"Oh come on!" Chloe moaned as the pool ball failed to connect with another ball for what felt like the hundredth time, following Lance's victory over Phillip an hour ago the students, not to mention the teachers and the student's parents minus Brandon's father, where chilling out at a local bar getting some well-deserved rest, all except Chloe that is who was trying, and failing, to learn how to play pool from Alex, nearly all his balls where pocketed whilst Chloe had yet to hit a single ball much to her annoyance.
"Well kid, your showing a little improvement." Alex said as he patted Chloe on the back reassuringly. "That time the ball nearly hit the other one!"
"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Chloe sighed as she chalked up her pool cue; the game was so one-sided that some of the patrons were rooting for Chloe out of sympathy. "But If I do end up losing this game I'm sticking to Duel Monsters."
"I think that would be a good idea." Lance agreed as he took a sip of his drink, he was sitting opposite Jeff and Hamden who were enjoying their drinks as well, whilst trying to be supportive of Chloe; Chloe gave Lance a mock death glare before turning her attention back to Alex as he went to take his turn. "Jeff, are you sure we have to go back tomorrow? I've gotten so used to New York already."
"Sorry Lance but we only booked the hotel rooms for a week." Jeff shrugged his shoulders as they watched Chloe and Alex play pool just as Alex missed a ball for the first time in the game, much to Chloe's joy.
"You'll stick to dueling huh? How's this for a deal then, if you can pocket at least one ball on your next turn, any ball on the pool table, we'll duel outside." Alex offered and Chloe grinned broadly at that suggestion.
"Now you're speaking my language." Chloe commented glad that she had brought her duel disk with her, something she planned to make a habit out of following Otto's break-in during the Semi-Finals, she leaned forward aiming for the ball closest to a pocket from her position, and she hit the white ball which knocked the other ball into the pocket. "YES! Finally, now I'm on the right track!" Chloe grinned…but her grin disappeared when she saw Alex facepalm. "What?"
"Kid, the ball you just pocketed is the Eight Ball, when you pocket all your other balls you pocket that for the win." Alex explained and Chloe looked at him with a look of confusion on her face. "But if you do that before hand, it's basically the same as surrendering in duel monsters." Alex explained and it took two seconds for Chloe to react, one for it to sink in and the other for her to face-fault.
"The…..one…ball…I…manage …hit and it costs me the game?" Chloe groaned in frustration as she got to her feet. "Forget it; I'm ready to duel when you are."
"Right, let me just get my deck." Alex said as he walked towards the table where he was sitting and was keeping his duel disk, whilst that was going on Andreas and Marcus approached the pool table in order to set up a game between the two of them, whilst Alex's back was turned Chloe gulped.
"Theresa barely beat him in her Semi-Final Duel against him, how am I supposed to win this?" Chloe thought before looking down at her deck. "Here's hoping Silent Magician can stop…whatever it is that she's doing and assist me." Chloe thought before looking up in time to see Alex strapping on his duel disk.
"If you guys are going to duel take it outside." The Bartender told them as he cleaned a glass. "After everything that's happened in the Battle City tournament I'd rather not take chances." He added and Chloe was about the correct him by saying that the Orichalcos was defeated but thought better off it.
"I guess we did forget to take into account how the Orichalcos duels looked to someone who wasn't aware of their existence." Chloe thought before following Alex outside. "To him it must've looked like duelists passing out after an intense duel." Chloe thought as she waited for Alex to take up his position down the street, with traffic having returned to normal following the tournament they couldn't do duels across the street like they did during the tournament out of risk of causing a major traffic accident. "So who's going first?" Chloe asked as they activated their duel disks and drew their opening hands.
"I am." Alex said as he drew his card. "She's only seen a handful of my Ally of Justice monsters, if she's thinks that she's seen the worse of them than she's dead wrong." Alex thought before looking at the card that he had drawn, by this time a rather large crowd had gathered obviously attracted by the prospect of a match between two Battle City Semi-Finalists who never got a chance to fight in the tournament. "I start things off by summoning Mechanicalchaser to the field in attack mode!" Alex played the card and the spherical multi-limbed machine appeared on the field (4/1850/800). "And I end my turn by setting two cards facedown, your move." Alex announced and Chloe drew her card. "I activate my Trap Card DNA Transplant!"
