AN: Sorry accidentally set the wrong time for the timer.
...
[Yumi, LP 4000]
[Rio, LP 4000]
"Appear, K9-17 Izuna!" Yumi declared, slamming his monster card onto the Duel Disk.
Materializing on his field was a young woman with sleek weasel ears and a tail, clad in a tight police uniform that contrasted her mischievous wink toward her master.
[K9-17 Izuna, 2100 ATK]
"A new monster?" Rio gasped. Since befriending Yumi, she'd seen him summon countless cards she'd never even heard of.
"Yeah. Let me introduce my newest archetype, K9." Yumi smirked as Izuna tilted her head playfully, almost in acknowledgment.
Originally, he planned to make the K9 archetype to give to Celina, but realizing that K9 feels more like a dog instead of a cat, he decided to hold back on introducing her to this new archetype.
Rio, however, worked perfectly with the Ice Barrier archetype, since her winged-beast, ice-theme cards only have so much, so he introduced her to the Ice Barrier. Wanting her to get used to them and make them part of her deck.
Yumi still knew that during the final season of GX anime, Darkness managed to capture almost everyone in the world using the darkness in their heart. The only person able to stand their ground and fight alongside Jaden was his friend Jesse Anderson; everyone else fell before Jaden could even start being affected by Darkness.
Like Yumi wanted from the start since joining Duel Academy, he needed allies that could at least hold their ground during important matches against real villains and not lose to some henchmen that got defeated by Jaden not long ago.
"K9-17 Izuna is a Level 5 monster that can be Normal Summoned if you have two or more cards in your hand." Yumi explained, before continuing. "Izuna's effect, when this card is Summoned, I can send one K9 card from my deck to my grave. But since Take Over 5 in my grave prevents cards in my deck from being sent to the grave, this effect is negated."
Rio nodded, finishing her turn. "Then I'll end here." Her monk clapped his hands together.
"And during my End Phase, General Gantala's effect activates! I can target an Ice Barrier monster in my grave and Special Summon it, except General Gantala." A card slid free of her graveyard, the same card she discarded by the effect of Strategist.
"Show yourself, Medium of the Ice Barrier!" Rio placed down her card.
Cold winds surged, taking form as a cyan-haired woman in a flowing light-blue dress.
[Medium of the Ice Barrier, 2200 ATK]
"My turn, draw!" Yumi pulled his card, eyes gleaming.
"I'll set one card face down, and activate the Spell, Five Star Twilight! I tribute my Level 5 Izuna, to Special Summon my Kuriboh brothers from my hand, deck, and grave!"
Izuna's body dissolved into five twinkling starlights that scattered across his field, each one taking shape as a colorful puffball.
[Kuriboh, 300 ATK]
[Kuribee, 300 ATK]
[Kuriboo, 300 ATK]
[Kuribeh, 300 ATK]
[Kuribah, 300 ATK]
The five little furballs bounced and squeaked in unison. "Kuri, kuri!"
Rio's stern expression softened. "They're… adorable."
Since Yumi made the deck she is playing, he knew most cards in her possession, and Medium's effect is really troublesome. Preventing the opponent from activating more than 1 Spell or Trap per turn.
"Now I activate Kuribah's effect, sending my five Kuriboh brothers to my grave, I get to Special Summon Kuribabylon!"
The furballs stacked, spinning wildly before bursting into smoke, emerging as a massive fur beast with sharp eyes, wicked fangs, and a twisted horn.
[Kuribabylon, 1500 ATK]
"Kuribabylon's original ATK is based on the five Kuriboh brothers' ATK. And it gains 300 ATK and DEF for each Kuriboh monster in my grave!"
With the five brothers sent to the Graveyard, Kuribabylon's power skyrocketed.
[Kuribabylon, 1500 -> 3000 ATK]
"Battle, Kuribabylon, attack General Gantala!"
The horned furball charged, goring through the massive monk and shattering him into shards of light.
