It's been a little past half an hour since Athena and Tiffany said their goodbyes to their new friend Cody Callis in that construction complex area after he and the former went deck-to-deck in a duel, and we would find the girls sitting on a park bench sitting on the edge of a cobblestone strip that ran between some thin greenery and part of the city river to take a small break and collect their thoughts over where to go next, Astral hovering above and a foot or two in front of them.
...But the girl who was officially registered in the WDC, would quickly discover a minor problem regarding the Heart Pieces she has collected thus far in the Duel Monster tournament.
"Auh, crap, you gotta be kidding me! I win my third Heart Piece in this damn competition...and it won't go together with the other two?!"
Gripping the side of her head with a groan of frustration, Athena exclaims,
"Just when things were goin' smooth, it had to get more complicated! Why does the universe have to do these things?!"
Tiffany, who was fixing a small tear in the skirt of her mint green babydoll dress, replies calmly and with a sympathetic frown,
"Unfortunately, I had a funny feeling this might happen, given how many duelists are actually participating. Put that on top of the interchangeable shape of the iconic heart, there's likely gonna be thousands of different combos for the individual Heart Pieces. To be frank, it's lucky the first two you've won are fitting together properly."
Her friend just flopped back onto the bench beside her while throwing her head backwards with a moan, making her long, shaggy black hair tipped copper red bounce some before settling behind the seat...Astral then says to her,
"Not to pile it on, but, Heart Pieces are not the only thing we're here to win, if you'll recall. As you said, our main goal in entering the tournament is to retrieve Number Cards."
Athena glares up at the celestial being with annoyance and retorts,
"Well aware of that fact, thank you! Haaaah...but focusing on two objectives is not as easy as it looks. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't mind finding somebody with a Number Card to duel for, but if I wanna survive to the next day in the preliminaries and keep up the search, I also gotta scope out for Heart Pieces that'll work for my frame."
She then gets up, tugging her dark blue/black checkered, pleated skirt down straight again overtop her onyx skinny jeans, and readjusts her black leather jacket over her bright red tank top.
"Alright, I'm ready to get a move on again. You finished fixing your dress, Tiff?"
Snipping away the excess invisible thread with a pair of tiny sewing scissors, before stowing them into her small travel kit to put back into her casual grey backpack decorated with pink hearts, the girl with black bobbed hair nods before standing herself.
"Yep, all's good. You sure you don't want me to fix the patch on your jeans, though?"
"Nah, it's just the one corner that came undone, nothin' serious..."
...What the girls were unaware of, however, was that an unknown figure situated atop a nearby tall building was getting ready to interrupt the peace with a blast from what appears to a bulky rocket launcher aimed straight at them!
"Target acquired...Goodbye, Athena!"
(Ka-POW, shooooooooom...)
The ammunition goes streaming downward fast in a cloud of smoke and flash fire, which thankfully is not missed by the three beings down below!
"Uh!" "Aaaah!"
"Hit the deck!"
Athena quickly tackles Tiffany to the ground while Astral flew out of the line of fire, leaving the mini rocket to tear through the hard ground in a hearty explosion!
...As soon as the dust and smoke clears, the mystery assassin(?) - which we observe to have a young feminine frame - would see via duel gazer zoom that their bullseye had moved, cursing in a distinctively feminine tone.
"Nuts! Just missed her..."
Cringing slightly from the crash-slide to the concrete and brick, the girl with red irises removes herself from nearly straddling the other to glance behind her with agitation and surprise at the new crater in front of the park bench.
"Wh-Where the hell did that come from?!"
Sitting up, Tiffany asks with fear quivering in her voice,
"Y-Y-You don't think, that, might been...?"
Knowing where her friend's conclusion was heading towards, Athena shook her head immediately with a stifled growl.
"No...it wasn't him, or any of his followers. This would be considered overkill, even for Trilos."
And there's no way that was Kite or his mini-mech, Orbital. They don't fit the assassin-for-hire profile...
So then who dunnit?
She wouldn't have much time to begin wondering, when the mystery attacker tries to land a new hit with her rocket launcher.
"Grrrh, one more time!"
(Ka-POW, Ka-POW, Ka-POW)
Three more mini-rockets are fired, and hearing their approach from the air, Athena quickly narrows down their directional flight before scrambling to her feet and dragging Tiffany away in a sprint from the area.
"C'mon!"
(BOOM, BOOM, BOOM...)
The figure wielding the weapon was getting increasingly frustrated by the lack of immobility from her target of interest.
