It had been forty minutes since the Pro-League Duelists had met up with Tyler outside the hotel and by now most of the students had gathered at Chloe's house, after a meeting where they had discussed what had happened on the ship the other night and planning just what they wanted to do the students were now hanging around the house whilst Chloe's mom did a last minute shop at the local butchers and shops.
"If I had known Chloe was going to have these many guests over I would've had them take turns walking the dogs." Scott thought as he did an inventory check on the shelves which had been freshly stocked the night before thanks to a delivery, he glanced over at the door to the house where he knew Rex and Nala lay waiting for him to close the shop for the night even though that wouldn't be for a few hours at least. "I'll never understand those dogs, they have a house full of kids they could hassle but instead they wait for me, I'll have to send Chloe a text to remind her to make sure that their food and water bowls are filled." Scott thought before he heard the door to the shop open and almost on cue the two dogs had stood up with their faces to the window showing the inside of the house indicating that they were on their hind legs. "Be with you in a minute but feel free to look around." Scott called out figuring that it was just another customer.
"Nice little place they've got here, huh?" Phil's voice rang out and Scott did a double take before peering around the aisle and seeing the pro-league duelists in the shop. "Nice selection too."
"Yeah but I have seen larger card shops back home in Nova Scotia." Amanda shrugged her shoulders as she and Adrienne had a look around, Scott wasted no time in putting the clipboard aside and going over to the counter. "And there's Chloe's dad, at least that confirms that we're in the right place."
"Sorry about that." Scott chuckled as he leaned his hands against the counter. "Welcome to Richardson Card Games, it's not often that I get celebrities in this shop, in fact I think you're the first celebrities to visit my shop unless you count my daughter since she came in third in Battle City, but anything I can do to help just give me a shout." Scott added before taking a sip of his morning coffee.
"I appreciate the offer Mr. Richardson but we're here to see your daughter." Amanda responded, and Scott nearly spat out his drink in response. "Is Chloe home?"
"Err, yes, she's around the back with the other students." Scott replied not noticing Adrienne making her way over to the door. "Note to self, text Sandra and hope that she's still in the butchers."
"Aww, aren't you cute doggies?" Adrienne's voice rang out and the other duelists sweat-dropped as she started making baby noises at Rex and Nala. "Yes, you are, yes you are."
"Err, Adrienne?" Amanda asked with a bemused look on her face and the French Girl winced as a large sweat-drop rolled down her head. "So, when I upload that to YouTube do you want it in 720p or 1080p?" Amanda added, and Adrienne turned around and saw Amanda holding her phone up.
"I'd rather not be the laughing stock of the French Duel Monsters league, now give that here!" Adrienne protested as she charged over to the redhead and Amanda held her phone just out of Adrienne's reach, eventually one thing led to another and both girls ended up on the floor with Adrienne on top of Amanda. "AHA! Got you right where I want you!" Adrienne exclaimed apparently not noticing that it looked like the two women were about to have sex on the shop floor.
"Don't worry dad, I've got the dogs under control." Chloe's voice rang out as she opened the door and Lance and Andreas did their best to restrain the dogs. "They can come….in…..." Chloe added before her eyes rested on the site in front of her and she and the two boys sweat-dropped. "Or we can come back later?"
"It's not what it looks like!" Adrienne asserted as she quickly got off Amanda and helped the red-head to her feet. "As much as I would like to have it be exactly what it looked like! Needed a release after last night's duel and I had to resort to watching porn in my room because Amanda still refused my offer for sex, oh right." Adrienne thought as she turned to Chloe. "Sorry if I made a fool out of myself there, I'm a massive animal lover." Adrienne apologized with a nervous laugh.
"Gee, I never would've guessed." Andreas responded as a large sweat-drop rolled down his head. "How about we take this into the house before me and Lance's arms get ripped off." Andreas offered as he watched Rex jump up.
"Yeah, that's probably a good idea." Amanda nodded in agreement before the duelists poured into the house with Chloe being the last to enter.
"So, what's this I hear about you making contacts with pro-league duelists already?" Scott asked with a proud look on his face and Chloe turned to him with a confused look on her face. "Amanda said that they were here for you."
"She did?" Chloe asked before glancing over at the duelists and noticing the looks on their faces. "Oh crap, they found out, didn't they? I guess I'd better face the music." Chloe thought with a gulp before turning to her dad. "Well, you already know Phil and Francesca from Battle City but do you remember the expulsion duels me and my friends faced? Seven of those guys were our opponents and we've been in contact since."
"Oh really? Well at least they haven't gone lax in that department since I graduated." Scott responded, and Chloe laughed nervously. "So, which one did you face?"
"He isn't in the group and trust me, its for the best." Chloe responded before Amanda poked her head through the door.
"And even if it wasn't, we've been having trouble getting in contact with him since his duel against Chloe." Amanda added, and Scott nodded in response, Amanda motioned for Chloe to follow her into the house and she nodded before Chloe entered the house and closed the door behind her, Chloe took a deep breath before she turned to the taller girl. "So, where do we start?" Amanda asked as she folded her arms and the other duelists approached her with frowns on their faces.
"Well if it's about what I think it is I'd really don't want dad to overhear it." Chloe responded as she glanced towards the door to the shop. "Can we take this somewhere more private? My dad keeps a vault of his achievements in the basement, but no one goes down there much." Chloe added, and they nodded before she led them down to the basement which, as Chloe had expected, was unoccupied. "You know about the Orichalcos incident, don't you?"
"Unfortunately, yes." Phil nodded in response and Chloe took a deep breath. "Tyler filled us in on the details on the way over and it did persuade is to not fly home, but we wanted to hear it from you."
"It was just a big stupid mistake on my part, and one that I haven't stopped regretting since." Chloe responded as she leaned against one of the glass cases. "It was right before the second round of the Tag Team Tournament Duel Academy hosted recently, started out as just another Orichalcos sighting on the island except he specifically targeted me by trashing the room I shared with Chelsea and stealing my Legendary Dragon, and before you ask, yes he gave it back." Chloe added before bolding up the Eye of Timaeus.
