It took Lance a few minutes but he was able to find the infirmary eventually, he looked inside via a window and saw Nicola sitting at Andreas's bedside, unfortunately the German teen was still unconscious, he hesitated before entering the room and Nicola looked up when she heard the door open.
"Hey, Nicola right?" Lance asked when she looked up, the younger teen nodded and Lance sighed. "No change huh?"
"No, he's been out cold since the match between him and his brother." Nicola answered, Lance took a seat next to her and saw that she had been crying quite a bit. "I've been watching the other matches on that." Nicola said pointing out a small TV in the corner which was showing the duel arena. "I'm not complaining about having some company but don't you have a match to prepare for?"
"That's not until after Theresa's match against Alex and knowing them that match won't be ending any time soon." Lance shrugged his shoulders before sitting down next to the bed. "Besides Theresa's match doesn't start for another..." Lance took a moment to check his watch. "Ten minutes give or take."
"Yeah, I guess your right." Nicola said before turning to Andreas's prone form. "Why would his own brother do this too him?"
"Otto's always been an arrogant prick." Lance shrugged his shoulders. "He didn't even give us a chance to introduce ourselves to him before deciding that we were beneath him, though that is technically true because I'm in Ra Yellow, Chloe's in Osiris Red and Otto's in Obelisk Blue."
"Yeah, but in all other you two beat him off easily...okay I really should have worded that better." The two teens looked up and saw a blushing Brandon by the door. "No changes as far as Andreas is concerned?"
"No changes." Lance said shaking his head. "Brandon, what do you think me and Theresa's chances are in our upcoming matches?"
"Honestly? I know Theresa's an excellent duellist but she won't even tell me her tactics for the upcoming match, she won't even tell me what deck she plans to use." Brandon said shaking his head. "As for you, your good but I could barely beat Felix in our match, I had to use a luck based card to do it."
"Shame I don't have any luck based cards in my deck." Lance said a frown.
"No but I know one of your cards that will do the trick." Brandon remembered. "Namely Inferno Tempest."
"Why would that help?" Lance asked confused.
"His two best monsters rely on reptile type monsters being in the graveyard to have any kind of power at all." Brandon explained. "Once you take those cards out of the equation they quite literally have no power."
"Just one problem, Inferno Tempest requires that I take 3000 points of damage or more in a single hit before it's effect can take, well, effect." Lance pointed out with a frown. "And that's if I even draw it on time."
"Hey guys, the match is about to start!" Nicola pointed out and the two teens looked up at the TV Screen, sure enough Theresa and Alex had just stepped onto the podium.
"Well, there's no way we can make it back in time without missing a majority of the action." Brandon said with a frown. "Mind if I join you guys?"
"Knock yourself out...no not literally." Lance shrugged and Brandon sat next to him, meanwhile back at the arena Theresa had chosen her deck and loaded it into the deck slot of her duel disk and Alex was shuffling his deck.
"Well Bob, this should be an interesting match." Bill commented as the two duellists shuffled their decks. "We all know Alex is no slouch but by all reports Theresa's the best duellist representing Duel Academy in this tournament."
"Not only that but she's been known for using a little over 20 decks so who knows what she'll bring to the table." Bob added, the two duellists finished shuffling their decks and drew their hands.
"Okay kid, I'm letting you go first." Alex said before looking over his hand. "It's best that I get a rough idea of what her strategy, not to mention the deck that she's using, is anyway." Alex thought.
"Right." Theresa nodded before drawing her card, she looked over her hand and smiled. "Not bad." Theresa thought. "I start by summoning Immortal Ruler in attack mode!" Theresa played the card and a skeleton in elaborate blue, gold and red robes appeared on the field (4/1800/200). "I set two cards facedown and end my turn." The two facedown cards appeared behind the monster and Alex drew his card.
"I set my own card facedown as well." Alex set the card he had drawn before picking up a card. "And I summon X Head Cannon in attack mode!" Alex played the card and the floating Machine with cannons on it's head appeared on the field (4/1800/1500).
"How is that supposed to help you? If you attack my ruler both monsters will be destroyed." Theresa asked before frowning. "Unless he has the two union monsters that go with that monster in his hand that is." Theresa thought.
"You'll see soon enough, first I equip X- Head Cannon with Break Draw!" Alex played the card and X-Dragon Head started glowing, Theresa blinked in confusion once she realized that the machine's attack points hadn't budged. "Now I activate Frontline Base which allows me to Special Summon Y-Dragon Head to the field who I equip to X-Head Cannon!" Alex played the cards and a metallic red dragon appeared underneath X-Head Cannon which X-Head Cannon subsequently equipped it's self too increasing it's attack and defence to 2200 and 1900 respectively. "X-Dragon Head attack Immortal Ruler!" The machine charged up it's cannons before firing them at the zombie destroying it.
T: 7600
A: 8000
"But that's not all, since I destroyed your monster with a monster equipped with Break Draw I'm allowed to draw another card." Alex explained as he drew a card. "That ends my turn!" Alex announced and Theresa drew her card.
"I activate Card of Sanctity to refreash our hands." Theresa played the card and both duellists drew until they had six cards in their hands. "This combination could work!" Theresa thought. "First I activate Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Y-Dragon Head!" Theresa played the card and a tornado destroyed the mechanical dragon, however X-Head Cannon was able to save it's self by detaching from it though it lost it's power boost. "Now I activate the Field Spell Card Zombie World!" Theresa played the card and the scenery changed to a dark wasteland with skeletons spread around.
"How does this help..." Alex started but trailed off when he saw that X-Head Cannon was starting to rust. "What the hell?"
"That's the effect of Zombie World, as long as it's on the field all monsters on the field and in the graveyard become Zombie Monsters." Theresa explained with a smirk, "Not only that but the only cards we're allowed to Tribute Summon are Zombie Type monsters."
"WHAT?" Alex yelled out as it dawned on him. "But that effectively renders my strongest monsters useless!"
"That's not all I'm doing." Theresa said holding up another card. "I activate Monster Reborn to bring back your Y-Dragon Head in defence mode!" Theresa played the card and the mechanical dragon appeared on her side of the field (4/1500/1600) and due to Zombie World's effect it started rusting over. "Now that I've special summoned a Zombie type monster from your graveyard to my side of the field I activate my Trap Card Trap Of The Imperial Tomb!" Theresa flipped up the card.
"And I chain it with my own trap card, Psychic Shockwave!" The card flipped up and he grinned. "This can only be activated if my opponent activates a trap, just like you have, and in exchange for discarding one Spell or Trap Card from my hand I can special summon one Level 6 or higher Machine type monster from my deck, and the card I'm using it on will render Trap of the Imperial Tomb useless!" Alex said before picking up his deck and searching through it. "I summon Jinzo from my deck to the field!" Alex played the card and the android appeared on the field (6/2400/1500) and almost as soon as it appeared Jinzo started rusting over due to Zombie World's effect but that didn't stop it from firing twin laser beams at Trap of The Imperial Tomb and Theresa's facedown card destroying them both.
"So much for that combination." Theresa thought with a frown. "I ended up helping him rather than clearing the way for my stronger monsters." Theresa thought. "I set a card in defence mode and end my turn."
"Ouch, whatever combo she had in mind just got crushed." Lance winced as the three teens watched the duel. "You know what that trap would've done Brandon?" Lance asked and Brandon shook his head.
"No, this is her first time using the Zombie deck, pretty much the only person who knows it's contents is Theresa herself." Brandon said with a frown, back at the arena Alex had just drawn his card and grinned.
