"T-that doesn't make any sense!" Cried out a certain purple haired girl as she sat in a corner with her head in her hands. "What's the point of having two of the same Leveled Monster on the field?! I-is it just the same as Contact Fusing? Nonono there's those weird lights around them. The… XYZ Materials they called it? How does that work! Why'd they have to place them under the card?! It doesn't make any kind of sense!"
And as Mei continued to make a scene in the public card store that the two girls had chosen as their first haunt to mingle and understand the workings of this dimension and its new and strange summoning mechanic, Serena could only sigh as she shook her head.
"I don't understand either but it would certainly help if you don't try and make everyone look at us weirdly!" The ponytailed girl hissed at her companion, causing the smaller girl to put her hands on her mouth as she looked around.
And sure enough, they were receiving a lot of looks from the other customers and duelists that filled the main card shop of Heartland, and Mei could only look down in shame as she blushed.
"Sorry…" She muttered quietly as she hung her head low, causing the indigo haired girl to sigh loudly as she massaged her temple.
"Look. I don't understand how this… XYZ Summoning works too. But we shouldn't draw any attention to ourselves. We never know if any of… if any of his goons are here." Serena said as her eyes darted to the crowd of people around them.
Sure enough, they won't know if there was an Academia or Obelisk Force in disguise. And since most if not all of the latter usually wore masks and matching uniform, none of them would have any kind of particular characteristics that they could pick out among the crowd.
And Mei seemed to shrink down even more at her comment, only to manage to bounce back as a thoughtful look adorned her face. "Still. This XYZ Summoning sure is… something. I still don't really get the gist of it. But it seemed quite… easy, honestly."
"I guess…" Serena grumbled as she crossed her arms and huffed. "I can at least see what you mean. Unlike our Fusion Summoning that sometimes has to use Spell Cards, they just need to have Monsters of the same Level."
"But why would they need to put the cards under them?!" The smaller girl cried out once more. "Why don't they just, oh I don't know, send them to the graveyard or shuffle them into the deck?! That's at least more understandable!"
There were, of course, problems that the two girls who were born and raised in a dimension with only a single summoning mechanic as their prime form of Extra Deck summoning method faced as they tried to understand the way of XYZ Summoning.
The process was of course, made easier to them as they had studied with and under Yuuna, someone who had essentially taught them to keep an open mind, and with their own decks being capable of two or more bodies of the same Level on board, the concept of XYZ Monsters and XYZ Summoning as a whole was a little more easier for them to understand.
But it doesn't mean that they understood them completely, let alone fully capable of utilizing them properly.
That of course, and the fact that they have not a single copy of any XYZ Monster to even put into their Extra Deck.
"Not to mention XYZ Materials, why would some monster effects only be usable around two times?! Why?! It makes no sense at all!" The purple haired girl continued to cry out, making the other girl sigh once more.
"I guess since they're, I don't know, easy to summon?" Serena threw her opinion onto the table, earning a perk from the small girl as she turned to look at her. "Unlike Fusion Summon, they don't need spells like Polymerization after all, they just need two or more monsters of the same Level right? Almost every deck can do that."
"Yeah… I guess that kind of makes sense." Mei muttered as she took on a thoughtful look once more. "That and since unlike Fusions, they don't require specific material too…" She trailed off.
"Ah! But you can still Fusion Summon if you have the materials in your hand though!" The purple haired girl called out. "And since it has to use monsters on the field, it can be easily disrupted too! Like with my ABC-Dragon Buster or something similar to that card."
"Yeah but that monster of yours is quite the exception with how strong it is." Serena muttered but not loud enough for the smaller girl to hear her. "But that is true." Serena chipped in once more. "I guess there are both good and bad parts to the summoning methods huh."
"I guess so." Mei said as she nodded her head and agreed to Serena's point. "But we should study them more! If we can understand how to do it, and get our hands on some XYZ Monsters, then we can actually duel and win some games!"
"That works for me." Serena said with a grin, agreeing with the girl.
"Excuse me." The two girls then whipped their heads to the sudden source of the voice, and were quite honestly startled at the sight that they saw, and so was the caller herself.
After all, the girl that called them out looked startlingly similar to the ponytailed girl, at least at first glance. But as Mei blinked a few times to calm herself from the shock, she started to notice how utterly different the girl was to her friend.
For one, her hair wasn't done in the same style, let alone their color, for the girl had a dark purple hair that she let flow to her back, not to mention that the girl wore more decorations than Serena who sloppily wore her yellow ribbon to keep her ponytail.
And not to mention their different eye color, and even their different fashion choice of clothing where the girl wore a pale yellow dress, something that Serena would have most certainly refused to even touch.
There was so much difference that this unknown girl had with Serena that it made her even wonder why she even thought that they were both similar. And yet the nagging eerie feeling still persists in the corner of her mind.
The two girls who at first glance were the splitting image of one another locked eyes with one another, and she realized that it wasn't simply their faces that were the same, but their… energy?
It was the uh… how would she describe it? It wasn't something that she could describe with words. But it was almost as if the two were twins, even if they were different in physical resemblance and fashion choice, and let alone how the two project themselves, they both felt like they were the same person.
She couldn't quite wrap her head around it, and neither did Serena as how she seemed to freeze under the girl's gaze.
And the first to truly snap from the shock was the girl herself, shaking her head as she regained her composure. "Ah, sorry. I was just asked by the manager that you shouldn't make much noise. You'll bother the other customers."
"O-oh. sorry about that." Mei bashfully apologized as she too snapped out from whatever it was that had plagued her mind. She still couldn't quite put her tongue on it, the strange feeling of resemblance that the two girls had.
"Y-you work here then?" Serena asked as she stuttered, clearly also unnerved by the resemblance that the two of them held.
"Ah! Y-yes I do! I wanted to get some pocket DP to better my deck, n-not that I'm much of a duelist! Nii-san's is far better at dueling than me!" The girl answered her question, all while also swerving into a whole other topic.
"Nii-san?" Mei asked aloud repeating the girl's words, and the long haired girl nodded her head enthusiastically as she gave a beaming smile.
"Yes! My brother, Shun, is a much better duelist than myself! Recently he even placed second in the Heartland Duel School's tournament!" The girl gushed out as she spoke of her older brother.
"Ho, he must be strong then." Serena drawled out, not quite sure of how strong the girl's older brother would be since she doesn't know what level this Heartland Duel School was like.
But guessing by the name, and how they were in a city named Heartland, she was quite sure that it was basically the same level as back home, in Academia. In their original dimension.
"Ah! I'm sorry! I should have introduced myself first." The girl apologized as she cleared her throat and reorganized herself, placing a hand over her chest as she started her self introduction. "I'm Ruri! Ruri Kurosaki. It is a pleasure to meet you."
Not one of them noticed the gleam that both their bracelets emitted.
-
Well, she didn't think that she could get this much of a reaction from the boy, but she had to give it to the red head, he was quite determined to better his deck after his defeat from Yuusha.
That Sayaka girl too, was also pushed, or rather pulled by how the boy had to physically drag the unwilling girl, by Allen to also see her wares.
And show them she did, and there were at least some cards that she had in her plethora of cards that she was sure that the pair could use to better their decks, just like what she had done with Myu's own Normal Dino deck.
And she sure did find some cards that the two could use, cards that are more useful in a slow format where people would play cards like recruiters and where the Battle Phase was extremely important.
Or more correctly, cards that would fix the problems that she has seen the two had problems with from the singular match that she had watched them each have, at least problems that she can solve with her current pool of cards.
And she started first off with the girl who seemed like she would bolt out if she raised her voice ever so slightly. The deck that the girl, Sayaka Sasayama had, was a… well, to put it to words it's a Light Fairy deck
It mostly consisted of the floaters that she had used in her previous match, those cards being the main way of her deck getting monsters onto the field, and the other cards being some random Level 4 Fairies that said monsters could float into.
