Here's the next installment. And the first duel. Wheeeee...

A note: I determine the layout of decks in a duel by using a word randomizer. It basically throws all the cards in a random order, and the first five make up the starting hand. And things develop from there. So, no duel really has a pre-determined result. And this one was surprisingly one-sided.

Anyways- I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 2: Come Hell or Giant Monsters

Claire woke the next morning, bright and early (to her chagrin), to someone pounding on her door. Immediately deciding that someone was about to get the boot off her doorstep, Claire tossed the blanket off of her, rolled off the couch and stalked to the front door. This better damn well have a good fucking reason…

She wrenched the door open, glaring at the one who dared wake her before noon. She'd expect Yusei, or Rally, or even Crow (on the rare event that he dropped by after raiding Security), but instead, it was some guy in fancy cyan robes. They clashed awfully with his orange hair.

"Look fuckface, I don't know what your deal is, but you talk to anyone on this street and they will tell you do not wake me up. Ever. Mind explaining your death wish?"

He just stared impassively at her, unfazed by the death glare that had, in the past, made a gang leader (who had foolishly tried to raid Team Satisfaction's base before midday) high-tail it. Crow might be called The Bullet, and Kiryu might have been endowed with the name Enforcer, but Claire was nicknamed Cataclysm for a reason.

...Well. She supposed the main reason was her deck, but she still had a damn good death glare.

"We know you have it. Hand the card over."

If Claire was mad before? Now she was incensed. Trying to reign it in, she took a deep breath. "You really have some balls, don't you?"

God, there was a reason she took advantage of Team Satisfaction's rep more than the others. She didn't want to deal with idiots like this guy! Let Jack or Yusei try and defend their "honor" or whatever, she just wanted to fucking sleep!

"Hand over the card, or else."

"You might want to specify which fucking card."

"The Seal of Orichalcos."

"..." Claire paused. Was it worth it?

Man, fuck worth. This asshole woke her up and didn't even say sorry, or please. Fuck this guy.

"Nope. Finders keepers. Also, dibs. Now fuck off." Claire slammed the door shut in the idiot's face, and stalked back to her couch. Time for some good ol' R&R to make up for the rude-

CRAAA-RRK!

Claire froze, and slowly turned, to feel a cold breeze on her face. The front of her house had been ripped off.

What the fuck was this guy's problem?!

More than that, how? The only other thing he had was his duel disk and… oh no.

The psychic's Light End Dragon loomed above the wreckage of her wall, still crushing it to bits under its weight.

Nnnnnnnnnope.

Claire grabbed her duel disk from the coffee table and high tailed it before the dragon could loose an attack. Like hell she was waiting around for it.

It turned out, she didn't have to- the attack came to her.

The street quickly cleared out as Claire slammed into the ground, borderline screeching at the pain of being hit with what basically amounted to a laser. It took her a good minute to sit up, and by then the psychic had closed the distance, his dragon guarding his back.

Claire hissed in pain as she stood up, furious from pain and shock and fear. This guy…

"Fine then, jackass. You want the card? Duel me for it." She activated her duel disk, one of the old models, as opposed to the psychic's newer version. The psychic, silently accepting her challenge, slotted his deck into his disk, seconds after Claire. Thankfully, he removed his dragon from the disk, and it vanished.

God, it hurt to stand, or move, or do anything, let alone duel. And as it was, she was bound to take more damage…

"Duel!"

Psychic LP: 4000

Claire LP: 4000

Claire waved to the psychic, letting him take first turn. He nodded and drew, adding another card to his hand of five.

"I summon Mirage Dragon, in attack mode." The ugly trap-negating dragon writhed into existence.

Mirage Dragon: 1600 ATK

"I activate the field spell The Fountain in the Sky and end my turn." A glowing fountain flashed into existence above the psychic's head, suspended in space.

"'Kay. Draw! I activate the spell card Terraforming!" Oh, it brought Claire no greater joy than to fuck someone else's field spell over with her own. "I use it to retrieve the field spell Kyoutou Waterfront from my deck." She tossed Terraforming into the graveyard. "And now, I play Kyoutou Waterfront!" The fountain vanished, instead being replaced by a massive blue and gold tower, overlooking a waterfront resembling Satellite's sound, but a hell of a lot closer to their location.

"Now, I activate the effect of Dogoran, the Mad Flame Kaiju in my hand! I can tribute your Mirage Dragon to summon it on your side of the field!"

