Chapter 8

Fun in the Sun

"Talking"

'Thinking'

Loud Noises!

Card Names/Info

It was a beautiful day on Duel Academy Island. The sun was shining, the temperature was just right, and all the students were taking a break from classes. After a fun night of celebration, our main trio were now walking down a trail in the thick forest. Lori was in front of Yuni and Yuuchi, leading them to their destination.

"Are you sure this is the right way? We've been walking for a while." Yuuchi asked as he carried two big duffel bags.

"We're not lost, are we?" Yuni asked while carrying a cooler.

Lori rolled her eyes and turned around to the two. "No, we're not lost, and yes I'm sure this is the right way. Have some faith in me, I already mapped out the way there." She said with a smile as she walked backwards. "Besides, it's worth the wait." She spun back around and swung her arms and the picnic basket she held giddily as she walked. Yuni and Yuuchi gave each other a look before continuing to follow their friend.

After a few more minutes of walking, Lori looked to her right at a tree with some vines growing on it and squealed. "Come on guys, we're here!" She yelled as she started running ahead down a hill.

"Slow down!" Yuni called out as she and Yuuchi started to jog so that they could keep up with her. After a short run they saw Lori go through some bushes and quickly followed her, to find her standing a few feet away smiling widely at them.

"We're here!" She said as she stretched her arms out to the beach behind her.

[Kisara Beach, Duel Academy, 2:30 P.M.]

"Take this!" Lori said as she splashed some water at Yuni. The two girls were having a battle in the ocean while Yuuchi was laying back on a chair reading a book. While Lori had dragged Yuni off to the water, Yuuchi stayed behind to lay down their towels and set up their umbrella before relaxing in its shade.

After a couple of good splashes, Lori looked over at Yuuchi before smirking mischievously and whispering something to Yuni. Yuni giggled and nodded at her before walking out of the water towards the boy.

"Yuuchi, you don't want to get in the water with us? It feels nice." She asked as she stood in front of him.

Yuuchi looked up from his book at her. "No, I'm fine here." He said nervously while trying not to look at the girl in her one-piece swimsuit.

Yuni's eyes darted to the side for a moment before smiling at the boy. "Oh, ok. What's the book about?" She asked while reaching her hand out to see it.

Yuuchi handed her the book. "Oh, it's a book on spirits. Going over evidence of why they can be real, but also things we have no real answers for." As he said this, Yuni nodded while looking at the book and slowly moving his bookmark to the page he was on.

"But what's so interesting is that-" Yuuchi's rambling was cut off by having water dumped on his head, soaking his shirt and hair.

"Haha, gotcha!" Lori cheered as she held a now half-filled bucket.

While Yuuchi was reading and telling Yuni about his book, he never noticed Lori sneaking around, getting a bucket and filling it with water before sneaking up behind him. She had seen Yuuchi by himself and figured that this would be a good way to get him to interact with her and Yuni. So she asked Yuni to distract him while she put her plan into action.

"..." Yuuchi said nothing as he moved some of his hair away from his face. Lori and Yuni got a little nervous at his silence, wondering if her plan had backfired.

"Um, Yuyu?" Lori moved in front of the boy. "You oka-"

She was cut off by Yuuchi quickly grabbing the bucket from her hand and throwing the leftover water in her and Yuni's face. The two girls jolted from the sudden attack before looking at the boy.

"And I got you." He said with a smirk.

Both girls had a look of shock on their faces, but Lori snapped out of it first. "Oh yeah?!" She said as she snatched the bucket back from him. She turned around and sprinted to the water and filled the bucket back up before running at him with it. Yuuchi took this opportunity to run down the beach and dodged some water she tried to hit him with.

Yuni put Yuuchi's book down on the chair as she watched the two run up and down the beach with a smile.

"Looks like we didn't get here too late." A voice called out behind her.

Yuni turned around to see Jaden, Syrus, Chumley, and Bastion walking down with small bags and a big bucket filled with water balloons. "Hi guys, you're not late at all, and I'm glad you guys could make it." She said with a smile, making Syrus blush.

"Of course! What better way to spend our break?" Jaden said happily while he and Chumley put the bucket of balloons down on the sand. "It was cool of Lori to invite us."

