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"How can you be too tired to battle? Did you get all your Pokemon knocked out or something?" "No, I'm just too tired," Belle replied flatly. The girl wasn't surprised that Ivan had decided to fight instead of sit it out too. Like Jacklyn, he seemed to have an endless well of stamina and motivation. Where he got that, she wasn't sure. Or why, for that matter. What was the point in getting all worked up in this heat? She purposefully ignored the fact that earlier, she had been getting a little worked up too. This and that were different. She had her own pride as a top couch potato-er and gamer. Losing against people was fine, but losing against her own Pokémon brought with it a special sense of shame. Jacklyn was cheering Ivan on beside her. Really, Belle just couldn't understand how that girl could be so energetic in this heat. Waving lazily at Ivan, she yawned. That was all the effort she could muster right now. The purple-haired girl turned to her then, "so, what did you get up to? Anything fun? See anything cool?" "Ehh, maybe." Belle fluttered her hand in the air in a so-so manner. "Was tryinta house train m'rat. Went al'right, s'pose." She yawned again. "Oh, an' Ivan caught a Vulpix." She paused. "Not the web browser," she clarified. "Actual Vulpix." She preferred using Zebstrika herself, but from what she had heard, Mozilla Vulpix was more popular overseas.

Each minute was an eternity to Melissa. She’d tried all her tricks that normally passed the time, too, like prayer or crying or… okay, those were the two big ones but even after a few psalms and thoroughly dried-out eyes, the only other thing she could do was keep checking her phone for responses to the scant feelers she’d sent out. Jun, Kyouko, Gabby, they were safe (or safe enough) and she’d texted her location out to the people that had asked, but nobody else seemed to be responding in a timely manner. Which was fine, like, they probably had other things to worry about, but that “fine-ness” didn’t exactly give Melissa any peace of mind. But she also wasn’t about to just go and text everyone again either. She could imagine a scenario almost like the one she found herself in, just with a monster on the other side of the stall door. If she held her breath, she could escape its notice, but any errant noise would give her away. A phone buzz from a follow-up text could be just that noise. And of course, right as she thought it, the bathroom door opened up, and, right on cue, Melissa sucked in a huge lungful of breath and tried to hold it for as long as possible. She could hear metal scraping on the tile floor, then tapping on each of the stall doors in turn. Only when they finally spoke did she even think about breathing out. It was Kyouko. “Anyone home? I’m looking for whoever’s friends with this runt behind me.”Did Kyouko really have to call Gabby a runt? It didn’t really matter, they were all reunited at last and that was enough for right now, but the thought still stuck out in Melissa’s mind even as she went to embrace both of them, Gabby first, though she eventually pulled in a reluctant Kyouko as well. It was when she came back out that she realized exactly what Kyouko had explained to her. A bat? Whacks? “Is that- was that what Souji was talking about with duel space? Do we have to be fighting these things?” she said. Then, after a breath, “I don’t know. I don’t have a plan or anything. My plan was just hiding here until it stopped.” Melissa looked at Gabby, then Kyouko, then back again, “I’m sorry, I feel like you came here to rescue me. Jun’s coming too -- I told her where I was too. But that means, I don’t know, going somewhere else, doesn’t it? Where else is safe? Do you know? “I really don’t mean to be a burden like this. I just- you asked, so I answered. And I don’t mean to blame this on you- either of you. I really am grateful that you’re both here. But if you need to go somewhere else, you can do it now, and I’ll be happy having seen that you’re alright. I just- I’m stuck, I guess. I’m stuck here where it’s safe.” Someone knocked at the door. “That’s probably Jun,” Melissa said as she walked to the door. It was a trepidatious walk -- “probably” didn’t mean “definitely,” after all -- which made her all the more relieved to find that it was! Jun too got a hug, right there in the doorway before Melissa pulled her inside to join them. “It’s good to see you’re