Yu-Gi-Oh E-Quest: Malefic Wars

by DakariKingMykan

Episode 6: Gals and Shaddolls: Part 2

The Scores stood.

Applejack’s slight lead seemed to mean nothing with those monsters glaring at her.

“Face it, young one…” hissed Spectra “The darkness is calling, and your time is now. Remember, when you lose life points, your friends will suffer with you.”

Applejack looked back at all the others, still trapped, and then she looked over at Spike’s card on Spectra’s shawl, and he seemed more helpless than she was. He was even holding his floppy ears over his eyes, unable to look and whimpering, “Tell me when it’s over!”

Poor Applejack! What was she to do?

“She looks so helpless down there.” said Terra, and she began to struggle to try and break free, but the skeletal hands was too strong.

“It’s no good.” called Sci-Twi “We can’t get out of this unless Applejack wins the duel.”

Cadance and Shining Armor felt worried for Applejack, and angry at Spectra.

“If I get out of this cage I’ll wrap those robes around Spectra’s neck!” growled Shining Armor.

Spectra took offense to that and looked sternly.

Cadance covered her husband’s mouth, “Don’t make her mad! Who knows what else she could do to us?”

Applejack just kept staring her opponent down. She didn’t want to give in, and she did have a plan, but she was beginning to think of something else as well… but it would mean putting her friends in danger.

She also couldn’t tell them either or it would give her strategy away.

All she could do was lower her duel disk and stand outright with her arms open want.

“You want a piece of me, well come and get it!

“What?” snapped Spectra.

“Is she crazy?” spat Terra in disbelief.

Sci-Twi wasn’t convinced, and began to wonder if Applejack had a plan.

Cadance and Shining Armor could only watch with curiosity.

Spectra scoffed, “Perhaps it’s finally clued in to you that there’s no escape from your dark fate?”

Applejack said nothing and maintained her stance.

Spectra then called up to her monsters, “Grysta, attack! Roast that scared little fox!”

Her monster flapped its flaming wings and Applejack’s fox was toasted.

“She’s wide open now!” cried Cadance.

Spectra then ordered her other monsters, “Falco… Anoyatyllis… wage a direct attack!”

The two monsters jumped forth, and blasted streams of dark power straight at her, dealing her a full 3300 points of damage.

Applejack wailed as the energy burned out of her in the waves, and the spectators received painful shocks.

Their hairs were starting to look frizzed, and their eyes rolled wearily.

“I can’t take this!” growled Terra.

“I don’t get it.” said Sci-Twi. “Why didn’t she use her monster’s effect?”

It was true: If Applejack had banished her Fox from the graveyard, and discarded a “Bujin” from her hand, she would have taken no damage, and thus spared herself and the others the agony.

Applejack felt hurt deep down, it almost brought her to tears.

“Sorry guys…” she thought sadly “I had to do it. If I play my cards right, I might be able to win this, even if it means we all suffer a little.”


“That was foolish!” Spectra sneered as she placed two cards facedown. “Standing up to the darkness like only makes it hungrier, and believe me it shall strike even harder on you next time!”

Spike uncovered his eyes, but he didn’t know what to say as he thought, “What was Applejack thinking, taking the hit like that?”

“My move…!” yelled Applejack, and drew her next card, leaving her with two in hand.

Then she carefully contemplated. “I’ve got to get me a good strong monster in play and wipe out those creeps, but if I try to special summon that overgrown firefly will destroy it instantly, but in order to do that, Spectra has to discard from her hand.”

She saw that Spectra had three cards in her hand as well, and then she looked at the two facedown cards.

“Okay… I’m sure one of them cards is Shaddoll Core, which means she’s got to have that Shaddoll Fusion still in her hand. So that’s one card, but then she’ll still have two more.

A’rgh! It’s too risky, and it won’t work. I’ll just have to find some other way of breaking those monsters down, but thanks to that overgrown robe-wearing freak show, I can’t summon monsters with spells and traps.

There’s got to be a way.”

“You’re stalling.” called Spectra “Too scared to make a move?”

“I’ll show you “scared!” I activate the spell GRACEFUL CHARITY. So I draw three cards and discard two of them.”