Which was… slow. Incredibly slow. And while some of the cards that she plays like Angel's Tear have some funny interaction with Miraculous Descent, she doesn't have any other win condition.
No, she would not count drawing off of Fairy Cheer Girl as a win condition. Heck, it wasn't even a good Boss Monster to end on! Even if she were to summon it with a monster whose Level was modulated with Fairy Dust, and that's not even mentioning how bricky said spell was!
And as she watched some other duels play out in the background as she conversed with the three kids, she realized that the format of this XYZ Dimension, or at least in this localized part of Heartland, was quite slow, just like when she started out way back when, where normal summon Ancient Gear Hound and pass was acceptable and was an OTK.
It was a playground format yes, and she doesn't doubt that the more advanced and competitive scene of this dimension would be more competent, but it gave her a gist on what the level of the meta in this dimension was.
Something that after she would continue to sell cards, be they staples or one offs would no doubt change, just like how most people back in that dimension had started to opt and use floodgates in their main deck, barring some like her friends.
"I guess you have a reason for having Fairy Cheer Girl as your Rank 4 of choice?" She said, and the lilac haired girl jolted as she hurriedly nodded her head. A card with sentimental value then, and from prior experience then she probably shouldn't urge the girl to replace it with a better option.
God knows how bad Edo turned out when she had given him a card that threw him for a spiral of hunting down Red Hat.
What she can do, however, is give the girl some generic Fairy support cards. At least some that she already had gotten while she pulled for the Despia card pack. And if the girl wants to buy some more, well, she could always use some of the DP that she'll get to open some of the Fairy specific Pack.
So she first took out two four cards, technically eight cards as she presented a full three offs of two of the four cards, with the other two being one offs. "These should at least help you with getting that XYZ Monster out faster, though I do suggest that you find a win condition for your deck." She advised her as she gave her the cards.
"And of course, that one." She said, pointing out the other one off that she presented. "Should help you win any case of battle with your… Fairy Cheer Girl." She said as she continued on.
"Each will be around 750 DP per copy, a discount that I'll give should you buy them all in bulk." She said as she threw out her regular throwaway line of 'discounting cards as they are bought in bulk', and turned to the red haired boy beside the girl that was reading the cards and their texts.
"Eeeh! That's so expensive!" The red haired boy whined. "Can't you make it cheaper? Come on!"
"No can do, I'm already giving you a discount as is." And though the cards aren't exactly meta playable, they're still cards that would reach a good price back home, and considering how a single pack is but merely 500DP, her prices are cheap in comparison.
"From what I see, you probably want to duel against that Yuusha boy again don't you?" She said aloud and the boy seemed to tense as he hurriedly looked away and mumbled to himself.
"So what if I do." He said as he raised his head to look at her straight in the eyes with a fierce gaze. "That guy, he basically beat me easily and humiliated me… there's no way that I would let someone like that go off easily!" He said as he balled his fist.
"Well that's fine." She said easily, making the boy blink twice as he was quite shocked at her reaction to what was basically a pitiful declaration of revenge. "It's fine for you to have a goal, someone that you would want to beat sooner or later."
And then the air around the red hat wearing card trader changed, turning into something that was quite suffocating as he froze under her intense gaze. "But I'll warn you, you shouldn't let defeat and loss, let alone your thirst for revenge and victory consume you. That'll only lead you to a path of ruin."
The reminder of how Haru had self destructed from his repeated loss, of how she had not so accidentally ruined what was most likely his enjoyment of the game along with ruining what was more or less his childhood as he kept chasing after her to defeat her was something that has never left her mind, and her recent confrontation with Edo also reminded her of how socially inept she was.
So she'll start by making sure that Allen won't drown himself in something similar like her two previous acquaintances, and perhaps try and make the red haired boy grow as a better duelist while doing so.
"Anyway, the cards!" She said as she went back to her cheerful self like a flip of a switch, something that made Allen sigh in relief as she pulled out her book of cards. She shuffled through the pages, an action that she does to hide how she pulled out and materialized the cards into said book from her dimensional storage.
"Since you're aiming to beat a specific strategy, I'll also throw in some advice on dueling that Yuusha boy's deck, if he doesn't change it for that meeting tomorrow, which I doubt he will." And if he wasn't before, Allen was now rapt in attention as he took each of her words seriously.
"Evilswarms are a deck that's similar to Myu's." The silver haired girl perked up as she mentioned her name. "In terms of its engine, or rather main strategy that is. It's a deck that would focus on making Rank 4's, and from what I see he uses some Normal Monsters in his deck."
And the twin tailed girl's eyes widened as she realized where exactly she was going. "He's playing Normal Monster's too?! That means-he's playing cards like Rescue Rabbit like I am?!" She exclaimed, to which she nodded her head.
"Well, so what?" Allen said with a slightly annoyed tone, not caring at her and Myu's conversation at how similar both her and the black dressed boy's decks were.
"It means that it won't always be consistent. It's a deck which runs what is possibly six Normal Monsters after all, even if he does run the same support like Myu's own deck does, it could make some bricky hands." She said as she continued to search the card that she tried to remember some more support cards that could go well with the boy's deck and try to materialize them into the world.
"But enough of the mechanics of his deck, his strategy is what's more than likely Ophion turbo, which means that you won't be able to summon your high Level Train Monsters like you usually would." And the boy's eyes slightly widened as she said so.
"Wha-how do you-!"
"It was obvious. Trains are a deck that mostly consist of high Level monsters to summon their high Rank XYZ after all. But there's some cards that will most certainly still help you." She said, and proceeded to show the red haired boy some of her chosen cards.
"Which means that if you do want to beat him, you'll have to change your strategy, or in this case, play some cards that would help you in a situation if you're under Ophion." She said as the red haired boy began to see the cards that she had presented to him.
This was, of course, barring the black haired boy's possible go second board of possibly going to Evilswarm Bahamut, who can possibly OTK if he were to steal whatever big Train monster that Allen made should he go first in their match.
"And from the looks of it, you probably have a Rank 4 or two in your deck right? That's what you were going for in that match that you had with him. So these cards would most certainly help you with going to that card." She said as she began explaining what was basically the base strategy on how to use the cards that she was selling him.
They were starters, or more correctly cards that would help him and his Trains swarm the field easier than the brickfest that the boy probably would see if he would face Ophion, something that would likely happen if he were to face the black haired boy and his Evilswarm deck again.
After all, the weakness that she had seen from his brief match with Yuusha was his inability to easily swarm the field, and thus she gave him monsters that would help him with that. Though not actually some of the better Train cards that are specific to, well, Trains, as she doesn't actually have them.
She only did open the generic Earth Machine deck, and though she had accidentally gained the access to said pack since she had pulled some Level 10 Machines, Ruinforce being one of them, she hadn't even touched the pack.
Though if this transaction goes well with Allen, then maybe she could dip into some of those more specific Train support cards and sell them for a good price for the boy. One where she would profit from naturally.
"And this one," She said as she specifically pointed out one of the cards that she was willing to sell him. "Would most certainly help in this case if you were to go second and are already under Ophion, especially with its second effect if you have targets for those."
And as she pointed the monster's second effect out, the boy then proceeded to read the monster's effect, causing his eyes to widen slightly.
"After all, although Evilswarm Ophion would prevent high level monsters from being summoned, it doesn't stop something like, say, Level modulation." She said as the boy's eyes widened, realizing what she was getting at.
If he played his cards correctly, then with these new cards that she was selling him the boy could possibly summon his own large Train Boss Monster even if he was under Ophion, as though Ophion prevents the summon of high Leveled monsters, it doesn't prevent the summon of XYZ Monsters.
After all, XYZ Monsters doesn't have Levels, they have Ranks.
"You could also give this card to that sister of yours." She said as she saw the red haired boy perk at her suggestion. "If she is playing the same deck as yours of course. And though this is a wild guess, I would guess that she is. Considering how confident that Yuusha boy is at dueling her too."
