Clark lied against the invisible wall in the back of the dueling room, the surroundings from his field spell masking the room’s initial features. Above him, Walt, Alice, and the ponies shouted to him through the glass. The officers and detectives on the side observational hallway looked up to Lee’s dragon with fear and confusion.
Infinity Ouroboros Dragon
ATK: 3600
Lvl.: 8
================
Lee:
LP: 1600
================
“That dragon…” the grey-haired detective sighed. “Where did he get that dragon?”
Clark continued to lie still, his trusty warrior monster being his only barrier between him and the dragon.
================
Clark:
LP: 2100
================
Sir William – Sentry Sheriff
DEF: 3400
Rnk.: 1
As Clark’s vision tried to come to, his eyes shuddered as visions of his past mingled with that of the present.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
His chest hurt and left shoulder burned, stuck in his heap of scrap. The only sounds he could register the sounds of dripping oil and the grinding noise of the mangled car ahead that slowly continued driving away to safety.
Clark couldn’t even turn his head to see how the woman beside him and the girls behind. However, their pure, still silence was all that he needed to know, making him groan with a sob of agony.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Clark tried to sit up, only for his shoulder to feel a shooting pain going in and through his arm and neck. Clark grunted through his clenched teeth, trying to stifle his pain, but it was far too strong, and he let out a howl of anguish that frightened the humans and ponies behind him. Bette gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. Evey ran up to the glass, frightened by the tears streaming from Clark’s eyes.
“Clark!” screamed Evey.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
In Celestia’s throne room, Sunset Shimmer and Chrysalis looked smugly upon Clark’s pain as he slid his back to the wall in a struggling attempt to stand back up.
“I can’t believe he continues to fight,” laughed Chrysalis. “He must have broken his shoulder from that one.”
“Humans are certainly quite the enduring creatures, aren’t they?” Sunset quietly commented.
They both watched in amusement as Clark stood up, his back supported on the window to the room confining Yurik, Twilight, and all of their friends.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
With a push, Clark heaved himself forwards, his legs managing to support himself up, much to the relief of those behind him.
“God damn,” huffed Donald. “He’s truly got brass.”
“Where do you think he got that monster?” Marcus wondered.
“I don’t know,” muttered Twilight with a frightful shudder, “but I’m sensing a lot of dark magic in that monster. We need to tell the others so they can stop this duel!”
“It’s no use,” Kieran said. “They’ll just see it as an excuse to escape. Regardless, without a victor to this duel, we’re still stuck in this place until they see fit to let us out.”
“No way,” whimpered Rainbow Dash. “At this rate…”
Inside, Clark glanced to Bette and Evey, giving them a slight smile and nod that assured them of his well-being. While not entirely convinced, they both softened their expressions, appearing noticeably calmer and more composed.
“Well, well,” chided Lee, “it looks like he lives.”
“Eat me, Lee,” grunted Clark, “if that’s even who you are. Just who are you?”
“Are you dense? It’s me, Lee Jameson, the Deputy of Darkness, and it always has been.”
“Then just where did you get that card of yours?”
Lee looked to his card, looking flummoxed.
“You may strike fear into the hearts of those you hunt down and arrest,” Clark continued, “but even a prick like you wouldn’t resort to harming someone, yet alone one of your fellow officers!”
Lee quickly changed his expression to a frown.
“Those who fight for criminals are no better than criminals themselves,” he said. “These kids need to be taught a lesson that they clearly never learned in the real world: if you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime.”
“You broke my shoulder, you son of a bitch,” Clark hissed. “That card of yours… whoever has been trying to target these ponies… you’re working for them now, aren’t you?”
“And what makes you think that?”
“A card that inflicts real damage? And you’re using it against me after Celestia’s revealed to be a fake who’s trying to take the ponies for herself? She’s using people like you now to get them back… people within the goddamned police force!”
“You’re crazy! Perhaps it’s time to begin silencing you permanently! I activate the continuous spell Xyz Blackmail!”
Lee threw his card into his duel disk, and a card appeared on the field showing art of two men: a fat man in a business suit and a skinny man in a black suit holding a tommy gun standing over a small, cat-like orange, black, and white creature with an xyz material orbiting it. The fat man held its arm out to the scared looking creature, expecting some form of payment.
“When this card is activated,” Lee said, “I can target one xyz monster the opponent controls. During each of my end phases, my opponent must either detach an xyz material from their monster, or else it’s destroyed!”
Behind Clark, everyone gasped with shock at the bold strategy.
