It had been ten minutes since Kimberly's match against Otto and Theresa, Scott and Chloe were waiting in the hospital waiting room alongside Brandon, Marcus, Jeff, and Hamden who had taken the limo to the hospital, Lance was still at the arena since his match was the last match off the day and had asked them to call him if there was any updates on Kimberly, speaking of Kimberly she had been taken to her hospital bed several minutes ago and the nurse had promised to let them know when Kimberly had woken up, Tyler had elected to stay at the arena to help his dad with the tournament.

"Man, this is messed up!" Marcus said as he leaned against his chair, Chloe had calmed down since arriving at the hospital and was sitting next to Marcus. "First Andreas is trapped in the Orichalcos and now Kimberly's severely injured, all because of Otto."

"Don't worry about him; I'll get him in one of the later rounds." Theresa said determinedly but Chloe shook her head.

"No offense Theresa but I'd prefer to be the one who takes him down, or didn't you notice all the insults he hurled my way during the match?" Chloe pointed out with a frown "Not to mention the comments he made about me before his match with Andreas."

"Chloe you've come a long way since joining Duel Academy but even still Otto's way out of your league." Theresa pointed out with a frown. "And before you bring it up, it's obvious that Otto's modified his deck a lot since your duel against him on the boat."

"That's enough you two." Jeff said pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance clearly sensing an upcoming argument. "Yes I know you're angry, yes I understand why you're angry, especially you Chloe, but this is hardly the time to argue over who will get revenge for Andreas and Kimberly."

"If anything we should be thankful that Kimberly's card combos kept her soul out of the Orichalcos." Hamden added and the two girls sighed in resignation. "We don't even know how the next round will play out since there'll be five competitors left." Hamden added, before anyone could say anything else the nurse walked up to them, she was a leggy brunette with shoulder length hair and blue eyes.

"How is she?" Marcus asked almost immediately and the nurse consulted her notes.

"Well Kimberly suffered bruised ribs and third degree burns, both from the electrocution and the rockets exploding near her." The nurse explained before frowning. "Not to mention aggravating the injuries she suffered when she had that duel disk whacked against her head." The nurse said before noticing the worried looks on the student's faces. "Considering the beating she endured it could have been a lot worse, the doctor theorizes that Archfiend Empress absorbing the first blow prevented the injuries from being serious."

"May we see her?" Jeff asked and the nurse nodded before motioning for them to follow her, Hamden however walked in the opposite direction.

"I'm going to call Lance, let him know what happened." Hamden told Jeff before leaving the hospital and getting his cellphone out, whilst he did that the others followed the nurse to the hospital bed where Kimberly was laying.

"Hey guys." Kimberly greeted them weakly wincing as she sat up. "I thought I could bring Otto to justice by forcing him into a corner."

"Yeah, we all saw how well that went." Marcus said shaking his head. "We're just glad you're okay all things considered, well that and the fact that you were able to keep your soul out of the Orichalcos." Marcus added and Kimberly grinned.

"Come on, did you think I was going to let him take me down that easily?" Kimberly asked before frowning and turning to Theresa and Chloe. "I'm sure you two noticed that Otto had disabled the safeties prior to the duel, and before you point out the fact that that's technically slander who else has access to his duel disk? Not to mention the knowhow?"

"Yeah we noticed." Chloe said with a frown. "We almost ended up arguing over who would be the one to take down Otto."

"As long as someone takes that bastard down I don't give a shit." Kimberly said bluntly before turning to Chloe. "And I'm sorry for not doing something to stop the comments he made towards you during the duel." Kimberly added and Chloe sighed.

"Even if you tried I doubt you would've succeeded." Brandon said with a frown. "Otto's always been vocal with his disdain for students who aren't in Obelisk Blue."

"If that doesn't win the award for understatement of the century I don't know what will." Kimberly pointed out, "Look kid, Theresa, if either of you end up being Otto's next opponent then be careful. I doubt he'd be willing to turn the safeties back on for his next match." Kimberly added, soon afterwards Hamden entered the room with his laptop in his hands.

"Lance knows, though to be honest I doubt he'll be able to keep his cool during the match against Eddie." Hamden explained as he sat down next to Marcus. "The match is about to start which is why I brought this in," Hamden added before showing the others the screen once he plugged it in.

