Chapter 3
Let's Go Clubbing!
"Talking"
'Thinking'
Loud Noises!
Card Names/Info
It had been a couple of days since the school year started, and things for our main trio had been going well. Currently the three were in their last class of the day, with the Slifer headmaster, Professor Banner teaching them.
While Yuni was taking notes on the lesson, Lori, who was sitting next to her, was laying her head down on the table.
'So booooring' She thought as she watched Professor Banner concoct some sort of green liquid in a beaker. The school year had just started, and she was already feeling worn out. 'I was hoping that a duel school wouldn't be so much like a regular one, but it's just as taxing as my last school.' She thought sadly. 'Hmm, maybe I need to find something to help me unwind. Dueling is great and all, but sometimes I feel like I'm dueling for school and not for pleasure.'
Suddenly, an idea came to mind, and a smile crept onto her face. "Psst. Yuni." She whispered while turning her head to the girl.
"What is it?" Yuni whispered back while looking at her friend in the corner of her eye. Lori smiled at her and had that look in her eye that Yuni has always seen whenever the girl had come up with an idea.
"Want to go look at some clubs with me?" She asked. Yuni took a moment to think about it. She had never been in a club before, she had much rather go home to spend time with her mom instead. Here though, that couldn't happen.
'Maybe a club would be good for me.' Yuni thought. "Yeah, sure." She replied to her friend after a while, making the girl smile wider and give a quiet "Yay".
Shortly after, the sound of a bell went off through the intercom, signaling the end of the class. "Alright, that's all for today's lesson. Don't forget, the homework is due on Thursday." Professor Banner said as he started to put away his beakers. At hearing this, Lori sprang to her feet and quickly put her notebook in her bag, before running out the door. As Yuni put her notebook up, she saw Yuuchi walking down the stairs next to her.
"Oh, hey Yuuchi." She said before quickly putting her bag on to join his walk out of the class. "Me and Lori were going to go look at some clubs, you wanna come with us?" She asked him.
Yuuchi shook his head at her. "Sorry, b-but no. I'm already in a club." He said quietly as if he was telling a secret. Yuni looked at him with a surprised look on her face. "Really? What club are you in?" She asked him curiously. The boy's face turned a little red and he looked down before muttering something that Yuni couldn't hear.
"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Yuni asked while leaning in a little closer to him. Yuuchi blushed even more before repeating what he said. "T-the Paranormal Research club." He spoke.
Yuni's look of surprise returned to her face. "Really? I never would've thought you were someone who believes in the supernatural." She said before asking him "What do you guys do there?"
"Um, sometimes we share stories of paranormal things that happened to us, or we show some item we believe is supernatural." He said meekly. "Most of the time though, we're researching for paranormal things you know? Mostly they're just rumors though. A time traveling door, a ghost sighting, a multidimensional tyrant, and the occasional fountain of youth. Stuff like that." He said with some excitement in his voice.
Yuni just smiled at the boy's rare expression of enthusiasm. "That sounds really interesting. Maybe I'll stop by to see it one day." Yuni said as they walked out of the class and saw Lori waiting to the side, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Well, I'll let Lori know. Have fun with your club." Yuni told him. Yuuchi nodded and turned to his right to head to his club room.
Yuni walked the other way and reached her friend who smiled at her. "Alright let's go!" Lori said, before seeing Yuuchi walking down the hall. "Wait, what about Yuuchi?" She asked Yuni.
"He said he's already in a club, so he's not gonna join us." Yuni told her.
Lori frowned at this. "Aaww, ok then." She said downtrodden, before waving her hands at the boy. "See you later Yuyuuchi!" She screamed at him, startling several students around them. Yuuchi just looked at her over his shoulder with a look of embarrassment because of the people who turned to look at him from Lori's yell and gave a small wave without stopping.
And with that, Lori and Yuni headed out to find out about what clubs the school had.
….
The two girls had gone to see ten clubs now, with nothing catching either of their interests. There was the card game club, the news club, and even a cooking club, but none of them really spoke to either of them. So currently, the two were talking while walking down a hall looking for the next club room.
"And then, right as Jaden drew his next card, Alexis warned us about the security guard that was on the way. So we all ran out and they had to call the duel a draw!" Lori exclaimed. She had been telling Yuni about how on the night they arrived on the island, Jaden and Chazz had a secret duel that she got to see due to her seeing them sneak out that night.
"Wow, I kinda wish I got to see that." Yuni said. "Jaden seems like a really good duelist, it's weird that they put him in Slifer red."
Lori shrugged at this. "Yeah, it's weird, maybe they ran out of space in the other dorms?" Lori suggested. "I mean, it would make sense since they put me in red too, haha." She joked with a laugh. Yuni giggled at her friend's joke as they arrived at the next club room.
