The five minute recess between the Battle Royal and the Duel between Theresa and Brandon and Latoya and Louella was almost up and most of the students where in the arena aside from Cameron, Thomas and Jessica who had pretty much headed straight to the Obelisk Blue Boy's dorm, however whilst that was going on someone was arriving on the island.
"That little punk will pay!" Jack grunted as he stepped onto the island and turned to the Speedboat. "Leave the island, I'll call you when I'm ready to leave."
"Are you sure sir?" The driver of the boat asked and Jack nodded. "What if you need to make a quick getaway?"
"I won't need too." Jack responded before a voice rang out through his earpiece.
"Jack, are you on the island yet?" Sarah's voice rang out as Jack started walking away from the shore.
"I just arrived, looks like the students are preoccupied with the little tournament that Duel Academy is putting on." Jack responded as he heard the speedboat drive away. "Why do you care? You were against this idea!
"And I still am! But that's beside the point." Sarah responded and Jack frowned. "Victor assigned me to keep an eye on you, if you fuck up at any time during your duel against Tyler then the boss will know about it."
"I don't make mistakes, I leave victims." Jack responded with a smirk and Sarah laughed.
"Says the man who was arrested whilst he was snorting crack off a hooker's ass!" Sarah responded and Jack went to respond but hesitated. "And don't even get me started on your insecurities over your small penis."
"I don't have a small penis!" Jack asserted with an angry look on his face. "If you'd put out more, not to mention remove your hood once in a while, you'd know that! As for the hooker thing, that was years ago!"
"And you just proved my point." Sarah responded with an angry sigh. "First off, I've spoken to some of your conquests and they all said the same thing, you needed Viagra to get it up to a decent size! Second, there's a reason I never remove my hood in public and trust me, my face would kill your miniscule boner an instant! And third, one of your conquests said that you still do it all these years later."
"I'm not even going to justify those comments with a response." Jack grumbled under his breath. "So just shut up and let me show you how a pro does it!"
"This'll be good for a laugh." Sarah scoffed and Jack growled before storming off.
*meanwhile at the Duel Arena*
The five minutes were up and the duellists that had stuck around were filing back into the arena, however the several of the students who had already secured their places in the following rounds of the tournament had decided to sit next to each other alongside their partners for the tournament.
"Okay, so that didn't go according to plan." Chloe said as she sat next to Lance and Chelsea sat next to her.
"I know but at least we ensured that Cameron and Jessica won't have an easy ride to the finals." Lance responded before he kissed Chloe briefly before he continued. "But even if you had a decent opening hand that Ophion monster pretty much through a spanner in our plan even after we destroyed it."
"One thing's for certain and that's that Ophion will be a major pain in the ass if I and Chloe end up facing Cameron and Jessica." Chelsea responded before looking around. "Speaking of pains in the ass, where are those idiots anyway?"
"Was that meant to be an anal sex joke?" Lance asked as a large sweat-drop rolled down his head and Chelsea laughed.
"Not really but knowing them they'll likely end up having some variety of sex once they've settled their argument." Chelsea responded as she shook her head. "Like I said, where are they?"
"Last I heard, they left the main arena as soon as Cameron was eliminated and Jessica wasn't happy." Lance responded after thinking for a moment. "So yeah, your prediction might come true, as for Thomas, he left after he was eliminated as well but I don't know where he went."
"Let's not worry about them." Kimberly chimed in as she glanced over at them. "Besides, I'm more interested in our match tomorrow especially since Nathan's wanted to duel you for a while."
"Yeah, I remember, kinda surprised that he never sent me a request form after we returned from Battle City." Chloe responded with a nod as the duel arena was turned on for the duel. "Though another match I'm interested in is the second one."
"Right, the match between Amelia Grey's team and Cameron and Jessica." Kimberly nodded with a frown on her face. "Don't get me wrong, Amelia's a great duellist and her Barbarian deck is one of the best in the school but can it compete against Steelswarm and Jessica's burn deck? And then there's Caitlin's Elemental Heroes, they may have been powerful back in the day but they are a bit dated."
"Amelia was able to hold her own against Cameron after he summoned Ophion but whether or not she'll pull off a repeat performance is another matter." Chloe responded before turning to Lance. "What about you Lance? What match are you excited for?"
"The match that'll be starting in a couple of minutes." Lance responded as he turned to his girlfriend. "Don't get me wrong, I'm sure your match and the match following that one will be great matches but the loser of this duel is facing my team so I don't think I really need to elaborate on that any further."
"I guess I didn't think of that." Chloe admitted as she shifted her weight. "Okay, between Theresa and Brandon and Latoya and Louella, who would you prefer to face in the next round?"
"Latoya and Louella, they are great duellists sure but I know that me and Evan can beat them, Theresa and Brandon on the other hand is another matter entirely." Lance responded with a frown. "I haven't duelled either of them since our first week in the academy and whilst I've improved a lot since then the same can be said for them."
"Not only that but when you faced Brandon he was still using the Dark Scorpion deck, his current deck is a lot different." Chloe responded and Lance nodded in agreement as the four duellists returned to the arena. "Looks like the match is starting anyway."
"Welcome back to the third round!" Martin announced and the crowd cheered. "This will be the final match of the round but since this was essentially a way to determine the matches for the following round that is to be expected! In just a few moments Theresa Daniels and Brandon Thomas of Obelisk Blue with take on Latoya Conley and Louella Schneider in a match where the winner will go straight to the finals and the losers will face off against the team of Lance Alvers and Evan Grant in the third round!"
"If it wasn't for Cameron drawing Trap Eater and Rescue Rabbit when he did we'd be competing in this match." Chelsea commented with a frown as she folded her arms. "Don't get me wrong, you did great regardless but it was that Ophion Monster that made you go through your deck so quickly in an attempt to get past it."
"Yeah, and it wasn't even me that got rid of that monster in the first place." Chloe said as she nodded to Lance. "Thanks by the way."
"It's no problem, that monster was crippling my deck as well." Lance nodded in response before turning to the duel. "Anyway, we could sit here and play "What If" all day long but we have a match to watch."
"Penny for your thoughts Theresa?" Brandon asked as he turned to Theresa and she frowned in response as she shuffled her deck.
