Team Zero: Orichalcos

Chapter 28: Bone Chilling Duel! Movement of Support

Sliding their decks into their duel disk, the Egyptian boy maintained a cold stare at Akina, sending chills down her spine. The problem was, his smile was warm enough to make the scene creepier to her. Jerking her head away from him, she watched the life point scores shoot up to the standard starting point for the duel.

Aliya-4000 LP
Will-4000 LP

"I shall let a lady start." Will's polite voice only further freaked Aliya out. With her fingers, Aliya used them to snap one card at a time off her deck till she had drawn six cards.

"Fine." She said looking at her opening hand. "I start off by summoning my Cure Mermaid in attack mode (1500/800)." A mermaid monster appeared on the field before Aliya. She had a large, red fish like tail and golden blond hair. Behind it, a rippling light appeared and a brown backed card formed. "I also set one card and that ends my turn."

"I will draw." Will said without even looking at his deck. Pulling a card off he held it to his face. Smiling he flipped it around. "I summon my Dark Jeroid in attack mode as well (1200/1500)." A large blue demonic looking creature burst to life on Will's field. A faint, eerie, purple glow surrounded the monster as it looked on at the mermaid. "I will next activate my magic card, Devil's Sneaky Steal. This magic card can only work if a fiend or a zombie is on the field. I send one card to the graveyard from my hand, and destroy a magic or trap on your field."

As Will slid a card into his graveyard slot, the face down card on Aliya's field began to shiver and finally broke apart. Sliding the card into her graveyard, Aliya frowned at the loss of her Bottomless Trap Hole.

"Next, Dark Jeroid's special effect will be activated. I can use his ability to lower your monsters attack by 800 points." Slowly raising his hand, he pointed to the mermaid monster. "I chose to weaken it."

"Oh no." Aliya's eyes wide with fear as she watched her monster gain a sudden purple aura that matched the creepy monster facing her. Slowly, the monsters body began to shrink in size as it lost points (700/800).

"Dark Jeroid attack!" Will yelled, showing more emotion than he had all duel. Thrusting his arm out towards the mermaid monster. The Dark Jeroid seemed to give a cough before shooting a dark inky purple ray out, engulfing the mermaid whole. Smoke rolled off the body of the mermaid as the attack hit her. Screaming, she finally broke apart and Aliya watched with sad eyes as she took the first hit of the duel.

Aliya-3500 LP
Will-4000 LP

"I'm not done yet, I'll set this card face down. Then I will be done." Will's voice was back to being its creepily warm tone again. His eyes were still locked on Aliya, cold and unmoving. A ripple of light and the card formed on the field behind the strange monster.

"I draw then." Aliya said slowly sliding a card off of her deck. "I got to keep my cool. He may be creepy." Aliya looked at Will who still was locked on her with his freaky cold eyes. "But he isn't a duelist to be taken lightly." Sliding a card out of her hand she slid it into her duel disk. "I play the magic card Spell Absorption! This will give me 500 life points when anyone plays a magic card." Grabbing another card, she pushed it into the dueling slot next to the one Spell Absorption was in. "I now play Pot of Greed. Not only do I gain 500 life points, but I now draw two more cards."

Aliya-4000 LP
Will-4000 LP

Looking at what she drew, she contemplated what the situation was. "I could destroy his monster, but his set card makes me a bit nervous. Maybe I'll play it safe this turn." Grabbing one of the two cards she slapped it onto her duel disk. "I play Fire Princess (1300/1500) in defense mode!" Right in front of Aliya appeared a fiery red clothed princess holding out her wooden staff. Crouching down, she held the staff out to stop any attacks coming at it. "And set up two more cards face down. End turn." Two brown backed cards ripped into existence behind the Fire Princess.

"Aw, I see." Will's smile became more creepily warm. Aliya felt herself shivering at his smile. "A life burn strategy. I remember watching you in the first round." As he talked he drew his next card. "I shall summon up a new monster for your entertainment purposes. Come out now, Newdoria (1200/800) in defense mode." A demonic looking fiend monster appeared crouching down on Will's field. Wearing green pants and a black vest, it also had large black disks around its wrist and ankles. "I'll switch Dark Jeroid to defense mode and end my turn."

"Not yet, open trap card!" Aliya yelled, stopping Will from finishing his turn. One of Aliya's set cards flipped up and started glowing with a bright light. "Solemn Wishes will give me 500 life points each time I draw." Reaching down she slowly pulled a card off her deck, feeling pleasure as a light virtual rain began to fall over her body. Will watched as the Fire Princess narrowed its eyes. Concentrating hard, a ring of fire erupted around Will's body. Burning only a second, the fire died out.