"Alright, let's see what this next one is…" Yuni said as she read the plaque on the wall next to the door. "Hm, it's a music club." She said turning to Lori, who suddenly gasped before rushing into the room, leaving Yuni in the hallway and confused. "Um, Lori?" Yuni called out as she walked into the room.
Lori was standing right in front of the door with her hands clasped together with stars in her eyes. "This…...is heaven!" She said before running off to inspect the room.
Yuni looked around the big room, seeing that it was similar to the music classrooms she had at her old school, but bigger and more expensive looking. There were many instruments hanging up on racks in one corner of the room, a piano in the other, and multiple chairs forming a "U" shape with some of them being sat in by members of the club. Everything in this room looked as if it cost a fortune and was cleaned to a point where its shine could blind a person who looked at it for too long.
Lori was still running around the room, only stopping every now and then to look at an instrument and gush about it. Suddenly, a blue haired boy in a yellow jacket walked up to Yuni as he chuckled at the actions of the hyperactive girl. "So, I'm guessing you two are interested in joining the music club?" He asked her with a smile.
Yuni turned to look at the fellow Ra student and smiled. "Well, she definitely is." She responded while pointing to her friend.
Lori, who heard the question, quickly turned around and ran at the boy. She stopped right in front of his face with a huge smile on her face. "Oh yes! I'm very interested in joining! Please let me join your heaven!" She said while giving a very low bow to the boy.
The boy looked at Lori with a thoughtful look. "Hmm, well if you're trying to join, there are things you must know first." He said as he started walking over to a poster with a large round stadium on it. "Usually, most clubs would have you duel a club member as a way to see if you deserve to join, but we don't do that here. I know we're attending a dueling school, but we in the music club take this just as seriously as dueling. For we have a goal, and that goal is to perform a dueling concert at-"
"The Tokyo Dome!" Lori shouted, cutting him off. "But only the best bands get to go there! You basically have to win the national Band Battle to even have a chance of being invited!" She said while looking at the poster.
The boy looked over at her. "Yes, only the best of the best get to play there. Which is why I don't just let anyone join the music club. There's a reason why there's only 14 of us." He said while waving his hand at the other club members. "You gotta be good, and I mean REALLY good." He finished while crossing his arms.
Lori smirked confidently at him while crossing her arms as well. "I'm not just good, I'm one of the best." She boasted. The boy raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh really?" He asked sarcastically before leaning down to get in front of her face. "Then show me." He challenged.
What followed after was 10 minutes of Lori showing off her skills on the piano, guitar, drums, and a saxophone as well. Yuni could see that the club leader had a small look of shock at what she assumed was Lori's great skill, especially when it came to the saxophone.
"Alright, I've heard enough." The boy said while raising a hand. Lori, who was about to grab a microphone, turned to him. "Are you sure? I have a great voice too, ya know." She said with confidence.
"I'm sure you do, but I don't need to hear it. I've made my decision." He said as he walked over to her. He stretched his hand out once he got in front of her. "You're accepted, with open arms. And I'm sure no one has any objections to it?" He said with his last comment asked to the other members in the room. Yuni turned to see the look of amazement on most of the members faces and the rest giving looks of respect to her friend. All of the members threw out words of agreement with the club leader's decision.
Lori smiled widely and shook the boy's hand quickly while saying "Thank you" repeatedly. Yuni and the other club members smiled and clapped for her friend.
Suddenly, Lori turned to Yuni with excitement still on her face. "Oh, come on Yuni. Show us some of your musical skills." She said while pumping her fist.
Yuni waved her hands and shook her head at this. "Oh no, I'm not much of a music person." She said, embarrassed. Lori walked over to Yuni with an encouraging smile. "Come on. I'm sure you can sing; you have a pretty voice. Like this. Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Ti-Do~" Lori demonstrated harmoniously.
Yuni, after hearing this, steeled her nerves and gave her best imitation of what she heard her friend do. Unfortunately, though, giving your all into something doesn't make it good. Even if somehow, Yuni couldn't hear what sounds left her mouth, the grimace on the club president's face told her everything she needed to know. Lori, who stood next to him, with a smile still on her face, closed her eyes and nodded. "Yep…. you can't sing." She said plainly in her chipper voice.
Yuni lowered her head and looked at her feet as her face turned red with embarrassment. Lori, seeing this, quickly waved her hands. "B-but that doesn't mean you can't get better. I can even give you lessons." She said quickly, trying to cheer Yuni up. Yuni just shook her head and looked up at her friend. "No no, it's fine. I'm not too interested in music anyway. You'll definitely do great in this club, but I need to find one more tailored to me." Yuni said with a small smile.
Lori frowned at this but nodded her head. "Oh. Ok then. Well, let me know what club you join. Who knows, maybe I'll join that one too." She said with a small chuckle at the end. Yuni smiled a little wider at this and soon left the room, leaving Lori there to start working on her club application.
...
