Lance sat down next to Marcus and Andreas as he waited for the first class of the day (not to mention the semester) to start, Chloe was late but the teacher hadn't arrived yet so he was hoping that she would arrive before the teacher did, just as he thought that the door opened and Chloe hurried in taking an unoccupied seat directly in front of Lance's.
"Sleep in Chloe?" Lance asked and Chloe shook her head.
"No I didn't, the reason I was late is the fact that the cronies of a certain German Obelisk Blue Student wouldn't leave me alone." Chloe said shaking her head.
"Was it Dwayne again?" Lance asked and she shook her head. "Good, at least they are honouring their word."
"Now if you only you can beat the rest of Obelisk Blue with the same stipulations." Chloe added before resting her arms on the table. "Did the teacher arrive whilst I was out?"
"Yes, he did." Otto called out with a smirk. "I'm sure he'll have some choice words for you when he returns."
"Otto, I'm only going to say this one: shut it." Brandon warned him before turning to Chloe. "Don't listen to him, the teacher's running late as well."
"And be glad the class isn't with the Obelisk Blue headmaster." Marcus added before resting his hand on the desk. "Speaking of which where is the teacher?"
"I'm here students." Everyone's eyes focused on the front of the room where a short man with black hair in a ponytail with a matching goatee and brown eyes in a Osiris Red uniform entered the room. "Welcome students, both new and old, I am Professor Hamden, headmaster for the Osiris Red Boys Dorm and Professor of strategy." Hamden said before looking around the room before resting his eyes on Chloe. "Now, how about we start with you, young lady?" Chloe gulped.
"Me?" She asked and Hamden nodded.
"Don't waste your time Hamden, what does an Osiris Red student know about strategy?" Otto scoffed.
"She knew enough to outsmart you." Lance answered back and Otto growled.
"Settle down boys." Hamden said sternly before turning to Chloe. "I'll give you a simple scenario: your opponent has three Harpie Ladies (4/1300/1400) on the flied alongside Harpie's Pet Dragon alongside one facedown card, you on the other hand only have a single Kuriboh, Curse of Dragon and two facedown cards one of which is Blast Held By A Tribute, the scores are 500 lifepoints for you and a thousand for your opponent and it's his turn, how do you win in this scenario? Oh and no one is allowed to help her."
"Crap, what does Blast Held By a Tribute do again?" Chloe thought as she struggled to figure out the solution, after five minutes she sighed. "I give up."
"Not to worry, you are here to learn." Hamden reassured her before turning to the others. "Anyone else want to give it a shot?"
"Well I'd say that this scenario is so simple that a monkey could solve it but then I'd be comparing monkeys to Chloe and that would be an unfair comparison." Otto chuckled. "I'd let the opponent attack with Harpie's Pet Dragon then activate Blast Held By A Tribute, as per the effect of the card the Harpie Ladies and Pet Dragon would be destroyed and the opponent would suffer a Thousand points of damage, simple."
"Not so." Brandon pointed out. "For all you know the opponent could attack with one of the Harpie Ladies and you don't have the lifepoints to spare to wait for the Pet Dragon to attack."
"Okay, then I'd activate it when one of the Harpy Ladies attacked, either way I'd win." Otto grinned but Hamden shook his head.
"You're both wrong, yes you can activate Blast Held by a Tribute but the opponent's facedown card is Trap Jammer which negates the effect of Blast Held by a Tribute, now Chloe was it?" Hamden said turning back to her. "What do you do now?"
"Err, activate my other trap card and hope for the best?" Chloe said nervously.
"Good choice, the other facedown card was Last Turn which sends all cards except a card you select on the field back to the deck and requires both players to summon monsters to do battle and whoever has the strongest card wins, the opponent summons Harpie's Brother which has an attack of 1800, your choices are Curse of Dragon which has an attack of 2000 and the previously mentioned Kuriboh." Hamden said folding his arms.
"That's easy, my choice is Curse of Dragon and since the effect of Last Turn requires them both to do battle Harpie's Brother is destroyed and the duel is mine." Hamden smiled and turned to Otto who was quite angry by this point.
"I believe you said something about an unfair comparison to monkeys Otto?" Hamden chuckled and Otto growled.
"THAT'S NOT FAIR! Last Turn is on the Forbidden List!" Otto was quick to point out and Hamden chuckled.