"And he lured you into a duel and forced the Orichalcos into your hand, correct?" Adrienne asked, and Chloe nodded in response. "At what point did playing it seem like a good idea?"
"At no point really, I resisted for as long as I could before my opponent played a card that basically meant either lose the duel or play the Orichalcos, I was worried that he would get away if I lost even though the other students and one of the teachers were there and I made the dumbest decision in my life." Chloe added with a sigh as she folded her arms. "It didn't really dawn on me how badly I fucked up until I tried to play the Eye of Timaeus, I still won the duel obviously, but it wasn't until the other night when I played this card again."
"I get that you realize that it was a bad decision and all Chloe, but what about the others?" Francesca asked, and Chloe turned to her. "I know that if I were there I would've given you an earful as soon as the duel was over."
"Well, as soon as me and Chelsea got back to our dorm room I ripped that card up into so many pieces that I'm pretty sure that the cleaning staff is still finding pieces of it to this day, in other words they decided to go easy on me because I was kicking myself pretty hard as it was." Chloe responded before sighing. "At least until the next morning, apparently Theresa, Tyler and Brandon couldn't decide between themselves on who wanted to chew me out more and drew lots, Theresa won and I got an earful from her, that said I just wanted to put that incident behind me and pretend it didn't happen, but it keeps coming up, with this meeting being the most recent time it's been brought up." Chloe added before turning to Adrienne. "Tyler told me via text that you were one of Otto's victims, so I understand if your still mad at me."
"I was the first actually, my duel against Otto happened not long after your first duel." Adrienne responded before sighing. "Even then, I'm more confused than angry, even after the Orichalcos Duelist played the recording it still made no sense, but you do seem sincere in your regret but take our advice, you should not mention this to anyone once you hit the pro-league because otherwise? You'll be lucky to not be arrested but if you are let off, well you'd better hope that your dad's willing to hire you because you can say good-bye to your career as a duelist."
"I wasn't planning too anyway, as I said I just want to pretend it never happened." Chloe responded before frowning. "If you guys don't mind me asking, how did you find out about my usage of the Orichalcos?"
"To make a long story short, we were ambushed by Orichalcos Duelists at our hotel last night." Phil explained, and Chloe nodded. "Me, Fran, Amanda, Adrienne, Francesca, Dmitri and Mark defeated our opponents in Orichalcos Duels but before they did they played a recording through a phone of you activating that card."
"Really?" Chloe asked with a look of confusion on her face and the duelists nodded. "The duel where it happened was near the abandoned dorm and the cameras were down that day, granted that probably saved my backside from anything worse than getting chewed out by Theresa the next morning but I can't think of any way they could've gotten that recording."
"I'll admit, that is a good point." Adrienne nodded before getting the phone out. "But the recording doesn't lie." Adrienne added before playing the recording. "I managed to get it from my opponent before the police arrived, I'm no tech expert but it sounds like your voice and it doesn't sound like it was tampered with."
"Yeah, that's my voice, the only way they could've recording it is through the earpiece they've been known to use but I don't know if they could be used for that." Chloe shrugged before getting an idea. "You may not be a tech expert, but we do have two of them among our group, Tyler and Chelsea, if anyone can figure out how they recorded it its them."
"I'll get this to them as soon as possible." Adrienne nodded in response before pocketing the phone. "Anything else?"
"Not that I can think off, if I think of anything I'll let you know." Chloe responded before motioning to the stairs. "Now that that's out of the way, you guys want to meet with the others?" Chloe asked, and the duelists nodded before following her up the stairs.
*meanwhile*
Whilst that was going on in the basement Tyler had caught up with the other students in the house having entered through the regular entrance.
"So, they know." Theresa commented with a frown as she folded her arms. "I thought we agreed to never bring up that incident again, why does it keep being brought up?"
"Based on what they told me, the Orichalcos Duelists tried to invoke it using a phone recording, no idea how." Tyler responded with a frown before shaking his head. "That said, I think its safe to say that Chloe doesn't want her parents to find out, she's been through enough in her life as it is, and we don't need her to get chewed out by her adoptive family on top of that."
"And knowing our track record for that, we may as well start asking for it to start raining ultra-rare Duel Monster cards." Chelsea sighed before she took a sip from her drink. "Anyway, the plan is for them to train us in preparation for when we go off to fight the Orichalcos Duelists for the last time right? So why are they talking with Chloe in the basement?"
"They wanted to hear Chloe's side of the story straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak." Tyler responded before shrugging his shoulders. "As I said, she doesn't want her family to know so she probably took them into the basement knowing that her dad's going to be working the store all day and that her mom's out shopping."
"Right, no chance of anyone listening in." Lance nodded in response before glancing towards the door to the basement. "Anyway, what's the plan for today?"
"Chloe, Lance and Chelsea will be taking the dogs for a walk later, I think it's safe to say that Adrienne will be interested in going with them based on her reaction to the dogs." Theresa responded with a shrug of her shoulders. "Other than that? Nothing I can think off, personally I think one of us should duel one of the pro-league duelists as soon as possible and I must admit, as the only duelist we haven't seen in action I'm interested in seeing what Katrina can do.
"The Chinese Duel Monster scene is one of the most competitive on the planet, if anyone should face them it should be one of our best." Tyler responded before frowning. "Unfortunately, my Duel Disk is still at home, Miranda will be bringing it over later but for now I'm out."
"Just remind her to use the right entrance." Chelsea responded, and Tyler nodded as they heard the door to the basement open and saw Chloe exiting out of the basement followed by the Pro-League duelists, whilst the others went off to do their own thing Adrienne and Chloe approached the group. "So, judging by the fact that they're not storming off towards the entrance and heading back to the airport, I'm guessing it went well?"
