Blake knew she was high on duel euphoria, but she hadn't fully realized what that meant until she and Nora started slowing down at the same time. If she was able to match that firestorm of energy through a heated Action Duel, and burning up the dance floor together, she might actually have to be concerned about someone having slipped something into the punch. Nevertheless, the two friends traded off with Weiss and Ren (taking custody of a backpack containing Pyrrha's duel disk so the pair could join the festivities) and staggered towards the second-floor railing to view the duel.
"You sure you're okay with Ren being on the dance floor alone?" Blake teased. "After his dashing display in the duel, there are bound to be plenty of boys and girls who want to get to know him better."
"Duh. They'd be stupid not to. But that doesn't mean they can keep up with his moves out there. He can kickstep-kickstep-body roll like nobody's business," Nora explained, smiling broadly as she turned away from Ren, Jaune, Pyrrha, and Weiss dancing together. But as she looked away from Ruby failing to keep from stepping on Penny's feet (not that the Atlas girl seemed to notice with how incandescent her grin was) and towards the sword cemetery below, the ritual duelist's eyes lit up with sparkles at the sight of the gargantuan war machine filling the duel field. "Besides, this way, we get to see Coco's kickbutt Earth Deck in action! Isn't Gustav Max awesome–"
BOOM!
The arena's hardlight dust barrier crackled as a crouched boxer with a crimson jetpack rocketed down Gustav Max's titanic gun barrel and bashed straight through the solid steel of the machine's chassis. The artillery shot that had been moments away from firing exploded and engulfed both monsters in a tempest of flame and warped metal.
The fiery debris fell around Emerald, Mercury, and the revealed trap card between them, flanking the pair in hellish lighting that made the Haven students appear as nightmarish demons.
"No! Gustav Max!" Nora wailed, Team CFVY's fan club equally as shocked throughout the crowd.
"What's that trap card they just activated?" Blake queried.
A storm of rose petals blurred and suddenly Ruby was by her side, her leader's silver eyes glowing with excitement as she observed the duel below.
"Battling Boxing Cross Counter! When the opponent activates a monster effect, the duelist can destroy a Battlin' Boxer or Number Xyz Monster they control to negate the effect and destroy the opponent's monster. And if they do, they can summon a different Battlin' Boxer Xyz Monster from their Extra Deck using the trap card as material," the Silfer Red in the fine suit revealed, the trap card below transforming into an orbiting Overlay Unit for a new red and gold boxer with grand wings and a crown (ATK 2400/DEF 1600). "Battlin' Boxers is a pretty popular deck, but that trap card is rare. Maybe one out of ten duelists who use them can get their hands on or forge that trap."
"Really?" Blake replied, appraising Mercury with new eyes. "Guess Yang was right about him being more skilled than he cared to let on."
"What were those monsters in the trap card's picture?" Nora inquired. "I've never seen them before."
"The one on the right is Number 54: Lion Heart. As for the one on the left, nobody knows," Ruby said, waving her hands around and altering her voice as if she was telling a ghost story. "Thousands of people on hundreds of online dueling forums have theorized about it for years. Some say it's a long-lost Battlin' Boxer ace, the archetype's way of crying out for a duelist capable of forging their mightiest warrior. Some say it's a long-lost Number, but few believe that given how few of those have yet to be discovered. And yet, a scant few argue that it might be both, that Number 79: Battlin' Boxer Nova Kaiser, that's the monster Mercury just summoned by the way, might not be the only Number the fiery fist punchers have up their gloves."
"An astute summary, my friend Ruby!" Penny congratulated, appearing on the other side of her dance partner.
"Ah! Penny!" Ruby flailed, her confident demeanor evaporating in an instant. "I'm sorry. I know dancing isn't my thing, but I didn't mean to just suddenly leave you out there. Or step on your toes so much."
"No worries, Ruby. My toes are made of sturdy enough material to take it!" Penny assured the other girl with a sunny thumbs-up.
"A stunning reversal!" Yang called out from the emcee stage. "Instead of going for an Action Card, Team CMEN uses an explosive Counter Trap to turn the tables on Team CFVY's Gustav Max. With their promise of winning without taking damage still intact, does Beacon's Supersonic Sky Queen have something else up her fashionable sleeve? Or has Mercury set up his partner to deal a real knockout punch?"
"Come on, Coco! You've still got this!" Nora yelled, adding her voice to the many Team CFVY fans still chanting their support.
Blake chuckled. "I didn't realize you two had gotten so close after the Promotion Exams."
"Oh come on. Even when you were being all angsty, I saw you visiting Yatsuhashi for advice and tea," Nora teased. "Oh, by the way, Cinnabun or Crosshairs?"
Ruby raised an eyebrow. "A what or a what?"
"Nicknames that fans of Team CFVY have come up with for a potential romantic relationship between Mr. Daichi and Velvet Scarlatina, and Ms. Adel and Ms. Scarlatina," Penny explained. "The former option has fourteen fan sites while the latter has twenty-three."
Ruby paled. "I'm starting to think people might be a bit too obsessed with Team CFVY. I mean, they're awesome, but that's kind of creepy that they've got names for that stuff."
Blake shrugged. "Eh. You get used to it. You should hear the rumors going around about me and Weiss. And me and Yang."
"Uhuh," Nora sagely nodded. "The Bumblebee and Monochrome wars have been fierce. And then there's the Schnee's Bees shippers trying to bring peace to all humanity. Truly a valiant endeavor."
"Ugh. People are weird," Ruby groaned. "At least with Yang standing next to me, no one I don't know is ever gonna notice me enough to do that creepy stuff."
Nora's face bleached white as she leaned into Blake's ear. "She doesn't know about White Rose, Ladybug, Arcrose, and Flower Kaiserin, does she?"
"Nope," Blake whispered back.
Ruby didn't look at the online areas where those names were getting thrown out and their implications discussed, but when one was the team leader of the Schnee heiress and had often been seen gleefully hanging out with the Second Coming of the Kaiserin, people noticed. Even at the height of ridiculing her for still being a Slifer Red to their Obelisk Blues (a fact that led her to be the only person Jaune was ever shipped with, a form of mocking them both for being leaders of, on paper, far more competent duelists), people just took that as an opportunity to theorize about her having… specific roles in the theoretic relationships. Yang was not enthused to find such forums about her little sister, but she did, in good fun, suggest Nuts and Dolts as a better potential ship name for Ruby and Penny ("The 'Nuts' for how much time they played in the forge together and the 'Dolts' as 'an ode to a valiant but defeated rival').
"Even if Gustav Max's effect was negated, Heavy Freight Train Derricrane's effect activates because it, as an Overlay Unit, was used as the activation cost!" Coco shouted from below, Mercury's second facedown card exploding into broken shards. "One card on your field is destroyed!"
"So I see," Mercury disinterestedly noted.
"You're still down an Xyz Monster," Emerald taunted. "All that work to bust out your Rank Ten, only for it to see it go up in smoke."
"Then, I'll just have to bust out a new one," Coco grinned, slapping down another monster from her hand. "Since the only monsters I control are Earth Attribute, I can special summon Super Express Bullet Train from my hand. Then, I'll activate Flying Pegasus Railroad Stampede's effect. In exchange for only being able to attack with Xyz Monsters this turn, Railroad Stampede becomes the same level as Super Express Bullet Train. Level Ten."
A new train screeched down Revolving Switchyard's tracks, midnight blue and hi-tech, modeled after a smooth sniper's bullet as it cut through the wind (ATK 3000/DEF 0). Even still, Flying Pegasus Railroad Stampede was able to deftly match its speed and hook up to the new machine's front. Just in time for Coco to smash her palms into the floor and conjure a new brown spiral galaxy, transforming both her monsters into nodes of scarlet energy.
"With these two monsters, I build the Overlay Network! Hyperdrive! Overdrive! Hit the gas and say goodbye! The supersonic princess' throne dominates the sky with wonder!" Coco chanted, a brilliant nova erupting from her cosmic array as her new creature rose. "Xyz Summon! Rank Ten! Skypalace Gangaridai!"
A new shadow fell over the graveyard of vanquished swords, one cast by a titanic airship, a flying fortress of two red and black blimps connected with a veritable arsenal (ATK 3400/DEF 3000). The hardlight projector and Action Field worked overtime to allow the monster to manifest solidly without destroying the roof of the ballroom. It was made to accommodate gigantic monsters, but Coco's deck was full of creatures that pushed even that scale.
"That doesn't look like an Earth Attribute monster," Blake noted.
"Well, when you're an expert in all six attributes, you learn to splash a bit," Nora shrugged. "Plus, it's still a giant machine with enormous guns."
