Team Zero: Orichalcos

Chapter 37: Soul Collection Season

The sounds that filled the air of the dome were of all different varieties. Some were cheers of joy, anticipation, and happiness. Some were talk of past duels in the tournament involving some rather strange stuff. Soon, the sound of the life point score beeping up to the standard starting place and the clicks as cards were pulled off their decks.

Lance-4000 LP
Hygin-4000 LP

"I start, so I'll draw my sixth card." Hygin calmly stated as he added a card to his hand, giving him the total of six he needed to start the duel. A twisted expression crossed his face as he held up one of the cards in his hand. Flipping it around, he revealed a green bordered card with a six pointed star in the center of two rings. "Activate Seal of Orichalcos!"

With a rushing up wind, green lines started to trace around the field. Once the two outer circles of the seal had been formed, the ruin symbols lit up inside, locking it all in place. Then the lines began to draw out the six points of the star that rested inside the two circles. Finally stopping as the line all met in the center, the rush of energy from the Seal of Orichalcos flowed upward and through both players.

Watching through red tinted eyes, Hygin slowly lifted another card from his hand up to his face, only slightly covering the identical mark on Hygin's forehead. Seeming pleased with his plan, he slapped it down onto his duel disk. "I start off by summoning Element Saurus (1500/1200) in attack mode!" As the card to form on Hygin's field, it was increased in veracity from the seal that surrounded the duelists. The newly formed brown colored dinosaur snapped its teeth at Lance a few times, looking all around with it pearl like eye. With a rush of energy, the monster gained an identical symbol on its own forehead, just between its eyes (2000/1200).

Taking another swift glance at his hand, Hygin quickly located the next card he wanted. Pulling it out of the hand of four cards he slid the card into his duel disk. "I activate the magic card Doriado's Blessing, sending the monster card from my hand, Element Magician (1500/1200) to the grave to summon Elemental Mistress Doriado (1200/1500)(1700/1500)!"

With a rush of light, a beautiful woman monster appeared next to the brown dinosaur monster. Her lovely white and blue robes flowed down to the floor, and her head was decorated with a red head piece. Hygin smiled at his new monster, nodding in approval to her entrance.

"Elemental Mistress Doriado is four attributes at once. Fire, water, wind, and earth. With that, my Element Saurus gains two abilities. First he gains 500 more attack points for a fire monster being on the field (2500/1200), and now he negates all effects of monsters he destroys because of Doriado's Earth attribute." Holding up the finial card in his hand, Hygin slid it into his duel disk. "I set one card face down, ending my turn." With that, the appearance of the finial card in Hygin's hand appeared on the field behind his two powerful monsters.

Lance drew and added the card to his hand. Looking up, he glanced across the two monsters and the set card on Hygin's field. Then his eyes slowly traced around the green circle that surrounded them. "He wasted all of his opening hand to do that, if I can squeeze through his defenses I'll win! He will have nothing left to play with and, unless he is an incredible top-decker, he won't have many resources to play from."

Grabbing the top of one of the cards in his hand, Lance slowly pulling it out, whipped it around through the air, and landed it on a monster zone slot. "I summon my Mechanicalchaser (1850/800) in attack mode!" A blinding shower of lights dawned on Lance's field as a yellow, mechanical sphere appeared hovering feet off the ground. Long, thin, robotic arms shot out from the ball, each having a different type of weapon at the very end. A strange, white, face gave an emotionless stare at the two monsters it was about to face.

"Does your move have a point?" Hygin asked, already seeming board with the duel.

"Oh, it does." Lance growled, taking another card from his hand and sliding it into the duel disk. "I activate the magic card Riryoku! This will take half of your Element Saurus's attack power and add it to my Mechanicalchaser!" A glowing, white energy seemed to flow off the brown dino. Coursing across the field, it seeped into the yellow ball monster. (Element Saurus 1450/1200)(Mechanicalchaser 3300/800) "Go Mechanicalchaser! Attack his dino with your Stabbing Assault!"

