It had been a half hour since the last Tag Team duel and every other student was talking about the match but more specifically the ending of the match and the Dragon monster that Miranda had summoned, almost to the point that it was overshadowing the fact that there was a second duel that day.
One of the duelists competing in that match was making his way to the duel arena, Kristopher O'Neil was a tall Osiris Red student with short black hair and blue eyes behind a pair of glasses, he had never met Chloe or her friends before but he had seen them around the school and seen them duel once or twice.
"I know me and Lamont will have a tough task ahead of us, not just in terms of winning this match but topping Miranda's performance in her match." Kristopher thought as he looked at his deck. "Still my deck's got me this far and with any luck it'll take me all the way to the finals."
"Going in there without me Kristopher?" Kristopher looked up and saw his tag team partner running up to him, Lamont was shorter than Kristopher and had short blonde hair and blue eyes. "You're a bit over eager aren't you?"
"Sorry, I was daydreaming." Kristopher shrugged as he turned to the Obelisk Blue Student. "That and thinking about the end of the last match."
"Indeed but we should do well." Lamont nodded in agreement as they stepped out onto the arena where their opponents where waiting. "Sorry for the wait ladies but we are here."
"Yeah, we can see that." Billie commented as she rolled her eyes before activating her duel disk, Billie was the youngest female Osiris Red student at fifteen and she had long red hair tied up in a ponytail and blue eyes. "And I don't know about you but I intend to win this match!"
"We all do my deer, but why don't we be realistic? Only one team will win this match and it'll be the all-male team." Lamont responded as he and Kristopher activated their duel disks. "The entire tournament has, so far, been dominated by Obelisk Blue."
"With teams like Kimberly and Nathan Troy and Theresa Daniels and Brandon Thomas are you really surprised by that?" Carmelo responded as she activated her duel disk and the four duelists drew their opening hands, she was the second shortest of the four duelists and had shoulder length black hair and blue eyes. "Enough talk, we have an order to decide, don't we?"
"Well the order the other duelists used worked just as well so why change it?" Kristopher asked and the other duelists nodded. "So just so we're clear here, Billie first, then me, then Carmelo and finally Lamont?"
"That works for me!" Billie responded as she drew another card.
"I almost forgot about the second match." Chloe commented as she watched the banter between the four duelists. "You heard of these guys?"
"Seen Billie around the girl's dorm, heard that she has a pretty nasty temper but not as nasty as mine." Chelsea answered with a frown. "Not sure about the others."
"I'd have to ask Brandon and Theresa about the Obelisk Blue Students." Lance said with a frown. "As for Kristopher, isn't he in your dorm?"
"What gave it away? Was it the Osiris Red Blazer?" Chelsea asked with a dull look on her face. "But yeah, he is in Osiris Red but we haven't really chatted with him since he's in the boy's dorm and all, not saying we haven't seen him around but we haven't spoken to him either."
"So in other words, it's a duel full of unknowns." Lance responded and the two girls nodded in agreement. "Well it'll be interesting to watch at least, hell we may get another surprise like we did in the last duel."
"Somehow I doubt either of them has anything like Miranda's dragon in their decks but you never know." Chloe shrugged her shoulders as Billie made her move.
"I start my turn with the Spell Card called Pot of Duality with this I get to have a sneak peek at the top three cards off my deck and chose one to add to my hand whilst the others are shuffled into my deck." Billie played the card and picked up the top three cards off her deck, she gave a satisfied smile before adding one card to her hand, shuffling the others into her deck and sending the Spell Card to the graveyard.
"You realize that that Spell Card also prevents you from Special Summoning right?" Kristopher asked and Billie nodded.
"I'm well aware of that but then again the card I've added doesn't Special Summon monsters." Billie said before playing the card she added. "I activate Terra-Forming!" Billie played the card and picked up her deck; once she found the card she was looking for she added it to her hand and shuffled her deck. "And now I'll activate the field spell! Go Madolche Chateau!"
"Did you say Madolches!?" Kristopher echoed as the scenery changed to a castle that looked like it was made of candy. "I can't say I was expecting that!"
"What can I say? I like keeping my opponents guessing." Billie responded before playing another card. "Next I activate Madolche Ticket but we'll get to this Continuous Spell Card's effect next turn, for now I set two cards facedown and a monster in defense to end my turn." Billie set the three cards and once they appeared on the field Kristopher drew his card.
"Maldolche's just made this duel a lot harder but it's nothing I can't handle." Kristopher thought to himself before looking at the card that he had drawn. "I start my turn by summoning Gradius in attack mode!"
"You're summoning what?!" Billie and Carmelo asked simultaneously as a small jet craft clearly based on the hit video game Gradius appeared on the field (4/1200/800).
"And here I thought Rachel's idea to summon Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth was stupid….." Billie trailed off as she stared at the outdated monster. "Who the hell runs that thing nowadays?!"
