It had been a half hour since Ashitaka's duel against Alexis and Chloe was still in Duel Theory, she had arrived a bit late and had told Martin and Hamden, who was filling in for a proctor in that class, that she'd explain to him why after the class ended, Chloe had just finished a duel against one of the new students and was waiting for the class to end.
"So I guess Hamden's attempts to get me out of this class failed." Chloe thought with an annoyed sigh as she sat down next to a Ra Yellow student. "I had a feeling he wouldn't be able to considering how strict Martin is but at least I had some good practice for the duel."
"You don't look happy with how that duel went." Chloe looked up and saw that the student she had sat next to had spoken up; it was a male student with short black hair and blue eyes who spoke with an Australian accent. "I don't see why, you did win the match."
"Yeah, it's something else entirely and it's a bit of a long story." Chloe responded with a sigh as she turned to the student. "I'm Chloe."
"The name's Mike." Mike introduced himself with a smile. "I never thought I'd see a Spellcaster/Warrior deck work like yours does."
"It took a lot of work and I'll be the first to admit that." Chloe admitted with a sheepish grin. "My deck was so inconsistent and mismatched back when I first joined the school that I barely qualified, no wonder I got stuck in Osiris Red."
"We all gotta start somewhere I guess." Mike responded with a shrug. "It must've been quite a thrill to represent Duel Academy in Battle City."
"It was….and it wasn't…." Chloe trailed off with a sigh. "I guess you could say the Orichalcos played a part in that but there was other factors to boot." Chloe added but before she could elaborate the bell rung ending the class.
"Well it was good to meet you Chloe." Mike said as he stood up. "But I have to get going, are you heading over to the Osiris Red Girl's dorm?"
"Yeah but I have to chat with Martin first, I'm not in trouble but it still something that needs to be done." Chloe responded and Mike nodded before leaving, soon the other students followed suit leaving Chloe alone with the two teachers who quickly approached her.
"All right Richardson, I'm giving you five minutes to explain why your where late as I can't hold off the next group much longer." Martin told her and Chloe nodded in response.
"May as well cut to the chase, the Seal of the Orichalcos was involved." Chloe explained and the looks on the two teachers' faces turned to worried looks fairly quickly. "I wasn't involved in the duel it was one of the new students, Ash Tomoe."
"I see." Martin said with a frown. "Is he all right?"
"Yeah, he won the duel in the end despite having only two hundred life-points left." Chloe responded with a nod. "I and Chelsea went up there to support him through the duel and it ran long hence why I was late." Chloe added and Martin nodded. "The duelist he faced is in a clearing just north of the main building."
"Thank you, we'll send security to that clearing as soon as possible." Martin nodded and Chloe stood up intending to leave. "There's one more thing Ms. Richardson." Martin added and Chloe glanced over her shoulder at him. "I've been told that there was an argument between you and Jessica Stevens, Cameron Matthews and Thomas Newborne that almost came to blows because of a few comments you made." Martin added and Chloe winced.
"I should've known that argument would come back and bite me on the ass." Chloe thought before sighing in annoyance. "For starters, they started it, I was on my way out of the Main Building when they started taunting me over my match tomorrow, and I didn't back down from them, as a result Jessica almost punched me."
"And Ashitaka Tomoe had to intervene to prevent said fight." Martin sighed as he shook his head. "You're one of the brightest students in Osiris Red Chloe but whilst it isn't as bad as your roommate's your temper will get you in trouble one of these days." Martin added as he went to leave. "I'm telling you this for your own good Chloe, unless you face their teams in the tournament stay out of Cameron, Jessica and Thomas's way, you already have one expulsion duel on your record and I'm sure Theresa Daniels explained the three strike system in place for those duels to you, we don't want to put you through that again but we will if necessary." Martin added before leaving the room.
"If I had known that was going to happen I would've just borrowed Chelsea's laptop and e-mailed him." Chloe sighed to herself as she glanced over at Hamden. "Did you know he was going to bring that up?"
"We discussed it before the class started, as you had left the main building at the time and no one had seen you enter your dorm room we decided to wait until this lesson before confronting you with the facts." Hamden explained and Chloe nodded. "Truth be told, I'm not a big fan of that trio either, the incident when Cameron insulted your mom didn't help matters." Hamden admitted and Chloe shuddered a bit at that thought. "But Martin was right on the money with what he said."
"Yeah, I know." Chloe admitted as she folded her arms, then she got an idea. "If I get promoted to Ra Yellow on Saturday…."
"The Expulsion Duel will still be on your record." Hamden interrupted her and Chloe sighed in annoyance. "You're hardly the first student to ask that question to me or any other staff member here, to say we've grown to expect it wouldn't exactly be an exaggeration."
"Well, can't blame me for trying." Chloe responded with a sheepish grin. "I also noticed that you weren't able to get me out of this class."
"I tried but Martin pointed out that your performance in Duel Theory was a major factor in your promotion, not to mention your performance in Battle City." Hamden explained and Chloe nodded. "The only way we could've gotten you out of Duel Theory is if we postponed to promotion duels, sorry."
"I guess it was a no win situation." Chloe responded and Hamden nodded in response. "I'd better get going before the next class starts." Chloe added before going to leave.
"There's one more thing Chloe." Hamden called out to her and Chloe looked up. "If another student gets targeted and the others aren't available straight away call me and I'll get to the location of the duel as soon as I can."
"And if your phone's off?" Chloe asked as she turned to him.
"The only time I leave my phone if is if I'm teaching a class or if I'm in a meeting with the other teachers, if that happens just leave me a message." Hamden responded and Chloe nodded before leaving the class room.
"Okay, no sign of a certain annoying trio." Chloe thought as she left the classroom and looked around, Martin's classroom wasn't that far from the Obelisk Blue duel field but it was still a bit of a walk to get to the main entrance/exit. "As long as I can get over there without any incidents…."
"Chloe, there you are." Chloe looked up and saw Theresa approaching her. "Chelsea told us about the Orichalcos Duel that happened earlier, is Ash okay?"
"He's a bit roughed up but he's otherwise fine." Chloe answered as the older student caught up to her. "How did the exam go?"
"It went well, I should here from Martin in a couple of days if I'm going to graduate or not but I'm pretty confident that I am." Theresa answered and Chloe nodded. "I also heard about the incident between you, Cameron, Jessica and Thomas." Theresa added with a frown and Chloe sighed in annoyance.
"Martin's already chewed me out over it." Chloe said as she started making her way towards the exit. "So if you're bringing it up to do the same than someone's beaten you too it."
"I wasn't going too anyway." Theresa answered and Chloe looked at her. "You were just standing up for yourself and by all reports they started it in the first place so I don't really have anything to chew you out over." Theresa added and Chloe sighed in relief. "Besides I think the chewing out I gave you yesterday was more than enough."
"I couldn't agree more if I tried." Chloe answered with a small grin on her face. "So why are you bringing it up anyway?"
"I just wanted to check if you were okay after it considering how far those three can take their bullying." Theresa answered and Chloe nodded. "And you seem to be in good spirits about it so I guess that answers my question."
"Ash intervened before it could get any worse." Chloe explained and Theresa nodded. "Though I'm surprised Cameron hasn't complained about him carrying around a Kendo Stick!"
"Wait, Ash was carrying a Kendo Stick?" Theresa asked with a raised eyebrow and Chloe nodded.
"Yeah, he said that he's an expert in that martial art but I wouldn't know because I don't know much about it." Chloe responded and Theresa nodded. "I mean you'd have thought that the first thing he did was go straight to Martin and complain."
"That depends Chloe did he draw it on Cameron?" Theresa asked and Chloe nodded. "Did he use it?" Theresa asked and Chloe shook her head.
"No, he just warned him and Cameron ran off with his tail between his legs with Jessica and Thomas not far behind." Chloe explained and Theresa nodded.
