Izumi added the card she had drawn to her hand in favor of picking up a different one. She held it out in front of her, between the index and middle finger with the artwork facing Wataru.

“Since I don’t have any Dinomist monsters, but you have your Salmon, I can special summon my Dinomist Brachion!” Izumi declared, throwing the card down on her old academy disk. A vortex opened up beneath the two of them on the field, splitting apart the waters to make way for a steam-powered tank of a machine. Nobody was quite sure how it managed to stay afloat on the water, considering all it had were triangular caterpillar tracks to move around on and a boatload of rocket launchers on its back, but the monster managed to settle. It roared fiercely from its half-painted purple head, extending its neck upwards like the dinosaur it was modeled after.

[b]Dinomist Brachion:[/b] 2000 ATK Level 5 WATER Machine

 “...and now, I normal summon Dinomist Plesios!” Izumi continued, placing down another card. The new monster that rose from the vortex was a lot better suited to the environment, having four float pads to rest comfortably on water level. It kept its half-painted, ocean blue head close to the sea while the targeting scope jutting out from the side started to lock onto Terrorking Salmon.

[b]Dinomist Plesios:[/b] 1700 ATK Level 4 WATER Machine

“And after [i]that[/i] I activate Dinomic powerload! This’ll boost my attack a little further, three-hundred points to be exact!”

The spell card flashed on Izumi’s side of the field, sending electrical shocks towards both Brachion and Plesios. Their eyes lit up and they both let out a fierce howl, with their systems going into overdrive as they start powering up. At the same time, however, they seemed to shrink just a tiny bit.

[b]Dinomist Brachion:[/b] 2000 > 2500 ATK, Level 5 > 4
[b]Dinomist Plesios:[/b] 1700 > 2200 ATK, Level 4 > 3

“Hang on… 2500 and 2200? I swore 2000 + 300 was 2300 and 1700 + 300 was 2000… Did I miss something?” Wataru asked himself, scratching his head. After thinking it over for a minute and taking a glance down at his Duel Disk, his jaw dropped wide as he realised the mistake. “Shave my salmon! My legendary Ocean!”

“That’s right, teach! Not only that, but its additional effect will seal your trap once I attack! Speaking of which... I hope you haven't forgotten my monster effects as well,”  Izumi chimed in with a wry smile, with Plesios’ targeting reticle flashing as compartments opened up from its neck. Needles launched out and pierced through the ocean, shooting right into Terrorking Salmon. The next time it jumped up from its hiding place, its strength was visibly weakened.

“...’cause for every Dinomist card on my field, your monsters lose a hundred attack points!” 

[b]Terrorking Salmon:[/b] 2600 > 2400 ATK

 “Wait, but if you do that… then are you saying that my oceans are [i]useless[/i]?!” Wataru replied in horror, fixing the jaw he dropped with his response.

“Mhm! Sorry teach, but it’s time to battle! Dinomist Brachion, attack Terrorking Salmon!” the former student declared, pointing her finger straight at Wataru.

After Izumi’s declaration, Dinomist Brachion let out a powerful roar. The firearms on its back started to unfold in full, showing a mass of explosives aimed squarely for Terrorking Salmon’s bony head. The machine bode its time, with the opportunity arising when the salmon jumped up from the surface level. In one volley, Dinomist Brachion unleashed its full arsenal on the poor fish who was soon engulfed in a cloud of steam and smoke, rocking the arena from the sheer force of the attack. When the smoke cleared, all that remained was a single plate of smoked salmon floating on the ocean surface.

[b]Wataru:[/b] 4000 > 3900 LP

“Now that your salmon’s been roasted, my Plesios shall attack you directly!”

“Wait, did you say... directly?” Wataru responded apprehensively, slowly turning his head to look down at the ocean below.

