Chapter 4
What Does it Means to You?
"Talking"
'Thinking'
Loud Noises!
Card Names/Info
Yuni, Lori, and Yuuchi were currently in a classroom, waiting for the professor to arrive. Lori was going back and forth playing Rock-Paper-Scissors with Yuni who was to her left, and Yuuchi who was two rows behind them.
"So, are we still having a study session after school today?" Lori asked Yuni while throwing out rock and beating Yuni's scissors. Currently the score was 14-5 in Lori's favor.
"Yeah, but it'll have to be later tonight. I need to head over to the greenhouse first. Erica needs my help to plant some new flowers she had ordered." Yuni said while frowning at losing again.
"Oh, ok. Well then, I guess I need to find something to do until then… Yuyuuchi!" Lori said while turning around and looking up at the boy. Yuuchi looked down at the girl who had her hand up and ready for another round with him. "Do you wanna hang out until Yuni gets back?" She asked while tossing out paper.
Yuuchi, also throwing out paper, thought about it for a second before responding. "U-um..I think I just want to stay in tonight…sorry." He said quietly, making Lori pout at him. "Aaww, you never hang out when I ask." She said with some sadness in her voice, making Yuuchi panic a little. "W-wait! It's not that I d-don't want to. I just like my alone time." He said, trying to cheer her up.
Lori just gave him a small smile and turned back around. "I know, I know..." Right as she said that the classroom door opened and in came Professor Sartyr, the Ra dorm's headmaster.
"Good afternoon class. Today, I have a special lesson for you." He said while slicking his dark blue hair back. He held a big cardboard box as he walked to the podium, making everyone even more curious to what the lesson would be.
"There are many things that make a great duelist. Skill, determination, and even luck have a part in this game." He said once he got to the stand and placed the box down on it. "But today's lesson will be about understanding. You all have specific decks you play, and with that comes an understanding of your cards and what they do." He continued.
As he gave his speech, he opened the box and reached in before pulling out a deck box. "But today, we'll be testing your understanding skills. In this box, I have an assortment of decks, eight of them to be exact, with multiple copies of each. I'll be splitting the class right down the middle, and having each side hold their own little tournament. Each row will be one eight-person bracket, and each student will get a random deck. After these little tournaments are finished, the winners will be put in another eight-person bracket, where they'll duel the winners of the other rows on their side of the room. Then after that, the winner from the left and the winner from the right, will have one final duel to determine the champion." He explained while unpacking all the decks from the box.
"The point of this lesson is to see how well you can understand what a deck and its cards wants to do. You'll all get 3 minutes to look through your deck, but after that, you'll learn through dueling. And to add to it, whoever wins their bracket, will be given another random deck so they won't be able to rely on what they know." Sartyr added with a smile.
The room was filled with murmurs and whispers of students being excited, and some being nervous. Yuni was curious as to how she would do in the tournament, as she hadn't used many other decks, and getting to the level she was at with Rainbow Makers had taken years, so this could be a real challenge for her. Yuuchi was slightly nervous but was mostly confident in his ability to learn quickly. Lori was excited that their lesson for today was for them to duel, though she was a little sad that she couldn't use her deck for it.
"Alright then, we'll split the room here." Sartyr said while making a chopping motion with his hand going in between Yuni and Lori. This made it so that Yuni and Yuuchi were on the left side, and Lori was on the right. Sartyr smiled a little wider. "Now then, class is in session"
...
After many bests out of three matches, the final two were about to begin. Most Students enjoyed the challenge of using a new deck, but there were a few who would whine about it not being fair after losing. Those students were mostly in Obelisk blue, because they lost to someone with a lower rank.
With the left side of the room, Yuni had been the winner of the first bracket, but had lost her first match in the second bracket. Yuuchi had also won his first bracket and had gone to beat the guy who won against Yuni in the finals, making him the left side's champion and the one most people were rooting for to win.
The right side of the room, however, had a bit of an upset. Because the champion for their side was none other than the Slifer ranked Lori. Her wins against higher ranked students, especially blues, had made several people upset. Just to add more fuel on the fire, she also went undefeated in every match she had.
First, she had used a Demise and Ruin ritual deck to beat two blue students and one yellow student. Some had chalked this up to her knowing how a ritual deck works, since her actual deck also revolved around a ritual monster. The second deck she got on the other hand, was a Toon deck, which many had thought wasn't good. So of course, when a "Slifer Slacker" used one of the worst decks and went undefeated with it against three blue students, there was a lot of complaining and accusations of cheating. Lori just relished on this though, taunting back at them how maybe they aren't as good as they think they are.
Now though, it was time for the final match. Both Yuuchi and Lori had been given their third different deck and were given three minutes to look over it. While they did, Yuni was sitting in the row above them, to get a good view of the two. 'Who would've thought that both Yuuchi and Lori would be the final two.' She thought with a smile, then she suddenly realized something. 'Now that I think about it, this will be the first time these two have dueled each other! And with decks that aren't their own as well. This could really go either way.'
