Hey everyone, Ray again and as you can tell, we're having a double chapter post to make up for lost time and waiting we had made you all endure. For the next part of the arc, we will have yet another duel and try to continue the story. If the duel is kind of weird, sorry about that, when we dueled to make the replay, we kind of messed up on our turns. Hopefully it won't be too bad and you will all enjoy it.

Chapter 11

Initial Order Arc: Stitched Warmth

Duel Academy

Ra Yellow Dorm

It was about 5:45 am, too early even for the sunrise, but the steady whirring of a sewing machine at work still came from one of the Ra dorm rooms. By this point in the semester, everyone in that part of the dorm was used to the sound, and some people actually found it quite soothing.

This room looked like two different rooms had been mashed together. One side had green walls with forest motifs, and some potted plants in the corner nearest the window. The other had dark red walls with no clear design, a box full of fabric, another box with various sewing supplies, and a fairly new sewing machine on the desk.

Despite the only light being a small desk lamp, Sera was hard at work on her latest sewing project. Laura, far less awake than her roommate, just watched from her bed across the room.

"What are you sewing this time, Sera?" Laura asked, yawning through half of the question. She never really knew what Sera's various sewing projects were until they were almost done.

"The same thing I was sewing when you asked last night," Sera replied, though her tone was remarkably more chipper and friendly than usual.

Laura rubbed her eyes for a few seconds, then did a mild double-take when she realized that Sera had actually responded rather than tossing off an irritated one-liner. She pushed the blanket aside and sat up, shaking the oversized T-shirt she wore so it didn't stick to her.

"What's going on?" the pale woman asked with a curious tone, making her roommate look back with a nervous expression.

"What do you mean 'What's going on?' It's coming together better than I thought, that's all," Sera replied, turning back to the project.

"Something's totally up. You're never this cheerful in the morning!" Laura grabbed the desk chair and pulled it towards her before sitting in it. "Come on, gimme all the details! I bet it's something good!"

"Laura, you're really not helping my concentration right now," Sera insisted. "Honestly, can't I just be in a good mood without some ulterior motive?"

The needle landed on a pin with an audible thunk, and the fabric started bunching up a few stitches later.

Sera facepalmed. "And I was doing so well. Ugh." She lifted the presser foot and took out the bent pin. "Pass the trash can over here, would you?"

Laura, who had seen her roommate react much more expressively when something went wrong on a sewing project, got up and brought the trash can to her. "You're right, sorry. So what made the fabric bunch up like that?"

"Could be a lot of things," said Sera, tossing the bent pin into the can. "It's hard to tell with all the fabric in the way." She picked up a pair of thread scissors, pulled her project away from the machine, and cut the top thread. "In this case, looks like the bobbin ran out of thread. Not the worst thing that could have happened, but still annoying."

"What was it you were sewing again?"

Sera unfolded her project and showed it to Laura. "A jacket. I should be done with it before it gets too cold."

"I hope so. Winters back home are a lot colder than here, so I'm used to it, but I'm willing to bet it'll be a surprise for you," said Laura, getting up to grab the watering can. "So, any plans for today?"

Sera removed the bobbin from the machine and slid it onto a small metal pole on top. "Really, all I had planned was finishing this jacket. What about you?"

Laura filled it in their shared bathroom and began watering her plants. "Considering we have a day off, I'm not sure, to be honest. Maybe go visit the boys?"

The other girl perked up. "Good idea, Laura. Maybe they're lonely without us. And besides, if I spend all day in here I'll go stir-crazy. The jacket can wait for a little."

"You…want to come with me? Normally I have to practically beg you to come, are you sure everything's alright?" Laura asked, giving Sera a worried look.

"Everything's fine," Sera repeated, a little too quickly. She coughed once. "Really. Everything's fine. But I'm not about to leave you with those two unsupervised."

"Aww, worried I'll steal all of their affections?" Laura teased.

"More like take them on another shopping trip and bleed their wallets dry," Sera deadpanned.

Laura giggled and headed back into the bathroom to shower.

