Dueling life in a futuristic world

 [End Phase, Draw Phase]

 Beckoning Haruna’s call, Yasuna Yells. “Nice turn! Let’s see what I have! DRAW!”

  [Standby Phase, Main Phase 1]

 She looks at her cards with passion, glancing occasionally up at me.

 ‘What does she have? If she bricks, then this duel is over before it even starts.’

 But that couldn’t be it, as she smirks and grabs three cards from her hand. “Firstly! I activate ‘Ready! Set! Duel!’ Fitting name, don’t you think? Anyway, it lets me add ‘Stardust Synchron’ from the deck to my hand. Next, I will normal summon ‘Synchron Carrier’ which, using its effect, allows me to normal summon again! Come out! Junk Synchron!”

 Two small orange robots appear in front of Yasuna, but they’re completely dwarfed by everything on Aiko’s field. Still, looking intimidating is not what they’re used for.

 The girl with the green ponytail raises her arm into the air and yells. “I tune level two ‘Synchron Carrier’ with level three tuner ‘Junk Synchron’ to Synchro summon! Appear! ‘Junk Speeder!’”

 The two monsters disintegrate into rings and spheres of green light. They form the usual synchro summoning assembly, which forms a slick, white speedster.

 “HERE COMES YASUNA’S SIGNATURE MONSTER! Junk speeder is a demon of a starter which allows Yasuna to special summon as many tuner monsters from her deck as she pleases. And that’s not all! As Yasuna’s field is completely empty, save for Junk Speeder in the EMZ, she can call five tuners from the deck! Try to do that with pendulum summoning!”

 “That’s right Haruna!” Yasuna declares. “Using the on-summon effect of junk speeder, I special summon! Come out! Level 1 tuner ‘Jet Synchron,’ Level 2 tuner ‘Fleur Synchron,’ Level 3 tuner ‘Junk Synchron,’ and finally! Level 4 tuner ‘Stardust Synchron!’”

 Junk Synchron charges up above the arena and runs in circles, becoming a blur. A vortex rapidly forms and four orbs of light exit. They form four tuners, the same tuners Yasuna called for in her last duel, but this time a small seedling with big eyes, tiny feet, and gloved hands joins them.

 “So many options! So little time! What will Yasuna do next!? Last time, her opponent had underestimated her and lost by deckout! But this time, there’s no Maxx C involved! Go! Yasuna!”

 Crossing my arms, I look at Aiko, but she looks unphased. Yet Yasuna just pulled off her most critical combo piece, and if that face-down card is a trap, then this would’ve been the perfect time to use it. Alas, she didn’t touch it.

 With her tuners on the field, Yasuna starts her combo. “Using the on-summon effect of ‘Stardust Synchron’, I add ‘Stardust Illumination’ to my hand. I will activate ‘Stardust Illumination,’ sending ‘Stardust Trail’ to the grave.” She pauses, drawing in a deep breath. “Now! By tuning Level 5 ‘Junk Speeder’ with level 1 tuner ‘Jet Synchro’ I synchro summon! Appear! Champion of six stars! ‘Stardust Charge Warrior!’”

 The familiar synchro summoning visual effect follows, and a warrior clad in bright white plate armor appears.

 Yasuna declares soon after. “I will activate the effect of Stardust Charge Warrior! Chaining it with Jet Synchron’s own effect. This would be a good time to have a response, don’t you think? Aiko?”

 Aiko simply crosses her arms, shaking her head with a frown. “I don’t need you to tell me to activate my effects.” She closes her eyes, then tells frankly. “Yasuna, I’m not just a delicate little flower. And I will make sure you know this by the end of the duel.”

 The muscle head only furrows her brow. “What are you talking about? You may have evolved since arriving. I’ll give you that much, but you’re still a beginner like your sister. Don’t overestimate yourself just because the duels so far have been underwhelming. You never know what someone might be capable of.”

 Aiko’s mouth hangs open for a second, and she stutters. “You still say that even after Mia and I Individually beat you?”

 Yasuna’s expression stretches out, her eyes fixated on Aiko. “GRRR, don’t remind me! That happened once! And you got lucky!” After yelling this, she glances at the floor and mumbles. “Fuck it. As there is no response, the chain will resolve. ‘Jet Synchron’ adds ‘Junk Converter’ from the deck to my hand and Stardust warrior lets me draw another card.” She does that and looks up at me again.

 ‘What the hell does she want? What even was that? She sounded like properly pissed at Aiko talking back.’

 Before I can come up with a good reason for their infighting, Haruna asks me over the intercom. [“Hey, I know we’re technically opponents, but this is getting a little spicier than I imagined. You know them best. Do you think we need some intermission just for them to cool down? I don’t think the Director wants a proper cat fight breaking out.”]