She didn't get an immediate answer from the boy, he simply nodded as he continued to read the cards that she was selling. And she spent a good portion of the day tutoring the three on how to use their new additions to their decks, a job that she received a good amount of pay for.
-
"So this is where that meet up was supposed to be then? It sure is a secluded place." She said as she looked around, finding herself along with Myu who was cowering behind her in what seemed to be an empty warehouse in a district that was quite far away from the populated areas of Heartland City.
She spent yesterday, her first day in this new dimension, quite slow. She didn't duel at all, be it on the day itself, and even at night when she could have dueled against the Red Hats of her Duel World, and instead took a break.
Most of the day was, of course, spent as she sold cards to the trio that she had taken a liking to, and sold some lesser staples generally for the highest bidder when she gained some attention from the general crowd.
Managing to sell the regular vanilla Trap Hole for 1000 DP was basically a steal. She kind of felt bad for the man that she had sold the card too, especially when she started the bid for Bottomless Trap Hole right after it.
She didn't do her usual selling trick of dueling someone and selling cards based on what their deck was, she couldn't do so especially with her current aversion to personally dueling as she was burnt out, so auctioning her cards was good enough for her.
She lasted until the actual shopkeeper had to kick her out of the area around the store, but by then she had enough DP to last her a night, so that was enough for now.
And though she does aim to do the same today, there was something that she had to attend or rather do before she go and start another auction for a random 'staple' in front of a card store.
"A-are you sure that this was the place?" Myu muttered out as her head whipped around to look at the empty warehouse without life, filled with only large containers and crates filled with goods.
She checked her duel disk and looked at the picture of the note that Allen had shown to her when she asked, rereading said note once more and nodding her head. "Well, it does seem like it." She said as she looked around.
It seemed that they came here first, or rather they came here way too early, around half an hour earlier than intended even. She would have waited until a bit more later, but seeing Myu pace back and forth anxiously in the park where they were all supposed to meet made her decide to go to the actual meeting place earlier than intended.
And so here they were, with neither Sayaka, Allen, his sister, nor the black haired boy who issued the challenge in the first place here.
Illegally of course, they were trespassing to even enter the area of the warehouses here. After all there was no way that kids around their age could rent a whole warehouse to just due, unless they were loaded with DP, or were the owners of said warehouse.
Which in this case, none of them were. Thus the trespassing.
"Still, the place is devoid of people huh." She said as she looked around once more, and just as she had said, they were the only people here. "I would have thought that a big city like Heartland would have this part of the industrial district more crowded."
"I-I guess… i-it's a holiday and all, and since the World Duel Carnival is nearing a lot of people are taking breaks to prepare for it…" Myu agreed with her absentmindedly, her eyes wandering around the premises back and forth, waiting for the others to appear. "I hope they come fast so that we can leave…"
And as if she had triggered a flag of some sort, a ringing sound started to ring in her ears, as if the sound of a jet engine. She perked her ears as she looked around, the strange noise getting louder and louder-
"Huh? What's that-" And just as the twin tailed girl opened her mouth, the ringing sound peaked to the point that the both of them had to put their hands over their ears to make it quieter, and something then seemed to crash right in the opposite side of the entrance that they went through.
A cloud of dust rose from whatever it had that crashed, and as they tried to get rid of the ringing in their ears, she heard sounds that sounded similar to that of coughing.
"-e-san! Couldn't you have landed us more gently?!" A voice that she thought was Allen came to resound throughout the warehouse.
"Haa?! Are you asking me to slow down?! No way! As if I'll do something like that!" And the one that answered his query was an unknown voice, presumably the source of the whole explosion that happened in front of them if she heard correctly.
And thankfully the dust cloud soon dispersed, revealing the figures of three people, two of which she was familiar with, having already met them the day prior, but the other one with them was also someone that she vaguely knows from somewhere.
And notably, they were standing, or in Sayaka's case sprawled unconscious, atop of what was… what exactly was that, there were no words that she could use to describe the thing beneath them. It-they seemed to be riding atop of it, so it was their vehicle? Their mode of transport? A-a hovercraft of some sort?
This world has phones that emit hard light projections that also project holographic images with actual weight behind them. She shouldn't be surprised that freaking hovercrafts were things that actually exist in this dimension, let alone one that can be ridden by someone her age.
She noted to get one when she had constructed a competent XYZ Deck and amassed enough DP at one point, the only problem then would probably be the license that she guessed one would need to ride it, considering she doesn't exist in this dimension and all.
The girl that she vaguely recognized from somewhere then essentially, kickflipped, the whole hovercraft contraption and caught it with both hands, Sayaka already removed from it thanks to Allen and was now leaning on one of the many crates with her eyes still spinning and dazed.
And someway, somehow, the enormous contraption that was the girl's size then, shrunk, and compressed itself into something that was small enough that it managed to fit in the knapsack that the girl wore.
How?????????
She wasn't sure what kind of face she was making as she saw the whole… thing that happened right in front of her, but sure enough the trio that had more or less blasted their way into the warehouse then noticed their presence.
The one that noticed her first was the red haired girl, who raised an eyebrow at them before turning towards his brother. "Hey, is that the one that challenged me?" She asked as she pointed her index fingers towards her.
Done with his emergency care of Sayaka, the poncho wearing red haired boy then turned to look towards what his sister was pointing towards, and his eyes slightly widened as he saw her and Myu already present in the warehouse.
"Ah! Hat girl! And uh, what's her name-Meow!"
"It's Myu!" The silver haired girl shouted as she poked her head from behind her, glaring at the boy who merely laughed his mistake off.
"Ah right that. Nee-san! That's the girl that sold me all those new cards!" Allen said excitedly as he also pointed towards her, and that earned a hum from the boy's older sister as she crossed her arms under her chest.
"That so?" She said as she eyed her up and down, eventually walking closer and closing their distance as she extended a hand with a grin. "The name's Anna Kozuki! Heard you took good care of my little brother over there. Thanks for that."
She registered the name in her head, and images flooded her mind as it clicked as to where and how she recognized the character, the person right in front of her.
Anna Kozuki, is, was, a character that she knew from her previous world, a minor character in ZEXAL, known for her Rank 10 strategy, trains, notably Gustav Max, Dora, and Liebe, all capable of dealing a notable amount of attack, some could even be said that they were broken in a 4000 Life Point format.
The show never alluded to her having a brother, was it something that this dimension added? She silently cursed about her lack of foreknowledge, not that it would have helped with her current situation.
She took the girl's hand and shook it, her other hand fixing her hat's position to hide the anxiety that she had brought up by simply saying her name. Putting on her mask of calmness as she spoke.
"While it seems that your… brother, had already told you of me, I'll introduce myself." She started as she let the girl's, Anna's hand go and gestured towards herself. "Some call me Red Hat, the card seller, but you can call me Yuuna."
"Yuuna it is then." The red haired girl, garbed in a tight pink and white shirt said as she grinned in response. "So anyway, what're the two of you here for if you're not the one challenging me?" She asked.
"We're here to watch." She said offhandedly as she placed a hand on her hip. "If you don't mind watchers of course. I'm honestly looking forward to what kind of strategy you would use to defeat his own counter strategy."
"Yeah, heard about that." Anna scowled as she rubbed the back of her head, her eyes glancing towards Allen who had returned to tend to Sayaka who was now conscious. "I heard about it all from Allen, guess it makes sense how he had a hard time against someone like that. Even with the new cards that he shoved my way."
And at that remark she raised an eyebrow, hidden by the cap of her hat. "Oh? He gave them to you?" Though perhaps her tone itself kind of showed her bit of curiosity. "I would have assumed that he would have kept them for himself, in order to ah, get his revenge so to say."
Anna snorted as she heard her take. "Well, he's still planning on it if anything." She said with a fond smile as she looked at her little brother helping Sayaka get up from the consequence of her questionable riding skills.
