Team Zero: Orichalcos

Chapter 9: Of Rare Cards and Donuts

Xue Ling, the leader of Team Ling, walked up to Lucien. She was about 6' 4" tall with long brownish red hair. She wore very flashy colored skin tight shirt that showed off all her features. It was a multiple patchwork shirt and bright orange pants. She even had graffiti on her duel disk of multiple colors.

"So what kind of duel match you want?" Lucien asked as she approached.

"Well, how about one on one. But lets make a bet. You look like one who likes to play the odds." Xue smiled sweetly but almost slyly.

"Well..." Lucien seemed at a loss of words.

"If our team wins we get to take one card of our choice from each of your decks. What would you want if you win within fair limits?" Xue was kind of tricky with her words. Raoul stepped forward.

"Donuts." Raoul said calmly. "We win and you buy us donuts."

"Donuts?" Xue, Lucien, and Aliya all cocked their heads to the side.

"You heard me. I am first." Raoul's duel disk snapped into place and he pulled out his deck, starting to shuffle it.

"Ok, fine. I will be your opponent." Xue started to shuffle her deck as well. "For donuts." She smiked to herself.

"So...explain to us again how you called all the shots there?" Lucien asked his friend as he shuffled his deck.

"Because I want those donuts. Plus I can see she will be tricky. I don't know if I like her." Raoul said out of ear shot of Xue. He then walked over to her and handed her his deck. She took it and shuffled it while he shuffled hers.

"Duel." They called as they ran back to each side of the field. Lucien and Aliya had to run to get off the field.

Raoul-4000 LP
Xue-4000 LP

"I start." Raoul announced snapping his sixth card from his deck. "Not bad. Not bad at all." Raoul smiled at the cards in his hand. "I will set one card face down and summon Malice Doll of Demise (1600/1700) in attack mode!" A strange wooden doll appeared on the field. Its fingers where knife blades that were dug into the handle of a large axe. "Next I play Ectoplasmer! This card forces us at each end phase to sacrifice one monster to inflict half of its original attack to the opponent's life points. I end my turn." Raoul smiled as his doll monster suddenly slunk over as an empty soulless body. A white blob of energy shot out and hit Xue dead on.

Raoul-4000 LP
Xue-3200 LP

"Fine. My turn. Draw!" Xue pulled her card off her deck and looked pleased. "I summon Mudora (1500/1800) in attack mode." A buff Egyptian warrior appeared on Xue field brandishing a large sword. "Attack Directly!" Xue commanded and the monster flew across the field ready to strike down its opponent. With one swipe it nailed Raoul right in the chest.

Raoul-2500 LP
Xue-3200 LP

"Reveal Monster Steal Tunnel! I get to pull a monster from my deck that has the same attack or lower of the monster that attacks me directly." Raoul smiled. "I summon Royal Magical Library (0/2000) to the field."

"Next I play the continuous magic card, Grave Side Services. This magic card says that when a monster goes from my field to the grave due to a magic or trap I increase my life points by half the attack of that monster. I set one card and end my turn sending Mudora to the grave to deal you 750 life points of damage and gain 750 life." Just like the doll did last turn Mudora became an empty shell and blasted a ray of white light that engulfed Raoul.

Raoul-1750 LP
Xue-3950 LP

"Good use of my own magic card against me." Raoul commented as he drew his card.

"I am the superior duelist so of course I would use each card to there fullest ability." Xue remarked rather rudely.

"..., I really don't like her. The only thing I need to keep on my mind is to not let my strategy fall through. To much is riding on this. I will not lose." Raoul growled as his wooded doll monster appeared on the field again. "Malice Doll of Demise comes back at each of my standby phases because I used a continuous magic card to remove him from the field. Next I switch Royal Magical Library to defense mode and activate the magic card Pot of Greed. I draw two cards." Raoul snapped two cards off his deck.

"What are you grinning about?" Xue asked, again rather rudely.

"This. First I play Heavy Storm." A large wind picked up and swirled its way around the magic and trap card zones of the field.

"Reveal Magic Replace. This card will ensure that when a magic card is sent from my field to the grave it will come back to its original spot. I chose Grave Side Services." The trap flipped up just in time to be blown away by the powerful wind storm. After the wind storm had settled the magic card reappeared in the exact same spot that it was before.

