Chyna: Sorry it took me so long to update guys but I've been busy with school and a bit depressed with my rl friends who I have known for five years and they recently started to be evil to me. Last week one of my good friends threw a party and invited our friendship group and most of our school year - but not me.

Apparently she made sure that none of our friends told me about it and I found out about it because one I have ears and two, freaking snapchat. On Monday a ton of people asked me why wasn't I there because they thought I was good friends with the person who threw the party. Well so did I. She and my other friends have spent the rest of the week ignoring me or acting awkward around me, Bitch please if you don't want it to be like this then you shouldn't have frozen me out like that -_-

My own birthday is coming up in 2 months, my 18th and my parents are throwing a house party for me so I'm inviting all of my friends who don't go to my school to show my ex friends that I don't need them. Anyway sorry for the rant and without further adeu, enjoy this chapter and please review because I need some cheering up. I also published a collection of Bittersweetshipping (Yumi X Shark) drabbles on my profile, basically you guys send in a word or phrase or idea and I write a drabble around it. Its fanservice to everybody who loves that pairing so please check it out!

Dynasty: Kitt Rider and Chyna are also cowriting another story on Chyna's profile which is called 'The Secret Behind the Numeron Dragon' which is the rewrite of Barian Storm for all you Asaya Tenjo fans! Asaya Tenjo is the main protagonist for it and it'll contain some Misael X OC, along with other pairings like Anxietyshipping etc! So please go ahead and read, review, watch or fave it :3 Plus she also wrote a oneshot called 'Forget-Me-Not' which is Kaito X OC and it takes place after Kaito's death. Please go and read it, also WHY DID HE HAVE TO DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE?! T_T I LOVED HIM SO MUCH!

Yumi: Welcome all the new watchers and favers, I hope you continue to support this story as much as you do now in the future. AND WELCOME TO THE FIRST UPDATE OF YTS OF 2014!

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal, it belongs to Kazuki Takahashi. Mari Kotone belongs to Tiruru on Deviantart and Karoi belongs to Purrinee on Deviantart.

Akahana: 4000
Mari: 4000

Akahana winked at the crowd before drawing her sixth card, "I draw! Beware Mari; I've changed a lot as well. I summon Twilight Rose Knight (3/1000/1000) in attack mode."

A small man with tanned skin, emerald eyes and short blue hair appeared. He wore deep purple armour, a flowing white cape and a silver sword.

"When Twilight Rose Knight is normal summoned, I can special summon one level 4 or lower Plant-Type monster from my hand. Come on out Hedge Guard (3/0/2100)." An overgrown shrub with various bamboo shoots sticking out of it.

My eyes widened in realisation, Twilight Rose Knight is a Tuna, I mean Tuner monster so she can Synchro Summon right?

Alas I was wrong because Akahana's wasn't finished, "I activate the spell card Seed of Deception! This allows me to special summon one level 2 or lower Plant-Type monster from my hand, come on out Copy Plant (1/0/0)." The bulbous brown plant with between eyes sprouted in the middle of the other two monsters.

"Copy Plant's effect activates, by selecting one face-up plant monster on the field, I can copy its level. I choose Hedge Guard which means Copy Plant is now a level 3 monster (3/0/0)!" In a mesh of branches, Copy Plant transformed into a perfect wooden copy of Hedge Guard that only had a few minor differences.

Astrid realised what Akahana was doing before I did, which was surprising but Astrid is a lot sharper than most people believe.

"Three level 3 monsters!" Astrid gasped, "She isn't going to Synchro Summon, she's going to Xyz Summon!"

Right on cue, Akahana held her right arm out with a mischievous expression on her face. "I overlay my level 3 Hedge Guard, Twilight Rose Knight and Copy Plant to build the Overlay Network!" The three monsters became three streams of brown energy that had flown into the swirling red portal in the middle of the field. "Bloom, Raging-Flower Gunboat Nadeshiko (3/2100/1800)!"