She still had only two cards in hand upon finishing the move, but she had discarded two monsters she felt would be extremely helpful and she liked the ones that she had drawn.

She gave her hat a small tip, “Time to rustle up some trouble…!”

“I think she’s got a plan.” said Terra.

The spectators watched with anxiety.

“Since you love darkness so much, I’ll give you some; with the spell SWORDS OF CONCEALING LIGHT!”

“Huh?”

Magical dark swords struck down from above, surrounding Spectra’s monsters and shrouding them in black light, and flipped them over back into their cards.

“Thanks to my swords, all of your monsters are forced to hide in the shadows from whence they came.” said Applejack “And for the next two turns, they can’t change modes, and that means they can’t stop me from what I’ve got planned now.”

Spectra seemed annoyed, and then Applejack looked concerned at what she was about to do, and she looked back at her friends, and they could see the last card in her hand.

“I’m sorry guys, but I have to do this.”

The others all nodded and then braced themselves for what was about to happen.

Applejack turned, “Okay… I activate SOUL CHARGE! Now I get to round up five of my monsters from the graveyard and call them out to the field!”

Her graveyard glowed brightly, and five strong beams shot out onto her field as her monsters appeared.

Her five monsters all stood together like a proud army…

…But suddenly, Applejack was shocked by the energy drain and so were her friends behind her.

“Foolish girl!” mocked Spectra “You forgot that for each monster summoned, you lose 500 life points, which means your friends suffer with you.”

Applejack slowly looked up. “I… didn’t forget!” she coughed as she shook the dirt off herself. “Maybe you’d understand if you had friends.”

Spectra felt insulted. “The darkness is all the friendship I need, and soon it will be the only kind of friend you and anyone else in your world will know when Rubeus and Loki takeover!”

“That ain’t never going to happen! Not if neither I nor my friends have anything to say about it.

Your monsters are still face-down, and that means they still can’t stop me from summoning my own monsters.

I take Hirume and Asurda and build the Overlay Network once more…!”

The bright lights illuminated the room one more as the monsters vanished into the portal and the shimmering creature appeared again.

“Please welcome back my pal BUJINTEI KAGUTSUCHI!”

The creatures glowing body annoyed Spectra, but she thought to herself, “I got rid of this creature once before, and I’ll do it again!”


Applejack was proud having finally gotten one of her strong monsters out, so were the spectators.

“Check it out!” cried Shining Armor “Applejack’s really cooking with fire now.”

Sci-Twi agreed, “That’s not all…! When Kagutsuchi is successfully Xyz Summoned, Applejack gets to send the top five cards from her deck to the graveyard, and for every “Bujin” card that was sent, her monster gains 100 attack points!”

Applejack sent her five cards away, and all of them happened to be monster cards, which meant Kagutsuchi gained 500 extra points, raising its attack to 3000.

“You’re going down!” shouted Applejack.

“Oh, no I’m not…!” sneered Spectra “Now after I activate my face-down, SUPER POLYMERIZATION!”

Applejack gasped, “I know that card! Pinkie Pie uses it!”

Spectra snickered, “Then you should know, by sending Shaddoll Fusion from my hand to the graveyard, this card allows me to fuse monsters I have with yours, even if they are facedown!

So now I fuse my facedown Grysta with your Kagutsuchi!”

Applejack watched in horror as her monster was ensnared by the big forces. “I don’t believe this!”

“Oh, believe it!” called Spectra “Because I now Fusion Summon the creature that will ultimate lead to your defeat…

…EL SHADDOLL CONSTRUCT!”

This monster looked much larger than any other she had summoned so far. At least it had a soft glow which lit up the room a little, but Applejack was plenty worried as well as outraged for losing her monster to yet another trap!

“Isn’t it magnificent.” boasted Spectra “Thanks to her special ability; any special summoned monster that she battles will be instantly destroyed!”

Applejack gasped. “Instantly?!”

Spectra nodded, “Also, you know what happens when Grysta is gone, she allows me to retrieve my Shaddoll Fusion and place it back in my hand.

But that isn’t all. Since my Construct was successfully summoned, I may now move one “Shaddoll” card from my deck to the graveyard, and I choose Shaddol Falco!”

