Bird Sanctuary

To say that the kingdom under the guise of an academy that was the Academia was in chaos would be both an understatement and an overstatement.

The sheer chaos that that girl who goes under the moniker of Red Hat, Yuuna he believed her name was, and the destruction that she had brought onto his veritable fortress and its inner sanctum was almost unsalvageable.

The good Doctor, the worm that he kept by his side for his sheer brilliance and intelligence alone, had been livid at what she had done. She had cost him years of research, and he had kept himself from scoffing at his sheer inadequacy of keeping his method of research and their results on scraps of paper, wanting to hoard whatever findings to himself.

An utter fool, that man. In spite of his brilliance, the man was an utter worm who refuses the path of progress and hoarding to himself, it was no wonder that he had found the man searching for scarps cursing his superiors for belittling his genius.

Now that same man was performing his immoral research with mad fervour, driven by rage for the sake of revenge aimed at a girl not even half his age. Only now after he had lost everything he had worked for did he even consider the thought of working alongside others.

And she had revealed the existence of his hidden trump cards, the Pendulums were something that this dimension was not prepared for. His own set was hand crafted to face against Z-ARC, and made as a last resort for him to face against non-Pendulum users. Something that he doubted he would see as their existence was all erased alongside Z-ARC himself.

Its existence had brought the entirety of the Fusion Dimension into an uproar, the fact that he had kept this entire summoning mechanic a secret had brought many of the dueling academies that he had connections with to side against him like the damned opportunist hyenas that they are, biting the hands that had once fed them.

With their existence now out in the limelight, there was no doubt that those card designers in this dimensions Industrial Illusions would attempt to make their own, and should they be spread across the world, then his already waning iron grip on the dueling world would falter.

The girl's video had already shot down his reputation and brought the ire of the entirety of the Fusion Dimension, not even the many moles and agents releasing as many of the dark secrets and blackmail material that they had over the other dueling schools could bury that story from the limelight.

And now Academia was the number one enemy of the Fusion Dimension, with many attempts of retaking and raiding both the Academia and Academy Island being done in collaboration with the other dueling academies. 

As his thoughts wandered to the attacks that had assaulted his veritable fortress, he gazed at the masked subordinate below his throne and spoke. "Report." He said simply, and the masked Obelisk Force straightened his posture.

"Sir! We have managed to repel the attack from the Southern Academy." So the agent said as he gave a salute, opening his report with the simple conclusion of the entirety of the report.

"Good." He nodded, his eyes moving slightly towards one of the panels that glowed beside his throne.

Though most showed the restoration progress on the machine behind him, and the many other facilities of the Academia that had been destroyed by that girl's raid, or the subsequent assault launched by the other dueling schools, or the many other projects that are working behind the scenes, this one showed a map of the entire world, of the entire dimension.

Dotted with red dots, large ones in numbers which he could count with his hands, and smaller ones scattered all around the world.

They all represent duelling schools, both esteemed and not, and with his affiliation and goals now revealed to the world, many became his enemies.

So he simply crushed those that he could under his heel. It was a reason why the small red dots that represented the smaller, less established dueling schools had disappeared from the map entirely. Absorbed into the larger whole that was his Academia.

The Southern Academy has several strong duelists under their command. None were strong enough to single handedly stop his operations, unlike that girl who had thrown a wrench in his grand scheme, but they could certainly put him behind schedule.

The longer he spends his time dealing with the pests that the rest of the Fusion Dimension has become the longer he gives time for Z-ARC to amass back his power.

"They had started their assault at the western front of the Academia. We assume that their goals were to liberate the duelists that we have captured from the assault the week prior, whom we had handed to the hands of the Doctor and his company." The Obelisk Force agent continued.

"So their focus was the laboratory then." He concluded with a nod. With that girl's rampage reaching its highest point in the laboratory due to the Doctor's goading, it was efficient for them to focus repairs there. Of course, second to the reparations that are done to the machine.

"As you said, Professor." The masked teen said with a nod, agreeing to his conclusion. "Their Southern Academy forces were made of 50 duelists, led by five elite duelists. An elite team made an infiltration attempt to break out the captured duelists."

He kept silent, there was no need for him to speak, and the Obelisk Force agent continued. "Their attempt was met and thwarted by Dr. Kagemaru's elite seven, the Seven Star Assassins."

Ah, yes. Those seven elite duelists that that man, the esteemed Dr. Kagemaru, had brought with him. Though he had truly only brought six duelists with him, what with the seventh being formerly one of his own that had defected. 

He disliked the name that they had chosen. He had preferred the name Shadow Riders that one of them had suggested. The term 'assassins' in their names implies that they kill their targets, where at most what they do is simply enslave them with mind control or card them in preparations to use their life force for the greater good.

"The clash of the two forces has resulted in… some collateral damage. But nothing permanently damaging to the laboratory or anyone in it. And though the majority of their forces has managed to retreat, we have managed to capture four of their five elite duelists." So the Obelisk Force said, finishing his report.

"Take those that we captured to the Doctor." He said nonchalantly, never turning away from the screen in front of him as his focus on the matter dwindled as he turned towards the other panels showing the progress on the machine's restoration. Raising his hand off from the armrest of his throne to regard the Obelisk Force reporting to him. "We shall put his and Kagemaru's collaborative work to a test."

Receiving his order, the masked teen gave him another salute. "Yes, Professor!" And proceeded to leave his sight, leaving him once more with only the workers that continued to fix the grand machine, integral to his plan.

His lips twitched as it formed into a frown, as he, the Professor, rested on his throne overlooking the many researchers and technicians working over fixing the device that was integral to his final goal, his mind continued to drift towards the effect that that girl had over the Academia as a whole.

Thanks to the Doctor's recent collaboration with the many colleagues he now had, both willing and many unwilling, the chaos that had erupted both in his own fortress and the front that was Academy Island had been quelled, he deduced that the mass mind control that the man had developed was not nearly as strong as the Parasites that he had crafted, but the Mass Hypnosis, no matter how temporary it is, had managed to control the damage the girl had done to their morale, and kept those of the Academia still in the dark.

But the Doctor's Mass Hypnosis had not affected everyone, several cases had managed to break through them, snapping out of the mind control that they had developed.

The Red Hat Brigade was a thorn in his side, the fact that measly orphans who had managed to escape Academy Island had managed to reach several dueling academies and out several of his agents was a shame, but not something that he could take care off in his current position.

The rebellion led by Ryo Marufuji, Fubuki Tenjoin, and… Yusho Sakaki was expected, though the latter having even managed to find his way into this dimension was something that was outside of his calculations. 

He had not expected to face off with his old friend, not so soon that is. Their eventual clash was all but fated as he had taken in one of his fragmented piece to raise as his own son, it was only logical that he took this as an opportunity to take the man that was one of Standard's best duelists out of the picture before he could make a larger impact on his plan.

And yet… he had let him go.

Again the frown on his face deepened, unknowingly making those who worked around him to shiver and perform their focus more on their duties.

He had known, from the very day that he had regained his lost memories of a world before that he and Yusho would oppose one another. Why wouldn't he, for he had not known the true scale of the atrocity that was Z-ARC, the monster that his son would become, the monster that he and his wife had raised for years.

It would break his heart, surely, to know that both he and his wife had poured all that love and affection to that of a heartless monster that would raze the world for entertainment, a defilement of all that he stands for.

But the moment had passed, the opportunity was now gone. There was nothing that he could do to bid for Yusho's loyalty, for the friendship that they once had, especially not after all that he has seen him done in this dimension recently. Not with what he had become.

But he did what he did because he had to. He did all of this, everything that he has and will do, is all for her sake. A bid to get her back, and an attempt to prevent his resurrection. 

And if he ever is resurrected, then he already has his contingencies. He has a way to stop him. Those four cards kept deep in the most secure place in the Academia that none but himself knows are his way of making sure that he won't wreak havoc once more.

Moments after his thoughts began to wander with his dismissal of the Obelisk Force agent that had reported to him, another one took his place. This one however seemed far more nervous than the one that came before.

And he didn't speak, simply growing meek and silent under his gaze. He frowned. "Speak." So he said, and the Obelisk Force operative flinched under the mask that he made them wear.

"I-I am here to report on the XYZ Dimension front, Professor." The young operative said with a stutter, his voice filled with anxiety and nervousness. 

"Speak." He ordered, leaning his head on a hand that rested on the arm of his throne. The XYZ front that the one in front of him mentioned was of course, the advanced party that he sent to scout out for his… target, that lies in that dimension.

Though with the recent debacle that still was in the forefront of the minds of any and all agents of the Academia, an additional assignment was given to all operatives of the advanced scout party across the three other dimensions. And that is of course, to search for the traitors that had dared to leave the Academia, along with the hunt for that girl.

Not that he thought any of the members of the advanced scout party could even hold a candle to that girl, let alone dream of defeating her with how easily she had managed to wipe the floor with the strongest Obelisk Forces under his command.

