Twilight: 3600 LP
Yugi: 3700 LP
Twilight's hand: 1
Yugi's hand: 0
Twilight looked at her drawn card, then inserted it into her spell/trap zone.
"I equip Aqua Madoor with the Equip Spell known as Mage Power."
Instantly, the strength of Aqua Madoor's magical energies was increased, which manifested as a glowing, purple arcane aura surrounding his entire body.
Aqua Madoor
Atk: 2700
"Aqua Madoor, attack Yugi directly!"
The masked spell caster waved his hand and conjured another tidal wave. He then sent it barreling towards Yugi, who was now entirely defenseless and braced himself for impact. The water struck Yugi with such force that it sent him flying back into the seal's barrier, slamming him against it and knocking the wind out of him. Yugi slumped to the ground once the attack finished, too hurt to do anything other than pant heavily.
Yugi: 1000 LP
Twilight waited patiently while Yugi struggled to his feet. Once she judged him fit to talk she spoke up.
"Yugi . . . why'd you do it?"
Yugi wiped some sweat from his brow. "What?" he wheezed.
Twilight frowned. "Surely you could've guessed my face down card was a powerful trap such as Holy Barrier -Mirror Force-. You had to know attacking would spell doom for not just your Black Magician, but you too if I drew the right card this turn. Yet you attacked and almost cost yourself not just the duel, but your soul. Why?"
Yugi spoke in panted breaths, still reeling from Aqua Madoor's attack. "I didn't, did I?"
"Yes, but you didn't know what card I'd draw."
Yugi smiled wryly. "True, but I did know you wouldn't finish the duel here even if you could." He clutched his stomach in a sudden burst of pain, but kept his gaze on Twilight. "I can see it in your eyes, Twilight; you never were angry with the pharaoh, just scared of dueling against the best with your soul at stake."
"But you wouldn't have won the duel this turn if you could," Yugi continued, "because the hope saying everything will be alright still shines in your heart."
Twilight's eyes went wide as dinner plates. She was speechless.
"The Orichalcos feeds on the darkness in one's heart," Yugi continued still, "but if you can hold onto that hope, Twilight, then the Orichalcos will have no power over you."
Twilight remained frozen, both physically and mentally. Logic and Truth were fighting a bitter verbal war in her conscience. The logical part kept saying that in order to save herself Twilight needed to win the duel, while the truthful part kept arguing that Yugi was right in claiming that Twilight wouldn't have won because she still had hope. Logic would then counter that it was suicidal to believe in something that had no factual and/or tangible basis, which Truth would then reverse counter by claiming it was such a belief that was feeding the seal power. This internal conflict repeated itself over and over in Twilight's psyche until she snapped to her senses and returned Yugi's gaze.
"I end my turn," she said to him.
Twilight's hand: 0
"Okay," Yugi replied as he drew his card. He looked down at it and smiled. As he was about to play it he happened a glance up at Twilight, to which he saw a change in her expression as she looked at him. When Yugi returned her gaze, he saw what Twilight's new expression was; a hopeful smile. He didn't need to second guess what she was thinking on the other end of that lavender unicorn horn of hers; 'will Yugi's card help end the duel in a tie?'
"You have my word, Twilight," Yugi promised, "we'll both get out of this okay."
He inserted his card into the spell/trap zone. "I activate the spell card Treasure Cards from the Heavens; now we both draw until we're holding six cards."
Twilight and Yugi drew six cards each. Twilight looked at her new cards, only to stare wide eyed as a particular spell card caught her attention.
Twilight's hand: 6
Yugi's hand: 6
After checking his own cards Yugi looked back up at Twilight, only to quirk an eyebrow upon noticing her unusual expression as she looked down at her hand. Thinking that he might have finally gotten through to her, Yugi proceeded to ask a question he'd had the last few minutes.
"Twilight, what exactly is your relationship with Celestia?"
Twilight had barely heard the question in her stupor, but when it fully dawned on her she'd been spoken to, she returned her full attention to Yugi.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"You mentioned earlier that Celestia was your teacher," Yugi answered. "Is that all you see her as? Because you were beyond excited when she first arrived here; at first I thought she was your mother."
