Peggrin's little tournament was underway. As everyone was dueling, Peggrin was watching from the safety of inside his castle.

"It seems the duels are going well." Peggrin said. "Still, no matter who comes out on the top, I'll be the one that wins everything. I can't help but wonder how little Ichika is doing though." Peggrin is finding amusement in all this. Underneath all of this is him planning something sneaky.

...

Ichika's Group

Ichika succeeded in winning his first duel against William. Not only has he kicked out that rotten duelist, but he now has three stars. He just needs seven more to get in the castle to face Peggrin.

"You're already on the right track." Rin said.

"Rin's right. A few more wins and you'll be able to get in the castle." Charlotte said.

"Thanks, but let's not forget that I'm not the only competing." Ichika said. "Now that Houki has a glove and a star, she can compete as well. We should find her some duelists for her to beat as well. You ready, Houki?"

"Of course." Houki said as she looked over her deck. "I'm the one that helped your dueling." Once she had her deck ready, she put it away. "I just need to find someone to duel."

"Are you sure you're ready?" Rin questioned. "The people in the duelists here are champions of sorts. Are you sure you want to take one of them on. Maybe you should find some weakest duelist around first."

"Rin has a point." Cecilia said.

"Agreed. Start out small and move to bigger prey." Laura said.

"Hey! I can do this!" Houki said. "Besides, I think Ichika already did that." As they were trying to figure out who Houki should duel, they heard someone screaming.

"Goodness! What was that?!" Cecilia said.

"Let's go and check it out." Ichika said. The six of them ran as fast as they could to where the screaming came from. They made their way to the cliffs and saw someone has lost their duel.

"I can't believe I lost. You're brutal." The guy who beat this duelist was Hector.

"That's how it is. Beat it, loser." Hector said. The duelist just ran out of there and ran past Ichika and the girls. When he ran by, Hector took notice of them.

"Well, look who it is." Hector said as he went over to them.

"Oh great. Not you again." Houki said as she kept getting annoyed every time she saw Hector. "How's it going, Ichika? You making progress in your duels like me?"

"Hey, Hector. I'm doing well. Looks like you just won your own duel." Ichika said.

"What are we? Invisible?" Rin questioned as she felt ignored.

"I'm doing pretty well myself. Check it." Hector said as he showed his love and showed he already got himself five stars.

"He's already gotten five?!" Charlotte said.

"He must have some skill to already have more than Ichika." Cecilia said. "Of course, there is no competing with you, Ichika. I'm sure you're the better duelist. Stars aren't everything."

"Is that so? I'm always in the mood for a duel." Hector said.

"Come on, Ichika. You can take him." Rin said.

"He does seem to have a rather foul personality." Charlotte said. "Maybe if you duel him, it will teach him a lesson." The girls were trying to get Ichika to go with it, but Hector had other plans.

"Hey, I'm the one that wants the duel, and the one I want to duel is...Houki!" Hector said. All of them were surprised to hear Hector wants to duel Houki instead of Ichika. "It's basic sense. Take down the weaklings and get an easy reward. Seeing as how Houki wouldn't be here if Ichika hadn't given her one of his star chips, she must be the weakest duelist here."

"Hey! Care to back-up all that talk?" Houki said as she wasn't going to keep listening to this guy putting others down.

"I'm just being honest." Hector said. "What do you say? Care to prove me wrong? Duel me right now and let's see how skilled you really are."

"Houki, I'm not sure this is a good idea." Rin said.

"Ichika, what do you think?" Charlotte asked.

"I think we should stay out of this." Ichika said. "This is Houki's decision. She's the one being challenged. Although, I'm sure she'll do great. I don't know a girl that's a better duelist than her." Houki blushed a little from Ichika hearing that and it gave her a little courage.

"You're on, Hector. I'll take you." Houki said. Hector thought this would be an easy win, but Houki will prove him wrong. The two of them took their positions near the cliffs and got themselves ready for this duel.

"Since you only have one star, one star is all I'll wager." Hector said.

"Fine. I'll still take you down." Houki said.

"Best of luck, Houki!" Charlotte cheered.

"You can do this!" Ichika said.

"Still doing that pathetic cheerleading?" Hector said.

