A few hours had passed since the dream duel between DI and Chloe and by now most of the students were getting up and ready for when the ship would dock at Domino Pier allowing them to be reunited with their families and get ready for whatever plans they had for the Summer Break.
"So many things to go through with Lance and the others and I don't even know if I'll have enough time to do it before the ship docks." Chloe thought as she stood in front of the bathroom mirror in the en suite in Lance's room, as she had planned Chloe had hopped straight into the shower almost as quickly as she had woken up and was now covering up her body with a towel and little else, she had just finished drying her long hair and let out a yawn. "Still surprised I woke up as early as I did between me and Lance staying up until 3:00am and me waking up again at dawn, not to mention the fact that I'm not a morning person!"
"Look on the Brightside Chloe." Silent Magician responded as she appeared next to her protégé. "You get to sleep in during the summer break."
"Yeah, not if my mom has anything to say about it, she's been trying to get me out of bed earlier ever since I was adopted." Chloe responded as she started brushing her hair. "She's been trying since I was seven years old and still hasn't succeeded, hopefully the fact that I'll be sharing a room with Lance will convince her to give me a little more privacy."
"Speaking of Lance, shouldn't you see if he's still asleep?" Silent Magician asked as Chloe continued to brush her hair. "When you woke up your head was still resting on his chest and he was still asleep, I'm surprised you didn't try to wake him up."
"Yeah but he could sleep through three world wars and the apocalypse, I doubt his 5ft 2, 120ibs girlfriend was going to make much of a difference." Chloe responded as she finished brushing her hair and set the brush down. "Besides, I did hear him moving about whilst I was in the shower, not sure if it was due to needing to use the bathroom or not but he is awake." Chloe responded as she made her way towards the door that led out of the en suite. "Let's just hope that he's remembered that he'll be seeing my parents today and not where a Cannibal Corpse t-shirt!" Chloe thought as she opened the door. "Morning Lance, bathroom's free if you…..." Chloe trailed off before sighing. "And I totally jinxed myself." Chloe thought with a face-palm.
The first thing she saw was that the clothes she had been wearing the previous night, underwear and all, had been neatly arranged into a pile on the edge of the bed, the second thing she saw? Lance was wearing his Butchered at Birth t-shirt. "Morning babe, surprised you woke up before me considering how late we stayed up." Lance greeted her, and Chloe shook her head whilst maintaining the face-palm. "What?"
"Seriously, Lance? Butchered at Birth?!" Chloe responded with a look on her face that just screamed "my parents are going to kill me for this". "Did you forget that my parents are meeting us and Chelsea at the docks?!"
"What's the big deal? They've known that I'm a metalhead since we first met!" Lance asserted inadvertently reminding Chloe about the dream duel. "I was wearing my Eaten Back to Life shirt underneath the school jacket to that tournament!"
"Yeah and I'm still surprised that they didn't make you take it off!" Chloe thought with a sigh as she folded her arms. "All though I would be lying if I said that I wouldn't have enjoyed the view if they did." Chloe thought before sighing. "Also, back then you were just some boy that I faced in the tournament, now? You're my new boyfriend wearing an even worse shirt to what's technically the first meeting with my parents, do I even need to point out how bad that makes you look?!"
"Yeah I guess you have a point." Lance responded with a sigh as he looked down at the shirt he was wearing. "Relax Chloe, I mean, we've probably got plenty of time."
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is the captain of the ship speaking." A voice from over the PA system cut of Chloe's response and the two teens glanced towards the speakers. "I hope you all slept well as we will be docking at Domino Pier within the next five minutes, enjoy your summer break!" The captain added, and Chloe turned to Lance with a knowing grin on her face.
"Yeah, I'm just going to go raid my suitcase for another t-shirt!" Lance commented before he turned his back to Chloe. "Don't know if you noticed but I gathered up your clothes for you, you should have enough time to get dressed and rush back to your room in the Ra Yellow portion of the ship!"
"I hope so! I'm not running around the ship in just a towel, last thing I want is for the towel to get caught on something and get ripped off before I have a chance to react!" Chloe sighed as she sat down next to the pile and grabbed her underwear first. "Pretty sure I'd never live that down once I return from Summer Break!"
"Let's be honest, I doubt the boys wouldn't have complained." Lance responded as he put on a different, much less offensive t-shirt, by the time he turned around Chloe had tossed the towel aside and just put her underwear on. "Especially me! I'm not complaining about the view I'm looking at!" Lance added as he kissed his girlfriend on the neck.
"What did I tell you last night about cheesy lines from romantic comedies!?" Chloe giggled as Lance pulled away to let her get her crop top, jeans and boots on. "Anyway, I'll meet you on the port side once I get changed into a fresh set of clothes." Chloe added as she stood up and stretched. "Oh, and Lance? Thanks for the great sex last night!"
"I look forward to more of the same over the summer break!" Lance responded, and Chloe grinned before tying the Ra Yellow blazer around her waist and leaving the room.
"Well so much for having that meeting on the ship." Chloe thought as she checked the time on her IPhone, she passed some Obelisk Blue students along the way and whilst most of them ignored her a few of them had knowing grins on their face apparently having figured out why she was in the Obelisk Blue section. "Hopefully I can get everyone to meet us at dad's shop, it's a large house so finding a spot for a meeting shouldn't be a problem, I hope!" Chloe thought as she walked off.
*meanwhile*
Elsewhere on the ship the other students were either waking up or going through their morning routine when they heard the announcement and the students who had been hoping for a lie in before they left the ship got a rude awakening when they realized that they had to get dressed quickly.
"Seriously, couldn't the captain have waited just a couple of more hours before he arrived at the dock?!" Nicola thought as she hastily brushed her hair in front of a mirror, she was one of the few students outside of Obelisk Blue who had their own room on the ship which was by her own request as she had gotten used to it from having her own room in Osiris Red, she had just woken up and had quickly gotten dressed before packing up her things. "Then again, I have my own reasons for not being in a hurry to get off the ship." Nicola thought with a sigh as she looked at herself in the mirror, the swelling around her eye had almost completely gone down though her eyesight out of that eye wasn't 100% there but her nose still healing. "Why didn't I listen to Sam and Cindy? Hell, I could've texted Andreas to see if he was still in the meeting, would've made the last few days of the term a lot less painful!"
"You wanted to be with your boyfriend and you had no way of knowing that Cameron had forged the handwriting." Sapphire Pegasus responded as she appeared next to Nicola and Nicola turned to her. "Besides, for all we know they could've targeted someone else."
"No offense Sapphire Pegasus but if your trying to make me feel better you're not." Nicola responded with a sigh as she finished brushing her hair and packed up her toiletries, once that was done she glanced towards her bed where she had put her suitcase and bags. "Clothes, check, duel disk, check, assorted Duel Monster stuff, check, laptop, check, anything I'm forgetting?"
"The painkillers the nurse prescribed you?" Sapphire Pegasus responded, and Nicola shook her head.
"Those are with my toiletries." Nicola responded but before Sapphire Pegasus could say anything else there was a knock at the door. "I'm decent!" Nicola called out and the door opened revealing Sam and Cindy, her next-door neighbors in Osiris Red. "Hey guys, let me guess, your beauty sleep got interrupted as well?"
"We were lucky, we had gotten up early to get breakfast, mostly because we are heading straight to the Airport from Domino Pier, so we can fly home to America." Sam responded with a shrug before looking around. "We were going to help you with your packing, what with your eye injury and all, but seems you've got that covered."
"I can still see out of both eyes, it's just that my eyesight out of my right eye still hasn't cleared up from the beating I took Wednesday night." Nicola responded with a sigh and her neighbors shared an uncomfortable look. "Guys, I know you were one of the first people to see the aftermath of that beating so if you have anything to get off your chest, I'm all ears, it'll likely be your last chance since we probably won't see each other until September."
"Honestly Nic? We've been beating ourselves up over not going with you and scaring those bastards off." Cindy admitted with a deep sigh as she looked the autistic girl straight in the eye. "I know the note said that Andreas wanted to be with you, but we felt something was wrong based on what it said, if it was from Andreas we would've given you some privacy, but you wouldn't be in the state you are in if we had."
