Chapter 13: To Get Into The Maiami Championship!
Recap: After snapping Yuya-san out of his frustrated yet hesitating state. I decided to get stronger, so I won't rely on my friends anymore. I refuse to be the weak one in our group! I have to get stronger so they can rely on me, so with this new ideal in mind, I will prepare for the Maiami Championship. However, I didn't know that someone with a similar face was also participating.
Normal Pov_During School Hours_
Naomi had her head in the clouds as she thought about yesterday with her duel against Izumi and especially when she Xyz Summoned, but the question was whether it was her that actually Xyz Summon or was it her double that Yuzu saw the other night. She wanted to win for You Show, and her double somehow took over her body because of her birthmark.
Naomi pinched the bridge of her nose and decided that instead of asking tons of questions, she would just have to look for her double by herself instead of asking tons of questions she didn't know the answer to.
Later, Naomi was eating her lunch with her two childhood friends when she saw a familiar person as she made a sour expression. "Bakadori," Naomi muttered at the sight of Shingo.
"Well, if it isn't cowardly Silent Mouse and her cowardly group," Shingo said as his words made Naomi stand up in her seat.
"Excuse me, Bakadori-san, can you explain why my friends and I are cowards?" Naomi asked, crossing her arms.
"Number 1. You and he are the only ones who have Pendulum Cards. Number 2. You attack me, causing me to be injured," Shingo listed.
"Let me counter your reason, Number 1. LDS is currently producing Pendulum Cards, so everyone will soon have them. Number 2. I did not attack you. It was someone who looked like me. Number 3. if anything, you were faking your injuries, Bakadori!" Naomi protested as she looked away.
"Who are you calling Bakadori, you Silent Mouse?!" Shingo exclaimed.
"You Bakadori! Now leave! My friends and I are trying to have lunch right now, and you are disturbing us. Also, if you ever call me silent mouse again, I will make you regret that you ever came to this school," Naomi replied, giving the mayor's son a dark glare scaring Shingo as he coughed and started to walk away.
"I-I will see you all at the Junior Youth Championship!" Shingo shouted, leaving the trio.
Naomi heard a shout coming from behind her. "Junior Youth Championship!?" Yuya shouted, "How could I forget that most important step!"
So, after that outburst, Naomi decided to tag along with Yuzu as Yuya tried to find his opponents to qualify for the Maiami Championship.
In the afternoon, Naomi went to the bathroom to change out of her Maiami Second Middle High School uniform to her You Show Duel School uniform her mother issued to her. Before Naomi left the restroom, she looked in the mirror and saw the glass reflected on her image. Naomi tried to picture herself with black hair and dark green eyes, but all she saw was blank.
Naomi sighed, and she walked out of the restroom. "I guess I have to find her this afternoon to see if she really was the person that took over my body during my duel with Izumi-san," Naomi muttered.
Naomi was walking with her friends and saw the kids as she greeted them with a smile as the group started to walk to their duel school. During their walk, Naomi listened to Yuya's words about not relying on Gongenzaka's Dojo to fulfill the qualifications to compete in the Maiami Championships for Junior Youth section. She stopped, and soon a huge smile spread across her face.
"You're right, you're absolutely right, Yuya-san!" Naomi said, running with Yuzu as the two girls said their goodbyes leaving the group confused.
"What's up with those two, especially Naomi?" Yuya asked.
"Isn't it because you were only praising Gongenzaka" Ayu answered.
"That is true. Even when Naomi-nee-chan won her duel, you didn't even thank her," Tatsuya agreed. "Especially when she snapped you out of your depressed state yesterday."
"Yuya-nii-chan, you just don't understand a girl's heart after all," Futoshi added, mimicking Tatsuya.
"No! I am thankful for what Naomi did yesterday. Just like I am for what Gongenzaka and Yuzu did for me in the past. W-Wait even more!" Yuya rambled, trying to defend himself.
"You're already too late," Ayu teased as all the kids laughed at Yuya, who was currently freaking out.
To where Naomi and Yuzu were_
"Yuya-san, right! He doesn't want to rely on Gongenzaka-kun after all, so he could become stronger so Gongenzaka-kun could rely on him," Naomi thought, running along with Yuzu. Naomi was thinking about ways to locate her lookalike to become stronger as she thought of the belief in relying on her friends.
"Yuzu-chan, remember yesterday when LDS wanted to take You Show School? After my duel with Izumi, when I said I was conflicted about something," Naomi mentioned out of the blue as she looked at the ground. "Well, after the duel, I lost something."
"Yeah, what did you lose, Naomi-chan?" Yuzu asked.
