Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh ARC-V. See Chapter 1 for details.
3 years later
At You Show Duel School, Shuzo was currently freaking out.
"My hot-blooded coaching!" he screamed as he fell back in a chair in the waiting room.
"The Solid Vision System is broken, all the prospective students will leave... The You Show Duel School is over!" he yelled, losing all hope.
Yuya, now 14 years old, was sitting with Yuzu on a couch next to him. She had grown quite a bit. Her long hair, cascading down to her middle back, had the upper part green and the lower part red, mixing together from her neck downward. She wore a short-sleeved skin-tight top in a rich mix of dark maroon and wine, designed not to be overly revealing but fitting enough to highlight her athletic build (her chest a bit bigger than Yuzu's). Her green pants had a deck-sized pocket on each leg, and she wore red shoes. Her school jacket hung around her waist, with the sleeves tied together in the back to keep it in place, the rest of the jacket hanging loosely at her back. A crimson wristband adorned each arm, and around her neck, she wore the pendant she was found with and a buckled choker. Currently, covering her eyes were a pair of goggles with orange lenses, with a blue star on the right one.
She sighed as she looked down. The system had broken down while she was dueling to impress a potential student. It ended with the action field and her monsters glitching out and disappearing, along with the higher ground she was on, leaving her to fall face-first to the ground.
Yuzu was about to say something to her but didn't get the chance as Yuya sat up to leave before crashing into something in front of her.
"Ouch... you're still here, Gongenzaka?" Yuya asked, pulling up her goggles and leaving them to rest on her head.
Gongenzaka Noboru, another childhood friend of Yuya, is the same age as her and Yuzu. Though he's almost twice their size, he was Yuya's opponent during her earlier duel.
"Yuya, you need to stop holding yourself back and duel more seriously. If you did, you could have made that boy smile with ease earlier," he said, giving her a solemn look.
At that moment, Yuya looked down to her side to avoid his gaze.
At that, Yuzu joined their conversation.
"Don't worry, Yuya. I know you can do it. Making others happy is what you do best, after all." She said, giving Yuya an encouraging smile.
Seeing that Yuya cracked a smile of her own. Luckily for her, her hair was currently obscuring her face so no one noticed her faint blush.
At that, a man wearing a yellow suit with black stripes entered the room, rubbing his hands together as if he had a good idea.
"Oh, it seems something is amiss here," he said as he walked in.
"Um, who are you?" Shuzo asked, confused by the man's presence.
"My name is Nico Smiley. I'm the manager and promoter of the current Action Dueling champion, Strong Ishijima," he introduced himself, giving a slight bow.
"Strong Ishijima?!" Yuya said in shock and surprise.
After he seated himself on the couch across from where Yuya and Shuzo were sitting, with Yuzu and Gongenzaka standing beside them, he began talking again.
"Strong Ishijima is our poster duelist at LDS, and we'd love to invite Yuya to appear with him on his Fan Appreciation Day," he said.
"You want me to... with Strong Ishijima?!" Yuya said, sweatdropping.
"Yes, duel him! Your wish from three years ago will come true!" he said, holding up three fingers on each hand.
At that, Yuya remembered what one could consider the worst day of her life. The day her father was to duel Strong but never showed up, branding him a coward.
Nico pulled out a flier for the event that advertised her duel with Strong and placed it on the table in front of them.
"As you can see, our preparations are already complete," he said.
Yuya gulped at that.
"No! We can't allow Yuya to go up there." Shuzo said, clearly irritated by Nico, making Yuya look at him.
"And why is that? The fans would love seeing Yusho Sakaki's daughter appear!" Nico said, confused by the decision.
"I won't let Yuya be your show pony!" Shuzo said, clearly angered now, to which Yuya's eyes widened.
"How do you think Yuya has felt over these three years..?! Show yourself the way out!" he yelled, as the sadness he held at first turned into rage.
"How unfortunate. As a thank you for cooperating, we were considering giving you the newest Real Solid Vision System produced by Leo Corporation, free of charge, of course." Nico said, clearly trying to bribe Shuzo.
"You serious?!" Shuzo yelled, falling for it like the sucker he is, right before Yuzu smacked the back of his head with her paper fan.
"Weren't you just saying you wouldn't let her be a show pony?!" Yuzu asked her father, clearly angered by how easy he was to bait.
"But Yuzu..." he tried to talk back.
"Don't but Yuzu me! The school is important too but.." she started
"What's important is how Yuya feels about this," Gongenzaka finished.
They all turned to Yuya's seat only to notice she had left.