“I always come prepared to a duel,” spoke Lee. “Whether my opponent uses fusions, rituals, synchros, xyz, or pendulums, I’ll drag them down. Now that you brought out your monster, I could plan accordingly! Now, it is my end phase, Clark. What shall it be?”
Clark grunted, his hands tied.
“I detach an xyz material from Sentry Sheriff,” Clark announced with reluctance.
One of Sentry Sheriff’s shields glowed brightly before it melded into a ball of light which flew into Lee’s spell card, never to be seen again.
“Thank you kindly,” chuckled Lee with a happy sneer. “With that, I end my turn.”
Status: Hand: 2 Life: 1600 Monsters: 1 Pendulum Zones: 0 Pendulum Scale: – Spells/Traps: 1
Clark stared at Lee’s trap card, letting out an uncomfortable mix of a frenzied giggle and an infuriated sigh. Lee looked bemused at Clark’s reaction as it grew into violent, angry laughter.
“You really want to tell me that you’re a beacon of true justice with a deck like yours?” Clark yelled. “Bombers, hackers, mob, a god-damned demon? Your deck is filled with cards representative of the supposed scourge you want to eliminate, and yet you want to condemn the children behind me?”
“If one wants to defeat darkness,” Lee said straightly, “than one must become darkness. Don’t fight monsters, lest ye become one.”
“So you mean to tell me that the acts of the ones behind me are illegal, but it’s okay for you because you have a badge and they don’t.”
“Don’t be foolish. I’ve never operated outside the law like they have.”
“And yet the deck that you chose to represent you and what you represent reflects the criminals that you hate so much.”
“If you’re trying to antagonize me based solely on my deck, then please stop while you’re behind. My deck represents the darkness that these criminals have fallen into and the true maliciousness of the actions that they inflict upon others, letting them have a taste of their own bitter medicine.”
The ponies stared in stunned silence at Lee, and then back at his dragon with its tails still clamped in its dual mouths.
“And now you’re being influenced by the true enemy to keep these ponies out of the way of whomever you’re serving,” Clark continued, “and you’re willing to hurt, or possibly kill me to ensure that it stays that way…. Some upstanding officer you are.”
The officers and detectives lining the halls looked incredulously at Lee, whose guilt looked far more apparent as the moments went on. Lee lightly squirmed, knowing his façade being broken
“You’re still on about that?” Lee shouted back to Clark. “You’re delusional!”
“And you’re a flaming hypocrite,” Clark said calmly.
“How about you just take your next turn and see if your so-called justice can save these kids!”
“Yes,” Clark huffed. “I know it will.”
_________________________________________________________________________________________
“Quite the bravery of him,” Sunset commented, laxly laying sideways in the chair with her legs over the side. “His bones are broken, and yet he still finds it in him to insult and demean his opponent.”
“It will only be more entertaining when he eventually loses,” Chrysalis commented.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Clark looked into his hand, seeing a level 1 monster card that featured a small bird whose body, head, and wings were made from different patterns of felt and fabric.
Next turn, Clark thought, that bastard’s going to pay half of his life points again and bring his monster up to 4400 ATK. With his piercing effect, I stand to take 1000 points of damage if I attack. However…
Clark then looked to his deck, thinking of every card inside of it.
…if I can summon my 1X monster and use 1Xmergency’s effect, he continued to muse, I won’t take any damage. However, if that fails, I lose this duel, and these kids are going to stay stuck here. I’m not going to gamble anymore for their sake, not if I can help it, that is…
“My turn,” Clark stated, putting his fingers on his deck. “Draw!”
With a whip of his arm, a card remained in his hand. Turning to look at it, it was yet another monster: an anthropomorphic shrimp mounting a massive gun twice its size with a red ball in the barrel to its shoulder.
Damn, thought Clark. That just blows my odds even more. Either way…
Clark slowly added his card to his left hand as he continued to formulate his strategy.
…1Xmergency would only help me out for so long. It would only be a matter of time before I fail to draw a 1X monster. And then, my monsters would be left vulnerable, and I’d be finished. Besides. At this rate, I can survive at least this turn to give myself another chance to beat this guy.
Looking back up, he inhaled, prepared to make his declaration.
“I…” he breathed, “end my turn.”
Status: Hand: 2 Life: 2100 Monsters: 1 Pendulum Zones: 0 Pendulum Scale: – Spells/Traps: 2
Inside the room behind him, Walt, Mary, and the ponies gasped loudly, shocked by Clark’s decision.
“After all that talk,” Lee said, “you end up skipping your turn? If you’re really that desperate to lose, then just quit, old man. It will keep you from breaking any more bones.”