"Said that he's only letting me borrow them for a while. And after I blow this Yuusha guy out of the water I'll have to give it back to him so that he can beat him on his own." Anna said as she fondly shook her head in exasperation and she giggled at that as well.
Honestly, she was quite glad that the boy took his defeat, albeit not in stride, but as a positive motivation. It was… a welcome change, especially with her experiences with people who don't take losses kindly.
"Though we did come here to watch, I personally came here for another matter, and seeing as you're going to be our duelist for this occasion, I might as well give this one to you." She brought up a new topic as she handed the girl three cards, all three of which were the same three offs that she had managed to pull from the Train support pack with what spare DP she had laying about.
Anna raised an eyebrow as she snatched them off of her hands. "What's this?" She asked aloud as she began reading them, intrigued at the cards that she had presented to her.
"I intended to sell them to Allen, but seeing as you'll be our star duelist of the day, it would be for the best if you had them." She said as she essentially handed the girl support cards for her deck, one which would most certainly help her in the coming match.
"Well, who am I to say no to free cards!" The cannon-hovercraft-pouch wielding girl said with a huge grin on her face, one that was contrasted by the deadpanned look that she hold.
"They're not free. I will, of course, be taking compensation." She said neutrally, and received a dissatisfied harrumph from the girl in front of her. "I will be taking them after you win the duel, you can simply use the DP that you won off of him to pay me for them"
"Ho?" Anna said with a smirk. "So you're confident that I'll win huh? I like that!" The girl said as she hauled her arm over her shoulder, making her yelp and stumble slightly at the added weight that the girl gave her, and earning an 'eep!' from Myu as she was out of her shadow.
"Well I'll have to show you two a good duel then! And you'll be sure that I'll put up more at the World Duel Carnival!" The red haired girl said, continuing with a hearty laugh as she repeatedly slapped her back.
"The World Duel Carnival? You're competing then?" She asked, as to which the girl responded with a huge grin and pointed towards herself.
"Of course! As if I would miss a chance like this!" Anna said in a chipper mood. "Heartland hasn't hosted the World Duel Carnival in half a decade! And it's my chance for a debut! And not to mention-"
The girl took a brief stop as she then looked upwards with shining eyes, gripping her hands together as she said her next words. "Maybe, if I enter the World Duel Carnival, I can find my charming prince!"
"Huh?"
"Ah, nee-san's always like that, don't worry." Allen whispered next to her to answer her surprise at the change that her behavior took. "Apparently she's searching for some 'prince charming', saying that someone that can beat her in a duel would be that someone or something."
That's… something. The criteria for being her 'prince charming' is quite… low if she was being honest. She would prefer if someone as young as her would have a higher standard for choosing a… crush.
"So anyone can join in on the World Duel Carnival then?" She asked, not being too familiar with the competition and not having done her research on it before.
"Wha?! How'd you not know?! Aren't you a card trader?!" Allen voiced his shock as he stared at her with wide eyes, and she could only sheepishly rub the back of her head in shame.
"Well I-I might know a bit about the game but I'm not really… in touch with the community so to speak." She said as she scratched her cheek in embarrassment. "Honestly I spent more time tinkering with cards and decks rather than talking to others about tournaments and stuff. And not like I sell cards all the time too."
She heard a snort coming from Anna as she heard her explanation. "So you're a recluse then." And though she cried out in indignation from the comment, Anna merely grinned as she managed to get a response out of her.
She pouted, and Anna laughed, even Sayaka giggled at the whole interaction. "Around 1000 duelists with a high win lose ratio can join in on the World Duel Carnival, the preliminaries at least." Sayaka started. "The preliminaries starts in… I think it starts in three weeks if I remember correctly, and it's an ante rule free for all where duelists bet their Heart Pieces that they get from registering."
"Yeah! Only 12 people can even get to the actual tournament too!" Allen added his own bit of information, telling her the amount of people that would make it through the preliminaries were lower than the 36 that she knew "They're the strongest of the strong! The best of the best that the tournament has to offer!"
It was another small evidence that this world was incredibly different from the world where she came from, both the Fusion Dimension that she had lived more than a decade on, and her old world.
This place was… vibrant, and while there are most certainly places in her old world that are as colorful as Heartland, the difference between this world and the Fusion Dimension, the world that she had lived on for over ten whole years was jarring, extremely so.
And that difference grated on her, because whenever she sees people, be they children or teens freely duel here with large smiles in their faces, what she could remember was instead of those good memories that she had in her old world was instead the bleak Fusion Dimension and the people that she left there, her family whose fate she knows not of.
She had always ignored the rest of the world that she had lived on back in the Fusion Dimension, she was always engrossed in her cards along with her friends, but that doesn't mean that she completely ignored all the happenings around her.
Of course she saw the bleak state of Academy Island, the numerous orphanages already speaks of how dysfunctional the island was, not to mention the numerous Juvenile Officers that roam through the street almost twenty four seven.
It was a place where an orphan like her and Mei could only find a path to success through the Academia, and their specific success was simply because of her capability to generate cards, while normal orphans like Haru had to claw and work with the cards that they have, essentially becoming another soldier for that man.
And in contrast this city was vibrant with colors. Where children could duel with smiles on their faces, with actual card shops that actually sell cards that aren';t just Normal Monsters!
It was completely different, and the difference only reminded her of the cause of the difference.
She was reminded of that man and the atrocities that he has done to the game, and though the memories lit her resolve to oppose the man, it tainted what good memories she has of that place, of her home.
It left a bitter taste in her mouth, one that she would have to live with until she eventually can once more meet that man and finish her confrontation with him once and for all.
"Well, a lot of them are aiming for the grand prize after all." She focused back on the conversation as Anna chimed in. "I mean, a million DP isn't something to sneeze at! You can feed an entire family for a month with that amount of DP!"
"Or buy a lot of decks and rare cards." Myu muttered from behind her.
"So it's like that." She mused and hummed as she processed the information given. She wondered whether or not she should join in on this World Duel Carnival. As Anna said, the amount of DP that the grand prize gave out was most certainly something, enough to probably build up a couple of high tiered decks, or buy a ton of staples that she could sell for even more DP.
She doesn't need to mention how doing so would get her both DP and strengthen the local duelists, both being goals that she wanted to complete while she stayed in this dimension.
And of course, the prospects of dueling strong duelists were also something that made her blood boil in anticipation.
Hopefully by that time she could already get out of this slump of her's, that and get a decent XYZ deck to enter the tournament with.
They continued chatting, be it mundane everyday topics or dueling related topics where she truly shined on, wasting time as they waited for the challenger to even appear. Something that made Anna more annoyed as the time passed.
"Where's the guy that challenged me anyway?" She started to growl, tapping her feet and crossing her arms impatiently as she looked around, whipping her head back and forth. "I swear if he doesn't show up-"
"So you've come! Anna Kozuki!"
Just as the sentence had left the train loving girl's mouth, the declaration resounded throughout the warehouse, and they all snapped their heads to the source of the loud voice, arching their heads upwards to do so.
And sure enough, a top one of the many storage containers that were kept in this warehouse, was the black coat wearing boy, a hand covering most of his face, with one of his black eyes seeing through the gaps of his fingers.
He then daringly jumped off of the crate, his arms spread wide and his coat slapping as he landed with a fist slamming into the ground. And the boy then snapped his head upwards, standing up and taking a pose.
"Anna Kozuki! I challenge you to a duel!" The black haired boy cried out as his voice echoed throughout the warehouse, with him ponting his hands out towards the red haired girl in question.
"Hee. So it's you huh? The guy that beat up Allen and sent me a challenge?" Anna started to say as she walked slowly towards the boy, stopping as they stood apart at a good distance between one another.
"You are correct!" He said with a grin on his face. "I have had my eye on you for quite some time... And I have seen that you are a strong duelist! Someone whom I have deemed enough to grace with my presence!"
"Haaaa?!" The girl said aloud with her mouth agape, an annoyed expression on her face. "As if! What makes you think you're so important!" She shouted as she angrily pointed towards him.
