The Young Master of the Dragonmaids

by The Imperator 2 you

Joseph Takara is a young man who has come into the ownership of the Dragonmaid cards, a rare set of cards that seem to only appear to a single duelist and whom only 'they' call master. With dreams of becoming a professional duelist, he attends Duel Academy, and with the help of his family of girls, and the help of the rare and beautiful Dragonmaids, his dream might come true.

4. Chapter 4

"Young Master, the time is fast approaching where blissful ignorance must come to an end. We have chosen you to become our master, and you have chosen to protect us with all of your heart. You have the heart of a true duelist… but not the skill of a true duelist…"

"If we are to remain together, you must be prepared, and for that you need one to stand as a symbol…"

=Chapter 4 Prologue=

Sheou stared out of the second story window of Joseph's old room in the Maid of the Dragon's Café, watching the rain pitter and platter in the very early hours of the morning. In a few hours she would go to wake Joseph and his roommates for their classes that day, she would then clean up his room, set his bed, make sure all of his homework and books are in a tidy manner and that he was groomed for the day, as she has done every day. But today she had a great many thoughts on her mind, first and foremost, Titan, the mercenary duelist hired by her 'former' master, Joseph's father.

She had saved Joseph from the Shadow Realm, and it had taken a large portion of her power to keep him, his friends, and Titan from being pulled into a true Shadow Duel.

Power that she didn't want to use but had no choice… or so she believed.

"Why didn't you tell us that it wasn't a real Shadow Game?" Chamber asked from behind her.

She ignored her, knowing that the Chamber Dragonmaid was just giving her a sour attitude and was upset for the decisions she'd made recently.

"Why did you let our master believe he was being consumed by the Shadow Realm? Why did you let our master 'forfeit' any hope of winning that duel?" Chamber asked bitterly. "I know, we aren't meant to influence his choices, we aren't to direct his life, I know the whole speech you're going to tell me!"

"We are his Dragonmaids, we stand in his shadow, and light the way upon the path that he chooses to walk…" She told her.

"So 'why' didn't you let us warn him that the duel was fake?" Chamber asked. "I just do not see what benefit letting Joseph believe he is in danger of losing his soul, offers our master. He was scared, terrified of losing Lorpar, losing his soul, losing his friend's souls! So 'why'?"

She glanced back at Chamber, before looking out at the rain again.

"You can scare the others into not questioning you, you can even scare 'me'… but I'm the only one whom you'll confide any of your personal thoughts to… so 'why'?" Chamber asked bitterly. "I'm asking you in the name of our Master!"

Sheou looked back and only 'glared', her draconic aura slowly appearing and causing Chamber to shudder in fear, but she steeled her resolve and remained where she was.

"I'm not leaving without an answer, you can hit me with that aura all day, but I won't leave until you give me an answer… in the name of our Master!" Chamber said.

Sheou simply stared at Chamber, her draconic aura pushing the Chamber Maid from all directions, until she finally sighed and shut it off, not wishing to waste her time and energy into scaring Chamber away. "Joseph 'chose' to believe the Shadow Game was real, though it infuriated me to learn it was fake… I remained silent, for the sake of Lorpar. When he chose to accept the terms, my hands were tied. While she was in danger, we could not risk him winning the duel but losing her."

"With all due respect, but that answer is extremely pathetic!" Chamber declared. "Even if it meant one of us would be lost, you know that we would gladly sacrifice ourselves if it protected our master from the Shadow Realm!"

"I know… I would do the same if it came to that… but our Master would be heartbroken… losing any of us would truly devastate him. I will not allow him to slip back into that depressed state if I can help it. You know how he was after his grandfather died… it took all we had to draw him out of the ocean he had all but drowned in… if he loses one of us…"

"If he loses one of us then he may slip back, I understand, but if that is the case then 'why' do we not reveal ourselves to him yet!?" Chamber demanded. "He is nearing the age of adulthood, he is nearing the age where we must explain our true existence to him, why have we not revealed ourselves to him? He believes us to be of two bodies, he believes our spirit forms and our human forms to be two different entities! How long can you possibly expect that to last!? We have never had a master this long where we haven't explained the truth to them!"

Silence reigned in the room as she stared out at the rain, watching it pour down, with a flash of thunder in the distance, and seconds later hearing the sound ripple through the air. "We have also never had a master this young before…" She added. "I am taking a gamble with Joseph, he's the last in the line of whom we are contractually required to serve… it is either we serve Joseph, or return to his father…"

"Which is why you entrusted yourself to him at such a young age, we'd had enough serving his father and so you searched for a new master for us. Joseph's Grandfather would have been a better master, but he was too old for us…" Chamber concluded.

"But he was too old for us… if we'd stayed with him any longer… he'd have died far sooner." She said in agreement. "I'd hoped our leaving would extend his life longer… but it didn't. Now we either stay with Joseph or return to his father… those are the only options we have now."

"Why are you talking about his father, I thought we'd agreed to never speak of him now that we serve a new master?"

"Our Former Master sent that 'Shadow Duelist' to reclaim us, 'me' specifically. He knows from the past that if he has 'me' in his control you will follow suit and return to him. However, he forgets that only a 'former master' may attempt to lay claim to us, I will not allow any other to attempt it. But this means that Joseph's father has made the first move against him… and the next time he will come for him, himself." She said sullenly, looking forlornly out the window as the clouds continued to be dark and stormy, rain continuing to hammer at the walls of their refuge. "He will come for him, for us… and our master is not yet ready to properly defend us."

"Joseph is still learning to master our abilities in duels, he needs more time and practice… we need to help inspire him, help him learn faster." Sheou declared as she looked to Chamber. "I still have faith in him however… I still believe in him… I just hope when the time comes, he will be ready to protect us from his father."

There was silence as thunder sounded once more in the distance.

"As do we… 'House'." Chamber replied and walked out the door.

Again, thunder sounded… and she listened to it, as well as the rain. 'I will not return them to that man's service… they have suffered enough… I have endured enough… I 'want' something different… I want… I want…'

*Riiiiiiiiiiiing*

She sighed and walked over to the alarm clock, tapped the silence button, picked up an umbrella and made her way to the Slifer Dorm to carry out her duties, while the others carried out theirs.

=Chapter 4, Alexis versus Joseph=

=The Queen of the Obelisk Blue's Friendship Challenge=

"Duel 'Monster' Cards can be split into Ritual, Fusion, Effect, and Normal Monster Cards, while Spell Cards can be split into Quick Play, Normal, Ritual, Field, Continuous and Equip Magic Cards. Trap Cards can be split into Normal, Continuous, and finally Counter Trap Cards." Alexis said after Doctor Crowler called upon her to explain the various types of Duel Monster Cards, including their Monster, Magic and Trap variants.

"Perfeeeeeeeeect, I would expect nothing less from one of my own Obelisk Blue Students though!" Doctor Crowler said.

"Thank you Doctor Crowler." She said before sitting down.

"Now then who to call upon next… hmmm, how about you Joseph?"

"Y-yes?!" Joseph said as he tried to force himself to snap to alertness upon being called upon.

"Yes, please explain for the class what an Equip Spell does."

"Uh… yes… an Equip Spell… uhm… uh… equips to a monster and depending on what the text says, it can have many types of effects… uh ranging from affecting a monster's attack and defense points, to changing its position or even canceling certain effects." He said, quickly remembering that from his homework last night.

"Hmm, not bad, not good but not bad. You missed a few details but overall, an accurate description. Very good, you may be seated!"

He nodded gratefully before sitting down, while Doctor Crowler called upon Syrus to answer what a Counter Trap does. He would have listened more, but he was struggling just to keep his eyes open. He didn't understand why, but ever since that duel with that pretend Shadow Duelist, he has been feeling extremely tired. He just felt like he had not had enough energy to do 'anything'. Try as he might, as hard as he fought, he was just feeling tired and drained of energy. It didn't help that Crowler decided to assign them some 'extra' homework all of a sudden, to go along with his other assignments.

In test duels with his fellow Slifers he was struggling to stay focused, much like he was right now as he heard a faint bell ringing in the distance.

'Master… master… MASTER!'

"Huh?" He said as his eyes snapped open.

"Class is over master, everyone's starting to leave.' Lorpar said sweetly as she floated in front of him.

Sure enough, around him his fellow Slifers, Ras and Obelisks taking Doctor Crowler's class were packing their notebooks away and getting ready to leave. Once again, he had all but slept through another of his classes, only keeping his attention enough to give the 'appearance' of being alert.

"Ugh… at least today wasn't as bad." He muttered as he quickly put his stuff away and started to get ready to leave.

"You've been awfully sleepy lately; does it have anything to do with that duelist?" Syrus asked him quietly.

"I doubt… that was over a week ago… and his whole 'Shadow Duel' thing was a façade. Besides, you, Alexis and Chumley were there, and you guys are fine." He muttered back.

"Mr. Takara, a word if you please!" Doctor Crowler shouted, causing him to look up at the professor.

He nodded and while everyone else began leaving he finished packing his bag and then walked over to his desk. "Yes, Doctor Crowler?"

"I just want you to know that tomorrow I have another Test Duel being scheduled for you."

"Another… but… I've already had three this week!" He started complaining before he yawned.

"Get some sleep then because I will have no excuses for you if you miss tomorrow other than a note from the infirmary!" Doctor Crowler snapped, before calming down and giving him a calm expression. "I know I've been pushing you this past week, but that's because I'm trying to get you to do your best. Your grades have started going up, you're doing better on your homework assignments, your test scores… well they could still see some improvement, but most importantly your dueling skills haven't been showing any signs of improvement if any! You've failed the last 'three' Test Duels I assigned you and for any student of mine that is unacceptable!"

'Not to mention your sleep schedule's been in tatters…' Ernus muttered from over his shoulder.

'It's not master's fault, he's just trying so hard to study at night!' Nudyarl moaned as she appeared behind his other shoulder.

'With all that studying you'd think Master would have passed at least 'one' of his Test Duels, but he just keeps getting such horrible draw luck…' Lorpar said now as she sighed.

'Hush!' Tinkech hissed as Crowler began talking again.

"Tomorrow you're going to be dueling, and since I've noticed you've been nodding off, I'll let you off tonight on homework, so you can get some shut eye. As for your opponent I'll go through the list of Slifer Students to see who you can duel that's at your level…"

"I'll duel him." A voice called out.

He looked behind him to see none other than Alexis Rhodes, standing with a smile as she walked down the steps toward him and Doctor Crowler.

"Alexis Rhodes, why on earth would you want to duel a Slifer Red for a test duel?" Doctor Crowler said in confusion. "Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against wanting to prove your dueling skills for the class, but to do so for a simple test duel, and not even an important one at that… is beneath one of 'your' caliber."

"I understand but I would still like to duel Joseph Takara, which is why I filled out this duel request form." She said, handing a sheet of paper over to him. "It's a personal request Doctor Crowler, even if it is only for a test duel to gauge his skills, I would love the chance to duel him in front of the class."

"Hmmm…" The professor muttered as he examined the form before nodding. "Very well Alexis Rhodes, I'll let you off tonight on homework as well for the sake of the duel tomorrow. Get some rest, and I expect you to win for all Obelisk Blue students. Even if it is only for a test duel, I will accept nothing less than victory from you is that clear? Joseph, don't take it too harsh if and or when you lose to Alexis, if you lose then you'll just have to do the homework I 'would' have assigned you today."

"Yes, Doctor Crowler!" They both said.

With that they both left the classroom, Joseph yawning as Sheou followed behind him, diligently waiting at the back of the classroom as always for him to leave so she could follow to his next destination.

