Fluttershy stood with her duel disc ready, she faced Yuesi as they shuffled the other’s deck, nervously preparing for the word to begin their duel and she looked at the deck she was shuffling but within her mind, she dwelled on Joey within the crowd. So many friends had been made on this adventure but if it wasn’t for Joey’s constant support they would have been knocked out. She then turned to look at Joey, who smiled with his supportive smile and she smiled back. The fact remained however that her chances against Yuesi were minimal, he had defeated Joey so easily and now she had to do the impossible and win! She then remembered their adventure back in Equestria, so much had changed, dream or not, none of them were the same and she said to herself “I don’t want to do this” she looked into Yuesi’s eyes and added “I don’t want to play against you! This isn’t fair”
“Life rarely is” Yuesi sighed as he handed her deck back and continued “You have to beat me and that’s all there is to it” he gave her a small encouraging smile and walked across the field. The air was thick with tension, every step echoing around them as he headed for his spot on the field and when he finally turned round the life point counter hit 4000. Both duellist drew their opening hand, as they had already agreed on Yuesi going first, he drew a sixth card and after a moment looking at his hand said “I summon Max Warrior in attack mode!” the monster appeared with a twirl of it’s weapon and stood ready for the fight “And to end my turn I’ll play two cards face down!”
Joey sighed from the side-lines with Twilight, Yugi and Basil “This can’t be fair” he said slowly, he looked at Yusei with a concerned look, he then looked at Fluttershy feeling his heart ready to burst with pity and he then turned to Yugi but noticed Atem had taken his place “Atem? Come on! This can’t be fair!” he snapped as he hoped Atem would agree with him but Atem remained silent “Come on!”
“Wheeler!” Kaiba suddenly snapped walking up and gave him a deep scowl “How dare you call yourself a duellist!? You have so little faith in Fluttershy’s ability to stand on her own!” he then looked at Fluttershy with a smile on his face “If you care, then believe in her and her hopeful victory”
Ray then walked up and said “Yeah, my team believed in me when I needed them to and now so must you!” he gave Joey a slap across the back “She needs to see that you believe in her” and he smiled “All of you” Twilight smiled to confirm that she did believe in her friend “The odds are stacked against her but…I heard in this old movie, never tell me the odds!” Ray and the other bladers smiled as they all watched Fluttershy nervously draw a card “Here she goes!”
“Come on, Fluttershy! You can win!” Joey cheered all of a sudden, he was quickly joined by Steve, Twilight, Basil, Mariah and Ray as they cheered for Fluttershy, she smiled meekly but her mind was drawing blanks “Believe in the heart of cards!”
Fluttershy gave a chuckle and said just loud enough for her friends to hear as she looked at the only monster in her hand “I play the spell cost down!” she discarded a card and said “This let’s me lower the level of one monster in my hand by two stars. So with that I can summon this monster, I summon Rakkety Tam MacBurl!”
The response from those watching was laughter, Basil being the only one that didn’t burst out laughing, the monster looked too silly for words, A squirrel in tartan, a hat and a long sword with a small shield, stood on the field but Basil hushed the laughter with a cough “Now…see here you rapscallions! Show the warrior some respect! He is a jolly good fellow”
“Ack, dunna ya worry about it” Rakkety said as he looked at Max Warrior with a mad glint in his eyes “So long as I can sink ma blade into enemy hide…I’ll be just grand” his attack points were registered at 2200 and he added “Ya should probably check what I can do!” he held up two swords and turned to Fluttershy “I can call a mate to back me!”
“Oh really?!” Fluttershy asked as she checked the card “Oh right! I’ll use Rakkety’s ability to call Matthias the warrior!” the warrior mouse appeared with a smile and took the second sword from Rakkety who clapped the mouse across the back “Then I’ll use this card! The late rose!” suddenly roses sprouted on Yuesi’s face down cards “As long as I give up 500 points a turn, your face down cards lose their effects!”
