EPISODE FORTY-FIVE
The airship flew well over the city and outward over the desert outback, just as the sun started to peek through the clouds.
The people in the city could see it.
“Hey! That ship…!”
“That’s the airship from the Friendship Cup Duel Monsters Tournament.”
Features began to harden as people realized that a couple of the Titans were onboard.
Boos and hoots were shouted up into the sky.
“Didn’t you read the signs?!”
“Don’t you dare show yourselves here!”
“Losers…!”
“Failures…!”
No one onboard the ship could hear them, as they were all called into the dining hall for the Semi-Finals to begin.
The four finalists all stood together, while the spectators all stood well behind them.
Celestia had another slight dizzy spell, but she brushed it off, still unsure of why it was happening.
The referee announced, “And now your hosts: Rubeus and Loki Prince.”
The Brothers stepped forth to all the hard and stern features everyone was giving them.
Loki even noticed Celestia looking a little woozy. “Excellent.” he thought, and he thought back to the flowers he had sent to her room. “The fumes are already starting to take their effect. The wooziness is only temporary, but before long it shouldn’t be too difficult to make my move.”
Rubeus cleared his throat, “Good morning finalists…
…Sunset Shimmer, Rainbow Dash, Karle Plight, and Masquerade. Congratulations on making this far and now after all your hardships and dueling, a winner shall be decided this very day.”
The ship gave a slight thud, and then powered down.
“No need to be concerned,” said Loki “We have just touched down in the desert outback outside of Jump City. This is the place where The Finals shall take place.”
Everyone was confused as to why the finals were being held in such a lonely and desolate place for, but the brothers would not explain.
Instead, the ship started to rumble, and Rubeus clicked on a remote to show them all on a screen what was happening; the entire top potion of the ship was rising upward on a series of metal beams-- with numbers printed on them-- going up, and up, and up, like a large hollow tower.
“What’s all this for?” Rainbow asked.
The Brothers chuckled, and Rubeus explained, “Before the finals can officially begin, we need to determine who will whom, and we’re going to do this by hold a four-way exhibition duel.”
“A four-way duel?” asked Sunset and she thought back to when Terra and Masquerade competed in that Battle Royale before the finals began; the very match that got them into the finals to begin with.
“A four-way duel, huh?” thought Karle “This should be easy, and I know exactly who I want to face!” she looked down the line at Masquerade.
She wasn’t the only one thinking this. Rainbow rolled her eyes at Masquerade too, feeling this was her chance to get even with him.
Sunset looked back and forth between all the players, and Masquerade, he just stood with his arms folded, completely unimpressed.
The spectators were rather intrigued.
“So this duel allows either player to decide who they want to duel against?” said Applejack, “Talk about your rigged stakes.”
Fluttershy agreed, “Knowing Rainbow and Karle, they’ll both want to go after Masquerade, but what about Sunset? What’s she going to do?”
A horrible thought suddenly occurred!
“What if Sunset and Rainbow end up dueling each other?” asked Terra.
Everyone froze, realizing what a disaster that would mean for all their sakes.
Just then, four panels on the back wall flipped around, and out popped four unusual looking chairs with a console before each of them.
“Will the players please step into a seat.” called Loki.
The finalists did as they were told, and each took a seat. Then, the seats were lifted up, up, through doorways that opened in the ceiling.
“Hey!!” shrieked Rainbow, but it was all okay, as the duelists were all taken up and outside to the new dueling floor. All their chairs were hooked into pillars on tracks.
“What is this?” asked Sunset, but then the console before her activated revealing a small duel board; the same with the others, only this duel board seemed different than usual, there was only one Monster Card Zone, and only three Spell/Trap Card Zones. No Field Spell Zone and no Pendulum Zones.
“Okay, what is this?!” wailed Karle.
“Are we actually supposed to duel on this?” wondered Rainbow.
Rubeus and Loki then announced over the PA.
“Attention duelists.” called Rubeus “The Battle Royale is about to begin. Listen very closely as we explain the rules.
Instead of using your duel disks, before you are a new form of duel platform we have created, especially for this match, as a way of testing your strengths and your dueling abilities.”