Twilight rubbed a hoof against her other foreleg sheepishly before answering. "She's very much like a second mother to me. I was just a filly when she took me under her wing, and I lived half of my entire life with her afterwards before she moved me to my current home in Ponyville." Twilight smiled wistfully before continuing. "Our relationship started out as student-teacher, and still is officially, but I guess it's more than just that now."
Yugi smiled. "Friendship, perhaps?"
Twilight started in response to what Yugi said. "W-w-what? Yugi, she's the alicorn princess of the sun for pony's sake!"
Yugi shrugged. "I'm friends with a 3000 year old spirit who saved the world from evil shadow magic in his life; who's to say the same can't apply to the two of you?"
Nicely put, Yugi.
Twilight couldn't keep from gawking in response to Yugi's claims. What really amazed her was how casual Yugi sounded in talking about him and the pharaoh being friends. Even after all her time studying under Princess Celestia, Twilight never saw her as anything lesser than Equestria's ruler as well as her mentor. The idea of them being simple friends never once crossed the lavender unicorn's mind. But after mulling over what Yugi just said, such an idea began sounding all the more reasonable and, even more so, appealing to her.
Twilight ceased her gawking and stared at Yugi with a hopeful expression. "Can the magic of friendship truly exist between a student and their teacher?"
Yugi smiled the most genuine smile Twilight had seen yet. "Not only can it, but it'll help get both of us through this duel with our souls intact."
"How?"
"You'll see," Yugi replied as he inserted another spell card into the duel disk. "I activate Resurrection of the Dead, and I'll use it to revive my Black Magician."
An ankh appeared over the field and descended into the ground. Rising back up in its place was Yugi's ace monster, who was nothing if not happy to be back.
"Thank you, master."
"Next I play the spell card Student-Teacher Ties," Yugi continued. "With Black Magician on the field, I can special summon his student to the field; the Black Magician Girl."
Twilight gawked. Black Magician Girl?
A human girl with long blonde hair appeared next to Black Magician. Her outfit was of a similar design to Black Magician's, but whereas his color scheme was wholly purple Black Magician Girl's was light blue and pink. The staff in her hand consisted of a blue rod ending in a yellow snail shell-like tip.
Black Magician Girl
Atk/Def: 2000/1700
Lvl: 6
While Twilight sized up Yugi's newest monster, she, in turn, sized up Twilight.
"Awww, look mentor, isn't our master's opponent just the cutest thing? If it weren't for the seal's mark on her forehead she'd look just like a unicorn version of you."
"Yes, that's what I thought she was at first. Our master has been trying to break her from the seal's control, and it appears he has almost succeeded. With our combined power let's finish the deed, my faithful student."
"Of course, mentor."
Once done with her observations, Twilight spoke up. "Just where are you going with this, Yugi?"
"This is where I'm going," Yugi replied as he played yet another spell card. "I activate Black Twin Burst. With this, I can increase the attack points of one magician by that of the other's."
2500 Atk + 2000 Atk = 4500 Atk
"Next," Yugi continued, "I summon Wicked Sword Baron in attack mode."
Next to appear on the field was a yellow goblin-like creature with two small horns protruding from his head, upon which he wore a black top hat. He was dressed in a formal black suit with a purple bow tie and carried a sword in his hands; the handle of which was done in a bat wing design. The whole thing pulsed with dark energy brought about by the malevolent spirit that was possessing it.
Wicked Sword Baron
Atk/Def: 1550/800
Lvl: 4
"Now my magicians!" Yugi commanded, "attack Aqua Madoor!"
"It's time, my faithful student!"
"Yes, mentor!"
Both Black Magician and Black Magician Girl held their staffs together and channeled their magical energies through them. The power accumulated at the tips and coalesced into a swirling ball of powerful magic a purple-blackish color. The duo then fired the incredible spell at their target.
"BLACK TWIN BURST!!!"
The magical beam sailed through the air straight at Aqua Madoor. It struck the masked spell caster head on and proceeded to cleanly pierce through his body, leaving not a single cut or drop of blood in its wake. A second later, Twilight's monster exploded, to which she held a hoof over her face to shield herself from the resulting blast.
Twilight: 1800 LP
"Now," Yugi continued, "Wicked Sword Baron, attack Twilight directly!"
