//------------------------------// // Magnet Force – Applejack vs Sugarcoat (Part 1) // Story: Duelists of the Friendship Cup // by DrakeyC //------------------------------// Duelists of the Friendship Cup   Magnet Force – Applejack vs Sugarcoat (Part 1)   -Applejack Life Points: 8000-   -Sugarcoat Life Points: 8000-   Applejack’s portrait lit up on the display. “Jacklyn Apple will take the first turn.”   “Ah wish they’d stop using that name,” Applejack muttered as she picked up her opening hand. She looked at her cards and grabbed one. “Here Ah go! Ah summon ‘Predaplant Ophrys Scorpio’!” A black scorpion appeared in front of Applejack, roots on its back running up to a plant sprout behind its stinger tail (1200/800). “Ah activate Scorpio’s effect, an’ discard ‘Predaplant Cordyceps’ to Special Summon a ‘Predaplant’ monster from mah deck. Ah call out ‘Predaplant Darlingtonia Cobra’.” A snake with a body like a plant vine slithered in front of Applejack, its jaws patterned like flower petals (1000/1500). Sugarcoat tilted her head. “Predaplants. Interesting.” Applejack grinned. “Worried?” “No.” “Ya should be.” “I think not.” Sugarcoat pushed her glasses up her nose. “Continue, please.” Applejack’s grin faded. “Just ribbin’ ya a bit. But fine, if that’s what ya want. Since Ah summoned Darlingtonia Cobra from mah deck, Ah can add a Fusion card from mah deck to mah hand.” She held her card out as it ejected. “Ah take this, ‘Polymerization’. And then Ah set a card and end mah turn.” Applejack lowered her duel disk as her card materialized. “Go for it, girl.” “Naturally.” Sugarcoat stiffly drew, slid her card into her hand, and withdrew another. “I activate the Field Spell ‘Magnetic Field’.” Pillars of shining grey steel rose in the shape of a cross around Sugarcoat, sparks coursing along their length. “As long as this card is in play, I am allowed to revive a Level 4 or lower ‘Magnet Warrior’ monster in the Graveyard, as long as I control an Earth-Attribute Rock-type monster.” Sugarcoat held up another card. “I summon ‘Delta the Magnet Warrior’.” Trails of electricity rose from the ground, tracing out the image of a monster that solidified in a flash of silver light. It was a spindly robot, limbs of circular steel cable connecting hands, feet, and a head of silver-blue metal with magnetic bars running along the edges. A horseshoe magnet around a triangular prism of metal made its head, yellow eyes blinking on the metal (1600/1400). The duel disk beeped and ejected a card. “Since I just summoned Delta, I use its effect to send a Magnet Warrior from my deck to the Graveyard. I choose ‘Alpha The Electromagnet Warrior’. I then immediately use the effect of Magnetic Field to revive Alpha to my field.” The pillars of steel shot bolts of lightning to the ground next to Delta. Another robot manifested, covered in bulky grey armor with magnets on its joints. It held outs its hands and summoned a shield with a magnet, and a staff consisting of a magnet and two long electrical coils, and swung them out (1700/1100). Sugarcoat reached to her deck. “Alpha’s summon triggers its effect, letting me add a ‘Magna Warrior’ monster from my deck to my hand. I choose this, ‘Berserkion the Electromagna Warrior’.” She placed the offered card in her hand, and then pointed forward. “And now, I attack Ophrys Scorpio with Delta The Magnet Warrior!” Delta swung its hands together and created an electrical field between its magnetic limbs, sending a surge of lightning across the field. Applejack flung her hand up. “Ah activate mah Trap, ‘Plant Food Chain’! This gives Ophrys Scorpion an extra five hundred points!” Yellow tendrils sprouted from the scorpion’s back and entwined around its tail. (1200 → 1700). Delta’s attack struck the scorpion and it recoiled. The electricity traveled along its body, collected at the plant tip of its tail, and fired back. Delta convulsed with the impact and exploded.   -Sugarcoat Life Points: 7900-   “First hit!” Rainbow cheered on the sidelines. Sugarcoat frowned. “I activate the second effect of Magnetic Field. Since a monster that battled with an Earth-Attribute Rock-type monster of mine was not destroyed, it returns to its owner’s hand.” Applejack’s Scorpio turned into an orb of light and lowered into the ground, its card on Applejack’s duel disk lighting up. “Phooey.” Applejack grumbled and picked up the card. Sugarcoat smirked. “You won’t defeat my deck with tricks like that so easily.” “Ah hope not, you’re Crystal Prep after all,” Applejack said with a smirk of her own. “For now, I continue my turn. Alpha The Electromagnet Warrior attacks Darlingtonia Cobra.” Alpha ran forward, spinning its sword of magnetic coils in the air, and brought it down on the Cobra. The snake cringed and lit up in lightning before exploding.   -Applejack Life Points: 7300- “I set two cards and end my turn.” Sugarcross crossed her arms. “Make your move.” “Ah will!” Applejack drew with a flourish. “Ah’ll start by activatin’ ‘Predapruning’. Ah use it to revive Darlington Cobra from the Graveyard!” Applejack’s field shook and ripped open a chasm; Darlingtonia Cobra slithered out from within it. Applejack picked a card from her hand and swung it into her duel disk. “Next, Ah activate ‘Polymerization’! Ah fuse Darlington Cobra with Ophrys Scorpio!” The crowd cheered as Applejack’s two monsters swirled together in a vortex of green light. “Ah combine mah stinging predator and mah venomous predator, and let a vicious new plant bloom!” Applejack held her card up. “Ah Fusion Summon ‘Predaplant Chimerafflesia’!” A large coil of vines burst from the chasm and splayed out on the field. A large circular mouth ringed with teeth and surrounded by plump pink petals was at the end of the largest of the vines, and two smaller mouths rose up beside it on smaller vines (2500/2000). Applejack pointed at Alpha on Sugarcoat’s field. “Ah activate Chimerafflesia’s effect; Ah can target any monster on the field with a lower Level than it, and banish it!” Chimerafflesia lashed out its two mouthed vines towards Alpha. “I chain with Alpha The Electromagnet Warrior’s effect.” Sugarcoat snapped her fingers and Alpha shattered into scrapings of metal and sparks of light. “By offering Alpha as Tribute during either of our turns, I can summon a Level 4 Magnet Warrior from the deck. I choose another copy of Delta the Magnet Warrior and summon it in defense mode.” The shrapnel of Alpha’s destruction congregated in an orb of metal and lightning, reforming into a new Delta, kneeling with a barrier of electricity around it. “Since the target of your effect has left the field, it is nullified.” The mouths of Chimerafflesia struck Delta’s barrier and recoiled with high-pitched shrieks. “I also get to activate Delta’s effect since it was summoned. I send ‘Beta The Electromagnet Warrior’ from my deck to the Graveyard.” Applejack pouted and shook her head. “Fine then, Ah’ll just get rid of your monster the hard way. Chimerafflesia attacks Delta!” Chimerafflesia lashed outs its tentacles again and shattered Delta into shards of metal. “Ah end mah turn.” “And it is my turn again.” Sugarcoat drew and tapped her duel disk screen. “I’ll begin by activating my Trap card ‘Magnet Conversion’. This lets me select up to three Magnet Warriors in my Graveyard and return them to my hand.” She tapped three more times, the cards sliding out of her duel disk as she did, and then held them up. “I’ll take back Beta and my two Deltas. And then, I’ll summon Delta to the field.” As the silver magnetic robot appeared in front of Sugarcoat in a shower of sparkles, she ignored it in favor of pressing tool prompts that popped up on her duel disk. “I activate Delta’s effect to send ‘Gamma The Electromagnet Warrior’ from my deck to the Graveyard, and then use the effect of Magnetic Field to revive Gamma.” Sugarcoat’s newest monster manifested from the lightning of Magnetic Field. It was a short, stocky robot with thick armor in dull gold, a magnet forming its collar and a magnet mounted on the back of each large fist (800/2000). “Summoning Gamma activates its effect, letting me summon Beta from my hand. This then triggers Beta’s effect, adding ‘Alpha The Magnet Warrior’ from my deck to my hand.” Sugarcoat smiled and looked up at her three monsters hovering in front of her. “And now, all the pieces are in place.” She pulled a card from her hand and held it up. “I banish Alpha The Electromagnet Warrior from my Graveyard, and Beta and Gamma The Electromagnet Warriors from my field, to Special Summon!”  