[Rio, LP 4000 -> 3700]
"Now I activate Kuribabylon's effect, returning this card back to my hand, and Special Summoned my five Kuriboh Brothers!" Yumi returned Kuribabylon to his hand as five cards popped out from his grave.
He placed the five Kuriboh Brothers back onto his field.
[Kuriboh, 300 ATK]
[Kuribee, 300 ATK]
[Kuriboo, 300 ATK]
[Kuribeh, 300 ATK]
[Kuribah, 300 ATK]
"Kuri, kuri!" the brothers squeaked again, crowding Yumi's field.
"Turn end."
"My turn, draw!" Rio slid her card from the top of her deck and revealed it with no hesitation.
"Spell card, Spell Books from the Pot, both players draw three cards!" Both duelists pulled three cards from their decks, their hands quickly swelling with new options.
"I activate Strategist's effect, sending an Ice Barrier monster from my hand to my grave, and draw one card!" She discarded a card, and another quickly replaced it in her hand.
"Battle, go Medium, attack Kuriboh!" Rio pointed toward the brown fur ball on Yumi's side.
The cyan-haired woman raised her palm as frigid air swirled around it, then thrust it forward, releasing a chilling blast toward the small brown furball on Yumi's field.
But Yumi snapped his fingers. "Kuribee's effect activates! When you declare an attack on my Kuriboh monster, and if I control five Kuriboh monsters with different names, I can negate that attack!"
At once, the five colorful furballs bounced forward, arranging themselves into a star formation. A brilliant shield of light formed between them, completely dispersing Medium's icy strike.
Originally, the real-life Kuribee's effect is only once per turn, making all Kuriboh monsters on your field 0 ATK and negating an attack. While the anime version could negate attacks, but requires all five Kuriboh brothers to be on the field.
Since Yumi has already been upgrading the Kuriboh archetype anyway, he decided to mix the real-life, anime, and his own upgrade together. Making Kuribee's effect worked for not just its brothers but also the other Kuribohs on the field, as long as they have different names.
Rio's eyes narrowed. "Tch… such a troublesome effect."
She slid two cards into her Duel Disk with a sharp motion. "I set two cards face-down and end my turn!"
Twin holographic cards appeared behind her monsters, glowing faintly as the battlefield settled.
"My turn, draw!" Yumi slid a card into his hand and immediately pointed forward.
"Kuribah's effect! Tributing my five Kuriboh Brothers, I Special Summon Kuribabylon!"
The five furballs fused together once more, their tiny bodies merging into a massive, horned beast of fluff.
[Kuribabylon, 1500 -> 3000 ATK]
"Battle Kuribabylon! Attack Medium!" Yumi ordered. The giant furball lunged, horn aimed at the Ice Barrier sorceress.
"Trap card, Ice Barrier!"
Rio snapped her fingers as one of her face-downs flipped open.
A wall of frost erupted, trying to lock Kuribabylon in place.
"When a battle involving one of your monsters, I can change its ATK to 0, negate its effect, also that monster can't change its battle position!" she explained with a smirk, but before the ice could trap Kuribabylon in place.
"Then I'll chain this with Kuribabylon's effect, returning it to my hand, I get to Special Summon my five Kuriboh brothers!" The giant furball burst apart before the ice could seal it, scattering into five smaller ones that bounced cheerfully back onto the field.
"Kuri, kuri!" the brothers chimed together.
Rio blinked, impressed despite herself. "To pull off a stalemate with Kuribohs of all monsters… Amazing. No wonder you make even the weakest cards shine."
Reginald was surprised to see the little furballs being played so seriously.
Yumi chuckled. "There's more, but Kuribohs are still more support than finishers… for now. Who knows, maybe one day I'll take down a Blue-Eyes White Dragon with them."
He grinned, knowing full well if Kaiba ever overheard that, the man might charter a jet straight to Duel Academy just to duel him on the spot.
"Still," Rio added, ignoring the joke, "your Kuribohs are anything but weak."
