//------------------------------// // Turn 2: Challenge From a Zealot // Story: Yugioh EQG: Ω Zenith // by Banshee531 //------------------------------// In the Freeze Stadium, Cold Steel had been conducting a meeting with those he wanted help from. They'd been discussing the Dominator situation when someone had rudely interrupted by barging into the meeting room. And they'd all be shocked to see who it was. "You're from Team Dominator!" Shining almost yelled as they all stood up. "Heath Burns," Cold growled as the suited teen stepped inside. "I stopped using that name a long time ago," he explained before removing his glove and showing the mark on the back of his hand. "So now you can call me Hellfire. Omega Zealot of Fire and faithful servant of Zeronull." "Zealot?" Sunset asked. "That's right. So, is this how you treat all your guests. No hellos, no offers to sit down or refreshments. And after I went to all this trouble coming to see you. I was expecting a warmer welcome then this." "Stop kidding around!" Misty almost yelled, "you need to tell us why you're here. Calling yourself a Zealot." "Omega Zealot," Heath corrected her. "And I just came to say hi is all." No one believe that for a moment. He was up to something. Cold spoke up next. "Well you're here, so you might as well tell us everything that you know. What are the objective of the Omega Zealots? And who is this Omega Deity of Destruction, Zeronull?" Heath smirked, "I can tell you." He then turned towards the door, looking ready to run. "But to make it more interesting, you have to beat me first." With that, he rushed out the room. "HEY!" Cold chased after him, the others following suit. They rushed out into he hallway and saw Heath running down it, everyone following behind as they went through a fun chase throughout almost the entire building. Eventually, Heath headed upward to a restricted section. Arriving at the top of some stairs, Heath slammed into the doors that lead to the dome's openable roof. Once on the roof, he pulled himself to a stop and spun around with a smile on his face. "This looks like a good spot to Duel. From here, the whole town will see you lose. "The only one losing here will be you," Cold told him as they both pulled out their Duel Disks. "Don't be so coy. I'm not the same as I was in the Double X." He held up a card with the back facing them, you're facing an Omega Zealot. One who is granted power by the great Zeronull himself." He pushed that card into his Duel Disk, "that power is something no ordinary human can defeat." Cold smirked. "Well, good thing for us there's no such thing as an ordinary human." They attached their Duel Disks to their arms and pulled out their decks, checking through them as the others watch from behind. "So what do we know about this guy?" Sunset asked. She wanted as much information on him as they could get, knowing anything would help Cold. "Heath Burns," Shining replied. "He was in the Double X and was a member of team Dominator, alongside Tempest Shadow and Starlight Glimmer. He disappeared after the final and hasn't been seen since." "Is that it?" Adagio asked, "that's nothing." "We'll just have to trust in Cold," Cadance said. She frowned as they all turned back to the two. "Are you ready to be crushed!?" Heath asked as he activated his Duel Disk, a deranged look appearing on his face. Cold said nothing back, activating his own Duel Disk. "DUEL/OMEGA DUEL!" Cold: 4000 Heath: 4000 "Omega Duel?" Shining asked. "What's that supposed to mean?" Cadance continued. Heath just smirked as he drew his first card. "Omega. The end. Basically, this Duel will be the end of you." "We'll see about that." Cold reached for his deck, "I draw. First, I summon Frozen Heart Diplocaulus!" An egg made of ice appeared infront of them before shattering, revealing a lizard made of ice with a boomerang-shaped head. (A1000/D1000/L3/P8) "When this card is summoned, I can look at the top five cards of my deck and select a Frozen Heart monster from it." He drew his cards, looking them over before taking one and shuffling the rest back in. "Level five." "What?" Heath asked. "It's part of the ability. I declare a Level and you have to decide if the card I drew's Level is higher or lower then it. If you're right, I discard this card. But if you're wrong, I can summon it." Heath frowned, "higher." "Wrong," Cold slapped the card on down. "Come out, Frozen Heart Arachnid!" Another ice egg appeared before shattering to reveal a tiny spider made of ice. (A300/D300/L1/P9) "I place two cards face down and end my turn." "Check out the new cards," Cadance noticed. "When did he get those?" Sunset asked. She didn't remember seeing Cold work on any new cards. Misty smiled. "I'll admit, Freeze Industries have learnt a lot about