"I'm not sure what we could've done against Cameron and Thomas if they had stuck around but otherwise? We've been worried about you since then." Sam added, and Nicola smiled a bit before nodding. "We're glad that you'll be returning after Summer Break has ended but if you need anything once you do come back just let us know."
"Thanks guys, I'll keep that in mind." Nicola responded as she adjusted a bra strap. "You guys got much planned for Summer Break?"
"Not a lot, I'm mostly spending the summer with my parents down in Texas." Sam responded with a shrug before grinning. "Been way to long since I've had a decent BBQ meal."
"There's no such thing." Cindy responded as she rolled her eyes and Sam scoffed.
"Says the girl who's lived in Oregon for most of her life and has never been near the southern states." Sam responded, and Cindy shook her head.
"I'm mostly doing the same, well that and catching up with my brothers since I haven't had a chance to talk to them since I transferred from North Academy." Sam responded with a shrug before turning to Nicola. "What about you?"
"You guys aren't going to like this, but I'll be helping Chloe and the others fight the Orichalcos." Nicola responded and just as she expected they frowned in response. "Three students from our dorm had their years cut short because of those bastards and Caitlin was hospitalized as well, it only feels right that I represent Osiris Red now that Chloe and Chelsea have been moved up to Ra Yellow."
"I get what your saying Nic but take it easy." Sam sighed in response before they made their way out of her room. "Last thing we want is for your injuries to get worse! Anyway, we're off to get our stuff ready, by my watch we should be docking in a couple of minutes."
"Yeah, I guess I'd better do the same as well." Nicola responded as she grabbed her bags, slung one over her shoulder and wore the other like a backpack once she put the toiletries bag inside it before grabbing the suitcase and pulling it off the bed. "Maybe I should've asked Andreas to help me, then again he's probably got enough stuff to carry as it is." Nicola thought before she made her way out of her room. "Domino City, here I come! And what'll probably be the first of many hospital appointments."
*meanwhile*
Whilst most of the students and teachers on board the ship where either gathering their things to depart from the ship or had already gathered up their stuff there were still three people who weren't supposed to be on the ship hiding below deck to avoid detection.
"Jared, can you keep that down?!" Marie said as her head snapped around to Jared who was watching a news report on his IPhone. "What part of "we're trying to avoid detection" don't you understand?!"
"Sorry Marie but this news story caught my attention and I've been watching the news to see if there's been any updates." Jared responded with a yawn as he turned to her. "Besides, I think you and Drew would be interested in the news story."
"And you didn't think to tell us sooner because?" Drew asked, and Jared shrugged in response.
"You guys were still asleep." Jared responded before he showed them the story.
"And in today's top story, an explosion at the headquarters for Santiago Industries has claimed the life of one of its oldest employees." The News Anchor said and as soon as she heard that Marie snatched the IPhone from Jared's hands. "Dr. Herman Schwartz, 68, was conducting an experiment in his lab when an explosion claimed his life, his extended family is flying in from Berlin to claim the body." The News Anchor then went on to describe the other, less important stories at which point Marie handed the IPhone back to Jared.
"So, the old fart has kicked the bucket." Drew commented as he folded his arms and Marie said nothing in response. "Honestly, I thought he was killed a while ago, come to think of it, wasn't he the one conducting the dream duel research?"
"Yeah, that's the one." Marie responded with a look on her face that was unreadable to the two boys. "I never got a clear story about those things, if you asked Felix they were a fairy tale, if you asked Karen they were a waste of money, if you asked Michael then they were untested and unstable, if you asked the guy running the Battle City operations they were all of the above." Marie added as she leaned against a crate. "As for me, well I know that they work thanks to me being dragged into Chloe's dream duel last night."
"Wait, you didn't mention that." Jared protested but before Marie could respond the captain's announcement rang out.
"I'll go into more detail once we're in the clear, in the meantime we have guards to hide from." Marie responded, and they nodded in response before they took up hiding places. "I don't care what it takes, if gaining the trust of Chloe's friends is the way for me to get into her pants then I'll do whatever's necessary!" Marie thought as she crouched down behind a crate.
*a few minutes later*
The students started to gather on the portside of the ship ready to depart for their next destinations as the ramp that would lead them down to Domino Pier where their families waited to pick them up and that was if there weren't any students staying with friends from Duel Academy.
"Feels just like yesterday that we had boarded this ship for Duel Academy." Chelsea commented as she leaned forward on the railing, Chloe (who had changed clothes almost as soon as she had returned to the room she shared with Chelsea and Beth), Beth and Lance where with her and they were all looking out for Chloe's step-parents on the docks. "At the very least, we can say that our first year here was eventful." Chelsea added, and Chloe nodded in agreement.
"You can say that again." Chloe sighed as she looked out over the crowd of waiting parents. "I'm still surprised that we were able to get my parents to agree to you staying over for Summer given everything that happened Wednesday."
"I'm just going to tell you this right now Chloe, and the same will go for you, Lance." Chelsea sighed as she turned to the couple. "Don't bring up my assault on Jessica over the Summer Break, like, at all, I just want to put that shit behind me and focus on bringing down the Orichalcos Duelists."
"Are you sure about that Chelsea?" Lance asked, and Chelsea nodded without hesitation. "Because it sounds like you just want to run away from your problems and take it from me, that never works."
"Who said I was running?" Chelsea asked with a frown on her face. "Besides, I applied that to all the times I've been expelled within the first few weeks of the expulsion, why should a near expulsion be any different."
"But you do realize that it'll inevitably be brought up, right?" Chloe pointed out and Chelsea sighed in annoyance. "If not by my parents then by your siblings if we run into them."
"Yeah, if." Chelsea sighed before they spotted one of the duel proctors taking a spot near the ramp.
"Students, please depart from the ship in the following order." The proctor said before clearing his throat. "Osiris Red, Ra Yellow and Obelisk Blue."
"Well, here goes." Nicola thought with a deep breath as she followed the rest of the Osiris Red Students down the stairway to the pier managing to keep pace with the other female Osiris Red Students in the process, Nicola briefly glanced over her shoulder and that the others from the Orichalcos group weren't that far behind her. "Hopefully I can get the hospital appointment over and done with as soon as possible so I can meet up with the guys at Chloe's dad's card shop, either way I'm not looking forward to this."
"Hey sis!" Zach's voice rang out and Nicola glanced up seeing her older step-brother running up to her. "Here, let me take your bags."
"Thanks." Nicola thanked him before passing her carrier bags to him. "Laptop's in the bag I was wearing over my shoulder, toiletries are in the other bag and I think you can guess where my clothes are." Nicola added as she patted the suitcase.
"Great, I'll get that dropped off at the hotel on the way to the hospital." Zach responded as he took her bags and Nicola took a deep breath. "Sis, I know your not looking forward to the appointment, hell I can't remember the last time you looked forward to an appointment, but it has to be done or do you want me to remind you of how mom reacted to your injuries."
"Yeah, I know." Nicola sighed as they made their way to her brother's car. "But I just want to get it over with, so I can meet up with the others at Chloe's place ASAP!"
"Don't worry, it'll be over before you know it." Zach responded as he put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and Nicola grinned before he opened the passenger side door. "Besides, you are looking a lot better than you did after the assault, so it should go smoothly."
"Never mind the fact that my vision still isn't 100% out of my right eye." Nicola sighed before she hopped in the car and they drove off.
"I'm sure he's somewhere around here." Chloe said as she led Chelsea and Lance through the crowd of parents most of whom where reuniting with their children or waiting for their kid reach them.
"We didn't spot them from the ship, but I don't think your dad would no show your homecoming." Lance responded as he followed his girlfriend with Chelsea taking up the rear. "Besides, I don't think you've seen both of your parents since Battle City, right?"
"Aside from chatting with them on Skype after Chelsea got me set up on the computer in Ra Yellow, no." Chloe responded as she shook her head whilst continuing to keep an eye out for her step-parents. "Then again, mom does work long hours at the hospital, so I'm still surprised that she got time off for Battle City."
"She's a receptionist, it's not like she needs to be there round the clock for life-saving surgeries or stuff like that." Chloe responded with a shrug before finally spotting her dad and grinning broadly. "Hey dad!" Chloe called out to him and Scott grinned when he saw his daughter with her boyfriend and her roommate, however Chloe's grin grew wider when she saw her two dogs being held on the lead by her parents. "Rex! Nala!" Chloe greeted the two dogs, a Black Labrador and a Burmese Mountain Dog respectively and her parents let go off the lead to let the two excited dogs run up to them.