Loki added, “Each of you may have only one monster in play at a time, and may control up to three spells or traps and no more. Field Spells cannot be played, and there is no Pendulum Summoning permitted.”
Rainbow was shocked and her nerves began to quake inside as she thought, “Only one monster? That’s not going to do me much good.”
Sunset was a little concerned too. “I can’t Pendulum Summon! That’s going to cut half the strategies in my deck down to size!”
Karle didn’t seem too disturbed by these rules. “This will be easier than I thought.”
Rubeus then announced basic rules. “Each of you shall begin with 4000 life points, and as your life points decrease, the chair you are in shall rise up higher and higher up to the levels of the numbers printed on the pillars.”
The duelists all looked way up high to where the duel platform was raised high above them, by four whole stories.
Loki then spoke, “As you have been told, this is a duel that will determine whom shall face whom in the finals, so don’t fret if you lose the duel.
The first two duelists to lose all of their life points will face each other in the first round of the tournament, and the remaining two shall face each other in the second.”
The duelists fully understood now, and Sunset thought, “Since this is a Battle Royale, that means each duelist can choose who they wish to attack. They can tip the duel in their favor and try to choose who they want to go up against.”
Rainbow was still fretting inside, “That’s all fine and dandy, but how am I supposed to duel if my summoning methods are limited?!”
Karle was more intrigued than ever as she looked back and forth between Sunset and Rainbow. “So all I have to do is knock out those two school brats, and then…” she paused and looked across from her at Masquerade “…You’re all mine!”
“There’s one final addition to these new rules.” Rubeus announced, “To further test your strengths and your skills, all monsters with an attack of 2000 or higher may not attack an opponent directly.”
The ladies all gasped, as did the spectators.
“Oh, no…!” Karle snarled in thought “This puts a serious damper on my entire plan!”
As for Masquerade, now that all the rules had been explained, “Only one monster allowed, and no super strong direct attacks allowed?
…No problem.”
He reached into his coat a pulled out a pack containing just the right deck he knew would help him in this match. The ladies didn’t take kindly to his smug attitude.
Sunset began to wonder, “Is he going to do the same thing like he did in the previous Battle Royal?”
She remembered how he mercilessly took out Terra and their two opponents in just one thunderous turn, causing the opponents to run in cower, and Terra to win by default.
Masquerade also considered this. “We’re just deciding whom to face, and I can’t knock everyone out all at once this time, plus, I don’t need to.”
He looked back and forth between all the ladies. “Any one of these losers I can topple easily, but which of them should I face first in the finals?”
He looked between Sunset and Rainbow, knowing that if he faced either of them, it was possible he would wind facing the other in the final duel, and he was already fed up to teeth with all their preaching about friendship and trust.
…So that left only Karle.
“She’s had it out for me for a while now, perhaps it’s time I finally find out why, and after all, if I duel her first…” he paused “Then the other two will be forced to face each other, and at least one of them will be down, which will make the one of them that I face easy pickings!”
He was decided and Karle was decided, while Sunset knew what she had to do.
“The only right thing to do is make sure that Rainbow and I don’t wind up facing each other. If each of us goes up against either Karle or Masquerade, and we both duel our best, then at least one of us can make it to the top, or maybe even both of us will win it! Then we can’t lose for sure!”
Rainbow was still fretting about how the play of things would affect her dueling, making it hard to focus.
“Duelists, prepare your decks!” called Rubeus.
Everyone placed their decks on the platforms where they belonged, and the holographic generators kicked in all around the field.
The turn order was simple-- Sunset, Karle, Rainbow, and then Masquerade-- and their points were set.
Sunset LP: 4000
Karle LP: 4000
Rainbow LP: 4000
Masquerade LP: 4000
“This is it,” whimpered Fluttershy “I’m so nervous!”
“Easy now,” said Applejack “Remember, nobody’s getting kicked out. This isn’t that kind of match.”
The others agreed, but the tension was still tremendous.
“Rainbow has it the worst.” said Twilight “She can only have one monster in play at a time, and that’s going to make extremely hard for her to Xyz Summon.”
