[IC] The Duel Tower: The first year students. (A Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Academy Roleplay.) [Axed]

[Jangel13]

@Ammokkx

Angelo was a bit surprised when she said that she was fine on her own when he talked to her, not that her saying it was surprising but her reaction to what he said was. She blushed and seemed to be embarrassed by what he said and even he couldn't be mad when she was like that mainly because he thought it was cute. Still she pushed him away and he sighed leaving her be for now...

2 months later...

Angelo had did his best to help investigate but the trail went cold and eh couldn't help much after that. He has taken to optimizing his duel runner as best he could while keeping in contact with the rest of their so called gang. He was trying his best to work on making his duel runner even better but even he knew their was only so much he could do to the same parts over and over again and that frustrated him to no end. He was soon visited by Jacklyn the fake atlas he fought before if one cared about it.
She has taken to Angelo but that could be because they were both wrench monkeys so to speak. When she came in and put something into his duel runner he was about to attack her, he was very protective of his duel runner after all but what she said was true and that hurt. He couldn't do anything so he begrudgingly accepted her help and when she was done he said "I am going to warn you now, one don't put things into my duel runner without my permission, second if you ended up downloading a virus into my duel runner I will run you over" he said with a huff before he closed his duel runner and checked the computer to make sure it functioned

[LunarStandard]

Under normal circumstances, Nathaniel was a pretty mellow person. But after going through all that trouble and cards to gather two cards, only to have Steel lead them to a dead end left Nathaniel pretty darn annoyed at this rip-off. Steel had left them with more questions than answers, and Nathaniel was not about to just stop there. Leaving Maisy to her own devices, Nathaniel spent the next couple of months trying to track Steel down. But finding one student in a school that was probably mostly populated by Dark Dormers at this point was even harder than finding a needle in a haystack. Plus, he wasn't about to go sneaking into the Dark Dorm. Asylums were probably safer. He was irritated, but not that irritated.

Distracted by his impromptu man hunt, the Duel Examinations had completely sneaked up on Nathaniel, who had not prepared at all. And with the last day upon him, he realized that he should probably find someone to duel with if he wanted to have any kind of advancement in this school. The easiest way was probably to find someone he already knew, so opening up his D-Ceiver, he shot a quick message to the group, hoping to find somebody to duel with.

"Anyone wanna duel for exams?"

[Ammokkx]

Steel looked amused as Andre rambled on and assumed many things from him. He couldn't keep a straight face when the cellphone came out to play, planting his right hand over his one free eye and laughing pretty heartily.

"Gahaha, what kinda guy d'you think I am?! And cellphones, really?! Oh man, yer a hoot."

Steel took another few moments to compose himself, wiping away a tear that had formed around his silver eye. With a snap of his fingers a few of his lackeys ran out into the hallways for whatever reason, but there were still a good few people there. Steel looked ready to say something else, but before he could get a word out another voice rang out behind him. Slightly confused and annoyed he turned to see Megan there, alone and without any backup. Steel then laughed again, holding his stomach with both hands.

Near Andre, Genta started shuffling in place and took a step back, the previously fearful expression turning into one of utter confusion. He gave Andre a blank look, unsure what to say and looking for an answer. Luckily he didn't have to wait long as Steel started to calm down again.

"Heehoo, okay! This is rich. Gotta admit, kid, that put me in a good mood! If you n'd yer two girlfriends get outta my face now and don't bother any more of my boys, I'll even let ya walk out with the cards you stole from us."

As he said that, Steel pointed to Genta who stared back fiercely. While it was true that Genta had engaged in Ante dueling, under Andre's teachings of course, that hardly counted as stealing.

---

Cream nodded happily while Ben acted friendly and introduced himself. Luckily her good mood wasn't spoiled by the appearance of Joshua, because she had her back turned to him as he passed by. Cream didn't actually care for sitting, however and jumped up again from her seat. She playfully put her index finger on her cheek as she watched the duels going down in the ring.

"More than a few tips, Ben! I know a few of these girls, y'know? They wouldn't listen to me at aaaall... but you're doing great! They really took what you said to heart, y'know? So thanks!"

She turned around to face Ben again with a beaming smile, exaggerating a bow with a little twirl of her arm. Cream shot up again and snapped her fingers next to her head.

"Oh, how rude! I didn't tell you my name... oops? Well, Cream it is! Cream Noel, best grades of the Wind dorm!"

An obvious lie to Ben, he knew a lot of faces in the Wind dorm and Cream wasn't one of them. She never appeared in the hallways and none of the girls he talked to ever brought her up, but that could just as well have been chalked up to them wanting Ben for themselves. Cream didn't seem to know at all, and if she did then she was good at hiding it. She looked Ben up and down again. Then, a mischievous grin crept across her face.

"Saaay... why aren'tcha out there dueling yourself? It's your last chance for promotion, y'know? Maybe you should take on a lighty, really impress those girls... or are you trying to get an 'easy' victory from an earthy?"

---

Maisy encountered Lite Sothe in a pretty sorry state. The mint green-haired boy's hazel eyes were hidden in between his legs, covered by the stiff fabric of the Dark Dorm uniform. He didn't even seem to notice her walking up, his slender and tender figure shaking ever so slightly as he was crouched up against the wall.

Lite's head shot up from between his knees as Maisy tapped him on the shoulder. His face turned from fear into relief and then into fear again once he got a good look at the girl, crawling backwards along the wall to try and get away from her. His face softened up again once he heard her intentions, but not by much. The gelled-up spikes that normally shoot forward were drooped down in front of Lite's lightly freckled face, his lips trembling as he stammered out a response.

"N-No way...! I-I-I... I'd r-rather f-fail... than g-g-go o-out in the open again..."

The boy was extremely shaken and shook his head from side to side and Maisy noticed how one of the younger, female staff members had pity in her eyes as she dishearteningly looked at the scene. Maisy also knew that Lite hadn't been showing up to class or taken part in any of the exams and it probably wouldn't take too long for him to get expelled at the rate he was going, but the staff and teachers just couldn't talk him into going anywhere.

---

Jacklyn sighed and impatiently tapped her foot on the floor as Angelo checked the programming she'd just inserted into his runner. A scowl was plastered across her face.

"C'mon, Angelo! I'm a third year and you've known me for what, two months now? Would I seriously inject a virus into your runner when I'm basically the only one consistently practicing and helping you? Man, sometimes I really don't get you!"

She looked pretty annoyed he didn't trust her by this point, but it faded again soon after. She pulled out a coupon and tossed it over to Angelo as he was still checking out his runner, the paper landing next to his laptop.

"You've heard about the duel puzzle beta they've installed near the entrance, right? The ones where you enter a code, try to beat a challenge and get a card if you succeed? Got one of those, but I don't really care for it. Figured a first year would be helped out more with these. Later,"

Jacklyn lazily waved behind her as she strolled off towards the changing rooms. The coupon that she gave Angelo depicted various Dragunity monsters that each had a number or letter on their weapons. Jacklyn knew Angelo played Dragunity from all the practice duels they had, so it was pretty coincidental that the coupon seemed to be for that deck. Or was it? Either way, at the bottom it told Angelo to enter this into the turbo racing simulation room they'd used at the start of the year.

---

Haas was pretty miffed that nobody in the group gave any answer to the question he posed to them, staring blankly at his D-Ceiver to wait for anything at all to happen. Just as he was about to give up and put it away, the thing started to buzz. Not expecting this, the device slipped from Haas' hands! The boy fumbled and desparately tried to not let it hit the floor and was able to do so, but only at the cost of falling off his chair and his face making contact with the concrete. A few students laughed at the display, but Haas just rubbed his head and looked at the message.

"nate, i just said im nervos!!! if u want to duel tho i dont have an opp yet. mind duelin me in k-l??"

Haas figured Nathan wasn't the worst person in the world to duel if he had to choose, though it was still a major headache. Nathan was pretty good, probably much better than Haas was. Even worse, Nathan wasn't going to go easy with grades on the line. Actually, why did Haas even suggest this in the first place? This was a terrible idea. Unfortunately, it was a terrible idea that he was committed to. With a heavy sigh, he sluggishly rose up and lazily stared at the screen of his D-Ceiver. The boy started walking towards the arenas in case Nathan did accept, but he prayed somewhere deep down that someone else took the challenge without him noticing and left Haas to look for an easier opponent.

[vancexentan]

Andre groaned and looked around him things just got more complicated. It'd be one thing if he could start a fight here by himself. He didn't care for these losers, and or their pride one bit. Pride was the emotion that losers held close to them when they needed a boost to their lives. Never had Andre cared for the notion the only pride he felt was for his brothers. They were always the top dogs. Much more than Andre could ever be, or want to be. 'trash will always be trash.' Andre thought to himself as he looked at Megan, and then Genta and sighed in acknowledgement. "Fine just stop picking on the other students and I won't do anything anymore. Simple as that really. I'm not some super hero those guys tend to end up in shallow graves somewhere on the riverbank. I'm not interested in being one of those folks. Keep on being the big guy on campus for all I care. I really don't." Andre told Steel straight up as he grabbed Genta by the shoulder and pulled him along with him past a group of the dark dorm's lowest. "Don't bother. They're not worth it." Andre told Genta quietly. If worse came to worse he expected a teacher to show up soon enough. It's one thing to let the dark dormies bully kids. It's another to gang up on people it was against the law more so than the former issue.