making Pendulum Monsters. But they've still got a ways to go." The others quickly realised she must have made these cards, making them all wonder what else Cold now had up his sleeve. "My turn!" Heath drew his card, smiling as he looked over at all the people watching. "So many big shots, all in one place. What's this party celebrating?" Cold said nothing, making Heath laugh. "I summon Neo Barrier Statue of the Inferno!" A fireball exploded infront of him and revealed a statue of a demon covered in flames, though it only had its waist and everything above it. "Let me guess, it's a meeting to analyse the info you got from Tempest Shadows?" He saw how everyone seemed to tense up at his, making him smirk. "Hit the bullseye. Not that it'll do you any good." He pointed at his monster. "With this card out, only Fire Attribute Monsters can be Special Summoned. And when it's destroyed by battle, I can replace it with another Fire Monster that has fifteen hundred or less ATK points." "Good to know," Cold said before activating his face down. "Go, Absolute Zero." The Trap flipped up and unleashed a wave of freezing cold air, which suddenly turned the entire roof into a frozen wasteland. Every monster on the field became covered in ice before shattering. "When a monster is summoned to the field, this card lets me destroy every monster on the field. And if a Frozen Heart monster is destroyed by it, I can draw a card." He drew two cards. "What's more. Since Frozen Heart Arachnid was destroyed by a card effect, I can place it in an empty Pendulum Zone." The pillar of light appeared beside him before the ice spider floated up into it. "Alright!" Sunset smiled. "Not only did he get a high Pendulum Scale, but he also got rid of that Neo Barrier Statue without activating its effect." "Cold's really upped his game," Shining realised. "He's gonna need it," Adagio told them. They all looked over at Heath and smirked at the sight of him frowning. "I place three cards face down and end my turn." "My draw," Cold drew the card. "I summon Frozen Heart Mantis, in ATK mode!" An ice spike shot out the ground before shattering, revealing a light blue humanoid mantis with hook-shaped bladed arms and a pair of spikes sticking out its back. (A1700/D1200/L4/P3) "Attack!" The Mantis rushed forward, ready to slash at Heart. "I activate my Trap!" His face down flipped up, revealing Negate Attack. "And I activate my Arachnid's Pendulum Ability." He revealed his Frozen Heart Angel before discarding it. "By discarding a Frozen Heart monster, I can negate a Trap once per turn and prevent it from activating for the rest of the turn." The spider shot a snowball out of its rear, the snowball hitting Heath's Trap as it flipped back down and exploded into a web made entirely of ice that covered it. Heath growled as Mantis reached him and slashed at him with its hooked arms, "AUGH!" Cold: 4000 Heath: 2300 "I activate my Trap!" His other face down flipped up, "Damage Calling. Now, for every five hundred points of damage I took, I can draw a card." He drew three cards, smiling before turning to show one was Solar Flare Dragon. "Since I drew one monster, I get five hundred life points back." Cold: 4000 Heath: 2800 "I place one card face down and end my turn," Cold announced. Heath drew his card and smiled, looking over at everyone standing against him. "This is hilarious," he raised his card. "WEAK HUMANS TEAMING UP BECAUSE THEY'RE DESPERATE!" Solar Flare Dragon appeared infront of him. (A1500/D1000/L4) "I activate my face down," the card flipped up to reveal another Trap. "Call of the Haunted. With this, Neo Barrier Statue is returned to the field." Another fireball appeared before revealing the statue. "Then I activate the Double Summon Spell card, allowing me to summon once again." The two monsters burst into flames, which spiralled into a blazing tornado. Seconds later, the tornado exploded to reveal a demonic monster they almost recognised. It looked like Flaming Emperor Hellfire, except it now had five large horns on its head with a flaming mane of hair coming out the back of its head. The spikes on its body were larger and its claws were longer, the entire body appearing stronger than its predecessor. "Blazing Emperor Hellfire!" (A3000/D2500/L8) Everyone grew very nervous at the sight of this new monster. They'd hoped his Duel style would remain the same, but if his ace was different. "What do you think of the new look?" Heath asked. "My ascension to an Omega Zealot has awarded me new powers. And I'm gonna use all that power to destroy you." Cold just frowned at him. "Anything you try to do will be useless." The frown turned to a dark glare, Heath not appearing scared by it at all. Meanwhile, the others watched with a similar question on their