"Yeah, it was." Yuni said. She turned around to see Lori screaming as Yuuchi threw her into the water and giggled at the sight.

"Well guys, the water isn't getting any wetter! Let's go!" Jaden said while running ahead to the water while tossing his jacket and shirt.

"Wait for me Jay!" Syrus called out before following suit with Chumley right behind.

Yuni watched them go before catching sight of three more people in the corner of her eye. "Hey you three!" She called out to the girls walking down to them.

"Hi Yuni, thanks again for inviting us." Erica said as she walked over to her with Ariel not far behind her frowning at Yuni, and Yuni noticed how they were both carrying a large watermelon that they had been growing at the club. Alexis was following behind the two carrying a small cooler and a surfboard, and all three already had their swimsuits on.

"It's no problem at all. Vacations are more fun when spent with friends after all." Yuni said as the girls put their watermelons and cooler down on a towel.

Erica then smiled widely. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's have fun!" She said as she ran to where everyone else was in the water while dragging a blushing Ariel. Alexis smiled and nodded at Yuni as the two went to join everyone else in the water.

...

The following 3 hours were spent with the group of ten having fun in the sun. Lots of swimming in the ocean, a watermelon splitting contest, a water balloon fight, and they were even able to find a nearby shed with poles and a volleyball net to play a game of 5v5.

After all that they all sat down and ate the sandwiches, chips, and watermelon they had all brought for lunch. Chumley had even found a grill in the shed and was able to make his famous grilled cheeses for everyone. After a big lunch, all the girls decided to spend the rest of their time tanning. Syrus, whose face had been red for almost the whole day, mustered up the courage to try to hit on Erica with Jaden acting as his wingman. Unfortunately for him though, the very protective Ariel scared them off with a glare.

After the other guys watched Syrus try and fail to get a girlfriend, they figured a better use of their time to see who could dig the deepest hole. This was fun for a time, until Chumley dug a hole so deep that he got stuck. After pulling the boy out of his hole, they decided to see who could make the best sandcastle in five minutes.

While all this was happening, a brown-haired girl in a red swimsuit sat on a lifeguard tower with her head on her hand. "So booooored." She said to herself. Not too long ago she was enjoying her day off by laying in her dorm room and binging movies, but then she got a call about how her coworker Daichi got sick and how she needs to cover his afternoon shift. So here she was, watching the almost completely empty beach bored out of her mind.

"Let's see what's going on around here I guess." She said as she grabbed the binoculars that were wrapped around her neck and used them to look around the beach. "Floating driftwood...Trash...Girls tanning, god I wish that was me...Guy with a hairstyle of a Kuriboh, weird..and-" She froze up as her gaze lingered on the gray-haired boy who wiped the sweat off his forehead. "My soulmate." She said with a loving sigh.

Ever since she saw him in their history class, she knew he was special. Almost all Obelisk blue students were loud and boisterous, and so many of them had come up to her at some point to try to ask her out while acting as if she should be grateful for the chance. But Yuuchi was different. He was quiet and humble unlike his peers, a little too humble sometimes in her opinion, but that and his kindness is what she loves about him. His purple eyes were so beautiful to her, she could just get lost in them forever. Then, when she thought she couldn't be more attracted to him, she saw him dueling. Seeing the small, determined look on his face whenever he duels, and his dueling skills overall just made her want to be with him even more. She had always dreamt of getting married to someone and becoming the best dueling duo in the world with them.

She sighed again before realizing something. 'This is a chance. A chance for me to talk to him, and maybe even get him to agree to hangout sometime.' She thought excitedly. Every time she tried to talk to him before something had gotten in the way, whether it was an Obelisk student trying to shoot their shot, a professor asking her for help on something, or her friends distracting her. But not this time! She pulled out a small mirror from her bag and used it to quickly make sure her hair looked right before hopping off the tower. She took a deep breath before walking over, making sure to add an extra sway of her hips.