Once the door closed, Sera sighed in relief, folded the jacket again, and laid it on top of the machine. As an afterthought, she moved it so that the large brown "B" on the back was hidden by the machine itself. I can't let Laura know what I'm really planning with this. She'd never let me live it down, and I'd probably die of embarrassment.

Ra Yellow Cafeteria

Once the two girls got into their clean uniforms, which took them a good three hours due to needing to shower and get dressed, they were ready for the day and went to fill their stomachs.

When they got in, many of the Ra students, both boy and girl alike, were all awake and enjoying the meal that was prepared for them with some still waiting in line to grab something. The cafeteria was nice and clean, with plenty of space. The tiled floor was a kind of off-white color, closer to yellow, with black square patterns scattered throughout. The overall atmosphere of the space was supposed to invoke an air of relaxation, and from the way everyone was behaving, it was working.

"Huh, guess everyone else decided to sleep in…" Laura remarked as Sera shook her head and chuckled.

"I'll go get a place to sit, while there's still spots to pick," Sera said. "You know what I like to eat."

Laura agreed and rushed over to the food line, cutting in front of two other students as she went. Sera calmly went for the first open table she could find.

After taking a seat, she pulled out her deck and started shuffling through it. She looked at each card carefully, planning combinations and building plans in her head. Occasionally she put certain cards in front of her, as if dueling an invisible opponent.

Her immersion in thinking up her strategies made Sera not realize that someone was coming up to her until the person slammed their hands against the table. She dropped her cards in surprise and looked up, biting back a choice Arabic word or two.

A familiar light-skinned girl stared at her with determined purple eyes. The girl's usual no-frills bob increased the effect, as did the white tekkō extending above her elbows.

"What do you want this time, Rin?" Sera grumbled.

The shorter girl glanced down at the cards scattered across the table and rolled her eyes. "Still keeping those wimpy Fluffal cards? When are you going to give them up and get something respectable?"

Sera rearranged her deck again. "I happen to prefer the Fluffal set, thank you very much. And your reptiles aren't much better than you think mine are," she remarked.

"Ha! At least my reptiles can't get beaten down with a pair of scissors."

"How long are you going to keep doing this, Rin?" Laura chimed in, arriving with trays of food. "You've lost to her six times already. Even I'm getting annoyed with you hassling Sera at this point."

"I will prove that I'm right!" the petite girl snapped, making a few of her dorm mates look at the commotion. "Cute things are weak, and weakness will get you nowhere in this world."

Rin then reached into her pocket, pulled out a piece of paper, and slammed it onto the table before storming off dramatically. The dark-skinned student unfolded the paper and read through it. "Another Letter of Challenge?" She groaned in frustration.

Laura sighed. "Same as always?"

"Same as always."

"Ihana…" Laura muttered, taking another bite of her food.

"It's not my fault she won't accept that I'm better than her," Sera pointed out.

"She's certainly persistent. I don't think she's gonna stop until she has you totally under her thumb."

"Well, if she expects to win, she better be ready for jahim alharb," the dark Ra student remarked with a passion.

"If I knew what that meant I'd agree with you," Laura said.

The two then ate their food and left before Rin could come back to harass them anymore.

Slifer dorm

There was a calm, serene atmosphere around the Slifer Dorm, most students found themselves going out to find something to occupy themselves. Leaving a small handful back at the dorm, spending their time in their own way. For the dorm's most known twosome, they were lying down under a large tree, enjoying the cool breeze.

"You know, I gotta admit, this was a much better idea than I thought it would be," Nick remarked as he turned to see his roommate with a piece of grass in his mouth.

"Aye," Barclay replied with a content sigh. "Naethin' beats relaxin' under a cabre oan a bonnie day loch the-day."

Nick could tell from his roommate's voice that the brown haired student was close to falling asleep. The red haired student looked out at the ocean, a familiar enough sight, but something today just felt extra relaxing. Add in the fact that the tree sat high up on a hill, so the view was completely unobstructed and was located just far enough away from everything else that it almost felt isolated. The sound of snoring told him that his roommate had finally passed out and Nick felt himself fading fast as well.