"Open trap card!" Hygin yelled out, whipping his hand down to the set card. When it flipped up, Hygin called its name. "Fuh-Rin-Ka-Zan!"

"Oh no!" Lances eyes widened as his metal monster exploded into small data bits halfway across the field.

"My trap, Fuh-Rin-Ka-Zan, only works if I have a monster of Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth on my field. Since I have my Doriado I am covered in all four of those departments. So I select one of the effects on the card, to destroy all monsters on your side of the field." Hygin explained, getting a less than pleased look in return from his opponent.

Snarling a bit, Lance slid a card from his hand into his duel disk. "I set one card face down, ending my turn." (Element Saurus 2500/1200)

"Draw!" Hygin yelled, snapping a card off his deck. Adding the card to his hand, he whipped his free right hand towards Lance. "Elemental Mistress Doriado attacks you directly. Element Attack!" Cupping her skinny, fragile looking white hands, the monster created an orb between her palms. Inside the orb, a mixture of flames, water, rocks, swirling around in a tornado fashion. Representing her elements. With a hard push, she sent the orb sailing across the field, crashing into Lance.

Lance-2300 LP
Hygin-4000 LP

"Element Saurus," Hygin pointed to Lance, who was glaring up from the attack that had just hit him. "Finish this duel, Dino Elemental Fire!" Arching its back, the dino lowered its head down to be even with Lance from across the field. Opening its jaw wide, a massive eruption of flames shot out from deep in its throat.

"Open set card!" Cried Lance as his only card on the field activated to the oncoming attack. "Magic Cylinder!" Materializing out of no where, inches in front of Lance, a large purple tube appeared. The oncoming fire soon was shot inside the purple colored cylinder only to disappear and not come out on the other side. "Now watch as you own attack backfires on you!" Lance cried out as an identical tube to the first one shot up from behind him. From the opening pointing towards Hygin, the same attack of flames shot out, engulfing the duelist for a second.

Lance-2300 LP
Hygin-1500 LP

Narrowing his eyebrows, Hygin gave a look of disgust. He had hoped to end the duel right there, and getting on with what else his master had wanted him to do. "Turn end." Was all he said, but his tone rang with his anger.

"My turn, draw!" Lance called out, snapping a new card off his deck. "Go, magic card; Monster Reborn! This will revive my Mechanicalchaser you sent to my grave last turn!" Appearing again over a horizontal card, indicating defense mode, the said monster appeared on the field. "Next magic card I'll play will be, Cost Down! I discard one card to be able to sacrifice my Mechanicalchaser on the field to summon Perfect Machine King (2700/1500)!"

Fading into a large spray of light, the Mechanicalchaser disappeared but was replaced by a massive white and red machine monster that towered far above the field. Crashing its fists together, a wave of lightning bolts shot out. Groaning in power, the monster glared down at the dino and the woman monsters.

"Attack Elemental Mistress Doriado now my king! Killer Missile Strike!" Roared Lance, whipping his arm out towards the beautiful woman monster. In a screech of gears, the hatches on the shoulder of the large robot began to flip up revealing the arrangement of holes underneath. From each of the holes, white, red tipped missiles emerged. With blinding speeds, the missiles closed the gab of the field between the Perfect Machine King and the Elemental Mistress Doriado. With the explosion of all the missiles, a massive ball of fire was formed on Hygin's field as his monster was destroyed.

Lance-2300 LP
Hygin-500 LP

Lance smirked as he looked at Hygin standing, unphased from the attack, surrounded by a wave of smoke. "Since your great all elemental monster is gone, your monster loses its boost and effect negating ability." Lance smiled, watching the attack power of the dinosaur drop (2000/1200). "I end my turn."

"Fool." Hygin commented in a gruff tone as he slid another card off his deck. "I set one card, and summon my Element Soldier (1500/1200) in defense mode." Next to the dino, a brown armored warrior monster appeared crouching over its card. A long, blue robe hung off its back, laying on the ground behind it. A large staff held off to its side, holding the monster upright as it knelt down on one knee. "I switch my Element Saurus to defense mode as well, and end my turn."

