Review Hell Corner:
Rodvek97: Thanks for reading~! It's a start that's for sure. A card that works with his deck that's all I'll say.
Anthony Galupo: Get utopia'd lol.
magostera: It is what it is, he did do good with the cards he had on hand. The Numbers quest! No spirit shenanigans anytime soon but there is indeed a timer that I'll probably lengthen yes. Well, you can try with the new Battlin' Boxer cards and see how they work? Or with Sharks because those also works.
Reaper36: It's Numbers Hunt! Rhongo would be something that's for sure.
VGBlackwing: Really should have gotten a better Rank 9 option or search target, but then again, anime cards. But investing in battle traps would be… a choice. Moon would definitely be better though.
UnevenerGgc2: Thanks~! It's progress for the main plot that's for sure, who knows where the real Utopia is. Over hundreds would definitely be wild, especially 101 since its the best removal at its release, and probably in Arc-V too, Numeronius is just... yeah. ZEXAL is a series of all time, that's all I'll say about it lmao. Thanks~! Here's the next one~!
Pjo crossovers: Yep, that's what I'm going with. Snorts, you say as if they won't overcome those with the power of friendship. I mean, technically she can, but he seems to be doing well by himself so far, don't know about when that hits though.
Kiri32900: Thanks~! Had to put a lot of thoughts on how I was going to be putting those in the main story, but I did get to it! Certainly a lot of options, but I've given a lot of clues so, figure it out!
Guest: Thanks~! Here's the next one~!
Victory3114: The Utopia Double OTK, classic going second Utopia move. I will probably not do it ever again since its very cheese with the 10k attack and all. Hm, certainly are pieces of cardboard, but which one of them are given I wonder? Honestly though about lengthening the time limit, and probably will, 2 weeks tops though. I mean, does it? Who knows. Thanks~! Sorry for the extremely late update, but here's the next one~!
Guest: Hey, she had to beat up someone. Thanks~!
Guest: Thanks~! It's Utopia Double, what do you expect really. References, the back bone of all fanfictions. Or is it? Who knows where 'anime' Utopia is. I don't know about throwing more legacy characters since I already put a lot of them in, but who knows what'll happen in the WDC? Oh you'll see the complete Utopia deck that's for sure, just no time soon.
Guest: He'll definitely get a rematch, that's for sure. Those are choices for characters that you want to see beaten by Utopia, the Rio one seems like the one with the lowest stakes, and with Yuto too to be honest depending on when and where they duel, but I'll think about it.
King Atem: She really is lmao.
Shadow Guest: F, had to put the Shark back in the tank for future beatings. It's a card that's for sure, certainly one that goes well with his deck. That would be… a strange duel if Yuuna was to use GE while Kaito uses Cipher. It'll honestly be a brick fest lmao.
demonic hellfire: I mean there's still a lot of anti fusion cards that doesn't have to be a deck, Anti-Spell Fragrance does it if you're running Fusion Spells, which a lot basically do since duh, Non-Fusion Area is also a more specific one, and don't get me started on D Barrier…
A Synchron Fan: You thought that it was going to be a Shark duel, but it was me! Kaito! Hey, its a generic Rank 8 that was released at the time! It was even in one of the Kaito Structure Decks for some reason, so. Yeah. Certainly an incredibly anime move, I would say that he would have gone better if he went second but… that's not really true. Definitely would have done the OTK regardless of what board Kaito put out. It really is just a set up chapter, plot relevant set ups and setting up stakes and all that. Well it's more filler for that calm before the storm so, yeah that's certainly one way to look for it. Sharks is a fun deck, even if its worse in MD since Toad got banned for Spright's sins, then again it's Tear format… See ya! Here's the next one!
Guest: Idk, probably not.
Peter Kim: Probably? Definitely a yes for Lightning since its, well, Lightning.
Anon: It's Ciphers! Again! They still suck even if they are fun! Honestly would have definitely changed the game, the decks neat going second but really can't play through much interaction, like most rogue decks really. Thanks~! Here's the next one~! Will definitely give Yuuna a non Utopia XYZ Deck.
Guest: Probably.
Guest: Given the new Evol support? Maybe.
Yugioh Guest: Probably not considering this is a whole different world from ZEXAL and all.
EXECZ: Definitely a certified ZEXAL moment. POLMAO a Master Duel moment for sure.
Guestspirit: Sometime soon, though not in the next few chapters sadly.
Guest: Uh, probably? She'll probably get better Dino cards though.
Guest: Probably, let me cook with it first.
Pyro777: Aw, thanks~! I really just didn't want to write another Fish duel, we've gotten enough of that already, but more correctly is that none of the cards in Shark's repertoire has the possibility of giving him a chance to win. Sure I can write something like Kragen in his extra and then he'll actually have interaction, but other than that? How is he outing like a 6k Pegasus equipped Leo Ray? Abyss Supra? 101? Just after a chapter where I wrote that his hidden ace is Shark Drake of all cards? So yes, a peaceful resolution, because otherwise Shark will die. Or at least something approximate to that in a card game world. And yes, focusing instead on Anna, because she's someone that he actually knows, and he knows is actually strong instead of the one that helps everyone else up. He's the mystery man, that's for sure. Two big questions, that's for sure, I was planning on just brushing up the basics but who knows? I'll keep the rating E for everyone so that's one thing, but if there's anything more it'll probably be platonic, or if there will be it'll be way down the line because romance is most certainly not in Yuuna's mind right now. The classic Double OTK, you hate to see it. Yep, that sums it up. I have a plan set up for that don't worry. MR's still a mix of 2 with the one field spell thing, but if anyone with Pends appear and duel, it'll instantly change to MR 3, because this is Arc-V and Pends are cheats. Because I've been writing too much Onomat cards and writing their names makes my brain hurst, and if you'll notice I'm doing a formula or basic/structure deck, rogue deck, meta deck, anime deck that I did in Fusion, only in the case of XYZ both structure and anime decks are the same, but we will eventually see the usual Utopia suspects when we get to them. Will probably do so, some splashes at least since I put that restriction and all. Will probably introduce them way down the line, probably as one offs but nothing anytime soon.
Guest: Ah, Zoo will definitely be a choice of a deck, but I think we'll play rogue for a bit more, something not Utopia I'll give you that.
Guest: Probably.
RandomDude: Oh I took a break alright, two months worth of doing uni things in fact.
Gamermisogi: Probably will lengthen the time limit because realized its too short. That would be funny though honestly, I'll think about it lmao. Who knows~?
Goddess Cure Mystic: It definitely will be. Anyway, filler time!
AnonymousPasserby: Probably just one of the Shop and the Anime versions, at least that's what I'm going with. I don't think that I'll write in another anime protag that isn't Yuya so… probably not. Same, barely remember the bare bones of the story since its ZEXAL. Don't know about getting the characters, but its going to be getting 99 Numbers speedrun so. Who knows about that too, haven't decided on that yet.
Guest: Polmao that would be funny.
Guest: Nope, just went on a long break.
Guest: Those are certainly decks from TOSS that you're recommending me lmao.
kingofbots: Its Tear, it's literally the best deck ever in the game. Very down the line. Well fish it is, very funny. And everything but the link and synchro deck has been meta lmao. Probably won't, but that would be funny. It updates whenever I get done writing it so, yeah, no clear schedule. Very sadge, but here's the next one~!
Guest: That would be something to see lmao, especially since these counterparts are technically 'stronger' in a sense
Guest: JOKES ON YOU THAT WAS JUST ME NOT UNDERSTANDING HOW TO DO AO3!
I own what I own.
Which apparently includes:
A Link that I have for some reason:
PandorasJailofCreativity/membership?view_as=patron
Discord Link that I have for some reason:
DnKrDCFY54
Twitter that I have for some reason:
mobile. / pandorajail
Shout out to Zeranion, Rairaku, pyro stick figure 76, WhataGreatNamelol and a special thanks to Wolfwoodrade and Sakuya who actually paid for , along with the people on the discord, absolute madlads.
Sorry for the very late update, burnout and uni is a thing, and doesn't help that I'm falling into a bunch of different fandom holes in SB lmao. By far, one of the most Arc-V and cheesiest duel I've written yet, by then again, it's the Sakaki's I'm writing here, had to be a good amount of cheese there.
Trading Game
39th Pack
Magician's Restage
"She's as excited as usual isn't she?" Ruri said with a giggle, holding a hand over her mouth to hide the smile that formed as she saw her lookalike walk up towards the stage, readying herself to face Sakaki-sensei.
"Well, she's been looking forward to this the whole day and all." Mei said as she stood beside her by the sidelines who, just like her, was looking towards the main stage. "I mean, it's only a few more days for the uh, World Duel Carnival after all. Serena really has been getting more and more excited with each passing day."
"Well I can certainly see that. And I guess that this duel with Sakaki-sensei is to gauge how strong the Heartland Academy students that she'll face in the tournament?" She asked cheekily as she gave the cap wearing girl a glance.
Mei on her part merely shrugged, having an amused smile that mirrored her own. "I would say that Serena thought that far ahead in preparing herself for the World Duel Carnival… But honestly, she's probably just interested in Sakaki-san's style of duel."
And once more, she giggled at her friend's honest comment. "That does seem more like her doesn't it? And for her to immediately challenge him for a duel of all things is quite the straightforward approach to see Sakaki-sensei entertainment dueling."
In response to her words, the purple cap wearing girl lets out a sigh as she shakes her head in exasperation. "Yeah. That's more or less right. Honestly Yuuna and I have been trying to teach her to be a little less blunt and more mindful of her actions. But as you can see, it hasn't really borne any fruit." She said as she waved a hand towards the ponytailed girl.
"Fufu, so it would seem." She giggled again as she could feel the smaller girl's exasperation at their friend's antics. Quite frankly, Mei was the more responsible of the duo that she and Serena made, not that 'being responsible' isn't that hard of a title to achieve when compared to Serena of all people.
The girl was, quite arguably, a trouble magnet. Though she has only hung out with them for several weeks, the amount of incidents that she, Yuuto, and Onii-sama have gotten into was quite numerous. Or, well, more numerous than they normally had been.
Be it their first meeting where Yuuto and Onii-sama mistook Serena as an imposter and they had to eventually settle things in a duel, introducing the two to Kaito-san also met the same response, though the duel that they had with him was more out of interest more than anything, and then there's simply the general daily ongoings that slowly blurred together.
And that's not even mentioning the numerous confrontations that the ponytailed girl had against Shark and his particular gang of misfits. Most of which ends in the indigo haired girl challenging them all to a duel, much to Mei's chagrin.
Though those particular mishaps usually also ended up with her being roped into dueling, even if she wasn't much of a duelist herself. She couldn't just let the others go off and duel them all by themselves after all.
But a particular part of the purple haired girl's statement interested her. So she turned her head towards the cap wearing girl as she once again spoke. "You mentioned a Yuuna also helping in trying to make Serna less blunt, do you mind if I ask who that person is?"
And the small purple haired girl winced under her gaze right as the words left her mouth, turning her glare sharply towards her in a manner that she thought not possible for the kind mannered girl, and instinctively took a step back in shock.
But she quickly recomposed herself, and backtracked. "Sorry! You don't have to answer that. I… apologise if I have touched a sore subject." She apologised as she raised both hand defensively.
The harsh glare from the purple haired girl then mellowed soon enough, and Mei lets out a sigh as she looked down towards the ground away from her. "No… I'm sorry. I probably shouldn't have reacted that harshly."
Silence befell the two of them as they looked away from one another, refusing to make eye contact between them. "She is… my sister." Mei said, low enough so that only they would hear, and she listened in silence.
"We were raised in the same orphanage. She… taught everything I know about dueling really. And she also taught Serena a lot too." Mei said, a faraway look in her eyes as she reminisced, a small smile warmed onto her face.
"I probably wouldn't have gotten this far if it wasn't for her… 'Going our separate paths' would be the best way to describe our situation." She said, once again falling into silence and letting the conversation end like that.
She definitely had touched a sore spot for the purple haired girl if her reaction to merely calling out that person's name was anything to see, especially considering that the person was apparently her estranged sister, or so she assumed was their situation.
And if just that managed to garner that much of a reaction from her, then surely prying off more information regarding this Yuuna person would surely get an even worse reaction out of her.
So she wouldn't.
Though Mei and Serena are indeed quite mysterious, she valued their friendship more than whatever secret they hold. Quite honestly she was glad that Mei had even answered her question.
"Oh, it's starting." The purple haired girl said, drawing her attention back to the main stage of the gymnasium where Sakaki-sensei walked towards, a hand on his trusty cane while the other sat on his top hat.
"Well then, I hope that I haven't made you wait too long?" The man said with an apologetic smile, quite sorry that he had to postpone the ponytailed girl's challenge as he had to care and answer his students.
Serena on her part, merely huffed. "Well it's fine. You did make me wait, but since you're a teacher that's fine! Let's just get on with it!" The indigo haired girl shouted aloud as she then brandished her left arm, her duel disk's duel blade manifesting as she prepared herself to duel.
"Haha. Indeed. I've already made you wait long enough. I'll be sure to give you a good showing of my Entertainment Duel." The man said with a wink, and with a flick of his wrist, he threw his cane upwards slightly, snatching it out of the air and placing it on the holster on his belt, all while he then activated his own duel disk, its golden yellow duel blade appearing from his left arm.
And with that, the duel began.
""DUEL!""
Sakaki Yusho: 4000LP
Serena: 4000LP
"I'll let you go first." Serena said as she allowed her opponent to go first, but more importantly setting herself to go second, something that her deck was more favourably aligned for according to what she heard from Mei.
"Then I shall graciously accept this chance, I shall go first!" Sakaki-sensei said with his signature smile, glancing down towards the five cards that he had in his hand as he began his turn.
"Then I shall start with normal summoning Performapal Flip Hippo!" He shouted as he played his first card of the duel, summoning forth a dark brown hippo with a jagged tail, a fancy black coat and top hat as its clothing, and a yellow thunder bolt marked on its forehead.