"So where are you headed now?" Alexis asked.

"I think I'll get some early shut eye, I'm just feeling tired, and if I'm going to be dueling you tomorrow, Alexis, I'm going to need all the sleep I can get."

"Alexis is that true, you're dueling a Slifer Red tomorrow?"

From down the hallway two girls about Alexis' age had walked up to them to talk to Alexis, both of them were Obelisk Blue students, which meant like most Obelisks they completely ignored him in favor of talking to her.

"Why are you dueling a Slifer Red Alexis, they're totally not worth your time girl."

"I told you I have my own reasons." She told them as they all walked away, leaving him and Sheou to head back to the Slifer Red dorm.

"I wonder why she wants to duel me…" He muttered to himself.

"I would not know Master." Sheou replied warmly.

Back at the Slifer Dorm his friends Syrus and Chumley were also surprised that Alexis Rhodes wanted to duel him, for a 'test duel' of all things. "Why does she want to duel you Joseph, you're in Slifer Red, no offense but your hardly someone of her skill level, let alone someone she should be dueling to begin with."

"Wow, thanks for the vote of confidence Syrus, way to make me feel better about my chances…" He muttered to him. "So how good is Alexis?"

"From what I know she's the strongest of Obelisk Blue's female students, and she's got the skills to back up that claim." Chumley said as Sheou walked over to them to serve tea.

"So how do I duel the likes of her?" He asked them.

"Well, if I were you Joseph, when you're dueling her, just think what 'I' would do… you know, using your cards I mean…"

"Thanks Chumley, I'll try to keep that in mind." He chuckled.

He sighed as he took a drink and thought about that, what chance did he have against a girl that strong when he's only been doing 'well' against fellow Slifers. Sure, he won those early test duels but the surprise factor of his Dragonmaids had worn off, and everyone now knew how they worked and weren't as surprised as Doctor Crowler had been when they made their debut to the school.

People now had at least one or two strategies to try and deal with them, even if they weren't the best or most ideal.

"I am just glad Doctor Crowler let me off homework tonight for the sake of tomorrow's duel… I need as much sleep as I can get!"

'Not to mention you need your rest to get all hyped up again!' Nudyarl said as she appeared in front of him.

'Sleep is very important for your health; you don't want to be all cranky and ill tempered!' Ernus declared as she appeared sitting in his lap.

He ignored the two of them as a knock on the door sounded, and Sheou got up to answer it, before returning holding a large tray of food for them. "Kite sent you all dinner."

"Licious!" Chumley said as he started digging into his dinner.

"That was nice of her to make us all food." Syrus said.

"Kite always did this for me when I was too tired to come down to eat." He explained as he also ate. "I wonder how she knew I wasn't going to eat at the café today?"

'I wonder that as well…' Nudyarl said with a smirk to Ernus, who also smirked back.

"I have no idea young Master, but perhaps you should eat up and then head to bed, you still have 'some' homework to do tonight." Sheou told him. "As you do not intend to leave your dorm tonight, I will take my leave and head to the café, please enjoy your day and if you require anything, do not hesitate to call upon me Joseph."

"Thanks, Sheou, I think I can handle putting my socks on by myself." He chuckled as she left with a smile.

After they ate Chumley and Syrus decided to head over to the café to hang out and chill with the other students, while Joseph changed into his pajamas and got some early sleep. All the while he was watched with worried expressions from the Dragonmaids Nudyarl, Ernus and now Lorpar, who floated over him.

'Do you think this is because of us?' Nudyarl asked.

'Of course it is, House used her powers to keep the shadows at bay, not to mention she transported Master and his friends to safety 'and' she dueled in his place.' Ernus explained.

'Using her powers to do that takes a toll on our master's stamina…' Lorpar whispered. 'His body wasn't ready for that, so it's taking time to recover.'

'How long though?' Nudyarl asked worriedly.

'I'd say another night, Tinkech has been making him her special food that will speed up the recovery, all he needs now is some rest.' Ernus told her as she examined his sleeping expression more closely.

'Alright, let's go Ernus, its Nudyarl's turn to keep an eye on his dreams, we've got work to do at the café… you know how the boss gets when we aren't there on time.'

Ernus nodded to Lorpar and both vanished, while Nudyarl sidled up to her master, curled up around him, and nuzzled his cheek before closing her eyes to focus on keeping his dreams pleasant for the night.

At the café however, Alexis and her friends were enjoying drinks and cake with all of the other students, listening to the classical music on full display alongside the idle chatter and talk from all of the other patrons. While they ate, they chatted and talked, mostly about her sudden desire to duel Joseph in one of his test duels. Her friends, like several other girls in their dorm were asking her why she suddenly filled out a Duel Request form, specifically for a 'Slifer Red' of all opponents, and why use it for a simple test duel?

"Like come on Alexis, there are way hunkier guys in Obelisk Blue you could duel, who not to mention happen to have a thing for you." Jasmine said.

"Yea, Joseph may have a nice deck and all, but he just stinks, you only need to see his last few test duels." Mindy also said, agreeing with her friend. "He can't even beat his fellow Slifers in a test duel, I honestly think he won his duel against Doctor Crowler by sheer dumb luck."

"I told you, it's a personal reason." She said with a smile. "I don't think he just suddenly can't duel; I want to duel him to see how good he is for myself. A freshman doesn't beat a duelist like Crowler unless they have 'some' skill to their name, and I want to see what kind of skill he has for myself."

"I still think he's not worth the time, you could have used that Duel Request form on someone like Zane."

"I have my reasons girls, juuuust trust me on this." She said.

Truth be told, she was hoping to duel him as a way of seeing just how good he was after she saw how he dueled Chazz and that fake Shadow Duelist. Against Chazz he was able to learn how to time his plays in relation to the opponent, while against the Shadow Duelist, even with his hands tied was able to turn the tide. But she wanted to see what he was like as a duelist for herself.

With that she and her friends just sat in the café and relaxed, chatting about random things, and Alexis idly pulling out her dueling deck to think up some random strategies and potential plays against Joseph's Dragonmaids.

She knew how hard it was to get rid of them once they were either on the field or in the graveyard. Even in the worst-case scenario, as soon as one Maid got a footing on the field, usually the others would make their way onto it as well. The biggest threat she surmised, would of course be the big 'boss monster' of his deck, the House Dragonmaid. Then of course his maids' ability to call upon each other in one way or another, Nurse being able to send the maids to the grave and key trap or magic cards, Parlor sending the key cards needed, Nurse bringing the maids back to the field, and Kitchen bringing a Dragonmaid from the deck to the hand.

'Well either way, it's going to be interesting dueling him tomorrow!' She thought enthusiastically as she put her cards in order.

The next day came and instead of Doctor Crowler's desk, it was now an empty space for the test duel between Joseph and Alexis. Alexis was handed her Test Duel Disk while Joseph was handed his, as is tradition for test exams in class. While most, if not 'every' student either had their own Duel Disk or an Academy assigned one, during specific occasions, namely during Test Duels, students shared one of 'three' sets of Duel Disks, each set being assigned to Obelisk Blue, Ra Yellow, or Slifer Red as needed.

This was because the academy required it for the sake of record purposes and dueling test scores, otherwise they'd use their own Duel Disks.

So instead of Joseph with his normal, 'Draconic' custom-built Duel Disk, he was wielding the standard Duel Academy Duel Disk, just as she was sporting, only his was red and hers was blue.

[Alright Class, this is a Test Duel between Joseph Katara and Alexis Rhodes, duelist scores will be provided at the end of the duel, life points don't determine your score, but obviously if you 'win' your score will be higher than if you'd lost. Now Duelists, activate your duel disks, shuffle your decks and draw your first hands.]

Both nodded and activated their disks, watched as their decks were shuffled, and drew their firsthand.

[Joseph Takara – 4000 / Alexis Rhodes – 4000]

Joseph drew his first hand and grimaced.

[Dragonmaid Lorpar, Dragonmaid Sendoff, Dragonmaid Sendoff, Mirror Force, Dragonmaid Tidying]

"Horrible hand 'again'?" He muttered nervously as Alexis drew her cards across from him. "What kind of rotten luck is this…"

"Alright Joseph, I'll start this duel off if you don't mind!" Alexis said and he agreed, he needed the extra turn to avoid being attacked. "I draw then, and for my first turn, I summon Cyber Tutu to the field in attack mode!"

From her hand she summoned a gymnast themed duel monster, in a cyberpunk-asthetic outfit with pink hair, a red and light/blue skin tight outfit, pink ballerina shoes and matching ribbons. She spun as she appeared, before settling down with a smirk.

[Cyber Tutu, LVL 3, Earth Attribute, Warrior Type, Effect Monster, 1000 Atk / 800 Def]

"Next up I'll play two cards face down, and that will do it for now Joseph!"

"Guess I'm up then." He said as he drew his next card and looked at it to groan inwardly.

[United We Stand]

"What good is that card to me right now, I have no monsters to use it on…" He muttered as he tried to think of something he could do. "Alright… uh, I play 'one' card face down… and end my turn."

On the field a face down Mirror Force appeared in front of him, and he heard the mutterings of his fellow classmates, obviously talking about how he only had one face down to take on Alexis, and more importantly had not been able to summon one of his prized Dragonmaids, in their dragon or maid form.

Alexis too looked disappointedly at the face down and downtrodden expression of her friend and opponent. 'That's it, that's the best you can do for turn one?' She thought as she nodded and took her next card. 'Well, knowing Joseph, since he's got none of his Maids on the field it's either a trap card to give him a life point boost, or destroy my monsters… or it's a bluff meant to make me cautious. Even if he is my friend, I won't make this easy on him, even if it 'is' a practice duel.'

"I play one more card face down and sacrifice Cyber Tutu to summon Cyber Prima to the field into attack mode!"

Cyber Tutu was wrapped in a pillar of light and soon was replaced by a new Cyber Girl, this time one with flowing blond hair, wearing a blue and red mask, a silver skintight suit and sporting several golden hoops around her waist, shoulders and wrists.

[Cyber Prima, LVL 6, Light Attribute, Warrior Type, Effect Monster, 2300 Atk / 1600 Def]

"Normally when this monster is summoned, I can destroy all Spell Cards on the field, but since none are active, I'll instead activate one of the cards I set last turn, Call of the Haunted!"

[When the trap card, Call of the Haunted is activated, you can special summon 1 monster from your graveyard onto the field in Attack Mode, but if the selected monster is destroyed or leaves the field this card is destroyed, if this card leaves the field, then the monster selected is destroyed.]

"With this card, I'll bring back the Cyber Tutu that I just sacrificed back to the field, so welcome back Cyber Tutu!"

Next to Cyber Prima, Cyber Tutu pirouetted onto the field before coming to a stop, smiling at Joseph alongside Cyber Prima.

[Cyber Tutu, LVL 3, Earth Attribute, Warrior Type, Effect Monster, 1000 Atk / 800 Def]

"Now that they're both on the field, I'll wage a direct attack on you, starting with Cyber Tutu!"

Cyber Tutu bowed before twirling and dancing her way over to Joseph to deliver a powerful kick to his life points.

"I activate my face down card… Mirror Force!" He countered, activating his trap card in an attempt to survive the turn. "I can activate this card whenever you wage an attack against me with a monster, due to this card's effect, all your face up monsters in attack mode are destroyed!"

'Knew it…' She thought disappointedly. "Good try Joseph, but I counter your card with one of my own, Angel Blast!"

The other face down card she'd played on her first turn now flipped up at her command.