"About as well as telling a bunch of pro-league duelists that I've used the Orichalcos can go." Chloe responded but not before making sure that her dad wasn't within earshot. "There's just one thing that confused me and since you and Tyler are our resident tech experts we're hoping that you can figure something out for us."
"We'll try." Tyler said as he turned to the two girls. "Unless its to do with trying to figure out the logic behind many early Duel Monster cards I think we can figure it out, whatever it is."
"Well, there goes my first suggestion." Adrienne said jokingly getting a laugh out of the two duelists, without hesitation she reached into her pocket, retrieved the phone and played the recording. "That's how me and the others found out about Chloe's unfortunate decision last night, only Chloe's not sure how they got that recording in the first place because according to her the security cameras were down for maintenance that day." Adrienne added once the recording ended.
"Yeah, they were, and I'm not sure how they managed it either." Chelsea responded before Adrienne handed the phone over to her. "We'll figure that out later but I'm guessing Chloe mentioned that she didn't want her family to know about this?"
"Oui, that was the whole reason we held that meeting in the basement, don't worry, my lips are sealed and I'm sure the others will tell you the same thing." Adrienne responded before motioning to the other pro-duelists. "That said, we did warn her that mentioning this incident after she graduates from Duel Academy will basically flush any potential Duel Monsters career she might have had down the toilet and I'll advise you to do the same thing."
"Trust me Adrienne, I'll have some skeletons in my closet that I really wouldn't want to come out by the time I graduate, if anything I'll be more occupied trying to keep those things a secret, so Chloe has nothing to worry about from me." Chelsea responded before the group heard the door open and almost immediately the two dogs raced off to the front entrance. "I think that's Chloe's stepmom now."
"Yes, yes, I have treats for you two." Sandra's voice rang out confirming Chelsea's suspicions as she was apparently addressing the two dogs that were circling around her with their tails wagging. "Can someone help me with the shopping before the dogs trip me up?"
"I'm on it mom!" Chloe said as she rushed off to help her step-mom and after a couple of seconds Phil and Fran helped out as well.
"Speaking of the Orichalcos." Amanda started once she was sure that Sandra was in the kitchen and out of earshot. "Do you guys have a plan for how your going to tackle the Orichalcos outside of meeting up at Chloe's house every day? It's a nice house, don't get me wrong, but an Orichalcos Duelist could sneak in here pretty easily."
"Well yeah, we'll be having meetings at KaibaCorp in the week." Chelsea responded and Amanda sweat-dropped. "Besides, we're not even sure where they are based, if they were based in Domino City I think we would've found them by now."
"See? I told you!" Ricardo added, and the two girls turned to him. "That was almost the exact same thing I said at the hotel last night, that said some leads would be helpful."
"We have a lead." Tyler responded, and the pro-duelists turned to him. "Early in to the Orichalcos attacks on Duel Academy Island one of the higher ups was forced to leave a laptop behind, they tried to steal it back the next day but grabbed Chelsea's laptop by mistake."
"Don't remind me." Chelsea grunted in annoyance as she folded her arms. "I got it back but because of that incident the laptop we found was turned over to the tech team as their office is a lot more secure than the dorm rooms, we didn't get the laptop back until two weeks later, after the Tag Team Tournament was over, because the tech team had found info on it that would shake the dueling world to its core."
"Trust me, we saw it for ourselves." Tyler added with a frown on his face. "The plan is to wait until we move our meetings to KaibaCorp before we go into detail, less chance of someone listening in there as most of the staff will be busy with their work, other than that we've been trying to trace the IP Address to it's original home but we've had no success so far."
"Keep us posted, I don't know a lot about tech but if this IP Address can get us one step closer to taking out the Orichalcos Duelists for good I'm all for it." Adrienne responded, and the two younger duelists nodded in agreement. "That said, we should focus on why we came here in the first place, to help you guys prepare."
"Agreed, and we already discussed who we want to face first." Tyler responded before turning to Katrina. "Katrina is the only duelists we've never faced, I think she would be a good starting point."
"Sure, you don't want to work your way down?" Katrina chuckled as she held up her duel disk. "Because I should warn you, I am among the top five duelists in the world, no offense to the others but they barely crack the top ten."
"That's only because you've been the National Champion of your country longer than we have, and Fran and Mark aren't even the champions of their countries." Amanda pointed out and Katrina grinned.
"Make all the excuses you want Amanda because the facts still stand." Katrina responded before turning to the duelists. "Last chance to back out."
"Well if you're that confident in your abilities then maybe you wouldn't mind taking me on." Chelsea responded with a grin as she stepped forward. "I haven't had a good duel since Tyler's graduation duel against me and I already have one win over Ricardo here."
"Yes, I know, and I also know that he took pity on you because you lost your temper during the match." Katrina responded and Chelsea sweat-dropped. "You won't get any mercy from me Chelsea but if you think your up for it meet me outside." Katrina added before leaving the house.
"So, you guys know what deck she runs, right?" Chelsea asked as she turned to the other pro-league duelists who shook their heads.
"We do, but you said that you wanted to duel Katrina because she's the only duelist you haven't seen in action, right?" Amanda asked, and Chelsea nodded. "I think it would be better for you to find out for yourself, but we will throw you a bone, most of her monsters are not what they seem."
"That doesn't narrow things down." Chelsea sighed before heading out after Katrina. "But I'll still kick her deck's ass in no time at all, doesn't matter what she runs." Chelsea added, and the other pro-league duelists exchanged knowing looks before following them outside.
*meanwhile*
Whilst Katrina waited for Chelsea on the opposite side of the road from the shop it didn't take long for someone else to arrive on the scene, as tired as the third party where.
"Note to self, next time when requesting a wake-up call from the hotel's reception desk, ask for a time after seven!" Marie muttered to herself whilst not caring whether Jared or Drew had heard her or not, the three Redemption Seekers had arrived not long after the pro-league duelists had been let into the house but at the same time they were clearly regretting their early start. "Seriously, who the hell gets up at 4:00am!?"
