King: OOOH! Shit! We're back again!

Knox: You ever think about branching out into other card games?

King: I was about to get to that. Point is, this is a Yu-Gi-Oh round again. But here's the thing. When we return to this, and we will be back to this! But when we get back to this, I'm making up cards instead.

Knox: Fair.

King: And it'll be a new series, not a GX-like version. I might come back to this particular set, but not right away. I also might get to Cardfight Vanguard. We'll see. Also, this isn't going to be one duel. This one has a bunch of smaller duels and ends up longer overall. Seriously... 11,000+ words! Was fun as hell though. Anyway, hope you enjoy~

Inspiration: Yu-Gi-Oh

/\

The screen chose to open on a new world before anyone could speak up. And this was going to be a fun one.

The screen opened to the world of Duel Monsters once more.

They saw what looked like an old dormitory building resting on a small field overlooking the ocean. It wasn't anything special, two stories, yellow siding, and a red roof. It was the very definition of quaint.

Yang crossed her arms and tilted her head slightly, "I… would kind of prefer a dorm like that, actually."

Weiss turned to her, incredulous, "You can't be serious."

Yang just shrugged, "I don't need the fancier stuff. As long as it has running water and electricity, I'd be fine. And it looks like there's enough room for my bike. I still don't like that I have to keep it in a storage garage back in Vale."

Ruby explained the situation for her partner, "Yang put a lot of work into her bike."

Jaune thought for a moment, "So, I'm guessing it's like you with Crescent Rose?"

Ruby nodded, "Kind of."

The camera zoomed in before entering one of the rooms. It showed Jaune Arc, dressed in his red blazer, sitting at his desk. He was looking over a set of cards and shuffling between them. The scene went white for a moment as a flashback began.

Jaune was in his Physical Education class. Students ran by as Jaune sat to the side, his laps completed. "You want me to what?"

Sun was sitting next to him, "I'm just saying. It would be pretty interesting."

"You're basically asking me to build a whole new deck in one week."

Jaune groaned and fell back in his chair. Once again, he was denied seeing the Hero cards he'd heard about.

"What? Don't think you can pull it off?"

"You just want me to use a deck I'm not familiar with so you have a better chance of beating me."

"Consider it a challenge then."

Jaune was silent a moment. "I hate you." He never backed down from a challenge and he wasn't about to start now.

Returning to the Jaune in the present, agonizing over the deck he was building. Sun's challenge was to use a brand new deck for the upcoming blind duel. This means no Heroes and no D/D cards. Unfortunately for him, that was most of the cards he had. He needed to resupply with new cards and familiarize himself with a completely new set of monsters, spells, and traps. It was quite the experience.

However, today was the day of the school's Blind Duel contest. And this year, it was an Action Field Duel, where you can actually interact with the monsters and field and around you. It was relatively new technology, but the school picked it up like nobody's business. Probably helps that the company that made it, the Schnee Corporation, also owns the school.

This got Weiss thinking, "I really hope someone other than father or Whitely is in charge of that…"

Ozpin just sighed. He never liked the idea of corporations running schools. Hell, he didn't like the Kingdom's running them sometimes. It was one of the many reasons his previous life created the Academies as separate entities. It was one thing he hated about Atlas's current system combining the Huntsmen Academy and the Atlas Military.

Jaune sighed and picked up his completed deck. He nodded confidently, until he looked at the clock, realizing he needed to leave five minutes ago. "Oh crap!" He slid across the floor a bit, grabbing his shoes, and ran off out the door at full sprint to make it to the event. The camera tracked him as he ran down the path to the main campus of Beacon Duel Academy.

The scene transitioned to show Jaune's pace slowing as he arrived in the larger arena built for the new dueling type. He doubled over, hands resting on his knees, as he breathed heavily.

A hand rested on his shoulder and helped him back to stand upright again. "Cutting it a little close, don't you think?" Yang chuckled. After a match a while back, Yang had become quick friends with the students of the Slifer dorm.

Ruby chuckled at the scene. It was just like Yang to make friends through a competition like that.

Jaune didn't have the breath to reply.

The students had to calm down as Chancellor Port arrived. "Welcome students! You'll all have the honor of being the first to test the latest additions to the Action Field System. And I want you all on your absolute best behavior! As we have guests to ensure everything runs smoothly."

Standing beside Port was Winter Schnee, dressed head-to-toe in white, complete with a coat that almost seemed like it was made of ice. This was the CEO of the Schnee Corporation and, thanks to her company's work in holographic technology and dueling systems, the most powerful person on the planet.

Winter blinked in surprise. She'd never considered taking over the company, preferring her work in the Atlassian military, so it was odd to see her in a position like that. Of course, she's happy her father or younger brother wasn't placed in charge of students. Even if it was a different world, it was hard to see her father or Whitely as being… let's say objective. To be fair, neither is Atlas Academy, but at least that's more about the protection of the Kingdom.

Next to her was Weiss, dressed in a white dress that resembled her combat gear in the viewers' reality. However, her half jacket was replaced with a full, white jacket that reached to her waist. She seemed uninterested in the situation at hand, like she was dragged along by her sister.

Winter was a famous figure, and her presence got people talking. Yang chuckled, finally letting go as Jaune could stand up again. "Think we'll get the chance to duel her?"

Jaune took one last deep breath to lower his pulse back to normal, "Doubt it. It would be cool, though."

As Port explained the new systems, Winter leaned slightly toward her sister, "Now, remember Weiss. You're to take part and see just how far your training has come."

Weiss nodded, "Of course, sister." Weiss thought this was a waste of time, given her training with actual professionals.

Yang grinned, "How much you want to bet that she has to square off against Jaune?"

Ren nodded, "It would be the most likely outcome for the situation. At least in a dramatic sense."

The students all moved off toward the stands to wait their turns. Port nodded and led the Schnee sisters to a waiting area in the stands as well. When everything was set, he stood looking over the students. "Let's begin! Now, the Blind Duel Event rules will be as follows! You've been given numbers that will call you all into the arena. And, to make things more interesting, you won't know what format you'll be dueling in. You could duel normally, or perhaps be placed in a tag duel. Maybe you'll be placed into an asymmetrical duel, finding yourself facing against two or even three opponents."

This got a few in the audience of the arena to murmur, not sure what to think, while most were fidgeting excitedly. Plenty of students were preparing for this event to really show what they had, and the fact that the Schnee Corporation CEO was watching just made them more excited. Some wanted a challenge while others hoped to show off and maybe make a good impression. This was a big moment for them.

"Makes sense." Ozpin took a sip from his coffee. "It would be beneficial if one considers her a potential employer. And considering her reach and power in this reality, it's safe to say that many of them do."

"Oh, and one more thing, we'll be making this more interesting by cutting your starting life points in half!" As his students reeled slightly hearing this, Port swung his arms out to address them, "Now! Let's begin! First match!"

The large monitor lit up with a section listing out that the first match will be a one on one duel. This was followed by the numbers 7 and 34 appearing before being replaced with the pictures of Coco, who was dressed in a white and blue uniform, and Blake, in her blue overcoat, appeared on the screen.

Coco grinned, "Oh yeah? So I'm in the best dorm, huh?"

Jaune looked toward her, confused, "What?"

"Oh right!" Ruby jumped and spun toward him, "You weren't there for the first one. So, there are three dorms: Blue, Yellow, and Red."