Five minutes had passed, and all five boys were looking over their castles. Chumley by far had the best one that was extremely, and arguably impossibly detailed, down to the little town circling the castle. Bastion's castle was also good though not as detailed, and Jaden and Syrus' weren't too bad. Yuuchi's however looked more like a plain leaning tower of Pisa, even some of the girls giggled at how off the mark it was.

Yuuchi has his head down in embarrassment at the sight of his "castle" and sighed. "Yeah, I'm not really an artistic person." He muttered while looking at his hands. "...Isn't that ironic."

"I think it's cute." A feminine voice called out next to them. The boys and some of the girls turned to see a brown-haired girl whose swimsuit screamed "Lifeguard" walking up to them. "It's a little crooked, but cute." She said.

"Hm? Wait a minute." Yuuchi said as he looked up at the girl. "I recognize you. We have the same history class. Your name is Aimi?" He asked the girl.

The now named Aimi blushed. 'He knows my name even though I've never spoken to him.' She thought happily. "Y-yeah I am. It's so nice to meet you Yuuchi." She said as she stretched out her hand to him.

"It's nice to meet you too Aimi." He said as he shook her hand.

Aimi's blush got bigger at his touch and smiled. After a while, she reluctantly let go of his hand, and began nervously playing with her hair which didn't go unnoticed by the other girls.

"Hey, I'm Jaden, and this is Syrus." Jaden cut in with a smile as he nudged the blushing Syrus forward.

"So, um Yuuchi, what brings you to the beach?" She asked, making the other guys shocked at how nonchalantly she ignored them.

"Oh, just to relax with friends I guess." He told her.

She just nodded as she kept playing with her hair. "Cool, cool. Um, so I wanted to ask you something." She said.

"Ok? Go ahead."

"W-well. I was wondering if…" She looked down at her foot that was drawing circles in the sand. "Maybe, I could hangout with you right now?" She asked nervously.

Yuuchi tilted his head a little. "Uh, sure. I don't see why not." He said slightly confused. 'I guess we are the only ones on the beach right now, so she would still be doing her job.'

Aimi looked up at the boy with a huge smile before hugging him tightly, causing him to stiffen up. "Thank you! It'll be so fun!" She said as she jumped in place happily. As Aimi celebrated, all the girls turned to each other with a knowing look and the same thought going through their head.

'She's so into him.' They all thought.

For the next hour Aimi was hanging out with the group, but it was more like hanging out with Yuuchi. When the boys wanted to build other sand sculptures, she was with Yuuchi helping him build, when everyone was playing a game of Cornhole she joined his team in an instant, and whenever they went into the water, she was there swimming or floating next to him. All the while giving him little touches on his arm or leaning her body onto his every now and then.

'Aah, this is great.' Aimi thought to herself as she drank some water. 'I get to spend time with my beloved Yuuchi, AND I'm getting paid for it.' She smiled to herself. 'Now if I can just get him to agree to hangout with just me, then I just know we can become a couple!' She pictured herself and Yuuchi walking down the hallway at Duel Academy with the two of them holding hands and squealed happily at the thought.

'It would be perfect.' Her smile slowly left her face. 'There's just one potential problem.' She turned to look at Yuuchi who was currently talking to Lori. The girl was laughing about something and standing, in her opinion, too close to the boy. Aimi had noticed that the only two people close to Yuuchi were Yuni and Lori, but Lori definitely seemed closer to him than Yuni was.

'I don't fully know what kind of relationship the two have, but if there's anyone who's a threat to me getting with Yuuchi, it's her.' Aimi narrowed her eyes at the blonde as she watched how the two were smiling at each other.

As the sun started to set, painting the sky in a golden orange glow, Lori remembered something. "OH, I almost forgot." She said. Yuuchi and the others looked at her confused as she ran to put her shoes and backpack back on. "I need to get something, so nobody leaves yet!" She said as she turned to run up the hill.

Aimi had to keep herself from openly smiling at this. 'This is good, I get to have Yuuchi all to myself. Maybe I can get him alone so I can ask him out' She thought as she did a little happy dance in her head.

Lori went halfway up the hill but then she stopped.

"What's wrong?" Yuni asked.

Lori turned around back to the group. "I think what I'm getting is too much for just me to get, so I'll need someone else to help me." She said with her hand under her chin in thought. "Ok, Yuyu, come help me." She said as she pointed at the boy.

