Lance and Retor wasted no time in drawing their opening hands, whilst the students were unaware of just what the teachers where discussing just to the south of their location it could be argued that they were better off not knowing for now.
"Okay, this isn't my best opening hand, not by a longshot actually." Lance thought as he glanced over his hand, he looked up at Retor and smirked. "According to Tyler that guy's duel monster representative is a support for Water Monsters, if that's the case it's yet another case of an opponent of mine trying to fight fire with Water." Lance thought with a cocky smirk as he folded his arms. "You know what? I'm feeling generous so I'll let you go first."
"Very well, as you wish Lance." Retor said before drawing his card. "Now prepare yourself for the full fury of the sea as I play a Spell Card of the Field variety called….."
"Let me guess, A Legendary Ocean?" Lance asked and the duel spirit blinked. "Look my brother uses Water Type monsters, one of my opponents in Battle City used Water Type Monsters, why hide it?"
"Hmmm, I suppose that is a fair point, you are correct Lance, I activate the Magic off A Legendary Ocean!" Retor played the card and a tidal wave appeared behind him. "You may want to brace yourself."
"You think?" Lance asked before he and the others braced themselves, soon afterwards the duelists found themselves underwater in what looked like the Lost City of Atlantis. "Whoa…wait, how are we breathing?"
"It's a hologram Lance." Silent Magician said with a facepalm and Lance sweat-dropped.
"I knew that." Lance laughed nervously as he folded his arms. "I know this card's abilities Retor, all Water Type monsters gain 200 attack points, and it's treated as Umi and all Water Type monsters in your hand and on the field loses a level."
"I had a feeling you would." Retor said before picking up three cards. "I shall set three cards facedown and end my turn." Retor announced and Lance blinked before drawing his card.
"He didn't summon a monster?" Chelsea blinked as she looked at the Duel Spirit. "Why? What's stopping him? Any Level 6 or Level 5 monsters he has would be much easier to summon."
"That's a good question; it's possible that he simply didn't have any monsters in his hand." Tyler shrugged his shoulders as he turned to her. "Unless he's using a strategy similar to Emra's, a specific Attribute or monster type tied to a strategy that involves winning in ways other than draining life-points."
"Chelsea's not the only confused one here." Lance thought as he looked at his hand. "He has a great summoning tool for Water Type Monsters, why play it and not follow it up with a monster? Well whatever his reasons are I'm about to make him pay!" Lance thought before playing a card. "I summon Great Angus in attack mode!" Lance played the card and a blood red tusked beast appeared on the field ready for battle (4/1800/600). "Great Angus, make him regret not summoning anything on his first turn!" Lance commanded and the beast charged towards Retor.
"I shall activate my trap! The dreaded Tornado Wall!" Retor played the card and a wall of water spouts blocked the path of Great Angus. "As long as A Legendary Ocean remains on the field this trap card shall protect my life-points."
"Classic Water Duelist Strategy, how did I not see this coming?" Lance wondered before playing two cards. "I set these cards facedown for later and call it a turn at that." Lance announced and Retor drew his card.
*elsewhere on the island*
Whilst Lance and Retor where locked in combat and the teachers where discussing what to do with the students once morning arrived one other person had noticed that something was amiss, and that person, despite being the Osiris Red Boy's Dorm Headmaster, had no interest in letting the other teachers know what was going on.
Professor Thomas Hamden tugged at his jacket as he made his way to the abandoned dorm armed with only a flashlight, officially he was the professor of strategy at the academy but unofficially he helped duelists who were in the midst of discovering their Duel Spirit Partners, because he had one himself.
"Look Shinato, are you certain about this?" Hamden asked his Duel Spirit, Shinato, King of a Higher Plane (8/3300/3000) as the transparent image of the fairy monster appeared next to it. "We both know Chloe and Theresa have Duel Spirits but Tyler, Brandon, Chelsea, Lance, Marcus and Andreas? Let's not even discuss where these tests are taking place."
"My information is correct Hamden; I may have listened in on a meeting between Chloe and Theresa's duel spirits earlier." Shinato responded in a deep booming voice. "Each of those duelists have the guidance of a Duel Spirit behind them, in fact I believe that Chelsea and Marcus's Duel Spirits have already revealed themselves."
