It was late at night at one of Domino City's fanciest hotels and by now most of the guests were fast asleep, aside from a small group that is who were at the hotel bar, off course anyone who kept an eye on the international dueling scene would recognize the faces.
"Shouldn't we get to bed?" Phil wondered out loud as he checked the time on his watch, he, his girlfriend Francesca, Katrina, Adrienne, Amanda, Mark, Dmitri and Ricardo were sitting at the same booth in the sparsely occupied bar with the only other people in the bar being bar staff and the occasional drunk guest. "I don't know about you guys, but I do want to get up as early as possible tomorrow morning, so we can get over to Chloe's place?"
"Are you sure that isn't just an excuse to sleep with Francesca?" Adrienne joked with a grin and the two Irish duelists rolled their eyes in response to the French National Champion's comments. "I don't know what you're so worried about, Tyler did set up a wake-up call for us at the reception desk so unless we sleep through we shouldn't have a problem."
"Tell that to the poster boy for Jet Lag over here." Francesca responded as she motioned over to Ricardo as the Spanish National Champion was barely keeping his eyes open. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you suffered from Narcolepsy Ricky."
"I don't even know what that is." Ricardo responded with a yawn as he leaned on the table. "Besides, I didn't get much of a chance to rest because I had just defended the title before I had to fly in to help with the Orichalcos problem, and something tells me that I'm not done flying!"
"What makes you say that?" Amanda asked with a curious look on her face and Ricardo let out another yawn.
"Domino City has a really active duelist population, what with it being Yugi Motuh's home city and the site of the original Battle City and all." Ricardo started before taking a sip from his drink. "If the Orichalcos Duelists were based here you'd think someone would've taken them down by now."
"That's if everyone in the city is on the same skill level with Yugi, just because the last Battle City Tournament thrust the Orichalcos into the spotlight doesn't mean that any regular kid with a duel disk and a deck can take them down." Katrina pointed out as she shook her head with a frown on her face. "Or do I need to remind you that three Osiris Red Students are in comas because of those bastards and one of us fell victim to them during Battle City." Katrina added before turning her attention to Adrienne and noticing the frown on the French Teenager's face. "I'm sorry to dig up old wounds Adrienne but you know it's true."
"I'm not debating whether its true or not, believe me, I lived through it and wouldn't wish it on my worse enemy." Adrienne responded before finishing her drink. "I just want to put it behind me and make sure that no other innocent people get caught in the crossfire, the students from Duel Academy are gifted and Tyler did mention that Chloe, Theresa and Lance have the Legendary Dragons, but they'll need our help."
"And I think you'll agree that we can give them our best help after a good night's sleep." Mark commented as he motioned to the snoring Ricardo who had fallen asleep at the table. "I'm calling it a night guys, see you in the morning."
"I think we should all do that actually." Amanda added and the other duelists (aside from Ricardo) nodded before standing up. "Adrienne, I don't like the idea of leaving Ricardo down here, I know it's a five-star hotel, but I'd rather not have his deck and wallet stolen, want to help him up to his room?" Amanda asked as she turned to the French duelist who nodded before walking over to the sleeping duelist's side.
"Two beautiful women dragging him to his hotel room, if Ricardo was awake he'd be doing victory laps around the hotel." Katrina chuckled under her breath as Adrienne and Amanda grabbed an arm each and eased Ricardo out of his chair.
"Unfortunately for Ricardo, both women are taken and require a lot more drinks in their system before even considering having a three-way with him." Adrienne responded with a chuckle.
"Besides, the last time I slept with another pro-league duelist it resulted in a scandal that led most of my family to believe that I'm a lesbian." Amanda added as she helped Ricardo out of his seat whilst giving Adrienne a knowing look. "Doesn't matter how many pics I upload to Facebook of me kissing Casey, as much as I enjoyed the sex I had with Adrienne that night I'd rather not risk another hotel maid walking in on us, and if he was awake he'd just tire himself out more from the victory laps!" Amanda added before she and Adrienne dragged Ricardo off towards the elevators and the others took the stairs.
"Hey boss, they've finally retired to their rooms for the night." A figure that the Pro-Leaguers had dismissed as a drunkard said once the cost was clear. "Only downside is, Ricardo's dozed off and is being dragged to his room by Adrienne and Amanda."
"That lucky spic…. I mean, ugh, finally I can get some damn sleep!" Jack groaned in response and the figure sweat-dropped. "We'll deal with Ricardo in the morning, get the others into position and tell them to strike twenty minutes from now, now if you excuse me, I have a hot date tonight!"
"Is that porn music I hear in the background?" The figure asked with a deadpan expression on his face.
"Shut up or I'll come after you personally!" Jack responded before hanging up not even giving the figure a chance to gulp nervously.
*twenty minutes later*
By now most of the Pro-League Duelists had retired to their rooms for the night and were getting some much-needed sleep before they left for Chloe's family's shop in the morning, key word being most.
"He just had to get the last room on the top floor of the hotel, didn't he?" Adrienne sighed as she and Amanda eased Ricardo into his bed, out of respect for his privacy the two girls hadn't gotten him changed out of his day clothes and they knew that he could get a change of clothes easily once he woke up. "Whilst the rest of us have rooms on the lower floors!"
"Not helped by the fact that he's heavier than he looks, remind me to tell him to go on a diet in the morning." Amanda nodded in agreement as she tucked Ricardo in and two girls left his room with Adrienne leaving his room key next to the TV and Amanda closing the door behind them. "Even after taking him up the elevator we still tired ourselves out, anyway you have any other plans for the night Adrienne?"