Relaxing from time to time really helps… he thought as his eyelids drooped more and more. Stressin' it doesnae help anybody. Nick chuckled to himself, feeling he was getting close to being able to imitate Barclay's accent.

Meanwhile, Laura and Sera were doing their best not to spill the buckets of water in their hands as they approached the boys.

"Geez, you'd think they'd have better sense than just sleeping without any kind of protection, huh?" Laura whispered to Sera.

"Seriously, they're just too laid back," Sera sighed. "Especially knowing that there could be an almakhadie waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike."

In a few moments, they were directly over the now-sleeping pair. "On three," Laura whispered. "One…two…three!"

Sera dumped her bucket of water over Barclay, while Laura did the same to Nick.

"Gotcha!"

The boys' responses were unintelligible sputtering noises and probably at least one swear each. They stood up and glared at the girls, who were both laughing uproariously.

"That was almost too easy!" Laura remarked in between laughs.

"How did we not see that coming?" Nick grumbled, taking off his jacket. "Ugh, now my shirt's stuck to me…"

"You-you two look like drowned rats!" Sera laughed.

Barclay shook his head like a dog in Sera's direction, scattering water over the front of her shirt. "I hope ye brought towels…" he remarked in a dark tone, calmly walking towards the girls with Nick following behind.

The two girls traded nervous looks and started backing up.

"Um, Bar…Let's talk about this, I know we had our moments now, but you know it's all in good fun, right?" Laura remarked with a nervous smile.

"Of course," said Nick, smirking mischievously. "I think it's only fair that Bar and I return the favor."

Both girls took off running screaming as the boys chased after them.

Eventually, the small group laid their soaked jackets down in a particularly sunny patch of the forest, followed by the rest of them in a rough circle.

"Jeez…Didn't expect you two to actually do that." Laura pouted, annoyed that her prank had backfired.

Nick laughed. "Consider this payback for the chili pepper ice cream."

"I don't see why I had to get soaked too…" Sera groaned.

"Did you do anything ta stop her?" Barclay asked with a scolding tone.

She looked sheepish. "…No…"

"Well, there ye go, then," he said matter-of-factly.

An hour later, their jackets and hair had more or less dried off and their energy was back. The four of them stood up and brushed grass stains off their pants.

"So other than sleeping under that tree, what did you guys have planned for today?" asked Laura.

"Well, Takashi's on bed rest until next week, so Bar and I figured he could use a visit from us. You two can come with us if you want," said Nick, putting his jacket back on.

Laura smiled. "Great idea! Sera and I need a pick-me-up after the annoying morning we had."

The boys exchanged confused looks. "What happened?" asked Barclay.

"Just someone I've had to deal with since we came here," Sera said dismissively.

"Can you be—?" Nick started.

"Nick, if they don't want to talk about it, we won't make them," Barclay interrupted. "Besides, it sounds like they can handle this person on their own anyway."

Laura sighed. "We can. But it's still annoying…"

"I know that feeling," Barclay commented, scratching the back of his head.

"Well for now, let's go visit our big buddy, I'm sure he'll enjoy the company," Nick remarked as he began to walk back to his dorm with the others following him.

Takashi's Room

After entering Slifer and getting Kanoa's approval for the girls to join them, the group headed for Takashi's single room on the third floor. He was allowed to have one due to being a second-year student, which gave him more space for all his stuff.

They arrived in front of the door, leaving Barclay to move his arm and gently knock a few times. In a few seconds, the door slowly opened, revealing the large student. He showed to be wearing a dark brown robe and still having some bandages on his face, giving a surprised look on his face when he saw who was at the door.

"Everyone… What brings you all here?" he asked with a confused tone.

"We wanted to see you, big guy," said Laura with a smile.

"Yeah, we'd be really terrible friends if we left you all by yourself," Nick added.

"Can we come in?" Sera ignored Takashi's sudden wide-eyed expression and led the rest of them inside.

Takashi's room didn't have a lot of furniture besides the basics-a bed, a desk, a bookcase full of manga, a small table, and some pillows for guests. However, on this particular day, there were empty water bottles and manga volumes everywhere, along with some clothes and empty pizza boxes.

