Well, here we go, chapter 3, and Lauren's first full duel.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or Metroid.

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Hola, you should know me by now as Lauren, and I'll be your duelist for today.

My family was always poor, we barely where able to pull together enough money to eat every day, I've had to take small jobs to try and get money for my family.

It was during one of these jobs that I got lucky, I stumbled across a discarded box, and when I opened it, I found a deck of duel monsters cards, the Amazon monsters.

I don't know why I found them, but somehow fate has made me a duelist, and I have upgraded that first deck I found since then with money I earned in tournaments.

Now, I'm at the West Coast Duelist Academy to prove that I really am the best of the best, and when a strange opponent with a stranger deck comes forward with a challenge...

I say bring it on!

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CHAPTER 3:

HUMAN WAVE TACTICS

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Sarah and Lauren, both having been assigned to the same dorm room, are walking through the halls of the Sliffer Red Dorm.

"So anyway, I was caught by Valcouri, he has me tied down, and a huge laser pointing at my head, and what does he do?" Sarah says.

"He starts monologing," Lauren says.

"He starts monologing!" Sarah says. "He starts blabbing about how feeble I am compared to him, how the galaxy will soon be his! The guy has me in the palm of his hand, and he won't shut up!"

"So, this Valcouri guy, he was born human, but he is genetically a full dragon?" Lauren asks.

"Yeah, he..." Sarah starts as she opens the door to their dorm room, revealing Cassie sitting on the floor looking through her cards. "Oh great, not you!"

"Sarah Aran, just my luck," Cassie says, gathering her cards together, and stands up to her full height, which is a good 6 inches taller than Sarah.

"Is something up between you two?" Lauren asks as the two girls glare at each other.

"Our moms worked together 25 years ago," Sarah says. "However, her dad is responsible for my grandparent's deaths."

"Of course, my dad has changed since then, but Sarah here wont' let it go," Cassie says.

The two continue to glare at each other, and Lauren shakes her head.

This is going to be an interesting year... she thinks.

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Half an hour later, the girls are sitting with Theo in the Sliffer Red cafeteria, and Sarah and Cassie are still at it, while eating spaghetti.

"I'll bet I can eat this in 8 bites," Sarah says.

"Well, I'll bet I can eat it in 7 bites," Cassie counters.

"6 bites!"

"5 bites!"

"4 bites!"

"3 bites!"

"2 bites!"

"1 bite!" Cassie says, not realizing what she had done.

"Eat that meal!" Sarah says with a grin, and a minute later Sarah gags as she tries to down all the spaghetti at once.

"Nice work starting with an even number," Lauren says with a small laugh.

"That wasn't nice, Sarah," Theo comments, glaring at Sarah.

"Oh come on Theo, lighten up, it was just a bit of fun," Lauren says.

"Excuse me, is this seat taken?" A small voice says from behind Lauren, and she turns to see a small mousy boy with light brown hair with a pair of small glasses, and wearing a red blazer.

"Yeah sure, take a seat," Lauren says, motioning to the seat next to her, and the kid sits down. "You seem to be a little young to be here."

"Ahh, I skipped a few grades, you know, child genius thing," the kid says. "Oh, I'm Carson."

"I'm Lauren, and this is Sarah, Theo, and Cassie," Lauren says.

"So, any of you had a duel yet?" Carson asks.

"Well, I dueled someone on the ship, but that's it," Theo says.

"Hey, I heard that the Sliffer Red arena is now open to students, do any of you want to duel?" Carson asks.

"Yeah, sure," Lauren says, and they get up after finishing their food, heading out of the cafeteria.

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The Sliffer Red Arena is not very elaborate; it is an open dome with 4 columns sticking out of the floor surrounding an arena area with a statue of Sliffer the Sky Dragon above the duelists.

Lauren and Carson are standing in the center of the arena, shuffling each other's deck.

"So, you beat Professor Ling back in the School Entrance Exams?" Lauren asks.

"Yeah, he was using a beatdown deck, but I don't think he was very happy about it," Carson says.

"Well, this will be interesting to watch," Sarah says, seated on one of the seats not far away from the duel, while Cassie and Theo sit a couple rows above her. I wonder if Cassie is seriously ticked off that her mom wasn't in the Metroid games.