"I'll admit that I came up with that scenario prior to Last Turn's addition to the forbidden list, I've been meaning to modify it." Hamden admitted before turning to Lance. "It's your turn young man."
"Shoot away." Lance said confidently.
"Well you certainly don't lack for confidence, why don't I put that to the test and give you a challenging scenario?" Hamden said and Lance gulped.
"Me and my big mouth, alright what do you have in mind?" Lance asked.
"Your opponent has Exodd, Master of the Guard on the field in defence mode with a defence of 4000, a Wall of Revealing Light with its barrier set at 3000 and a face up Final Countdown which is on its last turn, you on the other hand have Vorse Raider on the field in attack mode with an attack of 1900 and the spell card Shield and Sword in your hand alongside a facedown card, the lifepoints are as follows: the opponent has 4000 lifepoints whilst yours are untouched as he has played a purely defensive strategy, how do you win in this turn?" Lance gulped before thinking for a few moments.
"I'd activate Shield and Sword to swap Master of the Guard's attack and defence around then activate my facedown card which is..." Lance trailed off.
"The trap card Ring of Destruction." Hamden nodded. "And that does what exactly..."
"Destroys one monster on the field and deals damage equal to a monster's attack to the players and my choice would be Exodd." Lance said before Otto spoke up again.
"This is bullshit; Ring of Destruction has been on the Forbidden list far longer than Last Turn has." Otto pointed out. "How are these strategies supposed to help us if we use forbidden cards in the scenario?"
"Can't believe I'm saying this but I agree with Otto." Chloe nodded.
"I never said anything about using these strategies, these scenarios are supposed to teach you how to think on your feet." Hamden said putting his arms behind his back. "Keep that in mind the next time you duel." Hamden added just before the door opened and a proctor ran in handing over a form to Hamden, he looked at the form and raised an eyebrow. "Hmm, seems you're quite popular Chloe, you have a duel request form from one of the top students in Obelisk Blue." Hamden said handing over the request form to her.
"Who's it from Chloe?" Lance asked trying to read over her shoulder, when he saw it he paled. "Theresa's challenged you?"
"Oh great, just what I need." Chloe groaned. "How the hell am I supposed to compete with her?"
"Remembering what I taught you might help." Hamden chuckled before turning to the proctor. "Any other request forms or can I continue?" The proctor shook his head and left the room.
"Oh, that should be good; I get to watch Theresa mop the floor with that amateur's deck." Otto chuckled.
"You're just bitter that this amateur's deck duelled circles around yours." Chloe answered back.
"Don't make me come down there!" Otto shouted back and Hamden frowned.
"That's enough, both of you." He demanded. "I am well aware of that duel you two had on the boat and I will not let my classroom become a battleground, do I make myself clear?"
"Yes sir." Chloe gulped nervously.
"Whatever." Otto muttered under his breath.
"Good." Hamden nodded, the rest of the lesson went on without a hitch until the bell sounded and the students breathed a sigh of relief. "Ah good, now I can give all of you your homework." Hamden said picking up several piles of textbooks causing the students to groan; regardless they took the textbooks as they left Chloe and Lance being the last to leave. "Remember to read the pages that I have bookmarked." He called out to the students as they left.
"Oh great, first I have a request for a duel with Theresa now I have a week's worth of homework, what next?" Chloe groaned as she put the textbooks in her backpack.
"You could always duel Kaiba." Lance grinned as he put the books in his own backpack. "You're seriously considering it though?"
"Well it's not like I've backed down from a challenge before." Chloe answered. "Hell, that's how we met."
"And I kicked your ass in a duel." Lance pointed out. "Though to be fair you only had a week's worth of experience at the time."
"Yeah, don't remind me." Chloe said looking at the request form again. "So what do I do now?"
"If that was directed at me...I have no idea." Lance said rubbing the back of his head nervously.
"No but I do." Brandon said approaching them. "All you need to do is write down here whether you accept or deny the challenge and take it to her dorm."
"Easy enough can't say the same for the match though." Chloe said as she searched her pockets for a pen, she found one and wrote down "challenge accepted" on the form. "What am I getting myself into?"
"You'll see." Brandon said as Chloe pocketed the pen. "Come on I'll take you to the dorm."
"I'm coming along as well, in case any nimrods like Dwayne try anything." Lance said with a grin.
"That won't be necessary, most of the Obelisk Blue students are in class." Brandon said with a grin. "Besides that the head of the girl's dorm isn't trusting of boys from outside of Obelisk Blue."
