Nicola led the two older students away from the crowded streets and to a quieter alleyway next to a small Pizza restaurant not too far from where Nicola and Theresa had duelled each other, once the three teens where a good distance into the alleyway Nicola stopped in her tracks and turned to the two older teens.
"Theresa, Brandon, as Andreas and Marcus mentioned there's a reason I haven't applied for Duel Academy yet..." Nicola started before leaning against the wall.
"You have Autism, don't you?" Theresa asked catching Nicola off guard.
"Yeah...how did you know?" Nicola asked once her surprise wore off, Theresa smiled.
"I have a younger brother who's autistic, high functioning like you are." Theresa explained. "To be honest I'm surprised I didn't catch on sooner."
"You never mentioned that." Brandon whispered to Theresa.
"You never asked if I had any siblings." Theresa pointed out.
"Touché." Brandon admitted before turning to Nicola. "I don't get how your autism would prevent you from being admitted though."
"Is Duel Academy even equipped for students with Special Needs?" Theresa realized and Brandon blinked.
"Well it was a couple of years before they finally built girl's dorms for Ra Yellow and Osiris Red, heck weren't they being built when you where starting out Theresa?" Brandon asked and Theresa punched him in the head.
"I'm not that old!" Theresa said annoyance clear in her voice as Brandon moaned.
"Yeah...I'm not even going to comment on that." Nicola said as a massive sweatdrop rolled down her head. "So out of the two of you who hasn't duelled yet?"
"That would be me." Brandon said getting up too his feet. "Theresa's duelled twice in the same day, against you and an Orichalcos duellist who's deck specialized in removing monsters from play." Brandon said looking at his duel disk. "And we still have those three duellists on the run." Brandon thought before looking up at Nicola. "I shouldn't have any trouble finding another duel though, there's still a while to go before the Semi-Finals start." Brandon added.
"Hopefully we'll get enough Locater cards in time." Theresa added. "Lance and Chloe are behind on locater cards even after two duels though in Lance's defence that was only because my opponent stole one of his locater cards and destroyed it."
"So is Mike for that matter, Otto...who knows how well he's doing..." Brandon shrugged and Nicola looked at him confused. "Otto's Andreas's twin brother and he is, quite frankly, an egotistical prick." Brandon explained.
"He can't be that bad if he's related to Andreas." Nicola blinked and Brandon shook his head.
"If you ever met him you'd understand." Brandon sighed rubbing the back of his head nervously. "If you do decide to try out for Duel Academy though don't let your autism stop you."
"I won't, thanks." Nicola said with a smile.
"Which one of you is Brandon Thomas?" Brandon blinked before turning around and seeing a slightly younger Asian man with spiked up hair and big glasses in front of brown eyes wearing a black t-shirt, blue jeans and black boots.
"Considering I'm the only male in this group?" Brandon pointed out and the Asian teen blinked before realizing he had a point.
"Excellent point." He admitted before holding up a duel disk. "I am Ketoshi Miyama, most of my friends like to call me Ket, and I'm looking for a duel!"
"Well you came to the right place; I'm looking for an opponent myself." Brandon said...before his and his female companions' stomachs rumbled and Brandon sweatdropped. "After we eat." Brandon added and Ket laughed.
"Well this alleyway is next to a pizza place and I've heard stories about how big New York Pizzas can be." Ket said rubbing the back of his head. "Mind if I join you?" Brandon looked towards his female companions who shrugged their shoulders before turning to Ket.
"Sure." Brandon nodded before leading the three teens out of the alleyway. "By the way, what deck do you run?"
"Oh that's easy, I run an Alien deck." Ket said and the other teens did a double take. "What can I say? I've always been a Sci-Fi nerd so it fits perfectly."
"Even so Alien monsters are generally pretty weak." Brandon pointed out. "Though I'm hardly one to talk since I use Dark Scorpions."
"Yes but like Dark Scorpions Alien monsters can be powerful in the hands of a skilled duellist and...well I'm not my Region's Regional Champion for nothing." Ket responded as they exited the alleyway. "And you...well your an Obelisk Blue student so I guess that fact speaks for its self."
"Yeah but Theresa's a lot better." Brandon admitted as Andreas and Marcus approached them.
"So, what's up Brandon? Did you find an opponent or something?" Marcus asked looking at Ket for a moment.
"Yeah, but first we're going to grab a bite to eat." Brandon said motioning to the Pizza Restaurant. "Want to join us?"
"Well if Duel Academy's paying for it." Marcus said as the group turned to the two teachers, Martin smiled and nodded. "That settles it." Marcus said and the eight people entered the restaurant, they ate their meals and once they had their meals they exited the restaurant. "Man that was the biggest Pizza I've ever had."
"I'm more surprised that you where able to finish that Pizza." Theresa said rubbing her full stomach, Andreas smirked and turned to her.
"Aren't you forgetting who we're talking about?" Andreas pointed out and Theresa smiled.
"Good point." Theresa admitted. "So I guess all that's left is the match between Brandon and Ket." Theresa added and the two boys smiled.
"Yeah, let's see just how good this regional champ is." Brandon said activating his duel disk, Ket did likewise and the two boys drew their opening hands. "How many locater cards do you want to put on the line?"
"I have two and I saw your duel against that Felix Truman fellow so I'm guessing you're putting up your two locater cards." Ket said and Brandon nodded. "All that's left to decide is who's going first."
"I'll go first." Brandon said drawing another card. "I start by activating Allure of Darkness, with this I can draw two cards but in exchange I have to remove one Dark type monster from my hand otherwise I have to discard my entire hand." Brandon explained before pocketing a monster and drawing two cards, he looked at one of his cards and smiled. "Now I summon Dark Crusader in attack mode!" Brandon played the card and a skeleton with shoulder length red hair in jet black armour and a tattered red cape carrying a huge sword appeared on the field (4/1600/200). "I set two cards facedown and end my turn."