"Yep." Coco sat back with a grin remaining on her face, "And the Blue dorm is the best of the school, Yellow is second, and Red is the lower dorm."

Jaune deflated a bit, "Oh…"

Both students approached the middle of the arena with duel disks ready. However, before they could begin, a device lowered from the ceiling and emitted various lights that took form as a hologram around them. The arena was soon blanketed by the hologram, leaving them standing in what looked like a dense forest area surrounded by cliffs.

Port's arms swung outward again, "Welcome, to the Savage Canyon! And try to remember those Action Cards spread out over the field. They could save your life points. Now… BEGIN!"

Both students shouted, "DUEL!"

[Blake – 4000 LP]

[Coco – 4000 LP]

Coco sat back in her chair. "Should be interesting seeing what cards I work with."

Blake wouldn't admit it out loud, but she was too.

Her mother, on the other hand, "Ooh! What will Blake have, I wonder. Maybe something with ninjas."

"Is that a thing?" Yang asked to the two fireballs in charge.

King nodded. Kind of. "Yep. There's a whole group of Ninja cards. But I'm not spoiling anything else."

"Must be that then."

Blake was given the first turn and drew her starting cards. "Alright!" After looking over her options, she selected her opening move. "I play my Raidraptor Vanishing Lanius!" The creature that appeared looked like a mechanical bird of prey with a green and blue body. [1300/1600]

"Not what I was expecting." Yang looked over to Blake, who just shrugged.

"Next! I activate his ability to summon another level 4 or below Raidraptor from my hand. Like another Vanishing Lanius!" A second copy of the card appeared on the field. "And that's not all! Because I can activate the effect through my new Lanius to summon a third!" Cue third bird.

Coco had a nervous smile. "Three level four Winged Beasts…"

"And I think you know what that means! I form the overlay network!" All three copies of the cards flew up into the air and became balls of light as their bodies dissipated and a new monster formed. It resembled a massive mech-falcon made of blue, green, and grey plates. It was ornate and rather detailed, complete with feather-like blades along its wings. "Raidraptor Rise Falcon!" The bird roared out with a piercing screech. [100/2000]

Yang raised an eyebrow with a slight grin, "100 Attack points? Really? For all of that, you think there'd be more to it."

Blake thought for a moment, "It likely has a very good effect. It would have to."

Blake finished her turn with a face down card. She smirked to herself as they heard her thoughts. I might take a bit of damage, but this will keep my monster in play for next turn.

Coco grinned and drew her card for the turn. "Alright then. I guess I need to be careful with that monster, since it can fight back against any special summoned monster I bring out. If it sticks around!" She placed a card in the back line of her disk. "I activate Frontline Base! This lets me summon a level 4 or lower Union monster for free each turn. And, to kick it up again, I'll activate my Double Summon to let me normal summon twice this turn!"

Yang grinned, "I bet this'll be a big summon! Probably using one normal and the special summon to get tributes for a big monster."

"But what's a Union monster?" Ruby asked.

Yang just shrugged, "Probably like Raid birds. Just a name."

Coco grinned, "Now! I'll start by summoning my X-Head Cannon!" A blue and yellow robot torso appeared, a pair of large cannons mounted on each shoulder. "And now! For the Union Special summon! I call my Y-Dragon Head!" A red dragon robot flew down and landed next to X-Head Cannon. "And don't forget my Double Summon effect that lets me call my Z-Metal Tank!" A yellow robot tank trudged forward to join its comrades.

Coco had to sit normally again. "X, Y, and Z? I half expected something more…" She swung her hand in a circle, searching for the words.

Jaune offered it for her, "Je ne sais quoi?"

"Ooh! I like that. What does it mean?"

"It literally means 'I don't know what.'"

Coco snickered for a split second, "Seriously?"

"Yep."

Coco's grin spread, "And now! Let's put them all together! I remove all three from play so I can Union Summon XYZ-Dragon Cannon!" The three flew up as pieces opened or snapped off to slot into form of the new monster: X taking the top section, Y in the middle, and Z acting as the base. [2800/2600]

Blake growled. She wasn't expecting a big monster like that just yet.

"And now, for his ability." Coco took a card from her hand and placed it in her graveyard. "I can discard a card from my hand and destroy one card on your field. Like that face down!" XYZ fired a shell and destroyed Blake's trap card.

Blake shielded her eyes as the impact kicked up the holographic dust. She felt the wind from the attack, but thankfully not the actual explosion. "So, that's how Action Fields work."

"And! He still gets to attack! Knock that bird out of the sky!" The Dragon Cannon fired another shell at Rise Falcon and turned the Winged Beast into a chunks.

[Blake – 1300 LP]

Coco kicked forward a bit, "Nice! One more of those."

Blake growled a bit. Sure, it was a game, and one she wasn't even playing personally, but she still would have preferred to see herself win.

Coco chuckled and crossed her arms, "You're up now."

Blake groaned and drew her card. She didn't have anything that could help her now. That said, the impact from before reminded her of something important right now. Her eyes darted around for a moment before finding her target. Her foot slid across the ground a moment before running to the side.

This shocked Coco, "What are you doing?"

Blake ran up to a tree and jumped up, her foot landing on the solid light hologram so she could kick off the trunk and reach something on the lower branch. When she landed, it revealed she had a new card with what looked like an ornate letter A on the back.

Yang was getting more excited now. "Oh! This just gets better! It's not just standing around anymore. That's what it means by Action Dueling. That is awesome!"

"Oh crap! The Action Cards!"

Blake slotted the card in and swung her hand, "I activate the action card Savage Revival! By paying 500 Life Points, I can revive a monster in my graveyard!"

[Blake – 800 LP]

The ground tore open and Rise Falcon flew up back into place.

Coco chuckled nervously. Blake's monster was designed to destroy special summoned monsters like hers. Then she remembered something, "Wait… Your monster doesn't have any Xyz materials. It can't use its ability without them, so why summon it?"

"This is why!" Blake took a card from her hand and slotted it into place. "Rank-Up-Magic Revolution Force! With this card, I can select a Raidraptor Xyz monster on my field and summon a new monster one rank higher. Like my Raidraptor Stranger Falcon!" The new monster appeared, a tan and brown mech-falcon with glowing red accents. It looked more alien than bird. A single ball of light orbited around the creature. [2000/2000]

Ruby worried a bit, "That's not enough to beat Coco's monster."

Blake felt otherwise. "Wait for it."

Blake's hand shot up to point to her monster. "Now! Since a Raidraptor Xyz monster is used as a material, Stranger Falcon can remove it to destroy a monster on your field!"

Coco jerked up, "Crap!"

The ball of light flew into Stranger Falcon's chest as a pulse of energy erupted from the beast. XYZ Dragon Cannon was swept up and slammed into the cliffs around them.

"And that's not all. You take damage equal to the monster's original Attack points. So, 2800."

The ground around Coco started to glow before enveloping her in a bright red pillar.

[Coco – 1200 LP]

"And now! Stranger Falcon will attack to win the game!"

As the bird flew forward to strike Coco, she ran around to grab a card in a bush nearby. "I play the Action Spell Overgrown Canopy! This cuts any battle damage I'm dealt by half!" The attack connected, but she remained in the game.

[Coco – 200 LP]

Coco let out a breath with a hand over her heart. "Still in this."

"But for how long?" Yang challenged. "Betting Blake kicks your butt hard!"

Blake huffed a bit before placing a card face down. "Your move."

