Chapter 10

I Will be Ready

"Talking"

'Thinking'

Loud Noises!

Card Names/Info

[Ra Dorm, Duel Academy, 9:30 A.M.]

Bang Bang Bang Bang

"Open up!"

Yuni was startled awake by the sound of someone banging on her door. She leaned up and yawned as whoever was at the door banged on it again. Yuni groaned in annoyance as she dragged herself out of bed and went to her door.

Yuni unlocked her door and opened it, being greeted by the sight of several teenagers wearing dark green versions of the school jacket and matching berets. Leading the front was a very tall girl with short, wavy dark brown hair.

"Yuni Nero, I presume?" The girl asked with a serious tone.

Yuni rubbed her tired eyes. "Yeah. How can I help you?"

"You can help me by coming with us, as you're under campus arrest. You'll have a chance to explain things in detail at the interrogation." The girl said as she put a hand on Yuni's shoulder and gently pulled her out of her room.

Yuni looked at her shocked and confused at what she said. "Huh?"

...

[Disciplinary Interrogation Room, Duel Academy, 10:05 A.M.]

Yuni was currently still in her pajamas, standing under a spotlight in a dark circular room. With her under the spotlight were Yuuchi, Jaden, and Syrus all looking tired, especially Yuuchi who still had a case of bed head. Surrounding the group was a set of 4 large TVs with the faces of staff on them, including Sheppard and Professor Crowler, along with Cassidy, the disciplinary girl who arrested them all.

The four had learned that they were arrested for being at the abandoned dorm, which the staff had learned about from an anonymous letter from a faculty member. Though shocked at learning this, they all explained themselves and the events that took place last night, including how Alexis was in trouble. After hearing all the information, the three staff members and disciplinary leader started talking about punishments for them.

"I would like to suggest a two-week suspension." Cassidy said while looking at the four with her arms crossed. "This will be to set an example for all other students who think about trespassing to the abandoned dorm."

Yuni frowned. 'What's with disciplinary committee leaders taking their job so seriously? They all act like they're in the JSF.' She wondered as her mind thought back to a tonfa wielding boy she had met for a short time.

Crowler then spoke up. "But what kind of example are we setting? That we're a bunch of hard-hearted tyrants?" He asked with a smirk. "I say we arrange something more sporting." He said, making the students curious at what he meant.

"Yuni Nero and Yuuchi." He said looking down at them. "The two of you will team up for a tag duel. Win, and you're fine, but if you lose, you're both suspended. What do you think?" He explained to the two.

Yuni and Yuuchi both took a moment to think before looking at each other. The two shared a look and then silently nodded at each other.

"We accept." They both said while looking at Crowler.

"Splendid." He said with a wide smile before turning to Jaden and Syrus with a frown. "But you two are Slifer slackers, unlike Yuni who's in Ra and Yuuchi who's an Obelisk student. So, here's your offer. You two will also team up for a tag duel, but if you lose, then you're both expelled." He told them.

Syrus started to worry over the condition of them losing, but Jaden was happy to accept it and reassured Syrus.

"Chancellor? I believe they have accepted the conditions." Crowler said.

Sheppard nodded. "Fine, then I'll arrange some opponents."

Crowler sweated a bit at that. "Oh, now, Chancellor. Don't you fret about that. I'll take care of all the particulars for the event." Crowler said with a smirk. "Now you four, get to class!" He said to the students who turned and left the room.

...

"So, you guys actually went to the abandoned dorm?" Lori asked Yuni. It was the last class of the day and there were already rumors spreading about how some students had gotten in big trouble. Lori had eventually found out who the rumors were about because of a panicking Syrus. She had confronted Yuni moments ago about it and was told about them being caught the previous night.

Yuni nodded and sighed. "Yuuchi went there with Jaden, Syrus, and Chumley, then I went to go get them." She told her friend. She purposely omitted the fact that her pacifier is what led her there and that it has generated flames to help out Jaden due to them being in class. Plus, she needed a little more time to think about if she wanted to tell her friends the truth about her past life or not.

Lori shook her head at the girl. "For shame Yuni." She then turned around and looked up at Yuuchi. "And shame on you too Yuyu." She said, to which the boy rolled his eyes. "Though, I am curious as to who was the staff member who saw you guys. Maybe it was Professor Banner?" She wondered. Shortly after the class ended and the group of friends were on their way out of the classroom.

