R: Ultra Evolution
Book 28: Birds of a Feather
WDC Presents: State of the Art card:
WDC Tag-Team Championship Tournament SF: Bad Breed (Astrid Hofferson/Freja McKinna) vs. Young Stallions (Marko Anders/Zak Zapata)
WDC Tag-Team Championship Tournament SF: Style Council (Caprice Morris/Myka Grainger) vs. No Remorse Corps (Kari Tsukumo/Radley)
Caleb Hayes vs. Claude Duane
WDC Tag-Team Championships: Bad Breed/Young Stallions vs. Style Council/No Remorse Corps
WDC Championship: Rhydian Morris vs. [c] Rio Kastle
Kranebitten Airport, Innsbruck
The club were readying themselves for another important show in State of the Art, but carrying her new title, Rio had other priorities, as she walked straight towards Johnny McGregor in the airport, Tony making sure to be right behind her to keep prying journalists away. As the Scot saw her, he gave a polite smile, which she returned, but before long, they got straight down to business.
'Congrats champ, knew you could do it.' 'Thanks, but I think we both know that I'm not here for a personal trip.' She then took a slip of paper out of her pocket, with an address written on it. 'Dylar was only under a spell for a matter of days, it has long since been released. You can go to that address, talk to her, and if she wants to quit, all it requires is a phone call from her, no questions asked. Did you want anything else?'
Still suspicious, Johnny started questioning her. 'How do I know I can even trust you? Your lot took her in the first place, how do I know this isn't some other trap?' 'Why would we be trying to trap you? If I wasn't willing to be honest with you, I would simply have never spoken to you again now Maddy's safe, because we'd have no issue dealing with you. This is a new era, and we can do things better. Just ring the number on the day so she knows to expect you, and then you can talk to her. Now if you don't mind, we appear to have lost a Norwegian and a shorty.'
Much looking for the two then followed, with Phil audibly complaining 'I told them 5 minutes half an hour ago. We've still got strategies to go through, deck checking, preparations, and the 10 minutes of meditation that Astrid insists on doing before anything remotely big. We talked about this before, don't wander off randomly, you know what happens when you do that, we end up spending an hour looking for you.'
Eager to shut down the complaining, Blair steered the subject away slightly. 'How's Freja coping with the whole Maddy situation, I know it was really tough on her being one of the last to find out, and I've not had chance to ask her.' Hannah then responded 'Honestly, Freja's holding up alright, especially considering she's dealing with the whole other situation as well. Astrid's the one you really need to be concerned about.'
'Oh yeah, what's she been up to?' 'Not much to be honest, she's not spoken about what's going on once, she's not done any of the things she's interested in aside from look after Sky, she's just sat there watching television mostly. All we've got out of her is 'It is what it is', and that she's "Just focusing on today". To be perfectly honest, I don't think for a moment that she's coping, but I just don't know what to do about it, I hope Freja does though.'
After several more minutes of looking, Blair noticed Declan on the phone near duty free, and quickly made a beeline for him, as Phil shouted after her 'We're supposed to be looking for Fre' 'I know and I don't care, there's something I need to do.' She stormed across, but as she arrived at him, she had to wait for his phone call to finish, and that allowed Rio and Phil to catch up with her.
'Yes certainly, I have already been in contact with Mr. Hofferson, he has conditionally agreed to make an appearance, and I'm confident that we'll be able to come to some kind of deal on him competing. Trust me, I don't foresee it happening more than once, and I fully intend on speaking to her about it, but I don't think that she'll object if I can offer her the one duel she truly wants above anything else. Glad to have you on board.'
As he ended his call, he noticed the club by him, and Phil immediately leaned in. 'If you're trying to set Astrid up for a duel, don't forget' 'Everything goes through you? I am fully aware. My legal team are setting up the exact details, then I shall be contacting you requesting permission to speak to Astrid directly. Of course, I would fully expect her representative to be present at any such conversation, and I will happily fly out to the UK should it be required.'
He then brushed Phil aside, irking him somewhat, to speak to Rio. 'I just want to be the first to congratulate you on your title win Ms. Kastle, your win was incredibly impressive.' 'Thank you' she responded suspiciously, which he noticed. 'No need to be on edge, I simply wanted to congratulate you. I would love to see a future duel between yourself and Astrid, who is of course our champion, but I will be in contact with him when I intend on doing so.' 'Bring it on' she responded confidently.
He then picked his phone back up to contact someone else, but as he started dialling, Blair stepped in front of him. 'I don't do small talk so I'll cut to the chase, I want to duel you. Matchplay.' Impressed at her confidence to challenge him, he nodded and stated to her 'Can you be ready for LFD: Poison in three weeks' time? I would make it sooner but I have urgent business meetings' 'Deal. I heard you're unbeaten to date.' 'Officially, yes.' 'Well I'll have to be the first then.'
Blair then heard a familiar voice ask her 'You not challenging me first? Here I thought we were rivals.' As she turned around, she saw Astrid stood there, unusually wearing a casual shirt and jeans, her long blonde hair in two half pulled through buns at the back of her head, with some of the stands below them roughly braided. 'Wow, who taught you fashion?' 'I'll give you a clue, she's about 5ft, she's a model, and she's probably still stuck on a cherry picker.'
Freja then ran over with a french braid more reminiscent of her tag partner, telling her 'Why you lying about me, it wasn't a cherry picker it was a spinny chair, do you realise how hard it is to balance on those things?' 'Do you know how hard it is having to sit down while someone yanks at your hair because they still can't reach? I'm kidding by the way, it wasn't that bad.' 'I told you that I can't braid, that's why you should have used a mirror.' 'It was your idea to do this.' 'Technically Lydia's the one who told me that your ponytails always look boring, I think they're nice.' 'Yeah, well Lydia's a bitch, what do you expect? Oh, hey Declan, what brings you here other than being rudely challenged by Blair?'
Before he could answer, Blair stepped up to her. 'Anytime you want to face me 'trid, just tell me the time, date, location, and I'll be there. That is unless you're too busy sucking up to my cousin.' Angry at the comment, Astrid pushed her straight to the ground. 'You know, ever since you nearly drowned you've been an absolute bitch towards me.' 'Yeah, because you're sucking up to Phil and because you promised you'd help run the security side of the club, and since then you've been round maybe twice? And one of those was just because Phil and Hannah were bringing Sky round.'
'Well I'm sorry that I've had other things to worry about recently your majesty, although technically I said I was just taking care of a few personal things and then I would be doing that. And guess what, those personal things, they haven't gone away.' 'I think the bigger problem is that your "personal thing" has gone away, and even though you're the one who set it up, you didn't realise that it's actually going to affect you.'
As Astrid digested this and audibly gulped, Hannah stepped between them. 'Have you heard yourselves? I've got a proposition for you both - North Duelling in Manchester are holding their 5th Anniversary event in a couple of weeks, and I told them that I'd get them a huge exhibition main event. And I think I've just found that main event, Astrid Hofferson vs. Blair Flannigan, not for any titles, but for bragging rights.' They both listened, and held out their hands in acceptance of the challenge.
In the arena
As the lights came up, the show began with a recap video showing highlights of the main event alongside soundbites of Rio saying 'Never give up' and 'Cold hearted, cold blooded', before the winning moment happened and the footage slowed to show the reactions of the crowd, of Blair and Jade jumping for joy backstage, and of Junction 7 watching on in shock at the outcome, before ending on Rio holding the belt over him.
The commentary team (Brad and Kalin) then introduced the show, stating 'Normally State of the Art is a huge show that we build up to. However, the entire complex of not just this show but the entire duelling world shifted six days ago in Long Beach, when Cold Blooded Rio Kastle prized the WDC Championship out of the claws of Rhydian Morris, ending a long unbeaten streak he had with that title.' As the card started flashing up on the screen, each matchup being presented on a lightning struck background to ominous music, the commentators speculated that 'Now Rio Kastle has issued a rematch challenge to Rhydian for this show, but we believe she has additional stipulations that she will be announcing. We are expecting her to announce those at the top of this show. Talking of…'
As they said this, Blair walked out to no music but a huge crowd response, still dressed absolutely to the nines, and now sporting a pair of thick sunglasses. After taking a moment, and a deep breath, she proudly announced 'Introducing, proudly representing both the Renegades and the Dynasty, my best friend, one of the most inspiring people in the world, the saviour of the entire company, and YOUR NEW WDC CHAMPION, COLD BLOODED RIO KASTLE!'
As she blasted the final words out, Rio's music played to an immense reaction from the crowd, and she walked out, wearing an ice blue dress shirt and a long red skirt. Behind her, Phil and Tony stood, acting as bodyguards, the former in a black Oxford shirt andice blue waistcoat, while Tony had his signature grey suit and tie. And in the centre of the zone, she took a moment to soak in the crowd chanting her name, before she was handed the microphone by Blair, sharing a tender hug in the handover.
'I don't expect the reaction I keep getting, but I'm always grateful for it, so I just want to say, thank you to every single person who has believed in me. That goes for all the crowds, it goes for all the Renegades, to all the well wishers, but especially to Blair.' Having somewhat expected this, Blair took a bow for the crowd to an even bigger reaction. 'Because she never stopped believing in me, pushing me on, encouraging me to be better than I was. And more importantly, she's been family to me, always accepting me for who I am no matter what. Even when I did some stupid things, she was always the one who was there waiting, and I wouldn't have done it without her.'