Coco growled and drew her card. She'd have to do what Blake had done and hope for a lucky Action Card nearby. She found one and picked it up off the ground. She slotted the card in, "Activating Savagery of the Bone Breakers! This card lets me activate a trap card from my hand like it was a spell! So, I can activate Union Scramble! This card lets me special summon up to 3 Light machine monsters that were removed from play! But don't get used to them, because I'm sending them off again for a familiar face!"

X, Y, and Z returned for a moment before reforming the familiar form of a new copy of XYZ-Dragon Cannon. Its eyes snapped to glow again as it roared out with a vengeance.

Yang's grin instantly broke. "Shit."

Coco grinned and sent her last card to the graveyard. "Now! Put that bird down for good!" XYZ fired its shell again and destroyed the monster on the field.

However, Blake was smirking.

"Wait, what's going on?" Coco looked over the situation before remembering that face down card. "Oh no."

Yang jumped up excitedly, "Oh yeah!"

Blake swung her arm forward, "I activate Rank-Up-Magic Raptor's Force! When my Raidraptor Xyz monster was destroyed, I can bring it back as a material for a new monster one rank higher!" Stranger Falcon reemerged and flew up to become a ball of light. The new creature started to form as a glowing silhouette of a large bird as Blake chanted for her new monster's rise. "From shadows, to Rise, to Blaze! Now call down the might of Revolution!"

The new monster appeared, looking very similar to Rise Falcon. However, it was larger and more streamlined, as if scarred by the horrors of battle. "Raidraptor Revolution Falcon!" [2000/2000]

Coco's eyes went wide in shock. This would be a problem now. No cards in her hand, no way to fight back if this didn't work.

Nora crossed her arms and tilted her head, "I don't get it. If Coco attacks, she'll deal Blake 800 damage and win. Right? What's missing?"

Jaune sighed, "An ability. And I bet a big one."

Coco sighed with a grin. "No way out of this one, huh?"

Blake grinned, "Doesn't look like it. Unless you want to push your luck with another Action card."

Coco shook her head. "Nah. Even if it worked, your monster could either destroy it by its effect or attack and reduce my Cannon's attack to 0. Might as well go out on my terms! XYZ-Dragon Cannon! Attack!"

Her monster roared and fired both shells at the Falcon, only for its effect to reduce the special summoned monster's attack to 0. The shells did no damage and Revolution Falcon swung its wings back before firing feather-like missiles toward the monster, destroying it.

[Coco – 0 LP]

[Winner – Blake]

"Booyah!" Yang swung her fist into the air, excitedly.

Coco groaned and sat back, "Dang it."

Blake had a small grin for her win.

Port clapped for them both. "Excellent duel! And now, for a new match!"

Yang perked up again, "Ooh~! We get more matches?"

The board listed a tag duel with numbers 3 and 54 facing off against 43 and 16. After a second, the portraits appeared to show Yang and Pyrrha fighting Penny and Ruby.

Ruby got excited now, "Yes! I get to see my deck!"

Penny smiled, "It would be interesting to see my collection of cards as well.

Pyrrha nodded, "Likewise."

Yang grinned, "Damn right."

The four gathered, revealing Pyrrha as a Blue student, Yang as a Yellow, and Ruby and Penny as Red students.

Port smiled as the Action Field formed the new world for their battle. It was an ancient factory area overtaken by plant life. "Welcome to the Overgrowth!"

Ruby smirked, "My kind of field."

"Why would it be Friend Ruby's preference of field?" Penny's head tilted, now having adopted the gesture after seeing it so often.

Yang shrugged, "Not sure. I would think Ruby's deck would be filled with nothing but weapons."

Ruby groaned a bit, but also thought that would be cool. It was more about Yang's joking tone.

"Ready…"

"DUEL!" all four shouted in unison.

[Pyrrha & Yang – 4000 LP]

[Penny & Ruby – 4000 LP]

First turn went to Ruby, so she drew her card. "Okay! Let's go!" After a moment, she pulled her first card to play. "Let's start with this! I summon my Twilight Rose Knight!" The creature that formed resembled a young man dressed in dark armor with a white bodysuit underneath and a white cape cascading down his shoulders. He drew his sword and swung it forward in challenge. [1000/1000]

Tai snapped his finger and pointed to the screen, "Roses. That makes sense."

Ruby smiled, liking the theme and the monster on screen.

"And! When he's summoned, I can special summon a level 4 or lower Plant monster from my hand. Like my Rose Fairy!" The monster appeared, a pixie with four petal-like wings and hair tied back to create a rose. [600/1200] "But don't get used to them, because I'll tune them both together!"

Twilight Rose Knight disappeared into three rings of light surrounding Rose Fairy, who formed into three balls of light. Ruby smirked as she started her chant, "Knight and Fairy of Roses, come together to form something Splendid! I synchro summon Splendid Rose!" The monster appeared, a young man with short blonde hair with a curl covering his left eye. His attire was cut down the middle, his left side being light green and right side being a darker shade. Thorn-covered vines shot out form his shoulders and his ankles were covered by bright red rose petals. [2200/2000]

Yang let out an impressed whistle. "Not bad, but let's see if its good enough."

Yang drew as her turn now started. "I'll play a monster and one card face down, ending my turn."

Yang groaned, "Oh come on…"

Now it was Penny's turn. "I have to say, I'm glad I went third now. Since Yang controls a monster and I don't, I can use that loophole to special summon my Cyber Dragon!" The monster ripped through the ground, revealing a robotic serpent as it roared with an electronic sound. [2100/1600]

Penny perked up. "Oh. So my cards focus on machinery?"

Ruby chuckled, "Looks like it."

"And, I can still normal summon my Armored Cybern, a Union Monster that will hook onto my Dragon." A robotic creature flew down, hooking onto the Cyber Dragon and giving the creature a pair of turrets. "And, I'll place a card face down."

Now it was Pyrrha's turn. "I'll start by summoning Alpha the Electromagnet Warrior!" The creature that appeared looked like a smooth robot covered in red and blue accenting around magnetic designs. Its 'spear' was an electric coil system and similar smaller coils covered its body. [1700/1100]

Nora started to laugh, "Pyrrha's cards are magnets!"

Ren had a smirk as well, "It does seem appropriate."

Pyrrha just blushed a bit, slightly embarrassed she was that predictable.

"This card lets me grab a level 8 Magna Warrior from my deck as well." Pyrrha grabbed her card from her deck before continuing. "Now, I'll place one card face down to end my turn."

With Ruby's turn now beginning again, they were allowed to strike. She drew her card and grinned toward Yang, "Let's get that card off the field! Splendid Rose! Attack her monster!"

Splendid Rose leapt into the air and swung a vine toward the face down card, flipping it face up to reveal a small pink bird with cartoon shoes and a bell collar.

Yang groaned, "What is that thing?"

As Splendid Rose attacked, the bird remained unharmed. Yang just grinned, "Sorry Ruby. But Sonic Chick can't be destroyed by monsters with more than 1900 Attack."

Yang's face did a complete 180. "Oh? That's pretty cool."

Ruby grinned, however, "Good to know. Since Splendid Rose attacked, I can remove one Plant monster from my graveyard, like my Rose Fairy, and attack again with half his attack points! In other words, 1100! Enough to break through your monster and under the effect threshold!"

Ruby had a mini celebration, "Yes!"