Performapal Flip Hippo - Earth/Beast/Level 3/Effect: 800/800
"Performapal?" Serena said out loud, the name of Sakaki-sensei' archetype rolling off her tongue as she narrowed her eyes towards the monster that her opponent had just summoned onto the field.
"Why yes, they are the partners. The crew that supports and helps me perform. My Entertainment Deck." The man explained with a soft smile, and he then waved his hand forward.
"Now then, Flip Hippo's effect!" He declared aloud. "When this card is normal summoned, I can special summon one 'Performapal' monster from my hand, with its effects negated until the end of this turn!" He explained the monster's effect.
Then in a dramatic showing, the lights of the gymnasium turned off, all but one that shone down on the dark brown hippo that stood on its hind legs on the field. It then pulled out a large curtain, one that he threw on the air as suspenseful drums played.
"Now, come to the stage! My partner in crime, Performapal Sky Magician!" And then the curtain was pulled down, revealing the grand monster that was none other than Sakaki-sensei's Ace Monster.
With a giant wing-like coat spanning over the monster, and four linked giant rings in hand, the elegant white Spellcaster monster graced the field as it floated right beside its summoner, its partner in crime.
Performapal Sky Magician - Wind/Spellcaster/Level 7/Effect: 2500/2000
Though they had already seen the monsters many times already, some of the students still looked towards Sakaki-sensei's monster with awe at its elegance, cheering loudly as they saw the monster descend.
While Serena on the other hand simply narrowed her eyes towards the monster that her opponent had summoned with caution.
"Now then, I will activate the Continuous Spell, Wonder Balloons!" The top hat wearing teacher declared, placing the card onto his duel disk, and a large colourful box then appeared on his side of the field.
"And the effect of my Performapal Sky Magician activates!" The man declared with a wide swing of his hand, waving towards the floating winged Spellcaster that stood right beside him on his field.
"If I activate a Spell card, this card would gain 300 attack!" He declared aloud, followed suit by the white hat-wearing Spellcaster monster juggling the hoops in his hands dramatically, a soft glow encompassing the monster.
"Wha-but its effects are-!"
"Oh! But its effects are negated!" The man cried out, a hand placed in front of his face, before he then simply shrugged with a knowing look on his face. "But oh, what can you do? Its effect is a mandatory one after all."
Serena merely narrowed her eyes on the monster who had stopped glowing on her opponent's side of the field. "A mandatory effect that gains attack… and it activates after he resolves a Spell card."
"Well let's continue on shall we? Wonder Balloons effect!" The top hat wearing teacher declared once again. "Once per turn, I can send any number of cards from my hand to the graveyard, to place a Balloon Counter on this card for each card sent. And all monsters that you control will lose 300 attack for each Balloon Counter that it has!" He explained.
Sakaki-sensei then revealed the cards, or rather card singular in this case, that he would send to the graveyard to activate the Continuous Spell's effects. "I will be sending Magician's Restage, to place one Balloon Counter on Wonder Balloons!"
And a giant balloon then came out straight from the box, floating slowly and gently towards Serena's side of the field, before it then stopped to simply float over above the ponytailed girl's field, reducing the attack of any and all monsters that she would summon by 300.
"So you're just going to reduce the attack of my monsters?" Serena asked with narrowed eyes, suspicious of the move that Sakaki-sensei had done.
"Ah, not quite. I shall activate the effect of Magician's Restage in my graveyard!" The top hat wearing man declared to answer the indigo haired girl's question, waving his hand outwards as he activated the graveyard effect of the card that he had just sent.
"If Magician's Restage is sent to the graveyard, it allows me to add one 'Magician' Continuous Spell from my deck to my hand, except another copy of 'Magician's Restage'!" He explained.
"A search for a Continuous Spell… that's not half bad." Serena said with a huff, still remaining on guard to see where exactly Sakaki-sensei's plays were going for, though she doubted that she could predict much considering she's facing an unknown opponent.
"Why thank you. I shall be adding Magician's Right hand to my hand, and activate it!" And with that declaration, the man played the Continuous Spell that he had just added to his hand. A giant dismembered hand with sharp painted nails and rings and golden bangles, covered in a piece of armour, appeared floating atop of his monsters.
"Which of course, activates the first effect of Performapal Sky Magician to gain attack. But alas, as it was summoned by Flip Hippo's effect, its effects are negated until the end of this turn." Sakaki-sensei lamented, before he shook his head lazily and continued on with his turn with a smile.
"Now, while Magician's Right Hand is in the field, while I control a Spellcaster monster, your first Spell Card or effect that resolves each turn is negated, and if it does or if it does not have an effect, it will be destroyed." The man explained the card's effects, revealing how it was capable of negating the effect of the first Spell that Serea would activate.
"Tch. Negating the first spell that I would activate huh… that's annoying." But not something that she couldn't play around, so Serena thought. After all, it wasn't like he completely locked her from activating Spell cards out right, it just negated the first one that she would activate for the turn.
"Now then, I will set one card face-down. And I will end my turn." And with that, Sakaki-sensei ended his turn, with two monsters on his field, one being none other than his Ace Monster, two face-up Continuous Spells, and a single card set face-down. No cards remained in his hand as he passed the turn to Serena.
"Then it's my turn! I draw!" And she started her turn, drawing her card on her Draw Phase and getting up to six cards in her hand as she moved on straight to the Standby Phase, and then the Main Phase of her turn.
"Since it'll be negated anyway, I'll activate Foolish Burial Goods!" The ponytailed girl said as she slapped the card onto her duel blade, the holographic projection of the Spell card appearing in front of her.
"This card is supposed to send a Spell or Trap from my deck to the graveyard, but since it's negated it does nothing." And the card's shining projection then dimmed and turned grey as the giant floating hand in Sakaki-sensei's field shot a bolt of lightning with a snap of its fingers, negating its effects, and destroying it.
With that piece finished, the indigo haired girl then pulled out another card from her hand and played it. "Now I'll activate the Continuous Spell! Fire Formation - Tenki!" She declared aloud.
"When this card is activated, I get to add one Level 4 or lower Beast-Warrior from my deck to my hand!" She said, explaining the effect of the Continuous Spell upon its activation, to which the top hat wearing teacher hummed as he caressed his chin.
That earned a chuckle from the top hat wearing teacher. "My, my, Serena-kun, you seem to have already found a way to play around the Magician's Right Hand."
And Serena huffed to his remark. "Well it isn't hard when you just say what the card does out loud. And it's not like it stops me from activating Spells anyway. Just the first one that I would use."
"So you're playing another Spell right after the first one has been negated. Indeed, The Magician's Right Hand does indeed only negate the first Spell card that you would activate for the turn while it is face-up on the field, then… what if there is another one?" He asked with a small smirk.
"What?" Serena asked confusedly as she heard the words that left the entertainment duelist's mouth, and the man then waved his hand upwards in a dramatical motion towards his Ace Monster.
"I will activate the effect of Performapal Sky Magician!" He declared aloud as the monster in question slowly floated upwards. "As a Quick Effect, I can target one Continuous Spell that I control, return it to the hand, and then I can activate one 'Magician' Continuous Spell from my hand! Magician's Shuffle!"
Done with explaining the monster's effect in chain to the activation of Serena's Fire Formation - Tenki, Sakaki-sensei then chose the card that he would return to his hand. "I will target The Magician's Right Hand, and return it to my hand!"
With a wave of its rings, the giant floating right arm that floated above the entertainment duelist's field vanished in thin air. Seemingly being swallowed into the empty golden hoops that the white hat Spellcaster held in its hands.
"And then I will activate it onto the field once more!" And his monster then dramatically swung the rings again, and the giant right hand magically reappeared onto the field, floating high above Sakaki-sensei's field as Performapal Sky Magician slowly floated down.
And Serena could only stare with a confused look as she looked at her opponent. "But why would you-? You've already negated the first Spell that I activated!" She asked confusedly, unsure of why her opponent had done what he did.
Then the chain resolved backwards, and as the effect of Performapal Sky Magician to shuffle the Continuous Spell that Sakaki-sensei had on his field concluded, then Serena's own Continuous Spell took on effect.
Only for the newly activated floating dismembered right hand that floated over the top hat wearing duelist to shoot out bolts of lightning from its fingers. Hitting the holographic projection of Serena's Fire Formation - Tenki, and negating its effect, then destroying it.
"Wha-!" Serena shouted aloud with her eyes wide, shocked and confused at what exactly had just transpired from the chain of effects that resolved before her. "How did-!" But she didn't finish that sentence as she shook her head and focused, narrowing her eyes as she does so and clicking her tongue, annoyed at her opponent.
"That's… interesting." She heard Mei mutter from beside her, looking amazed at what exactly had just transpired on the duel right in front of her. "That… is that how that card would work? It says that it negates the first Spell that Serena activates, but Tenki's the second one that she used this turn. Does setting it back on the field somehow reset that?"
"Haha! I was quite confused when that happened the first time myself!" The entertainment duelist laughed aloud as he said so, a glint of nostalgia shining in his eyes. "The explanation might be quite confusing to some, but essentially this newly activated Magician's Right Hand recognizes that Continuous Spell of yours as the first spell that you had activated."
And he continued on, a hand on his own chin. "And that is because it was activated after you activated Foolish Burial Goods. This new Magician's Right Hand only recognizes the first Spell that you activated as it is face-up on the field. And that is your Fire Formation - Tenki."
Finished with his explanation the top hat wearing man nodded his head with a smile. "Yes, yes that is a good way to explain it. I'll try to remember that, and I'll have to think of how to make it more interesting too. What if I added-"
And she couldn't hide the sigh that escaped her as she heard Sakaki-sensei essentially started to workshop a whole interesting spiel on how the effect of his Boss Monster interacts with The Magician's Right Hand. Something that has happened multiple times already in class whenever he found something interesting that his deck could do that he could make into a bit in his 'future performance' as he called it.
While she admired the teacher's work ethic in a sense where he would give his all and put time and effort into his so called 'future performance', getting carried away and ignoring his opponent was not so admirable, and even she knows that.
Before Serena's irritation at the man's antics could reach its boiling point, she coughed loudly on her fist to garner Sakaki-sensei's attention, the man almost jumped as he looked back to her, and his gaze met her glare.
"Ah, sorry about that. Let's get back to the duel shall we? Where was I? Ah, right! Then Performapal Sky Magician's effect!" Sakaki-senseo quickly backtracked as he hurriedly continued his play, starting off with the mandatory effect of his Ace Monster.
"As I activated a Continuous Spell this turn, Performapal Sky Magician will gain an additional 300 points of attack!" And with the rankling of its golden rings, a jade glow enveloped the white magician, its attack increasing by 300 points.
Performapal Sky Magician - Wind/Spellcaster/Level 7/Effect: 2800/2000
"Tch, so it can do that in the opponent's turn too." Serena clicked her tongue, her irritation put to the side as she focused on the duel, her lips forming a small frown as she scrunched her eyebrow in focus, her eyes going through the four cards left in her hand for a possible line of play.
"I'll set a monster face-down." She said, placing a monster face-down on her duel disk, and a giant face-down monster appeared on her side of the monster zone. "And I'll set a card face-down."
And then she then proceeded to set another card face-down, this time a set spell or trap card on her spell and trap zone. "...then I'll end my turn." And after a brief silence, the indigo haired girl then ended her turn, a set monster and a single set backrow as the board which she ended her turn with.
"Oh! It seems that you've ended with quite a field." The top hat wearing man said with a smile, looking towards the set monster and the set card on Serena's field. "Then it would seem that I would be careful not to trigger those set cards of yours."
With that being said, the teacher then placed his hands on his duel disk and drew his card for turn. "Then it's my turn! I will draw!" Saying so, the man then looked at the one card that was now in his hand, the smile that was in his face never once leaving him.
"I shall activate the effect of Performapal Sky Magician once more!" The man said as he raised his hand high, calling out towards his one Ace Monster. "Let's shuffle back that Magician's Right Hand once more! Magician's Shuffle!"
Ending that line with a snip of his fingers, the winged Spellcaster swung his golden rings once more, throwing it upwards towards the giant floating hand that stood above Sakaki-sensei's monsters, and making it magically disappear.
Only for the white hat Spellcaster to catch the golden rings from the air, and throw it once more, and the giant ring wearing hand returning back onto the field. Re-activating the Continuous Spell immediately with the effect of Performapal Sky Magician.
"And since I've activated a Continuous Spell, the effect of Performapal Sky Magician activates! Giving it another 300 point of attack!" And once more, the ring wielding magician swung its weapon of choice, as it was encompassed with a green glow, its attack increasing once more.
Performapal Sky Magician - Wind/Spellcaster/Level 7/Effect: 3100/2000
"Now then, it's time for battle!" The man declared as he spread his arms wide, jumping and grabbing the golden rings that the winged Spellcaster held and flew as high into the air as the gymnasium allowed him to.
It was a feat that she was starting to get used to, having seen it a handful of times already during lessons under the top hat wearing teacher. But still, seeing the man fly up high in the sky, gliding with a smile on his face as he hung on to the shining golden rings that his Ace Monster held…
It was a breathtaking sight, no matter how many times she's seen it already. It was a possibility that she's quite sure none has seen before, to use the solid vision hologram's property of mass to actually fly with the monsters, it truly showed the possibility that the technology truly possessed.
"Performapal Sky Magician will attack your face-down monster!" The man declared aloud as his monster reached the apex of its flight, launching himself off of the rings that he held that allowed him to glide into the air and free falling back down.
Gasps erupted around the crowd as they all saw the man free falling, she could even see Serena's eyes going wide, and a gasp leaving Mei, only for a wave of relief to flood through as the second monster in his field, the Performapal Flip Hippo to catch him as he fell, landing him safely on his back.