I am seriously ticked off that my mom wasn't in the Metroid games... Cassie thinks.

Okay, after that somewhat random moment, Lauren and Carson have moved to opposite sides of the arena.

"LET'S DUEL!" They both shout, and activate their duel disks.

"Ladies first, Lauren," Carson says.

"Okay," Lauren says, and draws. "I start with one card face down, and summon my Amazoness Fighter (1500/1600), in attack mode!" She says, and a muscular female warrior appears, readying her fists. "Your move."

Carson draws, and looks at his cards. "I'll activate Heart of the Underdog, and then summon my Goblin Calligrapher (400/400) in attack mode!" He says, and a small purple monster appears. "And I'll end with one card face down."

Lauren draws. He thinks that I don't know what he's trying, low attack monster in attack mode equals Reklumba the Spirit King, Lauren thinks, and glances at her face down card. But who am I to disappoint him?

"Why did he summon that weak monster in attack mode?" Sarah wonders.

"Hmm, I can only think of one reason why, but we will have to see if I'm right," Theo says.

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"Are the first of our duelists ready to go?" Valcouri asks as he walks down the corridors of the Pirate Moon base, directing his question at a scientist who is struggling to keep up with the massive dragon.

"Well, Commander Valcouri, there have been some problems getting humans to survive the Phazon..." the scientist starts.

"Are they ready or not?" Valcouri demands, his eyes starting to burn with fire.

"Well sir, we have, one duelist ready," the scientist says nervously. "He's the only one so far whose body accepted the treatment, he'll be ready to go tomorrow."

The scientist hands Valcouri a file, and he opens it, looking it over. "Excellent and I know just which duelist to send him after, send him after my waste of a sister," he says, and hands the file back.

"Yes sir," the scientist says, and walks away from the dragon commander.

Valcouri stops, and stands at an observation deck, overlooking the moon where a fleet of Spaceships are being built. Soon enough, Earth will be ours, and the future will belong to the Space Pirates, he thinks.

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"All right, I summon my Amazon Archer (1400/1200), in attack mode!" She says, and a female archer appears, drawing a bow back. "Now Archer, destroy his calligrapher, arrow of the amazons!" She says, and the archer draws her bow back, and fires an arrow, destroying the monster, and lowering Carson's life points to 3000.

"First, I activate my trap card, Human Wave Tactics, so I can bring out another monster, like my Haniwa (500/500)," Carson says, and a small rock-like monster appears in defense mode. "And since I took at least 1000 points of damage, I can special summon Reklumba, the Spirit King (1000/2000), in defense mode!" She says, and a reptilian monster with long hair appears. "Is that it?"

"Yeah, that's it," Lauren says.

Carson draws. "I activate the effect of Heart of the Underdog, since I drew a Kozaky, I can draw again, and again until I get a card that isn't a normal monster," he says, and draws a card. "And I got a Dancing Elf…"

He draws a third time. "Mokey Mokey."

A fourth time. "Well, this card doesn't fit the bill, so I stop there," he says. "And I activate the effect of my Reklumba, by sacrificing him, I can special summon monsters from my hand as long as their total attack doesn't exceed 2000, so I summon Kozaky (400/400)," he says, and a fiendish scientist appears, adjusting his glasses.

"Dancing Elf (300/200)…"

A female elf appears, doing a ballet dance.

"Happy Lover (800/500)…"

A yellow fairy with pink wings and a red heart on its forehead appears.

"And finally, Mokey Mokey (300/100)!"

A strange little square light blue fairy appears.

"You have got to be kidding me, why did he summon a field full of weak monsters?" Cassie asks.

"He has 5 monsters, each are normal, and level two or less, I can think of one reason why he would do this, and this could be interesting to watch," Theo says.

"I'll now activate, the Law of the Normal, which destroys every card on the field that isn't a level 2 or lower normal monster," Carson says, and every card shatters other than his 5 monsters.

"Oh crap," Lauren says.

"Now, attack her directly my monsters!" Carson commands and each monster strikes Lauren directly, lowering her life points to 1700. "And I'll place this card face down to end my turn."

Lauren draws, and glances at Carson. "All right, I summon my Amazoness Blowpiper (800/1500), in attack mode!" She says, and a young woman with war paint, and long purple hair, carrying a skull covered blowpipe appears. "And I'll place this card face down, and activate a field spell called Sacred City of the Amazons!"

