Last time we got to see Layla face off against her rival who's constantly gunning for her position as the Synchro Specialist! Of course she was able to pull off a win and keep her position safe, however things are coming to Vanguard Academy.

Akira sat at a table in one of the lounge areas throughout the academy that students used for studying, deck building/planning, and of course hanging out with friends. Layla sat across from him as they went over possible duel strategies for an apparent upcoming duel tournament with another academy. "So the Chancellor wants us to meet her in her office sometime this week? What's she like anyway?" Akira asked as he shuffled through his deck a few times. "The Chancellor is nice enough, but she can be a bit strict. So don't be surprised if she expects us to win the tournament for Vanguard." Layla said calmly as Akira let out a groan of pure dread at the mention of that.
"No pressure right?" Akira grumbled, which earned a snort from Layla. "Come on we'll be fine! Vanguard has comfortably held our position as one of the top three Duel Academies for years now!" Layla said as she tried to wave off Akira's concerns about the whole thing. "Sorry I'm late!" Both Akira and Layla turned to see Gavin run up to their table before stopping to catch his breath. "You can never be on time can you Gavin?" Layla said in an unamused tone as she glared at her fellow specialist. Gavin gave a nervous chuckle as he scratched the back of his head in slight embarrassment. Gavin sat down at the third seat at the table as he pulled out his deck before he joined his two friends in strategy planning for the upcoming tournament they would be in.
             Little did the trio know, a feminine figure was watching them, particularly she was glaring at Gavin. "That idiot, how in the world did he get such a high position at this academy?" The girl growled as she watched the trio disgust amongst themselves. The girl removed her deck from her Duel Disk before looking through her cards, interestingly enough she had no Fusion, Synchro, or XYZ monsters in it. "I'll show that child how a real duelist plays!" The girl growled before she reinserted her deck into her Duel Disk before stomping her way over to the Specialist trio with a determined fire burning in her eyes. She however was noticed by Layla on her approach as she turned to look at Gavin.
"Lookout Gavin, I think your in for an earful." Layla said as Gavin and Akira both turned to see a girl with long dark blue hair, piercing light blue eyes, and a stern expression on her face. She wore a blue jacket and matching blue skirt, underneath her jacket was a purple shirt.

"Oh! Hi Pandora! What's up?" Gavin asked in his usual friendly tone as he smiled at the girl, which only caused her to glare at the XYZ Specialist. "Who's this chick?" Akira whispered to Layla while the girl was preoccupied with glaring at Gavin. "That's Pandora Gideon, she's someone who refuses to use any kind of Fusion, Synchro, or XYZ summoning in her deck." Layla whispered back as Akira was slightly surprised that someone used no form of extra deck summoning.
           "I challenge you to a duel Gavin! I wish to prove you in no way deserve the position you are in!" Pandora growled angrily as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Sounds like fun! You guys wanna come watch?" Gavin asked as he turned to look at his two friends. "Eh, I could use a break from all this thinking. You down Akira?" Layla asked as she turned to look at the Fusion Specialist. "Yeah, watching a duel would be a good break." Akira said as Pandora's glare only seemed to intensify as none of them were taking her challenge seriously. The group all got up from the table before they made their way to one of the duel arenas in the academy to start their duel against each other.

Duel Arena
Gavin and Pandora stood across from one another as they both powered on their Duel Disks. While Pandora's was the standard blue colored shield shaped Duel Disk, the card zone made of energy was shaped like five large fangs. Both Pandora and Gavin drew five cards before looking at one another. "Duel!!" They both shouted as their Life Points appeared on their Duel Disks, along with Akira and Layla's.

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"Ladies first." Gavin said as he smiled at Pandora, who shot him a nasty glare. "Fine! To start off, I activate the Field Spell, Kyoutou Waterfront!" Pandora said as she played the field spell as the arena turned into a large city with a large red and gold tower in the center of it.

"Now I'll summon Sabersaurus in attack mode!" Pandora said as she summoned a red triceratops that had blades protruding all over its body.

