Otto lay down on his bed in his room whilst the other students who were competing in the tournament were training, his room wasn't as big as Brandon's but it was still pretty big.
"Why did the teachers even consider the Osiris Red wannabe for the tournament? Did her parents owe the school money or something?" Otto thought before removing his glasses in order to scratch his right eye. "This tournament should only feature Obelisk Blue students like myself, Brandon and Theresa but no, the teacher's had to play nice." Otto thought shaking his head. "No matter, I'll crush them all one by..."
"Otto." A voice cut his train of thought off, the German student sat up and looked around frantically.
"Who's there, show yourself!" Otto demanded.
"Relax, it's me." Otto turned around and saw the robed figure from the duel field by the window, he smirked.
"Running a bit of a risk, aren't we Michael?" Otto said folding his arms. "Word's spread about there being an intruder in the school and whilst I won't report you all it would take is one nosy student and your cover is blown."
"You know me better than that Otto, and you know I'll be out of here before security will arrive." Michael pointed out before leaning against the wall. "Arrogant spoiled brat, if he wasn't as skilled a duellist as he is I would've taken him down when I first met him." Michael thought. "I came here to tell you that the organisation's operatives will be competing at the tournament, I included." Otto smirked at that.
"Just remember that I want to be the one who takes down that weak brother of mine." Otto spat.
"The boss knows, and he also knows that you'll need this." Michael said tossing a duel monsters card onto the bed, Otto picked it up and smiled evilly when he saw it.
"And my new duel disk?" Otto asked.
"In the mail, it'll arrive on the day before the tournament starts." Michael said, Otto added the card to his deck.
"Off course, should that operative who wants to take down Richardson fail I want to be the one to annihilate her." Otto smirked but when he looked up Michael was gone. "Ah yes, I forgot he has the typical manners of an American, or a complete lack of manners for that manner." Otto thought.
*meanwhile at the Obelisk Blue Duel Arena*
"Okay, who will go first?" Lance asked as he stood opposite Otto's brother Andreas ready to duel him, both duellists had drawn their opening hands and Brandon and Theresa stood at ringside.
"I will." Andreas said drawing a card. "And I will summon Wolf Axeweilder in attack mode!" Andreas played the card and a humanoid wolf in brown and yellow armour and carrying a nasty looking axe and a shield appeared on the field (4/1650/1000). "And I set this facedown for later." Andreas said as a facedown card appeared behind Axeweilder. "You're move."
"If you think a weak monster like that will help then you're dead wrong." Lance said drawing his card. "First I activate Mystical Space Typhoon and use it to destroy your facedown card." Lance played the card and a tornado ripped through the card.
"Before it's destroyed I'll activate it, it's a quick play spell card called Rush Recklessly giving my monster a boost in its attack strength!" Otto said playing the card and Axeweilder's strength increased to 2350.
"Okay, so you where able to keep your lifepoints safe but since I know that Rush Recklessly's effect is only good for the remainder of the turn I'll summon Great Angus in attack mode." Lance played the card and the beast appeared on the field (4/1800/800). "And I'll set three cards facedown and end my turn." Andreas drew his card as Axeweilder's attack went back down to 1650 and Lance activated one of his cards. "I'll activate Solemn Wishes, now I gain 500 lifepoints each time I draw."
"You're going to need those lifepoints, I sacrifice Axeweilder to summon Big Tusked Mammoth!" Axeweilder disappeared and in its place stood a purple mammoth with massive tusks (5/2000/1000).
"That's not something you see every day." Lance muttered.
"True but my mammoth has a special effect, any monsters you summon, including flip and special summons, can't attack on the same turn they are summoned, so even if you are able to summon something stronger than my mammoth you'd have to wait a turn before attacking." Andreas said before pointing to Great Angus. "Big Tusked Mammoth attack Great Angus now!" The mammoth charged at Lance's beast...
"Sorry to disappoint you but I activate my trap card Draining Shield!" Lance flipped up the card and the mammoth's charge was stopped by a forcefield. "It stops your attack and gives me 2000 lifepoints."
A: 8000
L: 10,000
"I'll bring your lifepoints back down soon." Andreas said as Lance sent his trap card to the graveyard.
"I'd like to see you try." Lance said. "Anyway, is there anything else you can do?"
"Nope, it's your move." Andreas said and Lance drew his card bringing his lifepoints up to 10,500.
