Dueling life in a futuristic world

 Maybe it was wrong to lay that out in front of them before a match.

 “LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! THE NWDA WELCOMES YOU TO THE SEMI-FINALS!” Haruna yells over the mic.

 We’re already up in the smaller arena they use for the lower brackets, no glass dome to break, unfortunately.

 “This match will decide one finalist for the Beginner bracket finals!” the announcer for the AGVA yelled into her mic. “Will the NWDA keep its undefeated record with this match? Or will the wrath of AGVA finally catch up to them? Only one way to check!”

 “Very strong words coming from a side with such a shady record.” Haruna lays out. “Maybe try to move up from the beginner tier before you claim yourself capable of defeating the NWDA!”

 ‘Oh. We’re upping the shit-talk? Nice.’

 “The NWDA might’ve gotten lucky until now, but if I was in the audience, I would simply look at the NWDA’s duelist record. 300 Elo in a month? Now that’s just dishonest!”

 I gaze over to Haruna and notice her fuming.

 “NOW LISTEN HERE! You’ll see soon enough we’re not playing around! GO YASUNA! Clean the floor with AGVA!”

 I feel like she had something else to say, but she toned it down to not make a scene.

 Pressing a button on my earpiece, I ask her. “They really got under your skin there, huh?”

 “Just hate their type.” She admits. “All those accessories just to come short on the actual dueling. It’s like they just came here to slut around and then disappear when their duelists ultimately fail. It’s offensive to the people that actually try. For example, would you be here jumping around in skimpy costumes after half an hour of makeup if you knew Yasuna would lose?”

 “You never know what could happen in a duel. That’s what makes them fun to watch.”

 “Right… But you understand what I mean, don’t you?”

 That I do. The AGVA cheer-team went absolutely bonkers for this duel. The eight team members all show common signs of Nano-Mods. From impossible proportions to perfectly sculpted faces with impeccably glossy skin and Nano-mod color changing glowing full body tattoos, all topped off with a costume made from a chromi-color tube top, currently displaying a mixture of red and gold, with sleeves with the shoulder cutout that end in spiked full gloves with metallic-silver claws, an exposing chromi-color thong, accompanied by dark thigh-high tights that start with a spiked ring at the thighs and end at the ankles with another ring of spikes connecting them to chromi-color sneakers.

 Honestly, it makes me feel a little inadequate just being in a tank-top, mini-skirt, and sneakers… Maybe even a little jealous. “Yeah, I do. Hey Naeko, how much do you think they spent on each member of their cheer-team?”

 “Well… That outfit is probably a set with the tattoos and piercings, or maybe their designer is just god-like, but that’s… Mmmm, around 3k each for each outfit, tattoos and piercings alone; them add the body mods… Smooth, and glossy skin; full facial reconstruction, including eyes; Boob jobs; Butt and thigh lifts and size enhancements… Mmm, let’s just assume an 6k average per piece? If they’re using good quality Gene labs nano-mods, that could be up to 15K, so with the mods alone you could estimate 30k-75k per member, but that also depends on quality, and if the mods are one time use. For reusable nano-mods, multiply that value by 10 at the very least.”

 ‘… That’s 33k times 8… so… 264 thousand @’s at the minimum! And that’s with one time mods…’ (Conversion to Dollars/Euros: 264000/3 = 88K)

 “So what do you mean to say is: we’re being flexed on?” I conclude.

 Naeko sighs and admits. “Yup, and that’s not all. See those bracelets on their wrists?”

 I squint at their group, noticing a dark bracelet almost hidden by their detached sleeves. “Yeah, I do... What do you those are?”

 “Camouflaged duel disks.” She drops a bombshell.

 Furrowing my brow, I comment. “No way… They’re stealing our shit!”

 Nanako sighs on our internal channel before explaining. “Well, it’s not like we own that idea. But it is fishy that they only have that now and are hiding it.”

 As we four concur that the AGVA cheer team probably stole our idea, the time comes up for the inaugural dice throw.

 We just perform our typical tower and send Haruna to kick it down to the pitch. There’s no reason for a fancier move. Even with all the bling the AGVA brought, this remains a beginner bracket duel, and our performance has not fallen short yet.

 The AGVA’s dice throw is a flashier, of course. They do the throw but trails of light emit from their gloves and sneakers, adding an outline to their moves, which end with a flaming bicycle kick, sending the dice flying at high speed towards the pitch.

