YuGiOh GX The Future

by judodave

Rewritten version of an old fanfic, original cast: It's been 20 years since Jaden graduated from Duel Academy and now Chloe and Lance, two friends who love to duel have enrolled in the school but what challenges await them at Duel Academy? Complete, sequel coming soon!

122. Day 13 Lucky for Some

A few hours had passed since Tyler's defeat at the hands of Jack and the result of the duel had sent shockwaves throughout the island, Tyler had been taken to the infirmary immediately following the duel and a crowd of duelists had gathered outside.

"I don't know what I find harder to believe." Chase Donavon commented as he leaned against the wall currently in the middle of a chat with his friend and tag team partner in the tournament Daniel Troy. "The fact that Tyler lost to an Orichalcos Duelist or the fact that he was beaten by a monster with infinite attack points."

"It's a bitter pill to swallow." Daniel nodded in agreement as he glanced at the infirmary door. "I mean, what are we supposed to do if we come up against that monster? It rendered Tyler unconscious and damaged his Duel Disk so much that it had to be replaced, it's a good thing that Nicola and Chelsea were there to get the Duel Disk off him and retrieve his cards, otherwise…." Daniel trailed off before sighing. "I'd rather not think about what could've happened."

"You and me both." Chase commented with a nod before glancing around the crowd. "Come to think of it, where are they? You'd think those girls would want to be with their friend."

"Last I heard they had rushed off to the Obelisk Blue Boys and Girls dorms to get the others, I heard Lance had finally gotten around to arranging a date with Chloe but I'm not sure about the location of the others." Daniel commented before chuckling. "Let's hope that Nicola doesn't interrupt their first time having sex with each other."

"This really isn't the time to make jokes like that." Chase said as he folded his arms. "And besides, just because you had sex with Amelia after your first date with her doesn't mean they will."

"Just saying, if I was Lance I wouldn't be waiting for the condoms to arrive." Daniel said as he put up his hands defensively. "Besides, I was just trying to lighten the mood a little, things have been a little down since Tyler's duel."

"Yeah I hear you." Chase nodded in response before spotting someone approaching the crowd and he grinned once he recognized her. "At the same time, you might want to hold back on those kind of jokes, especially when Chloe is just down the hall from you." Chase added and Daniel looked up seeing Chloe leading the others to the infirmary.

"Don't worry, I didn't hear what his jokes where, not sure if I want to know either." Chloe admitted as she approached the group with the others in tow. "Any news on Tyler's condition?"

"The nurse hasn't come out since he was admitted so your guess is as good as mine." Daniel responded with a shrug and Chloe frowned. "Hey, he wasn't in an Orichalcos Duel, right? I mean, this isn't going to be like what happened to Nathan right before Battle City, is it?" Daniel asked and Chloe turned to Chelsea who shook her head.

"Tyler was able to keep the Orichalcos off the field via Prohibition and Psychic Field Shield." Chelsea responded with a frown. "Even so, a direct attack from a monster with infinite attack points? I'd rather not think about what could've happened to him if the Orichalcos was active."

"Yeah, that's one thing I've been meaning to ask about." Chase chimed in and Chelsea turned to him. "A monster with infinite attack points and the ability to wipe out the opponent's cards while still being able to attack? I can't believe I2 would make something that broken!"

"Normally I'd make a Yata-Garasu joke here but that card may as well be a normal monster compared to the one that attacked Tyler." Chelsea responded as she folded her arms. "But that's beside the point, we know for a fact that the Orichalcos Duelists have an expert forger in their hands, good enough to make Duel Monster cards so convincing that any duel disk would recognize them, besides if Lucifer the Damned is a legit card I'm selling off every metal album I own and becoming a Belieber."

"Speaking of things that I wouldn't joke about." Lance muttered under his breath and Chelsea gave him a mock glare. "Anyway, has anyone found Miranda? Chloe and Chelsea couldn't find her?"

"I think she's in class, not sure though." Daniel responded with a shrug. "Actually here she comes now." Daniel said as he leaned to the side and saw Tyler's step-sister storming through the hallway with a worried look on her face, without even acknowledging the other students standing around the infirmary Miranda marched up to the door and knocked on it.

"Martin, I know you're in there! Let me in!" Miranda called out and the other students winced. "I know what happened to Tyler and I want to see him now!"

"Do you want to be the one to tell her that they aren't letting any students who don't need medical attention in there at the moment or should I be the one to risk castration?" Daniel whispered to Chase who shook his head in response, before they could say anything else the door opened and a visibly unhappy Martin stood in the door. "Never mind."

"I thought I made it absolutely clear that no one is allowed in until Tyler is awake unless they need to see the nurse?" Martin said with an annoyed sigh as Miranda crossed her arms. "Not even his step-sister can see him, he needs his rest."

"I had a feeling you'd say that." Miranda said as she glanced over her shoulder and saw a very familiar figure stepping through the crowd, when Martin saw him he let out another sigh. "That's why I went and contacted my dad, granted I thought it would take him a lot longer to get here than it actually did but I didn't know that he was on the island."

"Yes, you weren't supposed to know that either." Martin sighed in annoyance as Seto stepped in front of his daughter. "I suppose you want to see Tyler but you have to understand, he needs rest, he is seriously injured at the moment."

"Oh, I understand Martin." Seto said as he folded his arms. "In fact, before I met up with Miranda I personally reviewed the security camera footage myself with the cooperation of the other dorm headmasters, I didn't exactly like what I saw so I came over to talk to Tyler myself."

"I don't care if you run the company that founded this school, Tyler needs his rest." Martin reiterated as he pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "And I was there to see it for myself, I don't like it any less than you do as one of my top students got injured in a duel and we had to replace his duel disk which is not a cheap process, if you'll just wait a couple of more minutes I'll let you in as soon as Tyler's woken up."

"Ugh, what happened?" Tyler's voice rang out from within the infirmary and Martin closed his eyes for a second before stepping aside.

"Okay, you can go in." Martin said with an unhappy look on his face. "But I'm only letting in the following students alongside Seto, Miranda, Chloe, Chelsea, Lance, Nicola, Andreas, Marcus, Brandon and Theresa, everyone else will have to wait." Martin added before letting the students in amidst protests from the other students and closing the door behind him. "I apologize for that I was only following the nurse's orders."

"That's fine, just let me see him." Miranda responded and Martin stood aside to let her past, Tyler was lying down on the very last bed in the infirmary and was rubbing his head with a pained expression on his face, when he looked up and saw Miranda his expression softened a bit. "And here I thought that antagonizing an Orichalcos Duelist was going to be the craziest thing you've done all week." Miranda said as she sat down next to the bed. "Then you went and challenged the same Orichalcos Duelist, by the way, you owe me $20 and the promise to not drink Red Bull for the rest of the month."

"Nice to see your concerned." Tyler grunted as he sat up. "I have several questions running through my head…" Tyler started only to trail off when he saw his step-dad. "And your presence here has just added another question on top of that."

"Ask whatever you want in a minute Tyler." Seto responded before sitting down next to Miranda whilst the others watched on. "I've read the reports and I don't like them one bit, you were attacked by a monster with infinite attack points?"

"Trust me dad, I find it just as hard to believe as you do." Tyler responded as he leaned back. "But believe me, that Lucifer the Damned card is not only something that I couldn't make up if I tried but it's the stuff of nightmares, please tell me that they caught Jack."

"I wish I could." Martin responded and Tyler glanced up at him. "But just as the DAS were about to make their move a helicopter appeared seemingly from out of nowhere and dropped a ladder to him which he used to escape." Martin added before frowning. "Unfortunately I was too busy tending to Tyler to notice anything about it."

"Luckily I did." Chelsea chimed in after thinking for a second. "When I heard the helicopter above us I looked up, I barely caught a glimpse of it but there was a logo on the side which said Santiago Industries." Chelsea added causing Seto to spin around almost immediately. "Something I said?"

"I just have one question for you." Seto said as he walked up to her. "Do you remember anything about the logo?"

"Like I said I barely caught a glimpse of it but the logo was the initials for Santiago Industries and it had a Chinese Dragon form the S and a sword form the I." Chelsea responded and Seto's frown deepened. "Look, Tyler told me that you have history with some guy called Victor Santiago…..."

"That's all I wanted to know and if you value your place at Duel Academy you'll drop that line of questioning Cunningham." Seto said as he turned around leaving Chelsea dumbfounded.

"Are you kidding me?" Chelsea asked as she folded her arms. "If it weren't for me and Nicola Tyler would've been in worse condition than he currently is and this is the thanks I…"

"Chelsea, trust me, it's not worth it." Miranda interrupted her with a stern look, Chelsea went to argue but quickly thought better of it. "Look, it's not like dad's not thankful for your help with Tyler if Tyler told you then you should know how touchy the subject is for him."

"Fine, doesn't mean I have to like it." Chelsea grumbled angrily and Miranda shook her head. "And for that matter, how did you get to the island so fast anyway? Don't you have a multi-national game company to run back on the Mainland?"

