Classes. Something everyone has a hard time getting used to after being away for the summer. The six students were bored out of their minds while attending headmare Twilight's History of Dueling Strategies class.
"Most of the time, whenever your opponent decides to pass their turn without attacking you, you must be observant. Look at your opponent's playing field, like if you see a card face down. This is one of the oldest forms of baiting seen in the game where your opponent has laid a trap for you to fall into by attacking them instead." Lectured Twilight as she points to her chalkboard diagram with her hoof. Ocellus, Silverstream, and Sandbar paid close attention, but Smolder had her hand resting on her cheek, Yona was daydreaming and looking off in a different direction, and Gallus had fallen asleep. Eventually however the bell rang which perked up all the bored students.
"Class is dismissed, for homework I would like for you all to write down at least 5 card names that are able to negate the infamous battle trap, Mirror Force. Have a great rest of your day!" Twilight smiled warmly at the students as they all packed up their notes. The students got up and then left the classroom together to talk amongst themselves.
"I can't believe how much I missed classes! I love learning more about the different strategies duelists use to win." Said Ocellus with a wide smile.
"If you say so, I'd rather play the game than listen to someone who talks about others playing it." Said Smolder with an unamused face.
"Don't let Professor Pinkie hear you say that. She has been surprising students with unexpected surprise duels to quiz them. She could surprise you too." half joked Sandbar.
"Uhh... Yona may need help with homework. Can friends have study group?" Yona asked her friends.
"That sounds like a lot of fun." Silverstream exclaimed loudly.
"The homework is pretty easy in my opinion. Cards that stop Mirror Force, three words. Mystical. Space. Typhoon." Said Gallus smugly as he used his claws to count each word.
"You know M.S.T. doesn't actually stop Mirror Force right Gallus?" Sandbar turned his head to look at Gallus.
"What!? Of course it does, M.S.T. stops everything." Gallus was pretty confident in his statement.
"Sandbar is right, Gallus. The effect of Mystical Space Typhoon states that it destroys the card, not negates it. If Mirror Force is flipped face up and you use M.S.T., though the card is destroyed, its effect still activates." Ocellus informed as if she was reading right off her notes.
"You guys are crazy, here, let's test it. Let's go to the arena and find out." Said Gallus. The others shrug their shoulders and then follow Gallus to the arena. They get to the entrance of the arena and look at the time sheet. To their disappointment, there was a duel scheduled by someone else at this time.
"Aw man, Someone has booked a duel for this time." Said as he frowned looking at the sign-up sheet.
"Well, that's fine. We can sit and watch this duel and wait for it to end, then we can use it when they're done." Sandbar said.
"Sounds good to me." Smolder smiled.
"Who is dueling right now?" Asked Silverstream. Gallus leans in closer and he suddenly grows still.
"....Discord..." Gallus's tone sounding dreadful.
"DISCORD!?!?!?" They all yell at once.
"Oh! Did somepony say my name?" Said a voice behind them. They all turned around quickly, but no one was there. confused, they all frantically look around to see where he could possibly be. They all can't see him till slowly, in unison they all look towards the ceiling. There, they see discord sitting in a chair upside down on the ceiling, defying gravity, drinking a cup of tea, Every single one of the students looks unamused.
"Do you six need something." Discord says smuggishly as he takes a sip of his tea.
"No, actually. We came here to use the arena." Said Sandbar in a monotone voice.
"Oh really? Well I have a duel scheduled for right now, maybe when I'm done you can use it." Said Discord slowly descending from the ceiling and landed on his feet. The students roll their eyes. Neither of them have forgotten the time he messed with the Spellbengers Hunt last year.
"Well if you excuse me, my opponent is waiting." Said Discord walked past them and entered the arena.
"How did Discord book a duel? He isn't affiliated with the school." Smolder huffed loudly.
"Well...After the incident with the Spellbenger hunt, Twilight did finally give him a job here." Sandbar regretfully informed his friends
"What kind of job?" Asked Silverstream. Sandbar sighs heavily before answering.
"Dean of Students." Sandbar said which causes all of them to groan.
"Oh great, now we have till graduation to deal with Discord's shenanigans." Ocellus deadpanned, looking completely unamused
"Yona not like chaos creature too much." Yona kicked at the ground as she spoke.
