"Aren't you supposed to be in class?"
"I'm just gonna buy something really quick!"
In order for Judai's plan to work, he needed a card. Unfortunately, getting that card proved to be much more difficult than expected. The lady at the counter was cleaning up, but Judai barged in at closing time. She was not in a good mood.
"No. You can wait until we open up again—after school."
"Oh, you can ring up at least one more student." A familiar voice came from the back room. "Judai-chan! It's been so long since I've seen you! How have you been?"
"It's nice to see you too, Tome-san. I'm going to buy some cards. Do you have any fish cards or any packs with fish monsters?"
"Judai—" Yubel spoke up.
"Oh, yes we do, dear! They're right over here." Tome walked over to the other side of the counter and handed Judai three card packs. "You're pretty lucky. The young man who usually buys all of these stopped buying them recently."
"—Judai, sirens are not—"
"Speaking of fish, have you been eating well? I know that no one else is at the Red Dorms. I hope you remember to stay healthy."
"I'm fine, Tome-san. I don't look sick do I?" Judai said as he paid for the packs.
"—Oh look, you've paid for them now. Ok."
"You certainly don't, but boys your age tend to let themselves go. I want you to take care of yourself. Now, you should hurry off to class. We're going to close the shop."
"Alright, I'll keep that in mind. Thank you Tome-san! And I will!"
Judai walked out of the school's shop and went towards the Red Dorms as he began to open the card packs he bought.
Yubel thought to themself that they couldn't talk Judai out of buying the card packs since he already bought them and that he can't get a refund—especially after he told them that he was going to class and opened the packs. They needed to find the right moment to tell him that his chances would be a lot higher if he had bought a winged beast pack. Sirens are bird monsters after all.
When he stopped looking at the cards, he noticed Yubel behind him.
"Is something wrong, Yubel?" Judai asked.
"Do you have any extra money on you?"
"Nope. I used the very last of this month's allowance on these three packs. Why?"
"It's nothing…" Yubel they said as they internally cursed.
"I hope that you get a siren-like card."
"I hope so too."
Kenzan's and Kaito's duel disks came to life with 4000 points each.
"Draw!" Kaito announced. "I activate the field magic card A Legendary Ocean!"
Water began to pool around their legs, as an underwater paradise formed around them. With a grand palace behind him, Kaito continued, "This card reduces the level of all water monsters in both our hands by one. As a result, I can summon this, now level four card, without a tribute."
Kaito normal summoned Terrorking Salmon in attack position and placed one card down, ending his turn.
"That guy really does use a fish deck-don! I'm not sure what he's gonna throw at me, but I won't lose!" Kenzan thought.
"Draw-don!"
Kenzan looked at his hand and its new addition. He didn't have any cards that could beat the Terrorking's attack points, but he did have a plan.
"I activate the card Earthquake-don! This card will change all the face up cards into defense position!"
Even with an additional 200 points from the field magic's other effect, Terrorking Salmon only had 1200 defense points. Kenzan normal summoned Archeonys and activated New Ultra Evolution from his hand. With that, Kenzan tributed Archeonys to special summon Dark Driceratops.
"I attack your Terrorking Salmon with Dark Driceratops! I also activate Dark Driceratops's effect so you'll be taking piercing damage-don! Take this—!"
"I activate the continuous magic card, Tornado Wall. While I have Umi face-up on the field, I won't be taking any damage."
Kenzan became confused and said, "But you don't-saurus. You've got A Legendary Ocean."
Kaito grinned as he raised his arms in grandeur. "This underwater palace is under the ocean. If I am not mistaken, the English word 'ocean' is the equivalent to our 'umi'. This card can be treated just as the card Umi can. I shall not be taking any damage until the field card is removed from the field."
Kenzan did not counter Kaito's statement and placed one card face down to end his turn.
"Draw!"
Kaito looked over his cards. "I summon a monster card face down and end my turn."
Rei thought, "Does he not have a monster that can beat Dark Driceratops? Or is he trying to get a flip effect? Wait, there aren't any fish monsters with a flip effect released yet. He hasn't changed his deck's archetype has he?"
Rei stayed silent by the side lines as she observed the duel. She couldn't say what she was thinking out loud because it would cause Kenzan to lose on terms of cheating. Even if it wasn't an official duel, Rei knew that neither of them would appreciate having their deck known to the other side.
