Alex was walking down the hall headed to the waiting room when he met up with Yusei. "Way to go Alex," Yusei congratulated as he walked up to Alex in the hall. "Just doing what I do best. Thanks for the pep talk Yusei," Alex responded. "Excuse me," a woman's voice said from down the hall.

"Wait, that voice sounds familiar," Alex thought to himself before he looked up to see Akiza Izinski walking down the hallway in his direction. She walked past Alex and Yusei, glaring at the latter of the two as she passed. Once she was gone, Alex turned to Yusei. "Yusei, do you think she's, you know?" Alex asked, thinking Yusei knew what he was thinking.

"Yeah. She's the Black Rose," Yusei confirmed. Alex suggested they go to the waiting room to watch her duel, which Yusei agreed to. They got to the waiting room just as Akiza's duel got underway. She was dueling Randsborg, the Iron Knight, who acted like a stereotypical medieval knight.

"Yusei, when she passed, I could hear the spirits in her deck. They sounded like they were in pain," Alex informed as he watched the screen. "What do you mean? Why were they in pain?" Yusei asked. "I don't know, but maybe we'll find out as the duel goes on. Akiza and Randsborg activated their duel disks and began their duel.

Akiza: 4000 LP

Randsborg: 4000 LP

"I shall begin this duel. I play Masked Knight LV 3 in attack mode," Randsborgh declared as a short knight appeared on his field.

Level 3/Light/Warrior

ATK 1500/ DEF 800

"And now I shall activate his special ability. By not attacking this turn, my monster can inflict 400 points of damage to your life points," he explained before his monster fired a beam of light from its helmet at Akiza.

Akiza: 3600 LP

Akiza just stood there silently, not moving a muscle. "And now I activate the spell card Level Up. This card will allow me to send my monster to my graveyard to summon Masked Knight LV 5," Randsborg explained as his monster vanished and was replaced by a taller version of itself.

Level 5/Light/Warrior

ATK 2300/ DEF 1300

"And now I shall use his ability. By giving up his attack, he can inflict 1000 points of damage onto you," he continued as a laser beam came out of his monster's helmet and struck Akiza, who once more neither moved nor spoke.

Akiza: 2600 LP

"I shall place 1 card face-down and end mine turn," Randsborg declared. "My turn. I summon the tuner monster Twilight Rose Knight in attack mode," Akiza declared.

Level 3/Dark/Warrior

ATK 1000/DEF 1000

"And now I activate his special ability, which means I can summon a level 4 or lower plant type monster from my hand, so I summon Revival Rose in defense mode," she explained as three roses with eyes in the center of their flowers appeared on her field.

Level 4/Dark/Plant

ATK 1300/DEF 1300

"And now I tune Twilight Rose Knight with Regenerating Rose, in order to synchro summon Black Rose Dragon!" she shouted as an enormous black dragon appeared on her field. "Yusei, that's the dragon from earlier this week," Alex pointed out. "You're right, which means Randsborg is in trouble," Yusei commented.

Level 7/Fire/Dragon

ATK 2400/ DEF 1800

"And now I use Black Rose Dragon's effect. When this card is summoned, it can destroy every card on the field. Go, Black Rose Gale!" Akiza shouted as a tornado rocked through the arena, clearing away everything on the field. "Now, I place one card face-down and activate the field spell Black Garden. I end my turn with that," she concluded.

"My turn, I draw! And I shall activate the spell card The Warrior Returning Alive. With it, I can bring a warrior monster from my graveyard back to my hand, and I choose my Masked Knight LV 3, who I shall proceed to summon," Randsborg declared, but no sooner had the monster appeared than vines from the field spell wrapped around it.

"What is going on here?" Randsborg asked in confusion. "The power of my Black Garden. When we summon a monster, that monster's attack is cut in half, and then a rose token is summoned to our opponent's field. And by the way, tokens summoned by my garden can't be destroyed in battle," Akiza explained as a large rose appeared on her field.

