After a long, boring day of school; Silver and Lyra decided to go to the “Rich Dome” -- a local arena -- to train for the W.R.G.P., inspired in no small part by Twilight and Starlight’s determination. Upon their arrival, however; they were informed that they could not use the track as it was currently undergoing repairs and general maintenance checks -- after Team Skull Crush had nearly destroyed it during their last practice session.
The two Turbo Duelists had to settle for ordinary Action Duels, instead, but at least it would still help keep their skills sharp. As Silver was preparing his Duel Disk, he ran straight into a boy with gold-ish skin, and yellow and gold hair. His outfit consisted of a bright gold jacket, white t-shirt, blue jeans, and strikingly red sneakers.
“Sorry! I didn’t see you there,” Silver said as he brushed himself off.
“It's OK; accidents happen,” The boy said, picking himself up off the ground. He stopped short, noticing just who he had bumped into. “Hey, aren’t you that Silver Chance: the guy who won the Canterlot Grand Prix?”
“I am, actually. And again, I'm sorry for bumping into you... um… what’s your name?” Silver asked.
“Oh, I’m Golden Rise. It's a pleasure to meet you, man,” Golden replied. His face fell as he noticed he had dropped the card he had been holding. “Oh, shoot! Hang on a sec,” Golden added, dropping back to the ground to search for his prized possession.
Silver noticed a card next to where he and Golden hit the dirt -- almost humorously just outside of Golden’s line of sight -- and picked it up. Silver admired the rare dragon depicted on the card’s artwork. “This what you’re looking for?”
Golden sprang back to his feet and looked at the card held out in Silver’s hand, heaving a sigh of relief as he took it back for himself. “It is! The Crimson Dragon here is my rarest card... and in a way, it’s also my closest friend.”
Silver nodded solemnly, understanding the bond a Duelist shared with their cards all too well. He considered some of his strongest monsters his friends, too. Silver and Golden walked to the Dueling field, where Lyra was in the middle of a heated battle. Or rather, at the end of one. The two Duelists watched as Lyra’s Life Points ticked down to zero as the playing field declared her opponent -- another of Silver’s friends from school, Pinkie Pie -- the winner. Pinkie and Lyra shook hands and chatted idly as they left the field, meeting up with Silver and Golden.
“Hi, Silver! Who’s your new friend?” Pinkie asked, waving as she bounded over to the two boys.
“This is Golden. I met him while I was getting my Dueling equipment ready.”
“Ooh! A new friend to Duel! I love Dueling new friends! Goldie, right? You wanna Duel?” Pinkie asked, bouncing up and down on her toes in excitement. Golden turned to give a questioning look to Silver, who merely shrugged, his face showing only a hint of a smile.
“She’s excitable like that. Go ahead; show me what you and that dragon of yours have got,” Silver offered. Golden nodded determinedly and accepted Pinkie’s challenge.
Both Pinkie and Golden took their positions, and with that out of the way; the Action Field “Mercury Frontier” was activated by a nearby Solid Vision tech with a thumbs-up -- and the arena was transfigured into a landscape of the planet Mercury, complete with an old western-style town that served as the central starting point, with a 20-kilometer perimeter marking the outer limits of the map.
After the Duel Field had finished forming and the technician gave the Duelists the final “OK!”, the familiar Action Card-filled bubble popped over the town, dispersing the cards across the planetscape and signaling the official commencement of the Duel.
DUEL
Pinkie Pie LP: 4000
Golden Rise LP: 4000
“Hope you don’t mind; I’ll start!” Pinkie said as she drew her opening hand. She picked up a card from amongst the five and placed it energetically on her Disk. “To start: I’ll Normal Summon Performapal Silver Claw in Attack Mode!”
A grey wolf with silver claws wearing a dark blue muffler and a spiffy spotted bow tie leaped onto Pinkie’s field and let out an echoing -- yet strangely jovial -- howl.
Performapal Silver Claw
LV: 4
ATK: 1800
“I’ll play two cards face-down, and end my turn,” Pinkie said as she mounted Silver Claw, tearing off to run around the barren desert-like environment along the town’s outskirts in search of useful Action Cards with a quickly fading “Whee!”
“Looking for Action Cards before the Duel’s even really gotten rolling? That’s an Action Duelist, all right. It’s my turn now; so I draw,” Golden said as he picked up his newest card and looked over his Hand. “For my first monster, I’ll Summon my Lord of Dragons in Attack Mode.”
A wizard with a flowing blue cape across armor reminiscent of the bones of a dragon appeared in front of Golden, ready to fight for his master.
Lord of Dragons
LV: 4
ATK: 1200
“Next, I activate The Flute of Summoning Dragon! I can only activate this Spell when Lord of Dragons is on my field -- and it allows me to Special Summon up to two Dragon-type monsters from my Hand,” Golden explained as his Lord of Dragons caught the flute produced by the Spell Card -- and with a deep breath he blew the signal, calling for the rise of its draconic allies. “With Flute of Summoning Dragon’s effect, I Special Summon both my Crimson Dragon and Alexandrite Dragon to the field in Attack Position!”
