It had been two hours since the last tag team match of day three and most importantly since Chelsea's laptop had been reported stolen, the police had been called to the island and they were currently taking Chelsea's statement regarding the theft.
"Ugh, do I have to give you the description for my laptop again?!" Chelsea grunted in annoyance as she glanced at the two police officers, she was in Martin's office giving them the info they needed whilst Martin watched on from behind his desk.
"Ms. Cunningham, I understand your frustration but I just want to make sure that we have the correct info." The police officer answered before getting an idea. "How about I show you what I've written down?"
"That would probably help, yeah." Chelsea agreed and the officer showed her his notes. "Yeah, that's correct; I'm surprised you wrote down what games I have on it."
"I'm a bit of a gamer myself." The police officer said sheepishly before he and his partner stood up. "I'm going to be honest Chelsea, it's unlikely that you'll get your laptop back if the thief's left the island but we'll do our best."
"I know but thanks for the vote of confidence." Chelsea sighed as the two officers left the room. "Ugh, this sucks!"
"Chelsea, I'm sure they will find it and all you can do for now is wait for them to finish their search." Martin said and Chelsea turned to him. "As for Tracy, if they can't find it I'll talk to her and get her to give you more time to finish the work."
"I had it finished, that's what pissing me off!" Chelsea commented with a grunt as she folded her arms. "Well, that and the fact that it was stolen in the first place."
"That's understandable." Martin said with a nod of understanding. "Hmmm, wasn't the laptop you found after the last Orichalcos Duel the same make as yours?"
"Not really, it was an older model but similar in appearance." Chelsea responded with a nod. "Why do you ask?"
"Just a theory, you said that you set your laptop up next to the one you found?" Martin asked and Chelsea nodded in response. "It's possible that the thief is an Orichalcos Duelist and got the two mixed up."
"If that's the case I'm going after him and once I find I'll kick his ass so hard he'll hand my laptop back on a silver platter!" Chelsea said as she stood up and activated her duel disk.
"I can't allow that." Martin said plainly and Chelsea turned to him. "Like it or not you're still injured from your last Orichalcos Duel, you ribs may have healed for the most part but I don't want to risk it."
"Try and stop me!" Chelsea said as she stormed towards the duel.
"Very well, you've forced my hand." Martin said as he leaned forward. "The moment you leave this room is the moment your team is disqualified from the tournament and Donny and Drake get your spot in the next round." Martin said causing Chelsea to stop in her tracks just as she was about to open the door.
"You're actually blackmailing me?!" Chelsea asked as she turned to Martin.
"No, more along the lines of preventing you from making any ill-advised decisions, I understand why you're upset but is it really worth getting injured again?" Martin asked and Chelsea bit her lip before sitting back down.
"My laptop had better be found after all this!" Chelsea grunted in annoyance as she sat down opposite Martin.
*elsewhere on the island*
Fortunately for Chelsea the thief was still on the island, unfortunately for her he was at the speedboat that had transported him to the island.
"So you found it huh?" Jack asked as he took the laptop from the thief.
"Yeah, it was a piece of cake!" The thief responded with a grin. "Now where is my payment?" The thief asked and Jack frowned.
"Just gotta confirm that it's the right laptop and if it is then I'll let Victor handle the rest." Jack said before opening up the laptop and booting it up, the thief waited eagerly for confirmation on a job well done but that quickly disappeared when Jack turned to him. "You are an idiot! Does this LOOK like the right laptop!?" Jack asked before showing him the login screen with Chelsea's username.
"It…..it was my mistake, the two laptops where right next to each-other with the lids closed!" The thief asserted and Jack's eyes narrowed.
"And you didn't think to check them? Save you damn excuses!" Jack said before putting a hand to his earpiece. "Victor, the guy you hired fucked up big time, what do you want to do with him?" Jack asked the thief bit his lip as he watched Jack talk to the boss. "You have one more chance, just one!" Jack said before tossing the laptop back to the thief. "Take this piece of shit back to the dormroom and get the right laptop!"
"That'll be a piece of cake!" The thief responded as he turned around.
"But if you fail then you get to face me in an Orichalcos Duel and I can assure you that they will never find the body!" Jack added before the driver of the speedboat sped off, the thief gulped before walking off.
"Great, can my luck get any worse?" The thief thought as he made his way towards the middle of the island.
*meanwhile*
"Any sign of him or Chelsea's laptop?" Brandon asked as he ran up to Kimberly and Nathan who were talking with the police officers, they looked up and shook their heads.
