Turn 1: Steel
Steel: 4000 LP, 5 cards in hand
Amelia: 4000 LP, 5 cards in hand
Joshua: 4000 LP, 5 cards in hand

Steel looked at the cards he drew, looking rather bored. He didn't need to rush anything, these two didn't look like much. "Alright, show me what you got. I'll set a monster and one other card face-down."

The holographic images of two card backs were projected on Steel's field after he calmly placed the duo onto his Duel Disk, forming a T-shape. He casually threw his arms behind his head, resting it in his hands. "Turn end."

Turn 2: Amelia
Steel: 4000 LP, 3 cards in hand, 1 Set monster, 1 S/T
Amelia: 4000 LP, 6 cards in hand
Joshua: 4000 LP, 5 cards in hand

Amelia remained silent as she drew her card. She took a deep breathe as she tried to calm herself and examine the field. She couldn't provide offense, but she might be able to provide Joshua some support in this match.
"I activate the spell, Mystical Space Typhoon and use it to destroy your face-down spell or trap card." She said, playing the spell, which summoned a vortex of wind which proceeded to surround and destroy Steel's face-down.

A trap card got yanked from its comfortable spot, flying up and revealing itself to be Option Hunter before shattering. Steel didn't look phazed in the slightest by the trap card getting destroyed.

"I set one monster face-down and one card face-down before ending my turn." Amelia said, as the cards appeared on her field.

Turn 3: Steel
Steel: 4000 LP, 4 cards in hand, 1 Set monster
Amelia: 4000 LP, 3 cards in hand, 1 Set monster, 1 S/T
Joshua: 4000 LP, 5 cards in hand

The Dark Dorm student raised an eyebrow, then brought his free hand up to his mouth to block a yawn. "Ah, seriously? That's it?" Steel questioned Amelia, then took a duelist's battle stance again.

"My turn, draw. You're going to regret not destroying my monster, 'cause I'll show you that it's Steelswarm Genome." The boy picked up the card from his Duel Disk, showing it briefly before placing it face-up to summon the monster. From the ground rose a small black cocoon of metal scales. It almost had the shape of a human heart, made prominent by the steel body underneath. A small helmet was sticking out of the cocoon, with two small glowing eyes staring at Amelia and Joshua.

Steelswarm Genome: 1000 ATK 0 DEF Level 2 DARK Fiend

"But Steelswarms aren't just cute and cuddly. They're meant as a sacrifice, which my Genome will be happy to oblige with! Treating it as two, I Tribute summon Steelswarm Girastag!"

A ring of light surrounded Genome and blinded the players for a split second, allowing it to sink back into the ground. In its place came a conspicuous buzzing noise, paving way for a much bigger creature. From the floor rose a humanoid monster, twice the size of any average man and broad enough to match. A long, metal tail stuck out of its back that reached all the way up to its head, on which a helmet with two wavy horns was placed on. On its right arm was a cannon, while the left was left mostly unprotected to let its sickly orange skin show.

Steelswarm Girastag: 2600 ATK 0 DEF Level 7 DARK Fiend

Steel raised up his arm and pointed at Amelia's set monster card. "Hey, girly? You know what would happen if I got rid of that card? My big guy over here would be free to attack. Steelswarm Girastag's effect allows me to send any one card you control to the graveyard- So I'll take him up on that offer." The boy gained a wry grin as he said this and Girastag's cannon arm flared up, pointing at the monster. The cannon fired, sending bolts of fire down to incinerate it.

Amelia braced herself as the bolts hit their target, revealing a young girl with long green hair tied in a ponytail, wearing simple cloths and wielding a silver staff with a green gem, before she shattered into tiny pieces, leaving the field.

The flames were still a little scattered on Amelia's field, but soon pulled back and started to twist around Steel's form. It gave him an orange, glowing aura as his lifepoints started to increase. "Aha, right! Guess I didn't mention I gain a bit of life out of the deal, eh?" Steel snickered.

Steel LP: 4000 > 5000

"Not that surprising, since you're either focusing on the Steelswarm sub-archetype or the entirity of the Iswarm archetype." Joshua spoke up. "So, let's see here, assuming you're just using Steelswarms, this is likely not your ace-card. You probably have the other two big ones in your deck. Locust and Caustag, am I right? Though, given that you decided to use the nickname Steel, I assume those are the only threats we have to worry about."

"Ah, trying to play the tough stoic character, Mr. Prince? Unfortunately for you, I have enough common sense to be wary, unlike you lot. But hey, I'm not unfair. I could just attack you and take a huge chunk away, but where's the fun in that? I'd rather deal with her first," Steel commented, lazily pointing towards Amelia with his thumb.

"Battle, Steelswarm Girastag! Attack the girl directly!" Steel commanded, with Girastag jumping up to try and claw at Amelia.

"Trap card open! Draining Shield!" Amelia said, causing a barrier to surround her. She managed a small smile as her life points shot up due to her card's effect.

Amelia LP: 4000 > 6600

"Not cautious enough I see." Joshua said with a small laugh

"You say that, but her field's still wide open. Who cares about a few thousand lifepoints when you can't protect 'em?" Steel sneered at Joshua, his smile starting to creep up again.

"I'll set one card, ending my turn. Show me what you got, Princey."

"Oh boy, Steelswarms vs Gustos. It's just like in the stories..."Although in the stories, Gustos didn't really fare too well. Nathaniel kept that last part to himself. No need to drag the mood even lower than it already is, if that's even possible.

Turn 4: Joshua
Steel: 5000 LP, 2 cards in hand, 1 monster, 1 S/T
Amelia: 6600 LP, 3 cards in hand
Joshua: 4000 LP, 6 cards in hand

"You keep calling me Prince, but if anything, he might possibly be her prince." Joshua said, jerking his thumb towards Leander after drawing his card. "But then again, I don't know them that well, so, what do I know. Also, if anything, I'm just a pauper. But, being a pauper has its perks too you know."

Leander perked up when he was mentioned, cocking his head to the side in confusion. He didn't quite understand what Joshua was getting at.

"Anyway, it's my turn." Joshua said before examining his hand before glancing at the field. If he was honest, his hand was total trash. And if Steel had the means of getting Steelswarm Hercules out, he and Amelia were in for a world of hurt. Luckily if Steel did get it out, that was likely to be his only attack for that turn. So, he was left with nothing to do but take a big gamble. "I activate the spell card Fusion Conscription. I reveal to you this Frightfur Sheep in my extra deck, then search for one of its materials. I add Edge Imp Chain to my hand then shuffle my deck. Next, I'll summon my friend, Fluffal Dog to the field."

Fluffal Dog: 1700 ATK, 1000 DEF, Level 4 Earth

The familiar plushie dog sprang onto the field, letting out a few wipps while wagging it's tail. To his right, Joshua heard Amelia gasp before letting out an awe of adoration. He guessed younger girls would really love some of his monster. Either that or she just liked cute things.

"Now, with Fluffal Dog's effect, I add a Fluffal Owl from my deck to my hand. I set two cards face down and call it a turn. Your move."

"Oh, Fluffals. Awesome." Normally, Nathaniel would be freaking out over the cuddly creatures, but something about his current situation curbed his enthusiasm just a tad.

Turn 5: Steel
Steel: 5000 LP, 3 cards in hand, 1 monster, 1 S/T
Amelia: 6600 LP, 3 cards in hand
Joshua: 4000 LP, 4 cards in hand, 1 Monster, 2 S/T

Steel's eye flared up with delight when he saw Joshua's move, licking his lips again. "Nice, nice! Veeeery nice... I like that aggression of yours! My turn, Draw!"

The boy didn't even bother to look at the card as he slotted it in neatly into his hand, staring down at Fluffal dog. The little plushy was very excited, but that wasn't any form for a duel. "Two set cards and a monster, an obvious trap right? But c'mon, a duel has to be exciting... So, Battle! Girastag, have that plushy meet its maker!"

Girastag jumped up into the air again, this time readying the cannon whilst hovering in mid-air. It pointed down at Fluffal dog as Girastag flew overhead.

Before the cannon could fire, chains suddenly shot out of two dimensional holes that appeared in front of Steel and pulled the cannon arwy, so the shots missed to little plushie animal. The dimensional holes grew in size until a nightmarish wheel rose out of it, more chains wrapping around the insectoid's limbed then pulling it against the wheel nice and tight.
"Trap Card. Nightmare Wheel. Your monster can't attack or change position, not that you would want it to anyway." Joshua said calmly.

Steel's grin grew wider, a laugh escaping his mouth. "Yes, that's more like it! You have some fight in you after all..."

The boy picked up one card from his hand and slammed it down onto the Duel Disk. "Well, guess I don't have anything more than this. I'll set a monster and let the girl handle the rest..." Steel's voice trailed off, and his expression returned to something more neutral now that the excitement has worn off.

Turn 6: Amelia
Steel: 5000 LP, 2 cards in hand, 2 monsters (1 Set), 1 S/T
Amelia: 6600 LP, 4 cards in hand
Joshua: 4000 LP, 4 cards in hand, 1 Monster, 2 S/T

Amelia silently drew her card then bit her lip, when she saw what it was. It was useless in this scenario and the rest of her hand wasn't much help either. Her partner picked up on this and decided to speak up.
"Miss Amelia, do you have any monsters in your hand?" He asked her, getting a silent nod in response. "Alright, summon it an attack his face-down monster. Assume most of his monsters are of the Steelswarm archetype, their defence is... less the spectacular. Infact, it's downright sad, only one of their monsters have a defence higher then zero. It's a gamble, but possibly worth the risk. And you have the life point to take a hit or two if it comes down to that."

Amelia glanced at her hand again before taking another deep breathe to calm herself. Joshua seemed to know alot about this archetype so he decided to trust him.
"I summon Gusto Falco in attack mode." She declared, putting the monster on her field. A tiny bird appeared , letting out a cute cry as it spread it's tiny wings.

Gusto Falco: 600 ATK 1400 DEF, Level 2 WIND Winged Beast Tuner

"Gusto Falco, attack his face-down monster." She commanded her monster, which flew over to the card, revealing it to be a clump of black, metal scales. On closer inspection, it seemed to shift and move before tossing Falco all the way back to Amelia's field with a stray strike of one of its arms. The clump stood up on all fours, revealing an armadillo-like creature.

"Steelswarm Gatekeeper. Damn." Joshua muttered under his breathe, though, he had pretty much expected this.

Steelswarm Gatekeeper: 1500 ATK 1900 DEF Level 4 DARK Fiend

"Ahaha, oh man yo'ure a hoot! Don't get me wrong, kid, I like you. But c'mon, did you really think I'd fall in that trap twice? I already risked my Genome, I wasn't going to risk it again!" Steel mocked Joshua, cracking up from the advice he gave Amelia. It took all he had to not burst out laughing when he was telling her to just attack it.
"Oh, also? That ATK is clearly lower than my Defense. So this means that the girly loses lifepoints!"

Amelia LP: 6600 > 5300

"Did you actually pay attention to half of what I said, or are you just deaf?" Joshua asked Steel, looking rather amused himself.

"Sure did, which is why I'm having trouble keeping my marbles together! Ahaha!"

"Still, at least I know what your next move is likely to be. More then enough for me." Joshua said

"You sure you should be worrying about yourself? 'cause I'm pretty sure you're not the only one in this duel..."

"Who said I was? Amelia, keep any spells or traps you have in hand, i your hand. Let's see here... I'm going to go with you aiming to get Hercules out on your next turn, by sacrificing your Gatekeeper for something else, likely Locus. If so, you'll likely focus all your attacks on Miss Amelia, using Locus' effect to return her cards to her hand, removing them from the field. Gatekeep will allow you to summon another monster from your hand, allowing you to sacrifice all three of the monsters on your field to special summon Hercules. At that point, you half your life-points to nuke the entire field save for Hercules then attack both of one at a time after our respective turns. Tell me, am I at least marginally right?" Joshua said with a slight smirk.

Megan let out a noise of amazment. He knew so much about his opponent's deck that he could predict his actions that far in advance? That certainly seemed helpful knowledge to have, though you still needed the cards to act on it. Maybe Megan needed to do some more studying...

"Who knows? Though, I do know one thing. The timer for your partner's running out." Steel said with confidence and a smirk, maybe even a little too much confidence.

"I activate Dian Keto, the Cure Master to gain 1000 more life points then end my turn." Amelia said once the boys were done bickering, letting Steel put whatever plan he had into action.

Amelia LP: 5300 > 6300

Turn 7: Steel
Steel: 5000 LP, 3 cards in hand, 2 monsters, 1 S/T
Amelia: 6300 LP, 2 cards in hand, 1 monster
Joshua: 4000 LP, 4 cards in hand, 1 Monster, 2 S/T

"So much for keeping spells in hand, eh Princey? My turn, draw!" Steel quickly swiped the card from the top of his deck, twisting and turning it in his hand. He looked almost bored to see what he got, placing it in his hand and picking out something else.

"I'm not a fan of the waiting game, so I'll summon Steelswarm Sting!" The boy yelled out and slammed a card down onto his disk. From the ground rose a humanoid insect, taking the like after a wasp. It was covered in the black metal armor all Steelswarms were, with the only thing not covered being the metal spike sticking out of its stinger and the orange wings on its back.

Steelswarm Sting: 1850 ATK 0 DEF Level 4 DARK Fiend

Steel looked at Joshua expectantly, but the boy remained motionless. The dark dorm student clicked with his tongue and looked away, dissapointed. "Not going to activate anything to that? Damn... Battle. Sting, show that falcon the exit."

Steelswarm Sting flew over to Gusto Falco, moving behind it and grabbing it so it couldn't escape. The monster stung with the spike once, straight through Falco's chest. The small Gusto monster exploded and shattered into light particles, sending a strong gust of wind Amelia's way.

Amelia LP: 6300 > 5050

Steel waited for a few seconds, hoping one of them would react in some way. When they didn't, he grew very annoyed very quickly. "Not going to activate anything? Where's that spirit from before, kid?" Steel asked Joshua, cocking his head upwards.

"Tch, whatever. Due to your Nightmare Wheel, Girastag can't attack. I'll end my turn like this."

Turn 8: Joshua
Steel: 5000 LP, 2 cards in hand, 3 monsters, 1 S/T
Amelia: 5050 LP, 2 cards in hand
Joshua: 4000 LP, 5 cards in hand, 1 Monster, 2 S/T

Joshua drew his card silently. He didn't even feel a point in declaring his wheel's other effect, as it began spinning and digging into Girstag to the point that sparks flew and showered over Steel, inflicting 500 damage on the Dark Dorm student. Steel didn't even flinch as the sparks rained down on him, refusing to break eye contact with Joshua.

Steel LP: 5000 > 4500

"I summon Fluffal Owl to my field." Joshua said, causing a plushie owl to join the field, landing next to his Fluffal Dog.

Fluffal Owl: 1000 ATK, 1000 DEF, Level 2 EARTH Fairy.

"Owl's effect let's me add a Polymerization to my hand from my deck when it's summoned from my hand." Joshua said, as his disk ejected the card, which he revealed to his opponent before adding it to his hand. "Next, I'll activate said Polymerization to fuse the Fluffal Leo with the Edge Imp Chain in my hand. With them, I fusion summon Frightfur Sheep."

Behind Joshua, the two monsters appeared before turning into a yellow and orange ball of light, which then began quickly spinning around him. This swirl formed a dark portal, from which a ragged looking plushie sheep, suspended in the air with chains attached to two disk like devices came out. Several odd metal objects stuck out of it, and the monster's face looked slightly demented as it let out a creepy laugh.

Nathaniel visibly flinched when the Frightfur hit the field. He never did understand how they could make these cute animals and turn them into such nightmarish freakshows.

Steel looked slightly more alive now that Frightfur sheep had come down and showed itself. Even the crowd erupted with cheers, as opposed to the jeers they had been giving all this time. "Very nice, very nice... You've finally shown what you can do. But, I'm afraid that even your best won't be enough to save you from me."

Steelswarm Girastag suddenly started squirming, pulling and turning on Nightmare Wheel. A trap card revealed itself, depicting an Evilswarm monster fighting against a Constellar monster. Girastag broke free of its confines, then swiftly evaporated into a dark mist that surrounded Joshua's field. Fluffal Dog and Frightfur sheep got the worst of it, dissolving into nothing but two single cards and returning to Joshua's hand and Extra Deck respectively.

