As Zach and Chloe took their positions on opposite ends of the street Lance and his siblings watched with interest wondering what kind of deck Zach run, the two duellists drew their opening hands and Chloe looked at hers.
"So, who's going first?" Chloe asked as Zach looked at his hand.
"It would be rude of me to declare otherwise so ladies first." Zach shrugged and Chloe drew her first card.
"Gee, how thoughtful of you." Chloe said as she drew her card. "Not bad." Chloe thought before playing some cards. "I set four cards facedown and summon Gearfried, The Iron Knight in attack mode."
"Wait, what? I thought the news identified her as a spellcaster user." Zach thought as the knight appeared on the field alongside the four facedown cards (4/1800/1600). "I thought you used spellcasters." Zach said raising an eyebrow.
"I do, but my deck is a hybrid of Spellcasters and Warriors." She explained and Zach nodded in understanding. "Anyway I end my turn." Zach said nothing and drew his card.
"I'll start things off with a Field Spell Card called Dragon Ravine!" Zach played the card and suddenly a massive chasm opened up between the two duellists. "This little spell card will benefit my dragonunity monsters greatly."
"You're Dragonunity monsters?" Chloe asked raising an eyebrow. "I've never heard of them."
"Then let me give you a crash course." Zach grinned before picking up another card. "I summon Dragonunity Miltium in attack mode!" Zach announced as a winged male carrying twin swords appeared on the field, he was wearing a green dress and knee high boots (4/1700/1200). "It's not too bad, huh?"
"It would be even better if it could beat my knight but I guess your shit out of luck in that department." Chloe pointed out and Zach grinned.
"Don't you use Silent..." Zach started but Lance cleared his throat.
"Take it from me dude, insulting her Silent Magician isn't smart." Lance said and Zach blinked before nodding.
"Oookayyyyy." Zach said before shaking his head. "As I was saying don't underestimate the Dragonunity cards because they're special abilities are equal to none."
"Okay you've got my curiosity, what do they do exactly?" Chloe asked and Zach grinned.
"Glad you asked, you see unlike most monsters Dragonunity cards double as equip cards so I'll equip Miltium with Dragonunity Darkspear." Zach played the card but nothing happened.
"Err; I think your duel disk's broken." Chloe pointed out and Zach shook his head.
"Nothing wrong with my duel disk, this little combo just needs another spell card for it to work, so I activate Dragon Mastery, this spell card increases the attack of any monster equipped with a Dragonunity card 500 attack points." Zach explained as Miltium's attack rose to 2200. "But I have something bigger planned so this is where Miltium's effect kicks in." Zach said picking Darkspear back up. "Once per turn I can use his effect to special summon one Dragonunity monster from my Spell and Trap card zone!" Zach played the card and grinned. "So please welcome to the field Dragonunity Darkspear." Zach said as a small red and black dragon wearing a strange back and silver helmet appeared on the field (3/1000/1000). "So, what do you think so far?"
"I think you went through a lot of trouble just to bring out two monsters that are weaker than my knight." Chloe pointed out.
"Oh yeah I almost forgot, Darkspear's a tuner monster!" Zach announced and Chloe's eyes widened.
"Oh, great, let me guess, you're about to do a Synchro Summon?" Chloe gulped and Zach grinned.
"Exactly, so I send Miltium and Darkspear to my graveyard to summon Dragonunity Knight Vajrayana in attack mode!" Zach retrieved the card from his Extra Deck and the two Dragonunity monsters disappeared from the field and in their place stood a red, serpent like dragon with a woman in red armour riding on top of it (6/1900/1200).
"Oh boy, this match will be over soon." Lance blinked and turned around in time to see a blonde male with short blonde hair, blue eyes and a goatee wearing a black t-shirt, blue jeans and black boots.
"I wouldn't underestimate his opponent; she's been in tougher spots before." Lance said and male looked up.
"Do you really think so? I doubt that she's ever faced someone like Zach." The male grinned as Zach retrieved a monster from his graveyard.
"When I synchro summon this Dragonunity Knight I can bring out one level 3 or lower Dragonunity card and equip it to her, as long as it's a dragon type monster that is." Zach said playing the card and the knight's attack rose to 2400. "However by sending said Dragonunity monster to my graveyard I can double my Knight's attack." Zach said returning the monster to the graveyard and the knight's attack jumped all the way up to 3800. "Dragonunity Knight attack Gearfried!" The knight charged at Gearfried and Chloe smirked.
"Not just yet, I activate Waboku!" Chloe activated the card and three priestesses blocked the knight's path.
"Nice save." Zach complemented her before looking at the rest of his hand. "I set this card facedown and end my turn." Zach said and Chloe drew her card.
"Okay, these Dragonunity cards seem powerful from what I've seen so far but I won't let that stop me." Chloe thought looking at her drawn card. "I activate Card of Sanctity to refresh our hands." Chloe announced and both players drew until they had 6 cards in their hands. "I've been meaning to use this." Chloe thought with a grin. "I sacrifice Gearfried to summon Magical Marionette in attack mode!" The knight disappeared from the field and in its space stood a masked magician in a red robe carrying puppet strings (5/2000/1000).
"She does know that if she had summoned that thing first and then played Card of Sanctity it would've gained 200 attack points right?" The male blinked and Lance raised an eyebrow at him.
"I doubt it; she's only been duelling for two months." Lance said folding his arms. "Are you a spellcaster user as well?"
"Nah, my sister is." The male shook his head. "I'm more into fiends."
"Thanks for the advice." Chloe addressed the male before she played a card. "I activate Mystical Space Typhoon and use it to destroy Dragon Ravine."
"I thought you might try something like that so I activate Magic Jammer!" Zach played the card and after he discarded a card a purple mist blocked the tornado from destroying the Ravine, however due to its effect Marionette's attack rose to 2200. "Nice try though."