"Oh, no…I'm so sorry, guys, if I'd known you were coming over I would've cleaned up," said Takashi sheepishly.

Everyone had a look of surprise, never expecting that Takashi could eat so much and still not be full. "Damn man… don't you have a recycling bin or something?" Nick remarked, getting an elbow from Laura for the comment.

Takashi tried to clean, but winced from the pain he still felt.

Everyone looked at one another before nodding and going towards their friend, making him stop what he was doing.

"Why don't you let us do the work, big guy?" Laura asked in her best mom voice.

"No, no," he insisted, trying to get up with little luck as the pain was still there. "You're guests in my room, I should be the one to clean."

"You're also still recovering, and we showed up without warning you," Barclay pointed out. "So sit down or get back in bed, whichever's most comfortable, and we'll clear out some space for us."

Takashi protested some more, but his friends eventually forced him to sit back down on his bed.

"I get it, move on." Nick picked up a manga volume and laughed. "Seriously, it's not a big deal, we're happy to help you out."

Several minutes later, the room was completely free of trash and the table had pillows around it for everyone to sit down on.

"I probably couldn't have done all that on my own," Takashi admitted. He got up and went to the minifridge in the corner. "Still, I was raised to treat guests with respect, and my friends are no exception." He pulled out five bottles of soda and handed one to each of them before taking his own seat.

"We appreciate your hospitality," Sera said, sipping her drink. "Though this was supposed to be more of a check up on how you're doing."

"And making sure you haven't gone stir crazy," Barclay added while sipping his.

"I have such great friends!" Takashi cried, tears welling up in his eyes as he rubbed his eyes with his arm.

"Only because you're a great friend yourself!" Nick laughed. Takashi slapped him on the shoulder, making him choke a little on a mouthful of soda.

For a while, the group talked about recent events that happened and how classes were going. By the time all of them had their second drink, Laura decided to ask them something.

"So guys, since Takashi can't use his duel disk, how about we hold a classic tournament against one another? It'll help us pass the time and see who the better out of all of us is."

The small group looked at one another, shrugged, and got out their decks. None of them had any better ideas.

However, when Sera reached for hers, she found that there was no deck case around her waist. "…Alllaena… Um, there's a small problem…"

Laura facepalmed. "You forgot it again, didn't you?"

"It's probably still in my room, I'll go get it," Sera replied, blushing slightly. She stood up and brushed off her skirt.

"I'll come along," Barclay added as he stood up as well.

"What? Why?" she asked.

"Mostly to avoid whatever Laura's got in mind for the brackets," he explained, ushering her out the door.

"What do you mean 'mostly'?!" Laura called after them.

Boy, I wish I'd thought of that, thought Nick. He could tell Takashi was thinking the same thing; the big guy was an easy read.

The two were barely out the door when Sera collided with someone, bouncing back into Barclay, who fell back into the room.

"Did anyone get the license number of that lorry?" the brown-haired student muttered as Sera and Takashi helped him back up.

"OMIGOSH! IMSORRY! IMSORRY! IMSORRY!" came a panicked voice from outside the door.

The embarrassed student had yellow eyes and long bluish-black braided pigtails. She had a peach-blossom hairpin in the right side of her hair, and while she didn't have any special additions to the regular Slifer Red uniform, something about that simplicity made her seem both younger than she was and almost graceful.

"Sera and I are fine, you don't need to apologize so much," Barclay was saying to the girl.

"Oh! Takenaka-san!" Takashi remarked, having gotten up to see his friends out the door. "How are you?"

"I-I-I-I'm f-f-fine…" the girl managed to reply, though her face was about glowing with how red it was.

"Takenaka? You mean Atsuko Takenaka?" Nick asked, leaning over to see. "Hey, it is her! She's usually hiding off by herself, it's rare to see you out and about."

"Would you like to come in and have a seat?" Takashi asked, making the girl suddenly glow bright red in embarrassment as she was about to speak when Laura appeared right next to her.