"Ms. Nero, Mr. Yuuchi. May I have a word with you two." Professor Sartyr called out from his desk. The two looked at each other curiously before walking over to the man with Lori right behind them.

"The news of you two and the other two students' little field trip to the abandoned dorm is spreading quickly." He said while putting some papers away. "I'm not going to scold you as I'm sure you have been already. I just wanted to let you know about something interesting I've heard regarding your tag duel coming up." Yuni and Yuuchi glanced at each other curiously before looking back at the teacher.

"What is it sir?" Yuuchi asked the man.

"Well, you see…" He put his arms on the table and leaned in. "Professor Crowler has been doing his usual mutterings of his thoughts, and I caught something interesting. I believe he mentioned something about getting professional duelists for the matches, so I thought I would let you two know so you could properly prepare for it." Sartyr said while giving his students a small smile.

Both Yuni and Yuuchi were surprised at hearing how Crowler was getting pros just for these matches. "Thank you for letting us know. I guess Crowler is really upset with us." Yuuchi said while bringing his hand to his chin. 'My dueling skills are good, but could I beat a pro? Let alone two of them?' He thought worriedly. 'This is gonna be tough.'

Yuni on the other hand had different thoughts going through her mind.

'We'll be dueling pros…this is great! If I win, maybe the pros will be impressed and could put in a recommendation for me, and I could get started on my pro career early!' She thought with a smile creeping up on her face as she thought about facing her mom as a pro duelist in a big arena. 'Maybe this could promote me to Obelisk Blue too, and that could also get me closer to my goal! We have to win this!' She thought determinedly.

"We really appreciate it, Professor. Come on Yuuchi!" Yuni said while grabbing the boy's arm and rushing out of the room with Lori quickly following them.

"W-wait. Where are we going?" Yuuchi asked while being dragged down the hallway.

"To train!" Yuni said without looking back.

The trio were soon in the duel arena, with Yuni standing across from Yuuchi and Lori watching the two from the stands.

Yuni had a serious look on her face as she readied her duel disk. "Alright Yuuchi. Don't hold back on me here." She told him as she placed her deck into her disk and turned it on. "We're going to be dueling professionals, so we need to be ready."

Yuuchi felt a little nervous at seeing the usually calm girl looking so serious but quickly recovered and had the determined look he got whenever it was time for him to duel. "Got it." He said simply as he synced his duel disk up with hers.

"Duel!" They shouted.

"I'll go first!" Yuni said as she drew her sixth card and looked at her hand.

Bountiful Artemis

Rainbow Maker Red

Rainbow Kingdom

Rainbow Maker Indigo

Spirits Fusion

Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen

"I'll start by activating my field spell Rainbow Kingdom." She said as she played her card, turning the arena to a cloudy sky with a castle off in the distance. "And then I'll activate the continuous spell Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen." She said as she placed her new spell into a slot.

Marble pillars rose from the clouds around them with red curtains hanging on them and a marble throne rose behind Yuni.

"This spell allows me to special summon one fairy type monster from my hand, but I can only do it if I control no monsters." Yuni explained to Yuuchi. "So, I'll use its effect now to special summon Rainbow Maker Red." She said as she placed down her monster.

A brown-haired boy wearing a red jacket dropped down onto the field with his hands glowing a light shade of red as he smirked at Yuuchi.

Light | Fairy | Lvl 4 | ATK: 1600 | DEF: 1000

"And summoning him puts a rainbow counter on my field spell." Yuni said as a rainbow materialized in the distance next to the castle. "Now I'll normal summon my Rainbow Maker Indigo in attack mode!" Yuni placed down her second monster, making an indigo haired girl wearing a kimono to float down next to Red who smiled at her.

Light | Fairy | Lvl 4 | ATK: 1800 | DEF: 1100

"Now I'll have two rainbow counters on my field spell, and remember, my Rainbow Maker monsters gain 100 attack for each one on it." She said as another rainbow appeared and her monsters' different colored auras grew.

"I'll set one card face down and end my turn there." Yuni said as she set her trap.

Yuuchi nodded and drew for his turn. 'Man... She's really going hard from the start huh.' He thought as he looked at his hand which only had one monster in it. 'I guess it could be worse.' He mentally sighed before beginning his turn.

