//------------------------------// // Turn 6, Dueltaining Work // Story: Yugioh EQG: Shadow Gates // by Banshee531 //------------------------------// The hour break had come and gone and the second half of the first day of the Celestic Cup Finals had begun. Currently the audience were watching match five, which had pitted Timber Spruce with a Duellist named Cloak N Daggers whose face was hidden beneath a hooded cloak. They were Duelling on the Action Field Bamboo Forest, while Timber's field currently had Dark Timber Wolf on it, while Cloak's field only had a face down. Timber: 1000 Cloak: 2100 Celestia: Cloak appears to be in trouble. Luna: Maybe, but who knows what he's hiding in his deck. "It's over," Timber said, "I attack with Dark Timber Wolf." His monster let out a powerful howl, which flew at Cloak. "I activate my face down," Cloak said as his card flipped up to reveal a Trap. "Dark Ambush. By paying five hundred life points I can negate your monsters attack and destroy it." Timber: 1000 Cloak: 1600 A barrier appeared in front of Cloak, which Dark Timber Wolf's attack bounced off of and rebounded on the wooden canine. Dark Timber Wolf was destroyed, causing Timber to growl. "I end my turn," he said. "Then it's my turn," Cloak said as he went to his deck, "I draw and summon Dark Assailant." A skeleton appeared, dressed in assassin clothing and carrying knives. (A1200/D1200/L4) "Attack." The skeleton leaped at Timber and threw its knives at the man, causing him to flinch as they struck him. Timber: 0 Cloak: 1600 (Winner) Celestia: Winner, Cloak N Dagger's has defeated Timber. Luna: He'll be moving onto the next round. Up in the stands, Flash was smirking. "Is it wrong that I totally enjoyed that?" He asked Spike. "No," the teen replied, "but don't let Twilight see you." Twilight had been roped into watching Timber's match by his sister, who was sitting a ways off. Up in the box, Cold was watching Cloak N Daggers carefully. "Something wrong?" He looked over to see Sunset walk over to where he was standing. "Something about that Duellists makes me suspicious," he replied, "he might be working with him." "Then we'll keep an eye on him," Sunset said, "and if he makes a move we'll be ready." Cold nodded as the moved back over to where the others where waiting. Timber moaned as he sat down next to Twilight and Gloriosa, who had moved over to where her friends were sitting. "I can't believe I'm out already," he said. "You did great bro," Gloriosa said as she placed a hand on his shoulder, "your opponent just did better." "Yeah," Twilight agreed, "don't be to down about it." "I guess you're right," Timber said. Suddenly the stage lit up again as the Celestic Sisters stepped onto it. Luna: It's time for Duel number six, but who will be our lucky contestants? Celestia: Let's find out, shall we. She pulled out her remote and pressed the button. The megascreen came on and showed the images of the remaining A Block Duellists, which spun around hiding the images. Once again they began randomly spinning, until one shot out and flipped around. Luna: Cheese Sandwich! "YAY!" Pinkie screamed happily. "Can't wait to see if this guy's as good as you say he is," Twilight said. "He's the best," Pinkie said, "Duelling him was so much fun." "Wonder who his opponent is?" Applebloom said. She soon got her answer, when a second image shot out showing Cheese's opponent. Celestia: Big Mac! Everyone smiled at this, happy to finally be seeing Applejack's and Applebloom's older sibling Duel. "Woowee," Applejack said, "this is gonna be fun. Sorry Pinkie but your boyfriend doesn't stand a chance against Mac." "We'll see," Pinkie sung. A few minutes later, the two Duellists stepped out onto the field. a dark red Duel Disk was strapped to Big Mac's arm, while Cheese had his yellow Disk on his. They met in the centre of the arena, where the ref was waiting. "Heads or tails?" He asked them. "I'll take tails," Cheese said before turning to Mac, "that okay with you big guy?" "Eeyup," he replied simply. The ref flipped the coin, which landed on the ground allowing him to look at it. "Heads," he said, "Big Mac will take the first move." The two nodded before stepping back to an appropriate distance. Celestia: With that settled, let's see which field