[center][h3][b][u][color=cd3d11]Fire[/color][/u][/b] [b]&[/b] [b][color=6ecff6][u]Water[/u][/color][/b][/h3][/center][hr]“You sure you want to risk that? ‘Cause I ain’t going easy on you!”

Students gathered around the two top students and murmured as 4000 Life points flashed on a display next to both duelists. Once the two of them were ready, both shouted in unison:

[b]”Duel!”[/b]

[b][u]Turn 1: Machi[/u][/b]

“I’m taking the first move! My turn!”

Machi drew five cards from his deck in one motion, fanning them out in front of him. His face excitedly lit up when he saw what his opening hand was, picking out the middle card and slamming it down on his Duel Disk.

“I’ll start off with my Jurrac Velo!”

A ring of fire circled on Machi’s field for a second before it burst upwards and became a brief spiral, dying down to reveal a comedically proportioned velociraptor who’s red head, green body and blue claws stuck out like a sore thumb. It let out a low growl and swiped in Kanna’s direction with its claws.

[b]Jurrac Velo:[/b] 1700 ATK Level 4 FIRE Dinosaur
Machi picked up two more cards from his hand, briefly stared at them with a goofy grin and threw them down into his disk as well.

“I’ll set two cards and end my turn! Now come at me,” he taunted while throwing out his fist in Kanna’s direction.

“Will he really be okay…?” Kotone mumbled to Kien and Sinata. The three of them were staring from the side at the dueling duo, with mixed feelings about the situation. Kien pulled up his shoulders in a shrug as a reply to Kotone, though he didn’t intend to leave the girl without a proper answer.

“Knowing him? I’d be more surprised if she didn’t give him loads of trouble. Then again, I don’t think they’ve ever dueled… so who’s to say how this’ll go?”

“Don’t lose Machi! Show her the burning passion of the fire dorm!” Sinata cheered from the sidelines, shouting as loud as she could afford to.

[b][u]Turn 2: Kanna[/u][/b]

Kanna drew her five starting cards at the same time as Machi, quickly scanning her hand before turning her attention back to her opponent and watching his turn to see what he would do.

The monster was of little concern, 1700 attack would not be hard to overcome, but those two cards set in the backrow were troubling; although Kanna knew Machi used a Jurrac deck she was unfamiliar with his style of play having never faced him before. Those cards could be anything.

When Machi passed control back to her at the end of his turn Kanna drew and added a sixth card to her hand before selecting another card and placing it in her monster zone. “I summon Great Sorcerer of the Nekroz in attack mode.”

A pool of water appeared on the field, bubbling and writhing before a humanoid figure began to rise up out of it, until a robed and bearded man holding a staff and wearing a sword at his waist stood on the field.

[b]Great Sorcerer of the Nekroz[/b] 1500 ATK Level 4 WATER Spellcaster

Machi smirked as he saw the attack value of the Nekroz monster. “Nice try, but you can’t defeat my Jurrac Velo with that!”

Kanna didn’t rise to the bait, simply pulling another card from her hand and slotting it into her spell and trap zone. “Just watch. I play Nekroz Kaleidoscope.”

Ice began to form around the Great Sorcerer's feet, encasing them in ice before rapidly growing to encase the figure entirely in a frozen shell. The silhouette could still just be made out inside the small iceberg, becoming more visible as it began to glow from within the ice. “Using this ritual spell I tribute Great Sorcerer to ritual summon Nekroz of Unicore.”

The ice began to crack and split before bursting apart to reveal the glowing figure within; he was taller and younger than the Great Sorcerer, with a flowing cape, shimmering white clothing and a horn on his forehead and wielding a sword. 

[b]Nekroz of Unicore[/b] 2300 ATK Level 4 WATER Spellcaster Ritual

“And since I tributed Great Sorcerer I get to add one Nekroz Spellcaster Ritual monster from my deck to my hand.” Kanna’s Duel Disk slid out one of her cards and she revealed it to be Nekroz of Valkyrus to Machi before adding it to her hand. Then, selecting another card from her hand she played another spell. “I then equip Ritual Weapon to my Nekroz of Unicore, boosting its attack by fifteen hundred points.”

