The next morning, I was jumping the rooftops going to HLA as usual. I noticed Yuma running top speed while shouting, "I'm late again! Why didn't you wake me up, Astral!?"
Astral came out just behind him and answered, "For an hour, I said, 'Yuma, wake up.'"
"Well you should've said it louder!"
Bronk started skateboarding past, knowing that he was going to be first in their usual race. But a duck family crossing his path made him stop so abruptly he got thrown off.
"Now that was a wipe-out," Rio commented on Bronk's crash. Bronk jumped back up only to realize his arm got scraped from the fall. As a kind gesture, Rio wrapped the scrape in a piece of cloth. After she walked away, Bronk started mooning over Rio again, oblivious to Yuma riding away on his skateboard.
While I stayed just outside the open window to listen, Tori started talking about a project due next week. She said Bronk's name, but got no reaction from him.
"Earth to Bronk," Tori attempted. "Come in."
Cathy tried, "They're giving away donuts in the cafeteria, Bronk. All you can eat; first come, first serve."
Flip concluded, "Nothing." When Bronk dreamily sighed Rio's name, all of us sweatdropped, not surprised.
"Boy, Bronk has got it," Caswell mused, "Real bad."
Tori got his attention by suggesting him to ask her out, though Bronk was worried she doesn't like him. Everyone gave their opinions, but what really stuck out was Shark being her twin brother. Flip suggested Bronk earning Shark's respect, with "Ray" finding a duel making the most sense. I witnessed a thought of Shark being defeated and giving Bronk his sister's hand. Then a wedding scenario of Rio and Bronk getting married appeared. As I was working off the nausea from those scenes, Bronk went off to challenge Shark to a duel. Yuma - of course - was too busy chowing down and didn't hear anything in the conversation.
Out of curiosity, I secretly teleported to the roof to hear Shark's reaction. As I expected, Shark denied Bronk's challenge, saying that only Yuma comes close to being good enough. I knew that he meant that only Yuma was good enough as a duelist, not as Rio's boyfriend. But he was so vague about it, that Bronk took it the wrong way. Caswell and Flip -- who were eavesdropping from just behind the door -- also misunderstood. I saw yet another nauseating scene of Rio and Yuma getting married. Bronk was locked in a daze as Shark casually walked away. Caswell and Flip decided to show it, and posted it on Flip's blog: "Flip's Daily Quips."
The next day, Everyone was in a frenzy from hearing the gossip from the two boys, Tori especially. I also got the news from my bracelet, which behaved like a d-pad infused with Shadow Energy. Tori and Cat looked pretty ticked about it, while I kept getting tormented by their thoughts. Everyone's over-imaginative scenarios were wreaking havoc on my stomach. And I just got over the drama of the robotic love-story, too!
To avoid any more cheesy-queasy thoughts from those guys, I wandered off to find Rio. It didn't take long to track her down, but all of HLA seemed to read Flip's blog. Everyone was assuming that Rio and Yuma were dating. We got up to one of the outdoor halls to hear Bronk revealing what Shark said to Yuma.
"So that's why everyone thinks we're dating?" She questioned, her voice rising, "I should've known that Reginald was at the center of all this."
After school, Rio called Shark and had the whole gang meet up at the tennis court. When he came, Rio challenged her older twin to a duel. Shark mused, "You too? A lot of that going around today." Rio snapped that she was serious and showed Shark the post on Flip's Daily Quips.
"Do you think this is funny?!" She retorted.
"I don't even know what 'this' is."
Rio admonished that Shark couldn't make decisions for her. Though Bronk tried to weave in, Rio shot him down. Her brother was about to walk away when Rio teased, "Too scared? I know how you can get scared sometimes. It's like your strange fear of onions; maybe I'll have Flip blog all about it."
The very mentioning of it flipped the switch on Shark, and made him glare at his sister. He growled threateningly, "I'm serious Rio. Not. Cool."