they'll be playing on. She held up the remote and pressed the button, a second later the floor glowed as it formed the Duel Field. "AUGMENTED REALITY COMBAT SYSTEM ENERGISED." In the blink of an eye, Cheese and Mac were transported to the inside of a circus tent. There was a trampoline, a giant mouse wheel, several large spheres floating in the air and a trapeze looking over everything. Luna: Acrobatic Circus! "Awesome!" Cheese said as he looked around, "I'm loving this." Mac just nodded. Celestia: It seems our Duellists are ready to battle under the big top. Luna: Then lets get this thing started. Celestia: Three! Luna: Two! All: ONE!" "DUEL!" Mac: 4000 Cheese: 4000 "ACTION CARD DISPERSED!" "I'm up first," Mac said as he went to his deck and then yelled at the top of his voice, "I DRAW!" Everyone was put back by this. "Man he's loud," Spike said. "I was expecting him to barely say a word," Twilight said. "Mac's a little shy," Applejack said, "but when he Duels he's suddenly full of confidence." "Yeah," Applebloom said, "you're gonna see another side of Big Mac now." "First I'll activate the Spell card Graceful Charity, which lets me draw three cards and then ditch two." He did so, nodding at the cards he'd drawn before discarding one of them along with one from his hand. "Next I'm summoning my Mecha Worker Grand Hammer to the field, in ATK mode." A large red humanoid robot appeared on the field, with large hammer head on the end of its right arm. (A1800/D100/L4) The others were a little confused about this. "Was anyone else expecting to see a plant monster?" Flash asked. "Eeyup," everyone except Applejack and Applebloom said. "Big Mac's Mecha deck is something to behold," Applejack said, "just watch." "Next I'll activate my Mecha Worker's ability," Mac said, "which lets me summon a Mecha Worker in my graveyard to the field." A pile of scrap metal appeared in front of Grand Hammer, which he started bashing with his hammer fist until the scrap became a new monster. It looked just like Grand Hammer, except it was green and in place of a hammer it had an axe head for a right hand. "Meet Mecha Worker Max Axe," Mac said. (A1600/D1400/L4) "I'll place one card face down and end my turn." "Then it's my turn," Cheese said. In that moment he ran off and jumped onto one of the spheres, then onto the top of the trapeze before looking out into the crowd. "Ladies and gentlemen! I welcome you to this Dueltaining event. Let's all remember to have a ton of fun." "As flamboyant as ever," Rarity said with a chuckle. "Go Cheese!" Pinkie screamed. "I draw." Cheese looked at his cards and smiled. before looking out to his captive audience. "I'll start this Duel off by setting the Pendulum Scale, with Scale one Performapal Monkeyboard and Scale nine Performapal Toucannon." He placed two cards on his Duel Disk as it lit up. On either side of him, two columns of light appeared as two monsters flew up into them. The first was a monkey creature with teeth designed like a keyboard, while the other was a large toucan with a cannon barrel for a beak. The two monsters stopped flying up as they reached ten feet in the air, before numbers appeared below them. They then looked up as a beam of light shot out of their eyes and staff, connecting above his head. "Swing far pendulum," he said, "carve the arc of victory." The portal began to take shape. "My monsters are ready, to swing into ACTION!" The portal opened, as three beams of light shot out and struck the ground. The first was a man in purple jester clothing with star patterns sowed on. Star shaped bells hung from the cuffs of his sleeves, pants and the tips of his hat. "Razzle dazzle, Performapal Jestar." (A300/D300/L4) The second was a humanoid insect juggling five brown balls in its several arms. "Juggle time, Performapal Buggler." (A1900/D300/L4) The last was an Elvis faced fish with a blade like hairpiece. "Slice and dice, Performapal Swordfish." (A600/D600/L2)  Celestia: Pendulum Summoning right off the back. He's really getting into the swing of things. "He's sure got the crowd railed up," Spike said as the group looked out at the audience, who were all clapping away. "Just wait until my big brother gets going," Applebloom said. "Let's do this guys," Cheese said, "I'm activating Jestar's