The sword in Unicore’s hand was replaced with a glowing blue Pata and the attack value displayed for the monster rose from 2300 to 3800. “With this I enter the battle phase and attack Jurrac Velo with Unicore.”

“Not so fast!” Machi threw out his hand dramatically, a smug smile on his face as he put a halt to the Water dorm champion’s momentum. “I activate my two trap cards!”

The two traps opened up, with the one to the left of Machi glowing first. “With Survival of the Fittest, I can equip it to a monster and raise its attack by a thousand points!”

The misshapen velociraptor on Machi’s field let out a loud, distorted roar as it began to glow with a fierce red energy, growing in size until it was nearly twice as tall to match the way its attack increase.

[b]Jurrac Velo:[/b] 1700 > 2700 ATK

Once Survival’s effect had activated, Unicore’s attack went through, destroying Jurrac Velo even with the empowering effects of the trap card. The damage Machi took was reduced significantly from it, however. Jurrac Velo exploded in a fiery blast as Unicore pierced its body with his Pata, sending Machi’s jacket and hair fluttering in the wind and his life points tumbled down to 2900. A stray fireball streaked across the field after a short glow from Machi’s other trap and struck the ground in front of Kanna, who threw up a hand in front of her face to keep the dust from her eyes as she lost 500 life points.

[b]Kanna LP:[/b] 4000 > 3500

“Surprised? ‘Cause because of Backfire’s effect, you’ll take 500 points of damage each time you destroy one of my FIRE monsters! But it’s not over yet, Kanna. Thanks to Velo’s effect, after he’s destroyed by battle and sent to the graveyard, I get to summon another Jurrac monster from my deck!”

Machi’s Duel Disk ejected a card, similar to how Kanna’s had done earlier and he slammed it down on his Duel Disk the first chance he got.

“Let’s go, Jurrac Monoloph!”

Another ring of fire burst upwards from the field, eventually fading to reveal a small, cartoonishly shaped dinosaur with a blue body and yellow extremities, though both its tail and head were wreathed in flames.

[b]Jurrac Monoloph:[/b] 1500 ATK Level 3 FIRE Dinosaur Tuner

“Not bad Machi. With that, I will end my turn.”

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

“My turn! Draw!”

Machi swung his arm around, but he didn’t even bother to look at the card as he exchanged it for another in his hand. He threw down another monster on his Duel Disk, right next to Monoloph.

“Next up is my Jurrac Iguanon!”

Like the two before them another vortex of stray flames popped up, circling for a little while before giving shape to yet another dinosaur. This time, it had an elongated neck and the beak of an avian. The flames didn’t leave, however, as they coiled around its green neck and blue body with pink stripes, covering the creature like a mantle.

[b]Jurrac Iguanon:[/b] 1700 ATK Level 4 FIRE Dinosaur

Machi could barely contain his excitement as his fists trembled and he threw out his arm forward. His emerald eyes gleamed with the genuine joy of a small child.

“Monoloph’s a tuner, so I tune my level four Jurrac Iguanon to my level three Jurrac Monoloph!”

Monoloph ran forward and jumped into the air, fading into three futuristic, green rings lined up in the middle of Machi’s field. Iguanon kicked up some dirts as it followed soon after, turning translucent and revealing four little stars inside of itself as it passed through. Once it got to the middle, the dinosaur’s form was completely gone as the shining balls of light lined up neatly inside of the rings. Machi raised his fist up in the air and started to chant.

“[i]The roar of time echoes like a blazing inferno! Witness the everlasting will of life! [b]Synchro Summon![/b] Revive, Jurrac Giganoto![/i]

As Machi finished, a blinding light engulfed the inside of the three rings, ending in an explosion which sent shockwaves throughout the student body. Flames adorned a yellow skull, holes poking through to reveal the red skin underneath. The dinosaur was about three times larger than the others before it, towering over both duelists with its scaled blue body. The creature’s extreme muscles tensed up as it bellowed out a roar, making its presence known.