Yuni had gone to see four more clubs now and still hadn't found one she felt comfortable with joining. At this point, Yuni figured she wouldn't find anything that actually would make her want to join. Yuni sighed as she walked outside with her head down. 'Well, I can always visit Lori to watch her practice.' Yuni thought to herself. Suddenly, Yuni felt herself bumping into another person carrying four big bags, making them drop two of them. "Oh, I'm so sorry." Yuni apologized to the person.
Yuni looked to see that she had bumped into a brown-haired girl her height with gray eyes, who was also wearing a blue headband. Yuni noticed that she also had some dark stains on her white shirt, which she assumed came from the bags of what she now realized were filled with soil. The girl looked at the dropped bags for a moment before turning to Yuni. "It's ok, I couldn't really see well over all the bags. Plus, they didn't rip open, so no worries there." The girl said while giving Yuni a small smile.
Yuni let out a small sigh of relief at her words. "Well, that's good. Oh, let me help you with these." Yuni said as she went to pick up the two bags on the ground.
"Oh no, you don't have to. I don't have too much farther to go with them." The girl said. Yuni just shook her head as she grabbed the two heavy bags. "This is the least I can do since I made you drop them. Plus, they seem pretty heavy for just one person." Yuni said with a smile that was slightly strained due to the weight of the bags. The girl looked a little surprised for a second before smiling back. "Ok, thank you. Our destination is this way." She said as she started walking to her left. "Oh, I'm Erica by the way. Erica Flores." She said with a small turn to look at Yuni.
"I'm Yuni Nero. Nice to meet you." Yuni replied.
After following Erica through the thick woods for about five minutes, Yuni found herself in front of a small greenhouse that she didn't even know existed. Erica opened the door and made her way inside, followed by Yuni. As Yuni looked around, she couldn't help but be amazed by the greenhouse. It wasn't too big, but it was filled with a multitude of plants and flowers. More than she's ever seen in one place before. Roses, daffodils, lilies, and even flowers she didn't recognize were all around her, in long pots that stretched from one end of the building to the other. Yuni took in a deep breath, even with all the different plants here, the air still had a relaxing smell to it in Yuni's opinion.
Erica had walked over to the left to put her heavy bags onto a wooden table. "Woo! Finally, I don't have to carry those anymore." She said relieved while dusting her hands off. Yuni followed her lead and placed down the bags she was carrying next to the other two on the table.
"I didn't know there was a greenhouse on the campus." Yuni said to Erica as she walked down the small aisle looking at all the greenery.
Erica, who had put on some gloves, smiled at her before moving to one of the log pots where a sunflower was. "Lots of people don't know it's here. It's like a little hideout." She said while tending to the flower and the soil around it. "It's a small club, but a nice one." She finished as she moved down to tend to the lilies.
Yuni looked up at Erica. "Wait. This is a club?" She asked surprised. Erica nodded at her. "Yeah, but it's only me and one other member. Since she's not here right now, can you help me with the plants?" Erica asked while holding up a watering can to Yuni.
For the next couple of minutes, Yuni and Erica both watered all the plants in the greenhouse, all the while talking about how the club started with Erica making it last year, and how throughout the year only one other person had joined. Which she admitted was probably due to it being hidden away. Yuni was also introduced to a little venus flytrap they had named Little Vinny and was even told how to feed him. After watering and feeding the hungry plants, they went out a back door to pour the new soil from the bags into a little makeshift garden and planted new seeds in it.
"You know…" Yuni started as she looked at her dirtied hands. "I think I could get used to this. It's a nice quiet place and taking care of the plants was surprisingly relaxing." Yuni went on as she turned to look at the greenhouse, before looking at Erica. "I think I'd like to join this club, if you'll have me." Yuni said, giving a small bow to Erica.
Erica smiled widely at Yuni. "Of course! As president of the Botanical club, it would be my pleasure!" She said excitedly with a bow of her own. Yuni stood back up straight and gave Erica her signature smile. "Thank you!" She said happily.
Erica did some small jumps of excitement at the thought of another member joining the club. "Oh wait! You need to sign an application paper." She said as she stopped her jumping and started running in the direction of the school. "I'll be right back; I need to get it from the office! Just hang on!" She yelled out as she was going further into the woods. Yuni smiled and waved her off until she was gone from her sight.
'I can't believe I'm joining a club. I need to tell mom. Oh, and Lori!' Yuni thought with a big grin as she pulled out her PDA to message Lori. As she was typing her message, a person walked up behind her.
"Excuse me. What are you doing here?" A gruff voice called out, making Yuni turn around. After turning, Yuni had to look up at the tall and slightly muscular girl who was almost a foot taller than her. The girl had short red hair with a long braid in back, yellow eyes, and wore her obelisk blue jacket unbuttoned, completing her tomboyish look. The girl had a small scowl on her face, but Yuni's eyes were drawn to the scar on her cheek, which she recognized as a burn scar. "You deaf or something?! I asked, "What are you doing here, Yellow!?" The girl said again, this time with her poking Yuni's shoulder, pushing her back a little.
