//------------------------------// // Episode 12: Part 1: Star Raging // Story: Yu-Gi-Oh E-QUEST // by DakariKingMykan //------------------------------// EPISODE TWELVE Soon, many other duelists arrived, and the announcement was made for all of them to report to the center of the park for instructions. Rubeus and Loki were not present this time, and their faces were merely shown on a large TV monitor. “Good morning Duelists.” Rubeus announced “Welcome to Day two of the tournament.” Rarity was more enraptured at the sight of Loki-- gawking at him with red hearts in her eyes. “Soon, my darling, very soon.” she mumbled. “Is she okay?” asked Raven. “Don’t ask,” said Applejack. Loki then spoke up over the monitor, “As you are aware, only the top eight duelists who reach 100% first shall make it to the finals of this tournament. Yesterday, you all fought valiantly and now only half of you remain, which is why today there will be a slight new twist in the duels.” Rubeus nodded and explained as the images were shown on the screen. “For starters, your duels will be selected at random, but this time, if you should win the duel, you will receive an instant 20% on your duel meter instead of 10. However, as an added bonus-- for those of you who may win consecutively. If you happen to win a second and consecutive duel today, you will be awarded an extra 5% bonus.” Everyone looked down at their duel disks, meaning those who won their duels today, their points would rise to 40% in the ratings, putting them about halfway to the finals. “However,” said Rubeus “If you lose your duel, you’ll be drained 10% instead of 5.” Applejack and Robin gasped. They each still had only 5% from their duel yesterday. If they didn’t play their cards right, they’d both be out of the running today. “Duel your very best,” said Loki “And good luck to you all.” The screen faded showing a ten minute countdown to the first duels of the day. That’s when Twilight finally caught up with the group. “Hey, what’d I miss?” Twilight asked. “Oh, not too much.” said Sunset. “Nope,” agreed Pinkie, and then she spoke really fast, “Just Masquerade beating up a bunch of bullies, giving us all a hard time, being a jerk and walking off, and then the announcement of getting a lot of points for dueling and some of us may get these bonus points to get us way ahead.” Twilight and Spike both blinked once. “Uh… yeah.” said Spike. “I wonder who we’re all going to duel today.” said Kori. Applejack and Robin hoped they wouldn’t be duel each other again, since neither of them could afford to lose or have another draw. “I don’t think you two will be facing each other.” said Twilight “Tournaments like these usually never pit the same opponents against each other twice.” “Well that’s good to hear.” said Robin. “Don’t forget,” said Sunset “All the duelists who are here are bound to be much tougher than those we faced yesterday, and we still hardly know what kinds of decks and strategies they use.” Fluttershy shuddered nervously, “Maybe being eliminated early isn’t so bad.” “Well, the scoring system does make a little sense.” said Twilight “At the current rate things are going; having to divide only eight finalists among all the many duelists here can be tricky.” Regardless of this, the duelists all prepared their disks and loaded their decks. Sunset checked her Extra Deck to make sure all her cards were there, including the ones that were blank. No sooner had she checked were the first duels of the day ready to be announces, and all those who would be dueling were instructed over the park intercom to look at their duel disk screens for their opponents and the location of the duel. Kori was among the first duelists to be dueling that morning, and her duel disk went off. Her screen was shuffling pictures of her opponents, and as luck would have it, she would be dueling none-other than, “…Masquerade?!” much to her and the others shock. “No way!” cried Rainbow. “You’re facing that creep?” asked Raven. “Looks like it,” said Kori “I have to go meet him by the Bumper Cars.” The others had heard that the bumper cars were all decked up like mini spacecraft, and the setting looked like an intergalactic zone. “You should feel right at home there.” Terra joked. Kori smiled, but the girls felt worried for her. “Are you sure you want to face him?” asked Spike “That guy’s as powerful as he is a jerk, and that says a lot.” “I don’t have a choice.” replied Kori “Besides, I’d sort of like to confront him again on the attitude he gave.” Unfortunately, Sunset had her own duel waiting, and so did Rainbow Dash. “Ah, man!” groaned Rainbow. She really wished she could go with the gang and, hopefully, see Kori mess