37 Trick Box

"Haah… I can't believe that I lost that bet against Allen of all people…" Sighing with a look of lament on her face, Myu slowly walked with two cups of drinks in hand, and a plastic bag hanging on her left arm filled with snacks, all bought with her own DP of course, courtesy of losing a light bet, unlike the unbelievably stupid bet that Yuuna-san had agreed to earlier, against Allen.

Understandably, both of them, though it was more like every single one of them barring the red hat wearing girl that had been the one to reveal it to them, were quite upset after the revelation that Yuusha had apparently cheated in his match against the girl in question, and possibly the match before with Allen.

The explanation for what Yuuna had called 'Bottom Drawing' which was a kind of cheat where you stack the cards that you want and draw them while you shuffle before putting your deck down quite went over her head, but Yuuna's assurance that something like that couldn't quite be feasibly pulled using a duel disk assured her and everyone else. 

And the easy way to solve that kind of problem to begin with was to let your opponent shuffle your deck and vice versa in the name of fairness was well received by the crowd that listened in on them.

Which of course came from the fact that Yuusha had apparently frequented the card shop, and many other gathering spots where duelists duel with paper instead of duel disk, for many reasons like the fact that it's quite tiring and much to popular belief not everyone has a duel disk, and most likely cheated his way to getting most of the cards that he had.

Including of course, basically stealing cards that were bought from Yuuna-san's inventory of cards. He studied the duelists that would be his targets and would devise strategies to counter them and stack his deck by 'Bottom Drawing' and the like to cheat a win off of them.

He received proper punishment of course. She was pretty sure that she overheard that from today onwards the black garbed duelist was banned from any and all card shops and dueling establishments. He probably was banned for any tournament play too, even if as Yuuna-san had said that duel disks would prevent the kind of cheating that he does.

Cheaters were incredibly disliked. And one who had done so blatantly multiple times and had done so against as many people as Yuusha has and cheated out so much though betting would certainly receive the ire of many.

She doubts that he'd be able to ever get into official tournaments from today onwards. At least in Heartland that is. But she also didn't doubt that this record of his would follow him even if he does leave the city.

She honestly believed that he's received apt punishment, even if he did technically ran away with those cards that he had cheated to get. She was sure that some duelists now had their anger sated with what the black haired boy got for his comeuppance, and seeing him lose so thoroughly against Yuuna certainly helped.

But in the end some of them, more like all of them, were still quite upset at what had just happened under their noses. So of course, like respectable duelists themselves, they tried to release their pent up aggression in the most sane way possible that they could have thought of.

That is of course, by dueling one another.

Admittedly, she was the one who had suggested the bet. A simple bet at that really, just to buy lunch, or as Allen had decided what his lunch was, a whole plethora of different snacks, while she simply bought some convenience store onigiri for herself and the others. Sayaka went and accompanied her, god bless the glasses wearing girl's kindness, but separated with her briefly since she had to do girl stuff and promised to catch up.

Or at least, that was undoubtedly what Allen's approximation of the lilac haired girl's situation would be. That boy has no tact whatsoever after all.

She eventually finished her trek as she found the poncho wearing boy sitting in one of the benches that surrounded the card shop and the dueling tables that they had, and frowned as she approached him.

"Where's Yuuna-san and Anna-san?" She asked as she looked around, finding neither her red haired mentor nor her cherry haired upperclassman among the crowd around them, her mind slightly whirling as she thought of where the two might have gone to.

"Huh? She's taking a break. Thanks by the way." The spiky red haired boy said as he eagerly took both one of the drinks and the plastic bag of food from her, placing the drink onto the bench and rustling through the bag for a plastic bag of snacks, opening it with a grin.

"Or rather someone forcefully sent her back home to take a break." The poncho wearing boy said as he proceeded to stuff his face with a handful of crackers taken straight from the packet. 

"Syka's wealy scry bwen jhe's anry byu nyow?" The spiky haired boy said with his mouth full, earning a scowl from her as she glared at him.

"At least talk when your mouth isn't full." She drawled out as she sat next to him and took out her own onigiri from the bag. Slowly, she started to unwrap the convenience store food and ate it leisurely, all while her red haired companion hurriedly chewed the food in his mouth.

And burped. Loudly. "Sorry." He said, and had the gall to look sheepish so she merely levelled him with the best glare that she could muster. "Right. I was saying that Sayaka's really scary when she's angry. She sent Yuuna packing with just a few words and a mean look."

Shivers ran down the poncho wearing boy's body as he thought back to his glasses wearing friend and the stares that she gave that sent fear down his bones, but he shook those thoughts out of his head.

Thankfully Myu steered the conversation back to the topic. "Sent her packing?" She muttered, "So you mean that Yuuna-san went back home? To her apartment?" She asked her companion.

She was a bit miffed of course, having already bought several onigiris for the others as well and wanted to eat with them and all, but she was mostly miffed since her red haired mentor had apparently left without saying anything to her while she was away.

The red haired boy blinked a few times as he munched on another chip, before waving a hand at her. "Ah don't worry, nee-san went with her to make sure that she gets back to her apartment safe and sound and not detour to duel someone somewhere."

"... that sounds a lot like something that she would do honestly." She said as the corner of her mouth twitched upwards slightly at the thought that her red haired friend would certainly do something like that, especially after the stunt that she basically had just done earlier on. 

And the image of Anna-san out of all people trying to pull Yuuna-san away from a duel is quite ironic considering their characters. What with Anna-san being the Diamond Branch's  very own infamous Unstoppable Wild Train and all, that certainly brought a chuckle out of her.

"You're not gonna ask why she has an apartment or anything?" Allen's voice cut her from her line of thought as she looked back to reality as she turned to look towards him and tilt her head at the question. 

"Why would I?" She said after a moment of thought. "It would be pretty rude to ask blatantly and poke into her personal life. Everyone has their secrets after all." And Yuuna apparently had lots of them.

From the fact that she apparently came from 'far away', or the fact that she can seemingly pull a whole book collection of cards out of seemingly nowhere, basically having what was more or less a whole warehouse full of cards in her pocket, and apparently having a whole apartment to herself, her red garbed mentor was someone full of mysteries.

But then again, the whole city is filled with weirdos and strangers where the city itself is a technological marvel with hovercrafts and foldable cannon-jet bikes whose mayor likes to wear incredibly outlandish suits whenever he's seen outside, so honestly someone like Yuuna wasn't as strange as she is.

"Yeah but aren't you just a bit curious? I mean, it's Yuuna we're talking about!" Allen started again as he waved his hand upwards in an exaggerated manner. "Who knows what she has in her apartment! For all we know it could be where she actually stashes all of her collection of cards! Don't you at least want to see them?"

The poncho wearing duelist pulled her close as she yelped, a hand stretched outwards and moving slowly. "Just imagine, a whole apartment that's just filled with cards that we didn't even know existed."

"I guess… now get off!" She pushed him off away from her, earning a cry from the red haired boy as he fell from the bench onto the concrete flooring below. She huffed as she continued to eat her food while Allen nursed his backside with a light scowl as he glared at her.

"Jeez, didn't really have to do that you know…" The red haired boy mumbled as he caressed his hurting back, and she couldn't help the smile that crept up onto her face. She was quite glad that their bad mood had all been alleviated, while not completely, but at least for now.

Allen at least was smiling again, and Sayaka had seemed to calmed down during their walk to the convenience store near this card shop, and she herself was more or less the same, and though she can't say for sure for how Anna-san was faring, she could say for sure that Yuuna-san would keep her in check.

Though she was still one hundred percent sure that if any of them were to ever come across the black haired boy in question again, that they were all more than likely to blow up right in front of him.

"Cool! So let's follow them!" Allen's sudden declaration made her snap her head towards him and stared at him as if he had grown a second head, which sadly did not seem to deter him whatsoever.

"And why would we do that when we could, say, use our time for something more productive like dueling or maybe fiddling with our decks." She drawled out, taking a nibble at her onigiri as she searched for a reaction from the poncho wearing boy.  

Allen's grin fell ever so slightly at her suggestion, and he shrugged to hide whatever discomfort he had. "I'm not really in the mood to duel again. A bit tired out after…" He trailed off, and it didn't take a genius duelist to understand what he mant.

"Yeah… I guess I am too. Kinda." She said tiredly with a sigh in agreement as she leaned back on the bench, the food in her hand having eaten up and leaving only its plastic wrapper that once contained it.

"Great! Let's just wait until Sayaka gets back and we can tail them! We should hurry up though or they'll go too far for us to catch up!" The red haired boy said with a wide grin on his face, and quickly continued to devour another bag of snacks that she had bought for him.

Once again, for the nth time of the day, she lets out a long sigh as she shakes her head in exasperation, at this point having to deal with Allen and whatever shenanigans he decided to pull, be it on or off school, was something that she had to deal with almost daily. 

She didn't know since when, but this was her life now. And she was likely not going to get out of it anytime soon. If ever.

-

For the first time in a few weeks, right after what was very much an incredibly hectic day filled with ups and downs, she felt quite at ease. 

