//------------------------------// // Duel Three. Feel The Heat vs Strength of the Earth // Story: The Prince of Games Arrives // by mattchilly //------------------------------// I sighed. “That phrase is almost always followed by a very long and boring conversation. Let me guess you want to know about who I am, where I got my cards, the numbers, and more. Am I right? well to summarize a few things, I’m from another world and was sent here after I picked up a field spell called ‘Equestria’ that said ‘A world like you’ve never imagined. Have fun and keep your eyes open for you never know who you might run into.’, my plastic custom made Duel Disk is now real and I have no idea where the card came from or how I can go home. Does that answer a few of your questions?” Everyone just gave me a blank stare before Celestia slowly said. “I was just going to ask about the Numbers, but before we continue let me introduce my sister Princess Luna and our friends, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie, Pie, Fluttershy and you already know Rainbow Dash.” As Celestia said then names each person either gave a nod in my direction or a small wave. “Before you arrived our paramedics sent word that Snails woke up and doesn’t remember anything from the last two hours and that the Number he used disappeared. What do you know about this?” “Plenty but where I’m from Numbers only had this power in a T.V. show. Numbers are powerful cards that were once part of a being called Astral, but when he arrived on Earth all but one left him, and with them his memories. They start blank and gain powers based on the desires of the first person who obtains them. Most of the time the Numbers process the owner and make their desire run wild. As for where the Number went, I saw it shatter after I beat Snails, which by itself raises even more questions.” I sighed before continuing my explanation. “In the show, it’s said that one hundred split from Astral, but only ninety-two of those Numbers have been revealed, and seven Numbers that go over a hundred which were made by Astral’s enemy Don Thousand which he used to corrupt humans and turn them into his pawns. That’s a very brief summarization because the whole story would take a long time to tell. We’ll have to be on the lookout because I highly doubt that Snails is going to be the only one to get his hands on a Number, but since it shattered I’m pretty sure that means it was a fake.” “That shouldn’t be too much of a problem. We should be able to take them easily enough.” Luna said to which I shook my head. “From what Snails said when he tried to attack Dyson Sphere, the Numbers work the same way they do in the anime, where only a Number can destroy a Number in battle, and I really hope that all of the Numbers that appear shatter like that. Otherwise we’d have to take them and I only know of two ways to do that. One way’s safe but because only Astral is able to do it and the other one puts the owner in a bad state.” “How bad are we talking about here?” Spike asked. “They would lose part of their souls. Permanently.” I deadpanned. Everyone stared at me horrified before Fluttershy asked in an attempt to change the mood. “Do you have any family waiting for you back home?” I shook my head sadly before saying. “My mom and dad died a three years ago from old age and my younger sister Kisara disappeared a year before they passed.” “Sorry about bringing it up.” Fluttershy said quietly. “It’s not a problem, besides I haven’t given up trying to find Kisara. Who knows she might even be in this world, I certainly didn’t have any luck finding her in mine.” I replied raising a hand to grasp the locket. “I hope you don’t mind if we return to the main topic, but after what you told us something’s been bugging me. How come you weren’t possessed by your Number?” Luna asked, but before I could say something Spike replied. “I believe it’s because of his bond with the spirits in his cards. Before he dueled Snails, Amazoness Queen appeared and told him that the spirits of his deck have his back, and by the way you reacted I’d hazard the guess that was your first time seeing a Duel Spirit.” “You’re right, where I’m from Duel Spirits only existed in the anime. So, it’s an amazing experience to see one in person.” I said. “To bad I left all of my other cards at home. I would have loved to see some of my other decks come to life.” “Are there any specific decks?” Rarity asked. “My Crystalline Rainbow deck, but then again I always enjoy finding new ways to