"Told you it was a good idea to bring them." Chloe's mom commented as Chloe and her friends stroked the two dogs who seemed to be more interested in licking Chloe's face off.
"It wasn't that I disagreed with you, it's just that I was worried about them running across the road." Scott responded before turning to his daughter. "Let me take your bags Chloe, on the condition that you walk Rex and Nala to the car." Scott offered, and Chloe wasted no time in taking the bags that she had been carrying and passing them to her dad before doing the same with her suitcase.
"Yeah, sure." Chloe nodded in response as she grabbed the two dogs' leads in each hand and kept a firm grip on them.
"Chloe, are you sure you don't want me to take one of them? They aren't exactly small dogs and your record in PE isn't that great." Lance offered, and Chloe turned to her boyfriend with a reassuring grin.
"Don't worry Lance, this isn't my first time walking both dogs." Chloe reassured him as she tightened her grip on the lead. "As long as they don't see a cat or anything I'll be…." Chloe never got a chance to finish as the two dogs bolted a short distance nearly taking her off her feet, it didn't take her long to realize why that was the case either as she saw another dog she recognized. "Hey Latoya."
"Oh, hey Chloe!" Latoya greeted her as Chloe's dogs played with Rocky, her family's Golden Lab who she was holding onto. "Looks like our parents had the same idea and took your dogs to the same training school as Rocky." Latoya joked as she stroked Chloe's two dogs.
"Not really, they're usually a lot more well behaved than this but this is the first time I've seen them since I joined the academy." Chloe responded as Louella walked up and stroked the two dogs. "That said, he hasn't run anyone over yet, right?"
"Only me when he saw me." Latoya responded sheepishly as Chloe's step-parents walked up with amused looks on their faces. "Sorry about that, you know how excited dogs can get."
"Not a problem, as long as there aren't any other dogs to distract ours we won't mind a brief distraction." Scott responded with a shrug as Rocky walked up to them for a sniff and got stroked in return.
"Now that they're distracted." Chloe muttered under her breath before turning to Latoya and Louella. "You guys are still good to help us with the Orichalcos right? Chelsea's girlfriend was forced to pull out by her parents."
"Yeah, we're still going to help you guys out." Louella responded with a nod and Latoya nodded in agreement. "Our parents live here in Domino, so it won't be that hard to find your dad's card shop right?"
"I'll text you guys the address when I get to the card shop." Chloe responded, and the lesbian couple nodded as Rocky returned to his mistress's side. "Well I'd better get going before anymore dogs show up and nearly cause Rex and Nala to tare my arms out of my socket."
"Trust me Chloe, been there, done that and got the t-shirt." Latoya laughed as the three girls went their separate ways and Chloe walked the two dogs to her dad's car.
*meanwhile*
Whilst Chloe's parents helped get hers and her friends' bags into the car and let Rex and Nala jump into the boot of the car they had no idea that they were being watched from another car a bit further down the road from Domino Pier, and if they knew who was watching them they'd would likely do something about it right there and then.
"Sarah, I have a visual on the target." A robed figure said as he watched Chloe, Chelsea and Lance hop into the car and close the door behind them. "They should be leaving at any moment, advise on how to proceed?"
"Follow them but keep your distance, if you are spotted then it could throw the entire operation into disarray." Sarah responded through the earpiece and the figure nodded. "You and the others have your orders, you are to target the families of the students we have been targeting but leave Richardson's alone." Sarah added with a hint of bitterness to her voice as the robed figure started driving at least two lanes behind Chloe's car. "I want to take that bastard out myself."
"Understood." The figure nodded as he continued to drive. "What should I do when they reach the shop?"
"Monitor the house until it seems likely that Chloe and her friends will be gone for a few hours, after that becomes clear, call me and I'll be at the shop within the hour." Sarah added, and the robed figure nodded as he continued to follow the car. "And I mean a few hours, don't call me if Chloe and her friends decide to take her mutts out on a walk because last I checked, dogs don't take hours to take a piss."
"How exactly did you check that?!" The robed figure asked, and Sarah growled.
"Just shut up and follow them, unless you want me to target you instead!" Sarah responded, and the robed figure gulped before hanging up and following the family car.
*ten minutes later*
Scott never noticed that there was a car following the family car and neither did the other occupants in the car as it drove along, largely because of the two dogs in the boot.
"I get it Rex, I smell good!" Lance commented as the Labrador sniffed at him whilst standing up on its hind legs. "Mr. Richardson, due you have any doggie treats I can use to get him out of my hair."
"We tried that once when we got them from a breeder." Scott responded as he shook his head and Chloe giggled knowing where her step-dad was going with this. "It only succeeded in getting them to follow her everywhere, and yes I do mean everywhere."
"We pretty much put a stop to that after they followed me all the way to school." Chloe added as she patted Rex on the head. "Nearly caused my parents to have a panic attack in the process but once I texted them a picture of the two dogs waiting outside the school gate they came and picked me up."
"Frankly they were lucky that they didn't get run over, Chloe still used the school bus at the time." Chloe's mother added as Rex sat back down on the back, once she was sure that her parents weren't paying attention Chloe leaned in to whisper in her boyfriend's ear.
"By the way, you did use the shower after I left your room earlier, right?" Chloe asked and Lance sweat-dropped whilst laughing nervously. "Yeah, I thought not." Chloe added as she pulled away.
"Before you two start making out back there, I want to lay down some ground rules for your stay at the house, this will apply to you Chelsea as well for the most part." Scott started, and the three teens turned their attention to him. "First off, try to keep the noise levels to an acceptable level, this may be a family home but its also my place of business and I don't want any customers being scared away by the sounds of heavy metal."
"What? Metal was meant to be played loud!" Lance protested, and he could tell that Chelsea was about to say the same thing.
"Maybe but if I can hear it from the storefront then its too loud, second, I realize that your dating my daughter Lance but if you two do decide to have sex with each other during your stay at my house at least keep it limited to Chloe's room, unless you want the awkwardness of your girlfriend's parents walking in on you having sex with your girlfriend." Scott added, and the couple shared a look before nodding without hesitation. "Same goes for you if Beth ever comes over Chelsea."
"Beth's only staying in Domino until my birthday party on Wednesday, after that she's flying back home to Idaho." Chelsea explained, and Scott nodded in understanding. "By the way, did my parents send over my gaming PC from Chicago?"
"Yes, they did, and as you requested I have left it untouched in the guest bedroom next to the desk, Chloe tells me that your something of a whizz kid when it comes to tech, so I have no doubt that you'll have no problems in setting that up." Scott responded, and Chelsea grinned in response. "Now I'm not as strict as Duel Academy island is when it comes to curfew, in fact I don't enforce a curfew at all, but if you are up past midnight playing one of your games try to keep the noise down, both from the game and yourself."
"What? Am I supposed to write passive aggressive post it notes whenever I get screwed over in a game?" Chelsea joked getting a laugh out of Scott.
"I'll provide a pen and the notes, just don't go overboard and plaster the whole house with them." Scott added before motioning to the dogs. "One last thing, when we got Rex and Nala we made it clear to Chloe that if she wanted to keep the two dogs she would have to walk and feed them every day, obviously I've taken over that duty since she enrolled in Duel Academy and now that she's back home I expect more of the same and I expect you two to do your part."
"Sure, just point us in the direction of the local dog walking park and we'll do it." Lance nodded as he patted Nala who had just jumped up and was taking a sniff of his hair.
"I've taken the dogs to that park enough times that I know the route like the back of my hand." Chloe responded as she turned to her boyfriend. "I'll show you guys the way later."
"Sounds like a plan." Lance nodded in response before turning to Chloe's parents. "What will we do when we go off to fight the Orichalcos and, god forbid, you guys are taken out?"
"Well, hopefully it won't come to that but if it does I have the number for the local dog kennels in my office, came in handy when I went off to Battle City and they know Rex and Nala well." Scott responded with a nod and Lance nodded before Nala started licking him. "And on that note, we're home!"
*elsewhere*
Turns out the Orichalcos Duelist wasn't the only one following the family car from Domino Pier that morning but the other party following them weren't being as subtle about it.