"Hopefully, now that he is included, his attitude will mellow out." Said Gallus hopefully as he and the rest of the students enter the arena. They all enter the stands and sit down. Within seconds, all the lights go out and a spotlight turns on in the middle of the arena. There standing in the light was Discord, a microphone descends from the ceiling and Discord clears his throat before speaking into it..
"Ladies and Gentlecolts! Welcome to the greatest duel you will ever see in your life!" Said Discord speaking into the microphone. The students groan again as some of them slump in their seats. Of course Discord has to put on a full performance just to be annoying. "In this corner, we have a fan favorite. The one thousand time Duel Monster World Chaos Champion, The famous and infamous, the mean mean dueling machine, DISCORD!!!" a second spotlight flicks on to show a clone of Discord he has made is standing on one side of the arena. The clone blows kisses to the crowd and waves to the stands.
"Thank you! Thank you! You are far too kind!" The clone was blowing kisses to the crowd, which only compossed of the student six.
"And now for his opponent!" Said the first Discord. "You know him, you hate to love him and love to hate him, DISCORD!" a third spotlight flicks on on the other end of the arena to show a third Discord, a second clone.
"Oh my! What a wonderful crowd!" Said the second clone also waving to the stands.
"OH BROTHER!" Smolder calls out.
"Discord, did you set all this up, just for a joke?" Asked Sandbar as he crossed his hooves.
"No." All Three Discords say at the same time.
"Then who is your real opponent?" Gallus glared at the chaos lord. The two clones quickly dart towards the Discord in the middle and morph back into him. A "Twang" sound is heard as the clones join back into the original.
"Hmmm... Well first I asked Fluttershy but she was busy with the animal sanctuary, Rainbow Dash has Wonderbolt practice, Applejack said no, Rarity is on a tight schedule with her dresses, Pinkie has detention duty, and Twilight has papers to grade. So...No one." Said Discord said plainly.
"Then WHY did you schedule a duel when no one agreed to duel you!?" Bellowed Smolder heavily annoyed.
"Well I already scheduled it before I started asking, hoping to get an opponent before then. I like to duel too, you know?" Discord pulled out his deck and held it in his hand. The top card suddenly grows legs and stands up, it tries to run down discord's arm. "Ope! Oh no you don't." Discord points at the card with his other hand and zaps it with magic and it quickly goes back to being a normal card. He picks it up and places it back on his deck. The students begin to face hoof/palm. "Well, wait about one of you six. Would you like to duel me?"
"Nope! Not me!" Smolder shook her head.
"Me neither." Gallus crosses his claws.
"No." Yona was annoyed by discord's antics.
"I don't know..." Ocellus was unsure she wanted to.
"I'll pass." Sandbar looks off in another direction with an unamused face.
"...I'll duel you." Silverstream accepted. Almost in unison, all the other students look at Silverstream with widened eyes.
"WHAT!?" They all yell out.
"You will!?" Said Discord excitedly. "I mean, alright whatever." He pretends to not care that much. "Shuffle your deck and let me know when you are ready." Discord grew two more arms and then began to rapidly shuffle his deck as he took his place in the arena.
"Silver, are you nuts!? He's crazy!" Gallus looks at Silverstream like she was nuts.
"Yeah, but remember last year. He only acted that way because he was left out. I personally don't want that to happen again. And...well. If we make an attempt to be his friend, he may take it easy on us. We have our whole lives to be around him since being element bearers. Might as well make friends now." Said Silverstream as she got up from her seat and approached the arena. They all look at each other, she did have a point.
"Prepare yourself Silverstream! As I assure you, my deck is pretty wacky, wackier than me." Discord's own arm then morphs into a duel disk. "Well, maybe not. Hoo hoo hoo!" Discord chuckled to which Silverstream sighs and activates her duel Disk.
"DUEL!"
[Silverstream vs. Discord]
"I will start us off dearie...Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm... " You know what, you start. I can't decide what to play first." Said Discord. Silverstream rolls her eyes.
"Fine, I draw." Said Silverstream. "I activate Moray of Greed, I shuffle two water monsters into my deck and I draw three cards." Silver draws her cards and smiles. "Awesome! I summon Hammer Shark. {1700atk. 1500def. Lv4} I now activate his effect, I can lower his level by 1, making him a level 3 monster, and when I do that, I can special summon one more level 3 monster from my claw. I special summon Tripod Fish {300atk. 1300def. Lv3.} I now build the overlay network, Xyz summoning Submersible Carrier Aero Shark! {1900atk. 1000def. Lv3 Xyz} I will now end."
