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.

6. Chapter 5

"Adversity has always proven to be the greatest teacher to those who wish to grow stronger my young master, fortune may favor the bold, but true fortune comes to those who give up opportunity in favor of helping those in distress."

"You never needed such rare gifts before, why would you seek to gain them now… my young master?"

=Chapter 5 Prologue=

"Captain, our destination is up ahead!" The First Mate declared as the land mass they have been sailing to reach was directly ahead of them, growing ever larger the closer they got.

"Indeed, at long last, all of our hard work and patience have finally begun to pay off!" The captain said. "Hand me the remote, I'm going to speak to the fleet!"

"Yes sir!"

He was handed the nearby remote by his deck officer and he took a moment to take a deep breath, before toggling the on button and beginning to address his weary and toughened crew.

"Attention all ships, now I know it's been a long hard journey, we've had to fight off enemy attack subs, vicious pirate raiders, and even a giant squid at one point… which turned out to be just a giant clump of floating seaweed, but no less life threatening or imposing to us!" He called out in a proud voice. "These past few days have tested our sanity and pushed the bonds we have as sailors and soldiers to the absolute limits. Our ships carry the scars of battle, some that will take weeks to iron out and paint over and some mental ones that will never fade! Some of us have almost lost friends and many of us have lost our piece of mind on this journey… but our final goal is now ahead of us, at long last we can see the light at the end of our weary tunnel… now tax those engines one last time, push your ships once more, and dare I say FULL STEAM AHEAD!"

As one every ship pushed their motors further as they picked up the pace, he himself stood at the front of the wheelhouse staring at the landmass directly ahead of them.

"This is it men, this is the moment we've been waiting for!"

Ahead of them Duel Academy Island approached.

"This is when Duel Academy finally gets their new rare cards!"

=Chapter 5, Joseph vs Chazz Rematch=

=The Duel Academy Mid Quarter Exam, The Bond of Master and Dragon=

It was very early in the morning of Duel Academy Island as the morning of the Mid Quarter Exam fast approached. On this day students at Duel Academy would be tested on their knowledge of dueling, both in the written form and the duel form against their fellow students. Slifers would battle Slifers, Ras would battle Ras, and Obelisks would battle Obelisks. They would test each other and test themselves to prove they were worthy to advance to a higher rank or be allowed to stay where they were. Slifers would fight tooth and nail to obtain the rank of Ra Yellow, Ras would prove they were worthy to be allowed into Obelisks ranks, and Obelisks would duel to show that they deserved the prestige and privileges afforded to their position and blue coats. Before a single card would be drawn and life counters set, students had to pass their written exams.

Even if the students dueled well, if they failed to pass their written exams, they may very well be demoted or not be promoted depending on the student's current rank as either a Slifer Red, Ra Yellow, or Obelisk Blue. This is precisely why Syrus Truesdale was currently performing a Slifer Séance, asking Slifer the Sky Dragon to help him pass his test so he could advance to Ra Yellow.

"Please, please, pleeeeease Slifer, help me pass my exams today… I really want to advance into Ra Yellow. I don't wanna be stuck wearing this red blazer forever… not that there's anything wrong with red… I mean you look great in red! But I just reeeeally wanna be in Ra Yellow." Syrus pleaded as he had several Monster Reborn cards wrapped around his head and tied by a string while sitting at his desk performing his Séance before a picture of Slifer the Sky Dragon, in the hopes that if he did Slifer would hear his plea and help him pass his exams. "So, if you can hear me, please give me a sign, and tell me that I'll pass my exams tonight!"

*Riiiiiiiiiiing*

"SLIFER?!" He yelled in shock only to look around and see it was only the alarm clock. "Oh, it's just the alarm clock… and surprisingly Joseph is sleeping through it. Come on Joseph wake up, today's our exams!"

"Yawwwwwwn, wake me up when its breakfast…" He muttered in his sleep as he rolled over.

"Breakfast, we don't have time for breakfast, the first test is in an hour!" Syrus muttered.

"I honestly wouldn't mind a few extra hours of shut eye…" Chumley agreed as he started getting up. "But Syrus has a point, we need to get up…"

"Really Chumley, you want to help Joseph get ready for his test?"

"I mean normally I would say 'let the competition sleep in', cause after the written test today is the 'field test', you know, where they pit classmates against one another, and I wouldn't want to face off against Joseph in a duel."

"Yea, and I'm starting to see why you were held back two years… come on Joseph you need to get up!"

"Toooo tired… sleep now…" He muttered in his sleep, refusing to wake up.

"That's what he gets for studying till past midnight." Syrus said as Joseph wouldn't wake up.

Though that would change moments later as the door to their room opened and Sheou walked in, on time as always to wake them all up. She had her usual warm, kind, gentle and loving smile as she entered the room bearing breakfast. Slices of toast, scrambled eggs, a jug of orange juice, sausages, paper plates and empty glasses adorned the tray. "Breakfast friends of Young Master Joseph, oh my, is he still not awake yet?"

"Yea and he needs to hurry, or he may be late for the written exam today!" Syrus said as he grabbed a plate, loaded it with some food and chugged down an entire glass of juice. "Sorry to eat and run Sheou, but I need to get going, I'll save Joseph a seat!"

"Oh my…" Sheou whispered as he ran out, running past her as she expertly balanced the tray so it wouldn't tip over in his haste.

"While I'm not one to skip on breakfast, early bird gets the worm… I'm getting to the classroom early so I don't have to run the risk of battling Joseph!" Chumley said as he hopped out as well, loaded up his plate with 'extra' food, leaving very little for Joseph and practically chugging the jug of juice down. "Thanks for the food, tell Joseph I said thanks for his food as well!"

"Ooh my…!" Sheou muttered as she lifted the tray over her head, so it didn't spill as Chumley now left. "Oh, dear me… they left almost nothing for Joseph…"

She glanced between her nearly empty tray of food and drink and Joseph's sleeping form and knew that without a proper meal Joseph would never pass his exams.

"I better go and prepare some more before he wakes up…" Sheou declared as she quickly walked out, closing the door behind her as four feminine dragons appeared next to Joseph's sleeping form.

'Should we wake him up now or let him sleep some more?' Lorpar asked the others.

'Obviously we let him sleep some more, he needs his sleep!' Nudyarl whispered.

'Sleep is important but food in his belly will do better!' Ernus said.

'But he looks so cute when he's sleeping…' Tinkech sighed quietly. 'I don't want to wake him up with him looking so peaceful.'

They all nodded in agreement, waking up Joseph was something they didn't want to do, especially since they enjoyed spending time with him while he slept. So, they just all snuggled around him as he slept and enjoyed their time they still had before he would 'have' to wake up. Tinkech lay next to Joseph's head, wrapping her tail beneath his chin and laying her head over his cheek. Ernus chose to settle down on his left side and rest her head on his arm, letting her tail drape over the bed. Lorpar elected to claim the space in front of his chest as hers, letting her tail curl near the wall. Finally, Nudyarl smiled as she got the position nearest his feet, letting her tail flop over his legs to rest on his other side.

Together they slept with him, enjoying what little extra sleep time he was granted before he would… inevitably, rush to his exams because he had overslept.

'You know Tinkech, you should be making his breakfast…' Lorpar chided quietly.

'Let the boss handle it… 'Cuddle Time' with Joseph takes precedence.' She countered.

'Cuddle Time with Joseph is indeed important, can't question that…' Nudyarl declared.

'Cuddle Time with Joseph is on top of the list of things that matter most to us…' Ernus agreed.

'Alright… back to Cuddle Time…' Lorpar relented.

With that they all returned to resting with their master.

'You know she's going to chew us out later for this right?'

'You're ruining Cuddle Time Nudyarl!'

Less than an hour later the dragons picked up their heads and looked at the door before vanishing, just as it opened again to reveal Sheou once again walk in with a tray of food and drink, this time in the amount needed for Joseph. She closed the door behind her, prepared his plate, glass, and then proceeded to gently wake him up.

"Wake up Young Master Joseph, you need to get up, it's already past your normal wake up time." She spoke.

"Nnnnnh… I feel like dying…" He muttered as he woke up at long last. "I stayed up too late studying last night…"

"I understand, but you need to get up, you have exams to take today Young Master Joseph." Sheou said as she pulled out his uniform and hung it up for him.

"Mhmmm…" Joseph muttered in response, getting up and going over to quickly eat breakfast.

Sheou carried out her maid duties while Joseph ate his food, cleaning and straightening his bed, dusting his Duel Disk and making sure it was fully charged, making sure his clothes were in order, and finally brushing his hair. After he was finished, she left the room so he could change in peace, and then returned to finish her maid duties.

She smiled as she brushed his hair a bit more, just to make sure it was nice and tidy while he straightened his jacket and shirt.

"Alright, let's get going!" Joseph declared.

"Yes, because any later and you will be 'late' for your written exam!" Sheou declared warmly.

"Plenty of time!" He hollered as he stormed out of the room, followed by Sheou who closed the door and locked it behind him.

They headed out to Duel Academy, with Joseph jogging as he raced up the dirt road to the main buildings. As they walked, they spotted a truck that seemed to be stuck along the road with a middle-aged woman with light brown hair struggling to push it up the road.

"Oh my, poor dear, she appears to be having trouble." Sheou said as she caught up with Joseph.

"Yea, no way she's going to get that truck wherever she needs it to go by herself…" Joseph muttered as he watched her struggle.

"What should we do Young Master Joseph?" She asked him politely.

"What else, give her a helping hand!"

"But Joseph, you're already barely going to make it as is, any further delays and you'll never arrive on time."

"Guuuuh…" He groaned as she had a point. "To be a gentleman or to be late for the biggest exam yet…? Well, it is 'only' a test to determine if I go into Ra Yellow or not… not like if I'm late for it I'll get expelled."

With that he ran up to the truck and started to help push it.

"Hi there… let me lend you a… nnng-helping… hand!"

"Oh, thank goodness… you must be from the Auto-Club."