"Not exactly excited about potentially having a free pass to the finals." Theresa responded as she shook her head. "I'd be happier to earn my place in the finals like I did back in Battle City, back then I had to beat Axel and Chloe to get to the finals but now?"
"Honestly I'll just be glad to have a place in the finals, especially after you eliminated me in Battle City." Brandon responded as Latoya and Louella approached the podium. "They have similar decks to mine and your tag team deck though so who knows what could happen? After all I don't think anyone was expecting Chloe to make it as far as she did, especially after she was put up against Miranda in the second round of the Quarter Finals."
"She's come a long way since her test duel, no one's denying that, however we should focus on Latoya and Louella." Theresa responded and Brandon nodded before they stepped up onto the podium and Latoya and Louella soon joined them. "Ready guys?"
"Yeah, we're ready for our place in the finals." Latoya responded as the two teams activated their duel disks. "You two may be some of the best duellists in Obelisk Blue but so where the Kaiba siblings and they were eliminated earlier in the tournament."
"You seem to forget that Tyler's team was eliminated by us and the team that eliminated Miranda's team is still in the tournament." Brandon pointed out as he folded his arms. "When we win you'll have to potentially deal with them provided you survive the match against Lance and Evan and they knock out Chloe and Chelsea."
"Yeah we know, and we also know that we could be eliminated in the next round." Louella responded with a grin. "So, when is the order being decided?"
"Right now." Martin responded and the two teams turned to the booth where Martin and Kaiba were sitting. "Theresa will go first followed by Latoya then Brandon and finally Louella, keep in mind that whoever loses this match will not be eliminated so don't feel too pressured."
"Little late for that." Latoya muttered under her breath as the four duellists moved into position.
"One more thing before the match starts, starting from this match Duel Academy will be implementing the following rule in order to reflect a recent ruling by Sophia Pegasus." Martin added as he checked his notes. "Basically the duellist who goes first will not be able to draw their first card until their following turn, I'm sure you have complaints but keep in mind that I am just the messenger, not that that's stopped certain duellists complaining about their cards being banned."
"Well, that's annoying." Theresa thought as the four duellists drew their opening hands, Theresa went to draw her first card instinctively but stopped herself. "And it'll take some getting used to, almost tempted to throw the match just so I can use the rest of the matches to get used to the new rule." Theresa thought before looking over her opening hand. "At least my hand's decent enough."
"Now that that announcement is out the way let the duel begin!" Martin announced and Theresa quickly picked up three cards.
"I set two cards facedown and I summon Twin-Sword Marauder!" Theresa announced as she played the cards and the twin sword wielding warrior appeared on the field (4/1600/1000). "That ends my turn!" Theresa announced and Latoya drew her card.
"Okay that monster's going to be a problem, especially with its effect." Latoya thought as she looked over her hand. "And I have nothing that can attack over it, setting up defences though? That's not a problem!" Latoya thought before playing a card. "I summon Armageddon Knight in attack mode!" Latoya played the card and the knight featured in the previous duel appeared on the field (4/1400/1200). "And now his effect activates but since you both use him in his deck you should know the effect." Latoya said before sending a dark type monster from her deck to her graveyard.
"I'm no betting man but if I was I'd be willing to bet that she just sent Necro Guardna or something similar to the graveyard." Brandon thought and Latoya shuffled her deck.
"Next I set two cards facedown and end my turn." Latoya announced as the two cards appeared on the field and Brandon drew his card. "So Brandon, how does it feel to be the only boy in this duel?"
"Well it's not the first time I've had fun with three girls at once." Brandon responded with a shrug as he drew his card…..only to blush intensely when he heard the crowd laughing. "That's not even remotely what I meant and you know it! It's not like I'm playing with myself here….." Brandon trailed off before a large sweat-drop rolled down his head. "Did I get possessed by Lance?"
"Not even Lance makes that much of an idiot of himself." Theresa deadpanned and Brandon shook his head.
"GEE THANKS!" Lance called out from the audience and Theresa sweat-dropped.
"No offence was intended Lance." Theresa responded before turning to Brandon. "Anyway, if I were you I'd just make your move before you dig yourself to China and back."
"Great idea." Brandon agreed before looking over his hand and noticing Latoya giggling. "Were you hoping that would happen?"
"Who me? I was just asking an innocent question." Latoya said with a cheeky grin on her face and Brandon shook his head.
"I'd believe that pop music was heard coming out of Chelsea's speaker system before I believe that." Brandon responded before looking at his hand. "Anyway, I activate Allure of Darkness! Now I banish one Dark Type Monster from my hand and I draw two cards!" Brandon played the card and pocketed the monster before drawing two cards. "Next I set two cards facedown and I summon Gaia, The Polar Knight!" Brandon played the cards and a knight in jet black armour riding a white horse appeared on the field (4/1600/1200). "We'll get to his effect in a couple of minutes but in the meantime I end my turn." Brandon said before retrieving the monster from his pocket. "And since I banished D.D. Scout Plane during my turn I can special summon that monster to the field." Brandon announced as the small machine appeared on the field (2/800/1200).
"I already know what those monsters do, I have seen you two use them during the tournament remember?" Louella asked as she drew her card. "Your deck may have changed a lot since the tournament began but your strategies are largely the same."
"Well if you know so much, why don't you tell us?" Brandon asked and Louella shook her head.
"And ruin the surprise?" Louella asked as she looked at her hand. "Anyway I summon Dark Valkyria in attack mode!" Louella played the card and the dark fairy appeared on the field (4/1800/1000). "And I set two cards facedown to end my turn." Louella set the cards and Theresa drew her card.
"Okay, Brandon seems to be setting up for either Envoy of the Twilight or Dark Armed Dragon, let's see if I can do any better." Theresa thought before looking at her drawn card. "I'll hold on to that for later." Theresa decided before pointing to Armageddon Knight. "Twin-Sword Marauder, attack Armageddon Knight!" Theresa commanded and the swordsman charged forward…..
"I don't think so!" Latoya interrupted her before retrieving the monster she sent to her graveyard with Armageddon Knight's effect the previous turn and pocketing it, the reason for this quickly became clear as the transparent image of Necro Guardna blocked Twin-Sword Marauder's charge. "Nice try though."
