//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: The Elements of Dueling. // by theultimatebrony //------------------------------// I was standing in an impossibly large field, unable to see anything but knee high grass. "Crap," I thought, "Twilight ran me through with her horn and now I'm in the Underworld." Then I spotted a sparkling blue lake. "Okay. Not the Underworld, just a dream." "Hello dream Erik," a voice behind me said. I turned around and saw Brett in his dueling clothes. "Why are you in my dream?" I asked. "How do I know this isn't my dream?" "You are in the same dream," a regal sounding voice said. I looked up and saw two winged unicorns. I reconized one as Princess Celestia from Twilight's memory. The other was blue and I had no idea who she was. "Hello young humans," Celestia said, "I am Princess Celestia and this is my sister, Luna. We are greatly pleased to meet you." "Likewise," I replied, "But how and why are you in our dream?" "I am the pincess of night and dreams," Luna said, "I am able to enter the dreams of whoever I chose, even from other universes." "Like that's not creepy," I thought. "That is so cool," Brett said with a smile. "Thank you," Luna replied with a small blush. "We are here," Celestia continued, "because I have a message for my student, Twilight Sparkle." "Why didn't you send it through Spike or enter her dream?" I asked. "For some reason we are unable to locate Twilight and her friends in your world, whether it be by magic or by letters." "Do you think the dark elemental has something to do with that?" "I don't see how, unless... Luna, we must double our search efforts for finding Discord. If Darkness took even a small amount of his power it could be disasterous." "Wait!" I yelled as the two princesses floated towards the sky, "Who's Discord?" "Ask Twilight!" Celestia yelled back just before she disappeared. "So now what?" Brett asked. Now, it is our turn to speak. I heard a serpent-like voice in my head. Well, since it's a dream I guess that it was all in my head, but that doesn't matter. I saw my Aqua Serpent rise out of the lake "Dude," Brett said, "your card is talking to us." He's not the only one. A fireball fell from the sky and Brett's Hyperion Dragon stepped from the small crater it created. "Why are our cards talking to us in or dream?" Brett asked. We wish to give you use of our powers. Aqua Serpent said. "How would you do that?" I asked with a raise eyebrow. You must allow us enter your souls. Hyperion Dragon said. From my knowledge of television I knew that letting a being from another world inhabit your soul is generally a bad thing. And I'm not just talking about Yugioh. "What kind of powers are we talking about?" Brett asked. The ability to control our element, the ability to communicate with your fellow hosts by thought, feeling their pain. AS replied. "Would you have any control over us?" I asked. AS seemed to be the trustworthy one. No. You would stay in total control. "I say we do it," Brett told me, "This might help us find the other elementals and fight Darkness." "If you say so. Fine, we accept. My elemental stuck his head into my chest and I blacked out. ————————————— I opened my eyes and saw my ceiling. I sat up and saw Twilight sitting at my desk, reading something. "Morning Twilight, whatcha reading?" I asked. "Good morning. I'm reading one of your comic books. It's called Green Lantern," she replied. I took a look at my shelf where I kept my comics. I found the first in my collection at a yard sale a few years ago and loved the Green Lantern series. The only one in my collection that wasn't on my shelf was the one Twilight was reading and it was the sixth issue in the Emerald Dawn arc. "How do you like it?" "It's very interesting. But the Guardians seem like jerks." "Quite. Hey, I had a dream last night and your princesses were in it." I told Twilight about my encounter with the princesses and the elementals. When I was done she said, "It is strange that their magic can't find us but can find you. And it is really bad that Discord is missing." "By the way, who is Discord?" Twilight told me how they defeated the lord of chaos. Then she told me how Fluttershy reformed him. From what she said, Discord would have the power to dimension jump at will. Twilight seemed distracted so I asked what was wrong. She asked if I always had tatoos on my arms. I looked and saw two blue fin-like tatoos, one on each arm. Berfore I could ask what they were I heard Brett's voice in my head. What the heck is this thing? "Hey Brett. Can you here me?" I said aloud with Twilight looking at me like I was