After that conversation, Eden Hawthrone got situated into her new life in this new world as she stayed with the Sakakis, helping around the house as she got a legal identity established thanks to Yoko, who… knew people.
And thanks to them, she could start challenging people to Feature Matches. Though as she'd been warned, it wasn't anything quick at all- over the course of two weeks, she had only gotten to duel three people, all three of which were running decks that definitively showed what lacking an extra deck could do, as it was clear they were supposed to have Fusion or Xyz monsters but critically didn't.
Even when they tried their best to make up for the deficiency -Eddie was baffled why they didn't just use a better, main deck oriented deck- it didn't match up to her 'extra deck optional' level of deck nor her superior mind games.
She hadn't publically pulled the 'set an Action Card' bit yet, but she'd already started developing the reputation of a Heel just from her mannerisms combined with her playstyle. It helped that her cards were old and unpopular by most duelist standards due to the heavy life point cost, making her seem a bit 'crazy' by the local standards, since everyone treated life points as 'important' instead of her D mentality.
In other words, the only life points that mattered were the first and the last.
And over the last two weeks, she had also of course helped out at You Show Duel School, getting to know the kids, or as Eddie liked to call them the Guppies.
Which meant she got to know their decks.
Ayu ran Acuactresses which was absolutely hilarious given that the nickname had come before finding that out. And more importantly, because Eddie knew how to run that deck. Namely, she had suggested some froggy-style support in the form of Wetlands, Squirt Squid, and so on. Ayu had been reluctant to take her advice until Eddie had set up a duel simulation a lot like in some of the official games to show her the power, at which point Eddie was now officially 'big sis'.
Futoshi meanwhile, played Dinosaur Beat Down, with his Ace Card being Doodle Beast - Stego, and his Boss Monster being Doodle Beast - Tyranno. Both of which were adorable self-summoners, which was neat. She hadn't had as much to offer there other than some old school cards like Gilasaurus and Misclenacerous, which helped a bit but not as much as Ayu. Still big sis though, which was funny.
Oh, and of course she'd done some research.
Like the fact that there was an Extra Deck Black Market, as expected of LDS hogging all of them for themselves, which was kinda stupid but kinda made sense at the same time- she had all but confirmed a mystical component being what most locals lacked, so they had to control the flow. Well, she said mystical but it was so well studied it was a science but she was still going to think in terms of Ka and Ba and such.
She still had them pegged as bad guys, though, or at least hella sus in the same way Kaiba Corp used to be.
On that note, in her research she'd found that Reiji Akaba seemed to use a different deck in most public appearances, always very extra deck heavy, but his current deck had yet to be seen but confirmed to be different.
Eddie also found out he wasn't running it alone, his mother, Henrietta, was helping him run the company, which made a lot more sense. Neo-Kaiba he may be but Seto Kaiba he was not.
That same research into popular duelists had led her to stumbling into something weird- Joey Wheeler was an incredibly successful, now retired, pro duelist who had married Mai Valentine. Not that odd. And he was friends with the expected crowd…
Except Tea wasn't named Tea, she was Anzu like in the manga- or rather, in the original japanese (well, Anzu Muto but still). Same with Tristan, or rather Hiroto Honda, who wasn't a pro duelist but a known friend of theirs.
Pegasus oddly died after Duelist Kingdom with a missing eye, implying the events of the original series happened more or less…
Except Ritual Monsters had a ritual deck instead of there being a fusion deck that eventually got merged back into the main deck because of the actual extra deck monsters, which was frankly bizarre to her.
Equally bizarre, she could not find a single mention of any of the GX characters, even the almighty Vellian Crowler (or even Cronos de Medici, his genuinely epic original name, that man was practically italian royalty if that name had the weight associated with it).
5D's was similarly a bust, but she wasn't quite as hopeful. Domino was still a thing with no New Domino, meaning there had definitely been no Zero Reverse, which Eddie supposed was a good thing.
Yuma Tsukumo was the only full name she could remember from Zexal worth checking, but there wasn't even a Heartland City or anything.
Or Number Monsters.
Eddie vaguely recalled something about Number Monsters being part of Astral, but she never finished Zexal so she had no clue there.
Which was a real disappointment because it would have been so hilarious to run her Pain Gainer deck and watch the action duelists pass out from sheer terror at the point modulation.
Though that would have needed the Sacred Beasts, which were also poignantly missing.
Weirder, Battle City was apparently involving the Wicked Gods instead of the Egyptian ones, which set off all kinds of alarm bells in her head that something was up there, but there wasn't a lot of footage to go over outside of the big one between Yugi and Kaiba.
And Kaiba used Wicked Dreadroot.
Again, there went that potential deck.
Since of course, as she had already had a near-perfect deck lacking only Extra Deck monsters (and requisite support), she'd already started casing a second deck.