"Then let's keep going!" Yumi said. "Since my battle phase is over, I'll activate Kuribeh's effect! By tributing it along with its brothers, I get to Special Summon Kuribandit!"
The furballs bounced and swirled together, morphing into a scrappy purple furball with claws, fangs, and a bandana tied over its head.
[Kuribandit, 1000 ATK]
"Kuribandit's effect! By tributing it, I draw five cards, then send all monsters among them to the Graveyard!" Yumi sent Kuribandit to the Graveyard, drew five new cards, and slid one monster card away.
Kuribandit, another one-time used card from the King of Game himself, which has such a powerful effect, was sadly used once during the anime before disappearing completely. Until the heavily nerfed real-life version came out.
Seeing Yumi clearing his field, Rio began to feel a bit worried. Sure, his Kuribohs are gone, but his hands just increase, which means more trouble for her.
"Spell card, Dark Hole destroys all monsters on the field!"
A swirling void opened, dragging Rio's Medium and General into its pull. Yumi's field was already empty, leaving him untouched.
"With your Medium now no longer on the field, I can use my spell and trap freely now." He said with a smirk before activating another card. "Quickplay spell, Exosister Pax!"
"Not so fast! Trap card, Call of the Haunted!" Rio countered, one of her face-downs flipping up. "I revive Medium of the Ice Barrier!"
"Not bad." Yumi said with a smile before placing down another card, "Quickplay spell, Spell Card "Monster Reborn", sorry but I'll revive your Medium first!"
"Nani!? A quickplay spell that name Spell Card Monster Reborn!?" Rio was taken aback seeing her monster being brought back to Yumi's side.
[Medium of the Ice Barrier, 2200 ATK]
Medium reappearing on the field, frozen, seeing her supposed to be master standing before her, tilting her head back, she saw that the one who summoned her was her original master.
This makes her feel a bit conflicted, does this really count as NTR if the one summoning you was originally your owner?
Yumi ignored the tension and paid the cost for Pax.
"Now the effect of Exosister Pax results. By paying 800 Life Points, I can add an Exosister card from my Deck to my hand."
[Yumi, LP 4000 -> 3200]
"I'll add Exosister Stella to my hand. And since the card I added is a monster, Exosister Pax let me Special Summon it!"
Stella appeared on Yumi's side, kneeling down while holding on to her baskets.
[Exosister Stella, 800 DEF]
"Stella's effect activates! I can Special Summon an Exosister monster from my hand." Yumi pulls out another card and places it down. "Show yourself, Exosister Sophia!"
Sophia materialized, holding her flashlight in her hand and pointing it forward.
[Exosister Sophia, 800 DEF]
"Sophia's effect, since I control another Exosister monster, I get to draw one card!"
Yumi drew quickly, then raised his hand high. "Now I contract fusion, Stella and Sophia!"
A beam of radiant light engulfed the sisters, merging them into a single warrior maiden.
"The condition is two Exosister monsters. Show yourself, Exosister Kaspitell!"
A young girl stepped onto the field, her short pink hair waving lightly in the night wind, her black skirt and white coat waving lightly. With black stockings covering her long legs, her white boots step onto the field. The girl smiles, spinning the large spear in her hand, a magic circle hovering behind her back.
[Exosister Kaspitell, 2300 ATK]
Rio raised an eyebrow, smirking. "Wow, you really do like female cards, huh? No wonder the Card Waifu Club won't shut up about you."
Before meeting Yumi, she had been obsessed with becoming Raye, which led to her joining clubs like Raye Fan Club, Card Waifu Club, Waifu Research Club, etc... Although many of those clubs are just horny teenagers gathering together to fantasize about their card waifu, many of them actually secretly cursed Yumi out for having waifu like Raye and Roze by his side.
Then, when rumors of Momoyo's waifu-tier cards actually came from Yumi, they get even more jealous and pissed at him.
A few of them even wanted to go and beat him up for giving a Waifu like Iris to someone as cruel as the She Devil, Momoyo Kawakami. Then they find out that Yumi Uzushi is actually the younger brother of Momoyo Kawakami, so they wisely decide not to mess with him so as not to draw the She Devil's anger.