[b]Jurrac Giganoto:[/b] 2100 ATK Level 7 FIRE Dinosaur Synchro

Kanna took in the monster appearance, having to crane her neck just to see the creatures head, but strangely she didn’t seem too concerned. Machi threw out his arm in front of him again now that his monster was on the field, saying: “Now I’ll activate Jurrac Giganoto’s effect-!”

“No, you won’t,” Kanna interrupted Machi, her clear, calm voice cutting through the noise. Nekroz of Unicore held the pata on front of his face and began to chant something with his eyes closed, a blue aura engulfing him as he did. Unicore finished with a sharp glare in Giganoto’s direction, swinging the pata sideways as the aura followed suit and bound across Giganoto. It started to freeze over as the legs were slowly being engulfed in frost, the dinosaur letting out a pained cry as the ice crept up, slowly making the flames on the dinosaur’s body die out.

“As long as I control my Nekroz of Unicore, any Extra Deck monster you summon will have their effect sealed,” Kanna explained. “You’ll have to find another way to beat my deck.”

Machi didn’t look any less confident as the water dorm champion shut him down, picking up another card from his hand. He held it next to his face with the back turned to his opponent.

“Then how about this? My Spell card: Tail Swipe!”

The boy flicked the card around to reveal it to Kanna, with Giganoto gaining a burst of energy. Fire engulfed the monster’s entire body, melting the magic spell Unicore cast on it. The dinosaur swiped its giant tail across Mana’s field, slamming into Unicore as it flew backwards and onto the ground. The pata broke, falling next to it, as well as the armor having been cracked from the impact. The monster glew a bright yellow before vanishing into little sparkles, gathering in Kanna’s hand to form a new card. For the first time the Water dorm trainer looked perturbed, an angry set to her brow as she watched her field be wiped clear.

“I see… Tail Swipe only works on a level five or higher Dinosaur monster, letting it return up to two monsters to the hand. So Machi summoned it to get rid of the Ritual Weapon empowered Nekroz of Unicore…” Kien muttered as he nodded in approval at the way Machi was playing. Sinata pumped her fist into the air and started cheering even louder than before.

“Alright, way to go Machi! You’ve got her now!”

Machi rubbed the underside of his nose with his free index finger, one eye closed as he looked incredibly proud with a dumb grin plastered across his face.

“How’s that? Now I can activate my Giganoto’s effect so it gains 200 ATK for each ‘Jurrac’ in my Graveyard! Since there’s three, that means…”

“Six hundred…” Kanna finished Machi’s sentence, watching the flames the dinosaur had gathered to get rid of Unicore’s spell concentrate onto the skull, making the entire thing blaze instead of just the tips of the eyes.

[b]Jurrac Giganoto:[/b] 2100 > 2700 ATK

“Battle! Jurrac Giganoto, attack the other player directly! [i]Jurassic blaze impact![/i]”

The dinosaur lowered its skully head and brushed its feet against the dirt like a bull, rushing forward after a slight pause. The ground shook with each step the colossal monster took as it charged headlong towards Kanna, though as it crossed the line onto her side of the field it was stopped in its tracks as it ran head first into a figure wearing black and red armour with gold and purple trim. Before him he held a short spear with a large, multiple-pronged head with both hands, using the shaft of the spear to hold back Giganoto’s advance.

Behind him Kanna stood with her arm held out to the side, holding a card between two fingers with its face turned to Machi so he could see the blue colouration. “By banishing a Nekroz card from my graveyard and discarding Nekroz of Valkyrus from my hand I can prevent your attack and end the battle phase.”

Kanna slid the card in her hand into the graveyard and as she did the two clashing monsters broke apart, Valkyrus throwing Jurrac Giganoto back onto Machi’s side of the field with a push of his spear before slowly faded from sight. “And because I banished Great Sorcerer of the Nekroz from my grave, I can send Exa, Enforcer of the Nekroz from the deck to my graveyard.” The duel disk popped a card out of Kanna’s deck, which she pull free before also sliding it into her graveyard.