Though she had to earn money to do that. It wasn't like with the clothes Yoko had so kindly bought her after a lovely shopping trip, she could not in good conscience have Yoko buy her cards. She was willing to accept charity for necessities, but this wasn't necessary.
So her budget was limited by her Duel winnings, building up a nice nest egg first before actually looking to buy any cards, packs or otherwise.
Speaking of winnings, she had a duel scheduled for today, at the Duel School.
Apparently, Eddie was already (im)famous enough that people were challenging her- first up was Yuya's friend from actual school, and he had challenged her to a Feature Match.
She would gladly beat down another kid for more cash.
Plus, dueling was fun. Everyone here took it so seriously, that was why she liked Yuya so much, dude was here for a fun time not to dominate or anything like that.
"Hey Eddie, are you ready to duel?" Yuya asked as he entered the Duel Arena where Eddie was waiting for her opponent.
"Always~!" Eddie sing-sung, currently dressed in what she was tentatively considering her 'Costume', a nice ruffled black dress with gold lining not too dissimilar to Indulged or Capricious Darklord, something she knew she had to buy when she spotted it.
"I am ready to see it, as he is pretty strong. Well allow me to introduce you to my best friend and classmate Noboru Gongenzaka," Yuya introduced as through the door came- a massive pompadour?
Wait, no, it was a person!
A young man built like an old man -no, like a fantasy dwarf, this kid was Jotaro levels of built for his age, wearing… a naval themed outfit? She was gonna say 'navy admiral' kind of vibe, as well as a flowing red headband that flapped in the wind (wait, it wasn't windy, how was-).
"Hello Eden Hawthorne, I the man, Gongenzaka challenge you to a game of Duel Monsters, the showmanship of You Show vs the Heavystrong Style of the Strong Dojo!" He declared.
"...Wait, Strong as in Strong Ishijima?" Eddie asked, pointedly not asking any of the questions she actually wanted to ask there.
"...He is a graduate of my Father's Duel School, yes, though we do not like to speak about him after he sold out to LDS." Gongenzaka confirmed.
"Sorry, didn't realize." Eddie apologized. "More importantly, we have a Duel to get to, don't we?" She didn't even try to pronounce his name, she would practice later.
"We do and if you have trouble with my name, my friends call me Gong."
"Well Gong the Strong, I haughtily accept your challenge. Prepare to lose." Eddie said with a curtsy she'd practiced for action duels, immediately switching to what she was dubbing her 'Duel Persona'.
"As the one challenging you, I the man, Gongenzaka shall go second."
"Then allow me to say the oath. Ladies and Gentlemen! Duelists locked in battle! Kicking the earth and dancing in the air alongside their monsters! They storm through this field! Behold! This is the newest and greatest evolution of Dueling!" She spread her arms wide as the field began to morph around them. "ACTION DUEL!"
Gongenzaka LP: 8000/ Eddie LP: 8000
God, she loved being a ham.
"And for the Action Field, we shall return to the past!" Mr. Hiiragi declared as the area changed and they now stood on a tiled parapet roof of a dark, stormy castle in ancient Japanese style, the sound of clockwork mechanisms moving underfoot out of sight, the promise of hidden machines in wait.
"And I'll send us straight to the sky!" Eddie said. "I'll replace my half of the field with Sanctuary in the Sky, and scoop up this lovely action card as I do!" She declared as her half of the field suddenly shot upwards before stabilizing, the stormy night on the castle now replaced with a sunny crumbling plateau, hovering next to the castle but firmly connected by the clouds.
"Proceed." The ' man' said as he did not move from his spot, his eyes locked onto Eddie.
Which was… genuinely interesting to her, every other Dueltainner she'd fought so far had been very mobile.
"I should be saying that to you, because I! End my turn." Eddie said, having bricked hard.
"I shall draw, and Normal Summon, Superheavy Samurai Wagon!" Gongenzaka announced as he summoned a japanese style machine that was pulling a large rickshaw-like cart filled with other machine parts… blued out like it was in defense position? And then switching to the more colored form? "And his effect allows him to change his position when he is summoned immediately!"
"I can already see why your Dojo proclaims itself Strong with that archetype." Eddie commented, already fingering her action card to activate it. She knew it wouldn't end with just one summon.
"You know of the Superheavy?" He asked.
"My best friend taught me to fear the name Big Benkei."
"Sadly I did not draw him, but if you know about Benkei, then you know that other Superheavy Samurai monsters possess a similar effect, so I will activate the effect of Superheavy Samurai Soulshield Wall! Equipping it to Wagon!"
(1800DEF 3000DEF)
"And now I shall attack!"
"Miracle!" Eddie all but threw her card down. "Targeting your Wagon and halving the battle damage!" The card slowed it down long enough for her to do a quick roll for another card, right before it hit.