"Doesn't matter since Brandon can pick up the scraps on his turn." Theresa responded before picking up her drawn card. "I set a card facedown and end my turn." Theresa announced and Louella drew her card.
"I know what Polar Knight can do as well and I'm not about to let Brandon get its effect off by using D.D. Scout Plane." Louella thought before she turned to look at the card she had just drawn. "I'll save this card for later, first things first though." Louella thought before adding the card too her hand and pointing to D.D. Scout Plane. "Dark Valkyria, attack D.D. Scout Plane!" Louella commanded and the knight charged into battle…..
"Sorry but you're not going to get at me that easily! Activate Trap Card Negate Attack!" Brandon activated the trap card and the fiend's attack bounced off the invisible barrier. "Given how old this card is I don't think I need to explain anything here."
"And you'd be right there." Louella nodded in response before looking at her cards. "I end my turn." Louella announced and Brandon drew his card.
"First I activate my Trap Card Exchange of Light and Day!" Brandon activated the trap and the continuous trap card flipped up. "We'll get to that in a minute, for now I activate Gaia's effect, I tribute D.D. Scout Plane!" Brandon announced as the plane vanished from the field. "And I get to add one Level Four or lower Light Type Warrior monster to my hand!" Brandon announced before he started inputting commands into his duel disk.
"Let me guess, his partner in crime, Gaia, the Mid-Knight Sun?" Louella asked and Brandon didn't respond as he added the monster to his hand. "And I thought your old Dark Scorpions deck was predictable."
"Yeah? Well here's a new twist in my strategy! I banish D.D. Scout Plane from my graveyard to Special Summon White Dragon Wyverbuster in attack mode!" Brandon responded before pocketing the monster and a new monster appeared on the field, it was a large white dragon that was beautiful to look at (4/1700/1800). "He can only be summoned this way and I can only bring him out once per turn."
"Such a strict summoning requirement for a monster with an above average attack score?" Latoya asked with a look of confusion on her face. "What was the point of summoning that other than starting D.D. Scout Plane's effect again?"
"He has another effect that we'll get too later." Brandon responded before playing another card. "However my dragon's effect doesn't prevent me from summoning another monster this turn so I'll bring out Gaia, the Mid-Knight Sun!" Brandon played the card and the light counterpart to his other knight appeared on the field (4/1600/1200). "Now I could go for an XYZ Summon obviously, if I had any XYZ Monsters, but what I do have is three monsters that are stronger than Armageddon Knight! Wyverbuster, attack her knight!" Brandon commanded and the dragon took flight…..
"Yeah, I don't think so! Activate Trap Card Negate Attack!" Louella activated the trap and the dragon's flames bounced off the invisible barrier. "Don't ask how we managed to draw the same trap card in our opening hands."
"I wasn't going to." Brandon responded as she sent her trap card to the graveyard and Brandon looked over the remaining cards in his hand. "I end my turn which means D.D. Scout Plane returns to the field." Brandon announced as the small machine type monster returned to the field in defence mode and Latoya drew her card.
"Okay, Brandon's new monster could be a problem, hell if he keeps this up he won't need to use Envoy of the Twilight or Dark Armed Dragon to secure his team's spot in the finals." Latoya thought before looking at the card that she had drawn. "You're in trouble Brandon! I sacrifice Armageddon Knight to summon Caius, The Shadow Monarch!" Latoya played the card and Brandon's eyes widened as the knight disappeared from the field and in its place stood the mighty shadow monarch (6/2400/1000). "You run a dark type deck as well so I shouldn't have to explain the effect to you! I target Polar Knight!" Latoya announced as the monarch threw the ball of dark energy at the dark knight destroying him and bringing Brandon's life-points down to 7000. "And if you think I'm done your wrong! Caius, attack D.D. Scout Plane!" Latoya commanded and the monarch threw another ball of dark energy at the small machine destroying it and bringing Brandon's life-points down to 5400. "First blood goes to us!"
"You realize that I can still banish D.D. Scout Plane for an effect, right?" Brandon asked as he pocketed Polar Knight and sent D.D. Scout Plane to the graveyard. "Besides you may have drawn first blood but the duel's not over until the fat lady sings."
"True but she'll be singing soon enough! I set a card facedown and end my turn." Latoya responded as she set the card down and Theresa drew her card.
"Well, this could definitely be going a lot better." Theresa thought as she eyed Dark Valkyria and Caius, the Shadow Monarch. "Caius is strong, no doubt about that but Dark Valkyria is just an above average monster when she's in her normal mode but her effect makes her deadly, on the other hand Louella definitely has better Gemini Monsters in her deck." Theresa thought before looking at her drawn card. "Brandon, can I use Exchange of Night and Day?"
"Go ahead." Brandon responded with a nod and Theresa grinned before adding the card she had drawn to her hand.
"Wait, I thought Brandon was the one using the Chaos deck?" Latoya asked with a look of confusion on her face and Theresa shook her head.
"Well I was saving this deck for the finals but since winning this match will send me and Brandon to the finals I have no problem with busting it out now." Theresa responded as she started inputting commands into her duel disk. "Anyway I activate Exchange of Light and Day's effect, for this effect I send one Dark Type Warrior Monster from my hand to the graveyard to add one Light Type Warrior Monster to my hand." Theresa added before picking up the monster she was looking for and adding it to her hand.
"Right, but somehow I doubt that you have Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Twilight in your deck." Louella commented as she folded her arms. "That monster is one of the rarest and most expensive in the game and whilst Brandon is Mr. Moneybags I don't think even he could afford two."
"Actually I could only find one." Brandon commented with a frown. "I had to use one of my credit cards on it but that wasn't a big deal."
"Great, he gets a credit card and my parents barely trust me with twenty bucks." Latoya thought as a large sweat-drop rolled down her head. "Okay, yeah I'm a shopaholic but still!"
"Back on topic." Theresa interrupted them as her deck shuffled itself. "Your right, I don't have a copy of Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Twilight but I'm putting my own twist on the Chaos Deck." Theresa added before picking up two cards. "So I set one card in defence mode and a card facedown to end my turn." Theresa announced and Louella drew her card.
