Alex and Emma were just a couple of minutes from Alex’s house as Emma was making a phone call to her brother to tell her where she was going. Her brother eventually picked up.
“Hello?”
“Reese. It’s me, Emma.”
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
“Something really weird happened to me today, and I’m going to get it figured out.”
“Something weird? What do you mean?”
“You wouldn’t believe me.”
“Try me.”
“I was dueling Alex Yuwell in Gym today, and as I dueled, this new xyz monster just… appeared in my deck.”
“…”
“Reese?”
“Where are you right now?”
“I’m with Alex. He says he has an answer for this, so one of his friends is driving us to his house.”
“…Emma, you get out of that car immediately.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Don’t trust that man, Emma. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
Claude could hear Reese’s voice through her phone, so he snatched it from her hand and talked to Reese.
“No,” Claude answered, “I don’t think you know what you’re talking about. Right now we have a possibly world threatening situation that your sister is now a part of. She deserves some answers.”
“I swear to God, man, you let my sister go or I will end you. You got it? What’s the address to his house?”
“You know, I don’t think that’s such a good idea with you so riled up as you are.”
“LET GO OF MY SISTER RIGHT NOW!”
“And we’re done here.” Claude closed the phone and handed it back to Emma.
“Are you insane?” asked Emma. “You have no idea what lengths he’ll go to find me.”
“Don’t worry,” answered Claude. “He’ll have a lot of fun trying to get through me.”
“Emma,” said Alex. “I’m so sorry I got you involved in all of this.”
“I’m not the person you’re going to need to say ‘sorry’ to.”
“You ain’t saying ‘sorry’ to no one,” stated Claude. “We’re here.”
Claude pulled up to the driveway of Alex’s house.
“Crap,” hissed Alex.
“What’s wrong now?” asked Emma.
“Emma, when we go into that house, I want you to promise me that you won’t freak out.”
“Why? What’s in there?”
“It would be best if I just showed you.” Alex helped Emma to his front door. Mrs. Emmitt stayed at home while her husband was away on business, so the door was open. Upon opening the door, Alex and Emma walked in to see Twilight Sparkle and her friends talking amongst each other happily. They each had their own D-Pad and deck in the wrist dealer slot.
“Alex?” stammered Emma. “Are… are those…”
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Reese sat on the bench outside the main entrance to the school, his face cupped in his hands. It was then that Reese heard a familiar voice. It was Tom walking out with his sister Sarah. Reese watched as Tom and Sarah went to the bike rack to get their bikes and leave for home. Reese ran to his car.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
“Alex!” called Twilight. She ran over and gave him a hug with her magenta duel disk still on her arm. It felt strange to Alex that someone he’s know for less than a day would be so receptive of him after a return home from school, but her soft fur and genuine happiness for his return was comforting.
“How’s your new deck?” he asked.
“You tell me,” she responded. Alex looked at her deck. It was filled with Spellcaster-type monsters suited for xyz summoning, including the newer Prophecy archetype.
“Yeah,” commented Alex, “these look great.”
“Are those the aliens from the TV?” stuttered Emma.
“…Yes,” answered Alex, “but they like to be called ponies. Don’t be scared. They’re actually very friendly.”
“Who is this?” asked Twilght.
“This is Emma Miller. She is the brother of the duelist I faced in your world, and she too has a Stone of Equus.”
“I still don’t know what that means,” stated Emma.
“I can explain a little later,” Twilight responded, “but first let’s introduce ourselves. My name is Twilight Sparkle.”
“Twilight Sparkle?” questioned Emma at the odd name. Seeing that she meant no harm, Emma mustered the courage to shake Twilight’s hoof.
“These are my friends: Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash.”
All the ponies said something along the lines of, “Hello.”
“Are you an actual unicorn?” asked Emma.
“I sure am,” answered Twilight. “Watch.”
Emma looked as Twilight used magic from her horn to levitate an apple from the kitchen to Emma. Emma just stared at the floating apple, stunned.