Her two monsters on the field turned into orbs of lightning and began to swirl around her, Alpha’s hologram emerging from her duel disk and turning into lightning to join them. “Come forth, ‘Berserkion The Electromagna Warrior’!” She slammed her card onto her duel disk. The orbs of lightning around her circled higher into the air and collided in a flash of light. The orb grew larger, the air crackling, sparks shooting out of it. It gleamed and then exploded outward to reveal a massive robotic monster. Its limbs were armored in red, silver, and blue, the metal curved and gleaming. Sparks flew from electrical coils embedded in its shoulders and running along its arms. A sword formed from a metal rod with electrical coils appeared in its hand, and it thrust the blade up to summon lightning to it, a metallic clang echoing across the field (3000/2800). Rarity gaped. “Look at the size of that behemoth!” The robot thudded down in front of Sugarcoat, the ground shaking. She held her hand up. “I’m sure you know what happens next.” She flipped her hand out to direct her monster. “Berserkion, destroy Predaplant Chimerafflesia!” Berserkion leapt into the air and stabbed its sword down. Applejack shook her head. “Not today! Ah activate Chimerafflesia’s ability! When it battles, the monster it fights loses a thousand points, and Chimerafflesia gains it back!” Chimerafflesia’s two vine mouths swung forward towards Berserkion. “I chain with my Trap card ‘Magnet Force’.” The Magnetic Field pillars around Sugarcoat lit up blue and shot beams of energy toward Berserkion. “During the turn I activate this card, my Rock and Thunder-type monsters are unaffected by your monster effects.” Sugarcoat gave a small snort. “My attack continues.” Berserkion swatted aside Chimerafflesia’s vine mouths and impaled its sword into the main growth, shattering it in a spray of electricity. -Applejack Life Points: 6800- “And next, Delta attacks!” Delta held its hands up and fired an orb of lightning at Applejack. She raised her arm and braced herself as the attack hit. -Applejack Life Points: 5200- “I set one card and end my turn.” Applejack lowered her arm from her face to reveal a small smirk. “Not bad. Ah was expectin’ a bigger hit, though.” Sugarcoat frowned. “What?” Applejack stood upright. “It was pretty obvious you were gearin’ up for somethin’ big, with how you kept searching out all those different monsters. A deck like that doesn’t focus on gettin’ all kinds of monsters into play without somethin’ to do with them. Sure enough, there he is.” She put a hand on her hip. “But only 3000 points? Ah hope he’s got a heck of an effect, because that’s plain underwhelming.” “As a matter of fact, he does,” Sugarcoat replied, giving a small snort. “Now, will you take your turn or will you continue to insult my monster?” “You’re right. Wonder if he can stop himself from bein’ destroyed? Only one way to find out.” Applejack drew. “First, Ah use the effect of Chimerafflesia in the Graveyard. The turn after it gets destroyed, Ah can add a Fusion card from mah deck to mah hand.” She took her card from her deck and immediately slid it into her duel disk. “Ah’ll take ‘Fusion Recovery’ and activate it immediately to get Polymerization and Predaplant Ophrys Scorpio back to mah hand. And then Ah’ll summon Scorpio to the field.” Applejack flipped a card out from her hand as her scorpion appeared in front of her. “Ah’ll use Scorpio’s ability and discard ‘Rose Lover’ from mah hand, to summon ‘Predaplant Flytrap’ from the deck!” The ground in front of Applejack cracked open. A small spindly vine with hand-like leaves and a pair of jaws formed from two large leaves grew up from the crack (400/800). Applejack smiled. “See that there? That’s the monster that’s gonna take out your Berserkion.”  