The three minutes were up and both Lori and Yuuchi were shuffling their decks. "Don't think I'll go easy on you just because we're friends, Yuyuuchi." Lori said with a smirk. Yuuchi just looked up at her with a raised eyebrow before handing her his deck for her to cut. "I know, I won't either." He said calmly. Lori laughed a little as she cut his deck and handed it back to him.
"Alright you two." Sartyr said as he stood in front of the table, they were sitting at. "Ready…Set…Duel!" He chanted before stepping back to let the two begin.
Not even twenty minutes later the room was filled with a stunned silence, and the soft sound of Yuni clapping. "That was a good duel." She said while moving down to their table. "Congrats on winning, Lori, and you dueled great too Yuuchi."
Lori, who was currently doing a victory dance, turned to Yuni and gave her a peace sign. "Haha! Thanks Yuni. Truly undefeated all the way to the end!" She exclaimed while Yuuchi handed over both the decks back to the teacher. He then walked over to Lori with his hand extended. "Good game, Lori." He said with a small smile. Lori smiled back, and put her fist out for a fist bump, which Yuuchi quickly returned.
"There's no way some Slifer slacker won this!" A voice yelled. Lori and her friends all turned to see the boy who said that. It was an Obelisk blue student with dark green hair and eyes. He had a scowl on his face as he crossed his arms. "I refuse to believe that some nobody could win this tournament. Either she cheated or Yuuchi threw the match!" He claimed.
Lori gave the boy a taunting look. "Sounds to me that someone's mad they aren't as good as they thought they were." She said, resulting in the boy's face turning red from anger.
"Oh yeah!? Well how about we settle this with our real decks then!" He shouted. Professor Sartyr took this moment to step in. "Ok children, settle do-" "I would, but you would just throw another hissy fit after losing!" Lori interrupted while stepping closer to the angry boy. "And that goes for the rest of you!" She said while looking at the other Obelisk blue students, causing them to start throwing out challenges at her too.
"Students settle down!" Sartyr said louder, stopping the chatter from most of the students. "Whatever." The angry boy said. "I bet your deck is as stupid and useless as you." He said while glaring at her.
Lori clenched her fist and glared back at the boy. "Excuse me?!" She said as she stomped closer to the boy. "My deck is better than anything you could put together in a hundred years! And I can prove that whenever, wherever!" She yelled at the boy. Right before she got in his face though, Yuni came up behind her with a hand on her shoulder, and Yuuchi stepped in between her and the boy.
"If you have a problem with me, then we can settle it the old-fashioned way!" Lori continued, even with the bell ringing signifying the end of the class. At the sound of this Yuni and Yuuchi started moving her out of the room, with Yuni making sure to grab the girl's bag on their way to the door.
"Excuse us Professor Sartyr." Yuni said kindly while dragging the still yelling Lori backwards towards the door. Yuuchi, who was in front of them, bowed to the professor. "T-thank you for hosting the t-tournament, Professor." He said before leaving out of the door after Yuni and Lori, leaving several students and even the professor stunned at the outburst.
... [Cafeteria, Duel Academy, 2:30 P.M.]
Yuni and Yuuchi were currently staring at Lori, who was shoveling down her lunch. Yuni gave Yuuchi a worried look before turning back to Lori. "Um…Are you ok, Lori?" She asked.
Lori looked at her friend and swallowed the food in her mouth before answering. "Hm? Yeah, I'm fine." She said calmly before taking another bite of her mystery sandwich. Yuni gave her a worried look and Lori waved her hand. "Really, I'm fine now. I think I was just angry because of my empty stomach, haha." She said while giving Yuni a small smile. "Thanks for asking though, I appreciate it."
Yuni gave her a small smile back, still not fully sure if her friend was ok. Lori had always been so happy anytime Yuni saw her, and even during the times when an Obelisk or Ra student would be rude to her, she always seemed to just shrug it off and not care about whatever they said or did. 'This was the first time I've ever seen her angry. Was what that guy said really that bad to her?' She wondered.
Though she didn't like to do this, especially on her friends, Yuni looked deep into Lori's eyes, so she could get a little feel for what was going through her head. What she got back was the feeling of innocence she felt when she first met her, but also, somewhere deep in her mind, was a small cloud of sadness and anger. Yuni figured that Lori was still thinking about what was said earlier, but she had already done enough poking into her friend's mind. 'I'm sure she'll tell me about her troubles when she wants to.' Yuni thought as she finished eating her fruit bowl.
She then stood up from the table. "I'll be right back guys, I'm gonna head to the bathroom." She said, then Lori stood up right after she said this, saying how she also had to go as well before following her friend, and leaving Yuuchi at the table to wait.
Yuuchi kept eating his lunch slowly, all the while his mind was thinking back to the tournament they had just done. 'Everyone got random decks that had to learn on the spot, and yet Lori went undefeated. Luck can only get someone so far, so this must mean that she at the very least understood most of what the decks wanted to do.' He thought as his hand slowly moved its way to his chin, like every time he gets lost in thought.