"Not bad." Ket said adjusting his glasses. "Your crusader is certainly formidable." Ket added before drawing his card. "I summon Alien Hunter in attack mode!" Ket played the card and a strange two headed being appeared on the field, one head was jet black and the other was more reptile like, it was carrying a strange staff like weapon and it had a tail (4/1600/800). "It seems we're at a stalemate."
"It seems so." Brandon nodded. "That is until I activate Dark Crusader's effect next turn." Brandon thought.
"Except my hunter won't be sticking around, I activate a Spell Card called A Cell Scatter Burst!" Ket played the card and Allen Hunter's chest started expanding at a high rate, eventually it burst open covering Dark Crusader in Alien guts.
"Okay, number one thanks for the nightmares." Brandon said with a shudder. "Number two, what did you just do?"
"In order, you're welcome and that's the effect of Scatter Burst, it requires that I sacrifice an Alien monster to activate it and once it is activated I get to spread around what's known as A Counters among your monsters, obviously you only have one so Dark Crusader gets four counters." Ket explained as suddenly numerous tumours started appearing on Dark Crusader's body. "They're effect will be explained in due time."
"Okay but you just left your field wide open for attack." Brandon pointed out.
"I'm well aware of that fact but I have more cards to play, like the Field Spell Card Code A Ancient Ruins!" Ket played the card and the scenery changed to Alien like ruins. "Each time a Alien type monster on the field is destroyed this spell card gets an A Counter, but most importantly I can remove two A Counters from anywhere on the field to bring back one Alien monster per turn so return to the field Alien Hunter!" Two of the tumours on Dark Crusader disappeared and Alien Hunter returned to the field. "Now I activate the Spell Card Mysterious Triangle, this lets me destroy one monster with an A Counter on the field and Special Summon one level four or lower Alien Type monster from my deck."
"Sorry to disappoint you but my trap card says otherwise, I activate Dark Illusion!" Brandon flipped up the card and Ket's eyes widened. "Since your spell card targets a monster my Dark Illusion trap card can negate and destroy it!" Brandon announced as the hologram of Mysterious Triangle was consumed by dark light destroying it.
"Why didn't he activate that sooner and negate Scatter Burst?" Nicola blinked in confusion.
"Dark Ilusion requires that the card it negates targets a Dark Type monster, Scatter Burst distributes A Counters to all of Brandon's faceup monsters." Theresa explained.
"Yeah, it was just a coincidence that Dark Crusader was his only monster on the field at the time." Marcus added.
"Not for much longer, I activate my other trap card Escape from Dark Dimension." Brandon flipped the card up and grinned. "Remember the monster I banished for Allure of Darkness's effect? This trap card lets me bring it back and summon it to the field so..." Brandon retrieved the card from his pocket and played it. "So I summon Beast of Talwar in attack mode!" Ket raised an eyebrow as a green demon with purple wings appeared on the field wielding twin curved swords (6/2400/2150).
"Nice way to get a powerful monster on the field." Ket complemented him before looking at his hand. "I set a card facedown and end my turn." Brandon nodded and drew his card.
"Time I took care of that Alien of yours, Dark Crusader attack and destroy Alien Hunter!" Brandon commanded and the skeleton warrior charged forward.
"But...but they have the exact same attack strength!" Ket was quick to point out as Alien Hunter got ready for battle.
"That's where Dark Crusader's effect comes in!" Brandon said discarding a card from his hand. "By discarding a card from my hand Dark Crusader's attack increases by 400!" Brandon explained as Dark Crusader's attack rose to 2000.
"And this is a perfect time for me to activate my trap card, go Mass Hypnosis!" Ket activated the trap card and Dark Crusader stopped in its tracks. "This trap can only be activated if I have an Alien type monster on my side of the field and as you can see Alien Hunter fits that role quite nicely."
"So it lets you negate the attack?" Brandon asked...only for his eyes to widen when Dark Crusader marched over to Ket's side of the field.
"Not exactly, Mass Hypnosis lets me take control of up to three of your monsters as long as they have A Counters on them." Ket explained.
"Sorry to disappoint you but I don't intend to let you keep my Crusader, Beast of Talwar attack Dark Crusader with Talwar Slash!" The demon took flight and flew at Dark Crusader before splitting it in two with his swords.
B: 8000
K: 7600
"Yes, but now you have my hunter to deal with." Ket grinned.
"A monster that my beast outclasses in every single way? I'm not worried." Brandon said looking at his drawn card. "I set this card facedown and end my turn." Brandon announced as the Hologram for Mass Hypnosis shattered.
"I almost forgot, Mass Hypnosis is destroyed at the end of the turn that it's activated." Ket explained sending the trap to the graveyard before tossing Dark Crusader back at Brandon who sent it to his graveyard. "However Dark Crusader would've stayed on my side of the field regardless so it doesn't make a difference."
"Though that does beg the question of why he bothered activating that trap in the first place." Theresa said as she watched the duel. "Either way he would've lost lifepoints."
"Well this way he was able to save himself from a direct attack." Andreas said rubbing his chin. "Aside from that I have no idea."
"You'll see shortly." Ket chuckled as he drew his card. "I set this card facedown for later." Ket announced as the facedown card appeared on the field. "And now I activate a spell card called A Cell Breeding Device!" Ket played the card and, to Brandon's surprise, a breeding tank appeared on his side of the field rather than Ket's.
"What on Earth?" Brandon blinked.
"Now during each of my standby phases your monsters get A Counters." Ket explained pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "For now though I switch Alien Hunter to defence mode and set a monster in defence mode that will end my turn." Ket announced, Brandon raised an eyebrow at him before drawing his card.