"Well, well, I didn't think I'd get to use this card so soon after winning it." Alex chuckled before picking it up. "This next card is one I won during my last Pre Semi-Final duel and it's a stronger version of Jinzo."
"That thing has a stronger version?" Chloe gulped remembering the trouble she had against it in her test duel.
"That's what I just said, in order to summon it I gotta get rid of Jinzo first so bye bye Jinzo, hello Jinzo Lord!" Alex swapped out the cards and Jinzo disappeared, in it's place stood a much taller version of the android wearing a purple version of it's outfit and now possessing three eyes (8/2600/1600). "Here's the best part, that was a Special Summon so in other words I have another monster I can summon so..." Alex said picking up another card. "I summon Biofalcon in attack mode!" Alex played the card and the mechanical falcon appeared on the field (4/1700/1200) Theresa tensed up remembering the card from Otto's duel even as the card rusted over due to Zombie World's effect. "Jinzo Lord attack Y-Dragon Head, X-Head Dragon attack her facedown card!" Jinzo Lord charged up a massive fireball before firing it at Y-Dragon Head destroying it, Theresa tossed Y-Dragon Head back at Alex who sent it to his graveyard before the beams of light from X-Head Cannon's cannons struck her facedown card, revealed to be Pyramid Turtle (4/1200/1400), which was destroyed, Alex drew his card thanks to Break Draw's effect and Theresa grinned.
"Whilst I'm glad that those monsters where in defence mode by destroying it you triggered Pyramid Turtle's effect!" Theresa said with a smirk as she held up the card. "With it I can summon a Zombie Type monster with 2000 or less defence from my deck once it's destroyed in battle and unlike most deck searchers Pyramid Turtle doesn't care what Level the monster is." Theresa explained as she sent Pyramid Turtle to the graveyard and picked up her deck, she found the card she was looking for and grinned. "I chose to summon Giant Axe Mummy in attack mode!" Theresa played the card and an overweight mummy with part of it's chest (as in the internal organs) appeared on the field, as it's namesake suggested it was wielding an axe (5/1700/2000).
"You gotta be kidding me, people still use Level 5 monsters with 1700 attack points?" Alex asked as a massive sweat-drop rolled down his head.
"You haven't even seen his effect in action, with it I can flip him facedown in defence mode once per turn." Theresa explained as the mummy disappeared. "Off course it has another effect but I won't get into that just yet." Theresa thought.
"Drat, it's defence is too tough for my falcon to crack." Alex cursed himself before folding his arms. "I end my turn." Alex announced and Theresa drew her card.
"I set two cards facedown and end my turn." Theresa set the card and Alex drew his card.
"Jinzo-Lord attack Giant Axe Mummy now!" The android charged up it's attack before firing it at the mummy...
"I activate The Reliable Guardian!" Theresa announced as the mummy reappeared on the field, too Alex's surprise the mummy's defence shot up to 2700. "This spell card's effect is similar to Rush Recklessly only it increases a monster's defence by 700 rather than it's attack!" Theresa explained as Giant Axe Mummy withstood the attack.
T: 7600
A: 7900
"Not bad kid..." Alex started but stopped when he saw Jinzo – Lord topple over with Giant Axe Mummy's axe in it's chest. "What the hell?"
"That was Giant Axe Mummy's second effect in action, any monster that does battle with it which has a weaker attack power than Giant Axe Mummy's defence power is automatically destroyed." Theresa explained with a grin.
"Great, now you can activate traps again." Alex grunted in annoyance before sending Jinzo – Lord to the graveyard. "I end my turn." Alex said and Theresa drew her card.
"Okay, first I activate Zoma The Spirit, this is a trap monster which means I can bring this monster out." Theresa activated the card and a hideous black dragon appeared on the field (4/1800/200).
"Nice move but I don't see the point of it." Alex said and Theresa grinned.
"Just watch, I summon Plaguespredder Zombie in attack mode!" Theresa played the card and an overweight zombie in a purple cloak appeared on the field (2/400/200). "Now I tune Plaguespredder Zombie with Zoma The Spirit to Synchro Summon Revived King Ha-Des in attack mode!" The two zombies vanished and in the place of Zoma stood what looked like a zombie version of the fiend Dark Ruler Ha-Des appeared on the field (6/2450/0000). "Revived King attack Biofalcon!" The zombie reached forward with it's claws before ripping the falcon to shreds.
T: 7600
A: 7250
"That ends my turn." Theresa announced and Alex drew his card.
"Okay, first I activate my own Card of Sanctity." Alex announced and both duellists drew until they had six cards in their hands. "Heh, your not the only one who can Synchro Summon Theresa, I summon the Tuner Monster Changer Synchron in attack mode!" Alex played the card and a small robot appeared on the field, it was grey and orange and had red wings. "Now I tune Changer Synchron with X-Head Cannon to Synchro Summon the first of my deck's true power, Ally of Justice – Castanator in attack mode!" The two monsters vanished and in the place of X-Head Cannon stood a mechanical spider with what looked like a human head with shoulder length blonde hair and sunglasses (5/2200/1200).
"Nice try but my Revived King's stronger." Theresa said confidently.
"Not whilst it's in defence mode!" Alex said and Theresa blinked before turning her attention to Revived King...and her eyes widened when she saw the monster in defence mode. "You see when Changer Synchron is used for a Synchro Summon I can change the battle position of one monster on your side of the field and as tempting as it is to use it on Giant Axe Mummy and deal some damage to your life-points I'd like to keep my new monster around!" Alex explained with a grin before pointing to Revived King. "Castanator attack Revived King Ha Des now!" The spider charged towards the king, which was powerless to stop the attack due to the lack of any defence power and was quickly destroyed. "I end my turn with a facedown card." Alex announced and Theresa drew her card.
"I activate the effect of Plaguespredder Zombie, as long as I return one card from my hand to the top of my deck I can special summon it back to the field." Theresa announced as the zombie returned to the field. "Only thing is that when it's removed from the field I have to remove it from play, I'd better make this Synchro Summon worth it!" Theresa thought before picking up a card. "Now I normal summon Skull Conductor in attack mode!" Theresa played the card and a man in a Tuxedo appeared on the field, he had red hair, a matching moustache, was wearing a white sailors hat and was carrying a conductor's stick (4/2000/0000). "Now I tune Plaguespredder Zombie with Skull Conductor to Synchro Summon Doomkaiser Dragon in attack mode!" Theresa picked up the cards and, after pocketing Plaguespredder Zombie due to it's effect and sending Skull Conductor to the graveyard, played the card, in the place of Skull Conductor stood a massive dragon who's body was brown in colour and had skeleton like wings and head (6/2400/1500). "And when this guy's Syncro Summoned I can select one Zombie type monster in your graveyard and Special Summon it to my side of the field and thanks to Zombie World that's every card in your graveyard, however I only need one. Jinzo!" Alex said nothing as he tossed Jinzo to her, she played the card and the android appeared on the field (6/2400/1500). "Doomkaiser Dragon attack Castanator!" Theresa ordered and the dragon started to breathe fire, however before the attack could even be launched Castanator leaped across the field ripping the dragon to shreds, Jinzo soon vanished due to Doomkaiser Dragon's side effect. "What just happened?"
"That was Castanator's effect, you see any non Dark type monster it does battle with is destroyed at the beginning of the damage step without any battle damage being applied." Alex explained as Theresa tossed Jinzo back at him and he sent it to the graveyard. "Nice try but your going to have to try harder than that to beat me!"