"No, you'd think a guy in a Ski Mask at a place as hot as Duel Academy Island would be easier to spot but either he's left the island or he's sticking to the forested areas." Kimberly answered with a frown. "Why would anyone want Chelsea's laptop anyway? It's a good laptop but it's still a couple of years old."
"I don't know but I guess we can ask him if we bump into him." Nathan responded earning odd looks from everyone else. "What?"
"Anyway, you kids are free to continue your search but if you find him call us; he's likely to be armed and dangerous." The policeman said after a few awkward minutes before leaving the group. "Bill, I'm going to check the West Side of the island, near the Osiris Red Girl's dorm."
"Sounds like a plan, I'll check the Southside." Bill said with a nod before the two cops went their separate ways.
"Let's take a page from their book and split up in order to try to find this bastard." Brandon suggested and Kimberly and Nathan nodded in agreement. "I'll try the area around the Obelisk Blue Boy's Dorm."
"Good choice, he may try to return to the scene of the crime." Kimberly agreed with a nod. "If not then there's a chance that I'll catch him around the dockyard, after all he may try to escape that way like that woman did."
"If that was an option he would've taken it by now." Nathan pointed out with a frown. "Still it's worth a look, as for me I'll check the areas near the Ra Yellow dorms, he may go there to try to throw us off his scent."
"Sounds like a plan." Brandon said with a nod. "Kimberly, you still have my phone number from Battle City right?" Brandon asked and Kimberly nodded in response. "Nathan, did she ever give you my number?"
"Err…..yeah, she did encase Sangan ever got banned and we needed to discuss new additions to our decks." Nathan said with a nod. "Good thing Tyler told her about the new Archfiend monsters."
"There are new Archfiend monsters?" Brandon asked and Kimberly nodded. "Anyway call me if you find him."
"We will." Kimberly said with a nod. "Oh yeah and you won't get a chance to see them in action until the next round." Kimberly added before the three duelists went their separate ways, Brandon glanced down at his deck with a frown on his face.
"Everyone seems to be upgrading their decks now that Sangan's banned, well everyone who uses Sangan in their deck anyway." Brandon thought as he made his way to his dorm. "Here's hoping that the improvements I've made to my deck will be enough!" Brandon thought before the thief caught his eye. "Hey!"
"Oh shit!" The thief yelled out before bolting, Brandon took off after him eventually cornering him in a clearing.
"That laptop doesn't belong to you, give it back!" Brandon demanded before spotting the Orichalcos Disk. "You're no ordinary thief are you?"
"Took you long enough to figure that out!" The thief spat out before removing his mask revealing a shaved head with blue eyes and a goatee that was black in color. "That's much better! How do you kids put up with the heat?"
"We get used to it." Brandon said with a frown. "But a better question is why does your boss want Chelsea's laptop?"
"You think I stole this by choice? I came to this damn island to steal back the laptop that was left behind by Sarah!" The thief responded before grinning broadly. "Oh though, with this situation I can kill two birds with one stone!" The thief added before activating his duel disk. "The boss gets your soul and the laptop back!"
"Why would I agree to that?" Brandon asked and the thief grinned.
"How else is your lesbo friend supposed to get her laptop back?" The thief asked and Brandon's eyes narrowed. "Beat me and you'll get the laptop back!"
"You should be thankful that she's elsewhere, otherwise you'd be dealing with her temper." Brandon grunted before activating his duel disk. "But if that's the way it is then I'll make do!"
"That's fine by me!" The thief responded as the two duelists drew their opening hands. "But I'll show you that I'm more than just a thief, I'm a soul thief as well!"
"How is that any different from the other Orichalcos Duelists we've faced to date?" Brandon pointed out and the thief sweat-dropped when he realized that Brandon had a point.
"Just shut up and duel me!" The thief responded as he looked over his hand.
*elsewhere*
Whilst that was going on Jack was on his way back to HQ in the speedboat, the fact that the thief had mixed up the laptops had left him in a sour mood and he doubted that his mood could get any worse.
"Jack, would you mind telling me why the thief is wasting time dueling Brandon Thomas?" that was until Victor called him with that message.
"HE'S WHAT?!" Jack yelled back before quickly grabbing his own laptop. "Patch me into the island's security system and patch me through to that idiot, if he's going to duel then I may as well support him the best I can!"
"Already done, you just need to login." Victor responded and Jack wasted no time in logging in.
