Cat: So, i have a feeling this is going to get mixed reviews because this isn't the best chapter... And there is a lot of talking.

Rena: Anyway, please review!

Chapter 15- Aim for the Top Junior Youth Championship

If I had just won my duel against Koutsu Masumi during our fight against LDS…

I can't be this weak anymore!

That night, I slept like a log. I was so tired, I didn't even dream. Well, if I did, I didn't remember it. Even so, when I woke, I felt like I hadn't slept at all. I ached all over, thanks to being thrown around in the Action Duel against the Fusion user. However, I managed to drag myself out of bed and run to school, along with Yuya.

It had felt like years until lunchtime. Sitting at our usual bench in the school grounds, Yuya stared at his bento, vowing to become a pro duellist. I smiled, happy that Yuya was back to normal. My thoughts were confirmed as he dug into his lunch like a lion into its prey.

"Hey! Don't talk with your mouth full!" I chided him, as he swallowed prawns without even chewing, still gabbing about becoming a pro. Turning back to my food, I found a silk, folded napkin being held in front of me. Looking up, I saw a face I was surprised to see.

"Sawatari!?" I squeaked, facing away from him. I did not want to see this rich kid, at all.

"Sheesh, you're so uncouth in front of a lady," Sawatari stared at Yuya. "Your eating habits and duelling are both so dirty!"

"Dirty!?" Yuya demanded. "My eating habits aside, what about my duelling is dirty!?"

Sawatari smirked. "I heard you ambushed someone again."

Oh, not again!

"That wasn't Yuya though!" I snapped. Even if we had only had one incident, it was hacking me off. The only thing that was hacking me off more was that Sawatari wanted to get involved. Again. Did the injuries from the Dark Duellist not scare him off? "But… What do you mean again!?"

"An LDS lecturer was attacked…" Sawatari glared at us both, as if we were both in on it. "By a man who uses XYZ summons."

"What?" Yuya and I leaned forward, wanting to hear more.

Then, I remembered the day before. The sudden surrender from LDS. They all looked fairly distressed. Was that why? But, that would prove that Yuya didn't do it, he was with us at the time.

"That's why he left in a hurry like that!" Yuya turned to me and I nodded.

Yuya has an alibi!

"I was kidding about you being the culprit this time," Sawatari drawled. "The victim this time was an LDS teacher. You couldn't have beaten him, even with those cowardly Pendulum Summons."

"Cowardly!?" Yuya snapped. "Just how is my Pendulum Summoning cowardly!?"

Sawatari leaned down, shoving his face right in front of Yuya. "The fact that only you possess it is unfair!" he said quietly.

And, in Sawatari language, that means: I am a sore loser and I still want those rare cards.

"But that'll end soon," Sawatari straightened up, towering over us, who were sitting. "There are rumours that Leo Corporation is independently developing Pendulum cards."

"I'm going to get my hands on those…" Sawatari pointed at Yuya. "And defeat you!"

I glared at Sawatari. I was completely fed up with seeing his face.

"That's all I came here to say, see ya," Then, he turned away, waving slightly. "I'll be waiting at the Junior Youth Championship."

Then, he walked off, back to his group of friends, who were still waiting on hand and foot after his 'injuries'. It made me wonder how bad they were, seeing as he had been discharged from the hospital mere hours after he had been admitted.

"Junior Youth Championship…" Yuya muttered. Then, realisation hit him like a ton of bricks. "Th-that's right! As I am now, I can't become a pro!"

Then, the bell rang and we had to run off to class.

At the end of the day, the three younger kids were there to greet us at the gate.

"What's wrong, Yuya-oniichan?" Tatsuya asked, looking concerned.

As we walked down the road, to the school, Yuya explained why he was so down. In order to qualify, Yuya had to have won at least 50 matches with a 60% win rate. That was a difficult feat. And, unfortunately, Yuya may be good, but his average was 40%ish.

"What's your current record?" Ayu asked.

"46 matches with 26 wins…" Yuya said glumly.

"So… 26 divided by 46… is…" Tatsuya scratched his head. "56.5%... That's not enough…"

…His percentage is higher since I last checked…

"Wow! Tatsuya, you're fast at maths!" Futoshi stared at the blue haired boy, awed.