"W-we've received reports from one of our spies! Its about uh-the-" The operative said as he straightened his back, though his eyes clearly saw the shaking of his legs. Once more the agent shrinked under his gaze, stuttering and failing to convey his words.

"And what is it?" He demanded again with narrowed eyes, and the masked Obelisk Force jolted.

"I-we-we have reports that we have encountered the Red Reaper!"

And as the words left the masked teen's lips, all work seemed to stop as if frozen. The focus of any and all that were supposed to work on repairing the machine behind him shifted to the Obelisk Force operative that stood rigidly in the middle of his throne room.

With a stern frown, his hands both laid firmly on the arm of his throne, he leaned forwards as his gaze, the multiple glowing floating panels of plans and reports disregarded as he focused on the singular teen who tried not to squirm under his gaze. 

"Inform me of all that happened. Spare no details."

And the teen hurriedly spat any and all of the things that he knew, and the Professor listened with rapt attention.

-

A swipe of her duel disk was all that was needed to unlock the lock that was placed on the door, though her mind wandered once more at how extremely multifunctional the device was, her thoughts focused back as she met a pair of golden eyes.

"Oh! You're back." Anna said with a genuine smile, the pink haired girl who was watching over the sleeping forms of Allen, Sayaka, and Myu turned around and greeted her. "It was raining cats and dogs out there, you good-wha! You're drenched!?"

"I'm fine, thank you. Though I did get a little wet from the rain." She replied with a nod, closing her eyes as she enjoyed the brief stint of peace, something that she'll most likely won't feel anytime soon with the Quest that probably will have her go around the city like a headless chicken trying to find people with incredibly specific cards.

"I got some food at least." So she said as she raised the plastic bag filled with take out, a simple pre-heated meal that she usually buys at the convenience store. 

"Though they're probably cold at this point." She said wryly. The food had been warm just a bit ago, but since the stint with the Numbers Hunter and having to duel him, though not much time passed, enough did for it to get cold.

"Eh, I'll take anything at this point. I'm hungry!" Anna shrugged as she took the plastic bag, taking its contents and digging through it.

"Well, you can go ahead and eat." Saying so she hung her signature red hat and hung the now wet jacket on the hook rack behind the door. "I'm going to take a bath. And I'll probably have to wash these too…"

"Werl, anch't wou gwad I cuhhested wou bwuy moar dan won wacket." The pink haired girl said as she kept chewing her food, getting garbled words out of her mouth.

"... please chew your food before you start talking." She said as she kept her eyes off the girl who merely grinned as she kept chowing down, letting out a sigh as she entered her bathroom and took a shower.

Soon enough she was out of the shower, a towel draped over her head as her still damp hair hung over her shoulder, dressed in a simple plain white t-shirt and shorts, her stomach growling as her hunger was made known to the world 

"Ugh, guess that's what I get for missing lunch…" She groaned as she slumped, exhaustion of the entire day's events caught up to her. It felt even worse than those many times that she worked for unpaid overtime in her life before.

"You're… really hungry huh?" Anna remarked as she glanced at her, before hurriedly turning around to grab one of the boxed meals that she brought and shoved it towards her. "G-go and eat something already! Geez, why didn't you eat while you were getting food…"

"Well I didn't want you to wait for long." She answered as she graciously took the box off of the cherry haired girl's hand. Sitting beside Anna as the room was already as cramped as it is, then she dug in.

The small room was devoid of idle chatter, the two still awake red heads fell into a comfortable silence as one of them took their time to fill their stomach while the other watched over their sleeping friends, occasionally sending glances to the other.

Not long after, there was no more food left in the boxed container that she had bought, and she closed and threw the empty box towards the trash can at the corner of the room, something that was slowly but surely filled up. 

She'll have to set up a reminder to empty that tomorrow morning. That's when the cleaning droids come by the apartment, and it should probably be around the time where she would go out and buy breakfast anyway.

"So." The girl beside her said, apparently having waited for her to finish eating her dinner before starting to talk.

"So." She replied back, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath before letting it out, calming herself down. "Ask away." Then once again she reviewed what questions that Anna would possibly ask, and the answers that she would give to answer them.

She wanted to answer them all truthfully. Truly, she did. But with the possible danger that lay in wait along with the danger that they were already facing, she didn't want to weigh her friend with even more burdens that shouldn't concern her, at least not right now.

Her metallic grey eyes met Anna's own molten gold, and their gazes locked to one another for several seconds. Before the cherry haired girl then huffed air off of her nose and broke off their stares, turning her head around to glance once more at the sleeping forms of their friends.

"I'll ask tomorrow." She said, "As much as I want to hear an explanation on what happened and what you know about all this Number stuff, it'll be annoying to hear your explanation twice."

She blinked, once more repeating the words that left Anna's mouth in her head, then sent a smile her way. "I see." She said as they once more fell into silence, neither of them talked as the rain continued to pellet the window.

"Also, why's your hair still wet." Then the conversation began once more as Anna pointed towards her still damp hair. "Didn't you dry it properly? Don't you have like, a hair dryer or something?"

"Uh, no. I don't." She said as she nervously looked away, fiddling with her still damp hair. "Never really thought of buying one really." Having kept a short hair in her previous life and having been raised in a relatively poor orphanage in this one, having something like a hair dryer never crossed her mind, especially when there were better uses for DP like buying food or cards.

"What!? You're supposed to be loaded aren't you!?" The cherry haired girl cried out as she inched closer, and she kept averting her gaze. "Don't tell me that you blew all those DPs into buying more cards!?"

A memory of her immediately spending the DP that she had gotten from the Quest to essentially give a boost for the definitely still unknown Numbers Hunter flashed to the forefront of her mind. "... no?" She weakly answered.

"You definitely did, didn't you." The girl groaned stating that as a fact and not a question as she held her head in her hands, and she could feel the flush of embarrassment rush to her head.

"I-I had a good reason!" She argued back. 

And Anna raised an eyebrow as their gazer met. "Yeah? And that reason was?"

"Uh…" She trailed off as she thought of what answer she should give to the cherry haired girl. To strengthen the duelist that could possibly help her in her Quest? To help an already good duelist to be stronger when the eventual Fusion Dimension invasion? 

"... a gift?" She answered weakly, and in some ways the Number monsters that she had gotten from opening a load of packs from her Shop was in some way, a gift. If you squint your eyes hard enough.

The gaze that Anna gave her was enough to reveal her bafflement at her answer, and the cherry haired girl could only let out a long sigh as she shook her head in disbelief. "Seriously?"

And the fact that she once again refused to meet her eyes gave the answer for the cherry haired girl, and she harked out a laugh. "Ha! Of course you would waste DP on cards that you wouldn't even use. Seriously. Gifts of all things." She said with a grin.

Said grin then softened into a smile. "That's so like you honestly." The words left Anna's mouth. "Geez, just helping other cuz you can… that's what you did with Myu and everyone too yeah?"

She kept silent, looking upwards towards the light that shone from the ceiling. "Yeah." She answered after a short silence. "Pretty much." There were other reasons than just her being 'able to do so' of course, her knowledge of Anna being, well, Anna gave her the thought that she might be a returning legacy character in the story, and helping her and those around her might help with the upcoming invasion.

But there was no way she could say that. There was no way that she could say that she was drying her own wallets to help anyone she could for a war that none of them knew would even come. 

And she'd like to keep it that way for as long as possible. Because in a part, she was at fault for not being able to stop the upcoming invasion.

A snort was the reply that she received for her answer. "Guessed as much." The girl mumbled aloud with a soft smile. "You shouldn't just give out those kinds of things for free, you know. Who knows what doing that would make people think."

"Ah, well, I guess that has some truth to it." She said sheepishly, closing her eyes as she scratched her cheek. "But there was some reason for this one at least." She said as her smile slowly creased downward, making a flat line.

"Yeah? So it wasn't just a 'gift' then?" Was the response that she got, before the cherry haired girl saw her own reaction and her own features hardened. "What was it then?"

She kept quiet for a few seconds as she closed her eyes, her mind flashed briefly to the three downed teens that she had taken to the nearest police station, her encounter with the 'Numbers Hunter' a handful of moments ago, and of course, the result of the trio's own encounter with Shark.

At this point they were all involved with a case regarding Numbers, actual supernatural whatever Numbers at that, not like the ones that she owns, and didn't that have implications that she's been trying to push from her mind.

With Shark doing what he did, there was no doubt that Anna would try her hardest to find him and attempt to beat him up. And even if he did have some Numbers supernatural whatever backing him up she doesn't doubt that the cherry haired girl would put up a fight, or even just win depending on her opening hand.

Keeping her and the others in the dark was certainly not an option in this case about Numbers. The best she could do is give them as much support as she can.