"Of course she would!" Laura said, having seen the whole exchange. The pale Ra student didn't give the new girl any chance to turn down the offer, as she quickly pulled her into the room.

"Well…" Barclay said, finding himself and Sera standing outside of the door in sudden silence. "That just happened…"

"Poor girl, once my habibi gets her clutches on someone, she doesn't let them go." Sera chuckled softly, prompting a smile from Barclay. The two then walked down the hall and made their way back to the Ra Dorm.

Dirt Road

The two had been walking in a somewhat awkward silence for a while. The sort of awkward where you wind up alone with someone and realize that you don't really have a thing to talk about. They had exhausted small talk and had already heard all the stories about each other's roommates, leaving them with rather little they knew they could both talk about. And they were still about halfway to the Ra Yellow Dorms.

A glint of light caught Barclay's attention and he stopped to pick something up from the ground.

"An ankh necklace?" he said, looking at the item in his hand.

"Oh hamaqa!" Sera yelled out, looking back and seeing that Barclay had something in his hand and went to go see what it was, which made her sigh in relief. "Thank goodness, I thought I forgot this too…"

"It must be really special for you, then. Besides the whole 'breath of life' thing," said Barclay, handing the necklace back to her.

She carefully put it back where it belonged. "My father gave it to me before I came to the academy, as a way to remind me of home."

"Because Duel Monsters and their connection to ancient Egypt just wasn't enough?" Barclay remarked sarcastically.

"Because my father works in the Ministry of Antiquities." Sera started back towards the Ra dorm.

"Ah." Barclay froze in his tracks a few paces later as the information properly sank in. "Wait… your father works in the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities? That's amazing!"

"You're the first person my age who's said that to me," she said in surprise. "Most people think it's boring or useless. The ones who don't just make Indiana Jones references, which aren't very funny."

"I can't believe anyone would think Egyptian history is boring!" Barclay said, shocked. "Granted, all the famous pieces are in the British Museum and not Egypt proper, but still!"

The two continued on towards the Ra Yellow dorm happily chatting about various historical artifacts, events and figures.

Ra Dorm Hallway

The two managed to make it towards the dorm without any trouble, passing through the entrance and finding their way to one of the halls with student rooms, particularly the female ones. After a few minutes of walking, Sera stopped in front of a door with Barclay behind her, taking out a key card and inserting it into a small slight above the door knob.

When it beeped, the dark-skinned woman turned the handle and opened the door.

"Well, come on in," she remarked before entering first, leaving Barclay to follow in after, catching a very strong plant scent from the room as he began to look around.

To his right, the room was green and had about a dozen potted plants that were crowded around the window. On his left, where Sera had gone and was rummaging around, the room was painted blood red with symbols painted in different shades of red, making them barely legible if they were visible to him at all.

Standing around were mannequins and dress forms, as if standing guard of the desk that a sewing machine sat on surrounded by boxes of fabrics. Barclay was vaguely aware that there was plenty more to be seen in the room, but his eyes and brain were feeling a tad overwhelmed and were only taking in a fraction of what the room held.

"Found it!" Sera shouted, startling Barclay out of his daze, seeing Sera holding her belt with the case in one hand. "I really got to put a tracker on this thing, I swear it disappears on me every couple of days or so."

"From the sounds of it, you'd lose your head if it wasn't screwed on." Barclay chuckled.

"Meh."

Sera then set about straightening up the mess she made, at least a little bit. While she was doing that, Barclay noticed something on one of the sewing machines.

"Nice looking jacket," he said, taking a careful step closer, trying to avoid stepping on anything. "How long have you been sewing?"

"Um…let's see… two years, now," Sera answered, though she was distracted by her cleaning and thought it was a different jacket that he mentioned.

When she turned around to see what he was looking at, she panicked a bit and rushed over to keep him from looking too closely at her special gift. She was thankful for her darker complexion as it made it harder for others to tell how red her face was.

As Sera went to place herself between Barclay and the jacket, her foot snagged on a blanket and she tripped. This sent her tumbling into Barclay, who tripped over the pile of fabric he had stepped over previously, causing both of them to fall on the floor.