In a bang of light, a large black object rose out of the ground and levitated over Mari. I gasped at how big it was it looked like some sort of spaceship. The top half of it had five mechanical pink flower petals with five holes in the middle of it, the lower half had three exhaust pipes with a thick black thing sticking out of the end. Three overlay units orbited the plant Xyz monster.

Akahana must have gotten new cards for her deck for the Duel Carnival, I deduced. This is going to get interesting, how will Mari counter?

Mari furrowed her brow, "I've never seen this card before." She bit her bottom lip and stared at Nadeshiko. "What does it do?"

Akahana chuckled, "I'll show you. By detaching one overlay unit, I can inflict 300 points of damage for every card in their hand!"

The blondette slowly drew her eyes to her hand, "But I have five cards in my hand. I can't believe you would inflict 1500 damage to me on the first turn, haven't you ever heard of taking it slow?"

The sapphire eyed girl tightened her lips into a straight line, "Some of us don't have all the time in the world. Let's go Nadeshiko," she shouted as one of the three overlay units got absorbed into the middle of the mechanical flower. Five rays of yellow light shot out of the top and hit Mari.

Mari flew back from the force of the attack and landed on her stomach, her clothes getting dirty in the process.

Akahana: 4000
Mari: 2500

Astrid let out an empathetic sigh, "That much damage on the first turn? This duel will be over in a couple of turns at this rate, how boring!"

Boring isn't the word I would use to describe this duel, more like intense. I looked over to Akahana; the tension between them is quite thick.

"I set one card face-down to end my turn." The older girl finished, she ran her words together like she was in a rush. Her style seemed to be quite aggressive as well, almost like she's trying to end this duel quickly.

Mari sat up and looked at the cuff of her white blazer, her eyes narrowed and she went quite for a couple of seconds. "Great, you got my blazer all dirty. Do you know how hard it is to get stains out of white clothing? You're really going to get it now."

I sweat dropped, "I can't believe she's more annoyed about her clothes then she is about her Life Points."

The blue eyed spirit next to me almost laughed, "Maybe she realises that because she's in a tough situation, she rather focus on a more trivial issue because it's easier than her getting heated up at what she can do to counter."

I suppose it did sound logical, sometimes when I myself get angry at certain situations, I found it easier to focus on smaller issues because it makes the more serious issues seem not so bad in comparison.

"I think a change of scenery is needed, I activate the field spell the Grand Spellbook Tower." The entire field descended into a dark blue hue with a large silver tower rising up behind Mari. "I summon Breaker the Magical Warrior (4/1600/1000) in attack mode."

A red armoured knight descended onto the field with a green sword in his right hand, and a red diamond shaped shield in the other; it had gold patterns and a purple jewel in the middle of it, matching his armour.

"When Breaker is normal summoned, I can place 1 spell counter on him and increase his attack points by 300 (4/1900/1000)." Breaker raised his green sword in the air, causing the purple gem embedded in it to glow brightly. "But that's not all because I activate Spellbook of Power to increase his attack power by 1000 until the end of this turn (4/2900/1000). Breaker, attack Nadeshiko!"

Breaker jumped into the air while raising his sword, lunging towards the large, flying plant monster. However before the attack could connect, Akahana activated her face-down card.

"Dumbass, I activate Rising Energy! I discard Fallen Angel of Roses from my hand to increase Nadeshiko's attack by 1500 (3/3600/1800) until the end phase!" Red energy swarmed around the pink petal monster.

Breaker attempted to slash the red aura that was surrounding Nadeshiko, until he got forced back and as a result he was flung through the air before being digitised. A huge gust of wind hit Mari; she almost lost her footing but managed to regain it.

Akahana: 4000
Mari: 1800

"I should have known you would have countered like that, I end my turn with two face-down cards." She finished, her eyes rapidly scanning the field.

Akahana started her turn and drew a card from her deck. "I see you're trying to reduce the amount of cards in your hand, very perceptive of you."

The blondette winked at her, "I do try. I activate one of my face-down cards, Call of the Haunted to bring back Breaker (4/1600/1000) in attack mode." The red armoured spellcaster rose out of the black portal that had appeared in front of Mari.

