Chapter 15: Fated Challenge

*Ding! Dong!*

The school bell rang for lunch. Maira made her way over to where Riski was sitting under a shaded tree after getting her food. Riski saw her and waved, "Brought my picnic blanket today! I think the boys leave to many crumbs for the ants and squirrels..." she ate a piece of her sandwich, trying to be proper about it.

Maira smiled and sat politely next to her, "But then how would are little woodland friends eat? Let alone survive." Maira teased with her, opening her bento and getting out her chopsticks.

"Hey! That smells like your grandmothers! Emmmm~ how is it that your grandma can cook so well, but you can't? Haven't you ever asked for lessons?" Riski silently took a chocolate strawberry from her friend's bento and ate it. Maira didn't seem to mind though, but she did place her bento far from Riski's tempted hand again.

"I told you, my grandmother's tried to but I can't seem to understand it."

Riski rolled her eyes, "That's because the only method of doing anything that you understand is duel monsters. Unless someone explains it to you like its part of some kinda duel, you instantly get it. Otherwise, it's a completely hopeless endeavor to try and teach you anything. I'm surprised you do so well in school." she chewed on another piece of her sandwich.

"I scrap by, and I have a great friend like you to help me." Maira cutely leaned against her friend's shoulder, smiling kindly at her. "Without you, I wouldn't be able to function in everyday life."

"Oh, stop it. You're making me blush. And I know that's a lie anyway, it's only school you need help in, any other part of life you do just fine at as long as you can somehow take it as a metaphor for duel monsters." Riski looked away and blushed while nibbling on her sandwich some more. You could tell she was happy by Maira's words though. "Oh hey, here comes the boys." she announced, waving to them to come over.

The three waved to them, with their lunches in hand.

"Hey there you two. What's up?" Tetsu greeted as he carried his tray.

"Aaahhh lunchtime, my 2nd favorite part of a school day." Kageru was excited to start munching on his food.

The group gladly sat together at the lunch table as they always have for years, only this time with Kell being an addition to their group. They chatted about several topics and stuff that happened. The table was filled with voices of laughter, arguing, and excitement. As they went on, Gai glanced over to a girl passing by at the side of their table. It was Aria.

Tetsu felt that it would be nice to welcome the new student and hoped she would get along well with the rest of the group. Riski in a way disapproved of having here, and felt she would only lead to trouble. Kageru and Maira also felt uneasy with her but were not entirely sure what to think. Kell and Gai didn't seem to mind.

"Come on guys, maybe she's just shy, let's give her a chance." Tetsu persisted on, feeling it was only fair that they tried to get along with Aria. The group reluctantly agreed and decided to motion her over to their table. Tetsu took the initiative to start off.

"Hey! Hey Aria! Over here!"

Aria turned her attention to the group with only her eyes glancing towards them, watching as they waved cheerily.

"Come on! Don't you wanna sit with us?" Gai added.

Aria seemed unamused. "What do you simpletons want?" she asked snobbishly. Kageru responded with a bitter look on his face. His temper quickly boiled from hearing her remark and it seemed that he was about to snap in any moment.

Gai stepped in trying not to have the encounter lead into a commotion. "U-um well ww're just wondering if you would like to be friends with us. I mean, you are new here and-"

"And what? You feel that I need sympathy from a group of nobodies? Certainly you don't see me as that weak do you not?" Aria's words were as cold as her expression. It seemed that there was no way for the group to connect with her. "Engaging myself with amateur duelists like you would only bring my image and skills down."

Kageru quickly stood up and slammed the table. He wasn't going to tolerate her insulting his friends any longer. "Look here you uptight little prick! We're just trying to be nice here! Where do you go off talkin smack like that!? If you think you're so tough little Ms. Perfect why don't you settle this with me right now!"

The boys tried to cool down Kageru down to his seat.

Tetsu held onto his shoulder "Hey dude...come on. Calm down."

Gai looked around as several students caught their attention; waiting for something to happen."Yeah, everyone's watching too. We don't wanna start any trouble here, especially since she's the new girl."

"Grrr...Hmph...Whatever.." Kageru bitterly sat down and groaned. His glaring eyes focused on Aria.

Aria turned away before leaving with a few words for the group. "I do believe you have wasted enough of my time already. Still…if you want to settle things with me; come to the front gates after school and let me see exactly what you're made of Hinodama Kageru." With that said, she went on her way and walked pass the group.

"*sigh* Sorry bout that guys." Kageru's temper finally subsided as he sat down. He felt ashamed and guilty for ruining a perfectly good lunch break. The group however went and cheered him up, trying to bring spirits high again.

"Hey don't worry about it man. It was my idea to get her here in the first place. My bad.." replied Tetsu.

Gai patted his friend on the shoulder and added "Yeah and thanks for the back up too. Still..., you got all worked up pretty quickly there Kageru. That was the first time I've seen you get that angry. You usually brush off a few insults before you start acting up. Do you know her by any chance?"