"I can only activate this card when my opponent activates an effect that destroys monster cards on my side of the field. Now not only is the card's effect negated, but it's also destroyed!"

He watched in horror as his card vanished and now there was nothing to stop her monsters from attacking him directly. Cyber Tutu stopped in front of him, paused for the dramatic effect, smirked and winked, before twirling and kicking him in the groin to deal 1000 points of direct damage.

Reflectively he grimaced and recoiled, even if it 'was' a hologram.

'Ouch… that is going to hurt in the morning…' Lorpar muttered painfully.

"Not… helping… me…" He replied as Cyber Tutu returned to Alexis' side of the field.

[Joseph Takara – 3000 / Alexis Rhodes – 4000]

"Now that you've had a taste of my Cyber Tutu, it's Cyber Prima's turn to slap your life points down, with a direct attack of her own!"

Now Cyber Prima began cartwheeling her way over to Joseph, and just like before he had nothing to save his points as she cartwheeled and kicked Joseph in the stomach this time, before returning to Alexis' side of the field.

[Joseph Takara – 700 / Alexis Rhodes – 4000]

He recoiled from the attack and looked at his next draw, sighing gratefully for the slim chance he now had to make some kind of comeback.

[Graceful Charity]

Lorpar floated next to him to look at him with a worried expression.

'You need to do something master… we can't lose another match without being able to fight back!'

"I know… so let's hope this works… I play Graceful Charity; with this card's effect I can draw three cards, but I must discard two!"

He played the card and then drew his three cards, before groaning inwardly as he drew…

[Dragonmaid Sendoff, Dragonmaid Welcome, Dragonmaid Hospitality]

"Not a lot of options, but at least I have 'something' to work!" He said as he sent two of his Dragonmaid Sendoffs to the grave and kept Hospitality. "Now I play the magic card I just drew, Dragonmaid Hospitality!"

His last hope to make some kind of play was played on the field, with the magic card appearing on the field.

Alexis however sighed as she knew it was over.

"I counter with Solemn Judgement!" She said and activated her last trap card. "I pay half of my life points, and not only do I negate your magic card's effect and activation, but I also destroy it…"

[Joseph Takara – 700 / Alexis Rhodes – 2000]

He stared as an old man and two ladies in white robes appeared in front of him, and then the old man raised his hand and pointed at his magic card, causing it to shudder and disappear in a cascade of light, ending his last hope to fight back.

'Not good…' Lorpar moaned.

Grimacing, he looked at his options, and found that he had none. Lorpar could do 'something' but without any maids to summon his life points were doomed, his remaining magic cards couldn't activate and the one he could was useless without any of his maids.

"I… play one card on the field, and end my turn…" He said bitterly.

She knew it was over, he had nothing to work with, the face down was a bluff and 'everyone' in the classroom knew it. If he'd had a card that could have saved him, he would have played it last turn to help counter her double direct attack, that Hospitality card he drew with Graceful Charity was his last chance and she just shattered it with one card. This was 'not' how she wanted to win this duel, with Joseph not being able to mount any kind of resistance, and what little he had was paltry in comparison. 'Sorry Joseph, I'd give you a free turn, but if I did that my own test score would go down… I'll at least… 'try' to make it look like I bought your bluff a little bit.'

She drew her next card and said, "Alright Joseph, I play another card face down… and I'll have Cyber Tutu move in to finish the duel!"

Cyber tutu nodded and twirled her way over to Joseph. He watched as he was unable to stop the attack, his face down card being Dragonmaid Welcome, and so felt her kick his groin one more time with a pirouette before dancing her way back over to Alexis.

[Joseph Takara – 0 / Alexis Rhodes – 2000]

'Suddenly I don't like Alexis anymore…' Lorpar said as she vanished from sight, leaving Joseph alone to endure the disappointed voices of his fellow Slifers, while the Ras and Obelisks all talked down about him and his 'precious dragon maids'.

He sighed as he glanced down and saw that after the life point counter disappeared his 'grade' for the duel was shown. "Great… a 'D –', just what I needed… gatta love how those extra hours I spent studying at night are paying off." He muttered as he removed the duel disk and took the walk of shame back to his seat.

Alexis only glanced at the 'A' she got while watching Joseph return to his seat in disappointment and shame, but at the same time she was eyeing his duel disk with suspicious eyes. That was the fourth Test Duel where Joseph had horrible draw luck, and more importantly drew Graceful Charity on his second turn and failed to get 'anything' good. She knows all about 'Bricked Hands' as the term is called for when a duelist has a hand with cards they can't do anything with, but to get a bricked hand four duels in a row? The duel disks are supposed to make sure that almost never happens with their 'state of the art shuffle feature'. The only way that happens is if the deck is built extremely poorly, and while Joseph's deck is lacking in monster variety, it isn't lacking in ways he can make a move.

"Well done Alexis, not that I expected anything else from one of my Obelisk Blue students." Doctor Crowler said proudly. "Joseph, a word after class."

"Yes, Doctor Crowler." He muttered as everyone started muttering about how he was in trouble.

"Guess the Slifer Slacker didn't pass another test! What happened to those famous maids of yours, did they decide to take today's duel off as well?" Chazz laughed as his friends began making fun of him as well, causing some of the other Obelisk Blues and a few of the Ra Yellows to laugh as well.

After class ended and everyone left, he walked down from his seat to speak with Doctor Crowler and braced himself for the worst-case scenario… which happened.

"This is the 'fourth' Test Duel you've failed Joseph, 'four', in a 'row'!" Doctor Crowler yelled angrily. "Even if it was against an Obelisk Blue student, I expected you to put up a better fight! A 'C' at the bare minimum, but two 'Fs' a two 'Ds', that is UNACCEPTABLE in my classroom!"

"I'm trying Doctor Crowler, I really am, I'm studying as hard as I can but…"

"NO BUTS, now… you will march straight to your dorm room and get started on that homework I 'graciously' let you off on yesterday, and you will have it done and on my desk tomorrow morning, or I will have to consider taking your case to Chancellor Shepard and have him consider your position here at Duel Academy! AM I CLEAR?"

He nodded and replied that he did, before turning around and once again, performing the walk of shame, this time back to the Slifer Red dorm.

Outside Alexis watched Joseph walking with a cloud of depression floating above him, and once more felt sorry for him. 'Something isn't right… Joseph isn't that weak.' She thought, having listened in on the conversation between him and Doctor Crowler.

Not that she needed to overhear it, with how loud he shouted every student at the academy probably heard him.

"So, is it true Alexis?" A snobby voice asked behind her, and she turned to see Chazz smirking. "Is it true that Takara is on the verge of flunking out of Duel Academy?"

"Seems so… but his duels have seemed weird lately." She told him in a sour tone. "There's bad dueling and there's bad draw luck, but you rarely get both in the same duel 'four' duels in a row."

"Heh, maybe he just doesn't belong here." Chazz muttered as he walked away with a smirk. "I told him he didn't belong, he just got lucky, nothing more…"

'I highly doubt that…' She thought as she walked down to the school's library.

Meanwhile at the Slifer Red dorm, Joseph was in his room alone as he asked Syrus and Chumley to leave him alone until bedtime, so he could focus on doing his homework and so he could come to terms with the fact that one more failed Test Duel and his time here at Duel Academy might as well be over. He'd been dreaming of coming here, becoming a professional duelist, standing in front of a crowd and showing off his skills and proving how great he was, all using the strength of his favorite cards the Dragonmaids.

"Now I'm just one more rotten draw away from packing my bags to board the first boat off the island…" He muttered quietly to himself. "Might as well just give up at this point…"

'You can't give up… this is your dream!' Tinkech said as she appeared before him.

"What's the point… I study and I study, I spend nights studying, I do my best and all I need is a bad draw to throw all of my hard work out the window." He told them as he just stopped doing his homework. "Maybe I should just throw in the towel while I still have 'some' dignity left to my name, turn in a 'Drop Out' form and board the next boat home… maybe I can work here at the Café like before since it's here now. Maybe all I'm cut out for is just being a waiter…"

'Don't give up Master… please!' Lorpar moaned sadly as she floated next to him now.

'Yea… please don't give up… because if you give up…' Nudyarl whispered fearfully as she appeared behind him, gripping his shoulder with a worried expression.

"Then what… what happens if I just give up at this point?" He asked as he looked at them. "I'm just one more duel away from being kicked out anyway, at least this way if I drop out, everyone will just remember me as the failure who dropped out, instead of the failure who flunked out and was kicked out in disgrace!"

'Because if you give up…' Ernus said sadly, looking at him with a sad frown as she floated between Lorpar and Tinkech. 'Then we'll give up… because we wanted you to succeed… and we'll do our best no matter what you do to make your dream come true!'

'And we love you too much to want to see you drop out… after all the effort and work you went through to get here… from getting your own duel disk, to signing up to attend here, to defeating Doctor Crowler in front of a crowd… you even overcame your fear of dueling in front of crowds just to come here…' Tinkech said as she floated closer to him, choosing to sit in his lap and look at him with sad eyes. 'So please… don't give up… we still believe in you… we know you can win… so please? Don't give up, please?'

He sighed as he turned around in his chair to return to doing his homework. "I need to do my homework anyway… all this talk of dropping out isn't going to help me."

His dragons looked sadly at him before looking at one another, and sighing to themselves as they vanished, leaving him alone… all but one, Nudyarl. Instead, she floated next to him and nuzzled his cheek affectionately, whispering, 'No matter what we'll always believe in you master… we love you… and will 'always' be by your side.'

He glanced at her and smiled gratefully, before patting her affectionately on the head, which made her smile happily in return. "Thanks, Nudyarl… I'll try to win the next duel."

She purred in response before vanishing to let him do his homework again.

Back with Alexis she walked out of the library with a stack of numbered duel cards that the academy uses sometimes to test duel disks for faulty shuffle mechanics. She'd rented a set of 40, each numbered 1 to 40 to simulate a standard 'optimized' dueling deck, and now was walking to where the academy's Testing Duel Disks were sitting in storage. She'd timed her walk back to the storage room so that nobody would be around, specifically academy security, as students weren't allowed near the test disks for the risk of them altering them.

Fortunately, as she walked down the corridor, Academy Security happened to be walking away from the storage room, and she quickly slipped down and into the storage room.

She locked the room and quickly headed to the shelf holding the 'Slifer' testing duel disks.

"Alright, if I recall the one Joseph used was S-4…" She muttered.

Normally she wouldn't risk doing this, but she just absolutely refused to believe that Joseph was both a 'bad duelist' and had 'rotten luck' four duels in a row, not after she watched him dueling against Crowler, Chazz and even that Shadow Duelist. He had moves, and he had the skill to fight and hold his own, she refused to believe that he suddenly stinks after all of that.

"There you are…"

She found the duel disk, put on some gloves and turned it on, slid the counting deck into the card holder and activated the shuffle mechanic. She watched as it shuffled the cards, and after it finished, she drew the first five cards to simulate an opening hand. As she narrowed her eyes she drew the first card, then the second, the third… and the fourth.

Then she extracted all of the cards, ordered them again, and then inserted the deck again to shuffle it. She repeated the process of shuffling it, drawing cards, reorganizing the cards and then shuffling them again only to draw until she was satisfied with her findings. Then she took the disk she used in the test duel, and repeated the process again, until she was satisfied with her findings.

She decided to take both duel disks back to her dorm, packing both into a nearby duffel bag, and quietly slipped out to try and sneak back to her dorm room. She tripped and nearly fell forward as she saw the shoes of Academy Security rounding the corner, panicking as she tried to think of some excuse to explain why she was there, expecting them to stop her…

"Kyaaaaaaarwaaatchooooout!"