"So she doesn't trust the majority of the students?" Lance asked and Brandon shrugged.
"Hey with some of the Ra Yellow students it's justified...no offence." Brandon said quickly.
"All right, when you have a location set send me a message on my PDA, I don't want to miss this match." Lance said with a nod. "In the meantime I'm going to read up on the homework I got from Hamden, which should keep me occupied for an hour or two."
"Yeah, that's if you're lucky." Brandon nodded. "Come on Chloe." Brandon said motioning her to follow him; she followed him out of the main building and to the south side of the island. "There was another reason you got that request Chloe." Chloe blinked when Brandon said that and reread the request form.
"If Theresa wins I have to tell her and you anything you ask about my past?" She read out loud. "How did I miss that?"
"Doesn't matter, truth is Theresa was equally concerned about you as I was when you mentioned your bad history with alcohol yesterday." Brandon said. "She thought you'd be unwilling to tell me and came up with this idea; don't take it the wrong way."
"It's fine, though I'm not happy with having to air all my troubles in public." Chloe said bluntly as they approached the Girl's Dorm.
"You won't be airing them in public, just name a private place and we'll talk there, if you lose of course." Brandon said as they approached the door. "Go ahead Chloe, the door won't bite you."
"It's not the door I'm worried about." Chloe muttered under her breath before knocking on the door, it was answered by Theresa who smirked.
"Ah Chloe, I see you got my request." Theresa said folding her arms, Chloe handed over the request form and Theresa read it over. "Good, I'll see you at the Obelisk Blue Duel Arena in 20 minutes, have to get one of my decks and my duel disk."
"Luckily for me I have both of those things covered already." Chloe said holding up her duel disk. "See you at the duel field...as soon as Brandon shows me where it is."Chloe said, Theresa closed the door behind her and Brandon led her away. "That was surprisingly painless."
"I'm going to assume your referring to the other residents of Obelisk Blue, if you are then don't worry, the girls in Obelisk Blue are a lot nicer to the students in Red and Yellow." Brandon told her as they left the south section and returned to the centre of the island where they found Lance sitting on a bench reading the text book intensely. "The match is set."
"And what happened to you calling me?" Lance asked as he read the text book. "Hamden really knows how to make things hard for me...I just realized how incredibly wrong that sounded."
"I'm sure you can beat him off...that came out wrong as well." Chloe said blushing intently. "How about we just change the subject before we embarrass ourselves even further?" Chloe suggested.
"Yeah, like how I'm sure you'll beat off Theresa...that came out even worse than my first sentence." Lance said using the textbook to hide his blush. "Where is the match being held?"
"It's being held at the Obelisk Blue Duel Field." Brandon told him.
"They'll let a Osiris Red in there?" Lance asked suspiciously.
"And a Ra Yellow as long as there's an Obelisk Blue with them, that way we can watch two women go at it...damn it now you've got me started!" Brandon said shaking his head.
"Anyway there's something you should read." Chloe said putting the request form in front of the textbook with her thumb on the section that said "special rules". "To be more specific I want you to read the part about the rules."
Lance read the part and nodded. "Huh, that's nice." Lance said as he continued to read the textbook...that is until it dawned on him.
*meanwhile at the Obelisk Blue Girls Dorm*
Theresa left the girl's dorm with her deck and duel disk in hand, ready for the match against Chloe.
"Chloe's good but I've seen her duel twice, if she tries to combine her Silent Magician with one of her spell cards I'll be ready for her." Theresa thought looking at her deck before putting it in the Duel Disk.
"YOU AGREED TO DO WHAT?" Lance yelled causing Theresa to sweat drop.
"Looks like Lance has found out about the stipulations." Theresa said before making her way to the centre of the island.
*back with Chloe, Brandon and Lance*
"No need to yell." Brandon said rubbing his ear in pain.
"Don't you understand?" Lance said once he calmed down. "It's not something simple like "I stole money whilst I was drunk", which before you ask never happened to me, it's...it's not something that Chloe's ever gotten over."
"Relax, when she beats Chloe..." Chloe cleared her throat. "IF she beats Chloe then I and Theresa will take her to my room where she can open up...that sounded not nearly as bad in my head." Brandon blushed. "I'm going to shut up before a faculty member misinterprets what I say."
"Please do." Lance said nodding in agreement. "Let's just get to the damn duel field already."
