Kimberly moaned as she sat up in her hospital bed, her head hurt like hell and she didn't need a mirror to know that most of it was bandaged up, she took a look around the room and saw her clothes and Duel Disk on a bedside table before looking at her body and seeing that she was in a hospital gown, it wasn't much longer before she realized that she was in a private room at a local hospital.
"Ugh, what happened?" Kimberly said out loud as she held her head in pain, it wasn't long before her memory of what had happened after her duel with Charles came back to her alongside Karen's warning for Chloe. "Did anyone catch the number of that duel disk?" Kimberly said out loud thinking that she was alone in the room.
"Ah good, you're awake Ms. Troy." An unfamiliar voice rang out making Kimberly jump, she looked up and saw a doctor in his early 50s with short grey hair and a matching beard with blue eyes. "How are you feeling?"
"Like I've been whacked on the head with a duel disk, how do you think?" Kimberly moaned leaning back in her bed. "Where the cops able to catch the bitch who did this too me?"
"Unfortunately no, colourful language aside the cops where never called." The doctor answered and Kimberly's eyes narrowed.
"Why the hell not? I didn't whack myself on the head with a Duel Disk." Kimberly protested and the doctor sighed.
"I'm not saying you did." The doctor sighed before shaking his head. "The police are under orders not to arrest Battle City semi-finalists and unfortunately Ms. Trayson is in fact a Battle City semi-finalist."
"You have got to be fucking kidding me?" Kimberly demanded but the doctor shook his head. "Fine, what's the worse of my injuries?"
"You suffered a minor concussion, lost several teeth, have numerous bruises on your body from your brawl with Ms. Trayson, which the cops will want to speak to you about, and suffered minor bleeding from the head, namely from the area where the Duel Disk made contact." The doctor said after consulting his notes. "If your teacher hadn't called for an ambulance sooner your injuries would be a lot worse."
"Yeah, remind me to thank her later." Kimberly muttered. "Bullshit regarding that bitch aside." Kimberly thought.
"That reminds me actually, your classmates from Duel Academy want to see you, do you want me to let them in?" The doctor asked.
"Go ahead." Kimberly instructed him and the doctor left the room, a few minutes later the door opened and the doctor let the other Duel Academy students and the teachers in before closing the door behind him, the teachers and the students took seats around her bed.
"How are you feeling Kimberly?" Brandon asked as he sat down.
"Well, my head hurts like hell and most of my head is bandaged up, I think you can draw your own conclusions." Kimberly said bluntly.
"Yeah I've been wanting to ask you about that actually." Marcus said and Kimberly turned her attention to him. "How did you end up being whacked upside the head with a duel disk?" Marcus said earning glares from everyone else except Kimberly. "Oh, like I'm the only one curious about that!"
"It's fine guys, the story ties into something I have to tell Chloe anyway." Kimberly said and Chloe blinked in confusion.
"Something you have to tell me?" Chloe echoed the confusion clear on her face, Kimberly nodded and turned her attention to the younger duellist.
"It's a warning, from the same bitch that put me in the hospital in the first place." Kimberly started and Marcus frowned.
"You mean Karen?" Marcus asked and Kimberly nodded. "Why would she care enough to give someone she's never met a warning? She didn't even care about her tag partner when me and Andreas duelled her."
"It seems that even she has standards, one of her associates is coming after you Chloe." Kimberly said before pausing. "Only he doesn't just want to seal your soul in the Orichalcos, he wants to kill you."
"WHAT?" Chloe yelled out in surprise. "You've gotta be joking, you must be!"
"I wouldn't joke about shit like this kid." Kimberly said shaking her head. "That's all the info she gave though, no description, no name, no age...you get the idea." Kimberly added.
"Kimberly, you have a concussion are you sure about this?" Martin asked a look of complete seriousness on his face.
"I can back up her story, so can her opponent and Philip Masters." Maria said and Kimberly stiffened up at the mention of Philip.
"Something wrong?" Lance asked her.
"That pervert tried to grope me whilst I was brawling with Karen." Kimberly said and Lance and Chloe blinked in surprise.
"Who, Philip?" Lance and Chloe asked surprised.
"I doubt it was intentional, he didn't make any perverted comments towards me whilst he was duelling Lance earlier." Chloe said plainly but Kimberly shook her head.
"Maybe you're too young for him." Kimberly shook her head.
"I have to agree with Chloe, Philip has been regarded as one of the more respectful male duellists towards female duellists." Brandon agreed resting his hands on his legs. "That and it's pretty well known that he's been dating the women he beat to win Ireland's National Championships."
"You guys done talking about me behind my back?" The teens looked up and saw Philip at the door. "I was ready to explain myself to you Kimberly but your friends beat me too it."
"Okay fine, it was an accident and I'm sorry for kicking you in the balls." Kimberly sighed in resignation. "Why where you even in the area anyway? Weren't you eliminated by Lance?"
