One Day of Peace

"Alright." Allen started as he looked down towards Sayaka, who, much to the girl's own discomfort which she had voiced multiple times already during this trip of theirs, was currently the one who was watching over the two red heads while she was on lookout.

And Allen, much to the chagrin of everyone but the red haired boy in question, was simply standing with his arms crossed and barking out orders all while tapping his foot in impatience. "What do you see Sayaka?" He asked.

"I still really think that we shouldn't be doing this…" The glasses wearing lilac haired girl whined out even as she does what her childhood friend ordered her to do as she peeked her head out from the corner where the three of them hid.

"Uum, they're in a… what store is that? It's a… clothing store I think?" Sayaka said with a hint of confusion on her tone of voice, fixing her glasses a tiny bit to see if she was seeing in correctly,

Allen himself seemed to freeze at the words that seemed to have left Sayaka's lips, a shiver seemingly went down his spine as he snapped his head to turn as fast as possible to the lilac haired girl and hissed out a reply. "They're in a what now?!"

"Didn't you hear what she said you idiot, they're in a clothing store." Again, the word seemed to send a shiver down to Allen's spine as he began to hug himself and sent a glare down her way for whatever reason.

"Of course I heard her!" The red haired boy hissed out once more, his head seemingly whirling back and forth between her and Sayaka before settling on her. "Also focus on your uh, lookout thing! We don't want anyone thinking that we're doing anything suspicious here!"

"As if what you said weren't already suspicious enough." She grumbled out, receiving another glare from the boy's teal eyes and held up her hand in surrender before going back to look off from her spot.

Quite honestly it was a miracle that Anna-san and Yuuna-san hadn't noticed the three of them were following them. She did entertain the thought that the two red heads had already known that they were all following them, and was only leading them on the nose.

The counter argument for that was, of course, that Anna-san would undoubtedly try and stir trouble with them already, especially with Allen being the one to tow them all into this and being the loudest and all.

The counter for that counter argument was that Yuuna-san being, well, Yuuna-san, somehow managed to stop Anna-san from committing familicide and was just waiting to lure them to properly interrogate them, or just sick Anna-san onto them.

Well, whatever scenario that they were going to meet at the end of this blatant stalking session of theirs, she'll pin all of the blame on Allen. That should at least save her and Sayaka from whatever happens.

"What's got you so shaken up anyway? They're just going shopping." She said as she spared a glance to look back at the red haired poncho wearing boy, who sent a glare back her way, and she rolled her eyes in response to that.

"That's exactly it! They're going shopping!" Allen hissed out as he threw his hands up, and they soon then fell as the red haired boy groaned and held a palm on his face and slumped to the wall behind him. "Ugh right. Girls. This is going to take foreveeeeer… And it'll be super boring tooooo!" 

"Oh stop whining! It was your plan in the first place to follow them and see what they're doing!" She snapped back at him. "What did you expect they were going to do! We followed them to a mall! Of course they were going shopping!"

"Anna-san should have just brought Yuuna-san back to her apartment for her to get some proper rest…" Sayaka muttered lowly under her breath, her gaze that tracked the two red haired girls looking a bit too far away for a single moment.

"But this is just boring!" The poncho wearing boy whined. "It was super fun and cool when we were just, you know, doing like ninja stuff and sneaking here and there, but just standing here is killing me!"

Hearing that, she slapped her forehead and groaned. "So that's why you were doing those stupid hand signs." She muttered as she shook her head in disbelief. How didn't she notice that? 

And suddenly a flash of realization hit her."... so the reason that you kept whispering 'nin-nin' all the way here, was because you were roleplaying as a ninja of all things?" She whispered, her hands shaking a tiny bit.

"Huh? Of course. How else was I supposed to immerse myself in acting as a ninja? Are you an idiot?" The poncho wearing boy asked back as he looked at her with a look that clearly conveyed his confusion.

At this point, her patience snapped, along with what may or may not have been a blood vessel.

"ARE YOU AN IDIOT!?"

-

Inside of one of the many clothing stores situated in Heartland City's very own Clover Mall, one of course built by and sponsored by a graduate of Heartland Dueling School of the branch that shares the same name as the mall, a certain red hat wearing girl turned her head to the outside of the store.

"Did you hear something?" She asked aloud, and her cherry haired friend popped out from the woodworks, holding in her hand a hand full of red jackets of varying designs and materials.

"Nope." Anna said simply and posed a question of her own. "Anyway, you sure you just want these," She said, holding up the plethora of red jackets on both of her arms. And by that she meant a lot. A lot of red jackets were carried under her arms. A lot. "Red jackets rather than anything else?"

Now, she wasn't much of a materialistic person, barring her borderline obsession on the card game that has literally become her whole life now, she didn't have much important possession. Be it in this new world, or the old one.

Well, there was a reason for that in this world of course. Most of her belongings were just hand me downs that Sister Claire usually fixed up from older children or donations. The exceptions being probably the boots and definitely the red jacket that she gave when she and Mei went off and left for the Academia, and of course her now signature red hat.

But in her old world, she simply didn't really have much materialistic needs. Other than the physical prints of cards that she would but of course. Those were expensive after all, a single high rarity card could almost cost an arm and a leg and all.

Which also meant that she doesn't do much shopping. Especially clothes shopping. She usually just orders stuff online anyways and waits until they arrive, simple as that. No need to even go out of her apartment or anything.

So, as she stared at the quite frankly diverse selection of jackets that her cherry haired friend carried with her along with the beaming smile on her face, she unknowingly shared the same kind of shiver that Allen had had mere minutes ago.

"W-well I'm not taking all of them of course." She said immediately as she shook her head. "Not like I have the DP to buy them all." She said as she slowly neared her cannon-purse carrying friend and checked on one of the jackets that she carried, or more correctly its price tag.

She kept her face passive as she saw the numbers that were listed on it and nodded her head. Yep, she wasn't buying that one, and turned to look back at her friend as they started walking to the changing room.

"I'm just buying a temporary replacement for my jacket after all. I'm only buying one here. I'll probably find a cheaper store to buy shirts and skirts and everything else." She said as she eyed the article of clothes pinned to the store's wall.

"I'll admit that most of them are… nice." The materials are all high quality and all, as expected of a store from the futuristic city of Heartland. "But the style on the other hand…" Now that was something.

It's not that they were bad of course. It's simply that this store itself was too… versatile in the choice of clothes that it sells. From dresses to suits, normal shirts to turtlenecks, even ponchos for some reason! And is that a whole diver suit that she sees in that one corner?

Nope. Not even touching that.

And even for the normal t-shirt and the likes were all made to advertise Heartland, tacky yes, but not exactly that bad. Not one that she would wear, what with the possibility of dimension travelling and the need to hide the fact that she came from a whole other dimension and all.

The other shirts were basically bargain bin Duel Monster merchandise. What with them having pictures of popular monsters and everything. She wouldn't mind buying them, heck, she might even be inclined to do so.

But at these prices? For what was basically bargain bin merchandise? 

If she wasn't in such a tight timeframe where she doesn't know when the Academia would strike, she would have done what she would usually do back in her original world and just order online at retail price, or even lower. Just like how she bought her Yu-Gi-Oh! Card singles.

. 

Because though buying a whole box of cards and opening them pack per pack is extremely satisfying, there isn't a guarantee to get the card that you want. And buying singles is usually far cheaper.

"Well alright then." Anna said with a nod of understanding, no doubt also having seen the prices and all before pushing her into the changing booth. "Now come on then! These jackets aren't going to try themselves! And you're going to try every one of them."

And the cherry haired girl then pulled the curtains to close. She heaved a sigh, and turned towards the variable mountain of red jackets starting from leather to wool, to polyester, or some other synthetic futuristic material.

"This is going to take a while isn't it…"

She may have made a mistake to have dragged Anna to shop along with her…

-

It took a while. A long while. Before she completely managed to finish trying out the whole mountain of jackets that Anna had chosen for her, she settled for just one in the end. Not the cheapest that she could've picked from the plethora of red jackets, but it was nice enough to spend some DP on.

It wasn't much different than the red jacket that Sister Claire gave her now that she looks at it in the mirror, perhaps the collar was a bit more sharper, and maybe it had a few white lines dotting the jacket, and the it was slightly better in quality, but overall, it's a good jacket.

"You're sure you're only getting that?" Anna asked her as she saw that the red jacket was the only article of clothing that was essentially in her basket, the other choices that the girl gave her already returned back to where they once came.

"Yeah." She said with a nod. "It's not like I'm going to be wearing it at all times anyway. I'll change out of it once in a while for this one when it's out of the wash." She said as she pulled the collar on the jacket that she was currently wearing.

"Yeah that one is really beat up. How long have you even worn that thing for?" Anna asked as she followed suit and started to pull on the hem of her red jacket and flapping it, showing the wear and tear that it had accumulated.

"How long huh…" She muttered as she thought back to the time she received the jacket from Sister Claire, and to right now where she's stranded in another dimension thanks to her dispute with the Academia.

Which happened right at the start of the inter class tournament, a festival that's held every end of the semester. Has it only been six months since she got into the Academia with a half baked plan to stop the Professor not knowing what she was really facing?

"Half a year I guess." She muttered out an answer, shoving back those unneeded thoughts to reflect on later when she has the time. "I guess it was bound to get in this poor state since I almost wore it every day other than the weekends."

"Bhwa-! You wore them everyday?! For six months?!" Anna shouted in shock as she stared at her incredulously. "Well of course they'll get worn! Don't you have something else to wear?!"

"I-it's not like I have any other choice! I was poor alright!" She argued back, as she stared back, though said stare quickly faltered as she began to twiddle with her thumbs and mumbled back an answer. 

"It was a formal school and everything… and since I got in through scholarship I had to try to at least look my best everyday…" That and of course she liked the feel of wearing the jacket. It was a nice jacket.