Only to be even more surprised as a set of clothes was suddenly flung at them, as Luna the Laundry Maid fell forward into the hallway, quickly apologizing as she knocked Academy Security backward, saying how she's sorry for carrying too many clothes at once.

"I'm sorry!" She shouted in a panic, rushing forward and backward, trying to gather all the clothes and a basket filled with laundry. "Kyaaaaaaah!"

Once again, the maid panicked as she tried carrying too much and fell backward, this time throwing the laundry to land on security again.

"Beg your pardon, I'm sorry sorry sorry!"

Not wanting to get caught, and happy for the distraction, she ran, hopped, and got around the minefield of clothes and tangled bodies to get away. Glancing back, she swore she saw Luna giving a thumbs up from the pile of clothes for a split second, but just as quickly began flailing around trying to get up.

At her dorm again, she sighed as she slid the duffel bag under her bed, pulled out a piece of paper and started writing a note. After sealing it up in an envelope, she got up to go and deliver it, when a knock on the door sounded, and the voice of Amber the 'Chamber Maid' that sometimes visited the rooms of the students sounded.

"Chamber Maid, do you need cleaning done?"

"Uh… no but, can you come in anyway?" She asked.

The door opened and Amber the maid walked in, bowing gracefully with her hands clasped before her.

"May I be of assistance my lady?"

"Yea, you know where Joseph's room is right?"

"Of course, he is my 'little brother' after all~." She said with a smirk.

"Yea… can you deliver this to his room for me?" She asked, offering her the envelope.

"As you wish my lady…" Amber told her, accepting the letter and walking out with it.

As the door closed Alexis questioned how these maids just seem to 'appear' at almost the perfect times. Days ago, she had to run back to her room to grab a book she forgot, and Amber was there to open the door and hand her the book saying she was cleaning and found it lying on the floor. Before that she was feeling a little woozy, and thinking she was sick was about to head to the infirmary when 'Sun' just so happened to round the corner and ask if she was alright, and just so happened to be carrying medicine to help her. Today it was Luna clumsily trying to carry too much laundry and just so happened to be taking the route she was, and Amber just so happened to make a house call.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say they had a sixth sense for these things."

Hours later, Joseph had finally finished his homework assigned by Crowler, and after checking it to make sure it was correct and he wouldn't get in trouble, tossed his pen down and shoved the work into his bag.

"FINALLY DONE!" He screamed cheerfully, to gloomily glance at the clock and see it was two hours before bedtime. "Which gives me enough time to study some more, before I can fall asleep in case Doctor Crowler springs a Pop Quiz duel on me…"

'Master you need a break!' Lorpar said as she appeared in front of him. 'Why not go to the café, take a load off… rest… you study too hard you'll wear yourself down… and then you'll never pass another test duel!'

"Yea, but if I don't study and I fail another Test Duel, then I can kiss my time here at Duel Academy goodbye." He muttered, before regretfully turning around again and pulling out his deck to pretend duel an opponent and practice his combos.

*knock knock knock*

"Joseph… it's me Amber."

Lorpar vanished as he got up and opened the door to see Amber smiling warmly at him, holding out an envelope for him.

"This is for you 'master'."

"Huh, who's it from?" He asked as he opened and read it. "It's from Alexis…"

"Ara Ara, a secret date request?" She said slyly, smirking and rubbing his head affectionately. "You sly boy, who knew you had it in you!"

"She says she wants to duel me, and she wants me to meet her outside of the Obelisk Blue Girl's Dorm, an hour before bedtime…" He told her.

"Dear Joseph, our last duel doesn't count in my opinion, I want to duel you at your best. Meet me at the Obelisk Blue Girl's Dorm, west side, near the lake an hour before bedtime, bring your duel disk, and don't worry, we'll be alone. Alexis-"

He glanced at the time and glanced at his deck, before thinking about if he should go duel Alexis. He considered her his friend, and he knew she'd probably not care if he lost or won, but what happens if he loses 'again' to her, and this time without rotten luck to blame?

"Well… the hole I'm in can't get any deeper, can it?" He asked himself as he turned and grabbed his duel disk, strapped it on and left with his deck in tow.

"Would you like me to… leave a note for your friends if they come back?" Amber asked him politely.

"Tell them I'm elsewhere… down by the lake clearing my head!" He told her and she nodded. "Not like it's a lie when you think about it…"

Minutes after he left Syrus and Chumley walked into the room, both talking happily as they just had an amazing meal and watched a cool movie the café was kind enough to host for the night.

"Hey, where's Joseph, isn't he supposed to be here still?" Syrus asked quietly as Amber was setting their beds for them.

"Yea, is he alright?" Chumley asked.

"He is fine…" Amber said politely. "Young Master Joseph is simply by the lake clearing his head, he will return later for bed…"

"I hope he's alright…" Syrus said worriedly. "He's been feeling down since his test duel today."

"I'm sure he just needs some motivation…" She replied warmly, finishing their beds and then leaving. "Have a pleasant night young masters…"

The trip to the girl's dorm for Obelisk Blue was uneventful for the most part, just exceptionally quiet for Joseph. As he walked, he thought how he was going to duel against Alexis, now that he had a slightly better idea of how her deck worked. She was good on the offense and the defense; she countered his every move… what moves he could make at least… and slammed him with insane damage the second his defenses were down.

Meanwhile he couldn't get a single maid out during their duel, and without his maids he stood no chance of beating her.

"Alright, so first thing's first… get my girls on the field…"

'Isn't that our plan for every duel?' Tinkech said with a chuckle.

"Oh, stop it… you know what I mean." He replied.

'Oh yea, we know what you mean 'master'~!' Nudyarl laughed.

'He can't 'wait' to get us on the field… isn't that right 'master'?' Lorpar giggled.

He shook his head and ignored their teasing, this was how they always acted… and he was grateful, it made him temporarily forget his fears of being expelled.

He reached the lake near the Obelisk Blue Girl's Dorm that bordered it on the west side and was going to make his way toward the entrance when a pair of voices shouted at him from nearby.

"Hey what are you doing here!?"

He turned around and saw to his surprise Alexis' two friends, on their way back to the dorm from the direction of the café. Both of them were glaring daggers at him and looking at him with accusing eyes.

"Uh… I was invited by Alexis… she asked for me to meet her hear at the Obelisk Blue Girl's Dorm…" He explained, reaching into his pocket to show them the letter.

"I don't care who 'invited' you… this dorm is off limits to ALL boys… any boy caught here without a teacher escort is grounds for immediate expulsion!" One of them said.

"What Mindy said, give us one good reason why we shouldn't turn you in right this second and get you thrown out of the academy 'flunky'!"

"W-wait… I uh…" He stammered, trying to think of 'something'.

"Because I 'did' invite him here!"

They all turned to see Alexis walking up to them, a duffel bag in hand and her duel disk on her arm.

"Alexis, you actually 'invited' him here?" Her other friend asked incredulously.

"That's right, I invited him here for a rematch, our earlier duel doesn't count… and I want a 'real' duel with him with no stakes, academic or otherwise."

"But Alexis, he stinks, he can't even beat his fellow Slifers…"

"No Mindy, he 'isn't'… but a duel with him will prove it to you both." Alexis said as she put the duffel bag on the ground. "Now… Joseph, let's have a duel... just you and me, no risks, no grades… just us, our decks, and our duel disks!"

"I still say…"

"No Jasmine, do not even 'think' of calling him out or turning him in." Alexis snapped. "If you say a word, I'll tell the teachers I invited him here to begin with, and take the fall 'with' him… understood?"

"Alexis…" Mindy muttered.

"I know it seems weird, but I have my reason for wanting this rematch… just let me have this duel with him… he deserves it after what's happened to him." Alexis said as she inserted her duel disk and looked at him. "So, Joseph, feel up for a rematch?"

'Get her master!' Nudyarl cheered.

'Get her!" Tinkech cheered as well.

'Show her who's boss!' Ernus called out.

'Take her down master!' Lorpar yelled.

He glanced between her and her duel disk, before staring determinedly at her, inserting his own deck into his duel disk to get ready.

"Alexis, you've got yourself a rematch!" He grinned.

"Game on Joseph!" Alexis smiled back, as both their duel disks activated, Alexis using a standard Duel Academy disk, and Joseph using his draconic duel disk.

[Alexis Rhodes 4000 – Joseph Takara 4000]

Life points set; they both drew their opening hands.

(Joseph) [Laundry Dragonmaid, Dragonmaid Downtime, Numinous Healer, Soul of the Pure, Numinous Healer.]

(Alexis) [Cyber Tutu, Machine Angel Ritual, Etoile Cyber, Cyber Angel Vrash, Call of the Haunted]

"I'll start this rematch off if you don't mind Joseph!" Alexis shouted, to which he nodded, permitting her to draw her first card of their rematch.

[Cyber Tutubon]

"Alright Joseph, here's a blast from the past, I summon Cyber Tutu in attack mode!"

On the field Cyber Tutu made her appearance once again before Joseph, spinning and twirling before stopping and smirking at him while she posed, her ballet outfit shining in the moonlight.

[Cyber Tutu, Lvl 3, Earth Attribute, Warrior Type, Effect Monster, 1000 Atk / 800 Def]

"Next I'll play '2' cards face down, and Joseph, that's your que to take your turn!"

"How kind of you… let's do it!" He said as he drew and checked out his next card.

[Dragonmaid Tidying]

"Alright… I play three cards face down… and activate the Soul of the Pure magic card, this lets me raise my life points by 800!"

[Alexis Rhodes 4000 – Joseph Takara 4800]

"Next up I'll play the Laundry Dragonmaid in attack mode!"

On the field Laundry Dragonmaid rose up from her holographic card, her purple tail swishing and growling threateningly at Cyber Tutu.

'Time for some dragon maid payback!'

[Laundry Dragonmaid, Lvl 2, Water Attribute, Dragon Type, Effect Monster, 500 Atk / 1600 Def]

"Now Laundry, do your thing, send the top 3 cards of my deck to the graveyard!"

Laundry nodded, turned and pointed as his duel disk and sent a blast of azure blue draconic energy at it, enabling him to send the top 3 cards from his deck. He watched as he took them and sent them to the grave one by one. [Dragonmaid Downtime, Mirror Force, Kitchen Dragonmaid.]

"Ugh, talk about a 'bad' draw, but at least 'one' of them is in the grave now… with that I end my turn!"

Alexis was quiet as she stared at his three face down cards, and more specifically his Laundry. Something must be up because he didn't attack with her, nor did he try to bring out one of his other maids, or even the dragon form of Laundry to attack her. 'Alright Alexis, let's pretend that Joseph has a plan, obviously this wasn't an ideal turn for him, but he made the most of it.' She thought to herself. 'He's got three cards face down, and he didn't attack you, this means he has 'no' dragon form to call upon and attack you, so those three face downs have to be ways to either neutralize my attack or give him life points to endure my assaults… well let's figure out what he's hiding!'

"My draw!" She shouted and looked at her card [Cyber Prima]. "I activate the effect of Cyber Tutubon! So, by sending one Fairy or Warrior Type monster from my hand or field, I can special summon her… so I send the Cyber Prima I just drew to the grave and bring out Cyber Tutubon in attack mode!"

Next to Cyber Tutu another of Alexis' cyber girls appeared, twirling in a similar fashion to Cyber Tutu, and looking almost like her, with a similar gymnastic outfit, but with a frillier 'tutu' and an overall green skintight dress, tiny white angel wings, large red hairpin balls and pink ribbons and bells adorning her knees. She smirked as she posed alongside Cyber Tutu.