"Right, now draw!" Lance cried out has he snapped the top card off his deck. Looking at it, he quickly moved it to his duel disk. "Magic card go, 7 Completed! This will up the attack of my Perfect Machine King by 700 points (3400/1500)." A faint aura surrounded Lance's monster before the hatches on its shoulders opened again. Snapping out his arm, Lance prepared to call the attack. "Strike down Element Saurus now! Killer Missile Strike!"

Hygin watched, unaffected, as a wave of missiles shot out of the launchers. Whizzing through the air, they screamed towards the brown dinosaur that was crouched over on his field. Pressing a button on his duel disk just before the attack hit, the set card on his field flipped up and began to glow.

"Activating trap, Resources From the Elements!" Hygin called out just before his dino was ripped to shreds by the missile onslaught.

"What did that do?" Lance gasped, looking at how calm and composed Hygin still looked.

"It works whenever a monster with Element in its title is destroyed. By paying half my life points I get to add any one magic card I want from my deck to my hand." Hygin explained as he pulled out his deck and started to shift through it.

Lance-2300 LP
Hygin-250 LP

"Oh no!" Lance's eyes were wide, trying to scan his vast knowledge of cards to think of what kind of magic card would help out an Element Deck like Hygin's. Or even to help Hygin out of this spot. Watching silently, Hygin quickly shuffled his deck and slid it back into his deck slot. Then he looked up, waiting for Lance to make the finial call. "I end."

"Heh, 'bout time. Draw!" Hygin called out, dragging the top card of his deck off and scanning it. Grabbing the first card he held it out towards Lance. "Magic card go, Card of Sanctity! We each draw until we hold six cards in our hands." Hygin reached down, snapping five more cards off his deck. Lance, one at a time, pulled six cards off his own deck.

"Next I play, Poison of the Old Man." Hygin announced sliding the card into his duel disk. "This will increase my life by 1200 points. Which is good, I shall need most of these points to finish you off in this turn." Hygin smirked, sending a wave of chills down Lance's spine.

Lance-2300 LP
Hygin-1450 LP

Hygin slid another card into his duel disk, creating the hologram in front of him, he called out its name. "Fulfillment of the Contract! This cost me 800 life points to play, but I get to bring back any ritual monster in my grave. Elemental Mistress Doriado!"

Lance-2300 LP
Hygin-650 LP

In a shower of bright lights, the woman monster in blue and white robes appeared again on Hygin's field. She looked just as beautiful as she did on her first appearance in the duel. The green seal began to glow in the center of the recd head piece, as the seal's power began to course through her veins again. (1200/1500)(1700/1500)

"Now, I equip my Doriado with my Ritual Weapon. Since her star level is below six, she gains 1500 more attack power." Hygin's monster now wielded a strange, crossbow that set on her left forearm. Smiling a bit, she outstretched her arm towards the opponet (3200/1500).

"Close, but not quite good enough." Lance smugly stated. Turning his head slightly to the side, he let out a boasting laugh.

"Shut up will ya?" Hygin annoyance was quite apparent. His eyes, behind the red tint that the seal gave to them, were filled with impatience and anger. Grabbing two more cards from his hand, he quickly slapped them down onto his dark green duel disk. "I summon my Element Doom (1500/1200) in attack mode!"

A strange brown creature appeared in a flash on Hygin's field. Hissing, the demonic monster flapped about with its raven black wings, snapping its long, emerald green tipped, tail across the ground. As the mark of the seal appeared on its forehead, the beast became even more ferocious, snarling and pounding the ground (2000/1200).

"Ok..." Lance was still lost as to what Hygin was trying to do. He still had a sense of pride, he didn't see any way that summoning this monster was going to help his Doriado defeat his Perfect Machine King. But he was still wary, even with his proud exterior pose, Lance knew deep inside not to count his wins until he had done so.

"Now, to shut that arrogant mouth of yours, magic card go!" Hygin said sliding the other card in his right hand into his duel disk. "Gift of the Martyr! This will give the power of my Element Solider to my Doriado!"