She didn't quite know what the reason was for her sudden bout of calmness. She didn't quite know whether it was because she had just spent the entire day with her friends, the deserved beating that she had given to that Yuusha boy, or the pain killers that she had just taking making her kind of delirious.

Honestly, probably the latter if anything. At least she could walk without any troubles as long as it lasts.

So she might as well actually take the time to enjoy the sights of Heartland City. all while always keeping an eye for shadowy and suspicious figures around every corner of course, she's got to keep an eye for possible Academia spies like Dennis after all. 

She's got a rough estimate of how many operatives they have in Heartland, if the orange haired spy was telling the truth at least, but she doesn't know if they've requested support or not now that they knew she was here.

"So, where are we going again?" She looked back and saw her current travel companion that asked the question, her hands crossed behind her head as she lazily walked beside her, her golden eyes wandering around the neighbourhood around them, her cannon-bike-purse on her side, swaying slightly as they walked.

The girl had offered her a ride on it towards her apartment which wasn't quite far from the card shop already, but the flash of fear that she saw from Sayaka and how her face went white for the briefest of moments made her turn down Anna's offer as politely as she could.

She hummed and pondered the cherry haired girl's question. While Sayaka did ask for her to immediately go 'home' and back to her apartment, but she did have some things that she wanted to do first before going back and calling a day.

"Honestly, I was thinking of buying some new clothes." She said, as she fiddled with her jacket. Though the jacket had once been clean and pristine, constant use and with it being the only article of clothing that she had, barring other necessities of course, it was really the only jacket that she has.

"And maybe some boots while I'm at it." That and she really, really wanted some new footwear now. She might have managed to hide most of the smell of sweat and trash with what was more or less a full bottle of cheap perfume, but it didn;t hide the fact that her whole garb was incredibly beat up.

"I really should buy some new clothes." She noted aloud with a grimace. She really liked her jacket and  boots and all, they were given to her by Sister Claire after all, a gift for getting into that blasted Academia where everything really did fall apart.

A snort resounded from beside her, and she gave a glare to her cherry haired friend. "Sorry, sorry. But yeah you probably should buy some new clothes. That jacket of yours is really dirty."

"You don't have to tell me that… I'm definitely putting this in the laundry right after this." She said fiddling with her jacket's hems. "Speaking of, do you know any good laundry places around here? My apartment doesn't have one nearby."

"Huh? Like laundromats and stuff? I don't really know anything like that though since we usually do it at home. Mom usually has me or Allen do chores like that right after we come back from school."

"I see… guess I'll have to just find one myself then. So, any suggestions for places to actually buy clothes?" She turned her head as she asked her cherry haired companion who tapped her chin in contemplation. 

"Hmm, maybe the mall?" She suggested. "It's not that far from here and all, plus there's food there too so maybe we could… have lunch?" Anna said the last part slowly in a murmur, twiddling her fingers as she did so.

"Sure. That sounds like an excellent idea." She said with a smile, gesturing for the cherry haired girl to go ahead. "Lead the way then. I'm still unfamiliar with this city after all. I'll follow your lead" She did spent most of the first week here frantically searching for an apartment and the next few was spent hanging around the card shop selling cards and occasionally strolling around the neighbourhood.

"Alright then! We're going shopping!" Anna declared with a shout as she raised her arm upwards with a large smile, before she then took her hand and started to pull her along with her. "Come on then!"

"Hey! Don't go too fast! I'm still hurt here you know!" She whined, even as she felt a small smile start to worm itself onto her face. Now that she thought about it, this was probably the first time that she would actually go to a proper mall in years, perhaps ever in this new life of her's.

Right, even back in the Fusion Dimension, back in Academy Island, there wasn't anything like a mall in the man made island. There was at most a bazaar of sort, and in the Academia proper there was the 'card shop' that sold mostly really bad cards, and more than most Ancient Gear support cards, and the cafeteria that only had random sandwiches for sale, with of course the eggwich being the only good option for food, and even that went repetitive.

It was… going to be a shock that was for sure. Just like how it was quite a shock at first when she arrived here at Heartland City and finding it's vibrancy in colour a complete contrast to back in the Academia and Academy Island, this time she couldn't quite hold her excitement. 

And as she kept being pulled by her cherry haired friend who filled their journey with interesting comments that she didn't quite know about the locale, a glint in the corner of her eye pulled her focus as she snapped her head towards it.

And merely found the locals going through their daily activities, the bustling crowd being the only thing that filled her vision. The brief glint that had taken her attention being nowhere in sight.

"Something wrong?" Anna said after noticing that she had stopped, a frown on her face as she followed her gaze and found nothing in particular to look at, only a regular sights of Heartland City's strange architecture of futuristic buildings.

"Nothing." She said with a shake of her head. She might have been more tired than she had thought if she was starting to start seeing things, or the medicine was more effective than she had thought, but she was sure that she had seen something back there.

"Just thought that I saw something, that's all."

-

And huddled up in a corner behind one of the many buildings that made up the street with the red haired girls in sight, three students of the Heartland Dueling School were all huddled up together 

"Did they notice us?" Myu whispered as she looked towards the one who was responsible for their current situation, the red haired poncho wearing boy who was carefully peeking from the corner to check on their two targets.

"Don't think so." The red haired poncho wearing boy whispered, turning back to look at them and shook his head. "Pretty sure we're in the clear. For now at least. Where do you think they're going anyways?"

"Does it really matter where they're going?" Myu grumbled before shaking her head and letting out a long winded sigh. "Ugh, why are we doing this again?" She grumbled as she turned and glared at Allen.

And the boy who was the reason why the three of them were even following the two red haired girls glanced back with a look of confusion on his face. "Huh? What are you talking about Myu? Don't you remember why we're following Yuuna and nee-san?"

"Of course I remember!" She snapped at the poncho wearing, baring her teeth and hissing as she did so before crossing her arms and looking away. "Doesn't mean that I'm not going to keep pointing how stupid this whole plan is."

"It's not stupid if it works." Allen said back with a large grin on his face, one that made her groan as she threw a palm onto her face in frustration, before the boy in question turned and looked back to the alley that they were on.  

"What's up with that guy anyway jeez. He almost blew our cover and everything!" The red haired boy grumbled out as he seemed to have thought back to the guy that they had very briefly seen and went past them.

"He probably had something more important to do, you know." She grumbled out again, sending another glare Allen's way as she did so. "Unlike, you know, stalking your older sister and mentor and invading their privacy."

"Pretty sure I've seen him somewhere before… meh, probably didn't matter." Allen said with a shrug before he focused back on looking at the red haired duo from their hiding spot.

"W-we really shouldn't be doing this…" And the third person in their small group said meekly as she kept nervously looking back and forth with both her hands tucked close to her chest. "W-what if Yuuna-san and Anna-san notices…"

"Nah. it'll be fine." Allen assured her back flippantly as he waved his hands without looking back at her, still peeking his head out from the corner to look at the pair that they were currently spying on.

"Besides. Even if they did see us watching them it'll be fine. At most we'll probably get scolded or something like that. Well, nee-san would probably be rougher than that now that I think about it." 

And didn't that statement send quite the chill down her spine. She could even see Sayaka's face going paler than it already was behind her glasses at Allen's implication at what Anna-san would do to them if they were to find out they were stalking them.

Before they could even dive to the deep hole of possibility however, an exclamation from their resident trouble maker that the two of them were basically tied to pulled them back. "They're moving! Come on!"

And he blasted off, not even waiting for their input or anything. The two of them briefly shared a glance between one another, before simultaneously letting out a long winded sigh and started to slowly follow the poncho-wearing boy who ran ahead of them.

But she did wonder briefly about that teen that went past them as she took a last glance at the alleyway. She wondered what he was so hurried for, but it probably wasn't her problem anyway, and shrugged her shoulders before continuing to catch up on Allen.

-

Dennis ran as fast as his legs could take him, for what was apparently the second time of the week.

He didn't know what it was that was up with his darned luck this week, but this simply was not his week. Especially considering that he's gone and saw the gosh darned Red Hat twice in a single week!

Sure it might have been his fault for going out and do his weekly street performance to keep a straight schedule and not make some people suspicious, not that it would be that suspicious since he could probably call sick and it's not like he has a managed for it or anything, but a dueltainer has to has standards!

Or so he heard from Sakaki-san, and as someone who was a dueltainer in the making, or at least someone who was acting as one while he was acting as a spy here, so he'll at least do his best to go for that kind of image.

And it might also be his fault to have chosen a really public place to make his haunts, and also to disobey orders technically since the commander did tell him not to go out especially since he's already been seen by the Red Hat, but still, he didn't think that it would have been this bad!

He definitely did not expect to have found her of all people roaming around in the streets! And he certainly didn't expect for her to immediately lock onto him out in the middle of the crowd of people!

His heart almost stopped when he saw her eyes swept through the crowds and briefly passed over him.