special ability. Once per turn, I can roll a dice and increase his ATK points by the same number as the one I rolled." A six sided dice appeared in his hand which he threw into the air before it hit the ground and began rolling, slowly coming to a stop on... 5 "Five," he said as he turned to the crowd, "can anyone help me with some basic arithmetic? Three hundred times five is?" "FIFTEEN HUNDRED!" Everybody yelled. "That's right," he said, "so Jestar's ATK and DEF will increase to fifteen hundred." (A1500/1500/L4) "Next I'll activate my Swordfish's ability, to reduce Mac's monster's ATK and DEF points by six hundred until the End Phase." The Swordfish fired a barrage of swords that surrounded Mac's monsters. As the swords landed Mac's monsters felt their power drain. (A1200/D0/L4), (A1000/D800/L4) "Now I'll attack Grand Hammer with Buggler," Cheese said as his bug-man monster threw its balls at the robot. "I activate my face down," Mac said as his card flipped up to reveal a Trap, "Scrap-Iron Scarecrow! With this card I can negate your attack." A scarecrow made out of different types of metal objects appeared, which blocked the balls from striking Grand Hammer. "Now I can reset my scarecrow," Mac said as his Trap flipped back down, "to use again next turn." "Which means you can't use it again this turn," Cheese guess, to which Mac nodded. "Then it can't stop my Jestar from attacking your Max Axe!" The Performapal ran at the robot, before spinning around and throwing a kick at it. Mac kicked into gear, rushing over to a nearby sphere and jumping onto it as he grabbed the Action Card on it. "I activate the Action Spell Evasion!" Max Axe managed to step back, causing Jestar's kick miss. "Oh well," Cheese said, "I'll activate the Spell card Costume Change. This card lets me change the positions of any two monsters on my field, so Jestar and Swordfish will be switching to DEF mode." The two did so, leaving Buggler as the only ATK position monster on the field. "I end my turn," Cheese said, "so my monster's ATK points as well as your own's go back to what they were before." (A300/D300/L4), (A1800/D100/L4), (A1600/D1400/L4) Cheese turned to the audience once again, "I hope you enjoyed my turn. And don't worry, I'll have more Dueltaining moves next time." The crowd all cheered hearing this. "Both players are equally skilled," Chrysalis said, "but ones much more flamboyant." "Big Mac's gonna need to step up his game if he wants to win," Sunset said. "Don't worry," Cadance said, "he will. He taught his sister how to Duel, so if she got her skills from him, I'm betting he's got something big coming. "My turn," Mac said as he went to his deck, "I draw." He looked at the card he'd drawn and nodded. "I'm playing the Spell card Mecha Toolbox," he said. "With this card I can add one Mecha Tool from my deck to my hand, for every Mecha Worker on my field." His deck randomly shuffled, before slotting out two cards which he placed in his hand. "Next I'll activate the effects of my two new Mecha Tools, Power Drill and Lightning Buzzsaw!" Two new monsters appeared on the field. The first being a small red robot, with a drill like device on its head. The second was similar to the first, except it was yellow and it had a spinning disk like blade on its back. "These monsters can each equip themselves onto any Mecha Worker on the field," Mac said as the two monsters suddenly transformed into arm shaped instruments with their drill and buzz saw in place of a hand. Meanwhile the two Mecha Worker's left arms folded into their bodies, with the Mecha Tools connecting in their place. Power Drill connected to Grand Hammer, while Lightning Buzzsaw connected to Max Axe. Celestia: I see. So the Mecha Workers are the main offensive monsters of Mac's deck, while the Mecha Tools work as support. Luna: An interesting Duel tactic. Wonder what Mac will do with it? "Since Max Axe is equipped with Buzzsaw," Mac said, "his ATK points increase by five hundred." (A2100/D1400/L4) "What's more, Max Axe has his own ability which can cut one monsters ATK points in half for the turn. I select Performapal Buggler." Max Axe's axe hand glowed, before it sliced it through the air and created an energy blade which struck the bug-man monster. (A950/D300/L4) "Not good," Cheese