minds. Sunset was the one that finally stated the question. "What I don't understand is why Heath would willingly come into enemy territory." Shining nodded. "That kid's got some nerve." Misty agreed, thinking it over. "He shows up wanting to say hi, but what's his real motive in coming here?" "It's a waste of time just to guess," Adagio told them. "We'll find out soon enough." Sunset frowned at her, "Adagio-" "If your mentor can win the Duel, we'll discover what he wants." She smiled at him, "scared he'll lose?" Sunset frowned, not worried at all. What she was worried about was Heath not backing up his side of the agreement and somehow getting away from them. Heath continued. "Since I have two Trap cards in the graveyard, Blazing Emperor's skill grants him an extra four hundred ATK points." (A3400/D2500/L8) "ATTACK!" The demon's claws ignited before it flew forward, slashing at Mantis. "YOU ARE SO GONNA BURN!" The ice insect exploded and the flames struck Cold, making him groan as he staggered backwards. Cold: 2300 Heath: 2800 Despite the flames singing him, Cold remained standing. "You activated my Trap!" His face down flipped up, "Walking an Icy Path! Since I took more than a thousand points of damage, this card lets me add a Frozen Heart monster to my hand that has less ATK points them my current Life Points." A card slotted out for him to take and add to his hand, "so I add Frozen Heart Orca to my hand." Heath smirked, "like I'm scared. I place a card face down and end my turn." "My turn!" He drew his card, a plan forming in his head. "I set scale two Frozen Heart Orca into the Pendulum Scale!" The second pillar appeared next to him, a giant killer whale made of ice flying up into it. "Then, I activate Orca's Pendulum Skill." He held up a card and spun it around to show it was a Pendulum Monster. "With it, I can swap a Frozen Heart Pendulum Monster in my Extra Deck for one in my hand with less ATK points. Since Frozen Heart Fortress Golem has zero ATK points, I can trade him out for any card. So I'll be taking back my Diplocaulus." Heath frowned, "why pick that weakling." "Were you not paying attention earlier?" He asked before summoning it to the field, activating its ability. Cold drew five cards, took one and returned the rest. "Level five." Heath frowned. Has he picked another lower Level monster, or was he banking on Heath remembering what happened last time and gone for a higher monster? "It's..." "Well?" Cold asked, making Heath growl. "Lower." Cold smirked, "wrong." The others cheered. "Behold," he held the card up, "the beast born from the coldest of places. A chilling warrior, whose mere presence will freeze the weak from both the cold and from fear!" A giant snow egg appeared behind him before shattering, unleashing a mighty cold wind that caused everyone it touched to flinch. Heath hissed, covering his face. When the chill finally died down, he opened his eyes and saw what he was up against. This new monster looked like Frozen Heart Dragon, but with slight differences. Its wings now had five blades in place of three. A large triangular spike stuck out of its chest armour and knees. Hanging from its waist was what appeared to be a pair of long square gun barrels that were currently pointing backwards. Its head was the same, though it now had a long unicorn-like horn sticking out of its forehead. The pickax on its tail was gone, replaced by a broadhead arrowhead. "Frozen Heart...NEO DRAGON!" (A3000/D2500/L8/P5) Everyone was awestruck at the sight of this beast. "A new version of Cold's ace," Sunset whispered. Misty smiled, happy to see her handy work had come out so well. "Neo Frozen Heart's skill!" The blasters on the dragon's hips rotated until they were facing forwards, the beast clutching them. "For every Frozen Heart Pendulum Monster in my Extra Deck, destroy one card in your Spell, Trap or Pendulum Zones!" The blasters unleashed a barrage of snowballs, which hit Heath's two face downs and turned them to ice before they shattered. "And for every card destroyed, Neo Frozen Heart gains three hundred ATK points for the turn. "(A3600/D2500/L8/P5) Heath smirked. "You think you're so clever. But with two more Traps in my grave, Blazing Emperor's ATK points go up." (A3800/D2500/L8) Cold didn't look at all worried, instead looking up as the portal began to form up above him. "I PENDULUM SUMMON!" The portal opened and a single light shot out, revealing his monster. "Frozen Heart Mantis!" (A1700/D1200/L4/P3) "Mantis's skill. When it's Special Summoned, it deals you three hundred points of damage for every card in your hand." The insect slashed its arms through the air, sending out two blades of freezing air that struck Heath. "Augh!" Cold: 2300 Heath: 2200 "Then I'll attack Blazing Emperor