Out of one of the portals opened by the power of the flute arose a dragon with crimson red scales, crystalline wings with an impeccable sheen only matched by its crystal talons; and out of the other came another, smaller dragon with scales of many glittering alexandrite stones and fiercely orange eyes.
Crimson Dragon
LV: 8
ATK: 3000
Alexandrite Dragon
LV: 4
ATK: 2000
“I can’t let it be that easy! I activate my face-down Bottomless Trap Hole in response to the Summon -- so now your dragons go ‘Bye-Bye!,” Pinkie said as a massive hole began to open beneath Golden’s new monsters, only to be stopped short by a mechanical dragon dropping a bomb into the hole. “Huh?”
“Looks like they won’t be leaving so soon, after all. By sending Missile Dragon to my Graveyard, I can negate the activation of any Spell or Trap,” Golden explained as he fished an Action Card from the clutches of a cactus-like alien plant, deciding to hold onto it for later.
“I activate Crimson Dragon’s effect! Once per turn; I can destroy one of your face-up monsters, and my dragon gains ATK points equal to that destroyed monster’s ATK.”
Crimson Dragon fired a bright crimson fireball at Silver Claw that destroyed him completely, sending Pinkie sliding into an Action Card, but not before Crimson Dragon absorbed Silver Claw’s 1800 ATK.
3000 + 1800 = 4800
Pinkie picked up the Action Card before her only to have it be struck by an arrow of light. “Hey! What gives?!” Pinkie shouted as her new card was destroyed before she could even finish reading it.
“Sorry about that. I activated the Action Card called Cosmic Arrow. Since you added an Action Card to your Hand, this card revealed and destroyed it,” Golden replied. “Next; I overlay my Lord of Dragons and Alexandrite Dragon and build the Overlay Network!”
Lord of Dragons and Alexandrite Dragon turned into streams of energy and went into a black galaxy-like portal which exploded in a flash.
“Fangs of pitch-black darkness, rise up against the foolish oppression! Descend now! Xyz Summon! Come forth! Rank 4! Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon!”
A black dragon with metallic armor covering parts of its body, gleaming yellow eyes, and several purple orbs positioned near its wings roared and took its battle-ready position, baring its fangs.
Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon
RANK: 4
ATK: 2500
UNITS: 2
“Battle! Crimson Dragon, attack Pinkie’s Life Points directly,” Golden declared as Crimson Dragon fired a stream of fire that shined as bright as crimson. Pinkie ran from the flames as fast as she could -- noticing another stray Action Card lying on top of a boulder up ahead and grabbing it.
“I activate the Action Card Mirror Attack! This redirects your monster’s attack to another monster on the field, so Crimson Dragon’s new attack target is your Dark Rebellion!” A mirror appeared in front of the fire, reflecting Dark Rebellion on its surface. The broken shards of the destroyed mirror were shot back at Dark Rebellion, destroying it with a cry.
Pinkie LP: 4000
Golden LP: 1700
“That could have gone better. I end my turn by setting one card face-down,” Golden said as a face-down card appeared behind the Crimson Dragon.
“Better luck next time. I draw!” Pinkie said as she drew her next card with a flourished spin, leaving a pink trail of light in her hand’s wake. Pinkie knew that she needed to do something about Crimson Dragon and its 4800 ATK, but she did not have much to use in her hand -- until she noticed an Action Card wedged in another of the strange cacti and grabbed it.
“I activate the Action Card Hand Recharge! This sends all the remaining cards in my Hand back to my Deck, and lets me draw five new cards to replace them!” Pinkie returned her weakened Hand to her Deck and shuffled it, then drew her fresh cards. “Next, I activate my face-down Trap Card, Reckless Greed; which lets me draw two more cards, but in exchange: I must skip my next two Draw Phases,” Pinkie explained as she drew two more cards, bringing her hand up to a total of seven.
“I activate my own face-down Trap, Gamble,” Golden said as a Trap Card with a picture of an in-progress poker game flipped up on his field. A Solid Vision coin engraved with the same symbol that Golden wore appeared in his right hand.
“Ooh! What does that do?” Pinkie asked, thinking of a gambler and what exactly that would entail on a card.
“Since you have at least six cards in your Hand and I have zero, I can activate this Trap... but here’s the thing that gives this trap its name. I flip a coin and call ‘Heads’ or ‘Tails’. If I am correct, I draw until I have five cards in my Hand, but if I'm wrong my next turn is skipped entirely,” Golden explained.
“Wow! Talk about very, very, very, very high stakes!” Pinkie said, heavily emphasizing the final “very.”
Golden took a deep breath and flipped his coin. As the coin went higher into the air, the tension from the spectators gathered became heightened as they anticipated the final outcome. The coin flipped over and over and made its descent back down to his hand. Both Pinkie and Golden were feeling nervous, as this was sort of a “make or break” moment. Golden caught his coin and flipped it onto the back of his hand.
