It's Time To Duel!

by DagaYemar

Turn 5: Luck of the Underdog vs. Dressed to Kill

“Err… what is that supposed ta be?” Joey asked, scratching his cheek.

Rarity finished buckling her disk onto her arm and looked up. “Whatever do you mean? I thought the original looked a little drab, so I spruced it up a bit.” Her duel disk had been encrusted with jewels and sequins, arranged in neat swirls and patterns around the various slots. The edges of the card readers were gilded and the whole thing sparkled in the light whenever she moved her arm.

“Uh huh, well… uh, tha first move is mine!” Joey exclaimed, momentarily thrown off his game. “I’ll start by setting one face down card, and then I’ll summon tha Little-Winguard in defense mode!”

A small knight clad in blue armor appeared on his side of the field. It knelt down and held up its little shield, its yellow eyes peeking out over the top.

Joey clenched his fist. “Alright, now what do you think of… what are you doing?”

Rarity was staring critically at his monster, her left hand cupping her right elbow as she rubbed her chin thoughtfully. She furrowed her brow in concentration and pursed her lips. “It has a nice theme, but the colors are altogether too dowdy. Some brighter shades would suit it better, perhaps a thinner cape…”

“This is a duel, not a fashion show!” Joey shouted, stamping his foot repeatedly in frustration. “How about you sling some cards instead a’ style tips!”

“I see no reason why I can’t do both. After all, there’s no reason our game can’t be refined.” Rarity drew her card and studied her hand before breaking out into a wide smile. “Ah, ideaaaa! I’ll use my Wellspring of Inspiration! This spell lets me look at the top two cards of my deck to find something to spruce up that Winguard of yours!”

“That’s her signature spell!” Applejack whistled, “Looks like she’s not wastin’ any time!”

The continuous spell appeared on her field and immediately was surrounded in a glowing aura. Two overly-large holographic cards appeared facing Rarity and she considered them carefully, flicking glances between them and the little knight. A bright smile crossed her face and she thrust her hand out towards the one on the right. “Ah yes, what your monster needs is a little Golden Thread to cheer up its whole continence!”

The indicated card spun around as the other faded away, and its face flaring into bright white light. Several spools of shining gold silk shot out from the glare and spun around the Winguard in a swirling cyclone, hiding it from view. The golden whirlwind expanded and faded, revealing the knight’s startling changes. Its cape was a solid golden color and gold trim ran around its shirt sleeves and pants legs in spirals. A band for gold circled around the rim of its helmet.

“Ah, tres manifique!” Rarity cried, clapping the tips of her hands together rapidly. “Now come along dear, stand up and give us a look at the rest of it!”

Straining, as if against its will, the monster rose slowly out of its crouch. Its arms were pulled out to the side and it stood completely defenseless.

“What did you do ta my monster?!” Joey demanded, taken aback.

Rarity clucked her tongue at his tone and adopted an innocent face. “Merely added some much needed class to your poor little soldier. Such finery as my Golden Threads won’t be destroyed in something as messy as battle, and in exchange your monster can’t hide away in defense mode.

“But in the end, the most important view is that of the fashion conscious, so how about a second opinion from The Cruel Kritik!”

She placed a card onto her disk with a decisive snap of her wrist and a lizard-like creature appeared on her field. It rose up languidly, its immaculate breastplate catching the light and gleaming. It leaned forward and studied Joey’s knight intently, bending its neck in swaying motions to view it from every angle. It slowly raised its empty right arm up and clenched it fist, before quickly flicking a thumbs-down and hissing its displeasure.

“Ah well, I suppose I should have known better that to use summer colors on a winter…” Rarity sighed, “Since the Kritik doesn’t like the ensemble, he penalizes you monster’s attack power by five hundred. And now I’ll let him express his disapproval. Attack!”

The demon snapped out the stick it was carrying in its left hand and it unfolded into a large metal fan, each edge sharpened to a sword’s point. It darted forward and slashed the Winguard across its abdomen, slicing cleanly through the fabric beneath. The golden threads resisted the slash, glowing brighter as they remained the only bit not cut through. The blow knocked the knight back, but the same glowing threads held it from collapsing in pain.

Rarity placed two cards face down on the field calmly, as if she hadn’t pulled into the lead. “I’ll leave these for later and end my turn. Unfortunately inspiration doesn’t come without cost, so I’ll pay five hundred life points to maintain my Wellspring.” A red aura surrounded her, but she accepted it with poise.

Joey frowned and rubbed the underside of his nose with one finger. Gosh, I’ve already lost control of tha duel, and it hasn’t even been one turn! Come on, Heart a' tha Cards, I need a winner here! He drew his card for the turn and studied it. After a few seconds his whole face fell and he hunched his shoulders in disappointment.

“He… doesn’t have much of a poker face.” Twilight observed, crossing her arms.

Yugi winced in sympathy for his friend. “Don’t worry, Joey, you can do this!”

“Easy for you ta say, Yug…” Joey muttered, glancing back up with renewed determination. Ok, first I gotta get rid of that Golden Threads card. “I summon Panther Warrior to the field!”

In a flash of light a new monster appeared on his field. The panther raised its head and snarled a challenge before leveling its sword… at the knight standing next to him.

