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.

8. Chapter 7

"My dear Young Master, it is my wish that I could depart unto you my deepest surprise in how much you have grown in so short a time, in both your power and your confidence in yourself. However, it is also my deepest wish that you unleash our full potential, because you see, if you do not then we your Dragonmaids run a great risk that we cannot endure. We depend on you so much more than you realize in these duels you partake in."

"Our power, is your key to victory… please do not misuse it."

= Chapter 7 Prologue =

Chazz walked slowly toward the dock where his own private boat was waiting to take him away from Duel Academy Island. All he carried over his back was a knapsack of everything he himself owned while he was 'on' the island and 'was' a student at the academy. He didn't even have on his Obelisk Blue Uniform, just a plain set of clothes and a black jacket he sometimes wore in case it rained before he came here.

He used to be at the top of the school here, all the respect, all the best cards, money, power, he was in the 'best' room and had all the bells and whistles that he could ask for because of his high marks and of course his dueling skills.

Now… now because of one Slifer Red, he was walking away from it all.

"Hmpf…" He grunted as he turned to look back at the school. "Joseph… I don't know 'how' you were able to defeat me, or what it will take… but I'm going to find whatever it will take to beat you. Even if I have to 'leave' this academy to find it."

He thought back to when Doctor Crowler kicked him out of Obelisk Blue, because he'd lost to Joseph 'twice'.

=Flashback=

"The 'best' don't make mistakes, the BEST stay in Obelisk Blue, and the BEST do not lose a SLIFER RED!" Crowler growled. "You're Lucky that you're only being demoted to Ra Yellow, and not something worse like trading dorms with the student you lost 'twice' to!"

"Grreg…" He grunted as Doctor Crowler huffed and turned away, signaling that the conversation was over, and making him walk out.

He walked through the halls of Duel Academy as he pictured himself wearing a 'yellow' blazer. It was unacceptable, he wouldn't do it, he'd rather 'leave' Duel Academy before that happened.

'That's what I'll do… I'll just leave… they won't demote me, I'll never let them!' He thought as he rounded a corner. 'I'll leave, forget this place, I'll just…'

He paused as he noticed on the wall various posters promoting the upcoming School Duel, telling students to study hard, work hard, practice hard and they may be chosen to represent Duel Academy in the Annual School Duel against their arch rival, North Academy.

'North Academy… Duel Academy's Arch Rival…' He thought quietly to himself.

That was when he smirked as he had an idea.

=Flashback ends=

And so, not ten hours later, he slipped a Transfer Form into Chancellor Shepard's office, with a note saying he wouldn't be there that night, and so left with his bag already packed.

Joseph's words kept ringing in his ears, every time he thought about him, about how 'Just because he's a Slifer, doesn't make him a Slacker'.

Joseph studied, 'hard', while he on the other hand thought he could just slide his way into the top spot 'just because'… because he was good, had the best cards, and had the skills? No, Joseph had a point, just because he had the best cards, the skills, doesn't make 'him' the best. But there was something else Joseph had, and he needed to find out, but he wasn't going to find it 'here' that's for sure.

So, he'll try and find it at North Academy, first he'll become the best there, then he'll come back for the School Duel, and if he knew Joseph then he was 'sure' to try and become Duel Academy's rep.

They'll meet again… and when they do, he'll win for sure.

"I'll be back Joseph… you haven't seen the last of Chazz Princeton!" He shouted as he turned to look where the Slifer Dorms were. "You hear me Joseph, this isn't over between us, when I come back you're mine!"

"Why are you out this late at night?"

"GAH!?" He screamed and yelped at the same time, as he turned around and saw that 'maid' who tagged behind Joseph. "Wh… what are 'you' doing here?"

Sheou as she was called, held out a small basket which contained various tea leaves. "I was simply returning from the warehouse which stores my café's special brand of imported tea leaves from overseas. I needed to get them to the café so I can brew my master and his roommate's before-bed tea."

"You have a warehouse that specifically stores 'tea leaves', what kind of café does that? Don't you have a place in your café to do that?"

"The tea leaves we use have to be kept in very specific conditions and tended to regularly or they will spoil, or worse the special aromatic flavor of the leaves will be lost when they are turned into tea. That and it also stores everything else my Café uses." Sheou said with a humble smile. "It is my duty as a maid to my master to-"

"Yea, yea, your duty to do this or that for your 'young master' because of some maid thing." Chazz interjected as he didn't feel like hearing the whole speech, until he turned back to her. "Hey, can I ask you a few questions?"

"As a maid, you may ask me whatever questions you wish, and I'll answer if I can." Sheou said with a nod.

"Why 'does' he have you as a maid, like, who are his parents, is he some rich kid or something that I'm not aware of?"

"Young Master Joseph is by no means a 'rich kid' as you put it Master Chazz, you see, I once served his grandfather just before he passed away, and after… certain circumstances occurred, he lost his mother and was orphaned. Joseph would have lived in an orphanage had I chosen not to offer shelter, I only became his personal maid 'here' at Duel Academy, but until he arrived here I was technically his Parental Guardian."

"Wait, you're his 'adopted mother'?" He asked in surprise. "So then… when I first… when I dueled him and…"

Sheou simply smiled and nodded in silent confirmation to what he was thinking, no wonder Joseph had been so hesitant and why they never got along after he made that bet. He'd tried to win the closest thing he had left to a mother over a duel!

"For the record, I'm 'like' his adopted mother, but all I've ever aspired is to be his faithful maid… to be compared along the same levels as his real mother, for a humble maid like myself is the highest of honors, and I am privileged to even be considered such by Young Joseph." She said warmly as she used one hand and placed it over her heart while closing her eyes. "As a maid, all I have ever aspired is to walk behind him in his shadow, while lighting the path that he chooses to walk upon. But that is enough about me and my young Master, Mr. Princeton, may I inquire as to what 'you' are doing out this late?"

"Hmpf…" He muttered as he turned away, looking at Duel Academy. "Fine but I'll only tell you if you swear to keep this from your 'master'." After she agreed to his terms he sighed and explained, "I was recently kicked out of Obelisk Blue for losing to Joseph, 'twice'. At first, I thought he just got lucky, but… he told me something, he said, 'just because I'm a Slifer, doesn't mean I'm a Slacker'. I began trying to research, learn about his cards, figure out 'why' he keeps beating me no matter what I did. I was supposed to be the best, I had the best cards, I had the skill, I was an Obelisk Blue, my marks were higher, I was better in everything and yet… he keeps winning."

"I didn't understand it at first, but somewhere in my head, something told me that I was never going to understand it while I was here. So, I'm going somewhere else, maybe if I transfer to another school, I'll find what it is so that I can finally beat him. I've already submitted my transfer form, so there's no point in staying here any longer." Chazz said as he pulled out his cards and looked at them. "I'll find what Joseph has that I don't have, somewhere, somehow, and when I do, I'll beat him, and prove once and for all who's the best duelist between us and who will be the next King of Games!"

Sheou nodded and bowed out of the way, allowing Chazz to leave uninterrupted and board his private boat to depart from Duel Academy Island. "When next we meet Chazz, I know you will have found what it is you lack." She whispered. "Joseph's strength is not in the cards, but the spirits of those cards, and the strength they give him that he finds in himself with their help. He has his, and when you find yours, you two will duel once again, after that well… who knows."

She turned and resumed her journey back to the café; she was now late when it came to serving her master and his friends their before bed tea.

= Chapter 7, Joseph vs Bastion =

= Duel To Represent, Chamber Maid's Debut =

"Swing batterbatterbatterbatter MISS!"

That was the sound of Joseph trying to have himself a laugh as he tried to fake out the batter during their Thursday gym class, in today's case it was Baseball, and Joseph was picked to be the pitcher for Team Slifer, against Team Ra. The names weren't the most creative, but they were at least simple to figure out who was against who, Slifer Reds vs Ra Yellows.

"Booooo!" A few of the Ras yelled, but it was comedic boos, they knew he was just having some fun.

"Come on Jo, throw them out of the park!"

"I'll do my best!" He yelled to Syrus but groaned inwardly, Baseball was not his forte.

At least pitching, he could swing but pitching was another beast entirely.

"Alright, here we goooooooooo!" He yelled as he pulled his arm back and threw the ball.

Seconds later the batter swung and hit it, sending the ball flying and all of the Slifers into a scatter run to catch it while those Ras who were on the field ran the pitches. After a few seconds a Slifer picked up the ball and tossed it to second base, but the Ra who swung the bat slid and was called 'Safe'.

"Ugh, 3 to 4, so much for our lead!" He muttered as he was tossed the ball and readied his next pitch, right as his ever-present feminine dragon spirit friends appeared.

'Maybe if you threw the ball harder, you'd have more luck with being the pitcher.' Nudyarl suggested.

'Maybe if the batter didn't swing so hard, he'd be a better pitcher?' Lorpar also suggested.

'What does baseball have to do with Dueling?' Tinkech yelled in frustration. 'This is making our master look bad in front of all the other Slifers!'

'Well, a well physique and healthy body does come with regular physical activity.' Ernus muttered with a smile. 'It doesn't hurt to exercise a bit~.'

"Can you please go away till 'after' the game?" He muttered embarrassingly.

They'd been commenting all game about his bad pitching and causing him to groan inwardly whenever they popped up to talk about what was happening at the time.

"Alright let's see, right now it's 3 to 4, Slifers in the lead, and Ras have two outs with one on base, if I can just get one more out then we win cause Slifers are up next for the final inning!" He said as the Ras were in a huddle talking about to send next up to bat.

"TIME OUT!" Someone yelled, and everyone turned to see Bastion running onto the field, quickly zipping up his Duel Academy Gym blazer and rolling a yellow band up to his shoulder. "My apologies everyone, sorry I'm late, I was deep into a study of Special Summoning formulas, and I completely lost track of time."

"Can you bat Bastion; we need a fresh swinger out there?"

"Of course, I can."

"Alright get in there!"

Bastion nodded and took the bat into his hands before he looked at the plate, licked his finger and then held it to the air, looked up at the glass roof to check something else, and only AFTER he pulled out a quick sticky note to read it before putting it back, did he finally step onto the plate and give himself a practice swing.

"Bastion how can you possibly play baseball like that? I'm no expert but I know one thing, and that this isn't a sport where you can use math and equations to solve your problems!"

"Trust me Joseph, I've done all the problem solving, now go ahead and do your worst, because my swing is going to knock you out of the park!" Bastion said with a smirk. "That is if you can actually throw the ball over the plate!"

"Okay that's it Bastion, game on!" Joseph hollered with an equal smirk.

'Dibs on his head area if he strikes Bastion out!' Tinkech yelled.

'You're on!' Nudyarl yelled back excitedly.

'But its my turn to sleep there tonight!' Ernus screamed in disbelief.

Joseph took a deep breath as Bastion got his bat ready, then after readying his arm, he threw the ball as hard as he possibly could. Bastion meanwhile watched the trajectory of the ball, calculated the speed it was coming, and then swung at the optimal time to not only hit the ball but send it flying over second base for a home run.

"Awww man!" Joseph hollered as Bastion ran the lap to take the lead.

'So much for the best spot to sleep with Master…' Tinkech muttered bitterly next to a grinning Nudyarl.

'Shouldn't have made that bet in the first place Tinkech!' Nudyarl giggled.

'You two should be ashamed of yourselves, betting against Master, where are your loyalties?' Lorpar growled at them.

'And today was my turn too…' Ernus sighed sadly.

"Well maybe we can still win in the last half of the inning." He whispered as the next Ra came up to plate.

Joseph continued to pitch and after another Ra got another point, they 'finally' gave the yellows their third and final out. Now the teams swapped, and it was the Slifers batting with Ra pitching, and Bastion was picked to be the pitcher. After a few outs and one Slifer getting an extremely fortunate swing they had one person on base, and it was now Joseph's turn to swing.

"Alright Bastion, let's see if you can pitch as well as you can 'test'!" Joseph said with a grin.

"Oh, you'll find I'm more than adequate Joseph, now get ready." Bastion replied with an equal grin. "Cause here's one with some BITE IN IT!"