"I do in fact I've been running the company from my office here at Duel Academy since the Orichalcos Duelists resurfaced." Seto responded as he glanced over his shoulder at Chelsea. "Look, you kids might not realize it but the fact that so many Orichalcos Duelists were able to infiltrate the Battle City Tournament last year was a PR nightmare for the tournament and Duel Academy, luckily the souls they captured during the tournament were released but for a while it was looking like there wasn't going to be another Battle City, it's just my luck that as soon as the PR Nightmare has ended the duelists resurface and attack the academy that I founded."

"Trust me Kaiba, we're not exactly thrilled about the return of the Orichalcos either." Chloe chimed in with a frown on her face. "But we at least know what we can expect from the Orichalcos Duelists this time around and for the most part we've managed to defeat a few of their agents, unfortunately some students weren't as lucky." Chloe added as she glanced at the other beds that contained the comatose bodies of Sarah Baker, Billie Prince and Frank Goff. "Based on what Chelsea told me the only reason Tyler didn't join them is because he was able to keep the Orichalcos off the field."

"I'd rather not think about that." Tyler grunted in response and Chloe sweat-dropped in response. "Speaking of that duel, something has been bothering me ever since I woke up." Tyler added before quickly turning to Miranda. "And it wasn't my bruised ego before you ask, even if it is bruised."

"I wasn't going to say anything." Miranda responded as she put her hands up defensively. "So, what's been bothering you?"

"The last monster Jack played, Fallen Angel – Lucifer the Damned." Tyler responded with a shudder. "And believe it or not, it's not the fact that it has infinite attack points, well that does bother me actually but it's more to do with the last monster I played." Tyler said before glancing over at the bedside table and seeing a brand new Obelisk Blue Duel Disk and his deck. "Let me guess, my old one's busted."

"Not just busted, the damn thing exploded minutes after the duel." Martin responded as Tyler picked up his extra deck. "Another reason to be thankful that you thought to bring Nicola and Chelsea along, if they hadn't removed your disk it likely would've blown your arm off if you were lucky."

"Again, things I'd rather not think about." Tyler grunted in annoyance as he picked out the monster he was looking for. "But onto my point, Ultimate Axon Kicker cannot be destroyed by Card Effects yet Lucifer destroyed it like it was nothing."

"Ultimate Axon Kicker's effect says nothing about being banished or removed from the field though." Miranda chimed in and Tyler turned to her. "Look, I wasn't present for the duel but everything I've been told about this monster is enough to give me nightmares for the rest of my life, what I want to know is, how the hell are we supposed to defeat that thing?"

"That question is impossible to answer without knowing the full extent of Lucifer's abilities and I strongly doubt that it's a legal I2 card." Martin responded as he shook his head. "Even with the extremely situational summoning requirements that monster is one of the most broken cards I've seen and I shudder to think at what else it might be capable of."

"You're not alone there." Tyler nodded in agreement. "I'd look up Lucifer's effect but somehow I doubt Sophia Pegasus would sign off on a card that broken or do I need to remind you about that banlist that banned Heavy Storm, Monster Reborn, Pot of Avarice, Spellbook of Judgement and the baby Dragon Rulers that came out shortly after she came into power?"

"Considering how many duelists used those cards in this school alone I think most duelists would like to pretend that that banlist never happened." Miranda responded before frowning. "Unfortunately Jack got away before he could be apprehended as we've already discussed and I'm not sure if we have an advantage over them."

"Actually we do." Chloe chimed in before turning to Lance and Theresa, they quickly got the idea and dug out their side decks and retrieved the Legendary Dragons and showed them. "We got them a couple of weeks ago but we haven't had a good opportunity to use them after we got them."

"Well, it's something at least." Seto said with a nod as the three teens returned their cards to their side decks. "And you three should be fine as long as neither of you get forced to play the Seal of the Orichalcos." Seto added and Chloe gulped nervously.

"If I wasn't wearing a tank top I'd be tugging at my collar right now." Chloe thought as she remembered the day she used that card. "I haven't taken my Legendary Dragon out of my side deck for a duel since then, not even for an Orichalcos Duel, will it even let me use its effect."

"Regardless I have to get going, I will remain on the island but I doubt that I'll stick around for longer than a day." Seto added before standing up and leaving the infirmary, the teens in the room watched him leave as soon as the door closed Chloe let out a deep breath.

"I thought the Legendary Dragons were supposed to help us against the Orichalcos." Chloe grunted in annoyance as she nodded towards Tyler. "But if anything it hasn't really helped, as far as keeping them from getting to the island at least."

"You will stop them I have full confidence in that so you needn't worry Richardson." Martin reassured her with a nod. "With that said, I had better get going as well, even with Tyler's injuries I still need to get everything set up for tomorrow's match, I hope for your sake that you are ready." Martin added as he nodded towards Chloe and Chelsea. "Because the Troy Siblings are not going to be easy opponents."

"Martin, it won't be my first time fighting an Obelisk Blue Student in a duel and probably won't be my last, I'll be fine." Chloe nodded in response with a confident grin on her face and Chelsea nodded in agreement.

"Besides, you dueled me in my promotion duel and you know how good I am." Chelsea said with a grin on her face even though she was still fuming over her confrontation with Kaiba. "We'll finish off the Troy Siblings so fast you'll have time for a third match!"

"Somehow I doubt that but it should be a good duel none the less." Martin added before leaving the room, once the door was closed Chloe leaned against the wall and Chelsea sat down in an unoccupied seat.

"So, I guess we'd better address the elephant in the room." Chloe said after a few minutes of silence. "How the hell do we defeat a monster with infinite attack points?"

"I remember my father told me about how Yugi dealt with the Orichalcos." Tyler responded as he shifted his weight. "I can't remember the specifics but he basically summoned a monster who's attack points went beyond infinity to deal with a monster with infinite attack points."

"Okay, so does anyone have a solution that isn't impossible?" Chloe asked with a deadpan expression on her face and the others shook their heads. "I mean, there has been some controversy over whether Yugi top-decked to win some of his most famous duels but that sounds like something some school yard kid would make up to make himself sound ridiculously overpowered."

"I will admit to being that kid." Lance admitted with a slight chuckle and Chloe laughed.

"Somehow that doesn't surprise me." Chloe responded with a grin before frowning. "Seriously, does anyone have any ideas?"

"Try everything you can to stall long enough for the opponent to deck out?" Lance suggested and the others sweat-dropped in response. "What? At least it's something!"

"Yeah, it's something that requires filling your deck with nothing but stall cards and hoping for the best." Chelsea responded as she glanced over at Lance. "I think you'd have better luck trying to win the lottery twice in a row then actually pulling that off, especially since we don't know the full extent of Lucifer's abilities." Chelsea added before her eyes widened in horror. "Oh shit, I just realized something."

"I get the feeling that your sudden realization isn't the fun kind." Chloe responded and Chelsea shook her head.

"About as far removed from "fun" that you can get." Chelsea responded as she turned to her roommate. "One attack from that thing was enough to knock Tyler out and destroy his duel disk, that was during a regular duel as Tyler managed to keep the Seal of the Orichalcos off the field."

"You're wondering how much damage that thing could do with the Orichalcos activated." Tyler realized and Chelsea nodded in response. "I shudder to think but given what we know from that one duel, well, not only would I not be alive but they'd still be scraping my remains off the walls of the Abandoned Dorm and the nearby trees with a spatula."

"Yeah, let's not think about that." Miranda responded with a wince before standing up. "I have to get going, as much as I'd love to stay by your side Tyler I have homework to get to and I know that a few of us have matches to prepare for tomorrow." Miranda added as she nodded towards Chloe and Chelsea. "Good luck against the Troys, you'll need it girls."

"Oh please, if anyone needs good luck, it's them!" Chelsea responded with a cocky grin on her face and Miranda shook her head in response.

"Confidence is one thing Chelsea; overconfidence is another thing entirely especially when you are using it to try to mask the fact that my father's comments still have you fuming." Miranda added and Chelsea went to protest. "And before you ask, I know because you're not exactly great at masking anger, probably because you're so quick to it." Miranda added before turning to Chloe. "You want my advice? Try to reign in Chelsea's anger and ego before the match."

"You may as well be advising me to climb Mt. Everest using nothing but a toothpick." Chloe responded with a deadpan expression on her face and Miranda sweat-dropped.

"I'm not saying try to reign it in completely, if that was possible I don't think she would've been expelled from as many schools as she has." Miranda responded earning a death glare from Chelsea which she did her best to ignore. "Or to put it another way, I thought my deck was unstoppable after I added the new Blue-Eyes White Dragon support cards but one mistake on my part shattered that illusion and ended with my team eliminated in the second round, don't let Chelsea make the same mistake." Miranda added before leaving the infirmary.

"What does she know?" Chelsea asked rhetorically with a scoff. "It's like she said, her team got the boot in the second round!"

"Yes but so did a lot of teams that showed promise in the opening round." Tyler responded and Chelsea turned to him. "My team included and need I remind you that my sister and I have wins over the two of you? And that was before Miranda found out about the new Blue-Eyes White Dragon Support Cards, in fact you should consider yourselves lucky that Kimberly and Nathan eliminated her team as early as they did."