====

"Well I'm glad to know I'm helping. I don't like leaving people to bake out in the sun all by themselves. You know I hope that it helps even a little. This isn't an ego thing. I just think helping someone is the best thing another person for their peers. It builds character and it shapes a community. As cheesy as it sounds I rather see a crowd of happy smiling faces then a crowd of sad sacks." Ben responded to Cream honestly. He kept on his smile and he took her at her word as she told him her name, even if it was a lie Ben saw no reason to refute it just yet. "Once again it's nice to meet you Miss Cream. Glad to hear your excelling at your grades." Ben stated with a smile. Even if she was exaggerating Ben really didn't mind people claimed silly things all the time may as well roll with what is presented.

"I guess I never really cared for promotion, or demotion for that matter. I'm here to learn, and help people. But if you know someone who wants to duel me I'll take on all challengers. If it's light dorm though I won't go easy on them like I would other people. It may end in a...curb stomp if they're not careful. The boss monster of my deck isn't a joke." Ben stated as he patted his duel box on his belt. "If you saw the ending to my duel in the qualifying round then you know what I'm talking about. I'm not trying to brag it's a friendly warning." Ben commented further. He wondered where this was going exactly? He didn't really expect much from this girl but if she wanted something from him, even if it was malicious, he didn't mind going along with it. Worse comes to worse he got some laughs thrown in his face. Not a big deal.

[Jangel13]

@Ammokkx

Angelo sighed as she complained about him not trusting her enough with not checking what she put in and for that he said "you tell me, would you trust a friend with your newborn child? This is the same principle I may trust you but I'll still be worried and this is easier to check" he said with a shrug as if it was normal. No newborn mother would allow anyone to touch their baby after all because they would be worried to no end at least as far as he knew.

He then looked at the coupon she gave him as she said that it involved the duel puzzle beta version. He has heard about it but he never gave it much thought. He had to admit the fact that their were dragunity monsters on the coupon raised a flag for him and he knew that it would be a good idea to at least check this out. He then got up stretching before he put everything away with his duel runner and he made his way to the simulation area to check and see about starting that puzzle...

[Eklispe]

Megan Claravet

@LunarStandard@Ammokkx

Megan narrowed her eyes as Andre barely even glanced at her, his sharp blue eyes laden with thinly veiled disgust. She's showed up to help him, not that she knew it was Andre, what an arse. Steel wasn't much better, making a crass jab at everyone, that not she expected much from him either. "Whatever, not like I'd want to help you anyway." Megan huffed and stalked off. Her D-Ceiver beeped before she got far, showing a missed message from Haas and a new one from Nat. Megan looked at both of them and sent back replies as she kept walking somewhat aimlessly.

To Haas: "don't worry so much Haas, try to have some fun to wind down"

To Nathaniel: "I'll duel you, you beat me last time but don't think I'll go down so easy again! Where at?"

[LunarStandard]

As he was heading to the arena, Nathaniel was pleasantly surprised as his D-Ceiver beeped out a prompt reply, and then even another. He was expecting to have to queue up some random student, but it seemed like his friends were pretty reliable. Checking his messages as he boarded the elevator, it seemed like Haas and Megan were the ones to bite. If they had a fourth person, they could do a Tag Duel, but as it were, someone was going to have to sit out.

"Sorry Megan. Haas was first. I can duel you after though."

Nathaniel had actually wanted to duel Megan. With examinations coming up, Nathaniel would have much rather dueled someone he had a favorable chance against. But in the interest of seeming fair, he chose the one who came first. Plus, Nathaniel had never actually dueled Haas before, even though they both knew each other's strategies. This should prove to be a very interesting duel.

[Scarifar]

Leander Xenovia

@Joshua Tamashii@Ammokkx@vancexentan

Leander was sitting cross-legged on his bed, looking at the cards in his current collection all spread out on his sheets. The dorm placement exams were coming up, and Leander could hardly wait. He really didn't mind what dorm he would be placed in. In actuality, the Light dorm was a little too luxurious for him; he didn't know what to do with the privileges he had. What really mattered to him were the Duels he would be having during the exams. At least, he assumed they would be having Duels as part of the exam. It only made sense, after all; what kind of Duel Academy wouldn't have Duels for their exams? None that Leander could think of, that was for sure.

With that in mind, he had to get his deck together in tip top shape. He wouldn't dare Duel without having anything but the best and most fun. He had bought some new cards, and with all the Dueling and advice he had gotten, he was going to build the best deck he could. One by one, he picked up and set down cards as he examined each one, trying to determine possible synergies and deck balance. He spent several long minutes doing this, working as hard as he could to get his deck ready, setting cards aside and placing the ones he liked in the center.

Eventually, he looked through them all and had a deck of cards ready. Picking it up with both hands and holding it out in front of him, Leander yelled out, "It's done!" Cleaning up the rest of his cards, Leander placed his deck into his Duel Disk. From there, he exited his dorm room and made his way to the elevator. He looked through the possible destinations listed, wondering where he should go. His first thought was the card shop, but he figured he had been there too many times already and wanted a change of scenery. After thinking for a few seconds, he decided to let chance decide instead. Closing his eyes, he moved his finger erratically before suddenly thrusting it towards a button.

After the doors opened, Leander leapt out of the elevator, humming a cheery tune as he wandered out to wherever he was going. After a few minutes of doing this, Leander eventually spotted someone. Leander began to walk towards the guy, planning to ask where he was, and noticed that it was Joshua. What's more, he seemed to be spying on something. His curiosity growing, Leander snuck up on Joshua so as to not alert him. Once he was right behind Joshua, Leander asked in a hushed whisper, "What'cha doin'?"

---

Michelle Kine

@Joshua Tamashii

Michelle looked through her deck again and again. Each time, she came to the same conclusion: it wasn't enough. Her deck wasn't strong enough. She felt like it did't bring enough resources to the table to put up enough of a fight. Moreover, she wasn't sure if she had a clear win condition, nor if she had enough protection for that win condition. With no options left, Michelle reasoned that her best bet was to go to the card shop to find ways to improve her deck.

Taking the short journey to the card shop, she made her way inside and began searching for suitable cards. There were certainly a few interesting cards, but only a few of which she thought could use properly to improve her deck. Still, it was better than nothing, so she decided to buy them.

As she was about to head out, she spotted a familiar figure on a table. Walking over, Michelle asked her, "Amelia? What's wrong?"

[The Irish Tree]

For Maisy, rejection was certainly something she had already considered happening. After all, Lite was...a weenie, to put it nicely. And obviously he'd turn down the girl that had kinda given him some serious PTSD before. But, even so, Maisy wasn't letting him get away so easily. She glanced to the female staff student and took a deep breath, before puffing her chest out and giving her a confident thumbs up, then placing her hands on Lite's shoulders, she said: "So then...your dream's just going to die without you taking a step towards it?" as she backed off a bit, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Lite, you didn't come to a school to learn to duel better than anyone else in the world just to sit on your thumbs and waste it all away, right!? she asked before quickly putting her hands on his shoulders again and shaking him around a bit, no doubt causing him to need more gel later to maintain his doo.

Once she finished giving him a good rattling, she'd release and give him a chance to recover. "Tell me Lite...what are you so scared of that you're willing to kill a dream for it?" Maisy started, resting her hands on the table with her elbows touching, hands folded and chin resting atop her netted fingers. "It hurts a lot, I know. Everything just...kinda sucks for you right now. Your friends in the dark dorm are butts, jerks, thieves, and all kinds of words I'd say if a school staff member wasn't here right now." she added, adjusting her posture to be more relaxed as she flashed Lite a smile. "Duels are supposed to be fun, right? Do you...hate dueling enough to let someone else bully you into quitting? I don't think you do Lite. You smiled when you won your placement. You had a blast. But the only one who can make dueling unfun for you is yourself."

Sitting up straight once more, she placed her hands in her lap and kept going. "Personally, I think dueling's the best...even if I'm not so great at it. Just because I've got a long ways to go, doesn't mean that I'm not gonna go the distance, y'know? Just because someone's beating you down Lite, it doesn't mean that you're gonna lose. You're worth a million dark dormies. Just...don't let them beat you. Alright? If not me, duel someone else...anybody. You can go far if you just take a step forward and draw."

Once she was done talking, Maisy would move to pull a book down from a shelf and flip through it. "Oh and, start doing your homework. I can tutor you if you're bad at math."

[Joshua Tamashii]

Joshua Tamashii

@vancexentan@Ammokkx@Scarifar

Joshua continued to listen to Ben and Cream's conversation, resisting the urge to grit his teeth and roll his eyes at the lies spouting from Cream's mouth. Still, he didn't interfere and didn't plan on doing so unless Ben actually challenged her. At that point he wouldn't hesitate the step in and tell of the trickster goddess off. He wasn't going to let her claim one of his friends as a victim to her little scheme.

As he was listening in and giving Ben and Cream his full attention, he didn't notice Leander sneaking up on him. So when the hushed whisper in his ear came, he jumped and turned around, slamming Leander into the closest wall with his arm across the boys throat. After realizing who it was, he let go of the boy and sighed.
"Sorry about that. I didn't hurt you did I?" He asked with concern in his voice. He honestly hoped he didn't. Leander was a good guy and friend, someone he felt he could definitely trust while in a pinch or for a bit of advice.

Amelia Averyonna

@Scarifar

Amelia jumped in her seat and looked up before spotting and registering that it was Michelle talking to her. She gave the older girl a kind smile before replying.
"I... I don't know what to do." She said. "I want to improve my deck but I'm unsure how to go about it. I could buy packs but I'm just hoping for Gusto stuff and the sets they come out in support a lot of decks. But I could get some Synchro monsters then. On the other hand, I can buy singles, but I won't be able to get anything for my extra deck then. I don't know which one is the better choice. I only have thirty points, so even if I bought some packs, I wouldn't be able to get a lot of them. And with the promotion exams coming up, I'm panicking and... I guess I might not be thinking straight."