"Stay still, would ya?!"
Meanwhile, back below, said target tries asking Astral if his view of the current dilemma was any better.
"Astral, you've got a better vantage point; whaddo ya see?!"
"From what I can tell, you are under attack."
"...That's not what I meant! I mean, can you see where the shots are coming from-Agh!"
(BOOM)
She and Tiffany are nearly hit with another blast from above, and she wastes no time in directing a route that would hopefully give the small trio some cover.
"Quick, let's head for downtown!"
"R-Right!"
...Moving back to the roof just as the girls start rushing around a corner of a street, we see the attacker rise to her feet, giving us a better visual appearance.
As mentioned before, her stature suggests her to be quite young, likely around Athena's age group, skin tone falling under a pale peach pigment, orange-red hair cut in a wing-like style with two pieces that hung past her ears, with light magenta dyed into the top of her hair and a round blue hair clip on each side of her head, hawk yellow eyes, and wore an outfit consisting of a pink and white sleeveless shirt that extended past her waist, tight black shorts and boots that matched her top. She also wore a black/salmon red fingerless glove on her right hand that extended past her wrist, while her left arm occupied a black arm band that ran from wrist to near her elbow.
"You can run...but you can't hide; not from my hovercraft!"
Clicking a few buttons on her rocket launcher, the girl transforms the weapon into a transportation vehicle made for the skies, with round fans making up the wings of the craft.
"And we have, lift off! Uh-Uwaaaah!"
Though we would quickly learn that her flight skills are rather clumsy during the first bit of initial takeoff, nearly crashing into the river before struggling to gain altitude...
(BONK)
Which led her to whacking her forehead against the top of a lamppost...Ahem, but once she got the hang of things, the redhead became a pro, kicking off the side of a building to propel herself forward in the direction her 'target of interest' ran off to.
"There is no escape!"
Tiffany darts her head back to see the antagonizer only a couple yards behind her and Athena, prompting her to squeal,
"Aaah, they're right behind us, Addy; what'll we do?!"
As the girl with long black hair tipped copper red tries to come up with a plan, Astral says to her,
"I suggest running faster."
"Speed won't cover it for long!"
We need to throw that, girl's aim off for just a minute or so...Hm?
She then spots a discarded piece of lead pipe on the ground near a pile of recyclables sitting in a corner of an upcoming alleyway.
Aha! That'll work!
Athena darts over to snatch up the scrap metal just as the girl on the hovercraft cannon readies to fire again.
"Now, I've, gotcha!"
(Ka-POW)
"Don't you, WISH!"
(Toss...CLA-BOOM)
"Agh!"
The mini rocket collides with the piece of pipe, causing an explosion of smoke and metal bits mid-air, the impact forcing the young rocket sniper to go tumbling in a backward somersault! Athena wastes no time in grabbing Tiffany's hand to lead on the escape route:
"That move won't buy us alot of time; come on!"
"Whoa!"
The chase would continue for at least another two hours or so, with the pair of BFFs and one celestial being heading everywhere under the sun and then some to try and escape from the mystery assassin, from alleyways to underground sewer lines and even ducking into the local hospital. That last location seemed to be the only place their attacker wouldn't dare follow them into, giving them a small window of time to try and come up with a game plan...Unfortunately, even with the short brainstorm sessions, the redhead proved to be near-impossible to shake off, staying within a good line of fire for her cannon-hovercraft to blast at her targets. It was lucky that the three (seen by most of the planet as two) were able to dodge each mini rocket...
Eventually, we would find Athena and Tiffany climbing up a ladder to the top of a tower shaped like the top half of an hourglass.
"Hah, hah, hah...haaauh, made it."
Pulling herself up straight first, the girl with red irises then turns to grasp the other's hand to tug her up while stating a bit breathlessly,
"There's, no way, that crazy rocket girl's gonna find us, here..."
"I wouldn't be so sure!"
"Gh!"
Whirling on her heel and pushing Tiffany behind her, Athena glares up at the redhead who was now standing above them atop her cannon-hovercraft.
Damn it!
"Any last words, 'cause now's the time fo-Uh-uaaaah!"
(Crash...)
But any intimidation was lost when the mystery teen loses her balance and goes falling to the ground with her weapon/transportation vehicle...
Despite the tension still lingering in the air from this last bit, Athena found herself snickering at the redhead's fumble in athleticism.
"Wow, aren't you coordinated?"