"Girastag was useless to me, so I decided to get rid of him. At least he took some of yours with him, huh?" Steel mocked Joshua, the crowd of Dark Dorm students going absolutely wild. The entire arena floor was practically booming with activity, almost as much as you'd find it during the day.

"Thank you for that. This is really amusing now." Joshua said as he began laughing as well, only thing was, his was actually the kind of laugh that came from someone with a sadistic streak. He actually looked at Steel like a cat that had cornered some prey."Edge Imp Chains effect. Since it was sent to the graveyard, I add a Frightfur Fusion from my deck to my hand. I then activate it and banish Edge Imp Chain and Fluffal Leo from my graveyard to summon Frightfur Sheep again!"

The portal opened the the creepy fusion monster appeared on the field again, laughing as if to mock Steel for trying to be rid of it.

Frightfur Sheep: 2000 ATK, 2000 DEF, Level 5 DARK Fiend

"Battle Phase. Frightfur Sheep, attack Steelswarm Gatekeeper!" Joshua declared, his monster opening it's mouth and firing a laser at the inscetoid fortress thing. Gatekeeper blew up without much resistance, but Steel's lifepoints were unscathed. "I really like the idea of you not getting his effect off, so I'll end my tun here. Your move, boy."

Turn 9: Steel
Steel: 4500 LP, 3 cards in hand, 1 monster
Amelia: 5050 LP, 2 cards in hand
Joshua: 4000 LP, 3 cards in hand, 2 Monsters, 1 S/T

Steel looked like he was enjoying himself, smiling broadly. "Yes, yes! This is the kind of fight I expected from you... My turn, draw!" Steel called out, swiftly swiping a card from his deck and looking at it. He didn't even think twice and played it without hesitating.

"I'll summon my Steelswarm Caller!" The Dark Dorm student showed his card briefly and slammed it down, causing a vortex to open in the floor. From it rose a very thin humanoid, almost unhealthily so. It had the same wings on its back that Sting did, but nothing else of sting translated. It looked particularly scrawny in comparison.

Steelswarm Caller: 1700 ATK 0 DEF Level 4 DARK Fiend

Nathaniel looked on nervously as Steel slammed his monster on the field with reckless abandon. "Two Level Four monsters... This does not look good."

"Battle phase! Sting, get rid of that annoying owl for me!" Steel cried out, the insect humanoid responding by doing the same to Owl as it did to Falco. It snuck up behind the plushy and stung through their chest without even so much as a fight, creating another gust of wind which Joshua had to shield himself from.

Joshua LP: 4000 > 3150

"Though, I think I've left the little miss alone for long enough. I've got another monster, don't I? Steelswarm Caller! Attack the girl directly!" Steel called out, and Caller rushed forward to give Amelia a quick slice with its claws.

Amelia LP: 5050 > 3350

"Alright boss, you go!"
"Yeah, keep attacking like that!"

Cheers for Steel came from the crowd for his reckless attacking, to which he responded by holding his hand up. "That's right! Never give your opponent a chance to rest, just keep attacking them until they drop! Take notes of this duel and improve your own!" He called back to the crowd, to which even more cheers erupted. The lackeys, as rough as they look, seemed to be ready to root for their boss no matter what.

Steel nodded contently, looking back to Amelia. "This goes for you too, missy. Show me what you're made of. I end my turn!"

Nathaniel breathed sigh of relief. "Oh good. False alarm." Not that the situation was really that good.

Turn 10: Amelia
Steel: 4500 LP, 2 cards in hand, 2 monsters
Amelia: 3350 LP, 3 cards in hand
Joshua: 3150 LP, 3 cards in hand, 2 Monsters, 1 S/T

Amelia drew her card silently before looking a bit dejected.
"I set two cards face-down and end my turn." She said, causing two face-down to appear on her field before passing the turn over to Steel.

Turn 11: Steel
Steel: 4500 LP, 3 cards in hand, 2 monsters
Amelia: 3350 LP, 1 card in hand, 2 S/T
Joshua: 3150 LP, 3 cards in hand, 1 Monsters, 2 S/T

Steel's hair dropped down, covering both of his eyes now. If an aura was physical, the room would be shaking right now. "I see. You have no intention of taking me seriously, huh?" The man said darkly, drawing his card.

"Well, I'm not really able to." Joshua muttered to himself.

A pillar of light formed in the middle of Steel's field and slowly started to expand, consuming both Caller and Sting. A strong gale surged through the room and kicked up the Dark Dorm jacket Steel was wearing, as well as his hair. It also forced Amelia to have to hold down her skirt, as she had no interest in having the boys around her seeing anything underneath it. Megan on the other hand, having an inherit distate for skirts and figuring they'd get in trouble if they were caught skirt or not, had opted for a more sensible pair of shorts. Both of Steel's eyes were now visible... and glowing. "I tribute my Steelswarm Caller and my Steelswarm Sting! Surpreme fiend which commands the swarm, nurture off your subordinates and descend upon the battlefield! Come forth, Steelswarm Caucastag!"

The light became blinding for a moment, after which Caller and Sting had completely vanished. From the floor rose another humanoid that rivaled the size of Girastag, but with more to him. He seemed to trade in the arm cannon his compatriot had for more armor and clawed gauntlets, with two massive wings reaching all the way down to just above the feet.

Steelswarm Caucastag: 2800 ATK 0 DEF Level 8 DARK Fiend

Another strong gust of wind kicked up as the being rapidly flapped its wings, kicking up all of the Spell and Trap cards that are set.

"Trap Card open. Whirlwind of Gusto!" Amelia declared, revealing her trap. "I return the two gusto's you destroyed earlier to my deck and special summon a Gusto monster with 1000 or less defence from my deck to my field. I special summon Gusto Gulldo in Defense Mode!"

Her traps left the field but in their place, a small bird appeared once again, only this one looked different from a falcon.

Gusto Gulldo: 500 ATK 500 DEF Level 3 WIND Winged Beast Tuner

I activate the effect of the Toy Vendor spell card you destroyed to add an Edge Imp Sabres to my hand!" Joshua said, as his spell vanished and he added the monster to his hand.

Steel didn't flinch one bit. "You two... do not deserve to call yourself real duelists with this weak dueling. Because of Caller's effect, I'll summon one Steelswarm from my deck. The one I choose..." A card jutted out of Steel's Duel Disk, which he drew from it with fierce gusto. A powerful slam signalled the arrival, and the monster was familiar. A second Caller rose up from the field, as lanky as the previous.

Steelswarm Caller: 1700 ATK 0 DEF Level 4 DARK Fiend

"We're not done yet! When Sting is sent to the graveyard, I'll target one of your Fusion monsters, Princey, and destroy it. Since I've only got one choice, I guess your sheep is going to the graveyard, where it belongs!" Steel yelled out, the metal stinger from the tributed Steelswarm monster suddenly shot out from behind Caucastag and piercing Frightfur Sheep's fur.

Joshua watched calmly as his Sheep got stung and blown up as a result. When the smoke cleared, Sheep was gone but the devices that kept it in the air, as well as a few chains were still present.
""Hey Bug man, guess what?" He asked with a smile on his face.

"I'll bite. What is it?"

"Sheepy's back!" Joshua said as the chains moved into two small dimensional holes that appeared. They slowly began raising with an ominous clanking sound as Sheep rose up from the Grave again, laughing almost mockingly at Steel. ""Oh, and Bonus, he's stronger then before now."

Frightfur Sheep: 2000 ATK > 2800 ATK.

"I don't care how many times it'll come back. I'll just keep smashing it, and smashing it! But first, I activate my spell, Infestation Acceleration! When I control a Tribute Summoned Steelswarm monster that used only Steelswarm monsters as tributes, I pay 1000 Life points and draw two cards!" Steel declared, a black aura enveloping him. A swarm of bugs chewed away at him as he drew the top two cards of his deck.

Steel LP: 4500 > 3500

Leander was getting a bad feeling about this duel. His mind flashed back to the time he dueled that Heroic Challenger lady, when she told him about the power to make duels real. While Leander wasn't sure if this was the case, it seemed like something to consider.

"Are you prepared, Princey? I'll use my Steelswamr Caucastag to send the both of them to the afterlife!" Steel declared, with Caucastag responding by spreading its wings and flying forward to sheep. The beast retaliated by charging up another laser, but couldn't fire in time to avoid the claw shredding it in half. Caucastag couldn't escape the blast caused by Sheep's destruction, however, and blew up himself.

Steel didn't flinch one bit, even smiling a little. "Not going to revive it again? Wise choice! But you're not my target anymore..." Steel glanced over to Amelia, pointing at her.

"Girly, the same goes for you. I don't care how many times you summon your weak, frail monsters! I'll keep crushing them until there's nothing left! Steelswarm Caller, send that bird back to its nest!" Steel called out, with Caller rushing over and grabbing the little thing. It made sure that it couldn't escape before biting down into its neck, causing particles of light to shatter all across the arena.

From the lights, another, smaller bird flew out, landning on Amelia's shoulder, which caused her a smile as she looked at her new companion.
"When Gulldo is destroyed, I can summon a Gusto Monster that is level 2 or lower. So, I summon my friend here, Gusto Egul, in defense mode." She said, looking back at Steel.

Gusto Egul: 200 ATK, 400 DEF, Level 2 WIND Winged Beast Tuner

"Tch... You're safe for now, girly, but won't continue to be. Unlike you, I don't defend needlessly. Turn end."

Turn 12: Joshua
Steel: 3500 LP, 3 cards in hand, 1 monster
Amelia: 3350 LP, 1 card in hand, 1 monster
Joshua: 3150 LP, 4 cards in hand

Joshua drew his card, which was completely useless now. He glanced at his hand.
"I summon the Fluffal Leo that's in my hand." He said, causing a plushie of a lion to appear on his field in attack mode.

Fluffal Leo: 1600 ATK, 1200 DEF, Level 4 EARTH Fairy.

"Fluffal Leo, attack Steelswarm Caller. Due to Leo's effect, it gains 500 attack points. Enjoy." Joshua said, as his plushie pounced on Caller, flattening it underneath it's body.

Fluffal Leo: 1600 ATK > 2100 ATK

Steel winced as a red aura enveloped him, taking his lifepoints down. A disproportionate gust of wind was created for such a small attack, even moreso than usual.

Steel LP: 3500 > 3100

"My turn is over now." Joshua said, ending his turn.

Fluffal Leo: 2100 ATK > 1600 ATK

Turn 13: Steelers
Steel: 3100 LP, 4 cards in hand
Amelia: 3350 LP, 1 card in hand, 1 monster
Joshua: 3150 LP, 3 cards in hand, 1 monster

"My turn. Draw!" Steel yelled, swiping the top card. He looked at it and grimaced. He closed his eyes, stopping his hair from standing up. The fringe fell back over the left eye. When Steel opened his eyes again, they'd stopped glowing.

"Forget it. I'm not going to waste the effort. Seems like you're safe for another turn, since I set two cards and end mine."

Turn 14: Amelia
Steel: 3100 LP, 2 cards in hand, 2 S/T
Amelia: 3350 LP, 2 cards in hand, 1 monster
Joshua: 3150 LP, 3 cards in hand, 1 monster

Amelia silently drew her card before glancing at her hand. Nothing of use here. And she didn't feel like risking her only monter against a trap.
"I end my turn." She said

Turn 15: Steel
Steel: 3100 LP, 3 cards in hand, 2 S/T
Amelia: 3350 LP, 2 cards in hand, 1 monster
Joshua: 3150 LP, 3 cards in hand, 1 monster

Steel drew, but didn't even bother to look. "Seems like I get what I deserve for dragging you in, girly. I thought if I cornered you, you'd duel a bit more aggresively than you looked. Seems like I was wrong." Steel glanced back to Joshua, picking up a single card.

"Though Princey's been surpassing my expectations, haven't you? I'll set a card and end this turn, now don't dissapoint me."

Turn 16: Joshua
Steel: 3100 LP, 2 cards in hand, 3 S/T
Amelia: 3350 LP, 2 cards in hand, 1 monster
Joshua: 3150 LP, 4 cards in hand, 1 monster

Joshua drew his card, glancing at it before looking at Steel.
"You know, you shouldn't really expect her to be too aggressive with that deck. To expect every deck to be aggressive is rather... how shall I say... it makes you look like a total, ignorant bumbass." Joshua said

Steel balled up his free fist, punching the air in the general direction of Joshua. "Nonsense! No matter what deck you play, you can always attack! A real duelist would never hide behind his cards for no reason!" the older boy shouted, completely ignorant of his own three set cards.

"You're assuming she's hiding behind them without any reason, when she's not. You sir, need to go to school more often. Oh wait, we're in a school, but you're in the dark dorm cause you suck. Probably at both your studies and dueling in general. And I can definately see how your dueling suffers." Joshua said before shrugging. "Anyway, Leo, do me a favor and attack the bug."

Once the command was given, Fluffal Leo pounced at Steel

"Trap card, activate! Defense Draw! At this moment, the battle damage is reduced to zero!" Steel shouted, a trap card flipping up to show a man taking an explosion from behind. Leo pounced on Steel, knocking him down to the floor. He got up once the little plushy toy left, swiping a card from his deck.

"Aditionally, I draw one card!"

"No crap, it's in the name." Joshua said in an amused tone

"Real funny. I bet you snark at those who explain Pot of Greed as well, then?"

"Maybe. I summon Fluffal Dog and use his effect to add a Fluffal Bear to my hand. Turn end." Joshua said, resummoning his dog that Steel had kindly returned to his hand turns ago.

Turn 17: Steel
Steel: 3100 LP, 4 cards in hand, 2 S/T
Amelia: 3350 LP, 2 cards in hand, 1 monster
Joshua: 3150 LP, 4 cards in hand, 2 monsters

"Draw, and trap card activate! Infestation Infection! I shuffle Steelswarm Gatekeeper into my deck to draw one more card from my deck!" Steel declared, first picking up one card before shoving another back into the deck. The Duel Disk automatically shuffled it, then allowed Steel to take his next card out as well.

"...Pffft. Ahaha... Ahahaha! AHAHAHA!" Steel roared, suddenly bursting out in laughter. It happened shortly after he got a good look at his drawn card, head now aimed to the ceiling to let it all out.

"Didn't I tell you to attack and keep attacking? If you had, my lifepoints would have ran out long ago. But now I still have enough, and it's only going to get worse from this point on." Steel grinned, waving the newest card he drew around. The Field Spell compartment of his Duel Disk suddenly jutted out, causing him to slam it down with ferocity. The arena shook and started to shift; the audience seats were transforming into steel mountains, scrap from various Machine-type monsters. Bones riddled a gray and black landscape, complete darkness enveloping the duelists.

"Field spell: Infection Symbiosis! A desolate land where the infection has completely taken over, and this is its breeding ground! But I won't spoil all the secrets. I'll first Special Summon this little fellow!" Steel continued, revealing a card with a small, round beetle-like monster on it. The moment he placed it down, nothing but a small black ball rose from the ground.

"Next up: The Monarchs Stormforth! This spell allows me to tribute a monster of yours like one of my own!" Steel grinned, a whirlwind suddenly brewing up in the middle of the field. The fluffly lion on Joshua's field was having a peaceful nap, but got woken up by being pulled into the strong gales. It couldn't run away and got caught up in it, alongside a small black insect that desparately tried to fly away from everything.

"I tribute your Fluffal Leo and my Steelswarm Cell! Commander of the infection, herald in a new era! Descend upon your foes and deliver a swift and painless doom! Tribute summon, come forth, STEELSWARM LONGHORN!!!"

The tornado subsided with one strong push, the winds seemingly getting thrown to the side as a humanoid twice the size of both stags spread its powerful arms. Two long horns portruded from his helmet, reaching all the way down to the giant's waist. Its armor was a lot more sleek compared to the monsters from before, having white patterns cling to the abs underneath to show some extreme muscle, with a blue gem lodged in is chest. It held out its clawed hand towards the two opponents, opened and menacing. Two additional claws portruded from the back of its hand. The oversized insect's tail swung side-to-side with a powerful arc as the beast stared down at Amelia and Joshua with its cyan eyes.