It was one of his usual stunts, just like how he flew up high with the help of his Sky Magician, but seeing someone free falling from that kind of height still makes her heart jump a little whenever it happens.
And just as the man landed on the back of his lightning marked hippo, the ring wielding winged magician readied their weapon of choice, the golden rings clinking against one another as the monster neared its target.
And as they entered combat, Serena's face-down monster was then revealed. In a flash of light, the face-down card changed and took the form of a dark-blue haired Beast-Warrior, with half of her face hidden behind a golden crescent shaped mask, the monster had both of their arms in front of their body in a defensive position, what with it being summoned in face-down defence position.
Lunalight Blue Cat - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1600/1200
Then all around the monster, multiple balloons emerged beside her, all of them soon popping one after another and a dark sheen glowed around the Blue Cat. The effect of Sakaki-sensei's Wonder Balloons taking effect and lowering what attack the monster had.
Lunalight Blue Cat - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1300/1200
But the now face-up Lunalight Blue Cat stood no chance of facing against Sakaki-sensei's Performapal Sky Magician, and with a wave of its golden rings, the Beast-Warrior on Serena's side of the field could no nothing against the empowered Spellcaster, and was thus destroyed, turning into motes of light.
"Kuh!" Serena grunted as she held up both of her hands in front of her, the gust of wind that the powered Performapal Sky Magician sent with its attack sending her ponytail flailing in the air, but she thankfully received no damage as her monster was in defence position.
"Tch, Lunalight Blue Cat's effect!" The indigo haired girl shouted out as she waved her hands outwards, dispersing the cloud of smoke that surrounded her. "If this card on the field is destroyed by battle or card effect, I can special summon one 'Lunalight' monster from my deck!"
Finished with explaining her monster's on destruction effect, Serena then continued on. "And I'll also activate my set card! The Trap, Lunalight Reincarnation Dance!" She declared aloud, flipping the set card face-up, and said trap card then shining with light.
"If a monster that I control is destroyed by battle or card effect, I can add up to two 'Lunalight' monsters from my deck to my hand!" She explained, chaining the trap card's effect, and with no card effects to continue being chained, the chain resolves backwards.
Starting of course, from the Trap card that Serena activated last, with Serena taking and revealing two cards from her hand. "I'll add both Lunalight Yellow Marten, and Lunalight Kaleido Chick from my deck to my hand!"
And after adding the two cards from her deck to her hand and resolving the effect of Lunalight Reincarnation Dance, she proceeded to resolve the effect of Lunalight Blue Cat, taking out another card from her deck and placing it onto the field.
"I'll summon Lunalight Emerald Bird in defence position!" She said, placing the monster card onto her duel disk's duel blade, and the emerald winged Beast-Warrior appeared onto her side of the field, her wings shrouding herself defensively as she was summoned in defence position.
Lunalight Emerald Bird - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1200/1000
But just as she had hit the field, the effect of the Continuous Spell that was Wonder Balloons took effect, lowering the monster's attack by 300 points.
Lunalight Emerald Bird - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 900/1000
"And now Emerald Bird's effect!" Serena continued to declare, activating the effect of the monster that she had just summoned straight from her deck during the Battle Phase. "If she's normal or special summoned, I can send one 'Lunalight' card from my hand to draw one card!"
And she then proceeded to show one of the cards that she had just added to her hand with Lunalight Reincarnation Dance's effect. "I will send Lunalight Yellow Marten from my hand, to draw a card!"
Saying so, Serena then sent the monster card that she had added to the graveyard to draw an additional card, putting her back on four cards in her hand. But she wasn't quite finished yet. "Then I'll activate the effect of Lunalight Yellow Marten!" And so she continued by declaring the effect of the monster that she had just sent to the graveyard.
"If this card is sent to the graveyard by a card effect, I can add one 'Lunalight' spell or trap from my deck to my hand!" She explained the monster's effect, and took out another card straight from her deck.
"I'll add Lunalight Serenade Dance from my deck to my hand!" She said aloud, adding the card to her now five card hand, managing to replenish it entirely, all done during the opponent's Battle Phase.
"Haha! You're quite good Serena-kun!" Sakaki-sensei praised. "To think that there were cards like that that could get you so much of an advantage-! No, it was also because I fell for that trap itself, not that there was any way that I could have gone around it."
But even after seeing Serena replenishing her entire hand and getting a new monster onto her field, the top hat wearing teacher's smile never faltered, if anything it only got wider.
"I will switch Performapal Flip Hippo to defence position." The man said, jumping off of the tuxedo wearing hippo as it stood in front of him protectively. "And with that, I will end my turn." And then proceeded to simply end his turn, ending it with a board that has not changed, other than the single card that he now has in his hand.
"Then it's my turn! I draw!" Now the turn changed back to Serena, and she drew a card from the top of her deck and got the sixth card into her hand, quickly skimming through them as she thought of a line to play on her turn.
"Well, best I do this as fast as I can, shouldn't I? While you're in your Draw Phase, I will activate the effect of Performapal Sky Magician!" The top hat wearing dueltainer exclaimed, waving his hand outwards. "I will shuffle my Magician's Right Hand, and then activate its other effect to increase its attack!"
Sakaki-sensei then simplified his explanation and card activations as he essentially short cutted two chains of effects, both for individual activations of his Performapal Sky Magician's effect. One for its quick effect to return and activate a Continuous Spell, and the other its mandatory effect to boost its own attack, thus the greenish layer of energy that surrounded the white winged Spellcaster.
Performapal Sky Magician - Wind/Spellcaster/Level 7/Effect: 3400/2000
"Tch, it's increased again…" Serena said with narrowed eyes, sending a glare towards the large Spellcaster on her opponent's side of the field, before lightly shaking her head and focusing back as she started her turn by starting her play. "I'll activate the effect of Lunalight Yellow Marten in my graveyard!" She declared.
"If Lunalight Yellow Marten is in my hand or graveyard, I can target one 'Lunalight' card I control except 'Lunalight Yellow Marten', return it to the hand, and if I do, I can special summon this card in defence position, but it is banished when it leaves the field!"
Done with the explanation of the monster's graveyard effect, she then waved her hand forward towards the one and only target that she had on her field. "I will target Lunalight Emerald Bird, and return her to my hand!"
Giving a polite bow, the emerald winged Beast-Warrior took her leave as she was bounced from Serena's field to her hand, and taking her place was a bushy tailed marten girl, standing defensively with her hands placed in front of her.
Lunalight Yellow Marten - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 800/2000
And of course its attack was lowered as soon as it hit the field, the sound of popping balloons filling the air as the effect of Wonder Balloons continued to resolve.
Lunalight Yellow Marten - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 500/2000
"Then I will normal summon Lunalight Kaleido Chick!" And then the indigo haired girl proceeded to use her normal summon for the turn, summoning the kaleidoscope winged, baton wielding Beast-Warrior, managing to gather two Level 4 monsters on her field.
Lunalight Kaleido Chick - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1400/800
Then its attack was lowered by the effect of Wonder Balloons as soon as Lunalight Kaleido Chick was summoned, a dark glow emanating from her body as soon as the balloons that appeared around her disappeared, the Continuous Spell's effect took place.
Lunalight Kaleido Chick - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1100/800
"And now Kaleido Chick's effect!" Serena declared, immediately activating the effect of the monster that she had just summoned. "Once per turn, I can send one 'Lunalight' monster from my deck or Extra Deck to the graveyard, a-and that's that!" She said, immediately cutting herself off.
She tilted her head, a bit confused as to why Mei was giving Serena a glare that seemed to pierce the indigo haired girl's soul, but put it off as Serena hastily sent the card monster from her deck to the graveyard, not as an effect, but as a… cost?
That part is a bit strange now that she thinks about it, she had seen Serena duel several times already, but she's never really shown her cards. Kaleido Chick's effect of sending a Lunalight monster from her deck to the grave wasn't an effect, it was a cost, so she wondered what the effect was?
"I'll send Lunalight Purple Butterfly from my deck to the graveyard!" The ponytailed girl declared aloud, sending the monster from her deck straight to the graveyard. "And then I'll activate its effect!"
And with a wave of her hand, she continued on with her combo line, and Sakaki-sensei merely watched with interest. "I can banish Lunalight Purple Butterfly from my graveyard, to special summon one 'Lunalight' monster from my hand!"
Then proceeded to reveal the monster that she had just returned to her hand earlier at the start of her turn. "I'll special summon Lunalight Emerald Bird from my hand!" She declared aloud, placing the card back onto her duel blade.
Lunalight Emerald Bird - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1200/1000
And just like before, several balloons appeared around the special summoned monster, popping one by one as they then lowered the emerald winged Beast-Warrior monster's attack.
Lunalight Emerald Bird - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 900/1000
"Three whole monsters!" Sakaki-sensei said aloud with a wide smile as he looked with astonishment. "To think that you were capable of doing such a thing! Did you perhaps plan this all from the start, Serena-kun?"
"I'm not done yet! Emerald Bird's effect!" The indigo haired girl roared aloud, activating the effect of the monster that she had just special summoned from her hand. "I'll send the Continuous Trap, Lunalight Serenade Dance from my hand to the graveyard, to draw a card!"
Forgoing the explanation of the effect of the monster as she had done so already, Serena sent the Trap card that she had searched earlier with the effect of Lunalight Yellow Marten and drew a card, essentially staying with a four card hand.
"Then I'll activate the effect of Lunalight Serenade Dance in my graveyard!" The ponytailed girl continued onwards. "During my Main Phase, I can banish this card from my graveyard, send a card from my hand to the graveyard, and if I do, special summon one 'Lunalight' monster from my deck!"
So she then revealed the card that she would send to her graveyard with the effect of Serenade Dance, one that had not been known was in her hand. "I'll send Lunalight Crimson Fox to the graveyard, to summon Lunalight Blue Cat from my deck!"
Taking the card straight from her deck, Serena summoned another copy of the monster that had snowballed her entire engine and turned it online, the half masked blue cat Beast-Warrior once more graving the field.
Lunalight Blue Cat - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1600/1200
And with the sounds of popping balloons, its attack was soon reduced by a measly 300 points.
Lunalight Blue Cat - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1300/1200
"I'll activate the effect of Lunalight Blue Cat! And the effect of Lunalight Crimson Fox!" The Lunalight duelist declared, activating the two monster's effects in sequence, chaining them together.
"If Lunalight Blue Cat is special summoned, I can target one other 'Lunalight' monster beside it, and double its original attack!" She explained the first monster's effect, and proceeded to declare its target. "I'll target Lunalight Kaleido Chick!"
And she continued with a strong wave of her hand. "Then Crimson Fox's effect! If Crimson Fox is sent to the graveyard by a card effect, I can target one face-up monster you control and change its attack to 0 until the end of the turn!"
So she then pointed towards the one monster on Sakaki-sensei's field that was still in attack position. "I'll target your Performapal Sky Magician, and change its attack to zero!" Serena roared aloud, and her opponent's eyes went wide under his top hat as the chain then resolved.
Starting off with, of course, the effect of Lunalight Crimson Fox. the illusory image of the red tailed Beast-Warrior briefly appeared on Sakaki-sensei's field, flying and dancing in the sky around the white winged magician as a dark glow enveloped the Spellcaster's body, reducing any and all attack that it had gained and turning it to zero.
Performapal Sky Magician - Wind/Spellcaster/Level 7/Effect: 0/2000
Then the chain continued to resolve backwards, the newly summoned Lunalight Blue Cat taking stage and dancing around the baton wielding Kaleido Chick, its attack becoming double that of its original, regardless of the effect of Wonder Balloons taking effect on her field.
Lunalight Kaleido Chick - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 2800/800
"Now I'll overlay the Level 4 Lunalight Yellow Marten, and the Level 4 Lunalight Emerald Bird!" Serena declared after her long line of combo, managing to get not one, not two, but four whole monsters onto the field, along with lowering the attack of Sakaki-sensei's Ace Monster.
And only now was she even overlaying her monsters to perform an XYZ Summon. A notion that made the crowd go wild at how long and extensive the girl had managed to use her cards.
The two monsters that she called out twirled as they shone and became dark motes of light, flying high up into the air. Dancing up high in the ceiling of the gymnasium before entering the dark galactical vortex that appeared in the middle of the field.
Serena then clasped her hands together as she raised it high, "With these two monsters I'll construct an overlay network! XYZ Summon!" and brought it down as she completed the simple summoning chant, a pillar of light emerging from the dark vortex.
"Appear! Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Tiger King!" And the monster that appeared was completely different from the whole archetype that she had used so far, but was nonetheless one of the key monsters that resided in Serena's deck.
The monster clad in gold and red armour appeared onto the field, wielding a fan that burned with mystical flames. A large tiger made of purple fire standing behind him ominous, growling at the monsters that were on its opponents field.
Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Tiger King - Fire/XYZ/Beast-Warrior/Rank 4/Effect: 2200/1800 OV: 2
Though just like all the other monsters that were summoned onto her field, several balloons then appeared around the monster before promptly exploding, the effect of Wonder Balloons lowering the newly summoned XYZ Monsters attack as soon as it hit the field.
Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Tiger King - Fire/XYZ/Beast-Warrior/Rank 4/Effect: 1900/1800 OV: 2
"Now Tiger King's effect!" Serena declared aloud as she waved her right hand outwards. "When this card is XYZ Summoned, I can set one 'Fire Formation' Spell or Trap directly from my deck!" She said explaining the monster's effect as soon as it is XYZ Summoned.
"Oh? So you have traps like that Continuous Spell in your deck as well?" Her top hat wearing opponent inquired, knowing well that while The Magician's Right Hand floated above his field, there was no way that Serena would set a Continuous Spell and activate it like she did before, especially when he could in technicality negate two Spell resolutions.
"I'll set the Continuous Trap, Fire Formation - "Tensen!" She said, revealing and then placing the Continuous Trap straight from her deck and into her field.