Yuya was currently sitting on the bridge across the stadium, her goggles covering her eyes as she held her pendant in front of her, watching it swing back and forth.
At that, she remembered something her father once told her when she was younger. That when she feels like crying, she should laugh instead, and once she does, she will start having fun. He had taken her pendulum and let it sway back and forth in front of her, telling her the more she pushes, the more it will come back, and that it's the same for dueling. She won't do anything if she's frozen in fear; she should have the courage to step forward if she wants to win, and if she does so, happiness will swing back at her. He also told her that when she is lost, her pendulum will show her the way to go, as it can be a tool for discovery.
"Swing, pendulum. More... and more!" she thought as she continued watching it
The next day at the stadium, Gongenzaka Yuzu and Shuzo rushed into the stadium as Nico, the announcer, started talking into his golden microphone.
"And now it is time for today's main event! The one who will be challenging the champion Strong Ishijima here today is Yuya Sakaki, the only daughter of Yusho Sakaki!" he announced
While Yuzu and Gongenzaka were worried about their friend Shuzo, on the other hand,
"I can already smell that brand new..." he didn't even finish fantasizing about the new system before an angry Yuzu smacked his head again with her fan.
"This match will be conducted with the official Action Duel Rules." Nico said as a card materialized in his hand
"I activate the Field Magic Frontier Fang Castle!" he said, holding up the card as the Real Solid Vision System activated and generated the field he announced, while he praised the quality of LDS's system.
"Look atop the castle! It's Strong Ishijima, the ultimate king of Action Dueling for three years running!" he said, motioning to the top of the castle where Strong stood, letting out a battle cry.
"And here is our young challenger to the ultimate king... Yuya Sakaki!" he said, motioning to the side, but nobody stood there.
At that, some people in the crowd started mumbling that she was a coward just like her father. This infuriated Yuzu to the point where she wanted to give them a piece of her mind. Luckily, Gongenzaka stopped her.
"I thought Yusho Sakaki might show up if we dragged his daughter here, but.." Strong mumbled
"Ahem"
Someone coughing behind him got his attention. Turning around, he saw Yuya leaning towards the castle wall, activating her duel disk.
"Let's see how great the champion is!" she said, facing him.
"How great I am?! Know your place, kid! I'll show you the skills of a pro and put you back in your place." Strong said, activating his duel disk.
Nico then announced the start of the duel.
"The duelists at this palace of battle shall kick their way across the earth and fly across the air on this field with their monsters! Fix your eyes upon the ultimate evolution of Dueling, the action..." he began
"Duel!" "Duel!" Yuya and Strong finished
Turn: 1
Yuya: 4000 LP
Hand: 5
Strong Ishijima: 4000 LP
Hand: 5
The action cards were disburst and the duel oficially began
"I'll allow you to go first." Strong said already confident in his victory
Yuya smiled and began her performance
"Ladies and gentlemen! Allow me to show you what a classic Action Duel looks like!" she said as she glides down a zip line to get down to the field, surprising Strong.
"And for the first part of my performance, I summon Entermate Uni."
Entermate Uni (Lv.4) (800ATK/1500DEF)
"Next, I activate her special ability. Since she was summoned this turn, I can special summon a Level 3 or lower Entermate monster from my hand. I summon Entermate Corn."
Entermate Corn (Lv.3) (600ATK/1000DEF)
"Next, I activate Corn's special ability. Since she was summoned this turn, I can switch both her and Uni to defense mode and add an Odd-Eyes monster to my hand."
Entermate Uni (Lv.4) (800ATK/1500DEF)
Entermate Corn (LV.3) (600DEF/1000DEF)
As both monsters switched to defense mode, Yuya landed between them and added a card that had been ejected by her duel disk to her hand.
"With that, I end my turn. Catch me if you can," she said as she ran into the forest.
"What is she doing?!" Yuzu questioned, frustrated.
"She should face him proudly!" Gongenzaka declared.
"It won't be long until I catch you. My turn draw!"Strong said as he began his turn
Turn: 2
Yuya: 4000LP
Hand: 4
Strong Ishijima: 4000 LP
Hand: 6
"I activate the Magic Card Feast of the Wild LV5. I now Special Summon two Level 5 Warrior-type Monsters from my hand, negating their effects! Come forth Barbarian 1 and Barbarian 2!"
Barbarian 1 (LV.5) (1550ATK/1800DEF)
Barbarian 2 (LV.5) (1800ATK/1500DEF)
"Then I Release them both to Advance Summon Barbarian King!"