said. "ATTACK!" Mac ordered as Max Axe charged at Buggler, its Mecha Tool spinning while unleashing a burst of electrical energy. Cheese leaped off the trapeze platform and onto the swinging rope, trying to reach for a nearby Action Card but before he could grab it his monster was struck and destroyed. Mac: 4000 Cheese: 2850 Cheese grabbed the card and let go of the rope, falling down and landing on a sphere. "Now I'll attack Swordfish with Grand Hammer," Mac said as his hammer robot charged forward while its drill began to spin. "I'm activating the Action Spell Miracle," Cheese said, "which will stop my monster from being destroyed." "I don't think so," Mac said as his monster struck the Swordfish with Power Drill, destroying it. "What happened?" Cheese asked. "My Power Drill grants the monster its equipped to the ability to automatically destroy any DEF monster it attacks," Mac explained with a smirk on his face. "Miracle protects your monster from being destroyed in battle, not by card effects." Celestia: Incredible! Big Mac's Mecha Tools are something to behold. Luna: Can Cheese Sandwich recover? "ALRIGHT!" Applejack and Applebloom cheered as they high fived, "now that's what I'm talking about." "I can see where you got your skills from AJ," Rainbow said, "he's good." "Well Cheese is good to," Pinkie said before turning back to the Duel, "come on Cheese, get the led out!" "I end my turn," Mac said. "Then it's my turn," Cheese said as he went to his deck, "I draw and activate Jestar's ability." A dice appeared in his hand, which he rolled and caused it to land on. 3 "Three," he said, "times three hundred is nine hundred. (A900/D900/L4) "Next I'll play the Spell card Performapal Understudy. This card lets me remove any number of Performapals from my graveyard, and then add a new Performapal from my deck to my hand. His deck slotted out two cards from his deck, which he took and added to his hand. "And now, I'll once again use my Pendulum Monsters to carve the arc of victory." Once again the portal formed above his head. "My monsters are ready, to swing into ACTION!" The portal opened and two beams of light shot out and hit the ground. The first was a lion with a mane made out of fire. "Turn up the heat, Performapal Fire Muffler Lion. (A800/D800/L3/P5) The second was a man in orange and blue jester clothing, carrying a staff and playing cards. "Showtime, Performapal Laughmaker. (A2500/D2000/L8/P5) Everyone cheered at the new monsters, happy to see another great Pendulum Summon. "And now I'll switch Jestar to ATK mode and attack your Grand Hammer with Laughmaker," Cheese said as his monster attacked. "I activate my Scrap-Iron Scarecrow once again," Mac said as his Trap activated again. Cheese looked around and smiled seeing an Action Card on another sphere, which he leaped over to and grabbed. "I activate Vanishing Act. This Action Spell lets me negate a card effect and then send it to the bottom of the deck." In a puff of smoke, a magician appeared and threw a white sheet over the scarecrow before pulling it away and showing the Trap had vanished. "Now my Laughmaker's free to attack," Cheese said, "oh and when he attacks his ATK points increase by a thousand for each of your monsters whose ATK is higher then its original. Since Max Axe's is higher then usual, Laughmaker gets a thousand points increase. (A3500/D2000/L8/P5) The jester threw a playing card, which struck the robot and destroyed it. Mac: 2300 Cheese: 2850 "Now I'll activate my Fire Muffler Lion's Special Ability," Cheese said, "since one of my monsters destroyed one of yours, I can increase Laughmaker's ATK by two hundred and have it attack again. Muffler Lion's mane created a ring of fire, which Laughmaker leaped through as its power increased. (A3700/D2000/L8/P5) It then attacked Max Axe, throwing another playing card at it and destroying it. Mac: 700 Cheese: 2850 "And now," Cheese said, "I'll have Jestar attack you directly." The star patterned jester leaped at Big Mac, before spinning and unleashing a powerful kick. Celestia: If this attack hits, Big Mac will be out. Luna: I can't watch. The Performapal's kick struck Big Mac, creating an explosion which engulfed them both. "MAC!" Applejack and Applebloom yelled seeing their brother be attacked. "Is