"No… just a random Slifer Student who happened to be passing by." He muttered as he helped slowly push the truck forward. "Hey, Sheou… could you go tell Professor Banner that I'm… going to be late because I'm helping a woman named… uh?"

"Dorothy, tell em he's helping Ms. Dorothy!"

"As you wish Young Master." Sheou said with a bow and walked off to Duel Academy to find Professor Banner.

"For someone rich enough… to have a personal maid… I would have figured you'd be in Obelisk blue!" Dorothy said as they continued to ever so slowly push the truck forward.

"I'm not rich… Sheou is actually more my 'adopted mother' who just so happens… to be a maid who served my grandfather… and now follows me around!"

"Just like the rest of us!"

He looked in surprise as right next to him Kite and Lora were helping push the truck now, and next to Dorothy Amber was helping as well, and on the other side using the other door to push were Luna and Sun, all of whom were in their 'casual' clothes and not their maid café uniforms.

"Where did you girls come from?" Dorothy asked in surprise as the truck started making much greater timing thanks to the girls' help.

"Oh, you know… we were walking by, saw our little bro helping a lady, and figured we'd lend a hand!" Lora said.

"Like we'd ever miss a chance to hang out with Joseph, so we'll help you out!" Amber replied.

"We never get to hang out with our bro since he started coming here, so any excuse is a good enough one for us!" Kite declared.

"Are you 'all' sisters of his?" Dorothy asked in amazement.

"No, just pseudo adopted sisters of mine… who just so happened to be very good at following me around, and also happen to work as maids for a café with Sheou." He chuckled.

"Spells us out to a 'T'!" Sun laughed nervously.

"Maid of the Dragon's Café staff to the rescue!" Luna cheered as she pushed.

"What nice people you all are, I won't forget about this!" Dorothy said.

With the help of his adoptive sisters, he and Dorothy pushed the truck all the way up to the main Duel Academy building which is where he needed to be, and after all the pushing he was exhausted, but as he checked the time he had to get going.

"Sorry to run, but I need to get to my exam before I'm too late!" He said as he started running to Professor Banner's class. "Thanks for your help girls, couldn't have done it without it!"

"Good luck on your exam Joseph!" They all cheered happily.

He gasped as he ran to the main building, up a flight of stairs, down a hallway, turned a corner, down another hallway and reached the classroom at long last. He slowly opened the door just as Professor Banner declared, "You have one hour remaining to finish your test students."

Professor Banner looked up and waved at him as he started walking down. "Sorry I'm late Professor Banner, I was-"

"I know, your maid Sheou told me that you were helping Ms. Dorothy pushing her truck which had broken down, that was very kind of you and it's understandable why you are late. Now please, take your test and take your seat, you have less than an hour to complete it."

He nodded, picked up his test, and climbed the steps to take a seat near Syrus who was nodding off as he struggled to finish his own test.

"Hey Syrus, thanks for saving me a seat."

"Hhhuuuh, oh yea, no problem…" Syrus muttered sleepily.

"And you thought 'I' was going overboard with studying, at least I went to sleep and didn't wake up early for a Slifer Séance." Joseph said with a smile.

"At least 'I' woke up when the alarm clock did…"

"Can you two keep it down!" Chazz snarled from three rows above them. "Some of us plan to 'pass' this test!"

"Yea, no problem, apologies to everyone else as well…" He replied back with a frown as he sat down and began taking his test.

Several chairs away Alexis watched as Joseph started to take his exam. 'He's lucky he arrived when he did, any later and he'd be lucky to 'finish'.'

'Talk about a narrow window, if I arrived as late as he did, I think I would probably have about half a minute to spare when it came to completing my exam. For your sake Joseph I hope your field test goes better.' Bastion thought as he glanced from his exam to take a peek before going back to it.

With that the classroom remained in silence as he took his exam, nothing but the pitter patter of pencils on paper, the rapping of knuckles or fingertips on desks, and the occasional quiet but still noticeable 'whirl' as a pencil was spun in the air by its holder. The class remained quiet and just continued to work on their tests and exams, with Joseph answering question after question as he kept on focusing on his exam. He was tested on his knowledge of counter traps, quickplay traps, the difference between simply destroying a card or negating it, identifying various effects and naming which card they belonged to. He was so focused that he didn't even notice his feminine draconic friends floating over him and watching him with smirking expressions.

They were sorely tempted to compliment him on how hard he was focusing, and Tinkech even tried to whisper how awesome he looked, before Nudyarl smacked her and shushed her with a claw.

After that they kept giving each other weird looks as they just watched him taking his test, taking advantage of how so 'into' his exam he was that he didn't even notice them sitting on his shoulders or head.

'Exodia the Forbidden One automatically ends the duel in a victory to whomever holds all five special pieces in their hands at any point during the duel. In the duel scenario below, your opponent is going to draw the final piece in their hand on his next turn with 3 additional unknown cards remaining in their deck, and has the following cards face down: Magic Jammer, Seven Tools of the Bandit and Jar of Greed. You have Solemn Judgement, Mystical Space Typhoon, Exchange, Magic Jammer and Card of Destruction face down on the field, Fake Trap in your hand, No cards left in your deck, and Trap Master face down on the field in defense mode. Your opponent only has 1600 life points left and of the three face downs you do not know which card is which, and only four cards in total in his hand… for your answer list the cards you would use in what order, in order to stop your opponent from winning the duel with Exodia or stalling until you lose the duel by deck out…'

He thought carefully as these were 'always' trick questions, he remembered that Trap Master can destroy one trap on the field, even if its face down, and since all 3 cards are traps they would be destroyed, but if he got the 'wrong' card, Jar of Greed would activate and he'd lose.

"Alright… I know how to do this… bait out the card I need to destroy, and that is Magic Jammer." He muttered. "I can't use Card of Destruction with Fake Trap in my hand or I'll lose since I have no cards left in my deck to draw, so first activate Exchange, this will force him to hand over one of the Exodia cards in his hand, since he can't activate Magic Jammer without giving up his win condition. He gets my useless Fake Trap and I get a piece of Exodia, which one doesn't matter. After that, I can activate Mystical Space Typhoon to target one of the face down cards, that would force him to either activate Magic Jammer to protect Jar of Greed, or activate Jar of Greed. Even if he activates Jar of Greed at any point after I play Exchange, I can activate Solemn Judgement to trigger him to activate Seven Tools of the Bandit, bringing his life points to 600. That way, no matter what outcome happens, he will only have at most '4' pieces of Exodia while I'm holding the fifth. If after all of that he 'still' has Magic Jammer on the field, I can use Trap Master's flip effect to destroy it, I can then summon the piece of Exodia to the field leaving my Card of Destruction free to activate, sending all the cards in our hand to the graveyard and forcing us to draw the same cards from our deck, meaning with only '3-4' cards left, he decks out during my turn or at the start of his next turn, letting me win since I had zero cards in my hand to discard."

And so, it continued like that, with him recalling all he knew about cards and their effects and what 'order' to activate them for some questions. Some questions were basic, like identifying a quick play spell card from a bunch of normal spell cards, and others complicated like the Exodia one.

He sighed as he heard Professor Banner ring a bell on his desk, calling an end to the test and for them to put their pencils down.

"Alright students, please pass your exams to the center of the isle and I will walk around to collect them!" Professor Banner said as he got up and all the students began doing as he asked.

"Ugh… that was a nightmare…" Joseph complained tiredly. "I'm glad that tests like that are only twice a year…"

"You're telling me…" Syrus yawned sleepily.

Joseph seeing how slow Banner was to collect their tests decided a quick power nap wouldn't hurt and closed his eyes to let his eyes rest.

'Aaaaaand he's sleeping… told you he was up too late…' Ernus muttered.

'Oh dear… poor Joseph, he studies too hard.' Nudyarl agreed.

'After having to retake three of Crowler's tests weeks ago, it's no wonder!' Lorpar declared.

'At least after the field test, he can sleep again.' Tinkech said.

Five minutes later Banner walked back to his desk, looked at the timer and declared, "Alright students, that concludes the end of the written exam. With that I ask you walk, not run, to line up at the card shop to receive the new rare cards."

"Rare cards?" Someone shouted.

"Oh boy…" Banner said as he slowly slid the test exams into the desk drawer and held his desk with a tighter grip.

He counted down in his mind the exact number of seconds it took before there was an earthquake of epic proportions, the cause of which was the sheer number of students leaving their test rooms to rush to the card shop in a bid to get in line to have first picks of the rare cards that arrived that day.

Down at the card shop the assistant felt the earthquake and saw down the hall as the tidal wave of students came barreling down on them, and quickly panicked as she pushed the 'Emergency Close the Shop' button to buy them more time to finish preparing the shop. Despite the extra help they received earlier, they were still not ready yet, and needed just a little bit more time before they could handle the massive wave of students.

Outside the metal sliding door flew down and blocked the student's entry as they banged and shouted, demanding entry so they could get the cards they needed for the Field Exam. Minutes later a group of armed security guards stormed in and took up formation to clear a path for the admiral as he strolled through the hall, carrying the package that they had been entrusted with.

The briefcase containing the new rare cards.

"Oh studeeeents!" He shouted as he strolled toward them, "Is 'THIS' what you're looking for?"

He was welcomed with cheers and applause as he brandished the briefcase, and lifted the card shop gate just enough to slip in.

"Well, if you kids want them…" He shouted with a smirk, "Come and get them…"

With that the chaos truly began as students lined up, the gate opened, and everyone rushed in to try and be the first to get their hands on the new rare cards.

Meanwhile, back with Joseph, he and Syrus were being woken up by Bastion and Alexis as they stayed behind the stampede.

"Hnnngh what time is it?" Joseph muttered as he rubbed his eyes.

"Wake up Joseph, or you're going to be late."

"Late for what?" Syrus asked as he woke up now too. "Hey, where'd everyone go?"

"That's what Alexis was trying to tell you, everyone else is down at the card shop to receive the new rare cards that just arrived." Bastion said with a smirk.

"New Rare Cards? Why didn't anyone tell us about this sooner?" Joseph asked as he snapped to alertness.

