It was the second day of the tournament, when the semifinals and finals would take place together.

Akiza and I entered the lobby together, but I felt too awkward to sit by her at our previous spot at the table, so instead, I sat on the couch. At first, I was hoping that Yusei would sit across from me, in the spot he'd sat in the day before, but I remembered that his match against Greiger would be the first one of the day.

And after that, me and Akiza... And thus, the two of us were left on our lonesome in the room.

Yusei was out on the track first, and for once, people cheered for him. I guessed that they must've seen how good he was and suddenly changed their minds about his criminal mark.

I wonder if it hurt when Yusei was given that mark...

Greiger's Duel Runner, when it appeared on the track, was absolutely monstrous. I wouldn't have wanted to match up against something like that. But Yusei would be fine, I was sure. After all, he crafted that Duel Runner himself.

If people suddenly changed their minds about a great duelist like Yusei based on his skill, I could only wonder what they thought of a pathetic loser like myself. I certainly knew what I thought, after all.

That entire day had just been a mess. The morning was tense, Akiza avoided me, I could barely talk to Liquid and Okita without them hovering over me like doting parents, wondering if I was feeling okay since the last time, and I even had a meeting with Sayer to ensure that I was still mind controlled. I had to keep talking about "helping the Movement" and "doing what I could for the people who saved me" before he could give me back my deck again, and that's just to borrow it.

My Duel Runner was moved into the Stadium garage, as well, where the rest of the Turbo Duelists had their Runners stored before matches. Yusei and Greiger had just entered the stadium from them, after all, and Jack Atlas's Duel Runner was being stored there as well.

My Runner would be removed from there shortly, so I didn't have to worry too much about that. After all, this was the day I'd lose to Akiza.

Every time I thought about her, my heart grew heavy. I didn't think it was so easy to lose a friend.

Yusei and Greiger set the Field Spell Speed World, and the countdown started.

To be honest, once again, I couldn't focus much on Yusei's duel. I spent most of my time either mourning the passing seconds or looking through my deck to make sure everything was up to snuff again.

Akiza was looking through her cards, too. Probably counting how many ways she could crush me. I sincerely hoped she didn't. Er... Crush me, that is.

I was scared to death that day. I was risking it all. In the end, it was highly possible that I'd end up getting nothing out of it. I'd be imprisoned and punished, I was certain of that much. But more than that, I could lose the friendships I treasured so dearly.

Akiza still glared daggers at me every now and then. I wished she wouldn't look at me so hatefully. I hated myself enough as it was, but having hers on top of it just felt unbearable.

If you keep thinking about everything that can and most likely will go wrong, you will be too petrified to make a move, something told me. So, just this once, don't think. Try and be strong.

Like Yusei.

That last part was tacked on by me, of course, but the voice was right. I'd never heard it before, but I knew it was one of the Weather Painters talking to me from my deck. If I had to guess, I'd say it was Cloud.

If I missed this duel now, I didn't know when I'd get the chance to see Yusei duel again. So I took a deep breath and heeded Cloud's warning, raising my head to see the monitor. This was the last duel I'd watch before my imprisonment, and I had better make it count.

Greiger started the duel, with such an overwhelmingly huge Duel Runner stealing the first turn from Yusei. He summoned Spell Reactor RE and placed three cards face-down, then turned it over to Yusei.

Spell Reactor RE: 1200 ATK

Greiger: 1
Yusei: 1

I could practically feel Yusei cringing as Greiger's Duel Runner tailgated his, and a cheeky part of me that was very small, but very loud, cheered because that was payback for him blasting my eardrums out earlier and I honestly didn't think I had it in me to be so petty about something that happened so long ago.

To be honest, I even had to hold back a laugh at myself. I'm such a child, wow... Poor Yusei. But in all seriousness, it couldn't have been easy for him to concentrate.

In the end, of course, he gathered himself and set a face-down card, then Summoned Speed Warrior.