"I know, especially since I can still attack your Synchro monster, Magical Marionette attack Dragonunity Knight." As Magical Marionette charged forward Chloe activated one of her traps. "But before the attack makes contact I'll activate another Trap Card called Magician's Circle which..."
"I know what it does." Zach cut her off as he searched through his deck. "I summon Lord of Dragons!" Zach played the card and the dragon protector appeared on the field (4/1200/1100).
"It figures, it wouldn't make sense for him not to have a card like that in his deck." Chloe thought as she searched her deck. "My monster is a relatively new one, as far as my deck's concerned anyway, Crusader of Endymion!" Chloe played the card and a magician in futuristic looking armour which covered everything including his face, the armour was blue and brown in colour (4/1900/1200).
"So, she has the Crusader of Endymion huh? Wonder if she has the other cards." Zach thought before crossing his arms. "So, are you going to attack or not?
"As if you needed to ask, Crusader, attack Lord of Dragons, Magical Marionette resume you attack on Dragonunity Knight!" Crusader leapt into the air and stetched out his arms, balls of energy started to form in them before he launched them at Lord of Dragons disintegrating the Spellcaster, meanwhile Marionette's puppet strings stretched out before ensnaring Dragonunity Knight two of the puppet strings wrapped themselves around the heads of the dragon and the woman and slowly choked them to death.
C: 8000
Z: 7000
"What did I tell you? You're friend used his strongest monster too early and it bit him on the ass." Lance grinned and the male shook his head.
"I would've thought that Duel Academy would teach its students not to jump to conclusions." The male chuckled before looking directly at Lance. "Look, that wasn't even his strongest monster kid, so my advice to you is to watch and learn."
"Watch and learn how a North Academy student got his ass kicked by a rookie?" Lance smirked.
"You'll see." The male smirked.
"Is it me or are they hell bent on turning this match into a pissing contest between our schools?" Chloe asked as a massive sweatdrop rolled down both duellists heads.
"Pay no attention to Ray; he's always been this competitive." Zach shook his head as Chloe sent Magician's Circle to the graveyard. "Anyway are you done?"
"Yeah, I'm done." Chloe shrugged and Zach drew his card.
"Okay, considering how inexperienced she is she's doing pretty well, I'd better take the kid's gloves off if I want to win this." Zach thought before looking at the card he drew. "Okay first I activate the spell card Cards of Consonance, by removing two dragon type monsters from my hand this will allow me to draw two more cards." Zach played the card and pocketed the other two cards in his hand before drawing two new ones.
"Don't forget that since you played a Spell Card my Marionette gets another Spell Counter." Chloe pointed out as Marionette's attack rose to 2400.
"I know, and speaking of Spell Cards I think it's time I called upon the effects of Dragon Ravine!" Zach answered discarding a card. "Once per turn I can activate one of two effects as long as I discard a card from my hand, I can chose to either send a Dragonunity card from my deck to my hand as long as it's a Level 4 or lower monster OR I can send one Dragon type monster from my deck to my graveyard and since I don't have any cards that can bring monsters back from the graveyard I chose the former." Zach announced as he picked up his deck and searched through it.
"If he's searching for what I think he's searching for that kid's done for." Ray said folding his arms.
"I'm guessing you two have duelled in the past?" Lance asked.
"Yeah we have, don't ask how many times because it's way too many times to count." Ray chuckled as Zach added a card to his hand. "What about you and your girlfriend?" Ray asked and Lance fell over anime style.
"SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND! SHE'S JUST A FRIEND WHO HAPPENS TO BE A GIRL!" Lance quickly asserted.
"Oh yeah, he definitely has the hots for her!" Ray thought with a smirk. "The news outlets happen to tell a different story."
"Yeah, they tell a story which is full of shit!" Lance asserted.
"Well, if you say so!" Ray grinned.
"Err; anyways...I think I'll summon the monster I brought out with Dragon Ravine Dragonunity Aklys!" Zach played the card and a small red armoured dragon appeared on the field with a massive spear attached to its head (3/1000/800). "And when he's normal summoned successfully I can Special Summon another Dragonunity monster from my hand and equip him to it so say hello to Dragonunity Dux!" Zach played the card and a winged man in silver robes appeared on the field (4/1500/1000) and quickly grabbed onto Aklys increasing its attack to 2000.
"Is anyone else noticing a pattern with these Dragonunity monsters?" Lance commented but Ray blinked in confusion.
"Huh? Why didn't he summon Dux first? He could've equipped another Dragonunity card from the graveyard with him...unless." Ray's eyes widened and he chuckled. "Hey Zach, you're really going to use THAT monster against her?"
"You bet your ass I am!" Zach grinned. "You should consider yourself honoured Chloe; it's not often that I use this next monster!"
"But you've already summoned!" Chloe pointed out.
"I noticed but this card can be Special Summoned if I remove from play one monster equipped with a Dragonunity monster!" Zach said pocketing Dux and sending Aklys to the graveyard. "Say hello to my deck's strongest monster, Dragonunity Arma Leyvaten!" Zach played the card and a massive orange dragon with two sets of wings flew out of the chasm, it roared at Chloe and her monsters before producing a massive scythe (8/2600/1200).
"That's...that's pretty powerful..." Lance stammered.
"You don't know the half of it." Ray grinned.
"When Leyvaten is normal or special summoned I can equip one dragon type monster that's in the graveyard to him as it's not another copy of him!" Zach explained as Darkspear appeared on Leyvaten's scythe increasing the dragon's attack to 3100.
"Crap, crap, crap, come on Chloe think!" Chloe thought looking frantically between her remaining facedown cards.
"Well, I hope you enjoyed your time in the tournament Chloe because it's all downhill from here, Dragonunity Arma Leyvaten attack Crusader of Endymion!" The massive dragon swooped down at Crusader slicing it in two with its scythe.