"But you still have four matches until 50, right?" Tatsuya leaned back slightly to look at Yuya, who was dragging his feet behind him. "If you win all of them, you'll have 30 wins, putting you up to a 60% ratio, right?"

"That's right," I agreed with the younger maths wiz, slightly creeped out that he was better than maths than me. "But we searched around school for those last four but…"

"No way! You beat a pro! Why should I fight you?"

"You beat Strong Ishijima and now you're trying to get into the Junior Youth Championship? Are you kidding me?"

"You beat the champion, so shouldn't you get a free pass through the Junior Youth? Lucky you…"

I had completely forgot that Yuya had beaten Strong Ishijima. Well, not forgotten, just put it in the back of my mind. It felt like years ago when in fact, it was just coming up two weeks. However, no one had gotten back to us about Yuya's entry into the championship. And everyone was assuming they had.

"I didn't get a free pass at all!" Yuya wailed. "That was just an exhibition match! Everyone's getting the wrong idea! I don't even have pro qualifications yet!"

The kids chatted about all of the tournaments and exams Pro's would have to take, upsetting Yuya even more.

"Dammit! If it's come to this, I'll just find four people and duel them!" Yuya shrieked, looking slightly demented. I sighed, hopefully we wouldn't pass any random person on the way to the school. My heart sank even further as he looked at each of the younger students then at me.

"Ichi..." he glanced at Futoshi.

"Ni…" he stared at Tatsuya.

"San…" his eyes rested on Ayu.

"Shi…" he looked at me and I could see his brain whizzing. At the creepy face he pulled, I decided I was not going to duel Yuya at all until he was in the championship.

"That's a no!" Ayu pointed at him.

"No way!" Futoshi held his arms up in a cross.

"Why?" Yuya wailed.

"Because we're elementary schoolers and we're still in junior class!" Tatsuya reminded him. "Junior youth is for middle schoolers!"

"Then, at least you, Yuzu!" he begged me.

"I'm saying no too!"

"Why?" he asked again.

"Because I've already qualified. And besides, we've had plenty of practise matches. What's the point of playing now?"

"Then who else is there!?" Yuya demanded.

"How about asking Gongenzaka to help you?" I reminded him, only to have him shoot it down. He wanted to do it without the help of his best friend and his dojo. They had done enough already. Which, truth be told, was a fair comment.

Poor Yuya, we're running out of options.

"Instead, I have to become someone who Gongenzaka can rely on! With my own strength!" he announced.

"With your own…" I muttered his words. "You're right!" And then, I began running.

"Hey! What're you doing?" Yuya called as I ran off.

"Don't worry about it!" I shouted back to him, not stopping. "I just thought that I want to get stronger too!"

"What about Duel School?" Tatsuya asked, as I began running downhill.

"Tell my dad I won't be going today!" I waved to them, not looking as I ran off.

Yuya is trying to change. Now I know I can't stay like this!

I have to get stronger!

Strong enough to be able to protect You Show Duel School!

I was fairly impressed with myself. I had managed to run from halfway to the duel school all the way to LDS, without stopping. After mentally giving myself a pat on the back, I saw someone who I had a feeling would be prowling around.

"I knew you'd be here!" I shouted at Sora, who had his back to me and was licking his lollipop. "The reason you haven't been to Duel School is because you were after Akaba Reiji, right?"

"Ah no, I'm not after him, I'm just…" Sora tried to explain himself.

"Just like when you approached Yuya…" I mused out loud. "Whenever you get interested in someone, you just go after them!"

Sora scratched his head, looking flustered. "That's because he seems really interesting! The way he just slammed out Fusion, Synchro, XYZ and Pendulum like that!"

"But he's not someone you can get close to that easily!" I frowned.

"Because he's the Leo Corporation's president, right?" Sora sagged slightly, realising that his plan wasn't as easy as when he tried to follow Yuya around.

"Oh, you actually know!" Sora had left before my dad had told us that Reiji worked as Leo Corporation's CEO. "Anyways, come with me!" I grabbed his hand and dragged him off, protesting loudly.