"Well, obviously they didn't tell you because they wanted to get the best rare cards for themselves, so they can use them in the field test duels later." Alexis said with an internal laugh. "I think 'that' is obvious enough just by the way you asked the question."

"Oh yea… that would explain it… hey why aren't you guys down at the card shop then?"

"Oh please, one out of place card, rare or not, in my deck and it's delicate balance would be completely thrown off." Bastion said as he didn't even 'dare' to imagine what chaos any rare card he added to his deck would cause.

He'd spent all night preparing his deck perfectly for the field test, analyzing all the possible outcomes and planning accordingly so his deck would be ready. He didn't dare want to imagine cramming all of that theorizing and planning into a few minutes if he found a rare card he wanted to add.

"My deck is pretty strong as is, sure a rare card might be nice, but I can get by without it in my deck for the field test. Besides I'm in Obelisk Blue already, so unless I completely fail on both the written 'and' field test today, I'm pretty much not going anywhere." Alexis said with a smile.

"Well, 'MY' deck could use a rare card to help it out!" Syrus complained.

"So, what are we waiting for Syrus, let's go before they completely run out!" Joseph cheered as he got up and ran out of the room.

As he ran his Dragonmaids appeared flying alongside him. 'Master what's up, what's the rush?' Lorpar asked innocently.

"Didn't you hear, new rare cards arrived. So Syrus and I are trying to go get some for our decks for the field exam."

'What, we aren't rare enough for you?' Tinkech chided him as she pretended to look offended.

'One of a kind, no others in the world, all yours master… and you 'still' aren't satisfied with us?' Nudyarl teased him.

'Oh, let master get his new cards… maybe these 'rare cards' will help him pass the exam.' Ernus said with a pretend huff of displeasure.

"Oh, stop overexaggerating… the new cards may be rare, but you girls are beyond rare, you're special to me." He whispered with a smile.

'Eeeee all's forgiven!' Tinkech squealed happily.

'You can have all the rare cards you want!' Lorpar cheered.

'Master says the sweetest things!' Nudyarl said giddily.

'We love you too master, you're special to us as well!' Ernus agreed.

He laughed internally as they ran, those dragon spirits of his were just too easy to please. Besides it was true, he loved his Dragonmaid cards, they were special to him. It was also good that nobody heard him talking to these girls while he was running, he didn't want to explain why he was talking to a bunch of floating spirit dragons that looked like his Dragonmaid cards. His school social life was already dead in the coffin outside of a few select students.

Down at the card shop he and his friends arrived when there were no students left, and this made him feel fear as he imagined the worst possible outcome.

"Oh man, we're late… everyone else is gone." Joseph muttered.

"Does this mean the rare cards are all gone?" Syrus asked.

"If so, you snooze you lose…" Alexis muttered apologetically.

"Come on Syrus, maybe we're lucky and there's one or two left."

They walked into the card shop with Joseph looking around hopefully for a sign or something that said where the Rare Cards were and hoping that there were a 'few' left for him and Syrus.

At the front desk an assistant stood organizing some papers. "Welcome, how can I help you?"

"Hi, sorry we're kind of late, but are there any cards left from earlier?" He asked.

"Yes, but we only have the normal packs left I'm afraid, all the others were taken earlier." She said as she pulled out a pack from the desk and placed it on the counter. "Here you go, this is the last one."

"The last one?" Syrus groaned inwardly. "Nooooh, great… first I struggle to stay awake during my written exam, and now I'm probably going to fail my field exam because I can't upgrade my deck."

He glanced at the pack as well, even though he 'really' wanted to potentially get some new cards to help improve his deck, rare or not, he didn't want poor Syrus to flunk because he decided to be slightly greedy.

"You take the card pack Syrus."

"You'd give me the last card pack?"

"Yea, you can have it."

"But what about you, what if you need it… you were struggling to stay awake as much as me if not more?"

"I'll make do with what I've got, I've done that since I got my first Duel Monsters Cards, I've been using hand-me-down cards and whatever else I can find since I was young, I'm used to it. I've done well without rare cards; I can make do without them now." He said honestly.

"Thanks Joseph." Syrus said as he accepted the booster pack.

"Well, if it isn't my favorite Truck pushing hero!" A cheerful voice called out, and from behind the desk a door opened, and Ms. Dorothy walked in wearing the same uniform as the assistant. "How's it going Joseph, I need to remind myself to pay a visit to that café of yours, those girls who work there were really helpful around here for the little time they were here."

"Hi Ms. Dorothy, did you meet her or something Joseph?" Alexis asked.

"Yea, that's why I was late, her truck broke down and I helped push it for her, with some help from my adoptive sisters~!" He said sheepishly. "So, you work here Ms. Dorothy?"

"Work here, honey I 'own' here~! Cool huh?" She smiled.

"Wow, cool doesn't describe it. I need to hang out here more often, imagine owning your own card shop!"

"Yea, it's cool, and speaking of cool I have something for you!" She said with a chuckle. "Now I know my assistant here said we ran out of cards earlier, but I happen to have stashed a few away, as a thank you for you and your friends helping me out earlier, just in case you didn't arrive with every other student earlier."

"Really?"

She nodded and reached into her pocket, and pulled out a small, folded envelope and handed it over to him. He opened it to marvel at the cards she 'saved' for him. "These look awesome!"

"Wow, that is a rare card Joseph… and you got 'two' copies of it?" Alexis asked.

"Hmhmhmhm, your friends from the café told me you loved using a group of 'Dragon' cards, so I picked a few that we had from around the shop and those two from the rare cards they delivered to keep as a thank you for your help earlier, one card for you and each of your friends. Think of it as my way of saying 'Thank you' and to say good luck on your exam!"

He just marveled as he looked at the six new cards he received for his deck, and only bowed and said, "Thank you very much, I'll make good use of them."

Down by the proctors where they were arranging and assigning the students to their dueling partners for the exams, Doctor Crowler was looking at his Obelisk Blue Students to see who would duel who. While he was confident that his Obelisk Blues were the elite, he needed them to duel against each other and provide as much of a challenge so as to keep them at the peak of their skill levels.

"Hey, Doctor Crowler!" A voice called, and he looked up from his papers to see Chazz Princeston walking up to him. "I have a duel request form to give you."

"Oh, you do, do you?" He asked politely as he took the form. "Hmmm you want to duel a 'Slifer' named Joseph Takara? For… your 'Field Exam'?"

"Yea, I have a bit of a bone to pick with him, and I want to settle it with him in a duel!" He stated.

"I see… and why should I allow this, you know the rules for the promotion exams are for students to battle their fellow rank students. Why on earth should I change that rule and permit an Obelisk Blue to fight a Slifer Red?"

Chazz growled to himself as he looked at Doctor Crowler. "Look Doctor Crowler, I've dueled Joseph before, he got lucky during our duel, and if he hadn't then I would have won… I want to duel him again. I have my pride as an Obelisk Blue on the line… I want to 'win'."

"Hmmm…" Crowler thought as he glanced as his papers, and then shifted them to look at Joseph Takara's.

Joseph was supposed to duel a fellow Slifer and based on his current dueling score he was close to advancing to Ra Yellow after all of his scores were accounted for, all he needed to do was prove his worth in a field test 'and' pass his written test with a high enough score. While he didn't 'want' to let Joseph advance by potentially humiliating Obelisk Blue in a Field Test duel, in front of the whole school no less… but if Chazz lost to a Slifer Red, then he would need to learn the hard way that Obelisk Blue does not accept 'failures' into its ranks.

He pulled out the sheet where he was marking down who would duel who and assigned Joseph to duel Chazz on duel arena four.

"Alright, you've got your wish, I expect 'victory' Chazz, nothing less!" He spoke.

"Hehehe, no problem." Chazz replied as he walked away and headed to the duel stadium where the field tests were taking place. "After all, with all the rare cards I got earlier… no way am I losing!"

An hour later and Joseph just finished adjusting his deck to include the new cards he'd received. With six new cards he had to make a few sacrifices, so to make room he tossed out the three Soul of the Pure magic cards, Trap Hole, Draining Shield, and Wall of Revealing Light. He also shaved his deck down further by removing a copy of Downtime and Sendoff so that he had an even 40 cards, though he put those two cards in a special little box he used to store all of his Dragonmaid cards when they weren't in the deck.

"Alright girls, time to show everyone that I'm ready to take on whoever, and that I'm 'ready' for anything!" He said as his Dragonmaids appeared before him.

'Go get em master, show em all what all those hours of study accomplished!'

'Yea, show em how tough we really are!'

'Give em a taste of 'Dragonmaid Power'!'

'All for one and one for all!'

"Let's do this!" He declared as they vanished, and he walked out onto the field, seeing his name was on the list of students being called for their test exam and what field number he was assigned to.

Out on the field he and all the other students began walking to their spots, Ras fighting Ras, Slifers fighting Slifers, Obelisks fighting Obelisks, and he was fighting… Chazz?

"Chazz, I'm fighting Chazz?" He asked incredulously as Chazz grinned at him from across the field. "This has to be a mistake right, I thought we were only supposed to fight our fellow rank!"

"Awww what's the matter Slifer Slacker, you feel chicken all of a sudden?" He countered. "Didn't get your hands on many rare cards earlier, did you?"

Up in the special viewing window Doctor Crowler sat among the other staff members, sitting next to Chancellor Shepard while the other students not taking their test were watching in the stands.

"An Obelisk Blue fighting a Slifer Red, isn't this just a 'little' unfair Doctor Crowler?" Shepard asked.

"A little, but this is a 'special' case… I want to push young Joseph, and the best way to do that is to push him to duel stronger opponents. Chazz is one of our best, so why not test him against the best?" He asked.

"Hmmm I guess it's alright, but aren't you afraid of him defeating Chazz?"

"If Chazz loses to him, then that just means we need to reconsider his position as an Obelisk Blue." Crowler said with a stern look. "Obelisk Blue are the elite, if you can't keep up, you're not allowed in."