'She was able to beat multiple Ra and Obelisk students, including me, by using decks she had never used before, and this all brings me back to the one big question…Why does she play a Rockstar deck?' He wondered. 'She just showed everyone that she could be one of the best duelists here, but she is purposely playing something that seems to hold her back. Does she do it because she wants to challenge herself? Or maybe, she wants to be underestimated.' He went on before thinking back to her argument with the green-haired boy. 'Hmmm. His comment about her deck really set her off, but why?'
While Yuuchi was thinking to himself, he didn't notice the person who sat at his table until they had spoken up. "Hey! Yuuchi."
Yuuchi was brought out of his thoughts by hearing his name being called, and turned to see the same green-haired boy he was just thinking about sitting across from him.
"O-oh, um. D-did you need something...um?" Yuuchi asked, while trailing off at the end. The boy looked at him a little shocked. "It's Nao Shizukawa. Remember? We went to the same primary school."
Yuuchi blinked and thought for a second, before he finally remembered that he had indeed gone to school with Nao. "O-oh. Y-yeah I remember now." He said nervously. "B-but why are you here?" Yuuchi asked nervously as he placed his hands on his legs. Nao turned his head and looked at the people moving around the cafeteria. "You were never the type to throw matches back in primary school, but people do change as they get older." He said before glancing at Yuuchi from the corner of his eye.
"...I-I didn't throw the match. Lori is just that good." Yuuchi said. Nao just glanced at him for a while longer, making him even more nervous. Soon though, he went back to watching the people around them.
"Well, whether you did or didn't, it doesn't change my reason for being here." Nao said before turning so that he was facing Yuuchi. "I'm here to tell you to act your rank."
Yuuchi gave him a confused look. "Um, w-what does that mean?" He asked. Nao rolled his eyes at him before looking at him with a serious look. "First of all, that." He said while pointing at Yuuchi. "You act so scared of everything, man up! You got into the Obelisk blue dorm, act like it!" He said harshly.
"And second, it's the company you keep." Nao said while pointing two fingers up. "You need to ditch those two nobodies and hang out with people who are actually on our level." He continued. Yuuchi frowned at this but didn't say anything as Nao kept talking.
"Hanging around people like them will only bring your dueling skill down. Not to mention that you hanging out with them is spreading a bad example! Do you know how many Slifer slackers came up to me to try to duel or 'hang out'!?" Nao ranted while raising his voice a bit. "This jacket means we're the best of the best. The head honchos. Elite duelists." He emphasized his words by grabbing his jacket. "We don't interact with lesser people unless absolutely necessary."
Yuuchi looked down at his hands for a moment, before slowly looking back up at Nao with a serious look. "Listen-"
"No. It's fine." Nao interrupted as he stood up from the table. "I just wanted to inform you of how things work here. Because your actions have affected all us blues. So just man up and act your rank." He finished as he started walking away.
Yuuchi looked down at his hands again, which were now clenched tightly. "Oh, one more thing." Nao said, stopping in place to look at Yuuchi over his shoulder. "Tell your brother I said 'hi'." And with that he left the cafeteria.
Yuuchi looked at the retreating boy for a second before looking back down, now with a sad look in his eyes. "... Yeah." He muttered, before going back to his lunch.
... [Duel Academy, 4:30 P.M.]
It was now the end of the school day, and Yuni was about to head out to her club.
"Alright, I'll try to leave around 7, then we can do some studying. Remember, today's lesson will be on chaining cards." She said to Lori, who nodded. "Yes, Professor Nero." She said jokingly while giving a halfhearted salute.
Yuni giggled, before turning around. "Alright, I'll see you later Lori, Yuuchi." She said, giving the two a wave as she headed down the hall. Lori waved with both of her hands while Yuuchi just raised a hand.
After she had left, Lori and Yuuchi turned and started walking towards the school exit. Lori glanced at Yuuchi for a moment, noticing the boy having a distracted look. "You ok, Yuyuuchi? After lunch you've been quiet. Well, quieter than usual." She asked with a little joke at the end.
"Hm? O-oh yeah. I'm just…thinking." He said quietly. Lori looked at him curiously. "You've been thinking pretty hard huh? Well, I'm a bit of a thinker myself, so if you need a second opinion on something, let me know. Haha." She said while playfully nudging him in his side.
Yuuchi looked at the smiling girl for a second, before speeding up a little to be in front of her. "Follow me for a moment." He said calmly. Lori, confused by this, just nodded and followed the boy.
After following Yuuchi for a couple minutes, she found herself standing inside the dueling arena once more. "Why did you want to come here? You leave something?" Lori asked as Yuuchi made his way to the stairs that led up to the stage. "No." He said. Once he had made it up the stage, he looked over at the blonde girl. "We're here to duel." He stated.
Lori looked surprised at the usually nervous boy. "You're not upset about me beating you in class, are you?" She asked, trying to hide the nervousness in her voice. Yuuchi shook his head as he pulled his duel disk out from his backpack. "Not at all. I just need to find out something." He assured her. 'And blow off some steam.' He thought to himself.
Lori sighed in relief, glad that her friend wasn't mad. She then started moving to the other side of the stage with a smile. "Ok then, I'm always up for a duel. Just don't start crying if I beat you." She taunted the boy as she brought out her duel disk.