"Going to skype Jacques before I go to bed, he's got a bodybuilding competition this weekend otherwise he would've come with me, other than that not a lot." Adrienne shrugged as they made their way back to the elevator and pressed the buttons for their floors. "Unless you want to join me in my room off course, promise I'll lock the door this time."
"Sorry Adrienne, I may not look it but I'm just as jet-lagged as Ricardo was." Amanda responded with a yawn and Adrienne frowned. "Just because we're friends with benefits doesn't mean you get to cash in those benefits whenever your away from Jacques, besides, like you I'm going to Skype Casey before I retire for the night, his boss at Market Basket has him working overtime this weekend but he told me that its so that he can buy me something nice so it'll be worth it."
"And that "something nice" could be anywhere from a new dildo to a engagement ring." Adrienne responded, and Amanda shook her head in response. "You're no fun you know that, right?" Adrienne asked jokingly as she leaned against the elevator wall. "Maybe another night then, hell, at least things will be quiet tonight."
"Yeah, maybe, as for the second thing you suggested, me and Casey want to wait a couple of more years before we even think about that, I'm still twenty-one and he's twenty-two, no need to rush into these things." Amanda added with a shrug and Adrienne nodded in agreement.
"Oui, the fact that I'm still in my teens has pretty much forced Jacques to wait before doing that anyway, I may look older than nineteen, but it'll still be weird for a twenty-year-old to marry a nineteen-year-old." Adrienne responded before the elevator neared Amanda's floor.
"And Jacques doesn't look like he's only twenty either, hell I thought he was at least twenty-four when I first met him." Amanda responded before grinning as she got an idea and just before the doors opened Amanda pinned Adrienne against the elevator wall but when the French girl saw the look in her eyes she didn't resist. "As for your offer of sex Adrienne, the answer's still no but I will indulge you in this, I mean you are going to be the only action I'll get on this trip." Amanda added as the doors opened before she leaned in and kissed Adrienne passionately which Adrienne was all too happy to reciprocate, the two women continued kissing for a few minutes tongue and all whilst feeling eachother up before breaking it off as Adrienne's hands started lifting Amanda's top. "See you in the morning and expect more of that tomorrow night." Amanda added before she left the elevator.
"Oui, see you in the morning, and I'll be holding you to that!" Adrienne called out to her and Amanda grinned at her before walking off as the elevator doors started to close.
"Hold the elevator!" One of the room service guys called out to her as he pushed his trolley along and Adrienne held the elevator doors for him, once he entered the elevator she let the doors close. "Thanks, got a room service call for the third floor that I almost missed thanks to the show you put on with that redhead."
"No problem, besides your in luck because that's my floor." Adrienne responded as the elevator started going down and she looked him over noticing that he seemed to be slightly younger than she was which would put him in his mid-to late teens. "Eighteen most likely, I don't know many five star hotels that hire fifteen year old's, still he's not bad looking, if I wasn't already taken maybe I would've gave him my phone number, then again he'd probably run up his phone bill just making international calls to Paris just to speak with me." Adrienne thought before noticing a familiar outline in the trolley. "You're a duelist?"
"Huh? Oh right, you saw my duel disk." The room service clerk responded with a nod, the duel disk was covered with a cloth, but Adrienne had seen enough of them to recognize the shape. "Only reason it's in the trolley is because the staff aren't allowed to wear them whilst on shift, but I just play casually, I'm not about to take a paid vacation just to compete in next year's Battle City."
"Maybe you should." Adrienne shrugged as the elevator neared her floor. "I did the same thing when I still worked in a café in Paris as a waitress, now? I'm the French National Champion." Adrienne added causing the clerk to do a double take.
"Oh, wow, your Adrienne Beaumont?! That means the redhead you were with is Amanda Croteau, thought the stories about you two being an item where just tabloid gossip." The clerk asked, and Adrienne grinned before nodding.
"Yes and no, we're both dating men, but we are friends with benefits, we started that when we met up for that tag team tournament that qualified us for Battle City." Adrienne shrugged her shoulders in response as the clerk reached for a pen and paper. "And here we go, at least its only one autograph seeker unlike the incident in Canada last week." Adrienne thought before sighing. "Not that our male partners complain, hell we sometimes let them join in."
"Yeah, I bet they don't, anyway can I get your autograph for my little sister? She's a big fan of yours and it would really make her day." The clerk added as he held out a pen and paper to her.
"I don't see why not." Adrienne shrugged as she took the pen and signed her autograph. "What's your sister's name?"
"Sandy." The clerk responded, and she signed the name before handing it back just as the elevator reached the floor. "Well, I'd better get going, thanks again Adrienne and have a good night."
"You too Mark." Adrienne responded, and the clerk looked at her confused. "I saw your name tag."
"Oh, so you did." Mark responded before walking off and Adrienne left the elevator.
"You'd think I'd be used to autograph seekers by now." Adrienne thought with a sigh as she left the elevator and headed towards her room which was in the same direction Mark was heading in. "Guess I still like to think of myself as an average girl from France and not the French National Champion, then again Amanda said she went through a similar phase when she started out…" Adrienne's train of thought was cut off abruptly when she heard Mark let out a blood curdling scream and stopped in her tracks. "Mark?" She called out surprised that the scream didn't wake anyone up.
"Looking for someone?" A robed figure asked as he turned the corner whilst carrying Mark's unconscious form, he dropped Mark at Adrienne's feet and she frowned when she saw the Orichalcos Duel Disk. "You may be in Domino City to help the brats from Duel Academy but me and my associates are here to make sure that you never get that far."