crazy. I rubbed my mark and thought, "How does this thing work?" Get out of my head! Wait, is that you Erik? "Yeah, I think I figured out the telepathy. We have to touch one of these marks on our arms." Cool. I'll call the guys and tell them about this. "Good idea, and tell them to meet us at Pete's. We need to get the ponies some decks." On it. See you in what, an hour? "Yeah, that's good." I let go of my mark and said, "Okay Twilight, I'm going to take a quick shower and grab some breakfast. After that my friends and I are going to take you and your friends to a card shop to get decks." "But you already gave me a deck," Twilight said. "You might want some different cards to make your deck more you. That reminds me." I took Twilight's Element and gave it to her. "You might want this. It has an effect that works with Spellcasters." I went into my room's bathroom amd got in the shower. As the water ran over me I remembered what my Serpent told me. The ability to control our element. I held my hand out and focused as hard as I could. The water on the shower floor slowly rose untilit was level with my hand. I clenched my fist and the water froze into an ice ball. "Whoa," I said, my eyes widening. I grabbed the ball and got out of the shower. I slipped on towel around my waist and went to my room. Twilight wasn't in there. I got dressed and went downstairs where my family was eating with Twilight and Spike. "Hey Erik," Addy said, "Spike made these awsome pancakes that you have to try. Uh, why are you holding ice?" "How did you get those tatoos?" Mom yelled. "I think it might have something to do with Aqua Serpent giving me its power," as I spoke, absent mindedly melting the ice and forming it into the shape of my monster. "Cool, you're a water-bender," Addy really liked Avatar even though it hasn't been popular for a decade. "I guess I am." I waved my hand and made the water go down the kitchen sink, "Now did I hear something about pancakes?" After eating about eight pancakes I was full and ready to get moving. "Those were some good pancakes Spike," I praised. "I do have some talents," Spike replied. "We should get going. I need to take you and Twilight to the card shop." "I'm getting a deck of those cards?" "Yep. I already made you and the others some duel pads, we just need the decks for you to use." I ran upstairs to grab my own deck. I was about to put on my duel disk when I heard a voice. You don't need that anymore. I decided to listen to the voice and took Twilight and Spike to the shed to grab the stuff. "So this lets me duel?" Spike said as he strapped his duel pad on. As Twilight was putting hers on, I noticed that her cast was missing. "Where's your cast?" I asked. "Ponies can heal fast and unicorns even faster than that because of our magic," Twilight sounded confused, "Do you not heal as fast. "Nope. For a human, a broken leg can take from a few weeks to a few months to heal." "I wish I could write everything I was learning about humans down." "Depending on how long you're here, you might need alot of paper." Twilight's mood seemed to go down when I mentioned Equestria. "What's wrong?" I asked. "I just miss home, I guess," Twilight replied, "plus my family is probably worried about me in another universe." "I wish I could help you get back." You can. "Who's there?" I asked, feeling a little crazy. Look in your deck. I looked in my extra deck and pulled out my Elemental Beast. "Are you talking to me?" Yes. Now tell your friends to put their appendages on your marks. That will allow me to communicate with them. "Uh, okay," I had Spike and Twilight put their claw and hoof on my marks. Good, now I have your attention. I can help you get back to where you belong. "Wait," Twilight interrupted, "How are you talking to us and how can you get us home?" Just because I have taken this form does not mean I am not powerful. As for your second question,each time my brothers and I are used in one of these duels, we become stronger. If we become strong enough, we can open a portal to Equestria. "There's a tournament in couple days for fall break," I suggested, "We could enter and hopefully also find the other hosts for the Elemental Beasts." Excellent idea. Now I do believe you have an appointment to keep. I looked at the clock in the shed and saw that I had 10 minutes to get to the card shop. I put all the dueling gear in a bag and ran out to my duel runner. I gave Twilight on helmet and Spike claimed his scales would protect him during a crash so I took the other one. Even though Riverside, Indiana was a small town, it had duel runner ramps for quick