//------------------------------// // Episode 42: Part 2: The Big Bang! // Story: Yu-Gi-Oh E-QUEST // by DakariKingMykan //------------------------------// EPISODE FORTY-TWO Masquerade glared furiously at Raven, and pulled out his next card. “What did he draw?” asked Fluttershy. “I hope it wasn’t a monster!” cried Twilight. Raven hoped especially it wasn’t a monster card. Masquerade looked at his card… …and he gasped! He stood where he was completely frozen, except for the soft quivering of his hand. “What’s happened?” wondered Applejack. “What did he draw?” added Pinkie. Masquerade looked as if he had swallowed a leech, and began to back away from Raven with his gaze still fixated on the card between his fingers. “What… is this card… doing in my deck?!!” he shouted. Raven slowly got up to her feet, all puzzled. Masquerade’s arm slowly dropped down and she could see what it was. “…Change of Heart?” Everyone else gasped, and they could all see the card now for themselves. Terra practically leapt out of her seat. She could see, and didn’t even have to think twice. “That’s my card!” The Equestrians all gawked at her, “Are you certain?” asked Celestia. “I’d recognize it anywhere, even from this distance.” Suddenly, it made sense as she thought back to lunchtime, when Pinkie ran past her. “It must’ve fallen out of my deck when I bumped into the table, and it landed--” she stopped and didn’t have to go any further. The Equestrians were simply flabbergasted. “So Masquerade had the card all the time?” said Applejack “No wonder we couldn’t find it anywhere.” Masquerade was still frozen in total shock and outrage. “What’s up with him?” wondered Cadance. “And how did Terra’s Change of Heart end up in his deck?” added Kori Nobody had a single clue, but they were all at least relieved that by drawing that card meant Masquerade could no longer attack Raven this turn, or he would have most likely wiped her out. Masquerade really seemed out of his mind with stress now as he clutched the lone card. “This card…!” he whimpered in thought, and he brought his hands to his face, groaning and moaning as he was struggling with deep inner thoughts. He then snapped out of his trance, and realizing that his entire strategy was disrupted, he turned to glare at the sidelines, at Terra. Terra felt a shiver run down her spine. “…You!!” he snarled so deeply at her “…You will pay for this!!” Terra was a mix between intimidated and enraged, “I didn’t deliberately put my card in your deck! It was just an accident.” Masquerade growled, but the referee called to him, “…Please continue with the duel.” Masquerade ended his turn, and because he attacked directly, he lost his Over Boost leggings again. Rarity slumped down hard into her seat, “My goodness, what a turn, but I’m so glad Raven gets to go now.” The others were all relieved of that too, but they were still fixated on Masquerade’s reaction to Change of Heart. Terra even remembered him acting strange like that before… When she first came to the tournament and lost her card in the wind and Masquerade caught it for her, and when she thanked him for it, he looked at her with a shuddering manner and just ran! “Let’s go...” said Raven, but she took a moment to contemplate, “I don’t know what’s up with this guy and that card, but I’ve got problems of my own-- I’ve got to get rid of his armor!” She looked over at Discord and Imperial Iron Wall. “As long as those two traps are still in play I can’t Syncrho Summon or banish any cards, and he’s still got that other face-down, I can’t tell what it is or what it’s for. And there’s still his armor itself. All those pieces have many special abilities than can hinder my moves!” She looked down at her deck and drew a third card. “Oh!” then she gazed down at her face-down, and then over at Masquerade with a sour yet smart grin on her face. “You wanted payback? Well guess what, two can do that thing! I activate the spell DARK HOLE!” Masquerade only grunted softly as the skies began to swirl into a powerful vortex. “This will destroy all the monsters in play, and your trap buster doesn’t negate spells!” There was no way to stop it! Esplion was sucked up into the vortex, and all the pieces of armor pulled against Masquerade, separating from him, and all being sucked in as well, and they were all gone! “She did it!” cried