Gongenzaka LP: 8000/ Eddie LP: 6500
"I shall end my turn."
"I'll draw." Eddie said as she got back up. "And immediately set the card I drew and end my turn. Hit me with it, Strong Gong."
"Please have it as Gong Strong if you are going to nickname, I the man," He replied.
"Hit me with it, Gong Strong." She said in the exact same way.
"I shall show you the ability of my Wagon, by changing it to attack I can add a "Superheavy Samurai Soul" monster to my hand," Gongenzaka declared his intent.
"Actually, I'll be activating my facedown." Eddie said with a grin. "Sanctified Darklord! By discarding a Darklord from my hand, I can negate your monster's effect for this turn, and gain life points equal to its attack, preventing you from activating its effect or from attacking with its defense points!"
Gongenzaka LP: 8000/ Eddie LP: 7700
"Then I shall increase my defense, as I Normal Summon, Superheavy Samurai Blue Brawler!" Gongenzaka said, as it was summoned in attack, but like Wagon it could go into Defense Position when summoned, though this one blued out properly indicating it didn't have the attack with defense effect. "And with that, I shall end my turn. And while I hope to face the monsters Yuya spoke highly of soon, I shall not let you do so easily."
"We'll see about that." Eddie said with a smirk as she drew. "I'll discard Darklord Ixchel, along with Darklord Morningstar to draw two cards."
("Eh, why did Big Sis discard her boss monster?" Ayu asked, as she and the others were viewing from the Observation Room.
"Yeah, she can't summon it from her Graveyard," Yuzu stated, brows furrowed.)
"Hmm, you have discarded the Master of your Deck, that means you must have a plan." Gongenzaka stated, the man still had not moved an inch, and not gone after any Action Card despite one being only five feet from his person.
"You'll see~! Next up, I'll activate Twin Twisters, discarding another Darklord to destroy your Soulshield Wall! Meaning I have 4 different monsters in my graveyard, meaning~! It's time to show off how we do things here~!" Eddie said exuberantly as she showed off the card to set everything in motion. "I'll activate Darklord- Contact! Summoning Darklord- Superbia from the graveyard in defense position! His effect lets me bring another Darklord with him, this time being the yet-to-be-seen Darklord Tezcatlipoca!" She had practiced so hard to pronounce that correctly!
"You shall not for I shall Chain to that effect, the effect of my D.D. Crow!"
"Your what?!" Eddie asked in shock as the target was removed from the graveyard and she was denied the summon yet again. "You're using a Superheavy Deck, why would you use non-Superheavy monsters?! I'd say D.D. Crow is even Superlight!"
"Many Superheavy Samurai monsters can not activate their effect if there is a Spell or Trap in the Graveyard, and since I can not run cards like, MST or Mirror Force, I sought out monsters that could act like Spells, and so, I the man, discovered D.D. Crow!"
"...Duly noted." Eddie said, silently deciding to kick that same bestie's ass for never actually using hand traps in his Superheavy decks. "...Is that why you're not going for any Action Cards?"
"Yes, that is the Heavystrong Style, of the Strong Dojo, we stand steadfast taking on all opponents using only our own cards!"
"Respect." Eddie said genuinely as she ended her turn.
"Then, I draw and attempt to once again activate Wagon's effect, to add Superheavy Samurai Soulpiercer."
"Uh oh." Eddie knew that card, and if he thought he needed it now…
"I shall equip Soulpiercer to Wagon."
Maybe not?
"Sadly I cannot overcome your Darklord just yet," Gongenzaka said. "So I shall end my turn."
Eddie noticed his Wagon stayed in Attack Position, and couldn't help but think it was bait… if she thought Gongenzaka had a single dishonest bone in his body.
Everything about the kid was strong, so she doubted it.
"I'll move Superbia into attack position, and move to destroy your Wagon!" Eddie said, the chariot shooting forth on dark wings and destroying the machine on contact.
Gongenzaka LP: 6300/ Eddie LP: 7700
"When I take Battle Damage, I can Special Summon, Superheavy Samurai Prepped Defense!" He summoned the monster in defense, proving her wrong. "And when Soulpiercer is sent to the graveyard, I can activate its effect. Allowing me to add a Superheavy Samurai monster to my hand."
"In preparation of the arrival of the Big Benkei, I will! Do nothing, and end my turn." Eddie declared, knowing for sure who was coming next. It couldn't be anyone else.
"I draw, and you are right in your assumption Eden Hawthorne, I shall release my two monsters, to Advance Summon, Superheavy Samurai Big Benkei(1000ATK/3500DEF)!"
And there was the big man himself.
A suitably big samurai machine with an equally massive and brutal looking sasumata, bright orange armor, and an absolutely massive defense as it shifted into the correct position.
"I the man, shall go on the best defense, offense," Gongenzaka declared his attack.