"Well, I lost my belief in my friends, and I want you guys to believe in me. I'm not going to rely on you anymore when it comes to dueling or whenever something bothering me," Naomi frowned.
Then suddenly, Yuzu grabbed Naomi's shoulders and head-butt Naomi's forehead against hers. Both girls held their foreheads in pain because of the impact. "Naomi-chan, what you're doing is wrong!" Yuzu scolded, holding her forehead.
"Naomi-chan, please continue to rely on us. That is your true strength! Relying on your friends. When we're in a tag duel, we have to trust each other skills and rely on each other to win the duel," Yuzu added, looking into Naomi's eyes. "Not just dueling! Whenever things get difficult, we have to trust each other to find a solution that we can't find on our own and-"
"Is that all I'm good for? Relying on people to fix my problems for me," Naomi spat and shook off Yuzu's hands. She knew what her childhood friend was trying to do, but... even if it was unintentional, Yuzu proved her point. She's already decided that she had to change to become stronger. If that meant not relying on her friends anymore, then so be it.
"T-that's not what I meant," Yuzu muttered and looked at her friend with concern, worried about the new belief that Naomi was aiming for.
"I have to tell Yuya about this. As the way Naomi-chan is right now, only Yuya's words will be able to get through to her," Yuzu thought. "Okay fine, but at least consider what I said."
"Don't worry, I will," Naomi replied.
Soon afterward, Naomi and Yuzu went their separate ways.
Naomi tried many ways to find her doppelgänger, and then she remembered the boy she had encountered two days ago when he thought she was someone he knew. She remembered the name she heard him muttered and started to call out her doppelgänger's name, Yuki, all over the city and even in the back streets.
Naomi almost gave up, but her birthmark's outline glowed green. It looked like it was leading her to where her look-a-like could be.
Clear Kuriboh peeped as the duel monster spirit came out of nowhere and appeared next to Naomi.
"Clear Kuriboh this way, right?" Naomi asked, looking in a certain direction when she heard Clear Kuriboh. With help from her duel monster spirit and birthmark, Naomi found herself in front of the same Warehouse two nights ago. She glanced down and saw her birthmark glowing a bright green color.
Naomi shallowed the lump in her throat. She was going to meet her double, who helped her during her duel, so there was no reason for her to be nervous at all! But there could be a slight chance her double could have evil intentions that could kill her and take over her life! Even so, Naomi opened the door and went inside.
Yuki saw her Standard counterpart walking into the Warehouse and glanced down at her glowing birthmark.
"I might as well show myself," Yuki sighed and jumped down and appeared right behind Naomi, scaring her.
"I'm very sorry for trespassing on your property!" Naomi apologized, bowing in Yuki's direction when she looked up and saw Yuki, who stared blankly at her.
Yuki's appearance shocked Naomi that there was really another person who had the same face as her.
Naomi soon remembered the reason why she searched for her lookalike. She took in a deep breath and bowed to Yuki.
"Please teach me how to Xyz summon?" Naomi begged.
"How do you know if I can Xyz Summon? I think you are mistaking me for someone else," Yuki questioned, crossing her arms.
"It's because of the white glow, the same white glow that somehow caused me to win against Izumi-san, and it was the same white glow when that incident happened in the warehouse the previous night," Naomi mentioned.
Yuki looked at her counterpart and sighed, remembering Reiji's words about meeting her counterpart to get her on Reiji's side. She quickly figured out that's why he let her walk back to the Warehouse because he predicted that Naomi would go to the same Warehouse to find her.
"Okay, but why do you want to learn how to Xyz summon?" Yuki asked. Naomi started to remember her duel with Izumi, which caused her to look down.
"It's because I don't want to feel that way again. When I was dueling Izumi, who is so strong, I felt helpless that I couldn't do anything to win against her!" Naomi confessed with determined eyes. "With everything that was at stake, I didn't want to lose, so I must become stronger to protect the things I care about! So please, I'm begging you! You, who looks just like me, teach me how to Xyz Summon!"
Yuki looked at Naomi as she was reminded about how Naomi resembled her in the past when she wanted to become stronger to prove her own strength and protect her loved ones with her dueling.
"So please teach me how to Xyz Summon?" Naomi asked again, bowing. A few moments passed before Naomi heard a sigh.
"Yuki. My name is Yuki Shimizu, and I guess I can teach you, but you have to keep my identity a secret," Yuki said, looking at her Standard counterpart.
"O-Okay, I will, but why?" Naomi replied before receiving a cold glare.
"Do you want me to teach you how to Xyz summon or not?" Yuki asked, getting extremely annoyed.
