Cassandra let out a big sigh of relief. It seems she had zoned out again but this time in the middle of her match. Cassandra felt exhausted, a bit sleepy and her mind was not in the game.

"Haha!" Her first opponent Kaito laughed at her. "You better focus Cassandra, I'm not holding back". Kaito drew a card from his deck that's connected to a band that's fastened to his waist. He looked at the card and smiled. “Yeah, just what I need.” Kaito whispered to himself as he looked over back at Cassandra who was recovering from the last attack. She got up from the kneeling position and dusted herself off a bit with three cards from her deck in her hand.

Cassandra looks to her left. She was in a stadium full of cheering people, hundreds of people watching her match with Kaito. She smiles as her eyes quickly scans around for a familiar face. Cassandra makes eye contact with one of her friends in the stands. It was Daru. "Thank you Daru!" Cassandra yells out with joy back at Daru for helping her avoid the last attack. She was amazed at the fact that she was able to even hear his voice from the noisy crowd.

She cracks her neck, closes her eyes for a split second and took a deep breath. Cassandra attempts to get her mind back in the game. ”Come on Cassandra, stop thinking about that diary.”

The stadium was full of bright large lights and the battle field was almost as large as a football field. The score board had both fighters names displayed in bright lights. The status of each player’s battle armor was under their names. Kaito was at 50 percent while Cassandra was still at 100 percent. Once a player’s armor’s health reached zero, the match was over. Each player would use the power of their cards to inflict damage on their suits health. Cassandra was wearing the blue suit that had bright almost neon like color strips. Kaito was wearing the red suit.

Cassandra’s heart was pounding. She was so nervous even though she had done all of this tournament stuff before. The real reason why she felt so much pressure was because Cassidy this time wasn’t around to give her that mental support she needed. She felt strange inside, as if something very important was missing. Her game was off and she knew it from the start of the match, her father and her friends knew this too.

Sarafina another close friend of Cassandra, who was sitting next to Daru, smiled and waved at Cassandra. "You better win this match Cassandra!" Sarafina screamed at the top of her lungs. Cassandra's father, Mr. Zyta, Daru, and Sarafina watched her every move from the stands.

Cassandra held three cards in her hand now. Her deck began to glow with a bright yellow golden color. It was time for Cassandra to draw a new card. She looked at her card. She saw ancient symbols on the cards. She knew what each card was capable of by just looking at the different symbols. Players of Decca can only see the name of the card in front and the unique symbols. To see how each card preforms, players would have to play the cards in battle and study how each one works. Fighters of Decca find the most thrill in unlocking the true potential of a card.

“Why is it always me”? Kaito thought, frustrated having to have to fight Cassandra, a fighter that out ranks him. “How in the world did I get chosen to battle an elite fighter like her? This isn’t fair. Right at the beginning of the tournament too.”

“So your finally back, Cassandra Zyta. It’s a pleasure. Lots of us Decca fighters really missed you.” Kaito smiled as he scanned his cards. Kaito was nervous. For him it was an honor to finally fight someone who’s so successful at Decca, but at the same time he knew he was out matched.

“Like you even care if I’m participating or not.” Cassandra got serious.

“Decca fighters have deep respect for each other, even if we’re fighting one another to be the best. Besides we all understand why you took a break from Decca for a bit.” Kaito had a concerned look on his face. He knew all about Cassandra’s older sister’s disappearance. Everyone knew.

What he said annoyed Cassandra a lot, even though Kaito seemed genuinely worried for her. “Your pity isn’t wanted or needed.”

“During the opening ceremony you looked as if you were on another planet. Are you alright by any chance? What were you thinking about?” Moments ago Kaito could see Cassandra from a short distance as all the fighters that had entered into the tournament would walk out onto the field as a torch was lit to commence the tournament activities. During that time a representative of the tournament would make a short speech before the first two fighters are called onto the field to start the preliminaries. As Kaito walked onto the stadiums field, he saw Cassandra but he could see it in her eyes she hardly even payed attention to anything that was going on around her. Cassandra could only think of Cassidy’s diary that she had left at home.

“Eww gross, why are you even looking at me?”

“I... I was…” Kaito began to blush just realizing what he just had said to her.

Cassandra interrupts him. “What’s on my mind is none of your business! Are you trying to distract me here? Is that your genius plan to win this match? Whatever you’re planning isn’t going to work on an elite fighter like me.”

“Then let’s see what an elite fighter can do!” Kaito placed all three of his cards in a holding pocket next to his waist. Kaito now held only one card in his hand and activated its power.

The card he was holding floats up in the air and disintegrates. “Here’s my Pyro Blast card!” Kaito held both this hands out in front of his body, both his palms facing in the direction of Cassandra. Two spheres of fire now formed in front of him. He quickly pushed one sphere forward and then the other towards Cassandra who was bracing herself for the attack.