safe,” Melissa said. Surprised by the sudden affection, Jun smiled and said, “Glad to see you too ‘Lissa! It was a bit touch and go before getting here,” the girl adjusted her hat as she said so, “but-” she stopped as she saw everyone else. Brightening even further, she said, “Oh, even Koko and Gabby are here! It's like some kind of party! Man, with classes cancelled and all of us here, it’d be the perfect time to go see a movie or something. But well,” the girl sighed as she looked back to the entrance, a bit disappointed. It was obvious why, or it was to Melissa, at any rate. Guilty thoughts swam into her head again, and she almost went into another long apology without meaning to. But no, she managed to stop herself and instead reflected on what she could do to help. Because, well, maybe she couldn’t fix it, but she sure could try. Like she had said, after all, these people had come for her. She took another deep breath. “Alright, if I had to make a plan, I’d start with why this is happening. Or why, or- well, I guess duel space is why, right? A better why then: why this specifically? Our class was attacked by Mokey Mokey and then I came here so I haven’t seen much else, but you all surely must have had some other experience.” She gestured at Kyouko. “Like, where’d you get that bat? I guess we start there and work our way out?”How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down on the collar of his robe. It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore. -Psalm 133 (NIV)

“Alright then!” Terry cackled. “I draw!” She announced, staring at her hand. While realistically, she could attack over Hana’s monsters, she had no idea what Hana had on the back-row, and that could be… Bad, if she wasn’t appropriately cautious. “...I activate Dark-World-Dealings. We both draw one card, and then discard one card.” She explained, playing a spell-card, printed with a black skeletal knight; emerging from the card, the skeletal knight loomed over both duelists, awaiting the sacrificial card as Terry drew. “For my discarded card, I discard Terraforming.” She nodded, handing the card to the skeletal figure. “Aha! But as you draw, I interrupt even my own plans; activating Generaider Boss Stage’s effect!” Terry announced, inserting a ‘kyahahaha’ at the end of her explanation. “Generaider Boss Stage starts us off, allowing me to special summon a Generaider in defense position from my deck as you draw! And I choose…” She trailed off, smiling. “Hela, Generaider Boss of Doom!” She cackled, selecting a card from a pop-up menu only for her deck to spit it out onto the field. Beside the black-armored knight, a massive woman with pale skin, cloaked in dark purple robes appeared in a bolt of lightning. Holding a black staff, she beckoned an array of bones and limbs up from the ground as a shield, staring the field down. In the same moment, Hoarr began to move, beginning to point his staff towards Hana’s field, before stopping. As Terry laughed, a pop-up window would appear in front of her, though, she wouldn’t notice as it times itself out, and Hoarr resumes his original stance. “So, any response?” Terry grinned, moving a hand to cover one of her eyes. “And what card do you discard, Hana?” When Terry asked Hana she was mouthing something to herself, counting off something with her fingers, trying to keep up with all that Terry had just done. She gave a start as Terry asked her the question though and looked at her hand. “Uhh. Uhhhh.” She glanced between the two cards. Then with a shrug she grabbed one of them, Creeping Doom Manta, and sent it to the graveyard. “Buh bye for now, fishie!” She declared. “Good then!” Announced Terry, nodding. “Now, I’ll swap Hoarr into attack position,” she shifted the card’s direction, before pointing towards Terry’s field. “And enter the battle-phase, declaring an attack towards... “ She paused, squinting at the monsters on Hana’s side of the field. It was really unbecoming of a Final Boss to have to pause and read card descriptions… She would have to get better at reading them beforehand, and memorizing them. “...I’ll attack… Terrorking Salmon!” She resolved, nodding. While Mambo would result in more damage now, she should deal with the more imminent threat first, right? Right. “Any response?” She asked, as Hoarr, the black-clad knight, stepped forwards - staff spewing mist as he lifted it from the ground…”No? Good!” Terry grinned, as Hoarr one-again