3 weeks, this thing's been going strong.
Yusei needed to sleep on his suggestion of having Akiza take on Jack Atlas. On one hand, who better for Akiza to measure her skills against than a former world champion? On the other hand, Jack would quickly amass a victory before Akiza would know what happened. Even with all the sleep he could muster. Yusei couldn't come up with a better solution.
"If he is willing, Akiza will duel against him," the improvising mechanic concluded when he rose out of bed. He donned his boots, silently swaggered past the snoozing Atlas, and made for Akiza. When he got to the workshop floor, Yusei saw Akiza already awake, working on a crossword puzzle and listening to morning radio.
"Let's see, a 5 letter word for unrequited desire," she hummed to herself, not noticing that Yusei was silently treading up to her. "What might that be?"
"Good morning," he interrupted her train of thought.
"Hey handsome," Akiza answered back with a wink. "What brings you here?"
"I slept on it, I thought it over, and I don't see any other option," Yusei breathed, counting off on his fingers. "I think you should duel Jack."
"I won't argue with that," she added. "I've heard of how good he once was, and whether I get beaten out of the gate or stand strong, I'll take whatever experience you deem necessary."
"Jack's still sleeping, so I'll ask him when he's up," the mechanic informed his accomplice. Akiza watched him run up the stairs, as if it was happening in slow-motion.
"He looks good when he runs," she thought to herself. "Wait, I got it." The dancer snatched up her pen and scribbled down the word she was looking for: crush.
One could tell just by the feel in the air that Jack was nearby. It's an uneasy and nervous feeling that makes you feel like you're going to be judged. That's the aura that Jack Atlas carries around him.
"Anyone home?" Yusei questioned as he knocked on the former champ's open door.
"What do you want, Yusei?" the blonde duelist questioned back in a yawn. "This better be good."
"Are you still on the fence about Akiza being here?" the mechanic quizzed.
"Without a doubt," Jack affirmed. "I don't see how you and Crow can trust her so easily."
"She's a kind and caring soul that wants to be a good duelist," Yusei pointed out. "Even the twins like her already."
"What's your point?" Atlas fired back.
"I think you two should duel each other," Yusei suggested.
"Interesting," he hummed. "I can't remember the last time I dueled a woman."
"I'm just asking you to consider it," the mechanic laid out. Right as Yusei turned around and began to walk away, he heard a solitary footstep.
"I'll do it," Jack threw his voice. "I'll take on Akiza."
"Thank you," Yusei simply said.
Once Crow was off the clock for the day and the twins were out of school, they stood outside in the courtyard with Jack, waiting for Akiza and Yusei to join them. They didn't have to wait long; the lagging pair stepped outside, this time around, the dancer was lent Yusei's duel disk.
"Go get 'im," Yusei whispered before patting her on the butt.
"All right Jack, ready?" Akiza asked her opponent, trying to keep her blush down from Yusei's gesture.
"I'm always ready," the blonde duelist countered, drawing his five cards. "The real question is: are you?"
"I believe I am," she uttered, drawing five cards as well.
"Then let the battle begin!" Jack declared, à la Mark Dacascos, drawing to hold six cards. "I'll put in Archfiend Interceptor and place 2 cards face-down." In addition to 2 backs of a card materializing onto the field, a multi-armed fiend outfitted to look like a football player came into play.
"No matter, it's my turn," Akiza jumped in, drawing her sixth card. "I summon Botanical Lion." From out of nowhere came the plant version of the king of the forest, eager to swipe at something.
"With an extra 300 ATK points, it can tear up your monster!" she declared, signaling for her lion to attack.
"When you attack Archfiend Interceptor, it fires back at you with 500 points of burn," Jack explained, watching his monster torch out Akiza, reducing her score to 3,500.
"That doesn't bother me," the dancer shot back, continuing her attack.
"Then maybe my Shrink card will rattle you," Atlas countered, activating his face-down card. "Now your lion's only half a lion." Akiza watched in horror as her plant beast was destroyed and her score went down to 3,200.
"Guess I'll settle for a face-down card then," Akiza said to end her turn. In just one turn, she was already 800 points behind.
"You can do better than that," Jack boasted, drawing to hold four cards. "If not, then Dark Resonator will put it a stop to this." Next to the four-armed fiend came a shorter fiend, holding a mallet and tuning fork.
"With my Sakeretsu Armor trap, I can knock whatever strong monster he throws my way," the dancer contemplated mentally.
"Next up, I activate Noisy Gnat's special effect," Jack continued, discarding a card from his hand. "By dropping it into the graveyard, I can increase my resonator's level by 1." After that, both combatants and the spectators watched as Dark Resonator transformed into four rotating rings and surrounded Archfiend Interceptor.
"Behold, here's Red Dragon Archfiend!" Atlas bellowed as his signature monster emerged in a ball of fire.
"I'm ready for that thing," Akiza resisted.
"Burn her alive, my beast!" the champ declared as his dragon built up a fireball in its claws.
"I activate Sakeretsu Armor!" the dancer countered, flipping her trap up. "Now I can destroy your prized possession!"
"Then it's a good thing I have insurance in the form of Destruction Jammer," Jack interrupted, discarding another card. "Now I can negate any effect that destroys a monster on my field." Akiza quickly caught on as she saw her only hope of winning darken and get destroyed.
"Not good," she squeaked, bracing for the impact. Everyone watched in shock as Akiza's score dropped all the way down to 200 in one fell swoop.
"Your turn," Jack snickered.
"Stand strong Akiza!" Crow and the twins shouted from the sidelines.
"Don't give up," Yusei thought as he watched on.
Lo and behold, Akiza's in the same situation from her last duel: low amount of life points and staring down a powerful monster. Can she rebound in the same fashion before, or, dare I say, crash and burn? Also, who caught my take on the chairman from Iron Chef America? Lastly, I'm thinking of adding my own ZEXAL story to be read. Good idea? Review if you wish.