"It's beautiful!" Ruby cooed, her silver eyes sparkling.
"I concur! Ms. Adel's forge work is impressive," Penny chimed in, an electronic green light seeming to flicker her through her eyes. A trick of the ballroom's glow no doubt. "Though given Mercury no doubt activated Battlin' Boxer King Dempsey's targeting protection effect before it was destroyed, Skypalace Gangaridai's own effect will not be able to strike his monster."
"True. If this was a regular duel with aura bodies, she'd just have to attack now. But in an Action Duel with hardlight bodies? Hehehe," Nora sniggered, rubbing her hands together in excitement. "Hold onto your heels, ladies. You ain't seen nothing yet."
Ruby tilted her head in confusion. "But I'm not wearing death stilts–"
"I rebuild the Overlay Network with Skypalace Gangaridai!" Coco called out from below.
Ruby whipped back to the match, her attention ripped back to the duel. "Rebuild?!"
Blake couldn't blame her leader, the cat faunus's own amber eyes wide while the Team CFVY fans were cheering like insane asylum patients, clearly knowing what was coming next as another spiral galaxy bloomed and Skypalace Gangaridai descended into the cosmos.
"Go! Rank-Up Xyz Evolution!" Coco cried. "Hyperdrive! Overdrive! Hit the gas and say goodbye! Blood and oil on fire pumpin' through your veins! In my presence, genuflect! Rank Eleven! Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Juggernaut Liebe!"
The swirling stars' nova was practically a firecracker compared to the sheer size of the behemoth that emerged from the dark void. It was painted old military green, an ocean-worthy aircraft carrier fitted with tank treads and cannon turrets, nearly twice the size of the already ginormous Gustav Max. And that went for both its mass and its titanic main gun (ATK 4000/DEF 4000).
"Yeeeaaaahhhh!"
"The Supersonic Sky Queen rules on land and air!"
"She's a cheetah on the plains, she's a highway star!'
"She can Rank-Up Xyz Evolution?" Blake gasped to Nora, heedless of Ruby's coma of wonder as Penny gently tapped the suited girl's dropped jaw back into place.
"Well, not yet. She's not Weiss' sister levels of ridiculous. Mastering that stuff while she was still in school. Ugh, some people are so talented it's scary. Wicked cool, but freaking scary," Nora shuddered, though she quickly smirked proudly down at Coco below. "But she's working on learning it for real. And since this duel uses hardlight bodies instead of aura, no need for complicated techniques. Just bonkers firepower!"
"I activate Liebe's special ability!" the upperclassman announced. "I use an Overlay Unit and only attack with this monster for the rest of this turn. In exchange, it permanently gains two thousand attack and defense points!"
One of the three orange energy nodes circling the gargantuan weapons platform streaked down the barrel of its massive main cannon, a burning orange glow building in its foreboding steel depths (ATK 6000/DEF 6000).
"Six thousand," Ruby murmured.
"That's a lot of firepower," Blake admitted, realizing just what kind of strength Team CFVY had held back against her and Nora during their Promotion Exam matches.
Even Emerald and Mercury had looked flabbergasted when Coco had busted out her new monster. No matter how much they knew about the upperclassman's previous duels, she hadn't mastered Rank-Up Xyz Evolution. She'd never used it before, so they couldn't have learned about it by studying her past matches.
"Superdreadnaught Rail Cannon Juggernaut Liebe! Attack Number 79: Battlin' Boxer Nova Kaiser!" Coco commanded, stylishly snapping her fingers at Mercury's monster.
Just in time for it to vanish, replaced by a skinny man in boxer gear with a water bottle and a stool that knelt in defense mode (ATK 500/DEF 2000).
"Battlin' Boxer Chief Second," Mercury explained. "When you declare an attack while I control a Fire-Attribute or Warrior-Type monster, I can special summon this monster from my hand. Then, your attack is negated and I can banish one monster on the field until the End Phase."
"Which lets you get your Number out of the Extra Monster Zone, leaving your partner room to summon from her Extra Deck if she wants to," Coco nodded, impressed. "Smart move, freshie, But Liebe's not out of tricks yet. It can make attacks on monsters up to one more than the amount of Overlay Units it's got. Fire two!"
Superdreadnaught Rail Cannon Juggernaut Liebe's shifted to Chief Second and went off like an erupting volcano. The boxer on the stool, and the hill of discarded swords beneath him, was utterly obliterated, only a smoking crater left behind.
"I place two cards facedown and end my turn!" Coco said, her fans cheering for her triumph even as Mercury and Emerald's life points remained untouched.
"Woah! An incredible second turn for this match!" Yang commented, hyping the already wild crowd up further. "Team CMEN's sharp defense has kept their life points untouched, but Team CFVY is putting on the pressure! Playing through counter traps and unleashing Rank-Up Xyz Evolution, Coco secures a monster with six thousand attack points and multiple attacks for her side. With Emerald up to bat, will our visitors from Haven be able to break through such raw power?"
Number 76: Battlin' Boxer Nova Kaiser returned to Mercury's field in a main monster zone, but Blake found her eyes more drawn to the down cards manifesting behind Coco's ginormous monster.
"Facedowns," the car faunus muttered in confusion, her eyes flickering to Yatsuhashi stoically standing beside his leader. "Why would she do that?"
"Why would she do what?" Nora inquired. "Lay facedowns? What's wrong with that?"
"Normally, nothing," Blake answered. "But this is a two-headed giant tag duel. She and Yatsuhashi share the same graveyard. So if those spell or trap cards are used or destroyed, the Superheavy Samurai deck will be crippled."
"Most of its effects only work if there are no spell or traps in the duelist's graveyard," Ruby nodded.
"Oh! I gotcha," Nora realized, though her bright smile did not diminish. "I wouldn't worry about it. Coco and Yatsuhashi are a team. She picked her Earth deck specifically to be his partner in this duel. I'm sure she's got something up her sleeve to provide support without tripping him up."
"It would explain why neither of them have tried to obtain any Action Cards," Penny remarked, her gaze spotting each of the unused cards scattered around the Action Field. "I wonder why Mercury and Emerald have not attempted to do so either."
"Based on what Yang and Pyrrha have said about Mercury before, I don't think he really cares to put the effort into snagging one," Blake guessed, watching carefully as Emerald drew for her turn. "No clue on Emerald though. I don't think I've ever actually seen her duel. Have you guys?"
Nora shook her head. "She's been popping in to Onomatopoeia Gang Night for a while now, but now that you mention it, no. I don't think I've ever actually seen her duel for real."
"I asked her about her deck once. She said she didn't want to spoil the surprise for the Vytel Festival," Ruby said. "Though, she did tell me it primarily uses Spellcasters."
"Since I drew Fortune Fairy Hikari, I can reveal it and special summon it," Emerald announced, turning around the card she'd drawn for turn and slamming it down on her ivy green duel disk. A cute, spritely fairy glowing with warm golden light flashed onto the field, the audience cooing at its sparkly cuteness (ATK 0/DEF 0).
"Aww!" Nora squeed, one of those finding it so cute. "It's adorable! It's so squishy, I wanna hug it until it explodes!"
"Indeed! It does fit the aesthetic of 'cute', like Ruby," Penny concurred with an unwavering smile. "Its special ability is also very useful in the right deck."
Blake cocked an eyebrow, noticing the sheer size difference between the goliath Liebe and the puny Fortune Fairy. "What special ability?"
The cat faunus soon got her answer as Fortune Fairy Hikari promptly exploded.
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"If Fortune Fairy Hikari is special summoned from the hand, I can activate its special ability," Emerald declared, the pickpocket perfectly calm and calculating amidst the broken swords of the slain. "I send one monster on my field to my graveyard, in this case itself, and, in exchange, I can special summon a Level One spellcaster from my deck. I'll pick Fortune Lady Light."
The glittering shards of the exploded Fortune Fairy flew back together, coalescing into a dazzling new woman (ATK ?/DEF ?), fully grown and tall unlike the cute sprite but no less appealing to the audience as she twirled an oaken staff and flipped her stunning golden hair (ATK 200/DEF 200).
"Ooo, that's a nice glam-up," Coco purred, tipping her sunglasses down to ogle the new monster. "Though, what was that with its points originally being undecided?"
Emerald smirked. "My Fortune Lady monsters' attack and defense points are decided by their levels. Fortune Lady Light in particular gains two hundred for each level. Now then, I'll activate Number 79's effect and attach a Battlin' Boxer from the hand or grave to it as an Overlay Unit. I'll pick Uppercutter. Then I'll normal summon Fortune Lady Wind."