Lance's eyes widened. He watched helplessly as the brown armored warrior, that sat crouched over on Hygin's field, began to vanish into the air. A stream of cream colored aura flowed around the white robed woman, making her seem even more powerful as her attack points combined with that of the Element Solider's. (4700/1500)

Not a sound was made between Ryokurio, Aliya, and Usami. The three of them stood motionless outside. Ryokurio gaze was fixed on the ground, watching the blades of grass move slightly in the breeze. Aliya and Usami gave looks of concern between them and looking back at Ryokurio. It was Usami who finally broke the silence. Stepping towards him slowly, she outstretched her hand slightly.

"Brother..."

"GET AWAY!" He snapped, jumping back from the two of them. Glaring at the two of them, he seemed like a robber cornered by cops. His eyes darting back and forth between the two of them, just waiting for the first one of them to make a move on him.

"Ryokurio, we are just worried, and slightly confused." Aliya said with sympathy in her voice. Stepping towards Ryokurio, she joined the slow march on him started by Usami. "Why?"

"Why what?" Ryokurio said, taking a few sudden jumps backwards to put more distance between them.

"Why did you join their side?" Usami questioned, stopping once she realized it was pointless trying to get near him. Aliya also stopped next to her.

"I...I..." Ryokurio looked down at his duel disk. Pulling the top card off his deck, he looked at it. The green boarder, the large circle with the six pointed star in the middle. The Seal of Orichalcos. Narrowing his brow, he looked at them in anger. "I know why I joined them. I know exactly why, and I know what is expected of me. Now get out of my way!" In a sudden jerk, he took off running, bumping both of the girls knocking them to the ground.

They sat there in shock, unsure what brought about the sudden change. Getting up, they took off running after him.

Hygin smirked, darkened even more by the influence of the seal around the field. Snapping his arm out towards the white and red armored machine, he called his finial attacks.

"Elemental Mistress Doriado attack now, Elemental Crossbow Killer!" Reacting to the command, the white robed monster let the arrow of the crossbow shoot out at tremendous speeds. Whistling through the air, it pierced through the chest of the humanoid machine. Causing it to explode a second later.

Lance-1000 LP
Hygin-650 LP

"Element Doom," Hygin whipped his arm to the side quickly as he called the finial attack, "finish!"

Hissing, the demon monster was pleased to take off charging towards Lance. With terrible power, the monster rammed Lance right in the chest, sending him flying backwards. At the edge of the seal's boundaries, Lances body suddenly jerked to a stop in the air, jolting from side to side as small green lightning bolts shot through his veins. Soon, he fell forward, falling lifeless to the ground.

Lance-0 LP
Hygin-650 LP

Hygin looked over to where Kaiba sat. Smiling coldly he began to speak. "There, I win. Now declare me the..."

"Shut up." Hygin was stopped in mid-sentance and mid turn. Jerking his head the other way, he saw Ryokurio walking out into the dome. Stopping just at the edge of the dueling arena, he crossed his arms. Looking very composed, calm, and understanding.

"What? Ryokurio where have you..." Again, Hygin was interrupted by Ryokurio.

"I told you to shut up!" Pointing up towards Hygin, Ryokurio spoke with more anger than he had ever before. "Look around you, look at the seal that gives power to you, your monsters, and what has made us so unstoppable."

Shrugging, Hygin looked around at the field. The Seal of Orichalcos had not yet vanished from the field, it still glowed brightly. Looking back, Hygin gave a look of confusion. "You have a point?"

"Very much so." Ryokurio whipped his arm over, pointing to the motionless body of Lance. "Look at what you've done. This seal brings nothing but darkness and hate. I was over come with its dark influence. It fed on a small dark part in my good heart. That darkness was multiplied a million times, I couldn't stop myself. But I see now what has been the problem." Slowly, Ryokurio's gaze moved towards the last member of Team Orichalcos. Chime stood up as Ryokurio's eyes fixated on her.

"So," she began, "you broke the influence the seal had on you. That is too bad, you made such a nice minion."