As Splendid Rose leapt to attack again, Yang grinned. "I activate my face down! Scarp-Iron Scarecrow!" A scarecrow of various metals and nails appeared and took the attack. "Best part is, I can to set it again and use it later."

Tai tapped his chair, "Interesting. Her deck seems to be built around surviving. But to what end?"

Ruby groaned and placed a face down to end her turn.

Yang's turn, so she drew her card. She smirked and took one, placing it in the graveyard. "By discarding a monster card from my hand, I can special summon my Quickdraw Synchron!" What looked like a semi-cartoonish cowboy appeared on the field. [700/1400] "He's a level 5 tuner monster that can take the place of any other Synchron monster for a Synchro Summon! So, I tune my Quickdraw Synchron and my level 1 Sonic Chick to summon Turbo Warrior!" The monster broke through a nearby wall. Its body was like a red muscle car reformed in a humanoid body. [2500/1500]

"So that's it." Tai grinned.

Yang nodded, "Keep the smaller leveled monsters on the field to reform into the larger, more powerful Synchro monsters. Nice~"

"Now! Turbo Warrior will attack your Rose. And, when he attacks a level 6 or higher Synchro monster, your monster's attack is cut in half!" Turbo Warrior charged forward on a pair of wheels at its feet, clawed hand rearing back to swing a powerful attack into Splendid Rose. As Ruby's monster exploded, their shared life points decreased.

[Penny & Ruby – 2600 LP]

With that, it was Penny's turn. "Draw! I'll summon my Cyber Dragon Drei!" Another version of the cybernetic serpent appeared with a sleeker body and small pieces of place on its head and halfway down its body that stretch out like horns or wings, respectively. [1800/800] "And his ability makes him classified as a Cyber Dragon on the field. And all Cyber dragons, including him, are now level 5." Pyrrha tapped a button on her disk and continued, "Now, I activate my Cybern's ability. I can reduce my Cyber Dragon's attack by 1000 and destroy a monster on your field!" Cybern fired an energy burst to strike Turbo Warrior, destroying it.

Yang growled, "Dang it."

"And now! I'll create the overlay network with 2 level 5 Light machine monsters!" Both dragons reformed as balls of light and started to orbit an empty space that was soon to be filled. "Dragons of machinery! Be remade in the heat of the stars! I summon Cyber Dragon Nova!" Nova appeared as a mechanical serpentine dragon with a large pair of wings. Various red accenting glowed on the creature's body and its center mass resembled a reactor or similar core unit. [2100/1600] "And I'll boost it even further to turn it into Cyber Dragon Infinity!" The dragon started to glow before being surrounded by a sphere of light. After a moment, the ball burst to reveal what looked like an upgraded version of Nova. "He also gets 200 Attack points for each material attached to him. [2700/1600]

Yang nervously chuckled, "Oh… that's not good."

"I disagree." Penny grinned, "I find it to be very favorable."

Penny smirked and swung her arm to the side, "Now! Cyber Dragon Infinity! Attack Yang directly!"

Yang flipped her face down up again, "Did you forget about my Scrap-Iron Scarecrow?"

"Actually, I didn't. Once per turn, when you activate a card, I can remove a material from Infinity, negate the effect, and destroy the card!" Infinity took one of the balls of light and fired it into the Scarecrow, causing it to erupt in flames. [2500/1600] "Now! The follow through!"

[Pyrrha & Yang – 1500 LP]

Penny smiled. "Your move."

Pyrrha shouted, "Hold it! While your turn is still active, I tribute my Electromagnet Warrior to summon a Magnet Warrior from my deck! And I'll bring up Beta the Magnet Warrior!" The small robot-like creature looked like a robot made up of yellow spheres with a magnet sticking out of its head lie a pair of horns. [1700/1600] "And! I'll summon my Beta the Electromagnet Warrior!" The Electromagnet version looked similar, however it was red and had the electrical coils about its body. [1500/1500] "Best part is, I get to grab a level 4 or lower Magnet Warrior from my deck!"

"Nice try!" Penny cut her off. "I'm not letting you summon that Valkyrion! I activate my Infinity's ability to stop your monster!" Another ball, another destroyed card.

But Pyrrha kept smiling. "That's fine. Because I already had the other two!" The Magnet Warrior versions of Alpha and Gamma appeared for a moment. "And I can send Alpha, Beta, and Gamma to the graveyard to summon Valkyrion the Magna Warrior!" The magnetic monsters tore apart for a moment before reforming into the combined monster. [3500/3850]

Yang celebrated in her chair, "Yes! Knock them down!"

Pyrrha pointed her monster to Ruby, "Now! Attack Ruby directly and win the duel!"

But Ruby was running along the foliage and grabbed a card. "I activate the Action Spell Seed Scatter! This card lets me special summon a monster from my hand, but the drawback is that I have to give up 100 life points for each level. I defend with Dandylion!" A plant with a feline-esc face with a mane of yellow petals. As it was destroyed, two Fluff tokens appeared in its place.

[Penny & Ruby – 2300 LP]

Ruby jumped up in her seat, "YES!"

Yang groaned but seeing her sister that happy did make her feel better. If a little bit.

Ruby's turn again and it was the big moment to turn it around. "Okay! I summon my Lonefire Blossom!" The plant grew up from the ground, creating a bulb with what looked like a lit fuse. [500/1400] "This card lets me tribute a Plant monster to summon a new one from my deck! Like my Copy Plant!" The monster was a mass of vines growing up from the ground. [0/0] "Now, he can copy the level of any other Plant, like Lonefire. Now! I can Tune my level three Copy Plant, level three Lonefire Blossom, and level one Fluff Token! I call upon the dragon of petal and thorn! I summon my Black Rose Dragon!"

The factory behind Ruby exploded to reveal a giant dragon with a body made of red petals and black base. Its tail was covered in spikes to represent the thorns of roses. A pair of petal-formed wings spread out from its back. [2400/1800]

Ruby was awestruck, completely speechless. First, the dragon was freaking cool! Second, it was like it was made for her! It was just so cool.

"Now! Attack Yang!"

Yang smirked, "Nice try, but you're not the only one that use Action Spells!" Yang grabbed a spell and flipped it over. This was a mistake. It was the Action Trap Industrial Collapse, which forced her to discard two cards from her hand. "Crap!"

"Bad luck, Yang. But I win this time!" Black Rose Dragon took in a breath, its breath of black fire and red petals formed. "Attack!" The dragon's attack slammed into the defenseless Yang and wiped her Life Points out.

[Pyrrha & Yang – 0 LP]

[Winners! Penny & Ruby]

Ruby swung over and gave Penny a celebration hug, "We did it!"

Yang sighed and fell back in her chair. "I'll admit it… That was pretty cool. I'd have preferred we get to win."

Nora jumped up, "Please! Tell me we get to see me duel too!"

The board started to move to new numbers and a new state as the holograms faded. The new format was listed as a [Three-for-all] with the numbers 22, 93, and 54. The numbers moved to show Nora, Ilia, and Cardin.

Nora shot up in celebration, "YES! Break their legs!"

Ilia moved one seat away from the hyper redhead.

As they approached, they showed Nora in red, Ilia in yellow, and Cardin in blue. This duel was a three-person free for all, hence the name. No friends, only one winner. They could choose to work together to knock out the third member, but they had to be careful of the other person.

