A couple of hours had passed since the tag duel between Tyler and Miranda and Vince and Michelle ended and for the most part the classes were over and the students were either in their dorms chilling out or duelling each other and in some cases those duels were practice duels in preparation for the Battle Royal tomorrow.
"Man I'm beat." Lance thought as he walked down the hallway of the Obelisk Blue Boy's Dorm with his hands in his blazer pockets "Still at least I don't have any lessons today and since Tyler and Miranda defeated the latest Orichalcos Duellists to be sent to the island I can relax for the rest of the evening, maybe watch some porn, listen to metal, watch porn whilst listening to metal….." Lance thought as he neared his dorm room only for the door to Marcus's room, which was next door to his, to open up. "That you Marcus?"
"No, it's the tooth fairy, who do you think?" Marcus asked as the overweight student stepped out of his dorm room. "Lance, you didn't notice anything suspicious in the past few hours, right?"
"Err, no, I've been hanging out with Chloe, and no that's not a euphemism for sex since I'm still waiting for the condoms to come in, since Tyler and Miranda won that tag team duel earlier." Lance responded and Marcus frowned. "Something wrong?"
"When I returned to my room earlier the window was wide open when I had left it closed all day, after I closed it I checked to see if there was anything missing but my computer and laptop were left alone." Marcus responded before folding his arms. "Then I checked my deck."
"Shit, someone stole some of your cards?" Lance asked and Marcus nodded. "Do you know which ones?"
"Yeah, two of them, Red-Eyes Black Chick and Red-Eyes Black Dragon, whoever stole them decided to leave Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon almost like they were rubbing it in." Marcus added and Lance frowned.
"Why would they leave that card? It's a monster that specifically requires Red-Eyes Black Dragon to be summoned." Lance asked and Marcus shrugged.
"You got me, I was looking up duel monster news and I2 are releasing new Red-Eyes Black Dragon support cards, a new fusion, a new XYZ even their own version of White Stone of Legend! As you can imagine I was pretty excited." Marcus responded as he folded his arms. "But those cards won't be out over here for a few months and just as I had started saving money for them my cards got stolen."
"What was that about cards being stolen?" Tyler's voice rang out and the two boys looked up seeing Tyler behind them. "Start from the beginning." Tyler added and Marcus explained the situation. "Are you sure you haven't misplaced those cards."
"I left my duel disk in my room because I didn't think I'd need it and besides I did a thorough search of my room before I realized that someone had broken in, from now on I'm locking my window as well." Marcus responded with a frown on his face and Tyler nodded in response.
"Okay, Lance can you report the theft for us whilst we have one last look?" Tyler asked and Lance nodded in response. "Try Martin's office here at the dorm room first but if he isn't available look for one of the security guards, I'm sure they'll be happy to help."
"Didn't Hamden say that Martin was going to do an emergency evaluation of the new staff after your match against Vince and Michelle?" Lance asked and Tyler nodded.
"I did but that was hours ago, from what I've heard they had to start looking for new staff members because so many of the new staff members that were already hired ended up being Orichalcos Duellists." Tyler responded as he shook his head. "With any luck he will have finished by now and will be ready and willing to help."
"Okay, I'll see what I can do, be back in a sec!" Lance responded with a nod before turning around and walking back down the hallway, Marcus opened the door to his room first and held the door open for Tyler before closing it behind him.
"Okay, so walk me through what happened when you returned to your room following my duel earlier." Tyler said as he looked around. "Looks like whoever broke in knew what they were looking for since the rest of the room is undisturbed."
"Yeah, but what caught my attention was that the window was open, I had left it closed because it was pretty chilly today." Marcus explained as he pointed to the window. "What was even weirder was that when I went to close the window I noticed that there was a ladder propped up against it, that sent me into panic mode and I started looking for anything that was missing."
"I can't blame you." Tyler nodded in understanding as he approached the window and saw the ladder Marcus mentioned. "Aside from the two monster cards what was stolen?"
"That's pretty much it, whoever broke in left my money, laptop and desktop alone and went straight for my deck." Marcus responded with a frown as he looked around. "Here's what I don't get, my deck features monsters like Five Headed Dragon, Trident Dragon and Blue-Eyes White Dragon, why ignore those monsters and go for Red-Eyes Black Chick and Red-Eyes Black Dragon instead."
"That's a great question." Tyler nodded in agreement as he looked around before noticing something by Marcus's laptop. "Was that USB stick by your laptop when you left earlier?"
"No, I use an External Hard Drive for backing up my files, why?" Marcus asked as he walked over to the laptop and saw the USB stick in question. "Think it was left by the thief?"
"One way to find out." Tyler responded as Marcus brought the laptop out of sleep mode, typed in his password and once he was logged on to his laptop he plugged in the USB Stick. "Might want to scan it for viruses just in case."
"Good idea." Marcus responded with a nod before scanning it with him Anti-Virus, when the file came clean Marcus opened it. "One video file, that's a minute in length."
"Message from the thief maybe?" Tyler asked just as there was a knock at the door. "Door's open and we're decent." Tyler called out to whoever was on the other side and the door opened up revealing Martin and Lance at the door. "This day just keeps getting more eventful for you, doesn't it Martin?"
"Yes, it does." Martin sighed as he entered the room and let Lance in before closing the door behind him. "What do you know so far?"
"The thief used a ladder to get in through the window, ignored the laptop, money and electronic equipment in favour of Marcus's deck." Tyler responded as he motioned them over, Martin and Lance walked over and Tyler moved to the side. "Whilst I was looking around I spotted this USB Stick and Marcus said that he uses an external hard drive to back up his files so it can't be his."
"And yeah, I scanned it as soon as I popped it in, there aren't any viruses on the USB stick as far as I can tell." Marcus responded before pointing to the video file. "Just that video file."
"Have you watched it yet?" Martin asked and Marcus shook his head.
"We were about too when you guys came a knocking so we decided to fill you guys in first." Marcus responded before clicking on the video file, Windows Media Player loaded up not long afterwards and the video started playing showing the inside of Marcus's dorm room and the female robed figure who had broken in.