"Oh, I'm sorry, you just scared me." Yuni said sincerely as she looked into the girl's intimidating eyes. "I'm gonna be joining the botanical club here." Yuni said, giving the girl a small smile. This made the redhead's scowl get bigger, and she narrowed her eyes in anger. "And who said you could join the club!?" She yelled while leaning down to get right in front of Yuni's face.
Yuni felt herself sweating a bit from nervousness with the angered girl getting in her face. "U-um... Erica did. I'm waiting for her right now." Yuni answered her. Yuni saw the girl's eyes widen for a second before narrowing once again. "She did, did she?" The girl said rhetorically. "But what about the other club member? Did they say you could join?" She asked Yuni, who just shook her head in response. The girl smiled cockily. "That's right, and guess what? I DON'T accept your application." She said before backing up from Yuni.
Yuni looked confused for a moment before registering what she said. "Wait, YOU'RE the second member?" Yuni asked while looking up and down at the tomboy.
The girl glared at Yuni. "Is that a problem?" She growled. Yuni, getting more and more nervous, shook her head fast. "N-no that's no problem, but Erica already said I could join, and she's the president…" Yuni said meekly. The angered girl glared at her harder, making Yuni sweat even more. "B-but how can I make you accept me joining the club?" Yuni stuttered.
The girl kept glaring at Yuni, before getting an idea, making a devilish grin creep onto her face. "Well Yellow, how about this?" She said while raising a finger to her chin. "You beat me in a duel, and I'll let you join. But, if you lose…you leave, and can never join the club." She proposed. Yuni looked at the girl, specifically her jacket. She hadn't fought an obelisk blue student yet, and if the ranking system was accurate, that would make the girl a better duelist than her. 'This is the only club I found that I actually want to join…but if I lose, then that'll mean nothing.' Yuni thought, as she lowered her head and weighed her options. After a few seconds, Yuni clenched her fist and looked up at the girl with a determined look. "You're on!" She yelled at her.
...
"Hurry up Yellow!" The redhead yelled out to Yuni who was now tightening her duel disk on her arm. "My name isn't yellow, it's Yuni!" She yelled back.
"Don't care, didn't ask." The girl said as she turned her duel disk on. "Just remember to tell any other people trying to join the club that the one and only Ariel will beat them as badly as I'll beat you." The now named Ariel said with a wild toothy grin.
"DUEL!" They both said.
"I'm going first!" Ariel claimed as she drew a card. "I summon my Lonefire Blossom!" She said as a small yellow plant appeared on the field.
Fire | Plant | Lvl 3 | ATK: 500 | DEF: 1400
"Now I use its effect to tribute a plant type monster I control, to summon a plant type monster from my deck." She explained as she looked through her cards and grabbed a card. "And I choose Gigaplant!" She said as put the monster onto her duel disk. What appeared after was a giant broccoli looking monster with six scythe-like arms and a big red face.
Earth | Plant | Lvl 6 | ATK: 2400 | DEF: 1200
"Then I'll equip it with the spell card, Happy Flower Crown." A giant crown made of flowers that were smiling appeared around the big head of Gigaplant, but it did nothing to make it look less intimidating to Yuni. "Finally, I'll set three cards. Your move, Yellow." Ariel said as she put three cards into her back row.
Yuni looked at the huge monster and got worried. 'Is summoning such a strong monster on the first turn something all Obelisk blue students can do?' She thought to herself before looking at her duel disk. 'No, I can't back down now! We'll win this together!' She thought to her deck as she drew a card and looked at her hand.
Rainbow Maker Blue
Rainbow Maker Yellow
Bountiful Artemis
Rainbow Maker Indigo
Polymerization
Pot of Avarice
"Ok! First, I normal summon Rainbow Maker Blue, and since she's on the field, I can then special summon Rainbow Maker Yellow from my hand!" Yuni said as she placed the two monsters onto the duel disk, making them float onto the field from the sky.
Light | Fairy | Lvl 3 | ATK: 1300 | DEF: 1500
Light | Fairy | Lvl 3 | ATK: 1400 | DEF: 1300
'I have to deal with that monster.' Yuni thought as she looked at Gigaplant. "Now, since I control another Rainbow Maker monster, Rainbow Maker Yellow can use his effect to destroy one monster you control with more attack points than him! So, say goodbye to your Gigaplant!" Yuni yelled out as Yellow's hands glowed yellow before he launched a beam at the giant monster.
Ariel smirked as the beam hit Gigaplant, but did nothing to it. "Oops. Did I forget to mention that my Happy Flower Crown gives a plant monster equipped with it, the effect that it can't be destroyed by battle or card effects once per turn?" She said feigning innocence. "My bad, Yellow." She said with her devilish grin.