"What, already? I would've thought the Spirit World would send tougher opponents in that case." Hamden commented as they neared the dorm, Hamden hid himself against a tree narrowly avoiding the gaze of a security camera. "One advantage of being a staff member, you know where the cameras are hidden." Hamden thought before making a run for the door once he was sure that the cameras couldn't see him. "All right Shinato where….." Hamden asked but was surprised when the fairy monster took physical form. "I forgot how strong the magical presence in this place is."
"Yes but it seems to be unusually high tonight." The Duel Spirit observed as he glanced around, they spotted the secret door that led to the chambers where the duelists where. "Hmmm, I'm assuming that door shouldn't be open."
"No it shouldn't, truth is most students here don't know this place exists." Hamden said as he approached the door. "Doesn't look like it was forced open either?"
"Ms. Richardson's Duel Spirit is a Spellcaster, is she not?" Shinato asked and Hamden nodded.
"Yeah, Silent Magician Level 8, it is a powerful card if you know how to use it." Hamden nodded as they entered the room. "I'm willing to bet she used a spell to get that door open."
"It seems likely yes." Shinato nodded as he followed his master. "These students will need your help in the coming events however."
"If the other teaches haven't caught them already." Hamden thought grimly as he turned off and pocketed his flashlight, he eventually reached the chamber where Lance was dueling Retor. "Well, this is…..interesting."
"Hi Hamden." Chloe greeted him before turning around, seconds later it dawned on the students and they all turned around with looks of panic of their faces and saw Hamden there. "Okay, I realize how bad this looks….."
"Chloe, you don't need to make excuses." Hamden interrupted her and Chloe blinked. "I know exactly what's going on here."
"You do?" Marcus asked as Shinato stepped into the room. "Wait, you have a Duel Spirit?"
"It's a long story." Hamden said as he turned to the duel field. "Don't worry, I have no interest in reporting any of you but it is likely that you were all spotted by the security cameras."
"So in short, we're screwed." Chelsea gulped as she turned to the teacher. "So…..err…how long have you had a duel spirit exactly?"
"I've had it since I attended Duel Academy as a student all those years ago." Hamden told her as he turned to her. "I'll go into detail in the morning; I understand that both you and Marcus have dueled so far."
"Yeah, I was supposed to have a tag team duel Chloe but no one wanted to team with the guy they got so I ended up going solo." Chelsea told him with a proud smirk. "It was close but I was able to beat my opponent."
"Yeah same here but my duel was close for a different reason." Marcus commented as he turned to him. "My opponent was an Exodia duelist but I was able to outsmart her."
"Sounds like you both had tough times in your duels." Hamden commented before turning his attention to Lance's duel, whilst they had been talking Retor had set a monster in defense mode and ended his turn and Lance was considering his next move.
"Okay, distraction caused by Hamden aside I got a good idea of how to deal with this guy." Lance thought as he looked over his hand. "Tornado Wall only protects him from Battle Damage but if I use a few of my burn strategies this should be a piece of cake!" Lance thought as he looked at his drawn card. "For starters I flip my facedown card, Bad Reaction to Simochi, as long as this trap card remains on the field any time you're life-points would increase they would get decreased instead."
"And I'm supposed to worry about that?" Retor asked as he folded his arms. "I don't have a single card with the ability to increase my life-points."
"Maybe you don't but I do!" Lance said as he played a card. "I activate Upstart Goblin, with this I draw a single card and you'd normally gain a thousand life-points, but with Bad Reaction to Simochi on the field…..well…" Lance drew his card and Retor grimaced as his life-points dropped to 7000.
"Smart move, using Burn Strategies to bypass his trap card will surely lead us to victory!" A new voice rang out and Lance nearly jumped out of his skin.
"Err, Lance are you okay?" Chloe asked as she, the other students and Hamden sweat-dropped.
"You guys didn't hear that?" Lance asked and the others just looked at him funny. "Hey wait a minute, something similar happened to Marcus and Chelsea during their duels, hey are you my Duel Spirit by any chance?"
"Indeed I am and I apologize for startling you." The Duel Spirit responded and Lance just shrugged his shoulders as he looked over his hand. "Though you weren't as startled as Brandon was when his Duel Spirit revealed himself to him when he was having sexual intercourse with Theresa….oops…" The Duel Spirit realized his mistake the moment Lance started laughing his ass off.