"All right, I sacrifice Great Angus to summon Thestalous, The Firestorm Monarch!" Lance played the card and Great Angus disappeared and in its place stood the Firestorm Monarch (6/2400/1700). "And whilst I can't attack I can use Thestalous' effect, I pick a card at random from your hand and it's discarded, if it's a monster you lose a hundred lifepoints for each level."
"All right, chose." Andreas said holding up his four cards.
"I'll choose the card in the middle." Lance said and Andreas winced before turning it around and showing it to be Vorse Raider (4/1900/1200), he discarded the monster and Thestalous threw a fireball at him.
A: 7600
L: 10.500
"That ends my turn." Lance said and Andreas drew his card.
"Not much I can do so I'll set two cards facedown and switch my mammoth to defence mode." Andreas said setting the card and the mammoth knelt down, Lance drew his card and Solemn Wishes increased his lifepoints to 11,000.
"I activate Lightning Vortex which lets me destroy your mammoth." Lance played the card after discarding a card from his hand and lightning struck the mammoth causing it to shatter. "Now I summon Fire Princess in attack mode." Lance said playing the monster and Fire Princess appeared alongside Thestalous (4/1300/1100). "Fire Princess attack his lifepoints."
"I'm afraid not Lance, you've triggered my trap card Battle Instinct!" The card flipped up and Andreas picked up a card. "This can only be activated when you declare an attack on my lifepoints and it lets me summon a level four or lower beast monster from my hand, and my choice is Berserk Gorilla!" Andreas played the card and a large, red gorilla appeared on the field, it pounded its chest and got ready for battle (4/2000/1000).
"A level four monster with 2000 attack points?" Lance asked raising an eyebrow.
"Yes but it has its drawbacks, it's destroyed if it's shifted into defence mode and it must attack whenever possible, regardless of whether or not you have a stronger monster." Andreas explained.
"Seems to be more trouble than it's worth if you ask me, anyway I'll stop Fire Princesses' attack and let Thestalous pick up where she left off." Fire Princess stopped her attack and Thestalous threw a fireball at the Gorilla.
"And this is where my other trap comes in!" Andreas said activating his other card. "I activate Waboku negating your attack!" The priestesses blocked the attack and Lance frowned.
"I end my turn then." Lance said and Andreas drew his card.
"I activate Card of Sanctity, now we both draw until we have 6 cards in our hands." Lance and Andreas drew their new cards, Lance drew four cards and Andreas drew four as well. "It's time I took you to the home of my beasts Lance."
"Say what?" Lance blinked as Andreas picked up his card.
"I activate the Field Spell Card Closed Forrest!" Andreas said and the scenery changed to a heavily forested area. "For starters my beasts gain 100 attack points for each Beast type monster in my graveyard and so far I count one, the Big Tusked Mammoth you destroyed on your last turn." Andreas explained as Berserk Gorilla's attack rose to 2100. "But that's not all, Field Spell Cards can't be activated whilst this is on the field and even if you destroy it you have to wait a turn before activating a field spell card."
"Crap and I used my Mystical Space Typhoon earlier." Lance thought looking at the Molten Destruction in his hand.
"I'm not done yet: first I set two cards facedown." Andreas set the two cards down and the holograms of the facedown cards appeared behind Berserk Gorilla. "And now I sacrifice my Gorilla to summon Manticore of Darkness."
"Huh? Why'd he summon that? That's a beast warrior monster; Closed Forrest won't have an effect on it." Theresa wondered.
"Good question." Brandon agreed.
Berserk Gorilla disappeared from the field and in its place stood a muscular hybrid of a human with the head of a lion, the wings of a bat and the tail of a scorpion (6/2300/1000). "Impressive, isn't it?" Andreas asked and Lance folded his arms.
"Maybe but my Monarch's stronger." Lance pointed out.
"Ah yes, I almost forgot about that messy little detail." Andreas said picking up another card. "Which is why I equip my Manticore with Mystical Moon, this equip spell card increases his attack to 2600." A large moon appeared on the field above Manticore and shone down on the beast increasing its attack to 2600. "And don't think I don't know about Fire Princesses' effect either so she's my target, Manticore of Darkness attack!" Manticore took flight and dive-bombed at Fire Princess before cutting her to ribbons with its claws.