"Marcus, if you're watching this then you've already figured out that I've stolen two of your cards." She said as she held up Red-Eyes Black Chick and Red-Eyes Black Dragon. "I know you have a few questions so let me get a couple of them out the way, first I'm not associated with the Orichalcos Duellists, not anymore." She added before removing her hood.
"Wait, isn't that the girl you duelled after Battle City ended?" Lance asked as he leaned in. "Marie wasn't it?"
"That's her." Marcus nodded in response. "But what's she doing here? I heard that she escaped prison time by testifying against the other surviving Orichalcos Duellists but she's been under the radar since then."
"Second, you don't have to worry, your cards are safe with me." Marie added as she held up a regular Duel Disk and put the two cards into her deck. "But if you want to see them again then you'll meet me on the North Side of the island within the hour, any later and you'll never see me or your dragons again." Marie said before putting her hood back on. "And come alone, if I even see a glimmer of light reflecting off of Martin's bald head I'll rip the cards in two." Marie added before turning around and the video cut off.
"Do you think she's serious?" Lance asked as he folded his arms. "Why is she doing this to begin with? She surrendered the duel to Marcus because she found out that the reasons for her anger were misguided."
"That's a great question." Marcus sighed in response before walking over to the desk where his duel disk sat. "She never really got over the fact that her parents died before she could get to know them and as you can imagine that fact morphed her into the troubled teen you met at Battle City."
"Yeah, I remember your dad hoping that she'd get the help she needed once she was freed." Lance nodded in response with a frown on his face. "If anything it seems that she isn't as messed up as she was when you duelled her but that doesn't explain the theft."
"Well whatever the reasons for the theft were I'm going to meet her." Marcus responded as he strapped on his duel disk and did a quick deck count. "I beat her once and I know I can do it again, even if she hadn't surrendered I still had her beat."
"Are you sure that's wise?" Martin asked as he folded his arms. "You said it yourself, she's not exactly of a sound mind and she does have a criminal history, how do we know that she's telling the truth?"
"As crazy as it might sound, the girl I saw on the video reminded me of nothing of the girl I duelled in Battle City." Marcus sighed as he loaded the deck into the slot. "For a lot of the kids at that orphanage my dad ran I was their only friend and that included Marie, back then she was a sweet girl with anger issues, kinda like Chelsea only a lot younger and not a lesbian, she got me into the game and dragons in general but when she started committing those crimes I refused to believe that it was her, it took her being found guilty for me to face the truth."
"And you think you'll get through to her." Tyler responded and Marcus nodded in response. "Okay, let's say, hypothetically, that she has gotten better since Battle City, why would she break into your dorm room and steal those dragons?"
"I don't know, I guess old habits die hard." Marcus responded as he went to leave the room. "Call the others and tell them what's happened, I want some back-up encase I beat her and she tries to make a break for it with the cards."
"You don't trust her?" Martin asked and Marcus shook his head.
"After finding out that she was affiliated with the Orichalcos Duellists that invaded Battle City I honestly don't know what to believe about her." Marcus responded as he left the room. "Why would Marie return after all this time? Better yet, why would she come to the island and specifically seek me out? There's a lot of questions on my mind and I intend to get some answers!"
*meanwhile*
Since the incident in the hallway earlier in the day Nicola had been in her room either doing homework, going over her deck or watching YouTube videos though that wasn't exactly the only thing on her mind.
"The Orichalcos Duellists not only got onto the island but managed to infiltrate the new crop of staff, I know I'm not the only one who feels uneasy about that." Nicola thought as she looked over her deck and stopped when she reached one of her copies of Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus. "I know I should've been there to support Tyler and Miranda but there's way I can show my face in public for at least a couple of more days after the incident in the hallway."
"Unfortunately the staff won't let you get away with that and you know it." Sapphire Pegasus reminded her and Nicola sighed.
"A girl can dream can't she?" Nicola asked her duel spirit before putting her deck but in its holster. "Besides, Tyler and Miranda won their duel without me being there to support them so who knows? Maybe I can afford to skip out on a couple of Orichalcos Duels?"
"Ideally you should be avoiding them at all costs." Sapphire Pegasus responded and Nicola sighed.
"Well yeah but it's not like the others have had much luck in that department." Nicola responded before there was a knock at the door. "Who is it?"
"It's me, can I come in?" Chelsea's voice rang out and Nicola grinned when she heard her friend.
"Sure." Nicola responded and the door opened, Chelsea stepped in and closed the door behind her. "If you want to apologize for the incident earlier, don't, I've gotten over it and it was my fault as much as yours."
"Maybe but I still wanted to come over, especially after you didn't show up for Tyler and Miranda's Orichalcos Duel." Chelsea responded as she glanced around. "Mind if I sit down?"
"Knock yourself out, just don't damage the wall." Nicola responded with a grin and Chelsea laughed before sitting down on a chair. "Like I said, it was my fault as much as yours so don't worry about it."
"I know, I still felt like shit about it." Chelsea responded as she folded her arms. "Speaking of the duel, I didn't see you there, didn't Sapphire Pegasus alert you?"
"She did." Nicola nodded in response as she glanced up at Chelsea. "But I want to wait for any chatter about what a blurted out in the hallway to die down before I go anywhere outside of the Osiris Red Girl's dorm and yeah, I know I'll have to attend my classes in the morning."
"You could always fake being ill, worked wonders for me when my first boyfriend broke up with me….at least until mom checked my temperature." Chelsea admitted and Nicola laughed in response.
"I wouldn't even last that long." Nicola said once she stopped laughing. "Only way that would work out for me is if I went out of my way to make myself ill and I'm in no hurry to do that." Nicola added before realizing something. "Wait, boyfriend? I thought you were a lesbian?"
"I am but I did try dating guys for a while which didn't work out." Chelsea responded and Nicola nodded. "It doesn't really help that the last guy I dated basically dumped me for another girl but never bothered to actually tell me so I didn't find out until I saw him kiss the other girl in public, dad actually had to talk me out of having a shouting match with him."