"Okay, either Lance has lost his mind; he's thought of a really funny joke or all of the above." Chelsea said as she watched her friend's laughing fit. "So…what's so funny Lance?"
"Oh not much, just that my Duel Spirit just told me how Brandon's Duel Spirit revealed himself too him!" Lance said and the others looked at him with a look of confusion on their faces, everyone except Brandon and Theresa that is who were trying desperately to hide their embarrassment.
"Okay I get the feeling I'm going to regret asking this but…what's funny about that exactly?" Chelsea asked and Lance grinned.
"Lance, think carefully about how you're going to word your next sentence; otherwise I'll have my Duel Spirit repeatedly step on your genitals for hours on end." Theresa warned him and the males in the room grimaced.
"Oh come on, it can't be that…..he revealed himself whilst you two where having sex, didn't he?" Chelsea asked and the two Obelisk Blue Students nodded. "Lance you are so immature…" Chelsea started but stopped when she saw Marcus and Andreas joining in Lance's laughter. "And people wonder why I'm a lesbian." Chelsea muttered as she shook her head.
"Can we please get back on topic, or to be more specific the duel?" Brandon asked as he tried to hide his embarrassment, Lance stopped laughing after a few minutes and looked at his drawn card.
"You got it lover boy!" Lance said ignoring Brandon's groan. "Okay so I'll attack Retor's defense monster with Great Angus and, regardless of the result, I'll then use my facedown card to deal some major damage." Lance thought as he looked over his hand.
"I don't know Lance, what if he has a trap played the stop such a move?" The Duel Spirit asked him and Lance blinked.
"That's true, has hasn't played either of his two facedown traps yet." Lance thought before shaking his head. "If he had something to prevent me from using moves like that why didn't he activate it and prevent Upstart Goblin's secondary effect from biting him on the ass?" Lance asked before pointing to his monster. "Great Angus, Tornado Wall may prevent you from dealing damage to him but it never said anything about protecting his monsters did it? ATTACK HIS MONSTER!" Lance commanded and the beast leaped towards the facedown monster, however what the monster was revealed to be confused everyone, it was a small blue eagle that was quickly impaled on Great Angus's tusks. "Hah! Looks like I was right that thing's not a threat!"
"Then why is he smiling?" Chelsea asked and Lance looked up, indeed Retor had a big grin on his face.
"Why? It's simple my child, the monster you destroyed was Blizzed, Defender of the Ice Barrier (1/300/500), his stats may be nothing special but his effect makes up for it, when it is destroyed and sent to the graveyard it allows me to draw a card from my deck." Retor explained before drawing his card.
"Did he say Ice Barrier? So that's the deck he's using." Tyler thought as Retor added the card he drew to his hand. "Lance had better be careful; this is a very dangerous archetype." Tyler thought.
"But why stop at one?" Retor asked as his trap card flipped up. "I activate my Trap Card Broken Blocker, this can only be activated if I monster I control who's defense is higher than its attack is destroyed in battle, it allows me to summon two more in its place." Retor announced as the two birds appeared in front of him. "I'd invite you to continue your assault but it seems you only have one monster on your field."
"We'll see how long that lasts!" Lance said as he flipped up his trap. "Especially since I can now enter the second phase of my plan, I activate the magic of Spiritual Fire Art – Kurenai; this trap requires that I give up Great Angus so my beast goes bye-bye!" Lance said as Great Angus was consumed by flame. "Why would I get rid of the one card that was protecting my life-points? Because in exchange for that Kurenai deals damage equal too my monsters attack points, that's 1800 points of damage that not even Tornado Wall can save you from!" Retor's eyes widened as the fire quickly surrounded him, he let out a yelp of pain as his life-points dropped to 5200. "Hah! This is too easy!"
"I agree and I don't like it one bit." The Duel Spirit responded and Lance grinned.
"You worry too much!" Lance said dismissively before retrieving Great Angus from the graveyard. "To end my turn I remove Great Angus from play so that I can summon Inferno in defense mode!" Lance played the card and after he pocketed Great Angus the small flame with the demonic face appeared on the field (4/1100/1900). "Go ahead and take your turn Retor!" Lance told him and Retor drew his card. "Okay, as long as I draw more of my Burn Cards like Poison of the Old Man and Rain of Mercy…well technically Rain of Mercy is a Heal Card but with Simochi on the field it's a burn card for him….."