Rio returned the glare, "Well if you don't want the whole school knowing about that, then you've gotta duel me."
Astral appeared next to Yuma and commented, "A battle between brother and sister; we should wear ear plugs."
I laughed slightly at the last part; he probably just wanted to make a joke. The twins readied their d-pads, and everyone fired up their d-gazers to spectate. I teleported to the roof of the building to get away from their nauseating thoughts that kept replaying. Once I was sitting on the roof, I also synced into the duel.
"You've never beaten me in a duel," Shark reminded, "That's not gonna change; not today."
He had first draw and summoned lvl 3 Big Jaws. He also special summoned lvl 3 Shark Stickers from his hand, overlaying his monsters to Xyz summon rank 3 Aeroshark. Yuma was pretty surprised that Shark Xyz summoned on his first turn. Shark used an OLU to deal Rio 400 damage for each of his four cards. He added, "This is what happens when you bring up the onions. Go Torpedo Take Down!"
Rio brought out her lvl 4 Guard Penguin to shield her from the effect and stick around. Shark played his Aqua Gate spell to negate one attack for every facedown on his field. He ended his turn with two facedowns and a very impressive defending tactic.
Rio took her draw and summoned lvl 4 Blizzard Falcon, overlaying it with her Guard Penguin to Xyz summon rank 4 Zerofyne. She activated its ability Perfect Freeze, using an OLU to negate all faceup card effects until the start of her next turn. And for every frozen card, Aeroshark lost 300 atk for each of two cards, lowering its atk to 1300. She stopped to think, Wait, this is too easy. Shark had to have known I'd summon Zerofyne. Is Aqua Gate a decoy? Of course, I've gotta switch gears and focus on those two facedowns. She equipped Wings of Silence onto Zerofyne, bringing its atk to 2300 and protecting it from spells and traps. She ordered her Ice Beast to attack Aeroshark with Icicle Storm, destroying it and lowering Shark's LP to 3000. Shark activated the Ghost Salvage trap to bring back the Submersible Carrier, along with Big Jaws and Shark Stickers without their effects. He then activated Full-armored Xyz, helping him automatically Xyz summon even if it wasn't his turn. He overlaid Big Jaws and Shark Stickers again to Xyz summon rank 3 Black Ray Lancer. Unbeknownst to everyone else, the Beast-Warrior turned to me and saluted, as I remembered him. Full-armored Xyz also allowed Shark to equip Aeroshark to Lancer and combine their atk, raising it to 4000. Definitely unnerved, Rio ended her turn with one facedown.
Shark drew and activated the Break Stream spell, preventing Rio from activating any cards when Lancer attacks. With Aqua Gate's effect still on ice, Rio had no way of shielding herself. Shark had Lancer attack Zerofyne with Shimmering Spear Slash. He then activated Break Stream's other effect, to get rid of Rio's facedown when Zerofyne was destroyed. Shark remembered that Rio needed him to build her deck when they were kids. Rio wanted to prove that she didn't need his help to duel anymore. She activated Ice Fire egg: the card that was destroyed by Break Stream. It activated when it was destroyed and let Rio bring back Zerofyne without its atk and def and changed it to lvl 5. Shark placed a facedown to end his turn.
Before she took her draw, Rio thought, If I don't draw the card I'm hoping for... or if Reginald already knows what I'm planning --
"I bet I know what you're thinking right now," Shark interrupted, "You're worried that I'm three steps ahead of you. That this facedown card will activate as soon as you make your move. That's what you're thinking, right sis? Of course, 'cause you doubt yourself. Self-doubting wannabes don't win duels! And that's why you always lose to me; because you don't trust your instincts! You're not gonna win, you're just gonna keep second-guessing yourself into corners and you know it!"
Bronk denied what Shark said; he encouraged Rio to take a chance and even stole Yuma's "High-five the sky" line.