"Fine, I end my turn." Theresa said clearly annoyed by the turn of events and Alex drew his card.
"All right, first I activate Card Destruction to force us both to discard our hands!" Theresa frowned but did so, both duellists drew new hands almost as soon as they discarded their new ones. "Next I activate the trap I set last turn Revival Gift, this lets me bring back one Tuner monster from my graveyard on two conditions, one is that that tuner's effect is negated, the other is that two Gift Fiend tokens get summoned to your side of the field." Alex activated the trap and two black fiends appeared on Theresa's side of the field (3/1500/1500) whilst on Alex's side of the field a small, gold, white red and black spider like machine appeared on the field (3/1000/1000). "Meet Ally of Justice Cycle Reader!"
"Whilst I appreciate the free monsters that move doesn't impress me." Theresa said plainly and Alex smirked.
"We'll see about that because I'm not done yet, I summon Ally Of Justice Unlimiter in attack mode!" Alex played the card and a small green and black machine appeared on the field (2/600/400). "Now the stage is set, I tune my Level 5 Costonator with my Level 3 Cycle Reader and Level 2 Unlimiter to summon the strongest Ally of Justice there is, I summon Ally of Justice Decisive Armour!" The three monsters vanished and in the place of Unlimiter stood a massive blue and gold machine that was tank like in appearance and had various cannons on it's body, including one for a mouth (10/3300/3300).
"Holy shit! How long has he been holding on to that thing!" Eddie yelled out in surprise when the monster revealed it's self.
"Normally this is the part where I go over my monster's effects but they only apply to light type monsters and I know for a fact that there isn't any light type Zombie monsters in existence." Alex said with a frown before pointing to Giant Axe Mummy. "Decisive Armour, take out that pain in the ass known as Giant Axe Mummy!" The tank fired up it's cannons before unleashing the full brunt of the blast annihilating the mummy.
"At least my mummy was in defence mode...wait why didn't he target one of the fiends he gave me? They where summoned to the field in attack mode so he would've left a big hole in my life-points." Theresa thought the confusion evident on her face. "Regardless I need to find a way to get rid of that thing and fast!" Theresa thought.
"I end my turn." Alex said and Theresa drew her card.
"Okay, reusing Plaguespredder Zombie is out of the question right now due to it's effect and it's pressence on the limited list." Theresa thought as she looked over her new hand, then her eyes lit up when she saw one of the cards in her hand. "Seems I spoke to soon." Theresa thought before playing it. "I summon Shutendoji in attack mode!"
"Shuten what?" Alex blinked as Theresa played the card and a blonde man in red armour appeared on the field (4/1500/800). "How will that help?"
"One of his effect will help, that's how you see once per turn I can chose to either banish two zombie type monsters from my graveyard in exchange for drawing a card or I can return one banished zombie type monster to the top of my deck." Theresa said before grinning. "And as I'm sure you remember Plaguespredder Zombie was removed from play due to his own effect." Theresa said before retrieving the card from her pocket and placing it atop her deck. "Now I activate the Spell Card I returned to the top of my deck in order to use Plaguespredder Zombie's effect last turn, Allure of Darkness!" Theresa activated the card and, after pocketing a Dark Type monster, she drew two cards.
"Nice try, but you've already used up your summon!" Alex said with a grin.
"I know, so I set a card facedown and end my turn." Theresa announced and Alex drew his card. "I activate my trap card Thunder of Ruler!"
"Great, now I can't attack!" Alex said with a frown before looking at his new card. "As a matter of fact I pass, there's nothing I can do." Alex announced and Theresa drew her card.
"Okay, first I activate Silent Doom to bring back one of the zombies you made me discard with Card Destruction. Skull Servant!" Theresa played the cards and a skeleton in a purple robe appeared on the field (1/300/200).
"People still use that thing?" Alex asked as a massive sweat-drop rolled down his head.
"Don't be so quick to judge, now I summon Plaguespredder Zombie to the field in attack mode!" Theresa played the card and the zombie returned to the field. "Now I tune Plauguespredder Zombie with Skull Servant and one of the Gift Fiends, since they are technically zombies thanks to Zombie World, to Synchro Summon Archfiend Zombie Skull in attack mode!" The three monsters vanished and in Plaguespredder's place stood a skinnier version of Summoned Skull (6/2500/1200). "I set a card facedown and end my turn." Theresa announced and Alex drew his card.
"All that effort for a monster weaker than my tank? Please, Decisive Armour attack Archfiend Zombie Skull now!" The tank charged up it's attack.
"I activate my trap card Synchro Deflector!" Theresa flipped up the card and Alex blinked. "This trap can only be activated if a Synchro Monster I control is targeted for an attack, this lets me negate the attack and destroy one monster you control and I only see one!"
"NO!" Alex yelled out but it was too late as the tank self destructed before it could fire it's attack. "I set two cards facedown and end my turn!" Alex announced and Theresa drew her card.
"Archfiend Zombie Skull attack his life-points directly!" The zombie charged up it's attack.
"I don't think so, I activate my trap card Descending Lost Star!" Alex activated the trap and too Theresa's surprise Decisive Armour reappeared on the field in what looked like a defensive position, however it's level had plummeted to one and it's defence was at zero. "As you can see this trap card has allowed me to Special Summon my Decisive Armour back to the field, however it's lost all it's defence points and it can't change it's position."
"Not a problem for me then, Archfiend Zombie Skull resume your attack!" The zombie resumed charging up it's attack.
"My other trap says otherwise, I activate Synchro Barrier!" Alex activated the trap and to Theresa's surprise Decisive Armour disappeared from the field. "In order to activate it's effect I have to tribute one Synchro Monster I control but in exchange I don't take any battle damage!"
"Fine, I'll end my turn since there's no point in attacking." Theresa announced as Archfiend Zombie Skull called off it's attack and Alex drew his card.
"Okay, I start by activating Pot of Averice and I use it to return Y-Dragon Head, Changer Syncron, Biofalcon, Jinzo and Jinzo – Lord to my deck and draw two cards." Alex returned the monsters to his deck, shuffled it and drew two cards. "Now I summon Ally of Justice Cyclone Creator in attack mode!" Alex played the card and a red, bird like machine appeared on the field (3/1400/1200). "I set two cards facedown and end my turn." Alex set the two cards down and Theresa drew her card. "I activate my own Thunder of Ruler!"
"Great, I guess I'll end my turn with a facedown card." Theresa said begrudgingly before setting the card, Alex drew his card and activated his trap.
"I activate Synchro Material, this lets me target one monster you control and use it for a Synchro Summon, I chose Shutendoji." Theresa's eyes widened but she knew that she could do nothing but watch as her monster leaped over to Alex's side of the field. "Now all I need to do is summon another monster and I have just the thing, I activate Monster Reborn to bring back your Skull Servant!" Alex played the card and the robe clad skeleton appeared on his side of the field. "Now I tune Cyclone Creator with Shutendoji and Skull Servant to Synchro Summon Ally of Justice Field Martial in attack mode!" The three monsters vanished and, after Alex tossed Theresa's monsters back at her and she sent them to the graveyard, a large android appeared in the place of Cyclone Creator, it was silver in colour and had nasty looking claws (9/2900/2600). "Field Martial attack Gift Fiend Token now!" The android charged towards the fiend ripping it to pieces.
T: 6200
A: 7250
"Maybe my Zombie deck wasn't my best choice to use against Alex." Theresa thought as she looked down at her deck. "True I have more monsters where that came from but he's had a counter for everything I've thrown at him...then I guess it's time I threw something new at him!" Theresa thought as an idea started forming in her head. "My move yet?" Theresa asked and Alex looked at his hand.