Mirage Dragon was quickly crushed by a massive, flaming dragon-like monster. Nearby, a building sprouted into existence from nothing.

Dogoran: 3000 ATK

Kyoutou Waterfront: 1 Counter

"And the purpose of that was?..." The psychic seemed understandably un-impressed by the powerful monster I had given him.

"This. I activate the effect of Jizukiru, the Star Destroying Kaiju in my hand! If you have a Kaiju monster on your side of the field, I can special summon him from my hand!" Claire placed the monster card on her duel disk, and massive, robot-like… creature appeared (in all her years, the best comparison Claire could come up with was a flying snake).

Jizukiru: 3300 ATK

"Attack! Neutron Collapse!" Jizukiru slithered to Dogoran, slamming both of its "wings" end-first into Dogoran and unleashing a devastating pulse that shattered the flaming monster. Another building came into existence.

Psychic LP: 3700

Kyoutou Waterfront: 2 Counters

The psychic was completely unfazed, not that Claire cared.

"I set a card and end my turn."

"Draw. I activate the spell Double Summon! I use it's effect to summon Element Dragon and Delta Flyer! I activate Delta Flyer's effect to raise Element Dragon's level by 1, and tune them together! Light of Heaven, smite the unworthy! Synchro Summon! Glow brightly, Light End Dragon!"

"Oh, not this fucker again." Claire sighed. She took solace in the fact that now there were another three buildings framing their battlefield.

Light End Dragon: 2600 ATK

Kyoutou Waterfront: 6 Counters

The psychic's winged dragon screeched at Jizukiru, who hissed in return, writhing impatiently for their battle to begin.

"I activate Light End Dragon's effect! His attack and defense are reduced by 500, but your monster's attack is reduced by 1500!"

Oh, for the love of shit… Claire watched sullenly as Jizukiru shrunk to be smaller than Light End Dragon… when, before, Jizukiru was nearly twice its size.

Light End Dragon: 2100 ATK

Jizukiru: 1800 ATK

"Attack! Piercing Ray!"

"Nope! I activate Magic Cylinder, which redirects your dragon's attack back to you!" The ray of light that would have otherwise destroyed Jizukiru was instead contained and reflected by a purple cylinder interlaced with intricate designs. Another building sprouted.

Psychic LP: 1600

Kyoutou Waterfront: 7 Counters

The psychic staggered to his feet, his clothing now just as ruined as Claire's. She felt a spiteful satisfaction.

"I… activate Book of Moon on Light End Dragon!"

"Oh no you don't- I activate Jizukiru's effect! When a card is activated that targets exactly one card on the field, I can remove 3 Kaiju counters from Kyoutou Waterfront to negate the effect and destroy one card on the field! Fuck your dragon!" Jizukiru screeched and went on a rampage, smashing three of the seven buildings, and Light End Dragon in the process. His attack was still reduced, but it hardly mattered… And her field spell still had plenty of counters, thanks to Book of Moon and Light End Dragon hitting the graveyard.

Kyoutou Waterfront: 6 Counters

"You done?" The psychic didn't answer.

"That's what I thought. Jizukiru, end it!"

Psychic LP: 0

The orange head scowled. "I won't fail. Light End Dragon, blast her!" The giant white dragon rose again, and Claire cursed. Looks like this psychic didn't care too much about duelist's honor. Then again, neither did she.

Claire usually tried to avoid resorting to violence, just because it was a pain in the ass, but this fuck was asking for it!

Claire rolled out of the way of the beam of light and grabbed her hunting knife, hurling it at the psychic. Please let my aim be good, please…

The knife smacked the psychic in the head hilt-first, stunning him, and Claire rushed over. Apparently his dragon lacked much autonomy, because it just froze in place. Claire took advantage of the lapse, and after closing the distance she kicked the psychic in the temple. He went out, and the dragon vanished.

Claire grinned in victory and retrieved her knife. A family heirloom from before Satellite, it continued to serve her well. It was the work of a moment to relieve the psychic of his cards and duel disk. She didn't intend on keeping them- well, maybe she'd keep his Light End Dragon, but the rest she could sell for quite a lot.

Claire left the psychic to scavengers or whoever happened upon him. And returned to her ruined house. She knew, even before reaching it, that it wasn't salvageable. Part of the roof had caved in since, and rebuilding a wall wasn't exactly easy. Claire sighed.

Looks like she'd be accompanying Yusei after all.