"What's his strategy? I can't make sense of any of moves." Brandon thought before looking at his new card. "Well, well, well, I was wondering when you'd show up, I summon Don Zaloog in attack mode!" Brandon played the card and the leader of the Dark Scorpions appeared on the field ready to do battle (4/1400/1500).
"And I activate my trap card Crop Circles!" Ket said as the trap flipped up and too Brandon's surprise Alien Hunter and the facedown monster disappeared from the field. "Surprised? Don't be, my Crop Circles trap card allows me to send any number of Alien type monsters from the field to the graveyard."
"And what good will leaving yourself open for a direct attack do?" Brandon asked raising an eyebrow; Ket chuckled as he held up his cards revealing the facedown monster to be Alien Dog (3/1500/1000).
"I'm not leaving myself wide open, I'm paving the way for one of my strongest monsters to wreck havoc on your lifepoints!" Ket said as he picked up his deck after sending the two monsters to the graveyard. "You see in exchange for sending those two monsters to the graveyard Crop Circles allows me to Special Summon one Alien monster from my deck who's level equals the combined level of the two monsters."
"But that means he can bring out a Level 7 monster!" Marcus realized.
"Exactly, so come forth Cosmic Horror Gangi'el in attack mode!" Ket played the card after returning the deck to the appropriate slot and if there was ever a more appropriate name for a monster than this one it hadn't been made yet, the monster was huge and grey in colour, it's lower body was like that of a spider whilst the top half was more human like with various bulges on its chest, it had several glowing red hairs and what looked like long flowing brown hair (7/2600/2000).
"Holy fucking shit." Andreas and Marcus said simultaneously at the site of the monster.
"Whoa..." Nicola gulped at the site of the monster, Brandon however wasn't worried.
"My Dark Armed Dragon can beat this "cosmic horror" easily, I just need to send two more monsters to the graveyard and I'll be all set." Brandon thought before realizing something. "Hell, I don't even need to bring him out to do it." Brandon thought before looking up at Ket. "Did you forget about the trap I set last turn?"
"What about it?" Ket blinked as Brandon activated it.
"It's called Darklight and like Crop Circles it requires me to get rid of a monster so goodbye Beast of Talwar!" Brandon said as the monster was consumed by a dark light.
"You just took out the one monster that stood a remote chance of beating my Cosmic Horror!" Ket chuckled. "How did you get into Obelisk Blue again?" Ket asked and Brandon's eyes narrowed. "Did I just touch a nerve?"
"Yeah, you did." Brandon said angrily. "As I was saying Darklight requires me to tribute a Dark Type monster with 1500 or more attack points and in exchange it destroys any monsters that where special summoned during this turn."
"Wait, what?" Ket stammered as the dark light continued onwards completely engulfing Cosmic Horror and destroying it. "Oh crap." Ket said upon realizing it was still Brandon's turn.
"But I'm not done!" Brandon said holding up another card. "First I activate Card of Sanctity to refresh our hands." Brandon played the card and both duellists drew until they had six cards. "Next I activate Mustering of the Dark Scorpions; this lets me special summon Don's partners in crime as long as they are in my hand so come forth Chick the Yellow (3/1000/1000), Maenae The Thorn (3/1000/1800), Cliff The Trap Remover (3/1200/1000) and finally Gorg The Strong (5/1800/1500)." Brandon played the cards and one by one the Scorpions appeared on the field.
"This is going to suck so badly." Ket muttered under his breath as be braced himself for the attack.
"You have no idea." Brandon said before pointing to his Dark Scorpions. "Dark Scorpions, attack his lifepoints directly!" The monsters charged at Ket and attacked him similtaniously.
B: 8000
K: 1200
"Well, at least the worst of it's over." Ket said as he got up and Brandon shook his head.
"I haven't even gotten into the effects of the Dark Scorpions, first Cliff lets me destroy one Spell or Trap card on the field and my card of choice is your ruins." Cliff charged forward again and slashed the hologram of the Field Spell destroying it. "Next Chick lets me look at the top card in your deck and decide whether it stays where it is or it goes to the bottom of the deck." Ket reluctantly picked up the card and looked at it.
"OH YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" Ket yelled in frustration and Brandon sweatdropped.
"You're not allowed to look at the card Ket." Brandon pointed out and Ket blushed.
"I knew that." Ket said before tossing the card at Brandon who caught it.
"Another Cosmic Horror..." Brandon took a moment to read the effect and his eyes widened. "Pretty nasty effect." Brandon thought. "This is going at the bottom of your deck." Brandon said tossing the card back and Ket reluctantly sent it to the bottom of the deck. "Now Maenae's effect lets me search for another Dark Scorpion in my deck and I chose another Gorg the Strong." Brandon said holding up the card. "Next Gorg lets me send the top card in your deck to the graveyard." Ket picked up the card and sent it to the graveyard reluctantly. "Last but not least Don Zaloog lets me choose to send a card from your hand or deck to your graveyard, I chose your hand." Brandon said and Ket sent the card to his graveyard.
"Hey Theresa, what's with Brandon all of a sudden?" Marcus whispered to Theresa. "I've only seen him duelling this ruthlessly once and that was in his duel with Lance."
"Well, as you've probably gathered when Brandon is angry about something he takes it out in duels with his unfortunate opponent being on the receiving end of his anger, in this case Ket." Theresa said folding her arms. "He was mad at Lance for telling the teachers, and by extension you and Andreas, about Chloe's childhood but in this case it's a lot more personal."
"How so?" Andreas asked.
"When Brandon applied for Duel Academy last year he was originally slated for Ra Yellow however his dad pulled some strings and got him promoted to Obelisk Blue instead, most students would be welcome for this but Brandon protested that decision until he was blue in the face, no pun intended, as he wanted to earn his way into Obelisk Blue rather than his father's checks paying his way into the dorm." Theresa said with a sigh. "By then it was too late so he opted for working extremely hard in order to feel like he belonged in Obelisk Blue including challenging all the top ranked duellists, that's how we met."