Passing by the gymnasium Sheou politely thanked Doctor Crowler for his list of suggestions for the Café and what items on the menu he'd like to see, as well as potential requests regarding some of the staff and what he'd like of them. She was also carrying a large tray of porcelain cups for the gym class and three different jugs of water, tea and juice for the class to drink.

"I will bring this up with them at the earliest convenience, as you know they are very busy throughout the day."

"Yes, so I've noticed, I've always been curious as to why I never see them running around." Crowler said to the head maid. "I mean, it's not like I'm trying to find them, I mean they 'are' finishing their tasks so obviously they aren't lying down on the job."

"Of course, they aren't, if they were I'd be very interested in what activity has captured their attention." Sheou muttered in a polite, yet eerily dangerous tone. "After all, a maid's duties come first before she may do anything else related to either her master or her own personal wishes."

"Mhmm I suppose it's alrGAAAAAAAAH!" Doctor Crowler screamed as a baseball rammed into the side of his head and sent him flying into a nearby wall.

Sheou however just looked at the crumpled heap of the duel professor with a look of 'mild' surprise. "Oh my…" She whispered as she glanced down at the tray. "That almost made me spill the refreshments I'd brought for Young Master Joseph and his friends."

Moments later both Joseph and Syrus along with Bastion ran over to where Crowler was still trying to recover. "Hey are you alright?" Joseph yelled as he was the first to arrive, before he grimaced as he realized that he'd hit the ball at Doctor Crowler. "Ooooh great…"

'That is ganna leave a mark.' Nudyarl muttered as she appeared over his shoulder.

'Ooooh yea…' Lorpar agreed.

'An ice pack is not gonna fix that anytime soon…' Ernus stated.

'Master will be lucky to avoid double homework for that…' Tinkech said with a grimace.

"Grrrrrr WHAT SLACKER HIT THIS BALL INTO MY EYE THAT IS NOW CAUSING ME EXCRUCIATING PAIN!?" Crowler roared as he glared at Joseph.

"Uhm… me?" He muttered nervously.

"Ooooooh of course it had to be someone from Slifer Red, you're lucky my left eye can see because otherwise I would throw you in detention forever!" Crowler hollered.

"It was an accident I didn't know you were here… I wasn't actually 'trying' to hit you." He tried to explain.

"DON'T EVEN TRY TO TALK YOUR WAY OUT OF THIS!" Crowler screamed as the ball began to separate from his face, revealing a blackened portion of his face around his eye, and a very twitchy eye.

"Wait Doctor Crowler, it was also my fault, you see I 'did' throw the ball in a way that forced Joseph to swing the way he did, so if anyone is at fault it is me." Bastion quickly interjected.

"Oh Bastion… I see… well if 'you' say it's true then I suppose the only way to make this fair is to give you both an equal punishment…" Crowler said calmly, though with his eye twitchy and looking in serious pain he was appeared 'angry'. "Very well, as punishment for 'both' of you, I'll just have you come to my classroom after your lessons, and have you both write something for an hour."

"But… ugh, yes sir…" Joseph moaned.

"Could be worse…" Syrus muttered.

"Afterwards you should pay a visit to the nurse's office to have that eye checked over." Sheou politely said.

"Don't remind me…" Crowler muttered as he walked away, using one hand to cover his injured eye.

"Well… at least it's not as bad as at it could have been." Joseph said to Bastion.

"Yes, it could have been far worse, well, let's get back to the field Joseph…" Bastion replied, allowing them to return to the field.

"Yea, now we can get back to losing thanks to that Foul Ball you swung Joseph." Syrus said.

"Uuuugh…"

Sure enough, after one more batter Ra Yellow beat Slifer Red in baseball, and while Sheou was warmly giving everyone refreshments courtesy of the café, Joseph and Bastion had to leave and head over to Crowler's classroom for their 'shared' punishment. There Crowler with an ice pack sitting over the injured part of his face, and he told them to start writing down the names of every spell and trap card from the duel book that allowed a duelist to special summon a monster to the field from the grave.

After he told them that he said they could leave after an hour, but they had to have at least listed '50' cards each.

So, they sat there reading from the book and looking up every spell and trap that allowed a duelist to special summon a monster to the field from the grave, and while it was boring, he at least liked learning about the names of cards that he might come across. Unsurprisingly he found his own Dragonmaid cards being listed in the deck. He found a few other cards that he knew about but many were unfamiliar to him. They continued to write in silence, the only sound being the sound of pens writing on paper, maybe the flick of a page being turned, but otherwise no other sound was made.

"Say Joseph, can I ask you a question?" Bastion asked quietly.

"Sure, what's up?"

"Why 'did' you work at a café for years to save up for that duel disk of yours?" Bastion asked politely, but also hesitantly. "I know you said it was 'complicated' but I know there's more to that story than what you said at the entrance exam…"

He paused in his writing at that question.

"I'm sorry for asking, if it's too personal you don't have to answer, forget I asked."

"No… it's alright its just… not a fun story to talk about." He muttered as his dragonmaid spirits appeared around him, looking solemn as they heard the conversation. "Well as you probably have figured out by now, Sheou isn't just a maid to me, she's practically my adopted mother, the closest thing I have left to a parent."

"What happened to your mother?"

He sighed as he wrote another card's name down to stall for time. "She died, stress from overwork… and trying to raise me. It happened when I was 11, and at that time I had to go and live with my grandfather, that's when we first met." He explained softly. "Sheou said she was just a tenant there at the time, lived with him temporarily and moved out the day I moved in. She was nice and polite to me, however she worked for him for a while as a maid while 'also' running a café with several other ladies. A year after I moved in though, my grandfather died… and I was alone again, I would have gone to an orphanage if Sheou didn't step in and offer me a home."

"I see…" Bastion said, their assignment forgotten to him.

"I moved in with her, but the only place she and the others lived was 'at' the café where they worked, they all lived under the same roof. When I first was welcomed into her home, she told me that, unfortunately I had to 'work' while I was there, something about how it would be good for me, never knew why but I just accepted it at the time. So late in the day I worked for about three hours taking orders and helping the others with their work. Unfortunately, Sheou's café didn't make a lot of money at the time so… pretty much what I earned was what I used to get things for myself. Books, paper, pencils, you name it I had to get it myself."

His dragon spirit friends all cuddled up to him, whether leaning against his cheeks or patting his arms, they each smiled sadly at him as he explained his story.

"I always liked dueling, and I always wanted to duel professionally, I used to watch pro duels when I had free time and that's how I wanted to attend Duel Academy. I wanted my own duel disk also, so after checking how much it costs to get a custom duel disk, I began saving every little bit I could for it. It took me a few years to save up, but by the time I signed up to take the academy entrance exam I had my own duel disk based on the Dragonmaid cards that I used."

Bastion was silent as he thought back to when he first showed off the Dragonmaid cards in public, everyone had thought about how rare and powerful they were at the time, himself included. But he never once thought about how important they must have been to him, and now he could only fathom just how much they meant to him now that he knew more about them.

"How 'did' you come across those cards, out of curiosity?"

"Believe it or not, I found them lying around. First, I found House Dragonmaid, and then one after another while I worked at the care, I found the other cards lying around in weird places. In the kitchen, at the grocery store, in a clothes washer, lying on the table or beneath beds, you name it I randomly found one of the cards there." He chuckled halfheartedly as he looked at Bastion. "I like to pretend that 'they' found me and not the other way around."

'That's how 'we' see it too master…' Tinkech whispered warmly.

'We're happy to have found you!' Nudyarl agreed.

'Happy to be with you master!' Ernus cooed.

'Wouldn't have it any other way.' Lorpar declared lovingly.

"And your father?"

At that Joseph grunted and resumed writing again. "Let's just say the less said about him the better."

"Alright, I won't ask anymore." Bastion said in understanding, already seeing the very touchy subject and not wishing to open that can of worms if he didn't have to. "So, on a more positive note, would you and your friends like to help me out with something tomorrow since it's a Saturday?"

"Sure, what you need?" He asked as his draconic friends left him.

"I need some help with my room, you'll see tomorrow!" Bastion replied.

"Alright sure thing, we'll see you tomorrow." Joseph said with a smile as Sheou walked in with a now mostly empty tray with 2 cups and some drinks to choose from.

"Apologies for interrupting you both, but you weren't there at the gymnasium, so I brought some refreshments for you Young Master Joseph and you Mr. Bastion." Sheou said respectfully, planting the tray in between them and proceeding to pour them drinks.

"Thanks a lot, Sheou." Joseph said as he eagerly gulped down his tea.

Sheou smiled happily as she stood behind him as they continued to do their assignment from Doctor Crowler. It took him and Bastion another half an hour to complete, but when they finished, they headed to their respective dorms. There Joseph asked his friends if they wanted to join him in helping Bastion with whatever it was regarding his room, and surprisingly Chumley agreed to help with Syrus.

"Maybe if we're lucky we can dig on some of that Ra Yellow food!" Chumley explained when Joseph asked why he was joining.

"Chumley, we get to eat at the café for free every day, that food is practically on Obelisk Blue level." Syrus told him.

"I know, but I wanna see how Ra Yellow food taste."

"Always thinking with your stomach." Joseph chuckled as they all got ready for bed hours later, even as Sheou finished straightening his bed and dusted his duel disk.

As she finished, she bowed herself out and wished Joseph a good night after making sure he was comfortable and left their room. Moments after she left Joseph's ever friendly Dragonmaid spirits all appeared and settled into their respected spots, with Nudyarl grinning as she got the prime spot so she could rest her head on his cheek, while Ernus moped silently near his legs.

The next morning Joseph, Syrus and Chumley all headed out after breakfast in the Slifer dining hall to the Ra Yellow dorms. The Ra Yellow dorms was a mixture of the Slifer and Obelisk dorms, where while Ra Yellow was not as flashy or overly fancy as Obelisk Blue's, was far from the Slifer's bare bones minimal requirements to be considered habitable. Even Sheou commented about how much 'cleaner' Ra Yellow looked compared to the Slifer Red building.

"I wouldn't mind being in this place, the walls are much cleaner on the outside then where you and your friends live young Joseph. It would certainly make my job easier… I struggle to keep the roaches out of your room." Sheou said while holding a bag.

"Yea…" Joseph muttered as he knew that he could have been a Ra Yellow had he accepted that promotion.

"Joseph, Syrus, Chumley, welcome to Ra Yellow!" Bastion said as he walked out the front entrance and invited them in. "Come on in, I'll show you to my room."

"So, what was it you wanted to help with Bastion?" Syrus asked as they walked the surprisingly, yet not surprisingly well-kept hallways and corridors of Ra Yellow's dorms, where not a crack or speck of dirt was found anywhere, and of course the paint wasn't peeling.

After a few minutes they entered Bastion's room, and Joseph had to grimace, there was so much space for Bastion 'alone' in his room. He had a nice Twin-sized bed near the window, a large desk alongside one wall, his own television screen and walk in closet. Bastion even had his own bathroom. He was starting to regret his decision to stay with his friends the longer he was here, not that he didn't mind his current living conditions but… it would be nice to not have to take turns with Syrus and Chumley over who could get out of bed first in the morning and who could use the desk they had to share in their room. Though the one thing he did notice about Bastion's room was that it wasn't sparkling clean, in fact it every possible inch of wall and even the ceiling was covered in scrawling letters and numbers in the form of formulas and equations.

"Alright so here's what I need help with, although I guess you can probably figure it out." Bastion said with a grin. "I'll give you the grand tour of my laboratory, my workshop, or in lame-man's terms my dorm room. You see guys, I believe that science can play a part in every aspect of our lives, that's why I took so long when we were batting yesterday. As you can see that part of my room I use to write down and keep my formulas for Trap Cards. That section is reserved for spell cards… and that… well I think you get the picture."

"So, I'm guessing you want us to help you with painting or something?" Joseph asked.

"What gave that away, the buckets of paint sitting in the corner there?" Bastion replied with a laugh. "Yep, so if you guys are willing to help me move some furniture out for a bit, we can paint over the walls and ceiling."

"It's a good thing I brought spare clothes that you and your friends can wear, otherwise Luna would have nightmares with your uniforms." Sheou said as she pulled clothes from her bag out. "If you'll excuse me, I will let you change in peace."