“I’m not quitting,” Clark said. “Trust me, if I wanted to, I’d let you know.”
Lee smirked, half-pitying and half-respecting the man’s tenacity.
“Your choice,” Lee decided, “your funeral. My turn! DRAW!”
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Come on, now, Sunset thought. Let them know my strength!
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Clark glanced to his new card, his eyes widening upon it.
“You say you’d let me know when you’d want to quit. That must mean you have your own breaking point. We’ll see if this move brings it out!”
He kept his drawn card reeled back, ready to play it.
“While my opponent controls an xyz monster with xyz materials attached to it,” Lee explained, “I can special summon Xyz Assassin from my hand!”
Clark threw his card beside his synchro monster card, and from a blue portal that formed on the field beside it was a black-coated human male with a red bandana over its face and a grey baseball cap on its head. A long-barreled rifle with a scope on the back was held in its hands.
Xyz Assassin
DEF: 1600
Lvl.: 5
“I now activate the effect of Xyz Assassin!” shouted Lee. “By discarding up to two monster cards from my hand, I can detach two xyz materials from a monster you control!”
Lee took his last two cards from his left hand and placed them face up into his graveyard slot, including a hedgehog with nails in place of needles and a shadowy figure dropping a sack of coins into a shallow hole.
“With this,” Lee called out, “your monster’s xyz materials are now reduced to one!”
Suddenly, a clip formed beneath Lee’s monster’s rifle and inserted itself in through a slot on the bottom.
“Also,” he mentioned, “for every xyz material I destroy through this effect, you take 500 points of damage!”
“What?” Clark gasped.
“Here’s round one!”
With a pull of the trigger, a bullet shot out of the rifle at one of Sentry Sheriff’s shields. A quick shift and a second click, a second round shot from the gun at another of the monster’s shields. Both bullets pierced through the shields at the same time, shattering them like glass. The bullets ricocheted off and at Clark’s chest, both striking him at the same time, forcing him to his knees as he cried out.
Clark’s Life Points: 2100 -> 1100
The humans and ponies looked nervously at Clark’s monster
“And now round two!” Lee exclaimed. “Battle! Infinity Ouroboros Dragon, attack Sir William – Sentry Sheriff!”
The two spaces in the rings formed by Lee’s monster began to glow brightly.
“I now activate the effect of Infinity Ouroboros Dragon,” he declared, “allowing me to halve my life points to increase my monster’s ATK by the same amount!”
A fire shot up from the floor where Lee stood once again, making him yell out in agony as the flames burned his flesh.
Lee’s Life Points: 1600 -> 800
As the spaces in the dragon’s body grew brighter, the dragon’s heads took another bite of its tails, tightening the loops and rendering the lights even brighter than before.
ATK: 3600 -> 4400
“Don’t forget” Lee said, the flames dissipating around him, “my monster inflicts piercing damage because of Slash Hacker’s effect. Now, obliterate him!” he ordered to his dragon. “Eternal Agony!”
The two beams fired out from the center of the rings of the monster’s body, converging in the center straight at Clark. In an instant, the energy engulfed him and his monster, shooting into the back wall. In the hallway, the others jolted to hear the faint sound of a shattered window from the other room. The force of the dragon’s attack was tremendous enough to cause cracks to appear on the glass to their window. The grey-haired detective looked upon this with fear, frozen stiff like the others around him.
“Everybody duck!” he screamed.
Bette covered her body around Evey and laid low with her along with the other officers and detectives. Just then the windows shattered, but no one could feel the heat or the loose shards rain down. Looking up, several of the officers looked up with awed expressions to see a translucent magenta shield that had caught the glass and blocked off the heat from the blast.
Inside the room behind Clark, Twilight grunted as she tried to deflect the dragon’s beam from entering through the also-broken window. Through the shield, the humans and ponies watched in safety as Clark was blasted by Lee’s dragon’s attack.
“No!” screamed Walt. “Clark!”
In the gym Clark leaned into the force, keeping his body still. However, his skin and clothes were razed as he shrieked loudly through it all.
Clark’s Life Points: 1100 -> 100
The beam quickly disappeared, leaving Clark limp with him and the area around him smoking. Clark’s body began to tip forwards, and he just managed to turn his body to the right, allowing him to land on his good shoulder and roll onto his back, breathing slowly with hoarse wheezes.
Twilight ceased her spell, her horn ceasing its glow and the barriers on both the room’s window and the hallway window disappearing with it. With a swoon, Twilight fell to her front shins, Yurik sliding to her side to help her. The people in the hallways and the others in the back room stood up to see the damage that had been done.