Crowler glanced down as some of the duels started, but Joseph and Chazz had yet to begin.

'Alright Joseph, I told you I would run you through the ringer, and I promise you that I'm never going to stop. You'll either rise to the top, or I'll drop you out… now prove it to me… prove that my intuition about you was right…'

In the stands Alexis, Bastion and Syrus watched as Joseph was paired up with Chazz. "This is completely unfair, an Obelisk Blue fighting a Slifer Red? Why on earth would Joseph accept these conditions?"

"Don't underestimate Joseph when it comes to Chazz, he beat him before, and he's only gotten better since that duel." Alexis said with a smirk. "If anything, this is an even match, Joseph is more familiar with Chazz's tactics, and he's improved his deck since then."

"I hope so." Syrus muttered.

Down on the field Joseph glanced at his cards and then glanced at Chazz as he considered his options. He could reject this offer, ask for a Slifer Red as his opponent, heck nobody would question it, it's obvious Chazz just wants revenge for losing last time.

"So, what's it going to be Joseph, you going to take the challenge, or you going to chicken out like the 'loser' you are? Did you lose your confidence in your rare and precious Dragonmaid cards?"

Well, that made his decision easier, "You got a duel… game on Chazz!"

"Bring it Slifer Slacker!"

Their Duel disks extended, Joseph's Draconic one and Chazz's Academy issued one, switching into active mode and turning on, life points accounted for and decks being shuffled. With a glare both duelists drew their first cards!

[Joseph Takara – 4000 / Chazz Princeston – 4000]

He glanced at his hand and smirked.

[Laundry Dragonmaid, Dragonmaid Downtime, Numinous Healer, Tyrant Wing, Pot of Greed]

"Underdogs first, I'll start off this duel!" He called out and drew his first card, [Dragonmaid Tinkech]

"Okay, I'll start this duel off with Laundry Dragonmaid in attack mode!"

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

'I'm ready to go master… let's teach him not to mess with us!'

"I activate her effect; Laundry send the top three cards in my deck to the graveyard for me girl!"

She nodded and blasted his duel disk with a beam of azure draconic energy, allowing him to draw three cards and send them to the grave. [Dragonmaid Nudyarl, Dragonmaid Tidying, Dragonmaid Welcome]

"Sweet, I'll take that, next I play the magic card Pot of Greed and draw two 'more' cards to my hand." He declared as he drew his cards, [Kitchen Dragonmaid, Dragonmaid Sendoff], "Finally I play three cards face down and end my turn!"

"Suboptimal play from a suboptimal duelist, I'll show you how its 'done'!" Chazz said as he drew, smirked and played the card he just drew. "I play the field spell Union Hanger, you're going to love this card soon, but first I activate it's effect. When this card is activated, I get to add one Light attribute, Machine Union monster from my deck to my hand! So, I'll take Z-Metal Tank and add it to my hand, like so!"

'Z-Metal Tank … where have I heard that before…?'

"Now that I've got it, I'll 'play' another monster, X-Head Cannon, attack mode!"

X-Head Cannon was played on the field and a metal box, with the letter 'X' on it appeared, opened, and revealed a mechanical floating mech comprised of blue/yellow armor, and two powerful cannons mounted in its shoulders. It unfurled itself and readied the two high powered 'cannons', taking aim at Laundry Maid.

[X-Head Cannon, Light Attribute, Machine Type, Normal Monster, 1800 Atk / 1500 Def]

"Next, I play the continuous spell card, Frontline Base, now, one per turn I can special summon one level 4 or lower union monster from my hand… and I happen to have one in my hand… Z-Metal Tank!"

A second metallic box appeared, this time it bore the 'Z' letter. With its appearance, the box opened to reveal a small low style yellow 'tank' with treads, hidden cannons along its two arms, and a singular optical eye in the middle of its frame. It rolled out onto the field and took aim at Laundry, who was looking terrified.

[Z-Metal Tank, Light Attribute, Machine Type, Union, Effect Monster, 1500 Atk / 1300 Def]

"And now, due to the effect of Union Hanger, if I just so happen to normal or special summon a Light Machine Union monster to the field, I can target it and equip another Light Machine Union monster with a different name, from my deck onto it!" He said as he drew another card. "The downside is, I can't special summon it this turn, but that's alright… because I equip Y-Dragon Head to my tank!"

On the field another metal box materialized with the Letter 'Y' on it, before it opened up to reveal a red dragon-like machine monster with large red mechanical wings, an elongated red mechanical tail, red mechanical body, sharp red feet and equally matching claws, finally ending with a red dragon head. Y-Dragon Head launched itself into the air and flew above Z-Metal Tank to land on top of it, locking itself in place via its feet.

'Z-Metal tank, Y-Dragon Head, X-Head Cannon… wait… no…' Joseph thought in horror as comprehension dawned before he shouted, "It can't be, when did you get 'THOSE' cards?"

"Oh, would you look at that, someone in Slifer who actually does their 'homework'!" Chazz taunted. "Like my new toys, well we're not done yet, you see now that I have all three on the field at once… its time to merge them together, to form the one… and 'only'…!"

As one all three machines, X, Y and Z flew up into the air, began to separate their parts and pieces so that they could merge together as Chazz said they would. Y Dragon Head folded up and planted itself squarely atop of Z Metal Tank, X head planted itself in the middle of an opened slot created by Y and locked itself into place. Then as one all three pieces readied their weapons and took aim at Laundry Dragonmaid.

"XYZ-Dragon Cannon!"

Everyone gasped in amazement from the stands as Joseph's lonely maid stared down the full might of the Union Fusion Monster.

[XYZ-Dragon Cannon, Lvl 8, Light Attribute, Machine Type, Fusion Monster, 2800 Atk / 2600 Def]

"Hehehe, so what do you think of my new toy? Actually, don't think too hard about it, because I've got a special ability to activate… see I can send one card from my hand to the graveyard, and destroy one of your cards you own!" Chazz said as he did just that, taking one card from his hand and sending it to the graveyard. "So, say 'bye bye' to your little girlfriend on the field!"

'Save me master!' Laundry screamed as XYZ-Dragon Cannon took aim and all of its blasters prepared to fire.

'Decision time, use Downtime or Sendoff?' He thought instantly as he looked to his three face downs. "I use my quickplay spell, Dragonmaid Sendoff!"

His center face down card turned up to reveal the Dragonmaid Sendoff card, which activated and pulled Laundry back to his hand.

"Thanks to this card, I can call back a Dragonmaid monster from my field and then special summon another Dragonmaid with a different name from my hand to field in defense mode! So come on out, Kitchen Dragonmaid!"

On the field a new Drgaonmaid took the place of Laundry, Kitchen, as she rose to the field and flung her hands forward to release a burst of Crimson Draconic energy to block the effect of XYZ-Dragon Cannon.

'Not this time buster!' Kitchen said proudly.

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

"Since she was summoned to my field successfully, can you bring out Parlor for me girl?"

'With a smile 'added' to my service 'master'~!' She replied as she smiled and sent a beam of her draconic energy at his deck, extracting Parlor for him to take.

"Heh, you always have a way out don't you, those girls of yours aren't going to save you forever against my monsters… I play two cards face down and end my turn!"

Up in the stands Joseph's friends were watching the duel with interest. "That was a close call, using Sendoff to shield himself from that Dragon Cannon was quick thinking." Bastion said.

"I don't get it, why was it quick thinking?" Syrus asked.

"Because Syrus, when Sendoff's effect is activated, the monster Joseph special summons out is immune from attacks and effects that destroy cards, meaning his monster protected him from Cannon's effect." Alexis said. "Dragon Cannon can use its effect as many times as its owner wishes as long as he has enough cards to meet the demand. Theoretically Chazz could have wiped out Joseph's entire field, spells, traps and monsters, but thanks to Sendoff he would have just been wasting his hand cause Kitchen wouldn't have been destroyed."

"This isn't going to be easy for him, if Chazz is using those cards, this completely changes the formula Joseph had to fight him, he needs to be on guard for anything!"

"That doesn't sound good…" Syrus muttered in agreement.

"It doesn't…" Alexis also agreed. 'Come on Joseph, you can do it!'

Down on the field Joseph looked at his field, he had Downtime and Numinous Healer on the field. He could summon one of his maids out now and then use Tidying's effect from the grave to bring another maid to the field, but without Dragonmaid Welcome his dragons didn't have the attack power to bring down that cannon.

"I draw!" He declared and drew, [Dragon Rage] to his hand. "That doesn't help me here… so instead I'll activate my face down card, Dragonmaid Downtime!"

His second face down card activated and revealed itself.

"Normally when I activate this card, I can send a Dragonmaid monster from my field and back to the hand, and then I'm afforded one of two privileges, but since I have no Dragonmaids, I'll just let it sit for now." He said as he took another card from his hand. "I'll summon out Kitchen Dragonmaid into attack mode again!"

Again, Kitchen Dragonmaid appeared on the field, with a smirk and a humble bow. 'Summoning me out twice in a row, I knew I was your favorite!'

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

"Come on Kitchen, stay focused, bring out Ernus for me!"

'Yes master~!' She replied as she blasted his deck again and extracted Dragonmaid Ernus to place in his hand.

"Next since she's in my hand, I'll play her effect and discard Dragonmaid Ernus to special summon to the field, Parlor Dragonmaid in attack mode!"

He played Parlor on the field, allowing her to appear in a cascade of emerald draconic light. She rose from her card and smiled as she glanced at Joseph behind her. 'How may I be of service to you master?'

[Parlor Dragonmaid, lvl 3, Wind Attribute, Dragon Type, Effect Monster, 500 Atk / 1700 Def]

"Thanks for showing up Parlor, now do me a favor and send Tinkech to the grave for me please?"

She nodded and blasted his duel disk with her Emerald Draconic energy, allowing him to take Tinkech and send her to the grave.