"Hey, I thought I told you to steal back the right laptop!?" Jack yelled at the thief through his earpiece and the thief frowned.
*back at the duel*
"Look, this way I can kill two birds with one stone." The thief answered catching Brandon's attention. "The laptop will be back in Victor's hands and he'll have a nice soul to add to his collection as well."
"All right, I see your point." Jack grunted in annoyance. "Just watch out for that damn dragon!"
"Don't need to tell me twice." The thief responded before turning his attention back to Brandon. "Oh you heard that huh? Well good luck finding him, the last time I saw him he was speeding away in a speedboat."
"Speedboat huh? Is that how they're getting on the island?" Brandon thought to himself before turning his attention to the thief. "Well in that case I'll cut to the chase, I'm going first!" Brandon said as he drew his card. "And I summon Tour Guide from the Underworld in attack mode!"
"Wait, Tour Guide from the what?" The thief asked as the new monster appeared on the field; she was an attractive red haired woman wearing a small blue and red dress with a matching hat and had a purse with a skull on it (3/1000/600). "She's easy on the eyes and to defeat, what a combo!"
"Don't get too cocky, when Tour Guide is normal summoned her effect activates which lets me Special Summon a Level 3 Fiend Type Monster from my hand or deck with its effects negated." Brandon explained before picking up his deck. "Off course the downside is that the monster's effects are negated and I can't use the monster in a Synchro Summon, off course since I don't run Synchros that's hardly a problem for me."
"Ohhh, I'm shaking!" The thief said sarcastically as Brandon searched through his deck. "Newsflash genius, the best card to use with it just got banned!"
"Oh, you mean Sangan? Yeah that's a pain in the ass." Brandon commented before playing the card. "But I have ways around that, like summoning Tour Bus from the Underworld with Tour Guide's effect!" Brandon played the card and a new monster appeared on the field, it was a black and orange demonic looking bus with Sangan driving it (3/1000/1000).
"Tour Guide, Tour Bus, is there a Tour Brochure as well?" The thief asked and Brandon's eyes narrowed as he finished shuffling his deck.
"I set three cards facedown and end my turn." Brandon set the two cards down and the thief drew his card. "So is that your own deck or did you steal it?"
"Very funny, but let's see how funny you feel after I activate the Seal of the Orichalcos!" The thief played the card and Brandon braced himself as the seal enveloped both duelists, soon afterwards the seal appeared on the thief's head and he grinned sadistically. "Now the real fun begins!"
"You have a twisted view of the term "fun"." Brandon said dryly and the thief ignored him.
"Let's see who's laughing after I make this move! I summon Don Zaloog in attack mode!" Brandon's eyes widened as the monster that he had used only a few times since Battle City appeared on the field wielding the twin daggers (4/1400/1500).
"A thief using Dark Scorpions, gee, how original, seriously do you realize how stereotypical your being?" Brandon asked as a large sweat-drop rolled down the side of his head. "Let me guess, Mustering of the Dark Scorpions is next?"
"You pesky little know it all." The thief muttered under his breath as he played the card. "Your right and I'm gonna use it to summon Chick the Yellow, Cliff the Trap Remover, Gorg the Strong and Maenea the Thorn!" The three monsters appeared on the field one by one each wielding their weapons of choice. "And as you know they each get a bonus from my field spell!" The thief added as the monsters received their attack bonuses.
"That may be but as long as my monsters are on the field my life-points will be safe." Brandon pointed out and the thief grinned before playing a card.
"That's where you're wrong! I play a Spell Card called Dark Scorpion Ambush!" The thief played the card which depicted the Dark Scorpions getting ready to attack a trade caravan. "This Spell Card requires that I have all the members of the Dark Scorpions on my side of the field, for this turn only they can bypass your monsters and attack directly!"
"Oh crap!" Brandon commented as he braced himself and the Scorpions rushed forward, four of the Scorpion's attacks connected bringing Brandon's life-points down to a mere six hundred. "Hah! I thought you were tough but I guess you're just another victim of my first turn kill, and in this case I mean it literally!"
"I activate my Trap Card Dark Spirit Art Greed! I send Tour Guide to my graveyard and draw two cards, but not before I chain it to Emergency Provisions, so I send it and my other facedown card to the graveyard and gain two thousand life-points!" Brandon announced and once Tour Guide Shattered he drew twice and sighed as his life-points increased to 2600. "More importantly you can't use Cliff's effect."
