//------------------------------// // Chapter 9: Red-Eyes vs Red-Eyes // Story: The Magic of Dueling // by CrystalQueen //------------------------------// It was the middle of the night, but despite everything that had happened to Red, he couldn’t fall asleep “What the actual fuck is going on?” He thought “First I’m the only human to ever appear in Equestria, then all of a sudden, legendary Duelists from my world who have died start popping up, only...off somehow. It’s even so bad that Luna is staying here instead of going back to this Canterlot place she lives in. But still, something about the way Manjome got a headache and then seemed to be staring off and remembering something after I beat him with my Gem-Knights while Jack, Jonouchi and Honda were all beaten without a second thought bothers me...And they’re even turning into cards, so could it possibly be that whatever dark power is reviving them is also turning their Duels into Shadow Games?” “Hey…” Red looked up to see a human standing in the doorway, all Red could make out was that he was wearing a Duel Disk on his left arm, and he was covered in burn marks “I ain’t done wit’ you just yet...Duel me!” Shouted the boy as his Duel Disk activated, and from the light it emitted, Red could fully make out who it was “Jonouchi!? But how!? I saw you disintegrate into a card! I have it right here!” Red shouted as he held up the Red-Eyes Dice card he had procured earlier that day. “Jonouchi? Da name’s Joey Wheeler, punk! And while dat blue horse got Tristan, I finished ‘er off, and I’m here on orders to take ya out!” He shouted. “Wait, you can’t mean-!” “Dat’s right! I got ‘er right here!” Joey held up a card, and while Red couldn’t make out any of the text, or even the Level of the card, he could see clearly that the picture was Trixie. “Now shut up an’ Duel me!” Red grabbed his Duel Disk and quickly turned it on and activated it. “Jonouchi...I’m gonna kick your ass!” “I’d like to see you try wise guy! Oh yeah, and don’t worry, we’ve got another friend to take out dat pink horse that embarrassed us earlier! In fact, she might as well be glue already!” Joey taunted “Starlight-! Alright then, looks like I have to end this quick!” DUEL “I’ll go first!” Joey shouted. Joey 8000 LP Hand: 5 Red 8000 LP Hand: 5 “First, I activate my Catalyst Field Field Spell!” A flap opened on the rightmost side of Joey’s Duel Disk that he slid his card into, and as he did the air around them turned bright purple, and Red could faintly make out that Joey had the same black sclera that Chazz did “This lets me Normal Summon a Gemini monster in addition to my Normal Summon, and it lets me Normal Summon Geminis without tributing! Now, I Normal Summon my Black Stone of Legend!” (Level 1, 0 ATK 0 DEF) “Now I activate the effect of my Black Stone of Legend! By tributing this card, I can Special Summon a level 7 or lower Red-Eyes monster from my deck, and I summon my Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon!” (Level 7, Gemini, 2400 ATK 2000 DEF) “Now I Gemini Summon my Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon, enabling its effect!” (Level 7, Gemini, 2400 ATK 2000 DEF) “Now I set one card and end my turn!” “I draw!” Red 8000 LP Hand: 6 Joey 8000 LP Hand: 2 “You know what? I’m gonna match you there Jonouchi! I summon my own Black Stone of Legend!” (Level 1, 0 ATK 0 DEF) “Now, by using its effect, I tribute The Black Stone of Legend and Special Summon my Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon!” (Level 7, Gemini, 2400 ATK 2000 DEF) “Well sorry to disappoint ya, but Catalyst Field’s effect is exclusive to my field! So you’re not getting off the Gemini Effect!” “Oh Jonouchi, I’m not gonna rely on something as terrible as Geminis! I’m running the Equip variant, so now I Equip my Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon with my Black Metal Dragon! This will boost it up by 600 Attack Points!” (Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon 2400 ATK -> 3000 ATK) “What!? 3000 Attack!?” “That’s right! Battle Phase! My Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon attacks your Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon!” Red’s dragon launched a fireball from its mouth at Joey’s identical dragon, but the fireball seemed to slow down as