"What do you mean?" Theresa asked as she looked up.

"Maiden with Eyes of Blue and Azure-Eyed Silver Dragon where just the tip of the iceberg, since that match I2 had released more Blue-Eyes White Dragon Support Cards, many of which put Azure-Eyed Silver Dragon to shame." Tyler explained and the others winced in response. "You were lucky that the Troy siblings eliminated Miranda's team when they did, otherwise she likely would've dominated the Battle Royal before Cameron could get Ophion on the field."

"We get the idea." Chloe responded before standing up and turning to her roommate. "Come on Chelsea, we've got some preparing to do."

"I hear that." Chelsea responded before kicking off the wall and following her roommate out of the infirmary.

*later that night*

Night had fallen over Duel Academy island but curfew wasn't for another few hours yet so most students where either dueling, doing homework, visiting their girlfriend/boyfriend or any combination of the three, in the case of Theresa though she was still in her dorm room.

"Man, what a crazy day." Theresa commented to herself as she stepped out of the ensuite bathroom with a towel wrapped around her otherwise naked body and her hair loose and wet as she had just stepped out of the shower. "Here I was thinking that the fact that me and Brandon had already punched our tickets to the finals of the tournament meant that we had seen enough excitement for one day, I should've known it wouldn't be that easy." Theresa sighed to herself as she sat down on her bed and reached for a hair-dryer. "Hell, the events of the day have me speaking to myself, that's how crazy things have…." Theresa's train of thought was cut off by a knock at the door. "Brandon, if that's you then you'll have to wait a minute, I'm wet and…." Theresa trailed off as she blushed furiously. "And by wet, I mean I just got out of the shower!" Theresa called out but got no answer, she waited for a minute before standing up and answering the door. "Brandon usually apologizes by now it can't be him." Theresa thought before answering the door.

However, when she opened it slightly she saw no one on the other side, she opened the door a little wider and leaned out using her free hand to keep her towel in place. "If this is a prank, it isn't funny."

"Something wrong Theresa?" Theresa looked up and saw Amelia standing there and Theresa shook her head.

"Did you see anyone knock on my door just now?" Theresa asked and Amelia shook her head. "Weird, could've sworn I heard a knock just now."

"You're probably just hearing things." Amelia responded with a shrug and Theresa nodded before going to close the door, it was then that something caught Amelia's eye. "Theresa, wait a sec."

"What now?" Theresa asked with an annoyed sigh before Amelia went up to her door and removed something from it, when Theresa saw it her frown deepened. "Someone left me a note?"

"Yeah and somehow I doubt it's Brandon, even if the two of you didn't go to Battle City considering how long you've been dating you should have each other's phone numbers." Amelia responded before looking at the note. "You want me to read it out? I'd hand it to you but since you just got of the shower and all."

"Right, right, don't want to get the paper wet." Theresa nodded in response. "Just hold it up for me." Theresa told her and Amelia did so, once she read through it her annoyance turned to anger. "DREW?!"

"Wasn't he the guy who got you in trouble back when you were a troublemaker in Ra Yellow?" Amelia asked and Theresa shook her head.

"Understatement of the century, I nearly got expelled over that stunt and I could've been arrested." Theresa sighed as she shook her head. "I can't believe I used to date that guy, last time I saw him he was a crazed Orichalcos Duelist."

"I don't know, I think you'd have to be pretty crazy to use a card like that." Amelia responded and Theresa nodded in response.

"I'm not about to argue that but Drew, well let's just say that he hit close to home for me." Theresa added before reading the rest of the note. "And he wants to meet me tomorrow night, as if this week couldn't get any weirder."

"You're not going to meet up with him, are you?" Amelia asked as Theresa took the note from her. "I mean, you just said that he was an Orichalcos Duelist."

"If he still is then it's better that I go and confront him before anyone gets hurt, besides I beat him once and I can do it again." Theresa added before grabbing the door handle with her free hand. "Now if you excuse me I'm going to get changed and get ready for bed, I know it's still early but I have an exam right before tomorrow's duel start and I want to get as much sleep as I can."

"Yeah I'm going to do the same thing, though in my case it's less to do with the exam and more to do with my tournament match, see you tomorrow Theresa." Amelia nodded before Theresa closed the door behind her.

*the next morning*

The night went about as quietly as it could for an island where most of the population where students in their mid-to late teens but that was the last thing on the minds of a few of the students, in fact for two girls in Ra Yellow they had a lot of other things on their plates.

"Five more minutes." Chloe moaned as she turned away from her roommate, Chelsea sighed in annoyance as she ran a hand down her face.

"Doesn't matter if she's in Osiris Red or Ra Yellow, Chloe's still not a morning person." Chelsea thought before folding her arms. "Chloe, we both know that we have a big match today and considering that your loss in the Battle Royal led to us being in the match in the first place you had better not forget already."

"I know and thanks for rubbing it in." Chloe responded with an annoyed moan. "Besides, the match isn't for a few hours."

"You don't know how long you've been saying "five more minutes" for, don't you?" Chelsea asked as a sweat-drop rolled down her head and Chloe shook her head. "I woke up at seven o'clock because Hamden decided that it would be a great day to have an exam take place, if I didn't know better I'd swear that he had bet against us winning this match."

"You swear all the time, I'm still surprised that your Duel Academy Profile doesn't have "Chelsea fucking Cunningham" listed as your name!" Chloe responded with a deadpan expression on her face getting a laugh out of Chelsea.

"Okay, I admit, I walked into that one." Chelsea admitted before shaking her head. "But that's beside the point, the exam ended about twenty minutes ago, it's also ten to nine and what time do the Duels start?"

"Nine in the morning!" Chloe realized as her eyes widened before springing out of bed and quickly grabbing a set of clothes. "Good thing that we don't have to walk from the Osiris Red Girl's Dorm nowadays."

"Chloe, if we were still in our old dorm in Osiris Red I would've dragged the bunk bed we used to share to the duel arena by now and you'd have to duel in your nightgown." Chelsea deadpanned as Chloe quickly put her crop top, jeans and socks on. "Aren't you forgetting your bra and panties?"

"I was wearing them under the gown, ironically so that I wouldn't be late to our duel." Chloe responded as she grabbed a nearby hairbrush and started brushing her long hair. "Where's my duel disk?"

"Exactly where you left it, on your bedside table." Chelsea responded as Chloe finished brushing her hair and grabbed the disk. "And I took the liberty of taking back my Mask of Restrict card, don't think it'll do us much good against a team that specializes in Special Summoning Spellcaster Monsters and powering up Fiend Monsters."

"Good thinking Batman." Chloe responded as she put the disk on. "Or should that be Batwoman?"

"To be honest? I've always been more of a Marvel fan." Chelsea responded before rushing to the door. "But enough about comic books, we have another Obelisk Blue Team to eliminate!"

"Yeah, good idea. Let's go." Chloe nodded in response before following her roommate out.

*meanwhile*

Whilst Chloe and Chelsea where making their way over to the main duel arena for their duel Chloe's boyfriend Lance had just woken up himself over at the Obelisk Blue Boy's Dorm, however unlike Chloe he was up and ready for action which was ironic considering that his team wasn't scheduled to duel until the following day.

"Duel Disk? Check, deck? Check, clothes? I hope so because I don't want to go to the main duel arena in just my underwear." Lance thought jokingly before looking over his outfit in the full-length mirror. "I mean, I'm sure Chloe wouldn't mind but I'm also pretty sure that the other students will mind, at least it won't be like that nightmare I had the other day where I showed up for the tournament finals against Chloe's team naked and Chloe laughed at my small penis, which I definitely don't have."

"Lance, are you ready to go?" Evan's voice from the other side of his dorm room door accompanied by a knock interrupted Lance's train of thought and he turned towards the door.

"Yeah, I'm decent, come in!" Lance called out to him and the door opened revealing his partner for the tournament. "How was the exam?"

"Boring and tedious." Evan responded dryly and Lance laughed at that. "I did bump into your girlfriend's roommate before the exam, per Chelsea Chloe was still in bed by the time she had to leave for the exam."

"Yeah, Chloe has never really been a morning person." Lance responded with a shrug as he turned to him. "I should know."

"I thought you said that you were still waiting for the condoms to arrive?" Evan asked with a smirk on his face and Lance face-faulted.

"Not what I meant!" Lance asserted as he got up. "What I meant was that back when we were competing in Battle City Chloe was usually the last one to wake up, well aside from the night after one particularly nasty duel where she basically got no sleep whatsoever."

"Good grief, I knew the Orichalcos Duels were bad but I didn't think they were that bad." Evan responded and Lance shook his head.

"Let me put it this way, it had to do with Chloe's childhood and the last time I shared info about it when she wasn't in earshot she was pissed." Lance responded and Evan winced as he got the idea. "More specifically when the scar on her arm was spotted during her first gym lesson."

"Ah yeah, I remember that, I wasn't present for the lesson but I do remember hearing some female students from her dorm at the time talking about it." Evan responded before shrugging. "I just brushed it off as gossip and continued on my way, mostly because I was running late for class at the time."