"That explains it then." Theresa responded and Chloe turned to her as the two girls made their way out of the main building. "Students who practice martial arts like Ash or Tyler are allowed to have stuff like kendo sticks on their person as long as they don't use them for anything other than self-defense or training."
"So even if Cameron did complain it would've been baseless?" Chloe asked and Theresa nodded. "That's good to know; come to think of it does the school have a martial arts club?"
"No they don't, surprising since there are a few students who practice martial arts but one hasn't been established." Theresa answered after thinking for a few moments. "Why do you ask?"
"Chelsea told me that she used to practice Karate in an attempt to control her temper when she was still going to one of her previous schools, didn't work out and she told me she's out of practice since the nearest club is back on the main land." Chloe responded and Theresa nodded. "I just figured it would be a good thing for her."
"I'll talk to Martin about it, see what he thinks." Theresa said and Chloe turned to her. "I'm one of his top students remember? If he'll listen to anyone on the student body about suggestions for after school activities it's me."
"There doesn't seem to be a lot of those besides the hot springs." Chloe responded and Theresa sweat-dropped.
"Yeah, any requests like that have to be passed by the board who ultimately answer to Kaiba, not to mention the hot springs have been open since before I joined the academy." Theresa responded with a frown. "I've managed to get a few proposals passed like a computer club and an indoor swimming pool, the last one will be built over the summer before you ask, but others like a chess club haven't passed."
"Let's hope you can add "Martial Arts Club" to the ones you've managed to get passed." Chloe responded and Theresa nodded in agreement, Chloe checked the time on her watch and grinned. "I'd better get back to my dorm room; I told Chelsea that I'd meet her there after Duel Theory and that ran long due to me telling Martin about Ash's Orichalcos Duel."
"Not to mention talking about the incident with Cameron, Jessica and Thomas." Theresa responded and Chloe sighed. "I won't keep you in that case, oh and by the way do you have any other classes today?" Theresa asked and Chloe checked her schedule.
"No, I have a pretty lax day today; hell most of my days this week are pretty lax." Chloe commented as she read her timetable. "Is it because I'm up for promotion?"
"That sometimes happens, you see when the timetables are sent out they take into account if the student has anything coming up like a wedding or, in your case, a promotion duel." Theresa explained and Chloe nodded. "Anyway I was asking because I was wondering if you were doing anything later."
"It doesn't involve another rematch between us, right?" Chloe asked and Theresa shook her head. "Thank god, I'd rather wait to see if our teams meet up in the tournament before that happens."
"That's understandable considering how our last duels went." Theresa responded with a nod. "Brandon figured we'd help you and Chelsea study ahead of the promotion duels since they'll be a test as well, Chelsea already knows and she's up for it as are the others, what about you?"
"If it helps me do better than I did on the written test I did back when I joined I'm all for it." Chloe responded and Theresa nodded. "When and where?"
"Stop by the Obelisk Blue Duel Field later, I'll tell the guards to let you in." Theresa told her and Chloe nodded before walking off.
"Now those bastards have started targeting students." Chloe thought with a frown as she made her way towards the area of the island where the Osiris Red Dorms where. "It was bad enough when only me and the others were targeted but now? Now we have to worry about the other students." Chloe thought before looking up and seeing Chelsea walking towards her. "Hey Chelsea," Chloe greeted her and Chelsea looked up.
"Hey Chloe, I was wondering what was taking so long." Chelsea commented with a grin as she stopped in her tracks. "Does Martin know?"
"Yeah, he knows, I told him after the class ended." Chloe responded as she walked up to her roommate. "He also knows about the incident between me, Cameron, Jessica and Thomas."
"Ah," Chelsea said with a wince. "I'm guessing he took time out of his schedule to chew you out for it?" Chelsea asked and Chloe nodded. "Besides that were there any other problems?"
"Not really, I had a chat with Theresa and I know you told her about Ash's Orichalcos duel." Chloe answered and Chelsea nodded. "I also know about the study session she arranged with you."
"Oh yeah, that." Chelsea said with a grin. "I would've texted you about it but I was in Beth's dorm room at the time to prepare for our tag match tomorrow and…..well let's just say that we ended up naked and on top of each other in a matter of minutes."
"Yeah, you just dived into too much information Chelsea." Chloe said as a large sweat-drop rolled down her head. "Were you as blatantly honest about your sex life when you lived with your parents?"
"How do you think they found out about my brief fling with that boy I mentioned?" Chelsea asked with a sigh and Chloe just shook her head. "Though to be fair after that incident I made a rule of not discussing my sex life with my parents unless I ended up getting pregnant, obviously that never happened and the next time I had any talk like that with them was when I came out of the closet."
"And I'm guessing that you felt that you had to get that conversation out of the way as soon as possible?" Chloe asked and Chelsea nodded without hesitation. "Anyway, let's change the subject, you have any classes left?" Chloe asked and Chelsea checked her timetable.
"Err, just one and that's with Maria, it's the class I mentioned earlier." Chelsea answered and Chloe nodded before Chelsea checked the time on her watch. "Actually I'd better get going if I don't want to be late, see you at the dorm."
"Will do, see you later." Chloe called after her as her roommate ran off, Chloe continued walking towards the Osiris Red Girl's Dorm and put her hands in her jeans pockets. "At least I can use the duels at the Obelisk Blue Duel Field to prepare for my match against Andreas and Damien tomorrow." Chloe thought before realizing something. "Didn't the doc say that Lance would be feeling better by now? I hope so…."
*meanwhile*
"Yes, I've finally got over this cold!" Lance said with a grin as he leaned back on his bed, he was feeling a lot better and was celebrating the only way he knew how, by listening to metal and in this case he was listening to the song "Broken Jade" by the Taiwanese Black Metal band Chthonic. "Should be good to go to the duels tomorrow and finally ask Chloe out…..I hope."
"Lance, can you turn that down for a minute?" Jeff's voice rang out from the other side of the door to his dorm room and Lance did so before answering the door. "Good to see that you're feeling better."
"Yeah, I feel good enough to run about a hundred laps the next time I have PE." Lance said confidently before sweat-dropping. "On second thought, forget I said that."
"Sure, why not." Jeff shrugged before motioning someone over. "There's someone I want to meet, he'll be your roommate for as long as you are in Ra Yellow, we'll get another bed and computer put in here during your next class, which is in an hour if you're up for it."
"Yeah, I'm up for it, I've been dying of boredom since I was cooped up in here." Lance answered and Jeff nodded. "And if I'm promoted up to Obelisk Blue on Saturday?" Lance asked as he sat up and paused the music.
"Finding him a new roommate will be easy enough, there's a few of the new Ra Yellow who haven't found a permanent dorm room yet." Jeff answered as Ashitaka stepped forward carrying a bag over his shoulder and pulling a suitcase behind him. "This is Ashitaka Tomoe, one of the new students."
"Err, hi." Lance greeted him with a handshake. "Welcome to the dorm As….Ash….."
"Just call me Ash." Ashitaka told him and Lance nodded. "I've heard about you from a girl in Osiris Red, she said that you dueled in your swimming trunks at night."
"Yeah, that's not one of my proudest moments." Lance admitted with a wince. "Who told you that?"
"Chloe Richardson." Ashitaka answered and Lance nodded as Jeff left the room closing the door behind him. "You seem close to her."
"You could say that, I knew her before we enrolled here a few months back." Lance admitted as he turned to him. "Ash, before I continue, how good are you at keeping secrets?" Lance asked and Ash turned to him.
"If you don't want it revealed I won't reveal it unless asked." Ashitaka answered and Lance nodded. "Is this to do with Chloe?"
"Yeah, thing is me and Chloe have been best friends for a little under a year now, give or take, and I'm thinking it's time I upgraded it if you know what I mean." Lance explained and it didn't take Ash long to figure out what he meant.
"You want to see if she's interested in being your girlfriend." Ash said and Lance nodded. "Does anyone else now?"