Sunset. “His armor is gone, and he’s totally defenseless!” added Twilight. “Yeah, but Raven just sacrificed her only monster.” Fluttershy pointed out. This was all part of Raven’s plan, “Now I activate CALL OF THE HAUNTED, and I’ll use it to bring back my PSY-Frame Driver!” (Atk: 2500) The spectators all grinned widely at the sight of the monster. “All right…! Now Raven’s got a big bad boy in play!” cheered Rainbow. “And Masquerade hasn’t any monsters to protect himself!” added Pinkie. Sunset, however, was none-too optimistic, especially considering that Masquerade still had the Change of Heart in his hand. “Now my diver, Direct Attack!” shouted Raven. Her monster bowed and zoomed forth with its eyes glowing, and it fired a ray light straight at Masquerade. He just stood there and took this hit without any fuss. Masquerade LP: 7500 -----> 5000 Raven expected he would act that way. Masquerade was forced to send the four monsters he had drawn to the graveyard, but he still had the Change of Heart. “I’ll place one card facedown, and end my turn.” Then she thought silently “I’m sure he’s going to use Change of Heart to try and control my monster, and if he does, my face-down-- will be ready for him.” Or so she had thought… Masquerade looked down at his hand at Terra’s card, still infuriated at the very sight of it. “There is no way I’m going to play this card!” he growled in thought “While it could help me in this duel, I won’t play it; no for all the horrible things it stands for!” He drew his next card. “Ah, that’s better! I activate GRACEFUL CHARITY!” “What?!” cried Raven. “I draw three cards, and discard two!” and no doubt, he threw out the Change of Heart card. Raven was just stunned “He tossed out Change of Heart! I thought for sure he’d use it.” The spectators were shocked as well. “Why in the world would he throw out Change of Heart?” asked Luna. It all added up to one conclusion, after watching him and his angry fit when he first got the card… “It’s like he hates that card with a burning passion.” said Robin “Maybe looking at reminds of him of something. …Something that happened to him before.” Everyone fell silent, all happening on the same thought. Cadance finally voiced it, “Maybe whatever that something could be is the reason why he acts like such a jerk all the time.” “It has to be.” said Vic “Some people, when they’re really angry or upset at something, it can affect their lives and their attitudes really bad.” “Now I activate CARD OF DEMISE, so now I draw until I have five cards, as long as I discard my entire hand in five turns, but I plan to end this duel long before then!” Raven growled, unable to believe he had refreshed his hand, while she still had only one card. He sighed in relief, thankful to be rid of Terra’s card, at least for the moment. “Now then…” he sneered “I activate MONSTER REBORN, to revive my faithful friend, Psychic Armor-Head!” (Atk: 0) Raven cringed, “Not that thing again!” “Oh, yes…” hissed Masquerade “Now I’d like to play different spell. Behold the power of ARMORED-GRAVITATION! Thanks to this, I can now summon more pieces of armor from my deck!” Raven growled and watched as the new pieces of armor showed up. “I play… “ACTIVE GUARD…” (Atk: 0) “OVER BOOST…” (Atk: 0) “BURNING KNUCKLE…” (Atk: 0) “TRAP BUSTER” (Atk: 0) All the exact same pieces he had played before were now back once again, and clung themselves to his body forming his protective suit once more. “Not again!” cried Applejack “Can’t he try something original?” “Hey, if it ain’t broke…” said Rainbow. Once his armor was fully donned, Masquerade glared over at Raven. “This is it!” he growled “I’m going to knock you right out of this duel and the tournament, thanks to my Active Guard!” “What do you mean?” asked Raven “That piece doesn’t have a single attack point. So how can it hurt me?” Masquerade held up another card in his hand, “It will when I play this! Go SHIELD AND SWORD!” Raven gasped. “Not that!” cried Twilight “That card affects all the monsters on the field, swapping their attack points with their defense points!” The others all gasped in shock and watched as Active Guard suddenly became super strong, and Raven’s monster lost everything. (Atk: 0) -----> (Atk: 2500) (Atk: 2500) -----> (Atk: 0) “He’s lost all his attack points!” cried Raven. “That’s right!” sneered Masquerade, and