*meanwhile at the Kaiba dome*

"Thanks Hamden, send Kimberly my best wishes." Lance said before hanging up, things between the duelists had been tense since Kimberly was taken to the hospital and Lance was deeply regretting the fact that he had to stay behind due to his match. "Kaiba could've delayed the match but NOOOO he has to stick his schedule no matter what…" Lance thought unaware that Eddie was approaching him from behind.

"Do you have any news on Kimberly?" Eddie asked making the younger duelist jump, he turned around and smiled.

"Well the good news is that she's woken up, bad news is that she's got bruised ribs and third degree burns, not to mention a bruised ego I'm sure." Lance responded before sighing. "So we're up next."

"I noticed." Eddie said with a nod. "Take my advice and try not to let what happened to Kimberly affects your performance in the duel, yes it's unfortunate what happened to her at the end of the duel but at the end of the day, short of leaping in front of the rockets, there's little you could've done to prevent it." Eddie advised him and Lance chuckled a bit.

"Eddie, you're talking to the guy whose plan for defeating his opponent in the last round involved taking ten thousand points of damage whilst the Orichalcos was active." Lance said with a sheepish grin. "There's no crazy stunt I won't pull…well except for suicidaly crazy stunts." Lance added and Eddie laughed.

"Yeah, I guess that's a fair point." Eddie said with a grin.

"Will Eddie Roberts and Lance Alvers please step onto the duel arena for the last match of the day please?" Kaiba's voice rang out and the two duelists wasted no time in getting onto the duel arena and activating their duel disks.

"I'll go first!" Lance announced as he drew his card, as he looked over his hand however a sound he heard from the audience surprised him, they were booing him. "What the hell? I didn't do anything to deserve being booed…recently…." Lance wondered out loud before noticing that Eddie was equally confused.

"I believe it's a little something called Guilt by Association." Axel chimed in with a frown. "They don't care if you're in a different dorm to Otto's; all they care about is that you go to the same school as Otto."

"That's the biggest amount of bullshit I've ever seen! Otto's last two opponents where Duel Academy students for fucks sake! Hell the champ's a former Duel Academy student!" Lance protested clearly annoyed by this.

"Yeah but they know me as a champ first, duel academy alumni second." Eddie said with a frown. "Look just let Kaiba handle the PR stuff, you make your move!"

"Yeah, that's a good idea!" Lance agreed as he looked over his hand. "Huh, haven't used this guy in a while…I summon Great Angus in attack mode!" Lance played the card and the blood red tusked beast appeared on the field ready for battle (4/1800/600). "And I'll back him up with two cards facedown that ends my turn." Lance set the two cards and Eddie drew his card.

"Not bad Lance, but let me show you how it's done!" Eddie said before looking at his drawn card. "I summon Vice Dragon in attack mode!" Eddie played the card and an ugly purple dragon appeared on the field (5/2000/2400).

"Wait, what? That thing's a Level 5 monster!" Lance protested but his surprise only grew when he saw the dragon's attack and defense plummet to 1000 and 1200 respectively. "That is unless it has an effect."

"You catch on fast." Eddie complemented him as his dragon roared at Lance. "As long as my opponent has a monster on his side of the field I can special summon Vice Dragon directly from my hand, however Vice Dragon's attack and defense points are cut in half as a side effect."

"So in short, he's something that Great Angus can take down with ease!" Lance said confidently and Eddie shook his head.

"Didn't you hear the Special Summon part? Hell you used a similar strategy in your last duel!" Eddie said as he picked up another card. "I offer Vice Dragon as a tribute to summon Strong Wind Dragon in attack mode!" Vice Dragon disappeared from the field and in its place stood another, much larger green and blue dragon landed on the field, it let out a roar at Great Angus powerful enough to cause strong winds (6/2400/1000).

"Yeash, what did that thing eat?" Lance asked as he waved his hand in front of his nose. "Seriously is there a reason you summoned a monster who's only slightly stronger than Vice Dragon's base…attack….." Lance started but stopped when he saw Strong Wind Dragon's Attack raise to 3400.

"Simple, when Strong Wind Dragon is tribute summoned whilst using a Dragon as a tribute half of that dragon's strength is added to his attack." Eddie explained with a grin. "He has two other effects but I'll get to them a bit later…."

"Before you get any ideas about attacking I activate my Trap Card Backfire!" Lance activated the card and grinned. "Now every time you destroy a fire type monster you'll lose 500 lifepoints, guess what the majority of my deck consists off?"