"Somehow I doubt this guy will be as bad as the guys me and Amanda faced back in Toronto." Adrienne thought as her eyes narrowed. "You bastard! Why did you target him? He was an innocent!"
"No one is truly innocent in this world." The robed figure responded with a chuckle. "As for this idiot? I needed to get your attention before you retired to your room for the night, don't worry, I'll be sure to get your autograph to Sandy after I beat you, then you can meet her in the Orichalcos!"
"I've been there once, never again!" Adrienne responded before activating her duel disk and the robed figure did likewise. "Not much space in this hallway, let's hope I can beat this bastard before anyone wakes up and potentially gets caught in the crossfire." Adrienne thought as she glanced around the hallway and then fixed her eyes on the opponent. "Do you have a name?"
"The name's Demetrius, and I will be your end!" Demetrius responded as they drew their opening hands. "If I was a gentleman, I'd say ladies first, but I've never believed in that bullshit! I activate Foolish Burial! Off course, seeing as how you're the French National Champion I shouldn't have to explain what this card does to you!"
"You'd be right there." Adrienne commented with a frown as Demetrius started inputting commands into his duel disk and once he found the card he was looking for he sent it to the graveyard.
"Next I bring out the mighty Zombie Mammoth to the field!" Demetrius played the card and a new monster appeared on the field, it bore a resemblance to the ancient card Mammoth Graveyard (3/1200/900) but it was more monstrous looking at lowered its head at Adrienne ready to charge (4/1900/0). "If I had summoned this monster first it would've been destroyed by its own effect due to there not being another Zombie type monster in my graveyard but thanks to Foolish Burial that is not a problem! I set two cards facedown and end my turn!"
"Zombies, haven't faced a deck like this in a while but if I know anything about a typical Zombie deck then the monster he sent to the graveyard is likely Plaguespredder Zombie, that said he stated that his mammoth requires another zombie type monster to be in the graveyard or else it'll be destroyed so who knows what he's up too!" Adrienne thought as she drew her card and added it to her hand. "Good news is that he hasn't activated the Orichalcos or a way to add it to his hand, bad news is that he shuffled his deck shuffled due to Foolish Burial which could mean that his next card is the seal." Adrienne thought before looking over her hand. "I summon Naturia Pumpkin in attack mode!" Adrienne played the card and a small green, cartoonish looking pumpkin appeared on the field ready for battle (4/1400/800).
"I summon one of the fiercest prehistoric monsters and your answer is a pumpkin?!" Demetrius scoffed as the pumpkin cowered in fear from Zombie Mammoth. "Did you sleep your way to the French National Championship finals?!"
"I'm not even going to humor that sexist comment with a comeback." Adrienne responded with a frown as she glared at her opponent. "But here's what I am going to do! When Naturia Pumpkin is normal summoned whilst my opponent has a monster on the field I can Special Summon another Naturia Monster from my hand!" Adrienne explained before she picked up a card. "I believe Naturia Cosmobeet will do quite nicely!"
"If your trying to intimidate me with fruits and vegetables, I don't care!" Demetrius scoffed as the small plant type monster appeared on the field (2/1000/700). "The worse you can do to me is turn me Vegan and your hardly one to talk about nature when my agents saw you devouring that steak in the restaurant earlier."
"Hey, just because I'm the only meat eater in a mostly vegan and vegetarian family doesn't mean I can't appreciate nature!" Adrienne retorted as she rolled her eyes. "Not like that's ever stopped my sisters from trying to convert me, wait, he said agents, does that mean…." Adrienne thought as her eyes narrowed. "Wait, you have other agents in the hotel?!"
"Did you really think my boss would just send me alone to take out eight of the world's best duelists? I'm good but I'm not that good!" Demetrius responded as he folded his arms. "I just so happened to be the guy who got to his target first but I'm sure the others have been targeted by now!"
"Son of a bitch! And I left my phone in my room because I didn't think I'd need it!" Adrienne thought as she glanced over her shoulder at her room which was literally two doors down from their current location. "Send all the agents you want after me and my friends." Adrienne responded as she turned her attention back to Demetrius. "We'll beat them all and, in the morning, we'll be more than happy to share the news of the attack with Chloe and her friends!"
"Do you really think you can trust Chloe?" Demetrius asked, and Adrienne dismissed him as she went to make her move. "After all, she's used the Orichalcos before." Demetrius added, and Adrienne hesitated.
"What are you talking about?!" Adrienne demanded as her eyes narrowed. "I can think of several reasons why the possibility of Chloe using that damn card is absurd to say the least and that's just off the top of my head, if you're trying to turn me against her then try harder!"
"Don't believe me?" Demetrius asked before reaching into his robe and producing a phone. "Listen to this!" Demetrius added before he pressed play.
"…I activate The Seal of The Orichalcos!" Chloe's voice rang out from the recording and Adrienne's eyes narrowed when she heard the voice.
"That's definitely Chloe's voice and I'm no tech expert but it doesn't sound like the audio's been tampered with either." Adrienne thought as Demetrius paused the recording and pocketed the phone whilst Adrienne looked over her hand. "But it still makes no sense! Chloe was hospitalized but an Orichalcos Duelist not long after her first Battle City duel! Hell, me and Amanda were on the way to the hospital she was staying at, so we could see how she was doing when we ran into Otto!" Adrienne thought as she shuddered. "And that's not even getting into the fact that Andreas was Otto's first victim in the semi-finals, there must be more to this story and if the others get the same story from their opponents we can formulate a plan from there, but first I have a duel to win!" Adrienne thought before playing a card. "If you thought I was done summoning, guess again! When the effect of a Naturia Monster is activated I can Special Summon Naturia Hydrangea from my hand!"