"One card facedown, now I end my turn." Alex set the second card he drew and Theresa drew her card. "Okay, first I use Plaguespredder Zombie's effect to special summon it to the field!" Theresa announced as she returned the card she had drawn to the top of her deck, retrieved the Tuner Monster and summoned it to the field, the zombie appeared on the field ready for battle.
"Like that little tyke will help you against my Field Martial!" Alex scoffed and Theresa grinned.
"That's the thing, my zombie won't be the one doing the battling, I tune Plaguespredder Zombie with Archfiend Zombie Skull to Synchro Summon Blood Mefist in attack mode!" The two monsters vanished and in the place of Archfiend Zombie Skull stood a smartly dressed man wearing a suit, top hat and a white facial mask, he was carrying a large cane and was ready for battle (8/2800/1300).
"You may as well have stuck with Archfiend Zombie Skull, that thing's still weaker than my monster!" Alex scoffed and Theresa grinned.
"Blood Mefist attack Ally of Justice Field Martial now!" Theresa announced ignoring the screams of what from duellists and spectators alike, Blood Mefist leaped into the air and as he prepared to come down on Field Martial Theresa activated her trap. "I activate Prideful Roar!"
"How is that supposed to help..." Alex started but stopped when, too his surprise, Theresa's life-points dropped to 6100 and Blood Mefist's attack increased to 3100.
"In order to activate this trap I have to wait until damage calculation and I have to be the one doing the attacking, with it all I need to do is pay life-points equal to the difference between the two monsters attacks and my monster gains that difference times 300." Theresa explained as Blood Mefist slammed it's cane into Field Martial's head, nothing happened for a few moments as Blood Mefist leaped away from the machine before it eventually started to short circuit before exploding.
T: 6100
A: 7050
"Huh, that might prove useful in my deck." Brandon said stroking his chin thoughtfully. "I'll give my dad a ring, see if it's my stash."
"That or you could save the staff money on long distance calls and ask Theresa if she has a spare copy." Lance pointed out and Brandon grinned sheepishly,
"That ends my turn." Theresa announced and Alex drew his card...only to wince as his life-points dropped to 6550. "That was Blood Mefist's effect, as long as it's on the field you'll lose 500 life-points during each of your standby phases."
"Well I guess it's a good thing that that monster won't be sticking around." Alex said picking up a card. "I summon Bri Synchron in attack mode!" Alex played the card and a small green, black and gold machine appeared on the field (4/1500/1100).
"Another tuner monster, not that it matters since you lack the means to get another card on the field." Theresa pointed out and Alex grinned.
"Don't get ahead of yourself." Alex said shaking his head. "There's more than one way to get a monster on the field but since your in Obelisk Blue you should know that." Alex said before picking up a card. "I activate Mystical Space Typhoon and use it to destroy...my own facedown card!" Alex announced ignoring the collective gasp from the other duellists, he shielded himself as a tornado ripped through the hologram of his facedown card. "I have my reasons though, the facedown card was a Trap Card called Wonder Garage and to use it's effect I had to destroy it whilst it was facedown." Alex said holding up the card. "Here's the best part, when it's destroyed and sent to the graveyard Wonder Garage lets me Special Summon one Machine type monster from my hand as long as it's Level 4 or lower and that it's got Roid in it's name and I have just the one, through the use of Wonder Garage I Special Summon Carrieroid in attack mode!" Alex played the card and a small blue, yellow and brown ship appeared on the field, strangely enough it had large, cartoonish angry eyes on the front (4/1000/800). "Now I tune Carrieroid with Bri Synchron to Synchro Summon a new monster that will leave you in the dust, Ally of Justice Light Gaser!" The two monsters vanished and in the place of Bri Synchron stood an odd looking machine that was yellow, black and red in colour, it had no lower body but seemed to be operating on some kind of hover system and had a yellow circle around it's waist (8/2400/1600).
"All that for a monster that can't hold a candle to mine..." Theresa started but did a double take when she saw his the monster's attack increase to 3000. "What the?" Theresa blurted out.
"That's Bri Synchron's effect, when it's used for a Synchro Summon the monster I summon it with immediately gains 600 attack points at the cost of it's effect." Alex said with a smirk. "Not that it matters, you see Light Gazer would usually gain 200 attack points for each Light Type monster in the graveyard."
"And I have no Light Type monsters in this deck, let alone my graveyard." Theresa interrupted with a frown. "Another move countered, hopefully I can get him to run out of his Ally of Justice Synchro monsters before I run out of life-points." Theresa thought the frustration clear on her face.
"Light Gazer, shed some light on that Blood Mefist!" Alex commanded and the machine fired a beam of gold light at Blood Mefist destroying it.
T: 5900
A: 6050
"That ends my turn." Alex announced and Theresa drew her card, she looked at it before looking up at Light Gazer...only to blink in surprise when she saw that the monster had lost it's power boost. "I almost forgot, Bri Synchron's effect only works during the turn that it's Synchro Summoned."
"Well, I guess I should be thankful since that makes my job that much easier." Theresa said before looking at her card. "I activate Magical Stone Excavation, now by discarding the remaining cards in my hand to the graveyard I can select one spell card in my graveyard and return it to my hand." Theresa discarded her remaining cards and retrieved her other card. "And as for the card I'm retrieving, well I activate it now, it's Card Of Sanctity!" Theresa played the card and both duellists drew until they had six cards in their hands. "Our decks are running a bit low, might want to hold off on draws outside of the draw phase." Theresa thought as she looked down at her deck before looking at her new hand. "Unfortunately I lack the means to bring back Plaguespredder Zombie since it was removed from play via it's own effect."
"I know that, I used that thing in the deck that I used during last year's Battle City Tournament." Alex interrupted. "What's your point?"
"My point is that one of the cards I just drew is a Tuner monster that can substitute for my zombie, something that's pretty handy since Plaguespredder's on the Limited List." Theresa said before picking up a card. "I summon Pain Painter to the field in attack mode!" Theresa played the card and a zombie wearing overalls appeared on the field, it was carrying a paint stand and was covered in paint (2/400/200). "I'm not done though, sure that was my normal summon but there's another summon I can make thanks to this spell card, it's called Double Summon."
"I know what that does, it lets you Normal Summon another monster in exchange for the ability to use it again." Alex interrupted and Theresa grinned.
"Exactly and I know just the monster I'm going to summon, I summon Bone Mouse in attack mode!" Theresa played the card and a small, rotting pink mouse appeared on the field (1/400/300). "Now I tune my final Gift Fiend Token with Bone Mouse and Pain Painter to Synchro Summon yet another Archfiend Zombie Skull!" The three monsters vanished and in the place of Gift Fiend Token stood the zombie from earlier in the duel (6/2500/1200).
"NO! That has enough power to wipe out my last Ally of Justice!" Alex yelled out and Theresa grinned.
"Archfiend Zombie Skull attack Light Gazer now!" The zombie reached forward with it's claws and ripped the machine to pieces.
T: 5900
A: 5950
"Looks like I'll win this match yet." Theresa said with a grin. "And since I wiped out the last of your Ally of Justice cards it'll be a matter of time before I join my friends in the next round."
"I'm guessing by that you mean that your turns over?" Alex asked and Theresa set a card facedown, nodded and Alex drew his card. "You may of taken out my Jinzo Lord and my Allies of Justice but as any duellist worth his/her salt knows it's foolish to rely on one monster to win duels, and your Card of Sanctity gave me the means to turn this duel around."