"Eliminated duellists are allowed to watch duels, including the finals." Philip shrugged. "I heard that Charles was duelling and I was hoping to get there in time to watch it, obviously I arrived too late."
"Yeah, sorry about that." Kimberly said sheepishly.
"That reminds me actually, my girlfriend's convinced that your victory over me was a fluke Lance, she wants to duel one of the academy students to see if they are as good as they say," Philip added and Chloe stood up.
"In that case I accept, I need to some catching up anyway." Chloe said with a smirk.
"I'll go with you, I'm pretty sure that I don't need to explain why." Lance said standing up.
"Me too." Theresa nodded getting up, Chloe smiled and turned to them.
"Thanks guys." Chloe said and Philip led them outside the hospital. "So, where is she?" Chloe asked Philip who grinned.
"That eager to lose huh?" Philip asked good naturedly. "Hey Fran, I found an opponent for you."
"Is it a duel academy student?" A thickly accented female Irish accent rang out and Philip nodded, a redheaded woman with shoulder-length hair and blue eyes approached them wearing a red t-shirt, a denim skirt and black boots. "All right, who's my victim?"
"I don't know about the victim part but I'm your opponent." Chloe said stepping forward, the woman scoffed.
"The Osiris Red student? Sure, I can spare a few minutes." The woman shrugged. "Name's Francesca Burns kid, you may of beaten those other chumps, including that Orichalcos duellist, but you won't beat me."
"We'll see about that." Chloe said defiantly and Francesca crossed the street to allow for enough room for the holograms to do their work. "So, how many locater cards do you want to put on the line?"
"I have two, and I have it on good authority that you have three." Francesca said holding up her two locater cards to prove it. "Let's make this interesting, I put my two locater cards on the line and you put your three on the line."
"All or nothing in other words." Chloe nodded before smiling. "You have a deal." Chloe responded before activating her duel disk, Francesca did likewise and both women drew their hands.
"Hey Philip, what deck does your girlfriend run anyway?" Lance asked and Philip turned to him.
"It doesn't have a theme as far as monsters go but her deck revolves around quickly swarming the field with powerful monsters and inflicting effect damage on the opponent." Philip responded with a smile. "In short, Chloe has a hell of a fight on her hands."
"So who's going first?" Chloe asked looking at her hand. "Pretty good hand but I've drawn better opening hands." Chloe thought.
"I will." Francesca said drawing another card. "Nice, I summon Familiar Knight to the field in attack mode!" Francesca played the card and the knight from Lance's duel with Chloe appeared on the field ready for battle (3/1200/1400). "That's not all, I equip him with the spell card Cursed Bill." Francesca played the card and Familiar Knight started glowing.
"Okay but that card hasn't changed his stats." Chloe pointed out.
"Worry about that later, for now I set two cards face-down and end my turn." Francesca set the card and Chloe drew a new one.
"I remember that Knight's effect from Lance's duel against her boyfriend, when it's destroyed we'll both be allowed to summon a Level 4 or lower monster from our hands." Chloe thought before frowning. "Then there's cards like Cursed Bill and that face-down card, who knows what they'll do."
"Are you going to make a move sometime this century?" Francesca called out too her and Chloe gulped as a sweatdrop rolled down her head.
"Fine, fine." Chloe said picking up a card. "I summon Blade Knight to the field in attack mode!" Chloe played the card and a knight in light blue armour appeared on the field wielding a sword and a shield (4/1600/1000). "Blade Knight, attack Familiar Knight now!" The knight charged towards the weaker one and Francesca smirked.
"Just what I wanted you to do, I activate my trap card Desperate Tag." Francesca said as Familiar Knight was decapitated with Blade Knight's sword. "This has two effects, one as long as it's on the field I can reduce any battle damage I receive when a Warrior's destroyed in battle to zero and two it lets me summon a Level 4 or lower Warrior type monster from my hand,"
"So in short, your getting two monsters for the price of one." Chloe said picking up a card. "Don't forget that Familiar Knight's effect works on both players."
"Oh I know." Francesca smirked. "But that's the least of your problems because now that Familiar Knight's destroyed Cursed Bill's effect activates."
"What effect..." Chloe was cut off when a blast hit in the chest.
C: 6600
F: 8000
"That effect." Francesca said with a grin. "When a monster equipped with Cursed Bill is destroyed the opponent looses life-points equal to the equipped monster's defence points."
"Ouch." Lance winced. "That's a pretty good combo."
"Indeed, I wasn't kidding when I said that she was in for a hell of a fight." Philip said with a smile.
"Now onto my two new monsters, I summon Rare Metal Dragon and Blindly Loyal Goblin both in attack mode!" Francesca played the cards and the goblin from Theresa's last duel appeared on the field (4/1800/1500) and a dragon made of metal with a horn on it's nose appeared on the field roaring menacingly at Chloe (4/2400/1200).