“Go ahead,” said Twilight, “take it.” Emma took the apple and held onto it.
“That was amazing,” she finally said. “You can do magic?”
“Yep. Magic is a common element where we come from. And to answer that question, our home is the country of Equestria.” Twilight noticed Emma’s duel disk. “So you’re a duelist too. What kind of deck do you own?”
“I use a Gishki/Mermail deck. Here.” She took her deck and handed it to Twilight, who instead “grabbed” it with her magic. She flipped through the deck, looking at all the fish-like monsters that resided in her deck, until she finally came across her Stone of Equus card.
“This is your stone of Equus card?” asked Twilight.
“Yes. I just got it while dueling Alex. And please tell me, what are the stones of Equus?”
As Twilight was explaining the story, the other ponies were showing off the decks they chose to Alex.
Applejack showed up with an orange colored D-Pad and let Alex skim through the deck.
“These cards look mighty powerful,” she said. “And look, they represent the earth, just like me.” Alex was looking at the contents of an X-Saber deck, which indeed had some powerful and efficient monsters. Rarity came up to Alex next with a purple D-Pad.
“Aren’t these cards just fabulous?” Alex saw Rarity’s deck: a Gem-Knight deck.
It definitely suits the tattoo on her rear, thought Alex.
“Pick me! Pick me!” cheered Pinkie Pie. Her D-Pad was a light blue.
“Okay, Pinkie,” replied Alex, “let’s see what you got.” Alex looked and saw that Pinkie Pie’s deck was a Worm deck.
“You see,” started Pinkie Pie, talking very fast, “Claude was telling us about the different card types, and he was talking about these monsters which have things like flip effects, and I’m like, ‘Ooh, what are those?’ and he’s like ‘They’re monsters that activate their effects when set face down and then flipped face up,’ so I’m all like, ‘So they’re like a surprise?’ and he’s all, ‘Yep,’ and I’m all ‘*gasp* Give me lots of those,” so he gave me this deck and I was all ‘**gasp** Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
“Are you sure?” questioned Alex, winded himself by Pinkie’s explanation. “These cards look kind of scary.”
“Oh Alex, don’t you see?” She then began to sing. “When I was a little fil-”
“Thank you,” interrupted Alex, handing her back her deck. Fluttershy showed Alex her deck. She had a pink D-Pad.
Naturia, he thought. Great deck for someone like her.
“I hope you like it,” whispered Fluttershy.
“It’s your deck,” answered Alex. “As long as it makes you happy, that’s all that matters.”
Just then, Tom and Sarah walked into the house.
“Hey, Tom!” called Rainbow Dash, flying over to him. Her D-Pad was a bright red. “Check out my sweet new deck!” Tom flipped through the deck and observed its contents.
“Tech Genus. Nice,” he commented.
“I know, right? And you’re going to be my new deck’s first victim.”
“Victim? As in, you think I’m going to lose?”
“Well duh.”
“Interesting. Challenge accepted.”
“Wait, I still haven’t learned how to play yet.”
“Right. I’ll wait for Alex-” There was a knock at the door.
“I’ll get it,” answered Claude. Claude opened the door. It was Reese, and he looked furious.
“How dare you take my sister from me,” he seethed, approaching Alex. He wound his arm to punch him, but was stopped as Claude grabbed his forearm and threw him to the ground, pinning him.
“Let him go!” shouted Emma. Claude released his grip, and let Reese stand. Claude stared at him the entire time, which told Reese not to move an inch.
“Alex,” hissed Reese, “are you really willing to go this far to induct me into this cult of yours.”
“What?” gasped Twilight. “We are not a cult! We are trying to-”
“SHUT UP! You took my sister from me; I will never forgive you.”
“Don’t tell me to shut up you swine!” shouted Twilight.
“I don’t think you understand the situation,” scoffed Reese. “Alex has wronged me, and for doing so, he will suffer the consequences.”