"And knowing your temper it would've escalated from shouting match to, well, an actual match." Nicola pointed out and Chelsea grinned. "Did he ever find out that you knew?"
"Yeah, when he next came round to my house I read him the riot act for cheating on me before telling him to get the fuck out of my life and that was the last I saw of him." Chelsea responded as she shook her head. "Anyway, you sure you're okay with what happened earlier? Because if I where you then I'd still be fuming."
"Well yeah but I don't have your temper." Nicola responded and Chelsea let out an annoyed grunt. "And now it's my turn to ask if something's wrong with you."
"It's nothing, it's just you're not the only one who's made a comment about my temper today." Chelsea responded as she shook her head. "First Brandon told me that my temper was going to get me in trouble one day and then Martin, as if he was reading Brandon's fucking mind, basically told me that I was on thin ice."
"Let me guess, Martin heard about the argument we had with Thomas?" Nicola sighed and Chelsea nodded. "Why would he warn you about that anyway? It was Thomas that started it."
"It was less to do with the argument and more to do with the threat I made against him when he almost called you…..well, you know….." Chelsea trailed off and Nicola nodded when she got the idea. "He basically said that if I had hit him then I'd be facing my second expulsion duel, which would've meant an automatic thirty day suspension if I had won it."
"He doesn't pull punches with his threats." Nicola sighed as she shook her head. "Then again I guess he wasn't wrong."
"Yeah I know, doesn't make the fact that pretty much everyone I know has been nagging me about my fucking temper all day!" Chelsea grunted in annoyance and Nicola winced. "Anyway I'm heading back to me and Chloe's dorm room and before I forget, sorry for embarrassing you earlier."
"And I'm sorry for upsetting you by reminding you about your talk with Martin." Nicola responded and Chelsea grinned before standing up. "I almost asked if you were up for meeting up for tomorrow's duels but I forgot that your team is, technically, competing tomorrow."
"It's cool, we can still meet up after the duels, see you around." Chelsea responded before leaving the dorm room and closing the door behind her. "Seriously, does the entire universe feel like getting on my case about my temper today?"
"Well to be fair your temper has been a problem for a long time." Wattchimera responded and Chelsea rolled her eyes.
"Wattchimera, do me a favour and don't start!" Chelsea responded before walking off.
*a bit later*
"She can't be that far away now." Marcus thought as he walked through the forests that made up the island's northern edge, he had checked a couple of clearings but so far the only people he had seen were couples having make-out sessions under the stars. "You'd think that the new security guards would deter them, anyway I can't be late because the time stamp on the vid she made was about twenty minutes before I returned to my dorm." Marcus thought before looking into another clearing and spotting her. "Found her!" Marcus thought before entering the clearing. "Marie, didn't think I'd see you again."
"And I didn't think the DA would accept my offer to testify against the other surviving Orichalcos Duellists but here I am." Marie responded as she folded her arms, she had discarded her robe revealing an outfit similar to the one she wore to Battle City except the midriff bearing tank-top was now red in colour and she was wearing jeans instead of shorts. "Thanks for accepting the invite by the way."
"Like I had a choice?" Marcus asked and Marie frowned. "Why are you doing this Marie? I thought I heard that you had changed your ways."
"Oh I did, your dad even helped me get adopted at long last." Marie responded as she folded her arms. "But then word reached me that the Orichalcos was back and I wanted to make up for past mistakes by helping you guys out."
"You call stealing two of my cards helping?" Marcus asked and Marie frowned. "And where is your adopted family in this anyway?"
"At first they didn't want me involved, they were worried that I'd go back to my old ways but I kept badgering them and they eventually relented hence why it took me so long." Marie responded and Marcus frowned. "What? You don't believe that I want to help you?"
"Well let me put it this way, the last time we met you had practically been driven mad by anger and let's not forget the fact that you broke into my dorm room and stole two of my cards!" Marcus pointed out with a frown. "Seriously, the only reason I haven't called security on your ass is because I want to see my cards again!"
"And you will." Marie responded before turning around and grabbing a duel disk, when she turned around she revealed it to be a standard issue duel disk and not the Orichalcos Duel Disk she had used during her previous duel with Marcus. "Is this enough to convince you that I'm on the level?"
"Not exactly, how do I know that it isn't a disguise that will fall off when you activate it?" Marcus asked and Marie laughed.
"I'm flattered but I'm not that creative." Marie responded before activating the Duel Disk and sure enough it stayed the same shape and size. "Besides, don't know if you've noticed but the duel disks that I and my former partners used where larger and completely different in shape than regular duel disks, if that doesn't convince you then I don't know what to tell you." Marie added and Marcus hesitated.
"Good point." Marcus admitted before activating his duel disk. "But you'll forgive me for not completely buying your story."
"Fine, I guess I'll have to let my actions do the talking." Marie responded as she drew her opening hand and Marcus frowned.
"Yeah, about that, your actions at Battle City and your actions tonight have already spoken volumes about how you're not the same girl I knew growing up." Marcus retorted as he drew his opening hand. "But enough talk, who's going first?"
"I am!" Marie responded before drawing another card. "And I'm kicking things off in a big way! I summon Black Stone of Legend in attack mode!" Marie played the card and a new monster appeared on the field, it looked a lot like the tuner monster White Stone of Legend except it was black in colour and seemed to be glowing a crimson red (1/0/0).
"You call that kicking things off in a big way?" Marcus asked as he stared at the monster. "If I summon the right monster I could deal a big blow to your life-points!"
"You're welcome to try and besides, good things come in small packages, just look at me!" Marie responded and Marcus frowned. "What? No comment? Whatever, I set two cards facedown and end my turn!" Marie set the two cards down and Marcus drew his card.