"Talk is cheap, and unless you have a monster that can back that up then I'm not impressed." Theresa countered back.
"Just watch, I activate the Power Bond spell card!" Alex played the card and Theresa's eyes widened. "I see you remember this card's effect from your classmate's duel but unlike him I don't intend to use it on something as powerful as Cyber End Dragon, mostly due to the fact that I don't have those cards in my possession but this card's just as good!" Alex said as he picked up two cards. "Now I fuse together the two Cyber Ogres (5/1900/1200) in my hand to fusion summon Cyber Ogre 2 in attack mode!" Alex played the cards and the two machine monsters where fused together, out of the vortex emerged a massive ape like machine (9/2600/1900) and his attack increased to 5200 due to Power Bond's effect. "I've got bad news for you kid, you see when Cyber Ogre 2 attacks a monster such as your Archfiend Zombie Skull half of it's victim's attack gets added to it's attack points!" Alex said before pointing to Cyber Ogre. "Attack Archfiend Zombie Skull!" The ogre charged towards Theresa's monster and it's attack rose to 6450 and ripped the zombie to shreds.
T: 3550
A: 5950
"I end my..." Alex yelled in pain as lightning struck him. "Crap, I forgot that Power Bond takes the original attack of the monster it summoned and takes it from my life-points." Alex said as his life-points dropped down to 3350. "Not that it matters, all it'll take is one direct attack from my Ogre and you'll be joining Marcus in the loser's circle."
"That's not going to happen." Theresa said defiantly as she drew her card. "I start by activating the trap I set last turn, Wicked Rebirth." Theresa flipped up the card and grinned even as her life-points dropped to 2750. "At the cost of 800 life-points this lets me revive one Synchro Monster from my graveyard to welcome back Archfiend Zombie Skull!" Theresa played the card and the zombie retuned to the field. "Unfortunately it can't attack but with what I have in store it doesn't need too."
"What are you talking about?" Alex demanded as Theresa played the card she drew.
"This is what I'm talking about, I activate the Spell Card Synchro Blast Wave." Theresa played the card and too Alex's surprise the zombie reached forward with it's claws and ripped the ogre to shreds. "This can only be activated if I have a Synchro Monster on my side of the field, with it I'm allowed to destroy one monster you control!" Theresa said as Alex sent his monster to the graveyard. "As for the issue regarding my monsters lack of ability to attack he won't be sticking around for much longer, I summon another Pain Painter in attack mode!" Theresa played the card and the zombie reappeared on the field. "Now I tune Archfiend Zombie Skull with Pain Painter to Synchro Summon Colossal Fighter in attack mode!" Theresa played the card and the two monsters vanished alongside Wicked Rebirth's hologram, in the place of Archfiend Zombie Skull stood a massive warrior in silver armour (8/2800/1000).
"I'm not worried, even if you attack my life-points I'll still have life-points to spare." Alex said defiantly and Theresa shook her head.
"You don't understand, this match is over." Theresa said picking up another card. "And it's all thanks to the Spell Card Megamorph which doubles Colossal Fighter's attack points as long as my life-points are lower than yours." Alex's eyes widened as Colossal Fighter doubled in size and strength all the way up to 5600. "Colossal Fighter, finish this duel now!" The warrior charged towards Alex and punched him in the face.
T: 2750
A: 0000
"What a match! Theresa enters the second round with her classmates!" Bill said over the cheering crowd, Alex forced himself to his feet as the holograms disappeared and both duellists deactivated their duel disks, Theresa went to hop off the arena.
"Hey kid." Alex called out to her and Theresa turned around as he approached her, a few seconds passed before Alex extended his hand out for a handshake. "That was a hell of a duel, good luck in the rest of the tournament." Theresa smiled before accepting the handshake.
"Thanks." Theresa said plainly before hopping off the duel arena. "Hmm, Lance hasn't come back yet and his duel is up next, hopefully Brandon and Nicola can drag his ass back here." Theresa thought before returning her Zombie deck to her backpack. "At least I'm through to the next round." Theresa thought.
"Attention duellists, because of how late it's getting we are foregoing the twenty minute recess for the last match of the day." Kaiba announced, Felix grinned as he approached the arena whilst backstage a clearly panicking Lance was rushing down the halls to get to the arena in time.
"DICK MOVE KAIBA! DICK MOVE!" Lance yelled as he approached the arena, he climbed onto the arena and took a moment to catch his breath. "I'm here, just a bit tired."
"So you made it." Felix said with a smirk. "You should have just forfeited the match unless you want to join Andreas in the Orichalcos."
"Please, the only one who'll be joining anyone in the Orichalcos is you and you'll be joining that murderous bitch Karen alongside every one of your associates that me and my friends have defeated in this tournament so far." Lance retorted with a grin.
"Don't make me laugh, Brandon could barely beat me in our match and he's in Obelisk Blue, you? Your an Ra Yellow." Felix scoffed and Lance's eyes narrowed.
"If your going to judge my duelling skills based on my dorm then your making a huge mistake, for starters Marcus is in Ra Yellow as well and you saw how well he did against Brandon." Lance said folding his arms, Felix frowned before activating his duel disk and Lance did likewise. "There's something that's been bugging me ever since our match was announced though." Lance added and Felix frowned.
"Let me guess, you want to know how I went from the regional champion of New Orleans to an Orichalcos duellist?" Felix asked and Lance nodded. "I'm afraid that's personal." Felix said before smirking. "But here's a deal for you, you get my life-points below 1000 life-points and I'll tell you everything."
"What if I beat you before then?" Lance asked.
"I'll hold off the Orichalcos long enough so that I can tell you." Felix said as both duellists drew their opening hands. "You won't get that far though."
"We'll see about that, now who's going first?" Lance asked as he looked over his opening hand. "Not bad." Lance thought.
"I will." Felix said impatiently as he drew his card. "I set two cards facedown and summon Venom Snake in attack mode!" Felix played the cards and a brown, fanged rattlesnake appeared on the field (3/1200/800). "What do you say to that Lance?"
"I say that without the Orichalcos on the field your snakes are all bark and no bite." Lance said as he drew his card. "And to prove it I summon the mighty Laval Lancelord in attack mode!" Lance played the card and the warrior wielding the spear of fire appeared on the field (6/2100/200).
"Hey hold up, that requires a tribute first!" Felix protested and Lance grinned.
"If I had a dollar for every-time someone pointed that out about Lancelord, you see I can Normal Summon this monster without a tribute as long as I send it to the graveyard once I end my turn." Lance explained before picking up a card. "But in a few moments that won't matter, first I activate Card Destruction to force us both to discard our hands and draw new ones."
"Hmm, I could negate that with Snake Deity's Command but by forcing my to discard monsters he's playing right into my hand." Felix thought with a grin as he discarded his hand and drew a new one, Lance did likewise and picked up one of the cards he drew.
"I'm not done yet, I activate a Spell Card from my hand called Rekindling, this lets me Special Summon as many Fire type monsters with 200 defence points as possible from my graveyard, and it just so happens that I have one!" Lance said as he retrieved the card from his graveyard. "Namely the Tuner Monster Flamvell Baby!" Lance played the card and a small humanoid flame appeared on the field with an angry look on his face (1/800/200). "Now...lets see if I can figure out this Synchro Summoming shit..." Lance said causing everyone else to facefault.
"You set up a Synchro Summon and yet you don't know how to do one?" Felix asked the confusion evident on his face.