"Wait, why didn't you open with that Dragon?" Chloe asked raising an eyebrow.
"It's effect, that's why." Francesca said with a frown. "The dragon can't be normal summoned or set face-down."
"Right, as for my monster I chose one I've been meaning to try out for a while, Silent Swordsman Level 3 in attack mode." Chloe played the card and a small boy in white armour carrying a large sword appeared on the field (3/1000/1000).
"You have got to be kidding." Francesca said with a sweatdrop when she saw the monster. "I summon two powerful monsters and THAT'S the best you got? Even with 6600 life-points?"
"Just you watch." Chloe said picking up two cards. "I set these two cards facedown and end my turn." Chloe said as she set the two cards down, Francesca said nothing and drew her card.
"I'll save this for later, but for now this is a perfect time to activate my other trap." Francesca thought as she added the card to her hand and activated her trap card. "I activate my trap card Pole Position!"
"Okay, what does that do?" Chloe asked.
"What it does is protect the strongest monster on the field from the effects of Spell Cards, namely Rare Metal Dragon." Francesca said with a smirk, "So don't get any ideas about using Lightning Vortex or Dark Core on it, oh yeah before I forget it's a continuous trap card so even if Rare Metal Dragon's destroyed it'll protect my more powerful monsters."
"Oh, great." Chloe sighed "At least trap cards will still work." Chloe thought.
"Now onto the rest of my move." Francesca said looking picking up a card. "Now for the fun part, I sacrifice Blindly Loyal Goblin to summon Des Vostgalph in attack mode!" The goblin vanished from the field and in it's place stood a large red and blue dragon (6/2200/1700). "Rare Metal Dragon, attack Silent Swordsman, Vostgalph attack Blade Knight!" The two dragons breathed fire at Chloe's monsters...
"Sorry but I'm not stupid enough to put a weak monster like Silent Swordsman on the field without some kind of backup." Chloe said flipping up one of her traps. "I activate Negate Attack to block one of your attacks and end your Battle Phase." The attacks where blocked by an invisible forcefield and Francesca frowned.
"Crap, I knew I was forgetting something." Francesca frowned. "No matter, I'll destroy those monsters next turn, make your move." Francesca added and Chloe drew her card and as she did Silent Swordsman started glowing and growing, seeing this Francesca blinked in confusion. "Err, what's up with your weaker monster?"
"Oh not much, he's just growing up that's all." Chloe said as she searched through her deck. "If my Silent Swordsman is still on the field during the standby phase of the turn after I summon him I can level him up to his stronger form, Silent Swordsman Level 5!" Chloe played the card and once he stopped growing and glowing the swordsman was now fully grown and had a much larger sword.
"So he went through puberty, big deal!" Francesca laughed...but stopped when she saw the Swordsman's stats (5/2300/1000). "Crap, that thing's stronger than Vostalgh!" Francesca cursed and Chloe smirked when she saw her new card.
"That's not all I'm doing, I activate Heavy Storm to clear the field of Spell and Trap cards." The two women shielded themselves as a storm blew over the field destroying Desperate Tag, Pole Position and Chloe's remaining face down card.
"Aren't you forgetting something? Namely your own facedown card?" Francesca pointed out and Chloe grinned.
"Oh, that thing?" Chloe asked holding up the Seven Tools of the Bandit that she had set facedown. "That was a backup plan encase your other facedown card was a card that could prevent the effect of Negate Attack," Chloe explained as she sent the card to her graveyard...before noticing that Des Vostalgh's attack had rose to 2400.
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about my monster's effect." Francesca said folding her arms. "My dragon gains 200 attack points each time a normal or quick play spell card is played until the end of the turn that it's activated." Francesca explained. "So much for Silent Swordsman being stronger."
"That would be the case...if not for the side effect of Pole Position." Theresa pointed out, Francesca blinked...before her eyes widened.
"SHIT!" She yelled out as Des Vostalgh and Rare Metal Dragon's holograms shattered, Chloe blinked in confusion and Francesca sighed in resignation. "If Pole Position's removed from the field in any way it takes the strongest monster, or in this case monsters, with it." Chloe couldn't help but grin broadly at this revelation.
"Well then, I guess it's time I gave myself the lead." Chloe grinned before pointing at her Warriors. "Blade Knight, Silent Swordsman, attack her life-points directly!" The two knights charged at Francesca and Blade Knight struck first with his sword...
"You're not getting that big a lead this early kid!" Francesca declared before discarding a card from her hand. "I discard Kuriboh (1/300/200) from my hand to negate the battle damage I would've suffered at the hands of Silent Swordsman!" As she said this a wall of Kuribohs blocked Silent Swordsman's charge.