With that Sheou walked out and waited until they had all changed out of their uniform blazers and into clothes that wouldn't have mattered if they were covered in paint. After that they helped clear the furniture out into the hallway, and when that was finally done the paint cans were opened, brushes handed out and even a step ladder set up so that they could begin painting the walls and ceiling.

"Haha, this is actually licious, I can't believe I'm having fun painting on a wall." Chumley said as he gave very clean and even strokes with his paint brush.

"Yea Chum, you're pretty good at this." Syrus agreed.

"Hey guys check this out, I'm Picasso!" Joseph laughed as he drew everyone's attention to his crudely done painting.

"Really Joseph?" Bastion said with a smirk that made it obvious he was trying hard to not laugh.

"You guys are so uncultureeeeEEED!" He screamed as he became unbalanced and knocked over his bucket of paint.

"Joseph stop playing aro-"

*Plop*

"Ehehe sorry Bastion…"

"Alright that's it, prepare to feel my wrath!" Bastion yelled sarcastically as he grabbed his paint brush and started flinging it at Joseph 'and' the ceiling.

"Come on guys let's not fool arou-" Syrus tried to interject before Joseph gave a swipe at Bastion who ducked and let the paint slap him in the face. "Joseph, you do realize now, that this means war!"

And with that a full-blown paint battle was on in Bastion's room, and rules were silently established where they had to score points by 'avoiding' paint flings and get the paint to land on the walls and ceiling. Chumley just smiled and let them have their fund while he continued to paint his portion of the room.

Half an hour into their game the door creaked open and Sheou walked in carrying a tray of refreshments, cookies and juice for them all.

"I've brought refre-" She started saying before she ducked and avoided a glob of paint that smacked into the wall next to her. "I think I'll wait outside for a bit longer…"

And she left without ever being noticed.

"Hahaaaaa take that!"

"Oh no you don't!"

"My turn!"

"MUahaha paint slash!"

"Blob Missile!"

"Spiky paint jab!"

Chumley however smiled as he continued to paint gentle strokes. "Quiet corner paint session~." Chumley said as the others had their fun.

Hours later when they had 'finally' had their fun and the room was 'properly' painted, they changed back into their uniforms and enjoyed some minor refreshments, while Luna popped up, having been summoned by Sheou to take their paint coated clothes to be washed. When she saw the large pile of clothes and towels that they'd used to keep the floor clean, all covered in paint, she looked mortified as she saw the paint had already begun to dry.

"Did you have to call me 'after' they started drying…" Luna moaned as she held the pile of clothes in her basket. "This is going to take me foreveeeeeer…"

"Sorry Luna, but if it makes you feel any better, we're not in a rush to get those back." Joseph said to her.

"Thank you for that knowledge, Master Joseph…" Luna still moaned sadly as she walked away.

They laughed a little at Luna's misfortune, but he knew that if anyone would be alright with cleaning paint coated clothes it would be the designated Laundry Maid of the café he lived at. After that Bastion locked off his room and hung a 'Paint Drying' sign and lead them down to the Ra Yellow cafeteria.

"Oh man look at the spread!" Joseph yelled excitedly as Sheou laid out their table and planted several plates of food down for them all. "Lobster, beefs, pork, oh man I've never seen a spread this big even in the café!"

"Heck yea, Ra Yellow food is sooo good!" Chumley said as he began chowing down.

"Please you flatter us, I'm sure it's nothing compared to Slifer Red cooking." Bastion said with a smile as he applied some salt to his food.

"Trust us when we say that even when Kite does the cooking, the closest we get to anything like this is probably our dorm cat's breath." Syrus laughed.

"You got that right; I've never been able to cook food with this spread outside of the Café since we set up here!" A cheerful voice called out.

They all turned to see Kite walk out with her cooking maid attire and wearing a chef's hat, and also carrying a plate of her famous cheesecake with mild chocolate frosting.

"Hey Kite, when did you work in the Ra kitchen?"

"I pulled a few strings so I could be here for today and here I am~!" Kite said warmly as she laid the cake for them all to enjoy. "Enjoy the cheesecake everyone, it's my 'secret recipe' I make only for the staff and Joseph~!" She gave him a wink before walking back to the kitchen.

"She's very nice." Bastion said as he took a slice of cake.

"And she can cook!" Syrus exclaimed.

"Oh man this is super licious delicious!" Chumley moaned happily as he ate his slice of cake.

"Kite sure knows how to cook alright; she never makes this cake unless it's for the staff." He agreed as he chowed down.

"Mr. Bastion, may I inquire as to where you intend to sleep tonight?" Sheou asked politely. "Your room is most certainly off limits until tomorrow with all of that paint."

"Oh yea, where are you going to sleep?"

"Thaaat's a good question, I hadn't really thought about it until now, but since I treated you guys to lunch would you gentlemen be willing to let me crash with you for the night?"

"I got no qualms."

"Yea me neither."

"Sure, you can hang with us for tonight."

"Alright then it's decided, since Bastion's sleeping with us would you mind getting my sleeping bag again Sheou, I'll let Bastion take my bed for the night."

Sheou humbly nodded and smiled, saying she would do as he asked, and went to do just that. Later on, when they left Ra Yellow and headed over to the Slifer Dorm, they found Sheou already having laid out the sleeping bag for Joseph and set the beds for the night. They stayed up for a while having fun and swapping random stories, Joseph even managed to wrangle Bastion to help him with his homework about trap effects, before they turned in for the night.

However, while students slept, the teachers were having a conference before they would turn in for the night as well. With them was Zane Truesdale, and they were having a very heated debate over who would represent their academy in the upcoming school duel with North Academy.

"Chancellor Shepard, the school duel between Duel Academy and North Academy is the biggest duel of the year for us, it's too important to risk our school's reputation on a Freshman duelist." Doctor Crowler yelled indignantly. "Therefore, since it's so important, our representative will have to be our very best, and our very best student is Obelisk's own Zane Truesdale!"

"I know Zane's the best we got; however, I received a call from the Chancellor of North Academy, and he says that they're using a first-year student. Zane is a third-year student, so in the spirit of sportsmanship we will do the same."

"Why on earth would North Academy use a first-year student?" Crowler asked incredulously.

"I don't know, but as I said, we'll use a first year to match their decision, you understand that right Zane?" Chancellor Shepard said.

"Yes Chancellor, I agree."

"That's wonderful, now the real question is… who will be our representative?" Shepard said.

"Hmmm, well if it has to be a first year, anyone have any recommendations?" Fonda Fontaine asked. "Personally, I recommend Alexis Rhodes, she's one of our best in my opinion and she's a strong contender among the first years."

"I suggest Joseph Takara." Zane suddenly said.

"Why yes, why not, he's probably the best first year I've ever had the pleasure to meet!" Crowler said quickly. "And with how he performed during the promotion exams, he easily qualifies to duel for Duel Academy."

"I agree, Joseph is one of our best, I've yet to meet a Slifer tackle his studies as much as Joseph, and it would really inspire the other students to see a Slifer Red represent our academy." Professor Banner declared.

"You're right, I take back my suggestion, I'm sure Alexis would accept Joseph being chosen now that you mention it. I remember them dueling one time and their performance was beyond stellar." Fontaine said with a smile.

"I've got a student to recommend, Bastion Misawa from Ra Yellow." Sartyr the head of Ra Yellow said quickly. "Bastion is one of our brightest in Ra Yellow, his marks are the highest of all the freshman, and he is a top tier duelist. Being from Ra Yellow also makes him a stronger candidate for the school duel."

"Hmmm, you're right, Bastion 'would' be a good candidate, but there's a lot of praise and recommendation from many peers here for Josepph to be picked." Shepard said. "Well, I can see no other way to settle this then with a duel between these two students. The day after tomorrow, Bastion and Joseph will duel to decide who will represent our academy!"

"Very well, I will inform Joseph tomorrow morning." Banner declared.

"And I'll inform Bastion, Banner, may the best dorm win!" Sartyr stated.

"To you as well."

With that they finally adjourned.

The next morning Joseph and his friends woke up and hung around the Slifer Dorm while Bastion's room finished drying. They offered to help him move his stuff back into his room later, but he said he'd take care of it himself. Plus, they got some news from Banner.

"Wait… are you serious? You want one of 'us' to represent Duel Academy?" Joseph asked incredulously. "But what about Zane or someone else?"

"You see Joseph, it was decided that in the spirit of competition, since North Academy is also using a first-year student, that we would also use a first-year student. Therefore, you and Bastion Misawa will duel in front of the student body to determine who will represent us." Banner said proudly. "You both have proven to be among our top freshman students, I wish you both the best of luck, and no matter who wins, I know from experience that it will be a duel worth watching."

They both nodded as Banner left to go feed his cat, and they both looked at one another with determined expressions. "Well Bastion, I guess it had to happen sooner or later, and I'm glad it's sooner rather than later." Joseph declared as Lorpar and Ernus floated next to him.

"Indeed, and just so you know Jo… if you don't mind me calling you that?" Basiton said to which Joseph replied he didn't mind. "Just so you know Jo, I'm going to win that duel. You see, ever since I first laid eyes on your Dragonmaids during the entrance exams, I've been wanting to duel you and put my formulas and theories to the test, and I'm glad to finally have the chance. I've been preparing a strategy to take on your cards for a while now, and I plan to use it to use it against you."

"I look forward to it… not really but you get it." Joseph chuckled. "So, I guess we'll head back to our rooms and prepare?"

"Indeed, and tomorrow Joseph when we duel, I promise you that I will be the victor between us." Bastion said seriously, but then smiled more politely and held out his hand. "But after the duel, I hope our rivalry won't spoil our friendship."

"Yea, till then." Joseph replied, shaking Bastion's hand.

"Till then indeed…" Bastion agreed as he walked off to head back to his dorm to prepare.

"Wow, Bastion has been preparing to duel you since the entrance exams, imagine how much time he spends every week if he said that." Syrus said.

"Yea, he must have put some major brain power into taking on your Dragonmaids Joseph." Chumley agreed.

'Like we'll ever fail our master!' Lorpar said giddily.

'Master has our complete confidence that he'll win no matter the challenge!' Ernus agreed.

He just chuckled as he walked back into his room to prepare his deck.

For the rest of the day Joseph practiced with his cards against Syrus, formulating combos and practicing them, pretending on various counter plays and strategies that Bastion might implement. He looked over his cards and brainstormed possible cards Bastion might run. He was so focused on his studying and practicing that he didn't eat lunch or even dinner, and Sheou had to bring him those meals that Banner made for all the Slifers, even if most of the Slifers skipped dinner to hang out at the café when it opened.

All the while he was watched at random times by his Dragonmaids as they observed how he practiced and work.

"Yaaaaaawn… it's not perfect but… it's as good as it will ever be girls." He muttered to them as they were alone.

'You're looking really strong master!' Tinkech said warmly.

'We're ready to kick some dragon tail!' Nudyarl cheered.

'Not ours of course… you know…' Ernus muttered.

'Oh please, Bastion won't know what hit him tomorrow!' Lorpar declared.

"Yea, but I need to sleep, otherwise I won't be at my best for Bastion, and knowing Bastion he'll want me to be at my best for our duel tomorrow…" Joseph said tiredly as he placed his cards back into his box and flopped onto the bed. "Girls… tomorrow may be our toughest duel yet."

'And we're ready for it!' Nudyarl responded happily.

'All for one and one for all!' Lorpar cheered.

'If master wants us to win then we will do our best to win!' Tinkech said.

'We'll show Bastion the power of the Dragonmaids for you master!' Ernus agreed.

"Yea… but for now… I need sleep…" Joseph replied tiredly as he turned over. "Good night girls…"

As one all of them smiled lovingly at him before they each gave him a good night kiss on his cheek, vanishing one by one, only leaving Ernus to stay and watch over his dreams as it was her turn for the night.

Meanwhile over at the Ra Yellow dorms, Bastion was still going well into the night looking over his notes and formulas, examining data and anything else he could about the Dragonmaid cards that Joseph has played since coming here. He crammed over data, looked over every move he's ever made, he even had pictures of the cards open on his computer so he could look at each one individually alongside any data points he had about them and their abilities.