"Not a problem or haven't you noticed the large difference between our monsters?" Eddie asked before pointing to Strong Wind Dragon. "Strong Wind Dragon, attack Great Angus now!" Eddie commanded and the dragon took flight before flapping its wings, gale force winds blew forward sending Great Angus flying, at the same time Eddie winced as he was burnt by Lance's trap.

L: 6400

E: 7500

Lance quickly sent his monster to the graveyard and Eddie looked over his hand. "I set three cards facedown and end my turn." Eddie set the three cards down and Lance drew his card.

"Okay nothing in my hand can beat that dragon of his but it's not like it can bypass a monster in defense mode right?" Lance thought before picking up a monster. "I set a monster in defense mode and end my turn." Lance set the card down and Eddie drew his card.

"Strong Wind Dragon, attack his defense monster!" Eddie commanded and the dragon took flight again, Lance braced himself again as the gale force winds blew over the field, his facedown monster was revealed to be UFO Turtle (4/1400/1200) which was quickly blown away.

"Heh, the jokes on you because the monster you destroyed was UFO Turtle." Lance said as he picked up his deck. "Now I can search through my deck for a similar fire type monster and summon it to the field, so say hello to Solar Flare Dragon!" Lance played the card and a dragon made of fire appeared on the field (4/1500/1000).

"Sorry Lance but Solar Flare Dragon isn't sticking around." Eddie said as he activated one of his traps. "I activate my trap card Mirror of Oaths, this can only be activated when my opponent summons a monster from their deck as you just did, that monster is destroyed and I get to draw an extra card as an added bonus!" Eddie explained as Solar Flare Dragon was consumed by dark light, Eddie drew his card and grinned. "That wasn't the only effect my attack had." Eddie said once the burn from Backfire's effect wore off. "Just have a look at your lifepoints." Eddie added and Lance blinked before doing so.

L: 4200

E: 6500

"Don't tell that thing has a trampling effect!" Lance winced as it dawned on him, Lance's eyes widened when Eddie nodded to confirm this. "Great, you have a powerful monster on your side of the field and I can't defend myself regardless of my monster's position."

"That's basically it." Eddie agreed before looking over his hand. "That ends my turn." Eddie announced and Lance drew his card.

"Great, he shut down my initial plan of creating a wall of Solar Flare Dragons." Lance thought with a frown before looking at his card. "I rarely use this card due to its side effect but in this case it can only help me, I activate the Spell Card One Day of Peace." Lance played the card and Eddie raised an eyebrow. "This spell card lets us draw a card each; however as a side effect neither of us can suffer damage until the end of your next turn." Lance played the card and Eddie frown.

"I could negate that with my Magic Drain Spell Card but you can never have enough cards, that and the side effect works against Backfire as well." Eddie thought before both duelists drew one card.

"Just what I was hoping for, I activate Lightning Vortex now by discarding one card from my hand I can destroy all face up monsters on your side of the field." Lance discarded another copy of Solar Flare Dragon and lightning prepared to strike Strong Wind Dragon….

"Okay, I'm going to have to intervene here." Eddie said as he activated his trap. "I activate Magic Drain, now unless you can discard another Spell Card from your hand Lightning Vortex's effect is negated." Eddie explained and Lance quickly looked over his hand before sending Lightning Vortex to the graveyard and the lightning disappeared.

"There's one more move I can make though, I summon Barrier Statue of the Inferno in attack mode!" Lance played the card and a small red statue appeared on the field (4/1000/1000). "Sure he may look weak but his effect is anything but weak, as long as he's on the field nothing but fire type monsters can be special summoned."

"Well, so much for my plans for a Synchrony Summon next turn." Eddie thought as he glanced towards his copy of Delta Flyer (3/1500/800) and another copy of Vice Dragon.

"I think I'll call it a turn at that." Lance announced as he ignored the booing crowd to the best of his ability and Eddie drew his card.

"I activate Cards of Consonance, by sending a Dragon type tuner with 1000 or less attack points from my hand to the graveyard this will let me draw two cards." Eddie explained before he discarded a card and drew two cards. "I may not be able to deal any damage this time but I can still get rid of that card, Strong wing Dragon I command you to attack Barrier Statue of the Inferno!" The dragon took flight before unleashing gale force winds at the statue causing it to crumble to pieces, Lance's lifepoints weren't affected due to One Day of Peace's effect so he simply sent the monster to the grave. "That ends my turn!" Eddie announced and Lance drew his card.