“If you want a piece of Alex,” said Tom, “you’ll have to go through me.”
This little runt, thought Reese, challenging me? Fun.
“Fine,” said Reese. “In fact, I’ll duel you. If I win, I’m taking my sister from here and you will never see me or her again.”
“If I win,” said Tom. “You ally yourself with us. No questions asked.”
“Sounds fair, seeing as I’m not going to lose.”
Tom and Reese stood out in the front yard of the Emmitts’ house.
“You know that Alex was barely able to beat me, right?” taunted Reese. “Held onto all but 100 life points. I can’t wait to see how badly I’m going to beat you.”
“You take that back!” yelled Rainbow Dash.
“And what, now you’re going to have your horsie friend fight your battles?” Rainbow Dash was itching to kick him hard in the face, but was only held back by Applejack holding her tail with her teeth.
“You really are a first class ass,” said Tom. “I have a special place for people like you: under the sole of my foot!” Tom put his mahogany colored graveyard/wrist dealer on his wrist and put his mahogany D-Pad tablet on top. Reese constructed his D-Pad as well. When both were ready, Tom and Reese unsheathed the zones from the duel disk.
“Go Tom!” cheered Rainbow Dash. “Kick his butt!” Reese just giggled sarcastically.
“Duel detected.” Hologram projectors emitted an aura around the area from the streetlamps. The two duelists drew five cards from their decks.
“DUEL!” they both yelled.
Tom vs. Reese
Tom’s Turn: Tom sets one monster.
Tom places two cards face down and ends his turn.
Status: Hand-3 Life-4000 Monsters-1 Face Down Cards-2
***************************************************
Reese’s Turn: Reese activates Graceful Charity, drawing three cards and discarding two. Reese activates the effect of Skull Conductor from his hand. By discarding it, he can special summon two Zombie-type monsters from his hand whose combined ATK equals 2000, special summoning Temple of Skulls (ATK: 900 DEF: 1300) and Goblin Zombie (ATK: 1100 DEF: 1050).
Reese tributes both Temple of Skulls and Goblin Zombie to normal summon Despair from the Dark (ATK: 2800 DEF: 3000). When Reese tribute summons a monster, he can special summon Illusion Snatch from his hand (ATK: 2400 DEF: 1000). When Illusion Snatch is special summoned this way, its attribute, type and level become the same as the tribute summoned monster (Lvl.: 7 -> 8). Reese overlays Despair from the Dark and Illusion Snatch to xyz summon Obsidian Imp (ATK: 2800 DEF: 2500).
Reese attacks Tom’s face down monster with Obsidian Imp, which was a Gladiator Beast Hoplomus (ATK: 700 DEF: 2100).
Reese places one card face down and ends his turn.
Status: Hand-0 Life-4000 Monsters-1 Face Down Cards-1
***************************************************
“Alex was the only one ever at that school to beat me,” said Reese. “What hope do you have to defeat me?”
“Don’t give up!” yelled the whole of Tom’s family and friends.
“I have hope from my friends,” grunted Tom, “something you’d never understand.” All of the sudden, Tom’s extra deck began glowing. Tom smiled at knowing what this meant.
“You have GOT to be kidding me,” stated Reese.
***************************************************
Tom’s Turn: Tom activates Gladiator Beast’s Respite, sending two Gladiator Beast cards from his hand to the graveyard to draw three cards from his deck. Next, he summons Gladiator Beast Samnite (ATK: 1600 DEF: 1200). When he controls a Gladiator Beast monster, Tom can special summon Test Tiger from his hand (ATK: 600 DEF: 300).
Tom activates Test Tiger’s effect. By tributing it, Tom can shuffle a Gladiator Beast monster that he controls to the deck and special summon a Gladiator Beast monster from his deck. This is treated as being special summoned by a Gladiator Beast monster. With Test Tiger’s effect, Tom special summons Gladiator Beast Darius (ATK: 1700 DEF: 300).