The spirit of Battlin' Boxer Uppercutter flew up from her and Mercury's shared graveyard and orbited around the red and gold Xyz Monster, replacing the Overlay Unit it lost when it was banished. Next to it, a new sorceress, this one green, flashed into being (ATK ?/DEF ?). She twirled her wooden staff, a verdant crystal at its top stirring up a sizable gust around her, some of the cemetery swords jittering at her call (ATK 900/DEF 900).
"Fortune Lady Wind is Level Three and gains three hundred attack points for each of them," Emerald told the onlookers. "And when it's normal summoned, I can destroy spells and traps you control equal to the number of Fortune Ladies I control. So I'll take out both your facedowns."
"Then I'll activate both of them! Damage Diet and Barrage Blast!" Coco shouted, the two traps flipping up. "The first one's pretty simple. It halves all damage I take this turn. Barrage Blast though is normally a continuous trap. Once per turn, I can detach any number of Overlay Units from Machine Xyz Monsters I control, then target that many cards on the field and destroy them!"
The trap card sucked in the two glowing nodes still circling Superdreadnaught Rail Cannon Juggernaut Liebe. A moment later, it fired them out with half the force of the war machine's main gun. At the same time, Fortune Lady Wind and Fortune Lady Light crossed their staffs, summoning up a cyclone of crackling lightning and launching it across the field.
The two artillery assaults, magical and mechanical, streaked past each other, blowing aside meadows of chipped blades. Coco's traps were obliterated by the mystic storm while Fortune Lady Wind and Number 79: Battlin' Boxer Nova Kaiser were torn to shreds by the cacophony of cannonfire.
Emerald frowned. It would have been more convenient if her opponent had taken out Fortune Lady Light, but given what she had in her hand, it was ultimately inconsequential. "Since Nova Kaiser was destroyed by your card, I summon Battlin' Boxers from the graveyard equal to the number of Overlay Units it had. So I'll bring back Battlin' Boxer Uppercutter."
The boxer in black and yellow armor flashed back onto the field, using its thick gloves to punch the hilts of a couple of freestanding swords. Back when Mercury had first summoned him, the shadowboxing had been somewhat intimidating. But standing in the towering shadow of Liebe and its six thousand attack points, the display was practically comical, eliciting laughs from the audience.
That was fine by Emerald, noticing the Team CFVY fanclub applauding Coco's swift counter to her play. The less she was perceived to be dangerous, the better she could do her work: sliding in the knife when it was least expected. And now that her opponent's facedowns were cleared of potential problems, it was time to strike.
"I activate Spellbook of Knowledge," Emerald said, sliding the spell card into Thief's Respite. A glowing red book manifested before her, breaking Fortune Lady Light down into shimmering particles and sucking her into its pages. "I send a Spellcaster monster I control or another Spellbook card from my hand or field to the graveyard, and draw two cards."
"Hoping to pull something good?" Coco spoke up as the green-haired girl drew her pair of cards. "You've used your normal summon already. Don't be afraid to go for an Action Card if you need one."
"Thanks, but I don't need to leave things to chance," Emerald coyly replied, an additional card popping out from her deck. "When Fortune Lady Light leaves the field due to a card effect, it lets me summon another Fortune Lady from my deck. Come forth in attack mode! Fortune Lady Fire!"
A small orb of light began to glow softly in front of the secret thief, only to erupt in a pillar of crackling flames (ATK ?/DEF ?). From the blaze emerged a smiling woman in a bewitching red dress, bat wings spreading from her head (ATK 400/DEF 400). She hefted up a wooden staff with a red crystal on one end and a deadly scythe blade on the other.
Credit where credit was due, while most of the Team CFVY fans in the crowd sniggered at Emerald's new weak monster, Coco's brow furrowed. Even with her gargantuan war machine still humming beside her with six thousand attack and defense points, she tipped her sunglasses down as her eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"I'm gonna guess you're playing a deck full of those Fortune Ladies, right?" she inquired.
Emerald shrugged. "Among other things, yes."
"Cool. So, your light lady's effect lets you summon any of them from your deck, and you picked one with barely more attack points," Coco surmised, her tone making it clear she expected there to be more to this situation. "Why?"
"I like her fashion sense," Emerald smirked, Fortune Lady Fire's staff conjuring a raging inferno from its jeweled end. "Also, when it's special summoned in attack mode by a 'Fortune Lady' card's effect, it destroys one of your monsters and deals you damage equal to its attack on the field."
"What?!" Coco exclaimed, the audience gasping in shock.
Emerald raised her fingers and snapped, mocking the leader of Team CFVY doing the same earlier. Fortune Lady Fire cackled and thrust her staff forward, her conjured blaze swirling into a furious typhoon of flames. Discarded swords melted as the bones of their fallen masters caught ablaze. Coco and Yatsuhashi hunkered down as the racing wind of the gargantuan conflagration blew over them.
The flames overcame Superdreadnaught Rail Cannon Juggernaut Liebe, the titanic war machine melting to slag before erupting in an explosive demise.
Coco & Yatsuhashi: 5000 Life Points
The dust and ash fell across the sword cemetery, the deafening death knell ringing in everyone's ears. Mercury grinned as the crowd was stunned silent, basking in their awe and amazement. For all the jerk liked to act as if nothing fazed, Emerald knew that whether he realized it or not, he was as hungry for acknowledgment as she was.
"Woah," Yang gasped up on stage, even the bombastic blonde flummoxed by the sudden twist of the duel. "What a move! In a red-hot reversal, Emerald has used a combo of a Level One and a Level Two to incinerate a Rank Eleven powerhouse in the blink of an eye! With Team CMEN's life points still sitting pretty at a full eight thousand, Team CFVY has lost nearly half, and that's with Damage Diet's effect halving the pain!"
"Don't be so sure about that first part," Coco called out, tapping a button on her duel disk as two cards were expelled from her graveyard slot, a pair of gun turrets spawning on the torched ground in front of her. "I can banish Barrage Blast from my graveyard when my Machine-Type Xyz Monster is destroyed by your card. If I banish a Machine Xyz Monster from my graveyard, you take two hundred points of damage multiplied by its Rank. And since Liebe is Rank Eleven, that's twenty-two hundred rounds coming your way!"
"Coming your way, actually," Emerald countered, sliding a spell from her hand into Thief Respite. A skull of ominous black smoke howled into being behind Team CFVY, the Beacon duelists whirling to see it. "I activate Spell of Pain. When you activate a card or effect that would deal me effect damage, you take that damage instead. Though, I suppose Damage Diet will mean you'll only be taking eleven hundred. Lucky you."
Coco's eyes widened behind her sunglasses as one of her turrets exploded and the other turned towards her, its guns drawn by the ominous smoke skull as it opened fire at point-blank range.
Coco & Yatsuhashi: 3900 Life Points
Emerald looked up to the second-floor balcony, preening with hope for praise from the one person in the audience she craved acknowledgment from. Not any of these squealing brats who would have passed by her without a second glance when she was starving on the streets, but the woman who'd recognized her worth through the grime and stench and raised her up. The woman who she wanted to show that she made the right choice in picking her, that she was not wasting this miraculous chance she'd given her.
When Cinder smiled down at her strength in her dazzling black gown and opera gloves, she felt as if she knew nirvana.
"I activate the continuous spell card Magician's Left Hand!" Emerald exclaimed, full of new vigor. "Now, the first trap card or effect you activate each turn while I control a Spellcaster monster is negated."
"Then I'll activate Damage Diet's graveyard effect!" Coco called out, the trap ejecting from her duel disk. "I banish it and in exchange, effect damage we take this turn is halved. But it can't halve any damage already halved by this card's first effect."
Emerald's lips twitched into a tiny smirk. All according to plan. A trap she hoped to lay for Yatushashi's turn would be hindered if he was able to make use of that graveyard effect on his turn. By playing her continuous spell, she forced Coco to activate it now or risk negation.
Which meant for the rest of the turn, Team CFVY was defenseless. Coco couldn't go for an Action Card for the same reason she was only playing spell or traps that stayed on the field or could be banished from the graveyard. Because by the rules of this Tag Duel, partners shared a graveyard, and Yatsuhashi's Superheavy Samurai deck would be crippled if any spells or traps ended up in there.
It was honestly a little sweet that Coco obviously adjusted her deck a bit to play with her strongest teammate, but it would have been better to choose a partner with a deck that didn't restrict her own. Cinder had drilled Emerald and Mercury's complimentary dueling roles into them before the ambush on Amber. He focused on raw power, swarming, and other battle shenanigans. She focused on protection, effect damage, effect destruction, and all the ways to come at an opponent sideways. They may not have considered each other friends, but they were effective compliments for each other as Tag Duel teammates.