use my Magical Teamwork deck and my Ghostly Party deck is always fun to use. One reason why I loved watching the anime is because it makes a great starting point for different archetypes, and before you ask I’m not telling you what kinds of decks they are. You’ll just have to settle with knowing their names.” I explained, and to everyone’s surprise Galaxy Wizard appeared. They didn’t say anything as they held out their hand. Their hand glowed light blue for a moment before I started glowing as well. When the glow died down Galaxy Wizard gestured to my right which now held a deck before disappearing. When I looked through it I was surprised to see that it’s my Crystalline Rainbow deck. “Well that just adds even more questions, but my biggest ones are still. Why am I here? Why did this happen to me? And of course, where is my sister?” Luna sighed before saying. “I’m sure we’ll get the answers eventually. We’ve kept the eight of you long enough. We’ll let you know if we find anything about how you were sent here Seto.” After we left the room Pinkie said. “Why don’t we show you around Canterlot? After that we can all head to the Sugarcube Corner to have some snacks.” “Sounds fun, but where am I going to sleep tonight? I can’t go to a hotel since I don’t have any of this worlds money.” I asked. Rainbow smirked. “You can bunk with me. Besides this way, you won’t be able to escape our rematch.” I returned the smirk. “Let’s hope you don’t regret it when I win our rematch.” Rainbow and I glared at each other before the eight of us burst out laughing. “Before you show me the town give me a moment to put my Duel Disk and coat in my bag.” *Three hours later* After showing me around Canterlot City the eight of us are now standing in front of a bakery called the Sugarcube Corner. After we finished our food I agreed to have a duel with Applejack. “Hope you’re not planning on using more unknown cards Seto.” Applejack said as she started her Duel Disk. “How am I supposed to know what cards you know what kind of cards you know of and which you don’t?” I asked as I started my Disk. “Considering I went second the last two duels how about I go first? But how many life points do we get out here? 4000 or 8000?” “8000 and I was going to suggest the same thing.” Applejack replied to which I nodded and summoned a new deck. “Go Applejack! Show him who’s boss!” Rainbow cheered along with the rest of her friends.Snails Seto 8000 Hand has 5 cards. Applejack 8000 Hand has 5 cards. I rolled my eyes before drawing my hand. “First, I’ll play two cards face down then summon Volcanic Slicer,” *Attack 1800, Defense 1200* “And I’ll use his special ability to deal you an immediate 500 points of damage!” A tall T-rex looking creature with stone like body segments appeared before shooting a fireball at Applejack which exploded at her feet. Seto 8000 Hand has 2 cards. Applejack 7500 Hand has 5 cards. “You don’t see many people using Volcanic monsters that often.” Twilight said. “Why's that?” Pinkie asked. “The Volcanic Archetype doesn’t have many support cards so it can be somewhat difficult to make a good deck that focuses on it.” Twilight replied. “While that is true Twi, that doesn’t mean they can’t work in other kinds of decks.” Spike replied. “You’ll move Applejack.” I said. Seto 8000 Hand has 2 cards. Applejack 7500 Hand has 5 cards. “Draw. I’ll also play two cards face down, then I’ll play the spell card Fissure to destroy you’ll Slicer. Next I’ll summon one monster face down and end my turn.” Applejack said. Seto 8000 Hand has 2 cards. Applejack 7500 Hand has 4 cards. “My turn. I summon Volcanic Rocket and when he’s summoned I can bring one Blaze Accelerator to my hand from my deck or graveyard.” This time the creature that appeared was more like a pterodactyl and a glowing card stuck out of the deck and after I grabbed it my deck re-shuffled. “Now Volcanic Rocket, destroy her face down monster!” *Attack 1900, Defense 1400* “Sorry Seto but all you did was activate my Medusa Worm’s ability which lets me destroy any monster on your field, so say good bye to your Rocket, and I’ll activate my face down Tiki Curse and Tiki Soul trap cards.” A large purple worm shot out of the ground and swallowed my Volcanic Rocket before falling to the ground on its side and shattered, and two stone statues appeared. The first one has two red eyes and his holding two thin staffs and the second has four blue eyes and is holding a sword and shield. “One these traps are activated they become monsters so I’ll