Rarity fanned herself hard with her hankie, “Oh, my… I can hardly stand it already and it hasn’t even started!”
The Titans’ camper remained on free float over the desert, with a perfect view of the airship below, and as usual Vic had tuned the cameras in to catch the action.
“Well, this is it.” said Vic “But then again it’s not like any of them are going to lose their ranks or anything.”
Luna could see Sunset and Rainbow in their seats looking ready to go. “Good luck, girls.” she said softly.
Robin and Shining Armor were more distracted in worrying about Kori and Cadance.
“I’m going to call them.” whimpered Shining.
“No!” snapped Robin “Kori already told us that she landed, she’ll call again when she and Cadance are on their way back, or if something happens.”
That only made Shining fret more for his wife’s safety.
Kori and Cadance had touched down in a quiet area of the city where there were hardly any people at all, but they were surrounded by ruins and desolation.
Cadance could barely step anywhere without wobbling; the ground was that uneven and laden with rocks and debris.
Kori caught her just before she fully toppled over. “Take it easy. One false step around here is all it takes.”
Cadance sighed in relief, but the sight of all damages really made her feel cold and eerie inside, but it was also very warm around her due to all the fires and staleness. So she loosened her blouse.
“You’d need a construction team the size of an army to clear all this mess away.”
Kori agreed, “The Titans and I tried to blast up the messes all the time, but no sooner did we and more of it just piles up, and we have no place to dump the junk anyway.”
Suddenly, the ladies could hear the sounds of chattering nearby.
They turned a corner, and could see a whole lot of people all gathered near town square.
“That ship set down in the desert.”
“That’s where they’re holding The Finals of the tournament.”
“What does it matter? The Titans are out. They’ve lost! Their losers…!”
“We trusted them, and they let us down!”
“All the more reason they don’t deserve to come back!”
Kori clenched her fists and marched forth. “How can you say such a thing?!” she thundered.
Everyone turned to face her.
“Starfire?!”
“What’s she doing here!”
Boos and Taunts were shouted at her, prompting Cadance to step forth. “Stop this!” she thundered “How can you treat her like this after everything she and her friends have done for you all?!”
“Who the heck are you?”
Everyone could tell by how clean and fresh she was, she obviously wasn’t from Jump City, especially seeing how she defended Kori.
“Never mind who I am!” Cadance called to them “I’m a friend of Kori and the Titans, and we’re all working hard to help all of you. All is not lost yet.”
The people remained unconvinced.
“What are you preaching about?”
“The Titans lost! How can they win now!”
“Just shut up a minute and let use speak” shouted Kori “As a member of the Supreme Council, I order you all to pay attention!”
…But the people would not listen.
“We voted you all as council, and we’ve voted you out!”
“We don’t want to hear anything you have to say!”
“We don’t even want you here in this city anymore!”
Cadance and Kori were horrified!
“I can’t believe you all!” bellowed Cadance “We came here to help you, and THIS is the treatment you give us?! Don’t you want to be saved?!”
“We’ve given up hope!”
“It’s been years! Nothing has really changed!”
“No one’s going to help us! No one can help us!”
“We’re used to the way we are. At least we’re still alive!”
The ladies could not believe a word of this, but Cadance, as a principal and just like her Aunt Celestia, realized, this could very well be a result of psychosis triggered by years of living in their current conditions.
Now the people were actually giving up hope, accepting and accepting their horrors and fate as the world had left them in!
“Get this through your head: We don’t want you, the Titans, or anyone else in our town!”
“Get out of here!!”
“Never come back!!”
Their shouting alerted the presence of others, who also didn’t liking to Kori being in their town, and labeling Cadance no better for siding with her.
“GET THEM!!”
“LET’S RUSH ‘EM!!”
People began to grabbing long pipes, or broken beams, some even started throwing rocks at the ladies.
“Let’s get out of here!” cried Kori.
Cadance didn’t have to be told twice, and she quickly climbed onto Kori’s back.
Kori held onto her tightly as she took off into the sky.
Once they were high enough, Cadance sighed in relief, but she was just outraged. “I never thought people could be so cruel, so heartless!”
