In the hotel room, Alice packed Yurik’s bag as he continued to sit on the edge of the bed in despair. Walt and Kieran sat around the desk in front of Walt’s iPad D, where Mary was on the screen with a horrified expression on her face.
“What?” she gasped. “Someone’s after the ponies?”
“Yeah,” said Walt. “He… or I should say, it’s from Equestria, and he’s already gotten Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity.”
“Oh my god. What should we do.”
“Until we get back to Chicago,” said Kieran, “nothing. This is what you’ll need to do. You remember how to drive to the factory, right?”
“Yeah?”
“You will need to pick up Applejack and Pinkie Pie from Yurik and Walt’s house. Walt had already informed them of what had happened and should be ready. Once we’re done talking, I will call the headquarters and allow them to let you in. But the second we’re done talking, I need you to do this. The lives of those other three ponies depends on it.”
Mary looked flustered and put upon, but looking at Spike nervously pacing the room behind Walt and Kieran made her face become furiously determined in nature.
“Alright,” she said. “I’ll do it. How long will it be before you get there?”
“It’s around nearly midnight where we are. With time zone differences, we expect to be back closer to after 3 in the morning central time.”
“What should I do before then?”
“Whatever you can to make the ponies feel safe. Teach them to play duel monsters, have them take a nap, whatever can calm their nerves about what is happening here.”
“Okay. Just please get home safely.”
“We will Mary,” spoke Walt, stepping into frame, “but we’re going to need to leave soon.”
“Okay, then. Bye Walt. Please tell him that Mary misses him too.”
“I definitely will. Bye, Mary.”
“Bye, Walt.”
Walt powered off his tablet and slipped it into his bag beside the desk. Kieran stood back up and turned to Alice and Yurik.
“Everyone,” he instructed. “We’re leaving now.”
“We can’t,” moaned Yurik, gaining everyone’s attention. “We have to get Twilight and the others back.”
“Yurik,” shouted Alice, “they’re gone from here. We’ll track Keifer down sometime else, but we need to get back to headquarters.”
“I can’t do it without Twilight…”
Spike nervously twiddled his claws as Yurik refused to yield. In anger, Walt growled and thrust his face right in front of Yurik’s.
“Listen, you miserable dick,” he spat, “Mary is trying to take Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy to safety at the Guardiaboliques headquarters.
Yurik suddenly shot up, his eyes open as wide as his face could allow.
“What?” he shouted.
“Yeah,” pressed Walt, “she’s doing her best to keep the ponies safe and you’re sitting here moping. What do you think is going to happen to her while you’re sitting her being sad and pathetic?”
Yurik’s eyes trembled as he imagined the look of terror on Mary’s face, as well as the faces of the ponies, as Keifer delivered the final blow on her with his dragon monster and took them away.
“I’m sorry!” shouted Yurik, springing to his feet and sprinting out the door. “Come on!”
Kieran huffed disappointedly as he picked up his and Yurik’s bag and ran out to follow him. With their own belongings in tow, Walt, Alice, and Spike too ran out to follow Yurik and Kieran as they quickly made their way out.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Twilight fluttered her eyes open only to see and endless void of black. Her eyes shut and opened faster, unsure of what or where her surroundings were. Carefully getting to her feet, she panted frantically as she turned her body to scan the area. She suddenly found the bodies of both Rainbow Dash and Twilight as they were getting up themselves.
“Girls!” she shouted. “Girls, wake up!”
Hearing Twilight’s voice, they all shot up, only to find themselves extremely disoriented at the endless expanse of pure black they found themselves in.
“Whoa,” Rainbow Dash sighed with slight awe. “Where are we?”
Twilight suddenly gaining an idea of their location and their captor, grew an angry scowl on her face.
“Keifer!” she screamed. “Show yourself!”
As the three ponies looked in a single direction at the same time, a whooshing sound directly behind them made them jerk around. They saw as Keifer stood out of a fall-cushioning kneel, facing each of the ponies with fierce sternness, greatly frightening Rarity.
“Keifer!” demanded Twilight. “Let us go? Do you have any idea what Princess Celestia will do to you once she finds out what you’ve done to us?”
“Princess Celestia cannot save you now,” he merely responded, “and she is not the one I will be returning you to.”
“What?” gasped Rarity. “Then who?”
“You might meet them soon enough.”
“Show us,” yelled Rainbow Dash, “so I can kick their sorry ass to the moon and back!”
“You seem to have learned a bit from the humans,” he responded, leaning forwards with his claw reaching for her face, “and it seems to have affected your tongue!”
As he tried to put his hand in and pinch her tongue, Rainbow Dash leaned forwards and attempted to bite him, only for Keifer’s hand to pull away. With a sneer, he wound his arm in and backhanded Rainbow Dash across the cheek. Twilight and Rarity gasped as their friend toppled to the ground from the shock.
“Rainbow!” they both screamed.
As Twilight and Rarity ran to their friend’s side and examined her, Twilight noticed that her wings were shut tight as she relieved the pain through her tensed muscles. She then felt her horn about with her hoof, only to find the ring still placed upon it.
