Lance gulped as he drew his opening hand, ready to duel Theresa who had claimed just a few moments ago that with her current deck no one had been able to lay a finger on her lifepoints, he observed the cards in his hand.
"I'll let you go first." Lance said as he started to think of a strategy, Theresa nodded and drew her card.
"I'll start with this spell card; it's called Cards from the Sky!" Theresa said playing the card. "At the cost of two light monsters and the ability to Special Summon or attack I can draw two cards but since it's my first turn I wouldn't have been able to attack anyway." Theresa said pocketing Shining Angel (4/1400/800) and Hysteric Fairy (4/1800/500) and drawing two extra cards. "And now I'll activate a Continuous Spell Card called Court of Justice!" Theresa played the card and Lance raised an eyebrow. "Whilst this is on the field and as long as I have one Level 1 Fairy Monster on my side of the field I can special summon a fairy type monster from my hand once per turn."
"But you obviously can't use that effect this turn due to Cards from the Sky." Lance pointed out.
"I know that, so I'll prepare for my next turn by summoning this monster, Freya, Spirit of Victory!" Theresa played the card and what Lance saw caused him to do several dozen double takes, it was a little girl in a black and purple dress with rings around her wrists and ankles and carrying pom-poms (1/100/100).
"Did...did you just summon a cheerleader or did I go crazy prior to the duel starting?" Lance asked as he and the other boy's sweatdropped.
"No, your sanity's intact." Theresa assured him before picking up two cards. "And she has the added benefit of adding 400 attack points to each Fairy Monster I control." Theresa added as Freya's attack rose to 500. "I set these two cards facedown for later and end my turn." Lance, whilst still confused, drew his card.
"Well, I'd never thought I'd find myself about to kill a cheerleader in the middle of a duel but weirder things have happened." Lance shrugged.
"I'd like to see you try." Theresa folded her arms with a smirk.
"Theresa, even with her power boost that cheerleader's weaker than the majority of my deck." Lance said shaking his head,
"Maybe but I activate one of my trap cards Miraculous Descent." Theresa said flipping up one of her cards. "Remember the monsters I removed from my hand to use Cards from the Sky? This lets me bring back one of them."
"Not good." Lance gulped.
"Lucky for you I didn't have anything with over 2000 attack points in my hand otherwise I'd use this combo on that card, but I think Hysteric Fairy will do nicely." Theresa retrieved the card from her pocket and played it and a blue haired man in glasses appeared on the field, he had big protruding wings coming out of his back and was wearing a blue business suit (4/1800/800) and due to Freya's effect his attack rose to 2200.
"That power boost is only good as long as Freya's on the field, and so is your Court of Justice card for that matter." Lance said picking up a card. "And I summon Great Angus to take care of that problem for me!" Lance played the card and the beast appeared on the field (4/1800/800). "Attack Freya, Spirit of Victory!" Lance commanded as Great Angus pounced at Freya and Theresa chuckled.
"Lance, did you honestly think I'd leave such a weak card out on the field without a backup plan? I activate my trap card Negate Attack." Great Angus bounced off the invisible force field and Lance frowned.
"All right, I set three cards facedown and end my turn." Lance announced as he set the cards, Theresa drew her card.
"I bet you've been wondering why I said earlier that no one's been able to touch my lifepoints with this deck." Theresa said picking up a card. "It's thanks to this Field Spell Card Sanctuary in the Sky!" Theresa played the card she had drawn and the scenery changed to a magnificent palace in the clouds. "As long as this is in play any damage I'd suffer from you doing battle with a fairy type monster is reduced to zero."
"Don't tell me, every monster in that deck is a fairy type monster?" Lance asked and Theresa nodded. "Theresa, my younger sister uses these cards; I know what most of them do."
"And how long has your sister been duelling?" Theresa asked and Lance rubbed the back of his head nervously.
"She's only been duelling a little over a month." Lance said honestly.
"Exactly, so it's unlikely that you know everything about my deck." Theresa said folding her arms.
"I'll still win this match." Lance asserted as he waited for Theresa to continue her move.
"We'll see about that." Theresa said picking up another card. "I sacrifice Hysteric Fairy to summon Arknight Parshaff in attack mode!" Hysteric Fairy (alongside the hologram of Miraculous Descent) and in his place stood a blonde centaur with shoulder length hair who's human half seemed to be covered in feathers and his lower half was white and it was carrying a sword in one hand and a shield in the other (5/1900/1400) and thanks to Freya's effect his attack rose to 2300.