“Is everyone alright?” Kieran asked his group.
The humans and ponies gave an affirmative response as they examined their body for major cuts and gashes. Bette rolled off of Evey, allowing her to stand with the other officers and detectives. Both Bette and the grey haired detective looked to the unharmed Yurik and Walt as he assisted the tired Twilight up with her nervous pony friends surrounding her, then looking to the damage Lee caused.
“Do they appear dangerous now, bastard?” Bette hissed to the grey-haired detective.
The detective turned to Lee and his malicious, sadistic smile. Unable to deny it to himself, he ran his hands through his hair and took a hard breath. Clark managed to spin his body and hoist himself up by his stomach, sitting in front of Lee as he took relaxing breaths.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Both Sunset and Chrysalis looked stunned to see Clark in his position.
“The fact that he’s up and breathing so calmly,” Chrysalis said.
“He’s a particularly tenacious one…” Sunset responded.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Lee was irked to see as Clark’s lips slowly curled to a smile.
“And what could you be grinning at?” he wondered aloud.
“You might have removed some more of my monster’s xyz materials,” he answered, getting himself to one knee, “but the effects my 1X monsters gave me are still in effect.”
“Yes? And?”
“My Rip Raptor… which gives my Sentry Sheriff the effect of piercing damage. Now that you’ve summoned another monster, in defense position, no less, I can attack it and reduce your life points to 0.”
Lee grimaced at this fact.
“Your dragon is powerful, sure, but it weakens you in order to become strong. Any damage you begin to take at that point becomes precious, and now I’m about to run it out.”
“Pointless,” Lee responded, shocking Clark. “Whenever Xyz Assassin is targeted for attack by an opponent’s xyz monster, I can negate that attack one per turn.”
“No… no way…”
“Next,” Clark said, pointing at his field, I activate the effect of Loot Leaver.”
Clark gasped once again as a purple-and-black portal opened before Lee, the monster card with the dark figure and its sack of coins rising out from it before it swirled away into nothingness.
“By banishing this card while it’s in my graveyard,” Lee explained, “I can draw one card!”
Lee took out the top card of his deck, glancing to it and smirking promptly after.
“I now equip Xyz Assassin with Ring of Magnetism!” Lee declared, throwing his card into his duel disk.
A card appeared on the field behind Xyz Assassin, showing art of a left hand with a glowing green ring upon the middle finger. The card faded away to reveal the green ring as it flew towards the monster’s hand and fit itself upon its middle finger, glowing brightly.
“While this card is equipped to a monster,” said Lee, “its ATK and DEF are reduced by 500.”
The green glowing of the ring began to envelop Xyz Assassin, making it slump with sudden weakness it experienced.”
DEF: 1600 -> 1100
ATK: 2000 -> 1500
“Furthermore,” Lee added, “all monsters must attack the equipped monster before anything else. So now, even if you manage to get your monster stronger than either of mine, you can only attack my Xyz Assassin, and then I’ll just negate its attack with its effect.”
“Damn you…” Clark hissed.
The ponies, along with Walt, Mary, and Alice moaned with worry at Lee’s strategy.
“Oh,” Lee chuckled, “I almost forgot! During the end phase, you have to detach an xyz material from your monster or destroy it with my Xyz Blackmail’s effect.”
Lee’s spell card glowed with reiteration. Clark hissed as he already began reaching for his monster.
“I’ll detach the xyz material,” he grumbled.
With the last card underneath his monster slid out, the last of Sentry Sheriff’s shields became an orb of light that flew into the spell’s art.
“And now that you have no more xyz materials protecting your monster,” exclaimed Lee, “your monster and your life points will be finished. With that, I end my turn.”
Status: Hand: 0 Life: 800 Monsters: 2 Pendulum Zones: 0 Pendulum Scale: – Spells/Traps: 2
_________________________________________________________________________________________
“Ha,” scoffed Chrysalis. “Looks like he’s in a bind now.”
“No,” Sunset Shimmer disagreed. “Something doesn’t feel right.”
“Do you really think he has a chance? Him?”
“There’s always a chance, Chrysalis. Of all things to know about dueling, especially in these past hours, this is the most important thing to learn.”
Chrysalis watched the screen intently, awaiting Sunset’s correct assumption.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Clark looked to his hand, desperate for a strategy.
Shuffle Shrimp, he thought, looking to his gunned shrimp monster, Switch Swatch Swallow, he continued, looking to his bird of fabric. Each of these monsters can help me win, but there’s only one card in my deck that can let that happen.
Clark glanced backwards to the Yurik, Walt, the ponies, and Kieran as the former gave him a nod of respect and encouragement.