Masquerade up, but her priorites of staying in the tournament were more important. “Kick his butt.” she said to Kori. While Sunset didn’t take too kindly to going too far with rudeness, she mere wished Kori “Good luck. Let us know how it turned out.” She and Rainbow then headed off, on their separate ways, while the rest of the gang followed Kori to her destination. “I love Bumper Cars.” chirped Pinkie, and she acted like she was driving one, making the noses, and pretending to crash, and she giggled hysterically… …Much to Raven’s annoyance, “Do we have to bring her along?” she grumbled. Vic put his hands to lips telling her not to be rude. The bumper cards were closed off for the moment for the duel, and all the cars were parked in neat rows along the sides of the arena. Spectators were already gathered around the sides and anxious for the duel to begin. Kori and the others arrived, and found Masquerade standing in the middle of the arena with his arms folded, waiting for his opponent. “Huh!” he grunted “Just my luck; I get to face you first!” Features hardened within the gang. Kori remained calm and marched right into the arena. Her green glared squarely at him, “I don’t know what’s crawled up your back, but what right do you have to be such a jerk to people?” “That’s none of your business.” sneered Masquerade “I treat whoever I want however I see fit and all I see right now is you losing to me and looking like a fool.” Robin was losing his patience already. No one talked to his wife like that. “Get in there and kick his clocks, babe!” he hollered to Kori. Masquerade chuckled, “How cute. You brought a whole bunch of fans to watch you fall as well.” Kori clenched her fists, “That’s enough, Masquerade! I have no intention of losing to you, and do you know why, it’s because I have friends, and I have a reason to duel. Something I very much doubt you understand.” “Oh, I understand, I just don’t like or care about such things.” hissed Masquerade “You can fight for whatever little causes you want, but me, I’m only out for myself, and I’ll go for things in my own way. Now let’s get started so I can beat you already!” Kori said nothing but readied her deck and disk. “You can do it, Kori!” cheered Rarity. “Give it your all, sugar-cube.” added Applejack. “Yay, Kori.” Fluttershy peeped very softly. Vic and Raven on the other hand were more concerned with Masquerade. “What is with that guy?” wondered Vic “He’s lucky somebody doesn’t go over there and pound him already.” “Actually, that might not be a bad idea.” said Raven “A good smack to the face may do him a world of wakeup.” Twilight and Spike thought she was being a little too harsh. “Still,” said Twilight “If only we knew who he really was, then maybe we’d figure out why he’s such a pain to people.” Vic decided to try and scan the guy-- see if he could make a DNA match. So he focussed his mechanical eye on him, and booted up his wrist-com, but as he tried to zoom in on Masquerade, the systems crashed. “What the--?” cried Vic “I can’t scan him.” He tried again, and his system crashed a second time. “Something’s jamming with my systems. I can’t get a lock on him.” “What?” said Spike “How can that be?” “Let me try something,” said Raven, and she shut her eyes, and held her hands together, concentrating hard to make psychic-contact with Masquerade’s mind, only for the magic to suddenly cease before it could reach him. “I can’t…!” said Raven “I can’t make contact with him. It’s like something’s blocking my powers out.” Twilight and Spike gawked at one another, and then over at Masquerade just as the duel began. Kori and Masquerade had drawn their cards and the virtual system was ready. “DUEL…!!” Kori LP: 8000 Masquerade LP: 8000 “I’ll go first,” said Kori. “Whatever, just move!” grunted Masquerade. Kori growled softly, “I summon STELLARKNIGHT VEGA!” (Atk: 1200) Masquerade glared at the creature. “Tellarknights…!” said Twilight “I’ve heard of those cards; they draw their powers from the very stars.” Robin nodded, “That’s why Kori chose them, because she’s from outer space and she often star gazes.” “That… and her nickname is “Starfire” said Vic. He then asked Twilight, “Say, how come you aren’t dueling in the tournament if you know so much about the game.” Twilight hesitated a moment and answered, “I know about the game, but I just never had time to play it.” Spike hung low inside her backpack and shook his head grimly. Kori grinned “Thanks to Vega’s special ability, I can summon another Tellarknight from my hand, and I choose SATELLARKNIGHT ALSAHM.” (Atk: 1400) “And when she’s summoned, you instantly take 1000 points of damage.” Masquerade only stood where he was with his arms folded