While Lori was setting up her disk, Yuuchi grabbed his deck, closed his eyes, and took a couple deep breaths. Then he opened his eyes, now with a serious and determined look, and turned his duel disk on after placing his deck inside. Lori turned her duel disk on as well and smiled wide at her friend. "Alright then-" She started as their disks synced up.
"DUEL!" They both said.
"I'll let you go first, since you lost earlier today." Lori said with a smirk. Yuuchi, saying nothing, drew a card and looked at his hand.
"I'm going to activate the continuous spell card, Six Samurai United." He said as he placed his spell card into his duel disk with the card appearing on the field.
"Next, I'll normal summon The Six Samurai - Irou" Yuuchi placed the monster onto the field, and a tall, black-haired samurai wearing purple glowing armor materialized onto the field.
Dark | Warrior | Lvl 4 | ATK: 1700 | DEF: 1200
"Since I summoned a Six Samurai monster, I get to place a Bushido counter on my spell card." He explained as a little chip with the symbol of the Six Samurai appeared on the card. "With that, I'll end my turn." Yuuchi said before looking over at Lori.
Lori looked at Yuuchi and inwardly shivered at the serious look on his face. Somehow, it seemed more serious than in class earlier that day. "That's a cool looking monster, but it's nothing I can't get over! I draw!" She said before looking at her hand.
"Nice. I activate the field spell Rockin' Records!" Lori placed the card into the field spell slot at the end of the duel disk. The familiar looking record room with rock walls appeared around the two.
"Now I'll normal summon Rockstar's Background Dancers! in attack mode. And since Rockin' Records is on the field, they gain 200 attack and defense!"
Earth | Rock | Lvl 4 | ATK: 1800 | DEF: 900
What appeared onto the field in a burst of lights and confetti, were six girls wearing caveman like clothing posing as if a picture was being taken of them. Yuuchi gained a small blush at the sight of the very attractive women posing in front of him. Lori seeing this smirked mischievously.
"Oh my. Is Yuuchi feeling a little hot under the collar?" She asked with a hand over her mouth in fake shock. Yuuchi's blush grew bigger as he shouted out a "No", making Lori laugh.
"Sure, you're not." She said sarcastically. "Either way, with my Background Dancers now at 2000 attack points, I'll go to my battle phase, and attack your monster!" Lori shouted while pointing at Irou. The six girls ran at the samurai before throwing punches and kicks at him, making him explode, and making Yuuchi lose 300 life points, leaving him at 3700.
"Next, I'll set two cards face down and end my turn. Your move, Yuyuuchi." Lori said, still smiling.
"Alright, I draw." He looked at the card he drew before opening the field spell slot on his duel disk. "And I'll activate a field spell of my own, Shien's Castle of Mist." He said, placing the card into the slot. This caused the rock designed recording studio shake before crumbling away, making the Background Dancers attack go back down to 1800. Then, what formed around the duelists was a dark forest, with several crows flying around, with a dark and ominous house in the distance.
"This card's only effect is to lower any monster's attack by 500 whenever they attack a Six Samurai monster." Yuuchi explained before grabbing another card in his hand. "Next, I'll summon The Six Samurai - Yariza in defense mode." A short man wearing blue glowing armor and wielding an energy spear of the same color materialized onto the field, taking a defensive stance.
Earth | Warrior | Lvl 3 | ATK: 1000 | DEF: 500
"Doing this allows me to place a second Bushido Counter on my spell card." He said as another counter appeared. "And now, since Six Samurai United has two Bushido Counters on it, I'll activate its effect. First, I send it to the graveyard, then I can draw one card for every Bushido Counter that was on the card. Meaning I get to draw two cards now!" Yuuchi explained before sending his spell to the grave and drawing two cards.
"Hm. I'll set one card face down and end my turn." He said.
Lori drew a card as she looked at her friend. "Wow, your deck has a card that's like Pot of Greed? That's pretty cool." She then looked at the card she drew. "I summon Rockstar's Groupies in attack mode!" Lori said, with the three caveman dressed girls appearing on the field and waving at the background dancers who waved back.
Earth | Rock | Lvl 4 | ATK: 1500 | DEF: 1000
"Now I'll attack your Yariza with them!" Lori said, sending the girls out to destroy his monster in a flurry of punches. "And since you're wide open, my Background Dancers can attack you directly! Go, Choreographed Pummeling!" Lori yelled as the six girls made their way to Yuuchi with a series of flips and dance moves, before they all kicked him in his chest.
"Guh!" Yuuchi groaned and clutched his chest as his life points fell to 1900.
"Good job girls. With that, I'll end my turn" Lori said to her monsters and Yuuchi.
"My turn, draw!" Yuuchi placed his hand on top of his deck, and Lori saw his eyes widened a little. He froze for a second, but then drew his card and smiled at seeing it.
"Alright, let's do this. First, I normal summon The Six Samurai - Zanji in attack mode!" He exclaimed. Now on the field, was a man wearing orange glowing armor and wielding an orange energy spear appeared onto the field, brandishing his weapon at Lori.