"Damn, I was so close!" The thief cursed himself before pointing to Cliff. "But I guess I'll have to fix that, Cliff, attack his life-points directly!" The thief commanded and the scorpion leapt forward before slashing Brandon and bringing his life-points down to 900.
"And now the effects of the Scorpions activate." Brandon said with a wince.
"Right and I'm gonna start with Gorg's effect, but since Tour Bus will be easy pickings for my monsters anyway I'll chose to send the top card from your deck to the graveyard!" The thief announced and Brandon complied without a word. "Next up is Chick the Yellow and I wanna use his effect look at the top card of your deck."
"It's your choice." Brandon shrugged before showing the card revealing it to be Battle Fader.
"That thing could stop another OTK attempt so it's going to the bottom." The thief announced and Brandon complied. "Next up is Cliff the Trap Remover but since you've removed your traps for him I'll use his effect to send two more cards to the graveyard." The thief added and Brandon sent the two cards to the graveyard without a word.
"That just leaves Don and Meanea." Brandon said as he folded his arms. "So what's it going to be?"
"First I'll use her effect to add a Dark Scorpion to my hand." The thief replied as he searched through his deck, once he found the card that he was looking for he added it to his hand. "And finally Don Zaloog's effect will send two more cards to the graveyard." The thief replied and Brandon sent the cards to the graveyard without hesitation. "Hah! Even if you draw your dragon you'll have too many monsters in your graveyard for his effect!"
"Are you done yet?" Brandon asked and the thief looked over his hand.
"Yeah, I'm done!" The thief responded and Brandon quickly drew his card. "But with so many life-points lost already you may as well give up!"
"I'm not giving up yet! Not when I still have moves to play!" Brandon said as he played a card. "I activate Allure of Darkness, by banishing one Dark Type monster from my hand….." Brandon tailed off as he pocketed the monster. "I can draw two cards." Brandon added before drawing two cards. "And now I tribute Tour Bus from the Underworld….." Brandon trailed off as the bus shattered. "So that I can summon one of my favorite cards the mighty Caius, the Shadow Monarch in attack mode!"
"No! Not that!" The thief yelled out as the dark monarch appeared on the field (6/2400/1000).
"Yes, yes that, and now that Tour Bus has been sent to the graveyard his effect will chain Caius's effect!" Brandon said as he retrieved the cards in his graveyard. "With it can shuffle one monster in either of our graveyards back into our decks; however since the only monsters you have are on the field I'll be using my own graveyard." Brandon explained before looking over the graveyard. "And what do you know? You sent Dark Armed Dragon to my graveyard with that last attack!"
"And now you're putting it back into your deck!" The thief realized as Brandon shuffled the card into his deck and returned the others to the graveyard. "Yeah, so what if you have your best monster back? You'll have to get the others out of the graveyard to even use it!"
"I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, now for Caius's effect!" Brandon announced as the monarch formed a ball of dark energy in his hand. "And I think I'll target Gorg the Strong!" Brandon added as the monarch tossed the ball at the strongest Dark Scorpion destroying him. "And I know from personal experience that all Dark Scorpions are Dark Type Monsters so you'll lose one thousand life-points to boot!" Brandon added as the thief's life-points dropped to seven thousand.
"I have more where that came from!" The thief retorted and Brandon just smirked.
"Good luck adding them to your hand after I destroy Meanae with Caius!" Brandon responded as the shadow monarch launched a dark ball of light towards the sole female member of the Dark Scorpions destroying her and bringing the thief's life-points down to sixty-one hundred. "I set three cards facedown and end my turn." Brandon set the three cards before smirking. "Oh yeah, the monster I banished for Allure's effect? It's a little monster called D.D. Scout Plane and if he's banished he returns to the field during the end phase." Brandon added as the small spaceship appeared on the field (3/800/1200), the thief said nothing as he drew his card.
"You think that monarch's supposed to scare me?" The thief scoffed as he stared down the monster. "He's powerful but as soon as I draw another Dark Scorpion Ambush your soul will belong to the Orichalcos!" The thief added before looking at his drawn card and frowning. "Consider yourself lucky, I switch my remaining Dark Scorpions to defense mode and end my turn." The thief announced and once the Dark Scorpions that where left over had crouched down Brandon drew his card.
"Apparently the guy forgot about the fact that Dark Scorpion Ambush requires all Dark Scorpions to be on the field." Brandon thought before looking at his drawn card. "Dark Armed Dragon, if it weren't for his Scorpions I could summon him now, but I guess I'll have to hold onto him for now." Brandon thought before adding the card to his hand.