Barbarian King (LV.8) (3000ATK/1100DEF)
"There it is champion Ishijima's ace Monster!" Nico declared at which the crowd got excited.
"Your father got away from me, but there is no escape for you! Battle! Barbarian King attack Uni!" Ishijima declared
"Not so fast! I activate the Action Magic, Evasion!" Yuya said as she kept running with Corn while Uni made a spin to dodge Barbarian King's club.
"You can't win just by evading! She needs to fight.." Gongenzaka said before getting inturupted
"She is fighting."
Yuzu, Shuzo and Gongenzaka turned around to see Yoko walking up to them.
"Yuya is reinventing herself while fighting." she said looking at the field
"As expected of Yusho Sakaki's daughter, you are able to utilize Action Cards effectively! Professionals, though, are able to go beyond that!" Strong declared.
"Since I released a Barbarian Monster to Advance Summon Barbarian King, he is allowed to attack twice in one turn!"
"What? Twice?!" Yuya yelled as the giant club fell down on her and her monsters.
To everyones suprise though she came out of it with both of them still on the field.
"Just before your attack hit, I activated the Action Magic Miracle, which negates my monster's destruction in battle and cuts the damage i would take in battle in halve" Yuya declared, shocking the audience.
"Well then. I place one card face down and end my turn." Strong declared as the facedown materialized on his field.
"What do you mean when you say Yuya is reinventing herself?" Yuzu asks Yoko.
"Yuya has spent the last three years hiding behind a mask. She hid herself away so no one could make fun of her for her father running away. But Yuya really wants to become like her father. The duelist she admired ever since she was little." Yoko told her.
"My turn, Draw!" Yuya says, then smiles as Uni and Corn help her up to a high pillar.
Turn: 3
Yuya: 4000 LP
Hand: 5
Strong Ishijima: 4000 LP
Hand: 1
"Everyone, we are approaching the climax of today's show!" she announces.
She runs towards the edge with Uni and Corn, who jump down before her.
"I release Entermate Uni and Entermate Corn to Advance Summon..." she says as her monsters disappear, and she jumps off the pillar.
"Now, please put your hands together! Today's main attraction, the rare dragon with differently colored eyes! Odd-Eyes Dragon!" she says as her dragon appears with a mighty roar and she lands on its back, holding onto the horns on its back.
Odd-Eyes Dragon (Lv.7) (2500ATK/2000DEF)
"The fun is just beginning!" she says
Shuzo yells that that is Yusho's catchphrase and says it makes his blood boil with excitement. While Yoko watches her daughter, thinking that she was waiting for this.
"Using the same line as your father, the coward, are you?" Strong chides.
"My dad is not a coward!" she tells him over their duel disks.
"Oh, yeah?"
"I will win using the dueling he taught me to prove that he's stronger than anyone else!"
"Hmph! That dragon of yours only has 2500 Attack Points. He doesn't stand a chance against my Barbarian King's 3000 !"
"We'll see about that! I activate the Continuous Magic, Wonder Balloon!" A giant box appears in front of Barbarian King, and Yuya starts going around the field with Odd-Eyes, collecting Action Cards and sending them to the Graveyard.
"Wonder Balloon, fly away!" she says. The box opens, and three balloons fly out towards Barbarian King.
"Wonder Balloon gains one balloon for every card I send from my hand to the Graveyard, and by sending it to the Graveyard, they will burst, each decreasing the Attack Points of one monster by 1000 until the end of the turn!" She snaps her fingers, making the balloons around Barbarian King pop and trapping him in even more balloons while reducing his Attack Points.
Barbarian King (Lv.8) (3000 - 0ATK/1100DEF)
"What a twist! Who could have thought Action Cards could be used in such a way?!" Nico anounces while the crowd goes wild with excitement
"You can't have more than one Action Card in your hand at the time. You weren't just running around you were finding out where all the Action Cards were." Strong deduces
"I've always been good at finding things." Yuya says holding her pendant close to her face.
"The applause...the cheering! This is the action Dad felt at the stadium!" Yuya thinks to herself while looking smiling at the crowd
"Let's go Odd-Eyes! Let's make the crowd go even wilder!" she tells her dragon to which it roars
"When Odd-Eyes destroyes a Level 5 or higher monster it deals damage equal to half that monsters original Attack Points." Yuya says while Odd-Eyes prepares it's attack.
"Half of Barbarian King's original Attack Points would be 1500! Together with 2500 damage she would alredy deal.. that makes 4000 damage?!" Stong realizes in shock after understanding her plan.