Kori said nothing. She was so devastated, so horrified, so crushed that the banishment of the Titans was final! She wiped the tears coming from her eyes with her arm.
Cadance felt her own tears coming for her too, and the others hadn’t even been told yet.
Kori’s communicator suddenly went off.
“Come in, Kori!” called Robin “Kori, are you there?”
“Can you get that, please?” Kori asked. She just felt too crushed to answer.
Cadance took the com and answered it.
“Are you two okay?” asked Shining Armor.
“We’re okay, physically?”
The others on the camper didn’t like the sounds of that.
“You better come back,” said Vic “And hurry, the duel’s about to start.”
Kori managed to keep up her strength, and followed Robin’s instructions to where the camper was parked.
“Begin the match!” hollered Loki!
Everyone was set, and Sunset was up first.
“Here goes!” she called “I summon TIMEBREAKER MAGICIAN!”
(Atk: 1400)
She felt a little content with her monster and she thought, “Nobody’s allowed to attack or activate card effects until each duelist has had one turn, and with Timebreaker’s ability, I can banish one monster off the field, and since his attack is below 2000, I’ll be able to attack who ever I choose directly.”
“Now I’ll place one card facedown, and end my turn.”
“Took you long enough!” snapped Karle.
Everyone’s features hardened at her.
Karle held up her first five cards, “I draw…!”
While she was still upset about the rules messing with her strategy, she wasn’t willing to give in that easily.
“I summon LUNALIGHT PURPLE BUTTERFLY in defense-mode!”
(Def: 1000)
“And I’ll place one card facedown. That’s all.”
The spectators were really growing anxious
“That’s all she’s going to do?” asked Pinkie “What do you think she’s planning?”
“It’s hard to tell at this stage.” said Celestia “Remember, each duelist is only setting up on their first moves. After that, it’ll start to get interesting.”
She felt a slight bit of wooziness again, but shook it off quickly.
Now it was Rainbow’s turn, but she looked down at her cards in dismay. “All these cards-- if only we were playing under regular rules I could put together a real threat here, but I can’t.
I guess I’ll just have to play what I can.”
She drew a card, “Here goes, and I play RAIDRAPTOR – FUZZY LANIUS in defense-mode.”
(Def: 1500)
“Then I’ll throw two cards facedown, and end my turn.”
Masquerade snuffed, and drew his card.
“I’ll throw three cards facedown, and end my turn.”
The girls all gawked at him with confusion that he didn’t summon a single monster.
“What’s he up to?” wondered Sunset.
Masquerade then called to her, “Are you going to make your move or what?!”
She winced angrily, and drew her card.
The spectators all watched with anxiety.
“So now everyone can start attacking.” said Raven “Hope they all go after Masquerade. He needs to be taught a serious lesson in respect.”
The others all hoped the same thing.
“But he has three facedowns,” Fluttershy pointed out “I don’t think it’s too safe to go after him now.”
Sunset felt the same way, figuring Masquerade had a trap set up, and even still Karle had no facedown cards in play.
She decided to play it safe.
“Now I use Timebreaker’s special ability, which lets me banish himself and one other monster in play!”
She gawked over at Karle’s monster.
Karle growled, knowing what was about to happen.
“Go, Timebreaker!” shouted Sunset.
“Not so fast!” thundered Karle “I activate the BOOK OF MOON spell!”
“Oh, no!” cried Sunset “That turns my monster to facedown defense-mode!”
Her magician flipped over downward, and his effect was cancelled out.
“Sorry, but you’ll have to do better than that!” cackled Karle.
Rainbow was outraged for Sunset!
“No matter,” said Sunset “I guess I’ll just have to destroy your monster instead, and I’ll start by sacrificing my Timebreaker Magician and summon OAFDRAGON MAGICIAIN!”
(Atk: 2100)
Her magician sprung up tall and proud, much to Karle’s annoyance, but suddenly, the magician fell through the floor.
“Hey!!” cried Sunset “What happened?”