C: 6900
Z: 7000
"I'll end my turn for now." Zach announced as Leyvaten returned to his side of the field, Chloe gulped and drew her card.
"Great, what a perfect time it is for me to draw Silent Magician Level 4." Chloe thought with a sigh before switching Marionette to defence mode and setting another monster in defence mode. "That'll do it for me." Chloe announced and Zach drew his card.
"Well, that's the meeting over, now to find Chloe and..." Hamden said as he approached the duel area only to blink in surprise when he saw the two teens. "Well, that was easy." Hamden said making his way through the crowd of spectators and over to Lance. "Hey Lance, who's Chloe's duelling?"
"Some guy from North Academy called Zach Michaels; he's the one with the massive dragon on his field." Lance explained. "And I do not like Chloe's chances right now."
"GEE THANKS!" Chloe yelled at Lance before shaking her head. "Don't you have a move to do?"
"That I do, I activate the spell card I just drew; Stop Defence, which I use on your facedown monster!" Chloe's eyes widened as Alchemist of Black Spells (4/1200/1800) appeared on the field and Marionette's attack rose to 2600.
"Crap, crap, crap." Chloe muttered out before remembering something. "I activate Alchemist's effect; by switching him back into defence mode I can add another counter to Marionette!" Chloe said quickly as Alchemist knelt down and Marionette's attack rose to 2800.
"I think your friend almost had a panic attack just now." Ray said shaking his head. "How long did you say she's been duelling for?"
"Two months." Lance said and Ray shook his head.
"Then this'll be a massacre, Zach's practically been duelling his whole life." Ray said sadly.
"Not even that will save you; I activate the other card I got from Cards of Consonance BIG BANG SHOT!" Zach played the card and Chloe's eyes widened even as Magical Marionette's attack rose to 3000 but at the same time the Dragon's attack rose to 3500. "And since I can't risk that monster being a threat to my dragon...Dragonunity Arma Leyvaten attack Magical Marionette!" The dragon dived down at the puppet master and sliced him in two with its scythe.
C: 4400
Z: 7000
"This is bad." Lance gulped as Chloe sent Magical Marionette to the graveyard. "That monster was her best chance at beating that dragon!"
"What did I just tell you? This will be a massacre; she may as well give up." Ray grunted folding his arms.
"Ray's right Chloe, this dragon's the best monster I've got and no matter what position you're monsters are in your lifepoints will take a hit, what do you say?" Zach asked, Chloe didn't respond at first and Zach shook his head. "I'll take that as a..."
"No!" Chloe said determinedly causing Zach and Ray to do double takes. "Not as long as I have lifepoints left."
"Ah to be a naive rookie again, takes me back." Ray chuckled shaking his head. "Ah well, it's her funeral."
"Fine, I'll set two cards facedown and end my turn." Zach said playing the card and Chloe drew hers.
"This won't help at all, but maybe one of my traps will." Chloe thought as she looked at Marauding Captain (3/1200/800). "I activate my trap card Hope For Escape!"
"Hope for what? She's really risking it all on that?" Ray asked.
"Hey if you got a better idea I'd like to hear it!" Chloe snapped at Ray as her lifepoints dropped to 3400 and she drew 5 cards. "It's time I slayed that dragon!" Chloe grinned and Zach raised an eyebrow. "I activate Spell Reproduction, by discarding two cards from my hand I can bring back one Spell Card from the graveyard, namely Mystical Space Typhoon!"
"And you're going to target Big Bang Shot aren't you?" Zach asked with a facepalm. "Good thing I came prepared for this."
"Considering I know Big Bang Shot's side effect? Yes, I am." Chloe announced as a tornado destroyed Big Bang Shot's hologram taking the dragon with it.
"Huh? I don't understand." Mike blinked.
"Big Bang Shot has a nasty side effect; if it's removed from the field in anyway the monster equipped with it is removed from play." Lance explained.
"Or it would be if not for my trap card, Dimensional Inversion!" Zach played the card and too everyone's surprise Dragonunity Arma Leyvaten returned to the field, though with his attack returned to 2600. "This trap card can only be activated if a monster of mine is removed from play; this lets me return my Dragon to the field."
"Huh, I knew he would have a backup plan...wait, why is she smiling." Ray blinked when he saw Chloe's broad smile.
"Why? It's simple, because now I can put my strongest monster against his!" Chloe said playing the card. "I summon Silent Magician Level 4 in attack mode!" Chloe played the card and the magician appeared on the field staring down the dragon (4/1000/1000) and Ray burst out laughing when he saw the stats.
"That's a joke right? That thing's pathetic!" Ray roared with laughter.
"Ray, shut up." Zach said sternly and Ray blinked. "Aren't you forgetting about her first duel?"
"Her first duel, what do you...?" Ray asked before realization hit him. "Your next cards Level Up! Isn't it?"
"You got it; I activate Level Up to bring out Silent Magician's strongest form and my strongest monster, Silent Magician Level 8!" Chloe played the card and Silent Magician grew up to its strongest form (8/3500/1000).
"I was hoping you'd do that!" Zach said with a grin. "I activate my trap card Evil Blast!" Zach played the card and suddenly numerous evil looking spirits entered Silent Magician's body.
"What...what did you just do?" Chloe demanded and Zach smirked.
"What's the matter? Are you ungrateful for the free power boost?" Zach asked, Chloe blinked but to her surprise Silent Magician's attack rose to 4000.
"Okay, unless that thing has a side effect that's one of the dumbest moves I've seen!" Lance said scratching his head. "And believe me; I've seen some dumb moves! And I've occasionally done some dumb moves!"
"He knows what he's doing." Ray said with a smirk. "And come next turn your little lady friend will regret ever summoning that monster."