"They haven't really done much to defend themselves, they've just been adding monsters to their hands using card effects." Louella thought before looking at her drawn card. "First I activate Heaven's Lost Property!"
"Fine by us, the more cards we have in our graveyards the better." Brandon responded before the four duellists drew three cards and discarded two.
"Like you'll get a chance to bring out Envoy of the Twilight or Dark Armed Dragon at this rate." Louella responded as she sent her spell card to the graveyard. "I use my normal summon to activate Dark Valkyria's Gemini Mode!" Louella announced as Dark Valkyria's attack increased to 2100 as she started glowing. "Next I activate my Gemini Booster Trap Card!" Louella announced as her trap card flipped up. "It has two effects but for now all you need to worry about is the effect that lets me add seven hundred attack points to Dark Valkyria's score."
"Well, there goes my original plan." Theresa thought with a frown as Dark Valkyria's attack increased to 2800. "I guess the only thing I can hope for is that she uses her second summon to bring out something weak."
"Now onto the reason I activated Heaven's Lost Property in the first place." Louella added as she played a card. "Since I now have two Normal Type Monsters in my graveyard I can summon Woodland Archer!" Louella plated the card and a new monster appeared on the field, it was a light blue, muscular beast warrior with long white hair and a matching beard that, like its name suggested, was wielding a bow and arrow (3/1400/1300).
"Okay, good, if she attacks my facedown monster with Woodland Archer she'll be in for a surprise." Theresa thought with a grin and Louella looked over her hand.
"Now onto business, Dark Valkyria, attack Gaia, Mid-Knight Sun!" Louella commanded and the fiend launched her attack at the knight destroying it and bringing Brandon's life-points down to 4200. "Now attacking your dragon with my archer would be stupid but your dragon's hardly the only monster on your side of the field." Louella added before pointing to Theresa's facedown monster. "Woodland Archer, attack her defence monster!" Louella commanded and the monster launched its arrow…. which bounced off harmlessly. "What?"
"You were so focussed on Brandon that you fell for the oldest trick in Duel Monsters." Theresa responded as her monster flipped up revealing what looked like a younger version of the Black Luster Soldier complete with a smaller version of his armour (4/500/2000). "Meet Beginning Knight, he has an effect which I'll get too later but for now all you need to worry about is the fact that you've just damaged your own life-points." Theresa explained as Louella's life-points dropped to 7400.
"Damn, should've used Dark Valkyria's effect to destroy Wyverbuster and then attacked, would've done more damage." Louella thought before glancing at Woodland Archer. "But I can still use his effect!" Louella thought before pointing to Woodland Archer. "I activate Woodland Archer's effect! By sacrificing him I can add a Gemini Monster from my deck to my hand." Louella explained as the archer vanished from the field and Louella started inputting commands.
"That could be a problem." Brandon thought with a frown as she added the monster to her hand and the deck started shuffling itself. "I can think of a few powerful Gemini Monsters that she could've added with that effect."
"Speaking off effects, I'll go ahead and activate Dark Valkyria's!" Louella commanded as her monster's attack dropped to 2500. "Beginning Knight and Twin-Sword Marauder aren't a threat to me, White Dragon Wyverbuster on the other hand?" Louella decided before pointing to Wyverbuster. "I use her effect to destroy Wyverbuster!" Louella announced as the fiend launched her attack destroying the dragon. "Guess we'll never learn just what his effect was."
"That's where your wrong." Brandon responded and Louella blinked in confusion. "By sending him to the graveyard you've activated Wyverbuster's effect! This allows me to search my deck for his partner in crime Dark Dragon Collapserpent!"
"I swear I2 are getting worse when it comes to punny Duel Monster names." Louella muttered under her breath as Brandon inputted the commands. "If that's all that monster does then why summon it in the first place?"
"I have my reasons." Brandon responded as he added the monster to his hand and his deck auto-shuffled. "Are you done?"
"Not yet, I set one card facedown and end my turn." Louella set the card down and Brandon drew his card.
"Well that went to hell quickly." Brandon thought as he glanced down at his life-point counter. "One turn later and I've lost nearly half of my life-points, at least Theresa can keep them busy with her new cards but can I do?" Brandon thought before looking at his drawn card. "A lot actually!" Brandon thought before pointing to his trap card. "I activate Exchange of Light and Day! And unlike Theresa I'm going to use its effect to search out a Dark Type Monster!"
"So in other words, most of your deck." Louella commented dryly as Brandon searched out his card and added it to his hand. "Besides, I've been counting the number of monsters in your graveyard and at the moment you only have two Dark Type Monsters in your graveyard."
"Not quite, I discarded a dark type monster when you used Heaven's Lost Property." Brandon explained and Louella frowned at that. "But I don't have Dark Armed Dragon just yet."
"And you're telling us this, because?" Latoya asked with a look of confusion on her face.
"Because I have something just as good, I summon Charging Gaia, the Fierce Knight!" Brandon played the card and a new monster appeared on the field, well to say it was new wasn't exactly correct as it was clearly Gaia the Fierce Knight, one of Yugi Motoh's earliest monsters (7/2300/2100).
"They released another retrained version of Gaia the Fierce Knight?" Louella asked with a raised eyebrow, she went to say something else before noticing that Gaia's attack had dropped to nineteen hundred. "I was about to ask how you summoned a level seven monster without a tribute but I'm guessing the point reduction is part of his effect?"
"That's right, I can summon Gaia without a tribute but his attack points drop by four hundred as a result." Brandon explained as he held up a card. "Now normally that would make him no match for either of your monsters but I'm not done, I activate my Spell Card Forbidden Chalice!"
"Oh crap." Louella gulped as Gaia took a sip from the chalice but unlike the usual effect it had on monsters Gaia seemed to get stronger from drinking from the chalice as his attack boosted up to 2700.
"You don't need to worry, you're not my target." Brandon continued before pointing to Caius. "She is! Gaia, attack Caius!" Brandon commanded and the knight charged into battle before spearing the monarch in the chest destroying him and bringing Latoya's life-points down to 7700. "Consider that a bit of payback for last turn."
"You may have destroyed Caius but I'm far from done!" Latoya responded as she sent her monster to the graveyard.