with Neo Frozen Heart!" The dragon took to the skies, confusing everyone. "And when Neo Frozen Heart battles a monster, I can send a Frozen Heart Pendulum Monster from my Extra Deck to the graveyard." He removed a card as a monster appeared infront of his dragon. It looked like bulky golem made out of an ice castle. The monster then exploded into snow that formed a giant snowball in Neo Frozen Heart's claws, the dragon tossing it at Hellfire. "Now, the monster he battles will lose ATK Points equal to its Pendulum Scale times two hundred. The sphere exploded against Hellfire, covering him in ice. (A2600/D2500/L8) Neo Frozen Heart charged at the fire devil. Everyone smiled until they saw Heath smirk. "I activate Blazing Emperor's ability. Once per turn, I can banish a Trap from my graveyard to activate its effect." (A2400/D2500/L8) "Now I activate my Negate Attack!" A force field appeared between Hellfire and Neo Frozen Heart, blocking the attack and ending the battle phase. Cold sighed. "I place two cards face down and end my turn." Neo Frozen Heart and Hellfire's ATK points returned to normal. (A3000/D2500/L8/P5) (A3000/D2500/L8) "It's my turn!" Heath reached for his deck, smiling over at Cold. "The Double X was just a bit of fun." This made everyone go tense, sensing he was about to give away some important information. "However, what's about to happen is different. This won't be like your silly little game." He drew his card, "THIS IS WAR!" "What do you mean?" Cold asked him. "You'll find out. I play the Spell, Graceful Charity! So now I draw three cards but then I have to ditch two." As he did, a pair of fireballs erupted infront of him. Each fireball suddenly grew a pair of blue eyes and gained a mouth of some kind, which had stitches across it. They also had a pair of small flaming hands coming out the bottom of them (A500/D500/L2)X2 "What just happened?" Shining asked. "My Flame Walker was sent to the graveyard. And when that happens, I get two Flaming Tokens. But don't worry, they won't stick around for long." He held up a card, everyone nervous at its sight. "There's no way you can protect yourselves. You're all going to die." "I don't think so," Cold replied. Heath growled before his three monsters exploded and the flames spiralled together behind him. "Fear the power of the Omega Zealots!" He raised a card into the air. "Dragon of flames, augmented by the power of technology, now let your fire burn across this battlefield!" He slapped the card down as the pillar exploded, revealing Heath's monster. It looked like a cross between Infernity and a brontosaurus, standing on all fours with a long neck and tail. It had a large red metal box on its back, sitting between its robotic wings. Said wings had spinning circles on them, each with a laser barrel sticking out the top and pointing all over the field. A long gatling gun barrel came out of the box, one almost as long as its neck. "Blazing Arms Dragon, Drag-Blitzer!" (A3500/D2500/L8) "That's a new one," Sunset realised. "I bet it's dangerous," Cadance gulped. Before any of them could wonder what Heath would do next, their attentions were caught by the ground suddenly beginning to shake. "What's happening?" Adagio asked. Heath smiled before turning to look out at the city, "Zenith Dragon." "Zenith Dragon?" Misty asked before they all glanced in the direction he was looking. And to their shock, they spotted a giant orb of rock floating into the sky while getting bigger. "What the heck?" Sunset asked before they saw the sphere beginning to crumble, revealing the biggest monster they'd ever seen. "What is that thing!" "Greaterra!" Heath announced before turning back to him, "but I wouldn't worry about him. You've got bigger issues to deal with." As this was happening, Starlight, Sunburst and Spike saw Greaterra appearing in the sky. "That can't be good," Sunburst gulped. "It's definitely not good," Starlight agreed. Something inside her was screaming that the Dominators had something to do with this. They had to do something. "Come on!" She ran off, the boys following after them towards the giant dragon. "Since Drag-Blitzer was summoned using three tributes, his ability activates and allows me to destroy any card in your Spell, Trap or Pendulum Zones." The two wing blasters pointed at Cold's face downs, firing to destroy them but leaving his Pendulum Cards safe. "What's more, you lose four hundred life points for every card destroyed." The lasers fired again, hitting Cold. Cold: 1500 Heath: 2200 "This is bad," Shining realised. "Drag-Blitzer just needs to attack Mantis or Diplocaulus and this is all over." "Relax," Cold told him, "I'll be fine." He smirked, "he did exactly what I figured he'd do." This confused Heath, until Cold showed him one of the