Port smirked and set the Action Field to start its shift. "Now! Welcome… to Valley of Gods!" The field formed as a massive desert, dunes of sand rising around them. In the distance, they could see a massive pyramid (even if they couldn't actually go to it).

Ilia smirked at the sight. This was home turf for her monsters.

This got Ilia to raise an eyebrow.

All three shouted, "DUEL!" and their match began.

[Nora – 4000 LP]

[Ilia – 4000 LP]

[Cardin – 4000 LP]

First turn went to Ilia. So, she drew her starting card, looking over her options. She had a smirk for after a moment. "I place one monster face down and set one card. Pass turn."

Ilia was getting antsy now. She wanted to know what her other self meant by home turf.

Now it was Cardin's turn.

Nora roared, growing impatient to see her cards.

Cardin drew and looked up toward Ilia. He wasn't allowed to attack anyone on the first turn, so he knew Ilia played a card with a Flip ability.

"A what ability?" Ilia asked.

Knox flew in to explain, "Basically, you played a monster face down, and when it gets flipped face up, the effect goes off."

"Oh. Like an ambush."

"That's the idea."

Cardin nodded to himself and placed a card in the back row first, "I play my Ancient Gear Castle!" A large medieval castle rose up from the sand covered in weapons and gears. "And I'll play my Ancient Gear Knight!" The machine of gears and rust dug itself up from the sands as well, its right arm was a lance while its other arm had a round shield made from a giant gear. [1800/500]

Penny shivered. She still didn't like the look of these creatures, unable to shake the feeling of robot zombies.

"And, while Ancient Gear Castle is on the field, my Ancient Gear monsters gain 300 Attack. [2100/500] "One face down will end my turn."

"Finally!" Nora shouted.

Nora drew her card and grinned from ear to ear. "Alright! I place a card face down."

Nora fumed.

"And!"

Recovery.

"I summon Valkyrie of the Nordic Ascendant!" A young woman in a white dress with red armor floated down from a pillar of light. Her shining white wings flapped as she slowly descended upon the battlefield. [400/800]

"Woah~!" Nora was excited now. "That's so cool! It's even named Valkyrie!"

"Not a very strong monster?" Mercury was unimpressed.

"You shut your mouth!" Nora would have none of it.

"And, since you had monsters and I didn't when she was summoned, I can remove 2 Nordic monsters from my hand to create 2 Einherjar Tokens!" Two identical warriors appeared to either side of Valkyrie.

Tai chuckled, "That's a mouthful."

Cardin growled. "Crap."

"That's right! A level 2 tuner and two level 4 monsters!"

Ozpin tapped his chair. "So, a level 10 tuning."

Nora bounced in her chair, waiting for the monster to come.

"Now! Ascend to the skies of Valhalla as we call forth the All Father!" Valkyrie turned into two rings as the two tokens reformed into eight balls of light. Soon, a massive pillar rose to the sky. "I Synchro Summon!" The sky itself seemed to split apart as a giant appeared before them. A giant man in a white robe and red cloak. He held a spear in hand with the staff of the weapon was jagged as it approached the blade. His large helmet covered one eye. He was an old man with a long white-grey moustache and beard that reached down his chest. He towered over all mortals beneath him, a god among them. "Odin, Father of the Aesir!" [4000/3500]

Nora would have jumped up and celebrate a big play like that, but she was just awestruck at the monster. It was unlike anything she'd ever seen. It was rare, but she was at a loss for word.

Ozpin, on the other hand, was at a loss for a different reason. Ozma had met their world's versions of gods (and so did he, but he didn't know King basically ruled his version of reality).

"Now I…!" Then she remembered the format, "end my turn…"

Nora sank in her chair, "Aw…"

Ilia grinned and drew her card. "Now! I flip summon my Gravekeeper's Spy!" A man appeared in a solid black robe that seemed to dissolve into blue with yellow hieroglyphic symbols. [1200/2000] "This lets me special summon my Gravekeeper's Curse in defense mode!" A similar dark skinned man in a black and red robe appeared holding a silver crook. [800/800] "This card deals my opponent 500 points of damage. To Cardin!"

The Curse started to glow bright green as scarabs appeared from the sand and flew off to Cardin.

[Cardin – 3500 LP]

Cardin huffed, but knew this was preferable to some of her other plays.

Speaking of, Ilia played another monster. "I play Gravekeeper's Descendant!" A man with lighter hair appeared, similar to all the others in dark robes and tan skin. He held a gold staff with a cobra head on the top. [1500/1200] "Now, I tribute my Spy to destroy one card on the field. Like Odin!"

"NO!" Nora shouted.

Odin exploded under the strain of the Descendant's magic.

Nora was crying for her awesome monster. "This sucks! I didn't even get to see it in action!"

Cardin growled, "Damn it."

This got Nora to stop a moment. "What? Why would he be mad about that?"

Cardin new what Ilia didn't, but she would learn soon.

Ilia swung her hand forward, "I attack Nora with my Gravekeeper's Descendant!" The Descendant pointed his staff at Nora and fired a bolt of magic.

[Nora – 2500 LP]

"I end."

Nora grinned, "NOW! I remove one Nordic Ascendant tuner from my hand to summon Odin from the Graveyard!" The mighty god reappeared kicking up sand, a very angry look on his face. "And I get to draw a card on top of that~"

Nora's mood turned manic again. "YES~!"

Ilia facepalmed. She didn't know this Cardin guy, but it was clear he wasn't exactly the brightest or best person. And the fact that she didn't know about an ability like that was embarrassing.

Ilia growled. "Just wait. That won't work so well by next turn."

Cardin shook his head and drew his card. "While you were all normal summoning monsters, my Castle was gaining counters. And it's time to cash in! With two tokens, I can remove it from the field and summon my Ancient Gear Golem!" The giant golem of gears and rusting metal appeared from under the sand. It released steam from between its armor plating and its gears slowly spun. [3000/3000] And without the Castle, the Knight's Attack points returned to normal at 1800.

"Let's get this started." Cardin grinned, "Now, my Golem will attack your Curse! And don't forget that he inflicts piercing damage." The Golem raised a fist and slammed the metal into the Curse.

[Ilia – 1800 LP]

"And now my Knight will knock out your last monster." The Knight charged and impaled the Descendant.

[Ilia – 1500 LP]

"No freaking way." Yang was wide eyed. Cardin actually made a good play. That said, it was a different Cardin, so she couldn't use her version as a standard.

Cardin placed a card facedown. "Your turn Nora."

Nora drew her card and steeled her nerves. She had to make a call. She could either knock Ilia out of the duel or challenge Cardin to put herself in a better position overall.

"That's actually a good question." Ironwood crossed his arms. "Which would be more advantageous? Knocking out one opponent so you can focus on the remaining opponent, or do you keep the enemy in so the third person can't risk focusing on you?"

The audience started to think over what they would do, but the world continued.

Nora nodded, "First! I activate my trap, Gleipnir, the Fetters of Fenrir!" The trap activated to show an orange light erupt from the ground. "This lets me add a Nordic monster from my deck to my hand." She grabbed a new card and grinned, "Now, I summon Mara of the Nordic Alfar!" A malicious blue… thing appeared on the field. It's kind of hard to explain how it looks with any specifics. [1000/500] "Best part is, when I Synchro Summon with Mara, I use 2 Nordic monsters FROM MY HAND! Garmr of the Nordic Beasts and Ljosalf of the Nordic Alfar! Tune with Mara!" You know how this works by now. "I call upon the Nordic Lord of trickery and twisted evil! I Synchro Summon Loki, Lord of the Aesir!"