"We're going back." The cherry haired girl said with a serious look on her face as she took her hand, and proceeded to pull her back towards the shop. 

"Wha-! W-wait! Anna-!"

"We're not leaving with you getting just a single jacket and the one that you already have!" The cannon-handbag carrying girl said back with a look that bordered no arguments. "Even I have three of these, you know!" The girl said as she pulled on her own signature sleeveless zippered shirt.

"So we're getting at the very least one more of those red jackets and then we're continuing to go shopping for whatever else it was that you wanted to buy!" The cherry haired girl all but commanded and dragged her back to the store that they had just left.

She may have made a huge mistake when she had gone with Anna to shop with her.

-

"Aaand they just went back in the store didn't they." Allen said with a long tired sigh coming out of his mouth. One that stopped soon enough as the red haired poncho wearing boy placed a stick of corndog in his mouth and the alley they hid in was filled with the sound of the boy munching on his food.

"And where have you been?!" Myu snapped at the pseudo train duelist with a deep scowl on her face. "You ran away and disappeared suddenly and now of all times you showed up with-with a corndog of all things in your hand!"

And in response, the poncho wearing boy just raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What, you guys didn't take a break?" He started. "Didn't I already tell you two that nee-san takes a long time whenever she's shopping?"

"Well yes, but I didn't think that you would just go out and buy food all while we're standing here still stalking them!" The twin tailed girl hissed. "I've had to talk to a security guard five times while you were gone! We're totally suspicious looking here!"

And the twin tailed girl then pointed at him. "You didn't even buy us some food did you?! Do you know how tired we are standing here for god knows how long?!" Myu said, complaining to Allen.

"Around half an hour…" Sayaka muttered, crouched down and the lilac haired girls' blue eyes behind her glasses looked distantly as she continued. "Half an hour… waiting…"

"Huh, it's been that long? Must've forgotten when I was looking for food." The poncho wearing boy shrugged nonchalantly as he took another bit of the food he had on hand. And then pointed said half eaten stick at Sayaka.

"And why are you of all people complaining? You've shopped with her a lot of times yourself Sayaka. You should know that nee-san takes a long time whenever she's shopping. She takes after Umimi nee-chan in that regard." The red haired said, muttering the last part more to himself more than anything.

Myu's head snapped to look at the lilac haired girl, who 'meeped' under the girl's gaze and fiddled with her fingers. "I-it never felt that long… whenever I went shopping with Anna-san. It's usually just her pushing clothes onto me and all that so…"

And the silver haired girl threw her arms up. "That's it. I'm done." Myu said as she grabbed Sayaka's hand and pulled her up before the two of them started walking, or rather one of them started pulling the other out of the alley.

"Wha-where are you going?!" Allen shouted as he turned towards the pair of girls that had went past him. Myu stopped briefly and turned towards him, a contemplative look on her face as she tapped her chin in mock thinking.

.

"Hmm, well. Since we're already here we might go and explore the mall." She said with a shrug as the lilac haired girl let out another meek meep as she was pulled closer by the smaller girl. 

"Bwuh!? B-but what about tailing and uncovering Yuuna's secrets! Don't you want to know about that?!" Allen said, reminding them of their original goal of doing all of this in the first place.

"Yeah, no." She flatly declined. Both for herself and Sayaka of course. "I might have been interested at the start, but waiting and standing in a nondescript alley looking over a store of a mall for half an hour drained all of it away."

And she pulled the lilac haired glasses wearing girl on her side. "Come on Sayaka. Lets go get some decent food. I don't mind splurging and enjoying ourselves after what we went through."

"Y-you don't have to pull me Myu-san!" The Fairy duelist whined.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again! Just Myu is fine!"

And Allen watched as his two friends ditched him and left him alone. The hand not currently holding the stick of corndog outstretched and his mouth hanging open as he saw his childhood friend being dragged by th silver haired girl and disappearing into the crowd.

And then he sighed, and scratched the back of his head. "Ah jeez, what am I supposed to do now?" He grumbled out, briefly looking at the store where his sister and Yuuna was in, and seeing glimpses of the two redheads still engrossed in shopping.

Or rather one of them was, from what he could see, Yuuna's face looked more and more miserable as the minutes passed. All while his sister had a huge grin on her face as she presented her long haired friend with more options of red jackets for her to wear.

"...yeah it's definitely going to be too boring to wait for them." The red haired boy muttered aloud before he turned and ran out of the alley, impending to go after his two friends who already went first.

"Guys! Wait for me!"

And with that, the trio duelist of the Heartland Dueling School forgone their original plan of stalking their upperclassmen and her friend in lieu of just enjoying the day off of school.

-

It was evening now.

Apparently a few hours have passed. Which was impossible. Because surely it has been more than just merely a few hours. She felt as if she had been trapped in the Clover Mall for days, all but being forced to act as Anna's dress up doll, even though she only came here to buy a couple of plain shirts and pants and maybe a jacket or two.

She ended up carrying a whole plethora of bags full of clothes and her wallet drained of any remaining DP that it once had. And some of these bags aren't even her's! Some of them were Anna's! And for some reason she was the one carrying them all!

"Well I think that went pretty well!" Anna beamed at her with a beaming grin and satisfied look on her face. A complete contrast to the tired and outright dead expression that she was currently having.

"Yes. Let's go with that." She managed to grumble out with what remained of her energy that somehow hadn't been sapped from the entire debacle that had occurred from the entire few hours prior.

It wasn't physically taxing mind you. No, scratch that, her muscles were somehow sore from putting on and off the mountain pile of jackets and shirts and pants that Anna had shoved upon her, and that's not mentioning the emotional tax that she's received throughout the whole time, her sanity essentially being drained every passing minute.

She would never, ever, no matter what anyone say, shop together with Anna ever again. And with that decided and a silent vow made unbeknownst to the cherry haired girl, they continued on walking.

"Alright! Now let's go eat!" Anna, declared with a raised fist, continuing to walk ahead of her and taking lead of where they were going.

"And where exactly are we eating?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, quite honestly curious as to where the train duelist would choose for a place to eat. "Though just as a reminder, we did just buy a… quite honestly a ton of clothes." She said hefting the bags of clothes on her hands.

"So our financial situation might be in danger if we were to eat somewhere even relatively expensive." And knowing that it was around the time close to the World Duel Carnival, it wasn't even a question that the prices for food stalls and the whole would rise.

And if anything, saving DP was supposed to be something that she should be doing. Barring today where she had just spent what was more than likely every ounce of DP that she had farmed over the past few days.

Especially considering how she had just gotten a new deck that is quite in need of its support cards to make it more playable. Especially with the World Duel Carnival right at the horizon. And that's not mentioning her intention of getting the others some support cards to go along with their decks as well.

"Meh, don't worry about it. Not like we're going to eat there anyway. Even I can tell when something's overpriced you know." And Anna simply waved all of those concerns of her's as easily as one would swat a fly. Though she probably did see the concern on her face as she rolled her eyes.

"Fine, fine. If you're that worried then I guess it'll be on my treat." The cherry haired girl said with a humm. And  with a twirl, she turned to look straight at her. 

An impish grin on her face and her back slightly bent ever so forward, the cannon carrying, unstoppable wild train opened her mouth and said, "But you'll be paying on our next date alright!" 

It would be surprising if she wasn't taken aback by the cherry haired girl's bold, bold proclamation. So for a good few seconds she could only stare at her friend as the sun slowly but surely started to set in the background.

It was a mundane promise. Quite honestly one that wouldn't quite matter no matter how much you think about it. A mundane promise made between friends with an honestly shortsighted foresight on what to do in the future.

And why wouldn't she make a promise like this? Here in front of her was simply a middle schooler, most likely in the earliest of her teenage years, probably uncaring of what the future holds or what could possibly happen then.

She of course doesn't know of the incoming invasion that would more than likely ravage the entirety of Heartland City, of the entire XYZ Dimension even. She doesn't know about the interdimensional plot that the Professor has set his sight on.

So she hoped that Anna would forgive her, a girl who has experienced quite a lot for the last few weeks, who's gone through extremely stressful situations after stressful situations with quite small breaks and quite honestly was starting to develop quite the paranoia.

Because her genuine reaction to the cherry haired girl's request, was to laugh.

-

It sounded like bells, she realized.

And she also realized that she hadn't ever heard the long red haired girl in front of her ever laughing. She's heard her giggle in amusement, she's heard her humm in agreement or when something seems to pique her interest.

But she's never heard of her, she's never heard of Yuuna, ever laughing before.

Well, until now that is.

Thinking back, hasn't she been too selfish the entire day? Not like she isn't selfish mind you, she's called 'the unstoppable runaway train' for a reason and all, but hasn't she been too selfish throughout the entire day?!

Her heart almost leapt from her chest when Yuuna invited her to go out shopping. Though she could almost feel Sayaka's glare at her not immediately taking the red haired girl back to her apartment, something that also made her heart almost leap out of her chest, but who was she to decline the girl's offer?

And so they went, though she wanted to go to her usual haunts like the many clothing stores that she and Umimi nee-chan used to go to whenever she visits, what with Yuuna not being able to move that well, and with the girl furiously shaking her head when she offered a ride on her Flying Blaster, they just went on to the nearest mall.

Now she has never been to the Clover Mall, it's just in the part of the city that she barely frequents and all that, but she was at least sure that she has a good eye on clothes and fashion.

So she might have gone a slight, tiny bit overboard on their shopping spree. But she was too excited alright! This was basically a date! Her first date with someone that may or may not be her ideal prince to boot!

So she pulled all the stops and did her best to show Yuuna her good side, and may have been a bit pushy on her taste in clothes that she thinks would definitely go well with the long haired girl. 