"Stay focus, buddy. This is between you and me." Houki said. Hector just went with it. Both of them activated their duel disks and they were all set.

"Duel!" Both of them said as they began with 4000LP.

"I think I'll start this off." Hector said. "I summon Beast-Warrior Eagrith Eagle to the field!" He summoned out a humanoid eagle with white feathers and wore green armor. It also held a halberd with 1300atk points.

"A beast-warrior?" Rin questioned.

"I think I've heard of them." Ichika said. "They're animals with warrior features. Their greatest strength is when they work together."

"Ironic since Hector appears to be more of a lone wolf." Laura said.

"I'll place these two cards facedown to end my turn." Hector said.

"My turn!" Houki said as she drew her card. "I'll start this by summoning Mishen the Silent Wind in attack mode!" She summoned a swordsman wearing a green traditional Japanese clothing with mountains on it. He also had 1500atk points. "Attack!" Mishen went on the attack as he got ready to draw his sword.

"Charging in blindly like that? Pathetic." Hector said. "Otherwise you would see that I have a trap! I activate Reinforcements! It grants my monster an extra 500atk points until the end of the turn." Eagrith's attack points rose up to 1800. When Mishen got close enough, Eagrith struck him down and Houki's life points dropped to 3700.

"Actually, I expected something like that." Houki said.

"Yeah right." Hector said.

"I did. That's why I can activate this spell known as Warrior's Discipline. Since a warrior was just destroyed, this spell allows me to take another warrior from my deck and add it to my hand." Houki said as she took a card. "The card I chose is Tachikawa the Shifting Tide. Mishen's ability also activates. Since I activated a spell while he's in my graveyard, I can actually add him back to my deck." She took Mishen out of her graveyard and added it back to her deck as it shuffled. "I place one card facedown and that ends my turn." 'If he decides to attack, I can activate my Sakuretsu Armor trap. his monster will be destroyed. When that happens, I can summon Sinita the Sakura Blossom. Having her out will be a big help.' She thought.

"My turn!" Hector said. "You're probably planning on using that facedown of yours, but you're not going to get the chance. I reveal my other trap card: Dust Tornado!"

"Not Dust Tornado!" Houki said.

"That's right. This trap card allows me to destroy one spell or trap card." Hector said. A tornado blew over and destroyed Houki's trap.

"He destroyed Houki's only line of defense!" Ichika said.

"This is bad." Charlotte said.

"It's about to get even worse." Hector said. "I'm summoning out Beast-Warrior Tigrove Tiger to the field!" Hector summoned out a humanoid tiger wearing armor and it had 1500atk points. "This duel is already over."

"What are you talking about? Even if both of your monsters attack, I'll still have life points remaining." Houki said.

"No, you won't. That's because I'm activating Tigrove's ability." Hector said. "By paying my own life points, up to a thousand, my Beast-Warriors gain attack points equal to that amount. I think giving up 500 should be enough." Hector's life points dropped to 3500, but his monster's attack points rose to 1800 and 2000. "Attack!"

"This could be it!" Rin said as the others were concerned for Houki.

"Not so fast! By sending Tachikawa to the graveyard, the damage I take is cut in half!" Houki said as a barrier formed around her. She still took damage from both attacks, but her life points only dropped to 1800.

"Okay. You might have survived a little longer, but you won't hold out much longer." Hector said as he put an end to his turn with his monsters attack points returning to normal.

"My turn!" Houki said as she drew her next card and she was glad with what she got. "I summon Swordsman of Mirage in attack mode!" She summoned another swordsman with his blade a rainbow-color. He also had 1400atk points. "I can now use his special ability! By sending him to the graveyard, I can special summon a level five or higher warrior! I summon Sinita the Sakura Blossom!" She released her monster and a female swordsman wearing a pink kimono with cherry blossoms rose with 1900atk points. "Now you're in trouble."

"Why's that?" Hector said.

"You're about to see! Sinita, take down Eagrith!" Houki said. He swordswoman pulled out her sword and slashed Eagrith down with cherry blossom petals blowing through it. Hector's life points dropped to 2400.

"Wait. Why did I lose more life points?" Hector said.

"It's Sininta's ability. Whenever she destroys a monster, she can deal an additional 500 points of damage. What's more is that she can keep attacking." Houki said. "Attack once more with Petal Blades!" She attacked Tigrove as well and took him down with Hector's life points going down to 1500.

