//------------------------------// // Episode 4: Cooking up a Swarm: Part 2 // Story: Yu-Gi-Oh E-Quest: Malefic Wars // by DakariKingMykan //------------------------------// EPISODE FOUR The gang fell and fell into the deep darkness of the tower, believing this was truly it for them… had they not landed--SMOOSH-- on a large and incredibly soft cushion. One-by-one, everyone pulled their faces up, and Shining Armor was nearly paralyzed with fear-- like anyone would be from dropping that far. “Am I dead yet?” he peeped so softly. His wife was trembling exactly as he was. “No… we’re alive.” The other three pulled themselves up and brushed themselves off. “What a drop!” Terra said while looking way up. “This tower was probably made to scare the living daylights out of anyone who enters it.” “Look out below…!” Spike called as his soul card was slowly tumbling and flipping as it glided down and into Sci-Twi’s grip. “Oh, thank goodness!” she cried as she actually hugged the little card close. “Hey… look over there…” said Applejack. Everyone could see what appeared to be an exit leading to outside. Cadance and Shining Armor leapt up, wanting to get out of the tower before something else happened. “No, wait…!” called Sci-Twi “It could be another trick!” Her relatives were too excited at the thought of getting out. Suddenly, a pair of narrow cages dropped on them, and the door vanished-- as it was only an illusion. The cages suddenly vanished with the captives still inside. “Cadance… Big Bro!” called Twilight. “Where did they go?” wondered Terra. Applejack clenched her fists angrily. Suddenly, a sinister, female voice called to the ladies. “If you really want to save your friends, come and find them. I’ll be waiting for you.” Spike couldn’t help but growl. Even while trapped in a card, his dog senses still acted normally. “Sounds like another trap to me.” said Applejack. Sci-Twi was aware of this too, but she wasn’t about to leave her brother and sister-in-law. “We’ve got to find them!” Suddenly, there was a rumbling sound. “What now?” groaned Spike. A secret panel in the stone walls was sliding open, revealing a torch-lit hall way with a staircase leading deeper down. The female voice called to them, “Your friends await you at the bottom and so do I.” she then snickered sinisterly, which told the group it had to be a sure-fire trap, but Sci-Twi immediately ran for the stairs. “Twilight, wait…!” called Applejack. “Ugh! Stubborn kid!” and she ran off after her with Terra catching up from behind. As for Raven, she was backed against the edge of the high-rise, with the large drop to the streets below before her, and the angry monsters coming up towards her, and she was till powerless to defend herself as they were bigger and stronger than she was. “If only I had my duel disk!” she panicked. The creatures then activated their own duel disks and summoned powerful monsters, even though it seemed no duel had been issued… …But there had been. A bright flash of light emitted from behind, Raven turned round and she saw… “What? That’s… Exodia the Forbidden One?!” It was… the giant hulking creature, glowing ominously and hissing at the smaller beasts and their users, and there was only one duelist Raven knew could summon the creature so easily…! She could see right before the gargantuan beast. “Gar…?” It was him alright, standing another building adjacent to the one she stood on. Since they were no longer in the Friendship Cup tournament, the restriction rules no longer applied, and Gar had the full to bear his full-power, especially considering the circumstances. Exodia began to power up behind him, forcing Raven to leap to the side and out of the way. Gar shouted out loud, “Exodia… Obliterate!!” POW!! Exodia unleashed his extremely powerful wave, blowing the monsters to ashes. Raven wailed as she covered her eyes and braced herself from the force of the waves blowing just several feet away from her. The monsters all wailed as they vanished in the blast, and when the light had faded, there was no sign of the monsters for they had all been turned into cards. Raven was both freaked out, and livid that Gar had nearly attacked her again-- despite the obvious fact that she jumped out of the way in time anyway. She turned and glared angrily at Gar from afar, but he paid her no notice as he recalled Exodia, and then turned to start walking away. “Hey, wait!!” called Raven, but he wouldn’t stop and continued to walk straight towards the edge and he leapt right off the building, and skillfully stretched out his long coat like glider wings, helping him land safely on the ground below. Raven glared at him with her quivering fists. Despite what the other Titans had told her-- to try and reason with Gar-- he anger and outrage at him was now stronger than ever. With no more