C: 6600
F: 6400
"But that's not the only effect Kuriboh had." Philip said folding his arms. "In order to level up her Silent Swordsman even further it had to inflict battle damage via a direct attack."
"Crap, he's right!" Chloe thought as the realization hit her like a freight train, she looked at the rest of her hand and picked up a card. "I set this facedown and end my turn." Chloe announced and Francesca drew her card.
"I activate the Spell Card called Card of Sanctity to refresh our hands." Francesca played the card and both duellists drew until they had 6 cards in their hands, Francesca's eyes lit up when she saw one of the cards she drew. "I'll save you for later." Francesca thought before adding it to her hand. "Time I took out that Silent Swordsman, and I'm doing it with this monster, Dark Blade in attack mode!" Francesca played the card and a knight in jet black armour appeared on the field, he was wearing a red cape and was wielding twin swords (4/1800/1500).
"Please, that thing's only just strong enough to beat Blade Knight!" Chloe scoffed and Francesca smirked.
"Don't get ahead of yourself because I have four more cards to play, first up is the Spell Card Cost Down which reduces the levels of all monsters in my hand by two in exchange for my discarding a card from my hand." Francesca discarded the card after she played it and Chloe blinked.
"But you've already summoned a monster, what good will that do you?" Chloe asked the confusion clear on her face.
"Just watch, I activate the second card I have to play, the continuous Spell Card Front-line Base." Francesca played the card and picked up a card. "This spell cards lets me summon one Union monster from my hand as long as it's a Level four or lower monster and Dark Blade just so happens to go with a Union monster, however that union monster is a Level 5 monster so I had to reduce it's level first."
"Oh great." Chloe muttered as Francesca played the card.
"I Special Summon the Union Monster Kiryu to the field in attack mode using the effect of Frontlin Base!" Francesca played the card and a large red dragon appeared on the field roaring menacingly at Chloe (3/2000/1500). "And now I equip Kiryu to Dark Blade increasing his attack all the way up too 2700!" The dragon knelt down and Dark Blade jumped on it's back, true to her word the Warrior's attack points jumped up to 2700. "Dark Blade attack Silent Swordsman now!" The dragon took flight and divebombed towards the swordsman cutting it to ribbons with it's swords.
C: 6200
F: 6400
"This is where the third card comes into play, the Quick Play spell card Combination Attack!" Francesca played the card and too Chloe's surprise Dark Blade hopped off the dragon. "This lets me split up the Kiryu from Dark Blade and summon Kiryu back to the field in attack mode, and as an added bonus the monster that the Union monster split from gets to attack again." Francesca explained and Chloe's eyes widened. "Dark Blade attack Blade Knight, Kiryu attack her life-points directly!" The warrior charged towards Blade Knight and decapitated him with his swords, the dragon wasn't far behind breathing fire at Chloe who winced.
C: 4000
F: 6400
Chloe got back to her feet and winced when she saw how many life-points she had just lost. "You don't exactly pull any punches do you?" Chloe asked and Francesca smirked.
"I wouldn't of gotten this far in Duel Monsters if I did!" Francesca grinned. "Now for card number four, I set this card facedown and end my turn." Chloe nodded and drew her card.
"I have nothing that can beat that dragon of hers but I can beat that warrior of her's!" Chloe thought as she looked at her hand. "I summon Gemini Elf in attack mode!" Chloe played the card and the twin elves appeared on the field (4/1900/900). "Gemini Elf, attack Dark Blade now!" The elves charged up their attacks.
"I had a feeling you'd try something like that, I activate my trap card Formation Union!" Francesca activated the card and grinned. "This lets me either equip or unequip Dark Blade with Kiryu, no prizes for guessing what option I'm going with." As Francesca said this Dark Blade hopped back on Kiryu's back increasing his attack to 2700. "Want to reconsider that attack?"
"Actually no, that was what I was hoping for actually!" Chloe answered and Francesca blinked. "I activate my own trap card, Dust Tornado to destroy Kiryu!" Francesca's eyes widened as the dragon was blown away by a tornado.
"I don't get it." Lance blinked in confusion.
"Union monsters are treated as equip spells, meaning that they can be destroyed just as a spell card can." Theresa explained as Dark Blade's attack returned to 1800, the Elves continued the attack destroying the knight.
C: 4000
F: 6300
"I have other monsters waiting in the wings." Francesca said defiantly as she sent her two monsters to the graveyard and Chloe sent her trap card to the graveyard.
"Well lets see them!" Chloe said looking at the rest of her hand. "I'll end my turn." Chloe said and Francesca drew her card.
"Not much I can do." Francesca shrugged as she saw her card. "I set a card facedown and a monster in defence mode, your move." Chloe nodded and drew her card.
"I activate my own Card of Sanctity to Refreash our hands!" Chloe played the card and both duellists drew their cards. "Now Gemini Elf attack her monster!" The elves fired twin beams at the monster, revealing it to be a muscular green gremlin with horns all over it's body (4/1600/1800) destroying it but Francesca grinned as she held up the card.
