[IC] The Duel Tower: The first year students. (A Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Academy Roleplay.) [Axed]

[LunarStandard]

The day's investigation had been disheartening. Not just because they had spent the entire day investigating and had little to show for it, but also because Nathaniel was hit with the revelation that he might be a possible target of attack because of his performances, and what little enthusiasm he had for the investigation just drained out of him. He cursed his luck. It was always his love of entertainment dueling that got him into trouble for some reason.

As the team met up later that night, Nathaniel thought about what he should do. His modus operandi had always been to avoid trouble whenever possible, but that seemed less likely by the day. If trouble is unavoidable, which at this point seemed likely, then Nathaniel decided that he must take initiative.

As the team began to split up, Nathaniel followed after Megan and Leander to the Ante Duel. It would be the perfectly opportunity to gather some information on this unseen enemy. Besides, someone has to be the voice of reason.

[Tojin]

Camryn had mixed feelings about her investigation. On one hand, she had found something that might be the key to the whole thing. I mean, some random third year being allowed to use the track after hours, AND the times they do that coinciding with the attacks on students?! They've gotta be related somehow! But, on the other hand, it wasn't really much to go on, and the student could well be just some guy that the attacker was using as a cover story. Or, if that was the case, maybe the attacker actually was the mystery student, and they were using the cover story as a cover story.

Camryn shook her head. She was definitely thinking too much into it; doubtless the attacker's plan wasn't that complicated. "Alright, Angelo! Time to go investigate the turbo duel arena! Better bring your A-game for this one, in case we find the culprit while we're out." Without even waiting for Angelo's response, she took him by the hand and dragged him out to the turbo arena again, stopping briefly to shout "Good luck!!" at Megan, Nathaniel, and Leander's retreating backs before resuming her determined trek.

[The Irish Tree]

Maisy, in the time between reporting her results and the midnight espionage tour, had decided that it was about time to tune her deck up a bit. Because, after all, you couldn't just waltz in on a bunch of burly duelinquents without a few tricks up your sleeve. And what better trick than a new deck, one that Maisy was preeeeeetty sure was her style. She'd mostly stalked or looked up a bunch of people who used Dark World cards, compiled the data, ran a few numbers, average win/loss ratios...math was easy, but man was it awkward when she had to explain why she was taking pictures of pictures on a computer...with a camera. Blurred to hell, they still proved kinda useful. That smudge looked like Sangan if you kinda...squinted and looked at it from a certain angle with the sun at high noon over the desert. Not really.

Having literally no experience with her brand new deck, she of course figured the best way to try it out, was either in case crap went out the window on this stakeout and she had to duel a dark dorm student...or wait until tomorrow to find Vincent and ask him if it was good. He gave her the idea after all, with that Goldd. Hand discarding was her thing, so maybe his deck'd work? Hopefully?

Dressed in her wind dorm uniform, albeit wearing a ridiculously sketchy combo on her face with a pair of sunglasses, and a dust mask covering her mouth. She...kinda assumed everyone else would be wearing disguises for this too, and acted completely naturally throughout the briefing, as if there wasn't a huge problem with her not being able to see in the dark. Or breath too good. Or look even remotely disguised. Regardless, Maisy kept her pride (and stupid disguise) intact and followed Megan and Leander, mostly because she recognized Nathaniel with the total blinding darkness going on, and followed along, miraculously not falling on her ass as she bumped into everything.

"Foolproof." she thought as she walked along, before having somehow gotten completely turned around, bumping right into Amelia. "OH NO, MY FOOLPROOF PLAN!" she screamed in her mind before very calmly and very blindly taking a step back. "L-Listen, this is just the uh...meeting of the Midnight Poet's Society. Yeah...we're uh...writing haikus.
Discard one hand card
Fabled Cat Sith activates
Your card is destroyed..."
All while saying this, Maisy had her hands up in the air, while she silently nods to herself. "Foolproof. Ohmigoshpleasedon'tnoticepleasepleasepleasepleaseI'mtooyoungtogetdestroyed."

[Jangel13]

Angelo made sure to be a part of the meeting as he thought that he figured out a crucial piece of information with Camryn when they figured out only one duelist was operating at the hour and could use that specific speed spell. Angelo felt that he was getting closer to finding out what bastard was destroying hours upon hours of his hard work. Later on when he was alone with Camryn who seemed to be pretty high strong at the moment as she said to bring his A game and to be prepared in case they find their culprit. Angelo knew they would find someone though the issue is that the culprit isn't alone and has what is essentially a gang behind them but Angelo was tired of loosing tired of being unable to beat anyone. Angelo didn't argue as Camryn dragged him to the turbo duel arena, Angelo could only hope that when he got their he would be able to help properly and not just be in the way.

[Ammokkx]

Haas nodded to everyone voicing where they wanted to go. Angelo and Camryn didn't even wait on confirmation before dashing off towards the Turbo Dueling arena, though they had voiced their opinions pretty clearly even before this meeting. Amelia showed up in the middle of it, which Joshua pointed out to him, but that didn't prove to be an issue once Haas briefly explained the situation. She tagged along with the group going upstairs, of which Haas realized a little too late that it included almost everyone. "Huh...? Hey, guys, wait!" The boy tried to stop everyone, but by the time he did, they already vanished up the stairwell. This meant about three fourths of the group was going to intercept that Ante duel, leaving only Hayate and Haas to investigate the missing students.

"Oh man, I don't even know where to begin..." Haas wheezed, slightly starting to panic. His lack of actual planning was coming to bite him in the butt. This wasn't helped by the fact that another shadow came through the door. Haas panicked, thinking it was someone related to the kidnappings. He grabbed Hayate by the wrist and dived behind the reception desk to see who it was. Much to his surprise, however....

"...Huh? Hayato? What are you doing here?"

...it was Hayato who showed up. Didn't Hayato want to work alone last time Haas asked?

---

Angelo and Camryn snuck through the front door with relative ease, disappearing into the shifting sands on their way to the Turbo arena. At first they didn't notice anything due to an ill-timed sandstorm, though luckily not a very strong one. As they drew closer to their goal they could start to see flashes of bright lights in the sky, followed soon after by the roaring of a Duel Runner's engine. In fact, the duel runner wasn't the only roar they heard. It was faint, but the duo could've sworn they heard a dragon's roar as well.

When Camryn and Angelo arrived at the Turbo Dueling arena, they took a moment to get the sand out of their clothes before checking to see if the door was open. Sure enough, they stumbled into the garage without issue. The lights inside were on, and one of the gates to the tracks were open. The rumors about somebody using them at this time seemed to have been true after all. Figuring that it wasn't a good idea to go out unprepared, Angelo and Camryn swiftly changed into their riding suits and fetched their Duel Runners. Once they pushed them out onto the track, the duo looked around to find the figure they were looking for. The tracks were pitch black, it seemed someone had turned off the lights.

But not for very long. Behind Angelo, the sound of a Duel Runner kicking off the ground suddenly emerged. The spotlights turned on, following a one-wheeled machine soaring through the air overheads. The monowheel had a silver colouring, with an arrow at the front and two 'wings' on the back end, stretched out and coloured a deep blue. The Duel Runner landed a bit in front of the duo of students, spinning around in place for a little while before stopping to face Camryn and Angelo. The person driving it was wearing a white coat over his riding suit, with a cut in the middle to let the tails fall on both ends of the monowheel. From the back-left end of the Duel Runner extended a long, straight and flat Duel Disk mounted on top one of the handlebars. There was a white helmet with a blue vizor on the person's head which obscured their eyes. From underneath the front part of the helmet a golden bang stuck out and on the left and right sides two thick earrings escaped, dark gray and in the shape of the letter 'J'.