Joey pressed a button on the back of his Duel Disk “I activate my Mystical Space Typhoon! This will destroy your Black Metal Dragon!” “What!?” A strong wind emerged from Joey’s now flipped up card that destroyed the metal coating on Red’s dragon, and Joey’s dragon launched its own fireball towards Red’s dragon, and the both of them were destroyed “Damnit...When Black Metal Dragon is sent from the Field to the Graveyard, I can add a Red-Eyes card to my hand, and I’m going with my Red-Eyes Fang With Chain! Now, I set two cards face down and end my turn.” “I draw!” Red 8000 LP Hand: 3 Joey 8000 LP Hand: 3 “Heh heh heh! Looks like I’m gonna win after all!” Joey said, a wide smirk plastered on his face “Oh really now?” “Yeah, and I’m doin’ it this way! I activate the effect of The Black Stone of Legend in my Graveyard! By shuffling Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon from my Graveyard back into my deck, I can return my Black Stone of Legend to my hand, and now I activate my Red-Eyes Transmigration Ritual Spell!” “A Ritual Spell!?” “Dat’s right a Ritual Spell! I tribute da’ Black Stone of Legend and Red-Eyes Black Dragon in my hand to Ritual summon my Lord of the Red!” (Level 8, 2400 ATK 2100 DEF) “I chain my Solemn Judgement! By paying half my Life Points, this negates the summon of your monster!” Red 8000 LP -> 4000 LP With the reveal of Red’s face down card, Joey’s monster ceased to be as soon as it materialized “What!? Grr, I end my turn!” “I draw!” Red 4000 LP Hand: 4 Joey 8000 LP Hand: 0 “Jonouchi! The cards in my hand will be the cards to defeat you!” Red shouted, looking sure of himself and the card he just drew “Da’ name’s Joey Wheeler, punk! But bring it on!” Joey retorted “First, I activate my One For One Spell Card! To pay the cost of activation, I discard a monster, Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon from my hand, and now I get to Special Summon a Level 1 monster from my hand or deck, and my choice is my second copy of The Black Stone of Legend!” (Level 1, 0 ATK 0 DEF) “Wait, you had another one!?” “Of course I run three of them! And now I activate its effect, Tributing it to Special Summon Gearfried, the Red-Eyes Iron Knight from my deck!” (Level 4, 1800 ATK 1600 DEF) “Ahhh, my head! What the hell is going on!?” Joey screamed out after seeing Red’s monster materialize itself “Right, well, now I activate my Pot of Greed! With this card, I get the privilege of drawing 2 cards! And to think that greed is a sin! Nice, they’re both good ones! I Normal Summon my Red-Eyes Baby Dragon!” (Level 3, 1200 ATK 700 DEF) “Stop it! You’re only making my headache worse!” Joey said, losing his Brooklyn accent. “Huh? Could it be…? No, that’s impossible…” Red thought to himself. “Anyway, I’m transitioning to the Battle Phase!” He shouted “Red-Eyes Baby Dragon! Gearfried! Attack Directly!” Red’s knight slashed Joey with the sword built into its arm and his dragon shot a fireball from its mouth, causing Joey to recoil from the impact Joey 8000 LP -> 6200 -> 5000 “I end my turn!” “M-My turn-! Red 4000 LP Hand: 2 Joey 5000 LP Hand: 1 “Heh heh, looks like it’s all over for you-! I activate my Red-Eyes Fusion!” Joey shouted. “Red-Eyes Fusion!?” Red responded in shock. “That’s right, Red-Eyes Fusion! This lets me perform the Fusion Summon of a monster listing a Red-Eyes monster as Fusion Material, using monsters from my hand, field, and deck as materials, but I can’t summon anything else this turn! I’ll fuse my Red-Eyes Black Dragon and Meteor Dragon Red-Eyes Impact from the deck to summon my Meteor Black Comet Dragon!” (Level 8, 3500 ATK 2000 DEF) “And now my Meteor Black Comet Dragon’s effect activates! When Fusion Summoned, I get to send a Red-Eyes monster from my deck to the Graveyard, Red-Eyes Black Dragon in this case, and then you take damage equal to half the sent monster’s Attack!” A transparent Red-Eyes Black Dragon appeared in front of Joey’s other dragon, and shot a fireball from its mouth directly at Red, bypassing both of his monsters Red 4000 LP -> 2800 LP “Battle Phase! My Meteor Black Comet Dragon attacks your Red-Eyes Baby Dragon! Meteor Impact Comet Blast!” With its master’s command, Joey’s dragon shot a massive fireball towards Red’s dragon, greatly burning the area around it Red 2800 LP -> 