"The monster you destroyed was Des Feral Imp, when he's flipped up I can shuffle a card back into my deck from my graveyard and I'm choosing the monster I discarded for Cost Down's effect." Francesca selected the card and shuffled it into her deck before sending Des Feral Imp to the graveyard. "You'll find out what that card is soon enough!"
"Well in that case..." Chloe said before looking at her hand. "I'll end my turn." Chloe said and Francesca nodded before drawing her card.
"I activate the Spell Card I just drew, Summoner's Art!" Francesca played the card and picked up her deck again. "With this I can add one level 5 or higher monster from my deck to my hand." She searched through it before finding the card she needed and adding it to her hand. "Now I summon Kaiser Sea Horse in attack mode!" Francesca played the card and a humanoid fish appeared on the field ready for battle (4/1700/1650). "I set a card facedown and end my turn." Chloe nodded and drew her card.
"You're going to regret not setting that monster, Gemini Elf attack Kaiser Sea Horse!" The elves fired their beams at Kaiser Sea Horse and Francesca grinned.
"Sorry, but your not the only duellist with Negate Attack!" Francesca flipped up the card and the beams bounced off of the forcefield.
"Fine, I'll set a monster in defence mode and end my turn." The facedown monster appeared alongside Gemini Elf and Francesca drew her card.
"There's a reason why I summoned my Sea Horse in attack mode last turn." Francesca said picking up a card. "To put it simply, if I tribute it it counts as two tributes for a light type monster that would normally require two tributes." Francesca said and Philip grinned knowing what was coming next.
"That doesn't sound good." Chloe gulped and Francesca grinned.
"You have no idea, I tribute Kaiser Sea Horse to summon my strongest monster, the BLUE EYES WHITE DRAGON!" Francesca said playing the card and the three duel academy students, along with the passers-by who had stopped to watch the duel, did a double take.
"THE BLUE EYES WHITE WHAT?" Lance yelled out as Kaiser Sea Horse vanished from the field and in it's place stood the huge white dragon made famous by Seto Kaiba (8/3000/2500). "What...where...how...why?"
"What I think Lance is trying to say is, where the hell did you get that card?" Chloe demanded as she stared down at the monster. "Aren't there supposed to be on three in existence?"
"That's true." Francesca admitted. "But in a few months they'll be a lot more of these dragons." Francesca added.
"That's right, they're reprinting the Blue Eyes White Dragon for an upcoming booster pack." Theresa remembered before her eyes narrowed. "But that doesn't explain how you have your hands on one."
"That's easy, a month prior to this tournament me and Philip entered a tournament in Belfast, our home town, where the winner would win a copy of the Blue Eyes White Dragon before the Booster Pack's release, guess who won?" Francesca asked before continuing. "I know it sounds fishy but the Tournament was hosted by Industrial Illusion's English branch with support from Kaibacorp and even if it was counterfeit how do you explain it working on my Duel Disk?"
"She has a point there." Lance admitted having finally regained his composure.
"Now that that's out of the way why don't we let the fun begin hmm? Blue Eyes White Dragon attack Gemini Elf with White Lightning!" The dragon charged up it's infamous attack and launched it at the elves disintegrating them both, Chloe and her classmates shielded themselves from the blast as Chloe's life-points took a huge hit.
C: 2900
F: 6300
"I end my turn but at this rate it'll be a matter of time before I beat you." Francesca said with a cocky smirk on her face. "Off course, you could surrender, I promise I won't tell anyone."
"Number 1: those TV cameras defeat the purpose of not telling anyone." Chloe said pointing too the cameras as she did, Francesca nodded even as a massive sweat-drop rolled down her head. "Number 2: I've said it once and I'll say it a million more times, I won't surrender as long as I have life-points left."
"Your funeral." Francesca scoffed before motioning for Chloe to take her turn. "She has guts, I'll give her that much but this dragon hasn't failed me once since I won it and she won't be any different." Francesca thought as Chloe drew her card.
"Okay first I flip summon my facedown monster, Royal Magical Library!" Chloe flipped over the card and a mystical looking library with several orbs surrounding it appeared on the field (4/0/200) and everyone else face faulted when they saw the monster.
"I would like to reassure our viewers at home and all over the city that Chloe Richardson's defence against the Blue Eyes White Dragon is a bookshelf and that they are not seeing things." Chloe overheard one of the reporters say and Chloe sweat-dropped.
"If that's the best you've got then you may as well surrender!" Francesca scoffed as she got up.
"Who said I was done?" Chloe asked rhetorically as she played the card she drew. "I activate Swords of Revelling Light to buy me enough time!" As Chloe said that several golden swords rained down pinning down Francesca's dragon, Francesca shielded her eyes from the light of the swords and when she looked up again one of the orbs on the library was glowing. "Before you ask that's Royal Magical Library's effect, each time a spell card's played by either of us it gets a counter but they won't come into play until it has three counters."