A: 7600
L: 9700
"That's all for me." Andreas announced, Lance drew his card and after his lifepoints increased to 10,200 Andreas activated his traps. "I activate my trap cards, Howl of the Wild and Roaring Earth!" The two traps flipped up and Andreas smirked. "Pay close attention Lance because I'm only explaining the effects of these cards once; first Roaring Earth allows me to inflict battle damage even if the monster I attack is in defence mode but that's only if I attack with a Beast Monster and also when you lose damage due to a this effect I can select one monster on your side of the field and that monster loses 500 attack points, as for Howl of the Wild when I destroy a monster on your side of the field you lose 300 lifepoints for each Beast I control."
"I'll give you credit, that's a powerful combo." Lance admitted before looking up at Manticore. "Or it would be if Manticore wasn't a Beast Warrior."
"I'm getting to that part." Andreas smirked.
"Lance is right though." Brandon pointed out. "You'd of been better of activating them, not to mention Closed Forrest, when your Mammoth was on the field."
"You think I don't know that? That was my strategy from the start but when Lance destroyed my Mammoth with Lightning Vortex I had to come up with a new one." Andreas explained clearly getting frustrated.
"I'm just saying, no need to get snappy!" Brandon pointed out.
"What do you know? You don't have a sibling that your parents always compare you unfavourably too!" Andreas snapped catching everyone else off guard.
"You mean Otto?" Lance asked and Andreas nodded.
"It didn't matter to them that I got good grades, that I shared my brother's talent for duelling, HE was always the favourite!" Andreas said clearly angry at this point. "Nothing I did was ever good enough for them!"
"That can't be true." Brandon said folding his arms.
"Oh really, can't it? Did you know that me and my brother where originally slated to join Ra Yellow together when we qualified last year?" Andreas said clenching his fist in anger. "My dad has connections within the school district, he got them to put Otto in Obelisk Blue but did he do the same for me? No, he didn't!" Andreas spat to the side after saying the last sentence. "I've had to fight for everything I've got and my damn brother got a free pass!"
"Damn, my dad would have a field day with his anger issues." Marcus shook his head. "I had no idea he felt that way."
"Look, Andreas no one's blaming you for being so frustrated." Lance said looking at his card. "Believe me I have a younger brother who feels the same way and he hasn't even been able to get into Duel Academy but you can't get this angry during the Battle City duels, anger leads to rash decisions and your opponents will take advantage of that fact." Lance said and Andreas sighed.
"You're right." Andreas said as he started to calm down. "I believe it's still your move."
"It is, I switch my Monarch to defence mode and set another card in defence." Lance said as his Monarch knelt down and a facedown monster appeared next to it. "That's it for me." Andreas drew his card and smiled.
"I summon Ape Fighter in attack mode!" Andreas played the card and an ape wearing a pair of cargo pants and a helmet appeared on the field (4/1900/1200) and thanks to Closed Forrest's effect its attack rose to 2100. "This monster has a rather useful effect, each time this monster destroys a monster it gains an extra 300 attack points and if it can't attack then it's attack becomes zero but I don't think that'll be a problem now!" Andreas smirked. "And now for the fun part, Manticore attack Thestalous, Ape Fighter attack his defence monster!" Manticore divebombed at Thestalous before cutting it to ribbons with its claws reducing Lance's lifepoints by 300, Ape Fighter charged at the facedown monster, revealed to be Darkfire Soldier number 1 (4/1700/1100) and uppercutted it causing the hologram to shatter and Ape Fighter's attack rose to 2400.
A: 7600
L: 8600
"That ends my turn." Andreas announced and Lance drew his card, Solemn Wishes took effect increasing his lifepoints by 500.
"Sorry to disappoint you but I'm about to summon a monster with Three Thousand attack points." Lance smirked and Andreas laughed.
"Really, you expect to do that with no monsters on your side of the field and two on mine? I'd like to see you try!" Andreas smirked.
"I never said anything about summoning the monster on my side of the field; I'm actually summoning it on your side!" Lance said and the smirk on Andreas's face was quickly replaced with a look of confusion. "Here, read it for yourself!" Lance tossed the card at Andreas who caught it and read it.
"Okay...I guess I sacrifice Manticore of Darkness and Ape Fighter to summon Lava Golem in attack mode." Andreas said as Manticore, alongside Mystical Moon, and Ape Fighter disappeared and in their place stood a grotesque being made of lava (8/3000/2500).
"Its official, Lance has lost it!" Marcus said but Chloe shook her head.