"You know, you guys could've mentioned that you don't have drivers licenses sooner!" Marie said as she ran a hand down her face and glared at Jared and Drew as the Uber Driver followed Scott's car. "But no, you had to keep that fact from me until we saw Chloe, Chelsea and Lance get in her dad's car!"
"Not my fault that I'm to young to get a license, and so are you for that matter." Jared responded, and Marie pouted in response. "The only one who doesn't have that excuse is Drew!"
"The whole reason I got expelled from Duel Academy in the first place was because I took a prototype duel runner out for a joyride with my girlfriend at the time." Drew sighed as he leaned back in the seat with his arms crossed. "Do you really think they'd let me even take the test, let alone have a license, with that on my record? Theresa got off easy because it was my idea in the first place!"
"I knew I should've asked the higher ups to send someone who can drive with us." Marie sighed as the Uber Driver fixed his rearview mirror to look at them.
"Are you kids alright, back there?" The driver asked with a curious look on his face. "All you've done since you got in my car is argue."
"We're fine, just keep doing what you were paid to do." Marie sighed in response as she glanced out the window at the car which was driving alongside Scott's car. "At least it's not that far from her dad's game shop now, based on what I remember from Chloe's file her house should be around the corner from here."
"Okay, this is the place." The driver said interrupting Marie's train of thought as he pulled up across the street from the card shop and Jared opened the door. "And that'll be ten bucks!"
"Ten bucks?! We couldn't have driven that far, right?" Marie protested, and the driver shrugged. "I knew we should've gotten a cab!"
"And because you've been on our case all morning, your paying!" Drew commented and before Marie could respond the two boys left the car in a hurry.
"That does it! As soon as we get to the hotel that the bosses set us up in I'm calling them and asking for someone with a driver's license to be sent over!" Marie thought with an annoyed sigh as she handed a ten dollar note to the driver. "It'll be easier on my wallet at least! I was hoping to use that ten bucks to buy a pack of cards or two!" Marie thought before getting out of the car.
*a few hours later*
By now the students were either settling in at their homes or on their flight back to their home countries but among the students who were traveling to the airport there was one who was there for an entirely different reason.
"I still can't believe Theresa managed to pull this off." Tyler thought as he leaned back in his chair at the departure lounge, a flight from Beijing, China had just landed, and the passengers had gotten off, but they weren't who he was waiting for. "Getting Phil, Francesca, Adrienne and Amanda to agree to help us out was one thing but managing to do the same for the others aside from Eric? That was quite an impressive feat." Tyler thought as he glanced down at his deck. "Still, I wonder if my deck can keep up with Dmitri's? Given the nature of the Pro-League he is bound to have improved since my expulsion duel."
"Excuse me, are you Tyler Kaiba?" A female Asian voice broke his train of thought and Tyler looked up seeing a Chinese woman around Chelsea's height with elbow length black hair and brown eyes standing in front of him, she was well built and was wearing a t-shirt and jeans, she had a couple of bags with her which indicated that she had just gotten off the flight. "My name is Katrina Lao." She added before extending her hand for a handshake and it didn't take Tyler long to recognize the name.
"The Chinese National Champion." Tyler responded as he accepted the handshake which was surprisingly firm. "Theresa didn't say anything about getting in contact with you."
"She didn't but Phil thought that you could use the extra hand to make up for Eric's absence." Katrina responded with a nod before sitting next to him. "And before you ask, yes, I know how dangerous the Orichalcos is, I competed in Battle City but got eliminated by Alex Fenix in what ended up being my last shot of making it to the finals."
"Yes, I remember he was one of the last duelists to get all the locater cards." Tyler nodded in response as glanced towards the arrival times. "From what I remember you still had four locater cards left."
"And I was looking for someone to duel so I could get the two locater cards before the last two spots were claimed by what ended up being Orichalcos Duelists." Katrina sighed in annoyance as she folded her arms. "On the other hand, considering how chaotic the Battle City Semis where I think I dodged a bullet, still surprised that Richardson girl made it as far as she did on what was frankly, a terrible deck." Katrina added, and Tyler chuckled.
"She'd be the first to agree with you on that point and her deck's a lot better these days, you can ask her yourself because the meeting will be at her dad's house." Tyler responded but before Katrina could say anything there was an announcement over the PA.
"Flight 160 from Paris, France will be arriving shortly." The announcement rang out and Tyler checked the list of flights Theresa had provided him with.
"That should be Adrienne and looking at the board I can guess that Philip and Francesca won't be that far behind." Tyler commented as he glanced at the paper in his hand.
"Even if she wasn't involved in those expulsion duels, I'm not surprised that Adrienne jumped at the chance to eliminate the Orichalcos." Katrina commented as she glanced out towards the plane that was touching down, she tuned her attention back to Tyler and noticed the confused look on his face. "She never told you?"
"Told me what?" Tyler asked, and Katrina took a deep breath.
"I'll keep this brief, Adrienne was one of Otto's victims in Battle City." Katrina responded, and all color drained from Tyler's face. "I know it's a horrific thing to experience based on what she told me, but you seem panicked about that fact."
"It's a long story, not sure if I want to repeat it right now." Tyler responded before glancing about. "If Adrienne finds out that Chloe used the Orichalcos, against her will or not, then we'll have a big problem!" Tyler thought before getting his phone out. "I'm just going to text Chloe to let her know what's going on."
"Sure." Katrina shrugged as she watched the arrivals pour out of the plane.
"Chloe, good news is, the Pro-League Dueliss we faced in our expulsion duels are flying in to help us out, bad news? Adrienne was one of Otto's victims in Battle City, I know we keep it a secret in general but remind Lance and Chelsea to keep their mouths shut about your usage of the Orichalcos." Tyler read the text out in his mind before quickly hitting the send button, he didn't bother waiting to see if it had been delivered as he quickly pocketed the phone.
"Hey Katrina!" Adrienne's voice rang out and Tyler looked up seeing the French teenager running up to the Chinese National Champion as best she could, given that she was carrying several bags and hugged her tightly. "Tyler, good to see you again, why you are looking so pale?" Adrienne asked once the two girls broke off the hug.
"It's nothing, I didn't have enough time for breakfast this morning because Duel Academy required us to be off the ship by 10:00am sharp." Tyler responded with a shrug as he looked Adrienne over noting that she was wearing the same outfit she wore to the expulsion duels. "You heard anything from the others?"
"Phil and Francesca should be here in a couple of hours, give or take, Ricardo, Mark and Dmitri should be here by the early evening and Amanda shouldn't be that far behind them." Adrienne responded before motioning for him to follow her. "Come on, can't have you dueling on an empty stomach, can we? My treat!"
"Normally I wouldn't consider airport food a treat but who am I to say no to lunch with a beautiful woman?" Tyler asked rhetorically, and Adrienne grinned before they started to walk off.
"Just don't get any ideas about this being a date." Adrienne said as she glanced over her shoulder at Tyler. "I'm already taken."
"So am I but it's complicated." Tyler responded earning a curious look from the French girl. "Complicated enough that I'm under a non-disclosure agreement until me and the girl I'm dating are old enough to Mary."
"I'll take your word for it." Adrienne chuckled as she led him towards the airport restaurant. "Though whoever she is, she's one lucky girl and I'm not just talking about how rich your family is!" Adrienne added as she looked Tyler over.
"Trust me, money is not a problem for that girl's family." Tyler chuckled as he followed Adrienne. "And I'll say the same thing about your boyfriend."
"Flattered but my family isn't as well off as yours, being environmental activists doesn't exactly pay the bills." Adrienne responded as they entered the restaurant. "Hell, I'm the most well off because of my dueling career and I'm the youngest of my three siblings."
"I know that feeling, sill haven't let Miranda forget that I graduated at a higher position than her." Tyler commented with a chuckle as they sat down. "If you had told me that my first day as a pro-duelist would be spent picking up eight people from eight different countries up from the airport maybe I would've held off on graduating." Tyler thought before noticing the jealous looks he was getting from the other male teens at the restaurant and then back to Adrienne. "Then again I'd be a fool to complain about my company!"
*meanwhile*
Whilst that was going on at the airport things had settled down at the Richardson household and Chelsea and Lance had settled into their new rooms rather quickly, the two dogs had calmed down a lot as well though that didn't stop them from pestering their owners.
