AUTHOR'S NOTE FROM PSYCHID: Major, major, major apologies for taking so long to beta-read this chapter. The duel was kind of difficult to beta-read, and I was busy working on a story that I might post sometime in 2011. Still, I hope you enjoy what you find!

-ooo-

"Last time, on Total Drama Tournament…" Chris dramatically announced in front of the camera, ready to give away the usual recap of his tournament thus far:

"Despite it not having as much drama as we thought, we still had a pretty exciting match, noting that it was the very first match of the tournament's official second round! And our two competitors for that very round were Duncan and his deck of fiends, against Tyler and his deck of warriors!

"Although Tyler made some pretty impressive moves with his deck of warriors, Duncan remained standing with his finishing combo involving Masked Beast Des Gardius and The Mask of Remnants! Pretty nifty move, Duncan, if I do say so myself!

"As we have performed the process of picking the next round's two competitors, we have found it to be a match between Heather and LeShawna—the same match you are about to witness right now! This very match brings up the following questions:

"Who will be the winner of this upcoming duel? Will we be seeing any surprises or drama after all this time? Will 4Kids Entertainment get right to dubbing the rest of season two of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's? And will their dubbing be just as cheesy and downright horrible, as always? …Eh, don't answer that last question…

"But stay tuned for the next exciting chapter of…

"TOTAL… DRAMA… TOURNAMENT!"

Chapter Twelve
POISON CONTROL

We now join Tyler at the coffee shop not far from the stadium, we see a mildly-depressed Tyler looking through his deck as he continued to grieve over his loss to Duncan. Although he bought himself a cup of nice hot coffee, he didn't have any desire to drink out of it because of his depression.

"I had a chance to go all the way and win the money," Tyler groaned miserably, "but I lost to Duncan, of all people! I absolutely hate myself for losing that duel!" With that, he immediately slammed his head right on the table in shame.

"Hey, at least you tried your best," a familiar female voice came from behind Tyler. In response, Tyler immediately lifted his head and quickly turned around, only to find that the voice belonged to none other than his lover, Lindsay.

"L… Lindsay?" Tyler lightly gasped. "What are you doing here?"

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Tyrone," comforted Lindsay, still forgetting her own lover's actual name. "What matters is that you tried hard and you dueled your heart out."

"I know," Tyler breathed a heavy sigh, "but I really wanted to win the prize money so that we could get married and live the rest of our lives in paradise…"

"You… you really mean that?" gasped Lindsay, her eyes now sparkling like stars.

"I do…" Tyler gently smiled.

Suddenly, Lindsay immediately jumped upon Tyler as they both began kissing each other on the lips. Smacks were heard, along groans, grunting, and other sounds of love. If there was any way to describe this very scene, it would best be known as the "most sudden kissing scene that is both necessary and unnecessary at the same time, lasting for about five minutes or so".

After they kissed and got off each other, Lindsay asked her boyfriend, "Wanna go back to the hotel to watch the rest of the tournament?"

Tyler said nothing, but smiled and nodded as he and Lindsay held hands and walked back to their hotel to do what Lindsay suggested. Yes, it would seem that nothing could ever separate these two apart.

And now, for a scene change in three… two… one…

-ooo-

After a quick scene change, we are now in the women's locker room, where Gwen and LeShawna were discussing about the upcoming duel.

"Are you absolutely sure that you can take Heather down?" Gwen sternly asked her friend. "In case you forgotten, she already wiped out Beth with her Evil Dragon Ananta!"

"Oh, come on, Gwen!" beamed LeShawna, smiling reassuringly at Gwen. "That lizard don't scare me at all! I have plenty of cards in my deck that can take it out almost instantly! …Still, I wonder if it's her only copy in her deck…?"

"Your guess is probably good as mine," sighed Gwen. "It's most likely her key card, so I'm guessing she has more than one copy of that in her deck."

"With a bitch like her," remarked LeShawna, "you wouldn't be too surprised."

"I know I've asked you this many times," Gwen asked her friend sadly, "but are you absolutely sure that your Amazons can take down Heather's aliens?"

"I think so," replied LeShawna. "Unlike Heather, I actually believe in my deck. So I should have little to no trouble at all!"

"Now that I think about it," said Gwen, rubbing her chin, "why does Heather have a deck consisted of a random archetype like aliens? This isn't like her…"

"I dunno…" replied LeShawna, who was just as confused as Gwen. "Go blame Dueler King, or something."

"Mm-hmm," Gwen nodded in agreement. And now, another quick scene change.

-ooo-

"So, LeShawna thinks that Dueler King gave me a completely unfitting deck, huh?" Heather wickedly murmured to herself, looking over her deck. She was currently at a snack bar that was also found in the stadium. "Little does she know that I'm using a second deck against her and her wimpy women! She also doesn't know that I have prepared three special decks for this tournament, seeing that I'm using the second one of them!

"I don't give a shit if the fans like me or not," Heather continued her murmuring. "I duel for myself, and no one else! With LeShawna about to be out of the way, I'll be closer and closer to being the winner of the tournament, the prize money, and the rare cards, all at once!"

Suddenly, Heather noticed Alejandro walking into the same snack bar she was in.

"Crap!" she silently gasped in fear. "I have to quickly gather my cards together so he doesn't see my second deck now!" Heather fortunately managed to gather all of her cards into a deck and quickly placed it in her left skirt pocket before Alejandro approached her. As always, he kept his casual facial expression of deception. "Greetings, Heather," he slyly grinned.