As the entire crowd applauded Blair though, Rio had another person to thank. 'And don't think I'm going to leave the big guy behind me out. Because Phil, you're the best manager ever.' Caught totally off guard, Phil just laughed to himself as Rio continued to sing his praises. 'I just count myself lucky that you approached me and asked the way that you do, if I'd allow you to try management, thinking you could offer something to me. Because you've offered more than you could ever imagine, from helping manage money to negotiating title shots to literally making me a champion, every single thing I've achieved is because of your presence, and that's why I'm so thankful, and I hope that I can continue to make you proud and prove that you made the right decision in taking a risk on me when you could have just stuck with the best duellist in the world (pointing to a blushing Blair).'
She then turned to the Ice Bank, and directly addressed them. 'And to all of you, the people who are coming to event after event just to see me, to cheer me on, who roared me to victory in Long Beach, who spend all your hard-earned money on coming to events, I just want to say thank you, because I really couldn't do this without all of you. You mean more to me than words can say, but I just want you to know that I think about you every day and how lucky I am to have you.'
She then stopped, as her fanbase led the audience in chants of 'Thank you Rio' and 'WDC'. As she waited, the newly minted champion just stood in disbelief, and Blair ran over to whisper down her ear 'You're the champion, believe it, enjoy it.' This encouraged her, and she took a breath, holding back her emotions to tell the crowd 'Thank you all. Now there's one other person who isn't here, and in time hopefully she'll be able to explain why, but I need to thank Maddy, because without her'
Sadly the crowd never got to hear this praise, as Junction 7 interrupted her, and Rhydian appeared to be in quite the foul mood, as he growled 'Don't you DARE talk about Maddy, you have no right to be talking about my girl after you stole her AGAIN!' Rio immediately got straight into his face, and told him 'After what you did to her, after you forced her to go away?' Shaking with anger, Rio gritted her teeth and viciously told him 'There's SO much I want to say to you right now, but I promised her that I wouldn't, that I would let Maddy tell her story when she chose to. But I swear, if you're after this title, then you're going to shut up right now, otherwise you're not getting your title shot, you're getting a free trip to where she tried to go, and you're not going to like it!'
This made Rhydian step back slightly, as Rio set her stall out. 'I'm a member of the Dynasty, and we're fighting champions, but we're also smart. See, I read the contract we signed, and there's no obligation for me to give you a rematch, I'm presuming you were so confident that you didn't think you needed it. But you're out of luck, so I'll give you a rematch, but first, you've got to make it worth my while. ' 'It's already booked genius' he responded, but Rio clearly had him over a barrel. 'Well according to our lawyer, they don't have the power to, because I never agreed to it.'
'And I never agreed to face you, so you'll have to give me my title back.' 'Difference is, I earned my title shot. What've you done to earn this one - you've spent the entire time since I beat you sulking. But you know, I'm nothing if not generous, so I'll give you a title shot. In fact, I'll do it right here and right now. But, it's a Dynastic Gamble duel, because I've beaten you twice now. So when I beat you again, this is your last shot, because I'm not defending against you again.'
Unimpressed, Rhydian played her game. 'Ok, well if you're that confident, why don't you put something on the line?' Calmly, Rio stepped up and informed him 'If I lose, I will quit the Renegades and duelling and move back to Idaho because quite frankly, I don't deserve to be anywhere near any of these brilliant people if I can't avenge Maddy. Now let's duel.' Rio got her duel disk out, and surprised, Rhydian sent Kieran back to grab his.
As he returned with the kit, the introductions were made. 'The following duel is a Dynastic Gamble duel for the WDC Tag-Team Championship. Introducing first, representing Junction 7, from Llanfair, Wales, he is the Cobra - Rhydian Morris.' Rhydian activated his duel disk, growling at Rio. 'And introducing his opponent, representing the Renegades and the Dynasty, from Twin Falls, Idaho, she is your reigning and defending WDC Champion of the world, Cold Blooded Rio Kastle.' Rio raised her title, but stared directly at Rhydian as she did, before handing it over to Phil to mind for her.
WDC Championship: Rhydian Morris LP:8000 vs. [c] Rio Kastle LP:8000
(Rhydian hand: King of the Swamp, Ogdoadic Calling, Nunu, the Ogdoadic Remnant, Snake Rain, Ogdoadic Water Lily)
Rhydian: 'I'll start and activate Snake Rain, discarding Nunu the Ogdoadic Remnant, to send Ogdoabyss, Amunessia, Aron, and Keurse. Then I'll activate Ogdoadic Water Lily, to send Nauya the Ogdoadic Remnant to the graveyard, then summon Ogdoabyss, the Ogdoadic Overlord (Atk:3100). I end my turn.'
(Rio hand: Graceful Charity, Lyrilusc - Cobalt Sparrow, Lyrilusc - Turquoise Warbler, Flash Fusion, Lyrilusc - Bird Call, Lyrilusc - Celestine Wagtail)
Rio: 'Let's do this. I activate Graceful Charity to draw three cards and discard two. Now I'll summon Lyrilusc - Turquoise Warbler (Atk:100). Because she was just Special summoned from my hand, she can summon Cobalt Sparrow (Atk:0). Now Cobalt adds a Level 1 Winged Beast to my hand, like Sapphire Swallow. I'll then overlay them both to summon Lyrilusc - Recital Starling (Atk:0). Recital, detach a material to add a Level 1 Winged Beast to my hand. I'll add Pendulumucho, and then immediately summon it (Atk:0).'
'I'll then use Sapphire Swallow's effect in my hand, summoning herself and Celestine Wagtail (Atk:0,100). And I'll use Wagtail's effect, which will add Lyrilusc - Bird Sanctuary to my hand. Now I'll use Bird Call, which adds Beryl Canary to the mix, and what do you know, I can go ahead and summon her by reviving the Cobalt Sparrow I detached from Recital (Atk:200;0). Now I'll overlay all five to build the overlay network, and Xyz summon Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale (Atk:1200).'
'When Sapphire Swallow is used as an Xyz material, she proves to be something really special, as she can attach a Lyrilusc in my graveyard as a material. I'll choose Cobalt Sparrow, and then the Celestine Wagtail I discarded earlier can use its grave effect to attach itself (Atk:1200-1600). Now I'll activate Bird Sanctuary, using it to draw a card because I control an Xyz monster with at least three materials, and the other effect will attach Recital and its material onto Assembled (Atk:1600-2000). I'll also activate Overlay Regen, to give her another material (Atk:2000-2200).'
'Now I'll go to my Battle phase, so get ready for 10 attacks each worth 2200 points!' 'Yeah, there's no chance of that, I'll use the effect of Ogdoabyss to send all your cards to the graveyard.' Rhydian laughed at this thought, but was then caught off guard as a fierce wind blasted him back, and a vortex of dark energy appeared in front of him, showering him with sheer despair as the fans sat in relative silence, and the card Flash Fusion shone on the field. The only noise was Rio talking in a low hiss.
'I am going to make you feel every single bit of pain that she felt that entire time, that we all felt that entire time. I am going to tear you down like you tried to do to us, because you made us stronger and you're going to regret ever doing that. Twitter of the songbird that resounds in the starless night, become one with the inner voice and sing even more intensely. Lyrical Luscinia, your requiem has been written! Fusion summon! Fly down, noble isolated night bird who hunts alone and showers every target with stains of red, Lyrilusc - Independent Nightingale (Atk:1000).'
'For every Xyz material that my Assembled Nightingale had, Independent gains 500 Attack points and one Level (Level:1-11; Atk:1000-6500). Now my bird of destruction, attack! And don't even think of trying to defend yourself with your monster's effect, my nightbird knows no master when it comes to effects, none will taint her. Parasite Roar!' As the nightbird's eyes crackled red, its wings spread aside, and her blood red feathers formed a ring, before she threw her wing towards them, and they rained down like mini meteors on the head of Ogdoabyss (Rhydian LP:8000-4600).
'And now for the funerary procession, for each Level she has, my Nightingale deals 500 points of direct damage. I would say it's been fun, but for you, it's been a nightmare.' Rio stood back and watched the devastation unfold as a sphere of red energy emitted from her monster's glaring red eyes, and slowly approached Rhydian like an unstoppable crimson freight train, leaving him completely obliterated (Rhydian LP:4600-0).
Rio's swift win left everybody in shock, but she seemed perfectly calm still as she raised the belt up high again, no sign of the vicious demeanour that had highlighted her 89 second victory. 'Your winner, and still WDC Champion, Cold Blooded Rio Kastle. As a result, Rhydian Morris can no longer challenge for the WDC Championship.' Rio was also happy to slap hands with much of the crowd as she turned to leave, but was then blindsided on her way out as the Dynasty's music played, and Freja walked out to a confused response, not least from Rio, who spoke to her briefly, getting the response of 'Leave this one to me, she entrusted this to me', and as such, the victorious champion walked through the entrance gate, waiting and watching there.
While Rhydian was still reeling from his defeat, Freja walked straight up to him, with a microphone. 'Don't worry, I'm not here to attack you. Because this is way worse. You remember all those times that you had sex with Maddy while she was under control? How you took advantage of her, violated her? Well I've got a couple of surprises for you, so you're going to want to pay really close attention to the screen. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is what "saving" Maddy looked like for his crew. Manny, the screen.'
Freja then pointed to the big screen behind her, and on all of them, the videos of Lukas beating Maddy to a bloody pulp started playing, with Rhydian's reaction going from somewhat indifference, to shock, to sheer anger, as he had to witness the events that occurred behind his back, the events that a turncoat he had trusted captured on camera, and events he had been warned about but failed to believe. Meanwhile Freja stood stoically, refusing to watch the videos lest she show weakness in front of him.