I have one last chance of saving them, he resolved. I can’t them down… I can’t…
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Clark walked alone down the street with his hands in his pockets, only for his attention to be taken away by a crowd gathering around the end of an alleyway. Shuffling through to the front, he found as the right side of a car had crashed into the corner of a building, both airbags deployed.
Clark was instantly aghast as he observed the car, looking just like the one that had crashed into his long ago, but with newer parts mixed with the older. He watched as its driver was carted off into the back of an ambulance by several paramedics. What struck Clark, as well, as the others, as odd was the thick metal wire connected to both its front left corner to the corner of the building that made up the left of the alley.
Clark looked up, only to see a shadow stand slightly into his few from a building’s edge, zipping away like a frightened animal upon their eyes meeting. Clark gasped, knowing what this had to mean.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
…I can’t let any of them down! he resolved. “My turn! DRAW!”
Lee smirked as he awaited the inevitable look of despair to reach Clark’s face once he looked to his card. In both the back room and the hallway, everyone, human, pony, and dragon alike, watched intently as they awaited Clark’s response.
Turning his card to see, Clark saw a spell card, and with it, his eyes widened with amazement. Closing his eyes, he reflected to himself.
God… he prayed. Alyssa… thank you…
Keeping his arm held back, he brought a smile to his face.
“I activate the spell card 1Xyztence!” he declared.
Throwing his card into his duel disk, the enlarged version of the card appeared on the field showing art of a yellow-skinned wizard with a black cloak feeling revived as two auras spiraled around him.
“1Xyztence?” Lee wondered cautiously.
“While I control 1Xity and a rank 1 monster with no xyz materials,” exclaimed Clark, “I can target that rank 1 monster and return it to my extra deck!”
Sentry Sheriff grew brightly before it condensed into an aura that shot up and arced back down onto Clark’s blade disk.
“What?” Lee gasped.
“Next,” Clark continued, “I can special summon two 1X monsters from my hand! Come, my monsters!”
Clark removed both monsters from his hand and threw them onto his now vacant monster card zones. Two blue portals opened simultaneously, allowing both the armed shrimp and the bird of fabric to appear from them.
“1X Shuffle Shrimp!” he shouted. “1X Switch Swatch Swallow!”
Both monster’s landed on the ground, preparing themselves with what would be happening next.
1X Shuffle Shrimp
ATK: 300
Lvl.: 1
1X Switch Swatch Swallow
ATK: 100
Lvl.: 1
“So you exchanged your xyz monster for two vastly weaker ones?” Lee shouted.
“I’m not done just yet,” Clark replied. “The final effect of 1Xyztence allows me to xyz summon the monster that was returned to my extra deck with only my two special summoned 1X monsters as the xyz materials.
“Impossible! You can bring your monster back just like that?”
“Watch now, Deputy of Darkness. I’m about to show you the light! I now overlay my 1X Shuffle Shrimp and 1X Switch Swatch Swallow!”
The two monsters transformed into a blue and green aura that danced about in the air.
“With these two monsters,” Clark shouted, a red portal forming before him, “I can construct the overlay network! Xyz summon!”
The monsters flew inside, the portal erupting with sudden white. Two shields rose from the portal and glowed brightly as their aura began to manifest into Clark’s ace monster.
“Return!” Clark beckoned. “Sir William – Sentry Sheriff!”
The aura began to take color and form, and with a final flash, Clark’s monster returned, feeling strengthened once again.
Sir William – Sheriff Sentry
ATK: 0
Rnk.: 1
“Huh?” squawked Rainbow Dash. “It’s in attack position?”
Lee’s eyes were cast on the stat counter of Clark’s monster, unable to believe what he was seeing. He then put his hands over his eyes, roaring with laughter.
“After that stroke of luck,” he exclaimed, “and you waste it on such a stupid misplay!”
“I didn’t misplay anything, Lee.”
“Huh?”
“I now activate the effects given to Sentry Sheriff through my 1X monsters.”
“That’s right…” Lee hissed. “Just what are they?”
“First, when 1X Shuffle Shrimp is used as material for the xyz summon of an xyz monster, my monster gains the effect of targeting one monster on the field and shuffling it into the deck!”
“What!?”
The shadowy image of Shuffle Shrimp appeared on the flat surface of Sentry Sheriff’s shield, it’s massive gun appearing out from it.
“The monster I target is Xyz Assassin!” declared Clark.
The shrimp pulled the trigger, the large red round in the barrel shooting out with a spring attached to the back. The ball struck Xyz Assassin, throwing it into the air where it became a yellow aura that flew down into Lee’s deck. Lee hissed as he watched his deck shuffle inside his slot.