"Okay but that doesn't explain what you meant by "buy me enough time"." Francesca pointed out and Chloe grinned.
"I'm getting to that part, I summon Silent Magician Level Four in attack mode!" Chloe played the card and one of her signature monsters appeared on the field (4/1000/1000) and Francesca smirked.
"I get it, these swords are to keep my dragon at bay until your magician gets strong enough to beat him." Francesca said before shaking her head. "Aren't you forgetting something? By the time the swords wear off that weakling,,,,,,,"
"Don't you dare call her a weakling!" Chloe angrilly snapped at Francesca who was taken back by her outburst alongside Philip and several passers-by.
"Err, did I miss something?" Philip whispered to Lance.
"It's a long, depressing story, trust me." Lance whispered back.
"Err, as I was saying that monster will only have 2500 attack points, powerful yes but not merely enough to beat my Dragon!" Francesca corrected herself.
"We'll see about that." Chloe said also regaining her composure. "I end my turn." Francesca nodded before drawing her card as Silent Magician's attack rose to 1500.
"I know duellists tend to get attached to their monsters but this girl just took it to a new level." Francesca thought as she looked at Chloe. "To be honest it's kind off unnerving." Francesca thought before looking at her drawn card. "I'll increase my forces by summoning La Jinn, The Mystical Genie of the Lamp to the field in attack mode!" Francesca played the card and a green genie appeared on the field ready for battle (4/1800/1000). "Since I can't attack I'll end my turn." Francesca added as the first sword disappeared and Chloe drew her card and grinned.
"Sweet, first I activate the Spell Card Magical Blast!" Chloe played the card and from out of nowhere twin blasts struck Francesca in the chest.
C: 2900
F: 6100
"What was that?" Francesca demanded as she got back up to her feet.
"That was Magical Blast's effect, as long as I have at least one Spellcaster on my side of the field it lets me inflict 100 points of damage for each Spellcaster I control and I count two!" Chloe said as another one of Royal Magical Library's orbs started glowing. "As an added bonus if it's in my graveyard then I can skip my draw phase and return it too my hand." Chloe said as she sent the Spell Card to her graveyard. "For now I switch my Library to defence mode, never thought I'd say that, and end my turn." Chloe announced and Francesca drew her card and Silent Magician's attack rose to 2000.
"Unless I draw something that can remove cards from the graveyard she'll use that spell card again next turn and she'll be able to use her Royal Magical Library's effect, whatever that is." Francesca thought before looking at her card. "Just what I needed, I activate Soul Release to remove five cards from your graveyard, I chose your Silent Swordsmans, Blade Knight, Gemini Elf and most importantly Magical Blast!" Chloe frowned before retrieving the cards and pocketing them. "As for the rest of my...HUH?" Francesca shouted once she realized that the library had it's third token.
"My Library gains counters each time a spell card is played, doesn't say anything about which player activates them." Chloe grinned.
"Great, I ended up helping her!" Francesca muttered under her breath. "As I was saying I sacrifice La Jinn to summon Cyber Tech Alligator in attack mode!" Francesca played the card and the genie vanished, in it's placed stood a massive alligator in red, futuristic armour with nasty looking claws (5/2500/1600).
"Great, now I have two powerful monsters to put up with." Chloe sighed in annoyance.
"Yeah, just be thankful that you have two more turns before I can attack!" Francesca grinned. "For now I'll end my turn." Francesca added and Chloe drew her card.
"Now's as good a time as any to activate Royal Magical Library's effect, by removing it's spell counters I'm allowed to draw an extra card." Chloe announced as the three orbs stopped glowing.
"Really? I spent all this time worrying about that thing's effect and THAT'S all it does?" Francesca said as a massive sweat-drop rolled down her head. "Doesn't matter anyway, I activate my long forgotten about trap card Null and Void!" Francesca said as the card flipped up. "This can only be activated if an effect that involves drawing a card is activated and it means that you have to show the card too me and it's immediately discarded!"
"Shit!" Chloe cursed herself before picking up the card and looking at it, she frowned before turning it around.
"Ohhh, Silent Magician Level 8 (8/3500/1000), that's gotta hurt!" Francesca said with a grin, Chloe's hair overshadowed her eyes as she discarded it.
"Oh crap." Lance muttered as he saw his friend's demeanour change dramatically, for the worse to boot.
"Now what?" Philip asked.
"If you think Chloe's overprotective of Silent Magician's regular form than you haven't seen nothing yet." Theresa said shaking her head. "Hold it together Chloe!" She called out to her.
"I'll...I'll try." Chloe sighed clearly upset by the development, shaking her head she looked at the card she had initially drawn. "I'm about to take that dragon down!"