The spheres of fire races towards her at lightning speed. As Cassandra was preparing to dodge the attack, Kaito prepares two more spheres to throw at her.

“All you seem to do it throw fire balls at me! Can’t you do anything else?” Cassandra dodged one sphere to her left then activates a card in her hand. She places the other card in left hand as the card surrounds her right hand with a green neon like light and instantly the card transforms into a hammer. She grabs hold of the hammer firmly in her right hand. It felt as if she was holding a real heavy hammer. However, in real life a hammer of that caliber would be very difficult for her to pick up using both her hands.

“My Mega Hammer card will take care of these weak attacks.” Cassandra swung the mighty hammer with only her right hand slamming the second fire sphere out of her way as she saw Kaito throw one more sphere at her. “It’s blatantly obvious he’s a distance fighter, doesn’t like to get up close. And he seems to prefer only fire elemental attacks too.”

As one more sphere came flying straight towards her, Cassandra did the same with the next sphere slamming it out of the way, this time upwards into the air where the ball burst into nothingness.

“Mega Hammer huh. Okay.” Kaito spoke to himself then smiles. He didn’t want to look worried but he was getting a bit agitated trying to get past Cassandra’s defenses. As long as she has the Mega Hammer, Kaito knew that none of his distance elemental attacks were going to work on her. Kaito looks at his last fire sphere floating in front of his right palm as he grabs the three cards he has tucked away in his holding slot on his waist.

“The Mega Hammer’s got to run out of energy sometime. All I have left is this last fire ball from my Pyro Blast card.” Kaito took a look at his other cards and began thinking of another strategy.

Kaito then threw the sphere of fire with everything he had at Cassandra. The ball shot directly at her but all of a sudden Kaito notices something about Cassandra. “What in the world is she even looking at right now? The ball is going to hit her directly and she’s not paying attention to it at all!”

"Why isn't Cassandra attacking him like how she was before when she started the match? I don't get it." Sarafina spoke up, with a confused face.

"There's no way in knowing what's going through her mind right now. She managed to get him down to 50 armor health with her Blade of Flames card but now... I have no idea what she's doing out there." Daru just shakes head in disappointment.

"Yeah it looks like she's just getting her cards ready? Or something, I think." Sarafina's eyes and mouth opened up because she just had an idea. "Oh! Maybe she drew cards she can't really use right now and it's messing up her strategy."

"Well yeah, I guess that could be it." Daru shrugs as they continue to observe the match.

Cassandra’s heart was racing while she looks towards the crowd cheering. She was hearing something. No, it wasn’t something… It was someone calling out to her. In that moment she looks to her right, her eyes scanning the crowd closes to the stadiums battle field, and she felt as if she could see her. Cassandra could see her there, Cassidy, on the side lines yelling back at her. Cassandra felt as if time itself was slowing down. In that moment the battle between Kaito and her was completely out of her mind. “It is her”, she thought her big sister was there cheering her on. She was screaming out to her, telling Cassandra to watch out.

“Cassidy, is that you?” Cassandra could now clearly remember what her sister had told her once at her first tournament when she was younger. Her advice was echoing deep within her mind.

“You need to give it your all. What’s the point of coming all the way here if you’re not going to give it your best? Don’t waste your opponent’s time. As a matter of fact, don’t waste my time. Now give me your right hand.” Cassandra confused would give Cassidy her right hand. Cassidy and Cassandra would lock hands and she’d continue saying something. “Before you go out there and start your first match, just remember that at the end of your battles you should have been able to learn something new about Decca and about yourself, win or lose.”

“That was something we would do at each Decca tournament. She would take my hand and tell me something important, something uplifting to motivate me. Cassidy that day told me one final thing before I turned around and stepped onto the field.”

Cassidy would smile and say, “Now go out there and show the world what you’re capable of!”

When Cassandra snapped out of it, she came to the realization that it wasn’t her. “You have to stop thinking of her, at least for just a second. I need to focus on this.”

Cassandra gasped as she turned her face back at Kaito. The fiery ball slams into her Mega Hammer right in front of her face, making the hammer crack and disintegrate. The hammer turned back into a card and materialized back into her discard pile on her waist. The Mega Hammer took most of the blow but the flames burst out and pushed her back. Instinctively because of the light of the flames in her face Cassandra quickly closed her eyes and jumped back after the blast had pushed her back. Her suit vibrates and pushes her back due to the impact of the flames. She attempts to avoid the blast but it was too late, the ball burst in front of her causing damage on to her armors health. As soon as her suit began to vibrate she knew that the attack made contact.

Instantly the entire stadium became quiet. Everyone in the stands was shocked. Sarafina’s mouth opens wide while Cassandra’s father and Daru looked on in disbelief.