“So tomorrow the tournament will end?” Twilight asked as she sat with Yuesi, Akiza, Basil and Usagi “It feels like this started so long ago but I’ll be glad to see the end of it” there was a collective nod round the group as they raised a glass “Here’s to the future…and our continuing friendship” but the smiles on many of the gathered people’s faces seemed to falter as Akiza and Usagi both shook their heads “What’s wrong?”
“Do you really think….we’ll…” Akiza began but she couldn’t finish as she choked back a sob “We’ll all be going back to our own worlds and our memories will likely be gone of each other….we’ll never see each other again and we won’t remember these events” Basil and Yuesi nodded putting their glasses back on the table “So can any of us call those from other worlds friends if….we forget it or even if we do remember it….and that’s if we survive the battle against the evil forces”
“No…” Usagi said as she stood up “Friendship can stand on its own through any hardship that we may face…all the times I’ve faced unspeakable evil and often assumed…I’d never see my friends again…well Friendship is a bound that joins us together in hope and happiness but it also joins us together through the worst that fate can throw at us! I believe the friends we’ve made here will remain through the rest of our lives!”
“Well said ole girl!” Basil said picking up his glass and looked down “One of the greatest Mice I ever knew, Matthias stood for more than just an old abbey! He stood for the bounds of Friendship and love that could be forged there! And those bounds lasted beyond our short lives!”
Yuesi smiled and picked up his own glass “Amen! Here’s to all the new friends I’ve made and the special bound I denied myself” he said grabbing Akiza’s hand “I’m sorry Akiza…I should have told you sooner…but I do love you”
Akiza smiled and sighed “As do I” she gave Twilight the thumbs up “Here’s to Joey and Fluttershy’s amazing duel tomorrow”
“Speaking of I wonder how Fluttershy is doing?” Twilight asked as she looked concerned
“Well Ami and Rai are tending to her. Ami has medical training and Rai knows a lot about the spiritual realm” Minako said as she came over and sat down “It’s very serious thou…she may not be ready to duel tomorrow or even the day after that…Ra took it out of her”
“But….” Twilight began “She…needs to be ready!” Basil put his hand on her shoulder and shook his head “Basil!”
“Now pardon me, mam but wasn’t it a bright young mare who once said she believed in Fluttershy” Basil asked as he smiled calmly and Twilight nodded “Then surely, mam you have to keep your faith in Miss Fluttershy!”
Robert walked over and sat down saying “Quite, she has the spirit of a warrior the likes of which…I’ve never seen before” he laughed “Even Tyson would be hard pressed to top her” he got his Beyblade out “Still who wants to see a fun little beyblade match?”
Steve sitting nearby stood up, reading his football laucher and smirked “Dude! That sounds awesome! I’m totally ready!” he put his football down on the ground as the prop up spikes dug into the ground “Come on, Alfred! Let’s get to it!”
Mariah smiled as she jumped down from a tree “Hey let’s make this a three way” Steve and Robert readied themselves “Whoever wins gets to choose dinner for the rest of us” Mariah added.
“Sounds like Pizza to me” Steve said
“Oh please Fish and Chips!” Robert joked as he had no intention of doing that.
“Oh come on…why should losers choose?” Mariah asked, the three smiled and began laughing “Hey Twilight! Want to start us off?”
Twilight nodded standing up and said “Alright 3…2…..1…GO!” but the bladers shook their heads “Shouldn’t you three have….”
Ray jumped down from the same tree Mariah had come from and said “Beybladers begin matches like…tell you what, why don’t you help me provide commentary before I start this match?”
“More a Pinkie thing than, my thing but what the heck, Sure!” Twilight said as she turned to the others who gathered round to watch the match. Along with the outer Sailor Scouts, Jaden, Kaiba and Alexis gathered to watch the match “Wow! I can’t wait to watch this!”