Masquerade snickered, “What happened is that you fell into my trap… TRAP HOLE to be exact, and since you foolishly summoned a monster with over 1000 attack points, well… you get the idea.”
The magician was gone, just like that.
“You forget,” taunted Masquerade “Each duelist can affect any other any time they wish. They can attack one another or defend one another. Maybe if you’d bother to remember, you’d still have a monster to work with.”
“Hey! Back off!” thundered Rainbow
“Just telling it like it is.” hissed Masquerade.
“He’s right.” agreed Karle “You and your little girlfriend ought to know how Battle Royale’s work by now. Of course it doesn’t matter to me anyway, since I’m going to take you all down.”
Rainbow and Sunset’s bloods were broiling, but this actually helped enflame Rainbow’s determination to really start dueling.
She nodded over at Sunset, hinting that she knew what had to be done now.
Sunset nodded back at her, and she already had the idea that Rainbow would most likely want to go after Masquerade, which would leave her to go after Karle.
“It’s still my move,” said Sunset “And I happen to have a trap that I can use, PENDULUM REBORN! Now my Oafdragon Magician returns from the Extra Deck.
(Atk: 2100)
Her magician had returned, safe and well.
“Now, since I can’t attack Masquerade directly…” she paused and eyed at Karle’s monster again. “Oafdragon, attack Purple Butterfly!”
Her Magician leapt forth towards Karle’s monster, and stomped in it hard, vanquishing it.
Karle was a little angry, but not too much. “My monster was in defense-mode, so my life points are safe.”
“For now, maybe…” said Sunset “Now I’ll throw this card facedown and end my turn.”
Karle snuffed “My move! I draw…
And thanks to your last attack, I have everything I need now.”
“What?” asked Sunset.
“What’s she talking about?” added Rainbow.
Karle snickered, “I activate Purple Butterfly’s ability; by banishing her from the graveyard, I can summon a “Lunalight” from my hand.”
Sunset and Rainbow cringed angrily.
“I summon LUNALIGHT WOLF!”
(Atk: 2000)
Her wolf howled loud and clear.
Karle looked across the field, and her attack choice was obvious. She eyed at Rainbow’s monster.
“The wolf is about to catch his prey!” and she ordered her wolf to attack Rainbow’s monster. “And by the way…” she warned “You do know that my wolf deals you damage even if your monster is in defense-mode.”
Rainbow growled, and saw the wolf heading straight for her.
“I’ve got news for you; you just set off my trap ICARUS ATTACK!”
“Ah!”
“Now I tribute my Fuzzy Lanius, and can destroy up two cards on the field, like your wolf, and one of Masquerade’s facedown cards!”
Masquerade grunted.
“Fuzzy Lanius, I send you away…” shouted Rainbow, and her bird transformed into a burning wave of energy that went into the trap card image, which then fired two blasts; one destroying Karle’s wolf, and the other destroying one of Masquerade’s cards.
Pinkie cheered for joy. “Way to play it Rainbow!”
“She stopped the attack!” cried Rarity “What a relief.”
Applejack looked up at the score board, “Hey, wait a minute! Look!”
Everyone looked and saw Rainbow’s score dropping…
Rainbow LP: 4000 -----> 3000
“What gives?!” snapped Rainbow “Why did I just lose life points?”
Masquerade snickered, “Because you’re a fool, that’s why.”
Rainbow turned to face him and sneered in a threatening manner, “…Care to enlighten me?”
Masquerade pulled out a trap card from his graveyard. “This is KOZAKY’S SELF-DESTRUCT BUTTON. Anyone foolish enough to destroy this card while it’s facedown received 1000 points of damage.”
Rainbow couldn’t believe she fell for the trick!
Suddenly, her chair gave a jolt and lifted up higher along the railing until she was up to the next level. “Whoa!” she cried as she looked down.
“Rainbow, are you okay?” called Sunset.
Rainbow straightened herself out. “Sure, I’ve flown higher than this before.” but she was still upset with herself now that she was down some points.
“Well, anyway…! Since Fuzzy Lanius was sent to the graveyard, I’m allowed to add another Fuzzy Lanius to my hand.”