Light | Warrior | Lvl 4 | ATK: 1800 | DEF: 1300
"And now, since I control a Six Samurai monster, I can special summon from my hand, Grandmaster of the Six Samurai!" Yuuchi yelled out as he placed his monster onto his duel disk. Out came an elderly man with long white hair and wearing a glowing eyepatch over his right eye. The man stood tall with an aura of confidence radiating off of him as he held his sword in both hands.
Earth | Warrior | Lvl 5 | ATK: 2100 | DEF: 800
"Next, I'll activate my trap card, Return of the Six Samurai. This lets me special summon one Six Samurai monster in my graveyard, but it gets destroyed during the end phase." He explained as he flipped his trap up, and Six Samurai Irou came back from the grave.
"Now it's time to battle. Irou, attack the Groupies!" He ordered. Irou ran up to the three girls and quickly slashed at the three with ease, destroying them and dealing 200 damage to Lori. "My Groupies effect activates now that you destroyed them by battle. They let me add one Rockstar or Rockin' card from my deck to my hand." Lori said as she went through her deck, before grabbing one card. "And I'm adding Rockin' Contract." She said, revealing the card to him.
"Fine then. Next, I'll have Grandmaster attack your Background Dancers! Quick draw Slasher!" He continued as his monster ran up extremely quickly. Before the dancers knew it, Grandmaster was behind them, sheathing his sword before they were destroyed by being cut to pieces, making Lori lose 300 more life points.
"And lastly, Zanji will attack you directly!" He yelled out as Zanji jumped at her and brought his long spear down, sending a long cut down Lori's chest.
"Ahh!" She screamed, as her life points went down by 1800, leaving her with 1700 left. "Not..bad." She said while rubbing her chest where she had been cut.
"With that done, I'll set one more card down and end my turn." Yuuchi said as Irou was sent back to his graveyard.
Lori drew her next card and smiled. "Well, since you brought out a big monster, it's only fair that I bring out mine. I activate Rockin' Contract, and tribute my Rockstar's Mentor and Rockstar's Manager from my hand to summon Amber the Rockstar!" As Lori sent her two monsters to her graveyard, the blue haired idol appeared in a flash of light before the two.
Earth | Rock | Lvl 7 | ATK: 2300 | DEF: 2500
"And since I used Rockstar's Mentor and Manager as tributes, Amber gains 1000 more attack points, and I get to draw a card!" Lori exclaimed as she got a card from her deck and Amber went up to 3300 attack points. "Now I'll activate both of my set cards-" She started as her cards flipped up revealing themselves to be traps. "Rockin' Bass and Rockin' Guitar. And they'll both be equipped to Amber!" Suddenly, Amber had two guitars strapped to her back, in a way that a samurai would have two swords on their back.
"Now, I'll use the effect that Rockin' Bass gives Amber. This lets me add one Rockstar monster in my graveyard and add it to my hand. So, I'll choose to add back Rockstar's Background Dancers." She said as her monster popped out of her graveyard, letting her grab it and add it back to hand. "And since I have Amber on my field, I can special summon them." She continued as the background dancers appeared back on the field. The six women looked at Amber and ran over to give her a group hug, which Amber enjoyed and tried to hug them back.
"That's not all though, since they were summoned this way, I can deal 900 damage to your life points!" She explained as the six girls ran at him and punched him simultaneously, bringing his life points to 1000.
"Now it's time to battle. Amber, attack his Grandmaster. Bass Basher!" She commanded her monster. Amber ran at Grandmaster, who was pulling out his blade and charging to meet her attack head on. She grabbed the bass guitar from her back and swung it in both hands as if it was a sword. The samurai's blade and idol's bass clashed against each other, before the sword broke against the guitar, letting it smash against the old man's chest, destroying him and causing a loud sound wave of the guitar to echo throughout the arena.
Yuuchi covered his ears as he lost 700 life points, leaving him at 300. "It's a good thing my field spell lowered your monster's attack by 500, or else that would've been the end of the game." Yuuchi said while moving his hands off his ears.
"Oh yeah!" Lori said, having forgotten about the dark location that was still around them. "Well, I guess I'll just end my turn there then. Go ahead." She said to him.
Yuuchi drew for his turn and immediately played the card he got. "I activate the spell card Graceful Charity. This lets me draw three cards, but then I have to discard two cards from my hand." He said got three cards from his deck and sent two to his graveyard after some thought.
"I'm going to activate my second Six Samurai United. Then I'll summon The Six Samurai - Kamon in defense position. The monster that appeared was a man wearing armor covered in dynamite, holding a stick of it in his hand. The man took a knee and crossed his arms across his chest.
Fire | Warrior | Lvl 3 | ATK: 1500 | DEF: 1000
"I'll put one Bushido Counter on my United spell, and then I'll use Kamon's effect. Since I control another Six Samurai monster, I can destroy one face-up spell or trap card you control." Yuuchi told her before Kamon lit the dynamite in his hand, and threw it at Amber's bass guitar, destroying her Rockin' Bass.
"Then I'll put Zanji in defense mode as well and set a card. Then I'll end my turn. Yuuchi finished.
"Hmm, an effect that activates when you control another in-archetype monster? I'm starting to wonder if your deck copied Yuni's, or if hers copied yours." Lori joked before drawing for her turn.