And they certainly did, whenever the girl pulled the curtain to show her how she looks and ask for opinion it took her all to not drop and just fawn over how they all extentiate the girl's best quality. Like how they make her look sharper, or how they blend well with her red hair, how they make her eyes shine-

And now for some reason she just blurted out how they were on a date, roping the red haired girl for a promise to go to another with her, and for some reason said red haired girl was now laughing with a beautiful smile on her face.

Honestly if she wasn't entranced by how Yuuna's voice resounded on her ears, she would have noticed how her mouth was basically left open and how she was all but ogling on the girl in front of her.

And as the red haired girl's laughter slowly died down and she wiped a tear from her eye, Yuuna smiled towards her. "Ah, sorry, sorry. I wasn't laughing at you." The girl reassured her, waving her other hand as she said so.

"But I see. A promise huh." She trailed off as she closed her eyes, as if in thought. "That might not be so bad. Going to places like these again together. I certainly wouldn't mind." She said with a smile gracing her face.

And the moment those words left the red haired girl's mouth, her imagination went wild, wilder than they've ever been before. 

Immediately images that she's only seen in passing and in those sappy romance dramas played in her mind,only the silhouettes of the characters being overlapped by herself and Yuuna.

She imagined them going on dates. Them shopping again just like they had just done earlier. Them sharing a parfait in one of those date spot cafes. An image of both of them holding hands-

And her head went as red as Yuuna's hair as the thought crossed her mind. She immediately spun to look anywhere but towards the red haired girl as she felt blood go up to her head.

T-that's! She needed to get all those images out of her head somehow! She needed something to clear her mind out of the gutter! A distraction! Yes! She needed a distraction so that she could cool her head down and think clearly!

Her golden eyes quickly scanned over the common area. Searching for something, anything, that she could use as a distraction to give her time to clear and cool her head down so that she wouldn't do something that would embarrass her in front of the girl that might or might not be her ideal prince.

And there were quite a few things here now that she looked at it. There's of course some people dueling here and there, because what else would people use common areas like these for, a few couples here and there that she immediately tear her eye away from and-

And she saw a group of kids, younger than Allen and the others were, gathering around and surrounding something. No, not something, someone. A group of someone now that she looks at it more clearly, being ganged up on by a group of older kids.

And then she saw a small pale kid that was oddly familiar being pushed onto the ground, and a round of laughter that came from the older kids as they pointed and laughed at the fallen boy.

It was a classic case of bullying. One that happens everywhere, even in this futuristic city of Heartland City where the accommodations are better than most. A situation that she saw happen many times before too like her and Allen's first meeting with Sayaka.

She'll admit that she's awkward in social situations like the one that she's in now with Yuuna. And she'll admit that she's really pushy and usually doesn't even listen to what other people say, enter one ear and out the other or whatnot.

But this. She knows how to handle.

-

Her eyes were still watering quite a bit because of her short emotional hike so her vision was a bit blurry, but she could still see Anna turning her head away. And with another blink, the cherry haired girl was already bolting to who knows where.

"Eh? Anna? Where are you going?!" She shouted at the girl as she gathered the things that she dropped hurriedly all while keeping an eye on the cherry haired girl that ran off to God knows where.

And as she narrowed her eyes and focused on the cherry haired girl, she saw exactly where she was heading. She slowed down as she neared Anna, who had started to argue with a group of teenagers, all while a group of younger kids hid behind her.

She narrowed her eyes as their shouter became louder and louder, and she quite honestly feared that whatever problem Anna had thrown herself in would somehow devolve into a slugfest or something along the lines for a world of card games.

But then one of the boys tapped the one that seemed to be their leader with a pale look on his face as he looked at Anna, and the same look went on the boy at the front of the group as the blood seemed to drain from his face.

"I-it's really you! T-the Unstoppable Wild Train!" The boy said with a stutter, taking a step back with eyes wide. He quickly turns his head to look at the other teens behind him, and see that their faces also share the same look as him.

And then he looked back at Anna, and she grinned. A shiver visibly went down the boy's spine before he shakingly pointed a finger at the cherry haired girl. "W-we'll let you off this time! We'll tell Shark all about this!"

And with his last piece being said, the boy and his group, more like posse now that she thought of it, ran off with their tails tucked between their legs, and Anna huffed, looking quite pleased with what she had just done.

"Onee-san you're so cool!"

"What did they mean by Unstoppable Wild Train? Onee-san are you really strong!?"

"Onee-san thanks for making those teenagers go away!"

And was promptly showered by praises as she was surrounded by the kids that she had just saved, and the confident grin that the cherry haired girl adopted turned slightly strained as she raised her hands to protect herself from the onslaught of children.

Quite honestly she wondered if she felt vindictive enough to let her friend alone and let her be swarmed by the children that she probably just saved from a case of bullying, not surprising that something like that still existed even in this futuristic city of Heartland, the same did essentially happen to Myu and her class after all, but instead she just sighed as she closed in on the girl surrounded by children.

"You're starting to bother her a bit you know?" She said lightly with a smile, but with as much air of an adult chiding children as much as she could muster in her current state of carrying a whole mountain of bags with her, and gaining the children's attention.

"If you don't mind, won't you give her some space?" She asked them with a small tilt of her head, and though the kids took a bit of time to digest her words, and some even looking back to Anna's strained smile to confirm what she had just said, they did essentially disperse slightly to not crowd around her friend.

The girl in question, coughed on her fist before speaking again, a small hint of red marring her cheeks, probably embarrassed that she had gotten into this whole situation. "Well, thanks for that I guess."

And she smiled at the cannon carrying girl. "Ah, that's fine. You seemed like you needed the help anyway." She said as she spared a glance towards the children that still surrounded them, though did at least take note of their personal space at least.

And she then suddenly felt something pulling on the hem of her newly bought jacket, and saw the oddly familiar light blue haired boy standing behind her, almost fully hidden by the plethora of bags that she carried with her.

"Umm, are you onee-san't friend?" The small effeminate boy asked her with a tilt of his head, one that she responded with a smile as she placed the bags down and patted the effeminate boy's head.

"Yes, yes I am." She answered the boy's question, and the children around them turned towards her, much to Anna's relief.

"Then, then are you as strong as onee-san?" One of them asked, and Anna twitched at the boy's remark.

"Of course onee-san is stronger! She made all those bullies go away!"

"Yeah! There's no way that the onee-san that scared the bullies away would be weaker than this baggage carrier!" Another remarked pointing towards the numerous shopping bags that she was carrying with her.

"B-baggage carrier…" She muttered as she visibly sweatdropped at what the boy called her. "Well… I guess I am basically acting as a pack mule right now." She said with light humour at the situation that she found herself in.

"Then why don't we prove it."

And everyone turned to the source of the voice, that of course being none other than the cherry haired girl herself. The grin that she once sported gone and quite the serious look took its place on her face.

She raised an eyebrow at the cherry haired girl's suggestion. "You want to duel? Right now?" She asked her travelling companion.

And the cannon carrying girl shrugged as she raised her left hand and readied her duel disk. "How else are we going to entertain the kids here? I sure a heee-eck don't know how else are we going to prove how strong you are."

"Eeh, we don't really need to do that though." She said with a wave from her free hand.

"No. We do." She quickly cut her off, her tone giving no room for arguments. "I can't let anyone mistake that I'm stronger than you Yuuna. Not when I've never once won a single game off of you myself."

 And that made the children around them start to whisper one to another, and she lets out a sigh knowing that the cherry haired girls won't let her leave without a duel. 

"And besides." The cannon carrying girl continued, a grin forming on her face. "Just watching you duel against that waste of space earlier with that new deck of yours got me juuuust a little bit fired up."

"Of course it did." She said with another sigh as she shook her head in bafflement. Though she probably should expect something like this from Anna of all people, she's like Serena in the regards of their eagerness to always challenge people now that she thought about it.

They would definitely get along together, those two.

And with that image in her mind, a small smile made its way on her face. "Guess it can't be helped." And promptly dropped the shopping bags on her hands, freeing her left arm which she raised as she activated her duel disk.

And the duel began.

""DUEL!!""

Yuun: 4000LP

Anna Kozuki: 4000LP

"I'll let you go first." Anna said with a slight nod of her head, allowing her to go fist and by proxy of course, allowing herself to go second and do what she does best. Take a crack at whatever board she makes, no holds bar.

"Of course." She nodded with a smile as she took a look at the five starting cards that she had on her hands, thinking of what kind of plays that she could possibly do with the cards in her hand. 

And finally decided on one as she took out one of the five cards in her hand. "Then I'll start by summoning Gagaga Magician." And placed the monster card on her duel disk. Soon enough the masked Spellcaster appeared onto her side of the field, the chains that swirled around his body clinking against one another as he stood ahead of her, a hand on his pocket and head held high.

Gagaga Magician - Dark/Spellcaster/Level 4/Effect: 1500/1000

"And I'll activate the effect of Zubababancho Gagagacoat in my hand." She said as she revealed the monster card in her hand. "If I control a 'Zubaba' or 'Gagaga' monster except 'Zubababancho Gagagacoat' while this card is in my hand, I can special summon it."

And with her cherry haired opponent nodding to show that the effect could resolve, she placed the monster onto her duel disk. The jagged blade wielding coat wearing monster then appeared on her side of the field, heftings the bladed weapon on its shoulder as it stared at her opponent under the cap of its hat.

Zubababancho Gagagacoat - Earth/Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1800/100

"Two Level 4 monsters." Anna muttered with narrowed eyes. "Here it comes." Knowing what was of to come next now that she had assembled the necessary materials, the cherry haired girl braced herself.

"I'll overlay the Level 4 Gagaga Magician and the Level 4 Zubababancho Gagagacoat." She declared, and the two monsters then began to turn into a purple and brown motes of lights respectively.