“Come on... Tails!” Golden said as he revealed his coin. To his relief, he saw that it had landed on his predicted “Tails,” and drew the full five cards from his Deck.
“Phew! That was weirdly intense! Anyway, I set the Pendulum Scale with the Scale Three Performapal Seal Eel and Scale Eight Odd-Eyes Unicorn!” Pinkie said as her Pendulum zones opened and she placed the scales inside. On the left side was a stuffed eel with bandages over its mouth swimming through the air above the number “3,” and on the right side was a green unicorn wearing a blue vest and a bow tie above the number “8.”
♦3__________8♦
“But that’s not wide enough for what I want to do, so I’ll activate the Spell Card Scale Up to raise my Unicorn’s scale by two!”
♦3_________10♦
“Now I can Pendulum Summon multiple monsters between Level four through Level nine; so I Pendulum Summon my Performapal Laugh Maker, and the Silver Claw you destroyed earlier from my Extra Deck!” shouted Pinkie as a smiling man in an orange robe appeared from the Pendulum portal on the left side of Silver Claw.
Performapal Silver Claw
LV: 4
ATK: 1800
Performapal Laugh Maker
LV: 8
ATK: 2500
" But waits there's one more guess we need to invite to the party so next I'll Normal Summon Performapal Lizardraw.
an orange lizard in a red tuxedo with Trap Cards for frills appeared on the right side of Silver Claw and waved its cane before planting it on the ground in front of him.
Performapal Lizardraw
LV: 3
ATK: 1200
“Now I activate Seal Eel’s Pendulum Effect; which allows me to negate the effects of your Crimson Dragon!” Seal Eel spat it's bandaged onto Crimson Dragon’s forehead and dropped it’s ATK value back down to 3000.
4800 - 1800 = 3000
“Next, I’ll activate my personal favorite card, Smile World! This Spell gives all monsters on the field 100 extra ATK for every monster the both of us control -- so with four monsters on the field that's 400 points!” Every monster on the field burst into wide smiles as they gained power from Pinkie’s card.
3000 + 400 = 3400
2500 + 400 = 2900
1800 + 400 = 2200
1200 + 400 = 1600
“Laugh Maker’s effect now activates! When I declare an attack: he gains 1000 additional ATK points for every monster with ATK higher than its original printed ATK!” All the smiling monsters on the field erupted into laughter, which Laugh Maker absorbed with a twirl of his staff and a grin.
2900 + 4000 = 6900
“Battle! Laugh Maker, attack Crimson Dragon with your Laughter Spark! Finish this!” Laugh Maker spun his staff again in a wide arc and generated a large face adorned with a big smile that sparked with electrical energy.
Laugh Maker extended his staff and threw the face toward Crimson Dragon. Golden tried running for an Action Card to save his dragon and his chances, but he was not quick enough to obtain one in time, resulting in his loss.
Pinkie Pie LP: 4000
Golden Rise LP: 0
Winner: Pinkie Pie
With the duel over, Golden and Pinkie shook hands and exchanged words of praise as the Action Field and remaining monsters around them dissipated.
“Excellent work, Golden. I’m impressed,” Silver told the recently defeated Duelist. “Pinkie’s an unpredictable one -- even I didn’t see that last move coming. Powering up your monster so her own could gain extra points like that? Of course, you wouldn’t be ready for it.”
“Thanks!” Pinkie said, smiling wide.
After parting ways with both Golden Rise and Pinkie Pie, Silver -- realizing just how hungry he was -- decided to invite Lyra out for lunch at their favorite restaurant. On the way out of the Dueling Fields, a girl with green skin and striking orange and yellow hair stopped them in their tracks.
“I finally found you, Silver Chance; and now you're all mine!” the girl said as she grabbed tightly onto Silver’s free arm.
“Wh-? Do you know this girl, Silver?” Lyra said with a displeased look.
“Uh… I don't know. Maybe?” Silver said as the girl let him go.
“Really? Well then, let me refresh your memory: it was the final match of the Canterlot Grand Prix, and you beat me by a hair with your Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend,” the girl elaborated as she showed Silver her locket.
“... Lightning Dust?” Silver asked.
“That’s me! Glad you finally remember,” Lightning replied with a smug look.
“Well, uh, Lightning: meet my girlfriend, Lyra Heartstrings,” Silver said with a waving motion directed at Lyra.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lightning,” Lyra said, happy with the way Silver had made their loving relationship clear right from the start.
“Well, we were about to head to the Crystal Grill for lunch, but... would you care to join us, Lightning?” Silver asked, knowing that Lightning would probably follow them anyway.
“Sure! Sounds good; lead the way,” Lightning replied as she put her bike helmet on.
Silver, Lyra, and their new tagalong Lightning Dust made their way to the Canterlot Mall to get to the Crystal Grill, one of the fanciest restaurants in Canterlot, to catch up and talk.