"Night shift workers, people who can't get any sleep, I could go on." Drew responded with a shrug before he stat down next to Jared on a bench. "That said, I don't recognize that Asian woman who just came out of Chloe's house, I'd say that she's a Chinese delivery person, but I don't know many delivery drivers who are that buff."
"Well, she's a duelist, we know that thanks to the Duel Disk on her arm." Marie responded before getting a closer look at Katrina and face-palming. "You guys should really watch more international tournaments, and the Olympics for that matter."
"Huh?" Drew asked before getting a better look at Katrina. "Wait, that's the Chinese National Champion Katrina Lao?! What's she doing here?"
"If I knew that I'd tell you." Marie shrugged before sitting down. "At a guess, I'd say she's here to help out Chloe and the others with the Orichalcos, we might not be needed if that's true."
"I'm still not sure what you meant about the Olympics, then again I don't really follow any sport." Jared shrugged his shoulders and Marie frowned. "I mean, I know there's been a campaign to get Duel Monsters recognized as an Olympic Sport but that's going as well as the campaign to get Chess recognized as an Olympic Sport!"
"She got the Bronze Medal in Tie Kwon Do." Marie responded, and Jared gulped. "In other words, it's probably a good idea to stay on her good side!"
"Yeah, pissing off an Olympic Level Martial Artist is definitely not on my bucket list." Drew responded with a gulp before Chelsea exited the shop. "Looks like she's about to duel Chelsea."
"And knowing Chelsea's short temper, this should be interesting." Marie responded before noticing a corner store nearby. "Hold that thought, I'm off to get some popcorn for us!"
"Make mine toffee flavored!" Jared called out to her and Drew did likewise.
*back at the duel*
"Last chance to back out Chelsea." Katrina warned her younger opponent as she activated her duel disk. "You may have graduated to Ra Yellow since you faced Ricardo, but Ricardo isn't on my skill level."
"I'll just take that to mean that you aren't as good as Ricardo." Chelsea smirked in response as she activated her duel disk and Katrina's smirk grew wider. "So, who's going first?" Chelsea asked as the two women drew their hands.
"I am." Katrina responded before looking over her hand and picking up three cards. "I set two cards facedown and I summon Shiranui Samurai in attack mode!" Katrina played the card and a new monster appeared on the field, it was a tall Japanese man in samurai gear with his black hair tied up in a bun (4/1800/0). "It's your move!"
"Right." Chelsea nodded before drawing her card. "Looks like she's running a warrior deck based on Samurai, as if the Six Samurai where bad enough." Chelsea thought as she glanced over at Katrina's monster. "Still the only thing it seems to have going for it is its attack points and even then, eighteen hundred isn't anything to write home about, I don't know a lot about this Shiranui archetype, but it shouldn't be that hard to beat, right?" Chelsea thought before looking at her hand. "I summon Wattcobra!"
"Just as I thought." Katrina thought as the small colorful snake appeared on the field (4/1000/500). "Ricardo did tell me that you run Watts and I know what the main theme of the deck is." Katrina commented with a smirk as Chelsea glanced over her hand. "If your going to attack, do it! There's nothing I can do to stop you."
"And the award for the world's most obvious bluff goes too…." Chelsea thought before picking up two cards. "Not just yet, I set two cards facedown." Chelsea responded as her two facedown cards appeared on the field. "And now I'm attacking! Wattcobra, jump over her samurai and attack her life-points directly!" Chelsea commanded, and the small snake leapt clean over the samurai before biting Katrina on the arm knocking her life-points down to 7000. "Since I just dealt damage to you with my cobra his effect activates allowing me to search my deck for another Watt monster."
"So, it does." Katrina responded before her facedown card flipped up. "But here's something for you to worry about later, I activate Shiranui Style Samsara! This continuous trap card will be a great help to my zombie type monsters."
"Uh huh, not that it matters, one Mystical Space Typhoon is all I need to blow your…." Chelsea trailed off before it hit her. "Wait, Zombie type monsters? But the only monster you've played so far is a warrior type monster!"
"You're not the first duelist to mistake my monsters for warriors Chelsea, and you won't be the last." Katrina responded as she shook her head. "But it's true, all Shiranui monsters are zombie type monsters and Shiranui Samurai is no exception!"
"Somebody needs to show Sophia Pegasus a classic zombie movie if she thinks monsters like Shiranui Samurai are zombies." Chelsea thought as a massive sweat-drop rolled down her head. "If that thing's a zombie then I'm a pop idol singer! Anyway, I have an effect to resolve!" Chelsea responded before she started inputting commands into her duel disk and added the monster to her hand. "I end my turn." Chelsea added, and Katrina drew her card.
"Excellent." Katrina thought with a smirk before playing a card. "You should be familiar with this Spell Card Chelsea, after all, from what I've heard it's very popular with Orichalcos Duelists, I activate Terra-Forming!" Katrina announced before she started inputting commands into her duel disk, once she found the card that she was looking for Katrina added it to her hand. "But I won't keep you in suspense much longer, I activate Shiranui Style Synthesis!" Katrina announced as she played the card causing the scenery around the two women to change to a dark purple void.
"It's a good thing this is a side street that doesn't get any traffic." Chelsea deadpanned upon seeing the scenery around them. "I'd hate to imagine how confusing it would be for any drivers who don't play the game."
"Trust me, been there, done that and brought the t-shirt." Katrina nodded in response before motioning to her trap card. "Technically my trap card also counts as this Field Spell but its good to have some back up, as for its effects, I will get to that in a second." Katrina added before playing a card. "I activate Allure of Darkness!"
"So, on top of being zombies these Shiranui are Dark Type Monsters?" Chelsea thought as Katrina drew her three cards and banished a monster from her hand for the cost. "And here I thought the only zombie warrior in the game was that ancient vanilla zombie type monster, I think my dad was still a teenager when that card was new." Chelsea thought before glancing up at Katrina. "Is that all?"