"This is coming from someone running Madolches?" Kristopher asked and Billie growled at him. "Back to the point, now that I have a Gradius on my side of the field I can Special Summon Gradius's Option!" Kristopher played the card and a second copy of the jet fighter appeared on the field with the same stats as Gradius. "Now granted, my two monsters aren't very strong at all so I'll just set these cards facedown….." Kristopher trailed off as three facedown cards appeared on the field. "And end my turn."
"I never thought I'd go on a nostalgia trip during a duel." Chelsea commented as a large sweat-drop rolled down her head. "Then again I never thought I'd see anyone run those cards in this day and age."
"As much as I'd like to argue about their effects, I can't really do that." Lance sighed as he leaned back. "Gradius is a product of a simpler time, hell he was brand new when Yugi Moto was still dueling, but I guess Kristopher is running a retro machine deck."
"Even then there's got to be better cards to run in it then Gradius." Chloe commented with a frown. "Pretty much the only thing that's stopping them from destroying it is the tournament rules." Chloe added as she leaned forward. "I don't know what the hell he's running but if his team wins this match they'll be a team to look out for in the next round." Chloe thought as Carmelo made her move.
"Dolls and retro machines, if I didn't know Lamont's deck from personal experience I'd say he was running a Mokey-Mokey deck just based on what's been played so far." Carmelo thought as she looked over her hand. "I start my turn with a Spell Card called Flight of the Dragons!" Carmelo played the card which depicted several famous dragon type monsters flying in the air with the Blue-Eyes White Dragon at the front. "Think of this as a Reinforcement of the Army for Dragons."
"Yet another Dragon deck?" Kristopher asked as Carmelo picked up her deck. "Haven't there been enough of those recently?"
"Actually there's only been three Dragon Decks played so far, Marcus Reynolds's, Alexander Bender's and Nicky Tryon's, Miranda Kaiba's doesn't count because it's more of a throwback to her dad's deck even with the cards she added." Carmelo pointed out before finding the card she was looking for and adding it to her hand before sending her Spell Card to the graveyard. "I set one monster in defense mode and two cards facedown to end my turn." Carmelo announced and Lamont drew his card.
"I activate a Spell Card called Onslaught of the Fire Kings!" Lamont played the card and picked up his deck. "Since the two of you have cards on your side of the field and I don't this Spell Card shall allow me to Special Summon one Fire Type Beast Warrior, Winged Beast or Beast Type Monster from my deck, in this case I'm going with a Beast Warrior, more specifically Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Hawk!"
"I heard you were running Fire Fist nowadays." Carmelo commented as Lamont played the card and a man in blue and gold armor appeared on the field, however the weirdest thing about him was the wings protruding from his back (3/200/1500). "I'd say something about originality being dead but considering what else has been played so far it may be redundant."
"Yes well, whilst Hawk's effects are negated and he'll be destroyed the moment that I end my turn I have no intention of keeping him around that long." Lamont answered before playing another card. "For my Normal Summon I bring out the Tuner Monster Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Boar!" Lamont played the card and a humanoid boar in gold armor appeared on the field (4/1100/1400). "Before I continue I equip Boar with the Spell Card Synchro Boost, increasing his attack by five hundred and most importantly increasing his level by one."
"I can see where this is going." Billie commented as Boar's attack increased to 1600 and its level increased to five. "You're going to Synchro Summon Crimson Blader, well bring it! I know that thing's effect from Lance's first duel in the Battle City Semi-Finals."
"My dear, you are under the mistaken impression that I run Crimson Blader." Lamont said as the two Fire Fist monsters leapt into the air, Boar dissolved into five Synchro Rings that quickly surrounded Hawk. "But no, I am going for something far more lethal! I tune Hawk and Boar together to Synchro Summon Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Kirin!" Lamont played the card and once the flash faded a new monster appeared on the field, it was a tall, muscular man with a long black beard who was wearing weird armor (8/2000/2800).
"I fail to see how that is an improvement over Crimson Blader." Billie commented and Carmelo nodded in agreement.
"Strength isn't everything as I'll now demonstrate; when Kirin is successfully Synchro Summoned I can take one "Fire Formation" Spell Card and set it directly from my deck." Lamont said before picking up and searching through his deck, once he found the card he was looking for he set the card and shuffled his deck.
"So why don't you activate it? It's not like it's a trap card?" Billie asked and Lamont nodded in response.
"An excellent idea, now I activate it, Fire Formation – Tensu! Now in addition to my Normal Summon I get an additional summon, such is Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Spirit!" Lamont played the card and the monster that appeared was a dark purple spirit like monster wearing silver and gold armor (3/500/200). "And to get your question out of the way no, it's not a Spirit Monster."
"I'm not worried about that thing!" Billie said defiantly and Lamont chuckled.
"You should be worried about his effect, when he's Normal Summoned I can Special Summon one Fire Fist monster from my graveyard so long as it's a Level 3 monster such as Hawk!" Lamont played the card and the winged man appeared on the field again. "But he won't be staying around for much longer because Spirit is another Tuner Monster!"
"Oh, that is just great!" Billie said sarcastically as the two monsters leapt into the air, Spirit dissolved into three Synchro Rings that quickly surrounded Hawk.