as Kori’s monster zapped him in starlight and his score dropped. Masquerade LP: 8000 -----> 7000 “Ye-Ha! That’s takin’ it to him.” cheered Applejack. “Go, Kori!” added Pinkie “I can’t believe she’s damaged him on her first move.” Robin smiled “Oh, it gets better. Just watch.” Kori then raised her hand, “Now, I overlay these two level four monsters, to build the Overlay Network!” The two monsters vanished as the portal formed, and Kori’s new monster appeared in a dazzling cascade of star clusters. “Behold the power of the stars!” Kori shouted “I Xyz Summon DARKTELLARKNIGHT BATLAMYUS!” (Atk: 2600) Her monster seemed rather pretty, and dark, but Masquerade still stood as he was, as if he was completely unimpressed by this creature. Kori took offense to this, but didn’t call him out on it. “Now, then,” she said “I use Batlamyus’ special ability. By using one overlay unit and sending a card form my hand to the graveyard, I can Xyz Summon once again using her alone. So I rebuild the Overlay Network!” The magical portal appeared again, and Kori’s monster vanished into it, which spouted out the new monster. “I Xyz Summon STELLARKNIGHT DELTEROS!” (Atk: 2500) The girls were all confused. “But that monster’s weaker than her other monster was.” said Pinkie “What is she thinking?” “Don’t worry,” said Robin “She’s done this before, and I’ve seen what happens.” Kori then placed two cards facedown, ending her turn, and leaving her hand empty. “Is that all you’ve got?” asked Masquerade. Kori glared angrily at him. Masquerade then drew his card while thinking, “Crushing her will be a lot easier than I thought.” “Just a moment!” snapped Kori “I activate the trap card GAMBLE!” Masquerade growled softly, and a magical holograph coin appeared in the center of the field. “What’s going on now?” asked Pinkie. “It’s easy,” explained Robin “That coin will toss, and Kori has call Heads or Tails, and if she calls it wrong, he next turn gets skipped.” The girls gasped. “Oh, don’t worry. She never misses at this. Just watch.” The coin began to spin very fast, and Kori glared at it very deeply with her sharp alien eyes. “I call “Tails!” The coin stopped on “Tails.” Kori smirked, “Now I can draw five cards which will refresh my hand.” Masquerade was not impressed, “If you’re finished… …I play the spell PATHEISM OF THE MONARCHS!” Kori blinked once, and all the others realized from the card what kind of deck Masquerade was playing. “By sending one Monarch spell or trap from my hand to the graveyard, I can draw two cards.” When he was finished ditching and taking cards, he still had six in his hand, which was exactly what he started with. “And now, I can banish the Patheism card from my graveyard, to reveal three other Monarch cards, and then you pick one of them to go into my hand, but it won’t be a tough choice.” “What do you mean?” asked Kori. “Use your eyes!” Large images of the three cards were shown before Kori, and they were all the same card; THE MONARCHS STORMFORTH! It wouldn’t matter which card she picked, so Masquerade just took on anyway and shuffled the other two into his deck. “Well now, I wonder what card I should play.” He teased “Oh, of course-- the card I just got-- THE MONARCHS STORMFORTH! Now if I intend to tribute summon a monster this turn, I can use one of your monsters to sacrifice instead of my own.” “Ah!” cried Kori. “He can’t do that!” cried Fluttershy “Can he?” “That’s what he just said he could do.” said Raven. “What a dirty trick.” Masquerade huffed, “Now, I sacrifice your own weak Xyz monster!” Kori watched as her monster vanished in a glow of light, and transferred to the other end of the field. “I summon RAIZA THE STORM MONARCH!” (Atk: 2400) Kori looked up in shock, but then snickered. “What’s so funny?” asked Masquerade. “Oh, it’s just that when you sent my monster to the graveyard, you activated her special ability, which lets me summon a Tellarknight from my deck. …And I choose, SATELLARKNIGHT RIGEL!” (Atk: 1900) “And when she’s summoned, her attack power instantly increases by 500 points.” (Atk: 1900) -----> (Atk: 2400) “Would you look at that!” cried Pinkie. “Both their monsters have the same attack power.” said Fluttershy “Masquerade wouldn’t dare attack now, or he’ll only destroy his own monster.” Masquerade however, only laughed. “You really think I should be scared? My monarch still has his own ability to activate. When he’s tribute summoned, I can send one card on your field to the top of your deck and out of my sight!” Kori growled, and the spectators all gasped. “I don’t think so!” said Kori “I activate the trap, SKILL DRAIN!” “What?!” snapped Masquerade. “I pay 1000 life points… Kori LP: 8000 -----> 7000 “Now my trap negates the effects of all the monsters on the field!” The monarch stopped glowing, and Kori’s monster remained strong since it had already powered up before the card was played. “How predictable.” scoffed Masquerade. “What?” sneered Kori. “I saw you yesterday on the duel monitors, and I saw a good deal of your cards, and your duel style, and it’s pretty lame.” Kori was really starting to get angry. Her green eyes were glowing with rage. “I’m warning you, don’t push me!” “Ooh, she has a temper too.” mocked Masquerade “Well maybe a little magic will help. I activate the field spell, DOMAIN OF THE TRUE MONARCHS!” “Huh?” cried Kori, and she and everyone else watched as the bumper car arena morphed into the scenes of a dark and foreboding realm with urns, and large shadowy figures glaring at the players. Fluttershy shuddered and hid behind Applejack, whimpering “Tell me when it goes away!” Applejack rolled her eyes, “It’s just a hologram.” Spike was trembling softly in Twilight’s backpack, and she reached behind and pet him softly. Raven rather liked the bleak and darkness she saw. “That seems like a neat card, but what does it do?” she asked. Masquerade heard her and taunted, “How pathetic. You enter a tournament this big and you don’t even know what this card does?” Raven gnashed her teeth. Still, he explained anyway, “With the field like this, as long as I have no monsters in my Extra Deck, and only I control a tribute-summoned monster, then you don’t get to summon monsters out from your Extra Deck.” “Ah!” Kori cried. The groups gasped. “But that’s not all.” hissed Masquerade “My tribute monster gains 800 attack point when it attacks your monster. So, good luck blocking this!” (Atk: 2400) -----> (Atk: 3200) “…Raiza, attack now!” (Atk: 3200) VS (Atk: 2400) His powerful monarch lunged forth and struck Kori’s monster with such force, and sent shockwaves flying past her Kori LP: 7000 -----> 6200 The Titans were outraged while the girls were worried. “Now I’ll place two cards facedown and end my turn.” said Masquerade “My Monarch’s attack returns to normal, but even so, nothing you have will stop me! You may as well give it up while you can.” “I won’t!” yelled Kori “You may be dueling for yourself, but for your information, some of us entered this tournament with good cause, like saving our crumpling hometown.” Masquerade only scoffed, “You not only think like a fool, you talk like one.” Kori and the Titans took offense to his arrogance. Spike growled at him from Twilight’s backpack but kept well-hidden down. “I hear many things in my travels. I know of Jump City, and the way it crumpled. All you’re doing is wasting your time.” “How can you say such a horrible thing?!” yelled Kori. “Just telling you the facts.” sneered Masquerade “No one’s interested in saving that dump-heap, and as far as I see, those people brought it on themselves.” The girls were feeling their bloods boiling. “Why that low-down, dirty, ragged scoundrel!” grumbled Rarity. “Sorry to say, but he does have a small point.” said Vic “No one is trying to help Jump City bounce back.” “But… but… why would they do such a thing?” asked Fluttershy “Don’t they know people are starving or ailing?” The Titans all hesitated to answer, and Masquerade taunted them, “Yes, go on, explain to them why your hometown is crumpling wreck it is now. I’d like to hear this myself.” “No!” snapped Kori “First we duel, and then we’ll explain why.” “Whatever,” said Masquerade “…It’s your move.” Kori agreed and drew her sixth card, and she thought, “This should work. If I play my cards just right, I’ll be able to bring out my heavy hitter, and then I’ll show this guy a thing or two about respect.” While she thought about this, the thoughts and images of a large and shadowy creature was shown behind her, but only she could see it, as it was her own thoughts. “Now I activate a spell card in my graveyard; GALAXY CYCLONE. By banishing it, I now can destroy one face-up spell or trap that’s on the field. So your Monarch World is about to go down in flames!” A fierce cyclone emerged from Kori’s duel disk and bounded straight at the field spell image, vaporizing it and causing the images of the domain to shatter. “Thank goodness,” sighed Fluttershy “Those shadows gave me the creeps.” “And now that your field spell is gone,” said Kori “I play the spell RE-XYZ, which allows me to Xyz Summon an Xyz monster from my graveyard using creatures in the graveyard!” Masquerade only grunted softly. “I overlay Rigel and Ashlam. With these two level four monsters, I build the Overlay Network!” The spirits of her two monsters appeared and worked their magic once more to bring forth an old friend of