Applejack’s eyes widened, “That means you get to summon him back to the field facedown!”

“Very good… now if only could duel as well as you talk!”

The monster card appeared facedown.

“Come on! Give us a break already!” groaned Spike.

The spectators didn’t like it themselves.

“That card is unaffected by the swords.” said Cadance. “That means she’ll be able to use its ability next turn and summon a monster from her graveyard!”

“That may be…” said Shining Armor “But Applejack still has more monsters in play. Maybe she can do something else?”

Spectra had already anticipated this…

“If you’re thinking of special summoning again, it won’t help, I activate my other facedown card…!”

Applejack looked forth. “It’s not Shaddoll Core!”

Spectra snickered, “No. It seems you overthought this. Thanks to my EL SHADDOLL FUSION, I am now able to perform another Fusion summon using my other two facedown monsters.

So I combine my first Falco and Anoyatyllis… and I Fusion Summon EL SHADDOLL WINDA!”

Applejack was really growing annoyed with all the fusion monsters being played, and wondering how many times Spectra could keep it up.

“Behold my newest Shaddoll!” boasted Spectra “Not only can she not be destroyed by card effects, but her specialty forbids the both of us from specially summoning more than one monster per turn!”

Applejack felt like she was going to faint.

“You’ve got to be kidding?!” cried Terra. “All those monsters of hers just keep pinning Applejack down more and more!”

Sci-Twi thought silently, “Spectra’s playing this like a pro! And now, because she sent her other Fusion monster to the graveyard, she gets to add another spell card to her hand!”

Spectra added her El Shaddoll Fusion card to her hand, to potentially use on her next turn.

Applejack could see she was in really huge trouble, but she at least she was able to special summon one last time that turn.

“In that case, I’ll Xyz Summon one more time, this time by using my Fox and My Turtle!”

The overlay network appeared again. “Now I call… BUJINGTEI SUSANOWO!”

“And now I’ll use his special ability: by using an overlay unit, I can add BUJINGI CRANE to my hand.”

With that her turn was over, and she was ever so astounded by the way Spectra was playing. It seemed that no matter how many times she got rid of those Shaddolls, they would always come back again, and she always managed to maintain her hand with Shaddoll cards to use their powers.

“She thinks she’s got the duel won,” she thought, “But thanks to this turn, I’m ready for her too.”

Spectra noted Applejack’s stance and how she didn’t seem too afraid.

“What’s with her?” she thought “Usually my victims are all sobbing and broken by now. So why does she seem so undeterred?

Not that it matters anyway. I’m just one turn away from finishing her off, and sending her to the darkness where she belongs.”

She drew her next card.

“I activate my trap…!” shouted Applejack.

“Huh?”

“…Go XYZ REBORN!”

Applejack smirked, “I’ve had the baby set down for a good part of the duel. I couldn’t use it before because you negated the summoning of my first Xyz Monster. Now I can revive the one you just used for your fusion!”

Her graveyard glowed brightly as a bright ray shot out onto the field, “Welcome back Kagutsuchi!”

“And what’s more, the trap, itself, transforms into an overlay unit.”

The spectators were overjoyed, but Spectra looked cross.

“Hey, you said I could special summon once a turn, and I did.” teased applejack.

Spectra scoffed, “If you are expecting me to be intimidated, you are not only mistaken, but quite hopeless.”

Applejack’s grin never left her face. “Just you remember, you only allowed to special summon once this turn yourself.”

Spectra was aware, “You believe I am unaware of how my own cards work? Besides, there is a way to overcome that issue…

…I play the spell DE-FUSION!”

Applejack stiffened.

“Now by returning my Winda to the Extra Deck, I am able to summon the two creatures that were used to form it!

…EL SHADOLL ANOYATYLLIS …SHADDOLL FALCO!”

“They’re back!” cried Shinning Armor.

“Argh!!” groaned Terra “Is there no way to get rid of those creeps once and for all?!!”

Applejack was especially upset. “With Winda gone, that means she can special summon as much as she needs!”

Spectra snickered, “And I shall start by flipping my other Falco into attack mode!”