"What do you want, lover boy?" Heather coolly demanded.

"Oh, just coming for a little snack, is all," Alejandro flirtingly replied. "And I didn't expect to see you here! Why are you here, anyway?"

"None of your beeswax!" Heather ferociously lashed at Alejandro.

"Easy, easy," Alejandro smiled reassuringly.

After ordering his snack consisting of two cheeseburgers and a bottle of Cherry Coke, Heather asked Alejandro, "So—who do you think you're gonna duel?"

"I dunno," Alejandro lightly sighed, slurping the contents of his bottle. "By the way things are going, I'm most likely to duel Cody or Noah. Perhaps Gwen might be my opponent, if she's lucky enough…"

"I would absolutely love to kick your sorry behind into the next week," grumbled Heather, "if LeShawna didn't happen to be my opponent…"

"Oh, I'm sure you'll do just fine against ghetto girl," remarked Alejandro.

"For once, it seems that we agree on something," smirked Heather.

"ATTENTION, CHOSEN COMPETITORS!" Chris's voice sounded through the stadium's speakers once again. "I REPEAT—ALL CHOSEN COMPETITORS FOR THE SECOND MATCH OF THE SECOND ROUND PLEASE REPORT TO THE STADIUM FLOOR IMMEDIATELY!"

"Well, it's time to go and serve that gangster wannabe," declared Heather, standing up and exiting the snack bar.

As soon as she was gone, Alejandro got himself up to follow Heather. As he did, he took out his side deck and skimmed through it. It only consisted of four cards—two copies of Flamvell Urquizas, an unknown FIRE-Attribute Synchro Monster, and the same Stardust Dragon stolen from Yusei.

"I now have one of the most powerful monsters ever to be released in the game of Duel Monsters!" declared Alejandro. "X-Burner 27 may think this is a fake—but he's dead wrong! This is the real deal that will make me one of the most powerful duelists who ever lived!" He began to cackle maniacally, but not at a volume to which everyone would hear him.

-ooo-

As always, the entire stadium was packed with thousands of fans, waiting to witness another exciting match of the tournament.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Chris excitedly announced. "Are you all ready for yet another exciting match of TDT?" The audience, being the audience, cheered excitedly to this statement.

"Alrighty, then!" declared Chris. "What say we get right to introducing this round's two competitors, shall we?

"Our first double-semi-finalist has wielded an Alien deck, for reasons unknown, and now she's ready to battle again in this very duel!

"Give it up for… Heather!"

The entire crowd booed and hissed as Heather made her way onto the stadium's platform, a frown crossing her entire face.

"In case you have forgotten," Chris reminded the booing audience, "Heather won her first match against Beth through the use of her key card, Evil Dragon Ananta!

"Yusei, would you be so kind as to announce Heather's opponent?"

"I most certainly would, Chris!" Yusei happily replied. "Heather's opponent is another one of our double-semi-finalists, the dazzling and powerful… LeShawna!"

The entire audience cheered at their wildest as LeShawna made her own way onto the stadium's platform, confronting Heather with a different enraged facial expression.

"For those of you who just tuned in," reminded Yusei, "LeShawna won her own match against Lindsay with her own key card, Amazoness Queen!"

"Heather, I am gonna take you down once and for all!" LeShawna declared, pointing a finger directly at her opponent.

"You think so, huh?" smirked Heather. "In that case, I have a little wager for you…"

"Go ahead; lay it on me!" grinned LeShawna, always willing for a challenge.

She grabbed the portable microphone Chris was holding and solemnly spoke into it: "I hereby decree that the loser of this duel must leave with their pants down at her feet until she leaves the arena!" The entire audience gasped in response to this wager.

"That's a really crazy wager," frowned LeShawna. She then brightly instantly as she declared: "But I love crazy wagers, and I hereby accept!" The audience made a bigger gasp than they made before.

"Whoa-hoa-hoa!" Chris burst into laughter. "Now this will be an exciting match!

"Alright, duelists—fire 'em up!"

Both duelists nodded at Chris as they activated the duel disks already attached to their left arms. Both duelists quickly swiped their respective decks into their respective disks' deck slots, and both drew five cards.

"LET'S DUEL!" both Heather and LeShawna shouted aloud.

Heather: 8000 LP / LeShawna: 8000 LP

"I shall begin this duel!" Heather hastily declared as she drew her deck's top card. "I place one monster in Defense Mode, and end my turn!" As with most duel beginnings, a horizontal card backing appeared in front of Heather.

"Then I'll go!" shouted LeShawna, drawing her own deck's top card. "I summon my Amazoness Paladin in Attack Mode!" The sword-wielding amazon appeared beside LeShawna (ATK: 1700).

"As long as she's on the field," explained LeShawna, "Amazoness Paladin gains one hundred extra Attack Points for every 'Amazoness' monster on my field, including herself!" The sword-wielding amazon rose her sword up into the air and let out a battle cry (ATK: 1700 – 1800).

"Amazoness Paladin, attack Heather's face-down monster!" shouted LeShawna, pointing directly at Heather's horizontal backing. The sword-wielding amazon leapt up into the air and was heading directly towards the horizontal backing. The backing quickly revealed to be some kind of cobra snake with thick-shelled armor (DEF: 2000). As the amazon struck her sword at the cobra's head, the tip of the sword chipped off and struck at LeShawna's chest (LeShawna's LP: 8000 – 7800).