"Okay, so we're using the dining room for the meeting, Theresa's managed to get the pro-league duelists to fly in, anything else I'm forgetting?" Chloe thought as she walked down the hallway whilst looking at her phone and not really paying attention to the world around her though she was aware that she was walking towards the lounge. "Dogs have been fed, Chelsea's on her gaming PC, Lance is being shown around the house by dad…..." Chloe's train of thought was cut off when she heard a dog yelp and looked up realizing that she had accidentally stepped on Rex's tail. "Shit! Sorry Rex!" Chloe apologized to the dog as she patted the Labrador on the head.
"Chloe, what have I told you about looking where your going?" Chloe's mom asked from her seat in the lounge and Chloe sighed. "Your almost as bad as that as you are at getting up in the morning."
"Oh, come on! I'm not that bad!" Chloe protested as she stroked Rex who licked her hand in response. "This is only the fifth time I've tripped over the dogs since I came home!"
"I'm not even going to get into the amount of times you did that before we enrolled you into Duel Academy." Chloe's mom responded, and Chloe laughed nervously in response. "Otherwise, we'll be here until your roommate's Birthday on Wednesday."
"Considering that her juvenile record is the only thing keeping Chelsea from helping us with the Orichalcos I don't think she's about to complain about her birthday coming sooner!" Chloe thought but before she could say anything else they heard the door to the shop open and Rex's tail started wagging.
"Chloe, can you go see to that? Your father's still showing Lance around and you know more about the game than I do." Chloe's mom requested, and Chloe nodded before she started to walk off. "Remember the rule."
"Yeah, I know, the dogs aren't allowed in the storefront." Chloe sighed as she walked over to the door that lead to the storefront and spotted Chelsea in the kitchen drinking from a can of coke as she did. "Chelsea, you mind giving me a hand with the dogs? They're not allowed in the storefront."
"Sure." Chelsea responded before finishing her drink and tossing it in the trash, by the time she left the kitchen both Rex and Nala were at the door to the storefront, Chelsea grabbed both dogs by their collars and pulled them back. "Please be quick about it before they pull my arms out!"
"Don't worry, just remember to let go off the collars once I close the door." Chloe responded before making her way past the two dogs and opened the door to the storefront and closed it behind her. "Hi, welcome to the shop, how can I help you?" Chloe asked without turning around.
"Well, for one thing you can turn around Chloe." A familiar voice rang out and Chloe turned around seeing Ash, Hu, Latoya and Louella standing behind her and it was Ash that spoke up. "Sorry for not getting here sooner, Domino City isn't exactly a small place."
"Yeah, kinda noticed that." Chloe said with a sheepish grin on her face. "And I'm guessing you guys are here about the Orichalcos?"
"No, we just felt like going to a random card shop in a city full of them." Latoya responded before hearing the dogs scratching at the door. "I'm guessing your parents don't let the dogs in the storefront?"
"Yeah, they stopped doing that after finding out the hard way that one of their main suppliers was allergic to dog fleas." Chloe explained before turning to Ash and Hu. "And that reminds me, you guys are good with dogs, right?"
"I'm more of a cat person but I love animals in general." Ash responded with a shrug before turning to Hu. "I'm not so sure about my rival though."
"I don't mind them as long as they don't lick my face." Hu responded and Chloe sweat-dropped in response.
"I'm afraid you're a bit out of luck there." Chloe responded before getting a text on her phone. "Feel free to let yourselves in guys, I'll be with you in a sec." Chloe told them, and the four teens made their way towards the door whilst Chloe checked her phone, when she read Tyler's text she gulped. "Well, that complicates things, any ideas Silent Magician?"
"She might appreciate you being honest about it and explaining how the events came about but even I have to admit that that's a long shot." Silent Magician said as she read the text whilst Hu opened the door. "Still, considering that the duelists are coming in from all over the world you should have a few hours to think about how to word it."
"CAN SOMEONE GET THIS MANGY MUTT OFF ME!?" Hu's voice broke Chloe's train of thought before she pocketed her phone and turned around seeing that Rex had knocked Hu over whilst jumping up onto him and was in the process of licking Hu's face off to the amusement of the others.
"He's not a mutt, he's a Labrador!" Chloe responded with an annoyed look on her face as Nala sniffed around Hu, Chloe quickly stepped in and grabbed Rex by his collar before pulling him off whilst Nala turned to her attention to Chloe. "Now that I've gotten Rex off you, apologize to him! You hurt his feelings!"
"Really?" Hu asked as he wiped the dog drool from his face and almost on cue the black lab started crying. "Okay, fine, sorry Rex!" Hu sighed as he helped himself up and patted Rex who panted in response.
"Chloe, what did I tell you about letting the dogs into the storefront?" Chloe's mom asked, and she looked up seeing her mom there with her arms crossed. "Then again, we don't normally let guests in through the storefront."
"Sorry, we weren't sure where the entrance to the house was." Ash apologized as Chloe closed the door behind them and let go off Rex. "I'm Ash, he's Hu and the two girls are Latoya and Louella, we're Chloe's dormmates in Ra Yellow."
"Good thing she mentioned that she would be having guests over." Chloe's mom responded with a smile. "Chloe, can you text the rest of your friends so that they know the proper way in?"
"Yeah, sure, but considering Nicola's still in the hospital and Tyler's picking up a bunch of people from the airport we're going to be waiting a while." Chloe responded as she glanced at the teens. "You mind if I show them around in the meantime?"
"Go right ahead, your father should be with us shortly." Chloe's mom responded before heading back into the lounge.
*meanwhile*
Whilst that was going on with Chloe her dad was showing Lance around the house as he had previously done with Chelsea, though there was one main difference this time around namely the fact that Scott had asked Lance to bring his duel disk.
"Okay, just one more area to show you and its down here." Scott said as he led Lance to a door at the end of the hallway, once Scott opened it Lance saw that it led to a stairway that was going down. "Down here is the basement."
"Why do I suddenly get the feeling that your about to show me the bodies of Chloe's exes?" Lance asked jokingly, and Scott chuckled.
"I may be overprotective of my daughter Lance, but I've never had to resort to that." Scott responded before motioning Lance to follow him "Besides, this area does hold a special place in Chloe's heart, spent a lot of time down here with her." Scott added before glancing over his shoulder and noticing the look on Lance's face. "And no, I don't mean that in any perverted way, though I do understand how that statement can be taken in such a way."
"Thank god for that." Lance responded before following Scott down to the basement, Scott opened the door at the bottom of the stairwell revealing a dark room.
"Haven't used this place since Chloe enrolled in Duel Academy." Scott commented as he reached out for the light switch and turned the lights on revealing a spacious room filled with several glass casings and Scott's duel disk on a shelf, on the wall there were dozens of pictures of Scott from when he was a professional duelist ranging from him holding titles to congratulating the winners including a couple of pictures with Jeff from when he was a pro-league duelist.
"Wow." Lance said as he looked about the room and Scott looked around in pride. "You really did have hair at one point!" Lance added causing Scott to face-fault.
"And if you wish to stay in my good graces, you won't say that again." Scott sighed as he got back up to his feet and walked around the room. "Sandra, my wife, calls this my mancave, Jeff calls this a monument to my ego, not exactly sure if he meant it jokingly or not, I call it a place to look back on my past glories but to Chloe? This was where she first trained as a duelist."
"This is where you taught her to play the game?" Lance asked, and Scott nodded before Lance noticed a newer picture in one of the glass cases, it depicted Chloe grinning broadly whilst her dad looked on proudly in the background as she held up a small trophy, once Lance realized that Chloe was wearing the Domino High uniform in the pic he put two and two together. "Hey, I remember this, this was when she won her first school tournament! I still contend that she wouldn't have won if I wasn't ill that day but still!"
"Yes, that was a good day and it gave her the confidence she needed to enroll in Duel Academy, told me as much herself the day I drove her to the test duels." Scott responded with a chuckle before walking over to another glass case. "That was also a day that I realized something, she wasn't a little girl anymore, she was growing into a full-blown woman."
"It took you until she was sixteen to figure that out?" Lance asked with a deadpan expression on his face and Scott sweat-dropped.