once I attack you with my armor, you’ll be lucky if you’ll ever be able to stand up to even a weak duelist again. Ah, well. This is what happened when playing with amateurs!” Raven growled. “Here goes!” shouted Masquerade “Activate Guard, engage attack missiles and fire!” Two small hatches opened on the chest plate, and fired a barrage of small but deadly missiles towards Raven’s field. “Raven, do something!” shouted Terra. “If she can’t block this attack, she’s finished!” cried Sunset. The missiles got closer, and closer! Raven raised her arm “…I play the trap PSYCHIC SOUL!” “What?!” snapped Masquerade!” “Now I get to tribute my Driver to the graveyard, and I’ll gain 300 life points multiplied by his level, and that was 6!” Raven LP: 3000 ------> 4800 “Very nice…” teased Masquerade, “But that only just means I can now attack you directly!” The missiles changed course and bounded straight for Raven. She braced herself as the missiles exploded all around her, dealing her a full 2500 points of damage. Raven LP: 4800 -----> 2300 “No, Raven!” cried Terra. “Thank goodness she held on!” added Rarity. Masquerade glared at Raven through his helmet visor. “She managed to avoid getting kicked out. It would seem she is capable of more than I thought, but this doesn’t change anything! All she’s doing prolonging the suffering I can give her, and it serves her right too!” He heard the sound of that smacking again, and winced softly as if someone was actually hitting him in the face. “Are you alright?” Raven asked. He refused to answer. “I place one card facedown and that ends my turn, which means my armor goes to the graveyard.” His suit vanished as promised, leaving him with no monsters in play, and the Discord trap also disintegrated. “Hey! What happened to the trap?” asked Pinkie. “Discord only remains in play for three turns.” explained Twilight. “Now that it’s gone, Raven should be able to Synchro Summon.” Raven realized this as well, but she was still in quite a spot. She only had one card in her hand, and it was pretty useless right now, and she still couldn’t banish any cards with the Iron Wall still in play. Masquerade still had two facedown cards on the field; one of which had been facedown for quite a while. “Why hasn’t he played that?” she wondered “I’ve already played a ton of different moves against him and he still hasn’t used it. Could he be saving it for something else entirely?” For now, she only knew that she needed a miracle draw to help her, or she wouldn’t last much longer. She drew her next card, and looked down hard at it. “I hope this works. It’s my only chance to stay in this duel.” Masquerade stood ready. “I activate the spell REVERSAL QUIZ!” Masquerade grumbled softly. “Ah, I remember that card,” said Fluttershy “Raven now gets of every card in her hand and on the field.” All of Raven’s cards vanished, including her field spell, and she ditched the last card in her hand. “That was my HYPER QUICK trap, and when it’s sent out of my hand to the graveyard, I can draw one card.” She picked it up, and her eyes glowed for a split second at it. “Since I drew a spell card, I’m allowed to activate it now. Go CARD ADVANCE!” Masquerade growled, “That lets you look at your top five cards and arrange them in any order!” Raven did so quickly, “And while I’m at it, my Reversal Quiz forces me to draw yet another card, and I have to guess what kind of card it is. Of course it’s a spell card since I put it there! To specific, it’s my Pot of Greed!” Masquerade was still annoyed. “All right!” cried Fluttershy “Since Raven guessed right, that means she and Masquerade trade life point scores!” Masquerade LP: 5000 -----> 2300 Raven LP: 2300 -----> 5000 The spectators all cheered with joy. “Now she’s got more life points than he does!” yelled Pinkie, and she jumped on Applejack, hugging her and bouncing like crazy while she cheered. “Yee-Haw!” Applejack cried out. “This is too awesome!” shouted Rainbow “Masquerade doesn’t have a chance now!” “…That’s what you think.” Masquerade hissed in thought. Raven felt a slight bit of relief, but she knew better than to get cocky at this point. “Now, I’ll use Pot of Greed to draw two more cards.” Since she arranged her cards, she didn’t have to think twice of what they even were. “And the first card I’ll play is SOUL CHARGE! Now I can summon