"Now then… since I have a few maids now, I'll make use of my trap card… Dragonmaid Dow-"

"Not so fast, I activate my face down card, Mystical Space Typhoon!" Chazz yelled as he activated one of his face down cards, smirking as the typhoon spell spun and blew away Dragonmaid Downtime from the field. "Nice try Joseph, but Mystical Space Typhoon destroys one spell or trap card on the field… so I destroyed it before you could use it! And while we're at it, I play another trap card, Union Scramble!"

[When the trap card, Union Scramble is activated, you can target up to '3' of your banished Light attribute, Machine type Normal or Union monsters, and then special summon them to your field!]

"So come on back boys, X-Head Cannon, Y-Dragon Head, and Z-Metal Tank, defense mode! And since Union Hanger is still on the field, I'll take another Z-Metal Tank from my deck and equip it to my Y-Dragon Head!"

On the field multiple machine monsters appeared in defense mode.

[X-Head Cannon, Lvl 4, Light Attribute, Machine Type, Normal Monster, 1800 Atk / 1500 Def]

[Y-Dragon Head, Lvl 4, Light Attribute, Machine Type, Union, Effect Monster, 1500 Atk / 1600 Def]

[Z-Metal Tank, Lvl 4, Light Attribute, Machine Type, Union, Effect Monster, 1500 Atk / 1300 Def]

"And here's a little bonus, since Y Dragon Head is equipped with Z-Metal Tank, it gets a 600 attack and defense point boost!"

[Y-Dragon Head, 1500 Atk / 1600 Def – 2100 Atk / 2200 Def]

"Grr… fine then I'll just play two cards face down and enter the battle phase, Dragonmaids Transform!"

Both maids on the field nodded and glowed, grew, appearing on the field in their true Dragonmaid forms, Tinkech and Lorpar.

[Dragonmaid Lorpar, lvl 8, Wind Attribute, Dragon Type, Effect Monster, 2700 Atk / 1700 Def]

[Dragonmaid Tinkech, lvl 8, Fire Attribute, Dragon Type, Effect Monster, 2700 Atk / 1700 Def]

"Now let's get busy girls, take down Y-Dragon Head Tinkech with Crimson Dragonic Fire!"

'Roasted Metal coming up~!' She roared as she unleashed her draconic fury on the red metal dragon.

Unfortunately, the machine released the tank and took off, leaving its tank equip on the field to be the target of Tinkech's wrath instead. The tank was consumed and destroyed, afterwards Y-Dragon Head flew back to its card and resumed a defensive stance.

"Oh, didn't I mention this, if one of my Union monsters would be destroyed while they're equipped with another Union Monster, I can save it by letting you blow up the equipped card instead!" Chazz told him.

"Great… now would have been a 'great' time to have had those two cards active…" He muttered to himself. "Lorpar finish what Tinkech started and take out that Dragon!"

'Love to master!" Lorpar yelled as she unleashed 'her' attack on the dragon, this time her attack finished the job, and the mechanical dragon was vaporized in Emerald flames.

"With that I'll leave my dragons in dragon form and end my turn!"

'Master, what's the plan? If he keeps on using those metalheads to guard him, we'll never get at his life points!' Tinkech asked as Chazz drew his card.

"That's all we can do for now girls, as long as that Dragon Cannon is on the field, we can't punch through." He replied. "Until I draw Dragonmaid Welcome or can summon out House Dragonmaid, all we can do is wear down his defenders and stand our ground. But if we can hold out until our next turn, then any of you girls can send that cannon to the scrapyard!"

"You wish…" Chazz called out, snapping him back to the duel. "Sorry Joseph but I have other plans… first off I'm going to activate my Z-Metal Tank's ability, once per turn I can equip that monster to X-Head Cannon or Y-Dragon Head, and when it's equipped to a monster, that monster gains 600 attack and defense points… but you already know that!"

[X-Head Cannon, 1800 Atk / 1500 Def – 2400 Atk / 2100 Def]

"Next, I play V-Tiger Jet in attack mode, and thanks to Frontline Base, I can summon out W-Wing Catapult as well, and thanks to my field spell, I'll take A-Assault Core from my deck and equip it to my X-Head Cannon!"

Joseph could only take a step back as he watched Chazz continue the onslaught of summoning more and 'more' machines to his field, first came a mechanical yellow Tiger with teal wings and armor, then came a blue jet equipped with missiles, and then another machine that resembled a yellow/red metal scorpion which soon equipped to X-Head Cannon.

[V-Tiger Jet, Lvl 4, Light Attribute, Machine Type, Normal Monster, 1600 Atk / 1800 Def]

[W-Wing Catapult, Lvl 4, Light Attribute, Machine Type, Effect Monster, 1300 Atk / 1500 Def]

[X-Head Cannon, 2400 Atk / 2100 Def - Immunity Granted against Opponent Monster Effects]

"Holy cow… he's outnumbered me eight to two!" He muttered in shock.

"Oh, you have a point, 'technically' there are eight monsters, not counting the fact that one of my monsters is a fusion, but I prefer to think 'fewer' is 'better', so I'm going to have V and W combine… now 'GO'!"

Both V-Tiger Jet and W-Wing Catapult launched themselves into the air and did as he asked, V landed on W and they combined into one monster. They then landed and bore down on Tinkech who growled and roared in defiance.

[VW-Tiger Catapult, Lvl 6, Light Attribute, Machine Type, Fusion Effect Monster, 2000 Atk / 2100 Def]

"And you thought 'your' maids were the only ones who could transform on a dime!" Chazz taunted.

'How many of these things does he have in his deck?' Lorpar asked.

"I'm not done yet… like I said, fewer is 'better'… so now XYZ-Dragon Cannon, and VW-Tiger Catapult… combine into the one… the only…"

The crowd gasped in surprise and shock as his two fusion monsters flew into the air and separated into their individual components, before combining again into a much larger machine type monster, stronger than either and more powerful combined, when it was finished all Joseph could do was stare in awe as he'd never seen a monster so large before.

"Say hello to VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon!"

[VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon, Lvl 8, Light Attribute, Machine Type, Fusion Effect Monster, 3000 Atk / 2800 Def]

"That is a 'big' cannon…" He muttered.

Up in the stands however, the mood was turning bleak.

"Not that card, how did Chazz obtain such a powerful card?" Bastion asked.

"I don't know but this isn't good, Joseph's Dragonmaids aren't going to last long against that behemoth!" Alexis said.

"You're telling me, that thing probably needs a license just to 'stand' there!" Syrus yelled.

Chazz was just grinning as he watched Joseph stare bewildered at his new monster, and it hadn't even shown off what it can do yet. "Alright, time for a test drive… first off I activate my Catapult Cannon's special ability, once a turn I can target one of your monsters and 'banish' it from the game!"

VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon raised one of its arms and pointed it at Dragonmaid Tinkech, opened its arm and released a beam of plasma energy, striking Tinkech and causing her to scream in horror as a vortex was created, and she was tugged into it.

'Masteeeeeeeeee-' She screamed before she vanished from the field.

'He got Tinkech!' Lorpar whispered in fear.

"Tinkech!" He yelled in shock. "What did you do to my Dragon?"

"I just told you, once a turn, my monster can target one of your monsters on the field and banish it from the game, now she's gone and isn't coming back!" Chazz said with a smirk. "I know how your maids work, they never leave the field, 'ever', as long as they can go to the Graveyard or back to your hand, they'll just keep coming back again and again. But they aint coming back from 'that', and now the fun resumes because with one maid gone, your other is in my cannon's line of sight. First, I switch X-Head Cannon into attack mode, and then I attack your Dragon with my Catapult Cannon!"

"Not so fast, I activate my face down Trap Card, TYRANT WINGS!" He shouted as he revealed his face down card, one of the new ones Ms. Dorothy gave him. "This card equips to a dragon type monster, and grants it 400 attack and defense points, not only that… it allows it to attack 'two' monsters in one turn, but if it does this the card is destroyed. Since I've only got one dragon now, Lorpar gets a power boost!"

Lorpar nodded as her wings grew to twice their length and became wrapped in white light, and she smirked as power flowed into her.

"This'll keep her safe, you won't break through my monster's attack now!"

[Dragonmaid Lorpar, 2700 Atk / 1700 Def – 3100 Atk / 2100 Def - Bonus Attack Granted]

"How terrifying… too bad I'm not going to attack her in attack mode!" Chazz countered. "You see my Cannon has another effect, when I'm attacking a monster, I get to choose the mode it's in, and I choose 'Defense', so get on your knees you overgrown lizard!"

Catapult Cannon pointed its other arm at Lorpar and blasted her with another beam, this time of electricity, and Lorpar was 'forced' into defense mode, moaning in pain as her wings folded up to shield her.

"Now where was I, oh yea, blowing your dragon away… Catapult Cannon FIRE!"

From its twin barrels Catapult Cannon unleashed its power and blew Lorpar away, try as she might she could not shield herself and survive the attack. Joseph's field was now wide open.

"Alone and helpless, just the way I like to see you, X-Head Cannon attack!"

X-Head cannon blasted Joseph, but quick as he could he triggered Dragonmaid Tidying's effect, banishing it and summoning Kitchen to his field in defense mode. She used both hands to release a constant stream of draconic energy in a bid to protect him, but her attack was being pushed back.

'I… can't… stop it!'

"How is 'she' there?" Chazz yelled.

"I activated Dragonmaid Tidying's effect from the graveyard, by banishing it I can call on a Dragonmaid from my hand or grave and special summon it onto the field in defense mode, but she goes back to my hand at the end of the turn. Now Kitchen, before your destroyed, bring Nurse to my hand quick!"

Kitchen nodded and used one arm to blast his duel disk with energy, before being destroyed. Since she was in defense mode his life points were spared, but that was his last emergency escape card.

"So, you survived 'again', but your Dragonmaids can't save you forever… once a turn I can target any monster you summon and banish it. If you try to defend against me, I'll just force you into attack mode. And if you try to counterattack me, you'll just fail because you can't touch me! Admit it, you're out of your league… but go ahead keep trying, I'll just play two cards face down and end my turn."