"Not quite." Chloe said with a frown. "That thing has a nasty effect and Lance usually combines it with some kind of card that prevents it from attacking."
"You mean like Paralyzing Potion?" Marcus asked and Chloe nodded.
"Yeah, he hates using it though and only uses it if he sees no other option." Chloe added.
"Well Lance, I don't know why you're being so helpful but thanks for a monster that can rival the Blue Eyes White..." Andreas never finished as a cage dropped from the lava surrounding him. "What is this?"
"You didn't read the rest of the card text didn't you?" Lance asked, Andreas blinked and looked at the card text again.
"Okay...read that...read that...the monster's controller takes 1000 points of damage during each...of...there...standby...phases." Andreas' face quickly went from calm to panic. "Heh, no worries, I can still attack with this thing!"
"That's where you're wrong!" Lance said picking up another card. "I activate the spell card Paralyzing Potion, when it's equipped to a non machine type monster that monster can't attack and Lava Golem's a fiend monster."
"Oh, crap." Andreas said with a gulp as the fiend drank the potion and suddenly stopped moving save for the lava dripping from it, then he smirked. "This card comes with a price Lance; you can't summon a monster on the turn that it's summoned to my side of the field."
"I'm well aware of that, it is my card after all." Lance said before picking up another card. "So I'll set a card facedown and end my turn." Lance said and Andreas smirked.
"Before I draw I think I'll activate Manticore's effect, during the end phase I can discard a Beast, Beast Warrior or Winged Beast from my hand I can special summon him back to the field." Andreas discarded his Tiger Axe (4/1300/1100) and Manticore reappeared on the field, Andreas drew his and winced as lava dropped onto the cage, somehow the cage survived but his lifepoints dropped to 6600. "I never thought I would find a use for this card." Andreas said turning his card around revealing it to be Ancient One of the Deep Forest (6/1800/1900). "But now I sacrifice Lava Golem..."
"Sorry but no dice." Lance said activating his long forgotten about trap card. "I activate Mask of Restrict, which means that monsters can't be tributed!"
"You planned for this?" Andreas asked as he returned the monster to his hand.
"It pays to be prepared." Lance shrugged his shoulders in response. "So yeah, you can't attack with Lava Golem and you can't sacrifice him, in short unless you have Mystical Space Typhoon your screwed."
"I'll find a way out of this and in case you haven't noticed my Manticore's back on the field, Manticore attack his lifepoints directly." Andreas commanded and Manticore divebombed at Lance who smirked as he activated his card.
"I activate my other trap card Gravity Bind." Lance flipped up the card and Manticore came crashing down to earth. "Now all level four or higher monsters can't attack."
"You have got to be kidding." Andreas sighed before surrendering. "I surrender; it's easier than slowly losing." Andreas shrugged as the holograms disappeared.
"Well, if you say so." Lance shrugged; Andreas tossed Lava Golem back at him. "So, Brandon, Theresa, do you have any words of wisdom?"
"Err yeah a couple, Andreas needs to plan better and Lance...I don't think there was anything wrong with the strategy towards the end." Brandon rubbed the back of his head nervously.
"Actually I think Lance needs to plan better as well." Theresa said as Lance and Andreas returned their cards to their decks. "Whilst it didn't happen in the duel Lance didn't seem to account for the possibility of Andreas having something like Magic Jammer or Seven Tools of the Bandit."
"Good call." Brandon said as the two duellists got off the duel field. "We'll call it a day after the duel between me and Theresa, meet us tomorrow after class so we can resume." He told the others.
"That's good, because I've got homework to finally catch up on." Lance said sitting next to Chloe in the bleachers whilst Andreas sat next to Marcus.
"And you also have my homework to carry." Chloe said dumping her textbooks into his lap. "Anyway I thought you hated using Lava Golem?"
"I do, and I also hate having heavy textbooks dropped onto my groin." Lance winced and Chloe cringed.
"Oops, I'm sorry about that." Chloe apologized. "You where saying?"
"My hand left me with no other options." Lance said. "My only other cards where Molten Destruction which I couldn't use due to Closed Forrest, Obnoxious Celtic Guardian which wouldn't of protecting my lifepoints due to Roaring Earth, Soul Of Fire which I couldn't risk using due to the effects of Andreas' traps and Heavy Storm which I couldn't use because I planned to use Mask Of Restrict in some form, at least Andreas surrendered before things got too cringe worthy."