"That's the second time in twenty minutes…" he groaned, the wind having been knocked from his lungs.

Sera pushed herself up into a push-up position and realized that she was laying on top of Barclay. She felt her face heat up even more and felt her mouth moving and it sounded, to her, that she was just babbling now.

Say something! she shouted in her head. Her nerves felt like a wreck and she could barely move.

"Hey… B-Barclay…" She managed to say.

"Yeah?" he still sounded out of breath. She was wondering why, though a part of her was figuring that he had just landed harder than she originally thought.

"Do… D-do you…?"

Knock Knock Knock

Just when I was getting so close! Sera yelled in her mind, looking over to the door before turning back to Barclay and standing up. She offered him her hand, which he grabbed and got back up, dusting off his uniform from the dust that it managed to get from the floor.

"Sorry about that, I've really got to put these things away," the dark-skinned woman remarked, still blushing from the close encounter as she walked over to the door, opening it to see who it was.

Unfortunately, it was Rin, glaring impatiently at her and tapping her foot. "Do you mind? I'm kind of in the middle of something," Sera remarked with a tone that hinted her annoyed mood.

"I just wanted to go over the terms in the Letter of Challenge I gave you this morning. You know, to make sure one of us doesn't weasel her way out of what's—Oh?"

She'd gotten a look at Barclay, and her eyes widened. Then she returned her focus to Sera and smirked. "So, is the 'something' you're in the middle of anything the faculty should be worried about?"

"I don't have time for your snide insinuations, Rin. Go away."

"Letter of Challenge?" Barclay repeated, having moved a little closer. "Does anyone really do that anymore?"

"I count as 'anyone,' don't I?" asked Rin. She walked into the room and gave Barclay a once-over. "I'm Rin. What's your name, cutie?"

"I'm Barclay…" he replied. He was visibly suspicious of Rin's motives and moved back as much as he could. "So…can you answer my question from earlier?"

Sera's hands were clenched into fists, her knuckles practically turning white.

"Rin, I'm not going to tell you again: Get out of my room," she said coldly. "Our friends are expecting us, so I can't discuss the terms with you today."

"You can leave, Sera. I think I'll get to know Barclay a little better."

"Er…sorry, I'm not in the mood for it," Barclay remarked, trying to move towards the door. "We really do need to get back to Takashi's room."

"Aww, leaving so soon?" Rin said, feigning disappointment. Whatever effect she was trying for, grabbing Barclay's arm and smiling widely after she said that undermined it.

"Sooner if you'd kindly let go of my arm," Barclay retorted.

"Rin…" Sera growled. She grabbed the other girl by her uniform collar and yanked, forcing her to release Barclay. "On second thought, I have some time to discuss the terms after all."

"I'll… I'll let the others know what's going on," Barclay said to Sera.

"It was nice meeting you, Barclay." Rin winked playfully.

"Define 'nice…'" he muttered as he left.

Sera slammed the door shut and faced Rin with fury in her eyes. "I've been more than patient with your antics, Rin, but what you just did was unacceptable."

"Don't you think we have more important things to talk about?" Rin replied evenly.

Sera only continued to glare in response.

"Now, aside from our normal agreement, that being that upon defeat you get rid of those stupid, cutesy monsters, I have a new term to add," she continued, matching Sera's fierce glare. "If and when you lose, you stop associating with that boy on pain of me destroying his reputation."

He's a Slifer, there's not much of a reputation to begin with, Sera thought. "Acceptable. Since you're threatening another student's reputation, I think a steep punishment for when I win is in order…" She paused for dramatic effect. "You will wear a lolita fashion outfit every day for the rest of the year, and I'll make half of them myself. It should be fun; I don't get to make cute, frilly dresses very often."

Rin's eyes widened, no doubt from the visions of cupcake-shaped dresses and striped knee socks dancing in her head.

"Very well… Since it's highly unlikely you'll actually win this time, I accept your terms!" Rin replied, and shook hands with Sera.

