Neo Superbia Academy

Near the arenas dueling platform was what appeared to be a young girl, a deck of cards set beside her. In her hand; five cards, on her face; a confident smirk, across from her; absolutely nothing. She stood alone with no opponent nor nearby spectator but all the same she appeared to be dueling and... Losing? Her voice boomed a tad louder than she had actually realized as she announced her big 'comeback' against her 'opponent'.

"Don't you ever learn? A hero never retreats! Never surrenders!" one of the girls hands rose to pluck the set of two that she held close to her face, then pointed the small rectangle towards the sky "Now comes the universes greatest warrior of justice! He who protects all those who live with goodness inside their hearts! Appearing to save the day, Elemental HERO Neos!" Did she think it sounded cool? Of course she did. Did it in reality? Lord knows. Was it loud? Absolutely.

The girls name is Alice Le'Rouge and currently she was practicing her own heroic speeches, rather than actually dueling anyone. To her credit, she confidently shouted each and every word. However that may be bothersome or attention catching to those poor souls in earshot...

When Aoka thought they were alone, she was clearly mistaken. The booming voice practically echoed around the entirety of the arena, given its structure and how empty it was currently. Apparently, someone was already on a dueling platform! But who was this person dueling against? Herself maybe? She heard of people doing that for practice before; heck, Sukikyo probably did it when Aokakesu was too sick to duel at all. But now that Aoka was doing better... hmm...

"I know! I'll duel Miss Hero Lady~ That way you can watch and rest and I'll get to duel for the first time here!" she said excitedly to her sister. And before Sukikyo could protest, the young girl was already off running. Maybe she shouldn't have been running, so a slower jog did the trick to get her out of Sukikyo's reach while getting her to her destination: the opposite dueling platform. It took her a minute to figure out how to climb the darn thing but once up, she looked around the arena from her new standpoint. She could imagine all the empty seats filled with students and teachers alike, cheering her on!

Aoka, reveling in the pretend atmosphere, set her own deck on the dueling platform and called across the arena. She had to get her opponent's attention after all. "E-excuse me, Miss? Can I play too?" she asked, figuring the hero girl was, well, pretending to be a hero. And that was all but bait for a twelve-year-old. "I-i can do my best to play the bad guy if you want. I dunno how good I'll be. But I would really love to duel you! My name is Aokakesu Shukuen, but you can call me Aoka for short. My sister is watching from over there, so we even have an audience!~" She wasn't sure if the Hero Girl would recgonize Sukikyo from the Pro Leagues, but hopefully even if she did, surely playing against a real opponent would be better than playing against a fake one, right? She had to agree to Aoka's challenge!

A voice rose past a lot of Alice's current rambling.. And at that moment she was certainly caught off guard. This of course caused the girl to jump a moment, but quickly recompose herself. Once she actually had a moment to look at who had startled her, the girl quickly smiled.

"A duel with myself?" though hearing someone willing to go along with her little act made Alice's eyes almost literally sparkle "I absolutely accept! A friendly match would be a lot of fun!"

Although a little odd Alice did have the energy to match her act. And now with an actual opponent, maybe she could actually put a lot of this act to use.

"So what's your name, Miss?" "Alice! Alice Le'Rouge, Hero of Neo Babylon!" "Well it's nice to meet you! Thank you for letting me play along!" "It's nice to meet you Aoka, and of course! It's nice to not do this alone for once."

And so the duel began, with the twelve-year-old going first. (Due to Character Skill), she paid 500 Life Points to bring her favorite card to the field, Future Visions! Next she summoned her Spellbook Magician of Prophecy, which allowed her to bring Spellbook of Power to her hand. Unfortunately, due to the illusion of Future Visions, the Magician was quick to disappear from the field. Just in case, Aoka also played Spellbook Star Hall, a continuous spell that would come in handy later on.

"Huh? Removing your own monster? What kind of illusion is this..." "It's a magical illusion!" "In any case, my turn starts! Draw!" Alice started by summoning Neo-Spacian, Grand Mole! But... "Unfortunately, your Grand Mole disappears just like my Magician did!" "Huh?! So an illusion that works on both of us... What a dasterdly trick!" Aoka couldn't help but giggle, even though she was trying her hardest to play the "bad guy" in this scenario. "Ha ha ha! My trap is working! This is so much fun!" "In that case... I'll set two cards, then end my turn! A hero always has a trick up her sleeve!"

With two face down traps/spells, it was Aoka's turn to play. During her Standby Phase, her Spellbook Magician of Prophecy returned to the field in face up attack position. "Such a trickster... First they're here, then they aren't, and now they're back!" "The fun is just beginning! I summon Fortune Lady Light!" Light, like her Magician, quickly disappeared due to the field spell. But this time, there was more to the trick. "Lady Light doesn't like to leave me alone though, so I get to special summon one Fortune Lady from my deck!" "Yet another illusion.... Straight from the deck?! Some trick of the light..." The special summoned Fortune Lady Dark hit the field and didn't disappear, giving Aoka two monsters to directly attack Alice with! 500 points from Magician, and 2000 from Lady Dark!! With that, Aoka ended her turn.