"Why? Because I am me!" He declared boldy, as if not seeing any problems with his blatant narcissism. "I, Yuusha Kuroi, am the future King of Duels! The strongest duelist! And-" He stopped as he raised a hand to gesture to himself.
"I am someone who one can say is a prince charming you see?" He said as he gave a wink, stunning everyone into silence.
She-she's never seen someone, not even kids, be this blatantly narcissistic. It was something that really was straight out of a story book, or rather in this case, straight out of an anime.
But she's never seen nor heard of someone named Yuusha Kuroi before, was he someone that was in Arc-V's story? Certainly she doesn't know of the existence of people like Sayaka and let alone Allen, a sibling of someone who was from ZEXAL, so the chances of him being someone from the anime that she didn't watch was high.
"Wha-! Bastard! If it's a fight you want then it's a fight you'll get!" The enraged red haired girl screamed out, reacting to the blatant insult on her reason for dueling as she all but pushed Allen out of the way, raising her left arm high and activating her duel disk, brandishing it towards her opponent.
"If you're really the best duelist in the world, then try and stop my Runaway Deck if you can!" She roared out in response to the boy's taunting, and after long last, the duel finally began.
""DUEL!!""
Yuusha Kuroi: 4000LP
Anna Kozuki: 4000LP
"I'll go first." The black haired boy smugly declared so as he took the first turn, starting with five cards in his hand as he forgo his Draw Phase. "I'll start by normal summoning Rescue Rabbit!"
And as the black haired boy placed the monster card, the small goggle and hard hat wearing rabbit appeared onto the field, blowing its whistle as it appeared, being the first monster that the boy has summoned as to start the game.
Rescue Rabbit - Earth/Beast/Level 4/Effect: 300/100
Myu gasped as she pointed towards the card that Yuusha had summoned. "That's-!"
"Yep. As I expected." She said with a grin as she too, pointed towards the rabbit monster that occupied the field. "Just like your own Dino Rabbit, his Evilswarm deck is also reliant on Rescue Rabbit as its backbone. Though the Evilswarms themselves has ways to swarm the field."
"And I shall activate it's effect!" Yuusha declared with a large grin. "I can banish this card from my field, to special summon two Level 4 or lower Normal Monsters with the same name from my deck, however they are destroyed during my End Phase!" The boy explained.
And he then took out two cards from his deck flamboyantly, and proceeded to reveal them to show what he would summon. "I shall special summon two copies of Evilswarm Heliotrope directly from my deck in attack position!"
And he then summoned two of the vanilla insect-like monster, both monsters looked identical as they let out an ear splitting screech, both of them swinging their blade erratically as they appeared onto the field.
Evilswarm Heliotrope - Dark/Rock/Level 4/Normal: 1950/650
Evilswarm Heliotrope - Dark/Rock/Level 4/Normal: 1950/650
"Kukuku, and now that I have two Level 4 monsters, I shall end this game quickly!" The black coat wearing boy declared so as he raised his hand high above his head. "I shall overlay both of my Level 4 Evilswarm Heliotrope!"
A black whirlpool appeared in between both duelists, one that sucked up both Heliotropes who screeched as they turned into dark beams of light that then entered the dark whirlpool of power.
"With these two monsters, I'll construct an Overlay Network!" And the black whirlpool then exploded in the color of blinding purple. "XYZ Summon! Descend to this world! Evilswarm Ophion!"
And as they had all expected, the boy summoned the same monster that had easily defeated Allen in yesterday's duel, the Dark Dragon then appeared, flapping its wings as it appeared landing onto the ground as it stared menacingly at its opponent, two orbs of darkness circling around the monster's body, showing the Overlay Materials that it had as it screeched.
Evilswarm Ophion - Dark/Dragon/XYZ/Rank 4/Effect: 2550/1650 OV: 2
"Now, while Evilswarm Ophion has XYZ Materials, Level 5 or higher monsters can't be special summoned." The boy said with a smug smile, setting up his floodgate as Anna clicked her tongue at the explanation.
She had heard from Allen about it the day before, and he repeated it on and on to the point where it was annoying and got on her nerves. But facing it first hand, she could tell why he had trouble against the boy, and even lost against him.
It was a perfectly made counter strategy. Incredibly well made. And if she remembered what the other's say then his next move would be-
"I will also activate its effect." Yuusha declared with a smile. "Once per turn, I can detach one XYZ Material, to add one 'Infestation' spell or trap from my deck to my hand!" He said as the Dark Dragon roared and chomped down on one of its Overlay Materials, using it to activate its effect.
Evilswarm Ophion - Dark/Dragon/XYZ/Rank 4/Effect: 2550/1650 OV: 1
"I will be adding the Quick-Play Spell, Infestation Pandemic from my deck to my hand!" And he revealed the card from his deck and added it to his hand. She clicked her tongue as she saw the boy add the spell, knowing what it does from what that Red Hat told her.
A Quick-Play Spell that gives all face-up Evilswarm monsters immunity to spell and trap effects, meaning that she couldn't remove his darned monsters with the help of spells.
Not that she uses any of those. Her strategy has always been straightforward and true, to hit fast and to hit hard.
Yuusha then shuffled the five cards in his hand, and continued with his plays. "I shall set one card face-down. And with that, I will end my turn." And ended his turn with a single set card in his spell and trap zone, most likely being the Infestation Pandemic that he had added, with Ophion on field and four cards still remaining in his hands.
"That all? Then it's my turn!" She roared out, placing her hand onto her duel disk. "I'll draw!" And drew her card for her turn, getting up to six cards in her hand. She looked at them briefly, and her eyes narrowed slightly.
In her hand was one of the cards that that Red Hat had sold to her brother, something that he had all but forced her to put into her deck. And she did so just to get him to stop bothering her.
Guess she should have known that it would come in handy, Allen had fought against this boy's deck before after all. "I'll start my turn by activating the Field Spell, Revolving Switchyard!"
And as the red haired girl activated her Field Spell, the scene around them changed. From where before was but a normal warehouse filled with crates and containers, it changed to become a large revolving switchyard, filled with railways and trains, with them standing right in the middle of it, a top of a large train.
The activation of the Field Spell changed the whole area that they were all around, and Anna then continued with her turn, taking out a card from the remaining five cards in her hand. "Now I'll normal summon Night Express Knight from my hand!"
And she then normal summoned a monster, and a large train gold and white train appeared, one who had a large humanoid-like knight torso sticking out from the top of the locomotive, carrying with it a large shield and lance in its hands.
Night Express Knight - Earth/Machine/Level 10/Effect: 3000/3000
And the black haired boy's eyes widened as he saw what she had done, that is easily summoning a Level 10 monster onto the field. "Wha-! How did you-!"
"Hehe, your XYZ monster might prevent me from special summoning Level 10 monsters, but not normal summoning them!" SHe said with a large grin on her face.
"This card you see, can be normal summoned without tributing, but its original attack becomes 0!" She said, and the monster then was engulfed in a brown aura as its attack was lowered to zero from its summoning condition.
Night Express Knight - Earth/Machine/Level 10/Effect: 0/3000
"And now, the effect of Revolving Switchyard activates!" Anna declared again, waving her hand outwards as the large switchyard around them started to activate, the large train under them starting to move as it connected to one of the many railways.
"If a Level 10 Earth Machine monster is normal or special summoned to my field, I can activate its effect!" She declared loudly as the switchyard activated fully and started to move. You won't take any battle damage for the rest of this turn, but I can special summon one Level 4 Earth Machine monster with 1800 or more attack from my deck!"
And she then took out the target that she would summon from her deck, and revealed the monster that she would summon with the Field Spell's effect. "I'll special summon Ruffian Railcar from my deck in defence position!"
And she placed the card onto her duel disk, and the red train then appeared onto her field beside the giant gold and white train, creating its own tracks of energy as it was summoned.