"Countless equations, a myriad of theorems and still I have not cracked the formula that is Joseph's deck." Bastion commented as he poured over his notes. "Alright let's take a look at his biggest monster again, the prime specimen herself, House Dragonmaid… and what a specimen she is…"

A picture of House Dragonmaid appeared, along with her stats, her abilities, and every instance she was summoned.

"The House Dragonmaid, the only fusion type monster in Joseph's deck, but with the Dragonmaid's powers and abilities it's the only one he needs. Not only is she a powerful 3000 attacker she also implements the perfect defense each turn. She can singlehandedly wipe out an opponent's monster field in a single blast if enough of the Dragonmaids are on the field. At the same time, each turn that passes she can bring out another Dragonmaid to the field, increasing Joseph's offensive power for almost no cost. Finally, she can actively protect the other Dragonmaids from being destroyed at the cost of being destroyed herself potentially, and even then that's only a temporary state given how the Dragonmaids work, able to come back to the field from the graveyard."

He hummed to himself as he examined the possible scenarios in which she was summoned, and out of the 8 Dragonmaid cards he had played, there were a possible 26 combinations that he could perform to bring out the House. That was far too many for him to stop, as soon as he got even 'one' Dragonmaid on the field, House was almost guaranteed to join the field herself.

"I 'could' stop the House Dragonmaid from being fused, but that would be difficult in the long run to keep her down, since even without her, Joseph's other Dragonmaid cards are nearly impossible to destroy permanently." He said as he brought up the first of his Dragonmaids, Tinkech. "Tinkech's power is complementary to Lorpar's, both are equal in strength, but Tinkech's power lies in her special ability, once discarded she grants a monster on his field 2000 attack points until the end of the turn. To keep her down I'd need to stop Kitchen Dragonmaid from reaching the field. Kitchen can bring her Dragon form to his hand the moment 'she' hits the field. But even if I do somehow stop her, then there's Lorpar and Parlor."

He brought up those two now.

"Lorpar's ability to completely negate an opponent's monster's effects is not to be underestimated, but it's Parlor's ability to send any of the Dragonmaids to his grave that is the biggest problem. Even if I 'could' send them to the grave, they'll just come right back thanks to their special abilities. To stop Lorpar I need to keep Parlor from reaching the field at any time, and that's a near impossibility. Even if I 'could' take out Parlor before she could activate her effect, then there's the Nurse Dragonmaid and 'her' dragon form Ernus!"

He pulled up those two now, and his brow became more furrowed as he knew those two were extremely troublesome.

"Getting one of those two makes it nearly impossible to stop him from bringing a maid to the field. First Nurse's ability to revive one of the fallen maids ensures that 'they' come back to the field, and finally activate their effects. Then, with Ernus' ability to special summon one of said maids to the field without using a normal summon, increases his monster presence on the field by twenty percent potentially in one turn. To stop those two means to stop them both simultaneously, and that is a conundrum on its own. Finally, there's the weakest of the Dragonmaids, but no less of a threat, Nudyarl and Laundry."

He pulled Nudyarl out from the back of his computer and brought up her info.

"Despite being his weakest, she also happens to be his favorite opener, Laundry's ability to send the maids and their dragon forms to the grave is a difficult ability to stop. She is most often used to send the trap and magic cards to the grave which is where his deck thrives. As for Nudyarl, her ability to send a monster card from either player's graveyard back to the deck may not appear threatening at first but depending on the situation it may just turn the tide of a battle, especially with how the Dragonmaids can pull each other from the deck to the field or hand in some way! To stop Nudyarl and Laundry from doing what he wants them to do is like trying to stop water from falling through my hands… theoretically plausible, but practically impossible."

He rubbed his face slowly and leaned back in his chair, trying to rack his brain and figure out the key link in the chain that is Joseph's deck.

"Think Bastion, think… use that head of yours, there's got to be a way to shut down his strategy and shut down those Dragonmaids." He muttered. "I could assemble my deck and strategy to tackle each of the Dragonmaids as they come, but that would only work once per maid. And if I don't get the cards I need, I'll be overrun before I can even play out my strategies."

He furrowed his brow as he thought, and thought, until his brain was thoroughly exhausted from thinking.

"There's got to be a way to shut Joseph's strategy down, some way to stop those maids." He groaned as he racked his brain some more. "But even if I 'could' stop his maids, there's still the rest of his deck, it's practically designed to keep his maids safe. Return of the Dragon Lords can revive and protect his dragons, his dragonmaid spells and traps can bring them back to the field or hand. Hmpf, if only I could remove the maids themselves from the equation, that would make this so much easier…" He chuckled halfheartedly at his own joke, before suddenly his eyes snapped as he just thought of something. "Wait… that's it!"

He quickly pulled up all the data he had on the maids and specifically Joseph's cards, ran through the numbers, computed a few formulas and grinned. They 'did' have a weakness, a weakness he could exploit, and with how Joseph played pulling it off would be trivial!

"It will work, if I can maneuver Joseph into the position, I want him to… hmhmhm." Bastion smirked as he played out the scenarios in his head. "Joseph, the code to your cards, has finally been 'cracked'."

With that he began constructing his deck.

The next day all the students began gathering in the stadium, talking about the two duelists battling it out that day. Many of the Slifers were all backing Joseph and cheering their dorm's representative in the duel, while the Ras were still riding high on that baseball victory that Bastion gave them. The obelisks weren't really that interested, but those that attended were watching with interest as these 'were' the two best of the freshman year.

"Mind if we take a seat boys?" Alexis asked as she and Zane joined in the stands with Syrus and Chumley among the other Slifers.

"Oh sure, go ahead!" Syrus said as he scooched over in his seat to let Alexis and his brother sit with them.

"Thanks… uh what's with the banner?" Zane asked politely, pointing at the large banner that he and Chumley were holding up.

The banner showed a very artistic rendition of Joseph riding atop one of his Dragonmaids in their dragon forms and flying alongside the other three, while in the background the silhouette of Slifer the Sky Dragon could be seen with its wings spread wide. On top of it was the phrase 'Ride the Wings of Slifer Victory!'

"Like it, I came up with the phrase and Chumley did the artwork. We spent all day yesterday working on it at the café while Joseph was in his room getting ready!"

"Wow, I didn't know you could draw that well." Alexis said as she admired the work.

"Thanks." Chumley said. "Hope Joseph wins, it would be totally licious if a Slifer could represent Duel Academy for the school duel."

"Yea, but if Bastion is serious, it's going to be very hard." Syrus muttered.

"Indeed, it's going to be intelligent planning versus on-the-fly adaptation. In this scenario, Bastion has the advantage, since Joseph has not seen Bastion duel as much as he's seen him." Zane said.

"Yea, but Joseph's maids aren't to be ignored, sure we've all seen them in action, but they are still a force to be reckoned with." Alexis countered.

"Well, they're about to start…" Chumley told them as Crowler got on stage with a microphone in hand.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" Crowler declared to the student body through the mic as he made elaborate gestures. "Welcome duelists, the time has come to find out… WHO will represent our most illustrious academy in the School Duel?"

The crowd cheered as the hype for the duel was building.

"First, from the Ra Yellow Dorm, Bastion Misawa!" Crowler yelled as he gestured to Bastion who was now walking up onto the stage with his Duel Academy issued duel disk.

"And from the Slifer Red Dorm, Joseph Takara!" He yelled next before gesturing toward Joseph who was also walking up onto the stage with his custom draconic duel disk.

Both duelists stepped forward and shook hands, wishing each other good luck.

"Good luck Bastion."

"To you as well, but with my deck I won't need it."

They both separated and headed to their respective corners.

"Duelists, ready your duel disks, shuffle your decks, draw your first cards and may the best duelist win!" Crowler screamed to the applause of the entire student body, just as Crowler ran off the stage.

"Alright, then, let's get this started!" Joseph yelled.

"Let's Duel!"

"Let's Duel!"

Both duel disks activated and extended to begin the duel, their decks were then shuffled, and both received their opening hands before their life points were set.

[Joseph Takara - 4000 / Bastion Misawa – 4000]

"Alright Bastion, Slifer's first so I call dibs!" Joseph hollered.

"Very well then, I yield the first turn to you." Bastion replied politely.

"My turn, I draw!" He said as he smirked at his opening hand.

[Dragonmaid Ernus, Laundry Dragonmaid, United we Stand, Numinous Healer, Dragonmaid Hospitality, Dragonmaid Sendoff]

"Alright, I start this duel off with a personal favorite of mine, the spell card Dragonmaid Hospitality! Now I can special summon into defense mode one Dragonmaid monster in my hand onto the field, and then send another Dragonmaid monster with the same attribute but a different level from my deck to the grave, so Laundry girl, come on out!"

The magic card in question appeared on the field, and from it Laundry Dragonmaid appeared in a swirling pillar of azure draconic flame, kneeling before him with her arms crossed and looking determined.

'I'm at your service master, what's my first job~!' She said happily to him.

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

'Turn one and already he has the elements needed to bring out the House Dragonmaid onto the field, not to mention tear into my life points with a powerful dragon type monster. Not a bad opening move, but highly predictable.'

"Not bad Joseph, a strong opener, but I actually calculated that you would open with Laundry. In all of the duels I've seen, Laundry is by far your most popular opener."

'Well, I am the cutest, can't blame master for having good tastes~.' Laundry giggled.

"Focus girl… maybe Bastion but why change things up, I place one card face down and end my turn!"

"Very well, my turn, and I draw!" Bastion said as he smirked. "I play one monster face down in defense position, and that's all for now!"

At that Joseph was extremely confused, he talked about how he had calculated and planned for this duel, and his only opening move was to put one monster on the field into defense mode?

"Alright my turn." He declared as he drew. [Dragonmaid Lorpar]

"Well, I don't know what game you're playing at Bastion, but I'll bite! I'll enter the battle phase and have Laundry Dragonmaid switch into her dragon form, go girl!" He declared and Laundry nodded, glowing and growing before appearing as her true form of Dragonmaid Nudyarl.

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

"Alright so he has no other cards on the field, his monster is open for attack, let's see what I can do with you girl, go Dragonmaid Nudyarl, attack with Azure Draconic Flame!"

'Raaaaaawr!'

She unleashed a tidal wave of blueish flame upon the monster, which flipped over to be revealed as one of the most 'terrifying' monsters to see be flipped over. A cybernetic looking jar with an evil grin as it stared at him, or in other words…

"Oh no, not Cyber Jar!"

It was too late to stop the attack, Cyber Jar blocked the attack and began absorbing everything around it with its irresistible force.

"That's right Joseph, Cyber Jar, and going from your expression you know what it does, but just in case you don't, let me give you the quick run down." Bastion said with a grin.

[When the monster card, Cyber Jar, is flipped up after being played face down, all monsters on the field are automatically destroyed and sent to the graveyard. Afterwards, both players draw five cards, and any level four or below monsters are automatically summoned to the field in either face up attack or face down defense positions. Any remaining cards, such as spells, traps or monsters that are level five or higher are added to the hand.]

"Since Cyber Jar was destroyed, all other monsters are 'also' destroyed thanks to the intense gravitational force that this monster employs, the only difference is my loss isn't nearly as bad compared to yours!" Bastion yelled as Nudyarl was pulled into Cyber Jar's body screaming.

'Masteeeeeeeeeer!'

Once she was pulled in, Cyber Jar exploded, leaving the field empty.

"Now we each draw five cards, and then reveal any level four or below monsters, then we summon them automatically, the rest we keep." He said as he drew his cards.

Joseph grimaced as he drew his cards next and revealed two, Kitchen and Parlor. "I summon to the field Kitchen and Parlor Dragonmaids into attack mode!"

From the field two cards appeared and both Kitchen and Parlor appeared in pillars of crimson and emerald draconic flame, they rose up with big smirks on their expressions as they believed Bastion made a misplay, allowing him to summon two more Dragonmaids without having to take his turn.

'For someone very smart he sure didn't calculate that we'd be in the wind.' Parlor said with a hearty smile.

'Let's toss some spice onto this buffet of victory master~!' Kitchen declared proudly.

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

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

As for the other three cards he was allowed to keep, he'd drawn another Dragonmaid Hospitality, Dragonmaid Welcome, and Numinous Healer.

