Yugi nodded and asked “is there something I should know?”

Serena smiled softly at him and said “your always serious…”

Ishizu smiled and moved to the other team and shook their hands “thank you for a wonderful duel. You don’t know how much it helped to have a fun time.” She bowed her head and went back to her brother and said “you did wonderful brother…”

Cora tilted her head, unsure if she should say anything. Through she had been on the receiving end of the verbal abuse, it felt like nothing she couldn't handle. She though was a little more worried about telling her new friends her little secret. Especially when it lead being alone all over. "No. Not that I can think of. But I'll let you know when it comes to me." She replies.

"Not always. You've always proved that." Yami mentions with a bit of a mischievous tone.

Marik looks over toward his sister as she comes back, grinning amd excited.

"Team Ishizu Wins this match!" The Announcer calls out as the crows had cheered for them. Marik makes his way back with Ishizu with a smile on his face.

Yugi tilted his head, his eyes telling him a different story. Then he said softly to her “you can tell me anything. I’m not one to run away from anyone if they wish me to stay…and I don’t run even if they tell me too”

Serena smiled at him and said “that’s true…but I feel like your more serious in this life then the last one…”

Ishizu walked back to the others and sat down as Odion said “well done master Marik…lady Ishizu..”

Marik grinned toward Odion and sat next to him. "Thank you! The new deck is perfect Odion, thanks to you and my sister!"

Cora was surprised by the sudden push on her walls. She had admit that compared to others, he was quite persistent and wanting to figure someone out. She smiles as she feels a crack in her walls. "You're not like everyone else I've tried to get to know." She seems to be thinking about before conceding. "Alright then," she leans in and whispers in his ear. "I can see Duel monster Spirits." Cora admits before leaning back, a blush on her face, a little embarrassed, nervous even.

"Next up Team Yugi and Team Tokosume!" The Announcer states, Cora getting up. "It's our turn." Giving a smile, but not a genuine one. She still felt the nervousness she had from telling Yugi something she tried to keep hidden. To be called childish, a baby, a fake, a pest. She didn't mind it, but it still hurt.

"Have I?" He looks to Yugi in hearing him and his friend was next but noticed something was amiss. "Good luck Yugi."

"Go Yugi!" Tristen and Joey cheered.

Odion smiled as his sister said “it’s all you brother, we just helped find the right pieces…”

Yugi stared and smile touched his lips and he said “truly? Well…then that means your a great fit for this company…” he got up and went with her, a huge smile on his lips. When they walked to the stage he said to her softly “you’re not alone…I see them too” he jumped up and helped her up with him.

Serena nodded and said “most likely because you’ve been solving your life mystery in this life…” she waved at yugi and said “something going on with them?”

Cora was shocked by what Yugi said. "Wait." This completely caught her off guard where she faltered a moment but caught back up to where Yugi hopped up on the stage and holding out a hand to her. "You can?!" She never felt such weight that came off her shoulders than now when Yugi told her that he was like her. No longer she felt embarrassment and the nervousness she had. Cora took his hand and smiled a genuine smile. Once pulled up she gave him a hug, her emotions nothing but gratitude. "Thank you," she then pulls away, a blush dusting her cheeks before walking away to get into position.

Yami smiled as he watched them and felt some relief. "Whatever I was, seems to have been solved."

"Duelists at the ready!" The coin flips once all the duelists were ready. It lands a heads, Yugi and Cora going first.

"It's Time to Duel!" The Announcer shouts with enthusiasm!

Yugi smiled and turned on his duel disk and said “I play two face down cards and one face up monster, Celtic Guardian in defense mode. Then I end my turn”

Serena nodded and lean forward. “So how do you think he will do with someone he doesn’t know?”

Tokosume goes next. "I place one card facedown. Then place a monster facedown. Ending my turn." Placing the cars in their respective spaces.

Cora goes next drawing her card. She looks to her card with a smile. "I summon Breaker the Magical Warrior(Atk:1600/Def:1000) in Attack mode. With this, since he was normal summoned, he gets one Spell counter, gaining three-hundred attack taking up to nineteen-hundred attack. However I'm going to go ahead and use that spell counter to activate his other effect and destroy one Spell or trap on the field and I choose yours." The trap was destroyed and sent to the Graveyard. "This takes Breaker's attack back to sixteen-hundred. With that I will place a face down (Magic Cylinder) and end my turn." She declares.

Tokosume's partner Ryo draws his card. He places a card face down then summons Dark Elf(Atk:2000/Def:800) in Attack mode. Then ends his turn.

Yami folds his arms over his chest and smiles. "I think he'll do just fine."

Serena’s looked at him and said “does he duel like this a lot still?”