Aimi's internal happy dance came to a grinding halt. 'No…no way! Why couldn't she ask anyone else?! And what's with calling him "Yuyu"!?' She thought angrily. There was no way she'd let this girl get some alone time with her soulmate. Her brain was already imagining Lori using this moment to grab Yuuchi's arm before confessing to him, resulting in the two sharing a kiss in the forest.

Aimi shook her head, trying to get the nightmare out of her thoughts, before stepping forward. "I'll go with you too. Three people would be better than two after all." She said calmly.

Lori looked at her and smiled. "That's true. Alright then, come on guys!" She said cheerfully. Yuuchi and Aimi both went to get their shoes and bags on before joining Lori and heading up the hill.

...

The three had been walking up the trail in silence for a while now with Lori walking between the other two with a pep in her step.

"So.." Yuuchi said. "What is it that we're getting?" He asked his friend.

Lori just snickered and gave him a smile. "That's a surprise. Though you'll find out sooner than the others." She answered before walking a little faster to get ahead of them.

Yuuchi sighed and Aimi decided to speed up to have a little chat with Lori. "So, Lori, right? I have a question for you." She said.

"What is it?" Lori asked, still smiling.

Aimi briefly looked back at Yuuchi before turning back to the girl. "What do you think about Yuuchi?" She asked in a whisper. "Or more specifically, how do you feel about him?"

Lori looked at her weirdly, before answering her. "How do I feel about Yuyu? Well, I like him obviously. Even though I haven't known him for too long I can say that he's definitely one of my best friends. I hope we stay close." She said honestly with a smile. Aimi watched the girl's face as she spoke and frowned as she heard the girl's answer.

"I see…and do you think he's cute?"

Lori again looked at her weirdly. "Um, I don't know. I never really thought about it before. She said before looking over her shoulder at the daydreaming boy for a while. "Yeah, I'd say he's cute, especially when he's focused on watching a duel, and the rare moments when he smiles." She said hesitantly with a light blush dusting her cheeks. "He's a really nice guy, you know? I like how soft his hair looks, his eyes are a cool color, and he can be really funny sometimes." She said with a smile growing on her face. As she realized this, she quickly looked forward before he would notice her red cheeks.

Aimi clenched her fist at hearing all that Lori said. The fact that this girl was so close to Yuuchi and had these thoughts frustrated and worried her. "Ok, that settles it then…" She said before standing in front of Lori, making her stop in her tracks. "I challenge you to a duel!"

"Huh, why? Was it something I said?" Lori asked.

Aimi noticed that Yuuchi was getting closer and quickly moved to get in Lori's face. "It was everything you said and did. You're a threat to me getting with Yuuchi and having our happily ever after." She said quietly to make sure Yuuchi couldn't hear her. "And I won't risk you stealing my soulmate from me."

After saying this, Yuuchi had finally caught up to the two girls. "Are you girls, ok? Why'd you stop?" He asked them.

Lori looked at him and smiled. "Yeah, we're ok, but uh...You go on ahead." Lori said while getting behind him and lightly pushing his back. "Just head to the school store, tell the clerk that you're picking up an order from me, and wait for us to get there." She instructed him.

Yuuchi looked back at his friend confused. "Ok, but why aren't you coming with me?"

"We just have some girl stuff to do. Don't worry about it Yuyu, we'll be quick about it." Lori assured him. Yuuchi gave the two a weird look before nodding and walking off.

Once he was out of sight, Lori sighed and turned back to Aimi. "Look, I'm not gonna "steal" Yuyu from you. He's just a friend, trust me, you have nothing to worry about." She told her.

Aimi just took her bag off and began pulling out her duel disk. "Sorry, but I can't trust that." She said as she strapped on her disk. "So, here's what's going to happen. We duel, and whoever wins gets to have Yuuchi all to themselves."

Lori saw that trying to talk this out would get her nowhere, so she sighed and brought out her duel disk from her backpack. 'I could just surrender the second the duel starts, just to save us the time.' She looked up at the serious looking Aimi before looking back at her deck. 'But you guys wouldn't like that would you?' She smirked as she placed her deck into its slot and turned her duel disk on. "Let's hurry this up."

