Kimberly and Seth where in the middle of shuffling their decks in anticipation for the duel, a crowd had formed around the two duellists knowing that there was a duel about to start and it was Kimberly who finished shuffling her deck first and the two duellists drew their opening hands.
"Okay, two things, 1. how many locater cards will we put up for grabs? We both have 4 of them, 2. who's going first Seth?" Kimberly asked as she looked over her opening hand. "Not my best hand but it'll do for now." Kimberly thought as Seth looked over his hand.
"In order, two each and I will." Seth said with a shrug as he looked over his hand. "I start by setting a monster in defence mode, that ends my turn."
"And begins mine." Kimberly said before drawing her card, she took one look at it and frowned. "This can't help me yet." Kimberly thought before adding it too her hand and picking up another card. "I activate the spell card Allure of Darkness, as long as I remove one dark type monster from my hand this will let me draw two cards from my deck." Kimberly said as she pocketed one of her monsters and drew two cards. "Now I summon Archfiend Soldier to the the field in attack mode!" Kimberly played the card and the cape wearing purple demon appeared on the field ready for battle (4/1900/1500). "Archfiend Soldier attack his defence!" The fiend charged towards the facedown monster, which was revealed to be a large red circular machine with four metal claws (4/1400/1400) and to Kimberly's surprise the machine latched onto Archfiend Soldier's chest sending it flying back to her side of the field.
"Sorry lass but the monster you attacked was Blast Sphere, when this monster is attacked whilst facedown it equips it's self to the attacking monster." Seth explained with a smirk on his face. "But that's not all, during your next standby phase Blast Sphere will self destruct and Archfiend Soldier's attack will come out of your life-points."
"Shit, I could really use Mystical Space Typhoon right now, at least I have an idea of what kind of deck this guy runs." Kimberly thought as she looked over the rest of her hand. "I set a card facedown and end my turn." Kimberly said clearly annoyed by the turn of events, Seth drew his card and smirked.
"I start by activating the Continuous Spell Card Machina Armoured Unit." Seth played the spell card and Kimberly blinked. "It's effect will be explained a bit later but for now I set a monster in defence mode and end my turn." Kimberly drew her card and braced herself for Blast Sphere's effect, sure enough the machine exploded taking Archfiend Soldier with it and knocking Kimberly on her backside.
K: 6100
S: 8000
"Are you sure you beat England's national champ lass?" Seth mocked her as Kimberly got to her feet, she frowned once what the Scottish Duellist had said dawned on her.
"You gain an early lead and your already mocking my skills as a duellist? Keep it up, I'll enjoy beating you that much more." Kimberly grunted before looking at the card she had drawn. "I summon Lancer Archfiend in attack mode!" Kimberly played the card and a fiend in purple and gold armour appeared on the field, it was wearing a red cape, was wielding a lance in each hand and the only part of it's body you could see was it's eyes (4/1600/1400). "Lancer Archfiend attack his defence."
"Just what I was hoping for." Seth thought as the armoured fiend charged towards the facedown monster...only to be bounced back to Kimberly's side of the field. "Sorry lass but the monster you attacked was Jade Knight." Seth explained as a jade coloured fighter plane appeared on the field (4/1000/1800). "Not only is it's defence too tough for your archfiend to crack but it also protects face-up Machine type monsters with 1200 or less attack from the effects of trap cards, in short I've inflicted more damage to your life-points and rendered any destructive traps useless."
"Really? Maybe you should have another look at your life-points." Kimberly responded, Seth blinked before doing so.
K: 6100
S: 7800
"Before you ask Lancer Archfiend has an effect of his own, once per turn when a monster I control attacks one of your defence monsters I can use his effect to transfer the damage I would've taken to you." Kimberly explained and Seth frowned.
"That archfiend will be a problem if I don't get rid of it soon." Seth thought as he looked over his hand.
"Anyway I set a card facedown and end my turn." Kimberly announced and Seth drew his card.
"Hmm, this could work, okay I start by switching Jade Knight to attack mode!" Seth switched the monster's position and the plane took flight.
"I'm supposed to be worried, why?" Kimberly asked clearly confused.
"The spell card I just drew will give you a reason to be worried, it's called Shield and Sword and with it I can switch around the attack and defence stats." Kimberly's eyes widened as Jade Knight's attack went up to 1800 whilst Lancer Archfiend's attack dropped to 1400. "Now I summon Blue Thunder T-45 in attack mode!" Seth played the card and a white spaceship with a blue window appeared on the field (4/1700/1000). "Blue Thunder, attack Lancer Archfiend!" The spaceship took flight and bombarded the field with bombs destroying it.
K 5800
S: 7800
Kimberly coughed into her hand as the smoke cleared, once the smoke cleared she saw two things, that Blue Thunder was back on Seth's side of the field and that a smaller grey aircraft that seemed to resemble a pair of pliers with a gold glowing centre had appeared on the field next to Blue Thunder (4/1500/1500). "Hey you've already summoned this turn!"
"True but my new monster was summoned by Blue Thunder's effect, when it destroys a monster in battle I can special summon one Thunder Option Token, only downside is that I can't tribute these tokens for something stronger." Seth explained before pointing to his remaining monsters. "Jade Knight, Thunder Option Token, attack her life-points directly!" The two machines took flight...
"Your going to have to do better than that or have you forgotten about my trap?" Kimberly said before activating it. "I activate Archfiend's Roar, this lets me bring back one Archfiend Monster from my graveyard at the cost of 500 life-points and my monster of choice is Archfiend Soldier!" Kimberly winced as her life-points dropped to 5300 but as soon as they did Archfiend Soldier emerged out of the ground ready to intercept the attacks by the two weaker monsters, "Small price to pay compared to what I would've lost if that attack had gone through."