"DNA Transplant, what does that do?" Chloe asked and Alex grinned.
"In a way it works like DNA Surgery but whilst that card changes the types of all monsters on the field as long as it's on the field this card changes the attributes of monsters instead." Alex explained and Chloe raised an eyebrow. "And before you ask my attribute of choice is Light."
"That sounds pretty situational." Chloe commented before adding her newly drawn card to her hand, she looked over her hand and frowned, it wasn't as bad as her initial hand in her first Semi-Final duel but it wasn't exactly her strongest hand to date. "Great, I only have one monster that can beat his machine and that's Silent Magician Level 8 so I'd better play it safe." Chloe thought before picking up three of her cards. "I set two cards facedown and a monster in defense that ends my turn." Chloe announced and Alex drew his card.
"Fine by me, I start by activating Pot of Greed which allows me to….." Alex played the card but to his surprise the life-point counter flashed red for a second before showing the "No-Entry" sign, any duelist worth their sault knew that that meant that an illegal card had been played. "What the…I thought the traditional rule set was still in play."
"Yes, for the duration of the tournament." Tyler said as he pushed through the crowd. "After the finals ended the Advanced Rules where put back in place."
"And you're just telling us that now?" Chloe asked clearly annoyed by this.
"I suggested to my step-father that he'd send an e-mail to all competing duelists explaining that, he decided against it because he figured that the duelists would be able to figure it out themselves." Tyler said shaking his head.
"So what do we do now?" Alex asked as he looked at his now useless Spell Card.
"Well since the violation was caused by a misunderstanding I'll see if I can get my father to have the technicians let it slide." Tyler said with a shrug. "Beyond that I have no clue, for now send the Spell to the graveyard and continue as normal."
"All right, just make sure your old man sends that e-mail okay?" Alex asked and Tyler nodded.
"Err, Tyler there's one other thing." Chloe said as she turned to him. "Were the cops able to find anything on the boat?" Chloe asked and Tyler shook his head.
"Too early to tell but they can't find a trace of Phillip." Tyler said as he shook his head. "They can't even find his fingerprints on any of his cards or that duel field."
"That's weird." Chloe commented and Alex nodded in agreement. "What about Phillip's thugs, the ones whose souls weren't destroyed I mean?"
"They are in police custody, and in a few months they'll be put on trial for the crimes they committed, needless to say their careers as professional duelists are over." Tyler told her and she smiled at that. "You'll be pleased to know that Otto won't return to Duel Academy."
"You got that right." Chloe agreed with a nod before pausing. "You'll keep me and the others posted about Phillip right?"
"Yes, I'll be returning to Duel Academy tomorrow so it'll be easy for me to inform you." Tyler told her as he took a seat on a nearby bench, Alex took it as a signal to continue and he looked over his hand, he waited for the warning sign on the life-point counter to vanish before pointing to his machine.
"Mechanicalchaser, attack her defense!" Alex commanded and the machine charged towards Chloe's defense monster, revealed to be Apprentice Magician (2/400/800) which was quickly destroyed. "Let me guess, your using her effect?"
"You got that right." Chloe confirmed before picking up her deck, searching through it and setting the monster she was looking for facedown on the field. "And with Rose, Warrior of Revenge in my hand I can use my set Apprentice Magician with her to Synchro Summon Explosive Magician." Chloe thought before shuffling her deck.
"I know what you're up too." Alex said catching Chloe by surprise. "I saw your last Battle City match kid; your plan is to follow that up by summoning that Level 4 Tuner isn't it?"
"So what if I am." Chloe said as she quickly tried to hide her surprise. "There's nothing you can do to stop me."
"That's where you're wrong; I enter my second main phase and summon Ally of Justice Quarantine!" Alex played the card and a small, blue bug like machine appeared on the field (4/1700/1200). "He may not look like much but his effect is deadly, as long as he's on the field you can't Special Summon Light Type Monsters!" Chloe's eyes widened as her eyes immediately fell upon Silent Magician Level 8.