Ray smiled and yelled “3, 2, 1….let it rip!” the three bladers launched their blades “This should be an impressive match! Between three of the strongest bladers, on our right Twilight is Steve who loaded his blade with Attack rings and is totally legal!”
“So I take it the pink one is Mariah’s, it seems to be the fastest of all and it’s running rings round the other two” Twilight said clearly unsure of herself
“And of course the final blade is Robert’s the largest of all but his wide attack ring hides the power of his bit beast is the powerful…” Ray began but Robert’s bit began glowing and Ray smiled and finished “The powerful, Griffolyon!”
Griffolyon roared fourth from it’s Beyblade but Steve smirked “Hate to say it Robert but Trihorn and I are going to pluck that giant chicken!” he said as he then ordered “Trihorn!” the bull roared fourth and it faced Griffolyon.
Robert smiled “Oh Steve really….when it comes down to it…..you are merely a paper tiger before the storm of Griffolyon!” he said as he looked at Mariah who smiled back “So I guess Galux?”
“You read my mind, Galux, Cat scratch attack!” Mariah yelled as her pink cat growled appearing alongside the other two. Then all three blades clashed and there was a bright flash. When the light dissipated the three blades had stopped spinning, their energy utterly spend but in the middle of them sat a bright Blue orb no bigger than a chestnut “What the?” Mariah asked.
“Man that hurt!” a voice issued from the orb
“Huh?” most of the group said but Basil stepped forward and picked up the orb “Dashed silly little thing…” he murmured as he inspected the orb “Now what are you?”
“Mine is what it is!” A voice from behind Kaiba said as a small blonde boy pushed past and ran up, grabbing the orb “Oh Preyas are you okay!? And where are we?”
“I think the better question is who are you?!” Ray asked bearing his teeth and readying his blade “You are the intruder here and now you’ll pay for it! Let rip!” he launched his blade but as he did so, the blue orb shone bright and Preyas grew into a monster who caught the Beyblade with his claws “Hey!?”
“Hey man you got a serious temper or what?!” Preyas said but then the blade was still spinning “OWWW oh man that hurts!”
“Driger! Tiger Claw attack!” Ray ordered as his bit beast surged fourth forcing Preyas to drop it and roaring as it charged “Yeah! Slice him and dice him!”
“Preyas!” the boy cried out but he didn’t need to worry as Preyas easily dodged the attack and stuck his tongue out.
“Hey whiskers can’t get me!” Preyas taunted and Driger roared it’s anger but Preyas then said “Hey Marucho! Ability card time!” but as Marcucho reached for an ability card Kaiba and Jack picked him up by the scruff “Hey put my partner down!”
“That’s enough!” Twilight said as she summoned Battle Fever Robo and all the others were now ready for a fight “You thought you could attack us again!? You really are foolish!”
“A..a..a…..attack?!” Marucho said very confused by all the angry looks directed at him and Preyas “OH Wait you got the wrong idea!”
Beerus landed and said “Sorry my fault…I was trying to look into other worlds with Whis and well that clash of energy opened the portal to the Bakugan world…thou to be honest I never intended to bring any of the Brawlers here…especially the Joey Wheeler of that world who lacks the courage or the common sense!” he looked at Marucho sadly “But he’s here so I suppose we’re going to have to include them!”
“B….b…but…” Marcucho began “Dan and the others need me!”
“Oh no, sir” Whis said as he too touched down “It would appear that the boy is not wrong…we took him at the worst possible moment…now that ghastly fellow, Naga wins”
“What happens to Dan and Drago!?” Marcucho asked as he hoped for the best “Do they survive?!”
Whis sighed and shook his head “Young Dan is killed and Drago is absorbed”
Marcucho began to cry and Usagi walked over “Oh there there…it’s not that bad…that’s not going to happen…we’ll get you back and you can help save the day” she said as she hugged him gently rubbing his back.
“I’m beginning to understand why Sailor Jupiter spoke so highly of her” Twilight whispered to Basil.