[Ammokkx]

Steel waved goobye to Andre as the boy stormed out of the room with Genta in tow, glancing at Megan. The girl was fuming from how Andre looked at her, clearly, and seemed to just about forget about the dark dorm students. She also exited the room, but clearly went a different direction. One of Steel's goons walked up to him, the older boy casting a sideway glance at the shorter minion.

"Aye, boss, ya think it's a good idea to let 'im go?"
"Relax. I gave 'im a warning, if he still messes with us then he'll get what's coming ta 'im. Plus, the other two gangs are gettin' stronger each day. We can't be wastin' time with punks like 'im..."

Meanwhile, Genta was stumbling after Andre, following him up the staircase. Even though Andre had his back turned to him, the boy was still very displeased. His face was twisted into a scowl and his eyes were staring down at the floor, with his hands being curled up into fists. He didn't really know where Andre was going but this wasn't the first time that had been the case.

"...you really think we should've let them go, teach? We could've totally taken them in a duel! And that girl was going to help us, too..."

Genta was extremely frustrated and that was reflected in the tone of his voice, a lot less chipper than usual. Genta stared at his academy-licensed disk, deck slotted in as the two of them continued up the staircase. Genta sighed again.

"Uhn... nevermind. We should probably find someone to duel, huh? It's the last exam... then again, you're so amazing that I don't see you failing at all, haha..."

---

Cream's face tried its best to remain stoic and serious, but the more ben spoke the harder it became to hide the laugh that she'd been containing. It got so far that when Ben commented on her success she had to turn around and cover her mouth, giggling inside of her hand for a little while. It was a bit odd, but the girl looked like she was enjoying the conversation. Once she regained her composure, she turned back to face him with a fierce nod.

"Sorry, sorry! No need to warn me! Just from talking to you I can already tell you're the real deal. I like you, Ben! You're honest, y'kno-?"

A sudden slam from her left made Cream flinch and turn around, instantly reaching for her deck case. Once she saw what the source was, that being Joshua slamming Leander into a wall, Cream just groaned. The girl buried her face in her hands, mumbling "not him..." underneath. She lowered her hands again soon enough, apologetically smiling at Ben.

"Sorry! Can't stick around anymore. But you're a good person, so have this! I think it suits you perfectly!"

Clicking open the deck box, Cream pulled out a card and shoved it into Ben's hands. With a friendly wave she then skipped off, worming her way through the spectator seats, trying her best to get as far away from Joshua as she possibly could. If Ben were to look down at the card he received from her he could see that it was the Fairy-type 'Honest', a good fit for any LIGHT deck.

---

It didn't take long for Angelo to reach the simulator, but he had to wait a few minutes before he could enter. A student was using it and seemed to be trying out a duel puzzle as a few people were watching the screen. It seemed to be a generic 'Reduce your opponent's lifepoints to 0' problem, but the student was stuck. He'd forgotten about the opponent's face-up spell card and failed the puzzle because of it, walking out disappointed and dejected. It was then Angelo's turn to come inside, and even though he entered the code in the Duel Runner's display it didn't look like the puzzle was at all focused around Turbo Dueling. Luckily for Angelo though, it was based around his deck as the coupon implied it would.

The objective was simple: Synchro Summon three times this turn. The opponent did not have any cards in their hand, field or graveyard but their lifepoints were infinite. Angelo had seven cards in hand, one in the deck and three in the Extra Deck. His hand contained: Dragunity Primus Pilus, Dragunity Militum, Dragunity Darkspear, Dragunity Aklys, Double Summon, Dragon Mastery and Dragunity Divine Lance. His deck had Dragunity Phalanx in it and his Extra deck was filled with Dragunity Knight - Barcha, Dragunity Knight - Gae Bulg and Dragunity Knight - Vajrayana. A bit of thought was going to be needed, but at least he got a sweet, simulated view of his actions coming to life.

---

Lite lightened up as Maisy gently placed her hand on his shoulder, looking away when she mentioned his dream dying. However, this moment of calm was then followed up by a storm as she shook him around, his eyes widening. He took a deep breath once she'd finished shaking him around, looking up with a mix of fear and awe as he listened to her talk. The longer she talked, the more dejected he looked. At some point he'd even pulled out his deck, staring at it wordlessly as Maisy's speech continued to ring in Lite's ears. At the end of it all, he frowned and bit his lip. Furthermore he closed his eyes and tightened the grip on his cards, but he was still careful enough not to bend them.

"Yo-you're... you're right." Lite meekly said, eyes shooting open and meeting Maisy's with determination. He picked himself up from the floor, still shaky but incredibly resolute.

"I... I want to make people happy through dueling... I want other people to see how amazing this game is! I shouldn't be getting pushed around and use it to hurt people... I'll do it! I'll duel you! This'll be my first step to-!"

Lite kept talking and talking, until eventually a 'Shhh!' coming from every mouth in the library. He had been a little loud and this callback to reality made Lite shrink again, meekly following Maisy out of the library and towards one of the arenas.

[vancexentan]

"Let me put it this way kid. Would you rather perpetuate a cycle of conflict? Or would you rather you try to end it? Worse case they screw up bad and I put them down. Being a vigilante, and being cock sure of yourself is a quick way to draw issues with authority. There's a chance that the people in charge of this school know that shit dorm is full of losers picking on lesser students but won't do anything about it. If that's the case what do we do when the teachers are against us? It's all full of complications and pointless drama." commented Andre as he pulled out his ace monster from his deck box and when he was a good distance away from the goon squad he pulled Genta aside and showed him the card. "Archfiend Emperor. Three Thousand Attack Points. Strong enough to sit on his throne, and compete with a blue eyes white dragon. Tell me why does he sit on his throne if he has all the power he could ever want?" asked Andre but before he could answer Andre responded, "It's because he's smart enough to pick the fights he could win in a realm swallowed with chaos." Andre said as he showed a card behind his archfiend emperor his field spell Pandemonium. "To rule in the chaos you must be above causing it and bring order to it. Or revel in the chaos and be the best at causing it. There's two extremes pick one and put yourself to it. I prefer to be above chaos." commented Andre further.

====

"Well...that was weird. But I suppose this card fits better in my deck than it does in others. Artorgius...my lord. Why is it that people can't be honest?" Ben asked himself he knew the girl was lying and was being a bit of a sneaky. He supposed this was the definition of irony. A deceitful young lady handing a young man a card with the exact opposite meaning as the words she presented to him. "And I'm talking to a piece of cardboard again...wonderful." commented Ben as he looked over to where the one girl was looking and saw two young men he nodded towards them and then looked back to his trainees. He hoped they hadn't made any mistakes when he was talking to that Cream girl.

[Tojin]

Camryn had assumed that the dorm change duels would have been exciting, but so far everything had been pretty lame. Occasionally someone she knew would come up, but none of their duels had been especially interesting. Meio's match had been the most exciting so far, if only because she ended up getting soaking wet. Again. Fortunately, the current duel was so stagnant that Camryn was able to dry herself off a bit without missing too much. As she took off her glasses to remove the water from them, a familiar voice spoke up from behind her.

"Aaah, my brother's homeroom teach!"

@Ammokkx

Camryn hurriedly dabbed away the last drops of water from her glasses, put them back on, and turned to look at the speaker, a smile forming on her face.

"'sup, Camryn?

@Ammokkx

"Oh, hey Ryo! You come to watch the other first years too? I gotta say, you're not missing much. Your brother's duel has been the most exciting one so far, and that's just because he managed to completely soak me. Again."

[Scarifar]

Leander Xenovia

@Joshua Tamashii@vancexentan@Ammokkx

Leander had not been expecting the sudden retaliation from Joshua, and was slammed against the wall before he even realized it, letting out a choked grunt from the impact on his throat. After being released, Leander rubbed his throat. "Heck yeah that hurt, man," Leander replied, the slight pain evident in his tone of voice. "It's cool, though, I'm fine," Leander added, moving his right hand as if to wave the issue aside.

"Anyway, what's goin' on here?" Leander asked, curious. He leaned to the side to peek around Joshua and saw Ben with some girl, who had handed over a card to him. His curiosity only continuing to grow, Leander quickly zipped over to Ben, and saw that the card had been an Honest. "Oooo, Honest. Nice card," Leander said to Ben, still staring at his card. "By the way, who was that girl?"

---

Michelle Kine

@Joshua Tamashii

Michelle listened to Amelia's woes. She pondered Amelia's issue, trying to figure out the best way to deal with it, and quickly decided that it was useless to do so without knowing what was in Amelia's deck first. "Need me to help?" Michelle offered. "I don't know how much I can do, though." As a fellow Duelist and a friend, no way could Michelle turn away from Amelia now.

[vancexentan]

@Scarifar

"Thanks I guess?" Ben said with a bit of confusion as he looked at the new comer he really should be focusing on helping the other girls. However ignoring new people was just as bad. He figured this wouldn't take too long so he didn't ask the new guy to leave. "Leander right? I don't know her some girl pretending to be a big shot. She wanted me to duel somebody. She left, and gave me Honest for one reason or another. Really I'm just training some people. I'm no pro duelist but every bit helps."