Speed Warrior: 900 ATK

Greiger activated a Trap right as Speed Warrior appeared on the field. Hidden Soldiers allowed him to Special Summon a Level 4 or lower DARK-Attribute monster when Yusei summoned a monster out onto the field. His monster of choice was Trap Reactor Y-FI, pronounced like Wi-Fi.

Trap Reactor Y-FI: 800 ATK

If I recalled correctly, that child who stood in for Luna in Greiger's first battle--wait, no, that was Leo, remember?--He'd struggled against these Reactor cards of his. I hadn't had a good chance to see the duel then, so I didn't know how his Reactor cards actually worked. Although, if he had Spell and Trap Reactors, wouldn't it stand to reason that he'd also have Monster Reactors too, or something of the like? I wondered if those kinds of effects could potentially hinder my Weather Painters, or how I could potentially solve those problems.

Well, once I learned what the problems were. All I knew was that they probably disrupted effects of their respective types.

Speed Warrior's Attack Points doubled and Yusei declared an attack on Spell Reactor RE.

Greiger: 3400 LP

But Spell Reactor wasn't destroyed so easily. I didn't think it would be. The second Trap Greiger had set that previous turn was Fake Explosion, protecting his monster from destruction and allowing him to Special Summon a Level 5 monster from his hand.

And... I was sort of right on the name. Apparently, according to the monitor, it was actually a Summon Reactor, Summon Reactor SK.

All three were out on the field. Even as someone who had never faced, or apparently even heard of them before, I knew something was going to happen when all three gathered together. They'd just have to, wouldn't they? For the boss monster of the deck to appear, I mean.

Summon Reactor SK: 2000 ATK

RE, Y-FI, and SK... Did those codes have any real meaning to them? Maybe if I tried rearranging the order they were in? RE, SK, Y-FI... Y-FI, SK, RE... Y-FI, RE, SK... No, that first one was the closest, I think. Just put the RE at the end...

SK, Y-FI, RE. SK Y-FI RE. SKY FIRE.

It wouldn't be too far fetched to assume it had something to do with the potential boss monster Greiger would be summoning soon.

Greiger activated the trap Delta Reactor, sending all three of his monsters to the Graveyard in order to summon exactly that: Flying Fortress SKY FIRE. The thing was a mechanical menace. It had weapons all over its body, propellers on its front, and its guns were aimed directly at Yusei. Not to mention, he'd had it all planned out, and even managed to Summon his monster on his opponent's turn, right during the Battle Phase, even.

I had to gawk as its effect was projected onto the screen. Once per turn, that thing could destroy any card Yusei Normal Summons, Special Summons, or Sets and deal him 800 points of damage for it.

Flying Fortress SKY FIRE: 3000 ATK

The easiest way I could think of to deal with that monster would then be simply to activate a Spell that could destroy it immediately, but... Did Yusei have those kinds of cards? Because I certainly didn't. I only had my Canvases, and they were all Traps in a Turbo Duel.

But Yusei would pull through. I knew he would. That's just the kind of duelist he was. His cards would respond to him, and he would win.

That being said, his turn had to come to an end for now, boosting each of their Speed Counters by one.

Greiger: 2
Yusei: 2

Greiger drew and started his turn. He went straight on the offensive and attacked with Flying Fortress SKY FIRE, destroying Speed Warrior in almost an instant.

Yusei: 1900

As Yusei had to get out of the way of Greiger's Beast (that's what his Duel Runner is called, apparently), the momentum caused him to spin out, and I tensed worriedly, but it only took him a moment to regain control of his vehicle and make a move to catch up to him.

God, he worries me so much. I hate that about him. Yes, present tense. I still worry about him and I still hate that about him.

Due to Speed World's effect, Yusei lost both of his Speed Counters from taking over 2000 points of damage. Greiger set a card face-down and ended his turn, after what looked to me like taunting, although the microphones didn't catch their conversation.

Yusei drew for his turn.

Greiger: 3
Yusei: 1

Yusei summoned Shield Warrior in Defense Mode on his side of the field, but SKY FIRE destroyed it in an instant. He took 800 points of damage, spun out again, and then set a card facedown and ended his turn.