"It's like I said Lance, this is too easy." The Duel Spirit interrupted him and Lance frowned. "Think back to your friend's duels, they had a much tougher time against their opponents."
"Huh, now that you mention it they did!" Lance realized before grinning. "But in those duels Marcus and Chelsea's opponents where able to implement their strategies on their first turn, all he's done so far is play a field spell, use Tornado Wall with said field spell and summoned a bunch of birds."
"The young one is getting cocky." Armed Dragon commented to Silent Magician who scoffed.
"Getting cocky? Lance is a talented duelist but his ego has always been a bit of a problem." Silent Magician said as she observed the duel. "Lance may have Inferno protecting his life-points at the moment but as soon as Retor brings out his stronger monsters Lance will be in trouble."
"You know I can hear you right?" Lance asked and Silent Magician sweat-dropped.
"Moving on, I activate the Spell Card Moray of Greed! Since you have undoubtedly seen this card in action before I'm sure I don't need to explain its effects." Retor played the card before picking up two of the cards in his hand, returning them to his deck and drawing three times. "Ah perfect, now young master Alvers prepare to meet the monster that will lead to your defeat and no before you ask it's neither of the Ocean Dragon Lords, it's something much more lethal."
"It's not?" Lance asked raising an eyebrow. "What could be deadlier than the Ocean Dragon Lords? Those cards are practically built to work with A Legendary Ocean?"
"Under normal conditions my next monster would require two sacrifices, however thanks to the presence of A Legendary Ocean I only need to sacrifice one monster so I sacrifice one of my defenders….." Retor announced as the bird vanished from the field. "So I can summon Superancient Deapsea King Coelacanth in attack mode!"
"Wow, it's like the folks working at I2 went out of their way to create a monster with a mouthful for a name." Chelsea muttered under her breath as a massive fish swam into view, it had an angry look on its face and was very intimidating (7/2800/2200) and thanks to the presence of A Legendary Ocean it's level dropped to 5 and it's attack power increased to 3000.
"Oh you think my mighty fish is scary now? Just wait until you see its effects in action!" Retor said with a grin as he discarded a card. "Once per turn and as long as I can discard one card I Special Summon as many Level 4 or lower Fish Type monsters from my deck."
"You're kidding?" Lance asked as his eyes widened.
"I am not, so please allow me to introduce the following three monsters, Royal Swamp Eel, 7 Colored Fish and Golden Flying Fish!" Retor played the cards and three fish swam into view, one was a silver fish with a single gold scale (4/1700/1000), another was a multicolored eel with what looked like a crown on its head (4/1700/1200) and the last of the bunch was a fish with rainbow colored scales (4/1800/800) and as the three fish gained their boosts from a Legendary Ocean Lance frowned.
"Great, he has two monsters with more than enough attack power to destroy Inferno." Lance thought before looking up at the Deapsea King. "And then there's the fish with the ridiculously long name, Retor said that I haven't seen its effects in action, as in plural, if that thing has more than one effect I need to be careful!" Lance thought before looking up at Retor.
"I suppose you're expecting me to go on the offensive, aren't you?" Retor asked and Lance blinked. "Well I'm not, well not yet anyway, first I activate Heavy Storm to clear the field."
"What did he say?" The other duelists yelled out simultaneously as a tsunami washed over the field, A Legendary Ocean was the first to go followed by Tornado Wall, Retor's remaining facedown card and Bad Reaction to Simochi, the monsters on Retor's side of the field lost their power boosts but Retor didn't seem to worried.
"Are you surprised? The Legendary Ocean/Tornado Wall combo was never intended to play a large role in my forthcoming plans, no instead I have a much grander plan in mind, first I activate the effect of Golden Flying Fish, so long as I tribute another fish type monster I can destroy one card on the field and I use it to extinguish that flame!" 7 Colored Fish disappeared from the field and the fish leapt towards Inferno putting the flame out with a slam. "Why would I waste such a strong monster as 7 Colored Fish? Simple, it would be a bigger waste to get rid of the Deapsea King for its effect, as for the other reason…..well this is where Royal Swamp Eel comes in." Retor said before grinning broadly. "Or should I say, the Tuner Monster Royal Swamp Eel."