"Okay. Maybe you have more skill than I thought, but you still won't win." Hector said.

"We'll see about that." Houki said. "For now, I end my turn."

"You should have finished it when you had the chance. Your mistake" Hector said as he drew his next card. "Pretty good. I activate the ability of Beast-Warrior Annila Antelope from my hand. By sending it to the graveyard, I can revive one of my Beast-Warriors. The one I'm going with is Eagrith." Eagrith rose back to the field.

"What? Why bring back that monster?" Houki said.

"That's simple. It's so I can activate this equip spell." Hector said. "I activate Beast-Warrior Crossbow! When equipped to a wind Beast-Warrior, like Eagrith, they gain an additional 1000atk points." Eagrith's attack points rose to 2300 as it was given a crossbow. "I'm also going to activate Beast-Warrior Halberd! When a Beast-Warrior is equipped with this, they gain another 800." Eagrith was given a halberd and he now had 3100atk points.

"This isn't good." Houki said.

"It is for me. Attack!" Hector said. Eagrith shot some arrows and slashed Sinita with his halberd. Sinita was destroyed as Houki's life points dropped to 600.

"Oh dear! Houki is in real trouble!" Cecilia said.

"That monster now has over 3000atk points!" Rin said.

"This is quite the troublesome situation she's in now." Laura said.

"Look, just give it up. It's obvious you can't beat me." Hector said. Houki really thought she could do this, but if she loses here, she can't help Ichika.

"Houki's starting to doubt herself. Ichika, there must be something we can do." Charlotte said. Ichika can't, but someone else might as Ichika switched places with the spirit.

"Houki!" Ichika called and got her attention. "No matter what, don't stop fighting until the very end. You can still turn this duel around."

"Oh please. She can't win." Hector said.

"Don't listen to him. Trust yourself, trust your heart, trust your deck." Ichika said. It was giving Houki the courage to keep going.

'Ichika's right. I've got to keep fighting until the very end.' Houki thought as she drew her next card. She was surprised to see it was Fortune Swordsman. 'This is the card Ichika gave me. It's a sign. Maybe I can pull this off.' "I summon Fortune Swordsman!" Houki summoned another swordsman with his outfit a rainbow-pattern and had 1000atk points.

"Fortune Swordsman?! You're taking a big risk with that card!" Hector said.

"She is? Why?" Cecilia said.

"It's because of Fortune Swordsman's ability." Ichika said. "It all depends on what card she draws. If she draw a monster, she can attack directly with double the power. If she draws a spell, half of Hector's monsters attack points are drained and given to Fortune Swordsman. However, if she draws a trap, it will be destroyed."

"That means as long as she doesn't draw a trap, she's good." Rin said.

"Not quite. This could be Houki's last chance. If she doesn't draw a monster to end this now, it's over for her." Ichika said. The pressure is on Houki now. "Don't give up, Houki! You have to keep going!"

"Will you shut it already? You're pointless coaching and cheerleading doesn't help as much as you think." Hector said. "Ichika, if you're a man, stand on your own feet and stop worrying about your lousy friend. That's assuming you're even a man."

"I think it's time someone taught you some manners." Houki said as she didn't like him insulting her or Ichika. "I activate Fortune Swordsman's ability! I draw!" Houki drew her card and everyone was getting a little anxious. "Look at that. Mishen is back!" She showed it was Mishen, a monster.

"No way!" Hector said as he couldn't believe it.

"Attack! Fated Wrath!" Houki called. Fortune Swordsman moved past Hector's monster and went to him. Hector was completely surprised as the swordsman slashed his blade and took the last of Hector's life points.

"She won!" The girls cheered.

"I can't believe it. I actually lost to her." Hector said as he was completely baffled as to how this happened. Houki took the star and now has two.

"Way to go, Houki." Rin said.

"You've done well." Ichika said.

"Thanks, but you were the one that gave me this card." Houki said with her blushing and holding her winning card. "I wouldn't have won if it weren't for you."

"We help each other. This will help us defeat Peggrin." Ichika said. Houki and Ichika are on a roll. They helped each other and that will be what helps them defeat Peggrin. Each duel brings them closer and they'll keep dueling.