cards he'd destroyed. "This Spell card's effect activates whenever it's sent to the graveyard. Now, I pick a monster on the field and then I can destroy any other monster on the field with less ATK points." Heath's eyes went wide. "I choose Neo Frozen Heart, meaning Mantis and Diplocaulus are destroyed." Both monsters exploded, leaving Drag-Blitzer and Frozen Heart Neo Dragon alone. Before anyone could even smile, another rumbling made them turn towards Greaterra. They watched as a giant opened its mouth and unleashed a mighty roar, spitting a giant rock out towards the ground. It struck the ground with enough force to unleash a shockwave throughout the entire city, the wind even reaching the stadium and pushing them all backwards. "WOW!" Adagio and Sunset yelled, grabbing onto one another for stability. Shining and Cadance did the same while Misty was able to stay upright on her own. Cold and Heath seemed unphased by it. Heath smirked as he watched the dragon fade away, "now you see the power we Zealots posses." He turned to Cold. "Do whatever you want, but you still won't beat me." He raised his gloved hand, "I'm different from the man I once was." He clutched it into a fist, "I've managed to acquire a new power. A tremendous power, that only we Omega Zealots can possess." Nobody an any idea what he was talking about, but they knew it couldn't be good. "And when that power's finally unleashed, you guy's had better watch out. BECAUSE YOUR FUTURE IS FINISHED!" He reached for his Duel Disk. "Drag-Blitzer's skill!" Neo Barrier Statue of the Inferno appeared above the Blazing Arms Dragon before exploding into flames, which then flew into the box through a hole in the top. This caused the beast to roar as its body glowed a fiery aura (A4300/D2500/L8) "By banishing a Fire monster from my graveyard, I can increase its ATK by the monster's Level times two hundred. And I'm not stopping there!" Solar Flare Dragon appeared above it, along with what appeared to be a man made entirely of fire with blue eyes and a stitched-up mouth. They too were sucked into the box, making Drag-Blitzer's ATK increase once again.(A5900/D2500/L8) "This is bad," Adagio said. "COLD!" Everyone else yelled as they watched the gatling gun begin to spin around. "END THIS!" Heath yelled, the dragon's gun firing a barrage of fireballs at Cold's monster. He looked over at the man, expecting fear, but instead, he looked calm and in control. "Activating Frozen Heart Neo Dragon's skill!" He yelled before Frozen Heart Diplocaulus appeared infront of his dragon, exploding into a snowball that it threw in the attack's direction. It exploded into a bunch of smaller snowballs, which struck several fireballs and extinguished them. (A4300/D2500/L8) The remaining fireballs struck Neo Frozen Heart, destroying it with enough force to knock Cold off his feet. "AUGH!" He cried as his life points slithered down to almost nothing. Cold: 200 Heath: 2200 Heath frowned, angry he'd forgotten his opponent's monster's skill worked when it was attacked as well. He looked down at his hand and smirked. "Well well," he tried to act cool. "Look at that. You survived that turn. Guess I place a card face down and end my turn." Drag-Blitzer's ATK points returned to normal. (A3500/D2500/L8) Heath watched as Cold began to pick himself up before laughing, "your demise is imminent. First I'll destroy each of you, one by one. And after that, the entire world." "Don't underestimate me." Heath looked back at Cold, seeing him now standing up straight. "What?" Cold reached for his deck, "just you watch." He and Heath locked eyes, the younger seeing a serious look in Cold's expression that made him almost fearful. "Activate, Graceful Charity." He drew three cards and discarded two. "Activating Orca's skill. Swap the Mantis in my Extra Deck for Måne of the Frozen Moon." The portal began to form above him, "I PENDULUM SUMMON!" The portal opened before a pair of lights shot out, hitting the ground and exploding to reveal Cold's monsters. "Frozen Heart Mantis!" (A1700/D1200/L4/P3) "And Frozen Heart Neo Dragon!" (A3000/D2500/L8/P5) "Skill activate!" The ice dragon aimed its blasters at Heath's face down and fired, freezing and shattering the card while increasing its power. (A3300/D2500/L8/P5) Heath smirked as a flaming projectile shot out his Duel Disk and struck Neo Frozen Heart, making it cry out as it was burnt. (A1800/D2500/L8/P5) "What happened?" Shining asked, everyone watching as Heath held up the card Cold had just destroyed. "Sorry, but you really think I'd fall for that twice. The card you destroyed was Flame Burst Mine. It activates whenever it's destroyed by a card effect. It lets me burn away half your monster's original ATK points." "That's not good," Cadance realised. "Now