"As for me, I special summon Carboneddon, Hydrogeddon, and then Oxygeddon in attack mode!" Bastion said as he smiled as he added the remaining two to his hand. "So, Joseph, anything else you want to do, because so far you're as predictable as I said you'd be."

On the field three monsters appeared, first a blackish grey metallic-rock-like lizard appeared roaring at his maids. Next to it a brownish for legged dinosaur-esq monster that looked to be made of living air molecules. Third to appear was a flying dinosaur-like monster that was partially green and seemed to also be made of air. Though as Joseph thought about it, they were actually hydrogen and oxygen if he remembered his chemistry homework, which he did thanks to Bastion helping him last night.

[Carboneddon, lvl 3, Earth Attribute, Dinosaur Type, Effect Monster, 800 Atk / 600 Def]

[Hydrogeddon, lvl 4, Water Attribute, Dinosaur Type, Effect Monster, 1600 Atk / 1000 Def]

[Oxygeddon, lvl 4, Wind Attribute, Dinosaur Type, Effect Monster, 1800 Atk / 800 Def]

"Really, then you saw this coming, Parlor, Kitchen, activate your effects now. First up is Parlor Dragonmaid, when she is summoned to the field, she can send one Dragonmaid card from my deck to the grave, and I choose to send Nurse Dragonmaid! Then Kitchen's effect activates when she's summoned, she allows me to take a Dragonmaid monster from my deck to my hand, and I pick Dragonmaid Tinkech!" He declared. "Do your thing girls!"

'As you wish master!' Parlor said happily.

'My pleasure is your happiness!' Kitchen replied.

Both Dragonmaids pointed at his deck and blasted it with a crimson and emerald draconic burst of energy, extracting both cards and sending them to their designated targets.

"My battle phase hasn't ended yet, so first up I activate the effect of Dragonmaid Tinkech, by sending her to the grave I can give a monster on my side of the field 2000 attack points, so Kitchen take that power boost and give that Carboneddon a taste of your power!"

Kitchen nodded as her dragon form appeared and blasted her with draconic fire, which she gathered and then launched at Carboneddon.

[Kitchen Dragonmaid 500 Atk / 1700 Def – 2500 Atk / 1700 Def]

Her attack connected and Carboneddon began glowing red, redder than he believed even 'red' could get.

"Looks like someone needs to brush up on their chemistry, don't worry Joseph it's alright, you had trouble with this on your homework the night before last!" Bastion said with a smile. "You see Joseph, when Carboneddon is attacked by a fire type monster, during the damage step, Carboneddon gains 1000 attack points! Yes, your monster will destroy Carboneddon, but the damage isn't going to be as high as it would have been if you'd remembered how Carbon is affected by Fire!"

[Carboneddon 800 Atk / 600 Def – 1800 Atk / 600 Def]

Carboneddon was destroyed seconds later and Bastion held up his hand to shield himself from the blast.

[Joseph Takara - 4000 / Bastion Misawa – 3300]

'Chemistry lessons, is this a duel or a cram school?' Kitchen said bitterly.

'Well… it wouldn't hurt to learn some science stuff, right?' Parlor muttered.

"Alright enough of the science lesson Bastion, I play another card face down and activate the magic card, Dragonmaid Welcome!"

On the field another magic card appeared, Dragonmaid Welcome.

"First off this magic card lets me give my monsters a hundred attack points for each Dragonmaid on the field, and I count 2 at the moment, so my girls get 200 points! Next, because I have two Dragonmaids on the field at the moment, I can bring a Dragonmaid card from the grave back to my hand, so girls bring back Nurse Dragonmaid for me!"

Both of them nodded and turned to blast his duel disk with their combined energy, extracting Nurse and bringing her to his hand now.

"Next, I activate Dragonmaid Ernus' effect, by sending her to the grave she lets me special summon a Dragonmaid that's level four or below to the field, and I choose to bring Laundry, and since I never actually normal summoned, I also summon Nurse Dragonmaid to the field!"

In a pair of draconic flame spires, Nurse and Laundry appeared, rising to the field in both defense and attack, with Laundry growling and flaring her tail aggressively, as Nurse kneeled before Joseph and stared defensively against Bastion's monsters.

'Leme at him, leme at hiiiim, I'll teach him to send me to the grave without a fight!'

'You're being too aggressive again Laundry…'

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

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

"Oooooh, Joseph is doing brilliantly out there, I knew I was right to recommend him as our representative~!" Crowler said.

"Indeed, very nice eyes Doctor Crowler, young Joseph is looking very good out there!" Chancellor Shepard said in agreement.

"Quite right Shepard, we teach our Slifer students well… when they show up for class that is." Banner said.

"Bastion hasn't yet begun to fight yet, this duel's not over yet." Sartyr said. "And don't forget our bet Banner."

"Indeed… though I hope Joseph wins for the sake of my wallet. I don't think I can survive on a week's worth of ramen while also feeding Pharoah."

Bastion smirked as Joseph was playing 'exactly' as he wanted him to, and thanks to that maneuver everything was going according to plan so far. But he looked at his hand and his smirk faded slightly, while everything was going according to plan, it was progressing 'too' fast, he wasn't quite ready yet. He needed to stall out the duel for another turn or 2, he had to set things up exactly as he wanted.

"Very well, I draw now!" He yelled as he drew now and smirked now.

'Excellent, the final equation to the formula for beating Joseph, now I just have to maneuver Joseph in just the right way.'

"Alright Joseph, first I play one monster face down, then I put three cards face down, next I switch both Oxygeddon and Hydrogeddon into defense mode, and finally I activate the effect of Carboneddon!" He declared as four cards were played on the field, three in the spell and trap zone, one in the monster zone. "Once per turn, I can activate Carboneddon's special ability. You see Joseph, when Carboneddon is in the graveyard he goes under enormous pressure. But he doesn't mind that pressure, in fact he thrives on it, because while he's in the graveyard I can remove him from play and special summon one level 7 or below normal dragon type monster from my deck or hand, and I choose to summon, Hyozanryu, the Diamond Dragon!"

From the field a burst of brilliantly shining diamond erupted from the field, and a crystalline white dragon erupted from it, spreading its gleaming white wings and roared with its glowing gold horns and spike on its nose.

[Hyozanryu, Light Attribute, Dragon Type, Normal Monster, 2100 Atk / 2800 Def]

Bastion smirked as he evened the number of monsters, "With that I end my turn, your move Joseph." He spoke. 'And if I know you, you'll try to wipe me out this turn with your dragons, and when you do that, you'll add your part to the equation that will give me the victory condition."

In the stands everyone was talking about how this duel was going so far. "Joseph managed to get all of his maids on the field minus House, not a bad start, and he also has the life point lead." Alexis commented. "All in all, everything is going pretty good for him."

"Yes, but Bastion's not yet finished, he just planted three face downs this turn, given the number of cards he had access to 'before', he had that turn planned out." Zane said smartly. "Bastion first opened with Cyber Jar face down, without planting any traps or spells in his backrow to lure Joseph into that trap. Now he's setting things up for Joseph to fall into his trap."

"Hope Joseph can handle whatever it is that Bastion has planned." Syrus said.

"Yea… I hope he wins; desert wouldn't taste the same if he lost today." Chumley agreed.

Back onto the field Joseph drew his next card. [Dragonmaid Tidying]

'Okay, after the battle phase I can have Parlor send Changeover to the grave and then summon out House Dragonmaid next turn.' He smiled as he turned to the field, "But first thing's first, I play one card face down, and activate my Dragonmaids special abilities, go girls, transform into your Dragon forms!"

As one they all nodded and glowed, grew, and reemerged as their true forms, all roaring and smiling as they took up attack formation.

[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]

[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]

'There they are, now all I need to do is just wait for him to attack and then my master plan will all come together!'

Joseph looked down at all of the face down cards and frowned. He knew Bastion wasn't a fool, he had to be planning something, but he didn't know what to do. Should he risk the attack or should he play it safe and not attack this turn, wait one more round to see what Bastion does?

'No, I'm playing too safe, this is what I planned for, sure it may not be pretty, but even if he destroys a few of my Dragons, as long as their maid forms are safe in my hand I can bring them back.' He thought. "Alright girls, we need to power through this turn, so go, Tinkech, attack and destroy Hydrogeddon!"

Tinkech smirked as she unleashed a huge burst of draconic flame at the defending Hydrogeddon.

"Not so fast, I activate my trap, Amorphous Barrier!" Bastion declared as one of his cards flipped over.

Suddenly several bars of purple stuff appeared in front of his monsters, blocking and absorbing the attack Tinkech tried to deliver. She was shocked as she quickly returned to his side of the field and resumed her attack stance with the other Dragonmaids.

"Sorry Joseph, but when you declare an attack while I have three monsters or more on the field, your attack is called off and the battle phase automatically ends."

'I don't like the sound of that…' Nudyarl said nervously.

'It's alright, we're all still on the field, master has our maid forms in the hand, he can't stop us next turn!' Tinkech said.

'Right, and once Joseph's turn comes along again, he can bring out House, we have this duel in the bag!' Lorpar agreed.

Joseph however was curious, why was he so bent on 'not' attacking his dragons directly.

"Alright, well there's nothing left I can do this turn besides end it, so go ahead Bastion."

"Why thank you Joseph, because now it's time I demonstrate my work." Bastion declared as he drew his next card. "I draw, but it doesn't matter what it is because now I activate my face down card, CARD DESTRUCTION!"

On the field one of the face down cards turned over and revealed itself to everyone. "Oh no, not that card!"

"That's right, now I activate it's effect, so we BOTH send our entire hands to our graveyard and draw an equal number of cards." He declared and did just that, watching Joseph expectantly.

He grimaced as he looked at his hand and gulped, before placing all four of his maids into the graveyard as well as United We Stand and Sendoff, before drawing six more.

[Dragonmaid Sendoff, Return of the Dragon Lords, Dragonmaid Changeover, Numinous Healer, Dragonmaid Tidying, Negate Attack, Dragonmaid Welcome]

"Feeling afraid Joseph?" Bastion said with a smirk. "Because now I have you right where I want you, and now I can finally show my work to everyone here. You see Joseph, you are probably the hardest duelist I've ever had to figure out how to beat, your deck is so carefully formulated without you even realizing it that you have no idea how much effort it took me to figure out."

"Alright… I'm listening." Joseph said nervously, not liking that sound.

"Your Dragonmaids, in fact your entire deck, is designed to keep your Dragonmaids from staying in the graveyard for long. No matter what you draw, you have a way to bring your maids back to the field or your hand, or even your deck, one way or another. But there is a fatal flaw in your deck, your entire strategy revolves around four monsters, four monsters that without them in your hand, field, or graveyard, your strategy falls to pieces. AND THOSE ARE THE DRAGONMAIDS THEMSELVES!" He said as he pointed at his face down monster. "So now I play my face down monster, DIMENSION JAR!"

The monster flipped over and from it, this dark purple box-like monster with a wicked grinning eye appeared on the field, grinning with its singular eye at him.

"What is that?" He said in shock."

"Dimension Jar is one of the Jar based monsters, only this one isn't really a jar per say, instead it's a box containing another dimension in its contents, and only when the box is opened do we actually see what's inside." Bastion said as the monster's grin became bigger. "Now here comes the fun part, both of us can now go to our opponent's graveyards and banish up to '3' monsters of our choosing." He pulled out his graveyard and held it up to him. "My graveyard isn't very impressive, one Duoterion, so your options to banish are extremely limited. But mine aren't, as your graveyard has something 'your' deck can't afford to lose, the Dragonmaids themselves!"

He stared in horror alongside his dragons as the four maid cards appeared in front of them for Bastion to pick from.

"You can't afford to lose those cards, and I know which ones to pick, first I pick Kitchen Dragonmaid!"

'Nooo my card!' Tinkech yelled as Dimension Jar opened up and pulled Kitchen into itself.

"Next is Parlor Dragonmaid!"

'My card!' Lorpar whispered as Parlor was pulled into the jar next.

"Finally, I pick Laundry Dragonmaid!"

'Oh no…' Nudyarl muttered as now 'her' card was next grabbed.

After his cards were pulled, Duoterion appeared and was quickly sucked into itself, before Dimension Jar closed itself off.

"No, my Dragonmaids!"