"I'll activate my own continuous spell, Six Samurai United." He said as the spell card appeared on the field. "Then I'll summon Shien's Foot soldier in defense mode." A small, long faced monkey wearing armor and holding a spear jumped onto the field, holding his weapon in front of him defensively.

Earth | Warrior | Lvl 2 | ATK: 700 | DEF: 300

"Then I'll set two facedowns and end my turn there." Yuuchi said as two cards appeared on either side of his spell card.

Lori let out a whine of disappointment at this. "Come on Yuyu! You gotta do more than that! Fight back!" She called out to the boy who sighed.

"I couldn't if I wanted to." He muttered.

Yuni drew her next card which was Rainbow Standoff and looked at Yuuchi's board. 'Alright, time to keep up the pressure.'

"I summon Bountiful Artemis in attack mode!" She said as the tall metallic angel flew down next to the other two monsters.

Light | Fairy | Lvl 4 | ATK: 1600 | DEF: 1700

"Now I'll go to my battle phase and attack your Foot Soldier with Artemis!" She said as her monster swiped its sharp wing at the monkey. The small mammal eeped in pain as it was destroyed.

"Since Shien's Foot Soldier was destroyed, his effect activates, which lets me special summon one level 3 or lower Six Samurai monster from my deck." Yuuchi says as he looks through his deck for a monster. "I'll choose to summon my Hand of the Six Samurai" He decided as the cloaked woman rose from a Six Samurai symbol that appeared on the clouds.

Fire | Warrior | Lvl 3 | ATK: 1600 | DEF: 1000

"This also puts a bushido counter on my spell card." He said as a symbol appeared under the card.

"Then I'll attack her with Rainbow Maker Red!" Yuni said as her monster's hands glowed bright red before he fired a beam at the woman, destroying her and dealing 200 damage to Yuuchi. "And now Indigo will attack you directly!" She said.

Right as Indigo was raising her arm to send a wave of energy at Yuuchi, he flipped up one of his set cards. "I activate the trap Sakuretsu Armor! So now I can target and destroy your Indigo." He explained as the gray armor emerged from the card and slashed at the girl, destroying her before she could get her attack off.

Yuni frowned and ended her battle phase to set the trap she had drawn and then ended her turn.

Yuuchi drew a card and immediately played it. "I activate Premature Burial. I pay 800 life points to bring back a monster from my grave and equip it with this card. So I'll bring back my Hand of the Six Samurai." He said as the woman appeared on the field again.

A second symbol appeared under his continuous spell once the monster had come back. "Now, I'll send my Six Samurai United spell to the graveyard to draw two more cards." He said as he drew twice. "Now I'll normal summon Marauding Captain in attack mode." The blonde knight dual wielding swords stood next to the cloaked woman, brandishing his weapons at the enemies across from him.

Earth | Warrior | Lvl 3 | ATK: 1200 | DEF: 400

"When he's normal summoned I can activate his effect, which allows me to special summon another warrior monster from my hand. So I'm summoning The Six Samurai - Yariza." Yuuchi said as he summoned the samurai who wore blue glowing armor.

Earth | Warrior | Lvl 3 | ATK: 1000 | DEF: 500

"And to give them a boost, I'll activate the continuous spell The A. Forces. So now all warrior monsters I control gain 200 more attack for each warrior monster I control." Yuuchi explained while playing his card. All three of his monsters glowed blue and gained 600 more attack points.

"Alright, now I'll attack you with Yariza, and since I control another Six Samurai monster, he can attack you directly!" Yuuchi said while pointing at Yuni. The samurai ran past the girl's monsters and went to thrust his energy spear at Yuni's stomach.

"No you won't! Because I activate my trap card Rainbow Standoff!" Yuni interrupted. "This negates your attack, and then forces your strongest monster to attack my strongest rainbow maker monster."

Yariza's attack was then blocked by an energy force field which knocked him back. Shortly after, Hand of the Six Samurai turned to Rainbow Maker Red and the two ran at each other to battle. Red tried to blast the girl with his beam of energy like before, but the lady dodged the attack and sliced his chest with her hidden blade, destroying him.

Yuni grunted as she lost 400 life points from the attack.

Yuuchi frowned but then looked over at his Marauding Captain. "You stopped that attack, but he can still attack your Bountiful Artemis. Go Marauding Captain. Marauders Slice!" He said while pointing at Yuni's monster.