As I pulled the younger boy along, I could have sworn I felt a stare burning into the back of my head.

"Why'd you bring me to a place like this?" Sora asked, as I struggled to shut the door. Finally managing to block out the outside world, I walked up to Sora, bowed and clasped my hands in front of my face.

"Teach me how to use Fusion Summoning!" I begged the younger boy. Granted, Fusion creeped me out and sure, I didn't like it very much. But I needed something. And the only person I knew who used a rare summoning was Sora.

"Huh? Here?" he said, bewildered.

"Yeah!"

"Why?"

"I want to get stronger!" I wailed. "I'm not enough as I am right now!"

"Ummm… Are you still upset that you lost to that lady?" Sora asked, staring at me with his alarmingly emerald eyes.

Out of the corner of my eye was the last thing I was expecting to see. An Action card.

Her words were muffled and my movements slow. I had to get that card. Before that monster reached me. I forced myself up and staggered towards it, making a leap of faith and reaching out.

Then, reality jarred my hand badly. It wasn't an action card. It was a reflection. The card was lying by another pillar, being reflected perfectly into the golden rim of the other. I had no time to reach it.

"To be deceived by the reflection of jewels," she mused. "Your eyes must be quite clouded."

"Akaba Reiji said he gave us the win!" I gripped my hands tighter. "I want to become strong enough to protect You Show Duel School too! I want to win against Koutsu Masumi! That's why-"

"You want a Fusion user like me to teach you?" he finished my sentence. "Is that it?"

"Yes, so I'm begging you!" I bowed again, trying to show how desperate I was. "Teach me!"

"What should I do…" Sora muttered, staring around the room. I looked up at him.

"You… can't?" I whispered, already knowing that that was going to be the likely outcome.

"No, it's not like I can't, just…" Sora looked at me with an expression I couldn't describe. "Is this really okay? If I taught you, then you'd definitely get stronger…"

"Then all the better, right?" I grinned. "Make me stronger so I don't lose anymore!"

"But… I just don't know if this is okay…" Sora sighed.

What's wrong? Why is he saying that?

Eventually, he caved and handed me a Fusion Card. "This magic card allows you to fuse Fusion Materials. This is the bread and butter of Fusion Summoning, got it?"

"Right, got it," I took the card off him and inspected it. "The Fusion Materials can be on the field or in my hand, right?"

I felt a bit bad being so clueless and asking so many questions but I honestly had no idea.

"Huh? Oh! Yeah, that's right." Sora agreed. "What's important is that you have all the Fusion Materials for the monster you're summoning! Though, there are some exceptions…"

While I was staring at the card, Sora suddenly ran off. Not just running, sprinting. Off up into the rafters of the warehouse.

"Huh? What's wrong?" I asked, slightly spooked.

Then, I realised, he wasn't just running off, he was chasing something. They hit the floor and were still running. I caught a glimpse of purple.

"Wha… What the?" I whispered.

Then, Sora and the uninvited guest clashed disks.

It was him.

"And just who are you?" Sora demanded.

The Masked Man said nothing.

"You're not from here are you?" Sora asked.

Ok, now what did that mean?

"Neither are you!" the Dark Duellist snapped.

"You're from before!" I couldn't help shouting. Sora glanced back at me.

"Huh? Yuzu, you know him?" he hissed.

"Yeah, when I was here with Sawatari before…" I admitted. "Are you behind the incident this time, too?"

Once again, he said absolutely nothing. Good to see that he hadn't changed in… Two days.

"Incident?" Sora queried.

"Apparently an LDS student was attacked…" I told him, remembering what Sawatari had told us that afternoon.

"So… You're the culprit?" Sora pointed at the purple haired person. Who… Said nothing.

"Just… Who are you!?" I demanded. "Was your duel with Sawatari to save me? Or do you have a grudge against LDS!?"

"That's-" he began to say.

"So you're the culprit!" a new voice raged behind me. Spinning around, I saw the face of a girl who had caused me utter humiliation.

"Koutsu Masumi!" I said, seeing the girl had opened the door and was basking in the orange glow of the sunset.