"Really?" Francesca scoffed whilst trying to hide her concern. "How exactly do you intend to do that?"
"With this, I summon D.D. Warrior in attack mode!" Chloe played the card and the redheaded warrior appeared on the field (4/1200/1000). "D.D. Warrior, attack Blue Eyes White Dragon!"
"WHAT?" Francesca and Philip yelled simultaneously as the warrior charged towards the much stronger dragon.
"Blue Eyes, counter attack with White Lighting!" The dragon fired it's infamous attack at the warrior disintegrating it.
C: 1100
F: 6100
"Well, that was a waste of time..." Francesca started but stopped once she saw Blue Eyes collapse to the ground with D.D. Warrior's sword sticking out of it's chest, her eyes widened when she saw it disintegrate. "What just happened?"
"Any monster that D.D. Warrior does battle with is removed from play alongside D.D. Warrior himself." Chloe said with a grin as she wiped away some tears, Francesca frowned but said nothing as both girls pocketed their cards.
"Okay then." Francesca sighed obviously annoyed at having lost her monster. "But you still have Cyber Tech Alligator to deal with."
"I intend to deal with him." Chloe asserted. "As for now I'll end my turn." Francesca nodded before drawing her card and as Silent Magician's attack rose to 2500 she grinned.
"Good, the card I drew was Return from a Different Dimension, on my next turn I'll use it to bring back Blue Eyes and if I draw Burst Stream of Destruction her life-points will be mine for the taking!" Francesca thought before setting the card. "I set this facedown and end my turn...and the effect of Swords of Revealling Light for that matter!" Francesca said as the last of the swords disappeared and Chloe drew her card.
"I set this facedown and end my turn." Chloe announced as the facedown card appeared on the field, Francesca drew her card and even as Silent Magician's attack rose to 3000 she grinned.
"Sorry kid but this match is over, I activate my trap card Return From A Different Dimension!" The card flipped up and Francesca's life-points plummeted down to 3050. "Now that I've paid half of my life-points I can bring back the Blue Eyes White Dragon to the field!"
"Or you would if not for my second copy of Seven Tools of the Bandit!" Chloe activated her trap as her life-points dropped to a mere 100. "At the cost of 1000 life-points I can negate the effect of your trap card and destroy it!" Francesca's eyes widened as the hologram shattered, she growled in frustration as she and Chloe sent their traps to the graveyard before pointing to Cyber-Tech Alligator.
"Cyber-Tech Alligator attack and destroy Royal Magical Library!" The alligator charged forward and ripped the library to shreds with it's claws. "Bet your glad that you switched your library to defence mode now."
"Yeah, I am." Chloe nodded. "Can I take my turn?" Francesca looked at the rest of her hand before nodding and Chloe drew a card, when she saw it her eyes lit up. "This duel will be over soon Francesca!"
"You mean your finally surrendering?" Francesca asked and Chloe shook her head.
"Not quite, I activate the Spell Card I just drew, Monster Reincarnation, by discarding a card from my hand I can return one monster from my graveyard to my hand and I chose the card you made me discard with Null And Void's effect!" Chloe said returning Silent Magician Level 8 to her hand, Francesca's eyes narrowed before shaking her head.
"So? For all you know I could wipe out the rest of your life-points before then!" Francesca scoffed.
"Even so I can still get rid of your alligator, Silent Magician attack Cyber Tech Alligator now!" The magician pointed it's staff at the alligator before firing a beam at it destroying it.
C: 100
F: 2550
"I'll end my turn at that!" Chloe announced and Francesca drew her card, she looked at it even as Silent Magician's attack reached it's limit of 3500.
"I'll set this in defence mode and end my turn." Francesca said and Chloe drew her card before picking up her Silent Magician.
"So, you still think your boyfriend's loss was a fluke?" Chloe asked and Francesca shook her head.
"Not after the comeback you've managed." Francesca said shaking her head. "One thing's been bugging me though, namely your sudden change in demeanour after I made you discard Silent Magician Level 8 a few turns back." Francesca added and Chloe sighed as Silent Magician started glowing.
"That's...that's a personal matter." Chloe said plainly and Francesca blinked. "If it's all the same too you I'd rather not discuss it in public."
"Fair enough." Francesca shrugged.
"Anyway, now that Silent Magician's reached her power limit I can level her up to her strongest form and my strongest monster Silent Magician Level 8!" Chloe played the card and the magician grew into it's strongest form (8/3500/1000). "Now I summon the monster I just drew, Magician's Valkyria in attack mode!" Chloe played the card and Magician's Valkyria appeared on the field ready for battle (4/1600/1800). "Valkyria, attack her facedown monster, Silent Magician finish it!" The two monsters pointed their staffs at Francesca and her monster, the monster, revealed to be Vorse Raider (4/1900/1200) was destroyed by Valkyria and Silent Magician finished the job soon afterwards.