"So he resented the fact that his dad's money made life easier for him at Duel Academy? If my dad had brought my way into Obelisk Blue I'd buy him a Steak Dinner each and every father's day from that moment onwards!" Marcus grinned and Theresa smirked at him.
"Anyway...I'll set this card facedown and end my turn." Brandon announced and Ket drew his card. "I activate Dark Spirit Art – Greed, in order to activate this I have to tribute a dark type monster on my side of the field so say goodbye to Chick the Yellow!" Brandon said as Chick the Yellow disappeared from the field. "Now I get to draw two cards BUT if you have a Spell Card in your hand you can negate it by removing it from play."
"Tempting but I need the sole Spell Card in my hand." Ket thought before shaking his head. "Draw your cards, it won't matter soon enough." Ket said and Brandon drew his cards. "Now I activate another Field Spell Card called Otherworld – The A Zone!" Ket played the card and the scenery changed to an Alien planet with a multicoloured skyline.
"Why didn't he remove that card? Unless it was the only one in his hand." Brandon thought as he watched Ket make his move.
"Now allow me to demonstrate the ability of Otherworld by summoning Alien Hypno in attack mode!" Ket played the card and a small alien with a tube for a lower body appeared on the field, it had a big head and equally big, orange eyes and it's head and hands where grey in colour (4/1600/700). "Alien Hypno, attack Gorg the Strong."
"Wait, what?" The other duellists yelled simultaneously as the Alien's hand reached out, Gorg got ready for battle...only for his attack and defence to drop to 1500 and 1200 respectively.
"What just happened?" Brandon asked and Ket grinned.
"The effect of Otherworld, that's what!" Ket grinned pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Any monster that does battle with one of my Aliens immediately loses 300 attack and defence points." Ket explained as the hands grabbed a hold of Gorg the Strong and ripped him in two.
B: 7900
K: 1200
"Off course I have a long way to go before I can match the damage you did to me a couple of turns ago so I set two cards facedown and end my turn." Ket played the card and Brandon drew his card.
"Not quite my Dark Armed Dragon but a powerful monster in his own right." Brandon thought as tumours appeared on his remaining Dark Scopions. "Oh right, almost forgot about that spell card he set a couple of turns back." Brandon thought. "I sacrifice Maenae the Thorn to summon the mighty Lich Lord, King of the Underworld in attack mode!" Manae vanished from the field and in her place stood a zombie in red, tattered robes carrying a staff with a glowing gem on top (6/2400/1200). "Lich Lord attack and destroy Alien Hypno." Lich Lord pointed it's staff at the alien and, even though his attack dropped to 2100, a beam of light emerged from it destroying the alien.
B: 7900
K: 700
"Finish him Don Zaloog!" Brandon commanded and Don Charged forward...
"I won't be defeated that easily, I activate Cell Explosion Virus!" Ket activated the card and Don Zaloog stopped in his tracks. "This trap card can only be activated when you attack with a monster that has an A Counter on it; once condition is met it destroys all of your monsters unfortunate enough to be in attack mode!"
"Oh, great!" Brandon said sarcastically as the remaining Dark Scorpions and Lich Lord clutched their sides in agony before their chests exploded one by one. "What's worse is I used up my normal summon when I brought out Lich Lord." Brandon thought before looking at his hand. "No traps either, I'll have to take the damage for now." Brandon thought. "I end my turn."
"Very well." Ket announced drawing his card. "Ah this is useful, you may remember this monster from my failed attempt at summoning Cosmic Horror Gang'iel earlier." Ket said holding up the card.
"Another copy of Alien Dog?" Brandon blinked in confusion. "How will that help?"
"Why don't you see for yourself? I summon Alien Shocktrooper in attack mode and when I normal summon a Alien monster whilst Alien Dog is in my hand I can special summon Alien Dog to the field!" Ket played the cards and the first monster to appear was a humanoid reptile type being wielding a sword (4/1900/800) and it was closely followed by a dog that closely resembled a Jack Russell appeared on the field, it was white and blue in colour (3/1500/1000). "If you had any monsters his other effect would kick in now adding A Counters too them but I guess you can't win them all." Ket shrugged as Brandon braced himself. "Alien Dog, Alien Shocktropper, attack his lifepoints directly!" The two monsters charged forward and attacked Brandon in the order that they were summoned, Shocktrooper with his sword and Dog with its teeth.
B: 4500
K: 400
"I'll make my comeback yet!" Ket said triumphantly as Brandon got to his feet. "And before you ask, yes I am aware of the fact that I'm almost out of lifepoints."
"Then you know that all it would take for me to win is another Dark Crusader." Brandon pointed out with a grin. "Is it my move?" Brandon asked and Ket nodded, Brandon drew his card and raised an eyebrow. "I activate another Allure of Darkness." Brandon said pocketing a monster and drawing two cards. "Not quite the monster I was hoping for but she'll do nicely; I summon Maiden of Macabre in attack mode!" Brandon played the card and a blue skinned woman wearing a Geisha dress appeared on the field, her hair was black and in a huge bun partially concealed by a headdress and she was carrying a scythe (4/1700/0). "Maiden of Macabre, attack Alien Dog!" The maiden charged forward and decapitated the dog with one slice of her scythe.
B: 4500
K: 200
"Encase your getting any ideas about destroying my Maiden next turn, don't." Brandon said as the Maiden's attack rose to 1900. "That's the effect of Maiden of Macabre, every time she destroys a monster in battle she gains a spell counter and for each one she gains 200 attack points." Brandon explained.