And that was without getting into the secret special card that Cinder had entrusted to her.
"Battle!" Emerald proclaimed. "Battlin' Boxer Uppercutter! Attack them directly!"
With no Liebe towering over it, Battlin' Boxer Uppercutter was perfectly intimidating again as it raced across the sword cemetery and nailed Coco with its namesake attack. The leader of Team CFVY blocked the blow as best she could, but even then, Yatsuhashi had to catch her to keep her from going flying into the wall of the Action Field.
Coco & Yatsuhashi: 3100 Life Points
"When we take battle damage while there are no spell or trap cards in our graveyard, I can special summon Superheavy Samurai Prepped Defense from my hand," Yatsuhashi announced, the tuxedo-wearing man setting down his team leader as his green armored machine man appeared atop Revolving Switchyard, the warrior kneeling in defense mode (ATK 100/DEF 2100). "This turn, it can't be destroyed by battle or card effects."
"Like Fortune Lady Fire could get over it anyway," Emerald sarcastically muttered, sliding the three cards left in her hand into her duel disk. "I lay two cards facedown and activate the continuous spell Magician's Restage. Once while it's on the field, I can special summon a Level Three or lower Spellcaster-Type from my graveyard. I pick Fortune Lady Light and end my turn."
As her golden witch flashed back onto the field next to her fiery sister, Emerald took no small amount of pride in the sighs of relief from the various Team CFVY fans in the crowd. No more chanting or dismissiveness now. The school kids had just watched Emerald tear apart their pretty idol when she'd had a monster summoned by Rank-Up Xyz Evolution on the field with more than six thousand attack points.
Coco's unflappable facade had crumbled, her sunglasses askew on her face as she panted for breath. The leader of Team CFVY's chocolate eyes were visibly amazed and rattled as she stared across the field at Emerald, the 'Haven' girl having obliterated all her defenses and more than half her life points with a few well-placed effects. And, as promised, she'd done it all without losing a single life point of her own.
Emerald opened her arms to the stupefied crowd and bowed with a grand flourish, just as she'd seen Cinder do many times before. She would not let her savior down. She would prove that the future Fall Maiden did not make a mistake choosing her.
And none of these pampered excuses for duelists would stand in her way.
Yatsuhashi stepped forward, hefting up his giant orange duel disk as he placed his hand over his deck. The black sheep and crowning achievement of the Daichi Family Dojo seized the top card of his deck and pulled it into his hand with perfect, practiced form. "Draw. I place Superheavy Samurai Prodigy Wakaushi in my Pendulum Zone. Then I activate its effect to special summon itself and place another Pendulum Monster from my deck in my other Pendulum Zone."
Emerald shook herself out of her showmanship as the mechanical samurai first rose up in a pillar of light and conjured one of its fellows in another glowing column, and then burst out and took a defense position knee amidst the graveyard of broken swords (ATK 1000/DEF 1500).
She couldn't let her guard down with Cinder watching her. As negligible as most of the academies' students' dueling skills compared to her and Mercury's hard-earned talents, she couldn't let that pride blind her to the exceptions to that rule. Based on their intelligence-gathering efforts, The Invincible Girl and The Second Coming of the Kaiserin were opponents best left to Cinder if fighting them became necessary. And while Yatsuhashi wasn't on the level of what those two had shown since the semester started, he was probably the closest Beacon student to them. He was a threat if they came at him unprepared.
Fortunately, preparedness had long determined if Emerald went to bed hungry or not. Whether her facedowns or her semblance, it was something of a habit for her.
She just hoped that Mercury's slacking wouldn't ruin it.
"I activate Prodigy Wakaushi's effect. By discarding one card from my hand, I can special summon Superheavy Samurai Big Benkai from my deck. Then, I activate Superheavy Samurai Monk Big Benkai's Pendulum Effect to add Superheavy Samurai Soulhorns from my deck to my hand."
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"Woah," Nora mumbled, the bombastic girl staring slackjawed at the Action Field below, her eyes still processing how the upperclassman she so admired had had her field utterly swept. "Has Emerald always been that strong? Because that… that was Pyrrha-level stuff."
"I… I guess," Blake stammered, shocked herself even as Yatsuhashi special summoned Superheavy Samurai Trumpeter (ATK 300/DEF 600) and Superheavy Samurai Big Waraji (ATK 800/DEF 1800) to join Prodigy Wakaushi, Prepped Defense, and Big Benkai (ATK 1000/DEF 3500).
"I guess totally!" Ruby squealed, her silver eyes still sparkling at the rapid-fire action of the last turn. "Holy moly! Cinder, Mercury, and now Emerald? Team CMEN is awesome! What do you think their fourth member is like? Emerald only mentioned that they were on a leave of absence for family stuff."
"I tune Level Two Superheavy Samurai Trumpeter with Level Three Superheavy Samurai Prepped Defense and Level Five Superheavy Samurai Big Waraji."
"Ooo!" Ruby cooed, her previous query forgotten as Yatsuhashi's mechanical warriors broke apart into two emerald tuner rings and eight glittering stars.
"Raging deity, in unison with the roar of a thousand accelerating blades, come forth in a spiraling, blazing sandstorm. Synchro Summon!" Yatsuhashi chanted, clapping his hands together as a pillar of light pierced down into the barren field of swords. "Level Ten! Superheavy Samurai Warlord Susanowo!"
An enormous mechanical warrior in teal and black armor leapt down from the pillar of light, sitting cross-legged in defense position in the Extra Monster Zone (ATK 2400/DEF 3800). Even bigger than Big Benkai, if Coco's Xyz Monsters hadn't been the size of small buildings, the new Synchro Monster would have easily been the largest creature summoned all night.
"So that's what he held back from using against me," Blake noted. "On behalf of my Obelisk Blue coat, I am now very glad to have such a compassionate upperclassman."
"Yeah, he might have flattened you even if you hadn't been having your issues," Nora nodded. "Your 'scapegoating your Fusion Monsters for relationship trauma' issues, I mean–oh, darn it. I'm so sorry–"
"No, it's alright. I have a lot of issues. Clarifying which is important," Blake reassured her friend with a joking smile, making sure Nora knew she didn't take the slip personally.
She'd made a lot of mistakes in her life. And often, her panic to try to make up for them had just led her to make more. An endless cycle of self-loathing and desperation that would have ground her down into an early grave, a monument to futile self-sacrifice. But with her friends, with this night of rest from her demons, with her actually taking a breath for what felt like the first time in years?
She felt good. She felt hopeful. Hopeful that she and the teammates who stood by her through her worst days could do some actual good. They'd help her.
And as she looked fondly towards Ruby's sparkling grin, she realized that, whatever her flaws, she could help them too. They depended on each other to make it through their cruel world. So they could create nights of joy like this for as many people as possible.
"Come on, Yatsuhashi!" Blake called out, pumping her fist in the air to support her senpai. "This duel isn't over yet! Face it with all you've got, win or lose!"
With the aftermath of Emerald's turn having quieted the crowd's fervor, the bow-wearing girl was actually audible in the ballroom, many eyes in the audience turning towards her. Down below, Mercury cocked an eyebrow up at the secret cat faunus, his face twisting in confusion at her words.
Yatsuhashi also heard her encouragement, the towering boy looking up at his lowerclassman. He may not have remembered their Promotion Exam duel, but her visits for tea and advice afterward still brought a smile to the normally stoic duelist's lips.
And the moment he smiled, the crowd went wild. Just in time for him to make his move.
"I equip Warlord Susanowo with Superheavy Samurai Soulhorns! Now, it can attack twice in one turn!" Yatsuhashi announced, his Synchro Monster adorned with a new horned helm. "Battle! Superheavy Samurai Warlord Susanowo attacks Fortune Lady Light!"
Mercury reached for his hand, snatching up a card to lay on his duel disk. "I activate–"
"I activate my trap card!" Emerald yelled over her partner, snapping her fingers as one of her facedowns rose to reveal two bright red tubes with golden question marks on them.
Blake actually did a doubletake at the sight of it, a lot of the crowd's mumbles echoing her surprise. "Wait, isn't that–"
"Ooo!" Ruby excitedly clapped. "A classic!"
"Yeah, but…" Nora stammered. "She's using that?"
"Why would she not?" Penny inquired. "My research shows that it is an exceedingly easy card for one to acquire."
"Well, yeah, even Ren and I were able to get our hands on some back in the day. But that's why it's a surprise that she's playing it here, at a hunting duelist academy," Nora explained. "A battle trap that requires targeting is already slow and risky, but one that doesn't even destroy a card on the field usually doesn't see much use at a high level of play. Ruby doesn't use it even with all the effect damage stuff she's got."