"Too bad that my plan has come together even more perfectly. I first remove the three counters that have gathered on my library. You know that each time we play a magic card it gains a counter. Now that it is full I can remove the three of them to draw another card." Raoul snapped another card off his deck and placed it into his hand. Grabbing a card that was also in his hand he slapped it down onto the duel disk. "I sacrifice both of my monsters to summon Barrel Dragon (2600/2200)!" The large black armored monster appeared on Raoul's field replaceing the two monsters that were there before and aimed its barrels straight down at Xue. A look of terror fled over her face at the sight of the massive dragon. "Barrel Dragon, Attack!" Raoul commanded.

Raoul-1750 LP
Xue-1350 LP

Xue was pushed back in a violent barrage of energy bullets that pounded at her skin. She was shielding herself with her arms but the shock wave still sent her flying backwards to the ground.

"I will end my turn. No Ectoplasmer, no need to sacrifice." Raoul knew he had the upper hand and never intended to let Xue have it again.

Xue drew her card from her deck and looked at. Slowly she lifted her head to look at Raoul. "I will play these. Dain Keto the Cure Master times two. This ups my life points by 2000!"

Raoul-1750 LP
Xue-3350 LP

"Next I will summon Injection Fairy Lily (400/1500)!" A fairy monster appeared on the field holding a gigantic needle. It was at least as big as she was. A she looked as if she could be a nurse for a hospital. "I will end my turn with her."

"Fine." Raoul snapped a card off his deck and looked at it. "Activate Barrel Dragon's special ability. I flip three coins and if two out of the three are heads your monster is dust." Three large golden colored coins appeared in the center of the field and flipped up into the air. Landing with a loud 'thud', the three coins all showed tails.

"Didn't work." Xue smiled. "And you know that if you attack Injection Fairy Lily I will give up 2000 of my life to skyrocket her attack to 3400."

"I know. So I have one move left for this turn." Raoul picked up one card from his hand. "I will play the magic card Polymerization! I fuse my Barrel Dragon on the field with the Blowback Dragon in my hand." The two said mechanical robots appeared in a swirling vortex that swept them both up and produced a rather large black armored machine dragon monster. It raised both of its arms and its head to reveal large gatling guns. "I summon Gatling Dragon (2600/1200)!"

"You are risking the duel with its effect!" Xue stood back as the large dragon monster rolled forward.

"I know, so I will summon King of the Swamp (500/1100) in defense mode and hope for the best." A disgusting creaturestarted toemergefrom slime that formed on Raoul's field. "I flip my three coins and hope I don't kill off my monsters." Raoul pointed as the three coins shot up into the air again. "If this don't work I am sunk. I have no magic or traps in my hand anymore and this is my last hope." Raoul prayed as the coins fell down to the ground. The results tallied up to two heads and a tails.

"NO!" Xue yelled as her monster and the King of the Swamp was blown to pieces by the Gatling Dragon's wild fire.

"As you know, for Gatling Dragon's ability forces me to flip three coins. For each heads I must destroy a monster on the field. I got two heads so I destroy my King of the Swamp and your Injection Fairy Lily. Nice try." Raoul pointed to Xue who stumbled back. "Attack her directly!" The Gatling Dragon let out a spree of bullets that ripped through Xue.

Raoul-1750 LP
Xue-750 LP

"I end my turn on that note. Take it away," he smiled slightly "if you can."

"Oh I will!" Xue yelled as her card was ripped off her deck. "I summon Life Guard (500/500) in defense mode. Now each turn I will gain 1000 life starting right now." A small naked fairy monster appeared on the field curled up into a ball. She was holding onto a beating heart.

Raoul-1750 LP
Xue-1750 LP

"I set one card face down and end my turn." Her holographic card appeared behind the small floating fairy monster.

"Then I draw..." Raoul pulled the card off his deck to watch Xue smile.

"Life Guard gives me life points each turn. Including your turns." She smiled as her life points shot up again.

Raoul-1750 LP
Xue-2750 LP

"Then I activate Gatling Dragons..."

"Reveal trap Gateway to Hell! This trap works when a monster activates its effect. I discard three cards from my deck and remove that monster from the game." She smiled as she slid three cards into her graveyard. The Gatling Dragon fell straight down a tunnel that appeared beneath its feet down to the fiery pits of hell.

"Then I will summon Chiron the Mage (1800/1000)." A strange half horse half man appeared on Raoul's field holding a long rod with a ball at the end of it. "Chiron attacks!" Raoul pointed to the strange fairy monster. One quick stab from the staff and the monster broke apart screaming. "I end my turn." Raoul said sighing.