Ruffian Railcar - Earth/Machine/Level 4/Effect: 1800/1000
"And if that monster is summoned this way, it becomes Level 10!" And as she said that final piece of information, Yuusha's eyes widened as he saw what she had done. For now Anna had two Level 10 monsters on her side of the field.
Ruffian Railcar - Earth/Machine/Level 10/Effect: 1800/1000
"Ch! So you still managed to get two Level 10 monsters-!" The black haired boy growled out, distressed at the combo that she had done, and he gritted his teeth, knowing what next play the girl would make in her turn, an XYZ Summon.
And the red haired girl grinned as she saw the boy's distressed face. "Hold your horses! Before that, I'll activate the effect of Ruffian Railcar!" She said loudly as she pointed to the monster that was summoned with her Field Spell's effect.
"I can't deal any battle damage since I used Revolving Switchyard's effect this turn, but it doesn't mean I can't deal damage to you!" She shouted loudly. "And once per turn, Ruffian Railcar can deal 500 points of damage! Train Rain!"
And said red train shot out a beam of energy from its 'face', dealing damage to the black coat wearing boy and bypassing the battle damage restriction that she was under, making the black haired boy frown as his Life Points decreased.
Yuusha Kuroi: 3500LP
"I overlay the Level 10 Night Express Knight, and the Level 10 Ruffian Railcar!" She shouted aloud as she raised her right arm high, and the two giant trains in her field turned into brown motes of light, two that congealed into the dark spiral that appeared in the middle of the field.
"With the two monsters, I'll build an overlay network! XYZ Summon!" And as she continued the chant, the black whirlpool of energy exploded into a blinding brown light. "Make way for the train that'll derail your chance to win! Appear! Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Gustav Max!"
And from said whirlpool of darkness, the girl's own Boss Monster appeared onto the field, an incredibly large train, or rather something that looks similar to it, being a large green and gray box-like vehicle on rails with two glowing brown orbs orbiting around the monster.
Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Gustav Max - Earth/machine/XYZ/Rank 10/Effect: 3000/3000 OV: 2
"A-amazing…" Myu said in awe as she saw the plays that Anna had done, easily bypassing the lock that was Ophion, a card that was played by Yuusha to specifically counter her deck, and still summon her own Boss Monster.
"S-she managed to summon Gustav Max even with Ophion on the field! A-as expected of Anna-san!" Sayaka said with a large smile as she too watched the red haired girl in awe.
"Yeah! That's onee-san for you!" Allen shouted out loudly with a large grin of his own, extremely happy even though he didn't get his rematch against Yuusha, but was still supportive of his sister who was dueling against the boy instead.
And she simply let out a relieved sigh that she didn't know she was holding, quite glad that the red haired girl had managed to bypass the Ophion lock in her own way.
It was probably the only combination of cards in hand that could out and play through the floodgate that was Ophion, the Field Spell that would summon and Level modulate and a normal summonable Level 10 monster.
An incredibly lucky hand to start with, but then again, luck is a huge part of the game.
In this case, she had simply drawn the out. That was it.
"I'll activate Gustav Max's effect!" Anna declared immediately on the monster's summon, ignoring her gawking opponent whose counter strategy she had completely all but ignored. "Once per turn, I can detach one material from this card, to inflict 2000 points of damage to you!" She roared as she pointed towards Yuusha.
The large XYZ Monster then, for better words, transformed. Taking in one of the two XYZ Material that it had and the large box-like contraption that it was mostly composed of opened, revealing the extremely large cannon that it hid inside of it, one that was pointed towards her opponent and was charging as she explained it's effects.
Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Gustav Max - Earth/machine/XYZ/Rank 10/Effect: 3000/3000 OV: 1
"Go, Gustav Max! Ready to fire, Big Cannon!" And complying to her orders, the large train shot out its salvo, dealing what was basically half of his full Life Points amount of burn damage, making the black haired boy fall onto his behind as he received the damage from the monster's effect.
Yuusha Kuroi: 1500LP
"Alright! With this you only have 1500 Life Points left!" Anna celebrated with a huge grin, as she then moved on to continue to her next phase. "Now I'll battle! I'll destroy your Evilswarm Ophion with my Gustav Max!"
And the now re-transformed train XYZ then simply rammed into the black dragon. Destroying it and turning it into motes of light with its sheer size, but not dealing any battle damage due to the effect of Revolving Switchyard.
"Now I'll set a card face-down!" She said as she set down a card from her hand face-down. "And I'll end my turn!" And soon enough, ended her turn, managing to remove the walking floodgate that was Ophion and getting a large body in the form of Gustav Max and a set card along with Revolving Switchyard on the field, and with three cards still remaining in her hand.
"Kuh! To think that you even managed to destroy my Ophion…" The boy scowled as he saw his Boss Monster and floodgate get removed easily, and not to mention how his Life Points was burned so much with those burn damage that she had kept dealing.
If he left that XYZ monster, that Gustav Max for the next turn, then he would simply lose thanks to its burn effect.
Which means that he has to remove it, and he already has the strategy to do so. "Thc. It's my turn! I'll draw!" He said as he drew his card for his turn, drawing the fifth card to his hand from his Draw Phase.
And without even looking at the cards that he had draw, he immediately played the cards according to the combo line that he had in mind. "I'll normal summon Evilswarm Kerykeion!" He said as he placed the monster card on his duel disk.
And the black haired boy's monster then appeared onto the field, the corrupted Constellar Rasalhague appeared onto the field, swinging the two staffs that it has in each hand, red orbs orbiting around the monster as it appeared.
Evilswarm Kerykeion - Dark/Spellcaster/Level 4/Effect: 1600/1550
"And I'll activate Kerykeion's effect!" Yuusha declared, activating his summoned monster's effect. "I can banish one 'lswarm' monster from my graveyard, then target one 'lswarm' monster in my graveyard, and add it to my hand!"
Done with the explanation of the monster's effects, he revealed the monster that he would banish as cost, and the monster that he would recover to his hand. "I'll banish Ophion from my graveyard, to add back Heliotrope to my hand!"
And as he banished his destroyed XYZ monster from his graveyard and added back the vanilla monster to his hand, the twin tailed girl let out a question. "Huh? Why would he add back Heliotrope to his hand? And why would he banish his XYZ monster?!"
And she instinctively answered the question without even a second thought. "Ophion's spent already. Even if he has a way to revive it, most of it won't make the monster come back with an XYZ Material, meaning that it won't have its floodgate effect."
The only card that could do something like that that she remembers on the top of her had was the trap card XYZ Reborn, and he would have most certainly set that card already on his last turn if he had it.
"He could either use Heliotrope as an XYZ Material, or as discard fodder." She mumbled aloud, trying to predict which play the black haired boy would chose as his next move, something that Allen caught as he frowned.
"XYZ Material? So that guy can still-"
"And since Kerkeion's first effect was activated, I can activate it's second effect!" Yuusha declared, cutting whatever it was that Allen was about to say. "If the previous effect was activated this turn, I can activate his second effect, and immediately normal summon one 'lswarm' monster!"
Done with the explanation of his monster's second effect, he then proceeded to show what monster he would use his additional normal summon on. "I'll normal summon Evilswarm Thunderbird!"
And the monster that he normal summoned was quite the infamous monster from what she remembered, a monster that was able to essentially survive a turn and guarantee board presence, capable of ensuring an XYZ Summon on the following turn. The Dark Thunder monster spread its wings, and let out its monstrous screech as it appeared.
Evilswarm Thunderbird - Dark/Thunder/Level 4/Effect: 1650/1050
"Now I'll overlay my Level 4 Evilswarm Kerykeion, and my Level 4 Evilswarm Thunderbird!!" And as he raised his hand upwards, a black whirlpool appeared and sucked in both the declared monsters that turned into purple orbs of energy.
"With these two monsters, I'll construct an Overlay Network!" And the black whirlpool then exploded in the color of blinding purple. "XYZ Summon! Descend to this world and plunge it into chaos! Evilswarm Bahamut!"
