Dueling is Magic! Many Futures

by Wolfgang

Chapter 34: The Return of Paradox

Pinkie was so happy.

Jack not only agreed to return to base, but apologized to her for hitting her. Her day got even brighter when, after the four companions had left Jack’s old hideout, he told her that she didn’t need to apologize for trying to keep Jack at the party.

“I realize now that you were actually trying to help the resistance,” he said. “We defended the base against a siege, but we only barely won. The men needed that party to lift their spirits, and you even said so yourself. You are smarter than I ever gave you credit for. You were right to set up that party, Pinkie Pie. If you like, I’ll help you organize the next one.”

Pinkie squealed and hugged Jack around his waist. Jack was stunned by the action, but it passed in a moment and he laughed, patting her on the head. She hopped the rest of the way to the jeep.

Had Kazama not made it clear that driving required a lot of concentration, Pinkie would be hopping about the back seat of the vehicle. Spike rolled his eyes and figured she’d explode into candy and confetti at any moment. Pinkie simply sat in her seat, swaying her head back and forth while she hummed a bright tune.

Jack lead the way back to the base. Though Kazama had taken any path he could that didn’t contain Dark Troopers, Jack didn’t seem to care and took the most direct route. Their enemies never once showed themselves on the road. Pinkie noticed this, but decided not to question it until later. Right now, the day was good. Let the mysteries of the human world wait a while.

It wasn’t very long before they saw the base ahead. The sun’s light was beginning to fade in the city, but streaks of orange and yellow light still glowed on the streets.

Pinkie started shaking.

“Oh no,” she said.

“What’s wrong, Pinkie?” Spike asked.

“Pinkie Sense! Bad things! Kazama, turn around!” she said. She stuck her upper half out of the window and waved her forelegs frantically while shouting, “Jack! Jack!” Jack changed lanes and slowed down so that he was beside the jeep.

“What is it, Pinkie?” he asked.

“Something’s wrong! We’ve gotta get out of here!” she said.

“Pinkie, what’s gotten into you?” Kazama asked. “What bad things are you talking about?”

“I don’t know! I just know it’s bad! We can’t go back to base yet!” she said.

“Uh, Kazama? I think we should listen to her,” said Spike. “I know it sounds crazy, but Pinkie can sorta tell when things are about to happen. If she says we should get out of here, then it’s probably a good idea to do just that.”

“Is that what she meant by ‘Pinkie Sense’? Come on, Spike! That sounds like something out of a comic book!”

“There’s a bright pink pony and a baby dragon in the back seat of your wagon-thing that are talking to you. Up until we actually showed up here, you’d never heard of such a thing.”

“....fair point. Let’s go.”

Kazama turned the steering wheel to the right and moved down a different street. As he did, a line of black D-Wheels suddenly appeared ahead of them.

“Oh no,” said Pinkie, her ears flattening against her head.

Spike climbed into the front seat next to Kazama and peered out of the windshield. “Uh... different direction?” he suggested.

Kazama switched the vehicle to reverse and hit the gas. The jeep squealed backwards out of the road and back to the one they had arrived on. Jack swung his D-Wheel around and followed as Kazama drove away from the area.

Another line of Dark Troopers appeared in front of them. Kazama stepped on the brakes as hard as he could. Pinkie, still hanging out of the window, was trembling. “This is bad,” she said. “Very bad!”

Jack pulled up next to Pinkie and Kazama. “We can’t go that way either,” he said. “I guess we’ll just have to duel them!”

“Jack, no!” cried Pinkie. “My Pinkie Sense says you’ll lose! There’s too many of them!”

“‘Pinkie Sense’?” Jack repeated. “What on earth are you talking about?”

“I’ll explain later, I promise!” Pinkie said. “Just don’t fight them now!”

“Jack, just listen to her!” Kazama said. The jeep moved past Jack and down the road on the left.

Jack blinked. For just a moment, he saw himself hitting Pinkie.

“All right,” he muttered to himself. He revved his engine and took off after them.

More Dark Troopers appeared ahead of them and Kazama and Jack turned once more down another road. Jack shouted, “Follow me!” and raced ahead. He took a sharp turn and moved onto an overpass.

“Where’s he going?” asked Spike.

“I think he’s heading for the highway,” said Kazama. “But the only reason he’d take us there is if...”

“If what?” Spike asked.

“If he’s taking us back to Satellite,” said Kazama. “Of course! There are still a lot of places where renovation hasn’t even begun yet! We can lose them there easily!”