Why would Mari do that at this moment? Nadeshiko still has more attack points than Breaker but I suppose Mari would take less damage than from a direct attack,I thought.

"I don't need effect damage to beat you in this duel! I detach another overlay unit from Nadeshiko to inflict 300 points of damage to your Life Points as you only have one card in your hand!" Akahana declared, I noticed her eyes looked slightly crazed.

Nadeshiko absorbed its second overlay unit and one beam of yellow light hit Mari, thankfully it wasn't strong enough to knock her over. Although she still shielded her face as a huge gust of wind caused her twin tails to sway in the breeze.

Akahana: 4000
Mari: 1500

"Is that all you got Hana?" Mari shouted, "My obaa-san's slaps pack more of a punch than that!" She taunted.

The noirette's nostrils flared, "Is that so?"

Astrid slapped both of her hands onto her cheeks, "What is she doing?! Is she purposely trying to engage Akahana? Mari does realise that Akahana is a psychic duelist and if she gets overemotional, then we're all doomed!" She wailed dramatically, acting like a major drama queen.

I would have told her to 'shut up' but Mari beat me to it.

"Oh my God, will you just shut up! My head already hurts from hitting the ground and you're just adding to my already raging headache!"

I forgot that Mari could see Astrid, but at least she made my job easier. I smiled as Astrid slowly slunk to the ground.

"Sorry..." She whispered.

"Nadeshiko, destroy Breaker once again and this time make sure that he doesn't return!" Akahana bellowed.

Nadeshiko shot a giant beam out of its centre hole, flying towards Breaker. This time, Mari was the one to smirk and revealed the true colours of her final face-down card.

"Reveal trap, Magic Cylinder!" Two large heavily decorated red cylinders appeared in front of Mari, one of them absorbed the incoming blast of Nadeshiko.

"This negates the attack of one attacking monster my opponent controls and inflicts damage equal to that monster's attack." She explained, "Therefore you lose 2100 Life Points, how do you like them apples."

The second red cylinder shot out a yellow beam of light which hit Akahana, this time she was the one who flew from the air and landed roughly on the ground.

Akahana: 1900
Mari: 1500

"Your anger always did get the best of you." Mari scolded, "You always did rush into things headfirst without thinking it through. Even after six years, you're still the same."

My eyes widened in realisation, that's why Mari kept taunting Akahana; to anger her so much that she would forget about her face-down cards.

Akahana sat up on her knees, not quite standing up and stared at Mari.

"Why are you being so bitchy to me? It wasn't my fault your kaa-san strongly disproved of me because she thought I was a health hazard." Akahana replied before standing up.

"Although even I have to admit that she had a point, I was out of control back then and everyone around me was in constant danger. To be honest, I still have problems controlling my powers; even with my necklace." She confessed.

Mari twisted the golden bracelet on her wrist, "I know that you wouldn't purposely hurt me or anyone because it's not the type of person you are. Move on from the past, I sure have."

Akahana held her head down momentarily, "I end my turn so make your move."

"I draw and I activate the effect of Grand Spellbook Tower. During my standby phase, if I have a spellcaster on my field or in my graveyard then I can return a Spellbook spell card from my graveyard to the bottom of my deck and draw one card. I choose Spellbook of Power," Mari said.

An orange tome jumped out of a black portal before transforming into orange energy that flew straight into Mari's deck, causing it glow brightly.

"You once said that a single draw can change an entire duel and I used to think that that was total BS, but a lot has happened these past months to make me question everything I believe in. Well let's see if that's true, I draw!" Mari whipped off the top card of her deck and promptly slammed it onto her Duel Disk.

"I activate Spellbook of Secrets which allows me to add one Spellbook spell card to my hand, I choose Spellbook of Power." A single card slid out of Mari's deck, she plucked it out before her deck reshuffled itself.

"Now I summon Charioteer of Prophecy (4/1800/1300), but he isn't going to stay for very long because I overlay him with Breaker to build the overlay network." Breaker transformed into a ray of purple light whereas Charioteer turned into a ray of green light. They both flew into the swirling red portal that had appeared in the middle of the field.