C: 100
F: 0000
"And in a truly impressive display Chloe Richardson has won the match despite only having a hundred life-points left, she maybe the only Osiris Red student among the Duel Academy students competing in the tournament but this match has solidified her as the Joey Wheeler of this year's tournament, a true underdog!" The two duellists heard a reporter say before he and the rest of the crowd dispersed, once they had left Francesca walked over to Chloe and handed over her locater cards.
"Here, you earned them." Francesca said and Chloe took them. "And this for that matter." Francesca said reaching into her pocket and handing over the Blue Eyes White Dragon.
"Thanks but that card doesn't really fit in with my deck theme." Chloe admitted.
"I'll take it." Marcus said walking up. "When I saw the Blue Eyes White Dragon from the window in Kimberly's room I had to have a closer look."
"Here, take it." Francesca said handing the card over to an ecstatic Marcus. "Can't believe I went out before the finals."
"Could be worse I guess." Philip shrugged before blinking. "Is that guy in the cloak a friend of yours?" The teens blinked before turning around and seeing a cloaked figure.
"No I'm not but I am here with a message." The figure said holding up his arm and revealing two things, an Orichalcos Duel Disk and a piece of paper. "Chloe Richardson, we have your father at this address, if you want to see him alive again I suggest that you and your friends come to this address at midnight tonight and bring your duel disks."
"Dad..." Chloe's eyes widened when she heard that.
"We'll be there." Theresa said glaring at the figure, "We'll make sure that whoever did this pays for it." Theresa added before snatching the note from his hand, the figure walked off and Lance frowned.
"Is there no depths to which these bastard's won't sink?" Lance yelled in frustration.
"My last opponent was willing to kill Nicola's dad to get his way so no, there isn't." Marcus said before remembering something. "There's one more thing Chloe." Chloe looked up as Marcus dug into his pocket. "I won these cards from my last opponent but they'll fit in better with your deck." Chloe took them and her eyes lit up when she saw them.
"Dark Magician and Dark Eradicator Warlock, thanks Marcus." Chloe said with a smile before swapping out two of her Spell Cards for the monsters. "So, what's the plan."
"We'll go there and save your dad." Theresa said plainly.
"On your own? You'd have to be crazy." Philip said shaking his head. "Let me make a few calls, maybe I can get some other duellists to help with this."
"We'd appreciate the help, thanks." Lance said with a nod. "Marcus, you'd better tell the others, me and Chloe will return to the hotel."
"On it." Marcus nodded before returning to the hospital.
"Your close to your dad, aren't ya?" Francesca asked Chloe who nodded. "Don't worry we'll get him back." Francesca reassured her as Lance called for a cab.
"Thanks." Chloe sighed in relief as she finally returned her cards to her deck and deactivated her duel disk, Francesca did likewise and Chloe sighed. "I hope Mom's all right." Chloe added.
"We'll check up on her before we return to our rooms." Lance said hanging up. "The taxi should be here soon." Lance said looking at the time on his phone. "It's 5pm now, I suggest we use this time to finetune our decks."
"Yeah, who knows what they have in store for us." Theresa agreed as the taxi pulled up, as they went to enter it Brandon and the others, minus a still injured Kimberly, ran up.
"WAIT!" Brandon said as he caught up with them. "Marcus told us what happened, Chloe don't worry we will get your dad back."
"Kimberly won't be duelling though." Andreas said folding his arms. "She's still recovering from her injuries."
"But we'll find a replacement in time." Brandon said and Chloe smiled.
"You kids want me to send for another car?" The taxi driver asked and the duel academy students sweat-dropped before nodding. "Okay, who's getting in this car?"
"Lance, Chloe, Theresa, you get in that car, Brandon, Marcus and Andreas will get in the next one and we'll take the limo." Martin said and the students nodded before Lance, Chloe and Theresa got in the taxi, they told him where to take them and he nodded before driving off.
*elsewhere*
Whilst the Duelling was going on the leader of the Orichalcos organisation was on board the ship that doubled as their temporary headquarters enjoying a fine wine in his office.
"I may of lost the majority of my operatives to the Orichalcos but no matter." The leader thought as he took a sip. "Only my strongest duellists remain!" He thought and as he went to take a sip Felix burst into the room.
"Sir, we have a situation." Felix said once he caught his breath. "Robert's used the organisation's resources to kidnap Chloe Richardson's father." Felix added and the leader's eyes widened.
"HE DID WHAT?" The leader yelled his usual calm composure long gone. "I made it clear long ago that the blood of the innocent must not be spilled but first Presario disobeys that order and now Robert!"
"What do you want to do?" Felix asked.
"Assemble a group of your finest men and go to where Robert's holding her father." He commanded and Felix left without a second thought. "Let's hope that we're not too late." The leader thought.