"Give me a break, this is my first attempt at it." Lance said as a massive sweat-drop rolled down his head. "Okay, Lancelord's a Level 6 monster...Flamvell Baby's a Level 1 monster...so if I tune Baby with Lancelord I'll be able to summon a Level 7 monster!" Lance figured out earning a mock applause from Felix.
"You gonna do it?" Felix asked once he finished his mock applause.
"As a matter of fact, yes." Lance said pointing to his two monsters. "I tune Flamvell Baby with Laval Lancelord to Synchro Summon Laval Stannon in attack mode!" The two monsters vanished and Lance picked up a card from his extra deck, he played it and in the place of Lancelord stood a massive armoured man with blue skin and spikes on his armour (7/2700/1800). "Before I attack Stannon's effect takes place, when he's Synchro Summoned I have to discard a card from my hand to the graveyard." Lance explained before he picked up a card and sent it to the graveyard. "Laval Stannon attack Venom Snake!" The massive monster charged forward.
"You'll need to do better than that, I activate my trap card Ambush Fangs!" Felix activated his trap and to Lance's surprise Venom Snake leaped forward and bit Stannon on the neck, "This trap card can only be activated if one of my Venom Monsters is targeted for an attack, not only does it let me negate the attack but...well see for yourself!" Felix said and Lance blinked...only for his eyes to widen when he saw a large boil appear where Stannon was bitten. "The attacking monster gets a Venom Counter."
"Not a big deal, my monster's still a lot stronger than anything you have in your deck that doesn't require special summoning conditions." Lance said confidently before looking at the rest of his hand. "But to be on the safeside I'll set two cards facedown and end my turn." Lance set the two cards down and Felix drew his card.
"Heh, the card I just drew has sealed your fate." Felix said as he played the card. "I activate Terraforming, this spell card allows me to search through my deck for a Field Spell Card and add it to my hand and I have just the one in mind."
"Let me guess, the Seal of the Orichalcos?" Lance asked, Felix said nothing as he searched through his deck and found the spell card at the bottom.
"Why don't you have a look for yourself? I activate the Seal of the Orichalcos!" Felix played the card and Lance shielded himself as the Seal enveloped both both duellists, the Seal's Symble appeared on his forehead alongside Venom Snake's head increasing it's attack to 1700.
"Should I be worried? Even with the Seal Venom Snake's attack doesn't come close to Stannon's." Lance pointed out and Felix grinned.
"Worry about that later, for now I switch Venom Snake to defence mode, set another monster in defence mode and a card facedown, your move." Felix set the cards after switching his snakes to defence mode and once the snake crouched down Lance drew his card.
"If that's the best you can do than this will be a piece of cake!" Lance said confidently as he looked at his newly drawn card. "For starters I remove Flamvell Baby from play in order to Special Summon Inferno in defence mode!" Lance played the card and, after he retrieved the tuner monster from his graveyard, the small flame with eyes and a mouth appeared on the field (4/1100/1900). "But he's not sticking around, I offer Inferno as a tribute to summon Thestalous The Firestorm Monarch!" The flame extinguished and in it's place stood Thestalous who was ready for battle (6/2400/1000). "Here's where things get fun, for me at least, you see when I successfully tribute summon Thestalous to the field I can force you to discard one card from your hand and if it happens to be a monster it's level comes out of your life-points times a 100." Lance explained as Thestalous threw a fireball at one of the two cards in Felix's hand, Felix winced both from the fireball and at the card which he revealed to be Venom Serpant (4/1000/800) before discarding it.
F: 7600
L: 8000
"This is bad." Brandon said with a frown. "Lance may have the lead but by forcing Felix to get rid of his monsters he's basically playing right into his hand."
"Your going to have to explain that one to me." Alex said with a confused look on his face.
"When I duelled him I used similar tactics to Lance's though in my case my strategies where focussed more on deck destruction." Brandon explained. "That ended up back firing as he brought out his two best monsters, Venominion and Venomningagga, monsters that got their attack power from the number of Reptile type monsters in the graveyard and by then he had a lot."
"I get it, if Lance isn't careful he'll be facing some serious firepower." Eddie said with a nod. "Just one thing, for all we know Lance could wipe out Felix's life-points long before then."
"Not if he has more cards like Ambush Fangs." Brandon said only now catching on to the fact that Chloe was glaring at him. "Let me guess, be more supportive?"
"Yep." Chloe said with a simple nod.
"Err, Lance Lance he's our man if he can't do it no one can!" Brandon chanted laughing nervously as he did.
"Now for the fun part, Thestalous attack his facedown monster, Stannon attack Venom Snake again!" The two monsters launched their attacks at the two monsters, the facedown monster being Venom Cobra (4/100/2000) and both monsters where destroyed, Felix sent them to the graveyard managing to suppress his grin.
"That's it keep destroying my monsters, soon as I get my heavy hitter on the field you will regret ever entering this tournament." Felix thought before looking up at Lance. "You done?" Felix asked, Lance took a look at the rest of his hand and nodded.
"I'm done." Lance said plainly and Felix drew his card.
"I start by activating the Spell Card known as Card of Sanctity, I hope I don't have to explain what this does too you." Felix said and Lance shook his head, both duellists drew until they had six cards in their hand and Felix sent his Spell Card to the graveyard. "Say goodbye to your Synchro Monster Lance."
"Please, none of your monsters come close to his power!" Lance said confidently and Felix grinned.
"I never said anything about destroying it with a monster, I activate the Spell Card Special Hurricane!" Felix played the card and discarded a card from his hand. "All I need to do is discard one card from my hand and in exchange I can destroy any monsters that where Special Summoned, namely Stannon!" Lance's eyes widened as a hurricane swooped up his Synchro monster destroying it, Lance sent his monster to the graveyard and frowned.
"I could really use Monster Reborn right now." Lance thought before looking up at Felix. "I have more monsters where that came from."
"I hope so, otherwise this won't be fun at all." Felix said with a cocky grin. "Now I summon Venom Cobra in attack mode and activate Venom Shot!" Felix played the card and after the silver and red snake appeared on the field (4/100/2000) Felix selected a card from his deck and sent it to his graveyard. "This spell card can only be activated if I have a Venom type monster on my side of the field, since I do I can now send one Reptile type monster from my deck to my graveyard and place two Venom Counters on one face up monster you control, normally I'd have a choice in this but since you only have one monster, well the choice is made for me." As Felix said that two boils appeared on Thestalous's neck.
"So what? Thestalous can easily pop those spots!" Lance said confidently before smirking. "Not to mention your weakass monster!"
"True, but it'll be me that destroys Venom Cobra and I'll do it with your own monster!" Felix said as he played a card, Lance blinked...only for his eyes to widen when he saw Creature Swap's hologram pop up. "I see you know this card's effect."
"Yeah I do, it basically swaps our monsters around." Lance said before his eyes narrowed. "Since I have no choice I chose Thestalous." Lance added as the two monsters disappeared only to reappear but on the opposite end of the field.
"Thestalous, attack your former master's Venom Cobra now!" Felix ordered and Thestalous threw a fireball at Venom Cobra destroying it, Lance said nothing before he activated one of his traps and tossed Venom Cobra back at Felix who sent it to his graveyard. "Well that's...wait why hasn't your life-points budged?"
"You can thank my trap card for that, Defence Draw can only be activated during the Damage Step and not only does it reduce the damage I take to zero but I am able to draw a new card." Lance explained as he drew a card.
