Shining Armor and Cadance, having been released from the hospital, were being escorted to their home in Canterlot by a royal chariot. Cadance, still tired and a little stiff, rested on Shining Armor’s shoulder. Shining Armor smiled, feeling good to have his love by his side. Something was still nipping at him though.
It’s nice that Twilight and her friends showed up, he thought. I sure hope they’ll be okay without my protection. Well, considering how hard Grant beat us, I can hardly say that it matters. Right now, all I need is some sleep on anything other than a hospital bed.
Shining Armor and Cadance’s carriage continued along the way until they got to their home. Upon stopping, Shining Armor weakly got out and carried his now sleeping wife inside the house. The familiar scent of home was proving to be intoxicating as he brought Cadance into their bedroom, already feeling like he would faint at any moment. Once she laid her down on the soft mattress and pulled the covers over her body, he went to his side and laid down, falling asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
Later that night, Shining Armor and Cadance continued to sleep very soundly. Shining Armor suddenly began to tremor slightly, and his slight smile turned to one of fear and pain. He tossed and he turned, but it was no use for him.
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“Go, Onyx Cerberus!” yelled Grant. “Attack Heraldry God – Coat of Arms! Tri-Head Howling!”
The dark blue beams from Grant’s mosnter’s attack enveloped Shining Armor’s monster before encasing him in its rough, hot blast.
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Shining Armor gasped and shot up panting, the sudden motions making his stiff muscles ache even more, much to his discomfort. The waking from Shining Armor’s nightmare caused him to wake his wife. Upon seeing her eyes reluctantly flutter open, Shining Armor hung his head, ashamed for waking her.
“Honey?” asked Cadance, scooting closer as much as her sore muscles would allow. “What’s wrong?”
“I had a nightmare, that’s all.”
“What happened?”
“I… I was back at the Emmitt’s. I was dueling Grant again. And I lost to him.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry. Do you need me to get you some water?”
“No, I’m fine… What happened afterwards?”
“Pardon?”
“I don’t remember anything after his first attack. How did he attack? Did he attack you next?”
“You know, now that you mention it, he planned on finishing you off with his next strongest monster. Then he was going to finish me off with his two weakest monsters. However, I took the next attack instead. What happened afterwards is a blur to me as well.”
“What do you suppose it means?”
“With the way he apologized before his final turn, the way he wanted to make me take the smallest of the hits; call me crazy, but I don’t think Grant really is a bad person.”
“What? He’s working for Rae. How can he be anything but bad?”
“Maybe he was coerced. You heard Alex’s story, right? How else could someone supposedly as nice as him become like that?”
“I have no idea. All I know is that as of right now, Grant is a threat, and he could come at anytime and…”
Upon remembering his sister, her friends, and their possible endangerment, he fell into his pillow, mulling over a multitude of negative circumstances.
“Shining Armor,” said Cadance, trying her best to soothe him.
“Forget it,” he stated. “We have to do something.”
“What can we do? We’ve already proven that even both of us can’t take on one of him.”
“That’s why we need to get better. And I know just who to go to.”
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Wednesday, May 30th, 2012
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Reese was pulling a Lean Cuisine pizza from the microwave of his kitchen for lunch. He placed the pizza from the box it cooked upon on a plate and threw the box in the garbage. Emma was in the living room of their house, laying on the couch reading Jules Verne. As Reese was cutting his pizza, he heard a knock on the door. Expecting it to be one of his fellow Stone of Equus bearers, he went straight for the door. Upon opening it, he was surprised to see Shining Armor and Cadance standing there.
“Shining Armor,” spoke Reese in surprise. “Cadance. What are you doing here?”
“We need your help,” answered Cadance. “May we come in?”
“By all means.”
Upon hearing the two ponies coming into the house, Emma quickly saved her spot in the book to welcome them inside.
“Hey there,” she said. “Would you like something to eat or drink?”
“Just some water would be fine,” answered Shining Armor.
Emma went to the cupboard to get two large glasses as Reese sat them on the couch that Emma was reading on.
“So,” said Reese, sitting in a chair front of them, “what brings you here?”
“We need someone to help us with our dueling,” answered Cadance.
“Really? That’s it? If you really wanted to talk to someone, Alex would have–”
“We tried him,” interrupted Shining Armor, “but he was apparently working with Zelda on something.”
“I see. I find it flattering that you come to me next.”
“Here we go,” chimed Emma, holding two glasses of water. Shining Armor and Cadance graciously took the cups from her hand with their magic. Emma sat down on another chair next to Reese’s to join in.
“That’s the thing,” said Shining Armor. “From the stories I’ve heard from our friends, you are a very good tag-team duelist. How does someone like you do it?”
