I'm sorry that this chapter took a little longer. I started writing this chapter, then lost it, so I had to repeat this duel. Luckily, it was only two turns of it, so there wasn't a lot I had to repeat. So, here we go. Review please!
Carl and Zane played Rock-Paper-Scissors to decide who would go first. Zane was first, and Carl was second. They both drew five cards before Zane drew the first card. He peered at his hand, then looked up at Carl, who gave him a daring smirk. It had been about a year, since the last they've dueled. It was time to see how much Carl had been improving.
"I'll end my turn by placing three cards face-down," Zane declared as the audience clapped to indicate the end of his turn. Carl drew her next card, then peered over her hand.
"I play Holy Sanctuary!" Carl declared as she placed her field spell, and the entire stage looked like a white marble stage with pillars surrounding it. "Then, I summon Darklord Edeh Arae in attack mode!" A pale blue creature, black armor and wings, horns on its head, and hands that were as huge as an Action Hero toy, appeared on the field with such a fearsome face.
Zane looked across toward Carl's position, a smirk appearing on his face, then asked, "aren't you going to attack?"
"I would, but by the look on your face, I'd say you already have a Cyber Dragon in your hand."
"Suppose there's no holding back then," Zane shrugged uncaringly. "I use my Cyber Dragon's ability to special summon him." A white steel snake-like dragon appeared on the field. The audience applauded for the summon of Cyber Dragon. "Then, I play my trap card, Attack Reflector Unite by sacrificing my Cyber Dragon to bring out Cyber Barrier Dragon!" Cyber Dragon disappeared and was replaced by another snake-like dragon with metal plates spiked around its body. "I also activate Book of Moon." Cyber Barrier Dragon disappeared into a folded card that was in defense mode as Zane's face-down card activated. "I don't believe your Holy Sanctuary includes lowering defense points."
"I place two cards face-down, and end my turn," Carl declared before the audience clapped for the end of her turn.
Zane drew his next card, smirking as he peered throughout his hand, then declared, "I activate my trap Pot of Greed." Zane drew two cards from his deck to his hand. "Then, play Monster Reborn to bring back my Cyber Dragon!" His Cyber Dragon returned to the field. "Then, I play Polymerization to fuse Cyber Dragon with another one from my hand to bring Cyber Twin Dragon!" Cyber Dragon fused with another one, which appeared from Zane's hand, into the light, and appeared as a two-headed Cyber Dragon. Its attack points dropped to 2300 attack points, due to Holy Sanctuary's ability. "I will use Code Change to change the type of non fairy type to non machine type that loses 500 attack." Cyber Twin Dragon's attack changed back to 2800, while Darklord Edeh Arae's attack dropped to 1800. "Cyber Twin Dragon attacks your Darklord monster!" Cyber Twin Dragon blast a electricity and laser mixture from its mouth at Darklord Edeh Arae, bursting it from the field, and leaving Carl with 3000 life points remaining. "Then, my dragon attacks a second time."
"You wish, I reveal my trap Negate Attack!" Carl declared as Cyber Twin Dragon shot out a blast of lightning and lasers, then the blasts entered into the swirling vortex in front of her.
"Then, I place one card face-down, then end my turn."
The audience clapped for the end of Zane's turn.
Carl drew her next card, then played the card she drew immediately, declaring, "I play Foolish Burial, and send Wulf, Lightsworn Beast to the grave before special summoning it to the field, due to its special ability!" A white muscular panther appeared on the field with the body of a man. It wore white armor, giant sharp claws on its right hand, and piercing green eyes. In its left hand was a thin golden ax. "Then, I sacrifice this bad boy to bring out my ace Athena!" A smirk appeared on Carl's face as her Wulf, Lightsworn Beast disappeared from the field, replaced by a beautiful young goddess with flowing white hair, frilly dress, and shining armor. The audience applauded for the summon of Athena.
Immediately, Athena's white staff glowed a brilliant white-gold, and blast it at Zane, leaving his life points at 3400. Zane looked up with an almost irritating glare, but seemed to expect the attack. Carl showed a victorious smirk on her face, feeling as though her chances of winning were fairly close, but wasn't cocky either.
"Looks like she finally summoned that bitch," Ronda muttered.
"Has she ever defeated Zane before?" Atticus asked with such interest.
"Not that I know of. The closest she came was last year, when they ended in a tie. Of course, that was before the tie breaker," Syrus replied.
"It's too bad she doesn't go for playboys or I'd totally take her out on a date," Atticus said with a smile of his own lit up.
"So you do admit that you're a w****," Alexis teased with a smirk upon her lips.