"As a matter of fact, no." Katrina responded before playing a card. "First I activate Burial from a Different Dimension, I use this to return the monster I just banished to the graveyard." Katrina explained before digging into her pocket and moving her freshly banished monster to the graveyard. "But my monster isn't staying there for long, I activate Shiranui Samurai's effect! In exchange for banishing one Shiranui monster in my graveyard he gains six hundred attack points."
"She did all that just to give her monster a slight attack boost?" Chelsea thought with a frown as Shiranui Samurai's attack increased to 2400. "There has to be more to her strategy than a temporary attack boost, the Chinese Duel Monsters scene is one of the most competitive in the world and she's the national champ for fuck's sake!"
"And unfortunately for you Chelsea, I'm about to draw first blood!" Katrina added breaking Chelsea's train of thought in the process as Katrina pointed to Wattcobra. "Shiranui Samurai, attack Wattcobra!" Katrina commanded, and the samurai charged at Wattcobra before cutting it in half and bringing Chelsea's life-points down to 6600. "So, are we about to see your infamous temper?"
"Ricardo told you about that, huh? Well the answer is, not yet!" Chelsea responded as her facedown card flipped up. "I activate Damage Gate, since I just took fourteen hundred points of damage I can bring back Wattcobra from the graveyard." Chelsea added as Wattcobra returned to the field. "In other words, we're right back to where we started, or at least we would be if it weren't for my other trap card."
"Other trap card?" Katrina echoed as Chelsea's second trap card flipped up and she frowned once she recognized it. "Judgment of Thunder, not a bad card to have in a Watt Deck, I will admit, but the real question is, what card are you targeting?"
"That's a good question, her samurai doesn't seem to have much going for him outside of his power boost effect and I still don't know what her field spell or continuous trap card does, guess I'm targeting her facedown card." Chelsea decided before pointing to the facedown trap card causing it to shatter. "That's one less thing I have to worry about, is it my turn yet?"
"Go ahead." Katrina responded with a nod and Chelsea quickly drew her card.
"Much as I'd love to do a Synchro Summon right now, I don't have any of my Tuners in my hand." Chelsea thought as she looked over her hand. "I have Lightning Recharge and Gift from Zeus but not enough cards in my graveyard to play them, I'd better play it safe in case she brings out something really nasty!" Chelsea thought before picking up and setting a monster. "I set a monster in defense mode, now Wattcobra, pay her back for the damage she dealt to me last turn!" Chelsea commanded and Wattcobra charged into battle….
"I activate the effect of Shiranui Style Samsara!" Katrina announced and much to Chelsea's surprise Shiranui Samurai vanished from the field. "In exchange for banishing one Shiranui monster on my side of the field Samsara will reduce all damage I take this turn to zero, off course, now that Samurai's gone a replay will occur which means….."
"That I can either continue my attack or skip it, give me a break Katrina, I may just be a student, but I earned my place in Duel Academy!" Chelsea responded before motioning to Wattcobra to return to her side of the field. "There's no point in continuing the attack so I end my turn."
"Well she hasn't lost her temper yet." Ricardo thought as Katrina drew her card and Ricardo glanced over at Chelsea. "Then again when I dueled Chelsea in her expulsion duel she only lost her temper after I dealt a lot of damage to her life-points, so unless Katrina deals some major damage we should be okay for now." Ricardo thought as he glanced up at the Chinese woman.
"I activate the second effect of Shiranui Style Samsara." Katrina announced as her trap card glowed. "With this effect I can target two banished zombie monsters with zero defense points, shuffle them into my deck and draw one card." Katrina added before retrieving Shiranui Samurai and Zombie Master, shuffling them into her deck and drawing a card. "I set a monster in defense mode." Katrina announced as the monster appeared facedown. "And end my turn."
"That's it? I was expecting more from the Chinese National Champ." Chelsea responded as she drew her card and Katrina glanced up at her. "I know the Chinese Duel Monster scene is one of the most competitive in the world but if this is all you've got then either your opponents where really bad or you got really lucky."
"I faced only the best duelists from all over China." Katrina responded with an expression that was hard to read. "And luck had no part of it, you could ask Ricardo how well he did against me the last time I dueled him and if he wants to bring up a painful memory, more power to him." Katrina added, and Ricardo started nervously tugging on his shirt collar. "Tell you the truth Chelsea? You haven't even seen the best my deck has to offer yet and I normally save that for Special Occasions, however since your so confident I'll give you a little treat."
"What have I gotten myself into?" Chelsea thought as she glanced at her hand. "I set one card facedown." Chelsea announced as the facedown card appeared on the field. "And I attack with Wattcobra!" Chelsea announced, and the cobra leapt at Katrina before biting her on the arm and bringing her life-points down to 7000. "Bet you wish you still had your samurai on the field, I end my turn."
"Perhaps but its not like your snake is going to be on the field for much longer!" Katrina responded before she drew her card and looked at it. "I flip summon my facedown monster, Scapeghost!" Katrina announced as her facedown monster flipped up revealing four, ghostly versions of the ancient card Scapegoat (1/0/0). "This in turn activates Scapeghost's effect, when it is flip summoned I can Special Summon as many Black Sheep Tokens as I wish, however two will be more than enough!" Katrina added as two more ghostly goats appeared on the field (1/0/0).
"If your trying to deter me from attacking you directly, try harder." Chelsea responded as she rolled her eyes. "Your Scapeghost has zero attack points and you left it in attack mode by flip summoning it, either way you'll take another thousand points of damage and I'll search my deck again!"
"You won't get that far." Katrina responded and Chelsea rolled her eyes again. "Don't believe me? Fine, I've always felt that actions speak louder than words, for my normal summon I'm bringing out Zombie Master." Katrina announced as she played the card causing the wild haired zombie monster to appear on the field (4/1800/0). "I activate Zombie Master's effect, by discarding a monster from my hand I can Special Summon a Zombie from either player's graveyard. Clearly you don't have any zombies in your deck and I don't run Zombie World so, what's a girl to do?"
