Cat: Hey hey hey! Chapter 26 in da house!

Rena: So, according to the Gospel of Wikipedia, this episode was the last of season 1!

Cat: ... They won't change BelievexBelieve will they!? It was growing on me!

Rena: ... anyway... Please review...

A/N: Chapter 27 will NOT be posted this week because i am in Austria until friday night! Just so ya know!

Cat: This story is in Yuzu's POV. Please give me some artistic licence. If i put some stuff that isn't in the anime in here, don't flame. There would be no point in reading, if it was just the anime in words.

Chapter 26- New Horizons

Crying won't solve anything. Crying won't stop this. Crying isn't going to help anyone. I repeated over and over again in my head, blinking back my tears, my eyes all hot and prickly. The duel had barely started and I was already a mess, just watching.

Yuya's eyes darted from his hand, do his duel disk, to the humongous monster looming in front of him, to Gongenzaka and then back to his hand to repeat the progress. It was a typical sign that Yuya had no solution to this problem.

Turn two and it looked like Yuya had already lost.

After all of this, no matter the victor, they would still be friends, right? I think that was my main fear now. Yuya may lose. Yuya may not enter the JYC. But Yuya may lose one of his best friends, Gongenzaka.

But, in a way, it looked like Gongenzaka wanted to kick Yuya's butt and cut his ties with Yuya. But I was struggling to understand why. Gongenzaka had always stood up for the weaker person. And, during Yuya's most difficult years of his life, when he was the weaker person, Gongenzaka stood by his side. Whenever they talked about it, Gongenzaka would say he was 'glad to help'. So why change?

"Here we go, Yuya! From here on out is the real match!" Gongenzaka shouted down from the cliff where he was standing. "Are you prepared for this?"

Of course he is, judging by the look of pure terror and distress, he is totally ready to go through with this! I snarled in my head, my temper getting the better of me. I couldn't decide who to blame; Nico Smiley, for arranging this match, knowing the two were best friends; Gongenzaka, for agreeing to go through with the match; or Yuya, for not taking his 'free pass' into the JYC, provided by LDS.

"That is enough!" a voice spilt through the millisecond silence, right after Gongenzaka's words. My mouth dropped open as we all crowded closer around the tiny screen to focus on none other than Gongenzaka's father. "My son, Noboru, has lost this match!"

"Gongenzaka… lost?" I squeaked.

Whowhatwhywhenhow? My head exploded into a million questions, my heart crashing in my chest as if my red blood cells had called a house party, and every ounce of oxygen was invited.

"Steadfast duelling means that having an immovable spirit is crucial," the small man was now standing up, facing his students directly. "From the moment you stole techniques from another school in order to win, you lost this duel!"

I didn't know what to expect from Gongenzaka. To look ashamed, maybe or to look crushed by his father's words. However, I wasn't expecting him to say what he said.

"I did not steal them, I requested instruction," he said cooly.

"You don't mean-!" Yuya cut in.

"Of course. Todou Yaiba," Gongenzaka said.

"From LDS!?" Yuya demanded. "From an opponent who caused you to suffer so much!?"

"If there is a need to learn, I will graciously request instruction, even from my enemies! I didn't learn synchro summon just to win, but to bring around a new horizon for Steadfast duelling!" Gongenzaka addressed his father. "Duelling evolves every day! It is a necessity for even the stationary Steadfast duelling, in order to not get left behind a long with an era!"

Gongenzaka's father didn't say anything.

"Save your judgements on my decision until after you've seen this duel!" Gongenzaka spat, turning back to Yuya, who still didn't look like he had a plan. "Superheavy Koujin Susano'o can attack while in defence position, using its defence points as its attack points!"

Yuya scowled, grabbing his wolf by the neck and swinging onto its back, trying to run from it and, hopefully, grab an action card.

"Go Susano'o! Attack Entermate Silver Claw! Kusanagi Sword Slash!"

"Action magic!" Yuya screamed, leaning down and snatching the card up, barely glancing at it before activating it. "Avoid! I can negate an attack!"

Ayu sighed. "He's safe-"

"I won't let you!" Gongenzaka thundered. "While I control a face-up defence position Superheavy Koujin Susano'o and there are no magic cards in my graveyard, I can pay 500 life points to activate one of my opponent's magic cards in their graveyard!"

Sora whistled. "I didn't know Gon-chan was this good!"

"The magic card I choose to use is the action card: Oversword!"

The behemoth's attack rose even higher, the attack force glowing stronger and getting faster.

"It can use magic cards from Yuya's graveyard?" I whispered, barely believing it had such a strong effect.

"But it doesn't matter how high he raises the attack, if he's using the defence!" Tatsuya pointed out.

"No," Sora cut in, looking sinister. "Oversword has another effect. And that is..."