"Awesome first turn Silver!" Yelled Gallus from the stands
"Yes, I suppose that was ok, but now it's my turn. I draw." Discord acted like he wasn't impressed as he looks at his hand. "Hmmmm, oh, ho yes. I activate the spell card, Toon Table of Contents."
"TOONS!?" Yelled Ocellus, her eyes widening.
"Whatsa toon?" Asked Yona, looking at Ocellus.
"Toon monsters are very VERY mischievous! Silver needs to be very careful or she'll play right into Discord's hands." Ocellus was now on edge, worried for her driend as she was up against a very brutal deck.
"Isn't Discord like well over 1000 years old? Why does he still like cartoons?" Gallus deadpanned.
"With this card, I add any Toon card from my deck to my hand, I add the delightful field spell Toon Kingdom! And now, I activate it!" Said Discord. A large book lands behind Discord and opens up, a giant colorful castle springs up from the book. Circus music can be heard playing from the castle and Discord has the biggest smile on his face. Silver and the rest of the students look very confused except for Ocellus, she had a fearful look on her face.
"Ooh-Hoo-hoo! Welcome to the world of toons!" Said Discord as he twists his body from side to side. "While Toon Kingdom is on my field, it is treated as Toon World, and you can't target my toon monster with card effects! Now, since you control a monster, and I don't I can special summon this, Toon Cyber Dragon! {2100atk. 1600def. Lv5}. Toon Cyber dragon jumps out of Toon Kingdom and lands on the field, It sticks its tongue out at silver and then snickers.
"What the!? That's Cyber Dragon but...Well look at it!" Sandbar was disturbed by the abomination on the field.
"It's super weird, who would ever use a card like that?" Asked Smolder as she cringes.
"Discord would." Said Yona with an unsurprised look.
"Now, I place one card face down and end." Discord was smirking pretty heavily now.
"What? You're not gonna attack?" Asked Silverstream. She instantly remembers what she heard in class today, she narrows her eyes and smirks. "Ok Discord, Then I draw. My turn to activate a field spell, I discard Warrior of Atlantis from my claw to add A Legendary Ocean to my claw, I too now activate it."
[Silverstream 4 card/ Discord 4 cards]
A Large temple rises behind Silverstream and the side of the arena seems to flood with water, stopping right at the edge of Discord's side.
"This card is treated as Umi, and all water monsters gain 200 attack and defense points." Silverstream was pretty confident in herself. "Finally, all water monsters in our claws have their levels reduced by 1. Now I summon Metabo-Shark! {1800 + 200atk. 500 + 200def. Lv5} Now, My cruiser Shark has enough attack points to destroy your monster, but since they are evenly matched, they'll both be destroyed. But first, I will activate Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your face down!"
"Egad!" Yelled Discord in distress as his card was destroyed.
"Nice job Silverstream!" Smolder pumps her fist, cheering for Silverstream.
"See, told ya, MST counters everything." Said Gallus smuggily.
"No, Not good." Ocellus was even more worried as she was the only one not impressed by Silverstream's move.
"Why not, friend Silverstream stopped trap card." Yona looked to Ocellus.
"That face down card was all a ruse. She should have used Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Toon Kingdom, Discord wanted her to use it on his face down. Toon Kingdom is much more dangerous than any trap." Informed Ocellus, her eyes still locked on the duel.
"...How dangerous?" Asked Sandbar. Ocellus only pointed back to the field to gesture to them to just watch.
"Now that you are wide open for an attack, I attack your Toon Cyber Dragon with my Cruiser Shark!" Yelled Silverstream. Cruiser Shark quickly swims towards Cyber Dragon. Toon Cyber Dragon's cartoonish eyes widen up as big as his body with a loud "BOING" sound is heard as the shark darts towards him. When the shark collided with the toon, there was a huge explosion. "Heh, now with my second Shark, I will attack...you...directly?" As the smoke clears, it shows that Cruiser shark was destroyed, but Cyber Dragon was still there. It had arms and was filing his nails, looking completely bored. He soon notices Silver looking at him and he quickly pulls his arms back into his body and goes back to his battle stance. All the Students except for Ocellus had wide eyes and their mouths gaped open.