that it?" Sweetie asked, "is it over?" "We'll see," Rarity replied. Eventually the smoke began to clear and everyone waited with baited breath to see. Finally the smoke dispersed and revealed Mac and Jestar, along with something else. It was a Mecha Worker, yellow in colour with a saw like weapon on its right arm, which had blocked the attack before exploding. Mac: 250 Cheese: 2850 "What happened?" Cheese asked. "My Mecha Worker Saw Cutter," Mac explained, "by removing it from my graveyard I was able to half the damage I took from a direct attack." "But how did it get in your graveyard?" Cheese asked, before he remembered. "Graceful Charity." Big Mac just nodded. Cheese suddenly burst out laughing, seemingly happy that his winning attack had been stopped. "That was awesome," he said, "I didn't see that coming that's for sure." Mac just smiled as well. "Well," Cheese said, "that's it for my turn. Muffler Lion can't attack and Laughmaker's ATK goes back to normal." (A2500/D2000/L8/P5) Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. "That was a close one," Applejack said. "But it's not looking good for your brother," Flash said, "he's down to two hundred and fifty life points. He's got no monsters on his field and he's facing off against a bunch of powerful monsters." "Don't count my brother out yet," Applebloom said, "he can win. Just watch." It's my turn," Big Mac said as he drew his card and smiled, "and I activate the Spell Pot of Greed. Now I can draw two new cards from my deck." He drew his cards and his eyes went wide, before smiling. "It's time," he said as he took one of the cards along with one from his hand, "I'm setting the Pendulum Scale with Scale five Red Mecha Mechanic and Scale two Blue Mecha Mechanic." He placed two cards on his Duel Disk as it lit up. One either side of him, two columns of light appeared as two monsters flew up into them. They both looked almost exactly the same, two humanoid robots carrying a giant tool. The only differences was that one was red and carrying a six foot spanner, while the other was blue and carrying a large screwdriver. The two monsters stopped flying up as they reached ten feet in the air, before numbers appeared below them. They then pointed their tools into the sky, as a beam of light shot out of them and connected above his head. "Now watch as I cut through space time and carve the arc of victory," Mac said as the portal formed above him. "I PENDULUM SUMMON!" The portal opened and a beam of light shot out and struck the ground and became a new Mecha Worker, which was blue with a screwdriver on its right arm. "Mecha Worker Screw Driver." (A1500/D1200/L4) "Why'd he use a Pendulum Summon for one monster he could easily summon?" Spike asked. "Maybe he's gonna sacrifice it," Twilight said. "Narr," Applejack said, "he just did it for the thrill. I bet he needs his Pendulum Summon for something else." "Now I'm activating my Blue Mecha Mechanic's Pendulum Ability," Mac said, "which lets me summon my Grand Hammer from the graveyard by zeroing out its ATK and DEF and sending it back to the grave at the End Phase." The Pendulum Monster pointed its screwdriver at the ground, firing off a beam which opened a portal which Grand Hammer came out of, looking like it was barely holding together. (A0/D0/L4) "And now I'll use my Red Mecha Mechanic's Pendulum Ability," Mac said, "to Fusion Summon a Machine Monster." "Fusion Summon?" The group said in wonder "Knew it," Applejack said with a smirk. The red Pendulum monster held up its spanner, which unleashed a beam that struck the sky and opened a vortex above the monsters. "Now my two Mecha Workers will combine to create an even greater machine," Mac said as his monster were sucker into the vortex. "I FUSION SUMMON!" The vortex exploded, releasing a new monster from the light. It was another Mecha Worker, only this one was twice the size of the others with a white paint job and a bulkier psych. On its right arm it had Grand Hammer's hammer and on it left, Screw Driver's screwdriver and it had massive round shoulder pads. "Advanced Mecha Worker Cyber Handyman!" (A2600/D2100/L8) Everyone marvelled at the sight of the new monster. "Now I'm activating my Handyman's effect," Mac said as his deck shuffled and slotted out a