"I end my turn! Your move doll boy!" Pandora growled as she ended her turn and passed it over to Gavin. "Not a bad start! Alright my move!" Gavin said as he drew a card. Gavin looked over his hand before nodding. "To start, I'll play the continuous spell, Wind-Up Factory! Then I'll summon Wind-Up Warrior in attack mode!" Gavin said as he activated his continuous spell before summoning a warrior toy with large fists.

"Since I summoned a Wind-Up Monster, I can special summon Wind-Up Shark to my field!" Gavin said as he summoned the toy shark next to his warrior. "Now I'll activate my Shark's effect and increase its level by one, making it a level four! Since I activated a Wind-Up effect, I can draw one level four or lower Wind-Up monster and add it to my hand." Gavin said happily as he drew another monster from his deck before smiling at Pandora, who simply scoffed at him. "Now I use my Warrior and Shark to build the Overlay Network! The Titan king of the toy box who's strength is unrivaled, Wind-Up Zenmaister!" Gavin chanted before summoning his ace monster to the field.

          "You probably already know this, but for each XYZ material on Zenmaister, he gains 300 attack points! He's got two so that's 600!" Gavin said as his monster's attack increased to 2500. "Now Zenmaister, attack her Sabersaurus!" Gavin ordered as his monster flew towards Sabersaurus before punching it, destroying the monster as Pandora took 600 points of damage.

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"Alright that's all for now! Your turn Pandora!" Gavin said happily as he ended his turn and handed it back to Pandora. "Getting his ace out on turn one, not bad on Gavin's part." Akira said as he checked his Duel Disk for the current setup of the Duel. "Unfortunately Gavin is playing right into Pandora's hands. Trust me, she's a scary duelist even without an extra deck." Layla said as Akira gave her a confused look, but turned back to the duel to see what she meant. Pandora drew a card before smiling. "Since a card was sent to the field from the Graveyard, one Kaiju Counter is placed on Kyoutou Waterfront!" Pandora said as a red orb with an uppercase "K" in the center of it flew into the tower of the field.
"Now I tribute your Zenmaister to summon Kumongous, The Sticky String Kaiju to your field in attack mode!" Pandora said as Zenmaister was removed from Gavin's field, creating another Kaiju Counter that entered the tower. Then spider monster that towered over the skyscrapers of the city appeared in its place.

"Now since you have a Kaiju Monster on your side of the field, I can special summon Dogoran, The Mad Flame Kaiju in attack mode!" Pandora said as she summoned a giant flaming T-Rex monster to her side of the field with large wings on its back was summoned to her field.

"Cool! It's just like a monster movie!" Gavin said happily as he didn't seem bothered by the lose of his ace in the slightest. "Now Dogoran, destroy Kumongous!" Pandora ordered as the Kaiju opened its maw before firing a large beam of fire at burnt Kumongous to a crisp, causing Gavin to take 600 points of damage. Kumongous was sent to Pandora's graveyard as a third Kaiju Counter was added to the tower.

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I play one card facedown and end my turn, your move doll boy!" Pandora said as Gavin drew his next card. "How the heck does that work?! She gave Gavin a monster, only to destroy it with one of her own?" Akira said in disbelief as he has never seen a strategy like that before in a duel. "That's the Kaiju's whole strategy, tribute any problematic monsters on your opponent's side of the field. Then have two of your monsters duke it out. Unless the monster is immune from being tributed, there's no way to prevent a Kaiju from appearing on your field." Layla explained as Akira paled slightly at her words. "So she can completely shutdown Gavin's XYZ monsters with a simple tribute summon? That's not good." Akira said as he worried over his friend's chances of winning the duel.
"That was cool, but I'm not giving up yet! My move!" Gavin said happily as he drew his next card. "Alright, to start, I summon Wind-Up Rat in attack mode!" Gavin said as he summoned a toy rat to his side of the field.

"Now I activate Rat's effect. By changing him to defense position, I can then target one Wind-Up monster in my graveyard and special summon it to the field in face up defense position! I choose Wind-Up Warrior!" Gavin said as his Rat was swapped to defense position as it curled in on itself. Wind-Up Warrior appeared next to it down on one knee with both its arms crossed in front of it. "I'll set a card facedown and end things there, back to you Pandora!" Gavin said happily as his opponent drew her next card.
           "To start, I'll tribute your Rat to summon Gadarla, The Mystery Dust Kaiju to your side of the field." Pandora said as Rat disappeared as a fourth Kaiju Counter entered the tower. A giant moth monster flew above the skyscrapers on Gavin's side of the field.