"It's something that had to do with what happened earlier today." She said quietly, making sure not to wake up the sleeping girls and singular boy that were resting in the room, and saw Anna's eyes went wide.

As the cherry haired girl went to open her mouth, she quickly shushed to keep her quiet, placing a finger in front of her mouth to do so. "Shush! You'll wake them up. I'll tell you about it tomorrow."

Again, a frown marred Anna's face before she sighed and shook her head, crossing her arms and agreeing to her with a nod reluctantly. "Guess you'll have to explain that along with all the other things huh."

A chuckle came out from her at that. "Yeah. I guess I have to do a lot of talking tomorrow huh?"

"Yeah." Was the response that came from the cherry haired girl. "That you do."

-

"Alright, are you ready?" Mei asked Ruri, all while her doppelganger was fidgeting with the duel disk that was strapped on her left hand. "Ruri?"

The raven haired girl jolted as she heard her name being called, her eyes wandering quickly before landing on her. She took a deep breath, and released it in an attempt to calm herself. "Y-yeah." She said, answering her.

"As ready as I can be." Ruri said, giving her a wavy smile, briefly glancing towards where she was, sitting in one of the empty benches as she slurped her drink through its straw.

It's been neat so far. At least she thinks that it's been going well. Ruri was a good duelist from the start, and this 'training montage' just shows how actually talented the girl was, something befitting of someone like that if she does say so herself.

Well, she's good of course, but not better than her. She still has the better win loss ratio out of the two of them coming out of the many duels that they had done. And it also said something that she had been holding back from using the Fusions that she had thanks to Mei's urgings.

Still didn't stop the twitch that she would sometimes feel whenever Ruri summons her XYZ Monsters though, it kept making her want to go and summon her own Boss Monster, the Extra Deck Monster that wasn't the XYZ Monsters.

Not that the XYZ Monsters that she helped hadn't been very helpful in her many duels against Ruri though, they're very good cards and all that. Filling a niche that her deck previously hadn't had filled.

Like Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Tiger King being a monster that lets her set any Fire Formation from her deck, basically setting up Tenki or Tensu for a monster search or an extra normal summon, or in some cases setting the trap card for extra damage.

And the one other XYZ Monster that she had, Diamond Dire Wolf. An XYZ Monster that she had kinda forgot to tell Mei she had bought and earned her an earful from her, was just a generic spot removal, even if it did need to destroy one of her own cards to use its effect.

And though summoning those two XYZ Monsters were exhilarating in a way that Fusion Summoning had never been, it still doesn't scratch that itch of her wanting to do what she knows best and slam a fusion spell onto her duel disk.

But she knew better that doing something like that would be bad. One because in this dimension people only used XYZ Monsters, which meant that summoning Fusions would be drawing attention, which was bad, or at least Mei said that it was a bad idea since it could get those Academia people onto them.

Which was useless if she was being honest to herself. And also cowardly. Why should they bother hiding from cowards when they could just beat them up? Sure they managed to corner them last time, but that was because they were ambushed and had numbers on their side, what with them basically being attacked by the entire Obelisk Force in the Academia and all, if it was just a group in an outpost then it would be a whole different story.

So then Mei had to give her another long winded explanation about how they needed resources and yadda yadda yadda, so she just nodded her head and followed what she thinks she said about not going after any suspicious people that she thinks are Academia agents.

She had immediately ignored that when she picked a fight with that shifty blue haired annoyance with a fish for a name. Though to be fair he was the one that picked a fight against her, she just retaliated back.

Didn't really end well for her, but it was a close duel darnit! Didn't help that she made a misplay since she still wasn't used to not trying to Fusion Summon too at the time.

The guy apparently went off the radar or something if what she heard from Yuri's doppelganger was right. And if meeting her own lookalike was weird, then meeting one of her friend's was even weirder.

"Are you sure you're still fine for another duel?" Mei said with a worried frown, getting her attention back and snapping out of her wandering thoughts. "You just basically ran through a gauntlet, having dueled against Serena over and over again. Are you sure that you don't want a break?"

"No, it's fine." The raven haired girl said as she shook her head, determination burning in her eyes. "I can still go on." She answered back, trying to assure her that she was fine for another duel.

"You know that's usually what people say when they've already reached their limits right?" Mei couldn't help but remark dryly, shaking her head in exasperation. "Geez, so you two somehow shared the same stubbornness too huh?"

"Wha-!" The comment made Ruri's head turn red in embarrassment, all while she ignored them as she just kept sipping the drinks that she had in her hand.

"L-lets just get this over with!" Said the flustered girl as she hurriedly activated her duel disk once more to prepare herself for another duel, and obliging her request, Mei did the same.

The two duelists took their positions, standing a good way away from one another as they raised their duel disks, then both declared aloud at the same time, and the duel began.

""DUEL!!""

Mei: 4000LP

Ruri Kurosaki: 4000LP

"Then I'll go first." Mei declared, taking the first turn as Ruri had already faced Serena and her going second OTK deck multiple times already, and only now was she facing a certified going first control deck.

Though said control tools were far less than she wanted, what with her having essentially thrown away her many Ancient Gear cards out of sheer disgust of sharing something similar with those of the Academia.

"I'll start by normal summoning Machina Gearframe." She said, taking one of the five cards that she had started for the turn and placing it onto her duel disk's duel blade, then the orange mechanical monster appeared onto her side of the field.

Machina Gearframe - Earth/Machine/Level 4/Effect: 1800/0

"Now Gearframe's effect." She declared. "If this card is normal summoned, I can add from my deck to my hand one 'Machina' monster except 'Machina Gearframe'." She explained the monster's on summon effect, pressing a button on her duel disk's screen to select the target.

A card then popped out from her deck holder, and she took it out and revealed the monster that she added. "I'll add Machina Unclaspare to my hand." She said, adding the card and shuffling her now five card hand.

"Then activate its effect!" She shouted out as she revealed the card that she had just added to her hand once more. "If Unclaspare is added from my deck to my hand except by drawing it, I can special summon it!"

Saying so, she placed the card onto her duel blade, and the cannon carrying corrupted machine monster then appeared onto the field, its eyes glowed with an ominous red as if hefted its weapon on one shoulder.

Machina Unclaspare - Dark/Machine/Level 4/Effect: 1800/800

"But for the rest of this turn, I cannot special summon monsters except machine monsters." She continued, finishing with the explanation of the lock that she was under, having summoned Unclaspare with its own effect.

"Now Machina Unclaspare's effect!" She declared once again, waving her right arm forwards towards the monster in question. "If this card is normal or special summoned, I can send one 'Machina' monster from my deck to the graveyard, except 'Machina Unclaspare'!"

And once more, she proceeded to take out a card from her deck, this time to send the card straight to the graveyard instead of adding it to her hand. "I will send Machina Ruinforce from my deck to the graveyard!"

But Mei sending her deck's largest monster into the graveyard wasn't what her opponent focused on. "Two Level 4 monsters!" The raven haired girl whispered aloud, pointing out the two Level 4 Machines that were on Mei's side of the field, primed for an XYZ Summon.

And she did just that.

The purple haired girl raised her right hand. "I will take my Level 4 Machina Gearframe and my Level 4 Machina Unclaspare, and overlay both of them!" She declared, and the two mechanical monsters then transformed into a brown and dark purple orb respectively, crisscrossing one another.

"I will take these two monsters, and with them, I will construct an overlay network!" Mei declared, the two shining orbs then entered the gigantic dark vortex that shone in the middle of the dueling field.

"XYZ Summon!" She shouted, bringing down the raised hand as the galactical vortex exploded into light, and from it a monster then appeared. "Come! Gear Gigant X!" The purple haired girl shouted as the mechanical giant appeared on the field, the giant gear on its back turning slowly as it took form, standing at the ready.

Gear Gigant X - Earth/XYZ/Machine/Rank 4/Effect: 2300/1500 OV: 2

The monster that was summoned was large, 2300 attack wasn't small after all, but the monster wasn't the Boss Monster for Mei's deck. "Then I'll activate its effects!" The purple hat wearing girl declared with a wave of her hand.

"Once per turn, I can detach one material from this card, to add one Level 4 or lower Machine monster from my deck or graveyard to my hand." She explained, and once more, proceeded to add another monster from her deck to her hand after detaching one of the materials from her gear based XYZ Monster.

The gigantic gear behind the XYZ Monster then moved, spinning as it then absorbed one of its two glowing overlay materials as it then used it as cost to activate its effect to search for any Level 4 Machine monsters in Mei's deck.

Gear Gigant X - Earth/XYZ/Machine/Rank 4/Effect: 2300/1500 OV: 1

"I will add Machina Resavenger from my deck to my hand." She said, adding the monster to her hand and shuffling the now four card hand. "And then I will activate the Spell, Machina Redeployment."