"Silent Magician's a Light-Type monster; as long as that thing's on the field she's useless!" Chloe realized with a gulp. "I'd better hope I draw something like Gearfried or Gemini Elf soon." Chloe thought before looking up at Alex.
"I'll end my turn at that." Alex announced and Chloe drew her card.
"Worse yet, my initial plan to Synchro Summon Explosive Magician is out the window, which means I can't….." Chloe thought before looking at her facedown cards and her drawn card. "Wait a sec, yeah this could work!" Chloe thought as a massive grin crept onto her face.
"What is she planning?" Tyler wondered with a raised eyebrow.
"You were right about my plan a few moments ago." Chloe confirmed and Alex grinned as he heard that. "But there are still other moves I can make; first I summon Rose, Warrior of Revenge in attack mode!" Chloe played the card and the red haired female warrior appeared on the field (4/1600/600). "And I flip summon the Apprentice Magician I set last turn!" Chloe flipped the card over and the blonde magician appeared on the field.
"What the…she's repeating her move from her match with Theresa move for move!" Alex realized as he started to sweat. "I guess she's figured out that DNA Transplant's effect only applies to cards on the field!"
"Now I tune my two monsters together….." Chloe started as the two female monsters leapt into the air, Rose Warrior of Revenge dissolved into four glowing rings that quickly surrounded Apprentice Magician. "So that I can Synchro Summon this monster, Gaia Knight the Force of Earth!" Chloe played the card and the mechanical knight appeared on the field ready for battle (6/2600/800).
"Still relying on the old tactics I see Chloe." Theresa commented as she and Brandon stepped out of the bar, Chloe realized that they were there to watch the duel and grinned.
"Just watch Theresa!" Chloe said confidently before pointing to Quarantine. "Gaia Knight, attack Ally of Justice Quarantine!" Chloe commanded and the knight charged towards the much smaller machine and impaled its electronics.
A: 7100
C: 8000
"Now I enter my second main phase and activate De-Synchro, this Spell Card works like De-Fusion but instead of splitting up a Fusion Monster into its Fusion Material Monsters it splits a Synchro monster into the monsters used in its Synchro Summon!" Chloe played the card and Gaia Knight vanished from the field and in its place stood Rose Warrior of Revenge, Apprentice Magician appeared next to her and Chloe examined her hand. "That's it for me." Chloe announced and Alex drew his card.
"Huh? Why didn't she use her monsters to synchro summon another monster?" Brandon wondered as he scratched his head in confusion. "Sure she wouldn't have been able to attack but she would've had the strongest monster on the field."
"Maybe that's her plan." Theresa offered as an explanation but she was clearly as confused as her boyfriend. "Whatever her plan is I'm willing to bet that one of her traps has something to do with it." Theresa thought as Alex added his newly drawn card to his hand.
"I could attack Apprentice Magician but that would leave her with an opportunity to Synchro Summon Colossal Fighter on her next turn if she draws another Level 4 Monster, too risky, that Tuner's gotta go!" Alex thought before pointing to Rose Warrior. "Mechanicalchaser, attack Rose Warrior of Revenge!" Alex commanded and the machine charged towards the slightly weaker warrior….
"I activate my Trap Card Urgent Tuning, which allows me to do a Synchro Summon during your Battle Phase!" Chloe interrupted as her two monsters prepared to leap into the air again…
"Heh, I was hoping you'd do that!" Alex said as his remaining trap card flipped up, Chloe's eyes widened when she saw it as she recognized the card from Alex's duel with Theresa.
"Oh crap, not Psychic Shockwave!" Chloe gulped as the trap card revealed itself.
"That's right kid, all I need to do to activate its effect is send one Spell or Trap Card from my hand to my graveyard and in return I can Special Summon one Level 6 Dark-Type Machine monster from my deck." Alex said as he picked up his deck once he discarded the card he had drawn to his grave and searched through it. "Off course, you saw my duel against my classmate so you know what I'm going to summon with this card's effect!"
"Jinzo…." Chloe gulped as Alex played the card and the massive machine monster appeared on the field (6/2400/1500), Chloe shielded herself as Urgent Tuning and her facedown card's holograms where destroyed by Jinzo's laser beams. "I could've gone a life-time without facing that thing again and I would've been happy."