"Yeah, I went to a friend of mine in Obelisk Blue for advice, she said I should just go for it since a girl with Chloe's good looks probably has a few male admirers already." Lance admitted before frowning. "Unfortunately things keep getting in the way, my recent cold being the most, well, recent."
"You'll get your chance my friend, for your sake I hope it's soon." Ashitaka responded as he folded his arms. "So I heard heavy metal blaring out."
"Yeah, that's the kind of music I go for, been a fan for as long as I can remember." Lance explained as he went up to his desktop. "I don't just go for American bands either; I listen to bands from Sweden, Canada, Poland, even Taiwan." Lance added with a grin. "So what do you listen too?" Lance asked and Ashitaka blushed a bit.
"And now it's my turn to request that you keep a secret." Ashitaka sighed as he turned to him. "You won't tell anyone?" Ashitaka asked and Lance nodded. "Okay…..I love JPop; it's something of a guilty pleasure."
"….seriously? Dude, I can think of ten genres that are worse than that just off the top of my head, starting with regular pop music." Lance answered with a good natured grin.
"I'm sure you could and I do listen to any and all genres of music, don't get me wrong, but like I said I wouldn't want that spread around too much." Ashitaka explained and Lance nodded.
"You got it I'll keep it as much a secret as my love for lesbian porn." Lance said before blushing furiously. "And let's pretend I didn't say that last part."
"As long as you look it up when I'm out of the room I won't complain." Ashitaka responded with a chuckle and Lance frowned. "Don't worry, I won't tell Chloe."
"That's a relief." Lance sighed in relief as he looked through his music library. "I normally use metal to drown it out so if you hear metal there's a good chance that….well, you know…." Lance trailed off before clearing his throat. "And no, I wasn't looking at it just now."
"Good," Ashitaka commented before pausing. "Wait, why do you look up that stuff when you have a lesbian friend in real life?"
"Chelsea?" Lance asked and Ashitaka nodded. "Dude, have you seen how nasty her temper can, and often will, get?" Lance asked and Ashitaka shook his head. "I have and trust me she's the last person on this island who isn't a staff member that I want to piss off."
"Her temper's that bad?" Ashitaka asked and Lance nodded. "She's around 5ft 6 and your 6ft, why are you worried about her?"
"One simple reason, she told me that she used to do Karate, and one of her specialties is kicking boys who piss her off in the balls." Lance answered with a wince. "Now imagine what would happen to me if she caught me spying on her making out with Beth?"
"I believe your balls would have to be surgically reattached in that scenario." Ashitaka responded and Lance shuddered at that thought. "That's if you don't run off course."
"It wouldn't matter where I ran too, she'd probably catch me, hell she may forgo putting her clothes back on." Lance sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "I've seen her run the obstacle course during PE, trust me, she's in good shape and is pretty damn fast on her feet."
"I've met her and I don't doubt that one bit." Ashitaka commented with a nod. "All though she didn't mention her karate background."
"It's probably because she's out of practice." Lance said as he shrugged his shoulders. "She has a history of being kicked out of schools due to her temper, to the point that I'm surprised that Duel Academy gave her a chance, she took up Karate at one of her old schools hoping that it would help her control her temper and….well I think you can guess how that went."
"Not well." Ashitaka answered as he shook his head. "It's a shame, I thought she was charming enough when I met her earlier but I guess appearances can be deceiving."
"Yeah," Lance nodded before noticing the time on his computer clock. "I'd better get going my class is in half an hour and I don't want to be late for my first class since I recovered from my cold." Lance said before standing up. "Good meeting you Ash but, well you know."
"I understand and I'll see you when you get back." Ashitaka nodded and Lance grinned before leaving the room.
*elsewhere*
Whilst all that was going on there was another group talking amongst themselves, unfortunately for the students that group was someone who had been plaguing them for the past few months.
"Send me to the island Victor." Sarah insisted as she folded her arms. "It's like Alexis said, Chloe has tasted the power of the Orichalcos and she wants more."
"You mean beside the fact that Chloe won her match against Sheamus after activating the Orichalcos?" Jack pointed out and Sarah frowned. "Sheamus's deck was good but a dragon swarm deck isn't exactly the best deck for this kind of situation."
"Why do you think I want a chance? My deck is far more powerful than his!" Sarah boasted and Victor cleared his throat.
"I'm not sending either of you to the island as anything other than escorts for my agents and that's final." Victor asserted with a frown. "I'll only use your dueling abilities as a last resort and that's if and only if the students find our HQ." Victor added before turning to Dr. Schwartz. "Now I understand that you have made some improvements to the dream machine?"
"Yes, I believe that with my new improvements I can warp the memory of the target, play mind games with them and then duel them." Dr. Schwartz explained with a nod. "Warp a significant memory and that duelist will be in no condition to duel."
"I like where this is going." Victor said as he turned to him. "What about targets?"
"I have two possible targets, neither of them have the Legendary Dragons but if it works on them I'll use it on the Dragon wielders." Dr. Schwartz explained and Victor nodded. "Those targets are two female Osiris Red Students, Chelsea Cunningham and Nicola Hastings."
"Chelsea….wait, wasn't she the chick who beat Cortez?" Jack asked and the others nodded. "In that case I say target her first, she's clearly the strongest threat out of the two."
"Don't count out Nicola as Phillip was interested in targeting her during the Battle City operation." Victor responded as he read her Duel Academy profile. "I can see why, before her duel with Andreas she defeated a top ranked duelist from South America eliminating her in the process, hmmm, says here that her career as a pro-duelist went down the drain after that loss."
"Possible recruit?" Jack asked and Victor nodded.
"I'll send someone who speaks Spanish to her home, according to records she speaks fluent English and Spanish but the locals may not." Victor responded before turning to Schwartz. "Dr. Schwartz, how soon can you target them?"
"It'll take longer than it would to target them normally due to how complex the process is." Dr. Schwartz answered with a frown. "I'd need at least four days for it to work."
"Get on it, only target the one who's ready first and do a background check on them in the process." Victor answered and Dr. Schwartz nodded before leaving. "In the meantime I'll send another agent to the island, whilst I read Ashitaka's profile I discovered that he has a rival in Ra Yellow, a Chinese Student called Hu Wukong."
"Yeah, I remember that kid, I almost recruited him but you shot it down." Jack answered with a frown. "What I don't get is why we're waiting until after the tournament duels, if we attack them during we'd have them all in one place."
"And the army of security guards that the school has employed pointing guns at us." Sarah answered with a frown. "That won't be a mission, it would be suicide!"
"And all it would take is one disloyal agent who's willing to testify against me to cut a plea deal for it to bring my empire down." Victor added with a frown. "Jack, if your plan wasn't so flawed I would've executed it sooner!"
"Okay, I get it already." Jack grunted as he folded his arms. "But if we can take out the guards they'll be easy pickings."
"Even if we manage that there's always the possibility that all our agents will be defeated at once." Victor pointed out with a frown. "Don't forget that this is a school for duelists, we may have captured three student's souls but we've lost even more."
"And if that happens there'd be no way we could recruit more agents fast enough to replenish our ranks." Sarah added with a frown. "Our current objective may be slow but it is more practical than what you are suggesting."
"Now, as I said I am going to send an agent to the island to target Hu Wukong, Jack I want you to accompany him." Victor added and Jack nodded. "You'll leave first thing in the morning so try to get as early a sleep as possible, for now the two of you are dismissed." Victor added and they nodded before leaving the office.
*the next day*
"Ugh, five more minutes….." Chloe groaned as she turned in the bottom bunk of the bunk bed that she and Chelsea shared, it was early in the morning and Chelsea was trying to get her to wake up so that they would be well rested for their match later that day but wasn't having much success.