five monsters from the graveyard, at a cost of 500 life points for each one!” Raven LP: 5000 -----> 2500 Five glowing streaks flowed from her graveyard, and her monsters appeared. “I summoned two PSY-FRAME DRIVER(s) and I also play PSY-FRAME ALPHA, DELTA, and BETA!” (Atk: 2500) x2 (Def: 0) x3 “And now, finally, I’m going to get someone in this duel! I’ll start by Tuning Level 2 Delta with Level 6 Driver! I Synchro Summon THOUGHT RULER ARCHFIEND!” (Atk: 2700) This new creature seemed to resemble that of a dragon, or that of a devious-looking demon, and it roared and flexed its sharp claws out. Masquerade gawked up at this creature in silent awe. “What? That’s not a PSY-Frame.” said Fluttershy. The others all agreed. “Hey, I don’t remember Raven ever having that monster.” said Shining Armor. “She’s always had it.” said Vic “Raven’s deck isn’t all PSY and all that.” Raven almost grinned cheekily, “And I’m not finished yet. Now I tune level 1 Alpha with my other Driver, and I Synchro Summon another monster; PSYCHIC LIFETRANCER!” (Atk: 2400) “Oh, my!” cried Rarity “That creature’s fashion sense; why it’s positively ghastly!” Neither Raven nor anyone else seemed to mind her opinion, as Raven held up her last card. “Now I think it’s time I broke your wall down! …REMOVE TRAP!” Masquerade growled, and his Iron Wall trap was vanquished. Raven snuffed, “Now that I can banish cards again, I’ll do just that. Lifetrancer lets me banish Alpha from my graveyard, and then she boosts my life points by 1200.” Her monster’s spirit faded into sparkling streaks of energy which Lifetrancer absorbed, and then sprinkled onto Raven herself. Raven LP: 2500 -----> 3700 “And now that she’s served her purpose, I’ll tune my Level 1 Beta with my Level 7 Lifetrancer! I Syncrho Summon one of my go-to card… …PSY-FRAMELORD OMEGA!” (Atk: 2800) Both Raven’s strong monsters stood together and nodded at one another. Then they turned back to glare at Masquerade. “Am I supposed to be scared?” he hissed. “Oh, you will be!” sneered Raven “Especially seeing as you have no monsters to protect you!” “True,” agreed Masquerade, “I but I do have this trap, RAGEKI BREAK, which lets me send one card out of my hand, and I can destroy your thought Ruler Archfiend!” He had thrown down his card, and then his trap fired a blast towards Raven’s monster. This time, Raven actually did grin, wickedly, and she hissed “…Don’t think so.” And with that, her Archfiend’s eyes glowed brightly and shot a light-beam at the blast neutralizing it to bits! “Hey, what happened?” asked Rainbow. “The blast got canceled out.” said Celestia. “Of course it did.” explained Twilight “It’s Though Ruler Archfiend’s special ability: When one Psychic-Type monster, and no other card, is targeted by a spell or trap, Archfiend can negate the effect, and all Raven has to do is pay 1000 life points.” Raven: 3700 ------> 2700 “You really think you have this won, don’t you?” “I do…” sneered Raven “And all this time you kept preaching about putting me and my friends in our places… …Well, it looks like I’m about to put you in your place for the way you’ve behaved and treated us all; exactly what a bully like you deserves!” Masquerade gave no comment, and simply rolled his eyes at his remaining face-down card. While Raven still wasn’t sure if she would successfully be able to, she decided “I have to attack him now! He’s wide open, and with my Thought Ruler and my Omega, I should be able to clear out his life points without trouble. Whatever that face-down card is, he can’t target my monsters with it!” Masquerade stood where he was, stiff, and still, as if he was silently goading Raven further. “Now, Thought Ruler Archfiend…” shouted Raven “Attack him directly!” Her monster roared, and flew up higher, opening its huge jaws to unleash it’s fury upon him. Masquerade suddenly snickered. “Huh?” cried Raven. She then watched as her monster attacked him with full force, making a flash so bright that everyone covered their eyes. As soon as the lights died down and everyone peeked, we’re they ever surprised, Masquerade was still standing, with his arms folded, his overcoat fluttering in the breeze, and he laughed most wickedly (2:12) ...His life points untouched! “What?!” cried Raven. “No way!” growled Rainbow “How did he survive that attack?!” Raven was quivering softly, and