“Hey…we can’t get you back tonight” Whis said as he looked at his staff but then added “But we’re about to do our finals of the Duel Monsters Tournament and once that’s finished we’ll get you back”
Marcucho smiled as he calmed down and said “O…okay”
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“She still hasn’t woken up, Twilight” Rai said as she sat by Fluttershy’s bed, three days had passed since Fluttershy had passed out and she didn’t seem all that close to waking “I don’t know what else we can do…we’ve tried everything we can”
Whis sighed “Twilight, I’m sorry if she doesn’t wake up in a few days…we’ll have to declare Mr Wheeler the winner” he said as he walked out sadly and with a heavy sigh “I wish we had more time, sir but our time is running low”
Beerus nodded as he looked at his hand, where a small pocket watch sat and he whispered “We’re running out of time indeed…if Goku can’t convince the surviving Power Rangers and if our scout team don’t get back soon…we’ll be doomed to failure” he shook his head “I’m afraid by 4pm today if Miss Fluttershy has not awoken then Mr Wheeler will be the winner and the ponies will be a lost cause”
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As the hours ticked by, Fluttershy slept on, her fate hanging on the edge of a knife but as time drew to 4pm…she opened her eyes “Huh?! What happened?” there was a scream of joy by Twilight, Ami and Rai “How long was I out?”
“It doesn’t matter….the final match is in five minutes” Beerus said walking in
And so the final match of the Duel Monster Tournament began, Joey stood with his duel disc ready but his normally smiling face was grim with sadness “I can’t do this…” he said as Fluttershy stepped up her deck of cards, both players had been given custom decks by Whis “You’ve become too good a friend but I have to win…I just can’t”
Fluttershy smiled gently “It’s okay, Joey….we both have friends counting on us but the fact we’re friends can’t stop us from doing the right thing…and even if you win…we’ll still be friends” she said as she then added “You’re a true friend but if you have any respect for me…you won’t hold back!”
“Okay!” Joey said “Then I expect your best!”
Fluttershy nodded saying “I’m ready” but she thought to herself ‘Alright Joey…you asked for my best and I intend to give it to you’.
Joey’s mind likewise thought ‘You and Yugi are entiled to the same…I won’t insult you by giving you anything less than my all! I’m going to come at you hard right from the start’, the two drew their opening hands and Joey had won the coin toss “I summon Alligator Sword in attack mode!” he said as he summoned the Alligator Swordsman and set a card “And that’s it!”
Fluttershy nodded “If that’s all you got! You’re in trouble! I summon Matthias the warrior in attack mode!” she said as the Warrior Mouse of Redwall appeared “Luckily for me this card maybe a level 5 but if I give up a card from my hand I can summon it right away! And best of all I can still Normal summon! I summon Cornflower the Kind and then I play a spell card! It’s called the Dying Hope of Mortimer! This powerful card can only be played when Matthias and Cornflower are the only cards on my field! It allows me to name a monster from your deck and fuse it with Cornflower and Mathias to form an all-powerful monster!”
Joey gulped as he looked at his deck, Fluttershy knew a few of his cards but he smiled “Come on then! Name your monster!”
Fluttershy nodded “Hmm Gilford the Lightening!” the monster appeared on her field and Fluttershy sighed “Now fuse into my deck’s most powerful monster!” the three monsters fused “I summon Mathias the Legend!” Mathias appeared in his full armoured form and his attack points read 3200 “His special ability allows me to summon another Redwall monster and play the field spell!” Redwall Abbey appeared behind her raising Mathias’ attack points to 3400 “I summon Warbeak the Sparrow and set one card face down!” Warbeak flew fourth.
“Crazy mouse! Great to fight one last time” She then smiled “Warbeak killy killy?” asking Fluttershy for permission and Fluttershy nodded “Killy!” the attack surged towards Alligator sword but then Alligator Sword raised a shield “What the?!”