As the final recording wrapped up with Maddy lying on the floor of the Condo in a bloody mess and Belle tending to her, Freja got into Rhydian's face, and asked him 'Are you happy now? Are you happy that you got to witness the woman you apparently love having the snot beaten out of her while you pretend that you're all lovey-dovey and playing happy families? Are you happy that Belle had to witness that? ARE YOU HAPPY THAT WE'VE ALL HAD TO WATCH THOSE VIDEOS OVER AND OVER AGAIN!?'
'Because I'll tell you what, that's cost you so much more than you could ever imagine. Because I'm not done yet, I've still got one more little image for you. Manny, the scan.' Maddy's ultrasound scan was then shown on the screens, with a handful of the crowd immediately realising what came next, and they reacted with sheer shock, and one fan even fainted on the spot. While they were being taken for medical attention, Freja made the big reveal.
'You know what that is Rhydian? That's a scan Maddy had while undergoing surgery for the ribs that Lukas kindly rebroke for her. And that was fine, but they found… some irregularities in her bloods while she was there. And this little scan, it's showing the big news Rhydian: Maddy was PREGNANT! With your baby! And Lukas made her miscarry it, Lukas killed yours and her baby! And now she's gone because of you!' No longer holding back the tears, she threw down the envelope onto him, and screamed 'I hope you're proud of yourself!', before leaving.
As she did, Rhydian just sat there, completely unable to process what had just happened. He rocked back and forth briefly, his face split evenly between anger and sorrow, the two mistresses he now had to serve. After a couple of minutes, security walked out, and he left of his own accord, not causing the slightest fuss as he was escorted away.
Backstage, Freja returned to questions from Rio. 'Hey, what's in the envelope?' Freja just shrugged in response. 'It was left in my bedroom, with instructions not to look inside. How it got there I don't know, and what's in it, I don't know. But I suspect that it's going to be some kind of evidence of what Lukas did, or maybe the miscarriage, I just don't know. She didn't even tell me it existed.'
Before they could discuss this any more though, Rio noticed a cameraman approaching them, and told Freja 'Just hold on a minute', before approaching the camera. 'Listen up, I'm going to make this real sweet and real quick, because it appears that nobody around here actually wants to listen to us. Claude, you just think you can get away with raping two of the most important people in my life without consequences? Well you're about to be proved wrong. When LFD go to Copenhagen next week, I'm challenging you to a WDC Championship title duel, because I know you can't resist the chance to pick off a defenceless girl. Except this one has teeth, and if you walk into there, it might be home territory for you, but you're the one walking into hell. And if I can't beat you, I'll quit duelling, because I clearly don't deserve to be here, and I'm only going to lose when hell feezes over.'
Meanwhile, Rhydian stormed straight backstage, and in a quiet corner, stared at the envelope he had been handed. After much consideration, and looking at both the front and back of it, he carefully slid his finger under the flap, easing it open with minimal force. And from the envelope, he pulled out a physical copy of the scan, a USB Stick, and a simple A4 piece of paper, on which a letter was written.
"To Rhydian. I don't hate you. I'm sure you presumed I do, but I don't. Because I refuse to feel that anymore, I refuse to feel hatred. Because that was all you would let me feel. This letter is a courtesy to explain the impact of your actions. Before we begin, I would like to address the picture and USB. You have already seen the contents of both of them, but I included them so that you know they aren't fake. I also leave attached the locations of the cameras where they were recorded."
"So you're probably wondering where I am, why I didn't deliver the message directly to you. And that is because you drove me to something I never thought I'd do. And I'm not just talking about making me murder my own father in cold blood just because you didn't want to share me for a moment. No, your actions and what you made me do drove me to the point of trying to commit suicide."
"Now as I write this, I don't know what the outcome of this will be, because in approximately one hour, I will be diving into the River Tyne, hoping to never be heard from again in this life, because you destroyed this life for me. The moment you touched me again, everything spiralled out of control. Let me make something clear for you: on the off chance people do realise my plans and stop me in time, I will be disappearing off the grid. And when I'm returning, I don't know. If I'm returning, I don't know."
"This is now a fact you have to live with. You have to live with the fact that the one person you supposedly cared about more than anybody else in the entire world was so broken by you that the only way out for them was to kill themselves, and that your negligence denied you the one thing we both always wanted - a real family. I don't hate you, but only because I refuse to feel hate anymore. If you're lucky, you will never see me again, and this will be goodbye. Signed, Maddy Smith."
In the duelling zone
The team of Marko and Zak entered first for their tournament Semi-Final, with the crowd starting to get invested in the possibility of them coming from nowhere to win the titles. 'The following is a WDC Futureshock Tournament Semi-Final duel. Introducing first, they are the team of Marko Anders and Zak Zapata, the Wild Stallions.' The young team were clearly pumped as they almost jumped down to the zone, slapping hands with the crowd who were very invested in their energy. In the zone, they slapped hands with each other, as the crowd hyped up.
Their opponents then entered, with Phil by their side. 'Introducing their opponents, representing the Dynasty, they are the team of the Wildfire, Freja McKinna, and the Natural - Astrid Hofferson.' As they walked down, Phil was deep in conversation with them, and while it couldn't be seen what he was saying, he was clearly giving them some last minute instructions, with both the girls responding well to him. In the zone, they both raised the symbol of excellence as the crowd applauded. Both teams then started, with Phil keeping an especially watchful eye on proceedings.
WDC Futureshock Tournament Semi-Final: Wild Stallions (Marko Anders/Zak Zapata) LP:8000 vs. Bad Breed (Astrid Hofferson/Freja McKinna LP:8000)
(Astrid hand: Runick Flashing Fire, Runick Freezing Curses, Runick Destruction, Runick Tip, Vala, Seidhr of the Generaider Bosses)
Turn 1: Astrid: 'I'll kick this off. I activate Runick Destruction, to summon a Runick monster from my Extra deck. Meet Hugin the Runick Wings (Def.:0). When Hugin hits the field, she can discard one card to grab the Field spell that I'm going to activate immediately - Runick Fountain.' A somewhat gothic-looking well rose up from the ground, and murky water slowly started flowing from the mouth of the Fountain, as Astrid ended her turn calmly.
(Marko hand: Red-Eyes Black Dragon, Polymerisation, Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, Black Metal Dragon, Gearfried the Red-Eyes Iron Knight, Storm)
Marko: 'I draw to activate the Polymerisation, fusing Gearfried the Red-Eyes Iron Knight and Red-Eyes Black Dragon to summon Red-Eyes Slash Dragon (Atk:2800).' Immediately, Astrid put her plan into use. 'Something you need to know, this fountain is the Well of Mimir, the waters of this well contain unlimited wisdom. Wisdom which enables me to activate Spell cards from my hand on your turn. I activate Runick Flashing Fire, to destroy your Slash Dragon and then banish the top 2 cards of your deck. And while I'm at it, I'll activate Runick Tip, which lets me add any Runick card I want to my hand. I'll get Runick Golden Droplet.'
Scrambling for another strategy as a sheer flare of fire flashed Slash Dragon to a crispy end, Marko tried to regroup. 'I summon the Black Metal Dragon (Atk:600), and banish it for the Special summon of Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon (Atk:2800). Darkness Metal then revives Slash Dragon (Atk:2800). Slash Dragon, attack Hugin.' Slash Dragon released a slash of claws that almost split the air itself in half, causing a yelp from Hugin as she was felled. 'When Hugin is destroyed, she returns to my Extra deck.'
'Now I can attack with Darkness Metal Dragon.' 'I'll activate Runick Freezing Curses, to discard one card and summon Freki the Runick Fangs (Atk:2000). Then I'll use the 2nd effect of my Fountain, and you're going to really hate this one.' The previously peaceful water suddenly started bubbling, and three cards appeared at the base of the fountain. 'It lets me take three Runick Quick-Play Spells from my graveyard, and shuffle them back into my deck. Then, I draw three cards.'
Shocked, Marko tried to regroup himself.' 'It's weaker, so it's to be destroyed.' Darkness Metal Dragon unleashed burning metal scales onto Freki, melting its skin and destroying it in brutal fashion. 'Neither player takes damage from battles involving Freki. And when it's destroyed, I can target a Runick Quick-Play in my graveyard, add it back to my hand. The only choice is Runick Flashing Fire. No easy way to tell you this Marko, but this is the level you have to be at to make it to the top. You're great, but you're not bad and nasty like we are.' Sadly, he stated 'I end my turn.'
(Freja hand: Athena, Soul Drain, Gellenduo, Honest, Hecatrice, Ultimate Offering)
Freja: 'I'll draw for turn, and activate the effect of Hecatrice in my hand, discarding it to add Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen to my hand. Then I'll activate Valhalla, and use it to summon Athena (Atk:2600). I end my turn with two face-downs.'
(Zak hand: Thunder Dragonhawk, Thunder Dragondark, Thunder Dragonroar, Thunder Dragon, Thunder Dragon's Hundred Thunders)
Zak: 'I'm drawing and summoning like I know best. I'll discard Thunder Dragon to' 'Flip up Soul Drain' Freja responded with complete assurance, as her far more experienced partner nodded in approval at her choice. 'Now monsters banished or in your graveyard can't use their effects. So no Thunder Dragon for you.' Completely roadblocked, an exasperated Zak gestured with his arms out as if to ask for advice, before ending his turn.