500 LP “When Red-Eyes Baby Dragon is destroyed by battle, I can Special Summon a Level 7 or lower Red-Eyes monster from my deck, and equip it with my Baby Dragon to boost it up 300 Attack Points, and I’m summoning my own Red-Eyes Black Dragon!” (Level 7, 2400 -> 2700 ATK 1700 DEF) “Grr, my head! T-Turn end!” “Wait, did he just say ‘Turn end’?” Red thought to himself “T-that’s how most Japanese people word it! Could it be that by Dueling him, I’m returning him to normal?” “Hey, are you going to take your turn or just stare off into space!?” “R-Right! I draw!” Red 500 LP Hand: 3 Joey 5000 LP Hand: 0 “First, I’ll activate my Graceful Charity Spell Card! This lets me draw 3 cards, but then I have to discard 2 of them!” Red drew his cards and looked over his hand, consisting of Mage Power, Twin Twisters, Makyura the Destructor, Red-Eyes Dice, and Red Dragon Revival “Alright, now think Lance!” Red thought to himself “You could either go for a guaranteed win by using Red-Eyes Fang With Chain’s second effect, equipping Meteor Black to Red-Eyes for 6200 Attack, more than enough to kill him, but, on the other hand, there’s clearly some dark magic at work here, and by extending the Duel, I just might be able to free him from it, but then I also run the risk of dying if I lose…” “Well? Don’t just stand there! Duel!” Shouted Joey “...I Discard Makyura the Destructor and Red Dragon Revival! During the turn Makyura is sent to the Graveyard, I can activate Trap Cards from my hand!” “So what if you can activate Traps from your hand!? My Dragon is still stronger than all your monsters!” “Battle Phase! Red-Eyes Black Dragon attacks Meteor Black Comet Dragon!” “What!? Are you crazy!? You’re going to kill yourself!?” Joey shouted in shock “Jonouchi! I activate the card that will set you free! Red-Eyes Dice! When a Red-Eyes Monster I control battles, I roll a 6 sided die, and my monster gains Attack equal to the die result multiplied by 300!” “Wait, so you’re leaving everything to a die roll!?” Joey shouted “That’s right! Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Looks like I need a 3 or higher to win, otherwise it’s all over! Go, dice roll!” A large 6 sided die emerged from Red’s card and began to roll across the room. Time seemed to slow down as Red and Joey stared at the die making its way across the room, before finally stopping on the result “Yes! It’s a 4! Red-Eyes gains 1200 Attack Points!” (Red-Eyes Black Dragon 2700 ATK -> 3900 ATK “N-Nani!?” Shouted Joey as his dragon was destroyed by Red’s seemingly weaker monster Joey 5000 LP -> 4600 LP “Damnit...When Meteor Black Comet Dragon is sent from my Monster Zone to the Graveyard, I get to Special Summon a Red-Eyes monster from my Graveyard! Resurrect! Red-Eyes Black Dragon!” (Level 7, 2400 ATK 1700 DEF) “Well then, in that case, on Main Phase 2 I’ll shift Gearfried to Defense Position and set one card face down to end my turn. Also, Red-Eyes Dice’s effect is no longer in play, so Red-Eyes returns to normal.” (Red-Eyes Black Dragon 3900 ATK -> 2700 ATK) “It’s my turn! I draw!” Red 500 LP Hand: 1 Joey 4600 LP Hand: 1 First, I’ll play my Pot of Greed! This lets me draw 2 more cards! Next, I’ll activate my Resurrection of the Dead! This lets me revive a monster in either player’s Graveyard to my field! And I’m reviving my Meteor Black Comet Dragon!” An Ankh appeared above Joey’s head as his Dragon Red worked so hard to destroy rematerialized itself “No...It’s all over…” “Now, I Release my Meteor Black Comet Dragon, and Advance Summon my Android - Psycho Shocker!” (Level 6, 2400 ATK 1200 DEF) “Say, what happened? The last thing I remember seeing was that I was on life support in a hospital, and all my friends were there, almost like I was dying, and also, why am I young again?” Joey asked “Huh?” Red looked at Joey again, being overjoyed when he saw that he had white sclera again “Yes! I was right! By prolonging the Duel, I was able to break the magic!” “What? Well, whatever, I can clearly tell that we’re in the middle of a Duel, so I’ll continue! Battle Phase! Red Eyes Black Dragon! Attack his Gearfried!” Jonouchi’s Dragon launched a fireball from its mouth towards Red’s Knight, Red pressed a button on the back of his Duel Disk to try and activate a trap card, but nothing happened “What