"Yeah and speaking of running late." Lance commented as he checked the time on his watch. "If Chloe's still in bed then she'll but cutting it pretty close when Chelsea does wake her up."

"Excellent point, still I'm sure those girls will do well regardless, provided they don't get disqualified for being late." Evan responded before frowning. "I didn't get a chance to visit Tyler yesterday."

"He took an attack from a monster with infinite attack points, take a guess." Lance responded with a frown as he leaned against the counter. "When we left him he was awake at least but in a lot of pain, bet he's thankful that his team was knocked out back in round two."

"I can imagine." Evan nodded in response before nodding towards the door. "Speaking off, shall we go?"

"Let's!" Lance responded before leaving with Evan.

*a bit later*

"Five-minute warning for Chloe Richardson and Chelsea Cunningham, if they aren't in the Main Duel Arena within the next five minutes their team will be immediately disqualified and Kimberly and Nathan Troy will advance to the next round." Martin voice broadcasted to all the students in the arena, some students were clearly getting bored at this point with some playing on their IPhone to pass the time, their opponents on the other hand?

"This isn't like them." Nathan commented with a disappointed look on his face as he turned to his step-sister. "They showed up on time to their other duels."

"Look, Chloe wasn't exactly a morning person during the Battle City Tournament, I can count the number of times she woke up at around the same time as the rest of us on one hand." Kimberly said as she held up her right index finger to illustrate her point. "And I saw Chelsea in the exam not too long ago, those factors are likely what are holding them up."

"I hope your right, even so the Ra Yellow Girl's Dorm isn't that far from the Main Building, hell the Obelisk Blue Girl's Dorm is on the same side of the island but a bit further away from the path to the Main Arena and you still got here before they did." Nathan responded before a look of horror washed over his face. "You don't think they were attacked and had their souls taken, do you?"

"Nate, I love you but for the love of god, don't think about that!" Kimberly responded with a frown on her face. "Especially with Tyler still recovering from his injuries and three students having already met that fate."

"I know but you can't deny that it's possible." Nathan responded with a frown as he glanced up at the clock. "And just to be clear, I don't want that to happen either."

"I know, it's still a scary thought though." Kimberly nodded in response.

"One minute warning…" Martin's voice rang out again before Chelsea and Chloe rushed out into the main arena and got on the podium, Martin gave them a minute to catch their breaths before continuing. "Cunningham, Richardson, care to explain your tardiness?"

"I wasn't aware that this was a class." Chelsea muttered under her breath before turning towards the area where Martin was overseeing the duels from. "Blame Chloe for that, by the time she woke up it was ten to nine."

"Fair enough." Martin said as he cleared his throat. "And to answer your query Cunningham, this isn't a class but many of the students here have classes not long after today's duels end, just because I never had to use the five-minute warning system before doesn't mean it hasn't been in use."

"Yeah, we get the idea, now can we get started? I think the other students have waited long enough." Chloe chimed in and Martin nodded.

"Indeed they have." Martin said before clearing his throat. "Apologies for the delay but welcome to day thirteen of the tournament! This day will be certainly end up being unlucky for some of our remaining teams but it'll be lucky for the others." Martin added and most of the crowd booed his joke. "Tough crowd, as we determined during yesterday's Battle Royal the opening match-up will be contested between Chloe Richardson and Chelsea Cunningham of Ra Yellow and Kimberly and Nathan Troy of Obelisk Blue in what promises to be an exciting duel."

"Have to say, I'm disappointed that I'm not dueling you at your best Chloe." Nathan sighed to himself and Chloe smirked in response.

"Just because I just woke up doesn't mean I won't be at my best." Chloe responded before frowning. "As much as I want to put on a brave face I'm worried, Chelsea's still fuming from the incident with Kaiba and as has been proven many, many, many times she can't think straight when she's angry and that'll definitely affect her in the duel and I'd rather not get into how tired I am."

"You'll do fine Chloe, just focus on the duel as best you can." Silent Magician chimed in and Chloe glanced over at her, fortunately for Chloe Silent Magician's transparent form had appeared to her right where Chelsea was also standing so it looked like she was glancing over at her tag team partner. "As for Chelsea, Wattchimera has already given her words of encouragement, it should be enough to see you through it."

"I hope your right." Chloe responded before Martin cleared his throat again.

"No major rule changes this round so the order will be as follows, Chloe followed by Nathan followed by Chelsea and finally Kimberly." Martin added and whilst Chloe and Chelsea remained in their spot Kimberly and Nathan traded places. "Now let the duel begin." Martin announced as the four duelists drew their opening hands.

"Well, it's better than the opening hand I had for the Battle Royal but that's not saying much." Chloe thought before going to draw an extra card on instinct. "Oh right, no extra draw for the duelist who goes first, that'll be a pain to remember, at least I can make up for that." Chloe thought before playing a card. "I activate Reinforcement of the Army."

"Good to know she's not wasting any time." Kimberly thought as Chloe inputted the commands into her duel disk. "Will be interesting to see what she searches out." Kimberly thought as Chloe grabbed the card and the duel disk shuffled the deck.

"Next I summon Marauding Captain in attack mode!" Chloe played the card and the brunette warrior appeared on the field (3/1200/400). "And I use his effect to summon Familiar Knight!" Chloe played the card and another warrior appeared on the field as the knight in silver armor and a red cape appeared on the field (3/1200/1400). "Part of me wants to use these guys in an XYZ Summon but I don't know what Kimberly and Nathan have in the wings, just because they can't attack until the end of my next turn doesn't mean they can't destroy whatever I summon through other means and besides, I can at least get some mileage out of my new card this way." Chloe thought before picking up two of her other cards. "I set two cards facedown and end my turn."

"She had a perfect opportunity for an XYZ Summon and yet she passed on it." Kimberly thought as she drew her card. "Either she's worried about what we've got waiting in the wings, has something else in mind or both." Kimberly thought before looking over her hand. "Let's not waste any time here! I discard Archfiend General from my hand to search out the Pandemonium Field Spell!" Kimberly announced as she sent her card to the graveyard and inputted some commands into her duel disk, once she retrieved her spell card Kimberly wasted no time in opening the Field Spell Card slot. "And now I activate it!" Kimberly announced as the scenery transformed into the hellish arena.

"This is not good, with this Spell Card on the field not only can Kimberly get around the life-point cost usually associated with the Archfiends but she can search out another Archfiend if either me or Chelsea manage to destroy one." Chloe thought with a frown as Kimberly looked over the rest of her hand. "Who am I kidding? The Watt Monsters are designed around either searching out the other Watt Monsters or attacking the opponent directly, the only destroying Chelsea will be doing is if she managed to get Wattaildragon on the field, at least it can't get any worse."

"Next I activate Trade In! Since you're found of using this card Chloe I shouldn't have to explain its effect to you." Kimberly announced as she played the card and Chloe gulped as Kimberly discarded a level eight monster and drew two cards. "Next I summon Shadowknight Archfiend to the field in attack mode!" Kimberly played the card and the fiendish knight appeared on the field (4/2000/1600). "I have to say, as far as knights go I think mine has the edge over yours Chloe."

"Only because of Pandemonium's effect, otherwise you'd have to pay nine-hundred life-points each turn if you want to keep it on the field." Chloe responded and Kimberly grinned in response.

"True but as far as raw attack power goes, I still have the edge." Kimberly responded before picking up the other card she drew with Trade In. "I set one card facedown and end my turn." Kimberly announced and Chelsea drew her card.

"Okay, if the monster Kimberly just discarded isn't Imprisoned Queen Archfiend then I'll eat my duel disk whole." Chelsea thought with a frown as she glanced over at Kimberly's side of the field. "Throw in the fact that most of her monsters don't even need that card to attack over mine and we might have a problem, still I'd better get the ball rolling." Chelsea thought before picking up three cards. "I set two cards facedown and I summon Wattcobra!" Chelsea played the cards and the two facedown cards appeared alongside the colorful snake (4/1000/500). "And that'll do it for my turn." Chelsea announced and Nathan drew his card.

"Well at least you kept your turn brief." Nathan commented before looking at his drawn card. "I set two cards facedown and I summon Chocolate Magician Girl!" Nathan played the cards and a new monster appeared on the field, this one was a young attractive woman with ridiculously long light blue hair dressed in a blue midriff bearing witch's outfit which also came with a mini skirt and stockings complete with a witch's hat and wand (4/1600/1000).

"I wasn't aware that I2 had started basing monster designs off sexy Halloween Costumes." Chelsea commented dryly as she stared at the new monster. "Seriously, as much as I appreciate the eye candy, Dark Magician Girl's outfit may as well be a nun's outfit compared to that!"

"I'll admit, the design is a little heavy on the fan service but that wasn't the only reason I added this card to my deck." Nathan responded with a grin…. which quickly disappeared when he saw the funny looks the three girls where giving him. "It's too late to take back what I just said, isn't it?"

"Yep." The three girls responded simultaneously as large sweat-drops rolled down their heads and Nathan cleared his throat.