 I think about it for a bit, looking to Nanako for her opinion.

 But before she can give me one, I hear Yasuna yell. “Next! I tune Level 6 ‘Stardust Charge Warrior’ with level 2 tuner ‘Fluer Synchron!’ Flash your sacred wings of light and strike down my enemy with your brilliance! Synchro summon! Arise! Clear Wing Crystal Dragon!”

 The brilliant warrior elevates to the middle of the two rings already formed by Fluer Synchron. It evaporates, leaving six spheres behind which results in a massive explosion of white light that throws me and Nanako back to the edge of our platform.

 [“Is everyone alright!?”] I hear Haruna ask.

 We sound off one by one. Thankfully, nobody sounds injured.

 I look up at the ceiling, finding a gigantic dragon, maybe even bigger than the blue-eye max from Mia’s duel, flying above with shimmering wings.

 The sounds from the stands stop, leading way to awe as everyone arches their neck up just to catch a glimpse of the marvelous creature.

 Yet Yasuna still has tuners left. “‘Fluer Synchron’s’ graveyard effect activates! With it, I special summon ‘Doppelwarrior’ from my hand.”

 Me and Nanako scramble up and fixate on the arena below us. Another synchro summoning arrangement forming again.

 “Next! Using level two ‘Dopplewarrior’ and level three tuner ‘Junk Synchron,’ I synchro summon T.G. Hyper-librarian.” She ignores the summon effect and goes on. “‘Dopplewarrior’s’ effect activates, special summoning two tokens to the field. I will follow by using ‘Junk Converter’ discarding itself and ‘Stardust Synchron’, to add ‘jet synchron’ from the deck to my hand. ‘Stardust Synchron’ activates its graveyard effect, tributing one of the dopple tokens to special summon itself.”

 Yasuna’s string of effects resolve before Aiko, yet she remains entranced by the crystal winged dragon flying around the stands.

 Yasuna goes on still. “With Stardust Synchron’s successful special summoning, the effect of ‘Stardust Rail’ gets activated. Special summoning her to the field. With that finished, I tune my other ‘Stardust synchron’ with the remaining ‘Dopple token’ to synchro summon! Appear! Level 5 ‘Accel Synchron.’ But he won’t be alone! As I tune the remaining ‘Stardust Synchron’ with ‘Stardust Trail!’ Appear! ‘Accel Synchron Stardust Dragon!’ Next—”

 She continues her back-to-back summons, even with the summoning effects for two other monsters still going on.

 The first summon completes with a bipedal robot with most of their body composed of motorcycle components. But the window to see it is short, as another explosion of light blinds anyone looking too closely. A large white dragon emerges from the explosion, flying high into the arena with a strong pillar of air following it.

 “—T.G. Hyper Librarian lets me draw a card, chaining Accel Synchro’s effect, and the banished ‘Stardust Trail’ after that! Any response?”

 Aiko doesn’t bother looking at her hand and declares. “None, do as you please.”

 Nodding, Yasuna tells with her brow furrowed. “Chain resolution, ‘Stardust Trail’ will summon a token; chain link two Accel Stardust special summons ‘Jet Synchron’ from the grave; And finally, chain link 1 T.G. draws one card.” She raises her hand and announces. “Using level 1 ‘Stardust Token’ and level 1 tuner ‘Jet Synchon’ I synchro summon! Come on out ‘Celestial Double Star Shaman.’”

The summoning goes off without a hitch, and Yasuna follows it by using Shaman’s effect to bring back ‘Doppelwarrior’ from the grave.

 She then raises her hand again. “I tune level 2 ‘Doppelwarrior’ with level 2 synchro tuner ‘Celestial Double Star Shaman’ to synchro summon! Appear! ‘Herald of the Arc Light.’”

 ‘That’s a second negate, and an omni-negate, no less. I wonder how Aiko plans to win this duel… She looks confident, but I don’t see a way for her to clear Yasuna’s field.’ Nevertheless, I don’t plan on giving up on Aiko just yet.

 Hyper-Librarian’s effect activates, allowing Yasuna to draw one more card, making 8 cards in hand now. She seems to be satisfied with that amount as she declares. “Now! I tune level 5 synchro ‘T.G. Hyper-Librarian’ and level 5 synchro tuner ‘Accel Synchron!’ Synchro summon! Arise! Level 10 ‘Baronne De Fleur!’”

 A white knight riding a large armored horse steps out into the arena, their sights fixated on Aiko’s field.

 Holding her left hand up, Yasuna announces. “I hate to do this to you… BATT—”

 But just as she’s about to enter the battle phase, something happens.

 *BWUUUUUUUUUPPP!*