"I certainly like to think so! Now I tune my two monsters together to Synchro Summon Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Horse Prince!" Lamont played the card and another monster appeared on the field, it was a man with long wild black and silver hair wearing midriff bearing armor who was riding a blue horse (6/2200/2200). "And this card has a lethal effect of his own; after I Synchro Summon it I can Special Summon one Level 3 Fire Monster from my deck such as Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Chicken in defense mode!"
"Okay, your monsters are getting weird." Billie commented as Lamont played the card and a red-haired woman in multicolored armor appeared on the field (3/1500/100).
"Whilst that may be true Chicken has an effect of her own, when she's Special Summoned via the effect of a Fire Fist monster she lets me search through my deck for another one." Lamont announced as he picked up his deck again and searched through it, once he found the card he was looking for he added it to his hand.
"If that's the case why didn't you summon Horse Prince first?" Billie asked and Lamont frowned.
"Horse Prince comes with a side effect, after its Synchro Summoned I can't summon any more Level 5 or higher monsters for the rest of the turn." Lamont explained before grinning. "Oh yes and thanks to Tenju all my monsters gain 100 attack points." Lamont added as Chicken, Kirin and Horse Prince's attacks increased to 1600, 2100, and 2300 respectively. "Kirin has another effect but this turn has dragged on enough so I end my turn with two facedown cards."
"Well if this was a contest for longest, most overcomplicated move then Lamont wins." Chelsea commented as a large sweat-drop rolled down her head. "As for the Fire Fists, didn't they just come out?"
"Yeah, they did." Lance nodded in response. "Where do you think I got my copy of Onslaught of the Fire Kings?" Lance added and Chelsea nodded. "They've been out for a year over in Europe and Phil's told me that he's seen some crazy opening moves since they've been released."
"Yeah I kinda guessed that when he summoned two Synchros in the same turn." Chelsea responded with a nod as Billie drew her card.
"Okay, I can't get past either of Lamont's strongest monsters and I don't know if that facedown card is something that'll protect him." Billie thought before turning her attention to Kristopher. "Kris on the other hand has two week monsters on his side of the field, easy pickings if you ask me!" Billie thought before playing her drawn card. "I summon Madolche Chouxvalier in attack mode!" Billie announced as the new monster appeared on the field, it was a young girl wearing all black who was riding a white horse with a gold mane (4/1700/1300). "And thanks to my field spell she gets a power boost of five hundred attack and defense points and whilst she's not as strong as either of Lamont's Synchros she is stronger than Gradius..." Billie said with a grin only for her eyes to widen when Madolche Chouxvalier's attack dropped to 2100. "What the….."
"That is Kirin's second effect; all my opponent's monsters lose one hundred attack points for each face-up Spell or Trap Card on my side of the field." Lamont explained and Billie frowned. "You were saying?"
"Madolche Chouxvalier, attack Gradius!" Billie commanded and the horse galloped towards the outdated machine…..
"Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right B A start!" Kristopher yelled out only to sweat-drop at the looks he was getting and sighed. "I activate my trap card Konami Code!" Kristopher announced as the trap card flipped up depicting an NES Controller being held by someone hitting the start button. "This can only be activated if I have Gradius and Gradius's option on my side of the field and one of them is attacked, it negates the attack and lets me draw one card." Kristopher explained before drawing a card.
"Why didn't you just say that instead of reciting the Konami Code?" Billie asked before shaking her head. "Forget I asked, I set a card facedown and end my turn." Billie announced and Kristopher drew another card.
"Good, now I can start my true move!" Kristopher said with a broad grin as his two machines vanished from the field. "I sacrifice Gradius and Gradius's Option to summon B.E.S. Covered Core in attack mode!" Kristopher announced as he played the card and in Gradius's spot stood a much larger; UFO like ship that was silver and gold in color and had a pair of ray guns (7/2500/800). "And when he's normal summoned he gets two counters!" Kristopher added as the ship's shields activated. "But more importantly he can't be destroyed by battle, speaking of which Covered Core, attack Madolche Chouxvalier!" Kristopher commanded as the ship pointed its guns at and subsequently vaporized the doll bringing Billie's life-points down to 7600. "What do you have to say about that?" Kristopher asked with a massive grin.
"Thanks." Billie responded and Kristopher's grin quickly turned into a look of confusion. "Sure, you have the lead but by destroying Madolche Chouxvalier you've activated an effect that applies to all Madolche monsters, instead of being sent to the graveyard they get shuffled into my deck." Billie explained as she shuffled her monster into her deck. "But why stop there? At the same time you've activated Madolche Ticket's effect which lets me search for a Madolche monster and add it to my hand." Billie explained before picking up her deck, once she found the card that she was looking for she added it to her hand.
"Fine, I'll end my turn at that." Kristopher said with a grunt and Carmelo grinned before drawing her card.
"Excellent, I have everything I need for my next move!" Carmelo thought before playing a card. "First I summon the monster I retrieved from my deck last turn, Hieratic Dragon of Gebeb!" Carmelo announced as the monster appeared on the field, it was a large orange dragon with golden armor (4/1800/400).