Aliya-4500 LP
Will-3500 LP

"And I will summon up my Bowganian in defense mode (1300/1000)." Aliya called out as she slapped a card down horizontally on her duel disk. A strange green eye ball monster appeared on the field next to the Fire Princess. In its two mechanical arms it held a large, silver crossbow. "Now during each of my standby phases, you will lose 600 more life points than what you are already losing." Aliya announced, quickly jerking her head away from looking at Will who was still creeping her out. "Turn end." She said, still averting her gaze.

"Well it was a good attempt." Will drew his next card and added it to his hand. "I will give you credit for doing so good so far. But you won't stand a chance in Hell's Playground."

"In what?" Aliya's confusion made her look up at the boy as he slid a card into his field slot.

"The field magic card, Hell's Necro Playground. This magic card will prove to be the worse card you will ever face." In a rush of the energy, a large hologram began to form around the dueling arena. A very eerie aura shot around the whole done as the demonic looking playground appeared. Swings, Jungle Gyms, and Slides, alllooking to be made from bone and muscle began to form off to the sides of the dueling arena. The ground was now littered with bones, and looked battle scared and torn up.

"What the..." Aliya looked around in confusion. "Well either way, it is a magic card, so prepare to be burned!" Aliya let a smile slip across her face as a pillar of fire erupted around Will again.

Aliya-5000 LP
Will-3000 LP

"True, but Hell's Necro Playground comes with a special power. It lowers all fiend and zombie sub-type monsters in my hand and on the field by one star. As in I can summon this level seven fiend monster with only one sacrifice." Flipping a card in his hand over, he revealed a level seven monster. "I sacrifice Dark Jeroid to summon my Necro Rage Demon (1800/1800)."

The blue demon monster faded away leaving a large, gray, white and black human looking figure. An eerie green glow surrounded the beast, shooting off every now and again. In its hands it held demonic looking swords. Curved and shiny metal, the blades reflected the light from the dome. Its body was covered by black fur that exposed only skin around its arms, face, legs, and chest. Opening its eyes on its elongated face, pure red eyes.

"Plus the power of Hell's Necro Playground increases all fiends and zombies attack power by 300 points! So I switch Newdoria to attack mode (1500/800) and will open my set card now!" As the demon monster began to stand straight up, a trap card flipped up behind it. "I play Meteorain! This trap will deal damage through defense, so feel this. Necro Rage Demon (2100/1800) attacks your Fire Princess!"

Slowly walking forward, the demon placed its hand on the princesses forehead. Screaming in unhumanly pain, the princess started to glow in a black aura. The blood curdling screams made Aliya look down again as her monster was finally destroyed.

Aliya-4400 LP
Will-3000 LP

"Oh, and Necro Rage Demon has a very special power. Not only can no magic or trap cards be activated during my battle phase, but when it deals damage to the opponent, they will lose all magic and trap cards on their field." Will's smile slowly started to turn more wicked as the two face up and the set card on Aliya's field exploded into dust. "And go Newdoria. Attack her Bowganian now, demon tackle!" Will yelled as his little monster started to fly towards the green eyeball. Smacking into is, the monster exploded into dust and Aliya watched her life points drop again.

Aliya-3900 LP
Will-3000 LP

"So how was that? Pretty impressive move I would say." Will's confidence had seemed to skyrocket with his last move. "So I end my move there. Leaving you to deal with my two massive monsters."

Aliya slowly moved the top card from her deck. Holding the card in her trembling hand, she looked deeply at the artwork on the Card of Sanctity in her fingers. Slowly looking up, she felt the cold tingle run back down her spine at the creepy field card that was surrounding the whole arena. "I activate Card of Sanctity. We will each draw until we hold six cards in our hands." She slipped the card into her duel disk and reached for her deck. In one swift movement, she snapped the top four cards off of it and fanned them out in front of her face.

"Alright." Will looked down at his deck as he slowly picked off the top five cards. "I will also get some help from your magic card."

Looking at her newly drawn cards, her face seem to be draining itself of life. "I can't win. He will get through everything. I can't beat him." Slowly sliding the four new cards into her left hand with the other two she continue to stair blankly at them. "I...I..."

Raoul and Lucien sat on their bench, hands on their knees. Leaning forward, their interests were locked in the duel. Finally, between them, Raoul was the first to break the silence.

"She's lost it." Looking over at Lucien, he jerked back at getting a very nasty glare from his team mate. "Well she has. This guy is even creeping me out."