"Yes! I want you to teach me how Xyz Summon, and I'll keep your identity a secret," Naomi agreed quickly, nodding her head.
"Alright, but you have to bring me a change of clothes, your school clothes will be fine. I'm going to let you know now that I'm going teach you how to Xyz, Synchro, and Fusion Summon," Yuki said, walking away. Naomi quickly followed her. "So, starting tomorrow, I want you to meet me at this location every day after school until the Junior Youth Championship begins. Don't make me wait."
Naomi was excited that she would soon be learning how to Xyz Summon! Not just that, but how to Synchro and Fusion Summon as well. Although she didn't want to learn Fusion Summon because she's still deciding on that. R-regardless, she still can't wait until Yuki starts teaching her these summonses!
Naomi was walking with Yuki and saw Yuzu and Sora talking to each other in another Warehouse.
"Yuzu-chan, what are you doing here?" Naomi asked, seeing Yuzu flustered all of a sudden.
"N-Naomi-chan, what are you doing here all of a sudden?" Yuzu asked, seeing her friend behind her.
"Oh, I was finding my teacher to teach me how to Xyz Summon. They will also teach me how to Fusion and Synchro Summon," Naomi answered, causing gasps from Yuzu and Sora.
"Synchro and" Yuzu started.
"Fusion Summon," Sora finished after he stopped, licking his lollipop.
"So, who's this person teaching you all these summonses?" Sora asked curiously that someone other than Reiji could Fusion, Synchro, and Xyz Summon.
Naomi started to sweat bullets down her cheeks as she wanted to tell her friends, but she had to keep Yuki's identity a secret, although that might be hard since the girl was behind her. Regardless Naomi will keep Yuki's identity a secret as promised.
"That information is classified~" Naomi winked, causing groans to come from Sora.
"What! Really~ Tell me, Naomi-chan~" Sora whined, trying to pry information off of Naomi, who kept her lips shut.
Yuzu looked at Naomi, seeing that her friend was learning these different types of summons to get stronger like she is. She knew it was due to her belief about not relying on her friends anymore.
Yuzu looked at the floor and clenched her fist tight in her hand, thinking if only she wasn't so weak during her duel with Masumi, then Naomi could still rely on her friends when it comes to anything.
Yuto saw Naomi enter the building, and he thought he saw Yuki's face over hers but knew that she wasn't Yuki, so he remained where he hid.
That was until he saw her, his Yuki, standing at the entrance crossing her arms, amused by the scene. He took a step forward to look at Yuki, which caused Sora to look in his direction, activating his duel disk.
Yuto activated his duel disk to activate his duel blade as he collided with Sora's duel blade.
"I-It's him?!" Naomi exclaimed in shock as her birthmark glowed brighter, and so did Yuki, who saw the scene in disbelief as she couldn't believe her eyes.
"Y-Yuto-kun," Yuki whispered, hoping no one heard her, but Naomi looked in her direction at the boy named Yuto.
"Just who are you?" Sora asked, "hmm...you're not from here."
"Same goes for you," Yuto retorted.
"Don't tell you're working with the person behind the other attacks?" Yuzu asked, narrowing her eyes at Yuto.
"The other attacks," Sora and Naomi repeated, especially the latter, who was confused as she now heard about these attacks.
"If Yuto-kun is here, then that might Shun-kun is here as well. Great," Yuki thought, groaning as she clenched her fist.
"Apparently, there was an attack on LDS teachers," Yuzu replied.
"LDS teachers," Sora said before thinking about he went over to LDS, "so that's why there were so many guards."
"So, are you working with the culprit?" Sora asked, pointing at Yuto.
"No, he's not Sora-kun!" Naomi protested.
"How can you be sure, Naomi-chan?" Yuzu asked.
"Because he's not like that. The times I been with him. I've known him for a long time to be sure he's not the type to hurt anyone!" Yuki defended. Her answer made everyone look at her with widened eyes.
"Y-You're the person from that night! Who are you, and why do you look like Naomi-chan? Yuzu exclaimed.
"My name is Yuki Shimizu, and I have no idea why we look exactly like each other," Yuki answered. She honestly didn't know why she looked like her Standard counterpart since is the second person who looked like her. The first was Akemi.
Suddenly, a slam came from the entrance "so are you the culprit?! What did you do to Professor Marco?" Masumi exclaimed, looking at the group, specifically at Yuto and Yuki.
"Who knows, but your teacher was pretty weak," Yuki answered. Right now, she needs to take the fall for her friend Shun, who Yuki concluded was the person behind the attacks.
"How dare you insult Professor Marco! I'll teach the strength of LDS' Fusion?!" Masumi declared, activating her duel disk.