"You realize that for as strong as he is he'll be weakened by Kirin's effect, right?" Lamont asked as Gebeb's attack dropped to 1700.
"Maybe but he's still stronger than your chicken!" Carmelo pointed out as she pointed to Lamont's monster. "Gebeb, roast his chicken!" Carmelo commanded and the dragon breathed fire at the chicken destroying it. "And now that he's destroyed a card by battle my dragon's effect activates letting me Special Summon another dragon from my hand, deck or graveyard."
"Does that apply to any dragon?" Kristopher asked and Carmelo nodded.
"Yes and before you accuse that effect of being broken I'll add that the attack and defense of said monster becomes zero." Carmelo added before playing a card. "Like Alexandrite Dragon for instance!" Carmelo added as the beautiful, crystalline dragon appeared on the field (4/2000/100) and its attack and defense dropped to zero almost as quickly as it appeared. "But it won't be around long enough for you to destroy it! I move to my second main phase and use my two dragons to construct an Overlay Network!" Carmelo announced as the two dragons vanished into white orbs of light. "And I do this so that I can summon the mighty Queen Dragon Dijinn to the field in attack mode!" Carmelo played the card and the female dragon rider appeared on the field (Rank: 4/2200/1200).
"Impressive but you realize that my Synchros are stronger, don't you?" Lamont asked and Carmelo just grinned.
"Who said I was done? Next I activate my Spell Card Foolish Burial!" Carmelo announced before picking up and searching through her deck, once she found the card she was looking for she sent it to the graveyard and shuffled her deck. "Next I activate Raiding the Dragon's Cave, since the monster I just sent to the graveyard is a Level 5 or higher monster this lets me draw two cards." Carmelo added before drawing two cards. "Now I activate my Queen's effect, I detach one overlay unit from her to Special Summon the monster I just sent to the graveyard, Hiretic Dragon of Eset!" Carmelo announced as the new monster appeared on the field, it was a large purple dragon wearing bronze armor (5/1900/1200).
"A Level 5 monster with 1900 attack points in this day and age?" Kristopher asked with a raised eyebrow. "That thing has to have an effect of some kind."
"You'd be right there." Carmelo nodded with a grin. "But I don't need him on the field so I'll use him as tribute fodder for another Hiretic Dragon's effect!" Carmelo added as the monster vanished from the field. "It's an effect that lets me summon him from my hand! Come forth Hieratic Dragon of Nebthet!" Carmelo played the card and another dragon appeared on the field, this one looked like Eset but its scales where a darker shade of purple (5/2000/1600).
"Well, that thing's a little bit better." Kristopher commented and Carmelo grinned.
"I know but he isn't sticking around either because by sacrificing Eset for any reason it triggers his effect." Carmelo added as she picked up another card from her hand. "And this effect is basically the same effect as Cebeb's , this time I'm special summoning an old relic from a simpler time in duel monsters known as Curse of Dragon!" Carmelo played the card and the yellow; snake like dragon used by Yugi Moto appeared on the field (5/2000/1500) and like Alexandrite Dragon before it its attack and defense dropped to zero. "And once again I construct an overlay network!"
"How long is this turn going to take?" Kristopher asked as a large sweat-drop rolled down his head, Carmelo just shook her head as the two dragons vanished into white orbs of white light.
"Don't worry, I'm almost done, I use my monsters to summon Adreus, Keeper of Armageddon!" Carmelo played the card and a tall female fiend with pale skin appeared on the field, she was wearing a long black dress, had large wings and had wild hair (Rank: 5/2600/1700). "And I know she'll lose attack points thanks to Kirin's effect but that won't be an issue, I detach one overlay unit to destroy Kirin via Adreus's effect!" Carmelo announced as she sent Nebthet to the graveyard and Adreus cast a spell at Kirin destroying it. "Now as Kristopher has pointed out this turn has gone on too long so I'll end my turn." Carmelo announced and Lamont breathed a sigh of relief before drawing his card.
"If I knew that the turns would take this long I would've brought my laptop." Chelsea commented as a large sweat-drop rolled down her head. "Are Lamont and Carmelo competing to see who can do the longest turns in the tournament?"
"I don't know but I wouldn't be surprised if they were." Lance agreed with a nod. "Still Carmelo has two nasty XYZ monsters on her side of the field and Lamont just lost two of his monsters, I'm giving her the advantage right now."
"Then again the advantage can change in an instant." Chloe added as she watched Lamont make his move. "Why didn't she target Covered Core though? It's stronger than Kirin and Kirin's effect wasn't doing that much damage."
"You're asking me? It's been ages since I last saw that card in question." Lance answered as they watched the duel.
"Losing Kirin and Chicken was a pretty big blow but on the other hand I have other moves that I can make." Lamont thought before looking at his drawn card. "Perfect!" Lamont thought before playing the card. "I play a Spell Card called De-Synchro! With this I can split Horse Prince into its Synchro Material monsters!"
"Okay but what's the point?" Billie asked as Horse Prince vanished from the field and Hawk and Spirit returned to the field. "You won't get any benefit from tuning them together again!"