Yusei: 1100

Sometimes you have to take risks to get what you need. Aside from the spin-out, which I would probably lecture Yusei on later, he must've planned to sacrifice Shield Warrior in order to successfully Set the card he'd drawn during the Draw Phase.

The reason Yusei spun out so often, I learned after finally thinking for a bit, was because his automatic brakes had to lock quickly in tandem with the damage he took in the duel, because for some reason that was a thing. I supposed it was almost like the Duel Runner's own reaction to getting hit with an attack or effect, kind of like how most people had their own reflexes to defend when being attacked. Most people would simply have Runners that slowed down, but some professionals chose to focus more on speed, engine performance, and CPU than in-duel functions, and that would sometimes interfere with the dual functioning. As a result, people like Yusei or even Jack Atlas's Duel Runners would spin out when hit with particularly high-impact effects or attacks from other cards.

Now I was a little bit scared. Did my Runner focus on speed too? I remembered being able to keep up with Yusei with little trouble when we were fleeing the Satellite and charging the City, and we'd even beaten Officer Trudge together without allowing him to Synchro Summon. If my Runner's functions were meant primarily for speed and agility, then I ran the risk of spinning out in a Turbo Duel as well. It hadn't happened yet, but it could.

Somehow, though, despite coming to such a startling and... quite frankly, a frightening revelation as that, my first instinct was to just stay calm and consider how to avoid such a situation happening, or what to do if and when it did. Yusei simply regained his mobility by focusing on the tilt of his Runner to match with the speed of his wheels. After observing Yusei's riding skill, although I would never be able to perfectly replicate it, I could still copy his movements to ensure my own safety.

There was no way I'd give up Turbo Dueling for such insignificant--well, they weren't insignificant, because there was merit in having them... but I wouldn't give Turbo Dueling up for such... urgh, how do I put it? I... I won't let fear get in the way of one of my favorite things to do. There we go.

Okay, all of those thoughts I had were definitely a mouthful, and it did take a little while for me to explain it to myself in my head. But I caught up on the duel just in time to see Greiger attack Yusei directly and for Yusei to activate his own Trap, Wild Tornado, in order to destroy his other set Trap. By doing that, he was able to Special Summon Speed Warrior from his Graveyard, in Defense Position, just in time to withstand SKY FIRE's attack.

Unfortunately, that card he'd set wasn't a game-changer, like I'd hoped. He was just surviving by the skin of his teeth that turn. I prayed that his cards would give him another chance, so that Yusei could turn this duel around and win.

Please, help him win. I believe in him with all of my heart. He believes in you, too.

Greiger set another card face-down and ended his turn. Yusei drew.

Greiger: 5
Yusei: 3

Just a note on the Speed Counters. Because I was so busy mulling to myself, I missed the previous time they'd changed. That's why it seems like they skipped a step.

Yusei paused for a moment after he drew his next card, but I couldn't fathom why. He summoned Fortress Warrior from his hand in Attack Mode, activating SKY FIRE's effect.

Yusei: 300

It scared me, honestly, how close Yusei got to losing sometimes. This was clearly a difficult duel for him to win, but I had a feeling that he would do it anyway.

Yusei activated the Speed Spell Zero Reverse, now that he had three Speed Counters. Because of that, he could Special Summon a monster that was destroyed that turn due to a card effect by lowering its Attack Points to zero. He brought back Fortress Warrior. And then, I realized why he paused when he drew his card.

Yusei Special Summoned Turbo Booster, thanks to having successfully Summoned a monster that turn.

Rally!

I abruptly stood from my seat, catching Akiza's attention. I didn't care about the glare she was probably giving me. I was just happy to see Turbo Booster, and guilty that I'd nearly forgotten Rally and the others. Rally was the one who found me in the first place. I owed so much to him.

"Rally..." I mumbled. "So the cards did respond..."

Rally was cheering him on, too. Turbo Booster was going to boost Yusei straight to victory!

Yusei declared an attack on SKY FIRE with Fortress Warrior and activated Turbo Booster's effect. At first, I was worried, because the battle damage would make Yusei lose instantly, but he activated Fortress Warrior's effect in tandem with Turbo Booster, lowering his battle damage in that battle to zero.