"Are you trying to get out of our match or something?" Chelsea asked and Chloe didn't answer, Chelsea let out an annoyed sigh before grinning as she got an idea. "Have it your way Chloe, I'll just tell Andreas and Damien later when we approach the podium for our match that you where fantasizing about Lance all night last night." Chelsea added and Chloe quickly sat up, she was blushing quite a bit with furious shade of red on her cheeks as she did.
"I WAS NOT!" Chloe asserted and Chelsea laughed a hearty laugh.
"Oh Lance, you're so rugged and handsome, and you have such a big c….." Chelsea's mocking was cut off by a thrown pillow to the face courtesy of Chloe. "Give me a break Chloe." Chelsea said as she passed the pillow back to her roommate. "I may be gay but like I said, I've had boyfriends before and even if I hadn't I could've heard you muttering in your sleep from the Ra Yellow Girl's Dorm!"
"And you haven't muttered in your sleep about Beth?" Chloe teased her and Chelsea grinned.
"Yeah, there's two big differences there Chloe, me and Beth are in a relationship and if I wanted to experience Beth in the bedroom first hand I'd just shoot her an e-mail, see if she's up for it and if she was I'd pop around to her dorm room for the night." Chelsea answered and Chloe shook her head before getting out of bed. "Seriously, are you that worried about our match later? You were at Duel Theory yesterday and I heard that you were dueling other students."
"It was a class taught by Martin, I didn't really have much of a choice there." Chloe pointed out and Chelsea nodded in understanding. "Besides, aside from the restrictions Martin put on my deck those where friendly duels with nothing besides bragging rights on the line, this match on the other hand….."
"Yeah, I know but I'll need you at your best if we are going to win this match." Chelsea sighed before she turned away from her roommate once she saw that Chloe was about to get changed into her uniform. "We both know how good a duelist Andreas is and we still don't know a lot about Damien's deck."
"I know I just wish our duel was a bit later in the second round." Chloe answered as she picked out her outfit and got changed out of her nightgown. "I'm pretty sure I don't need to repeat why." Chloe said before sighing. "I'm going to hop in the shower." Chloe decided as she opened the door to the en suite bathroom the two girls shared.
"Yeah, you probably need a cold shower considering what you where dreaming about last night." Chelsea joked earning a mock glare from Chloe as she closed the door behind her, once the water started running there was a knock at the door. "Don't worry Chloe, I'll get the door." Chelsea called out to her and whilst there was no response she assumed that he still heard her and she answered the door. "Good morning Beth." Chelsea said with a grin as she and her girlfriend shared a quick kiss before Chelsea let her in.
"Good morning Chelsea." Beth greeted her as she entered the room. "Is Chloe around?"
"She's in the shower." Chelsea said as she closed the door behind her. "She needed a cold shower after she spent the night fantasizing about Lance."
"NO I WASN'T!" Chloe yelled out and Chelsea just grinned. "OH AND MORNING BETH!"
"Morning Chloe," Beth responded before raising an eyebrow at Chelsea. "So…..was she or wasn't she fantasizing about Lance?"
"I could've heard it from the shower room." Chelsea responded with a grin. "She was moaning and grunting about Lance and how well-endowed he was all night, if I was really sadistic I would've recorded it on my IPad."
"NO, SERIOUSLY BETH, I WASN'T!" Chloe shouted out again and Chelsea shook her head.
"Chloe, are you even in the shower or are you just listening in whilst using the shower as a cover?" Chelsea asked and Chloe paused for a moment. "Did you forget how thin these walls are? I can hear the water but I don't hear you moving around in there."
"YOU WIN THIS ROUND!" Chloe replied as Chelsea heard her get in the shower, satisfied Chelsea turned to her girlfriend.
"So what brings you over this morning?" Chelsea asked as she sat down at her laptop. "I know we don't have any classes until after the tournament duels but I would've thought that you would've stayed at your dorm?"
"A girl isn't allowed to visit her girlfriend all off a sudden?" Beth joked and Chelsea grinned. "Just figured I'd stop by and say hi, that's all."
"As long as you two don't start making out whilst I'm trying to sleep on the bottom bunk I'm not complaining." Chloe chimed in as she poked her head out of the door, her long hair was tied up in a towel as was her naked, wet body. "I'll be out in a sec, just gotta dry off."
"You enjoy your cold shower?" Chelsea asked and Chloe shook her head before closing the door again, Chelsea turned to Beth and sighed.
"She did not want to wake up this morning." Chelsea commented with a frown. "Any other day I'd understand since I'm not exactly a morning person either but she's competing today."
"Has she faced off against Andreas or Damien before?" Beth asked and Chelsea shook her head.
"No, thought that match would happen during the Battle City Semi-Finals but well we both know what happened there." Chelsea answered and Beth nodded before shuddering a bit. "Damien did duel against Lance back when he was going by his middle name Dwayne and I think Chloe was present for that one."
"Wasn't that Lance's first duel at the academy?" Beth asked and Chelsea nodded. "Let's not forget that Damien was using a completely different deck back then." Beth added with a frown. "I may no longer be in the tournament but I'm willing to help, if I where you I'd try to get her spirits up before your tag team match later."
"Don't worry about us Beth, Chloe may be out of it but she'll be ready and kicking ass in no time." Chelsea responded before noticing Chloe's hand reaching through the door trying to feel around for something. "Looking for your uniform?"
"Err, yeah, I know it's nothing you guys haven't seen before but I'd rather not risk a surprise visit from one of our male friends." Chloe answered and Beth passed Chloe's uniform to her. "Thanks Beth." Chloe thanked her before closing the door behind her, a few minutes later she was out of the room and dressed in her uniform with her blazer open revealing the top she wore during the Battle City Semi-Finals, her hair was still wet from the shower though. "What time do the matches start?" Chloe asked as she turned to Chelsea and Chelsea checked the schedule.
"We'll be okay for time because we've got an hour yet." Chelsea responded as she looked up at the other two girls. "If you wanted to we could go down there and grab the best seats possible that are near the exit so that we will be ready for the tag match but we'll be waiting a while."
"I wouldn't mind, not like I have much else to do in the meantime." Chloe commented and the two girls nodded.
"Good, I was about to say that the others will be meeting us at the arena and they sent me to pick you guys up anyway." Beth responded as she made her way to the door. "You sure you don't want to give your hair a bit more time to dry off Chloe? Given how long it is its going to take a while and you'll probably get a cold in the process."
"I'm sure; besides we all know how hot the arena gets so it should really dry in no time." Chloe answered and Beth nodded before the three women left the dorm room with Chelsea carrying her laptop in her case. "Err, Silent Magician, you've been monitoring my dreams right?"
"Yes." Silent Magician answered with an annoyed sigh and Chloe winced.
"So….in my dreams where me and Lance….." Chloe trailed off before gulping.
"Yes, you where, one of the more…..unfortunate powers that come with being a duel spirit of the Spellcaster variety is that you can monitor your protégé's dreams, unfortunately it's a spell that's extremely difficult to stop." Silent Magician answered and Chloe winced. "If it helps you didn't say the things Chelsea said earlier in the dream….but you may as well have."
"Yeah, that doesn't help." Chloe responded as she followed the girls.
*a bit later*
Whilst it was still early in the day and the duels wouldn't be starting for another hour yet there were some students who had the same idea as Chloe, Chelsea and Beth and had arrived early, that said the amount of students who had done this was pretty small as there were still some students who had class just before the tournament matches started, and in the case of one of the two teams they were getting ready for their match.
"Okay, no pressure." Omar muttered to himself as he shuffled his deck, he was an African-American teen with short black hair and brown eyes who was clearly a second year Osiris Red student. "Osiris Red has been doing pretty well in this tournament so far, I just have to continue that tradition in this match."
"Don't forget about me Omar." Shon chimed in with a smirk, he was taller than Omar with shoulder length dirty blonde hair and blue eyes, his uniform identified him as another second year student in the Ra Yellow dorm. "My dorm's been doing pretty well as well so far and I want to join the other Ra Yellow students in the second round as well."