"That's true but that's also why I have a different move in mind." Lamont answered as his two monsters vanished into white orbs of light. "More specifically using my two monsters to construct an Overlay Unit and summon Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Lion Emperor!" Lamont played the card and a portal opened up on the field, from it emerged a new monster, it was a white humanoid lion silver and gold armor (Rank: 3/2200/200).
"He's only one-hundred points stronger than Horse Prince, what's the point of summoning him?" Billie asked as Lion Emperor's attack increased to 2300.
"Because Lion Emperor can do things that Horse Prince can't, why do you think he's a prince and my current monster's an emperor?" Lamont asked before returning Hawk to the graveyard. "Observe! By detaching one Overlay Unit from Lion Emperor I can take one Fire Monster from my graveyard and add it to my hand like Chicken!" Lamont added as he retrieved the card from his hand. "However I cannot use it for the rest of the turn but he'll come in handy later!"
"Yeah, so he can search out more monsters." Carmelo thought with a frown as Lamont looked over his hand.
"Now for obvious reasons I can't destroy Carmelo's stronger XYZ Monster." Lamont continued as he turned his attention to her. "But where would be the fun in that? I activate my trap card Fire Formation – Kaiyo!" Lamont announced as the trap card flipped up. "As for its effect, why don't I demonstrate it?" Lamont asked rhetorically before pointing to Billie's facedown monster. "Lion Emperor, crush her defense and demonstrate the ability of my trap card!" Lamont commanded and the monster charged towards the facedown monster, revealed to be a young red-haired girl wearing an old fashioned dress and hat (4/1400/1200) which was quickly destroyed.
"The monster you just destroyed was Madolche Magileine and like my other Madolches….." Billie trailed off before wincing as her life-points dropped to 6500. "You never said anything about your monster having a trampling effect!"
"He normally wouldn't have one." Lamont said before pointing to his trap. "But my trap card allows my monsters to inflict piercing damage! Now are you going to explain your monster's effect?"
"Err, yeah, when she's normal or flip summoned I can add another Madolche monster to my hand." Billie said once she shuffled the monster in her deck and added another monster to her hand. "Not only that but Madolche Ticket's effect kicks in as well letting me search for another Madolche monster!" Billie added before picking up her deck and searching through it again, once she found the card she was looking for she shuffled the deck again once she added it to her hand.
"Searching for two monsters for the price of one, that's a very impressive combo." Lamont complimented her before looking over his hand. "I believe that will do it for my turn." Lamont announced and Billie quickly drew her card. "Madolches are formidable but most of the archetype lacks any heavy hitters, so long as Carmelo's monsters don't become a problem I'll be fine!"
"So Chelsea gets nostalgic flashbacks to some video game she played as a kid and now I'm getting nostalgic flashbacks to one of my favorite Disney Movies." Chloe commented as she scratched her head, Chelsea turned to her and smirked quickly getting the idea.
"Lion King, right?" Chelsea asked and Chloe nodded.
"Yeah, I even named one of my dogs after the female lead." Chloe responded and a sheepish grin. "I'm half expecting one of them to play a card that has the same effect on Lance."
"Unless there's a card that automatically plays 1980s Metallica albums I highly doubt it." Lance commented earning odd looks from his female companions. "Yeah, I know, I'm too young to have been around when they were originally released but still."
"I'm hardly one to talk! I'm pretty sure my parents were teenagers when The Lion King came out." Chloe responded as they watched Billie make her move.
"Okay, this isn't too bad, I mean I'm behind in life-points and they have powerful monsters on their side of the field….." Billie's train of thought trailed off before she glanced over at Carmelo's side of the field. "Carmelo, can I….."
"If you want to borrow Keeper of Armageddon go ahead." Carmelo sighed and Billie quickly nodded as Keeper of Armageddon appeared on her side of the field. "Just be careful with her!"
"I'll try." Billie nodded before grinning. "For starters I'm detaching an overlay unit from Keeper of Armageddon…."
"You telegraphed that move harder than Chloe Richardson telegraphs half of her moves." Lamont sighed as he discarded a card. "I discard Effect Veiler from my hand to negate the effect and since its part of the chain Keeper of Armageddon loses her effect!"
"I told you to be careful with that card." Carmelo grunted as Keeper of Armageddon doubled over in pain. "Now she's nothing but a beatstick!"
"Don't worry, I have a back-up plan…..kinda….." Billie trailed off as she looked at her hand. "Man I seriously screwed up that move!" Billie gulped before playing a card. "I set a card facedown and end my turn." Billie announced and Kristopher drew his card.
"Why is it that people like to make fun of my tendency to telegraph moves?" Chloe asked as she ran her hand down her face. "Yes I know it's a habit of mine but still!"
"Do you really want me to answer that?" Chelsea asked and Chloe quickly shook her head in response and Chelsea grinned. "I thought not."
"I haven't even telegraphed any of my moves in the past ten duels I've been in." Chloe commented as she folded her arms. "Hell, going for a Synchro right away during our tag duel would've qualified as that."
"Yeah, I realize that now but I didn't realize it at the time." Chelsea agreed as they watched the duel.