"Brandon, there you are." Brandon looked up and saw Kimberly and Nathan approaching the duel area with Chloe, Marcus and Andreas behind them; it was Kimberly that had spoken up. "Any luck…actually, I have a better question, how did you end up in an Orichalcos Duel?"
"You want the good news or the bad news?" Brandon asked and the other duelists looked at him with confused looks on their faces. "Good news is that I've found the guy who stole Chelsea's laptop, he meant to target the laptop we found after the last Orichalcos Duel but got the two mixed up." Brandon told them before frowning. "Bad news is he's the thief." Brandon added before pointing to his opponent.
"That still doesn't explain how you got in this mess to begin with." Nathan pointed out and Brandon nodded in response.
"Basically I corned him and he offered to duel me in return for getting Chelsea's laptop back." Brandon explained with a frown. "It hasn't gone well so far, I'm down to nine hundred life-points whilst he's down to sixty-one hundred life-points."
"So the duel's been going on for a few minutes, right?" Andreas asked and Brandon shook his head.
"It just started and you can thank yet another broken card for that fact." Brandon answered with a frown. "Dark Scorpion Ambush, think a spell version of Dark Scorpion Combination but without the damage reduction side effect."
"Hey! Are you going to take your turn or are you going to stand there telling them about my deck strategy?" The thief said impatiently and Brandon's eyes narrowed.
"If you insist, Caius, attack Don Zaloog!" Brandon commanded and the monarch launched his ball of dark energy at the Dark Scorpion leader destroying him. "Now you can't use another copy of Dark Scorpion Ambush."
"I have other copies of that card in my deck." The thief retorted and Brandon just ignored him.
"I set a card facedown and end my turn." Brandon announced and the thief drew his card.
"Hah! This is perfect! Now I can bring out my best monster!" The thief thought before playing a card. "You think there aren't any more Dark Scorpions? Think again, I summon Dark Scorpion – Bull the Red!" The thief played the card and a new monster appeared on the field, he was dressed like the other Dark Scorpions and had red spiked up hair and blue eyes, he was wielding a large sword and was more muscular than the other members (2/1300/800) and its attack increased to 1800 thanks to the seal.
"Okay, that's definitely something I didn't expect." Brandon commented before realizing something. "You left it in attack mode? Good luck, you'll only be able to defeat D.D. Scout Plane!"
"I will bring down your monarch and I'll use Bull the Red to do it!" The thief retorted with a cocky smirk. "But not in the way you're expecting! You see, Bull the Red is a tuner monster and I'm tuning him with Chick the Yellow and Cliff the Trap Remover!" The thief announced as the three monsters leapt into the air, Bull the Red dissolved into two green Synchro Rings that surrounded the other Dark Scorpions. "So that I can summon my best monster, allow me to introduce Dark Scorpion – Elten the Elder!"
"That doesn't sound good!" Brandon said as he shielded his eyes from the bright flash, seconds later a new monster appeared on the field, he was dressed like the other Dark Scorpions but was obviously much older with a chest length beard and like Don Zaloog he was wearing an eye patch (8/1900/1200). "Wow, I never thought I'd see the day where I2 would release a Level 8 member of the 1900 club." Brandon commented dryly as he stared at the monster. "Even with the bonus from the Orichalcos that monster can't beat my monarch!" Brandon added as the Dark Scorpion member's attack increased to 2400.
"Don't you use Dark Scorpions yourself? You should know that they make up for their low attacks with their effects." The thief retorted with a grin. "And guess what? Elten the Elder has one hell of an effect!"
"It had better for a Level 8 Synchro with such low attack points." Brandon pointed out and the thief grinned before retrieving Gorg the Strong from the graveyard.
"Oh it does, as long as Don Zaloog is in the graveyard I can use my monster's effect, by removing one Dark Scorpion from play….." The thief trailed off as he pocketed the monster. "Elten the Elder gains their attack points for the rest of the duel AND the attack points stack!" The thief added as Elten's attack power increased to 4200.
"And here I thought Dark Scorpion Ambush was broken." Brandon commented dryly as he braced himself for the attack.
"Who cares if it's broken? Well besides you obviously." The thief retorted with a grin. "Besides I now have more than enough power to finish you off! Elten, attack Caius!" The thief commanded and the old man drew an impressive looking sword before charging towards Caius and cutting him in two. "Well, that was fun, now I can finish the job I started….."