"Figuratively speaking off course, I already knew that because by then she had stopped using a training bra and other, more personal reasons that I'm sure you don't want to hear about." Scott responded before he picked up his duel disk. "What I meant was, I realized that Chloe was growing into quite an attractive young lady and that she would inevitably have boys wanting to date her, off course it wasn't that smooth at first."
"Yeah, Chloe told me about her struggles in getting a boyfriend during our first date." Lance responded with a frown as he thought back to that day. "She told me that boys at Domino High either wanted to screw her and be done with it or wouldn't go near her because of her small breast size and mentioned how her mom talked her out of saving up for a wonder bra."
"That's the way she put it? It was less "talked Chloe out of it" and more "Put Her Foot Down before she could even finish that sentence." Scott sighed as he shook his head. "She would've wasted her time trying to impress those boys anyway, aside from the fact that she had just finished using the training bra it was obvious to us that their comments were affecting her self-esteem and we shuddered to think of the slippery slope that would've led her down, especially given how horrible her early childhood was." Scott said before turning around. "My point is Lance that I made it a point that if Chloe ever dated another duelist I would want to duel them, see how my skills held up against the new man or woman in her life."
"Well, why didn't you just say so?" Lance asked with a grin as he folded his arms. "So, are we going outside or…."
"We'll duel in here." Scott responded as he put his duel disk on. "After all, this is where I trained her, what better place to pass the torch?"
"Couldn't agree more!" Lance responded with a grin as the two men took their positions. "You won't force me to break up with Chloe if I lose, right?"
"As I said, I'm not that overprotective and even if I was, I know Chloe is intelligent enough to make her own choices in that department." Scott responded before they activated their duel disks. "I haven't dueled since my daughter beat me in Battle City but that doesn't mean that I'm rusty."
"I don't know, if you ask me, that's exactly what it means." Lance responded with a grin as the two men activated their duel disks and drew their opening hands. "Who's going first?"
"I will." Scott responded as he looked over his hand. "I activate a Continuous Spell Card called Ancient Gear Fortress!" Scott announced as the spell card appeared on the field. "I will get to this Spell Card's effect later, for now I set a card facedown and I summon Ancient Gear Hunting Hound!" Scott played the card and a new monster appeared on the field, it was a robotic dog that was green in color and it growled at Lance (3/1000/1000).
"Still using your Ancient Gear monsters, huh?" Lance asked as he folded his arms. "No big deal, I watched Chloe defeat those things during Battle City and if she can do it with her original deck which, by her own admission, wasn't very good, then I should have no problem doing the same thing!"
"It is true that Chloe managed to defeat my Ancient Gear monsters, but this isn't the same deck she faced in Battle City." Scott responded, and Lance frowned. "Take Hunting Hound for example, when he is normal summoned I can inflict six hundred points of damage to your life-points."
"Wait, what?" Lance asked before the robotic hound pounced on him bringing his life-points down to 7400. "I'm glad that the dogs aren't here to hear this, but I'm putting that dog down as soon as my turn begins!"
"You are welcome to try, for now I end my turn." Scott responded, and Lance drew his card.
"Scott's been dueling for longer than me and Chloe combined, hell he taught Chloe all she knew about the game before she enrolled in duel academy." Lance thought as he glanced over at Scott's side of the field. "So, with that in mind, why would he leave a weak monster like Hunting Hound in attack mode? Sure, it has a burn effect when normal summoned, but 600 points of damage isn't that much in the grand scheme of things, there must be more to his monster!" Lance thought before looking at and subsequently playing his drawn card. "I kick off my turn by activating One for One!"
"Which allows you to discard one monster from your hand and in return special summon one Level One Monster from your deck." Scott explained the effect for him and Lance said nothing as he searched through his deck using the controls. "Don't forget Lance, I've been dueling since you and your siblings were in diapers."
"Maybe but I bet there's a few cards that you've never heard off." Lance responded before playing a card. "After all, you just admitted that this is your first duel since Battle City and a lot of new cards have come out since then, like this one! I summon Inferno Spark!" Lance played the card and a new monster appeared on the field, it looked a lot like the monster Inferno, but it was a much smaller flame and still had the angry face on it (1/100/900). "And since I special summoned him his effect activates! All I have to do is reveal one Pyro Type Monster from my hand and I can increase his level by that monster's level." Lance added before turning around one of the monsters in his hand revealing it to be Flamvell Baby increasing Inferno Spark's level to two.
"You can increase your monster's level all you want Lance, it won't help." Scott responded as he folded his arms. "Hunting Hound isn't exactly the strongest monster in my deck but right now he's still the strongest monster on the field."
"That won't last! For my next trick, I banish the monster I discarded for One for One's effect to Special Summon his big brother!" Lance announced as he pocketed the monster and the larger version of the angry flame appeared on the field (4/1100/1900). "Now I could attack with Inferno and get his burn effect off, but I have a better idea! You see, Inferno Spark is a tuner monster!" Lance added as the two flames, rather than do the usual Synchro Summon ritual, merged into one flame with the Synchro Rings surrounding it. "I Synchro Summon Flamvell Uriquizas!"
"And this is the basement where my dad trained me to be a duelist." Chloe's voice rang out and Lance glanced up to see his girlfriend leading Ash, Hu, Louella and Latoya down the steps. "And I'm sure nothing crazy is going on down here…..." Chloe added just as the bright flash enveloped the field and Flamvell Uriquizas appeared on the field ready for battle (6/2100/400). "Seriously Lance? You could've warned us first!"
"How was I supposed to know you were coming down the steps?" Lance protested as the other teens stopped shielding their eyes. "Besides, I'm in the middle of dueling your dad here!"
"Yeah, I gathered that." Chloe responded as she and the others got off the steps. "You guys mind if we watch?"
"As long as no one makes any cracks about my lack of hair, I'll allow it." Scott responded before folding his arms. "But that is an impressive monster Lance, but do you really want to risk something like Mirror Force being my facedown card."
"The only person who's that lucky is Yugi Motuh! Flamvell Uriquizas, attack Ancient Gear Hunting Hound!" Lance commanded, and the warrior charged into battle….
"You are right, I don't have his luck, but I do have Negate Attack." Scott responded as his trap card flipped up causing Uriquizas's fists to slam into an invisible barrier. "Better luck next time."
"I set two cards facedown and end my turn." Lance announced as he set the two cards and Scott drew his card.
"I start my turn with a Spell Card called Spellbook Inside the Pot!" Scott played the card and Lance shrugged before they drew their three cards. "Now I activate the Spell Card Shrink!"
"What's the point in that? Even if you cut my monster's attack points in half, I still have the strongest monster on the field!" Lance pointed out and Scott shook his head.
"I don't recall saying anything about targeting your monster, no, my target is Hunting Hound!" Scott responded as the robotic dog shrunk down in size and its attack points dropped to 500. "And to save you the trouble of asking why I did that, its so I can activate this! Machine Duplication!" Scott announced as he played the card and once he searched for the other two copies of his monster he played them causing two more Hunting Hounds to appear on the field. "Now I activate Hunting Hound's effect!"
"Wait, I thought you said that their burn effect only activated if Hunting Hound was normal summoned!" Lance protested as Scott's deck auto-shuffled and Scott shook his head.
"It does, and that wasn't the effect I was talking about." Scott responded as he retrieved a monster from his extra deck. "Simply put, once per turn I can Fusion Summon an Ancient Gear monster without the use of Polymerization, so I fuse my three Hunting Hounds together!" Scott announced as he played the card and Lance's eyes widened as the three robotic dogs were sucked into the fusion portal. "I Fusion Summon Ancient Gear Megaton Golem!" Scott added as a new monster emerged from the fusion portal, it was a huge robot that resembled Ancient Gear Golem except it had multiple arms and four spider-like legs (9/3300/3300).
"You know, I'm suddenly glad that the Battle City Semi-Finals weren't pushed back to today." Chloe said with a nervous gulp as she looked up towards the gargantuan robot. "Call me crazy!"
"Chloe, you haven't even seen how much my deck has improved since our last duel." Scott responded as he turned to his daughter. "In fact, in my opinion if you had faced my current deck during the Battle City semi-finals you would've been eliminated at the start of the Semi-Finals rather than come in third, but I digress." Scott added before turning to Lance who was, understandably, sweating bullets. "Now onto my monster's effects, like all Ancient Gear Monsters it has the effect that prevents you from activating trap cards when it attacks but since I summoned it with two or more Ancient Gear Monsters it can attack up to the number of Fusion Material Monsters during each Battle Phase."
