Team Zero: Orichalcos

Chapter 30: The Red Eyes Monarchs

Lucien's eyes glanced over his deck as he pulled the top five cards off of it one at a time. Placing the five cards he drew into his left hand he held it up to look at it. "Alright, If this guy remembers my previous duel he will remember I played around my Sacred Phoenix of the Nephthys. I will catch him off guard here I think though. He didn't duel in the first round so I don't know his deck at all." Sighing, Lucien tilted his head upwards to look at Oryon who was staring at his starting hand.

Oryon's eyes were locked on one card in his hand. Smiling inside, he looked up meeting Lucien's eyes. "He won't see this strategy coming!" Oryon chuckled to himself as he reached for his deck. "Alright boy, I start."

"Duel!" They both called out as Oryon plucked the sixth card off his deck.

Lucien-4000 LP
Oryon-4000 LP

"I start us off with this!" Oryon announced snapping a card out of the middle of his hand of cards. Flipping it around in his hand he slapped it down onto his duel disk. "Troop Dragon (700/800) in defense mode!" As Oryon called its name, two dragonish warriors, dressed in silver armor and sliver blades, appeared crouching down over the same card. "Turn end." He called out to Lucien who nodded and snapped a card off his own deck.

"Why did he summon it face up? Especially since I know the ability it hides so even if they are destroyed he gets another one from his deck. Is it some kind of swarm tactic, or something else." Looking at the newly drawn card, Lucien let a small smile crease his lips. "Alright, that should do." Sliding the card into his hand he pulled out another card and slapped it down. "I summon my Giant Germ (1000/100) in attack mode!"

In front of Lucien a large purple and brown spherical creature appeared. Looking like a large germ, the monster's jelly like skin could be seen rippling. Small hair like fibers stuck out of the side of the skin of the beast all the way around it.

"Giant Germ," Lucien pointed to the two crouched over dragons, "attack!" With the command, the monster glided across the field and ramming into the two dragons. Screeching, the two dragons broke apart as the normal duel monsters holograms did when they were defeated. But suddenly, two more identical dragons appeared in the same spot. "Thanks to your dragons ability, there is a second one to take the place of the first." Lucien said, getting a nod from Oryon. "So I'll set up one face down card and end my turn." Appearing behind the large germ, the brown backed card came into existence.

"Draw!" Oryon called out as he pulled the next card off his deck. Adding it to his hand he looked up smiling. "Alright, here I go, I shall summon up a monster that usually cost two tributes to do so. But here, thanks to this card, I will only need my Troop Dragon."

"It was a sacrificial trap!" Lucien realized.

"I activate the magic card, Cost Down!" Sliding the card into a magic/trap card slot on his duel disk he grabbed another card from his hand. "I send this card to the graveyard to downgrade the rest of the monsters in my hand by two levels. So I sacrifice my Troop Dragon on the field to summon up my Red Eyes Black Dragon (2400/2000)!"

As the two green dragon knights faded off the field, the legendary black dragon began to form. Stretching out its wings and flexing its limbs, the large dragon was pitch-black but had blood red eyes. Snapping its jaw, the large beast made dragonic sounds that made it seem ferocious.

Joey looked over at Yugi kind of astonished to see a Red Eyes. "I didn't see that coming."

"Neither did I." Yugi said looking back at the field. "Red Eyes is becoming more accessible and liked by players."

"Now watch as your trap or magic card becomes useless." Oryon called slipping a card into his duel disk. "I activate my magic card; Stamping Destruction!" Giving a dragonish smirk, the Red Eyes started to flap its wings and lift off into the air. Flying over to Lucien's field, the monster dropped down on top of the face down card Lucien had set. Crushing it, the shock wave flew backwards, smacking into Lucien's Duel Disk.

Lucien-3500 LP
Oryon-4000 LP

"Now Red Eyes Black Dragon, attack the Giant Germ with Inferno Fire Blast!" Calling out the attack, the Red Eyes flew up into the air, launching a blazing ball of fire out of its mouth at the germ. A massive explosion blinded Lucien as his germ monster was destroyed just like that.

Lucien-2100 LP
Oryon-4000 LP

Smiling, Lucien pulled out his deck and started to search through it. "When one is destroyed, I get to summon two more Giant Germs from my deck to the field in attack mode. And the one you destroyed will deal you 500 life points of damage." Lucien slapped down two more germ cards and their holograms appeared on the field looking just like their brethren.

Lucien-2100 LP
Oryon-3500 LP

"I see." Oryon looked down at his hand. "He had a swarming monster just like I did. He might have the same plan in mind." Grabbing one of the other cards in his hand, he slipped it his duel disk. "I set this face down." With a rippling yellow and white light, the brown backed card appeared on the field behind the dragon. "Turn end."