place my Tiki Curse in attack mode and my Tiki Soul in defense mode. *Tiki Curse; Attack 1800, Defense 1000. Tiki Soul; Attack 1000, Defense 1800* “Now both my Tiki’s have abilities. As long as Tiki Curse is on the field your monsters destroyed if you battle another trap monster and as long as Tiki Soul’s on the field if you destroy a different trap monster they’re placed face down instead of being sent to the grave.” “I’m surprised you’re being out that combo so quickly Applejack.” Pinkie said. “Guess that show’s how serious you’ll taking this duel.” “Can you blame her?” Rarity asked. “After seeing him duel in the event, even if it’s for fun we shouldn’t underestimate him.” “Yeah! And now he’s defenseless.” Rainbow cheered. “You’re still a little sore you lost, aren’t you?” Fluttershy asked. Rainbow pouted and looked away while everyone else chuckled at her reaction. “I wouldn’t say I’m defenseless because I activate my trap Ultimate Offering. This lets me pay 500 life points to summon a monster so I’ll pay 1000 life points to summon two Solar Flare Dragons!” Two red serpent like dragons that are covered in fire appeared and roared at Applejack. “I hope you weren’t planning to attack because as long as I have a pyro type monster on my field you can’t attack any monster apart from my dragon and since I have two you can’t attack at all, plus whenever I end my turn each of my dragons will deal you 500 points of damage!” *both dragons; Attack 1500, Defense 1000* Seto 7000 Hand has 0 cards. Applejack 7500 Hand has 4 cards. At this Applejack’s eyes widen in shock and recognition. “A burn damage deck!” “OH NO! Applejack’s deck isn’t built to counter burn damage!” Twilight gasp. “Your move Applejack and don’t forget the thousand points of damage.” I said. Seto 7000 Hand has 0 cards. Applejack 6500 Hand has 4 cards. “Grrr my turn.” Applejack growled in annoyance. “I’ll play a monster face down and end my turn.” Seto 7000 Hand has 0 cards. Applejack 6500 Hand has 4 cards. “Draw, I activate my field spell Molten Destruction so all my fire monsters gain 500 attack points but lose 400 defense points.” *Flare Dragons; Attack 2000, Defense 600* As soon as I played the card the city vanished and was replaced with us standing at the base of an erupting volcano as fire and smoke billowed into the sky while rivers of lava bubbled all around us. “Now I’ll have my first dragon attack your Tiki Curse then my second one will destroy your Tiki Soul then end my turn and don't forget about my dragon's abilies.” My dragons dove into the lava and disappeared before one lepted out and smashed his tail into Tiki Curse which fell to the ground on its face and turned back into a card while Tiki Soul was shattered by the other dragon. Seto 7000 Hand has 0 cards. Applejack 5500 Hand has 4 cards. “My turn and I’ll reveal my face down Morphing Jar #2. Now all our monsters return to our decks and we reshuffle them. Then we draw cards until we special summon the same number of level four or below monsters we currently have on our fields, in attack more or face down, and all other cards we draw go to our graveyards.” After we shuffled our decks I had to send a Tri-Blaze Accelerator,Backfire, Volcanic Doomfire, and King Pyron and summoned a Volcanic Slicer in attack mode and a Volcanic Shell face down. Applejack got her monster on the first draw and placed it face down. "And I'll end my turn. *Slicer now Attack 2300, Defense 800* Seto 7000 Hand has 0 cards. Applejack 5500 Hand has 4 cards. “Nice one AJ!” Rainbow cheered. “Draw. I’ll use Volcanic Slicer’s ability and end my turn.” I said after weighing my odds and deciding it’s not worth the risk of attacking her monster. Seto 7000 Hand has 1 card. Applejack 5500 Hand has 4 cards. “My turn, and I start with Card of Sancity so we both draw until we have six cards in our hands. Then I banish the Alpha the Electromagnet Warrior, Beta the Electromagnet Warrior, and Gamma the Electromagnet Warrior from my hand to summon Berserkion the Electromagna Warrior!” Three bipedal robotic soldiers appeared. The first has a silver body and is holding shield in his left hand and a twin bladed sword both of with is corseting with electricity. The second is bronze, has a slightly hunched posture and its ‘hands’ are nothing more than red cylinders and four magnet like fingers. The last one is shorter than the other two made of a teal metal, has large circular shoulders with spark dancing over them. Then the three then came a part and fused into one tall robotic