The baron held his sword over his left shoulder before lunging at the lavender unicorn. He sailed through the air with surprising speed for something with such a heavy complexion, and his top hat seemed to defy gravity as it remained affixed to his head. In just a few leaps he reached Twilight and proceeded to strike. Twilight instinctually brought a hoof up to defend herself; the baron's sword struck the bottom of her hoof which absorbed most of the impact, but still caused Twilight to stagger backwards a couple steps. The baron returned to his spot on Yugi's field in but a few moments.
Twilight: 250 LP
"Are you alright, Twilight?" Yugi asked.
Twilight recovered from the attack and replied. "Yugi, thank you."
"For what?"
Twilight looked at him again, and Yugi could clearly make out the sorrowful look in the lavender unicorn's eyes and her slightly quivering lips.
"For not giving up on me," she answered. "I was enraged and scared that the pharaoh's actions would cost me my soul, which I can see now was foolish to think because all it did was feed the seal." Twilight shuffled her hooves slightly. "But you were right; I never lost the hope saying we could both come out of this alright, and it's thanks to you that can now happen."
Yugi smiled. "I end my turn."
Yugi's hand: 2
"I draw," Twilight said, "and I activate the spell card Blazing Hell. This deals damage to both of us; 1000 to you and 500 to me."
A large inferno descended upon the dueling field. It then split into two; one larger than the other. The larger one began swirling around Yugi, while the smaller one began swirling around Twilight. Neither fire actually hurt them, and even with the roaring flames in front of them Twilight spoke once more to Yugi.
"Yugi, how can I ever repay you for never giving up on me?"
Yugi closed his eyes and smiled. "All I ask for is your support while we're here. If I have your back, will you have mine, Twilight?"
"It's a deal," Twilight replied as the flames died down and disappeared.
Twilight: 0 LP
Yugi: 0 LP
Sandy's tree dome. It was always unique in comparison to the rest of Bikini Bottom, what with its lush green grass, large oak tree, and complete lack of water save for a birdbath frequented by Sandy's pet birds. Now, in the endless blackness, all that preserved nature was ablaze, having been alighted by stray shots of the purple pterodactyl's infernal breath. Frank had managed to stay safe by camping out in the dome's entrance chamber. Every now and then he snapped a photo with his camera, figuring it couldn't hurt to get irrefutable evidence of his inter-universal adventure in case he made it back home alive.
Sandy, in contrast, had taken it upon herself to go toe-to-toe with the monster that invaded her home. She'd quickly fetched her karate gloves from inside her oak tree and started the task of beating the snot out of the creature. She soon found out, however, that said task might be way out of her league. Every time she attempted to jump up and deliver a karate kick to the creature she received a lash from its devil tail, sending her impacting the ground hard on her back. To add insult to injury, her favorite rope had been burned to ashes by the creature's breath when she tried to lasso it.
Never once did the creature land on the ground, apparently smart enough to know it'd be vulnerable to attacks then. Instead, it stayed in the air around the large oak tree and rhythmically launched fiery shots at Sandy whenever close enough. Further adding to Sandy's problems was the burning grass all around her. Her space was already limited inside the tree dome; with half the ground ablaze it was doubly difficult to safely dodge the creature's attacks and still not get burned. And the fact that a certain someone wasn't pulling his weight did nothing to help matters.
"Hey, Frank!" Sandy called, "get yer sorry hide over here an' help me ground this flyin' varmint!"
"Are you crazy!?" Frank shouted back.
"No, Ah'm not," she replied while dodging another fire shot that ended up shattering her birdbath. "Ah need help, and if 'n yer a true friend of SpongeBob's then yer mah friend by extension, and friends help each other 'n situations like this!" Sandy dodged another three blasts of fiery breath, swerving left and right in response to each one's position. "As a friend, Frank, please help me!"
Frank sighed. He knew Sandy was right, but he was also rightly fearful of getting roasted from the creature's breath. In Willamette he had never lost his fear of falling victim to the zombified population; even after Isabella told him he'd been infected and would turn without treatment he'd still been afraid of getting eaten alive. The psychopaths were worse on account of their retained (albeit twisted) intelligence. But all of that crap was nothing in comparison to the thing currently laying waste to Sandy's home. In addition to being intelligent and having fire breath, it was big, could fly, and even looked downright terrifying. The blank look in the things' yellow eyes was almost enough to send a shiver down Frank's spine. Almost.
