From their private booth below the Duel-Hall’s crowded stands, Chousaku and Shouji Manjoume observed their younger sibling with regard.

“Jun has a great look in his eyes,” Shouji remarked, taking a sip from his tea cup.

“A look that says, ‘I’ll beat anything down,’ truly is the best look of all. He knows he can’t afford to lose this Duel, after all.” Chousaku said, agreeing.

Kisaro frowned, catching a bit of their banter.

“What’s wrong, Kisaro?” Asuka asked, chancing a light touch upon the Sing-Star’s shoulder.

“Nothing, Asu-Chan. Don’t mind me.” She replied dismissively.

The honey-eyed Obelisk-Blue wasn’t so sure, however. There was nothing in the Sing-Star’s tone that inspired reassurance.

“All right….” Asuka trailed off, unsatisfied, although knowing that she didn’t possess the ability to coerce Kisaro into explaining herself.

“I’m taking the first turn,” Manjoume began assertively, drawing his sixth Card without much care as to any qualms Judai might have had about it. “I summon Masked Dragon in Defense-Position!”

On his side of the Field, a lithe, theatrical looking dragon materialized at the invocation.

~Masked Dragon - Attack: 1400/ Defense: 1100 ~

“I’ll end my turn with that, Judai,” Manjoume said, his expression and tone firm.

“Geez, all wound up for just that?” Judai asked, wondering what his rival’s pants were all in a twist for. The Osiris-Red gave a sigh and shrugged, drawing his sixth Card himself. “Well, whatever; I’m summoning Elemental Hero Burstinatrix in Attack-Position!”

The fiery heroine came forward readily at Judai’s call, anxious to do battle.

~Elemental Hero Burstinatrix - Attack: 1200 / Defense: 800 ~

“Aw’right, battle! Burstinatrix’s attacking that Masked Dragon of yours!”

Burstinatrix leapt into action, generating a burning mass in each of her palms and promptly turning them loose upon her adversary. Manjoume was unbothered, however as his Monster was destroyed.

“Thanks for that, Drop out! With this, Masked Dragon’s Effect activates!” Manjoume said, smirking.

“Effect?” Judai wondered.

“When Masked Dragon’s destroyed, I can Special-Summon another Dragon-type Monster from my Deck with less than fifteen-hundred Attack-Points,” Manjoume explained, selecting a specific Card among the many and then shuffling his Deck. “I’m summoning Armed Dragon Level Three in Attack-Position!” He finished, letting the new Monster make its appearance.

~ Armed Dragon Level Three - Attack: 1200 / Defense: 900~

The little runt of a dragon snapped its small maw loudly, being more bark than bite.

Shou blinked. “Did Manjoume-Kun say, ‘Level?’ What’s that got to do with anything?”

“Level Monsters come in a series, Shou-Chan,” Kisaro explained.

Ryou nodded. “As it progressively levels up, it evolves and becomes stronger.”

“Level’s up? Evolution?” Shou wondered, thinking of a cartoon he used to watch on television when he and Ryou were younger. Shou paused for a moment before quietly muttering to himself; “…..Gotta catch ‘em all?”

Asuka caught Shou’s nearly inaudible muttering and gave a soft laugh while Kisaro frowned intently as she observed the draconian baby on the Field.

Don’t underestimate him, Juu-Chan…..this Jun-Chan is not the same as you remember….

Judai gave an annoyed ‘tsk.’ “I’ll set two Cards Face-Down, and end my turn.”

Chancellor Samejima stared on at the dueling students in disbelief. “Manjoume-Kun’s Card….”

“I did say we were serious about winning this year, didn’t I?” Chancellor Ichinose said with a smile.

Samejima whipped around to his left to eye the other school director directly. “…..But to go so far…..”

“It surely will be interesting, won’t it? A Duel with the Legendary Cards passed down through North Academy for generations.” He replied.

Samejima was still unsettled. “Perhaps…”

“My turn!” Manjoume began brusquely, drawing a Card from his Deck. “I send Armed Dragon Level Three to the Cemetery in order to activate it’s Effect; once relinquished, I can Special-Summon Armed Dragon Level Five from my hand!”

“Another Level-thingy?!” Judai wondered, as a bigger, more brutish Dragon emerged in its weaker self’s place.

~Armed Dragon Level 5 - Attack: 2400/ Defense: 1700~

“I-it got bigger!” Shou exclaimed. “….And way meaner looking!”

Kisaro narrowed her sharp eyes discerningly, but remained silent.

Manjoume jabbed an index finger in Burstinatrix’s direction. “Battle! Armed Dragon Level Five attacks that flaming bimbo of yours, Judai!”

On command, the bladed beast unleashed a fiery blast upon the heroine, swallowing her up completely.

“Wh-What did you just call Burstinatrix, huh, Manjoume?!” Judai demanded angrily. “The only bimbo here is you! Trap-Card activate; Hero Ring!”