Ruby shrugged. "True, but you gotta admit it works in this situation."
The leader of Team RWBY soon had her words proven true as Emerald's trap manifested its twin red tubes, Superheavy Samurai Warlord Susanowo slamming into the one on the right. As soon as its weapon struck, a dangerous bright light began to glow within the left item.
"When your monster declares an attack, this trap card can target it, negate the attack, and deal you damage equal to your monster's attack points," Emerald declared, snapping her fingers. "Magic Cylinder, fire!"
The beam of light erupted out of the left cylinder and shrieked across the field. Yatsuhashi crossed his arms and took the blast without wavering, a cloud of smoke covering him and Coco.
Coco & Yatsuhashi: 700 Life Points
"Susanowo!" Yatsuhashi commanded, charging through the smog, still ready to battle. "Attack Fortune Lady Light!"
The second attack bestowed by Superheavy Samurai Soulhorns flowed through the mighty Synchro Monster. Susanowo pushed through the crumbling Magic Cylinder, its staff raised to squash the spritely spellcaster.
Mercury once more raised the card he'd been about to activate before. "I activate–"
"I activate Eye of Illusion!" Emerald called, another of her facedowns flipping up, this time revealing a Quick-Play Spell Card with the image of a golden eye. Said golden eye beamed out from the card and onto Superheavy Samurai Warlord Susanowo's forehead. The mighty mechanical daimyo's charge immediately halted…
… and its spear turned to slice apart Superheavy Samurai Prodigy Wakaushi.
"What?" Coco coughed, emerging from the smoke beside her teammate.
"Eye of Illusion can use one of three effects when I have an Illusion or Spellcaster monster out," Emerald explained. "I chose number three. When your monster attacks, I target another of your monsters and change the attack target to it."
"Battle!" Yatsuhashi called out, not stopping his pace as Superheavy Samurai Big Benkai leapt to take its lord's place in the fray to destroy Fortune Lady Light.
Emerald smirked and turned to her partner. She gestured for him to go at last. Mercury rolled his eyes, but he still smacked the card from his hand onto his duel disk. "Battlin' Boxer Chief Second. Same thing as before. I summon it from hand, negate your attack, banish a monster on the field until the end of the turn, yadda yadda."
The skinny Battlin Boxer flashed onto the field and yanked Fortune Lady Light out of the way of Big Benkei's polearm, gentlemanly providing the cute blonde woman with his stool to take a seat off. The stunning sorceress winked at the fistfighter and kissed him on the cheek.
Blake and Ruby's eyes widened, the former blushing while Nora's eyes sparkled at the scene.
"Ooo!" the redhead purred. "I don't remember that happening last time."
Chief Second's body snapped straight as his cheeks flushed crimson, his water bottle flying across the field and spilling all over Warlord Susanowo. The Synchro Monster vanished from the Extra Monster Zone as its equipped Soulhorns shattered.
Meanwhile, Coco's eyes were locked onto Fortune Lady Light and the still swooning Battlin' Boxer Chief Second. The fashionista chuckled. "I don't recall that happening last time."
"That's what I said!" Nora cheered.
Mercury groaned at his monster but soon turned his gaze onto Yatsuhashi. "You're out of monsters. Your turn done or what?"
"Not quite. I still have my Main Phase Two," Yatsuhashi declared, plucking a new card from his hand. "And you seem to have provided me with an unexpected opportunity. I normal summon Superheavy Samurai Soulpiercer!"
An autonomous blue bow and arrow flashed into being in the midst of the decaying sword cemetery (ATK 1200/DEF 0).
"A monster in attack mode. Truly revolutionary for you," Mercury snipped. "Doesn't that thing equip from the hand like the helmet from before? What's the point in summoning it–"
"Appear!" Yatsuhashi announced, thrusting out his gargantuan arm as a square blue grid was conjured before him. "The circuit that stands its ground!"
"The hell?!" Mercury exclaimed, he and Emerald as shocked as when Coco had busted out Rank-Up Xyz Evolution.
"Team CFVY ain't out of this match yet!" Yang howled, the crowd whipped into a frenzy as they realized what was about to happen. "After Team CMEN's defense deflected the Superheavy Samuari's superheavy assault, Yatsuhashi bounces back using his open Extra Monster Zone for a Link Summon!"
"Arrowhead confirmed! Bottom left!" Yatushashi called, the quiet man's voice so filled with conviction that he was easily heard above the audience's roar. His Soulpierer into a scarlet stream of energy and flowed into the arrowhead on the bottom left corner of his square gird. "Link Summon! Link-1! Superheavy Samurai Scarecrow!"
The holographic circuit shattered, a steel stake shooting from its far side and implanting itself into the sword cemetery's soil like one of the blades of the fallen. Morphing out from the pole was a swarm of nanobots, which, like locusts forming a swarm, coalesced into a clunky robot (ATK 0).
The audience shrieked with euphoric respect and adulation, the Team CFVY fan club's spirit restored to the same heights as the beginning of Coco's turn, if not more so. Link Monsters had slowly been showing up in more duels as shops started selling generic ones to take advantage of the flood of tourists coming in for the Vytal Festival, but aside from those who'd seen Penny duel, not many had seen a Link Monster tailored to a specific archetype in action. Given that even Ruby had only acquired Crossrose Dragon due to her friendship with the Second Coming of the Kaiserin, Blake had no idea where Yatsuhashi had even gotten a Superheavy Samurai Link Monster.
"It's good to see he got the dust matrix working well enough to work for a hardlight dust construct," Penny noted, studying the new monster of her signature summoning type with keen academic interest. "I wonder if it's stable enough for full aura manifestation."
"Wait, hold on!" Ruby spoke up. "You've been helping him make a Link Monster? Without me? We could have dived into it together with him!"
Blake bit her lip. She knew Ruby wasn't saying it that way, but how it sounded was just… yeah.
"I haven't been helping for the part," Penny explained. "He just came to me for some pointers. He said he wanted to craft it on his own and with his team, an extension to his dojo's style that rejected his family's rigidness."
"Like his Pendulum Monsters," Blake smiled.
"I suppose," Penny replied, though a rare look of troubled contemplation flickered over the bubbly girl's face. "Why would he want to reject those close to him though? I couldn't imagine rejecting my father, or the general, or you, Ruby."
"Aw, thanks, Penny," Ruby bashfully smiled. "I like being close with you too."
"But not all family are friends," Blake said, hoping to be more informative. "Just ask Weiss."
"I thought she and Winter were on good terms," Penny queried.
"Just her and Winter," Blake stated, though her brow soon furrowed in thought. "Actually, I think she and her brothers are on decent terms too."
"Weiss has a brother?!" Nora exclaimed in shock.
"When Superheavy Samurai Soulpiercer is sent from the field to the graveyard, I can add a Superheavy Samurai from my deck to my hand, I choose Superheavy Samurai Prodigy Wakaushi," Yatsuhashi announced from below, snatching the card ejected from his deck. "I place it in my Pendulum Zone and together with the Monk Big Benkei already present, I Pendulum Summon the Prodigy Wakaushi you destroyed from my Extra Deck."
In the blink of an eye, the twin pillars of the Pendulum Scales were restored and the gateway of light between them was restored. Soon, Prodigy Wakaushi blazed onto the field into the zone Superheavy Samurai Scarecrow's arrowhead opened up for the Extra Deck.
Coco cocked an eyebrow, smirking at her teammate with eager pride. "You going for the new guy, Yatsu? Ballin'."
"New guy?" Emerald exclaimed in shock, Mercury's eyes narrowing.
"Level Four Superheavy Samurai Prodigy Wakaushi tunes Level Eight Superheavy Samurai Big Benkei!" Yatsuhashi shouted, his monsters breaking apart into four emerald tuner rings and eight twinkling stars.
"Four plus eight is…" Blake murmured.
"... twelve," Nora finished. "Are there any Level Twelve Superheavy Samurai Synchro Monsters?"
"One. Superheavy Samurai Steam Train King," Penny confirmed. "But that requires two non-Tuner monsters to be summoned."
"It's a new guy! Coco said it was a new guy!" Ruby ecstatically jittered, bouncing and salivating so much that even some Team CRVY fanclub members who spotted her looked weirded out. "Summon it, summon it, summon it!"
"The invincible shogun of the honorable samurai! Strike with the force of the heavens and stand with valor unto death itself! Synchro Summon!" Yatsuhashi proclaimed, a pillar of light crashing down through his tuner rings. "Level Twelve! Superheavy Samurai Brave Masurawo!"