[Cyber Tutubon, Lvl 5, Earth Attribute, Warrior Type, Effect Monster, 1800 Atk / 1600 Def]

"Now I play Etoile Cyber from my hand in attack mode!"

Etoile Cyber was yet another gymnast themed monster who appeared on her field, with large flowing orange hair, a red skintight outfit, silvery ribbons flowing from her elbows and around her wrists. She appeared with a twirl and bent low prepared to rush at Joseph.

[Etoile Cyber, Lvl 4, Earth Attribute, Warrior Type, Effect Monster, 1200 Atk / 1600 Def]

Joseph grimaced as his Laundry Maid looked equally unhappy about the odds now facing her, one on one she was more than willing to stand and fight, but now it was 'three' on one, and all of the monsters on Alexis' side of the field were twice as strong. Her monsters all sized up on Laundry as she bared her sharp fangs, tail straightening out in a bid to look more intimidating, despite shivering ever so slightly.

"Alright Joseph, let's see what you have for face downs… Cyber Tutu you're up, take down his Laundry Dragonmaid!"

Cyber Tutu twirled and spun her way to Joseph as Laundry prepared to take the hit for him, but instead he declared, "I activate my face down card, Dragonmaid Downtime!"

One of his traps flipped up and she saw it was one of the signature traps of the maids, but she'd never seen him activate its effects or seen it used in a battle before.

"When this continuous trap card is activated, once per turn I can use one of 'two' effects. Now for the price of bringing a maid back to my hand, I can bring one of my Dragonmaid Cards from the deck to my hand. So, Laundry Dragonmaid, take five for me girl!"

Laundry nodded and sighed in gratitude as she vanished and was returned to his hand.

"Next, I can add a Dragonmaid card to my hand, and I think I'll pick… Dragonmaid Ernus!"

Dragonmaid Ernus was extracted from his deck and added to his hand.

"That's a nice way to save your monster… but you left yourself woefully exposed Joseph… because now with no maid to attack, Cyber Tutu can attack your life points directly!" Alexis said with a smirk.

Cyber Tutu continued her attack and stopped just before him again, smiled and winked, before once again kicking him in the groin and hopping back over to Alexis' side of the field.

[Alexis Rhodes 4000 – Joseph Takara 3800]

"Yeeeea kick his butt, Alexis!" Mindy called out.

"Send him packing again!" Jasmine shouted.

"Ugh… well this time, I'm prepared… with Numinous Healer!" Joseph countered and activated his second trap card. "When I take battle damage, I can activate this trap card and gain a thousand life points!"

On the field an angelic lady appeared in a nurse outfit with wings appeared and cast a glowing light upon him, raising his life points.

[Alexis Rhodes 4000 – Joseph Takara 4800]

"You really like using that card I gave you huh, well here comes attack number two, Etoile Cyber!"

It was Etoile Cyber's turn to attack now, and she rushed forward as if she were skating.

"And just so you know Joseph, when Etoile Cyber attacks you directly, her attack points go up by five hundred!"

[Etoile Cyber 1200 Atk / 1600 Def – 1700 Atk / 1600 Def]

Joseph grimaced as he braced himself for the attack, and just like Cyber Tutu she kicked him, but this time he was kicked in the guts.

"Ouch…" He moaned as his life points went down again. "But like before… Numinous Healer will increase my life points, but by a thousand… plus five hundred more for each Numinous Healer in my graveyard!"

[Alexis Rhodes 4000 – Joseph Takara 3100]

[Alexis Rhodes 4000 – Joseph Takara 4600]

"Jeez… you are a tough nut to crack, so let's see if Cyber Tutubon can take you down a peg with her 1800 attack points!"

Cyber Tutubon hopped and skipped over to him, before smirking and kicking him once more in the groin.

"Why do your monsters keep kicking me there?!" He asked as his life points went down 'again'.

[Alexis Rhodes 4000 – Joseph Takara 2800]

Alexis simply smiled apologetically as she glanced at her face down card and decided to pull the trigger now. She had a chance to bring him down to 500 life points, so why not take it?

"I am not done yet with my battle phase, I activate my face down card, Call of the Haunted, so now I can bring a monster from my grave, and the card I pick is Cyber Prima!"

Once again Cyber Prima appeared before her, headlining her team of monsters as Call of the Haunted activated.

[Cyber Prima, LVL 6, Light Attribute, Warrior Type, Effect Monster, 2300 Atk / 1600 Def]

"Now Cyber Prima, end the duel with Dancing Cyber Dash!"

Cyber Prima nodded and leapt up, summersaulted and launched herself at him, preparing to deliver a devastating kick and finish off his life points.

"Ernus activate your ability… I discard you and summon Laundry Dragonmaid in defense mode!" He shouted. "Laundry, activate your ability and send the top three cards of my deck to the grave!"

Quick as she could, Laundry sprang from her card as he played Ernus in the graveyard and summoned out his maid once again. As she leapt up with her arms spread wide to take the kick in his place, she turned and sent a quick burst of her signature draconic energy at his duel disk, before she took the attack from Cyber Prima saving his life points from being dropped to 0.

He sent the top three cards and glanced at his luck. [Dragonmaid Tidying, Dragonmaid Sendoff, Soul of the Pure]

"Well, it wasn't ideal… but at least I endured that turn." He muttered.

"You survived that turn but let's see how long you can keep it up… with four monsters on my field, the pummeling you took, and down to 2300 life points you're going to need to mount a heck of a comeback!"

"Let's see what I can do. My draw!" He countered. [Dragonmaid Hospitality]

Next to him Ernus appeared in her spirit form, smiling as she nodded in approval of his plan that he was already thinking up. 'Do it master, show her what you've been practicing every night!'

"My sentiments exactly… I activate the Dragonmaid Tidying Trap Card in my grave, now I can banish it and bring a maid back to my field, so come back to my field Kitchen Dragonmaid!"

As he extracted Dragonmaid Tidying and sent it from the graveyard to his banished card holder, he then took Kitchen Dragonmaid from the grave and summoned her in defense mode. She appeared on the field as her card displayed, kneeling before him and arms crossed to indicate she was defending him. She smirked with confidence as she stared across the field at Alexis' quadruplet of monsters arrayed against him.

'Kitchen Dragonmaid, at your service 'master'~!'

[Kitchen Dragonmaid, Lvl 3, Fire Attribute, Dragon Type, Effect Monster, 500 Atk / 1700 Def]

"Since she's been successfully summoned, I can now bring a Dragonmaid from my deck to my hand, and I choose Dragonmaid Nudyarl!"

She nodded and sent a beam of crimson draconic energy at his duel disk, extracting Dragonmaid Nudyarl from it.

"And now that she's in my hand, I'm sending her to the discard pile, in order to activate her effect!"

"What's her effect?" Alexis asked curiously, not remembering what Nudyarl did since he almost never used her effect in a duel before.

"When she is discarded from my hand, I can extract a monster from either of our graveyards and send them back to the deck… too bad yours is empty so I guess that means 'mine' will have to suffice."

Off to the sidelines Mindy and Jasmine looked questioningly at Joseph as he explained what his card did to Alexis. "But wait, Joseph's graveyard is 'filled' with Dragonmaid cards at this point…"

"He must have like twelve sitting in there…" Jasmine muttered. "How many of them are monsters."

"Enough to satisfy the condition…" Alexis finished.

"Yep, so Nudyarl is sending Dragonmaid Ernus to the deck!"

As he discarded Nudyarl, Ernus was extracted and then placed back into the deck.

"With that, I activate Dragonmaid Downtime's effect, so Kitchen comes back to my hand and in exchange I bring Nurse Dragonmaid to the hand from my deck!"

Kitchen nodded as Downtime activated, vanishing from the field as her card was taken back, and then finally placed in his hand, afterwards he pulled Nurse out as her card was extracted for him and placed 'her' into the hand.

"Next up, I play the one and only… Dragonmaid Hospitality, with this magic card I can special summon into defense mode a Dragonmaid from my hand or graveyard, but I must send a Dragonmaid with the same attribute but a different level to the grave! So, Nurse, come on out as Ernus goes to the graveyard now!"

In a cascade of light and holographic imagery, Nurse Dragonmaid appeared before him, kneeling and arms crossed as her Dragonform was sent to the graveyard.

'Are you alright master, do you require assistance of any kind~?'

[Nurse Dragonmaid, Lvl 2, Earth Attribute, Dragon Type, Effect Monster, 500 Atk / 1600 Def]

"Yea, I need you to activate your ability Nurse, since she was successfully summoned, I can bring out a level 4 or below Dragonmaid from my graveyard and special summon her, so bring out Laundry for me girl!"

Laundry nodded and obeyed his command, pointing a finger at his deck and sending her signature pink/lavender draconic beam of energy at it, and Laundry was pulled out so she could be placed on the field however he wished, and he chose attack mode since it didn't matter.

'Time to clean her out of monsters 'and' life points master!'

[Laundry Dragonmaid, Lvl 2, Water Attribute, Dragon Type, Effect Monster, 500 Atk / 1600 Def]

"With that I initiate the battle phase… so Dragonmaids, transform into your dragon forms and get ready for battle!"

With that both of his maids nodded as they glowed, grew, and transformed into their true dragon forms, Nudyarl for Laundry, and Ernus for Nurse. Both of them appearing on the field in attack mode and smiling just as proudly for Joseph as Alexis' monsters did for her.

[Dragonmaid Ernus, Lvl 7, Earth Attribute, Dragon Type, Effect Monster, 2600 Atk / 1600 Def]

[Dragonmaid Nudyarl, Lvl 7, Water Attribute, Dragon Type, Effect Monster, 2600 Atk / 1600 Def]

Alexis grimaced as she stared down the might of 'two' of his weaker dragon maids, the only saving grace, neither of them had access to the Dragonmaid Welcome card, and more specifically the House Dragonmaid. Her cards were safe from complete and total destruction for 'now'.

"Alright Joseph, you have two Dragonmaids facing down against four of my Cyber Girls, ready to throw down?" Alexis asked confidently. "I still have one face down card, have any fear of it or what it can do to your dragons?"

"Only one way to find out… Nurse Dragonmaid attack Cyber Prima!"

Ernus nodded and released a powerful jet of draconic flame against the strongest of Alexis' monsters, she shielded herself as her monster was vaporized, which also delivered a small but noticeable dent to her life points.

[Alexis Rhodes 3700 – Joseph Takara 2800]

"Now Nudyarl, take down Cyber Tutubon!"

Nudyarl roared as she released her draconic flame on Cyber Tutubon, devastating the monster and causing another noticeable dent in her life points.

[Alexis Rhodes 2900 – Joseph Takara 2800]

"Hmmm, I think that about evens up the score Alexis…" Joseph said as his maids sat in front of him, ready to attack or change forms as he desired. "I think I'll keep my dragons on the field instead of switching them back like normal."

Both nodded and remained on the field.

Alexis stared determinately back as she drew her next card, [Pot of Greed]

"I play Pot of Greed, this lets me draw two cards…" She declared as she played the card and drew her two cards.

[Polymerization, Blade Skater]

"Alright Joseph, time to get serious! I play Polymerization, fusing the Etoile Cyber on my field with the Blade Skater I just drew, to fusion summon my deck's own head liner…" She yelled.