The second machine’s eyes flashed as its targeting reticle locked onto Wataru above, with the missile compartment on the side opening up and launching one straight at the man. It hit him right in the stomach, exploding immediately upon contact. The man flew onto his back atop his platform on the sky, a cloud of smoke temporarily surrounding him. When it dissipated, Wataru was revealed to be burned to a crisp.

“T-That... didn’t hurt at all!” he defiantly rebuked, coughing up a little bit of smoke in the aftermath.

[b]Wataru:[/b] 3900 > 1700 LP

“And with that, my turn is over… After I set two cards, of course!” Izumi ended with a wink, two cards with their backs turned upwards appearing on either side of Dinomic Powerload.

[b]Izumi’s field:[/b] Dinomist Brachion & Plesios, 2 Set cards, Dinomic Powerload
[b]Izumi’s Hand:[/b] 1 card

[u][b]Turn 3: Wataru[/b][/u]

Wataru groaned and pushed himself up from the hard surface of his platform, taking back his steadfast stance. He grinned broadly at Izumi, clenching his fist and inhaling a good breath of air.

“Hahaha, a passing grade! But if you think something that simple will knock me down, me, the great fisherman Wataru, then I shall show you a show once again that that is clearly false! ...after… I…. draw my card.” Wataru cleared his throat, realising he started his boast too early. His grin only widened when he saw his drawn card. His eyes darted from the card to Izumi, pointing it towards her with the face aimed at the ground.

“You’re not the only one who can summon multiple monsters from the hand! I discard my Nimble Angler to Special Summon White Stingray from my hand!” Wataru slammed his Angler in the graveyard slot, making it glow briefly as another portal opened up in the ocean. From it jumped exactly the monster which you could imagine, a white stringray with two blades at the bottom of its fins.

[b]White Stringray:[/b] 1400 ATK Level 4 > 3 WATER Fish

“But it’s not over yet! This ocean creature is the herald of a great calamity, a mighty storm, as I activate TORRENTIAL TRIBUTE!” Wataru bellowed at the top of his lungs, the waters below becoming fierce and violent, threatening to consume every creature on its surface.

“Not today, teach! I’ve got something special lined up for you. Trap, activate! [b]Dinomists Howling![/b]”

The set card to the right of Izumi sprang up, revealing the artwork of two of the robotic creatures screeching on a backdrop of scorching hot lava nestled between loose rocks. A force pulse emanated from it, blurring some of the environment.

“With this, I can set two Dinomist cards from my deck directly into the Pendulum scales! Come, my scale six and three Dinomist Ankylos, Pteran!”

The sky darkened as two transparent pillars rose up behind Izumi, an orange bird creature and an armored armadillo-like dinosaur rising up inside of them. Below the prehistoric bird a large ‘3’ glowed, while a ‘6’ did the same for the armadillo. Between the two of them a beam of light was circling around itself.

“Gyahaha, impressive Izumi! But this display won’t save you from the currents below! Why, this one time I was out at sea…” Wataru began trailing off, but Izumi interrupted him before the man could get going.

“Sorry teach, but with my Dinomist Pteran I can prevent the destruction of my two monsters!” Izumi continued, the creature swooping down from its pillar to grab both Plesios and Brachion in each of its talons. As White Stingray was enveloped in the current, both of the former champion’s monsters were safe up in the sky. Once it subsided, Pteran gently put each of them down again before collapsing from exhaustion and falling deep into the sea, never to be seen again.

“And what’s more, Pteran was a Pendulum monster, which gets sent to the Extra Deck instead of my Graveyard! Seems like I foiled your plan, huh? Should’ve activated that trap last turn!” the woman teased, but Wataru merely laughed it off.

“Naïve, Izumi! It seems you still have much to learn after all! Behold!”

From the waters, two more creatures sprang up. One of them was similar to the stingray from earlier, only coloured blue at the top and was, in fact, a mantaray. The other was a small torpedo-shaped fish with two protrusions from the top and bottom.