"Yeah, like in our first duel." Chloe shuddered.
"Wait, you used that thing on her when you first duelled her?" Marcus asked. "I'm afraid to ask but how inexperienced was she?"
"I only had a week's experience." Chloe said with a shudder.
"I had just gotten the card at the time and I wanted to take it for a spin, used the exact same combo as I used in our duel Andreas, it's not fun watching a rookie cringe as that thing sucks away her lifepoints turn by turn whilst she's too stubborn to surrender." Lance shuddered. "Her dad eventually talked her into surrendering, but not before she lost over 4000 lifepoints to that thing, the crowd quickly turned on me after that and I didn't even know about her childhood at the time."
"Yeah, he keeps a video tape of that duel to remind him not to use it unless he needs to." Chloe added with a shudder. "I had nightmares about it for weeks."
"Remind me never to watch that video tape." Andreas gulped. "Sad thing is it sounds like something my brother would do."
"If we end up sharing a room during the tournament you might end up watching it." Lance said.
"I'll try to avoid it." Andreas grimaced. "I'm surprised that your still duelling after that Chloe."
"It wasn't exactly my first duel; I had several practice duels against my stepdad in the weeks leading up to the tournament, plus I was a bit overconfident going into it." Chloe admitted.
"How is that any different from now?" Marcus asked only to get a playful elbow to the ribs from Chloe.
"Very funny Marcus, if duelling doesn't work out than maybe try stand up comedy." Chloe rolled her eyes.
"Well my dad always said I should try comedy." Marcus winced.
Whilst that conversation was going on Brandon and Theresa had drawn their opening hands. "Seeing as how I'm a gentleman I'll let you go first." Brandon said as he scanned his hand.
"Oh, how considerate of you, I'll try not to kick your ass too badly." Theresa teased as she drew her first card. "I'll kick things off with Amazoness Paladin in attack mode." Theresa played the card and a blonde, tanned woman with long flowing hair appeared on the field wearing a skimpy outfit and carrying a sword (4/1700/300).
"Using your Amazon deck against me again?" Brandon raised an eyebrow. "I was hoping for a challenge."
"You'll regret those words." Theresa said picking up two extra cards. "Anyway due to her effect my Paladin's attack increases to 1800." Theresa said as the warrior's attack increased. "I set these cards facedown for later and end my turn." The holograms of the two facedown cards appeared on the field and Brandon drew his card.
"I summon Don Zaloog in attack mode!" Brandon announced as he played the card and the leader of the Dark Scorpions appeared (4/1400/1300). "And I'll take a page from Chloe's playbook by activating the spell card Swords of Revealing Light!"
"Yeah sorry, that's not going to happen." Theresa said flipping one of her facedown cards. "I activate Imperial Order!" She said as the elderly king appeared on the field. "Let me guess, your other card was going to be Mustering of the Dark Scorpions, right?" Brandon frowned before nodding.
"Yeah but that's also backfired against you, you can't use spells either." Brandon pointed out as he sent Swords of Revealing Light to the graveyard. "Still I'll set three cards facedown and end my turn." Brandon announced, Theresa drew her card and paid 700 lifepoints to keep Imperial Order in play.
"I summon Paladin's faithful pet to the field, Amazoness Tiger!" Theresa played the card and a red tiger with a gold collar around its neck appeared on the field (4/1100/1500). "I'm sure you remember his effect?"
"Yeah, he gains 500 attack points for every card with Amazoness in its name on the field including him." Brandon said as the tiger's attack rose to 1600 and Paladin's rose to 1900.
"And you can't attack another monster with Amazoness in its name as long as it's on the field, and I know for a fact that none of your Dark Scorpion cards are strong enough to defeat either of my Amazonesses." Theresa said before pointing to Don Zaloog. "Amazoness Tiger, attack Don Zaloog." The Tiger pounced at the thief and ripped his throat out with its teeth.
B: 7400
T: 7300
"That's just what I wanted you to do; I activate my trap card Rope of Life!" Brandon flipped up the card and discarded the rest of his hand. "All I have to do is discard the rest of my hand and I can revive Zaloog with a power boost of 800." As Brandon said that Don Zaloog returned to the field and his attack jumped to 2200.
"Not bad Brandon but there's just one problem with that tactic." Theresa pointed out. "You don't have a hand because of your trap."
"I know." Brandon said flipping his other trap. "That is why I activate Dust Tornado and use it to destroy Imperial Order." A tornado ripped through the field before blowing the king away.