[Joshua Tamashii]

Joshua Tamashii

@vancexentan@Scarifar

Joshua examined Leander carefully, a look of regret on his face. He hadn't meant to hurt his friend and he felt he would have to make it up to him later. Making a note to do so later, he followed Leander over to Ben, examining the card in his hands. Upon hearing Ben's words though, he scowled.
"Because she is a big shot. Her name is Cream and that uniform she's wearing is a fake. She's actually a Divine Dorm student who thinks it's fun to go around and try and have people challenge her so she can kick their asses in a duel. Supposedly it's the teach them that their opponent might not be what they seem but if you ask me, it's a load of bull." He said. "Happened to me not long ago. She uses some hybrid deck with Madolches, Gem-Knights, and gods knows what else. It also allows her to Fusion, XYZ, and Synchro summon, possibly all in one turn. In other words, it's strong, especially if she gets a decent hand.

She probably ran off cause she found out I was watching or simply around and I did a good job pissing her off during and after our duel. Still, I guess she aint all bad if she gave you a decent card, especially if you can use it in your deck. However, she was probably hoping to get you or your friends here to challenge her so she could beat them into the dirt.."

-------

Amelia Averyonna

@Scarifar

"You can help if you want but, I'm not sure how much we can really do." Amelia said, looking up and giving Michelle a grateful expression. She honestly couldn't see a good way to solve this problem, since every solution she could think of ultimately came down to a game of chance. So ultimately, the solutions might not end up being solutions at all.

[vancexentan]

@Joshua Tamashii "Oh that explains it. Well I'm not sure if I could've beaten her with my deck. As it is it is not very strong. I got a few tricks but they're limited. Still she wouldn't have gotten much from beating me. If she really wanted a spectacle she should've went after someone who actually cares if they win or lose. I don't like losing as much as the next guy. But if I lose it's just a thing you got to deal with." Ben said calmly as he looked at Honest. He shrugged and put it in his deckbox. "I've learned a lot of things in my short life. One of which is not letting someone get to you. Thanks for the help be it was intention or not.
I've got a lot of friends but sometimes I gotta wonder which ones are real ones you know? One person might like you just because your popular. I put on a big show but it's to help raise other people not myself." Ben acknowledged as he looked down towards the girls still practicing. "I'm just here to watch out for Andre."

[Ammokkx]

Haas waited at the entrance of arenas K and L for Nathan to arrive, leaning against the wall. He didn't really pay much attention, only occasionally glancing at the doorway to see when the other earth dorm would arrive. Luckily for him he didn't have to wait too long as Nathan walked through the door, and past Haas.

"Nathan! Over here!" Haas called out to the other boy, giving a brief wave before walking up. He covered his mouth to hold back a yawn, then lazily pointed over to the teacher on the other end of the room with his right thumb.

"Aah... sorry about that, exams are taking a toll on me. We should probably hurry on over while there's still an arena free."

Nathaniel raised an eyebrow as the first thing Haas did was belt out a yawn. It looked like Haas was not feeling too rested. Not that Nathaniel really minded, since that probably meant an advantage for him. Still, it was pretty jarring to have someone greet him with a yawn.

"Yeah, no problem. Let's go." He said as he followed Haas over to the arena.

The both of them swiftly arrived at the teacher who was in charge of monitoring the arenas at this time, Mei Rayne. She primarily taught Fusion theory and wasn't really all that involved, but her easygoing nature made her less fussy about the administration of using an arena than some other teachers at this school. Arena L-1 was still ready to be used while the other three currently had other examination duels going on, so the duo made their way over there. About halfway to the arena, Haas suddenly stops and turns to Nathan.

"Wait, where's Megan? Wasn't she coming too?" he asked briefly, glancing at the doorway.

There was a flash of red hair as Megan sprinted straight past the doorway and out of sight, before audibly skidding to a halt and coming back, walking through the doorway casually, "Oh it was this one after all." she said cheerily waving at Nat and Haas. Looked like they'd managed to get one of the chill teachers to supervise, nice. "This should be exciting, good luck to both of you." Megan said as she grabbed the nearest seat available and waited for the duel to start. She'd be beaten before by both Haas and Nat, it would be interesting to see which of them won this. Haas looked a little bit drained but it shouldn't matter very much, a good rousing duel would wake anyone up after all!

Haas briefly laughed, muttering "Guess that answers that..." before turning back towards the arena. He stretched out his arms and casually walked over to one of the ends, taking his position and waiting for Nathan to do the same. Once both boys had taken their spot, Haas started grinning despite his still-tired posture.

"Ready, Nathan? I might be a bit out of it, but I'm not going easy on you!"

"I wouldn't expect you to." Nathaniel smiled, and raised his duel disk in front of him. "Ready when you are."

Haas slotted his deck into his own Duel Disk and the machine sprung to life, the compartment he had shooting his blade up into the sky. Haas stretched out his arm to catch it, creating a nice and straight playing field for him to work with. Winning this thing in that swimming contest was worth it after all! Once he had readied up, both boys yelled in unison:

"DUEL!"

Duel! Entertainer Vs. Toymaker

Turn 1: Nathaniel
Haas: 4000 LP, 5 cards in hand
Nathaniel: 4000 LP, 5 cards in hand

"Alright, I'll start this off." Nathaniel drew his hand in a flash, and mulled them over for a few seconds before taking two cards from his hand. "I set two cards facedown and end my turn."

Haas blinked a few times and rubbed his eyes with his free hand. "Huh, is that really it?"

"Well... for now." Nathaniel replied sheepishly. He coughed into his fist a couple of times before gesturing over to Haas. "Your turn."

Turn 2: Haas
Haas: 4000 LP, 6 cards in hand
Nathaniel: 4000 LP, 3 cards in hand, 2 Set

Haas flinched and rubbed the back of his head with that same hand, laughing awkardly. "Right, right! My turn, draw!"

Haas performed a non-flashy draw as he stared at the card he'd gotten. He grinned when he looked back at his hand though, placing it in with the rest of them and picking up a new one. He swiped his hand across the Duel Disk, excitedly slamming down the card on to it.

"Well, I won't keep you waiting! I'll summon my Summoner Monk!"

From a vortex came a robed, cranky old man with inhumanly gray skin. He stood up for a moment, but their waist acted up and forced the man to take a seating position, a blue glow coming around them. Haas then slammed another card down on his disk, but not on the field this time.

Summoner Monk: 800 ATK 1600 DEF Level 4 DARK Spellcaster

"Summoner Monk can't remain in Attack position for long, but his effect makes up for it! By sending the Legendary Wind-Up Key in my hand to the Graveyard, I can Special Summon this guy from my deck!"

A single card ejected from Haas' deck and he briefly flashed it to Nathan before summoning it as well. Summoner monk closed his yes and started humming while next to him another vortex opened up, summoning the fiercest creature known to man: A cute, green toy robot with a magnet for a head.

Wind-Up Soldier: 1800 ATK 1200 DEF Level 4 EARTH Warrior

Nathaniel eyed the two monsters in front of him with a look of anxiousness. "I think I know where this is going..."

Haas nodded to Nathan, smiling confidently. "Yeah, 'cause now I use these two monsters to build the Overlay Network!"

The network opened up in the middle of the field, with the soldier turning into a brownish beam of light and Summoner Monk into a purplish one. The two pulsated in place for a minute before jumping forward and swirling around ach other inside of it, creating a huge explosion.

"Master among the toys, Wind Up now and awaken from a deep slumber! Xyz Summon! Come to life, Wind-Up Zenmaister!"

From the explosion rose a bit of a design mess, with a pyramid shape connecting four rocket-powered engines to act as it's bottom half with a mess of shapes to support it's top half, a giant key stuck in the back and spring-powered fists for arms. Two brown orbs were floating around it in a cross shape, leaving a small and brief trail of light behind them.

Wind-Up Zenmaister: 1900 ATK 1500 DEF Rank 4 EARTH Machine

Haas stood there for a moment, still. Then his grin widened even more and he jumped up in the air excitedly, yelling "Awh yeah, I did it! An Xyz Summon on my first turn! Alright!!" and was stuck inside of his own little bubble of praise for a bit, regaining his composure only after he realised what a fool he was making of himself.

"Ah... ahaha... sorry about that. Anyway, Wind-Up Zenmaister gains a little boost for each Overlay Unit on it! Since it has two, that means 600 ATK! Spring Charge!"

Wind-Up Zenmaister: 1900 ATK > 2500 ATK

Haas seemed a little more pumped than before, but all that energy soon left him again when his shoulders went weak and he had to cover his mouth to hide another yawn.

Nathaniel on the other hand, stared at the Xyz Summon before him, letting out short and steady breaths in an attempt to keep his cool. "Phew. Well, this looks familiar. I guess it's a good a time as any to play this. I activate my Quick-Play Spell Card: Scapegoat!"

One of Nathaniel facedown cards revealed itself to be a green card featuring four round little sheep, one in blue, red, yellow, and pink, who promptly leaped out from the card to take up their positions in front of their summoner.

"This card summons four little Sheep Tokens to protect me. Aren't they just adorably valiant little creatures?"

Sheep Token: 0 ATK 0 DEF Level 1 EARTH Beast

Haas couldn't help but smile weakly at the Sheep tokens, but then looked up at his own monster. Without facing Nathan the boy started to speak again.

"Well, this is going to take a while... In the meanwhile, I'll have Wind-Up Zenmaister attack one of your Sheep Tokens! Spring Punch!"

Wind-Up Zenmaister's key started to spin and spin, causing the machination to come to life. Its blue eyes started to glow as it straightened itself out before pulling back its right fist, then sent it flying towards the orange Sheep Token.