The captain ran at the robot and with two quick movements sliced off its wings before swinging both swords to cut it in half. Yuni's life points went down to 3400.

"Now I'll set one card face down and end my turn." Yuuchi finished as a card appeared in his back row.

"Alright then, I draw!" Yuni said as she looked at the only card in her hand and played it. "And I'll use Pot of Greed to draw two more cards." She drew two more times and smiled. "Now, since I have no monsters on the field, I can use my Valhalla spell to special summon a fairy monster from my hand." She said while grabbing one of the cards in her hand. "So I summon Rainbow Maker Blue!" She shouted.

A blue haired girl glided across the clouds and stopped in front of Yuni while smiling at Yuuchi. A third rainbow appeared in the sky as the field spell gained another counter.

Light | Fairy | Lvl 3 | ATK: 1300 | DEF: 1500

"But she won't be staying for long." Yuni said as she held the other card she drew. "Because I'll be tributing her to normal summon Airknight Parshath!" She said as Blue went to the graveyard and a tall angelic centaur holding a sword in one hand and a shield in another.

Light | Fairy | Lvl 5 | ATK: 1900 | DEF: 1400

"And now that Blue is in the graveyard, I can activate my trap card Spirits Fusion." Yuni said while flipping up her set card. "By paying 1000 life points I can fusion summon a monster by banishing its materials from my graveyard." She explained as her life points went down to 2400. "So I banish Rainbow Maker Red and Rainbow Maker Blue to fusion summon-"

The two monsters appeared on the field before jumping into the air to merge together, turning into a big purple ball which soon broke apart, revealing a purple haired man wearing a kimono.

"Rainbow Maker Violet!" Yuni shouted as the monster dropped down onto the cloud with his purple aura radiating off of his body. A fourth rainbow appeared in the sky around them as another counter was placed on the field spell.

Light | Fairy | Lvl 7 | ATK: 2600 | DEF: 1800

"Because he was summoned by my trap card he'll be destroyed during the end phase, but I can still use his effect!" Yuni said before Violet raised his hands, conjuring violet energy bubbles around him. One of the bubbles floated over to Yuni who popped it, revealing a card that was inside it. "Which I'm using to add Rainbow Reach to my hand." She said while showing the card to Yuuchi.

"And since my field spell has four counters on it, Violet gains 400 more attack points!" She pointed out as the man's aura grew bigger. "And I'll put them to good use. But first, Parshath! Attack his Marauding Captain. Holy Slash!" She yelled.

The tall centaur galloped over to the knight who raised his swords to block to no avail as the taller knight's sword cut through his and his armor, destroying him in the process.

Yuuchi grunted as his life points went down to 2900.

"Since Parshath inflicted damage to you, her effect allows me to draw a card." Yuni said as she drew a card. "And now your monsters lose 200 attack because of your spell card. Now Violet, attack Hand of the Six Samurai! Ultraviolet Blast!"

The man ran at the woman who tried to cut him with her blade but was instead hit with a purple orb of energy from the man's hand. She let out a scream of pain as she was destroyed by the orb, with the shockwave sending Yuuchi back a little as he lost 1000 putting him at 1900.

"Alright, now I'll activate the Rainbow Reach spell and use its effect to banish a Rainbow Maker Yellow from my deck." Yuni said while playing her card and then grabbing her monster from her deck to let it become a solid yellow rainbow above them. "Then I'll set one card and end my turn there." After saying that, Violet left the field by turning into violet bubbles which floated away in the direction of the castle in the distance.

Yuuchi placed his hand on the top of his deck and froze for a moment before drawing it. "Since I control a Six Samurai monster, I can special summon from my hand Grandmaster of the Six Samurai!" He said with a small smile.

A big symbol appeared on the cloud in front of him, and from it came the Grandmaster who unsheathed his sword and readied it.

Earth | Warrior | Lvl 5 | ATK: 2100 | DEF: 800

"And now I'll activate my trap card, Return of the Six Samurai to bring back Hand of the Six Samurai." Yuuchi said he summoned his monster for the third time. "And I'll use her effect, tributing Yariza to destroy your Airknight Parshath!" He announced while Yariza left the field in a yellow glow. The woman ran at the centaur and slashed at her legs, making Parshath scream before exploding.