"Huh, those guys know each other's tactic's like the back of their hands." Marcus observed. "This will be a hard duel to criticise."
"True." Lance agreed. "That is why I vote that you criticise it when it's over."
"What, that's not fair!" Marcus protested.
"All right fine, since attacking Zaloog now would be a suicide mission for Paladin I'll end my turn." Theresa announced and Brandon drew his card.
"All right, first I activate Card of Sanctity which lets me refresh my hand." Brandon announced as he drew six cards whilst Theresa drew four. "And now I activate Mustering of the Dark Scorpions, since Don Zaloog is on the field I can summon his partners in crime: Menae The Thorn (4/1000/1800), Gorg The Strong (5/1800/1500), Chick The Yellow (3/1000/1000) and Cliff The Trap Remover (3/1200/1000)." Brandon announced as the rest of the Dark Scorpions appeared on the field. "Don, attack Amazoness Tiger!" Brandon commanded but Theresa smirked.
"Just what I wanted you to do, I activate Amazoness Archers!" Theresa flipped up her card and Brandon's eyes widened. "This trap card can only be activated when you declare an attack on one of my Amazoness monsters and now all the Dark Scorpions lose 500 attack points and must attack my Paladin!" As Theresa said that Don's attack dropped to 1700, Gorg's attack dropped to 1300, Chick's and Menae's attacks dropped to 500 and Cliff's attack dropped to seven hundred.
"This is going to hurt!" Brandon muttered under his breath as Don charged at the Tiger only to have his throat cut out, the other Dark Scorpion's followed suit in this order: Gorg, Cliff, Chick and Menae.
B: 2600
T: 7300
"I end my turn." Brandon said reluctantly as Theresa drew her card. "I activate Thunder of Ruler, now you can't attack on this turn."
"Good save, and lucky for you I have no more Amazoness cards in my hand but I do have this." Theresa said playing her card. "I activate the Field Spell Card Amazoness Village!" Theresa announced as the scenery changed to a rural looking village. "First all of my Amazoness monsters gain 200 attack points." Theresa said as Paladin and Tiger's attacks rose to 2100 and 1800 respectively. "Second if a Amazoness monster is sent to the graveyard via being destroyed in battle or a card effect I can summon a Amazoness monster from my deck with a level equal to or lower than the destroyed monster."
"So in other words you could potentially have an army of those things." Brandon folded his arms.
"Yeah, but since I can't attack I'll end my turn." Theresa announced as Brandon drew his card.
"You won't be able to attack for another three turns; I activate my second Swords of Revealing Light!" Brandon announced as swords rained down on Theresa's monsters. "Since I can't do anything else I'll end my turn." Theresa nodded and drew her card.
"I can't do much save for summoning Amazoness Scouts in attack mode." Theresa played the card and two young girls appeared on the field, one with red hair and the other with blue hair, the redhead was wearing a brown and yellow outfit and was carrying a sword and the girl with blue hair was wearing a blue and black outfit and was carrying a bow and arrows (2/500/1100), the Scout's attack rose to 700 and Paladin's and Tiger's attack rose to 2200 and 2200 respectively. "I end my turn." Brandon drew his card and the scouts disappeared from the field and Tiger's and Paladin's attack dropped back down to 2100. "By tributing my scouts I can protect my Amazonesses from the effects of Spells, Monsters and trap cards."
"That was a good choice, because thanks to your Amazoness Archers trap I can summon this since I have Dark Type monsters in my graveyard." Brandon said playing the card. "Come forth Dark Armed Dragon!" Brandon played the card and the massive dragon appeared above the field (7/2800/1000). "And whilst I can't use its effect I can destroy Amazoness Tiger!" Dark Armed Dragon rose it's tail and slammed it into the tiger destroying it and dropping Paladin's attack to 2000.
B: 2600
T: 5700
"Thanks to the effect of Amazoness Village I can summon a new monster from my deck." Theresa announced picking up a new card. "I chose my second Amazoness Scouts." She said as the scouts reappeared, there attack rose to 700 and Paladin's attack rose to 2200.
"That's it for me." Brandon announced and Theresa drew her card.