"I agreed." Theresa said walking up to them. "So, you ready to duel Chloe?"
"Honestly? I don't know what I'm getting into but I've never backed down from a challenge before." Chloe said with a nod. "Can you lead the way?"
"Sure." Theresa nodded leading the younger woman away.
"HEY WAIT FOR US!" Lance and Brandon called out once Lance had put his textbooks back in the backpack, the four duellists where led to the duel field and the two girls activated their duel disks.
"So who's going first?" Chloe asked as she drew her cards, Brandon and Lance took their seats and Theresa scanned her hand.
"Since I'm feeling generous you'll go first." Theresa said maintaining her poker face. "Soon as I activate this trap card Chloe will have a hell of a time getting her Silent Magician Level 8 on the field." Theresa thought as Chloe drew her card.
"Alright, I've got Level Up! On my first draw, I just need to draw Silent Magician and the duel will be in the bag, in the meantime though..." Chloe thought before picking up her card. "I summon Neo, The Magic Swordsman in attack mode." She said as Neo appeared on the field ready for battle (4/1700/1000). "And I set this facedown for later." The hologram of the facedown card appeared on the field behind Neo. "That ends my turn." Chloe said with a smirk. "Come on, attack Neo I dare you! My Mirror Force will send it back at you!" Chloe thought as Theresa drew her card.
"I summon Chiron the Mage in attack mode!" Theresa played the card and a centaur whose human body was covered in Roman armour carrying a staff with a red orb on the end appeared on the field (4/1800/1000). "You know Chloe when you set a trap you should really try to make it less obvious."
"What do you mean?" Chloe said trying to hide her surprise.
"What I mean is I'm activating Chiron the Mage's special ability, by discarding a spell card from my hand I can destroy one Spell or Trap card on the field." Chloe's eyes widened when Theresa discarded the card and Chiron pointed the orb at the hologram of the facedown card, the orb emitted a pulse that shattered the hologram.
"Oh crap." Chloe muttered as Neo got ready for battle.
"Sorry kid but moves like that won't work on me, Chiron attack Neo now!" Chiron galloped at Neo and whacked him with the staff causing the hologram to shatter.
T: 8000
C: 7900
"Okay, that was a minor setback." Chloe said scanning her hand.
"You call it a minor setback; I call it a rookie mistake." Theresa said picking up another card. "One card facedown will end my turn." Chloe gulped and drew her card.
"Breaker the Magical Warrior, with his effect I can destroy Chiron and tie the game, but I'm not sure if I trust her facedown card." Chloe thought. "Screw it, it's worth a shot." Chloe thought before summoning her monster. "I summon Breaker the Magical Warrior in attack mode." Chloe played the card and Breaker appeared on the field (4/1600/1000) "And thanks to his effect he's strong enough to destroy Chiron." Chloe added as Breaker's attack rose to 1900.
"Not bad but aren't you forgetting something?" Theresa said motioning to her facedown card. "Either destroy Chiron or destroy my card, tough choice."
"Not really, nice try but I know a bluff when I see, Breaker attack Chiron now!" Breaker charged at the mage and slashed it down the middle.
T: 7900
C: 7900
"Just as I thought, that facedown was a bluff." Chloe said with a smirk. "I end my turn." Theresa drew her card and smirked.
"Who said that was a bluff?" Theresa asked causing Chloe to do a double take. "You really should've destroyed the facedown card after destroying Chiron."
"But...but you didn't..." Chloe stammered as her mistake dawned on her.
"Activate it? Well I'm activating it now, GO IMPERIAL ORDER!" The card flipped up and an elderly king appeared on the field. "As long as this is on the field you can't activate any Spell Cards, which means no Swords of Revealing Light or Level Up for you."
"What?" Chloe said once it dawned on her. "You had me scouted didn't you?"
"Didn't need too, your strategies are too predictable." Theresa said picking up another card. "As for Breaker I have something that will take care of it before you can use its effect to destroy Imperial Order." Theresa said playing the card. "I summon Axe Dragonite in attack mode!" Theresa played the card and a black and purple dragon wielding a double headed axe appeared on the field. (4/2000/1200).
"Did she just summon a level four monster with 2000 attack?" Lance asked and Brandon nodded.
"Don't worry, it has its drawbacks." Brandon said folding his arms.
"Axe Dragonite attack Breaker now!" Axe Dragonite took flight and dive-bombed at Breaker before slashing at it with its axe causing it to shatter.