Level 2/Dark/Plant

ATK 800/DEF 800

"In that case, I shall activate my Knight's special ability. By skipping his battle, 400 points of damage are inflicted onto your life points," Randsborg said as his monster fired an energy blast from its helmet at Akiza.

Akiza: 2200 LP

"But now my Doppelganger trap card activates. With it, whenever I take damage from your monster's special ability, you take the same damage as me," Akiza explained as a gust of wind mixed with rose petals flew from the trap in Randsborg's direction.

Randsborg: 3600 LP

"I shall place 2 cards face-down and end my turn," the knight said. "Then it's my turn, I draw. And I play the equip spell Mark of the Rose. This will let me gain control of your Masked Knight," Akiza explained as a rose symbol appeared on Masked Knight's forehead and he teleported to Akiza's side, kneeling before her. "And now Masked Knight, attack your former master!" she shouted before Masked Knight rushed across the field and slashed Randsborg across the chest.

Randsborg: 2850 LP

"And next I equip Masked Knight with the Vengeful Servant spell card. With this, when he switches control, his new owner takes damage equal to his original attack points. I end my turn, which means Masked Knight returns to your field," Akiza explained before Masked Knight jumped to Randsborg's side and slashed him across his chest again.

Randsborg: 1350 LP

"Before my turn begins, I activate the trap Level Change, so by sending my Masked Knight LV 3 to the graveyard, I can resurrect my Masked Knight LV 5," Randsborg explained as said monster returned to the field and vines wrapped around it, draining half of its attack points and creating a rose token on Akiza's field.

Masked Knight LV 5: 2300-1150 ATK

"It's my turn. I draw. And now my Masked Knight shall evolve to his final stage. I send Masked Knight LV 5 to my graveyard to summon Masked Knight LV 7," he said as a large monster clad in knightly armor appeared on his field.

Masked Knight LV 7: 2900-1450 ATK

"I now equip my monster with Glory Shield, and with it, you cannot activate spells or traps when my monster attacks, and if my monster inflicts damage, one of your spells or traps is destroyed. And now, attack her rose token. Even though your token won't be destroyed, you shall still take damage," Randsborg said as his monster slashed one of Akiza's token with its sword.

Akiza: 1550 LP

"And using the effect of my Glory Shield, your Doppelganger trap card is destroyed. And now that it has been destroyed, I activate my monster's ability, which will deal 1500 points of direct damage to your life points," he continued.

Akiza: 50 LP

"I shall place one card face-down and end my turn," Randsborg concluded, certain he had won the duel. "I draw. And I activate the effect of Black Garden. By destroying it and my rose tokens, I can summon a monster from my graveyard whose attack equals the total attack of my rose tokens, meaning Black Rose Dragon is revived," Akiza explained as her dragon reappeared on the field.

"But since your garden is gone, my Knight's attack points return to their original value," Randsborg pointed out. "Which is why I activate Black Rose Dragon's other effect. By removing a plant type monster in my graveyard from play, your monster's attack points become 0," Akiza explained as Black Rose Dragon's vines glowed purple and wrapped around Randsborg's monster, taking all its power away.

"This cannot be!" Randsborg exclaimed. "Now Black Rose Dragon, attack! Black Rose Flare!" Akiza ordered as her dragon unleashed a stream of black flames from its mouth at Randsborg's monster, sending him flying.

Randsborg: 0 LP

Winner: Akiza

The crowd started booing Akiza, saying she was too dangerous to stay in the tournament. "I feel bad for her, Yusei," Alex admitted as he and Yusei watched on. "Why is that?" Yusei inquired as he turned to his young friend. "Because I understand how she must feel," Alex responded. "What do you mean?" Yusei asked, hoping he wasn't prying too much.

"Before I learned to control my powers, I hurt a lot of people. Everyone but my parents looked at me like I was a monster. If I didn't have them, I'd probably be the same way Akiza is now. I want to help her. No one deserves to be treated this way, especially if it's over something they can't control," Alex said.

"I understand, but there's not much you can do for her," Yusei warned. "Maybe not yet, but that won't stop me from trying when the time comes," Alex responded.