“Whatever,” he spat. “My monster still has far more ATK than yours.”
“Not for long,” Clark responded.
“What did you say?”
“When 1X Switch Swatch Swallow is used as material for the xyz summon of an xyz monster, my monster gains the effect of switching the ATK and DEF of all monsters on the field with their own DEF and ATK, respectively.”
“What?! Impossible!”
The image of Switch Swatch Swallow appeared on the second shield of Clark’s monster. As it shot out from the surface and at Infinity Ouroboros Dragon, Clark’s monster was now a shape with a red-and-white checkerboard pattern on its body. Once the bird struck the dragon, its body was covered in the same design. Then, the patterns morphed until they both were now enveloped in horizontal blue-and-white stripes. The designs faded, bringing their bodies back to normal.
Infinity Ouroboros Dragon
ATK: 4400 -> 2000
Sir William – Sentry Sheriff
ATK: 0 -> 3000
“Amazing!” Twilight shouted. “Now his monster is the strongest!”
“And Lee won’t have enough life points to survive the attack!” cheered Spike! “He’s going to win!”
Kieran crossed his arms and smiled proud for Clark’s imminent win.
“No,” whimpered Lee fearfully, “im… impossible! My dragon…”
“–has cost you this duel,” interrupted Clark. “Now, battle! Sir William – Sentry Sheriff, attack Infinity Ouroboros Dragon! Shining Slash of Righteousness!”
The warrior fiercely charged at the dragon, its swords held out and ready to slash. Leaping up, its hands reeled up and back, the blades gleaming with hunger. With an X-shaped cut, the necks of the dragons were separated from the body, the energy within it releasing out in a series of large explosions.
Twilight quickly charged her horn again, another barrier forming at the window in the hallway. The flames of the explosion swept over Lee, engulfing him. As the fires threatened to reach the window, Twilight’s spell blocked them away, allowing the grey-haired detective to see Twilight and her charged horn just as the embers blocked his vision. Inside the dueling room, Lee screamed loudly as the explosions razed him for the final time.
Lee’s Life Points: 800 -> 0
Clark wins.
The flames quickly evaporated in the air as the holographic look of Clark’s field spell began to disappear with the scanning of a golden line from the ceiling as it spread across the way. Clark stood still, taking in his win as his adrenaline began to decrease. Once his monster had faded from the room along with the rest of his field, he fell down onto his rump, sitting with curled legs and clutching his broken shoulder.
“Clark!” Walt shouted, hopping through the broken window and sliding to his side.
Yurik, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash were the next to follow as they tried to help Clark up.
“Hurry!” the grey-haired detective shouted, pointing at the group. “Get that man a medic!”
Half-a-dozen officers scurried into the room from a side entrance. Two of them helped Clark up and carried him out of the room, Yurik, Walt, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash following them out and down the hallway past the other officers.
“Hey!” Alice shouted. “Let us go with!”
An officer looked to the grey-haired detective, unsure what to do.
“Just let them out,” he breathed in exhaustion.
Hopping to the door, he put a card key against a sensor next to the jamb and turned the handle, pulling it open. The remaining humans, ponies, and dragon scurried out, hoping to catch up with their other friends. Following them from the door to the gym were the remaining three officers carrying a cuffed and unconscious Lee out with them, the fourth carrying his duel disk.
As the parade passed around the corner, the grey haired detective leaned back into the wall and slid down, sitting with defeat and frustration.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
“No!” shouted Chrysalis. “Now they not only have been allowed to go out free, but they can see that we’ve even been able to infiltrate their law enforcement.”
“Which will now bring distrust among themselves,” Sunset said. “Also, Lee was merely a… test subject. A good test subject, but they really have no idea what’s in store for them. As cliché as it sounds, this war has only just begun…”
“And what about Keifer?”
“Forget him. He’s fulfilled his purpose.”
“Aren’t you worried about what they might say about us?”
“Are you?”
Chrysalis opened her mouth to speak, but after several seconds of careful consideration, she closed it once again, smiling in the trust of Sunset Shimmer’s grand plan.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Clark sat on a medical bench with a cloth brace wrapped around his chest with his forearm snug inside the cotton cuff on the front. Yurik, Walt, Alice, Mary, Kieran, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Spike all stood around him as he examined what had become of himself. Outside in the hallway, Donald and Marcus stood beside each side of the closed doorway. While Bette and Evey patiently waited.
“He really got his ass kicked, didn’t he?” Donald asked.