"Idiots... I didn't think there were still people foolish enough to challenge the King!"

---

The group going upstairs had become quite sizeable, consisting of no less than seven people. Amelia, Joshua, Michelle, Leander, Maisy, Megan and Nathan all moved together and made sure to watch their step, lest they accidentally draw the attention of any possible security roaming the halls. They all made it up to floor 15 unscathed, but something was off. When Megan pushed open the door, they saw that none of the lights inside were on. Nathan, being the voice of reason, pointed out this might've been a trap. Everyone else basically shrugged him off, however, and went inside anyway. Reluctantly Nathan had followed them inside as well, after which the door slammed shut behind them. Everyone suddenly got grabbed underneath the armpits and held in an arm lock, restraining their movement as the lights sprung on.

"Well, well! Didn't think the pilferers would show!"

A higher pitched, male voice rang out from the opposite end of the room. All around the investigation group were Dark Dorm students, vastly outnumbering everyone there. In the direction the voice came from there was one guy who didn't wear his jacket like the rest, looking a bit older as well. He was sitting in one of the audience seats, legs crossed and resting on his right fist with a smug grin plastered across his face. The guy wore baggy green pants and a dark gray button-up that was missing a button around the middle, with his jacket flung over the shoulders like a cape. His hair was chocolaty brown and incredibly spiky, with a fringe falling down and covering his left eye. His other eye was a rather odd silver.

The boy jumped down from the audience seat onto the floor below, whistling a little as he evaluated each person present.

"Oh man, oh man. When the boys told me a couple'a jokers snuck into that Meio guy's room and left with the note in hand, I kinda expected security to show up. Didn't think you'd all be stupid enough to show up in person though!"

The boy laughed at his own statement briefly, then paused to scan everyone again. He took notice of something, clearly, because a broad smirk formed on his face again.

"They even have their Duel Disks at the ready, no way! Did you guys think to duel instead of that fish guy or something? Without security as backup?! You guys got guts! Aha, tell you what, kiddos! Those who want to volunteer, gimme a shout right now. I'll take two of you on, yeah? If you win, I'll let ya go. If not... Heh! Well, another two can always try, right? And besides..." The boy's eyes trailed off towards Amelia, licking his lips. The Dark Dorm holding her seemed to have caught on, tightening his grip on her so she let out a small cry in response.

"You wouldn't want to put a pretty little thing like her in any danger, eh?"

[Scarifar]

Leander Xenovia & Michelle Kine

The group rushed as best they could, and eventually found themselves at Floor 15. Upon arrival, Leander adjusted his Duel Disk slightly, not because it was uncomfortable or anything, but to calm himself. Leander wasn't sure what to expect, but he steeled himself to be ready for anything. He was ready. He had to be.

Michelle kept looking around, worried that something would go wrong. A teacher or someone would find them and send them back to their dorm rooms, or someone might jump them, or... well, any bad situation, really. With such a big group they were in, it was very likely that it would be the case. By some miracle, though, the journey to the 15th floor was rather uneventful. Michelle was one of the people who considered Nathan's warning of a trap, but with everyone else heading in regardless of it, Michelle kept her eyes peeled as she entered as well.

Unfortunately, things decided to take a turn for the worse once the group entered the room, as they quickly found themselves jumped on. Michelle cried out in surprised as she found her arm twisted behind her. She tried to struggle, but the boy's grip was too strong to break through. Looking around, she could see that the others were similarly restrained.

Leander's eyes widened as they made Amelia cry out. The expression quickly turned into one of rage as he glared at the one in front. "Hey, don't you hurt my friends!" Leander shouted at him. "If you want a Duel, I'll give you one!" He raised his one free arm up, showing his Duel Disk ready for the match.

[Jangel13]

Angelo walked with Camryn outside into a ill timed sandstorm which was mainly just an annoyance to him. Angelo couldn't stop thinking about he hated loosing so far he hasn't won a single match and he only won something because he was the best rider. That was something he had pride in but it wasn't the same as turbo dueling like his heroes. Angelo walked with Camryn as they soon found themselves at the turbo dueling arena and he started to pat himself down to get rid of all the excess sand, when they got close Angelo knew he heard a duel runner and the unmistakable sound of a dragons roar. Angelo knew that roar anywhere after all his entire deck was filled with cards that made a similar noise.

As they got inside Angelo could tell that someone really was using the arena after hours and he just got fired up again as he went and changed into his riding suit getting ready. Once he was in his suit he went with Camryn out to the track to see that it was lit at least it was until their culprit turned them off to make a dramatic entrance. While he had to admit he had respect for someone who could ride a mono duel runner with only the single wheel he knew that if he could he would beat the man to death. He then had the audacity to call himself a king.

Angelo simply got on his duel runner ready before he said "I don't see any kings here, all I see is a showboat with no sense of decorum. We have been hearing rumors of a duelist here at night that broke my friends duel runner can I assume that's you?" Angelo asked while clenching his teeth to keep himself calm as he answered "Cause if it is you im going to make you pay for the damages you made 10 fold" Angelo said with a growl. He hurt not only Angelo's sense of pride in creating that duel runner he also hurt the girl Angelo most cared about despite his feelings not being returned by Ethel he still wanted to believe they had a connection somewhere between them...

[LunarStandard]

Why, oh WHY did I go in here with these people?

That was all Nathaniel could think about as he felt himself getting strong-armed by this unruly gang of thugs. When the lights sprang on, Nathaniel took little time to readjust to the brightness of the room, and all it took was one look at the dark uniforms of the hooligans around him to let Nathaniel know that he had gotten himself into some deep doodoo.

As the one who looked to be their leader started mouthing off a bunch of whatever he was talking about, Nathaniel desperately tried to think of a way to get the group out of their predicament. Yet when the guy started referencing some rather... unscrupulous treatment to one of their own, eliciting a spirited and violent reaction from the kid from Light Dorm, Nathaniel knew that he was out of time. It was time to fly by the seat of his pants and hope for the best.

"Waitwaitwaitwaitwait! I don't know who you think we are, but we don't know who this 'Mayo' guy is! We don't know what you're talking about!" Nathaniel cried, desperately trying to deescalate the situation. Still, he wasn't sure if he should mention what they were actually doing. Maybe it would be better to try to sound a little more innocent. "We're... just a group of friends going for some... midnight dueling! And ...we happened to wander into this room because we thought it was empty!" That was about as far from innocent as Nathaniel could make that sound, especially with him sweating cold bullets as he said it. As soon as Nathaniel felt the words leave his mouth, he knew he was screwed. At least if any of them had a chance of winning this, it would be the guy from Light.

[Satoshi Kyou]

Once Hayato got out, everyone he heard crawling around the hallways was already gone. He checked his D-Ceiver to see if Haas responded, but he didn't get one and scratched his head. "Well if people snuck out I guess it's logical to think that they likely went to the entrance," Hayato said to himself and slowly made his way there. To his surprise, when he arrived, he bumped into his own sister along with Haas.

"Hm? What brings you here? Something woke me, so well here I am..." Hayato responded "What brings you two out here, anyways? You two on some strange midnight date or something?" Hayato asked in a rather plain voice. "Reminds me. You guys the cause of the sounds I heard? I swore I heard some people exit their dorm rooms, you guys know anything about that?" Hayato looked at Haas and Hayate scratching his head again rather confused.