Pinkie looked behind them. Rank after rank of Dark Trooper D-Wheels raced after them. She whimpered to herself. I wish I could fight them, she thought.

Another wall of D-Wheels appeared and a Duel Gate opened nearby. Kazama turned the jeep as sharply as he could without tilting it over, just barely making the turn after Jack.

An explosion went off nearby. Dark Troopers were still pursuing them, but the Duel Gate collapsed behind them. Another explosion ahead of them caught Pinkie’s attention. Her eyes widened.

“They’re blocking off our escape paths!” she shouted.

Kazama took a turn very sharply. Pinkie Pie tumbled out of the window with a scream. She shut her eyes.

But nothing came. No pain, no crash, no nothing. She opened her eyes again. After a quick look around, she grinned.

“Jack!” she said. “You saved me!”

“What are friends for?” he said with a small smile. “Just don’t block that screen, I need that to see the road.”

“Got it!” said Pinkie. Pinkie lay flat in Jack’s lap, looking ahead and behind the D-Wheel. A wave of black D-Wheels pursued them through the streets.

“Hang on!” Jack shouted. Pinkie turned her head to the front of the D-Wheel and saw more Dark Troopers ahead. Jack turned sharply and they headed down another narrow street. Their path was again blocked, but this time it wasn’t by Dark Troopers. It was a brick wall.

“I knew it!” Jack growled. “They were herding us into a dead end!”

“What do we do, Jack?” asked Kazama. “We can’t take them all without some serious help!”

The Dark Troopers were closing in slowly. Jack grit his teeth. Pinkie whimpered. Spike and Kazama looked at each other.

Suddenly a clear, sparkling beam struck the ground in front of the advancing Dark Troopers. Fire and smoke kicked up into the air and flooded the alley.

“That attack... it can’t be!” said Jack.

The engine of a D-Wheel roared above them. Its silhouette sailed overhead before crashing down into the smoke.

“Quickly!” came the voice of its rider. “We must go!”

Jack snorted. “Of course it isn’t...” he muttered. Kazama shifted into reverse and blasted out of the alley, with Jack and Pinkie following behind him. Once clear of the smoke, Jack called out to their rescuer.

“About time you joined the fight, Paradox!” he said. Paradox didn’t respond to Jack’s comment. Instead, he said, “I have a hideout not too far from here. We’ll be safe there. Follow me!” A white dragon clad in black and white armor roared overhead, spewing out clear beams of sound at Dark Troopers as they came upon them. Smoke was thrown into the air as the dragon attacked. Its cries echoed between the buildings.

“I’m afraid I am ill equipped to host guests,” said Paradox as he opened the door to the apartment he’d chosen. “As an android, I do not require food, so I have never bought any.”

“That’s okay, Paradox,” said Kazama. “We probably won’t be staying long.”

“Long enough to get some answers, anyway,” said Jack. “What happened to the base? Where’s the rest of the resistance?”

Paradox sighed as he closed the door. “The resistance is fallen,” he said. “I don’t know how many made it out, or even how it started. All I know is that Dark Troopers started pouring out of the building like a flood of black water.”

“It might not have happened at all if you’d joined us in the first place,” Jack grumbled.

“I have never worked well with others,” Paradox said. “Even as a human, I tended to work on my own end of our projects by myself when the world had ended. Z-one at least never questioned it. I’ve always worked best alone.”

“That doesn’t excuse you!” Jack roared. “It took the likes of Yusei, Jaden Yuki, and Yugi Muto himself to take you down the first time, and I’ve seen your deck first hand!”

“Jack, don’t,” said Pinkie, placing a hoof on his elbow. Jack looked down at her and softened his expression. “If Paradox says he works best alone, then maybe that is what’s best.”

Jack sighed. “Fine. At least tell me this: Did you help anyone escape?”

“I did,” said Paradox. “I was able to provide cover for a few people, as well as the ponies.”

“Can you tell us who escaped?” Kazama asked.

“Yeager and Rarity escaped without any problems,” Paradox said. “I believe Aki managed to escape with Fluttershy as well.”

“Rarity and Fluttershy are okay,” said Spike. “That’s good. Anyone else?”

“A few of your foot soldiers ran, but I don’t know what became of them. The twins stayed to fight, but they didn't stay for long.”

“What about Mina and Ushio?” asked Jack. “Or the other ponies?”