"Ugh, enough of the plants already!" Demetrius groaned as a large blue plant sprouted on the field ready for battle (5/1900/2000).
"Don't like plants? Well maybe you should've dueled Dmitri instead!" Adrienne retorted before frowning. "Ideally, I would've summoned two more Hydrangeas from my hand, but I only had one, fortunately one is more than enough!" Adrienne thought before motioning to Cosmobeet. "Fun fact about Cosmobeet, he's a tuner monster! And I'm tuning him with Naturia Hydrangea!" Adrienne added as the two plant type monsters leapt into the air for the Synchro Summon. "I Synchro Summon Naturia Landoise!"
"Goodness, what is all that noise?" An older female voice rang out and Adrienne glanced over and saw an older woman at the door just as a giant, rock tortoise appeared on the field ready for battle (7/2350/1600). "A duel? At this hour?! I have half a mind to complain to the hotel manager….."
"Ma'am, I'm sorry for waking you up this late, believe me I wanted to get some sleep as well." Adrienne interrupted her before motioning to Mark's unconscious form. "But unfortunately, I didn't really have a choice in the matter and the hotel manager has more to worry about than noise complaints." Adrienne added, and the woman's eyes widened when she saw Mark. "He's alive but he needs medical attention."
"I'll call for an ambulance immediately, and if that ruffian is responsible, well feel free to make as much noise as you want if it means him being defeated." The older woman responded before closing the door behind her, once the coast was clear Adrienne let out a deep breath.
"That could've gotten ugly if Demetrius had the seal active, still I need to finish this quick!" Adrienne thought before pointing to Zombie Mammoth. "Naturia Landoise, put his mammoth back on the extinct list!"
"I think not!" Demetrius responded as his facedown card flipped up depicting several zombie monsters rising out of the grave. "Day of the Dead renders all zombie type monsters unable to be destroyed by battle and I get to draw a card for each monster you control."
"Great, first they ruin the game that I make a living from, then they corrupt my signature field spell and now they ruin one of my favorite zombie movies, if they somehow ruin sex then I'm going on the warpath!" Adrienne thought with a frown as Zombie Mammoth survived the attack and Demetrius drew two cards as his life-points dropped to 7550. "But clearly you still take damage!"
"Maybe so, but its nothing compared to what I would've taken if you had destroyed my mammoth!" Demetrius responded as he sent his trap card to the graveyard. "Now are you done or are you going to be spending all night on this move?"
"I set two cards facedown and end my turn!" Adrienne announced as she set the cards and Demetrius drew his card.
"You've seen one of my custom Zombie cards, now witness another!" Demetrius said before playing his drawn card and even though she was a fan of horror movies in general the artwork for the card nearly made Adrienne sick, it was a spell card that depicted three well known Duel Monsters under attack from a horde of zombies, Marauding Captain was desperately trying to fend off the zombies as they ate away at him whilst one of the Gemini Elves lay dead in the background with two male zombies chomping away at her remains but by far the worst off was one of the goblins from Goblin Attack Force who, whilst still being alive, had its stomach ripped open as several zombies were feasting on its stomach contents. "Zombie Feast!"
"I'm almost afraid to ask what that card does." Adrienne responded with a frown as she threw up in her mouth. "But you're going to tell me anyway, aren't you?"
"That's right!" Demetrius responded before he started inputting commands into his Duel Disk. "If you have more monsters than me and I have at least one Zombie Type Monster on my side of the field I can Special Summon as many zombies as I want and destroy one card for each, however as I doubt your trap cards will help you now I'm only destroying your two monsters."
"And if I knew that he had something this broken in his deck then I definitely would've summoned Naturia Beast instead of Landoise." Adrienne thought with a frown as three other zombie type monsters appeared on the field, it didn't take her long to recognize the monsters either as they were Pain Painter, Zombie Master and Beast of the Pharaoh, the four zombie type monsters quickly pounced on Adrienne's two monsters devouring them in an instant. "I suppose things could be a lot worse!" Adrienne thought as she sent her monsters to the graveyard.
"Now I activate a card that brought you to your knees in Battle City, then again from what I've heard it doesn't take much to bring you to your knees in your personal life." Demetrius added, and Adrienne would've made a comeback if it weren't for the fact that she had quickly deduced what he had meant by that. "The Seal of the Oruchalcos!"
"Yep, definitely should've summoned Naturia Beast instead!" Adrienne thought as she braced herself and the seal enveloped both duelists and whilst he kept his hood up Adrienne could see the pentagram and the distinctive red eyes under Demetrius's hood, it didn't take long for the seal to appear on the foreheads of his monsters as well increasing their attack power to 2400 (Zombie Mammoth), 2300 (Zombie Master) and nine hundred (Beast of the Pharaoh and Pain Painter). "This is bad, if he has Urgent Tuning set then he can easily one turn kill me, and I've already been to the Orichalcos once, and that's one time to many as far as I'm concerned!"
"But before I attack, I activate the effect of Pain Painter which allows me to reduce the levels of two of my monsters to two for the rest of the turn, I chose Zombie Master and Beast of the Pharaoh!" Demetrius added as the two monsters' levels were reduced. "Zombies, dinner time!" Demetrius commanded, and the four zombies unleashed their attacks on Adrienne bringing her life-points plummeting down to 1500. "Any last words?"