"Don't count your chickens before they hatch." Brandon retorted and the thief turned around.
"Why isn't the Seal closing in around you?" The thief asked before realizing that Brandon had activated a trap. "Is that Defense Draw?"
"I originally set it in case you drew another copy of Dark Scorpion Ambush." Brandon said as he drew his card. "Either way it keeps me in the game and lets me draw a new card." Brandon added as he added the new card to his hand.
"Damn it, why can't you stay down?" The thief grunted in annoyance before looking over his hand. "I end my turn."
"Okay, I saved myself there but unless I draw a way to get Dark Armed Dragon on the field I may as well surrender." Brandon thought as he drew his card. "Wait a minute, since this began this guy hasn't set a single trap card, hell the only non-monster card he's played besides the Orichalcos is Dark Scorpion Ambush." Brandon thought as he turned to the thief. "Out of curiosity, do you have any traps in your deck?"
"Nope, don't need them!" The thief retorted with a cocky grin. "Especially when I have this much power on my side of the field, Trap Cards are overrated anyway!"
"I don't know if it weren't for trap cards my soul would've been trapped in the Orichalcos by now." Brandon answered and the thief just glared at him. "Anyway it's still my move and I play a Spell Card called Nightmare's Steel Cage!" Brandon played the card and a menacing looking cage surrounded him. "Now neither of us can attack for two more turns."
"Who runs that when Swords of Revealing Light is at three and buys you one more turn then that card does?!" The thief asked with a scoff and Brandon frowned.
"I do, that's who!" Brandon retorted before looking over the rest of his hand. "I end my turn." Brandon announced and the thief grinned cockily as he drew his card.
"Well, I can't really do much except this!" The thief said as he played a card. "First I play Heaven's Lost Property."
"And you'd probably steal that if you had the chance." Brandon deadpanned as the two duelists drew three cards and discarded two; the thief ignored him as he sent his Spell Card to the graveyard.
"Joke all you want, the two cards I just sent to the graveyard where two more Dark Scorpions which means I have more fodder for Elten's effect!" The thief retorted as he pocketed Chick the Yellow causing Elten's attack to increase to 5400. "I end my turn but even if you tribute Scout Plane for something stronger you can't beat my Scorpion." The thief added as Brandon drew his card.
"Do you guys think Brandon can win?" Chloe asked with a gulp as she stared down the monster. "And if he does lose what should we do then?"
"He won't lose; he still has Dark Armed Dragon in his deck." Tyler reassured her as she turned to him. "Once he summons him it won't matter if Elten has six thousand or ten thousand attack points, all Brandon will have to do is remove a Dark Type monster from play and he'll be in the driver's seat."
"How cute, your friends think that you have a chance against me." The thief said with a scoff and Brandon ignored him. "You may as well surrender at this point Brandon."
"Not going to happen!" Brandon retorted before looking at his drawn card. "At the moment I have thirteen monsters in my graveyard, nine more than the amount that's required to summon my best monster."
"Why are you telling me this? Are you actually admitting defeat?" The thief asked and Brandon shook his head. "Then why?"
"Because I just drew a Spell Card that can help me get around that problem." Brandon explained as he played the card. "I activate The Beginning of the End, since I have over seven dark type monsters in my graveyard this will let me remove five of them from play in order to draw three cards."
"Hey wait a sec…." The thief went to protest but stopped when Brandon pocketed the five monsters and drew three cards. "You still have too many cards in the graveyard to summon your monster!"
"Not anymore, I activate Pot of Avarice!" Brandon played the card and the thief's eyes widened as Brandon retrieved five monsters from his graveyard and returned them to his deck before drawing two more cards. "And now the stage is set, I summon my best monster, Dark Armed Dragon!" Brandon plated the card and the sinister looking dragon appeared on the field (7/2800/1000). "Obviously he can't attack due to Nightmare's Steel Cage but I don't need to attack in order to destroy Elten."
"This isn't happening!" The thief yelled out as Brandon pocketed Tour Guide from the Underworld and the dragon raised its tail high before bringing it down and crushing the Dark Scorpion. "You may have destroyed Elten but all I'll need to do is use Monster Reborn to bring him back and….." The thief trailed off as it hit him.
"Elten's attack power will be back to normal, wouldn't it?" Brandon asked and the thief nodded reluctantly. "What's the big deal? You'll still be able to use its effect right?"