"Alright, draw!" Lucien said snapping a card off his deck and holding it up to his face. "Oh wow, this is coming together perfect." Lucien thought happily to himself at his draw.

"Open set card!" Oryon called, breaking Lucien out of his mental process. "Thunder of Ruler will not allow you to attack this turn."

"Argh, well there goes my plan for major damage done this turn. But maybe..." Pulling out a card from his hand he slid it on to his duel disk. "I sacrifice one of my Giant Germs to summon Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch (2400/1000)!" The large germ monster faded away, replaced with a large, steel looking humanoid. Its face covered by the steel armor, only one eye peeked out over the ridge of the covering. In the palm of its hand, it bounced a fire ball up and down. Winding its arm back, it launched it forward and hitting the single card in Oryon's hand.

"I see, so Thestalos will send the card in my hand to the graveyard." Oryon flipped the card over revealing a trap, the Dragon's Bead. "But since it wasn't a monster, no damage is done to me."

"Right, had it been a monster it would of burned through your life points equal to the level of stars it has times 100." Lucien looked down disappointed at his hand. "I switch Giant Germ to defense mode and end my turn."

"My turn." Oryon smirked as he pulled the top card from his deck and flipped it over. An unpleased looked waved through his slotted eyes. Lucien then started to notice how Oryon's eyes were, they were black with reddish lines that ran down like bars. Fanning out over the whole eye, making it appear to be normal or maybe even brown if not paying attention. Now though, they were filled with a bit of disgust. "Red Eyes." He ordered, pointing to the germ monster. "Inferno Fire Blast!" Snapping its jaw down, the monster opened it wide and blasted out a large fire ball that incinerated this spherical monster like the first one was.

"And his effect will deal you damage. Too bad I can't grab more, but I have played all three." Lucien said while he was shielding his eyes from the heat and smoke of the attack.

Lucien-2100 LP
Oryon-3000 LP

"You think I care?" Oryon snapped back as his life points dropped.

"You should, cause I am going to win if you aren't careful with your life points." Lucien remarked back to Oryon who seemed to be a bit more angered now. Even though Lucien didn't show it on the surface, he was getting really scared by Oryon.

"I don't care." Oryon repeated, slowly and sternly. "I am in this thing to prove that he," snapping his finger up, Oryon pointed to Joey who still sat on his chair off to the side, "isn't worthy to run even one of these legendary dragons."

Shocked at the sudden attention from the duelist up there, Joey was speechless.

"He has been making a name for himself ever since Duelist Kingdom with his Red Eyes. Even if it fell into Yugi's hands during Battle City, Joey got it back from him. He isn't worthy to recklessly throw the great Black Dragon around like he does." Oryon finished his rant by saying. "I play Swords of Revealing Light to end my turn."

"That is why you are in this!" Lucien was more surprised at Oryon's determination in his voice more than anything else. "Well, that is...good I guess. You have a dream."

"Shut up and take your turn." Oryon's eyes flashed with rage at Lucien making small talk rather than playing.

"Fine, fine." Lucien pulled a card off his deck and looked at it. "Alright, here it goes. I activate Monster Reborn to revive a Giant Germ!" Appearing in its holographic form, the magic card started glowing and reproduced the large germ monster. "Next I sacrifice it to summon Zaborg the Thunder Monarch (2400/1000) in attack mode!"

In a crack of lightning the large germ once again faded away and was replaced by a towering monarch. This one had rippled shoulder plated and spiky plant like green hair. Between the palms of its hands, a surge of electricity shot through. Holding its arms up over its slightly larger body than Thestalos, it created a large, surging ball of pure electrical energy. In a snapping down of its arms, the large ball of electricity fell upon the black dragon, destroying it.

"Zaborg destroys one monster when he is tribute summoned successfully. I chose Red Eyes!" Lucien explained as Oryon slid his favorite monster into his graveyard.

"So you are playing monarchs this time instead of phoenix's. Lovely idea to try and throw someone off your game plan." Oryon seemed a bit less pissed off now, but still not too happy.

Looking around, Lucien wasn't happy that his opponent had pulled swords. That way he couldn't attack for at least two more turns. "I set this card face down and end." Lucien announced as he slid another card into his duel disk.

Drawing a card off his deck, Oryon looked a little bit more pleased with this one. Flipping it over, he revealed his Card of Sanctity. "Now that I have played this, we will both get to draw from our decks until we are holding six cards." As the card took effect, Oryon reaped in full benefits of it. Drawing the six cards off his deck he glanced over them. Across the field, Lucien pulled five new cards from his deck and looked pleased with what he had gotten.

"He helped me more than he could possibly know." Lucien fought to hold back a smile so as to not give away his plan.

"I set this monster in face down defense mode. Turn end." Oryon called as a horizontal card appeared before him.

"My move then." Lucien announced, drawing the top card of his deck he began to crank out his plan. "I activate my down trap, Call of the Haunted, I once again revive Giant Germ to sacrifice for this..." Lucien watched as his germ monster appeared once again on his field only to fade away as he slapped another monster down. "...Granmarg the Rock Monarch (2400/1000)! Use your ability now my Monarch!"

This time, the large germ was replaced with a brown armored monster with large forearms. Its armor covered all up its body and down its arms till its wrists. Right below the monster abdomen was also armor less and was chocolate brown in color. As it appeared, a large holographic crack ran out from the ground beneath it, running towards the set monster. As it reached it, it exploded into small data bits.

"When he is summoned, he destroys one set card on the field." Lucien explained as Oryon slid the card into his graveyard. "Ok, so I haven't been lucky enough to draw my fourth Monarch yet, Mobius the Frost Monarch, but I think that three might hold me over for now. Each having 2400 attack points is nothing to laugh at, plus I can wipe out his Red Eyes if he may summon it again." Grabbing another card, Lucien slipped it into his duel disk. "I set this, and end." Lucien watched as his card appeared before him.

"Draw!" Oryon slipped the next card off his deck. He had Lucien pinned down for one more move and he knew all about the Monarch's special abilities. "Well, well, well." He mockingly said, lowering his head. Slightly giggling with a wicked tone, he looked back up. "You have been really lucky at drawing and summoning those three monarchs. Heck, what was that, the third time you special summoned a monster to sacrifice. And all three times it was that same Giant Germ."

"Yea, I focused my deck a bit more around them." Lucien let his grin slip out a bit. "You can't handle it?"

"No, no." Oryon slid three cards into his duel disk. "I set these three cards face down and end my turn." Appearing on the field, three magic or trap cards appeared in front of Oryon.

"Then I shall draw." Lucien commented as he drew his card. "Not Mobius." Lucien disappointingly looked at the card. It wasn't a bad card, but he had been hoping for his frost monarch. He was stuck for one more turn so it really didn't matter. "I set one monster face down in defense mode and end my turn." Lucien's new monster appeared face down in front of him and next to his three towering monsters. All around him, the glowing yellow swords vanished allowing his monsters to move.

"Draw." Oryon, almost emotionless, announced as he pulled the top card off his deck. "Activate set card, Jar of Greed. This trap lets me draw one additional card this turn." Oryon announced as the purple colored, smiling vase appeared before him. Snapping one more card off his deck, the hologram vanished. "Hmm...I think I will activate this." Oryon held up a magic card, showing the face to Lucien.

"Monster Reborn!" Lucien gasped as Oryon slid it into his duel disk.

"Right, I'll use it to bring back my Red Eyes that is in the grave." As the hologram of the Monster Reborn appeared before Oryon, the black dragon once again appeared before him. "I set this one last card face down and let my Red Eyes blast your set monster card! Inferno Fire Blast!" A third brown backed card appeared behind his dragon as it prepared to attack. Charging up a large ball of fire, the monster released it sending it hurdling towards the set monster.

"Good, you hit my Magician of Faith (300/200). With her effect I get to pull a magic card back from the graveyard." As he slid the purple haired magician card into his graveyard, it spit out the only magic card in it; Monster Reborn.

"Turn end." Oryon smiled, almost psychotically. His eyes amplifying the craziness.

Even though freaked out out, Lucien proceeded to draw. At least Oryon wasn't messing with his head, like Will had done to Aliya. Still disappointed that he hadn't drawn his last monarch, he brushed it off and looked at the three set cards on Oryon's field. "It really wouldn't be wise to rush into them. Plus I think he had that card for a while, but why not activate it? What kind of plan does he have, maybe I should hold back and find out. My set card can help if it is something dangerous." Lucien mentally made up his mind. "I will play this monster face down and end my turn." Lucien watched his monster card take form on his field.

"Are you ever going to attack me?" Oryon laughed as he drew his card. He knew that it was his three set cards that freaked him out the most. "I have it all set up now, just need to annihilate him." Pointing to one of his set cards, it flipped up. "I activate the magic card, Polymerization! I fuse the Red Eyes in my hand with this Summoned Skull in my hand to form the Black Skull Dragon! (3200/2500)"

As the swirling vortex erupted from the hologram, the images of a second large black dragon monster and a large demonic skull appeared for a second, swept away in the vortex. Seconds later, emerging as a hunched over and bony looking Red Eyes. Larger in stature, the monster roared next to a previous form of it self.

"No, I'm not done yet, open seconds set card!" Oryon yelled pointing to the next set card in that line. "Go my second Polymerization! I can fuse together the Red Eyes on the field and this Meteor Dragon from my hand to fusion summon my Meteor Black Dragon! (3500/2000)"

This time, the vortex consumed the Red Eyes along with a strange four legged meteor looking dragon with a long neck attacking its purple head to the rocky exterior of its body. As the two of them vanished in a flash into the vortex, it reappeared as a large red, yellow and purple behemoth dragon monster. Crashing down on the field next to the skull looking dragon, this one stood about the same height but was more built out in body size. Red vein like lines ran around the body of the monster, seeming to pulsate every now and again.

"Two Red Eye's fusions!" Lucien stared across the field, past his three monarchs, to the towering black behemoth dragons.

"Yup, but the fun isn't over yet." Oryon held up the last card in his hand. "I have this yet."

"What is it?" Lucien's eyes scanned frantically over the back side of the card.

"This." Oryon flipped the card over revealing a normal monster. "This monster is known as Red Eyes Blazing Soul (0/0). He is needed for this important last fusion."

"What do you mean by last fusion?" Lucien wondered looking at the card. It showed the picture of some sort of flaming spirit that was jumping out of the mouth of a Red Eyes Black Dragon. The flame of the spirit was coal black with blood red triangles to work for eyes.

"Watch and learn." Pointing to the last card on the field, it flipped up revealing a magic card.

"Three bluffs!" Lucien was shocked with surprise.

"Fusion Recovery! This magic card will pull back one fusion material monster and one Polymerization from my grave and give them back to my hand." Grabbing the two cards his duel disk spit out, he grabbed the last card in his hand and held the three of them up. "I fuse Red Eyes Blazing Soul and Red Eyes Black Dragon to summon Black Molten Dragon (3800/3000)!"

This time, after the purple bordered card was slapped down, the large Red Eyes Black Dragon fusion appeared on the field in the middle of the two other fusions. This one looked just like Red Eyes, except there were also blood red lines that ran through the body of this monster. They flowed with a purplish black glob like substance that coursed through its veins. Its four red eyes snapped open, sending a wave of energy shooting across the field. As it stretched out its wings on its back and its long, black, scaly tail. It crashed down on the floor of the ring. It towered as the largest dragon on his field, standing much taller than the other two dragons.

The crowd was sent into a massive uproar at the sudden appearance of the three dragon fusions.

Lucien stepped back a bit. He had never seen anyone pull off three massive fusions before like this. He had to admit, he had been drawing up some pretty lucky stuff from his deck this game, but he had no idea that Oryon had been planning this from the start.

"Time to finish this. Black Molten Dragon, attack his Firestorm Monarch with you Molten Inferno Eruption!" Snapping its jaw, the large dragon opened its large mouth wide baring its razor sharp teeth, gleaming in the light of the dome. From deep in the monsters massive throat, an eruption of black and red fire started shooting out at the armored humanoid figure.

"Set card open! Negate Attack!" Lucien yelled as the trap flipped up and began to glow with its activation. Inches from the monarch's face, a swirling vortex in the air sucked in the massive attack whole. "It not only stops your attack, but ends your battle phase. Since you have no more cards, I will presume that it is my turn."

"Yup, since you played such a tactical card at such a strategic moment." Oryon seemed strange to Lucien now. Almost as he was able to relax knowing he had his three dragons on the field, but strangely enough, he seemed to be enjoying this.

"Maybe he forgot about his grudge against Joey." Lucien thought to himself, noticing Oryon's new attitude. "Draw!" Lucien snapped the next card off his deck and was happy to see the fourth and final card. "I flip summon my Mask of Darkness (900/400), he lets me pull a trap back from my graveyard." Lucien's set monster flipped up, revealing a yellow colored mask. As the mask started to glow in a bight white light, the duel disk spit out a card from his grave yard. Grabbing it quickly, he added it to his hand.

"Alright, so you got back Negate Attack I assume." Oryon said, getting a nod from Lucien.

"So next I sacrifice my Mask of Darkness, to bring forth Mobius the Frost Monarch (2400/1000)!" This fourth one had ice blue armor covering its body. Crashing down on the field, it stood next to its brothers facing down the three large black dragons.

The crowd could be heard gasping as these titans of destruction faced down each other.

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To John: Good job, you picked out that there were different tactics to the same style of deck.

To BEWK: Will do dude!

To Demon Fan: That is it,his personal grudge.

To LucienShadowMaster: Its ok, getting back into the groove can be hard at times.

To Dragon and Sword Master: Well, to be honest, Joe isn't my OC. Even thought I seem to have full rights to him, he is a character from my loyal reader, John. Kevin belongs to BEWK. Lucien, Aliya, and Raoul belong to LucineShadowMaster. Lance belongs to Vyser Adept of Dragons. Will belongs to Blackhornet19 and Oryon came from Timaeus the Golden (I think on these two...I can't remember exactly). Kai, when he is in it, is from Darksoulki. I have a bunch of characters from all over the place.

To Darksoulki: Yes I do have plans. First though I will need to finish my Last Guard of the Spirits fic. I need that to be finished so I can use the whole history make the next parts of this story.
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