R.I.P. Kazuki Takahashi

Susano-o: Why does Konami have to do the female duelists dirty? Come on guys throw them a bone!

Sekhmet: Look, we all joke that Takahashi couldn't write women, but this is ridiculous. It's also why our protagonist and deuteragonist are always women. Let's get on with this.

Duel 75: Something Went Wrong?

"Alright Mindy, are you ready?" Jasmine said excitedly.

"You bet I am!" Mindy cheered. "Todays the day we prove we deserve to be Blues!"

The two high fived and set off to find opponents. The island was jam packed with people dueling and before long they found someone, a man dressed in a fancy suit wiping the floor with three Ra students at once.

"Oh pardon me Perdante's," He said in an obnoxiously overdone french accent. "-But I'll be taking those medals," He laughed, grabbing the three sad looking Ra's medals.

"He seems cocky," Mindy said. "You want to duel him?"

"Heck yeah," Jasmine smiled. "Hey you!" She yelled to the man.

"Who?" He said turning around. "Oh, a couple of petites filles," He sneered, shooing them off. "Go away, dueling is a man's job."

"...Is this guy serious?" Mindy said honestly, shocked. "Does he even know who the top duelists in the school are?"

"Guess not," Jasmine responded. "Then again I don't know who he is so he's probably new."

The man's eye twitched. "Why you little chiennes, I am Sommelier Parker the Maitre'D!" He yelled. "I am the 8th ranked duelist in the Pro League!"

"Oh interesting," Jasmine said, shrugging.

Maitre'D's eye twitched again. "That's all you have to say?"

"Yeah, I really don't watch the Pro League," Jasmine said. "It's kinda boring."

"Oh you are mauvaise compagnie," Maitre'D said, activating his duel disk. "That's it, time to duel!"

"Ok!" Jasmine smiled. "Let's go!"

"I'll start," Maitre'D said, drawing a card. "I summon 'Bacchus the Dizzy Deity' (1600/1600)," A muscular bearded man dressed in a toga with a chalice and grapes appeared on the field with a drunken laugh. "I'll set two cards and that will be it for me."

"Alright!" Jasmine said, drawing her card. "Oh this is good! I summon 'Mother Grizzly' (1400/1000)!" She excitedly summoned her monster, a deep-blue colored bear. "And now I activate 'A Legendary Ocean', giving my water monsters an extra 200 attack and defense and lowering their level by one." A sunken city appeared behind her and water flooded her side of the field (Mother Grizzly 1400-1600/1000-1200). "Now I'll attack your 'Bacchus'!"

"Not so fast, I activate 'Negate Attack' to stop your attack and end your battle phase!" Maitre'D yelled. A barrier appeared across his field and 'Mother Grizzly' slammed into it full speed.

"Well phooey," Jasmine said, frowning. "I'll set three cards and end my turn."

"And now it's mine!" Maitre'D yelled. "Unfortunately for you 'Bacchus' has a unique puissance, during my standby phases he gains 300 attack points." 'Bacchus' took a sip from his chalice, surrounding him with a red aura that increased his muscle mass (Bacchus 1600-1900/1600). "I'll give him another boost as well with the 'Axe of Despair' (Bacchus 1900-2900/1600). "'Bacchus' attack that bear!"

"I activate my facedown 'Gravity Bind'!" Jasmine yelled, flipping her card up. "Now level 4 and higher monsters can't attack." A grid system covered the field and 'Bacchus' stopped moving.

"Oh cute," Maitre'D snorted. "I end my turn."

"Mine then," Jasmine said, drawing a card. "I summon 'Amphibious Bugroth MK-3' (1500-1700/1300-1500), and I'll use its effect, when 'Umi' is on the field it can attack directly, go!" (Maitre'D LP: 8000-6300). "I'll end my turn there."

"My turn then," Maitre'D snarled. "I'll play 'Divine Chalice' to create a 'Crimson Token' (1000/1000) and sacrifice it and 'Bacchus' to summon 'Big Vintage Magna Mutton' (2500/0)." A giant lion with two giant wine bottles on its back appeared with a roar. "And I'll activate 'Bacchus Banquet' now whenever a level 7 or lower monster you control declares an attack, you take the battle damage I would take instead."