"Aye lass, that was a good move." Seth complemented her as his machines landed on his side of the field. "I end my turn." Seth announced and just like that the ground underneath Archfiend Soldier gave way sending the fiend back to hell whilst Jade Knight's attack returned to normal. "Archfiend Roar's side effect?"
"Yeah, any monster that is summoned using the card is destroyed at the end of the turn that it's activated." Kimberly said as she drew her card. "I activate Card of Sanctity to refresh our hands." Kimberly played the card and both duellists drew until they had six cards in their hands, when Kimberly saw the last card she had drawn she grinned. "It's time I took you to the home of the archfiends."
"Say what?" Seth asked confused.
"I activate the effect of Archfiend General (4/2100/800), by discarding him from my hand to the graveyard I can search my deck for the field spell card Pandemonium!" Kimberly discarded the card from her hand and searched through her deck for the field spell, she found it towards the bottom of the deck and added it to her hand before shuffling her deck. "And now I'll activate the spell card Pandemonium!" Kimberly activated the card and the scenery changed to the hellish arena. "Now we don't have to pay any life-points to keep any Archfiend monsters on the field."
"But I don't have any." Seth said before it dawned on him. "But that's the point of this little move isn't it?"
"Yep." Kimberly nodded before picking up another card. "Now I summon Mist Archfiend in attack mode!" Kimberly played the card and a large red demon wearing black armour appeared on the field, it's lower body was completely made of mist and it had some nasty looking claws (5/2400/0).
"Hey hold on, that monster requires a tribute in order to summon it!" Seth protested once he saw the stats.
"True but Mist Archiend's effect lets me normal summon him without a tribute, however at the end of the turn that I summon him this way he's destroyed and I lose 1000 life-points." Kimberly explained.
"Seems to be more trouble than it's worth." Seth scoffed and Kimberly just smirked.
"We'll worry about that later, Mist Archfiend Jade Knight!" The fiend spun around on the spot until it disappeared from the field, seconds later it repapered behind Jade Knight and reduced the plane to ribbons with it's claws.
K: 5300
S: 6400
As Mist Archfiend returned to Kimberly's side of the field she smirked. "Still think I'm easy pickings?"
"I'd be an idiot to think that now." Seth admitted. "But I'll still have a free shot at your life-points next turn and by destroying Jade Knight you triggered the effects of Jade Knight AND Machine Armoured Unit, with armoured unit I can special summon a Machine Monster as long as it has a weaker attack than Jade Knight and shares it's light attribute, my monster of choice is Cyber Valley!" Seth played the card and a small metal dragon with red orbs down it's stomach (1/0/0). "As for Jade Knight's effect it allows me to add a Level 4 or lower Light Attribute Machine type monster from my deck to my hand." Seth did so and looked up at Kimberly.
"I end my turn by setting a card face-down and activating the Quick Play Spell Card Spell of Pain!" Kimberly said as Mist Archfiend disappeared in a cloud of fog, and to Seth's surprise one of the claws reached out from the mist and slashed him.
K: 5300
S: 5400
"Okay, what the hell was that? I thought you said that Mist Archfiend's effect inflicted damage on you, not me!" Seth asked once he got up.
"That was Spell of Pain's effect in action, it transfers the effect damage I would've suffered to you but that's not all, now that an Archfiend monster has been destroyed outside of battle Pandemonium's second effect kicks in, with it I can add another Archfiend from my deck to my hand as long as it has a lower level than the destroyed monster." Kimberly said as she picked up her deck and searched through it. "Since Mist Archfiend's a Level 5 monster I have most of my deck to chose from." Kimberly thought before picking up a card and adding it to her hand before shuffling her deck again.
"Doesn't matter, your life-points are still mine for the taking!" Seth said as he drew his card. "I'll start by setting the monster I got from my deck last turn via Jade Knight's effect in defence mode, now Blue Thunder and Thunder Option Token, attack her life-points directly!" The two machines took flight...
"Not going to happen, I activate Waboku to reduce the damage I would've suffered to zero!" Kimberly flipped up the card and the three priestesses blocked the aircraft from getting any closer to Kimberly, Seth muttered some choice words under his breath as his machines returned to his side of the field.
"I end my turn." Kimberly blinked before drawing her card.
"Why didn't he shift Cyber Valley to defence mode? That thing has no attack points." Kimberly thought before looking at her drawn card. "Very nice, I summon Infernity Archfiend to the field in attack mode!" Kimberly played the card and the red-headed purple fiend appeared on the field (4/1800/1200). "Attack Cyber Valley!" The fiend leaped towards the weak machine monster.
"I activate Cyber Valley's effect!" Seth declared and too Kimberly's surprise Cyber Valley disappeared. "Well to be more accurate it's one of Cyber Valley's effects, when he is targeted for an attack I can remove him from play and draw one card." Seth pocketed the monster and drew a card. "Oh yes and this effect also ends the battle phase." Kimberly frowned as she heard this as Infernity Archfiend returned to her side of the field.
"I'll end my turn in that case." Kimberly said and Seth drew his card, whilst that was going on the car that had Hamden in it pulled up at the hospital.
"Well Hamden, we're here but there seems to be a duel going on." The driver said as Professor Hamden got out.
"Knowing Kimberly she won't want to miss it." Hamden commented. "Go ahead and park the car, I'll call you when the match is over."