"Even taking into account Freya's power up ability, that's still a Five Star Monster with 1900 attack points, unless it has a damn good effect you just wasted a tribute summon." Lance was quick to point out.
"Oh ye of little faith." Theresa muttered under her breath. "Have you always been this impatient Lance? This was the first deck I got and yes my Arknight does have an effect."
"I don't see what this has to do with the duel." Lance said folding his arms.
"You'll see soon enough, first I can now use Court of Justice's effect to bring out another fairy." Theresa said picking up another card. "So I summon Nova Summoner in attack mode!" Theresa played the card and a small, spherical creature appeared on the field, the top half was orange and blue whilst the lower half was green (4/1400/800) and thanks to Freya's effect it's attack rose to 1800.
"Okay, this won't be so bad." Lance gulped.
"I'm not done yet." Theresa said playing another card. "I activate the spell card Celestial Transformation, this lets me Special Summon another fairy monster from my hand at the cost of half its attack power and the monster's destruction at the end of the turn and I chose my second Shining Angel." Theresa played the card and a male angel in a white dress appeared on the field, he had brown hair and blue eyes (4/1400/800) and due to the effect of Celestial Transformation its attack dropped to 700 and thanks to Freya it jumped back up to 1100. "And if you make any comments about him being a crossdresser you'll regret it."
"I wasn't going to." Lance said rubbing the back of his head nervously.
"I was." Marcus said nervously.
"Whatever, my next spell card is Book of Moon." Theresa said playing the card. "And I use it to flip Great Angus facedown." Before Lance could question the move Great Angus disappeared from the field.
"Why'd you do that? You could've done damage to my lifepoints with him in attack mode?" Lance asked.
"Oh, I must've forgotten to mention, my Arknight can deal damage to the opponent even if the monster he's attacking is in defence mode." Theresa explained.
"There's about a million swear words going through my head right now, but I'll keep them private since there's a lady present." Lance gulped.
"AHEM!" Chloe shouted from the sidelines.
"TWO ladies present even." Lance corrected himself.
"Good for you." Theresa rolled her eyes. "Arknight attack his defence, the rest of you attack his lifepoints directly." Theresa commanded, Arknight Charged at him and pieced Great Angus through the heart causing the hologram to shatter, the rest of the monsters charged and kicked his ass.
T: 8000
L: 4900
Lance slowly got up rubbing his sore chin from the last attack, a high kick from Freya. "I never thought I'd see the day where I'd be unhappy that a cheerleader spread her..."
"Lance, try to keep your comments clean." Theresa cut him off. "There is a 14 year old present." She said pointing to Rajin and Lance saw Marcus and Andreas frantically trying to cover his ears. "Anyway when I deal damage with Parshaff I can draw an extra card." She said drawing her card.
"Right, sorry." Lance grunted as he picked up his hand that had been dropped during the attack. "Are you done yet?" Theresa scanned her hand and motioned for him to go after sending Shining Angel to the graveyard.
"Good." Lance sighed as he drew his card. "That Arkknight's going to be a problem, unless I draw something that can clear the field my lifepoints are in trouble regardless of what position my monsters are in and my lifepoints are too low for me to take another hit like that." Lance thought before looking at his new card. "YES! THIS IS JUST WHAT I NEEDED!" Lance thought with a massive grin.
"Lance, you should really learn what a poker face is." Theresa pointed out as she sweatdropped.
"Why? You don't have anything facedown!" Lance pointed out.
"Yeah, point taken." She admitted.
"Anyway there's no point in keeping you suspense." Lance said playing the card. "I activate Lightning Vortex!" Lance said discarding his Fire Princess and lightning struck Theresa's three fairies destroying them. "Time to break your streak of not receiving damage with this deck, I summon Ultimate Baseball Kid!" Lance played the card and the kid in baseball gear appeared on the field (3/500/1000), Theresa raised an eyebrow.
"You do realize that card's useless on its own right?" Theresa pointed out; Lance rolled his eyes before activating one of his traps.
"Gee, I never noticed that about MY OWN CARD!" Lance said before shaking his head. "Anyway I activate Call of the Haunted to bring back Great Angus and give Ultimate Baseball Kid a power boost of one thousand!" Great Angus repapered on the field and Ultimate Baseball Kid's power increased to 1500. "Hmmm, activate Soul of Fire or attack her lifepoints directly, decisions, decisions, eh I don't want to risk giving her a card that might help her regain control of the duel so attack it us." Lance thought. "Great Angus, Baseball Kid, ATTACK!" Great Angus charged first and bit at Theresa and Baseball Kid launched a ball at her.