"Okay, didn't think I would use both of these this soon. I activate my Trap Card Chaos Burst! When my opponent declares an attack, I can tribute one monster I control to destroy my opponent's attacking monster and inflict 1000 damage."

"Huh?! No way!" Haas yelled with disbelief.

Suddenly, the orange Sheep Token started to shake a little before a flaming demon popped out from the little thing. Zenmaister's right first went right through it before it blew itself up along with Zenmaister. The force of the blast reached all the way to Haas who managed to remain standing but was still pushed back from the impact. The ground squeaked a little as his sneakers slid across it.

Haas LP: 4000 > 3000

"Aw, c'mon Nathan! No fair... Guess I'll set a card and end my turn!" Haas replied, disheartened but still resolved. A single card back materialized on his field as it became Nathan's turn again.

Megan flicked through her own cards as she watched the duel. It had looked like Haas had the advantage for a moment by summoning a powerful XYZ monster on his first move, but Nat had not only set up a stall move but also taken care of the monster while inflicting damage to his opponent. Impressive from both parties.

Turn 3: Nathaniel
Haas: 3000 LP, 3 cards in hand, 1 Set
Nathaniel: 4000 LP, 4 cards in hand, 3 monsters

"Well that was um... violent." Nathaniel remarked, having never activated that Trap Card before. Then again, he wasn't sure what he was supposed to expect with a named "Chaos Burst." In any case, this was his chance to swing this duel.

"Alright, draw-oh come on!" Evidently, it was not to be.

"I set one card facedown and end my turn." He sighed before handing it over to Haas.

Haas looked stunned again, tilting his head slightly now that Nathan had a clear view of him without Zenmaister. "Again? That isn't like you at all..."

Nathaniel just slowly shook his head. He was completely speechless, so he just gave a small shrug.

Turn 4: Haas
Haas: 3000 LP, 4 cards in hand, 1 Set
Nathaniel: 4000 LP, 3 cards in hand, 3 monsters, 1 Set

"Alright then... Draw!" Haas yelled, drawing his next card with a bit more Gusto, though not Amelia's brand. Once again he placed it in his hand in favor of another card. With the same motion as on his first turn, Haas slammed the card down onto his Duel Disk.

"Next on the assembly line is one of my favorites! Give it up for Wind-Up Juggler!"

The first thing that came onto the field were a few differently coloured cogs trapped inside clear balls, falling from the sky. From behind Haas came a boingy sound as a green toy using a spring for movement frantically jumped onto the field, bouncing around them and trying to scoop them all up. Once the female-looking toy gathered them all up she started to juggle them, careful not to make them fall again like she had before.

Wind-Up Juggler: 1700 ATK 1000 DEF Level 4 WIND Psychic

Haas straightened himself out a little and carefully looked over all three sheep tokens before confidently pointing at one of them.

"Alright, Juggler! Take out the blue one!"

Wind-Up Juggler flinched and looked back at Haas with disbelief, accidentally dropping the balls. She tried to catch up to them, but Juggler tripped and fell on the floor. The little trapped cogs rolled all the way to the blue Sheep Token and suddenly started glowing, exploding underneath the poor thing. Haas jumped up and fistpumped the air, grinning at seeing his attack go through.

"Alright, great! I might win this even without my ace... Turn end!"

Turn 5: Nathaniel
Haas: 3000 LP, 3 cards in hand, 1 monster, 1 Set
Nathaniel: 4000 LP, 4 cards in hand, 2 monsters, 1 Set

Nathaniel closed his eyes, as if attempting to will a useful card into existance. "Come on... give me something..." He whispered as he drew his next card with a flourish.

"...And I pass."

Megan nodded sympathetically. Few things wre quite as bad as simply having nothing to work with. At least it wasn't a very important duel in the grand scheme of things. Still sucked.

Turn 6: Haas
Haas: 3000 LP, 4 cards in hand, 1 monster, 1 Set
Nathaniel: 4000 LP, 4 cards in hand, 2 monsters, 1 Set

"E-Eh? Alright... Draw!" Haas yelled again, a little less confident. A repeat of his previous opening moves, Haas made the same exact movements again.

"I summon Wind-Up Warrior!"

From a vortex next to Juggler, who had gotten some new cogs to juggle, came another toy in the series. This time it had an orange paintjob, with two dull claws for hands and a helmet to protect it.

Wind-Up Warrior: 1200 ATK 1800 DEF Level 4 EARTH Warrior

"Now the real fun begins! Just once I can wind him up, which activates his effect! One of my Wind-Ups gains a level and 600 ATK, and I think I'll give it to himself!"

Wind-Up Warrior's key suddenly started spinning rapidly, making his eyes vibrate in place and go wide. A red aura came around the toy as it spread apart its arms and tried to let out a roar to the heavens, but all that came out was a bit of mechanical clanging.

Wind-Up Warrior: Level 4 > 5
Wind-Up Warrior: 1200 ATK > 1800 ATK

A droplet of sweat ran down Haas' forehead, but his body language slowly became more active and sharper. He wasn't bent over anymore like he used to be and picked up another card from his hand. "Next up: A spell card! Weights and Zenmaisures!"

A scale rose up from beneath Juggler and Warrior, raising them both up in its respective scales. They shook wildly from left to right, unable to find balance. Juggler seemed less than happy as it struggled to maintain their little circus trick while Warrior motionlessly stared at Nathan.

"Pick a level, Nathan! 4 or 5! Both my monsters will become that level, but if you pick 4 then I get to draw a card!"

Nathaniel narrowed his eyes as he glanced from one side of the scale to the other, all the while pondering to himself.

Hmm... 4 or 5... I should pick 4, right? He's already summoned one Rank 4, and I've only ever seen him use one. So he should be out of them by now... But what if he isn't? What if he has another Rank 4? Then I would have drawn him a card and given him an Xyz. Rank 4s are the most common Rank too, which means I should put my bets on...

"5. I pick 5." Nathaniel said a little shakily.

The scale stopped swaying so wildly and calmed down, seemingly weighing down Warior as the heavier one. However, then it rose back up again, levelling them both as Juggler gained one axtra cog to juggle around.

Wind-Up Juggler: Level 4 > 5

Haas triumphantly jumped into the air again, laughing with excitement.

"Awesome! I knew you'd pull through for me, Nathan! I now Overlay my Level 5 Wind-Ups!" Haas bounced back again, the now-familiar Overlay Network opening up again. Juggler became a green beam, Warrior an orange one and they both swirled together to create a new power.

"Wait what?!" At that moment, Nathaniel knew he had picked wrong.

"Machination dwelling deep within the ocean! Become the base from which your ships launch! Xyz Summon, Rank 5! Shark Fortress!"

A huge, green monster ascended onto the field. Its core was cylindrical, open and extremely wide, with the inside slowly curving around before sharply closing with a cone shape. The front had a triangular head modeled after a shark's. The 'fins' were sticking out from both of its sides at the top, acting as jet boosters to make it swim around. Two purple orbs floated around it.

Shark Fortress: 2400 ATK 1800 DEF Rank 5 DARK Fish

"Wait, hold on. I have two monsters on the field... and now you only have one monster to attack them with... Are you sure that was a good idea?"

"Come on, Nate! I'd never underestimate you, would I? 'cause my Shark Fortress can attack twice at the cost of an Overlay Unit!" Haas bounced back with a wink, one of Shark Fortress' orbs splashing open into a flash of light when it connected with its head.

Shark Fortress: Xyz Material 2 > 1

Nathaniel's eyes widened. "Oh."

"Now to finish off the last of those Sheep Tokens! Shark Fortress, Submersible Raid!"

Two green-coloured torpedos fell out of two compartments in the fortress' sides, but right before they hit the ground they flared to life. The two remaining Sheep Tokens stayed calm even as the rockets of death were racing towards them, making contact and exploding spectacularly.

Haas nodded contently to himself, glancing briefly at his hand and then back to Nathan again.

"Guess I don't have much left to do... but now your field's wide open! I hope you can summon a monster now, 'cause otherwise I've got this duel won. Turn end!"

Turn 7: Nathaniel
Haas: 3000 LP, 2 cards in hand, 1 monster, 1 Set
Nathaniel: 4000 LP, 5 cards in hand, 1 Set

He's right. If that monster catch me with an open field, I'm a goner. I was hoping on saving this one, but I guess I have no choice now.

"My turn. Draw! I begin by activating my facedown card, Mystical Space Typhoon. This card destroys your own facedown card." As Nathaniel revealed the card in front of him, a great tornado sweeped across the field to Haas's side, shattering his own facedown card into pieces.

Haas dramatically reached forward and went down to one knee, mustering as serious of a face as he could. "No, Nathan! Don't do it! What you're destroying is my..." as Haas was about to say it, an after image of the card was shown. It depicted a monster valiantly taking a blast for another, all while speaking from its heart.

"...heartfelt appeal." Haas finished, lowering his head and pretending to sniffle. What little of his tiredness that was there had all but vanished, clearly.

"Well, that's just the opening act for this turn. Because from my hand, I activate Lightning Vortex! By discarding one card from my hand, I can destroy all face-up monsters my opponent controls. Won't be needing this." Nathaniel said to himself as he discard Odd-Eyes Dragon from his hand. Suddenly from the sky, several bolts of lightning descended around Shark Fortress before closing in. Being an aquatic machine animal thing, Shark Fortress stood no chance as it was obliterated by lightning.

Haas stood up again and took a step back, shielding his arms from the blast that came from his field. "Geez, you're merciless huh? Back to square one for both of us now." he replied again, lowering his arms and having one eye closed still as the dust settled.