Aimi put in her deck and turned her disk on to sync up with Lori's.

"Duel!" They both shouted.

"I'll go first!" Aimi said as she drew a card and looked at her hand. "I summon Mother Grizzly in attack mode." She started. Out of the woods beside them jumped out a big black bear that stood on its hind legs and roared at Lori.

Water Beast-Warrior Lvl 4 ATK: 1400 DEF: 1000

"Next I'll activate the field spell Umiiruka." She placed the spell into the slot at the end of her duel disk, and then suddenly the forest that was around them disappeared and became a frozen tundra with the dirt road they were standing on turning to ice that was cracked in between their fields revealing water. "This field spell gives all water monsters and additional 500 attack points, but they also lose 400 defense points." She explained as the black bear glowed light blue as it went up to 1900 attack.

"I'll set one card face down and then end my turn." Aimi finished.

"Alright then, I draw!" Lori drew a card and looked down at her hand.

Rockin' Microphone

Rockin' Drums

Draining Shield

Pot of Greed

Rockstar's Background Dancers

Amber the Rockstar

'With 1900 attack points, I'll have to play defensive for now.' She thought. "I'll start by activating the spell Pot of Greed to give myself two more cards." She played her spell and then drew Rockin' Contract and Rockin' Bodyguard.

"Next, I'll summon Rockstar's Background Dancers in defense mode." Six spotlights appeared in the ice and turned on before six caveman dressed women appeared on the ice, all of them doing poses.

Earth Rock Lvl 4 ATK: 1800 DEF: 900

The girls once summoned stopped posing and began to shiver at the cold air. Though they wore fur designed clothing, it didn't cover their whole bodies, so they all huddled up together to try to stay warm. "I'm sorry I brought you guys out in this weather." Lori said to the girls.

"I'll set four facedowns and end my turn there." Lori said as four cards appeared slightly above the ice.

"And during your end phase, I activate my trap card, Games on the Beach." Aimi said as she flipped up her card that showed a group of people playing volleyball on the beach. "This card says that I can draw two cards from my deck, but if I do, I have to discard two cards from my hand. Also, you can negate this card but only by discarding one card from your hand. So, what'll be?" She asked.

Lori looked down at her hand for a moment. 'I'm not in a spot where I can get rid of one of my cards, so I'll just have to let it go through.' She looked back up at Aimi. "Go ahead." She said.

Aimi smirked and drew two cards before sending two cards to her graveyard. "And with that out of the way, it's my turn." Aimi said as she drew for her turn. "I summon Beach Lifeguards in attack mode!" She said. A mound of sand appeared on the ice, and out of it came a brown-haired boy and girl wearing red bathing suits with white crosses on them and sunglasses on their heads.

Water Warrior Lvl 4 ATK: 1500 DEF: 1500

The two lifeguards glowed light blue as their attack went up to 2000 due to the field spell. "Now I'll use their effect, which allows me to special summon one Beach monster from my graveyard and then send one Beach card from my hand or field to the graveyard." She explained as her graveyard glowed yellow before spitting out a card that she grabbed. "I'll choose to special summon Beach Reader in attack mode!"

Another hill of sand appeared next to the lifeguards and out came a girl in a swimsuit, sitting in a chair under an umbrella and reading a book.

Water Warrior Lvl 3 ATK: 1000 DEF: 1500

After the monster was summoned, Aimi sent a card from her hand to the graveyard before continuing her turn. "I'll set one card, and then I'll activate the effect of Beach Reader. She lets me target one card you control and send it back to your hand. So, I choose the background dancers!" She said as a wave of water shot out from between the ice and hit the six girls sending them back to Lori's hand as a yellow beam that turned back into their card. "Doing this though makes me put a card from my field back to my hand as well, so I'll bring the card I just set back to my hand." Aimi said while getting her card back.

"Now it's time to battle! Go Mother Grizzly, attack her directly!" Aimi shouted. The big bear roared before running over to Lori and slashing the girl with her claws.

"Ahh!" Lori screamed as her life points fell to 2100.