T: 4700
L: 4900
"Congrats Lance, you're the first duellist to inflict damage on me whilst I was using the deck." Theresa said looking at one card in particular in her hand. "I may have to bring out the strongest monster I have in this deck now."
"Well regardless I think I'll activate another card so go Backfire!" Lance activated his card and grinned. "I'm sure you remember it's effect from my test duel?"
"Yeah, I lose 500 lifepoints for each fire type monster I destroy." Theresa nodded. "Do you really think that will help though?"
"It doesn't hurt to try." Lanceshrugged. "Anyway I'll end my turn." Lance announced, Theresa drew her card and grinned.
"Lance, this duels just about over." Theresa said summoning a card. "I summon Warrior of Zera in attack mode!" Theresa played the card and a muscular human in green and blue armour appeared on the field brandishing a sword (4/1600/1600). "Tell me Lance, do you want to succeed at life?"
"Huh? Err, yeah of course." Lance blinked taken aback by the question.
"That's good, because Warrior of Zera feels the same way." Theresa said removing her warrior from the field. "And I'm about to help him do just that, you see by tributing him whilst The Sanctuary in the Sky is on the field I can bring out his strongest form and the strongest monster I have in this deck." Theresa played the card and Warrior of Zera was consumed by a holy light, Lance had to shield his eyes because of how bright it was, when the light died down he looked up and his jaw dropped.
"Holy..." Lance muttered.
"That's the most appropriate thing you've said all day." Theresa interrupted him. "Say hello to Archlord Zerato!" Theresa said pointing to her card, there stood a massive, muscular man with wings and a orange robe wearing a helmet similar to Warrior of Zera's (8/2800/2300).
"Well, this duel's over." Brandon shrugged.
"You could be a bit more supportive you know." Chloe sweatdropped and Brandon shook his head.
"Chloe, you're asking me to choose between my girlfriend and a guy who I've known for under a week." Brandon pointed out.
"You have a point there." Chloe admitted.
"That's pretty impressive." Lance gulped.
"You think he's impressive now? I haven't even triggered his effect yet!" Theresa grinned broadly. "By discarding one Light type monster from my hand I can destroy all of your monsters."
"What did I do to deserve this?" Lance gulped as Baseball Kid and Great Angus where consumed and destroyed by a holy light.
"Well you did run with that gang..." Theresa started but Lance motioned for her to keep quiet, clearly sweating bullets. "Huh? Oh, Chloe doesn't know? Crap, forget I said that."
"What gang, I thought you said your record was clean?" Chloe shouted from the sidelines and Lance turned around.
"Well once I turn 18 it will be but that's beside the point!" Lance gulped.
"Err, Lance you'd better turn around." Marcus pointed out, Lance blinked only to be hit by a beam from behind.
T: 3700
L: 2100
"There should be a rule against declaring an attack whilst the opponent's back is turned!" Lance said clearly annoyed. "How'd you find out about that anyway?"
"You mean the gang? My mom's a cop and she does background checks on every guy I meet, your name came up on an assault charge where you beat the crap out of some gang leader about two months ago, the charge was dismissed as self defence though." Theresa said and Chloe blinked.
"Wait, that guy was a gang leader?" Chloe blinked.
"Wait, you DO know?" Theresa blinked.
"Some asshole was flirting with her and didn't take no for an answer, I beat the shit out of him when he got too touchy feely and the subsequent assault charge was dropped, I have no idea where the gang member thing came from." Lance said.
"Err, Lance, technically your record is clean because you never went to jail for that." Theresa pointed out. "Anyway I have a duel to win so I end my turn."
"Yeah, and thanks for bringing that up, I'm sure the teachers will be thrilled to learn that I almost had a criminal record." Lance muttered sarcastically as he drew his card. "Say does Archlord Zerrato's effect work on facedown monsters?"
"Yep." Theresa nodded.
"Well there goes that plan." Lance muttered shaking his head, and then he saw what he drew. "I'm not out of this yet." Lance thought. "I set a card facedown and end my turn."
"Then it's time to end it, Archlord attack!" Theresa commanded not looking at her drawn card; Zerato fired a beam from its sword at Lance which consumed him. "Well, that was fun whilst it lasted..." Theresa said as she started to walk off.
"The duel's still on." Theresa stopped and turned around seeing Lance getting up, and then she noticed his lifepoint counter.