"Is it to late to back out?" Lance asked with a nervous gulp and Scott shook his head.
"Yes, also since this was the turn that Ancient Gear Megaton Golem was fusion summoned you can't target him for card effects, nor can he be destroyed by card effects." Scott said before pointing to Uriquizas. "Ancient Gear Megaton Golem, attack Flamvell…." Scott never got to finish his command as a loud roar echoed throughout the basement. "Threatening Roar?"
"Yep, your monster might not be able to be targeted by card effects, but Threatening Roar doesn't target." Lance responded as he sent his trap card to the graveyard. "And since it prevents you from declaring an attack your Ancient Gear Monsters can't do squat about it."
"Very clever but we'll soon find out how long you can delay my attacks, I set one card facedown and end my turn." Scott announced as he set the card and Lance drew his card.
"Hey guys, Chloe's mom wants to know what you want to do for dinner tonight." Chelsea's voice rang out and they looked up seeing the metal chick coming down the stairs to the basement. "She doesn't have enough food to feed all of us, so she offered to get us a takeout if…...we…..." Chelsea trailed off once she saw Ancient Gear Megaton Golem. "How is that thing fitting inside the basement exactly?!" Chelsea asked with a confused look on her face.
"I learned to stop questioning the logic behind KaibaCorp's hologram technology long ago Chelsea." Scott responded as he glanced up at Chloe's roommate. "As for dinner, I'm guessing her condition is that we all put some money towards it?" Scott asked, and Chelsea nodded in response. "I suppose that'll do given the circumstances, we'll figure out the specifics after my duel with Lance."
"Sounds good, you mind if I watch?" Chelsea responded, and Scott shrugged in response. "Right, I'll just go tell Chloe's mom about that and I'll be back down ASAP." Chelsea added before spinning on her heel and rushing up the stairs out of the basement.
"Man, now I can't concentrate on the duel because of Chloe's mom getting takeout! Do I even have enough money for takeout?" Lance thought before shaking his head. "What matters is that I need a way to get past his machine before it pounds me flatter than a pancake! Only issue is that there's only a handful of monsters that come close to his attack power in my deck, so I need to play it safe." Lance thought before shifting Uriquizas to defense mode. "I switch Uriquizas to defense mode and I set a monster in defense mode! Do your worst!"
"Not something I'm used to hearing when I bring this monster out." Scott commented with a chuckle before drawing his card just as Chelsea hopped off the bottom two steps to the basement and joined the others. "I'll get straight into it! Ancient Gear Megaton Golem, attack Lance's facedown monster! Megaton Melee!" Scott commanded, and the massive machine charged towards Lance's facedown monster, revealed to be UFO Turtle (4/1400/1200) which was swiftly crushed. "Fortunately for you Lance Megaton Golem lacks the piecing effect of some of my other powerful Ancient Gear monsters."
"You have no idea how relieved I am to hear that." Lance responded before playing a second UFO Turtle in defense mode.
"True, but how many UFO Turtles do you have in your deck?" Scott asked, and Lance said nothing in response. "Let's find out! Megaton Golem, attack his second UFO Turtle!"
"That thing can attack more than once?!" Chelsea asked as the massive machine monster smashed UFO Turtle into the ground.
"If it was fusion summoned using two or more Ancient Gear Monsters it can attack up to the number of Fusion Materials used in its summon." Chloe responded as Lance played his last UFO Turtle again in defense mode. "And my dad used three monsters."
"And it seems your luck has just run out! Megaton Ancient Gear Golem, attack his last UFO Turtle!" Scott commanded, and the machine monster flattened the turtle with ease. "And since any duelist worth his salt knows that you can only run three copies of a card at a time in a single deck, well, unless you find a way to destroy my monster soon then this duel will be disappointingly short."
"Don't count me out just yet! I use my last UFO Turtle's effect to Special Summon Ultimate Baseball Kid!" Lance played the card causing the other students to do double takes as the young man in the "baseball uniform appeared on the field (3/500/1000). "And I summoned him in attack mode!"
"What's Lance thinking?! Even with the power boost Ultimate Baseball Kid gets from his effect there's no way he can power it up enough to take down my dad's monster!" Chloe thought as she glanced between her boyfriend's two monsters and her dad's one monster. "Then again, Lance isn't stupid, he likely has a plan in place for that card."
"Oh, I sure hope that playing this duel by the seat of my pants doesn't come back to bite me in the ass!" Lance thought as he glanced up at the machine monster that was currently towering over Uriquizas and Ultimate Baseball Kid. "Is it my turn?"
"Yes, I am done." Scott responded with a nod and Lance drew his card.
"Okay, Ultimate Baseball Kid's attack is at 1500 thanks to his effect, he's strong but I need him to be stronger!" Lance thought before looking at his drawn card. "I activate Heaven's Lost Property!"
"Which forces is to draw three cards and discard two." Scott added as the two men did just that. "Don't forget Lance, I've been running this card shop since my retirement and I have seen a lot of cards in my time!" Scott added before they discarded their cards.
"Oh yeah? Well let's see if you can see this coming!" Lance responded before holding up Flamvell Baby. "Remember Flamvell Baby? Well I'm using his effect to power up Uriquizas who I'm shifting back to attack mode!" Lance added as the warrior stood up and his power increased to 2500. "Now I activate Rekindling! I have three fire type monsters in my graveyard with 200 defenses and this Spell Card lets me Special Summon them all!" Lance added as Flamvell Baby appeared on the field (1/800/200) followed by Flamvell Firedog (4/1900/200) and Flamvell Dragonov (3/1100/200). "For those keeping score at home, that's a whopping 4500 attacks points for Ultimate Baseball Kid!"
"Impressive." Scott admitted as Ultimate Baseball Kid's attack increased to 4500. "So, are you going to call your shot?"
"He seems oddly calm about the fact that I'm about to topple one of his heavy hitters." Lance thought with a frown. "But I can't pass up this opportunity, because of Rekindling's side effect my three Flamvell Monsters will be banished during the end phase unless my plan goes through!" Lance thought before pointing to Megaton Golem. "You know what? No, I'm not because I got a better plan! I'm going to end this duel now!"
"You can certainly try." Scott commented as he folded his arms and Lance played a card.
"I activate Reigeki! This Spell Card recently came off the banlist and with it I'm reducing Megaton Golem to a megaton heap of scrap metal!" Lance responded, and Scott's eyes widened as lightning struck his monster destroying it. "So, anything you want to say before I end this duel?"
"I activate Megaton Golem's effect! When it's destroyed by a card effect I can special summon Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem from the extra deck whilst ignoring the summoning conditions." Scott responded as he held up the monster before playing it causing the massive, centaur like machine to appear on the field (10/4400/3300). "Still want to attack?"
"Yes, because you don't have an Ancient Gear Golem monster in your graveyard and my Ultimate Baseball Kid's stronger than him!" Lance responded before pointing to Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem. "I'm calling my shot and if the tin man over there has a heart I'm aiming right for it! Ultimate Baseball Kid, batter up!" Lance commanded, and the young baseball player launched a flaming baseball at the much bigger machine….
"I won't go down as easily as my daughter!" Scott responded as he went to activate my trap card…. only to face-palm. "I did not mean that in any sexual way, whatsoever! I meant to say that I won't go down as easily as my daughter did during the Battle City finals!"
"That's even worse!" Chloe protested as she face-palmed. "Because now your rubbing in the fact that one mistake potentially cost me the Battle City crown!"
"Your right Chloe, and I apologize for that." Scott admitted before activating his trap card which depicted the ruins of an Ancient Gear Golem among the scrapped parts of numerous other Ancient Gear Monsters in a scrapyard. "I activate Ancient Gear Scrapyard! Since I have at least three monsters with "Ancient Gear" in their names I can send one level five or higher "Ancient Gear" Monster from my deck to the graveyard and add half its attack points to an Ancient Gear monster I control!" Scott added, and Lance's eyes widened as Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem's attack shot up to 5900. "And since you mentioned that monster its only right that I send Ancient Gear Golem to my graveyard using this effect!"