"Interesting monster for sure." Ket nodded before turning to Brandon. "Any other moves you want to make?" Brandon looked at his hand and picked up the other card he drew.
"I set this card facedown and end my turn." Brandon announced and Ket drew his card...before doing a double take. "You get a good card?"
"Not only did I get a good card but I get to use a monster that I rarely get a chance to use!" Ket said triumphantly. "I summon Alien Ammonite it attack mode!" Ket played the card and a small bug like alien appeared on the field (1/500/300).
"How does that help you?" Brandon asked raising an eyebrow.
"In two ways Brandon, first his effect lets me Special Summon one Alien type monster from my graveyard as long as it's destroyed at the end of my turn and it's a Level 4 or lower monster so welcome back Alien Dog!" Ket played the card and Alien Dog returned to the field, it growled at Madame of Macabre obviously not happy about being destroyed last turn. "As for the second way, Alien Ammonite is a Tuner monster!"
"Not good." Brandon gulped.
"Yes, for you that is, now I tune Alien Ammonite with Alien Shocktrooper to summon the almighty Cosmic Fortress Gol'Gar in attack mode!" The two aliens vanished and in the place of Ammonite stood a huge bulging Alien that closely resembled Cthulu in appearance, it had a slug like lower body, several tentacles protruding from its chest and several scales on its back (5/2600/1800).
"And I thought that Cosmic Horror monster was ugly!" Marcus gulped at the site of the monster.
"Yes but the two monsters have the same attack." Andreas observed scratching his chin. "What makes this Fortress any different from Cosmic Horror?"
"It won't matter, I activate Gravity Bind!" Brandon activated the card and grinned. "Now the only monster that can attack in Alien Dog!"
"That would be a nice save, if not for the effect of Cosmic Fortress!" Ket grinned. "Once per turn my Cosmic Fortress can send one face up Spell or Trap card back to the opponent's hand so goodbye gravity bind!" As Ket said that one of Cosmic Fortress's tentacles lashed out shattering Gravity Bind's hologram, Brandon returned it to his hand before frowning. "But why stop at just one of my strongest monsters? I activate Monster Reborn to bring back an old friend of ours!"
"Please don't tell me he means Cosmic Horror; please don't tell me he means Cosmic Horror..." Marcus started praying.
"Welcome back to the field Cosmic Horror Gang'iel!" Ket played the card and the massive alien returned to the field.
"Me and my big mouth!" Marcus exclaimed.
"But why stop there? I activate Meteor of Destruction to deal you a thousand points of damage!" A meteor struck Brandon in the chest bringing his lifepoints down to 3500. "Cosmic Horror attack and destroy Madame of Macabre at once!" The alien's tentacles lashed out and grabbed Madame by her arms and legs before slowing ripping her apart.
B: 2800
K: 200
"Cosmic Fortress, attack his lifepoints directly." Rhe fortress's tentacles lashed out and struck Brandon in the chest and he winced and grunted in pain clutching his chest with his free hand...before he noticed a card in his hand.
"How did I forget I had this card until now?" Brandon thought.
"Alien Dog, finish it!" The dog charged forward but Brandon shook his head.
"I'm not done yet!" Brandon said discarding a card from his hand and a wall of Kuribohs blocked the charge of the Alien Dog.
"Why didn't you activate that sooner?" Ket asked as Alien Dog returned to his side of the field, Brandon sweatdropped and sighed.
"I forgot I had it in my hand." Brandon said, it took a few moments for that to sink in for everyone else and once it did they facafaulted.
B: 200
K: 200
"No matter!" Ket said getting back to his feet. "Our lifepoints are both one attack away from being wiped out and unless you draw something soon this duel will be mine on my next turn!" Ket announced and Brandon took that to mean he was ending his turn and went to draw his card before closing his eyes.
"Come on Heart of the Cards, guide me!" Brandon thought before drawing his card, he looked at it and smirked. "There won't be a next turn Ket, this duel's over!"
"You mean your surrendering?" Ket asked hopefully and Brandon shook his head.
"Not exactly, you may remember this guy from the beginning of the Duel!" Brandon turned the card around and Ket's eyes widened when he saw Dark Crusader. "I think it goes without saying but I summon Dark Crusader back to the field in attack mode!" Brandon played the card and Skeleton knight reappeared on the field. "Dark Crusader, attack and destroy Alien Dog and end this!" Brandon said and as the Crusader charged forward he discarded a card from his hand to activate Crusader's effect increasing its attack to 2000 and Crusader decapitated the dog with its sword.
B: 200
K: 0000
"I don't believe it, I had both of my strongest monsters out and I still lost!" Ket said as the holograms disappeared, shaking his head he walked over to Brandon and handed over his locater cards and Cosmic Fortress, Brandon took the former but declined the latter.
"Keep it, it wouldn't fit with my deck theme and I don't like Synchro monsters anyway." Brandon said and Ket nodded in understanding before returning it to his extra deck.
"Well done Brandon, now allow me to be your next opponent!" A Russian accent rang out and the two teens looked up and saw a cloaked figure emerge from the alleyway next to the Pizza Restaurant, Brandon's eyes narrowed when he saw the Scythe like Duel Disk on his arm. "I see you recognise my duel disk from your encounter with my associate Felix Truman."
"I'd recognise that duel disk anywhere even if I hadn't duelled Felix." Brandon said as his eyes narrowed. "Who are you?" The figure chuckled before removing his hood revealing a man whose lower half of his face was covered by a half mask, he had short brown hair and blue eyes.
"Ivan." The man chuckled activating his duel disk. "So, what do you say?"
"I accept the challenge on his behalf!" They turned around and saw Lance there with Chloe, his sibblings and Professor Hamden behind him. "I've been meaning to duel one of you assholes ever since an associate of yours stole and broke one of my Locater cards."