“I activate the trap, Magic Arm shield! Time for the catch of the day!” Joey declared as the shield dragged Matthias in front of the attack and Fluttershy’s lifepoints dropped to 2300 “Sorry, Fluttershy! My move!” he drew a card and smiled sadly “It’s ironic….but I play the spell polymerization to fuse Red Eyes Black Dragon and Summoned Skull to summon….” He paused as his monster appeared behind him “The black skull dragon!” he smiled as he held up his last two cards “Forgive me….I play the spell Giant Trunade! Returning all spells and traps to their owners hands…including the Abbey!” this brought Matthias’ attack points back down to Black Skull’s attack points but then Joey played his final move “I play Graceful dice!”
“It’s over if the dice rolls any number other than one….then Joey will have won” Yugi said sadly “It’s a shame for Fluttershy…her improvement in this game has been starling” he shook his head as the dice rolled and landed “No….that’s so unfair….a 6!”
The attack points of all Joey’s Monsters were timed by 6, Alligator’s sword attack became 9000 and Black Skull’s became 19,200. No matter what, Fluttershy’s lifepoints were going to hit zero and nothing could stop it “Black Skull Dragon! Molten Fire ball attack!” the attack hit with a devastating power Matthias screaming in the intense pain but it wasn’t over.
“I activate the effect of Kuriboh!” Fluttershy declared “By discarding this card I avoid taking damage this turn!” the attacks would do very little good now but now Fluttershy only had three cards in her hand including the ones send back to her hand “Thanks, Joey” before the duel, Joey had given her the card and it had just saved her “My move?” Joey nodded as Fluttershy drew a card “I play the spell Monster Reborn!”
“Sadly she can’t revive Matthias the legend…so what’s she going to revive?” Yuesi asked from the side lines.
“Whatever it is…she’ll have to pick wisely” Yugi said.
“I revive Matthias the Warrior!” Fluttershy said as the warrior Mouse returned “I’m not done yet! I play field spell” however despite all this she was still shy 700 points to even match the Black Skull “I play the equip spell, Cluny’s banner!” the equip spell appeared beside Matthias who frowned and nodded “This card’s effect is that I can equip a monster from my grave to Matthias and he gains half its attack points!”
Joey smiled “Very clever go for it!”
“I equip Matthias the legend to Matthias the Warrior” Fluttershy declared as she watched Matthias’ attack points jump to 4000 and Fluttershy then set a card “Matthias attack Alligator Sword!” Matthias charged forward and Alligator charged out to meet him, blocking Matthias’ first strike but it’s sword shattered from the impact. The monster screamed as it was destroyed, Joey’s life points hit 1500.
“No! Fluttershy that was the wrong move!” Kaiba declared but it was too late as Joey drew a card.
“I play the spell Pot of greed. This lets me draw a two cards and then I set one…I also play the equip spell Dragon Nails!” Joey declared, Black Skull’s attack jumped to 3800 “Opps”
“More than an opps…I’m afraid” Fluttershy said forgetting the danger “Attack Matthias!”
“Trap activates! Metalmorph!” Joey declared as Matthias charged forward, his sword raised but the trap Equiped to Black Skull and raised its attack points to 4100. Matthias jumped bringing his sword down but the Black Skull fired a fire ball at him. Fluttershy’s lifepoints hit 2200 but her last hope lay with her face down.
“My move!” Joey said as he drew a card “You’ve put up a brave fight and this is hardest move I’ve ever had to make but it ends now! I play Monster Reborn to Revive Matthias the Warrior from the Graveyard!” Matthias appeared as he sadly looked down “Matthias I’m sorry but I…”
“It’s okay…We’re proud of her” Matthias said as he readied his sword “Permission to attack!” Joey nodded “AHHHH!” the warrior mouse charged forward as he got close a scaregrow appeared “A trap?!”
“Scrap Iron Scarecrow!” Fluttershy said as she looked down sadly.
“I suspected that” Joey said sadly “Molten Fire ball attack” the attack struck and Fluttershy’s lifepoints hit zero.