"Well, she isn't lying about the small packages part, that thing probably has an effect similar to White Stone of Legend but that won't stop from crushing it! As for her, well she is the only girl I know who's even shorter than Chloe but I don't know about the good things part." Marcus thought before looking at his drawn card. "Normally I'd say that you were better off setting that thing in defence mode but with the monster I just drew that wouldn't have helped either way! I summon Spear Dragon!" Marcus played the card and the strange dragon with the long beak appeared on the field (4/1900/0). "Spear Dragon, attack Black Stone of Legend and make her pay for stealing my cards!" Marcus commanded and the dragon took flight.
"Err, no, I'm going to have to take a rain check on that payment! Activate Trap Card Silver Dollar!" Maria activated the trap and the attack hit only for Black Stone of Legend to withstand it. "Since you just attacked a monster with one thousand attack points or less this trap card protects it from being destroyed and negates the battle damage!" Marie added before grinning. "And don't think for a second that I don't know about Spear Dragon's drawback."
"Oh crap." Marcus cussed as Spear Dragon crouched down into defence mode. "At least I won't lose any life-points when she goes on the offensive." Marcus thought before looking at the other cards in his hand. "I set two cards facedown and end my turn." Marcus announced as the two facedown cards appeared on the field and Marie drew her card.
"Perfect, I can bring out the big guns already." Marie thought before playing the card she had drawn. "I activate Silver's Cry! Using this I can Special Summon one Dragon Type Normal Monster from my hand and I'm pretty sure that the monster that I'm about to summon needs no introduction!" Marie played the card and sure enough the Red-Eyes Black Dragon appeared on the field with a roar (7/2400/2000) however when the dragon saw Marcus its eyes narrowed.
"That's the dragon you stole from me, isn't it?" Marcus asked and Marie frowned.
"I was hoping to reveal that fact myself but yeah, it totally is." Marie responded before grinning. "But why settle for one Red-Eyes Black Dragon when I can bring out two?"
"What?!" Marcus yelled out and Marie's grin grew bigger.
"Just watch, I activate the effect of Black Stone of Legend, well technically it has two effects but I can only activate one effect per turn and once per turn so you don't have to worry about the other effect yet." Marie announced as Black Stone of Legend vanished from the field. "You see I can tribute my Black Stone of Legend in exchange for bringing out a Level Seven or lower Red-Eyes monster from my deck as long as it's not Red-Eyes Black Chick so I'll cut to the chase and summon the big guy!" Marie played the card and sure enough a second Red-Eyes Black Dragon appeared on the field. "And before you ask, this guy was one that I obtained legally."
"If you can obtain one Red-Eyes Black Dragon legally then why come all this way to steal mine?" Marcus asked and Marie frowned.
"Two reasons, one, in the booster pack that has the reprinted version of this card Red-Eyes Black Dragon is the rarest monster in the pack, I had to buy a lot of booster packs before I got my hands on that dragon and the only upside was that it helped me get my hands on all these support cards." Marie responded as she folded her arms. "My other reason is not so much about practically as it is personal, I wanted to prove a point!"
"What point?" Marcus asked and Marie grinned.
"My point that I want to prove is that I'm a lot better at handling big things than you'll ever be." Marie responded before blushing like a madwoman. "And by "handling big things" I mean these dragons, not penises!"
"I had a feeling that was the case." Marcus responded with a frown. "And I still wouldn't have made such a joke anyway! How could I since I've known you since you were four years old?"
"That never stopped your friends from dating, what were their names again? Chloe and Lance?" Marie pointed out and Marcus frowned.
"Except they haven't known each other since childhood, which would be kind of hard since Chloe's from New York and Lance is from Arizona." Marcus responded with a frown. "Besides, before they made it official a couple of weeks ago it was pretty obvious that they wanted more out of their relationship."
"Which they obviously got." Marie responded as she folded her arms. "Who knows? Maybe we could make that leap?"
"The last time I saw you before tonight you were with the Orichalcos Duellists, when you came back into my life you stole two of my cards one of which you're currently using against me." Marcus responded as he shook his head. "Sorry Marie but you have a long way to go before I count you among my friends, let alone potential girlfriends!"
"Fine, I'll get to my point then." Marie responded clearly unhappy with Marcus's response. "I basically wanted to prove that I can use these dragons better than you ever could and what better way to show that than to use them in a way you've never heard off?"
"Is that why you left Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon in my deck?" Marcus asked and Marie nodded.
"Darkness Dragon is a good card but unless you a shitload of dragons in your graveyard you can't really get that much mileage out of it." Marie responded as her grin grew wider. "And no, I'm not going on the attack with my dragons either! Instead I'm building an Overlay Network!"
"An XYZ Summon?!" Marcus yelled out as the portal opened up behind the two dragons and they were sucked in.
"That's right! This card I'm about to summon won't be out for another year over here so enjoy this sneak peak whilst it lasts!" Marie responded as she retrieved the monster from her extra deck. "I XYZ Summon Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon in attack mode!" Marie played the card and a huge dragon emerged from the portal, its scales where a metallic red in colour and it was intimidating to say the least (Rank: 7/2800/2400).
"That's thing's huge!" Marcus said with a gulp as he stared at the monster. "Good thing my Spear Dragon's in defence mode."
"It won't be a good thing for long! I activate my Trap Card Dragon's Rage!" Marie activated the trap and Marcus's eyes widened when he heard the name. "Being a fellow dragon user I shouldn't have to explain this Trap Card's effect to you or how much trouble you are currently in! Flare Metal Dragon, attack Spear Dragon with Metal Flare Blast!" Marie commanded and the dragon let lose a massive fireball that consumed Spear Dragon and brought Marcus's life-points down to 5200. "And trust me Marcus, my dragon has a lot of tricks up its sleeve! For now I end my turn!" Marie announced and Marcus drew his card.
"Okay, so she has a really powerful dragon type XYZ Monster that she summoned using my copy of Red-Eyes Black Dragon as one of the XYZ Materials and has Dragon's Rage on the field, this could be bad." Marcus thought before looking over his hand and at his two trap cards. "Heh, I forgotten that I had set this, it might help." Marcus thought before picking up a monster. "I set a monster in defence mode and end my turn."
