Who will remain standing at the end?
"Underhanded, I should expect nothing less from you," Akiza jarred, drawing to hold five cards in her hand. "You better hope Yusei's merciful when I tell him what you did."
"The duel's not over yet," Crow countered with an absolute. "Nothing's been determined yet."
"Then I've determined your Sirocco is no longer deserving of staying in play," the dancer spay, playing a spell card and discarding another. "With Tribute to the Doomed, your feathered friend goes bye-bye!" From out of her spell emerged a bright neon blue glow.
"I figured you'd try something like this, which is why I had Guard Mines ready to go," the Blackwing duelist instructed as his trap flipped up. "Not only is my monster safe, but 500 points of damage are dealt as well." Akiza's eyes looked shocked as her spell card was surrounded by explosives, blown up, and decreased her score to 3000.
"I guess I'll settle for a face-down monster then," she hummed to end her turn.
"I'll take my turn then," Crow replied, drawing to hold two cards. "I call in Blackwing-Mistral the Silver Shield." Next to Sirocco emerged a smaller bird with a shield for a mask.
"Go, Sirocco!" he commanded. "Attack her defensive monster!" The tall bird touched down on the dancer's defense, which was Mystic Tomato, and destroyed it.
"Since you were kind enough to 'slice' my Mystic Tomato, I can now summon another dark monster to the field, like, say, Revival Rose," she gloated as a red flower sprouted up from the ground.
"Then I'll get rid o' that with Urgent Tuning!" Crow interjected, flipping his other trap up. "Now I can Synchro Summon during this battle phase!" He held his arm while his two winged beasts flew into the sky and faded away in a stream of green light.
"Black Armor Master, let's do this!" he continued as an armored bird flew into the fray and streaked for Akiza's monster. Thinking quickly, she discarded another card that saved her during her first match.
"By tossing Hedge Guard to the graveyard, my monster will survive this attack but must give up half its attack points," the young woman explained as her rose withstood a powerful hit. She held her ground too while her life points dropped to 1150.
"I'll stop there for now," the voyeuristic cameraman concluded.
"What is wrong with me?" Akiza mentally criticized herself. "I'm almost down to 1000 life point and Crow still has all 4000. Is my rage getting in the way of my dueling?" She drew to hold two cards and beamed at her drawn card.
"I play Reinforcement of the Army!" she declared. "Now I can add a 4 star or below warrior straight to my hand." She snatched her designated card out and instantly summoned it.
"Say hello to Twilight Rose Knight!" the dancer continued. "Now my rose tunes with my knight!" Both duelists looked up as Akiza's monsters faded away, in favor for her ace monster.
"Black Rose Dragon, reign down on this perverted guy!" she bellowed as her dragon let loose a wind, destroying itself and Crow's Armor Master.
"That's not good," the Blackwing wielder commented.
"I figured you might say that," Akiza sneered as she placed the last card in her hand face-down.
"I'm not about to let this slip away from me," Crow thought, drawing to hold two cards. "But I know Akiza's going to remain mad, unless if she accepts my gesture when the duel is over." He selected a card and activated it.
"With Cards for Black Feathers, I can remove Gust the Backblast from my hand to draw two cards," he explained, picking the cards from his deck. "And I'll place one of 'em in defense position."
"Before you end your turn, I'm activating Wicked Rebirth!" Akiza declared as her trap flipped up. "By paying 800 points, I can re-summon any Synchro monster in my graveyard." When her score hit 350, Black Rose Dragon emerged from a wall of white light, ready to fight again.
"I had a feeling you'd do that," her opponent squeaked.
"Then did you predict this?" she quizzed him, immediately drawing and playing the card she drew. "With Pot of Avarice, I can rescue five monsters from my graveyard, add them to my deck, and draw two cards." Akiza selected Botanical Lion, Revival Rose, Mystic Tomato, Hedge Guard, and Twilight Rose Knight to return to her arsenal. After thoroughly shuffling them in, she drew two new cards, one of which would allow her to deal a jarring blow.
"First off, I'm activating Red Medicine, which recovers 500 of my life points," she listed as sparkles surrounded her and raised her score to 850. "Next is a spell that was used against me by that bastard I knew as my boss: Stop Defense!" Crow observed as he saw his face-down monster, which was Vayu the Emblem of Honor, forced to step into battle.
"I didn't expect this, but at least Vayu's still going to the graveyard," Crow gulped to himself.
"Black Rose Dragon, fry that chickadee to a crisp!" Akiza bellowed as her beast let loose a stream of purple energy from its maw, completely destroying Vayu and burning 1600 of Crow's life points.
"Finally!" she exclaimed. "I manage to lay down an attack and it's a big one!"
"Yes, but it doesn't change anything," the guy countered with a solemn tone. "The duel's done."
"What? You gotta be bluffing," Akiza disclaimed. "What other monster do you have that can stand up to Black Rose Dragon?"
"Wait and see," he rebuked, drawing to hold two cards. "Now I activate Vayu's ability: by removing it and another Blackwing card in my grave from my play, I can summon a Blackwing Synchro monster." In dramatic fashion, he pulled Vayu and Armor Master out of his graveyard slot and tossed them up in the air. Akiza's mouth dropped open as Crow's newest monster descended from a whirlwind of feathers.
"Meet Blackwing-Silverwind the Ascendant!" he yodeled as a thinner bird with large feathers, a wolf pelt, and two swords burst in suddenly.
"Now I'm dead," Akiza put it bluntly.
"Not just yet, but Junk Barrage will make sure of that," Crow continued, activating an equip card from his hand. "Silverwind, slaughter that dragon!" The sword-wielder heeded its command, zipped towards the dragon's neck, sliced at it numerous times, and turned its back as the dragon blew up, taking away 400 of Akiza's life points.
"The final blow comes courtesy of Junk Barrage, which takes half of your dragon's strength and deals it as damage to your life points," Crow finished while Akiza dropped to her knees in defeat. She couldn't believe it: after holding her own against Slick and Jack, Crow was the one who beat her first.
"What did I do wrong?" she breathed angrily. "Doesn't matter, though. I lost." Silently, Crow strolled over and offered to help her up.
"Even though you lost, you fought with valor, and that's always a plus," he told her as she took his hand and was lifted up. "But I think you have something to smash." He handed her the camera and turned around.
"Wait, you're not going to beg for forgiveness?" the dancer wondered aloud.
"That's up to you if I deserve it," the winner replied. "What I did was wrong and would be taken back if I was able to do so. It was a moment of weakness and I shouldn't have done it at your expense. I also understand if you don't want to talk to me ever again." She looked at the device in her hands and couldn't bring herself to crush it.
"I'm not going to break this thing," she told him. "I could tell during the match that your eyes showed remorse for your actions. And I'm sorry for slapping you earlier."
"I had it coming," Crow smirked as Akiza chuckled and wrapped her arms around him in forgiveness.
This is what I wanted to happen. Vent your frustration if you shall, but I wanted Crow to let her know he regretted doing what he did, even though he won the duel. I also wanted them to share an embrace, to show these two can connect in some way. Plus, I wanted to give Crow a small main role for a bit. What do you all think? Good, so-so, meh? Review if you wish. So close to 100 reviews again.