"And I'll activate the next best defense, not being there, with Evasion! Negating your attack!" Eddie said as Superbia suddenly moved back 10 feet from the machine's attack.
"Hmm, I shall end my turn, show me how you shall overcome my Big Benkei."
"I draw, and I'll immediately discard the card I drew, along with Darklord- Amdusc, in order to add one Darklord card from my graveyard to my hand! That's going to be Darklord-Morningstar!"
"So that is how you intend to summon it," Gongenzaka said.
"Woo, go Big Sis!" Ayu shouted in support, eliciting a smile from her as she continued.
"But I'm not done yet! I'll activate Ixchel's effect to use Contact from my grave and summon Amdusc alongside her!"
The dark pegasus trotted onto the field, forming quite the wall of her own.
"A formidable defense of my own, wouldn't you say, Gong Strong?"
"And you have yet to use your Normal Summon, but I believe that Morningstar of yours does not have the attack to overcome, my Big Benkei."
"That's correct, which is why I'm not going to rely on Morningstar to do that! Instead, I'll activate Amdusc's effect to Rebellion from the graveyard and destroy Big Benkei outright!"
"...Sadly you shall be denied, I discard Superheavy Samurai Soulfire Suit, by decreasing Big Benkei's defense by 800 for the rest of this turn, he can not be destroyed in battle or by card effects."
"That's fine!" Eddie said, grinning wider. "I don't need Benkei gone to win."
"Huh?!" Came the reaction from the gallery and Gongenzaka.
"Rejoice, Gongenzaka of the Strong Dojo, because you are to witness a momentous occasion! The first summoning of my Ace! Behold the majesty of the Bright Morning Star, burning as it descends from the heavens! I sacrifice Ixchel and Amdusc to summon Darklord Morningstar(3000ATK/3000DEF)!"
Finally, at last, he was here.
The dark winged seraphim descended from the heavens like a comet, dark light wafting off his body as the animation lingered, burning red halo overhead, a simple sword and shield in hand and an aura of absolute power radiating off of him.
"Of course, when someone this powerful falls, he doesn't fall alone! He gets to bring some friends! Using his effect, I can special summon Darklord Nergal from my deck!" The dark armored angel appeared alongside its leader, the two sharing a nod.
"So that is the Ace of your deck," Gongenzaka looked down at his Duel Disk. "If I had more monsters… This could be much worse."
"Oh but it gets better before it gets worse! I'll activate Morningstar's effect, allowing me to send cards from the top of my deck to the graveyard equal to the amount of Darklords on the field, and gaining 500 LP for each! I'll then activate Nergal's effect to use the Banishment I just sent to the graveyard to add one Darklord to hand, and that'll be Contact! Though that's for next turn, because without my Extra Deck, this is as big as I can get… but that'll be more than enough! Battle Phase!"
"Stand strong, Gong!" Yuya shouted in support of his friend. "Also that is so cool!"
"Your encouragement is conflicting Yuya!"
"I'll attack! And while your monster may be immune to destruction, I still inflict Piercing Battle Damage!" Eddie said as her angels slammed their attacks into the wall that was Big Benkei, and while it stood firm, the blows still dealt damage to Gongenzaka. "I'll then end my turn. Show me your strength, Gong Strong!" She said, blood boiling.
This was the most fun duel yet!
Gongenzaka LP: 5800/ Eddie LP: 6200
"I shall draw!" Gong declared. "I shall Normal Summon, Superheavy Samurai Swordsman!" And like pretty much all the other Samurai, it went into Defense Position. "I shall go into Battle Phase. And I shall attack Darklord Morningstar with Swordsman!"
"I'll activate Nergal's effect to use Sanctified Darklord from my graveyard, negating Big Benkei's effect with a net 0 on LP! And I believe you can no longer finish your attack, correct?" Eddie asked, grinning malevolently as the holy light bathed over the samurai.
"I the man, can not," Gongenzaka replied.
("Why did Gong attack with Swordsman?" Yuzu asked.
"I think, he had a plan to probably get Morningstar to 0ATK," Yuya responded)
"I'll draw, and then activate the Darklord Contact I put in my hand last turn to summon Ixchel for round 2, bringing the Darklords on my field to 4! I'll then activate Morningstar's effect once more- LET'S GO!" She shouted, breaking character, as she saw one in particular. "When Capricious Darklord is sent to the graveyard for any reason, all of your monsters lose 500 attack and defense for every Darklord on the field! Meaning!"
"...Oh no." Gongenzaka said as he looked at the cards in hand, in particular the one on the left. Which if it hadn't been for Capricious would probably have let him have a comeback. "I the man, is in trouble."
"You bet you are! Nergal, destroy his Swordsman!"
"The effect of Swordman activates at the end of Damage Calculation, the monster it battled has its defense and attack reduced to 0."