Slifer Red Dorm

Takashi's Room

"Wonder what's taking them…" Nick muttered, glancing at the door. He was still waiting for his turn in the little tournament that Laura had set up in Takashi's room. Meanwhile, in the middle of the room, a large table was set with Takashi and Laura facing one another, each one having in front of them their cards in the standard form along with a digital scorekeeper on the side, showing the lifepoint count.

Though at the moment, the pale-Ra student didn't look as good as she was down to her last 500 points.

"Sera's probably just sorting through the mess that is her side of our room," Laura replied as she looked over the cards in her hand. "Jeez, Takashi, you've really got me in a bind here…"

"That's so amazing, Takashi-san, I never knew that you played like this," Atsuko remarked in awe.

Takashi played his next card and Laura's LP count dropped to zero. The machine made a cheerful beep.

She put her head down in frustration. "Dang it, I just needed one more turn and I would've won."

"That's part of the drawback to a stall deck," Takashi admitted as he collected his cards and got up to give Laura a soft pat on the back. "Sometimes my opponent can draw just the right card to completely turn the duel around."

"You had an amazing recovery against Jessie during the exam," Nick pointed out, getting up to walk towards them with his own deck in hand. "Even with him summoning his ace and destroying yours, you managed to turn things around the very next turn."

"A lucky draw," Takashi replied while waving his hand dismissively.

"From a well-made deck," Atsuko said quietly, making Laura look up and smile.

"Indeed. OK, the next duel is Nick versus-"

Someone knocked at the door. "I got it," said Takashi, already halfway to the door.

He recoiled almost as soon as he opened it. Sera was practically radiating anger. "What happened?" he asked, stepping aside to let her and Barclay back in.

"Nothing you guys need to worry about," Sera uttered quickly.

Barclay opened his mouth to say something, but then decided against it.

I'd hate to see what 'something' would do if that's how she reacts to nothing… Takashi thought with concern.

Laura had a knowing, and irritated expression, while Nick and Atsuko were just confused.

"So, what do the brackets look like?" asked Barclay.

Ra Dorm

Common Room

With the sun slowly setting, most of the other students of Ra were already getting ready to prepare for sleep, knowing tomorrow that their classes would resume normally.

Though unlike her fellow dorm-mates, Rin was only focused on building and perfecting her deck for her rematch against her most hated foe. Although frustration kept meeting her as she just didn't have the cards to back up her deck, which made her yell out and throw them on the floor.

"Damn it! Just my luck I have to go buy another new pack."

"Oh? Do you need some new cards?" a voice asked.

Rin jumped at the sudden appearance of the new figure in the room.

"If you need some new cards, I can help out," Tauni said, stepping more into the light with a kind smile on her face.

"I don't need anyone's help," Rin retorted, angrily turning away from Tauni.

"Aw, don't be like that." Tauni pouted. "Everyone benefits when we all help each other."

"I'm fine. I'll prove that my way works best."

"If I agree with your way, will you accept my help?" Tauni prompted.

The petite girl moved her eyes to look at the woman, intrigued by her words as she continued to listen.

"Like you, I know that to be the best you have to prepare like the best, and that means doing anything and everything it takes to get the task done. Isn't that what you desire? A chance to show up everyone, including some fools who don't deserve to be where they are…"

"…Maybe…" Rin replied, turning her full attention to Tauni.

Tauni smiled and walked closer to Rin. "So, as part of doing anything it takes…" A dark aura began emanating from her, though her cheerful smile didn't falter.

Rin was suddenly filled with a sense of dread, but she shook her head to dispel the feeling. If this was what she needed to do to finally beat Sera, then so be it. She would take whatever power Tauni had and make it her own.

Translations:

ihana - "wonderful"

jahim alharb - "hell of war"

almakhadie - "trickster"

Alllaena - "Curse"

lorry - basically a semi-truck

habibi - "sister"

hamaqa - "crap"

Yet another chapter done! Again, apologies for the delays, but life happens, ya know? But, hopefully the double post on the chapters makes it up to you guys. We are still working on making more chapters for you all to read, so this story isn't being abandoned! We just gotta readjust to our schedules. Please keep an eye out for more chapters from us! We also like to thank our Beta, Eneko95 for her hardwork.