card which he took. "Once a turn I can add a Spell from my deck to my hand, but if I don't use it by my End Phase it's removed from play. But that won't happen since I'm using it now, so say hello to Scrap Summon." Cheese's eyes went wide. "Now by paying half my life points," Mac explained, "I can summon as many Level four or bellow Machine Monsters from my graveyard, but their ATK and DEF points are zeroed out." Mac: 125 Cheese: 2850 Mecha Tool Power Drill and Lightning Buzzsaw appeared back on the field. "But there's more," Mac said as he placed a card in his Duel Disk, "because I'm using Polymerisation to fuse the two together." "Two Fusion Summons?" Cheese asked. "That's right," Mac said as the portal opened above his head, sucking the two monsters inside. "I FUSION SUMMON!" The portal exploded, revealing red and yellow Mecha Tool, with the drill on its head and the buzz saw on its back. "Advanced Mecha Tool Drill Saw!" (A1000/D1000/L4) "And now I'll equip Drill Saw to my Handyman," Mac said as the Advanced Mecha Tool transformed into a new arm, with the two tools on the end. Handyman's left shoulder opened up, folding out a plug like instrument that Drill Saw attached to. "With this upgrade, my Handyman is now one thousand points stronger. (A3600/D2100/L8) Cheese just gulped at this sight. "I ATTACK!" Mac said as his monster turned to Jestar and charged forward. Celestia: If this attacks hits, it's all over. Luna: But will it hit? Cheese looked around and saw just what he needed, before leaping up and grabbing the trapeze swing which he swung on towards the Action Card. Letting go, he landed on the top of the large hamster wheel and grabbed the card. "I activate the Action Spell High Dive, which will increase Jestar's ATK points by one thousand." Now at least he'd survive the attack, allowing Laughmaker a chance to fight back next turn. "I don't think so," Mac said, "because Drill Saw has another effect. Once a turn I can negate the activation of a Spell or Trap, meaning High Dive is negated." "WHAT!" Cheese screamed. Handyman's attack struck Jestar, destroying it and sending out a powerful shock wave which struck Cheese and sent him flying. Mac: 125 (Winner) Cheese: 0 Celestia: IT'S OVER! Luna: Cheese Sandwich has been eliminated. Big Macintosh will be moving on to the next round. Applejack and Applebloom were cheering their heads off as they watched the Action Field disappear. "That's how it's done!" Applejack cheered. "YAY!" Applebloom screamed, "that's my big brother." "Poor Cheese," Pinkie said as he hair deflated. "Don't worry Pinkie," Twilight said, "he still put on a great show. Isn't that what matters?" Pinkie's hair exploded once again, as she perked up. "You're right! Cheese was still awesome." Down on the field, Big Mac moved over to where Cheese was laying and held out a hand. Cheese just smiled and took it, being help up onto his feet. "That was a great Duel," he said as she shook the hand. "Eeyup," Mac agreed. "But you won," Cheese continued, "it's cool. Glad I lost to an awesome Duellist." "Eeyup," Mac said. Cheese nodded and turned towards the crowd. "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm sad to say my Dueltaining show has come to a close. But don't worry, I'm sure their are just as many Dueltaining Duels coming up. Until then, I hope I was able to keep you satisfied. The crowd responded by clapping as loud as they could, as they watched Cheese take a power. Once that was done, the two Duellists returned to their waiting room. Up in the booth, Thorax was clapping just as loudly. "That Duel was a blast," he said happily, only to catch his mother's eye again and quite down. "Indeed," Chrysalis said, "it was quite a spectacle. I'm amazed that Mac fellow was able to pull it back, consider how few life points he had." "Just shows what a great Duellist can accomplish," Cadance said, "when they believe in their deck." Shining Armor just nodded in agreement at this. "Well," Chrysalis said, "yet another strong Duellist is revealed. Makes me wonder how many more will show up." Cold nodded at this, as he turned to Big Mac. He was Applejack's brother, meaning he would probably be willing to help if he knew what was coming. For their plans to succeed, they'd need all the help they could get.