And both then entered the spiralling vortex of darkness that appeared in between the two duelists, absorbing the two orbs of lights, "With these two monsters, I'll construct an overlay network. XYZ Summon!" And exploded into a bright ray of light.

"Appear. Number 39: Utopia Double." And from the galactival vortex came a silhouette of the monster that was the base of her deck, its astral form shining as it carried its two blades on its hands, the pure white wings spread apart.

Number 39: Utopia Double - Light/XYZ/Warrior/Rank 4/Effect: 0/2500 OV: 2

"An XYZ Summon!" One of the kids looked in awe at the XYZ Monster that she had summoned, only to tilt their head in confusion. "But it has 0 attack? What does it even do?" She asked.

And seeing as her cannon carrying opponent has no response on the summon, and with the monster itself being summoned the way it is, she soon went and answered the little girl's question. "And I guess I'll activate the effect of Utopia Double." She declared.

"As a Quick Effect, I can detach one material from this card to add one 'Double or Nothing!' from my deck to my hand, then special summon from my Extra Deck one 'Utopia' XYZ Monster by using this face-up card that I control as material." She started to explain her XYZ Monster's effect as she paid for the card's cost.

The ghostly XYZ Monster swiped one of its translucent blades at one of the two golden orbs orbiting around it, taking off one of its two overlay materials to pay for the cost of the effect activation.

Number 39: Utopia Double - Light/XYZ/Warrior/Rank 4/Effect: 0/2500 OV: 1

"Then I'll activate the effect of Effect Veiler in my hand!" Anna all but roared in response to the activation of her newly summoned XYZ Monster's effects, revealing the monster card in her hand.

"During my opponent's Main Phase, as a Quick Effect, I can send this card from my hand to the graveyard, then target one Effect Monster you control and negate that face-up monster's effect until the end of this turn!" Anna explained the hand trap's effects.

"Ah, timed it correctly didn't you?" She noted aloud with a small grin on her face. "Then the chain resolves, Effect Veiler will negate the effect of Utopia Double." And meaning that she wouldn't be adding the Double or Nothing! or even overlaying her Utopia Double.

"Then I'll set one card face-down." She said as she placed a face-down card on her spell and trap zone. "And I'll end my turn." And sadly ends her turn with simply that, ending with a defence position Utopia Double and one face-down card on her spell and trap zone.

"Then it's my turn! I'll draw!" Anna declared with her usual bravado as she drew her card for the turn, drawing said card flashily before glaring at the now five cards that she had in her hands to start her turn.

"I'll activate the Field Spell, Revolving Switchyard!" And saying so, Anna activated the Field Spell, and the area around them then changed, taking the form of the large train track filled switchyard, gaining a gasp of amazement from their audience. 

"And I'll active its effect!" She declared with a grin. "Its second effect to be exact! Which lets me send one card from my hand to the graveyard to add one Level 10 Earth Machine from my deck to my hand!"

And saying so the cherry haired girl revealed the card that she would essentially discard for cost. "I'll send Machina Citadel in my hand to the grave to add the Level 10 Earth Machine, Heavy Freight Train Derricrane from my deck to my hand!"

She noted the monster that the girl had discarded, guessing that she would have to face that card in the upcoming turn or two then. "And now I'll summon Flying Pegasus Railroad Stampede!" And had her attention turned back to her opponent as she summoned a monster from her hand.

And the monster that appeared was, as was the cherry haired girl's theme, a train. Or more correctly, a silver train with golden highlights pulled by, as its namesake, a robotic pegasus. One with even a robotic warrior with a sword and shield riding atop of it.

Flying Pegasus Railroad Stampede - Earth/Machine/Level 4/Effect: 1800/1000

"And since an Earth Machine monster was normal summoned to the field, I'll activate the effect of Heavy Freight Train Derricrane in my hand!" Anna said so, revealing the monster card that she had added from her hand, and forgoing of activating her monster's on summon effect.

"Which allows you to special summon it if an Earth Machine monster is normal or special summoned, but its original attack and defence are halved!" She finished the sentence for her, already knowing what the monster would do.

"And I'll summon it in attack position!" And she placed the monster on attack position, the large crane carrying train appearing right beside the pegasus pulled one, stopping and parking right beside it.

Heavy Freight Train Derricrane - Earth/Machine/Level 10/Effect: 2800/2000

And just as Anna had explained before, a brownish glow seemed to envelop the monster as both of its original attack and defence became halved due to its own innate summoning condition.

Heavy Freight Train Derricrane - Earth/Machine/Level 10/Effect: 1400/1000

Though she raised an eyebrow at how the girl didn't activate the on summon effect of Flying Pegasus Railroad Stampede to summon back the Machina Citadel that she had pitched for the cost of Revolving Switchyard, she had a bit of an inkling as to why that was.

"Whoa! She just summoned a Level 10 monster so easily!" One of the children pointed out, pointing to the monster that Anna had just summoned. "That's so cool!"

"And now I'll activate the second effect of Flying Pegasus Railroad Stampede!" She said with a huge grin. "Which lets me target one other face-up monster that I control, and the Level of that monster or this card becomes the Level of the other!"

"Which basically boils to making their Levels the same or whatever!" The cherry haired girl then swung her hand and waved towards the other monster on her field. "I'll target Derricrane and make it so that Railroad Stampede becomes a Level 10!"

Flying Pegasus Railroad Stampede - Earth/Machine/Level 10/Effect: 1800/1000

And of course, knowing where this line of play would go, she readied herself. "Now I'll overlay the now Level 10 Flying Pegasus Railroad Stampede, and the Level 10 Heavy Freight Train Derricrane!"

And as Anna declared so, she raised her hand high up towards the sky, and the two gigantic machines in front of her turned into brown motes of light, both of which entered the gigantic vortex of glittering stars that reappeared on the field once again.

"With the two monsters, I'll build an overlay network!" And as she continued the chant, the black whirlpool of energy exploded into a blinding brown light. "XYZ Summon!" She declared with a huge grin

"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

"Whoa! It's so big!" One of the kids that surrounded them looked at the gigantic mechanical marvel that was Gustav Max in awe, followed suit by other children with starry eyes who did the same, some even squealed at the XYZ Monster's appearance.

"I'll activate Gustav Max's effect!" Anna declared immediately on the monster's summon. "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 her.

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 its 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 half of her Life Points total in pure damage output with its effect and shooting a brown lazer down towards her. 

"Kuh!" She grits her teeth as she raises her arms to block and weather the solid vision attack. The mass behind the attack even buckled her down to her knees, and much to her chagrin, probably aggravated the wound on her feet.

Anna would not like that. Not at all. She really started to regret having chosen to not sit down and rest and instead chose to duel and put on a show for the kids that were surrounding them.

Yuuna: 2000LP

"2-2000 damage just like that!?" Someone in the crowd gasped as they looked in awe at Anna's XYZ Monster. "I-if she had two of those monsters that she could have just easily won the game!"

"Well sorry to disappoint you kid, but you can't really activate Gustav Max's effect more than once in a turn." Anna said with a small grin as she had a hand on her hip, and she had the attention of everyone, including herself.

"It's a, what do you call it… a hard once per turn? Yeah that." Anna said as she snapped her fingers towards her, and she absently nodded her head in confirmation as she pondered on that revelation. 

Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Gustav Max was a hard once per turn? She didn't know that. She was pretty sure that it wasn't back in her old world, it's how something like Ruinforce FTK even existed, abusing that soft once per turn by spamming Level 10 monsters and using Link Monsters to repeatedly put Ruinforces in grave and even shuffling the XYZ Monster with Knightmare Unicorn in corner cases.

Though with how the usual duel here being done in 4000 Life Point format, it maybe was something that was definitely needed. If not then the format would have been just exactly that.

And after resolution, Anna activated another of her monster's effects. "And now Derricrane's effect activates!" She said as she snapped back her focus back onto the still ongoing game between her and her cherry haired opponent.

"If this card is detached from an XYZ Monster and sent to the graveyard to activate its effect, I can target one card you control and destroy it!" And of course, she then pointed towards the one monster that she had on the field. "I'll target your Number 39: Utopia Double and destroy it!"

"Then I'll chain the effect of Utopia Double." She calmly declared so. "As a Quick Effect, I can detach one material from this card to add one 'Double or Nothing!' from my deck to my hand, then special summon from my Extra Deck one 'Utopia' XYZ Monster by using this face-up card that I control as material." She started to explain her XYZ Monster's effect as she paid for the card's cost.

Number 39: Utopia Double - Light/XYZ/Warrior/Rank 4/Effect: 0/2500 OV: 0

"Che, right, that effect was a Quick Effect." She said with a click of her tongue. "It was how you evaded that guy's Effect Veiler earlier, and so now you're using it to evade the targeting of Derricane huh."

"More or less, yes." She nodded with a small smirk of her own, and a card slotted itself from her deck as she took and revealed the card that she would add with Utopia Double's effect as it resolved. "I'll add Double or Nothing! from my deck to my hand."

And she then raised her own hand high, pointing upwards towards the blue sky. "And now I'll overlay Utopia Double!" She said as the monster in question turned to become a ball of golden light

"I'll remake the overlay network using Number 39: Utopia Double as material!" And re-entered the galactical vortex that appeared in the middle of the field once again. "Rank-Up! XYZ Change!" And it once more exploded in golden light that bathed the field.

"Beast Combination! Ultimate Dragonic Utopia Ray!" And the monster that appeared carried with it of course Utopia's signature twin blades and a large red dragonic halberd with its sub arms which came from its large shoulder pauldrons, clad in scales like red and gold armour, and though not as large at Anna's own monster, it was still fearsome in it's own rights.