"Since I control Amber on my field, I can special summon Rockstar's Mentor from my hand, and by doing that, it gains an additional 1000 attack points." Lori said, summoning the brown-haired woman to the field. The mentor saw her protégé on the field with her and smiled, as Amber waved at her excitedly.
Earth | Rock | Lvl 3 | ATK: 900 | DEF: 1300
"Even with your field spell's effect to lower my monster's attack, I still have enough to get over your cards. Now, I'll attack your Kamon with my Background Dancers. Go get him girls." Lori ordered, with the women going over to the man and kicking him, causing him to be destroyed in an explosion. "Guess he shouldn't have been wearing all that dynamite huh?" Lori jokes, making her monsters giggle at her.
"Anyway, I'll have Mentor attack your other Six Samurai. With its defense at 1300, she can just get over that." Lori pointed out as her monster charged at the armor-clad man.
"No, you won't. I activate my spell card, Cunning of the Six Samurai." Yuuchi interrupted as he used his first set card, revealing a spell with a picture of the Grandmaster writing a letter while a laser was shooting from his eyepatch. "This lets me send one Six Samurai monster I control to the graveyard, then special summon one Six Samurai monster from either graveyard. So I'll send Zanji and bring back Grandmaster in attack mode." He said as he swapped the two monsters. Grandmaster once again appeared on the field, holding his sword in both hands.
"This will put a second Bushido Counter on my spell, and since he's got 2100 attack points, your Mentor won't be able to destroy him." The boy said.
Lori just smiled at him. "Not a problem, since Amber can still make an attack! Go Amber, attack his Grandmaster again! Rockin' Guitar Solo!" Lori yelled. Amber grabbed her Rockin' Guitar from her back and started to loudly play it, sending the sound waves to Grandmaster. Yuuchi smirked at seeing this.
"Just what I wanted. I activate my trap card, Sakuretsu Armor!" He yelled out, flipping his other card up. "It lets me target a monster you're attacking with and destroy it!" Yuuchi explained, as a suit of armor appeared from the trap. The empty armor then ran at Amber and slashed at her with its claw-like hands, destroying her and her equipped trap in one blow, causing an explosion.
"No, Amber!" Lori yelled while covering her face from the wind whipped up from the explosion. Yuuchi just watched until the wind died down. "Anything else?" He asked her. Lori gritted her teeth and shook her head at him.
"My turn then." Yuuchi said before drawing. "I'll send my Six Samurai United to the graveyard to draw two more cards." He said, making him have three cards in hand.
"Good. I'll normal summon The Six Samurai - Nisashi in attack mode." A man in glowing green armor, dual wielding green energy swords appeared onto the field.
Wind | Warrior | Lvl 4 | ATK: 1400 | DEF: 700
"Next, I'll banish two Six Samurai monsters from my graveyard, to special summon from my hand, Enishi, Shien's Chancellor!" An older man wearing a light purple kimono, a green vest over it, and a seated sword at his waist showed up.
Light | Warrior | Lvl 6 | ATK: 2200 | DEF: 1200
"Now I'll use the Chancellor's effect. He lets me destroy one face-up monster on the field, and I choose your Rockstar's Mentor!" He told her. Enishi stepped up to Mentor before grabbing his sword and swinging it while still sheathed at her head, destroying her. "He can't attack the turn he uses this effect, but it doesn't matter." Yuuchi said calmly. "I'll go to my battle phase and attack your Background Dancers with my Grandmaster!" Yuuchi said as Grandmaster cut through the dancers and dealt 300 damage to Lori, lowering her life points to 1400. "And now, Nisashi will attack you directly for game! Wind Style Strike!" Yuuchi called out. Nisashi's energy blades shined brightly before he dashed at Lori, leaving a green aura trailing behind him. He got in front of the girl and swung both blades in the form of an "X", leaving the cuts across her chest.
"Aaahhh!" Lori screamed as her life points dropped to 0.
As the game ended, both of Yuuchi's monsters turned around and bowed to him, before they faded away.
...
As their duel disks turned off, Yuuchi's serious look left his face as he sighed. He walked over to the edge of the stadium and sat down, letting his legs hang off the edge.
"Are you feeling better now Yuyuuchi?" Lori asked as she walked over and sat down next to him. Yuuchi looked at her in the corner of his eye and nodded. "Good. A duel always helps clear the mind." She said with a smile.
Yuuchi was quiet for a while before turning to her. "Can I ask you something?" He asked. Lori looked at him curiously and nodded. Yuuchi looked down at his deck that was still in his duel disk. "Why do you play the Rockstar deck? The tournament today and the duel we just had showed me, and everyone else, that you could be one of the best duelists here if you used a different deck." He said before looking at her. "I think it's holding you back. And I also think that you know that it is."
"Today also showed me that you're very defensive over your deck. So, I just wanted to know why you chose it and continue to choose to play it. I-if you want to tell me t-that is." Yuuchi finished. Lori looked down at her hands silently as he spoke, and then shook her head. "I don't mind telling you."