"Beach Girl attack next!" The bookworm looked up from her book at Lori before angrily throwing her book at Lori, hitting her in the face and dealing 1500. Lori took a step back and rubbed her face after having the open book smack into her.

"Yuuchi is mine! Beach Lifeguards, finish this duel! Baywatch Beat down!" The two lifeguards nodded at each other before running to Lori. As they raised their fists, the water rose and wrapped around their fists as if they were boxing gloves.

"Sorry, but I don't go down so easily! I activate Draining Shield!" Lori interrupted. Her trap card flipped up and produced a shield with an energy barrier that the lifeguards hit. "This trap negates your current attack and gives me life points equal to the attack of the monster." She explained as her life points went up by 2000 putting her at 2600.

Aimi grunted in annoyance at this as she grabbed a card from her hand. "Fine, then I'll activate my equip spell, Guard Tower on the Beach and equip it to my Beach Reader."

A tall wooden tower came out of the ice and the reader climbed up to stand on it. "This makes it so that Reader can't be target for attacks or attack you, and it lets me negate an attack once per turn." She explained. "So, with that I'll end my turn."

"My turn, draw!" Lori looked to see what she got before immediately playing it. "I normal summon Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands, which allows me to add either a ritual monster or ritual spell card from my deck to my hand." The monster made of thousands of hands materialized onto the field as Lori went through her deck to grab another Amber card.

Light | Fairy | Lvl 4 | ATK: 1400 | 1000

"Now I'll activate the ritual spell, Rockin' Contract to ritual summon-" Lori activated her card and sent her second Amber to the graveyard before grabbing her first one. "Amber the Rockstar!" The ice shook before cracking open, and then the blue haired rockstar jumped out from the crack doing a pose.

Earth Rock Lvl 7 ATK: 2300 DEF: 2500

Amber rubbed her shoulders and shivered as she looked around the tundra. "Now since I have Amber on my field, I can special summon the Background Dancers you put back in my hand to the field, and then, they let me deal 900 damage to you." Lori said as she summoned the six girls again. Once they were on the field, they all ran at Aimi and kicked her all across her body, lowering her life points to 3100.

"But that's not all! Now I'll activate my two traps, Rockin' Drums and Rockin' Microphone and equip them both to Amber!" Suddenly Amber appeared to be sitting at a drum set made of rocks with a rock microphone stand next to it. "Now it's time to jam out. First, I'll use Rockin' Microphone's effect to inflict 500 damage to you for each monster you control with a different name! And I count three for a total of 1500!"

Amber grabbed the mic before screaming loudly into it, sending shockwaves at Aimi who covered her ears and dropped to a knee from the sound as her life points went down to 1600. "And then I'll use the effect of Rockin' Drums, to banish one monster you control until the end of the turn. So, since I can't attack your Reader, I'll just send her away!" Lori said with a smile. Amber then began to aggressively play the drums sending shockwaves at the girl on the tower, and after slamming the symbol hard, the Beach Reader disappeared in a yellow glow causing the watchtower to crumble to pieces as it was destroyed.

Aimi began to get a little nervous at how much Lori had already done this turn. 'No! I can't falter, true love is at stake here! I won't lose!' She thought to herself as she stood up strong.

"Alright then, time to battle. Amber, attack the lifeguards! Rockin' Drum Beating!" Lori announced. Amber grabbed the symbol stand before getting up and running at the two teens. She swung at the two with the symbol and with a loud "Crash" they were destroyed, dealing 300 damage to Aimi. "I'm finished with my turn now." Lori said as the Beach Reader returned to the field.

"Alright, come on. I draw!" Aimi said. "Well since you let me keep my Beach Reader, I can use her effect again to put a card back into your hand. So, say goodbye to your Amber!" She said as she pointed at the rockstar.

Lori frowned as Amber was turned into a yellow beam that shot back to Lori's hand, and since she had left the field, the two traps that were equipped to her were destroyed.

"And the card I'll bring back to my hand is Beach Reader herself." Aimi said as she returned her monster to her hand. "But she won't be there for long, because I'm going to summon her back to the field now." The bookworm appeared back onto the field, holding a different book this time. "And since this counts as a new Beach Reader, I can use her effect again!" Aimi revealed, making Lori shocked.