"Thanks for the free power boost, allow me to show my appreciation by attacking your dragon!" Chloe smirked as Silent Magician pointed her staff at the dragon and started charging it up, she fired a beam at the dragon consuming it whole.
Z: 5600
C: 3400
"Not bad Chloe, but I still intend to...what trap card are you activating?" Zach started but stopped when he saw Chloe activate her trap.
"Didn't you say you watched my first duel in the tournament? Then you may remember this trap, it's called Enlightenment!" Chloe said and Zach's eyes widened.
"Oh, this is going to suck!" Zach gulped as Silent Magician charged up its beam again and fired at Zach.
Z: 1600
C: 3400
"Do you still think I should give up?" Chloe asked rhetorically as Zach got to his feet.
"You won't be so cocky on your next turn, count on it!" Zach grinned.
"Fine, I set two cards facedown and end my turn." Chloe said discarding another card due to the hand size limit, Zach drew a card and grinned.
"I activate my own Card of Sanctity, but since you already have 6 cards in your hand I guess you won't be drawing." Zach said as he drew until he had six cards. "Ah just what I need, I set this facedown and a monster in defence mode, your move." Chloe drew her card and Zach quickly activated his trap. "I activate Thunder of Ruler, now you can't attack during this turn but that's not all!"
"What do you...?" Chloe started but was cut off by one of the spirits exiting Silent Magician's body and passing through hers causing her to grunt in pain.
C: 2900
Z: 1600
"What...what was that?" Chloe demanded and Zach grinned.
"That's the side effect of Evil Blast; as long as it's on the field you'll lose 500 lifepoints during each of your standby phases, so in essence I'm attacking you with your own monster." Zach grinned.
"What did I tell you? It's only a matter of time before Zach wins this." Ray grinned; Chloe said nothing and looked at her new card."
"I set this facedown and end my turn." Chloe announced as Zach drew his card.
"Not much you can do huh? I pass as well." Zach shrugged and Chloe drew her card grimacing as another spirit passed through her body.
C: 2400
Z: 1600
"Silent Magician, attack his defence!" Chloe demanded as Silent Magician fired another beam at the facedown card...but to her surprise a small pink being with big eyes hit her in the chest.
C: 1400
Z: 1600
"Did I just see that or have I officially lost it?" Lance blinked.
"The monster you attacked is one of two non Dragonunity cards in my deck, Marshmallon!" Zach said as the creature returned to his field (3/300/500). "For starters this little guy can't be destroyed in battle but since you where kind enough to attack him whilst he was facedown you suffer a thousand points of damage."
"So what, was this a backup plan if I destroyed your dragon?" Chloe asked and Zach smirked.
"Actually I like to call it "Bringing down Chloe Richardson's Silent Magician Level 8 with a monster who's attack doesn't even come close", yeah I know the plan's name is a bit of a mouthful but you can't argue with the results!" Zach grinned but it disappeared once Chloe started laughing. "What's so funny?"
"You're what's funny!" Chloe grinned. "You spent all this time building up a perfect defence that you forgot about my own traps!"
"And how are those supposed to help?" Zach asked.
"Just watch, first I activate Collective Power so now your Marshmallon is equipped with Evil Blast!" Chloe said and the remaining spirits fled Silent Magician, returning her attack to 3500, and flooding into Marshmallon increasing his attack to 800.
"So now I'll suffer damage each turn!" Zach said as his eyes widened but Chloe shook her head.
"Not quite, I enter my second main phase and activate the spell card Eternal Rest!" Chloe said as Marshmallon disintegrated.
"You gotta be kidding me; she might actually pull this off!" Ray said the surprise clear in his voice.
"I'm not out of this yet!" Zach snapped at him before turning to Chloe. "Are you done yet?"
"Yeah, I'm done." Chloe said as Zach drew his card.
"Come on Zach, you're not going to let some rookie beat ya are ya?" Ray called from the sidelines and Zach shook his head.
"That's easier said than done, that combo was my best shot at beating her." Zach thought before looking at his new card. "I set this in defence mode and end my turn." Chloe drew her card and played it.
"I summon Defender the Magical Knight in attack mode!" Chloe announced as the knight appeared on the field alongside Silent Magician (4/1600/2000).
"Well, I guess the duel's over then." Zach shrugged as he braced himself for the upcoming attacks.
"Your right there, Silent Magician attack his defence, Defender finish him." Chloe commanded and Silent Magician fired it's beam at the monster, another Darkspear, which was quickly disintegrated, Defender charged forward and slashed Zach with his sword.
C: 1400
Z: 0000
"Did...did Zach just loose to a rookie..." Ray stammered in surprise as the holograms disappeared.
"I told you she'd pull through." Lance grinned folding his arms. "Looks like North Academy's students aren't what they are cracked up to be!"
"Please, she just got a lucky draw." Ray shook his head with a scoff as Zach approached Chloe.
"Well here's your prize, one locater card and my rarest card, which I don't use in my deck since it clashes with my deck theme." Zach said handing over the cards too her, Chloe took them and smiled.
"Chaos Command Magician (6/2400/1900) thanks." Chloe said as she started to walk off.
"There's one more thing Chloe." Zach said walking up to the younger duellist, she stopped in her tracks and turned around...only to blink in surprise when Zach offered her a handshake. "Good luck in the tournament, maybe we'll meet again in the semi-finals." Chloe smiled and accepted the handshake.
"Yeah, just don't expect him to go easy on ya in that match!" Ray smirked and Zach turned to him.
"Ray, if I was going easy on her why did I summon my dragon?" Zach pointed out; before Ray could respond a mad chuckle emerged from the alleyway.
"Yes, yes, very good, now allow me to be her next and last opponent!" The duellists looked up and saw the figure from the rooftop sans cloak, he was pale with long white hair, blue eyes and was wearing a black t-shirt, blue jeans and black boots though what caught Chloe's. Hamden's and Lance's attention was the black scythe like duel disk on his arm.