"I will not be your minion any more, nor will I be a pawn in your little game." Ryokurio held up the card in his hand, he showed the face of it to Chime. "The Seal of Orichalcos." Turning the card, he looked at it for the finial time, before whipping his arm up, launching the card through the air at Hygin. "I send all my rage, hate, anger, and darkness in this card to seal the soul of you. One who refuses to listen to reason!"

With stunning accuracy, the card flew past the barrier of the seal, and hit Hygin right on his arm, which had come up to deflect the attack out of habit. A strange, warp in the space around Hygin made his body seem to distorted. The magic card that had been the major source of his power in the duel, finally started to move. It began to enclose around its master. Hygin seemed frozen in time as the seal finally rested under his feet, sending a huge pillar of green light shooting up around him.

Amazement washed over everyone in the dome. They all watched silently as the light show finally ended, leaving Hygin's body to fall, soulless, to the concrete floor. A loud clanking noise echoed through the dome as his duel disk hit the ground.

"You" Chime's voice was loud, and filled with an anger she had never shown before. "You."

"What?" Ryokurio finally answered back, stomping across the gap that separated the two of them. "You a little pissed that I finally put a stop to your plans."

"What?" Chime turned her head, letting a chilling laugh fill the dome. "Stopped my plans, no you haven't even gotten close hun." Reaching into a pocket, Chime pulled out an orb that was about the size of a large base ball. In side it, what looked like green, endless body snakes were slithering around making a tight ball. "You see this you little whelp?"

"Yes I do, what is it?" Ryokurio asked, never seeing the strange relic before.

"Oh this?" Chime asked, smugly walking up close to Ryokurio. "This my betraying little friend, is the container where all the souls have been going when they are captured by the seal. And now," extending her arm, she pressed the orb against Ryokurio's chest. Twisting in unpleasant pain, Ryokurio's body started uncontrollable jerking, soon collaspsing on the floor at Chime's feet. "Your soul is added to my collection."

Looking up, Chime fixed her emerald green eyes on the three standing members of Team Zero. Giving a wicked smile, she was pleased with the pure look of rage on Reku's, Ronin's and Akina's faces.

"How dare you, you bitch!" Ronin cried out, holding up his hand and letting his duel disk snap into place. "Duel now, I cannot stand to wait ten minuets to rip your ass a new one!"

"And he isn't alone, you're facing all of us!" Reku added, letting his green duel disk snap into place as well. Akina nodded, as her duel disk did the same.

"What? All three of you? That's not fair at all! I think you need a few more people on your team to even the odds." Chime spoke in a proud, defiant tone. Picking up a duel disk from the bench where she sat before, she quickly slid it onto her arm. "But you are right, I am tiered of waiting, I shall duel now." Holding her arm horizontally before her, the duel disk that was placed on it folded out the spine that served as the dueling field. The symbols engraved in the duel disk began to glow and then the life point score shot up to the starting point.

No one made a sound as the four of them made their way up the stairs to the dueling arena. Moving Hygin's and Lance's lifeless bodies off to the side, the four of them took their places.

The time had come. The finial duel was approaching.

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Although I wasn't going to update this soon cause of all the work I have to do. I am in such a good mood today, so I think I shall give you the next chapter. Brace yourself people, next time is the battle we have all waited for.

To J.G. The Game Master: There was Hygin's duel. Next up, Chime will face off against Team Zero. So more Orichalcos to come.

To Vyser Adapt of Dragons: You guessed Hygin would lose didn't you?

To John: Oh don't worry, these last few chapters are already the best I can do. So I will make them a step above what I can do. Just hold on to the edge of yoru seat.

To LucienShadowMaster: I know kind of what you are talking about. To me though, it sounded more Kaiba like to say "do not" rather than don't right there.

To D.O.P.S.: It's ok. I don't expect you to read my fics, but it is nice that you do. See you in two weeks.

To Demon Fan: Yes, I have scared a lot of my reviewers and readers with some of the pointless knowlege I remember about my own fic. Maybe I should quiz you guys. Or hey, want to make me impressed? Find a hidden tid bit I threw into my fic. A lot of things in my fic have hidden things to them.
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