And with the chant completed, Yuusha summoned his second XYZ monster, the one that she had expected he would play on the crackback. For it was the deck's backup strategy so to speak, an in archetype Big Eye that it could access with ease.
The Dark Dragon then slithered out from the whirlpool of darkness, spreading its wings as wide as it could to fit the switchyard that they were on, all while it stood and glared ominously at the monster on the opposite side of the field.
Evilswarm Bahamut - Dark/Dragon/XYZ/Rank 4/Effect: 2350/1350 OV: 2
Anna instantly grew wary of the monster that the boy had summoned, eyeing it with a frown as Yuusha continued with his turn and explained its effect. "And now I shall activate Evilswarm Bahamut's effect!" He declared.
"Once per turn, I can detach one XYZ Material from this card, to target one face-up monster my opponent controls, and discard one 'lswarm' monster to take control of that monster!" He explained with a savage grin, and Anna's eyes went wide as she turned to the one legal target on her side of the field.
And the black dragon roared as it consumed one of the two floating orbs of darkness that orbited it as cost, along with him showing a card that he would discard as it's additional cost. "I'll target your Superdreadnought Cannon Gustav Max! And I'll discard Evilswarm Heliotrope from my hand!"
"Tch! I'll chain my face-down card!" Anna shouted loudly as she flipped up her only set card, revealing it as its holographic projection then glowed as it was flipped face-up. "The Continuous Trap, Barrage Blast!"
And she then began explaining the card's effect. "Barrage Blast lets me detach any number of materials from a Machine XYZ Monster I control, the target that many cards on the field and destroy them!"
"Ha! Did you forget?" Yuusha grinned, pointing towards his one set card that was behind Evilswarm Bahamut. "I have the set card Infestation Pandemic! Which would make your Barrage Blast's effect useless!"
And in response to the boy's boast, Anna only smirked. "Who said I was targeting your monsters?"
"Huh?" The black haired boy let out a dumbfounded sound as the red haired train girl continued on and declared the target for her Continuous Trap.
"I'll detach one XYZ Material from Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Gustav Max, to target itself!" And the last glowing overlay unit that orbited the gigantic train was then used, turning into a great energy beam that shot towards Gustav Max, destroying itself.
And the chain then continued to resolve, with Bahamut's effect however fizzling as it had lost its target, making the black haired boy click his tongue at the action that his opponent had done.
"Wha-why did Anna-san destroy her own monster?!" Myu asked in panic as she pointed her fingers at the red haired girl, questioning the red haired duelist's choice of play.
"It wasn't like she had any other choice." She said as she nodded her head, agreeing with the move that the red haired train girl had done. "As the boy himself said, Infestation Pandemic would prevent Evilswarm Ophion from being affected by Barrage Blast's effect, and if she doesn't somehow remove Gustav Max from the field, she would most certainly lose the match."
"Ah! H-he could have just attacked with it!" Sayaka exclaimed loudly, knowing where the line of play from stealing Gustav Max would have gone. "And since it still has an XYZ Material, he could have also used its effect to deal 2000 damage!"
"But since nee-san destroyed her own monster with it, she could still survive until the next turn!" Allen said with wide eyes, realizing why his sister had done what she had. "And she can just beat him in the next turn! Alright! Go! Nee-san!"
"Khhhh! Fine! I'll attack you directly with Evilswarm Bahamut! Dark Infestation!" The black coat wearing boy then immediately went on towards the Battle Phase, moving on and attacking with his single monster.
"Kya!" Anna cried out as she received the Dark XYZ Monster's attack, shielding herself from most of the dragon's breath attack by raising both of her arms, receiving a ton of damage from the direct attack.
Anna Kozuki: 1650LP
"Che. I''ll end my turn." Yuusha said as he immediately ended his turn after attacking, finishing his turn with only Evilswarm Bahamut on his field and ending his turn with three cards in hand, failing to get lethal with an open board.
"Now the effect of Ruffian Railcar in my graveyard activates!" The red haired girl declared, making the black haired boy's eyes narrow slightly as he had had no idea what she was activating.
"During the End Phase, if this card is in the graveyard because it was sent there this turn, I can add one Level 10 Earth Machine monster from my deck to my hand!" The wild train-loving girl declared.
"Ha-?! But when did you-!" And his eyes widened as he figured out the line that she had played. "That-! That's the XYZ Material that you used to summon your XYZ Monster! I-I didn't know that it had that kind of effect!"
"Well now you know!" Anna said with a large grin as she took out a card from her deck as the target for the monster's graveyard effect. "I'll be adding a second Night Express Knight from my deck to my hand!"
And as the red haired girl added the normal summonable train monster to her hand, Myu turned and snapped her head towards Allen. "Hey! I didn't know that it could do that too! Why didn't you use it in your duel last time with that guy?"
"I uhh…" And as the silver haired girl stared at him, the poncho wearing boy turned to look away as he scratched his cheek anxiously. "I kinda… forgot that it had that kind of effect.'
And the girl could only blink a few times at the answer that she received, before sighing loudly as she shook her head. Something that was mirrored by the glasses wearing girl beside her, much to the boy's embarrassment.
"Hehe, then it's my turn!" Anna shouted aloud with a grin on her face as she managed to survive for a turn, placing her hand over her deck as she prepared for her Draw Phase. "I'll draw!"
And as she drew her card for the turn, getting up to five cards in her hand, her turn then started as she blitzed through the Standby Phase and immediately onto her first Main Phase of the turn.
Though with her already possessing Revolving Switchyard on the field, the chance of her winning this turn should she have a second Gustav Max was incredibly high. But considering how 'rare' XYZ Monsters are in this dimension, or just Extra Deck monsters in general in any dimension she's guessing, the girl probably only ran one of her Boss Monster.
Which, in hindsight, was somewhat balanced. Especially with how by simply summoning two Gustav Max you could easily win the game with its burn effect since they were in a 4000LP format.
The cannon carrying girl then glanced at the five cards in her hand, thinking hard on what play she should do in order to end the game against her opponent this turn. And she eyed one card, or more specifically, a card that was given to her by her brother just this morning.
And she raised the singular card high, and shouted her next play loudly. "Make way! I'll normal summon Infinitrack Anchor Drill!" And she placed her target onto her duel disk, and the giant excavator with a jackhammer attachment then appeared on her side of the field.
Infinitrack Anchor Drill - Earth/Machine/Level 4/Effect: 1800/500
"What the-! Another card that I don't know?!" Yuusha exclaimed again as he watched the girl play another card that he had no knowledge of, as if he had completely read and studied the red haired girl's deck inside out, something that was likely considering his counter strategy.
"Ah! That card's the one-!" Allen pointed out as he pointed a finger at the card that his sister had played.
"He, yeah it wasn't like I didn't know about this card too." Anna said as she herself let out a sigh and shook her head. "I wouldn't have known about this card if Allen hadn't given me this card."
Ah, that was one of the Earth Machine support that she had sold to Allen yesterday. Now that she thought about it, she should have probably sold him some other Earth Machine support cards, selling Machina Overdrive and Machina Citadel would most certainly give him a good Boss Monster.
"Now Infinitrack Anchor Drill's effect!" The train girl activated her monster's on summon effect. "If this card is normal or special summoned, I can special summon one Earth Machine monster from my hand in defence position!"
And as she said so, the Machine monster then dug the railroad below him with its jackhammer attachment, creating a cloud of dust as Anna chose the monster that she would summon with its effect.
"I'll be special summoning Express Train Trolley Olley from my hand in defence position!" And she chose the monster that she would summon, placing the monster card onto her duel disk, and the dark red and black train then appeared as it made rail tracks from nowhere, carrying with it two whole coal-car with it.