Karle was far from impressed, but a little pleased now that Rainbow was behind in any case. “I’ll summon one monster in defense-mode and end my turn.”
“My move,” said Rainbow, and she drew her next card, but then she thought quietly, “I better not make any more screw-ups. Sunset’s counting on me. I really don’t want to have to wind up facing her in the finals.”
She looked back and forth between Karle and Masquerade, and it was clear to her now that Masquerade was her best choice to attack.
“Once again I summon RAIDRAPTOR – FUZZY LANIUS!”
(Atk: 500)
“And now I’ll equip him with my facedown RAPTOR’S ULTIMATE MACE, which will boost his attack up by 1000 points.”
(Atk: 500) -----> (Atk 1500)
She then glared down at Masquerade and shouted at him, “Time for some payback for all the trouble you’ve cause me and my friends!” and she ordered her monster to attack him directly.
The bird cawed and soared straight for him with its mace ready to strike…
“Fool!” thundered Masquerade “You think it’s that easy! Thanks to you, I’ll be able to summon BATTLE FADER!”
“What?!” exclaimed Rainbow.
“When you attack me directly, I can summon this little guy to the field, so not only am I protected, but your battle phase ends!”
Rainbow could not believe this, but just as Masquerade grabbed his monster to summon it…
“Not so fast!” shouted Sunset “I activate the trap DISTURBANCE STRATEGY!”
“What?!” cried Masquerade.
“This trap forces you to put all your cards back into your deck, and then you shuffle and draw the same number of cards you drew!”
Masquerade growled angrily. It meant that he couldn’t summon his fader as he was forced to send it away, and he drew three new cards.
Rainbow grinned widely, “That means, you can’t stop my attack, and you’re going to get it good!”
Her monster raised its mace high and struck Masquerade hard. He groaned angrily as he was struck!
Masquerade LP: 4000 -----> 2500
“WHOO!!” Rainbow cheered “I can’t believe I actually damaged Masquerade!”
The spectators were cheering wildly too, hollering for Rainbow to keep it up.
Masquerade’s chair then rose up high past Rainbow, putting him in last place.
“Going up…!” Rainbow taunted at him, and then shot a thumb-up down to Sunset “Thanks for the bail.”
Sunset smiled up at her…
…But Karle was not pleased. She thought, “Now Masquerade and Rainbow are closer to the top! If I don’t do something and quick, Rainbow might be facing him in the next round! I can’t let that happen!
I’m the only one here who’s going to face Masquerade and make him suffer more than he is now!”
Masquerade’s chair stopped, but rather than be outraged with anyone, he simply said, “A mere minor setback.” He then glared at Rainbow “…But if you think this is over, you’re sadly mistaken.”
“Whatever,” Rainbow snuffed, “I end my turn with a face-down.”
Applejack took of her hat and rubbed her hair. “Hoo-wee! What a turn! Never thought I’d see a duel where Masquerade was losing it badly.”
“Yeah, but don’t count him out just yet.” said Terra “As long as he has life points and cards, who knows what he can do.”
The others agreed; duel wasn’t over by a longshot.
“Well, it’s his turn now.” whimpered Fluttershy.
Masquerade silently drew his card.
“Excellent!” he thought “I have all three of these rookies exactly where I want them. Let’s see them work their ways out of this.”
“I activate my trap, NON AGRESSION AREA!”
The girls all gasped.
“Oh, no…! This is really bad!” cried Twilight “Once Masquerade sends a card in his hand to the graveyard, his trap will place a deadly curse on the field; none of the others will be able to play any monsters during their next turns!”
The others all gawked at her in extreme shock.
“No monsters? None at all?!” cried Rarity.
“But that… that’s just--” Pinkie felt like she was choking on her own words.
The other duelists were all shocked and aggravated.
“You creep!” thundered Karle “What kind of sick strategy is this?”
Masquerade snickered, “Oh, it’s just the beginning.”
While he thought deviously, the silhouette of a huge monster seemingly appeared behind him, but only in his own thoughts.
“I’m about to summon a creature that’ll knock all three of you so-called “duelists” out of your minds!”
To Be Continued…