The monster that appeared looked the part of a mad jester. Adorned in a flowing robe of blues, pinks, yellow, and orange. He was a mad man and seemed out of place next to Odin, but still held that same power. [3300/3000]

Nora gasped seeing another creature like Odin. "That's so cool~"

"Now! Odin! Knock Ilia out of here!"

Ilia sighed, "Crap."

Odin raised his spear and light radiated from the blade. He swung his weapon toward Ilia and a rainbow fell from the sky like a meteor, slamming into her and knocking her out of the competition.

[Ilia – 0 LP]

Cardin sighed. "You forgot this was an Action Duel, didn't you?"

Ilia blinked then facepalmed hard.

The Ilia in the audience mimicked her counterpart.

"Now Loki can knock that Golem out!" Loki grinned with an evil smile and drew a twisted knife from his sleeve.

Cardin huffed. He could stop it but saw no reason right now. His Golem exploded as Loki stuck his knife into the machine.

[Cardin – 3200 LP]

"Why would he just let it get destroyed?" Yang asked.

Ozpin sighed. "Sometimes it may be best to let your opponent have a moment, but he needs to be careful."

Nora placed a facedown before passing the turn.

Cardin drew now that Ilia was knocked out. "First, I play my Ancient Gear Workshop to bring my Golem back to my hand. And now I activate the field spell Mausoleum of the Emperor!" A giant temple rose up from the sand with a flame roaring at the top between two obelisks. "This card lets us pay 1000 life points per tribute if we wanted. And I think I will!"

[Cardin – 1200 LP]

"I summon my Golem back to the field!" The Golem appeared in the fire of the temple and slowly descended the temple to the field. "And I'll use Limiter Removal!" Cardin flipped his facedown card up to show an overclocking speedometer. "This doubles the Attack of all Machine monsters but destroys them at the end of the turn." The Knight boosted to 3600 while the Golem was a gargantuan 6000.

Ironwood noticed something in the numbers, "He can win this if the Golem attacks Loki."

"NO!" Nora was in panic mode now. "Come on me! You can do it!"

"Now! Ancient Gear Golem! Attack Loki!" The Golem lifted its hand and slowly swung its arm back.

Nora ducked to the side and grabbed a card. "I activate the Action spell Sandstorm!" On cue, the sand kicked up and knocked the Golem back a bit. It still connected with Loki and destroyed him, however the scoreboard was different.

[Nora – 1150 LP]

"This might destroy my monster, but it halved the damage."

Nora kicked up, "YES!"

Cardin's other monster wasn't strong enough to challenge Odin. He'd been banking on that win. "I place a card face down and end my turn."

Nora grinned. "Now, I remove Mara from play in my Graveyard to summon Loki back! And I get to grab a trap with him." Loki reappeared with a laugh. "But that's not all! I summon Dverg of the Nordic Alfar!" A little orange thing, similar to Mara, appeared. [100/1000] "When he's normal summoned, I can normal summon another Nordic monster again this turn. I summon Vanadis of the Nordic Ascendant!" A young woman with white wings flew down. She was dressed in a white and dark blue dress with her dark hair tied up into a ponytail. She wielded a scythe with a ruby colored gem set into the base of the blade. [1200/400] "She can be used for any Nordic tuner I need. And when I use Monster Reborn! I can revive my Garmr of the Nordic Beasts." A red wolf dug itself up from the ground and growled. [800/1900]

"Now!" Cardin revealed his facedown, "I activate my Fiendish Chain!"

"Sorry! But I have the quick play spell Mystical Space Typhoon. It doesn't stop your card from activating, but it can't keep that effect without staying on the field." Cardin's card was destroyed by a small windstorm. "Now, Vanadis can activate her ability! I send a Nordic monster from my deck to the graveyard and change her level to that monster's. In this case, Svartalf of the Nordic Alfar, a level 5!"

Port nodded, "And that's 10 levels~"

"Now! I tune my monsters!" The field was soon covered by darkening clouds. A bolt of lightning crashed down as the clouds grew more violent.

This was getting Nora's attention more than the other two had.

"I call upon the Lord of Earth, Master of Storms! I call down the mighty god of lightning! I summon!" One big bolt fell down behind her as a giant appeared from its form. He was a giant man in black armor with golden bolts of lightning raising up from his shoulders. A long storm blue cape flew behind him as his storms swirled around him. Where fur would classically be placed about his armor and cape, there were clouds instead. He wielded a giant hammer with coursing lightning shooting out from the head. "Thor, Lord of the Aesir!" [3500/2800]

Nora was wide eyed and amazed. "That… is… so… AWESOME!"

"And I'll activate my facedown, Divine Relic Mjollnir!" Thor's hammer seemed to erupt into its new form as the electricity surges grew stronger. "This let's Thor attack twice this turn! Incase you get any ideas about Action Cards."

Cardin knew all the Action Cards could only stop one attack each. Unless he got extremely lucky, it was not likely to happen. He might stop one, two if he was lucky, but there were three Aesir on the field staring him down and he had no way to stop it.

"THOR! ATTACK! STORMBREAKER!" Thor swung his hammer to the clouds as the storm crashed upon the field, destroying both of Cardin's monsters.

[Cardin – 0 LP]

[Winner – Nora]

Nora practically leapt out of her chair, "YES!"

Yang was downright amazed by the monsters Nora was able to call on. In one turn each! "I feel bad for whoever has to follow that."

The board lit up as the three finally left. A one on one duel between numbers 1 and 2. Weiss Schnee and Jaune Arc.

Yang laughed, "Welp, good luck with that."

"Hang on." Ruby turned to her friends, "Weiss isn't a student in this version. She came in with her sister. Why was she given a number?"

This actually got people thinking.

As the two approached the arena, Port closed his eyes as a flashback played through his head.

"Looks like we get to find out." Yang sat back, waiting for the answer.

Port sat at his desk, looking toward a monitor sitting to his left. "I'm sorry, but I'm not quite sure I understand." He was currently in the middle of a video call with Winter, his boss.

On the monitor, Winter nodded, "I understand completely. I did just drop this on you and it is very unconventional."

"Why would you want your sister to participate in a school duel, anyway?"

"Because…" Winter stalled for a moment, a concerned look on her face for a moment before returning to her normal expression. "I wish to test my sister's training and ensure her improvement."

Port raised an eyebrow.

Winter groaned. She might be Port's boss, but he could always see through her. "Fine. It is true that I want to test Weiss's training. Though I'm also worried she's becoming too detached from the game. And I have reason to believe that her instructors are going easy on her out of fear I might fire them."

Qrow chuckled, "That's a first. I thought the stereotype was the rich had the strictest private teachers."

"But this is also a game." Winter sighed. "It's not uncommon for others to purposefully lose either out of some sense of obligation or because they want something."

Qrow turned toward Winter. "Guess with a life like that, it's no wonder you turned out a an Ice Queen."

Winter huffed and kept her attention on the screen.

Port nodded. "Then why not just challenge her yourself. That would certainly be a wakeup call."

"It wouldn't work. She needs to face a new challenge. That's why I'm asking you to do this. I want her to face the student by the name of Jaune Arc."

"Pardon? But why Jaune?"

"The boy's reputation, despite being in the lower dorm, has preceded him. And while his record may not be the best in the school, but he's proven himself more often than not. He also possesses the one trait my sister needs to learn again."