"So, let's bounce back your Background Dancers again!" Aimi said as the six girls were sent back to Lori's hand for a second time. "And this time, I'll put my field spell back into my hand, and then I'll activate it again!" The field briefly went back to the forest before turning back into the frozen landscape, giving her monsters the 500 attack boost again.

"Now, I attack your Manju with Beach Reader!" Aimi said as her monster threw her book at the gray monstrosity, taking a chunk out of its body and destroying it. "Now Mother Grizzly, attack her directly! Claw Slicer!" The bear ran up to Lori before swiping both paws at her, slashing her with her claws across her chest.

"Aahh!" Lori screamed. She was knocked back onto her butt as her life points went down to 600.

Aimi looked down at Lori with a smirk. "True love will prevail in the end, and I'll have Yuuchi all to myself!" She proclaimed with her hands on her hips. "Now take your turn already so I can win this."

Lori just rolled her eyes and groaned as she pushed herself up on her feet. "Yeah, I'm sure it will." She dusted her pants off quickly before drawing another Rockin' Contract. 'Dang it. I'll need to stall the best I can until I get a monster to use with this.' She thought as she looked at her hand.

"I'll bring out my Rockstar's Background Dancers…for the third time." She said a little upset. "And I'll go to attack your Beach Reader." She announced. The six girls surrounded the girl sitting in her chair before they all lifted her out of it and tossed her into the freezing water behind them, destroying her and dealing 300 damage to Aimi, putting her at 1000 life points.

"And I'll end my turn there." Lori said as she noticed how dark it was getting. 'We need to hurry; everyone is still waiting.' She thought.

Aimi after drawing her card placed it onto her duel disk. "I normal summon Beach Surfers in attack mode!" A big pile of sand appeared and following it was a group of six happy teens with surfboards.

Water Warrior Lvl 3 ATK: 1650 DEF: 400

"And with the field spell, they go up to 2150 attack points!" She said as the teens glowed blue and seemed to get more muscle on them. "And now I'm finishing this duel and going to my love! Mother Grizzly attack!" Aimi shouted.

As the black bear ran at the group of girls, Lori flipped up her last set card. "I activate the spell, Rockin' Bodyguard, to make it so that my Dancers can't be destroyed by battle or card effects for the rest of this turn!" She said as a suit wearing man jumped in front of the dancers to protect them from the bear.

"But you'll still take the damage!" Aimi said as Mother Grizzly chomped down on the man's arm, dealing 100 damage to Lori. "And don't forget the surfers!" She said as the teens ran at the bodyguard and hit him with their surfboards. The man raised his arms to block the blows, but it still dealt 350 damage to Lori, leaving her at 150 life points.

Aimi smiled as the teens returned to her field. "Let's see you win now." She taunted as she ended her turn.

Lori placed her hand onto her deck and closed her eyes. 'Come on deck, give me what I need.' She thought before drawing. She opened her eyes to see what she drew and smiled. "Alright! I activate the spell Rockin' Contract to ritual summon Amber again!" She said as she presented the card to Aimi. "And I'll tribute the Background Dancers and the Rockstar's Groupies in my hand to do so!"

She sends both monsters to the graveyard and then Amber jumps back onto the field flashing a smirk at Aimi. "And when the Background Dancers are tributes for the ritual summon of Amber, their effect activates which lets me deal 400 damage to you for each card in your hand." Lori explained as the dancers appeared next to Aimi and punched her for 800 damage.

Aahh! N-no..." Aimi said as she looked at Lori.

"Yes. And now Amber, attack her bear! Rockin' Knuckle!" Lori shouted. Amber smiled as she ran at the beast in front of her. She dodged a wild swipe the bear tried to hit her with before winding up a punch and landing it across the bear's cheek. The bear roared in pain as the force from the punch sent her back into Aimi, dealing 400 damage and leaving her with no more life points.

"Yess! Another win for the Rockstars!" Lori cheered as she pumped her fist. As the cards were disappearing from the field, Amber quickly ran up to Lori and the two shared a high five before she disappeared like the other cards.