"Right." The driver nodded before driving the car into the hospital's parking lot, Hamden pushed through the crowd until he was at the front and saw Kimberly duelling Seth. "Couldn't resist the urge to duel, Kimberly?" Kimberly looked up and saw Hamden.
"No, I couldn't." Kimberly said honestly. "Especially with the other Duel Academy students being ahead of me in terms of Locater Cards."
"Other Duel Academy Students? I thought I recognised her from somewhere." Seth thought before looking at his new card. "Perfect, I sacrifice Blue Thunder and my facedown card to summon the mighty Zoa in attack mode!" The two monsters vanished and in the place of Blue Thunder stood a massive blue demon standing on four legs (7/2600/1900).
"But that's a fiend type monster." Kimberly blinked when she saw the card. "What's that doing in a Machine Deck?"
"If one of the cards in his hand is what I think it is then Kimberly's in trouble." Hamden thought.
"Worry about that later, Zoa attack Infernity Archfiend, Thunder Option Token attack her life-points directly!" The massive fiend leaped forward and cut Infernity Archfiend to ribbons with it's claws, the small aircraft took flight and fired a laser at Kimberly hitting her on the chest.
K: 3000
S: 5400
"I set a card facedown and end my turn." Seth set the card and Kimberly drew hers.
"Okay, I have nothing in my hand that can beat that fiend off his, Thunder Option Token on the other hand is easy pickings." Kimberly thought before picking up a card. "I summon Mad Archfiend in attack mode!" Kimberly played the card and a hideous red-headed fiend appeared on the field, it's arms where covered with bones, there was a hole in it's chest with a skull inside in and it was wearing yellow and black pants (4/1800/0). "Mad Archfiend attack Thunder Option Token!" The fiend charged forward and ripped the aircraft apart.
K: 3000
S: 5100
"I'm sure you remember the effect of my Spell Card." Seth said before his eyes widened. "Crap, Machina Armoured Assault only works if the monster's sent to the graveyard."
"And since it was a token it doesn't get sent to the graveyard." Kimberly said with a smirk on her face. "Not so tough now huh?"
"Maybe but I activate my trap card Metalmorph and equip it to Zoa!" Seth flipped up the card and Zoa became coated in metal, at the same time it's attack rose to 2900.
"Crap, now it's even stronger." Kimberly gulped. "I end my turn at that." Seth nodded and drew his card.
"Since I'm feeling generous I'll activate my own Card Of Sanctity." Seth played the card and both duellists drew until they had six cards in there hands, "Now your going to see why a Machine user like myself uses a Fiend like Zoa, you see my strongest monster requires that Zoa be on the field and equipped with Metalmorph, since I meet those conditions I can tribute Zoa to summon it's strongest form, Metalzoa!" Seth swapped out the cards and sent Zoa and Metalmorph to the graveyard before summoning the monster, before Kimberly knew it Zoa was completely encased in metal, it had become jet black and had spiked shoulder-pads (8/3000/2300).
"Oh, crap." Kimberly gulped at the site of the monster.
"Metalzoa attack Mad Archfiend!" The huge metallic monster leaped forward with surprising agility and ripped the fiend to shreds with it's claws.
K: 1800
S: 5100
"All it'll take is one more attack from Metalzoa and you'll be out of the tournament!" Seth declared with a grin as his monster returned to his side of the field. "You could always surrender though."
"Yeah, I'll surrender...the same day that Yata Garasu is taken off the Forbidden List!" Kimberly said defiantly as she drew her card, she took one look at it and the other cards in her hand and grinned. "I summon Double Coston in attack mode!" Kimberly played the card and two grey ghosts appeared on the field sticking their tongues out at the much stronger monster (4/1700/1600) "I set two cards facedown and end my turn." Kimberly set the card she had drawn and Seth drew his card.
"Well sorry to say this but this duels over!" Seth grinned as he played his card. "I summon Jinzo 7 in attack mode and I'll have Metalzoa wipe the floor with your last defence." Seth played the card and a small rusty android appeared on the field (2/500/400) and the monster leaped across the field reducing the ghosts to shreds.
K: 500
S: 5100
"I'm not out of the woods yet, I activate my trap card Time Machine which lets me bring back a monster as soon as it's destroyed!" Kimberly's trap activated and the ghosts returned to the field, Kimberly sent the trap to the graveyard and Seth grinned.
"If you think that'll be enough to save you then I have bad news for you, Jinzo 7 can attack directly!" Seth announced before pointing to the android. "Jinzo 7 finish it!" The small machine charged forward.
"I knew that." Kimberly said grinning as she activated her last trap card, Seth's eyes widened when he saw it.
"M...Mirror...F...Force?" Seth stammered as Jinzo 7 bounced off of a mirror destroying it in the process, a beam of light from the mirror struck Metalzoa in the chest destroying it. "Why didn't you activate that to begin with?"
"Dramatic effect." Kimberly shrugged causing everyone else to face-fault. "Are you done?"
"Yeah I'm done." Seth said once he got up, Kimberly drew her card and grinned.
"You want to know why I summoned these little guys last turn?" Kimberly asked pointing to Double Coston. "Because Double Coston's effect states that it can count as two tributes when tribute summoning a Level 7 or higher Dark Type monster, and I have just the one I need to turn things around!"
"Really? Why don't you summon it then?" Seth asked confidently and Kimberly just grinned.
"You'll regret those words, I sacrifice Double Coston to summon the strongest monster in my deck, ARCHFIEND EMPRESS!" The two ghosts merged into one and started glowing and growing eventually taking the form of Kimberly's best monster (8/2900/2100).