"Now then, Dogoran destroy Gadarla!" Pandora ordered as Dogoran opened its mouth as a beam of fire destroyed Gadarla, causing Gavin to take 300 points of damage. A fifth and final Kaiju Counter was placed on the tower as well.

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"That's all for me, take you turn doll boy!" Pandora growled as Gavin drew his next card before smiling at Pandora. "This is a lot of fun Pandora! But I can play rough as well ya know! Now I summon Wind-Up Magician to my side of the field!" Gavin said as he summoned his monster next to Warrior. "So you have two level fours? I already destroyed your Zenmaister, so it's useless." Pandora said in a bored tone as she was ready to end this duel. "Who said I was summoning a Wind-Up XYZ?" Gavin said in a teasing tone as Pandora was taken aback by his claim. "Now I use Wind-Up Magician and Warrior to build the Overlay Network! You hear the winds howling? The beast of the storm! Tornado Dragon roars into battle!" Gavin chanted as gale force winds blew through the city field spell as it formed a dragon made out of tornadoes.

"Alright Tornado Dragon, let's shake things up with your quick effect! By discarding one XYZ material from him, Tornado Dragon can destroy one spell or trap card on the field, I choose Kyoutou Waterfront!" Gavin said as Tornado Dragon launched two tornadoes at the tower at the center of the field spell. "Not so fast! By removing one Kaiju Counter from Kyoutou Waterfront, I can prevent its destruction!" Pandora said as one Kaiju Counter exited the tower before forming a defensive shield around the tower. "Oh well, it was worth a shot, I end my turn. Your up Pandora!" Gavin said as he seemed unfazed by his failed attempt at destroying the field spell.
          Pandora drew her next card before adding it to her adding it to her hand as she thought about her next move. "Does he know about the Kaijus Kaiju Counter effects? No he barely pays attention, he must be worried the counters will let me summon something stronger." Pandora thought to herself before refocusing on the duel. "Dogoran destroy his Tornado Dragon!" Pandora ordered as the Kaiju opened its mouth before spewing flames at Tornado Dragon, destroying it completely as Gavin takes 900 points of damage. A fifth and final Kaiju Counter was added to the tower as well.

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"I end my turn, your move." Pandora growled as she passed it back to Gavin once again. Gavin drew another card before adding it to his hand. "Alright to start, I'll summon Wind-Up Knight in attack mode!" Gavin said as he summoned the toy knight to his field. "Now Wind-Up Knight, attack her Dogoran!" Gavin ordered as the Knight charged towards the Kaiju. "Are you stupid?! You Knight only has 1800 attack points!" Pandora screeched as she thought that Gavin had completely lost his mind at this point in the duel.
           "I know, reveal trap card!" Gavin said as one of his two facedown cards flipped up to reveal itself. "Overwind! With this I can target one Wind-Up monster I control, it's attack and defense is doubled! Only downside is it returns to my hand during the end phase." Gavin explained as Wind-Up Knight's attack increased 3600, while its defense increased to 2400. Wind-Up Knight jumped high into the air before slashing Dogoran clean in half as Pandora took 600 points of damage.

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"Alright, that's all for me Pandora! Your turn!" Gavin said as he still had his trademark oversized grin on his face. Pandora growled as she drew her next card before adding it to her hand. "I summon Black Ptera in attack mode!" Pandora said as she summoned a black flying dinosaur to her side of the field.

"Now Black Ptera attack his life points directly!" Pandora ordered as the dinosaur flew towards Gavin before striking him with its wing as he took 1000 points of damage.

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"That's it for me, let's see if you can turn this around doll boy." Pandora grumbled as she glared at him. Gavin drew his next card before adding it to his hand. "First I'll summon Wind-Up Dog in attack mode!" Gavin said as he summoned a toy dog to his side of the field.