"What did you do to Marco-sensei!?" Masumi demanded, sauntering like she owned the place. "Answer me!"

"What are you doing here?" I asked her, as she walked up beside me.

"I thought I might find something if I went to the scene of the first incident…" she exclaimed, pulling out her blue duel disk and setting it on her arm. "But if you were here all along, you saved me the trouble of searching!"

"Wait, I'm still talking to him!" I snapped, annoyed that my conversation had been interrupted. I had to know who this person was and she was butting in like this teacher's parent, not pupil.

"I've got things to say to him first!" she shouted back.

"What're you talking about? And besides, it hasn't been proven that he's the culprit yet!" I reminded her, really getting annoyed with LDS student's arrogance and thinking that they always came above everyone else.

"Once we see whether he uses XYZ or not, we'll know the truth!" Masumi pointed past Sora at the silent duellist, who had only said one sentence since Sora saw him.

"XYZ? Oh, is that so?" Sora smiled, turning back to his opponent.

"I'll find out myself!" Masumi exclaimed. "Fight me! Here we go! Let's duel!"

"Hey! Cut it out!" I ran in front of her. "Give it a rest already!"

Then, for the second time in my life, my bracelet started glowing. We all stared down at it.

After blinking a few times, we all stared back at the dark duellist to reveal that-

"What?" Sora whispered.

He was gone.

"It was just like that other time…" I muttered.

"Hey! Yuzu!" A familiar voice floated in. "Yuzu! If you're here, answer me!"

Then, Yuya ran right past the door, spotted us and stumbled back.

"Yuzu! Thank goodness! Principal was worried and sent me out to find you!" he smiled. "What're you doing out here again and not answering your phone?"

"Sakaki Yuya!" Masumi said. "So you really are with them?"

Huh? Yuya was with who?

"Huh? You're-!?" Yuya recognised the girl standing beside me. "Wait, Sora too?"

Then, she stalked up and grabbed Yuya by the neck of his shirt. "Where are you hiding him!?" she screeched.

"Him!?"

"Don't play dumb! Hurry up and get him!"

"I'm telling you, I don't know who he is!" Yuya cried at her, trying to loosen her grip. I ran between them and split them up.

"Hold it!" I yelled, as I yanked her away. "You really don't know?" I asked Yuya, who was looking really confused.

"You too, Yuzu?" Yuya sighed. "What're you talking about?"

"Just like before..." I glanced down at my bracelet. "When he disappeared, Yuya showed up."

"Give it a rest and get him already!" Masumi complained, obviously not letting this go.

"Ah! There he is!" Sora screamed. Somehow, he had managed to get past us blocking the door and was now standing on the pavement, pointing. "I saw him just now! He ran that way! Hurry up and catch him or he's going to get away again!"

With that, Masumi pushed Yuya aside and began running in the direction Sora had been pointing.

"Was someone there?" Yuya asked.

"I lied," Sora smiled, walking towards us, so he was closer. "If she hung around, she'd get in the way of our training."

"Training?" Yuya looked at me. "Here, with Yuzu?"

"Yeah!" Sora smiled. "Yuzu said for sure she'll…"

I stared down at my bracelet. Why did it glow? Why was it whenever Yuya was around? What was going on?!

"Did you want to keep the Fusion lessons a secret from Yuya too?" a voice interrupted my thoughts.

"Yuzu's learning Fusion!?" Yuya said, turning to me. "So this is for the Junior Youth Championship? Oh, that's right! Yuzu, I found my next four opponents! Well, actually, someone found them for me but… Nico Smiley helped me out with it!"

"Oh… That's good," I smiled lamely at him, who smiled back.

"Yeah! Now all I've gotta do is win them all!" he grinned. "I'll definitely be fighting in the Junior Youth Championship!"

This is the second time…

Just what is going on around me?

All this just meant another cold bath for me.

Cat: Dun, Dun, Dun!

Rena: Please review!

Cat: So, today's question! What is your favourite Yu-Gi-Oh! Ending Theme? Only one, from all five series! All you guys said you preferred the ending themes, so!