“But he kicked the other’s ass harder,” Marcus responded, “and because of him, we’re not going to prison.”
“Yet…”
Marcus sighed at the validity of the remark.
“Yeah,” he responded. “Yet…”
Inside the room, Clark gave a few tugs of his brace, happy to see that it completely immobilized his shoulder, despite its lingering soreness.
“Clark,” spoke Rainbow Dash with both remorse and respect. “You were incredible back there. I’m sorry you had to break your arm, though.”
“Don’t be sorry,” said Clark. “I’m sure after that, the police are going to have your backs now instead of putting your arms behind them.”
“What about Kieran and the others?” Applejack wondered. “They’ve probably done more with the Guardiaboliques than Yurik, Walt, or Mary. What’s going to happen to them?”
“We’ll try our best to negotiate a deal,” Kieran responded. “We still want to help you ponies out, and we have the means with which to properly train you and prepare you for what’s up ahead. Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Spike have their own decks, but the rest of you don’t yet. And I don’t think that watching a couple of duels constitutes you being experts on the game either. We’ll need to teach you the in and outs of the game, because I’m more than certain that our enemies, much like Lee there, do as well.”
“What if they don’t?” asked Fluttershy meekly. “What if you guys still get put away.”
“It’s a worst case scenario, Fluttershy,” replied Alice. “The police knows how well you guys trust us, and they might be more than willing to assist even the Guardiaboliques if it makes you guys feel more secure against our enemy. That is,” she said with mock coy sadness, “unless you don’t need us…”
“Of course we do!” exclaimed Twilight. “It’s because of you that we’re all together again. Plus, you’ve been such good friends to us all, I don’t think we could do this without every one of you.”
“What about Kefier?” asked Spike. “What’s going to happen to him?”
“My guess is that they’re going to keep him prisoner here,” Orpheus said. “He’s their best chance at getting any information about who he’s really been working for, more specifically, their plans for Equestria and possibly Earth.”
“So now that we’ve interfered,” Mary whined, “does that mean we’re all in danger?”
“We’ve been in danger since Equus first appeared,” Yurik said. “The second we agreed to protect Twilight and rescue her friends, we’ve been their target to become attacked.”
“And after both Keifer’s and Chrysalis’s failures to take us,” Twilight said, “they’ll be back with a vengeance.”
“Listen,” Clark said, “don’t get too wrapped up in this. I didn’t win my last duel back there worrying and fretting. I just remained as calm as I could and played my absolute best. I’m certain that if one of their henchmen could beaten by my old ass, then we should be fine in strength for now. With or without Kieran’s help, continue practicing and training and become better with each passing moment, because you know they’re doing the same.”
“Well said,” Kieran complimented. “You say that you wished to become part of the Guardiaboliques?”
“What? How did you–”
“Walt had told us when you spared him and Yurik. He wanted to ensure that we saw you as someone we could trust and not be afraid of.”
Clark glanced to Walt, but his head was too painful to maintain an angry glare.
“Listen, I wanted to enforce the law on terms that wouldn’t land me in prison… no offence.”
“None taken. It was certainly bound to happen one of these days. However, it’s a shame.”
“What is?”
“You would have made a very fine addition.”
Clark smiled, only for the door to open, the grey-haired detective appearing out from it.
“Come,” he told everyone. “We have somethings we’d like to discuss.”
“Damned straight,” whispered Walt.
As the ponies and humans minus Clark began to make their way to the door, following the detective out, Kieran turned to Clark offering his hand. Clark smiled warmly as he grasped it with his right hand and gave it a firm shake.
“Get well,” he bid before following Alice and Applejack at the back of the line.
Clark gave Kieran a grateful nod as everyone left the room, allowing Evey and Bette to walk in, alone and undisturbed.
“Stay with us,” Bette asked.
“What?” Clark asked dumbly.
“Are you living with anyone?”
“Why do you–”
“You just beat someone who was trying to attack my children, and now you’re injured. They’ll come after you again, and I won’t allow it to happen while you’re in your condition. I’m certain Walt and Yurik wouldn’t want that either.”
Clark sighed lengthily as he contemplated his decision.
“I am currently single,” he relented.
“Great,” Bette responded. “You’ll come home with us. Yurik and Walt can help you pack some belongings from your home that you might need.”
“However, and I know you’re probably going to object to this…”
“What is it?”
“I have a dog.”
Bette blew a raspberry through pursed lips.
“I’m about to let the ponies back into my house. What more could a dog be?”
“Ha, that’s the spirit.”
Clark jerked himself off the bench and walked to the hallway, standing outside and waiting for Bette and Evey.