T: 3700
L: 3300
"What? But I had you beat!" Theresa said in surprise.
"Not quite, the trap I set last turn? It's called Nutrient Z and it can only be activated when I'm about to receive battle damage that comes to 2000 or more, before the damage is applied I gain 4000 lifepoints, more than enough to stay in the game." Lance grinned.
"Thanks for the heart attack Lance!" Chloe called from the sidelines.
"I try my best!" Lance called back and Theresa smirked.
"Truth be told Lance? I'm glad this duel's going a bit longer, just to see if you can find a way out of this." She grinned. "I set a card facedown and end my turn."
"Right." Lance said drawing his card, he grinned when he saw what it was. "Time I got rid of Sanctuary in the Sky; I activate the spell card Heavy Storm!" Lance announced as a storm came over the field.
"Nice try but Magic Jammer says otherwise." Theresa said discarding a card from her hand, just as soon as the storm had arrived it had dissipated.
"Well, can't blame me for trying." Lance said before spotting something. "You just made a big mistake Theresa."
"Huh?" Theresa blinked before it dawned on her. "Crap, I discarded the last card in my hand for Magic Jammer's effect."
"And it's still my turn." Lance said with a grin. "First I activate Spell Reproduction, by discarding two spell cards from my hand I can return a spell card to my hand." Lance said discarding Soul Release and Soul of Fire and retrieving a spell card. "I'll give you two guesses as to what it is." Lance said slowly turning it around.
"Lightning Vortex." Theresa said trying her best to keep calm.
"Yep." Lance said discarding the second to last card in his hand; Theresa shielded her eyes as Zerato was struck by lightning and disintegrated. "And now too summon a six star monster." Lance said causing Theresa to raise an eyebrow.
"You're going to summon a six star monster with no monsters on the field? Unless one of your facedown cards is another Call of the Haunted I don't see it happening." Theresa said folding her arms.
"Just watch." Lance said playing the card. "I summon Laval Lancelord in attack mode!" Lance played the card and a muscular being wearing He-Man like armour and a red kilt appeared on the field, it was armed with a spear that seemed to be covered in lava (6/2100/200).
"Okay, either you cheated or there's something seriously wrong with your duel disk." Theresa said as she stared down the monster.
"Actually it's the third option, none of the above!" Lance grinned. "Laval Lancelord can be normal summoned to the field without having to sacrifice a monster but he's destroyed at the end of my turn in exchange for that effect." Lance explained.
"Okay, so you have a strong monster on your side of the field, but once it's in the graveyard your lifepoints will be wide open." Theresa grinned.
"Well I'd better make the most of it then, LAVAL LANCELORD ATTACK HER LIFEPOINTS DIRECTLY!" Lance commanded and the lancelord threw its spear at Theresa who winced as it grazed her.
T: 1600
L: 3300
"And I end my turn at that, see you later Lancelord." Lance said as the hologram of Lancelord disappeared from the field and he sent the card to the graveyard, Theresa drew her card and grinned.
"This was just what I was looking for." Theresa said playing the card. "I activate Card of Sanctity!" Theresa said as she and Lance drew six cards, "I activate Polmerization..."
"Sorry, but they'll be no fusions today." Lance said flipping one of his traps. "I activate Flamvell Counter, now by removing a Fire Type monster from my graveyard with 200 defence points I can negate the activation of your spell card." Lance said as he retrieved Lancelord from the graveyard and pocketed it. "You where saying?"
"Nice counter." Theresa said sending Polmerization to the graveyard. "But I have more tricks up my sleeve."
"So do I." Lance said simply. "But since it's still your turn why don't you show us some of these tricks?" Lance asked and Theresa grinned.
"Those will be your famous last words." Theresa said summoning a card. "I summon my second Freya, Spirit of Victory!" Theresa said as the cheerleader reappeared on the field.
"Yay, they'll be more cheerleading!" Lance said sarcastically.
"Be a smart ass all you want but did you forget about Court of Justice already?" Theresa asked and Lance gulped. "I use its effect to summon Dunass Dark Witch!" Theresa announced playing the card and a woman with purple shoulder length hair in a small red dress appeared on the field with two wings protruding from her back (4/1800/1050) and her attack jumped to 2200 thanks to Freya's effect,.
"She's a witch that's also a fairy?" Lance asked raising an eyebrow. "I'm no expert on religion but that seems pretty contradictory."
"Don't worry; it also confuses the hell out of religious duellists like me." Theresa shrugged. "Anyway Freya, Dark Witch, attack his lifepoints directly!" Dark Witch fired a spell at Lance whilst Freya kicked him in the jaw.