“And you remember-- when he is flipped over, I may summon one “Shaddoll” from the graveyard, and I choose to, once again, revive El Shaddoll Grysta!”

“And of course, I can still activate SHADDOLL FUSION!”

“Not again?!” cried Applejack.

“Oh, yes… I fuse both my Falcos in order to bring back SHADDOLL WINDA!”

Everyone looked up at the four powerful Fusion Monsters glaring down at Applejack’s creatures.

Twilight and Terra-- being Fusion duelists-- felt incredible overwhelmed.

“Look at all those monsters!” cried Terra.

“Incredible!” thought Twilight “I’m barely able to bring out my own Fusion monsters that well.”

Spike, who was closer to the monsters, felt extremely worried for Applejack, and he really hoped whatever she was planning would work.

“I know Applejack’s deck,” he thought “This duel could really be in the bag.”

Then he stopped and looked up at Spectra, “Then again… what if Spectra doesn’t even keep her word about me-- What if she decides to destroy my soul card and get rid of me anyway?!”

He had such horrible visions of his card being destroyed and himself being plunged into eternal darkness.

Even as an imprisoned soul, Spike had never felt such fear that would have made every hair on his body stand up at once… were he still IN his body.

“Behold…” Spectra shouted “The four most deadly creatures of the dark; all have come to sentence you into chaos and imprisonment, forever!”

Each monster narrowed its evil eyes at Applejack’s field, and while Applejack couldn’t help but sweat a little, she did her best to maintain her cool.

“Gotta stay focused!” she said to herself. “I’m not going to let this horror hoody get the best of me anymore!”

“Now then!” hissed Spectra “Remember what I said about my Construct? When it attacks a monster that was special summoned, that monster will automatically be destroyed!”

Applejack growled, and Spectra ordered to her monster, “Go, Construct… send Kagutsuchi into darkness! Attack… now!”

Construct bounded straight for Applejack’s Monster!

“Look out!!” cried Cadance.

“That’s her best monster!” added Shining Armor.

Terra could hardly bear to watch!

The attack was ready to fire…!

“Hold up!” hollered Applejack “You fell right into my trap.”

“What? What trap?” asked Spectra “You haven’t any spells or traps in play.”

“That’s true, but I have other ways of trapping beasts like yours. It’s what comes from living on a farm all these years and having to shoo mice and other critters away.

I banish BUJINGI HARE out of the graveyard to activate its special ability!”

“What?!” snapped Spectra.

Applejack’s eye shimmered with cheek, “Once it's banished, my Xyz monster can't be destroyed by battle or card effects once this turn, and that means, your Construct can't destroy my card either way!

Her monster was then bathed in a protective light

"Big deal!" scoffed Spectra "You'll still take the damage!"

The attack broke through...

The blast sped past her monster, and struck Applejack hard, making her groan in pain.

“Applejack!" cried Cadance.

“She's running out of life points!" added Shining Armor.

Spectra, however, only laughed. “That was pretty clever. I must admit it was cunning the way you stopped my attack… but that doesn’t mean I’m finished yet! I still have my other creatures.

Anoyatyllis, attack!”

Her monster complied and stood ready to unleash its wrath.

Applejack only smirked, “You may have another attack up your sleeve, but I have another surprise for you.”

“Huh?”

“Now I discard my Crane from my hand, and you know what that does…? It doubles the attack points of Kagutsuchi until the end of the battle!”

“Five-thousand?!” shouted Spectra.

Applejack then shouted, “Kagutsuch, counter attack!”

Her monster shoved Spectra’s monster off and prepared to return the favor!

“Not so fast!” sneered Spectra “I can still play this… EL SHADDOLL FUSION!

Now I can fuse Winda and Anoyatyllis, saving it from destruction!”

The fusion energies surrounded the monster, and yanked it away causing Applejack’s attack to miss.

“Now I Fusion Summon a fresh Anoyatyllis to the field!”

Applejack growled in outrage, because now that the battle had failed, Kagutsuchi’s attack power returned to its normal 2500!

Spectra snickered, “And what is more, sending my other monsters to the graveyard allows me to retrieve my two fusion spells, Shaddoll Fusion and El Shaddoll Fusion!