Kori’s. “And just like that,” she hollered “Welcome back DARKTELLARKNIGHT BATLAMYUS!” (Atk: 2600) The girls were amazed. “She just summoned back her Xyz Monster!” cried Pinkie. “Yeah, but don’t forget,” Applejack pointed out, “That Skill Drain card is still in play, so it can’t use its special abilities.” Robin only smirked, and the noticed his wife looking back and smirking at him, meaning she knew what she was doing. Then she turned back to face her opponent. “Now I’ll play a little field spell of my own, behold the power of the stars as I play HEXATELLARKNIGHT!” The field began to transform again, this time taking on the form of a glowing field of light with images of knights on flying steeds hovering around all over the place. “The power of this spell grants my Tellarknight Xyz monsters an additional 200 attack points for every overlay unit attached to them.” She looked up at her monster, and its two units, which raised its attack right up to 3000! “Is that supposed to scare me?” taunted Masquerade. Kori only smirked “Maybe, and maybe I’ve got where that came from, because now I equip my monster with this-- STELLARKNIGHT ALPHA! This spell not only protects my monster against your card effects, but it also boosts his attack up another 500 points.” (Atk: 3000) -----> (Atk: 3500) “Now let’s see you get out of this one! Batlamyus, attack now!” Her monster complied and flew straight towards the monarch. Masquerade chuckled “You fell right into my trap!” “What?!” cried Kori. “Activate WABAKOU! It prevents my monsters from falling battle, and I also take no damage either.” Kori grunted, and the others were all outraged. “I can’t believe he got out of that!” said Vic. “That’s Masquerade for ya,” said Applejack “He always seems to be prepared for anything that may come his way.” Pinkie sulked softly, “But still, Kori’s monster is stronger, and Masquerade’s monsters can’t use their own effects anyway.” “Maybe,” agreed Twilight “But I wouldn’t count Masquerade out just yet. He’s always ready to make a bounce back at any time.” Robin was softly muttered under his breath, “Come on, Kori, just hang in there. You can do this!” “Anything else you’d like to do?” hissed Masquerade. “Yes!” sneered Kori “I’ll lay one card facedown. And now--” “And now I play my other facedown card!” shouted Masquerade, “Activate POP-UP!” “Huh?” cried Kori. Masquerade snickered “If you were thinking of Xyz Summoning again, you’re mistaken, because this spell allows me to activate a field spell in my deck. Can you guess which one that is?” Kori shuddered softly. “That’s right-- DOMAIN OF THE TRUE MONARCHS!” The field was clouded in shadows as the light dimmed, and the two fields merged together to form a twisted and eerie looking landscape. “Oh, no!” whimpered Fluttershy “Those creepy shadows are back.” Raven was growing most annoyed with all her whimpering. “And she claims to be a superhero…” she muttered softly. Masquerade was really pleased with his move, “Didn’t you hear what I said a few minutes ago? I saw your duels over the TV monitors, and I know your deck and your strategy. You’ve made your deck so you can block many monster effects, and still find ways to use your own effects to your advantage.” Kori growled and clenched her fist. “I know what you were up to. You were planning to Xyz Summon a creature called STELLARKNIGHT CONSTELLAR DIAMOND, and you were planning to do that by using its own ability to use your Batlamyus and all of its overlay units.” Kori was starting to sweat. Masquerade nodded, “That’s what I thought.” The others were all livid. “That isn’t fair!” shouted Terra “He knows exactly what cards she uses, why, it’s practically cheating!” “Yeah!” growled Pinkie, but alas all the others knew the truth. “It’s not really cheating.” said Twilight “The TV monitors do give away what the duelists use after all. Anyone can see them.” Spike smacked his forehead with his paw, “Ah, man!” he groaned “And Masquerade switches his deck around a lot so there’s no way to tell what he’ll throw at you until it happens; just like Flash warned us.” Raven gazed over at Masquerade, “I hate to admit this, but he sure is slick and resourceful.” “How is Kori supposed to beat him then?” asked Applejack. “She’s not!” snapped Masquerade “Just like the rest of you kids, you should’ve run away while you had the chance. I’m in this tournament to win it, just like all the many others I won beforehand, and nothing and no one is going to stop me!” He seemed so furious, so determined to take Kori down-- like a person with a grudge. Many of the other spectators were growing freaked out, and some of them left the area feeling this guy was way too creepy. To Be Continued...