“NO! Yuesi said in alarm but the damage was done and then one of the roses’ petals fell off “What’s going on?”
“The second effect of this card, lets me summon a monster from my deck, who’s level equals the number of face down cards you have!” Fluttershy explained with a smile “So I summon Logalog Shrew in defence mode” the shrew appeared with an impressive flip with his defence points set to 1200.
“Mathias! You crazy mouse warrior!” Logalog said as he kneeled in defence “Let my special ability offer you aid!” the attack points of Rakkety and Mathias were raised by 300 points.
“After that since, Logalog is a tuner, Luna told me I can synchro summon Mathias and Logalog for Power tool dragon!” Fluttershy said with a faint smile and whispered “Thanks Leo for the lone of his best monster” the mechanical dragon appeared with a loud roar “I…I did it!”
“Yeah way to go, Fluttershy!” Joey yelled in joy and turned to Leo and Luna “You two did something incredibly kind for her” he smiled as a single tear leaked down his cheek “I thought for sure she was going to…”
“As I said, Wheeler, she’s learned fast and we should all be proud for the parts we played in helping her improve but this duel is a long way from being done. Yusei’s face down’s may have lost their effects but look at his face” Kaiba explained as the group look to Yusei, the look of Yusei’s face showed no sign of panic or concern and if anything was the very definition of calm but then Kaiba snarled “Especially with those two jokers” giving Whis and Beerus a dark glare “They have more reason than most to change things”
“Wouldn’t surprise me either” Basil said as he rubbed his chin “Dashed chap is hard to read. Be a bit of jolly good tactics to change things up when no one’s looking”
“Power tool Dragon, attack!” Fluttershy ordered as the dragon roared and flew forward, Max Warrior blocked the blow from the right but was then smashed to pieces by the left. However Yusei’s life points remained unchanged and Fluttershy looked on in horror “Huh?!” Yusei held up a single card, Kuriboh.
Yugi smiled “I noticed Leo giving Fluttershy a card so I just gave Yusei one” he explained in Atem’s voice and shrugged but then they all heard Beerus snickering “Oh no!”
“Oh yes! Since we’re playing that little game” Beerus chuckled darkly “Discord, if you will” Discord nodded and snapped his clawed fingers. Suddenly the decks shuffled violently and the two duelist’s hands were drawn into the decks “Now draw the same number of cards you had”
Yusei drew three cards and Fluttershy drew two but Yusei snapped “This isn’t fair! Fluttershy only just learned the rules! Now you change her deck into a random assortment of cards that don’t match!” he then looked at his deck “I have no problem adapting but you can’t do this!”
“Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do hairgel boy!” Beerus snapped as he glowed slightly “Or I’ll have Whis feed you one of our leftovers!”
“That doesn’t sound that bad” Basil said slowly
“One of our leftovers from a planet that tried to poison me!” Beerus mumbled as he flicked his wrist “Now I believe it’s still your turn, Fluttershy”
Fluttershy nodded and looked at the cards in her hand “I play the spell card, pot of greed! This lets me draw two cards and then…” she looked at the two new cards and sighed sadly “I play a card face down and that it”
“Not a lot she can do, this position just isn’t workable” Robert said as he cleaned his blade and added “The best she can hope for is that Yusei didn’t get anything good” but as he spoke Yusei drew a card and shook his head sadly.
“I summon this monster…uh Starscream Armada fire!” Yusei said as a bright blue jet flew from the card but as it drew close to the ground, it changed into a robot with a sword, it’s attack points set to 1800 and Yusei smiled “When I successfully summon this creature I can summon a machine monster from my deck of the same level!” he looked through his deck and picked a card “I Special summon Bri synchron fire your jets for a synchro summon” Bri synchron appeared and then disappeared as the circles formed round Starscream.
“Oh no! Yusei must be going for Stardust Dragon!” Crow said in alarm “This duel could be all over!”