the, why didn’t my Trap work!?” “While Android - Psycho Shocker is on the field, all Traps are negated, and cannot activate! Turn end!” “Well then, looks like it’s my turn!” Red 500 LP Hand: 2 Jonouchi 4600 LP Hand: 0 “Time to finish this! I activate my Red-Eyes Fusion! In case you’re unaware, this lets me Fusion Summon a monster listing “Red-Eyes” monsters as material, using monsters from my hand, field, or deck as materials, but I can’t summon any other monsters this turn! I’ll fuse the Red-Eyes Black Dragon on my field with Gearfried the Red-Eyes Iron Knight in my deck! Appear, from the black miasma of hell! The armored dragon of nightmares! Fusion Summon! Red-Eyes Slash Dragon!” (Level 7, 2800 ATK 2400 DEF) “Damn! That’s Red-Eyes!?” “This is 90 years worth of Dueling evolution! Now, Red-Eyes Baby Dragon’s effect activates! Because it was sent to the Graveyard while equipped to a monster, I get to add a Level 1 monster to my hand, and I’m adding Black Metal Dragon!” Red shouted “Now, Red-Eyes Fusion prevents me from summoning other monsters this turn, but it says nothing about activating effects! I’ll use Black metal Dragon’s effect to equip it to Red-Eyes Slash Dragon form my hand, boosting its Attack by 600!” (Red-Eyes Slash Dragon 2800 ATK -> 3400 ATK) “What!?” “And that’s not all! I’m also equipping it with Mage Power! This Equip Spell boosts the equipped monster’s Attack and Defence by 500 for each Spell or Trap on my field!” “You have 3, so that means…” “1500 extra points!” (Red-Eyes Slash Dragon 3400 ATK -> 4900 ATK) “WHAT!?” “Battle Phase! Red-Eyes Slash Dragon attacks Jinzo! Also, when Red-Eyes Slash Dragon attacks, I can equip a Warrior type monster to it from my Graveyard and boost it up by 200 Attack, and my obvious choice is Gearfried the Red-Eyes Iron Knight!” (Red-Eyes Slash Dragon 4900 ATK -> 5600 ATK) Red’s dragon cleaved Jonouchi’s Android in half with a single swipe from the blade on its arm, causing him to recoil from the resulting explosion Jonouchi 4600 LP ->1400 LP “Now with Jinzo’s trap seal removed, I activate my face down Red-Eyes Fang With Chain! I equip this card to a Red-Eyes monster, and it gets to attack two monsters in the same Battle Phase!” “What!? Impossible!” “Red-Eyes Slash Dragon! Attack Jonouchi’s red-Eyes Black Dragon! Black Armored Slash!” Red’s dragon cleaved through Jonouchi’s dragon like a knife through butter, the explosion sending Jonouchi flying through the air as he began to dissipate into white particles Jonouchi 1400 LP -> 0 LP “Thank you…” Jonouchi said before turning into another card before he hit the floor. Red walked up to pick up the card and examine it Red-Eyes Fury Equip Spell Equip only to a “Red-Eyes” monster. The equipped monsters gains 500 ATK for each Dragon or Warrior Type monster in your GY. “Huh, an actually good card, this is going into the deck.” Red put the card on top of his deck, and with the press of a few buttons, his Duel Disk’s auto shuffle function shuffled it, as well as all the main deck cards he didn’t retrieve from his Graveyard and field after the last Duel, back into his deck, while also ejecting his Fusion Monster and another card from his Graveyard slot “Sorry Upstart Goblin, but now I actually need all 40 cards in my deck. Oh yeah, I was so caught up in the Duel, I completely forgot…” Red looked at the card with Trixie’s image on it. He could faintly make out a few of the features, enough to tell that she was turned into a card that could realistically be played “Starlight!” Red exclaimed as he quickly put Trixie’s card in his Duel Disk’s Side Deck slot and the Red-Eyes Slash Dragon card back into the Extra Deck slot and ran out to the castle foyer, where he saw a Duel in progress between Starlight and a human he could more than recognize from the silhouette alone “Dark Magician! Attack her face down monster! Dark Magic Attack!” The monster obeyed its masters wishes and fired a blast of magic at Starlight’s face down card, which flipped up to reveal a brown, stone-like human leg, which shattered into mirror shards “Setting an Exodia piece? How pathetic! Now you can no longer complete Exodia!” The human figure shouted “I end my turn.” “Maybe, but Exodia isn’t the only win condition I have! I draw!” Starlight 500 LP Hand: 5 Unknown Duelist 4000 