"That's right Joseph, no Kitchen, no Parlor, no Laundry, now your Dragonmaids cannot switch back to your hand. In other words, your Dragonmaids are trapped, your resources to bring them back to the field are limited without the maids to keep them around. If you lose any of them now, they're permanently gone!" Bastion said with a smile that only grew more confident with each passing second as he knew Joseph was cornered. "Of course, your Dragonmaids are 'still' on the field, so let's deal with them. Next, I activate from my hand, Pot of Greed, this lets me draw two cards. Now I play one card face down, and activate my other face down card, Bonding D2O!"

The third and final face down he had from before flipped up, and it revealed to be a chemistry themed magic card.

"This magic card shuffles one Oxygeddon, and two Duoterion from my hand or field to special Water Dragon Cluster!"

From Bastion's side of the field two dinosaur themed chemical monsters appeared and merged with the Oxygeddon on the field, from them a massive watery twin-headed serpentine beast roared as it towered over Joseph's Dragonmaids, roaring and covering the field in water as it made its presence known.

[Water Dragon Cluster, Lvl 10, Water Attribute, Sea Serpent Type, Effect Monster, 2800 Atk / 2600 Def]

"Not good…" He muttered fearfully as his Dragonmaids took up position.

'It may be big and scary, but we have the advantage still!' Tinkech yelled.

'She's right, even if he summoned a powerful monster, my Dragonmaids still gain an attack bonus thanks to Dragonmaid Welcome. Right now, the weakest monster on my field is Dragonmaid Nudyarl and Ernus with 3000 Atk points, so I'm still safe!'

"Oh Joseph, you have no idea what's coming do you?" Bastion said. "You're Dragonmaids aren't safe from my Water Dragon Cluster, you see Joseph, like them it has a special ability of its own. On the turn Water Dragon Cluster is special summoned through the magic of Bonding D20, any and all effect monsters you control automatically lose 'all' of their attack points, dropping them to 0, and even better, their effects are negated until the end of the turn!"

Both heads of the Water Dragon roared and launched powerful jets of water to flood Joseph's side of the field. All four of his Dragonmaids tried to escape but they were flooded and submerged beneath a practical ocean of water. When it subsided, they were coughing and gasping for air as their attack points dropped to 0.

'Now I know… how clothes feel in the washing machine…' Nudyarl complained.

[Dragonmaid Nudyarl, Tinkech, Lorpar, Ernus – 0 Atk / 1600/1700 Def]

"Ghuuuuh…"

"Now that they're defenseless I switch all of my other monsters into attack mode, with Water Dragon Cluster to lead the assault, WATER DRAGON CLUSTER, DESTROY DRAGONMAID TINKECH!"

Tinkech tried to fight back, but all that came out of her mouth was a spurt of water that she coughed up, and seconds later she was blasted by twin twisters of water from Water Dragon Cluster, destroying her in a torrential stream of water.

"Grrr."

[Joseph Takara - 1200 / Bastion Misawa – 3300]

"I activate my trap, Numinous Healer! If I lose life points, I gain back a thousand!"

[Joseph Takara - 2200 / Bastion Misawa – 3300]

"Hmpf, go ahead, it won't matter, because now Hyozanryu attacks Dragonmaid Lorpar!"

Hyozanru launched a burst of diamond-like breath that glittered and glistened as it struck Lorpar, who tried to shield herself, but her wings were too soaked to even 'move', resulting in her destruction.

[Joseph Takara - 100 / Bastion Misawa – 3300]

"I activate my second face down, Numinous Healer, I gain a thousand plus five hundred more for each card with the same name in my graveyard!" He yelled desperately.

[Joseph Takara - 1600 / Bastion Misawa – 3300]

"You really don't give up do you?" Bastion muttered with a smirk. "But I planned for this also, you have 1600 life points, and that's precisely what Hydrogeddon has… so Hydrogeddon destroy Dragonmaid Ernus and end this duel!"

Hydrogeddon released a powerful blast of Hydrogen from its mouth at Joseph's helpless Ernus, try as she might she had nothing to save herself.

'Do something master!' She pleaded desperately as she feebly raised her stubby legs to shield herself.

"I activate my THIRD trap card, Dragonmaid Tidying!" He yelled in a final bid to keep himself in this duel. "With this I send one Dragonmaid on my side of the field to send one of your monsters from your grave or field back to the hand!"

Tidying appeared and Ernus quickly jumped into it, leaving the field as her card was pulled back to the hand. Hydrogeddon stopped its attack and faded away as Bastion was forced to pull it, looking very impressed at Joseph's resourcefulness.

"I can see why you just won't go down, I hit, and I hit but you still wiggle your way out of the way to fight another day. Well while it doesn't have much in the way of power… Dimension Jar STILL can attack, and even if its attack is only 200, your last Dragonmaid can't even stand straight let alone win this battle! Go Dimension Jar, destroy his final Dragonmaid, Dragonmaid Nudyarl!"

It was as he said, as Dimension Jar opened itself up and launched a burst of energy at the defenseless Nudyarl, who tried to fight back, but all that came out was smoke and spurts of water. She was blasted and destroyed, resulting in more damage to his life points.

[Joseph Takara - 1400 / Bastion Misawa – 3300]

"No… he wiped out all of my Dragonmaids…" He muttered in disbelief.

"That's right, and without their maid forms you can't bring them back for longer than 1 turn at best. While you still have Laundry in your graveyard, don't count on her being able to save you. I told you, I've calculated the strategy to completely neutralize and disassemble your deck, every formula has its solution, and Joseph, I have yours! Now it's only a matter of time before you lose, so go ahead Joseph. I play one card face down and I end my turn, make your move…"

He nodded as he drew his next card, [Dragonmaid Hospitality]. 'I need to get a maid on the field, I can't survive another turn without one of them to defend me!'

"I play my magic card, Return of the Dragon Lords!" He yelled. "This magic card lets me special summon one Dragon type lvl 7 or higher monster to the field from the graveyard."

His magic card appeared on the field, and once again Bastion smiled.

"I don't think so, go trap card… Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell!"

Bastion's trap card that he played last turn flipped over and revealed itself.

"This Trap Card first requires me to send one magic card from my hand to the graveyard, next it negates the activation of your magic card and then it destroys it!" Bastion declared as he discarded a card, and Joseph's magic card was shocked and then destroyed. "Then as a final effect, you can no longer activate or use magic cards with the same name as the card that was just negated by this card for the remainder of the duel!"

"Wait, I can't use Return of the Dragon Lords anymore?" He yelled in fear.

"That's right, which further hammers in the nails to your deck's strategy. Now you can no longer bring back the other Dragonmaids to the field, no Tinkech, no Lorpar, no Nudyarl! Ernus is your last Dragonmaid that you can call upon now, but even if you 'can' bring out Nurse to get her out, everyone knows you cannot win a duel with a single monster."

"Guuuuuh…" Joseph whimpered as he felt the walls closing in, Bastion had him completely cornered now.

"Gyaaaaaaaaah." Crowler screamed into his shirt. 'This can't be happening, I put my reputation on the line for this Slifer, I practically staked my CAREER on making this student rise in the ranks. Now he's looking like a fool, Bastion is looking like a genius, and worst of all I LOOK LIKE AN IDIOT!'

"Oh Banner, is that wallet of yours feeling lighter all of a sudden?" Sartyr said with a smug tone.

"I guess I better start getting used to eating ramen... oh my stomach is going to hate me over the coming days." Banner whispered sadly.

"Wait, no more Dragonmaids, but those are his only monsters, if he can't summon them…" Syrus yelled.

"Without them he can't bring out the House Dragonmaid." Alexis continued.

"Clever really, Bastion has all but disarmed Joseph of his entire deck." Zane said, thoroughly impressed.

"But he can still win right, sure he's lost his Dragonmaids, but he still has a few at least to call upon right?" Chumley asked.

"Maybe, but right now he has nothing to stop Bastion, even if he does, all Bastion has to do is destroy them and Joseph can't bring them back." Zane said. "Being able to keep the Dragonmaids on the field and especially in his hand and grave are how Joseph wins all of his duels. Losing the maids themselves removes his ability to bring the dragon forms out to fight and defend him, since 'they're' the ones that can be lost without suffering any setbacks in a duel."

Back to the duel, Bastion smirked as he saw Joseph struggling to accept that the duel was over. "Compute it any way you like Joseph, your odds of victory are slipping to below zero. Without your maids you can't bring your dragons out, without your magic cards to revive them you can't keep them on the field for longer than a turn. You still have Tidying's effect I grant you, but that's only a temporary effect, and your only maid you have left is Nurse! This duel is over no matter what way you look at it!"

Joseph grimaced as he knew Bastion was right, Ernus was strong, but she couldn't win the duel for him by herself.

"Well, I've got no choice, I activate the Dragonmaid Tidying card in my graveyard by banishing it. This lets me bring back a Dragonmaid from my hand or graveyard to the field in defense mode, but she returns to the hand at the end of the turn." He said as he banished it. "I bring back Nurse Dragonmaid."

Nurse appeared in a pink spire of draconic flame with her hands crossed and kneeling, looking nervous as she stared at the opposition against her.

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

'Master, do we have plan?' She asked worriedly.

"I have a plan, the only one I can come up with, I activate Dragonmaid Sendoff! So, here's how it goes, I select a Dragonmaid in my grave or hand, and special summon her into defense mode, in exchange though I bring a dragonmaid that's on my field back to my hand. As for the dragon summoned, she is immune from being destroyed by battle or card effects until the end of the turn, when she returns to my hand, so come back to my field Dragonmaid Nudyarl."

Nurse nodded as she vanished, replaced by the dragon form of Laundry sitting in defense mode, her tail curled around Joseph protectively.

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

Bastion smirked as he knew what was coming next, there was only one reason he'd bring Nudyarl back in that manner.

"Now I activate the Dragonmaid Changeover Magic Card!"

Nudyarl closed her eyes as she was enveloped in a pillar of crimson, black, and white draconic fire, causing the visage of a fearsome dragon to appear and roar on the field.

"With this magic card I can fusion summon a Dragon type monster using the Dragonmaids as Fusion Materials, and this one requires a Dragonmaid and a Dragon type monster, and the Dragonmaids are both, so come to the field, House Dragonmaid!"

A pair of draconic wings spread out, followed by a draconic tail, then a set of arms dispersed the flames, revealing a humble woman standing before him with the appearance of a Victorian Era Maid with a full European maid's outfit, draconic wings and tail and gauntlet wrists and horns. She smiled gently as she stood before Joseph at the opposition before her, neither deterred nor dissuaded by the opposing monsters Bastion had.

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

'So, she's finally here.' Bastion thought confidently. "Not bad Joseph, but you underestimate just how futile your efforts are."

"It aint over yet Bastion, my Dragonmaids have yet to fail me, and they will not start now. I summon Laundry Dragonmaid in attack mode!"

Nurse appeared with a humble bow and determined expression as she stood next to House.

"Now I activate the Dragonmaid Welcome magic card on my field, thanks to this, two Dragonmaids can bring back one Dragonmaid card in my graveyard to my hand. Girls, bring back Dragonmaid Tinkech!"

Both House and Laundry nodded, and as one they turned to blast his duel disk with their combined powers, Tinkech was extracted and added to his hand.

"Now I activate her effect, I send her to the grave to give House Dragonmaid a power boost, by 2000 attack points! And don't forget, she gets more power thanks to Dragonmaid Welcome!"

House closed her eyes as she was enveloped by crimson draconic energy, boosting her attack points.

[House Dragonmaid 3000 Atk / 2000 Def – 5000 Atk / 2000 Def – 5200 Atk / 2200 Def]

"Now I enter the battle phase, Laundry Dragonmaid come back to my hand and transform into Nudyarl!"

Nurse did as asked, transforming and becoming her true form of Ernus, who roared proudly as House's dress fluttered slightly at her appearance.

"Since she came back to the hand, House Dragonmaid's effect activates and destroying one monster on your side of the field, so say goodbye to your Water Dragon Cluster!"

House nodded as she gathered pastel pink energy, before launching it in the form of a flame through her mouth via her fingers, blasting Water Dragon Cluster.

"Nice try Joseph but my Dragon has another effect, Water Dragon Cluster, Separate!"