"Really? That's the best you can do? Seems that your skills have degraded since we last fought." Marie commented as she drew her card. "I start things off with a Spell Card called Sacred Sword of the Seven Stars! All I need to do is banish one Level Seven monster from my hand and I get to draw two cards." Marie pocketed the monster and quickly drew two cards. "Well, this worked out pretty well."
"If it worked out pretty well for you then it's probably bad news for me!" Marcus responded and Marie grinned.
"Oh, you have no idea!" Marie responded as she sent her Spell Card to the graveyard and quickly played another one. "I activate Burial from a Different Dimension! Using this Spell Card I'll move the monster I just banished to my graveyard." Marie announced before retrieving the monster from her jeans pocket and moving it to the graveyard.
"I'm almost afraid to ask but what was the point of that?" Marcus asked and Marie grinned.
"The point was so I can demonstrate Black Stone of Legend's other effect!" Marie responded as she retrieved the monsters from the graveyard. "When Black Stone of Legend is in my graveyard I can target one Level Seven or Lower Red-Eyes Monster that was also in my graveyard and shuffle that into my deck." Marie added before moving the card into her deck and hitting the auto shuffle button, once it was done shuffling she held up Black Stone of Legend. "And here's an added bonus, in exchange for that Black Stone of Legend goes back into my hand!"
"Meaning you can use that card's effect all over again." Marcus realized and Marie nodded.
"Be thankful that I can only use each effect once per turn but there is one other move I can make." Marie said as she played a card. "I summon Black Metal Dragon!" Marie played the card and another new monster appeared on the field, it was a dragon made entirely of metal that was easily dwarfed by Flare Metal Dragon (1/600/600).
"Black Metal? You mean the music Chelsea likes?" Marcus asked and Marie shook her head. "Wait, how do you know about Chelsea? She didn't compete in Battle City."
"Neither did Ashitaka, Hu, Jason, Chakra, Chelsea's girlfriend or Miranda Kaiba." Marie responded with a grin. "Nicola did compete but like me she was eliminated during the city stage of the tournament and Tyler didn't compete but he was present, I don't exactly have the resources of the Orichalcos Duellists but I know all about the allies you guys have recruited for your battle against my former employers and trust me, you'll need all the help you can get."
"How do you know about them?" Marcus asked and Marie frowned.
"I've said too much, for now, just know that my friends have their ways." Marie responded and Marcus blinked.
"Friends?" Marcus asked and Marie covered her mouth.
"Oops, there's my big mouth again." Marie responded before she folded her arms. "Tell you what, survive the next two rounds and I'll tell you more about them, in the meantime I activate Black Metal Dragon's effect, in a way this little guy acts like a Union Monster but he isn't classified as such, basically I can equip him from my hand or from the field to one Red-Eyes Monster I control except for Red-Eyes B. Chick."
"Wait, I'm confused, if your cards can't be used on Red-Eyes Black Chick then why did you steal it in the first place?" Marcus asked and Marie frowned.
"I have my reasons but for now I'll get back on track, when Black Metal Dragon is equipped to a Red-Eyes Monster that monster gets six hundred extra attack points so I'll just go ahead and equip him to Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon and really put the hurt on you!" Marie announced as the small dragon flew onto the much larger dragon's back and Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon's attack increased to 3400. "Now not even your Blue-Eyes White Dragon can beat my monster which is really bad news for that facedown monster! Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon, attack his defence monster! Flare Metal Blast!" Marie announced and the monster launched its attack…..
"I activate my Trap Card Rainbow Life!" Marcus activated the trap and quickly discarded a card from his hand. "My monster gets toasted but this turn only the Battle Damage I would've taken thanks to Dragon's Rage gets added to my life-points instead!" Marcus added as the monster was revealed to be Masked Dragon (3/1400/1100) which was quickly incinerated but thanks to Marcus's trap his life-points went up to 8500 rather than drop to 2900. "And as a fellow dragon user you should know what Masked Dragon does!" Marcus added as he used the features on his duel disk to search out a card.
"It won't matter what you throw at me Marcus, my dragon's unstoppable!" Marie said confidently as Marcus played the card, however she did a double take when she saw the monster. "Armed Dragon Level 3? You're kidding?!"
"Nope!" Marcus responded as the small orange dragon appeared on the field (3/1200/900). "Do you remember what this little guy does?"
"How could I forget? Aside from Rainbow Life you used that same combo in practically every duel we had growing up!" Marie responded with a small smile on her face. "Marcus, look, when I said that I was no longer affiliated with the Orichalcos Duellists I meant it, the fact that pretty much every survivor from the Battle City incident was facing serious jail time when we awoke made me realize just how big they were in the backstabbing department."
"Considering what I and my friends went through thanks to those bastards during the tournament that doesn't surprise me one bit." Marcus responded before realizing something. "Marie, are your friends fellow former Orichalcos Duellists?"
"You figured it out a lot faster than I thought you would but I've spoken too much, for now I end my turn." Marie announced and Marcus drew his card.
"Okay, so she's working with other former Orichalcos Duellists, doesn't narrow it down." Marcus thought as Armed Dragon Level 3 started glowing and growing. "Since Armed Dragon Level 3 is on the field during my Standby Phase I can level him up to Armed Dragon Level 5!" Marcus announced as the big, burly dragon appeared on the field with a roar (5/2400/1700). "Next, I activate the Spell Card Cards of Consonance! I discard one weak tuner from my hand….." Marcus said as he discarded the monster. "And I get to draw two cards!" Marcus added before drawing two cards. "And another thing, you used Black Stone of Legend? Well I'm about to use the original's effect!"
"White Stone of Legend." Marie nodded in acknowledgement as Marcus started searching through his deck. "But I wouldn't be so liberal with your card effects from now on."
"Huh?" Marcus asked before looking at his score. "What the hell? When did I lose a thousand life-points?"
