NOVEL NEXT A Calm Chat
'Thoughts'
"Speech"
Annie let out a large sigh as what felt like a massive weight was lifted off her shoulders. Grabbing her cards she walked towards the woman who she now knows is named Ai. "So how did I do?" Annie grinned as she looked at the women walking toward her.
"You did well Ms.Sparks," Ai said with a warm smile. "I was impressed with your play at the end, you took me by surprise as I never suspected you to play Winged Kuriboh LV10. Especially with your records saying you only ever played HEROES." Annie awkwardly laughed.
"I just got lucky, as I usually play HEROES. However today an incident caused me to grab my Kuriboh deck, and them mixing together was just a mistake as you say earlier." Ai nodded as she remembered the girl picking up a pile of cards.
"Don't sell yourself short Ms.Sparks, luck is a big portion of Duel Monsters. It also takes skill to effectively use the cards you were given." Annie beamed.
"Thanks!" Ai nodded.
"Well, you better get going Ms.Sparks as the next person is due to come any minute now. The recording of your duel will be reviewed and graded. You'll be informed of your score by the end of the month, I hope I'll see you during the school term." Ai extended her hand, and Annie smiled at the sight. Taking the hand, they shook hands and said goodbye to each other. After Annie left the arena, Ai tapped on her Duel Watch and made a call. After a few moments of ringing, it was picked up. "How many more people need to be tested left?"
"Not counting the next one that is due in 5 minutes?" A monotone voice answered.
"Yes."
"You have 6 more scheduled for your arena, after that you'll be done for the day."
"-Sigh- Very well, and see you later at the meeting."
"Goodbye Ai, and hang in there you're almost done." The call ended with a click. Ai adjusted her glasses as she opened up the next candidate's information on her Duel Watch. She read the relevant information on her next opponent as she waited. Meanwhile, Annie was looking for her rival and best friend. It didn't take her long to spot him with two other people trading. As she got closing she could hear what they were discussing.
"I'll trade you my Necroworld Banshee for your Colosseum - Cage of the Gladiator Beasts." Asked a fit teen wearing a sweatshirt.
"Deal." Answered Jack as he handed the card over. After exchanging cards they shook hands, once the trade was concluded the sweatshirt-wearing guy left Jack with what Annie can only describe as either a short teen or a child.
"Do you still have your Super Express Bullet Train?" Jack nodded.
"Great! How about I trade you a Gameciel, the Sea Turtle Kaiju for it." The girl held out a card that Annie can only assume was the kaiju she was trading away. After reading its effect, Jack nodded and flipped his card binder to the section he dubbed -Heavy Machines-. Taking the card out of the binder, the two exchanged cards and then shook hands. Once the trade was concluded the girl grabbed an umbrella leaning against a nearby tree and walked away while twirling it. Seeing Jack pack up Annie decided this was the best time to greet him.
"HEYA JACK!" Jack jumped a bit while looking around for the source of the voice. Once he say that it was Annie calling him, he smiled as she stood up and walked towards her.
"Hi, Annie how were your exams?"
"I think I did great! How about you?" Jack did a so-so gesture.
"I think I aced the written portion but the practical exam was quite a challenge."
"Yea, I struggled with mine too. I faced women who used an Endymion deck, I almost lost but managed to clutch out a win at the end." Jack nodded.
"I faced a tall guy using Prank-Kids, I ended up losing at the end. But I'm confident that I showed enough of my skills to at least get a passing score for the practical portion of the exams."
"That's great to hear! Hey, you want to grab something to eat on the way home?"
"Sure." They talked about random things as they walked with each other, eventually stopping to enter a fast food restaurant. Jack ordered a simple nacho set while Annie got the biggest burger on the menu with a side of onion rings which she shared. Once they finished eating Annie grabbed her deck and the other 20 cards and placed them on the table.
"Can you help me separate the deck?"
"What's wrong with it?"
"Before the exam, I drop my bag and the decks spilled out. Because I didn't have time to separate the decks, I had to remove 20 cards and used the mixed-up deck. Jack snickered at the story. "Hey don't laugh, it's not funny!" Jack raised his hands in surrender, but the grin on his face told Annie his true thoughts.
"Well you did say you won at the end, so it wasn't that bad. And you gotta admit that the story is funny." Annie tried to glare at Jack, but in the end, started to laugh with him.
"Yea I guess your right, it is kinda funny." Annie wiped away her tears. "So are you going to help or not?"
"Yea I'll help." As they separated the decks Annie asked him about his duel. "It started as any other duel, but near the middle of it my opponent started to combo off. I almost managed to pull off a win, but a Magic Cylinder at the end caused me to lose the duel. I wasted my counter trying to stop my opponent from building his board, but he managed to work around it."
"Sounds like a tough battle."
"Yea took a while too. In hindsight, I should have saved my counter. That wasn't the first time I faced Prank Kids, but I got too confident at the end, thinking that I won. So I just attack not thinking if what their face down could be."
"Look on the bright side, you are graded by your performance. And it sounded like you played really well the whole duel, I'm confident you passed."
'Thanks." After they finished separating Annies deck, they walked home. Annie crashed onto her bed and looked through the Kuriboh deck as she lay on her back. She stopped at her shining Winged Kuriboh, smiling as she thought back to the end of the duel.
"If it wasn't for you I'll have lost that. Thank you." Annie blinked as she heard a chirp-like sound. Sitting up she looked around her room. After seeing nothing, she shook her head. "I must be more tired than I thought if I'm hearing things." She placed the deck down and grabbed her HERO deck. "However in the end I still enjoy using my HEROES more." She glanced at her Kuriboh deck and thought back to the duel, then to something Jack said years before. "Well, I guess it doesn't hurt to try other decks for more casual settings. It might give me some ideas on new combos for my HEROES" Placing the deck on top of her nightstand, she fell asleep while thinking of all fun she would have at DUEL Acadamy.
As she slept her Kuriboh deck started to shine, once it died down a transparent figure of a Wing Kurinoh can be seen with its eyes closed sitting on the nightstand. It slowly opened its eyes and looked around. Seeing Annie, it happily chirped and spread its wings. Taking flight it flew to Annie's bed and landed beside her. Snuggling against her, as it closed its eyes it started to grow more and more transparent. Eventually disappearing altogether, leaving Annie alone in her room once more.