Express Train Trolley Olley - Earth/Machine/Level 4/Effect: 1800/1000
"Che, two Level 4 monsters!" Yuusha started to growl as he saw Anna manage to summon two Level 4 monsters thanks to the normal summon of Anchor Drill. From this position, she could either go for a Rank 4 or a Rank 8 if she activated Anchor Drill's level modulation effect.
"I'll overlay the Level 4 Infinitrack Anchor Drill, and the Level 4 Express Train Trolley Olley!" The red haired girl shouted aloud as she raised her right arm high, and the dark red train and the excavator turned into brown motes of light, two that congealed into the dark spiral that appeared in the middle of the field.
"With the two monsters, I'll build an overlay network! XYZ Summon!" Anna said as she continued the chant, the black whirlpool of energy exploded into a blinding brown light. "Appear! Heavy Armored Train Ironwolf!"
And the monster that appeared was, as per her own style, a Rank 4 train monster, this one being a dark blue train with red fire motifs on the side, it's own form mimicking that of a wolf with how its front is shaped in a wolf made of gold, along with glowing emerald for eyes, a black snout, and what seems to be an added plating on the front for blitzing through obstacles.
Heavy Armored Train Ironwolf - Earth/Machine/Rank 4/XYZ/Effect: 2200/2200 OV: 2
"And since it was summoned using Express Train Trolley Olley, it's effect activates!" The cannon bearing girl declared with a large grin. "Express Train Trolley Olley gives an XYZ Monster that uses it as XYZ Material an extra 800 points of attack!"
"Alright! It means that it's higher than that guy's XYZ Monster!" The girl's brother declared so with a large smile as the XYZ Monster glowed a dark brown aura, getting a boost from one of its XYZ Materials to increase it's attack.
Heavy Armored Train Ironwolf - Earth/Machine/Rank 4/XYZ/Effect: 3000/2200 OV: 2
"N-no! I can still win! Even if it does beat my Bahamut I would still have Life Points-"
"And I'll be activating its effect!" Anna declared so loudly, cutting off the black haired boy's musings. "Once per turn, I can detach one XYZ Material from this card to target one Machine-Type monster that I control, this turn it can attack you directly! But my other monsters can't attack!"
Explaining the monster's effect, one of the two brown orbs that were its XYZ Material was used up as cost, and Yuusha's eyes widened as he heard the fact that it would be able to attack directly, dealing far over lethal range with it's 3000 points of attack.
Heavy Armored Train Ironwolf - Earth/Machine/Rank 4/XYZ/Effect: 3000/2200 OV: 1
"Of course I'll be targeting itself!" Anna said as she pointed towards the one legal target on her field, that being none other than Ironwolf. "And I'll go straight to battle! Go! Heavy Armored Train Ironwolf! Attack him directly!"
Golden rail tracks then appeared under her XYZ Monster, one that led straight onto the black haired duelist, going over the blue winged black dragon that was on his field. And it rushed, with a loud sound of metal grinding on rails, the wolf faced train then moved.
And Yuusha could do nothing but watched with wide eyes as the train moved with terrifying speeds towards him, moving past over his dragon and hitting him directly for lethal. "GYAAAA!"
Yuusha Kuroi: 0LP
And as the black haired boy lost the match, falling to his knees as if to add dramatic effect, and the giant revolving switchyard that was around them dissipated, turning back to the abandoned warehouse that they were in.
"Waaa! Amazing nee-san! You managed to beat him easily! I didn't think that you could do it!" Allen shouted in amazement as he rushed to his sister's side, praising her as she had managed to defeat the boy that he had trouble even dealing damage to.
"Hehe. Did you even doubt me for a second?" Anna said proudly as she rubbed the tip of her nose in embarrassment. "Wait. You did thought that I would lose didn't you?!" Only to immediately change gears as she brought the poncho wearing boy into a head lock with a single swift move.
And she started to noogie him, much to the red haired boy's disma. "Gah! Nee-san! Nee-san! Stop it! Stop it!" And as the three of them watched the two siblings interact from afar, she couldn't help but giggle.
It was a close match, if Anna hadn't drawn Night Express Knight, a card that she was quite sure was the only normal summonable Level 10, and Revolving Switchyard to open with, it would have probably ended in her defeat.
Although from how the game went, in the end it was simply Yuusha not drawing a good hand as compared to his last game. Even if he did manage to get Ophion and establish a floodgate with it and not to mention the protection that it gets thanks to Infestation Pandemic, he doesn't have an extra body and Infestation terminus like his game with Allen.
Had he searched Infestation Terminus instead of Pandemic, sacrificing his Ophion to activate its effect to return either the two monsters, or Gustav Max and Revolving Switchyard as response to its summon, then the match certainly would have ended differently.
In the end though, it was a game of luck. Whether or not you open with a good hand and managing to open extenders and full combo was dependent on luck, and your own skill of piloting your own deck.
After all, Yuusha could have summoned some other XYZ Monsters from the Evilswarm pool to have gone into instead of Ophion at the start. Evilswarm Nightmare could have been a safe choice, seeing as it was a Book of Moon on legs.
If he had done that, booking down Gustav Max on summon, he could have summoned Bahamut on the crackback, all while avoiding his opponent from activating Barrage Blact since it wouldn't count the face-down Gustav Max as an Machine XYZ Monster, thus can't detach it's material as cost to pop a card.
"N-no… my DP… to think that I would even lose!" She heard the boy said underneath his breath and turned her head towards him, the black haired boy's eyes were covered by his bangs as he slowly stood back up.
"No. it's a cheat. Cheat. She used cards that I didn't even know. I'm the one that's supposed to-" And as he raised his head, their eyes met, her purple orbs meeting his own black ones, and his eyes widened.
"You-!" He exclaimed aloud as he took a step back, seemingly shocked at her appearance. "Red Hat?! But that's supposed to be-no, the cards! That explains the-"
And it was her turn to be surprised, immediately putting on guard as she heard her moniker come out from his mouth. Her mind whirled to work as she thought of how he could have possibly known such a thing.
She had only come here for a single day, there was no way that her moniker as Red Hat could have spread far, especially since the boy had left the venue where she started to sell cards before she even began her auction.
The name Red Hat should not be known by the public just yet, only known to the individuals whom she had sold her cards to. But the fact that he knows her moniker could mean many things.
She doubts that her name and fame would have blown to the point that he would have known it, and as far as she knew the only people who knew the moniker of Red hat, and are able to know them simply by her signature red garb were… the residents of the Fusion Dimension.
The chances of him, a person who would handily use XYZ Summoning as his main choice of play being a person who originally came from the Fusion Dimension was… she doesn't quite know how high the possibility of it was.
And considering his age, she doubts that someone that was younger than her could master two summoning methods being Fusion and XYZ, as since the standard in this world was quite low. That and she doubts that he had already been brainwashed to hide his affiliations with how boldly he challenged Anna.
So it was a question, how did he know of the Red Hat? And how did he instantly link her to the new cards that Anna used?
But before she could muse any longer, the large doors to the warehouse started to crank open, making them all snap to the direction in question. "Ah! Someone's coming!" Myu exclaimed.
"Crap! We'll have to get out of here then!" Anna said as she hurriedly took out the Flying Blaster from her knapsack, with it enlarging to its full size in another feat of marvelous engineering, and immediately turning said cannon to its hovercraft mode.
"Allen! Sayaka! We're bailing!" The red haired girl said as she then took both of them by the neck and threw them onto her transportation of choice like bags, receiving a yelp and a squeal from the two.
She shortly turned towards her and gave her a wink, before turning to look at Yuusha. "Well, later!" And without another word she left, carrying with her two screaming passengers, blasting off through the other exit of the warehouse.
"W-we should leave too Yuuna-san!" Myu said as she pulled on her sleeves, most certainly not wanting to be caught trespassing on what was probably private property to duel of all things.
"I guess we should." She said halfheartedly as she left one last fleeting glance to the black haired boy who had also started to make his escape, only in the other direction to where they were going.
"I can figure it out later." She whispered. Though she preferred if it was sooner rather than later.