“I decided to restore mobility of her wings because she has nowhere to fly,” said Keifer. “While I’m in here with you, I do not want to deal with your magic. I got lucky in Vienna thanks to your distraction to my transformation. Now, you’re exactly where I want you to be for now.”
“Who are you working for?” cried Twilight. “What do you want from us?”
“What my master wants doesn’t concern me,” he responded, turning his back to her. “However, you will be my ticket to returning what’s left of the family your princess has stolen from me.”
Twilight’s mouth opened and her eyes went wide, just as Rainbow Dash managed to stand back on her four hooves, enraged.
“Celestia?” asked Twilight. “Wait, what does Princess Celestia have to do with you?”
“I must help my master find the others,” he said, his wings beginning to glow red. “You will stay here until then.”
“Wait!” called Rainbow Dash, shooting towards Keifer with buzzing wings.
Before she could collide with the dragon, Keifer’s body was taken up by a slender pillar of fire that disappeared into the void.
“Come back!” she exclaimed.
As she flew up to the pillar’s direction, she didn’t make it fifteen feet as her face collided with an invisible ceiling that sent her crashing back to the ground. Rainbow Dash stood back up and rubbed her pain-racked head. Rarity tended to her hurt friend while Twilight stared up at the void in both disbelief and confusion, her mind riddled with questions.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Kieran’s black van sped into the garage of the abandoned factory late in the Chicago night. Inside, Yurik had his fingers wrapped firmly around the handle to the door he sat beside, waiting nervously for the vehicle to finally come to a stop.
With a screech of the brakes, the van halted beside a lit metal door with Marcus standing beside it. Both Yurik and Kieran opened their doors at the same time. Kieran walked briskly towards his associate while Yurik ran towards the door, Alice, Walt, and Spike quickly following him out.
“Where are they?” asked Kieran.
“Should be in the rec room,” Marcus answered to the best of his ability.
“Thanks,” panted Yurik, speeding past Marcus and running through the halls.
Marcus couldn’t help but look concerned for Yurik as he and his friends went after him. Kieran slowly approached Marcus, gaining his attention.
“How what exactly are we up against, Kieran?” asked Marcus.
“Follow me,” said Kieran stepping inside the doorway. “I’ll explain everything as best I can.”
“What’s that mean?”
Kieran stopped and turned to Marcus with an expectant squint in his eye.
“Yurik was the one who faced this duelist. He’s still delirious of the loss of his friends, but Walt served as a witness. Again, I’ll try to explain based on what he was able to tell me.”
With a dejected breath through his nose, Marcus stepped inside, allowing both men to make their way to the rec room as Kieran explained the situation.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Donald watched over Mary and Fluttershy as the latter cuddled onto the former in fear for her friends’ lives. Pinkie Pie circled around the room in a controlled circle, almost as if she was chasing her tail. Applejack merely lied on the couch, her eyes forcing themselves closed as she tried to get some sleep.
“I can’t stand it!” Pinkie Pie shrieked, making Mary, Applejack, and Fluttershy jump. “Are they here yet?”
At that very second, Yurik burst through the door, stopping to see Mary turning from the couch to see his face. Yurik froze and stared out blankly as a beaming Pinkie Pie leapt onto him and gave him a massive hug.
“Yurik!” she cried. “You’re back!”
Just then, Spike, Alice, and Walt ran in too, the faces of the ponies brightening up upon seeing their baby dragon friend once again. Pinkie Pie separated from Yurik and left him standing in his zombified state.
“Spike!” shouted Applejack.
“Girls!” Spike exclaimed as Pinkie Pie wrapped her arms around him. “You’re all okay!”
As Fluttershy and Applejack joined in the reunion, Mary walked up to Yurik and felt haunted at his thousand-yard stare.
“Yurik?” she asked. “Are you okay?”
Snapping out of his trance, Yurik jerked his head away from Mary and bury his face in his hands.
“Yurik,” Mary said, reaching out to him.
“I’m sorry!” he wept. “I lost them, and it’s all my fault.”
Mary shuddered nervously as Yurik fell to his knees, continuing to wet his hands with his tears. The ponies and Spike broke out of their embrace and turned to see Yurik, their moods suddenly dampened by his appearance.
“So,” Donald said, stepping up beside Mary and looking down at Yurik, “what exactly are we dealing with?”
“A dragon,” said Walt, walking to the three of them. “It sounds crazy, I know, but it’s the truth. He comes from Equestria, and he has a whole bunch of powers that allowed him to take Twilight, Rainbow Dash, as well as the unicorn, Rarity from us.”
As badly as he wanted to argue the insanity of Walt’s claim, Donald’s face didn’t change, reading truth all over his eyes.
“What kind of powers did he have?” asked Donald.
“He was able to make these rings over Twilight and Rarity’s horns that kept them from using magic. He then used some kind of spell that paralyzed Rainbow Dash’s wings. He can also transform into a human at will and teleport away.”
“And Yurik can attest to this as well?”
“In all honesty…”
Walt turned back to look at his miserable friend as he continued to sob.
“…I think it will be a while before he can attest to anything.”