"Oh crap!" Lance gulped once he did the math in his head. "You use that tuner monster with Golden Flying Eel and Blizzed and you'll have enough for a Level 9 Synchro Summon!"
"I'm afraid not Lance." Retor shook his head and Lance blinked. "Being a Level 4 Tuner Royal Swamp Eel comes with…restrictions, if it's used in a Synchro Summon the other monsters must be Fish Type Monsters as well, Blizzed is, unfortunately an Aqua type monster." Retor explained as the two fish leapt into the air, Royal Swamp Eel dissolved into four green rings which quickly surrounded Golden Flying Fish. "But still I have enough monsters for a Level 8 Synchro Summon so I tune Royal Swamp Eel with Golden Flying Fish in order to Synchro Summon the dreaded Red Dragon Archfiend!"
"Say what?" Every other duelist yelled out in unison (even Silent Magician and Armed Dragon seemed surprised by what he was summoning) as a bright flash enveloped the field, when it faded a huge monster appeared in the place of Royal Swamp Eel, it was a red and black dragon with three horns on its head that looked quite intimidating (8/3000/2000).
"I suppose you're wondering how I got my hands on a Synchro monster as rare as Red Dragon Archfiend." Retor said as he folded his arms. "After all it's one of the two rarest Synchro Monsters available alongside its counterpart Stardust Dragon (8/2500/2000) so I'll tell you this much, in the Duel Spirit World Rare cards are much easier to come by."
"Even so Retor Red Dragon Archfiend is a very expensive card even in the Duel Spirit World." Silent Magician pointed out with a frown. "Even I can't afford it!"
"Money is no object if you know the right people." Retor said with a shrug before smirking. "But if I where you I'd be more concerned for Lance, he's about to take 5700 points of damage, Deepsea King, Red Dragon Archfiend, attack!" Retor commanded and the two massive monsters launched their attacks at Lance in that order.
L: 2300
R: 5200
"I end my turn but doing so activates one of Archfiend's effects, to put it simply any monster that hasn't attacked during my turn is automatically destroyed regardless of position." Retor explained as Bizzed was consumed by flames. "Don't bother trying to defend either, when Red Dragon Archfiend attacks a defense position monster on your side of the field it wipes them all out leaving my Deepsea King free to finish you off." Retor explained as Lance drew his card.
"We'll see about that, I activate a Spell Card called Spellbook inside the Pot, with this we can both draw three cards!" Lance explained as the two duelists drew three times. "I have just what I need to turn things around!"
"Oh? What is that exactly?" Retor asked as Lance played one of his drawn cards, Retor's eyes widened when he saw it. "Lightning Vortex?"
"Yep, and I bet you're kicking yourself for destroying A Legendary Ocean and Tornado Wall last turn." Lance said with a grin as he discarded a card and lightning struck Retor's two monsters destroying them both. "As a follow up I remove the monster I discarded to play Lightning Vortex from play so I can Special Summon Spirit of Flames!" Lance removed Darkfire Soldier Number 1 (4/1700/1100) from the graveyard and pocketed the monster soon afterwards a hulking demon whose lower half was covered in flamed appeared on the field (4/1700/1000). "Don't get too attached to him though, because I only need him on the field for my next move!"
"And that is what exactly?" Retor asked and Lance grinned before playing a card.
"Let me put it this way, you're not the only one with Tuner monsters in his deck." Lance said simply before playing the card. "In fact I'm about to summon one, come on out Neo Flamvell Origin!" Lance played the card and a small flame with a blue face appeared on the field (2/500/200). "Now let's see if my hunch about who my Duel Spirit Partner is exactly is correct!" Lance said as Neo Flamvell Origin and Spirit of Flames took to the sky, the flame expanded into two rings that surrounded Spirit of Flames. "I tune Flamvell Origin with Spirit of Flames to Synchro Summon Flamvell Uruquizas!" Lance played the card and a blight flash enveloped the field, when it faded the armored man with the flaming fists appeared on the field (4/2100/400).
"Lance, I am not Uruquizas." The Duel Spirit told him and Lance sighed. "Good move though."