"Not another copy of One Day of Peace but this will buy me some time." Lance thought before activating the card. "I activate Swords of Revealing Light!" Lance played the card and Eddie shielded himself as the three golden swords rained down from the sky pinning down Strong Wind Dragon. "I'm sure I don't need to tell the Battle City Champion this but Swords of Revealing Light will buy me three more turns, in the meantime I set a monster in defense mode and end my turn." Lance set the monster and Eddie drew his card.

"I'll use this once the swords wear off, or I destroy them." Eddie thought before adding the card to his hand. "I pass for now." Eddie announced as the first of the swords disappeared, and once that happened Lance drew his card.

"This is more like it; I offer my facedown monster as a tribute to summon Thestalos, The Firestorm Monarch in attack mode!" Lance swapped out the cards and the facedown monster vanished, in its place stood Thestalos who was ready for battle (6/2400/1000) and Eddie winced as his lifepoints where hit by Backfire's effect. "Off course attacking Strong Wind Dragon with Thestalos would be suicide so instead I activate Thestalos's effect, basically I chose a card in your hand at random and it goes to the graveyard, better yet if it's a monster than the equivalent of that monster's level times a hundred gets taken out of your life-points."

"Okay, that sounds simple enough." Eddie shrugged before holding out his hand, Lance thought for a minute before pointing at the card on the far right and Thestalos threw a fireball at it burning Eddie. "I'm guessing I chose well?"

"Yeah, it was another copy of Vice Dragon." Eddie informed him as his sent the monster to the graveyard.

L: 4200

E: 5000

"I'll call it a turn at that." Lance announced and Eddie drew his card.

"Sorry to be the bearer of bad news Lance but the card I just drew his going to destroy your swords." Eddie announced before playing the card. "I summon Breaker the Magic Warrior in attack mode!" Eddie played the card and the sword wielding magician appeared on the field (4/1600/1000) and Breaker's attack increased to 1900 due to its effect. "Now I activate his effect which lets me….."

"Two things Eddie, Number 1 I've seen Chloe use that card more than enough times to know it's effect like the back of my hand." Lance said as he activated his long forgotten about trap. "Second I activate my trap card Divine Wrath, all I need to do is discard one card from my hand but in exchange I can negate the effect off and destroy Breaker!" Eddie's eyes widened as he watched his monster being consumed by a divine light as he leapt towards the Sword's hologram destroying it. "I'm afraid you'll have to wait a bit longer before attacking."

"Well played." Eddie complemented him as both duelists sent their respective cards to the graveyard. "Well not much I can do otherwise so it's your move." Eddie announced as the second sword disappeared and Lance drew his card.

"Ah good, I was hoping I'd draw this card!" Lance said before summoning the card. "I summon Royal Firestorm Guard in attack mode!" Lance played the card and a strange red demon appeared on the field (4/1700/1200). "This card has a pretty useful effect for Fire decks like mine, when he's normal summoned I can select four pyro type monsters in my graveyard and return them to my deck, once I shuffle it I can draw two cards." Lance explained as he selected the four cards, returned them to his deck and drew two cards after shuffling the deck.

"If you think that card can help you then by all means activate its effect." Eddie said before frowning. "All though, if he draws another Lightning Vortex I'll be in trouble." Eddie thought as Lance looked over his two new cards.

"I set the two cards I just drew facedown and call it a turn." Lance set the two cards down and Eddie drew his card.

"Well, I guess now's as good a time as any to activate this card." Eddie thought before activating a card. "I activate Mind Trust, all I need to do is sacrifice one Level 2 or higher monster on my side of the field and in exchange I can return a tuner monster whose level is lower or equal to that monster's level from my graveyard to my hand."

"Wait what? You're offering Strong Wind Dragon?" Lance asked confused as Eddie played the card, Strong Wind Dragon vanished from the field, once that happened he took the monster his discarded for Cards of Consonance from his graveyard and added it to his hand.

"Don't get me wrong, Strong Wind Dragon packs a punch but I have better monsters in my extra deck." Eddie said simply before sending Mind Trust and Strong Wind Dragon to the graveyard and retrieving the tuner monster he sent to the graveyard for Cards of Consonance. "It's not like I only have one copy of Strong Wind anyway." Eddie thought before looking at the rest of his hand. "Next I discard one card from my hand in order to special summon The Tricky in attack mode!" Eddied discarded another copy of Mind Trust and played the card, in the place of Strong Wind Dragon stood a man in a grey bodysuit with large red question marks on his face and chest who was wearing a purple cloak (5/2000/1200).