"I Xyz Summon Downerd Magician (4/2100/200)," she raised her right hand in the air as purple light covered the field. A teenage girl with creamy porcelain skin appeared on the field, she had long, flowing blue hair that had a pair of goggles resting on top of them and cerulean eyes. Her outfit consisted of a red short sleeve that revealed her stomach, black shorts and black boots.

"My magician gains 200 attack points for every Xyz material attached to it, she has two so she gains 400 (4/2500/200)! Attack Nadeshiko," Downerd Magician mixed some chemicals into a test tube before throwing it at Nadeshiko who slowly dissolved.

Akahana: 1500
Mari: 1500

I gasped, "Amazing they are both tied! Who do you think is going to win?" I asked Astrid.

She shook her head, "I have absolutely no idea, it's anybody's duel now."

Mari ended her turn on that note but not before detaching an overlay unit from Downerd Magician (4/2300/200), probably because she didn't have a card to set as she only had two cards in her hand and I knew for a fact that one of them was Spellbook of Power.

Akahana started her turn, even doing a little twirl as she drew a card from the top of her deck. "I draw~! Alright, this is the end of the line Mari!" She chuckled while winking.

A deadly silence flooded the field at her words, what card did she just draw?!

"What is that supposed to mean Miss I-have-no-monsters-on-the-field?" The golden eyed girl demanded.

The elder girl continued to laugh, "Has your memory escaped you? I'm about to summon my true ace, so prepare yourself! I banish Fallen Angel of Roses from my graveyard and the Queen Angel of Roses in my hand to special summon Rosaria, the Stately Fallen Angel (8/2900/2400) from my hand!"

Fallen Angel of Roses floated out of the black portal that had appeared on the field, and Queen Angel of Roses materialised next to its dark counterpart. Both female Plant-Type monsters raised their weapons in the air and brought them both together, causing white lightning to strike them and turning them into separate streams of pink and purple light that flew into a set of clouds that had mysteriously gathered in the sky. A loud 'rumbling' noise trumpeted across the field, filling my stomach with a sense of dread.

I was too afraid to see what was going to happen next, I felt scared for Mari but at the same time I was heated up by this passionate duel. Every time they clashed, my heart actually felt it and it was obvious that even though the two girls seemed to be mad at each other, they were tremendously enjoying the duel and putting their all into it. It was almost as if they were trying to drag the duel out for as long as they possibly could because it was like they didn't know if they would ever have the chance to duel each other again.

A bright light spread across the sky, resulting in a luminous figure descending down onto the dueling field. Once the light had dulled down, you could see the white figure more clearly. He wore an open white waistcoat that revealed his chiselled, muscular chest with golden gauntlets decorating his arms. He had a matching white loincloth covering his waist along with green jewels decorating his lower half but what really stood out were his wings. The left half of his wings were the same red as Queen Angel of Roses but the right half of his wings are the same deep purple as Fallen Angel of Roses.

"Once per turn, I can negate every card on the field so that means your Downerd Magician loses the 200 attack points it gained due to its effect (4/2100/200)." Rosaria flew into the air and thorny whips emerged from his wrists, wrapping around Downerd Magician before tightening around her, you could tell that she was in pain by the way she was grimacing.

"I'm not finished yet, I equip Thorn of Malice to Rosaria which increases his attack points by 600 (8/3500/2400). Now attack that magician!" Rosaria's wings became more rougher as well as the whips in his wrist becoming spikier. They snapped at Downerd Magician, physically cutting her but not destroying her. One of Rosaria's whips hit Mari, causing her to fly through the air.

Akahana: 1500
Mari: 100

"Plus any monster that battles a monster equipped with Thorn of Malice, that monster cannot be destroyed and it loses 600 attack points as well (4/1500/200)!" Akahana elaborated with a smirk on her face.

I covered my mouth with my hand, Mari's down to her last 100 Life Points and Downerd Magician is severely weakened. There is no way she'll be able to make a comeback in one turn…unless a miracle happens.