"Changing the subject before I manage to dig myself a hole to China and back." Nathan commented before picking up another card. "I activate Chocolate Magician Girl's effect! With it I can discard another Spellcaster type monster to draw another card!" Nathan added as the witch casted a spell which prompted Nathan to discard a monster and draw another one. "She has another effect but I can only use one effect per turn so you'll have to wait and see on that one."

"Really? And here I thought the effect was giving the perverts in the audience boners." Chelsea commented dryly and Nathan sweat-dropped.

"Just my luck that I chose my duel against one of the biggest smart asses at Duel Academy to debut my new cards." Nathan thought with a frown before picking up another card. "I set one card facedown and end my turn." Nathan announced and Chloe drew her card.

"Okay, things just went from bad to worse, not only can I not attack over any of my opponents' monsters but the one monster that can beat at least one of them has a very specific summoning condition." Chloe thought as she glanced at the one monster in her hand and at the card she drew. "Arcane Barrier, usually a very useful Spell Card but I don't have any Spellcaster monsters on the field." Chloe thought before deciding on a move. "I switch Marauding Captain and Familiar Knight to defense mode." Chloe announced as her two warrior monsters crouched down. "And I end my turn." Chloe announced and Kimberly drew her card.

"Chloe must've gotten a dead draw, then again she still hasn't played the card she searched for using Reinforcement of the Army." Kimberly thought before looking at her hand. "You guys have probably figured it out for yourselves by now but the monster I discarded last turn was Imprisoned Queen Archfiend so I can use her effect to power up my Shadowknight!" Kimberly announced as Shadowknight Archfiend's attack went up to 3000. "Sure, it only lasts until the end of the turn but that's still more than enough to put a dent in your life-points Chelsea but first things first." Kimberly said as she played a card. "I summon Terrorking Archfiend!" Kimberly played the card and the demonic king appeared on the field (4/2000/1500). "Shadowknight, attack Wattcobra!" Kimberly commanded as the knight charged into battle….

"Sorry, but I like my life-points just the way they are now!" Chelsea responded as one of her face-down cards flipped up. "And my Negate Attack Trap Card will ensure that my life-points are safe!" Chelsea added as the knight's sword bounced off an invisible force-field. "Better luck next time!"

"Well played but just because the battle phase is over doesn't mean I can't hurt you in other ways." Kimberly responded as her own trap card flipped up depicting Terrorking Archfiend charging into battle wielding the Axe of Despair. "Terrorking's Bane! If an attack is negated whilst Terrorking Archfiend is on the field my opponents take damage equal to the number of Archfiend Monsters on the field and graveyard times four hundred, in other words your both taking twelve hundred points of damage." Kimberly explained and the two girls winced as their life-points dropped to 6800. "Not the way I intended to draw first blood but you gotta work with what you've got, including my brother's stripper dressed as a magician!"

"You're not going to let me live that down, aren't you?" Nathan asked with an annoyed look on his face as Kimberly sent her Trap Card to the graveyard.

"Nope." Kimberly responded simply before turning to the other girls. "Luckily for you the downside to Terrorking's Bane is that I can only use it once per duel and if Pandemonium's on the field, anyway I end my turn." Kimberly announced and Chelsea drew her card once Shadowknight Archfiend's attack returned to normal.

"Well, good news is that I don't have to eat my duel disk whole, bad news is that Kimberly now has two level four monsters that she can easily power up to three thousand attack points and a Field Spell that lets her get around the fact that both of her monsters would normally require a life-point payment at the start of her turn." Chelsea thought with a frown as she looked over her hand. "Fortunately her deck isn't the only one that has a few tricks waiting in the wings, I just need to draw the right cards and this duel will be in the bag!" Chelsea thought before pointing to Kimberly. "You may have drawn first blood but I'm about to do the same thing for my team! Wattcobra, attack Kimberly's life-points directly!" Chelsea commanded and the snake leaped into action….

"I don't think so." Nathan said as his trap card flipped up. "I activate Staunch Defender, since I am sharing my side of the field with my sister I can use this Trap Card to protect my life-points by changing Wattcobra's target to Chocolate Magician Girl!" Nathan added before Wattcobra changed direction and leapt towards Chocolate Magician Girl.

"So I lose six hundred life-points? Sucks but I can live with that!" Chelsea responded before getting a confused look on her face when Nathan chuckled. "Did I miss a joke somewhere?"

"Let's just say that you are about to regret every joke you just made about my monster's outfit! I activate Chocolate Magician Girl's effect!" Nathan responded before he retrieved the monster he just discarded. "You see when she is targeted for an attack I can take one Spellcaster from my graveyard, Special Summon it and change your monster's target to it!" Nathan added before smirking again. "Oh yes, I almost forgot, on top of all that, your monster's attack points get cut in half."

"WHAT?!" Chelsea yelled out as Chocolate Magician Girl casted a spell on Wattcobra cutting his attack points down to five hundred. "At least it can't get any worse."

"It can, for you at least." Nathan responded as he played the card. "Because of the simple fact that this effect doesn't have a level or attack power restriction, just if the monster is in the graveyard and doesn't require that I Special Summon it a certain way it's fair game so please welcome to the field a monster that I'm sure will be familiar to all of you." Nathan added before playing the card and a very familiar figure in purple robes appeared on the field, he had shoulder length blonde hair and was carrying the famous staff (7/2500/2100).

"DARK MAGICIAN?!" Chloe yelled out as her jaw dropped. "Are you kidding me?! I've been trying to get my hands on another copy since my original deck was destroyed back in Battle City!"

"Is this a bad time to mention that I managed to get three copies of this card in one booster pack alongside a ton of new support cards?" Nathan asked and Chloe face-faulted in response. "I'll take that as a yes, Dark Magician, Dark Magic Attack!" Nathan commanded and the magician held out his outstretched palm towards Wattcobra, the monster's hologram shook for a few seconds before shattering and bringing Chelsea's life-points down to 4800. "Now before you lose your temper for the fiftieth time this week I will remind you that you haven't done your normal summon yet."

"Yeah, yeah, I know!" Chelsea grumbled before looking over her hand. "I set one monster in defense mode to end my turn!" Chelsea announced and Nathan drew his card. "Great, we're on the second round of this duel and I've already lost nearly half my life-points! We need to get rid of Chocolate Magician Girl as soon as possible but with that effect of hers that's a lot easier said than done! I hope Chloe has a plan in mind!"

"Where can I get my hands on that booster pack Nathan just mentioned? Note to self, ask him after the duel." Chloe thought as she got up and glanced over at Nathan's side of the field. "All though on the other hand Chelsea is seriously behind on life-points and mine aren't looking that great either, their life-points on the other hand haven't been touched."

"On one hand, Chelsea's facedown monster would be an easy target for my Dark Magician, on the other hand if Chloe can get another Marauding Captain on the field I won't be able to attack her and with Familiar Knight's effect that's a real possibility." Nathan thought before shaking his head. "If she had an extra copy of Marauding Captain in her hand she would've summoned that instead of Familiar Knight, still I suppose it's better for me to cut off that potential move before she can make it!" Nathan decided before pointing to Marauding Captain. "Chocolate Magician Girl, attack Marauding Captain, Dark Magician, attack Familiar Knight with Dark Magic Attack!" Nathan commanded and the two magicians launched their attacks on Chloe's warriors destroying them both.

"Two of my warriors being destroyed by two Spellcasters, the irony in that fact is mind boggling." Chloe muttered under her breath as she sent her monsters to the graveyard. "I activate Familiar Knight's effect, since he was just destroyed we…."

"Can all summon a Level Four Monster from their hand, did you just forget that we saw you use that effect during the Battle Royal?" Kimberly cut her off and Chloe sweat-dropped.

"Sorry, force of habit." Chloe responded with a sheepish grin on her face before playing a card. "I use Familiar Knight's effect to Special Summon Royal Knight!" Chloe played the card and a new monster appeared on the field, it was a tall slender man in regal looking armor that had a red cape and was carrying a large sword (4/1900/1200). "And to answer your question before you even ask it, I didn't summon him sooner because I can only summon him via the effect of a warrior with "Knight" in its name."

"Strangely specific effect for a monster with the same stats as Vorse Raider." Nathan commented before shaking his head. "In any case I'll use Familiar Knight's effect to bring out Chow Len the Prophet!" Nathan played the card and a tall man with a shaved head appeared on the field, he was wearing what looked like a monk's robe, had a green mask down one side of his face and was carrying a strange stick type weapon (4/1800/400). "Now I would go ahead and attack Chelsea's facedown monster with him but she and Kimberly still have their summons to do."

"And since you bring it up I use Familiar Knight's effect to bring out another Wattcobra!" Chelsea responded as her snake returned to the field. "But before Kimberly brings out another monster, I think it's time I dealt with that glorified stripper of yours."