"Talk about a serious downgrade." Lance said as he folded his arms. "My monarch could beat that thing easily." Lance said with a grin. "Off course you could be using it for a Synchro Summon in which case I would be…oh crap."

"You got it, but before I do anything else I activate my trap card DNA Surgery!" Eddie flipped his trap up and the three monsters on the field started glowing. "I'm sure you know how this works, all I need to do is declare one monster type and every monster on the field becomes that type and in this case the type I'm declaring is Dragon!" The three monsters stopped glowing only to have taken on dragon versions of them, the Trick's head question mark was now on the end of its snout but besides those two changes the monster didn't change much. "As for why I did that, simple the monster I'm about to Synchro Summon requires the non-tuner monster to be a dragon type."

"I'm in trouble aren't I?" Lance asked as a massive sweat-drop rolled down his forehead.

"You could say that, for my normal summon I summon the Tuner Monster Dragunity Phalanx!" Eddie played the card and a small black dragon appeared on the field (2/500/1100). "Now I tune Phalanx with The Tricky to Synchro Summon Exploder Dragonwing in attack mode!" Eddie played the card and the two monsters vanished, in The Tricky's place stood the mighty dragon from Eddie's last duel (7/2400/1600).

"Thanks for that, I activate Tuner Capture!" Lance activated his trap and grinned. "I saw you use Synchros in your last match so I figured this would be a good card to have, basically with this trap I can special summon a Tuner Monster that was used in Exploder Dragonwing's summon!" Lance explained and Eddie tossed him Phalanx, Lance wasted no time in summoning it and the monster appeared on the field.

"Nice move, obviously I can't attack for another turn for I call it a turn at that." Eddie announced and as the final sword disappeared Lance drew his card.

"All right it's time I made my comeback, I tune Phalanx with Royal Firestorm Guard to Synchro Summon the mighty Flamvell Uruquizes!" Lance played the card and the two monsters vanished, once Lance tossed Phalanx back at Eddie who winced as his lifepoints dropped to 4500 due to Backfire's effect monster appeared in Royal Firestorm Guard's place, it was a man in black armor with long blue hair in a ponytail who had flaming fists (6/2100/600) but once it was on the field it morphed into what could only be described as a dragon version of the monster.

"You put all that effort for a monster that can't hope to stand up to Dragonwing? Using Tuner Capture to set up a Synchro Summon was clever but if that's all you've got then this will be an easier match than I thought." Eddie said dismissively once he saw the monsters stats, Lance just grinned as he held up the card he had drawn.

"Aren't you curious about the card I just drew?" Lance asked and Eddie raised an eyebrow, Lance turned it around revealing it to be Block Attack and Eddie's eyes widened when he saw it. "This card is an oldie but a goodie, why? Well it's because of the fact that with it I can force a monster on your side of the field into defense mode!" Lance played the card and as much as Exploder Dragonwing struggled it eventually crouched down. "Best part is? When Uruquizas attacks a monster in defense mode the difference between his attack points and his victim's defense points comes out of your life-points." Lance added before pointing to his monster. "Uruquizas, attack Exploder Dragonwing now!" Lance commanded and the dragon breathed fire at Dragonwing…only for the fire to be beaten back by a beat from Exploder Dragonwing's wings that sent the monster flying out of the arena. "What the hell?"

"Heh, sorry but I never did get around to explaining Dragonwing's effect during my last duel, basically if it does battle with a monster who's attack points are equal to or lower than his that monster's immediately destroyed and his attack comes out of your lifepoints!" Lance's eyes widened as he heard that before he looked down at his life-points, as he did Eddie winced as he was burnt by Backfire's effect again.

L: 2100

E: 4000

"Best part is? You can't attack with Thestalos because that would be suicide on your part!" Eddie added with a grin as Lance sent his monster to the graveyard.

"Well I always wanted to go out with a bang." Lance said causing Eddie to look at him funny. "You know what else? I'll be using Uruquizas to do it!"

"Your making no sense, you know that right?" Eddie pointed out clearly confused by his declaration; Lance said nothing and quickly activated his remaining trap. "Descending Lost Star?"