"Nothing, aside from summon the monster you just discarded." Chelsea responded, and Katrina nodded.
"You catch on quick, and here I thought Duel Academy's standards had been slipping." Katrina responded with a smirk before retrieving the card from her graveyard. "I use Zombie Master's effect to Special Summon Shiranui Solitaire from my graveyard." Katrina announced as she played the card and a young man in brown clothing with long, flowing brown hair appeared on the field wielding a strange golden staff (4/500/0). "I know, he's very weak for a Level 4 Monster but it's not his attack points that I'm interested in, when Shiranui Solitaire is on the field I can tribute another Zombie Type Monster with zero defense points to Special Summon a Zombie Type Tuner with Zero Defense Points from my deck."
"So that's her game, a Synchro Summon." Chelsea thought with a frown as one of the Black Sheep Tokens vanished from the field and Katrina started searching through her deck. "Zombie Master and Shiranui Solitaire are both Level Four, Scapeghost and her remaining Black Sheep Token are both Level One, I can think of a few Synchro Monsters that she could summon with any of those cards and that's just off the top of my head."
"I use Solitaire's effect to Special Summon Shiranui Spectralsword!" Katrina announced as she played a card and a ghostly sword with a blue flame around it appeared on the field (2/800/0). "So, since you're such a good student, what would you do in this situation."
"Huh?" Chelsea blinked for a couple of seconds as Katrina's question sunk in. "Err, I would use Spectralsword, Scapeghost, the Black Sheep Token and either of the Level 4 monsters to bring out a Level 8 Synchro Monster."
"I'll give you an A for effort, but that answer is wrong." Katrina responded, and Chelsea frowned in response. "Don't get me wrong, that would be a viable tactic if it weren't for one simple fact." Katrina added before her smirk grew wider. "Spectralsword isn't the only Tuner Monster on the field."
"Wait, what? Okay, the only one I know for certain isn't a Tuner Monster is Zombie Master and Shiranui Solitaire's effect Special Summons Tuners so why would I2 make him a tuner? That just leaves…." Chelsea's train of thought trailed off as it hit her. "Scapeghost is a Tuner Monster, isn't he?"
"Correct." Katrina grinned before motioning to her monsters. "To kick things off, I'm tuning Shiranui Spectralsword with Shiranui Solitaire!" Katrina announced as the two monsters leapt into the air for the Synchro Summon and Katrina retrieved the monster from her Extra Deck. "I Synchro Summon Shiranui Samuraisaga!" Katrina played the card and once the bright flash faded it looked like Shiranui Samurai had returned to the field except his sword was now glowing a ghostly white light (6/2500/0). "And why stop at one?"
"You act like I have a choice in this." Chelsea deadpanned as Katrina motioned to Zombie Master, Scapeghost and Black Sheep Token.
"True enough, anyway, I tune Scapeghost with my remaining Black Sheep Token and Zombie Master!" Katrina announced as the three monsters leapt into the air for the Synchro Summon and once the bright flash faded another Samuraisaga appeared on the field. "Now I could use my Samurai's effect, but I need to banish a monster first, so instead I'm going on the attack! Shiranui Samuraisaga number one, attack Wattcobra, number 2, attack her life-points directly!"
"Oh, this is going to hurt later!" Chelsea thought as she braced herself before the two Samurai charged right at her, the first one cut Wattcobra in two bringing Chelsea's life-points down to 5100 whilst the second Samurai slashed Chelsea down the middle bringing her life-points down to 2600.
"Barely five rounds in and I already have a huge lead." Katrina commented as her two Samurai returned to her side not noticing the anger and frustration on her opponent's face. "At this rate, it's only a matter of time before I win, off course, surrender's still an option….."
"DON'T FUCKING COUNT ON IT!" Chelsea interrupted her opponent and Katrina snapped to attention. "I've been in worst spots before and I won't surrender!"
"And there's her infamous temper, and its exactly as nasty as Ricardo described." Katrina thought as she looked over her hand. "Suit yourself but as far as I'm concerned? The fat lady has started warming up her voice, I end my turn."
"Some things never change." Amanda commented with a wince as Chelsea not so much drew her card but ripped it straight out of her deck. "So, who wants to be the one to talk to Chelsea about it." Amanda added and the she and the other pro-league duelists turned their attention to Ricardo.
"What? Just because I faced Chelsea in her expulsion duel you think I'm equipped to talk to her? She wouldn't talk about it, even after I got her to calm down!" Ricardo said defensively, and the other duelists frowned. "Then again, there are some similarities between Katrina and Chelsea so who knows?"
"What the fuck do they know?!" Chelsea thought as she glanced over her shoulder at the other duelists. "Sure, they've been dueling a lot longer than I have but they don't know me, what advice could they possibly have for me?!" Chelsea thought before turning her attention back to Katrina and looking over her hand. "I set one card facedown and a monster in defense mode!" Chelsea announced as she set the two cards causing them to appear on the field in a t shape. "That ends my turn."
"You do realize that all I need is to draw into Shiranui Samurai and this duel is over, right?" Katrina asked, and Chelsea glared at her. "Okay, questioning her moves isn't the answer, maybe I just need to be blunt about it?" Katrina thought before glancing up at Chelsea. "Chelsea be honest with me, you do want a career in the pro-leagues, correct?"
"Huh?" Chelsea asked before her eyes narrowed. "Off course I do! Do you think I would've fought for my spot in Duel Academy against Ricardo if I didn't?!"
"Just as I thought." Katrina nodded in response and Chelsea glanced over at her. "Well in that case, you need to hear this, either you reign in your temper or you're not going to have much of a career as a duelist."
"What are you talking about?" Chelsea asked, and Katrina shook her head. "We've barely known each other for a few minutes at most, what do you know?!"
"Technically it's closer to half an hour." Katrina responded as she checked the time on her watch. "But your right, we haven't known each other for long, but I'm telling you this from personal experience." Katrina added as she folded her arms. "Back when I was first starting out, I was a lot like you, brash, talented and quick to temper, I even had a juvenile conviction on my record like you do."