“I do not know who ‘Mina’ or ‘Ushio’ are,” said Paradox. “But Applejack and Rainbow Dash escaped as well. They practically dragged the twins out of the fray.”

“And... Twilight?” asked Spike. “Is she okay?”

Paradox didn’t answer.

“Paradox,” said Pinkie, “what happened to Twilight?”

Paradox looked at her. “You must understand that I did everything I could to help,” he said. “I tried to save Twilight, but there are some things even the I cannot stand against.”

“Where’s Twilight?” said Spike. “Tell me!”

“She was taken, little dragon,” said Paradox. “Antinomy took her to KaibaCorp. She’s in the hands of the Black King.”

“Who’s Antinomy?” asked Pinkie Pie.

“Antinomy, did you say?” said Jack. “That’s impossible! Yusei saw him perish with his own eyes!”

“He has been rebuilt, just as Aporia was,” said Paradox. “Both by the man you call the Black King.”

“But who’s Antinomy?” Pinkie asked again. “And why does his name sound familiar?”

“Antinomy was a friend of ours,” said Jack. “But we knew him as Bruno. He was the one who taught Yusei the Accel Synchro technique.”

“Oh yeah, Accel Synchro!” said Pinkie. “Paradox, you mentioned Antinomy when Yusei played ‘Shooting Star Dragon’ when you guys dueled back in Equestria, right? That’s why the name sounded familiar!”

“Indeed,” said Paradox. “Antinomy, Aporia, and myself were friends with Z-one. We were the last surviving humans after the Meklord Genocide that wiped out the human race. Antinomy and I died of old age, and Aporia soon followed. Z-one then created android bodies for us and we continued helping him. We tried so hard to prevent that future from happening... but no matter what, it has all been for naught.”

“Paradox, don’t give up,” said Pinkie. “If we find the others, we can go and rescue Twilight! With her and Jack on our side, the Black King doesn’t stand a chance!”

“And we can probably find Yusei while we’re at it,” said Jack. “Crow claims to have seen him. If I duel him again, I can find out exactly what he was talking about.”

Paradox sighed again. “What is the use of fighting anymore? Time corrects itself. Humanity was destroyed before we evolved far enough to change it. We cannot stop this from happening, it seems.”

“But you’re here,” said Pinkie.

“What?” said Paradox.

“You’re here,” she repeated. “You should be dead. But you’re not. You’re here.”

“What do you mean, my little pony?” Paradox asked.

“You told Yusei that you killed Maximillion Pegasus. The human who created the Duel Monsters card game. Then you went back in time again to make sure Yusei couldn’t stop you. But he did. You died in that first duel, but here you are.” Pinkie smiled up at him. “You see? You’re proof that we can change the future!”

“How am I proof of that?”

“Because Yusei changed your past, but you’re still here,” said Pinkie. “If we can change the past, we can change the future.”

“I still don’t see how that proves anything, Pinkie Pie. Yes, the past can be changed, but doing so has not led to the creation of a new future.”

“Yes it has! And you’re living in it! The future that you should be living in never happened. In fact, YOU shouldn’t have happened! You’re a paradox, Paradox!” Pinkie started hopping around and chanting, “Paradox the paradox! Paradox the paradox!”

Paradox stood in the middle of the passage. He didn’t move. He didn’t even blink. Pinkie Pie stopped hopping around and poked him.

“I’m... a paradox,” he said. “That’s it! If a paradox like me can exist, then anything is possible!”

“Now you got it!” said Pinkie. “I figured this out, like, ages ago!”

“Pinkie, you are smarter than I have ever given you credit for,” Paradox said.

Pinkie giggled. “Yeah, I get that a lot,” she said.

“Do you like games?” Paradox asked. “We should take time to recuperate, and I would love to show you how to play Shogi.”

With the resistance broken and scattered, darkness itself seems to blanket the city. However, its leader, Yeager, refuses to give up. Accompanied by Rarity, Yeager makes his way through the city’s underbelly, foraging for supplies and fighting to survive. Soon, they discover one of his old hideaways...

Malefic Stardust Dragon
DARK
Level 8
Dragon/Effect
Cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. Must be Special Summoned (from your hand) by banishing 1 "Stardust Dragon" from your Extra Deck and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. There can only be 1 face-up "Malefic" monster on the field. Face-up Field Spell Cards cannot be destroyed by effects. Other monsters you control cannot declare an attack. If there is no face-up Field Spell Card on the field, destroy this card.
ATK/2500
DEF/2000