“You want to know?” asked Reese.
“Of course!”
“May I see one of your D-Pad tablets?”
Cadance handed over hers. Reese tapped on the screen until he brought up the duel history. Having found their duel with Grant among them, he took a look through it step by step.
“Alright,” said Reese upon finishing.
“And?” asked Cadance.
“You guys dueled as best as you possibly could. There’s really nothing much I can say.”
“But you said you knew!”
“Can I see that?” asked Emma, prompting Reese to hand Emma Cadance’s duel disk.
“To be honest,” continued Reese. “I expected to see some misplays in there, but as far as I can tell, you dueled pretty well. However, it’s just that your opponent had better cards than you did.”
“Come on!” demanded Shining Armor. “There must be something!”
“Let’s see,” said Emma. “Did any of you underestimate Grant in any way?”
“No!” responded Shining Armor. “If he was going to prove that he was a strong duelist by taking on both of us, I wanted to be as prepared as possible! That’s why I summoned Genom-Heritage right away.”
“That might have been your problem,” said Emma.
Shining Armor and Cadance leaned in, hopefully finally getting an answer.
“Genom-Heritage’s effect only works well when up against another xyz monster. Since there was none yet, Grant was easily able to destroy it before it could pose a threat. Not to mention, the reason you lost so bad was because Grant special summoned Genom-Heritage and used its effects against you. Your overzealousness was your downfall.”
Emma’s ability to find a flaw that he had overlooked impressed Reese to no end. He certainly looked proud to call her his sister.
“I see,” said Shining Armor.
“What about me?” asked Cadance.
“You,” answered Emma, “were just fine. You defended yourself and waited for the opponent to set himself up so you could know what you were up against. Once you saw the monster, you and Shining Armor worked wonderfully together to bring Grant all the way down to 100 life points. But like I said, his undoing was Genom-Heritage.”
Shining Armor and Cadance looked stunned. Not only were they better educated, but it was all because of the intelligence of Emma that did it for them.
“Thank you so much,” said Shining Armor. “However, I think there is one more thing you can do for us.”
“Oh? And what’s that?”
“Test us! In a duel, of course.”
Reese having had his eyes closed as he continued to think about Emma, opened them in surprise.
“Duel?” he asked.
“Of course! Not that I doubt your sister, but I want to make sure that I understand this better by learning firsthand.”
“You want us to tag?”
“If that’s okay with you.”
“Fine, I accept your challenge. There is a large park northeast of here. Let’s go.”
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Reese and Emma lived much further north than Alex and Tom, but they were close to Arrowhead Park, a large grassy area with a playground, tennis and basketball courts, a baseball diamond, and a large hill further north that provided an excellent sledding area in the winter.
Reese wanted to duel as close as he could to the playground, and for his own good reasons. Among the children who often played there, he was considered a hero and they loved to watch him duel. And with school out as it was, there would be dozens of children there. Sure enough, as soon as they saw Reese with Emma, Shining Armor, and Cadance walking towards them with constructed D-Pads on them, the group of kids stopped whatever activities they were doing to say hi to their idol.
Not one children’s voice could be heard or distinguished from another as they professed their excitement. Many of the children also went to take a look at the two magical ponies before them. A couple of them tried to climb onto them.
“Now, now,” spoke Reese, getting the instantaneous attention of the children, “these ponies are my friends, and they have come to duel me and Emma. Doesn’t that sound like fun?”
The children all cheered. Cadance was surprised. She never expected someone like Reese to be good with children like that.
“Now,” he continued, “once we’re done, then I’ll let you play with them. Is that okay, guys?”
The children continued to cheer. Shining Armor and Cadance felt a little strange being dragged into being a playmate for dozens of kids, but knowing how good they were with children themselves, they smiled contently.
“Now,” said Reese, “please give us some room!”
As if it was ritual, the kids formed a large rectangle around the four duelists, any parents or babysitters filling in any gaps.
“Alright,” said Emma, “let’s see how much you’ve learned.”
“Looking forward to it,” said Shining Armor.
The four duelists unsheathed their duel disks.
“Duel detected,” called an intercom voice, causing the area to be encased in a holographic aura from the street lights.
As the four of them drew five cards from their decks, the kids chanted, “Duel!” until they would hear it from the duelists’ mouths themselves.
“You really know how to turn a crowd,” said Cadance.
“What can I say?” stated Reese with a smug smile. “Who doesn’t love a good duel?”
Feeling that the tension was killing the kids, they began.
“DUEL!” they all cried.