"You where right there, I am regretting those words." Seth gulped at the site of the monster. "Good thing I have another Blast Sphere in my hand, next turn I'll set it and as soon as she attacks it, whether it be with her Empress or another monster, I'll have enough Locater Cards to enter the finals." Seth thought.
"There's one more card I want to play, it's called Megamorph and with it I can double my Empress's attack strength as long as my life-points are lower than yours but I don't think that'll be a problem." Kimberly played the card and the empress doubled in size and strength, all the way up to 5800. "You where right last turn Seth, this duel is over only it'll be me going to the finals, Archfiend Empress finish it!" The empress pointed her staff at Seth and fired a beam of dark light at him striking him in the chest.
K: 500
S: 0000
"Man, I lost despite having a huge lead!" Seth said dejectedly as the holograms disappeared, the crowd started to disperse and Seth approached Kimberly. "Here's your locater cards and copies of both versions of Zoa, good luck in the finals."
"Thanks but you can keep Metalzoa, I don't have a copy of Metalmorph in my deck." Kimberly said before taking the two locater cards and the monster, Seth left soon afterwards and Kimberly turned to Hamden. "Sorry for the wait, I didn't want to be left in the dust by the others."
"No problem, how about we get you to the hotel?" Hamden asked and Kimberly nodded, he led Kimberly to where the limo was parked.
"So how did last night's duel go? I know that the others have 6 locater cards but that's all Martin was willing to tell me." Kimberly asked and Hamden frowned.
"Well they won, you know that much." Hamden said holding the door open for her. "I'll explain on the way over." Hamden added as Kimberly entered the car, he entered as well and the car drove off towards the hotel.
*meanwhile at the hotel*
"LANCE WAKE UP!" Theresa yelled as she knocked on his door, she had just woken up Chloe from her slumber and was in the middle of trying to wake up Lance, Chloe stood by with an annoyed expression on her face and her messy hair, another result of her slumber, was currently being straightened out by Maria.
"Five more minutes!" Lance called from the other end and Theresa groaned in annoyance.
"Lance, it's the middle of the day, I know you and Chloe are tired from last night's duel but sleeping all day and being awake all night isn't the solution!" Theresa said with a groan.
"I still don't get why you interrupted my sleep!" Chloe groaned as Maria went over her hair with a hairbrush. "That was the best night's sleep I've ever had...well day's sleep but you know what I'm OW!" Chloe yelled out in pain as Maria's hairbrush caught a not in her hair.
"Sorry Chloe, I'm being as gentle as I can." Maria apologized as she brushed the teen's hair. "You ever considered wearing your hair short?"
"That depends, do you want to see the scar from wear my dad broke a bottle over my head?" Chloe asked and the two older women sweat-dropped.
"Touché." Maria admitted before resuming the brushing. "Given what that monster put you through it's a miracle your not insane."
"Considering I'm on Antidepressants?" Chloe pointed out and Maria sweat-dropped now feeling very uncomfortable.
"Err, yeah lets change the subject." Theresa said quickly before resuming her pounding on Lance's door. "Lance I swear to god if you don't get out of bed soon I'll feed your balls to my Armed Dragon!" Theresa said causing Andreas, Marcus, Brandon and Mike, who where standing nearby, to wince, five seconds later Lance opened the door with a look of panic on his face.
"I'LL BE GOOD! I'LL BE GOOD!" Lance said quickly, Maria and Chloe sweat-dropped.
"That was a bit extreme, wasn't it?" Chloe asked as a massive sweat-drop rolled down her head.
"It got him to wake up, didn't it?" Theresa asked ignoring the death glare from Lance. "Anyway there's another reason I interrupted your beauty sleep."
"Unless hot half naked supermodels are serving dinner downstairs I'm not interested." Lance shrugged.
"I think you'd be more interested in this." Theresa said clearly annoyed by Lance's crude comment. "Word has spread about us being semi-finalists and the organisers have sent someone to officially welcome us to the semi-finals."
"Who? Some pencil pusher?" Lance scoffed.
"No, just the CEO of Kaibacorp." A gruff sounding voice rang out from behind Lance, Lance's eyes widened and he slowly turned around, behind him was world famous duellist Seto Kaiba, he had retired some time ago to focus on running Kaibacorp but rumours where circulating that his son had taken up duelling, not much about him had changed appearance wise save for the fact that he was now sporting a goatee. "What's the matter kid? You look like you've seen a ghost?"
"No, just wasn't expecting the CEO of Kaibacorp to be the one to welcome us to the Semi-Finals." Lance gulped.
"That's not the only reason I stopped by, myself and the other organisers are aware that the 7 of you have been having trouble with an organisation that has revived the Orichalcos." Kaiba said bluntly and the other duellists stiffened up at the mention of the Orichalcos, Chloe in particular seemed to be very uncomfortable as a result of last night's events. "I assure you that we at Kaibacorp are doing everything in our power to track down these maniacs to their HQ before more people end up in the Orichalcos."
"Didn't you fight the Orichalcos alongside Yugi Moto back in the day?" Marcus asked and Seto nodded.
"Yes I did, off course at the time I didn't believe that their was some magical force behind it but that's not important." Kaiba said bluntly before folding his arms. "I will be in attendance for the semi-finals, my advice is to worry about that first as they will begin tomorrow." Kaiba said before walking off.
"Well that was fun, back to bed." Lance said going back into his room and closing the door behind him, Theresa stormed in after him and tugged him out of the room via his ear. "Not the ear, not the ear!"