 [ AGVA: 5 NWDA: 2 ]

 As soon as the results get shown, the contender from the AGVA can’t help but gloat. “Hm! That’s all I needed to see.” He does a courtesy vow at Yasuna. “I could end this duel right here and then, but I will give you a chance by letting you go first. Don’t disappoint me.”

 [TURN PLAYER: NWDA | DRAW PHASE —> STANDBY PHASE —> MAIN PHASE 1]

 I can see the disgust plastered on her face.

 She draws the five cards of her starting hand and rebuts. “You know? I’m done with arguing with guys like you. So I pray that this will serve as a wake up call.” The tanned duelist picks a card out of her hand and raises it up in the air, calmly declaring. “By activating ‘Synchro Overtake’ I reveal ‘Junk Warrior’ from the extra deck to special summon ‘Junk Synchron’ from the deck.”

 “And we’re off! Yasuna’s deck is known for its explosive play-style, often resulting in her opponent’s resignation. Looks like the AGVA is about to go the way of all her previous opponents: Defeat.”

 Yet the tall, blond boy, whose name I had all but ignored, smiles. “Sorry, but I can’t have you doing that! I chain ‘Maxx C’ from my hand. It seems like your deck may be decent, but a card like this all but shuts it down.”

 Yasuna grumbles for a moment and looks down at her own cards, letting the chain resolve.

 A small mechanic monster appears on her side of the field in the shape of junk synchron.

 ‘This is not good. Any kind of setup from synchron would mean he gets to draw at least 5 cards, and letting your opponent go +5 right of the bat would only end in a loss. But I highly doubt his deck could OTK in turn two, even if Yasuna left her field with a single monster in defence.’

 Yasuna glances up at us — resulting in a shrug from me, saying as much — But then she gives me a mischievous smile before facing her opponent again. “Alright, I see… Well, maybe this is exactly what you need to learn your place. I normal summon the monster ‘Doppelwarrior’ from my hand!”

 A human summon appears next to the mechanical tuner. Clad in a dark overcoat and strange helmet.

 ‘So she’s still going for it, huh? Well, I’m not expecting him to have hand traps. It would be nice if Yasuna could end this quickly, just being in the same room as that other cheer-club is making me angry.’

 “Ignoring my trap, I see. As a gentleman, I feel it’s unbecoming of me to have an advantage, but how could I deny a gift from a fine maiden such as yourself? I will gladly accept the results of your careless rush.”

 Yasuna ignores his comment and raises her hand in the air. “I tune level 2 ‘Dopplewarrior’ with level 3 tuner ‘Junk Synchron.’ Synchro summon!”

 The two figures disintegrate into 2 orbs of green light and 3 green rings respectively, assembling into a familiar arrangement that’s skewered by a pillar of green light.

 “Appear! Epitome of speed! ‘JUNK SPEEDER!’”

 A white figure created with metal and mechanical components exits a gate and stops promptly in front of Yasuna.

 “On-Summon of junk speeder, I activate its effect, then chain ‘Dopplewarrior.’ Response?”

 Her opponent examines the field and answers. “No response, but thanks for the two draws.”

 She furrows her brow and resolves her effects. “‘Dopplewarrior’ will special summon two level 1 ‘dopple tokens.’ Then, junk speeder resolves!”

 Junk speeder rushes from one side of the arena through a portal which teleports him up into the air where he races in a circle.

 “I special summon! ‘Jet Synchron’, ‘Junk Synchron’, and ‘Stardust Synchron!’”

 After Yasuna’s announcement, a portal opens up in the center of ‘Junk Speeder’s’ path, with three beams of lights exiting it, materializing into the three tuners Yasuna called for.

—

 After the three tuners hit the field, the synchron maniac went into various synchro summons, completely ignoring Maxx "C".

 Yasuna activated the on-summon effect of Stardust Synchron, adding ‘Stardust Illumination’ to her hand. Then, she raised her arm again and tuned level 4 tuner ‘Stardust Synchron with a level 1 token for level 5 ‘T.G. Hyper Librarian.’ Giving her opponent yet another card.

 After that, another synchro summon, going into PSY-Framelord Omega with level 5 ‘Junk Speeder’, and level 3 tuner ‘Junk Synchron’, which activated Librarian, allowing her to draw a card like her opponent also did. With that resolved, Yasuna activated Omega, spinning a card out of the hand of the AGVA’s contender.