She then placed the spell card onto her duel blade, and the card's holographic projection shone in front of her. "With its effect, I will discard one 'Machina' card, to add two 'Machina' cards with different names from each other from my deck to my hand except 'Machina Redeployment'." She said, choosing to activate the second effect of the Spell.

So she revealed the card that she would discard, the monster that she had added to her hand earlier. "I will discard Machina Resavenger, to add Machina Overdrive, and Machina Defense Perimeter."

Saying so, she then discarded the monster in question, and added the two declared cards from her deck to her hand, still having four cards in her hand after the long chain of effect activations.

"I will discard from my hand, Machina Fortress and Machina Possesstorage, to special summon Machina Fortress from my graveyard." And she continued on, discarding the two monsters that had remained unknown in her hand, and summoning back the large tank-like mechanical monsters from her graveyard with its own innate summoning condition as it was summoned in defence position.

Machina Fortress - Earth/Machine/Level 7/Effect: 2500/1600

"You probably remember considering you've seen it multiple times already, but I'll just remind you that I can discard monsters whose total Level equal 8 or more to special summon Machina Fortress from my hand or from my graveyard." The purple hat wearing girl explained aloud.

"Yes, I do remember you using that monster multiple times in your previous duels." Her long raven haired opponent answered back with a nod. "Onii-sama and Yuto had quite the trouble getting that particular monster out from the field."

And wasn't that quite the statement regarding the monster that her friend had summoned.

Machina Fortress was a strange monster, both in regards to its own innate summoning condition where it itself could be used to fulfil said condition, and the two other effects that were written under it. Both effects being the ones that had given trouble to both duelists that Ruri had mentioned.

Shun's deck was one that was meant to punish the opponent from special summoning, more specifically something that was similar to Serena's going second OTK deck, where most of his XYZ Monsters could destroy or beat over special summoned monsters, the same could be said to Yuto.

The problem was of course, as Mei had stated before, the two effects that the monster had. 

Machina Fortress has an additional effect in regards if it were destroyed by battle and being sent to the graveyard, where it would then allow her to target a card that her opponent control and destroy it, essentially a creating a blocker that would take a card from the opponent's field should it be destroyed by battle.

But the third effect that it had was one that also gave problems for the form of removal that Shun also relied on, targeting monster removal. Where Fortress third effect stated that before resolving an opponent's monster effect that targets this face-up card, it allows her to see their hand, and discard one of the cards that they had.

The combination of these two effects made Fortress a reliable wall that she could comfortably sit behind, with the card being a fortress that would minus the opponent should they not have a non-targeting removal.

Though over the time that they had known the trio or Shun, Ruri, and Yuto, the two boys had gotten used to the effects of Fortress and found ways to manoeuvre around it. What with setting spells or traps that they could or targeting Machina Fortress for an attack last.

But, much to her chagrin, the possibility of her even managing to use either of the second and third effects of Machina fortress in this matchup against Ruri was quite slim, especially considering the deck that she uses.

But such thoughts were pushed for later as Mei waved her right hand high, "I'll banish Machina Unclaspare, Machina Resavenger, and Possesstorage from my graveyard, to summon Machina Ruinforce!" 

And with the three monsters in her graveyard banished to fulfil another of her monster's innate summoning condition, the gigantic combination of the three corrupted machines then appeared on her field, a dark and ominous aura emanating from its mechanical figure.

Machina Ruinforce - Dark/Machine/Level 10/Effect: 4500/4100

"Ah! That was- the Machina Unclaspare that you detached from Gear Gigant X!" Ruri exclaimed.

"Yes, that did make it so that I had exactly 3 Level 4 monsters in my graveyard." She said with a nod and a smirk. "Ruinforce needed to banish Machine monsters whose total Levels equal 12 or more after all, thankfully I didn't have to even use Machina Redeployment to get more monsters in hand since I had already had them."

The fact that the spell that she had used earlier had the effect to either search two Machina monsters with the discard of any card, or the search of any two Machina cards with a discard of a Machina card truly did show the deck's consistency. 

It also helps that the XYZ Monster that she had eyed and gotten her hands on was one that also helped with said consistency.

But she wasn't done with her turn just yet of course. "I'll activate the Continuous Spell, Machina Defense Perimeter." She said, activating the Continuous Spell that she had searched moments earlier. 

"With it, while I control a Level 7 or higher Machine monster, you cannot target Level 6 or lower Machine monsters I control for attacks, and they cannot be targeted by card effect." So the purple haired girl said, explaining the Continuous Spell's continuous effect.

Well, it's a neat effect. She'll give it that. An annoying one for trying to go hit the smaller monsters that she herself had faced, buuut it wasn't really doing much in this match up since Ruri's strategy doesn't really care about targeting or attacking smaller monsters.

"And I will set one card, then end my turn."

So she says, ending her turn with two large monsters and an XYZ Monster, a Continuous Spell and the trap that she had searched placed in the backrow, no cards left remaining in her hand as she finished her turn.

Then, it was Ruri's turn. "My turn! I draw!" The raven haired girl shouted aloud, drawing her card for turn and getting up to six cards in her hand to start off her turn. Her eyes glanced over the cards that she had, and she thought of plays that she could do with them.

And with a nod and a plan forming in her head, the pink eyed duelist raised her head and started her play. "I'll start by activating the Spell, One For One!" The long haired girl declared, placing the spell in question onto her duel blade.

"One For One allows me to send one monster from my hand to the graveyard, to special summon one Level 1 monster from my hand or deck!" Ruri declared, explaining the Spell card's effects as she then revealed the card in hand that she would send for its cost.

"I will send Lyrilusc - Cobalt Sparrow from my hand, to special summon another Lyrilusc - Cobalt Sparrow from my deck!" She said, sending the card from hand to the graveyard and summoning a monster straight from her deck, that being none other than the brown winged Winged Beast that appeared as she spread her wings wide.

Lyrilusc - Cobalt Sparrow - Wind/Winged Beast/Level 1/Effect: 0/100

"Now Cobalt Sparrow's effect!" The raven haired girl declared. "If this card is special summoned, I can add one Level 1 Winged Beast monster from my deck to my hand!" She explained, before revealing the card that she would add to her hand.

"I will add Lyrilusc - Turquoise Warbler from my deck to my hand!" She said, taking the card straight from her deck and adding it to her hand. "Then I will activate the Spell, Where Arf Thou? from my hand!"

And once more, she then activated another Spell card from her hand, the Spell card's artwork appearing as its holographic projection manifested in front of the pale dress wearing girl.

"If I control a Level 1 monster, Where Arf Thou? lets me add one Level 1 monster from my deck to my hand. But during the End Phase of this turn, if I did not normal summon the added monster or a card with the same name, I will take 2000 points of damage!" She said, explaining the card's effects and stipulations.

It was a search card that had a wide range, that was for sure. But the restriction of needing to have a Level 1 monster already on field, and that 2000 Life Point damage if you didn't normal summon a monster with the same name was quite frightening when you only have 4000 Life Points.

"I will add  Lyrilusc - Sapphire Swallow from my deck to my hand!" The raven haired girl cried out, taking out the monster card straight from her deck and adding it to her hand.

"And I'll normal summon her!" So she said, placing the monster card that she had just added to her hand and placing it to her duel blade, the blue winged winged beast then appeared as she danced and flapped her wings next to her other monster.

Lyrilusc - Sapphire Swallow - Wind/Winged Beast/Level 1/Effect: 100/0

Now she had two Level 1 monsters on the field, and quite honestly, a problem now arose for Mei, something that the girl probably knew considering the cards that Ruri has in her hand.

And by that she meant of course the Turquoise Warbler she had in her hand, and also the second copy of Sapphire Swallow that the raven haired girl had just normal summoned instead of using its effect to special it from hand, something that she knew intimately with how much the girl used it against her.

Well sure there's the effect of Where Arf Thou? to consider what with the 2000 damage that she would take otherwise if she didn't normal summon the monster, and how she always seem to play defensively and preserve as much Life Points as she can most of the time, but the point still stood that she could have gotten a large XYZ Monster onto her field, or at least one with a lot of XYZ Material under it.

But instead, she made a play that probably was done to trigger the cards that Mei had set up on her turn.

Machina Citadel was an incredible card. She should know that better than most considering she was Mei's dueling partner since they came here and the purple haired girl chose not to play her ABC deck since it relied on its Fusion Boss Monster. The fact that it was basically a Raigeki on legs, a Quick Effect at that, with a 3000 attack body that just keeps coming back was really mind boggling.

And sure enough, with how frequent they do spars with Yuto and Shun, Ruri would also intimately know the monster that was Mei's current Ace.

So that's why she set up this elaborate board, there wasn't a single doubt that Ruri would use the two monsters that she had on her field for an XYZ Summon, and both players knew that Mei could interrupt that, and plus into basically infinity if she uses Machina Overdrive, pop her Ruinforce, and summon Citadel to basically wipe the board.