"Are you sure you want to do this, Yuki-san?" Naomi whispered. Her Xyz counterpart nodded as she activated her duel disk.
"DUEL!"
Yuki vs Masumi; 4000 LP Each, H:5 Each
Turn 1
"I'll take the first turn! I activate the Spell Card 'Gem-Knight Fusion' to fuse Emerald, Obsidian, and Crystal! Brilliant emerald of good fortune! Sharp jet-black darkness! Eye of quartz! In a whirlpool of light, combine to bring forth a new dazzling radiance! Fusion Summon! Come forth! Gem-Knight Lady Brilliant Diamond!" Masumi shouted as she summoned her true ace monster on the field.
Earth/Level 10/Rock/Fusion/Effect/ATK 3400/DEF 2000
"She already summoned that card?!" Yuzu shouted as the sight of the fusion monster made Yuki and Yuto flinch however they held their composure.
"Fusion Summon, huh? It can't be helped," Yuki whispered as she drew her card and saw the drawn card.
Turn 2
H:5-6
Before Yuki was about to play her card, Yuzu's bracelet, Naomi and Yuki's birthmark glowed a bright pink, green, and white light in the area, causing everyone to cover their eyes. Yuto vanished in a cloud of pink dust, Yuki vanished in a cloud of white dust, and the duel was terminated.
"DUEL CANCELLED!"
Naomi saw that her counterpart had vanished in a speck of white dust. She heard Yuya calling her name, but she didn't pay attention to him but to her birthmark, whose glow stopped.
"This is the second time this has happened. Why did Yuki have that look on her face when she drew her card? What exactly is happening to me?" Naomi thought, feeling stressed about the situation as she walked away from the Warehouse, ignoring her friends calling her name.
Back to where Yuya and Yuzu were, Yuya looked confused as to why Naomi left without saying anything. He looked at Yuzu for an answer.
"Maybe she is excited she will learn how to Fusion, Synchro, and Xyz Summon," Sora guessed, shrugging his shoulders. His comment caused Yuya to look at him in disbelief.
"Naomi learning how to Synchro, Xyz and Fusion Summon?!" Yuya exclaimed with widened eyes. Sora nodded at Yuya's words as he saw Yuzu's face, and he took that as his sign to leave, so Yuzu could talk to Yuya about whatever she wanted to tell him when he arrived.
Yuzu looked at Yuya with concern, remembering what she wanted to do when Naomi told her about her new belief. "Yuya, I need to talk to you about something," Yuzu said.
"Yuzu, what do you need to talk to me about?" Yuya asked, looking at the Yuzu curiously.
"It's about Naomi-chan," Yuzu said.
"What about Naomi?" Yuya asked, getting worried about his other childhood friend.
"Well, Naomi decided not to rely on us anymore, and I think it's because of her duel with Izumi that made her think that way," Yuzu explained, revealing Naomi's worries, especially when the girl told her moments ago about her belief. Yuzu figured maybe that's why Naomi wanted to learn different summoning methods.
"Naomi stopped relying on us because Izumi said," Yuya repeated. During Naomi's duel yesterday with the Synchro-Xyz duelist, he recalled when Izumi kept commenting about Naomi's strength. Her belief in relying on Action Cards during her duel made her falter. Or was it something else that made Naomi follow a new belief? What he said must have been correct since he saw Yuzu give a small nod.
"Yuya, I think you're the only person that could bring Naomi's ideal back or even make a better one because if you don't, Naomi's personality might change to the point she might stop being our friends altogether!" Yuzu cried out when she remembered Naomi's harsh tone and became worried about what would happen to her only female childhood friend.
"I will, Yuzu! I'll bring Naomi's ideal back and, in the process, find out what's beyond Pendulum Summon!" Yuya declared, which caused Yuzu to smile at Yuya's resolve, which made her want to become even stronger to protect her friends.
Nighttime_in the Kobiyashi's Residence_Naomi's Dream_
When Naomi opened her eyes, she saw the scenery around her. She saw the blue sky as birds flew across the blue horizon. She turned around when she heard someone's voice as it was revealed that Yuto wore different clothing than the ones he usually wore.
Naomi looked in Yuto's direction and saw her Xyz counterpart. However, unlike the clothes Naomi usually saw Yuki in, she was wearing a white strap maxi dress, brown sandals, and a white sun hat with a purple periwinkle ribbon on the hat tied in a small bow.
Naomi saw the warm look in Yuki's eyes and took Yuto's hand with a loving smile on her face. She saw the fond look they gave each other, and before she knew what was going on, a purple light enveloped the scenery once more.
Author Note: Next Chapter 14: First Lesson in Xyz Summon.