A figure marched from the blazing column of light, red and white steel cast in the most elegant imperial garb of old Mistral. Even more muscular and towering than Warlord Susanowo before it, the new mechanical strode through the graveyard of fallen swords with the assured confidence of a conqueror who'd long since secured their crown. Sitting down cross-legged to the left behind Superheavy Samurai Scarecrow and laying its war staff across its knees, the victor of conflicts that spanned countries calmly dared Emerald and Mercury to try to cast him down from his throne (ATK 2100/DEF 4000).
"I end my turn and the effect of your Battlin' Boxer Chief Second returns Superheavy Samurai Warlord Susanowo to my field," Yatsuhashi declared, his first mighty Synchro Monster flashing back to the field to guard the flank of his second. "I then activate its special ability. Once per turn, if I have no spell or trap cards in my graveyard, I can target a spell or trap card in your graveyard and set it to my field. It is banished when it leaves the field. I choose your Spell of Pain."
Warlord Susanowo banged the pommel of its polearm in the dirt and conjured a fierce tornado before it. The wind sucked Emerald's Spell of Pain from her duel disk's graveyard slot, Yatsuhashi snatching the card out of the air as it flew across the field and swiftly setting it as his own facedown, to the crowd's thrilled cheers.
"Good move," Blake analyzed. "Magician's Left Hand would negate Magic Cylinder if he went for that. With Spell of Pain, he can force Mercury to have to deal battle damage instead of going for something like Black Pendant, especially if he wants to keep to Emerald's 'take no damage' promise."
"But Battlin' Boxers are made for battle shenanigans, right?" Nora queried. "And he had that Gearfried the Sword Master monster when he dueled Jaune. What if he uses that to clear away those Synchro Monsters."
"That will only be so much help," Penny noted, her eyes seeming to flicker with some electronic green light (did Yang have strobe lights set up in the ballroom or something?) as she stared intently at Yatushashi's field. "Superheavy Samurai Brave Masurawo can prevent the destruction of a Superheavy Samurai by destroying another card of the archetype on the field. The Pendulum Scales will protect them from most effect destruction."
Blake raised an eyebrow. "How do you know that? This is the first time he's summoned it."
Penny paled. "Uuhhh…"
"He must have shown it to her when he came to her for pointers about Link Monsters!" Ruby piped up, grinning tensely at her Atlas friend. "Right, Penny?"
"... Oh! That is exactly right, Ruby, my friend," Penny rabidly nodded.
Nora shrugged. "Makes sense to me."
Blake wasn't so sure given how weirdly nervous Ruby and Penny had acted, but she couldn't think of any other explanation for the surprise foreknowledge. Besides, she was more concerned with how Mercury might try to overwhelm her senpai's stalwart defenses.
The silver-haired Haven student stamped his boot, his draw for the turn flying up from his boots into his hand.
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Mercury's eyes narrowed at the card already in his hand as he placed his drawn card beside it: Immortal Phoenix Gearfried. Another 'gift' from Cinder to supplement the cards he'd lost in his duel with his dad. It was powerful, no doubt about that. It'd saved his butt during the three-on-one duel with Amber. That said, being indebted to that megalomaniac in any way was not something he enjoyed it…
… ah, forget it. Being sentimental about that garbage wasn't a weakness he had time for. Power was power. And he didn't plan on giving anyone an advantage over him by slacking on an opportunity.
"I activate Painful Choice," he said, sliding his drawn spell card into his duel disk. "I pick five cards from my deck, show them to you, and you pick one to add to my hand while the rest go to the graveyard. So, take your pick."
The five cards he picked projected onto the Action Field.
Battlin' Boxer Promotor.
Battlin' Boxer Glassjaw.
Battlin' Boxer Switchhitter.
Battlin' Boxer Uppercutter.
Flame Swordsrealm.
"Flame Swordsrealm?" Yatsuhashi murmured. "I've never heard of that card."
"Don't blame you," Mercury shrugged. "It was a gift from my gracious team leader. I had no idea what it was before then."
All of which was true. Cinder had introduced both the spell card and the Fusion Monster that adorned its image to him. When he'd inquired if having a spell card with a Fusion Monster on it would be a problem if Ozpin or someone of his ilk saw it, the ambitious half-maiden had told him it wouldn't be a problem. Thousands of cards that had nothing to do with Fusion Summoning had Fusion Monsters in their card images, with thousands more forged over the centuries by duelists who didn't even know the summoning style existed. At this point, the Beacon headmaster and his allies just wrote something as meager as a card image off as irrelevant to its possible threat.
"I choose it then," Yatsuhashi announced. "Better than giving you an extra card of your main archetype."
"Fair pick," Mercury acknowledged, placing the various cards in their appropriate places, only for his Battlin' Boxer Promotor (ATK 1700/DEF 800) to flash out of his graveyard to join the Battlin' Boxer Uppercutter, Battlin' Boxer Chief Second, Fortune Lady Light, and Fortune Lady Fire already on his and Emerald's field. "Since Glassjaw and Uppercutter were sent to the graveyard though, their effects there activate. Glassjaw returns Switchhitter from my graveyard to my hand and Uppercutter special summons Promotor from the same place."
"You chose the five well," Yatsuhashi complimented him.
"Yeah, yeah," Mercury scoffed. He'd had just about enough of this duel. It was about time to wrap up this show for Cinder's ego. "I tribute Fortune Lady Light and Fortune Lady Fire to tribute summon Immortal Phoenix Gearfried."
The spritely spellcasters danced across the graveyard of blades, twirling together until they were consumed by a blazing conflagration. The enormous pillar of fire reached up to the stormy firmament of the Action Field's sky, only to fold back into itself and solidify into a warrior of pure molten steel (ATK 3000/DEF 2200).
"Woah," Coco murmured, the proud leader of Team CFVY and her stoic teammate both gazing up at the new warrior is shock and awe. "What part of the legend is that Gearfried?"
"I dunno. Who cares? He's on fire. I tribute Battlin' Boxer Promotor to special summon Battlin' Boxer Glassjaw and Battln' Boxer Shadow from my deck," Mercury shrugged, the marketing boxer screaming until he exploded, Glassjaw (ATK 2000/DEF 0) and Shadow (ATK 1800/DEF 1400) appearing in his place. "Then I'll overlay Uppercutter and Shadow to Xyz Summon Battlin' Boxer Lead Yoke."
The usual happened. A spiral galaxy opened up, monsters turned into energy nodes, flew in, and a giant ogre-like boxer chained up in a pillory yoke (ATK 2200/DEF 2000) rose up from the exploding stars with two Overlay Units orbiting it.
"You are just determined to ruin this for me," Emerald groaned, conscious of the audience reacting similarly to his lack of investment in the match.
"You want to win without losing any life points. I'm putting in sixty percent effort to do that. You're lucky you're getting that much," Mercury stealthily snapped, placing another monster on his duel disk. Battlin' Boxer Switchhitter (ATK 1500/DEF 1400) manifested on his field, throwing a flurry of punches that made Battlin' Boxer King Dempsey fly up from the grave. "Chief Second gives me an extra normal summon for a Battlin' Boxer, so I'll bring out Switchhitter, who brings back King Dempsey from my graveyard. King Dempsey searches another Promotor from my deck which I'll special summon by its own effect. Then I'll use King Dempsey's effect to remove an Overlay Unit from Lead Yoke in order to provide targeting protection to my Battlin' Boxers."
Another Promotor screeched onto the Action Field, as Dempsey sucked an Overlay Unit from Lead Yoke's orbit. In his rage, Lead Yoke proceeded to snap one of his arms free of his restraints (ATK 3000).
"In case you don't know, Lead Yoke gains eight hundred attack points every time it loses an Overlay Unit," Mercury said.
"I did know," Yatsuhashi replied, though weirdly there was no disrespect in his voice, dark eyes appraising Team CMEN's full board of six powerful Fire-Attribute warriors. "I must compliment you though. I've faced many duelists who use Battlin' Boxers, but rarely with your skill."
"Yeah, you two are definitely true duelists," Coco added on. "But if you're playing to hit through Superheavy Samurai Scarecrow, you should know that as long as there are no spells or traps in our graveyard, we don't take any damage from battles involving it."
"Suits me fine. I was planning on going through you from the start. I activate Flame Swordsrealm," Mercury revealed, his continuous spell card blooming onto the duel field. "Immortal Phoenix Gearfried attacks Superheavy Samurai Brave Masuwaro. And when a monster declares an attack, Flame Swordsrealm activates. One warrior monster on my field loses a thousand attack points until the end of the turn. And in exchange, every other monster on my field gains a thousand attack points."