“Damn it!” Machi cursed, looking back to the only card left in his hand. He scanned both it and his field, only having Backfire and Giganoto sticking around after all of that.

[i]’Seems like I don’t have a choice anymore… I’ll have to risk it on this card!’[/i]

After a determined nod to himself, Machi picked up the card and slid it into his Duel Disk.

“I’ll set one card face-down and end my turn!”

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

“My turn, I draw one card.” Kanna quickly drew and added another card to her hand, barely glancing at it before sweeping out a hand to indicate towards her barren field. “As I control no monsters I can banish Nekroz Kaleidoscope and a Nekroz monster from my graveyard in order to search a Nekroz Spell card from my deck and add it to my hand.”

A single card popped out of Kanna’s deck, but while she was adding it to her hand the boy opposite to her interjected. 

“I was waiting for this! I activate my face-down Shared Ride!”

The card in Kanna’s hand glowed briefly, shooting a ray of light towards Machi’s deck. The top card had the same aura around it as he drew it in a wide arc.

“Now each time you add a card to your hand this turn, I get to draw another! If it’s a race, I’m not going to lose!”

“As you wish. Just try to keep up.” Kanna said as she silently fumed from Machi drawing his card with a cocky grin. “Because I banished Exa from my grave I also get to special summon Great Sorcerer back to the field.” Another bubbling pool of water appeared on this field before rising up to retake of the form of the bearded, robed figure of the Great Sorcerer of the Nekroz.

“Next I’ll send Nekroz of Unicore from my hand to the grave to return Valkyrus to my hand.” Kanna slid a card from her hand into the graveyard slot on her duel disk, only for another card to immediately slide out into her waiting hand. The ray of light shot towards Machi’s deck again, who raised his Duel Disk up to catch it.

“Sorry, but my Shared Ride works from effects that add from the Graveyard too!” Machi explained as the girl added her card back to her hand. Machi lowered his disk again and drew another card from his card’s effect.

“Now I’ll play Nekroz Mirror and tribute my Great Sorcerer and banish Unicore from my graveyard in order to summon Nekroz of Valkyrus to the field.” as Kanna placed a spell card on her duel disk the image of a large, ornate mirror began to materialise behind Great Sorcerer. The mirror didn’t reflect an image of Great Sorcerer but instead showed a different monster entirely, one recognisable as the figure that had blocked Giganoto’s attack the previous turn.

A blinding flash of light covered the field, forcing most of the students spectating to shield their eyes. When the light faded both the mirror and Great Sorcerer were gone, replaced by the more imposing figure of Nekroz of Valkyrus.

[b]Nekroz of Valkyrus:[/b] 2900 ATK Level 8 WATER Spellcaster Ritual

“As you know, because Great Sorcerer was tributed I can now add Nekroz of Gungnir to my hand.” 

“What, not intent on slowing down? ‘Cause now I’ll draw another card!” Machi continued to taunt, both duelists retrieving their respective cards. Kanna threw her hand out forward.

“I then enter into the battle phase and attack Giganoto with Valkyrus!”

The armoured figure charged forward with his multi-headed spear held in front of him like a lance while Giganoto roared defiantly. As he get close Valkyrus thrusts the spear up into the large dinosaur’s underbelly, causing it to let out a roar of pain before the flames around its head flare out of control and the monster explodes. The aftershock created by this shoved Machi backwards a little, shielding his face with both arms as he let out a grunt.

[b]Machi LP:[/b] 2900> 2700

From behind the dust cloud created by the explosive battle a purple glow emerged, with a few stray shard of flaming Giganoto streak across the field to strike the ground all around Kanna. The tails of her uniform jacket whipped all around her body from the force of the impact.

[b]Kanna LP:[/b] 3500> 3000

Machi clutched his fist and triumphantly held it out in front of him, boasting with “You still lose more lifepoints due to my Backfire’s effect!”

Rather than respond, Kanna placed one card from her hand into a spell or trap card slot. “I set one card and end my turn.”