"Battle!" She then declared aloud, moving on straight to the Battle Phase, knowing that she has more than enough attack on board to drain all of Sakaki-sensei Life Points now that his Ace Monster's attack had been turned to zero, of course, all under the assumption that the one set card on his side of the field was a bluff.
"I'll attack your Performapal Sky Magician with my Lunalight Kaleido Chick!" And Serena then sent her highest attack monster for an attack, the two baton-wielding rainbow-winged Beast-Warrior jumping high as she prepared herself to send an attack towards the weakened Performapal Sky Magician.
"Your combination of cards were superb, Serena-kun." Sakai-sensei said aloud, even in the midst of battle as his own monster prepared its own set of weapons to combat the attack, knowing that it would lose said battle.
"But sadly, this magician has more tricks up his sleeve! Or more correctly, his student does!" He said with a grin. "I will activate the effect of Performapal Sky Pupil in my hand!" The man declared aloud, revealing the one card that he had drawn for his turn previously.
"During either player's turn, I can return one Level 5 or higher 'Performapal' monster that I control to the hand, to special summon this card from my hand! Take the stage! Performapal Sky Pupil!"
And right before Serena's Kaleido Chick managed to deliver her blow towards the white winged Spellcaster, Performapal Sky Magician rattled its golden rings, taking off high into the air before throwing its rings down to the ground.
Only for them to be caught by a masked boy, wearing a colourful blue outfit and a bright magenta cape, swinging the two rings now in his gloved hands as he appeared on the field in defence position.
Performapal Sky Pupil - Light/Spellcaster/Level 3/Effect: 800/800
"Che! So you can have it escape!" Serena growled in annoyance at the play that Sakaki-sensei had done, for not only had he had saved his Ace Monster from destruction, he had summoned this new monster in defence, therefore lowering the damage that she could have dealt for the turn.
"Then the effect of Performapal Sky Magician in my hand activates!" The man declared aloud with a wide grin, revealing the monster that he had just returned to his hand. "If this face-up card leaves the field, I can target one card on the field, and destroy it!"
Explaining the monster's effect, the man took a second to choose his targets, before finally settling on pointing his cane towards one of the indigo haired girl's monsters. "I will target your empowered Lunalight Kaleido Chick, and destroy it! Closing Performance!"
The crowd watched with awe as ghostly golden rings briefly appeared on the field where the flying white Spellcaster once flew, before a strong green glow emanated from said ring, shooting towards the boosted Lunalight monster.
"Lunalight Crimson Fox's graveyard effect!" Serena declared, shouting loudly in response to the third effect of Performapal Sky Magician. "When a card or effect is activated that targets a 'Lunalight' monster that I control, as a Quick Effect, I can banish this card from my graveyard to negate that effect, and if I do, each player gains 1000 Life Points!"
Then a ghostly figure of the crimson Beast-Warrior briefly appeared on the field, dancing in front and protecting Lunalight Kaleido Chick from destruction, negating the destruction effect and letting both players gain 1000 Life Points.
Sakaki Yusho: 5000LP
Serena: 5000LP
"She managed to protect her monster!" She said aloud as she clutched her hands in awe, somethings shared by the other spectators as shouts and cheers were thrown for the indigo haired girl.
"And since the targeted attack is now gone, she gets to redeclare an attack." Mei muttered aloud, and just as she said, Serena did just that.
"I'll redeclare the attack on your Performapal Flip Hippo!" With that order, the chosen Beast-Warrior changed its target and swung its batons towards the defence position top hat wearing hippo, easily besting it in combat and destroying it.
Sakaki-sensei was unfazed as his monster was destroyed by battle, as he simply then raised his cane and declared aloud with a smile. "Then I shall activate a Trap card of my own! Performapal Revival!"
With that, the man flipped up his one set card, the holographic projection of the card in question shining brightly as it activated. "If a monster I control is destroyed by battle or card effect, I can special summon one 'Performapal' monster from my hand or graveyard!"
And Serena's eyes widened slightly at the explanation of what the card does. Or rather, what the card would bring back to the field. "Thats-!"
"And now, retake the stage once more! Performapal Sky Magician!" And with a flourish wave of his trusty cane, the Entertainment Duelist summoned back the Ace Monster that he had returned to his hand. The white winged Spellcaster swinging his golden rings with his pupil now by his side.
Performapal Sky Magician - Wind/Spellcaster/Level 7/Effect: 2500/2000
"Then I'll activate its effect!" The top hat wearing entertainer declared with a wide grin, spreading both of his arms wide. "I'll shuffle back my Magician's Right Hand and activate it again! Magician's Shuffle!"
"What?! But you've already activated that monster's effect earlier!" Serena shouted as she saw Sakaki-sensei activate a card whose effect he had already activated earlier this turn.
And to her exclamation, the top hat wearing Entertainment Duelist shook a finger towards his opponent. "While I had indeed activated the effect of my Performapal Sky Magician earlier while it was on the field, this newly summoned one hasn't activated its effect!"
"So it's a soft once per turn…" Serena muttered as she saw the Spellcaster's effect resolve, returning The Magician's Right Hand back to the hand, before it then activated it again, triggering its own mandatory effect of gaining an additional 300 points of attack.
"Oh? That has quite the nice ring to it. Do you mind if I use that term?" Sakaki-sensei said with a smile as he heard Serena's muttering, all while the Spellcaster rangled its golden rings and gained more attack.
Performapal Sky Magician - Wind/Spellcaster/Level 7/Effect: 2800/2000
"Tch! Do whatever you want!" The indigo haired duelist grumbled with visible annoyance, sending a heated glare towards the floating Spellcaster that made its reappearance on the field. "Then I'll attack your Performapal Sky Pupil with Lunalight Blue Cat!"
So Serena then continued her assault, sending her next monster to the offensive, this time the Lunalight Blue Cat that she had summoned straight from her deck. The cat-like Beast-Warrior letting out a war cry as she leapt with her claws out, intending to use them to shred the newly summoned Performapal monster in battle.
But just like before, the smirk never left Sakaki-sensei's face, as if it was all going according to his plan. "Then it seems that it is time to activate Performapal Sky Pupil's other effect!" The top hat wearing teacher declared,waving his black cane once again as the two monsters entered battle.
"Before Damage Calculation, if Perfromapal Sky Pupil were to battle while I control another 'Performapal' monster, that monster is destroyed!" The man explained his monster's battle related effect aloud, and hearing so makes Serena's eyes go wide.
"And as in my field there is Performapal Sky Pupil's teacher, Performapal Sky Magician, its effect would meet its activation condition!Meaning your Lunalight Blue Cat is destroyed!" Before Serena's monster's attack could even properly connect with its target.
They all watched at the red hat wearing pupil threw his two golden rings towards the dark blue Beast-Warrior, hitting the monster in question right at her abdomen and destroying the monster and turning her into golden motes of light, cheers forming from the audience as they saw Serena falling into Sakaki-sensei's trap.
"Blue Cat!" Serena cried aloud as she saw her monster being destroyed through Performapal Sky Pupil's effect, before turning her head to send another glare at her still smirking opponent. "Tch! Blue Cat's effect! I'll special summon another Lunalight Kaleido Chick from my deck!"
But as the monster was destroyed by an effect, the on destruction effect of Lunalight Blue Cat activated, allowing Serena to summon yet another copy of Lunalight Kaleido Chick straight from her deck, though this one was summoned in defence position.
Lunalight Kaleido Chick - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1400/800
And like all of her other monsters, its attack was lowered by the effect of Wonder Balloons as soon as Lunalight Kaleido Chick was summoned, a dark glow emanating from her body as soon as the balloons that appeared around her disappeared.
Lunalight Kaleido Chick - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1100/800
Much to Serena's chagrin, she currently had no ways of clearing Sakaki-sensei's current field. With another Performapal monster standing on the field, there was no feasible way to destroy Performapal Sky Pupil through battle. And Performapal Sky Magician itself was difficult to out in the same way as it would constantly increase its own attack by shuffling the Continuous Spell that was on its side of the field, and that wasn't even mentioning how Wonder Balloons factor into the equation.
With how battle focused Serena's deck was, she would find it hard to break Sakaki-sensei's current board, especially without a single Spell activation every turn.
"Then I'll go to my second Main Phase." Serena said with a glare, not managing to clear Sakaki-sensei's board through battle. "And I'll activate the effect of Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Tiger King!" She declared aloud, waving her right hand out towards the XYZ Monster in question.
"Once per turn, I can detach one XYZ Material from this card, to negate the effect of all face-up effect monsters currently on the field, except Beast-Warriors, until the end of our turn!" Serena said, explaining the XYZ Monster's ability to negate the effect of all face-up monsters on the field except Beast-Warriors.
"What!?" Sakaki-sensei said with wide eyes, his calm composure cracking for the first time since the start of the duel as he stared wide eyed at Serena and her XYZ Monster. "That monster has that kind of effect?!"
Finished with explaining its effect, the flaming XYZ Monster then raised its burning fan, waving it down and taking one of its two red orbs that floated around it, detaching one of its two overlay materials to activate its effect.
Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Tiger King - Fire/XYZ/Beast-Warrior/Rank 4/Effect: 1900/1800 OV: 1
And then the XYZ Monster roared as he swung his fan wide, the burning tiger behind him following suit as it let out its own roar, sending a wave of flame that enveloped the whole field. Negating the effect of any and all face-up effect monsters on the field barring those of Beast-Warriors.
simply stood with a frown and a creased brow as he stared at his now negated Performapal Sky Magician, And that of course, with its effect now negated, the attack point gain that Sakaki-sensei's Performapal Sky Magician had gained then disappeared. Its attack returning back to its original attack.
Performapal Sky Magician - Wind/Spellcaster/Level 7/Effect: 2500/2000
"I'll activate the effect of my other Lunalight Kaleido Chick!" Serena then declared aloud, activating the effect of the Kaleido Chick that she had just summoned through the effect of Blue Cat.
"Oh? And here you are activating the effect of a monster that you've already activated earlier this turn, Serena-kun." Sakaki-sensei said with a teasing smile, to which Serena returned with a wild grin.
"You're not the only one with monsters that have a soft once per turn effect old man! I'll send a second copy of Lunalight Crimson Fox from my deck to my graveyard!" Serena said, sending her second copy of Lunalight Crimson Fox to her graveyard.
With another copy of Crimson Fox now in her graveyard, Serena had an insurance against Sakaki-sensei's now known Performapal Sky Magician's third effect, even if the Lunalight monster's graveyard effect does let the top hat wearing man also gain an additional 1000 Life Points.
"I'll set a card face-down." The indigo haired girl then said, placing one of the four cards that still remained in her hand face-down. "And I will end my turn." Then proceeded to end her turn, passing back with a field filled with an XYZ Monster, two of the same monsters in differing battle positions, and two cards in her backrow along with three cards remaining in her hand.
"Then at the End Phase Kaleido Chick's attack return back to normal." Or as normal as it gets as the kaleidoscopic winged Beast-Warrior's attack returned back as the effect of Lunalight Blue Cat ended, its attack returning to what it once was as the attack lowering effect of Wonder Balloons continued to affect Serena's monsters.
Lunalight Kaleido Chick - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1100/800
"Well it seems that you've placed me in quite the pickle here Serena-kun. Nevertheless, the show must go on!" The man said, shouting loudly as he then placed his hand on his duel disk and closed his eyes.
"The outcome… will be decided by this! I'll draw!" With a theatrical wave, Sakaki-sensei drew his card for the turn, getting back to a singular card in his hand.
The man then glanced at the card that he had just drawn, his golden eyes widening ever so slightly as he saw exactly what card he had just drawn for turn, and a grin crept into his face. "What an amazing turn of events! To think that I would draw into a card like this!"
The dark purple top hat wearing duelist twirled the card in his hand, before revealing it as he played said card. "I'll try my luck once more! I will activate the Spell, Upstart Goblin!" He said, declaring the Spell card's name as he placed it on his duel blade, the holographic projection of the card in question shining in front of him.
"This card allows me to draw one card, then allow you to gain 1000 Life Points, Serena-kun." The man said with a wink, explaining the Spell card's effect that allowed him to draw a card, in exchange for his opponent gaining Life Points in return.
"But… why would he use something like that?" She couldn't help but mutter aloud as she saw Sakaki-sensei activate the Spell. "That gives Serena another 1000 points of Life Points. And since she already activated Crimson Fox's graveyard effect earlier…"
"That means that she'll get to 6000 Life Points, but that doesn't really matter." The purple haired girl beside her interjected, giving her own thoughts of the matter. "It's a… consistency tool if I remember correctly, and an incredibly good one if I'm not wrong. One of the best in fact."
"Huh?" She sounded out, confused at what exactly it was that the shorter girl was talking about.
"It's something that Yu-that my… sister once told me. About how to make a deck extremely consistent." The hat wearing girl muttered aloud, a small smile forming on her face. "It's a Spell that you can essentially activate at no cost to freely draw a card. And the fact that there's no other restrictions to it like it being a once per turn, it essentially lets someone play a deck with only 37 cards."
"But it does have a cost doesn't it? It gives the opponent 1000 Life Points." She argued, saying aloud the spell card's last line of text where it gives the opponent a boost of Life Points.
"Well, if you can theoretically clear your opponent's entire board and summon enough monsters… it wouldn't matter how much Life Points your opponent has wouldn't it?" The purple haired girl said with a tilt of her head, saying as if it was a matter of fact.
The thought of somehow managing to get enough monsters to instantly reduce that amount of Life Points in one turn baffled her, it truly was an idea that was out of this world, but for Mei and Serena, it was something that was quite normal.
After all, they had seen Yuuna and her monsters. They've seen how the red haired girl could gather a whole board full of high attack monsters all while clearing the opponent of all recourse that they have. Mei's own deck, while more resource oriented as it was essentially a control strategy, did the same. And Serena's own strategy was one that was based on taking quick games, assembling Fusion Monsters capable of dealing lethal pushes in a single turn.