"Considering that Caius was the strongest monster I've seen come out of your deck since the tournament started I find that hard to believe." Brandon responded before looking at his hand. "I set one card facedown and end my turn." Brandon announced as Gaia's attack dropped back down to 1900 and Latoya drew her card.
"That new Gaia monster must have some other effect otherwise why would he summon it?" Latoya thought before looking at her drawn card. "I activate my own Allure of Darkness!" Latoya played the card and pocketed one of the monsters in her hand before drawing two cards. "Just what I was hoping for!" Latoya thought with a grin before picking up a card. "I hope you weren't relaying on Exchange of Night and Day for anything because I'm destroying it to summon the Tuner Monster called Trap Eater."
"That thing again?" Theresa asked as the tuner monster's trademark long tongue shot out, wrapped itself around Exchange of Night and Day's hologram and pulled it towards Trap Eater who swallowed it whole (4/1900/1600).
"Yeah, I know, Cameron used this card in the Battle Royal but just because he's the biggest asshole in Duel Academy doesn't mean that I won't use a good card that happens to belong to him." Latoya responded as Brandon sent his trap card to the graveyard. "But more importantly it sets things up for me to bring out the big guns! First, since I have another Dark Type Monster on my side of the field I can summon Caligo Claw Crow!"
"Yes, I know, I run that card myself!" Brandon responded as the small winged beast appeared on the field (2/900/600). "She's obviously going for a Synchro Summon but what is she summoning? I can't think of any level six Dark Synchro Monsters outside of Celestial Lord Blue Wolf Sirius or Goyo Guardian."
"Next I'll play another Spell Card D.D.R. – Different Dimension Reincarnation! Using this I discard another card from my hand to bring back the monster I just banished!" Latoya said as she plated the card and sent a monster to her graveyard and soon enough another copy of Armageddon Knight appeared on the field. "Since Armageddon Knight was summoned to the field I get to use his effect again!" Latoya added before sending a card from her deck to the graveyard. "But that's not important right now! I tune my three monsters together!" Latoya added as the three monsters leapt into the air for the Synchro Summon.
"A level ten Synchro? This can't be good!" Brandon thought as he broke out in a cold sweat and the Synchro Summon was performed, however when the monster appeared on the field Brandon did a double take. "What…..."
The monster was a massive, snake like dragon that was jet black in colour and had two heads, and by massive I mean that it's hologram took up most of the space on the Duel Field (10/4000/4000). "Meet Beelzeus of the Diabolic Dragons! What's the matter Brandon? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"Let me put it this way Latoya, there are only a handful of Dark Type monsters and support cards that I don't own, either here on Duel Academy or back home in LA in my Duel Vault." Brandon commented as he regained his composure and pointed to the newly summoned dragon. "That dragon is among them! How did you get your hands on it? And more importantly, how could you afford a monster that rare and expensive?!"
"E-Bay and saving up a couple of years' worth of Christmas Money." Latoya responded and Brandon sweat-dropped. "Granted I had to keep that fact a secret from my parents because they don't trust me with anything more than twenty bucks because of my shopaholic ways but as you can see it paid off in the end!"
"I'm not even going to ask how bad a shopaholic you have to be to get to that point." Brandon commented as he shook his head. "I'm going to go ahead and assume that your about to use Beelzeus's effect?"
"You got it but first let's get the basics out the way, my monster can't be destroyed by battle or card effects and as long as he's on the field my other monsters can't attack." Latoya explained not noticing the nervous look on Louella's face. "Now onto the juicy stuff…..."
"Wait, does that last effect apply to my side of the field or just yours?" Louella interrupted her partner who winced before turning to her. "You don't even know?!"
"This is the first time I've gotten to summon this thing full stop! Hell in the other duels I had the means to summon it but by the time I did you had summoned Black Buldrago!" Latoya responded and Louella sighed in annoyance. "Okay, before we move on how about we get an official ruling, Martin?"
"I was just about to intervene and make a ruling actually." Martin's voice rang out over the P.A. before clearing his throat. "After quickly consulting with the other teachers it was decided that Beelzeus's effect only applies to Latoya, continue!"
"Okay, now that that's cleared up." Latoya said as she turned to her opponents. "Now onto the fun part! I activate Beelzeus's effect! I can only do this once per turn but this effect will leave a lasting impact, basically I can target one monster my opponent controls, say that retrained Gaia, and, well, just watch!" Latoya added as one of her dragon's heads opened its mouth unleashing a stream of dark energy at the knight, the knight survived the attack but seemed significantly weaker.
"What did you just do?!" Brandon demanded but quickly got his answer when the knight's attack dropped to zero.
"Relax Brandon, this effect does come with a drawback as the damage you'll take from the upcoming battle between your knight and my dragon will be cut in half." Latoya explained with a grin on her face. "Come to think of it, this really shouldn't surprise you since you are pretty well read when it comes to dark type monsters."
"Normally I am but I never bothered to research that thing's effect because I didn't think I'd be running into a duellist with it in their deck in this tournament." Brandon explained before noticing the look Theresa was giving him. "It's one of the rarest and most expensive cards in Duel Monsters, give me a break!"
"If I where you I'd be more worried about giving your knight a break!" Latoya responded as Brandon turned to her. "Beelzeus, attack his knight and show what would've really happened in a match between a knight and a dragon!" Latoya commanded and the other head opened its maw before unleashing a ball of dark energy at the knight…...
"You're going to have to wait another turn Latoya! I activate my trap card Tribute to Chaos!" Brandon activated the trap which depicted several robed men kneeling in front of statues of Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning and Chaos Emperor Dragon – Envoy of the End that had the respective attributes of the two monsters on the base of the statues. "This card is pretty situational so bear with me for a second, to activate this trap I have to either tribute or discard one light and one dark type monster from my hand, so I use my trap to tribute Gaia and discard Colapserpent from my hand." Brandon explained as the knight disappeared from the field and he discarded his other monster causing the dragon's attack to miss.
"You do realize that I can attack your life-points directly, right?" Latoya asked with a grin as the dragon roared. "If your goal was to help us get to the finals then thanks!"
"Who said I was done?" Brandon asked as he held up Gaia. "Charging Gaia's effect now activates, if he is sacrificed, either for a Tribute Summon or a card effect, I can search my deck for one Black Luster Soldier monster and add it to my hand."