"Why? You had a bad experience facing this guy before?" Alex asked and Chloe nodded.
"Yeah, that thing almost cost me my spot at Duel Academy." Chloe remembered as she glared at the massive machine. "At least DNA Transplant's effect is also negated." Chloe thought as she braced herself for the Machine's upcoming assault, Alex pointed to his two monsters with a grin.
"Jinzo, attack Apprentice Magician, Mechanicalchaser, attack Rose Warrior of Revenge!" Alex commanded and the two machines launched their attacks, Jinzo disintegrated Apprentice Magician with his energy ball and Mechanicalchaser impaled Rose Warrior with his spear.
A: 7100
C: 5750
Chloe reluctantly sent her monsters to the graveyard before picking up her deck in order to use Apprentice Magician's effect again. "Okay, when Theresa faced Alex in the Semi-Finals she defeated that thing's stronger form using an effect monster; if all goes to plan I should be able to pull off a similar move with Old Vindictive Magician." Chloe thought before she picked up the card she was looking for and set it down on the field.
"I end my turn at that." Alex announced and Chloe drew her card. "Come on kid, I know you can put up a better fight than this."
"Okay, my first plan went straight out the window as soon as that thing was summoned." Chloe thought as she looked up at the machine which easily towered over her, an easy task to do since she was the shortest student on the trip but still. "That doesn't mean I don't have other tricks up my sleeve though, and the Spell Card I just drew may just help me add them to my hand." Chloe thought before playing the Spell Card. "I activate a Spell Card called Trade In."
"I know what that does, in exchange for discarding a Level 8 monster that will let you draw two cards." Alex interrupted her and Chloe said nothing as she discarded her Silent Magician and drew twice.
"Transmigration Prophecy, this card could help me return Silent Magician to my deck." Chloe thought before looking up at Jinzo. "Just one problem, it's a trap and as soon as I set it Jinzo will render it useless!"
"Are you going to make a move or what?" An impatient passerby called out to her and Chloe gulped…..before her eyes rested on the other card she drew.
"As a matter of fact I am." Chloe said as she added one card to her hand and picked up two. "I set one card facedown and a monster in defense, that's all for me!" Chloe announced and Alex drew his card, she waited for the Standby Phase to pass before discarding the other card she had drawn. "I'm activating Effect Veiler's effect."
"Say what?" Alex said clearly caught by surprise.
"Effect Veiler has her uses beyond being a Tuner Monster, you see by discarding her from my hand during my opponent's main phase I can target one effect monster my opponent controls and negate its effect for the rest of the turn." Chloe explained before grinning broadly. "And there's only one effect monster on your side of the field….."
"You're targeting my Jinzo!" Alex realized as his machine let out a mechanical groan. "Fine, but I don't understand the point of that."
"The point was this; since Jinzo can no longer negate traps I'm free to activate Transmigration Prophecy!" Chloe activated her trap and Alex blinked. "With it I can shuffle two cards in my graveyard back into my deck so….." Chloe retrieved her copies of Silent Magician Level 8 and Rose Warrior of Revenge, returned them to her deck and shuffled it.
"Okay, I admit, that was a clever move." Alex admitted before grinning. "But Effect Veiler doesn't prevent Jinzo from attacking, Jinzo vaporize her defense!" Alex commanded and Jinzo fired its energy ball at Chloe's defense monster, revealed to be The Unhappy Maiden (1/0/100) which was quickly vaporized. "It's your turn Mechanicalchaser!" Alex commanded but the machine remained still. "Err, hello? Just attack already!"
"Yell all you want, Mechanicalchaser won't listen." Chloe said as she held up her monster. "The monster you destroyed was Unhappy Maiden, when she's destroyed in battle and sent to the graveyard the Battle Phase ends immediately." Chloe explained before sending her monster to the graveyard. "Man, am I glad Theresa decided to return that monster to my deck." Chloe thought as Alex looked over his hand.
"I'll end my turn at that." Alex admitted and Chloe drew her card.