"Did you notice that your life-points seemed a bit too high when you used Rainbow Life? Because that's one of Flare Metal Dragon's effects, whenever you use a card effect you also lose five hundred life-points." Marie explained as she folded her arms. "Anyway that was a good combo but isn't it a bit tired and dated? I remember you using it during Battle City."
"Yeah, back when you were with the Orichalcos Duellists." Marcus responded as he added the card to his hand and the duel disk shuffled his deck whilst Marie frowned at being reminded of that fact. "And now I'm going to render Flare Metal Dragon obsolete even if it costs me more life-points!" Marcus said as his life-points dropped to 7000. "It'll be worth it since your dragon will be toast! I activate Armed Dragon Level 5's effect! Since its effect applies to a monster's original attack I'll just discard a monster with three thousand attack points!"
"But there's only one monster in your deck that that's strong, I should know, I had to look through your deck to find the cards I stole." Marie realized as the dragon started breathing fire. "Discarding the Blue-Eyes White Dragon so you can bring it back later, clever."
"I like to think I am." Marcus said with a grin before pointing to Metal Flare Dragon. "Armed Dragon, incinerate Metal Flare Dragon!" Marcus commanded and the dragon breathed fire at the much larger dragon consuming it with flames. "So how do you like your dragons? Personally I like them Medium Rare!"
"I like them not destroyed!" Marie responded with a massive grin on her face and Marcus blinked as the flames evaporated…..revealing that Metal Flare Dragon had survived! "Surprised? You should be, as long as Metal Flare Dragon has an Overlay Unit it can't be destroyed by Card Effects."
"When you said that your dragon has more than one trick up his sleeve you weren't kidding." Marcus admitted with a gulp. "This is bad, the only way I can take that thing down now is if I summon Five Headed Dragon and even though I have enough dragons in my graveyard to summon it with Dragon's Mirror I'd have to draw it first." Marcus thought before looking at the two cards he had drawn with his Spell Card. "I set two cards facedown and end my turn." Marcus set the two cards down and Marie drew her card.
"Let's see, three facedown cards and Armed Dragon Level Five, it's like he wants me to attack." Marie thought before looking at her drawn card and adding it to her hand. "I summon an old favourite, Black Stone of Legend!" Marie played the card and the black stone appeared on the field again. "Now I activate Black Stone of Legend's effect!" Marie added as the stone disappeared from the field and in its place stood the Red-Eyes Black Dragon. "Flare Metal Dragon, why don't you show Armed Dragon some real firepower? FLARE METAL BLAST!" Marie commanded and the massive dragon breathed fire at the Level Monster incinerating it and bringing Marcus's life-points down to 6500. "Red-Eyes Black Dragon, attack with Inferno Fire Blast!" Marie commanded and the dragon prepared its famous attack….
"I activate Birthright!" Marcus responded as his trap card flipped up. "This may cost me another five hundred Life-Points but I'll take that over twenty-four hundred life-points any day of the week and like your dragon my monster needs no introduction." Marcus added as his life-points dropped to 6000 and the Blue-Eyes White Dragon appeared on the field with a roar (8/3000/2500).
"Well, you didn't exactly waste any time in bringing out the big guns either." Marie commented before shaking her head. "Red-Eyes, call off your attack." Marie commanded and the dragon cancelled the attack. "Your dragon may be strong enough to destroy my Red-Eyes but not my Flare Metal Dragon."
"No monster is truly invincible Marie and I'll find a crack in your dragon's armour soon enough." Marcus responded and Marie smirked.
"I'd like to see you try, for now I'll end my turn." Marie announced and Marcus drew his card.
"Wingbeat of Giant Dragon? That would only destroy Dragon's Rage and my face-down card…..wait a minute…." Marcus thought as an idea popped into his head. "Just for reference, Black Metal Dragon is being treated as an Equip Spell right?"
"Err, yeah, why?" Marie asked and Marcus grinned.
"Not for long! I activate my Spell Card A Wingbeat of Giant Dragon!" Marcus announced and Marie's eyes widened when she heard that card name. "You should know this effect but I'll tell you anyway, Blue-Eyes White Dragon is going back to my hand and he's taking all Spell/Trap Cards with him!" Marcus added as the dragon took flight and flapped his wings causing a massive wind blast, first Dragon's Rage was destroyed followed by Black Metal Dragon, Birthright and Marcus's facedown cards. "All for the cost of five hundred life-points!" Marcus added as his life-points dropped to 5500 whilst Flare Metal Dragon's attack dropped down to its original score.
"Black Metal Dragon has another effect, when it's sent to the graveyard from the field I can add a Red-Eyes monster to my hand as long as it's not Red-Eyes Black Chick." Marie responded as she inputted some commands on her duel disk. "Nice try Marcus but ultimately it was all for naught, even though you've weakened my dragon the only monster you have that could've stopped him is back in your hand."
"Yeah but who said I was done?" Marcus asked as he played another card. "I activate Trade-In, this costs me another five hundred life-points obviously." Marcus said as his life-points dropped to 5000. "But in return I'm sending my Blue-Eyes White Dragon to the graveyard and making two draws." Marcus added before drawing two cards.
"If you want to defeat yourself by using card effects whilst Fare Metal Dragon is on the field, go ahead! I won't stop you." Marie responded as Marcus sent his Spell Card to the graveyard.
"We'll see about that." Marcus responded before looking at his drawn cards and grinning. "Marie, you are definitely in trouble now, first I activate Swing of Memories to bring back my dragon for one more turn." Marcus announced as the dragon returned to the field with a roar and his life-points dropped to 4500.
"So what? He'll be gone by the end of your turn and once he is they'll be no saving you from my cards!" Marie pointed out and Marcus grinned.
"Who said I was done? I activate another Spell Card, DRAGON'S MIRROR!" Marcus activated the spell and it quickly dawned on Marie just what he was up to even as Marcus's life-points dropped to 4000.
"Spear Dragon, Masked Dragon, Armed Dragon Level 3, Armed Dragon Level 5, what else am I missing?" Marie thought before it hit her. "Oh yeah! White Stone of Legend, wait, five Dragon Type Monsters…..oh shit!" Marie thought as she started laughing nervously. "Err, you know, the whole theft business was nothing personal, there's no need to use Five Headed Dragon on me….."