solder with aspects of all three of them. “So how does it feel to surprise me with new cards?” I asked much to everyone’s surprise. “Back home we had Valkyrion the Magna Warrior and the three that combined to make it but that’s about it when it comes to magnet warriors.” Applejack quickly shook off her surprise before saying. “Now Berserkion destroy his Volcanic Slicer with your Lightning Conducting Sword!” “I activate my trap, Two-Pronged Attack! By sacrificing both of my monsters I can destroy your Warrior!” As I spoke my face down Volcanic Shell revealed itself as a small lizard like creature made from the same stone as my other Volcanic monster, before they leaped at Berserkion causing a massive explosion. “I should thank you Seto. You see once Berserkion is sent to the grave by battle or effect I can bring back my three banished Electromagnet Warriors!” Applejack explained as the smoke cleared revealing that her Berserkion had fallen apart before it reconfigured itself, back into the three monsters that made it. *Alpha, Attack 1700, Defense 1100.  Beta, Attack 1500, Defense 1500. Gamma, Attack 800, Defense 2000* “And don’t forget my face down Tiki’s Curse!” I groaned as I saw the Tiki reappear “I hope you remember that it’s still my battle phase so my four monsters can now attack your Life Points Directly!” Applejack exclaimed before her warriors attacked. Seto 1200 Hand has 1 cards. Applejack 5500 Hand has 3 cards. “Now I’ll sacrifice Tiki’s Curse to summon my Prime Material Dragon!” A large golden dragon appeared in a burst of light high above and flew down to land on the ground us as the Tiki broke and crumbled to dust. *Prime Material Dragon ATK 2400, DEF 2000* “I didn’t know you had that card!” Pinkie exclaimed. “This’ll turn the whole thing around!” “What’s so special about that dragon?” Rainbow asked. “Any damage done by an effect will increase life points instead, and once per turn you can send a card from your hand to the graveyard to negate an effect that’ll destroy monsters and destroy the card.” Twilight explained. “Sound like Aj’s got this in the bag.” Rainbow said smugly. “Next I’ll play one card face down and activate the field spell Catapult Zone.” The area around us changed to that of a mid-evil battle with armored knights fighting all around us as arrows flew high in the sky. “Now once per turn if one of my monsters is about to be destroyed I can send 1 Rock-Type monster from my deck to the graveyard to save it. Your move Seto." Seto 1200 Hand has 1 cards. Applejack 5500 Hand has 0 cards. After I drew my card I took a deep breath to try to calm my down and clear my head before saying “I activate my Blaze Accelerator, but it’s not going to be around for long because I’m upgrading it to a Tri-Blaze Accelerator!” A small tri pod mounted grey turret appeared before it glowed white and morphed into a larger turret made completely out of a heavy and strong looking metal with three barrels with red caps.  “Now I play my face down Volcanic Force! This lets me send my Tri-Blaze Accelerator to the grave to summon Volcanic Doomfire from my graveyard!” “He can WHAT!?” Twilight and Spike yelled as cracks in the ground opened up and in a plume of lava swallowed my Tri-Blaze Accelerator, before the cracks opened up and what can only be called a demon of fire and stone slowly emerged from the lava. His arms were dark red with large ivory claws, his legs are covered in this grey stone each foot having two ivory talons. His head is also in grey stone but this was smooth and polished compared to the rugged stone covering its legs. It also has a long stone tail with what looked like veins of magma on it as large plumbs of fire billowed off the top of his head. *ATK 3000, DEF 1800* “Impossible!” Applejack gasped taking a step back. “How did THAT get in your graveyard!?” “Morphing Jar #2.” I said simply. “Now I place one card face down and end my turn.” Seto 1200 Hand has 0 cards. Applejack 5500 Hand has 0 cards. “My turn.” Applejack hummed in thought as she looked at her card. “I’ll pass.” Seto 1200 Hand has 0 cards. Applejack 5500 Hand has 1 cards. Drawing my card I said.. “I play Pot of Greed." After drawing my cards I smiled. "Now I hope you weren’t too attached to your dragon because I sacrifice it to Summon Volcanic Queen to your side of the field!” “YOU WHAT?!” Everyone yelled as more cracks opened in the earth and whips of fire shot out and caught Prime Material Dragon around the legs, wings and neck. Screaming like an eagle the dragon fought