"Thanks." Lance thanked him before smirking. "Uruquizas, attack!" Lance commanded and the armored man charged towards Retor and struck him in the stomach.
L: 2300
R: 3100
"Oh and it gets better, when Uruquizas deals damage to your life-points his own attack points increase!" Lance said with a grin as his monster's attack increased to 2400. "I end my turn for now." Lance announced and Retor drew his card.
"I set a monster in defense mode and three cards facedown that ends my turn." Retor set the four cards, his newly drawn card and the cards he drew with Spellbook inside the Pot, and Lance drew his card. "As soon as he tries to attack my Sekeretsu Armor will block the attack and destroy the attacking monster, then on my next turn I'll use Call of the Haunted to bring back my Deepsea King and I'll use Dust Tornado to get rid of any traps he sets, I don't need Archfiend to finish him off!"
"All right, I start with Card of Sanctity!" Lance played the card and both duelists drew until they had six cards in their hands. "Sorry Retor but I have what I need to win this match in my hand!"
"Is that a fact?" Retor asked and Lance nodded.
"And it starts with another Spell Card, my own Heavy Storm!" Lance played the card and Retor's eyes widened as a storm washed over the field destroying his three facedown cards. "Next I activate Monster Reborn to bring back Neo Flamvell Origin!" Lance played the card and the small flame reappeared on the field.
"So your plan is another Synchro Summon?" Retor asked and Lance shook his head.
"No, I've got a better idea; I sacrifice Flamvell Origin to summon Thestalos, The Firestorm Monarch to the field in attack mode!" Lance played the card and Origin vanished from the field, in its place stood the mighty monarch of fire ready for action (6/2400/1000).
"Ah excellent, now that my true form is revealed I can help you win Lance!" The monarch said as he turned to his master who grinned.
"Thestalos is my Duel Spirit? This is so awesome!" Lance said with a broad grin. "So, you want to explain your effect or should I?"
"No need, I know its effect." Retor said as he held up his hand, a fireball spawned in Thestalos's hand and he flung it at the card on the far right. "Good choice, it was another copy of Royal Swamp Eel." Retor winced as his life-points dropped to 2700 and he discarded the monster. "I still have a monster protecting me on the field!"
"That won't help much; Uruquizas here can inflict piercing damage!" Lance explained as his warrior charged towards the facedown monster, revealed to be Barrier Statue of the Torrent (4/1000/1000) which was quickly destroyed by Uruquizas bringing Retor's life-points down to 2300 and increasing Uruquizas's attack points to 2700. "All right Thestalos, it's time to continue my streak against Water Type Decks, finish him!" Lance commanded and Thestalos flung another fireball at Retor striking him in the chest.
L: 2300
R: 0000
"Well done Lance." Retor said as he got up, the holograms disappeared from the field and both duelists deactivated their duel disks. "Not only have you snatched victory from the jaws of defeat but you have established your bond with your Duel Spirit, use him well." Retor added before stepping back through the portal.
"I have to say Lance that was a hell of a comeback." Chelsea said with a good natured grin which Lance returned. "Not nearly as good as mine but still." Chelsea added and Lance face-faulted.
"Now, now, you two play fair." Tyler said with a chuckle before turning to Andreas. "You're up next, if I'm not mistaken this will be your first match since you were freed from the Orichalcos."
"You are correct but I wouldn't worry about me if I where you." Andreas reassured him as he activated his Duel Disk. "Orichalcos or no Orichalcos I'm still a damn good duelist, and I'm ready for whoever they send through to face me."
"Glad to hear it." Tyler said with a nod as a figure stepped through the portal, the figure that stepped through was a muscular but attractive woman with long blonde hair who was wearing a grey fur bikini. "Well, it seems you're facing Amazoness Paladin (4/1700/300)."
"The name Tryna is fine young man." Amazoness Paladin said as her sword turned into a jungle themed duel disk which had a deck in it already, she strapped to her arm without a wasted motion. "But yes, I am facing Andreas Freshier."
"That would be me." Andreas said as stepped forward. "Be warned, I don't go easy on my opponents regardless of their gender."
"Good, I appreciate a good fight." Tryna said with a smile as she drew her cards. "Be ready young man."