"No way, she was just in a competitive duel!" Lance snapped at the duellist who chuckled.
"I'm not giving her a choice." The duellist grinned and Ray's eyes narrowed.
"Look punk, if you want to duel her fine but let her rest up first." Ray said folding his arms. "I don't know who you are or where you got that duel disk from and quite frankly I don't give a shit but if you're anything like most duellists I know you'll want a decent challenge." The duellist's eyes narrowed before he grinned.
"Very well, I accept your terms." The duellist said pointing to a far off building. "Meet me at the top of that building in one hour."
"You have a deal." Chloe said, the duellist walked off and she sighed. "I can't do this."
"Huh...why not, he gave you an hour?" Ray pointed out and Chloe rolled up the sleeve covering the arms that was injured during her last duel showing him the stitches.
"These stitches where caused by an associate of his in my last duel, that's why." Chloe said rolling the sleeve down. "I don't know about you but I'm not up to spending most of the tournament in a hospital bed."
"So that guy's with the guys who revived the orichalcos?" Zach asked as he and Ray's eyes narrowed, Lance and Chloe glanced at them surprised.
"You know?" Lance asked and Ray nodded.
"It's required learning for all second year students at North Academy, I thought it was a myth before I saw Chloe's duel." Ray explained folding his arms. "Hey, weren't their two younger kids with you?" He asked turning to Lance.
"Huh..." Lance said looking around and seeing Mike nearby. "Mike, where's your sister."
"She went off to duel that creep." Mike said honestly.
"That isn't funny." Lance said folding his arms.
"She told me herself." Mike said and Lance threw his hands in the air.
"Oh, God damn it! Mom will kill me if she finds out Sophie's soul was trapped by an ancient evil...I can't believe I just said that!" Lance said clearly frustrated.
"Your jumping to conclusions, aren't you?" Ray asked raising an eyebrow.
"She's only been duelling for a month; I think I have a right to jump to conclusions here!" Lance answered.
"Lance, relax, maybe we can get their before she does." Chloe said folding her arms. "Anyone know how far that building is from here?"
"No but Ray can drive you." Zach said and Ray folded his arms.
"I'll go one better than that, I'll drive you there and challenge the punk to a duel if we beat your sister there." Ray said digging his car keys out of his pocket. "My car's not far from here, let's move!" Ray ran off and Lance, Chloe, Mike and Hamden chased after him.
"Sophie, what on Earth was you thinking?" Lance thought as he followed the older man.
*elsewhere, an hour later*
The building that the Orichalcos Duellist had chosen was closed for renovations which meant both duellists had to sneak around in order to reach the rooftop; luckily said renovations had been delayed by the Tournament so the duellists didn't have much to worry about in terms of being caught.
"Where is that girl?" The duellist thought as he sat on the edge of the rooftop. "I can feel the Orichalcos' hunger, I must feed it!" He thought just before he heard the rooftop access door opening. "Ah good, you made it." The duellist said standing up. "Well then Chloe, I hope you enjoy your inevitable trip to the Orichalcos." The duellist added before activating his duel disk and turning around...only to be taken aback by the presence of Sophie. "Who are you? You're not the duellist I challenged!"
"I'm a friend of hers, and I'm duelling you in her place!" Sophie said activating her duel disk, the man growled before smirking.
"This may not be so bad, first I'll defeat this brat and feed her soul to the Orichalcos then I'll duel her friend and defeat her, the master will get two souls for the price of one!" The duellist thought before folding his arms. "Very well you can call me Victor, or as my associates call me, the Grim Reaper!"
"The name's Sophie and I'm not scared of you!" Sophie said as she and Victor drew their first hands.
"Believe me little girl, there's plenty to be scared off!" Victor said as he drew his first card and grinned manically. "Don't take my word for it! I activate the Seal of the Orichalcos!" Victor played the card and grinned as the seal encased both of them. "Don't worry dear; I'll make it as quick and painless as I can." Victor said sarcastically.
*elsewhere*
"Can this thing go any faster?" Lance demanded impatiently as Ray drove them to the building, Chloe was sitting in the passenger side seat whilst the other males where in the backseat.
"I'm going as fast as I can, unless you want me to pull a helicopter out of my ass and fly us there CALM THE FUCK DOWN!" Ray snapped at the teen.
"You can do that?" Mike said with awe in his voice causing the other duellists to sweatdrop.
"It's called sarcasm kid, look it up." Ray said plainly before turning to Hamden who was looking up information on the building on the internet via his laptop. "Any luck Hamden?"
"Well I found one match but it doesn't make any sense, according to the website the building that duellist selected is closed for renovations, which have been put on hold due to the tournament." Hamden said before realization hit him and the other duellists.
"That makes it a perfect place for an Orichalcos duel if you don't want media attention!" Ray realized. "Strap in kids!"
"We're already strapped in!" Chloe pointed out as Ray slammed his foot on the accelerator. "And Hamden's not exactly a kid for that matter!"
"And that's a week's worth of detention for you, starting the exact moment we return to Duel Academy, for you Ms. Richardson, unless you start grovelling now." Hamden said and a massive sweatdrop rolled down Chloe's head.
"I...I meant that in the nicest way possible..." Chloe said smiling as sweetly as she could, Ray shook his head as they approached the building...nearly running over Brandon, Theresa and Martin the process.
"Oh crap." Ray sighed as he unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the car. "Sorry guys, I was in a hurry."
"You're that eager to duel huh?" Brandon asked noticing Ray's duel disk, then he spotted the others getting out of the car. "Lance, Chloe? What's going on?"
"First here's the good news." Chloe said holding up her two locater cards. "I beat a friend of his."
"Congrats, and what's the bad news?" Theresa asked folding her arms.