Be it 4000, 6000, or even 8000 Life Points, given how consistent and efficient their decks were in performing their main strategy, getting rid of the opponent's Life Points was an arguably easy task compared to potentially breaking their board.
Their talk was soon cut short as the commotion of the two duelists at the centre stage, with Serena commenting on the Spell in question that was activated. "So a draw Spell huh? Didn't think that you play one of those."
"Why, it's quite the card. Certainly does show its usefulness, and it is one that embodies the principle of card economy you see, although it gives the opponent quite a bit of Life Points, it does let me dig deeper into my deck. Even if it is a net zero." The man explained his choice of cards aloud, giving his reasons for playing the Spell.
"Hmph. So you're betting everything on a single draw?" Serena said, showing her capability of reading the boardstate.
She knew full well that with her current state of affairs, she could break her opponent's board on the following turn. Using a combination of her Kaleido Chick's effect to set up the graveyard and Yellow Marten's effect to return said Kaleido Chick's into her hand, and of course Tiger King's ability to turn off both Sky Magician and Sky Pupil's effect would leave the Entertainment Duelist's board vulnerable to her attacks.
Of course, that strategy hinges on her Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Tiger King having to survive this one turn of battle, though that was assured with the Trap card that said XYZ Monster had set the previous turn, Fire Formation - Tensen.
That Trap card, or rather Continuous Trap card, gives a targeted Beast-Warrior 700 attack until the end of the turn, and a continuous effect of giving all Beast-Warriors that she controls a constant 300 attack point boost.
It would assure of Tiger King's survival in combat if it were to battle the current Performapal Sky Magician, even besting it in combat with its ability to essentially boost its attack by 1000 points. And that's not even mentioning the unknown set card that she had set on her side of the field.
Even if Sakaki Yusho were to discard the card that he drew for turn, or that he drew with the Upstart Goblin, for his Continuous Spell Wonder Balloons to give another 300 point attack decrease for all of Serena's monsters, he would still be 100 attack points short of beating over Serena's Tiger King if it were boosted by Tensen.
Such were the thoughts that went through Mei's head, knowing exactly what Serena's cards does first hand, having been the indigo haired girl's main training partner and having helped build the girl's current iteration of her deck.
Though there were of course, flaws to her strategy that Mei had spotted. She saw two ways for her opponent to break and out her current board, both of which relied on the man's Ace Monster, Performapal Sky Magician. And as Serena herself had pointed out, one of which was a large gamble.
One was a suicide strategy, a strategy that she had thought possibly having heard of the specific wording for Performapal Sky Magician's third effect, the one that the man had dubbed 'Closing Performance'. Where he would essentially crash the white Spellcaster into Serena's Tiger King, then activating its effect as it had left the field due to battle, and destroying the girl's XYZ Monster.
And she couldn't even negate that targeting destruction effect with the graveyard effect of Lunalight Crimson Fox either, as the monster's 'when' effect could only be activated if said effect were to target a Lunalight monster, something that Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Tiger King, was not.
It was a strategy that deprived him of both his main Boss Monster and resources, but even then, Serena still would be ahead even if she were to lose her deck's current Boss Monster. Should the game fall into a grind game, then Serena has the highest chance to win as her grind game, as she has shown, is quite better than her opponent's with how her cards can cycle to one another.
The second one, and the one that the man was possibly trying to do with the activation of Upstart Goblin, was one that was left to chance. If he were to perhaps draw a card that could allow him to safely remove Performapal Sky Magician off of the field without the risk of losing the Boss Monster like another copy of Performapal Sky Pupil, or a way of bringing said monster back like Performapal Revival…
Then it would be Serena who would be on the backfoot of the game, especially since she would have expended almost any and all resources that could possibly overcome the ever increasing attack of Sky Magician and the essentially battle immune Sky Pupil, as she only runs a single copy of Tiger King.
Along with her already using two Lunalight Crimson Foxes, along with two Lunalight Blue Cats. The former which could reduce an opponent's monster's attack to zero, while the latter could double her own, though in the case of Blue Cat, she had a way of reviving through Luna Light Perfume.
But even then, the only monster that could possibly beat an attack increased Performapal Sky Magician or the like, was a boosted copy of Lunalight Crimson Fox, a monster that as she had pointed out, Serena only had one copy left remaining in her deck.
And in this situation where the outcome of the whole duel would be decided by this one draw, Sakaki Yusho, like the Entertainment Duelist that he was, smiled. "Why of course!" He declared loudly with both arms outstretched as wide as they could be.
"This thrill, this suspense, the situation where the entire duel would be decided by a game of chance! Is there anything else that would capture an audience's attention like this?" The top hat wearing duelist said with a wide smile, gesturing towards the crowd of students that surrounded them.
And sure enough, the audience that they had in this small gymnasium waited with bated breath, some only realising now how intense the situation was by the man's own declaration, how their teacher was, for once, on the backfoot of the duel, the underdog in their duel.
"Y-you can do it Sakaki-sensei!" Someone cheered from the sidelines, breaking the tense silence that befell the gymnasium.
And that soon was followed by another. "Yeah! If the duel depends on this draw, then you can definitely get it!"
"Give it all you have!"
"Go on and win!"
""Sensei! Sakaki-sensei! Yusho-sensei!""
Soon enough, the gymnasium was filled with noises of cheers, cries of support from students towards their teacher who had been pushed to bet the outcome of the duel to a game of chance, to a single draw.
"Well now. Isn't this something?" The man said with a chuckle. "With these many people putting their trust in me, then I have no choice but to deliver now do I?" He said, placing his hand over his duel disk, preparing himself to draw.
The Entertainment Duelist closed his eyes as the crowd began to chant his name louder and louder, before his own shout cuts right through. "Draw!" he shouted aloud, dramatically pulling the top card of his deck, creating a large arc with the swing of his arm.
The effect of Upstart Goblin resolved as he drew his card, with his opponent gaining an additional 1000 Life Points, Serena waited with her eyes narrowed for what her opponent's draw would bring.
Serena: 6000LP
The crowd watched with bated breath as the man glanced at the card that he had just drawn for his turn.
And grinned.
"From my hand, I'll summon Performapal Longphone Bull!" The top hat wearing Entertainment Duelist shouted loudly as he played the card that he had drawn off the top of his deck, the bipedal dark blue bull with an antique phone for horns then appeared onto the field.
Performapal Longphone Bull - Earth/Beast/Level 4/Effect: 1600/1200
"A normal summon-!" Serena watched with narrowed eyes, watching as the monster appeared on Sakaki-sensei's side of the field, fitting in beside the other two Spellcasters that he had on board.
"And now, Performapal Longphone Bull's effect!" The Entertainment Duelist declared loudly, waving his cane outwards dramatically. ""When this card is normal or special summoned, I can add one 'Performapal' monster with 1000 or less attack from my deck to my hand!"
"An in archetypal searcher!" Mei exclaimed next to her, loud enough to garner her attention along with some of the others in the crowd. "The attack restriction means that he wouldn't be able to search high attack monsters like Performapal Sky magician, but that 1000 attack range means he can search-"
"I will add Performapal Sky Pupil from my deck to my hand!" The man declared aloud, and the bull's telephone horn started to ring as he then picked it up, and another copy of the ring wielding pupil appeared, before turning into a card and being added into the Entertainment Duelist's hand.
And with that, the end of the duel was essentially sealed.
"I'll switch my other Performapal Sky Pupil to attack position. And now… let's battle!" The man said with a grin, waving his hand outwards in a theatrical motion. "I'll attack your Lunalight Kaleido Chick with my Performapal Sky Magician!" The man declared, giving his orders to his trusted partner.
And the Spellcaster delivered, flapping its pure white wing-cape as it flew high into the air, spreading its arm wide as it wielded its golden rings, and then throwing it towards the target in question, the attack position Lunalight Kaleido Chick on Serena's side of the field.
"Tch! I'll flip up my Trap! The Continuous Trap, Fire Formation - Tensen!" The indigo haired girl declared as they entered the Damage Step, flipping up the set card that she had set directly from her deck using the effect of her XYZ Monster, Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Tiger King.
"When this card is activated, I can target one Beast-Warrior Type monster that I control, and have it gain 700 attack until the end of this turn!" She declared aloud, explaining the Continuous Trap's effect on activation.
"I'll target the Kaleido Chick that you're attacking! And increase her attack by 700!" Serena said, waving her hand towards the chosen monster, to which several flaming heads of dragons then proceeded to surround the kaleidoscope winged Lunalight monster.
Lunalight Kaleido Chick - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1800/800
"And Fire Formation - Tensen also has the continuous effect of giving all my Beast-Warrior monsters an additional 300 points of attack!" She shouted aloud, explaining the Continuous Trap's other effect, one that essentially counteracted the effect of Sakaki-sensei's Wonder Balloons.
A wave of flames then seemed to envelop the entirety of Serena's field, the effect of Fire Formation - Tensen taking effect and giving all of Serena's monsters a boost as they were all Beast-Warriors.
Lunalight Kaleido Chick - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 2100/800
Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Tiger King - Fire/XYZ/Beast-Warrior/Rank 4/Effect: 2200/1800 OV: 1
Lunalight Kaleido Chick - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1400/800
But even with all of those boosts, Serena's Kaleido Chick's attack was still lower than that of Sakaki-sensei's Performapal Sky Magician.
The thrown golden rings hits the kaleidoscope winged Beast-Warrior, said monster letting out a cry as she then turned into golden motes of light, sending a huge gust of wind towards its controller. Serena grunted as she held both of her hands in front of her in defence.
And for the first time in the duel, a player had received damage. No matter how measly that amount was.
Serena: 5600LP
The crowd, of course, erupted in screams and shouts. Cheers filled the gymnasium as the crowd of students chanted their teacher's name, encouraging the Entertainment Duelist as he smiled and waved back towards them.
And as much as Serena was annoyed by the man's actions, after the gamble that the man had just pulled, she couldn't help but give her respect. Both for his dueling skills, and his dedication to his act of performance.
"Then I'll activate the effect of Performapal Sky Pupil in my hand!" The top hat wearing man declared aloud as he continued with the Battle Phase, revealing the one and only card that was in his hand.
"I'll return Performapal Sky Magician back to my hand, and special summon it!" And with a swift flick of his hand, the man switched the two cards on his duel disk, the white winged Spellcaster disappearing and trading places with his pupil.
Performapal Sky Pupil - Light/Spellcaster/Level 3/Effect: 800/800
"And then Performapal Sky Magician's effect! As it is removed from the field, I can target one card on the field, and destroy it!" The man declared, and raised then pointed his cane towards his target.
That being of course, the problematic XYZ Monster on Serena's side of the field that could have possibly outed his board.
"I will target your Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Tiger King, and destroy it! Closing Performance!" And as the white hat Performapal left the field, it left behind its golden rings, ones that then glowed and shot out green glowing beams of light towards Serena's XYZ Monster.
The flaming tiger spirit behind Tiger King roared as it jumped to intercept the attack, only for the green beam to pierce through the flaming tiger and hitting the Beast-Warrior that it tried to protect, and the destroyed XYZ Monster then turned to motes of light.
The crowd cheered as they saw the gigantic Beast-Warrior getting removed from the field, but Sakaki-sensei wasn't quite done with his turn just yet.
"Then let's continue with the show! I'll attack your other Lunalight Kaleido Chick with my newly summoned Performpal Sky Pupil!" He declared, sending the newly summoned apprentice Spellcaster into battle.
"And then his effect activates! As I control another 'Performapal' monster, the monster that he battles is immediately destroyed before the Damage Step!" And with a wave and a twirl of his golden rings, Performapal Sky Pupil jumped and landed right behind Serena's last monster, before he then leaped back towards his field as the defence position monster was destroyed by his effect without needing to enter the Damage Step of battle.
Now all that is left on Serena's side of her field is her two backrow. The already face-up Fire Formation - Tensen, and an unknown set card.
"So it's probably a bluff huh…" Mei muttered aloud as she saw the last unknown card that was left on Serena's side of the field, being the most knowledgeable person on the indigo haired girl's deck, only second to the duelist in question herself.
"A bluff? What do you mean? Serena does run Traps doesn't she?" She asked, glancing to her side towards the small purple haired girl beside her. "She activated that Lunalight Reincarnation Dance a few turns ago. And she just activated that Fire Formation Continuous Trap."
"She did do that, yes, but think about it." Mei said as she raised a finger. "Lunalight Reincarnation Dance is a Trap that can be activated if a monster that she controls is destroyed by battle or card effect, something that has already happened multiple times already this turn, and yet she hasn't used it."
"Ah!" She exclaimed with wide eyes as she noticed what Mei was implying. "She would have activated that earlier in that case!"
"Yes, she definitely would have." The purple hat wearing girl nodded. "And in the case of Fire Formation - Tensen, she would have already activated it earlier too, most likely at the same Damage Step when the attack position Kaleido Chick was being attacked by Performapal Sky Magician. Not that she runs more than one copy…"
"Because then it would have received enough attack boost to win the battle… so it's neither of those Trap cards. But doesn't she run anything else? Wasn't that one that she sent to the graveyard to summon a monster from deck one?" She asked.
"That one? Lunalight Serenade Dance you mean? That one… doesn't really do much while it's on the field. And if anything she would have rather kept it in hand as a discard…" Because the Continuous Trap that was Serenade Dance had an on field effect that was only relevant if a monster is Fusion Summoned to Serena's side of the field, something that she had advised the indigo haired girl harshly on not to do to keep their cover.
And knowing all this, Mei could deduce that the set card that Serena had set on her field was merely that, a bluff, something that certainly doesn't help the girl in her current position.
Especially with her board empty and without any monsters remaining left on her side of the field, while in contrast, Sakaki Yusho's field is almost filled with them.
Though Performapal Longphone Bull was certainly a decently attacked normal summoned monster, the problematic one is of course the two copies of Performapal Sky Pupil, both whose battle related effect would trigger thanks to the other, essentially making them indestructible by battle.