"That was my Venom Cobra you've just attacked!" Heather laughed haughtily.

"Hold on a second!" Gwen protested from the audience. "That's not an 'Alien' monster!"

"Something tells me Heather just got herself a new deck…" whimpered Cody.

"Gee, ya think?" Gwen sternly asked Cody.

"I guess I'll end my turn…" LeShawna gritted through her teeth.

"Talk about surprises, folks!" Chris excitedly announced. "Heather seems to have gotten herself an entirely-different deck! …Of course, just one card can't exactly prove it, but it does make it likely! Just to be sure, let's see what else Heather has in store for us!"

"Actually," commented Heather as she drew her card. "McLean has spoken the truth! The deck I'm using for this duel is one that is completely new! To prove it, I'll activate the Field Spell, Venom Swamp!"

Heather's disk's Field Card Zone slot automatically opened, and Heather quickly swiped a card into it. After the slot closed, a large, murky swamp emerged beneath both herself and LeShawna. Some rotting corpses could be seen from the depths of the swamp itself.

"Yech!" LeShawna groaned in disgust. "What the heck is this?"

"This, Ghetto Girl," replied Heather, "is the home to the home of many poisonous serpents, such as my Venom Snake!" As she sat the card down onto one of her disk's four remaining unoccupied Monster Card Zones, a dark-grey-and-orange-skinned snake with sharp razors sticking out of its spine appeared beside Heather (ATK: 1200).

"I know this monster's too weak to stand up to your little amazon," smirked Heather, "but I'll go ahead and activate Venom Snake's ability! Once a turn, I can infect a monster on your field with what is called a Venom Counter!"

"A Venom what?" questioned LeShawna. Before she could say anything else, a snake made entirely of toxics emerged from the swamp and struck the sword-wielding amazon's skin. The result was the amazon getting infected with some kind of sickness.

"With Venom Swamp in play," resumed Heather, "all monsters with Venom Counters lose five hundred Attack Points for every Venom Counter they have! Furthermore, if a monster's Attack Points become zero through this effect, they immediately get destroyed!" LeShawna only grumbled as her amazon groaned in pain (ATK: 1800 – 1300).

"I now end my turn by placing these two cards face-down," finished Heather. Two vertical card backings appeared behind both of Heather's snakes. "And now the other ability of Venom Swamp activates! During every End Phase, all non-'Venom' monsters on the field gain an additional Venom Counter, and lose an additional five hundred points!" Another snake of toxics emerged out of the swamp and struck the sword-wielding paladin, further weakening her (ATK: 1300 – 0800).

"I draw!" shouted LeShawna, quickly drawing her own card. "And I'll summon my Command Knight to the field!" The female knight in crimson red armor appeared next to the sword-wielding amazon (ATK: 1200).

"With her on the field, all Warrior-Type monsters on my field gain four hundred Attack Points!" LeShawna reminded both Heather and the rest of the audience. The female knight raised her sword high into the air as both she and the sword-wielding amazon became stronger (Command Knight: ATK: 1200 – 1600 / Amazoness Paladin: ATK: 0800 – 1200).

"Command Knight, attack Venom Snake!" commanded LeShawna, pointing directly at the snake on Heather's field. The female knight leapt up into the air and was about to unleash her sword upon the snake.

"I activate the Trap Card, Alchemy Cycle!" Heather quickly shouted. A card picturing a weakened Little-Winguard in front of an Obelisk Blue student drawing a card quickly lifted up. "During the turn this card is activated, the Attack Points of every monster on my field becomes zero!" A dark purple aura surrounded both the snake (ATK: 1200 – 0000) and the hard-shelled cobra (ATK: 0100 – 0000) for a few moments.

"I don't get it," said Cody in the audience. "Why would Heather want to weaken her own monsters?"

"Because," Duncan replied in slight boredom, "whenever a monster affected by Alchemy Cycle is destroyed in battle, Heather gets to draw one card."

"I, for one, already know that," said Noah, unimpressed. "…Still, there has to be some reason Heather would want to weaken her own monsters like that…"

"Talk about dumb!" laughed LeShawna. "That just means you're about to take more damage from Command Knight!" Sure enough, the female knight sliced her sword upon the snake, shattering it into pixels and causing Heather damage (Heather's LP: 8000 – 6400).

"When my Venom Snake affected by Alchemy Cycle is destroyed in battle," reminded Heather, "I draw one card! But not after I activate this—Damage Equals Reptile!" A card picturing a divine snake behind a Slifer Red student quickly lifted up. "Since I just took damage from a battle involving a Reptile-Type monster, I get to Special Summon one Reptile-Type monster from my Deck whose Attack Points are equal to or lower than the damage I just took!

"So here comes another Venom Snake!" Another copy of the razor-sharp-spined snake appeared next to the cobra (ATK: 1200).

"Now I draw one card, courtesy of Alchemy Cycle!" declared Heather, quickly drawing a card from her deck.

"I switch Amazoness Paladin into Defense Mode, and end my turn," finished LeShawna, as the sword-wielding amazon knelt defensively (DEF: 0300). Another venom snake emerged out of the swamp and struck at the sword-wielding amazon, weakening her even further (ATK: 1200 – 0700). This went the same for the female knight, who also got struck by the same venom snake (ATK: 1600 – 1100).