“I summon Optimus Prime the Autobot commander!” Yusei dramatically as a large truck rolled onto the field and again transformed “His original attack is 2700 but thanks to Bri Synchron it’s raised to 3300!” he looked at Fluttershy sadly “I’m sorry but this has to be done! Optimus attack with max fire!”
Optimus suddenly mumbled “Forgive me” he took aim at Power tool Dragon but suddenly a rock hit Optimus in the head “What?!”
“Ya forget about me, ya scrap heap joker!” Rakkety said with a smirk “Come on then ya metal jerk! Bet ya canna hit me!” he then stuck his tongue out and blew a raspberry “I bet that’s the sound ya make when ya rust!”
“What’s he doing?” Joey mumbled “No matter which monster receives the attack, it’s going to do a lot of damage”
Twilight smiled as she saw the look in Rakkety’s eyes “He knows something we don’t!” she said with a big smile and added “I’ll bet you anything, it’ll be a way to get a monster out that can stand up to Optimus!”
“Maybe but what?” Joey said sceptically
“Oh fine!” Optimus said as he aimed his gun at Rakkety “Max fire!” the attack struck Rakkety with horrible force and he collapsed to the ground coughing in agony as he raised his head weakly but then he began to laugh “What is it?” Fluttershy’s life points dropped to 2900.
“I have another effect….if the monster I helped summon is destroyed before me…I can help my owner by summoning a monster who’s level equals tha number of turns that separate our destructions and I count one! The monster can come from anywhere” Rakkety explained “If Fluttershy’s dosa mind, I’ll pick the tuner monster Garfield!” the orange cat appeared as the squirrel disappeared.
The cat let loose with a massive yawn and said “This seems pointless” he then shrugged and went to sleep.
“Not exactly the most amazing choice is it?” Crow said looking at the cat “It’s just a normal cat?”
“I have a special effect” Garfield snapped as he opened an eye lazily glaring at Crow.
“Really? Care to tell the rest of us” Ray said with a frown.
Garfield yawned and muttered “For once I can talk and instead of asking me important questions like, How I manage to look this good for my age? You ask what I can do in a children’s card game?” he rolled his eyes and muttered “I forgot it” to a collective groan from the audience.
Yusei began to laugh and said “Well I’ll just end my turn” he smiled at Fluttershy and added “I hope this isn’t too much for you”
Fluttershy however smiled and whispered “Thank you Rakkety. I know what I must do!” she drew a card and looked at her hand “I play Harpie’s feather duster!” Yusei’s back row was destroyed and she added “Now I synchro summon Merlin the mage!”
“Merlin!” Yusei said in awe but then his face fell at the monster that appeared “That’s not Merlin!” the spellcaster before them was a boy, in a brown jacket and a red scarf “Merlin is supposed to be an old wizard”
“Well you have to age before you can become old” Merlin said quietly, his attack points were set to a mere 200 but then the magic in the air began to build and Fluttershy’s deck glowed bright “I however can summon as many spellcaster monsters from either deck as long as a single warrior monster is summoned too!”
Fluttershy smiled “I’ll use Merlin’s special effect to summon…” she looked at her deck and smiled “I choose Natsu the dragon mage, the Sakura of the cards and Gandalf the wise. Now for the warrior I choose Arthur king of Camelot!” the four monsters appeared, Natsu’s attack was 2000, Sakura was 1700, Gandalf smiled as his points clocked in at 2300 and Artur’s attack was 3000 “Now it’s your turn. You need to summon 3 spellcasters and one warrior”
Yusei smiled “Okay” after a long pause he chose his four cards “I summon Dumbledore the headmaster, Elsa the frozen queen, Rita the Empress of Evil and my warrior is the mighty Sora keymage!” Dumbledore matched Gandalf’s attack points, Elsa had 1600, Rita held an attack of 2000 and Sora had 2500 “So what now?”