So he rushed out as fast as he could. Hastily muttering an apology to his audience before going and running as fast as he could to get as far away as possible from the red hat wearing girl and her friend that she was going with.

He didn't know who he almost crashed into when he went to that one alley that he immediately locked onto as his one way to escape, not really his one way of escape as he could see a whole lot of escape routes but still, and deep down he really doesn't care as long as he wasn't found out.

So really, he was only doing his best to get away as fast as he could. And praying, once again, to whatever gods it was that was up there in the four dimensions for him to get a clean getaway from the red hat wearing girl once again.

But with the fear that he was still being followed by the tenacious girl, especially with the scolding that the commander had given him of the girl's exploits of defeating what was more or less the whole of Academia's defence force, he turned back to see if he was being followed.

And because he did exactly that, he did not see the crossroads that was at the end of the alley that he had escaped through after multiple twists and turns. Nor did he see the two figures that walked out right in front of him from the other side of the road.

And for his negligence, which wasn't due to fear mind you, as an Academia operative he was basically taught not to show fear to anyone, as soon he turned his head back to see what was in front of him, he could only gasp as his feet skid across the concrete street below, alerting the two he thought to be pedestrians of his running self too late to get away from the way.

Though in a show of agility and dexterity, the taller of the two pulled the other behind them and was the one that he crashed onto with full force as he didn't quite manage to stop himself from running.

"Uwaaa!" "Kya!" Both he and whoever he crashed into one another yelped, and he fell right onto his behind and winced as they collided. And the same seemingly happened to the person who he crashed onto.

He heard someone shout out a name, probably the other person that the one that he had just crashed with, all while he nursed his head as he tried to get his mind in order and stop spinning.

Eventually he did manage to do so, shaking his head slightly to clear his head of any remaining dizziness that his sudden jerk of movements left him with, he finally lifted his head to see two fuzzy figures in front of him.

"Watch where you're going!" The girl that he had crashed into said growling as she was helped by her smaller friend to stand back up, and he blinked his eyes to clear the dark spots in his vision.

"Sorry! Sorry! I was just-" And his words died in his throat as his vision cleared up and ceased from being fuzzy, and saw exactly who it was that he had accidentally crashed into in his desperate run to get away from the infamous red hat wearing girl.

Because of course, as his luck has had him, he had run into the third and fourth persons in Academia's own metaphorical most wanted list, with one having a priority in live capture for reasons known to only the Professor himself.

The two traitors that were Serena and Mei stared at him with confused looks as he suddenly clammed up.

Now the question was, how does he resolve this situation in a way that doesn't get him chained up and interrogated like the last time he met the other red hat wearing traitor from the day before?

He really hopes that he could pull something like what he did yesterday. At least he hoped that his luck could allow him to pull off something like that after what it had dragged him into today.

-

Seeing the curly haired boy suddenly grow silent with his mouth slightly hanging open, Mei narrowed her eyes in suspicion at the fallen boy in front of them. "I'm pretty sure I've seen you before…" She said with narrowed eyes.

The teen does look vaguely familiar to her. As if she had seen him in passing before, perhaps somewhere along the lines when she and Serena explored the Heartland City, and certainly someone as colourful like the teen in front of her would have left a lasting impression. 

But there was also the chance that he was one of those people who were in the background during their escape from this dimension's Academia outpost that they had come from, the secret base that was where the dimensional gate was placed on.

That was what her gut was saying. And any duelists worth their salt knew to always trust their instincts. Or at least, as Yuuna would say, to always consider it in the back of your head before making an educated guess.

"Y-you've probably seen me in my element then!" The orange curly haired boy said hastily as he jumped up and patted his clothes to clean off the dust that clung to it, before striking a pose and winked.

"I'm a street performer you see! A dueltainer! Or rather, an aspiring dueltainer." The boy said with a blinding smile as he flicked his outstretched right hand, and a rose appeared in his hand right in front of Serena.

The action itself seemed to confuse the indigo haired girl as she took the offered flower and inspected it with a look of confusion. "Dueltainer?" She asked as she glanced at him with suspicion.

"Yeup! It's an incredibly interesting form of dueling you see!" The teen said with a beaming smile, and raised a finger with his other hand on his hips as he began explaining. "A dueltainer you see, is at its most basic, a combination of both a duelist and an entertainer!"

The smile that was on his face then turned a bit softer as he took on a dreamy faraway look on his eyes. "Well they're also known as Entertainment Duelists, and they're basically what they say on the tin."

Scratching his cheek, the boy began what she was sure was a passionate tirade, something that she knew the signs for having lived with Yuuna who would go into whenever she talks about the card game.

But knowing that it was at least a good bit of information and to figure out his character, she lets him go on. "They're duelists that focus on entertaining the audience and bringing smiles! The street performer part comes from the fact that a dueltainer uses a lot of acrobatics that involves solid vision, I'm still not quite there yet though."

Though there seemed to be something a bit strange in the first part of the sentence, something about how the teen seemed to look, Serena seemed to take interest in the conversation. 

"Using solid vision for acrobatics?" Her indigo haired companion sounded aloud, looking at the orange haired teen with a look of intrigue. "How would that even work in a duel?" She asked.

And the curly haired boy raised a finger and opened his mouth, only to lower it slowly as he closed his mouth and a look of contemplation fell on his face. "Huh. I don't know." he said truthfully.

"I mean, I don't know fully!" He hastily said while flailing his hands. "I'm guessing that the dueltainer would probably use their monsters and solid vision to do acrobats and all that while the duel goes on. At least that's probably something that Sakaki-san would do, and I;m pretty sure that I've seen him do that a few times…"

"Sakaki-san?" The name piqued her interest, mostly since she has heard of someone with the name in passing from Yuto and Ruri. And the green eyed teen responded to her question with a smile.

"Ah! Yes! Sakaki-san's my teacher in the art of dueltaining!" The boy beamed, before chuckling and caressing the back of his head. "Well, I say that but I'm really just a big fan of his." The teen admitted,

"Honestly the most that I'm doing is just copying what Sakaki-san does when he's performing and thinking, 'what would Sakaki-san do' in most situations. He does teach me occasionally and gives me tips, but most of his time is usually taken with teaching in the Heartland Dueling School and all." The teen said, though the tone of his voice turned slightly bitter at the end.

"So it's that Sakaki-san then." She said with a nod of her head confirming her suspicion. The Sakaki-san that he's mentioning is probably the same Sakaki-san that Yuto and Ruri had brought up as the new teacher for the Clover Branch, supposedly a good natured teacher that teaches a unique form of dueling.

She could easily fill in the blank that the man's unique form of dueling is this Entertainment Dueling that the teen in front of them brought up, it certainly fits the bill.  

And that quite 

"Speaking of which we never did introduce ourselves did we?" The orange haired teen said as if realization dawned on him, and did a faux bow. "I'm Dennis McField! Aspiring Entertainment Duelist! A pleasure to meet you fine gals in this lovely evening!"

She rolled her eyes at the entertainer's apparent flair of dramatics. "My name is Myu." She said back with a nod, and glanced towards her companion and gestured for her to do the same.

"Serena." The indigo haired girl said bluntly, before taking a step forward to stare at the orange haired teen with quite the intense stare if one weren't used to the ponytailed girl in question. 

For her, who had basically lived in the same dorm, having been partners for the tag duel preliminaries that they never quite saw the end to, and shared the same room for the last week, she could tell that the girl was up to something that was going to give her problems.

"Serena-"

"Duel me." The ponytailed girl said with a blank face as her emerald green eyes never moved from Dennis' own. She groaned and face palmed at her friend's usual form of bluntness, and the orange haired teen blinked several times in confusion.

"Eh!?" He exclaimed in surprise, looking back and forth from her and Serena before pointing to himself. "M-me!? Y-you want to duel against me!? Why!?" He said with a look of shock, and a slight hint of fear in his eyes.

"I'm interested in this Entertainment Dueling." The indigo haired girl said with narrowed eyes. "So? Are you going to accept my challenge?" Serena asked with a raised eyebrow as she was essentially bullying the teen for a duel.

"Uuh, uum… That's-"

"You don't have to agree if you don't want to!" She hurriedly cut the teen who was clearly struggling to answer in response to Serena's offer for a match, all while looking back and glaring at the girl in question, her face mere inches from the girl.

"Serena! What did I say about harassing people into dueling against you! This is the fourth time this week!" And the fact that it happened multiple times, repeatedly, be it back in the Fusion Dimension or in this one. Now that she thinks about it, it was how she and Yuuna even met the girl in the first place.

That quirk of her's already brought on a lot of problems by itself. The amount of trouble and duels that she, and occasionally Yuto whenever they also hang out with him and Ruri and Shun, had to physically drag her out of getting into more trouble.

"No! It's uh, I guess I don't really mind?" And the orange haired teen's declaration made her snap her head towards him, and she saw him scratch his cheeks. "Dueling against you I mean! It'll be an honour in fact!"