"I draw!" shouted Heather, drawing another card. "I sacrifice Venom Cobra for my Venom Boa!" The hard-shelled cobra transformed into an orb of rainbow-colored energy. Out of the orb appeared a purple-haired boa constrictor with three eyes and a snake's head at the end of its tail (ATK: 1600).

"Now I activate the Spell Card, Enemy Controller!" continued Heather, as the card picturing the demonic video game controller appeared. "With it, your Amazoness Paladin switches from defense to offense!" Just as she said, the sword-wielding amazon knelt offensively (ATK: 0700).

"I could attack your Command Knight with Venom Snake," Heather said thoughtfully, rubbing her chin, "but I have other plans, such as infecting your Command Knight with Venom Snake!" Yet another venomous snake emerged out of the swamp and infected the female knight (ATK: 1100 – 0600).

"Venom Boa, attack Amazoness Paladin!" shouted Heather, pointing directly at the sword-wielding amazon. The purple-haired boa shot out venom from its mouth, striking at the paladin and shattering her into pixels (LeShawna's LP: 7800 – 6900).

"I'll place one more card face-down, and end my turn!" finished Heather. Yet another vertical card backing appeared behind her two snakes. And, as always, another venomous snake emerged from the swamp and infected the female knight once again (ATK: 0600 – 0100).

If I don't do anything to get rid of that swamp of Heather's, who knows what might happen! LeShawna slowly drew her card… and smiled…

"Wait… why are you smiling?" asked Heather, slowly stepping back in fear. "What did you just draw?"

"The card that'll rid myself of your swamp once and for all!" beamed LeShawna, raising her drawn card up high. "I activate the Field Spell Card, Amazoness Village!" LeShawna's disk's Field Card slot opened up, and LeShawna quickly swiped the card into it. After the Field Card closed up, the murky swamp was replaced with the same tropic village of wooden huts that LeShawna used in her duel against Lindsay.

"With your swamp washed away," smirked Heather, "my Command Knight regains her Attack Points!" Sure enough, the female knight indeed regained her strength (ATK: 0100 – 1600).

"So, you want to play that game, huh?" frowned Heather. "In that case, I activate my Venom Burn Trap Card!" A card picturing the same poisonous snake the female knight was infected with quickly lifted up. "With this card, I can remove all Venom Counters from your Command Knight! However, you lose seven hundred Life Points for each one removed!

"Last I checked, your Command Knight had three Venom Counters, meaning you lose twenty-one hundred Life Points!" The snakes emerged out of the female knight and struck at LeShawna's chest, greatly causing her pain (LeShawna's LP: 6900 – 4800).

"Ergh… you'll pay for that!" shouted LeShawna. "And to make sure it happens, I'll activate the Spell Card, Cost Down!" A card picturing the Monster Card with two swords through two of its Level Stars appeared. "So long as I discard one card from my hand, the Level of all monsters in my hand are each reduced by two!" LeShawna immediately slid an Amazoness Scouts from her hand to her disk's Graveyard slot.

"Now I summon my Amazoness Queen without any sacrifices!" bellowed LeShawna. The royal amazon wielding the sharp sword appeared next to the female knight (ATK: 2400 – 3000).

"Amazoness Queen, attack Venom Cobra!" commanded LeShawna, pointing directly at the purple-haired boa on Heather's field. The royal amazon leapt up into the air and sliced her sword at the boa's neck, shattering it into pixels and greatly giving Heather damage (Heather's LP: 6400 – 5000).

"Command Knight, attack Venom Snake!" LeShawna issued out another command, this time pointing directly at the razor-spined snake on Heather's field. The female knight leapt up and sliced her sword at the snake, shattering it into pixels as well (Heather's LP: 5000 – 4600).

"How quickly you forget—Damage Equals Reptile is still on my field!" Heather quickly shouted. "And I'll use its effect again to summon a reptile that may look weak at first, but can be one of the most powerful reptiles to ever be released in the game!"

"I'd like to even see such a monster!" taunted LeShawna.

"Be careful what you wish for—you might get it!" snickered Heather. "With Damage Equals Reptile, I summon the almighty, the all powerful…

"Vennominon the King of Poisonous Snakes!"

A burst of dark energy emerged on Heather's side of the field, and out of it appeared a snake in royal clothing who appeared to be consisted of several snakes (ATK: 0000).

"You're kidding, right?" LeShawna taunted once again. "That thing can't even put a dent to any of my monsters!"

"Apparently you weren't listening very well," frowned Heather. "I said that this reptile may look weak at first, but can become very powerful!

"You see, for every Reptile-Type monster that's in my Graveyard, Vennominon gains five hundred extra Attack Points! And if I'm correct, I have four Reptile-Type monsters!" A dark red aura suddenly surrounded the royal reptile for a few moments (ATK: 0000 – 2000).

"I… I guess I end my turn…" LeShawna slowly stepped back in fear.

"Heather certainly summoned a powerful monster, didn't he, Yusei?" commented Chris with a grin.

"Indeed," Yusei calmly replied. "If used right, that Vennominon of hers can really be one of the most powerful monsters in the game."

"I draw!" shouted Heather, drawing her card. "I activate the Spell Card, Hand Destruction!" A card picturing a young samurai unleashing his sword from its sheath appeared. "This card makes us both discard two cards from our hands, and then we both draw two cards!

"And it looks like we both only have two cards in our hands. So that means we both have to discard and draw!" Both Heather and LeShawna slid both cards from their hands into their respective disks' Graveyard slots. They then both drew two more cards from their decks.