Water Dragon burst apart, and the two Water Dragon heads appeared on Bastion's side of the field, resulting in House's effect vanishing into thin air while the crowd gasped in amazement.

"Sorry Joseph, but Water Dragon Cluster is a cluster of two Dragons made entirely of water. As a final effect, at any time I can send Water Dragon Cluster to the graveyard from the field, and special summon two Water Dragons from my hand and/or deck into defense mode, ignoring the summoning requirements of the Water Dragon. Good try though, I'll give you credit for fighting back." Bastion said with a smile. "But as you can see, it's not enough still."

[Water Dragon, Lvl 8, Water Attribute, Sea Serpent Type, Effect Monster, 2800 Atk / 2600 Def x2]

"Fine, you got two water dragons, big deal, House is going to win this now, House Dragonmaid attack Dimension Jar!"

She nodded as she readied her attack before launching it immediately at the still grinning Dimension Jar.

"We need to stop doing this Joseph, I activate my trap card, NEGATE ATTACK!" He hollered and flipped his face down over.

Negate Attack activated its effect, blocking House's offense and saving Dimension Jar, ending the battle phase immediately.

"Grr… I had him… I play one card face down and end my turn."

"You almost had me to be precise, but once again you are only delaying the inevitable, just accept you've lost Joseph." Bastion replied. "I draw, hmm, I think I'll switch Dimension Jar into defense mode, both Water Dragons into attack mode, play one monster face down in defense mode and place one card on the field. Next, I activate the magic card, EXCHANGE!"

He watched as Exchange appeared on the field, and knew what Bastion was going to do, and grimaced as he had no way to stop it.

"You know how it goes Joseph, Exchange allows us both to take one card from the opponent's hand, unfortunately for you I only have one card for you to take." Bastion declared as he walked over, with Joseph sighing as he walked forward as well. "Here you go."

He took the one card Bastion had, [Dark Hole], and then showed him his hand, already knowing which one was going to be taken.

"I'll take that one, apologies… this isn't personal, I'm just doing everything I can to win this duel." Bastion muttered apologetically, as he took Nurse Dragonmaid.

Joseph nodded as he turned away and walked back to his side of the arena.

'There goes my card again…' Ernus muttered fearfully.

"Alright, now that that's over, I end my turn."

He grimaced as he looked at his options while drawing. [Dragonmaid Downtime]

'Ugh… this isn't good…' He thought as he looked at the field. 'Alright… I can attack his Water Dragons and deal some damage but only with House, unless I use Welcome's effect again. Ernus isn't strong enough to take down the Water Dragons without getting destroyed herself without help. Hmmm, maybe I can use this Dark Hole card to my advantage. I looked at his hand and he only had Dark Hole that he gave me, so all he's got is Nurse Dragonmaid, the face down monster has to be Hydrogeddon cause I sent it back to his hand with Tidying's effect.'

He pictured it in his head, if he used the magic card Dark Hole, it would destroy every monster on the field including his own. However, his Ernus would be protected, and he still had access to a Dragonmaid Tidying in the graveyard, he could bring Tinkech back to give Ernus a boost in power to at least even the life point count in his favor afterwards. Then she'd come back to his hand and if something happened, he could discard her and give Ernus a 2000-point boost next turn.

"Alright, let's do it… forgive me House but you need to take one for the team…" He muttered apologetically to his Dragonmaid, who nodded silently in understanding. "First I activate my Dragonmaid Welcome's effect, since there are still two Dragonmaids on the field I can have them bring back a Dragonmaid card from my grave to my hand. So I bring back Draginmaid Tinkech! Next I play the magic card, Dark Hole!"

From above the field a black hole appeared, and suddenly everything started getting pulled toward it, the Water Dragons tried to resist, Dimension Jar didn't look as 'giddy' as before, House and Ernus struggled to keep their footing, but everyone in the stands was amazed he played it.

"Is he crazy, he'll destroy his own monsters, he can't afford to lose any of them!" Syrus yelled in shock. "He made some weird choices but this one takes the cake!"

"No, he's making a smart move in theory." Alexis muttered. "The Dragonmaids can protect themselves from being destroyed by the effects of magic, trap and monster cards so long as a dragon type fusion monster on their side of the field. He'll lose House, but this maneuver will wipe out Bastion's side of the field and leave him vulnerable to attack!"

"Yes, but he's being foolish about it, he's using Bastion's card to do it, Bastion wouldn't just risk giving him a powerful card like that, even to take away his last Maid." Zane declared. "Bastion still has a face down card, he didn't consider that in his plan!"

Bastion smirked as he planned for that to happen, in fact he 'hoped' Joseph would take the bait. "Nice try Joseph, but once again I have the formula to counter this maneuver, you didn't think I'd give you Dark Hole without a contingency plan, did you? Go trap card… White Hole!"

From his field the trap card flipped over, and then a white hole appeared and began shielding his monsters from the effects of the magic card, causing Joseph to look in shock as he didn't even know that card existed!

"You see Joseph, Dark Hole is one of the strongest magic cards in the game, able to completely wipe the field of both dueslists in a single maneuver thanks to the immense gravitational pull of this cosmic force. But as is the way of everything in the universe, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. For every Dark Hole there is a White Hole to act as a counterbalance force. This Trap Card can only activate if my opponent activates the magic card Dark Hole, when that happens this trap protects my monsters from the effects of the magic card… leaving yours to the mercy of this mighty card."

"No!" He yelled as Ernus was pulled upward, but House Dragonmaid with surprising strength flew upward faster than her, cast a barrier of her signature draconic energy and launched it behind her, resulting in Ernus being caught and held in place while House herself was pulled into the Dark Hole to be destroyed.

When the card vanished Ernus flew down and landed before Joseph, looking nervous as she not only lost her protector but also her only other source of power as her attack and defense points dropped. She was no longer safe from the Water Dragons and their 2800 attack power.

[Dragonmaid Ernus 2800 Atk / 1800 Def – 2700 Atk / 1700 Def]

"I… I discard Tinkech from my hand, giving Ernus 2000 attack points. Next I activate my Tidying trap card; I banish it to bring back Dragonmaid Tinkech to the field into defense mode." He said as he removed it from play.

Tinkech appeared in a pillar of fire, crouched and defending him with her wings and snarling ferociously.

[Dragonmaid Ernus 2700 Atk / 1700 Def – 4700 Atk / 1700 Def – 4800 Atk / 1800 Def]

"Now Dragonmaid Ernus, attack his Water Dragon with Pastel Draconic Flame!"

Ernus roared as she gathered her power, combining it with Tinkech's power she was granted, she then launched it at one of the Water Dragons which burst asunder, vaporized and causing Bastion to flinch as his monster was destroyed.

[Joseph Takara - 1400 / Bastion Misawa – 1300]

"I play one more card face down, and I end my turn."

Tinkech nodded as she vanished from the field and returned to her hand, the effects of tidying were over. Once again Ernus stood alone, only now her attack points lowered once more.

[Dragonmaid Ernus 4800 Atk / 1800 Def – 2700 Atk / 1700 Def]

Bastion drew his next card and frowned, Joseph would not surrender, what was he planning? He looked over at him, he knew that his Tinkech was back in his hands, so he had a way to fight back but that was only a one-time deal. "Still won't surrender Joseph. Alright then let's get this duel on, I play Lightning Vortex. This magic card destroys all your face up monsters after I discard one card. I discard the Nurse Dragonmaid you gave me, to remove your final monster!"

A thunderstorm appeared above Ernus and she was struck simultaneously by three separate bolts of lightning, causing her to scream in pain as she was destroyed.

"Well, now that that is gone, I switch Hydrogeddon into attack mode and have Water Dragon attack, finish this duel with Tidal Surge Attack!"

One of the Water Dragons unleashed a tidal wave of water from its mouth at Joseph, who quickly activated his last line of defense.

"Negate Attack!"

One of his trap cards activated, stopping Water Dragon and ending the battle phase.

"You just will not give up will you Joseph?" Bastion said in amazement. "Alright if that's how you want to go out, so be it… without any more Dragonmaids to call upon, and no way to bring back the ones you have left, this duel is over. On my next turn I'll be free to attack with all of my monsters. It's over no matter how you calculate it… so make your last move Joseph."

He looked at his deck and sighed, Bastion was right, try as he might he had no more tricks left, no more cards to play that could work. Nonetheless he drew his next card, and grimaced as it was, [Dragon's Rage].

He gave it his best shot; he was so hoping to win and be chosen to duel for duel academy. But it was over, Bastion was just too good for him, he'd read him inside and out, he knew every move he had and every card he played. He had nothing left to call upon that could help him, even if he used Graceful Charity now to get Tidying into the grave, what good was it?

'Sorry girls… I gave it my all.' He thought bitterly as he was about to place his hand on the deck and officially surrender, feeling disappointed in himself and for letting down all of the Slifers who were hoping to see him win.

'Don't give up…' A voice called out, and he looked up to see the silhouette of a Dragonmaid with her horns prominently featured and holding a hand over his deck while the other held his hand, as if keeping it from surrendering.

'Don't give up… master…'

She faded away as he thought about her image, she didn't look like any of the Dragonmaids he was familiar with, she didn't look like House, Kitchen, Parlor, Laundry or Nurse… she looked like.

'THAT'S IT!' He thought suddenly as he remembered, there was one more maid left, one last maid that he could call upon.

"But… I've never summoned her before, I completely forgot about her… and now I don't have the means to add her to my hand except…" He looked at the Graceful Charity card in his hand.

His last hope.

"I can still win this; I still have a chance… but… can I draw her?" He muttered as he took Graceful Charity. "I play Graceful Charity!"

Bastion sighed as he just could not understand what Joseph was doing, he couldn't win, "Joseph there's nothing you can do, I'm willing to keep dueling but you have nothing left in your deck to play, you have no monsters left to summon!"

He ignored him as he played the magic card, then he looked to his deck, and drew his first card.

[Return of the Dragon Lords]

"Not her…" He muttered quietly as he nervously drew his next card.

[Tyrant Wing]

"Not her…" He whispered as he shakily prepared to draw his last card.

Once again doubt wormed its way into his head, what if he didn't draw her, what if he failed, what if… maybe he should just forfeit and accept defeat, he did his best so there's no shame in losing to Bastion. If he drew and didn't draw her then he'd look like a…

'No… Master… don't give up…' That gentle, loving, caring voice whispered warmly into his mind.

He closed his eyes, and shook his head, he drew his next card, no matter what he was going to try his best. Even if the odds were against him, if there was a 'sliver' of chance he'd duel to the end.

He opened his eyes and looked at the card… and 'smiled'.

"I send two cards to the graveyard due to Graceful Charity's effect!" He said, sending Dragonmaid Downtime and Return of the Dragon Lords to the grave. "Bastion, this duel isn't over yet… you've been trying to get me to surrender but I'm not done yet. I have one more maid left to play!"

He went wide eyed at that proclamation. "Impossible, I know your deck, I've seen every maid you played. I know where they all are, they're all removed from the game or in the grave! You have to be bluffing!"

At that declaration everyone began talking about his words, many asking if it was true.

"Is he serious, he has 'another' maid?" Syrus asked.

"No way, he's been using the same 5 since day one, he would have played her by now if he had one more." Chumley agreed.

"Is it true?" Zane asked.

Alexis was quiet as she thought about it, before she realized he was telling the truth. "No, he's serious, he's telling the truth!" Alexis yelled. "He does have a maid, one more maid left to play, his last Dragonmaid that he's never played before today."

"What is it, what kind of maid are we talking about here?" Zane asked.

"It's a Dragonmaid that he has never played because she doesn't have a Dragon Form that I saw, but I did glimpse her in his deck a while back. She's not as strong as any of the other maids, but she's probably the most powerful of them all, second only to the House Dragonmaid!"

"Impossible, she's got a 3000 attack and can destroy monsters in a single move, what can possibly match that?" Chumley asked.

Joseph smiled as he held her card in his hand, before declaring in a loud voice as he played her card, "Alright, give a big Duel Academy welcome for the one, the only… the Chamber Dragonmaid!"

"Impossible, he can't have another Maid!" Bastion yelled, but from the field a pillar of black draconic flame rose as if to prove him wrong.