"The monster equipped with it cannot have its attacks negated," both Sora and Gongenzaka said in perfect sync.

I had to cut back my shout, as Yuya's monster disintegrated and he was sent flying, crashing to the ground, narrowly avoiding one of the unexplained, useless swords stuck in the ground. My heart sank along with his life points, which had been halved in an instant.

"I end my turn with that," Gongenzaka folded his arms, glaring down at Yuya.

I bit down on my lip hard, to stop myself from screaming at the top of my lungs, as I heard Smiley's words of praise towards the new synchro user. Why did Yuya listen to him? Why did we trust him!? Yuya took down his claim to success, Strong Ishijima! Was he out for revenge? Acting all nice then stabbing us in the back?

I ground my teeth in annoyance, turning back to Yuya's duel. He was now standing in the synchro monster, staring up at it. "Amazing… I'm shocked…" he finally said. "That you've mastered synchro this much…"

Baka Yuya! You're supposed to be duelling, not complimenting your opponent!

"Now that you've shown me this much… I can't afford to lose!" Yuya grinned. Relief spread through me at his words.

All was not lost.

"My turn! Draw!" Yuya's eyes narrowed when he inspected the card.

He only had one option left, one move that could turn this whole game around but-

I rummaged through my deck box and pulled out a card. I stared down miserably at the Fusion card in my hand. I could not believe I was stupid enough to take it back. Especially after seeing what he could achieve with it. Rune-Eyes Pendulum Dragon is what he needed. But that was no longer possible because I was holding the key in my grasp.

"I, using the Scale two Entermate Cameldown, and the Scale six Entermate Lizardraw, set the Pendulum Scale! Pendulum Summon! Come forth my monsters! From my hand: Magician of Astromancy! From my extra deck: Entermate Silver Claw!"

Astromancy straight onto the field? Why not Pendulum summon with him? What are you planning, Yuya?

"There it is!" my loud-mouthed father screamed, punching the air. "Pendulum Summon!"

"Be quiet!" I hissed.

"But Astromancy and Silver Claw are in defence position!" Tatsuya said.

"The defence of Gon-chan's Susano'o is 3800," Sora muttered. "Yuya doesn't have a monster powerful enough to challenge that…"

"That's why he's making a wall with defence position monsters!" I turned to them, hoping everyone was agreeing with me.

"So it would seem…" Sora said mysteriously.

"But he can't win with just that," Yoko glared down at the screen.

"I end my turn with this!" Yuya cried.

"In the end, he only tightened up his guard…" Futoshi sighed.

Just as I thought… Yuya should have kept this… I stared down at the card. I am so stupid.

"Yuya!" Gongenzaka shouted. "Even if you try to build up your defence, you have no time left!"

Drawing, Gongenzaka summoned another monster, 'Superheavy Samurai Soul Iwatooshi'. "I equip it to Susano'o!" We watched as the newly summoned monster morphed with the Susano'o's right arm. "This delivers piercing damage!"

"What?" Yuya squeaked.

"Battle phase! Susano'o! Attack Silver Claw!"

"Silver Claw's defence is 700!" Tatsuya whispered. "If he takes an attack from Susano'o's 3800 attack points!"

"He'll take 3100 points of damage!" Futoshi cried.

"Yuya-onii-chan, with just 2000 life points will…!" Ayu squeezed her eyes shut.

I had never seen Yuya run so fast in my life but, at the same time, it was as if he wasn't running at all. In my mind, he was in slow motion, not helping my nerves at all.

"Fire!" Gongenzaka ordered.

Yuya dived onto the grey grass, snatching something up. "I activate Action magic: Miracle!"

Yeah, there is no other way to describe that card… I sighed, amazed at how well the name suited the situation.

"It negates a monsters destruction and reduces the damage by half!" Yuya covered his face as the smoke rose quickly and whipped past him, his life falling even lower, passing the safety line. Yuya fell to one knee, gasping.

"I end my turn," Gongenzaka growled.

"He somehow managed to scrape by this time," my dad sighed.

"Yuya-onii-chan only has 450 life points remaining," Tatsuya whispered.

"And he only has two cards in his hand," Sora said, making it even worse. "Whatever he draws next will decide the match."

Once again, I found myself blinking back tears.

"You really are strong, Gongenzaka," Yuya smiled, once again complimenting him.

"Are you admitting your defeat?" Gongenzaka looked down at him. "Do you plan to surrender now?"

"No, if I was going to lose, then I would let you have the finishing blow," Yuya said simply. "But, that's only after I've gone all out! I draw!"

What did he draw? Is it a game changer? Is it a chance? Is it-

"Pendulum summon! Come forth my monster!" Yuya announced, as it fell to earth in a red haze, revealing itself to be-

"Heh?" I moaned, as I saw Entermate Discover Hippo beside Yuya.