With the resolve to fight gained, Frank slipped out of the entrance chamber and began skimming along the dome's inner wall, careful to avoid any fires in his way.
Sandy, meanwhile, had finally managed to gain a bit of an upper hand on the creature. Smoke from the burning grass around them had started filling the tree dome's airspace. While Sandy could still see fairly clear around her, the creature was now having a hard time locating anything through the thickening haze. Worse yet, the increasing lack of oxygen was taking its toll on the creature; Sandy, meanwhile, still wore her fresh air helmet with plenty of breathable air. She knew it would only be a matter of time before the creature was forced to come down to breathe. And when that happened, she'd be ready to wail on it.
After about a minute Sandy spotted the creature's silhouette descend to the ground through the smoke. With a cocky grin, Sandy sprinted toward the spot it'd landed and jumped through the air. At the zenith of her jump, she somersaulted and proceeded to do a drop kick straight down unto the creature's scaly head. Suddenly, the creature shot out a clawed hand and grabbed Sandy's leg just as it was about to impact its head. Before Sandy could even let out a yelp of surprise, the creature slammed her down unto the ground and used its other hand to pin her chest so she couldn't even wriggle.
Sandy pounded her fists and legs against the creature's arms as relentlessly as possible, but no matter what it didn't loosen its grip on her. It was then that the creature inhaled sharply, prepping yet another blast of infernal breath. Sandy stared wide eyed in horror as the creature aimed its mouth straight down at her, the fiery energy visibly accumulating in its jaws. Realizing it was all over, Sandy shut her eyes and braced herself for the end, but it never came. Sandy waited for what felt like an eternity before she felt something drip onto her air helmet. Cracking open an eye, she could make out the blurry image of the creature still poised above her, only its fire breath was gone. Also, Sandy felt its grip on her chest loosen enough that she could push its claw off of her.
Once she was free, Sandy opened both of her eyes and gasped at the sight that beheld her. The drip she felt on her helmet was a drop of the creature's blood. Looking past the blood and into the creature's mouth, Sandy saw that a short metal blade had pierced its roof; yellow blood was spilling out from around the wound and filling up the bottom of the creature's mouth. The metal blade was then pulled back out and the creature's head fell limp over Sandy. She scooted out from under it before it fell on her and looked up to see Frank West standing on the creature's head. In his hand was a machete coated in the creature's yellow blood. Sandy easily connected the dots and smiled.
"Thanks, Frank."
Frank smiled back. "It was nothing."
Sandy's face adopted a confused expression. "How'd y'all manage ta get up on its head anyhoo?"
Frank pointed up at her oak tree with his free hand. "I snuck inside and climbed up high enough to get the jump on it."
Sandy nodded and sighed in exasperation. "Well, Ah'm pooped; how 'bout we take a breather while y'all tell me what's goin' on?"
Frank nodded himself. "Sure, but let's get out of here first."
As if in response to him, a bunch of embers burst from a nearby fire, though neither Frank or Sandy flinched in surprise to it. Instead, Sandy merely nodded again and the two of them proceeded to leave the burning tree dome to the relative safety of the black void beyond.
Samus Aran had seen many strange things in her life as an intergalactic bounty hunter. Metroids, X Parasites, Ing, and many, many more had been seen and slain by the tall, blonde hunter. And yet, despite all her training and experience dealing with such oddities she was at a loss for words as to what was currently attacking her ship. Samus hadn't seen much more than a fleeting glimpse of whatever it was, but what she had seen left her wondering if she was actually having a ludicrous dream.
Samus had been floating freely through space for about a month following her stint with the X Parasites, awaiting any kind of response from the Galactic Federation in regards to her actions concerning said parasites. All she could recall was lightly dozing off in her seat before happening a glance outside the cockpit window and noticing the absence of stars. Confused, she'd tried talking to Adam, but he couldn't tell her anything beyond, "we're not in space anymore." She'd then attempted to pinpoint her location using her ship's Celestial Map System, but even that yielded no answers.