“I see,” Donald responded. “And he was defeated in a duel?”
“Yes.”
“What kind of deck did the dragon–”
“Keifer.”
Donald scowled slightly at the interruption.
“…Keifer have?”
“They’re called Dragmas. I’ve never seen them before. They’re FIRE attribute dragon-type monsters with flip effects. They’re spearheaded by an ace: Obsidian-Eyes Magmal Dragon. It can’t be attacked while the owner controls a face down monster, its flip effect allows it to destroy a monster, and it’s pendulum effect allows Keifer to pendulum summon monsters face down.”
Donald typed laboriously at his iPad D, his brows raised in perplexity.
“Walt,” he said, “I hate to break it to you, but there’s no such decks as Dragma, or cards called Obsidian-Eyes Magmal Dragon. I’m looking at the largest online card databases and nothing like what you described exists.”
“Check Yurik’s iPad,” Walt pressed. “It’s probably on his dueling history.”
Donald glowered again, knowing he’d have to continue investigating despite the outrageousness of it all.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Yurik’s iPad was plugged into the port of a large keyboard and control board a large screen at the top center. Yurik sat in the back of the room, still traumatized, while Kieran and Walt stood above Donald as he scanned through the step-by-step presentation on the duel, showing cards on a field and arrows pointing towards them where attacks and effects were targeting.
Alice, Marcus, the ponies, and Spike awaited the news while Donald looked even more confused, noting that the cards were just like Walt had claimed. Clicking on the Magmal Dragon card, he read it and examined the card’s art, looking upon it like an alien object.
“This is incredible,” Donald said. “This card really does exist.”
He swiveled around in his chair to face Walt.
“You said this dragon is from Equestria, right?” he asked.
“Yeah,” responded Walt.
“You don’t think that they even have Duel Monsters in Equestria, do you?”
“I don’t believe so. Twilight herself was even unsure how he knew this game. I wouldn’t mistrust her with knowing something, and I’m certain she’d know if there was Duel Monsters in Equestria.”
Marcus stepped forwards and looked to Kieran.
“So what are we supposed to do?” he asked. “We have another magical being after the ponies and he uses a deck that doesn’t even exist in this world. How are we supposed to combat that?”
“Simple,” Kieran responded. “We lure him to us.”
Yurik shot his head up and gasped.
“What?” everyone else shouted.
“This Keifer has stacked the odds against us,” explained Kieran. “He can appear and disappear where he wants at will, and he has now taken away our magic-wielding ponies. It will only be a matter of time before he finds us, and the longer that Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity are in his custody, the more in danger they are. We need to bring him here, and take back the ponies he took from us.”
“That’s just it,” said Walt, “Keifer has the ponies in his possession, but you can’t expect him to bring them with in case he’d defeated. Otherwise, he’d just lose all of them once we return them to Princess Celestia.
“If he’s smart, he’ll keep Twilight and the others somewhere safe while he comes after us. That way, if he loses to any of us, he still has Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity, and he can keep coming back until we eventually lose Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy.”
Kieran stared at Walt, silently taking in his logic.
“That’s a very wise observation,” Kieran said, “which means that we’ll need to find some way to lure him to us with Twilight and the other two ponies in tow.”
“And do you have any ideas?” asked Mary.
“As a matter of fact,” he said, “I do. In fact, there’s one idea of mine that I have full confidence of success in. However, in order for this to work, we’ll need to be in optimal fighting condition. Everyone, go off and train well. The return of these ponies will depend on what happens within these next few hours.”
Yurik shuddered at Kieran’s suggestion, and as he began to walk to the exit, Yurik tried to follow.
“Wait,” Yurik said, “you can’t!”
Kieran wouldn’t listen, the doors shutting behind him as he went off. Yurik managed to slip through, only to watch as Kieran kept walking away.
“Hey!” he shouted. “I’m talking to–”
A hand upon his shoulder stopped him, and once he turned around, he looked into Walt’s sternly serious face as the ponies, humans, and Spike scrambled into the hallway.
“You heard him,” Walt said, “we all have to prepare for him again.”
“Well, forget it!” Yurik said, roughly brushing Walt’s hand off. “I couldn’t beat him, and I probably won’t again.”
“That’s why we’re practicing,” argued Marcus. “We all need to prepare for him if we want to have any chance of defeating him.”
“Yeah? And while we do that, he’s going to practice every strategy that he learned from dueling me against me. We don’t know if this guy has fusion monsters, synchros, xyz monsters, and I just know he’ll bring those out against us next. I expended a lot of my deck just to try and beat him, and it still didn’t work.”
“Yurik,” yelled Walt, “you would have won that duel had it not been for that one play.”
“But I didn’t, and now Twilight, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash are now his.”
Walt growled, his fists clenched in futile rage.
“So what?” asked Alice. “You’re just going to sit here and hide?”
“I don’t want to lose more of them!” Yurik yelled back.
“Then fight back!” Mary responded. “The Yurik I know wouldn’t let a loss get to him like this.”