Suddenly the arena changes, it starts to resemble a jungle with large vine-covered buildings and pyramids jutting out of the landscape. The stands that Sarah, Cassie, and Theo are sitting on are changed to look like the stairs to a temple, where a great statue of a Greco-Roman Goddess can be seen.

"This field has several different effects, but first of all it grants all Amazons an additional 500 attack and defense points," she says, and the Blowpiper's attack rises to 1300/2000. "Now Amazoness Blowpiper, destroy his Dancing Elf!" She commands, and the Blowpiper fires a dart, which destroys the elf, and lowers Carson's life points to 2000.

"You activated the effect of my Human-Wave Tactics, so I can now special summon another monster, like a second Mokey Mokey (300/100)," Carson says, and another strange fairy appears. "And you activated my other trap card, Normal Firefight, so you take half the damage I took," he continues, and Lauren's life points fall to 1200.

"Your move then," Lauren finishes.

Carson draws. "I activate my continuous spell card, Mokey Mokey Smackdown, and I'll attack your monster with my Happy Lover!" He says, and the fairy sends a burst of red energy from the heart on her forehead.

"I'm activating another effect of my field spell, since your attacking my Amazon with a monster whose original attack is either equal to, or less than the attack of my monster, the attack is negated, and we both can draw one card," Lauren says, and draws.

"Fine," Carson says, and draws as well.

"Wow, that's pretty impressive, with that card in play, no one can send a monster on a suicide run against an Amazon monster," Sarah says.

"Not only that, because of that effect, Carson can only activate the effects of Mokey Mokey Smackdown on Lauren's turn," Theo comments. "And unless he has a Staunch Defender, she doesn't have to attack his strengthened Mokey Mokey."

"Okay fine, one card face down, your move," Carson says, noticing that Lauren discards a card.

Lauren draws. "I summon my Amazoness Chain Master!" She says, and a female warrior carrying a long chain appears.

"I activate my trap card, go Gravity Bind!" Carson says, and an orb appears, sending waves of energy all over the field, however the two amazons look un-phased.

"My field card has one more effect, as long as it is in play all my Amazons lose one level," Lauren explains.

"Oh crap," Carson says.

"Wow, that's an impressive field spell, but isn't it a little over-powerful?" Cassie asks.

"Not necessarily," Theo says. "If I remember correctly, to keep it in play the user must have at least one Amazon on the field, and discard a card from their hand in their opponent's end phase, otherwise it is destroyed."

"Interesting," Sarah says.

"Now Chain Master, destroy his Kozaky, Chain Rend attack!" Lauren commands, and the executioner jumps at the monster, wraps her chains around his neck, and squeezes as he shatters, lowering Carson's life points to 400. "Now Blowpiper, finish this, destroy his Mokey Mokey!" She commands, and the blowpiper fires a dart at the monster, causing it to shatter, and lowering Carson's life points to 0.

Carson shrugs as the holograms fade. "Oh well, you win some, you lose some," he says, and he and Lauren shake hands warmly.

Up in the stands, Sarah can't help but get the feeling that they're being watched.

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Reklumba the Spirit King was used by Gansley in the multi-part episode "Trapped in Cyberspace."

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Sacred City of the Amazons

Field Spell

Image of an ancient city in a jungle. This card can only be active as long as you have a monster on the field with "Amazoness" in its name, or is named "Amazon Archer," in addition the user must discard a card from their hand in the opponent's end phase. As long as this card is on the field, all monsters with "Amazoness" in its name, or is named "Amazon Archer" gain 500 attack and defense points, and lose one level. When your opponent attacks a monster with "Amazoness" in its name, or is named "Amazon Archer" with attack equal to or less that the attacked monster, negate the attack, and all players draw one card.

Normal Firefight

Counter trap

Image of Mokey Mokey sending a blast of energy at Kozaky. Activate this card when you take damage from a battle involving a level two or lower normal monster, deal damage equal to half the damage you took to your opponent's life points.

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Well, that's another chapter done, finaly.

Next chapter, the plot finaly comes into play as the first of Valcouri's duelists show up at the academy. Can Cassie defeat this new enemy? Find out in, "Burden of Command."