trying to hide it too, but she couldn’t understand. Masquerade laughed again... (2:21) ...and explained, “My Rageki Break helped me out after all.” He reached into his duel disk and pulled out a single card, “See this? It’s called ELECTRO-MAGNETIC TURTLE. I discarded it to activate my trap, and during either players battle phase, all I had to do was banish him from my graveyard, which instantly cancelled out your attack and ended the battle phase!” Raven didn’t know what she was feeling now-- Outrage…? Astonishment…? Fear…? She was trembling badly now, and finding it extremely difficult to hold back! She only barely managed to hold on, but there was really nothing more she could do. “…I …end my turn.” Rainbow stared with her eyes open wide in shock. She was so close! She almost had him! “It’s my move now.” hissed Masquerade. He drew his card, “And now I activate Psychic Armor Head’s special ability, which allows me to summon it right out of the graveyard!” Raven cringed, and the helmet reappeared just like that. (Atk: 0) “You can summon that out? Why didn’t you do that before?” Raven asked. Masquerade pointed down at his facedown card, “…For the same reason I play this! …POT OF AVARICE!” Raven’s eyes bulged, “…What?!!” “That’s right. Now I shuffle five cards from my graveyard to the deck, then I draw two new cards!” As he did all that, the spectators were all shocked out of their wits. “That’s what that card was all this time?!” shouted Pinkie, unable to believe it herself. “It wasn’t a trap, or some sort of devious plot?” added Terra. Sunset clenched her fists, “…It was a trap, and it was part of a plot!” Twilight agreed, and she looked ready to blow like a volcano, “He set Raven up from the get go--a dirty trick!!” Masquerade drew his two cards, but glared at Raven, “You, just as everyone else knows my style-- I always find some way to counter every tick, every strategy my opponent throws-- so I used it to my advantage and made you think my facedown would be the card that would end you, and you fell right for it… like a moth to the flame.” Raven could hardly take this as she thought, “All this time, he had a dud card on the field, which was a cover up for his real strategy all along… and I helped him set it off!!” Masquerade glared at her, “Just goes to show how unprepared and unskilled you truly are to face a player of my status!” He paused and glared back down at the others, “…That goes for all of you!!” They all growled and sneered at him. “And now…” shouted Masquerade “…It’s time that I taught you a lesson you’ve had coming to you for a long time, Raven!!” He heard and felt those slaps once again, and it only infuriated him so much, making his next move all the more satisfying! “I won’t let you!” shouted Raven “I can still you Omega’s ability, which let’s be banish both him and a card out of your hand!” “Think again!” sneered Masquerade “I banish the trap BREAKTHROUGH SKILL from my graveyard, which stops your monster’s effects for this turn!” “Ah!” cried Raven. Her monsters was shrouded it yellow lights, and it turned a pale shade of gray. As Raven began to wonder how Breakthrough Skill ever came into the picture when it was never played, the thought suddenly hit her when Berserker Soul was played, “He must’ve sent it out of his hand, and he was saving it for just such a moment!” “Like I said…” hissed Masquerade “I was playing you all this time and now no more games! I activate the spell FULL ARMOR GRAVITATION! Now I take the top ten cards from my deck, and if any of them are Armor Monsters, I can summon as many of them to the field, and banish all the other cards!” Raven didn’t like this one bit, and she didn’t have to think twice as she saw him pick up ten cards, and then sent six of them away. He snickered, “...Just what I needed! “ACTIVE GUARD…”[b] (Atk: 0) “OVER BOOST…” (Atk: 0) “BURNING KNUCKLE…” (Atk: 0) “TRAP BUSTER” (Atk: 0) Once again, the pieces all clipped themselves onto him until he was all armored up again! Raven growled angrily, much to Masquerade’s delight. “You remember how Burning Knuckle works, its attack goes up by 200 for all the pieces of armor I have in play!” (Atk: 0) -----> (Atk: 1000) “But why stop there when I can enhance them even more with this spell; RIRYOKU! It targets both my Burning Knuckle and your Omega. Now your monster’s