"Too little, too late~! Superbia, send Big Benkei to heaven." The chariot did so, leaving Gongenzaka wide open. "Any last words, Gong Strong?"
"You are truly a Bad Angel," He replied.
"Morningstar, finish him! Falldown Strike!" Eddie ordered, the Darklord having been rising into the air as the others had attacked, before striking down like a comet directly at Gongenzaka, the field going fully black and white on impact.
Gongenzaka LP: 0/ Eddie LP: 8200
Winner: Eden Hawthorne!
And once the field vanished, Gongenzaka sat back up as the rest came out.
"That was an awesome duel you two, and man Morningstar is awesome, I am almost sad that Yuzu prevented you from summoning him."
Smack!
"What is that supposed to mean Yuya!" Yuzu asked after smacking him on the head with her paper fan.
"I mean, urgh… ahhh, I will be quiet."
Meanwhile, Eddie had offered a hand to Gongenzaka. "That was the hardest duel I've had since becoming a Dueltainner. That Heavystrong Style of yours is really something."
"Thank you for the compliment Hawthorne, you were also one of the toughest duelists I've faced so far, your Darklords are a true match for, I the man's Samurai." He spoke as he took the hand, and Eddie almost fell onto the boy, as he was as Superheavy as his monsters, kid was built like a brickhouse, emphasis on built. Thankfully, she kept her footing enough to help him up.
"Trust me, if you had Susanowo and crew, you'd outclass me by a mile." She said as she rubbed her shoulder. Kid almost dislocated it. "Heck, Big Benkei's enough of a threat on his own. I might have to side deck a bit to deal with monsters like that in the future."
"Hehehe, I might do the same, I shall try and look for more monsters that act like spells and traps, there must be more of such cards out there," Gongenzaka replied.
"Oh yeah for sure, there's Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring and her annoying sisters, Max ""C"", Droll and Lock Bird, Effect Veiler, Nibiru the Primal Being, there's a lot of options that are really good." Eddie listed off a few she could remember immediately.
"I have not heard of those cards."
"Yeah, Big Sis knows about a lot of cards," Ayu said.
"Yeah Eddie might not know how to avoid missing timing, but she knows about a lot of cards." Yuya said.
"Yuzu."
Smack!
"Hey!"
"We're all learning all the time." Eddie said sagely and innocently as if she hadn't just done that. "Everything is a learning experience, even duels. Especially duels."
"You speak correctly Eddie," Mr. Hiiragi said as he joined them. "The money has been transferred to your account, and with the surplus I got as your teacher… who wants ice cream to celebrate?"
Everyone cheered their agreement.
"I love being undefeated." Eddie said, deliberately tempting fate as they walked out.
Which backfired and resulted in her not getting a single feature match the next two weeks.
"Why is no one accepting my challenges? Is a 100% win ratio that terrifying?" Eddie despaired, slumped bonelessly over a desk.
"There there, Big Sis," Futoshi said as he patted her back.
"What am I supposed to do? I'm top 50 but no one wants to even try! I deliberately act like a jerk to make people want to fight me, why isn't it working?"
She was starving from lack of action duels. She'd gotten a few normal wins on the side, but that was nothing compared to the rush of Action Duels.
The oath was right, it truly was the greatest evolution of dueling.
"Well a good thing is that, it promoted You Show a bit more, we've got somebody who is looking to join," Ayu said. "I think Yuya and Gong are doing a showcase for him and his mother right now."
"New blood?" Eddie asked eagerly as she sat up. "Did you overhear any other information, Ayu-chan?"
"I think he is the same age as us," She answered.
Eddie immediately slumped back over the desk with a sigh. "At this point I think I'm gonna challenge sensei…"
"That would be a fun duel, he was a Pro Duelist," Futoshi said.
"Yeah, I haven't actually seen Sensei duel at all," Ayu said.
Though before Eddie could respond, a dejected Yuya (his goggles over his eyes, she'd learned that tick pretty quick), Yuzu, and Mr. Hiiragi entered the 'classroom' as they took a seat on the couch that sat along the wall, a simple table in front.
"Speaking of." Eddie said as she got up, her Mom Friend Override immediately kicked in and honed in on their discomfort, especially Yuya's. "What happened?"
"The mother said no to her son joining." Mr. Hiiragi said.
"Because during the duel between me and Gong." Yuya continued.
"The Real Solid Vision Machine…broke." Yuzu finished.
"Pardon?" Eddie asked in surprise. "You dueled so hard you broke the field?" That sounded awesome, how would that detract from the school?
"No…" Yuzu said.
"She moved, spilled drinks and short-circuited the thing." Mr. Hiiragi said.
"I thought I had closed the water bottle properly." Yuzu said. "I am sorry."
"It's fine dear. It should be covered by our insurance… hopefully."
