Chapter 6: Countdown to Zero
Things had gotten even stranger for Leo. There he was, standing in the middle of a forest at dusk, about to duel his least favorite teacher, who seemed to be working for a sinister force. After drawing five cards, the life points of both duelists were set to 4000 and the duel began.
"I'll go first!" Leo announced as he drew his first card.
Leo thought that his hand looked promising. He already had Morphtronic Videon and an Equip card. Leo decided that against Mrs. Kretch he should play it safe during his first turn.
"I summon Morphtronic Clocken in Defense Mode!" Leo announced as he placed the first card in his duel disk.
A large white digital alarm clock appeared on the field in front of Leo.
Next I place one Morph Counter on Morphtronic Clocken and end my turn!" Leo announced.
The time on the alarm clock's face changed from 0:00 to 1:00.
"My turn!" Mrs. Kretch announced as she drew her first card.
An evil smile appeared on Mrs. Kretch's face as she looked at her first card.
"I'm guessing that were planning to increase the attack power of your monster, correct?" Mrs. Kretch asked. "Or perhaps you were planning to remove the counters from your monster to inflict burn damage to my life points? Well, whatever your plan is, it won't work."
"First I shall activate Future Fusion!" Mrs. Kretch announced.
A card depicting a ray of light shooting into the sky behind a line of skyscrapers appeared on Mrs. Kretch's side of the field. Leo knew that Mrs. Kretch was attempting to summon a Fusion monster of some kind.
"Future Fusion allows me to summon a Fusion monster by sending the cards listed as Fusion Materials for the monster in question from my deck to the Graveyard!" Mrs. Kretch explained. "So I send fourteen different Reptile-Type Worm monsters to my Graveyard to summon Worm Zero!"
Mrs. Kretch removed the deck from her duel disk and removed fourteen cards, which she than placed in the Graveyard slot of her duel disk. A bright ray of light shot into the sky from the Future Fusion card.
"Worm Zero won't appear until the Standby Phase of my second turn." Mrs. Kretch said with an evil grin. "So why don't we have some fun until then?"
Leo was filled with a sense of dread. He didn't think that he would like Mrs. Kretch's idea of fun.
"I summon Worm Tentacles in Attack Mode!" Mrs. Kretch announced.
A large yellow octopus-like creature with scaly skin appeared on the field in from of Mrs. Kretch. Leo saw that Worm Tentacles had 1700 ATK, making it a lot stronger than Morphtronic Clocken.
"Next I shall activate the effect of Worm Tentacles!" Mrs. Kretch announced. "By removing from play one Worm monster in my Graveyard, Worm Tentacles can attack twice this turn! So I remove Worm Apocalypse from my Graveyard to cover the cost!"
A card popped out of the Graveyard slot on Mrs. Kretch's duel disk.
"Now Worm Tentacles! Attack Morphtronic Cloken!" Mrs. Kretch commanded. "Tendril Slash!"
The reptilian octopus launched one of its yellow tentacles across the field and slashed Clocken across its clock face. The white alarm clock exploded, leaving only smoke.
"I'm not finished with you yet young man!" Mrs. Kretch said as the evil grin on her face got larger.
"Worm Tentacles, attack directly!" Mrs. Kretch commanded. "Tendril Slash!"
Another tentacle whipped across the field and slashed Leo across the stomach. Leo cried out in pain. He actually felt like he'd been cut open by a real monster. Leo looked at his stomach. There was no wound, no blood, but the attack felt real to him. Mrs. Kretch cackled in delight. The attack had reduced Leo's life points from 4000 to 2300.
"H-how did you do that?" Leo asked in shock.
"You shouldn't be so surprised young man." Mrs. Kretch said with an evil grin. "You've witnessed your friend, Ms. Aki Izayoi use a similar power. In fact, I believe that you experienced this type of power first hand from Ms. Izayoi's former master, Sayer."