monsters around, she quickly dashed back inside, and bounded her way down the long flight of stairs making it to the ground… …she panted heavily. “What I’d give to have my powers back!” Still, knowing Gar couldn’t have gone too far, she decided to chase after him by following in the direction he flew, and then following his footprints in the sands. Far, far away, Vic was still in a tough spot in his duel. Malefican LP: 8000 Vic LP: 5300 The ladies could only watch in worry. “Please tell me he can get out of this fix.” said Twilight. Sunset was very skeptical. “I wish I knew, but it seems to me that all he needs is one good draw, and he can turn the whole duel around.” Vic overheard her, and he agreed in thought, “One good draw, that’s all I need.” He looked on ahead at the hungry dishes still looking to stuff his worries, and then his opponent who looked ready to serve up more trouble. “Well, are you going to just stand there?” he taunted “The food is getting cold you know? Or has your hunger for victory finally been filled the realization that you just can’t win this?” Vic growled, and he slowly laid his finger upon his next card, and in a swift flick he pulled it out, and turned it around to look at it. “I play POT OF GREED, so now I can draw two cards.” He did so, and he really liked what both cards were. “What do you suppose he has?” asked Luna. “Whatever it is, I hope it’s something good.” said Celestia. Vic smirked and said, “Hope you’re hungry, because now I’ve got a recipe that’s going to knock your senses out.” “Hmm?!” went the opponent. Vic snickered at him, “…Now I Pendulum Summon!” Two shots of light rained down onto his field. “The lunch crowd is in… not one, but two DESKBOT DOUBLE-O-EIGHT!” (Atk: 500) x2 “Ha!” snapped the opponent “That’s a good one, but my Queen Omelette can still use her own ability just like before.” …That’s what he wanted, but his monster didn’t comply. “Sorry, but you won’t get to pull a stunt like that on us this time.” said Vic “Double-O-Eight has a special ability that shields all other “Deskbot” cards from being targeted by card effects, but as you can see, I’ve got two of them in play, which means they both look out for each other like the bros they are!” The two bots looked at one another, and held hands, making a spark of energy flow in-between them. “I can’t believe this!” thought the Malefican “He actually found a way to stop my Cookpals!” Vic then smirked, “And also… I activate the ability of Deskbot Double-O-One from my graveyard: Since at least two machines were special summoned at the same time, I get to summon him!” His tuner monster appeared. (Atk: 500) “And not only does he get stronger from the Deskbot Base, but he also gains an additional 500 attack points for every machine that I control. So his attack rises by a huge 2000!” (Atk: 500) -----> (Atk: 2500) “And as for two other bots, they also power each other up 500 points for every Deskbot in my graveyard, and there happens to be four, and the base gives them another 500 points for a big 2500 point boost!” (Atk: 500) -----> (Atk: 3000) x2 “Three-thousand each?!” cried the opponent “This can’t be happening!” The ladies were astounded. “That was incredible!” said Twilight “And all done with just one card…?” “That’s the game for you.” said Sunset. “It also helps that you not give up, and you can still achieve victory.” Vic continued his move… “Next, I play the trap SYNCHRO MATERIAL!” “What? Syncrho Material…?!” cried the opponent. “That’s right. Thanks to this handy trap, I’m about to invite your Level 9 Queenie there to join us for a snack-- I now get to use her for a Synchro Summon as if I owned her!” Queen Omelette began to glow along with Double-O-One, much to the opponent’s horror. “I tune Level 1 Deskbot Double-O-One with your Level 9 Omelette…!” The two monsters vanished, like streaks of light, heading deep into the base. The ground started to rumble as the large hanger doors opened wide. “…Coming up the runway… I Syncrho Summon DESKBOT JET!” The large machine soared out through the opening and hovered high above Vic’s field, shimmering, and glowing with power! (Atk: 500) “And don’t forget, he gets stronger. First he gains 500 points from the field power bonus, but then he also gains an extra 500 for every “Deskbot” card on the field, that includes himself, the field spell, and the two bots in the Pendulum Zones!" (Atk: 500) -----> (Atk: 4000) “…And since I have another Deskbot in the grave now, my other two bots get even stronger now!” (Atk: 3000) -----> (Atk: 3500) x2 “WOW!!!” cried Twilight “Both his monsters are super-sized now!” The other ladies all felt their excitements rising, while the Malefican was quivering! “What’s the matter-- lost your appetite?” teased Vic “Well you’re about to lose even more, because I activate my