(Astrid hand: Runick Destruction, Harr, Generaider Boss of Storms, Dovelgus, Generaider Boss of Iron, Generaider Boss Bite)
Astrid: 'I'll draw, Freja, take it away.' 'I activate Ultimate Offering, and then use it to pay 500 Life points (Bad Breed LP:8000-7500) and summon Honest (Atk:1100). You then take 600 damage from Athena (Wild Stallions LP:8000-7400). Then I can use the effect of Honest to return itself to my hand. Meaning I can use Ultimate Offering again, and I think you get the picture.' Freja continued performing the loop, all while Astrid continued to tell their opponents 'Play with the Dynasty, get crowned, because we need this (Wild Stallions LP:7400-0; Bad Breed LP:7500-1000).
After the duel, Astrid and Freja slapped hands, but Astrid made a point of not talking to anybody on her way out. Freja followed her, but trying to catch up, she ran straight into Belle, almost bundling them both over. After they untangled themselves, the Leeds competitor quickly picked herself up and started to walk away, only for Freja to run after her, and stop the woman she once considered a sister.
'Look, I can't continue not talking to you, and you can't continue just running away from me forever.' 'Yeah, that's why I'm moving back to Leeds. Because if I can't be your friend, I'm going to do us both a favour and get the hell out of your way.' 'No, I mean that we have to move past this. We can't just dance around each other, but as long as I'm being torn in different directions, I can't choose either of you.'
'Well I don't want there to be a choice' Belle responded curtly. 'I want us all to get on, I want my best friend back. The best times of my life were when you thought you were my sister, because you care about me, but clearly something happened along the way, or maybe it was all just an illusion after all. But just say the word and I'll be gone.' Freja shook her head and walked away, but not before quietly stating 'I don't want you gone.'
After Freja was safely gone, Lydia walked up to Belle, all smiles. 'So when are you packing your bags? I'll even pay for the taxi for you. You know how selfish it is putting Freja through all this stress? She can't handle it, she's not emotionally mature like you think, she's soft and vulnerable, and you're making that worse.' 'I don't want her to have to choose between us' 'There's no fucking choice for her to make' an aghast Lydia returned. 'Because I'm Freja's sister who has always protected her and been there for her, and you're just a random convict that Maddy dragged off the streets to prove a point to Hannah. Nobody wants you here, nobody ever did.' Lydia then walked away, leaving Belle to continue melting down.
In the duelling zone
The Style Council emerged first for the second tournament Semi-Final, dressed in matching blue getup, and posing on the stage with Myka pointing to Caprice, who leant back with her hand on her forehead, and fireworks went off behind them. They then sauntered down, roared on by the smoking hot crowd. Approaching the zone, they posed once more, and then got their tactics straight.
While they did, Kari and Radley marched down, with few to no theatrics, focused on reclaiming their tag titles. Before any introductions could be made, they went straight to the zone, and clashed their arms, before activating their duel disks. 'Let's go, we didn't come here to look pretty.' 'Good job' Caprice responded 'Because you've got no chance of beating us, in looks or otherwise. We've got the perfect strategy.'
WDC Futureshock Tag-Team Tournament Semi-Final 2: Style Council (Caprice Morris/Myka Grainger) LP:8000 vs. No Remorse Corps (Kari Tsukumo/Radley) LP:8000
(Caprice hand: Trickstar Light Stage, Trickstar Candina, Trickstar Nightshade, Celestial Transformation, Trickstar Lycoris)
Turn 1: Caprice: 'I'm going to start by opening up the Trickstar Light Stage, time to shine!' As the bright stage extended across the entire battlefield, random flash photography started going off, with Caprice posing for it, making Myka laugh. 'On activation, this entices Trickstar Lilybell out of my deck. And when she's added that way, Lilybell brings herself straight out (Atk:800). Now I'll summon Trickstar Candina (Atk:1800), and she'll add Trickstar Aqua Angel to my hand.'
'Now Aqua Angel can summon herself because I control a Trickstar (Atk:0), but by bouncing it back to my hand, I can summon Trickstar Lycoris (Atk:1600). Now I'll Link off my Trickstar Lilybell to summon Link 1, Trickstar Holly (Atk:200). When it's summoned, it forces Kari to draw a card, and then you take 200 damage through Lycoris (NRC LP:8000-7800). Now I'm going to Link off Candina and Bloom to summon Trickstar Holly Angel (Atk:2000), and use Celestial Transformation to summon Trickstar Nightshade (Atk:100-50).'
'Nightshade, I'm Linking you off to summon Colchica (Atk:200). Now I'll use the effect of Holly Angel to deal 200 damage to you because I summoned a Trickstar to her Link point, and she gains 200 Attack (Atk:2000-2200; NRC LP:7800-7600). Then I'll use Nightshade's effect to revive itself (Atk:100), and Link off her and Colchica into Trickstar Noble Angel (Atk:2000, Holly Angel Atk:2200-2400; NRC LP:7600-7400). 'And I'll continue, because Noble Angel can add Maiden of Blue Tears to my hand on summon. I'll then Link off Noble Angel and Trickstar Lycoris into Link 3, Trickstar Delfiendium (Atk:2200; Holly Angel Atk:2400-2600; NRC LP:7400-7200).'
'And then for the ultimate show, I'll Link off Holly Angel and Delfiendium to summon Link 4, Trickstar Bella Madonna (Atk:2800). When she's summoned, I can deal you 200 damage for each differently named Trickstar in my graveyard. Even with Nightshade banished through her effect, that's still an ace 8, so enjoy the pain sandwich (NRC LP:7200-5400). I end my turn setting one.'
(Kari hand: Kagetokage, Xyz Change Tactics, Hyper Rank-up-Magic Utopiforce, Gagaga Magician, Xyz Unit, ZS - Ascended Sage, Zexal Catapult)
Kari: 'I'll draw, and I'll summon ZS - Ascended Sage because I control no monsters (Atk:900). And I'll add Gagaga Magician (Atk:1500). Then because I summoned a Level 4 monster, I can summon Kagetokage (Atk:1100). After activating Xyz Change Tactics, I'm overlaying two Level 4 to Xyz summon Number 39: Utopia (Atk:2500). And with Change Tactics, I'll pay 500 to draw a card (NRC LP:5400-4900), before overlaying again into Utopia Ray (Atk:2500).'
'And by using Hyper Rank-up-Magic Utopiforce, to overlay my Rank 4 Utopia into a much stronger form. Appear, Number 93: the real king of hope and emperor of ambition, Utopia Kaiser (Atk:2500). Now the effect of Kaiser, I can detach one material to summon any amount of Number monsters from my Extra deck of different Ranks, but your damage is halved this turn, not that it's likely to help you. I summon Rank 4 Crazy Box, Rank 6 Utopia Beyond, and Rank 8 Gimmick Puppet of Leo (Atk:3000;3000;3200).'
'Now I'm able to discard the Rank-up-Magic Zexal Force I drew earlier, and overlay Utopia Kaiser into Number 99: Utopic Dragon (Atk:4000).' 'And I'll greet it with the Maiden of Blue Tears, who will destroy your Dragon and deal you with 2000 points of damage, half its Attack.' The fair blue maiden appeared on a large tablet looming above the field, and shone a blue light down as she sang a siren's song, melting through the Dragon (NRC LP:4900-2900).
'That's fine, I've still got Xyz Unit, it's going to equip to Leo and it gains a bunch of Attack (Atk:3300-5100). 'Leo, attack.' The towering machine withdrew its sturdy sword, and brutally executed Bella Madonna, with the halved damage coming as a relief to Caprice and Myka (SC LP:8000-6850). 'When you destroyed my Bella Madonna, you triggered my Colchica, by banishing her from the graveyard to deal you with Bella Madonna's Attack as damage (NRC LP:2900-100). 'Now I can attack with both my other monsters (SC LP:6850-3850). I end my turn.'
(Myka hand: Kozmo Dark Destroyer, Kozmo Dark Eclipser, Kozmo Dark Planet, Heavy Storm, Kozmourning, Teleport)
Myka: 'I'll draw and banish Dark Destroyer and Dark Eclipser to summon Kozmo Dark Planet (Atk:4000), and attack Crazy Box.' The mysterious box was cracked open by a powerful single shot from the Planet, which ended the fast and furious contest (NRC LP:100-0).
No sooner had the duel concluded then Teresa and Sara were out to congratulate their sisterhood on their win, celebrating all the way backstage. As Kari and Radley started walking back up meanwhile, some live footage played if Hassleberry talking to Jodi backstage, with Kalin now referring to her as "The Envoy". It appeared to be a particularly friendly conversation as well, with Hassleberry accepting the offer of a Renegades business card from her, and he appeared to verbally agree to what she said, before leaving.
While this played, Kari and Radley were approached by an interview. 'I mean, you're seeing what I'm seeing I'm sure.' Calmly, Radley told them 'We know it's a possibility, the three of us discussed it at length a couple of times. If he wants to ride with some different horses, then let him ride.' 'He'll be fine, and we'll be fine. Hass needs to make the right decision for himself and we support him either way.'
In the duelling zone
Caleb was out first for the next duel, sporting a gold and black LFD shirt with a crown over the "D", looking totally relaxed as he walked down. 'The following is the Clash of the Contenders. Introducing first, from Salt Lake City, Utah, Caleb Hayes.' While on his way down, Caleb stopped briefly, and randomly laughed to himself, before entering the zone and spreading his arms out wide as golden fireworks fell behind him.
Claude then entered, alone with his Regiment now a distant memory, but still sporting his fake army stripes. 'Introducing his opponent, from Zealand, Denmark, Lt. Claude Duane.' Claude appeared determined on his way down, shouting at Rio's fan base as he did, while the screens showed a video of him from social media, declaring himself as the top contender for the WDC Championship. As he entered the zone, he briefly eyed up Caleb, and then they began, both supremely confident.