"And both of my monsters are gaining 400 attack because of my A. Forces spell. Now go Grandmaster, attack her directly!" Yuuchi commanded his monster. Grandmaster moved across the field quickly, ready to slice Yuni and end the duel.

"Not yet you won't! I activate the trap Call of the Haunted and bring back my Rainbow Maker Violet from my graveyard!" Yuni said before the attack could land. A purple orb dropped down in front of her before dispersing to reveal Violet with his hands glowing, ready to defend Yuni.

"Grandmaster stop!" Yuuchi shouted to the man who came to a halt in front of Violet before jumping back to his master's side of the field. Yuni smirked at this as another rainbow emerged in the sky, putting Violet at 3100 attack points.

Yuuchi sighed in annoyance. "Well since Hand will be going to the grave during my end phase, I might as well use this now." He said while flipping up his last set card. "I activate Cunning of the Six Samurai. So I'll send her to the graveyard to special summon Six Samurai Yariza back to the field." The blue armored man returned to the field as the woman was sent back to the graveyard.

"And since I control Grandmaster, Yariza can attack you directly." He said as the man jumped over Violet and swung his spear down at Yuni, sending a long gash down her chest.

"Aahh!" She shouted as she was dealt 1400 damage putting her down to 1000.

"With that I'll end my turn." Yuuchi said as Yariza ran back to his field to stand next to the elderly samurai.

Yuni recovered from the attack that had happened and drew her next card but didn't pay it any mind. "Looks like this is it Yuuchi. I'll now use the effect of Rainbow Kingdom!" Yuni announced as she raised her hand, pointing at a rainbow above her.

"It has another effect!?" Yuuchi asked, shockingly. He looked around and noticed how all the rainbows in the sky started to glow before disappearing one by one.

Yuni smiled widely at him. "It does! If it has at least four rainbow counters on it, I can remove all of its counters to use one of two different effects!" She said as the fifth and final rainbow disappeared. "And the effect I'm using is to make all monsters you control have 0 attack for the rest of the turn!" She announced while pointing at his monsters.

Yuuchi could only watch as his samurais suddenly had auras that turned the colors of the rainbow around their bodies, lowering their attack to 0.

"This means that my Rainbow Maker monsters don't get an attack boost anymore, but it doesn't matter now! End this duel Violet! Attack the Grandmaster!" Yuni yelled.

The rainbow maker charged at the elderly man while charging up an violet energy orb in his hand. Once dodging a slash that the samurai did, he pushed the orb into the man's chest launching him into the air before he was destroyed in a big violet explosion.

Yuuchi groaned in pain as the explosion reached him, dropping his life points to 0.

"Yes!" Yuni cheered happily as all the cards on the field disappeared. "Good game Yuuchi." She said to her friend who was dusting off his jacket.

"Yeah, it was a good game" He said with a small smile.

"Alright then, let's go again!" Yuni said while turning her duel disk back on.

"W-wait what? Already? We just battled" Yuuchi said, confused by the girl's demand.

Yuni shook her head. "We're gonna be dueling PROS Yuuchi. It's gonna take more than one duel to prepare for them. We're going to need to know our decks like the back of our hands to be able to compete with them!" Yuni said while clenching her fist. "And since we're going to be on the same team, we need to understand each other's cards and come up with plans and synergies as well!" She pointed out.

Yuuchi, who was still a little put off by the girl's fiery attitude just nodded his head and turned his duel disk back on.

The following hours were spent with Yuni dueling Yuuchi and Lori until it was time for the arena to be closed.

...

[Cafeteria, Duel Academy, 12:30 P.M]

Yuuchi laid his head on the table and sighed loudly. "I'm so tired of training." He said.

Lori who was sitting next to him rubbed his back soothingly. "Yeah, me too. But at least we can chill for today." She said happily.

Right after saying that, Yuni walked into the cafeteria and immediately saw the two at the table.

"Uh oh.." Lori said as she watched her friend move her way over to them.

"Hey guys! Getting some food before we get some more training in?" Yuni asked the two who groaned at hearing this.

Yuuchi, while keeping his head down, looked up at her. "Yuni, you know I like a duel as much as the next person, but we've been dueling hundreds of times for five days straight." His voice told them just how tired he was. "I know what my deck does, I got to learn all of your cards, and we got to make some strategies. What I have to get now is a good night's rest."