“I’ve never experienced a loss like this. You try and fight him, and you’ll experience the same loss; watching as Fluttershy is torn from your grasp kicking and screaming while you’re too weak to help her.”
Applejack watched as this statement shook both Mary and Fluttershy with fear, making her scowl harder.
“We’ll be taken regardless if we do nothing, Yurik!” she protested. “Sooner or later, he’ll take us, unless we fight back.”
“We can’t! I’ve only dueled him once and lost to him, and you’re already planning on gambling yourselves away to that dragon.”
“That’s what friends do for each other. How do you think Twilight would react if she knew that we were taken away because you were being nothing but a rotten coward?”
Pinkie Pie gasped long and hard, blown away by Applejack’s words.
“Oh no you didn’t!” she hissed with dumbfounded shock.
“Yeah,” growled Yurik, stamping up to Applejack, “she did.”
Yurik reached forwards at Applejack, who looked prepared to fight him, only for a hand to tightly grip his wrist. With a second arm pushing his stomach, sending Yurik back, Alice stepped in between him and the ponies with a deathly serious look in her eyes.
“Don’t you dare take your frustration out on them,” Alice demanded. “Instead, take it out on the one who’s holding your friends captive!”
Yurik seethed through his mouth as he tried to think of something to respond back with.
“You’re one of the best duelists among us, Yurik,” she continued. “We need you by our side, or we will lose!”
“What makes you think that?” he barked back. “I lost to Keifer on a stupid mistake. I can’t beat him!”
“Listen to yourself! You beat Kieran, Walt, Twilight, and even Orpheus, so don’t tell me that you can’t beat him too!”
“We beat Orpheus! Without you, we would have lost that duel. Hell, you inflicted more damage to him that duel than I did. If anything, you’re the strongest duelist here.”
“You really think that? I wasn’t given a card that summoned an entire planet outside of ours. You were. You were the one entrusted with that power. That card is a representation of your friend Twilight, and if you won’t use it to fight for her rescue, then I will.”
Alice began to walk towards Yurik, making him back up apprehensively.
“Wha…” he stammered. “What are you do–”
Before he could react, Alice grabbed him by the wrist and twisted it around. As Yurik yelped in pain, she maneuvered behind him and put both his arms in a lock.
“If you’re not going to duel Keifer,” she said, “I will, and I’m going to use your Twilight Alicorn card to do it. Now, let’s go.”
Walt and Mary stood with their backs to the doorways, prompting Marcus, Donald, the ponies, and Walt to do the same, allowing room for Alice and Yurik as she shoved the struggling Yurik forwards.
“Let me go!” he shouted. “Don’t touch my damned cards!”
“Marcus,” she calmly asked, passing him, “please go to the van and mine and Yurik’s bags. His is the black one.”
“Yes, ma’am” he said, slipping around them and running down the hallways.
The ponies and Spike looked both befuddled and scared as Alice continued leading Yurik down the halls.
“What do we do now?” asked Fluttershy.
“I think we should follow her,” said Walt. “Something tells me that Alice is going to whip Yurik’s ass back into shape.”
Walt began to walk the same path as Yurik and Alice, leaving everyone only a few seconds to register what he had said before they too went close behind.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
The doors to the dueling room opened, Yurik continuing his struggle against Alice as they both walked in. Walt, Mary, Donald, the ponies, and Spike poured in just as the door began to close. Alice threw Yurik out, the disorientation of being free from his bind making him stumble and fall to his side.
“What…” groaned Yurik as he stood himself up. “What are we doing here?”
“I’m going to prove to you that you’re not as weak as you’re claiming yourself to be,” she said.
The door to the dueling room opened back up, revealing Marcus with two backpacks in his hand, one green and one black. As he approached Alice, he tossed the green one to her, then knelt down and slid the black one all the way to Yurik.
“What’s this?” asked Yurik, watching as Alice pulled her duel disk from her bag and dropped the latter to the floor.
“You’re dueling me is what this is,” she said, affixing the duel disk upon her arm as it clamped itself on. “If you’re so hellbent on believing that I’m a stronger duelist than me, I want you to prove yourself wrong.”
“And what’s that supposed to prove? I can just forfeit the duel or lose on purpose!”
“In which case,” she added, pulling her blade disk from the side of her machine, “you will hand over your deck and your Twilight Alicorn card so that I can use it them against Keifer for the sake of your so-called friends.”
Yurik quickly pushed his backpack behind him with the back of his foot, widening his stance into a more defensive one. Applejack looked amazed at Alice as she continued to drive Yurik into a groveling submission.
“This isn’t optional!” called Alice. “You have sixty seconds to put your duel disk on and accept my challenge, or I will rule it a forfeit and take what’s deserved for those that fight!”
“You won’t!” howled Yurik.
“You have fifty seconds now, Yurik! Seconds that will only bring Keifer here faster.”
Yurik stared into Alice’s eyes, hoping to shatter any kind of tough façade she was masking herself with. Walt and the ponies, glanced back and forth, unsure which one would yield first. With a finalistic growl and a clench of his hands, Yurik put the tip of his shoe at the shoulder strap of his bag and kicked it forwards, making Alice smirk with slight victory.