"Would you rather I drag you out by your penis?" Theresa asked threateningly. "Yes, I realize what I just said, shut up!"
"I'll be good." Lance said and Theresa let go off his ear. "What gives Theresa?"
"Oh, I don't know maybe the fact that THE SEMI-FINALS ARE TOMORROW!" Theresa yelled as a massive sweat-drop rolled down Lance's head. "As soon as Kimberly has her 6 locater cards we'll find out where the semi-finals are being held and head over there tonight."
"What time do you mean by tonight? It's 5pm by my clock." Chloe asked and Theresa stroked her chin.
"Well first we'll get dinner downstairs and, depending on how quickly Kimberly can get her last locater cards..." Theresa started but was stopped by the sound of a woman clearing her throat.
"You called?" Kimberly asked holding her six locater cards. "I managed to get in a duel before Hamden arrived at the hospital, do I even need to say that I won it?"
"Well, that was convenient." Theresa muttered under her breath. "Okay, what time is good for you guys to get something to eat?"
"Well, I'm hungry now." Marcus said and Andreas facepalmed.
"Marcus, you're always hungry." Andreas pointed out. "Hell you've spent most of your spending money on food from the vendors!" Andreas added...only to sweat-drop as his own stomach rumbled followed by the others. "Err, yes...lets eat now." Andreas said and Theresa led the others to the elevator, Chloe and Kimberly where at the back of the group.
"Hey kid, got a minute?" Kimberly asked and Chloe turned to her.
"Sure, what's up?" Chloe asked the older student.
"Hamden...he told me the details of the duel last night." Kimberly said before pausing. "All the details." Chloe stiffened up before sighing.
"I thought that bastard was out of my life when he was arrested for my mom's murder." Chloe said sadly rubbing her scarred arm uneasily. "As if that wasn't bad enough he tried to ruin my relationship with my step-father."
"Yeah, I hear ya." Kimberly said sadly before putting a hand on her unscarred shoulder. "If you need someone to talk to and Lance isn't available give me a shout okay."
"Thanks." Chloe said with a small, somewhat uneasy smile. "Come to think of it, you never talked about your real parents."
"Nothing to talk about." Kimberly shrugged. "My parents died when I was a baby, my first memories are off the orphanage I grew up in before Nathan's parents adopted me."
"Oh." Chloe said with a gulp now feeling uncomfortable. "I'm...I'm sorry."
"Don't worry, it's not like you knew." Kimberly said reassuringly before walking off. "Come on, I'm sure your as hungry as I am."
"Didn't you eat at the hospital?" Chloe asked as she started to follow the older student, Kimberly had longer legs than Chloe which made it difficult for her to keep up.
"Kid that was hospital food, I'd sooner drink my own piss than eat that junk." Kimberly said, when no response came she stopped in her tracks and looked over her shoulder seeing that Chloe was about 20 yards away from her, she sweat-dropped before waiting for her to catch up which she soon did. "Sorry about that."
"No problem." Chloe said sheepishly before following the older student to the elevator thankful for the fact that Kimberly was now walking at a slower pace. "But yeah, I guess your right about hospital food." Chloe added as the older teen pressed the button for the ground floor, once the elevator arrived they entered it.
"Hey wait up!" The two women blinked before looking up and seeing Philip and Francesca running up to the elevator, Kimberly held the door open for them and the two Irish duellists got in, Kimberly waited a few seconds to see if anyone else was heading in the direction of the elevator but once she saw that that wasn't the case she pressed the button for the ground floor and the doors closed. "Thanks...oh, err, hi Chloe." Philip said before noticing her.
"Hey." Chloe said leaning against the back of the elevator. "I'm sure you have some questions regarding last night's duel..." Chloe sighed.
"Yeah but mostly related to what judge in their right mind would let that son of a bitch walk." Francesca said bluntly and Chloe smirked.
"I've been asking myself the same question since I got back to the hotel." Chloe said folding her arms. "I never got the chance to thank you guys for your help last night so thanks."
"Any-time kid." Francesca said with a smile, Philip nodded in agreement. "Look on the bright-side, your a semi-finalist now."
"Yeah, any idea who else has qualified?" Chloe asked and the two Irish duellists shrugged.
"No clue, I've heard that Eddie's qualified but lets be honest, who didn't see that coming? I know that an Orichalcos duellist has qualified but other than that I have no clue." Philip answered and the two Duel Academy students stiffened up at the last part. "Yeah, that's probably the last thing you guys needed to hear."
"You think?" Kimberly asked. "No matter, as long as I get to face that bitch known as Karen I'm not complaining."
"Try not to get whacked in the head with a duel disk again whilst your at it." Chloe said jokingly.
"Whacked in the head with a duel disk?" Francesca echoed clearly confused.
"It's a long story." Kimberly said clearly annoyed by the younger duellist's teasing. "Ask your boyfriend about it, he was there when it happened."
"And my balls still hurt as a result." Philip added just as the door opened revealing a bemused looking older couple who had apparently heard the last thing he said and nothing else. "That...was badly timed." Philip said before he and the three women got out of the elevator quickly, the couple got in the elevator and Philip couldn't help but blush. "Well, at least it can't get any worse."
"There you are." Chloe and Kimberly looked up and saw the other Duel Academy students waiting for them, it was Theresa that had spoken up.
"Sorry, wanted a chat with Chloe." Kimberly apologized as Philip and Francesca walked off. "Went on a bit longer than I thought it would."