"Are you sure about that Lance?" Brandon asked and the teen smirked activating his duel disk.
"Please, my match against Phillip Masters was two hours ago, I have the energy to spare!" Lance said confidently, Ivan chuckled before activating his duel disk.
"Very well, I accept your challenge young man." Ivan chuckled before leading him out into the open. "Ah, now I recognise you." Ivan said with a nod. "Lance Alvers correct? Seems I'll have to do the job Edward couldn't."
"Because he was too busy duelling Theresa." Lance pointed out as the two duellists drew their opening hands. "And by duelling I mean getting his ass kicked ten ways from Sunday by her Armed Dragon."
"Yes, I saw that duel and that fool was too arrogant." Ivan said plainly. "I shall go first." Ivan said, Lance said nothing but simply nodded his head and Ivan drew his first card. "Fortunately for you I haven't drawn the Orichalcos yet, so instead I set three cards facedown and a monster in defence mode, your move." Ivan said and Lance drew his card.
"Fine, I summon Great Angus in attack mode!" Lance played the card and the blood red beast appeared on the field (4/1800/800).
"And I chain your summon with my trap card Reckless Greed!" Ivan activated the trap and chuckled. "Now I get to draw two cards from my deck but in return I have to skip my next two draw phases." Ivan drew his cards and added them to his hand.
"Well, allow me to make you regret that decision if you didn't draw any monsters, Great Angus attack his defence!" The beast charged forward and took a bite out of the monster revealing it to be Sangan (3/1000/600).
"The only one regretting anything will be you!" Ivan said as he searched his deck, he found the card and added it to his hand. "Oh yes, I have to show you the card don't I?" Ivan remembered before turning it around.
"That's an Exodia piece." Lance's eyes narrowed at the site of Right Arm of the Forbidden One (1/200/300). "The last time I faced one of those was in my test duel but this guy seems more interested in using Exodia for its original purpose." Lance thought before looking at his hand. "I set two cards facedown and end my turn." Lance said, Ivan didn't draw due to Reckless Greed's effect but he did activate one of his traps.
"I activate Legacy of Yata-Garasu, this lets me draw a card from my deck." Ivan drew his card and smirked under his mask. "I only have one piece of Exodia so far but with my strategy that will change soon." Ivan thought before picking up a card. "I activate the Spell Card Stray Lambs; this lets me special summon two Lamb Tokens to the field." Ivan played the card and the two Tokens appeared on the field. "Don't get too attached to them, I sacrifice them both to summon Yamata Dragon in attack mode!" The lambs disappeared and in the place of the first one stood a huge, multi-headed dragon that was grey in colour (7/2600/3100).
"That's a spirit monster!" Marcus realized and the other teens turned to him.
"Are you sure?" Theresa asked and Marcus nodded.
"Yeah, Rajin used it against me in his test duel, he never explained it's effect though since he finished the duel with it." Marcus answered.
"Your friend is correct but I am more than happy to educate the both of you about his effect, Yamata Dragon attack and destroy Great Angus." All of the dragon's heads breathed fire at once roasting Great Angus alive.
L: 7200
I: 8000
"Now his effect activates, when Yamata Dragon does damage to your lifepoints I can draw five cards from my deck." Ivan did so and Lance's eyes narrowed.
"His way of working around Reckless Greed's side effect is clever but at this rate he'll deck out quickly, not that I'm complaining." Lance thought.
"Now I enter my second main phase and activate the following Spells, first I activate Swords of Revealing Light!" Ivan played the card and swords rained down on Lance's side of the field. "As for the other...I believe you and your sister are familiar with it."
"Leave her out of this!" Lance growled as his eyes narrowed. "That bastard that you call an associate put her in the hospital!"
"I seem to remember that it was your negligence as an older sibling that ended with her in the hospital, Victor just happened to be the instrument that carried out the deed." Ivan said coldly.
"Oh no, this isn't good." Chloe shook her head. "I never thought I'd find myself feeling sorry for an Orichalcos Duellist but now I'm making an exception." Chloe added and the others looked at her funny.
"Why?" Brandon asked.
"Just watch." Chloe said pointing to Lance, he was quiet for a few minutes as his hair overshadowed his eyes, then he looked up and Ivan took a step back when he saw the rage in them.
"Listen you son of a bitch." Lance said coldly as he glared at him. "I may be a lot of things but a negligent big brother isn't one of them, if you know what's good for you'd drop the subject right...fucking...now!"
"I'm merely stating the cold hard facts boy; if you can't handle it then maybe your sister would be better off in the Orichalcos!" Ivan said coldly. "In fact once I'm done with you I'll go after them next." Ivan added and Lance clenched his fists.
"Make no mistake." Lance said glaring at the other duellist. "I will fucking kill you before you can even think about doing that you son of a bitch!"
"Holy..." Brandon trailed off. "I knew Lance is overprotective of his siblings but..."
"Yeah...be glad that he never went into detail about the time we spent in foster care." Mike interrupted him.
"We'd better hope Lance can keep his cool from here on out." Theresa said as she watched the duel.
"The only one who will be doing any killing is me and I will do it with this Spell Card, THE SEAL OF THE ORICHALCOS!" Ivan played the card and the seal encased the two duellists, Lance didn't even blink as the seal surrounded him and the Seal appeared on Ivan's forehead as well as Yamata Dragon's many heads increasing its attack to 3100 in the process.
"What on Earth is this?" Ket yelled as he saw the Orichalcos.
"You'll find out soon enough." Ivan said picking up the Yamata Dragon card. "I end my turn." Ivan announced discarding two cards from his hand due to the Hand size limit; Lance said nothing and drew his card.
"This quick play spell will come in handy if he brings back Yamata Dragon." Lance thought. "I set a card facedown and a monster in defence mode, your move." Lance played the cards and the first of the swords disappeared as Ivan activated a trap.