"That's if we beat Kenny and Lemuel." Omar said as he finished shuffling his deck. "Any thoughts on the first second round match?"
"It should be a great match." Shon responded with a nod. "Chloe and Chelsea should've been in Ra Yellow a long time ago as far as I'm concerned and Andreas and Damien are a formidable team in their own right."
"I can't help but agree there." Omar responded with a nod. "Anyway, by my watch we have a few minutes left before our match so I say we'd better get going." Omar responded before standing up and leaving the room with his tag team partner not far behind, they made their way to the arena and stepped onto the podium as the crowd started pouring in and after a few minutes everyone was in place.
"Welcome to the eight day of the tournament!" Martin's voice rang out over the PA system and the crowd cheered. "In our first match Osiris Red's Omar Boyle will team up with Shon Robinson of Ra Yellow to take on Kenny Maynard and Lemuel Hicks of Ra Yellow and Osiris Red respectively, after that the second round will start with Chloe Richardson and Chelsea Cunningham of Osiris Red taking on Andreas Freshier from Ra Yellow and Damien Tarnow from Obelisk Blue!" Martin announced and the crowd cheered.
"Great, as if I needed a reminder of that." Chloe sighed as she shifted her weight. "You guys know anything about the teams in this match?"
"Omar and Shon are up for promotion on Saturday but beside that I don't know much about them." Theresa answered as she watched the four boys shuffle their decks. "Kenny and Lemuel joined at the same time you, Lance and Chelsea did and they've made some waves since then."
"How did they do that?" Chelsea asked as she turned to her.
"They took on all comers, that's how." Theresa answered as the two boys went through their decks. "I faced Omar before my match against Chloe, the first one, he gave me a tough fight but I won in the end." Theresa added and Chloe winced as she thought back to that match.
"As for Kenny and Lemuel, I don't know much about them besides the fact that they joined last year." Brandon answered with a frown. "I didn't catch their duels either, once I told my dad that I had made it into the academy he insisted on taking me to a fancy restaurant to celebrate, not that I'm complaining off course, I think it was one owned by a celebrity chef."
"How did we go from talking about the match to talking about a restaurant Brandon ate at a year ago?" Chelsea wondered out loud and Brandon just smiled at that. "How about we just focus on the match?"
"I agree there." Theresa nodded before turning to Chloe. "Are you going to be ready for your match?" Theresa asked and Chloe sighed.
"Not as much as I'd like to be." Chloe answered with a frown. "The fact that Hamden couldn't get me out of Duel Theory helped a lot but that was one thing and my next tournament duel will be another thing entirely."
"Look Chloe, if you did well in Duel Theory you'll be fine in the Tournament Duel." Theresa reassured her and Chloe nodded. "Just be ready for a fight, we both know how good Andreas and Damien are."
"Trust me, I am." Chloe nodded and whilst that was going on the four competing duelists were getting ready for their match.
"All right guys, we all know that this is the last match of the first round and all." Omar commented with a smirk as he shuffled his deck. "So why don't we end the first round with a bang?"
"Sounds like a plan." Kenny responded as he finished shuffling his deck, he was the tallest of the four duelists and had short blonde hair and blue eyes. "Give the guys and gals in the next match a hell of a match to top and all that!" Kenny added before smirking. "Off course, I and Lemuel will be the ones joining them."
"Don't get your hopes up man." Shon answered with a grin as he finished shuffling his deck at the same time as Omar. "We'll take this tournament and the prize money!"
"Based on the way you're talking, you'd think this was the last match of the tournament." Lemuel responded as he finished shuffling his deck, as opposed to his partner he was clearly the shortest of the four competing duelists and had long black hair in a ponytail and blue eyes. "But the truth is the first round isn't even over and for all you know, you could end up facing Theresa and Brandon in the next round."
"Been there, done that." Omar commented with a laugh as the four boys drew their opening hands. "Okay, how about we stick to the old format? I go first, then Kenny, then Shon, then Lemuel and finally back to me?" Omar suggested and once the others nodded to confirm that Omar drew his first card. "I start with a Spell Card called Cards from the Sky, all I need to do is banish one Fairy Type Monster…." Omar said before pocketing the monster. "And I draw two cards." Omar added before drawing twice.
"On the condition that you can't Special Summon or conduct your Battle Phase this turn." Lemuel reminded him and Omar smirked.
"My deck isn't too concerned about Special Summoning, besides it's still the first turn." Omar added before picking up four cards. "Next I set three cards facedown and I summon Bountiful Artemis!" Omar played the cards and a new monster appeared on the field, it was a clearly female fairy but her entire body was covered in silver armor, she was wearing a purple cape and had a pair of mechanical wings attached to her neck (4/1600/1700). "I'll get to her effect later but for now I end my turn. " Omar announced and Kenny drew his card.
"I see Omar's deck hasn't changed much." Theresa commented with a chuckle. "His opening move in my match against him was practically identical to that move, only difference is that he played Sanctuary in the Sky as well."
"Looks like just another Fairy deck to me." Chelsea commented with a shrug. "I mean we've seen variants of that deck almost as much as we've seen dragon decks so far."
"Omar's deck is different, I assure you." Theresa responded with a nod. "And it's very lethal; in fact I wouldn't be surprised if he was in Ra Yellow this time next week to be honest."
"I start with Reinforcement of the Army!" Kenny played the card and reached for his deck….
"Not so fast! Go Dark Bribe!" Omar activated the trap and smirked. "You'll get something from your deck but not what you intended, Dark Bribe negates Reinforcement's effect and you get two draws." Omar explained as Reinforcement shattered and Kenny frowned before drawing two cards. "And that also activates Bountiful Artemis's effect which lets me draw a card whenever I activate a Counter Trap Card." Omar added before drawing another card, and then he noticed the look Kenny was giving him. "What?"
"Activating a counter trap to negate my first move? That's just dirty man!" Kenny grunted and Omar just shook his head.
"There isn't a rule against doing that! Once a trap card's been on the field for a turn I can activate it whenever I want!" Omar pointed out as he folded his arms. "You're just mad that I chose to use it as soon as possible!"
"Well there's also the fact that you were the one who suggested that we make this a competitive match a couple of minutes ago!" Lemuel pointed out with a frown. "I mean seriously, are you a hypocrite or do you just say things when they suit you and not follow up on them?"
"Guys, can we please just continue the duel?" Shon sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "I don't like it either but Omar is right."
"Ugh, fine!" Kenny grunted in annoyance before looking at his drawn card. "Luckily I just drew the monster I was going to search for, I first summon Bachibachibachi!" Kenny played the card and an oversized wasp appeared on the field, it had an angry expression on its face (3/800/800). "Before you ask, don't try to pronounce that name yourselves, it took me at least three tries!"
"I'm more concerned about the fact that you didn't use your warrior that you were searching for." Omar admitted and Kenny shook his head.
"Getting to that, next I play a spell card and unless Omar has another Dark Bribe on the field I'll go ahead and use it." Kenny played the card and once Omar shook his head to confirm that he didn't have another Dark Bribe on the field Kenny continued. "It's called Orichalcum Chain and how it works is pretty simple, if I'm going to XYZ Summon a monster this turn this Continuous Spell Card will allow me to do so with one less monster!"
"Wait a sec, what?" Omar asked as the Overlay Network opened up and Bachibachibachi was sucked into the vortex. "That sounds pretty broken!"
"Don't worry, it comes with a side effect but we'll get to that later." Kenny reassured him before retrieving a card from his extra deck. "I XYZ summon Greenosaurus!" Kenny played the card and the monster that appeared on the field was a large, red dinosaur with flames coming out of its eyes (Rank: 3/2000/1900). "Now as much as I'd like to attack Bountiful Artemis I can't so I'll set this." Kenny announced as the facedown card appeared on the field. "And end my turn." Kenny announced and Shon drew his card.