T: 1600
L: 600
"I set a card facedown and that ends my turn but unless you have a second Nutrient Z this duels over." Theresa said as Lance drew his card.
"I don't need a second Nutrient Z to win this duel Theresa." Lance grinned as he activated his trap. "I activate Return from a Different Dimension, at the cost of half my remaining lifepoints I can summon all my monsters that have been removed from play, off course I only have one but I think Laval Lancelord will be more than enough." Lance said as his lifepoints dropped to 300 and Laval Lancelord returned to the field.
"Aren't you forgetting something?" Theresa asked pointing to Sanctuary. "As long as I have fairy type monsters on my field my Sanctuary keeps my lifepoints safe."
"That's true but your sanctuary's about to be destroyed." Lance said picking up a card. "First I sacrifice Laval Lancelord to summon Goka, The Pyre of Malice in attack mode." Laval Lancelord was consumed by a massive flame, on that flame soon appeared an angry looking face (6/2200/1900). "And now I activate Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Sanctuary in the Sky!" Lance announced as a tornado destroyed the Sanctuary and Theresa sent it to the graveyard. "Goka, attack Freya Spirit of Victory and win me this duel!" Lance commanded as Goka launched its self at Freta.
"Did you honestly think it would be that easy? I activate Shift and changed Goka's target to Dark Witch!" Theresa said as Goka launched its self at Dark Witch.
"But that'll be a tie...you intend to beat me with Freya don't you?" Lance asked and she nodded. "Well, goodbye dignity it was nice knowing you because I'm about to lose a duel thanks to an attack by a cheerleader." Lance muttered as the two monsters attacks destroyed eachother. "I end my turn."
"Freya, try not to damage his ego too much!" Theresa said after drawing his card, Freya nodded and launched herself at Lance kicking him...in the balls.
"Ow." Lance winced as he went cockeyed before falling over.
T: 1600
L: 0000
"And the winner of this ridiculously long duel is Theresa!" Brandon announced with a wince. "Somebody get an icepack for Lance's balls!"
"No way, that was just a hologram." Lance said getting up. "Besides if anyone's hand is going anywhere near my balls it's mine...that came out wrong."
"Yes, yes it did." Brandon said facepalming. "Let's just determine the next duel before Lance embarrasses himself even more." Brandon added shaking his head; Lance quickly made his way to the bleachers and sat next to Chloe.
"Well, there are worse ways to lose a duel." Chloe tried to reassure him.
"What could be worse than being kicked in the balls by a cheerleader?" Lance asked.
"Just ask the guy in the infirmary." Marcus said as he made his way to the duel field.
"That's not funny asshole!" Marcus blinked and turned around seeing Kimberly who was looking pissed.
"Err, oops." Marcus gulped. "Please don't castrate me!" Marcus said running off.
"Kimberly? Why aren't you with Nathan?" Brandon asked.
"Why? Because I was getting bored out of my mind sitting next to Nathan, that and I talked to the Obelisk Blue headmaster and he agreed to let me join the tournament as well." Kimberly said with a sigh. "There's a good chance that whoever attacked Nathan will be at the tournament, I want a chance at revenge against him."
"You sure about that? Revenge isn't a great motive to enter a tournament." Brandon said.
"I'm sure, besides Theresa and Chloe might need more female company on this trip." Kimberly said before sitting down next to Lance.
"So who's duelling next?" Lance called out to Brandon who looked up.
"Just deciding that Lance, just enjoy being between two young women for the time being." Brandon said.
"Err, Brandon..." Theresa trailed off.
"Caught it the moment it came out of my mouth." Brandon said blushing furiously. "Let's just draw our cards already!" Brandon said as he drew his Gorg The Strong (1800), Marcus drew his Troop Dragon (700), Evan drew his Neo the Magic Swordsman (1700), Andreas drew Wolf Axeweilder (1650) and Rajin drew his Fushi No Tori (1200). "Next match is between me and Marcus."
"Oh great, I look forward to getting my ass kicked." Marcus muttered.
"You'd better not carry that attitude going into the tournament, I'm good but they'll be tournament level players at the tournament." Brandon said and Marcus nodded.
"Yeah, you're right." Marcus said pumping his fists. "I'm ready to kick ass and take names."
"That's more like it!" Brandon said as the two boys got on the duel field. "Just don't expect me to let you off that easy." Brandon said as both boys activated their Duel Disks.