Megan was surprised that Nat had managed to not summon a single monster beyond his goats and had yet to take a single hit on his own life points. Of course it seemed he'd spent what little he had wiping the field, so now it came down to who was able to recover faster. At this point simply summoning a monster with reasonable attack might be all it took to finish off either duelist.

"Not quite. I activate from my hand, the Field Spell Performapal Dramatic Theater!" As Nathaniel slid a card into his Duel Disk, a wave of glitter washed over the arena. What was once a empty flat field was soon occupied by trampolines, trapezes, and rings of fire. And the ceiling above them became covered with the red and black striped cloth of a circus tent.

"And what's a stage without a performer? I summon Performapal Corn to the field!" Nathaniel slapped the monster card onto his Duel Disk, and a horned girl with blue hair erupted amidst a cloud of confetti, giving a small bow as she landed onto the field.

Performapal Corn: 600 ATK 1000 DEF Level 3 LIGHT Beast-Warrior

Haas remained mostly serious throughout the turn, but once Corn took the stage he couldn't help himself from laughing, holding his stomach because of it. After a little bit of this he wiped his eyes with his free hand and looked up to Nathan, face still twisted in amusement.

"Wow, Nathan. What a cute 'circus animal' you've got there. Never seen a performapal like that before!" Haas joked, trying to keep as serious of a face as he could muster.

Nathaniel merely gave a shrug with his hands in the air. "My deck is full of surprises for children of all ages." Certainly giving me a surprise. He added silently. "Now the effect of Dramatic Theater gives Performapal Corn a little boost, giving her 200 extra attack points."

Performapal Corn: 600 ATK -> 800 ATK

"Now I'll have Performapal Corn attack you directly!" Performapal Corn took a leap at Haas head first, or perhaps horn first. Haas flinched and couldn't bring up his arms in time, getting hit square in the chest and getting knocked back onto the floor with a loud thud.

Haas LP: 3000 > 2200

"I'll then set one card facedown and end my turn." Nathaniel said as he slid the last card in his hand into his Disk.

Turn 8: Haas
Haas: 2200 LP, 3 cards in hand
Nathaniel: 4000 LP, 0 cards in hand, 1 monster, 1 Field, 1 Set

Haas was knocked down on the floor and didn't move for a little while, staring blankly up at the ceiling. Then it sounded like he started to sob, with his chest frantically going up and down. That sobbing soon turned into another round of laughter, however, as Haas jumped up again, his goofy grin as unchanged as ever.

"Ahalright! This is great! First I was in the lead, but now it looks like I'm going to lose... I didn't know dueling you was this fun, Nathan! It's my turn!"

Haas drew his card with renewed vigor, giving it only a brief glance before slamming it down.

"You're not the only one with a circus trick! It's time for my own Mystical Space Typhoon!" Haas yelled as a storm brewed in the arena, the hair of both conestants flying around wildly and the tent starting to sway side by side. The field spell remained standing, however Nathan's other card was starting to quiver under the pressure. Nathaniel grimaced as his facedown card revealed itself to be Performapal Revival before being blown to pieces. He was hoping to reinforce his field with that card, but that plan's out the window now.

"I'm not done yet! Next up is another Spell Card from my hand!" Haas then picked up another card from his hand, holding it high up in the sky. The card started to glow, and so did Haas' Duel Disk. The hairs of the boy flew up in the air as a powerful gust erupted from underneath him.

"I'm not going to let this duel go by without bringing back my ace! Master of the toys, Wind Up once more!"

A bright flash of light engulfed the field, blinding duelist and spectator alike. Once everyone's eyes recovered, back again was the familiar construction of toy parts: Wind-Up Zenmaister... only it was in Defense postion and without any Overlay Units floating around it.

Wind-Up Zenmaister: 1900 ATK 1500 DEF Rank 4 EARTH Machine

Nathaniel looked on with wide eyes and a cold sweat as the familar machine made its way on the field as big as ever. Only when the dust cleared it looked to be kind of hunched and grayed out. At that moment, Nathaniel let out the longest breath of his life. "Oh phew. Scared me for second there."

Haas scratched the back of his head sheepishly, but the embarrassment was quickly replaced with pride as he looked back at his ace."Zenmailfunction brings a Wind-Up back, but it's effect is negated and it only comes back in Defense position. I can't do much else, so bring it on! Turn end!"

Just as it seemed Nat was getting the upperhand for once Haas brought back his XYZ monster to the field, managing to protect his lifepoints and likely managing to began his counterattack soon. At least Haas was looking a little more alive, though one might say it came at the cost of Nat losing his own vigor as seemed unable to establish anything on the field before it was wiped away, even if he was still somehow leading in terms of Life Points.

Turn 9: Nathaniel
Haas: 2200 LP, 1 card in hand, 1 monster
Nathaniel: 4000 LP, 1 card in hand, 1 monster, 1 Field

Nathaniel looked at the field with worry. He survived this turn with his field somewhat intact, but Zenmaister will only be stopped this turn, and it'll start wreaking havoc the next turn. He would need to draw something to take it down now while it's still weakened.

With that in mind, he drew his next card and sighed deeply.

"I set one monster facedown and change Performapal Corn to defense position. Turn end."

Turn 10: Haas
Haas: 2200 LP, 2 cards in hand, 1 monster
Nathaniel: 4000 LP, 0 cards in hand, 2 monsters, 1 Field

"Alright! Then it's my turn!" Haas put his hand on his deck, paused for a second and breathed deeply.

"Y'know, Nathan... it's kinda weird. I can sorta... feel my deck right now. It's bursting with energy, desparate to show what it can do... and I'm about to deliver!"

With that said, Haas drew his next card. His face lit up with excitement as he held it out in front of him, keeping a good grasp on it between his two fingers as he turned it around for Nathan to see. Soon after a compartment on the side of his blade opened up, slotting the card in.

"Y'know, I think I learned in class that Xyz monsters were created from a massive amount of concentrated energy... and now it's about to be unleashed! Prepare for a new Field Spell: Xyz Territory!"

A small red and orange, pulsating orb rose from the ground in the middle of the arena. It started to spin around and suck in the air around it, growing ever larger in size. Nathan's circus tent couldn't withstand the pressure as the equipment first got sucked into it, then the curtains. The more that the orb absorbed, the larger it became before passing through both Nathan and Haas, trapping them in a coloured sphere of incredibly pressure. Wind-up Zenmaister's eyes flashed again as it rose up, ready to battle, with Haas having tilted the card on his Duel Disk.

"Wind-up Zenmaister, attack Performapal Corn! Spring Punch!" Haas called out and pointed dramatically. His monster responded by pulling both its arms back, but not ret releasing. The energy floating around the two duelists started to gather around both of Zenmaister's fists, coating them.

"When an Xyz monster battles inside of Xyz Territory, it gains ATK equal to its rank times 200!"

Wind-up Zenmaister: 1900 ATK > 2700 ATK

The machine released its powerful punches, sending two spring-powered, high-impact boxing gloves flying at poor Performapal Corn. Performapal Corn let out an "Eeek!" before shattering under the force of Zenmaister's punches.

"So glad I put her in defense position..." Nathaniel muttered.

Zenmaister's eye stopped glowing and it looked to power down, remaining motionless as the energy around it started to drain back into the walls of the sphere. Haas held up one finger, ready to finish his explanation. "The monsters who battle in Xyz Territory have their ATK returned to normal afterwards, though."

Wind-up Zenmaister: 2700 ATK > 1900 ATK

The little toymaker fistpumped the air, then looked Nathan in the eyes with firm determination. "Isn't this exciting?! You never know what happens inside of a duel... I end my turn!"

Turn 11: Nathaniel
Haas: 2200 LP, 1 card in hand, 1 monster, 1 Field
Nathaniel: 4000 LP, 1 card in hand, 1 monster

"Well this is not good..." Nathaniel whispered to himself as he drew his next card. "And that didn't help. Turn end."

Turn 12: Haas
Haas: 2200 LP, 2 cards in hand, 1 monster, 1 Field
Nathaniel: 4000 LP, 1 card in hand, 1 monster

"Alright then, my turn! Draw!" Haas shouted as he swiped another card from his disk, briefly stared at it and then slammed it down next to Wind-Up Zenmaister.

"If you're not going to attack, I will! I summon the Tuner monster, Re-Cover! Then I'll attack your facedown monster with Zenmaister!"

Re-Cover: 700 ATK 300 DEF Level 1 EARTH Psychic Tuner

A small hole in thr ground opened up, with a sealed book flying out. It spun around in the air for a little while before sprouting arms and legs, giving a thumbs up to Haas once it nailed the landing. At the same time, Wind-up Zenmaister was already preparing another spring-powered punch in the direction of Nathan's monster. The aura of Xyz Territory gathered around its arms again as it sent out a single attack.

The card revealed itself to be a two-faced, top hat wearing grasshopper before succumbing to the force of Zenmaister's punch.

"Now Re-Cover attacks you directly!" Haas commanded to his monster, with a purple ball of energy gathering in one of the small book's gloved hands. It then threw it out at Nathan.

Nathaniel put up his arms to defend himself, not that that was really necessary since all it really did was push him a couple steps back. "Oof..."

Nathaniel LP: 4000 > 3300

Haas threw both his arms behind his head, his expression having calmed down a bit from the excitement he showed before. "I guess that ends my turn. You alright, Nathan? You've been grimacing all duel..."