Sugarcoat frowned. “You must be joking.” “Nope. Here, Ah’ll show ya. Ah use Predaplant Flytrap’s special ability and place a ‘Predator Counter’ on your monster.” Flytrap opened its jaws and shot a glowing purple seed at Berserkion. The seed landed on Berserkion’s shoulder and sprouted into a tangled mass of green and purple vines, a growth in their center pulsing with purple light. “As long as that Predator Counter is on your monster, its level is sapped down to 1.” Applejack pointed. “And now, Predaplant Flytrap attacks Berserkion!” Flytrap lowered to the ground and slithered like a serpent toward Berserkion. Sugarcoat scowled. “Are you crazy?” “Nope. Flytrap’s got a special ability. See, any time it battles a monster with a lower level, that monster gets destroyed instantly.” Sugarcoat’s eyes widened. “No!” Flytrap stopped in front of Berserkion, raised up, and opened its jaws. The Predator Counter on Berserkion glowed brighter and exploded in a cloud of green spores. The spores fell around Flytrap and it took on the same glow as the Counter. Before Sugarcoat’s eyes, Flytrap grew taller and bigger, until it towered over Berserkion and its jaws were as large as a person. It dove down and snapped its jaws over Berserkion’s head. The robot convulsed and exploded in a spray of purple and green spores. Applejack smiled. “When Flytrap destroys a monster with that effect, its level increases by its level.” Flytrap slunk back to Applejack’s field, still glowing (Level 2 → 10). Sugarcoat narrowed her eyes. “Berserkion’s effect activates. When he’s destroyed, his component monsters are returned from my banished zone. I summon back my three Electromagnetic Warriors in defense.” The pillars of Magnetic Zone around Sugarcoat conjured three orbs of electricity and sent them floating down in front of her to reform Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. Sugarcoat began tapping on her duel disk screen. “With my monsters summoned their effects activate. Alpha lets me add another copy of Berserkion from my deck to my hand, Beta lets me add ‘Gamma The Magnet Warrior’ to my hand, and Gamma lets me summon Alpha The Magnet Warrior from my hand, in defense mode.” Another robot knelt in front of Sugarcoat, slender and grey with a shield and sword, the sword handle shaped like a magnet and an emblem of the same on the shield (1400/1700). Applejack nodded. “And on your next turn you’ll get rid of the three of them to bring Berserkion back. Heck of a combo.” “Indeed.” Sugarcoat pushed her glasses up. “And if you destroy that Berserkion I’ll just bring back my Magnet Warriors again and search out another Berserkion.” “Yup.” Applejack put a hand on her hip. “Ah figured you had something like this planned. Searchin’ out all those different monsters with themed names? You were building up to something big.” Sugarcoat nodded. “And you allowed me to do it because you knew you had the means to get rid of whatever it was I summoned.” “Not a foolproof plan, but it worked.” Applejack held up two more cards. “Ah set two cards and end my turn.” “Shall I presume those cards are something to stop me from calling Berserkion back to the field, or are they to defend your Flytrap so you can use it to destroy Berserkion on your next turn?” “Maybe. Or Ah could be bluffing both ways. It’d be right silly of me to make moves that obvious, wouldn’t it?” Sugarcoat stared at Applejack evenly. Slowly, she smiled. “No. You’re no fool. Even if I knew what kind of cards those are, those are your best options for a move, so of course you’d take them.” “Just as Ah know you’re probably gonna call out Berserkion on your next turn because that’s your best move.” Applejack nodded. “But that’s the kind o’ game this is, ain’t it?” “Move and counter-move, anticipate and intercede, until one of us can’t do it any longer and falls behind.” Sugarcoat nodded back. “For a Canterlot duelist, you’ve done a decent job keeping up with me so far.” “Ya ain’t seen nothin’ yet, sugarcube.” Applejack raised her duel disk in front of her and leaned forward. “If you wanna win this thing, you gotta come at me with everything you’ve got!” “And when I do, you’d better be prepared to handle it!” Sugarcoat drew with a flourish and a smirk. “This duel is only just getting started!”