The curly haired teen then shyly twiddled with his fingers. "I mean, if you wouldn't mind that is. I… honestly, I haven't gotten the chance to actually try and do an Entertainment Duel against anyone, especially since my deck is rela-"

"Alright then let's go." Saying so Serena immediately brandished her left arm, turning her dark purple duel disk on and letting the holographic blade appear on her hand. The sudden move made Dennis' eyes go wide as he jumped, an overreaction if she has ever seen one.

"W-wait you mean right now?! In the middle of this alley!?" He exclaimed out as he pointed to where they were currently at, a relatively cramped alley that was indeed not quite suited for a place to duel.

Serena frowned as she seemed to think on it for a few seconds before nodding, turning off and lowering her duel disk, and turning towards her. "Fine. Mei, do you know any places where we can duel."

She briefly glanced at Dennis, who was hurriedly nodding his head, and lets out a sigh. "I'm pretty sure there's a park near here somewhere." She grumbled as she tapped on her duel disk and used the map function.

It's quite useful that the device also acts as, well, every other handheld electrical device under the sun now that she thinks about it. Though connecting it to this dimension's network was relatively easy, making sure that both her's and Serena's had no form of tracking apps or anything traceable in regards to the Academia was relatively harder. 

Not like they had the DP to actually buy whole new duel disks anyway. So whenever someone asks why their's are different they'll just use the excuse that they're specially made or something along the lines.

And so the three of them began on a short walk to the nearest duel allowed park, with Dennis being the one to fill the silence as he showed tricks on the go or talk about his experience as a street performer.

And at the end of it, the odd clothed budding Entertainment Duelist was talking of his apparent admiration for the man that showed him the style of dueling. "I was… well, you can say that I was struck with how amazing it was." The boy said sheepishly.

"I mean, never in my wildest dreams would I have ever thought of using a solid vision monster and riding them! While in a duel no less!" The teen all but gushed, recounting his first encounter with the original dueltainer.

"Ho, and that was when Sakaki-san then began teaching then I'm guessing?" She asked, to which the orange haired dueltainer nodded with a smile on his face. That's certainly an interesting tidbit to know about the newly hired Heartland Dueling School teacher, it reminded her to actually keep an ear out for rumours and the like.

Because god knows when exactly was Academia going to strike, at least she could most likely write off this Sakaki-san and Dennis of being possible Academia spies. The former's method of dueling from what she heard clashes head to head against what the Professor believed in 'uniformity' and what invading the XYZ Dimension would lead to, while Dennis himself seemed to be a generally nice person. 

Though Sakaki-san's sudden appearance right nearing the World Duel Carnival and his quick employment did bring some questions to mind. It was just quite suspicious and all, and she had never met the man in the first place.

That might need to change now that she was alerted to how suspicious the man outright seemed to be. Even if the picture that Dennis painted was that of someone who would outright fight against the Professor's plans.

"We're here." Their chat was quickly brought to an end by Serena who walked ahead of them to a  relatively empty part of the park they had arrived at, and quickly turned around and activated her duel disk in quick succession.

"Now, let's duel." Serena said bluntly once again, making her sigh as she shook her head at her friend's antics once more while Dennis merely laughed at seeing Serena's bluntness on display once again.

"Haha, seems like I've got no other choice." The teen said with a light laugh before doing the same, activating his own orange duel disk and manifesting the red duel blade onto his left arm.

And so, Serena's duel against the budding Entertainment Duelist began.

'"DUEL!!""

Dennis McField: 4000LP

Serena: 4000LP

"I guess I'll be going first then. Hope that I won't disappoint you!" The curly haired boy said with a wink before he then perused his five card hand, forgoing to draw as he chose to go first.

"I'll start by summon Performage Stilts Launcher!" And with a swing of his right hand he placed the monster card onto his duel blade. The large green stilts riding monster appeared ahead of him, performing an acrobatic twirl that its summoner mimicked as it appeared.

Performage Stilts Launcher - Earth/Spellcaster/Level 6/Effect: 2200/0

"I can special summon Performage Stilts Launcher from my hand if there are no monsters on the field you see. But for the rest of the turn, I can't normal summon or set monsters." The orange haired street performer said, explaining the monster's effects.

Serena noted that. "An innate summoning condition." Just like Fubuki's own Cyber Dragon that can be special summoned as long as only the opponent controls a monster, this Dennis' own Performage Stilts Launcher apparently could be special summoned as long as there's no monsters on the whole field, but at the cost of not being able to normal summon or set any monsters.

That probably meant that the teen in front of her was playing an XYZ strategy that focuses around Rank 6 monsters. The whole thing with XYZ Monsters still confused her, but she could at least tell that much.

"But wait! There's more!" The orange haired duelist said with a broad smile that she noted didn't quite reach his eyes as he extended his right hand forward and took out another card from his hand. "Because I'll be equipping Performage Stilts Launcher with the Equip Spell, One-Shot Wand!"

And in an incredible act of balance, the newly summoned monster then lets go of his right stilt to hold the crescent tipped wand, tipping back and forth before finally managing to balance both using the stilts and holding the wand. "One-Shot Wand you see, can only be equipped to a Spellcaster-Type monster! And it gives the equipped monster 800 points of attack!"

Performage Stilts Launcher - Earth/Spellcaster/Level 6/Effect: 3000/0

"Then I'll set a card." And Dennis then sets a card face-down on his spell and trap zone. "And I guess I'll end my turn." And then the orange haired boy ended his turn with a small bow, a relatively large monster on his side of the field, one face-down set card in his spell and trap zone, and two cards still remaining in his hand.

"Then it's my turn. I'll draw!" And drawing her card for turn and now with six cards in hand, Serena started her turn. The girl didn't even bother with looking at the new card that she had drawn and immediately played a card from her hand.

"I'll start by activating the Continuous Spell,  Fire Formation - Tenki!" And the first move that she played was to activate the generic searcher card that she runs in her deck, with the Continuous Spell in question flashing in front of her.

"When Fire Formation - Tenki is activated, I can add one Level 4 or lower Beast-Warrior from my deck to my hand." She explained the Continuous Spell's effect, before taking out a card from her deck and revealing it to her opponent. "I'll add Lunalight Emerald Bird from my deck to my hand." 

And immediately proceeded to place the card onto the glowing blue dueling blade that was on her left hand. "And I'll summon her!" And she summoned the emerald winged Beast-Warrior onto her side of the field, the monster herself dancing slightly as she was summoned.

Lunalight Emerald Bird - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1200/1000

"And while Fire Formation - Tenki is on the field, all Beast-Warrior monsters that I control gains 100 attack!" And with the declaration of the continuous effect of the Continuous Spell, the winged monster glowed with a purple energy, a slight increase in attack.

Lunalight Emerald Bird - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1300/1000

"Lunalight Emerald Bird's effect!" The purple haired girl declared, activating her monster's on summon effect. "If this card is normal or special summoned, I can send one 'Lunalight' card from my hand to the graveyard, and if I do, I can draw one card!"

And she then revealed a card in her hand, to show the card that she would discard for the effect of Lunalight Emerald Bird. "I will discard Lunalight Kaleido Chick from my hand, to draw one card."

And she did so, discarding the Lunalight Kaleido Chick from her hand to draw an additional card from her deck, shuffling the five cards she has on hand before continuing with her turn. "Then I'll activate the spell, Luna Light Perfume!"

And that play was to activate the normal archetypal reborn Spell that she has, the card's holographic counteraft appearing in front of her and flashing with light. "Luna Light Perfume lets me target one 'Lunalight' monster in my graveyard, and special summon it!"

And with only one legal target to choose from, Serena shouted out the name of the monster that she would summon as she took the card from her graveyard. "I'll special summon Lunalight Kaleido Chick!" 

And the prismatic winged monster then appeared on Serena's side of the field, carrying with her two golden batons that acted as such in her hands. The monster danced once again as she appeared.

Lunalight Kaleido Chick - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1400/800

And the monster glowed slightly as it gained an attack boost thanks to the Continuous Spell that was on Serena's side of the field.

Lunalight Kaleido Chick - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1500/800

"Two Level 4 monsters…" Dennis noted aloud as he saw Serena managed to summon two Level 4 monsters with wide eyes, seemingly shocked at how the indigo haired girl managed to assemble the two monsters on field with relative ease.

But knowing Serena and how her cards work, she knows that she's nowhere near done with her combo. "And I'll activate her effect!" She declared as she waved her arms forwards towards the prismatic winged Beast-Warrior in front of her.

"Lunalight Kaleido Chick can once per turn send one 'Lunalight' monster from my deck or Extra Deck to the graveyard!" Serena said, of course omitting the fact that Kaleido Chick would then also change its name as the sent monster if it was used as Fusion Material this turn, but she's already more or less beaten it onto the girl's head to not even mention of Fusion Summoning or anything of the like.

She had to hard press the purple haired girl to take out the Lunalight Fusions that she had in her deck, and basically her whole Extra Deck of Fusion Monsters along with them. Though she was quite sure that she kept the small Shaddoll engine still in her deck, the monster's own flip effects came in clutch during several games that they had been in during the last week.