[b][u]Turn 5: Machi[/u][/b]

“Then it’s my turn! Draw!”

Machi couldn’t wait to place the card into his hand, a gust of wind being created from the force of him swinging his arm around. It was quick to die down and only became a breeze when it hit his three friends in the crowd.

“Isn’t he getting a little too excited...?” Kotone worriedly murmured from the back, but Sinata was quick to respond.
“I’d be shocked if he wasn’t, ‘cause that duel looks super fun! I can’t stand he let his monster go down so easily, though.... Come on Machi, [b]GET IT TOGETHER!![/b]”

“H-Hey, I’ve got everything [i]perfectly[/i] together!” Machi yelled back hurriedly before looking back down to his hand. Magic Planter, Wave-Motion Cannon, Double Attack, Shrink… damnit! Nothing but Spell cards! As things stood, it was only going to get worse!


...wait a second.

“I activate Magic Planter from my hand!”

A bowl full of toxic waste formed underneath Machi’s Backfire, submerging the card and causing steam to rise up as it burns inside the cauldron.

“Sending one face-up trap on my field to the graveyard lets me draw two cards!”

The boy rested his hands on top of his deck, hand trembling from both anxiety and fear.

[i]’C’mon, deck… don’t let me down now…!’[/i]

“Draw!”

Machi drew with his eyes closed, only opening his right one ever so slightly to look at the two cards he drew. As soon as he did, his usual confident and beaming smile crept back up on his face as his eyes widened in excitement.

“Alright! I knew I could count on you! Here I go, Kanna! I activate the Spell card: Monster Reborn!”

The earth rumbled with Machi’s activation of the iconic card, splitting open to let a blazing inferno erupt from beneath. Out of the rift jumped the monster that Kanna had destroyed just moments earlier: Jurrac Giganoto. It bellowed a powerful roar at its 2700 ATK points flashed in the window next to it.

“Not yet, I’m not done yet! Next up is Double Attack! I’ll discard the level 10 Jurrac Titano with it to allow Giganoto to attack twice this turn, and because a Jurrac monster was sent from my hand to the Graveyard...”

Machi didn’t even finish his sentence as the flames on Giganoto rampaged out of control and started to engulf its entire body, creating a silhouette of fire.

[b]Jurrac Giganoto:[/b] 2700 > 2900 ATK

“Double attack lets Giganoto attack twice this turn! Let’s go, Giganoto!”

Kanna raised an eyebrow inquisitively. “If you attack now, you’ll destroy both our monsters. Don’t tell me you played Double Attack just so you could raise Giganoto’s attack enough for this?” Kanna questioned with a flick of her hair, but the boy didn’t slow down one bit.

“No way, I’m finishing it right now! I’ll activate Shrink from my hand so your Valkyrus’ attack is halved!”

Unlike its name implied, Valkyrus did not shrink on Kanna’s field. He merely fell to one knee, stabbing the spear into the ground next to him and clutching his heart to keep himself somewhat standing.

[b]Nekroz of Valkyrus:[/b] 2900 > 1450 ATK

“ALRIGHT! GOOOO MACHI!!” Sinata cheered from the sidelines and Kotone seemed relieved as well. Kien, however, sternly watched on as Machi was about to land the final blow.

“I’ll end it with consecutive attacks! Giganoto, push through her Valkyrus and end it with a direct attack! [i]Jurassic Blaze Impact![/i]”

The flaming body on Machi’s field raged out of control as it stomped on the floor, causing it to shake and having some students in the crowd lose their balance. Like a blasting rocket, the spiraling mass shot forward towards Valkyrus. The ornate warrior barely held his spear up in time to block the attack, causing a huge explosion to erupt from the field.

“Alright, I did it!” Machi cheered to himself, but as the smoke cleared…

[b]Kanna LP:[/b] 3000 > 100

...Nekroz of Valkyrus was still standing there while Kanna’s lifepoints trickled down to a critical low-point.