Yuni had a look of shock before mentally berating herself for using Yellow's effect first, when she didn't know what the spell card's effect was. "Fine then, but now I'll use Rainbow Maker Blue's effect to destroy one spell or trap card you control, and it won't be the one you're thinking about!" Yuni said as Blue's hands glowed before she sent out energy that turned into ice shards at Ariel's first set card. The ice shards stabbed into the facedown before it lifted up revealing it to be Mirror Force, before it got destroyed.
"Nice shot, Blue!" Yuni cheered as Ariel growled as her card went into her graveyard. "Now I'll activate the spell card Polymerization! And I'll be sending my Rainbow Maker Yellow and Rainbow Maker Blue to summon-" Yuni started as her two monsters jumped into the air before combining into a green orb. The orb soon broke apart with the energy looking like leaves.
"Rainbow Maker Green!" Yuni finished as her fusion monster gracefully floated down onto the field in defense position.
Light | Fairy | Lvl 7 | ATK: 2100 | DEF: 2600
"Then I'll use her effect to gain 400 life points for every Rainbow Maker monster I control with a different name." Yuni said as her monster sent her green energy at her, making her life points go up to 4400. "With that, I'll end my turn." Yuni finished.
"Ha! That's it? I didn't expect much from you Yellow, but clearly, I should've lowered my expectations even more if this is the best you got." Ariel taunts, making Yuni frown at her. "Well whatever, my turn." She says as she draws a card.
"I'm going to normal summon my Gigaplant on the field!" She says, causing Yuni to look at her confused.
"What are you talking about? It's already on the field." Yuni asked. Ariel just smirked as she explained herself. "Well, you see, Gigaplant is a special kind of monster called a 'Gemini monster'. These kinds of monsters have effects but can only use them after they've been normal summoned after they're already on the field."
As she explained this, Yuni saw that the Gigaplant glowed blue for a moment before it roared loudly at her. "And Gigaplant has a good one. I'm going to use its effect to special summon one plant type monster from my hand, and I'm summoning Happy Poppy." She said as a flowerpot with a smiley face and a poppy flower coming out of it, rose from under the dirt onto the field.
Earth | Plant | Lvl 4 | ATK: 1100 | DEF: 1300
Yuni looked at the small pot and smiled. 'It's so cute' She thought. "But it's only got 1100 attack points, and even Gigaplant doesn't have enough to get over Green." Yuni said to Ariel, who just shook her head.
"You still have a lot to learn Yellow. So, allow me to teach you a lesson! Go Happy Poppy, attack her dumb monster!" Ariel commanded, making the pot grow legs made out of roots and run at Yuni's Rainbow Maker. Yuni, confused by this, just watched as Rainbow Maker Green raised a hand, making the pot run into a wall of green energy. Because of this, Ariel lost 1500 life points, making it go down to 2500.
"Um...was this supposed to be a math lesson?" Yuni asked her.
"No, but I'm sure you could use lessons on that too. This was so that I could use Poppy's effect! After she's been involved in a battle, the monster that battles her loses 500 attack AND defense points!" As she explained this, Rainbow Maker Green glowed red as her defense went down to 2100.
"Uh oh." Yuni said nervously.
"Uh oh, is right! Now, Gigaplant, go have fun with Rainbow Maker Green, Giga Slash!" Ariel commanded as her giant monster raised two of its arms up before slamming them down onto Green, slicing through her and causing a green explosion.
"Hahaha! Alright Yellow, let's see if you can get through this." Ariel said as she ended her turn.
Yuni grit her teeth at the predicament and drew a card. "I activate the card Pot of Greed to draw two more cards!" Yuni said, playing the card she drew. Ariel scoffed at this and said, "Better draw something good Yellow, or else this duel won't last much longer."
Yuni looked to see that she drew Rainbow Maker Red and Monster Reborn and smirked at Ariel. "I definitely got something good. "I'll start with using Monster Reborn to get back my Rainbow Maker Blue!" Yuni said as her graveyard glowed blue as her monster came out and was placed back onto the field in defense mode.
"And now that she's on the field, I can special summon Rainbow Maker Red from my hand." Yuni continued as she summoned her second monster.
Light | Fairy | Lvl 4 | ATK: 1600 | DEF: 1000
"And now that I control a different Rainbow Maker monster, Blue can use her effect once again! And this time, I will destroy your Flower Crown!" Yuni said as Blue sent her energy ice shards at the equip spell, destroying it. Ariel just stood with her muscular arms crossed as her spell exploded next to her. "So what? You can't get over my Gigaplant. Or did you forget that?" Ariel said insultingly.
Yuni frowned before grabbing another card from her hand. "Now I normal summon Rainbow Maker Indigo in attack mode!" Yuni said as the indigo dressed girl appeared on the field.