shortcuts. I mangaged to make it to Pete's Cards with 5 minutes to spair. Unfortunately, I was still the last on there. Considering I didn't get more than a second glace from passerbys, I guessed they thought the Equestrians were fancy holograms. When we entered the store, I walked up to the front desk and said, "Hey Pete, can you hook our friends up with their first decks?" A tall, muscular man came in from the back and said, "Ah, it's Erik Sulliven. Where are these friends of yours?" I motioned to Twilight and her friends and Pete said, "Well, I thought you were doing hologram experiments again. It's good that there are some new folks that want some decks." "Thanks, Pete. Now you six, go and find some cards you want in your deck and Pete will help you out," then I spoke to Twilight specificaly while grabbing three dollars from my wallet, "Take this and find nine cards you want." "Thanks Erik," she replied before going to the back with her friends. While they were gone, I explained Aqua Serpent talking to me and we agreed to enter the Fall Break Tournament After about half an hour they came back with their new decks. Fluttershy had a Naturia deck. Pinkie had a Worm deck, which I had no idea about and didn't want to know. Rainbow Dash had a Crystal Beast deck with Rainbow Dragon. Applejack's deck was plant based and had Black Rose Dragon. Rarity had Gem-Knights and Spike had dragons. Twilight was holding two more decks with her magic and said, "Can we get these for my brother and sister-in-law?" "Sure," I replied and thought, "Thank God this is buy one get one free week." My friends and I pooled our cash and had the $80 for the decks. When we walked outside, Twilight said, "Can I duel you to see if I know the game well enough?" "Sure thing," I replied with a smile, And you might be able to enter the tournament too." "Wait, you don't have a duel pad." I looked at my bare arm and saw my mark begin to glow. The glow moved up my arm and when it disappeared, I had a duel disk shaped like the fin of an undersea creature on my arm. "Ooh," Pinkie said. I tossed a holoprojector to Twilight and we threw ours up in the air and said, "Holofield activate!" Everyone, pony and dragon put on the visors I made and Twilight's duel pad assembled itself. "I'll go first," Twilight said, drawing a card and levitating her hand in front of her, " I summon Skilled Dark Magician in attack mode(ATK1900). Now I activate Meteor of Destruction, dealing you 1000 points of damage and giving my Magician one Spell Counter. (Spc 1) Erik Lp: 7000 I cringed a bit as my lifepoints dropped, but kept my smile. "Now," Twilight continued, "I activate The Magical Citadel of Endymion, giving my Magician another Spell Counter(Spc 2). I activate Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy my Citadel, but I remove the Spell Counter it got from my card's activation to save it." I was a bit surprised by Twilight. She had only known about the game for a day and was making moves like an experienced duelist. "I destroy my Skilled Dark Magician with its three Spell Counters to summon Dark Magician(ATK2500). Now I end my turn." Twilight Lp: 8000. Hand: 2 "Why didn't she attack?" Applejack asked. "You can't attack until both players have had a chance to play," I explained, "Now, I draw." The card I drew was perfect. "I activate Water Hazard, allowing me to summon Abyss Soldier(ATK 1800). Now I summon Abyssal Kingshark(ATK1700). I activate the effect of Abyss Soldier, by discarding Friller Rabca I return your Dark Magician to your hand." "Not good," Twilight muttered. "Not good is right," I replied, "I overlay my monsters to xyz summon Elemental Beast: Aqua Serpent(ATK2500). I am ready to fight, master. "D, did that thing just talk?" Fluttershy asked. "I think so," I replied, "I attack Twilight directly!" Suddenly the Citadel around us faded and a voice said, "Duel override accepted." I looked around and saw a teen with a black overcoat and a white shirt on. "James," I muttered, "Why did you shut down our duel?" "I wish to procede with vengence now," James said, a black energy rope coming from his hand and wrapping around Evan's wrist. "Really," Evan said, "you want to duel me after what I did 2 years ago?" "Yes, and my new employer has given me the power to do so." A dark aura formed around James' arm and created a duel disk. "Is that..?" Brett said. "Yep," I replied. The duel disk was a chaos duel disk. "I know," James continued, "not the best fashion choice, but a needed one. So what will it be, duel or not?" Evan assembled his duel pad and threw his holoprojector into the air and said, "Lets duel!"