Cadance and Shining Armor vs. Reese and Emma
Cadance’s Turn: Cadance activates Painful Choice, choosing five cards in her deck (Crystal Beast Ruby Carbuncle, Crystal Beast Cobalt Eagle, Crystal Beast Amber Mammoth, Crystal Beast Amethyst Cat, and Crystal Beast Emerald Tortoise). Her opponent picks one of them (Crystal Beast Amethyst Cat). Then, she sends the other four cards to the graveyard. Cadance summons Crystal Beast Topaz Tiger (ATK: 1600 DEF: 1000).
Cadance places two cards face down and ends her turn.
Status: Hand-3 Life-8000 Monsters-1 Face Down Cards-2
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The children began to rile up once again with the start of Reese’s turn. He responded with a comfortable smile, knowing he wouldn’t let his audience down.
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Reese’s Turn: Reese activates the effect of Skull Conductor from his hand, sending it to the graveyard to special summon two Zombie-type monsters whose combined ATK is 2000, special summoning Reborn Zombie (ATK: 1000 DEF: 1600) and Decayed Commander (ATK: 1000 DEF: 1500). Reese sets one monster.
Reese places one card face down and ends his turn.
Status: Hand-1 Life-8000 Monsters-3 Face Down Cards-1
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Looks like he’s setting up for his sister, thought Shining Armor. I know this next move of mine will do us some good.
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Shining Armor’s Turn: Shining Armor summons Heraldic Beast Basilisk (ATK: 1000 DEF: 1400).
Shining Armor places three cards face down and ends his turn.
Status: Hand-2 Life-8000 Monsters-1 Face Down Cards-3
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“Looks like you’re playing a bit more patiently,” responded Emma.
“I know!” said Shining Armor excitedly. “I think we might actually beat you guys!”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, shall we?”
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Emma’s Turn: Emma summons Mermail – Abysspike (ATK: 1600 DEF: 800). When Mermail – Abysspike is normal summoned, Emma can discard one WATER monster to add a level 3 or lower WATER monster from her deck to her hand. Emma then activates Surface, special summoning a level 3 or lower Fish, Sea Serpent, or Aqua-type monster from her graveyard in face up defense position, choosing Gishki Vision (ATK: 700 DEF: 500). Emma overlays Mermail – Abysspike, Reborn Zombie, and Decayed Commander to xyz summon Sapphire Serpent (ATK: 2800 DEF: 2200).
Next, Emma activates Gishki Aquamirror, using Gishki Vision as the tribute in a ritual summon. With Gishki Vision’s effect, it can be used as the entire tribute for the ritual summoning of a WATER attribute monster. Emma tributes Gishki Vision to ritual summon Evigishki Soul Ogre (ATK: 2800 DEF: 2800). Emma activates Evigishki Soul Ogre’s effect. By discarding one Gishki monster (Gishki Diviner), she can shuffle an opponent’s monster from the field into the deck, choosing Shining Armor’s Heraldic Beast Basilisk.
Emma attacks Crystal Beast Topaz Tiger with Sapphire Serpent, but Shining Armor activates Depth Amulet, discarding one card to negate the attack. Emma then attacks Cadance and Shining Armor directly with Evigishki Soul Ogre, but Shining Armor activates Depth Amulet once again, discarding a card to negate the attack.
Emma places one card face down and ends her turn.
Status: Hand-0 Life-8000 Monsters-2 Face Down Cards-1
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“Alright,” said Emma, moderately impressed with Shining Armor’s protective abilities, “you have no more cards in your hand. What now?”
“Now I have enough monsters,” Cadance confidently quipped.
“Okay. Let’s see then.”
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Cadance’s Turn: Cadance summons Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus (ATK: 1800 DEF: 1200). Cadance overlays Crystal Beast Topaz Tiger and Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus to xyz summon Number 39: Utopia (ATK: 2500 DEF: 2000). Cadance then activates her face down Blast with Chain, equipping it to Number 39: Utopia and having it gain 500 ATK (ATK: 2500 -> 3000).
Cadance attacks Evigishki Soul Ogre with Number 39: Utopia, but Reese activates Shift, switching the target to his face down monster, which is a Morphing Jar (ATK: 700 DEF: 600). When Morphing Jar is flip summoned, all players discard their hands and draw five cards from their decks.
Cadance ends her turn.
Status: Hand-5 Life-8000 Monsters-1 Face Down Cards-1
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With Reese’s turn coming up, the kids were back into cheering for their #1 duelist.
These kids are going to get quite the show today, thought Reese.
Reese had never dueled for the kids since he obtained Obsidian Imp. He was brimming with excitement to reveal it to them for the first time.