He looked at his and then his field, for once Chazz had a point, his maids were getting creamed out there. Even 'if' he used another Tyding to bring his monster's back from the grave or from his hand to defend him, that cannon would just switch them into attack and blast them. That was when he had an idea…

"I draw!" He said defiantly, drawing his next card, [Graceful Charity]. "I play Graceful Charity, so for drawing three cards, I must discard two!"

He drew his cards and smiled as he saw what he needed. [Dragonmaid Changeover, Numinous Healer, Dragonmaid Welcome]

"I'll take them!" He said as he discared two cards, sending Parlor and Numinous Healer to the grave.

"Now I play, Dragonmaid Welcome!"

On the field his magic card activated, now he had Welcome's effect to increase his Dragonmaids attack and defense points as well as call back Dragonmaid cards from the grave.

"I think you know what Welcome does Chazz, so let's skip the boring talk, so first off I summon Nurse Dragonmaid to the field in attack mode!"

On the field his Nurse Dragonmaid card appeared, with a worried frown as she stared at the behemoth before her, and the smaller but no less intimidating machine next to it.

'Master, I hope you have a plan for this!' She declared nervously.

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

"I do girl, just believe me, now activate your effect and bring back Parlor to the field in attack mode!"

She nodded and blasted his duel disk with her own pink draconic energy, he extracted Parlor and played her in attack, and said Parlor Dragonmaid appeared next to Nurse.

[Master, even with Welcome's effect, we're no match for that monster!] Parlor said nervously.

"Trust me girls I have a plan, but first Parlor activate your effect and send Dragonmaid Tidying to the grave." He spoke, and Parlor obeyed, blasting his duel disk with her energy and causing Tidying to be pulled out and sent to the grave. "Now I activate Dragonmaid Welcome's effect, since there are two or more Dragonmaids on the field, I can use them to bring back another Dragonmaid card to my hand from the graveyard. So, girls, bring back the Dragonmaid Tidying card to my hand!"

Both nodded and blasted his duel disk with their combined powers, and Tidying was extracted.

"Now I set a card face down and activate… Dragonmaid Changeover!"

The field changed into a whirlwind of draconic flame as he played the card, and Nurse was consumed by the card's effect, and he sent Laundry to the grave.

"When this magic card is played, I can fusion summon a Dragon Type Fusion monster, using the Dragonmaids as fusion material. This one requires a Dragonmaid monster, and one Dragon type monster, and Dragonmaids… are 'both'." He declared. "I fusion summon… House Dragonmaid!"

In a pillar of crimson, white, and black draconic flame the terrifying visage and roar of a dragon was heard, before it coalesced into the form of a woman, wearing a full body maid outfit, a white/black/crimson draconic tail, black/white draconic gauntlets, black/crimson wings, and dark horns. Nurse bowed humbly before House as she looked up at their opponent, seemingly unafraid of the opposition against them.

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

"Heh, nice monster… too bad I'm prepared for 'her'!" Chazz said with a grin.

He however wasn't nearly as afraid of his opponent now that he had the House Dragonmaid on the field. Even 'with' Chazz's monster being made up of about seven monsters, five not counting the fusions, it still only had 3000 attack points. House Dragonmaid was equal in power to it, but she had her own effects to offer up.

"Let's get this started, first off with Dragonmaid Welcome on the field, all of my monsters get a 100-point boost for each Dragonmaid on the field, so I get 200 for both of my maids at the moment."

[House Dragonmaid, 3000 Atk / 2000 Def – 3200 Atk / 2200 Def]

[Nurse Dragonmaid, 500 Atk / 1600 Def – 700 Atk / 1800 Def]

"Now I enter the battle phase… Nurse transform for me girl!"

Nurse nodded and did as he wished, changing into her true dragon form, becoming Dragonmaid Ernus, who roared in power against Chazz.

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

[Dragonmaid Ernus, 2600 Atk / 1600 Def – 2800 Atk / 1800 Def]

"Now that a Dragon type monster has returned to my hand, I activate House Dragonmaid's effect… you like banishing monsters Chazz well I like destroying them, since Nurse returned to my hand House Dragonmaid can destroy one monster on your side of the field, and I choose VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon!"

House nodded and flung her arm out to send a beam of pink Draconic Energy at the fusion monster, but Chazz countered.

"I activate my face down card, Formation Union!" He said, flipping over his face down, expecting that maneuver.

On Chazz's side of the field the yellow scorpion-like machine detached itself from X-Head Cannon and latched itself instead to his fusion monster, and then cast a powerful barrier which began absorbing House Dragonmaid's power.

"Nice try Joseph, but you see, I was fully prepared for that move, all of my A-Z Union monsters can grant special benefits to the monsters they're equipped with, and A-Assault Core has the benefit of being able to attach to 'any' light machine type monster on the field and granting it immunity to monster card effects. And if you were thinking of destroying it in battle, A-Assault Core can sacrifice itself to protect my monster from being destroyed."

He looked at the cannon and then smiled. "So, what if its protected, then that just means I have to destroy it… you forget my monster can activate her effect any time she wishes, I just have to meet the condition. So first I'll attack your monster with my House Dragonmaid!"

House Dragonmaid nodded as she launched her draconic flame attack against the cannon, but once more Chazz smiled.

"I play my face down card, Negate Attack!"

Immediately her attack hit a barrier and she watched in surprise as the catapult cannon was left untouched.

"You think I'm an idiot Joseph, I know all about your monsters, and I know how to get around them. If you think I'm going to let you destroy my cannon that easily you have another thing coming, Negate Attack cancels your attack and ends the battle phase, 'before' you can harm my catapult cannon."

"Well… that happened." He muttered bitterly, but everything was going according to plan, he just needed to wait a little longer.

Up in the stands everyone had all but forgotten the other fields as every student focused on the action between Joseph and Chazz. The action had not let up since the first turn, and both Duelists had pulled out their best cards against one another and were STILL duking it out.

"I'm honestly surprised by how Joseph is handling this, despite being against the odds he's still holding his own." Bastion said.

"Tell us about it, House is on the field at least, but he's low on maids. All of his dragons are in the graveyard minus Ernus, and he only has Laundry left to call on."

"Meanwhile Chazz still has all of his machines, and that catapult cannon will be able to banish one of Joseph's monsters on his next turn." Syrus muttered.

Chazz drew his next card as he grinned, the time had come to send this Slacker back to his dorm in defeat. "First off I play the monster, B-Buster Drake… and thanks to the effect of my field spell, I can bring C-Crush Wyvern and equip it to my Drake. Next, I activate the effect of A-Assault Core, I special summon it in attack mode by unequipping it from my catapult cannon!"

[A-Assault Core, lvl 4, Light Attribute, Machine Type, Union Effect Monster, 1900 Atk / 200 Def]

[B-Buster Drake, Lvl 4, Light Attribute, Machine Type, Union Effect Monster, 1500 Atk / 1800 Def]

[B-Buster Drake - Opponent Trap Immunity Granted]

His assault core appeared, his mechanical drake appeared, and his wyvern appeared. Once again, he was heavily outnumbered, but he had to wait, he had to time it right.

"Now then, before we get this show on the road and end you, I'm going to activate my Catapult Cannon's effect, once a turn I can banish one of your monsters… a slacker like you should consider himself lucky to be beaten by my monster, now any last words before your favorite monster goes bye bye?"

He watched as VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon took aim.

"Yea… you talk too much. I activate my face down card…" He said. "Dragonmaid 'Tidying'!"

His face down card activated, flipping over to reveal the card he pulled back last turn from his grave.

"Allow me to tell you how it works Chazz… when Tidying is activated, I target one Dragonmaid on my side of the field… and one monster in your graveyard or on the field… and they 'both' go back to our hands! So, before you can banish my House Dragonmaid, I'll send back Dragonmaid Ernus, and your giant mech!"

"Wuaaaaah!?" Chazz yelled in shock as he watched Ernus grinning as she flew into her card, and then vanished from the field.

Behind him his giant Catapult Cannon slowly faded away, vanishing from the field.

The audience 'cheered' in amazement as the Catapult Cannon vanished, leaving Chazz without his strongest monster.

"Brilliant, not only did he remove the card from the field, but he also denied Chazz any way to bring it back!" Bastion shouted in amazement.

"Yea, and because the two Fusion Monsters that formed it were banished, he doesn't have any way to bring those two cards back to the field to resummon it."

"Way to play Joseph!" Syrus shouted.

"And not only that, but a dragon returned to my hand, so you know what that means… House Dragonmaid take down that hunk of metal A-Assault Core with your special ability!"

She grinned as she did as commanded, and launched her effect at the monster in question, blasting it with her draconic energy and destroying it.

"Gyaaaaaaaah!" Chazz yelled. "I needed that card I only had one copy of it… Grrrr this isn't over yet Slacker! I activate the magic card, SWORDS OF REVEALING LIGHT!"

In front of his field several glowing swords made of light slashed down and covered his vision.

"Not the swords!" Joseph yelled.

"This card stops all your monsters from attacking for three whole turns… and that's not all, I activate another card, Wave Motion Cannon!" Chazz declared as he placed another card.

Behind him another cannon appeared with several dials, steam pipes, and a host of other things that steamed and rattled as it aimed at him.

"Okay I'm puzzled, so what does it do?" Joseph asked quietly.

"Here's how it works, after this card is activated, this cannon will build up pressure and power during each of my standby phases. For each phase that passes, I can deal up to one thousand points of damage to you. In other words, after four of my turns have passed, I can wipe you out with a single card! This countdown starts 'now', I end my turn."

He grunted as he drew his next card, [Monster Reborn].

"I play Monster Reborn to special summon to my field Dragonmaid Nudyarl. And… that ends my turn."

"Not much else you can do with my swords in play… now it's my turn, and with one standby phase down you have only 3 left to go…" Chazz said as his cannon rattled and groaned, and the little dials turned 'green' in color to represent the damage accumulated and ready to burst.

"With that done, I'm going to activate that Union Scramble card still in my graveyard, by banishing this card I can bring one of my banished union monsters, and add it to my hand… and I'll choose W-Wing Catapult, and I'll even play it face up attack mode for now. Next, I'll switch all of my other monsters into defense mode and set one card face down, and finally end my turn."

