude body holding an apple in front of her bare breast
In and out the valley

The view pans up to an image of Yuya Sakaki swinging into action, and grabbing the Smile World from his father's image
The music dance and sing

Beside him is a carving of brothers fighting each other
They make the children really ring

Above that is a carving of one boy left standing victorious, but with a blackened aura
I spent the day your way

The image of Yuya Sakaki shifts to that of a man with white and green hair with a vicious smile
Call it morning driving through the sound of

In his other hand, he holds up "Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon," "Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon," "Clear Wing Synchro Dragon," "Starving Venom Fusion Dragon," and a concealed fifth Link Monster whose name can be seen as "VoidCry-" but is covered up by its fusion counterpart.
In and out the valley

Pan up to an image of a lady with maroon hair crossing her arms as she looks down at that man with a frown.
In and around the lake

The carvings beside her depict a Grand Cross of the Planets,
Mountains come out of the sky and they stand there

The Crimson Dragon running red with blood, and Peacock Feathers with eye patterns arranged around a dark figure
One mile over we'll be there and we'll see you

The image of the lady frowning at the man shifts to Zuzu Boyle smiling down at Yuya.
Ten true summers we'll be there and laughing too

The view pans up to card placed reverently within the Stone Tablet, "En Flowers"
Twenty four before my love you'll see

Around that card is the carving of an angelic-winged goddess holding actual orbs of light and darkness, which spark to life and activate "En Flowers," which starts to shine.
I'll be there with you~