"Wait, I'm confused, all of the duel fields I've seen so far have been outdoors or otherwise exposed to the elements, how would some spilled drinks affect them but not rain?" Eddie asked.
"The newer models are," Mr. Hiiragi said. "Ours is one of the first, the console is not as resilient. But I need to go check if the short circuiting damaged the projector."
"Should one of us call an electrician?" Eddie asked. "Amateur wiring can lead to explosions."
"...I will also be doing that… eh I think there goes all our money."
"Everyone okay?" Gongenzaka asked as he came in.
"I thought you went home Gong?" Yuya asked.
"Was going to, but I, the man, figured everyone is probably playing pity games, you most of all Yuya."
"I am not, I got the kid to laugh at the end." Yuya said, his goggles covering his eyes.
"Yuya there is a difference between people laughing with you and laughing at you ." Gongenzaka shot back.
"Hmm," Yuya replied as he had no way to reply to that.
"My, my, my it seems that something is amiss in here," A new voice spoke up and everyone turned around to see a man coming through the door.
A man who absolutely oozed sleaze, he was either an announcer or a con artist- though he had style with it at least. A yellow and black striped suit with a pink undershirt, sunglasses, bling, and… she would give him the benefit of the doubt and call it a Charlie Chaplin stache. Regardless, she was immediately on her feet and ready to throw down if need be.
"Who are you?" Mr. Hiiragi asked the man, a little on edge at a person invading their space.
"I am Nico Smiley," The man introduced himself with a too-perfect smile. "I am the manager of the Pro Duelist, Strong Ishijima, aka the Sledgehammer, the current Duel Champion, and Promoter of LDS."
"And what, praytell, does such a clearly connected man want with us?" Eddie asked.
"In three days, Strong Ishijima is going to be having his Fan Appreciation Day, and we would like Yuya Sakaki to be a part of the festivities." He answered.
"Wait… you want me to…?"
"Duel him? Yes!" Nico Smiley replied. "Because after all on that day, three years ago exactly you challenged The Sledgehammer to a duel when your father failed to show up for the Championship Match. Did you not?"
Yuya froze at his words.
Eddie, meanwhile, was being physically restrained by Gongenzaka. "Let me at him, let me at him, I'm just gonna break him a little bit." She asked, fully intent on breaking his smug face.
"And as you can see, we've already started promoting it," The man (who clearly either did not notice or did not care about the impending doom) said as he held up a poster that at the bottom had Yuya's face declaring that he would be dueling Strong Ishijima to redeem his father's name.
"If it weren't for the fact we would get arrested, I the man, would be joining you now." Gongenzaka whispered in her ear.
Eddie settled down slightly at the reminder of legality, but Gongenzaka notably did not let go of her. "You're a good kid." She muttered.
And Eddie could tell that Mr. Hiiragi was also outraged as they were using Yuya's image without permission. "No."
"Huh?"
"I say no, as Yuya's sensei, and so guardian acting in his mother's stead I will say no, and believe me, when she is informed of you using her son's face without-"
"You would say no even if I told you if Yuya participates, the Leo Corporation will happily replace the Real Solid Vision system that I just overheard you breaking with a completely new top of the line model?"
"N-"
"I'll do it." Yuya said, his goggles now up to show a look of absolute determination. "I will duel Strong Ishijima aka The Sledgehammer in three days."
"Yuya!"
"Yuya, you have no need to do this, we will get it fixed ourselves," Mr. Hiiragi began speaking. "You don't need to make a fool of yourselves for-"
"Sensei," Yuya said, making everyone still. "I am going to win."
"That's the spirit!" Nico Smiley said, the perfect smile now looking too big for his face. "We shall see you for the greatest Action Duel this season."
And within a second the man was gone.
"Yuya." Eddie said after a moment.
"Eddie." he replied as he looked at her.
"You're certain you want to do this? That you want to?" She asked.
"Yes," he replied. "I want to redeem dads name." He clutched the crystal pendulum that was around his neck. "But… this, this is for me."
"Then…" She reached into her deckbox, and pulled out a specific card. "You don't have to use this, but this is the strongest card in my deck."
"Forbidden… Droplet?" He asked out loud as he looked at it, and his eyes went wide as he read the effect. "Wow… that is…"
"I know you can win, but there's nothing wrong with stacking the deck in your favor, right?" Eddie asked with a smile.
"Thanks Eddie but… I am going to say no, it's going to be the cards I have collected and the ones my father gave me."
Eddie sighed fondly. "Yeah, I figured as much, but it didn't hurt to try." She said as she took back the proffered card.
"Yuya, are you insane!"
—
Three days later.
Eddie sat in the stands of the stadium that was in the bay, the place packed with people, sitting next to Yoko and the others as they waited for the duel to start.