"Never mind." Theresa said shaking her head. "Doesn't take a genius to figure out what the talk was about if she knows the details about last night's duel." Theresa thought. "Come on, the teachers are waiting for us in the restaurant." Theresa added before leading the other teens into the restaurant, they looked around and saw Hamden waving them over to a large table where he and the other teachers where sitting, they sat down at the table and took a menu each, whilst they chose something to eat and drink a news report on TV caught their attention.
"In late breaking news, we can confirm the 20 duellists who have qualified for tomorrow's Battle City Semi-Finals though there isn't any word on where the Semi-Finals will be held." The news reporter said and Brandon motioned a waiter over.
"You mind turning the TV up a bit?" Brandon asked, the waiter nodded and walked over to the TV and turned up the volume.
"With that said here are the Battle City Semi-Finalists, Brandon Thomas, Chloe Richardson, Kimberly Troy, Theresa Daniels, Marcus Reynolds, Andreas Freshier, Lance Alvers, Mike Alvers, Sophie Alvers, Ray Edwards, Zach Michaels, Axel Loather, Luigi Malverio, Miranda Trayson, Karen Trayson, Felix Truman, Alex Fenix, Scott Richardson, Otto Freshier and the reigning champion Eddie Roberts, that is all." The news reporter finished his report and the rest of the restaurant went about their business, however the Duel Academy students frowned at hearing one of the names.
"Great, Otto's qualified as well." Kimberly said annoyed. "And those Orichalcos duellists for that matter."
"So? One of us will kick his ass in short order." Chloe shrugged she shoulders as she looked over the menu. "Don't forget that I had him beat back during our duel on the boat."
"Chloe, you only had the lead because you managed to do 50 points of damage to his life-points." Theresa pointed out and Chloe sweat-dropped. "Besides he could've upgraded his deck since then."
"So? I'll still beat him!" Chloe said confidently before frowning. "He's right behind me isn't he?"
"Aren't you as perspective as ever." Otto chuckled as he folded his arms. "Miss me?"
"Like being hit in the balls with a crowbar." Lance said bluntly and Otto frowned. "Do us a favour Otto and go crawl under whatever rock you found five locater cards under and stay there for the rest of the tournament."
"What? You think I stole my locater cards?" Otto scoffed.
"Yes." Chloe said almost immediately earning her a death glare from Otto. "What? You asked."
"Insolent little bitch!" Otto thought. "I don't know why your so cocky, everyone knows your the weakling in our little group!" Otto said and Theresa's and Kimberly's eyes narrowed.
"Otto, that's enough." Martin said sternly. "Leave Chloe alone or you'll have detention starting from the exact moment we return to Duel Academy!" Martin added, Otto scowled before storming off.
"Great, so much for avoiding the arrogant little twit for the rest of the tournament." Lance muttered under his breath as he made his choice. "You okay Chloe?"
"Yeah...I think so." Chloe said uncertainly though it was clear to the other students that Otto's harsh words had dealt an even harsher blow to Chloe's fragile self-confidence.
"Hey Andreas!" Andreas blinked before looking up, he smiled as he saw Nicola waving to him from a nearby table where she was eating with her dad, who he assumed pointed him out for her and waved back.
"Got a crush Andreas?" Hamden asked teasingly and Andreas face-faulted out of his seat.
"Oh come on, just because I met a cute girl during the tournament...she can here me, can't she?" Andreas said blushing like a maniac.
"Yeah, she can." Marcus said playfully patting the German student on the back as he did, Andreas looked over and saw Nicola looking just as embarrassed.
"Whatever, I'm going to say hi to her anyway." Andreas shrugged as he got up. "And if I hear anything along the lines off "Andreas has a girlfriend" or even "Andreas and Nicola sitting in a tree" you'll be sorry." Andreas said almost immediately after seeing that Marcus was going to say something. "Yeash, now I know how Chloe and Lance felt after that unfortunate incident last night." Andreas thought as he walked over to Nicola. "Hi Nic."
"Hi Andreas, so you made it to the finals." Nicola said hapily as Andreas sat down on a nearby chair.
"Well I was in that duel last night." Andreas said and Nicola and her dad frowned.
"Ah yes, Nicola told me about it when she came back last night." Her dad frowned shaking his head. "How any man can treat his daughter that way is beyond me."
"Indeed." Andreas agreed with a sigh. "So will you two be in attendance for the Semi-Finals tomorrow?"
"We wouldn't miss it for the world." Nicola said before frowning. "That boy your group was just talking too, was that Otto?"
"Yeah, he's a nasty piece of work." Andreas said shaking his head. "I wouldn't worry about him though, he's all bark and no bite, speaking of bite I'm going to rejoin my other friends and grab a bite to eat, nice talking to you." Andreas said standing up and walking off, Nicola smiled before returning her attention to the menu whilst Andreas sat down at his table...only to face-fault at the extremely off key singing of "love is in the air" by Marcus. "WHAT DID I TELL YOU BEFORE I WENT TO TALK TO HER?" Andreas yelled as storm clouds formed over his head.
"You didn't say anything about songs that didn't mention you or Nicola by name." Marcus shrugged ignoring the fact that the others where rubbing their ears from his bad singing.
"I swear, you guys are so immature." Theresa said pinching the bridge of her nose as she did. "You guys had better not act like this tomorrow or do I have to remind you that the duels will be broadcast worldwide, INCLUDING Duel Academy."
"What she means to say is, we'll be world famous!" Lance said with a cheaky grin on his face and Theresa facepalmed.
"Lance, you just missed the point by about a hundred miles!" Theresa said pinching the bridge of her nose.