"That move did more than buy me a little time." Chloe thought as her eyes rested on her drawn card. "If all goes to plan this should help me clear the field." Chloe thought before playing the card. "This card may be old but it still has its uses, I activate Swords of Revealing Light!" Chloe played the card and three golden swords rained down upon Alex's machine's pinning them down.
"Great, now I can't attack for another three turns." Alex grunted as he stared at Chloe. "Anything else you want to do kid?"
"Actually yeah, I summon Silent Magician Level 4 in attack mode!" Chloe played the card and one of her two signature magicians appeared on the field (4/1000/1000).
"Even after all the modifications we've made to her deck she still relies on her old tactics." Theresa thought as she shook her head. "Hopefully they work out for her."
"Let me guess, your planning on increasing your magician's strength to the point where she can beat Jinzo?" Alex asked and Chloe didn't answer. "Well to bad, or have you forgotten that I have Jinzo Lord in my deck?"
"I haven't forgotten." Chloe said as her eyes narrowed. "In fact I plan on doing everything I can to make sure that you don't get a chance to summon him, in the meantime I end my turn." Chloe added and Alex drew his card, as he did Silent Magician got her first counter increasing her attack strength to 1500.
"Break Draw, this card is useless with Swords of Revealing Light on the field and even if that wasn't the case any draws I make will just increase her magician's strength." Alex thought before adding the card to his hand. "I end my turn for now." Alex announced and Chloe drew her card once the first sword faded from the field.
"One counter down, four to go, hopefully Silent Magician will be strong enough to beat Jinzo before he draws Jinzo Lord." Chloe thought before looking at her drawn card. "This could help." Chloe thought before playing it. "I activate Reinforcement of the Army, with it I can add a Level 4 or lower Warrior type monster to my hand." Chloe announced before picking up and searching through her deck. "Come on, come on! I know I saw it here somewhere!"
"I'm waiting kid!" Alex said as he tapped his foot impatiently.
"Yeah, yeah, just give me a minute!" Chloe responded as she searched through her deck. "Finally, just my luck that it ends up at the bottom of my deck!" Chloe thought with a grin before adding it to her hand, shuffling her deck and sending her Spell Card to the graveyard. "Now I summon Shield Warrior in attack mode!"
"Tell me she's not." Theresa said with a facepalm as a small warrior in brown armor appeared on the field, he was carrying a large shield and a spear (3/800/1600).
"She is apparently." Brandon sighed as it dawned on him. "I know that monster has more use in the graveyard than it does on the field but is kamikazeing it against Alex's monsters really the answer?"
"Are you serious?" Alex laughed as Shield Warrior got ready for battle. "That little guy couldn't put a dent in either of my machine's armors!"
"Shield Warrior, attack Mechanicalchaser!" Chloe commanded to the surprise of everyone else, Shield Warrior charged towards Mechanicalchaser but was impaled on the machine's spear before he could get close.
C: 4700
A: 7100
"Well, that was a waste of a perfectly good Spell Card." Alex commented dryly as Chloe sent her warrior to the graveyard. "Don't come crying to me when you lose because of moves like that kid!"
"You'll eat your words sooner or later." Chloe thought before looking over the rest of her hand. "I end my turn for now." Chloe announced and Alex drew his card, once Silent Magician's attack increased to 2000 he grinned.
"Sorry kid but not even the Swords can buy you enough time to strengthen your Magician enough to beat my next monster!" Alex said as Jinzo disappeared from the field. "I sacrifice Jinzo….."
"Oh no, not that card!" Chloe gulped as she thought back to Theresa's duel against Alex.
"Yes, that card! Come forth Jinzo Lord!" Alex played the card and in the Android's place stood the much larger, three eyed version of the android appeared in the original Jinzo's place (8/2600/1600). "You think he was bad before? I didn't even get a chance to use his effect."
"That thing has an effect?" Chloe and Theresa asked simultaneously.
"Yeah, on top of requiring Jinzo to be sacrificed first in order to summon it and all of the original Jinzo's abilities he has a pretty lethal effect, all I need to do is destroy all face-up trap cards on the field…" Alex explained as the long forgotten about DNA Transplant's hologram shattered. "And you get hit with 300 points of damage for each trap destroyed." Alex added and Chloe shielded herself as three laser beams from Jinzo Lord's eyes struck her in the chest.