“Due to the effect my Nimble Angler, I have Special Summoned both Nimble Manta and Nimble Sunfish!” Wataru laughed, even though his two monsters were soon weakened by Plesios.

[b]Nimble Manta:[/b] 800 > 600 ATK Level 2 > 1 WATER Fish
[b]Nimble Sunfish:[/b] 1000 > 800 ATK Level 2 > 1 WATER Fish

“These two will be perfect for this! I now tribute my two monsters and summon one of the mightiest creatures of the wide ocean! [b]Behold as I summon Hyper-ancient shark Megalodon![/b]”

The waters below started to shift again, but this time its power was so great it shook the ocean floor below as well. As the creature was rising, Wataru opened his mouth again to say “[sub]I [sub]caught [sub]one[sub] of [sub]these, [sub]you [sub]know! [sub]In fact...[/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub]” but his voice was drowned out as it came closer and closer. The ocean split apart, drowning out the rousing tale Wataru was telling as a gargantuan creature, a brown shark with plated metal armor at the bottom, revealed itself. It swallowed up both Sunfish and Manta in one bite, casting a shadow over part of the arena as it blocked out the sun.

“...Which is what you will be faced with now! Tremble in fear at its mighty form, hahaha!!”

[b]Hyper-Ancient Shark Megalodon:[/b] 2900 > 2700 ATK Level 8 > 7 WATER Fish

“Don’t forget, though! With Dinomists Howling and Ankylos on my field, Plesios’ effect powers up by another two hundred!” Izumi explained as Megalodon weakened underneath the sedative effect of the chemical compound inside of Plesios’ needles.

“No worries, because I haven’t! Here it comes, Plesios! Prepare to become fish food!” Wataru declared boldly, the gargantuan monster on his field opening up its maw. This act on its own caused the currents to shift, pulling water in towards the Megalodon. Plesios was caught in the frantic shifting of the waters and couldn’t activate its jets in time to escape, making it swallowed whole once Wataru’s monster snapped its mighty jaws shut. A gust of wind shoved Izumi backwards, caused from the sheer force of the thing.

[b]Izumi:[/b] 4000 > 3500 LP
[b]Hyper-Ancient Shark Megalodon:[/b] 2700 > 3100 ATK

“And with that, your effect ends. If I recall correctly, pendulum monsters do not go to the graveyard and move your Extra Deck right?” Wataru asked, confirming how pendulum monsters worked. He grinned and pointed at the other monster on Izumi’s field.

“Because if so, then I will have Dinomist Brachion sail right there! With my Megalodon’s effect, I can destroy one monster after having dealt battle damage!”

Megalodon turned and slammed its tail against the water, creating a huge tidal wave which hurled itself right at Brachion. Izumi merely held out her hand in response, with Dinomist Ankylos jumping down from its pillar and extending its rough shell to act like a protective barrier, shattering it but keeping Brachion safe. Wataru cried out with a resounding “[b]What?![/b]” as Izumi merely waggled her finger.

“Sorry, teach! Ankylos can negate an effect targeting one of my Dinomist monsters, and moves to the Extra Deck for his troubles!”

Wataru crossed his arms in front of his chest, looking straight towards Izumi. “Very well. I still control my 3100 attack Megalodon. I’ll end my turn with that, as my hand is empty.”

[b]Wataru’s Field:[/b] Hyper-Ancient Shark Megalodon, A Legendary Ocean
[b]Wataru’s Hand:[/b] 0 cards

[u][b]Turn 4: Izumi[/b][/u]

“You haven’t changed a bit since my last duel with you, huh teach? It’s really awesome to see your deck back in action again, but… I think it’s about time I’ve shown you how much I’ve grown since then. Alright, my turn! Draw!”

Izumi swung her card in a wide arc, only returning a knowing smile to her deck once she saw what she drew. Wataru turned his nose up and put his hands to his hips, gazing at his former student with expectation gleaming in his eyes. “Then prove it to me by overcoming this obstacle!” he challenged Izumi, though they didn’t need words to communicate that Wataru already knew she’d make him proud.