Kageru was not too sure what got into him either. So far there had only been one person who had really made him angry. "I dunno. I just...She just reminds me of someone. Somebody whose guts I just hate."

Maira didn't usually involve herself in these types of affairs, but as she ate and heard Kageru get so worked up with only so much conversation made her uneasy. She patted his shoulder, letting him know she didn't like that language and indirectly stating what their friends has already told him."Leave her be... however, are you really going to accept that challenge?" Maira asked, going back to eating her meal.

Riski looked a little shaken too, she drank a bit of her drink and then looked to Kageru with worry, "What if she like, has some gang friends jump you or something?"

"Riski….. She's new." Kell finally spoke up. "I don't know anybody here but Maira and her family, she must be the same."

"I suppose that's true.. Still.. She does sound dangerous." Riski put her head solemnly to the table. "Now what?"

Maira glanced at her friend, seeing that the whole mood of the table was ruined by Aria's presence. She looked down and ate her bento quietly, unsure of what to do or say to lighten the group up. But whatever Kageru was going to decide, she just hoped it would be for the best of everyone and that this whole fiasco would die down soon. "And it was only day one...Heh.' Maira laughed sarcastically in her head.

Kageru looked up as he responded. "Heh. If there is one thing I like; it's a challenge. Hey Gai, you said that she was one of the winners of the Abyss Weiss Qualifiers right?"

"Y-yeah, I didn't get too much detail on her deck, but everyone said she's practically won without breaking a sweat."

"Alright then sounds good! Hey Maira, I feel like pounding some your competition if ya don't mind? Besides I'm not gonna let some stuck up like that get you before goin through me."

Gai had a bad feeling, and felt it would be better to ask if his friend was ready to duel against Aria. "You sure about this buddy? Remember, your matches came right after the Abyss Weiss Qualifiers, so it's highly possible, she knows your deck pretty well. And the way she's been getting an impressive win streak, I think you ought a make sure your deck is ready."

Kageru held a fist and assured his worried friend. "Don't sweat it Gai, I can take on whatever that uptight four-eyes's got on me."

"Yeah you go show her Hinodama! Someone's gotta make her take all that junk she said about us anyway." Tetsu grew with excitement. He had utmost confidence that Kageru was ready for anything. Regardless of what Aria's words were however, he felt that Kageru can convince her that they can all get along once he proves his strength. "Who knows maybe if you show her up, then she'll actually hang with us."

The group went on and continued the rest of their class days as normal, eager to see the match between Aria and Kageru.

"So...You actually showed up?" Aria stood at the center, waiting patiently for her opponent.

"You kiddin? I woudn't miss a match-up like this for nothin! Let's get started!" Kageru was already fired up to begin and quickly activated his duel disk.

"Duel Disk set! Link established!"

"There is no need for us to hurry. We have plenty of time." Aria patiently activated her disk. The one she possessed however just any ordinary model however.

"Duel Terminal Disk Activate..." A voice spoke as Aria gave the command for her disk to make preparations.

DUEL TERMINAL SYSTEMS ACTIVATED. DECK SCANNING...SCAN COMPLETE...ESTABLISHING LINK WITH OPPONENT..LINK SET.

The crowd stared in awe and several students envied upon Aria's disk. "Wooow she has a DT Disk?"

"Awww I want one..."

"Check it out Maira. It seems she has the same type of disk as you." commented Gai.

Aria began selecting a few other options before the match begun. She quickly tapped a series of holographic menu options on her disk.

MATCH TYPE: 1 vs 1
TERMINAL DEATHMATCH

INTENSITY: Medium

"Huh?" Kageru wondered what type of game Aria planned for him.

The crowds were murmuring to themselves of what was going on and asked questions among each other. Tetsu taught he would ask Maira seeing as how she possesses the disk.

"Hey Maira, you know what that option was supposed to be? I don't like the sound of the word death in that menu one bit."

Maira was not too sure of herself what it was or if she even had such an option.

Tetsu turned to Gai for some technical expertise. "How bout you Gai? You know anything?"

Gai looked at Aria's disk with confusion. He didn't seem to have the answers either. "I don't know. I'll I've heard was the new disk was supposed to make matches more intense and interesting in some way, but I guess not too much info was leaked either."

Aria looked to her opponent as she finished setting up the match."For your sake, I'll set the intensity of the battle to medium strength. I do hope you will be able to endure this match."

Kageru felt somewhat intimidated, but he felt that Aria was only trying to break his spirits down. "If you're trying to mess with my head, then save it for when we're dueling!"

The match was set and ready as the two opposing sides drew their cards. . Kageru simply drew his cards the traditional way and watched in envy as a blue spherical light flashed on Aria's disk where she then slid her hand. Five large blue hologram card projections circled around her

"Kageru Hinodama...prepare yourself. I'am about to show you and Ms. Yune; a glimpse of how a real terminal duel is like."

Kageru wondered what kind of opponent he faced before him had hoped he can hold his own. Only a few questions remained; who exactly is Aria Castelle and what is she planning? Is this match really as serious as it may sound? Will Kageru manage against this mysterious adversary?