Lori nodded at the boy's words. "He's right, Yuni. I enjoy helping you guys train, but even I'm getting tired of the late nights." She said before moving her hand to her face. "You know I need my beauty sleep. And from the look of it, you need some too." She pointed at the small bags forming under Yuni's eyes.

Yuni waved this off. "I'm fine though. I just want to be ready for the duel and to do that, I need to train."

"Y-yuni.." Yuuchi tried to get a word in.

"I mean we only have two fully thought-out strategies, so there's room for improvement."

"Yuni..."

"This is a big deal, not just anyone gets the chance to duel against a pro! We got to make the most of it!"

"YUNI!"

The girl flinched at hearing Yuuchi yell at her and seeing his hardened look. Yuuchi's face soon softened as he looked down at the table. "I-I'm sorry for yelling like that... But you need to calm down." He said softly, not looking up at her. Lori saw this and decided to jump in.

"Y-yeah, even if you lose, you'll only be suspended for a while. It's Jaden and Syrus that really need to worry." She said while thinking about how worried Syrus has been lately. "The duel is in two days, so both you and Yuyu are going to relax until then. You have done enough training, what you need now is rest. Ok?" She said sternly.

Yuni was quiet for a while before slowly nodding. "Ok…"

Lori gave her a small smile and a comforting pat on the shoulder as she and Yuuchi walked out of the cafeteria. Yuni silently watched them leave with a frown on her face before turning around to get some lunch.

...

"Mom! Are you home?!" Yuni shouted as she closed the front door behind her. She placed her small bag down on a counter and then took her shoes off before walking down the small hallway that led to the living room. "Mom?!" She called again while looking at the empty living room. Yuni hummed in confusion and went to the kitchen to see if her mom was there, only to find it empty as well.

"Where is she?" She wondered out loud before heading to the staircase. She moved her way up, but halfway up the staircase, she noticed an ominous red glow coming from the second floor. She stopped for a moment before slowly making her way up the rest of the stairs. Each step she took made her chest tighten and made her body feel heavier. Finally, she had reached the top and noticed that the red glow was emanating from her mother's bedroom. Yuni felt her breath hitch in her throat as she moved towards the slightly ajar door.

Yuni's body felt as if it was dragging anchors once she had reached the door. The tightness in her chest felt as if someone had their crushing grip around her. She started to breathe a little heavy as she pushed the door open to see what was inside.

"Mom?" She called out hesitantly while looking inside her mother's room. Everything was where it always was, but everything in the room was bathed in a red glow, making the room feel like something out of a horror movie. Suddenly, several coughs rang out and the bedroom changed to match it. Each time there was a cough, the room got bigger, with the walls and everything against them getting pushed back, leaving just the queen sized bed to stay put in the middle of the room.

Yuni inched her way over to the bed where the coughs were coming from, and soon realized that it was her mother Aria who was the source of them.

The older woman looked weak and thin, as if she hadn't been eating for days. Her blue eyes were clouded as if she was losing her sight, and her normally black hair had become grayer.

"Mom!" Yuni screamed as she knelt down next to the bed and grabbed her mom's skinny hand. "What's wrong? What happened?" Her voice held a mixture of confusion and fear.

Aria moved her head to look at Yuni and gave her a thin smile. "I'm sorry honey, but I won't be able to see you become the great woman I know you'll become…" Her voice was hoarse as she spoke to Yuni. Both mother and daughter had tears welling up.

"What?.. No, come on! You can't die!" Yuni cried as she gripped her mother's hand tightly with both of hers. "..Not again…" Her tears were starting to drop onto the bed as she pleaded and begged to any God to let her mom live.

Aria moved her other hand to Yuni's face and rubbed it soothingly. "Shhh..It's ok.." She said as she let out some coughs. "I know that you'll be a great duelist." She said before moving her hand down to Yuni's chest. "And an even better boss…"

Yuni raised her head to look at her mother, confused by what she just said, before a painful heat hit her in her chest where her mom's hand was. She flinched back and screamed from the pain, and when she looked down, she saw her orange Arcobaleno pacifier sticking halfway into her chest with her sky flames flickering inside it erratically.