"And the two cards I discarded for this card were both Venom Serpent and another Venom Cobra!" informed Heather. "With two more Reptile-Type monsters in my Graveyard, Vennominon gets even stronger (ATK: 2000 – 3000)!"

"Since your queen and my king are equal in Attack Points," resumed Heather, "and since I can't attack your Command Knight, I'll summon my Gigobyte in Attack Mode, and then place this face-down." A small, turquoise-skinned, turtle-like reptile appeared next to the reptile king (ATK: 0350), and then a vertical card backing appeared behind both reptiles.

"I draw!" shouted LeShawna, drawing her card.

"And I activate the Trap Card, Offering to the Snake Deity!" Heather quickly shouted. A card picturing the same reptile king on Heather's field quickly lifted up. "This card is quite handy, if used right! First, I destroy a Reptile-Type monster on my field. But then I can destroy two cards that are on your side of the field!

"With this card, I destroy my Gigobyte. But in turn, you'd better say goodbye to your queen and her precious village!"

The small turtle-like reptile transformed into an orb of light, splitting apart into two orbs of light. The first orb of light shot right at the royal amazon's chest, shattering her into pixels. The second orb of light flew up into the air and transformed into multiple orbs, crashing down upon the village. The entire field then returned to its normal state.

"And with an additional Reptile-Type monster in my Graveyard," smirked Heather, "Vennominon grows stronger!" Sure enough, the royal snake hissed triumphantly as it indeed grew stronger (ATK: 3000 – 3500).

"I swear, you'll pay for that!" snarled LeShawna. "I activate the Spell Card, The Warrior Returning Alive!" The card picturing the injured warrior returning from battle appeared. "With it, I return any Warrior-Type monster from my Graveyard to my hand!

"I could return my Amazoness Queen to my hand with this effect, but I have other plans!" Instead of the royal amazon, the sword-wielding amazon automatically slid out of LeShawna's disk's Graveyard slot, and she placed it right into her hand.

"I now summon the monster I just got back: Amazoness Paladin!" declared LeShawna. The sword-wielding amazon reappeared on LeShawna's field, next to the female knight (1700 – 2200).

"Next I switch my Command Knight in Attack Mode!" continued LeShawna. The female knight rose up to an offensive position (ATK: 1600).

"And what good will any of those moves do for you?" taunted Heather. "They're both weaker than Vennominon!"

"Not unless I activate my Riryoku Spell!" corrected LeShawna. A card picturing a defenseless townsperson being drained of his energy by a wicked spirit appeared. "This card halves the Attack Points of one monster on your field, and then one monster on my field gains Attack Points equal to the amount your monster just lost!"

"Say what?" gasped Heather. The same sickly green aura pictured on the card surrounded the royal snake as it grew weaker (ATK: 3500 – 1750). That very aura transferred to the sword-wielding paladin as it became stronger (ATK: 2250 – 3950).

"Amazoness Paladin, attack Vennominon the King of Poisonous Snakes!" commanded LeShawna, pointing at the now weakened royal snake. The sword wielding amazon leapt up into the air and sliced her sword at the snake's chest, shattering it into pixels (Heather's LP: 4600 – 2400).

"Command Knight, attack Heather-" began LeShawna.

"Not so fast!" Heather quickly shouted. "I activate Vennominon's other special ability! When he's destroyed in battle, I can resurrect him right away! All I have to do is remove a Reptile-Type monster in my Graveyard from play!"

Gigobyte automatically slid out of Heather's Graveyard slot, and the royal snake reappeared on Heather's field (ATK: 3000).

"I guess I'll end my turn with this facedown," grumbled LeShawna, quickly sliding a card into one of her disk's five Spell and Trap Card Zone slots. Yet another horizontal card backing appeared behind LeShawna's two female warriors. At this moment, the sword-wielding amazon's Attack Points returned to normal (ATK: 3950 – 2200).

"Then I draw!" shouted Heather, drawing her card. "And I'll have Vennominon attack your Amazoness Paladin!" A burst of dark energy shot out of the royal snake's many heads attached to its arms, aiming directly at the sword-wielding amazon.

"I activate the Spell Card, Shrink!" LeShawna quickly shouted. The card picturing the boar-like soldier shrinking down to half its size quickly lifted up. "This card halves your Vennominon's Attack Points!" With that, the snake immediately shrunk down to half its size (ATK: 3000 – 1500), and the sword-wielding amazon sliced her sword right at the snake, shattering it into pixels (Heather's LP: 2400 – 1700).

"Did you forget?" snapped Heather. "When Vennominon's destroyed in battle, I can just bring it back by removing a Reptile-Type monster from my Graveyard!" Venom Cobra automatically slid out of Heather's disk's Graveyard slot, and the royal snake reappeared on Heather's field (ATK: 2500).

"I haven't forgotten, as a matter of fact," smirked LeShawna. "You keep summoning that thing, and I'll just keep slicing it in two!"

"We'll see," frowned Heather. "In the meantime, I place this monster in Defense Mode, and end my turn!" Another horizontal card backing appeared on Heather's field, next to the royal snake.

"I draw!" shouted LeShawna, drawing her card. "Hmm… all I can do is switch my two monsters into Defense Mode, as well as place another monster in Defense Mode to end my turn." Both the female knight (DEF: 1900) and the sword-wielding amazon (DEF: 0300) both knelt defensively, and another horizontal backing appeared in between both monsters on LeShawna's field.