Etoile Cyber raised her arms upward and began spinning rapidly, going faster and faster until a whirlwind of 'wind' obscured her from sight, until it vanished and a 'new' monster was in her place, this one looking similar to Etoile Cyber but with obvious differences. Instead of orange flowing hair, Cyber Blader's hair was blue, with red flame patterns adorning her otherwise purple body, and with purple boots ending in ice skates tipped with blades.

[Cyber Blader, Lvl 7, Earth Attribute, Warrior Type, Fusion Effect Monster, 2100 Atk / 800 Def]

"Now that's a monster with a heck of an entrance…" He muttered as Cyber Blader stared off against his dragons.

'She is showing way too much skin for a lady…' Ernus muttered.

'Wait that's her 'skin'?' Nudyarl asked incredulously. 'HAVE SOME DECENCY Cyber Blader, children are playing this game!'

'Technically we aren't wearing anything either…' Ernus muttered quietly to her.

'Yea but we're 'dragons', we aren't meant to wear clothes… we get a pass!' Nudyarl replied back quickly.

'There they go again… man, imagine how they'd react to the Harpy Ladies…' He thought to himself as his dragons quickly talked to one another. "Nice monster Alexis, but unless you have another trick up your sleeve, I think you made a slight mistake." Both sides' monsters sized each other up, "Because your new monster 'pales' in comparison to either of mine on their own!"

"We'll see about that Joseph… because I'm going to have Cyber Blader attack Dragonmaid Nudyarl, with Whirlwind Rage!" Alexis shouted and Cyber Blader took up her pose, then began skating directly at Nudyarl, spinning on one foot as she drew closer.

"But… she's weaker than Nudyarl, she's just going to be destroyed!" He replied.

"Then it's a good thing she has a special ability Joseph… you see, since you have 'exactly' two monsters on the field… her attack points are doubled!"

[Cyber Blader 2100 Atk / 800 Def – 4200 Atk / 800 Def]

In shock Nudyarl was helpless as she tried to defend herself, launching a burst of draconic flame that was blown away by the whirlwind of wind created by her spinning, ending in a devastating kick to Nudyarl and destroying her.

Joseph grimaced as she was destroyed causing his life points to 'tank'.

[Alexis Rhodes 2900 – Joseph Takara 1200]

"Next up I'm going to have Cyber Tutu attack you directly, because you see Joseph, when all of your monsters have an attack higher than Cyber Tutu's, she can bypass them and attack you directly!"

Cyber Tutu hopped and skipped and finally began summersaulting over to Joseph to deliver the final blow.

"I activate Dragonmaid Downtime's effect, Ernus return to my hand, quickly girl, and I'm drawing out Dragonmaid Lorpar from my deck!"

Ernus obeyed, vanishing with a nod as her card was recalled.

"Now I activate her quick effect, I send her to the grave to special summon a Dragonmaid from my hand that's level 4 or below, so return to my field Nurse Dragonmaid!"

Nurse appeared once more on the field, standing before Joseph and blocking Cyber Tutu's kick with her own hands, glaring daggers at the ballerina who was shocked at the maid's appearance. 'It is… very… rude… and very… unhealthy… not to mention unethical… to kick men… in the groin area!' She shouted before shoving Cyber Tutu away and kneeling with arms crossed in front of Joseph.

[Nurse Dragonmaid, Lvl 2, Earth Attribute, Dragon Type, Effect Monster, 500 Atk / 1600 Def]

"Unfortunately, I have no Dragonmaids in the graveyard for her to summon, so that's the end of it…"

She smiled, no, she 'grinned' as Joseph wiggled out of that, one more hit and he was 'dead'. "Now we've got a duel…" She whispered to herself as her life points went down.

[Alexis Rhodes 2300 – Joseph Takara 1200]

Meanwhile on the sidelines Mindy and Jasmine were starting to believe Alexis 'was' on to something, as that was 'twice' that Joseph avoided disaster and mounted a comeback against Alexis. Even with one of her signature monsters, and probably her strongest when played appropriately, he was holding his own.

"Alexis is winning but… Joseph still hasn't given up… in fact he looks ready to fight back again!" Jasmine muttered.

"Yea… maybe he 'isn't' a slacker or flunkie…" Mindy said. "I haven't seen Alexis pushed like this before."

Alexis meanwhile looked over at her field to think about her next moves, this next turn was going to be important. 'I have one face down, Machine Angel Ritual still, Cyber Blader, and Cyber Tutu on the field. He just brought back Nurse Dragonmaid, and he still has Kitchen and Laundry in the hand, and now he has Dragonmaid Lorpar thanks to Downtime's effect. He also has Nudyarl and Ernus in the grave, and if he plays Kitchen, he can bring out Tinkech, giving him '3' Dragons…'

Joseph looked at the field as he awaited Alexis' call to end her turn. 'Ernus and Nudyarl took some hits for me this turn, I can't survive another turn with Cyber Tutu on the field… but I can't just throw all of my maids at her monster, what with Cyber Blader's abilities, if I have '2' she gains double attack points, what if she has other abilities if I have more? I need to think carefully about my next move…"

'If I know Joseph, he's going to try and get House onto the field, she's his best monster, and in a head on brawl Cyber Blader can't survive, she's tough but not House Maid tough!' She thought quietly. 'Alright Alexis, time to decide, do I risk Cyber Blader and Cyber Tutu being destroyed or do I activate Machine Angel Ritual?'

'I need House if I'm going to win this duel, if she comes out next turn, and I only have '2' monsters, sure Cyber Blader will have double attack points, but I can blow away her monster with one ability and finish her off with House and Ernus!'

She made her decision; it was either she risked it now or next turn Joseph will bring out the House Maid with Downtime's effect, and then she'd have no hope. "I end the battle phase, but I'm not done yet… I play my face down card, Machine Angel Ritual!"

At long last her face down card flipped up, revealing it to be Machine Angel Ritual, and both of her monsters were wrapped up in angelic red flames.

"From the power of my two monsters, a 'new' one will rise, with the grace of an angel and the unbreaking indominable strength of a machine!" She declared as both were vaporized, but a new monster began to appear from the flames, "I Ritual Summon, Cyber Angel Vrash!"

Her monster's angelic form took shape and began spreading six seraphim like wings each the length of the entire monster zone it seemed, wearing angelic white knee-high boots that glowed brilliantly in the moonlight, heavenly pink clothing that glittered like beautiful diamonds, long and flowing purple hair that flowed behind her in waves as if it were in the wind, and with a golden 'gear' halo behind her that turned ever so slowly. Cyber Angel Vrash dispelled the flames with a flick of her fingers and stared defiantly at Joseph and his Nurse Maid from behind her red glasses, who grimaced but 'still' looked ready to defend Joseph.

[Cyber Angel Vrash, Lvl 10, Light Attribute, Fairy Type, Ritual Effect Monster, 3000 Atk / 2000 Def]

"Now that's a monster…" Joseph muttered in awe.

"Alright Joseph, meet my deck's 'true' head liner, the strongest monster in my entire deck… you have only 'one' that can stand up to her… so let's bring her out!" Alexis called out.

Joseph nodded as he drew his next card and looked at the monster he was staring down. Alexis was no joke, Chumley was 'right', she IS the Queen of Obelisk Blue for a reason, if he didn't do something she was going to destroy him. The card he drew would help, but he needed House to have any hope…

[Dragonmaid Tinkech]

"You want her, you got her!" He yelled out. "I activate Dragonmaid Downtime, Nurse returns to my hand and in exchange I draw Dragonmaid Changeover, which I'll play instantly!"

He played the magic card he just drew as Nurse vanished, and then he sent Laundry and Lorpar to the grave.

"Well since you did it, guess I'll make my own little summon speech!" He said with an excited shout, which Alexis nodded in approval of, it was only fair he got to have his own little 'flair' in this duel. "This magic card lets me special summon a fusion Dragon type monster using my Dragonmaids, and this requires a Dragon type and a Dragonmaid monster, and Dragonmaids are both. So, from the fusion of Draconic might and humble loyalty, comes a monster of faithful servitude and unyielding power!"

On the field a burst of crimson red, demonic black, and glorious white flame erupted from the ground that took on the shape of a destructive dragon, that roared to the night sky as it took on the shape of his deck's main monster…

"I summon into attack mode, the House Dragonmaid!"

As she made her appearance, she flung her arms to the side, casting away the flames and then humbly placing her arms in front of her, her European maid outfit prominent in the moonlight, her glasses glinting gently and reflecting the opposing monster, her warm smile present, and her draconic wings, tail and horns on full display, House Dragonmaid stood before Joseph.

[House Dragonmaid, Light Attribute, Lvl 9, Dragon Type, Ritual Effect Monster, 3000 Atk / 2000 Def]

On the sidelines Mindy and Jasmine just stared in 'awe' as the duel was at the climactic moment, both duelists had brought out their very best monster, Alexis' Cyber Angel Vrash, and Joseph's House Dragonmaid. Both monsters stared at one another, one with unyielding determination, the other with gentle calmness… yet the field didn't reflect that mirroring, as both monsters seemed to emit this 'aura' directed at one another. As if each were trying to overpower and outclass the other before the 'actual' battle began…

Like they couldn't 'wait' to fight!

"Mindy, are we 'really' watching the same Slifer who not only lost but 'failed' his last 4 test duels in a row?" Jasmine asked.

"I think we are… but if this is how good he really is… why didn't he show us this 'before'? Why not show the whole school?"

"I don't know… but I'm actually wondering who is going to win?"

"I think we're about to find out…"

Both Joseph and Alexis stared each other down, knowing that neither of them was holding back and were sending their strongest monsters to duke it out between them. "Alright Alexis… time to see if my Maid can take on your Cyber Angel!" Joseph said.

"Same here Joseph, but in reverse…" She declared.

"Here we go then… I initiate the battle phase, House Dragonmaid attack her monster, with Draconic Maid Flame!"

House Dragonmaid nodded and sent a small, but deadly stream of draconic flame that erupted into a massive ball of fire at Cyber Angel Vrash.

"Looking to cancel both our monsters out?" She asked in surprise.

"Nope, because I activate Dragonmaid Tinkech's quick effect, by sending her to the grave, I grant a monster on my field 2000 attack points until the end of the turn!"

In holographic form, Dragonmaid Tinkech appeared and added her flame to the already 'deadly' looking House Dragonmaid's attack, boosting her power by a whopping 2000 points.

[House Dragonmaid 3000 Atk / 2000 Def – 5000 Atk / 2000 Def]

Vrash spread her wings forward and countered with her own attack, and for a moment it seemed she would be enveloped and destroyed, but just at the end her wings spread wide and sent the flames spiraling away, looking exhausted but still on the field. Alexis however grimaced and shielded herself as the flames hit her now.

"Nice try, but I activate Machine Angel Ritual from my grave, if a light monster is about to be destroyed by battle or card effect, I can banish this card instead and save her!" Alexis shouted as she took the card from her grave and sent it to 'her' banished cards slot in her duel disk. "Sure, I take a hit, but at least my monster survives…"

[Alexis Rhodes 300 – Joseph Takara 1200]

Joseph panted in surprise exhaustion, as he declared his turn was over, and House Dragonmaid returned to her original attack points. That almost finished off Alexis, but she still hung on with her Cyber Angel on the field.

Alexis also panted as her monster took a 'beating', but still stood tall, and once more their monsters began squaring off, each wanting to prove the better against the other! She silently drew her card and smiled.