Clash of the Contenders: Caleb Hayes LP:8000 vs. Claude Duane LP:8000
(Caleb hand: Dogmatika Fleurdelis, the Knighted, Dogmatika Maximus, Dogmatika Ecclesia, the Virtuous, Dogmatika Ashiyan)
Turn 1: Caleb: 'Prepare to fall at the altar as I start with Dogmatika Ecclesia, the Virtuous (Atk:1500). When my saint is summoned to the battlefield, she can add Dogmatika Punishment from my deck to my hand. I'll set this face-down and end my turn.'
(Claude hand: Babycerasaurus, Xeno Meteorus, Ground Xeno, Petiteranodon, Frostosaurus, Tail Swipe)
Claude: 'And you call that a turn? This'll be like taking candy from a baby.' 'Be careful what you say Mr. Duane, the most innocuous boards can soon breed the most dangerous outcomes.' 'Yeah yeah, talk all you like moron. I'll activate Ground Xeno, to add Xeno Meteorus to my hand, then destroy the Petiteranodon in my hand. And when the cute little baby's destroyed, I'll be able to summon a high Level Dino from my deck. I summon Double-Headed Dino King Rex (Atk:1600).'
'Two heads, but only half the brains. What use are more tools if you don't know how to use them?' Already irked at Caleb's seemingly aimless wittering, Claude responded crudely. 'Look, we can either hear out your poetry recital, or we can get on with this. Because a Dinosaur of mine was destroyed by a card effect, I can summon Xeno Meteorus (Atk:2000). Then Dino King Rex will destroy your Ecclesia.'
The effect of Claude's regal Dinosaur saw it smack the saintly Dogmatika with its tail, destroying it and leaving Caleb's field open for attack. 'Now I'll attack with both of my monsters.' The two attacks came swinging in together, and Caleb, despite having a tool with which to avoid the punishment, took both hits (Caleb LP:8000-4400). 'Now I've dealt with that, I'll tune Level 6 Xeno to Level 6 Dino King Rex to summon Transcendosaurus Glaciasaurus (Atk:3600).' 'And I'll activate Dogmatika Punishment. All I have to do is send a higher Attack monster from my Extra deck, like this Five-Headed Dragon, to the grave and your monster visits the spirit in the sky.'
This appeared to not concern Claude however, as no sooner had his monster been slain by a bolt of divine lightning than he had the chance to produce another. 'I'll banish Ground Xeno from my grave, so its effect can fuse together the Frostosaurus and Babycerasaurus in my hand to Fusion summon Transcendosaurus Gigantozowler (Atk:3800). When it's summoned, I can add Xeno Meteorus back to my hand, then I'll end my turn safe in the knowledge that you've been well and truly played.'
(Caleb hand: Dogmatika Fleurdelis, the Knighted, Dogmatika Maximus, Dogmatika Ashiyan, Nadir Servant)
Caleb: 'On the contrary, that was fully expected. You appear to believe that I am not wise to your strategies Claude, when the truth is, I know things about everybody. I know all about your games, your plans, so give me some credit, because this was all part of the plan. I activate Nadir Servant, sending Titaniklad the Ash Dragon from my Extra deck to the graveyard, and adding Dogmatika Nexus to my hand. Now I think I'll summon Dogmatika Ashiyan (Atk:2000), and it can add Ecclesia back from my graveyard to my hand. And I'll let Dogmatika Maximus join it by banishing Five-Headed Dragon from my graveyard (Def.:3000.'
'The effect of Maximus will send two monsters from each Extra deck to the graveyard, so get sending.' As they both sent their cards, Caleb looked at the added Nexus in his hand, but then turned his gaze back to the field. 'And because you control a monster summoned from your Extra deck, I can summon Dogmatika Fleurdelis, the Knighted (Atk:2500), then I'll end my turn and Titaniklad will add Dogmatika Fleurdelis, the Knighted from my deck to my hand.'
(Claude hand: Babycerasaurus, Tail Swipe, Xeno Meteorus, Souleating Oviraptor)
Claude: 'I'll draw for my turn and summon Souleating Oviraptor (Atk:1800), using its effect to add Miscellaneousaurus to my hand. Then I'll attack your Fleurdelis with my Gigantozowler.' Calmly, Caleb responded to him, with the assurance 'You won't be destroying it for free, because when your Extra deck monster attacks, Ashiyan powers up all of my monsters by 500 (Ashiyan Atk:2000-2500, Fleurdelis Atk:2500-3000, Maximus Atk:1500-2000).' This didn't phase Claude though, and Fleurdelis was still stamped into the ground by the towering Dino (Caleb LP:4400-3900). 'I end my turn.'
(Caleb hand: Dogmatika Ecclesia, the Virtuous, Dogmatika Nexus, Dogmatika Fleurdelis, )the Knighted, Dogmatika Punishment
Caleb: 'I'll draw and activate Maximus' effect again, so we both send a further two monsters from our Extra decks to the graveyard. And because you still control an Extra deck monster, I can summon another Fleurdelis (Atk:2500). I'll then end my turn setting a card.' Frustrated, Claude shouted 'Coward!' to Caleb, who seemed incredibly calm about the accusation. 'Say what you please, some playground insults don't bother me tremendously. If I was you, I'd be more concerned with my own performance.'
(Claude hand: Babycerasaurus, Tail Swipe, Xeno Meteorus, Miscellaneousaurus, Ground Xeno)
Claude: 'My turn and I'll activate another Ground Xeno, adding Jurrac Gallim to my hand, then destroying Babycerasaurus in my hand. And that triggers the Baby, summoning another Jurrac Gallim (Atk:1200). Now I'll tune them both together to summon Dinowrestler Giga Spinosavate (Atk:3000).' 'No sooner has it arrived than it will depart to Dogmatika Punishment. I'll send another Five-Headed Dragon.'
While the holy light devoured Spinosavate, Claude lined up a further offensive. 'Attack Fleudelis again.' As he did, Caleb responded with 'Ashiyan again (Atk:2500-3000; Fleurdelis Atk:3000-3500; Maximus Atk:2000-2500).' Despite the boost, the knighted one still couldn't hold off its enemy, and Caleb's points took another trim (Atk:3900-3600). 'I end my turn.'
(Caleb hand: Dogmatika Ecclesia, the Virtuous, Dogmatika Nexus, Silent Graveyard)
Caleb: 'I'll draw for my turn, and this will be over in a single shot. I gave you the time, and you were good, but you didn't pass the test. I will banish four Extra deck monsters from the graveyard, being two Five-Headed Dragons, and your Glaciasaurus and Giga Spinosavate to summon the mighty Dogmatika Nexus (Atk:3200). Then I will activate the Silent Graveyard spell, to ensure you can't use your daft floating effects or whatever you'd like to call them.'
'Now my Nexus will attack. And when it does, all your Attack-position monsters are destroyed, and each Extra deck monster amongst them will cost you 800 Life points (Claude LP:8000-7200). Now all of my monsters can attack. See, I had so much respect for you as a competitor that I had to beat you in one go. When I struck, I knew it had to be decisive, because folks like you wouldn't give me a second shot (Claude LP:7200-0).
A hard fought win confirmed, Caleb was all too happy to talk to the crowd after. 'And so the holy crusade continues. For anyone who is unaware, I have a little motion graphic to show you.' The graphic in question was in front of the LFD logo, showing Caleb laughing on one side, and Astrid stood stoically on the other flank, her title sitting on her shoulder like it was never meant for anywhere else. While the graphic showed, Caleb calmly invited Astrid to 'Come and listen to the truth being spoken.'
After a pause, the Natural appeared, and as she passed a still fuming Claude, she casually booted him in the groin, before facing up to her challenger. 'If you can't tell I'm kind of busy, so this is going to have to be a quick one. If this is going to be something about religion, then you can come and find someone who's interested, because I'm really not in the mood to'
Before she could finish, he put his finger over her mouth, which she angrily swiped away. 'Do that again and I'm going to break your finger. Then I'll turn my attention to the rest of your hand, and then, your face.' Caleb didn't seem even slightly phased though, as he slowly moved his finger away from her while gleefully smiling. 'I didn't invite you out here to hear some kind of lecture or sermon, I invited you out here because when I praise people, I like them to hear it.'
This silenced the surprised champion, allowing him to continue. 'You are a champion on top of their game, firefighting wherever she sees it, a true fighter. As a competitor, I have the most infinite amount of respect for you like you would scarcely believe. I genuinely believe you may be the best duellist in the world when you are on form. And I know you're going through a lot, but I just want you to know' he then leaned in closer, and whispered just audibly 'Maddy would be proud of you.'
This sent a visible chill down Astrid's spine, as Caleb informed her 'In all seriousness, I hope that Maddy… wherever she is… is at peace now.' Completely freaking out, Astrid snapped back 'SHE'S NOT DEAD!', which made him smile, although it was unclear if this was at Maddy's living status or the increasingly thrown champion. 'In that case, I hope Maddy is ok. Now our title duel, I was thinking the next LFD event in' 'Yeah, whatever, just GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!' she exploded, and he held his hands up, before leaving, as a rattled Astrid stormed out.
As Astrid returned backstage however, Phil was waiting for her. 'You're on in a few.' 'I know. Look, I hope you don't mind me sealing the deal with Caleb myself' 'Not a problem. You know that if you want to do that you can.' 'I know, it's just with… well you've been so good to me, and you're basically the only people keeping me going at the moment, and when he said that to me.' Phil then pulled her aside for a gentle word.