Xue drew her card and her face went pale. "I set one monster in defense mode and end my turn." The brown backed card appeared on the field in front of Xue.

"Draw." Raoul snapped his card off his deck. "Perfect." He quickly slid the card into his duel disk. "I play Tribute to the Doomed to discard one card and destroy your face down defense." A group of mummy wrappings flew across the field and bandaged up the face down monster. Squeezing tight the monster card was broken in half.

"My Grave Side Services activates. My face down Mystical Elf (800/2000) went to the grave due to a magic card so I gain 400 life points." Xue said still sounding really sad.

Raoul-1750 LP
Xue-3150 LP

"Then I will summon a second Malice Doll of Demise and have it and Chiron attack your life directly!" The two said monsters charged across the field slamming their weapons onto Xue shoulders sending her to the ground.

Raoul-1750 LP
Xue-0 LP

"One down." Raoul sighed. "And I put us one step closer to getting those donuts." He smiled wiht a childish grin to himself as he walked off the stage. Qui Ping, Xue right hand girl, walked up on stage and put her arm around Xue. She was about just as tall as Xue but wore a red shirt with a yellow vest. She had the same kind of multicolored pants as Xue's shirt.

"Don't worry Xue, I can take either or both of the remaining members. Leave it to me."

The crowd was cheering and roaring with excitement. The tournament of Kings was deafeningly a sight to behold, and round one wasn't even half way over yet.

Reku had to pick up his jaw off the floor. "Damn." He said calmly.

"What?" Akina asked leaning over to him and wrapping herself around his arm.

"Team Ling is from China, and they are no push overs. They went to the World Tournament and did quite well there. I believe they lost to Team Chaos and that is why we never faced them." Reku explained looking over at Team Ling. He then moved his attention to Team Renaissance.

"So that Lucien kid is in a team. And a damn good one at that." Ronin said in complete and utter amazement.

"No kidding. That kid wiped the floor with Xue, the leader of Team Ling. She stood no chance." He turned and looked around the rest of the team. "We had better prepare ourselves incase we face off against them."

They sat in silence for a few minutes while the two teams were setting up their next duelists. Qui and Aliya.

Chime smiled her cold smile as she always did. Her two male teammates just leaned back while Chime leaned forward to get an ample view of the field.

"So what do you think?" Chime asked her partners.

"Miss Chime, whatever you think is the best choice of action." Her team mate to her right responded to her.

"We need the souls of powerful duelists to unlock the hidden force inside." Chime looked over at the other team mate who had been silent. "And your opinion?"

"Kaiba invited only powerful teams to this tournament. I think by the time this thing is over we should have the souls of every team here." He said cranking his head over to look at Kaiba, Yugi, Joey, and Pegasus. "There are the most powerful souls here. You should worry about them mostly. At least Pegasus since he won't be missed as bad."

"You are probably right Hygin. I presume that is our course of action then. Right Archip?" Chime shifted herself back to the first guy.

Archip, a skinny boy dressed in a gray shirt with a brown vest over it. His brown hair spiked out as he ran his hand through it. "I agree to whatever you say Miss Chime."

"Archip, Chime. Maybe there is another silent partner that can be gained to our side." Hygin, a much more built out man, said. He was wearing a black shirt with a dark blue coat and black pants. He pointed to the stands behind Team Zero. Gurabe, Kai, and Ryokurio sat there chatting with one another waiting for the duel to get back under way. "They are friends of that Team Zero. I'll bet that one of them would be a great asset to us."

"Hygin, you are absolutely right." Chime said leaning back to rest her back on the back of the bench. "A perfect plan. We can have one up on that team if we have a partner that knows them." She looked back and forth between Hygin and Archip. "We know what we must do."

"Do what we must?" Archip asked.

"Right." Chime smiled coldly again.

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Sorry if that seemed a little off from my past chapters. I just typed it out and that is how it fell. Oh, and yes I was serious about donuts. Don't you laugh at that.

To generic reviewer: You reviewed just as I put up my last chapter so sorry. Yes, he is freaky, and yes my story rocks. The only thing I wish someone would do is tell me where I need to work with grammar. That just seems like a staple review that people type.

To Vyser Adept of Dragons: No thank you. I think I am fine.

To john: Did it really kick your ass?

To Goddess IANAW: Yes I do love to fuse him. I have said several times that he is the most fusible monster in my story.

To LucienShadowMaster: I hope I did your characters justice. I know that Raoul didn's seem as goofbally as he could have been. Also, I hope he likes donuts.
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