Light | Fairy | Lvl 4 | ATK: 1800 | DEF: 1100
"And I'll use her effect to add one fairy type monster from the graveyard to my hand." Yuni said as her graveyard glowed yellow and Rainbow Maker Yellow slid out for her to grab and put in her hand. "And guess who's coming back to the field?" Yuni asked as summoned Yellow back to the field. "And now that your equip spell is gone, Yellow's effect can destroy your Gigaplant. Or did you forget that?" Yuni taunted as her monster sent out a yellow beam at the giant plant, this time with it exploding and going to the graveyard, and making Ariel grit her teeth.
"How's that for good cards?" Yuni asked with a smirk, making Ariel angrier. With just two cards, Yuni's field had gone from being empty, to having four monsters, and her taunts had angered Ariel even more. Yuni could practically see the steam coming out of Ariel's ears from across the field.
"Now let's finish this! First, I'll have Red attack your Poppy with Crimson Ray!" Yuni called out, as the red eyed boy sent out a ray of energy at the small plant, destroying it and making Ariel's life points drop to 2000 and Red's attack and defense to drop by 500. "And since he destroyed a monster, he lets me add 1 Rainbow Maker monster from my deck to my hand." Yuni said as she looked through her deck. It wasn't a tough decision since she was planning on winning here, so she just grabbed the first one she saw, which was Rainbow Maker Yellow.
"Even though his stats are lowered, it doesn't matter, because I'm ending this here! Yellow! Attack her directly with Bright Beam!" She commanded as Yellow attacked Ariel, making her drop to her knees as her life points dropped even lower to 600. "And finally, Rainbow Maker Indigo will attack you directly and win me the game! Go, Starlight Wave!" Yuni yelled as Indigo gathered energy in her right hand, before swinging her arm hard, making a wave of indigo energy get sent to Ariel.
"Don't get cocky, Yellow! I activate my trap, Magic Cylinder!" Ariel interrupted as her trap flipped up and materialized two cylinders. "This negates your attack and sends the damage back to you!" She explained. Yuni watched as one cylinder absorbed the energy wave and the other one launching it right back at her. She grunted as the wave hit her and lowered her life points to 2600.
"Well, that's all I can do for now. I end my turn." Yuni said to the girl who was slowly standing back up.
Ariel glared at Yuni, with her face being red from anger. "Grrr! Don't think this duel is over already Yellow! I'll make sure you won't join this club!" She yelled before drawing a card. "I'll use a Pot of Greed of my own, to draw two cards!" She said while drawing twice. She then placed a monster onto her duel disk.
"I summon Happy Dahlia in defense mode."
Earth | Plant | Lvl 3 | ATK: 900 | DEF: 1100
"Then I'll activate the continuous spell Happy Gardener." She said as a spell card with a cute girl tending to a pot full of plants appeared. "I'll use its effect that once per turn, let's me put a level 4 or lower plant monster from my deck into my spell and trap zone. Then, during my next standby phase, I can special summon it in attack position." Ariel explained as she grabbed a monster from her deck and put it into her spell/trap slot. What appeared next to the continuous spell was a small happy pot, filled with soil but with no flower in it yet.
"Lastly, I'll set a card. Now take your turn!" Ariel yelled as a card appeared on the other side of her spell card.
Yuni drew Spirits Fusion for her turn and started thinking. 'Ok, I got enough monsters on the field to win this turn. I can't use Yellow's effect to destroy her monster, but I can use Blue's.' She looked at the two facedown cards on Ariel's side of the field. 'The spell won't be a problem if I win here so I don't need to hit it. But I know she has Mirror Force and Magic Cylinder in her deck now…well, the first set hasn't done anything the whole time, so I'll hit the other one!'
"Alright, Rainbow Maker Blue, I'll use your effect again to hit Ariel's new set card!" Yuni said as Blue sent her shards at it, revealing it to be Mirror Force before it was destroyed. "Yes!" Yuni said happily. "Now I'll go to my battle phase! Yellow, attack Happy Dahlia with Bright Beam!" Yuni commanded as her monster attacked the plant.
"I don't think so! I activate my set card, Happy Photosynthesis!" Ariel said, flipping up a spell card that had a picture of a smiling sun shining down on some smiling, dancing plants. "This card lets me double the defense points of one plant monster I control! Though its defense will go to 0 at the end of the turn" She said with a smirk as Happy Dahlia's defense points doubled to 2200. Yellow's beam hit the monster, but Dahlia took the hit before swinging a root at him, which caused Yuni to lose 800 life points, leaving her at 1800.
"But that's not all! After Dahlia was involved in a battle, I get to destroy one monster you control! So, say goodbye to your Rainbow Maker Blue!" Ariel said with a smirk as Dahlia launched its roots out to wrap them around Blue, before squeezing her until she was destroyed in an explosion.
