I don't usually respond to guest reviews as I am unable to do so in a manner that maintains the privacy of the reviewers and anything I discuss with them. That said, I always read all reviews, and a recent guest reviewer going by Synchron Fan left a stupendously thoughtful and in-depth review on the last chapter. I would love to respond in detail via PMs, but as that is not possible at the moment, I still wanted to say "Thank you, Synchron Fan! I am thrilled you are enjoying the story so far and I hope you enjoy what's still to come even more! :) ". And thank you too to all of you who take the time to read and review this story.

"Hey, partner! You doing okay?" Yang asked Blake as she and Sun returned from her locker room. "Goodwitch doesn't usually go that hard on people. Not even Jaune."

"I'll live," Blake mused, reuniting with the others in the stands as they watched Ruby and Penny, of all people, march into the arena and step onto the dueling dias. "So, the 'Goddess of Notetaking' is Ruby's proctor?"

"The goddess of what?" Pyrrha inquired.

"Long story short, it takes a lot to get the Ice Queen to praise someone's notes," Yang chuckled.

"No, it doesn't. You heathens just have no desire to go beyond chicken scratch," Weiss grumbled, though her eyes were locked on Penny as several mechanical swords on strings launched out of the redheaded girl's backpack and formed into a complex duel vest in front of her. The heiress actually fanned herself at the sight. "Though she is certainly… impressive."

Yang flashed her a shit-eating grin. "Really? Is that the word you were thinking?"

"What other one would fit?" Sun queried, excitedly clutching the stands' rail as Ruby deployed her Crescent Rose duel disk. "I mean as good as everyone says she is?"

Blake shrugged. "I mean, she is one of the Exchange Program Students."

Sun scoffed. "As if that wasn't the least of it."

Yang quirked an eyebrow, the entire group turning to Sun. The monkey faunus' tail idly swung behind him before he realized that everyone was staring at him.

"What?" he asked.

Weiss twirled her hand. "Are you going to elaborate?"

"Elaborate–you guys haven't heard?" Sun inquired, glancing at Weiss in surprise. "You haven't heard anything from anybody in Atlas?"

Weiss pouted and growled. "What old acquaintances I have aren't exactly from circles I care to keep in contact with."

"Ah, gotcha, sorry," Sun replied.

"So what's the big deal about her?" Nora asked, jabbing a finger down at Penny. "I mean, besides being able to keep up Professor Oobleck's lectures."

"She's an Exchange Program student," Pyrrha reiterated. "So she's at least the strongest first-year student in Atlas."

"Or at least the strongest one that wanted to do the program," Yang pointed out. "I think Mercury mentioned there's a stronger Haven first-year than him."

"If there is, I haven't seen them. Granted, I don't remember seeing him around before I got here," Sun shrugged. "But according to the upper-year guys that did the Exchange Program, Penny is just flat-out the strongest duelist in Atlas Academy."

Blake's bow twitched atop her head, her amber eyes narrowing in surprise. "So she's like Team CFVY? Or Pyrrha?"

"Basically. Apparently, she's got some new monster type called Cyberse and a new summoning technique called 'Link Summoning'," Sun said. "Ever since the rest of the Atlas students got here today, all I've been hearing is that she's the second coming of 'The Kaiserin'."

Weiss' body snapped ramrod straight, her face turning even more pale than usual.

"Kaiserin?" Pyrrha muttered, turning to the SDC heiress. "Isn't that your sister's title?"

"Granted to her when she became the first freshman in over a decade to win the Vytal Festival. The first to ever do so while losing less than two thousand life points throughout all her duels," Weiss mumbled, staring down at Penny with a mix of awe and inferiority. "If she's so strong that people are comparing her to Winter at our age… Ruby doesn't stand a chance, even if she isn't using her Extra Deck."

Pyrrha's emerald eyes drifted down to the redheaded Atlas girl, the Invincible Girl's gaze now tinged with curiosity for the talked-up duelist.

Yang scoffed. "I think you're forgetting just how crafty Ruby can be, Weiss. Effect damage, battle position shifting, Black Rose nuking the field, her specialty is cutting powerful duelists off at the knees and blowing them to bits before they know what hit them. Unless these 'Link Monsters' are a bunch of God Cards, I'd say this match can still go either way."

"We're about to find out," Blake remarked, the arena's hardlight barrier flaring to life. "One way or the other."

"Duelist Ruby Rose!" Professor Goodwitch shouted from below. "Are you ready?"

"Definitely!" Ruby excitedly cheered. "Penny, are you sure you're okay with our little side bet?"

"Affirmative," Penny nodded, her hi-tech duel vest finishing her deck's shuffle. "If you win, I will teach you what you wish to know."

Ren cocked an eyebrow. "Side bet?"

Weiss scowled. "Knowing Ruby, she probably heard those Link Monster rumors and wants to learn how to summon them. Nevermind she's already trying to figure out Fusion."