Jet’s special ability.” …By destroying Double-O-Seven in the Pendulum Zone, I can target one other card on the field and destroy it, and I know just the one I want too…!” He pointed at the facedown down card his opponent still had. Celestia was ever so impressed. “Once he gets rid of that card, he’ll be able to win the duel!” “I hope you’re right.” said Luna. “It’s go time!” shouted Vic “Go for it, Jet!” The jet powered up its laser cannon and fired straight towards the card. “…I activate my facedown card!” shouted The Malefican. “Say what?!” cried Vic. The ladies all gasped… “…Activate DAMAGE DIET!” His card was destroyed, but not before it shrouded him with a sparkling glow. “Oh, no!!” cried Sunset “I used that card once. Now all the damage he takes this turn will be cut in half!” The others all gasped, realizing that Vic couldn’t end the duel this turn, even with all his super-powered bots. “Man!” he growled in thought “I was so close! I really thought I had it won! Oh, I guess I may as well do what I can. At least I can weaken him down a bit!” He clenched his fists tightly and called up to his three monsters. “Okay fellas… let’s cook his life points away! Desk bot Jet, attack King Burger!” The jet powered-up its mighty cannon and fired at the burger monster, reducing it to ash. (Atk: 3000) VS (Atk: 300) However, because of the Damage Diet trap, the opponent only took 1850 points of damage! Yet the Malefican still wailed under all the burning energy that flowed past him. Malefican LP: 8000 -----> 6150 Vic then called to his remaining two bots, “Okay boys, go get him!” The two Deskbots fired their lasers together at the opponent, whom wailed and yelled as the blasts struck him, dealing him another 3500 points from 1750 apiece Malefican LP: 6150 -----> 2650 After the blast, the opponent was down on his knees, shaking softly after such an attack. Twilight was nearly blown away herself. “Thank goodness we don’t have this kind of stuff in Equestria. The chaos would be unimaginable!” “The chaos isn’t even over yet.” said Sunset. The Malefican heard her and chuckled wickedly as he got up onto his feet. “You’re quite right about that. The chaos isn’t over until the last meal has been served. And speaking of serving, I can activate Food Cemetery again, which sends my Queen Omelette into the oven, and in return, I’ll take another queen out from my deck!” This gave him five cards in his hand, and Vic knew they were all Royal Cookpals. “This could get pretty serious.” he thought, “But I do know they’re all high level monsters, and my monsters still outclass them all by a mile.” The Malefican looked down at his deck and his hand while thinking sinisterly, “A good chef not only knows how to salvage himself from disaster, but he plans ahead and prepares himself well.” He drew his next card and grinned at it. “Now I activate the spell CARD DESTRUCTION! So now, I will discard my entire hand to the graveyard and draw another five cards.” Vic didn’t like this one bit as he thought “Oh, no! Now, not only does he get a fresh set of cards, he has another chance to use Food Cemetery!” As predicted, the opponent shouted, “Since I hate to throw good food away, my Food Cemetery now allows me to add all those ingredients together, and I take out each of their doubles from my deck!” Everyone gawked at how full his hand was! “He has ten cards in his hand now!” cried Sunset. “Who knows what he might be able to do now!” added Celestia. Vic was sweating over that too. “And now…” the Malefican announced… “Prepare yourselves for the last meal, one that I’m sure will leave your appetites settled, starting with this spell. Recognize it…?” He turned it over to reveal, much to Vic’s horror. “No! Not REGAL RECIPES!” “Yes it is…” replied the opponent “Which means, I am now allowed to invite the entire Royal Cookpal family to join us for one final feast!” The opponent held up five of his cards, and, one-by-one, his monsters appeared “Introducing, the royal meals of ROYAL COOKPAL… KING BURGER… PASTA KNIGHT… PRINCE CURRY… PRINCESS PUDDING… QUEEN OMELETTE!” (Atk: 300) x2 (Def: 1000) (Def: 100) (Def: 0) All five of the stunning food monsters stood together like a mountain of a feast, and all of them began to glow brightly. “And you remember, for each monster that was summon by Regal Recipes, you lose 300 life points!” The food monsters fired their magical energy pellets at Vic, damaging him hard and making him wail! Vic LP: 5300 -----> 3800 The ladies began to tremble! “And next…!” said the Malefican “A good chef prepares his meals properly, and therefore, I activate the spell SHIELD AND SWORD.” “Huh?” “Yes… I prefer to think of it as a knife and cutting plate, but instead of chopping up food, it swamps the attack and defense values of every monster in play. Your monsters and their