Samus was deliberating whether to exit her ship and explore on foot when she briefly sighted movement outside the cockpit. All she managed to see was an eye in the middle of what looked like a giant cloud. Before she could inquire as to what she'd seen, however, her ship was suddenly rocked by a tremendous force striking from above. Samus asked Adam what happened, to which he replied they were under attack and activated the ship's Energy Dome Shield. Just in time, too, because a second strike sounded just after the EDS's activation. The second strike failed to harm the ship's exterior through the shield, but the resulting vibrations still came through and rattled every loose object. Samus held onto her chair's armrests and commanded Adam to initiate repairs on any part of the ship damaged by the first strike. He complied, and Samus waited patiently for repairs to finish.
More strikes followed the first two, always failing to penetrate the shield but also always rattling everything inside the ship. Samus managed to brace herself through each one by gripping her chair's armrests. She noted how the strikes kept coming from above and never once changed position. That alone told her many things, the first of which that her attacker was acting solo. She also surmised whatever was attacking wasn't very professional; even without the energy shield's protection, a gunship like hers' was most heavily armored around the top. Everyone in the Galactic Federation's military knew such a ship's back thrusters and undercarriage were its weakest spots.
From these observations, Samus concluded she wasn't under attack from a lone space pirate or rival bounty hunter. To that end, she thought back to the cloud-like thing she'd previously seen through her cockpit window; nothing she'd ever seen in her long career as a hunter matched its appearance. The idea of it being a new species altogether was too farfetched to believe because, well, it was a cloud with an eye in its center. Samus knew she was finally losing herself when she compared the blows that were still hammering away above with lightning strikes.
I must be dreaming.
Suddenly, a bright light filled her cockpit window. The light was so intense that Samus was forced to shield her eyes lest they burn to ashes. The light shined for a few moments before dissipating. Samus let her hand down and stared at her cockpit window with a mix of both wonder and disbelief. Before long, however, she heard a soft knocking sound coming from under her ship accompanied by a voice.
"Hello!? Does anything live in there!?"
Her mind filled with nervous curiosity, Samus told Adam to be ready for combat should their newest 'visitor' become hostile. Adam obeyed and activated all the gunship's weapon systems, ready to fire given the command. With that done, Samus walked to the back of her ship and stood on the elevating platform. She primed her arm cannon as it descended, but immediately let go in shock once she made eye contact with the white, pegasus-unicorn hybrid wearing golden regalia and a red & black amulet around its neck.
I HAVE to be dreaming.
"Hello," it said; the voice let Samus know the thing was female. It smiled wryly. "I imagine you have a plethora of questions."
"Yes," Samus replied through her helmet, "I do; am I dreaming?"
The pegasus-unicorn chuckled, which Samus felt awkward listening to. "A valid assumption, indeed. Sadly, no, you are not dreaming. What's going on will sound unbelievable, but is true regardless."
Samus' eye twitched in response before she shut her eyes, took a deep breath, and proceeded to dump any and all traces of logic from her brain to make way for a new train of thought.
"Okay," she said when finished, "what's going on? What was that bright light just now? And, I guess first and foremost, who are you?"
"My name is Celestia," it said, "and that bright light was me taking care of your attacker."
"Was it a giant cloud with an eye in the center?"
"That's what it appeared to be, yes."
"How did you do it?"
Celestia pointed a hoof at her horn. "I control the sun where I come from and am imbued with its power."
Samus' eye started twitching again before she shook her head and took another deep breath. "What's going on here?"
Celestia frowned. "I'm sorry if this is too much to take Miss . . .?"
"My name is Samus Aran."
". . . Miss Aran, but we're both still in great danger. I'll tell you what's going on, but only if you promise to stick by my side and face every challenge head on from here on out."
Samus sighed. She had a bad feeling about the situation at hand, and something told her it would only get worse. She would've liked to just ascend back up into her gunship and relax in her chair, but Celestia's warning of 'challenges' was unsettling. To that end, she decided to accept Celestia's offer.
"Alright," Samus said with a nod, "you can count on me, Celestia."
Celestia smiled. "Thank you, Samus. Now, about what's happening . . . "
When SpongeBob had asked for his karate gloves, he'd assumed they would be enough to take down anything Aza threw at him. Thinking back, SpongeBob realized just how naïve he was for thinking that. Then again, he hadn't anticipated Aza throwing a psychotic, chainsaw-wielding clown at him. SpongeBob had tried to combat said clown, but his arms were quickly sawed off, forcing the yellow sponge to hide while they grew back. Now without his karate gloves, SpongeBob was completely defenseless against his opponent, and while he could reproduce by budding, he was still in danger from a strike to the brain or any of his major internal organs.