In quick, split-second motions, Yurik bent down, stood back up with his duel disk grasped in his hand, slammed it on his left forearm, and pulled the blade disk off as the clasp went around the arm. Yurik breathed heavily in apprehension of what he was about to do, but Alice’s eyes refused to let up.
“Alice…” Yurik said. “I accept your challenge. And if I win, I–”
“If you win,” Alice butted in, “you will have proven yourself the better duelist of anyone in this room. However, if you do manage to win, I’ll leave what you do from there up to you.”
The ponies, Spike, and even Yurik gasped at this insane wager.
“Alice,” exclaimed Applejack, “if he wins, he can just elect to not–”
“I accept these terms!” shouted Yurik the slightest of smiles on his face. “Now, let’s begin!”
At the same time, Yurik and Alice forcefully threw their blade disks out. The spectators gathered to the left of the room as the circular machines made their ways around their opponents. The disks returned and stopped alongside their duel disks, causing the blades of light to shoot out from both sides and take form. At once, the decks inside both of their slots shuffled up.
“Connection complete,” a computerized voice stated as the decks were finished. “Yurik Clayer vs. Alice Ross. Draw.”
Both players drew five cards into their hands as the ponies looked on fearfully.
“Alice,” muttered Applejack, “what were ya’ thinkin’? If Yurik wins, he’ll just–”
“No,” interrupted Walt, surprising her. “Alice knows what she’s doing. If we can’t talk his dueling spirit out of him, Alice will just have to do it by force now.”
“You don’t mean…”
“Yes. I’m certain this duel, one way or another, will restore his fighting spirit.”
Applejack turned back to the field where Yurik and Alice were just about ready to begin.
“Don’t show me anything less than your best,” Alice demanded.
“Fine,” scoffed Yurik. “If you’re that desperate, then let’s go!”
“DUEL!” they both cried out.
================
Yurik:
LP: 4000
Alice:
LP: 4000
================
“I’ll take the first turn!” shouted Alice, grabbing a single card in her hand. “I set one monster face down!”
Alice slapped the card onto her left blade with the backside facing up and the card turned to the left. A similar enlarged image appeared on the ground before her.
“I end my turn,” she said.
Status: Hand: 4 Life: 4000 Monsters: 1 Pendulum Cards: 0 Pendulum Scale: – Spells/Traps: 0
“What?” Spike, Applejack, and Fluttershy shouted.
“She only sets one monster to defend herself?” asked Spike.
“Don’t be so fooled,” Donald replied. “There’s a lot more that goes on with Alice’s strategies as small as they appear. Just look at Yurik’s face.”
Applejack did just that, seeing the grimness of his expression in the face of such a nearly barren field.
“If there’s anyone else who knows her deck and playing style better than anyone else,” Donald added, “it’s Yurik or Walt. He knows Alice has something planned, and he’s going to prepare for it.”
Yurik glanced down at Alice’s monster as well as he formulated his plan.
She set one card to defend herself, he mused. Just like when I dueled Keifer. Is she trying to… no. I won’t fall for it!
“My turn!” yelled Yurik, his hands upon his deck. “Draw!”
Yurik glanced at his card, keeping it in his right hand as he grabbed another card. Alice let out a relaxed smirk, knowing what was to come.
That’s it, Yurik, she thought. Fight back!
He then revealed both cards to his opponent, two pendulum monsters among them.
“I set the pendulum scale with the scale 3 Unioncorn of Fire and scale 6 Twilight Alicorn!” he declared.
Alice gasped as she was able to clearly see Twilight Alicorn hidden behind.
“What?” she exclaimed. “He’s placing his Twilight Alicorn in the pendulum zone?”
Yurik threw both cards onto his pendulum zones, allowing two blue pillars to form on both sides of his field. From inside of them, Yurik’s yellow unicorn with the fire mane and tail as well as the lavender colored alicorn rose from the ground on his left and right, respectively, standing in preparation for Yurik’s next move. A bright 3 and 6 rose over Yurik’s monsters, as well as the large, multi-pronged star.
Unioncorn of Fire
Pendulum Scale: 3
Twilight Alicorn:
Pendulum Scale: 6
“I can now summon monsters from my hand whose levels are 4 and 5,” he explained. “Pendulum summon!”
Yurik took out two more cards from his hand and placed each of them on the innermost zones of both of his blades. A red portal formed below the star, causing two purple auras to shoot out of it and strike the ground, throwing debris and dust everywhere.
When the cloud settled, two monsters were standing in front of Yurik. One was a white stallion unicorn, the other a white pegasus mare. Each of them were dressed in deep-blue, star adorned robes and a matching pointed cloth hat with the tip tilting to the front.
“Appear!” Yurik commanded. “Unioncorn Magician! Pegassist Magician!”
Both monsters stood stoically still as they awaited for Yurik’s command.
Unioncorn Magician
ATK: 2100
Lvl.: 5
Pegassist Magician
ATK: 2000
Lvl.: 5
Walt and the ponies were in awe as they looked upon his never-before-seen monsters.