"I'll send Lunalight Yellow Marten from my deck to the graveyard." She said, sending the monster straight from her deck to the graveyard, sadly not gaining the monster's second graveyard effect as it was sent as cost and not for effect, a ruling that Yuuna had to drill into both of them to not get confused for.

"And I'll activate its effect!" Serena declared immediately, activating the graveyard effect of the monster that she had just sent for the cost of Lunalight Kaleido Chick's effect, taking the card out from her graveyard slot and revealing it for Dennis to see.

"If Lunalight Yellow Marten in in my hand or graveyard, I can target one 'Lunalight' card that O control, except another 'Lunalight Yellow Marten', return the target to my hand, and if I do, I can special summon this card in defence position!"

And she then pointed towards the target, none other than the monster whose effects she had just activated before. "I'll target Lunalight Kaleido Chick, and return it to the hand to summon Lunalight Yellow Marten from the grave!"

And with that, the prismatic winged, baton wielding yellow chick disappeared from Serena's field, being returned to the hand as the yellow bushy tailed marten based Beast-Warrior then appeared on the indigo haired girl's side of the field.

Lunalight Yellow Marten - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 800/2000

And thanks to the Fire Formation that Serena has on her field, the newly summoned monster's attack was then boosted, glowing with a dark purple glow as she appeared.

Lunalight Yellow Marten - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 900/2000

"But if summoned this way, Lunalight Yellow Marten would be banished when it leaves the field." Serena noted aloud for the additional clause of Lunalight Yellow Marten's effect, before raising her right arm high.

"And now, I'll take the uh, Level 4 Lunalight Emerald Bird and the Level 4 Lunalight Yellow Marten, and overlay the two of them! That's how you do it right?" She said the last part as a question, before a gigantic vortex of darkness with small hints of golden light appeared in the middle of the field.

And the two monsters then turned into dark purple motes of light, both of which proceeded to enter said dark vortex, though the transformation itself shocked Serena. "Whoa-!" She said with wide eyes and a slight jump.

"S-Serena! The chant!" She urged the ponytailed girl to do so, and she turned towards her before her eyes went wide slightly in realization.

"Ah, right!" Serena hastily nodded before pointing her hand towards the dark vortex in the middle of the field. "I'll uh, take both monsters and use them to construct the… overlay network?"

And with the declaration of the chant, the black vortex in front of her exploded in a flash of light. "Uh, XYZ Summon!" And she raised her hand high. "A-appear! Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Tiger King!"

And with the chant completed and the dark vortex exploding into light, and from it a monster appeared. Garbed in red and golden armour, and carrying in its right hand a fan, bringing with purple fire, just like the illusionary tiger that stood protectively around the monster itself.

Both she and Serena stared at the monster with slightly widened eyes, this having been the first time they even managed to summon an XYZ Monster, though that might have been since they only did have the one card between the two of them.

Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Tiger King- Fire/Beast-Warrior/XYZ/Rank 4/Effect: 2200/1800 OV: 2

And of course, as the XYZ Monster itself is a Beast-Warrior, it received a boost of attack from the Continuous Spell that she had on her field, the monster shining red slightly after it was summoned.

Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Tiger King - Fire/Beast-Warrior/XYZ/Rank 4/Effect: 2300/1800 OV: 2

"A-an XYZ Summon…" Dennis said his mouth agape as he stared at the XYZ Monster that Serena had managed to summon, seemingly just as shocked as they are as Serena managed to perform such a feat.

She had the same reaction too honestly, though the fact that the monster itself was a Fire Fist card, in what was the same archetype with the Fire Formation spells and traps, the latter being something that she didn't even know existed, brought a few questions of the cards that Yuuna could even make.

She stopped the line of thought before it could devolve, focusing back on the duel, or more correctly reminding Serena who was still looking at her newly summoned monster in wonder that she was still in one. "S-Serena! The monster effect!"

The ponytailed girl's emerald green eyes went wide before she nodded. "R-right! Then I'll activate the effect of Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Tiger King!" She declared with an outstretched hand.

"If this card is XYZ Summoned, I can set one 'Fire Formation' spell or trap directly from my deck!" And saying so, Serena then took out a card directly from her deck and revealed it for the orange haired teen to see.

"I'll set the Continuous Spell, Fire Formation Tensu directly from my deck. And then I'll activate it!" And she immediately activated the card that she set directly from the deck, the Continuous Spell flashing brightly as it was activated.

"While Tensu's face-up on the field, all Beast-Warrior that I have gains another 100 points of attack!" And with that declaration the only monster on her side of the field glowed with a red fiery aura, it's attack points rising once more thanks to the effect of the Continuous Spell.

Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Tiger King - Fire/Beast-Warrior/XYZ/Rank 4/Effect: 2400/1800 OV: 2

"And with Tensu face-up on the field, I can normal summon another Beat-Warrior monster from my hand in addition to my normal summon!" The ponytailed girl explained the Continuous Spell's effect.

"So I'll normal summon Lunalight Kaleido Chick again!" And she immediately summoned back the monster that she had returned with the effect of Lunalight Yellow Marten, the prismatic winged kaleido chick returning back onto the field with a twirl.

Lunalight Kaleido Chick - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1400/800

And with two of those Fire Formation Continuous Spells on her side of the field, the newly summoned monster received a dark purple glow as her attack points were boosted by 200 points.

Lunalight Kaleido Chick - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1600/800

"And I'll activate its effects again!" And with a wave of her hand, she activated the effect of her newly summoned monster. The prismatic winged kaleido chick monster twirling once more as her affect was activated for the second time this turn.

"Bwuh?! That's not a once per turn?!" The orange haired teen said with wide eyes.

"It's a soft once per turn or whatever it's called, it means that as long as it's summoned again I can activate it!" Serena said with a grin as she then took out a card from her deck as the cost of Kaleido Chick's effect.

"This time I'll send Lunalight Purple Butterfly from my deck to the graveyard!" And she sent the card to the graveyard, the butterfly winged monster briefly appearing behind the prismatic winged one, before she immediately then used a graveyard effect, though not of the card that she had just sent. "Now the graveyard effect of Luna Light Perfume!"

"I can banish this card from my graveyard, then discard one card, to add one 'Lunalight' monster from my deck to my hand!" She explained the Spell's graveyard effect before taking a card from her hand and revealing it.

"I'll discard the Continuous Trap, Lunalight Serenade Dance, to add Lunalight Crimson Fox from my deck to my hand!" And discarding the revealed Continuous Trap card for cost, the indigo haired girl added the monster to her hand.

"Ah." She said aloud, mumbling to herself, having quite well realised where exactly her friend was going for with the plays that she was doing. "She's going straight for lethal." She said with a nod.

"And now I'll activate Lunalight Purple Butterfly's effect!" And after adding the monster, Serena started a new chain by activating the graveyard effect of the monster that she had just sent to the graveyard with Kaleido Chick's effect.

"H-hold on! Slow down! I can't catch up with how many effects you're activating!" Dennis said with a rapid wave of his hands, taking out a small book and hastily started to write on it as if taking notes.

But she ignored him as she continued to continue with her combo. "I can banish this card from my graveyard to special summon one 'Lunalight' monster from my hand!" And she took out the card that she had just previously added. 

"I'll special summon Lunalight Crimson Fox that I just added in attack position!" And placing the monster card onto her duel disk's sword projection, and the red tailed fox based Beast-Warrior then appeared, performing a short dance as she was summoned.

Lunalight Crimson Fox - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1800/600

And just like the other monsters that she had summoned up until now, the newly summoned Crimson Fox received an attack boost from the two Continuous Spells that were on the field.

Lunalight Crimson Fox - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 2000/600

"A-another two Level 4 monsters… don't tell me, another XYZ Summon?!" Dennis shouted with wide eyes as he saw Serena summoned another Level 4 monster onto the field, getting enough materials to perform another XYZ Summon.

Not that she could. What with her Extra Deck only having the singular Tiger King and all. "And now I'll activate the graveyard effect of the Continuous Trap, Lunalight Serenade Dance!" So instead she proceeded to activate the effect of the Continuous Trap card that she had discarded for the cost of Luna Light Perfume's graveyard effect.

"There's more?!" The curly haired boy groaned again as he saw Serena activated yet another graveyard effect.

"During my Main Phase, I can banish this card from my graveyard and send one card from my hand to the graveyard, and if I co, I can special summon one 'Lunalight' monster from my deck!" Done with explaining the Continuous Trap's graveyard effect, the ponytailed girl paid the cost.

"I'll discard Lunalight Reincarnation Dance, to special summon Lunalight Blue Cat from my deck in attack position!" And discarding the normal Trap card from her hand, she proceeded to summon a monster directly from her deck. The blue and yellow coloured crescent masked Beast-Warrior appeared with a twirl as she landed onto her side of the field.

Lunalight Blue Cat - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1600/1200

And with the two Continuous Spells on the field, the newly summoned monster was covered in a purple glow as she received an attack boost.