"Now I'll attack directly with both my other Performapal Sky Pupil, and my Performapal Longphone Bull!" The Entertainment Duelist gave his command with a wave of his cane, and the two performers who hadn't performed in this Battle phase then took off, the phone horned bull charging while carrying the magician in training behind him.
And the two then delivered their direct attacks, their attacks hitting the indigo haired girl… or at least they seemed to. The giant bull ran circles around the girl fast enough to create dust trails behind him, while the first summoned Sky Pupil jumped off of him and flew in the air above her, dropping golden glitters as he flew in the air.
Then they left, and the sound of the duel disk's Life Point counter resounded around the gymnasium.
Serena: 3200LP
The cloud of dust soon cleared and revealed Serena, who had both arms crossed in front of her chest as she simply stood there, a look of utter confusion on her face as if she had expected the attack to be something far more… explosive than what had just happened.
That reaction made her opponent chuckle, something that brought her green glare back full force on the man in question. "Well, that seems to be the best that I could give. I will end my turn. "
And so with that, Sakaki Yusho ended his turn. Managing to establish a board of three monsters while breaking Serena's own. Two relatively oppressive Continuous Spells still remained in his spell and trap zone, while the one card in his hand remained, that being none other than the Performapal Sky Magician that he had returned to his hand.
"... I'll admit it, I probably, no, definitely looked down on this 'Entertainment Dueling' of yours." Serena muttered, looking up towards the top hat wearing man through green eyes, shadowed behind her indigo bangs.
"And I really did put myself in a corner didn't I?" The pony tailed girl said, chuckling to herself in self deprecation, before a determined look shone behind her eyes as she placed her hand on top of her duel disk's deck holder.
"Then it's my turn! I'll draw!" And so Serena shouted aloud, drawing her own card for turn, and getting a second card to her hand. The girl then frowned as she scrunched her brow, thinking the moves that she could possibly play that could put her back into the game.
It took a moment, but the Lunalight Duelist eventually chose what move she would do, her eyes burning bright with determination as she shouted her first move. "I'll activate one of my set cards! The Spell, Luna Light Perfume!"
She declared aloud, activating the Spell card that she had set from the field by flipping it face-up, and allowing the card's holographic projection to shine on the field. "This card lets me special summon back a Lunalight monster from my graveyard!"
"Ah, did you forget about my Magician's Right hand Serena-kun?" Sakaki Yusho asked with a raised eyebrow, gesturing with his cane towards the large hand floating above his field. "While it's face-up, the fist Spell card or effect that resolves while I control a Spellcaster monster is negated!"
And just as the entertainer exclaimed, the giant ring wearing hand above shot out a bolt of lighting from its fingers towards the Spell card that was activated on Serena's field, negating its effect and destroying it.
"Heh, you thought I forgot something as important as that?! I'll activate the Continuous Spell, Fire Formation - Tenki!" Serena declared aloud, activating the second copy of the generic Beast-Warrior searcher that was in her hand, revealing that two of the cards that she had remaining were all Spell cards.
It was essentially the same kind of steps that the girl had done earlier at the start of the duel, the only difference now is that without Peformapal Sky Magician on the field, her opponent no longer has two indiscriminate Spell negations on his side of the field.
"And when Tenki is activated, I can add one Level 4 or lower Beast-Warrior monster from my deck to my hand! I'll add Lunalight White Rabbit from my deck to my hand!" She declared as the Continuous Spell's effect resolved, adding the monster to her hand at the resolution of Tenki's activation.
"And while Tenki is face-up, all Beast-Warriors that I control gain 100 points of attack." She said aloud, noting the continuous effect of Fire Formation - Tenki.
"Then Luna Light Perfume's graveyard effect!" Serena continued, declaring the activation of the Spell's graveyard effect. "I can banish this card from my graveyard, to add a 'Lunalight' monster from my deck to my hand!"
With that said, the indigo haired girl then revealed the card that she would discard for the Spell card's cost. "I'll discard Lunalight Kaleido Chick, to add Lunalight Yellow Marten from my deck to my hand!" And she then proceeded to discard the third and last copy of Lunalight Kaleido Chick from her hand, then added a second copy of Lunalight Yellow Marten to her hand.
"And now I'll normal summon Lunalight White Rabbit!" Serena declared, placing the monster card on her duel blade, and the mallet weidling rabbit eared Beast-Warrior then appeared on her side of the field, hefting her weapon of choice with both of her hands.
Lunalight White Rabbit - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 2/Effect: 800/800
And very briefly, the effects of multiple continuous effects took place right as the monster was summoned. Balloons appeared beside the mallet wielding Beast-Warrior appeared and popped through the effect of Wonder Balloons, but that attack reduction was counteracted by the effect of Fire Formation - Tensen, and in the end, the monster's attack was boosted thanks to Fire Formation - Tenki.
Lunalight White Rabbit - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 2/Effect: 900/800
"White Rabbit's effect! When she's normal summoned, I can target one 'Lunalight' monster in my graveyard except 'White Rabbit', and special summon that monster in defence position!" The ponytailed girl declared loudly.
She then took out a card from her graveyard, and revealed the monster that she would revive with the monster's on summon effect. "I'll special summon back Lunalight Emerald Bird!"
The white rabbit based Lunalight monster then hefted her mallet above her head and slammed it to the ground, then in a flash of light, the emerald winged Beast-Warrior returned back onto the field with a twirl, placing her wings in front of her body in defence position.
Lunalight Emerald Bird - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1200/1000
Then the effects of the Continuous Spells and the Continuous Trap on the field affected the newly summoned monster, essentially increasing the monster's attack by 100 points.
Lunalight Emerald Bird - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1300/1000
"Now Emerald Bird's effect! Since she's special summoned, I can send one 'Lunalight' card from my hand to the graveyard to draw one card!" With one card left in her hand, there was of course only one card left that she could use to send for the monster's on summon effect.
"I'll send Lunalight Yellow Marten from my hand to the graveyard and draw one card!" She said, sending the monster from her hand to the graveyard, and drawing the top card of her deck.
Serena briefly looked at the card that she had drawn, before a grin settled on her face. "Lunalight Yellow Marten's effect!" She declared. "If this card is sent to the graveyard by a card effect, I can add one 'Lunalight' Spell or Trap from my deck to my hand!"
She resolved the monster's effect as it was sent to the graveyard, revealing the card that she would add from her deck to her hand. "I'll add another Lunalight Serenade Dance from my deck to my hand!"
And so she added the Continuous Trap card to her hand, though whether or not she had the ability to put it into the graveyard, and also get a discard for the card's effect, that was to be seen.
"And Lunalight White Rabbit's second effect!" Serena then declared, waving her arm forwards towards the mallet carrying Beast-Warrior. "Once per turn, I can target spell or trap cards that you control up to the number of other 'Lunalight' cards that I control and return them to the hand!"
Done with explaining the monster's effect, she then waved her right arm outwards. "Since I control Lunalight Emerald Bird on my field, I can return one spell or trap card that you have! I'll send back your Wonder Balloons!"
And without any responses to chain to her effect, Lunalight White Rabbit hefted her trusty mallet once more, stumbling backwards slightly before slamming it hard down onto the ground, bouncing the face-up Continuous Spell that was targeted.
"And since Wonder Balloons is removed, its continuous effects on the field is removed then." The top hat wearing man said as he took back the Continuous Spell to his hand, and just as he said, a dark purple glow enveloped Serena's monsters as their attack not only returned to normal, but was increased even further.
Lunalight White Rabbit - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 2/Effect: 1200/800
Lunalight Emerald Bird - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1600/1000
"Now I'll activate the graveyard effect of Lunalight Yellow Marten!" Serena shouted, raising her right hand upwards. "If this card is in my hand or graveyard, I can target one 'Lunalight' card I control except Yellow Marten and return it to the hand, and if I do, special summon this card in defence position, but it's banished when it leaves the field!"
And she then points towards the target that she would return to her hand. "I'll target Lunalight White Rabbit and return her to my hand to summon back Lunalight Yellow Marten!" She shouted, and summoned the bush tailed Lunalight monster onto the field in defence position.
Lunalight Yellow Marten - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 800/2000
And the monster in question then shone with energy as her attack was then boosted by the multiple Continuous cards that Serena controlled on her side of the field.
Lunalight Yellow Marten - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1100/2000
"And then I'll activate the Continuous Spell, Fire Formation - Tensu!" The indigo haired girl shouted loudly as she slammed the one unknown card that she had drawn with the effect of Lunalight Emerald Bird, the Continuous Spell's holographic projection shining as it appeared on her side of the field.
"While Tensu is face-up on the field, all Beast-Warrior monsters I control gain 100 attack!" Serena shouted as all her monsters then shone, gaining an additional attack boost thanks to the newly activated Continuous Spell.
Lunalight Emerald Bird - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1700/1000
Lunalight Yellow Marten - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1200/2000
"And, with Tensu on my side of the field, I can normal summon one Beast-Warrior monster in addition to my normal summon or set!" The ponytailed girl said with a large grin on her face, playing with the one and only monster card on her hand.
"I'll normal summon Lunalight White Rabbit again!" She shouted aloud, placing the monster card onto her duel disk once again, and thus the mallet wielding Beast-Warrior returned onto her side of the field thanks to her additional normal summon.
Lunalight White Rabbit - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 2/Effect: 800/800
Of course, just like the other Beast-Warriors on her side of the field, the white rabbit based Lunalight monster's attack was also boosted by the many continuous effects on her side of the field.
Lunalight White Rabbit - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 2/Effect: 1300/800
"Then White Rabbit's effect! Since it's normal summoned, I get to summon back another 'Lunalight' monster in defence position!" She declared aloud, taking out another card from her graveyard and revealing the monster that she would revive from her graveyard.
"I'll summon back Lunalight Blue Cat!" She shouted aloud, summoning a different Lunalight monster from her graveyard than the other monsters that she already had on her field, now filling her field with four whole different monsters.
Lunalight Blue Cat - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1600/1200
And then said monster was enveloped by a dark energy, her attack being boosted by Tensen, Tenki, and Tensu, making the Beast-Warrior receive a whole 500 points of attack boost.
Lunalight Blue Cat - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 2100/1200
"Then Blue cat's effect! Since its special summoned, I can target another 'Lunalight' monster that I control except 'Lunalight Blue Cat', and make its attack double its original attack until the end of this turn!" She said, declaring the monster's effect if it was special summoned.
And she then points towards her target, the one and only attack position monster currently on her side of the field. "I'll target Lunalight White Rabbit, and change its attack to double of its original!"
Lunalight White Rabbit - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 2/Effect: 1600/800
But even though she's managed to do all of this, managing to summon up four whole monsters to her field, there was still the large question that has yet to be answered.
"Still…" Mei muttered loudly to herself. "How is she going to break the board?" She said as she stroked her chin, her brows furrowed as she thought aloud and her eyes sweeping over the monsters on Serena's side of the field.
"Could it be… another XYZ Monster?" The black haired girl beside her decided to comment, and Mei turned to look towards Ruri and gave her a look, a frown forming in her face before she turned back to look at the two dueling duelists.
"That's… possible." The girl with the purple hat said with a nod of her head. "No, that's more than likely. She's been saving some DP to buy a new card, and the possibility of it being an XYZ Monster is… definitely high." Though they do share the same large pool of main funds for their basic needs what with their situation, they do still have their personal share of pocket DP, and what each do with them are to their own.
She had seen Serena repeatedly eye a card on the store that they frequently pass by, and sure enough that monster in question would be a good Extra Deck option that would fill up the needs that Serena's current deck lacks.
And that was, of course, spot removal.
"I'll take the Level 4 Lunalight Emerald Bird, and the Level 4 Lunalight Yellow Marten, and overlay them both!" Serena shouted at the top of her lungs as she raised her right hand up towards the sky, and the two monsters in question shone as they turned into dark orbs of light.
"Another XYZ Summon!" Ruri exclaimed with wide eyes.
"So she really does have another XYZ Monster on her Extra Deck…!" Mei followed suit. "So she did manage to get her hands on that card!"
"With these two monsters, I'll construct an overlay network!" The indigo haired girl shouted aloud as she clasped and raised both of her hands, raising it as the two dark purple orbs that were her two monsters rose above and dove towards the galactical vortex that appeared in the middle of the field.
And she then brought her hand down. "XYZ Summon!" She shouted as the field exploded with bright light, and soon receded to reveal her new XYZ Monster. "Appear! Diamond Dire Wolf!"
The XYZ Monster that she had summoned was not one that shared the same type as the rest of her deck, the diamond furred giant wolf let out a howl as it brandished its blades and claws, two dark brown orbs floating around the monster in an orbit as it stood menacingly while it set its sights on the monsters that it would soon face.
Diamond Dire Wolf - Earth/XYZ/Beast/Rank 4/Effect: 2000/1200 OV: 2
"A second XYZ Monster I see. And an entirely different one from the one that you had summoned earlier." Her top hat wearing opponent noted, eyeing the newly summoned XYZ Monster with intrigue and caution.
Words which Serena ignored as she tuned the man out in favour of continuing with her line of play. "And I'll activate its effect!" The ponytailed girl shouted loudly as she waved her right hand outwards.
"Once per turn, I can detach one XYZ Material from this card, then target one Beast, Beast-Warrior, or Winged Beast-Type monster I control and one other card on the field, and destroy them!" She said, shouting the monster's effect.
"I'll detach one material from Diamond Dire Wolf, to target and destroy both Lunalight Blue Cat and one of your Performapal Sky Pupil!" She shouted, declaring the two targets as the diamond covered wolf howled before it took one of its two floating overlay units as the cost to activate its effect.