“Come on,” Clark called over, “let’s go see how your kids are doing.”
Bette and Evey both walked over the hallway, and together, the three of them went down to find Yurik, Walt, and the others.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
A female detective flipped through a deck which contained Lee’s Bomber – K9, Slash Hacker, and Xyz Assassin, followed by his Deputy of Darkness – Samael card. However, with another quick run through, the Infinity Ouroboros Dragon card was nowhere to be found inside. Organizing the deck back up, she walked back to the metal table where Lee was sitting, cuffed to his chair. She slammed the deck on the table, creating a loud noise as it snowed with loose cards.
“Where is it?” hissed the detective.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Lee cried out. “I already told you, I’ve never heard of that card! I was sitting in my car, may have closed my eyes a bit for the sleep I lost having to come here so early, and the next thing you know, I’m getting smacked around by you guys!”
The detective stamped over to a tablet held by an officer guarding the door. With a look beside him, she snatched the tablet and dropped it in front of Lee, allowing him to see the security footage of Infinity Ouroboros’s final attack on Clark, the strength of which completely disrupted the feed.
“Perhaps that will remind you?” she said.
“Listen,” Lee shouted, “I don’t remember jack! You can continue beating me like I’m some kind of Guantanamo detainee, but I’m telling you, I’ve never seen that card before, yet alone played it!”
“Then why are you playing it in the video.”
“I think the better question is… where is it now? If it’s in my deck, sure, fine. Case solved. You got me red handed. But that card isn’t there is it? You checked all my pockets, my deck which is now scattered over the floor. Hell, I’ll even allow you to strip me naked and check me in other spots, but you’ll need to get some gloves–”
“That’s enough!”
“Is it? Is it really enough? If it was, why the hell am I still here?”
The detective breathed out and in, angered with the lack of progress and the subsequent time wasted.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
“They’re letting him go?” Kieran barked, the rest of the Guardiaboliques, ponies, along with Orpheus, Mary, Clark, Bette, and Evey around him.
“They didn’t find the card on him,” the grey-detective responded, “and he claims to not remember a thing.”
“But how do we know he isn’t lying or using some kind of spell to hide the card?” asked Twilight.
“Just let me in there,” Rainbow Dash demanded, grinding her forehooves together. “I’ll get him talking.”
“Missy,” the detective scolded, “you just got out of prison. Don’t think I won’t let you back in.”
Rainbow Dash put herself back on her front hooves, sulking.
“But that still doesn’t mean he’s innocent,” Rarity said. “We can’t just let him off like that!”
“And when should we let him go? In an hour? Tomorrow? Next week? Next month? Next Year? The rest of his life? There’s no possible way for us to prove he’s still conspiring against you, and holding him here isn’t going to get us any closer to confirming that.
“Besides, is it possible that these… creatures from your world could have only been using him temporarily? They screw up, they’re no longer needed, and they lose the risk of allowing the enemy to learn more from them, end of story.”
“Well, I suppose it is possible…” Twilight responded
“Either way, there’s no longer anything we can do. We have also told him about our deal. Until this issue between our worlds is resolved, we’ll assist you and the Guardiaboliques in combating this threat and allow you to keep your base at the factory. We’ll keep an eye on him if you happen to be right, but until then, he’ll be working with you now, not against you.”
“I’ve heard of sleeping with the enemy, but not the enemy sleeping with us…” Walt grumbled.
“You kids have been out and up for a long time. Please, go home and get some rest. Clark, that goes double for you. I don’t want that shoulder breaking any worse than it has.”
“And our Elements?” asked Yurik.
“Will be returned to you by the time you leave,” the detective responded. “Whatever you need to combat Chrysalis and whoever else is with her.”
“Thank you,” Twilight responded. “Your help will be greatly appreciated.”
The detective nodded.
“It’s our honor to help,” he said.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Several windowed vans, all led by Clark’s patrol car with Orpheus driving it, went down the driveway to leave Cook County Jail. In the squad car was Clark in the passenger seat and Bette and Evey in the back. Between the back four trucks, Yurik and his friends, human and pony alike, all sat calmly as Orpheus led them back home.
They passed Lee’s squad car, which still stood parked in the driveway facing the jail building with its owner still sitting inside of it. Once the last van had exited and made its way out of Lee’s sight, he took a relieved breath as he turned his car on.
“Whew,” he sighed. “That was a close one…
With a grip of the wheel and a changing of the gears, his eyes flashed with a reptilian appearance, applying his foot to the gas, speeding down the driveway and quickly to the exit, turning in the opposite direction of the vans’ destination.