A: 7100
C: 4400
Chloe just about maintained her balance as he eyes leveled at Jinzo Lord. "It's okay Chloe, just relax, no monsters unbeatable, hell Theresa managed to beat it early on in her match against Alex." Chloe thought though it was more self-reassurance than anything else. "Though that'll be easier said than done….." Chloe's train of thought was interrupted when she heard murmurs from the crowd, murmurs that she didn't want to hear right now, basically questioning how she got as far as she did in the Semi-Finals.
"I end my turn." Alex announced as the second sword disappeared and Chloe shakily drew her card. "Crap, what they're saying is getting to her!" Alex thought.
"Great, just what I need, a dead draw!" Chloe thought as she looked at her copy of Fairy Box, a useful card in most situations like this but rendered useless by Jinzo Lord, she reluctantly added it to her hand and focused her attention on Mechanicalchaser. "At least I can weaken his forces a bit." Chloe thought before pointing at Mechanicalchaser. "Silent Magician, attack Mechanicalchaser!" Chloe commanded and the young magician pointed her staff at the machine, a beam emitted from the staff which the machine exploded on contact with.
C: 4400
A: 6950
"Well, that's one machine to the scrap heap and one to go." Chloe thought as Alex sent his monster to the graveyard. "Hopefully my plan works out." Chloe thought before motioning for Alex to take his turn, Alex nodded and drew his card as Silent Magician's attack power increased to 2500.
"Hey guys, what did we miss?" Marcus asked as he and Andreas stepped out of the bar presumably to watch the duel.
"Chloe's losing; the difference between their life-points is a little over 2000 points." Theresa explained with a frown. "Worse part is; it's partially her fault."
"You're going to have to explain that to me." Andreas said as he scratched the back of his head in confusion.
"Basically we included a card in her deck that's more useful in the graveyard than it is anywhere else." Theresa explained and Andreas nodded. "But rather than discard it via a card effect or something she attacked a much stronger monster and put a dent in her own life-points."
"I can hear you Theresa." Chloe said plainly and the older duelist gulped. "As for his lead, I've got it covered, trust me on that."
"We'll see about that." Alex said before looking at his card. "I pass for now but come next turn your Magician's toast!" Alex exclaimed as the final sword disappeared and Chloe drew her card.
"Perfect, with this I'll be able to narrow the gap between our life-points considerably." Chloe thought before setting her drawn card facedown. "That ends my turn." Chloe announced and Alex drew his card at the same time increasing Silent Magician's attack power to 3000. "At least my Magician's strong enough to destroy the Lord now." Chloe thought.
"I activate the Spell Card I drew last turn, Limiter Removal!" Chloe's eyes widened when she heard the card's name and Jinzo Lord's size doubled to the point where it towered over the bar, at the same time his attack increased to 5200. "What's that? You'll survive this turn? No, you won't, wanna know why? Because I activate Polmerization to fuse together Robotic Knight and Darkfire Soldier Number 1 to fusion summon Blaze Fenix, the Burning Bombardment Bird in attack mode!" Alex played the card and the two monsters fused together.
"Oh boy, this is bad." Brandon gulped as the monster emerged from the portal, it seemed to be part phoenix park machine, it was massive in size and it let out a load squawk (8/2800/2300).
"He's pretty impressive huh? Just wait until you hear his effect!" Alex grinned as the bird squawked. "Once per turn this bird here can inflict 300 points of damage for each card on the field!" Chloe shielded herself as the bird took flight and impacted against her body.
C: 2600
A: 6950
"You okay kid?" Alex asked and Chloe nodded, the bird returned to Alex's side of the field and he played one last card. "Unfortunately Fenix can't attack during the same turn that he uses his effect, but what that doesn't apply to my other monsters so come on out Ally of Justice Quarantine!" Alex played the card and the small bug like machine reappeared on the field.
"That's right, attack; you're in for a nasty surprise when you do!" Chloe thought as Silent Magician prepared herself.