Hayate simply responded by shaking her head. Though, the mention of a date did surprise her considering Hayato should, according to her, know she doesn't like eating those. "You know I wouldn't have dates on me so we can't be eating those right now anyway, plus this is pretty serious! It is no time to be eating dates." Hayate said, oblivious to the word date. She didn't really know what Hayato meant, so she exclaimed that what they're doing is important.

"Important? Is this part of your investigation plan, Haas? You know this can't go well right? Follow rumors and you are bound to get in trouble." Hayato walked over to Haas, hoping Hayate won't hear him whispering one of his older experiences with rumors in his hometown. "This one time I followed a rumor where there was a place there would be an ante duel for an ultra rare card, but it turned out to be a trap set to get their good cards and sell them at a good price." Hayato explained his discomfort for rumors and more to Haas leaving Hayate confused and scratching her head. "What, are you telling him there another one of your awesome dueling stories? Let me in on it as well!" Hayate exclaimed, despite it being night. Although, she wasn't particularly loud enough to wake anyone up. "We are getting sidetracked. Where do we go?" Hayate asked Haas after Hayato walked back to Hayate letting her know he is coming too

[Eklispe]

Megan Claravet

---

Megan let out a grunt of surprise and struggled fiercly as she was restrained but was unable to break free and gave up for the moment. Soon the group was rewarded by the lights turning on and some jerkface monolouging to them. The guy not only had the audacity to challenge two of them to a duel at once, but to threaten Amelia. Somebody else was equally enraged and spoke up while Nathan started babbling some nonsense to try to get them out of it. It looked like even he didn't believe what he was saying. Ignoring that Megan let out a indigiant declaration of her own, "You think we'll just let you do whatever you want?! I'd duel to beat a jerk like you anytime!" Megan being Earth Dorm was arguably one of the worst people to 'volunteer' for the duel but that wasn't excatly the first thing on her mind.

[Joshua Tamashii]

Amelia Averyonna and Joshua Tamashii

@Eklispe@LunarStandard@Scarifar@Ammokkx@The Irish Tree

Joshua and Amelia followed their companions, with Amelia instinctively keeping close to Leander while Joshua hung out towards the back of the group, casting the occasional glance behind him to make sure no one was following them again. When they arrived at the arena they were aiming for, Joshua knew Nathan was right that they should be cautious but proceeded with the others since it was rather late to bring it up at this point. When they were ambushed, Joshua remained calm, looking at the Dark Dorm members surrounding them. When he saw how the leader of the group threatened Amelia, he wasn't happy and a little weirded out.
"Dude, no, just... no. Lolicon much?" He said to the leader. When Leander got angry over Amelia getting hurt, he couldn't help but smile. He had never met the girl before tonight, but she struck him as very shy and maybe someone who needed to support of others. It was good to see Leander considered her a friend. "You know, I'll take you up on that duel offer as well. I'm sure it'll be entertaining. Though, given your rather spotty reputation, how do we know you'll keep your word?"

Amelia meanwhile, was trying to stay calm. The grip on her arms was painful and she was sure she was going to have some bruises in the morning. When she saw the look the leader of the group gave her, she felt a sense of dread pass over her and a chill go down her spine. Luckily, it seemed she had more friends, or at least allies, among the group then she thought, as Leander, Megan, and Joshua all stepped up to duel the leader of this group. She just hoped this would be the worse things got.

[Tojin]

Walking out of the school right into a sandstorm was rather surprising, but Camryn didn't let it affect her (much) as she and Angelo set out to the turbo dueling arena. Much as Camryn seemed to not be too concerned, inwardly her heart was racing. She had seen what this mystery duelist had done to Ethel, and she was wary about having that same thing - or worse, even - happening to her. As the duo neared the stadium, the unmistakable sound of a Duel Runner's engine blasted through the air, with what Camryn could have sworn was a dragon's roar underneath it. She turned to Angelo, eyes alight with excitement. "What do you think that was?!" Without waiting for an answer (again), Camryn sprinted the last bit of the way to the stadium, intent on getting on her Runner straight away to figure out what on earth could be going on.

As she and Angelo wheeled their wheels onto the track, Camryn attempted to squint through the blackness, with little success. Where'd-

VROOOOOOOOOM

Her thoughts were cut off by the roar of a Duel Runner and a sudden burst of light, as the track suddenly flared to life again. As the vehicle touched down in front of the pair, Camryn suddenly recognized who the person in front of them was. Countless hours spent in front of the TV watching Turbo Duels as a child meant that Camryn knew the person in front of them was none other than...

"...OooOOOOOOHMYGOD ANGELO IT'S JACK ATLAS! ONE OF THE BEST TURBO DUELISTS IN THE WORLD IS STANDING RIGHT. HERE. IN FRONT OF US." Any sense of caution was essentially thrown out of the window as Camryn abandoned her Duel Runner and raced up to The King himself, thrilled to in the presence of one of her idols.

"Ohmygoodness I'm soooo excited to meet you in person! Can I have your autograph?? I have my favorite card ready and everything!" Indeed, a copy of Deepspace Scout had suddenly appeared in Camryn's hand, and was being proffered to the stoic celebrity.

However, Camryn's excitement was quashed as Angelo declared his intent to beat the shit out of Jack Atlas Himself. She slowly turned to face him, confusion evident on her face. "'A showboat with no sense of decorum'? Angelo, do you even know who this is?? It's JACK ATLAS. The Master of Faster! The Sultan of Speed!" A dreadful thought suddenly occurred to Camryn. "...It's someone who you really wouldn't expect to find at a dueling academy in the middle of the desert, especially in the middle of the night." She took a few steps back from who she was fairly certain was an imposter. "And I'm willing to bet, too, that the real Jack wouldn't destroy someone's Duel Runner like that." Camryn shook her head. "No. There's no way you can be Jack Atlas. It's just too far-fetched."

She mounted her Duel Runner and pointed a finger accusingly at the fake Jack. "Why don't you tell use who you really are?"

[The Irish Tree]

"You know, its so weird, I was just about to say that this is the perfect kind of place to ambush somebody." Maisy said as she was dragged by her armpits, not putting up much of a fight. Not like her noodle arms were gonna be knocking out a bunch of duelinquents, especially with both behind her back. "Like, the lighting is real dark, you can hide a bunch of guys in here, you know, for high schoolers, you guys are really good at this ambushing stuff," she said, nodding slightly in confirmation of her own statement, unable to see SHIT with her "disguise" still on. "Well, as long as we don't panic, we'll be juuuuust fi-" Maisy said, suddenly stopping as her eyes went wide. There was something, deep within the core of her being, deep within, the feeling of a connection with a force beyond any sense of reckoning.

Her mind took her to a place surrounded in warmth, the smell of lavender gently floating on the breeze as all creation swept by. Time, space, the confines of physics and reality meant nothing in the wake of the presence she felt, like an encapsulating emotion more than a physical tangible thing. For of course, he was not something tangible. Not something to be touched or to be spoken to or to even be seen, and yet the latter was what he desired most. One wheel, one hand to the sky, and one overwhelming engine roaring the coming of the king. And he was also really, really handsome. Like, damn. Jack had abs that could grind meat. Oh and he was also shirtless. At least in Maisy's head.