Ultimate Dragonic Utopia Ray - Light/XYZ/Warrior/Rank 5/Effect: 2500/2000 OV: 1

"Wha-it's not that red Leo one?!" Anna blubbered out with eyes wide as she saw the XYZ Monster that appeared, but was not apparently the one that she thought she would be facing, while the kids looked at the XYZ Monster with awe.

"Wow! She-she XYZ Summoned during the opponent's turn!"

"That's so cool!"

"I want a card like that!"

"It's not like there's only one target that I could possibly go into, you know?" She grinned as she saw the look of Anna's face morph from shock and back into focus and then fall to determination as she faced a monster with an unknown effect, unlike what she seemed to have thought she would face.

"And since Ultimate Dragonic Utopia Ray was summoned using the effect of Number 39: Utopia Double, its attack is doubled! But it cannot attack directly." And the newly summoned Dragonic Utopia Ray lets out a war cry as it raises its blades high and a golden glow radiates from its body, receiving a large boost in attack as it was summoned with the effect of Utopia Double.

Ultimate Dragonic Utopia Ray - Light/XYZ/Warrior/Rank 5/Effect: 5000/2000 OV: 1

"Che, 5000 attack!" Anna hissed. "Well, it doesn't matter! Battle!" And even though she was facing a monster whose attack was higher than her own monster, Anna still went to the Battle Phase, all but telegraphing that she has a battle trick of some sort on her sleeves.

"I'll attack your Ultimate Dragonic Utopia Ray with Superdreadnaught Rail Cannon Gustav Max!" And she does just that, declaring an attack towards her one and only monster, much to the shock of the children around them.

"I see. So you have that in hand then." She muttered, knowing already what exactly was one of the two cards in Anna's hand, and silently prayed to God that she doesn't have two. "Then I'll activate the effect of Ultimate Dragonic Utopia Ray!"

And with her declaration, she explained her XYZ Monster's effect. "Once per turn, when a card or effect is activated that targets this card, or when this card is targeted for an attack, as a Quick Effect, I can equip one 'ZW -' monster from my hand or deck to this card as if it were equipped by that monster's effect."

"Che, so it has that kind of effect!" Anna grits her teeth as she does the math in her head, no doubt knowing that any of the ZW monsters that she would equipped to Dragonic Utopia Ray would raise its attack to be higher than her own monster, even if boosted with what she undoubtedly had in her hand.

"Then I'll activate the Quick-Play Spell, Limiter Removal!" But she activates it anyway, already knowing that it was a losing battle but intending to not lose most of her Life Points in the resulting battle. "Which lets me double the attack of all Machine monsters that I currently control until the end of this turn! But they'll all get destroyed during the End Phase!"

And with that explanation out of the way, the gigantic XYZ Monster attack was doubled, the monster whose destination was all but to run into her Dragonic Utopia Ray shining with energy as its engines rushed with power.

Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Gustav Max -  Earth/Machine/XYZ/Rank 10/Effect: 6000/3000 OV: 1

"Then I'll equip ZW - Tornado Bringer onto Ultimate Dragonic Utopia Ray, giving it an additional 1300 points of attack and giving it targeting protection." And she equipped Dragonic Utopia Ray with a blade worthy of its dragonic nature, though sadly not with ZW - Dragonic Halberd as was it's namesake as Dragonic Utopia Ray, unlike Leo Utopia Ray, couldn't equip from the Extra Deck. Not that she would, mind you. The targeting protection was pretty good after all.

Ultimate Dragonic Utopia Ray - Light/XYZ/Warrior/Rank 5/Effect: 6300/2000 OV: 1

And the two monsters crashed, or more correctly, Dragonic Utopia Ray swung its gigantic dragonic halberd and dragonic sword, and sliced the gigantic machine into pieces, resulting in an explosion that rattled their surroundings.

"Che!" Anna grunted as she held both of her arms in front of her, and some of the kids yelped too from the gust of wind that the clash of solid vision gave out, some even falling onto their buts as the cherry haired girl's monster was destroyed, but only received minor damage thanks to the Quick-Play spell that she used to double her monster's attack.

Anna Kozuki: 3700LP

"Then I'll activate the effect of Machina Citadel in my graveyard!" The cannon carrying girl roared out as she waved off the cloud of dust around her. "If a face-up Earth Machine monster I control except 'Machina Citadel' is destroyed by battle or card effect while this card is in my graveyard, I can special summon this card!"

A card jutted out from the slot of her duel disk, and she took it and placed said card onto her pink duel disk. "I'll special it in defence position!"  And she placed the card on her duel disk's duel blade, and the gun toting chainsaw armed gigantic machinery was summoned in defence position.

Machina Citadel -  Earth/Machine/Level 10/Effect: 3000/2500 

"A giant robot!"

"That's super cool!"

And as the children around them stood in awe at the gigantic robot that Anna had summoned onto the field, the cherry haired girl grimaced as she looked at the last card in her hand. 

"I'll set a card face-down." She said, "And I'll end my turn."And with no cards left in hand, Anna ended her turn. Ending with a board of a defence position Machina Citadel, her own Field Spell being the one that was activated on the field, and an unknown set card on her spell and trap zone.

"Then it's my turn, I'll draw." She said as he drew her card for the turn, getting up to four cards in her hand. Briefly, she glimpsed at the cards that she had in her hand, one of them of course being the already known Double or Nothing! that she added through Utopia Double.

"But first off." She muttered aloud as she glanced up to look at the large monster on Anna's side of the field. "I'll activate the effect of Ultimate Dragonic Utopia Ray." She declared, activating the second effect of her XYZ Monster.

"Another of that monster's effects-!" Anna muttered with a frown as she braced and prepared herself for whatever kind of effect that the monster would have.

"Once per turn, I can detach one material from this card, then target face-up cards you control up to the number of 'ZW -' Monster cards equipped to this card, to negate their effects." She explained.

"I'll target your Machina Citadel, and negate its effects." She declared her target and her monster obliged as it swung the dragonic blade in its hand, slashing the singular golden orb that orbited around the monster and absorbing it as the blade glowed with a golden glow of power.

Ultimate Dragonic Utopia Ray - Light/XYZ/Warrior/Rank 5/Effect: 6300/2000 OV: 0

And having paid the cost for the monster's effect, the red and golden monster swung its blades, shooting a blade of light that struck the mechanical monster, negating its effect as long as it remained face-up on the field.

"Then I'll continue my turn by playing the Spell, Zexal Construction." And continued on by activating a Spell from her hand, the card that she had just drawn for the turn in fact, and the spell's projection appeared in front of her and glowed brightly.

"Zexal Construction allows me to reveal one card in my hand, and allows me to add either a 'ZW -' monster, 'ZS -' monster, 'Zexal' spell or trap, 'Rank-Up-Magic' spell, or a 'Rank-Down-Magic' spell, then shuffle the revealed card into the deck."

"Wha-a lot! That's too much information!" Anna shouted out as she heard what were basically the lists of types of cards that the spell would allow her to search, and especially cards that most XYZ Deck would want. What with it being able to just generically search any Rank-Up-Magic under the sun.

She giggled at seeing the cannon wearing girl's outburst. "I'll choose the second effect. I will reveal the Spell, Double or Nothing! to add a 'ZS -' monster from my deck to my hand." She said, revealing the spell card in question and showing the ZS - monster that she would add to her hand.

"I will add ZS - Ascended Sage from my deck to my hand, and shuffle back Double or Nothing! back into my deck." She said as she showed the monster that she took out from her deck, and shuffled back the revealed spell back into her deck as she finished resolving Zexal Construction's effect.

"And I'll normal summon it." And immediately summoned the monster that she had just added using the Spell card, the golden staff wielding Zexal Server appeared on her side of the field, brandishing said weapon in front of the blue armoured warrior.

ZS - Ascended Sage -  Light/Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 900/300 

"And I'll activate the effect of Kagetokage in my hand." She revealed one of the cards in her hand, showing the monster in question. "When I normal summon a Level 4 monster, I can special summon this card from hand." 

She omitted the last clause of the Dark Monster's effect where it lists that it can't be used as synchro material and continued on. "I'll special summon Kagetokage in defence position." And the shadow of the newly summoned Ascended Sage shifted oddly, turning into a shadowy lizard that slithered beside the newly summoned Warrior monster.

Kagetokage -  Dark/Reptile/Level 4/Effect: 1100/1500 

"Another two Level 4 monsters!" Anna hissed, knowing already where the line of play was going, what with the same having happened earlier today, though done in the single turn with her having further extension. "If only Machina Citadel wasn't negated-!"

"And I'll overlay the Level 4 ZS - Ascended Sage and the Level 4 Kagetokage." She said, and the two monsters turned into golden and purple orbs of energy.  "I'll construct an Overlay Network with the two monsters, XYZ Summon!" 

She finished her simple chant, and snapped her fingers as the dark spiral in the middle of the table exploded into light, XYZ Summoning for the second time this turn. "Rise! Number 39: Utopia!"

And of course, the monster that appeared from the galactical vortex that exploded in light was the Number monster in all of it's inert glory, before said monster then unfurled its pure whote wings, stretching its arms, and the red markings of its number on its left shoulder pauldron shone.

Number 39: Utopia - Light/Warrior/XYZ/Rank 4/Effect: 2500/2000 OV: 2

"ZS - Ascended Sage's effect!" She declared. "A 'Utopia' XYZ Monster that was summoned using this card on the field as material gains the effect that if it was XYZ Summoned, I can add one 'Rank-Up-Magic' normal Spell from my deck to my hand."

And proceeded to take out the one and only Rank-Up-Magic that she currently had in her possession and revealed said card for her opponent to see. "I'll add Rank-Up-Magic Zexal Force from my deck to my hand."