"How do you know about that?!" Chelsea asked with a frown as she glared at the Chinese Woman. "I've only told a handful of people at most!"
"And I don't blame you for that, even if you haven't committed a crime since people still hold it against you." Katrina nodded in understanding before frowning. "But it is a matter of public record, your record will be expunged in a few days but until then anyone who knows how to use Google can look it up, and besides that, I know the specifics as well." Katrina added giving Chelsea pause in the process. "There are two things that travel fast in the pro-leagues, news and gossip, and it didn't take long for the news of a pro-league duelist getting his nose broken by his teenaged first round opponent at a school tournament in Chicago to make the rounds."
"It was just a stupid fucking mistake." Chelsea growled as she balled up her fist. "I was still a rookie back then and it was luck of the draw that I got him in the first round, his deck destroyed my basic beatdown deck in just a few turns and I just lost it."
"Now we're getting somewhere." Katrina nodded in approval before sighing. "You don't know how lucky you got that day, do you Chelsea?" Katrina asked, and Chelsea blinked in confusion. "The guy you faced is one of the nicest guys on the American Pro-League circuit and he's not known to hold a grudge, but if he was you wouldn't have ever met Chloe, Lance, your current girlfriend, any of the friends you've met since joining Duel Academy because he could've easily used his influence to block your application to Duel Academy, his agent kept telling him to block it but he didn't listen."
"You make it sound like you heard it from the horse's mouth." Chelsea responded, and Katrina nodded.
"We met up at Battle City, the one before the one your friends competed in, initially as opponents but we became friends." Katrina added before shaking her head. "And before you ask, no we're not an item, I'm waiting for Mr. Right to come along and he already has a girlfriend, point is, if another incident happened like that on the pro-league your career would be over, just like that." Katrina added before snapping her fingers to illustrate the point. "Having passion for the game is well and good but as I said, news travels fast and your career would be over in an instant, just something to keep in mind."
"Okay, I get it." Chelsea responded as she ran a hand down her face. "For fuck's sake, you're the sixth person who's talked to me about my temper in the past few days, besides, don't you have a move to do?"
"So, I do, and just because your sick of hearing it doesn't mean it didn't need to be said." Katrina added as she drew her card. "And you can consider yourself lucky for now, I didn't draw Shiranui Samurai, otherwise this duel would be over." Katrina added before pointing to Chelsea's facedown monster. "The bad news is that that fact has only brought you a turn at most, Shiranui Samuraisaga, attack her facedown monster!" Katrina commanded, and the Samurai charged into battle against the monster, revealed to be Wattdragonfly (2/900/200) which was quickly destroyed. "Or perhaps not."
"Based on that comment, you know what Wattdragonfly does?" Chelsea asked, and Katrina nodded in response before Chelsea started inputting commands into her duel disk. "In that case, I won't keep you in suspense, I use Wattdragonfly's effect to Special Summon Wattcentaur!" Chelsea added before she played the card and the multi-colored Centaur appeared on the field ready for battle (6/2400/1200). "So, you want to try again?"
"I would be a fool to leave a monster that powerful on the field, Shiranui Samuraisaga, attack her monster!" Katrina responded and the second Samurai charged into battle…..
"I was hoping you'd do that!" Chelsea commented with a grin and Katrina blinked in confusion. "How else would I use Honest's effect?"
"Wait, what? Hold your attack!" Katrina yelled out once it dawned on her but it was too late as Chelsea discarded the monster causing Wattcentaur's attack to skyrocket to 4900, Wattcentaur then charged into battle and impaled Samuraisaga on his sword destroying the monster and bringing Katrina's life-points down to 4600. "Not bad, but I'm still in the lead."
"Yeah, for now." Chelsea responded with a grin before looking over her hand. "If I play my cards right I can turn this around and win!" Chelsea thought before looking up at her opponent. "My turn yet?"
"Go for it." Katrina nodded in response and Chelsea drew her card.
"I activate Gift from Zeus! Since I have three light type monsters in my graveyard this card lets me shuffle them back into my deck and draw two cards." Chelsea explained before retrieving Wattcobra, Wattdragonfly and Honest, shuffling all three monsters into her deck and drawing her cards. "Perfect!" Chelsea thought with a grin before playing a card. "Next I activate One for One, I discard one monster from my hand to Special Summon one Level One Monster from my deck, like Watthopper." Chelsea played the card causing a small multi-colored grasshopper to appear on the field (1/0/0).
"And as long as its on the field I can't target another Watt Monster for an attack." Katrina nodded in response before grinning. "There's just one problem with your plan, you left your monster in attack mode and with zero attack points its just as good as attacking you directly!"
"Who said I was planning to leave it on the field long enough for you to try?" Chelsea asked, and Katrina's grin disappeared. "Or did it never occur to you that I didn't use my trap card last turn?"
"I just assumed that it was a bluff." Katrina responded, and Chelsea shook her head.
"Not exactly, I was just waiting for the right time to use it." Chelsea responded as her trap card flipped up. "I activate Limit Reverse, using this trap card I can Special Summon one weak monster from my graveyard and guess what? I just discarded one for One for One's effect so come on out Wattkitten!" Chelsea played the card and the small kitten sharing the same color scheme as the other Watt Monsters appeared on the field (3/100/100).
"Cute, but I've always been more of a dog person." Katrina responded before she heard two dogs barking coming from inside the house. "What on Earth?!" Katrina asked before the two girls looked up and realized that Rex and Nala had been watching the duel through a nearby window and had apparently mistook Wattkitten for a real animal. "You'd think the color scheme would've given it away to those two dogs."
"Well, dogs are color blind so who knows?" Chelsea asked with a shrug before turning her attention to Chloe. "Can you text your dad so that they won't distract us for much longer?"
"Sure, I think it's coming up to their lunch time anyway." Chloe responded before checking the time on her phone to confirm and sending her dad a text.