"There is a what club now?" Yumi asks, first time hearing about a club like that.
Well, to be exact, the Slifer Red wasn't invited to the Club's opening ceremony. So Yumi and Jaden don't even know that there is a Dueling Club in Duel Academy.
To be fair, Jaden later tried to join but got rejected, while Yumi spent his time printing cards and completely forgot about things like clubs actually exist in a school.
Rio quickly looked away. "Nothing! Just a bunch of… uh… weirdos. Forget I said anything."
She didn't want him to come to one of those clubs and find out 1/3 of their conversation is cursing him out behind his back. Since she was the one who told him about those clubs, if he came and found out they were just bad-mouthing him behind his back, he might think she was also in on this and wouldn't want to be her friend anymore.
"I see, then let's continue." Yumi said calmly, returning to the duel. "I'll equip The Corrupted Maiden's Spears to Kaspitell!"
Her single spear was replaced by a pair of black spears, once wielded by a saint burned alive and betrayed by her own people.
Kaspitell frowned, gripping the dark twin spears now in her hands. "Master! Why would you even give me something like this!?"
"This card can only be equipped to a LIGHT attribute monster. Once equipped, the monster would change into a DARK attribute, its DEF would be dropped to 0, and its ATK would be raised by the amount of DEF that it lost."
[Exosister Kaspitell, 2300 -> 3100 ATK / DEF 800 -> 0]
"I set one card face-down… and end my turn."
Yumi's smile lingered as his field glowed with power.
"My turn then... draw." Rio said as she pulled her card, her voice noticeably lacking its earlier confidence.
She already knew Medium's effect was difficult to deal with, but now, staring at Yumi's dark exosister, an uneasy weight pressed on her chest.
"I'll play Monster Reborn, and-" Before she could finish, Yumi's voice cut through sharply.
"Kaspitell's effect, while this card remains on the field, neither player can Special Summon monsters from the graveyard."
Rio's hand froze mid-motion. "That's... troublesome," she muttered, lowering her card with a grimace.
After a moment's hesitation, she slid another card into place. "I'll set one card face down... and end my turn."
A single card materialized, lying flat and silent on her field.
"My turn, draw!" Yumi snapped his card from the deck, his eyes flicking up toward Rio with a smile. "This was fun. Let's duel again sometime, okay?"
The casual warmth in his tone made Rio's lips curl into a small smile of her own. "Right!"
From the sidelines, Reginald sneered, though he kept silent. Yumi's reputation for OTKs spoke for itself.
"Spell card, Pump Up! Target one of my monsters, double its ATK until the end of the turn." Yumi said, as his only monster is Kaspitell.
[Exosister Kaspitell, 3100 -> 6200 ATK]
"Battle, go Kaspitell strike down Rio's face-down monster."
With Yumi's command, Kaspitell lunged forward, both spears glowing with ominous purple light.
"The Corrupted Maiden's Spears carry another effect," Yumi added smoothly. "When equipped, the monster can inflict piercing damage against Defense Position monsters."
"Tristesse de la Vierge!"
The spears crashed down, shattering the revealed card, Blizzed, Defender of the Ice Barrier, with only 500 DEF, into icy fragments.
[Rio, LP 3700 -> 0]
The holograms faded as Yumi dropped his stance into his signature pose, two fingers pointing outward with a grin. "Gotcha. That was a fun duel."
Rio smiled, her shoulders relaxing despite the loss. "Yeah… it really was." Even when Yumi wasn't going all out, he was still every bit as powerful as she remembered.
She walked toward him, pulled her deck free, and held it out. "Here."
Yumi took it and then handed the deck back, giving her another easy smile. "Keep working with it. Get stronger. Then, let's duel again."
Her cheeks flushed as she hugged the cards close to her chest. "R-Right! I won't let you down!"
From the sidelines, Reginald and Celina glared irritably at the two, though neither spoke.