"Immediately after her duel with my friend some punk with an Orichalcos duel disk challenged her, I got him to give her an hour to prepare and he told us to meet atop a building closed for renovations but Lance's little sister has gone off to duel him." Ray explained.
"You're kidding, right?" Brandon asked and Ray shook his head.
"I'm not, name's Ray Edwards, I'm a student at North Academy." Ray introduced himself before turning to Hamden. "How far is it?"
"20 minute walk from here." Hamden answered.
"I'd drive you but my car only has enough seats for five passengers." Ray said but Brandon shook his head.
"We'll meet you there; wait for us outside the building." Brandon said, Ray nodded and the others entered the car and drove off.
*back at the duel*
Victor chuckled evilly as the seal appeared on his head, Sophie tried to keep her calm but the 13 year old was having trouble doing just that.
"Now let the fun begin, I summon Beiige, Vanguard of the Dark World in attack mode!" Victor played the card and a skeleton like being appeared on the field, it had blue skin under its bones and was wearing a small brown hat (4/1600/1300) and the seal appeared on its head increasing its attack to 2100.
"Did you say D-d-d-dark W-w-w-world?" Sophie stammered clearly afraid.
"You have nothing to fear child, it's only a duel monster...oh that's right, in the Orichalcos duels the monsters are real and so is the damage!" Victor said putting on a face of mock shock. "But why stop at one? I have another Beiije in my hand and by discarding it to the graveyard I can Special Summon it to the field!" Victor announced holding up a spell card. "And I'll discard him with this, the Spell Card known as Card Destruction which forces us both to discard our entire hands and draw new ones." The two duellists discarded their hands and true to his word another Beiije appeared on the field with its stats raised to 2100. "They weren't the only Dark World cards in my hand child, for example by discarding the monster known as Broww, Huntsmen of the Dark World (3/1400/800) I can draw one card from my deck and as luck would have it I had one in my hand!" Victor drew the card and grinned. "Ah, excellent I drew my strongest monster early, on my next turn I'll sacrifice my Vanguards to bring it out and annihilate her lifepoints!" Victor thought before grinning. "Ah yes, the other card in my hand was Ceruli, Guru of the Dark World (1/100/300) and like my vanguards he is summoned to the field when discarded only he is summoned to your field in defence mode!"
"I guess that's not so bad!" Sophie gulped as a hideous looking mage in a blue cloak appeared on her side of the field kneeling down and using its staff to defend its self.
"But the fun's just beginning child, I activate the Spell Card Dark World Dealings!" Victor played the card and grinned. "Now we each draw one card but in exchange we have to discard a card from our hand!" Victor grinned as both duellists drew a card.
"Well, with the Orichalcos in play I can't use Sanctuary in the Sky so I guess it's best that I discard that." Sophie thought discarding the Field Spell.
"I shall discard this monster, Kahhki, Guerrilla of Dark World (2/300/500) and I have unfortunate news for you, when he's discarded I can destroy one monster on the field and I think I destroy your guru!" Sophie's eyes widened as the guru shattered, she reluctantly tossed it back at Victor who caught it. "Now for the rest of my brilliant strategy, I activate the Continuous Spell Card Dark World Grimoire!" Victor played the card and grinned. "Its effect won't come into play just yet so I'll end my turn."
"Finally, I thought the tournament would be over by the time you finished!" Sophie groaned as she drew her card.
"SOPHIE!" She heard a familiar voice ring out; she turned around and saw a very angry looking Lance approaching the duel field with his friends in tow.
"Ah, so my next victims have arrived!" Victor chuckled. "How very kind of you to show up, I promise that I'll make your defeats painless!"
"This duel shouldn't even be happening! Chloe accepted the duel not her!" Lance yelled once he caught his breath. "And for that matter, Sophie, tell your older brother one thing, WHAT THE FUCK WHERE YOU THINKING?"
"I didn't want Chloe to end up the hospital again." Sophie said clearly on the verge of tears at this point. "Please, don't be mad."
"Lance, there's nothing you can do about it now." Theresa said putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. "All we can do is hope for the best."
"Theresa, aren't you forgetting how long she's been duelling?" Lance asked with a groan. "Okay fine, he has two monsters out so obviously a few turns have passed right?"
"Actually, it's only been one turn!" Victor told him and Lance and Chloe's jaws hit the floor. "That's the power of the dark world you fools!"
"Dark World...words can't describe how much I hate that archtype." Ray shook his head. "Basically they revolve around effects requiring cards to be discarded to the graveyard, that coupled with the Orichalcos' power means this punk could have an army of monsters on the field in a matter of turns."
"So why do you hate them?" Lance asked.
"Because they are a cheap and easy way to swarm the field, they require almost no strategy!" Ray scoffed.
"You obviously don't know what you are talking about...that or you got your ass kicked by them one too many times, which is it?" Victor mocked and Ray snarled.
"That's none of your damn business." Ray said as his eyes narrowed.
"Very well, I believe it was the girl's turn..." Victor started.
"YOU GET HER OUT OF THE DUEL RIGHT NOW OR I'm...I'M...GOING TO CALL YOU UGLY!" Lance said causing the other duellists to fall over anime style.
"Oh, I'm so scared." Victor scoffed. "Even if I wanted too I couldn't, the only way this duel ends is when either of our souls gets consumed by the Orichalcos!"
"And for the record Lance, work on your threats." Ray said with a facepalm.
"You think that's bad? You should see his attempts at shouting advice." Chloe agreed earning her an annoyed look from Lance,
"Anyway as Victor said it's my move!" Sophie said looking at her card. "Err...I summon Freya, Spirit of Victory in attack mode." Sophie gulped as the young girl in the cheerleader uniform appeared on the field (1/100/100) and Victor nearly died of laughter.
"Are...are you serious? I was able to summon two powerful agents of the dark world...and you follow it up with THAT?" Victor laughed.