Steelswarm Longhorn: 3000 ATK 0 DEF Level 9 DARK Fiend

Steel's smirk grew again, a smirk that had been absent for a while now. "Hey, Princey? You're the one who was worried about Hercules, right? Well I'm afraid I've got some bad news, as Longhorn might spell even more trouble! It's got a special effect, see, which allows me to pay... oops, let me try again. Which allows me to regain a thousand lifepoints and destroy that eyesore of a bird!"

Steel laughed maniacally as the mountain of metal shifted uncomfortable, two long wires shooting out and wrapping themselves around his arms. A black aura trailed along the two lines of steel, making Steel's eyes go wide. Meanwhile, on top of the mountains, some Dark Dorm students started to collapse. Meanwhile, Longhorn pointed towards Gusto Egul. A swarm of black locust started to circle around the poor bird, obcuring anyone's vision of the thing. When they started to disperse, nothing remained of Gusto Egul.

Steel LP: 3100 > 4100

"H-Hey, what's going on?"
"What's the boss doing?"
''Boss! Please use me next!!"
"J-Jake? Hey! Jake!"

The peanut gallery of Dark Dorm students that had excitedly been shouting for the duel just moments earlier suddenly turned into a complete mess. Some of them started to panic, some of them started getting more excited and the rest were everywhere in between. The chaos got so wild that the ones holding the other five students released them, but something wasn't right. It took only a few moments for the dark dorm students to collapse as well, and a shadowy aura enveloped the pile underneath the group.

Leander and Michelle suddenly found themselves released from the hold they were in, stumbling forward before regaining their balance. Turning back around to see what was wrong, Michelle stepped back and covered her mouth with her hands, shocked to see what had happened to them. Leander simply stared at them, wide-eyed. Whatever this had started out as, it had taken a wrong turn somewhere and things were going south. Leander turned back to look at Steel. He was clearly doing something, and Leander didn't like it. Michelle noticed that these things had escalated to this state as soon as the Infection Symbiosis field spell had been played, but that couldn't be possible, right? A card game causing havoc in the real world? It seemed so unbelievable, yet here was proof that contradicted her. Whatever was happening, Michelle wasn't in a state to do anything to help right now, and could watch as the duel continued. "Amelia, Joshua, you got this, guys!" Leander cheered them on.

Megan felt a moment of relief in the chaos as the student holding her released her for some reason. She turned to give him a good soc in the face but to her surprise he'd collapsed to the ground. Not only that but the ground was covered in some sort of dark shadow. Part of the field spell? It looked like everyone's captors suffered the same fate. Should they run? No they couldn't leave Amelia and Joshua behind. But perhaps someone should run to get help from some sort of school personel? They probably wouldn't be able to find somebody quick enough in the middle of the night to help them, even if they were inclined to do anything. "Come on guys, this dorky Dark Dorm dropout can't beat you two!" She shouted as encouragement, hoping she was right. Megan didn't know what would happen if they lost, but judging from how the Dark Dorm student's were dropping like flies and they were on his side, it wouldn't be anything good.

"Hey! Just because they're flunkies doesn't mean you can...do whatever that was to 'em! I think its time for the Dark Dorm guys to go on strike!" Maisy said, though given that a ton of the dark dorm students were probably panicing and most were biting the dust. She knew that running would be dumb, since Amelia and Joshua were still all caught up in this.Smiling once Megan started shouting, Maisy promptly relieved two dark dorm students that had collapsed of their jackets, ripping the sleeves off of one and making them into a dark purple bandanna which she tied around her forehead. Flailing the balled up jackets in her hand, Maisy quickly remembered why she was kicked from the cheer squad in middle school once she said: "Gimme an A, gimme an M, gimme a...wait are there two M's in your name? Oh what the heck, beat 'im up!" hopping in the air before falling on her ass.

Nathaniel could only watch in horror as the Dark Dorm students fell one by one, although why they were left standing is certainly a mystery. The first thing Nathaniel did was check the bodies of the fallen Dark Dormers for a pulse. A pulse, but a weak one. Nathaniel looked up at the sea of trash that was now the battlefield, the exit nowhere to be found. That would have helped since there was no way they could get all the students out at once. There was only one thing they really could do. Which was sit there and wait. "Oh my god! Hurry up and finish this duel! I hate it here!" Nathaniel shouted, breath heavy with anxiety.

"Oh, but we're not done with the fun! Longhorn, crush the girly!" Steel yelled out, his voice cracking underneath the rush he was feeling. The humanoid slowly walked up to Amelia, stopping just in front of her. Its shadow loomed over the girl, growing darker as Longhorn's fist came crashing down. Luckily, since it was a hologram, she wasn't crushed underneath. Strangely enough, however, Amelia could still feel the impact of such a strong weight crashing down on her even though it went clean through. It had the feeling of being hit by a truck, making it hard to still stand up straight.

Amelia LP: 3350 > 350

Amelia's knees buckled under the pressure that came from the gods know where. The pressure also had another effect on her, as her hand shot to her chest and her expression turned to one of pain as her heart began acting up, making the situation worse.

"Amelia!" Leander called out in concern. To him, that was the final straw in his suspicions. The duel was affecting people in real life, and Leander knew how much those attacks hurt.

Longhorn returned to it's position, with Steel grinning ear-to-ear behind it. "Yes, yes! That's great, that's really great... This power is fantastic! The power of a real duelist is fantastic!" Steel madly cackled, drunk on overwhelming his opponents. The glow that had faded earlier now returned in his eyes, brighter than before. He looked over to the audience, seeing a variety of faces in the crowd.

"Don't worry; I'll have my fun with you lot later. If these jokers don't live up to my expectation, then I hope you will..." Steel licked his lips again, his eye fixated on Michelle and Nathan. He couldn't keep staring, however, as there was a duel to be had. Amelia was still on her knees, but the older boy didn't seem to care.

"Hey, missy, if you can't stand, how about surrendering and leaving it to Princey? But for now... I end my turn!"

Turn 18: Amelia
Steel: 4100 LP, 0 cards in hand, 1 monster, 2 S/T, 1 Field Spell
Amelia: 350 LP, 3 cards in hand
Joshua: 3150 LP, 4 cards in hand, 1 monster

"I'm... I'm fine. I can continue." Amelia said, slowly rising to her feet. She drew her card and looked at it. It was exactly what she needed. "I summon Pilica, Descendant of Gusto!"

Pilica, Descendant of Gusto: 1000 ATK 1500 DEF Level 3 WIND Psychic

"When Pilica hits the field, I can Special Summon one Gusto Tuner Monster from my graveyard. I choose to summon Gusto Gulldo." Amelia said, the tiny bird appearing on her field once more. "Now, I tune my level three Pilica and Gulldo for a Synchro Summon. Descendent of the peaceful people, join with an old friend to summon the protector of your ancestors. Synchro Summon! Level six, Daigusto Sphreez!"

Daigusto Sphreez: 2000 ATK 1300 DEF Level 6 WIND Psychic

A young woman with hair that started as emerald green but transitioned to first red appeared on Amelia's field. She wore a simple but revealing white top, a white loincloth over a pair of tight green trousers, and a pair of armored boots. She also had armor on her shoulders and chest and mismatched sleeves, her right sleeve being skin tight and white like the left looked like it belongs to a pale green kimono. She wielded a staff in her right hand, a long, wooden instrument topped off with a glowing blue gem stone and an odd white fluff ball thing, and wore some sort of wooden container on the left side of her waist.

"When Shpreez is successfully summoned, I can add a Gusto monster from my grave back to my hand. I chose Gusto Gulldo." Amelia said, adding her friend back to her available cards. "Next, I activate Contact with Gusto. With this, I take the two remaining Gusto monsters in my grave and shuffle them back into my deck. Then, I destroy your Longhorn."

Longhorn was sliced up by a strong gale, causing a huge explosion. Steel got knocked back all the way to the mountain behind him, slamming against if with extreme force. "GUH!" He was forced onto his knees, paralyzed for just a moment.

"I'll set one card face-down and end my turn." Amelia said

"Did she just not attack?" Nathaniel asked in disbelief. Even he was starting to be baffled by her passive tactics, although part of that was because of his desperate desire to get out of there.

Megan was equally surprised, gaping instead of verbally expressing herself. Perhaps she simply didn't want to trigger whatever set cards Steel had but they would have to attack sooner or later wouldn't they? Unless she was perhaps waiting for something to take care of his facedowns but by the time that happened he might have recovered enough to bring out another one of his big monsters. It didn't make any sense.

Turn 19: Steel
Steel: 4100 LP, 1 card in hand, 2 S/T, 1 Field Spell
Amelia: 350 LP, 1 card in hand, 1 monster, 1 S/T
Joshua: 3150 LP, 4 cards in hand, 1 monster

The Dark Dorm student slowly rose from the floor, holding the shoulder of his right arm. "Attack... and keep attacking. Is that not what I said?" Steel growled, head still hung down. He released the grip on his shoulder and placed his two fingers on his deck, drawing one card.

"Girly... You have no idea how much I loathe you right now. But it's alright... I'll crush you in due time. I'll set one card and end this turn."

Steel's glowing eye was barely visible from underneath his hair, but his demeanor has changed enough for it to still be threatening.

Turn 20: Joshua
Steel: 4100 LP, 0 cards in hand, 3 S/T, 1 Field Spell
Amelia: 350 LP, 1 card in hand, 1 monster, 1 S/T
Joshua: 3150 LP, 5 cards in hand, 1 monster

"Who said I follow your orders?" Amelia asked, causing Joshua to chuckle as he drew his card. "My deck isn't for brute force, unlike yours. Attacking recklessly would be rather dumb of me."

"And yet, there are times you just have to." Joshua added. "For example, I summon Fluffal Bear. With his effect, I'll sacrifice him to add the Polymerization in my graveyard to my hand. Then, I'll activate said Polymerization to fuse my Edge Imp Sabres, Fluffal Leo, and Fluffal Dog. Claw of the beast, fangs of the beast, come together to make the ultimate hunter. Fusion Summon, Frightful Wolf!

On Joshua's field, a blue plushie wolf appeared before it was torn apart from the inside by pairs of scissors that extended it's limbs. It's mounts ripped open, revealing a pair of demonic eyes within that glowed bright red.

Frightfur Wolf: 2000 ATK 1500 DEF Level 6 DARK Fiend

"Now, Frightfur Wolf, attack Steel directly!" Joshua declared, his monster charging the dark dorm student.

Steel got tackled to the ground, Frightfur Wolf's paw stepping on him and keeping him pinned. As his lifepoints trickled down, a yellowish aura enveloped Steel and started to flow behind him. A gate rose out of the ground, collecting the energy.

Steel LP: 4100 > 2100

"The trap I set last turn... Damage Gate! I select one monster in my graveyard with attack lower or equal to the damage I took, and summon it!" Steel retorted, out of the gate stepping a familiar face. Its stinger was immediately recognizeable, but the gate seemed to vanish as soon as it stepped out. It collected into a green aura and went back to Steel.

"And my other set card... Emergency Provisions! I send Damage Gate to the graveyard, and gain a thousand lifepoints!"

Steel LP: 2100 > 3100
Steelswarm Sting: 1850 ATK 0 DEF Level 4 DARK Fiend

"Since you'll end up doing doing this anyway, Wolf, sacrifice yourself to kill Sting." Joshua said before wolf ate the insectoid whole. Unfortunately for Frightfur Wolf, the metal spike from Sting was a bit too tough to chew on and pierced through its maw. Both monsters got caught in the blast, reducing Steel's lifepoints further.

Steel LP: 3100 > 2950

"I return this card from my hand to the top of my deck to special summon Edge Imp Sabres to my field in defense mode, then end my turn." Joshua said.

Turn 21: Steel
Steel: 2950 LP, 1 card in hand, 1 S/T, 1 Field Spell
Amelia: 350 LP, 1 card in hand, 1 monster, 1 S/T
Joshua: 3150 LP, 0 cards in hand, 1 S/T

"Draw!" Steel shouted out, stretching his hand and slightly tilted the card so he could see it. His eyes widened, but not with surprise. It was just more anger that flared up.

"...Tch! You got lucky, punks. I'll get you next turn. I end my turn!"

Turn 22:Amelia
Steel: 2950 LP, 1 card in hand, 1 S/T, 1 Field Spell
Amelia: 350 LP, 2 cards in hand, 1 monster, 1 S/T
Joshua: 3150 LP, 0 cards in hand, 1 S/T

Amelia drew her card, which was something that might be more useful further down the line. For now though, she would just have to follow her partner's lead.
"I summon Gusto Gulldo to the field in attack mode." She declared, the small bird once again appearing by her side. "Then, I'll have Gulldo attack you directly!"

The little bird flew at Steel, pecking him in the face several times, including once in the eye. Steel held up his arms to shield himself from the pecking, but still let out a small cry of pain when the damned thing hit him right in the eye.

Steel LP: 2950 > 2450

"Now, I'll attack directly with Sphreez." Amelia said, her ace sending a powerful blast of wind at Steel, with enough force to push him back into the nearest wall.

Steel LP: 2450 > 450

"With that, I'll end my turn." Amelia said.

Turn 23: Steel
Steel: 450 LP, 2 cards in hand, 1 S/T, 1 Field Spell
Amelia: 350 LP, 1 card in hand, 2 monsters, 1 S/T
Joshua: 3150 LP, 0 cards in hand, 1 S/T

Steel pushed himself off the wall, cracked his neck and put his hand over his deck again. "It's my turn! Draw!" Steel cried out again, and this time he grinned again. He brought his outstretched arm towards his disk and slammed down the card he drew immediately.

"I told you you'd regret it this turn! I summon Steelswarm Sting!"

The familiar armor-clad insectoid returned again, snickering.

Steelswarm Sting: 1850 ATK 0 DEF Level 4 DARK Fiend

"Girly! Your time is up. Battle, Steelswarm Sting! Attack and finish her off, by getting rid of that bird!" The student roared powerfully, the entire room shaking in response. The humanoid flew forward and tried to sting Gusto Gulldo, coming close to finishing Amelia off. Amelia's little companion burst into lights as the stringer pierced with, but as it grew closer to her, a barrier of wind suddenly surrounded her, blocking it. Sphreez had raised her staff, summoning the barrier.

Nearby, Joshua burst out laughing, falling to his knees as his sides began to hurt from his mirth at this situation. Amelia herself had a smile for the first time the entire duel as she watched Sting struggle against the barrier.
"You followed your belief to attack recklessly and now you've lost. Sphreez' effect. Any battle damage I take involving a Gusto monster..." She began before pointing at Steel. "Is instead dealt to you!"

"WHAT!?" Steel yelled out in surprise, disbelief and a slight bit of anger. Sting suddenly got slammed back by the barrier exploding powerfully, being hurled towards Steel. The dark dorm student lowered his Duel Disk, hair and jaw. His onefree eye twitched, his last card fell out of his hand and finally...

"THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENIIIIIIIIIING!!!" he yelled, right before Steelswarm Sting slammed into him. He got knocked all the way back into the mountain of scrap that chained him, and the dark aura that engulfed the group of five snuck over to Steel's mountain. Red and black sparks started to visibly crackle on his bindings, shocking Steel and causing him to scream out in pain.

Steel LP: 450 > 0

The Infection Symbiosis field spell faded alongside the rest of the field, returning the scenery back to the arena floor of before. Several Dark Dorm students were collapsed over the audience seats, while others were still a little shaken. Steel was slumped up against the wall of one of the stands, hands balled up into fists. His head was aimed down at the floor, and he didn't seem to be able to move many more muscles. Some of the flunkies rushed over to give their boss aid, but Steel just yelled at them to stay back. He tilted up his head in the direction of the victors, staring right through Amelia.

"...Well, you got me, Princey and Girly. What now?" Steel asked, pulling up one knee and flinging his arm over it. The dark dorm jacket he'd been using as a cape had fallen to the floor next to him, but he didn't make a move to fetch it.

"To be fair, I'd say you got yourself more then we got you, but it's a rather moot point now." Joshua said, deactivating his duel disk. "Though I do have a question for you, then you can answer the questions of my companions in the stands. My question for you is why do you waste your potential doing stuff like this when it's obvious you have some talent for dueling?"