'Look, if you're struggling, tell us.' 'Ok…' Astrid took a deep breath, pushed back tears, and admitted 'I'm really struggling. I didn't think it would be this hard, but I only just managed to get her back, and then she tried to end her own life and I wasn't there for her, and then instead of supporting her I tried pushing her away and now she's gone and… it's all just a lot. Way more than I think I can deal with.'
He patted her on the shoulder, and told her 'It's ok. You've always got me, you've always got us. If you ever need anything, you've got my number, we basically live in the same place at the moment, you know where I am. There are always ways to help.' Smiling, Astrid quietly told him 'Thank you. I'll see how things go, but I'll let you know if I need anything. I just need to get through things on my own right now, process everything.'
As Freja joined them, Phil had another thought. 'Oh yeah, I never saw the deck you're planning on playing in the final duel.' Freja responded proudly, telling him 'We've come up with cohesive decks together. Reveal in 3,2,1.' As they both revealed, Phil almost choked with laughter, having to take a moment to breathe. 'Jesus, what did those two ever do to you? You're absolutely evil you kids.'
They then saw Rhydian slowly walking past them, holding the envelope close to him with his head down. 'Geez, what was in that?' Astrid asked, but Freja plainly responded 'I don't know, I didn't read whatever was in it.' This was followed by a reporter chasing after him. 'Rhydian, we saw the envelope you were given earlier, can you tell us what was in it?' 'I haven't opened it' he responded before walking away from them.
In the duelling zone
After a short delay promoting upcoming events, the main event began with Freja and Astrid appearing, and while they were walking down, Freja could be seen visibly trying to calm Astrid down, practicing breathing exercises with her and helping her to get into the zone mentally. By the time she got to the bottom, the LFD champion was sufficiently calm and focused, as they continued to talk.
This made the Style Council confident upon their entrance, even posing together briefly before walking down, taking their time in the hopes of making the clearly still stressed Astrid sweat even more. As they arrived, the two teams faced off, and the titles were held up between them, with all four competitors taking a good long look at them before they were taken away, and all four began the main event.
WDC Tag-Team Championships: Bad Breed (Freja McKinna/Astrid Hofferson) LP:8000 vs. Style Council (Myka Grainger/Caprice Morris) LP:8000
(Myka hand: Necroface, Kozmotown, Kozmo Tincan, Emergency Teleport, Kozmo Dark Destroyer)
Turn 1: Myka: 'I'm starting this off by summoning Kozmo Tincan (Atk:0). I'll end my turn and use the effect of Tincan to pay 500 (Style Council LP:8000-7500) and reveal three Kozmo cards from my deck with different names. You have to choose one randomly.' Astrid looked down to Freja, who understood the look, and declared 'Middle', as Myka's turn came to a quick end.
(Astrid hand: Broww, Huntsman of Dark World, Runick Golden Droplet, Runick Tip, Runick Allure, Runick Dispelling, Runick Slumber)
Astrid: 'I'll draw, and activate Runick Allure, then activate Runick Slumber, to summon Hugin the Runick Wings (Def.:0). And with Allure, when I activate a Runick Spell, I can banish the top card of Myka's deck. Meanwhile, Hugin allows me to discard Broww, Huntsman of Dark World to add Runick Fountain to my hand. And Broww draws a card when it's discarded. Now I'll activate the Fountain.' As she did, Myka had fighting words. 'You know this isn't going to work, this whole banishing our decks thing? For starters you need to do it to both of us, and secondly, like we didn't see it coming after earlier?'
Astrid though, was clearly determined. 'If you knew what we were fighting for, then you'd understand that I'll make it work. Because as a certain someone told me before I came out here, by any means necessary. I'll summon Inspector Boarder (Atk:2000), and attack your Tincan.' 'Yeah, I'm just going to banish it for Dark Destroyer (Atk:3000). And Dark Destroyer will destroy your stupid Hugin.' 'No it won't, because you've been flagged by the Inspector.'
Myka took a look at the field, and saw that Boarder's red lights were all flashing and whirring. 'With Boarder on the field, none of us can activate monster effects if the number we've activated this turn is equal or higher to the amount of Ritual, Fusion, Synchro, Pendulum or Link monsters on the field. So the moment you activated the effect of your Tincan, Boarder closed off the field to monster effects. And while I'm at it, through Fountain I'll activate Runick Golden Droplet on your turn. This allows you to draw a card Myka, but then you banish the top 4 cards of your deck. And through Allure, four becomes five.'
While she did this, Astrid lined up another blow. 'After that, the activation condition of Runick Dispelling is met. Because you drew a card, one of the cards in your hand is discarded at random, then you banish the top 2 from your deck, and Allure makes that 3. And now Fountain can shuffle all three Spells in the grave back and draw three cards for me. Even though you're playing 60, it's still going to go quicker than you think. Especially when you've already lost of your deck just to banishing. And if you add them back? We'll just do it again. And again. However many times we have to.'
'I'll just have to destroy your Boarder then, because I'm willing to bet that there's no Runick card that stops you being blasted to smithereens by a huge fucking spaceship!' Dark Destroyer's lasers shot straight into the Inspector, causing him to crash the hoverboard he was on into the ground and go down in flames (Bad Breed LP:8000-7000). 'I end my turn. Go ahead and prove me wrong, neither of you are worth shit.'
(Freja hand: Call of the Haunted, Skill Drain, Soul Drain, Big Koala, Ancient Rules, United We Stand)
Freja: 'I'll draw and activate the Spell card Ancient Rules, allowing me to summon a Level 5 or higher Normal monster directly from my hand.' Freja kissed her hand, and then pointed to an empty seat in the stands, as she summoned 'The demon of the dead heart, Big Koala (Atk:2700). Then I'll activate United We Stand, which with two monsters on our side gives Koala a huge power boost (Atk:2700-4300). I'll set three and go the Battle phase, but Runick Spells skip our next Battle phase, so I'll end my turn.'
(Caprice hand: Trickstar Corobane, Imperial Iron Wall, Trickstar Reincarnation, Foolish Burial Goods, Trickstar Lycoris, Trickstar Lilybell)
Caprice: 'I'll draw and summon Trickstar Corobane because I don't control a monster (Atk:2000), then summon Trickstar Lilybell (Atk:800), before I bounce it back to my hand and summon Trickstar Lycoris (Atk:1600). Then Lilybell's effect is activated, to summon itself because it was added to my hand.' 'When you activate the effect, I'll chain Call of the Haunted, so welcome back Inspector Boarder (Atk:2000). That means when Lilybell is summoned (Atk:800), you're locked for the turn.'
'Ok, well I'll just have to remove it then. Trickstar Corobane, attack Inspector Boarder.' 'And I'll use Runick Slumber, which stops Boarder being destroyed once, and banishes three from Myka's deck. Then I'll chain Runick Golden Droplet, to let Myka draw a card and banish four from the top of her deck, and then activate Runick Tip, to add Runick Destruction to my hand while banishing the top card of your deck, and chain to that the effect of Fountain, adding three Spells back to my deck and drawing there cards. And for each Spell I just activated, Allure banishes another card.'
This devastating combination saw Myka draw one card, but then banish 11, as Corobane crashed her attack into Boarder to no success, seeing only herself fall while Boarder stayed upright. In a tough spot, Caprice set two cards and ended her turn.
(Astrid hand: Runick Destruction, Runick Fountain, Heavy Storm Duster, Helios, the Primordial Sun, Runick Tip)
Astrid: 'I'll draw and activate Runick Tip, to add Runick Flashing Fire to my hand, then banish the top card of Myka's deck. Then I'll use Fountain to shuffle back two Runick spells from my grave and draw two cards. I'll set three and end my turn.'
(Myka hand: Necroface, Emergency Teleport, Kozmo Farmgirl, Kozmo Dark Eclipser)
Myka: 'I'll draw and summon Necroface (Atk:1200). And when it's summoned, I can shuffle back every banished card into the deck, with it gaining 100 Attack for each one.' But Freja was determined to keep this from happening. 'I activate Skill Drain, which requires a downpayment of 1000 points (Bad Breed LP:7000-6000), but in return negates all monster effects on the field.' This put Myka in a difficult position, and she decided to go on the offensive.
'I'll summon Kozmo Farmgirl (Atk:1500), and activate her effect, because you can't negate her with Skill Drain if she's no longer on the field when she resolves, meaning I can go straight for Dark Eclipser (Atk:3000).' Immediately, Astrid stepped in with further disruption. 'Go - Runick Flashing Fire. This destroys your Dark Eclipser, then banishes two cards from the top of your deck.'
Aware that her opponents' next Battle phase was being skipped, this was when Caprice took a calculated gamble. 'I'll activate Imperial Iron Wall, which prevents all cards from being banished.' 'I'll chain Runick Destruction, which will destroy your Trap, and then banish the top three of Myka's deck for your trouble.' As a further seven cards vanished from her deck, Myka shook her head in bemusement. 'The hell can I do here? At the very least I'll use Dark Eclipser's effect, banishing itself to summon Kozmo Dark Destroyer (Atk:3000).'
'You've still got a Dark Destroyer in deck? Not bad considering you've got barely of your deck in there.' 'Well I'll show you I've still got plenty when I destroy Inspector Boarder. Enjoy your permanent retirement inspector!' Dark Destroyer shot through the inspector again, this time shooting straight through his head and reducing the Bad Breed's points (Bad Breed LP:6000-5000).