Battlin' Boxer Switchhitter howled as a column of fire exploded from underneath it, scorching the spirited fighter (ATK 500). The pillar of flame morphed into a furious dragon made of pure inferno, bestowing its blazing power onto Immortal Phoenix Gearfried (ATK 4000), Battlin Boxer Lead Yoke (ATK 4000), Battlin' Boxer King Dempsey (ATK 3200), Battlin' Boxer Promotor (ATK 2700), and Battlin' Boxer Chief Second (ATK 1500).
"Potent, but perhaps less sufficient than you might believe," Yatsuhashi warned, drawing a few cards from the top of his deck. "None of your warriors have enough attack points to destroy Brave Masuwaro while it is in defense mode, and it can protect Warlord Susanowo from destruction with its effect. In addition, since you activated the effect of a spell or trap card, Masuwaro's other effect allows me to draw until I have three cards in hand."
"And that's more irrelevant than you think," Mercury countered. "I'm guessing you're hoping to draw your Soulbuster Gauntlet, double your battling monster's defense points. But Immortal Phoenix Gearfried can send an equip spell from my field to the graveyard to negate the activation of a monster's effect."
Yatsuhashi cocked an eyebrow. "You don't have any Equip Spells."
"That's what your Brave Masuwaro's for," Mercury smirked. "At the start of the Damage Step when it attacks, Immortal Phoenix Gearfried can equip a monster on the field to it as a spell to boost its attack by five hundred."
The molten armored warrior raised its arm towards the noble samurai lord. A gleaming volcanic chain erupted from Gearfried's gauntlet, screeching for the enemy to bypass its protection effect and high defense power. Once it was gone, the duel was as good as over and Mercury could put the pointless farce behind him–
"Coco!" Yatsuhashi shouted. "Go for an Action Card!"
Mercury blinked. "Huh?"
Wasn't this guy's entire thing that he didn't let any Spell or Trap Cards get in his graveyard? His teammate had modified her deck to help with it for this tag duel specifically because the Superheavy Samurai were crippled without it. Why was he willing to sacrifice the entire foundation of his power to last another turn in a duel with no real stakes?
"On it!" Coco shouted back to him, her eyes scanning the sword cemetery. She grinned and leapt for a particular hill. "Come to mama, you beautiful–what?!"
Equal sounds of befuddlement popped off through the crowd after Coco had jumped. Since, by all appearances, she'd jumped at absolutely nothing when there were clearly visible Action Cards that had been closer to her.
Mercury glanced at Emerald and sighed in annoyance when he saw how focused her stare was on the leader of Team CFVY, her illusion semblance clearly deceiving Coco into thinking she'd seen an Action Card where there was none.
"At least your obsession makes sense," he muttered under his breath. His partner was crazy for thinking Cinder cared about her, but he got that. And at the very least, it would bring this duel to an end at last–
"I activate the Action Spell Mutually Assured Destruction!" Yatsuhashi shouted, snatching an Action Card from the hilt of a buried katana and slamming it into his giant orange duel disk.
"What?!" Emerald exclaimed, as shocked as Mercury was that the bulky Mistral man had violated his principles and gone for the Action Card himself instead of letting his team leader act as a loophole. The green-haired girl dove for an extra card on a hill near here and grabbed it up. "Mercury! Catch!"
"W–What?!" Mercury stammered, only his well-trained combat reflexes enabling him to catch the surprise card from the air.
What happened to them not needing to indulge this ridiculous duel format? It was a joke made for civilians who didn't even have their aura unlocked, not a real fight?
"Mutually Assured Destruction is a powerful Action Spell!" Yatushashi fiercely proclaimed. "Every monster on the field has their attack and defense points reduced to zero and their effects negated. Then, they're all destroyed and both duelists take a thousand points of damage for each of them."
"What!?" Mercury shrieked.
"What?!" Emerald screamed.
"Holy moly!" Yang exclaimed from the emcee's stage. "In the eleventh hour, Team CFVY puts everything on the line and comes up with an ace of spades! There are three monsters on Team CFVY's field, and six on Team CMEN's! If this spell goes through, that's nine thousand points of damage to both teams! Yatushashi will have pulled a draw from the depths of defeat and defied Emerald's promise to win without a single point of damage!"
"Like hell!" Emerald yelled, glancing up at Cinder's disapproving glower with shivering terror. "Mercury! Play the Action Card!"
Half of Mercury wanted to withhold the stupid carnival game extra card just to be done with it all. The duel that didn't matter would be over and he could go back to grabbing some eggwichs from the refreshment tables. The duel did not matter, and it did not matter that Yatushashi had pulled a lucky card from this Action Duel nonsense.
And yet, when he glimpsed the terror on Emerald's panting, sweaty face, her crimson eyes wide as she imagined Cinder's impending displeasure…
"I activate the Action Spell No Action!" Mercury shouted, sliding the stupid, gimmick of a card into his duel disk. "It negates the activation of an Action Spell and destroys it."
"In response, I banish Superheavy Samurai Soulbang Cannon from my graveyard!" Yatsuhashi howled back, the monster emerging from his graveyard slot, a gold and blue cannon flashing on the field in front of him. "When you activate a card effect during the Battle Phase while I control a defense position Superheavy Samurai monster, the activation of that card is negated and it's destroyed… but immediately following that, every monster on the field is destroyed, and if any of them are, then both duelists take a thousand points of damage."
"Wait, just a thousand points of damage to each of us?" Mercury gasped, his enemy's hi-tech accessory steadily building a blinding glow. "But it's the last in the chain, so it'll activate first, so… what's the point–"
BANG!
Soulbang Cannon exploded, a tempestuous surge of energy blitzing across the Action Field, an armada of chipped and craggy swords flying up from the cemetery and tearing through the sky. Mercury, Emerald, and Coco were all blown back, tumbling through the hills of dirt and dust.
Mercury & Emerald: 7000 Life Points
Coco & Yatsuhashi: 0 Life Points
Winner: Mercury & Emerald
Mercury rolled into a crouch from the force of the blast, his head whipping up as the Action Field disintegrated around him.
He found himself staring up at Yatsuhashi, the only one who'd remained standing against the storm of his final move. As his mighty mechanical samurai faded away, even in the face of defeat, the Mistral duelist smiled, towering above Mercury.
"I did warn you that you wouldn't leave this duel without a scratch," the ace of Team CFVY taunted. "But truly, you both were extraordinary. Congratulations on your victory. I am honored to have had the privilege of dueling you."
"It's over folks!" Yang announced. "Team CFVY go out on their own terms and keep Team CMEN from winning without damage, but the representatives from Mistral claim an incredible victory over Beacon's best in a match that, filled with Rank-Up Xyz Evolution, Link Summon, and superb tactics, can only be described as epic!"
"Woohoo! That was awesome, Team CMEN!"
"You were so cool, Yatsuhashi! Way to go out like true duelists!"
"You left everything out there, Coco! You went in and out with all guns blazing!"
Mercury's head whirled, the cacophony of the crowd's cheers battering him from all sides. The smug and skilled duelist stumbled and teetered on his mechanical legs, his breath growing shallow and quick as the audience's applause bombarded him like artillery. Every cheer was a gut-punch. Every clap was a cannon-shot. It made no sense, just like Arc's suicidal determination to risk his life for a different colored jacket back during the Promotion Exam. You didn't get praised for failing. You didn't throw everything into a fight you were going to lose anyway!
"This is a crutch!"
He whipped around, an impossible voice, a dead voice, howling through his mind, the next cheer from the crowd carrying the ghost of his monster's punch.
Glassjaw's fist slammed into his cheek.
"You were great out there, Mercury!"
"This makes you weak!"
Chief Second smashed his stool into his knee.
"You were so quick on your feet! They couldn't touch you!"
Lead Yoke bashed his giant pillory yoke into his stomach, crashing him to the ground as blood flew from his lips.
His hands closed around Mercury's throat, his semblance growing hot as it invaded his son's aura and stole the first card the boy had ever forged from his Extra Deck.
"This is a good backup plan, but it'll destroy you if you rely on it. That'll damage the Black brand. So you can have it back when you become strong on your own."
Mercury screamed as his soul was ripped apart and Lead Yoke's boot shrieked down towards his legs, the last time they'd ever be flesh and blood–
"Hey!"