[Graceful Charity]

"I play 'Graceful Charity, so I draw three cards but discard two!" She shouted, drawing her three cards before discarding two of them, [Machine Angel Ritual, Cyber Angel Benten] and allowing her to keep the third, [Incarnated Machine Angel]

"I activate the quick effect of Dragonmaid Ernus, this allows me to special summon my Nurse Dragonmaid from my hand to the field, in defense mode, who summons out Laundry Dragonmaid from the grave into defense mode!"

Nurse and Laundry appeared on the field next to house with a polite bow and crossing their arms while kneeling.

"Alright then, I play Incarnated Machine Angel; this continuous Magic Card grants my Cyber Angels the ability to not be destroyed in battle! And that's just the start… if I ever take damage from battle or a card effect, I can tribute a Cyber Angel from my hand or field, to special summon another Cyber Angel from my hand to the field! But let's get to the fun part, Cyber Angel Vrash, you had a beating last round, now return the favor by taking out House Dragonmaid!"

"Nurse, Laundry, switch to Dragon Forms, Attack mode!" Joseph countered.

Nurse nodded and appeared in dragon form, with all of her 2600 attack.

"Now that a dragon returned to my hand, House Dragonmaid's effect activates… so she automatically destroys Cyber Angel Vrash!"

House Dragonmaid smiled and nodded as she used her other hand to send a sliver of draconic flame at Vrash to destroy her.

"I counter with Machine Angel Ritual again! By banishing this card from the graveyard, I negate her destruction, and instead of targeting House Dragonmaid I'll destroy Dragonmaid Ernus!" Alexis countered as she did as she said, taking a Machine Angel Ritual from her grave and sending it to the banished zone.

Cyber Angel Vrash sent a beam of angelic flame and countered the draconic flame of House Dragonmaid, before taking her 'gear' halo and then launching it at Dragonmaid Ernus, who roared helplessly before being destroyed, causing damage to Joseph's life points.

[Alexis Rhodes 300 – Joseph Takara 800]

Both duelists stared and smiled, panting but enthusiastic at the duel so far. They were down to their final points… one more move and the duel was over, whoever scored the next hit, would win probably.

"Since the battle phase is ending… I activate Nudyarl's effect, by sending her back to my hand, Laundry returns in her place… and House Dragonmaid's effect activates!"

"I counter… with Vrash's ability now… if a monster on the field is about to be destroyed by card effect, I can shuffle a ritual monster from my graveyard to the deck, to not only 'negate' the effect but also 'destroy' the card!"

House Dragonmaid tried to send the attack at Cyber Angel Vrash, but Vrash countered and charged her twirling and spinning through the flame, wrapping her wings around the House Maid, who grinned in enthusiasm, a grin matched by Vrash, even as House was destroyed.

"With that… I end my turn…"

Joseph looked at his deck, and drew his next card, knowing that it was probably going to be his last. [Graceful Charity]

"I play Graceful Charity as well… so I draw three and discard two cards…"

[Dragonmaid Sendoff, Dragonmaid Welcome, Wall of Revealing Light]

He glanced between Vrash and Alexis and decided that he was going to win this duel with House Dragonmaid, in battle, no using her special ability to just remove Vrash from the field. She only had Cyber Angel Vrash, and he wanted to win with House Dragonmaid! He discarded Nurse and Wall of Revealing Light, leaving him with Welcome, Sendoff, Nudyarl, and Laundry on the field.

"This is it… my last play… I play Dragonmaid Sendoff… so I send Laundry back to my hand to bring out House Dragonmaid into defense mode!"

Laundry vanished as once again a pillar of Crimson, Black and White draconic flame formed the shape of a dragon, and House Dragonmaid appeared in defense mode, arms crossed and smiling humbly, but determinately at Cyber Angel Vrash.

Again… they began squaring off, the energy and determination of both duelists pushing and shoving at one another, unknown to their owners but visible to their spectators.

"I send House Dragonmaid back to the extra deck, using Dragonmaid Changeover's effect… so she goes back, and it comes out!" He said and House vanished, and Changeover was brought back. "Now I play it… I fuse Laundry and Nudyarl to bring back… House Dragonmaid!"

Once again House returned to the field, but this time in attack mode as he sent the two Dragonmaids to the graveyard, and once more the two monsters squared off.

"Now I play my final magic card… Dragonmaid Welcome!" He shouted tiredly. "This card lets me gain a hundred attack and defense points per Dragonmaid on the field, so House Dragonmaid goes up…"

[House Dragonmaid 3000 Atk / 2000 Def – 3100 Atk / 2100 Def]

"Now attack her Cyber Angel Vrash with Draconic Maid Flame!"

House Dragonmaid obeyed and sent a burst of Draconic flame at Cyber Angel Vrash, who blocked and avoided destruction thanks to the magic card Incarnated Machine Angel, but Alexis felt the stings of the extra damage.

[Alexis Rhodes 200 – Joseph Takara 800]

"My turn…" Alexis declared as she drew her next card, [Magnificent Machine Angel], "Alright Joseph I end my turn… there's nothing I can do this turn."

"Not even switch Cyber Angel Vrash into defense mode?" Joseph asked.

"I think I'll leave her in attack mode for 'now'… I want this duel to end with our best monsters duking it out… seems only fitting after how long this duel has gone to me!" She said with a smile.

He smiled back and nodded in agreement, drawing his card and not looking at it in the excitement of the duel, "Agreed… my draw, and I have House Dragonmaid attack your Cyber Angel Vrash 'again'!"

Once more House Dragonmaid attacked Cyber Angel Vrash, who absorbed the attack once more… and once again Alexis felt the sting of the excess damage.

[Alexis Rhodes 100 – Joseph Takara 800]

Alexis glanced at her deck, and gulped, it all came down to her 'final' draw… if she didn't get the right card, it was over. She placed her hand on the next card… and drew… [Cyber Angel Dakini]

"Joseph… it's been an honor dueling you tonight…" She said with a smile.

He nodded in agreement. "Thank you, Alexis, this duel has been fun, and I hope… you see I was telling the truth, that I have been practicing, studying… so if nobody else believes me at least 'you' will believe it…" He told her. "I'll be honest, I was on the verge of just dropping out, giving up… I'm only one failed duel test away from being expelled, so I was thinking, why bother trying, if I'm just one bad draw away from being kicked out, why not just leave and… save some dignity."

At that she was very surprised. "Really?"

He nodded sadly. "I was really thinking of it… I thought, what's the point in dueling if I'm just one bad draw away from losing the duel at the start. I study and study, practice and plan, but all of that means nothing if my opening draw gives me nothing to work with. But thanks to you… and this duel… I know now that it 'is' paying off, that it has paid off." He glanced at Mindy and Jasmine who were just silent as they watched. "Even 'if' nobody believes me besides you and your friends."

Alexis smiled warmly at that, and felt 'good' about herself, good that she dueled him this night, but it had to end… "Joseph, I 'almost' feel bad about this then… you made one mistake this duel, you should have finished off Cyber Angel Vrash with your maid's special ability… if you had done that, you would have won… instead you gave me the chance to do 'this'…"

She played her final magic card, [Magnificent Machine Angel]

"What does that do?"

"I'll explain, after you promise me, to never make that mistake ever again Joseph, promise to never give your opponent a chance to come back and win a duel that close… promise?"

He sighed and nodded, smiling, knowing that he was about to lose, but still proud of himself now.

"Magnificent Machine Angel targets one of my Cyber Angel Monsters in my hand or field, and then a Light Fairy monster on my field. After tributing it to the graveyard, the Light monster gains attack and defense points equal to 200 times the number of levels of the monster tributed. Also if my monster battles a monster you special summoned from the Extra Deck, the monster's effects are negated during the battle phase."

She showed him Dakini by playing it on the field.

"Dakini has 8 levels, so Cyber Angel Vrash gains '1600' attack and defense points during this turn…"

[Cyber Angel Vrash 3000 Atk / 2000 Def – 4600 Atk / 2600 Def]

"Attack and destroy his House Dragonmaid, Cyber Angel Vrash!"

Vrash nodded and leapt at House Dragonmaid, who leapt and attempted to counterattack, but as both launched their attacks, it was obvious that House had nothing left, as she was enveloped in Cyber Angel Flame, vaporizing and ending the duel, as Joseph took the 1500 attack points left over as damage.

[Alexis Rhodes 100 – Joseph Takara 0]

He sighed as he felt like he'd run a marathon as Vrash vanished from the field, until he heard several people clapping and applauding him, two of whom being Jasmine and Mindy, but a third pair of hands were clapping from none other than Fonda Fontaine, the 'head' of Obelisk Blue's female students. "A well-played duel Joseph and Alexis, well fought on both sides. Pardon my sudden appearance but that duel was so intense I didn't want to interrupt it… now that it's over though, an explanation please?"

"F-f-f-Fonda Fontaine… I mean ma'am, uh I can explain this whole thing!" Joseph started stuttering before Alexis stood in front of him.

"No ma'am, 'I' can explain it…"

"I would hope so because if he doesn't have a good excuse to be here, I'm afraid Joseph is in very big trouble." She said with a smirk.

"I invited Joseph out here, I wanted a rematch with him because my earlier duel with him doesn't count in my opinion… I wanted a real duel with him, not what we had earlier." Alexis said. "It wasn't his fault that his test duel ended with a 'D-', in fact it isn't his fault his last 'four' test duels ended with his defeat, his duel disk was malfunctioning! Because of that I wanted a proper duel with him so that we could both prove to each other what we were capable of."

At that everyone was quiet as they looked at Alexis.

"Say what?" Joseph asked.

"Are you serious?"

"Is that really true?"

Fonda Fontaine however smiled as she watched Alexis pick up the duffel bag, pulled out a Slifer Red and Obelisk Blue test duel disk, and inserted a set of cards into it.

"You see Ma'am, I rented out a set of counting cards and checked the test duel disks… and my suspicion was confirmed." She said as she activated the shuffle mechanic on the obelisk blue disk. "I was suspicious of something happening because in the previous 'four' duels, Joseph almost always had a bricked hand, limiting what he could do. He also always got the same card on the 'second' draw, Graceful Charity, but despite getting it he almost rarely, if never, got anything that would help him in the duel. After my duel with him, I got even more suspicious because, while I know that randomness is a thing, rarely does a duelist get a bricked hand 'and' bad draws ending their duels in defeat 'four' duels in a row. So, I did some checking and…"

"In other words, you snuck into the test duel disk storage room, stole two of the disks, and then proceeded to invite your opponent for a rematch here after curfew when you know simply being here is against the rules and grounds for expulsion for him?" Fontaine concluded.

"E… yes…" Alexis said quietly.

Fonda was quiet as she took the disk and examined the cards, rearranged them and then shuffled them once more, before repeating the procedure three more times. "Alright, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, let's see the Slifer Red disk."

Alexis nodded and took back the counting cards deck, rearranged them again, and then inserted them into the Slifer disk now. "This duel disk was the one used by Joseph, I made sure to keep an eye on it. After doing some tests, I can tell this duel disk might have a faulty shuffling feature." She said as she showed them the cards. "As you can see, the first, second and 'fifth' cards are still at the top, and after you draw the next two, the 'seventh' is also the same, continue drawing and you'll find that only about 'fifteen' of the cards are actually being shuffled. The rest are still the same."

Fonda nodded and took the duel disk, rearranged the cards, shuffled them and then checked for herself. Sure enough, cards 1, 2, 5, and 7 were the same, and after that only one every three or four cards were actually randomized. She repeated the process a few more times until she nodded, satisfied with the results.

"So, you mean my last four duels, I failed because I used a 'broken duel disk'?!" He asked incredulously. "Then that means it 'wasn't' my fault I failed!"