attack-power is cut in half, and the amount of which is transferred to my arm!” “No!!” Raven cried in thought “And since that card targets two monsters and not just one Psychic monster, my Thought Ruler can’t stop it!” She could only watch helplessly as the transfer happened. (Atk: 2800) -----> (Atk: 1400) (Atk: 1000) -----> (Atk: 2400) “Oh, no!” cried Shining Armor “If it gets any stronger, it'll be able to destroy either one of Raven’s monsters!” Robin shook his head nervously, “Not that they matter anyway! Remember: Over Boost allows him to make a direct attack on Raven’s life points!!” The others all cringed! Masquerade was panting furiously and flexing his knuckles while he eyes at Raven. “I activate from my hand, not one, but two LIMTER REMOVAL(s)!” “Ah!!” cried Twilight “Both those cards will double the attack of his Burning Knuckle!” The others all gasped, “…And he just played two of them!!” cried Rarity, “That means…!” Masquerade roared as his suit glowed with a bright light and his right arm flared up the brightest with power. It’s attack had doubled once, and then again for a grand total of 9,600!! “AAAA-AAAAAHHH!!” screamed Raven. Masquerade shouted at her with such power and anger, “I’M GOING TO FINISH YOU AND THIS DUEL WITH THE BIGGEST AND DEADLIST ATTACK I CAN MAKE!!” The very ship began to rumble as the holograms seemed to be so overpowered and bright, even the Prince Brothers covered their eyes and groaned! “Such power and anger…!” cried Rubeus. “I’ve never seen a move like this!” added Loki. Raven was fully in a tremble now. There was nothing she could do at all to avoid this attack, and with the attack points set so high… who knew how strong the force would be upon contact?!! Pinkie screamed at the referee, “You’ve got to stop this!! Call it off already!” “Do not interfere!” thundered the referee “I cannot declare the duel over until it properly finishes.” “Forget your rules!” shouted Celestia “Someone could get hurt up here!” “Enough!” bellowed the referee “The decision is final!” Masquerade stomped and dragged his foot like a bull ready to charge. “HERE I COME!!! BURNING KNUCKLE, LET’S TEACH THIS WANABEE A LESSON SHE WON’T FORGET!! …ATTACK HER LIFE POINTS DIRECTLY!!” He began to charge forth, and Raven looked ready to run for it! “Stop!” called the referee “If you leave the platform you will forfeit the duel!” Raven didn’t care; she couldn’t win the duel anyway. She was just trying to avoid what was coming her way, so she decided to jump for it and leapt off the platform, but not soon enough!! “OH, NO, YOU DON’T!!!” thundered Masquerade as he thrust his super-powered fist straight for her. “AZARATH, METRION, ZINTHOS!!” Raven shouted as she conjured up all the power she could to block the ever-powerful shockwaves from reaching her, forgetting that she couldn’t really block holograms as they were not really there, and Masquerade’s immunity to her energy! “SO LONG RAE-RAE…!!!” he shouted and literally broke through the energy. “AH… AAAAAAH!!” Raven screamed. WHAMM! WHAMM!! WHAMM!!! KAPOW!!!! A huge and bright explosion that covered the entire arena, everyone screamed and covered their eyes while Raven still felt the force of waves striking her right in her face like a real hard blow!! “D’AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!” Robin dropped a coffee mug on the floor of the camper, screaming at the monitor, “… RAVEN---------------!!!!!!” Kori covered her eyes! Vic and Luna gawked in horrors, while Cadance and Shining Armor hugged one another frightfully and looked away! Raven screamed as the shockwaves forced her clean off the platform, and straight for the wall at the edge of the area! …WHAMM!! Her cards went everywhere! Her duel disk had smashed hard into the wall, and was sparking softly, and she groaned painfully yet ever so softly as she slid down to the ground, and her life points were all out! “Raven!!” cried Sunset as she and the others ran to her side. Rainbow and Applejack held her upright, but she felt awfully floppy, weak, as well as sore form the impact. Through her dizzy and fading vision, she could still see Masquerade standing on the platform, glaring at her as the duel images vanished, and the last thing she heard was him sneering deeply at her… “…You Lose!” Overwhelmed from the duel, the stress, and the impact, Raven passed out!