Yuni had nothing that could help her get over the plant, so she just went into the main phase 2. "I guess it was wrong of me to expect an Obelisk student to go down so easily. I'll set one card and end my turn." Yuni said a little sad at not winning yet. Happy Dahlia's defense dropped to 0 as Yuni ended her turn.
"You're damn right it was, Yellow! Draw!" Ariel yelled as she drew a card. "Since it's now my standby phase, I can special summon the monster I put in my spell and trap zone, which was Happy Lily!" Ariel grabbed the monster and put it into the monster slot this time, making the pot on the field move up with roots as legs before a Lily flower grew from it.
Earth | Plant | Lvl 4 | ATK: 1400 | DEF: 1600
"And as a bonus, any monster summoned by the effect of Happy Gardener can attack twice every battle phase." Ariel told Yuni. "And to follow that up, I'll normal summon Happy Sunflower in attack mode!" She said as a pot with a smiling sunflower came up from the ground.
Earth | Plant | Lvl 4 | ATK: 700 | DEF: 1400
"Now, I'll put Dahlia into attack mode and go to my battle phase." Ariel said as Dahlia stood up on its root legs. "Now then I'll have my Happy Dahlia attack your Rainbow Maker Red." Ariel said as the plant ran to the brown-haired boy who just raised an eyebrow before shooting a small red ball of energy at it.
Ariel's life points went down to 400 as her monster was destroyed. "It might've cost me some life points, but now I can use his effect again to destroy a monster you control!" Ariel said as roots came out of the ground under Indigo's feet before grabbing them and pulling her down into the ground completely.
"Now that she's out of the way, I'll attack Rainbow Maker Red again, but this time with Happy Lily." Ariel said as Lily used its legs like springs to jump high into the air before dropping down onto the weakened Red, making him explode. Yuni grit her teeth as her life points went down to 1500.
"And since Lily was involved in a battle, she lets me gain 500 life points." Ariel said as she glowed green for a moment as her life points went up to 900. "But don't forget that it can attack twice! So, attack Rainbow Maker Yellow now!" She commanded. Lily jumped into the air again, and as it was coming down, Yellow shot out a beam, but it didn't stop the pot from landing on his head, destroying them both in an explosion. "Lily might be gone, but I still get to use its effect again to gain another 500 life points!" Ariel said as she glowed green again and now had 1400 life points again.
"But I still have one more monster left to attack you with! Go Happy Sunflower, Happy Petal Storm!" Ariel exclaimed as the small sunflower shot its petals at Yuni, who lifted her arms to block them as her life points dropped to 800.
"And I'm sure you could have guessed that Sunflower also has an effect when it battles. It lets me add one "Happy" spell or trap from my deck to my hand." She said as she went through her deck and grabbed a card. "I'll add Happy Watering." She said as she showed Yuni the spell card that had a picture of a watering can with a smiley face, watering plants.
"Then I'll use the Happy Gardener's effect to place another plant monster in my spell and trap zone, then set a card from my hand, and end my turn." Ariel said as two cards appeared in her back row, with one being an empty pot. "Now come on Yellow! Don't lose all that bravado now!" Ariel yelled at Yuni who was looking more and more nervous as the turns went by.
"R-right. I draw." Yuni drew Polymerization. 'This can't help me right now! And I can't use my Spirits Fusion either because my life points are too low!' Yuni thought while looking at her set card. She started sweating a lot at the predicament she was in, and closed her eyes to try to think about what she should do.
"What's wrong, Yellow!? Scared!? If you can't handle this, then just give up and leave. This club doesn't need anybody else, especially a coward like you!" Ariel yelled, causing Yuni to flinch.
'But if I lose, then I can't ever join.' Yuni thought before clenching her fist. 'No! Mom wouldn't give up, and neither will I!' She thought as she opened her eyes and stared at Ariel with determination. "My name isn't Yellow, it's Yuni Nero! And I'm not quitting! I'll win and join this club! Whether you like it or not!" Yuni proclaimed loudly.
Ariel stared at Yuni blankly for a while before smirking at her. "Oh really? Let me see it then!" Ariel challenged.
"Fine! I'll activate the spell card Pot of Avarice! This lets me draw two cards after I return five monsters from my graveyard back to my deck!" Yuni said, activating the card, making a purple jar with a face appear on the field. Yuni returned all her Rainbow Maker monsters to her deck, with Green going back into her extra deck, then shuffled her deck before drawing Call of the Haunted and Rainbow Maker Indigo.
"Alright, I'll summon Rainbow Maker Indigo in attack mode!" Yuni said as Indigo floated down onto the field. "And now I'll attack your Happy Sunflower!" Yuni said as Indigo launched an energy wave at the monster.
For a second, Ariel placed her hand on her set card, before removing it and letting the attack go through, bringing her down to 300 life points. "That lets me use Sunflower's effect again." Ariel said oddly calm as she added a second Happy Watering to her hand.