"I activate a Spell Card called Foolish Burial! With this I send one monster from my deck to the graveyard." Kristopher played the card and picked up his deck before searching through it and once he found the card that he was looking for he sent it to the graveyard and shuffled his deck. "But my monster won't remain in the graveyard for much longer! I activate Monster Reborn to bring it back!"
"Kristopher used this combo during our practice duels." Lamont thought as Kristopher retrieved the monster from his graveyard. "Boss Rush would've been a better choice but I guess he wants to hold onto Covered Core." Lamont thought as Kristopher played the card.
"You've met Covered Core and now meet B.E.S. Big Core MK-2!" Kristopher played the card and a new monster appeared on the field, it was a massive silver space shuttle that prepared its weapons for firing at the enemy (6/2400/1100). "Why go through that much trouble to summon a Level 6 monster with above average attack points? Because when Big Core MK-2 is Special Summoned he gains three counters!" Kristopher explained as three shields appeared in front of the plane.
"Yeah I'm still not seeing the point." Billie commented and Kristopher grinned.
"We'll see about that, Big Core, Covered Core, attack her life-points directly!" Kristopher commanded and the two planes prepared their weapons…..
"I activate my Trap Card Waboku!" Billie's trap flipped up and the three priestesses blocked the blasts from the planes. "Sorry Kris but you're going to have to try harder than that."
"He won't have to." Carmelo answered and Billie blinked. "It would've been better to take the damage because Lamont can use his turn to inflict even more damage to you as soon as he's able to summon one of his heavy hitters again."
"Crap!" Billie gulped once she realized her mistake. "What's up with me today? I've never made this many misplays in one duel!" Billie thought with as sweat rolled down her forehead.
"I end my turn at that." Kristopher announced and Carmelo drew her card.
"Billie's been making a lot of mistakes, seems the pressure of teaming up with an Obelisk Blue Student is getting to her." Carmelo thought before looking over her hand. "Why not give everyone a little help? I activate Spellbook inside the Pot!" Carmelo played the card and the four duelists drew three times. "Next I activate a Spell Card! Go Swing of Memories!" Carmelo announced as the Spell Card flipped up. "With this I can Special Summon a Normal Type monster from my graveyard, only downside is that the monster will be destroyed once I end my turn, I believe Curse of Dragon will do nicely!" Carmelo played the card and the yellow snake like dragon returned to the field.
"But knowing you that dragon won't be around long enough for that." Lamont commented and Carmelo nodded before playing a card.
"That's right! I activate another Spell Card, Hieratic Seal of Supremacy!" Carmelo announced as the Spell Card's hologram appeared on the field. "This card's effect is simple enough; with it I can Special Summon one Hieratic monster from my hand, say hello to Hieratic Seal of the Sun Dragon Overlord!"
"That's gotta be the longest name in Duel Monsters history." Kristopher commented with a dull look on his face as the monster appeared on the field, simply put it was a massive golden sphere with a red, Egyptian style eye on its front (8/0/0). "And based on those stats the most useless from the look of things."
"I'll admit that a Level 8 monster with non-existent attack and defense points isn't exactly impressive." Carmelo conceded before playing another card. "But in case you haven't noticed I haven't done my normal summon yet, so I tribute Curse of Dragon!" Carmelo announced as the yellow dragon disappeared from the field. "So that I can bring back an old friend, that mighty Hieratic Dragon of Eset in attack mode!" Carmelo played the card and the purple dragon returned to the field
"That's a lot of effort just to swarm the field." Kristopher commented as he folded his arms and Carmelo smirked.
"That may be true but when I originally summoned Eset I never got a chance to explain its other effect!" Carmelo responded as the giant sphere started glowing. "And it's a very powerful one! With this effect I can target one face-up dragon type normal monster and increase the levels of all my monsters until it matches that monster's level until I end my turn!" Carmelo announced as Eset and the Sphere disappeared into white orbs of light. "But that doesn't matter because I'm using my dragons to construct an Overlay Network in order to summon my best monster!"
"That doesn't sound good." Kristopher commented and Lamont nodded.
"You have no clue." Lamont responded as Carmelo played the card.
"You really don't! I use my monsters to XYZ Summon Hieratic Sun Dragon Overlord of Heliopolis!" Carmelo played the card and a new monster appeared on the field, it was a massive red and gold dragon that looked majestic and threatening at the same time (Rank: 8/3000/2400). "And I'm not going to waste any time, I activate my dragon's effect! I detach one overlay unit from him…." Carmelo announced as she sent Eset to the graveyard. "And for each card I discard I get to destroy an equal number of monsters!"
"But that will leave you with no cards in your hand!" Kristopher pointed out and Carmelo shook her head before playing another card. "I should've guessed that Super Rejuvenation would be part of that combo!"
"That's right, so I discard two cards from my hand to destroy the cores!" Carmelo announced as she discarded the monsters and the dragon flew towards the machines.
"Nice try but I use my Quick Play Spell Card Forbidden Chalice to protect my partner!" Lamont announced as the dragon doubled over in pain.