Eddie was of course decked out in as much You Show merch as possible to show her support, and had even worked with the others to make a sign that said 'You Show 'em, Yuya!' in the same font as the school's name, which they had kept secret for today.
And Eddie had a weird feeling.
It wasn't just second hand nerves for Yuya, no, she could feel… something on the wind. A certain frisson in the air that it felt like only she could feel.
Something was going to happen, and she didn't know what.
And in the last month, she'd been able to put two and two together about Yuya's deck, and if that meant what she thought it meant… there'd be big trouble.
Well.
For The Sledgehammer, anyway.
"Ladies and Gentlemen!" Nico Smiley announced. "It is time for the main event of the day, a duel between the Strong Ishijima, the Sledgehammer, and the son of the Legendary Duelist, Yusho Sakaki, Yuya Sakaki, this Feature Match shall of course be using the Action Duel Rule Set. So I shall Activate the Action Field - Castle of Chaos!"
And the field was changed to that of a forest that surrounded a brick castle that was much taller than any of the things that You Show had made as an Action Field. Which made sense, theirs was probably the smallest one she used so far, and it wasn't very good at verticality either, using some genuinely clever perspective tricks instead that seemed much safer than some of the more 'advanced' fields, but hey anime logic.
"This is the power of Real Solid Vision, to bring a fantasy such as this into reality!" Nico Smiley commentated as the crowd cheered. "And from the castle itself here comes our reigning Champion of three years, Japan's King of Action Duels, Strong Ishijima. THE. SLEDGEHAMMER!"
The crowd cheered as the man himself came out.
"UARGHGHHHHHHH!" He roared, and the crowd mimicked it in kind.
"And down at the ground level, we have the young man who would challenge the Ultimate King… Yuya Sakaki!" The man pointed and the camera followed to reveal…
A missing Yuya.
Eddie looked around before jumping to conclusions, and instead smiled as she saw someone emerge from behind the False Strong up in the castle dressed in a clown costume, ignoring the urge to beat up everyone in the crowd as they murmured.
"I like the look of that clown." Eddie said idly.
"Clown?" Yoko asked and her eyes landed at where Eddie was looking. "...Oh Yuya. I see what you are doing."
"Huh? What is that clown behind the King!" Some other started to say, and the cameras followed and the screens changed to show the Clown making funny faces at Sledgehammer as the man turned around, looking rather outraged.
"Son of Yusho Sakaki, are you mocking me?!"
"Hehehe, sorry for the rudeness." Yuya's voice said as he removed the mask as he started doing small acrobatics in place. "Well, then, with the greatest respect… allow me the honor of dueling you."
And like that he turned on his Duel Disk.
"YEAHHHHHHHHH!" Eddie put her impressive volume to use as they held up the sign. "YOU SHOW 'EM YUYA!" She and the rest of the YDS yelled.
"What an unexpected turn of events, but it seems our players are ready, duelists draw five cards." Nico Smiley announced. "Duelists locked in battle! Kicking the earth and dancing in the air alongside their monsters! They storm through this field! Behold! This is the newest and greatest evolution of Dueling! ACTION!"
"DUEL!" Everyone joined in, the word resonating throughout the stadium with a tangible force.
"I shall allow you to go first." Strong Ishijima said.
"Then allow me to show you all what a classic Action Duel is all about!" Yuya said as he jumped on a zip line and started to go down. "And for my first performance I shall Normal Summon, Performapal Hip Hippo."
Who Yuya immediately jumped onto as got close enough to the ground.
And from there Yuya ended his turn.
And then Strong Ishijima showed off his Battleguard Deck.
Which was a(nother) big reason why she hated him- she loved the Battleguards, and this dillweed had a full deck of support for them. Since like a lot of og cards, there were full (anime exclusive, from her prior perspective) decks and support.
If he hadn't been the premier user of them, she would have gone for that as her secondary deck.
Anyway, Sledgehammer kicked things off by using the Feast of the Wild LV5 Spell Card to Special Summon Swamp Battleguard and Lava Battleguard, and then immediately Tributing to summon Battleguard King.
And from there Yuya action cards to prevent his Hip Hippo from being destroyed by Battleguard King's two attacks, Evasion and one that Eddie hadn't used before, one that allow Yuya to send a monster back to his hand and halve all battle damage for the rest of the turn.
"I shall summon Hip Hippo back to the field, and now thanks to the card I drew I can use his effect to release him to Advance Summon, a Level 7 Monster, that shall be my Odd-Eyes Dragon!"
And at that the Ace of Yuya's deck was summoned, the dragon roaring. And as he rode the dragon he discarded the rest of his clown attire, returning to his normal outfit.
"I knew that was what he was doing." Yoko said.
"Huh?" Yuzu asked.
"He's clowning on him." Eddie said with a vicious grin. "Literally!"