Her Jack-visions fading, Maisy shorted back to reality. She got like that whenever there was something super Jack-Atlasy in a 1000 mile radius. Letting out a deep breath, Maisy let reality settle back in, the Jack Waves passing. "Can't be him. Everyone knows the King needs his beauty rest. He even said it in an interview." she thought to herself, wishing she could pat her cheeks to wake herself up, if not for her hands being tied.

...Oh wait, that's right, creepy leader guy was a thing. Balling her hands into fists as she realized that this was the kind of guy that you definitely didn't wanna wear a skirt around, Maisy was really glad that she was wearing pants. Sighing, Maisy looked over to Nathaniel and gave a wry smile, before saying: "Even I wouldn't buy that one. I TOLD you all we should have worn purple t-shirts and just said our uniforms were in the laundry." as if that would have been any more believable. "Oh yeah, if we're here, then who's making sure that she isn't going to turn in the camera if we don't come back?" she said, thinking that maybe the idea of false, yet totally possible evidence existed that could be presented to the teachers on where they were, as a means of either escape, or to psych out the leader during the duels. Despite being goofy, Maisy wasn't AS dumb as she let on. A fake back-up plan was better than no-back-up plan.

[Ammokkx]

The older Dark Dorm student did a small hand gesture towards one of his lackeys, causing the latter to toss him a Duel Disk. It was the old model, produced way back in the day by Kaiba Corp, only with two added zones sticking out of the top left and right. The guy was snickering in response to the heated reactions he was getting, as well as Nathan's desperate struggling for an excuse. Even the way the calmest boy of the bunch was creeped out by his antics only served to make this student's excitement grow.

"Alright, this is what I'm talking about! Such strong emotions, and the fear in some of your eyes! You lot, you really made my night by coming here..." the boy's grin became a little less stretched out, but his lips parted sligthly to reveal the pearly whites underneath. The boy placed his Duel Disk on top of his arm, letting the strap take care of the rest and shoving in his deck to activate it. It was around that time Maisy spoke up, the amusement soon vanishing from the boy's face.

"Callin' that bluff o' yours, girly. Even if you did have a camera, there's no way you'd tell us 'cause we could just take it from you. Dunno which one of you this 'Haas' is, but either way, I think I've settled on my opponents..."

The guy cocked his head as Amelia was shoved forward, forcefully as the first target. "What, you thought I wasn't gonna do this? Sickos! Hahahaaa...!" He mocked the group, then gestured to another person in it. The calm, black-haired boy. Joshua also got shoved forward, after which the lackeys holding the other five slowly pulled them further back in the room. Some other lackeys had taken seats in the audience, jeering Amelia and Joshua. Their opponent just stood on the other end of the arena with confidence, not even bothering to activate his disk yet.

"Well, what're you waitin' on? You don't have any chance of escaping without beating me! And if you refuse to duel..." The silver eyed fellow reached for something behind his back and gave a small tug, taking some kind of metal cord with him. Nobody could tell what it was from just that, though.

"...I got ways to force you."

---

The person staring down Angelo and Camryn didn't budge at all in response to Angelo's provocation, also remaining stoic in response to Camryn. A smile noticeably started to form when both of them got onto their Duel Runners, though. "Hmph! You dare make the mistake of standing up to me? Very well, I acknowledge your foolhardy bravery! I shall grant you your wish to suffer a crushing defeat by the hand of the one and only king!"

The monowheel Duel Runner turned 180° again, but the person in it still looked back to both of the Turbo Duelists that challenged him. Or, more specifically, Angelo. "Boy... Your words just now, don't let them be hollow! If you have this much confidence, then prove it to me in this duel!!"

With those words, a prompt came on the dashboard for both Angelo and Camryn. Their runner asked them to select a Speed World, giving them the choice of all three. Meanwhile, the 'king' in front of them already started to rev up his engine. The fact that Virtua was even an option meant that this person must have been a student as well, or someone involved with the production.

---

Haas ruffled his hands through his head, everything was so confusing at the moment! "Aaah, both of you shut up for a moment!" Haas suddenly yelled out, taking a few deep breaths afterwards to calm down. He needed a bit to collect his thoughts.

"Listen; I'll explain it in detail later. For now... well, me and Hayate are staking it out to see if anyone passes by. Students have been gone missing, so I figured they might be sneaking out-" Haas had begun to give Hayato the lowdown, but then his ears picked up on footsteps coming from the stairwell. He flinched and grabbed Hayato by the shirt.

"Quick, hide!" Haas quickly ordered him, but didn't really give the other boy a chanced. He dragged both him and his sister underneath the desk; quite literally hauling Hayato over it in merely a few seconds. Haas was capable of some crazy feats of strength when he wanted to.

As the trio hid underneath the reception desk, they could see two pairs of legs making their way over to the other end of the room. A few seconds after, the sliding doors suddenly slid open. Thinking this was the chance, Haas jumped up to stop whoever just left. Unfortunately, by the time he looked, they'd already vanished.

"Oh SHOOT! Hayato, Hayate! Let's go after them now, they might be in danger!"

Haas was in a slight panic, no doubt. The moment he got a chance to figure out what was going on, the ones that could give him the answers already left. He himself started to make a dash out of the front entrance, hoping that whoever passed by hadn't gone too far yet.

[Ammokkx]

Ethel's disappearance.

Ignia knew that Ethel should be infirmary. Why wasn't Ethel here, where had her friend gone? Who took her friend? Ignia's head was spinning as she leant on the bed her friend should've been in. She had come bearing gifts! She looked at the small paper bag in her hand, containing some cheap chocolate. It was the best she could buy, considering she had little money on her. It was the thought that counted right.... right? Hopefully...

She did one last check around the infirmary, fiinding just a trio of Dark Dorm students with, what looked like, the broken frizzled remains of pompadours and a couple of other students who'm looked to be in for various injuries, but they were all uninteresting to her. None of them were Ethel, after all. Ignia sighed as she slammed the Infirmary door behind her in a huff. She stormed off down the hallways, barely making a sound except for the light pitter of her feet.

Ethel grit her teeth whilst slowly climbing up the steps of the academy's stairwell, her sense of sight being almost nonexistant in the dim moonlight shining in through the windows. On the other hand, her sense of hearing was perfectly fine. She could hear two things; A door closing and a faint tapping noise off in the distance. The girl feared that she'd been found out already, so she sped up as much as she could. She could barely walk as is and needed to use both her arms to support her on the way up. When Ethel reached the next floor, she could see a faint shadow moving around and hiding into a nearby room.

The girl's mind was instantly thrown back to the week prior. Strange occurences, followed by the vague shadow of a person on a Duel Runner. Ethel's mind was clouded with rage an illogical fury, so she decided to give chase the moment she saw that. Keeping her breath in check, Ethel tried to speed up her pace to get into the same room as quickly as possible. Behind her, the tapping noise grew louder and louder. Ethel's Duel Disk was on standby mode, so it gave a faint glow in the darkness. No doubt whoever was behind her had seen it as well, hurrying towards the girl as she entered the same room the mysterious shadow had.

Ignia saw that which she was seeking. Ethel didn't look in any condition to be walking around by herself so haphazardly. She needed Ignia! Ignia sped up her pace, wanting to help her friend as quickly as possible. Her tapping increased in ferocity as she sped up. She couldn't let Ethel get into things like this by herself, she wasn't letting her friend get comatosed again! It wasn't that Ignia needed Ethel, It was just she needed a friend and well... Ethel was probably her only real friend in the entire Duel Tower. That was probably a sad thing, huh? ...Yeah, most likely.