“Here I go! With dinomist Howling’s other effect, I send Dinomist Brachion to my Extra Deck to return your Megalodon to the hand!”

Brachion let out a fierce battlecry and charged forwards, straight at Wataru’s monster. The creature was big and imposing, but also awfully slow. It did not have the time to react to the full force ramming and was knocked back into the water, but so was Brachion as it fell apart from the sheer force of the impact.

“A rookie mistake, Izumi! You’re all out of monsters now!” Wataru berated her, but his grin betrayed his true expectations.

“My deck is a Pendulum deck, teach. Pendulum monsters’ greatest strength is that they’re immortal, and I’ll prove that now! With the scale 3 Dinomist Spinos and Scale 6 Dinomist Rex, I set the Pendulum Scale!” Izumi cried out as she thrust back her arm before throwing it across her disk, bright rainbow letters on its display flashing [b][color=F1211A]P[color=F1751A]E[color=F1F11A]N[color=89F11A]D[color=1AF18F]U[color=1A5EF1]L[color=311AF1]U[color=940CE7]M[/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/b]. Like Pteran and Ankylos before them, Rex and Spinos rose up into two pillars on either side behind Izumi. Spinos was a red painted robot with a large fan-like portrustion from its back, while Rex looked like a classic tyrannosaurus if it had cool robot armor and guns mounted to it.

“[b]Swinging between scales 3 and 6, my monsters shall be reborn! Pendulum Summon![/b]”

As a portal opened up in between the two pillars and shot down four beams of light into the ocean, it started to rumble again. Izumi quickly tapped her Duel Disk again, revealing the last card on her field.

“While I summon my monsters, I activate Dinomist Rush to bring out my final monster! Come forth, Dinomist Brachion! Pteran! Plesios! Ankylos! Stegosaur!”

The ocean split apart beautifully and sent sparkles flying across the arena as all five monsters sprung up from between it. They lined up, one for one, glinstering in the beautiful sun. It reflected on Izumi as well, making her seem like the goddess of the ocean as the light breaks to form a rainbow around her. Wataru almost shed a tear of pride as he watched his old student, seeing her all grown up and independant now.

[b]Dinomist Ankylos:[/b] 1500 > 2000 ATK Level 4 > 5 WATER Machine
[b]Dinomist Brachion:[/b] 2000 > 2500 ATK Level 5 > 4 WATER Machine
[b]Dinomist Plesios:[/b] 1700 > 2200 ATK Level 4 > 5 WATER Machine
[b]Dinomist Pteran:[/b] 1800 > 2300 ATK Level 4 > 5 WATER Machine
[b]Dinomist Stegosaur:[/b] 1600 > 2100 ATK Level 5 > 4 WATER Machine

“It’s been fun, but… I have to end it now. My dinomist! Let’s finish this off with a spectacular goodbye! Attack Wataru Directly!” Izumi declared, throwing out her hand. Wataru nodded approvingly.

“I’m proud of you, Izumi. You’ve really grown up- wait, directly?” Wataru asked briefly, doing a double take as he saw all the artillery primed and ready to fire at him. Immediately his demeanor breaks as he holds out his hands in front of him, frantically waving and shouting “Nonononono hang on for just-!”

[h3][center][b]*BLAST*[/b][/center][/h3]

When the smoke subsided, all you could see was a pile of smoke. Wataru’s voice rang out very distantly, but was still audible nonetheless. He was trying his best to shout “[sub]I’ll see you students at the doooooorrrrrmmmm…![/sub]” and a loud crash of water soon followed it. Izumi visibly got just a [i]little[/i] worried seeing as how she just sent him flying off to who knows where.

[h2][center][b]WINNER: IZUMI!![/b][/center][/h2]