Diamond Dire Wolf - Earth/XYZ/Beast/Rank 4/Effect: 2000/1200 OV: 1
And without a card that he could use to stop the effects of Serena's newly summoned XYZ Monster, the diamond wolf howled once more as it spun, shooting razor sharp shards of diamonds towards the two targets, Serena's own Lunalight Blue Cat, and one of the two Performapal Sky Pupil that were on Sakaki Yusho's field.
Now that one of the two Sky Pupils were gone, the danger that her opponent's field represented had plummeted. Now his field was able to be destroyed through battle, meaning that now, she could easily clear the board.
Both were destroyed as the effect resolved, turning into motes of light as they were sent to the graveyard. "And Blue Cat's effect!" The indigo haired girl then declared, once more waving her hand.
"Since it's destroyed by a card effect, I can special summon a 'Lunalight' monster from my deck! I'll summon my last Lunalight Crimson Fox!" She shouted as she took the card straight from her deck and placed it onto her duel blade, the bush tailed crimson coloured Beast-Warrior soon then graced the field in attack position.
Lunalight Crimson Fox - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1800/600
Said monster then glowed as its attack was then boosted through the multiple continuous effects that Serena had on her field.
Lunalight Crimson Fox - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 2300/600
"Now battle!" The girl then said aloud as she moved towards the Battle Phase, motioning her hand forward towards her monsters. "I'll attack Performapal Longphone Bull with Lunalight Crimson Fox!"
Using the newly summoned monster first, the crescent masked Beast-Warrior danced and lashed out against the phone horned bull with a kick, destroying it in combat and dealing damage to her opponent whom took it with a smile as he stood tall with closed eyes, a hand on his cane as his Life Points were reduced from the residual battle damage.
Sakaki Yusho: 4300LP
It was the sequence of attacks that would turn off Performapal Sky Pupil's battle related effect. With Longphone Bull no longer on the field, Sky Pupil's effect was now offline.
And so she had her next target.
"Then I'll attack your Perfomapal Sky Pupil with Lunalight White Rabbit!" Then the next attack came, the mallet wielding rabbit leaping high with its weapon overhead and bringing it down against the one remaining monster on the man's field.
The monster was then of course destroyed, and a gust of wind was created as the solid holograms clashed, to which Sakaki Yusho still took in silence, even as his Life Points was once more reduced.
Sakaki Yusho: 3500LP
And with that attack, her opponent's field now was bare, with only the one Continuous Spell that was The Magician's Right hand left as it floated on top of her opponent's field.
"Diamond Dire Wolf! Attack directly!" She shouted her orders once more, and her new XYZ Monster howled again as it leapt and shot out its diamond fur, the razor sharp shards all shot towards the cane wielding performer as it hit the ground and created a cloud of smoke.
Gasps erupted around the crowd as they saw the attack land, but soon the cloud dissipated to reveal that all of the shards of diamond were shot around the man who still stood tall with a smile, creating a large circle around him, even as the duel disk still registered that the damage had still been received.
Sakaki Yusho: 1500LP
"My, my, that was quite dangerous don't you think Serena-kun? I didn't think that you were one for an act like this." The man said with mirth in his voice as he took his cane to tap on the diamond cage around him, all which started to disappear as soon as his opponent left the Battle Phase.
"Hmph. I just wanted to try out how far solid vision could go, that's all." The ponytailed girl said with a huff, though Mei could see the glint in her eye that showed amusement and satisfaction. "Though I will admit, I had learnt that one from the ridiculous moves that you did in the duel earlier."
"Ridiculous?! Why, Serena-kun, did you not find all of my performance earlier entertaining?! I'm quite hurt." The man said as he placed his hand in front of his heart, as if acting in mock pain to Serena's words.
That one elicited a snort from the girl, and she couldn't help but get the smallest smile out of the man's act. Something that he did not miss as his smile seemed to have gotten wider at seeing her response.
Serena shook her head before the man could say anything, and she then proceeded to end her turn. "I'll end my turn." And she does so with a field of monsters, one XYZ, and two of her own Lunalight monsters, three slots of her spell and trap zone being used for continuous cards which increases her monsters attack, one card left in her hand and that was the known Lunalight Serenade Dance that she had not set.
"And on the End Phase Lunalight White Rabbit's attack returns to normal." She stated as the mallet wielding monster once more shone, her attack points that were doubled through the effect of Lunalight Blue Cat returning to normal, though still boosted through the multiple effects of Fire Formations on her side of the field.
Lunalight White Rabbit - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 2/Effect: 1300/800
"Well then, let's see if I can turn the tides once again!" The man said with a chuckle as he raised his cane and twirled it, resting it on its holster before placing his hand over his duel disk to draw a card for turn.
"Then it's my turn! I draw!" The man then dramatically drew the top card of his deck once more, checking the card that he had drawn as the smile never left his face.
Everyone could only watch in anticipation, seeing as how both duelists had essentially entered a 'top deck war' as a certain red haired girl would call it, much to Serena's chagrin, her opponent was still in the running for the game.
If he somehow gets a way to summon that Ace Monster of his onto the field, then he could easily destroy her DIamond Dire Wolf, ridding her of any ways to possibly out that monster, or any possible boards that he could create.
The man closed his eyes as he said his next words, heard by the anxious audience and his opponent.
"I'll end my turn."
And just proceeded straight to ending his turn.
A second passed. And then another. Soon, enough time passed for everyone, more important Serena, to fully digest what the man had just said.
"I-you're ending your turn?" The indigo haired girl asked with brows furrowed and a confused look on her face, her eyes focusing on her cane carrying opponent who solemnly placed a hand over his top hat
"Ah, yes. While it is quite sad, it seems that lightning had not, in fact, struck twice." He said calmly, a smile still on his face as he gave a shrug. "So I ended my turn. The floor is yours now, Serena-kun."
"I-I guess it is… My turn! I draw!" The ponytailed girl shouted, drawing her card for turn and not even bothering with it as she immediately then went off towards the Battle Phase. "And battle!"
With a wave of her hand, she sent out her monsters forwards to battle. "I'll attack you with my monsters!" Serena so declared aloud, and her monsters then leapt to deal with what remained of her opponent's Life Points.
And they all hit, the attacks of Serena's monsters reaching the Entertainment Duelists as he, for one, crossed his hands to deal with the impact of the solid vision, no matter how lowered they were, as his Life Points were reduced to zero.
Sakaki Yusho: 0LP
Silence filled the gymnasium as the cloud of dust that the final attack send dissipated, leaving the standing figure of one Sakaki Yusho, a
"""OOOOOOOOOOO!"""
And so the crowd erupted into cheers, though many of the students that watched the duel finished stayed silent with mouth wide agape as they saw their teacher being defeated by someone who was more or less an unknown.
The two girls who watched from the sidelines could only watch as what was virtually a mob of overeager pre-teens formed a mob around the victor of the duel, the indigo haired girl question startled at the attention that she received, and was quite handily failing at handling being the centre of an attention when it wasn't a duel.
Instead of helping her however, both girls decided to scuttle away, instead moving closer towards the duelists who had lost the duel, though the man in question didn't seem to have minded that he had lost, instead he was looking over Serena who was surrounded by the lot of his students with a gentle smile, happy at the outcome that had happened.
"You seem happy for someone who lost, 'sensei'." And that was something that Mei immediately point out as they appeared near the top hat wearing man, with Sakaki Yusho himself taking a second to pry his eyes away from the scene devolving in front of him to turn towards them, showing his trademark smile.
"Mei!" Ruri shouted aghast at the girl's blatant and blunt question, something that the long black haired girl would come from Serena instead of the girl who stood beside her.
"Ah, Mei-kun correct?" The man asked as soon as he saw the purple hat wearing girl, and as she gave a nod to show that he was correct, he continued. "Well, I wouldn't quite say that I wasn't disappointed that I had lost the duel as you had said, this only meant that there is more that I myself could learn! Much more things that I would need to improve!"
Though hidden by the cap of her hat, they could tell that the purple haired girl raised an eyebrow at the answer that she received. "Really? That's quite the positive look of getting beaten by someone that's less than half your age." She said, ending with a light chuckle.
"Haha! I would like to say that that simply shows how much potential the next generation has!" He proclaimed with a wide grin as he watched Serena essentially explode from afar, throwing away the crowd that was surrounding her.
"Though she could most certainly need some help in regards of keeping her emotions in check." The man added with a chuckle as they saw the girl in question started to agitatedly shout back towards the ones around her.
A long sigh came from Mei as she shook her head, while Ruri could only chuckle light heartedly as she visibly sweatdropped at her friend's unruly behaviour. "Serena certainly has quite the… character."
"That, she certainly is." The man said with a nod of his head as they saw the crowd essentially parting, making way for the ponytailed girl to march her way towards where they were, brows furrowed and lips made to a frown.
She stomped her feet as she stood in front of them, and she made an agitated gesture towards the crowd of boys and girls behind her. "You! Old man! Get a hold of your students already!" She said with clear agitation, and a hint of desperation.
"Haha, why Serena-kun, it's just that they want to show you their awe and respect! I'm quite sure that you're the only one that has managed to defeat me in a duel after all." The man said with a smile.
"Ah, well, beside Shun-kun, Yuto-kun, and Kaito-kun of course. Though that just means that you're somewhere along their level." The man thoughtfully said as he tapped his cane on the ground, said statement made the clamouring of the students that surrounded them go louder.
"Ack! You're making it worse old man!" Serena shouted out loud as her head went back and forth towards the crowd of boys and girls who were slowly making their way closer towards them, or more specifically, towards her.
In fact, they were slowly but surely circling them, more or less preventing any ways of escape barring the path that the indigo girl had cut for herself, and even that too was starting to be filled by bodies.
So to avoid being clamoured by a gang of teenagers, Serena chose to run. "Darn it! I'll remember this old man!" She shouted aloud as she took off, barrelling through the crowd and exiting the gymnasium with all her might.
And with their current object of fascination escaping, the students decided to give chase. Following after the indigo haired girl as the entire class essentially squeezed through the gymnasium's double doors to chase after the victor of the duel.
"Haha! Well it seems that everyone is quite spirited today!" The Entertainment Duelist laughed aloud, a wide smile on his face as he saw the students trickled out from the gymnasium with haste, leaving only the three of them left inside.
"Umm… shouldn't we… stop them? Sakaki-sensei?" Ruri said as she nervously pointed towards the door of the gymnasium, or rather what lies beyond them. Even here they could still hear the shouts of the other students, all of them going after in search of Serena.
She was worried for her friend first and foremost, she knows well how pushy many, well, all of the students of Heartland Academy could be. Most especially the students that the most eccentric teacher of the academy taught.
With how close the World Duel Carnival is and how most likely everyone would enter in hopes of winning the entire tournament, it was a given that they would try to squeeze any sort of information in how to become a better duelist from anyone available.
And it just so happened that they've found an appropriate target. A girl their age who had managed to defeat their very own teacher. It was no wonder that they would want to hear what secret or strategy she had used to win the duel. Either to strengthen themselves, or in preparation if they were to face her in the tournament.
Knowing Serena's temperament, and clearly seeing how the girl doesn't do well with crowds as her first instinct was to escape them, she worried that if the group of students were to somehow catch her then the girl would blow up, figuratively speaking of course.
She just hoped that she would just settle for a duel or two to calm her nerves instead of resolving with violence.
"Ah, let them be." And the teacher whom she had hoped would have intervened simply waved off her concern with a shake of his head and a warm smile. "It's been quite a while since they've seen something this interesting after all. And hopefully this'll help with the tension's that's been on everyone's mind what with the WDC hanging in the horizon."
"Well that's certainly a way to get your mind off of it." Mei said with a small smirk hidden by her hat, shaking her head lightly before she then tapped the taller girl's shoulder. "Well, come on. We should get going before Serena loses all sense of reason and mauls someone." She said as she started to walk leisurely towards the exit.
Ruri sputtered at Mei's insinuation that Serena would harm a student of their school. "B-but Serena wouldn't do that! R-right?" She aloud towards the hat wearing girl, whom only turned and waved a hand.
"Alright then, we're going old man. Thank you for the showing of your Entertainment Dueling. It was… quite enlightening I should say." Was the words that left her mouth as she turned back and walked out of the gymnasium, leaving her behind.
"W-wait! Mei! She wouldn't do that right!?" Ruri shouted as she followed after Mei, stopping as she reached the door to turn around and bow towards the top hat wearing man and turning around to run off once more. "Wait up! Mei!"
The teacher in question could only chuckle lightly as he shook his head with mirth. "Children. They sure are energetic aren't they?" The man said aloud to no one as he smiled, looking off towards the disappearing figure of his last student and her friend.
"I wonder… You were just as energetic and as playful as them weren't you?" The man said wistfully, digging through his pocket to take out a crumpled picture that showed himself, a woman with long blonde hair and golden bangs, and a child with green and crimson hair.
"Yuya…" Sakaki Yusho said the name wistfully as he stared at the photo in his hand with longing, the fingers that held the picture tightening ever so slightly.
"...you know things like that are definitely why the two of them call you an old man."
The boyish voice came from a figure that appeared from the shadows, revealing themselves as they came out from their hiding place and walked near the top hat wearing man, their hood lifted and concealing their features.
But the man was not perturbed nor surprised by the appearance of the mysterious boy, as he merely raised his eyebrow. "Really?" The man asked aloud, caressing his chin. "Do I really act that much like an old man…? I'm just doing what I would normally do…"
"Hmph, then that means that you really are an old man." Said the hooded figure without missing a beat.
"But I haven't even gotten to my forties…" The top hat wearing man trailed off, lamenting the fact that he hasn't even gotten to a certain age threshold.
"..." The cloaked figure gave no reply, though it was clear that the boy had something that he wanted to say for that matter.
"Ah well, that's a matter for another time." The top hat wearing man said with a shake of his head as he changed the topic of the conversation, turning his head to look down towards the boy next to him. "So. Were they the 'friends' that you were looking for?"
"Yes. There's no mistaking them." The hooded figure nodded their head, affirming the man's suspicions as his eyes did not move from the door where the two girls had left earlier.