"That's right, and a Synchro monster user like you should know what it does like the back of your hand." Lance said as he folded his arms.

"Yeah, it lets you Special Summon a Synchro Monster from your graveyard in defense mode but in return its effect is negated, its level is reduced to 1 and his defense points become zero!" Eddie said as Lance retrieved the card from his graveyard and played it, Uruquizas quickly returned to its previous position crouching alongside Thestalos and like Eddie said his stats where reduced significantly, Lance picked up another card and set it

"I set a card facedown and end my turn." Lance announced and Eddie drew his card, he looked at it briefly before adding it to his hand and switching Exploder Dragonwing to attack mode.

"Well Lance, it's been fun but your time in the tournament has come to a close, Exploder Dragonwing I command you to end this duel by attacking Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch!" Eddie commanded and the dragon prepared its attack.

"Did you really think I'd go out that easily? I activate my trap card Barrier Wave!" Lance activated the trap and Uruquizas disappeared from the field and a wave of light washed over Eddie's side of the field forcing Dragonwing to crouch down again and Eddie winced as he was burnt by Backfire. "In order to activate this trap card I had to tribute a Synchro monster first so that's why I brought back Uruquizas, it has two effects number 1 it forces all your monsters, or in this case one monster, into defense mode and number 2 the defense points of that monster comes out of your lifepoints!"

"WAIT WHAT?" Eddie yelled out as it dawned on him, the wave of light came back this time striking Eddie in the chest.

L: 2100

E: 1900

"Hmmm, maybe I should play it safe." Eddie thought before picking up his newly drawn card and setting it down. "I set a card facedown and end my turn." Eddie announced and Lance drew his card, when he saw it he couldn't help but grin.

"Magic Cylinder, with this I can reflect his inevitable attack from Dragonwing and win the duel!" Lance thought with a grin before setting the card. "I set a card facedown and end my turn." Lance announced and Eddie drew his card.

"Let's try this again!" Eddie said as he switched Exploder Dragonwing to attack mode, the dragon stood up and let out a mighty roar. "Exploder Dragonwing, finish this duel once and for all!" Eddie commanded and Dragonwing took a deep breath.

"Your right, Dragonwing is going to end the duel but not in the way you hoped, I activate my trap card Magic Cylinder!" Lance activated the card and the fire from Dragonwing's attack went into one of the jars that appeared.

"I don't believe it Bob; we may be seeing the end of an era!" Bill yelled as he watched the duel.

"Nice try but I had a feeling you'd try something like that!" Eddie said as he chained it with his own trap card. "I activate Trap Jammer, this can only be activated when my opponent activates a Trap Card during the battle phase and once that happens it negates and destroys the trap card!" Lance's eyes widened as the two cylinders vanished and the fire proceeded towards Thestalos, the Monarch/Dragon tried to respond with an attack of its own but was too slow and was quickly destroyed.

L: 0000

E: 1900

"LANCE LOST?" Mike yelled from the sidelines, he paid no attention to Sophie rubbing her ear in pain. "But…..but he's the best duelist ever! He's unbeatable he's….."

"He's a great duelist who met his match tonight." Lance's stepdad cut him off and Mike turned to him. "Don't worry about your brother Michael, his performance in the tournament will reflect on him well at Duel Academy and that's all that matters." He added and Mike sighed before sitting down, back on the duel podium Lance was gathering up his cards and returning them to his extra deck, or in the case of Uruquizes to the Extra Deck, when Eddie approached him.

"You gave me a hell of a fight there." Eddie complemented him and Lance looked up. "Keep it up and you may just beat me someday."

"Yeah, maybe I will someday." Lance muttered clearly disappointed by his loss, once he finished returning his cards to his deck he looked up and too his surprise saw Eddie offering him a handshake, Lance hesitated at first before accepting the handshake.

"What a show of sportsmanship between two great duelists after such a close match!" Bill said ignoring the fact that the crowd's booing was getting louder. "Regardless Eddie joins Chloe Richardson, Axel Loather, Otto Freshier and Theresa Daniels in the third round!" Bill added before the screen switched off, Eddie hopped off the duel arena first followed by Lance and Kaiba came out of his office.