T: 7900
C: 7800
"Damn it, nothing in my hand is strong enough to beat that dragon." Chloe thought before looking back at Dragonite which to her surprise was kneeling down.
"Surprised? When Axe Dragonite attacks it shifts to defence mode after damage calculation." Theresa explained, Chloe blinked and sighed on relief. "For now I'll set a card facedown and end my turn."
"Right." Chloe nodded before drawing her card. "Oh for the love of god, off all the times to draw Silent Magician Level Four." Chloe thought the frustration clear on her face, and then she spotted another card in her hand. "Pitch Black Power Stone, didn't Hamden say earlier that I needed to think outside the box?" Chloe thought before turning her attention back to Axe Dragonite. "But first I have a dragon to slay." "I set a card facedown and summon Gearfriend, the Iron Knight in attack in attack mode!" The holograms of the facedown card and Gearfriend the Iron Knight appeared on the field (4/1800/1600). "Gearfriend, it's time to slay that dragon, ATTACK!" Gearfriend charged at Dragonite and decapitated him with a single blow. "Lucky for you Dragonite was in defence mode...well lucky for me actually since..."
"Forget it, just finish your move." Theresa said plainly, Chloe looked at her hand before motioning for her to take her turn.
"Hey, who's that Osiris Red that Theresa's duelling?" Lance looked up at the sound of a cockney accent and saw a redheaded male Obelisk Blue student with short hair and brown eyes. "She isn't doing to badly for a student from there."
"That's Chloe, one of the new students." Lance told him. "And a friend of mine I might add."
"You don't say." The Redhead said sitting down. "She may be good but no one from outside of Obelisk Blue has been able to beat Theresa in a duel, and even then we had a tough enough time beating her, what's the story so far?"
"The score's close, Theresa's in the lead with 7900 points whilst Chloe's behind at 7800 and thanks to Imperial Order Theresa's eliminated one of Chloe's main strategies." Lance told him. "The name's Lance by the way."
"Evan." The Englishman nodded in acknowledgement. "How long has Chloe been duelling?"
"Two months." Lance shrugged causing Evan to give him an odd luck. "Her dad taught her the basics."
"Ah I see." Evan nodded. "I doubt her dad's ever faced anyone like Theresa though."
"All right Chloe, I was going to go easy on you due to your inexperience but not anymore, first I pay 700 lifepoints to keep Imperial Order in play." Theresa said as her lifepoints dropped to 7200, after drawing her card. "You may remember this card from your duel with Otto; I summon Gemini Elf in attack mode." Theresa played the card and the two elves appeared (4/1900/900).
"Not bad but you've forgotten about my trap." Chloe said pointing to it, Theresa just smirked at this.
"Do you really think I'd fall for my own bluff?" Theresa smirked.
"Do you want to take the chance that it isn't a bluff?" Chloe asked and Theresa frowned.
"Maybe she's right, for all I know it could be her Reinforcements trap." Theresa thought folding her arms. "All right, I'll end my turn at that." Chloe smirked.
"That's just what I wanted to hear." Chloe said drawing her card. "Activate trap card, Pitch Black Power Stone!" The hologram flipped up and Theresa's jaw dropped.
"Not bad, you beat me at my own game but that trap won't help you." Theresa said with a grin. "How will adding Spell Counters to your knight help it destroy Gemini Elf?"
"Because I'm adding spell counters to this." Chloe said playing the card. "I summon Silent Magician Level Four in attack mode." As Chloe said that the Silent Magician appeared on the field staring straight at Theresa (4/1000/1000). "And with Pitch Black Power Stone I can add a Spell Counter to her increasing her attack to 1500."
"She was able to work around Imperial Order's effect, not bad." Brandon said leaning back in his chair. "At this rate she'll have Silent Magician Level 8 on the field in no time."
"Where the bloody hell did she get that card?" Evan said with a gulp. "Do you know how long I've been trying to get the Silent Magicians in my deck?"
"Yeah, since you joined Duel Academy." Brandon answered folding her arms. "You can ask her after the duel."
"Is there anything else? Because you do know that there's no way in hell I'm letting you summon Level 8 right?" Theresa pointed out.
"There's one more thing." Chloe said picking up the card that she had drawn. "One card facedown will end my turn." Theresa said nothing and drew her card as Silent Magician's attack rose to 2000.