"There are only two people who can bite me on the neck." Adrienne responded as she got back to her feet. "My boyfriend Jacques and my friend with benefits Amanda and they only do that when I'm having sex with them!" Adrienne added as she glared at Demetris. "And whilst I can't see your face I can already tell that you are a lot uglier than either of them!"
"How can you tell? For all you know I could be dashingly handsome!" Demetrius retorted, and Adrienne rolled her eyes in response.
"I meant as a person, you could have movie star good lucks but because your using the seal against me and the fact that you targeted an innocent bystander just to get my attention it'll be a cold day in hell before I ever consider dropping my panties for you!" Adrienne added before her facedown card flipped up and she discarded a card before she started inputting commands into her duel disk. "But back to the duel, I activate my trap card Damage Condenser! You just wiped out most of my life-points but thanks to this trap card I can protect my life-points with this!" Adrienne added before playing a card causing a small eggplant with eyes to appear on the field (2/1000/700). "Naturia Eggplant!"
"If I wanted to see eggplant I'd go to my local Italian restaurant and order Eggplant Parmesan!" Demetrius responded with a frown before his own facedown card flipped up. "But that won't protect you for long, I activate Urgent Tuning but being a world class duelist who runs a Synchro Based deck I'm going to assume that you know what this does."
"Oui, it lets you conduct a Synchro Summon during the Battle Phase, I used that exact combo to earn my place in the finals of the French National Championships which I went on to win." Adrienne responded before her own facedown card flipped up. "Which is exactly why I can't let that happen, I activate my facedown card Exterio's Fang! Since I control a face-up Naturia Monster and have at least one Naturia Monster in my hand this trap card negates the activation of one Spell or Trap Card you control and destroys it! Only downside is that I have to discard a card for the activation cost."
"Very well, not that it matters." Demetrius responded as he sent Urgent Turning to the graveyard. "But tell me, why didn't you negate Zombie Feast with that card instead? Surely that would've been a lot less painful!"
"Perhaps but I had a feeling that you had bigger fish to fry so I waited." Adrienne responded as she folded her arms. "And as much as I hate to admit it, the artwork for that card made me sick, I may be a horror movie fan but I'm one of the few horror movie fans who hates the gore filled scenes in them, that was the main reason I could never get into the Saw franchise, aside from its plot being a convoluted mess off course." Adrienne thought with a frown before her eyes narrowed. "So anything you want to do or is it my turn?"
"I'm thinking!" Demetrius responded as he looked over the field. "What she doesn't know is that I could win this duel right now! The only monster in my graveyard is Plaguespredder Zombie which I could Special Summon through its effect, that would trigger the effect of Zombie Mammoth dealing nineteen hundred points of damage and winning me the duel! On the other hand, I don't know if her eggplant could negate the effect, so I may as well go for an old school finish, well as old school as a Synchro Summon can get anyway."
"And he criticized me for taking a long time to finish my move!" Adrienne thought as a large sweat-drop rolled down the back of her head.
"I end my Battle Phase and move into my second main phase, next I tune Pain Painter with Zombie Master and Beast of the Pharaoh!" Demetrius announced as the three monsters leapt into the air for the Synchro Summon. "Come forth Revived King Ha-Des!" Demetrius played the card and the zombified version of Dark Ruler Ha-Des appeared on the field with a cackle (6/2450/0) and its attack increased to 2950 thanks the seal. "This in turn activated the effect of Beast of the Pharaoh allowing me to Special Summon one level four or lower Zombie Type Monster from my graveyard! I use this effect to Special Summon the monster I sent there with Foolish Burial's effect, Plaguespredder Zombie!"
"Why am I not surprised?!" Adrienne thought with a frown as the small zombie appeared on the field (2/400/200). "Let me guess, your going to do another Synchro Summon with Zombie Mammoth and Plaguespredder Zombie? It may have been a while since I faced a zombie deck, but I still know the basics of how it works!"
"Well, now that you've figured it out, yes!" Demetrius responded as the two zombie type monsters leapt into the air for the Synchro Summon. "I Synchro Summon Archfiend Zombie Skull!" Demetrius played the card and the zombie monster which closely resembled the classic monster Summoned Skull appeared on the field ready for battle (6/2500/1200). "As long as I have Archfiend Zombie Skull on my side of the field my zombie type monsters can't be destroyed by card effects, and if I have Revived King Ha-Des on the field any effect type monsters get their effects negated when destroyed by a zombie type monster, this combined with your low life-points and their increased attack power means I can't lose!" Demetrius added as Archfiend Zombie Skull's attack points increased to three thousand.
"Funny, I recall a past opponent saying something like that me at one point." Adrienne chuckled as she glared at Demetrius. "In fact, if it weren't for the fact that he was running a completely different deck it would be word for word, do you want to know who that was?"
"Do I look like I give a shit?" Demetrius asked, and Adrienne shook her head.
"To bad, I'm going to tell you anyway." Adrienne responded before smirking. "His name was Pierre DuPont, he was the French National Champion before me and he said those words literally one turn before I beat him to win the championship!" Adrienne added before shaking her head. "These days he serves as my manager, not because he got beat by a girl but because he was sick and tired of the spotlight by that point and was planning to retire once he lost the title long before he met me, I impressed him enough to convince him to become my manager and we've been friends since!"
"And he will soon join you and the other pro-leaguers in the Orichalcos! Now make your move!" Demetrius demanded, and Adrienne drew her card.