Leo was surprised by what Mrs. Kretch had said. He had never mentioned any of that stuff to Mrs. Kretch, or anyone else at the London Duel Academy.
"How do you know all that?" Leo asked.
Mrs. Kretch cackled again.
"We have been watching you and your friends from Team 5D's for quite some time." The evil teacher responded.
"We?" Leo asked confused. "Who are you really Mrs. Kretched?"
Mrs. Kretch began to cackle even louder.
"Haven't you figured it out young man?" Mrs. Kretch asked with a sinister delight. "I'm not human!"
A chill went down Leo's spine. He had sometimes thought that Mrs. Kretch wasn't human, but he actually believed it.
"I-if you aren't human, than what are you?" Leo asked with a hint of fear in his voice.
"I am a specially engineered scout sent to observe your species." Mrs. Kretch answered.
"What do mean?" Leo asked confused.
"To put it simply, I'm what you humans called a space alien." Mrs. Kretch answered bluntly.
"An alien?!" Leo asked in surprise. "Than that meteor from four nights ago, was that your ship or something?"
Mrs. Kretch chuckled.
"You are quite correct young man." Mrs. Kretch answered. "What you and your people have been calling a meteor is actually the ship that our leader has come on."
Leo couldn't believe what he was hearing. His homeroom teacher was actually an advanced scout for an alien invasion force. Suddenly, one question began to burn in Leo's mind.
"Tell me where my sister is!" Leo demanded.
"As I told you before, she is with our leader, the Grand High Intellect." Mrs. Kretch explained. "And it seems that our leader has taken an interest in her."
Leo clenched his right fist in rage.
"Let her go!" Leo shouted.
Mrs Kretch cackled again in delight at seeing Leo's rage and helplessness.
"I believe we were in the middle of a duel." Mrs. Kretch reminded Leo. "I shall set on card on the field and end my turn!"
Leo was filled with rage and frustration. Somewhere at that moment, Luna was being tormented by some kind of horrible alien and there was nothing he could do about it. Than suddenly a voice of reason from the back of his head began to speak. Mrs. Kretch was right. They were in the middle of a duel, and if Leo wanted to save Luna, he had to win.
"My turn!" Leo announced.
Leo didn't really know that much about the monster Mrs. Kretch was trying to summon with Future Fusion, but he knew that it had to be powerful if Mrs. Kretch was willing to send a big chunk of her deck to the Graveyard to summon it. Leo also knew that if he got rid of Future Fusion, the monster wouldn't be summoned. Leo looked at the card he just drew and found that it was just the card that he needed.
"I activate Mystical Space Typhoon!" Leo announced. "This card allows me to destroy one Spell or Trap card on the field! So I choose to destroy Future Fusion!"
A giant twister appeared around the Future Fusion card.
"Not so fast young man!" Mrs. Kretch shouted. "I activate my Trap, Magic Jammer! By discarding one card in my hand, I can negate the effect of your Spell card and destroy it!"
The twister disappeared, leaving the Future Fusion card untouched.
"I knew that you would try to prevent me from summoning Worm Zero." Mrs. Kretch explained.
Leo gritted his teeth in frustration. Than he took a deep breath and looked at the rest of his hand. Leo didn't have any other cards that could take out Future Fusion, but he did have cards that could take out Worm Tentacles.
"I summon Morphtronic Videon in Attack Mode!" Leo announced.
A large digital camera appeared on the field and unfolded into a robot.
"Next I equip Morphtronic Videon with Break! Draw!" Leo announced. "Now Videon gains 800 ATK thanks to its effect!"
A card depicting a warrior standing over a slain dragon appeared behind Videon.
"Videon, attack Worm Zero!" Leo commanded. "Lens Laser!"
A beam of light shot from the top of Videon's head and shattered Worm Tentacles into triangles of golden light. Mrs. Kretch's life points dropped to 3900.
"Now because Videon destroyed a monster, I get to draw a card with the effect of Break! Draw!" Leo explained as he drew a new card.