Rei recalled her telling Kenzan about Kaito's fish deck. She mentally scolded herself. Trying to avoid spiraling into self-doubt, Rei tried to convince herself that they didn't break any codes of conduct.
"But don't pro duelists do it all the time? They research the opponent before they duel. But Kaito didn't have the same opportunity. No. Kaito must have seen a few of Kenzan's duels before. But—"
It didn't quell her conscience.
Kenzan drew his card. "I've gotta find a way to get rid of his cards' effects-don. If I don't I'll be in big trouble sooner or later."
Kenzan did not have any cards that could clear the entire field at the moment, but he did draw something that could get rid of the field magic.
"I activate my field magic, Jurastic World-don!"
"What?!" Kaito recoiled as his two cards were sent to the graveyard. Kenzan's dinosaur paradise replaced Kaito's aquatic paradise.
"With this my dinosaurs' attack and defense points are raised by 300. I summon Babycerasaurus, and I'm attacking your face down card with Dark Driceratops-don!"
Kaito's life points fell to 1600.
Kaito's card flipped to reveal An Owl of Luck. Due to its flip effect, Kaito added a field magic card to the top of his deck, but that didn't surprise Kenzan. What surprised him was that Kaito had a winged beast in his—supposedly—fish deck. Kenzan surmised that it was just awhile since Rei had seen his deck.
The other guy's deck didn't matter to him. Kenzan believed that he and his balanced offensive and defensive deck can work around anything to victory. Like his Aniki used to say, "No one knows the outcome of a duel, and that's what makes dueling fun!"
Kenzan missed the old Judai.
"And I directly attack you with Babycerasaurus!"
Kenzan ended his turn. Kaito's life points were at 1300, but it was now his turn. He drew his field magic card.
"I normal summon Cure Mermaid in attack position. With your two dinosaurs on the field, I can activate Alector, Sovereign of Birds's monster effect. I special summon it to the field!"
Cure Mermaid had an attack of 1500 points, and Alector, Sovereign of Birds had 2400 attack points. Neither cards surpassed Kenzan's Dark Driceratops at the moment.
"In addition, I activate the field magic, Mountain! This card would boost the attack and defense points of any winged beasts on the field by 200!"
Kaito attacked Kenzan's Dark Driceratops and Babycerasaurus with Alector, Sovereign of Birds and Cure Mermaid, respectfully. Kaito placed one card face down and ended his turn.
Kenzan's life points were 2800, and he had no monster cards on his field or any cards in his hand. But Kaito had less life points than him, and he also had no cards in his hand. Kenzan isn't going to let this get him down. He remembered Judai's words.
"Draw!"
No ships have arrived that day, as there were no tournaments going on. There were no audible or visible signs of a siren either.
The pier was absolutely silent. Shou and Asuka assumed it was safe to unplug their earplugs. They began to talk.
"Even though he said he would take care of Manjoume-kun, do you really think that it was fine to leave him to Fubuki-san?" Shou asked.
"Despite how my brother acts, he is good at giving advice." Asuka paused as she put a hand over her Cyber Girl deck.
"I think it will be fine, even if it's the two of them," Asuka said in a soft, nostalgic tone.
"But don't you remember that time he gave Manjoume-kun love tips?"
"Yes."
Fubuki gave the idea to duel for Asuka's love into Manjoume's head during their first year. He stole all the keys to the Sacred Beasts and challenged Asuka into an ante-rule duel, wagering the keys to a date with her. Manjoume lost. Chaos ensued. Judai saved the day.
"We should get back," Asuka said.
"You're right. I don't think we could find her here..."
"You sound a little disappointed."
"Well, they did say that she is beautiful."
"They? Are you saying that people have seen her?"
"I'm not sure if it was true, but a first-year boy in the Blue Dorm said that they saw someone in red not too long ago."
"Red? There's only one thing on this island that's red."
"Aniki."
The two of them ran towards the Red Dorm.
A/N: Japanese dueling terminology and English card names? Oh my!
I'm sorry for the delay, but I spent most of my time trying to decide how I would write the duel. Hopefully, I haven't broken any rules. I written the duel based on the rules and cards around the time of GX's 4th season—with a few exceptions...