“Those guys are new,” commented Pinkie Pie.
“And they’re both level 5,” said Spike. “Does this mean he’s going to xyz summon?”
“Not yet,” said Walt. “Yurik usually likes to attack first while he has multiple monsters before he xyz summons.”
“I get it. He’ll attack and destroy Alice’s monster with one monster and attack directly with the second. That’s awesome! Good job, Yurik!”
Despite the dragon’s praise, Yurik kept his eyes on Alice and didn’t waver his expression.
“The effect of Unioncorn of Fire in my pendulum zone now activates!” shouted Yurik. “This card inflicts 100 points of damage for the total levels of pendulum monsters pendulum summoned this turn. Unioncorn Magician is a pendulum monster, and it’s level is 5!”
“So that’s 500 points of damage to me,” grumbled Alice.
“Go! Singe Spell!”
The fiery unicorn charged its horn and shot a beam of flames right at Alice, making her yelp out as she felt the intense heat pass through her.
Alice’s Life Points: 4000 -> 3500
Once the flames dissipated, Alice roughed brushed herself off and stood back strong before her opponent.
“Awesome!” cheered Spike. “And now he’s going to attack, right?”
Yurik looked down at Alice’s monster, growling as he looked into her ensnaring face.
“I now overlay my level 5 Unioncorn Magician and Pegassist Magician!” he shouted, throwing his arm up.
Both of Yurik’s monsters returned to their purple aural forms and danced about in the air. Walt and Spike’s eyes widened in pure disbelief.
“What?” Walt shouted.
“What’s he going to do?” wondered Spike.
A red portal formed on the ground before Yurik as both of the auras flew inside.
“With these two monsters,” Yurik proclaimed, “I construct the overlay network. Xyz summon!”
The portal burst open as a white alicorn adorned in purple armor and blue cloths and a purple metal hat in a crescent-shaped cone flew out from it, neighing loudly with an ethereal echo as it made its entrance.
“Come on!” Yurik shouted out. “Allicorn Magician!”
The monster’s hooves landed upon the ground, it’s head bowed low in a menacing fashion as two balls of light orbited around it.
Allicorn Magician
DEF: 2500
Rnk.: 5
Alice’s mouth went agape as she saw the monster’s stats, almost as if she was insulted by them. The others were too shocked as they saw Yurik’s monster stand in defense position.
“What is…” she muttered. “This is the fight you’re going to give me?”
“I’ll fight you however I please,” spoke Yurik. “All I need to do is defeat you, and defeat you I will! While Allicorn Magician is on the field in defense position, all battle damage I take is converted to effect damage.”
“Effect damage? You can’t be…”
“I then activate the continuous spell card Spark Barrier!”
Yurik threw the card into his duel disk’s spell and trap slot, and an enlarged version of the card appearing on the field, which showed a warrior monster with a massive shield blocking a the sword of a shirtless, muscular warrior monster with bolts of lightning flying around the former’s shield from the latter’s sword.
“This card prevents any defense position monsters from being destroyed by battle. However, when a monster of mine is attacked, I take piercing battle damage.”
Unbelievable, mused Alice. With that spell in play, Allicorn Magician will be safe from any attacks I land on it. Even if it allows me to inflict damage, Allicorn Magician’s effect turns the battle damage into effect damage, and with Twilight Alicorn’s pendulum effect, all effect damage is reduced to 0. There’s no way to touch him otherwise!
“Amazing,” Marcus said. “In just one turn, he set up an extremely tight defense strategy.”
The others murmured in agreement, all except for Walt, who looked furiously disappointed.
“Yurik, you dumbass!” yelled Walt. “What do you think you’re doing?”
Walt’s outburst gained the shock and attention of the other spectators, as well as Yurik himself.
“That’s not how you play! Now get in there and fight!”
“It’s too late, Walt,” Yurik called back, returning his attention to Alice. “I’ve made up my mind.”
Besides, Yurik thought, I know I can keep my monsters safe this way from her.
Yurik took the last card from his hand and slipped it face down into his spell/trap slot, the backing of which appeared beside his Spark Barrier card.
“I place one card face down and end my turn,” he said.
Status: Hand: 0 Life: 4000 Monsters: 1 Pendulum Cards: 2 Pendulum Scale: 4 – 5 Spells/Traps: 2
Alice seethed as she monitored the cards to Yurik’s virtually-airtight strategy.
“The hell, man?” she growled. “You do know what the purpose of me dueling you is, right?”
Yurik frowned at the question.
“Do you think I’m really that stupid?” he asked. “Of course you’re going to try and use this duel to make me want to face Keifer again. Like I said, I’m not going to! Whether you beat me and try to take my deck, or I win and get to choose what I do from there, you can forget it! He’s too strong for me!”
The ponies and Spike nervously scooted close towards each other, looking at Yurik’s incorrigible despair eat him away. Alice withheld her grimace slightly as she calmed herself down
“Yurik,” she said, “you lost that duel on a simple mistake. Even Walt said that when she dueled the person holding Spike, she lost because of a mistake of her own.”