abilities will remain the same, while my King and his knight shall become stronger thanks to their high defenses.” (Atk: 300) -----> (Atk: 1300) (Atk: 300) -----> (Atk: 1100) Vic and the ladies didn’t like this at all, and just as they feared, the opponent announced, “Now I shall use the ability of Queen Omelette. She will charm my king by doubling his attack power!” (Atk: 1300) -----> (Atk: 2600) “And now, my Prince and my Princess will each boost up my Knight’s Power-- doubling it once, then doubling it twice…!” (Atk: 1100) -----> (Atk: 4400) “hundred attack points?!” exclaimed Vic! The ladies all whimpered in fright. The Malefican grinned wickedly, “And now, the final dinner bell is about to be served, thanks to this spell… DOUBLE ATTACK! Now, by sending this other King Burger in my hand to the graveyard, my Knight gains an additional attack this turn!” “Great!” thought Vic “Now he has the power blow out all my monsters!” The Malefican engaged his battle phase. “Now my knight, attack and destroy those two Deskbots!” The knight leapt up high, and spilled the cooked noodles from his body right atop the two Double-O-Eight Deskbots. (Atk: 4400) VS (Atk: 3500) x2 Both bots were destroyed in a mountain of noodles and sauce, and Vic lost 900 points for each one, totalling 1800 points of damage to Vic. Vic LP: 3800 -----> 1000 He was down on his back after the resulting explosions. “And now…!” shouted the opponent “Since you no longer have those Deskbots in play, your oversized jet up there loses 1000 attack points.” (Atk: 3000) -----> (Atk: 2000) “King Burger, why don’t you replenish the hungry jet? Attack now!” (Atk: 2600) VS (Atk: 2000) The King flipped himself on top of the massive jet, and its food juices began to eat through the metal, causing the jet to exploded and deal Vic more damage and more pain, causing him to wail in agony! Vic LP: 1000 -----> 400 The ladies all gawked in horror. “He’s only got 400 life points left!” cried Sunset. “Oh, Vic…!” added Celestia. “Please, don’t give up!” whimpered Luna. Vic struggled to set himself upright, but he felt pretty beat with his score so low now, while his opponent only laughed at him. “Had enough to eat yet? I know I haven’t, I mean after all… I sent a Cookpal to the graveyard, which means my Food Cemetery activates again, allowing me to fill up the oven, and in exchange, I add COOKPAL LOINION to my hand. Then again, I can easily sacrifice my Prince Curry, and summon Loinion to the field in defense-mode!” (Def: 1800) “And I should point out, that as long as Loinion is present, you can’t attack any of my Cookpals other than him.” Vic gawked in horrors, feeling his entire duel was about to be flushed down the drain! “That ends my turn,” sneered the Malefican “Which means my monsters gain their original 300 point stats, still, it’s just about closing time anyway. Their majesties will be incredibly pleased when I serve them your soul in a card at meal time. You may as well make it easier on yourself and tip the server.” He was pretty much telling Vic to surrender, and poor Vic was inclined to believe him. “What am I going to do?” he thought “I’ve got no monsters to protect me, and no cards in my hand, and even if I summon a monster to the field, those monsters can easily get rid of them, and I still can’t attack any monsters other than that over-stuffed loin-head over there.” He was beginning to think that maybe he was finished, and he was about to be turned into a card… Yet, he just couldn’t give up; not for himself, and not for the others whom he promised to help. He then looked and realized his only hope was a Pendulum Summon, but with his Pendulum Zone broken, that wasn’t likely to happen. “Unless…!” he thought as he looked down at his deck… …Sunset thought the same thing as he did. “One good draw; that’s all he needs. It worked before…” Suddenly, Vic was bolted upright onto his feet, much to his opponent’s shock. “Don’t tell me you’re still planning on continuing? Like I said, the feast is done, and all that remains is for you to pay your bill… with the last of your life points.” “I got a better idea…” said Vic “I’ll pay that bill with your life points instead of mine!” “What?” Vic then placed his fingers over his next card, and shut his eyes hoping for something incredible! “Come on, baby. You did it before… do it for me now!” He pulled out his card, and then peeked over it at the opponent. “Looks like this chef forgot to use his best pot.” The opponent blinked in confusion. “I activate MONSTER REBORN!” The opponent and the ladies gawked with anxiety. “…I’ll use this to summon DESKBOT DOUBLE-O-TWO from the graveyard just like that.” (Def: 500) “Ha!” snapped the opponent “For all the good that will do you, because now I can activate my King Burger’s ability; by returning him to my hand, your