"I sacrifice my scouts to summon my strongest Amazoness monster, Amazoness Queen!" The scouts disappeared from the field and in their place stood a blue haired scantily clad woman carrying a sword (6/2400/1800) and her attack rose to 2600. "And now I activate two spell cards, first the continuous spell card Amazoness Fighting Spirit, as long as this is on the field my amazons gain a thousand attack points whenever they attack a stronger monster but only during Damage Calculation and second I activate Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your swords, in short this duels over!" Theresa said as a typhoon cleared the field of Brandon's swords.
"I guess you're right." Brandon shrugged.
"Amazoness Queen, attack Dark Armed Dragon!" Theresa commanded and the queen leapt up to the dragon as her attack rose to 3600 and decapitated it. "Paladin, finish it." Theresa commanded, Paladin charged at Brandon and slashed him with her sword.
B: 0000
T: 5700
"So, anyone want to critique the duel?" Brandon called out to the others once he got up as the holograms disappeared.
"You do realize that you're asking three Ra Yellow students and one Osiris Red student to give you, two Obelisk Blue students, feedback right?" Marcus asked.
"Well, I'm not colour blind so yes, I realize that!" Brandon replied. "But yeah, I see what you're saying."
"Don't worry, I can give feedback." The teens looked up and saw Professor Hamden sitting in the bleachers. "Sorry, snuck in during the duel between Chloe and Marcus, my next class isn't until this afternoon so I figured I'd watch you guys train."
"No worries." Brandon shrugged. "You heard about the intruder?"
"Yeah, and I also caught wind of you kids volunteering to keep an eye out." Hamden frowned. "Just let the guards do their jobs and worry about the tournament okay? The school would be in trouble if anything happened to you."
"Fine, now can you give us that feedback?" Theresa asked.
"Well both strategies where sound but I'd have to say that Brandon should try not to rely on his Dark Scorpions so much, sure he has Dark Armed Dragon in his deck but who has anyone ever seen him play anything other than those cards? I thought not." Hamden shrugged. "As for Theresa...I'll have to get back to you on that, it's not easy critiquing one of the top Obelisk Blue Students."
"You see? That's why I didn't want to do the criticising." Marcus said to Lance who simply rested his hand behind his head.
"You're just terrified of facing her in the tournament, aren't you?" Lance asked with a smirk.
"Yeah, there's that too." Marcus said nodding.
"Anyway that should do it for today's training." Brandon said as he and Theresa hopped off the duel field. "So, we'll meet tomorrow after class for more training?"
"Yeah, we'll meet tomorrow after class." Lance nodded as he and the other students left, unknown to them Michael was watching from the rafters again.
"Yes, the Obelisk Blue student's souls will do nicely." Michael muttered before putting a hand to his earpiece. "Sir, I have the info you need and Otto has the card, I request pick up from the island."
"Excellent, a speedboat will pick you up at the peer outside Osiris Red boys dorm at midnight." The voice on the other end said and Michael frowned.
"What am I supposed to do for eight hours? Capture the souls of the duellists here?" Michael said as he left the building.
"You figure something out." The voice on the other end said before hanging up, Michael started making his way to the west area of the island.
"Hey what are you doing here?" Michael stopped before turning around seeing a blonde male Obelisk Blue student with short hair standing next to a female Obelisk Blue student with raven hair that reached just below her shoulders; it was the male that had spoken up.
"Oh, my most sincere apologies students, my son is thinking about enrolling here next year and I wanted to check it out for myself." Michael lied; the female folded her arms and looked at him suspiciously.
"If that's true and he wanted to enrol why wasn't he at the test exams earlier this week?" The female pointed out.
"He isn't very experienced in the game." Michael said simply.
"So? A rookie was able to get into Osiris Red this year." The male pointed out before activating his duel disk. "You know what I think? I think you're the intruder that was spotted above the Obelisk Blue duel field." Michael frowned.
"So what if I am? What do you intend to do about it?" Michael asked eyeing the student. "Here's a deal for you, I'm a duellist myself and what I propose is a duel, if you win I'll turn myself in."
"And if you win?" The male asked drawing his hand, Michael smiled evilly under his cloak before stretching out his arm and revealing a black, scythe like duel disk.
"When I win...well you'll see." Michael said activating his duel disk.
*meanwhile outside the Obelisk Blue duel arena*
"Guys, I've just thought of something." Chloe said as she, Andreas, Marcus, Lance, Brandon and Theresa walked down the hall surrounding the Obelisk Blue arena. "Maybe once the tournament starts we should avoid challenging each other until the semi finals."