"Not bad, however I now have one of your most powerful monsters in my control and I don't intend to give him up just yet." Felix said cockily as he folded his arms. "I end my turn, not that you can do much now."
"We'll see about that." Lance said as he drew his card. "I set a card facedown and a monster in defence mode, go ahead." Lance set his two newly drawn cards and Felix drew his card.
"Well, well, time I got rid of more Reptiles." Felix said as he played a card. "I activate a Spell Card called Snake Rain, all I need to do is discard a card from my hand and in exchange I can send four reptile type monsters from my deck to my graveyard." Felix selected the cards once he discarded a monster and sent them to the graveyard alongside his Spell Card.
"Fine by me, you'll deck yourself out if you keep that up." Lance said confidently and Felix frowned.
"Thestalous attack his defence monster now!" The monarch fired up a fireball before launching it at Lance's monster. "That takes care off...WHAT?" Felix yelled out as the smoke cleared revealling Obnoxious Celtic Guardian (4/1400/1200).
"Surprised? Don't be, my Celtic Guardian can't be destroyed in battle with a monster with 1900 or more attack points." Lance explained with a grin. "I didn't think I'd need to use this card given how weak your Venom monsters are but given the fact that you where kind enough to steal one of my favourite monsters I'll make do."
"Good move Lance!" Brandon called out from the sidelines and Lance grinned.
"Yes, as a time builder." Axel said with a frown. "However unless he used his Guardian as a Tribute or for another Synchro Summon he'll be in trouble." Axel said with a frown ignoring the glare from Chloe.
"Fine, I'll end my turn." Felix said with a frown and Lance drew his card.
"First I summon Darkfire Soldier Number 1 in attack mode!" Lance played the card and the topless muscular man who's lower half was covered in flames appeared on the field (4/1750/1100). "Next I activate a Spell Card from my hand called Natural Tune!"
"How does that help you?" Felix asked and Lance grinned.
"Simple, this Spell Card allows me to select one Level 4 or lower Normal Monster I control, in this case Darkfire Soldier." Lance explained as Darkfire Soldier started glowing. "Now as long as my monster's faceup on the field it's treated like a Tuner monster."
"That means you can bring out a Level 8 Synchro monster!" Felix realized as his eyes widened.
"That's right, so I tune Darkfire Soldier with Obnoxious Celtic Guardian to Synchro Summon Crimson Blader!" The two monsters vanished and in the place of Darkfire Soldier stood a blue skinned man in red armour, a black skirt and wielding twin blades (8/2800/2600). "Now to bring Thestalous home, Crimson Blader attack Thestalous!" The warrior charged towards Thestalous before slashing him across the chest with one sword and decapitated him with the other.
F: 7200
L: 8000
Felix said nothing before tossing Thestalous back at Lance who sent it to his graveyard once he caught it. "The bad news just keeps coming for you Felix, when Crimson Blader destroys a monster you are unable to bring out any Level 5 or Higher monsters during the following turn."
"No big deal, most of my Venom monsters are Level 4 or bellow." Felix explained as Crimson Blader returned to Lance's side of the field. "You done yet?" Felix asked, Lance looked at the rest of his hand and nodded. "All right, I draw." Felix announced as he drew his card. "And I activate Pot of Greed which will allow me to draw two additional cards!" Felix played the card and drew the two cards. "Your Blader's done for!"
"I'd like to see you try to beat something this strong!" Lance said cockily and Felix grinned.
"Why don't you just watch? I activate a second Special Hurricane!" Lance's eyes widened as Felix discarded another monster and seconds later a tornado ripped through the field destroying Crimson Blader. "Unfortunately I just discarded my only monster so I must end my turn with a facedown card." Felix set the card down and Lance drew his card. "I activate my Trap Card Thunder Of Ruler!"
"Great, now I can't attack." Lance frowned before looking at his new card. "But I can do this, I activate my own Card of Sanctity which, as you know, lets us refresh our hands." Lance played the card and both duellists drew until they had 6 cards in their hands, Lance looked at two of the cards in his hand and grinned. "Just the cards I was waiting for." Lance thought before picking them up. "I set two cards facedown and a monster in defence mode, your move!" Lance announced and Felix drew his card.
"Your finished!" Felix said with a grin as he held up a card. "First I activate another Snake Rain!" Felix discarded a card and retrieved another four cards from his deck before sending all five to the graveyard. "Now I activate not one but two copies of the Spell Card Silent Doom which allows me to revive my two Venom Cobras in defence mode!" Felix played the cards and the two cobras appeared on the field. "But they aren't sticking around, I offer them both to summon my second strongest monster Venoninion The Kind of Poisonousness Snakes!" Felix played the card and the two snakes vanished, in the place off the one on the right stood the humanoid snake from his duel with Brandon (8/0/0). "This monster gains 500 attack points for each Venom type monster in my graveyard and I have a lot." Felix explained as his monster's attack sky-rocketed to 10, 000.
"That's...that's a technical glitch right? RIGHT?" Lance said laughing nervously.
"Nope." Felix said with a grin. "Venomininion attack his defence monster!" The snake charged towards the facedown monster, revealed to be Solar Flare Dragon, which was quickly destroyed. "That ends my turn." Felix announced and Lance drew his card.
"I activate Swords of Revealing Light!" Lance activated the card...
"Don't count on it, I activate my trap card Snake Deity's Command!" Felix activated the trap card and showed Lance a third Venom Cobra. "Now that I've showed you a Venom type monster in my hand your spell card is negated."
"Fine, I guess it's time for Plan B!" Lance said as he sent his Spell Card to the graveyard. "I set a card facedown and a monster in defence." Lance set the cards and motioned for Felix to take his turn, Felix drew his card and Lance activated a trap. "I activate An Unfortunate Report!"
"Okay, what the hell does that do?" Felix asked and Lance grinned.
"Simple, for this turn only you can conduct two Battle Phases!" Lance said causing everyone to do a double take.
"Is he insane!" Alex yelled out once it hit him. "He may as well surrender!"
"Unless he's doing what I think he's doing." Brandon said folding his arms. "Lance, I hope for your sake that you know what your doing." Brandon thought.
"Well since your so eager to lose." Felix said before pointing to Venominion, "Venominion attack his defence!" The snake charged forward.
"I activate Enchanted Javelin to take Venominion's frankly ridicules attack points and add them to my own!" Lance activated the trap and a Javelin went straight through Venominion's chest before firing a beam of light at Lance, that didn't stop Venominion from crushing Lance's facedown Ultimate Baseball Kid.
F: 7200
L: 18000
"Not that it'll help you, thanks to your trap card I enter my second battle phase!" Felix said before pointing to his monster. "Venominion attack his life-points directly!"
"This is going to suck!" Lance muttered under his breath as the snake charged towards him, he squeezed Lance for a few seconds and a few seconds of Lance screaming in pain later the snake returned to Felix's side of the field.
F: 7200
L: 8000
Lance collapsed to his knees breathing heavily as he did, however after a few seconds he grinned. "You...you've fallen for my trap."
"Say what?" Felix blinked as Lance activated one of his cards.
"I activate Inferno Tempest!" Lance flipped the card up and grinned. "This Quick Play Spell Card can only be activated if I take 3000 points of damage or more, or in this case a lot more, once it's activated it forces us to remove every single monster card in our decks and our graveyards from play."