"Err…..no." The thief said reluctantly. "I can only use its effect if I summon the monster via a Synchro Summon, otherwise I'd just be stuck with a 2400 beatstick."
"Well that's too bad for you!" Brandon retorted before looking over his hand. "That's odd, none of the other broken cards that they have used had such a restriction so why does this one?" Brandon thought before turning to the thief. "Since I can't attack I'll end my turn but not before I discard three cards due to the handsize limit." Brandon announced and once he discarded the cards the thief drew his card.
"Ugh, there's gotta be something I can do! Knowing my luck Victor will probably have my soul destroyed if I lose this duel because of how epically I've failed!" The thief thought before looking at his hand. "Hah! Nice!" The thief thought before playing the card. "I activate a Spell Card called The Pillager."
"They're still printing that thing?!" Brandon thought out loud as he walked over to the thief. "I thought that thing was banned after Battle City."
"It was but I don't care! Now show me your hand rich boy!" The thief demanded and Brandon reluctantly turned his cards around. "Okay, Dark Crusader, Maiden of Macabre, Magic Planter, Lightning Vortex, Polymerization and some winged beast that I don't recognize, I think we have a winner here!" The thief thought before grinning. "I'll take Lightning Vortex if you don't mind."
"I do mind but it's not like I have a choice here!" Brandon responded before handing over the Spell Card and walking back to his side of the field.
"Too bad for you because now I'm activating it!" The thief said as he played the card and once he discarded a card lightning struck the huge dragon destroying it. "Now that the path is clear I summon my second copy of Cliff the Trap Remover!" The thief played the card and the smartest member of the Dark Scorpions appeared on the field (4/1200/1000). "What do you have to say about that?"
"I activate my Trap Card Hidden Soldier!" Brandon responded before picking up a card. "Since you just normal summoned a monster I can use this cards effect to special summon Dark Crusader!" Brandon played the card and the skeleton knight appeared on the field (4/1600/200). "Your Trap Remover may be stronger due to the Orichalcos…." Brandon trailed off as Cliff's attack increased to 1700. "But thanks to my Spell Card you can't attack for another turn."
"God damn it, why can't you just give up already? You have nine-hundred life-points left for fuck's sake!" The thief yelled out and Brandon frowned.
"I've only ever given up when it was obvious that there was no way that I could win, that's only happened once and that was back in the Battle City Semi-Finals." Brandon responded before grinning. "Besides, the day that I give up because a thief and a coward is beating me is the day that I give up my inheritance."
"I'm no coward!" The thief retorted before looking over his hand. "Make your damn move already!" The thief added and Brandon drew his card as the cage disappeared. "Just gotta relax, Dark Armed Dragon's back in the graveyard and even if he got it back in his hand he still has too many cards in his graveyard to summon him." The thief thought as Brandon played his drawn card.
"Since I have a Dark Type monster on my side of the field I can Special Summon Kuro Kuro Kuro from my hand." Brandon played the card and a small strange looking bird appeared on the field, it had a tiny body and a huge head, his feathers where blue in color and it had blades attacked to its feet (2/900/600).
"Hey, it's the monster I saw in your hand!" The thief realized as he tried to stop himself from laughing. "Why the hell do you even have that thing in your deck?"
"I know this little guy doesn't look like much but then again neither do you." Brandon said as he glanced at the thief. "On a more serious note I added this card to my deck for a reason."
"Do I even want to know?" The thief asked and Brandon didn't answer, instead he played another card and Kuro Kuro Kuro disappeared from the field, in its place stood Caius once more. "Argh, not that guy again!"
"Sorry but I returned Caius to my deck when I played Pot of Avarice." Brandon responded as Caius prepared a ball of dark energy. "Now I'd say which monster I'm planning to target but since you only have one card to target….." Brandon trailed off as Caius launched the ball of energy at Cliff destroying him and bringing the thief's life-points down to 5100. "Next I activate Dark Crusader's effect; I discard one monster from my hand…" Brandon trailed off as he discarded Maiden of Macabre from his hand. "And his attack increases to 2000." Brandon announced as Dark Crusader's attack increased. "And this duel is over."
"Wait, what? I'll still have plenty of life-points left!" The thief responded and Brandon shook his head.
"Forget about my facedown card? Guess what? It's a trap and I'm about to show you why they're not overrated." Brandon announced as the trap card flipped up. "I activate Call of the Haunted and I use it to bring back Maiden of Macabre!" Brandon announced and the thief's eyes widened as the geisha returned to the field. "Now I could switch Scout Plane to attack mode but let's face it, this duel's over!"