"Again with the stripper jokes?!" Nathan asked as he ran a hand down his face. "And besides, I don't see how you are going to deal with my monster using another Wattcobra." Nathan added before realizing that Chelsea's other facedown card had just flipped up. "Judgment of Thunder, I guess I should've seen that one coming." Nathan sighed to himself before lightning struck Chocolate Magician Girl destroying her. "But no matter, Chocolate Magician Girl may be gone but I still have Chow Len The Prophet to attack with."

"And that's great and all but did you forget that I still have to summon a monster?" Kimberly asked with an annoyed look on her face and Nathan laughed nervously. "I use Familiar Knight's effect to bring out Archfiend Cavalry!" Kimberly announced before the demonic horseman appeared on the field (4/1900/0). "I don't have anything else I can do so go ahead Nathan."

"Very well, Chow Len the Prophet, attack Wattcobra!" Nathan commanded and his monk started to prepare a spell. "But why not mix up the field a bit more? I activate Magician's Circle!" Nathan announced as his facedown card flipped up.

"Let me guess, you're going to use that card to bring out another Chocolate Magician Girl?" Chloe asked as she started inputting commands into her duel disk.

"I would if I had gotten more than one copy of that monster in the booster pack but I have the next best thing." Nathan responded before inputting commands into his duel disk and playing a card. "After all, what's a good magician without a lovely assistant? I use Magician's Circle to summon Dark Magician Girl!"

"Off course you have that card." Chloe muttered under her breath as the famous female spellcaster appeared on the field, she gave Chelsea a wink which Chloe couldn't help but chuckle at (6/2000/1700). "Dark Magician Girl's a lesbian, who knew?"

"Thanks but no thanks." Chelsea responded as a sweat-drop rolled down her head. "Even if I was sexually attracted to duel monster cards, and that's not a sentence I ever expected to say in my life, I'm already taken." Chelsea added before shaking her head. "And before you ask, I don't have any Spellcaster monsters in my deck so I'll pass on using Magician's Circle's effect, I get the feeling that Kimberly will do the same."

"No, I do have a Spellcaster in my deck." Kimberly responded as she started inputting commands into her duel disk. "I use Magician's Circle's effect to summon Skilled Red Magician!" Kimberly played the card and a magician in red robes appeared on the field, most of his head was covered by a strange headdress and he was carrying a red staff (4/1600/1600). "That just leaves you Chloe."

"I'm on it." Chloe responded before retrieving a monster. "And I may as well go with my old favorite, Gemini Elf!" Chloe added before the twin elves appeared on the field (4/1900/900). "So Nathan, the fields changed, any chance of you changing your target?"

"Considering that my monk can't attack over either of your monsters, no." Nathan responded as the monk's spell destroyed Wattcobra bringing Chelsea's life-points down to four thousand. "Dark Magician Girl on the other hand? Well you may as well have left her with two sitting ducks to attack, Dark Magician Girl, attack Royal Knight!" Nathan commanded and the magician pointed her staff at the knight…...

"I hope I'm right about Chelsea's facedown monster." Chloe thought as her trap card flipped up. "You're not the only one who can change attack targets, I activate Shift to change Dark Magician Girl's target to Chelsea's facedown monster!" Chloe announced and the spellcaster turned around before pointing her staff at the facedown monster, revealed to be Wattdragonfly (2/900/100) which was quickly destroyed. "Yes! I was right!"

"Good thinking Chloe, now it's my turn to bring out the big guns." Chelsea responded with a grin before inputting some commands into her duel disk. "I use Wattdragonfly's effect to bring out Wattaildragon!" Chelsea played the card and the huge imposing dragon appeared on the field (6/2500/1000). "Not exactly the best card in my deck since it's just a vanilla beatstick but he's still more than enough to stop most of your monsters in their tracks."

"Yes, for now." Nathan responded before looking over his hand. "I end my turn by setting one card facedown." Nathan announced and Chloe drew her card.

"Spellbook inside the Pot, risky since they get to draw as well but what the hell?" Chloe thought before playing the card. "I activate Spellbook inside the Pot!" Chloe played the card and all four duelists drew three new cards, when Chloe saw one of the cards she had drawn she could barely contain her grin. "You're not the only one taking new cards for a spin Nathan!"

"Oh really?" Nathan asked as Chloe sent her spell card to the graveyard. "But before you do perhaps you should pay attention to Kimberly's Spellcaster."

"Huh?" Chloe asked before noticing a glowing red orb on Skilled Red Magician's Staff. "Don't tell me, similar effect to the other Skilled Magicians?"

"You got it." Kimberly nodded in response with a grin on her face. "I'll go into detail once he gets three counters but for now continue your move."

"Gladly." Chloe responded before sending Gemini Elf to the Graveyard. "I tribute Gemini Elf to summon Silent Magician!" Chloe played the card and the twin elves disappeared from the field, in their place stood what looked like the teenaged version of Chloe's other Silent Magician monsters, same white hat, staff and long hair of the other monsters but her white robe had been swapped out for a blue one (4/1000/1000). "Before you ask about my method of summoning her, she can only be summoned by sacrificing another Spellcaster Monster so thanks for making this possible."

"Even so, you sacrificed the stronger Gemini Elf for a monster with the base attack of Silent Magician Level Four." Nathan responded with a skeptical look on his face. "Why?"

"Well for one thing, she doesn't keep the base attack of Silent Magician Level Four so long." Chloe responded and Nathan looked to confirm that Chloe's monster's attack had increased to 2000. "Like Silent Magician Level Four her attack is based on cards in the hand but in her case, she gets her power from the cards in my hand, in other words she gains five hundred attack points for each card in my hand."

"Even so, that only leaves her with two thousand attack points." Kimberly pointed out as she folded her arms. "All I'd need to do is use Imprisoned Queen's effect to power up either Terrorking, Shadowknight or Archfiend Cavalry and she'll be history."

"We'll see about that." Chloe responded before glancing at Kimberly and Nathan's hands. "Okay, Kimberly has six cards in her hand and Nathan has five, I can't use the Quick Play Spell Card I also drew since they have more cards in their hands, I need to bide my time and hopefully my remaining facedown card will help with that." Chloe thought before pointing to Skilled Red Magician. "Royal Knight, attack Skilled Red Magician!" Chloe commanded and the knight charged into battle…

"Guess again Chloe, I activate my Trap Card Bark of Dark Ruler!" Kimberly announced as her trap card flipped up. "This will hurt quite a bit but this will hurt you more! By paying nineteen hundred life-points I can use this Trap Card to reduce your knight's attack down to zero!" Kimberly added as her life-points dropped to 6100.

"Not the way I was hoping Royal Knight would be destroyed but I'll take it." Chloe thought as Skilled Red Magician casted a spell at Royal Knight destroying him and bringing Chloe's life-points down to 5200. "When Royal Knight is destroyed because of a battle his effect activates, or should I say one of his effects, this allows me to either add up to three Warrior Type Monsters from my deck to my hand but unless I use them by the end of the turn I lose my entire hand, the alternative? I can force you two to discard cards until the you have one less card than I have, only downside is that I miss out on my next two draw phases and that's the effect I chose."

"Well, that explains the strict summoning requirement." Nathan commented before he and Kimberly discarded their hands. "I don't see how that helps you though, you could've made your magician stronger instead."

"Oh, I am, I just needed you guys to discard some cards first." Chloe responded before picking up a card. "I activate Silent Burning! This Quick-Play Spell Card can only be activated during the Battle Phase and if I have more cards than my opponents, since we meet those requirements we each get to draw until we have six cards!" Chloe added before she and the other duelists drew until their hands where full. "And that also means that my Silent Magician gets a major power boost!" Chloe added as Silent Magician's attack increased to 4000.

"Yes, all at the cost of revitalizing our hands." Nathan responded as he looked over his new hand. "You realize that you just ran a big risk with this move, right?"

"Well yeah, I wasn't born yesterday!" Chloe responded before looking over the field. "Archfiend Cavalry and Chow Len the Prophet are the obvious choices but Archfiend Cavalry's effect carries the biggest risk, with it Kimberly can bring back Imprisoned King Archfiend and whilst that would stop her monster's effect from powering up her dragon it'll just leave Chelsea a sitting duck for the rest of Kimberly's monsters and her life-points are low enough as they are." Chloe thought as she glanced over at Chelsea's side of the field. "Same thing would happen with Imprisoned Queen in the graveyard though, only difference is that Chelsea would take more damage, talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place!"

"Chloe, if you're worried about my life-points, don' be." Chelsea said as she gave her partner a reassuring look. "Your magician with leave a serious dent in their life-points regardless of what monster you'll attack, let me worry about the rest!"

"If you say so." Chloe responded before deciding on a move. "Silent Magician, attack Chow Len the Prophet!" Chloe commanded and the magician pointed her staff at Nathan's monster before emitting a white beam of light destroying him and bringing Nathan's life-points down to 5200. "Between Kimberly's trap card and my attack things are starting to look a bit more even."

"We'll see how long that lasts." Kimberly responded and Chloe frowned. "Are you done?"

"Give me a sec." Chloe responded before looking over her hand. "I know Chelsea told me not to worry about her but that's pretty hard when her defeat will leave me to fight two Obelisk Blue Students alone, there's a reason why most of the competing students chose to surrender rather than fight on alone after their partner was eliminated." Chloe thought before picking up three cards. "I set two cards facedown and a monster in defense mode to end my turn."