Yuni then set Call of the Haunted and passed there, hoping that Ariel couldn't do much on her turn.
Ariel drew a card but didn't even look at it. "I get to special summon the plant monster I placed in my spell and trap zone last turn. Happy Rose." She said as the smiling pot moved up and grew a rose from its soil.
Earth | Plant | Lvl 4 | ATK: 1200 | DEF: 1700
"And I'll go straight to the battle phase." She said, which scared Yuni. "Now Happy Rose, attack her monster! Bloody Thorn Slash!" Ariel called out as her monster swung one of its roots with thorns on it.
"But before the attack lands, I activate my set Happy Watering! This doubles a plant monster's attack until the end of the turn." She said as Rose's attack doubles to 2400. "But it doesn't stop there! I'll also activate the Happy Watering in my hand, which lets me double Rose's attack again!" Rose's root arm grew huge in size as its attack went all the way up to 4800.
The giant root slammed into Indigo, launching her back towards Yuni before she exploded in an Indigo colored explosion that engulfed Yuni.
Once Yuni's life points hit 0, all the cards on the field and the explosion disappeared, revealing Yuni on her back from the force of the blast. Ariel slowly walked up to her as Yuni used her arms to lean herself upright.
"I... lost." Yuni said sadly once Ariel had reached her.
"I'll be honest, you did better than I expected for a yellow jacket, and you stood strong at the end. But you lack experience and have a lot to learn." Ariel said while looking down into Yuni's eyes. "But a deal's a deal. You're not joining the club, and never will be. So, leave. A Ra student doesn't deserve to be hanging around with Obelisk students anyway." Ariel said harshly.
Yuni lowered her head before slowly nodding.
"And why can't she join?" A voice called out from behind the trees. Yuni and Ariel's heads shot over in the direction of the voice and watched as Erica stepped out from behind a tree. "She did well in the duel, and I already accepted her joining. So why can't she?" Erica asked while crossing her arms.
Ariel looked at Erica with a small blush on her face. "Well, I wasn't informed of this decision, and we had a deal that if she lost, she can't join. Besides, she's a yellow jacket! She shouldn't even be hanging with people like us anyway!" Ariel said while pointing at Yuni.
Erica shook her head disappointedly while walking over to the two girls. "We talked about this, Ariel. Just because we're in Obelisk blue doesn't mean we can just look down on others." She said as she stood in front of Yuni and held out her hand to her. Yuni looked up at the girl before grabbing her hand and letting her help her up.
"Don't forget that you were once in the Ra dorm too, Ariel." Erica said as she turned to the tall girl and placed a hand on Yuni's shoulder. "I'm the president of this club and have decided to let Yuni join. If you have a problem with that…" She started before pulling out her deck from her back pocket. "Then you can always challenge me to change my mind." She said with a stern but gentle look.
Ariel went back and forth from looking at Erica and her deck for a while. After a couple seconds, she scowled and turned her head away from Erica and crossed her arms. "...Fine..." She mumbled like an angry child.
Erica's stern look left and a genuine smile came out as she put her deck away. "Great then." She said as Ariel's small blush got a little bigger at the sight of the smile.
Ariel turned to leave the area and head back to the greenhouse, before Erica cleared her throat loudly as if she was waiting for something, making her stop and look over her shoulder at Yuni. "I'm sorry, Yellow..." She said reluctantly.
"Yellow?" Erica asked while giving Ariel a look. Ariel clenched her fist and shook a little in place. "... I'm sorry... Yuni." She said through her clenched teeth. She then gave Yuni a glare before stomping off to the greenhouse. 'How can such an angry person have a cute and happy deck?' Yuni wondered to herself as she watched the redhead walk away.
Erica turned to Yuni with a smile back on her face and held up a club application. "Now then, here you go! Just put in your information and sign it and you'll officially be a member of the botanical club!" She said giddily, making Yuni smile.
'Even though I lost the duel, I'm getting to join.' She thought before frowning. 'But it's only because of luck.' Yuni followed behind Erica as they walked back to the greenhouse. 'I can't just rely on luck as a pro, and even in life. I need to get better.' Yuni thought with determination.
But for now, she would be thankful for this moment, and would celebrate it with her friends once she shared the news.
End of Chapter 3.
Author's Notes:
1) The "Happy Plants" archetype is available to look at and use on Duelingbook.
2) This was the first original story of who knows how many to come. Episode 3 in the anime was about Jaden trying to get Syrus back from the girl's Obelisk dorm, and I had no good way of getting the main characters there, so I went for this.
3) Erica is inspired by "Erika" from Pokémon. But what kind of deck does she use? Hmmm, who knows? (Not me, yet).
4) Next chapter will also be an original story, since episode 4 is the test day where promotional matches are held, and I feel like it came a little too soon. It will be happening the chapter after next though.
If you have any constructive criticism or anything else you want to say, leave a comment. Thanks for reading.