"My turn!" shouted Heather, drawing. "First, I'll reveal my face-down monster—Des Feral Imp!" The horizontal backing on Heather's field revealed to be some kind of hideous reptilian fiend with a single horn sticking out of its head (ATK: 1600).

"When my Des Feral Imp is flipped," resumed Heather, "I get to return one card in my Graveyard back into my deck!" Offerings to the Snake Deity automatically slid out of Heather's disk's Graveyard slot, and Heather placed it back into her deck. Her deck then automatically shuffled by itself.

"Des Feral Imp, attack Amazoness Paladin!" commanded Heather, pointing at the kneeling sword-wielding amazon. The reptilian fiend leapt towards the amazon and rammed its horn into her chest, shattering her into pixels.

"Vennominon, attack Heather's face-down monster!" Heather issued another command, this time pointing at LeShawna's horizontal backing. Another burst of dark energy shot out of the royal snake's head-hands, aiming at the horizontal backing. The backing immediately revealed to be none other than Morphing Jar—the same one-eyed, wickedly-grinning jar we have all come to know, but not really love at this point (DEF: 0600). Thankfully, the jar immediately shattered into pixels by the dark burst of energy.

"Morphing Jar… humph!" pouted Heather, sliding the only card in her hand to the Graveyard, then quickly drawing five cards. LeShawna, having no cards in her hand to begin with, did not have any cards to discard. Instead, she quickly drew five cards.

"Lucky for you," frowned Heather, getting back to her turn, "I didn't discard any Reptile-Type monsters with your monster's effect, so my Vennominon won't get stronger. Instead, I'll place these two cards face-down, and end my turn!" Two vertical card backings appeared behind Heather's two reptilian creatures.

"Then I draw!" shouted LeShawna, drawing her sixth card. "I summon another Command Knight!" Another female knight appeared next to the female knight that was already on her field. As soon as she appeared, both female knights unleashed their swords from their sheathes and clanked them together in unity (ATK: 2000 x2).

"I get what she has just done!" Noah said in admiration.

"What did she do?" asked Cody.

"Don't you get it?" explained Noah. "As long as another monster exists on their controller's field, Command Knight can't be attacked. But because there are two Command Knights…"

"Then Heather can't attack at all!" Cody gasped in happiness.

"This may not be the best defense," LeShawna said solemnly, back in her duel, "but at least I can buy some time until I get something good!"

"Not if there's anything I have to say about it!" corrected Heather. "Go, Offering to the Snake Deity!" The card picturing the yellow aura surrounding the royal snake appeared. "Since I already activated this, I'm sure you know exactly what it does!"

"I do," LeShawna replied bitterly. "And let me guess—you're gonna use it on your Des Feral Imp, right?"

"Actually," Heather corrected her opponent once again, "the monster I'm using this Trap Card on will be… Vennominon the King of Poisonous Snakes!"

"What?" gasped LeShawna. The royal snake on Heather's field transformed into an orb of light, which split apart into two orbs of light. The two orbs then shattered both of LeShawna's female knights.

"I don't get it…" resumed LeShawna, narrowing her eyes. "Why would you want to destroy your most powerful monster?"

"So that I can summon an even more powerful monster, that's why!" declared Heather. "I activate my last face-down card, Rise of the Snake Deity!" A card picturing some kind of female snake deity surrounded by a dark purple mist quickly lifted up.

"Since Vennominon was just destroyed," explained Heather, "I now summon my deck's true ultimate weapon!" A giant burst of black mist appeared behind Heather, and out of the mist appeared the same female snake deity pictured on the newly activated Trap Card. Her arms were replaced with two purple snakes.

"Behold, the all-powerful and all too mighty… Vennominaga the Deity of Poisonous Snakes!" Heather presented her newly summoned monster.

"And just like Vennominon," resumed Heather, "Vennominaga gains five hundred Attack Points for every Reptile-Type monster in my Graveyard! And right now, I count six (ATK: 0000 – 3000)!"

"I… I place two-cards face-down, and end my turn," shivered LeShawna, quickly sliding two cards vertically into two of her disk's Spell and Trap Card Zones. Two vertical card backings immediately appeared behind her.

"My turn!" shouted Heather, drawing her card. "I activate the Spell Card, Thunder Crash!" A card picturing a zombie-like warrior being struck by lightning appeared. "This card destroys every monster on my field, inflicting you with three hundred points of damage for each one!"

"But that means your Vennominaga or whatever gets destroyed!" protested LeShawna.

"Correction," Heather corrected LeShawna once again. "Only my Des Feral Imp gets destroyed—Vennominaga is unaffected by the effects of other Spell, Trap, and Monster Cards!" Sure enough, the female snake deity remained unharmed by the lightning appearing out of the newly activated card. The one-horned reptilian fiend, however, shattered into pixels by the lightning, and some of the lightning struck at LeShawna (LeShawna's LP: 4800 – 4500).

"And with another Reptile-Type monster in my Graveyard, Vennominaga grows even stronger!" snickered Heather, as the female snake deity indeed grew stronger (ATK: 3000 – 3500).

"Vennominaga, attack LeShawna directly!" commanded Heather, pointing directly at LeShawna. A burst of dark purple goo shot out of one of the snake deity's snake hands, aiming directly at LeShawna.

"I activate the Spell Card, Scapegoat!" LeShawna quickly shouted. The card picturing the four young goats quickly lifted up, and the same four goats appeared on LeShawna's field (DEF: 0000 x4). One of the four young goats shattered into pixels as a result of the deity's attack.