Neo Frozen Heart can't destroy Drag-Blitzer," Sunset said. "Even with its ability." "Don't think you've won just yet," Cold told Heath. "Mantis's ability has still activated!" The ice bug slashed its blades through the air, hitting Heath with the freezing wind. Cold: 200 Heath: 1600 "You'll need more than that," Heath said while clutching his gut. Cold remained stoic as he took a card from his hand. "I told you to watch, didn't I? Humans have power, that I'm about to show you." He held the card up. "I activate the Glacial Tundra Ritual!" "What?" Heath asked in shock. "By tributing Frozen Heart Neo Dragon and a level four or higher Frozen Heart monster, I can unleash my dragon's ultimate form!" Mantis suddenly exploded into a cloud of snow, which spiralled around Neo Frozen Heart and encasing him in an icy cocoon. "Now watch as the ultimate icy monster appears," Cold said as the cocoon shattered and released his monster. "I RITUAL SUMMON!" Cold's new monster was a light blue quadrupedal dragon, standing at around the same height as Flash's Magna Strider. It was wearing white armour around its chest, neck and legs. On the front of its chest armour was a snowflake with six branches and on to end of each branch was a crystal. Its head was like Frozen Heart Dragon, only it had a pair of sabre-teeth coming out of its mouth made entirely of ice. A large unicorn horn was pocking out of its head and the tip of its tail had a large snowflake on it. "Glacial Tundragon!" (A4000/D4000/L12) Everyone was in awe at this new beast. "Glacial Tundragon?" Adagio asked before turning to Misty, "another of your creations?" "No," Misty shook her head. "This is one Cold designed all his own." She smirked, "we're about to see a different side of him now." Sunset nodded in agreement. "He's got his eyes firmly set on the future." "Tundragon's Summoning Skill," Cold reached for his graveyard. "Banish any Frozen Heart Pendulum Monster in my graveyard." He pulled out three, showing Frozen Heart Angel, Fortress Golem and Diplocaulus. "Tundragon now gains one Freeze Counter for every card banished." Three of the six gems on Tundragon's snowflake chest armour began to glow. 'Stay calm,' Heath told himself. 'Who cares if he has a stronger monster. You've still got a few aces up your sleeve.' One of those aces was his Flame Burst Mine Trap, which had another effect while in the graveyard. When a Fire monster was destroyed by battle, he could pay half his life points to deal damage to his opponent equal to his destroyed monster's Level times one hundred. And with only two hundred life points remaining, Heath had this Duel in the bag. "Bring it on!" Cold smirked, a rare sight indeed. "It doesn't matter what we're up against. We'll save the world and protect Duelling till the end." Everyone behind him smiled and nodded in agreement. "You're dreaming," Heath told him. "Tundragon, attack Blazing Arms Dragon Drag-Blitzer!" The ice dragon spread its wings before letting out a mighty roar, which unleashed a wave of frozen wind in Drag-Blitzer's direction. It struck the dragon and turned it into an ice sculpture, Heath flinching at the cold. Cold: 200 Heath: 1100 Heath smirked, "I win." Everyone looked confused, everyone except Cold. "You might wanna look again." Now it was Heath's turn to be confused, turning to see the ice begin to break off his monster while it remained. He turned back Cold and was about to ask what was going, but caught sight of something. One of the glowing crystals on Glacial Tundragon had stopped glowing. "Is this...an ability." "That's right. When Tundragon battles a monster, I can remove a Freeze Counter to prevent either of them from being destroyed." That meant Heath's Trap wouldn't activate. "There's more." "What?" "If a monster is on your field after this card attacks, it can attack again." "But that means..." Heath watched as Tundragon roared again, unleashing another wave of cold air that froze his monster. Cold: 200 Heath: 600 Another of Tundragon's Freeze Counters vanished as the ice broke off Drag-Blitzer, Heath once again bitten by the cold. And once again, Tundragon roared its freezing roar. Cold: 200 Heath: 100 'So this is the power of Cold Steel,' Heath told himself. 