Turn 13: Nathaniel
Haas: 2200 LP, 1 card in hand, 2 monsters, 1 Field
Nathaniel: 3300 LP, 2 cards in hand

"Oh yeah, I'm fine." My luck on the other hand... This duel has really not been going Nathaniel's way. As Nathaniel put his hand on the next card in his deck, he looked down at his deck nervously. If he didn't draw a monster, it was over for him. But even if he did, all it would do for him is stall further until his inevitable demise. Things seemed hopeless, but Nathaniel digged deep within himself to find the resolve to do one thing: get this duel over with.

"Draw!" Nathaniel cried as he drew his next card. Surprisingly enough, it was not completely useless. This card's always done right by me before. "Looks like it's Performapal Whip Snake to the rescue!"

As Nathaniel played his next card, a purple cobra-like creature slithered its way onto the field, wearing the signature Performapal top hat and bowtie combo. It wiggled its long tongue enthusiastically as it gave a wink to their small audience.

Performapal Whip Snake: 1700 ATK 900 DEF Level 4 EARTH Reptile

"And now, Performapal Whip Snake activates its special ability! During the Main Phase, I can target one monster on the field and switch its attack and defense points!" On Nathaniel's command, Performapal Whip Snake held its tail out in front, and dangled a little heart-shaped pendulum at the end of its tail as it emitted a hypnotic signal towards Haas's field. "The monster I target... is Re-Cover!"

"No way!" Haas shouted out in disbelief, watching his monster helplessly fell over onto it's open pages as the hypnotic wave hit it full blast. Tiny little stars started dancing over its head while the ATK value displayed next to it trickled down.

Re-Cover: 700 ATK > 300 ATK

"And now, for the coup de grâce. I activate the Spell Card Back-Up Rider! This card gives a monster on the field 1500 additional attack points! That means Whip Snake climbs up to 3200!"

Performapal Whip Snake: 1700 ATK > 3200 ATK

"3200?! Wait, but with my Re-Cover at only 300..." Haas yammered out astounded, bringing his hands in front of his face to start counting on his fingers. "So 3200 minus 300..."

"I'll save you the calculations and just tell you it's a lot more than you have Life Points left. Performapal Whip Snake! Attack Re-Cover!" Performapal Whip Snake closed in, not merely slithering over, but charging forward with the force of a thundering steed. It tackled Re-Cover full force, shattering the hapless little book in an instant. The force of the impact reached all the way to Haas and swept him off his feet, sending him flying onto the floor while he yelled out a big "NOOOOOO!!"

Haas LP: 2200 > 0

Nat had actually managed to win, with only taking a single hit no less. Despite having almost no cards on the field at any point in the duel he'd chipped at Haas life points before delivering a devastating final blow by taking advantage of the weak monster Haas had deployed. To be able to win with so little was very impressive. "Wooo, nice dueling from the two of you! But you're going to have to deal with me next Nat!" Megan proclaimed and jumped over the railing to get ready to duel. "That is unless you'd like a break first?" Megan paused and asked quizzically, Nat had looked a bit drained in the latter half of the duel after all.

WINNER: NATHANIEL!

[Ammokkx]

Bright red letters flashed on the display of the Duel Runner simulator as Angelo failed the challenge laid out by the coupon, slamming his fist down in anger for not being able to figure it out. The machine blared for a few more moments before going dark, the boy having to leave the room in shame. Nobody paid attention to Angelo as he exited the simulator as they were all too busy chatting or working on their Duel Runner. Glancing down at his D-Ceiver the boy could see that not much time has passed, despite failing to solve that puzzle having felt like an eternity. He had a few options at this point, but the wisest one was probably to find an opponent to duel. Still, he could hop back in and get some riding practice in or take his Duel Runner for a spin. He still had plenty of time to kill... unfortunately.

---

The older boy leaning on Camryn's seat laughed in response to her comments, nudging over toward the field.

"Only really came to watch lil' Meio show off, but seems like I missed it. Doesn't surprise me he soaked ya though, I've been on the receiving end of that more times than I can count!"

Considering Ryo wasn't much better than Meio when it came to math he probably couldn't count very high. He took a step aside and jumped over into the next seat, leaning back in it and crossing his legs casually. His eyes lazily traced the arenas, but as Camryn had mentioned, none of the duels were particularly interesting.

"Buncha spiritless deep-sea anglers... oi Cam, haven't gotten t'see ya duel since the last time ya fought Meio. Maybe you and one of yer friends can show these goldfish up? I'd do it m'self, but I think I want to bully my little brother a lil' more." Ryo questioned her, his eyes glancing to the left side where she was sitting. The boy looked very relaxed and carefree, but considering the bright yellow blazer he was wearing, he probably didn't have much reason to stress.

---

Haas was lying on the floor, arms and legs spread out. He stared at the ceiling for a few seconds, taking in the loss to Nathan as it was still fresh in his mind. Then, with a grin, Haas threw himself to the right, pushing himself from the ground and dusting himself off. Megan had already bounced over to Nathan at this point and Haas had his back turned to the duo. He picked the black-bordered card off his Duel Disk and stared at it for a little while. His body stiffened and started to tremble, hairs falling in front of his face to cover his eyes.

"...Ahaha... Ahaha! That duel was great!!" Haas shouted out all of a sudden, spinning around in place to face Nathan with a big smile on his face. Haas kept a very tight grip on his Zenmaister and calmly walked over to Nathan. Once he was only a few steps away Haas used his other hand to give Nathan a thumbs-up.

"I knew I wasn't going to win, but... I still had a ton of fun. Next time, though, I'll be sure to win!"

Haas then glanced at Megan, his smile slowly fading away as his Adrenaline did as well. The boy let out another yawn again and, somehow, bags formed underneath his eyes. His shoulders slumped and his back curved, showing that the duelist was out of energy.

"Aaah... sorry, just a tad worn out... you guys enjoy your duel. I'll be... watching..." Haas trailed off as he shuffled past the two of them, half sleep-walking while making his way towards the spectator seats.

[LunarStandard]

"Phew. No, that's alright." Nathaniel said after letting out a deep breath. That last duel was quite the nail-biter. "I can go again." As Haas made his way to the rafters, Nathaniel stood still at his position on the other side of the field, waiting for Megan to take up her positions.

"Alrighty then." Megan said and stood across the arena from Nathaniel with her duel disk at the ready. "Since you've already been through one duel I think it's fair to let you go first." Nathaniel had preformed quite well last duel, Megan wondered if she was up to the challenge of fighting him again.

"Sure." Nathaniel held his duel disk in front as the automated deck shuffling did its thing.

"DUEL!"

Megan vs Nathaniel Round 2: Swords and Magic

Turn 1: Nathaniel
Nathaniel: 4000 LP, 5 cards in hand
Megan: 4000 LP, 5 cards in hand

Nathaniel drew his five cards, and rubbed his chin as he deliberated over his first turn. Taking two cards from his hand, he slid them into his duel disk.

"I'll set two cards facedown and end my turn."

Haas had reached to audience seats by this point, barely catching wind of Nathan's turn because it was so short.

"Two set cards? Seems like he's using the same strategy against me..." Haas muttered, head resting in the palm of his hand. He blinked a few times and let out a yawn, mustering all the energy he could to watch how Megan was going to respond.

Turn 2: Megan
Nathaniel: 4000 LP, 3 cards in hand, 2 Set S/T
Megan: 4000 LP, 6 cards in hand

Megan drew her own cards with a grin, this was looking to be a pretty decent hand. That said Nat had proved that his set cards were nothing to mess with. Of course Megan felt like not attacking was the worse of her two options. So... "I'll Normal Summon my D.D Warrior Lady to the field and use it to attack you directly to kick things off!"
An outlandish warrior appeared, wielding a glowing blue sword which she promptly used to attack Nathaniel with.

D.D. Warrior Lady: Level 4, 1500 ATK

"Aha! Trap Card activate! Performapal Call! As Nathaniel reached his hand out, a Trap Card flipped up showing Performapal Sword Fish and Cheermole crossing paths amidst a background of swirling confetti. "Performapal Call negates my opponent's direct attack. Furthermore, I can then add two Performapal monsters from my deck to my hand, provided their defense points are equal to or less than the attacking monster's attack points. I'll add Performapal Longphone Bull, whose defense points are 1200, and Performapal Rain Goat, whose defense points are 0, to my hand."

"Alright, now I think I'll set one card and turn it over to you." Well she couldn't really say she was surprised. Nat's set cards had won him his last down so it wasn't surprsingly they were already proving to be effective this one. Nothing for it though, she couldn't exactly sit around and hope she got a card to get rid of them.

Turn 3: Nathaniel
Nathaniel: 4000 LP, 6 cards in hand, 1 set S/T
Megan: 4000 LP, 4 cards in hand, D.D Warrior Lady(attack position), 1 set S/T

"Draw!" Nathaniel glanced at the card in his hand with a neutral expression. At least it seems like he won't have a shortage of cards in his hand in the near future.

"I'll summon Performapal Longphone Bull in attack position and end my turn."

Performapal Longphone Bull: Level 4, 1600 ATK

"Wait, huh? Longphone Bull has more ATK points than Warrior Lady..." Haas commented, wondering why Nathan didn't attack. It didn't occur to him that Megan's monster could have had an effect.

Turn 4: Megan
Nathaniel: 4000 LP, 5 cards in hand, Performapal Longphone Bull(ATK), 1 set S/T
Megan: 4000 LP, 5 cards in hand, D.D Warrior Lady(ATK), 1 set S/T

Another card of indeterminate use. If nothing else she could keep playing monsters and just run through all his cards, though that wasn't much of a stratgey. "Alright then I'll summon something a little stronger. my Goblin Attack Force and use them to destroy your Bull!" A goon squad of goblins appeared, armed to the teeth and ready to fight, which them promptly did, swarming the Bull with a great deal of excitment and swinging.