When special summoned by the effect of a Gladiator Beast monster, Tom can activate its effect. Tom can target a Gladiator Beast monster in his graveyard and special summon it, choosing Gladiator Beast Hoplomus. Tom overlays Gladiator Beast Hoplomus and Gladiator Beast Darius to xyz summon Amber Minotaur (ATK: 2400 DEF: 1900).
Tom activates Amber Minotaur’s effect. Once per turn, Tom can detach one xyz material from it to normal summon twice this turn and without a tribute, summoning Gladiator Beast Alexander (ATK: 2400 DEF: 600). Tom then activates Indomitable Gladiator Beast, increasing Gladiator Beast Alexander’s ATK by 500 (ATK: 2400 -> 2900).
Tom attacks Obsidian Imp with Gladiator Beast Alexander, but Reese activates Attack Invulnrability, keeping his monster from being destroyed in battle. Battle damage is applied normally.
Reese’s Life Points: 4000 -> 3900
During the end of the battle phase, Tom can shuffle Gladiator Beast Alexander into the deck and special summon another Gladiator Beast monster from his deck with Gladiator Beast Alexander’s effect. Tom shuffles Gladiator Beast Alexander into the deck to special summon Gladiator Beast Murmillo (ATK: 800 DEF: 400). When Gladiator Beast Murmillo is special summoned by a Gladiator Beast monster, Tom can destroy one face up monster on the field, choosing Obsidian Imp.
Tom ends his turn.
Status: Hand-0 Life-4000 Monsters-2 Face Down Cards-2
***************************************************
Reese’s Turn: Reese sets one monster.
Reese ends his turn.
Status: Hand-0 Life-3900 Monsters-1 Face Down Cards-0
***************************************************
This guy isn’t so tough, thought Tom. In just a couple of turns, this duel will be mine.
***************************************************
Tom’s Turn: Tom summons Gladiator Beast Retiari (ATK: 1200 DEF: 800). Tom overlays Gladiator Beast Retiari and Gladiator Beast Murmillo to xyz summon Black Ray Lancer (ATK: 2100 DEF: 600).
Tom attacks Reese’s face down monster with Amber Minotaur, which is a Morphing Jar (ATK: 700 DEF: 600). When Morphing Jar is flip summoned, all players discard their entire hands and draw five cards from their decks. Tom then attacks Reese directly with Black Ray Lancer, but Reese activates The High Priestess’ Staff from his hand, negating the attack, ending the battle phase, and inflicting 500 points of damage to Tom.
Tom’s Life Points: 4000 -> 3500
Tom activates Amber Minotaur’s effect, detaching an xyz material to normal summon a second time without a tribute, summoning Gladiator Beast Octavius (ATK: 2500 DEF: 1200).
Tom ends his turn.
Status: Hand-4 Life-3500 Monsters-3 Face Down Cards-2
***************************************************
“Now that my hand is replenished,” said Reese, “your luck will run dry.”
***************************************************
Reese’s Turn: Reese activates Heavy Storm, destroying all spell and trap cards on the field. Next, he activates Temple of the Kings, allowing Reese to activate trap cards the same turn they were set. Reese sets and activates Xyz Reborn, special summoning Obsidian Imp from his graveyard and attaching Xyz Reborn to it as xyz material.
Reese attacks Gladiator Beast Octavius with Obsidian Imp.
Tom’s Life Points: 3500 -> 3200
Reese sets one monster face down.
Reese ends his turn.
Status: Hand-1 Life-3900 Monsters-2 Face Down Cards-0
***************************************************
“You seem to forget that my hand is replenished as well,” called Tom. “With what I have in here, your chances of winning are slim to none.”
Just you wait, thought Reese, smiling.
***************************************************
Tom’s Turn: Tom activates his quick-play spell Dxyz, returning Black Ray Lancer to the extra deck and special summoning the xyz materials that were attached to that monster, special summoning Gladiator Beast Retiari and Gladiator Beast Murmillo. Tom normal summons Gladiator Beast Laquari (ATK: 1800 DEF: 400).