Steel cocked his head to the right, making his fringe fly up for a second and come back down. "What, in this prison? Give me a break. Why am I obliged to tell you anything, anyway?" Steel retorted, looking bored again.

"Didn't you guys want to get out? Well, go. I'm upholding my end of the bargain."

"Getting out would be nice, but we did originally come here for information on all the strange events going on around the school." Joshua said. "You do seem to have some connection to them. Despite this not being an action duel, after you played your field spell, your attacks seemed to have... well, a lot more power behind them then a hologram should. That's not normal. Not to mention all the other stuff that went down after you played it."

There were a million questions Leander wanted to ask Steel himself, but a quick look at Amelia told him that perhaps there were more pressing matters to attend to first. Going over to Amelia, Leander asked her while stretching his arms out, "Are you ok? Need any help?"

Amelia, unlike Joshua, hadn't moved since the duel ended other then to put her hand over her heart again. There was definitely something wrong with the girl, as it seemed to be harder for her to breathe and she was paler then usual. When Leander came over, asking if she was okay, she shook her head.
"I'll... I'll be fine. Just... need to rest." She said before collapsing into his arms.

Leander managed to catch her before she fell, going down on one knee for better support, but he had no idea what to do. Michelle went over to Amelia as well, placing a thumb on Amelia's wrist, then placing a hand on her forehead. "She still has a pulse, and her temperature's normal, I think," Michelle said. "Her life's not in any danger, at least." Leander was still concerned, but it was a relief to know that.

"How romantic. Anyway, you're asking about the duel, Princey? Give me a good reason why I should bother to explain." Steel casually retorted, hanging his head back. His eyes shifted over to the rest of the peanut gallery, who were still frozen atop the audience stand.

"And what're you jokers gawking at? You're free, so off you go. Fetch security or something, hardly like I care."

Nathaniel looked over at the defeated Dark Dormer and let out a great sigh. He felt calmer now, more relaxed now that the immediate danger was over. Even so, he still felt the urge to get out of there as soon as possible, but he resisted, since he knew that they were here for a reason. And so, going against every natural instinct in his body, Nathaniel walked closer and closer to the Dark Dormer.

"Look, uh... 'Steel' was it? We really just need some information about what's going on here. Ante Duels, the real damage, can't you tell us anything?" Nathaniel asked as he approached.

Steel sighed, his eyes drifting over to Nathan. He opened the palm of the hand that was lazily hanging in front of his knee. "So you figured to break into someone's room and take a look at their mail? Sure, I could tell you something, but I'm pretty sure you people weren't the ones I had business with."

The boy pushed himself up, sitting a bit more straight against the wall. He had to bite his lip for a bit to numb the pain. "I know some of what you'd like to know, but what's in it for me?"

Nathaniel sighed. He figured it wasn't going to be easy to get this guy to spill, but at least he was talking. Well, you just mentioned some business. And you were mentioning some Mayo guy or whatever earlier. Maybe we can help each other out." Despite Steel endangering them mere moments ago, Nathaniel offered a hand to Steel. If not out of friendship, then out of a pact, a contract. They needed each other, and Nathaniel hoped Steel saw it that way too.

One of the Dark Dorm students felt infuriated at Nathan's gesture, angrily walking up to him with his fists balled up.

"Oi! Stay back form the boss, you-!"
"Cool it!"

Steel had barked back at his subordinate, turning his head back to Nathan. A small smile crept up on his face. "Really? You should already know why I called Meio out in the first place. We wanted his rare card, remember? So, you'd help me get his card and in exchange I'd feed you information?"

Steel brought up his hand to his chin, rubbing it a few times to feign himself thinking about the offer. It was clear that the guy was just playing it up, though.

"Hm... Just held 'em hostage, hurt the girly and am part of a group of delinquents... Yet, you still trust me enough to keep my word on that?" he questioned, with a sly grin plastered on Steel's face.

At first, Nathaniel was horrified at the proposal. Stealing some poor guy's rare card? Nathaniel had some doubts until he had a moment of clarity. Wait a minute. These guys are all hooligans. It doesn't matter who we help, they're probably all bad. And it's not like we have a choice in the matter anyway.

"Well, we did just beat the tar out of you." Nathaniel replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "Besides, if you don't keep your word, we get a rare card."

"Nate, you can't reason with a gorilla. Sides, the guy probably doesn't know anything to begin with. Even if he did, he probably forgot it instantly. Honestly, a guy like him is not a reliable sorce of info, since all he really cares for are rare cards," Joshua said. "We've won our freedom and one of us actually seems to be in bad health right now. Our concern should be our own people, not gutter trash. So, let's get out of here. Not like this ape is going anywhere any time soon. We know when and where to find it if we need to."

Nathaniel shot Joshua an annoyed look before smiling sheepishly at Steel. "Ehehe. Uh, Joshua? A sidebar?" Putting an arm around Joshua's shoulders, Nathaniel quickly shuffled away from Steel, and huddled together with Joshua, their backs turned away from the Dark Dormer.

"Dude, we went through all that trouble to get this guy to calm down, and now we finally have him listening to us and you want us to leave? You were the one who tried to interrogate him after the duel in the first place!" Nathaniel asked incredulously, but quietly in a whsper.

"That was before Amelia collapsed. My concern is for my friends. Their safety and health come first. We can always pick this up later, he's not going anywhere." Joshua said calmly.

"What do you think he is? Some kind of video game NPC?" Nathaniel asked with a mildly sardonic tone. Looking back at Amelia however, he gave a long sigh and rubbed his temples. "But I suppose Amelia could be doing better. You and Amelia should go to the infirmary and get yourselves checked out." He took another look at Amelia and Leander's rather intimate positioning. "Maybe take Leander with you as well. But we have like seven people here. A few of us can stay behind.

Nathaniel then turned to Megan, Michelle, and the mysterious stranger. "Hey! Do you guys want to stay here and see this through or take Joshua and Amelia to the infirmary?" Nathaniel was counting on at least one of them to choose the former. He did not want to stay here alone.

"I didn't suffer a direct attack like she did, so I'll be fine. Also, if we take her to the infirmary they'll ask questions. So whoever goes will need a good excuse as to how they knew she was sick, especially since they're in different dorms. Alternatively, they just take her back to her room, if what's bothering her isn't a possible threat to her overall health or her life." Joshua said.

"Then just say Amelia wasn't feeling well and decided to text her friend to take her to the infirmary. It's not rocket science. You can even write that text right now for some hard evidence if you want."

"I say we leave taking care of her to Leander. The task only needs one person and he's the only person she's stuck close to this entire time." Joshua said.

"Well, alright then." With that, Nathaniel turned to the Dark Dormer once more. "Steel, are you in or out?"

In response, Steel held his hand up lazily. He was certainly thinking it over, but something else grabbed his attention for now.

Joshua move over to Leander, Michelle, and Amelia in the meantime, kneeling down next to them.
"How's she doing?" He asked, watching Amelia closely.

"I don't really know," Michelle confessed. "I don't know th-the first thing about first aid, or anything like that. Still, I-I do believe that she'll be fine after some rest."

"I'll get her to the infirmary or something," Leander said, still concerned. "I know I went there after taking a direct attack."

"No, I'll do it," Michelle said, holding out a hand to stop Leander. "It might be awkward for, um... a-a boy to, to be doing that." Leander cocked his head sideways, a confused look on his face.

Joshua let out a laugh before turning to Leander.
"She seems rather close to you though, so you might be the best candidate to take her. But, we need to make this convincing, so we'll need to make a message telling you she needs help making it to the infirmary. If you want to somehow get Michelle into the story, we'll need to work that out." He said

To his surprise, Amelia was the one to speak up.
"No... no infirmary." She mumbled.

Leander looked down at Amelia, eyes wide. "What? Are you sure?" he asked.

Amelia nodded.
"If they find out I had an... attack, I'll be forced to go home." She said. "It was... part of the agreement of me coming here."

Leander and Michelle were conflicted. Leander knew how much Dueling meant to him and assumed it was the same for Amelia. Michelle, however, was more worried about Amelia's health. She didn't want Amelia's condition to worsen over time and wait until it was too late. Still, it wasn't like she knew anything about her condition.

"Well, let's get you back to your room, then," Leander suggested. Michelle was silent, but did not argue.

"Amelia, will your condition get better with simple rest?" Joshua asked, to which she nodded. Seeing this as more then enough, he stood up. "Alright, let's get her to her room then. Sides, we can talk in private there, if we have any questions. Might be good to learn about this condition in case we go on anymore... adventures."

Without another word, Leander gathered his strength and began to lift Amelia up in a princess carry. "Ok, this.... is tougher than it looks," Leander said, his voice strained with the effort, and was quick to lower Amelia back down as gently as possible.

"Just carry her on your back." Joshua said, resisting the urge to laugh a bit. He felt he was being a bit heartless, but Leander was just SO CLUELESS it was hilarious.

"Yeah, yeah good idea," Leander agreed, and shifted Amelia onto his back before gettin back up. Of course, it proved to be much easier to carry her that way. "Okay, let's go," Leander said. Michelle nodded in agreement.

"I agree. And let do our best not to get caught, cause I don't want to have to explain this scenario." Joshua said before setting off for the Earth Dorms.

After the group of four left the arena floor, Steel snapped his fingers. One of his lackeys ran over and acted as a support for him to stand up and lean on. "Oi, goofy. You got yourself a deal. You get me his Golden Flying Fish and Moulinglacia, and I'll tell ya what y'need to know."

"I'm going to pretend you didn't just call me that." Nathaniel replied as he glanced at the group of four leaving out of the corner of his eye. He then extended an open hand towards Steel. "So we have a deal then."

"Yeah, we do." Steel grinned and threw his own hand against Nathan's, quickly using this chance to grab it with fierce strength. Despite his condition, Steel still managed to give Nathan a powerful shake that might have thrown the guy on the floor if it weren't for Steel's injuries. Steel then let got of Nathan's hand and started to stumble off with what remained of his concious lackeys, who still seemed to blindly follow him despite what had just gone down.

"Oh, n'd a fair word of warning? The other two leaders aint nearly as nice 's me. You're lucky it was my gang you had to deal with. Later."

And with that, Steel and his gang vanished from the arena floor, presumably back down to the Dark dormitories.

Joshua and Amelia won, releasing the gang. Steel did some Shadow Game shit and knocked out a bunch of his own lackeys. Amelia nearly got a heart attack, causing three people to escort her back like a princess. Nathan closed a deal with Steel to get cards in exchange of info. Megan didn't do nuffin'. Maisy quesiotns all of her life choices.

Turn 1: "King"
"King": 4000 LP, 5 cards in hand, 1 Speed Counter
Camryn: 4000 LP, 5 cards in hand, 1 Speed Counter
Angelo: 4000 LP, 5 cards in hand, 1 Speed Counter

"It's the King's turn!" The Turbo Duelist shouted, picking up a single card from his holder.

"I'll summon my Stygian Street Patrol!"

A portal opened next to the King, out of which jumped another motorcyclist. They wore a black helmet that covered their face with two slightly bent horns sticking out of it, driving what looked like a policeman's motorcycle. The only difference was that this one had yellowish stabilizers on it's back and the frontal face had an actual mouth.

Stygian Street Patrol: 1600 ATK 1200 DEF Level 4 DARK Fiend

"And with one set card, I'll end my turn. Now, come! Put up a good show, before being crushed by the King!"

Turn 2: Camryn
"King": 4000 LP, 3 cards in hand, 1 monster, 1 S/T, 2 Speed Counters
Camryn: 4000 LP, 6 cards in hand, 2 Speed Counters
Angelo: 4000 LP, 5 cards in hand, 2 Speed Counters

Camryn smirked. "For such a perfect being, your first turn seems pretty lackluster. I draw!" As she drew her card, Camryn's cocky smile widened into a fully-fledged grin. "This is more like it!"

"I summon my Deepspace Scout!"

A high-pitched whir of engines filled the area as a small, gray spaceship with orange lines flew down from above and came to rest in front of Camryn's duel runner, easily keeping pace.

Deepspace Scout: 1200 ATK 800 DEF Level 4 LIGHT Machine

"Hmph! For such bravado, you face me with a weak monster like that?! You wouldn't reach me in fifty years with such a pathetic display!" the older student countered.

"Next, due to Scout's effect, I can summon another one of my ships from my hand. So come on out, Deepspace Suffocator!"

A second ship appeared soundlessly next to the first, seeming to hover in the air in front of Camryn. Its wings bore more than a passing resemblance to blades, and its steely gray body was embedded with several glowing blue lights.

Deepspace Suffocator: 1200 ATK 1000 DEF Level 4 LIGHT Machine

"Finally, I'll set two cards and end my turn. Let's see if you can live up to the real King's title, eh?"

Turn 3: "King"
"King": 4000 LP, 4 cards in hand, 1 monster, 1 S/T, 3 Speed Counters
Camryn: 4000 LP, 2 cards in hand, 2 monsters, 2 S/T, 3 Speed Counters
Angelo: 4000 LP, 5 cards in hand, 3 Speed Counters

"Such insolence! If you refuse to attack, then the king will! It's my regal turn, Draw!" The student on the monowheel gave only a cursory glance to his card before depositing it in his holder. He spun around and started driving backwards, opening his palm and swinging the left arm towards Camryn.

"Battle! Stygian, remove Suffocator from the king's court!" the 'King' ordered his monster. The motorcyclist turned around and pulled out a police baton from the belt around its waist, intending to smack Deepspace Suffocator as they drove towards the spaceship.

At the snap of a finger, one of Camryn's facedown cards opened up, forming a barrier that drove Stygian Street Patrol away. "I think you'll find that Suffocator will be sticking around for a bit longer, actually, thanks to my Draining Shield!"

Camryn: 4000 LP -> 5600 LP

"If you think you've bested me, you haven't seen anything yet. I summon the Tuner monster, Force Resonator, from my hand!"

A small, cloaked little demon appeared from a portal next to the 'King'. A large blue ball was floating behind it, white lines covering its surface to look like a mustached face. The demon was grinning ear-to-ear and its beady red eyes were staring attentively to whatever was in front of it.

Force Resonator: 500 ATK 500 DEF Level 2 WATER Fiend Tuner

"Behold! The power of a king! I tune my Level 2 Force Resonator to my Level 4 Stygian Street Patrol! Wyvern cloaked in flames, rise from the inferno and resonate with my soul! Synchro Summon, Level 6! Red Wyvern!"

Out of the blast of light rose a maroon scaled beast, with brownish red skin. Everything except for the wings, underside of the neck and underside of the legs were covered in those maroon scales, and an orange flame burned on both wings and it's head.

Red Wyvern: 2400 ATK 2000 DEF Level 6 FIRE Dragon

The monowheel turned around on the bright track, now riding properly again. "This will be your first real challenge. If you can not overcome at least this much, you have no right to be driving behind me! The king's turn is finished."

Turn 4: Angelo
"King": 4000 LP, 3 cards in hand, 1 monster, 1 S/T, 4 Speed Counters
Camryn: 5600 LP, 2 cards in hand, 2 monsters, 1 S/T, 4 Speed Counters
Angelo: 4000 LP, 6 cards in hand, 4 Speed Counters

Angelo watched the entire exchange go through and, honestly, he was trying to figure out a good strategy to beat the imposter. The fact was, he was riding along with Camryn and he had to find a way to have her help him. He looked down at his cards and he knew that he needed to get rid of that wyvern, but he was worried about that face-down. Still, he knew that he couldn't let fear control him. He needed to get rid of that synchro, and even if something happened he should be good enough to handle it.

"Well, if nothing else, you're a well-made fake. Such arrogance can only belong to Jack. Don't think you will win so easily! I draw!" Angelo called out as he drew a card from his hand and looked at what he had available to him. Angelo took a breath to relax himself before he said "From my hand I summon Spear Dragon!" Angelo said, before a rainbow sphere appeared next to Angelo before a blue dragon appeared with a large spear like nose meant to pierce the enemy as he started to fly next to Angelo.

Spear Dragon: 1900 ATK 0 DEF Level 4 WIND Dragon

"He won't be on the field for long, though, because from my hand I activate a Speed Spell! I remove two of my Speed Counters in order to activate High speed crash!" Angelo said as the spell appeared, before he followed it up with "I use this and target both my spear dragon and your Red Wyvern!