"Like you'll get a chance to use it!" Latoya said as she rolled her eyes and Brandon searched through his deck and added Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Twilight to his hand. "Besides, your soldier requires an equal number of dark and light type monsters for you to summon it and by my math you have too many cards in your graveyard."
"What makes you so sure?" Brandon asked and Latoya scoffed.
"First there's D.D. Scout Plane, those two dragons, the two weaker knights, Charging Gaia and that monster you discarded for Exchange of Light and Day last turn plus the two monsters you just sacrificed." Latoya responded with a smirk which quickly disappeared. "Crap, you do have enough monsters!"
"Fortunately for you my trap card comes with a side effect, until the end of my next turn I can't special summon any light or dark type monsters with a level above five." Brandon responded and Latoya's smirk quickly returned.
"And as far as we're concerned you won't get that chance! Beelzeus, attack his life-points directly!" Latoya commanded and the dragon prepared its attack….
"However anything bellow level five is fair game! I negate your direct attack by summoning Battle Fader through its effect!" Brandon played the card and the small clock like fiend appeared on the field causing Beelzeus to stop its attack.
"Fine, I'll get you next turn instead!" Latoya responded with a smirk before looking over her hand. "Mirror Force, this could stop Envoy of the Evening Twilight if he summons it, ah screw it, he won't get a chance!" Latoya thought before turning to Theresa. "I end my turn." Latoya announced and Theresa drew her card.
"Not bad but not good either, I still don't have the cards I need." Theresa thought before playing the card she had drawn. "I activate Spellbook Inside the Pot!"
"You know, considering how popular that card is I'm surprised that it hasn't been erratered like Card of Sanctity was after Battle City." Latoya commented as the four duellists drew three cards.
"Let's not push our luck, for one thing I'm pretty sure that Lance will be driven to insanity if his deck gets hit again." Theresa responded and the other duellists nodded in agreement before Theresa looked at her drawn card. "This is more like it!" Theresa thought before playing a card. "I activate Super Soldier Ritual!"
"I2 released a card based on Captain America?" Louella asked and Theresa shook her head.
"As cool as that would be that's not the case! Using this Spell Card, I can Ritual Summon any Black Luster Soldier Ritual Monster by sacrificing monsters on my side of the field or hand as long as their levels add up to eight exactly!" Theresa explained before pointing to her monsters. "So I tribute Beginning Knight and Twin-Sword Marauder!" Theresa added as the two monsters vanished from the field and in the place of Twin-Sword Marauder stood the original Black Luster Soldier (8/3000/2500).
"So that's what your whole new deck is about? Summoning the one Black Luster Soldier no one uses?!" Latoya asked with an unimpressed look on her face. "What next? Are you going to fusion summon Dragon Master Knight?"
"If I had a copy of Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon and Polymerization then yes I would." Theresa responded before she pointed to Black Luster Soldier. "But here's something for you to worry about! If Beginning Knight is used in the Ritual Summon of a Black Luster Soldier monster it gains the following effects, once per turn I can banish one face-up monster my opponent controls." Theresa said as she eyed Beelzeus and Latoya gulped nervously. "OR I can have this monster attack twice in a row if it destroys an opponent's monster."
"So in other words Beginning Knight basically turned that thing into Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning." Latoya said with another gulp and Theresa nodded. "Ugh, I should've set Mirror Force!"
"Yeah but I don't know what you're so worried about Latoya." Theresa commented with a smirk before nodding to Brandon. "Because I'm sure that Brandon has a way of dealing with your dragon himself." Theresa added before turning to Louella. "But in the meantime, Black Luster Soldier, attack Dark Valkyria!" Theresa commanded and the swordsman slammed his sword down causing a shockwave to race towards Dark Valkyria splitting her in half and bringing Louella's life-points down to 6400.
"Before you go through with your second attack I have an effect to resolve." Louella said as she held up her trap card. "When Gemini Booster is destroyed and sent to the graveyard I can search through my deck for a Gemini Monster and add it to my hand."
"If you think that it'll help then by all means." Theresa responded and Louella nodded before inputting commands into her duel disk and retrieving the card she was looking for when it popped up. "It won't help you much! Black Luster Soldier, attack her life-points directly!" Theresa commanded and the swordsman slammed his sword down again sending a shockwave towards Louella dropping her life-points down to 3400. "Unless you draw something good then this duels ours."
"What was it that Brandon said earlier? Oh yeah! It's not over until the Fat Lady sings!" Louella responded before activating one of her traps. "I activate Damage Gate! Since I just took Battle Damage I can Special Summon one monster from my graveyard!"
"And you have a few to choose from, so what is it?" Theresa asked as Louella retrieved the monster.
"I'll show you! Say hello to Tuned Magician!" Louella played the card and the white robed spellcaster appeared on the field (4/1800/1600). "Next I'll use my other Trap Card Birthright! This allows me to Special Summon One Normal Type monster from my graveyard and since Gemini Monsters are considered Normal Type Monsters whilst they are in the graveyard that counts for all of them! So welcome back Dark Valkyria!" Louella added as the monster returned to the field.
"So, you wanted to set up your own Synchro Summon." Theresa commented with a frown as Louella sent two of her traps to the graveyard. "There's only one monster that she could summon during her turn and that's Black Brutdrago, I'll be fine since our monsters attacking each other would just result in a draw but Brandon? The only thing he has to protect him is Battle Fader and I'm not even sure if he has a way to summon Envoy of the Evening Twilight or Dark Armed Dragon next turn." Theresa thought with a frown before picking up the other two cards she drew with Spellbook. "I set two cards facedown and end my turn." Theresa announced and Louella drew her card.
"Well, I think you've already figured out what my next move is so with that said, I use my Normal Summon to activate Tuned Magician's Gemini Mode!" Louella announced as Tuned Magician started glowing. "And now that Tuned Magician is considered a Tuner Monster I'll tune him with Dark Valkyria!" Louella announced as the two monsters leapt into the air, once the Synchro Summon was performed Black Brutdrago appeared on the field with a roar (8/3000/2600). "Now I could just go ahead and attack Brandon but you just set two cards facedown so I could use my dragon's effect to destroy them!"