 With her field consisting of Hyper Librarian, Jet synchron and a level 1 token, she tuned level one tuner ‘Jet Synchron’ and the level one token to synchro summon ‘Celestial Double Star Shaman’ which also gave another draw to her and her opponent.

—

 I notice the AGVA challenger smiling wildly, with a tinge of craziness.

 He looks up from his hand and declares. “Hehehe, I don’t know what you were planning, but be the first to let you know how screwed you are when the turn passes.”

 Yasuna simply ignores him and focuses on her combo. “On-Summon of Celestial, Hyper librarian CL1, Celestial CL2, Jet Synchron CL3, response?”

 “Ha, ha, ha, no, sweety, I’ll leave those for after you declare surrender. If you’re good enough, maybe I’ll accept.”

 She stopped listening to him after hearing: “no.” “As there is no response, Jet Synchron resolves, with him, I add ‘Junk Converter’ from the deck to my hand; CL2 Celestial resolves special summoning ‘Junk Converter’ from my hand and ‘Dopplewarrior’ from the grave. Finally, I draw a card with Hyper Librarian.”

 Her opponent draws two cards with that exchange, something he can’t help but boast about. “Hehehe, I almost have half of my deck in my hand.”

 Yet his comment, which in any other context I would ignore, hits me like a truck. ‘Wait… is she?… No, no, no, no, that fucking impossible. There are not enough synchro summons in her extra deck… Does that mean… Ohhhhh… You sneaky little thing.’

 Yasuna keeps going. “I tune level 2 Synchro tuner ‘Celestial Double Star Shaman’ with level 2 ‘Junk Converter’ and level 2 ‘Dopplewarrior!’ Synchro summon! Appear, Level 6, ‘Stardust Charge Warrior!’”

 The three monsters get consumed by the synchro animation, with a humanoid figure being left with its blades of silver training behind.

 Yasuna then declares. “CL1 Hyper Librarian, CL2 Stardust Charge Warrior, CL3 Dopplewarrior, CL4 Junk Converter, response?”

 “My, such ugly calls. Even those stunning eyes won’t win me over with that attitude.”

 Hearing him dance around her question, Yasuna reiterates. “Response?”

 He jerks his head back, and he says. “Tch. Not even acknowledging my charm? Alright, if you insist, then no. But this will affect the surrender conditions.” A sleazy look on his face betrays what those conditions probably would be.

 She ignores him once again and moves on with resolving her effects. “Chain resolution, CL4 Junk converter targets Celestial, returning him to the field; CL3 Dopplewarrior summons two tokens; CL2 lets me draw a card, and CL1 Hyper Librarian means I draw yet another. I get two draws, you get three.”

 “That’s quite right, fair lady. See? Speaking normally wasn’t that difficult, even if your brevity leaves something to improve upon.”

 Hearing yet another charm slash upper class pick up call, Yasuna finally cracks and asks. “Do you really act like this all the time? Don’t people get tired of hearing the infuriating noise that comes out of your face hole?”

 He tilts his head up and smirks. “My, such unrefined words coming from a beautiful woman. Makes one think if that’s your original composition.”

 …

 And that… Is how you piss off Yasuna.

 She raises her disk arm and goes off into a frenzy of synchro summons.

—

 First it’s Celestial and a dopple token into ‘Martial Metal Marcher’ which, after Hyper Librarian resolves, brings back stardust synchron from the grave. Then, she uses stardust synchron to tune it with 'Charge Warrior into ‘Baronne de Fleur.’

 Another draw later, and she activates ‘Stardust Illumination’ which sends ‘Stardust Trail’ from deck to grave. Followed by the graveyard effect of Stardust Synchron, which tributes the other Dopple token to special summon itself, which triggers Stardust Trail, special summoning Trail from the grave to join Stardust Synchron.

—

 The AGVA contender once again laughs, looking at his enormous hand, which somehow hasn’t been able to stop Yasuna’s fragile line. “I don’t see why you still try. You know your aim is making my life points zero, not giving me more cards, right?”

 ‘The idiot is literally spelling it out, yet he still doesn’t understand what Yasuna is doing… How do people like this make so far in tournaments? Because there’s always that one guy or gall that looks completely out of place in the top spots.’