Rio admired Bronk's words and made her draw, which was just the card she needed. She activated Land of Frozen Flames, making her monster count as two to Xyz summon. She overlaid two Ice-Beast Zerofynes to Xyz summon rank 5 Ice Princess Zereort. She used its ability, using an OLU to zero out Lancer's attack points with Subzero Subtraction. Zereort attacked the downed Beast-Warrior, but Full-armored Xyz let Shark send Aeroshark to the Graveyard and keep out Black Ray Lancer. Even so, his LP plummeted like the temperature to 500 as Rio ended her turn.
"I gotta admit, you really surprised me just now, sis." Shark mused falsely, "Maybe I was wrong; maybe you really are one amazing duelist."
Rio gave in to the facade, taking it as a compliment.
"Get real Rio," Shark burst out, "'An amazing duelist'? I don't think so!" He quickly drew and summoned Drill Barnacle. Then he equipped Xyz Crown onto Lancer, turning its rank into a level and doubling the monster. Land of Frozen Flames also turned Drill Barnacle into two monsters. He overlaid all four monsters to Xyz summon Shark Caesar. By using an OLU, Shark Caesar gained 3000 atk for a grand total of 4800 atk. The king of the deep attacked Zereort with Emperor's might, destroying it and dropping Rio's LP to zero.
I teleported back down to the rest of the crew, whose minds were at a standstill. All Shark had to say was that Rio was improving.
"But still," Rio snapped, "if you think I'm gonna become Yuma's girlfriend just because you said I should, you're crazy!"
Shark echoed, "Did you say 'become Yuma's girlfriend'? Why would I think that?... Hold on, all I said to Bronk is that Yuma's the only duelist around who can kinda keep up with me."
Caswell's head cocked, "So then --"
"-- It was our misunderstanding?" Flip finished, also cocking his head.
Rio sighed, "Well, this is embarrassing." Bronk complimented Rio about the duel, and offered to be her dueling partner. And if she won, he would maybe buy her an ice cream. "Sounds like a good deal to me," Rio concluded, "Now, there's something I need to go deal with." Flip and Caswell were attempting to sneak off. "Guys," Rio asked, making them freeze. They turned around to see Rio's venomous look, "About that little rumor you started..." The two boys grabbed each other, screaming and crying in a panic. They knew they were in for it now!
We all got the message and scurried off before things got too crazy. We decided to leave Rio alone to deal her punishment on the boys. In the meantime, I had the others come over to my place for a visit. I figured they deserved to know the truth. For starters, when I brought them over, they all said it was a haunted house. Anyone who tried to build an establishment on the property would get chased off by odd-looking monsters. From their memories, I could tell exactly what those monsters were.
"Don't worry about it, guys," I assured them, "The Arcana Forces and Silver spirits were waiting for my family to return. Or -- since my parents are likely to be gone by now -- specifically me."
Everyone seemed to accept the fact that I was descended from Sartorius. But they were pretty stunned when I read my parents' journal to them. They were rather stumped when I read my father's entry to them; they didn't quite know who my father was talking about. But Shark seemed to figure it out first, "It sounds like Quattro's family at the time."
Yuma countered, "But it said two sons; Trey, Quattro, and Quinton make three."
Shark shook his head. "But don't forget, Star's a year older than Trey is. She was barely a year old when it was written. That would mean that it happened before he was even born. That would only leave Quattro and his older brother." I was impressed with Shark for following the threads so easily.
After reading the entries, I showed them all the photo as proof. At first, they didn't think it was the Arclight family, until Tori and Astral saw it. Tori confirmed, "That really is you and Quinton looking at each other."
Astral added, "And if I'm not mistaken, Quattro is in the background with his father and your mother."
Shark took a peek for himself, "So that's what your families looked like back then, huh?"
I replied, "Yeah, that was us. The Arclights were the only ones my family could trust not to betray us. I just hope that at some point, they'll remember my family." After I finished, everyone went back home, glad to know more about me and my family. Even Shark appreciated knowing the connection between the Arclight and Choseki families.