"Me and my big mouth!" Lance gulped as the flaming baseball bounced off Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem and it pummeled Ultimate Baseball Kid into the ground bringing Lance's life-points down to 5100.
"Consider yourself lucky that I have to skip my next Battle Phase because I used it on a Level 7 or higher Ancient Gear Monster." Scott added as he sent his trap card to the graveyard. "Anything else you want to do?"
"Yeah, actually! I activate my own trap card Urgent Tuning! I was planning to do this once Flamvell Firedog attacked but that's out the window now!" Lance added as Firedog and Dragonoff leapt into the air for the Synchro Summon. "I Synchro Summon Ancient Flamvell Deity!" Lance added as he played the card and the massive Pyro Type Monster appeared on the field (7/2500/200). "I activate Deity's effect, you have four cards in your hand which means I'm banishing four monsters from your graveyard! Your Hunting Hounds and Megaton Golem!" Lance added, and Scott nodded before pocketing the three monsters. "And Ancient Flamvell Deity gains two hundred attack points for each!" Lance added as Ancient Flamvell Deity's attack increased to 3300. "He can't destroy your Golem but he's the closest thing I have to your monster's attack points!"
"Well played." Scott admitted with a nod. "Are you done?"
"I set one card facedown and end my turn." Lance announced, and Scott drew his card once Flamvell Baby vanished from the field due to Rekindling's effect and Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem's and Flamvell Uriquizas's attacks returned to normal.
"As I said previously, I can't attack this turn." Scott commented as he glanced up towards his Fusion Monster. "But that doesn't stop me from making another move! I summon Ancient Gear Wyvern!" Scott played the card and a robotic dragon appeared on the field ready for action (4/1700/1200). "Ancient Gear Wyvern's effect activates! When I normal summon this monster, I can search my deck for another Ancient Gear Monster and add it to my hand on the condition that it isn't another Ancient Gear Wyvern." Scott added as he started inputting commands into his duel disk.
"Scott has to know that his Wyvern doesn't stand a chance against my two Synchro Monsters, he probably wants me to leave a one of my monsters in attack mode so that he can flatten him with Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem." Lance thought with a frown as he glanced at the robot whilst Scott added the monster to his hand and his deck auto-shuffled. "Normally in a situation like this, I'd crash Ancient Flamvell Deity into his Golem and have Flamvell Uriquizas finish off his Wyvern, but he has an Ancient Gear Golem that he can Special Summon from his graveyard once I destroy his Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem." Lance thought as Scott's deck finished its auto-shuffled. "Now I know how Chloe felt when she faced him in Battle City."
"Again, I can't attack so I end my turn." Scott announced, and Lance drew his card.
"Can't move Uriquizas to defense mode either, I remember that that thing inflicts piercing damage and with Uriquizas's defense at a measly two hundred that would be a lot of damage that I'm not sure I can even come back from!" Lance thought before looking at his drawn card and playing it. "First, I activate Burial from a Different Dimension to return Flamvell Baby to my graveyard!" Lance announced before he took Flamvell Baby out of his pocket and sent it to the graveyard. "Next, I summon my old favorite, Royal Firestorm Guards!" Lance played the card and the strange demon appeared on the field ready for action (4/1700/1400). "Royal Firestorm Guards' effect activates allowing me to shuffle four Pyro Type Monsters from my graveyard into my deck and draw two cards."
"If he draws Flamvell Baby again I'll be in trouble." Scott thought with a frown as Lance shuffled Inferno Spark, Inferno, Flamvell Firedog and Flamvell Baby before into his deck. "Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem is my best chance of beating Ancient Flamvell Deity and I haven't drawn my copy of Limiter Removal yet, Ancient Gear Golem is my strongest non-fusion monster but against Flamvell Deity it can't do much aside from destroy Uriquizas."
"I didn't draw anything that can power up my monsters, but I have some protection for when he has his overgrown tin can attack Royal Firestorm Guards." Lance thought before picking up the two cards he had drawn. "I set two cards facedown and I attack Ancient Gear Wyvern with Ancient Flamvell Deity!" Lance announced as the two facedown cards appeared on the field and the deity charged towards the robotic dragon before incinerating it and bringing Scott's life-points down to 6200. "I end my turn."
"You may have dealt some damage to me but I'm still in it!" Scott responded before drawing his card and looking at it. "Lance, I thank you for the great duel and I'm glad to see that Chloe chose a great duelist for her boyfriend, but this duel is over!"
"What do you mean?" Lance asked, and Scott played a card.
"I mean that you would've been better off not summoning Royal Firestorm Guards! I activate Limiter Removal!" Scott played the card and Lance's eyes widened as the already massive machine doubled in size and attack power skyrocketing all the way up to 8800.
"Seriously, how the hell is that thing STILL fitting in the basement?!" Chelsea asked with a dumbfounded look on her face. "I know this is a pretty spacious basement and all, but I'm surprised that thing's head isn't poking through the ceiling!"
"And considering that the living room is right above us, I'm glad for it." Scott responded as he checked the time on his watch. "Normally by now my wife would be watching her soap operas on TV, I don't think she'd appreciate having a giant robotic head poke through the floor."
"Eh, I'd personally consider that a major upgrade over any soap opera." Chelsea shrugged her shoulders and Scott chuckled.
"Take my advice and don't let my wife hear you say that, the arguments we've had when a duel monsters tournament was airing at the same time as one of her soaps are the stuff of legends." Scott responded before motioning to Chloe. "Just ask Chloe! Anyway, Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem, attack Royal Firestorm Guards and end this duel!" Scott commanded, and the massive machine stormed over to Lance's monster before pummeling it into the ground bringing Lance's life-points down to zero.
"I lost." Lance sighed as the holograms disappeared and they deactivated their duel disks. "Thanks for the great duel Mr. Richardson."
"Lance, just call me Scott, Mr. Richardson makes me feel old." Scott responded before turning to his daughter. "And any smart alec comments from you, young lady will result in you being grounded!"
"Dad, I'm sharing a bedroom with my boyfriend remember?" Chloe pointed out with a smirk on her face. "That doesn't really hold the same power that it used to."
"It will, once I force Lance to sleep on the couch for the duration of your grounding." Scott responded, and the young couple laughed nervously whilst sweat-drops rolled down their heads.
"Well, it seems you ended that duel just in time." Sandra's voice rang out and Chloe looked up seeing her stepmom standing at the top of the stairs with her arms crossed. "The Chinese Takeaway is here, just need some money from each of you to pay for it."
"Coming right up mom, haven't had Chinese in ages." Chloe responded before she and the others left the basement.
*meanwhile*
Whilst the duel was going on Tyler was still picking up the pro-league duelists from the airport all though he wouldn't be there long as the last dueist had just arrived.
"So, I hear you graduated yesterday." Dmitri commented with a grin as he greeted Tyler, the massive Russian duelist had just come off his plane from Moscow and was the last duelist to arrive. "Good, I believe you owe me a rematch from our expulsion duel."
"If you mean a casual, friendly duel then sure but it's getting late as it is." Tyler responded as he glanced at the night sky outside the airport. "If you mean in a tournament, well I need to get an agent and some sponsors first."
"That can easily be arranged." Amanda assured him before she stood up to her full height. "We were planning on putting in a good word with our sponsors when you guys graduated anyway, trust me, the word of a National Champion goes a long way with the sponsors."
"I appreciate that, about as much as I appreciate you guys helping us out with the Orichalcos." Tyler responded with a nod before motioning towards the exit. "Now, unless Phillip pulled in a few more favors, I believe I have a hotel to get you to, my dad's limo is waiting outside."
"Good, I'm jetlagged as all hell anyway." Ricardo responded with a yawn before they followed Tyler out of the airport not realizing that there was someone else following them.
"Jack, are you there?" The robed figure asked as he waited in line at the security checkpoint four people down from Tyler and the pro-league duelists. "The Pro-Leaguers have just flown in, seems like they are going to crash at a hotel for the night before they meet up with the students."
"And knowing how much money Tyler's dad has too burn, I'm willing to bet that they'll be staying at one of the fanciest hotels in the city." Jack responded as the figure watched Adrienne and Amanda go through security. "Okay, follow their limp in a cab and when they get to the hotel call me, I'll send the best agents we have to offer to take them out and cut the brats off from their major supporters."
"Understood." The robed figure responded before hanging up.