"Aww, that's not fun," Jasmine pouted.

"Dueling isn't supposed to be fun!" Maitre'D yelled.

"I feel like this is a conversation that's happened before," Mindy said, holding her chin. "Oh well," She shrugged.

"Guess it's a pro-duelist thing," Jasmine said. "My turn," Jasmine looked at her hand and smiled. "Oh I think I have the winning formula!" She yelled excitedly. "I summon 'Codarus' (1400-1600/1200-1400), a small light blue sea monster appeared on her field. "And I'll use his special ability, I send 'Umi' to the grave to destroy two cards on your side of the field, your only two it seems," She said giggled . "Now I'll activate 'A Legendary Ocean' again, and then attack with all three of my monsters directly!" (Maitre'D LP: 6300-1400). "I'll end my turn with a facedown."

Maitre'D snarled. "I set two cards and a facedown,then I end my turn."

"And that'll be your last," Jasmine smiled. "I send 'Codarus' to the grave to summon 'Levia-Dragon - Daedalus' (2600/1500), then I send 'Levia-Dragon - Daedalus' to the grave to summon 'Ocean Dragon Lord - Neo-Daedalus' (2900/1600) The smaller sea-serpent quickly evolved to a larger version, before being sucked into a giant vortex and coming out as a twin headed dragon. "And just like the smaller one, by sending 'Umi' to the grave I can use 'Neo-Daedalus's' effect to send all cards on the field and in our hands to the grave, leaving only him left, and he'll attack you directly to end the duel!" (Maitre'D LP: 1400-0).

"Alright!" Mindy yelled excitedly, jumping up and down. "One down!"

"Yeah we're gonna make it to the finals!" Jasmine said high-fiving Mindy. "No one's gonna say we didn't earn our place."

Jasmine took the Maitre'D's medals, ignoring his whines of protest, and the two took off across the island again to find another duelist.

….

"Hey Jasmine look," Mindy said, grabbing her friend's arm. "I think that's Alexis."

Jasmine squinted and sure enough she saw Alexis in the distance finishing up a duel of her own. "Oh yeah it is, Hey Lexi! Over here!"

Alexis turned around, locking eyes with Jasmine, she smiled. "Hey girls," She called back.

"We haven't seen you in so long!" Mindy yelled, grabbing Alexis in a surprise hug. Alexis grunted and gave the other blue an awkward hug back.

"Yeah umm, the whole Society of Light thing kinda messed up our second year, then we had the dorm change, and then the Nightshroud thing," Alexis said uncharacteristically embarrassed.

"Oh yeah that was crazy," Mindy agreed. "We're just lucky we didn't get sucked up into that so we didn't have to transfer dorms," She remembered. "Yeah after that we barely saw each other."

Alexis looked off to the side. "Yeah… sorry about that," She said after a second.

"Oh don't worry about it," Jasmine quickly interrupted. "It's not your fault how things went down, the last two years were unusual."

Mindy nodded. "Yeah, luckily nothing like that has happened this semester!"

⸢Menacing⸥

"What was that?" Jasmine said, confused.

"Don't know," Mindy said, uncaring.

"Anyway," Alexis interrupted. "How about we meet up for lunch, my treat?" She asked, a little appearing on her face.

"Totally!" Mindy smiled. "We'll see you around, I gotta win a duel before lunch!"

"Bye girls," Alexis said smiling.

"Bye Lexi!" Jasmine yelled, waving.

….

It turns out finding another duel today seemed to be like finding a needle in a haystack, people were either unwilling to duel an Obelisk or just didn't want to duel right then. By the time classes and lunch rolled around Mindy flopped down at the little table with her friends pouting.

"Boo," Mindy sighed. "Why won't people duel me?"

"Aww cheer up girl," Jasmine said, patting her friend's back.

"Maybe they won't duel you because it's an easy win." A snide voice commented.

Mindy whipped her head around so fast it should have cracked. "Excuse me?!"

"Don't get angry, it's only the natural assumption." Prince Ojin said with a dismissive shrug. "After all, a lot of your dorm got where they are only because of outside influence. What's to stop them from assuming the same about you?"

"I'll have you know I graduated with top marks from my prep school!" Mindy ground her teeth. "I earned my place in my dorm!"