“Ugh!! She just keeps getting them back every time!” groaned Shining Armor.

“She’s playing like a super pro!” added Cadance.

Spectra’s eyes flared up with fury. “For the third time: Attack that Katgutsuchi!”

Just as it looked the attack would succeed…

“Not so fast!” hollered Applejack “I use Kagutsuchi's ability, which let's me use its lat overlay unit to protect itself from being destroyed!"

Spectra growled as her attack failed once again. The monster survived, but Applejack still took damage anyway…

…Followed by more painful shocks for herself and her friends.

Sci-Twi felt very dizzy from all the shocks and her eyes were spinning. “Gee… what pretty colors.”

“I’m getting tired of this.” added her brother.

Applejack was panting from her low score, but she was still standing nonetheless.

“Looks like you missed again.” she teased.

Spectra was extremely furious!

“Please tell me that was the last attack!” begged Cadance. “I can’t take any more of these shocks.”

Spectra, was panting heavily, unable to believe that hardly any of her attacks made it through.

“I still have Grysta, and I order her to attack your Susanowo!”

She was really hoping the attack would break through this time, but Applejack was once again prepared for it.

“Grysta… attack Susanowo!”

Spectra was sweating bullets hoping her attack would make it, but Applejack only laughed, “Now I banish BUJINGI SINYOU from the graveyard!”

“Ah…!”

“Now my Susanowo’s attack power increases by the same attack power as your monster does.”

“No!!!” screamed Spectra, but there was no way for her to call the attack off now, and her monster destroyed itself instantly upon contact.

“Oh, don’t feel bad…” taunted Applejack “The damage you take is only halved.”

Spectra was more outraged that her monster was gone for good. She had no other Shaddoll spells to put back in her hand either.

Spike could only howl in joy. “Take that, you overgrown nightmare!”

Spectra was shaking, still unable to believe this happened. “So you got lucky, and managed to pull off an inconceivable move, but don’t think this is over by a mile.

I shall place two cards facedown and end my turn!” she thundered.

“Now I’ve got her.” Thought Applejack. “Those two cards can only be El Shaddoll Fusion, and Shaddoll Core.”

She drew her next card, which was the only one she had.

"I play POT OF GREED, to draw two cards."

She really liked the two cards she got with that.

“You know, I have to say, you were right about one thing.”

Spectra looked up.

“…The dark does conceal many surprised, and if you’re not prepared for them, you’re doomed!”

Spectra blinked once in confusion, and then she realized all of Applejack’s smaller monsters still in play.

Applejack sniggered, “I got you so riled up with my Xyz monster, you didn’t bother to worry about my other monsters, and now it’s going to cost you!”

“What…?!” Spectra growled! “Impossible! I already told you that I rule here in this tower. The darkness will never let me down, and to prove it, I activate SHADDOLL CORE, and have it treated as a light monster.

Then I activate EL SHADDOLL FUSION yet again, allowing me to fuse my core with my Construct so I may summon it to the field in attack-mode!”

The spectators were worried.

“This can’t be good!” cried Terra. “Both those Fusion monsters are two strong for applejack to beat and Construct will instantly destroy any special summoned monsters.”

“That’s not all.” said Shining Armor “Now Spectra gets to add the two cards she used back to her hand, and she can send a "Shaddoll in her deck tot he graveyard!”

"Right you are..." hissed Spectra. "So I send Shaddoll Beast to my graveyard, which allows me to draw another card."

Sci-Twi, however, was smiling, able to determine what was coming now. “Applejack’s got this. Just wait and see.”

Applejack merely tipped her hat and said, “Sorry to do this to you, but I’m ending this nightmare of nonsense once and for all.

First: I’m switching my Ibis into attack mode.”

“Then I activate Susanowo’s ability once again!” hollered Applejack “I use its last overlay unit to add another Bujingi Crane to my hand.”

Spectra scoffed, "You think that scares me?"

"Nope." remarked Applejack "But this sure will... the spell card OVERLAY REGEN!" which adds an Ovelay Unit to my Kagutsuchi."

