Once Vlad had finished exiting the area, a mass of black flame appeared in front of Danny, Sam and Paulina. The flame subsided, and Aragon stood in front of them. "Impressive," he said to the group. "Now that you've defeated my soul collectors, it's time for you to fall before me."

"We'll see about that," Danny said as he readied his amulet.

"Not so fast," Aragon said. "Why don't I face your two female companions simultaneously instead?"

"No," Danny answered.

"Oh come on Danny," Sam said. "If this jackass is stupid enough to think he can beat me and Paulina two on one just because we're both girls, then give us a chance to prove him wrong."

"Wait, you actually want to work with Paulina on something?" Danny asked with an eyebrow raised in curiosity.

"There are some people I hate more than her, and he's one of them," Sam explained. "What do you say?"

"You interested Paulina?" Danny asked the latina.

"Hell yeah," she said with a determined expression. She didn't know much about Aragon, but she could tell that this guy was sexist asshole like Dash. That made her want to teach him a lesson.

"Go ahead," Danny said. Sam and Paulina stood across from Aragon. Each of them readied their amulets and drew their opening hands. Aragon started with 8000 life points while Sam and Paulina would share 8000.

"I'll go first," Aragon said as he drew. "I summon Hunter Dragon (ATK 1700)," he said as he brought forth a black dragon with many claws.

"My turn," Paulina said as she drew. I summon Mother Grizzly in defense mode (DEF 1200)," she said as her monster appeared in a defensive stance.

"Here I go," Sam said as she drew, sounding slightly nervous due to the severity of the situation. "I summon La Ginn, Mystic Genie of the Lamp (ATK 1800) and have him attack Hunter Dragon." La Ginn released a stream of fire from his mouth that incinerated Aragon's monster and lowered his life points to 7900. He drew as his turn began.

"I summon Cyberdark Horn (ATK 800)," he said as he brought forth a serpentine creature made out of brown metal with many spikes over its body and 4 big ones on its head.

"That's a machine monster," Sam said. "I thought you hated technology."

"I do," Aragon said. "But I've made certain exceptions. And here's why. When Cyberdark Horn is normal summoned, I get to equip a level 3 or lower dragon from my graveyard to it: such as Hunter Dragon." A hole appeared in front of Aragon and Hunter Dragon came out of it. Cyberdark Horn brought his spikes over Hunter Dragon and integrated the dragon into itself.

"Now Cyberdark Horn gains Hunter Dragon's attack strength," Aragon explained as Cyberdark Horn's attack points rose to 2500. "Cyberdark Horn, destroy Mother Grizzly," he ordered. Cyberdark Horn brought the 4 big spikes on its head together and fired a blast of brown energy that destroyed Mother Grizzly. "And my monster has another effect: it inflicts battle damage to defensive monsters." Because of this, Sam and Paulina's life points reduced to 6500.

"Well my monster has an effect too," Paulina said. "Since it's been destroyed, I can replace it with another one from my deck: like Cure Mermaid," Paulina said as her new monster took to the field in attack mode. Aragon ended his turn and Paulina drew as her's began.

"Now Cure Mermaid's effect activates," she said. "At the beginning of my turn, Cure Mermaid increases my life points by 800," she explained as her and Sam's life points went up to 7300. "I play Amphibious Bugroth MK-3 in defense mode (DEF 1300) and end my turn," she said as her new monster appeared in a defensive stance.

That's a good move, Sam thought. Cure Mermaid only has 800 defense points, so leaving it in attack mode will serve as a better detour to our life points. Still, we need to do something about his monster.

Sam drew and came up with a way to get rid of Cyberdark Horn. "I play Dark World Dealings," She said. "Now each of us discards a card, then draws one" They all did just that. "Since the card I discarded was Beige, Vanguard of Dark World, I get to special summon him to the field. Now I sacrifice both Beige and La Ginn to summon Reign-beux, Overlord of Dark World," Sam said as she tributed her two monsters to summon the one she used to win her last duel. "Reign-beux, attack Cyberdark Horn," she ordered.

The Overlord of Dark World fired several streams of dark energy at Aragon's monster, which countered with a blast of its own. The attacks met and created a big explosion. When the dust settled, Reign-beux was destroyed and Cyberdark Horn lost Hunter Dragon. "Did I miss something?" Paulina asked. "Why is Cyberdark Horn still around?"

"Because the equipped monster also served as a shield," Aragon said. "Hunter Dragon took the blow to save Cyberdark Horn. Now, I believe it's my turn," he said as he drew. "I sacrifice Cyberdark Horn to summon Armed Dragon Level 5 (ATK 2400)."

Cyberdark Horn vanished from the field and was replaced by a red and black dragon with metal claws and spikes. "Armed Dragon, destroy Cure Mermaid," Aragon ordered. Armed Dragon roared and sent out a red shock wave that annihilated Cure Mermaid and reduced Paulina and Sam's life points to 6400. "I end my turn. And since Armed Dragon destroyed a monster this turn, it evolves into its level 7 form (ATK 2800."

Armed Dragon began was covered in light and was changed into a bigger and nastier version of itself. Paulina drew as her turn began. "That overgrown gecko doesn't scare me," she boasted. "And here's why. I play A Legendary Ocean. Now I sacrifice Amphibious Bugroth to summon my most powerful monster: Levia Dragon Daedelus (ATK 2600, increased to 2800)."

Paulina's red submersible vanished from the field and was replaced by a massive, blue scaled sea serpent. "I suppose you're going to attack and destroy both our creatures," Aragon guessed.

"Not even close," Paulina answered. "I use Daedelus's effect. I send A Legendary Ocean to the graveyard and every other card on the field is destroyed." Daedelus created a powerful sea storm that destroyed Armed Dragon Level 7 and used up the water from A Legendary Ocean, sending his attack strength down to its original 2600. "Daedelus, attack this cabron directly," she ordered. The Levia Dragon summoned a gigantic tidal wave that collided with Aragon and brought his life points down to 5300.

"That was a great move Paulina," Sam said in astonished praise.

"I know," the latina said with a grin.

"Now let's see if I can keep the ball rolling," Sam said as she drew. "I summon Zure, Knight of Dark World and have him attack you directly." Zure rushed into battle and struck Aragon with his sword, further depleting the dragonic prince's life points to 3500.

"Enjoy the nigh 3000 point lead while you can, because it won't last for long," Aragon said as he drew. "I summon Cyberdark Keel (ATK 800)," he said as he brought forth a metallic black eel. "And like my last Cyberdark creature, I equip Hunter Dragon to it." Hunter Dragon emerged from a hole in the ground and Cyberdark Keel attached the dragon to its underbelly, raising its attack strength to 2500. "Now I further empower my technological terror by equipping it with Malevolent Nuzzler."

A pale green aura appeared around Cyberdark Keel and increased its attack points to 3200. "Obliterate the Knight of Dark World," Aragon ordered. Cyberdark Keel unleashed a black energy blast from his mouth that hit Zure, destroying him and lowering Sam and Paulina's life points to 5000. "Because Keel just destroyed a monster, you now take an additional 300 points of damage due to its effect," Aragon explained as his opponent's score decreased to 4700.

God damn it, Paulina thought. Me and the goth girl are getting our asses kicked. We need to turn things around fast.