with all its might as it was pulled underground. With a horrifying shriek a large serpent like dragon with large red wings with its tail and head on fire burst out of the ground and coiled around Applejack. *ATK 2500, DEF 1200* “Volcanic Queen can only be special summoned to my opponent's side of the field by sacrificing one of your monsters, but I can’t summon any more monsters this turn. Now once per turn you can send one card you control to deal me 1000 points of damage but at the end of your turn you must tribute one monster other then Volcanic Queen or you’ll take 1000 points of damage.” I said with a smirk. “Why would he give Aj such a strong monster?” Rarity wondered. “Because he just took out the only monster that could stop him from damaging her with effects.” Fluttershy explained as she hid behind Rainbow. “Crud.” Rainbow muttered. “I’ll play one card face down end my turn.” I said. Seto 1200 Hand has 0 cards. Applejack 5500 Hand has 1 cards. “My turn!” Applejack said before growling in annoyance. “I summon one monster in defense mode and end my turn.” As Applejack's turn ended a few flames shot off of Volcanic Queen and grazed Applejack's arm. Seto 1200 Hand has 0 cards. Applejack 4500 Hand has 1 cards. “Time to turn this around! First I’ll play Shield & Sword switching the attack and defense of all monsters on the field until the end of the turn!” “NO!” Applejack yelled. *Alpha, Attack 1700, Defense 1700. Beta, Attack 1500, Defense 1500. Gamma, Attack 200, Defense 800. Volcanic Queen ATK 1200, DEF 2500. Volcanic Doomfire ATK 1800, DEF 3000* “Then I summon Gaia Soul the Combustible Collective!” A large pulsating boulder appeared next to Doomfire with a single blue eye gazing at Applejack. *ATK 2000, DEF 0* “That…That aint right.” Spike said. “You want to know how this gets better? Gaia Soul inflicts pricing damage. Now Gaia Soul attack her Gamma!” I ordered. Gaia Soul burst into flames and moved to float next to Gamma before exploding. “I’ll send Barrier Statue of Drought to the grave to activate Catapult Zone to save Gamma!” Applejack shouted. Seto 1200 Hand has 0 cards. Applejack 3500 Hand has 0 cards. As the smoke cleared Gaia Soul was revealed to have shrunk down to a single layer of rock and it’s eye was just bearly open. “Now Doomfire destroy Gamma with Volcanic Cannon! Oh and when Doomfire destroys a monster all other monsters on your field are destroyed and you take 500 points for each one!” Volcanic Doomfire opened his mouth and show a molten rock at Gamma. Gamma exploded and Volcanic Doomfire fired four more rocks destroying the rest of the monsters. Seto 1200 Hand has 0 cards. Applejack 800 Hand has 0 cards. “Your move Aj.” I said. “First I’ll play Pot of Greed." Upon seeing what she drew a large grin spread over Applejack's face. "Then I’ll activateHeavy Storm!” Applejack yelled. “Why would you do this?!” I shout as the field was engulfed by a tornado and the entire battle field created by Applejack’s card shattered along with every face down card. “Because now I can send all nine rock monsters in my graveyard to summon Megarock Dragon!” My eyes widened as a huge dragon made of stone slowly rose out of the ground as if the ground was made of water. When it stopped only its head, back and part of its tail was above ground. “Megarock Dragon can only be summoned by removing at least one rock monster from my graveyard and he gains seven hundred attack and defense for every rock monster that I removed from play.” *ATK 6300, DEF 6300* “FINISH IT AJ!” Rainbow yelled. “You don’t need to tell me twice! Megarock Dragon destroy his Volcanic Doomfire!” Applejack yelled, as her Dragon reared its head back only to slam it down on Doomfire the gust of wind it created sending me flying into a nearby wall. Seto 0 Applejack 600 “YA! Take that Seto!” Rainbow cheered as the others ran over to check how I was doing. “You alright there?” Spike asked. “Ow.” I mumbled before looking at Applejack. “Well I was bound to lose sooner or later.” “Yup.” Applejack nodded. “Didn’t think I was going to win there for a bit.” “Well you pulled it off.” I said getting to my feet. “Gotta admit I didn’t see Prime Material Dragon coming.” “She did it, she did it!” Rainbow sang happily with her eyes closed. “She took down Seto!” When Rainbow and when opened her eyes she saw seven people giving her unamused stares. “Hehehe. Sorry?” “Hey Rainbow?” I said. “Yeah?” “Next time we duel… I’m not holding back.” I replied with a smirk. “YOU WERE WHAT?!” Rainbow yelled in shock.