LP Hand: 2 “Of course I get the last piece now...Whatever, I activate Graceful Charity-” “I chain the Graveyard effect of my Magician Navigation! When Dark Magician is on my field, I can Banish Magician Navigation from my Graveyard to negate the effect of a Spell or Trap card you control until the End Phase! And seeing as Graceful Charity is a Normal Spell, it goes straight to the Graveyard!” The giant version of Starlight’s Graceful Charity card began to spark like a malfunctioning piece of machinery, before ultimately dissipating into thin air at her opponent’s negation effect “Well, I set a monster and end my turn!” Starlight said, waving her hoof in front of a holographic screen in front of her as a giant card appeared in front of her “During the End Phase, I activate the effect of my Eternal Soul! I Special Summon Dark Magician from my Graveyard!” (Level 7, 2500 ATK 2100 DEF) “This triggers the effect of my Dark Magical Circle Continuous Spell, Banishing your face down monster!” As the human’s second magician appeared, the circle surrounding both him and Starlight began to shine brighter, as Starlight’s face down card disintegrated into nothing “Well well then! Looks like you won’t be completing Exodia at all anymore! Regardless, it’s my turn!” Starlight 500 LP Hand: 3 Unknown Duelist 4000 LP Hand: 1 “Let’s finish this! Dark Magician! Attack her directly! Dark Magic Attack!” With the command of its master, the magician lept into the air before firing a blast of dark magic from its magical rod towards Starlight, the blast sending her flying as she began dissolving into particles of light, not unlike the Duelists Red had been Dueling in Equestria “Sun...burst…” Starlight 500 LP -> 0 LP The human walked up to where Starlight once stood and picked up the card that was the only reminder of her existence “Starlight Glimmer...You were a pitiful opponent, may you find eternal life in the masters binder, collecting dust.” “Yo!” Red shouted “You think I’m gonna just gonna let you walk out of here after what you did!?” “You must be Red, correct?” “Yeah, and I know fully well who you are, Yugi Muto!” “Well then, you should also know fully well about my status of King of Games! Make this easy on yourself and give up!” Yugi taunted “Well then, whatever seems to be reviving Legendary Duelists also seems to be warping their personalities, Yugi was never this confrontational in his time-!” Red thought to himself “ Listen here bastard! In killing that pony, you’ve gone and made a terrible mistake! Now get ready to Duel!” Red shouted as he activated his Duel Disk “Very well, but you will end up begging for mercy before I defeat you!” DUEL “I’ll go first!” Yugi shouted Red 8000 LP Hand: 5 Yugi 8000 LP Hand: 5 “First, I Normal Summon my Magician’s Rod!” (Level 3, 1600 ATK 100 DEF) “When Magician’s Rod is Normal Summoned, I can add a Spell or Trap card meant to support the Dark Magician from my deck to my hand, and I select the Illusion Magic Spell Card!” As Yugi’s monster appeared, he pulled his Deck out of his Duel Disk’s deck slot and retrieved the Illusion Magic card from his deck before shuffling and putting it back into the deck slot “Now, I activate my Dark Magical Circle Continuous Spell!” As Yugi slid the card into his Duel Disk’s Spell/Trap card slot, a bright yellow circle began to surround the ground between him and Red, with indecipherable text along the outer rim “What the fuck!? I’ve never seen this card before!” Red thought to himself “On activation, Dark Magical Circle allows me to excavate the top 3 cards of my deck, and then, if a Dark Magician support card is among them, I may add it to my hand, then I arrange the cards as I wish. I’ll add the Magician Navigation Trap Card to my hand, and arrange the other 2 cards like this. Lastly, I set 4 cards face down and end my turn.” “Alright, now think Lance,” Red thought to himself “When Starlight lost, he used Dark Magical Circle to Banish her face down Exodia limb, also Magician Navigation can negate shit when it’s in the Graveyard, and this Eternal Soul card can revive Dark Magicians like the Red Dragon Revival card I got from Jack, and ignoring that, I’m Dueling the Duel King himself! This is going to be the most difficult Duel in my life!” Before shouting “It’s my turn! I draw!”