//------------------------------// // For the Future // Story: The Dark Side of Dueling // by goldenrise365 //------------------------------// The rain steadly fell on the dark streets of Canterlot. Lights darted between houses as people called it a night. The only constant light was a beacon coming from the forest behind Canterlot High School. In the darkness of the forest two dragons waged battle. One had golden scales, a red underbelly, yellow eyes with red pupils and fiery phoenix wings. It stood taller than the trees. The second dragon had purple scales, dark eyes with green pupils, and black-tatered wings. Both were controlled by a figure dressed in similar armor. The figure in gold armored comanded his dragon, “Angelic Phoenix Dragon, destroy his Dragon of Dark Gathering, and banish his darkness from this world.” The figures voice boomed from inside the healm. The gold dragon started gathering energy in its mouth. The wings turned from red to a golden hue. Once it was all charged up, he fired at the second dragon. The figure in purple armor gave a deep, dark chuckle. “I activate Chains of the Forgotten.” Shackles were placed arond the gold dragon’s neck arms and legs. Rusted chains shot up from the ground and attached to the shackles. The gold dragon was forced to the ground and switched into defense mode. “What did you do to my dragon?” “I just lowered his attack for the next two turns. But he can’t be destroyed for those two turns.” The blast dispersed before even hitting the second dragon. A smile crept onto its face. “You’ll pay for this.” The figure in gold armor looked at the cards in his hand. He grabbed two and placed them in his gauntlet. “I set two cards face down to end my turn.” The dark figure drew a card from his gauntlet. “I activate Armor of Darkness. This doubles my dragons attack points.” Dragon of Dark Gathering: 5000 “Now I’ll extract your soul from your body. Go my dragon, Wave of Infinite Pain.” The dragon charged up a purple blast, and let it fly. “I activate Magic Cylinder. Now your blast will be directed right at you.” Two cylinders appeared next the gold dragon. The blast went into one as the other pointed to the dark figure. A blast of light fired out and struck the figure. “AHHH!!!” The figure let out a scream of pain. His armor started to smoke from the attack. “You will pay for this! I set a card face down to end my turn.” LP: 1800 “I draw.” The gold armored figure looked at his cards. He picked one out of the group. “I activate Mystical Space Typhoon to detroy your chains and your face down.” A whirlwnd picked up around the two. The winds sliced through the two cards, shattering them into mutiple pieces. The chains fell away from Infinity. He stood up fully and glared at the second dragon. Angelic Phoenix Dragon: 3000 “Your monster is still to weak.” “Then I’ll even the playing field. I activated Shared Power.” A light shot out from Phoenix’s chest and connected to Dark. Infinity Phoenix Dragon: 4000 Dragon of Dark Gathering: 4000 “You just evened out our dragons power.” “That’s the point. Now for a redo of my previous attack. Go Phoenix, take out his dragon.” Infinity charged up its attack once more. When it reached its peak, the dragon fired his blast. Dark also fired his own intercepting blast. The two attacks hit one another and energy blasted out from the collision. the resulting shock wave destroyed both dragons. “Nice going,” said the dark figure with a snarl. “Now both of us are without a monster.” “No, just you. I activate From the Ashes to bring back Angelic Phoenix Dragon.” A card flipped up on the field. The quick-play spell had a picture of a pile of ashes with a single flame in the middle of it. The card burst into flames, and the fireball grew in size. two wings spread from the sphere. Gold claws planted themselves on the ground as the flames died down. Infinity was standing back on the field. “But how?” The dark figure staggered backwards. “From the Ashes allows me to bring back one monster that was destroyed in battle this turn. And now its time to end this duel! Phoenix attack him directly, pierce the shadows with Halo Blast. A ring of light appeared in front of Infinity, energy gathered around the ring. The circle crackled with energy, and Infinity fired into it. The blast increased and engulfed the dark figure in its light. He yelled out in pain from the blast. When the light cleared, a small crator was left where the figure was standing. A robe lay smoking at the bottom. The figure in the gold armor called back his dragon and left the area. ‘There is still work to be done.’ He wiped his cape around and disappeared in a column of light. The Rainbooms had finished their performance for Equestria Land. The outdoor stadium was full of cheers as the girls were lead off by security. Sunset removed her guitar strap, and placed her instrument in its case. “Another great show.” “Yeah. That was fun,” said Rainbow as she put away her guitar. “But I can’t wait for the upcoming duel tournament.” She brought out her cards. “Me and my Crystal Beasts will dominate the competition.” AJ placed a hand on her friends shoulder. “You do know that the tournament will bring out the best of the best.” Rainbow gave a smirk. “I know, and I’ll be ready for them.” The girls rolled their eyes at Rainbow’s boastfullness. They finished putting away their equipment and loaded it into AJ’s truck. Twilight was on her phone, looking through the local news feed. “This is strange.” “What is it, darling?” Rarity asked her surprised friend. “There was another disappearance last night. Its said that someone named Fast Track went missing after going for a ride with his duel runner. Neither him nor his duel runner was found.” “That’s not good,” said a worried Fluttershy. “Another disappearance means that their is something still out there,” said Twilight. She turned to Sunset. “Do you think this could be Equestrian magic?” “Unless we see it first hand, I don’t know.” Sunset thought about the possibility of taking people using Equestrian magic. She turned away from the group. “I’m going to do some looking around. See if there is anyone suspicious.” She ran out of the bag stage and entered the park using the back entrances. “If there is anyone taking people, then a park would be like a flame for a moth.” She walked around the area, looking for anyone she has or hasn’t seen before. She continued looking around, passing people, giving side glances to avoid getting caught. The entrance/exit of the park now stood in front of her. people were still coming in, but there were a few that were leaving. “Can I help you miss?” Sunset turned around to see a guy standing behind her. he was a couple inches taller than her. He had yellow and orange hair, yellow skin, red eyes, and wore a park security outfit with a name tag. It read Phoenix Feather, Head of Security/Duel Monitor. “No. Sorry.” “That’s OK. I just need you to move away from the entrance. We don’t need people blocking others paths.” He held out his hand behind her to guide her away. She followed and the two left the entrance area. Phoenix led Sunset to an open area away from the entrance. “That was a great show you put on,” said Phoenix with a smile. “Music like that always helps me keep my sanity.” “Well thanks,” said Sunset with a half smile. “Are you new to Canterlot?” “Yeah. I am. Why do you ask?” “I just never seen you before.” “I’ve heard that before. Many times before.” Phoenix lowered his voice. He turned back to Sunset. “Have a good day, and thank you for visiting Equestria Land.” “Do you have to say that everytime?” “If I want to get paid.” Phoenix walked away, talking into his walkie. “Area cleared.” Sunset kept looking a Phoenix. “There is something off about him. But what is it?”