"Aliya is a very strong duelist. She can pull through this." Lucien's tone of voice was staggering on aggregation. "This guy maybe creepy, but she can pull it together."

"Look at this guys strategy!" Raoul pointed to Will with his hand. "In one move, he wiped out everything Aliya had built up to stop him."

"Why have you given up hope?" A voice made both Lucien and Raoul look at the neighboring bench. The bench occupied by Team Striker. Joe, the one who had spoke, sat with crossed arms looking up at the field. "Your buddy is right, she can pull out a win if she believes in herself enough." Both Usami and Kevin staring at him in confusion.

"And who are you exactly?" Raoul asked Joe in confusion from the sudden interruption.

"I am an experienced duelist myself." Joe looked around, Lucien and Raoul looked around with him to where his head was moving. "And I know what is really freaky. I have had an adventure and a half in my day." That is when Lucien and Raoul noticed it. Minus the members of Team Zero, Team Striker, Team Orichalcos, Team Punk, and Kaiba, Yugi and Joey, everyone was completely quiet, shaking, as if scared.

"What?" Raoul looked back at Joe after taking in the whole dome of people.

"This guy not only hasgood cards, but is a master of intimidation." Joe looked over at Raoul. "So powerful in fact he is affecting random people."

"She just has to stay focused..." Lucien looked back up at the brown haired girl. Standing up, he cupped his hands around his mouth. "ALIYA!"

Cranking her head, she looked back at her team mate. The first and most noticeable thing to anyone looking at her, was her usually soft and kind light blue eyes, were now cold and almost lifeless. Sooting streams of fear out. She remained silent.

"You can do it." Lucien's words didn't seemed to get to Aliyafor a bit afterhe spoke them. Even though her eyes were still filled with fear, she nodded slightly to him.

Sighing slightly, Joe lifted his hands and began a slow, but loud rhythmic clap. Picking up the idea quickly, Kevin and Usami also began to clap in the same rhythm. Reku, Ronin, Sachiko, and Akina followed suit after that. Slowly, it started to arouse the crowd into the same clapping. Before to long, the whole dome was filled with this clapping.

Aliya looked around a bit, looking at the filled chairs of the dome with the people clapping. Looking back down, her eyes met Lucien's. Smiling, she nodded to him in a large head tilt before looking back at Will. Confidence renewed, she didn't even feel the same paralyzing chills from Will's cards anymore.

Sitting back down, Lucien turned to Joe. "Why did you do that?"

"Why not?" Joe's smirk of him joking actually made both Lucien and Raoul give a slight chuckle.

Looking at her cards again, Aliya was amazed at some of the combos that where sitting right there in her hand. She had missed them all before. Grabbing one of the green bordered cards she quickly pushed it into her duel disk. "I activate the magic card, Duel Summoner! This card will let me normal summon two level four or lower monsters this turn in either face up attack or defense mode. And I will use its magic to summon these monsters, Stealth Bird (700/1700) and UFO Turtle (1400/1200). Both of them in defense mode!"

On Aliya's field two monsters began to materialize at the same time. One was a large, blue bird monster that was curled up inside its wings of sky blue and snow white feathers. The other, a flying saucer shaped shell turtle bowing down to the ground.

"Activate Stealth Birds ability, I flip it face down once per turn, so go into hiding my bird!" On her command, the blue bird monster faded away from the field leaving only a brown backed card in its place. "That is my turn."

As the crowd, team mates, and other team members looked on. Aliya, for the first time in this whole tournament, looked on with the fire of battle in her eyes, and pure adrenaline in her body. Curling up her fingers in her right hand, she formed a fist. Then and there she promised herself to not let anymore of Will's scare tactics get to her, nor be affected by his creepy cards.

The duel was on now!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Alright, before mass amounts of hate mail come in, yes I do know how Dark Jeroid is worded. I did it the way I did because it gave it more of an anime feel to the situation I thought. So don't complain about it please, I did it on purpose.

To Vyser Adept of Dragons: Well you won't see just yet.

To Demon Fan: Thanks...and thanks

To Dragon and Sword Master: Yea, it wasn't cheap.

To John: Yes, and for some reason, I had a hunch that someone was going to make that will Will joke. Oh well, it was set up perfect so I don't blame you.

To LuceinShadowMaster: As long as you are having fun in life, things are good.

To Darksoulki: No, I havn't left. Thank you. um...Nanashi musta fell off the planet.

To Erestor Telemnar: Yeah, he and Weevil both need a bit more credit for their skills...even if side characters. Thanks...I don't even remember what inspired me to make them. Probibly just random thoughts.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX