Team Zero: Orichalcos

Chapter 34: Furious Plays of Skills

The roars of the fans echoed through the large dome. Standing on the large square arena, the six people stared each other down.

Coughing a bit, to clear his throat, Ronin stepped forward. "So, how do you want to do this?"

Sighing, Lucien stepped forward. "We really don't care." Looking over his shoulder, Raoul and Aliya nodded in agreement. "I guess, standard one on one match?"

"We really don't have time for that!" Reku grimaced, looking past Team Renaissance to Team Orichalcos. Siting on their bench, Chime, Hygin, and Ryokurio glared back at him. Sighing, Reku reached out and tapped Ronin on the shoulder.

"Hold on a second." Ronin said, surprised at the tap, he kindly held up his hand before looking at his team mate. "What's up dude?"

"We don't have much time left. Team Orichalcos will take the souls of Team Zone in the next round, I'm sure of it." Reku said in a whisper. Nodding, both Akina and Ronin agreed, knowing it was true. "We've got to get past this round quickly, if we win, we face them in the finals."

"And we've got to do that, to stop them." Akina chimed in, whispering like Reku. "They are hurting a lot of innocent people."

"So what do we plan to do?" Ronin asked looking at Reku. "We need to hurry, but we cannot just run into something stupid." Glancing over his shoulder, Ronin saw Lucien, Raoul, and Aliya patiently waiting for Team Zero to finish their little meeting. "All three of them are way to good to take lightly."

"No kidding." Reku agreed. Pulling his deck out of his duel disk, he held it up in front of his face. "Let me take on that Lucien kid for the match. If I win, then we go on." Looking kind of shocked, Ronin and Akina traded looks of uncertainty. "I've been watching him, he has powerful strategies and, from what I have seen, switches around from a phoenix to a monarch deck."

"None of them push overs." Ronin growled thinking of the cards. "Fine, I trust you. And you are right, we must win quickly."

"I do to, dear." Akina said, kissing Reku on the lips. Holding tightly for a second, then finally broke the kiss. Smiling, Reku began to walk passed her. "Go out there and do your best."

"That's what I plan to do." Reku smiled to her as he passed. Stepping forward, Reku looked seriously at the three kids standing before him. "Listen, if we would have met under different circumstances, we would love to have the chance to duel with you in a great match." Reku sighed thinking about it, "but we really don't have much time left and we can't explain. Here is what I have to offer, you and me. One match." Pointing to Lucien when he said 'you', Reku's look of determination was fierce. "Which ever one of us wins pushes our teams further."

"A risky move." Lucien said looking at his team mates. Getting less than an answer out of their eyes, Lucien looked back at Reku. "I accept your challenge." Holding up his arm, the white duel disk hummed to life. Snapping out and clicking into place, the field formed and light up with its normal colors. White numbers in the life point counter appeared at 4000.

"Alright." Reku nodded before looking at his team mates. Getting nods from them as well, they began to walk off the field as Reku looked back at his opponent. Holding up his left arm, the emerald green duel disk snapped into place just like Lucien's did. Taking out his deck he extended it towards Lucien. Mimicking the motion, Lucien silently handed his deck to Reku as he took the deck out of his hand.

Silence fell over the dome as the decks were being shuffled. Everyone waited on the edge of their seats, waiting for this deck shuffling ritual to end. Finally, the decks were being handed back to their owners. Taking their respective decks, the two of them parted for distant ends of the ring. Sliding their decks into the deck slots, the two of them turned to face each other.

"Duel!" Rang out from both players as they snapped the top five cards off their decks.

Reku-4000 LP
Lucien-4000 LP

"Tell you what Reku, I'll let you start." Lucien politely commented, getting a smile from his opponent.

"Thank you, now watch out! Draw!" Taking the top card of his deck, Reku quickly added it to his hand. Grabbing two of his cards, he slid them into his duel disk. "I set these two cards face down and," Reku slapped another card down onto his duel disk, "I summon Burning Beast (1500/1000) in defense mode!" A fire red stone monster appeared on Reku's field, crouching down letting its rough, rocky back act as a shield. "Turn end." Reku calmly said, letting his right hand drop to his side.

"Draw." Lucien calmly spoke as he drew his top card. "I will only set this one card face down." Lucien announced as he slid the card into his duel disk, making the hologram appear before him. "Next, I summon my Hand of Nephthys (600/600) in defense mode, ending my move." Lucien called, as his monster card appeared laying horizontally on the field. It soon produced the hologram of a tan female warrior, adorned in golden armor and red robes. On the top of her head, a golden head dress designed to look like the Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys sat.

"My turn, draw!" Reku called, snapping the top card off his deck. "Damn, he is already trying to get his Sacred Phoenix out on me." Reku growled to himself. Reaching down, he grabbed a card and slapped it down onto his duel disk. "I summon my Flare Ninja (1500/1200) in attack mode!" Reku yelled, whipping his arm out to a pillar of bright sparkly light that appeared on his field. Out of it, a black and red clad ninja monster appeared. Doing a few flips in the air before landing on the field, the monster made Ninja like grunts. "Thanks to his ability, I get to pull this monster from my deck and summon it. Flare Samurai (1500/1200)." Next to the ninja monster, a red and black armored samurai looking monster appeared. Grabbing his samurai sword, the monster whipped it out and aimed it towards Lucien's monster.

"Reku's doing great at swarming." Sachiko observed. Without looking at her two friends, she got two agreeing sounds from them.

"But look at his eyes." Ronin commented back, "he knows that he can't relax at all. Lucien isn't just some other duelist, he is a tough customer."

"Right." Akina nodded.

"Flare Samurai, attack his Hand of the Nephthys!" Reku called to his monster. Nodding, the monster began to run across the field to slay the crouching warrior.

"Open set card." Lucien yelled as his trap flipped up. "Sakuretsu Armor! This trap destroys your attacking monster." Glowing with its activation, the trap card shot out a ray of pale yellow light that engulfed and destroyed the samurai monster.

"Good move." Reku complimented before taking back his serious tone. "Flare Ninja, attack the monster with Flare Shuriken Strike!" Crouching down a second, the ninja propelled himself high into the air. Whipping his arms out, a dozen or more small throwing stars flew out towards the female monster. Piercing into the monster, the Hand of Nephthys monster cried out in pain before fading off the field. "Turn end."

"Draw." Lucien called out as a card was snapped off his deck. "I activate the magic card, Snatch Steal! I will take control of your Burning Beast with this card." Growling, the rocky beast floated across the field, turning to face Reku as it hovered. Landing with a thud, the monster's eyes shown with anger against Reku. "Now, I will offer it as a sacrifice to summon my Mobius the Frost Monarch (2400/1000)!" Appearing from the fading red rocky beast, a large monster covered in shiny white ice like armor. Glaring at Reku from within its head armor, the two red eyes of the beast eyed the player, as well as the two set card holograms behind the ninja monster.

"Oh no!" Reku's eyes widened as he thought about what Mobius was capable of. Covering his face, Reku shielded himself from the particles of the exploding card holograms.

"Right, Mobius destroys up to two magic or traps on the field. So there goes any defense you might of had." Lucien commented as Reku slid his two trap cards, Two Man Flamethrower and Mirror Force, into the graveyard.

"Two of my best traps are gone already! Dammit." Reku swore to himself, looking past Lucien for a second to the bench where Team Orichalcos sat. Smirking at him, Chime made Reku's blood boil.

"Mobius the Frost Monarch will now attack your Ninja!" Lucien called, snapping Reku's attention back to him. With a large, ice covered fist, the monster punched the ninja. Flying backwards, the ninja bounced off the floor before exploding a part.

Reku-3100 LP
Lucien-4000 LP

"I end my move." Lucien announced after taking a second to scan the three cards in his hand.

"Good, my turn. Draw!" Reku called, adding the newly drawn card to his hand. "I used my only traps I had in my hand up already. Not a very wise move." Reku kicked himself mentally. Reaching for a card, he slapped it down on his duel disk. "I set one monster in face down defense mode. Turn end."

"Ok." Lucien simply said as he pulled the next card off his deck. "I will summon the monster Giant Germ (1000/100) in attack mode." As the card was placed on his duel disk, the purple and brown germ looking monster appeared hovering next to the ice monarch. "Ready?" Lucien cocked an eye brow before pointing to the set card. "Mobius, attack his monster now."

Winding back his fist, the large monster punched the brown backed card. Appearing for a second, an android looking football player exploded into data bits.

"My Battle Footballer (1000/2100)." Reku explained as he slid the said card into his graveyard slot.

"Alright then. Giant Germ attack now!" Lucien called, waving his hand out towards Reku. Flying at top speed, the spherical monster crashed into Reku's body. The beeping of his life point score dropping brought a roar from the crowd.

Reku-2100 LP
Lucien-4000 LP

"I end my turn." Lucien calmly said, watching as Reku pulled the next card off his deck.

"This is what I needed, Pot of Greed!" Reku called, flipping the card over to show Lucien. After sliding it into his duel disk, he pulled two new cards off his deck. "I set one card face down now and summon my Alpino the Mech Warrior (1600/1500) in attack mode!"

A gray warrior appeared on the field, long sleek swords in each hand. Covered with a large metal suit of armor from foot to head which was covered completely in a metal face mask but its two beady eyes that peered threw a gap in the armor. On its head, a piece of metal shot up wards. It was in a wave pattern shape with a hole in the middle of it. Behind it, a brown backed card appeared in a wave of yellow and white light.

"Alpino attacks your Germ! Metal Blade Slice!" In a leaping charge, the metal warrior whipped his sword across his body, cutting the large spherical germ monster in perfect halves. Exploding, a wave of green slime shot out towards Reku's duel disk, making an acid like sizzle as it made contact with it.

Reku-1600 LP
Lucien-3400 LP

"Since one of my Giant Germs was destroyed I get to pull two more from my deck. Plus you lost 500 life from it being destroyed." Lucien explained just before two identical germ monster materialized on his field.

"I end my move." Reku announced rather calmly. Lucien thought a second about what kind of card Reku could have set. Slowly, he pulled a card from his deck.

"I set one card face down, next I have my Mobius attack your Alpino!" Lucien announced as he slid a card behind his Monarch. Nodding to the attack command, the large monster charged forward, ready to punch down the metal warrior.

"Open set card!" Reku cried out as his hand shot up into the air. "Compulsory Evacuation Device will return your Monarch to your hand!" Sighing slightly, Lucien picked up his Mobius card and slid it into his hand.

"I sacrifice one of my Germs to summon him back to the field!" Lucien called slapping the card back down. As the large germ faded away, the ice coated Monarch appeared next to the last germ monster. "I switch my Giant Germ to defense mode and end my turn."

"Draw!" Reku yelled out, snapping the top card from his deck and holding it at arms length. Flipping it around he slapped it down onto his duel disk. "I summon Warrior of the White Flame (2000/0) in attack mode!"

A human monster appeared standing next to the metallic one. It wore an old, silver breastplate the looked battle scared and worn. Red cloths draped out from under its breast plate and shoulder pad, which were also of the silver, battle torn armor. White flames licked off a large yellow tinted, double bladed sword the monster held up as he got into a battle stance. The monster glared across the field at the two beasts it was about to face.

"Magic card, Molten Destruction!" Reku's field magic slot flipped open as he inserted a green bordered card. Around the square ring, the large hologram of a volcano appeared. A smoky and rocky battle field. (Warrior of the White Flame 2500/0)(Alpino the Mech Warrior 2100/1100). "Go Warrior of the White Flame, attack Mobius with your Sword of Burning White Fire!"

Raising his sword, the Warrior of the White flame began to run across the field, screaming a great battle cry. His sword was now completely burning with white flames, flying off in the gale winds generated by the speed of the running warrior. With a grunt, the warrior slashed his sword down, cutting the Monarch from head threw his groin. White embers flew from the slash down the body of the monster before it exploded like so many Duel Monsters holograms before it.

Reku-1600 LP
Lucien-3300 LP

"Open trap card!" Lucien cried, pressing a button on his duel disk. "Rope of Life! I discard my hand to bring my Monarch back with an 800 attack point increase." Sliding his three hand cards into his graveyard, Lucien grabbed the ejected Mobius card and replaced it on the field. The hologram of Rope of Life shot a thick rope into a black whole on the field. Slowly, the Monarch was pulled out of the large hole. Growling, the monster looked rather pissed at the fact it was destroyed (3200/1000).

"Fine, Alpino attacks your Germ! Metal Blade Slice!" Reku outstretched his arm to the brown and purple sphere resting on Lucien's field. Flying past Reku, the monster stabbed through the monster with its sword. Retracting it, the monster was pushed back to Reku's field as the Giant Germ exploded, sending more green slime towards the emerald green duel disk on Reku's arm. Colliding with it, the acidic sizzling came as Reku's life points dropped.

Reku-1100 LP
Lucien-3300 LP

"Oh no!" Akina cried out at the beeping noise coming from Reku's loss of life points. "Lucien has three times as many life points now then Reku does!"

"Yes," Ronin nodded, "and a monster with 3200 attack power."

"Lucien has come prepared for anything." Sachiko said, leaning towards Ronin. "Reku has been put into a situation where to save himself, he must risk his own life points."

"Exactly." Ronin agreed again. "Lucien has it so that even if the opponent gets ahead a bit, they must either help him or hurt themselves. Such a deep strategy he runs."

"I set one card face down. Turn end." Reku announced as his two flame warriors rested on his field in front of the newly formed set card hologram.

"My turn, draw!" Lucien yelled, looking at the newly drawn card. "I've drawn my Phoenix. Nice, I can possibly use this soon." Looking up, Lucien handed the phoenix card to his left hand. Pointing to the metal warrior on Reku's field, Lucien took in a deep breath before calling out an attack. "Attack now!" Cupping its hands, the frost Monarch prepared to strike. Seconds later, a massive tornado of snow and ice shot out of the cupped hands, engulfing the metal warrior. "I win."

"Not quite!" Reku calmly announced as the set card on his field flipped up. "I activate Draining Shield! This will negate your attack and increase my attack power by the attack of your monster." A lime greenish bubble appeared around the metal warrior, seconds before the blizzard tornado hit it.

The crowed roared with excitement as the life point score shot up by a massive amount. This duel was still on!

Reku-4300 LP
Lucien-3300 LP

"What!" Lucien hadn't expected with Reku's behavior that he had a trap like that set. "Good move, I will end my turn then." Lucien's surprised turned into excitement as Reku pulled back into the duel.

"Thank you, now here we go. Draw!" (Warrior of the White Flame 2000/500) The Warrior of the White Flame started to look a bit weaker, as the fire that licked off his sword started to dwindle a bit. "My Warrior of the White Flame loses 500 attack points a turn, but gains 500 defense points." Reaching down, he flipped both of his cards horizontally one the dueling platform. "I switch them both into defensive mode and end my turn."

"Draw." Lucien calmly said, pulling a card into his hand. Looking at it a second, he decided that its usefulness wasn't very high currently so he added it to his left hand with his phoenix. "Mobius, attack now! Destroy Alpino the Mech Warrior!" Summoning up another raging blizzard like tornado in its cupped hands, the monster let it fly out. Engulfing the mechanical armored warrior, the blizzard wiped him out in seconds leaving only the crouching warrior with his burning white sword left. "I end my turn." Lucien called out as Reku slid the card into his graveyard.

"Draw!" Reku yelled as he snapped a card off his deck. (Warrior of the White Flame 1500/1000) "Magic card go! Card of Sanctity! This will let us draw until we hold six cards." One at a time, both Reku and Lucien drew four cards each. Sliding them into their hands of previously two cards. Smiling, Reku had a plan now. "I activate the magic card Premature Burial! This costs me 800 of my own life points but I get to bring back a monster from my grave."

Reku-3500 LP
Lucien-3300 LP

Standing in front of the card hologram, in a burst of light, the metal plated warrior Alpino stood ready for battle again. "Next, I summon his companion, Dekayak the Mech Warrior (1600/1500)(2100/1100)." Next to the metal plated warrior, a humanoid figure with light blue, shiny, outer armor appeared. Four mechanical appendages for arms stuck out of the monsters shoulders, made entirely out of machines. On its head, a crown of golden colored horns gleamed in the light. "With these two on the field, I can summon this guy from my hand or deck!" Reku called out, pulling out his deck and shifting through it.

Slowly, the new monster with the revived friend faded away, leaving in its place a large golden warrior. The sleek body of the monster, covered from its feet all the way up to its face mask. Shining in gold, the mask had but one long, rectangular hole where beady white and yellow looking eyes peered out from the blackness of the background. In its hands, a long double bladed sword was snapped against the ground sending sparks flying.

"Mechanoid Chrome Guardian (2800/2700)(3300/2300)!" Reku called out slapping the card down. A surging cry of power came from the beast as the field card boosted its prowess. "I'll switch my Warrior of the White Flame to attack mode, and send my Mechanoid Guardian into battle with your Monarch!" Reku yelled out as his white flame warrior stood straight up, ready for battle again. In a rush of wind, the large golden warrior was flying across the field, slicing down on the ice covered monster. In a burst of light and a wave of energy, the monster was destroy.

Reku-3500 LP
Lucien-3200 LP

Shielding his eyes from the smoke and small data bits that his monster sent out upon being destroyed, Lucien only heard Reku cry out his command for the Warrior of the White Flame to attack. Peering threw a crack in his arms, Lucien watched on as the warrior brought his sword down, sending a wave of energy pushing him back.

Reku-3500 LP
Lucien-1700 LP

Smiling, Reku was pleased that he could take back control of the duel. Lucien unfolded his arms and looked at his new life point total. Grabbing a card in his hand, Reku slid it into his duel disk. "I set one card face down and end my turn."

"I draw then." Lucien announced as the next card was extracted from his deck. "Reku's played tough. Right now, he has shifted the balance of power in his favor. Well, lets see how long that lasts." Casually grabbing a card in his hand, Lucien slid it into his duel disk. "I play Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your Molten Destruction!" Lucien announced, seconds later the arena around him was engulfed in a massive gale wind. Ripping the rock walls away and blowing the smoke off, the field was now left bare, and Reku's monsters weak again. (Warrior of the White Flame 1000/1000)(Mechanoid Chrome Guardian 2800/2700) "Next, I'll set these. This monster in defense and this card behind it." Streams of light poured out as the two rectangular cards appeared on the field in front of Lucien. "Turn end."

Growling slightly, Reku drew without saying anything. (Warrior of the White Flame 500/1500) Looking at his weakened warrior, Reku had no choice but to turn the card horizontally, putting it on the defensive. "I switch him to defense mode and send my Mechanoid Chrome Guardian to destroy your set monster!"

"I'm afraid not!" Lucien smirked as Reku fell into his trap. "Open set card Mirror Force! This will eliminate your monster from the field!" Crying out in pain, the sword of the guardian monster collided with a clear, reflective barrier that sprung up around the brown back of Lucien's set monster. In that instant, the attack backfired on the monster, destroying it instantly.

Growling, Reku looked at the cards in his hand. "This card isn't much, but I can bluff with it...I hope." Grabbing the card, Reku quickly inserted it into his duel disk. "I set this card face down and end my turn."

"Right," Lucien gave a nod as the next card was drawn. "I set this monster face down in defense mode and that is all for my turn."

"I see." Reku said to himself out loud. Looking at his newly drawn card, he listened to the sound of his mighty warrior as it finally gave up all of its power (Warrior of the White Flame 0/2000). "I set one more card face down." Reku cried out as he slid the drawn card into his duel disk. "Turn end."

"Good, my move." Lucien's turn began again and the new card slid into his hand. "I will now flip summon my monster; Princess of Tsurugi (900/700). Thanks to her, you take 500 damage for each magic and trap card on your field." Lucien explained as the card flipped over and the hologram of the monster popped out. A female monster sat on the ground, wrapped in a dark red robe, laced in pink. Long golden blond hair flowed down to her mid body. Holding up her delicate arms, the perfect skinny hands had four long, slim crystals jutting out of her knuckles. With a whip of her hands, small crystal shards flew off, one bouncing off each of the three set cards on Reku's field.

Reku-2000 LP
Lucien-1700 LP

"Next I'll flip summon my set Des Lacooda (500/600)." As Lucien called the name of the monster, the other set monster card flipped up producing its hologram. A zombie looking camel monster appeared, wrapped tightly in dirty bandages. "When he is flip summoned I draw one more card." Lucien explained as he drew his next card from its spot on the deck. Adding it to his hand, he quickly moved his finger tips across the tops of his cards until he came to the last card in his hand. "I sacrifice both of my monsters to summon this creature." He announced as he pulled the card out of his hand and held it high in the air. With a sudden dropping motion, the card landed on an empty spot in his duel field.

The blond haired woman and the zombie camel monsters faded away in a rush of golden fire. Rising out of this now raging blaze, a golden phoenix monster yelled to the heavens with a mighty cry. Tilting his head down, Reku let out a growl of disgust as the golden phoenix monster made an impressive entrance. He braced himself from the gale wind that was brought forth by the mighty phoenix stretching out its wings.

"The Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys! (2400/1600)" Lucien roared out in a mighty voice that was met by the cry of his monster.

Squeezing his right fist together, making his knuckles pasty white, Reku looked up at the phoenix. Lucien had a typical smile of accomplishment adorning his face. Pointing to Reku's warrior monster, Lucien took a deep breath.

"Attack!"

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To J.G. the Game Master: Of course, not a problem. About your cards thought, I cannot say that I will or won't use them. I haven't decided yet. I may just so that you as a new reader will get some iffluence on the story, but don't get your hopes up. I am thinking that maybe, if I do, it'll be the last reviewer suggestion I take. Nothing wrong with any that I have, but after a while I realized how much a hassle it became. That is about all I can tell you at this point. Thanks again.

To LuceinShadowMaster: Expect the unexpected.

To John: Maybe.

To Vyser Adapt of Dragons: Thanks.
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