Angelo Speed Counters: 4 > 2

"What?!" the king shouted out in surprise. Spear Dragon rushed foward and slammed its body into Red Wyvern, causing both dragons to go off course and crash into the black and green grid. Both Red Wyvern and Spear Dragon shattered into tiny pieces, causing a strong pulse to shake all three runners.

"Interesting... How very interesting! Your bravado is not misplaced after all, I see..."

"Dont think I'm finished with you yet! From my hand I Special Summon Garuda the Wind Spirit." Angelo said, before another sphere came up next to him and out of it appeared a half man, half bird with robes covering his body. He started to flap his wings to stay afloat on the track.

Garuda The Wind Spirit: 1600 ATK 1200 DEF Level 4 WIND Winged Beast

"I'm sure I don't need to explain to the king why I was able to do this, because all I needed to do was remove a WIND monster from my graveyard so Spear Dragon won't be coming back. Now your field is wide open, so Garuda, attack him directly!" Angelo said, and like that Garuda flew up high before he started to dive towards Jack, getting ready for a direct attack.

"How naïve! I activate the trap, Spiritual Swords of Revealing Light!" The face-down card on the King's field sprang open, bringing with it a barrier of glowing, yellow swords. Garuda tried to punch through them, but they acted like a repellant and sent them flying back. After that, a red aura enveloped the rider in front.

"King" LP: 4000 > 3000

"At the cost of my own lifepoints, I negate this attack. If you wish to even lay a finger on me, you'll have to try much harder than that!"

Angelo grit his teeth knowing; it wouldn't be easy but if nothing else he did lose life points from that trap. All Garuda would have done was add 600 more life points "Don't get cocky, that trap won't save you next time. I end my turn!" Angelo said, knowing that he was able to get him to reveal the trap card and he got rid of a Synchro on his first turn. Angelo was able to deal the king a serious, blow now all that remained was to see if Camryn would be able to step up and help or if she had her own plan in mind.

Turn 5: "King"
"King": 4000 LP, 4 cards in hand, 2 S/T, 5 Speed Counters
Camryn: 5600 LP, 2 cards in hand, 2 monsters, 1 S/T, 5 Speed Counters
Angelo: 4000 LP, 3 cards in hand, 3 Speed Counters

"Do not get conceited! It's the king's turn! Draw!" the king dramatically shouted. He held the card he drew clutched tightly in his outstretched hand, staying like that for a few seconds. He then put it into the wrist dealer, followed by taking another card out.

"By removing four of my Speed Counters I can activate the Speed Spell Angel Baton! With it's effect, I draw two cards and send one to the graveyard."

"King" Speed Counters: 5 > 1

The rider drew two cards, then revealed the monster card "The Tricky" to both his opponents. He sent it to the graveyard, then picked up another card from his Wrist Dealer.

"I summon Red Sprinter!"

Out of another vortex ran a four-legged creature that bore close resemblance to a horse, if you looked past the flaming mane and horns sticking out of it's head. Not only that, but another monster soon followed. Force Resonator also revived and mounted Red Sprinter, giggling like a little kid.

Red Sprinter: 1700 ATK 1200 DEF Level 4 DARK Fiend
Force Resonator: 500 ATK 500 DEF Level 2 WATER Fiend Tuner

"Red Sprinter allows me to Special Summon a Tuner from my graveyard. I now tribute Force Resonator again, letting me activate it's effect! Now, when Red Sprinter attacks, your effects are sealed!"

The monowheel slowed down and rode next to Camryn, the duelist in it unphazed and still looking straight ahead. "Your trap may have saved you last time, but... This is the end for your monster. Battle, Red Sprinter! Destroy Deepspace Suffocator!"

Red Sprinter leapt to the side, pounding on Suffocator. The spaceship was crushed under the weight and shattered into light particles.

Camryn LP: 5600 > 5100

"Now I'll set one card and end this turn." The card appeared to the left of the king's runner, before fading into nothing.

Turn 6: Camryn
"King": 3000 LP, 2 cards in hand, 1 monster, 2 S/T, 2 Speed Counters
Camryn: 5100 LP, 3 cards in hand, 2 monsters, 1 S/T, 6 Speed Counters
Angelo: 4000 LP, 3 cards in hand, 1 monster, 4 Speed Counters

"Hmph. This is only a minor setback, of course. I draw!" Camryn glanced at her hand after adding the newest card to it. Her course of action was pretty straightforward; time would tell if it worked.

"I summon Deepspace Berserker to the field!"

Unlike the last two ships, this one had one hell of an entrance. A bright red blur came rocketing through between Camryn and the mystery duelist, before eventually slowing down to a more reasonable speed and allowing everyone to catch up. This ship's cockpit was shaped rather like a snake's head, and its body widened dramatically into two claw-shaped constructions that were unnervingly sharp.

Deepspace Berserker: 1200 ATK 0 DEF Level 4 LIGHT Machine
Deepspace Berserker: 1200 ATK -> 1800 ATK

"If you were wondering about the attack increase, it's because Berserker gains 300 ATK for each member of my armada I control, including itself!"

"Next, I activate my trap card! Ojama Trio!"

As her set card lifted up, three small bolts of light, one yellow, one green, and one black, flew from Camryn's field to King's, resolving themselves into Chazz Princeton's famously annoying iconic monsters.

Ojama Tokens: 0 ATK 1000 DEF Level 2 LIGHT Beast

The future pro duelist smirked. "You can probably guess where I'm going with this, since you're a pro duelist and all. But before I enact my little plan, I'll set one card."

Her card had barely hit the field before Camryn was flinging out an arm in anticipation of her attack. "Deepspace Scout, take out one of the Ojama Tokens!"

Deepspace Scout fired a missile at the Ojama Yellow token, and the little guy panicked. A lot. They ran side-to-side trying to avoid it, somehow not falling behind the duel runners. As the missile was about to impact the small, red underwear wearing creature covered it's head. An explosion rang out, and when the smog lifted the token was trapped inside of a cube, which had shielded off the blast. "Is this a mockery of my skill?!"

While the king was fuming, the cube started to shrink in size. The ojama inside of it panicked, but calmed down when it felt it take the shape of it's own body, creating some sort of armor and giving Ojama Yellow some mad muscles.

Ojama Token: 0 > 1200 ATK

"Behold, my trap card! Power Frame! This negates your attack, and this pathetic creature is now on a more suitable level to the King's dueling! "

Camryn blinked in surprise. She had forgotten all about that set card. Oh well. "Hm. That sucks. Whatever, I've still got another monster! And rather than one of those Tokens I gave you..." Deepspace Berserker suddenly swiveled towards Red Sprinter. "...it's going to remove that Red Sprinter from the field!"

A small launcher underneath the ship's cockpit suddenly spat out a tiny sphere, which slowly floated towards King's horse-shaped monster. Its speed gradually increased as it drew closer, before fastening tightly to Sprinter's forehead. The poor thing only had a second to glance at what had struck it before it went up in flames.

"King" LP: 3000 -> 2900 LP

"Red Sprinter!" the duelist yelled out as his monster got destroyed, biting his lower lip.

"This is only a minor setback! I still have your tokens on my field... "

Camryn just nodded. "I know. Oh, and by the way, Berserker lets me search out another ship. Let's go with... Falchionβ. Turn end."

Turn 7: "King"
"King": 2900 LP, 3 cards in hand, 3 monsters, 2 S/T, 3 Speed Counters
Camryn: 5100 LP, 3 cards in hand, 2 monsters, 7 Speed Counters
Angelo: 4000 LP, 3 cards in hand, 1 monster, 5 Speed Counters

"...Hmph! I will not bother to take this turn. If you want to prove your worth, then break the defense your friend has set up for me!"

"You will soon regret that decision, I activate Garuda's special effect! His special effect allows me to change the battle position of any of your monsters on the field. I think we should see if any of the tokens have fighting spirit" Angelo said as Garuda took to the skies and he looked radient as he posed before he flapped his wings towards the green token and as it hit he was forced to stand and look like he was attacking.

Turn 8: Angelo
"King": 2900 LP, 3 cards in hand, 3 monsters, 2 S/T, 4 Speed Counters
Camryn: 5100 LP, 3 cards in hand, 2 monsters, 8 Speed Counters
Angelo: 4000 LP, 4 cards in hand, 1 monster, 6 Speed Counters

"I think it's about time we end this farce, I draw!" Angelo called out as he looked at the card he drew and he knew it wasn't going to help him at the moment but it could make for a good combo later on if he sets his cards right, assuming he can't finish this right now.

Angelo did a quick survery of what he had in his hand and he thought that he could finish this really soon, and if he couldn't end it now at the very least Camryn will be able to deliver the finishing blow. " From my hand I summon a good friend of mine, show everyone what you got Mist Valley Falcon!" Angelo said playing one of his favorites as he slapped the card onto the field. An orb appeared right next to Angelo before his monster came out and and spun around once before taking a battle pose with his shield in front of him and his sword pointing forwards.

Mist Valley Falcon: 2000 ATK 1200 DEF Level 4 Winged Beast

"Now, let's end this. Garuda, attack the Ojama Yellow Token!" Angelo ordered before Garuda once again flew up into the air and dive bombed the token...

The Ojama Yellow's two eyes widened as Garuda approached, hopping up from his card and running around in circles. Garuda smashed right through, shattering Yellow. Some of the light particles grazed the 'King', which made his lifepoints trickle down.

"King" LP: 2900 > 2600

"Impossible! That monster was in defense, yet I still took damage?"

Camryn gave the "King" an odd look. "When an Ojama Token is destroyed, you take 300 damage. I'm surprised you didn't know that, what with you being a pro duelist and all."

The turbo duelist visibly flinched and looked flustered, but quickly recovered and put on his stoic face again."Of course I knew this! But! A true entertainer like the King of Kings himself plays to the crowd, if you have not learned this yet you're nowhere near my dueling yet!"

"Then, I'll attack your Ojama Green token and I'll attack with Mist Valley Falcon! Although, because of his ability, I'll have to take Garuda back into my hand." Angelo said as Gaurda disappeared from the field and Angelo placed him back into his Wrist Dealer. "Now, finish this! Angelo ordered, and his Falcon wasn't as showy in his attack. He flapped his wings, flying towards the now panicking Ojama Green Token but before it got far, Mist Valley had attempted to slash the token in half.

This time the swords hovering around the King acted up again, forming an impenetrable light barrier off of which Falcon's sword bounced. "You utter fool! My Spriritual Swords of Revealing Light will negate this attack!" the duelist replied, conveniently turning around a corner. Below the digital grid the duelists could see the lit up arena and the raging sandstorm, making for a spectacular backdrop to this duel.

"King" LP: 2600 > 1600

Angelo growled a bit as he saw that his attack didn't do nearly as much damage to the fake as he hoped. If nothing else, though, he has a strong monster on the field. His trap won't protect him forever, after all he has to give up a 1000 life points each time he uses it so he got him to weaken himself once again. If he knew Jack at all, he was a risk taker and he would do it again forcing his life points down to 600. "Then I'll end my turn. I'll leave it to my partner to finish you off!" Angelo said, speeding up past the 'King' thanks to his Speed Counters.

Turn 9: "King"
"King": 1600 LP, 4 cards in hand, 2 monsters, 1 S/T, 5 Speed Counters
Camryn: 5100 LP, 3 cards in hand, 2 monsters, 9 Speed Counters
Angelo: 4000 LP, 4 cards in hand, 1 monster, 7 Speed Counters

"...Finish me off? You insolent-! Very well. It's my turn, so now I draw!" The 'King' shouted with ferocity, seemingly having lost his cool. The grin that appeared on his face was not a friendly one.

"I will show you the full extent of my Power Deck! From my graveyard I banish Stygian Street Patrol, allowing me to Special Summon Battle Fader from my hand! Now, to make matters worse for you, I tribute it for my Vice Dragon!"

A small, T-shaped fiend appeared out of a vortex, with a golden bell swinging side-to-side. It didn't stick around for long though, sinking into the ground to make room for another summon. A purple-scaled creature obscured by its own, green wings followed from next to the 'King'. It smashed open its own cage with a powerful roar soon following, looking ready to chow down on the opposing monsters.

Battle Fader: 0 ATK 0 DEF Level 1 DARK Fiend
Vice Dragon: 2000 ATK 2400 DEF Level 5 DARK Dragon

"Time for the king's performance! Vice Dragon, attack Deepspace Berserker!"

The dragon responded by flying forward with a small spin, holding out its left claw forward. Halfway, however, Vice Dragon's shadow seemed to lag behind. A different creature started to be molded. At first it appeared to be a floating torso with arms and a head, but out of the bottom grew a spherical stinger. The entire creature was purple and would've seemed intimidating with it's large amount of muscle, golden horns and massive claws but was held back by two goofy eyes to either side of its face.

Juragedo: 1700 ATK 1300 DEF Level 4 DARK Fiend

"King" LP: 1600 > 2600

"Seems like I forgot to tell you, but my Juragedo can Special Summon itself when a monster attacks. Not only that, but I regain 1000 Lifepoints! Now, Vice Dragon, continue sending that piece of scrap to the junkyard!"

Vice Dragon's claw struck true and made Deepspace Berserker explode in two, causing a rain of fire to come down on Camryn.

Camryn LP: 5100 > 4900

"Juragedo! Get that Scout out of my sight!" the turbo duelist yelled. They pointed towards the spaceship, making Juragedo fly into the air. They came down on top of Deepspace Scout, jamming in their stinger so it couldn't escape. The fiend then started to agressively tear into the spaceship, causing another explosion and raining down more fire onto the poor girl.

Camryn LP: 4900 > 4400

"Now do you see the arrogance of your ways? I change back Ojama Green to Defense, which ends my turn!"

Turn 10: Camryn
"King": 2600 LP, 1 card in hand, 4 monsters, 1 S/T, 6 Speed Counters
Camryn: 4400 LP, 4 cards in hand, 10 Speed Counters
Angelo: 4000 LP, 4 cards in hand, 1 monster, 8 Speed Counters

Despite having her field decimated, Camryn was resolute... and pretty pissed. "This is not the end, not by a long shot! I refuse to have some piss-poor imitator of one of my idols come in and cut me down like he's the real deal! I'll show you 'arrogance', you two-bit copycat! Draw!"

Camryn whipped off the top card of her deck, glancing at it out of the corner of her eye. The illustration was one she recognized quite well, and it made her breath catch slightly with excitement. "And it looks like I may have just drawn the key to turning this around. First off, I summon Falchionβ."

A narrow, blue-and-white ship appeared on the field with little fanfare, the only marker of its presence the faint whine of its engines.

Falchionβ: 1200 ATK 800 DEF Level 4 LIGHT Machine

"Next, since I have only Machines in my Graveyard, I can Special Summon Gearspring Spirit in attack mode!"

The resulting monster was an odd beast, with a head reminiscent of a goat balanced on top of a spindly, mechanical body, all covered with a cloak. Except, of course, for the two large wind-up keys jutting from its shoulders.

Gearspring Spirit: 100 ATK 100 DEF Level 8 DARK Machine

"Next, I'll use its effect to change a monster's attack to 0 for the turn. We'll go with... Vice Dragon!"

The odd machine's eyes glowed, and one of its keys flew out and fastened itself squarely to Vice Dragon's forehead, draining the creature of its strength.

Vice Dragon: ATK 2000 -> 0

"What?! My Vice Dragon!"

"Now, let's go on the attack! Gearspring Spirit, attack Vice Dragon!"

The monster's other large key sprang from its shoulder and jetted towards the weakened monster, aiming for its head, where Gearspring Spirit's other key was fastened.

"How naïve! I activate the effect of my Juragedo!"

Juragedo returned to the shadows, acting once again as Vice Dragon's. Some of the creature's power returned, making it stand up and ready to counterattack Gearspring Spirit.

"Juragedo's effect allows me to raise Vice Dragon's attack by another 1000 points! The king's monsters will not be defeated so easily! Unfortunately, it comes at the cost of sacrificing Juragedo."

Vice Dragon: 0 > 1000 ATK

The key promptly pinged off of Vice Dragon and returned to Gearspring Spirit.