"Gah! Two attacks directly to my life points... But I won't give up! My turn starts! Draw!" "Also remember you get your Mole back now." "That's right! Heh.. I almost forgot about that, but nevertheless! The unsuspecting hero returns to the scene!" With Grand Mole returning to the field, Alice followed up by summoning Neo-Spacian, Flare Scarab! Scarab had to leave due to Future Visions of course. "Gah! That is one strong illusion... But at least he will come back to me! Just gotta hold out, Grand Mole! And speaking of, I enter my battle phase!" Grand Mole, without activating its ability, had plenty of power to take out Spellbook Magician of Prophecy and deal a decent 400 damage to Aoka's life points. "Our first trial is complete.. Nonw my turn concludes, returning to you!"

"Thank you! My turn, let's draw! Now, two things happen. First, Lady Light returns! And then, both of my Fortune Ladies get a power up, by leveling up during my Standby Phase!" And so Fortune Lady Light sat at 400 Attack while Lady Dark jumped up to 2400. Aoka didn't end it with that, summoning her Fortune Lady Water to disappear like the others. Then she played the Spellbook she got earlier from her Magician, the Spellbook of Power to give Lady Light 1000 attack, making her 1400. It also triggered her Spellbook Star Hall, giving it a counter which gave her ladies 100 extra attack right on top. "Sheesh... These magicians are some kind of strong..!" "That's not all. I use Bound Wand and equip it to Lady Dark!" With Lady Dark being level 6 now, Bound Wand added an extra 600 Attack, making it a whole 3100!

"Now battle! Fortune Lady Light attacks Grand Mole!" "Waitwaitwait! Grand Mole has an effect!" "It does?' Aoka asked, completely confused. "When he is attacked or is attacking, I can return him to my hand and the monster he was battling! A heroic exit, taking an evil doer with him!" So Aoka got her Lady Light back, while Alice got her Mole. Still, it wasn't a devastating blow to Aoka's plans, though it did mean she couldn't benefit from destroying a monster with her Spellbook of Power in play. Oh well. Lady Dark was there to take revenge with a direct attack of 3100 points to Alice's life points! "I guess that's all I can do this turn, since you returned Lady Light so nicely. So in return, I'll return your Scarab from Future Visions!"

Flare Scarab returned during Alice's standby phase, and even powered up because of how many spells Aoka had on the field at the time! The good news was that it still wasn't strong enough to defeat Lady Dark... "I seem to be backed into a corner..." So with a normal summon of Dark Panther, who quickly disappeared thanks to Future Visions, Alice ended her turn. "A fantastic show, for certain! But once I draw the right card, I'm sure I will be able to make a comeback!" "Then my turn it is! And I'll just have to do everything I can to stop you from drawing your card too soon!"

First, Fortune Lady Water returned to the field, and since Fortune Lady Dark was still hanging around, Aoka got to draw two cards. Then both ladies powered up from their level up and the Star Hall, before Aoka played Field Barrier! Just in case, she had to protect her precious field spell that let her maintain the pace of the duel so far. It also powered up Flare Scarab more because it was yet another spell on the field. But, it wasn't Flare Scarab that Aoka was concerned about. Rather, it was the two face down trap cards that Alice had for such a long time. But no longer! Aoka summoned Fortune Lady Wind, and when normal summoned, she was able to destroy both of the face downs before disappearing just like everyone else from Future Visions. She also played Wonder Wand, giving power to Fortune Lady Water, and power to Flare Scarab with yet another spell on the field, but this would be the final battle! Fortune Lady Dark was still stronger, and took out Flare Scarab without so much as breaking a sweat, which left Alice's field wide open for Fortune Lady Water to take the last of Alice's Life Points.

"Gaaaaah! The hero is defeated... But, that was a lot of fun!" "That was so much fun, Miss Alice! Thank you for allowing me to duel you!" Of course, it was my pleasure! We should do it again sometime!" "We should! I'm sure my sister wouldn't mind us hanging out, I think..." "Well, if she wants, she can join too! I wouldn't mind dueling either of you! Sounds like loads of fun!"

"Well, I have to warn you, Alice! My sister is super strong! She's the Envoy of the Red-Eyed Dragon in the Pro League! Bye bye Alice!" Aoka gave a small bow as a thanks before climbing down from the dueling platform, rushing back over to her sister's side. "Did you see, Suki? I did it! I won a duel against a real opponent! I can't wait to come to the Academy and duel even more! Can I come here more often to play with people like Alice? Please please please?" she asked excitedly. What if there were more people here like Alice? More nice people that she could get a head start in the academy with by dueling? Then by the time that she was old enough to actually attend Neo Superbia Academy, she would already be halfway to reaching her sister's place in the Pro League! Aoka suddenly stopped bouncing with excitement as she started to cough, nothing too serious... if there wasn't specks of blood on her palms. Her happiness, her adrenaline, her excitement all drained from the poor child as she looked at her hands. "I need a tissue... Or better, is there a nurse's station?... I don't feel so good..."