"Jinzo Lord, attack Silent Magician Level 4!" Alex commanded and the android launched its attack causing a large explosion. "Guess it's over kid, nice dueling ya….." Alex trailed off because when the smoke cleared Silent Magician was still standing. "WHAT THE…..."
"Remember this little guy?" Chloe asked before reaching into her pocket and retrieving Shield Warrior. "There's a reason I had him attack Mechanicalchaser, you see once per turn I can remove him from the graveyard to ensure that one of my monsters survives being destroyed in battle for one turn only!" Chloe explained and Alex's eyes widened.
"And as soon as my turn ends my Machines will self-destruct!" Alex realized to his horror before looking at Chloe's life-point counter. "Looks like you still took the damage from Jinzo Lord's attack though." Alex commented with a grin.
C: 400
A: 6950
"I can live with that." Chloe shrugged and Alex reluctantly ended his turn, as he did Jinzo Lord and Quarantine exploded and Alex shielded himself. "Wait, why is Fenix still on the field?"
"He's a pyro type monster, had to have some insurance in case Limiter Removal failed." Alex explained with a grin and Chloe nodded in understanding before drawing her card.
"Sorry Alex, but it's time I made my comeback!" Chloe grinned before playing the card. "And I'm going to do it with Level Up!"
"Oh crap!" Alex gulped as Silent Magician Level 4 grew into her adult form for the first time since Chloe's duel against Ramon (8/3500/1000).
"Silent Magician, shoot down his bird!" Chloe commanded and the magician gave her staff a twirl before pointing it at the bird, a beam of white light emerged from the staff striking the bird through the chest destroying it and bringing Alex's life-points down to 6250.
"Not bad but I'll still….oh you have got to be kidding me!" Alex grumbled as Chloe's Enlightenment trap card flipped up and Alex braced himself, the beam of light stuck Alex in the chest sending the big man to the ground.
C: 400
A: 2750
"One more direct attack and she'll win the duel! Better hope I draw something good!" Alex thought as he got to his feet and grabbed the last card in his hand.
"I end my turn at that." Chloe announced and Alex drew his card.
"I set this card facedown and that ends my turn." Alex announced and as soon as the facedown card appeared on the field Chloe drew her card.
"Then it's time to end this!" Chloe announced as Silent Magician prepared another attack. "Silent Magician, attack his life-points directly!" Chloe commanded and the magician pointed her staff at Alex before firing the beam of light at him…..
"Not today kid! I counter your attack with Dimension Wall!" Chloe's eyes widened as the beam hit an invisible wall before bouncing back at Chloe and striking her in the chest.
C: 0000
A: 2750
Knowing that the duel was over the passersby went on their way, as soon as the holograms disappeared both duelists deactivated their duel disks and Chloe helped herself to her feet. "Nice duel kid, if it weren't for Dimension Wall I would've lost that." Alex said as he approached her
"Yeah, I know." Chloe said clearly disappointed by her loss, Alex frowned and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"I know your disappointed in the loss but don't let it get to you all right? We fought a good duel and you definitely duel a lot better than you play pool." Alex said with a grin which Chloe returned. "Heck if you ever graduate Duel Academy I'll be waiting for a rematch." Alex added as he removed his arm from her shoulder.
"I'll hold you to that; I don't care how long it takes me to graduate." Chloe grinned before she returned to the bar, the other students followed her in followed by Alex who ordered another drink, Brandon and Marcus set up another game of pool between the two of them and Chloe sat down at the table where she was sitting before, opposite Theresa and her mom.
"Err, Chloe, if you don't mind me asking, why did you send Shield Warrior to the graveyard the way you did?" Theresa asked and Chloe blushed a bit.
"I don't know; make things more dramatic I guess." Chloe shrugged and Theresa grinned at that. "Plus it kept me in the duel long enough to use my best card so I'm not complaining."
"True enough I guess." Theresa admitted before turning her attention to the pool game between Brandon and Marcus, Brandon was going to be the one to split the balls it seemed as Marcus was watching on with his pool cue in hand. "So, it's back to school tomorrow." Theresa commented absentmindedly and Chloe smiled.