But then, since her field would be left empty, Ruri would be free to use Turquoise Warbler and just summon another Lyrilusc from hand or graveyard. Probably graveyard honestly since at that point she'd have three Lyrilusc there, and a free summon from the graveyard is always great.

And if she gets her chance to get that XYZ Monster of her's onto the field, it would be incredibly annoying for Mei to try and push for lethal. Along with basically getting protection from almost everything for all of her Lyrilusc monsters.

She saw her friend narrow her eyes as she probably came to the same conclusion that she did, and clicked her tongue as she waved her hand outwards. "I'll activate my Trap, Machina Overdrive!"

So she declared, flipping up the known trap card that she had searched as the card's art glowed. "Machina Overdrive allows me to target one Machine monster I control, and special summon a 'Machina' monster with a different name from my deck, then if I do, that targeted monster is destroyed!"

Done with explaining the effect of the card that they already know, it's basically all just formality at this point, the purple hat wearing girl shouted out the target for the trap card's effect.

"I'll target Machina Fortress, and special summon Machina Citadel from my deck!" Mei shouted as she then took out a card from her deck and placed it onto her duel disk, the giant saw and blaster handed mechanical monster appeared as it stood in attack position.

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

"Then Machina Defense Permitere's effect!" So the purple haired girl declared. "If a face-up Machine monster that I control is destroyed by battle or card effect, I can target one Machine monster in my graveyard, and add it to my hand!"

With only one target for the card's effect, she chose to add back the monster that had just been destroyed. "I'll add back Machina Fortress to my hand." She said, adding the card back to her now one card hand.

She blinked once, then twice as she looked confusedly at the play that Mei just did, unconsciously furrowing her brows as her mind whirled, setting her drink down, thinking on what exactly was she doing.

Okay, she didn't blow up Machina Ruinforce with Machina Overdrive. That's… not what she thought she would do. She thought that she would've blown up Machina Ruinforce since it would let her summon back those banished Machina monsters that she used to summon it, the walking Foolish Burial and the other one, Resa-whatever maybe? Pretty sure that one also had an effect though she can't really remember what.

But instead she blew up Machina Fortress. Sure that monster probably isn't that great in this matchup since Ruri's monsters doesn't really need to target a monster with an effect to destroy it or has to beat over it with an attack, but a 2500 beater was still a 2500 beater, not to mention the plus that blowing up Ruinforce give.

"Guess I'll find out soon enough." She mumbled as she saw Ruri continuing with her turn warily, with Mei managing to summon her own Ace Monster, and raised her own hand. 

"I will use the Level 1 Lyrilusc - Cobalt Sparrow and the Level 1 Lyrilusc - Sapphire Swallow, and overlay them!" The girl shouted as the two monsters twirled, glowing and turning into glowing green lights, both of which proceeded to enter the shining galactical vortex that appeared in front of her.

"With these two monsters, I will construct an overlay network!" The girl declared aloud, and the vortex exploded with light. "Oh birds with beautiful wings! Descend and nobly shine on the battlefield! XYZ Summon!" And so she completed her summoning chant, calling out towards her own Ace Monster.

"Dance, Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale!" And her monster then descended, flapping its beautiful wings as it descended onto the field, spreading its wings wide as two glowing green orbs orbited around Ruri's signature XYZ Monster.

Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale - Wind/XYZ/Winged Beast /Rank 1/Effect: 0/0 OV: 2

"Assembled Nightingale gains 200 attack for each material that's attached to her, meaning that she currently has 400 attack points!" The raven haired girl explained, and a green glow enveloped the winged XYZ Monster, her 0 attack rising to 400.

Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale - Wind/XYZ/Winged Beast /Rank 1/Effect: 400/0 OV: 2

"Since I used Lyrilusc - Cobalt Sparrow on my field as material for Assembled Nightingale, a Wind XYZ Monster, you cannot target Assembled Nightingale with card effects!" So she said, reading out the passive effects of one of the materials that she had used for her XYZ Monster's XYZ Summon.

Honestly the fact that most of the Level 1 Lyrilusc monsters that she uses gives additional effects to her XYZ Monster was also extremely annoying, making it even harder to just get out from the field. Even harder than how it normally would be, that is.

"Then Sapphire Swallow's effect!" Ruri declared. "A wind XYZ Monster that was summoned using this card on the field as material gains the effect, if it is XYZ Summoned, I can target one 'Lyrilusc' monster in my graveyard, and attach it to this card as material!"

Done with explaining the effect of one of the monsters that she had used as materials for the XYZ Summon, she then chose the one monster in her graveyard that she would attach as an additional material for Assembled Nightingale.

"I will attack the Lyrilusc - Cobalt Sparrow in my graveyard, and attack it to Assembled Nightingale!" So the raven haired girl say, and attached the one other Lyrilusc card in her graveyard to her XYZ Monster as material, raising its attack as she does so.

Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale - Wind/XYZ/Winged Beast /Rank 1/Effect: 600/0 OV: 3

And it was at this point where Ruri frowned and creased her brows in thought, her eyes glancing back and forth from the cards in her hand and towards the cards that were on the field. More specifically to the two gigantic monsters that lay on Mei's field.

They were, if she was to be honest, quite terrifying. Both in their sheer size and their attack, not to mention the effect that they possess. The fact that Mei was capable of getting both of them onto the field at what was essentially a single turn was also terrifying.

But she knew that if she wanted to catch up to her brother and Yuto, if she wants to stand beside them, then she needed a level headed approach in how to defeat the friend before her. 

"I'll activate my own Continuous Spell! Lyrilusc - Bird Sanctuary!" So the long raven haired girl said as she placed one of her cards onto her duel disk, and a shining holographic projection appeared before her.

"And I will activate its effect! If I control an XYZ Monster with three or more materials, I can draw one card!" Ruri said, explaining the continuous spell's effect that allows her to simply freely draw a card, and did just that.

She briefly glanced at the card that she had drawn, placing it alongside the other cards that remained in her hand, and then towards the board of monsters that laid on Mei's side of the field. 

And then she decided her next move.

"Battle!" She declared aloud, waving her right hand outwards. "I'll attack directly with Assembled Nightingale! Nightingale Wind!" And with that command, the winged XYZ Monster leapt, spreading her wings as she flew high into the air as she then eyed her target, ignoring the monsters on her field and instead focusing on Mei.

"That strategy really is the one that her deck's really good at huh." She said with a grumble as Ruri used one of the effects that her Ace Monster had, the capability for it to attack directly, a tradeoff for its low attack points.

Something that they found out after dueling over and over again, Ruri's deck was something that's similar to her own. And by that she means that it's a capable going second OTK deck. Also helps that Assembled Nightingale can attack as many times as it has material, which means that currently, it can attack three times, dealing what was basically free 1800 points of damage.

And that's not even mentioning that other XYZ Monster she has that would help her in doing the OTK, but also helping her with the deck's consistency. Wild that a single card could just do all that.

But it's not like Mei's going to let that happen. "I'll activate the effect of Machina Citadel!" She declared with a wave of her hand. "As a Quick Effect, I can target one Machine monster that I control, and destroy both that Machine monster and all monsters that you control with attack less than or equal to it!"

Done with the monster's effect explanation, she waved towards the dark gigantic mechanical monstrosity on her side of the field.  "I'll target Machine Ruinforce, to destroy it and all the monsters you control with less attack that it!"

Which was, of course, the one XYZ Monster that Ruri had on her side of the field. Its mere 600 attack was far lower than Ruinforce's 4600 after all.

"Then I'll chain the effect of Assembled Nightingale!" So the raven haired girl declared as she waved her hand forwards towards her flying XYZ Monster. "Once per turn, as a Quick effect, I can detach one material from this card,  'Lyrilusc' monsters that I control cannot be destroyed by battle or card effect, and I take no battle damage until the end of this turn!"

"It's that annoying effect…" She noted aloud once more with a grumble as she saw Ruri used the one effect that basically lets her stall the game. Boy was the activated effect of Assembled Nightingale something, it's basically the thing that made her fail to OTK her, repeatedly.

Making her monsters both immune to battle and effect destruction was wild, basically checked every outs that she had, even her Fusion monsters she admitted begrudgingly since they relied on that too. The only way that she managed to win in their duels was by putting constant pressure, but even with that, everytime she won was always a close shave.

She probably should get one of those more interactive cards huh. Mei's always been bargering her about not just focusing on beating the opponent with high attack monsters. She'll have to get cards to do that though, and she just spent her DP for that one XYZ Monster too…

Ah well, wasn't there that weird card trader that they've been hearing about? She'll probably need to drag Mei out to go see that one since they usually sell on the other side of the city but if its about cards Mei'll probably won't whine too much.

Back to the game though, the winged XYZ Monster flapped her winges as she took out one of the three glowing green orbs that orbited her, using one of her overlay units to activate its effect.

Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale - Wind/XYZ/Winged Beast /Rank 1/Effect: 400/0 OV: 2

"And I'll chain the effect of Machina Ruinforce to that!" Was Mei's declaration to the activation of Assembled Nightingale. 

And that made her blink in confusion from her seat. "Wait, what-"

"When my opponent activates a card or effect during the Battle Phase, as a Quick Effect, I can pay half my Life Points, negate that activation, and if I do, halve my opponent's Life Points!" So Mei declared aloud, waving her hand outwards to the gigantic mechanical monster who still remained on the field as the effect of Machina Citadel had not yet resolved in its destruction.

"I forgot it could do that!" She shouted as she all but leapt from her seat, her now empty drink cup clattering to the floor as she watched with wide eyes. "Crap, she rarely uses that since it halves her own Life Points- so that's why she waited until the Battle Phase to blow everything up with Citadel!"

"Kuh!" She heard Mei wince as electricity sparked from her duel disk, her Life Points drastically falling as half of it was taken to pay for Ruinforce's effect.

Mei: 2000LP

"Kya!" And the same happened to Ruri as the effect resolved, a red beam was shot from the ominous gigantic machine to her XYZ Monster, the effect of Assembled Nightingale being negated as her Life Points being cut in half.

Ruri: 2000LP

"Then since Assembled Nightingale's effect was negated, it's then destroyed by Machina Citadel's effect!" So the chain resolved backwards, and as the purple haired girl stated, the colourful mechanical giant then shot its own orange beam from its cannon hand towards the monster next to it, the resulting explosion destroying both it and Assembled Nightingale on Ruri's field.

"Assembled Nightingale!" The raven haired girl cried out with wide eyes as her monster was destroyed, biting her lips as the dust settled to reveal her now empty field, barren of monsters in comparison to Mei's.

But that wasn't all. "Machina Ruinforce's effect!" So Mei declared with another wave of her hand. "If this card is destroyed by battle or card effect, I can special summon up to 3 of my banished 'Machina' monsters whose total Levels equal 12 or less!"

As she explained the floating effect of the destroyed Ruinforce, she took out all three of the monsters that she used to summon it. "I'll special summon Machina Unclaspare, Machina Resavenger, and Possesstorage in attack position!"

And proceeded to place all three cards onto her duel disk, summoning all three monsters onto the field simultaneously as they brandished their weapons of choice, all the corrupted machinery ready and prepared for battle.

Machina Unclaspare - Dark/Machine/Level 4/Effect: 1800/800

Machina Resavenger - Dark/Machine/Level 4/Effect: 1200/1800

Machina Possesstorage - Dark/Machine/Level 4/Effect: 1600/1500

"Unclaspare's effect! I'll send another Machina Fortress from my deck to the graveyard." Mei said casually, once more activating the on summon effect of Machina Unclaspare as it hit the field, sending a second copy of Machina Fortress to the graveyard.

"Well darn, didn't see that one coming." She muttered aloud with a grin as she flopped back to her seat. Her eyes focused on the still ongoing duel. That's certainly a thing that happened. 

Okay, she sure did forgot that Ruinforce has an actual activated effect other that the floating one that it has, it's been a bit since she's seen her use it, what with her not using her Fusion Monsters that have those anymore, but that really makes it easier for Mei this point forward.

No, wait, it also helps Ruri too doesn't it? Mei basically halved her own Life Points. Even if it did destroy Ruri's annoying XYZ Monster, she still has some cards in her hand doesn't she?

And just as she thought, the raven haired girl moved on to her second Main Phase to continue with her turn. "I'll activate the effect of Lyrilusc - Turquoise Warbler in my hand!" She said, revealing the known monster card that was in her hand.

"If I control no monsters, I can special summon this card from my hand!" And she did just that, summoning the Winged Beast from her hand as it then flapped her wings as she appeared on the field.

Lyrilusc - Turquoise Warbler - Wind/Winged Beast/Level 1/Effect: 100/100

"And If Turquoise Warbler is special summoned, I can special summon one 'Lyrilusc' monster from my hand or graveyard!" The long haired girl shouted aloud, and waved her hand out as she chose the target to summon onto the field.

And as she had though a good few moments ago, she chose to summon a monster from the graveyard, as you should in a situation like this where you need to keep the resources in your hand. "I will special summon back Lyrilusc - Sapphire Swallow from my graveyard!"

So she summoned back the blue winged Lyrilusc, the returned monster dancing right next to its sister that remained on the field.

Lyrilusc - Sapphire Swallow - Wind/Winged Beast/Level 1/Effect: 100/0

"I will use the Level 1 Lyrilusc - Turquoise Warbler and the Level 1 Lyrilusc Sapphire Swallow, and overlay them!" The girl shouted as the two monsters twirled, glowing and turning into glowing green lights, both of which proceeded to enter the shining galactical vortex that appeared in front of her.

"With these two monsters, I will once more construct an overlay network!" The girl declared aloud, and the vortex exploded with light. "Oh birds with beautiful wings! Descend and nobly shine on the battlefield! XYZ Summon!" And so she completed her summoning chant once again, and summoned her second copy of her titular Ace Monster that was destroyed mere moments earlier.

"Dance, Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale!" And her monster then descended, flapping its beautiful wings as it descended onto the field, spreading its wings wide as two glowing green orbs orbited around her, the second copy of the XYZ Monster getting onto the field.

Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale - Wind/XYZ/Winged Beast /Rank 1/Effect: 0/0 OV: 2

And as before, the monster proceeded to gain 200 attack for each material that was attached to her, raising her attack point.

Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale - Wind/XYZ/Winged Beast /Rank 1/Effect: 400/0 OV: 2

"Then once more, Sapphire Swallow's effect!" Ruri declared. "A wind XYZ Monster that was summoned using this card on the field as material gains the effect, if it is XYZ Summoned, I can target one 'Lyrilusc' monster in my graveyard, and attach it to this card as material!"

Done with explaining the effect of one of the monsters that she had used as materials for the XYZ Summon, she then chose the one monster in her graveyard that she would attach as an additional material for Assembled Nightingale.

"I will attack the Lyrilusc - Cobalt Sparrow in my graveyard, and attack it to Assembled Nightingale!" So the raven haired girl say, and attached the one other Lyrilusc card in her graveyard to her XYZ Monster as material, raising its attack as she does so.

Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale - Wind/XYZ/Winged Beast /Rank 1/Effect: 600/0 OV: 3

"Though unlike the first Assembled Nightingale that used Cobalt Sparrow from the field as material, it does not gain the effect that makes it untargetable." She said, noting that though it now has Cobalt Sparrow as material, this second Assembled Nightingale does not gain the untargetable trait that the first one had.

"I'll set one card face-down." The raven haired girl said, placing one card face-down on her spell and trap zone. "And I will end my turn." And then ended her turn, an XYZ Monster and an unknown face-down on her backrow next to the continuous spell of her's, two cards remained in her hand as turn then passed to Mei.

"Well then, it's my turn now. I'll draw!" So she said, drawing a card for turn and adding another card to her hand, accompanying the known Machina Fortress that was in her hand. "I'll first off activate the effect of Gear Gigant X! I'll detach another material to add a Level 4 or lower Machine monster from my deck or graveyard to my hand!"

And with the movements of its gears, the gigantic XYZ Monster then absorbed its last overlay materials to use its effects.

Gear Gigant X - Earth/XYZ/Machine/Rank 4/Effect: 2300/1500 OV: 0

"I'll add another Machina Gearframe from my deck to my hand!" She said, adding another monster to her now three card hand, not that she could summon them since she already has five monsters filling her field.

Wait, now that she thought about it- "How's she getting all those off of the field?" She mumbled to herself as she saw Mei glance at the three cards in her hand. She gets that her goal is probably to get Ruinforce back on the field since apparently it has that effect that negates stuff on the Battle Phase, but how's she getting rid of her board full of monsters first?

"I'll tribute Machina Possesstorage and Machina Unclaspare to tribute summon Machina Fortress!" And as she raised a card from her hand, the purple haired girl sent the two monsters to the graveyard as the cannon shouldered tank-like mechanical monster once more was summoned to the field, this time not through its own special summoning condition.

Machina Fortress - Earth/Machine/Level 7/Effect: 2500/1600

Oh. Right. That. They've been special summoning all game that she forgot that tribute summoning was even a thing at this point. That sure cleared up some zones.

"Then I'll banish Machina Gearframe, Machina unclaspare, and Machina Gearframe the in my graveyard to special summon Machina Ruinforce!" And banishing two monsters that were sent for tribute and the monster detached from her XYZ Monster whose total level was exactly twelve, the gigantic dark machine monster returned to the field one more.

Machina Ruinforce - Dark/Machine/Level 10/Effect: 4500/4100

"So it returned!" The raven haired girl said with a deep frown, gazing towards the large form of the monster that now stood before her, alongside the other large monsters that Mei already has on her field.