'He's strong. But even so, he's not strong enough to overpower Zeronull.' He watched as the Tundragon's final Freeze Counter vanished, the beast roaring one more time. "You've won this battle." The ice struck Drag-Blitzer and froze it, the beast finally shattering as Heath was struck by the cold. "But you'll never win the war!" Cold: 200 (Winner) Heath: 0 "Yes!" Shining cheered as the monsters faded. He put an arm around Cadance, "he did it!" The others all smiled, those smiles growing at the sound of Heath's grunts of pain. The teen clutched his gloved hand, everyone seeing smoke coming off it. His host was one step closer to being freed. Cold simply stared at Heath until he heard Adagio speak up. "You were making me nervous there," the girl stepped up to him. "I was worried you were gonna go overboard and send him back to his world. That would have defeated the whole purpose of why you were Dueling him." "I was perfectly aware of that," he told her. "I took it easy." "Oh yeah," Adagio raised an eyebrow. "Could'a fooled me. Oh well. All's well that ends well." Everyone else stepped up next to them, all glaring at Heath. "I beat you, so now you can tell us what you Zealots are planning." Heath smirked, standing back up. "Okay, sure." He held up his Duel Disk, "however." The Duel Disk began to glow, "I'll get someone else to tell you." With that, the light exploded off the Duel Disk and blinded everyone. When the light finally died down, everyone opened their eyes and found they were some kind of temple. The place was almost pitch black, allowing them to see only pillars and some kind of alter near the back. "What is this?" Cadance asked, "what's going on?" "Welcome." Everyone turned to that voice, none of them knowing it, hearing footsteps coming from the direction of the alter. "To this ancient temple, built in honour of our Lord." The speaker finally came close enough for them all to see their features, spotting a middle-aged man wearing the strangest clothes they'd ever seen. "Who are you?" Cold asked. The man smiled. "In your world, I am known as Discord." "And in your world?" Misty asked, not missing a beat. He laughed, holding up his right hand and revealing the symbol of the Dark Attribute. "Omega Zealot of Darkness. I am the Chaos Fiend, Draconequus." "Well that's a mouthful," Adagio joked. "Not the time," Sunset told her before focusing back on Discord. "What do you want?" Discord chuckled before snapping his fingers. In doing so, the back wall was illuminated and revealed to be a stone tablet. "Behold, the Omega Deity of Destruction, Zeronull!" Everyone took a closer looked at the image on the wall, revealing an almost robotic looking creature. It was humanoid, wearing large metal robes around its body. From its back were six large robotic wings, each wing having a circle on it with a different Attribute Symbol on it. On its chest was a circle with the omega symbol on it. "The time grows nearer to our lord's awakening. And once he is free, he will bring about a new age of chaos and destruction. No living thing shall be spared." "Great," Adagio said, "another one of those guys." Before anyone could tell her to shush, six figures appeared behind Discord and were completely hidden in the shadows. "And with us, the Six Omega Zealots, our lord shall be freed." He then smiled, "We even have a special trump card. One that will enable us to achieve our goal." Cold had a sickening feeling he knew what that trump card was. "The creature we saw before." Discord nodded, "Zenith Dragon. One of six, created by Zeronull and wielded by the Omega Zealots." Everyone suddenly became uneasy. One from a distance looked horrifying. They didn't want to image facing six up close. "The wold is about to be silenced." Discord raised his right hand, the symbol glowing. "Prepare for destruction, by our lord." The light exploded off it and blinded everyone again. When they opened their eyes, they found they were back on the roof and Heath was gone. "What the heck was that?" Shining asked. "An illusion? Or some kind of hologram?" "Who knows," Cadance frowned. "It's clear they have a lot of backing if they're able to do something like that." Adagio sighed with a smile. "Looks like the kid managed to get the drop on us. He got us good." "No question about that," Sunset agreed before turning to Cold. "This was a declaration. A declaration of war." Cold nodded, agreeing with that statement. Misty, meanwhile, was thinking about something else. "Trump Card? Zenith Dragon? What could he mean by all that?" Her questions didn't get any answers as in that moment, Shining's phone went off. "It's Spike," he explained before answering. "Hello?" "Shining! We've got a situation." Spike. Sunburst and Starlight were at the riverbank. Sunburst and Starlight were helping carry Applebloom and Sweetie on their back, the two barely conscious. "It's Flash!" He looked down at the girls, both appearing shaken by the experience they'd had. "He's...he's disappeared." "What? Hang on." There was a beeping. "Alright, you're on speaker. Now tell us exactly what happened." "Scoot! Scootaloo!" The girl moaned at the voice as she felt herself beginning to come around. She opened her eyes and saw her brother looking down at her. "Good," he sighed, "you're awake." Scootaloo moaned as she sat up, "what