As Judai revealed his first Face-Down Card, a halo of soft light encircled Burstinatrix, shielding her from the dragon’s attack, and parting the flames away.

“Hero Ring keeps an equipped Monster from being destroyed by an opponent’s Attacking Monster with nineteen-hundred or more Attack-Points!” Judai said, clenching his fist. “What the Hell’s wrong with you, anyways, Manjoume? To think you’d have that little respect for a Duel Monster of any kind…..”

Manjoume scoffed. “Don’t try to understand things above your comprehension level, Drop-Out! Dueling is a game- just that; something to win!” He gritted his teeth. “Feelings don’t matter in the long run- it all comes down to simply victory or defeat……and I don’t intend on losing!”

Judai stared at his rival, disillusioned. “Manjoume….”

“You haven’t survived this turn yet, Judai; I’m activating Armed Dragon Level Five’s Effect!” Manjoume declared. “I can discard one Card from my hand,” He began, placing a selected Card into the Cemetery-Slot of his Duel-Disk. “….And destroy one of your Monsters with Attack-Power equal or less than the discarded Monster’s!”

Judai gritted his teeth anxiously.

“The Card I discarded was Flying Kamakiri One, which had fourteen-hundred Attack-Points!” Once again, the grey-eyed teenager pointed a finger at Burstinatrix. “That’s more than your Monster- I destroy it with Level Five’s Effect!”

The spiked dragon almost seemed to sneer in mockery as it shot a streamline of burning fire at the heroine and destroyed her.

“Burstinatrix!” Judai exclaimed, pursing his lips in a regretful scowl. “….I’m sorry..”

“Muttering to yourself already in desperation?” Manjoume demanded with a cruel smirk. “Have another taste!  Level Five’s attacking you directly!”

The brunette snapped out of his guilt as he found the bull-like maw of Manjoume’s dragon bearing down upon him now with a swirling inferno, which engulfed him entirely.

“Judai!” Asuka exclaimed, watching the Osiris-Red disappear momentarily in the flames.

“That was a hard hit…” Ryou remarked.

“Aniki took the full-brunt of twenty-four-hundred Attack-Points! He’s already down to less than half of his Life-Points, and Manjoume-Kun hasn’t taken any damage at all!” Shou cried worriedly.

Kisaro stared on determinedly as the brunette eventually came stumbling out of the burning out blaze, looking even more resolute than ever. The Sing-Star gave a silent, proud nod as she watched him recompose himself.

~ Judai Yuki – Life-Points: 1600 ~

“I’ll be back in a sec, all right?” Kisaro said, touching Asuka’s shoulder as she rose from her seat.

“Where are you going, Kisaro?” The Obelisk-Blue girl wondered.

“Need more coffee, Nee-Chan?” Shou asked, thinking that the Sing-Star was headed off to the café to see Tome to refuel on caffeine.

Kisaro gave a light laugh. “Not quite…”

The Kaiser and both Asuka and Shou watched her depart down the aisle stairs after she had turned about without another word on the matter. Shou gave a shrug of his small shoulders and simply muttered to Asuka something along the lines of, “Enigmatic as always.”

“Jun is doing well,” Shouji smiled. “That Osiris-Red brat doesn’t stand a chance.”

Chousaku nodded, unable to deny that watching their younger brother use his newfound power to batter the brunette around was enjoyable. “Perhaps he should take it a bit easier; at this rate, we’re going to gave leftover air-time.”

Both of the cold-hearted men then shared a cruel laugh.

-“So you two are the reason Jun-Chan is acting this way,” An approaching voice remarked. “Shame on the both of you.”

The older men turned simultaneously to meet the disgusted violet eyes of the Fiend-Queen.

“Y-You again?! How did you-?!” Shouji demanded, giving a surprised start at the Sing-Star’s sudden appearance.

“Why, I walked over. How else?” She asked, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“Don’t play games with us,” Shouji began. “You twisted little tyrant-“

“-You two are so wrapped up in this, you aren’t even paying attention,” Kisaro interrupted. “You have to soil everything with those greedy hands of yours- can you not just encourage Jun-Kun to do his best? Instead of-“

“-How we do business within the family is none of your business, I’m afraid,” Chousaku replied, keeping a cool head. “Why not just sit down and enjoy the show? I’m sure someone like you would enjoy the merciless way Jun is beating down his opponent, yes?”

“Don’t sell my Juu-Chan short,” Kisaro warned. “I tutored him myself.”

Shouji turned to Chousaku worriedly. “The undefeated Fiend-Queen tutored that mere brat herself?”

“That may be so,” The elder replied, waving off his younger sibling’s concerns. “…But it’s not the Fiend-Queen herself who Jun is facing- just some punk she’s given a few pointers to.”

Kisaro closed her eyes contemplatively, and gave a confident smile.

“We’ll just have to see…..won’t we?”