Yugi drew his next card and said “I summon Green Gagdet to the field, which allows me to pull a Red Gadget card to my hand. Then I place two cards face down and end my turn”

"With random people? Not really. By himself, quite often." Yami answers.

Tokosume with draw his card examining the field. I summon Dark Grefer(Atk:1700/Def:1600) to the field in Attack mode will then go after your Green Gadget!" He declares. Cora wonders what Yugi may have up his sleeve to defend his monsters.

Serena looked at him and said “but Yami…his always had you until you got your body…makes me wonder how it’s affected his style”

Yugi smiled and said “I activate my trap card yugioh.fandom.com/wiki/Stronghold_the…, which acts as a defense up to a level of 2000 points. But when it’s activated allows me to summon Red Gadget to the field. Which ends the battle phase and your turn”

"That maybe true, however when he and I dueled against each other, it did not change much of how he duels. If anything, I changed my deck to suit me. He merely tweeked his deck." The former Pharaoh replies.

Tokosume grinds his teeth a little but let's it be. "Then I place a card face down and end my turn." He says.

Cora draws her card, "I will play the monster Magical Exemplar(Atk:1700/Def:1400), then I'll play the Spell card Pot of Greed allowing me to draw two cards. With that my Magical Exemplar gains two spell counters and Breaker gets one, raising his attack power to 1900. I will then play the Field spell, Magical Cidital of Endymion. With this card not only can I place a spell counter one cards that can have spell counters, but should it get destroyed I can use a spell counter to keep it alive. Ontop of that should one of my cards with spell counters be destroyed I can give this field spell the counters." This gave the Cidital a spell counter, Magical Exemplar now had four.

"Now. I'm going to use Breaker's effect to use his spell counter and destroy your friends spell or trap on the field." This effectively destroyed the card which got the boys a little frustrated. Breaker's attack back to 1600. "I will place one card face down(Magician's Circle) and end my turn."

Ryo draws his card. "I will tribute Grefer to summon Caius, The Shadow Monarch! With his effect for being a tribute summon, I can take a card and banish it from my opponent's side of the field. For that I choose Breaker, the Magical Warrior." With that, Breaker shattered, causing Cora's eyes to widen. A gasp for breath as if she had the wind knocked out of her. She never felt that before, especially in Duel Monsters. She managed get her breathing to go back to normal.

"So since it was a dark type monster you lose one thousand life points!" Ryo declares. As their life Point go from 4000 to 3000, Cora start to feel a pain rack her from head to toe. She looked to Yugi then, looking concerned, almost scared. "With that I end my turn."

Yugi felt the pain too and he looked confused. Why did the duel feel like a shadow duel? Yugi drew he card and muttered “I need to end this…”

He laid down a card and said “I summon Yellow Gadget. Which finishes the task to push my Stronghold to its limit of 3000 defense points, and now all attacks will be drawn to my stronghold. Then I play my face down card Pot of Greed!” He drew the cards and checked his hand. He had the cards he needed to summon the monster he needed to help end this. Then he remembered the magic card he played face down. “Now I activate Ties of Brethen! Which allows me to summon a four star monster from my hand that matches the type on the field, which is earth. So I summon Silent Swordsmen Lv 7 (4500/1000)! Which during my stand by phase gains 500 attack points. But now I have to end my turn” he looked to Cora, hoping she knew what he was planning. If she could control his monster then they could end this duel

In playing his Pot of Greed and Ties of Brethren, gave the Cidital of Endymion 2 spell counters now at 3 and Magical Exemplar 4 now making her have 8. If she could play their cards right, she could summon her strongest spell caster. But they needed the Dark Elf and Caius, The Shadow Monarch off the field.

It's was Tokosume's turn. He looks at their field and curses. They had to juice up their monster to take out the Stronghold. He looks to his hand they were stuck for now. "I'll put down a face down and end my turn.

Cora took a deep breath before giving a weak laugh. "Well, this is something." Trying to shrug it off as she checked over her hand before having an idea. "I will activate Exemplar's effect. I can remove a number of spell counters from her to special summon a monster of equal stars from my deck or hand. For that I use 7 spell counters to special summon Endymion, the Master Magician(Atk:2700/Def:1700) in attack position. With this I play the Spell Twister, playing the price of 500 life points I can target a spell or trap and destroy it." She felt the pain, not realizing this was going to happen.

"Crap...sorry Yugi...." She apologizes. The card is destroyed. "Now. I tribute summon Magical Exemplar giving her one spell counter to the Cidital and summon Dark Red Enchanter(Atk:1700/Def:2200)! With summoning him, he gets 2 spell counters gaining 300 attack for each counter, bumping his attack to 2300. Now with that I send Endymion to attack Caius, The Shadow Monarch." With his staff Endymion strikes down the Shadow Monarch with his magic.