"Care to prove it?" He sneered.

"I think I would!" Mindy said.

….

"Let's duel!"

"I'll start," Mindy said smiling. "I summon 'Solar Flare Dragon' (1500/1000) and set two cards, and now 'Solar Flare' deals 500 damage to your life points," (Ojin LP: 8000-7500).

"Well then it's my turn," Ojin said. "I activate 'Pot of Greed' to draw two cards, then I play 'Cost Down' this lets me send a card to the grave to reduce the level of one monster by two, like my 'Satellite Cannon' (0/0) and now I activate 'Premature Burial' I'll pay 800 life points to special summon my discarded 'Satellite Cannon' (0/0) from my grave," The two satellites appeared above the two on the field. "Now I'll activate 'Inferno Reckless Summon' to summon my final 'Satellite Cannon' (0/0) from my deck."

"Hey don't forget I get to do a summon as well, now you'll have to deal with three 'Solar Flare Dragons' (1500/1000)."

"Not going to be a problem," Ojin replied. "I activate 'Temple of the Kings' I can now activate a trap card the turn it was set, I set a card and activate it 'Pyro Clock of Destiny' letting me move the turn counter forward by one and giving my cannon's 1000 attack each (Satellite Cannon: 0-1000/0), I'll end it there, and now my cannon's gain another 1000 attack points." (Satellite Cannon: 1000-2000/0).

"My turn then," Mindy said smiling. "I activate 'Wave-Motion Cannon'. This little number gains a counter every standby phase and I can sacrifice it to deal you 1000 points of damage," She explained. "I'll end my turn to deal you 1500 points of damage." (Ojin LP: 7500-6000).

"My turn," Ojin smirked. "I play another 'Pyro Clock of Destiny' (Satellite Cannon: 2000-3000/0) and now I play 'Swords of Concealing Light' to flip all your monsters facedown, now with the addition of 'Fairy Meteor Crush', I attack your facedowns." and deal you 2000 points of damage." (Mindy LP: 8000-6000). "Now my cannon's return to 0 attack points, but I'm not worried." (Satellite Cannon: 0-1000/0)

"Neither am I," Mindy affirmed, (Wave Cannon: 1). "I activate my facedown card, 'Wall of Revealing Light'. I can pay life points to prevent you from attacking with monsters equal to or less than that can't attack, and I'll pay 5000 life points." (Mindy LP: 6000-1000).

"Well now you're even closer to death," Ojin smirked. "When my cannons reach 5000 attack points they'll blow you away."

"It won't get that far," Mindy said back. "I summon 'Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo' (1200/1300) and set a card facedown and end my turn."

"My turn," Ojin said, drawing his card. "And now I have the combo to win, I activate 'Charge'-"

Mindy smiled. "And now I activate 'Last Turn'!" She yelled, flipping up her facedown card.

Ojin looked at the flipped card in shock. "Who plays that card!?"

"Me," Mindy giggled. "Now I pick a monster and all other cards on the field are destroyed, then you special summon a monster and they battle, and I choose 'Pachycephalo'."

Ojin grit his teeth. "His effect means I can't special summon a monster."

"Yep!" Mindy cheered. "And since I'm the only one with a monster remaining, I automatically win!" (Ojin LP: 6000-0).

"Whoo!" Jasmine yelled, hugging Mindy. "Good job girl!"

Mindy skipped over to Ojin. "I'll take my medals please," She smiled.

Ojin snorted, but handed over the medals. "I'm going back to Misgarth," He said walking away.

"We're officially on the board!" Jasmine cheered.

….

"...I feel a disturbance in the force," Rose said as a shiver went up her spine.

"Really? I don't feel any different." Yuko said.

Rose squinted off into the horizon before shrugging, "Must be the squid and chocolate sandwich I pulled out of the cart."

"'At least yours had something in it, mine was baked air. Literally just a pair of warm buns." Yuko said. " Good thing I packed extra snacks."

"Sweet," Rose smiled, grabbing a dumpling. Just as a giant phoenix exploded out of the sky and struck the forest. "GOD DAMN IT!" She screamed, throwing the dumpling on the ground.

"My dumpling!" Yuko cried.