"Next I'll activate my trap card! Call of the Haunted to bring back my Wind-Up Warrior!" Gavin said as his Wind-Up Warrior appeared next to Wind-Up Dog. "Now I'll activate why Wind-Up Dog's ability! Until the end phase, Wind-Up Dog's level is increased by two and he gains 600 attack points." Gavin said as Wind-Up Dog became a level five and had its attack increased to 1800. "That boost won't win you this game, next turn I'll just summon another Kaiju and end this!" Pandora growled as she glared at Gavin. "On its own it might not, but with Warrior it will. Now I activate Wind-Up Warrior's effect! I can target another Wind-Up on my field and increase it's level by one and give it 600 more attack points until the end phase!" Gavin announced as Pandora's eyes widened in complete shock.
Wind-Up Dog's level increases to six and it's attack increased to 2400. "Now Wind-Up Dog, destroy Black Ptera!" Gavin ordered as Wind-Up Dog lunged towards Black Ptera before biting down on it destroying it as Pandora took 1400 points of damage.

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"Now Wind-Up Warrior attack her directly!" Gavin ordered as Wind-Up Warrior lunged towards Pandora before punching her as she took 1200 points of damage.

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"Looks like you weren't able to take me out after all! It's game over doll boy!" Pandora said as she laughed at her opponent. "Oh well, I guess that's game, I'll just set a card facedown and call it a turn." Gavin said as he set another card face down as Pandora drew another card before adding it to her hand. "To start, I tribute your Wind-Up Dog to summon Gameciel, The Sea Turtle Kaiju in attack mode!" Pandora said as Gavin's monster disappeared and was replaced by a giant turtle monster.

"Now I'll summon a Kaiju of my own! I summon Radian, the Multidimensional Kaiju to the field in attack mode!" Pandora said as a large black armored humanoid creature appeared on her side of the field.

"Now Radian, destroy his Wind-Up Warrior and finish this duel!" Pandora ordered as Radian fired a ball of purple energy at Wind-Up Warrior. "Not so fast! Reveal trap card! Sakuretsu Armor! If my opponent's monster declares an attack, I can target and destroy it!" Gavin said as a suit of demonic armor appeared in front of Wind-Up Warrior. The armor reflected the attack right back at Radian, destroying it.
           Pandora grumbled in anger as she ended her turn. Gavin drew a card before adding it to his hand. "Now Gameciel, attack Pandora directly and end this duel!" Gavin ordered as Gameciel fired a jet of water that wiped out the last of Pandora's life points, ending the duel as the monsters and city faded away.

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Pandora-0

Gavin walked over to Pandora before holding her Gameciel card out to her. "That was a lot of fun Pandora! I got lucky, your Kaijus have some pretty scary abilities with those Kaiju Counter effects!" Gavin said as Pandora took her card back before letting out an annoyed huff. "I underestimated you, next time I will crush you with the full power of my Kaijus!" Pandora growled before storming out of the duel arena. Gavin then turned to look at Akira and Layla before waving at them. "That was awesome right guys?! Come on we should go grab lunch!" Gavin said as he started to walk towards the exit of the duel arena.
          "I don't know what's more impressive, Gavin turning that duel around or the fact that he seems oblivious to how bad of a position he was in." Akira said as he watched the XYZ Specialist walk off. "Get used to it, the knucklehead is known for pulling off crazy plays like that. Come on, we better not let him leave us behind." Layla said as she started to exit the seating area to follow Gavin. Akira pulled out his Deck from his Duel Disk as he looked down at it. "We sure got a lot to live up to huh guys?" Akira thought to himself before he reinserted his deck back into his Duel Disk. Akira followed after Layla as he hoped whoever the Chancellor wouldn't be to hard on him, he was never good at the whole living up to expectations thing.

Sorry it took me so long to continue this story everyone! I had a hard time thinking of ideas, new ideas came to me, and of course college. That being said I do have some ideas for this story now so please look forward to more new chapters! As always please leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments! The Summoning Specialists have a meeting with the Chancellor later this week. Who could the Chancellor of Vanguard Academy be? Who will Vanguard Academy be facing in the upcoming tournament? Who will the Summoning Specialists face in it? Find out in the next chapter of Yugioh: Academy of the Elite!