Growling slightly, the girl with hawk-like irises scrambles to her feet and holds out her cannon at ready.
"Quiet! I'm taking you out! You know you have it coming!"
Frowning, the other retorts with her hands on her hips,
"Oh do I? Well you certainly don't look like anyone I know or anyone associated with some bad people I've had the displeasure of getting to know, so how 'bout you elaborate on how I, 'have it coming' as you put it. Are you even sure I'm the person you're looking for?"
"Ha! I'm absolutely sure! I'd never forget you, Athena Fujina!"
Once her duel gazer was pulled off, Tiffany's brain felt familiarity click to the redhead's appearance.
"Huh? Wait...Anna? Anna, is that really you?!"
"Anna? You know her?"
The girl with cornflower blue irises turns to meet with red as she smiles and replies,
"Yeah, Anna Kaboom, from our elementary school class. She transferred out two years ago...You don't remember her?"
...Looking down at the ground, Athena replies almost bitterly,
"Not at all, though it's possible my brain may have been knocked more loosely than initially thought when I got abducted."
"Uh...Addy..."
Only the first three words of that response seemed to fully register to Anna's ears, which would cause her temper to flare.
"So I'm easy to forget?! Is that what you're suggesting, Athena?!"
She then shoves the other girl down and aims her cannon straight for the teen's chest!...Yet that didn't seem to really scare Athena, since she fixed her attention on the redhead's ignorance.
"No, and if you really knew me as you say you do, you should know that I'm still battling trauma from when I got taken two years ago! If we did know eachother, it's possible those memories might've been accidentally erased while I was struggling to put myself back together again!"
...That seemed to be an okay-enough answer for Anna, and she removes the cannon from Athena's chest while thinking to herself with a softer, slightly disbelieving expression,
She, was kidnapped, and, our memories might not be in her head anymore...?
Tiffany coughs in an awkward-felt manner to try and steer the conversation back on topic.
"So, um, why exactly are you after Addy, Anna?"
Said girl replies with a bit of anger returning to her voice,
"I'm after her because I want to get my revenge."
"Revenge?!" "Wha-?!"
"Got that right! (Blush) For what she did to me, or, what she didn't do..."
Athena could only raise her brow with a confused expression:
"I, don't follow."
"Of course you don't, you oblivious girl! Though now I can pin some of it on possible amnesia, you're still the same as ever on this subject!"
"Hey-"
"Oh just shush!"
Looking at how flustered the redhead had now become, Tiffany felt her women's intuition beginning to spark.
Oooh dear, I think I might know what's going on here...
"You...you never noticed me!"
"Noticed you? In what-(...Eyes widen) No...hang on, you don't mean-!"
"I do!...Putting glue on the bottom of your shoes, scribbling notes all over your duel disk, decorating your gym clothes with stickers. I even hid rocks in your Duel Fuel."
Hearing the longing tone in Anna's voice, Athena was steadily getting uncomfortable.
Oh, crap, is she another Jamal case?
"S-So, in other words, you wanted, (gulp) m-me to...return your feelings?"
"Darn right! Can't believe it took you this long...How could you have not known that I was head-over-heels in love with you? That's why I was trying to get your attention...but nothing worked. Then, I had to transfer to another school!"
While Tiffany may have felt bad for Anna and her unrequited love, Athena felt only half her friend's level sympathy while another part of her felt annoyance.
Crap, I was right...God, why do I end up catching the attention of both boys and girls? This is Bianca B. all over again...
Not that I'm against same-sex relations or anything; Love is Love, after all...I just, don't have that attraction; least I don't think.
She snaps out of her thoughts as Anna retells a blast from the past from before she had to move away from the academy district.
"I asked you to meet me after class...I waited and waited, but you never showed up...That's when I made this solemn vow."
Clenching her right fist tight, the redhead then exclaims with fury,
"I'll get you for this, Athenaaaaaaa!"
(Swing, GRASP)
Three gasps would be tossed into the air, directed at the girl who snatched up Anna's fist right before it could reach the ground near her head! Glaring hard at the redhead, Athena then shoves the other backwards so she could get up, not releasing the clenched hand...before suddenly jerking Anna forward so she'd hit the other's chest.
"Uh...!"
Anna felt a heavy blush dust her cheeks from the close contact...
(Swack)
"Oooooowwww!"
But would then be hopping and down from a new aching pain in her wrist previously holding her cannon after Athena snapped a karate chop against the joint, forcing the former to drop her weapon...