"Entermate Discover Hippo can be counted as two materials for an advance summon!" Yuya said. "I release Discover Hippo and Advance summon Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon from my hand!"

"There it is!" Tatsuya grinned.

"Yuya-onii-chan's ace!" Ayu clapped her hands together.

"But he can't defeat the 3800 defence points with 2500 attack points…" Sora sighed.

"What are you planning to do, Yuya?" I whispered.

"I activate Entermate Lizardraw's Pendulum effect. I can draw one card from my deck, then return this card to my deck. This is the best I can do now!" Yuya screamed, as he dragged the card from the deck.

Sora was wrong. The last draw wasn't the game changer. This one was.

"I set the Scale 4 Entermate Trump Witch in the Pendulum Zone!"

"You're wasting your time!" Gongenzaka announced. "Even if you do that, you can only Pendulum Summon once per turn!

"I activate Entermate Trump Witch's Pendulum effect! Once Per Turn, I can use monsters on my field as material for a fusion summon!"

"What!?" Gongenzaka gasped.

"Using a Pendulum's monster effect to…" Sora whispered.

"Preform a fusion Summon!?" I cried.

"The monsters I choose to fuse are the Magician of Astromancy and Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!"

"Fusion summon!" Yuya shouted, thrusting his arm forward and splaying his hand, as if giving the monster a grand entrance, as if it needed grander. "Rune-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!"

"Yuya has a fusion monster!?" Gongenzaka shrieked. Poor Gongenzaka, I realised. He wasn't with us yesterday. He didn't see the awesome monster.

"A fusion without a fusion card!" Ayu cheered.

"That's Yuya's fusion monster!?" my dad screamed.

"Amazing! He's managed to overcome my predictions yet again!" Sora smiled.

Yuya jumped onto the dragon's back, standing at the bottom of the large circle that protruded from its back. He pulled down his goggles as he announced the attack.

"At this moment, I activate Entermate Cameldown's Pendulum Effect! It lowers Susano'o's defence by 800 and lets Rune-Eyes deal piercing damage!"

We watched as a rainbow-coloured bubble floated out of the camel's mouth and popped over the huge synchro monster, taking its defence down to 3000.

"Shoot! Shining Burst!" Yuya called the attack.

"It's pointless!" Gongenzaka said back. "Even if you lower Susanoo's defence to 3000, it won't budge to your 3000 attack points!"

"I wonder about that!" Yuya snapped back.

"What?" Gongenzaka asked.

"Rune-Eyes Pendulum Dragon can attack a number of times based on the level of the Spellcaster-type monster used as its Fusion material! With level 5 Magician of Astromancy as its Fusion Material, it can attack three times!" Yuya held up three fingers, to make sure the message went across to his best friend.

Gongenzaka didn't say anything.

"Along with each of those attacks, Susano'o's defence decreases by 800 from Cameldown's effect!" Another bubble meandered across the field and exploded over Gongenzaka's monster, bring its attack down even further to 2200.

"Go! Here's the second attack!" Yuya shouted. "Unending Shining Burst!"

"I pay 500 life points to use the Magic card: Avoid in your graveyard using Susano'o's effect," Gongenzaka said gruffly, as his life points dropped to 3000. "And I negate your attack!"

"It's not over yet!" Yuya announced. "By Cameldown's effect, its defence drops by another 800!"

The third bubble floated over and popped.

"Rune-Eyes!" Yuya cried. "Unending Shining Burst!"

Finally, the huge monster went down and Gongenzaka's life plummeted to 2200.

"This is nothing!" Gongenzaka shouted. "I send Superheavy Samurai Soul Makarugaeshi from my hand to the graveyard and activate its effect. I can special summon a destroyed monster in attack mode!"

Once again, we were staring at the synchro monster but this time, in attack position.

"He just managed to take it out…" Ayu said sadly.

"Gongenzaka really is a tough opponent…" Futoshi mused.

"Yuya needs to finish it this turn," Sora muttered. "Since his life is at 450."

"That'll be really difficult though…" my dad sighed, scratching his hair.

There was a few seconds of silence then-

"I can't stand sitting around anymore!" Futoshi said suddenly.

"Yeah! Let's get closer so we can cheer for him!" Tatsuya agreed.

"But-" I began.

"It'll be fine," Yoko smiled, standing beside me. "He's completely focused on his duel. He's already overcome the wall of being the 'away' team."

I nodded and we all began running to the door. After jiggling the handle, we realised that Nico Smiley had indeed locked us in.

"What do we do now?" I asked, looking at the dismayed children and adults.

"Piece of cake!" Sora appeared beside me, holding a piece of wire, which looked like it was once a paperclip. He knelt over the lock and started fumbling with it.