As her Battle phase ended though, Myka realised she did have a way to interact with the cards she was losing from her deck. 'I'll activate my own Field spell now - Kozmotown.' The grand emerald city made its appearance, with Myka hopeful of putting offensive pressure on with it. 'I'll use Kozmotown's effect, to return Dark Eclipser to my hand at the cost of 100x its Level (Style Council LP:8000-7100). Then I'll use the second effect of Kozmotown to shuffle Dark Eclipser into my deck and draw a new card. I'll set a card and end my turn.'
(Freja hand: Pharaonic Advent)
Freja: 'I'll draw and since the Battle phase is still not available, I'll end my turn straight off.'
(Caprice hand: Foolish Burial Goods, Trickstar Nightshade)
Caprice: 'I'll draw and summon Trickstar Nightshade (Atk:100). Now I'll Link off all three of my monsters to summon Link 3, Trickstar Delfiendium (Atk:2200). And Nightshade can then summon herself because she was used to Link summon a Trickstar monster, unless you've got an answer to that as well.' 'Go ahead' Freja insisted through her focus (Def.:0). 'And now I'll Link off those two to summon the queen of the crop, Link 4, Trickstar Bella Madonna (Atk:2800).'
This was of little concern to the Breed, until Myka helped her partner out. 'I'll activate Twin Twisters, discarding one card from my hand to destroy your United We Stand and Skill Drain.' Two conjoined tornados ripped across the field, taking both of the Breed's cards with them and putting the Council back on top in the gripping contest. 'Thanks to Myka, I can use Bella Madonna to deal 200 damage for every Trickstar in my graveyard (Bad Breed LP:6000-5400). 'And I can then attack with Bella Madonna, take down the takedown from down under.' Bella Madonna waved her wand, and a large vine appeared under Big Koala, destroying it (Bad Breed LP:5400-5300). 'I end my turn. It doesn't matter what you do, we're always going to be a step ahead. I don't care who you're fighting for or why, because right now, you're going down.'
(Astrid hand: Helios the Primordial Sun, Reckless Greed)
Astrid: 'I'm not going to let her down. I draw and I'll summon Helios the Primordial Sun (Atk:?). Might look funny to you, but for every monster banished, it gains 100 Attack points, and Myka, you've got a lot of banished monsters (Atk:2900). I end my turn with a face-down.' 'Big words and a small turn.' 'You can laugh Caprice, because deep down, I think you actually care as well.' 'You might be right, but right now I only care about winning.'
(Myka hand: Emergency Teleport, Necroface)
Myka: 'I draw and I'll use the effect of Bella Madonna again (Bad Breed LP:5300-4700).' 'Once you've done that, I'll use my Reckless Greed to draw two cards but skip my next two Draw Phases.' 'In that case, I'll go for the win with this - Necroface (Atk:1200). When it's summoned, I can return every banished card to the decks, and for each one, Necroface gains 100 Attack. Plus it makes your Helios flare out, the moon was always better anyway (Necroface Atk:1200-4100; Helios Atk:2900-0).
'Necroface, attack Helios.' The floating metal-clad face swept at high speed towards Helios, where a handful of tentacles erupted from its brain and sucked it back into the face (Bad Breed LP:4700-600). 'Because we just took damage, I can summon Mahaama the Fairy Dragon from my hand, and then we regain all the points we just lost (Def.:2500; Bad Breed LP:600-4700).' Seeing her hard work go to waste, Myka growled in frustration. 'I'll still use Emergency Teleport to summon Kozmo Tincan (Atk:0), and end my turn, using its effect (Style Council LP:7500-7000).' As she did, Freja looked at Astrid, who declared 'Left', before Teleport's effect banished Tincan.
(Freja hand: Pharaonic Advent, Power Filter)
Freja: 'I'll draw for turn.' Astrid then nodded to her, and Freja took the sign, running with it. 'Time to rev this up a notch.' 'I'll activate Runick Destruction, to summon a Runick monster from my Extra deck. I summon Munin the Runick Wings (Atk:0), while Allure banishes the top card from Myka's deck. And while I'm at it, I can use Fountain to shuffle three Runick Spells back into my deck and draw three cards' 'And I'm going to tribute Munin immediately to summon Pharaonic Advent (Atk:2000). Now the effect of Advent will let me tribute Mahaama to add Skill Drain from my deck to my hand. I'll set it and activate Power Filter before I end my turn.'
(Caprice hand: Foolish Burial Goods, Trickstar Corobane)
Caprice: 'I'll draw and activate the effect of Bella Madonna' 'Skill Drain, pay 1000 (Bad Breed LP:4700-3700).' 'Fine, I'll just attack Advent with Bella Madonna (Bad Breed LP:3700-2900) and end my turn.' As she did, Astrid declared 'Let's get to work. I'll activate Runick Golden Droplet, chain Runick Tip. With Droplet, Myka can draw a card and then banish 4, and with Tip I'll add Runick Smiting Storm and banish one more. And each one gets another banish from Allure. Then I'll use Fountain to shuffle both back into the deck and draw another two cards.'
(Astrid hand: Runick Smiting Storm, Ojama Trio, Field Barrier)
Astrid: 'Due to Reckless Greed, I can't draw for my turn, but that's just fine because I have Field Barrier.' A large clear dome briefly shone above Astrid's Fountain, before vanishing again. 'That barrier is impenetrable, and stops my Fountain from being destroyed or any other Field spell being activated. 'Then I'll end my turn with a face-down.'
(Myka hand: Kozmo Goodwitch, Kozmo Dark Planet)
Myka: 'I'll draw and just pass the turn.' This surprised Astrid, who considered activating her one remaining Spell in hand, but held off, aiming for maximum advantage. Freja meanwhile, took her next turn; her heart steady, her gaze focused, her mind fixed only on retaining advantage and protecting their somewhat dwindling life total.
(Freja hand: There Can Be Only One)
Freja: 'I'll draw and set another card before ending my turn.'
(Caprice hand: Foolish Burial Goods, Trickstar Light Arena)
Caprice: 'I'll draw and attack with Bella Madonna.' As the attack raged towards them, Freja looked to her more experience partner, who wasn't in the mood to take risks. 'I'll activate Runick Smiting Storm, using it to summon Geri the Runick Fangs (Def.:1000).' 'I don't care, I'm just going to attack it anyway.' Bella Madonna weaved her magic and made vines drag Geri into the grave, but the Runick Fusion left a nasty surprise. 'When Geri's destroyed, it takes your monster with it. Runick Revenge.' Geri's spirit rose from the grave, and ran straight into Bella Madonna, taking her down, with her own protection being negated by Freja's Skill Drain. 'I end my turn.'
(Astrid hand: Pot of Duality)
Astrid: 'I'll draw and activate Pot of Duality. By giving up Special summoning this turn, I can excavate the top 3 from my deck and take one for my hand.' Revealing Runick Smiting Storm, Runick Slumber and Runick Fountain, the choice for her was obvious. 'I'll add Runick Smiting Storm to my hand, then I'll end my turn.'
(Myka hand: Kozmo Goodwitch, Kozmo Dark Planet, Kozmotown)
Myka: 'I'll draw and end my turn.'
(Freja hand: Ojama Duo)
Freja: 'I draw and I'll set a card before passing my turn.'
(Caprice hand: Foolish Burial Goods, Trickstar Light Arena, Trickstar Light Stage)
Caprice: 'I draw.' Realising that she couldn't activate either of her Field spells due to Field Barrier, Caprice ended her turn and hoped for better next turn.
(Astrid hand: Runick Smiting Storm, Left Arm Offering)
Astrid: 'I draw and I'll end my turn.'
(Myka hand: Kozmo Goodwitch, Kozmo Dark Planet, Kozmotown, Kozmo DOG Fighter)
Myka: 'I draw.' Myka saw what she needed, and lined up her big move, but in a split second, Astrid recognised a specific movement and eye twitch, and screamed 'NOW!', triggering Freja. 'I activate Ojama Duo, to summon two Ojama Tokens to Myka's field (Def.:1000)x2. And they can't be tributed for a Tribute summon.' 'Nor can the ones I summon from Ojama Trio! This gives you another three Tokens (Def.:1000)x3, and you know what that means? I'll tell you, it means your monster zones are all used up, so whatever you were planning, forget it!'
As Myka stopped in shock, having done everything possible to conceal her body language, Astrid stuck the knife in just that bit deeper. 'You might deny it, but you really are just like Maddy, that little eye twitch and the tensing up, she does that all the time. You can argue with a lot of things, but you can't argue with biology, and trust me, I know we'd both like to do that. While you're chewing over that, I'll activate Runick Smiting Storm. This banishes cards from the top of your deck equal to the amount of cards on your field. I see 7. And don't forget Allure as well.'
As Myka banished a further 8 cards, she saw her deck diminish to a skinny-looking 35 cards. But Astrid was determined to keep the pressure on. 'And then I'll Fountain, returning two to my deck and drawing two cards.' Unable to remove the infuriating Tokens from her field, Myka ended her turn, hoping Caprice would be able to make use of them.
(Freja hand: D.D. Crow)
Freja: 'I'll draw and activate D.D. Crow, to banish your Necroface from the grave.' As she did, Myka rolled her eyes, and admitted 'When Necroface is banished, we all banish five from the top of our decks.' 'I'll end my turn.'
(Caprice hand: Foolish Burial Goods, Trickstar Light Arena, Trickstar Light Stage, Trickstar Festival)
Caprice: 'I'll draw and activate Trickstar Festival.' As she did, Freja announced 'I activate There Can Be Only One. Now we can only control one monster of each Type, the rest are sent to the graveyard. So Myka gets to remove all her Tokens but one, and you get to summon your Tokens (Atk:0)x2, but then you have to get rid of one.' Shocked, Caprice did so, leaving their fields suddenly far more bare. And unable to Link summon due to hidden rulings that she was all to aware of, Caprice ended her turn, but not before smiling to herself, a tacit acknowledgement of Freja harnessing tactics she would expect from Blair.