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Reese’s Turn: Reese activates Monster Reborn, special summoning Despair from the Dark from his graveyard (ATK: 2800 DEF: 3000). Reese overlays Evigishki Soul Ogre and Despair from the Dark to xyz summon Obsidian Imp (ATK: 2800 DEF: 2500). Reese equips Obsidian Imp with Sword of Dark Rites, increasing its ATK by 400 (ATK: 2800 -> 3200).
Reese attacks Number 39: Utopia with Obsidian Imp. Cadance attempts to activate Number 39: Utopia’s effect, detaching one xyz material to negate the attack, but Reese activates the effect of Obsidian Imp. By detaching one xyz material from it when a monster that it’s attacking activates its effect, Reese can detach one xyz material from it to negate its effect and reduce its ATK by 800 for the damage step (ATK: 3000 -> 2200). However, Shining Armor activates Depth Amulet again, discarding one card to negate the attack. At the end of the damage step, Number 39: Utopia’s ATK returns to normal (ATK: 2200 -> 3000).
Reese places two cards face down and ends his turn.
Status: Hand-2 Life-8000 Monsters-1 Face Down Cards-2
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The kids marveled at Reese’s new monster.
“Look at it!” called one kid.
“It’s so cool!”
“I want one!”
“So,” said Shining Armor to Reese, “these kids really look up to you.”
Reese nodded.
“It’s a shame I’m about to embarrass you in front of all of them right now.”
“What?”
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Shining Armor’s Turn: Shining Armor summons Heraldic Beast Aberconway (ATK: 1800 DEF: 900). Next, Shining Armor activates Advanced Heraldry Art, allowing him to special summon two Heraldic Beast monsters from his graveyard and then xyz summon a monster using exactly those cards as xyz material, choosing Heraldic Beast Basilisk and Heraldic Beast Unicorn (ATK: 1100 DEF: 1600). Shining Armor overlays Heraldic Beast Basilisk and Heraldic Beast Unicorn to xyz summon Number 8: Heraldic Beast Genom-Heritage (ATK: 2400 DEF: 1800). Shining Armor then special summons Heraldic Beast Eale, as he controls at least two Heraldic monsters (ATK: 1000 DEF: 1600).
Shining Armor then activates Number 8: Heraldic King Genom-Heritage’s effect, targeting one xyz monster the opponent controls and gaining the target’s ATK, name, and effects until the end phase, choosing Obsidian Imp (ATK: 2400 -> 3200). Also, the target’s effects are negated and its ATK becomes 0 until the end phase (ATK: 3200 -> 0). Next, Shining Armor activates his face down Heraldry Protection, having one monster on the field lose 800 ATK, but preventing its destruction in battle, choosing Obsidian Imp.
Shining Armor attacks Obsidian Imp with Heraldic Beast Aberconway. Reese attempts to activates Negate Attack, but Cadance activates her face down Trap Jammer, negating and destroying Negate Attack. The attack goes through. Obsidian Imp isn’t destroyed in battle. Damage is applied normally.
Reese and Emma’s Life Points: 8000 -> 4800
Shining Armor attacks Obsidian Imp with Heraldic Beast Aberconway
Reese and Emma’s Life Points: 4800 -> 3000
Shining Armor attacks Obsidian Imp with Heraldic Beast Eale, but then he activates Heraldry Burst, sending all spell and trap cards the opponent controls to the owners’ hands and ending the battle phase.
During the end phase of the turn Heraldry Burst was activated, 500 points of damage are inflicted for each card returned (3).
Reese and Emma’s Life Points: 3000 -> 1500
Also, Obsidian Imp’s ATK returns to normal (minus the amount it loses from Heraldry Protection's effect) (ATK: 0 -> 2000).
Shining Armor places one card face down and ends his turn.
Status: Hand-1 Life-8000 Monsters-3 Face Down Cards-1
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As Reese and Emma got up from the barrage of damage inflicted onto them, Reese could hear the sound of the children booing Shining Armor, who looked rather nervous at being turned on like this.
“Hey!” yelled Reese, putting his hands up, getting the children to quiet down. “Is that how you treat a talented duelist? He just made a brilliant move, and you should treat him as such.”
Trying to appease their idol, the kids began to cheer for Shining Armor. The white unicorn gave Reese a gracious nod before getting ready for Emma’s turn.
“You don’t think you’re going to go through this duel without taking a few hits, do you?” she asked.
“Bring it on!” called Shining Armor. “I’m ready.”