The camera zoomed in on Flying Fortress SKY FIRE as it crashed into the ground, destroyed by the teamwork of two Little Monsters Who Could.

Except, of course it could never be that easy. Greiger activated a Continuous Trap card called Chariot Pile, and for some reason felt the need to release the spikes on his hind wheels? Was he trying to straight-up pop Yusei's wheels? Was that his goal here?

I could sense a frantic rage coming from Greiger now. The turn switched over to Greiger.

Greiger: 6
Yusei: 4

Greiger activated Chariot Pile's effect, forcing Yusei to release a monster to negate its effect or else take 800 points of damage. After Yusei Tributed Fortress Warrior, Greiger simply ended his turn there.

Greiger: 7
Yusei: 5

Things were getting bad. Greiger was getting desperate, and I could tell Yusei was doing the best he could to hang in there. This next draw was important, too.

He Summoned Junk Synchron, which he'd just drawn, and activated its effect. With that, he brought back Speed Warrior. He tuned Speed Warrior with Junk Synchron, just like I thought he would.

"Are you going to repeat that little speech you made earlier? You know, when you were so happy to see your real friend win," Akiza spat at me after a long silence.

I wanted to answer her, I really did. I wanted to say that--well, first of all, that I didn't remember the speech--and that second of all, I'd have done the same with Black Rose Dragon, but she most likely wouldn't listen. So, despite everything, I stayed quiet and sat back down, cheeks burning with shame.

Yusei Summoned Junk Warrior and proudly declared a direct attack against Greiger, but Chariot Pile's other effect allowed Greiger to pay 800 Life Points to negate the attack and destroy the monster. It reminded me of Krebons, but more destructive.

Of course it reminded me of a Psychic-type monster...

Yusei enthusiastically set a face-down card and ended his turn. What... what was that, Yusei? Huh? Why did you feel the need to do that? Pfft, okay, suit yourself, you weirdo.

Greiger: 8
Yusei: 6

Greiger drew and summoned a card called Black Salvo. It only had 100 Attack Points, but I had a bad feeling about it. Because he successfully summoned it, he was allowed to Special Summon a Level 4 DARK Attribute monster from his Graveyard in Defense Position.

Trap Reactor Y-FI was back on the field.

Trap Reactor Y-FI: 1800 DEF

Level 3 Black Salvo tuned Level 4 Trap Reactor Y-FI. So that was why I had a bad feeling about it. It was a Tuner monster. Great.

Given his boss monster's appearance, I was surprised that he Synchro Summoned, but obviously it wasn't an impossible feat. No good deck was a one-trick pony.

And so, he Synchro Summoned Dark Strike Fighter to the field.

Dark Strike Fighter: 2600 ATK

Greiger declared a direct attack on Yusei, but he activated his Trap card, Synchro Spirits. I took a second too long admiring Pikeru's appearance on the card, but I managed to catch the full effect anyway. He banished Junk Warrior from his Graveyard to Special Summon the Synchro Material Monsters used for its Summon, Junk Synchron and Speed Warrior, both in defense position.

Junk Synchron: 500 DEF

Speed Warrior: 400 DEF

Junk Synchron jumped in front of Yusei to take the direct attack instead, but it wasn't destroyed by the battle, thanks to Yusei banishing Shield Warrior in his Graveyard to activate its effect and protect his monster.

Greiger activated Chariot Pile's effect again. Yusei Tributed Speed Warrior to negate the damage. Then, Greiger activated a different Trap, called Ultimate Flare, allowing him to summon an Ultimate Flare Token in Defense Position.

Ultimate Flare Token: 0 DEF

The effects of the cards on the screen kept worrying me. Yusei was literally hanging by a thread. Dark Strike Fighter's effect would allow it to Tribute a monster in order to deal damage to the opponent equal to 200 times its level, and the Token was level 10. Already, that was 2000 damage.