(Astrid hand: Left Arm Offering, Runick Golden Droplet, Necroface)
Astrid; 'I'll draw and activate Runick Golden Droplet, so now Myka gets to draw a card, before banishing four, and Allure increases that to five.' Myka's deck shrunk again, this time to 24 cards, while Astrid kept her focus in the gruelling contest. 'Now I'll activate Left Arm Offering. This forces me to sacrifice anything left in my hand, which is just this Necroface, but in return, I get to add any Spell card to my hand. I choose Runick Tip.'
'As a bonus, I banished Necroface, so now we all banish five.' While they did so, Astrid continued whittling away. 'Runick Tip, I'll add Runick Destruction. Then Runick Destruction, I'll destroy Myka's Kozmotown, then banish four more. Or should that be, five more?' A large flaming dragon materalised from nowhere on the field, and shot through like an arrow, setting the Emerald City ablaze. Myka could have used its powerful grave effect here, but the presence of TCBOO was enough to dissuade her. 'Now Fountain will add back Tip, Destruction and Golden Droplet, so I can draw three. I'll go ahead and set all of them.'
(Myka hand: Kozmo Goodwitch, Kozmo Dark Planet, Kozmotown, Kozmo DOG Fighter, Kozmo Lightsword)
Myka: 'I'm still going to take you both out, because I don't do giving up.' 'In your Standby phase, I activate Fiendish Fortune. I've got a little game for you - you have to guess the Supertype of the top card of my deck. If you're correct, you draw a card. If you're wrong, you discard something at random from your hand.' In the strange situation of wanting to be incorrect, Myka declared 'Monster', only to get a shock when the card was revealed to be Amano-Iwato, thereby forcing Myka's deck to lose another card.
Now I've got the monster zones, I can summon Kozmo Dark Planet by banishing 10 stars' worth of Kozmos from my hand (Atk:4000). Now attack directly!' 'I activate Negate Attack, which will end your Battle phase. Hard luck but nice try.' Incensed, Myka ended her turn, as Caprice reminded her to 'Keep your cool'.
(Freja hand: Gold Sarcophagus)
Freja: 'I'll draw for my turn and activate Gold Sarcophagus, which will banish Necroface from my deck, but it's added to my hand in two turns. Not that I care about that, not when I can use it now to banish five more.' This rapid-fire drawing put Myka's deck on the brink, while Caprice's was also looking rather unhealthy. 'Now I'll end my turn.'
(Caprice hand: Foolish Burial Goods, Trickstar Light Arena, Trickstar Light Stage, Trickstar Bouquet)
Caprice: 'I'll draw.' As Caprice inspected the field, she came to a decision. 'If you're going to have an answer, so be it. Dark Planet, charge!' This put all the pressure on Astrid's face-down, as she revealed it. 'I activate my face-down Life Force. By paying 400 points (Bad Breed LP:2900-2500), we avoid damage.' 'I end my turn.'
(Astrid hand: Amano-Iwato)
Astrid: 'I'll end my turn immediately. Come and get me' she stated slightly arrogantly, which concerned Caprice, who recognised that her opponent was so supremely confident at this point that she was letting go of her inhibitions. All she could do was hope that Myka had a response.
(Myka hand: Kozmotown, Kozmo Lightsword, Monster Reborn, Kozmourning)
Myka: 'I draw and activate Monster Reborn, to bring back the fallen Kozmo Farmgirl (Atk:1500). The fact it has no effects is irrelevant, because its stats will do the talking. Attack!' 'I'll use Life Force twice to protect us (Bad Breed LP:2500-2100-1700).' Satisfied that her opponents were edging ever further towards the abyss, Myka stepped back and took a breath. 'I end my turn.' As she did, the crowd remained deathly silent, engrossed by the contest that had taken close on 50 minutes to start to unpick.
(Freja hand: Pot of Desires)
Freja: 'I'll draw and let's get risky, Pot of Desires. I'll banish 10 from the top of my deck to draw two. Then I'll set a monster and a face-down and end my turn.'
(Caprice hand: Foolish Burial Goods, Trickstar Light Arena, Trickstar Light Stage, Trickstar Bouquet, Trickstar Lilybell)
Caprice: 'I'll draw and because I drew Lilybell for turn, I can summon her (Atk:800). Now Dark Planet attacks your set monster.' Dark Planet's rings rotated, and a beam of light razed the ground beneath it, before slamming through Freja's monster (Gellenduo Def.:0). 'Now I'll attack with my other two monsters.' Visibly apologising to Astrid, she declared 'Life Force, protect us (Bad Breed LP:1700-900). 'I end my turn.'
(Astrid hand: Amano-Iwato, Runick Golden Droplet)
Astrid: 'I'll draw and activate Runick Golden Droplet, targeting Myka.' No explanation was needed as Myka had her deck raided once more, this time being reduced to just a single card, as Astrid took a chance. 'Now I'll use Runick Fountain, returning my Droplet to the deck and drawing another card.' She took her card, and immediately slammed it down, seizing the opportunity. 'I activate Card Destruction, so we all ditch our hands and draw new ones. Except you can't, can you Myka?'
As Myka shook head and walked off to the side of the zone, the announcer explained the rules. 'Under WDC Tag-Team Rules, as Myka Grainger is unable to draw the required amount of cards, she is eliminated from this duel. The duel however, will continue with Caprice Morris representing the Style Council alone.' Myka just stood and shook her head, aware that even if she had set her Lightsword, she would still have been eliminated at the start of her turn.
This left Caprice flying the flag alone, and Astrid was merciless in trying to finish her off. 'Don't think you're getting away either, I'll activate Runick Flashing Fire to destroy your Lilybell, then with the help of my Allure, you lose another three cards.' A single flare blasted onto the field right in front of Lilybell, vapourising it. 'I'll end my turn there.'
(Caprice hand: Trickstar Lilybell, Trickstar Magical Laurel, Trickstar Lycoris, Trickstar Reincarnation, Droll and Lock Bird)
Caprice: 'I draw' 'And I'll activate Runick Dispelling, forcing you to randomly discard a card, then banish the top card of your deck. And of course, Allure's making that tax go that bit quicker. Also I'll Fountain here, returning two.' As her Droll and Lock Bird was discarded, Caprice continued to try and find a way through. 'I'll summon Trickstar Lilybell (Atk:800), and attack you directly.' 'I activate Life Force (Bad Breed LP:900-500). 'I end my turn.'
(Freja hand: Morphing Jar)
Freja: 'I'll draw and end my turn setting a monster.'
(Caprice hand: Trickstar Magical Laurel, Trickstar Lycoris, Trickstar Reincarnation, Athena)
Caprice: 'I'll draw and Lilybell will attack your set monster.' As she went in for the attack, Freja suddenly surprised her. 'I activate Heavy Storm Duster, which will destroy my own Skill Drain.' This was when Caprice realised what she was likely planning, but it was too late to stop the attack as Morphing Jar was revealed (Def.:600). 'Empty Jar anybody? We all have to send our hands to the graveyard and draw 5.' As they drew their new hands, Caprice ended her turn.
(Astrid hand: Runick Fountain, Runick Allure, Runick Smiting Storm, Heavy Storm Duster, Field Barrier, Heavy Storm Duster)
Astrid: 'I draw, and I'll activate Runick Smiting Storm. Because you control two cards, I can banish two cards from your deck, and Allure makes three. I'll then activate Fountain.' As Astrid drew, she looked at the card hopefully, but huffed as she just ended her turn.
(Caprice hand: Trickstar Hoodie, Protector of the Sanctuary)
Caprice: 'I draw and I'll summon Protector of the Sanctuary (Atk:1100).' As Protector hit the field, Astrid's head dropped in devastation, realising they couldn't survive both attacks. Which Caprice also realised, as she attacked with a spring in her step. 'Now Lilybell, attack.' 'Go - Life Force! (Bad Breed LP:500-100). 'And Protector seals the deal.' As Astrid wiped away a tear, she heard Freja scream 'Ogre of the Scarlet Sorrow, in Defence mode! (Def.:2000).' Forced to continue attacking, Protector rammed straight into the Ogre, but the damage dealt was irrelevant (Style Council LP:7000-6100). Astrid then took a breath, starting to believe, and then Caprice placed her hand on her empty deck slot, as Freja and Astrid screamed and hugged each other while their music played.
Soon enough, they were handed the title belts, as the announcement was made. 'Your winners and the new WDC Tag-Team Champions, Fearless Astrid Hofferson and the Wildfire - Freja McKinna.' As the new team continued embracing each other and held up the title belts, Belle and Lydia both applauded from the sidelines, each having their own thoughts on the new partnership, but all they could do for now was be supportive as the show ended on cheers from the crowd, while Caprice tapped Myka on the back as they left.
Brinkburn Retreat, Kelso
As the footage of Astrid and Freja clinching their hard-fought victory aired live, at a retreat in the Scottish borders, Maddy was glued to the television, and as soon as their win as confirmed, jumped up and shouted 'That's my girls!' This triggered a girl next to her to ask 'Who are they? And why are you so enthusiastic?' Maddy just smiled to her and responded 'They're my best friends.'
Next time: Blair and Jade get answers about Ally, Lydia and Belle's issues come to a head leading to a shock ultimatum, and when life without Maddy grows too difficult, Astrid comes to a monumental decision which will have impacts for everyone. R: Ultra Evolution Chapter 29: Dial A for Ally