Yang chuckled. "Sounds like Ruby. Don't suppose you'll be able to give her any tips? On the Links I mean."

"The SDC was involved in their production, but it was all extremely hush-hush. Some top secret military project," Weiss shrugged. "Even with all my connections, I could never get any details."

Nora sported a wide grin. "We're about to see plenty of them now."

"Ms. Rose, Ms. Polendina?" Glynda said. "Will this side bet affect either of your ability to fulfill your duty in this match?"

"Nope!" Ruby happily declared.

"Negative," Penny chorused simultaneously.

"Then let the Promotion Exam begin!" the deputy headmistress proclaimed. "Duel!"

Ruby Rose: 4000 Life Points

Penny Polendina: 4000 Life Points

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"I'll start! I activate Graceful Charity!" Ruby announced, barely able to keep from bouncing with excitement as she drew three cards and discarded her Rose Lover and Glow-Up Bulb.

The side bet was confirmed! All she had to do was win and not only would Team RWBY be an all-blue team, but she would have an awesome mentor to teach her Fusion Summoning! No need for Blake to work through her emotional issues that Ruby didn't know how to help her with!

And as she looked over her hand, the hooded Slifer Red's mouth split with blinding excitement. This was definitely a start she could work with.

"I activate Seed Cannon! Then, I normal summon Twilight Rose Knight!" she shouted, her giant spiked cactus plopping out beside her while her black and red-armored knight (ATK 1000/DEF 1000) manifested in front of her. "And when it comes out, I can special summon a Level Four or lower Plant-type–"

"I activate Infinite Impermanence!" Penny injected, slipping a card from her hand into her Floating Array duel vest. The image of a pink-bordered trap card formed in front of her as sapphire sparks crackled over Twilight Rose Knight. "This card targets one monster on your field and negates its effects until the end of this turn."

"Wait, what?" Ruby squeaked. "But that's a trap card!"

"Yes, it is. But Infinite Impermanence can be activated from my hand as long as I control no other cards," Penny explained. "It's a new support card I designed for the next age of dueling."

"Cool!" Ruby squeezed. She knew about a few trap cards that could be activated from the hand, like Coco's Harpie's Feather Storm, but they all required some other kind already being on the field to help them overcome their inherent nature as traps that needed to be laid facedown for a turn first. To think that Penny had actually created one that could be activated from the hand right away.

And she'd used it flawlessly, neutralizing the Slifer Red's combo starter as soon as it hit the field. That kind of skill could be a big problem.

At least, if Ruby didn't already have a workaround.

"I activate Seed of Deception!" she declared, slipping her spell into Crescent Rose. "Now, I can special summon a Level Two or lower Plant-Type from my hand to the field. And I pick Evil Thorn!"

"Oh! That is an exceptional backup plan," Penny complimented, Ruby's droopy flower with its spiky bulb (ATK 100/DEF 300) sprouting onto the field, Seed Cannon bloating up behind it. "You can continue the pace of your turn while also forcing me to reduce my starting hand to four for my own turn."

"She didn't know Infinite Impermanence existed before now!" Weiss pointed out from the stands.

Ruby nervously chuckled. "Yeah, it was more coincidence than anything. But this isn't! I activate Evil Thorn's effect! I tribute it, and it's three hundred points of damage to you and as many other Evil Thorns as possible from my deck!"

Evil Thorn's blackened bulb exploded, its spikes shooting across the field. Penny nonchalantly ducked her head to the side, her smile never leaving her face as the sharp spines blew passed her.

Penny Polendina: 3700 Life Points

Ruby had already popped open her Extra Deck by the time the two new Evil Thorns appeared on her field. "I tune Level Three Twilight Rose Knight with my two Level One Evil Thorns! Synchro Summon! Garden Rose Maiden!"

Ruby could feel strength rushing through her as her Twilight Rose Knight broke into a trio of emerald tuner rings, her smaller plants each becoming a twinkling star as they formed up in a practiced line. One semester at Beacon, and the Synchro Summoning that had nearly exhausted her during her first duel with Torchwick was now easy as pie even without a focusing incantation, her alabaster maiden (ATK 1600/DEF 2400) arriving in a flash of elegance and flair as smooth as any of Weiss' summons.

"Alright, Ruby!" Yang cheered from the stands. "You get her, sis!"

Ruby preened as her Synchro Monster's effect allowed her to snatch Black Garden from her deck to her hand. Her big sister had had her back for years, but it never stopped feeling great. Admittedly less so when the suffocating bear hugs were involved, but the thought was still appreciated.

"I activate the effect of Glow-Up Bulb in my graveyard," Ruby proclaimed, flipping the top card of her deck, Roxrose Dragon, into her graveyard. A tiny flower with an eye in its roots (ATK 100/DEF 100) burst out from a clod of dirt right afterward. "I send the top card of my deck to the graveyard, and it revives."