Ignia watched as a shadowy purple figure entered a room. She watched Ethel also turn and enter it. Instantly, her mind-gears whirled with theories. "Oh, Ethel what have you got yourself into...?" She muttered under her breath as she slowly reached the door in question. Pulling out her Duel Disk, it came online with a small thrum as she kicked open the door. "Who goes there!" She yelled, albeit still quieter then normal as didn't want to wake the teachers up. Her eyes locked onto the figure, although they took a momentary glance to be distracted by her friend.

Ethel jumped as the door forcefully swung open behind her, turning her head quickly to see who it was. The girl muttered in disbelief when she saw who it was. "...Ignia?" The initial shock quickly faded, however. Ethel remembered the other figure who'd gone into the room. The lights were on, illumnating the arena. On the other end of the room was a figure in a purple jacket, arms crossed and looking down to the floor. Their brown hair was covering their face, so neither girl could get a quick look at their face.

Ethel noticed the purple motif and instantly her eyes flared up with rage again, extending her arm to let her Duel Disk activate. The girl growled. "Yoooouuuu...! I'll get you back for what you-!"

Ethel cut herself off. The longer she looked at the person, the more details she found to be off. That was an academy jacket, one of the Dark Dorm. The person is a male, while her assailant was a female. The Duel Disk on their arm was an academy licensed disk. All these things pointed to them not being who she thought it was, but there was one more odd detail. She recognized them. Ethel went silent as her arm lowered again, eyes widening in realization to who that actually was.

"What?" Vincent said, tapping his foot impatiently. "Do you want something from me? I just got out of a stern talking to, from a man who's idealogies I barely agree with, so speak already." Vincent said, with a hint of annoyance in his voice. It was as if a blue haired fly had just started buzzing in his ear. He brushed down his purple Dark Dorm jacket as his eyes glanced over to Ignia, his bravado fading somewhat. "Ignia?" He said with a sigh as he leaned back against the wall. "What are you doing here? I thought you had gone to that prestigious school for higher learners." Vincent said with a hint of malice towards his estranged friend. He put his hand up in the air. "So what is this? Some sort of intervention? Honestly, I don't need such a thing." He said, waving his hand as if to brush off a speck of dirt. "So hurry up and explain yourselves already." He finished as he lowered his head, his hair covering his eyes.

Ethel looked back at Ignia, who seemed even more shocked than she had been. Did these two know each other? No, more importantly, than that... "...What's this? I thought you were one of the best duelists in Wind Dorm. What are you doing mingling with the trash?" Ethel scoffed at Vincent, then yelped as her arm stung. She was still weak and in no condition to act as high and mighty as she was, but the girl flet some kind of moral superiority. Everyone in the academy knew the Dark Dorm was the lowest of the low.

Ethel glanced over at her Duel Disk, her anger fading but not quite gone. "Tch. Here I thought you had potential... shows what I know. I don't owe you an explanation." Ethel turned and wanted to walk away, only to see Ignia still standing there. The girl did not look like she was having a good time.

"...Hey, let's go. He doesn't deserve your attention." Ethel's tone was condescending, even if her body posture was pretty pathetic. She could barely stand and was trying her best not to show it.

Vincent shook his head. "Honestly, Ethel, I thought you were better mannered than to throw Insults my way. In all honesty, don't bark if you can't bite." He said, tapping his duel disk. It had a Duel Chain now. He had looted it from another Dark Dorm Student. It was one less issue for him. Certainly, it wasn't in the best condition for a Duel chain, but he didn't care as long as it kept his opponent still. Nobody runs from the Chaos Ambassador. Nobody. "Besides, you're in no condition to fight."

Ethel's head whipped back with renewed fury. She placed her index and middle finger on her deck and was about to draw her cards, but then a small breeze passed by her.

"The real pathetic thing about you Ethel is - Ooof!" Vincent recoiled from the impact of a fist in his stomach.

Ignia pulled back her hand. She then went for a second punch. "Urk!" Vincent grunted as he went down.

"Vincent. Shut up." Ignia said as she brushed her hair back with her hand. He had gone too far in her book, so he deserved it. Vincent looked up at her with his hardened eyes. "Good hit," he said, winded and with one eye closed. "I'll go for another if you cross that line again." Ignia said down to him, her usual cheerful demenour replaced with a cold voice. "Like old times, then?" Vincent laughed. Ignia didn't respond to the trash before her. She got up and brushed her hands down on her Wind Dorm jacket as if to wipe away some sort of stain.

"So, Ethel," Ignia said as she walked over. "Need some help?" She smiled to her friend and outstretched her hand. Her cheerful demeanour was back as if nothing had happened. Ignia shot another glare at Vincent, who was getting up again. He gave her a cheerful, if not slightly bloodlusty, glance back.

Ethel stood there, bewildered. This entire night had been... strange, with this event not helping. "...H-Huh? Yeah- I mean, no thanks. I'll be... fine." Her words was met by a slight look of disappointment by Ignia. Seeing the girl like that stung for Ethel too, even though she witnessed what they just did. The girl caved anyway and accepted Ignia's hand, letting her friend fling her arm over the shoulder to support her weight.

"...Thanks, Ignia." Ethel relunctantly said while looking away, just enough to see Vincent having gotten back up again. He sported an all-knowing grin, confident and hostile. The duo of girls left him all alone in the room, with something new to think about. Now the question was how they were both getting back to their rooms without being seen...

[Ammokkx]

The Arena.

Joshua sighed in exasperation at the leader of this group. He was trying way too hard to be creepy or evil, whichever one he was aiming for. He wasn't all that surprised when Amelia was one of his first targets to duel. When he was selected as the second opponent, he mearly rolled his shoulders before taking his place opposite of the Dark Dorm student.
"So, this is my night now. Well, could be worse I suppose." He said to himself, activating his duel disk and inserting his deck, letting the disk handle the shuffling. When it was done, he drew his cards and waited, glancing over at Amelia to see how she was doing.

Amelia was caught off guard by the shove and stumbled as a result, but barely managed to keep her balance. When she heard she was fighting this creep, her nerves hit an all time high. She was, rightfully, scared of this man and didn't like the idea of fighting him. Glancing around though, she realized she didn't have much of a choice and reluctantly put her duel disk on, activating it before putting in her deck and drawing her opening hand. Hopefully, she didn't screw up.

The boy on the other end of the arena nodded contently at seeing his opponents take their stand and ready their disks. He let go of the cord he was holding and pressed a button on his Kaiba Corp. licensed Duel Disk. The thing neatly slammed shut and formed it's blade, with the lifepoint counter flaring up on its display. The boy scanned his two opponents with his one free eye again. "Hm... I don't care for your names, but guess I never toldcha what to call me eh? But I don't want to get in trouble with security once this is all said n'd done, so... why dont'cha call me 'Steel' for now?"

Steel's grin slowly started to fade from his face during all this, getting to the point where he had a rather blank expression on his face. "Tell you what, I'll go first. The girl's up next, I want to see what she can do. I'll take my turn again after that, and then her little champion can go last in the turn order!"

"Sure thing dumbass, whatever you say." Joshua said nonchalantly

"Spirited. Good thing I chose you, then..." Steel's voice trailed off as he drew five cards from his deck in one swift motion.

DUEL!

Battle Royale! Steel Vs. Joshua and Amelia

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

WINNERS: AMELIA & JOSHUA!

Aftermath

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.

TLDR

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.