"You made a big mistake by not switching Gearfriend to defence mode and now you're going to regret it." Theresa said drawing her card. "First, I no longer need Imperial Order so I chose not to pay for it." Theresa said as the king disappeared from the field. "Why did I do that? Because your Silent Magician isn't sticking around and I'm not falling for the same bluff twice; I sacrifice Gemini Elf to summon Armed Dragon Level 5!" Gemini Elf disappeared and in its place stood a huge brown and red dragon appeared on the field (5/2400/1700).
"Crap, I was expecting her to attack with Gemini Elf." Chloe thought glancing towards her facedown Shift.
"I'm not done yet Chloe." She said discarding Curse of Dragon. "By discarding a card with an equal amount of attack power to my selected target I can destroy one monster with the same attack on your side of the field and my choice is Silent Magician!" Chloe's eyes widened as Armed Dragon took a deep breath and incinerated Silent Magician with a breath of fire. "Armed Dragon attack Gearfriend." Armed Dragon took another deep breath and Gearfriend was incinerated.
T: 7100
C: 7200
"I set a card facedown and..." Theresa stopped when she noticed that Chloe hadn't moved since Silent Magician was taken out. "Err, Chloe, you there?"
"Lance what's up with Chloe?" Brandon asked concerned. "You said that card meant a lot too her but..."
"It's complicated." Lance said plainly. "You didn't hear it from me but Chloe was adopted by her current parents."
"What does...oh, I get the feeling something happened before she was an orphan?" Brandon said and Lance nodded.
"Chloe, come on I'm not getting any younger here!" Theresa said, Chloe snapped out of it and shook her head.
"Sorry, I was miles away." Chloe tried to shrug it off as she sent her knight to the graveyard. "You where saying?"
"I set a card facedown and I level up my Armed Dragon to his Level 7 form." The dragon started to grow until it was much larger in height and was covered in armour (7/2800/1000). "That ends my turn." Theresa said unable to hide her concern at this point, Chloe drew her card and gulped.
"I set a card in defence and end my turn." Theresa drew her card and smirked.
"I activate Stop Defence forcing your monster into attack mode." Theresa played the card and Chloe's monster flipped up revealing a young redheaded girl in a blue dress (1/0/100).
"This is going to be painful to watch." Lance winced when he saw the vast difference between the two monsters attack.
"No kidding." Brandon said with wide eyes as he sweatdropped.
"I'd hate to do this to ya Chloe but I'm in it to win." Theresa said pointing to Chloe's monster. "Armed Dragon attack her monster now." Even the Armed Dragon's hologram seemed to feel bad about this but did the deed stomping on the monster.
T: 7200
C: 4300
"Not that it matters but the monster you destroyed was The Unhappy Maiden, when she's sent to the graveyard as a result of battle your battle phase ends immediately." Chloe said sending it to her graveyard.
"Fine, I'll end my turn." Theresa said and Chloe drew her card, when she saw it her eyes lit up.
"You're going to regret getting rid of Imperial Order." Chloe said with a grin, Theresa blinked in confusion before Chloe turned her card around. "I activate Monster Reincarnation, by discarding a card from my hand I can return Silent Magician to my hand." She discarded her Maha Vilo (4/1550/1400) and returned Silent Magician to her hand. "And I summon her now!" She played the card and Silent Magician returned to the field.
"And that's supposed to worry me, why?" Theresa asked as her dragon roared at the Hologram of Silent Magician who stood its ground.
"Maybe not in her current form but with a little help from my Level Up spell card I can bring out her strongest form." Chloe said activating the card.
"Okay, now I'm worried." Theresa gulped as Silent Magician started glowing.
"So you should be, say hello to my strongest monster Silent Magician Level 8!" Chloe said playing the card and the grown up version of Silent Magician appeared on the field (8/3500/1000). "To bad Theresa, you're dragons strong but not strong enough, Silent Magician attack Armed Dragon now!" Silent Magician pointed her staff at the dragon and started charging the attack.
"Big mistake, I activate Magical Cylinder!" Theresa said and Chloe's eyes widened. "I see you remember its effect from the test duel." The cylinders appeared on the field and the attack went in one jar and out the other striking Chloe in the chest.
T: 7200
C: 800
"You...you wanted me to bring back my magician." Chloe said once she caught her breath.
"Guilty as charged, I wanted to see how my strongest monster stood up to yours." Theresa admitted and Chloe blinked.
"No offence Theresa, but his attack is nowhere near as strong as mine." Chloe pointed out.