"I activate Jar of Greed; this allows me to draw one card from my deck." Ivan drew his card and didn't draw for his actual draw phase due to Reckless Greed's effect. "I activate three Spell cards from my hand, they are called 7!" Ivan played the cards and grinned under his mask. "Now that I have three copies of 7 on the field I can draw three cards from my deck." Ivan drew his cards and picked up the copies of 7. "Now that that's done I must destroy all three copies of 7 but when they are sent to the graveyard from the field they each increase my lifepoints by 700 points."
I: 10,100
L: 7200
"Don't worry, I won't be keeping the extra lifepoints for long, I activate Ancient Leaf!" Ivan played the card and too Lance's surprise Ivan's lifepoints dropped to 8100. "This could only be activated if I had 9000 or more lifepoints, in exchange for paying 2000 lifepoints this card will allow me to draw an additional two cards from my deck." Ivan drew his two cards and his eyes lit up. "I have bad news boy, I currently have three Exodia pieces in my hand."
"But at what cost?" Lance asked folding his arms, Ivan blinked before looking at his deck...and his eyes widened when he saw how low his deck was.
"Shit, I was too careless." Ivan cursed himself before chuckling. "No matter, once I have all five pieces of Exodia in my hand you and your siblings will be doomed."
"Are you going to make a move or not?" Lance growled.
"Ah yes, I set one card facedown and end my turn!" Ivan played the card and Lance drew his and grinned.
"I'm about to blow your whole strategy wide open, I sacrifice my facedown monster to summon Thestalous, The Firestorm Monarch in attack mode!" The hologram of the facedown monster disappeared from the field and in its place stood the Firestorm Monarch (6/2400/1000). "Whilst it's true that my monarch can't attack due to the swords his effect activates when he's summoned, when that happens I can discard one card at random from your hand and if it's a monster you lose lifepoints equal to its level X 100."
"Or it would if not for my trap card, BY ORDER OF THE EMPEROR!" Ivan activated the card and Lance's eyes narrowed.
"What does that do?" Lance asked.
"When it's activated I can chose to negate the effect of an Effect monster that activates when it's normal summoned but in exchange you get to draw a card from your deck." Lance frowned but said nothing as he drew his card.
"Wait, aren't you going to send that card to the graveyard?" Lance asked and Ivan shook his head.
"No, By Order of the Emperor is a Continuous Trap Card so the only way it's going to the graveyard is if you destroy it." Ivan explained and Lance frowned.
"Seeing as how I can't do anything else I'll end my turn." Lance said as the second sword disappeared and Ivan drew his card.
"I activate a Spell Card called Cup of Ace!" Ivan played the card dug into his pocket before producing a coin. "I flip a coin and if it's heads I get to draw two cards, tails you get to draw two cards."
"Either way we get extra cards." Lance said as Ivan flipped the coin.
"Little does this fool know that this is two headed coin." Ivan thought as he caught the coin and placed it on the back of his hand.
"That'll be quite enough Ivan." Ivan's eyes widened and he turned around.
"Michael? How long have you been there?" Ivan demanded.
"Hey Andreas, it's the same guy from my duel against Presario." Marcus whispered and Andreas nodded.
"Yeah, cloak and all." Andreas said with a nod.
"I've been watching this duel from the start." Michael said marching up to the Orichalcos wall. "You've been playing an honourable game...up until now!"
"What do you mean?" Lance demanded.
"Show him both sides of the coin Ivan." Michael demanded and Ivan folded his arms in protest.
"What if I refuse?" Ivan asked.
"Then I will subject you to a torment worse than hell!" Michael snarled, Ivan frowned under his mask and showed both sides to Lance.
"You son of a bitch, it wasn't bad enough that you threatened my siblings but you cheated as well." Lance shook his head.
"I'll offer you a compromise Lance; I'll use one of your coins for the coin toss." Ivan said, Lance dug into his pocket and tossed the coin at Ivan, he tossed it and it landed in the palm of his hand and he put it onto his other hand, he removed the hand and looked at it. "It's tails."
"Thanks for the extra cards." Lance said drawing his two cards, his eyes lit up when he saw them. "This is just what I need." Lance thought.
"It doesn't matter." Ivan said tossing the coin back at Lance and he caught it. "I am two Exodia pieces away from beating you."
"We'll see about that." Lance said folding his arms. "Any other moves you want to make?"
"Yes, I activate Upstart Goblin, now I draw a card but in return you gain a thousand lifepoints." Ivan drew his card and Lance's lifepoints increased to 8200. "Excellent, all I need now is the final Exodia piece; in the meantime I set a monster in defence mode and end my turn." Lance said nothing and drew his card.
"I set two cards facedown and end my turn." Lance announced as the last of the swords disappeared and Ivan drew his card. "Come on, bring out Yamata Dragon." Lance thought.
"Perfect, I activate Cost Down; by discarding a card from my hand I can reduce the levels of all monsters in my hand by one." He discarded the card, another copy of Jar of Greed, and picked up another. "Now I sacrifice my facedown card to summon Yamata Dragon back to the field in attack mode!" The facedown card disappeared and in its place stood the multiheaded dragon who roared at Lance as its attack rose to 3100. "Yamata Dragon attack and destroy Thestalous!" The dragon's heads started breathing fire again and Lance grinned.
"That's just what I wanted you to do; I activate my Trap Card Double Passé!" Lance activated the card and too everyone's surprise he ran in front of Thestalos's hologram. "This trap card can only be activated if you attack one of my monsters; now that I've activated it its effect lets me take the hit instead!"
"WAIT, WHAT?" All the other duellists yelled in surprise just before the attack hit sending Lance flying.