Lunalight Blue Cat - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1800/1200

"And now Lunalight Blue Cat's effect!" Serena continued to declare, activating the monster's on summon effect. "If this card is special summoned, I can target one 'Lunalight' monster I control except 'Lunalight Blue Cat', its attack becomes double its original attack until the end of the turn!"

It was essentially the regular combo that Serena used to use on her Fusion Monsters to quickly defeat her opponent in one turn, but without access to that method of summoning to hide their presence here, though now she needed to jump through several hoops to do so.

"I'll target lunalight Crimson Fox, and double her original attack!" She said with a wave of her hand as she pointed towards the red furred monster, and the blue cat based Beast-Warrior danced around the the monster that she targeted.

Lunalight Crimson Fox - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 3800/600

"3-3800?!" Dennis' eyes went wide as he saw Crimson Fox's original attack being doubled, being boosted to become over the attack of his own Stilts Launcher.

"Battle!" And with a quick wave of her hand, Serena immediately moved on towards her Battle Phase.  "I'll attack your Performage Stilts Launcher with Lunalight Crimson Fox!" And with the command the red tailed Beast-Warrior pounced.

"Oh uh, I'll activate the effect of Performage Damage Juggler in my hand!" The boy said as he revealed the monster card in his hand, activating it at the declaration of attack of all times.

"A hand trap!" Serena hissed as she saw the monster's effect being activated, having seen a monster with similar activation timing being activated before, just like the Swift Scarecrow that was used against them during the tag duel tournament.

"During the Battle Phase, as a Quick Effect, I can discard this card to reduce the next battle damage that I would take to zero!" And as the card was discarded to the graveyard, the ball juggling Spellcaster appeared ahead of him, spreading the floating gloves that were his hands and casting a barrier of energy in front of Dennis.

"Che, but your monster is still destroyed!" Serena said with a click of her tongue, and it was true. As Damage Juggler only prevents him from taking battle damage, the red fox girl still dug her claws into the stilts riding Performage.

"Then I'll activate the effect of One-Shot Wand!" The orange haired teen activated the Equip Spell's effect. "If the equipped monster attacks or is attacked, after damage calculation I can destroy this card, and if I do draw one card!" And he drew back to five cards, and both his monster and Equip Spell were then destroyed, the former by battle and the latter by its own effects.

And after that Equip Spell resolves, the stilts wearing monster was then truly destroyed and shredded into motes of light. But at the end of the Damage Step, Dennis then activated his set card. "Then I'll activate the trap, Trick Box!"

"If a face-up 'Performage' monster I control is destroyed by battle or card effects and sent to the graveyard, I can target one monster that my opponent controls and take control of it until the End Phase! I'll target your Lunalight Crimson Fox! And take control of her!" He said. 

"Wha-!" Serena looked alive with eyes wide as the Lunalight Crimson Fox that had just attacked and destroyed Performage Stilts Launcher jumped onto Dennis' side of the field, her control changing until the end of the turn.

"But wait! There's more! Because then I get to special summon one 'Performage' monster from my graveyard to your side of the field too!" And with that declaration, a giant golden box with question marks appeared, and the stolen Lunalight Red Fox danced around it.

"And with its effect, I'll special summon back the Performage Damage Juggler to your side of the field! One!,Two! Three!" And after a short dramatic que of music, the golden box opened, and on Serena's side of the field, Performage Damage Juggler appeared on defence position.

Performage Damage Juggler - Light/Spellcaster/Level 4/Effect: 1500/1000

Serena clicked her tongue, having her highest attack monster stolen until the end of the turn, she couldn't even deal any damage since she doesn't have anything that could even go over said Crimson Fox. "Che. I'll set a card, and I'll end my turn." One card left in her hand, Serena passed her turn with a set card and a board full of monsters.

She couldn't XYZ Summon with the Performage Damage Juggler much to her dismay even though her field was filled with Level 4 monsters, since she doesn't have any other XYZ Monsters on her Extra Deck, but they're really expensive, and they had to pile whatever DP they have to even buy the one.

And out of the two of them Serena needed it more. Even if she did have an XYZ Monster that she was eyeing, a Gear Gigant X that would have boosted the consistency of her Machina deck and easily summonable too with what her Machina deck could do.

But Serena didn't have multiple decks like she and Yuuna do. And with how her deck fully relies on her Fusion Monsters unlike what she could do with her Machina deck, she really does need one more.

And she knew for sure that it would also boost her deck's own consistency when mashed with her own Fusion Monsters. What with it basically being able to search for any of the monsters in her deck by setting a Tenki directly onto the field and all.

And as the turn has ended, the attack boost that was given to Lunalight Crimson Fox by Lunalight Blue Cat then faded, the crimson maned fox girl's attack returning to what it originally was, added in with the boost from the two Fire Formations 

Lunalight Crimson Fox - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 2000/600

And the two monsters that were essentially switched with Dennis' Trick Box was then returned back to their proper owners. Serena's Lunalight Crimson Fox returning right next to her Blue Cat with a leap, while Performage Damage Juggler floated towards Dennis.

"Alright! Then it's my turn! I'll draw!" And with that declaration, Dennis then started his turn. With three cards in hand, the orange haired teen immediately took out a card from his hand and started his play.

"I'll normal summon Performage Trick Clown!" And with a flair of dramatics, he placed the monster card onto his duel blade. And the purple clad smiling clown appeared on Dennis' side of the field, performing a hand stand on a small rubber ball with a question mark staff on his other hand.

Performage Trick Clown - Light/Spellcaster/Level 4/Effect: 1600/1200

"Two Level 4s!" Serena hissed as she saw Dennis assemble two Level 4 monsters on his side of the field, giving him enough materials to overlay and XYZ Summon an XYZ Monster onto his side of the field.

And sure enough, he does. "Yep! I'll overlay the Level 4 Performage Damage Juggler, and the Level 4 Performage Trick Clown!" And with that declaration, the two monsters turned into two golden balls of light that entered the dark vortex in the middle of the field, one that exploded in sparkling lights.

"Show must go on! O magician of illusions, take to the stage!" And from the galactic spiral in front of him exploded into light, a baton flew, spinning in the air, before seemingly righting itself midair as two yellow ropes of light appeared on both ends. With the sound of an ominous giggle, a purple figure of energy seemed to manifest as it swung using said baton.

"XYZ Summon!" Dennis declared, as the pillar of light dissipated, and the monster full manifested. "Appear! Performage Trapeze Magician!" And the XYZ Monster then made its way onto the field, a white clad magicians with light purple cape and decorations, along with golden trims and stars adorning its hat, on its left hand was the baton it used to swing above them, and two golden Overlay Materials orbited the monster.

Performage Trapeze Magician - Light/XYZ/Spellcaster/Rank 4/Effect: 2500/2000 OV: 2

"I'll activate Trapeze Magician effect!" He declared immediately right after he had just summoned his monster, and the XYZ Monster in question twirled the small baton in their hand.

"Once per turn, during either player's Main Phase, I can detach one XYZ Material from this card to target one face-up monster on the field, and it can make a second attack during each Battle Phase this turn!" Dennis explained his own monster's effect.

"But at the end of the Battle Phase, if that monster doesn't attack twice this turn, then that monster is then destroyed! I'll target my own Performage Trapeze Magician!"And the Spellcaster did just that, swinging its small baton in this cramped space to take one of its own Overlay Units. 

Performage Trapeze Magician - Light/XYZ/Spellcaster/Rank 4/Effect: 2500/2000 OV: 1

"And then, I'll activate the effect of Performage Damage Juggler in my graveyard!" He said with a wink, activating the graveyard effect of Perfrormage Damage Juggler that he had somehow gotten into the graveyard.

"That's-!" Serena started with narrowed eyes, and she finished for her.

"The monster that he detached from Performage Trapeze Magician!" She noted as she opened her own duel disk to check the cards that were currently on the field. And saw the Performage Damage Juggler on the orange haired teen's graveyard right after he detached the card from his XYZ Monster.

"I can banish this card from my graveyard, to add one 'Performage' monster from my deck to my hand, except another copy of 'Performage Damage Juggler'!" He explained the monster's graveyard effect, and she narrowed her eyes on that.

"A search graveyard effect…" Something similar to Serena's own Luna Light Perfume that she had activated on her turn earlier, but without the cost. And that's not even mentioning how the monster itself has a hand trap effect that prevents battle damage too.

"I'll add Performage Hat Tricker from my deck to my hand!" He said as he took out the card directly from his deck and added it to his hand, shuffling his now three cards hand before revealing the monster that he had just added,

"And since there are two or more monsters on the field, I get to special summon Performage Hat Tricker from my hand!" And with another innate summoning condition, he proceeded to summon the monster from his hand in defence position, the magical hat floating alongside the XYZ Monster.

Performage Hat Tricker - Earth/Spellcaster/Level 4/Effect: 1100/1100

"And now, battle!" The curly haired boy declared with a wide smile, he grabbed his XYZ Monster's hand and they both flew high. The people around the park turned towards them as they saw Dennis perform the feat with the help of his Trapeze Magician.