But it couldn't be activated this turn. Or at least, that's what I assumed. For some reason, Greiger didn't activate that effect and ended his turn, allowing Yusei one final chance to win the match.

Either there was a real, legitimate, game-related reason why Greiger couldn't activate that effect, or he was challenging Yusei to win in one turn. I hadn't noticed until the MC announced it, but Yusei had no cards in his hand, and the odds looked slim at the moment. He had a Tuner monster out on the field now, so it was possible that if he drew the right card, he could change everything.

At the very least, that's what I hoped.

Greiger: 9
Yusei: 7

Yusei drew and summoned the monster Tuningware. It was a Level 1 monster that could be treated as a Level 2 monster in a Synchro Summon, but Yusei kept it at 1 this time. Like before, he tuned Tuningware with Junk Synchron for the Synchro Summon of a Level 4 Synchro monster.

To be honest, that was the first I'd ever seen of a Level 4 Synchro monster, so I was excited to see what Yusei had in store.

As it turned out, the monster was a literal arm. Armory Arm. It was just a mechanical claw with 1800 Attack Points. But, knowing Yusei, he could make great use of "just a mechanical claw with 1800 Attack Points," so I wanted to see where it went.

When Tuningware was used for Synchro Summoning, Yusei was allowed to draw another card from his deck. That second card could save his skin or sink him in.

It's going to be a good card. I just know it!

And then... he smiled.

On live television, Yusei drew his card, looked straight ahead, and smiled, and I knew that smile well. That was the "I've won this duel" smile.

He activated the Speed Spell Synchro Return. Because he had five or more Speed Counters--seven, in this case--he was able to Special Summon his banished Synchro monster.

Junk Warrior was back in the game!

Yusei activated Armory Arm's effect, which allowed it to be equipped to a Synchro monster and give it an extra 1000 Attack Points.

Junk Warrior: 3300 ATK

That meant it had more than Dark Strike Fighter! Yusei declared an attack on it, and finally, finally defeated Dark Strike Fighter.

Greiger: 1900

And then, the most amazing thing... Armory Arm's effect! While Junk Warrior, the monster Armory Arm was equipped to, destroyed Greiger's Dark Strike Fighter, Greiger would take effect damage equal to Dark Strike Fighter's Attack Points.

Greiger: 0

Yusei had won the match.

Yusei had won the match!

"Yes! Go, Yusei!" I'd jumped from my seat and cheered before I could stop myself. Akiza scoffed behind me and stood from her own seat, turning and walking away. I felt ashamed again, suddenly, for cheering on my friend in front of my clearly hurt other friend.

I felt guilty, like my choice had been made for me and I was the one who pulled the trigger. I hated the heaviness I felt in my gut.

But Akiza didn't leave the room. She just moved farther away from me, and it seemed as though she was heading for the door when something unexpected happened.

As the MC announced that Yusei won, Yusei drove back to Greiger, who had spun out during the duel and was still surrounded in the white smoke emitting from his Duel Runner as a reaction to the loss, Greiger hijacked the microphone and congratulated Yusei on his victory.

"Congratulations, Yusei Fudo. I lost."

Akiza and I had to turn our attention fully to the television in surprise as Greiger's voice boomed across the speakers all over the stadium.

"I lost, but my mission still isn't finished. I planned to win this tournament so that during the ceremonies, I could publicly reveal what Goodwin did. However, that's no longer possible."

"His... mission?"

"Shut up and listen," Akiza snapped at me.

"Therefore, I'll get my revenge now!"

Greiger pointed aggressively at the floating sphere in the middle of the stadium, and an image was shown all across the screens and boards. Even our monitor showed it.

"Look at this!" he declared, his voice shaking with rage and grief. "My village was completely destroyed!"

The image was of a village, but it didn't look destroyed to me. From the looks of it, it was taken before the incident. The houses were small, and it didn't cover very much area, but it was a quaint little village. So that's where Greiger was from? I wouldn't have thought such a big man like that would come from such a small place, but looks can be deceiving. Like I had room to talk, though. I'm the pinkest girl you could probably ever meet, and yet here I was, a Turbo Duelist, waiting for imprisonment.