"Oh, little sis, why must you be so mean?" Atticus whined.
"Because your face is worth it," Alexis replied as Atticus pouted.
"My Athena attacks your Cyber Twin Dragon!" Carl declared as Athena's wand lit, and a white-gold blast hit Cyber Twin Dragon.
"Did you forget about the ability of my Barrier Dragon, or is your face-down card prepared for that?" Zane smirked, activating the effect of Cyber Barrier Dragon.
"Oh, I remember..." Carl replied, revealing her trap card Divine Wrath, discarding Holy Sanctuary. "And that's how I planned on destroying it." Zane shot a glare as a swirling vortex, appearing in dark clouds, struck Cyber Barrier Dragon with a great lightning bolt, destroying it. Then, Athena continued its attack, bursting Cyber Twin Dragon from the field, and leaving Zane with 3100 life points remaining. "And, I'll activate Trade-in to discard Darklord Superbia to the graveyard, then place one card face-down before ending my turn!" Carl's face-down card activated, then drew two cards from her deck to her hand. Carl folded one card, then the audience clapped for the end of Carl's turn.
Zane drew his next card, then checked his hand. Carl seemed to have changed her combos from the ones she used against her other opponents for this match. Rather that, or she had been saving and keeping them hidden. Zane had to admit, that was a smart move on Carl's part. Though, Zane also had been saving some hidden moves as well.
"I'm gonna be an ass and activate Graverobber," Zane smirked as he activated his face-down card and a little minion wearing a green hat and shoes, carrying a strapped shovel on its back appeared, then took Foolish Burial from Carl's graveyard.
"Once a thief, always a thief," Carl teased.
"Touche," Zane replied slickly, activating Foolish Burial, placing his Cyber Dragon in his graveyard. "Then, I'll use my little friend here..." He showed one of the cards in his hand called Cybernetic Fusion Support. "to bring out my Cyber End Dragon." Zane banished three of his Cyber Dragons from his graveyard as his they all fused together in the light. A three-headed Cyber Dragon with mighty wings appeared on the field as the audience applauded for its summoning.
"Looks like we meet again," Carl smirked, looking directly at the mighty dragon from above.
"Looks like Zane finally summoned his NOT Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon," Atticus responded as his friends chuckled in response.
"Ha, maybe Pegasus will make another white dragon with a long neck and blue eyes made of stardust and call it Stardust NOT Blue-Eyes White Dragon," Syrus smirked as the others laughed.
"My Cyber End Dragon attacks your Athena," Zane smirked.
"I place Honest in the graveyard, and activate its effect!" Carl declared as she discarded Honest and Athena's attack rose to 6600.
"I was afraid of that," Zane muttered to himself. "I play Forbidden Scripture." A holographic girl in a white tunic appeared on the field, holding a book in her hands. She opened it, then chanted some spell in an unfamiliar ancient language before Athena's attack points returned back to it's original. Cyber End Dragon continued its attack, bursting Athena from the field, and leaving Carl with 1600 life points remaining.
"Damnit," Carl seethed between her teeth, while Zane sighed in relief.
'That was too close!' Zane thought to himself. "I end my turn!" The audience clapped for the end of Zane's turn.
Carl drew her next card, biting the corner of her bottom lip. Her eyebrows furrowed, then declared, "I play Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen by banishing Holy Sanctuary from the grave!" Huge castle walls surrounded the field with red curtains, large white pillars, and a throne between Zane and Carl. "Using its special ability, I can bring back Darklord Edeh Arae from the grave!" Darklord Edeh Arae appeared on the field with all of its might. Zane scrunched his eyebrows. "Oh, and I'm not even done yet. I sacrifice Edeh Arae to bring out Caius the Shadow Monarch!" A huge black and purple demon appeared onto the field with a glowing purple orb floating between its hands. Crimson eyes felt like they could stare into the soul of those who stared at them. The audience applauded for the summon of Caius the Shadow Monarch. "Using his special ability, I remove your Cyber End Dragon from play!" Cyber End Dragon burst instantly from the field. "You're lucky your Cyber End Dragon was a light type monster, or it would've cost you 1000 of your life points. Unfortunately, you're wide open for my Shadow Monarch to attack you directly!" Caius the Shadow Monarch shot a black and purple blast at Zane from its glowing purple orb, bringing his life points down to 700. "I hope you can come up with a good combat, or this will be victory for me finally! I end my turn!" The audience clapped for the end of Carl's turn.
