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Around a year ago... Vega: 400 Sai: 4000 “You’re impressive, like I heard,” Vega grinned ear to ear, a wild look in her golden eyes, “You absolutely seem like you’re what I want for the team I’m working on. And since the only condition to get you to join was to beat you…” Her voice trailed off as she drew for turn, eyes locked on the dragon on Sai’s field, then to her single set S/T, “I’m gonna go ahead and say welcome to the team.” "You don't think it's going to be that easy, do you? Why would I join someone weaker than me?" Sai tapped lightly at his chin, looking up at his dragon, "Summoning my Almarduke rid you of all the link monsters on your field, not to mention that my life points are still at 4000. If you want me to join your little team, you're going to need to do better than that. Let's see what you've got!" “Yeah, my life total is a bit low… but hey, I’m still fairly new to this deck, so cut me a little slack, ye?” She held the grin as she normal summoned Doshin @Ignister. “I activate Doshin’s effect! By returning my Linguriboh to the Extra Deck, I can search for A.I. Love Yousion!” the card produced itself from the deck as she placed another card onto her disk, “Then I Special Summon Gatchiri @Ignister in defense by negating Doshin’s effects!” "It's flattering, but I'm not interested." “Ha, good one! But I’ve already got someone I’m interested in, so you’re not breaking my heart any.” The shield bearing robotic humanoid appeared next to the box-shaped blob, causing the box to squeak a bit as a small shock hit it, before Vega held up the two cards in her hand. “I don’t need the card I drew this turn to win. I’ve had this planned from the beginning, oh master of fusion. After all, how do I speak to a Fusion Duelist… without using Fusion!” Doshin suddenly faded away into data, causing an 8-point square to appear on the Extra Monster Zone. The data from doshin coalesced into red energy, shooting to fill the bottom left corner. Soon after, an angry looking robot appeared, pointing its link-shaped tail forward like a scorpion. “I used Doshin to summon Linguriboh again, but he won’t be here for long! I activate that A.I. Love Yousion, using Linguriboh and Gatchiri as material! The earth trembles as it’s reshaped by the world! Come forth from the past and future, Earth Golem @Ignister!” As a swirl appeared behind Vega, who clasped her hands almost as if in prayer, the two cyberse monsters began to lose shape, swirling around and thinning out until they were sucked into the center of the spiral… And then a burst of light filled the area, leaving a large rock-like robotic humanoid standing behind Vega, brandishing its fist. It lit up briefly as it was summoned, but the more notable thing was that Gatchiri’s shield was still on the field, attaching itself to Earth Golem’s chest. “When Gatchiri goes to the grave from the field, one monster I control becomes immune to your card effects for the rest of the turn… so battle! Earth Golem, attack Almarduke and activate!” The golem lumbered forward, pulling its arm back, only for data to surround it and cause it to grow, its attack increasing from 2300 to 5300, “It gains the attack of its target, provided it was summoned from the Extra Deck!” "What's the matter? That's still not enough to beat me, weren't you saying this was the last turn?" As Sai taunted, the golem suddenly froze in place, its fist inches from Almarduke… who also seemed to have frozen, cracks appearing along the golem and dragon. "The hell is this?" “Win over fusion, speak in fusion! I activated Final Fusion when Earth Golem attacked! When two fusion monsters battle, it negates the attack… and then burns both of us for their combined attack! That’s 8300 damage to both of us!” The cracks began to light up brighter as she finished explaining the effect, energy seeping from them and beginning to cause small explosions, while she leered at Sai confidently. "A tie isn't a win, you know." As the light in the area grew brighter and brighter, the explosions beginning to sound off, Vega smirked back. “I sure do.” And then the full effect hit, engulfing the area in multiple loud explosions, leaving a cloud in the area… only for it to fade away slowly, revealing Sai’s life to have fallen to 0, while Vega’s remained at 400. “As I said… Welcome to the team.” Sai raised an eyebrow, before looking down at the information displayed on his duel disk. A smile slowly crept to his face as he read the effect of Earth Golem @Ignister. "Naruhodo ne... Glad to join." ----- Sai stepped into the room, this time wearing a baggy hoodie and sweatpants, seemingly spray-painted with various designs all over, including a demonic eye on either side of the hood that loosely framed his head. He noticed Daichi had already arrived, and gave him a wink before addressing the team's coach, "Veeeeeegaaa, how was your date?" “It was nice, thank you for asking!” the coach cheerfully replied, her long hair being brushed out of her face, “Now, why don’t you step back outside, so we can talk, hm?” "But it's raining," droned Sai, as sunshine spilled over his shoulders. "What's wrong with talking in here?" “I want private meetings with each of you. Daichi already had his, now it’s your turn, isn’t that fair?” With an exasperated sigh, he shrugged and stepped back out, leaning casually against the wall. "So, it's time to sing my praises?" “Mmm, not exactly,” Vega closed the door behind her as she spoke, tapping at her chin to find the words, “I would say you did a great job of showing who you are to the crowd… But I also wanna caution you in that regard.” Sai slapped both hands to his cheeks, his face taking on a mortified expression. In these sneaker, he was actually at eye level with Vega and didn't even need to look down to address her "Et tu, Brute???" “Now now, don’t get me wrong. I think you’re mostly fine, and you have points about being a heel.. But you do need to be aware of two things. The first being that your actions do impact the rest of the team, so you should be at least a bit cognizant of that. While, the other…” She looked to the side a bit wistfully before sighing, “Even the former top ranked player drew a lot of hate for his attitude. Angry, talking down to opponents at times, overkill. He had a fan base for sure, but it was the source of a good bit of controversy. Don’t go too far into that.” "He sounds like quite a villain." Sai grinned in admiration of the mythical figure, allowing Vega to continue. “Well, many saw Altair as a villain. He had next to no failures under his belt, but he made plenty of enemies. So I’m just letting you know that you probably went a little too hard with the last match. The idea is fine, but I…” She sighed loudly, “I don’t want to see you end up in the position he was in. That’s all.” Sai pulled down his hood and stared at the sun, which was probably a bad idea, but it didn't seem to dissuade him. "I was just thinking, if I was going to win anyway, I may as well give that guy a good heroic origin story. I think he's gonna get a lot stronger because of this." “And you’re probably right. But you don’t have to be the villain of the story just because someone else is a hero. However, I do want to add… I think you’re still a great fit for the team. I’m not thinking of cutting you or punishing you or even scolding you. But I also don’t wanna see you mess up and go down the wrong path… do you get what I’m trying to say?” "I do, but I hope you understand how different life is when cut from villainous cloth." Pulling his hood back up, Sai slipped into the building. "Tomodaichi! Excited for your redemption arc?"

File 4 - Don't Put on the Red Light