As SpongeBob healed he could hear the whirring of the clown's chainsaws emanating in the distance. SpongeBob had no idea where the clown was, but he was fairly confident it didn't know where he was as well. After losing his arms SpongeBob high-tailed it away from the roller coaster and made his way down to the ground floor, whereupon he'd taken refuge within a cluster of glass counters housing jewelry within the indoor amusement park's central area. Once healed, SpongeBob decided he'd try his luck at reasoning with the psychopath.
It was when SpongeBob had finished growing back his left arm that he heard the whirring sound get closer to him. Panicking, SpongeBob silently urged his body to pick up the pace. He contemplated throwing something as a distraction, but thought better upon realizing doing so would likely expose his hiding place. As SpongeBob listened, the whirring came from his left before heading straight towards him, but the clown was nowhere in sight. Panicked and confused, SpongeBob shifted closer to the slip leading behind the counter, ready to bolt if the clown found him. The whirring remained fixated just slightly to SpongeBob's left, and it was then he realized it was emanating from the above walkway.
Suddenly, a gunshot rang throughout the amusement park, startling SpongeBob and making him bang his water helmet against the glass counter. Fortunately, the helmet didn't crack open. SpongeBob regained his composure just in time to see the clown fall from the walkway to the ground right in front of him. His head smashed against a counter, shattering it and sending glass shards flying all throughout the air. SpongeBob's water helmet managed to further survive the shower of glass shards, but it still suffered a few scratches. The clown's chainsaws fell to the ground right alongside their owner, hitting the floor with two moderate clanks while the teeth continued to operate, creating a faint grinding noise as they lightly scraped against the hard linoleum floor.
SpongeBob easily put two and two together and figured that someone had shot the clown dead while leaning over the railing in search of him. While SpongeBob was indeed relieved to be safe from the psychopath, he worried whether the person who'd shot him was a friendly. Gulping, SpongeBob steeled his resolve and, after a few tense moments, called out.
"Who's there!?"
A moment passed before the new arrival answered. "Where are you!?"
SpongeBob noted they were male from the voice. "Right in front of the demon clown!"
"Are you hurt!?"
SpongeBob looked at his still-healing right arm. "Not quite, but I'm lacking one of my arms at the moment."
Another few moments passed before he answered. "You don't sound too worried."
"Well, I'm a sponge, so I can grow lost limbs back."
". . . Pardon?"
SpongeBob sighed. "Do you want me to come up there and show you what I'm talking about? I need to explain what's going on anyway, so what 'cha say?"
"No, no," he replied, "I'll come down to you."
SpongeBob thought he was going to use the stairs like he'd done. Instead, he proceeded to jump from the walkway down onto a platform suspended above the jewelry counters. He then quickly hopped down onto one of the counters before hitting the floor next to the dead clown with a hard thud.
SpongeBob saw that he was a human, but unlike Yugi and Frank he was dressed in formal attire; a white button-up shirt, black dress suit and shoes, and a black bow tie. His body was of a slim build with a three-inch long, thin vertical scar on his right cheek. His eyes were a sort of bluish grey while his hair was short and black. In his hand he held a fair-sized black handgun. As soon as he saw SpongeBob he quirked an eyebrow.
"What are you?"
"I told you, I'm a sponge," SpongeBob replied. "Listen, thanks for saving me from that psycho, but we're both still in danger."
The man smiled. "Not to worry, as that's a situation I'm all too familiar with; though, you're the first talking sponge boy I've ever had the privilege of saving."
SpongeBob let out a hearty laugh. By the time he finished, his right arm had fully healed and he stood up. "So, how about I explain what's going on?"
The man nodded. "I'd very much appreciate that. What's your name?"
SpongeBob smiled and extended his hand. "SpongeBob Squarepants, and you?"
The man shook SpongeBob's hand with his own free one. "The name's Bond, James Bond."
"Let's see . . . no . . . no . . . no . . . definitely no, they'll NEVER survive through that. Maybe I should just forgo more challenges and skip to the council . . . yeah, that I should. Now, where should it be? Nope . . . no . . . nuh-uh . . . AHA, PERFECT!!! Now for some torches . . ."