“And wasn’t she also a little girl?” yelled Yurik, catching Alice off guard. “Are you trying to tell me that my skills are the same as a ten-year old girl’s?”
“Don’t talk about Tess like that!” roared Spike. “She’s much better than that!”
“She’s a professional duelist, Yurik!” called Walt. “Even a professional duelist is capable of making the same mistakes as you are! The only way we get better is by correcting them! That’s what we’re trying to help you do here right now!”
Yurik stood frozen as he listened to his friends rattle off. With a sigh, he relaxed both his arms and his head down.
“Still,” he softly spoke, “even with that one mistake, I could tell that he didn’t even use his deck’s full potential.”
Walt and the ponies tightened up listening to Yurik’s words.
“Even if I play flawlessly the next time,” he began to yell, “what makes you think he won’t bring out a fusion monster, or a synchro monster, or even an xyz monster? Even with all I managed to do against him at full strength, he still beat me at half!”
Tears began to run down his face as the memories resurfaced.
“I lost…” he wept. “I lost Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity because of my loss. I don’t want to lose to him again knowing that it will make me lose the rest of them…”
The eyes of Spike and the ponies softened sympathetically, while Donald’s and Marcus’s looked more pitying and judgmental. Yurik’s eyes were shut as his head began to fill with dread.
“Then fight back and win!” shouted back Alice, making Yurik’s eyes shoot wide open. “You fall down, you get up again. That’s how it’s always been. I won’t sit here and watch you mope while you’re friends get taken away by this dragon. If you thought I was bluffing when I told you to show me nothing but your best, I meant every word, and I’m not going back on that promise now!”
Yurik clenched his entire body, prepared to face Alice’s next turn.
“My turn!” she shouted with her fingers over the top card of her deck. “Draw!”
She immediately put the card back into her hand, grabbing yet another in the same swipe.
“I tribute my face down Larva Queen Ant to tribute summon the tuner monster Diamond Moth!”
With another swipe of her hand, she removed her face down card and placed the newest card onto the same zone. As she slipped her old card into her graveyard, a blue portal formed over where Alice’s set card on the field was. Crawling out from it was a silver-winged moth with a glistening grey body and golden antennae, fluttering its wings and carrying just above the ground.
Diamond Moth
ATK: 1800
Lvl.: 5
“And now,” exclaimed Alice, “the effect of Larva Queen Ant activates. When this card is sent from the field to the graveyard, I can special summon one Egg Token to my side of the field!”
A purple-and-black portal opened on the ground beside Alice’s moth, and from it the end of a large, red insect abdomen emerged from it and secreted a gelatinous white egg. Once it had been set on the field, the abdomen retreated back into the closing portal.
Egg Token
DEF: 0
Lvl.: 1
“Next,” continued Alice, “I activate the effect of Diamond Moth, allowing me to special summon a level 4 or lower insect-type monster from my graveyard when it’s successfully normal summoned.”
“That must mean…” growled Yurik.
“I special summon my Larva Queen Ant!”
The purple portal opened once again, but instead, the entire creature showed itself, that being a massive red ant with an engorged abdomen and a crown shaped marking on its head.
Larva Queen Ant
ATK: 100
Lvl.: 4
“Level 4 and level 5?” thought Applejack. “Hoo boy…”
“It’s coming,” Walt thought aloud.
“I now tune my level 4 Larva Queen Ant with my level 5 Diamond Moth!”
Alice’s moth flew up high into the air with its wings now glowing very bright. It then burst into five stars that grew out into rings of light that descended towards Larva Queen Ant. With a massive leap, the insect soared up towards the rings, forming into an orange outline of its body and four bright stars as it passed through.
“General of the insects,” chanted Alice, “obliterate the enemy forces with your magnificent military might!”
The outline disappeared from inside the rings as the stars straightened into a single line, a beam of light piercing through them and spreading in width.
“Synchro summon!” she cried out.
The light faded away, and the titanic body of Alice’s ace monster emerged out from it: the red-armored praying mantis.
“Show yourself,” she beckoned, “Cao Cao, the Mantis Warlord!”
The insect rubbed the bladed ends of its scythed arms together and out, producing a loud burst of sparks before it.
Cao Cao, the Mantis Warlord
ATK: 2800
Lvl.: 9
Pinkie Pie glanced about Alice’s field, noting something amiss.
“Hey!” she shouted, “shouldn’t there be another eggy thing since that monster got sent to the graveyard again?”
“Normally, yes,” answered Alice, “but when a monster is special summoned from the graveyard with Diamond Moth’s effect, it’s removed from play instead, so I cannot special summon another token. However, it’s all I need.”
She quickly grabbed a card from her hand and revealed it, showing a quick play spell with art of a large spider spraying a green liquid from its fangs at a brightly-lit warrior with golden armor.
“I activate my quick-play spell, Poison Spray!” yelled Alice. “While I control an insect-type monster, I can destroy one card in either player’s pendulum zone, and I’ll choose your Twilight Alicorn!”
Marcus and Donald looked shocked with Alice’s plan as her mantis monster thrust its head forwards and shot a glob of sticky bubbling slime that flew out towards Yurik’s monster.