"Chloe, you just weakened your own magician to the point where Kimberly could easily beat it with Imprisoned Queen's effect." Chelsea pointed out as Silent Magician's attack dropped to 2500. "Are you crazy?!"

"Trust me, I know what I'm doing!" Chloe reassured her and Kimberly shook her head.

"Famous last words Chloe, I use Imprisoned Queen Achfiend's effect to power up Shadowknight!" Kimberly announced as her knight's attack increased to three thousand. "Next, I think it's time I took my own new toy for a spin, I sacrifice Terrorking Archfiend to summon Archfiend Giant in attack mode!" Kimberly played the card and Terrorking Archfiend disappeared from the field, in his place stood, well if there was ever a more appropriate name for a duel monster than none of the other students had heard it as it was a giant fiend clad in demonic looking armor (6/2400/1600).

"You think I'm scared of that big ugly thing?!" Chelsea asked with a cocky grin. "My dragon can and will fry that thing up as soon as I attack it! Tell me, how do you like your Archfiend Giants, medium rare or well done?"

"Big talk coming from someone who's about to be eliminated from the match and, if Chloe's as smart as she usually is, the tournament." Kimberly responded before glancing over at Chloe's monster. "Silent Magician is definitely the bigger target of their monsters thanks to her effect but I'm sure Nathan has a method or two for dealing with her, in the meantime…" Kimberly's thoughts trailed off before she pointed at Wattaildragon. "Since Chloe's one of the biggest fantasy fans I know she should be pretty familiar with the tradition about a knight slaying a dragon!"

"Yeah but the only thing I don't like about it is the "Damsel in Distress cliché." Chloe responded before glancing over at Chelsea. "And as much as she hates to admit it, Chelsea definitely qualifies as a damsel in distress right now."

"Join the club, Shadowknight Archfiend, attack Wattaildragon!" Kimberly commanded and the knight charged towards the dragon…...

"Sorry Kimberly but I'm not about to be eliminated! I discard Honest from my hand to activate his effect!" Chelsea announced as she discarded her monster and Kimberly's eyes widened as Wattaildragon's attack skyrocketed up to 5500 and it unleashed a stream of electricity at Shadowknight destroying it and bringing Kimberly's life-points down to 3600. "And you can thank Silent Burning for the massive dent in your life-points by the way but please, feel free to send the rest of your monsters to their doom."

"Yeah, I don't think so." Kimberly responded as she sent Shadowknight to the graveyard. "Instead I'm moving to my Second Main Phase and switching Archfiend Cavalry and Skilled Red Magician to defense mode." Kimberly added as her two weaker monsters crouched down, she then picked up two of her cards and set them. "I set two cards facedown and end my turn." Kimberly announced and Chelsea drew her card once Wattaildragon's attack returned to normal.

"Okay, the playing field is a lot more even now and as soon as we can get rid of a few of these monsters we'll punch our ticket to round five!" Chelsea thought before glancing up at Kimberly's monsters. "Only obstacle in our path as far as that's concerned is Imprisoned Queen Archfiend, Terrorking and Shadowknight may be gone but Kimberly can still use Imprisoned Queen's effect on any of her remaining monsters and Wattaildragon would be toast." Chelsea thought before deciding on a move. "Since we're talking about literature why don't I go for a bible story?"

"You're not going to turn this duel into a bible studies class, right?" Nathan asked as a large sweat-drop rolled down his head. "No offense to your Christian beliefs Chelsea but we're Atheist." Nathan added and Kimberly nodded in confirm it.

"Nah, besides I always found those classes boring as all hell, I spent most of my time in them listening to metal on my IPod." Chelsea responded before picking up a card. "But back on topic, the story I'm talking about is one that even Atheists should be familiar with considering how often it's been referenced in pop culture, David vs. Goliath."

"Let me guess, your targeting Archfiend Giant." Kimberly asked and Chelsea nodded in response. "That comparison would work if Wattaildragon wasn't a 2500 attack beatstick and last I checked Honest was a monster on the Limited List so nice try!"

"Actually it's now Semi-Limited but that's not the point." Chelsea responded before playing a card. "Since everyone else seems to be taking new cards for a spin then why should I be left out of the fun? I summon Wattcanine in attack mode!"

"Wasn't that the card that Wattchimera got Chelsea from the Spirit Realm? I hope Chelsea knows what she's doing." Chloe thought as a new monster appeared on the field, it had the same color scheme as the other Watt monsters but was clearly based on a dog, more specifically the German Shepard breed, it growled at Kimberly's monsters whilst the two Obelisk Blue students shared a look (4/1500/500).

"Err, Chelsea, that card isn't due for release over here for another year, how'd you get your hands on it?" Nathan asked and Chelsea sweat-dropped.

"Can't really say I got it from the Spirit Realm since that would probably end with me being dragged onto the ship in a strait jacket." Chelsea thought before an idea popped into her head. "I imported it, cost me an arm and a leg but it's mine and that's what matters, and before you ask I cleared that with Martin the day after I got it."

"I can confirm that." Martin's voice rang out and the two students nodded happy with Chelsea's explanation. "Please continue the duel."

"Anyway, as I was saying, Wattcanine lacks the attack directly effect of most of the other Watt Monsters but his other effect more than makes up for it, but we'll get to that in a second!" Chelsea explained as Wattcanine got ready to pounce. "Wattcanine, attack Archfiend Cavalry!" Chelsea commanded and the dog pounced at Archfiend Cavalry…...

"Nice try but I'm not about to let you use that pooch's effect! I activate my trap card Sacrifice to the Archfiend!" Kimberly announced as her trap card flipped up depicting three members of the Goblin Attack Force being dragged to a demonic alter which was being presided over by Archfiend Empress and Dark Rule Ha Des. "Since you just attacked one of my monsters in defense mode this Trap Card will destroy them both! I was hoping to use it on that overgrown lizard over there but this will do nicely." Kimberly added as both Archfiend Cavalry and Wattcanine disappeared from the field. "Especially since this lets me activate Cavalry's effect!"

"Funny story, I was about to say the same thing about Wattcanine." Chelsea responded and Kimberly's smirk turned to a look of confusion. "If he's destroyed by a card effect he takes another monster with him if he doesn't have 2000 or more attack and/or defense and quite frankly I don't want to know what Skilled Red Magician will do when he gets all three counters so he's gone!" Chelsea explained before Skilled Red Magician vanished from the field.

"Well, I'll explain anyway since it seems that Chloe wanted to know." Kimberly responded and Chloe nodded in response. "As Chloe correctly guessed earlier, Skilled Red Magician has a similar effect to the other Skilled Magicians but whilst those monsters can only summon a specific monster Skilled Red Magician would've allowed me to Special Summon any Archfiend Monster from my hand, deck or graveyard." Kimberly explained before smirking. "But you know what? I'm not even mad because as I said before Archfiend Cavalry's effect will now activate! With it I can Special Summon an Archfiend monster from my graveyard, it can't attack this turn but that's a moot point anyway since it's your turn."

"So, what are you summoning exactly?" Chelsea asked as Kimberly retrieved a monster and Shadowknight returned to the field. "Bringing the knight back for a rematch with my dragon huh? Why not bring back Imprisoned Queen Archfiend? Last time I checked that thing had 2800 attack points."

"True but outside of the graveyard Imprisoned Queen Archfiend is nothing but a beatstick, a powerful one don't get me wrong but still a beatstick." Kimberly explained as she folded her arms. "But if she's in the graveyard I can use her to her full potential so she's staying in there! Hell, to be honest I've only ever summoned her to the field once after I got her and that was only after it was clear that I had no other option but that's a tale for another time." Kimberly added before turning to Chelsea. "So, don't you have a Battle Phase to finish?"

"Getting to that." Chelsea responded before thinking for a moment once she saw that Shadowknight was crouched down. "Wattaildragon, roast that Dark Souls reject!" Chelsea commanded and the dragon let lose a stream of electricity at the giant destroying him. "And here I thought that the Last Giant boss in Dark Souls II was a walk in the park to beat!"

"I'll just ignore the fact that you just compared my monster to the first boss of the easiest game in the Dark Souls trilogy, not that that's saying much." Kimberly responded as her life-points dropped to 3400. "Are you done yet?"

"Not quite I set two cards facedown and end my turn." Chelsea announced as her facedown cards appeared on the field and Nathan drew his card. "Getting past Shadowknight will be easy enough for Chloe's monster and since Kimberly's turn is right after Chloe's she'll be a sitting duck once he's gone! Sure, she has a facedown card left but she hasn't use it yet so who's to say that she'll use it now?"

"Oh good, I was wondering when I'd draw this." Nathan commented breaking Chelsea's train of thought in the process. "I activate a Continuous Spell Card called Dark Magic Circle, this card has two effects but the one you need to worry about right now is the effect that lets me look at the next three cards in my deck, if any of them are Dark Magician Cards I can choose to add one to my hand and chose the order that the other two cards are drawn in, if there aren't any Dark Magician cards then I still get to choose the order."