"N-no…" She looked back up at her mom, only to see Aria lying still with her eyes closed. "No!" She screamed as she held her head in her hands. She started to hyperventilate as her chest felt tighter than before. The walls of the room started to close in on her, making her panic even more. As the walls got closer and closer, Yuni looked haphazardly around the room for a way out, before clinging to her mother's limp body for comfort.

Yuni then heard a creaking sound and turned her head over to the now closing door. However, the door wasn't closing on its own. Standing there was a tall figure slowly pulling the door closed.

"W-wait." She muttered to the figure who seemed to ignore this. She caught a glimpse of its purple eyes before the door closed completely. Yuni only had a moment to question this before the walls had completely closed in on her.

...

Yuni shot up from her bed with a scream. She wiped the sweat from her forehead with a shaky hand as she tried to catch her breath. She looked at her alarm clock on the dresser to see that it was only 4 P.M.

After eating lunch by herself, Yuni returned to her dorm room to try to relax, which was harder than said than done. For two hours she just laid on her bed staring at the ceiling, until finally falling asleep. Though that obviously didn't work out, as she was only able to sleep for an hour before a nightmare forced her to wake up.

Yuni got out of bed and went to the dorm's bathroom to splash some water on her face. After drying her face, she looked down at her hands that still shook a little.

'That was the worst one yet.' She thought as she looked up at her reflection in the mirror. 'I guess taking a nap to relax is out of the question.' She ran her hand softly on the bags under her eyes. Constant weird and bad dreams like the one she just had were the reason why she hadn't been able to get any good sleep these past five nights. Yuni sighed as trekked back to her room while thinking about her friends.

'They don't get it. I have to do great at this duel.' She thought sadly. 'I've read several articles and heard stories from people about how they or other people were able to get to the professional world just by showing their skills to other pros.' Yuni walked into her room and sat at the small desk next to her dresser. 'I need to make sure I impress them enough to get where mom is at.' She clenched her fist as she pulled out her laptop from her school bag. 'And not just me. This could be a big opportunity for Yuuchi too! But I guess he doesn't realize it..' Once her laptop was booted up, she went on to a public database where she could see all the professional duelists in Japan. 'Well, since they don't want to train I'll just do some research.' So for the rest of the day, Yuni spent her time going through the database filled with thousands of pros and learning about them and what decks they use. She wanted to make sure that no matter who Crowler invited, she'd be ready. This research led her to stay up late into the night, and bled into the next day.

Once she woke up the day before the duel, she spent the whole day doing the exact same thing again. The only time she would stop was for when she went to eat, use the bathroom, get some card packs from the store, or practice her draws with her deck. It was only at 3 A.M. when she finally fell asleep sitting at her desk with her head on the table and her deck and new cards laying around her disorganized.

Shortly after she had fallen asleep, her pacifier, which she hadn't taken off, was on the table and started to glow in a flashing pattern. The charm was laying on top of Yuni's extra deck as it started to emanate sky flames, which then spread to the cards under it. It continued to glow for a couple of seconds before the flames died out.

End of Chapter 10.

Author's Notes:

1) Sorry there was no chapter last week. I slightly changed the plans for some of the following chapters, so I needed time to figure out how I was gonna write this one (Shoutout to my gf who helped me with this). Also, the new Call of Duty open beta was last weekend, and I really wanted to play that.

2) Anyway though, it looks like our characters got caught and now need to be punished. In the anime we see Jaden and Syrus get "arrested" so I kept that but gave Yuni and Yuuchi an suspended punishment since Crowler specifically hates Slifer students and Jaden more so.

3) Just like with Jaden and Syrus, who have to duel Para and Dox, Yuni and Yuuchi will have a tag duel with 2 pros as well. But who shall they be?

4) We see a new fired up(?) side to Yuni, but it seems that she's taking things too far. I had always planned to do something with Yuni, but felt like the small moments I made to hint at it were a little to small, so now we have this chapter where we see it more on display. Maybe you can figure out what I'm trying to do.

5) Yuni's pacifier seemed to have been doing something at the end, but what did it do? I think what I have planned is really cool and kinda makes sense, but also kinda does what the anime does sometimes. I'll explain that more later.

6) Next chapter will be the duel, but it's most likely going to be a while before it comes out, because while I use Duelingbook to play out the duels we've had so far, playing out a tag duel is probably going to be harder, and I need to figure out how I'm going to do to do it for a 2v2 duel.

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