The flames rose and spread, before slowly dying down, first revealing a black and white draconic tail with greyish spikes, two feathery draconic black/white wings sprouting from her forearm, a full body black/grey maid's outfit, pearly platinum blonde flowing hair reaching below her shoulders, her face covered by cleaning feather duster, but still revealing white/black draconic horns. She slowly lowered the feather duster to reveal a proud grin and humble smile upon her face to go along with the platinum gold-colored eyes she had.

'Ara Ara, master… at long last you summon me to the field~.' She said warmly to him. 'I've been sitting in that deck just waiting for your word to appear, naughty Master, leaving a lovely thing like me to waste away. Oh, and what a mess, what a mess you bring me into… this is so not the reception I was hoping for when you summoned me for the first time. But at least I have you all to myself~!'

[Chamber Dragonmaid, Dark Attribute, Dragon Type, Effect Monster, 500 Atk / 1800 Def]

"It is true… he has another maid!" Bastion muttered in shock as this completely changed the formula.

He'd thought he'd neutralized Joseph's deck entirely, but no he had one more maid left in his deck to pull out.

'No, calm down, it may be another maid, but you still have the advantage, she's just 'one' maid, she can't make a difference at this point!'

"Good to have you here girl, now let's win this duel."

Chamber nodded before glancing back at him, pretending to wave her feather duster at herself as if fanning herself. 'Why don't you tell our opponent about my special talents that I only ever do, just for 'you' Master~?'

"Oh yea, since Chamber Dragonmaid has been successfully summoned, her effect activates, now I can add any Dragonmaid magic or trap card from my deck to my hand, but I don't need one at this time! She also has one other trick in her book, first thing's first I initiate the battle phase."

Chamber smirked as she suddenly became surrounded in a pillar of black draconic fire, gently twirling her feather duster as she eagerly awaited Joseph's next command.

"What's going on with your maid, I thought you said she didn't have a Dragon form?" Bastion asked nervously, sweat falling as he had no idea what Joseph was planning to do.

"That's true Bastion, the Chamber Dragonmaid doesn't have a dragon form of her own."

'At least none I'm willing to show to anyone but you Master~.' She slyly whispered to him.

"But she does have a special ability just like all of the other maids, she can transform into a level 7 or higher Dragonmaid monster if its in my graveyard or my hand. And when I say a Level 7 or higher Dragonmaid monster, I mean 'ANY' level 7 or higher Dragonmaid monster."

"Wait, 'any' Dragonmaid monster?" He yelled in shock.

"Any Dragonmaid Monster, including their fusion form." Joseph said confidently. "Chamber Dragonmaid, bring out House Dragonmaid!"

'As my master wishes.' She said with a curtsy and a nod, before she became completely enveloped in a spire of black draconic energy, that now swirled and expanded to include crimson and white draconic flame.

The draconic visage of a dragon roared to the school before the flames died down, to reveal once again standing before her master with a humble smile and confident expression, House Dragonmaid.

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

"No, that's impossible, I had you completely cornered, you were just one turn away from losing!"

"Yep, but thanks to Chamber, this duel was turned around, thanks again girl." He whispered as her spirit form appeared beside him, giving him a playful wink. "Now I activate Dragonmaid Tinkech's effect, by discarding her I give House Dragonmaid 2000 Attack points. Don't forget Dragonmaid Welcome is still in play, so she gets even 'more' attack points!

[House Dragonmaid 3000 Atk / 2000 Def – 5000 ATK / 2000 Def – 5100 Atk / 2100 Def]

"House Dragonmaid, attack Water Dragon with Draconic Maid Flame!"

She nodded and gathered her draconic fire, before launching it at the Water Dragon that sent a tidal surge of water to counter, but with the combined powers of the maids it stood no chance. The flames beat back the water and Water Dragon was vaporized in an explosion of steam, causing Bastion to lose 2300 life points.

[Joseph Takara - 1400 / Bastion Misawa – 0]

With a final bow House vanished with the other monsters as the duel concluded.

"Game Bastion… and that was intense…" He yelled, before Bastion began chuckling as he walked over to him.

"Joseph, I can't believe you had that maid in the back… I really did not even 'think' she was there to begin with." Bastion said as he shook his hand in congratulations. "You've got to tell me, were you saving her for this duel? Did you know I would have your dueling style and strategy down to a note, and hoping to use her to catch me off guard, wait until the right moment to unveil her?"

He smiled apologetically as he muttered. "To be honest Bastion… I completely forgot she was even in my deck to begin with." He told him. "I get so caught up in seeing my maids transform, I forgot that Chamber has no Dragon form, so I forgot about her every time I duel. It wasn't until you removed all of my maids and I had no others to call upon that I remembered her. Plus she's always so buried deep in the deck whenever I duel that I never draw her and by the time I could use her the duel's over."

"So, this entire time you had that secret weapon of yours hiding in the back, that you could have brought out at any time, and you 'never' played her simply because, since she has no Dragon form of her own, you forgot she even existed during your duels?" Bastion said in disbelief, to which Joseph nodded and after a few moments Bastion laughed his butt off at his expression. "Joseph… you are one of a kind… I wish you the best of luck in the school duel Joseph. Congratulations."

He smiled back as he turned to the crowd and saluted, causing everyone to cheer his name and applaud him.

Professor Banner was looking smug as he pet his cat in his lap. "Well, Pharoah, looks like we get to eat fancy this week. Isn't that right Sartyr?"

"Uhuuuh…" Sartyr moaned as looked at his now empty wallet.

"Mreowr"

"Joseph, I want to thank you, you actually taught me a very important lesson." Bastion said.

"I did?"

"Yes, you taught me that not all duels can be solved 'before' the duel begins. Sometimes you have to solve the equation as it's being presented to you, before you even see the final form of the problem. I tried to figure you out, and while I succeeded, it was my own hubris that I believed I'd cracked your code that ended up being my downfall. From now on I will consider that in all of my future duels. I can't always control or predict what my opponent will do, but I can at least control what 'I' do. So, thank you."

"No problem Bastion… but something tells me that if we dueled again, you'd probably win since now you know 'all' of my maids, I've got no more hidden away in my deck to spring~!"

Meanwhile all of the Slifers and his other friends began storming the arena to congratulate him.

"Way to go Jo, you're in the school duel!" Syrus yelled.

"No Slifer has ever been selected, that's Academy History bro!" Chumley.

"Well played duel Joseph!" Alexis said as she joined them now.

"Woooooot way to duel!"

He looked to see the sea of Slifers parting for the girls from the café all storming toward him, wielding little flags that all were cheering for Joseph in one way or another, and of course had the café's logo on them to promote it.

"Joseph is going to be in the school duel!" Kite yelled as she pulled him into a hug.

"We knew you had it in you!" Lora yelled excitedly.

"Joseph Joseph, he's our man, if he can't do it no one can!" Sun and Luna cheered.

"Like there was ever any doubt!" Amber chuckled as she ruffled his hair.

All the girls laughed and cheered that Joseph won the duel while once again the students were left questioning how they just keep showing up without anyone noticing them.

"You'd think someone would spot them with how cute and hot they are."

"Yea I was standing near the entrance to the arena, I didn't see them at any time…"

"Where do they keep coming from?"

"How come I can't score a date with any of them?"

"Cause you're a loser like me."

That was the conversations going on until a massive 'smack' sounded, and as one all the girls flinched and slowly turned in fear toward the only person who could 'ever' ruin their happy moments in a heartbeat. The head maid of the Maid of the Dragon's Café, Sheou the Head Maid, and 'House Maid' to Joseph.

She was slowly walking through the sea of red students as if they were parting for her, a frown on her face and a glare in her eyes as she moved toward them, slapping stick in hand and an evil angry aura around her, causing everyone to back away as they knew not to get in her path or be near her when she was like that.

"How many times… do I have to say this, a maid 'never' leaves her duties incomplete to do as she wishes, especially when in the presence of her master?" She whispered dangerously.

"W-w-e-e're s-s-s-or-ry…" The girls all moaned in fear together.

"Because of you five going off without finishing your chores, I had to complete them all by myself." She said as she stood before them. "I should not have to do that, especially since 'I' have to attend to my own duties as you five very well know. This… means… punishment!"

With the speed of lightning striking and the sound matching that of a roaring thunderbolt, the slapping stick whipped through the air and smacked all five of the girl's heads, leaving a very nice lump on each of them for comedic effect.

"We're sorry ma'am it won't happen again." They each said in unison.

"I hope so. Now get to the café and get it ready for today, or so help me…" She whispered dangerously, but the girls did not wait around to hear the veiled threat she was going to give them, instead they flew right out the arena and out of sight, leaving only a smoke trail behind them.

Sheou sighed as she put the slapping stick away, hiding it in the folds of her dress. "Those five… what will I 'ever' do with them?" She whispered sadly, not noticing everyone sweat drop at her response, she then turned to Joseph and bowed apologetically to him. "Forgive me master, as your personal maid, I should not show that side of me to you in public. It is most unbecoming of me as a maid."

"Uhm… Sheou, maybe you could let off on hurting them? I mean… sure they probably skipped their jobs but… they were just here cheering for me; they almost never get to see me duel. You can't fault them for wanting to watch and cheer me on." Joseph told her.

Sheou nodded in understanding, but still smiled and said, "I know young master, but those girls need to focus on their duties, we aren't here to slack off, when they finish their chores is when I'll let the have time off 'before' the café opens. Which reminds me… since you are in the school duel…" She said as she pulled out a scroll from her sleeve and unfurled it. "I have already gone ahead and asked each of your professors to give you time off for the big match against North Academy, you have just under two weeks before the big event and I've prepared your schedule for you!"

"WHAT?"

"I've gone ahead and asked each of your professors to give you private tutoring lessons and study guides to help you prepare for the upcoming duel. Your homework you would have had to do can be done in tandem with your tutoring and I've also gone ahead and fit your meal plans and sleep times into your studying sessions. I've also reserved the library so you can study in peace and quiet and-"

"Guhaaaaaaah…" Joseph moaned as he fell backward. "Just when I thought I could relax a little… more studying, lovely…"

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=Next Time, Joseph vs Zane, Discovering the Limit, Roar of the Cyber End Dragon=

"Some mountains must stand in your way my young master, not all can be climbed instantly, nor quickly, there is a limit to where you can go and how tall you can grow. But until you know what that limit is, you cannot know how much further you can go my master… The Master, to the Dragonmaids."

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=From the Author=

I am… exhausted… that duel, took about 10k words… I had to backtrack so many times to make sure every turn fit and played right… uuuuugh I'm exhausted… I want to die…

Up next is the Zane Truesdale Duel, and I need to decide if it should be fast or slow in terms of the duel's length. And tell me, do you like the duels longer or shorter, longer duels = longer chapters~ but of course longer duels means way more work researching each card, how they work, playing them out, going back, making sure it fits.

As you probably know, the dragonmaids are way strong in the gx era, so I've been giving duelists in the gx era cards that, while not existing, probably 'did' and 'could' exist given the time period. That's why I'm not including synchro/xyz/pendulumn themed cards or cards related to those, but cards that could and would work in the gx era while not being too overly broken. I also did this because someone once commented about how 'op' the cards would be compared to gx era cards of the time, but then they said I did take into account how powerful they are and kept them in check to make it fair.

So I'm going to ask this once again because I am considering it now, since I have no job atm and am trying to find one. Would you guys support me on 'P'

A. T.

R.E.

O.N

If I did open one up? I would not ask for the moon, 1$ 2$ and 'maybe' 3$ donations

With how many followers I have, people who favorite me etc, I think I could honestly turn this into a living and I wouldn't have to feel nervous about committing to my writing 100%

On the other hand, I have always preferred to write and give you all my writing to comment on, review, hate and like as you wish for free, because I don't want to feel like I'd be holding my stories hostage unless you gave me $ etc, in some famous words I never forgot and always will remember whenever I write…

"I write for the amusement of my readers and myself, I will not write something only to have a congress rewrite it."

I write for you guys and myself, I like to reread my stories because I love what I write, and I want to write for you guys to enjoy, smile, laugh or w.e"

Review down below, how did you like the duel, did you enjoy it, hate it, you think I suck and should not write anymore lol?