There was not a single doubt of what her plan was, and that was to wait. Her next play would no doubt be to enter the Battle Phase, where Ruinforce's effect would ensure none of her own would resolve, so if she wants to activate Assembled Nightingale's effect, then now would have been the time.

But then there was still Citadel, the menacing chainsaw and beam-gun armed monster still standing on the field, and its capability to wipe the board at instant speed. 

There was not a single doubt that the purple haired girl was waiting to activate said effect in chain to her own Assembled Nightingale, and though that would technically let her survive the turn as its effect would still resolve and make her take no damage for the rest of the turn, it would leave her with virtually nothing to combat the field that her opponent had.

But that was exactly what her set card was for.

"I'll activate the effect of Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale!" The long raven haired girl declared as she waved her hand towards the winged monster, once more activating the monster's effect before her opponent entered the Battle Phase.

"I will detach one material from her, to make my 'Lyrilusc' monsters unable to be destroyed by battle and card effect, and that I take no battle damage until the end of this turn!" So she said as the bright winged Winged Beast then danced in the air, taking one of its own XYZ Material to use its effect.

Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale - Wind/XYZ/Winged Beast /Rank 1/Effect: 400/0 OV: 2

"So you're doing it before the Battle Phase so that it won't be negated by Ruinforce, but it won't work! I'll chain the effect of Machina Citadel!" So her purple haired opponent declared, chaining the effect of her own monster.

"I will target Gear Gigant X, to destroy it and all monsters you control with equal or lower attack!" So the purplette declared as the blue and orange machine charged its weapon of choice, aiming it towards the gear based XYZ Monster on its side of the field.

"Then I'll chain my own Trap!" Ruri shouted as she raised her hand once more, flipping the set card face-up. "XYZ Block!" And the flipped-up counter trap's holographic projection then glowed brightly, its effect being the third card to be activated in a chain.

"XYZ Block-!?"

"When my opponent activates a monster effect, I can detach one XYZ Material from a monster I control, negate the activation, and if I do, destroy that monster!" The long haired girl explained the card's effect with a determined look, and Mei's own eyes went wide.

"I will detach another material from Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale, to negate the effect of Machina Citadel, and destroy it!" And with the counter trap's effect, the winged XYZ Monster th

Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale - Wind/XYZ/Winged Beast /Rank 1/Effect: 200/0 OV: 1

A bolt of energy was then shot from the shining counter trap, hitting the gigantic Machine monster on Mei's field and stunning it. Only for it soon to explode into glittering particles, the monster having its effect negated and then destroyed.

Then the chain continued to resolve, and with Machina Citadel's effect negated, Ruri's board was safe from destruction, especially so with Assembled Nightingale's effect resolving with it still remaining on the field.

"Tch! Machina Defense Perimeter's effect!" Mei declared as the chain resolved, activating her Continuous Spell's effect. "Since a face-up Machine monster was destroyed by card effect, I can target one Machine monster in my graveyard and add it to my hand." 

With only two Machine monster in her graveyard as all others were banished to summon Ruinforce onto her field, the purple haired girl added one of them to her hand. "I will add my second copy of Machina Fortress to my hand."

Now even with an extra card in her hand however, the purple haired girl wasn't able to do much. With her hand other than the unknown card being known monsters, that being Machina Gearframe and Machina Fortress that she had added, and a board that was almost full of monsters, along with already using her normal summon for the turn, her plays were quite limited with the cards she had.

"..." Her purple haired friend narrowed her brows as she thought hard, her mind racing as she thought several moves ahead, or well, that's what she thinks Mei's doing. Serena herself was at the edge of her seat trying to do the same.

"Darn this is close." She muttered under he breath as she tried to think of what Mei could even do in this situation.

Okay she still has that Fortress that she added to her hand, and that Gearframe too, and since there's a spot free on her field since Citadel got outed she could summon it with its own effect discarding itself and Gearframe, weird that it works like that, and that means she gets two Level 7 monsters on the field.

But what does that even do? She's pretty sure Mei doesn't have a Rank 7 monster since she uses Level 4s more often than not anyway, so there's no point in doing that. And thinking about it the best way that she could think of her to try and get an advantage in the game is…

"Get Citadel back on the field…" Was the conclusion that she came to. "But how's she gonna do that?" Sure it has the effect to summon itself back if an Earth Machine monster gets destroyed, either by battle or card effect it doesn't care, but how's that gonna happen?

Can't really crash any of her monsters considering Assembled Nightingale's at defence, and that XYZ Monster's attack was low in the first place. 

And a thought crossed her mind as she did a once over on the field of monsters that Mei has, and her mind went to the monsters that the girl had on her deck. "Wait, there's those other cards too!"

The Level 8 Machinas were a thing! She remembered Mei using them once or twice, those cards had the effect to blow up a card and summon or something like that! Maybe if she gets her hand yo one of them…

Well how is she even getting to one of them in the first place? She would've used them already if they were the card that she drew for turn. But since she hadn't, guess that wasn't what she drew.

And as she thought this, the girl in question made her decision and went on to continue her turn. "I will activate the graveyard effect of Machina Overdrive!" The purple haired girl declared aloud.

"I can banish this card from my graveyard, then target three of my Machine monsters that are either banished and or in my graveyard, and shuffle them to the deck then draw one card!" She said, explaining the trap card's recycling effect.

Then took out and revealed three cards, all of which were from the banished slot of her duel disk. "I will reshuffle my banished Machina Gearframe, Machina Unclaspare, and Machina Possesstorage, then draw one card!"

And she did just that, shuffling the three cards as she said back to the deck to get an additional draw, the card which she then eyed before reshuffling her now four card hand.

"... I'll set two cards face-down." The purple haired girl said, placing one of the two unknown cards in her hand on the spell and trap zone face-down. "And I will end my turn." She said, ending her turn with a single set card, three monsters, and two known monster cards in her hand.

"Oh? Guess she drew into something that she could set." She said aloud. But is that an actual set trap card or just a bluff, she doesn't know. Mei's poker face was so good that she couldn't really tell whether or not she was bluffing or not.

"It's my turn! I draw!" Then with the turn passing, the control once more returned to Ruri, who drew her card for turn as she then glanced at the three cards she now has on her hands. "I'll start by activating the effect of Assembled Nightingale!"

And with a wave of her hand, another of the XYZ Monster's overlay material disappeared. "I'll use its last XYZ Material to make my 'Lyrilusc' monsters indestructible by battle and card effect and for me to not take any battle damage until the end of this turn!"

Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale - Wind/XYZ/Winged Beast /Rank 1/Effect: 0/0 OV: 0

"Wait, immediately?" Serena gasped as she heard Ruri's words. She's shotgunning it right then and there?! They haven't even left the Draw Phase yet, and she's already using that effect.

The shocked response was shared by Mei, who scrambled to activate her own card. "I'll activate the Trap, Back to the Front!" She said, flipping one of the two face-down cards that she possessed.

"Which allows me to target one monster in my graveyard, and special summon it in defence position! I'll target Machina Citadel and special summon it back!" And even as the chain resolves backwards and the gigantic mechanical monster returned, it is already too late.

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

With Ruri being the first to have activated her card as chain link one, the effect of Assembled Nightingale resolved, the winged XYZ Monster danced as its effect resolved, a glow surrounding her as any and all Lyrilusc monsters that she control becomes indestructible by battle and card effects, along with granting her an immunity to battle damage for the rest of the turn.

Essentially, she made them all immune to the singular prominent form of disruption that Mei currently has, that being Machina Citadel.

The raven haired girl took a deep breath as she then moved to her first Main Phase, starting her turn after the chain of effect resolved. "I'll use the Spell, One For One again!" She said, placing the second copy of the Spell card on her duel disk.

"So she had another one? Darn forgot how many of those kind of cards we put in her deck." She grumbled to herself on the sidelines as she thought back to the difficulty that they had on trying to get three of those spells that helped Ruri's deck's consistency. 

They costed a pretty penny, but Ruri had a bit of DP saved up, certainly helped that they really needed them since the girl really only run a hand full of monster cards. Which was a bit stupid really, they needed to get the girl more than just her regular three three offs of Lyrilusc cards and those other Level one Winged Beasts that she has.

"I will discard Sonic Chick from my hand, to special summon my final copy of Lyrilusc - Cobalt Sparrow!" She declared, summoning the third and last copy of the brown winged Winged Beast onto the field, the monster dancing next to its archetypal XYZ Monster.

Lyrilusc - Cobalt Sparrow - Wind/Winged Beast/Level 1/Effect: 0/100

"Then since Cobalt Sparrow was special summoned, I can add one Level one Winged Beast from my deck to my hand! I'll add another Lyrilusc - Turquoise Warbler!" So she said, adding the monster card to her hand.

"And I'll normal summon her!" Then proceeded to normal summon the added monster. The lime winged monster then danced onto the field, floating right beside the two other monsters on Ruri's field as Mei could only watch with growing dread.

