(67.2) Extra Chapter 6 – Getting ready for a fight

It was the middle of the night, but Aiko, who had every reason to go to sleep, was still wide awake even at this hour.

Tomorrow, the semifinals of the beginner’s bracket would take place, with Yasuna going against the AGVA while she would duel a duelist from the Angelico dueling academy.

Yet, rationally, there was no reason to be worrying about tomorrow’s duels.

The AGVA was a new institution that exclusively placed their 4 duelists in the beginner’s bracket, a telling sign of uncertainty in the ability of their students.

Both Aiko and Yasuna had faced against the AGVA at the second round of the bracket, and both times disappointment followed their duels. If asked, both would say that the AGVA was the weakest opponent in the whole tournament.

The Angelico dueling institute, however, had a duelist in the advanced bracket and two in the intermediary one, the common distribution for more experienced academies. Yet, this also meant the duelist she would face would not be the strongest. It was obvious the ADI was focussing on the higher brackets, threating the beginner one as an afterthought; their duelist would not be the best they could send by far, and that made them a weak opponent for the likes of Aiko.

Speaking of Aiko, she held up her deck and whispered. “What kind of super-weapon did Yuumi give me? There hasn’t been a single duel that lasted over three turns…” She trailed off, her dyed blue hair mushed against the back of the hotel room bed.

Suddenly, a small bright spot lit up on her vision.

“Tch! Not again!” She complained to no one in particular, laying down on the bed and covering her head up with the sheets. Yet the bright spot only went away with time after a few more minutes.

Frustrated at her lack of sleep, Aiko pulled the bedsheets off her and got up from the bed in her light-blue pajamas. She walked to a side of the room that had a closet where she had stored most of her belongings and opened it up.

She shuffled through various bags, trying to find a particular pouch. “Where did I put that thing? It has to be here!”

A few moments later, Aiko finally found what she was looking for, a pale pink hard case labeled: ‘Supplements for NGAoE peoples.’

The NGAoE label something she was begrudgingly familiar with, it meant: ‘Non genetically augmented or enhanced.’

She cracked into the case and grabbed two pill bottles, one labeled: ‘Rad-away.’ And another smaller bottle with the label: ‘Melatonin.’

As Aiko was shuffling for these bottles, a slip of paper fell to the ground. She let out an annoyed sigh and crouched down to get it, taking out a pill from each bottle and placing them back into the case before that. Carefully grabbing the marketing slip from the company that sold this kit and reading it again:

[

TheraMed Rejuvenation offers best-in-class body regrowing services at the most affordable prices!

Did you have a few too many gin shots at an unregulated bar in the slums and now your liver’s shot? Don’t freet! Get a new one printed at TheraMed Rejuvenation! And we’ll even install it free of charge!

Perhaps you’re a business owner of a chemical synthesis enterprise and your employs are now suing you for frying their lungs! Well, the damage might be done! But that doesn’t mean you can’t save costs by getting them fixed up with TheraMed Rejuvenation’s bulk printing and transplantation services! Maybe even subscribe to our direct to business insurance.

And last of all! Were your parents cruel and rejected getting your genetics fixed up in the oven? TheraMed Rejuvenation offers full body printing with accompanying mind transfer! Don’t live in fear of radiation, common diseases or weak infections! Get your body rebuilt to the standard you deserve.

]

Aiko placed the marketing pamphlet that fell down back in the hard case, placing the case on the shelf and closing the closet doors.

She walked over to the bed and sat back down on it, looking up at the ceiling and reminiscing about her situation in short blurts. “If only that wasn’t so expensive… I would be able to catch up with Mia… Why did I have to be me that got the short end of the stick…” She closed her eyes tightly and shook her head. “No, I can’t think like that! The past is the past and all that matters now is proving to everyone that I’m not weaker than them! Even if I have to take down Yasuna or even Mia!”

With her spirits up, Aiko swallowed both pills and rapidly drifted off to another night of chemically induced dreamless sleep.

While this was going on, in another room, right next to Aiko’s, a muscular-framed tanned girl with exotic green hair and glowing yellow eyes paced around her room front and back.

She stopped and drew five cards from her deck, saying. “Ok, let’s try this again. Converter pitch Assault, add Junk… Normal carrier, additional normal junk, junk effect bring back converter… Then… synchro into speeder? Yes, that’s it! Speeder effect special jet, assault, stardust and junk... And then… Fuck! I can’t with these synchron combos! Why does it feel like I’m making a mistake every time I do anything with this deck!? Argh!”

Yasuna shuffled the cards she had taken out back into her deck and placed it on a table. She then sat down on her bed, mumbling. “Why am I getting so nervous about this duel? It’s not even the first time I duel against Aiko… Well, she beat me last time… Ahf…” finishing with a sigh, she tumbled onto her bed. “I have to get stronger… And I’m the only thing that’s holding me back! That’s what makes this even more frustrating. How can Aiko and Mia rely on me if I’m weaker than them?”

The athletic girl jumped from the bed, grabbing hold of her deck again. “I will not be another one of those action duelists who only know how to jump around to grab the cards they need when they mess up. No, I’m going to be better than them! I have to!”

With that, she returned to training her combos, almost spending multiple hours going around and around in circles, trying to get to a quasar. It was strange for her, when she was dueling a real opponent, these lines just seemed to appear in her head, but now that she didn’t have a real opponent, she was having trouble even getting it started. But she persevered as In her mind, she had to defeat Aiko to show her she could protect her.

*Beep, beep...* an alarm sounded from Yasuna’s phone bringing her out of her trance.

She walked to it and picked up the transparent object. “5AM!? Already? Shit, I really let myself go there…” She swiped up to her calendar and, seeing the time of her match, let out a sigh of relief. “Ok, my match starts at 3PM… I can still get some sleep before that. Let’s go with 12PM. 7 hours ought to be long enough.”

Setting her alarm to that time, she jumped onto her bed and started her routine of selectively tightening and relaxing her muscles, a technique she learned from her father to fall asleep faster. One of the few things she would thank that man for.

Yasuna fell asleep not long after, not realizing her match tomorrow wasn’t against Aiko, but an AGVA duelist… The arguably weakest opponent in the whole tournament…