[Joshua Tamashii]

The journey to their destination was a difficult one, between landing on wrong floors to sneaking into and through the Earth dorm to avoid getting spotted, but the group eventually found Amelia's room and was quick to get Amelia onto her bed. Leander let out a strong sigh of relief as the excitement of everything wore him out. "Alrighty, we did it," Leander said. "How are you feeling, Amelia?"

During the entire the journey, Amelia simply got some rest, her head on Leander's shoulder. When they finally reached her room and put her in her bed, she woke up and slowly sat up with a groan.
"I'm feeling better." She said before pointing at a nearby dresser. "Michelle, in the top drawer should be a small bottle. Can you get it for me?"

Joshua, who had taken the lead during their journey and kept an eye out for security, looked around the room with a frown.
"So this is an Earth Dorm room. It's kinda plain isn't it?" He said.

Michelle nodded and went over to the dresser Amelia had pointed out. A quick search revealed the bottle, and Michelle went back with the bottle in hand. "Is this it?" Michelle asked, handing it over to Amelia.

Leander surveyed the room, nodding in agreement with Joshua. "Yeah, it's nothing like the Light dorm, that's for sure." Leander confirmed. "So, what now?"

"Now? I'm curious about little Amelia's story here. What's this about an agreement that says she'll be expelled if this condition so much as acts up?" Joshua said "Not only will knowing give us some answers, but it'll also allow us to help her. However, given how she's not comfortable around anyone but you Leander, it might be that she'll only tell you this tale. Just pointing out."

Amelia listened to the boys talk as she accepted the bottle.
"Thank you." She said, opening it and taking out a small pill, which she quickly swallowed. After hearing the rest of what Joshua had to say, she looked at the ground, unsure of what to say to this.

"Hmm... I dunno..." Leander said. "I don't wanna ask her things she doesn't want to answer." 

"No... you all have a right to know." Amelia said, still looking at the ground. "If you don't know, I could end up becoming a burden... if you even want to take me with you again."

Joshua remained silent, as the group already knew what he wanted. The question was, were Michelle and Leander willing to listen?

"Hey, hey, Amelia, you're our friend," Leander reassured her. "Of course we want you along."

"Is it ok, though?" Michelle asked. "If your condition is serious enough for such an agreement to be made...."

"It's not... not yet, at least. It's my parents being too protective." Amelia said.

"'Yet?" Joshua asked.

Amelia nodded
"My parents are... very rich. I've lived a life many would consider a life of luxary up until I came to this school. But, if I had a choice of going back to the life or leaving it, I would leave it without a second thought." Amelia said.

"I'm not following. If your parents are as rich as you're claiming, surely they would have had a cure for you. And even if they didn't and are a little protective of you, why turn your back on such a life??" Joshua asked

"... what's the most tragic thing about a caged bird?" Amelia asked.

Leander didn't really understand the question. His mind could only bring up the image of a canary in a cage, chirping away. 

Michelle was more thoughtful, and was the first to come up with an answer. "You don't get to make many choices of your own, do you?" she asked. 

Amelia nodded.
"Imagine yourself in a cage. It's nice and comfortable. You have all the things you need to survive because they're provided for you. But, you can see the world outside and you want to explore it, experience it. But the people who keep you in the cage refuse to let you and all you can do is watch and pray." Amelia said. "That... was the world I've lived in."

The image of the canary in Leander's head then tuned into one of sadness as the canary stopped chirping and turned its head back and forth, realizing that no one was listening to it. Leander couldn't imagine living a life like that. "That sounds horrible," Leander said. "I wouldn't want to live like that either."

"Yeah, forget what I said earier. That's not living, that's just being given a semblence of life." Joshua said. "But what about your condition? What can you tell us about it?"

"Not much. Just that it's similar to a heart attack but that it won't kill me... at least not for a few more attacks, so long as I don't have them in a short period of time." Amelia said. "I just have to avoid stress, especially physical stress. That's why I didn't sign up for Action or Turbo dueling. I can only do standard. It's also why I can't take part in gym class. It's too risky.

I've gotten better though. It's been a few years between the attack I just suffered and the last one. The last one was definitely more painful and lasted longer. So, as long as I avoid another, I should be fine."

"Well, have no fear! We'll help ya every step of the way," Leander said confidently.

"If we could, I say we should get her a better room. This is no place for a young, not to mention growing, lady to live in." Joshua said. "Sadly though, the academy decides things so, there isn't much we can do there."

"I've noticed you talk a lot." Amelia said to Joshua.

"So I've heard."

Amelia laughed at this a bit.
"You all should get back to your rooms before it's too late. I'll be fine, so please, get back safety before you get in trouble." She said.

Now that Amelia mentioned it, Michelle did notice her eyes getting tired. Rubbing her eyes with a finger, she said, "You're right. We should go."

"Call us if anything happens," Leander said with a grin, raising a thumbs up. "We'll come running as fast as we can."

"Because we're friends... right?" Amelia asked.

"Oh my god, how thick are you people?" Joshua said under his breathe so the others wouldn't hear him.

"That's right!" Leander responded to Amelia's question. "And nothing's gonna stop the friendship."

"Good night, Amelia," Michelle said. "We'll see you tomorrow."

The group soon left the room, leaving Amelia to recuperate. Once they reached the point they would split, Joshua and Michelle said their farewells to Leander before continuing to the Earth Dorms. Once they were far enough away, Joshua began cracking up a bit.
"I have never, EVER, seen two people so oblivious in my life." He said, a wide grin on his face.

Michelle turned to look at Joshua with a curious look. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"Okay... first off, note, Amelia is really only relaxed around one person, and that is Leander. I understand he's, quite likely, her first friend. But, she's a growing, highly naive if I had to guess, girl who is likely developing a bit of a crush. You can see the signs already." Joshua said. "Then, Leander, is very protective of her, though whether he's such because she's his friend or the youngest among us I don't know. But, if you read between the lines, you can see signs as well."

"Either that or I'm reading way to much into it. But the idea has potential and I think Leander may end up being a very important pillar for Amelia."

Michelle looked upward, thinking back on Amelia and Leander's interactions. She blushed slightly as she started noticing the signs Joshua was talking about. She had to admit, the idea was plausible. "Wow, um, y-you think so?" 

"Oh, definitely." Joshua said before an idea for a bit of teasing came into his mind. He then looked at Michelle closely, a mischivous smile on his face. "I got to wonder though, will she fill out as well as you have?"

Michelle turned back to Joshua, her face becoming almost fully red. "W-w-what? W-what are you talking about?" Michelle asked, holding her arms close to her chest and taking a step away from Joshua from the surprise, though still sticking close.

"What, melons or grapes? Which will she have? It's not that hard a question." Joshua said, holding back a laugh. Michelle was a bit too easy to tease at times, but he never did so with will-intent. However, he suddenly frowned and looked thoughtful. "The next question is, which does Leander prefer?"

Michelle's face was now completely red at this point, unable to believe the words coming out of Joshua's mouth. "Wh-m-m-m..." Michelle trailed off, unable to form a word. "I-I wouldn't know!"

Joshua watched Michelle out of the corner of his eye and smiled, before patting her head.
"I suppose you wouldn't. I'll just have to ask him some time. Until then, I think we oughta make sure that he doesn't do anything stupid to embarrass or upset her. Like, say, picking her up princess style to carry her." He said before they reached his room. "Well, this is my stop. Take care, and sleep well."

With that, he waved good-bye before entering, leaving Michelle alone.

Michelle felt a little annoyed when Joshua pat her head, realizing that he was just toying with her. She left Joshua at his room without saying a farewell to him, muttering, "Idiot..." as she walked away.