"Worldwide? Oh crap." Chloe thought with a gulp. "Maybe Otto is right, I'm the weakling un the group and everyone in the world will know it." Chloe thought.
"Okay, that's enough you four." Martin said clearly annoyed. "I'd rather not be kicked out of the restaurant for you kids causing a disturbance."
"Your right, sorry teach." Theresa sighed as the four students resumed reading the menus, no one noticing that Chloe was sweating bullets because of what Theresa said.
*elsewhere in the city*
Whilst that was going on three of the four remaining Orichalcos Duellists where meeting with their leader on board his ship.
"Karen, Felix, I want to once again thank you for dealing with that idiot known as Robert, I trust that his soul card was destroyed?" The leader asked as he took a sip of his wine.
"Yeah it was, I was tempted to put a bullet in his head for good measure but Michael stopped me." Felix said folding his arms. "Anyway the tournament finals are starting tomorrow, we'll need to find out where it's being held if we're going to participate."
"Yes, off course." The leader agreed with a nod. "You can do so as soon as this meeting has ended, for now I want the two of you to train...and not in how many ways your penis can interact with her vagina Felix."
"Your no fun." Felix pouted, Karen on the other hand had a massive grin on her face.
"Cock-blocked by the boss himself, that's gotta sting." Karen said before folding her arms. "Why isn't the Duel Academy kid with us?"
"He still has a cover to maintain." Michael said folding his arms. "He nearly blew it when I told him what happened last night but he's maintained it."
"Please tell me he nearly blew it due to how angry he was at that." Felix said with a frown which only deepened when Michael shook his head. "I thought as much."
"You two are dismissed." The leader said, the two duellists bowed to them before leaving the room, once the door was closed the leader turned to Michael. "Michael, on the off chance that they and the duel academy student fail you need to be prepared."
"I'm well aware that Kaibacorp has been tracking their movements." Michael said specifically referring to Felix and Karen. "But I'm already prepared."
"You know the old saying, there's no such thing as not enough preparation." The leader said handing over a Duel Monster's card to Michael. "Use it wisely." Michael took one look at the card and grinned.
"Oh, I will." Michael said before adding it to his deck.
*the next day*
"Are we there yet?" Marcus asked, after the seven duellists had eaten their dinners they had found out via Chloe's duel disk where the tournament finals where being held and they, alongside Lance's siblings, where currently being driven there, namely Kaibacorp's New York branch, whilst Otto had taken a taxi.
"Marcus, we're not putting up with that again, so shut it." Theresa said pinching the bridge of her nose in annoyance. "Okay, everyone have their locater cards?"
"Yes." The other students said simultaneously.
"Duel Disks?" Theresa asked.
"We are wearing them!" Chloe pointed out as she held up her duel disk, Theresa sweat-dropped before deciding to have a little fun at their expense.
"Virginity?" Theresa asked, Kimberly, Chloe, Sophie and the teachers quickly caught on and tried not to laugh.
"Yes." The other students moaned...only to face-fault when they realized what they where saying yes too, at which point the three girls and the teachers burst out laughing.
"Man, you guys should have seen the looks on your faces, it was priceless!" Chloe laughed as the boys got up.
"Besides, I think Theresa definitely knows that Brandon DOESN'T have his..." Lance started only to be punched in the back of the head by Brandon who was blushing like a maniac.
"Do you really want to make comments like that in front of your siblings?" Brandon asked as Lance moaned.
"We're here kids!" The driver called out, without missing a beat the driver rolled down the driver's side window and a security guard poked his head in.
"Here for the tournament finals?" The guard asked and the driver nodded. "Are they spectators or duelling?"
"The younger ones are duelling, the old ones are spectating." The driver explained, the guard nodded and let them through and, after rolling the window open he drove onto the grounds and once they where parked the students got out.
"WILL ALL PARTICIPATING DUELLISTS PLEASE USE THIS ENTRANCE!" Another guard by the entrance to a large duelling dome yelled out.
"That's convenient." Lance said with a smile as Theresa led them to the entrance whilst the teachers took the other entrance.
"May I see you Locater Cards please?" The guard asked once the students approached him, Theresa held up her's. "Okay, name?"
"Theresa Daniels." Theresa introduced herself and the guard wrote it down on a piece of paper.
"What deck do you run?" The guard asked.
"I run several decks." Theresa said, the guard simply wrote that down and handed her a piece of paper with the number 10 on it.
"This is your assigned duellist number, don't lose it as it will be vital from here on out, NEXT!" The guard said and Theresa entered the dome after pocketing the paper, the others soon followed and they entered the main part, the duelling ring was a small elevated platform wide enough to allow for enough room for the duelling to begin with a podium for the announcer above it, surrounding it was an open area where the other Semi-Finalists where hanging around and the rows of chairs for the audience.
"The students are here, at this point I'm not surprised that they made it this far." Alex said gruffly. "Hey kid, how you holding up after last night?" Alex asked Chloe as she walked by him.
"I was a bit rough at first but I'm fine now." Chloe said and Alex smiled.
"Good to hear." Alex said with a nod as Scott walked up to her.
"Hi dad." Chloe said with a smile.
"Glad you could make it to the finals Chloe." Scott said with a small smile. "I hope your ready, the competition will only be more fierce from here on out."
"I was born ready." Chloe said confidently whilst trying to hide her stage fright, whilst they where talking the patrons where pouring into the duel dome including the teachers, however Chloe noticed Alex's eyes narrow as two duellists entered the arena. "Something wrong?"
