Angelina Western is a professional duelist travelling the world in search of great opponents, new experiences, and prize money. Recently taking part in a smaller, regional tournament in North Japan, she took home the first place spot, a trophy, and the cash prize.

It's nighttime in the city she's visiting for the tournament. In the local convenience store, she wires half of the prize money to another person before checking out. She steps out of the store wearing daisy duke, cowgirl boots with the matching hat, jean shorts that come up to the knee, a long sleeve red pattern shirt, with a vest over it.

Carrying a bag of groceries, she starts walking back to her hotel, when a man in a white suit walks down an empty city street. It's the Collector.

"Angelina Western?" He asks.

She keeps walking, but responds, "Who's asking?"

"Just a fan. I saw your victory today. Very impressive, but I think you could do better."

"Probably. But my duelling is only going to improve by facing tougher challenges," she remarks, walking past him.

"How about the Duel Circuit? Would that be enough of a challenge for you?" She stops in her tracks and turns to face the Collector. He pulls out an envelope with the Duel Circuit Logo on the back. "You've been invited to take part. But there's only one way to be accepted." The Collector puts back the envelope, before revealing their duel monster cards.

They meet on a closed off rooftop for their duel. The collector is already prepared, his sleeve torn to pieces by his arm transforming into his duel disk. Angeline is wearing a Duel Academy style duel disk with a red striping along the base. She takes out her deck from the pocket under her vest, and inserts it into her disk.

Finally ready, they call out, "Duel!"

DUEL

Angelina Western 4000LP

VS

The Collector 4000LP

"I'll go first if you don't mind," Angelina starts the duel. Looking over her opening hand, she smiles, having a clear idea in mind. "I normal summon E-HERO Stratos from my hand." [L4/Wind/Warrior/ATK 1800] "When summoned, I can add Vision HERO Faris to my hand."

"Heroes? An archetype composed of multiple sub-archetypes. Elemental, Destiny, Vision. What do you have in store?" The Collector comments, waiting their turn.

"You'll see. I discard Neos to special summon Faris from my hand." [L5/Dark/Warrior/ATK 1600] "When summoned, I can place Vison HERO Increase in my spell/trap zone. I then tribute Stratos to special summon them to my field. And their effect special summons Vision HERO Vyon to my field." [L3/Dark/Warrior/ATK 900] [L4/Dark/Warrior/ATK 1000]

Angelina has filled her field with monsters, going from one monster, she's increased it to three with just one card.

"When Vyon is summoned, I can send E-Hero Shadowmist from my deck to the grave. With her effect, I add Liquid Soldier from my deck to my hand. I can then use Vyon's effect to banish Stratos and add Polymerization to my hand." Angelina then uses her three monsters to Link Summon a new monster. "Link Summon! Xtra HERO Dread Decimator!" [L-3/Dark/Warrior/BL,B,BR/ATK 2500] "Finally, I activate Polymerization. I fuse Liquid Soldier and Avian in my hand to Fusion Summon! Level 8, E-Hero Absolute Zero!" [L8/Water/Warrior/Fusion/ATK 2500] "Liquid Soldier allows me to draw two more cards, and then I discard one."

Angelina now has two extra deck monsters on her field. By the effect of Dread Decimator, both monsters gain 100 attack points for every HERO monster in the graveyard. [Dread ATK 2500 - 3300] [Absolute Zero ATK 2500 - 3300]

"I end my turn with a card face down. It's all yours now. Show me what it takes to be the best." She ends her turn with just two cards left in her hand.

"Impressive. Let's see if you can match up to this." The Collector draws a card for their turn. "I activate Heroic Envoy. With this spell card, I can add a Heroic monster to my hand. And I choose Double Lance."

"Heroic versus HEROs. Xyz against Fusion. This should be a fun match up," Angelina remarks to herself.

"I normal summon Heroic Challenger - Double Lance from my hand." [L4/Earth/Warrior/ATK 1700] "When summoned, I can special summon another copy from my hand." The Collector summons two monsters of the same level to the field. "I overlay my two level 4 monsters on my field to Xyz Summon! Rank 4, Heroic Champion - Claivesolish!"

[R4/Earth/Warrior/XYZ/ATK 2500] "I activate my monster's effect. I pay life points until I have exactly 500 left."

The Collector's new monster raises their golden sword, and slashes them, absorbing the damage into their armour. [Collector LP 4000 - 500]

"Why would you choose to lose so much of your life points?"

"You'll see. By entering the battle phase I can choose one monster I control, and double its attack points." Claivesolish grows in size as its attack points are doubled. [Claivesolish ATK 2500 - 5000] "Battle! I attack Dread Decimantor! When an attack is declared, I can detach a material, and increase my monster's attack points by one of your monsters." [ATK 5000 - 8300] "This duel is over!"

"Not yet! I activate the spell, Mystik Wok. I tribute Absolute Zero to gain life points equal to his attack points." [Angelina LP 4000 - 6500] "Because Absolute Zero left the field, all your monsters are destroyed."

"Not with this, Called by the Grave. I banish Absolute Zero from your graveyard, and thus negate its effect." The attack continues. The Collector's monster slices Angelina's monster down the middle, destroying it. [Angelina LP 6500 - 1500]

"You survived. Not bad. I guess I'll let you keep going with this set card. Your move." Angelina draws for her turn, but as she does, Collector flips over his trap card. "I activate Dimension Guardian. Now my monster cannot be destroyed by battle or card effects."

Angelina looks at the cards in her hand, and then what the Collector has on his field. She has no monsters in her hand, yet is calm. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, thinking through the winning strategy.

"I activate the trap, Infinite Impermanence. I can use this from my hand since I control no other cards. While your monster keeps its double attack points, it now can't use its abilities this turn."

"What do you plan to accomplish with this?"

"Victory. I activate Instant Contact. By paying 1000 life points, I can special summon the Level 6 monster, E-Hero Flame Wingman from my extra deck." [Angelina LP 1500 - 500] [L6/Wind/Warrior/Fusion/ATK 2100] "Now with my last card, I activate Miracle Fusion. I fuse the Flame Wingman on my field with the Neos in my graveyard. Miracle Fusion Summon! Level 8, E-Hero Shining Neos Wingman!" [L8/Light/Warrior/Fusion/ATK 3100] "When summoned, I can destroy cards on your field up to the number of different attributes on mine, so I destroy Dimension Guardian. Next, my Neos gains 300 attack points for every monster in my graveyard." [Neos ATK 3100 - 5800]

Angelina moves into the battle phase and attacks Glavesolish with Neos. The two monster slash with their blades before the stronger monster prevails. Neos breaks the Heroic monster's sword, and slashes through them before using their blade to slice the Collector in half with the rest of his life points. [Collector LP 500 - 0]

With the duel over, Angelina rushes over the remains of the Collector. They cough up blue oil from their mouth as they pull out a white envelope. "This is for you my dear. We expect good things from you. Now, you best be going. In 5. 4. 3." Realising he's counting down, she leaps for cover as they explode, removing any trace of them.

She opens the envelope when the fire dies down, and finds the invitation to the Duel Circuit. She smiles to herself before putting the invitation away and fleeing the area.