"HEY! Wha..Bu...but HOW!?" Silverstream stutters, completely shocked that Toon Cyber Dragon was unharmed.
"Oh dearie it's because of Toon Kingdom. Anytime you target a toon monster by battle or by card effect, I can simply banish the top card of my deck face down, and my monster can't be destroyed." Discord chuckled lightly as he smirks at Silverstream.
"NO WAY!" Yelled Gallus.
"No...nononono! Ah! I can't do anything else! I have too end..." Silverstream was beggining to panic.
"Very good, and now it's my turn. Now My toon Cyber Dragon will attack you, Hehehe, Directly!" Said Discord with a smirk.
"But, I still have a monster!" Protested Silverstream. It didn't matter though, Toon Cyber Dragon Smirks and slithers right past her monster and then proceeds to hit her with electricity from its mouth. Silverstream lets out a yelp from the shock as Cyber Dragon snickers and slithers back.
"No fair Discord! You're cheating!" Yelled Smolder standing up and pointing at him.
"What??? You're accusing me of using my chaos magic to cheat during a duel?" Discord said innocently.
"Yeah, we are!" Said Gallus as all of them had angry expressions on their face.
"Guys...He's not cheating." Ocellus had a regretful look on her face.
"What!? Cell look at this! This duel is rigged!" Smolder had both her arms outstretched towards the arena as she spoke
"It's not, that's how toons work. As long as you don't have a toon yourself, Toon monsters can attack you directly." Said Ocellus, again not taking here eyes off the duel.
"What kind of monster would make a deck like this?" Asked Sandbar.
"Oh I did." Said Discord said plainly.
"YOU!?" They all yelled out.
"Yep, Back when I was a bad boy, I created my deck to go up against both Celestia and Luna. It almost beat them until I got a decent helping of those Elements of Harmony. When I was freed, It would have been a waste to just throw them away, So Industrial Illusions turned it into a card deck for me. 1000 years ago, duel monsters didn't use cards you know." Discord crosses his arms as he looked up at the students.
"That's insane!" Said Smolder.
[Silverstream 1900/ Discord 4000]
[Silverstream 2 cards/ Discord 5 cards]
Silverstream was panicking, one more attack like that will destroy the rest of her life points. She drew her card and tried to come up with a new strategy.
"Ok....I...set two cards face down, and then I activate the continuous spell Aquarium Set, All Water monsters gain an additional 300 attack. Combined with my field spell, That 500 extra attack. Now Metabo Shark has 2300 attack. Now that my monster is stronger, I can attack your monster." Said Silverstream.
"Really? Didn't we just establish that my monsters can't be destroyed if I banish one card from my deck?" Said Discord, placing his hands on his hips.
"I didn't forget, but you will still lose life points!" Said Silverstream. Metabo Shark darts towards Cyber Dragon. He lets out a high pitched girly scream before being viciously bit by the shark. Discord looks unamused as he banishes a second card.
"With that, I end." Said Silverstream.
"I draw, and I don't even need to look at it. All I need to do is attack and I win. Toon Cyber Dragon, win me this game." Said Discord. Toon Cyber Dragon smirks and opens his mouth and charges up his attack.
"Hold on Discord! I activate my trap!" SIlverstream held out her claw as her card flips face up.
"Sigh ...Do I need to remind you that my toons also can't be targeted by card effects either." Discord leaned his head back in boredom.
"And you need to stop underestimating me, because my card doesn't target your monster, I activate the trap, Nutrient Z! Right before I take 2000 or more damage, I gain 4000 extra life points right before the damage!" Yelled Silverstream. Right before she is struck by Cyber Dragon's Lightning, she gets a huge gain to her life points.
"How annoying." Said Discord now looking at his hand. "I place one card face down, and I summon Toon Gemini Elf!" {1900atk. 900def. Lv4}.
[Silverstream 3800/ Discord 3800]
[Silverstream 1 card/ Discord 4 cards]
"I...I'm gonna lose...I can't withstand two attacks next turn...And I got nothing!" Yelled Silver as she looked at the last card in her claw. It was useless at this point.
"She's lost all focus, Discord has completely psyched her out." Gallus looked worried seeing how desperate Silverstream had become.
"Yeah, that trick of having her waste her MST has thrown her off, and now she can't think ahead." Sandbar frowned as he looked at his friend.