"And I'm getting unpleasant flashbacks to how I was defeated in my last duel against Theresa." Lance said with a grimace.
"It couldn't off been that bad a defeat, could it?" Ray asked.
"Yeah...my copy of Freya kicked him in the balls to finish the match." Theresa said with a wince.
"Oh...forget what I said." Ray said with a shudder.
"As I was about to say, I also activate a spell card called Court of Justice!" Sophie played the card and Victor raised an eyebrow. "Since I have a level 1 fairy type monster on my side of the field I can Special Summon another fairy type monster from my hand so I summon Hysteric Fairy in attack mode!" Sophie played the card and the fairy appeared on the field (4/1800/500).
"Summon all the monsters you want, my beasts are far stronger!" Victor said triumphantly...only to blink when Fairy's and Freya's attacks rose to 2200 and 500 respectively. "What? You don't have any powerup cards on the field!"
"That's where you're wrong; Freya's special ability increases the attack of fairy type monsters by 400!" Sophie said with a grin. "Hysteric Fairy, attack the Vanguard on the right!" Sophie commanded and the fairy adjusted his glasses...seconds before twin beams of light emerged from them incinerating the Vanguard.
V: 7900
S: 8000
"That does it, next turn that little bitch in the cheerleader outfit is going to die." Victor said threateningly making the slit throat motion with his thumb.
"You do that." Sophie said rolling her eyes before setting three cards facedown. "That'll do it for me."
"Indeed." Victor said drawing a card. "Ah excellent, prepare yourself foolish child because I hold in my hand the level 8 monster that will seal your fate."
"What, with only one card on the field? I'm a rookie and even I know that's impossible!" Sophie was quick to point out and Victor grinned.
"Under that right summoning conditions it is possible, as it stands I have four Dark Type Monsters in my graveyard, Beiije, Kahhki, Cerull and Broww, and another Beiije on my side of the field, with these summoning conditions I can bring forth a monster best described...as a fallen angel." Victor explained and Theresa's eyes widened.
"Oh no, this is bad!" Theresa gulped. "If he means what I think he means than Sophie's in big trouble."
"What do you mean?" Lance asked.
"You know I use Archlord Zerato in my Fairy Deck right? There's an evil counterpart to him, with that summoning condition." Theresa explained.
"Oh great, I had enough trouble dealing with him during our duel, how do you think my sister's going to do?" Lance asked as his eyes widened.
"Why don't we find out? I sacrifice my Vanguard to summon DARKLORD ZERATO!" The remaining Beiije was consumed by dark light and in its place stood what could only be described as an evil version of Archlord Zerato appeared on the field, he swung a massive sword menacingly and glared at Sophie (8/2800/2300) and almost immediately the Seal's symbol appeared on its head increasing its attack to 3300.
"3300...that's way too powerful for Sophie to handle, at least if it was Chloe that was duelling she could bring out Silent Magician!" Lance gulped.
"Indeed, unfortunately my dark lord isn't long for this world." Victor said discarding a card. "I activate my Darklord's special ability, by discarding one card from my hand I can destroy all monsters you control!"
"NO!" Lance shouted pounding on the Orichalcos Wall. "Don't you dare!"
"Just watch!" Victor chuckled evilly as Darklord Zerato fired twin dark beams into the air which came down on top of Sophie's monster's destroying them. "This effect comes with a drawback though, at the end of the turn that Zerato uses this effect he is destroyed...oh yes I almost forgot, the card I discarded for Zerato's effect? It was another Beiije." Victor laughed evilly as the fiend returned to field powerboost intact.
"SOPHIE, GET OUT OF THERE!" Lance shouted as the young girl looked at him hopelessly.
"Darklord Zerato, Beiije, Vanguard of Dark World, attack the foolish girl's lifepoints directly!" Sophie could only scream as the monster's attacks connected, Lance continued to pound away at the Orichalcos wall even as the screaming died down.
V: 7900
S: 2600
"YOU SICK SON OF A BITCH! WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU YOUR GOING TO WISH YOU WHERE NEVER BORN!" Lance should as the smoke cleared; Sophie was on her back barely moving and was clearly in severe pain.
"Lance...its okay..." Sophie said weakly activating one of her traps. "I activate Numinous Healer, since I just suffered damage I gain a thousand lifepoints back." Sophie said as her lifepoints rose up to 3600 and slowly but surely she got back to her feet.
"Is that the best you can do?" Victor scoffed. "Chloe will be child's play compared to you! Anyway I end my turn and Darklord Zerato is destroyed!" A dark light consumed Zerato and he was sent to the graveyard, Sophie weakly drew her card and looked at it.
"Card Destruction...I can't use this, his deck revolves around discarding monsters." Sophie thought before adding it to her hand and setting a monster. "I set a monster in defence mode and end my turn." Sophie said and Victor drew his card.
"Excellent, I activate Spell Reproduction discarding two spell cards from my hand to bring back Card Destruction from my graveyard; I think you can guess what's happening next!" Victor said playing the two spell cards and both duellists discarded their hands. "Zerato maybe gone but I have something almost as powerful waiting to be unleashed."
"This guy's getting predictable quick." Lance muttered under his breath.
"Since my next monster is in my graveyard all I have to do to summon it to the field is return Beiije to my hand so..." Beiije disappeared from the field and the card was returned to his hand. "I summon Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World!" In Beiije's place stood a massive jet black dragon with two sets of horns around its mouth and blood red eyes (7/2700/1800) and almost immediately the dragon's attack power was boosted to 3200 by the seal. "I have bad news for you little girl, that was a special summon so I am free to summon another monster so please welcome the only Normal Monster that belongs among the Dark World monsters, Zure, Knight of Dark World!" Victor played the card and a humanoid figure in grey armour appeared wielding a large sword, its skin was blue in colour and it had a purple Mohawk (4/1800/1500) and the seal appeared on its forehead as well boosting its attack to 2300.