"This is taking too long!" my dad complained, running to the other side of the room. "I'll run and break the door down!"

"No dad! That is not a good id-" I tried to say, but he was already charging towards the door.

Click!

"Yes! It's ope- arrrgh!" Sora hollered, jumping out the way just in time before my dad crashed into the door, only for it to swing open and for him to crash into the corridor wall.

"Let's go!" Ayu exclaimed, dashing away, the boys following her.

"You support Yuya, I'll deal with him," Yoko smiled, helping my father stand.

I nodded and took off after them, charging down a flight of stairs and down corridors. Thank goodness I knew the dojo well, otherwise I would be hopelessly lost.

"You truly are a wall, Gongenzaka…" I heard Yuya say through the thin screens that separated the rooms. "A huge wall in front of me, blocking my way. It means I won't be able to beat you without surpassing my limits!"

Finally, I slid through a door, to find Sora and the others cheering Yuya on but he didn't really notice.

"Yuya's only hope is…" Sora began, when I reached him.

"The Action Cards on the field…" I finished, watching from the side lines.

My heart stopped when I realised what Yuya was doing. He and Rune-Eyes were hurtling towards a canyon.

"I will… Surpass my own limits!" Yuya screamed, as he and Rune-Eyes Pendulum Dragon jumped over the pit, towards the Action card dangling from a tree on the other side.

"He jumped!" I cried.

"Yuya!" Gongenzaka shouted, fear obvious in his face.

Yuya jumped from the dragon's back and just managed to grab the card with this two fingers.

"Yuya!... You really…" Gongenzaka moaned.

"I send the Action magic: Oversword to the graveyard, and activate the trap card Dangerous Draw! By Dangerous Draw's effect I am able to draw one card but if it's a monster I take damage equal to its attack!"

"Wh-What!?" Gongenzaka screamed.

"If a monster with higher attack points than 450 crops up…" Sora said.

"Yuya-onii-chan will lose right there and then!" Tatsuya cried.

"Yuya!" I cried. What was he thinking!?

"He's gambling on it…" Yoko explained, walking towards us. "On whether he moves on from here or if it's game over. All on this draw!"

"Draw!" Yuya cried, raising the card above his head and then looked. "Quick-play magic: Big Return allows me to reuse a 'once per turn' card currently on my field!"

I gasped. "Then-"

"I'll reuse Trump Witch's Pendulum effect! I choose Entermate Silver Claw and and Rune-Eyes Pendulum Dragon to Fusion Summon!"

"What?" Gongenzaka wailed.

"Another…" Sora was lost for words.

"Fusion?" I finished.

"Fusion summon! Beast-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!" Yuya clambered onto the new beast's back"Beast-Eyes Pendulum Dragon! Attack Superheavy Koujin Susano'o! Hell Dive Burst!"

Once again, the synchro monster went down and Gongenzaka's life dropped to 1600.

"Furthermore, I activate Beast-Eyes Pendulum Dragon's effect! When it destroys a monster in battle, it can inflict the damage equal to the attack of its beast type fusion material! Silver Claw's attack is 1800! This will end it, Gongenzaka!"

And Gongenzaka was down. Yuya had won.

The three surrounded him, hugging him and congratulating him.

"Don't tell me you guys were watching!" Yuya smiled.

Ayu nodded. "But Nico told us not to cheer you on in person, so…"

"We were watching secretly!" Tatsuya smiled.

"If you're aiming to be a pro, then you have to be able to win when you're the away team after all," Yoko came forwards, smiling.

"Mum!" Yuya said, astonished.

"And you pulled off a splendid victory!" My dad skidded in. "You were on fire, Yuya!"

"No kidding!" Sora grinned. "Even I got excited just watching that! I never thought you would use a Pendulum effect to Fusion Summon!"

Then, I stood forward. "Yuya! Congratulations!" I said, blushing slightly.

Finally, Gongenzaka stood up and strolled up, towering above us all.

"Gongenzaka…" Yuya said sadly, avoiding his gaze. "Since I won, your entry into the Junior Youth Championship is…"

"Don't worry about it. There's still a week before the tournament, I still have a chance. I'm glad that I was able to push you this far.

I smiled when they shook hands. They were still friends.

"So moving!" my dad sobbed. "This is truly friendship between men!"

No matter what, they were friends.

"Dad! Pipe down!" I said sweetly, swiping the fan across the back of his head.

And that's all that matters.

Cat: So, please review! It means a lot!

Rena: And, guess what! We will be reaching 10,000 views in this chapter!

Cat: *Dies*

Rena: Anyway, today's question...

I think i've already asked this but seeing as it's the end of Season 1...

What's been your favourite episode so far, out of season 1? Is it still the same since i last asked? Or do you have a new favourite?