While the audience was clapping, Zane's and Carl's friends stared blankly at the duel. Zane was falling behind, and Carl seemed to be catching up. There was no doubt Carl had prepared herself for this duel, looking over every strategy. If Zane didn't start coming up with a brilliant move, and catch up, this duel would be in Carl's favor.
"Do you think this could be Carl's first official victory?" Alexis wondered.
"There's no telling," Syrus replied, biting his bottom lip.
"Not that I'm against Carl winning, but I would like for my girl Jaylin to finally have the duel with Zane that she has been waiting for all these years," Ronda said.
"I do too, but I'd also like for Carl to have her first victory too. She had been working so hard for this," Alexis stated.
"I suppose we can only let fate decide, if Zane or Carl will win this duel," Bastion decided. "Though, I think Carl wants Jaylin to have her duel with Zane too. So, it isn't like she's not losing anything by winning this duel."
Zane drew his next card, knowing that he had to come up with a brilliant move, or lose this duel. If he lost this duel, he wouldn't be able to have the duel with Jaylin they had set their goals on. Zane couldn't let her down, not even in his duel. Zane had to come up with a brilliant strategy to win this duel. No monsters, no face-downs, only one single card in his hand to decide the outcome of this duel. This card was the only chance Zane had to win.
"I play Nightmare's Steelcage!" Zane declared as a huge dome cage surrounded Carl, spikes pointing outside of the cage. "I end my turn." The audience clapped, a little louder since Zane was able to save himself at the last minute, for the end of his turn.
"Nice save there," Carl smirked, drawing her next card. "Though, let's test to see how long that's going to last. I use the ability of my field spell to bring back Honest!" The strong, glowing angel, with brilliant wings and long, flowing coconut hair, appeared on the field. "Then, use Honest's ability to return him to my hand before placing one monster in face-down defense mode. I end my turn." The audience clapped for the end of Carl's turn as Honest disappeared from the field, then one monster card was placed face-down in defense mode
Zane looked at that face-down monster card. There was no doubt it had a flip effect that could be used against him. He had to tread carefully. The Nightmare's Steelcage only prevented Carl's monsters from attacking Zane directly. It did not prevent the effects of spells, traps or even monsters. If Zane didn't come up with a good strategy, Carl would take him out before he could even blink.
Zane drew his next card, then peered at it. He looked at the face-down monster on Carl's field. Could it be? If Zane's guess was correct, then this move just might save him.
"I play Different Dimension Capsule!" Zane declared as he looked through his deck and removed a card from play face-down. "I end my turn." The audience clapped for the end of his turn.
"Looks like you wasted your card..." Carl smirked, drawing her next card. "because I use the effect of Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter!" She flip-summoned her monster her white panther with shining white armor. It shot a light gold blast from its mouth, blasting Different Dimension Capsule from the field. "I end my turn, and that's the end for your Steelcage!" The Nightmare's Steelcage disappeared as Zane placed it in his graveyard. The audience clapped for the end of Carl's turn. "Think you have a chance of catching up?"
Zane smirked, drawing his next card, as he took the card he banished, due to the effect of Different Dimension Capsule, and added it to his hand. Carl stared with widened eyes, confused by this. Zane replied, "yes."
A/N: Let's see if you can guess what card effect Zane used in order for that card to end up in his hand. No, it isn't Different Dimension Capsule. I'll give you a hint. It's the effect of the face-down card he just added to his hand from his banish pile, which he banished by the effect of Different Dimension Capsule. If you get this right, you win a cookie XD (not really, but you can pretend :3)
By the way, this story is almost my most reviewed story I've written. I very much encourage reviews (if me saying "review please" didn't give it away XD), so I'm gonna give ya a challenge. Usually, I don't do these, but what the heck? So far, I'm at 315 reviews. The 350th reviewer will be given spoilers for the upcoming sequel, and the 400th reviewer will decide whom he/she would like Ronda or Carl to be paired with in that same upcoming sequel. Though, there will be rules on whom you want Carl or Ronda to be paired with.
1. It has to be with a guy; no yuri. I'd like my reputation of no writing yoai or yuri to continue. Though, I will let you know, if I change my mind XD
2. It can only be with a guy around her age range. No pedophilia.
3. It has to be one of the guy characters that exist in the Society of Light Arc or that was already introduced in this story.
4. It cannot be with a guy that's currently dating someone else. It has to be one of the single guys.
5. It cannot be Aster. Eh. Sorry, but... you'll see why when I write the upcoming sequel ^^;
Beyond those five conditions, I'm very okay whom you want one of my OC's to be paired up with. Just keep an eye on the number of reviews, and you just might win the prize. Good luck and thank you for your wonderful reviews XD