“According to the card, Merlin adds the attack together of all the monsters and divides it in 5 but then attacks automatically” Fluttershy mumbled as Merlin did just that and his attack points became 4120. Thus Merlin focused his magic into his hands and launched a devastating blast of energy striking Optimus. Yusei’s lifepoints dropped to 3180 “Now Arthur attack Sora!” Arthur drew his sword and charged forward, Sora blocked the first strike but Arthur disarmed him and then cut him in half.
Yusei lifepoints dropped to 2680 but he smiled “I activate the special effect of Sora allowing me to summon Ariel of the sea in defence mode!” a mermaid shot out the card and sat on the field her defence set to 2000.
“So now Gandalf attack Elsa with magic staff strike!” Fluttershy ordered as Gandalf charged forward and blasted Elsa with a concentrated blast of energy, Yusei points dropped to 1980 “Well another bites the dust! Natsu attack Rita!” both monsters exploded as they attacked. Leaving Yusei with Dumbledore and 1980 lifepoints but his smile only seemed to grow bigger.
At that moment Whis received a tap on the shoulder from the Doctor “We have a problem, the scouts have been driven back to the portal and they’ve taken casualties. There’s only two left” the Doctor explained and then he dropped the worst news “They got through the portal to the Rendezvous point but they were followed and the portal won’t shut! They need help”
“I’m on it” Whis said as he turned to the Doctor “This may take a while but what I need you to do is to ensure Applejack and Rarity make it to Coruscant…okay?” the doctor nodded and Whis sighed as he left.
“Good luck, Whis” the Doctor said as he walked towards a blue box.
Yusei drew a card and said to Fluttershy “I have to admit, you’ve improved, even in this situation where the odds are stacked against you….you don’t give up and you keep duelling!” he raised a card in his hand “When this duel ends, no matter the result….I want you to take this and know we’re with you” he then picked his move “But just because I admire your moves doesn’t mean I’m getting soft. I play the field spell, Hogwarts!” the massive castle appeared behind him “Now for it’s effect I get to summon a new monster for every three spells I have in my graveyard, so long as it’s a spellcaster and I have six so I summon Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl!” the two monsters appeared.
Fluttershy smiled happily and said “I activate my trap card when you summon two monsters at the same time I can play the trap, Dragon calling allowing me to Summon Red Eyes Black Dragon!” the dragon roared as it appeared.
“Okay very impressive but I still have two cards left. I play pot of greed” Yusei said as he knew the next turn would be the decide it for better or for worse “I play two spells. First Thousand knives to destroy Merlin!” Merlin dodged the knives as best he could but finally the knives struck “And second the spell card United we stand to Dark Magician. He now gains 800 points for every face up monster I control!” Dark Magician’s attack became 5700 “Okay Dark Magician attack Arthur!” the attack did horrible damage and dropped Fluttershy’s life points to 200 “Now Dark Magician Girl attack Sakura” however Gandalf suddenly glowed bright “What the?!”
“My good man, if I sacrifice myself I can end the battle phase but I have to have more attack points than the attacking monster” Gandalf said as he disappeared in a flash.
“So it’s your turn” Yusei said dryly.
Fluttershy drew a single card and said “I play the spell Card of demise! This let’s me draw till I have five cards” she drew four “I then play the spell Monster reborn! I’ll use it to revive Power tool Dragon!” the dragon appeared with a mighty roar “I’ll then play the spell call of Discord”
“Oh that’s me!” Discord exclaimed as he flew over and landed on the field dressed as the Blue eyes white dragon “My special ability allows me to steal a spell from you Yusei so if you don’t mind…” he slapped Dark Magician and took the united we stand card “Oh now Red eyes catch!” Red eyes black dragon roared as it’s attack points jumped to 4800.
“So it’s over….Fluttershy…you’ve grown so much” Yusei said as a single tear leaked down his cheek “Go for it!”
Fluttershy smiled “Thank you Yusei” she turned to Red eyes and said “Red eyes black dragon, inferno fire blast on Dark Magician!” the dragon flew forward and fired a fire ball at the magician who countered but the blast was too strong. Yusei’s life points hit zero.