“W-Wha… but how?!” Machi cried out in disbelief, the girl on the other side of the field barely phased by the entire event that just transpired.

“Unfortunately for you, I discarded my Nekroz of Gungnir to prevent Valkyrus from being destroyed this turn.”

Just before the blazing inferno had made contact with her monster, Kanna slid her card into the Graveyard. Valkyrus was quick to get covered in ice, acting as a second layer of armor which shattered as soon as it came due to the sheer heat of the impact. However, this last-minute move had saved Kanna’s monster just in the nick of time.

“...D-Damnit… I’ll activate Wave-Motion Cannon! During my next turn, I can send it to the graveyard to deal you 1000 points of damage! Turn end!”

A green, almost completely round device that was as comical looking as it was menacing popped up on Machi’s field. The tubes on the top of it were filled with all sorts of liquids and the exhaust chutes on the back inactive as the machine seemed content to rest right where it was.

[b]Nekroz of Valkyrus:[/b] 1450 > 2900 ATK

[b][u]Turn 6: Kanna[/u][/b]

Kanna did not draw her card immediately, instead staring at the strange machine on Machi’s side of the field with furrowed brows. With her life points under 1000 the Wave-Motion Cannon’s appearance on the field had set a definitely time limit on this duel; if Kanna was not able to increase her life points or do something to prevent the spell from activating before the end of her turn then Machi would win by default.

Of course, she could always just win this turn and end the duel in her favour, and the two cards already in her hand should allow her to do that if, and only if, she drew the appropriate card this turn.

If Kanna felt any apprehension over the fact that the end to this duel would be determined by pure luck then it didn’t show. She calmly drew a single card from her deck and turned it so that she could see what it was, allowing a small smile to creep through as she saw what it was.

“I activate the trap card Sealing Ceremony of Suiton.” A blue clad ninja appeared on the field, rising out of the ground, before he snapped his hands together to form a hand sign; suddenly a swirling vortex of water appeared around him, one bizarrely populated by large tadpoles wearing ninja headbands. “By discarding Zefrasaber, Swordsman of the Nekroz I can banish one card from your graveyard; I’ll be removing your Jurrac Titano from play.” The card in Kanna hands was snatched away by one of the tadpoles, while at the same time another tadpole dived into the graveyard slot of Machi’s Duel Disk. A short moment later, they emerged carrying a card in their mouth and hopped out.

“S-Shoot! If you remove one of my Jurrac monsters, then…” Machi worriedly said as he glanced up at the colossal dinosaur on his field. A window flashing attack points opened up next to it, the numbers slowly trickling down.

[b]Jurrac Giganoto:[/b] 2900 > 2700 ATK

“Next I’ll play Nekroz Cycle.” Kanna placed the card in one of her spell slots and on the field a large gold gemstone appeared, shedding motes of golden light as it hovered under some unknown power. “I tribute the Shurit, Strategist of the Nekroz in my hand to the graveyard in order to summon the Nekroz of Gungnir in my graveyard to the field.” As Kanna placed the last card in her hand into the graveyard another card was ejected into her hand, which she promptly placed on the field. The glowing gem on the field began to glow even brighter before a flash of light which dazzled all observers burst forth, fading to reveal a new figure. Light purple armour, blue, dragon-like wings and tail and flowing red hair, Nekroz of Gungnir hovered silently next to Valkyrus.

[b]Nekroz of Gungnir:[/b] 2500 ATK Level 7 WATER Spellcaster

“Sending Shurit to the grave activates it’s effect, letting me add a warrior type Nekroz monster to my hand. I’ll be adding Nekroz of Trishula.” Not that it will matter if I cannot end this duel this turn. Nonetheless Kanna retrieved the card that popped out of the deck, the single, solitary card the only one in her hand.
“Wait, hang on a sec…” Machi interrupted Kanna and started to count on his fingers.

“1… 2… 3… hey, hang on a sec! Shurit’s a level three! How could you ritual summon a level seven without at least another level four?!”