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Emma’s Turn: Emma activates Reload, sending her hand to her deck, shuffling it, and drawing cards equal to the amount of cards added to her deck. Emma activates Heavy Storm, destroying all spell and trap cards on the field, including Heraldry Protection (ATK: 2000 -> 2800) and Blast with Chain (ATK: 3000 -> 2500). Emma then activates Space Cyclone, detaching one xyz material from a monster, choosing Number 39: Utopia.
Emma attacks Heraldic Beast Eale with Sapphire Serpent.
Cadance and Shining Armor’s Life Points: 8000 -> 6200
Emma places two cards face down and ends her turn.
Status: Hand-2 Life-2300 Monsters-1 Face Down Cards-2
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“Mere child’s play,” giggled Cadance, “it’s time to end this.”
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Cadance’s Turn: Cadance special summons Rainbow Dragon from her hand, as she has seven different Crystal Beast monsters in her graveyard (ATK: 4000 DEF: 0). Cadance then summons another Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus. Cadance activates Rainbow Dragon’s effect. By sending all Crystal Beast monsters she controls to the graveyard, Rainbow Dragon gains 1000 ATK (ATK: 4000 -> 5000).
Cadance attacks Obsidian Imp with Rainbow Dragon, but Emma activates Damage Diet, halving the damage.
Reese and Emma’s Life Points: 1500 -> 400
Cadance places one card face down and ends her turn.
Status: Hand-3 Life-6200 Monsters-2 Face Down Cards-1
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The kids weren’t even making noise anymore. They were too hyped in anticipation for Reese’s next turn.
“You know what these kids love more than me winning?” asked Reese, standing back up from Cadance’s attack. “It’s when I win from an intense, difficult duel like this one. You two really are one of the strongest tag-teams I’ve ever faced, and you haven’t just earned the respect of these young ones, but you’ve definitely earned mine as well.”
“And mine,” interjected Emma.
Shining Armor and Cadance looked graciously at their opponent.
“However,” he finished, “all good things must come to an end, one way or another.”
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Reese’s Turn: Reese activates Xyz Treasure, drawing cards equal to the amount of xyz monsters on the field (3). Reese activates Graceful Charity, drawing three cards and discarding two. Reese activates Monster Reborn, special summoning Obsidian Imp from his graveyard. Reese activates Goblin's Secret Remedy, increasing his life points by 600.
Reese and Emma's Life Points: 400 -> 1000
Reese then activates Brain Control, paying 800 life points to take control of an opponent’s monster until the end phase, choosing Number 8: Heraldic Beast Genom-Heritage.
Reese and Emma’s Life Points: 1000 -> 200
Finally, Reese activates Gift of the Martyr, sending one monster on his side of the field to the graveyard and increasing the ATK of one monster he controls by the ATK of the sent monster, sending Sapphire Serpent to the graveyard to increase Obsidian Imp’s ATK (ATK: 2800 -> 5600).
Reese then activates Number 8: Heraldic Beast Genom-Heritage’s effect, targeting one xyz monster the opponent controls and negating its effects and making its ATK 0 while gaining the monster’s ATK, name, and effects, choosing Number 39: Utopia (ATK: 2400 -> 2500) (ATK: 2500 -> 0). Emma then activates Trap Stun, negating the effects of trap cards until the end phase.
Reese attacks Number 39: Utopia with Number 8: Heraldic Beast Genom-Heritage.
Cadance and Shining Armor’s Life Points: 6200 -> 3700
Reese attacks Heraldic Beast Aberconway with Obsidian Imp.
Cadance and Shining Armor’s Life Points: 3700 -> 0
Reese and Emma win.
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The kids were silent only for a second or two before they stormed the playing field towards Reese and Emma crowding around him to profess their affection, Reese loving every moment of it. However, he needed to do something first.
“Kids!” he called. “Break it up! Break it up!”
The kids let him pass through as both he and Emma made their way to Shining Armor and Cadance, who were just brushing themselves after being knocked down by the final two attacks.
“You two are just… amazing. I really think you did well this time.”
Cadance smirked.
“What about you, Emma? What’s your opinion?”
Emma pondered for a bit.
“I’ve… got nothing. I think you really did your best this time around.”
“That’s great to hear,” said Shining Armor. “Of course, we’re still technically supposed to be in bed to rest; doctor’s orders.”
“Oh, that’s a shame,” answered Reese, “because I’m sure that these children would all love to play with you.”
Shining Armor and Cadance looked in all of the children, expectant for a positive answer. Despite what the doctor told him, they both felt too invigorated to go back to bed.
“I suppose a little play wouldn’t hurt,” finally spoke Shining Armor.
Before he could think, several children tackled Shining Armor and Cadance to the ground and having their merry way with them. Reese and Emma decided to join in the fun as well, playing with the children and the ponies alike until later in the afternoon.