//------------------------------// // Like Family // Story: Rise of the Numbers // by goldenrise365 //------------------------------// The media had been in a firestorm over the recent activity around the school. Calls about random earthquakes, giant shadows, and mysterious explosions plagued the phones of local police and news. The news began to jump on the incident. They started to interview students and staff about the recent events. Their latest interview was with Principal Celestia. "We are completely aware of the recent events around the school. We have the Canterlot Police on the look out for any potential threat to our students. That is all we will say at this time. Thank you." Sunset shut off the hospital TV. With the TV off, the only sound was the heart monitor. Sunset walked over and placed a hand on Gold's bandaged shoulder. "Your going to be ok Gold." She was mostly saying it for her sake. She interlaced her fingers with his and sat down. This was her daily routine for the past two days. But today was going to be different. A set of footsteps was heard getting closer to the door. A figure stopped in the doorway. It was a girl with waist-length red hair tied in a ponytail, light purple eyes, and white skin. She wore a red plaid skirt, a brown jacket with a tan vest, and a white shirt with a red ribbon tied at the collar. "Is this Golden Rise's room?" she asked. "Yes it is," said a suspicious Sunset. "Who are you?" "I'm Paladin Crismon. Gold's sister," said Paladin with a smile. Sunset did not believe a single word. "Yeah right. Gold's sister just happens to show up after he is hurt after battling a being of Darkness." "Well I saw the local news, and I got worried. I haven't seen him in years." "Like I would believe that," said Sunset. "What would make you believe me?" asked Paladin. "Beat me in a duel." Sunset brought out her duel disk. "How will that prove anything?" "Just duel." "Ok then." Paladin reached into the bag she had and brought out a red duel disk. "Let's duel!" Sunset: 8000 Paladin: 8000 "I'll go first." Sunset drew her card. "I summon out Blue Flame Swordsman." A warrior in blue armor wielding a blue flaming sword appeared. "Then I set two cards face down to end my turn." "I draw." Paladin drew her card. "I start by setting a card. I summon out Crystron Rosenix." A bird made from red crystals descended to the field. "She's a favorite of mine." "Yeah, we all have our favorites," said Sunset. "Well she's one of my favorites because of her effect. By getting ride of my face down, I can summon one Crystron Tuner monster from my deck." Paladin's deck shuffled itself and she drew a card. "I summon Crystron Citree." A human made of yellow metal appeared. "Now my Rosenix will attack your Blue Flame Swordsman." "But they both have the same attack." "I know that." Rosenix dove at Blue Flame Swordsman. He lifted his blade and struck Rosenix. Both were destroyed. "So you got rid of my Swordsman. Now what?" "Now I'll use Citree to revive Rosenix." Citree sent out a wave of light and Rosenix was back. "Now I activate Graceful Charity. So I draw three cards, and discard two. Then I activate Iron Call. This lets me summon a level 4 or lower Machine-type from my graveyard." Paladin grabbed a card from her graveyard. "I summon out Crystron Smiger." A tiger made from white metal and brown crystals appeared. "Then I activate Foolish Burial to bring back Crystron Thystvern." A dragon made of purple metal and crystals came from a portal. "For monsters on your first turn?!?" "Yeah. All my monster work together really well. Now I set two cards face down to end my turn." "You may have an army of monster, but I will win this." Sunset drew her card. "I activate Terraforming to add a field spell to my hand." Sunset's deck shuffled itself, and she drew the top card. "Now I activate Volcanic Vally." The field transformed into a landscape filled with volcanos. "Hope your water monsters don't dry up." "They're staying nice and cool." "Not for long. This card lets me summon Fire attribute monsters from my deck for each card I send to the graveyard. I'll send two cards to the graveyard." Sunset sent her two cards to the graveyard. Her deck shuffled and she drew her two new monsters. "I summon out Open Hearth and Flame Soldier." A fire sparked on the field and was lined with stones. A humanoid figure came up from the lava. "Now I activate Polymerization to fuse my two monsters together to summon out my ultimate monster." Both monsters jumped into the air and turned into a swirling vortex. "I bring out Solar Flare Dragon!" A cry emitted from the skies. A fireball shot from one of the volcanoes and landed on the field. Two fiery wings sprouted from from the fireball. A dragon climes out of the crater it left. It had red scales and flaming spines. "Hello threat. Prepare to be burned," she said. "Now I can destroy as many monsters on your side of the field, as cards I send to the graveyard." Sunset sent three cards to the graveyard. "Fiery Vengence!" Solar Flare prepared to fire a blast. "I activate Negate Effect to stop you Dragon." Solar Flare powered down. "Darn it." "Then I activate Final Battle. This causes one of my monsters to battle with yours, but Niether are destroyed." Rosenix dove at Solar, but both were fine. Sunset: 8000 Paladin: 6800 "Why would you take damage?" "Why are you asking questions? A duel is supposed to be spontaneous and fun." Paladin looked to Gold. "My brother taught me that." "Fine. I end my turn." "I draw." Paladin drew her card. "Now I'll use my Citree to tune my Rosenix, Smiger, and Thystvern." Citree turned into two green rings that surrounded the three other monsters. "I Synchro summon Ascension Sky Dragon!" A column of light shot through the rings. A dragon with a long white tail and white and gold wings appeared. "Hello young duelist," she said. "Now I activate Pot of Greed to add two cards to my hand. Now I have 6 in my hand. This boosts my dragon's attack to 3000. Attack, Ascension Sky Fall." Ascension fired a blast, but Solar fired her own. Both dragons were destroyed. "There go our dragons," said Sunset. "And that's just what I needed. I activate Soul Cannon." A robotic cannon appeared on the field. "Now you take damage equal to the total attack of all monsters in our graveyards. "Uh oh." "Soul Cannon, Fire!" Soul Cannon fired a shot that took out Sunset's life points. Sunset: 0 Paladin: 6800 Paladin deactivated her duel disk and walked over to Sunset. She stuck her hand out. "Good game." "Your not going to gloat? Or take my soul?" "What kind of person do you think I am? I had Gold for a brother." Paladin helped Sunset up. "I'm just glad he wasn't alone." "Yeah." Sunset rubbed the back of her head. "Can you tell me about Gold a bit?" "He was really protective. He would stand up to anypony that would bully me." "Wait anypony?" "I guess he never told you. Gold is a Phoenix Pony from Equestria." Sunset took that information well. She fainted. "Guess that was a shock to her," said Paladin.