"Then another Synchro Summon is likely imminent," Penny noted. "Will you be bringing out Splendid Rose or Queen of Thorns?"

Ruby blinked. "How do you know about those two?"

"I studied your previous duels in the school's records in preparation for this match," Penny peppily informed her. "You wanted me to go all-out against you. That does not restrict itself to using my Extra Deck."

"Go all-out–you dolt!" Weiss shrieked from the bleachers. "What are you thinking?! Asking a duelist on Winter's level to go all-out–"

"Okay, Ice Queen, calm down," Yang cut off, gently patting the heiress' head as she pulled her back from the railing.

"You doltish dolt that dolts all over your dolting dolt!"

Ruby glanced up her cursing (?) partner for a moment, before shrugging and grinning back at Penny. She'd seen the rest of her friends cringe when they heard about what she'd asked of her opponent, but really, she was going up against the creator of a brand-new summoning type! How could they expect her to duel against when she couldn't use them?

"I tune Glow-Up Bulb with my Garden Rose Maiden!" she yelled, her eye-infused bulb shifting into a tuner ring to receive her Synchro Monster's five twinkling stars, a pillar of light flashing through them. "Synchro Summon! Queen of Thorns!"

An elegant lady in a resplendent gown of flowers and vines (ATK 2200/DEF 1800) bloomed in Ruby's Extra Monster Zone.

"Now both of us must pay one thousand life points if we wish to summon a monster from our hands that is not a Plant-Type," Penny analyzed, her bright green eyes darting towards Seed Cannon, which had only grown larger with each of Ruby's plant summonings. "An effective floodgate."

"Don't think I'm done yet!" Ruby warned, sliding a spell card into her duel disk. "I activate Pot of Avarice! I return five monsters from my graveyard to my deck, and draw two cards."

The three Evil Thorns, Glow-Up Bulb, and Twilight Rose Knight piled out of her graveyard slot and were swiftly shuffled into her deck. Ruby grinned at the sight of the two cards she pulled.

"I lay one card facedown. Then I banish Rose Lover from my graveyard to activate its effect, letting me special summon a Plant-Type from my hand," the hooded Slifer Red exclaimed, flipping around a Level Eight monster in her hand. "I choose Chirubime, Princess of Autumn Leaves! In attack mode!"

An enormous flower made up of warm-colored leaves blossomed onto her field. From within its petals, radiant woman with a headdress of autumn plumage preened, looking down upon the rest of the field with gracious compassion (ATK 1800/DEF 2800). Even compared to the elegance that was Queen of Thorns, this new Level Eight monster was a vision to behold.

"Ooo, your monster is very pretty, Ruby," Penny complimented. "Any further moves?"

"Two. First I activate Black Garden!" Ruby smirked, slamming her field spell into Crscent Rose's popped-out slot. Her duel disk whirred its warning lights as her aura was reflected into a thorny cage of vines filling the borders of the hardlight dust barrier. "I've summoned more than five Plant-Types this turn. That means my Seed Cannon has its maximum five counters. And at five hundred points of damage per counter, well, I know you can do the math."

"I can!" Penny chipperly confirmed.

"Then Seed Cannon, fire!" Ruby commanded, throwing her arm forward as her massive bloated cactus exploded. Spines the size of duel runner screeched across the field, Penny throwing her arms in front of her, unable to dodge a bombardment of such size and volume.

Penny Polendina: 1200 Life Points

"I end my turn!" Ruby announced, the smoke clearing to reveal her procter. The redheaded girl's aura crackled, but she flashed a beaming smile.

"Sensational!" Penny praised. "Depleting over half of your opponent's life points on your first turn without even attacking! A brilliant opening to the duel!"

"Aw, shucks," Ruby blushed, embarrassedly rubbing the back of her head. "What can I say? My deck's firing on all cylinders."

"No, it is more than that. You so easily overcame my Infinite Impermanence to deal damage, and set up a capable defensive triad of Queen of Thorns, the Princess of Autumn Leaves, and your Black Garden," Penny continued, shooting the silver-eyed girl a huge thumbs-up. "I am proud to call you my friend, Ruby!"

Ruby's face reddened further. She couldn't remember getting so much overflowing, earnest praise from a current opponent since she was a kid and Yang and dad cooed every time she played a card. "Oh, stop Penny. You're making it sound like you don't have a chance in this duel."

"I am? My apologies, it was not my intention to mislead you," Penny said. "I am more than likely going to defeat you in this duel."

The silver-eyed Slifer Red's lips puckered. "Huh?"

"To be more precise, based on your current field and my analysis of your past duel data and deck lists, you have approximately a two-point-one-four percent chance of winning this duel," Penny elaborated. "Three-point-zero-seven percent if you've learned to summon that dragon you showed me before."