"Yeah well, on the bright side it may be a bit easier to bear since Otto has as much chance of returning to the Academy as Disco being relevant again." Chloe shrugged and Theresa nodded in agreement, after a few minutes the two girls finished their drinks and Theresa went to the bar to order two more, it was all on Alex's tab so it was all good as far as he was concerned.
"So, how are you finding Duel Academy so far Chloe?" Theresa's mom asked breaking the silence; Chloe turned to the older woman and shrugged.
"Besides me occasionally getting into trouble it's been great." Chloe admitted with a small smile as she rested her scared arm on the arm rest of the chair. "Your daughter's helped me a lot."
"Yeah, she tends to do that with students outside of Obelisk Blue." Sarah responded with a smile, Chloe's own smile disappeared as she remembered what Theresa told her after her duel with Ramon.
"Theresa told me you where one of the cops who responded to the call….." Chloe said and Sarah nodded knowing what she talking about almost immediately.
"Yeah, that's not exactly a case I've ever gotten over." Sarah admitted as she took a sip from her drink. "I wanted to kick that bastard's ass so badly; fortunately my partner at the time was on hand to save me from a police brutality case." Sarah said shaking her head. "I was so pissed off when he got off scot free hell I almost turned in my badge."
"What stopped you?" Chloe asked and Sarah took another sip.
"It was simple really, your stepdad winning the custody battle." Sarah said honestly as she sat her glass down. "As corny as it might sound that helped me see that there's something resembling justice in the world." Sarah added.
"You're right, that does sound corny." Chloe grinned getting a laugh out of the older woman; however the older woman's demeanor changed as she remembered the next part.
"That said I couldn't stand to be in the same city as him so I asked to be transferred to another city, I didn't care if it took me to another state or another country, it ended up taking me to Ohio and I lived there since then." Sarah said as she finished her drink. "Though to be honest, and don't take this the wrong way Chloe, but given all that's happened to you I wasn't expecting you to be as well-adjusted as you are."
"Don't worry about it, my stepdad had to work hard to turn me into the person I am today." Chloe sighed as she looked down at her deck. "Not saying that it was easy though."
"I bet it wasn't." Sarah agreed as she finished her drink. "So, any idea what you'll do when you get back to Duel Academy."
"Try to resume the life of an ordinary Osiris Red Student." Chloe shrugged as Theresa walked over with their drinks. "All though that will be a lot easier said than done since I almost beat Theresa and defeated another Obelisk Blue Student."
"I think you'll manage." Theresa said good naturedly as she sat down. "Just don't get overwhelmed by the autograph seekers and you should be all right." Theresa added and Chloe smirked.
*meanwhile at Kaibacorp*
"Another year, another tournament done and the board of directors are already planning next year's location." Kaiba thought as he looked over a selection of host cities for next year's Battle City tournament which ranged from Las Vegas to Tokyo, Japan. "The experiment with the students was a success; maybe we can do the same next year." Kaiba thought just as the door opened. "I thought I told me secretary that I didn't want to be….." Kaiba started but trailed off when he saw just who his visitor was. "Yugi, I heard you were in town."
Indeed it was Yugi and even though the soul of the Pharaoh was long gone he had grown to closely resemble him, he was still wearing his Battle City outfit even after all this time. "What can I say? A tournament like this was too good to miss." Yugi commented before frowning. "That wasn't all that attracted me to New York Kaiba."
"You mean the Orichalcos?" Kaiba asked and his old rival nodded. "The local police force has gone over that ship over a dozen times, the only fingerprints they can find either belongs to the students who were there to save their friends or the thugs already in custody."
"And no trace of their leader." Yugi added knowing where this was going. "Wherever he is he's long gone, and we need to be prepared if and when he does return."
"I'll be monitoring the students' process closely, in particular the Richardson girl and Lance Alvers." Kaiba said before looking at the list of possible cities again. "In the meantime they are returning to Duel Academy tomorrow alongside my son, I'll instruct the teachers to push their skills to the limit in preparation for the possibility of Phillip Alvers returning."
"Harsh, but it may be necessary." Yugi agreed before he turned to leave. "Let's hope that they are well prepared in case that does happen, see you around Kaiba." Yugi said before leaving Kaiba's office.