"Very clever but you've just made my dragon stronger!" Carmelo responded as her dragon's attack increased to 3400. "Sun Dragon Overlord, attack Covered Core!" Carmelo commanded as the dragon flew towards it.
"Thanks! You just activated Covered Core's effect!" Kristopher announced before searching through his pockets for a few minutes. "Err, this is really awkward but does anyone have any lose change I can borrow?" Kristopher asked sheepishly and the other duelists face-faulted, once she regained her composure Billie tossed him a coin. "Thanks, now how my Core's effect works is simple, I toss this coin and call it; if I call it wrong my core loses a counter!"
"That's it?" Carmelo asked as Kristopher tossed the coin. "I was expecting something a bit more impressive!"
"You'll get something impressive! I call heads!" Kristopher called out as the coin landed on his palm; he looked at it and frowned. "Oh man, I knew I should've added Second Coin Toss to this deck!" Kristopher moaned as Covered Core lost a counter.
"That doesn't matter! Your monsters destroyed!" Carmelo said as her dragon breathed fire at Covered Core bringing Kristopher's life-points down to 7500. "And your Big Core's next!"
"I'd take another look at the field if I where you!" Kristopher responded and Carmelo blinked before realizing, to her shock, that Covered Core was still on the field. "That's Covered Core and Big Core's effects, as long as they have counters on them they can't be destroyed by battle."
"That's going to be a problem." Carmelo admitted as her dragon returned to her side of the field. "I end my turn which activates Super Rejuvenation's effect!" Carmelo announced before drawing three cards. "But why stop there? Super Rejuvenation is a Quick Play Spell meaning that I can activate it during the end phase."
"You're kidding right?" Kristopher asked and Carmelo answered by playing another copy of the Spell Card and drawing three more cards. "How was that not banned long ago?"
"Cards like the Elemental Dragons and my dragons weren't around when this card was released." Carmelo responded as she added her drawn cards to her hand. "As I was saying, it's your move Lamont!" Carmelo added and Lamont drew his card.
"Though if it was just a generic drawing card it would've been banned long ago." Chelsea commented and Chloe nodded in agreement, it was then that Chloe noticed that she was playing a Facebook game on her laptop. "Before you ask, it's a game called Duel Monsters Bam, a Facebook game that basically runs on its own Duel Monsters rules."
"Is it any good?" Chloe asked and Chelsea shook her head.
"As a time waster, yeah it is." Chelsea answered as she closed the laptop. "But the cards can be incredibly broken, not sure how they'd stack up against the cards the Orichalcos Duelists have been using."
"Well as long as those rules stay on that Facebook game and not in the actual game I won't complain." Lance commented as he watched Chelsea play the game over her shoulder. "Duel Monsters is confusing enough already!"
"Tell me about it!" Chelsea agreed as she turned her attention back to the duel.
"I kick things off with a Spell Card called Arkhasic Record!" Lamont played the card and quickly drew twice. "I haven't used either of these cards so I get to keep them for the time being." Lamont added before adding the two cards to his hand. "Next I activate Lion Emperor's effect I detach Spirit to add one fire type monster from my graveyard to my hand, however since I'm sending it to the graveyard anyway I shall use its effect on Spirit!" Lamont announced before sending the monster to the graveyard only to retrieve it just as quickly and add it to his hand, "Downside is that I can't Normal or Special Summon it or a monster with the same name for the rest of the turn."
"That won't stop you from doing another Synchro or XYZ Summon next turn." Carmelo pointed out and Lamont nodded.
"That's true but I'll get to that next turn." Lamont said before turning to Kristopher. "I require the use of your machines."
"Go ahead." Kristopher nodded as Big Core and Covered Core flew over to Lamont's side of the field. "I must apologize to you Billie but your misplay has just eliminated you from the duel, Lion Emperor, Cores, attack her life-points!"
"Hah! Not a problem! Carmelo's monster will protect me!" Billie said confidently but her confidence was quickly shattered when she saw Carmelo shaking her head, next thing she knew the attacks hit bringing her life-points down to zero. "What the hell is your problem?!" Billie demanded as her Spell Cards' holograms disappeared from the field.
"Sorry Billie but I won't tolerate misplays like that in the next rounds." Carmelo responded and Billie looked at her funny. "Our team may be down to one person but don't forget, we're still in the duel and I have the best monster on the field." Carmelo added before sighing. "Sorry but this is the only way you'll learn…Billie?" Carmelo asked once she realized that her partner was storming off in a huff.
"Yeah, call it a hunch but I don't think your partner's taking your lesson very well." Kristopher commented as he folded his arms. "And it is still two on one."
"Maybe but my life-points are untouched." Carmelo commented turning to Lamont. "Anything else or can Kristopher take his move now that Billie's eliminated?"
"I set a card facedown to end my turn." Lamont announced and Kristopher drew his card.