Leo looked at the card he just drew. The card was Morphtransition, which Leo knew that he would need if he couldn't destroy Future Fusion in time.
"I set one card on the field and end my turn!" Leo announced.
"My turn!" Mrs. Kretch announced.
"There's only one turn left until Worm Zero appears." Mrs. Kretch explained. "So I think that I'll just set one more card face-down on the field and end my turn!"
Leo was a bit confused. He asked himself why Mrs. Kretch didn't play a monster. Then Leo realized that it was probably because Mrs. Kretch didn't have any monsters in her hand. She had sent most of her monsters to the Graveyard to summon Worm Zero. For what ever the reason though, Mrs. Kretch was wide open.
"My turn!" Leo announced.
"First I summon Morphtronic Boomboxen in Attack Mode!" Leo announced.
A red boom box appeared on the field and unfolded into a robot.
"Now, Morphtronic Videon, attack Mrs. Kretch directly!" Leo commanded. "Lens Laser!"
Videon shot another laser beam from its head. Mrs. Kretch smiled.
"I'm afraid not young man!" Mrs. Kretch announced. "I activate the Trap, Magic Cylinder! Now your attack gets redirected back to you!"
Two large purple tubes appeared in the air in front of Mrs. Kretch. Videon's laser beam went into the left tube, and shot back out of the right tube and hit Leo. Leo cried out in pain as the beam hit him, knocking him to the ground. The strike had reduced Leo's life points to 500. Mrs. Kretch cackled as Leo slowly got back on his feet.
"Honestly young man. You really need to pay closer attention to the opponent's field." Mrs. Kretch taunted. "How do you expect to save your dear sister if you make foolish moves like that?"
Leo coughed a bit as he finished standing up. He couldn't believe that he had acted so quickly. Still he still had a couple more attacks.
"Morphtronic Boomboxen, attack Mrs. Kretch!" Leo commanded. "Sound Wave Burst!"
Boomboxen sent out a wave of sound that hit Mrs. Kretch, dropping her life points to 2700. Leo saw that Mrs. Kretch looked unfazed.
"I barely felt a thing." Mrs. Kretch said with an evil smile.
"Than feel this!" Leo shouted.
"Boomboxen, attack Mrs. Kretch again!" Leo commanded. "Sound Wave Burst!"
The boom box robot hit Mrs. Kretch with another sonic wave, dropping her life points to 1500. Again, Mrs. Ktretch only stood there with an evil smile.
"Are you quite finished yet young man?" Mrs. Kretch asked.
Leo gritted his teeth in frustration. It was fair that he felt the damage he took from attacks and Mrs. Kretch didn't. It was just like when he, Luna, and Jack Atlas dueled the evil android from the future, Aporia, when he still lived in Neo Domino.
"I end my turn!" Leo reluctantly announced.
"Than it's my turn!" Mrs. Kretch announced.
Suddenly, a beam of white light shot up into the sky from the Future Fusion card. Mrs. Kretch began to cackle.
"The time has come!" Mrs. Kretch announced, throwing her arms up into the air. "Worm Zero is about to arrive!"
The beam of light stopped. Suddenly a black vortex appeared in the sky above Mrs. Kretch. Than it vanished, revealing only the moon. Leo was confused. Where was the monster that Mrs. Kretch had summoned. Suddenly, Leo realized that the moon was behind him, and a lot smaller than what was above Mrs. Kretch. Leo took a second look at the second moon. He saw that the shadows on its surface formed the face of a skull. Leo realized that the other moon was none other than Worm Zero.
"Worm Zero's ATK is equal to the number of Fusion Materials used to summon it times 500!" Mrs. Kretch announced with an insane grin on her face. "That means that Worm Zero's ATK is 7000!"
Leo began to tremble in fear. There wasn't any monster in his deck that could match a 7000 ATK point monster.
"You're finished young man!" Mrs. Kretch shouted as she pointed at Leo. "Once Worm Zero attacks, you are doomed!"