"Very well Alexis, in honor of your honesty, and for the amazing duel performance between you and Joseph, I'll let it slide that Joseph was here and keep my lips sealed. I'll 'also' let it slide that you broke the rules and stole test duel disks… instead I'll just have you stay after class to clean up the floor of the tennis court as punishment. As for you Joseph, since you 'are' still out of bed after curfew, I think serving a similar punishment is a fair deal given the situation, agreed?"

Both of them sighed and nodded, at least they weren't in massive trouble.

"I'll conduct an investigation and report this to Doctor Crowler, if this duel disk is malfunctioning perhaps some of the 'other' duel disks might be as well. Next time you want to do something like this Alexis, just tell a teacher… otherwise you might have a misunderstanding…"

He was about to say thank you when he heard a twig snap behind him and looked behind to see behind a set of rocks, several colorful heads of hair poking up.

"Alright girls, you can come out now… I'm not in too serious trouble now, you can stop worrying." He shouted, restraining from laughing.

It was ridiculous how those girls just 'always' seem to be able to appear at the weirdest time for him, but he knew it was them just by seeing the colors of their hair.

"Ehehehe… so you found us?" Lora asked embarrassingly.

"We're sorry Joseph, but you didn't come to the café today, so we were worried." Sun said.

"We wanted to make sure you were okay… you seemed depressed earlier!" Kite called out.

"Sorry for hiding like that, but you had such an intense look during the duel…" Luna muttered.

"We didn't want to interrupt it!" Amber said with a smirk.

"I'm fine, but… you girls are in 'big' trouble…" He said as he looked behind them to see a menacing aura overlooking them.

From behind them with almost murderous intent in her eyes and a 'furious' aura around her, Sheou glared down at them as all five girls shuddered and turned around to stare in fear at the Head Maid of the Maid of the Dragon's Café.

"How… many times… must I say this…" She snarled angrily, her glasses glinting daggers at them.

"W-w-e-re s-s-orr-y…" They all stuttered.

"It is… inappropriate… for this many maids… to be out at night… with their master past 'bedtime'… especially in their sleeping wear!"

Sure enough, all five of the girls were all wearing their sleeping clothes, pajamas and slippers matching the color of their hair with images of chibi feminine dragons on them.

"This… is unforgiveable… and as such… demands punishment!" She snarled, pulling out her smacking stick.

"N-n-not the forehead helping of ice cream scoops…" Kite muttered fearfully.

"You might want to close your eyes… this is going to hurt…" Joseph muttered as he heeded his own advice and looked away.

But he could not help but wince as the smacking stick whipped through the air, smacking their heads again and again with speed that only a bolt of lightning could best. After it ended, he looked and grimaced apologetically as all five girls were now sporting triple ice cream scoop on their heads.

"Now… because you five left work 'early', I had to clean up the entire mess left behind by our guests by myself. You girls will get back to the café and start getting things ready for tomorrow since tomorrow is a 'Saturday'… and you will get there in five minutes or so help me… I will DOUBLE YOUR SHIFTS!"

The moment she stopped speaking all five girls were speeding away, leaving a dust trail in their wake as they raced to get back to the café before the five-minute time period expired.

"Those girls… what will I 'ever' do with them?" Sheou muttered quietly as she slid her slapping stick into the folds of her pockets before turning to Joseph and the others with an apologetic bow. "I deeply apologize for the behavior of my café's staff, on behalf of Maids of the Dragon's Café, this will never happen again!"

"It's alright Sheou… even I'm not supposed to be here, at least they're girls." Joseph said.

"On that note, off to bed everyone!" Fonda Fontaine declared.

With that everyone turned and left, Joseph and Sheou heading to the Slifer Dorm, and Alexis, Jasmine, Mindy and Fonda heading to the Obelisk Blue.

The next morning Joseph 'rushed' to deliver his assignments to Doctor Crowler, who was sitting in his office with a timer and had been watching it 'just' as he walked in to turn it into him.

"Hmpf, just in time, another five minutes and you would be late!" Crowler declared as he looked it over.

"I'm sorry Doctor Crowler… I was tired this morning!" He apologized as Sheou stood behind him diligently.

"I see… well Joseph I have good news for you, earlier today Miss Fonda Fontaine came to me with some interesting news!" Crowler said as he put the assignments in the desk and pulled out a few duel disks, specifically the academy testing duel disks. "Apparently some of the duel disks have been malfunctioning, according to her at least 'half' of the Slifer Duel disks, and even a few Ra Yellow duel disks have malfunctioning systems. Most are working normal, for the 'most' part, but a key mechanic of the duel disk, namely the deck shuffling feature, wasn't working properly in many of the ones that were discovered. The one 'you' were using was among them."

"Really?" Joseph asked, pretending to be ignorant.

"Oh my, how shocking, so Joseph 'wasn't' at fault for failing the last four tests?" Sheou asked, pretending to be surprised while also smiling warmly. "Does that mean he 'isn't' failing his class with you?"

"Sheou…" he muttered quietly.

"Since Joseph was using a malfunctioning duel disk, and since we have no idea how long it's been malfunctioning, I'm going to assume the last weeks' tests all need to be 'redone'! So, starting tomorrow, Joseph, you're going to retake ALL of your test duels!"

At that he felt the world tumble around him. "Are you SERIOUS!?" He asked in shock.

"How wonderfully gracious and kind that is of you Master Crowler!" Sheou said cheerfully. "Isn't that absolutely kind of your professor Joseph, you can retake all of your failed test duels!"

"Yea… sure… I'm very happy… thank you so much for the second chance Doctor Crowler…" He muttered tiredly.

"Study hard now, I expect nothing less than 'Bs' from you, bare minimum a 'C+'!" Crowler said as he trudged out and headed to the Gymnasium to do his 'Voluntary Cleaning' for Fonda Fontaine.

At the Gymnasium he was joined by Alexis while he was brooming and cleaning up the floor, both of them working to clean up the tennis court. Sheou assisted them by dusting some of the nets, when asked why she was helping, she simply replied, "I serve my master in whatever way is required, as he is retaking his tests starting tomorrow, he will need all the time he can to study and sleep tonight."

So, they just broomed, dusted, and cleaned up the tennis court.

"Hey Joseph… can I ask you something?"

He looked at Alexis as she walked over with a pleasant smile on her face. "Yea sure, what's up?"

"I was wondering… would you be willing to consider me a 'personal' friend of yours?"

"Uhm… any particular reason why?" He asked back. "I mean, I've got nothing against it… just any reason why?"

"Well… let's just say I kind of owed you for when you came to rescue me with your Dragonmaid Card from that creep." She said with tint of red on her cheeks. "That's why I wanted to duel you for the test duel… I don't like to leave debts unpaid, even if I have to duel you in order to feel like I have to repay it!"

"You call dueling me for a test duel 'repaying' me?" He laughed. "Talk about a heck of a way to repay me!"

"Okay, maybe your right… a bit extreme but…" She muttered apologetically. "How about this… you say I'm your personal friend… and… if you need any help, and I mean 'ANY' help studying for anything… I'll help you whenever you need it!"

"Oh, you know I 'could' use 'some' help studying… especially ritual monsters now that I've dueled against them with you." He muttered. "Alright you got a deal, you're a personal friend of mine Alexis!"

"Sweet thanks!"

"If Alexis is now a personal friend of yours, then I guess that means I will have to tell the staff that she can now be given free access to the café and the menu." Sheou said warmly as she walked over to them.

"Alright, free meals!"

"Wait, was this what you 'really' wanted?"

"Can you blame me, that food your sisters make is 'amazing'… I've never had any like it before!" Alexis laughed before she looked at him and grinned. "But Joseph, just because we're friends from here on out, doesn't mean I won't be trying to stay above you. I won our last duel, but if you had made the right move, you would have won… I can't let such a mistake slide, I almost lost. The next time we duel…"

From behind Alexis, Sheou watched as Cyber Angel Vrash seemed to appear in spirit form to stand behind her master.

"Next time we duel Joseph, I'm going to win, and the next duel after, and the one after that as well!"

Joseph smirked as he looked at her, and Sheou chose to stand behind him, humbly smiling and looking at Alexis as well, but just like Vrash her 'true' form materialized, invisible to Joseph and Alexis.

"We'll see Alexis, I'm going to win the next duel… and someday, I'm going to surpass you!"

Both of them stared at one another, their monsters, like their masters, squaring off and sizing each other off, knowing that despite being friends they were now 'rivals'.

Rivals that would help one another grow stronger…

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=Next time, Joseph vs Chazz Rematch, The Duel Academy Mid Quarter Exam and Kindness of the Dragonmaid Master=

"My Master has never refused to help those who ask of it, and never backs down from a challenge posed against him, for he has the strength that we his ever faithful servants grant him. We are his Dragonmaids, and he the one we call our Master, the Master… of the Dragonmaids."

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I am not doing another YGO chapter, or HoGH chapter until I write a Pack of Destiny and Life chapter, followed by a Arceus Book chapter, then Second XCom Viper chapter… and finally a lemon. I apologize its taken me so long to write but, I have been working and felt exceptionally drained and lacking in motivation… hopefully 'this' chapter shows what I am I like when I feel 'some' motivation.

This one I dedicated a LOT of time and work making sure every turn was authentic, as the last 2 chapters of this fic I messed up a few of the cards, so I'm going to try and find time to go back and rewrite the chapters' duels, so they at least make sense…

I want to ask if you viewers will mind if I use the 'ANIME' effect of two specific cards, those being 'Card of Sanctity, and Card of Demise. This is because for 2 duelists I'm going to have be featured (one of you you might know) use those cards, and they are absolutely 'broken' in the anime but make for some 'epic' duels, whereas in the real world… they aren't as awesome… so would you be willing to let me use the anime effects for those 2 cards? I'll try to avoid using anime effects for other cards unless I can't find it in the real world (which shouldn't happen).

And for those wondering, for the joke, the characters are using the 'uncensored' versions of yugioh cards, so in Joseph's duel with Alexis, Cyber Blader isn't 'recolored' so that it looks like she's wearing a designer skintight suit, cause I found 2 versions online while looking up the card's effect. If figured it would be hilarious to put that reaction XD

Another thing, a 'lot' of people are telling me to keep Joseph in a single relationship… and the other side in equal numbers are saying have Joseph just go all out with the dragonmaids… and I dunno what to decide on… so a compromise, how about Joseph stay in a 'romantic' relationship with his love interest (aka Alexis) while he has a lemon with the dragonmaids (when the time comes) but he thinks its an awkward dream and pretends it never happened, due to their powers to make him believe it wasn't real. And for his sake they don't tell him it was real, since yes… Joseph loves his maids, but they are like 'family' first to him, not lovers, same with House, she's his second mother in his mind, and the others are his sisters.

They also love him, 'dearly' if you haven't noticed, so they may 'want' to engage in that relationship with him, but they also will understand that he needs them as a 'family' not as 'lovers' in order to keep him… at least 'mentally', healthy, what do you think?

As always review and tell me if I did good, or if I suck… I honestly hope you liked this chapter, I had to rewrite that duel 'twice' to get it right, first time Joseph won but it didn't feel as 'fair', second time I stopped cause it was just leading to Joseph winning… third time… well you see what it is XD

That duel is over 6.3k words long… the first time I wrote it, it was 5.5k… I'm exhausted…

p.s. I know Chamber hasn't been seeing spotlight in duels, but she has no dragon form… would you be against me using a 'made up' dragon form with an effect that would fit her? Or just leave her as is…

=edit= i am bad at math... had to fix it...