"Your life-points won't be untouched for long!" Kristopher announced as he played the card. "I activate Limiter Removal! Sure my machines will be destroyed during the end-phase…." Kristopher started as Big Core and Covered Core's attacks increased to 5000 and 4800 respectively. "But as you can see it gets the job done, Big Core, Covered Core, attack Dragon Queen and Keeper of Armageddon!" Kristopher announced as once he called the coin for Covered Core's effect (and called it right), the machines fired their weapons destroying them both and bringing Carmelo's life-points down to four thousand. "I move to my second main phase and set a card facedown." Kristopher announced as the facedown card appeared on the field. "And end my turn." Kristopher announced and Carmelo drew her card.
"I activate my Dragon's effect!" Carmelo announced as she detached her monster and got ready to discard her cards.
"And I chain it with my own Effect Veilier." Kristopher announced as he sent the Tuner Monster to the graveyard. "Nice try but not good enough!" Kristopher added as Carmelo returned the cards to her hand.
"This is coming from the guy who wasted Limiter Removal to destroy my weakest monsters?" Carmelo asked as she pointed to the dragon. "Sun Dragon, attack Kristopher's life-points directly!" Carmelo commanded and the dragon breathed fire at him bringing his life-points down to 4500. "That ends my turn, my life-points may be down to half strength but I'm not going down without a fight!" Carmelo announced and Lamont drew his card.
"We shall see about that, first I summon Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Spirit back to the field in attack mode!" Lamont announced as the Tuner monster returned to the field. "And I use its effect to bring back Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Chicken!" Lamont played the card and the monster returned to the field, Lamont searched through his deck without another word and once he was satisfied he added the card he was looking for to his hand. "I think we all know what's next." Lamont said after he shuffled his deck, the two monsters leapt into the air and once the Synchro Summon was performed Horse Prince returned to the field.
"You have two monsters which are weaker than my own? Are you getting desperate?" Carmelo asked and Lamont shook his head.
"My monsters may not be as strong as yours but they are all I need to finish this duel." Lamont said as he played a card. "I activate my Lightning Vortex Spell Card!" Lamont played the card and Carmelo's eyes widened as lightning struck her monster destroying it. "Horse Prince, Lion Emperor, please send my team through to the next round, would you?"
"Okay, I should've saved Billie in hindsight." Carmelo thought with a sigh as the two monsters launched their attacks bringing her life-points down to zero.
"Here are the winners of the match, Kristopher O'Neil and Lamont Berry!" Martin announced over the cheering crowd and as the three duelists deactivated their duel disks the students in the audience prepared to leave. "We won't be holding any matches over the weekend but the new students will be arriving tomorrow, on Monday we will see Obelisk Blue's Amelia Gray and Caitlin Acosta Osiris Red's from Osiris Red take on Chong Harrison and Clement Clark from Obelisk Blue followed by Keri Harmon and Lacey Morse from Osiris Red taking on Delia Garrett and Esther Benjamin from Obelisk Blue."
"Heh, I was just wondering if we were the only Osiris Red team in this Tournament Chloe." Chelsea commented with a laugh as she closed her laptop lid. "Still at least we have a weekend to chill out and meet the new kids."
"That's true, though the only one I know off is Nicola." Chloe agreed and Lance grinned a bit. "Something you're not telling us?"
"Let's just say that the improvements Brandon made to Mike's deck in Battle City paid off." Lance commented and Chloe blinked.
"Wait, your brother made it into the school?" Chloe asked and Lance nodded. "That's great! What dorm is he in?"
"He got stuck in Osiris Red due to an average test score and inexperience like you were." Lance told her as they stood up to leave. "Mike could care less! He's just glad to finally be accepted."
"Don't blame him there." Chelsea said with a grin as she patted Lance on the back. "Don't you have a little sister as well?"
"Yeah, she's too young to apply though." Lance answered as they made their way out of the arena. "She's rather spooked about the return of the Orichalcos though."
"Aren't we all?" Chloe asked and Lance nodded in response. "So what do you want to do now?"
"I need to get back to our dorm room, my laptop ran out of juice just as the duel ended and I need to charge it up before my next IT class." Chelsea answered before checking her time table. "Fortunately that isn't for a few hours."
"I'm heading back to my dorm as well, want to listen to some music and chill for an hour." Lance said as he walked away from the girls who had started chatting with each other, as he walked away he glanced up at Chloe. "Maybe I am developing feelings for her, but what if she's waiting for me to make the first move?" Lance thought as he stepped out into the hallway. "Maybe I should ask Brandon for advice." Lance decided before walking off.
*meanwhile*
"Two trips in the same day, this had better be worth it." The speedboat driver grumbled under his breath as the female agent stepped onto the island, due to the size of the boat they had to make two trips to get both agents on the island and he wasn't happy.
"I told you before; Victor will cover the fuel cost." Sarah answered before turning to the agent. "Rendezvous with Jackson in the forested area that connects the Osiris Red Dorms to the Main Building, remember what I told you on the way."
"Don't target the brat with the Legendary Dragon, got it." The agent answered before walking off. "Why is she so obsessed with her anyway? Yeah she has that dragon but she's hardly the strongest duelist between the targets." The agent thought before walking off. "Whatever, I have souls to collect with or without Jackson's help!" The agent thought as she disappeared into the forested area.