"I'm sure many of you are wondering how the third round will be done as there isn't enough duelists for five matches." Kaiba started and all eyes turned to him. "The answer to that is simple, for starters the duel will be held at another, much larger location at the other end of the city, as for the duel it's self it will be a five person elimination battle royal, you are eliminated from this battle royal if your life-points hit zero, you run out of cards or you choose to surrender the duel but just because you lose this duel doesn't mean you're out of the tournament, quite the contrary as the order of elimination will decide the fourth round matches and the last duelist standing will go straight to the final round." Kaiba announced and the announcement caused some excited whisperings between the audience members who weren't boing Lance, as small an amount as it was. "The location of the duel, and by extension the rest of the tournament, will be announced on the news and e-mailed to the duelists who have advanced this far, to the rest of you, better luck next time." Kaiba said before turning around…..but stopped when he saw Eddie there.

"Tyler let me into your office." Eddie said sensing his impending question. "With your permission I would like to address the crowd."

"If you insist, by all means but in the meantime I'll have a word with Tyler about letting people into my office without my permission." Kaiba said before handing Eddie the mic and walking past him, the crowd cheered upon seeing the champ.

"Are you enjoying the Semi-Finals so far?" Eddie asked and the crowd cheered in response, he frowned before putting the mic to his lips. "Are you really? Then why are you boing Lance Alvers? Is it because he's a Duel Academy student like Otto Freshier?" Eddie asked and the crowd fell silent. "Just as I thought, he almost beat me in that duel, in fact if I hadn't drawn Trap Jammer then I would no longer be the champ and yet you boo him because he goes to the same school as Otto? Then you may as well boo me as well because I am a former Duel Academy student!" Eddie said before pausing, the audience seemed to be regretting their decision to boo Lance at this point and Eddie smiled. "Thanks for your time." Eddie said before heading into the office.

"Did…..did he just defend me?" Lance thought as he looked around the crowd. "Not only that but it worked!" Lance thought as Eddie approached him. "Hey, thanks for that." Lance said as he turned to him. "Not every day that someone does something so nice for me."

"Don't sweat it, so what's your plan now?" Eddie asked and Lance scratched his chin.

"I'm going down to the hospital so I can see how Kimberly's doing." Lance said after a few moments and Eddie nodded in understanding.

"Want me to drive you there?" Eddie asked and Lance nodded without hesitation, Eddie motioned for him to follow him and Lance did so.

*meanwhile at the hospital*

"Looks like your dorms the first to be eliminated Jeff." Hamden commented as he closed the laptop lid. "And you were going on and on about how me and Maria's dorm would be the first to be eliminated." He added and Jeff smirked.

"That was only because Chloe's the only Osiris Red student among the students competing." Jeff said before turning to Chloe and Theresa, Chloe was clearly worried about having to face four far more experienced duelists than her at the same time. "Are you girls going to be okay in this match?"

"I will be, Chloe I'm not so sure about." Theresa said as she folded her arms. "And then there's Otto, what if he decides to activate the Seal during the match?"

"Otto's not that stupid." Brandon pointed out with a frown. "If he activates the Seal then the other duelists will gang up on him leading to him being trapped in the Orichalcos."

"Not that it matters, I know who I'll be targeting anyway." Chloe spoke up and the other duelists turned their attention to her, it didn't take them long to figure out who she was talking about. "Don't try to change my mind Theresa, I want to be the one who takes out Otto and nothing you can say will change my mind."

"Trust me, when my daughter sets her mind on something nothing will stop her from doing it." Scott chimed in with a smile however he frowned as he got ready to say the next part. "Be careful Chloe, we both know how dangerous Otto is."

"I will, thanks dad." Chloe said with a nod before standing up. "I'm heading out for some fresh air." Chloe told the others before making her way out of the hospital; she glanced around once she was outside and leaned against the wall.

"If I'm going to beat Otto then my deck will need to be at its best." Chloe thought before getting her deck out of her duel disk. "Didn't Theresa mention that her first duel was outside a card shop? Maybe she can show me where it is."

"Chloe Richardson? Holy crap it's been a while!" Chloe's train of thought was interrupted by a male voice and she looked up, the source of the voice was a man in his early twenties, maybe late teens, with scruffy dirty blonde hair and blue eyes who was wearing a brown t-shirt, blue jeans and black boots, Chloe blinked before returning her deck to her duel disk.

"Sorry but do I know you?" Chloe asked and the youth face-faulted.

"Heh, guess it has been a while." The youth said as he got to his feet. "Jared Malloy, we used to live in the same orphanage way back when?" Jared asked trying to jog her memory, Chloe blinked before it came back to her.