[The Red Seelie]

Vincents Aftermath

Vincent waited until the two nuisances had left his immediate vicinity. Ignia had hit him good. It still hurt a little, the girl knew how to throw a punch that was for certain. She had fought dirty and he could respect that to a degree, he had the upperhand against her in every other way. He'll accept this little loss for now.

Vincent trod out into the hallway. He was hungry again for the thrilling taste of Victory. He knew that to be a certain factor inside his own mind, a factor that drived him to keep fighting.He was alone with his own thoughts for a while. He like to think himself as superior to the vast majority of Dark Dorm students. He couldn't seem to find anyone of equal merit just yet.

He walked into the Dark Dorm, graffti was sprayed all along the wall of the corridor with such postives messages like: Keep out, Darksworn or death along with a bunch of other completely positive messages that just helped you feel better after a long day of fighting. Vincent sighed as he walked past a pair of students dueling eachother at night no less! This was a common sight in the Dark Dorm at least when he was there, someone was always fighting someone else..It annoyed him that his room had to be situated in the furtherest recess of the dark dorm, where even security preferred to not go.

He looked at his door to his dorm his eyes glancing left and right to check the hallway. His door had already been painted on by some punk. It was labeled surprisingly accurately as 'Problem child' It seemed someone was butthurt. Vincent stepped inside his room. It had been nearly completely clean the last time he checked.

It seemed someone had played a literal heavy storm in his room. All of his possessions and clothes lay thrown out of drawers his small stack of spare cards looked like someone had gone through and neatly sorted them all, to memorise them perhaps? The one moral code in the dark dorm was the respect for the deck. You didn't just take another man or womans deck. There was nothing against winning them through duels though or writing down what your opponent owned which was probably the case here.

Vincent just shook his head and started shoving his clothes unneatly back into the drawers, leaving his cards as they were. None were missing so he didn't really care. He pulled out his deck looking at it contemplatively. He doubted anyone would go in the room if he was in it. He placed his deck down on his small stack of drawers, offloading his duel disk onto it as well.

He walked over to the door looking left and right down the hallway. Wondering if the world was going to give him anymore chance encounters. He took his toothbrush and made a small trip to the bathroom. Hygiene was a must if you wanted to smile cockily at all the idiots at the school. He brushed his teeth in another popular sight of the war between gangs. The bathroom has broken cubicle doors and a few taps refused to pour 'hot; or even cold water.

Vincent loved his new residence. The constant fighting was where he belonged. When he woke up toorrow he was going to smash some heads togather for the thrill of it. He started walking back to his room. He had left his door wide open. He cursed at his mistake, readying himself as he turned the corner and looked inside his room.Nobody was there. He was just being paranoid. He threw himself onto his hard mattress and went to sleep...

[Ammokkx]

Jack?!

Angelo growled a bit as he looked at Jack doing a 180 on his monowheel Duel Runner. He knew that the real Jack Atlas wouldn't stoop so low as to start attacking innocent students in the middle of the night, so he knew that the Jack before him was an imposter. He then told Angelo to make sure his words weren't hollow and Angelo would be damned if he would lose to him. When he saw the prompt from his Duel Runner he then activated 'Speed world Virtua' and said "I will not lose to you and I will win against you. This is going to be payback for hurting my friend!" Angelo said, before turning to Camryn. "Camryn, trust me, I wouldn't be like this if it was the real Jack, I would be asking for his advice and his tutorship in being a better turbo duelist... that's why I want to beat this imposter that much more!"

Camryn revved her Runner, eager to get dueling and put this false idol in his place. More than that, though, was just how utterly awesome this all was. Facing off against a copy of Jack Atlas, on an abandoned race track, at night? How cool was that?!

"Mistake? Mistake, my ass! Me and Angelo are gonna completely pulverize you, as preparation for when we become world-famous turbo duelists! You're nothing but a stepping stone on our paths to greatness!"

As Angelo spoke, Camryn suddenly remembered the student that had been assaulted. "Oh, and we're gonna get revenge for the girl you attacked, too. Can't forget that, of course!"

The pair of Camryn and Angelo took their spots in the racetrack as a strong pulse emitted from all three runners. The arena suddenly transformed, due to the choice of Speed World Virtua. The entire area became a mess of green lines, crossing to form black squares with a long, light road stretching out in front of the three duelists. The road extended to the sky, into a dome above the arena. "I'm afraid you're the ones who will be crushed by me! I'll answer your questions if you manage to beat me, but that will be impossible for the likes of you!"

A neon blue-and-black countdown screen was projected above the three duelists' heads, showing the number 20 slowly counting down. There was a red circle in the bottom right that slowly transformed into a yellowish colour and, eventually, a light green. By the time the countdown reacher zero, the circle had turned bright green and a loud buzz signalled the departure of the trio.

All of them had revved up their engines, but the mysterious monowheel still shot far ahead of both students. By the time Angelo and Camryn had gone up the slope, the 'King' had already turned the first corner. They looked back, grinning.

"A being as perfect as me would naturally take the first corner! So, I'll be taking the first turn!"

Meanwhiile, Camryn had managed to turn second as Angelo followed suit.

Challenging a king? Camryn and Angelo Vs. the mysterious student!

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 aftermath

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.

[Ammokkx]

Straight into the desert.

Hayato watched Haas run off and was about to tell Hayate that he was going to stand guard, but before he could say anything he saw Hayate run off after Haas. "As I expected..." Hayato mumbled and started to try and run after the duo as well, though he wasn't as used to running as his sister. Before he knew it, the duo was already out of sight. "Stand guard it is!" Hayato said to himself and took position next to the entrance, ready to ambush anyone who would try to get past him.

Meanwhile, out in the open, Hayate could see a shadow fading into a sandstorm. There was a good chance that it was Haas. Hayate instantly called out Haas's name to try and get a response, trying to confirm whether or not it was Haas. She was still running forward since she knew she was supposed to be chasing someone.

The chase continued for a short while, but as if crossing a line drawn in the sand, she stepped out of the sandstorm. Behind her it continued like normal. In front of Hayate was an old, decrepit building that towered a good bit into the sky. It resembled the main building somewhat, in fact.

Hayate scratches her head thinking to herself "Another tower, or is it the same one?" Hayate thought to herself, remembering the books at home about time travel but quickly shook the thought out of her head. "I can't run THAT fast!" Hayate looked around to check if she could see Haas or anyone else.

Meanwhile, Hayato decided to send out a message saying he was standing guard to Haas in case he starts looking for him, not that he particularly cares. It gives him some to tinker slightly, be it with just a screwdriver.

Hayato didn't get a response from Haas, and Hayate couldn't find anyone. It was hard to make out anything in the dim moonlight and there didn't seem to be anything of note other than the tower. A few minutes passed like this and while nothing happened with Hayate, Haas suddenly flew through the entrance to the Duel Tower backwards, slamming against the floor.

"Ouch, ouch...!" The boy complained, still in a daze. He rubbed his head and looked around, seeing the familiar reception of the academy. Not only that, but Hayato was still here.

"Hey, what the...? Hayato?" Haas was very confused, noticeable even in the dark from the way he's shaking his head side to side.

Hayato saw Haas fly back from the front door, surpisising even someone as alert as Hayato. It made him accidentally activate the commentary mode on his Duel Disk, which screamed "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" as loud as it could. He quickly scrambled to turn it off and hoped nobody heard it."What the hell...? Haas, what are you doing here? WHERE IS MY SISTER!?" Hayato, at first, tried to calmly ask Haas. Unfortunately, his sister came to his mind immediately after noticing she wasn't there. At least Hayato covered his mouth after screaming.