Tom sends Gladiator Beast Laquari, Gladiator Beast Murmillo, and Gladiator Beast Retiari to the deck to fusion summon Gladiator Beast Heraklinos (ATK: 3000 DEF: 2800). Tom activates Overlay Regenerate, attaching itself to Amber Minotaur as xyz material. Tom activates Amber Minotaur’s effect, detaching an xyz material to normal summon a second time without tribute, summoning Gladiator Beast Spartacus (ATK: 2200 DEF: 1600).
Tom attacks Obsidian Imp with Gladiator Beast Heraklinos. Reese attempts to activate Negate Attack, but Tom activates Gladiator Beast Heraklinos’ effect. By discarding a card from his hand, Tom can negate the activation of a spell or trap card and destroy it. The attack goes through.
Reese’s Life Points: 3900 -> 3700
Tom attacks Reese’s face down monster with Gladiator Beast Spartacus, which is a Pyramid Turtle (ATK: 1200 DEF: 1400). When Pyramid Turtle is destroyed by battle and sent to the graveyard, Reese can special summon a Zombie-type monster from his deck with 2000 or less DEF from his deck, choosing Skull Flame (ATK: 2600 DEF: 2000).
Tom ends his turn.
Status: Hand-0 Life-3200 Monsters-3 Face Down Cards-0
***************************************************
“Now you’re finished,” said Reese upon his draw. “Here’s a lesson to you for defending a dirtbag like Alex.”
***************************************************
Reese’s Turn: Reese activates Monster Reborn, special summoning Obsidian Imp from his graveyard. Reese attacks Gladiator Beast Heraklinos with Skull Flame. Gladiator Beast Heraklinos’ ATK is higher than Skull Flame’s ATK, so Skull Flame is destroyed.
Reese’s Life Points: 3700 -> 3300
Reese then activates his quick-play spell A Deal with Dark Ruler, special summoning Berserk Dragon from his deck when a level 8 or higher monster was sent to the graveyard (ATK: 3500 DEF: 0). Berserk Dragon can attack all monsters on the opponent’ side of the field once each. Reese attacks Gladiator Beast Spartacus with Berserk Dragon.
Tom’s Life Points: 3200 -> 1900
Reese attacks Gladiator Beast Heraklinos with Berserk Dragon.
Tom’s Life Points: 1900 -> 1400
Reese attacks Amber Minotaur with Berserk Dragon.
Tom’s Life Points: 1400 -> 300
Reese finally attacks Tom directly with Obsidian Imp.
Tom’s Life Points: 300 -> 0
Reese wins.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Sarah and Rainbow Dash ran to their fallen brother/friend’s side. Reese was going over to chastise Tom for his “poor” dueling but suddenly, a memory from five years ago caught him by surprise.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
................................................................................................................................................................
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Cont. from Reese vs. Opponent
Cont. from Opponent’s Turn: Opponent attacks Reese directly with Ultimate Baseball Kid (ATK: 2500 DEF: 1000).
Reese’s Life Points: 1200 -> 0
Opponent wins.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
The opponent laughed as Reese cried on the ground, not only because of his loss, but the punishment he’d have to endure. The only comfort Reese had was his sister as she rubbed his back in consolement.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
................................................................................................................................................................
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Reese stopped in his tracks and fell to his knees. He bowed down and sobbed into his forearms.
“Reese!” called Alex, rushing to his side. He was quickly pushed away before he could get closer.
“Go away,” wept Reese. The ponies were stunned. The duelist who ruthlessly beat Tom a minute ago was now bawling like a baby on their friend’s front lawn.
“Let me help,” said Emma. She knelt to his side and rubbed his back, which calmed him down a little.
“I want to go inside,” he cried.
“Okay,” cooed Emma. Mrs. Emmitt opened the door for them as the brother and sister walked into Alex’s house together.
Reese, thought Alex, just what happened to you?