stabbed his spear into the ground; black mist bursting up towards Terrorking Salmon from the earth below, as the fish began to gasp for air-- Water? Gasp for… Something, that’s for sure, and Hana lost 400 life-points. “And… I end my turn.” Terry finished, proudly. “Oh no, I’ve been got!” Hana said, letting out a giggle. When Hana drew her next card and looked at it she let out a long. “Oooh, oh oh I know I know this part.” She excitedly set down one of the cards in her hands, Wind-Up Shark. The cartoonish robot shark appeared out of the water and seemed to grin at Terry. “Aaaand then I can uh...this! Another one! Special Summon!” A second shark appeared behind the other one. “Now check this out, I learned about this a few days ago, it’s uh, uh Exy, Exy...XYZ Summon!” She then proceeded to clumsily overlay the three, currently level 3, Monsters. “Say hi to Shark Caesar!” The Monster summoned out, thanks to her field card, had 2000 Attack. Much less than Terry’s and it seemed that Hana realized that. Her face screwed up a moment before she snapped her fingers. “I can remove one of the...thingies, and put a shark counter on my Monster! What do they do? Well, you’ll see when it attacks!” Hana looked between the two Monsters on Terry’s side, back and forth, back and forth, before settling on a target. “That one, Defense mode girl!” She had almost attacked the other but, realizing at the last second she’d have a totally open field, decided to save her fish for now. As the shark rushed in at Hel its attack got a 1000 point boost. “Ah, dam-Darn it…” Terry murmured, frowning. “If only I had played…” She trailed off, rifling through her not-so-expansive hand of one card, frowning as she seemed to tune Hana out. “...I’ll have to make sure to be more careful next time…” Hana wiggled happily in place as her Monster destroyed the target. Even though she had no cards in her hands she felt pretty good about herself at the moment. She then noticed the trap on her side and tilted her head. Taking a peek at it she said “Oooh right. Oh! Yeah, that’s the end of my turn!” “Right! Right… Draw!” Terry announced, trying to regain her composure! She had to be more careful, ready for anything. “I play Generaider Boss Loot!” She announced, a treasure chest springing to life just behind Hoarr, as she took a deep breath. “Any time you destroy a Generaider by battle, you’ll draw a card.” She explained, nodding. “Then, um… Based on what you said, I can’t really attack safely...” She swallowed nervously, scanning her field and her single-carded hand. “Ummm…” She paused, peeking at her traps. “This isn’t… This isn’t great…” She murmured, biting at her thumb. “...Um…” She trailed off, once again, frowning. “I… Uh… Change Hoarr to defense position, and… End my turn.” She almost seemed to deflate, sighing. “Not much you can do with one card, and that’s okay. Don’t panic, Terry.” She murmured to herself, squinting at her card… “See? See? Aren’t fish great?” Hana said as she drew her card. A Spell! Not one she could use right now though. But it was neat! Plus it felt nice to hold onto a card while playing. Otherwise her hands wouldn’t know WHAT to do. “I remove another fish from Caesar and now he has TWO shark counters. That’s double! And now, go, attack!” Shark Caesar rushed towards Terry’s Defense position monster and grew to twice its original size, it’s Attack increasing to 4000, and tore into the Generaider. The boss was destroyed without any problems, disappearing into mist as the shark tore through the metal-armor like it was paper. The treasure chest behind the monster, in response, popped open; a card being practically shoved into Hana’s hand. “O-Oh, yeah! Um… I’ll use that draw, to activate Boss Stage, to summon Dovelgus! Generaider Boss of Iron!” Terry announced, nodding. “Come forth, lord of Dwarves!” She bellowed, as a mechanical golem powered by blue energy rose from the ground; holding a massive, blue and silver axe in front of it, as if to block attacks. “Um… And, of course, from Boss stage tokens swarm the field to defend Dovelgus from effects, etcetera etcetera.” She repeated, nodding, the fae-like constructs swarming around the golem. “Back to you.” Terry sighed, giving an almost polite bow. Hana looked at the card that had come out of her deck with some amusement. “Gee, thanks!” She said. This one she could play! “I’ll put this Trap face-down and end my turn. Look, my field is getting so big now!”