Feeling like the odd duck out and off to the side, Tiffany looks over at her BFF cautiously and awkwardly before asking,
"Um, Addy, was that...really necessary?"
"Tch, it was either that, or I could've kicked her hard enough that she'd go tumbling off the tower."
"Addy!"
"What? It's not like I did it or nothin'...But anyway..."
The girl with red irises turns her focus back on Anna as the latter blew some cool air onto her throbbing wrist, turning her own glaring hawk-yellow irises on the former, mini tears of pain threatening to form.
"That, really hurt! Why'd you-"
"Oh spare me your little conniption fit, toots. Worst you'll get is a bit of bruising...Now look: I've already got enough people riding up my ass for payback, and I don't wanna add a scorned woman to the list people's butts I'll be forced to kick. So, how 'bout we settle this little spat with something a bit less violent than both our imaginations?"
Holding her duel disk out, Athena suggests,
"Let's go one-on-one in a Duel."
Tiffany gapes a little in shock, while Anna's mouth curved into a smile of amusement, ignoring the throbbing in her wrist joint completely.
"A Duel, huh?"
"Addy, are you nuts?! Anna's interested in blasting you to smithereens, not Dueling!"
"...Works for me."
The girl with the ebony black bob gape widens further...The redhead then pulls out her own magenta pink duel disk at ready.
"Let's do this! It just so happens, I've always known how much you like Dueling, so I thought you might suggest this!"
Tiffany lets out an exasperated sigh but mutters in relief,
"At least Addy's not in any immediate danger now..."
But her worries would return in full force as soon as Anna suddenly proposed,
"However, if I win our match, then you have to become my girlfriend. That cool?"
...On the inside, Athena panicked slightly from such a suggestion...but on the outside, she remained calm and collected.
"Hmph, well I don't plan on losing, so, whatever."
Tiffany exclaims Athena's name in disbelief from the latter's willingness to agree to such a deal...And as for Astral, he felt as if something unpleasant had sunk into his chest from both the boastful proposal and nonchalant agreement, and his left hand curled into a tight fist to try and help curb this new emotion.
...What is this feeling? It, feels similar to that emotion that rose during Athena's duel with Caden...only stronger.
He snaps his mismatching white and gold irises on Anna as she exclaims,
"Alright, then let's get started!"
And as he watched both girls ready their dueling equipment, a mild glaring frown formed on the celestial being's face when he decides,
Whatever this feeling means, one thing is certain...I do not like this Anna person one bit.
Augmented Reality Vision Link Established.
"(Both Duelists) Now let's Duel!"
To assist him in quelling the emotions churning within, Astral's thoughts then turn to what was driving this latest duel.
"Human Love is such a peculiar thing...(shakes head) and packs such serious fire power."
Anna would be taking the first move:
"I'll be going first, if ya don't mind! Here I go; I~ Draw! For my first move, I'm summoning Rocket Arrow Express!"
A water-like ripple billows over the atmosphere behind the redhead, before a large locomotive fit with a rocket ship on top comes speeding down train tracks to the field, Level Ten and with 5000 Attack Points! Athena and Astral were quite surprised to see a high-grade monster this quickly into the match, the former more so than the latter.
"What the hell?!"
"How is Anna able to summon such a strong monster on her first move?"
Said girl explains the conditions attached to her play:
"This card can only be summoned when I have no other cards on my field, so since my field was empty, voila~! However, to keep this card out here, I'll have to send five cards in my hand to the Graveyard each turn."
Athena's eyes widen in disbelief:
"What?! You'd give up your entire hand for one monster?!...God, and people say I'm reckless..."
"However, I can't attack on the turn Rocket Arrow Express was summoned, and when it's on the field, I can't put any other card face-down, so...I end my turn! You're up, Athena, so bring it on!"
Said girl with the fiery red irises curves her lips into her usual confident smirk.
"Ha, gladly. I Draw!"
"Athena!"
"Hm?"
She pauses for a moment after swiping up her next card to listen as Astral warns,
"Rocket Arrow is too powerful to attack this turn."
"Hm, right...In which case, I'll just get everything ready for the next one...I place one monster face-down in Defense Mode, and follow that with another card also face-down! That's it; your move, Anna!"
Said redhead makes a sound of annoyance at the other holding back, but shrugs it off with a smile.
"Playing hard to get, are ya? I'll fix that. I Draw! I choose to discard zero cards, which means Rocket Arrow's wrecked."
On that note, the massive locomotive explodes to bits right behind her, much to Astral's mild surprise.