“Simple. Shurit’s effect allows it to be treated as any level for the ritual summon of a Nekroz monster. Now I’ll attack Giganoto with Valkyrus.” At the command the warrior leapt into the air with a roar, twirling the three-headed spear above his head with unnecessary flourish as he rapidly approached the gigantic dinosaur. Valkyrus brought the spear down on his opponent, cutting a violent red line through the creature which bursting apart a moment later. Machi raised his arms up to shield himself from the shockwave, standing firm as he’s shoved back a few centimeters.

[b]Machi LP:[/b] 2700> 2500

“Next I’ll attack directly with Gungnir.” Kanna did not gloat as the red haired spellcaster charged forward, pointed sceptre held before her; she gave no cocky victory line as some other duellists were fond of doing in the moment of victory. Though Machi’s hand was empty, his field all but clear and her victory all but assured, she was never one to celebrate prematurely when the duel was not over yet. It would not do to make herself look foolish by claiming victory, only to then be thwarted at the last moment.

“Wait, no, hang on… you’re joking, right?!” Machi blurted out, glancing down at his Duel Disk. No monsters and only a single spell on his field…

Gungnir stopped her charge a few feet from Machi, raising her sceptre and chanting a few arcane words before unleashing a barrage of magical icicles that struck her opponent directly.

“G-guh…. GUUAAAH!!” Machi screamed as he was thrown off his feet by the force of the attack, hurled a few meters backwards into the dirt. He slid across the floor for a solid second, a holographic window popping up next to him to signal his loss. His three dorm-mates as well as some other students crowded around him, checking if he was okay.

[b]Machi LP:[/b] 2500> 0

[b]Winner: Kanna Hayashi![/b]

Even with her victory confirmed Kanna did not feel like gloating, nor did she even look particularly pleased. Looking down at her duel disk she almost winced at the number showing her remaining life points; one hundred was the number that separated her from utter defeat in this duel. Nor did she like the fact that Machi was only one turn away from victory, nor that she had needed to rely on drawing the right card in the final turn in order to win. Granted she only need a Water-attribute monster and her deck was filled with those, but she hated leaving anything up to chance.

This was not a victory that she could feel proud of. The Fire dorm champion had pushed her further than she had arrogantly thought he would when she challenged him; had she really challenged Machi just to prove something about the Water dorm? Had she really thought challenging one of the top duellist in the school was something to be done so casually?

While Kanna was deep in thought, Kien and Sinata supported Machi back onto his feet.

“How the heck did you lose with a lead like that?!” Sinata complained, but Machi just shoved himself away from the duo.

“C-Can it, okay?! I thought I had her for sure on that last turn…”

“So did everyone else. But you got ahead of yourself. There was no way you would have won in that turn; don’t you remember the card she added to her hand earlier?” Kien chimed in, crossing his arms and sternly looking at the other boy. Machi just defiantly turned his head away from Kien.

“How was I supposed to know it had an effect like that?! Guuhh… this sucks. I embarrassed the entire dorm on the first day….”

“T-That’s not true… l-look,” Kotone pointed at the crowd around them having been whipped up into a frenzy, talking about how amazing the duel was. Machi just scratched the back of his neck, head still turned away.

“Whatever… losing just feels awful. It’s fine now because it’s a pickup duel and all, but I can’t make that same mistake again when we duel again for real…” Machi mumbled, raising up his Duel Disk. He pressed a button to make a certain card slide out of his Graveyard: Jurrac Giganoto. He put on a grin and looked up again, towards the opponent that had just beaten him. He took a deep breath and shouted:

“Hey, Kanna! Just ‘cause you’ve won today doesn’t mean I’ll give up! Next time we duel it’ll be in the arena, and that’s when [i]I’ll[/i] win!”

Machi’s shout broke Kanna out of her maudlin thoughts, the victorious duellist looking across the still empty space between them at the Fire dorm’s elite. Forcing a smug smile onto her face Kanna removed her deck from her duel disk, the device rotating into its inactive configuration as it shut down. “The Water Dorm is always ready to accept any challengers. Any time you feel ready to duel me again Machi, I’ll be waiting.”