"WHAT?" Felix yelled out as it dawned on him, however he reluctantly removed the cards reducing his deck to four cards and Lance's deck to six cards, most importantly however the monster cards in both player's graveyards where removed from play. "Damn, I should've waited before using Snake Deity's Command, now my king's lost all it's attack points and in a few turns I'll deck out." Felix thought with a frown as Venominion's attack plummeted to zero. "Fine, you wiped out my monster's attack and any hope I had of restoring his attack strength but at what cost? From where I stand you only have one card left in your deck."
"That one card is all I'll need, is it my turn yet?" Lance asked and Felix nodded, Lance drew his card and looked at it. "I activate my last trap card, Return from a Different Dimension!" Lance activated the trap and winced as his life-points dropped to 4000. "This trap card requires me to cut my life-points in half but as your about to see it's well worth it.
"Meaning?" Felix asked only for his eyes to widen as Thestalous and Crimson Blader returned to Lance's side of the field alongside a knight wielding a shield covered in flames (5/1900/1300) and two Solar Flare Dragons.
"Meaning that for one turn only I can bring back as many removed from play monsters as possible, you already know Thestalous, Crimson Blader and my two Solar Flare Dragons but let me introduce you too Flame Champion!" Lance explained as the five monsters got ready for battle. "Not only that but from where I stand I have more than enough attack power to wipe you out."
"So you do." Felix admitted with a small grin. "I knew this day would come, when I'd fall to the Orichalcos...do your worst."
"My pleasure, Thestalous take out that overgrown Praying Mantis, Crimson Blader, Flame Champion attack his life-points!" Lance commanded and the three monsters launched their attacks, Thestalous wiped out the kind whilst Blader's and Champion's attacks sent Felix to the ground.
F: 100
L: 4000
Felix got up and looked at Lance expectedly. "Are you going to finish me off or what?"
"Aren't you forgetting our deal?" Lance asked folding his arms, Felix blinked before his eyes widened.
"Ah yeah, I promised I'd spill my guts if my life-points dropped bellow a thousand." Felix remembered before sighing. "I'm a man of my word believe it or not, I'll tell you everything." Felix said before taking a deep breath. "It all started five years ago, in my native New Orleans I was on top of the duelling world, no one could beat me,"
"So how'd you get from that to an Orichalcos duellist?" Lance asked.
"It's simple, back then I was a gambling addict and I was in debt to a group of local gangsters." Felix added before frowning. "I never told anyone not even my younger sister Terri, she looked up to me like a father as our parents had died years ago, she was all I had as far as family went." Felix took a deep breath. "Unfortunately the gangsters found out about her."
"What happened?" Lance asked not liking where this was going.
"I was approached before a championship duel by one of the gangsters, he offered to scrap the debt in exchange for throwing the match." Felix's eyes narrowed. "I refused, call it duellist pride or whatever you like and after I won the match I was knocked out by the gangster, when I woke up I found myself in a strange apartment tied to a chair and surrounded by the gangsters and they gave me a choice, pay off the debt or else." Felix's frown deepened. "i didn't have the money for it and it was then that they brought out Terri...the bastards had sown her lips shut."
"They...they what?" Lance asked as his eyes widened.
"It gets worse, they asked me again and I refused, they threw her onto the bed and gang raped her but I still refused, this went on for days on end." Felix's eyes started to water at the memory. "After five days they let us go, either they finally figured out that I didn't have the money to pay them or they got tired, we returned home but Terri wasn't the same after that, she...she blamed me for what happened and quite frankly I don't blame her...I found her the next day, she had hung herself during the night."
"Jesus Christ..." Theresa muttered as her hand covered her mouth in shock.
"After her funeral I was approached by some guy in a cloak, he identified himself as Michael and he offered me a chance at revenge against those scumbags, how could I refuse?" Felix asked rhetorically before frowning. "Once I got what I needed I challenged them one by one to an Orichalcos duel and annihilated them all, not only that but after the duels I ripped up their soul cards destroying their souls in the process, ever since then I've served them faithfully."
"Who's they?" Lance asked and Felix shook his head.
"Not my place to say, there's more to it anyway." Felix added before glancing over at Chloe. "I keep a picture of Terri on me at all times, to remind me of where I went wrong." Felix added before digging through his jeans pocket and holding up the picture. "Look familiar?"
"She...she looks like Chloe!" Lance realized as his eyes widened. "The resemblance is uncanny!"
"WHAT? Let me see!" Chloe demanded and Felix turned the picture around, sure enough Felix's sister looked like an older version of Chloe with slightly shorter hair, other than that the resemblance was still there. "Holy..."
"I hate your father for what he put you through." Felix addressed Chloe before pocketing the picture and turning to Lance. "Satisfied?"
"Felix...this may sound weird but it a way I sympathize with you." Lance said with a small smile causing the other duellists to do a double take. "You saw my siblings duel earlier right?"
"What about them?" Felix asked and Lance smirked.
"For a while I was all they had, my mother was in rehab, my father had run off to god knows where and we where in social services, whilst our situation has changed for the better I'm still as protective towards them as I was back then." Lance explained before folding his arms.
"I see, you wouldn't know what you'd do if something like that happened to them?" Felix asked and Lance nodded. "Seems we're not so different."
"Only difference is that I'm not an Orichalcos duellist and nothing will change that." Lance pointed out before pointing at his monster. "Solar Flare Dragon, finish it!" The dragon breathed fire at Felix destroying his life-points.
L: 4000
F: 0000
"And that's the end of the first round!" Bill said as the crowd cheered, Felix collapsed to the ground but said nothing as the seal closed in around him, he didn't even scream as the seal took his soul and Lance hopped off the arena. "Stick around folks, we are about to announce the second round." The remaining duellists stopped in their tracks and turned to the screen, this time it showed pictures of the duellists with arrows between them.
"I'm up against Miranda." Chloe said before glancing over at the older female duellist.
"I look forward to it kid." Miranda said with a friendly smile.
"Great, I'm up against Axel." Ray frowned before turning to Axel. "Good luck, I'll be the one to break your streak."
"Your welcome to try." Axel said confidently.
"Looks like we're up against each other Theresa." Brandon said as he turned to his girlfriend, Theresa nodded and smirked.
"May the best duellist win." Theresa said with a smile.
"Good, I'm up against Otto." Kimberly smirked as she glared at his picture. "Don't worry Andreas, I'll get revenge for you." Kimberly thought, meanwhile Lance was freaking out.
"Why do I have to be the one to face the champ?" Lance gulped before looking over at Eddie. "I'd say may the best man win but that's a moot point since I'll win!"
"We'll see about that." Eddie said confidently as the announcers appeared on screen.
"Be sure to join us tomorrow for more exciting duel action!" Bob said before the screen turned off, the crowd and the duellists started to leave not knowing that Kaiba was watching them.
"Good to see that the competition has stepped up this year." Kaiba muttered to himself, before he could continue a medic burst into the room. "This had better be important." Kaiba demanded.
"Sorry sir but we've detected an anomaly with one of the comatose patients." The medic said once he caught his breath. "Namely Karen Trayson."
"What kind of anomaly?" Kaiba said turning around, the medic handed over a report and he looked at it. "She's pregnant?"
"Yes, two months pregnant to be precise." The medic nodded. "There's no way she couldn't have known."
"She intentionally put her unborn baby in harm's way...as if I needed more reasons to detest her." Kaiba frowned before turning to one of the guards. "I want Miranda in my office before her match against Chloe tomorrow."
"But that's the first duel of the day." The guard pointed out.
"I know, wake her up at 6 in the morning if you have too." Kaiba said plainly and the guard nodded, the medic left alongside the guard and Kaiba frowned. "What other secrets are these Orichalcos Duellists hiding from me?" Kaiba thought.