"Omar doesn't mess around does he?" Chelsea wondered out loud. "And yeah, I'd be pretty pissed if I were in Kenny's shoes."
"Chelsea, considering how short your temper is that doesn't narrow it down." Lance pointed out as he folded his arms. "Please don't hurt me." Lance pleaded once he saw the look on her face. "But yeah, I can see why he's been making waves, namely by doing dickish moves."
"Those moves aren't exactly sporting in any sense of the word." Theresa admitted with a frown as Shon looked over his cards. "But they're effective to say the least."
"Almost makes me glad that I'm facing Andreas's team next." Chloe grunted with a frown on her face. "I'd hate to face a deck like that."
"I don't have as much to do as the other participants." Shon sighed to himself before picking up two cards. "But what I can do is this I set one card in defense mode and a card facedown." Shon announced as the two set cards appeared on the field. "And I end my turn." Shon added and Lemuel nodded before drawing his card.
"I'd better play it safe." Lemuel thought as his eyes fixed on Omar's two facedown cards. "Bountiful Artemis's effect is one that revolves around counter traps so I guess it's a safe bet that he has other cards with similar effects and a bunch of Counter Traps." Lemuel thought before looking at his drawn card. "Hello…." Lemuel thought before playing it. "I activate Mystical Space Typhoon!" Lemuel activated the trap and the storm appeared on the field. "And my target is Omar's facedown card in the middle!" Lemuel added as the storm swept in that direction…..
"It may not be Dark Bribe but a counter trap is a counter trap in my book!" Omar announced as the third facedown card flipped up. "And it's called Curse of Royal! I can only activate this trap card when a Spell, Trap or monster card that would destroy one of my Spell or Trap Cards is activated and since you did this negates the effect." Omar added as the storm subsided. "Not only that but since I used another Counter-Trap Bountiful Artemis's effect activates again." Omar added before drawing a card.
"That monster of yours is starting to get annoying." Lemuel grunted before playing a card. "I set a monster in defense mode and end my turn." Lemuel announced and Omar drew another card. "This is insane, this guy's in Osiris Red but he's put together a combo that would make you think he was in Ra Yellow!"
"If you think she's annoying, just wait until you meet the other members of her family." Omar responded before playing his drawn card. "In the meantime I play this, Terra-Forming! Considering how popular this spell card is among the students here I don't' think I need to explain." Omar played the card and picked up his deck, searched through it and added the card he needed to his hand before shuffling his deck. "And now I'll play it, Sanctuary in the Sky!" Omar played the card and the scenery changed to the magnificent palace in the sky. "I set two cards facedown." Omar said as two more facedown cards appeared on the field. "And I switch Artemis to defense mode to end my turn!" Omar announced as his fairy crouched down and Kenny drew his card.
"All I'm going to say is that you were probably jumping for joy when you saw Heavy Storm on that Emergency Banlist." Kenny grunted before looking at his drawn card. "Then again he's probably got a few more Dark Bribes and Curse of Royals to deal with that." Kenny thought before looking at his drawn card. "Since I control an XYZ Monster I can Special Summon Photon Slasher!" Kenny played the card and a tall swordsman wearing silver futuristic armor appeared on the field (5/2100/1000). "And for my normal summon I bring out Star Drawing."
"The names of these duel monsters get weirder with every new booster pack." Shon commented as a large sweat-drop rolled down his head and a new monster appeared on the field, it was a small girl with green hair, black eyes who was wearing a small black and white dress and a black hat, her appearance was a lot more cartoony compared to the other monsters on the field (4/1600/1000). "And apparently so do the monsters!"
"I'll admit that she's weird looking." Kenny admitted as the overlay network opened up again. "But sometimes the weirder monsters have the best effects."
"Hey wait a minute, Photon Slasher's Level 5 so you can't build an overlay network with those monsters!" Omar protested as the two monsters where sucked in.
"Under normal circumstances, you'd be right." Kenny admitted as he retrieved a card from his extra deck. "But Star Drawing has two effects and her first one is that if she's used in an XYZ Summon I have the option to increase her level to five." Kenny added before playing the card. "As for the other one, look for yourself, I summon Shark Fortress!" Kenny played the card and a new monster appeared on the field, it was a large mechanical shark with several weapons attached (Rank: 5/2400/1800).
"So how long do I have to wait for Star Drawing's other effect?" Omar asked impatiently and Kenny smirked.
"Not long at all, you see when Star Drawing is used in an XYZ Summon her effect transfers to the XYZ Monster, basically when I XYZ Summon a monster using Star Drawing I get to draw one card." Kenny announced as he went to draw a card. "That is unless your facedown cards object to that." Kenny added and Omar paused.
"Shark Fortress probably has an effect of its own so I'll save my trap card." Omar thought before shaking his head and Kenny drew his card.
"Now I'll activate Shark Fortress's own effect!" Kenny announced as he sent Star Drawing to the graveyard. "By detaching an Overlay Unit I can designate one monster on the field, that monster can attack twice for the rest of the turn."
"Bingo!" Omar thought as his trap flipped up. "Sorry to disappoint but I activate Divine Wrath! I discard one card from my hand…." Omar trailed off as he discarded the card. "And Shark Fortress's effect is negated along with the monster being destroyed." Omar added before drawing a card due to Artemis's effect. "Perfect, soon as I can use another Counter Trap I can go on the offensive!"
"I was hoping to draw out a Counter Trap using Star Drawing but I guess this will have to do." Kenny thought before pointing to Greenosaurus. "I know it doesn't mean much now thanks to Sanctuary but when Bachibachibachi is used in an XYZ summon his effect acts a lot like Star Drawing's effect except the monster in question can inflict piercing damage!" Kenny announced as the monster charged towards Bountiful Artemis before biting her in half destroying her. "Good riddance."
"She may be gone but I'd say that I got some good mileage out of her effect." Omar shrugged as he sent his monster to the graveyard.
"Maybe but Sanctuary can't protect you from this!" Kenny responded before sending Bachibachibachi to the graveyard. "When Greenosaurus destroys a monster in battle I can detach one overlay unit from him to inflict one thousand points of damage to the opponent, or opponents in this case!" Kenny added and Omar and Shon winced as their life-points dropped to seven thousand. "I end my turn." Kenny announced and Shon drew his card.
"Then it's time I went on the offensive!" Shon announced as he played the Spell Card he had drawn. "First I play Foolish Burial! I think we all know how this card works by now." Shon played the card and after a few minutes he sent the monster he was looking for to the graveyard. "We'll get to that later! Next I flip summon my facedown monster!" Shon announced as the monster flipped up revealing a small yellow and red frog (2/1000/500). "Allow me to introduce the mighty Swap Frog!
"Oh boy, here we go." Kenny grunted as he pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "So how many cards are you going to discard before the turn ends? Will it be one? Will it be three? Or will it be a Hundred?"
"Very funny, and for your information I'm only discarding one." Shon responded with a grunt. "I activate one of Swap Frog's effects, since I summoned him I have to discard one Level Two or lower Aqua monster." Shon added before doing so. "Now I'll activate his other effect, returning Swap Frog to my hand….." Shon said as he picked up the card. "And in return I can Normal Summon in addition to my normal summon one Frog Monster from my hand as long as it's not Swap Frog or Frog the Jam."
"Please Shon, we all know how….." Lemuel trailed off before sweat-dropping. "What was the name of that other monster you mentioned again?" Lemuel asked and Shon sighed in annoyance.
"Frog the Jam and yes, it's a real monster." Shon responded with a frown. "Basically it's a Level Two Normal Water Aqua type monster with seven hundred attack and five hundred defense that was released years before Junk Synchron or hell even Tuner and Synchro Monsters in general where a thought in Pegasus's mind." Shon explained as he shook his head. "And for some reason that I still can't wrap my head around to this day, it got mentioned in Swap Frog's effect!"