But before she would use said Rank-Up-Magic, even if she doesn't have XYZ Change Tactics on the field, not that she would probably use it what with her having 2000 Life Points and all, she would still like for her XYZ Monster to have as much XYZ Material as possible.

"Then I will overlay  Number 39: Utopia once more." And saying so, the newly summoned XYZ Monster changed back as it folded itself into its wings, and under it the black vortex and spiral of gold and darkness where it came from consumed it once again.

"With it, I will reconstruct the overlay network. Chaos XYZ Change." And the dark vortex exploded into blinding light, and she began her chant to summon the monster. "Arise, protector who changes chaos into light. Number C39: Utopia Ray."

What came was a sleek strange thing floating, the monster then shifted, the wings that covered it unfolding and opening, revealing with it the miniaturized grey black and golden armoured warrior along with its two blades and large claymore, the number 39 glowed in the upper left pauldrons that spread into wings, and three golden orbs of lights orbited the newly summoned XYZ Monster.

Number C39: Utopia Ray - Light/Warrior/XYZ/Rank 4/Effect: 2500/2000 OV: 3

"Then I will activate the Spell, Rank-Up-Magic, Zexal Force." And she played one of those six cards, the normal Rank-Up-Magic Spell card that she had added in what felt like far earlier in the turn.

"Rank-Up-Magic, Zexal Force allows me to target one XYZ Monster that I control, and special summon from my Extra Deck, one 'Utopia' or 'ZW -' monster that is one Rank higher than that monster by using it as a material." The red haired girl explained the Spell's effect.

"I'll target my Number C39: Utopia Ray." She declared her target calmly, of course choosing the one and only face-up XYZ Monster that she has face-up on the field, and herself along with the audience watched in bated breath as the XYZ Monster shone.

"Roaring thunder cloaked in fighting spirit, shake the earth and crush even the divine." She chanted, and the blinding light slowly receded. "Rank Up. XYZ Change." And with her signature snap, a giant red gold and white lion appeared onto her side of the field, one who roared and turned into bits and pieces of armour that the XYZ Monster started to attach onto itself piece by piece.

"Beast Combination! Ultimate Leo Utopia Ray!" And with the chant complete, the monster's combination finished. Red and white armour shone, the many golden spikes along its body also shone as it reflected light. In both of its hands were shining silver blades, and it carried an even larger claymore with the two other hands that it had coming out of its giant pauldrons, three golden orbs of light orbited the XYZ Monster to show the amount of overlay materials that it had.

Ultimate Leo Utopia Ray - Light/Warrior/XYZ/Rank 5/Effect: 2500/2000 OV: 4

"Then, if I did do so, Rank-Up-Magic Zexal Force lets me take one 'ZW -' or 'ZS -' monster from my deck and place it on top of my deck." And she took out a card from her deck and revealed it, though unlike last time, she wouldn't be able to draw the card that she would be putting at the top of her deck.

"I'll place ZW - Lightning Blade at the top of my deck." She said, placing said card back and on the top of her deck slot. Not that it would be staying there for long anyway. "And I'll activate the effect of Ultimate Leo Utopia Ray."

Declaring so, she waved forwards towards the newly summoned XYZ Monster. "Once per turn, I can detach one material from this card to equip a 'ZW -' monster from my deck or Extra Deck to this card as if it was equipped by that monster's effect.

One of the four overlay materials that were orbiting around the red and gold clad XYZ Monster then was absorbed right into its body, paying the cost to activate the monster's effect as it detached an overlay material.

Ultimate Leo Utopia Ray - Light/Warrior/XYZ/Rank 5/Effect: 2500/2000 OV: 3

And she didn't even need to search for the whole of the deck, or let her duel disk do so, as she simply took the top most card of her deck and revealed it. "I'll take ZW -Lightning Blade and equip it to Ultimate Leo Utopia Ray."

And with that declaration, the silver metallic tiger then appeared on her side of the field, releasing a loud roar before it then folded in on itself and turned into a large blade with the tiger's head on the hilt, a blade that Leo Utopia Ray switched for one of its two swords.

"And withLightning Blade equipped, Ultimate Leo Utopia Ray gains 1200 points of attack." She could have gone for Pegasus Twin Saber instead, but with this one equipped instead, if this attack hits, it would be game.

Ultimate Leo Utopia Ray - Light/Warrior/XYZ/Rank 5/Effect: 3700/2000 OV: 3

"3700 attack!" Anna said with alarm, knowing that it was exactly lethal if Ultimate Leo Utopia Ray were to manage a direct attack with the mishap that she had had earlier in her one Battle Phase.

"Battle." She declared with a snap of her fingers, moving right into the Battle Phase as she had used up most of the recourse that she could spare for this turn. "I'll attack your Machina Citadel with Ultimate Dragonic Utopia Ray! Hope Sword, Dragonic Chaos Slash!"

And with her command sent, the dragon clad monster brandished its many blades, before launching itself right towards the machine monster whose effects were negated. And with grace, the monster swung both of its blades and the dragonic halberd that its sub arms carried, slashing the mechanical marvel into bits.

"Che!" Anna once more grunted as she held strong even as she saw her one monster get destroyed in battle, and though she received no damage as the monster was in defence position, a scowl was clearly seen as she saw her last monster remaining getting destroyed by battle.

"Then I'll attack you directly with Ultimate Leo Utopia Ray! Hope Sword, Triple Chaos Slash!"  And she sent out her second common of attack, and her second XYZ Monster readied its blades, intending to strike for exact lethal and ending the game then and there. 

"Then I'll activate my set card!" Anna roared out, flipping the set card that she had had set face-up. "The Quick-Play Spell, Urgent Schedule!" And revealing it to be a Quick-Play Spell, one whose holographic projection shone with light as its effects was activated/

"So you're using it defensively again…" She said with narrowed eyes. This was the second time that she's seen Anna use the Quick-Play Spell in a non offensive way, she wasn't quite sure if she could have possibly handled two Rank 10 monsters.

"If you control more monsters than me, this card lets me special summon one Level 4 or lower and one Level 5 or higher Earth Machine monsters from my deck in defence position, but their effects are negated!" Anna explained the card's effects, and waved her hand out, two cards in her hand taken straight from her deck.

"I'll summon Ruffian Railcar and Super Express Bullet Train straight from my deck in defence position!" And proceeded to summon the two of them at the same time. The red and gold railcar being summoned alongside the jet engine boosted dark blue gigantic train.

Ruffian Railcar -  Earth/Machine/Level 4/Effect: 1800/1000

Super Express Bullet Train - Earth/Machine/Level 10/Effect: 3000/0

"And I'll also trigger the effect of Revolving Switchyard!" She declared on resolution. "Since a Level 10 Earth Machine monster is special summoned to my field, I can activate its first effect!" She declared further on, continuing to play her cards during her opponent's turn, and the field of train tracks shifted.

"Which allows me to special summon one Level 4 Earth Machine monster with 1800 or more attack from my deck! And it becomes a Level 10!" And once again, took out a card straight from her deck and revealed it for her and the kids around them to see.

"I'll summon Flying Pegasus Railroad Stampede!" And summons onto her side of the field the second copy of Flying Pegasus Railroad Stampede onto her side of the field, the mechanical pegasus neighing as it appeared, and its mechanical rider raising its sword as it carried with them the long line of caboose behind them.

Flying Pegasus Railroad Stampede - Earth/Machine/Level 4/Effect: 1800/1000

And the monster then briefly shone as the rail tracks that brought it  under it shifted one again, and the monster's level was changed from 4 to 10, and negating any further damage that she would take for the turn, not that she was taking any as this was her Battle Phase.

Flying Pegasus Railroad Stampede - Earth/Machine/Level 10/Effect: 1800/1000

"And its effect activates too!" Anna said with a grin. "Since Flying Pegasus Railroad Stampede was special summoned, I target and can special summon back an Earth Machine Monster from my graveyard in defence position with its effects negated!"

"Hmm." She thought about it for a good few seconds and decided on what she would do in response to her cherry haired opponent essentially managing to find a way to more than not rebuild her entire board during her own turn, and decided to stop it in its tracks before it could get out of hand. 

"Then I'll activate the effect of ultimate Leo Utopia Ray in response." She said, chaining the XYZ Monster's effect, and the monster in question halted it's attack, what with now targets getting onto the board, and getting a new command from herself. 

"Wha-it has other effects too?!" Anna cried out once more, staring with wide eyes towards the red lion clad XYZ Monster which was raising it's tiger blade high above its head and awaiting further instructions.

"Did I not use this effect last game? Might have not." She muttered as she tried to remember the first time she had played the card, her previous match against that black haired boy whose name seems to slip through her mind and shrugged as she began explaining.

"Once per turn, while Ultimate Leo Utopia Ray is equipped with a 'ZW -' Monster card, as a Quick Effect, I can target one effect monster you control and negate its effects, and if I do, halve its attack as well." She explained, and pointed towards the target that she would use the effect on.

"So with that out of the way, I will target your newly summoned Flying Pegasus Railroad Stampede to negate its effects and halve its attack." And the lion clad Utopia Ray swung down its blade, releasing a flash of light that impaled the mechanical train carrying unicorn, negating its effect and halving its attack as long as it was face-up on the field.

Flying Pegasus Railroad Stampede - Earth/Machine/Level 10/Effect: 900/1000

"Kuh!" Anna clicked her tongue and the scowl on her face deepend as she saw what had just transpired, now not managing to get Derricrane back onto the field, not that it would have mattered too much mind you.

"So the battle continues." She said, "I will redeclare the attack with Ultimate Leo Utopia Ray, I'll attack your Flying Pegasus Railroad Stampede. Once more! Hope Sword, Triple Chaos Slash!"

And this time the attack hits its intended target, the newly summoned Flying Pegasus Railroad Stampede was sliced to pieces by Ultimate Leo Utopia Ray's blades before exploding into motes of light.