Ruby numbly blinked, taking a moment to process the blunt declaration of her odds while she had more than double her procter's life points and a field built for defense, plus her facedown trap that Penny didn't know about. Surely she couldn't have factored that last one into her calculations, right?

But then again, even if no one else watching the duel knew, the Atlas girl was the 'first-ever artificial intelligence capable of free will and generating an aura'. Maybe she had.

The thought only made an excited smirk beam brighter across Ruby's lips.

"Then show me what you've got."

"As you wish," Penny replied, her duel vest popping out the top card of her deck. "I draw!"

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"Two-point-one-four percent odds?!" Yang screeched, glaring down at Penny through the vines encasement of Black Garden. "Who does she think she is saying my baby sister doesn't even have half a chance of winning?!"

"The second coming of that Kai-person apparently," Nora shrugged.

"Kaiserin," Weiss emphasized. "It's some old Mantlean word for queen or empress."

"Really not something to get angry over," Blake noted, ignoring Nora and Weiss as she pulled a pouting Yang back from the railing. "I mean, Ruby certainly isn't bothered by it."

"If Penny really is as strong as my sister was at our age, I'm surprised Ruby even has a single percent chance of winning," Weiss grumbled. "Especially since the dolt decided to ask her to use her Extra Deck. Was this what she meant when she said she 'had a plan' to get Headmaster Ozpin to let her try to get promoted straight to Obelisk Blue?"

"It might be," Ren remarked, pointing towards one of the higher bleachers. "That would explain why he's come to watch."

Huh?

Yang's head whipped up, following her friend's finger up to one of the back rows of the arena, where indeed Ozpin sat cloaked in shadow beside another man, bulkier and wearing some sort of military uniform.

"Is that… General Ironwood?" Weiss muttered, also gazing at the two men. "What's he doing here?"

"He came along with the Atlas students in that big fleet that arrived this morning," Sun said. "Which is kind of weird really. I mean, do headmasters normally come along for the Vytal Festival–"

"Not that. I mean why are they watching this duel?" Weiss clarified. "Those two are perhaps the most powerful men on Remnant. This time of year, with the Vytal Festival leadup beginning and especially with that fleet showing up and needing docking, their schedules must be filled to the brim. They don't have time to sit here watching a duel. They have more important things to do!"

"Since I have no monsters on the field, I am allowed to special summon Linkslayer from my hand!" Penny announced from below, a warrior with a cape and glowing orange armor (ATK 2000/DEF 600) manifesting before her.

As soon as it appeared, Ruby's field burst into action. Vines from Black Garden shot out and wrapped around the new monster, tying it down (ATK 1000) as a Rose Token blossomed onto Ruby's field in attack mode (ATK 800/DEF 800). At the same time, Queen of Thorns threw out its arm, spiky ivy thrusting into Penny, though her duel vest prevented it from piercing into her aura.

Penny Polendina: 200 Life Points

"And with that, you can't summon any non-Plant-Type monsters from your hand," Ruby taunted. "What are you gonna now?"

"I will discard Sea Archiver from my hand to activate Linkslayer's effect," Penny pleasantly replied. "Once per turn, I can discard up to two cards from my hand and destroy that spell or trap cards on the field. I target Black Garden."

Plasma blades buzzed out from Linkslayer's gauntlets, carving the vines trapping it to pieces. The Cyberse warrior then leapt into the air and delivered a series of lightning flash slashes to everything around it, the Black Garden shattering into nothingness.

"So much for that field spell," Ren remarked.

"But why didn't she take out Ruby's facedown too?" Nora pondered. "She said that she could discard up to two cards for Linkslayer's effect, right?"

"She's already starting down a card because of using her Infinite Impermanence last turn," Blake noted. "She might not think it's worth giving up the resource of another discard."

"Maybe," Pyrrha muttered, the Invincible Girl's eyes narrowing at the Atlas girl below, before glancing over at Ruby's monsters. "Or maybe she doesn't think Zero Gravity's a threat."

Sun cocked an eyebrow. "Huh? How would she know what Ruby's facedown is? Heck, how do you know what it is?"

"Huh? Oh!" Pyrrha squeaked, coming out of her analytical stupor and looking sheepishly at her friends. "I'm sorry. I thought it was obvious."

"Sure, sure," Nora nodded, clearly not seeing it. "But explain it as if Jaune was here."

Pyrrha spared her teammate an exasperated look before shaking her head. "Ruby put all her monsters in attack mode, even those with low attack points like her Rose Token and those with higher defense like Chirubime, Princess of Autumn Leaves."

"Pretty standard tactics for drawing an opponent into a trap," Blake pointed out. "How do you figure it's Zero Gravity?"