"Well, I bluffed him into sending Zombie Mammoth to the graveyard without using its effect." Adrienne thought as she glanced up at the two zombie monsters. "Problem is that he doesn't need Zombie Mammoth's effect to finish me off, Naturia Eggplant's effect won't be of much use to me now because all it does is add a Naturia monster from my graveyard to my hand and if I haven't drawn anything that can turn this around…." Adrienne thought with a shudder before looking at her drawn card. "Well, if he doesn't draw anything with more than 1500 attack points this could work, I hope." Adrienne thought before setting the card. "I set one card facedown and I switch Naturia Eggplant to defense mode." Adrienne announced as her facedown card appeared on the field and Naturia Eggplant knelt down. "Your move!"
"And your funeral!" Demetrius responded before drawing his card. "I drew another Zombie Master, if she somehow gets one of my monsters off the field I could use this as a back-up, but what am I saying? The chances of me losing this duel are about the same of those boys who where checking her and Amanda out at the restaurant have of actually having sex with them!" Demetrius thought before pointing to Naturia Eggplant. "I could attack with Revived King Ha-Des to make sure that you can't pull any funny business but where's the fun in that! Go Archfiend Zombie Skull, fry that eggplant!" Demetrius commanded, and the zombie prepared its attack before launching lightning at the eggplant destroying it.
"Have you ever actually tried fried eggplant? Personally, the few times I've actually eaten eggplant I found that it tastes better roasted." Adrienne responded before retrieving a card from her graveyard. "But more to the point, since you just sent Naturia Eggplant to the graveyard his effect activates allowing me to take another Naturia monster from my graveyard and add it to my hand."
"So, what?" Demetrius scoffed as Adrienne added the monster to her hand. "All you've got in there are a couple of plants, a vegetable and a giant, rock tortoise thing! Even if you did survive this attack it won't help you! Revived King Ha-Des, finish her off and return her soul to the Orichalcos!" Demetrius commanded, and the zombie started preparing a spell…
"Sorry but I need a few more drinks in me before I go down that easy!" Adrienne responded as her facedown card flipped up depicting the artwork from Mirror Force but with a portal behind it. "I activate Dimension Force!"
"Dimension what?!" Demetrius asked only for his eyes to widen under his cloak as Revived King Ha-Des and Archfiend Zombie Skull disappeared from the field. "What have you done?"
"Oh, not much." Adrienne responded as she looked at her nails mockingly. "Just turned things around in my favor! In a way Dimension Force works a lot like Mirror Force only instead of destroying the opponents monsters it banishes them." Adrienne added as she held up her trap card. "It only requires that I don't have any other cards on the field because otherwise I would've activated it sooner but with your Synchro Monsters gone this match is mine for the taking!"
"That's what she thinks!" Demetrius thought with a frown as he looked over his hand. "All I need to do is bring out my second Zombie Master and then use Plaguespredder Zombie's self-revival effect and I'll have Doom Kaiser Dragon on the field, then I can use its effect to bring back Zombie Mammoth and finish her off, who knows? Maybe if I bring the unconscious forms of her, Amanda, Francesca and Katrina to Jack for him to "play" with I'll get a promotion!" Demetrius thought as he looked over his hand. "It's your move!" Demetrius announced, and Adrienne drew her card.
"Thank god I decided to drag Jacques to the couple's tag team tournament last week." Adrienne thought as she glanced towards her graveyard. "Dimension Force isn't due to come out over here until September but for winning the tournament me and Jacques got a sneak peek at the set its coming out in and got to chose three cards each to add to our decks." Adrienne thought before looking over her hand. "Off course, since Jacques would much rather flex is muscles or fuck me than learn how to play the game he was happy to let me have his share of the prize but still!" Adrienne thought with a chuckle before playing a card. "I activate Spellbook inside the Pot!"
"Fine by me, that benefits me just as much as it does you!" Demetrius responded before they drew their three cards. "And with the cards I just drew it won't matter what she plays, this game is mine!"
"Perfect! If I play my cards right I could OTK him with this!" Adrienne thought as she looked over her hand. "It just needs another turn to set it up." Adrienne thought before picking up two cards. "I set one monster in defense mode and one card facedown." Adrienne announced as her two facedown cards appeared on the field. "And that ends my turn."
"She can set up all the defenses she wants, it won't save her!" Demetrius thought as he drew his card and looked at it. "Another copy of Zombie Feast, with this I could assure my victory, but I don't need it! That facedown card is clearly a bluff." Demetrius thought as he looked at Adrienne's set Spell/Trap Card and added the card to his hand. "First I normal summon my second Zombie Master!" Demetrius played the card and the second zombie monster appeared on the field ready for battle (4/1800/0) and his attack increased to 2300 thanks to the seal. "Now I activate the effect of Plaguespredder Zombie, being a pro-league duelist, I'm going to assume you know what this effect does!"
"Yes, and that's exactly why I'm not going to let you bring back your Tuner Monster!" Adrienne responded as her facedown card flipped up just as Plaguespredder appeared on the field. "I activate Black Horn of Heaven! Since you are special summoning exactly one monster this trap card negates the Special Summon and destroys it!" Adrienne added, and Demetrius's eyes widened as Plaguespredder vanished from the field. "And thanks to Plaguespredder's effect, when it gets Special Summoned via its own effect it gets banished when it leaves the field!"
"I know what my own card does!" Demetrius snapped at her before pocketing the monster. "Blast! Zombie Master was the only monster in my hand, I can't use his effect to bring back Pain Painter! Thankfully he's still a decently powerful monster!" Demetrius thought before pointing to Adrienne's facedown monster. "Fine, I guess I'll make do by having Zombie Master destroy your facedown monster!" Demetrius announced as Zombie Master charged towards the facedown monster, revealed to be a small green bean with cartoonish eyes (2/100/1200) which Zombie Master slashed with its claws. "And there goes your last line of defense! My boss will be very happy to see your soul returned to the Orichalcos…..."