"You lucked out," grumbled Heather, sliding a card vertically into one of her disk's five Spell and Trap Card Zone slots. "But your luck won't last, I'm sure of that! Meanwhile, I place this face-down, and end my turn!"

"I draw!" shouted LeShawna, quickly drawing her card. "First, I activate my other face-down card, Gift of the Mystical Elf!" A card picturing a blue-skinned elf with an orb of light in her hands lifted up. "With this card, I gain three hundred Life Points for every monster that's on the field, that being four!" The same light on the card surrounded LeShawna as it seemed to heal her (LeShawna's LP: 3500 – 4700).

"Now I activate Token Thanksgiving!" continued LeShawna, as a card picturing some green-skinned goblins gathering some floating Scapegoats appeared. "This card destroys every token that's on my field, and I gain eight hundred Life Points for each one!" The three remaining young goats on LeShawna's field shattered into pixels, and another white aura surrounded her as she headed once again (LeShawna's LP: 4700 – 7100).

"I place one monster in Defense Mode, and end my turn," finished LeShawna. Yet another horizontal backing appeared in front of her.

"My turn!" shouted Heather, drawing her card. "I activate my face-down card, Final Attack Orders!" A card picturing two groups of soldiers rushing into battle appeared. "As long as this card remains on the field, all face-up monsters are changed to Attack Mode, and their positions can't be changed!

"What this means is that even if my monster attacks your monster in Defense Mode, it'll immediately be changed to Attack Mode!" LeShawna only gasped at what Heather said.

"Vennominaga, attack LeShawna's face-down monster!" commanded Heather, pointing directly at the horizontal backing on LeShawna's field. Another burst of dark purple muck shot out of the snake deity's snake hand, striking directly at the horizontal backing on LeShawna's field. The backing revealed to be some kind of woman in hunter's clothing, wielding some kind of demonic sword (DEF: 1000). The woman immediately rose from defense to offense (ATK: 2000) as it shattered into pixels by the snake deity's attack (LeShawna's LP: 7100 – 5600). As the woman got destroyed, an eye on the top of the snake deity's right snake head popped open.

"What… what is that?" gasped LeShawna.

"Since Vennominaga inflicted damage to you, it gains a Hyper-Venom Counter," explained Heather. "And as soon as there are three Hyper-Venom Counters on my deity, I automatically win the duel!

"Meanwhile, I place these two cards face-down, and end my turn!" Heather finished her turn, quickly sliding two cards vertically into two of her disk's four remaining Spell and Trap Card Zones. Two more vertical card backings appeared behind the snake deity.

"Ergh… I draw!" shouted LeShawna, quickly drawing her card. She looked at the card she just drew… and smiled…

"Something tells me LeShawna just drew something good," Cody said with hope.

"Let's hope so!" added Gwen.

"I summon the monster that'll end this duel—Amazoness Swords Woman!" shouted LeShawna. The amazon wielding the large sword blade appeared (ATK: 1500).

"What's so good about that?" Heather uncaringly demanded.

"When my Amazoness Swords Woman battles," explained LeShawna with a sly grin, "all the Battle Damage I would take is inflicted to you, instead!

"Amazoness Swords Woman, attack Vennominaga and end this duel!" commanded LeShawna, pointing directly at the snake deity. The large-sword-wielding amazon leapt up in the air and headed directly towards the deity.

"If this attack succeeds," Chris excitedly announced, "Heather will lose the rest of her Life Points, and the duel will be pretty much over!"

"Not unless I activate this!" Heather quickly shouted. "Go, Chain Healing!" A card picturing a set of white chains quickly lifted up. "When this card activates, I immediately gain five hundred Life Points!" A slightly different white aura surrounded Heather for a few seconds (Heather's LP: 1700 – 2200).

The large-sword-wielding amazon continued her attack against the snake deity, but the deity unleashed yet another blob of goo at the amazon, shattering her into pixels. However, the sword flew up into the air and struck at Heather's chest, causing her great pain (Heather's LP: 2200 – 0200).

"You lucked out, I suppose," sighed LeShawna. "I guess I have no choice but to end my turn."

"Then that means it's my turn!" laughed Heather, furiously drawing her card. "And I'll have Vennominaga attack you directly!" Once again, a burst of black goo shot out of the snake deity's snake head, this time striking directly at LeShawna (LeShawna's LP: 5600 – 2100). The eye on the snake deity's left snake head popped open.

"One more," snickered Heather. "Just one more Hyper-Venom Counter, and I win!"

"I'll make you eat those words!" LeShawna angrily shouted as she furiously drew her card. "First, I activate my Monster Reborn!" continued LeShawna, as the card picturing the ankh-like object appeared. "With this, I resurrect my Amazoness Queen!" The royal amazon reappeared on LeShawna's field (ATK: 2400).

"Now I summon another Amazoness Paladin!" LeShawna still continued, as another copy of the smaller-sword-wielding amazon appeared next to the royal amazon (ATK: 1700 – 1900).

"Next, I activate my Gift of the Martyr Spell!" LeShawna still continued her turn. This time, a card picturing a white misty silhouette of a Dunames Dark Witch appearing behind a weakened warrior appeared. "This card forces me to send one monster on my field to the Graveyard. But then, another monster on my field gains Attack Points equal to the Attack Points of the monster I just sent to the Graveyard!" The sword-wielding amazon transformed into pixels of light, and the pixels flew through the royal amazon, making her stronger (ATK: 2400 – 4300).