"It honestly might not be, but likely it's it or No Entry, or a similar card that changes the whole field's battle position," Pyrrha explained. "Ruby is an intelligent duelist. She would take into account the possibility of her opponent playing through her trap or destroying it before the Battle Phase. If the facedown was Book of Moon or Wall of Thorns, she would still put her monsters in defense mode just to be safe."

"But Zero Gravity or No Entry can be activated if they were targeted by destruction effects before the Battle Phase and affect the entire field, so the monsters would be put into defense mode anyway," Yang finished. "Sharp as ever, P-Money. But do you think Penny's thought as far ahead as you have?"

Pyrrha leaned back over the bleachers' railing. "We shall see. She said she's studied Ruby's past duels."

"But Zero Gravity or No Entry can be activated at any time, so why not force its activation now?" Weiss queried. "Even if it costs a resource, it'd be better to force its activation now rather than let it disrupt her attacks during the Battle Phase. If Penny really is 'The Second Coming of The Kaiserin', surely she must know that?"

Pyrrha's brow furrowed in contemplation, focusing on Penny as the Atlas girl slid a spell card into her duel vest. "She must. That's what I can't figure out. Is she planning to summon something that can negate it? Or set up a floodgate that keeps it from activating? How can she do that without being able to summon another monster from her hand? She can't activate another Infinite Impermanence without first setting it now that she has Linkslayer out."

Yang's smile grew soft and fond as she watched her friend excitedly ponder Penny's stratagems. The longer she knew Pyrrha, the more she spotted similarities between her and Ruby. The Mistral Champion was without a doubt more mature than the blonde's beloved little sister had yet become, but at their heart was the same engrossing love of Duel Monsters and earnest desire to help people. And given how depressed The Invincible Girl had been back during their first duel, Yang could only bask in the warm filling her heart at how her friend had blossomed at Beacon.

"My Cynet Mining allows me to send a card from my hand to the graveyard to add a Level Four or lower Cyberse monster from my deck to my hand. I discard Dotscaper to add Code Generator to my hand," Penny said, revealing the effect of her spell card and snagging a card that popped out of her deck. The moment she did though, a stubby gnome made out of tiny cubes (ATK 0/DEF 2100) flashed onto her field.

"And your Dotscaper goes to the graveyard, it can revive itself once per duel," Ruby grinned.

"Correct! You have an excellent memory," Penny complimented, flipping the card she just added to her hand around and throwing out her hands, aura shimmering around her fingertips. A square grid of light manifested in front of her field. "Appear! The circuit that innovates the future!"

Ruby rubbed her palms together in anticipation. "Dotscaper and Linkslayer as the arrowheads?"

"Negative. Dotscaper and Code Generator."

"What?" Ruby gasped. "But it's in your hand?"

"If a Cyberse monster on my field would be used as Link Material for a 'Code Talker' monster, then Code Generator's effect allows it to be used as material as well from the hand," Penny proclaimed, a ghostly version of Code Generator appearing on the field before it and Dotscaper flashing into two of her square grid's arrows. "Confirming arrowheads. Middle left. Middle right. Initializing summoning sequence. Link Summon! Link-2! Code Talker Inverted!"

A new monster burst out of the square grid's opposite side, a bulky white knight wielding a cumbersome bident (ATK 1300). As expected, Ruby's eyes twinkled at the sight of it.

Meanwhile, Yang's were narrowing at her sister in suspicion. And she wasn't the only one.

"Did Ruby seem… familiar with Penny's cards?" Blake asked.

Sun nodded. "Yeah. She knew what that dot-thingy did and already seemed to know how a Link Summon was supposed to go. I mean, we are sure that material from the hand thing isn't normal for them, right?"

"I don't think it is. But we really don't know how it's 'supposed' to work," Weiss admitted, stroking her chin in suspicion as her eyes narrowed at her partner. "Which makes it no less suspicious that Ruby apparently does."

"Yeah," Yang murmured. "There's only one possible explanation. Ruby's been hiding something from us."

"Yang," Pyrrha gently spoke up. "I doubt that Ruby would 'hide' something from us–"

"My little sister has a secret hot Atlas girlfriend!" Yang excitedly clapped.

Pyrrha's face fell. "... and if she was, I don't it would be that."

"I can just see it now! Them sneaking around forging and dueling in secret, pretending they only know each other as student and student-teacher when we're around. Oh! My sweet baby sister is becoming a woman!" Yang squeed. Only for her face to turn solemn as she turned and placed a firm, comforting hand on Weiss' shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Ice Queen."

"What?" Weiss blinked. "Why?"

Nora stepped up and placed her own sympathetic hand on the white-haired girl's other shoulder. "There, there, no need to hide your emotions. We're your friends. You can commiserate with us about how you missed your shot."

Weiss recoiled from both her big-hearted, buff friends. "Okay, seriously, what are you talking about?"

"You. Ruby. Penny," Blake idly listed off. "One of my Ninjas of Love books."