Team Tokosume's life Points from 4000 to 3700. It sent her opponents in a shock of pain. She was starting to feel guilty about what she was doing. Conflicted even. She didn't want to hurt anyone. This wasn't how Dueling was suppose to be. Closing her eyes tight she had to swallow her conflictions. "N-Next. I'll have Dark Red Enchanter attack Dark Elf." Spellcaster attacking the Dark Elf and sent to the Gravyard. Team Tokosume's Life Points now 3700 to 3600. "A-And now. Silent Swordsman Level 7," closing her eyes tight. "A-Attack them directly!" The Silent Swordsman attacks them, their life points from 3600 to 0.

The duel was over the opposing team dealing with the pain as they leave the stage while Yugi and Cora was left as the Victor. The monsters disappear while Cora leaves the stage with her bangs hiding her face while her arms wrapped around herself.

Yugi moved to to Cora and hugged her, wanting to make sure she was alright. “Cora? Are you alright?”

Serena had run up to the stage and helped the pair down “are you two alright?” He nodded and said “yes but that was a shadow duel…but how?” Serena shook her head and said “not sure but we need to find out”

When Yugi hugged her, Cora stopped in her tracks as she was unable to release herself. A dam of emotions was about of overflow, unable how to comprehend what had just happened. How real it felt compared to all she's known about Duel Monsters.

Yami went to help the pair. He looked his partner over before feeling relief. Cora accepted the help but looked as though she had disassociated from the world. Yami looked over to Cora, about to speak when he noticed her shaking where she stood. Looking from Cora to Serena, unsure how to go about this. This was a duelist who was now involved with the attacks and but held her own with Yugi's help.

Serena moved to Cora and tilted her face into look at her. She cupped her cheeks with her hands which were warm and said “it’s okay. It wasn’t anything you did. Something more is going on. And we will figure it out. But no one is badly hurt. The pain doesn’t last…”

Yugi nodded with Serena turned to Yami “you guys are up next…think it’s bad news?”

Cora didn't resist looking up to Serena as tears threatened to spill, her emotions a wreck. All she could do was try to calm down as she sniffled and tried to breathe, instead nodding to her before walking away. Not knowing what else to do.

Yami nods in agreement. "It would seem so. Though it may get tough, Serena and I will win. In the mean time, see to Cora. No doubt this was traumatizing as she steps into a world she no longer understands. I know it isn't hers or your fault. We will be sure they understand the error they made here today."

Serena stopped her and hugged the girl to her chest and then said to Yami “get the boys over here. Tristen and Duke. Marik too if he can. I know this feeling and feeling safe is the best way to help”

Yugi nodded and said “do you think the brotherhood had a hand in this? Why? Why our duel?”

Being stopped and hugged was the last straw for Cora. Handling it on her own was no longer in the cards. Now Cora grabbed ahold of Serena tight as she broke down crying. Her cries muffled by her face buried in the young woman's chest.

Yami nodded to Serena before motioning to the group before his attention was back to Yugi. "I wish I could tell you Yugi. However we know there are possibilities as to how this could have happened. But I wonder if they go with how the duel lined out. Hence being random and hard to track."

"Op! Come on Tristen, I think something happened down there after all." Joey managed as he and Tristen stumbled out of the bleachers. Marik looked to his sister and Odion. "I'll be right back." The trio jogged over confused. "Hey Yugi everyth- what happen to Cora? Is she alright?" Tristen asks looking concerned. Yami shook his head. "No. She needs support. Her world has just been turned upside down and she needs those who have been through this."

The trio nodded though Marik made his way over to Cora and Serena. "We'll take her with us." Marik leans over a little to be at her level. "Cora. Could you come with me?" He asks. Cora cautiously peeks from Serena toward Marik, sniffling and with the hiccups while her eyes still shed tears and are puffy from her breakdown. "I-I didn't mean to. I didn't want to..."

Marik's eyes widened, getting an idea how serious the situation is. "I know. Come. You can talk when your ready but we're here to help. So is Yugi." He explains to her. Cora felt hesitant, not having to rely on anyone before in this way, but after thinking about it, she nods weakly letting Serena go and going with Marik, Joey and Tristen toward the bleachers. Joey looks over toward Yugi, Yami and Serena before his attention was back toward the bleachers. When getting there Joey and Tristen sit infront of Cora. "What do ya like to drink?" Joey asks. She looks to him as she rubs her eyes. "A-A soda is o-okay." Joey nods before standing up. "I'll be right back." Heading to the concessions.