"No! No! No!" The thief yelled out as he frantically looked over his hand. "Where the hell is my copy of Battle Fader when I need it?!"
"Dark Crusader, Maiden of Macabre, Caius, finish him off!" Brandon commanded and the three monsters launched their attacks at the thief bringing his life-points down to zero, the thief collapsed just before the Seal took his soul and Brandon sighed in relief. "That was way to close." Brandon commented before walking over to the thief's unconscious form and retrieving the laptop, he opened it up and grinned.
"What's the damage?" Chloe asked as she and Tyler walked up to him, Brandon looked up and grinned.
"Fortunately it seems that they never even bothered to try to get past the login screen, knowing Chelsea she probably has at least ten passwords for this thing anyway." Brandon shrugged his shoulders as he stood up. "Besides that there doesn't seem to be any major damage but I guess Chelsea would be the best person to check for that."
"I think she was asking about you." Tyler commented and Brandon sweat-dropped.
"Still a bit sore from that guy's opening move but I'm otherwise fine." Brandon responded as he handed Tyler the laptop. "You said that you'd deliver the laptop to Chelsea personally, I think it's only fitting if you take it back to her."
"Agreed, still you'd better let the nurse check you out, just to be safe." Tyler told him and Brandon nodded in response before the two boys made their way to the main building.
*later*
"I'm beginning to wish I had brought my IPod with me." Chelsea moaned as she rested her chin in her hand, it had been a long wait and all Chelsea was able to learn in that time was that Martin liked to play chess in his spare time.
"I thought you enjoyed games of strategy." Martin answered as he moved a piece. "And that's checkmate!"
"Yeah but I prefer video games and Duel Monsters." Chelsea moaned as she gathered up her pieces. "And I prefer winning for that matter."
"I wasn't the president of the chess club in my school for nothing Ms. Cunningham." Martin answered as he gathered up his pieces.
"That explains a lot." Chelsea muttered under her breath as she got ready for another game.
"I heard that." Martin answered and Chelsea sweat-dropped whilst laughing nervously, fortunately for her there was a knock at the door. "Come in!" Martin called out and the door opened revealing Tyler and Chloe. "Ah, has there been any word?"
"Brandon found the thief; he had targeted Chelsea's laptop by mistake as he was originally meant to target the laptop we found." Tyler answered and Chelsea turned to them. "From that you can probably guess that he was an Orichalcos Duelist, fortunately Brandon was able to defeat him."
"That is good news indeed." Martin agreed with a nod. "How is Brandon?"
"Sore and being checked out by the nurse, otherwise he's fine." Tyler answered before turning to Chelsea. "Oh yes, and I think I found something that belongs to you Chelsea." Tyler added before giving her laptop back.
"My laptop…." Chelsea said as she grinned broadly before taking it back. "Thanks Tyler, if I was single and straight I'd probably kiss you and Brandon."
"Think nothing off it." Tyler said as he turned to Martin. "Can she leave?"
"Yes, now that the threat has passed she can." Martin nodded and the three teens grinned before leaving the office. "Great, now I have no-one to play Chess with."
*meanwhile at sea*
"Well, that was a bust." Jack grunted as he turned off the laptop. "Hey boss, what do you want me to do with that idiot?"
"I'll handle it, first I'll locate the hospital he's staying at then I'll have his soul destroyed and him taken off life-support." Victor answered and Jack nodded. "Once you reach the mainland go to the local branch, there will be a helicopter there waiting to transport you."
"I got it." Jack responded before hanging up.
*later*
The abandoned dorm was as quiet as ever, it had seen no activity since the students with Duel Spirits dueled here, that is until tonight when said duel spirits where meeting in the underground area.
"This had better be good!" Lord of Dragons commented with a frown. "I need to help Marcus with his homework."
"Silent Magician and Armed Dragon only call meetings like this when there's something urgent going on." Serene Psychic Witch answered and Wattchimera nodded in agreement. "I assure you it is good!"
"How would you know? You're the late bloomer off the group." Thestalous pointed out and Serene Psychic Witch glared at him.
"I apologize for the wait." Silent Magician said as she and Armed Dragon appeared in the room. "I have just received a message from the spirit world and Armed Dragon had to confirm it."
"Confirm what?" Wattchimera asked with a frown.
"That the Legendary Dragons are ready to return." Armed Dragon answered and the whole room fell silent when they heard that.