"Oh my..."
"Next I'll place five cards face-down, and end my turn."
Athena made the 'hah?' expression and mutters aloud,
"...Okay, now, ya lost me: You allowed the destruction of a massively-powerful monster, leaving yourself wide-open for a direct attack, then placed almost all of your hand on the field?"
Meanwhile, the celestial being comments more to himself,
"I guess Love does work in mysterious ways..."
"Now come on, Athena, and give me your very best shot!"
Tousling her shaggy black hair tipped copper red back and forth in a head shake that read as 'Unbelievable...', said girl obliges Anna.
"Alright, but you're only making the end of this duel come faster...I Draw! First, I summon Gogogo Giant!"
The Level Four lanky golem titan with 2000 Attack Points drops to the field...
"Now, Gogogo Giant, attack Anna directly!"
"Wait, Athena, what about the five face-down cards?!"
"Those were all placed down in a haste, Astral; no way she actually has a plan for them!"
The redhead would quickly prove her opponent wrong:
"I destroy all face-down cards on my field! Go on, get lost!"
"What?!"
"See, what'd I tell ya-huh?!"
"Next, I'm gonna summon to the field, Snow Plow Hustle Russel! I'm allowed to summon it when you attack me directly, simply by destroying all the Spell and Traps Cards on my field...But enough talk: Let's just plow ahead!"
The next train-themed monster to come rolling down the tracks onto the battlefield would have a shovel attachment at the front, and was another high Level Ten, but with 2500 Attack Points. Athena curses,
"Damn, that plow train's got 500 over my golem...Gogogo Giant: Refrain from attacking!"
"Oh-hoh, you're not getting off that easy, Athena~. Snow Plow Hustle Russel, I'm activating your special ability! Now, you take 200 Points of Damage for every Spell or Trap Card I destroyed in order to summon it!"
"200 times 5...Shit, 1000 points of damage!"
The train 'plows' through all five of the cards to gather power, before sending a swirling snowstorm towards Athena, who flinches back from the bitter cold as her Life Points drop to 3000! Tiffany calls out her friend's name with worry, while Anna felt pumped that she took a good quarter out of her opponent's total.
"1000 down, and 3000 points to go!"
Growling slightly, Athena's red irises narrow in anger as she grumbles,
"Guess I'll have to give the girl some credit. She's not an idiot..."
Astral nodded in agreement with the thought:
"That does seem to be the case..."
And the redhead with hawk-yellow irises continued to boast:
"Yes! I'm so gonna win this, and soon you'll be mine, so let's hurry and finish this!"
Once again, that strange ache pulsated within the blue-skinned being's chest from the sure tone in Anna's voice, making him scrunch his face with a hand hovering over his heart in confusion.
There it is again...I know I have heard of the term for this feeling...
Uh! Now I remember.
(Flash)
He recalls a moment back during a normal lunch period at the Heartland Dueling Academy when he was actually out and about from inside the key, when the big group of friends decided to sit out in the front courtyard to eat and chat while catching a few glimpses of their fellow students engaging in a few friendly duels...
"Athena?"
Swallowing a bite of her bento, said girl dressed in the modified school uniform looks up and asks back,
"Yes?"
"Why is Jamal glaring at Caswell like that?"
"Hm?"
Glancing over where Astral was pointing, she sees her dark-skinned friend with the medium-short dreadlocks casting narrowed aqua irises with an envious pout over at the other boy with the bowl-cut blue hair and pear green eyes, the latter currently surrounded by about four girls in their year group who were practically cooing over him while holding their own duel disks to him, he blushing modestly with a smile as he took each one to look over...
"Heh, oh that? Nothing more than a classic case of jealousy."
"Jealousy?"
"Yeah. It's when you're envious over someone else's accomplishments, like right now, Jamal's a bit jealous of Caswell for getting attention from some girls (and over homework of all things...). But, it can also refer to when you're feeling suspicious or distrusting to someone you feel is interfering with a relationship you have with someone you're close with."
"Interesting...Is, that why Tiffany sometimes acts abnormal around Caden when he speaks with you?"
Athena rose a brow, before replying uncertainly,
"Uh, I guess. I don't really notice it much, to be honest...I mean of course, being jealous is, usually stereotypical to romantic relationships or pining over a crush, but that doesn't stand true in general. Friends, Family, Couples, Total Strangers...Anyone has the capacity to be jealous."
(Flash)
Is that it then? Am I, jealous of Anna?...But why?