"Yeah, that would increase the chance of all of us making it to the Semi-Finals." Brandon nodded in agreement. "Good thinking Chloe."
"What about my brother? He's made it clear that he has no interest in training with us and I doubt that he'll agree to this." Andreas pointed out.
"We'll just avoid him." Lance shrugged, or at least tried too but failed due to the heavy textbooks. "He's an asshole anyway." Lance added, Theresa was about to add something when the students heard a blood curdling scream coming from outside the building. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?"
"Come on, someone might be injured." Brandon said and the six students ran towards the source of the scream but when they reached outside Michael was long gone and the female student was crying over the male's unconscious and bloody body. "Kimberly? What happened?" Brandon asked as he and the other students ran up to her.
"I don't know." Kimberly said looking up. "I and Nathan where on our way to the peer to chill out for a few hours when we spotted some guy in the cloak, he claimed to be the father of a prospective student but his story made no sense so Nathan challenged him to a duel."
"A duel did this?" Brandon said looking at the numerous wounds all over Nathan's body.
"I'm still trying to make sense of it." Kimberly said shaking her head. "Nathan never stood a chance, the masked guy played some freaky spell card and suddenly everything went to hell, nothing Nathan could summon could lay a finger on his monsters and the attacks on his lifepoints...JUST LOOK AT WHAT THE ATTACKS DID!" Kimberly said clearly distressed.
"Chloe, go find professor Hamden and whoever else you can find." Theresa said. "Tell him that an Obelisk Blue student is injured."
"That's not the worse part." Kimberly said in between sobs causing Chloe to stop in her tracks. "The spell card was a field spell right, but like no field spell I've ever seen before, once the duel finished the scenery changes caused by the spell shrank down until it completely surrounded Nathan, one blood curdling scream later and Nathan collapsed." Brandon and Theresa looked at each other worried.
"Kimberly, this is important." Theresa said looking her dead in the eye. "What was the name of the field spell card?"
"I don't know, Seal of the something or another." Kimberly shook her head. "I could barely pronounce its name."
"Chloe, get Hamden, now!" Brandon told her and Chloe ran off.
"Can someone explain how one field spell can do so much?" Lance said scratching the back of his head confused.
"It's a long story." Brandon said shaking his head as he saw Chloe return with Hamden and the Obelisk Blue headmaster.
"Chloe gave us the gist of what happened, a med team's on the way." Hamden said kneeling next to Nathan. "Nathan, can you hear me?"
"I've tried that already, no response." Kimberly said in between sobs as the Obelisk Blue headmaster led her away from the scene to calm her down.
"Kimberly, do you know where the intruder went?" Hamden asked before spotting a duel monsters card underneath where Kimberly was kneeling, he picked it up and all colour drained from his face. "Oh no, it's back." Hamden thought before turning to the Obelisk Blue headmaster. "Martin, you'd better see this."
"What is it?" Martin asked walking over to Hamden, his usually calm expression turned to shock before he closed his eyes. "Marcus, Lance, Andreas, Chloe, you've done enough but I need you to return to your dorms now."
"Not until I get some answers as to what the he..." Lance started but stopped when Martin looked at him sternly.
"I wasn't asking." The Obelisk Blue Headmaster said sternly. "I'll let you know of any developments in his condition." Lance went to protest further but Marcus put a firm hand on his shoulder.
"Let it go man, it isn't worth it." Marcus said sternly, Lance sighed and followed his fellow students back to Ra Yellow.
"That means you as well Chloe." Martin said turning to Chloe who gulped before running off, once she was out of earshot Martin turned to Brandon and Theresa. "What I'm about to show you can't be reported back to Andreas, Marcus, Lance or Chloe, is that understood."
"Yeah, though I have an idea of what you're about to show us." Brandon nodded solemnly as did Theresa, when Martin showed them the card they paled. "So, it is back." Brandon said punching the ground. "I thought Yugi Motu destroyed it?"
"That's what I thought as well." Martin sighed as the med team came to take Nathan away.
"Yeah but what if one of them ends up in a duel where the card is played during the tournament?" Theresa pointed out. "It would be pretty hard to hide then!"
"If that happens we won't hide it from them, we'll tell them at the hotel." Martin said with a sigh as the med team took Nathan away, Kimberly ran after him and Martin waited until Kimberly was out of earshot before saying the next part. "And if the worse comes to pass, we'll say a prayer for the friend whose soul was consumed by the Orichalcos."