"You could but there's one little problem with that." Theresa said as she folded her arms. "Black Brutdrago's effect can only be used once per turn and I have two cards facedown, you could destroy a bluff card or worse, a card that activates from my graveyard."
"I know that!" Louella insisted before frowning. "She's playing mind games with me and I know it! Why else would she go out of her way to point out my own dragon's effect?!" Louella thought before looking over her hand. "I don't have anything that I could use to reveal Theresa's facedown cards, that's the only problem so I have to make a choice." Louella thought before looking at Theresa's facedown cards and scratching her chin in thought.
"This is pretty risky, if she destroys the wrong card and one of Theresa's facedown cards is Mirror Force then we'll be in big trouble!" Latoya thought with a frown as she turned to her partner. "Beelzeus will survive thanks to his effect but Black Brutdrago doesn't have the same effect and since she just took over three thousand points of damage Louella can't afford to leave anything to chance!"
"Einie, meanie, miney, mo, catch a tiger by the toe…..." Louella said the rhyme out loud as her hand moved from one of Theresa's set cards to the other causing Latoya to face-fault.
"Your deciding your target via a game of Einie, Meanie, Miney, Mo?!" Latoya asked as she got up and turned to her partner. "Do you realize what could happen if you make the wrong choice?!"
"It was the only way I could think off!" Louella responded as Latoya face palmed. "Oh, like this is the craziest thing to happen during today's duels? Did you suddenly forget about Lance revealing his balloon popping fetish during the Battle Royal?!"
"I was trying to get that mental image out of my head, thanks!" Latoya responded with a shudder and Louella sweat-dropped.
"AND JUST BECAUSE I WATCHED ONE WEIRD PORN VID DOESN'T MEAN THAT IT'S MY FETISH!" Lance called out from the stands and the two girls sweat-dropped in response.
"Are we seriously having this conversation in the middle of a duel?" Louella commented with a deadpan expression on her face and Latoya shook her head.
"Is it too late to ask for a new tag team partner?" Latoya muttered under her breath and Louella shook her head.
"Considering that one: we've made it this far in the tournament and two: we're in the middle of a duel then yes, it is too late!" Louella reminded her and Latoya sighed in annoyance. "If he hollas let it go, einie, meanie, miney mo." Louella finished the rhyme and ended up pointing to the set card on the right. "I activate Black Brutdrago's effect! All I need to do is discard one Gemini Monster from my hand and I can destroy one Spell or Trap Card my opponent controls and I chose that one!" Louella announced as the dragon breathed fire at the set card destroying it.
"I hope she made the right choice!" Latoya thought with a nervous gulp as Louella pointed to Battle Fader.
"Black Brutdrago, attack Battle Fader!" Louella commanded and the dragon launched its attack at the much small fiend incinerating it.
"Good thing that it gets banished by its own effect rather than go to the graveyard." Brandon commented with a grin as he pocketed his monster. "Because otherwise I'd have too many cards in my graveyard to summon my best monster."
"Yeah, funny you should say that actually." Louella responded with an even bigger grin on her face as she played a card. "I move to my Second Main Phase and activate Burial from a Different Dimension! With this Spell Card I move Battle Fader back to your graveyard."
"What possible use could that have in a Gemini Deck?" Brandon asked with a look of confusion, mixed with some frustration, on his face as he sent Battle Fader to the Graveyard. "There are no Gemini Monsters that banish monsters last I checked."
"Your right, there isn't, I added this card to my deck during the break between the Battle Royal and, well, this match." Louella responded as she sent her spell card to the graveyard. "In fact I've been keeping it in my side deck ever since you started using your Chaos Deck on the off chance that our teams ended up facing off against each other."
"Is she always this insanely prepared?" Brandon asked as he turned to Latoya who shook her head.
"No, this is actually pretty tame for her." Latoya responded causing Brandon to face-fault. "You should see her preparing for tests."
"I'll pass thanks." Brandon commented as he shook his head. "How do you know about that anyway?"
"Eh, we were study buddies before the tournament paired us up, we just got lucky in the draw." Louella shrugged her shoulders in response and Brandon sweat-dropped. "And before you say anything about it being rigged, you're the one teaming up with his girlfriend!" Louella added when Brandon went to respond to that.
"Touché." Brandon admitted as he shook his head. "Don't you have a turn to finish?"
"Oh right, I end my turn." Louella announced and Brandon drew his card.
"Okay, I could've summoned Envoy of the Evening Twilight this turn but Louella went and moved Battle Fader to my graveyard, wouldn't be a problem if I had my copy of Limit Reverse in my hand but sadly I don't." Brandon thought before looking at the card he had drawn and grinning. "I activate The Beginning of the End!"
"Okay, there's luck draws and then there's ridiculously lucky draws." Latoya said as Brandon retrieved five of his Dark-Type Monsters from his graveyard and pocketed them. "That firmly falls under ridiculously lucky draws!"
"As long as you don't accuse me of top decking there won't be a problem." Brandon responded as he drew three cards and sent his Spell Card to the graveyard. "Next I set two cards face-down and a monster in defence mode to end my turn." Brandon added as the three set cards appeared on the field. "Oh, and guess what one of the cards I just banished was."
"D.D. Scout Plane?" Latoya asked and Brandon did nothing except let the fact that D.D. Scout Plane returned to the field in defence mode speak for itself. "Doesn't matter, you still need to get five more cards in your graveyard so that you can summon Evening Twilight and I'm not in a hurry to let you do that, to start my turn I use Beelzeus's effect again, this time on Black Luster Soldier!" Latoya announced as the dragon's second head opened its maw…
"Not this time Latoya, I negate Beelzeus's effect by discarding Effect Veiler from my hand!" Theresa said as she discarded her monster and the dragon promptly closed its mouth.
"Fine, you may have negated my dragon's effect but I can still attack! Beelzaus, attack Black Luster Soldier!" Latoya commanded and the dragon's first mouth opened up and prepared its attack.
"That was just what I was hoping for actually." Theresa said as her trap card flipped up. "Go Magic Cylinder!"
"Oh this is gonna suck on so many levels!" Latoya said with a wince as she braced herself for the attack as it was bounced back at her knocking her off her feet and bringing her life-points down to 3700.
