Shining Spoon and his friends were waiting for Burst outside. "Sorry if I was held back guys! But I'm here now!", Burst said. "So what did all of you want to learn first?"
"Can you teach us how to fusion summon?", Bright Star asked.
"Oh! Teach me how to xyz!", Shining Spoon added.
"How about synchro summoning?", Bolt Dash asked. Burst chuckled.
:
"No problem. I know how to use all those summoning methods. But first I gotta ask: do any of you have decks?" The three nodded. "Okay. But first, we've gotta find you monster partners. And I know just where we could find them." Burst then took the three of them to Discord's card shop.
"How'll we know which monster is our partner?", Shining asked.
"You'll feel it. And so will the monster.", Burst said. Shining and his friends then looked at different monsters, and picked out their monsters. Each of them had picked a dragon that was related to the type of summoning they wanted to learn. Shining Spoon had Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon, Bolt Dash had chosen Clear Wing Synchro Dragon, and Bright Star picked out Starving Venom Fusion Dragon. "Good job guys! You've picked out your partners well. Now then, let's start with the basics. Do all of you know the different card types?" The CMCB nodded. "Good. Now do any of you know how you lose life points?"
"One way is destroying monsters by battle. The difference in attack points is deducted from our life points.", Bright Star said. "Or when a monster's defense is greater than the attack of the attacking monster. But when their attack is equal, both monsters are destroyed. If the attack and defense are equal, neither monster is destroyed. Oh! And then there's card effects!"
"Good job Bright Star. Now I'll teach you the different summoning methods. First up is fusion.", Burst said. "The most common way is to use the card Polymerization. But in my case, I use Dragon's Mirror to banish dragons on my field and, or in my graveyard to fusion summon a dragon-type fusion monster. However, you should always read the fusion materials before you try to fusion summon. You need the right materials if you plan on bringing out your fusion monster."
"Wow. So as long as I base my deck around my monster, I should be able to fusion summon no problem!", Bright Star said. Burst smiled.
"Very true. Next I'll be covering synchro summoning."
"YES!", Bolt Dash cheered.
"First you'll need a specific type of monster called a tuner." Burst pulled out White Stone of Ancients and Blue Eyes. "To synchro summon, you need a tuner monster AND another monster. But the hard part is making sure the combined levels of your monsters equal the level of the monster you want to synchro summon."
"Man. That sounds even harder than fusion!", Bolt remarked. "But it shouldn't be too bad if I set my deck up for synchro summoning!"
"The last method is Xyz summoning.", Burst said. "This one's easy. Just take two monsters with the same level and overlay them. It's pretty quick, but you should pay attention to the levels needed to overlay the monster you want to summon."
"Sweet! All I need is a lot of level four monsters!", Shining Spoon said.
"Don't get ahead of yourself Shining. Like any good deck, you need to couple your monsters with spells and traps that work well with your deck. Try to keep your deck to a forty card minimum.Also, some Xyz monster are specific to the type or attribute of their xyz materials." The CMCB nodded. "So do you got the basics down?"
"Uh-huh!", the CMCB said.
"Great! Once you have your decks ready, we'll test them out. A three-on-one duel against me.", Burst said with a smile. The CMCB left with eager anticipation of when they would face Burst and seeing their decks in action. Burst in the meantime headed back to the school. He'd gotten a text that Twilight had shown up. "So what'd I miss?", Burst said as he entered the room where Sunset and the others were making a plan.
"Well we found out the only way to counter the Dazzlings' spell is with a vocal spell. Now the only problem is finding the right lyrics.", Twilight said.
"No sweat! We'll beat 'em no problem! My solo's gonna rocket us past the first round for sure!", Rainbow boasted. "Plus we can still pony-up!"
"Speaking of that, how does that even work?", Steel asked.
"I'll have to run some tests on that. The magic has to be coming from somewhere.", Sunset answered.
Many failed tests later...
"Okay! I've been able to find out one thing from all the tests!", Sunset said. ".....I have no idea where the magic comes from!"
"Let's see...each of you transformed when you were playing your instruments.", Burst noted. "Maybe it's gotta do with playing what's in your heart?" This earned Burst stares from everyone. "What? It's all I got from this."
"True. But unleashing the magic to beat The Dazzlings' is what we really need to find out.", Twilight added. "All of us are together, but it feels like something's missing."
"Well I don't know about you Twilight, but something tells me you'll find out what that something is.", Inferno said with a smile. Twilight smiled. "Plus I'm sure you'll win the Battle of the Bands no problem!"
"Speaking of that darling, how did it go with convincing Principal Celestia to let your band be a special ending performance?", Rarity asked.
"She agreed no problem. We've been practicing for the song we're gonna perform.", Inferno said with a grin.
"That's awesome! But all this begs the question: Why aren't you entering the competition?", Sunset asked.
"Eh. I'm sure we'll be thrown in as a last-minute challenger. Vice Principal Luna would get to use the 'Here comes a new challenger!' sound effect.", Burst said with a smile. They all shared a laugh as they headed home for the day. All of them anticipating the coming challenge.