Though as the newly summoned monster was summoned in defence position, Anna didn't receive any damage, didn't stop her from raising her hand to protect from the solid vision's impact and the gust of wind that came with it. 

"Che! But since you destroyed an Earth Machine monster Machina Citadel's effect activates!" Anna roared aloud as she swatted the cloud of dust and smoke away, triggering the effect of a monster that she had just destroyed earlier this Battle Phase.

"The one where it would special summon itself back from the graveyard correct?" She inquired, knowing already that it was the effect that the cherry haired girl was talking of. Because what other effects fif Machina Citadel have?

"I will allow it to resolve." She said calmly, and a wide grin spread on Anna's face. Not that she could even negate it anyway, even if she had chosen to equip Ultimate Leo Utopia Ray with ZW - Pegasus Twin Saber since that equip monster negate can only negate monster effects activated on the opponent's field, even if it does negate post effect resolution.

And since Machina Citadel, or at least its graveyard effect, resolves in the, well, graveyard, she couldn't really interact with it with the deck that she was using.

Now if she were to draw D.D. Crow or the one off Called by the Grave that she managed to scrape some spare DP for, then it would be a whole different tune that she would be singing right now.

And so the gigantic mechanical marvel returned back onto Anna's side of the field, being summoned back in defence position.

Machina Citadel -  Earth/Machine/Level 10/Effect: 3000/2500 

"Then it seems that I would have to end my turn." Two relatively large XYZ Monsters on her side of the field, a single set backrow on her spell and trap zone, which was filled more with ZW Monsters being used as equip cards, and one card remaining in her hand, she passed the turn back to Anna's control.

"My turn!" Anna roared out once more, placing her hand right on top of her duel disk's deck slot. "I'll draw!" And vigorously pulled the top card of her deck with quite the bravado, getting up to a single card in her hand to start off her turn.

"Lend me your strength, Umimi nee-chan!" The red haired girl muttered under her breath as she closed her eyes for a brief moment, before opening her golden eyes once again to show determination sparking in them.

"I'll overlay the Level 10 Super Express Bullet Train and the Level 10 Machina Citadel!" She shouted aloud with hands facing upwards towards the sky, and the two monsters soon turned into brown orbs of light that entered the 

"With these two monsters, I'll construct an overlay network! XYZ Summon!" She shouted at the top of her lungs as the two brown orbs criss crossed one another on the dark vortex, and exploded into light.

"When two mechanical marvels combine, the great mystery of the world will reveal itself!" She chanted as the pillar of light reached the skies itself, and the clouds above, or at least some solid holographic projection that their duel disks made on the spot, parted.

"Appear! Skypalace Gangaridai!" And the monster that appeared was equal, if not far bigger than the XYZ Monster that Anna had previously summoned. Coloured mainly in maroon red with accents of gold and plenty of silver, the gigantic paddled blimp towered over her monsters as it flew above in the sky, making everyone barring the girl who summoned the monster itself having to crane their necks to stare at the monster in awe.

Skypalace Gangaridai -  Wind/Machine/XYZ/Rank 10/Effect: 3400/3000 OV: 2

"Skypalace Gangaridai?" She muttered as she saw the monster that Anna had summoned. An unusual choice, she thought that she would have summoned a second copy of Gustav Max and just tried to burn her out for game.

Then again, the XYZ Monster that she was facing now was also a niche Extra Deck option for Rank 10 decks, though people would usually just run more Gustav Maxs, or Super Dora for Rank 10s.

"And I'll activate its effect!" The train duelist roared out as she waved her arm upwards towards the gigantic flying monster blocking the evening sun. "Once per turn, I can detach one material from this card, then target one card you control and destroy it! Then I can inflict 100 damage to you!"

Skypalace Gangaridai -  Wind/Machine/XYZ/Rank 10/Effect: 3400/3000 OV: 1

"Since I can't target that large Dragonic -whatcha-name-it, I'll target the other one! Ultimate Leo Utopia Ray! Titanic Dive!" She said as she pointed towards the red clad armoured XYZ Monster, and gigantic flying blimp then dropped its main hull for it to slam against Ultimate Leo Utopia Ray.

"Well that's quite inconvenient. I'll respond with the effect of Ultimate Leo Utopia Ray then." She said as she faced the gigantic hull that was rapidly losing altitude and headed right onto her monster.

"I'll target Skypalace Gangaridai, negate its effects, and halve its attack!" And with that declaration, the tiger blade wielding Utopia XYZ Monster swung its blade, and slashed through the falling gigantic hull and shot out a blade of light that pierced through the gigantic flying XYZ Monster, negating its effect and halving its attack.

"Che!" Anna clicked her tongue as her XYZ Monster's effect was negated and she failed to out the Ultimate Leo Utopia Ray, not that it would have been destroyed, what with it being equipped with ZW -  Lightning Blade which gives it effect destruction protection, though only once.

Skypalace Gangaridai -  Wind/Machine/XYZ/Rank 10/Effect: 1700/3000 OV: 1

"I'll set a card. And I'll end my turn…" And Anna then sets the card that she had drawn at her second Main Phase, and proceeded to pass back and leaving with a board of an XYZ Monster whose effects is negated and attack halved, alongside a small Ruffian Railcar.

"I'll activate the effect of Super Express Bullet Train's in the graveyard!" But that wasn't even the end of Anna's turn as she activated the effect ofSuper Express Bullet Train that she managed to get into the graveyard.

"So that's what she detached then." She summarised, noting how that was the card that she detached from Skypalace Gangaridai to activate its effect, though that meant that Machina Citadel was still under the XYZ Monster in question.

"During the End Phase, if this card is in the graveyard because it was sent there this turn, I can target a Machine monster in my graveyard except 'Super Express Bullet Train' and add it to my hand!" She explained before showing the card that she would add back from the graveyard.

"I'll add back my Flying Pegasus Railroad Stampede that you destroyed last turn!" to her handThe cherry haired girl said as she revealed the Machine Monster, and added it back to her hand.

And her turn truly then ended. And she started her turn. "Then it's my turn, I'll draw." Two cards in hand, she moved on from the Draw Phase, and first of went on towards the Standby Phase.

"Then on the Standby Phase, I'll flip my set card! The Continuous Trap, Barrage Blast!" The cherry haired girl declared so as she flipped her face-down, revealing for it to be her own signature Continuous Trap. 

"Once per turn, I can detach any number of materials from Machine XYZ Monsters I control, then target that many cards on the field and destroy them!" She declared, explaining the Continuous Trap's effect.

"I'll detach the last card on Skypalace Gangaridai, to destroy your Ultimate Leo Utopia Ray once and for all!" She said with a wide grin as the one remaining overlay unit attached was detached by the Continuous Trap's effect., and declared her target. 

Skypalace Gangaridai -  Wind/Machine/XYZ/Rank 10/Effect: 1700/3000 OV: 0

And was then turned into a huge blast of salvo that was fired right onto the red clad XYZ Monster, blasting it and creating a large cloud of dust. "Alright! I did it!" Only for said cloud to start to disperse and show that the XYZ Monster still stood with both of its blades in hand. "Wha-!"

"The effect of ZW - Lightning Blade." She started, pulling the cherry haired girl's focus towards her. "Gives the monster it's equipped to 1200 attack. And if the monster equipped with this card would be destroyed by card effect, I can destroy this card instead."

And right as she finished explaining the glorified Union Monster's effect, the tiger headed blade in Ultimate Leo Utopia Ray's hand then dispersed into motes of light, having protected the XYZ Monster in question from effect destruction.

Ultimate Leo Utopia Ray - Light/Warrior/XYZ/Rank 5/Effect: 2500/2000 OV: 3

"And now, if you would allow me to move on to the Main Phase." She said with a raised eyebrow, and though she scowled at her newly failed attempt, she nodded her head and allowed her to move towards the Main Phase One.

"Then I will activate the effect of Ultimate Leo Utopia ray." And of course, she started by activating the effect of the XYZ Monster in question. "Since you know what it does, I won't take your time and explain again, I'll simply equip ZW - Leo Arms from the Extra Deck onto it."

And with that, the XYZ Monster took out one of it's three remaining overlay materials to pay for the cost of it's effect activation, leaving it with two golden orbs orbiting around the red clad XYZ Monster.

Ultimate Leo Utopia Ray - Light/Warrior/XYZ/Rank 5/Effect: 2500/2000 OV: 2

Then, just like the monster that the card itself was based on, a whole other copy of the the red golden and white mechanical lion that stood as Ultimate Leo Utopia Ray's armour appeared, though this time, the monster turned and became two golden swords that the XYZ Monster held in its hands.

"And while equipped with ZW - Leo Arms, the monster that it is equipped to gains 3000 points of attack." And of course that was a huge amount of attack boost, enough to make Anna's eyes go as wide.

Ultimate Leo Utopia Ray - Light/Warrior/XYZ/Rank 5/Effect: 5500/2000 OV: 2

"5-5500!" Anna muttered as she started to sweat at the monster's attack, and seemingly swallowed her saliva at the high number. "B-but I still have two monsters on the field! And if you destroy Ruffian Railcar, then I get to summon back Machina Citadel! You don't have enough attack to clear my whole board!"

"Well, that's true." She agreed with a nod of her head. "Now then, I never thought that this card of all cards would come up, but I'll use the effect of ZW - Asura Strike in my hand." She said, revealing the monster card in her hand, intending to of course use its effect.

"What does this one do?" Anna all but growled as her entire strategy to out her monsters had all but failed once again, and narrowed her eyes as she saw her activating another ZW monster.

"Well, like all of the ZW monsters, it allows me to target one 'Utopia' monster I control, and equip this monster  from my hand or side of the field to that target." She started to explain, and pointed towards the card's target.