monster goes straight back to the graveyard!” With that, his king unleashed a large and strong burger patty, which flipped into the air and crashed down hard on Vic’s monster. Vic didn’t seem to mind too much. “Oh, it did me good… because you forgot about my monster’s ability-- when it was special summoned I get to add a “Deskbot” card to my hand.” The opponent growled. Vic then pulled out just the card he wanted. “It’s my old pal, Scale 10 DESKBOT DOUBLE-O-FIVE, which I use to complete my Pendulum Scale once again!” The opponent gasped in horror! “All right…!!” cried Sunset “Vic’s really cooking with fire now!” Indeed he was as the Deskbot made its way into the light, and the pendulum began to swing once more. “Looks like you go more customers coming your way…” Vic teased “…I Pendulum Summon!” Three shots of Light rained down from the sky and the monsters landed on his field. “DESKBOT DOUBLE-O-SEVEN…” (Atk: 500) “And two… DESKBOT DOUBLE-O-EIGHT(s)…” (Atk: 500) The three bots all stood together, making the opponent tremble. “Excellent!” cried Celestia “And thanks to the Double-O-Eights, the Cookpals can’t use their abilities to destroy the cards.” “And they stronger too, right?” asked Twilight. “They sure do…” replied Vic “Thanks to the Deskbot Base, and the six other Deskbots chilling in my graveyard, they get a humungous boost!” (Atk: 500) -----> (Atk: 4000) “AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH, HOW CAN THIS BE?!!” cried the Malefican. Vic smiled, “Just a little we call “Not giving up.” He turned to look back at the ladies, and they all nodded at him proudly. Even Twilight was astounded by his triumphant comeback. “Oh…! There’s something else you may to know…” said Vic. “…When Double-O-Seven attacks a monster in defense-mode; you get hit with piercing damage!” The opponent winced in shock. “Go Double-O-Seven, strike down that Loinion!” His bot complied, and it jumped up high in the air and slammed down hard on the monster! (Atk: 4000) VS (Def: 1800) The resulting explosion blew the opponent back hard. Malefican LP: 2650 -----> 450 “THIS CAN’T BE HAPPENING!!” he wailed. “Oh, it is…!” hollered Vic, “And guess what else…? My Double-O-Eights can make two attacks on monsters.” The opponent knew this was it, and Vic ordered his bots, “…Go boys… clear the table, and end this duel! Attack…!” The two twin bots nodded at each other, and they both leap up high charging their lasers. They fired their beams, which wiped out the rest of the monsters, and since Pasta Knight was still in attack-mode… it cost the Malefican the rest of his life points, winning the duel! “HE DID IT!!” cried Sunset. The sisters leapt for joy and hugged, and Twilight was overjoyed, while Vic could only feel some of his strength returning to him, and he leapt up high his fist out and shouted, “BOO-YAH, who’s the master chef now?!” Despite his second-wind, he still felt pretty drained, and he collapsed to his knees. The ladies ran up to him, and Sunset stowed Twilight’s card in her jacket pocket as she helped Vic up. “Are you okay?” “I’m just a little woozy.” he replied. “I’ll be fine in a bit. I’m just glad it’s over.” …But the fallen Malafican just laughed as he lay disgraced and defeated on the ground. “It isn’t over, you fools; it’s just beginning.” The group all gawked down at him, and realized he was right. “Though you may have bested me, there are plenty others. And each every duel only grants more power to the princes, Rubeus and Loki. You thought this battle was tough, just you wait!” He was still laughing as he was struck by the magical lightning from above, and he was turned into a card. As thankful as the group was that Vic was safe, seeing that happen still flipped them all out. “We’ve got to find the others and fast.” said Sunset. “Who knows what troubles they’ve run into?” The others agreed, and the sisters helped Vic up onto his feet. “It’s okay, ladies, I can manage; just got to get my third wind.” Twilight then began to call from Sunset’s pocket, “Hey, let me out of here!” Sunset scrambled to pull her up. “Sorry about that.” “Never mind,” replied Twilight “…But where are we supposed to even start looking for the others? They were all blown off in different directions.” Vic flipped open his wrist-computer mumbling, “Come on… work… work…! Please work!” and it flipped on “Yes! I can try and sense for their energy signals!” The ladies all beamed with joy, and remembered, only super powers like his sonic-cannon didn’t function, but regular technologies and gadgets seemed to work. “That’s great!” cried Celestia “So which way do we go?” Vic scanned around and took a few steps forward until his com reacted. “I’ve got a lock… Let’s go!” and off they went deep into the darkness! Who knew what other dangers and paraphernalia they would run into?