"Who said I was talking about my current Armed Dragon?" Theresa asked. "End your turn and you'll see what I mean." Chloe scanned the remainder of her hand before nodding.
"Fine I'll end my turn." Chloe said as Theresa nodded and drew her card.
"Chloe, this duels over." Theresa said removing her Armed Dragon from the Duel Disk. "I level up Armed Dragon to its final form, Armed Dragon Level 10!" She played the card and Armed Dragon grew until it was a giant of a dragon whose head nearly touched the ceiling, its upper body was covered completely in armour including its head. (10/3000/2000).
"Holy shit, that's huge!" Lance gulped but it was then that he noticed that stats. "But it's still not strong enough to beat Chloe's magician."
"You have no idea mate, that thing beat me the last time I duelled her and I had a stronger monster out." Evan gulped.
"And now I activate his effect." Theresa said discarding the last card in her hand. "By discarding one card from my hand I can destroy all monsters on your side of the field." Chloe's eyes widened.
"Oh crap, not again, not again." Chloe thought, the magician braced it's self as the dragon breathed fire at it incinerating the magician, Chloe dropped to her knees and simply said. "Just finish it." Theresa blinked but nodded.
"Go easy on her Armed Dragon." She commanded, the hologram looked at her funny but nodded letting lose a small flame at Chloe who winced but the damage was done.
T: 7100
C: 0000
"That was weird." Lance blinked as Brandon stood up.
"You'll understand someday." Brandon said. "Are you sticking around Evan?"
"Nah, I've got class in five minutes with the Obelisk Blue Headmaster, I don't think I need to say that I can't risk being late." Evan said checking the time on his watch. "Let me know if she's okay, reacting to losing a monster like that ain't normal." Evan said as he left.
"We will do." Lance nodded as Theresa approached Chloe.
"You okay?" Theresa asked kneeling down in front of her.
"Yeah, I'm fine." She said trying to hold back her tears. "I just got something in my eyes." Theresa smiled before she stood up and offered her hand to Chloe.
"Come on, you have your end to keep up in our deal remember?" Theresa said, Chloe nodded and accepted the hand at which point Theresa pulled her up.
"As much as I hate to say it she's right." Lance said approaching the two girls. "Just a fair warning, it's not going to be pretty."
"Thanks for the warning." Theresa said. "So where too?"
"My room at the Obelisk Blue boy's dorm, if anyone asks why I have two women and another guy in my room I'll just tell them that we're discussing Duel Monsters." Brandon said before turning to Lance. "That's if you're coming along."
"I am, she'll feel more comfortable if I'm in the room." Lance said as the two women deactivated their duel disks.
"Let's go." Theresa said as Brandon led them out of the duel arena and to the Obelisk Blue dorm and up to his room, Lance gulped when he saw the size of it.
"What I wouldn't give to have a room this big." Lance said before turning to Brandon and Theresa. "Well we're here, ask away but remember what I said about her past not being pretty." Lance said taking a seat on a couch. "Is there anything to drink in here?"
"Yeah, there are some soft drinks in that mini fridge by the couch; you can have some if you want." Brandon said as Lance opened the fridge. "Though if there's none left by the time we're finished in here you can expect to buy me some more."
"Duly noted." Lance nodded as he took a drink; Chloe sat down on the bed and sighed.
"As Lance said it's not exactly pretty, you mind locking the door?" Chloe asked and Brandon did so. "Well for starters I'm not originally from Domino, I moved here from New York about ten years ago where my biological parents lived...where my dad beat me and my mom day in and out." Brandon and Theresa where taken aback by that. "He was an alcoholic, hell the only time he wasn't drunk was when he was sleeping, and I still have some scars from those days."Chloe said removing her right arm from her blazer revealing an old, long scar that went from her shoulder to her elbow; Brandon clenched his fists at the sight.
"What happened? Did you and your mother manage to escape from that son of a bitch?" Brandon asked as he sat down.
"I did but mom..." She trailed off.
"Chloe if...if you don't want to mention the next part then its fine, I know that it still haunts you." Lance said but Chloe shook her head.
"No, I'm fine, my dad...he came home even more drunk than usual one night, I was asleep at the time but when I woke up I saw him standing over her bloodied form with a gun in his hand." Chloe shuddered at the memory. "My mom had brought it for protection but he must've gotten to it first, he shot her point blank in the head, he would've killed me as well but I fled before he could get a shot off."