"I will target Ultimate Dragonic Utopia Ray, giving it an additional 1000 attack points…" She paused for dramatic effect as she threw on a blinding smile. "And the ability to attack all monsters you control once each."

Anna's eyes widened, of course no doubt, knowing how that would exactly end as now she has what was essentially a field cleared thanks to ZW - Asura Strike giving Ultimate Dragonic Utopia Ray the ability to attack all of her monsters once each. And two additional gigantic skeletal sub arms sprouted from behind Ultimate Dragonic Utopia Ray's back as the monster was equipped.

Ultimate Dragonic Utopia Ray - Light/XYZ/Warrior/Rank 5/Effect: 7300/2000 OV: 0

"Battle! Go! Ultimate Dragonic Utopia Ray! Attack Skypalace Gangaridia! Hope Sword, Dragonic Chaos Slash!" And the dragonic armoured XYZ Monster disappeared in the blink of an eye, and appeared right in front of the gigantic flying XYZ Monster.

And with a large heft of the gigantic halberd that its sub arms carried, Ultimate Dragonic Utopia Ray slashed through the gigantic flying blimp, creating an equally gigantic explosion in its wake.

"Gangaridai!" Anna cried out, though she didn't receive any battle damage as the monster was in defence position, she still grits her teeth as she saw her XYZ Monster was destroyed in battle and held through the explosion and gust that it made.

"Again! Attack Ruffian Railcar! Hope Sword, Dragonic Chaos Slash!" But she didn't give her an inch, and she followed up with another attack courtesy of Ultimate Dragonic Utopia Ray, and the dragon clad monster rushed towards the small red and golden railcar.

And cuts it to bits with a single wave of its blade. "Kuh!" Anna grunted as she held her arms up to protect herself from the resulting gust of wind that the clash of solid vision made against one another.

"Che, Machina Citadel's effect!" She roared out in a futile attempt to get more monsters on the field in an attempt to block her attacks. "Since an Earth Machine monster was destroyed by battle, I'll summon it back in defence position!"

"And I'll also trigger the effect of Revolving Switchyard once again!" She declared on resolution. "Since a Level 10 Earth Machine monster is special summoned to my field, I can activate it's first effect!"

"Which allows me to special summon one Level 4 Earth Machine monster with 1800 or more attack from my deck! And it becomes a Level 10!" And with a single swipe of her hand, Anna took out a card straight from her deck and placed it onto her duel disk.

"I'll summon Flying Pegasus Railroad Stampede!" And another copy, the last copy if she counted correctly in fact, and the mechanical pegasus and its rider, along with the white and gold railcars that it dragged appeared once more onto the field, appearing through one of the many rail tracks that connected onto the field.

Flying Pegasus Railroad Stampede - Earth/Machine/Level 4/Effect: 1800/1000

And as it was summoned by the effect of the Field Spell in question, Flying Pegasus Railroad Stampede's Level then was turned into 10.

Flying Pegasus Railroad Stampede - Earth/Machine/Level 10/Effect: 1800/1000

"And its effect activates!" Anna further continued, playing on on her turn as she activated the newly summoned monster's effect to special summon a Level 10 Earth Machine from her graveyard.

And though whatever monster that Anna summoned would still be destroyed by Ultimate Dragonic Utopia Ray, she decided that she might as well. "Then I'll activate the effect of ultimate Leo Utopia Ray in response to negate the effect of Flying Pegasus Railroad Stampede and halve it's attack." She said, chaining the XYZ Monster's effect.

And just like before, the red clad armoured XYZ Monster swung its blades, sending out a golden wave of light that pierced through the metallic machine, negating its effects and halving its attack.

Flying Pegasus Railroad Stampede - Earth/Machine/Level 10/Effect: 900/1000

And with all that long chain of effect resolving that, quite frankly, would do nothing to change the current gamestate, she continued on with the Battle Phase. "Ultimate Dragonic Utopia Ray! Attack Machina Citadel! Hope Sword, Dragonic Chaos Slash!"

And in a flash, the dragonic armoured XYZ Monster appeared right in front of the gigantic weapon armed machine that was Machina Citadel. Before the mechanical marvel could respond however, the monster had already swung its blades, cleaving the monster into two.

"Kuh!" And exploded into a huge cloud of dust and shooting out a gust of wind, as all clashes of solid vision do.

"Last one! Ultimate Dragonic Utopia Ray! Hope Sword, Dragonic Chaos Slash!" And with inly one remaining target left in her side of the field to attack, she sent out Ultimate Dragonic Utopia Ray for one last attack as the additional gigantic skeletal sub arms carried out the command and attacked Anna's last monster.

And without any ways of protecting her monster from the attack, the gigantic sub arms smashed the red and golden railcard, turning it into mere motes of lights.

And leaving Anna's field completely barren of monsters. And with Citadel's effect already being activated earlier, she wouldn't even be able to summon it back with Ruffian Railcar's destruction.

"And this, is lethal." She murmured as she fixed the tip of her hat, and pointed towards her opponent. And snapped her fingers. "Go! Ultimate Leo Utopia Ray! Hope Sword, Triple Chaos Slash!"  

And finally the red lion clad Utopia Ray brandished its blades. The two sub arms on its back hefting up the giant claymore on its back, and launched forwards towards her opponent for a direct attack.

And with no cards in her hand, nor anyway of stopping the over lethal damage from reaching her in any way, Anna received the full force of the attack. "KYAAAAA!" She screamed as she was sent flying a few feet back, landing right onto her butt as her Life Point count immediately reached zero. 

Anna Kozuki: 0LP

"U-umm, you're alright over there?" She asked aloud to her opponent who had, much to her and most likely Anna's own displeasure, had somehow flown right into a bush. And the cherry haired girl answered as with the sounds of rustling leaves she came out more or less unscathed, but with a few leaves and short branches stuck in her hair. 

"Rrrgh, I was so close!" She shouted out loudly as she flailed her arms in frustration, making some of the leaves and branches that stuck to her fly away. "Grr, and that deck of yours is so strong too!"

"Well, I guess it is." It was a moderately modern combo deck. Though it's not in it's full power as she hasn't gotten her hands on some of the relatively newer support cards like Number 99: Utopia Dragonar, the Hyper Rank-Up-Magic Utopiforce, and hasn't even streamlined the deck itself. 

"But t's not like this deck isn't unbeatable. No deck is perfect after all." There were after all chokepoints that the deck had. One that Anna even played around too like Utopia Double. "You just need to figure out their weaknesses and exploit them."

And with her piece said, she offered a hand to help the cherry haired girl up. And with a grin, she took it. "Guess you're right, I'll just have to beat you next time!" She said cheerily as she pulled herself up, with her staggering a bit with how much force the girl was putting in, and started to dust herself off.

She started to walk towards the bags that she left down, all while going through the deafening crowd of children, she looked at the evening sun and turned towards them. "Anyway, it's been fun and all but it's pretty late. Shouldn't you kids be going home now?" 

And right at that moment, the group of children shared a look before they started to disperse in quick haste. "By strong onee-sans!" They all chorused as they ran off, some going to where their parents were waiting for them.

Some of them pulled something from who knows where and rode off. And she meant that literally, in that one of them pulled out a rubix cube size box that turned into a hoverboard, another one pulled out a scroll-like thing that turned into a full blown segway, and one pulled out… a normal skateboard.

Her head was spinning, but she doesn't know if it was because of her painkillers' effects slowly receding, or from all the nonsensical futuristic technology that she had just witnessed with h

"Ah right, wait for a bit." Anna asked suddenly as she went and dived back into the bush. And after a few seconds of loud bustling and what might or might not be a girlish screech, the cheery haired girl returned with a group of people on hand.

"Wha-! Allen?! Sayaka and Myu too?! What are you all doing here?" She asked with surprise. Not mentioning that they were hiding behind the bush that Anna went through of all places. Had the three of them been tailing them from the start?

"Ah. Well… haha… it's a long story…" Allen said sheepishly as he scratched, or rather massaged the bump on the back of his head, one that no doubt came from Anna with how the girl sent a glare his way. One that was apparently also done by Sayaka and Myu.

But before he could quite explain his story, she collapsed.

"Eh?! Yuuna?!"

"Yuuna-san?!"

"Yuuna!"

"Yuuna-san!"

"My legs hurts…" She said as she looked up towards the cherry haired girl with a strained smile. "Umm, I don't think I can stand? I guess we walked too much earlier. And I guess the duel too haha." She laughed in good cheer in an attempt to lighten the mood. 

Which it didn't. Silence filled the air as the trio looked over at her in worry, Anna looking the most worried out of all of them as she started to sweat bullets at the situation she was currently in.

But one of the four Heartland students weren't looking over her in panic, but was instead was sending an icy glare towards her senior. "Anna-san." Sayaka stated blandly, plainly, her tone even and composed, and it sent visible shivers down the cherry haired girl's spine. "What did I say earlier about aggravating wounds>"

"Alright! We're off!" And without saying anything else, the girl ran as fast as her legs could take her while carrying her in hand. All while hurriedly unfolding her jet-cannon-handbag and strapping her on it.

"Anna wait!" 

And Anna then blasted off to run away from Sayaka's wrath.

-

"Nii-san! Nii-san! Something really cool happened today!"

The person in question simply sighs good naturedly as he lifts himself from the sofa that he was sitting on and receives the effeminate boy's hug. "What did I say about running in the house?"And giving the light blue haired boy a pat on his head. 

"Uum, not to?" The light haired boy said as he let go of the hug and tilted his head down and twiddled with his thumbs. "Since it would disturb otou-san when he is working if I make too much noise."

"Just do it in moderation. I'm sure otou-san won't But before that, you need to take a bath first." He chided his little brother with a smile. "And then after that, why don't you tell me all about it during dinner Haruto?"