Weiss immediately shoved Yang and Nora's hands off her shoulders, leaping back in horror. "Oh, gods, no! You thought I had romantic feelings for Ruby?"

"You don't have to hide it," Yang sweetly assured her. "You can let out your pain that the fancy Link Monster redhead beat you to it."

"We're here for you," Nora earnestly added.

Weiss glared at both of them. "I can't tell if you two are messing with me or not, and I find that concerning."

"When Code Generator is used as material to Link Summon a 'Code Talker' monster, I can send a Cyberse monster with twelve hundred or less attack points from my deck to my graveyard. I choose Firewall Defenser," Penny announced, sliding the card into her graveyard before throwing out her hands again. Once more, the square grid appeared before her, Code Talker Inverted flying into two of its scarlet arrows while Linkslayer zapped into another. "Appear again! The circuit that innovates the future! Confirming arrowheads. Top center. Middle right. Bottom center. Link Summon! Link-3! Transcode Talker!"

A taller warrior burst forth from the energy grid, this one built of blocky red and yellow armor (ATK 2300). It settled in the right Extra Monster Zone, staring down Queen of Thorns in the left one.

Ruby raised an eyebrow. "Transcode? Not Decode Talker?"

Penny shook her head. "Decode Talker is not optimal for this situation. Fortunately, part of the Code Talker Project was to create one Link-3 Monster for every attribute to maximize versatility in the first generation of Link Monsters. To that end, I activate Transcode Talker's effect. Once per turn, it can revive a Link-3 or lower Cyberse Link Monster from the graveyard to a zone it points to. I special summon Code Talker Inverted. And because a monster was summoned to a zone my Link Monster points to, Sea Archiver can summon itself from my graveyard, though it will be banished if it leaves the field again."

Code Talker Inverted returned to the field below Transcode Talker, an esoteric cybernetic sea horse (ATK 300/DEF 2100) flashing into existence beside it.

Penny flipped around another spell card and inserted it into her duel vest. "I activate World Legacy Succession. It lets me summon a monster from my graveyard to a zone my Link Monster points to. Revive! Firewall Defenser!"

A thin cybernetic wyvern lined with bright orange code lines (ATK 1200/DEF 1500) manifested on Code Talker Inverted's opposite side.

"Oh yeah," Ruby eagerly clapped. "Another Link-3? Ooo, or a Link-4? Link-5?!"

"Unfortuantely, Link-5's are still being researched," Penny replied. "The dust structure is proving quite complex."

"Really?" Ruby asked. "What's the issue? Elemental influence balancing–"

"Ms. Rose," Professor Goodwitch spoke up. "Please remain focused on the duel at hand."

"Right, right, sorry."

Nora cocked an eyebrow. "Hey, what's Ruby talking about? Not the forging stuff, but Penny summoning another Link Monster? Is she gonna use Transcode Talker as material or something, because her Extra Monster Zone is filled–"

"Appear! The circuit that innovates the future!" Penny proclaimed, Code Talker Inverted and Firewall Defenser flying into three scarlet arrowheads. "Arrowhead confirmed. Top center. Middle left. Bottom center. Link Summon! Link-3! Shootingcode Talker!"

With sharp wings and a golden bow, an aquamarine mechanical valkyrie (ATK 2300) soared onto the field… into the normal monster zone right behind Transcode Talker.

Nora, hyperactive, unstoppably cheerful Nora, had her face frozen in uncomprehending shock. "... huh?"

Yang wanted to explain what was going on to her friend, but she found that her own mind was currently struggling to make sense of what her violet eyes were seeing. She couldn't even take any solace in Weiss, Blake, Ren, and even Pyrrha's equally dumbfounded looks at the sight before them.

"Um… okay," Sun stammered. "What the heck?! How did she summon a monster from the Extra Deck to a regular monster zone?"

"Well… uh…" usually stoic Ren stumbled. "Those arrows on them, maybe? Maybe they 'link' the privilege of the Extra Monster Zone to whichever zones they point to?"

"How do you know that?!" Sun frantically demanded.

"I don't," Ren confessed. "I am taking my best guess."

"It's a logical deduction," Weiss managed, her gaze glistening with awe at Penny. "Still, if she helped make a summoning method that can bypass the Extra Monster Zone… 'genius' is too light a term."

"When Firewall Defenser is used to Link Summon a Cyberse monster, I can summon a 'Firewall' monster from my deck. Appear! Firewall Guardian!" Penny shouted, a new cybernetic wyvern, this one lined with blue (ATK 100/DEF 2000), flashing onto her field. The new drake and Sea Archiver then immediately flew into another link grid. "Circuit combine! Arrowheads confirmed. Top center. Bottom center. Link Summon! Link-2! Code Talker!"

A powerful white knight burst out of the other side of the square grid, branishing its wiry sword with a robotic, efficient flourish (ATK 1300).