"With that, I'll be able to win in one turn! It's time to battle, Odd-Eyes Dragon! Attack Barbarian King! Spiral Flame!" she declares as Odd-Eyes fires at Barbarian King uppon her comand.
Shuzo, Yuzu, Gongenzaka and Yoko are happy because it seems Yuya won while the crowd goes wild at what they are seeing.
But to everyones shock Barbarian King is still on the field when the smoke cleares.
"I activated an Action Magic as well! The same you used earlier, Miracle!" Strong declares, sweating at the fact he survived by a thread as his LP decrease.
Strong Ishijima: 4000 - 2750 LP
"The champion doesn't let us down! He had an Action Card hidden up his sleave!" Nico exclaims
"This is all there is to Yusho Sakaki's deling!" Strong says having regained his arogant composure and jumping down the castle.
"I activate the Continuous Trap, Barbarian Rage! When I take damage, it increases the Attack points of one of my Barbarian monsters by 2000." Strong says as Barbarian King get's bigger in it's balloon prison.
Barbarian King (Lv.8) (0 - 2000ATK/1100DEF)
"I end my turn." Yuya says frustrated her plan failed.
At that moment the effect of Wonder Balloon ends and Barbarian King regains his Attack points as he busrts out of the balloons trapping him.
Barbarian King (LV.8) (2000 - 5000ATK/1100DEF)
"It's even stronger than before!" Yuzu exclaims worried
"This is the beginning of your requiem! My turn!" Strong says as he draws and starts his turn.
Turn: 4
Yuya: 4000 LP
Hand: 3
Strong Ishijima: 2750 LP
Hand: 2
At that Yuya and Odd-Eyes turn atound to get away from Strong and his monster.
"You won't get away! Battle! Barbarian King, attack Odd-Eyes Dragon!" Strong declares as Barbarian King moves in to crush Odd-Eyes.
Yuya tries to go for an Action Card but seeing she won't make it in time
"I activate Entermate Uni's special ability from the Graveyard! By bannishing her along with another 'Entarmate' monster I negate the battle damage!" Yuya exclaims right before Barbarian King's club crashes down on her and Odd-Eyes sending her flying of her dragon.
"Due to Barbarian Rage's effect your dragon goes back to your hand instead of being send to the Graveyard." Strong says as he stands on his monsters right hand and his trap apears next to him.
Yuya get's up and with a frustrated look and shows her adding Odd-Eyes to her hand.
"Barbarian King can only attack monsters twice so your safe...for now. With nothing left to protect you on my next turn you're finnished!" Strong says looking smug at Yuya
"I place one card face down and end my turn." He says as his facedown materializes.
"It's your turn Draw a card! Or will you choose to surrender? Turn tail and run, just like your father?" Strong says mocking Yuya.
"No! I'll never ru-" she stops mid centance when she reslizes something.
"But all I've got in my hand are monsters...what can I do?!" she thinks as she looks at her hand that contains Odd-Eyes Dragon, Entermate Whip Viper, Entermate Sword Fish and Stargazer Magician.
At the stands Yuzu, Gongenzaka, Shuzo and Yoko watch as Yuya starts to doupt herself.
"It's hopless after all... how could I ever take Dad's place?" she thinks looking down and starting to loose hope.
At that moment she remembered her fathers words and regains herself.
"Swing, pendulum! More and more!" she says as she draws.
Turn: 5
Yuya: 4000 LP
Hand: 5
Strong Ishijima: 2750 LP
Hand: 1
At that moment her pendulum starts glowing along with the Timegazer Magician she just drew, Odd-Eyes Dragon and Stargazer Magician in her hand.
As her cards change her eyes gain a slight multi-coloured glow and her expression becomes determined again.
"I set the Pendulum Scale with Scale 1 Stargazer Magician and Scale 8 Timegazer Magician!" she says as places each card on one edge of her duel disk.
Two pillars of light apear and inside them rise the two magicians as the number of their declared scale apears beneath them. Between them a giant version of Yuya's pendulum starts swinging through the sky, creating a trail of light.
Stargazer Magician(P.S.1) - Timegazer Magician (P.S. 8)
"Now I can summon any Monster between Levels 2 and 7 at the same time!" she declares.
"What's happening?!" Strong exclaims not knowing what's happening.
"Swing, Pendulum of the Soul! Draw an arc across the ether! Pendulum Summon!" Yuya chants, raising her right arm towards the sky as three rays of light burst out of a portal that appears above her between the magicians.
"Come forth, my Monsters!"
At that the Entermates she had in her hand appeared on the field along with Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon who lets out a mighty roar to signal the arrival of it's new form.