Is it because of her desire to have Athena as her, girl-friend? If so, why does that seem to bother me so greatly?
"...Astral?"
"Uh!"
He snaps out of his mental pondering upon hearing his name being called, and looks over to his right to see one of the girls on his mind looking at him with confusion written on her face.
"Somethin' wrong? You were spacing out."
"Uhm...(Shakes head) No, it was nothing important..."
Getting back on track with the duel, he hovers a bit closer to her side and advises,
"You must be careful, Athena: I have a hunch that Anna is planning something big."
Though still slightly puzzled by the pause of attention, Athena shrugs it off for another time and just nodded.
"Yeah...which means we're gonna have to put our brains together to come up with a counter."
Holding a fist over her heart, Tiffany prays for her friend's victory.
Please, whoever is listening: Please guide Addy to the Winner Circle...
Anna brings attention back on the action:
"Moving on! My Draw! And...hm~...It's just the card I wanted! Go, Special Schedule!"
A railway stoplight appears on the field, and it switches from red to green...
"Thanks to this Spell Card, I have the green light to summon one machine-type monster with 3000 or more Attack Points from my Graveyard in Defense Mode! So all aboard, 'cause Rocket Arrow Express is now back!"
Though the monster was now currently displaying zero points of defense, seeing the return of that high-level train made Athena and Astral a little uneasy.
"Hooooh crap..."
"Two Level Ten Monsters; this is not good...!"
"I know in years past, I could never get your attention...but I have a hunch, this next move will! I know Overlay Level Ten Rocket Arrow and Hustle Russel!"
The two contrasting-designed trains transform into twin orange streams of light, and barrel into the red vortex opening in front of Anna.
"And with this Overlay Network, I can now summon, an XYZ Monster! Appear, Superdreadnought Rail Cannon!"
This Rank Ten XYZ Monster was definitely on the towering side, made with two train engines making up the feet of the machine, while the rest was a bulk of giant brickwork likely biding their time to shift into a mass piece of weaponry, carrying an imposing 3000 Attack Points!
"Now that's a real railroader!" Astral exclaims after Athena,
"So this is what she's been angling for!"
Anna would not spare a detail about what this monster was capable of:
"And the best part of this choo-choo is the change it undergoes when I activate its ability!"
An Overlay Unit goes flying to crash its power over the monster...
"But don't take my word for it, see for yourself! Once per turn, by using one Overlay Unit, you take 2000 Points of Damage!"
The bricks move themselves out of the way so that a telescopic-like cannon was pointing outward straight at the waiting target, namely, Athena.
"(Wince) If was actually able to feel physical pain, I'd know this next blast is definitely gonna hurt..."
"Now, Superdreadnought, unload on Athena! Go, Cataclysmic Cannon Kablooie!"
The cannon unleashes a powerful laser beam, its power colliding right against the red-eyed girl's body, causing her to go flying backwards with an outcry as her Life Points took a nose-dive down to 1000! Tiffany cringes back with her hands over her head in worry:
"Ooooh no...!"
Anna of course, was ecstatic that she landed another devastating hit to her opponent.
"Yeah, yippee! I'm winning, I'm winning, I'm winning! You're just 1000 Points away from losing, Athena, and once you've lost, you know what that means~! For the rest of your life, you're all mine! So whadda ya say, gorgeous? Let's make that dream come true! Go, Superdreadnought: Attack Gogogo Giant and win this duel for me!"
The massive cannon-train began rolling forward with the intent on mowing down the golem...
"Look out, Addy!"
"I've got it, Tiff! I now play, Overlay Buster! Now my monster gains 500 Attack Points until the end of this battle!"
With 2500 Attack Points, the golem's sacrifice would not be in vain, and allowed her to keep going in the duel with 500 Life Points...
"Clever move, Athena. So you survive this turn. But I promise, you won't survive the next one."
Moving to steady herself onto one knee, said girl mutters to herself with a grit in her teeth,
"Much as I hate to say it, she might not be wrong. Unless I can figure out a way to knock that behemoth off the rail line, I'm gonna be run down by either its Attack Points or its special ability...What to do, what to do..."
"There is a way to prevail over Superdreadnought."
Athena flinches back slightly in a jolt as Astral appeared suddenly from above and upside-down.
"Yipe! Geez, I thought we had a talk about you not doin' that...But what are you proposing? Please, tell me what I need to do."
"I cannot just blurt it out. (Starts floating back) At least not without a proper drum roll..."