 “I tune level 4 ‘Stardust Synchron’ with level 4 ‘Stardust Trail’, synchro summon! Appear, level 8 ‘Accel Synchro Stardust Dragon!’”

 With the first actual stardust being synchro summoned, Haruna announces. “And here it comes! One of Yasuna’s signatures! Accel Synchro Dragon!”

 I feel like this was just a Haruna looking for any reason to do an announcement. Usually, the points of a match where we focus on our routines are the ends of turns and starts of battles, with the rest having the audience too focused on the duel itself to pay attention to us.

 “Yet another card for me!” The AGVA contender sings.

 A small but fierce dragon cloaked in light-pink particles trails into the arena. Standing right beside the robed Hyper Librarian and mechanical Metal Macher, with Baronne standing in front to denote its place in the extra monster zone.

 “As 'Stardust Trail' left the field, it goes to the banish pile, but, as I used it for the synchro summon of Stardust Synchro monster, I activate its other effect. So, CL1 Hyper Librarian, CL2 Accel Synchro Stardust Dragon’s on summon effect, CL3 Stardust Trail. Response?”

 “Just confirming, this is three more draws for me, right?”

 Rolling her eyes at his response, Yasuna replies. “Yes, one for the synchro summon, another for the token, and the other for Accel’s effect.”

 He grins like an idiot. “Fine, give me more cards to embarrass you with!”

 Yasuna, once again, doesn’t take the bait and just resolves the chain. “CL3, Trail summons a token; CL2, Accel special summons Celestial from the grave; CL1, Librarian lets me draw a card.”

 After this, Yasuna looks over her duel disk display, an action I mirror to see what’s she’s looking for.

 ‘Hmm, she could do it now, but it’s risky if he had a hand trap… One more summon should be enough.’

 Likely drawing the same conclusion, she raises her hand up once again. “Using level 3 synchro tuner 'Metal Marcher' and level 1 Stardust token, I synchro summon. Appear, ‘Herald of the Arc Light.’” Her voice is no longer energetic, like at the start, just tired.

 The token which copied the appearance of its original monster disappears, leaving behind a single orb which rises and stops between the three rings created by metal marcher.

 From the animation, a single strange pure white angel type creature emerges.

 When the animation is done, Yasuna seeks. “Right, so are you just going to surrender, or am I going to embarrass you in front of the Dragoon City?”

 He recoils, his face scrunching up. “What kind of unrefined joke is that?! Why would I surrender with so much to do next turn? Or do you think those 5 monsters scare me? Two of them have less than 1000ATK! What are they compared to the mass of cards you kindly provided me with? I have more than half my deck in here!”

Yasuna's Field

 Yasuna simply looks up at me and sighs.

 I shake my head as well. There’s no way someone can be this dense.

 “Ahff, part of me hopes you have a response to this, but deep down, I know you probably won’t. I activate the spell card, ‘Card Destruction.’”

 “Mmm! And what does that punny spell hope to change?”

 ‘He’s playing a role… Right? People like this don’t exist… Right?’

 Instead of humoring him, Yasuna simply watches her disk to see if he has a response… It doesn’t even move over to his timer before resolving.

 ‘21 cards in hand… How isn’t a single one of then a hand trap… This is genuine, bronze… I mean, red rank deck building…’

 “You know what?” Yasuna asks rhetorically. “I will explain it for the likes of you. Card destruction makes us both discard our hands and draw the same amount of cards that we discarded. I will discard 10 cards, you will discard 21. Then, we both draw the corresponding number of cards.” She puts her cards, 5 at a time, into the duel disk’s opening, then draws new cards.

 Her opponent smirks and does the same. “Not only are you giving me a full hand, you’re also giving me grave! Let’s see how that—” *BANF!*

 His duel disk lets out a puff of white, signifying a loss by duel rule. A holographic display above the arena quickly explains what happened.

 [AGVA Defeated, reason: Deckout | NWDA VICTORY!]

 ‘Ahh, the Maxx C challenge, when a card so restrictive exists, some people can’t help but rebel against it. Though she kind of cheated by using card destruction, it reduces the amount of special summons needed by half.’

 I look at the AGVA cheer team, expecting them to be devastated, but instead, they show light frowns and throw scowling looks at their duelist, so I’m guessing they’re disappointed. With the AGVA’s track record, I can’t help but feel pity for them. So much work on costume and body design just to stand around and say a single line… That’s depressing.