"Anyway, back to business, Wattkitten's a tuner monster and I'm using her to give Watthopper a tune up!" Chelsea announced as the two small monsters leapt into the air for the Synchro Summon. "I Synchro Summon Armory Arm!" Chelsea announced and once the bright flash faded the large mechanical arm appeared on the field in Wattkitten's place (4/1400/1200). "I activate Armory Arm's effect, I equip him to Wattcentaur to give him attack points a boost!" Chelsea added as the machine equipped itself to Wattcentaur's arm bringing its attack points up to 3400. "Normally when I attack with Wattcentaur I use his effect to cut his attack in half so that he can attack directly but not this time! Wattcentaur, attack her remaining Samuraisaga!"
"This is going to hurt!" Katrina thought before bracing herself as Armory Arm fired a beam of light at Samuraisaga destroying it and bringing Katrina's life-points down to 3500.
"And now Armory Arm's other effect activates inflicting Samuraisaga's attack points on you as damage!" Chelsea added as another beam of light hit Katrina in the stomach bringing her life-points down to 1000. "Now who's one attack away from defeat?"
"Impressive, I can certainly see why you earned your place in Ra Yellow." Katrina admitted as she pulled herself up to her feet. "But this duel's far from over!"
"We'll see about that, for now I end my turn." Chelsea responded, and Katrina drew her card. "The third card I drew was Mirror Force which I could've used to secure the win should she bring anything nasty out, but I don't need it, I'll be surprised if Katrina has anything left in her deck that can beat Wattcentaur!"
"Not often that I get to use this monster." Katrina thought as she glanced towards her extra deck. "But Chelsea has forced my hand, if I want to win this duel I need to play this card now!" Katrina thought before turning her attention back to Chelsea. "I'll give you credit Chelsea, you've earned the right to see my best monster and it's a monster that I only save for Special Occasions!"
"Really?" Chelsea asked with a curious look. "Either your blowing smoke up my ass and don't want to admit that I have you beat, or you have a way to end this duel in this favor."
"Oh believe me, if anything you should be worried about what I'm about to do." Katrina responded before grinning. "A Level 10 Synchro Summon!"
"Wait, what?! You don't have any monsters on the field and barely any cards in your hand!" Chelsea pointed out as she folded her arms. "How am I supposed to believe that you can pull that off?!"
"It all comes down to a card that's already in my graveyard, Shiranui Spectralsword." Katrina added before playing a card. "But first things first, I activate Burial from a Different Dimension to banish the two Samuraisagas you destroyed." Katrina announced before pocketing the two Synchro Monsters. "Now I activate Foolish Burial!" Katrina added before inputting commands into her duel disk, once she found the card she was looking for she sent it to the graveyard. "And now the stage is all set."
"All set for what? All you've done is manipulate your graveyard." Chelsea asked with a confused look on her face and Katrina grinned.
"All will be revealed, I activate the effect of Shiranui Spectralsword!" Katrina announced before retrieving two monsters from her graveyard. "If Spectralsword is in my graveyard I can banish it alongside one non-tuner Zombie Type Monster in my graveyard to Synchro Summon one Zombie Type Monster from my extra deck to the field." Katrina added as she pocketed the two monsters causing Spectralsword and Berserk Dragon (8/3500/0) to appear on the field. "I only have Berserk Dragon in my deck for this purpose, I don't even have A Deal with Dark Ruler in my deck! Anyway, I tune Shiranui Spectralsword and Berserk Dragon together!"
"Berserk Dragon's one of the toughest monsters from the early days of the game, the only reason it doesn't see much play nowadays is because its summoning conditions is ridiculously specific." Chelsea thought as the two monsters leapt into the air for the Synchro Summon. "If she's using something like that to bring out the biggest gun she's got then she must have something big planned."
"I Synchro Summon Shiranui Sunsaga!" Katrina played the card and once the bright flash faded a new monster appeared on the field, it was a tall, Japanese man with silver hair in a bun wearing white and black robes and carrying a sword sat atop a red horse (10/3500/0). "I'm not going to waste any time here, if Sunsaga is Special Summoned I can return any banished Zombie Type Synchro Monsters to my graveyard and destroy one card for each! So, I return one of my Samuraisagas to destroy Wattcentaur."
"Oh shit!" Chelsea cussed before Sunsaga ran through Wattcentaur destroying it. "I don't suppose he has a side effect that states that you can't attack the same turn you use that effect, right?"
"No such luck, he does have another effect but its irrelevant right now and we both know why." Katrina responded, and Chelsea hung her head low knowing what the Chinese Woman was talking about. "Shiranui Sunsaga, finish it!" Katrina commanded, and the horseman charged towards Chelsea before slashing her with his sword bringing her life-points down to zero. "Well fought Chelsea, you certainly have the potential to be a great pro-league duelist." Katrina commented as the holograms disappeared and she crossed the street to shake hands with her opponent. "It's just your temper we need to work on."
"That's not all we need to work on." Chelsea sighed as she accepted the handshake. "I haven't won a single duel since the incident on Wednesday."
"What incident?" Katrina asked, and Chelsea shook her head.
"We'll explain inside." Chloe chimed in as she held the door open for the duelists. "Besides, my dad texted me back to say that my mom's preparing a big lunch for all of us, so I don't want to keep her waiting." Chloe added, and the other duelists nodded before heading inside.
*an hour later*
Whilst the duelists enjoyed their lunch the door to the storefront opened and two figures stepped inside, one male and one female, and the male closed the door.
"You sure this is the right place Nicola." Zach asked once the door was closed and the Autistic Teen looked up. "This is the fifth game shop we've tried since you were discharged from the hospital."
"I'm sure, I texted Chloe to get the right address." Nicola responded before glancing at her reflection and noting the eyepatch over her bad eye. "I'm ready to join the fight even after all I've been through, hopefully my eye will have healed up by Wednesday."
"That's what the doc said, let's hope that he's right." Zach responded as the door to the house opened.