"That too, but right now he is also reinventing himself, you know what I told you the first night at our home. How Yuya presented himself as a clown to deal with his father vanishing."
"I'd say this is a good step up from that." Eddie said. "Not the clown, but the epic duelist-no, Dueltainner, underneath?"
"Correct, he has now quite literally discarded the clown."
And then what followed was a battle of attrition between Yuya and the Sledgehammer as they sought to keep their respective Ace monsters on the field.
With Yuya using Action cards, and Ishijima using a variety of Trap Cards to prevent destruction.
Though Yuya did show off a neat tech via his Continuous Spell - Wonder Balloons, that allowed him to discard a card, place a Counter on it and then could expended those counters to lower an opponents Monster by 1000 attack points.
But the cards Yuya used were not his own, but the Action Cards that he was picking up like a bloodhound.
Though sadly the reduction only lasted until the end of the turn, which eventually allowed Ishijima to do a comeback with his Trap Battleguard Rage, to increase King's attack by 2000. Because of course some cards worked differently due to anime logic.
Which on his turn he used to reduce Yuya's Life Points down to 400, and which he combo'd with Battleguard Magic as whenever a monster returned to the hand Ishijima gained Life Points equal to half the monster's attack.
Which Rage ensured due to its other effect.
Which put him at 4000 Life Points, ten times as much as Yuya.
Yuya Sakaki LP: 400/The Sledgehammer LP: 4000
And it was then Yuya's fifth turn, and the tenth turn of the Duel.
The boy was breathing heavily as he was now down on his knees, bruises on his body from the quite real attack of the massive Battleguard King.
"Surrender, Sakaki, run away like your father did, this stage is not for you."
"KICK HIS ASS, YUYA!" Eddie shouted at that, breaking her 'don't curse in front of the children' rule for this, because fuck this guy.
"I won't give up, I have people who believe in me, the Pendulum might have swung in your favor, but it always swings back and forth, and now it's back to me. I draw!" Yuyu shouted as he epically drew his card, and as he did.
Eddie saw it, she might be the only one who saw it.
The Pendulum around Yuya's neck glowed and so did his cards. People in the crowd went dead quiet at the sight of a clear Shining Draw.
"...I set the Pendulum Scale 1 to 8 with Stargazer Magician and Timegazer." Yuya declared. "I can now Special Summon monsters with levels from 2 to 7. Swing, pendulum of souls! Draw an arc of light across the ether! Pendulum Summon! Appear, my faithful servants!"
And like that between the two monsters that were in a pillar of light behind Yuya the numbers 1 and 8 hovering in front of them as a literal pendulum swung.
A portal opened up as three lights landed on the field.
"Performapal Whip Snake, Performapal Sword Fish, and dragon with dual colored irises manifest with a new power, Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!"
"Oh this is gonna be good." Eddie whispered expectantly, almost reverentially, at the familiar monster that had ended many a duel in her enemy's favor.
"I activate the effect of Performapal Whip Snake, switching the attack and defense of your Battleguard King!"
(5000ATK/1100DEF 1100ATK/5000DEF)
"No…"
"Next Sword Fish reduces it by a further 600." Yuya continued. "Now for the Battle Phase! Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon, end him!"
"I activate my Trap - Battleguard Howling, if my Battleguard Monster is being attacked, I can target the attacking monster, I can send it back to the hand and deal damage equal to its attack!"
Eddie, like most of the YDS, gasped in shock.
"I activate the Pendulum Effect of Timegazer Magician, if a Pendulum Monster is targeted by a Trap Card, I can Negate that effect and set the card back face-down."
"No!"
"YES!"
"Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon will continue his attack! Spiral Flame Strike!" Yuya shouted as the beam was fired from the dragon's toothy mouth.
"AND IT INFLICTS DOUBLE BATTLE DAMAGE!" Eddie shouted exuberantly, absolutely thrilled at this amazing win.
"And since the attack of your Battleguard King is 500, that is 2000 points of damage, which when doubled is exactly your remaining Life Point total!" Yuya added.
And then the attack got bigger as it consumed both Battleguard King and the castle that Strong Ishijima was standing on.
Yuya Sakaki LP: 400/The Sledgehammer LP: 0
Winner: Yuya Sakaki
The stadium outside of Eddie(Who was cheering herself hoarse) was dead quiet at the events that had just occurred.
"I can scarcely believe my eyes, Yuya Sakaki has managed to defeat Strong Ishijima, the Sledgehammer with the most spectacular Shining Draw we have witnessed in a Duel!"
And at that the crowd joined in on Eddie's cheering, same with the rest of YDS.
With Yoko next to her crying tears of happiness.
And as the camera zoomed in on Yuya's face, Eddie could see it changing from confusion to happiness as he shouted. "I WON!"
Xxx
Soul Subtitle: A Strong Showing! The Pendulum Genesis!