"Yeah I'm not going to let that happen!" Chloe thought as Silent Magician started casting a spell. "I activate Silent Magician's effect, once per turn when my opponent activates a Spell Card I can negate its activation!"

"Well played, but there are other ways to deal damage to you." Nathan responded as he sent his Spell Card to the graveyard. "For example, the fact that your monster is now weaker."

"Silent Magician may be weaker than she was a couple of turns ago but she still has 2500 attack points!" Chloe asserted with a smirk. "And I don't need to be an Obelisk Blue Student to be able to tell that none of your monsters are strong enough to beat her!"

"True but there's more than one way to destroy a monster." Nathan responded as he played a card. "Such as the Spell Card Thousand Knives!"

"Oh crap!" Chloe winced in response as Silent Magician suddenly found herself stabbed with numerous knives destroying her, however Chloe couldn't help but smirk when she read the card effect again. "Nathan, I don't normally swear as much as Chelsea does, actually I don't think anyone does but still, but you just fucked up!"

"What are you talking about?" Nathan asked as Chloe started inputting commands into her duel disk.

"If Silent Magician is destroyed via card effect or battle I can special summon another one." Chloe explained as her grin grew wider. "And here's the sweet part, I can do it whilst ignoring the monster's summoning conditions!"

"Oh…." Nathan trailed off as Chloe played the card and sure enough Silent Magician Level Eight appeared on the field (8/3500/1000). "As if you didn't have enough ways to bring her out!"

"Oh trust me, I haven't even reached the tip of the iceberg as far as the effects of my new cards go!" Chloe responded as she sent her monster to the graveyard. "So, anything else you want to do?" Chloe asked and Nathan looked over his hand.

"Well considering that I have no interest in sending my remaining monsters on a suicide run." Nathan responded with a deadpan expression on his face before switching all his monsters to defense mode. "I end my turn by switching my monsters to defense mode, do your worst." Nathan responded and Chloe grinned before drawing her card.

"Okay, I have Silent Magician on the field and they still have a decent number of monsters, where is Diffusion Wave Motion when I need it the most?" Chloe thought before an idea popped into her head. "Wait a sec. I never used Silent Burning's other effect, well no time like the present!" Chloe thought before retrieving Silent Burning from her graveyard. "I activate Silent Burning's effect!"

"That thing's drawing effect can activate from the graveyard? How did that get past I2's quality control team?" Nathan asked before pausing. "Forget what I just said, I just remembered that this is the same quality control team that approved Spellbook of Judgment, Evan may have never got to use that card before he switched back to his old deck but trust me, Lance and Evan would probably be in the finals right now otherwise."

"Yeah, I'll take your word for that." Chloe responded before shaking her head. "And that's not the case, Silent Burning just has a separate effect that I can activate from the graveyard by banishing it." Chloe explained before she pocketed the spell card. "With it I can search my deck for a Silent Magician Monster and add it to my hand."

"Okay, I guess that's a little better." Nathan said with a relieved sigh as Chloe inputted some commands. "All though I wouldn't be surprised if such a card came out in a future booster pack."

"Let's be honest Nathan, that card would get banned faster than you can say "First Turn Exodia OTK"." Kimberly responded and Nathan nodded once he realized that she had a point. "And that's if it even gets released to begin with, or do I need to remind you that they have been banning cards before they can be released like Tragedy and Crystal Beast – Diamond Bear?"

"True but it's not like they've been consistent with that." Nathan responded before turning to Chloe just as she added the card to her hand. "And if it's that Silent Magician Monster again I'll be surprised since the only monster on your side of the field is Silent Magician Level Eight."

"Not exactly, or did you forget that I set a monster the same turn I summoned that other Silent Magician?" Chloe asked rhetorically before flipping up the monster revealing it to be Magician of Faith (1/300/200). "Kinda funny really, you could've saved yourself a world of hurt by attacking her instead of focusing on destroying Silent Magician." Chloe added before she retrieved Spellbook inside the Pot and added it to her hand.

"That was my plan, in fact I was going to attack her with Dark Magician Girl to maximize the damage output." Nathan responded before shaking his head. "But after you brought out the big guns I decided that she wasn't worth it, a mistake on my part but considering how low my life-points are…"

"Then you'll be glad that you're not my target, Kimberly is." Chloe interrupted him before playing a card causing the much weaker magician to be replaced by Silent Magician. "Let's see, with my draw and the return of Spellbook inside the Pot I'm at six cards leaving her with four thousand attack points, more than enough to knock you out Kimberly."

"Just try it." Kimberly responded with a cocky grin. "There's a reason I didn't use Mirror Force when Chelsea attacked me last turn, I was saving it for a situation like this." Kimberly thought as she glanced at Chloe and Chelsea's fields. "Sure, they all have some pretty powerful monsters on their side of the field but none of them are immune to traps last I checked and Chloe did say that Silent Magician's effect only applies to Spell Cards, sorry girls, you've done well to make it as far you have but your Cinderella story ends here!"

"Silent Magician Level Eight, attack Terrorking!" Chloe commanded and Silent Magician aimed her staff…

"I was hoping you'd say that Chloe! Activate Trap Card Mirror Force!" Kimberly activated the trap and Chelsea's eyes widened when she saw that. "Since your both Ra Yellow Students now and you've used this card on several occasions you should both know how this card works and why it practically confirms that the next few rounds will be dominated by Obelisk Blue." Kimberly added with a grin before she realized something. "Okay, Chloe, I'll bite, why are you grinning?"

"Because I had a feeling that you had something like that in the wings and well, I've learned from the numerous occasions where forgetting to set a counter trap has bitten me on the ass against Theresa." Chloe admitted before her own trap card flipped up. "And in this case, it's Trap Jammer!"

"Oh shit!" Kimberly cussed as her grin quickly disappeared and her Trap Card's activation was negated sending it back down. "Didn't think we'd be knocked out as early as the fourth round, congrats girls, just try to kick as much ass you can in the next round." Kimberly mused as Silent Magician Level Eight's attack consumed Terrorking destroying him.

"Silent Magician, finish her off." Chloe commanded and the other magician pointed her staff at Kimberly before firing a bolt of white light bringing her life-points down to zero. "I end my turn but since Kimberly was just eliminated that means that the turn passes straight to my partner."

"And whoever thought that rule was fair in a Tag Team Tournament needs to be sent straight to the loony bin but that's just me." Nathan responded as Chelsea drew her card.

"Oh go complain to Martin after I kick your ass." Chelsea responded before looking at her hand and grinning. "First things first, Chloe, can I borrow your monsters?"

"Go ahead." Chloe nodded in response as her two magicians made their way over to Chelsea's side of the field, Chelsea had one less card in her hand than Chloe which caused Silent Magician's attack to the drop to 3500 but Chelsea didn't seem to notice.

"Good, now I can get this show on the road!" Chelsea responded as her trap card flipped up. "And to kick things off I activate Solar Ray! This trap card deals 600 points of damage to you for each Light Type Monster I have on my side of the field, now I know he doesn't look the part but that includes Wattaildragon so that's eighteen hundred points of damage!" Chelsea added and Nathan winced as his life points dropped to 3400. "Oh don't worry, we'll send you a consolation card after we win the tournament, what do you think Chloe, Watapon or Thousand Eyes Idol."

"I think we should just end this before we're perceived as sore winners." Chloe responded as a sweat-drop rolled down her head and Chelsea winced.

"Yeah, good point." Chelsea admitted before pointing to her monsters. "Feels kinda weird controlling the avatar of Chloe's duel spirit partner but screw it." Chelsea thought before grinning. "Silent Magician Level Eight, Wattaildragon, send those outdated cards to the scrapheap!" Chelsea commanded and Silent Magician and Wattaildragon launched their attacks destroying the two magicians. "Silent Magician, finish it!" Chelsea commanded and Silent Magician launched her attack bringing Nathan's life-points down to zero.

"Here are your winners, Chelsea Cunningham and Chloe Richardson!" Martin announced as the holograms disappeared from the field. "Join us in a couple of minutes where we will see Cameron Matthews and Jessica Stevens do battle against Amelia Gray and Caitlin Acosta!"

"What do you think Chloe?" Chelsea asked as the two girls finished gathering up their cards. "Up for sticking around for this match?"

"As much as I hate Cameron and Jessica, I have class right after the duels end so I don't really have a choice but to stay put." Chloe responded as she shook her head. "Besides, it's Duel Theory and we were late enough arriving for this duel, I don't think Martin will be too impressed with me showing up for his class late as well."

"That's probably a safe bet." Kimberly chimed in and the two girls looked up to see the two Obelisk Blue students offering them handshakes which they accepted. "As for Cameron and Jessica, well unless they get eliminated before they get to face you I'm sure you'll get your revenge on them."

"Definitely." Chloe nodded in response before spotting the others in the crowd. "Want to meet up with the others for the next match?" Chloe asked as she pointed them out.

"Sounds like a plan, let's go." Nathan nodded in response before they left the duel arena.