Haas jumped from Hayato's sudden outburst, jumping and holding his hands up. "W-Whoa, what?! Hayate? I don't..." Haas looked around, seeing she was indeed not there.

"Oh. Shoot." Haas exclaimed running over and trying to open the slider doors again. Unfortunately, this time they were shut tight and wouldn't open. This was bad. This was really bad.

Meanwhile, Hayate scratched her head and tried to look at her D-Ceiver. She noticed it wasn't there anymore. "Huh? I swore I took it with me... I must have dropped it. This always happens when I run like this..." Hayate said to herself and slowly entered the old building "Well, as part of the investigation group, I suppose to have no other choice than go here..." Hayate said to herself, pulling out her Blue-Eyes. "Please let everyone be safe... I don't know if I am."

As Hayate delved deeper into the old building she could notice striking similarities in layout to the main one. Even in the dim moonlight she could see the broken remains of paintings and pottery scattered about, with even a rotten desk at around the same place where the one from the main building would be located. She wandered further into the building, finding both a hatch that lead down as well as a staircase that lead up.

Hayate bravely thought to herself "What would Big bro do?" and spent a few seconds to think it over. She figured that he would go to his room, and just like that she foolishly pretended it was the real building. Hayate tried to make her way to Hayato's room, still nervous about everything that is happening while still keeping her Blue-Eyes close to her chest, hoping it would protect her. She heard stories about cards having strange powers of protecting people, like a good luck charm would.

Meanwhile, Hayato sighed and grabbed his bokken. He was hoping to try and use it like a crowbar, even taking out his screwdriver to see if he couldn't disassemble the door itself, but sadly the screws on the door didn't fit the screwdriver he was holding. "How unfortunate... what do we do in the meantime? Duel or something?" Hayato asked, pulling out a set of paper playmats that he got with the structure he started with. "Using Solid Vision would wake people up, after all."

Haas was still busy with trying to open up the door, frantically trying to find a way out into the desert. He did not like the fact Hayate might've been in trouble because of him. This fact made it all the more confusing to Haas when Hayato suggested a duel, with the boy needed a few seconds to process it.

"Hayato, the heck man?! This isn't the time, your sister could be in trouble! Help me out here," Haas asked. He yanked the bokken out of Hayato's hand to give another shot at prying it open, but the boy didn't seem to be able to pull it off alone.

Back at the old building, Hayate didn't seem to have much trouble descending down the hatch. The air was stale and the entire trip felt unsettling, barely any light present except for a faint, orange glow in the distance. Following this trail lead to a room illuminated entirely by candlelight, a circle made of chalk in the middle and creepy red stains covering the walls and floor. The room looked kind of like the gathering area in the dormitories, as it was circular and spacious.

Hayate felt a bit uncomfortable looking around the old, lonely building. She started to feel like she was truly alone, unlike at home where she got calls from her mother at times to keep her company. She slowly decided that she wanted to try and go back out, but after a short walk around she realized that she was already lost. Even though this place looked like the carbon copy of the academy, she ran out of ideas and became unsure what to do. She looped back around and sat down in the same room she found herself in earlier. Hayate was quite unnerved as she slowly thought about the chance that nobody would be able to find her, looking at her favorite card again. "I am not alone, right? You should know, you are the great and mighty Blue-eyes, right?" She asked her card but then sighed to herself. "Cards can't talk, Hayate... why are you doing this...?" Hayate put her card next to her and started to Hum Hayato's favorite Samurai Anime's theme song, trying to keep her spirits up.

Hayato took his time to check the school map, checking if there were any other exits nearby. He knew most buildings had multiples exits and started to mumble while reading the map. "No.. this is an emergency exit as well.... no perhaps.... yes, this might work... is this exit even open...? No, it will take too long..." As he started to mumble, you could almost hear him getting anxious to try and get to Hayate. It got to the point of almost breaking into a sprint towards a different exit, but he quickly stopped himself to check the map once again."Haas! Help me out here!" He shouted at Haas, then had a thought. "Wait... don't you think it's odd there is no guard at the entrance...?" Hayato observed. " You know... to prevent students from leaving or people breaking in... Heck, it's awfully silent..." Hayato commented, scratching his head while checking his surroundings

Haas was still struggling with the front door, still not budging and inch even while using the Bokken as a crowbar. After a few more minutes of pointless struggle, he gave up and stomped his foot once in frustration. He dashed over to Hayato, seeing a window just out of reach.

"I don't know... I think they didn't expect anyone to sneak past the dorm security. Anyway, you want to get out through here?" Haas asked, slightly confused. Did Hayato have some way to open or break the window? ...He wasn't going to use Haas' shoulders as a support, was he?

Meanwhile, Hayate could hear the sound of footsteps coming from one of the hallways. The dim candlelight illuminated a large, shadowy figure emerging from the building's equivalent of the Wind dorm.

"Vvvisitttooorsss attt ttthiiisss hooouuurrr? Iii'mmm hooonooorrreeeddd..."

A drawn out, unclear voice emerged from the shadow. The voice was soft, and almost like a whisper. It didn't even seem to carry to Hayate via soundwaves, it sounded more like the voice came straight from her head.

Hayate looked around once she heard something. "W-who is there!?" She almost yelled, picking up her Blue-Eyes and brandished her Duel Disk. "S-Show yourself!" Hayate called out to the empty halls, still shocked by the whole experience and shuffled her Blue-Eyes back into her deck. She also slotted her deck into her disk, just in case.

"Isss theerrreee aaan isssuuueee?" the voice replied back, the candles starting to move as if a small breeze passed through the room. An almost inaudible laugh floated around in the room, with the shadow extending one of it's arms. It was brown an muscular.

"Wwwooonnn'ttt yooouuu joooiiinnn mmmeee?" the whisper sounded again, with Hayate starting to feel a sense of urgency. Her mind was getting cloudy, starting to be filled with wanting to step into the middle of the circle.

Hayate shook her head, trying to shake those weird suggestions from her mind. "N-No, of course I don't want to! You are a creep, you know that!?" Hayate called out. "If I do, who knows what will happen?! Just stay away from me and stay out of my head!" Hayate shouted, being wary of the room she is in.

"Ooohhh, wwweeelll thaaattt'sss aaa ssshhhaaammmeee. Iii wwwaaass hooopiiinggg for liiittttle resssissstanccceee..."

From out of the shadow stepped a burly man, face covered by a strange mask. His green hair spiked to all sides and two strange metal spikes portruded from his shoulders. On those spikes hung a cape twice the length of the man, causing him to hold part of it in his left hand. A golden belt held up his jeans, which also had a part that extended to the left spike and seemed firmly attached.

"Well, if you won't give me your essence by nicely asking, I'll just have to duel you right?" The voice now clearly came from the man and wasn't as drawn out, him lifting up his right arm to beckon Hayate closer. She got the feeling that she didn't have much of a choice in the matter.

"A duel it is then, you monster!" Hayate called out, "Challenger goes second!" Hayate declared.

"Aaah... 'monster' is such a strong word. Call me... Zorc."

Duel! Hayato Vs... Zorc?!

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

Meanwhile...

"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.

Duel! Hayate Vs. Zorc, part two!

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."

Meanwhile...

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.

Part 3! Faced with these odds...

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

WINNER: HAYATE!

The aftermath

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.