Mercury whirled around, Emerald catching his arm that flailed into a punch. Ever the illusionist, the green-haired girl pushed his arm down and disguised the act of restraining him as a hug of victory to the audience. The pressure of her embrace steadily slowed his breathing, the gray-haired boy suddenly realizing how sweaty he'd become as the applause faded to simply applause. No sight or sound of dear old dad. Yet, resting his head over his partner's shoulder as his lungs, the gray-haired boy found something nearly as terrifying as him.
Yang, the only observer close enough to realize what had actually happened to him, the only one who'd seen his weakness, staring at him with an emotion he couldn't recognize. Pity? No, it wasn't that. It was close, but softer. More genuine. He didn't understand it!
He didn't understand any of this! He knew how the world was, he understood the reality of its cruelty! And this… this wasn't it! It wasn't it!
The thought repeated in his mind on loop as Emerald helped him stagger off the field.
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"What a sensational duel. The perfect break before returning to the dance floor!" Penny clapped. "Team CFVY was quite skilled, but Team CMEN performed extraordinarily well!"
"You're telling us," Nora muttered in amazement, unable to do anything but shake her head. "Team CMEN is ridiculous."
Blake waited a few moments, expecting Ruby to chime in with how Team CMEN was "ridiculously awesome" any second like she had before. But strangely, her team leader was silent.
With a turn of her head, the cat faunus realized that was because the only part of her still present was a trail of rose petals fluttering to the ground.
"Oh! Ruby must not have been able to wait to return to the dance floor," Penny smiled.
"Eh, more likely the refreshment table," Blake said, hesitant to breach the Atlas girl's excitement but also remembering how uncomfortable Ruby had been dancing, her normal agility absent as she'd constantly stepped on the Kaiserin's feet.
"Ooo! You're right! She left her cookies with the general," Penny realized. "Excellent thinking, Blake! I shall retrieve her refreshments from his guard!"
"Uh… right…" Blake relented, watching the master of Link Summoning march away with purpose to find her headmaster. "Well, Nora, the night's still young."
"Yes!" Nora howled with vigor. "Let's keep this dance party going!"
Blake nodded. "Maybe you could catch a dance with Ren."
"Yeah! I can keep up with his kickstep-kickstep-bodyroll!"
"Maybe you could even catch a slow dance with Ren," Blake slyly suggested.
"Yeah! I can–wait, what?" Nora sputtered out, the girl in the pink dress suddenly adorned with bright scarlet cheeks. "Wha–well, well—uh–we're– ah– not, together like together-together…"
Blake snickered like a true teasing cat as she leaned onto her friend's shoulder. "You know, Renora is pretty popular on the shipping forums too."
"Can't hear you! Too busy dancing!" Nora shouted, grabbing Blake's wrists and racing back to the dance floor, the cat faunus playfully cackling as the joy of the night continued.
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Emerald had no idea what the hell had happened to Mercury after the duel, but she was relieved to be able to help him stagger away from the public eye before his freakout had become noticeable. The crowd's applause dissipated as they stumbled further away from the main ballroom, the Tag-Duel Showcase excitement winding down a bit as its break began.
"Hey, you good?" she inquired to her partner. "You started stumbling back there for no reason–"
"I didn't stumble!" Mercury snarled, shoving himself off of her and teetering into the wall. "My balance was thrown off by the Soulbang Cannon. That's it."
"Yeah, right. And you're leaning on the wall because you like the feel," Emerald snarked, rolling her eyes. "But hey, you want to be a jerk, I'm sure ain't gonna challenge you on it."
She had enough problems to handle as it was. She didn't have the time or care to ram herself into Mercury's asshole defenses in some idiotic attempt to help him get his head out of his ass. He wanted to talk to her, she might as well listen, but she wasn't gonna put her neck on the line for it.
"Well, that was a disappointing display."
Emerald stilled at the new, silky voice, recognizing the strong, confident timbre even before Cinder's golden eyes lit up the shadows of their secluded corner of the ballroom.
Mercury growled at her. "The duel didn't matter. And we won, anyway. What else do you want–"
"You declared that you would win without losing a single life point," Cinder reminded them, glaring at Emerald until the green-haired girl lowered her gaze in shame. "You didn't."
"They had to suicide their points just to put a scratch on us!" Mercury snapped.
"You failed," Cinder emphasized, turning on the gray-haired boy and cowing him with her blazing eyes alone.
Mercury recoiled in fear from her. The Battlin' Boxer duelist stomped away from the group, skittering away like a mouse from a lion. Leaving Emerald alone to face the danger alone as always.
"I'm sorry, ma'am," she murmured, bowing her head to the woman she owed everything to. "It won't happen again."
Cinder was their leader. Their performance reflected on her. Even in victory overall, Emerald letting the situation get to her and then failing to live up to her own extra condition was an embarrassment to the half-maiden. She had failed her.
"Do you remember why I recruited you, Emerald?" Cinder inquired.
Emerald gulped. "You said I showed promise."
She'd gotten word that a big auction was going down for a super dangerous, super powerful card. A wicked force that had killed thousands throughout history. The young thief would later learn that it was a creation of The Queen's, one of her many failed experiments trying to replicate a Brothers God Card over the millennia. Emerald had strolled into the auction house, taken right from the auctioneer's hand, and walked right out with no one the wiser.
No one but Cinder, who'd come to claim it for herself. And yet, had decided to entrust it to Emerald instead.
"The card I trusted you with is not for the weak. If you cannot even meet such a meager standard as what you put yourself under tonight, it will crush you and your soul," Cinder warned. "Understand."
"I understand, ma'am," Emerald assured her. "I won't fail you again."
"Don't," Cinder smirked. "Now enjoy the rest of the night. After all, it's a party. And we'll be quite busy in a few days."
A few days. When every student and many teachers would be off in the frontier or at least outside the capital on their away missions. When the Breach would ram a hole right into the heart of Vale and Beacon, the army of Grimm that had laid Mt. Glenn to waste given a golden ticket to bypass the kingdom's defenses and do the same.
It was all to make Ozpin afraid, to make the headmaster panic and rush to where he had Amber hidden to protect the vulnerable maiden. But in the process, people would die. Thousands of them.
Emerald had killed before. She'd killed the unarmed and helpless before. It was unavoidable at times in the harsh life she'd lived. But thousands, tens of thousands, put at the mercy of the Grimm's utter lack of mercy…
… it was only Cinder's smile that made her understand it was the path she needed to follow.
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Ruby pressed her back to the wall of the ballroom and tiptoed out to one of the many resplendent balconies of Beacon's dance hall. She felt guilty to be hiding from Penny like this, but she just couldn't go back to dancing so soon.
Watching the duel had been so great, but that had just made it all the more stark how awkward and weird she'd been on the dance floor. Stepping on her friend's toes, lacking all the coordination she'd mastered for the duel field, she was no help to anyone, just dragging down Penny's grace. She was just as useless at it as she had been at learning fusion summoning…
… what was the delectable smell?
"Lien for your thoughts."
Ruby popped off from the wall and discovered she was not alone on the balcony. General Ironwood stood at the entrance, her plate of warm, delicious cookies in hand.
"Mmm," Ruby salivated. "Can I have those instead?"
The general chuckled and handed her the succulent desserts. Ruby instantly snatched them up and shoveled them into her mouth, heedless of the crumbs that spilled over her fine-tailored suit.
"Though, the thoughts I'm specifically interested in are how much you know about what Penny truly is," Ironwood informed her.
Ruby froze, her mouth stuffed full of sugary greatness as her silver eyes went wide.
I had planned for this chapter to be one huge finale to the Dance Arc, but I decided for various factors that it'd be better to break here and do the wrap-up next chapter. Lot of conversations, no duels next chapter. But, they are some of the conversations that I've been looking forward to the most in this arc.
But, while multiple factors did influence my choice to publish the chapter as is, the primary reason was the news that broke a few days ago from when this chapter is publishing: Roosterteeth is closing down. As the most popular IP of the company, RWBY's rights are likely going to be shopped around by Warner Bros., but the show's future is very much up in the air. I made the decision to stop watching after Volume 8 for my own reasons, but I never hated the show. It gripped me emotionally in a way that few stories have, and was the show that got me back into fanfiction writing, through which I've made irreplaceable friendships. So the news that it is quite possibly over, that those who are still enjoying the canon might not ever get an ending from CRWBY, is a somber one.
I watched the Justice League crossover movies as a sort of tribute for myself to the show, and I wanted to publish this chapter now to help provide whatever balm to the news I could. I can only do my best to try to continue doing justice to the stories that RWBY inspired me to create to the best of my abilities.
Remember to check out and add to this story's TVTROPES PAGE! I check my stories' pages often and I always enjoy it when they grow. :)
Thank you for Reading! I hope you enjoy what comes next!
Go Forth and Conquer!