"Well, that didn't work out. Whatever, I still have another monster. Falchionβ, attack Vice Dragon!"

The silent ship didn't move, only fired a strange-looking bullet that pulsed in nauseating rainbow colors at the dragon.

The yellow swords glowed again, creating a light barrier that made the bullet explode harmlessly against it. "Have you not learned? While I control my Spiritual Swords of Sealing Light, none of your attacks will reach me!"

"King" LP: 2600 > 1600 LP

Camryn had actually forgotten about the swords, but like hell would she admit it to this guy. "Whatever. At least some of your field's out of the way. I end my turn."

"And with the end of your turn comes the end of your effect! Vice Dragon's attack returns to normal."

Vice Dragon: 1000 > 3000 ATK

Turn 11: "King"
"King": 1600 LP, 2 card in hand, 3 monsters, 1 S/T, 7 Speed Counters
Camryn: 4400 LP, 3 cards in hand, 2 monsters, 11 Speed Counters
Angelo: 4000 LP, 4 cards in hand, 1 monster, 9 Speed Counters

"My turn! Draw!" The king swiped the next card from his deck, giving only a momentary glance before putting it down. He picked up the other card in his wrist dealer and played that first.

"I play my Speed Spell, Shift Down! By removing six more Speed Counters I draw two cards from my deck."

"King" Speed Counters: 7 > 1

The king drew two more cards from his deck and only glance briefly before smiling. He put one down and revealed the other to the duo of Angelo and Camryn. It showed a small imp, similar to the one from before but with purple robes and a chain going around it's back instead. Their eyes were also much larger, almost too big for the helmet.

"I summon the Tuner monster Chain Resonator!"

The creature pictured on the card appeared, laughing in the face of Camryn and Angelo.

Chain Resonator: 100 ATK 100 DEF Level 1 LIGHT Fiend Tuner

"Now I tune my Level one Chain Resonator to my Level five Vice Dragon and Level two Ojama token!"

Chain resonator burst into a single green ring, floating above the monowheel of the Turbo Duelist. The Ojama Black and Vice Dragon on his field flew up and lined up inside the ring, turning into two and five stars respectively. Those stars lined up once again, before a flash of light consumed the entire construction. All while this was happening, the 'King' chanted:

"The ruler's heartbeat now resonates with mine! Revive once more and become the very essence of my soul! Synchro Summon! Come forth, my very soul, DAMAGED DRAGON ARCHFIEND!!"

Out of the light rose a majestic black-and-red, scaled dragon. Their left and right horn were broken, and both its arms and chest had glowing, orange scars. The right leg was wrapped up in something akin to a bandage and both the wings were missing a small part of the bottom. The creature let out a roar so mighty it shook all the Duel Runners, asserting its dominance.

Damaged Dragon Archfiend: 2900 ATK 2400 DEF Level 8 DARK Dragon

"When Damaged Dragon Archfiend is Synchro Summoned, I destroy one monster on the field. This charade has gone on long enough, so begone Ojama Token! Infernal burn!" the King shouted. The Ojama Green Token panicked and covered it's head as a disproportionately large fireball made contact and shattered it, grazing the king's lifepoints.

"King" LP: 1600 > 1300

"Now Damaged Dragon Archfiend! Attack and destroy Gearspring Spirit! Infernal burn!"

The dragon started to gather flames in its jaw, obvious from the trail of fire that leaks out of it because of the wind. It released in one powerful surge, engulfing the poor Machine-type monster.

Camryn LP: 4400 > 1600

The king fell behind in the race because of his speed counters now, driving behind Angelo and Camryn completely. This didn't deter him, though, as he just held a cocky smile and spoke again. "When Damaged Dragon Archfiend destroys a monster in battle, all my opponent's monsters who's attack is lower than the value of it's attack subtracted from Damaged Dragon Archfiend get destroyed! Since none of your monsters have 2800 or more attack, all of them are wiped out! Absolute Burning Force!"

The damaged dragon's right arm was set aflame. It balled its hand into a fist and let out a mighty roar, flying up into the air. Damaged Dragon Archfiend soon became entirely covered in flames, a shining beacon of light in the blackened sky. The heat was so fell that the air shimmered around it, giving off an almost godly aura. The dragon dived down and punched the holographic floor in between Camryn and Angelo, causing the flames to ripple across and shoot up into huge pillars. Falchionβ and Mist Valley Falcon were consumed and, ultimately, destroyed.

As Damaged Dragon Archfiend returned to the King's field, he smiled. "As long as I have my heart and soul on the field, I need no other monster. With this, I end my turn!"

Turn 12: Angelo
"King": 1300 LP, 2 card in hand, 1 monster, 1 S/T, 2 Speed Counters
Camryn: 1600 LP, 4 cards in hand, 12 Speed Counters
Angelo: 4000 LP, 5 cards in hand, 10 Speed Counters

Angelo growled, knowing that while he could get rid of his dragon the real problem was his trap which he couldn't get rid of with anything in his deck or, if there was, he wasn't that lucky to draw it right now. He lost a good monster but hopefully he could make a comeback happen.

"I Draw!" Angelo said as he pulled out a card from his deck and he couldn't help but grin knowing that this would really change things. For once his luck was finally starting to change if only a little bit. Usually, whenever he got this card it would always be useless because the effect, while powerful, wouldn't activate.

He used his speed and moved away from Camryn so she wouldn't feel the effects of this move. "From my hand I summon Dragunity Aklys in attack mode!" Angelo said as the prismatic orb appeared next to him and from it the small red dragon appeared with a spear like head pointing forward.

Dragunity Aklys: 1000 ATK 800 DEF Level 2 WIND Dragon Tuner

" Don't worry, though. He won't be alone for long. From my hand I Special Summon Garuda the Wind Spirit again!" he called out. The familiar wind spirit from before appeared from a portal next to Angelo's Duel Runner, with the image of Mist Valley Falcon getting caught in the wind.

Garuda The Wind Spirit: 1600 ATK 1200 DEF Level 4 WIND Winged Beast

" Now I tune my Level 4 Garuda to my Level 2 Aklys! Synchro Summon, come forth Dragunity Knight Gae Bulg! May the dragons unite with their knights to create a powerful combination, come on out my knight!" the boy yelled, with Aklys turning into two bright green rings and Garuda into four glimmering, bright stars. The stars lined up inside the two rings before a bright pillar of light engulfed them both, and from the powerful boom that followed a knightly figure emerged. Their shining white armor was adorned with beatiful gold, and they rode on a powerful looking wyvern with a long tail. The rider had wings, though while the knight's were purple on the outer rim and white on it's feathers the wyvern's had an inverted color scheme.

Dragunity Knight Gae Bulg: 2000 ATK 1100 DEF Level 6 WIND Dragon

" Now I attack with Gae Bulg!" Angelo commanded. Gae Bulg flew up into the air and pointed it's spear forward, launching at Damaged Dragon Archfiend.

The 'King' looked perplexed at the sudden move of attacking his monster with a lower attack one, but his dueling wasn't going to be deterred just from that. He let out a hearty laugh at the display. "HAHAHA! Have you come to terms with the fact you can't possibly match up to the King's dueling? Wise choice! I'll accept you offer! Damaged Dragon Archfiend, retaliate with Absolute Burning Force!"

Angelo then grinned, seeing his overconfidence getting the better of him, not even thinking that his great knight had any special abilities. " I told you before, your arrogance will be your downfall! Gae Bulg's effect! I banish Garuda to increase it's attack! Now he is truly a force to be reckoned with." Angelo yelled, with the image of the familiar bird man vanishing into Gae Bulg's spear. A soft, green aura wraps around the spear as it connects with the burning fist of Damaged Dragon Archfiend, piercing right through and slaying the dragon. A powerful roar bellowed from it's throat as it screamed out, before coming crashing down and shaking the entire field.

Dragunity Knight Gae Bulg: 2000 > 3600 ATK

"NO! DAMAGED DRAGON ARCHFIEND!" The 'King' screamed out, watching as his monster's own flames engulfed him as well.

"King LP": 1300 > 600

Dragunity Knight Gae Bulg: 3600 > 2000 ATK

Angelo grinned, knowing that the king was running out of options and for once he would finally win. The very thought made him smile before he slowed down to ride next to the king and he said "I end my turn. Still feeling confident?" he said, before bursting forth leaving the king in the dust behind him.

Turn 13: King
"King": 600 LP, 3 cards in hand, 1 S/T, 3 Speed Counters
Camryn: 1600 LP, 4 cards in hand, 12 Speed Counters
Angelo: 4000 LP, 3 cards in hand, 1 monster, 11 Speed Counters

The 'King' stayed silent for a little while, with his vizor obscuring his eyes. The man's head turned up and both duelists could feel his glare pierce through them. "You... You have destroyed the very incarnation of my soul. For this transgression against a king like myself...!" the 'King' growled, holding his hand on his deck.

"IT'S MY TURN! DRAW!" The 'King' shouted, his powerful voice booming in the arena. The aftershock his drew could be felt by both Angelo and Camryn. The 'King' pointed towards Angelo with the hand that drew the card.

"You! Is that mockery of a Synchro Summon supposed to be the best you can do?! Let me show you how truly conceited you are! From my hand I Special Summon Primitive Butterfly!"

A large, purple insect with six green wings latched onto the top of the mono-wheel with its six legs. The insect's teal eyes stared vacantly in front of it.

Primitive Butterfly: 1200 ATK 900 DEF Level 5 WIND Insect

"But this isn't over yet! I Normal Summon the Tuner monster Red Resonator!" the 'King' shouted out. Another impish fiend with a gray helemet and beady eyes appeared, but this time it's robes were on fire.

Red Resonator: 600 ATK 200 DEF Level 2 FIRE Fiend

"This is how the King duels! He allows his opponent to pull ahead and think they have a chance, only to crush their hopes! I tune my Level 5 Primitive Butterfly to my Level 2 Red Resonator!" the 'King' shouted, with Red Resonator banging its mallet against its tuning staff, making a clanging sound. Red Resonator burst into two rings with Primitive Butterfly entering it and become five stars.

"The infernal king shall rise once more from his grave! Their resonating heartbeats resound with mine! Synchro Summon! Level 7, Chaos King Archfiend!"

In a flash of light, another monster rose. It was a tall humanoid wearing a golden mask, with black smoke coming from behind it and acting as hair. Two flaming, metal rods came out of his shoulders as well as his elbows, and a pink gemstone was sitting comfortably in the chest part of its blueish suit.

Chaos King Archfiend: 2600 ATK 2600 DEF Level 7 DARK Fiend

"Hahaha! No matter how many of my Synchro monsters you destroy, I will always call forth a new one. That is the king's duel! Battle phase, Chaos King Archfiend! Attack that boy's knight!"

The archfiend swung once with one of its arms, sending a wave of fire hurling at Dragunity Gae Bulg. The knight seemed to be losing his grip on his dragon as they both were weakened, evidenced by lowering in altitude.

"Like a true king, monsters bow down before my Archfiend! It switches the Attack of your monster with its Defense!"

Dragunity Knight Gae Bulg: 2000 > 1100 ATK

Chaos King Archfiend then extended one of it's clawed hands and started to gather flames in it, creating a fireball which slowly grew in size. When it looked like the ball had reached critical mass the archfiend hurled it at the Dragunity knight. Gae Bulg tried to retaliate by punching through with its spear, but was unable to due to the weakening employed by Chaos King Archfiend. Helplessly, the knight and his mount were swallowed by the flames, alongside Angelo.

Angelo LP: 4000 > 2500

Angelo growled loudly as he felt the sting of his monster getting destroyed. Now he was back to being infuriated. The first time he summoned his trump card, and the fake killed it just as quickly as his appeared! He knew, though, that even if the 'King' took his monster away he was on his last legs. He knew Camryn would finish him off.

"Let this be a lesson: The king's Synchro Summoning reigns surpreme! With this, I end my turn."

Turn 14: Camryn
"King": 600 LP, 1 card in hand, 1 monster, 1 S/T, 4 Speed Counters
Camryn: 1600 LP, 5 cards in hand, 12 Speed Counters
Angelo: 2500 LP, 3 cards in hand, 12 Speed Counters

Camryn let out a slow breath. "Man, looks like things are really getting down to the wire here. But... I think this is gonna be where it ends! Draw!" Camryn basically ignored the card she drew; it wasn't needed. "First of all, I'm gonna summon Deepspace Berserker back to the field for a second shot at glory."

Deepspace Berserker: 1200 ATK 0 DEF Level 4 LIGHT Machine
Deepspace Berserker: 1200 ATK -> 1500 ATK

"Next comes the card that spells out your demise, "King"! I activate the Speed Spell card Riryoku!"

As said card flashed onto the field for a moment, Camryn kept talking. "This old thing has a pretty simple effect. By removing 2 of my Speed Counters and halving one monster's ATK, I can increase another monster's ATK by the same amount. Looks like the unlucky victim today is none other than your Chaos King Archfiend!"

Camryn Speed Counters: 12 -> 10

A malevolent aura surrounded Chaos King Archfiend, causing the fiend to stumble and weaken. Deepspace Berserker, by contrast, suddenly seemed to brighten up, and grew a startling number of new weapons.

Chaos King Archfiend: 2600 ATK -> 1300 ATK
Deepspace Berserker: 1500 ATK -> 2800 ATK

"What?! Impossible! You can't possibly be suggesting-!"

"So much for being duel royalty, huh? Next time, I suggest you come back when you've managed to get the actual Red Dragon Archfiend. And a boatload more skill, of course. Deepspace Berserker, attack Chaos King Archfiend! Boarding Party!"

Deepspace Berserker promptly went inert. Nothing happened for a few seconds.

Gradually, a neon blue glow lit up its cockpit for a moment, then faded away. Again, nothing for a few seconds.

Suddenly, a massive insect-like monster appeared on King's field in a flash of blue! Almost as suddenly as it appeared, the gigantic mantis-like thing had cut Chaos king Archfiend brutally in half, and had indeed gone straight through it to strike King directly.

"Chaos King Archfiend!" The 'King' yelled out, then turned his gaze to the giant insectoid rushing at him. They tried to force the Duel Runner they were on to dodge the incoming strike, but were too late. The mantis went straight through, draining their lifepoints.

"GHUAAAAAAA!"

"King": 600 LP -> 0 LP

WINNERS: CAMRYN & ANGELO!

The road of light dissappeared behind the duelists as they rode down back to the ground, but the crashed runner of the 'King' had less luck. They were sent spiralling down the track, but were luckily caught by the safety net of Speed World - Virtua. Camryn and Angelo rode up to a smoking Wheel of Fortune and a tall figure standing stalwart before them. Slowly, they lifted their helmet from their head. More hair than expected poured out, going all the way down to below the waist. Freckles were on the upper cheeks of this person and their eyes were the same colour as their vizor: Dark blue. This entire spectacle made them look a lot less like Jack, but perhaps the most shocking part of all: They were a female!

"Oh what the heck! I was doing so well until you two showed up!" The female complained as she tossed her helmet to the ground, the deep voice from before replaced by a rather high pitched one. She walked over to her Duel Runner and pushed it upright to open up it's circuitry, confirming the damage.

"Ghuuu... You jerks really beat up my runner! What's your problem, anyway?!"

Camryn's excitement about winning the duel was suddenly tempered by the fact that apparently, this girl was definitely not the person they were looking for.

Angelo was glad that he finally won a duel when it was important like this. He did a quick turn around on the track so he could get back to the fake Jack. He was completly surprised, as he saw that it was a woman that didnt even look close to Jack and normally he would say that she was attractive but then he got really pissed when she called THEM the jerks!

Angelo got off of his duel runner and he sped walked over to her and he grabbed her riding suit, making her stop in her tracks. "You have got to be freaking joking! What about all those people you didnt even think to how they felt when you destroyed their runner? You have been destroying Duel Runners left and right and when you hurt my friend that was the last straw! Do you have anything to say for yourself? 'cause I'm keeping myself from beating you to a pulp!" Angelo shouted with a growl, and he was genuinely pissed. Still, even he wouldn't hurt a woman... well, normally, but this woman had it coming. He waited to hear what possible excuse she could have for destroying Duel Runners.