"Now LeShawna's sure to win the duel!" cheered Gwen.

"I sure will!" smirked LeShawna, who presumably heard what Gwen had commented. She then commanded, "Amazoness Queen, END THIS!" The royal amazon leapt into the air and was about to swing her sword directly at the deity.

"This could be it, folks!" Chris excitedly announced. "If this attack succeeds, LeShawna will be moving on to round three!"

"Any last words, Heather?" LeShawna grinned, raising an eyebrow.

"Just two…" Heather viciously grinned at her opponent. "Go, Shrink!" The card picturing the boar-like soldier shrinking down to half its size made a second appearance in this duel.

"No!" gasped LeShawna, as the royal amazon shrunk down to half her size (ATK: 4300 – 2150). The snake deity fired another burst of dark purple goo out of her snake head, striking at the royal amazon and shattering her into pixels (LeShawna's LP: 2100 – 0750).

"Now Vennominaga has three Hyper-Venom Counters, which means I win!" laughed Heather. Two bursts of dark purple goo shot out of the deity's two snake heads, each one of them striking directly at LeShawna. This resulted in LeShawna completely falling backwards, wailing in pain. Because the field returned to normal afterwards, this indicated that the duel was over.

"And the winner of both the duel and that really crazy wager is… Heather!" Chris announced, as the audience started to boo and hiss at Heather once again. This time, Heather didn't care. She was just happy to have one her very own bet.

"Well, LeShawna," she smirked at LeShawna, who kneeled in defeat, "we had a deal, and you were the loser of this duel. I'm sure you know exactly what to do now…"

"I do…" grumbled LeShawna. She immediately undid her belt, unzipped her pants, and let them fall onto the ground, revealing her pink underwear. The audience, mostly the male members, started to snicker at the sight of the underwear shown before them.

At first, Heather smirked with much pride at the humiliation of her opponent. But then, she remembered—she was causing humiliation for the very same person who stood up for her back in season two of Total Drama. In fact, she even gave her rival her own cavewoman wig when she got eliminated in that very season!

Without any hesitation, Heather quickly snatched the microphone away from Chris and began to speak loudly into it.

"Shut up, all of you!" she shouted into the microphone. "I usually don't say this to those who have caused me nothing but humiliation, but as the old saying goes, there's a first time for everything! And this is most certainly a time to stand up for a very certain person—a very special friend—who may have given me humiliation in season one, but has stood up for me in season two! …Of course, it's been so long since season two that I hardly know what the hell just happened; but I'm sure it was very meaningful!

"But that's not the point! The point is that if any of you heartless bastards want to humiliate this person more than I have humiliated her, then you'll have to fight me for it! Is that clear?"

The audience suddenly remained silent for a few seconds. Someone started to slowly clap for her, and not in a manner of sarcasm or mockery. Some more people started to applaud for her… then more… and more, until the entire audience started applauding for the one Total Drama character they once hated. Even the remaining competitors of this tournament were applauding for Heather.

…Everyone, except Noah, that is.

"Oh, this is so meta…" he sarcastically remarked, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes.

"Wow… thanks, I guess…" LeShawna smiled at Heather.

"This is another thing I usually don't say, but… you're welcome," Heather smiled back. "However, you still have to be in your undies until you exit the tournament; you agreed to that."

"I know," replied LeShawna.

"Speaking of LeShawna," said Chris, grabbing his microphone from Heather and speaking into it, "you're out of this tournament, my friend."

LeShawna did nothing but drag her feet across the stadium door, her pants still down and her underwear still showing.

"Alrighty, then!" Chris excitedly announced. "Let's see who our next to competitors will be!"

The participant-picking machine rose from beneath the stadium floor, and the participant-picking process began once again. The white box involved in the process eventually slowed down until it landed on the picture of… Cody!

"And one of our next match's two competitors will be Cody!" Chris excitedly announced. As the audience cheered, Cody quickly rushed down the stairs to greet Chris.

"Alright, Cody," resumed Chris, "let's see who your opponent shall be!"

The participant-picking process happened once again, and the white box eventually landed on the picture of… Gwen!

"And will Miss Gwen please come on down?" Chris asked Gwen with excitement. The audience cheered once again as Gwen made her own way down the stadium's stairs to confront Cody.

"So, Gwen," Cody flirtingly smirked at Gwen, "you ready for this?"

"I'm more ready than you think I am, shrimp," Gwen flatly remarked.

"And with that done," resumed Chris, "that means our last match's two competitors will be Noah and Alejandro!"

"You're gonna go down, you Latino loser!" Noah shouted at Alejandro, violently pointing a finger at him.

"You're the one who's going down, Noah!" remarked Alejandro. And with Yusei's Stardust Dragon, I'll make sure it stays that way!

"Who will be the winner of the third match of the second round?" Chris dramatically announced in front of the camera. "Will it be cool-guy-wannabe Cody? Or will it be Goth girl Gwen? Who will be the winner of the final round after that? Will Psychid not be such a lazy ass as he was when he was beta-reading this chapter?

"Find out, in the next exciting chapter of…

"TOTAL… DRAMA… TOURNAMENT!"

-ooo-

AUTHOR'S NOTE FROM DUELER KING: That's a bummer; LeShawna lost her duel against Heather. Who will win the next match: Gwen, the dark monster or Cody the master of heroes? Find out in "Cry for Justice", coming soon.