"Huh? Drum roll?...Ooh! I gotcha!"
Slapping her palms on the ground, the girl with long black hair tipped copper red propels herself upward in a flip, feeling ready to make a comeback.
"This duel ain't over 'til the AR Lady sings! I Draw! First, I summon Zubaba Knight!"
Said Level Three warrior comes spinning onto the field at ready.
"Zubabaaaa Knight!"
"And after him, comes Rai Rider!"
The monster motorist speeds onto the field with an engine roar...
"Then, I Overlay both my Level Threes to XYZ Summon! Cue drum roll..."
The summoned Rank Three monster plays their rift, before emerging as a little elf-like being wearing a rimmed red hat that protruded horns, covering his short blue hair, the rest of his outfit coloured in a way that reminded you of the circus, big golden irises, and was wielding a very large drum set comprised of three snares and two basses!
"Welcome to the field, Tem-Tempo the Percussion Jinn!"
Anna scoffs amusingly and smugly at the difference of strength between the jinn and her train.
"Ha! He's only got 1000 Defense Points!"
"Perhaps, but I'd focus your worries on his special ability if I were you. See, when my Tem-Tempo uses an Overlay Unit, your XYZ Monster loses all of theirs."
"It does what?!"
"You heard me. And for every Overlay Unit sent to the Graveyard, Tem-Tempo gains 500 Attack Points."
The little jinn happily plays another solo as his Attack Points rose from 1700 to 2200...
"Now Superdreadnought's special ability's out of commission."
Astral notes,
"Correct, and since Tem-Tempo is in Defense Mode, we will not take battle damage either."
"Mhm...I end my turn with two face-downs! Your move, Anna, (devious smirk) if you dare."
Scowling and clenching her fist, the redhead barks back,
"You're not going to beat me! Make all the moves you please, Athena, but I'm going to win you yet!"
She swipes up her next card:
"It's my turn, I Draw! And first up, I'm activating the Spell known as Train Connection! Now, by banishing two Level Eight or above machine-type monsters from my Graveyard, I can equip Train Connection on a machine-type monster, and double its Attack Points so I can really stay on track!"
So with that done, Superdreadnought Rail Cannon now had Rocket Arrow Express and Snow Plow Hustle Russel attached for the 'feet', their power rising to an even higher 6000 Attack Points, much to Athena's dismay.
"Aw come on, really?! That's just out of bounds, man!"
"And I do not believe she is even done yet..."
How right Astral was:
"And I've got more news! Due to Train Connection's effect, when the equipped monster attacks another monster in Defense Mode, and the Attack Points are greater then your monster's Defense Points, the difference is dealt to you as damage!"
"Guh! So that'll mean 5000 points of damage heading my way if your attack connects!...Doesn't this count as overkill?"
"When you duel for and from the heart, nothing is over the top! Anyway, this duel's over and you're mine, sweetie!"
Athena cringes back from the nicknamed address, and seeing her expression, Anna inquires teasingly,
"Aw, come on, don't tell me you're gonna cry like that time before!"
"Huh? Time before?"
"Oh you remember: When I took your card and held it away from you up in that tree near the playground?...I was just playing around with ya, but then you started tearing up. Who knew you were that afraid of heights?"
An expression of realization started spreading onto Tiffany's face from the description of the event in question.
"Wait a minute..."
Could, she be talking about...
Athena, meanwhile, tilted her head to the side in major befuddlement.
"What? But, I don't recall ever feeling anxious about high altitudes..."
"Well ya were back then!"
She stubbornly retorts back to Anna,
"No, pretty sure I wasn't! At best, I was a little scared of the dark, but that's it!"
"Guess I'll just have to jog your memory, by knocking some sense into you! You're going down!"
Astral remarks,
"That is not a good thing to hear...not while you have a mere 500 points of Life remaining."
Athena grumbles,
"I'm just going to ignore your negativity..."
"Then again, if you had the right face-down cards, that could be great news."
"...Okay, that there: That, is helpful."
Pointing a victorious digit forward, Anna proclaims with a smirk,
"This is it, Athena! You're all mine! Go, Superdreadnought: Attack Tem-Tempo!"
Tiffany exclaims,
"Ooooh, this is gonna be bad...!"
"Smash that little drummer boy!" Athena counters,
"The only smashing to be made is by Tem-Tempo and his awesome beat! I play the Trap, Gamushara! This card allows me to switch my monster from Defense to Offense!"