"Sorry Latoya, I thought I targeted the right card last turn." Louella apologized with a wince as Latoya got back up to her feet and gathered up her cards.
"Don't worry about it, we may have taken a lot of damage in the past few minutes but we still have an advantage." Latoya responded as she nodded towards her dragon. "As long as the big guys on the field we'll be safe."
"I wouldn't count on that Latoya." Theresa chimed in as she folded her arms. "Or have you forgotten about my Soldier's effects?" Theresa asked and Latoya's eyes widened. "Not to mention the fact that it's my turn next."
"Oh yeah? Well I'm not done yet!" Latoya responded before looking over her hand. "I still have Mirror Force and I can defend my life-points by setting Mystic Tomato in defence mode, it's not exactly ideal but I'll take that over a direct attack." Latoya thought before picking up her two cards. "I set one card facedown and a monster in defence mode…"
"I don't think so Latoya, I activate Mystical Space Typhoon!" Brandon activated his Quick Play Spell Card and Latoya's eyes widened as the typhoon tour her trap card's hologram to pieces almost as quickly as it appeared on the field.
"Well, so much for Mirror Force." Latoya said with a wince as she sent her trap card to the graveyard. "I knew I should've set it last turn."
"Wait, you had that card in your hand for at least a turn and you didn't set it?!" Louella demanded and Latoya winced. "And you gave me a hard time for deciding what card I should target via einie meanie miney moe?!"
"I thought they would just concentrate on trying to get rid of my dragon somehow, I didn't think that Theresa would bust out a 3000 attack beatstick!" Latoya insisted and Louella shook her head. "As I was saying, I end my turn." Latoya announced and Theresa drew her card. "No need to panic! I'll be fine as long as I can keep searching out Mystic Tomatoes!"
"I summon my second Twin-Sword Marauder!" Theresa played the card and the swordsman returned to the field ready for battle. "But before I do anything else I activate an equip spell that I'll equip to Black Luster Soldier." Theresa added before turning the card around.
"Big Bang Shot?!" Latoya asked as her eyes widened. "This is bad but at least we won't be eliminated from the tournament!" Latoya thought as Black Luster Soldier's attack shot up to 3400.
"Now to deal with your dragon! I activate Black Luster Soldier's effect and I use it to banish Beelzeus of the Diabolic Dragons!" Theresa announced and the swordsman slammed his sword down sending a shockwave towards the dragon cutting it in half. "Twin-Sword Marauder, attack her defence monster!" Theresa commanded and the swordsman charged towards the set Mystic Tomato before stabbing it with his sword and bringing Latoya's life-points down to 3200.
"I activate Mystic Tomatoes effect!" Latoya announced before she quickly started inputting commands into her duel disk, she made her choice and summoned it revealing another Mystic Tomato. "It's not often that I get to say this sentence but I summoned it in attack mode to reduce the damage I'll take."
"Smart, Twin-Sword Marauder, attack her monster again!" Theresa commanded and the swordsman stabbed the tomato a second time destroying it and bringing Latoya's life-points down to three thousand, however when Latoya went to use the effect a third time a look of panic washed over her face. "Problem Latoya?"
"My duel disk is saying that there's no compatible cards in my deck!" Latoya said before holding up her duel disk so that they could see it. "I thought I had more monsters that fell under that category in my deck but I must've sent all of them to my graveyard, that or they are already in my hand." Latoya added before looking over her hand. "Just my luck, my third Mystic Tomato is in my hand!"
"Too bad for you! Black Luster Soldier, finish her off!" Theresa commanded and the soldier slammed his sword down sending a shockwave towards Latoya that brought her life-points down to zero. "That just leaves you Louella." Theresa said as she turned to Louella. "But you can always save face by surrendering, not like you'll be eliminated from the tournament."
"Good point." Louella conceded before surrendering the duel and the holograms disappeared from the field. "But we'll be back when we reach the finals!"
"We'll see about that, don't forget that you'll be facing another Obelisk Blue Team in the next round." Brandon pointed out as he returned his cards to his deck.
"Here are your winners, Brandon Thomas and Theresa Daniels!" Martin announced and the crowd cheered in response. "This off course means that Brandon and Theresa are going straight to the finals whilst Latoya and Louella will face off against Lance Alvers and Evan Grant in two days' time, before then tomorrow's duels will kick off with a match between Chloe Richardson and Chelsea Cunningham of Ra Yellow and Kimberly and Nathan Tory of Obelisk Blue!"
"Well, at least Theresa and Brandon going straight to the finals means that we won't have to worry about facing them in the next few rounds." Chloe said with a gulp as she and Chelsea got up. "Only thing is that we'll have a hell of a fight on our hands once we reach the finals and my track record against Theresa isn't exactly great to begin with."
"True but that doesn't mean we won't give them a hell of a fight." Chelsea nodded in agreement as the two girls made their way out of the arena with the other students. "But that doesn't mean that we won't have a hell of a fight getting to the finals either."
"Tell me about it! Let's at least hope that Amelia and Caitlin will eliminate Cameron and Jessica tomorrow." Chloe responded with a wince. "I'm in no hurry to deal with their nasty XYZ Monsters anytime soon, especially after the Battle Royal."
"I hear that." Chelsea nodded in agreement. "So what's your schedule like for the rest of the day?" Chelsea asked and Chloe checked her timetable.
"I've got Duel Theory in an hour but aside from that I've got a pretty laid back day." Chloe responded with a nod. "What about you?"
"I've got the same Duel Theory class followed by PE but other than that my schedule's laid back as well." Chelsea responded as the two girls pocketed their timetables. "Looks like we'll get to take things easy today."
"Yeah, as long as the Orichalcos Duellists don't rear their ugly heads at least." Chloe responded with a wince and Chelsea nodded in agreement. "So what do you think about just chilling in our dorm room for an hour."
"Eh, normally I wouldn't say no but Beth wants to spend some "quality time" with me." Chelsea responded as she pointed to her girlfriend who was waving her over. "Guess I'll catch you at Duel Theory."
"Just try not to get caught with lipstick on your neck again." Chloe said with a grin and Chelsea sweat-dropped.
"That only happened once." Chelsea asserted before shaking her head. "Anyway, see you then!" Chelsea added before the two girls went their separate ways.