"Ah yeah, I remember now." Chloe said with a small smile. "Weren't you the kid whose parents were serving life sentences?"

"Yeah that's me, good to see your doing well for yourself." Jared said with a friendly smile. "I was adopted shortly after you where, ironically by the sister of my parent's victims."

"Really? Did they take pity on you or something?" Chloe asked and Jared shrugged his shoulders.

"Wouldn't know, but it's good to see that one duelist from the orphanage is doing well in the tournament." Jared said as he held up his own duel disk. "I lost my first match, thought I could beat the undefeated."

"You mean Axel, right?" Chloe asked and Jared nodded. "You think that's bad? I have to face him as part of that Battle Royal tomorrow."

"Yeah but at least you won't be out of the tournament if you lose." Jared pointed out, the two former orphans heard the automatic doors that lead to the inside of the hospital open but didn't pay any attention thinking that it was a hospital employee going for a smoke or something. "So have you visited the orphanage since coming back to New York?" Jared asked and Chloe shook her head.

"No, I haven't really." Chloe sighed as she looked off to the side. "I haven't had the time what with the tournament and all; I do hope to visit it once the tournament's over though." Chloe added before turning to Jared. "How's the old place holding up?"

"Great, the place had been completely renovated from what I remember off it." Jared said with a small smile. "According to Mrs. Whitaker they had received a large donation a few months ago from a generous CEO and the money went towards improving the building, I think his name was Roman Thomas."

"Thomas? Isn't that Brandon's surname?" Chloe thought before noticing a familiar face behind Jared. "Oh hi Theresa, what's up?" Jared turned around and saw Theresa there.

"Just wondering what was taking you so long." Theresa shrugged before turning her attention to Jared. "Is he a friend of yours?"

"Yeah, we know each other from the orphanage." Chloe explained and Jared grinned before turning to Theresa.

"Name's Jared Malloy, Theresa was it?" Jared introduced himself and Theresa nodded. "I saw your Semi-Finals duels; you're a lot prettier in person." Jared complemented her.

"You know else I am? I'm the girlfriend of my last opponent." Theresa said as a massive sweat-drop rolled down her head and Jared put his hands up defensively.

"Hey relax, I was just complementing you." Jared said laughing nervously as he did however as he held his hands up he noticed the time on his watch. "I gotta go, my parents are waiting for me." Jared said before leaving the two girl's company, Theresa stepped aside to let him past. "Good luck in the rest of the tournament." Jared called after them as he disappeared around a corner.

"Surprised you remember someone from the orphanage." Theresa commented and Chloe shrugged her shoulders in response.

"Eh, I didn't recognize him at first but I did after he mentioned his name." Chloe said honestly before sighing. "Truth is though that I'm nervous about tomorrow's match."

"So am I believe it or not." Theresa admitted and Chloe looked at the older duelist strangely. "Not about my opponents mind you, I like a good challenge after all, but more to do with whom I might face in the fourth round."

"Yeah, Axel's definitely earned his title as Germany's National Champion and Eddie…..well I'm pretty sure I don't have to explain myself there." Chloe agreed before looking at her deck. "Theresa, didn't you mention that your first duel was outside a Card Shop?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?" Theresa asked and Chloe grinned sheepishly.

"Could you show me where it is when you have time? I want to update my deck for the following rounds." Chloe asked and Theresa nodded.

"Sure, I was thinking of doing the same thing for one of my decks anyway." Theresa admitted before motioning for her to follow her inside. "Come on, it is getting pretty cold out." Theresa said and Chloe followed her in, unbeknownst to them Jarred was watching the conversation from the corner he had disappeared behind.

"Man, he's going to be pissed when he finds out I screwed up." Jarred thought before turning around…..and nearly jumping out of his skin when he saw Otto there. "Where the hell did you come from?"

"Never mind that, do you have it?" Otto asked and Jarred shook his head.

"No, Theresa joined in the conversation before I could ask her if I could look over her deck." Jarred admitted and Otto growled before storming off. "Hey where's my payment man?" Otto stopped in his tracks and turned around.

"I offered to give you a rare card in exchange for getting me Richardson's deck, you failed in that task and you should be lucky that I'm letting you live!" Otto spat at him before storming off. "Looks like I'll have to resort to drastic measures to get my hands on that Osiris Red Bitch's deck, oh well as the old saying goes if you want something done right do it yourself." Otto thought before walking off.