Goblin Attack Force: Level 4, 2300 ATK

"Oh, that's not good." Longphone Bull could only cover it's eyes and cower as the goblins surrounded it with clubs and bats. They all pounced in a cloud of smoke and violence. When the smoke faded, Performapal Longphone Bull was long gone.

Nathaniel LP: 4000->3300

Goblin Attack Force: 2300 ATK->0 DEF

With the bull destroyed the Goblin Attack Froce was exhausted from their efforts and switched to defense mode, lazing around on the ground next to Megan's warrior lady. "Aha, now with your Life Points wide open I'll use my D.D Warrior Lady to attack again!" Looking somewhat more aggresive this time, as though frusterated that her last attack had been useless, the outlandish warrior once again struck at Nat with her glowing sword. Nathaniel raised his duel disk in an attempt to block the attack, and while the sword and the duel disk did connect, the force was enough to send Nathaniel knocked down on his butt.

Nathaniel LP: 3300->1800

Haas's eyes opened a bit wider when Megan managed to deal some big damage to Nathan, in stark contrast to the previous duel. If that other Set card was what Haas thought it was, then he wondered why Nathan didn't just use it right there...

Well she had the advantage and it didn't look like Nat's other set card was doing much good. Of course he still had plenty of cards in his hand so she didn't doubt that he could turn this around. But with her set card and what she had in her hand... this duel was pretty close to being over.

Turn 5: Nathaniel
Nathaniel: 1800 LP, 6 cards in hand, 1 set S/T
Megan: 4000 LP, 4 cards in hand, D.D Warrior Lady(ATK), Goblin Attack Force(DEF) 1 set S/T

"Draw!" Even though he just had to pick himself off the ground, Nathaniel felt pretty good about his chances. This hand was the best hand he's had in a long time, far better than what he had when he first dueled Megan. Not only that, but Performapal Longphone Bull was right where he wanted it. Sure he took a little damage, but Nathaniel was gearing up for a comeback.

"I'll begin by summoning Performapal Friendonkey from my hand." As Nathaniel slapped a card onto his duel disk, a smug-looking donkey appeared on the field, tapping its hooves smugily, with a smug smile on its face.

Performapal Friendonkey: Level 3, 1600 ATK

"True to its name, Performapal Friendonkey also brings a friend to the stage with him. Let's welcome back Performapal Longphone Bull!" The pink saddle at Friendonkey's side opened up, and out popped Performapal Longphone Bull in a cloud of confetti. It took up its position beside Friendonkey and gave a great huff from its nostrils.

Performapal Longphone Bull: Level 4, 1600 ATK

"Longphone Bull, of course, also has its own special ability. Once per turn, when Longphone Bull is Special Summoned to the field, I can add one non-Pendulum Performapal monster from my deck to my hand. The one I will add, is the amazing Performapal Sleight Hand Magician!"

The phone atop Longphone Bull's head began to shake and ring, and when Longphone Bull reached to pick it up, and single card flew out and into Nathaniel's hand.

"And now, with the help of one of his lovely assistants, Performapal Sleight Hand Magician is about to steal the show!" Suddenly, red, yellow, and white smoke erupted high around Performapal Longphone Bull, completely obscuring its form. And yet from the smoke, something was ascending, higher than even the smoke could reach. It had on a red, striped, jester's hat, and its face was completely obscured behind a white mask. As it ascended higher and higher, more of its form became visible. It had on a red garb and cape, and it held in its hands a scepter and juggling balls. When the smoke faded, and the lower half of its body was revealed, it was not a man at all, for the lower half of its body was a blue crystal with a small pair of wings.

"Now take your rightful stage, and with your magic, set their hearts ablaze! Appear, Performapal Sleight Hand Magician!"

Performapal Sleight Hand Magician: Level 7, 2500 ATK

Hm, was there more to this magic trick or was now the time to strike? She could try to get rid of what he had with just her monsters, D.D Warrior Lady could take care of his Magician and if she used her trap now she'd lose that chance. No wait with her spell card... Yes this was for sure the right decesion. "I think that's far enough, I don't need to see the end of this trick, I activate my trap card, Torrential Tribute to destroy all monsters on the field!"

"Nice going Megan." Haas spoke in a monotone voice, which could have been interpreted as ironic if it weren't for the faint smile on his face. With this, Nathan's field would be empty and she'd be able to summon a monster next turn to win.

Nathaniel merely wagged a finger. "Ah uh uh. A true magician never leaves a show half done. From my hand, I activate the effect of Performapal Rain Goat! As this is the Main Phase, I can send Performapal Rain Goat to the Graveyard in order to prevent a Performapal monster I control from being destroyed this turn. Of course the one I choose is Performapal Sleight Hand Magician! Sorry, Friendonkey."

As a torrent of water came crashing down on the field like a hammer, the rest of the monsters looked in terror while a blue rain coat appeared out of nowhere to cover Performapal Sleight Hand Magican. When the water was finally gone and the rest of the monsters were nowhere to be found, the blue coat unraveled itself, and Performapal Sleight Hand Magician was as dry as a bone.

Torrential Tribute, huh? Nathaniel thought to himself as he rubbed his chin. Megan's strategy was typically pretty straightforward, so he figured that Royal Decree was the only Trap Card she ran. He wondered what other Traps she had in her bag of tricks, but that was not important now. What mattered was that the field was clear, and his big, bad, boss monster has a clean shot.

"Alright, Sleight Hand Magician! Attack with Magical Ploy!" Sleight Hand Magician tossed its four juggling balls into the air, and made them disappear with a wave of its scepter. Suddenly, the balls fell from the air around Megan, making mini explosions with each landing.

Megan LP: 4000->1500

"I'll end my turn there."

Turn 6: Megan
Nathaniel: 1800 LP, 4 cards in hand, Performapal Sleight Hand Magician(ATK) 1 set S/T
Megan: 1500 LP, 5 cards in hand

Argh, those explosions hard hurt as almost as much as her own trap backfiring! Megan waved away the smoke and drew her next card. Both of them were low on LP so one mistake and it would be over. For now it was useless but it might come in handy. The more immediate problem was getting rid of that Magician. What was it's effect again? Mrggrgr, she couldn't remember.

Megan looked at her hand again. Try to use D.D Warrior Lady to take care of it, or attack over it? If either attempt failed it's be kaputs for her. Attacking over it was probably the better decesions since she'd have a monster still on the field afterwards so... " I'll normal summon my Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke to the field, then equip him with Fusion Sword Murasame Blade to increase his attack by 800, enough to call curtains on your magician! Sasuke attack his monster!"

Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke: Level 4, 1800 ATK

Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke: 1800 ATK->2600 ATK

Sasuke appeared on the field, a real ninja wielding two small daggers. Until Megan's equip spell appeared in front of him. He tentaivly grabbed it, replacing one of his daggers and the sword fused to his hand, glowing with magic. A pratice swish and he was off, appearing next to Nat's magician and slashing at it with his new weapon.

"Maybe, but that's only if the attack connects." Nathaniel's hand hovered over his duel disk, hesitating for a second. It hurt to do this to his ace, but this was the best course of action. "You remember this one from my last duel with Haas, right? My Trap Card, Chaos Burst! By tributing Performapal Sleight Hand Magician, your attacking monster is destroyed and you take 1000 damage!"

As Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke moved to strike at the magician, its sword sliced through cloth to reveal a fiery demon waiting underneath. It pounced at the ninja, and exploded upon contact.

Megan LP: 1500->500

"I knew it!" Haas' knee-jerk response sounded, a frown forming on his face. So it was the same strategy! So then why didn't he use the Chaos Burst he had set earlier to destroy Megan's attacking monster?

Ah, with that only one more anything and she'd be finished. If Nat had a monster it was all over for her, plus her life points were so low she couldn't even use the other trap she'd drawn. "Always with a trick up your sleeve eh? Well I guess it's your turn now." Megan said as she raised her hands helplessly, indicaiting her lack of ability to do anything else.

Turn 7: Nathaniel
Nathaniel: 1800 LP, 5 cards in hand
Megan: 500 LP, 3 cards in hand

"Alright, then I guess I'll end it here." Nathaniel said as he drew his next card. Despite his rather nonchalant display, he was over he moon inside. He has never had a duel go this smoothly before. With this, he might actually have a chance at Wind after all.

"I summon Beast King Barbaros!" Once Nathaniel played his next card, a creature just a a bit taller than Nathaniel appeared in front who was half feline beast and half man. It held a long red lance in one arm, and a blue shield in the other. "Normally, Beast King Barbaros is a level 8 with 3000 attack points. However, I can choose to simply summon him with no tributes as a monster with 1900 attack points."

Beast King Barbaros: Level 8, 1900 ATK

"And now, Beast King Barbaros attacks you directly!" The monster charged forward with its lance extended, before stopping in front of Megan to take a swipe at her from the side.

Megan pouted a little but raised her arm defensively as the last attack came through and reduced her life points to 0, marking her second lose to Nat. Argh she had been so close that time! Everytime she'd tried to make a move it seemed like he had a card ready for her. Oh well, at least she had managed to inflict some damage on him before she was defeated. "Good game Nat." Megan said as her life points ticked down.

Nathaniel smiled. "You too."

Megan LP: 500->0

WINNER: NATHANIEL