"It's those Orichalcos Duellists from two nights ago, two of the guys that confronted that bastard." Alex said and Chloe turned seeing the two of them, Felix was leaning against the wall whilst Karen was staring daggers at Miranda. "Wouldn't be a Battle City Semi-Final without something going wrong."
"Hey, look up there!" Mike called out and everyone looked up seeing Seto Kaiba standing there.
"Welcome duellists to the Battle City Semi-Finals, most of you have come from far and wide to be here tonight but only one duellist will walk out with the title, now when you entered you where assigned numbers through 1 to 20, these determine who you will duel in the first round." Kaiba explained as a TV screen with the numbers on them came out from a panel in the ceiling. "You see those numbers represent you in this stage and the matches will be determined by what random numbers they stop on." Kaiba added and Alex, Chloe and Scott rushed to view the screen as a cursor jumped from number to number at random. "Now to determine the first matches." The number slowed down before eventually stopping on Number 20. "Will duellist Number 20 please step onto the duelling ring." Chloe gulped.
"Great, that's my number." Chloe thought before stepping onto the podium, the cursor started jumping again before stopping at Number 4. "Great, knowing my luck that's probably someone like Axel or..."
"That would be me." Scott said hopping onto the duel arena, all colour drained from Chloe's face as it dawned on her.
"This isn't happening, I'm not really fighting my step-father in the first round, this HAS to be a joke." Chloe thought as she started sweating bullets.
"Poor kid, she's been hit hard by stage fright." Alex thought with a frown, the cursor jumped around again before stopping on numbers 12 and 7.
"12's my number." Andreas said looking at his number intently. "So who's number 7?"
"That would be me, deer brother." Otto said with a smirk, Andreas frowned as he glared at his twin and the cursor next stopped on numbers 13 and 1.
"YEAH I'M NUMBER 1!" Mike shouted and everyone else sweat-dropped. "Who am I facing? Come on I promise I'll go easy on ya!"
"I certainly hope not Michael." All colour drained from Mike's face before he turned and saw Axel looking at him.
"Oh great." Mike gulped as it dawned on him, the cursor started jumping again eventually stopping on 2 and 19.
"Oh great, I'm number 2." Sophie said dejectedly. "And that means I'm facing."
"Me." Ray finished for her and Sophie gulped, the cursor started jumping around again stopping on numbers 3 and 18.
"18's my number." Marcus said scratching his head. "So who's number 3?"
"That's me Marcus." Marcus looked up and saw Brandon looking at him, he grinned broadly knowing that it would be a good match, the cursor started jumping again this time stopping on 5 and 15.
"15." Karen muttered before digging into her pocket and producing her number. "That's my number, so who am I facing." Karen wondered, she saw Miranda looking at her number and smirked. "Hey sis, you number 5?"
"Yeah, why?" Miranda blinked, Karen smile grew even broader as she showed her her number.
"Why? Because now I can get my revenge on you and my parents for abandoning me." Karen said with an evil smirk.
"That lady maybe hot but she has issues." Karen heard an audience member say, she growled at him and he quickly shut up, whilst that was going on the TV screen was showing the next two numbers, 9 and 6.
"I'm number 6." Kimberly said looking around. "So who's..."
"Then we are facing each-other!" Luigi said walking up to her. "How ironic, I face the woman who helped me get reinstated in the tournament in the first place."
"Well sorry to disappoint you but I'll also be kicking your ass back out of the tournament." Kimberly grinned before frowning and glancing over at Marcus. "Marcus, don't even THINK about making any 69 jokes."
"I'll be good!" Marcus said quickly, the next numbers to be shown where 14 and 17.
"14, isn't that your number Zach?" Ray asked as he turned to him.
"Yeah." The North Academy Student nodded. "But who's number 17?"
"That would be me." Eddie said with a smirk. "So let the best man win."
"I will." Zach said with a confident grin, the cursor started jumping again eventually stopping on 10 and 16.
"Great, I was hoping to face the champ." Alex muttered. "Who's number 10 anyway?"
"I am." Theresa said and Alex turned to her.
"Really? Heh, THIS should be interesting." Alex chuckled.
"That just leaves two more duellists, 11 and 8." Kaiba said folding his arms, Lance stepped out from the crowd of duellists holding up his number and Felix did likewise. "The matches have been determined and they are as follows, in a match between father and daughter Duel Academy's Chloe Richardson takes on Scott Richardson, in a clash of the siblings it's Otto Freshier taking on his twin Andreas Freshier, both from Duel Academy, in a David vs. Goliath match virtual unknown Mike Alvers takes on Germany's National Champion Axel Loather, in a match between unknowns Ray Edwards takes on Sophie Alvers, in another clash of the siblings Karen Trayson takes on her sister Miranda, then Italy's National Champion Luigi Malverio takes on Duel Academy's Kimberly Troy, in another David vs. Goliath match virtual unknown Zach Michaels takes on reigning champion Eddie Roberts, then it's a battle of the sexes as Duel Academy's Theresa Daniels takes on Alex Fenix and finally Duel Academy's Lance Alvers takes on former Regional Champion of New Orleans Felix Truman."
"Former regional champion? How did he go from that to an Orichalcos Duellist?" Lance thought and a quick glance over at Brandon revealed that he was wondering the same thing, they looked up at the screen again and saw that their pictures where now on the TV screen with arrows pointing between the duellists that where fighting, Chloe and Scott's pictures had a red outline around them and it didn't take people long to figure out that that meant that they where duelling.
"And the match between Chloe Richardson and Scott Richardson will begin...NOW!" Seto said and Chloe's eyes widened, however he walked off before she could protest.