Entermate Whip Viper (LV.4) (1700ATK/900DEF)
Entermate Sword Fish (LV.2) (600ATK/600DEF)
Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon (LV.7) (P.S.4) (2500ATK/2000DEF)
Yuzu, Shuzo, Gongenzaka and Yoko are stunned at what they are seeing, while Yuya stands before Strong with her monsters more determined to defeat him than ever.
Inside an observation room all systems light up.
"We're detecting high levels of summoning activity from the seafront of the city!" a technician declares.
"We have the results. The summoning method is 'Pendulum'!" another one declares, confusing the lead technician.
"Three monsters at the same time? And that dragon is Level Seven!" Strong exclaims surprised
"She shouldn't be able to summon high-level monsters without releasing!" he tells Nico
"But since the system isn't signalling an error..." Nico starts
"That means her summoning... is legal?!" Strong finishes frustrated.
Yuya, now sitting on Odd-Eyes neck holding on to the new horns on it's head continuous her turn.
"I activate Entermate Whip Viper's effect! It switches the Attack and Defense Points of an opponent's monster!" Whip Viper swings it's tail and Barbarian King drops to one knee unable to lift it's club.
Barbarian King (LV.8) (5000 - 1100ATK/1100 - 5000DEF)
"Barbarian King's Attack power is..." Strong says
"And Entermate Swor Fish's effect!" Yuya calls as her monster creates copies of itself made of light that stick into the ground surrounding Barbarian King.
"He decreases an opposing monster's Attack Points by 600 until the end of this turn." Yuya explains as Strong's monster becomes even weaker.
Barbarian King (LV.8) (1100 - 500ATK/5000DEF)
"Barbarian King's Attack Points have quickly decreased from 5000 to 500!" Nico exclaims.
"Battle! Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon! Attack Barbarian King! It's time to show us your true power!" Yuya says as her dragons prepares to attack.
"I won't let you! I activate my Trap Card, Barbarian Howling! It returns an attacking monster to the hand, and inflicts it's Attack Points to you as damage!" Strong says as his trap activates
"Timegazer Magician, who rules over Space-Time itself! Protect me with your ethereal powers! Timegeazer Magician's Pendulum Effect! Once per turn it can negate the activation of a Trap card that targets my Pendulum Monster. Inverse Gearwise!" she calls as Strog's trap is negated and re-set.
Ishijima curses at that and rushes to find an Action Card
"Action Magic, Evasion!" he says as he finds and activates the card he thinks will save him
"Stargazer Magician, who rules over Space-Time itself! Seal my foes with you ethereal powers! Stargazer Magician's Pendulum Effect! Once per turn, during the Battle Phase, it negates the effects and activation of Spell Cards that activate when a Pendulum Monster on my field battles. Horoscope Divination!" she calls as Evasion is negated and set on Strong's field.
"She even negated my Action Card?!" Strong exclaims in shock and tries to get away.
"It's time now, Odd-Eyes! Burn eveything your heterochromatic eyes catch a glimpse of to cinders! Spiral Strike Burst!" Yuya commands as Odd-Eyes jumps into the air and fires at Barbarian king who tries to counter.
"Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon's effect! When it battles a Level Five or higher monster, it inflicts double the Battle Damage! Reaction Force!" she calls as her dragons attack intensifies.
"D-Double?!" Strong utters in shock as his monster is destroyed, and he get's blown away.
Strong Ishijima: 2750 - 0 LP
Winner: Yuya
The action field is deactivated and the stadium is silent in shock.
"Did she win?" Yuzu asks needing a reality check
"Yeah..." Gongenzaka answers in shock
Shuzo cries tears of joy as he says that Yuya's blood was boilin.
On the field Yuya's eyes loose the colourful glow and she looks around confused at what happened as if she just woke up from a dream.
"You won!" she hears Yoko say
She turns around and sees Shuzo crying tears of joy, Gongenzaka excited with a huge smile on his face, Yuzu smiling and waving at her, and her mother.
"You won against Strong Ishijima for your father! Well done, Yuya!" Yoko says congratulating her daughter.
At that the other three chime in congratulating Yuya, at which her smile brightens and the stadium erupts into cheers for her.
Just as Ishijima is about to get up Nico runs over him and towards Yuya.
"Bravo! Excellent! Congratulations! It was a splendid victory, Yuya. Could you introduce that fascinating summoning method that granted you victory?" he says holding his mic towards her.
"Eh? Summoning method?" she thinks, at that the events of the duel come back to her.