Aimi was on her knees with her hands clenching the dirt below her out of anger. "I lost…And now…" She choked up a little as some tears started to fall from her eyes. "I can't be with him."

Lori heard her say this and walked over to her. She bent down to help the crying girl stand up and started dusting her clothes off. "Hey, don't cry. I'm not gonna take him for myself or away from anyone." She told her.

Aimi looked at her shocked and sniffed. "You-you're not?"

Lori shook her head. "Of course not. Yuuchi is my best friend but that doesn't mean that he should only be around me, and who he wants to be with is his choice." Lori started to help fix her hair. "Tell him how you feel, you'll feel better, and he might even accept them." She told her with a smile.

Aimi stared at the smiling girl in front of her and nodded slowly. "Yeah. Ok."

"That's the spirit! Now come on, we need to hurry and get the surprise!" Lori said before turning around and running up the hill with Aimi following behind her.

...

Back on Kisara Beach, everyone was sitting in their chairs or on their towels waiting for Lori to finish setting up.

"Come on, let's hurry this up. It's getting cold!" Ariel shouted at her, to which Lori just waved her off.

"You can't rush greatness!" She yelled without looking back.

Ariel grumbled making Erica giggle before putting a blanket she was currently in around Ariel's shoulders making the redhead blush.

While they waited for Lori, Aimi and Yuuchi were sitting next to each other talking. After laughing at something he said, Aimi looked at him and tugged on his arm a little. "Um, Yuuchi. I want to tell you something." She said nervously.

The boy looked at her and nodded his head. "Ok. What is it?"

"I.. I think you're great." She said while looking down at her fiddling hands. "You're different from the other Obelisk students. You're nice, you don't brag constantly, and you're a great duelist too." She looked up at him with a huge blush on her face. "So, I was wondering, if maybe…you wanted to go on a date sometime?" She asked.

Yuuchi's eyes widened and gained a blush as big as hers and turned his head to the side out of embarrassment. "O-oh." He said before sitting quietly for a while. The moment of silence was making Aimi more nervous for each second that went by, but after a short while that felt like minutes for her, Yuuchi finally looked back at her with a smaller blush.

"Thank you for the compliments, Aimi, I really appreciate them. But… I don't think I'm looking to date right now. Sorry." He said nervously, hoping she wouldn't start crying or cause an outburst.

Aimi frowned and looked back down at her hands. "Y-yeah, It's fine..." She said softly while trying to hold back her tears.

Yuuchi looked at her for a moment before awkwardly placing a hand on her shoulder. "B-but uh. If you want, we could hang out sometimes, as friends?" He said with a small smile.

She looked back up at the boy a little surprised before smiling. "Yeah. I'd love that." She said, causing him to smile a little wider.

"Alright, is everyone ready?!" Lori yelled at the group. Jaden and Yuni yelled out a "Yeah!" in response while the rest had varying answers from nods and claps to "Hurry up!". Lori turned around for a second before running quickly to her spot in between Yuni and Yuuchi.

Seconds later, the air was filled with the sounds of high-pitched shrieks before they were followed by big explosions of colors and sparks in the air. Everyone looked up at the show of fireworks going off with looks of awe and thinking how this was worth the wait.

Yuni took a moment to look to her left and right at everyone here. It was times like this that really made her happy that she had another chance at life. Sitting here with friends, watching fireworks together just filled her with a feeling of gratefulness. So much about her life was great, and she hoped to keep it that way.

She smiled widely as she looked back up at the fireworks going off. 'This stage of my life has only just begun, and I can't wait to see what else it has in store for me.'

End of Chapter 8.

Author's Notes:

1) The "Beach" archetype is now available to see and use on

2) I had to do at least one beach episode in this story, so I figured I'd do it early. Who knows, maybe I'll do another one later down the line.

3) Next chapter will be following an episode of the anime, and I have finally come to a decision on something that'll happen in it.

4) I hope the romance aspect of this chapter was done well, or at least not bad. So, if you have any notes, you can give me on that then let me know.

If you have any questions or constructive criticism, feel free to leave a comment. Thanks for reading.