The flashback ended as Jaune and Weiss stood in the center arena.

Yang groaned, "I hate it when they do that, leaving us hanging on some pretty important stuff."

Jaune watched Weiss's demeanor. They way she stood, placed her deck in the disk, and drew her cards. He felt something off about her. He moved to draw his new deck but stopped. It was in that moment that he realized what vibe he was getting from her. She sighed and moved to take a different deck from his belt.

This got the viewers attention. It built up the deck from before but now he wasn't even going to use it? They wanted to know why not.

Port raised his hand as the arena's systems formed their stage. "Welcome to the Metropolis!" The field formed as a cityscape. Jaune and Weiss stood in a massive intersection staring each other down. Port's hand started to fall.

As it reached the end of its arc, Jaune and Weiss shouted, "Duel!"

[Weiss – 4000 LP]

[Jaune – 4000 LP]

Weiss was given the first turn. "I'll start by placing two cards face down and summoning my Mirage Dragon!" The gold-plated long dragon appeared and floated behind Weiss. [1600/600]

Kali thought back for a moment, "I remember that one! It was in the last version we saw when he faced that one man… Tyrian?"

"That was him, yes." Ozpin confirmed.

Now it was Jaune's turn. He looked over his cards and smiled.

This got Weiss to raise an eyebrow. "You really need to work on your dueling face. You're giving away your position."

"You'd think that wouldn't you. Maybe I'm just having fun."

Weiss rolled her eyes. "No wonder you're in Slifer Red."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"If you bothered to take this seriously, maybe you'd actually make something of yourself."

"Harsh." Jaune picked his play, "I'll also place two cards face down. But I'm summoning my Elemental Hero Sparkman!"

Jaune was instantly sitting upright and excited.

The monster appeared in a small bolt of lightning. A man dressed in a blue body suit and golden armor appeared from within the lightning. He swung his hand and the electricity surged around him before dissipating. [1600/1400]

Now it was Jaune's turn to gee out. "Awesome."

"And I'll equip him with the Spark Blaster." Sparkman now held a gun with a boxy design. "This lets me change the battle position of monsters on the field up to three times. So, put that dragon into defense!" Sparkman fired a shot into the dragon, forcing it from attack to defense mode. "Now! Sparkman attacks!" The Hero charged a bolt and fired his attack to destroy the dragon. It did no damage, but it opened up his trap cards during the battle phase. "Alright. Your move now."

Weiss drew her card and started her turn. "I summon my Alexandrite Dragon!" A large dragon seemingly made of rock and gemstones slammed into the street and roared. [2000/100] "Now… Take a chunk out of that Sparkman." The dragon flew forward and reared back its claw.

Jaune swung his hand to a facedown, "I activate A Hero Emerges!"

"A Hero what?"

"Emerges. Here's how it works. You pick a card in my hand at random. If it's a monster, I get to special summon it. If it's not, I send it to the graveyard." He held both his remaining cards in each hand. "So? Go ahead and pick one."

Weiss huffed, "The card on the left."

Jaune smirked and spun the card to place it on the disk, "I summon Elemental Woodsman!" A green-skinned man grew up from the ground beneath them like a tree; and given half his body was made of wood that was understandable. He rested on one knee with his arms crossed in defense. [1000/2000]

Jaune, a lifelong fan of comics and superheroes, was amazed by the cards on screen. "This is so much better than the last one."

Weiss was unimpressed, "Doesn't matter. My attack still continues." Alexandrite Dragon slammed its claw into Sparkman and destroyed the electrical superhero.

"Oh come on!" Nora cried out, "I liked that one!"

[Jaune – 3400 LP]

"Now for my other facedown, Hero Signal!" Jaune flipped over his other card. "When my monster is destroyed, I can special summon a level 4 or lower Elemental Hero from my deck. And I pick Elemental Ocean!" The Hero arrived in a torrent of water. He had blue skin and silver armor, looking like a stereotypical aquatic superhero, complete with trident-like weapon. [1500/1200]

Weiss sighed. "Fine then. Go on and take your turn."

Jaune's eyes narrowed as he drew his card. "Wow… I saw it was bad, but I didn't think it was that bad."

"What are you going on about?"

"Well, for one thing, you don't exactly look like you're having fun. This duel isn't life or death or anything."

Some of the audience recoiled in their chairs remembering the display last time. When Tyrian attacked Neo and she disappeared into lights. It was actually pretty haunting seeing through her eyes as she disappeared.

Weiss scoffed, "Unlike you, I plan to make something of myself."

Jaune shook his head slowly for a moment. "Okay… Guess I need to get through the hard way. I play Fusion Substitute! This lets me fusion summon using cards already on my field. I use Woodsman and Ocean as material! From earth and water there is life born and defended by its Hero! I summon Elemental Hero Terra Firma!"

The monster fell from the sky, landing on one knee with both fists on the ground next to him, a superhero landing if you will. He stood over the humans in the arena with a solid white body with blue shoulder and the top of his head. The core of his chest had a red gem embedded in his form. [2500/2000]

Ruby was starry eyed. "Woah!" It almost reminded her of the heroes from her storybooks growing up. Sure, it was more superhero than fairy tale hero, but there was just something about it that got to her. It was as if the creature was the hope of the entire world.

"Now! Terra Firma attacks!" The Hero leapt into the sky and reared a fist back, slamming into the head of the dragon opposite him. Alexandrite Dragon tried to resist the attack, but soon found its jaw square in the pavement.

[Weiss – 3500 LP]

Weiss didn't seem too phased. With Jaune's turn ending, it was her move again. "I play King of Dragons!" A man in dragon-bone armor and a red cape crashed through into play wielding a triple-headed electric guitar with each of the three topped with looked like a dragon's head. [1200/1100] "When he's played, I get to grab my Melody of Awakening Dragon, which I play!" The King of D. (his printed name) played a cord on his guitar. After a moment, he tore into a shredding riff as fire ripped apart the ground around them.

Yang was just amazed at the scene. "Holy crap! That is metal as hell!"

"This let's me add 2 dragons with 3000 attack and 2500 defense to my hand."

Jaune scowled. "I knew it."

"And now I activate Polymerization to fuse three Blue-Eyes White Dragons!"

Weiss perked up, remembering the first time they saw the cards during their intermission.

"I summon my Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!" A giant three headed dragon blasted through the air and slammed into the street behind Weiss. It was a fairly simple design, just the three dragons put together as a hydra-like creature. [4500/3800]

This was the strongest monster they'd ever seen. A truly terrifying beast of destructive power.

Jaune gave a nervous chuckle. "Oh boy."

"NOW! Attack!" The Ultimate Dragon reared back and fired three bursts of energy toward Terra Firma. The Hero tried to hold back the energy but started to lose ground before being enveloped by the power.

[Jaune – 1600 LP]

"And my King of Dragons will strike as well." The King played a cord that ripped the street apart around Jaune.

[Jaune – 400 LP]

Jaune held on, but barely, shielding his face with crossed arms.

Weiss huffed and crossed her arms. "Why don't you just give up now?"

Jaune let his arms fall and reveal his smile. "Why would I do that? I'm having a blast!"

"What?"

Tai chuckled, "Kid gets it. It's a game. What's the point if you don't have fun?"

Weiss growled, "Just go!"