"I don't know, maybe Pegasus had drunk too much wine whilst they were making that card." Omar commented as he scratched his head in confusion. "So are you going to continue?"
"Oh right, I use Swap Frog's effect to Special Summon Poison Draw Frog!" Shon played the card and in Swap Frog's place stood a smaller, orange frog (2/100/100). "Don't worry he's not poisonous despite what the name says."
"Dude, it's a hologram, I think that goes without saying." Kenny responded as a large sweat-drop rolled down his and Lemuel's heads and Shon sighed.
"Force of habit, my first duel at this academy was against a girl from Osiris Red who actually thought that the card was poisonous." Shon responded as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "She dropped out before Chloe and Lance joined the school before you ask." Shon added before playing another card. "Anyway back to business, I tribute Poison Draw Frog to summon Caius, the Shadow Monarch."
"Frog-Monarchs, this is just great!" Kenny grunted as the Shadow Monarch appeared on the field (6/2400/1000). "I'm guessing that it goes without saying that you're targeting Greenosaurus."
"That's right but before I do I chain my facedown card to my Monarch's effect." Shon announced as his facedown card flipped up. "DNA Transplant and my attribute of choice is Dark which means Caius's effect can work on any monster!" Shon announced as Caius launched its shadow ball at Greenosaurus destroying it and bringing Kenny and Lemuel's life-points down to seven thousand. "That's not the only effect that activates! When Poison Draw Frog is sent to the graveyard by a method other than being destroyed by battle I get to draw one card." Shon added before drawing and subsequently playing a card. "And I'm not done drawing! Next I play Magic Planter!" Shon played the card and his copy of DNA Transplant shattered before he drew twice. "Caius, attack Kenny's life-points directly!" Shon commanded and the monarch launched his shadow ball at Kenny bringing his life-points down to 4600. "And I end my turn at that." Kenny announced and Lemuel drew his card.
"He was kidding about that Frog the Jam card right?" Chelsea asked as a large sweat-drop rolled down her head. "I know Duel Monsters was….weird back in the early days but I'm having a hard time believing that that's a real card even with that in mind."
"Trust me, it's real." Chloe sighed as she turned to her roommate. "When I was learning the game my dad used the card as an example of weak and strong monsters, the strong monster he used was Five-Headed Dragon." Chloe said as she shook her head. "Not only do I know that card's real but I actually held it for a few minutes."
"Isn't that card supposed to be really rare?" Theresa asked as she turned to Chloe. "How did you dad have a copy?"
"He owns a card shop, remember?" Chloe asked and Theresa nodded. "He has access to most of the cards ever mass produced, including Frog the Jam, and no I don't know why he holds onto it."
"Maybe we should ask that at summer break." Chelsea suggested before turning her attention back to the duel. "But in the meantime we have a duel to watch!"
"Okay, we're behind on life-points but if Chloe and Chelsea can win despite Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning being on the field then we can win this no problem." Lemuel thought as he looked over his hand. "It'll be tough especially since Kenny's behind on life-points and Omar, most likely, has a few more Counter Traps up his sleeve but I'll find a way!" Lemuel thought before playing a card. "I activate Spellbook inside the Pot!"
"Damn, now I'm in a tough spot!" Omar thought with a frown. "I can negate that Spell Card with my second Dark Bribe and bring out the big guns but on the other hand I'll be missing out on three draws." Omar thought before sighing. "I'll let that Spell Card go through." Omar announced and the four duelists quickly drew three cards.
"Not Mystical Space Typhoon like I hoped but it's something." Lemuel thought before realizing something. "Wait, Omar hesitated just now as he was reaching for the activate trap button on his duel disk but why? That facedown card of his is probably another Counter Trap but if I can call his bluff I can draw first blood for our team!" Lemuel thought before playing a card. "I summon Pahunder in attack mode!" Lemuel played the card and a tall warrior with hair made of lightning appeared on the field (4/1300/600). "And I activate his effect which allows me to Normal Summon another Level 4 Light Thunder Monster from my hand as long as it's not another Pahunder." Lemuel added as he picked up a card. "That is unless you have any objections Omar."
"If I did I would've activated it by now." Omar responded and Lemuel nodded before playing the card.
"In that case I summon Mahunder!" Lemuel played the card and another human with lightning hair appeared on the field, however this one was a woman in red armor (4/1400/700). "Now I could use her effect which is pretty much the same effect as Pahunder buy I won't, instead I'll use my two hunders to construct an overlay network of my own!" Lemuel announced as the vortex opened up and the two monsters where sucked into it. "I XYZ Summon Starliege Paladynamo!" Lemuel played the card and in Mahunder's place emerged a tall, muscular warrior wearing silver, futuristic armor and carrying a massive sword (Rank: 4/2000/1000).
"You had me worried there." Shon said with a sigh of relief. "But Caius, or hell any of my Monarchs, can total that thing easily."
"I know, and that's why I'm making this move count!" Lemuel responded as he sent the two Hunders to the graveyard. "I activate Starliege's effect, an effect so powerful it requires me to detach both of its overlay units!"
"That has to be one hell of an effect." Shon commented as Starliege Paladynamo struck the ground with his sword sending a shockwave towards Caius that he survived. "Well, so much for its destruction effect."
"Who said it was a destruction effect?" Lemuel asked and Shon blinked before looking at the field again.
"What…..what the hell have you done?!" Shon stammered as he saw that Caius's attack had plummeted down to zero.
"That's Starliege's effect in action, in exchange for those overlay units I can reduce the attack of one monster my opponent controls to zero." Lemuel explained with a grin. "And if you're hoping that I won't be able to attack this turn because an effect that powerful has to have a drawback think again!" Lemuel commanded and Starliege charged towards Caius before cutting him in half bringing Shon's life-points down to 5000. "I end my turn with a facedown card." Lemuel announced and Omar drew his card.
"Damn it, if I had used Dark Bribe Shon wouldn't be behind on life-points!" Omar thought as he looked at his drawn card. "Then again he still could've drawn those Hunders thanks to Dark Bribe's side effect so who knows? What I do know is that I need more counter-traps on the field!" Omar decided before picking up three cards. "I set three cards facedown and end my turn." Omar announced and Kenny smirked before drawing his card.
"Not so confident now that we know your game, aren't you Omar?" Kenny asked before playing a card. "I summon Marauding Captain!" Kenny announced as the staple in many warrior decks appeared on the field (3/1200/400). "And I use his effect..."
"I don't think so, go Solemn Warning!" Omar announced as his trap card flipped up. "It costs me two thousand life-points but I can negate Marauding Captain's summon and destroy him!" Omar added as his life-points dropped to 5000.
"Sorry Omar but you just wasted two thousand life-points!" Lemuel interrupted him as his own trap card flipped up. "I activate Counter Counter! With this I can negate the activation of a Counter Trap Card and destroy it!" Lemuel added and Omar's eyes widened as his trap card shattered. "You were saying Kenny?"
"Right, I use Marauding Captain's effect to summon Sacred Crane!" Kenny played the card and a new monster appeared on the field, it was a large white bird with a black head, red beak and a matching tail (4/1600/400), "I realize that I could've gone for a Rank 3 XYZ Summon with this combo but when Sacred Crane is Special Summoned it's effect activates allowing me to draw a card." Kenny explained before drawing a card. "And this is just what I needed! I equip my Captain with Synchro Boost!" Kenny played the card and Marauding Captain started glowing as his level increased to four and his attack increased to 1700. "And that means that I can use Crane and Captain to reopen the Overlay Network!" Kenny added as the vortex opened up and his monsters where sucked in.
"Well whatever your monster is I'm ready for it!" Omar said confidently and Shon nodded in response as a new monster emerged from the vortex, simply put it was a robotic cowboy. "What the….."