"I'll attack your Lunalight Kaleido Chick!" He shouted aloud and pointed towards her monster before he let go of Trapeze Magician's hand and into a free fall earning gasps and shouts from their surprisingly large audience. Only for his other monster, Hat Tricker, to catch him in his floating gloved hand right in the nick of time.

All the while the XYZ Monster in question performed twirls and spins in the sky above, and with the purple and golden baton suspended in the air, the red caped monsters spun before launching itself to strike her monster.

"Then I'll activate my set card!" Serena declared, flipping her own set card in the Damage Step mere seconds before the attack struck, and the card was flipped face-up. "The Continuous Trap, Fire Formation - Tensen!" 

And the Continuous Trap shone, with Serena hurriedly explaining its effects as Trapeze Magician almost reached its target. "When Fire Formation - Tensen is activated, I can target one Beast-Warrior-Type monster I control, and give it 700 points of attack!" 

And of course, she targeted the monster that was being attacked. Pointing towards the prismatic winged Kaleido Chick with her right hand. "I'll target Lunalight Kaleido Chick, and give it 700 additional attack points!" And the monster glowed with purple energy as her attack was boosted.

Lunalight Kaleido Chick - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 2300/800

"But that's still lower than Trapeze Magician!" Dennis shouted as he flipped from the arms of Hat Tricker and landed onto the ground on his feet, and the XYZ Monster's attack finally struck, sparks of light shining as it was blocked by the two batons held by Kaleido Chick.

"But that's not all!" Serena roared. "With Fire Formation - Tensen face-up, all Beast-Warrior-Type monsters I control gain another 300 attack!" And with another purple glow, Kaleido Chick's attack rose once again.

"Wha-!" Dennis shouted with wide eyes as he saw it happen. What with Kaleido Chick's attack rising, along with the other monsters on Serena's side of the field that fits the category of Beast-Warrior.

Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Tiger King - Fire/Beast-Warrior/XYZ/Rank 4/Effect: 2700/1800 OV: 2

Lunalight Kaleido Chick - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 2600/800

Lunalight Crimson Fox - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 2300/600

Lunalight Blue Cat - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 2100/1200

Dennis' eyes went wide as he saw that now boosted by the multiple Continuous Spells, and the one Continuous Trap, Kaleido Chick's attack now was ever so slightly higher that his own. "Trapeze Magician!" He shouted his monster's name.

And with a girlish roar, the small batons wielding Beast-Warrior managed to push back the XYZ Monster, and even followed up her parry with an attack of her own. Destroying the attacking monster and turning it into golden motes of light.

"Guah!" Dennis shouted as he held both of his hands up to protect himself from the small gust of wind that the clash of solid vision made, losing a tiny bit of Life Points from the exchange of attacks.

Dennis McField: 3900LP

He scowled "Trapeze Magician effect! And I'll also activate the effect of Performage Trick Clown in my graveyard!" He said, chaining the effects of the two monsters that was apparently sent to the graveyard, having kept Trick Clown as the last Overlay Material on his XYZ Monster as he had sent Performage Damage Juggler to the graveyard earlier.

"If Performage Trick Clown is sent to the graveyard, I can target one 'Performage' monster in my graveyard and special summon it! Though its attack and defence becomes 0, that, and I take 1000 damage." He explained the card's effects

"I'll special summon back Performage Stilts Launcher back onto the field!" And quickly taking the card from his graveyard slot of his duel disk, he placed the monster card back onto his duel blade, and the stilts riding monster then appeared onto his side of the field.

Performage Stilts Launcher - Earth/Spellcaster/Level 6/Effect: 2200/0

And the monster's attack then was reduced down to zero, what with it being summoned by the effects of Performage Trick Clown and all, though its defence didn't change at all since it was zero from the start.

Performage Stilts Launcher - Earth/Spellcaster/Level 6/Effect: 0/0

And he then received a good one thousand points of damage from summoning that monster, the demerit of freely summoning back a monster with the effects of Performage Trick Clown. "Yeowch!" He yelped.

Dennis McField: 2900LP

"It doesn't activate?!" He shouted aloud, looking back and forth at his newly summoned monster that was brought back thanks to Performage Trick Clown, and his Perfrormage Hat Tricker.

"W-wait, this happened before! Agh! It's a when effect! Oh no! I forgot!" The orange haired teen dramatically screamed as he held his head with both of his hands, crying in clearly faked agony, though she couldn't really tell what with knowing how it feels to actually missplay and all.

"Aaaah, anyway! Trapeze Magician's effect! If this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the graveyard, or if this card in my possession is destroyed by an opponent's card effect and sent to my graveyard, I can special summon one 'Performage' monster from my deck!" He explained the XYZ Monster's floating effect, trying to regain back momentum and ignore the missplay that he had just done.

And does so by taking a card directly from his deck, and revealing it for both of them to see. "I'll special summon a second Performage Stilts Launcher!" And placing the card onto his duel blade, a second exact copy of the stilts riding Performage appeared on his side of the field.

Performage Stilts Launcher - Earth/Spellcaster/Level 6/Effect: 2200/0

And Serena's eyes then widened as she saw what exactly had he done. "Two Level 6 monsters!" And her eyes went wide as well as she saw the exact thing that the orange haired teen had done, managing to get two of the same high levelled monsters onto his field.

"Hehe, exactly! But before that I'll attack with my newly summoned Performage Stilts Launcher! Go! Attack Lunalight Blue Cat!" And with a mere difference of 100 attack points, the newly summoned Stilts Launcher managed to overwhelm Serena's monster, shooting both of its stilts towards the blue cat Beast-Warrior.

"Che!" The indigo haired girl grunted as she raised both of her hands in a defensive position, protecting herself from the gust of wind that the attack gave out. Clicking her tongue as her Life Points was reduced very slightly from the attack.

Serena: 3900LP

"And now all my monster's attacks are lower…" The teen muttered and scratched his cheek, a hint of annoyance in his face though his smile never seemed to falter."But that won't matter after this!"

With a large beaming smile, he raised his right hand up towards the sky above, and began to chant his summoning chant. "And now, I'll overlay the two Level 6 Performage Stilts Launcher!"

"Another XYZ Summon!" Serena hissed as she readied herself for the upcoming new XYZ Monster that the orange haired teen was going to go and summon. Narrowing her eyes as she prepared to face whatever monster that Dennis was going to summon.

Only for nothing to come up. No dark galactival vortex appearing, nor none of his monsters turning into motes of light.

"Eh?" Dennis said aloud dumbly, blinking a few times and staring at his monsters with a confused look on her face. They too did the same, Serena even lowering her guard that she had raised to stare at her opponent with a eyes narrowed in confusion.

"EEEEEH?! I don't have a Rank 6 monster?!" And Dennis then shouted such a line aloud with both of his hands placed on his head for the second time of the game, screaming into the high heavens and making a few of their now growing spectators giggle.

"I-I guess I'll end my turn then…" And the orange haired boy then dejectedly ended his turn with his shoulders slumped as the energy seemed to have left his body. Two cards still remain in his hands and three monsters still on his side of the field.

And with the turn ending, the temporary boost that Lunalight Kaleido Chick received disappeared, its attack going down to what it originally once was, but with the extra 500 attack point boost that it received from the continuous effects of Tenki, Tensu, and Tensen still lingered with it.

Lunalight Kaleido Chick - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1900/800

"T-then it's my turn, I guess. I'll draw!" Two cards in hand, Serena then started her turn once more, briefly perusing the cards that she had on hand before nodding and deciding on her play for the turn.

"I'll activate the effect of Lunalight Kaleido Chick!" She declared for a start, waving a hand towards the prismatic winged batons wielding Lunalight monster on her field. "I'll send another Lunalight purple Butterfly from my deck to the graveyard. And I'll activate its effect!"

And she proceeded to show the card that she would send for the cost of the monster's effect. "I will send to my graveyard, another copy of Lunalight Purple Butterfly!" And sending the monster from her deck to the graveyard, Kaliedo Chick then was treated as said monster for the rest of the turn, a ghostly figure of said monster appearing briefly behind it.

"I'll banish Purple Butterfly from my graveyard, to special summon another Lunalight Blue Cat from my hand in attack position!" And taking out a card from her hand, Serena then placed it on her duel disk's sword projection, and a second copy of the masked blue cat appeared onto her side of the field.

Lunalight Blue Cat - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1600/1200

And the monster then glowed with a purple glow of energy, being boosted just like every other Beast-Warrior on her side of the field what with her having the two Continuous Spells and the one Continuous Trap that boosts their attacks and all. 

Lunalight Blue Cat - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 2100/1200

"And since it's special summoned, Lunalight Blue Cat's effects activates!" Serena said so with a wide grin, intending to once more push for lethal. "I'll double the original attack of Lunalight Crimson Fox!"

And with that declaration the newly summoned Blue Cat then danced around the red fox based Lunalight monster, said monster then shining brightly as her original attack was then doubled.