"Shit..." Brandon said simply. "Chloe, I'm sorry I didn't know."
"You couldn't have known Brandon." Theresa said simply. "Chloe, please tell me he's in jail for what he did."
"He is, a neighbour had heard the shot and called the cops, I stayed with them during the trial." Chloe said raised her legs and started cuddling them. "He got a life sentence for what he did no possibility of parole so it's unlikely I'll ever see him again, I was adopted a few months later by my current parents, they were desperate enough for a kid to travel to New York to adopt one, despite being warned about my mental scars they adopted me regardless." Chloe reached into her deck and produced her two Silent Magicians. "I know it sounds weird but during those years I read numerous fantasy novels as a way to escape from reality, stories featuring swords and sorcery where always my favourites hence the theme of my deck, when I was adopted by my dad he gave me my first duel monsters deck at the age of seven though I didn't start playing until I turned seventeen, and in a way I see my Magicians as the manifestations of me as a kid and my mother when she was alive which is why I use them in my deck."
"I met her shortly after she started playing." Lance chimed in. "We had entered a local tournament for different reasons, her to test out her deck and me to outdo my brother, long story, we ended up fighting in the first round and well, to put it simply she was learning the rules as she went along against a two year veteran, it was so one sided it wasn't even funny, the only good thing that came out of it was that after I defeated her we became friends."
"And I told him and his brother the same story I just told you guys because I had freaked out during the duel similar to when I freaked out during the duel against you." Chloe said looking at Theresa after she said the last part. "Lance has been like a brother to me ever since."
"Chloe, I'm sorry that I made that challenge, I should've..." Theresa shook her head.
"Its fine, you wanted the match anyway remember." Chloe pointed out before returning the magicians to her deck. "But if you don't mind, I'd prefer it if this information didn't get spread around the other dorms."
"Our lips are sealed." Brandon said handing her a handkerchief for her eyes. "Same goes for the teachers?"
"No, the teachers can't find out." Theresa said folding her arms. "Think about it, if they find out about this they might hold her back a year out of concern for her mental state."
"Or worse, kick her out for the same reason." Lance nodded. "If they do find out than at the very least Chloe should be the one to tell them, who knows? Maybe that'll convince them that despite that her mental state is sound enough for her to stay."
"We won't find out until she gets enough courage to do so and something tells me that won't be for quite some time." Brandon said checking the time on the clock. "We're due for class in a few minutes but it's with the Ra Yellow headmaster, I don't think he'll mind us being a little late so that Chloe can calm down."
"How do we explain it to him?" Lance asked.
"It's not often an Osiris Red gets challenged by an Obelisk Blue so it's safe to say that word has spread about the match, we'll just tell them that the match went on longer than expected." Theresa said sitting down.
"And if that doesn't work? Chloe's already in hot water thanks to the duel on the boat do you really think she wants to be in trouble for being late?" Lance pointed out as he finished his drink.
"We'll worry about that later." Brandon said before he left the room, as he unlocked it Theresa walked up to him.
"Brandon, can we talk outside?" Theresa asked Brandon nodded and led her outside; Theresa closed the door behind her. "How long do you think we can keep that a secret?"
"Honestly? I don't know, Duel Academy has trained shrinks on their payroll but getting her to visit them might be easier said than done." Brandon said folding his arms. "They'll find out sooner or later, for now we keep it between us, Lance and Chloe."
"Fine, though what she told us about will keep me up for quite some time." Theresa said with a shudder. "Sad part is, I get the feeling that was just the tip of the iceberg as far as the abuse goes."
"You think she has repressed memories? It wouldn't even surprise me." Brandon said shaking his head.
"Attention all students: the following students are late for class." A voice came over the PA system. "Lance Alvers, Chloe Richardson, Brandon Thomas and Theresa Daniels, that is all."
"Guess they've noticed." Brandon said with a frown. "And that means they'll be checking Chloe and Lance's rooms in Osiris Red and Ra Yellow at some point."
"Let's hope that Chloe calms down before that happens." Theresa said.
"And if she doesn't? Lance was right to point out that the last thing she needs is more trouble." Theresa said and Brandon frowned.
"We'll think of something." Brandon said, just as he said that the door opened and Chloe and Lance stepped out.
"She's ready for class; hopefully no one will notice that she's been crying." Lance said, Brandon nodded and the two Obelisk Blue students led them to class.