"Say hello to Gagaga Cowboy!" (Rank: 4/1500/2400) Kenny announced as the cowboy crouched down into defense mode. "He may not be as strong as my partner's Rank 4 but he still packs a punch!" Kenny added as he sent Marauding Captain to the graveyard. "For example, when Gagaga Cowboy is in defense mode I can detach an overlay unit to inflict 800 points of damage to my opponents!" Kenny added and his opponents winced as their life-points dropped to 4200. "He has another effect but that requires him to be in attack mode and for now I'm comfortable leaving him in defense mode!" Kenny added before setting a card. "That ends my turn." Kenny announced and Shon quickly drew his card.
"Remember the monster I discarded for Swap Frog? Well he's coming back." Shon announced as he retrieved his monster from the graveyard. "Since I have no cards in my Spell/Trap Card zones I can special summon Treeborn Frog from my graveyard!" Shon played the card and a small orange toad with blue stripes and white wings appeared on the field (1/100/100). "But this little guy isn't sticking around, because I'm sacrificing him to summon the mighty Morbius, the Frost Monarch in attack mode!" Shon played the card and Treeborn Frog vanished, in its place stood the mighty ice monarch ready for battle (6/2400/1000). "And I now use my Monarch's effect….."
"Not so fast Shon! Go Fiendish Chain!" Lemuel activated the trap and chains started making their way to Morbius. "I know all about the Monarch's effects and if you think I'm letting you destroy two of our trap cards think again!"
"Sorry, but you don't have a choice! Go Seven Tools of the Bandit!" Omar activated his trap before wincing as his life-points dropped to 3200. "I could've used this earlier but I figured it was best to save it for anything that could stop one of Shon's Monarch's effects."
"Fine, I'll negate him another way by way of Effect Veilier (1/0/0)!" Kenny discarded the monster and whilst the chains shattered Morbius never got to launch its attack. "So you just wasted a perfectly good trap and one thousand life-points! I'd be kicking myself if I where you!"
"But that's not why I activated Seven Tools!" Omar responded as he played a card. "I drew this monster a couple of turns back but I needed a Counter Trap to activate so I could make it happen! Come on out Van'Dalgyon the Dark Dragon Lord!" Omar played the card and a massive dragon appeared on the field, it was black, purple and red in color and was very intimidating (8/2800/2500). "And that's not even the best part! Since it was a trap card that I negated I can destroy one card on the field like Starliege!" Lemuel's eyes widened as the dragon breathed fire at the warrior destroying him. "Don't worry about their cowboy, I'll deal with that myself next turn!"
"If you say so but I want to attack directly with that big guy!" Shon responded and Omar nodded as the dragon flew over to Shon's side of the field. "But before I do I activate Shield Crush to destroy your facedown monster!" Shon announced as the facedown monster shattered. "Your life-points have gone untouched for too long Lemuel! Morbius, Dragon who's name I can't pronounce! Attack his life-points directly!" Shon commanded and the two monsters launched their attacks at Lemuel bringing his life-points down to 2800. "You may as well not bother with that cowboy, you just need to attack directly with your dragon and we'll be halfway home."
"Good idea!" Omar nodded with a grin before turning to them. "It's your last turn guys, make it count!" Omar announced and Lemuel drew his card.
"You know, it's funny." Lemuel said as he added his drawn card to his hand. "If you had attacked Cowboy we would've been in big trouble!"
"What do you mean?" Omar asked and Lemuel turned to Kenny who nodded knowing what he was talking about as the cowboy made his way over.
"I mean that it's time to demonstrate Gagaga Cowboy's other effect!" Lemuel responded as he moved his monster to attack mode. "I detach his last overlay unit….." Lemuel said as he tossed Sacred Crane to Kenny who sent the monster to the graveyard. "And you'll see the results in a bit, but first I summon another Pahunder!" Lemuel played the card and the monster returned to the field. "And I use his effect to normal summon another Mahunder!" Lemuel played the other card and the female warrior returned to the field, then the overlay network opened up again and Starliege Paladynamo returned to the field. "I use his effect on Morbius!" Lemuel added as he sent the two monsters to the graveyard and Starliege struck the ground with his sword bringing Morbius's attack points down to zero.
"Let me guess, your plan is to attack Morbius with Cowboy and then attack directly?" Omar asked as he folded his arms.
"Your decks are so predictable." Shon added with a massive grin and Omar nodded in agreement.
"This is coming from the Frog-Monarch and Counter Trap players." Kenny pointed out and Omar and Shon sweat-dropped when their hypocrisy hit them. "And that's not our plan anyway but I'll let Lemuel explain this one!"
"Thanks Kenny." Lemuel nodded before pointing to Cowboy. "Gagaga Cowboy, attack…Omar's dragon!"
"WHAT?" Omar, Shon and pretty much every other student yelled out as the cowboy drew his weapons and aimed them at the dragon.
"Are you stupid?" Omar asked as the dragon got ready to breathe fire at the cowboy. "You just sent your cowboy on a suicide mission!"
"Look again." Lemuel responded and Omar did so…only for his eyes to widen as his dragon toppled over dead.
"What the….." Omar asked before looking at his life-points and seeing that they had dropped to 3000. "What happened to my life-points?"
"Gagaga Cowboy's effect happened! Since I detached its overlay unit whilst it's in attack mode an effect applies that affects both Cowboy and the monster it's attacking, the monster loses five-hundred attack points whilst Cowboy gains a thousand!" Lemuel explained before pointing to Shon. "And I'm not done, go Starliege!" Lemuel commanded and the warrior cut the frost monarch in two bringing Shon's life-points down to 2200. "It's anyone's game at the moment so feel free to take your turn!" Lemuel announced and Omar drew his card.
"Wait, Mirror Force? If I had drawn this last turn we'd be well on our way to the second round by now!" Omar thought with a frown. "Screw it! If I'm going to set it I may as well set it now!" Omar thought before setting it. "That ends my turn!" Omar announced and Kenny drew his card.
"Sorry Omar but if you were hoping that that trap card would save you then you're out of luck! Go Mystical Space Typhoon!" Kenny played the card and Shon braced himself as the storm appeared on the field….
"I've waited a long time to use this thing! I chain Dark Bribe!" Omar announced as his facedown card flipped up. "So, my trap card stays and you get two draws."
"Yeah, I don't think so! I chain Dark Bribe with my own trap card Trap Stun!" Lemuel announced and Omar's eyes widened as Dark Bribe got consumed by electricity and the other trap card was destroyed. "And by the look on your face that was your last hope! Finish it Kenny!" Lemuel told him as Starliege walked over to Kenny's side of the field.
"I will but I don't want to deal with another Monarch so I'll take out Shon first!" Kenny announced as the two monsters launched their attacks at Shon bringing his life-points down to zero. "That ends my turn, Lemuel, let him have it!"
"You got it!" Lemuel responded as he drew his card and the two monsters walked over to his side of the field. "Any last requests Omar?"
"Just one and that's that you guys kick ass in the next round!" Omar responded and Kenny and Lemuel nodded as their warriors launched their attacks bringing his life-points down to zero.
"Here are the winners of the match, Kenny Maynard and Lemuel Hicks!" Martin's voice rang out and the crowd cheered as the two teams left. "That concludes the first round of the tournament but don't go anywhere! Coming up next is Chloe Richardson and Chelsea Cunningham vs. Andreas Freshier and Damien Tarnow!" Martin announced and the crowd cheered.
"You sure you're going to be ready for this Chloe?" Chelsea asked and Chloe nodded as she stood up. "I hope so! Andreas may the best team win!"
"You don't need to worry about that girls, my team will win this match!" Andreas responded with a grin. "I'm off to find Damien, see you on the duel field!" Andreas added and Chloe and Chelsea nodded before leaving.
"My first serious duel since I used the Orichalcos." Chloe thought as she followed her roommate. "And it just so happens to be against one of the best Ra Yellow students and a guy with a deck that I've only seen in action twice! I hope we can win this!"