"As much as I hate to admit it, this guy's an excellent duellist." Theresa sighed.
"Indeed, his strategy so far has been flawless." Martin agreed.
"Now then, Zure I command you to attack her defence!" Zure charged forward and slashed at Sophie's facedown monster revealing it to be Spirit of the Harp (4/800/2000) which was cut in half by Zure's attack. "Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World attack her lifepoints directly with Dark World Inferno!" Sophie braced herself for the attack as the massive dragon breathed fire at her incinerating her.
V; 7900
S: 400
"That son of a bitch is going to pay for this!" Lance said clenching his fists in anger as Sophie got to her feet.
"As much as I'd hate to admit it, your sister's in over her head in this duel." Hamden frowned folding his arms. "Unless she draws something soon we're going to have to explain why your youngest sister is in a coma."
"On the other hand if she wins she's going straight to the hospital and quite frankly I don't know what I'm looking forward to explaining the least!" Lance said clearly stressed. "SOPHIE, LISTEN TO ME! YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE IN THE HEART OF THE CARDS IF YOU WANT TO WIN THIS...AS INCREDIBLY CHEASY AS THAT SOUNDS..." Lance yelled.
"Wow, he's actually shouting good advice for once." Chloe said causing Lance to fall over anime style.
"His sister's in danger, that's why!" Ray said with a nod. "I don't know what I'd do if my sister was trapped in there with a lunatic like him." Ray added and the other duellists with siblings nodded in agreement.
"Make your final, pathetic move girl!" Victor ordered and Sophie closed her eyes.
"Well, it helped Chloe in her duel with Damien, it should help me now." Sophie thought. "Heart of the Cards, help me!" Sophie thought before drawing her card. "I set this in defence mode and end my turn." Victor laughed maniacally as he drew his card.
"Zure, take down her last line of defence!" Zure charged at the monster and sliced it...only for Marshmallon to slam into Victor's chest.
V: 6900
S: 400
"You can't be serious...you drew that monster now?" Victor asked disbelief clear in his voice.
"Yep, and what's even better is the fact that Marshmallon can't be destroyed in battle so unless you have another copy of Kahhki in your hand my lifepoints are safe!" Sophie pointed out as Marshmallon returned to her field and Victor looked at his hand.
"Blast, I have Kahhki in my hand but I lack the means to discard him!" Victor thought with a frown. "I end my turn!" Sophie drew her card and looked at it.
"This duel's over." Sophie announced and Victor grinned.
"I'll take that to mean that you've finally come to your senses and are surrendering the duel to me?" Victor asked.
"You'd like that wouldn't you?" Sophie said with a frown. "You're just a bully, your prey on the weak and helpless to satisfy your own ambitions, well I have bad news for you, and I'm not weak and helpless...I ACTIVATE THE SPELL CARD LIGHTNING VORTEX!"
"WHAT?" Victor yelled as lightning struck his two monsters destroying them both.
"But that's not all, I activate Cost Down, by discarding a card from my hand I can reduce the levels of all monsters in my hand by 2 for the remainder of the turn and thanks to this card's effect I can now bring out my strongest monster so I sacrifice Marshmallon to summon Guardian Angel Joan in attack mode!" Marshmallon disappeared from the field and in its place stood a beautiful woman with short red hair and blue eyes with wings wearing majestic looking white and gold armour (7/2800/2000).
"No way, she has THAT card in her deck?" Theresa shouted out of surprise.
"Whilst impressive it's still not enough to beat him." Ray said folding his arms. "That is, unless those facedown cards are meant to help with that!"
"Right you are, I activate my remaining facedown cards Rush Recklessly, which gives Joan a power boost of 700." Sophie announced as Joan's attack strength increased to 3500.
"Hah!" Victor scoffed as Sophie activated her last card. "That's STILL not enough to beat me!" Victor said with a grin...which disappeared the moment he saw the other facedown card. "Don't tell me that's m-m-m-m-Megamorph?"
"It is and since my lifepoints are much lower than yours my Guardian Angel's attack is increased all the way up to 7000." Victor's eyes went wide with fear as Guardian Angel Joan doubled in size as her attack rose to 7000. "Guardian Angel Joan, attack his lifepoints directly with Judgement Spell!" Joan spread her arms wide as a blinding light slammed into Victor, he screamed in pain as his lifepoints where sent plummeting down to 0.
V: 0000
S: 400
Victor collapsed as the seal closed in around him, no scream was heard as his soul was taken by the Orichalcos and Sophie collapsed to her knees. "SOPHIE!" Lance yelled running up to his younger sister.
"I'm sorry big brother." Sophie said softly as tears rolled down her cheeks and Lance smiled.
"Hey, don't cry, I'm just glad your okay." Lance sighed before turning to the others. "I don't think I need to say that they both need an ambulance."
"I'm on it." Ray said getting his cellphone out. "Want me to call your mom for you?"
"I think it'd be better if she hears it from me, no offence." Lance told him and Ray nodded in understanding.
"No offence taken." Ray said as he dialled 911, Brandon went over to Victor's prone form and retrieved his locater card.
"I'm guessing Sophie doesn't want his rarest card." Brandon said looking at Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World, Sophie shook her head and Brandon frowned. "Well the only fiend duellist we have among our friends is Kimberly and her deck revolves around Archfiends so it wouldn't fit in there."
"I'll have it." Ray said stepping up once the call to 911 was complete. "I may hate Dark World monsters but its effect might come in handy." Brandon nodded and handed it over; the teens were unaware of the fact that Michael was watching the duel from the shadows.
"That fool couldn't win even with Zerato and Grapha in his deck." Michael thought with a frown. "No matter, there's still more duellists in the organisation." Michael thought before walking off.