He nodded and drew his next card, [Dragonmaid Hospitality].

"Speaking of standby phases, my maid has an effect you should be aware of Chazz…" Joseph said, causing his opponent to pause. "See, she has an effect that triggers in the standby phase too. Once during our standby phases, mine 'and' yours, I can target a Dragonmaid monster on my field and special summon 'another' one if its 1 level higher or lower than the monster I targeted. So… come to my field, Dragonmaid Lorpar!"

House Dragonmaid nodded and pointed at the spot next to her, and then released a powerful plume of draconic flame, and from that flame Dragonmaid Lorpar appeared in face up attack mode.

"Great… just when I thought she couldn't be any more annoying." Chazz muttered. "I play my face down, Solemn Wishes! With this card in play, every time I draw a card, I gain five hundred extra life points…"

"You're placing everything in that cannon of yours huh?"

"I only need to stall you out until my fourth turn Slifer Slacker, and that's exactly what I'm going to do. In 'three' turns you're finished!"

"We'll see… all I can do is end my turn."

"And it goes back to 'me', so now I draw, and thanks to my trap card, I gain 500 life points!"

[Joseph Takara – 4000 / Chazz Princeston – 4500]

"Wait, this entire time 'neither' has taken a single point of damage?" Alexis asked.

"No, they've blocked each other from dealing damage at every turn, but Joseph has been on the receiving end of that sadly. Chazz has kept him so busy defending against his machines that he hasn't been able to deal 'any' damage!"

"Crazy to think that can happen…" Syrus muttered.

"Now then, another standby phase down, 2 more to go. I'll switch my remaining monster into defense mode, and then play unequip my union monsters via their special ability to special summon them into defense mode!"

[Z-Metal Tank, Lvl 4, Light Attribute, Machine Type, Union, Effect Monster, 1500 Atk / 1300 Def]

[C-Crush Wyvern, Lvl 4, Light Attribute, Machine Type, Union, Effect Monster, 1200 Atk / 2000 Def]

"Finally, I play one more card face down, and with that I end my turn!"

Joseph nodded and drew another card, [Dragoncarnationn].

"I activate House Dragonmaid's special ability, during the Standby phase I can special summon a Dragonmaid monster from the hand or grave by targeting another on the field, and then special summon one that has 1 level higher or lower than the targeted one, so come to my field Dragonmaid Ernus!"

House nodded as she pointed at the field now, and a pastel pink pillar of flame erupted, summoning out Dragonmaid Ernus to the field in attack mode.

'Quite the reception Master.' Ernus said politely as she took up position.

"I'll also place a card face down… and then I summon Kitchen Dragonmaid in attack mode!" He spoke.

On the field next to a still standing humbly House Dragonmaid, Kitchen appeared with a short bow and defiant stare. It was now five monsters versus five monsters. On Chazz's field, X-Head Cannon, B-Buster Drake, C-Crush Wyvern, W-Wing Cataputl, and Z-Metal Tank, against his Dragonmaid Lorpar, Nudyarl, Ernus, House and Kitchen Dragonmaid.

Up in the stands everyone was talking about how this was the first time they'd seen Joseph's maids all on the field at the same time in one form or another. Until now at most nobody saw more than three, Alexis had seen four, but nobody had seen him summon and keep all 'five' of them on the field at the same time.

'Master we're running out of time, the more time that passes the stronger his defenses become!'

'What Nudyarl said, if we can't get past his monsters we lose!'

"I've got it covered; next I activate my face down… Dragon Rage!"

At that Chazz looked in panic as he saw the card reveal itself. "How long have you had that card?"

"I just got it today, thanks to a nice lady who runs a card shop that I helped move her truck, and that's not the only card she gave me. But with that I end my turn. And your swords of revealing light are 'done', which means on my next turn I'm free to attack, and thanks to Dragon Rage, my dragons can destroy your monsters 'and' deal the extra damage to your monsters!"

Chazz grunted as he drew his card and gained life points while the swords of revealing light began to wear off.

[Joseph Takara – 4000 / Chazz Princeston – 5000]

"I switch my X-Head Cannon into attack mode, and then I activate the effects of my Union Monsters, I equip Z-Metal Tank, B-Buster Drake, and C-Crush Wyvern to X-Head Cannon, I then activate from my hand, the magic card Raigeki!"

From the ceiling a lightning bolt erupted and struck down on his monsters, causing all of them to shield themselves.

"This magic card destroys 'all' your monsters on the field!"

"Dragonmaids, activate Draconic Defense Barrier!"

As one all of his maids raised their heads and released a burst of draconic flame which coalesced into a wall above them, protecting Nudyarl, Ernus and Lorpar from the storm.

"What the… what's going on?" Chazz asked in confusion. "Why aren't your monsters being destroyed, Raigeki is a powerful and rare card, NOTHING survives it!"

"True, but my maids have a special ability, as long as there's a Dragon type fusion monster, and House Dragonmaid fits the bill, my Dragonmaids can't be destroyed by magic, spell or monster effects… unfortunately that doesn't extend to House Dragonmaid herself and Kitchen…"

Kitchen and House grimaced as they were struck by the card's effect, being destroyed in the process… but the storm ended, and he still had his 'three' dragons.

'That was close master…'

'You need to do something, or we lose on his next turn!'

"Grrr 'fine', that's alright, I've boosted my defenses and boosted my life points… so do your worst! You can't finish me off this next turn, it's over!" Chazz yelled. "On my next turn, 4 standby phases will have passed, and then I can destroy the card and 'Crush' you with 4000 points of damage!"

Joseph nodded as he drew his 'final' card of the duel, [Return of the Dragon Lords]

"It's over Chazz… I play my face down card, Dragoncarnation!" He said as he activated the card. "This lets me bring back one Dragon monster that has been 'banished' during this game… so return to my hand, Dragonmaid 'Tinkech'!"

"Wait what?!" Chazz yelled as a vortex appeared, and out of it flew the feminine dragon Tinkech, smirking as she happily flew toward Jospeh and vanished.

'Thanks master… I knew you wouldn't abandon me!'

"Good to have you back girl…" He muttered as he took her card and placed it in his hand. "You tried to separate me from my Dragonmaid, too bad nothing will separate them from me for too long. Next, I activate Dragonmaid Tinkech's effect, by sending her to the grave I grant a monster 2000 attack points on my field till the end of the turn, and I choose Dragonmaid Lorpar!"

[Dragonmaid Lorpar, 2700 Atk / 1700 Def – 4700 Atk / 1700 Def]

"Next I play… Return of the Dragon Lords! This magic card lets me target a lvl 7 or 8 dragon type monster and special summon it to the field from the graveyard, so rise once more Dragonmaid Tinkech!"

Dragonmaid Tinkech roared back to the field in a plume of crimson draconic flame, smirking as she stared at Chazz squirming below her.

"Nice try I activate my trap card, Bottomless Trap Hole, this card activates when you try to special summon a monster with more than 1500 attack points. Now not only do is it destroyed, but it's also 'banished'!"

The card sent out a beam of light to strike down Tinkech, but she smirked as Joseph countered it, and instead of being destroyed a dragon-like visage appeared to block the card, taking the hit for her.

"What's going on, why didn't my trap work, your card should be 'destroyed' and banished?"

"If any dragon type monster would be destroyed by battle or card effect while Return of the Dragon Lords is in the graveyard, I can banish this card and protect the card from harm… nice try Chazz, but you aren't removing Tinkech from the game a 'second' time!"

'Thanks for the save master, I knew you loved us!'

"No… this can't be!" Chazz screamed in horror.

"Next I activate Dragonmaid Tidying's effect, by banishing 'it' now, I bring back House Dragonmaid in defense mode until the end of the turn, but there won't be an end to the turn…"

House now appeared in a spiraling cascade of energy, with her arms crossed and smiling humbly.

"And Dragonmaid Welcome is still in play, so my maids get a power boost!"

[Tinkech 2700 / 1700 – 3200 / 2200]

[Ernus/Nudyarl 2600 / 1600 – 3100 / 2100]

[Lorpar 4700 Atk / 1700 Def – 5200 Atk / 2200 Def]

[House 3000 Atk / 2000 Def – 3500 Atk / 2500 Def]

"Not agaiiiiiin!" Chazz yelled in horror.

"Lorpar give his Cannon a taste of your power!"

[X-Head Cannon – 2400 Atk / 2200 Def]

Lorpar happily obliged as she blasted the machine with a POWERFUL jet of flame, incinerating it and leaving it a crispy rusted brown color, but the monster remained because Chazz destroyed C-Crush Wyvern instead.

[Joseph Takara – 4000 / Chazz Princeston – 2200]

"Grrrg…" Chazz groaned. "Is that the best you got!?"

"You want more, you got it! Tinkech give him a piece of your power!"

Tinkech nodded as she blasted him now, incinerating the X-Head Cannon more, melting its turrets down to stubs, but still it remained as B-Buster Drake was removed instead of it.

[Joseph Takara – 4000 / Chazz Princeston – 1400]

"I'm… still… standing!"

"And I've got '2' more attacks… so here, have a taste of Ernus!"

Ernus showed no pity or mercy as she unleashed her rage upon the monster, burning it down to a smoldering pile of scrap. X-Head Cannon barely 'looked' like a monster now, as Z-Metal Tank was destroyed to save it.

[Joseph Takara – 4000 / Chazz Princeston – 700]

Chazz looked at him defiantly, glaring daggers and wishing 'evil' upon him, as he refused to give up, refused to surrender to this Slifer!

[X-Head Cannon, 2400 Atk / 2200 Def – 1800 Atk / 1600 Def]

Joseph, however, didn't feel like offering any words of encouragement or feel like taunting him.

"Nudyarl… end it."

Nudyarl warmly accepted his request, and carried it out, smacking the X-Head Cannon with her tail, and breaking it in two, leaving it nothing but a pile of scrap.