"Silver! Look at me!" Ocellus yelled out. A panicked Silverstream looks over at Ocellus. "You need to calm down, control your breathing, and draw your card. The duel is never over until the last card is drawn, your next card could win you the game." Silver blinks a few times while Discord raises an eyebrow, he has heard Fluttershy say the exact same thing from time to time. 'A duel is never over until the last card is drawn.' Silver takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. She draws her card and her eyes widen.
"Hey! This could work!" Said Silverstream smiling. Ocellus smiles and leans back in her seat. "I summon Deep Sea Diva. [200 + 500atk. 400 + 500def. Lv2 Tuner} When she is summoned, I can special summon a level 3 or lower Sea Serpent monster from my deck, I summon Legendary Atlantean Tridon! {1600 + 500atk. 800 + 500def. Lv3} Now, I flip my last face down to activate Call of the Haunted. This allows me to special summon one monster from my grave, I summon back my Tripod Fish. Now his effect activates, since he was special summoned, I can raise the level of one of my monsters, I choose Deep Sea Diva to make her level 3. Now with Tripod Fish and Deep Sea Diva, I tune for 6, Synchro Summoning Coral Dragon! {2400 + 500atk. 500 + 500def. Lv6 Synchro.}" Silver's friends clap for her spectacular move. Silver looks up at Coral Dragon, sad the real one wasn't here because of what the Pony of Shadows has done. But she turns her attention back to Discord. "Now, I activate Coral Dragon's effect. I discard the last card in my hoof and I can destroy any card on your side of the field, I destroy your Toon Kingdom!" Discord reached for his duel disk, like he was going to activate his face down. However, looking at Silverstream's hopeful expression, and seeing all her friends root for her, despite being backed into a corner this whole duel. He narrows his eyes, and then relents, allowing his field spell to be destroyed. The walls of the castle crumble as the field spell is destroyed. Now Silver's friends are cheering for Silver for getting rid of Discord's most devastating card.
"...When Toon World, or a card renamed to Toon World is destroyed, My Gemini Elf is destroyed as well." Said Discord now shows no emotions as his Gemini Elf is destroyed as well.
"Now Coral Dragon, Destroy Toon Cyber Dragon!" Coral Dragon leans its head back as it charges its attack. Cyber Dragon's jaw drops all the way to the floor as it's see's Coral Dragon's attack. Coral Dragon then fires a jet stream of water at Cyber Dragon. Cyber Dragon Yells out in a cartoony little girl's voice and is destroyed. Discord remains silent. "Now Discord, With Metabo-Shark and my Tridon's combined attack will finish you off!" With the two Monster's combined attack of 4400, Discord is swiftly defeated.
[Silverstream vs. Discord: Winner Silverstream]
Silver's friend's clap and cheered for her as she somehow stole the victory. Silverstream smiles wide and looks towards her friends in pure excitement. Her friends join her on the arena to congratulate her. Discord watches them as he looks down at his duel disk. He gathers up his deck, and the last card he picks up was his unused face down card. He looked closely at it. It was Toon Terror, this card would have easily negated Silverstream's Coral Dragon's effect, but he chose not to activate it. He looks at the students again all smiling and happy together. He sighs again and places the card back in his deck and turns to leave till he hears Silverstream's voice behind him.
"Hey Discord!" Silverstream called to the Chaos Lord.
"What is it?" He asks as he turns his head.
"That was a great duel! Thanks for dueling me, that was fun." Said Silverstream with the brightest smile. Discord was actually able to give a slight smile back at her.
"Yeah, you too." Said Discord as he snaps his fingers and then teleports away.
"I can't believe you somehow pulled that off, that was nuts!" Sandbar exclaimed
"Toons look cute, but are very brutal." Yona shivers at the thought of having to go against them herself.
"That has to be the hardest duel I have ever been in." Said Silverstream. "That was harder than the duel with Starlight last year."
"No kidding, I was anxious about it just watching it." Said Ocellus
"I could take him." Said Smolder smuggishly.
"Now that that's over, now I can prove to you guys M.S.T. can stop Mirror Force." Said Gallus, he then looks to Sandbar. "Come help me prove it Sandbar.
"Whatever man, I'm telling you it won't work." Said Sandbar as they both take their places on the arena. The others stand off to the side to see the demonstration.
End of Chapter 5