"Too late!" Marcus said as he retrieved the five dragons from his graveyard and pocketed them, soon afterwards Marcus's strongest monster appeared on the field with a mighty roar (10/5000/5000). "And you're out of luck since Five Headed Dragon is a monster that can only be destroyed by Light Type monsters."
"Yeah, and all more Red-Eyes monsters just happen to be Dark Types!" Marie responded with a gulp as she stared down the two monsters. "Stay calm Marie, there's more than one way to skin a dragon." Marie thought as she braced herself.
"First, the big guns! Blue-Eyes White Dragon, attack Metal Flare Dragon with White Lightning!" Marcus commanded and the dragon opened its maw ready to unleash it's legendary attack at the larger dragon, the attack was launched and the massive dragon was vaporized bringing Marie's life-points down to 7800. "Good riddance, now for your third Red-Eyes! Five Headed Dragon, attack Red-Eyes Black Dragon!" Marcus commanded and the five heads unleashed simultaneous attacks at Red-Eyes Black Dragon destroying it in an instant and bringing Marie's life-points down to 5200.
"Okay, so we're back to where we started, I think." Marie grunted as she picked herself off the grass having been knocked back by Five Headed Dragon's attack. "But if you think I'm surrendering to you again then you have another thing coming!"
"Well my dad's not around to talk sense into you so there's that." Marcus responded before looking over his hand. "I end my turn which means that my dragon goes back to the graveyard." Marcus added as Blue-Eyes White Dragon vanished and Marie quickly drew her card.
"Okay, this won't be easy but I could pull this off, I hope." Marie thought before looking at her drawn card. "Here we go!" Marie thought before playing the card. "I activate Fusion Conscription! All I have to do is reveal to you one Fusion Monster in my extra deck." Marie said as she retrieved the monster in question and tossed it to Marcus.
"Err, okay." Marcus said before reading the card. "Black Skull Archfiend Dragon, whoa that's pretty powerful." Marcus thought before tossing the card back to Marie. "Okay, now what?"
"Now I can add the fusion materials listed on that card to my hand from my deck or graveyard, for this I'll add the Red-Eyes Black Dragon I stole from you from my graveyard and one monster from my deck." Marie added before taking the two monsters, adding them to her hand and sending the Spell Card to the graveyard whilst returning the monster to her extra deck. "Unfortunately I can't do anything with these cards right now, but I can do this." Marie added as she played another Spell. "I activate Cards of the Red!"
"Okay, I'll bite, what does that do?" Marcus asked and Marie grinned.
"I'll show you, first I send one Level Seven Red-Eyes Monster from my hand to the graveyard." Marie said as she sent the monster to the graveyard. "And yes, that was the monster I searched out with Black Metal Dragon, anyway in exchange for that I not only get to the draw two cards." Marie added as she drew her cards. "But I can send another Level Seven Red-Eyes Monster to my graveyard, this time from my deck." Marie added as she sent another card to the graveyard.
"She's thinning her deck a lot, what's she planning?" Marcus thought before Marie picked up the two cards she had drawn.
"I set two cards facedown and end my turn." Marie announced and Marcus, despite his surprise, drew his card. "What? Were you expecting a monster?"
"Maybe." Marcus responded before looking at his drawn card. "Let's cut to the chase! Five Headed Dragon attack her life-points directly!" Marcus commanded and the five heads prepared their attacks…
"I don't think so! Activate Trap Card Red-Eyes Spirit!" Marie activated the trap and it flipped up. "This trap card lets me target one Red-Eyes Monster in my graveyard and special summon it to my side of the field." Marie added as she retrieved the monster. "So why not bring out Flare Metal Dragon for one last hurrah?" Marie asked as the massive dragon appeared on the field again.
"Fine by me, all you've really done is put off the inevitable, Five Headed Dragon, attack Flare Metal Dragon!" Marcus commanded and the dragon breathed fire at the XYZ Monster destroying it and bringing Marie's life-points down to 3000. "Unless you have another trick up your sleeve then this duel will end the same way our last one did!"
"Marcus, encase you haven't noticed I'm wearing a tank top, I don't have any sleeves to hide anything under." Marie responded before glancing over her shoulder. "Well unless you count the robe I was wearing for the break-in/video." Marie added and Marcus leaned to the side seeing the robe behind her. "As for why I discarded it, well encase you haven't noticed it gets really hot on this island even at night, I could only walk around in that robe for so long!"
"Yeah, I know what you mean." Marcus admitted before glancing at Marie's other Trap Card. "I have no way of knowing what the other card she set is, she could've activated it when I attacked Flare Metal Dragon again but she didn't." Marcus thought before looking at his drawn card. "Well I won't give her a chance!" Marcus thought before playing the card. "I move to my Second Main Phase and I activate my Galaxy Cyclone Spell Card."
"Okay, that's a new one." Marie admitted as the spell card appeared on the field. "And here I thought I was the only competitor in this match with new tricks up their sleeves, so to speak obviously."
"Obviously, as for Galaxy Cyclone it destroys your set card!" Marcus added as the storm washed over the field destroying Marie's set card. "It has another effect but I'll get to that later." Marcus added as he sent the Spell Card to the graveyard. "But unless you have another card like Cards of the Red I don't think you've got any traps left!"
"That's what you think." Marie thought as a small smile appeared on her face. "Are you done?"
"Yeah, I'm done, and you'll be done soon because as soon as I get a direct attack from my dragon to hit this one's over." Marcus responded and Marie drew her card.
"Remember the card I showed you last turn through Fusion Conscription's effect?" Marie asked as her grin grew wider. "Well I'm about to summon it! I activate Red-Eyes Fusion!" Marie played the card and the Spell Card's Hologram appeared on the field. "This Spell Card lets me Fusion Summon one Red-Eyes monster from my extra deck as long as I don't mind the fact that it will be treated as the Red-Eyes Black Dragon as long as it's on the field or the fact that I can't normal or Special Summon monsters for the rest of the turn, so I'll fuse together Red-Eyes Archfiend of Lightning and Red-Eyes Black Dragon!"