"There's no doubt about it. They travelled from another dimension as well."
"T-thanks…" Serena said as she held both her knees with her hands, huffing for breath as she caught her breath.
"Its-its fine…" Ruri breathed out as she did the same, a bead of sweat falling from the side of her head as exhaustion caught up to the black and purple haired girl who was beside the indigo haired girl.
"I think we're in the clear." Mei said from beside them as she peeked her head from the corner which the three were hiding from, and just as she said so a group of students went and passed them, missing the trio.
"T-that was close…" Ruri said aloud as she slumped as she let out a sigh of relief, something that the ponytailed girl beside her also did the same as the exhaustion from running away from the mob of students had caught up with her as well.
"I thought… all the Heartland Academy students are… supposed to be… normal." Serena said between huffs, taking a long breath every few seconds.
"They… are… most of the time…" Ruri answered back, closing her eyes and taking a moment to take a few calming breaths. "I guess Sakaki-sensei was right…they were just excited to talk to someone that could beat him in a duel."
"Tch… guess I could understand that." Serena grumbled as she looked away, remembering how she herself had pestered and bothered Yuuna over and over for a duel almost daily. "... doesn't stop it from being annoying though."
"That's most certainly true." The black long haired girl said with a nod of her head, before raising her head to look out from the alley they hid in towards the other students who were searching for them. "Everyone's really working hard… to get stronger huh…"
"...Ruri?" Mei called out to the long haired girl as she saw her trail off, her pink eyes glazing over as she seemed to be lost in thought. "Are you alright?"
That snapped the girl off of her train of thought as she visibly jolted and turned towards the purple cap wearing girl. "Ah! No, I'm… fine." Ruri said as she shook her head, plastering a shaky smile on her face.
Mei was silent as she kept her eyes on the black and purple haired girl, whose smile faltered under her gaze and seemingly shrunk. "I… no it's just… it's childish but… you can say that I'm… jealous of them I should say."
"Jealous? You of all people?" Serena asked with a raised eyebrow. "What's there to be jealous about those people?" The ponytailed girl asked as she crossed her arms in front of her chest, leaning against the wall behind her.
"I… everyone's just trying so hard and I… I'm not even doing anything…" Ruri said with a downcast expression, her head angling down as she glanced at her open palms. "Both Onii-sama and Yuto, and you two as well..."
Saying so the girl then raised her head as she looked at the afternoon orange sky above, and continued to let the innermost thoughts that had plagued her heart. "Compared to that I'm…"
"... so you're jealous that they're… trying their best to improve themselves?" Mei said in a low tone of voice, eyebrows furrowed as she pondered on her friend's dilemma, something that she's personally had never happened to her before.
It wasn't a case of slump, nor was it a case of burnout, both something that she, Serena, and even Yuuna had experienced before, something that they managed through by taking breaks or doing something else to refresh their minds.
She for one, fiddles with the duel disk, something that she does in her free time that helps her clear her mind from the stress. It was the first thing that she had done as soon as they managed to find a good place to stay in this dimension.
Serena's, being who she was, rarely ever stops challenging someone, mostly their own small circle, to duels. But there were times where those challenges lulls, and they could find the indigo haired girl glued to her room as she essentially knocks her brain and spends time trying to better her deck.
Yuuna was the same, essentially, as whenever she nears a state of burnout she simply just changes the deck that she uses, something that she could afford to do thanks to that ability of her's.
Though another aspect that both she, Yuuna, and several of the orphanages children also do was to sell cards, or rather Yuuna's excess cards that she doesn't seem to use. Donning the Red Hat persona to sell them, the DP that they got usually going for pocket money or used to help the orphanage.
That wasn't something that she could do here. Clearly. And she doubts that these weren't the same cases that her friend was having.
From what she heard, Ruri wasn't in a state of burnout, nor was she in a slump of some sort. No, her black haired friend was lacking in motivation to improve herself, something that she was jealous of her other classmates.
She… doesn't quite know how to deal with that problem.
For her, there was no lack of motivation for self improvement. Not for an orphan of Academy Island like her, where becoming a duelist of the Academia was one of the only ways for success, where becoming a pro duelist was something that she wished to accomplish. The same goes for Serena.
Yuuna was also the same, though her motivation comes from the love of the game itself, and also the goals that the world had burdened her with.
Something that she and Sister Claire wished to aid her in.
And there certainly was no lack of motivation to improve now that they were stuck in a whole other dimension, with the threat of the Academia's invasion hanging over their heads.
But that wasn't something that Ruri had.
She wasn't a desperate orphan who wished for success in life. She wasn't someone who had a deep love for the card game. And she wasn't someone who had to improve with the threat of a damocles sword hanging over her head, one that would doom an entire world.
She was a normal girl with a loving family, a loving older brother, and a close childhood friend. A social idol that's looked up by other students of this school of her's. Someone who even had natural talent in dueling, and yet had no motivation to further that skill.
Or at least, no explicit motivation, neither driven by internal or external reasons, unlike them.
"... those normal Heartland students, they want to be pro duelists or something along the lines don't they?" She started off, breaking the awkward silence that had befell them. "A dream that you probably don't share with them huh?"
"..." Ruri stayed quiet, neither denying nor accepting her words, but she soon answered. "I… Onii-sama and Yuto always dreamed of being one. A pro duelist that is." The black haired girl said.
"And since they wanted to be duelists… Heartland School was the one school that had the best chance for them to achieve that dream… they applied." the taller girl said, her eyes still glued to her empty hands.
"I… just didn't want to be left behind… I just… didn't want to be left alone…" The girl said, her mouth quivering and her eyes glistening with tears as she spoke the innermost thoughts that she kept in her heart.
She had no desire to become a professional duelist unlike her brother nor her childhood friend. She has no desire to become famous and etch her name in history as a strong duelist.
The reason why she entered the school, the sole reason as to why she has gotten this far, was simply because she didn't wish to be separated from her brother and her friend.
"So? What's wrong with that?"
The one who said that was none other than Serena, breaking the silence that had befallen them again as she huffed and kept her hands crossed. "That kind of reason should be enough right?"
"H-huh?" And what Ruri responded with was a look of confusion, something that made the indigo haired girl scoff.
"I said that that's enough for a motivation right?" The girl said as she turned her head down to look towards Ruri, her ponytail swaying as she did. "You became a duelist so that you could be with that brother of yours and your childhood friend right? And you're jealous of those other students since they actually have, what, a clearer motivation?" She scoffed.
"But I-! My… motivation is… selfish…" Ruri said as she kept her head down, her voice growing more and more weaker.
And the reply made Serena snort. "As if those idiots aren't doing this for selfish reasons." She said, looking out from the alleyway and seeing several of the Heartland students walking around, their numbers slowly dwindling as time passed and never having found their search target.
"They want to be, what? Pro duelists? Like Yuto and Shun yeah? That means that they have to fight one another if they want to do that. They have to win and keep winning against others in their class." The ponytailed girl began.
"If that isn't selfish, then what is?" She asked, and Ruri could only stare.
Though she soon managed to regain her composure, or something along those lines, as she shook her head and argued back. "B-but that's just normal dueling! That's not selfish at all! If anything, I'm even more selfish since I don't want to be a pro duelist and yet-"
"And yet you can even win against them, yeah? Well that just shows you have talent. Or they're bad duelists. Either works honestly." Serena said with a shrug, essentially dismissing Ruri's argument with a lazy wave of her hand.
"Seriously, you're like, one of the strongest duelists that I've dueled against since we came here. Honestly just slightly below that brother and childhood friend of yours." Serena said, giving an off handed compliment.
"Compared to you, those Heartland bunches are like, uh. Super weak!"
"R-really? But I-no, Onii-sama and Yuto are far more…" Ruri trailed off once more as she rapidly shook her head to clean her thoughts. "No! That's not the point!" The long haired girl said as she waved her hands angrily.
"Ah? Right ,we're definitely getting off track huh." Serena mumbled aloud, nodding her head and continued on. "What were we talking about again?" She asked, turning towards Mei in hopes that the girl remembered what they were even arguing about.
The twin tailed girl could only stare at Serena with a deadpan look, before letting out a long tired sigh as she held her head in one hand. "... about Ruri and how she's jealous of others improving themselves."
The indigo haired girl blinked several times at her answer, before her eyes shone with realization. "Oh right, that." Then she tilted her head as a look of confusion took place. "That's enough for a motivation though?"
"B-but it's selfish!" Ruri argued once more. "Everyone's doing their best to be better! Onii-sama… Yuto… even you two! And yet I'm…"
"Yeah, but you can just, you know, try?" Serena said, tilting her head again with further furrowed brows as if she was confused at Ruri for not realising something so obvious. "I mean, you certainly want to, right? Be better that is. That's why we're even having this conversation in the first place."
And once again, Ruri was stunned into silence. The raven haired girl could only look upwards towards Serena's green eyes which looked back with honest confusion. "B-but… I-" She stammered out.
Only to be cut off by the third person in their party, who took their focus as she let out yet another sigh. "You're worried. Because Shun and Yuto are out trying to be a better duelist, training somewhere while you're just here not doing anything like them, correct?"
Her observation hits the mark as the raven haired girl flinched at her words, turning her head away to not meet her gaze. "And you're jealous of the Heartland Students who're actually doing something to better themselves too. And you honestly want to do the same, you just don't know where to start."
"But… Can I really do that?" The girl whispered out quietly, though they managed to hear them. "I'm… not as strong as Onii-sama. I'm not as good as Yuto. I'm not as resourceful as you Mei, and I don't have a… a dueling instinct like Serena. I'm… there's no way that I can be like everyone…"
"Yeah so? Of course you don't have those, you're you." Serena said bluntly, cutting off the long haired girl comparison to them all. "I said it before that you have talent, so use it. I don't care if you think your motivation is selfish or whatever, everyone's is, so just do better than them."
"What Serena is trying to say." Mei interjected, moving her and in front of Ruri and between her and Serena to get the girl's attention. "Is that it's fine to be selfish. You don't want to be left alone by Shun and Yuto, and that's fine. A lot of people do things for a lot of different reasons. And I'm sure those classmates of yours are the same."
Then she turned her head towards her friend. "Right, Serena?" Mei asked with a serene smile, her eyes masked under the cap of her hat.
And the indigo haired girl only stared back as she nodded her head. "Yeah. Sure. A bit wordy though." She said, then turning her head away as she huffed. Clearly quite miffed that she had stolen her thunder, or something along those lines.
Seeing that, Mei turned back towards Ruri, taking her hands into her own and holding them gently. "What you want is normal, perfectly normal really. Not wanting to be left behind by the people you care about is… certainly something that everyone wants."
Because deep down she knew that she feels the same. Not wanting to be left behind by Yuuna, by her big sister, was one of the reasons why she did her best to improve herself in dueling, along with her at the time illusioned goals of being an Academia duelist.
Gods knew how that turned out to be.
"Besides, I'm sure that Shun and Yuto won't leave you behind." She said reassuringly, knowing full well how kind and compassionate the boy that looked eerily similar to Yuri was when it comes to the raven haired girl in front of her, and how her older brother would never leave her out of his sight if he gets the chance.
"...it's normal?" The girl asked with a sniff, tilting her head upwards, locking her pink eyes with her own. "Then… it's fine? For me to think like this… is fine? That I want to be selfish… just to not be left by them is… fine?"
"Of course it is. You're just being an idiot about it." Serena bluntly declared once again, sending her glare their way from the wall that she leaned on. "You don't want them to leave you alone, but since they're getting farther and farther as they get better, you don't know how to catch up to them. If that's the case, then just do whatever and see if it works!"
The two of them could only stare at the ponytailed girl, and once again Mei couldn't hold the sigh that escaped her lips, something that was getting more and more common with how much she had to deal with Serena's antics.
"You know what, if you don't know where to start to get stronger then I'll just make one myself!" The indigo haired girl said as she walked and snatched Ruri's hands from her light grip, yanking the long haired girl up with a pull.
Ruri yelped, her free hand flailing in an attempt to regain balance as she stumbled forward, but she was then pulled again by Serena who begad walking out of the alleyway. "If the whole problem was just not having motivation to get better and not knowing where to start then we'll just have to duel! That's definitely a good way to start!"
"H-huh?!" Ruri let out a sound that defined her confusion as she kept being dragged away.
"From there we'll find which parts are bad for your deck and fix it! Then we'll duel again! And basically repeat until you feel tired and do it again the next day until the tournament starts! It always works for me." Serena rambled on as she pulled Ruri along, exiting the alley.
"W-wait Serena! I'm-"
"And if that doesn't work we'll try something else!" The indigo haired girl said with a grin as she dragged along her interdimensional twin. "I don't know what other thing we could actually do to help other than just duel each other, but we'll figure something out!"
"There she is! She's with Ruri!" Someone shouted loudly, snapping Serena out of her ramblings as she saw a group of Heartland students and one of them pointing towards them.
"Crap! We've got to run!" The ponytailed girl shouted as she tugged Ruri hand, making the raven haired girl yelp yet again as she was dragged along as the two tried their best to escape the army of students chasing after them. More for the sake of the ponytailed girl who didn't want to deal with students pestering her for questions about how she managed to beat their teacher.
So Mei was left alone in the alleyway, forgotten by both her friends and the students that ran and chased after the retreating duo.
She sighed again, shaking her head with a tender smile. She'll have to thank Serena later, she managed to handle Ruri's sudden tumble of emotions quite well, even if in her own blunt way that's similar to just slamming a sledgehammer into a delicate situation.
"At least that's dealt with for now." The hat-wearing girl whispered aloud, quite relieved that her friend's sudden crisis was dealt with, or at the very least averted with Serena's own brand of bluntness, and the girl's own insatiable need for duels.
"I just hope that it all goes well…" She said with a wistful sigh, looking up towards the sky, dark clouds hanging over the horizon.