"Ever heard of the phrase "look before you leap"?" Adrienne asked as she cut him off mid-sentence and Demetrius blinked before realizing that Adrienne's monster had survived the attack. "You just attacked Naturia Beans and once per turn they can't be destroyed by battle so even if you did manage to get another monster out my life-points are safe."
"That's what you think!" Demetrius responded as he looked over his hand. "She's forced my hand, next turn I'll use Zombie Feast to bring out my weakest zombies just to prolong her suffering, no one humiliates me like this!" Demetrius thought before looking up at Adrienne. "It's your move." Demetrius announced, and Adrienne drew her card.
"Zombie Master has decent attack power for a level four monster even without the Orichalcos." Adrienne thought as she looked over at Demetrius's side of the field. "And since he didn't use Zombie Master's effect to bring back Pain Painter I think its safe to assume to Zombie Master was the only monster in his hand, if I'm going to win this I need to act now!" Adrienne thought before playing a card which was revealed to be a spell that depicted Naturia Beast giving a present to a female duelist who looked a lot like Adrienne. "I activate Naturia Gift, since my life-points are lower than yours and I only have Naturia Monsters in my graveyard I can draw three cards." Adrienne added as she drew her cards. "Next I activate a Spell Card called Super Solar Nutrient!"
"Hoping the sun will drive away the zombies huh?" Demetrius scoffed as Naturia Beans disappeared from the field. "To bad for you that they are zombies and not vampires!"
"I've seen more than enough horror flicks to tell the difference." Adrienne responded as she sent her monster to the graveyard. "But this will drive your monsters away, using this Spell Card I can tribute one level two or lower plant type monster I control and Special Summon another plant type monster from my hand or deck equal to that monster's level plus three." Adrienne explained, and Demetrius frowned as she started inputting commands into her duel disk. "I summon another Naturia Hydrangea through this effect!" Adrienne added as she played a card and the large plant returned to the field.
"So what? The only thing that overgrown potted plant is good for is Synchro Material and I've already destroyed your best Synchro Monster!" Demetrius scoffed as Adrienne picked up another card. "I've watched your duels, the best Synchro Monster you have is Landoise!"
"What? You mean my duels on the pro-league?" Adrienne asked as she scoffed, and Demetrius glared at her. "Let me put it this way, among pro-leaguers like myself there's an unwritten rule that we pretty much live by, we don't reveal our best monsters unless we make it to the finals of the tournament because that will entice fans to want to see us at our best." Adrienne added as she picked up a card. "Naturia Beast, Barkion, hell even Exterio are all powerful monsters but they can't compare to my big guns."
"Are you talking about your duel monster card or your breasts?" Demetrius asked with a deadpan expression on his face and Adrienne rolled her eyes.
"Funny, I'd say stick to your day job, but you won't have one after this duel, for my normal summon I bring out another Naturia Pumpkin!" Adrienne announced as she played the card and the small pumpkin returned to the field. "I'm sure you remember this little guy's effect, right? Well I'm using his effect to bring out Naturia Rosewhip!" Adrienne played the card and a small rose with a grinning face appeared on the field (3/400/1700). "As long as she's on the field you can only activate one Spell Card per turn."
"Fine, one Spell Card is all I need to beat her!" Demetrius thought as he glanced at Zombie Feast.
"But she won't be around long enough for you to live with that restriction, you see she's also a tuner monster." Adrienne added, and Demetrius started sweating bullets. "But that's not why I summoned her."
"Then why did you summon her?!" Demetrius demanded as he glared at Adrienne. "Tell me!"
"I'll show you, I activate a Spell Card called Level Equalizer! In exchange for paying half of my life-points I can target Rosewhip with it's effect allowing me reduce the levels of Pumpkin and Hydrangea to match her level!" Adrienne added as her life-points dropped to 750 and her monster's levels dropped to three. "And if you still haven't figured it out yet, I'm doing all this to build the overlay network with Hydrangea and Rosewhip!" Adrienne added as she retrieved the card from her extra deck and the two monsters were sucked into the portal.
"What's going on? Your file said nothing about XYZ Monsters!" Demetrius demanded as a figure started to emerge from the portal.
"Then your file on me needs updating, I added some XYZ Monsters to my deck the other week." Adrienne added as she played the card. "I XYZ Summon Maelie of the Trees!" Adrienne announced and from the portal emerged a young girl seemingly made of wood with long green, leaf like hair, she sat down next to Naturia Pumpkin seemingly unafraid of Zombie Master (Rank: 3/1700/900). "I realize that she doesn't look like much but looks are deceiving, I detach an overlay unit from her to activate her effect allowing me target one Plant Type Monster in my graveyard and Special Summon it in defense mode, I chose Cosmobeet!"
"So that's her plan, swarm the field and get as many extra deck monsters as she can." Demetrius thought with a chuckle as Cosmobeet returned to the field. "It won't save her!"
"And I'm just going to assume that you've already guessed the next part of my plan! Cosmobeet, its time to give Pumpkin a Tune-Up!" Adrienne commanded, and the two plant type monsters leapt into the air for the Synchro Summon. "I Synchro Summon Naturia Beast!" Adrienne added as she played the card and sure enough the large cat like beast appeared on the field with a roar (5/2200/1700). "Scared yet?"
"Of what? Two monsters that can't beat Zombie Master? I think meats on the menu tonight actually!" Demetrius scoffed as he folded his arms. "I'll give you an A for effort but that's it."