Lori pulled her deck out of her duel disk and handed it to Yuuchi. "This deck is very important to me. It used to belong to my mom." Lori said as Yuuchi looked at her then looked through her cards. "You know what a duel idol is?" She asked him.
Yuuchi nodded and handed her the deck back. "Yeah, they're like pro duelists but they sing and dance too, right?"
Lori nodded and smiled as she looked at her deck. "Years ago, my mom was one, and pretty popular too. Then one day, while hiding her identity, she went out and met my dad. They dated for a year before my mom told him that she was a duel idol." She said while thinking back to when her mom told her the story of how she met her dad. "My dad at the time worked for Industrial Illusions, and years after dating my mom, he proposed and as a gift, he gave her this deck." Lori said, holding up her cards.
"He had been inspired by her and made the deck. Since he was the creator, he was able to get an early copy of them, so he gave them for her to use as an idol." Lori smiled widely while Yuuchi had a small smile at the romantic gesture. "Of course, they got married and then came me. My dad and I loved watching my mom perform with Amber on stage." She said before her smile left her face, replaced by a sad look.
"But then, dad got sick, and it got worse as time went on. And then…he died." Yuuchi watching Lori saw that she looked as if she was about to cry, but Lori just closed her eyes and continued her story.
"Mom took it really hard. Her performances didn't feel the same, and eventually she just retired entirely." Lori held her deck a little tighter. "She didn't use this deck anymore. It made her think of him, and how he's not with us anymore." Yuuchi noticed a tear go down her face.
"But I loved the deck, and it hurt me to see her just leave it behind." She said as she thought back to 6 years ago.
... [Domino City, Japan. 6 Years Ago]
Lori quietly opened the door to her mom's office. She poked her head in the room to look around before seeing what she had been looking for on a high shelf in the corner of the room.
She crept her way into the room with her mom's old duel disk in hand, grabbed the office chair in the room, and slowly pushed it to the corner. Once there, she climbed onto the chair and stretched her arm out to grab the stack of cards that was sitting on the shelf.
"Come on..." She whispered. She could feel her fingertips grazing the cards, and this made her get on her toes to get closer. Soon her hand was able to wrap around the entire deck. "Yes!" She celebrated quietly.
"Lori, what are you doing!" Her mom, Lauren, yelled from the door, scaring the nine-year-old and making her fall off the chair and sending the cards everywhere. "Ooww.." Lori groaned after landing on her back.
Lauren quickly went to her daughter. "Are you ok?" She asked while looking all over her daughter for bruises. Lori nodded and tried to assure her mom that she was fine. "Good. What were you doing on the chair?! You could've been hurt!" She said sternly to Lori, who had her head down.
"I just…wanted to see Amber again…" Lori said nervously. Lauren looked at the cards on the floor and then noticed her old duel disk in Lori's hand. "I know you don't like to duel anymore, but I miss her. And…she reminds me of daddy…" Lori said sadly, hoping her mom wouldn't get mad at her.
Lauren looked down at her daughter before looking at her cards on the floor. Specifically, the ritual monster that had been based on her idol persona. She grabbed the card and looked at it sadly, then she moved some of Lori's hair away from her face making Lori look up at her.
"I'm sorry honey. I didn't know you felt that way." She said with a sad smile. "I've been ignoring my cards because they remind me of your dad too much, and it hurts me to be reminded of him." Lauren said with her eyes tearing up. "But I didn't think that maybe it was different for you." She said with a shaky voice. Lauren took the ritual monster in her hand and placed it in Lori's hand. "I can't be with the cards, not anymore. But you can." She said with some tears falling down her face. "This card…All these cards belong to you now. You need to take care of them though and give them the duels that I no longer can. Promise me." She finished while sticking her pinky out to her daughter.
Lori looked at the monster in her hand, before looking at her mom with tears running down her face too and put her pinky out and wrapped it around her mom's. "I-I promise. I'll give them the best duels ever." She said sincerely. Lauren smiled before hugging her daughter tightly. The two would stay like that for minutes, crying in each other's arms.
... [Present Day]
Yuuchi looked at his friend sadly as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "Anyway. Since that day, I've used this deck for every duel I've had." She pulled out Amber from the deck and smiled at it. "Even though we haven't won every time, I'd like to think that I've given them many fun duels, and hopefully even more to come." She said while smiling at the card. "I don't think they're holding me back at all. In a way, it feels like I have my dad with me, supporting me, like he always did."
Yuuchi quietly reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I-I'm sorry for making you think back about sad memories" When Lori looked at him, he blushed before awkwardly patting her shoulder and moving his hand back. "S-sorry. I'm not good at comforting people." He said meekly. Lori just giggled at the boy before shaking her head. "It's ok, these aren't all sad memories. Besides, it's all in the past. I'm at my dream school, I get to have fun duels every day, and I have two good friends." She said with a small smile as she put her deck away. "What else could I ask for?"
Yuuchi gave her a small smile. "S-still though. If you need anything, just let me know, and I'm sure Yuni would do anything to help you too." He said softly before frowning and looking down at his hands. "I know what losing someone close to you feels like, and I hate thinking about it. I don't wish it on anyone, especially…. A f-friend."