“I’m not sure what you were thinking there,” said Yurik, “but I activate Twilight Alicorn’s effect, special summoning it from my pendulum zone to the field!”
Yurik’s alicorn charged its horn and disappeared, leaving Cao Cao’s poison to splash onto the ground and sink in. Twilight Alicorn however, promptly reappeared next to Allicorn Magician, taking a few pants of relief.
Twilight Alicorn
ATK: 2500
Lvl.: 7
“Why would she do that?” asked Applejack. “She just wasted her card just now.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Applejack,” spoke Alice. “I wanted Yurik to remove his monster from his pendulum zone…”
As the Yurik and the onlookers alerted themselves in surprise, Alice took a card from her hand and revealed it, showing a blue spider with a red octagon on its abdomen.
“…because now I activate the effect of Stopper Spider!”
“What was that?” asked Yurik.
“When a card is removed from my opponent’s pendulum zone,” she explained, “I can place this card on that opponent’s pendulum zone!”
“Impossible!”
Yurik growled in anger as Alice wound his arm back.
“No!” he shouted, “I activate Twilight Alicorn’s–”
“Wrong!” she shouted, flinging her card at the rightmost side of Yurik’s right blade.
The card flew straight and true at Yurik’s remaining pendulum zone, where it landed perfectly on. A blue pillar began to form on the right side of Yurik’s field, and Alice’s spider crawled out from it and stood on the ground, its mouth forming a subtly mischievous smile as three question marks appeared over the spider’s body.
Stopper Spider
Pendulum Scale: ???
“When this card is active in the pendulum zone,” said Alice, “its pendulum scale becomes equal to that of another card in that player’s pendulum zone.”
“But…” stammered Yurik, “but that means…”
“Stopper Spider’s pendulum scale becomes equal to your Unioncorn of Fire, which is three!”
The three question marks suddenly changed to a 1, and then a 2, and finished once it reached 3.
Pendulum Scale: ??? -> 3
“Why?” cried Yurik. “Why couldn’t I activate Twilight Alicorn’s effect?”
“When Stopper Spider activates its effect,” she said, “the opponent cannot activate cards or effects in response to its effect.”
Yurik’s eyes narrowed and his breath caught in his throat as he could only remember Keifer’s finishing words. _________________________________________________________________________________________
“Cards and effects cannot be activated in response to this effect, so your Twilight Alicorn cannot run away!”
_________________________________________________________________________________________
“And with both of your pendulum zones filled,” clarified Alice, “your Twilight Alicorn can’t use it’s effect to escape or protect you from battle damage.”
“No!” shouted Yurik. “No, you can’t!”
“I am! I am and I will, because Keifer will too! Now, battle! Cao Cao, attack Twilight Alicorn!”
The large mantis let out a deafeningly shrill battle cry as it ran at Yurik’s field.
“I now activate the effect of Cao Cao, the Mantis Warlord,” Alice declared, “tributing an insect-type monster that I control to reduce the ATK of an opponent’s monster by 1000!”
The creature stopped and turned its body around, scooping up the Egg Token on the side of its bladed appendage.
“I tribute my Egg Token to lower the ATK of your Twilight Alicorn!” she shouted.
With another turn in its body, Cao Cao whipped the egg at Twilight Alicorn, where it burst like a water balloon and coated the monster in with sticky gel. The force from the blast and the ill-inducing effects of the gel brought Twilight Alicorn to its knees.
ATK: 2500 -> 1500
“Finish your attack!” commanded Alice. “Red Scythe Slash!”
The massive mantis ran up towards the weakened monster with its arm raised up. Yurik’s alicorn couldn’t even muster the strength to look up at Cao Cao as it brought its bladed arm down on it, making it burst with flames and smoke. As the debris and fire crashed into Yurik, he screamed in anguish as he was tossed back off his feet.
Yurik’s Life Points: 4000 -> 2700
Yurik landed on his back and slid down, refusing any efforts to get up. The ponies gasped at both the loss of Yurik’s monsters and the might and ingenuity it took to do it.
“Yes,” said Alice, “I have destroyed your monster, and stronger duelists than me will find a way to destroy it as well, perhaps even faster than I did it. However, you still have life points to fight with, so you can still save your monster, much like you still have three ponies and the dragon and can still save Twilight and the others. Now, show me and her that you’re worth a god damned by getting up and fight!”
The ponies stared at Yurik as he gnashed his teeth in rage as Alice’s words ran through his mind at a mile a minute. With clenched fists, he pressed the bottoms down and slowly pushed himself up. Marcus and Donald remained stoic in the face of Yurik’s resistance while Walt, the ponies, and Spike looked stricken with awe. Alice looked unconvinced, even as Yurik stood back strongly on his two feet before her again.
“Are you done?” she asked.
Yurik bared his teeth as he straightened his bang out from his eyes, allowing Alice to look fully into them.
“I said,” she pressed on, “are you done?”
Yurik looked up at Alice’s monster, and then back at Alice herself, almost cancelling out the looks of his friends to the side as they awaited his fateful answer.