"Only 2200 Attack Points? Come on, you know that's not enough to beat Superdreadnought!"
The smirk on the girl with long, shaggy black hair tipped copper red does not waver.
"Teh, that's just part one, toots. My next play, is another Trap, Mirror Mail! Now my Jinn's Attack Points increase to the same total as your Rail Cannon's!"
At that, the drummer grows to become the same size as the colossal train, their Attack Points matching at 6000! Tiffany cheers,
"Alright, Addy!"
Both monster attacks collide, causing a mass explosion that takes both of them out, leaving their wielders to shield themselves from impact...Anna was shocked that her signature XYZ had been defeated:
"No way...!"
But that was the least of her problems, once she spots the Trap Card still face-up on Athena's field, said girl occupying a knowing sneer.
"And here's where part two of Gamushara activates: Because your monster went kaboom, you take damage equal to their Attack Points, so here's 6000 points of damage comin' your way!"
A copy of Superdreadnought's long-barreled cannon manifests on the surface of the trap card...
"Auh! Uh oh!"
"Fire away, Gamushara, and show Anna how it feels to be under the bullseye!"
(...Ka-POW)
"Aaaaaaaaah-aaah-aaaaaaaaaah!"
Anna is blasted backwards hard, all of her Life Points completely obliterated in one shot, thereby making Athena the winner of this Duel Monster match...Said girl with red irises bends forward with an expel of breath, muttering as the AR World faded away,
"Haaaauh, glad that's over..."
Tiffany also sighs with a relieved smile, while the redhead cringes as she rose to a sitting position and pulled off her duel gazer, upset that she wasn't able to get the win in more ways than one.
"No way...I lost...But hoooooooow?!"
"You wanna know how? I can sum it up easy for ya."
She looks up to see Athena stopping in front of her with a scolding frown, Tiffany and Astral joining either side.
"You became way too cocky of your cannon fire and lost sight of your strategy before it backfired on ya."
Anna growls in frustration, and the other girl added,
"In fact, it would've saved us both a headache if you just asked for a frank conversation instead of goin' about this crazy scheme."
All the redhead could do in response was wail over her failure, beating a fist on the ground in anger and sadness...
"Um, I realize this may not be the best time to pry..."
Anna darts her head up to glare her hawk-like irises at Tiffany, who flinches slightly before asking with an awkward smile,
"A-Anyway, wasn't the girl you had a big crush on named, Alana Farina, and not, Athena Fujina?"
...
...
...
A look of surprised realization spreads onto the redhead's face, and Athena folds her arms with an inquisitive frown while thinking aloud,
"Alana, Farina?...Oh, right, I remember her! She was that weepy girl who was practically afraid of her own shadow, let alone heights."
Within Anna's mind...she finally recalls her true crush's appearance from elementary school, they being a young lady with long slate brown hair and teary dark brown irises, who usually wore a light orange babydoll dress with matching Mary Jane shoes and white tights...
"Ah!...Huh?"
She then sees the other two girls looking at her weirdly, and she darts to her feet with a huff and slightly embarrassed blush.
"W-Well, it's your fault that your name had a similar ring! I hope you've learned your lesson..."
Hopping onto her weaponized hovercraft, Anna prepares to leave the area...but not before Athena inquires,
"Hey, before you go, question: Are you participating in the World Duel Carnival?"
"Huh? World Duel Carnival? (Shakes head) Not me."
With that, the girl with bird-of-prey yellow irises flies off, leaving the other with red irises to curse under her breath,
"Damn, what a bust. I was hoping to have gotten something out of that fiasco other than a migraine..."
Tiffany folds her hands behind her back with a smile:
"I had a feeling something was off...Not that this wasn't the first time a girl tried to requite their feelings for you. I mean, if we recall the Bianca B. Incident-"
Athena quickly slaps one of her palms over the other girl's mouth, a rare mortified expression forming on her face.
"Ah-dh-dh-dh! Don't...say it! I don't wanna remember that!"
Tiffany just lets out muffled giggle, while Astral comments to himself almost reluctantly,
"I suppose it is a, bit, of a shame to see Anna go...After all, those who duel for Love, duel with great passion."
...Speaking of, we quickly catch up with the redhead aboard her Hovercraft, as she mumbles Athena's full name to herself with a little smile...which would quickly be replaced with a frown of fruitless fury when her absentmindedness causes her to smack her forehead against the underside of a bridging highway.
"Gah!...Rrrrr, I blame you for that, Athena Fujina, and I will get my revenge!"