"Who said I wanted to beat him? I activate Mark of the Rose!" Adrienne played the card and Demetrius's eyes widened as Zombie Master walked over to Adrienne's side of the field losing its power bonus in the process, Adrienne looked at the last three cards in her hand and quickly played two of them. "I set one card facedown and I activate Leodrake's Maine, with this I can target Naturia Beast and in exchange for losing his effects for the rest of the turn his attack power becomes three thousand!" Adrienne announced, and Demetrius's eyes widened as Naturia Beast's attack went up to three thousand. "This is for Mark, attack his life-points directly!" Adrienne commanded, and the three monsters unleashed their attacks bringing Demetrius's life-points down to 1000. "It's your move but if I were you, I'd surrender."
"Never!" Demetrius responded as Zombie Master returned to his side of the field, he drew his card and didn't even look at it. "You should've beaten me when you had the chance, I activate Zombie Feast!" Demetrius announced as the gruesome spell card appeared on the field. "Any last words?"
"Four, not going to happen! I chain Naturia Beast's effect! Since you just activated a spell card I can send the top two cards from my deck to the graveyard to negate the attack." Adrienne added, and Demetrius's eyes widened as the spell card was pounced on and destroyed by Naturia Beast. "The offer to surrender is still good, you know."
"Never!" Demetrius repeated before finally looking at his drawn card. "Fine, I'll activate Zombie Master's effect to Special Summon Pain Painter from my graveyard…..." Demetrius never got a chance to finish as lightning struck Zombie Master destroying it. "What?!"
"You never heard of Divine Wrath? All I need to do is discard one card from my hand and your monsters' effects are negated and Zombie Master returns to the grave." Adrienne added with a smirk. "Off course, you could summon the monster you would've discarded for Zombie Master's effect."
"I can't." Demetrius sighed apparently having accepted his fate. "It's at too high a level."
"Then this duel is over." Adrienne added as she drew her card, but she knew it was just a formality. "Take this message to your boss, I'm never going back to the Orichalcos! Naturia Beast, finish him!" Adrienne commanded, and the beast pounced on Demetrius with a bite bringing his life-points down to zero. "That was to close." Adrienne thought as she collapsed to her knees.
"Ma'am, someone called for an ambulance?" Adrienne glanced over her shoulder and saw an ambulance crew behind her with a concerned hotel manager alongside them. "Are you hurt?"
"No, just exhausted." Adrienne responded with a yawn before pointing to Mark. "I'm not sure how but his soul was captured by the Orichalcos without a duel, I defeated the Orichalcos Duelist." Adrienne added as she pointed to the prone form of Demetrius.
"Thank you, we'll take it from here." The ambulance worker who had spoken up said before rushing past her, once the stretcher had moved she saw Amanda in the hallway.
"I thought you were too tired for sex." Adrienne smirked as she got to her feet and walked over to the Canadian woman. "And yet here you are."
"Don't get any ideas, I'm still to tired for sex." Amanda responded with a yawn as Adrienne walked over to her. "But I didn't even get to my room before an Orichalcos Duelist challenged me." Amanda added before frowning. "And she brought some disturbing info with her."
"Let me guess, she told you that Chloe had used the Orichalcos as well?" Adrienne asked, and Amanda nodded in response. "I got the same message from my opponent, what about the others?"
"Mark, Dmitri, Phil and Francesca all won their duels, in Phil and Fran's case it was a tag team duel and from what he told me their opponents were a lot more competent than the ones we faced last week." Amanda responded before smirking. "Katrina just knocked her opponent out with her martial arts skills and turned him over to the police, as for Ricardo, well, it turns out that his opponent had passed out from charging up the stairs because we had grabbed the only elevator up." Amanda added, and Adrienne laughed. "But they all got the same message, what do you want to do because the idea that Chloe would use that card is just ridiculous to me?"
"I thought the same thing." Adrienne responded before getting an idea. "My rooms closest and we've all got Skype, right? Let's hold a meeting over Skype and take it from there."
"Sounds like a plan." Amanda added, and Adrienne smirked. "Still no sex though."
"Damn it." Adrienne pouted before they walked off.
*the next morning*
"Shouldn't be that far from the hotel now." Tyler thought as the limo drove through the streets of Domino City on its way to the hotel. "I hope they've gotten a good night's sleep, they'll need it if they want to keep up with Chloe and the others." Tyler thought and a few minutes later the limo pulled to a stop.
"We're here Master Kaiba." The driver said as he turned to him. "Looks like your guests are waiting for you, but they don't look happy."
"Huh?" Tyler asked before looking out the window and seeing the pro-leaguers with frowns on their faces, he opened the door and got out of the limo. "Morning guys, I hope you got a good night's sleep, especially you Ricardo."
"Thanks man, I slept like a baby." Ricardo nodded in response before sighing. "Look, we're not mad at you but you need to come clean with us."
"Comrade, I respect you and your father." Dmitri added as he folded his arms. "But I don't like being lied to, either you tell the truth or we're flying home."
"At what point did I lie to you?!" Tyler asked, and Adrienne held up the phone she had recovered from Demetrius's body and played the recording. "Oh, I was afraid of this." Tyler said with a sigh. "I realize how bad that sounds, but Chloe didn't do it willingly."
"You have five minutes to explain in detail." Adrienne added as she pocketed the phone. "And it had better be good or you can tell your driver to take us to the airport."
"I think it'll be best if I explain the situation in the limo, if your not satisfied then I'll tell the driver to take us to the airport but if you are then consider hearing Chloe out when we get to her dad's store." Tyler responded and the duelists nodded before getting in.