"With that I end my turn. Let's see if you'll be able to defeat Rosaria, which I highly doubt because you've never managed to destroy it before. Not to mention, Thorn of Malice has increased his attack points which makes him even harder to destroy. What are you going to do now mon petit amie?"

Mari raised her head, she had a few scratches on her cheeks and one of her twin tails was unravelling. "Out of all the monsters in your deck, you just had to summon that one. This looks like it may be end for me, but I'll go down fighting!" She jumped to her feet and drew a card, "It's my turn, and I draw! Since I control a spellcaster, I can return one Spellbook card in my graveyard to the bottom of my desk and draw one card from my desk. I return Spellbook of Secrets and draw once again!"

She examined her hand, "Rosaria's effect only work until the end of the turn so Downerd Magician gains 200 attack points (4/1700/200). Next I equip her with Wonder Wand which increases her attack points by 500 (4/2200/200)." A brown wand with a large emerald orb on top of it appeared in front of Downerd Magician, who grabbed it before twirling it.

"Ha! Even with that boost she's still not strong enough to defeat Rosaria, better luck next turn." Akahana pointed out.

The younger girl snorted, "Well duh Sherlock! I can count you know. I tribute Downerd Magician and since she's equipped with Wonder Wand, I can draw two cards from my deck." Downerd Magician turned into a beam of yellow light that split into two, diving into Mari's deck which glowed brightly.

She drew two cards and held them up in the air, adding them to her hand. "Yes, this is going to change everything! I reveal I reveal Spellbook of Power, Spellbook of Fate and Spellbook of Eternity. This lets me special summon High Priestess of Prophecy (7/2500/2100) in attack mode!" She cried out as she held up the four cards in her hand, slamming one of them onto her Duel Disk.

Three strange books emerged onto the field: A lavender one, an orange one and a light blue one. All of them had strange carvings on their covers, with a crystal core embedded into each of them. All three books opened up, creating auras of magical energy that focused on a single point in the centre of them.

The combined energy changed form. The energy dispelled, revealing the monster within: A well-endowed woman, clad in an elegant yet revealing silver-white outfit, an odd hat covering part of her bubblegum pink hair. The woman's green eyes shot open, and a neon greenish book materialised, which she grabbed.

Akahana took one step backwards in surprise, "That monster…when did you get it?!"

Mari tapped the side of her nose, "That's a secret. I "I banish Spellbook of Fate from my hand to activate High Priestess' effect! This allows me to destroy one card on the field and destroy it, I choose Rosaria!" High Priestess grabbed a lavender book that had appeared in front of her, it transformed into a lavender ball of light that she threw at Rosaria.

As soon as it hit Rosaria's chest, cracks started to appear all over it and promptly digitised into multiple coloured pieces.

Akahana grit her teeth together in frustration, "Damn it, this can't be it! I refuse for this to be over!"

"Sorry Hana, but you should have known this was coming. I activate Spellbook of Power, this powers up High Priestess by 1000 attack points (7/3500/2100)." An aged orange book became visible in the pink haired mage's hands; she opened it and as her eyes scanned over it, she was surrounded by an orange aura. "Now attack Akahana directly,"

High Priestess balled her hands together and an orange ball of energy gathered in her hands. With a yell, she threw the ball at Akahana that blew her backwards.

"Aaaahhhhhhhh," she screamed, twirling around in a circle and tell to the ground.

Akahana: 0
Mari: 100
WIN: MARI!

The Augmented Reality deactivated itself and I pulled off my D-Gazer, I must admit that I was surprised by Mari's victory because I thought that Akahana was practically invincible. I guess I was mistaken; still it did give me an opportunity to see Mari's skill level. It has confirmed my previous assumption; I need to keep a close eye on her.

Astrid raised one of her eyebrows, "Mari is a fantastic duelist Yumi-chan, that's the only way I can put it."

I nodded, "Agreed."

Akahana got off of the floor and threw something at Mari, "Here, you've earned it."