"She summoned it to the zone that Shootingcode Talker's left arrow pointed to," Pyrrha noted. "It seems that Ren's hypothesis was correct."

"Alright, Ren!" Nora cheered, raising her palm for a high-five, one that a shocked Ren still managed to numbly provide.

Yang smiled over at her little sister, noting how Ruby was only mildly hopping in place instead of outright leaping for joy at the sight of her opponent somehow defying the inherent metaphysical laws of Remnant. That sealed it. Ruby had known about Link Monsters before this duel. Which meant there was at least a decent chance that her baby sister really did have a secret girlfriend! Eeeee!

"When Firewall Guardian is used to Link Summon a Cyberse monster, it can revive to my field, though like Sea Archiver, it is banished when it leaves the field," Penny proclaimed, her sleek drake rising next to Code Talker. Only for another square grid to blaze to life before the Atlas girl, her bright green eyes briefly flashing purple.

"Another one?" Sun groaned. "How many of these is she gonna do in one turn?"

"Appear! The circuit that innovates the future! Arrowheads confirmed. Top center. Middle left. Middle right," Penny declared, Code Talker and Firewall Guardian flying into three scarlet arrows on the grid. "Link Summon! Link-3! Excode Talker!"

A green and yellow cybernetic warrior burst forth from the link grid, massive pauldrons on its shoulders with hexagonal gauntlets on its forearms (ATK 2300). The new monster settled in on Shootingcode Talker's left, gathering two spheres of emerald energy in its palms and chucking them across the field at two of Ruby's open monster zones.

"When Excode Talker is link summoned, currently unused monster zones on your side of the field are rendered unusable equal to the number of monsters currently in the Extra Monster Zones," Penny explained. "Furthermore any monster that Excode Talker points to gains five hundred attack points. In addition, when Transcode Talker is co-linked with another Link Monster, meaning that both have arrowheads pointing to each other, both monsters gain five hundred attack points and cannot be targeted by card effects."

Transcode Talker flexed its mechanical muscles (ATK 2800), a golden glow sweeping over it and Shootingcode Talker. The aquamarine archer was swamped with green energy from Excode Talker as well, the cybernetic bowman soaring up into the air (ATK 3300). In the face of the trio of colorful warriors, Ruby's Queen of Thorns, Princess of Autumn Leaves, and Rose Tokens appeared lovely, but insufficient.

"She made a field like that and only summoned from her hand once," Blake murmured in awe. "If she's not the strongest duelist in Atlas Academy, the White Fang won't survive past this generation."

"Brand new, extra Extra Monster Zone making summoning style or not," Sun gulped.

"Don't count Ruby out yet," Yang insisted, sticking up for her sister. "She's still got her facedown and Penny got no more cards in hand to get rid of it."

"But she knows that," Pyrrha mused, intensely focused on the Atlas girl that shared her eye and hair color. "She must have a counter for it. She must. So what is it?"

"At the start of the Battle Phase, I activate Shootingcode Talker's effect. This turn, it can only attack monsters. But in exchange, it gains an extra attack for each monster it currently points to," Penny said, her sapphire archer notching three arrows on its bow. "For the first one, it will attack Chirubime, Princess of Autumn Leaves. Shooting Complete!"

Shootingcode Talker aimed at the warm-hued plant royalty and released its bow. A crackling blue energy arrow cracked off of its bowstring, streaking straight for Chirubime's head.

"You just activated my trap card!" Ruby announced, hitting a button on Crescent Rose as the pink-bordered facedown flipped up with the familiar image of several men aimlessly floating in a miasma of green energy. "Zero Gravity!"

Sun whistled. "Looks like Pyrrha was right on the money."

Weiss scoffed. "You're surprised?"

Yang wasn't, though she was grateful that Pyrrha was too focused on the duel, on Penny, to wince at Weiss's innocently insensitively praising comment. However, she couldn't deny a creeping concern at the Invincible Girl's certainty that her sister's opponent still had a trick up her sleeve.

An emerald wave of energy swamped out of Ruby's trap card. The translucent verdant force pulled the Slifer Red's monsters down to their knees, sideways cards forming under them as they dropped into defense mode. It surged out past the Beacon girl's field and stampeded straight for Penny's, Shootingcode Talker's arrow streaking toward it on a collusion course.

And when they collided… the energy arrow cut right through it.

"What!?" Ruby gasped, her silver eyes wide as the attack slammed into Chirubime's forehead, the Princess of Autumn Leaves shattering in a thunderous explosion.

"Ruby?!" Yang cried, her jaw dropping as Zero Gravity's green wave washed over Penny's Code Talkers without the Cyberse even flinching. She whipped towards Pyrrha. "What the heck just happened?"

"I… I have no idea," Pyrrha stammered, the champion's gaze fervently searching the field for some sort of answer. "Ruby's monsters all changed battle position, so the trap did take effect."