Spectra’s stomach gave a turn as she could see what was coming her way. “No! You can't…!”

“Can, will, and going to, especially since Susanowo is allowed to attack the monsters you control, and thanks to my Crane, It’s attack points will be doubled for the one battle!”

“Go Susanowo, attack Shaddoll Construct!”

Her monster complied and began to jump ahead to strike.

“Have you lost your senses?” sneered Spectra. “My construct automatically destroys any special summoned monster that tries to attack it.”

“Oh, I know that, and I was ready for it.”

“You what?!”

“I activate Kagutsuchi’s ability: by using one overlay unit, I can target my Susanowo, so now it can’t destroyed in battle or by cards effects.”

“Ah!!”

“So say bye-bye to the nightmare!”

Spectra fret in thought, “My construct’s ability is completely useless!”, and her monster was destroyed-- vanquished into darkness.

“But what now?” asked Cadance. “Now that the battle is over, Susanowo’s attack goes back to normal.”

“All part of my plan…” said Applejack, And she ordered Susanowo to attack Anoyatyllis, even though it was clearly weaker.

“How foolish!” sneered Spectra “Anoyatyllis, counter-attack, go!”

Kapow!! Applejack’s monster lost and was destroyed instantly.

Applejack and her friends were shocked really hard from the pain.

“What was she thinking doing that?!” yelled Terra.

“I bet I know…” said Sci-Twi.

Applejack roared as she stood tall and proud to shake off the pain, “I discard BUJINGI RAVEN from my hand!”

“Huh?!” cried Spectra.

“Since my Bujin was destroyed by battle, Raven steps in and destroys your monster!”

Spectra screamed in terror as he remaining beast bit the dust. “You…! You attacked me and destroyed your monster on purpose because you knew that would work out for you!”

“Eeyup, but it’s like you said, “The darkness holds surprises” and now your wide open for me to wipe out!”

Spectra looked all around her, but her field was totally emptied, and nothing in her hand could save her either.

“No!! The darkness has actually failed me?! IMPOSSIBLE!!!”

Applejack roared and called out to her remaining monsters, “Kagutsuchi…! Ibs…! …DIRECT ATTACK!!”

Her two monsters combined their powers together, and fired a massive blast of energy straight at Spectra, totaling 4100 points of damage!

The spectators would have been rejoicing with wild cheers over Applejack’s victory, only Spectra continued to wail and scream as her body began to flare up in bright lights followed by an earthquake as the tower began to collapse.

Rocks and boulders came crashing down from the ceiling and pillars toppled over.

With Spectra’s defeat the cage and the skeletal hands vanished, freeing the hostages, and they all fell to the floor with small thuds.

Applejack dashed to them all.

“You all okay?”

“We’re fine, now let’s beat it out of here!” shouted Terra.

Fortunately for them, a stone door opened wide leading to outside for real, and everyone dashed for it leaving Spectra and the tower to their fates.

Before long, the group had made it outside and a good distance away as the massive tower sank into a mountain of rubble, and then completely vanished, leaving nothing behind but Spectra sealed in a card.

“What an escape!” cried Spike.

“What a duel!” groaned Applejack. “I’m still bushed from it. What a close call.”

As for Sci-Twi, it all added up to her now. “Now I see why you didn’t use Fox’s ability earlier.”

Applejack nodded, and recalled earlier to when she lost a ton of life points…

“If I had used Fox’s effect and taken no damage, I know it would’ve spared you guys some shocks, but then… I’d be a bad spot for later in the duel. I’d have no cards to use, and I’d be wide open for a worse attack.

That’s strategy for you.”

She then looked regretful, “I’m just sorry I had to put y’all through that.”

The others were more than forgiving.

“Forget it.” said Shining Armor “At least you still won, and we’re all out of the tower.”

The others agreed, and Applejack wiped a tear from her eye.

Terra then looked a little down, over the concept of “putting someone through pain.” It began to bring bad memories that struck her a bit deep down.

“Gar…” she muttered to herself “Where are you, and why can’t you understand I want to make things right again?”

“You okay?” asked Cadance.

She snapped out of her trance, “Yeah, I’m fine.” but really she wasn’t.