[Joseph Takara – 4000 / Chazz Princeston – 0]

As the duel ended the Dragonmaids looked like they were about to snort and turn away like before, but one glance as the House Dragonmaid bowed respectfully made them all bow slightly as well, just before the holograms turned off and Joseph breathed a sigh of relief. He'd won against Chazz, again. "That was exhausting…" Joseph muttered, before everyone in the stadium started applauding him, giving him a standing ovation and cheers of approval.

However, he looked over to Chazz who seemed to be fuming badly, and he had a look in him that was hard to describe, it was like Chazz was 'furious', but not at him, and he looked like he was on the verge of crying but again, not in sadness.

"Chazz!" He yelled over the applause, causing his opponent to look at him. "Chazz, stop taking me lightly, and stop thinking I'm a 'slacker'."

"What did you say?" He muttered angrily.

"Just because I'm a Slifer Red doesn't make me a 'Slacker', in case you hadn't noticed, I've been studying hard and working to improve myself." He told him. "You're a great duelist Chazz, I hope someday I can feel like I'm your equal in a duel, without having to ask myself if I made any mistakes when I duel. If you would stop assuming everyone else below your rank is inferior to you, and treat them as I treat you, an opponent who actually might be better than me and probably is, you'd do much better."

Chazz looked like he was about to respond, but Joseph wasn't interested, not after how Chazz treated him throughout the duel.

"Take what I said as you see fit…" He finished, before turning around and leaving the field so he could chat with his friends.

At that Chazz glared at him before, taking a deep breath, then turning to leave, glancing back at him again.

He nodded tiredly as he walked up a flight of stairs, right into Alexis, Syrus and Bastion who were going to greet him.

"Well played Joseph, excellent dueling!" Bastion said.

"I'll say, it was quite the sight, you dueled excellent Joseph, almost no mistakes this time! You were practically flawless!" Alexis agreed.

"You rocked Joseph, you took those machines to the scrapyard and 'back'!" Syrus said.

"Thanks guys… though I would rather not run into those cards again any time soon…" He said tiredly.

{That was well played Joseph, not once in the history of our school has a Slifer dueled an Obelisk in these test duels.} A voice declared over the intercom, and he and everyone looked up at the viewing area where teachers could watch the exams. {Not only did you face great adversity, but you 'won'. Your courage in the face of adversity and nearly overwhelming odds was inspiring! For your dueling skills and your victory, it is with great satisfaction that I promote you to Ra Yellow. Congratulations!"

At that he was baffled, he was being promoted in his first year at Duel Academy? That was only the beginning, everyone was cheering and applauding at his accomplishment, and even some Ra Yellow students were running up along with a few Slifers to congratulate him.

"Ra Yellow, alright Joseph way to go!" Syrus yelled as he hugged him.

"Well good show Joseph, allow me to be the first to welcome you into Ra Yellow." Bastion said as he extended his hand to him.

Joseph looked at his hand and for a moment, was about to shake it… but he frowned as it felt 'wrong' somehow. He wanted to ascend yes, but something inside of him told him that… he wasn't ready yet. In truth he didn't feel ready either.

"Thanks, but… not yet Bastion." He told him. "I'm not ready yet, I don't think I'll be joining the Ra Yellow ranks just yet."

"Hmm, why not, Chancellor Shepard just said you were worthy to join us?" Bastion asked in confusion.

"Maybe, but I don't feel ready…" He said as he pulled out his Dragonmaid cards and looked at them. "Bastion… I won today because I used my Dragonmaids to the best that I could, but part of me feels like I made some big mistakes, mistakes only 'I' noticed in hindsight. Perhaps I could have done things differently… I got 'lucky' also, Chazz didn't play optimally either, if he had made different decisions, he could have been the winner. Plus, I've got friends in Slifer Red that, I like hanging out with. So, for now, I think I'm best where I am until I feel ready." He then smiled and chuckled, "But hold on that welcome party for me!"

Bastion smiled as he nodded and instead patted him on the shoulder, "Then in that case, allow me to 'reserve' the privilege of welcoming you to Ra Yellow's ranks."

He nodded as cheering and applauding and turned to see the girls from the café pushing through the crowd with little signs saying [Go Joseph] and [Ra Ra Joseph], with the café's logo and phrase on it.

"Yay Joseph is staying in Slifer Red!"

"Well fought duel Joseph, and congrats on being welcomed to Ra Yellow!"

"And for choosing to stay in Red!"

"We were afraid you'd leave us, and we'd never see you again!"

"Hooray for Joseph!"

While they ran over to congratulate him, students were randomly talking about them.

"How do they keep appearing without anyone seeing them?"

"You'd think someone would have noticed them…"

"How can anyone miss 'those' girls, they're like so cute and hot…"

He however chuckled quietly as they affectionately tackled him, hugged him, or just congratulated him on his achievement.

At least until, a more 'menacing' presence appeared, causing every student nearby to back away as she approached the group with the light from the ceiling glaring in her glasses. Behind her a menacing draconic aura seemed to emanate from her, snarling and growling as she humbly smiled and stared at the group who felt the aura approaching and turned, shivering in terror and fear at its owner's approach.

"How… many times… do I have to 'repeat' myself…" Sheou whispered gently, yet her tone carried a dangerous tone in it. "A Maid must complete her duties, 'before' any other service or personal time may be provided or had. Tell me… how many times… must I repeat… myself?"

"We-e-e-r-e s-s-sorry…" They all moaned in fear. "P-l-l-l-le-e-ease don't be angry…"

Their pleas of mercy did not go heard as Sheou pulled a scroll from the folds of her outfit and unrolled it.

"There are still seventy pounds of clothes needing to be washed and returned, 'Seventy', 'Pounds'!" She said looking at Luna.

"Ninety rooms needing cleaning, 'Ninety', 'Rooms'!" She said glaring at Amber.

"The Nurse's office hasn't been inventoried, cleaned or organized… since 'Yesterday'." She muttered dangerously at Sun.

"The Café hasn't been cleaned or prepared for today… its still the same as it was 'Last Night'!" She continued, looking down at Lora.

"And there are leftover dirty cooking tools, from this yesterday and this morning and 'food' from breakfast… 'Still There'!" She finished as she glared at Kite.

As one all five of the café's staff coward as Sheou bore into them, her silent furry only contained by her gentle smile and never-ending humble attitude when in front of Joseph. Everyone else backed away as they feared getting near the Housemaid when she was in an 'anger state'. Joseph felt sorry for them, as he knew the girls just wanted to watch him duel and see him in action since he didn't spend as much time at the café as he did when growing up with them.

But he also wasn't going to try and get between them and an angry Sheou…

"If this list of chores isn't done by the time the café opens today… you will be cleaning this entire building 'top' to 'bottom'!" She finished, and 'instantly' all five girls flew down the stairs and out of sight. "Those five… what will I ever do with them…" She moaned quietly as she bowed to Joseph and apologized for the display, saying "A maid should never show such displays before her master."

"It's okay Sheou, though I think I am going to go to bed… I'm so tired."

"So early, but we aren't even at lunch time yet?" Sheou asked in surprise.

"I was up studying most of last night… I'm beat, and that duel really wore me down!" He complained. "Hey Syrus, good luck on your exam man… I'll see you and Chumley later~!"

"Later Joseph!"

Meanwhile Chazz was walking back to Obelisk Blue dorms, that Slifer student's word ringing in his ears the longer he listened to them. What did 'he' know about being a great duelist, he was just some lucky punk, that was all, he just got lucky!

Did he?

"Was he lucky… or did I just act like an idiot?" He asked himself as he turned a corner. "He's right… if I had formed ABC-Dragon Buster, before trying to banish his maid… I didn't take him seriously, thought that I had the advantage and I let it go to my head… and because of that, because of 'one' mistake I made, he took full advantage of it."

At that he thought his words again, 'Just because I'm a Slifer does not mean I'm a Slacker'.

When he reached his dorm room, everything was quiet for about five minutes, then he yelled and went to smash a lamp on the floor, before he forced himself to calm down, and glance at his cards, and then for a moment began thinking about 'why' Joseph could win.

"Why, why does HE win against me? Why does he keep beating me?" He snarled as he looked at his deck. "I have the best cards, I'm an Obelisk Blue, I'm supposed to be the BEST!"

He tossed his deck on his bed before going over to his computer to 'find' that answer. He wasn't going to let a Slifer beat him again, he was going to find a way to win, nobody shows Chazz Princeton up and makes him look like a fool! The next time he dueled that Sl-Slifer, he wouldn't make mistakes, he wouldn't give Joseph the win 'again'.

Over at the Slifer Red dorm, Joseph had just changed into his sleeping clothes, brushed his teeth and was climbing into bed, with Sheou diligently helping him out. After he was tucked in, he told her good night, and said he'd wake up later for dinner at the café.

"I will let Kite know you are coming, and Lora will greet you and your friends when you arrive." Sheou said warmly as she gently brushed his hair.

He nodded and instantly began snoring once again, fast asleep. She chuckled as she scratched his head one more time, before gently leaning down and kissing his forehead, lovingly saying "Good Dreams, young master…" as she wished him well, before straightening up and leaving.

As he slept through, once again, four feminine dragons, his Dragonmaids, appeared around him. They each took up their favorite spots that they were in before and cuddled up to him to enjoy more 'Cuddle Time' with their master.

.

.

.

.

=Next Time, Joseph vs Blair, Duel of Love, The Maids vs The Maiden=

"Master, you must accept that our hearts may be swayed, but we are forever loyal to you… our hearts belong to our master, no other For you are our master, the Master… of the Dragonmaids."

.

.

*From the Author*

Yea, next chapter prepare for some lesbian shenanigans as the Maiden in Love tries to sway the hearts of the Dragonmaids. It is going to be hilarious, and I need '2' suggestions, which 2 Dragonmaids are going to be on Maiden in Love's side, and who will stay true to Joseph

Hilarity and silliness will ensue next chapter when I get around to it lol

And I swear, trying to please everyone, and reviews say how my fic is horrible and sucks…