"Alright! Jeez." Jaune drew his card. "Okay. First I'm going to use Fusion Substitute's second ability to remove it from play and return Terra Firma to the Extra Deck, plus I get to draw a card." After placing the spell back in his deckbox, Jaune looked back up toward Weiss. "I want to ask you something. Why do you play that deck?"

"What do you care?"

"Because I always believed a person's deck is a representation of who they are. Right now, it's like you're using someone else's soul. Everyone knows Winter's deck when we see it."

This sent a chill up Weiss's spine. She looked up to her sister, sure, but never considered idolizing her quite so much. She still wanted to be her own person rather than following in her sister's footsteps. But this version wasn't doing that. She was deliberately copying her sister, and Jaune was able to see right through it.

Qrow rolled his eyes. "One Ice Queen is enough."

Winter glared at him for that, but couldn't do anything about it.

Jaune's look turned deathly serious. "Why not duel with your own cards?"

Weiss was quiet. Her mind flashed back to the first deck she'd ever built on her own. An entire deck of monsters, in no way viable for competition, but as she grew so did the deck. A symphony adding more instruments as time passed. Soon, it became a beautiful melody.

With Jaune's earlier words in mind, many in the audience felt a warmth in their hearts.

Kali went so far as so outright say what they were felling, "Aw~ That's so precious."

But one day… the music stopped. Suddenly ended as dragons fell upon her mind. She wanted to be as strong as her sister, to live up to the Schnee name. One day, the melody died, and she chose to bury it.

Reliving that only made Weiss angrier. "Shut up!"

Jaune's eyes seemed to bore into her soul. Then… "Why did you do it, Weiss? Why would you silence them?'

Weiss's eyes went wide and stepped back in shock.

As would many of the viewers.

Yang watched in shock, "Uh… what did he mean by that? Or… how did he know? What's going on?!"

Jaune took a breath and reached back to the deck box from before, opening it.

Port was about to stand and call this out, being against the rules, but Winter held him back.

Jaune pulled a card out and looked down toward it. "You know, I was challenged to use a completely new deck. And I admit to now quite building the entire thing. I found a bunch of cards around the city. But there was one spot where I found a bunch of cards all in one place, a full deck in fact. He looked back up toward her. "You can see her, can't you?"

The camera moved back to Weiss, a closeup reflecting across her eye as she looked toward Jaune. Then, it moved to show what she saw, an ethereal woman standing beside him, dressed in a large purple dress. Her aqua hair was curled into two rows at the base of her head. The woman looked toward Weiss, sorrow painted on her face.

Port jumped, "What in the world is that?!"

King returned to explain, "That… is a Duel Spirit."

"A what?" Ruby asked.

"A Duel Spirit. Remember, this world shares its position with a world where these monsters are real. Certain individuals are actually about to see these creatures as they overlap. Said individuals are often the strong willed and form bonds with these Spirits. Or, they grow up thinking they hallucinated the entire thing and toss what was once their friend to the wind."

"That's…" Ruby groaned, "That's terrible."

Jaune glanced toward the Spirit. "I heard her singing when I found her. I always wondered who she was singing about. Then," he turned back to Weiss, "she saw you. When I was picked for your opponent, she asked me to reach out to you."

Weiss was shaking, taking another step back, "Shopina…" She shook her head and glowered, "No! I won't fall of it! I'm not going to just let you beat me with that!"

"Weiss…" Jaune sighed. "Fine. Maybe this will get through to you. I activate the field spell Skyscraper!" The city around them seemed to grow dark. Now, it was truly like something out of a comic book. "Now! I activate Polymerization! I fuse Elemental Hero Avian and Elemental Hero Burstinatrix! Wind and Fire! Combine to become the Hero that shall defend all! I summon Elemental Hero Flame Wingman!" But nothing formed. At least, not on the ground.

The camera tracked up to show the Hero standing atop the tallest spire of the city. He was more of a mutant than the others. He possessed a single feathered wing and his right hand was like a dragon's head. He was a vision of duality between wind and fire. He dove off the building and flew down before flying into place by Jaune. [2100/1200]

"But will that be enough?" Yang was actually on the edge of her seat.

Shopina flew to the side and revealed an action card resting on the street. She created a small melody forming wind to send the card to Jaune. As he caught the card, he played it instantly, "I play the Action Spell Hero's Journey! This card lets me add a level 4 or lower monster to my hand from the graveyard, letting me grab my Sparkman. But that's not all! If my hand is empty when I activate it, the card also lets me grab a spell card. Now! Polymerization will fuse my monsters together again! The fire burns brighter with the need for justice! I summon Shining Flare Wingman!" The new version was a man with green skin in glowing white armor. Unlike his counterpart, this version had both wings and appeared as a brilliant Hero, a beacon for justice. [2500/2100]

"It's not much stronger…" Weiss, despite it all, was actually rooting for Jaune. Just not out loud.

"Shining Flare Wingman gains 300 Attack for each Elemental Hero monster in my Graveyard!" The monster's attack points shot up. [4300/2100] "Now! Attack Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon! Shining Flare Storm!" The Hero flew to the air glowing brighter, and brighter, quickly blinding everyone around them.

"Why would you do that?! My monster has more attack points!"

"Exactly. When an Elemental Hero attacks a monster with more attack points, it gains 1000 Attack points!" [5300/2100]

Nora stood and slammed her foot onto the chair in front of her. "YEAH! Show her who's boss!"

As Flare Wingman's attack burst, Weiss tried to shield her eyes from the light. Then, she heard something, "Why do you not sing with us?" Weiss's eyes shot open to see Shopina standing in front of her. "We understand your plight, but you never had to face it alone. We want to be there for you, Weiss."

Weiss nearly collapsed on the spot. "I…"

Shopina held out a hand toward her, "Please…"

The camera moved to show Weiss's profile without showing her eyes. They saw a tear fall and her seem to move forward. Then, reality returned as the light faded and the Ultimate Dragon burst into nothingness.

[Weiss – 2700 LP]

"It wasn't enough." Ironwood sighed.

Ozpin tapped his chair with a slight smile, "I don't know about that."

Weiss was shaken, barely able to remain standing. Soon, for the first time, she cracked a smile. She wiped away a tear and turned back to Jaune. "When this is over… I want my cards back."

Jaune paused a moment but chuckled nervously. "Um… It kind of already is."

Weiss looked to him, confused, "What do you mean?"

Jaune grinned, "When Shining Flare Wingman destroys a monster in battle, you take damage equal to its Attack points."

Weiss blinked. "What?" Shining Flare Wingman was right behind her, a hand over her head, as a beam of light surrounded her and erupted in an explosion.

[Weiss – 0 LP]

[Winner – Jaune Arc]

Most of the students were celebrating Jaune's big win. Some were gushing over the monsters or the comeback. Many of the adults were just happy Jaune was able to help the alternate Weiss.

Winter looked down as Jaune help Weiss to her feet again. Her mind flashed back to her conversation with Port.

"I've noticed Weiss trying to copy my cards and strategies. I remember back when she was first learning, when she still smiled playing this game… I haven't even seen her play her Melodious monsters. I want her to face someone that will push her. Not just in dueling, but hopefully to get her out of this phase. To let her be herself again. My hope is that this Jaune Arc can do that."

Winter smiled, more than happy with the results.

Jaune smiled, finally able to see the Hero monsters he'd about, but also for being able to help. It felt like something he would do. The Spirit thing was a little weird, but it also felt… right to him.