Camryn flinched back with a start when Angelo grabbed the other girl. "Jesus, Angelo, calm down! Freaking out like this isn't gonna get us anywhere! And besides, she really doesn't seem like the kind of person to go around crashing people's Duel Runners."

The woman naturally also flinched when she was suddenly grabbed, having one eye closed to remove some of the discomfort from being so close. She looked incredibly confused with Angelo's speech. "What the heck are you talking about?! Sure, I've been dueling some people on this track, but I haven't destroyed anyone's runner! And I don't know anything about your friend either! The heck is wrong with you?!"

The female student struggled and eventually managed to free herself from Angelo's grip, pushing him backwards. She took a defensive stance, unwilling to get grabbed again. "Is that what you're here for?! Destroying my win streak and defaming me?! You're the worst!"

"No, of course not," Camryn said placatingly. "We're here to investigate something. One of our friends was seriously injured when someone caused her Duel Runner to crash. We heard that someone was using the track late at night, and since that's when and where her crash happened, Angelo and I thought that we should see if whoever it was happened to be the culprit. Our first thought was you, but now we - or at least, I - am not so sure."

Angelo growled as she decided to be ignorant to what she has done but something didn't sit right with him about this. How could she not know she has been destroying Duel Runners? He took a deep breath to calm himself down so he didnt try to attack her again. "Who was the last person you remembered dueling?" Angelo asked, knowing that the only person she should say was Ethel. If she did, then that meant that she was really faking it. However, if she said that it was someone else then that meant that something was truly wrong here.

"Other than us, of course," Camryn chimed in.

The woman took another cautionary step back, though it's not like she was going to be running away with her Duel Runner being out of comission. She brought one of her gloved hands to her face, running it through her hair once. "Yeah, I've been using the track. So what? I've got permission. Who I dueled was none of your business, but they weren't a first year just to set the record."

The woman glanced at Angelo with a scowl briefly, then returned to Camryn. "If you're talking about the crash, though, I might know something. I was practicing here like usual, when a Speed World - Virtua dome suddenly popped up outside the arena. I went to look and saw two people from the outside: Someone on a pretty long purple runner and a girl who forgot her riding suit, riding a blue runner. I didn't stick around to watch the duel, but I never saw the purple runner leave the area."

"Hmm... Well, that does rule out you doing it, since Ethel's a first year. And I'm pretty sure she has a blue duel runner, right Angelo? So that'd probably make the culprit the purple Duel Runner guy." Camryn nodded appreciatively. "Awesome! Looks like we've got a lead, even though it's a really tiny one. Thanks, uh...?"

"Jacklyn," the woman replied. She turned around again, fixating back on her Duel Runner as she started fiddling around in the circuitry.

"I was the one who found the girl in the mornin', so I've got some part in this too. If I can help with anything else, you can find me here every night."

"Great. Thanks, Jacklyn! See ya 'round!" Camryn turned away and was about to start walking when she halted and turned back. "Oh, and, uh... Sorry about the trash talk, by the way. I tend to get a bit heated when I'm dueling. C'mon, Angelo. We should probably head back and tell everyone what we've found."

Angelo stayed quiet as he listened to both of them talking to each other, and this only gave him more questions than answers. It also made him feel like an ass for accusing her of doing the deed to Ethel, but could one blame him after she went from imposter to just a regular woman? "Yeah, sorry about accusing you for hurting our friend." Angelo said before he followed Camryn out to put away their duel runners and get to the bottom of this.

Turn 1: Hayate
Hayate: 4000 LP, 5 cards in hand
Zorc: 4000 LP, 5 cards in hand

Hayate drew her first 5 cards. She knew this was a battle she wasn't allowed to lose, so she scanned her hand. "I'll start by setting this monster facedown, with that I end my turn!" Hayate declared, rather cautious of her opponent.

Turn 2: Zorc
Hayate: 4000 LP, 1 monster, 4 cards in hand
Zorc: 4000 LP, 6 cards in hand

The monster in front of Hayate didn't wear anything resembling a Duel Disk, and his hand seemed to consist of five cards floating in front of him. "Then I shall take my turn. Draw." The burly man swiped to the left with his clawed hand, making a sixth card slide in next to the other five.

"If you shall summon, so will I. I summon my Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands!"

From the ground rose a blueish gray humanoid, who's arm count was enormous. It had a clearly defined shape, but there were hands and fists coming from everywhere: Its chest, its back, its head, etc. Everywhere you looked, all you could see were hands. Those hands also started to clasp together as the being started a prayer, making another card slide in next to Zorc's other cards.

Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands: 1400 ATK 1000 DEF Level 4 LIGHT Fairy

"Manju has mastered his divine training, and aids me in my revival. This is why he adds a certain spell card to my hand... and also why he shall be crushing your monster."

As soon as the voice faded, Manju opened its eyes. The fists that had been clasped together in prayer were now delivering ten thousand strikes of pain onto Hayate's Set card, which revealed itself to be a frail angel. The poor holy soul got beaten black and blue, exploding into small little particles of light. One thing remained of the Shining Angel, however: A small feather from it's angellic wings. As it touched down onto the ground, it started to softly glow.

As the glow grew stronger another Shining angel appeared in its place

"There is more to come, do not expect me to play some silly Fairy deck!" Hayate said, attempting to show her superiority, kind of trying to mimic Hayato's dueling style. "Anything else?" Hayate asked rather condescendingly, though it was apparent her voice wasn't build for this.

"Is that so? Then show me, little lady, what your deck is truly made for. I shall toy with you for just a bit longer. My turn is over."

Turn 3: Hayate
Hayate: 4000 LP, 1 monster, 5 cards in hand
Zorc: 4000 LP, 1 monster, 6 cards in hand

"Draw!" Hayate declared "I'll take care of that Manju of yours and summon myself something else in its place, I activate Soul exchange! and Tribute Summon Darkstorm Dragon!" Hayate declared with confidence, and though it's not her Blue-Eyes it was still a powerful dragon. "I can't conduct my Battle Phase due to this, so I will just follow that up by setting a card and thus ending my turn." Hayate declared once again, trying to act proud and cocky like her brother.

Darkstorm Dragon: 2700 ATK 2500 DEF Level 8 DARK Dragon

"TSK, SCREW THIS!" Hayato yelled after many attempts of trying to get out, took off his jacket to and used as a grip for his bokken. He then promptly smashed a window open. "We'll frame the Dark Dorm Bastards for this," Hayato said, very much frustrated.

"Hayato, what the heck?!" Haas yelled in surprise, then quickly covered his mouth again. This seemed to have attracted some unwanted attention as footsteps came from the stairwell. Haas looked back up to see Hayato carefully using his bokken as a step, trying to climb out of the window. He succeeded and ran into the desert, not worried about leaving his Bokken behind. Even if it broke, he reveived 2 bokkens just for that situation.

"H-Hey! Wait up, lemme-!" Haas tried to shout to Hayato, but then the door swung open wildly. To his suprise, it wasn't security that showed up. Two students, seemingly first years guessing from their age, had burst through. Something wasn't right as they didn't even react to the broken window, instead just activating their Duel Disk without saying a word.

"Hayato, you owe me one for this..." Haas mumbled as he launched his own disk into the air, activating it and starting the duel.

Turn 4: Zorc
Hayate: 4000 LP, 1 monster, 1 S/T, 2 cards in hand
Zorc: 4000 LP, 7 cards in hand

"Oh? A dragon type deck, is it?" the voice continued, with the figure smiling as it stared down the black dragon. It tried to look intimidating by being kept afloat inside the tornado it created, but Hayate's opponent only seemed amused by it. Another card slid in next to the others floating in front of them, making the manly figure weigh his options. Eventually, they just snapped their fingers as two of them slid down and taunted Hayate.

"I'd hate to be a killjoy, so why not let you have your way? I'll set two cards, ending my turn." Zorc gave a small bow, motioning with his hand for Hayate to continue and take her turn.

Turn 5: Hayate
Hayate: 4000 LP, 1 monster, 1 S/T, 3 cards in hand
Zorc: 4000 LP, 2 S/T, 5 cards in hand

"Draw!" Hayate declared "First things first i normal summon darkstorm dragon" Hayate tried to declare, but was cut off shortly.

"And at this moment, I activate my face-down Trap card: Dust Tornado!" Zorc retalliated, with Darkstorm Dragon spreading it's wings and causing it's tornado to become a full-blown hurricane. Unfortunately, the wind was too strong for Hayate's face-down. Damage Condenser flipped up and was quickly torn to shreds in the violent storm.

"Instead, perhaps I shall just attack you directly!" Hayate declared, gesturing her arm towards the creature she called a monster. Green chains suddenly sprang up from behind Zorc, wrapping around the dragon as it tried to rush forward. The dragon was kept firmly in place, roaring and struggling, but couldn't move out to attack.

"I think you'll find my trap card, Fiendish Chain, will do nicely to keep you at bay. Really now, why do you struggle so? Just make it easier on both of us and give up now..."

"No, I Refuse... If I do, who knows what might happen to me." Hayate called out, cautious about her situation and checking her surroundings. "Turn end!" Hayate declared after inspecting her own hand.

Turn 6: Zorc
Hayate: 4000 LP, 1 monster, 3 cards in hand
Zorc: 4000 LP, 1 S/T, 6 cards in hand

"Such a shame... well, it's my turn. Draw." Zorc drew his next card by making another hologram slide in and smirked.

"It seems the conditions for my revival have been met. How about I give you a gift? I'll summon Luster Dragon." The creamy backdrop of a Normal Monster card revealed itself once one of the floating cards turned around. It shone, and from it a human-sized, blue dragon emerged. Its scales look like they were made of beatiful sapphires and it's beady eyes looked like small rubies.

Luster Dragon: 1900 ATK 1600 DEF Level 4 WIND Dragon

"Next, I'll play a spell card: Creature Seizure! It switches control of our monsters!"

Two capsules rose from the ground, opening up and trapping both Luster Dragon and Darkstorm Dragon before they could escape. They glowed a bright green, with a blackish goo pulsating in both of them. After a few more moments, both capsules opened again to let out both dragons on the opposite fields.

"Switching monsters!? What are you trying to do?" Hayate called out, knowing that the dragon he took can't attack. She was still unsure of what her opponents plan was.

"Everything in due time. I'll activate another spell: Magic Planter. This way, I free your dragon and get two cards for my troubles." A cauldron popped up underneath the Fiendish Chain trap card, making the trap slowly sink in and melt. The chains fell off of Darkstorm Dragon, freeing it and sliding in two more cards.

Then, a black mist enveloped the area. The mighty Darkstorm Dragon's roars quieted down as more and more of the mist started to surround it. From Zorc's field, Hayate could see the glowing border of a Spell card. The man slowly walked up to the field, placing one hand on the body of Darkstorm Dragon. The mighty being slowly faded away into nothing, with the black mist gathering in the guantlet of Zorc.

"The contract is... complete. I have used your dragon as a sacrifice, and summoned myself to the field!"

Dark Master - Zorc: 2700 ATK 1500 DEF Level 8 DARK Fiend Ritual

"R-Ritual monster!?" Hayate shouted. "I am not afraid of you! Least... I'm pretty sure i'm not..." Hayate declared, but quickly backpadeled knowing Zorc's effect from the old 'Duel Monsters' magazines she used to read and tried her best to hide her fears

"Very observant..." Zorc whispered, his expression hidden behind that mask. He walked forward and wrapped his golden gauntlet around Luster Dragon's neck. Slowly but surely, Zorc lifted it up. The gauntlet tightened, choking the air out of the dragon and eventually crushing them.

Hayate LP: 4000 > 3200

"Your struggles are... vain. Now that I am on the field, there's little you can do. I set another card and end this turn."

Turn ???: Haas
Haas: 2500 LP, 2 monsters, 2 cards in hand
Student A: 4000 LP, 1 S/T, 4 cards in hand
Student B: 3100 LP, 1 monster, 1 S/T, 3 cards in hand

Haas was staring down his two opponents, both with a Spellbinding Circle on the field and one of them even having their 1900 ATK Alien Shocktrooper staring him down. Haas took a deep breath. He looked over to his trapped Wind-Up Shark and Summoner Monk. Only one thing left to do...

"...And now I overlay my Level 4 Wind-up Shark and Summoner Monk! Come on, Wind-up Zenmaister! Attack his Alien Shocktrooper!" Haas yelled out, a spring-powered punch going right through one of his opponent's monsters. The Dark Dorm student's life chipped down a little further, giving Haas some breathing room.

Student B LP: 3100 > 2600

"Dangit, Hayato... you better get this over with quickly!"

Hayato arrived at a mysterious tower in front of him. At the entrance, he found a stray D-Ceiver with one of his messages he sent out earlier on it. "I believe I found the place... I have a bad feeling about this. Rule number one of towers: The damsel in distress is always at the top... at least... I think they are?" Hayato said to himself, remembering his old anime logic and quickly rushed up the stairs as fast as possible, ready to take on any threat. "Just you wait... Big brother is coming to save you!" Hayato said to himself, trying to encourage himself.

Turn 7: Hayate
Hayate: 3200 LP, 4 cards in hand
Zorc: 4000 LP, 1 monster, 1 S/T, 2 cards in hand

"I have Kaibaman... but he is useless without Blue-eyes... but... I... I don't think there is a chance I will get my hands on him... not yet. ...N-No! I can't give up yet!" Hayate closed her eyes to focus her senses, and after clearing her mind she took a deep breath. "It's now or never... MY TURN! I DRAW!" Hayate declared, drawing her card and was almost afraid to look at it. Still, she had to and opened her eyes to see in her hand... Her Blue-Eyes White Dragon! "I- I got it... I summon Kaibaman..." Hayate said in a rather normal tone, not as confident as she was a few turns ago. A heroic-looking man, dressed in a weird white hero costume, appeared on the field. "And I activate his effect to Special Summon, from my hand, Blue-Eyes White Dragon!, Mighty dragon with blue eyes, he who represents my hope and dreams, destroy my enemy!" Hayate called out taking her first shot at a chant which suited the current sitation for her "Go blue-eyes attack Zorc!" Hayate declared pointing her finger at Zorc.

Blue-Eyes White Dragon: 3000 ATK 2500 DEF Level 8 LIGHT Dragon

Blue-eyes charged a burst stream of light in its mighty maw, the energy crackling and barely able to be contained. After a few seconds of this, Blue-Eyes launched its Burst Stream of Destruction. Just as it looked like Zorc was about to be hit, they started to chuckle. "This weak attack is your hope? How weak. Trap card: Elemental Absorber!"

Blue-Eyes' stream of light was met by a transparant barrier, which trembled beneath the crushing weight. Since the energy had to go somewhere, it bounced off and hit the ceiling instead. A powerful explosion rocked the entire tower, and some rubble started falling from the ceiling. A gaping hole had been created, at a perfect angle to show the shimmering moonlight.

"I banished my Senju of the Thousand Hands, sealing off the attack of Light monsters. And this... has properly set our stage! Hahaha... HAHAHAHA!"

Meanwhile, Hayato's reaction to the tower being shaken was that he swore he could've heard a dragon's roar alongside it. "W-What the heck... that was from below...!" Hayato muttered out and quickly ran down the stairs, naturally checking every floor carefully as he went down, unsure which room or floor it came from.

Back at the duel...

"At the very least, from my hand, I will Equip Rider of the Storm Winds to Blue-Eyes! ...And end my turn." Hayate called out as a young dragon rider was summoned upon the mighty dragon's back.

Turn 8: Zorc
Hayate: 3200 LP, 1 monster, 1 card in hand
Zorc: 4000 LP, 1 monster, 1 S/T, 2 cards in hand

"It's time to end this, don't you think? You've been putting off your sacrifice for a little too long... Draw." Another card slid in to the back of Zorc, and then a dark miasma started circling the sky above the arena. It formed into the numbers one through six, floating above the duelist's heads. A bit of fire from a candle unplugged itself from it's host and started to circle around in between the numbers.

"Young sacrifice! It'll do you well to get familiar with my power. Depending on which number this lands on, I get to destroy something. Now, let destiny play out..."

The flame jumped from one number to the next, starting at a very fast pace and gradually slowing down. This went on for a few nail-biting seconds, and for the last few numbers it went 6... 1... 2... 3... 4! The flame stopped and the miasma gathered into Zorc's gauntlet, which he immediately hurled towards Blue-Eyes. "It seems your dragon becomes the next sacrifice!"