"How many new Red-Eyes monsters are there?!" Marcus asked as the two monsters appeared on the field, the Red-Eyes Black Dragon he recognized but he couldn't say the same for the other one even though it looked like a black version of Summoned Skull (6/2500/1200), both monsters were sucked into the portal and Marie retrieved the monster from her extra deck.
"Enough for me to construct a deck that isn't a one trick pony! I Fusion Summon Black Skull Archfiend Dragon!" Marie played the card and a new monster appeared on the field, on the outside in looked a lot like the old fusion monster Black Skull Dragon but it had a lot more red in its colour scheme than the older dragon did and was a lot more intimidating (9/3200/2500). "Sure, he may not be as strong as Five Headed Dragon but you saw the monster last turn so you should know its effects."
"Yeah I know and if you think I'm dumb enough to attack that dragon think again!" Marcus asserted and Marie giggled. "What's so funny?"
"You may not be dumb enough to attack my dragon but you were dumb enough to fall for my bluff." Marie said as she retrieved a card from her graveyard. "Remember the trap card you destroyed last turn?" Marie asked before turning it around.
"It's another Dragon's Rage!" Marcus realized as his eyes widened. "You wanted me to attack you!"
"Off course, how else would I pull off this combo? I activate Megamorph and I equip it to Black Skull Archfiend Dragon!" Marie played the card and the dragon roared as it doubled in size and power, all the way up to 6400. "Black Skull Archfiend Dragon, attack Five Headed Dragon!" Marie commanded and the dragon unleashed its attacks at the Five Headed Dragon bringing Marcus's life-points down to 2600. "Sure, doing so brings his attack points down to half its original score." Marie admitted as the dragon's attack dropped to 1600. "But there's an added benefit, I move to my second main phase and I activate Black Skull Archfiend Dragon's effect, since I attacked with it I can target one Red-Eyes Normal Monster in my graveyard and inflict damage to you equal to that monster's original attack points so why not go with the classic?"
"You act as if I have a say in this." Marcus commented before wincing as his life-points dropped to a mere 200. "But even with two hundred life-points left I can still beat you, and since Black Skull Archfiend Dragon is a Dark Type Monster that means that my dragon survived the hit." Marcus added as Five Headed Dragon roared.
"I guess you're right, my monster's attack power is so low that that you could finish me in one hit with that dragon of yours." Marie admitted as her eyes narrowed. "But I'm not as weak as I once was, I won't surrender to you this time Marcus!" Marie added before looking over her hand. "I set one card facedown and end my turn." Marie announced and Marcus drew his card. "What are you waiting for? Christmas? Finish it already!"
"You wanted it? You got it! Five Headed Dragon, attack Black Skull Archfiend Dragon and end this duel!" Marcus commanded and the dragon prepared its attack….
"Gotcha!" Marie said with a smirk and Marcus blinked. "I activate my Quick Play Spell Card Tailor of the Fickle! Using this I change Megamorph's target to Five Headed Dragon!"
"NO WAY!" Marcus yelled out as his dragon shrunk considerably in size as its attack power dropped to 2500 whilst Black Skull Dragon's attack rose to its original score.
"Yes way! And since you only have two hundred life-points left, well you were right about Five Headed Dragon ending this but just not in the way you intended!" Marie responded as her Dragon flew over the five blasts effortlessly and unleashed its attack again, Five Headed Dragon survived the attack but the same couldn't be said for Marcus as his life-points plummeted to zero.
"How….." Marcus trailed off as the holograms disappeared and Marie approached him. "When did you get so good?"
"Little thing called practice, maybe you should try it." Marie added as she turned off her duel disk and returned her cards to her deck. "I was hoping you'd be a better challenge then that, especially since you're in Obelisk Blue nowadays, oh well." Marie added as she started to walk off.
"Wait, what about my Red-Eyes?" Marcus called out to her and Marie stopped.
"I said that you'd see that card again but I never said anything about giving it back." Marie responded with a grin before reaching into her pocket. "But I will throw you a bone, I also said that you'd see Red-Eyes Black Chick again and despite what you may think of me I'm a woman or my word." Marie added before retrieving the card and tossing it at Marcus, he caught the card and looked at it.
"This isn't over Marie, I'll be back for my dragon!" Marcus called out to her as she bent over to pick up her robe.
"I look forward to it." Marie said after she picked her robe up and put it on. "I can't really stay here, Martin's probably got his goons on the prowl for me already, but like I said, I'm not the only former Orichalcos Duellist working to bring down Victor and we will be watching closely but I will give you this tip, look closely at the USB stick I left in your room, there's more than just that video on it." Marie added before disappearing into the forest.
"Marie, wait!" Marcus called out to her but Marie was long gone. "I'd better get back to the dorm, tell the others what happened, but if she is on our side and is telling the truth about the others I'm glad she's on our side." Marcus thought before walking off.
*meanwhile*
"Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!" Jack cussed as he paced back and forth in Victor's office, it was the following morning already in America and Jack was in Victor's office ready for the debriefing. "They know who I am now! All they need to do is look at my employment history and we're screwed!"
"If you weren't so insecure about your tiny dick we wouldn't be in this mess!" Sara responded as she folded her arms. "Any ideas Victor?" She asked as she turned to him.
"We need to target Tyler directly before he can get word of this to the teachers." Victor responded with a frown as the two underlings nodded. "You'll escort another underling to…."
"No, I'll do it!" Jack insisted with a frown. "That punk won't get away with this! I'll go the island on my own and drag him out of his room by his hair if I have too."
"Jack, you know the policy about that…." Sara started but Victor put his hands up. "Boss?"
"If he wants to handle this himself, let him." Victor responded and Jack grinned sadistically. "Tyler is now a priority target, be ready for anything."