Lyrilusc - Turquoise Warbler - Wind/Winged Beast/Level 1/Effect: 100/100

"Now I will take the Level one Lyrilusc - Cobalt Sparrow and the Level one Lyrilusc - Turquoise Warbler, and overlay them!" So said the raven haired girl, raising her hand as the two monsters flew to the sky, turning into green sparkles and criss crossing one another.

"I will construct an overlay network with these two monsters, XYZ Summon!" And the two crossing orbs then entered a spiralling vortex of gold and black, and from there a giant pillar of light emerged.

"Dance! Lyrilusc - Recital Starling!" And with that chant descended another XYZ Monster different from the ones on the field, in contrast to the bright and colourful feathers of Assembled Nightingale, Ruri's newest XYZ Monster's lustrous feathers shined with its dark colours, dancing graciously on the field as two shining green orbs orbited around her.

Lyrilusc - Recital Starling - Wind/XYZ/Winged Beast /Rank 1/Effect: 0/0 OV: 2

"That's the other XYZ Monster that she has. Didn't really get to see much of that card on our duels though. " She said with a raised eyebrow. "Guess it also has 0 attack though huh. Kinda forgot what it did."

"With Cobalt Sparrow as one of her materials, Recital Starling cannot be targeted by your card effects!" The long haired girl said, before she then waved her hand outwards towards the XYZ Monster.

"Lyrilusc - Recital Starling's effect!" She declared. "If this card is XYZ Summoned, I can target one face-up monster on the field, and it gains 300 attack and defence for each material attached to this card!"

Then she pointed towards the monster which she wanted to have their attacks and defence increased by Recital Starling's effect, that of course being her other XYZ Monster. "I will target Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale, and increase her attack and defence by 600 points!"

And with that declaration the black winged XYZ Monster then spun and danced around the brightly winged Assembled Nightingale, and she then had both her attack and defence increased by 600 points though Recital Starling's effect.

Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale - Wind/XYZ/Winged Beast /Rank 1/Effect: 600/600 OV: 0

She could see a small frown made it to Mei's face, probably seeing how bad it's going to go for her from this point on as Ruri's doing her combo and her not being able to interrupt with any of her own cards.

"Lyrilusc - Bird Sanctuary's effect!" The ravenette declared once more, motioning towards the Continuous Spell on her field as said card's holographic projection shone on the field.

"That Continuous Spell? Wasn't it effect to draw one card if you control an XYZ Monster with three or more materials?" The purple haired girl murmured, and Ruri answered with a light shake of her head.

"Yes, but that isn't it's only effect!" She said. "Its other effect allows me to target two Winged Beast XYZ monsters I control, and attach one of those monsters to the other as material, and transfer its materials to that monster!"

The explanation was wordy, and she didn't really understand what exactly its gonna do with the two XYZ Monsters, and the confused look on Mei's face showed that she didn't really get it either.

But even so, the long raven haired girl continued. "I will target Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale as the first target, and target Lyrilusc - Recital Starling as the second one and attach her to Assembled Nightingale as material!"

And the newly summoned XYZ Monster spread her wings wide, and Recital Starling alongside its two glowing overlay material then shone as the monster danced and spun around Assembled Nightingale, and turned into three whole materials for the bright winged winged beast.

Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale - Wind/XYZ/Winged Beast /Rank 1/Effect: 600/600 OV: 3

"And since Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale now has three materials, she gains 600 points of attack!" Ruri said, and the XYZ Monster's continuous effect to gain 200 attack for each of its overlay materials took effect as its attack points rose once more.

Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale - Wind/XYZ/Winged Beast /Rank 1/Effect: 1200/600 OV: 3

"Ah. Wait." She said, realization dawning on her as the same happened to Mei as her eyes went wide. "The darn games just over isn't it."

"Now battle!" The raven haired girl declared as she waved her hand forward, a determined gaze and a small building smile on her features. "I'll attack directly with Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale! Nightingale Wind!"

And using the monster's ability to attack directly and ignoring the large monsters on Mei's field, the winged XYZ Monster flew up high to meet the two towering mechanical giants and flapped her wings with great strength, creating a slicing gust of winds that went in between the monsters, and striking Mei instead.

"Kuh!" The purple haired girl said as she winced, small sparks of electricity emerging from her duel disk as the titular sound of her Life Points reducing came from her duel disk, lowering her already halved Life Points ever further.

Mei: 800LP

"And since Assembled Nightingale can attack as much as she has overlay units…" Mei muttered with her head down as she let out a sigh with closed eyes, though a small smile could be seen on her face.

"I guess it's my loss."

"I will attack directly again with Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale! Nightingale Wind!" And again, the winged XYZ Monster flapped both of her wings, creating blades of wind that swerved around Mei's monsters, and hitting her directly.

"Kyaa!" The purplette shrieked as she held both hands up, the gust of wind that hits her reducing what was left of her Life Points, the winged XYZ Monster not even needing to use its third direct attack to finish the game and securing her master's victory.

Mei: 0LP

"I-I won." Ruri said, almost in disbelief as the tall girl then seemingly melted as she lost all strength in her legs and crumbled onto the ground. "I won!" She cried out in relief as she looked upwards towards the sky.

"Whew, well wasn't that a duel." She said with a whistle, walking closer to her double who raised and turned her head towards her. "You did good there. Can't believe that you found a way to get Machina Citadel out of the field with your deck."

Her raven haired doppelganger gave her a sheepish smile at her remark. "Well, it's not something that I can always get. I'm just glad that I managed to draw it with Bird Sanctuary." She said with a relieved sigh.

"Ah, so you drew it from the top of your deck then." Said a soft voice, and the two of them turned to see Mei walking slowly towards them, before the smaller girl then sighed languidly. "Maybe I should have run more spot removal like E.M.R…"

"Well your deck already has mass removal in Citadel yeah? Guess running something like that would be fine. Doesn't that card need you to tribute or something though?" She asked, vaguely remembering the card that Yuuna had given the purple haired girl.

And she received a nod. "Yeah, but considering how Gear Gigant X makes it easier for me to get my monsters and how easy it is to get both Citadel and Ruinforce on the field to do what I did earlier, it might be something that I should consider. Or maybe I should…"

Aaaaaand Mei then started to continue mumbling to herself. Guess she probably isn't getting much sleep tonight huh. Mei's probably going to keep her awake all night to try and test whatever newer addition to her deck.

"Um, if I can ask…" Ruri called, and the two of them turned towards her. "What was that other set card that you have?" The raven haired girl asked with a tilt of her head, and she turned to Mei.

"I want to know too. What kind of card did you have set anyway other than Machina Overdrive? Was it a bluff or something?" She also asked, and the purple haired girl shook her head.

"No, it wasn't something like that." The smaller girl said, taking out her deck from her duel disk's case and took out a card. "It was… Trap Hole." She said, revealing the card in question to be regular old Trap Hole.

"... Trap Hole?" She said, scratching her head. "Uh, why're you running that? Don't you have some better ones like Bottomless or Floodgate Trap Hole?" She asked, and received a glare from Mei, who then sighed.

"Yeah… Floodgate Trap Hole would have definitely been a better choice. I just didn't have the time to swap them in. I was just thinking of a way to get a certain monster with 1000 attack out of the field that's all." Was the answer that she got before Mei turned her head, refusing to meet eye contact.

"1000 attack? That's…" Specific, and she kinda know what exact card was Mei talking about as her eyes widened slightly. "Oh yeah. That. Guess that does work a bit better than Floodgate Trap Hole." She mumbled.

She could see where Mei was going with that line of thought. She wanted a generic something or other that gets Ancient Gear Hunting Hound off of the field so that it can't use its effect on the field, and not leave it there where it can still be a fusion material if the Academia duelist just draws Polymerization.

"Though I guess I'll side them out and switch them for Floodgate Trap Hole for the next one." The purple haired girl said as she started to walk towards the seat where her bag was, intending to edit her deck quickly for the next duel.

"W-wait. We're doing another duel?" The still on the ground raven haired girl asked weakly as she turned towards her, and she gave a resolute nod. 

"Well of course! You dueled me like, what, how many times? Seven? Ten times? You'll have to duel that many times against Mei too." She said with a grin and gave an encouraging thumbs up to her doppelganger.

"This way you'll definitely get better at using your cards! I'll guarantee it!" She said with a grin, before turning and rushing towards her purple haired friend. "I'll go tell Mei to get ready to go hurry up and get ready 'kay!"

As she rushed to where Mei was to not let her get too heated in editing her deck, Ruri's whimpers went unnoticed.

-

"Alright then." Said the red haired girl who took a seat on her chair, leaning forwards to assess both her, her brother, Sayaka, and Myu who were all awake and well rested. Or well, as well rested as they'll get honestly.

"Let's talk."