"Rider, protect him!" Hayate called out. The young dragon rider jumped from Blue-Eyes, shielding it from the miasma by blocking it with her own body. Unfortunately, this also meant that the young girl shattered instead. "Rider's effect! If the equipped would be destroyed, she is instead!"

"...No matter, I can use my powers again next turn. I shall amuse you by playing the spell card Gambling Greed!"

One of the cards behind Zorc revealed itself and glowed, after which a dice launched itself out of it. It scraped the Ritual monster as it passed by, rolling and landing on four. The red liquid that leaked out of Zorc seeped into the floor, after which two more cards slid in.

Zorc LP: 4000 > 1200

"In case you were not aware, I give up my essence depending on what the result of the die roll was, all for two cards. Now I shall set two more, and let you struggle further."

Turn 9: Hayate
Hayate: 3200 LP, 1 monster, 2 cards in hand
Zorc: 1200 LP, 1 monster, 3 S/T, 1 card in hand

"H-here we go..." Hayate slowly drew her card, unsure of how she was going to win. "From my hand... I activate Stamping Destruction and destroy your Face-up Elemental Absorber!" Hayate declared, hoping this would allow her to finish Zorc off. "With that, I attack Zorc with my partner here!" Hayate declared once again, pointing at Zorc.

Zorc LP: 1200 > 700

Blue-Eyes started charging it's Burst Stream of Destruction once more, but Zorc seemed unphazed. "...Abosolutely futile. I activate my Spell card: Roulette Spider."

Zorc's spell rose up and from it flew a cartoony balck spider, with a yellow abdomen and an orange arrow sticking out of it. It latched itself onto Blue-Eyes' eyes, causing it to be blinded and stagger forward to the middle of the field. A spider web then laid out underneath Blue-Eyes, with the multiple open ends pointing towards different things.

"The spider will take you dragon for a little ride, and then it will attack on whichever the spider points to. Simple, right?" Zorc spoke, his expression still masked. The spider started to spin around, with Blue-Eyes being forced to follow. At first the dragon went extremely fast and looked a little silly, but it gradually slowed down and became tenser. Eventually, the last few ticks of the spider rolled over. Right as it seemed Blue-Eyes' attack was just going to misfire next to Hayate, Roulette Spider gave the dragon one last nudge to point to Hayate. Before either player could react, Blue-Eyes fired a Burst Stream straight at Hayate to send her flying.

Hayate LP: 3200 > 200

Hayate screamed in pain and possibly fear as she flew back towards the wall, making a loud thumping sound as she hit the floor completely speechless. "I... I set one card facedown and end my turn..." Hayate was visibly shaking as she tried to get back up, still trying her best to appear brave, though her act appears to be at its limits. She looked like she was on the verge of breaking down.

Turn 10: Zorc
Hayate: 200 LP, 1 monster, 1 S/T, 0 cards in hand
Zorc: 700 LP, 1 monster, 1 S/T, 1 card in hand

"My turn. I'll start it off by using my power to-" Zorc began to speak, but was soon cut off by dark green chains wrapping around both of his arms and legs.

"T-Trap card activates! Fiendish chain!" Hayate declared, still trying to get her composure back. "Your effect cannot be used and you cannot attack as long as this is face-up on the field" Hayate explained, trying her best to keep herself afloat.

"I see, as long as it remains on the field? Then I shall activate the Spell card: Dicephoon!" Zorc retorted, with a tornado crawling up from behind him. The tornado had a dice wildly getting tossed around on it's outer edge, slowly rising to the top.

"This little tornado of mine is unstable, you see. Dependant on the roll of a dice, it might even end up badly... but what are the odds?"

The dice then suddenly flung out of the tornado and spun around on one of it's corners in the middle of the room. It gradually slowed down, and when it came to a stop, it hand landed on a 3. Zorc laughed and said: "Such a shame. It seems your trap won't work after all." The chains wrapped around Zorc got shredded up by the violent winds, releasing the man from his bindings.

"Now for my facedown: Enemy controller. It changes your Blue-Eyes to Defense Position... and you don't have much left to protect it." Zorc mocked Hayate as a video game controller floated in from of him. It entered a code consisting of multiple ups, downs, lefts and B's until finally Blue-Eyes succumbed and closed its wings like a shield around itself. Zorc soon followed that up by walking towards Hayate, raising his clawed guantlet.

"Any last words to your dragon... and yourself, on my next turn?"

"......" Hayate remained silent as she realized what was about to happen and simply looked down to the ground "None..." Hayate muttered.

Zorc's guantlet came crashing down on Blue-Eyes, causing the dragon to let out a pained cry. It glowed brightly for a second before shattering in pixels, almost symbollic of what its owner was feeling at the time.

"With this last card of mine, I'll set and and my turn."

Turn 11: Hayate
Hayate: 200 LP, 1 monster, 1 card in hand
Zorc: 700 LP, 1 monster, 1 S/T, 0 cards in hand

Hayate drew her card without making a sound, having lost her spirit. An old memory suddenly came back to her... "Whenever you're in trouble, just call for me. I'll be there, standing in the smoke, ready to answer your prayers!" but Hayate couldn't say a word. She had already given up on her brother showing up... "I set a card... and end my turn..."

Zorc chuckled and swung his arm fiercely. "If that's the best you can do, then-"

"Spell card! SHIEN'S SMOKE SIGNAL!" a male voice rang out from above, interrupting Zorc.

"What?!" Zorc yelled out in surprise, staggering back.

"What's this? Have you lost faith in me already?" The male voice rang out. Three shadowy figures were outlined inside the smoke, one of which familiar to Hayate. "INTRUSION PENALTY: 2000 LIFEPOINTS," the third shadow's disk yelled at him. "Nnrrgh...! This isn't as bad as that damn scum's stupid device," Hayato whispered to himself

Hayato LP: 4000 > 2000

Turn 12: Hayato
Hayate: 200 LP, 1 monster, 1 S/T, 0 cards in hand
Zorc: 700 LP, 1 monster, 1 S/T, 0 cards in hand
Hayato 2000 LP, 6 cards in hand

"B-Big bro...?" Hayate muttered, looking up to see her brother standing in clear sight above her.

"Yep it's your onii-san," Hayato said, comforting his sister after having jumped down. Hayato then turned to face Zorc, and angry scowl on his face. "YOU SCUM! HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO MY SISTER!" Hayato yelled in anger, summoning Shinai and Mizuho. "These two work pretty well together, I would say! I activate Mizuho's effect and tribute Shinai to destroy YOU!"

Legendary Six Samurai - Mizuho: 1600 ATK 1000 DEF Level 3 FIRE Warrior
Legendary Six Samurai - Shinai: 1500 ATK 1500 DEF Level 3 WATER Warrior

Shinai appeared from the smoke where Hayato originally appeared from, wielding 2 crushing clubs. He wore some blue samurai armor and took a defensive pose. Shortly after his appearance, Mizuho appeared in red armor and used what appeared to be hook-like weapons. Hayato had boldly declared his effect without explaining it and watched Shinai sacrifice himself to power up Mizuho, who dashed at Zorc.

"WHAT?!" Zorc yelled in surprise, throwing his cape up in front of him to shield from Mizuho's attack. The female samurai's blades lit on fire as they made contact with Zorc's cape, resulting in an explosion somehow. However, after the smoke lifted, Zorc was still standing there just fine as a card glowed behind him.

"...Via the effect of Dimension Guardian, I am not destroyed. You insolent little pest... I applaud you for your efforts, but this duel is none of your business! Leave at once!"

"And what if I refuse?" Hayato asked, setting 2 cards facedown. "Because I'm not going to leave." Hayato continued taunting him "With that, I end with my turn."

Turn 13: Zorc
Hayate: 200 LP, 1 monster, 1 S/T, 0 cards in hand
Zorc: 700 LP, 1 monster, 1 S/T, 1 card in hand
Hayato 2000 LP, 1 monster, 2 S/T, 2 cards in hand

Zorc swung his right arm to let a card slide in behind him, glaring at Hayato behind his mask. "If you want to provoke me, I shall not fall for it. But your effect is bothersome... So I shall use my own." Zorc's voice trailed off as the sky darkened again, the same black mist from before floating above all players' heads. The six numbers and the flame started to form, but then...

"Enough of your tricks! Trap card activate: Musakani Magatama!" Hayato declared "Your effect is negated, you are a fool to challenge an older brother!" Hayato taunted Zorc again, though he was kinda wrong since technically him and Hayato were the same age.

The mist dispersed and a beam of light came down on Zorc, but he simply swatted it aside like an annoying insect. "Fine then. Have it your way, but I will not be destroyed due to my Dimension Guardian. If you think I'm done with just that, however, you're wrong: I activate my Cup of Ace!" Zorc shouted, the spell card flipping around and floating upwards. It stopped just above Zorc's head and started to rotate vertically.

"If you think you can beat me, then create that chance. If you manage to stop this card on it's head, I daw two cards. However, if it stops in reverse, you two will draw those cards instead."

Hayato sighed. "3, 2, 1... Stop!" Hayato did a countdown before he yelled to stop, not really caring wether or not he drew or not though those 2 cards could go in Zorc's favor. The card started to slow down, eventually reaching... the upright position!

"Well, that's too bad!" Zorc mocked Hayato, two cards sliding in behind him. The monster then walked forward again, towards Hayate.

"I am your opponent!" Hayato shouted. "Return of the Six Samurai! I bring Shinai back on Hayate's field!" Hayato called out as the blue samurai that had been sacrificed showed up on Hayate's field, taking a defensive position.

The sky darkened above the heads of all three participants, with a small breeze passing through the open area. The candles lighting the circle flickered and only barely didn't get put out. Zorc slowly turned to Hayato. "You... You've been doing nothing but getting in my way this entire time. So if I can't take her out on this turn..."

Zorc slowly walked over to Hayato, raising his gauntlet. The dark mist that had dispersed gathered once again in his hand, forming a ball that floated slightly above Zorc's head. From behind the man, two identical Spell cards revealed themselves: Graceful Dice. Out of each came a fairy holding a large, blue dice and threw them onto the floor, causing them to spin around in place.

"Dice of fortune, on this day I decree: Take my power and set me free! Bend to my will and tricks, now you shall both land on six!"

As soon as Zorc stopped chanting, so did the dice stop spinning. Exactly as he had said, they both had a six facing upwards. The black ball of mist grew larger and larger in size, shaking the entire area because of it's overwhelming force. More parts of the roof started falling down as rubble fell around Hayate and Hayato.

Dark Master - Zorc: 2700 > 4900 ATK

"Dissappear from my sight." Zorc sneered at Hayato as he had the sphere come crashing down on Mizuho, who was completely consumed and engulfed by the mist. Unfortunately for Hayato it didn't stop there, as the ground underneath started to crumble and violently tore up in his direction.

Hayato remained calm as the attack came in. "In the end... You are a still a fool!" Hayato taunted Zorc one last time and he was knocked back, though still barely standing. He slowly fell to his knees "And that's still all you got, then?" Hayato asked Zorc, before collapsing himself.

Hayato LP: 2000 > 0

"...This is fine, anyway. All you have is a single set card... I have pretty much won this already. I end my turn."

As Zorc declared this, Shinai dissappeared in a burst of light. At the same time, Zorc returned to his normal power.

Dark Master - Zorc: 4900 > 2700 ATK

Turn 14: Hayate
Hayate: 200 LP, 1 S/T, 1 card in hand
Zorc: 700 LP, 1 monster, 1 S/T, 0 cards in hand
Hayato 0 LP

"Hayato... Thank you. You gave me enough time to finish this. PREPARE TO SAY YOUR PRAYERS! Draw!" Hayate talked to herself, inspired by Hayato's appearance. It gave her the one turn she needed, as she drew just the card she needed... "From my hand, I activate Silver's Cry! This Special Summons Blue-eyes white dragon from the graveyard, revive my mighty white dragon!" Hayate called out as the Blue-Eyes White Dragon rose up in a bright pillar of light, then roared at Zorc.

"W-What?" Zorc yelled out, staggering back in surprise. "...Hah! I still have 700 LP remaining, and I won't be destroyed due to my Dimension Guardian. Even if you attack me, I still won't-!"

"I'm not done yet... I activate my Trap card, Castle of Dragon Souls and Banish a Dragon in my Graveyard to increase Blue-Eyes' strength by 700!" Hayate explained, a tower raising from the ground behind her. A single, shadowy soul circled it which flew into Blue-Eyes' chest to grant him more strength.

Blue-Eyes White Dragon: 3000 > 3700 ATK

Hayato's fear had completely vanished. She stood in the bright glow of her dragon with a fierce look on her face, slowly raising up her hand. "Battle! Blue-Eyes! FINISH OFF ZORC! BURST STREAM OF DESTRUCTION!" Hayate declared, with Blue-Eyes firing his explosive blast towards Zorc.

"I-Impossible... For me to come so far...! I can't lose here! I WAS SO CLOSE TO THIS WORLD! DAAAMN YOOUU...!!" Zorc screamed, right before he was hit by Blue-Eyes' attack. The monster was sent flying way back, leaving a trail of destruction as he flew. All the candles spontaniously flickered out and the ominous circle slowly faded into the ground.

Zorc LP: 700 > 0

Zorc was slumped up agains the wall as the dark miasma he had been controlling up until now started pouring out of him. The monster raised up his guantlet and clutched the hand that wore it. "Kuh... I was given the chance, and all I needed was one more female sacrifice..." the monster muttered to themselves. He looked up towards Hayato as he mask he wore started to crumble. The first part to go was the lower part, revealing his mouth. Normally one would expect a grimace to be on Zorc's face, but instead Hayate was met with a gleeful grin.

"Ah... no matter. I am eternal... I will never go. I'll stay... stay with you. Ehehehe... AHAHAHA! AHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!" Zorc laughed madly as his body started to disperse faster and his mask crumbled further. As soon as the rest of his face was about to be revealed, he dispersed into nothing but thin air. In place of where he was slumped over, three things were left behind. His card, Ritual Spell and... the guantlet he had worn. It hit the ground with a loud clang, rolling over the duo of cards.

Hayato got up, rubbing the back of his head and looked at the cards on the floor. "Hmm... I think I could use these," Hayato said before picking up the cards and the gauntlet that was left behind. With the way he looked at the gauntlet, you could tell he was clearly interested in it. "I wonder what's up with this..." Hayato muttered, inspecting the gauntlet. "Oi, Zorc! You in there?" Hayato asked jokingly, even tapping it to try and amuse Hayate who smiled back for a bit.

"Hayato, I'm a bit tired... but it's nice you're here. Hey, is it okay if I just call you big bro again like old times?" Hayate asked Hayato, who faintly remembered telling his sister to just call him by his name ."A-Ah, right... I forgot about that... well, nobody was really stopping you from calling me big bro. It was kinda important to keep you away from the press, really..." Hayato and Hayate conversed for some time. Hayato decided to carry his sister on his back, with Hayato wearing Zorc's gauntlet for convenience's sake. Even though he knew it might be dangerous to do so, he didn't pay it much mind. Soon enough, he found his way back to the tower and met up with Haas again.

Haas was breathing heavily as he stood there, arm still raised from the duel he'd just finished. His two opponents were collapsed on the floor, cards scattered across the floor. Wind-Up Zenmaister had just started disappearing from the field as Haas turned around to see why the front door had suddenly decided to slide open again.

"Hey, 'Boss'... I'm back." Hayato said, dropping off Hayate. "Mission was a success." Hayato joked, behaving the complete opposite of how he usually acted around Haas.

"Hayate! Hayato! Oh man, it's great to see you two are safe..." Haas said, relieved. He looked back to his two opponents, slight concern written on his face.

"I don't know what's up with these guys... Up until a minute ago, they were dueling me like they were posessed or somethin' and then they just... collapsed. Weird, huh?"

"Speaking of which," Hayato and Hayate both interrupted. "Hayate was, from the looks of it, dueling a ghost of some sorts." Hayato explained, as he was told by Hayate. "Yes... you see..." Hayate started to explain the situation to Haas as the trio made their way back to their own dorm rooms.