I: 8100
L: 5100
Lance breathed heavily as forced himself back to his feet. "My whole body hurts like hell...but I'll be damned if it wasn't worth it!" Lance said through gritted teeth.
"What do you mean?" Ivan asked he drew five cards. "Blast, even after that I still don't have the final Exodia piece."
"There are two reasons why I activated that trap; number one the other half of Double Passé's effect now kicks in allowing Thestalous to attack your lifepoints!" The monarch threw a fireball at Ivan who screamed in pain as the attack hit.
I: 5700
L: 5100
"As for the other reason...it ties into the card I set a couple of turns back." Lance said activating the card. "I activate the Quick Play Spell Card Inferno Tempest!
"Inferno what?" Marcus asked blinking as he did.
"This Spell Card can only be activated if I take 3000 points of damage or more from a single attack." Lance grinned as he looked up at Ivan. "Now each and every monster card we have in our decks and graveyards is removed from play."
"NO! NOT MY EXODIA PIECE!" Ivan yelled as his eyes widened but he reluctantly removed all the remaining monsters in his deck as well as the Sangan in his graveyard, Lance did likewise and gritted his teeth in pain. "The jokes on you boy, now we each only have one card left in our decks."
"Just end your turn already." Lance said and Ivan ended his turn by returning Yamata Dragon to his hand, Lance drew his last card and without looking at it he activated his trap. "I activate my final trap card and the card that will destroy you Ivan, Return from a Different Dimension, by paying half of my lifepoints..." Lance winced as his lifepoints dropped to 2550. "I can summon as many monsters that I have removed from play as I possibly can so I summon Cthonian Emperor Dragon (6/2400/1500), Abaki (4/1700/1000), Blast Magician (4/1400/1700) and Ultimate Baseball Kid (3/500/1000)." Lance played the card and the monsters appeared on the field, next to the dragon stood a blood red ogre carrying a massive club and next to Ultimate Baseball Kid, whose attack was at 4500 thanks to it's effect, stood a Magician in crimson armour. "Finish him off guys."
"Wait...wait, time out!" Ivan shouted as he was clearly panicking.
"You threatened my siblings; you don't get a time out." Lance frowned as the monsters charged at him and attacked him one by one.
I: 0000
L: 2550.
Ivan collapsed to the ground and the seal quickly circled him, one blood curdling scream later and Ivan's soul was consumed by the Orichalcos, Lance collapsed from the pain but smirked. "Guys, if I ever get an idea like that again feel free to kick my ass." Lance said looking over his shoulder at the other students.
"We should kick your ass for going overboard with your attack." Chloe said folding her arms as she approached him, Lance frowned and scoffed.
"That bastard threatened to go after my siblings if he defeated me; this is my way of making sure that none of his friends get the same idea." Lance said forcing himself to his feet. "Besides my usage of Inferno Tempest had left me with only one card in my deck so I had to go all out otherwise I would've decked out on my next turn." Lance added before turning to Michael. "Anyway I hope you got the message loud and clear."
"Your siblings will not be threatened or harmed by any of my associates, I'll see too it." Michael said plainly before bending over and picking up Ivan's locater cards and tossing them at Lance. "There's your prize, now leave." Lance picked up the locater cards and pocketed them.
"You'd better keep to your word or I'll come after you next." Lance warned him before he and the others left.
"So, what are you going to do with him?" Michael looked up and saw Felix standing outside the alleyway with a smirk on his face. "He did cheat after all."
"Not to the extent Presario did." Michael said walking off. "Let the authorities deal with him, I need to see how many agents are left."
"All that's left is just you, me, Karen, Robert and the Duel Academy student Michael." Felix said and Michael stopped before spinning around.
"I need to know Robert's location NOW!" Michael demanded and Felix did a double take.
"Err, okay." Felix said getting his cell phone out and dialing a number. "Hey boss it's me, Michael wants to know the location of Robert and it seems pretty urgent." Felix waited a couple of minutes before nodding, "Last seen entering the hotel that the students are staying at?"
"Ask him if there are any immediate family members of the students staying there." Michael ordered.
"Is there any immediate family members staying at the hotel?" Felix asked and waited a few moments before pulling the phone away from his mouth and answering. "There's just that Richardson chick's folks and Lance Alvers' mom." As soon as Felix answered the question Michael stormed off. "Where are you going?"
"Worry about that later, tell the boss to tale Robert's movements." Michael said as he walked off. "Let's just hope we're not too late."
*elsewhere in the city*
Kimberly sighed as she looked around, she had just gotten texts from Brandon about the duel between Lance and Ivan and knew that she had to find a duel soon in order to keep up with her classmates, she and Maria where near the New York docks but so far their luck in finding an opponent for Kimberly wasn't good.
"I'd better find an opponent soon." Kimberly thought out loud as she sat down on the edge of a peer with her legs dangling off the edge. "Otherwise the others will leave me in the dust."
"You'll find an opponent soon enough dear." Maria reassured her with a smile. "Besides this way you can look at all the cute boys in the city whilst you wait."
"Yeah but unless one of the cute boys in the city is a duellist who's searching for an opponent and has at least two locater cards, that is not really at the top of my list of priorities." Kimberly said rolling her eyes.
"Maybe I can help you there miss?" Kimberly looked up when she heard a Posh sounding English male voice and saw a young man with short brown hair and blue eyes who was smartly dressed and had a duel disk on his arm. "My name is Charles Kingston the III, England's national champion and I happen to be looking for an opponent." Kimberly smiled and got up.
"That makes two of us, the name's Kimberly Troy." Kimberly said with a smirk. "I don't care if you are England's national champ because I still accept your challenge."
"Kimberly Troy? Ah yes one of the Duel Academy students, I'll be happy to put my skills against a student of the game." Charles said as both duellists activated their duel disks.