Lori looked at him before leaning in and wrapping an arm around him. "Thanks, Yuyuuchi, I really appreciate it. And if you need anything or just want to vent, you can always come to me." She said with a smile.
Yuuchi blushed from the girl being so close to him. "T-thanks…and my name's not Yuyuuchi." He told her nervously. Lori just blinked at him blankly before nodding. "Yeah, I know." She said plainly. Yuuchi looked at her, with "confused" written all over his face. "Huh?"
"Your name, I know it's not Yuyuuchi. Did you think I did?" She asked while tilting her head to the side a little. Yuuchi's face changed from confused to shocked. "Y-yeah. That's all you ever called me." He said. Lori just shook her head at him and smiled. "Yeah, but did you think I just didn't hear Yuni when she called your name? Or anyone else for that matter?" She asked the boy who just nodded quickly.
Lori laughed at this before playfully hitting his shoulder. "It's a nickname, YUUCHI. It's what people give their friends." She told him. "But I can give you a different one if you don't like Yuyuuchi. Hmm, how about…. Silent Swordsman?" She asked playfully.
Yuuchi looked at her oddly and shook his head. "No."
"Ok, Ok. How about…. Hush?"
"No."
"Amethyst?"
"What? No."
"Alright how about, and really think about it…. Yuyu?" She asked.
Yuuchi was silent for a while before sighing. "...Yuyu is fine." He relented.
Lori leaned in even closer to Yuuchi as she wrapped him in a one-armed hug. "Yay! Yuyu it is." She cheered as Yuuchi's blush got bigger.
"Alright then!" Lori said as she stood up and stretched. "I'm gonna chill until Yuni's back from her club, and the torturous studying begins." She said while shivering at the end. She turned to Yuuchi who was still sitting. "I hope you have a nice time relaxing Yuyu. I'll see you tomorrow!" She said, giving him a big smile and a wave, before heading down the stage and towards the exit.
"Yeah, see you tomorrow." He said with a small wave. As he waved at her, a figure appeared next to him.
"You have made a great friend, young master." The transparent figure said. Yuuchi didn't need to look at the figure, he knew it was the spirit of his Grandmaster of the Six Samurai card. He nodded at the spirit's words. "Yeah. I have." He said as he watched the girl walking down the tunnel, and the transparent blue haired girl walking next to her. Yuuchi then decided to stand up and quickly head out of the arena.
While leaving, he didn't see the person at the top of the stands walking away, having seen the last half of their duel and heard everything said after it.
... [Slifer Red Dorm, 7:15]
Yuni was now outside of the girl's side of the Slifer dorm, having just left the botanical club a couple of minutes ago. It had gone smoothly, or as smooth as it could've gone with Ariel doing her best to hinder her in the most inconspicuous way she could. She sighed from exhaustion as she walked up the stairs towards her friend's room. Once getting to the door, she knocked before entering the room. What she saw was Lori at her small desk looking hard at her notebook, but what surprised Yuni more was the sight of Yuuchi sitting next to her.
"You declare an attack against your opponent, chain one is Fairy Box, chain two is Mystical Space Typhoon targeting the Fairy Box. What happens?" Yuuchi asked Lori while holding a packet.
Lori put a hand to her head as she thought hard on the question. "Um…Fairy Box gets destroyed first, but its effect still goes off?" She asked, unsure of her answer.
"Incorrect. The effect will not go off." Yuuchi said simply while checking something off on his packet.
"What?! But you said Mystical Space Typhoon doesn't negate cards!" She said, pointing a finger at the boy's calm face.
"It doesn't, but since Fairy Box is a continuous trap its effect won't go through if it leaves the field." He said calmly while Lori just grabbed her hair in frustration. "Uuuugh! This doesn't even make sense!" She yelled before seeing Yuni standing in her doorway. "Yuni! Thank goodness!" She said as she stood up and ran to her friend, hugging her once she reached her. "Yuyu's being mean to me!" She said while pointing at the boy who still looked calm but with a small smile on his face. "I'm just being a fair teacher." He said.
Lori turned to Yuni. "Don't listen to him. You believe me, your best friend in the whole world, right?" She asked while giving the girl her best puppy dog eyes.
Yuni just laughed at her friend's antics, happy to see that the two were closer than before. "Of course I will. Come on, I'm supposed to help you study too." She said as she closed the door behind her.
End of Chapter 4.
Author's Notes:
1) I think this was a good chapter (Not to toot my own horn). I wanted to bring Lori and Yuuchi closer since I made it to where he seems a little more like a distant friend to Yuni and Lori, instead of a close one, like Yuni and Lori's friendship.
2) We finally see Yuuchi's deck and it's Six Samurai! This was actually the first Yugioh deck I got, though it was the structure deck with the new XYZ monster.
3) Speaking of Yuuchi, we also learn a little more about him. We learn about a brother, and that he can see duel spirits.
4) Next chapter will be the exams where students have a chance to be promoted to a higher rank. The exams will be at least 2 chapters long, maybe 3 if I want to stick with one duel per chapter.
If you have any questions or constructive criticism, leave a comment. Thanks for reading.