"This is my village! My hometown! In order to resurrect the Crimson Dragon, Goodwin used my village as a testing ground!"

Crimson Dragon? Something within me stirred. Crimson Pixie from within my deck, no doubt. But why her...?

"And my village was..." The visuals suddenly changed with a bright light, and I could see the edges of the ground crumbling from the force of the explosion. And then, the next image, a huge, gaping crater.

I had to cover my mouth to keep from gasping too loudly. That was horrible! How could Mr. Goodwin do something like that?! Goodwin... Wasn't he the one hosting this entire tournament? So Greiger had his own mission... He needed to spread awareness about what happened.

Greiger and I... I felt as though we weren't so different. We each had missions. I wanted to find my memories, and Greiger needed reparations, repayment, and... something to ease the pain of losing his family and loved ones.

"All the villagers are missing, including my sister and brother. Yusei! Jack! Don't trust him! You can't let Goodwin have the Crimson Dragon!"

Greiger jumped back onto his Duel Runner and revved it, as though in some kind of rush. But what was this about a Crimson Dragon?

Why did it sound so... important?

And then Greiger took off. "I'll take care of him with my own hands! For my hometown friends! For my dear brother and sister! For this sadness to never happen again!" he declared, his microphone still on.

Yusei took off too, though. I saw the speed and trajectory at which Greiger was going. At this rate, he was going to ram right into the balcony overlooking the stadium, where Goodwin and Jack Atlas were, right?!

"No, Greiger!" I knew he couldn't hear me, but I couldn't help my worried squeal. Even Akiza was shocked to see something like this happen. No, not "even" Akiza. Of course she was shocked. This is shocking for anyone.

Yusei had taken off, too, in the complete opposite direction. When Greiger rode right at the balcony, Yusei intercepted him, with his front wheel accidentally breaking off the attached spikes on Greiger's Runner.

"Yusei!" Of course I was worried. That was such a dangerous move. This wasn't the first time he'd done it, either. He was just good at all these stunts, I supposed, but he was going to give me a heart attack one day.

Akiza looked taken aback that Yusei would do such a thing, but she tried to play it off. I understood that she must've been feeling confused. Still, the only thing I could do about that now was hope that my duel would give her some kind of closure.

But Yusei and Greiger both touched down on the ground, each doing whatever they could to lighten the landing. And as soon as Greiger landed, he jumped out of his vehicle and grabbed Yusei by the collar, shaking him violently and yelling something at him. His microphone was no longer functioning the way it was before, so there was no way to understand what they were saying.

But Yusei was in danger. Yusei was... Y-Yusei...--

It took all of my strength to keep myself rooted in my position. I couldn't go after him. Not yet. I couldn't out myself to the public yet. I couldn't show myself to Sayer as having broken through his mind control.

No matter how much I wanted to go and protect Yusei like he'd protected me...

The last thing anyone heard from Greiger that day was a pained, grieving scream. It was a scream that forever seared itself into my soul.

Greiger was overcome with rage and pain from what happened to his village. He didn't care that he'd caused a scene during the tournament and probably even signed his life away to jail. He just wanted some semblance of... I don't know. Something, something in regards to bringing back his village. He wanted his village back. His home, his beloved past. And without it, he had no reason to stay silent.

So he flew into an outrage, and was then arrested on the spot. That day, I cried Greiger's tears from within the waiting room as I awaited my match with Akiza next.

---

(oh boy another akiza duel here we go

in all seriousness, lemme know if i'm doing anything wrong or right. do you like my character or is she too strong/weak/etc? i'll do what i can to fix her up. at this point, she's literally just a self-insert, and there's some things that're gonna have to be left to Anime Logic, but i'm trying to make it seem as realistic to the real thing as possible. My main point of reference here is the Japanese anime, but i use English dub for some of the names, as well as some points that I believe add value to the story. plus, i'll sprinkle in some of my own things and also game elements.

anyway yikers this whole thing turned our darker than i intended it to be since chapter 1. uhhhh have fun byeee)