Mari caught it and unfurled her fist, revealing a small amethyst chunk. "The Heart Piece, now I have two." She slid her hand into her pocket, pulling out a golden heart shaped frame that only had one Heart Piece in the top right hand corner.

Mari took her recently acquired Heart Piece and pushed it into the frame with an audible 'click'.

"Excellent, it fits." She looked at Akahana, "It was nice seeing you again Hana, I've missed you and I can tell that you miss me as well."

Akahana turned her back, but I noticed a tear was falling down her cheeks, "You've matured so much as a duelist and I'm happy that I got to experience your growth. But like I said before, stay away from me before you get in trouble with your kaa-san again,"

On that note, she walked away with her heels clicking on the concrete and her coat tail swaying with the wind. Mari locked her eyes on me and before I could blink, she was right in my face.

"I've been looking for Yuma but you'll suffice." She declared in that impatient tone of hers.

I awkwardly giggled, "Well…here I am."

Mari rolled her eyes and crossed her arms across her chest, "What's the name of that girl behind you and you know exactly who I'm talking about."

At first, Astrid had this look of uncertainty on her face but she soon had this big cheesy grin on her face.

"I'm Astrid-chan, I love travelling and meeting new friends and annoying-" Mari interrupted her.

"I don't have all day you know, do you know Astral?" She inquired.

Astrid pouted, "Well yeah, he is very important to me and I love him a lot."

Mari held out her arm that had a golden bracelet on it, "In that case I have somebody that I want you to meet."

In a shower of silver sparkles, a light blue female figure materialised next to Mari. My mouth dropped open - not because she was a ghost - but because she was one of the most beautiful creatures I had seen in my entire life. She had wavy blue hair that reached her lower back, sparkling green eyes that had this soothing presence and a red ruby was embedded in her chest and forehead. Her outfit consisted of a blue two piece that covered her breasts and waist, in the middle of the blue material that covered her chest was a golden circle with beads hanging from it and it had this weird eye on it. There was a golden scarab pendent hanging from the cloth round her waist and to finish, she had a golden bangle attached to her left ankle.

I reached my hand out to touch her but at the last second I withdrew my hand; she was transparent so my hand would only go through her.

"Karoi, this is Astrid and hopefully she'll be able to take us to Astral." Mari told the ghost girl, or should I say Karoi?

Karoi blinked before breaking out into a toothy grin, "Finally I'm surrounded by other people who can see me! I'm so excited, do you know how lonely it is being stuck for thousands of years in an inanimate object before finally being released but having only one person to talk to! It's so nice to have meet more friends."

The enthusiastic blue spirit opened her arms wide before wrapping her arms around me and Astrid; I was surprised that Karoi was able to touch us but just being near her made me cold.

"Are you an Astral Being?" I asked her.

Karoi broke contact and gave us a surprised look, "Oh heaven's no, I'm the spirit who lives Mari's bracelet. You might even call me a ghost because I was supposed to move onto the afterlife some time ago, but destiny had other plans for me and I was imprisoned instead until Mari released me. However I am still not free, I was told that I'm order for me to truly be free, I have to help Astral get his memories back by helping him to collect all of the Number cards."

Karoi has such an interesting past, I can't believe she's potentially doomed if Astral doesn't get his memories back! I feel so sorry for her, mostly because I too know what it's like to have your life depend on someone else. I hope we can help her some how...

Astrid wrapped her arms around Karoi, "You poor dear, it must be horrible to not be free. But don't worry, Astral and I will help you as much as possible." She vowed, "Yumi what's taking you so long to call Yuma?!"

Sighing, I pulled my Duel Gazer out of my pocket and phoned Yuma. He answered after a couple of rings, "What's up Yumi?" He sounded quite cheerful; maybe he won another Heart Piece.

"Hey Yuma, we kinda need to meet up because you are not going to believe this…"

Chyna: Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, please send me a PM, review or watch me to show your love.

Dynasty: Chyna is currently writing chapter 3 of my story so she will publish chapter 32 as soon as she has published chapter 3 :3

Chyna: Agreed, so bye for now everybody :D