But Penny's monsters didn't budge.

"Wha–what happened?" Ruby coughed, waving away the smoke left behind from her monster's demise. "Are your monsters unaffected by trap effects when they're co-linked or something?"

"No, they can still be affected by card effects barring their other protections," Penny replied. "However, they cannot change battle positions."

"Huh? Why not?" Ruby inquired. "There aren't a lot of monsters that can't have their battle positions changed by other cards effects."

"True. But other monsters have both an attack and defense mode," Penny said. "Link monsters do not have a defense mode."

…

…

…

"... what?" Ruby blankly squeaked, her silver eyes numb with shock.

"Link Monsters do not have a defense mode, nor defense points," Penny cheerily elaborated. "I isolated the formulas within the monsters' foundation and removed them during the reworking to facilitate the link arrows."

Ruby nearly choked. "You did what?"

"That's… that's impossible," Weiss murmured, her voice hoarse as her crystalline eyes darted over Penny's Code Talkers as if they were angels come down from on high. "Even if she was such a ludicous forging genius as too be able to pull that off, the software to allow a forge to interact with something that intrinsitc to a monster card… it doesn't exist. It's impossible."

Blake gulped. "Maybe she really is a goddess."

"When… when Chirubime is destroyed, I can summon another Plant-Type monster from my deck. I choose Baobaboon in defense mode," Ruby stuttered, her faithful tree with the face of a baboon kneeling to protect her (ATK 1200/DEF 1000). "When it's summoned, I draw one card and then place it either on the top or bottom of my deck."

The Beacon Slifer Red did just that, only to wince at her drawn card and place it at the bottom of her deck.

"She's cycling," Sun worriedly observed.

"There's not much else she can do," Pyrrha noted. "Zero Gravity, No Entry, Book of Moon, even Black Rose Dragon's second effect, half of Ruby's deck relies on manipulating her opponent's battle positions. Penny would be a terrifying opponent for anyone to face, but her monsters have an intrinsic advantage against Ruby's deck. She might just be the worst possible opponent she could have drawn as her procter."

"The Kaiserin Reborn," Blake whispered. "With monsters built for a new age and a peppier attitude to match."

"Yeah, well Ruby's got a peppier attitude than anyone and twice the skill," Yang fervently argued. "She ain't out of this duel yet."

"Yang, I hate to disagree," Pyrrha politely said. "But I think she is."

"No. She's not."

Yang blinked in surprised that she hadn't been the one to speak those defiant words.

The blonde and all her present friends turned to Weiss, the Schnee heiress not only having disagreed with her eternally respected Invincible Girl, but intensely staring down at the duel arena in support of her team leader and partner.

"Link Monsters or not, Penny only has two hundred life points left. And no cards in her hand," the white-haired Obelisk Blue reminded them all. "Ruby may not be able to rely on battle position manipulation like she normally does, but she still has effect damage. If she can survive this turn, and get one good shot at Penny's life points, then she's got this."

"Ruby doesn't have any cards in her hand either. And by the end of this turn, she won't have much of a field presence," Ren pointed out. "Those are still long odds."

"It's Ruby," Weiss replied, as if that explained everything. "If I've learned anything since coming to Beacon, it's to never bet against her, no matter the odds."

Yang's violet eyes sparkled as her heart blazed with proud warmth. To think only a few months ago, this crabby girl from Solitas wanted nothing more than to scrape Ruby off one of her high heel boots. Now, the blonde was sure that only she herself was a more fervent supporter of the girl in the red hood.

"Yang, I see that look," Weiss growled. "If you say one word about some nonsense love triangle–"

"Ooo, a love triangle. I didn't say anything about one of those," Yang teased, saddling up to the heiress. "But since it's on your mind, Ice Queen, why don't you tell me more?"

"Ugh!" Weiss groaned.

Yang chuckled. She hoped her teammate would forgive her. She needed something to keep her spirits light and innocent. Because as much as she believed in her baby sister, she couldn't deny Pyrrha and Ren's logic.

The odds of beating Penny were not in her favor.

Ah, this is nice. Two-parter duels may be much less continuously viable for a story's pacing in literature than in a visual medium like TV, but darn if they don't make it easier to write reasonable-length chapters.

This was very much the setup chapter of the duel, as well as the introduction of Link Monsters to the rest of the main characters. I particularly enjoyed getting to show off Pyrrha's dueling intellect here, as well as the comedic fun of Yang getting a bit too into Ruby potentially having a love life. But duel-wise, Weiss' assessment at the end is essentially accurate: Penny currently has a dominating field presence and her monsters are naturally immune to a lot of Ruby's tactics, but the damage Ruby was able to do on her first turn means that the Beacon Slifer Red only needs to get one good shot in to win the match. It's still anyone's game. :)

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Thank you for Reading! I hope you enjoy what comes next!

Go Forth and Conquer!