happened?" "I'm...not sure. Don't freak out." "Why would I-" She didn't finish as in that moment, her eyes adjusted as she saw where they were. It was some kind of strange metal hallway, strange shapes covering the walls while glowing crystals hung from the ceiling. "GYAH!" She cried, standing up and looking down both ends of the hall. Neither seemed to have an exit, just going on and on. "What happened? Where are we? How did we get here?" "I don't know," Flash said. "I just woke up too. I've no idea where we are. But I do remember how we got here." "Oh yeah," Scootaloo remembered as well. "You lost to Marble and fell in a hole. I tried to save you and now..." She looked around, "this is bad." "It gets worse." She turned to him, "how could it get worse?" His answer was to simply hold up his right hand, allowing her to see a black circle on the back of it. Inside the circle was a white Omega Symbol. "What is that?" Flash stared at her in confusion before looking at his hand, his eyes going wide at the sight. "What?" Flash realised it was a Dominator mark. But Flash didn't feel any different from before. "I don't know what it is, but it can't be anything good." A worried look appeared on his face before he reached out and grabbed Scootaloo's hand, turning it over to see nothing there. "You're fine. There's nothing there." Scootaloo sighed, only to notice something. "Hey, it's fading." Flash looked down and saw the mark slowly vanishing, eventually leaving no trace of its existence. He then stood up, looking down either end of the hall. "We have to see if we can find a way out of here." Scootaloo nodded and stood up, the two heading down one end. As they did, the girl looked down. "Flash," he turned to her, "I'm...I'm scared." Flash placed an arm around her, "me too sis. Me too." Hopefully, they could find a way to escape this crazy place before whatever they were brought there for happened. "That can't be!" Twilight almost yelled over the laptop. She was currently web-chatting her friends from France. She was currently looking at Spike, along with Sunburst, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and the remaining Crusaders. "I can't believe Flash is...and Scootaloo." "I know," Spike nodded. He looked over at the Crusaders, both being hugged by their older sisters. "I already called Shining. He said Heath was at the stadium and challenged Cold to a Duel." This shocked Twilight even more, "I think the Dominators are making their move." Twilight sat back in his chair, a horrible pain striking her heart at the thought of what they might be doing to her boyfriend and his sister. One thing was for sure, she couldn't just sit back and do nothing. "Spike, I'm coming home." "Alright," Spike had been expecting this. "I'll let Shining and the others know." Twilight nodded and cut the call, everyone else turning to one another. "What now?" Applebloom asked. "Now we need ta prepare a counter-attack!" Starlight declared. "We need to be ready for anything the Dominators throw at us." "She's right!" Applejack agreed, punching her fist into her palm. "Once everyone's ready, we'll find these guys and make'em tell us where Flash and Scoot are." The others nodded, agreeing with that course of action. Starlight continued. "We also need to make sure all their possible targets are safe. At no point can any of them be alone, even for a moment." "Then we'd better call Rainbow," Rarity suggested. "She'd want to know what's going on so she and her team can be on alert." Fluttershy took out her phone and called her, waiting patiently for it to be picked up. But instead, it went to voice mail. "That's strange." Fluttershy knew her practise should be over by now, so why wasn't Rainbow answering? She tried to call again. Over in Cloudsdale, Rainbow's phone buzzed. However, the device wasn't on her person right now. It was in her gym bag, which was currently laying on the ground several feet away from its owner. Rainbow was currently staring at someone she hadn't seen in over a year. It was man with grey skin and hair that was wearing black leather clothing with a yellow scarf around his neck. In the man's hands was a familiar-looking statue. Her vision flicked to the area around her, at the sight of almost every student and teacher of her school laid out on the floor in pain She turned back to the man, "what are you doing here Guto?" The man frowned. "That...is not my name." He held up his right hand, showing the image of the Wind Attribute on the back. Rainbow's eyes widen in shock. "I am Ouravas, Omega Zealot of Wind." "A Dominator," Rainbow whispered. Before frowning. "You didn't answer the question. What are you doing here?" His frown was replaced by a smiled, Rainbow knowing she probably wouldn't like the answer.