Lunalight Crimson Fox - Dark/Beast-Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 4100/600

"4-4100!" Dennis did a double take with eyes as wide as dinner plates as he saw how large the Level 4 monster's attack has become through the multitude of effects that boosted it. Having far gone through the 3000 threshold and even reaching over 4000 points of attack.

"Battle!" And without further ado, Serena immediately went on towards the Battle Phase, intending to of course close the game.

"I'll attack your Performage Stilts Launcher with Lunalight Crimson Fox!" And it attacked the second copy of Performage Stilts Launcher, the one that was summoned onto the field by the graveyard effect of Performage Trapeze Magician and was in attack position.

The attack hits true, and the stilts riding Performage could do nothing against the claws of the strengthened Crimson Fox, shredding the Spelllcaster into shreds of light and creating a large solid vision explosion that dealt a large chunk of damage to Dennis. "Gwak!" 

Dennis McField: 1000LP

"And I'll attack your other Performage Stilts Launcher with my Lunalight Blue Cat!" Not giving him a single moment of reprieve, Serena continued her onslaught by sending her second monster to attack.

"Whoa!" The orange haired boy yelped as the Performage Stilts Launcher which was brought back by Trick Clown was also easily destroyed, making the dueltainer in training gulp as he was left with a single monster left on his field.

"And Lunalight Kaleido Chick will attack your Performage Hat Tricker!" And with another wave of her hand, the indigo haired girl sent her monster to attack. And with a flap of her prismatic wings, the monster attacked.

And with the strike of her two batons, the hat wearing Spellcaster was easily destroyed. "Uh oh. This is uh… getting pretty bad isn't it?" Dennis gulped as he laughed nervously, staring down right at the singular menacing XYZ Monster which still hasn't attacked with a field clear of cards.

"And I'll attack you directly with Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Tiger King to finish the game!" And with that, Serena sent her last monster out for a direct attack. The Beast-Warrior XYZ Monster let out a war cry before it waved its burning fan, and the giant flaming tiger behind it struck.

And too bad for the orange haired boy, he didn't have anything to protect himself from it, and took the direct attack. "GUHAAAAAH!" He shouted loudly as he was thrown back from the force of the solid vision's hit, and reduced what remained of his Life Points to close out the game.

Dennis McField: 0LP

And with that the duel has ended.

-

And with her winning the match, Serena ;ets out a huff of satisfaction before turning off her duel disk. And turned around as she heard the footsteps and turned to look at her red hat-wearing companion walking towards her, pushing through the crowd of people that gathered around them.

Huh, she didn't notice that there were this many people watching their duel. "Guess that entertainment dueling of his was worth something after all." She muttered as she focused down on Mei.

"So, you're satisfied now?" The purple haired girl grumbled out as she glared at her, her arms crossed and chest puffed out, not to mention that she was pouting. 

She glanced briefly to her opponent to see him being swarmed by children of all ages, all looking up towards him with awe in their eyes as he handled them all with a smile. She turned to look out towards friend, and huffed, then proceeded to mimic what she remembered Yuuna would do whenever she sees Mei acting like this.

She took out her right hand and ruffled the smaller girl's hair, pulling her hat and taking it for herself. Her eyes widened by a mere fraction as the purple haired girl squeaked under her hand, and she slowly closed her eyes as she kept ruffling Mei's hair.

"Soft." She muttered as she kept ruffling the girl's hair, and though the girl in question kept complaining, even trying to pry her hand off of her hair, she persisted. No wonder Yuuna liked to do this, Mei's hair was incredibly soft.

"Stop it already!" Mei eventually shouted out and pushed her hands off of her hair, taking a step back and glaring holes at her. All while she simply stared at her hand and longingly stared back at Mei's hair, which she protected by placing a hand over her head.

The crowd giggled at their interaction, and Mei's face turned as red as a tomato, it was quite interesting to see. The girl quickly snatched back the red hat from her hand and hastily put it on over her head.

"Why did you do that!" The smaller girl hissed at her. "What if one of them was in the crowds!" She said while looking left and right at the now dispersing crowd as the duel that they were watching was over.

"Huh. Didn't think about that." Then again, she didn't really think much about those kinds of things. It was why she was quite glad that she ended up here with Mei, she certainly thinks about those kinds of things more than she does. 

But still, even if they do find them she has some ideas that she had thought of from the display of Dennis' entertainment dueling. Running away on one of their monsters sounds like something plausible with what she'd just seen after all.

Her thoughts drifted back to the opponent that she had defeated, or more specifically his way of dueling, the entertainment dueling, the way he used his… Performage Trapeze Magician if she remembers correctly.

It was solid vision at its finest, a full blown holographic image containing weight and mass. Using it to the best of its abilities in a way that she hadn't thought of before, maybe in a way no one other than his apparent teacher, this Sakaki Yusho has ever thought of.

She smiled slightly and raised her head to look at the wide blue sky. "The world sure is wide." Well, worlds would probably be the correct terms since they had learnt of this in a whole other dimension, but she was sure that the saying still holds true.

"What are you talking about?" Mei asked as she looked at her strangely, clearly still looking miffed at what she had done earlier while still warily looking all around her to spot the hidden Academia spy, and shook her head.

"It's nothing." She said, her own eyes scanning to look for people in the crowds acting unnaturally, not that she could really spot them with her not knowing what people normally do unlike Mei, and opted to instead search for escape routes.

And really, integrating the many ways that she and Mei could possibly do with the use of solid vision just like how Dennis had shown them earlier really does open up so many escape routes. It certainly helps that she has experience of thinking of such with how frequently she sneaked out of her room to meet the others and that one time she escaped the Academia to go to Academy Island.

But still, the idea of using the mass of solid vision brought up the more unpleasant ways of using them. The ways that now that she thought of it, had always been more encouraged during her time in the Professor's care.

As mere tools of violence. Weapons to hurt and harm others. A weapon to destroy and used to invade a whole dimension for the sake of a goal that the leader himself has never properly explained.

Just like how Yuri's Starving Venom and his other Fusion Monster once threw Fubuki and Ryo out of the ring, or how the Obelisk Blues Chaos Ancient Gear Giant could do the same and even morph the environment around it when it was summoned as it stands as the embodiment of destruction with its towering frame, she knows that there are some cards that affect solid vision differently.

Most, if not all of the cards that people would use would only manifest a solid hologram with a bit of mass behind them, just enough to create gusts of winds to create realistic attacks, to give out a sense of danger.

Though the latter was also given out by how the duel disks would give a light shock whenever one loses Life Points, and the threat of carding always resigned above those that face against the Academia.

She's seen it of course, she's seen many students in the Academia duel with wild fervor, all but throwing themselves against one another to claw out a victory like savages. All to prove themselves to others, to the Professor.

She herself had once been blinded like them after all, desiring an apt challenge, a challenge that would prove herself to the Professor, she had blindly challenged anyone and everyone that she can, with herself coming off as the victor more often than not.

And then Yuuna came along and everything changed.

She got off track, she shook her head to clear her thoughts back to the interesting use of solid vision that her enemy had used. A positive way of using them. As a way of entertainment, to awe and dazzle others, she herself included. 

And speaking of the orange haired boy.

She turned around to thank the curly haired teen for the duel, she certainly had learnt a lot from it. What with it being the first time that she even managed to perform an XYZ Summon, and learning a more practical use of solid vision.

Only to find that the spot that her opponent had once taken to be empty. Filled with only empty air as a light gust of air rustled the blades of grass around the park that they were on. She turned her head left and right in search of the teen, only to find nothing.

"Where'd he go?" She asked with a frown, and Mei soon noticed that their resident dueltainer in training had gone missing, and followed suit to look around to find him, but to no avail.

She clicked her tongue in displeasure as she frowned. Annoying. She had thought that she could have thanked him for the match, perhaps asking for another one for him to show more of this 'entertainment dueling' style of his to learn more interesting ways of using solid vision, but it seems that she couldn't.

But still, she now has something interesting that she could follow up on. And though she doesn't know if it's a method that would make her stronger, it would certainly be beneficial one way or another.

"We're going." She said bluntly to Mei, who snapped her head to turn towards her, and without giving the smaller girl any explanation, she started to walk. The purple haired girl shouted something before rushing along to follow her, and she held a smile.

She had someone to find and challenge, a Sakaki Yusho if she heard his name right. A teacher in the Heartland Dueling School.

If Dennis was but a mere apprentice in the art and managed to do that, then she wondered what a true entertainment duelist could do with solid vision?

And how she could use it as her own weapon against Academia.

-

"They're crazy. Every single one of them is crazy!" Dennis hissed as for the second time in a day, he was running for his life. He was glad, extremely, extremely glad that the crowd that watched them crowded over him, it essentially lets him sneak away from them straight into a sea of people.

And though his choice of clothing was most definitely one that would stick like a sore thumb, though not by much with the amount of eccentric people wearing eccentric clothes in Heartland, he assured himself that his ability to blend in was enough for him to escape the purple haired duo.

That's it. He's listening to the commander now. He's not going to leave the base for an entire week. No matter what anyone says.