“You see, I need ta sacrifice a monster to attack with the Panther Warrior. So I’ll sacrifice the Little Winguard and close the hole in my defense!” Joey explained.

“Good move, Joey!” Yugi cheered, clenching his fist in victory.

The panther’s sword glowed with a white aura as its ability kicked in, flowing out and surrounding the knight. It dissolved into the aura’s glow and it all flowed back into the panther’s sword, which began to shine brightly. Suddenly the panther growled in surprise and reared back. Golden bands of cloth were wrapped around its chest and trailing over its shoulders in a pair of floating tails. The invading silk also threaded through its green cape in a spiral pattern and had added wings to the tops of its boots.

“What happened? How did Golden Threads get on Panther Warrior?” Joey shouted.

Rarity tsked and waggled her finger in his direction. “No need to fret, I just used the Tailor of the Fickle before you sacrificed your knight. As if I’d allow you to even think of trashing one of my designs.”

She pointed to a hunched man on her field in a workman’s smock wrapping a bolt of cloth around its arm. The man grinned as the spell ended and it disappeared from the ground up. Meanwhile the fiend was still giving the design a thumbs-down, hissing with its forked tongue poking out between its teeth.

“And now that my Kritik drops your monster’s attack to the same as its own, your attack has been stalled.” Rarity continued, reaching for her deck. “So I’ll start my turn with-”

“Hold on!” Joey interrupted, “I continue with my attack!”

“What? But they will both be destroyed!” Rarity exclaimed, aghast.

The panther ran forward and swung its sword over its head in a straight chop. The fiend caught the blow on its fan-sword and the two monsters traded several blows before locking blades. They growled in anger as they strained against the lock for several beats, before with a sharp ring of metal the blades slipped free of each other and sliced around in a pair of shining arcs. The trail of their passing left a shimmering line across their upper bodies and they suddenly detonated in a cloud of smoke.

“See?” Rarity declared, holding up a hand over her mouth to block the smoke. “Both of them were destroyed, so that move was… completely… what is that?!”

The smoke was slowly clearing from the field, revealing a large mechanical thing floating on Joey’s side of the field. With a hiss of steam the machine split open down the middle and his Panther Warrior stepped out of it, completely devoid of the golden changes she had made to its appearance.

Joey snapped his fingers and pointed to his lone trap card. “I activated my Time Machine! This lets me rescue any a' my monsters that were destroyed at any point during tha last turn. And now he’s got an attack ta finish!”

The panther howled and leapt from the machine, raising its blade over its head as it bore down upon the fashionista. Rarity thrust her hand out towards her other trap with a cry. “I activate Crimes Against Fashion!”

Spools of cloth shot out from all sides and wrapped tightly around the panther’s arms and legs, pinning it in midair like a giant spider web. The monster roared and strained against the fabric, but it was only held tighter.

“You almost got me there, but this card puts a stop to that!” Rarity said, picking Golden Threads out of her graveyard and slipping it into a pocket of her blouse. “I might need a moment to catch my breath… now, was there anything else you wanted to do?”

“Grr… no, I’m done…” Joey grumbled, hunching his shoulders in preparation for what’s to come. His monster was slowly lowered to the ground and the bolts of cloth disappeared back to wherever they’d come from.

“Don’t stop there, Joey! You’re defenseless like that!” Mai shouted.

I don’t need you ta tell me that, Mai, but I’m in a tight spot here… Joey thought. He frowned and looked down at his hand.

Every card in his hand was a monster card.

“I will begin by activating my Wellspring once more!” Rarity declared as she drew her card, and her spell card glowed as a pair of cards appeared once more. She glanced between them and the cards in her hand a couple times before breaking out into a wide grin. “Perfect! If gold isn’t your color, perhaps a lovely collar of Flint will suit it better!”

It was the card on the left that flipped over this time, and a spinning something shot out the card face. It was a metal chain moving so fast it appeared to be a solid disk. It shot straight at Joey’s warrior and slammed into its neck. The panther let out a strangled roar and stumbled, dropping its armaments as it clawed at the thing around its neck. But the chain held fast, clamping down even tighter.

“Exquisite!” Rarity declared, flipping through the cards in her hand. “That chain choker prevents your beast from attacking me anymore. And now I’ll summon The Devious Deziner to the field! Come on out, my dear!”

In a flash another fiend appeared, crouching down on all fours and pawing at the ground impatiently. The gems around the monsters collar and boots started to glow brightly as it prepared its attack.

“So what? My monster’s still got more points!” Joey shouted.

Rarity tapped a finger on her cheek playfully and smiled. “Oh, did I forget to mention that my Deziner can attack you directly if every monster on your field is sporting an accessory?”

“Nyeh?!” Joey gasped, leaning back and crossing his arms over his chest. Rarity’s monster looked his panther up and down and snorted derisively, and then focused its gaze on Joey. It suddenly reared up and a dozen lasers shot out from its gems. The golden beams arced around the Panther Warrior and trained in on the duelist, striking all around him. Joey leaned down wearily after the attack finished, but remained on his feet.

“Let’s see, I’ll set one more card face down.” Rarity continued, slipping a card into the spell and trap slot. “And I’ll end my turn by paying the cost for my Wellspring. Your turn, darling.”

“Fight back Joey!” Mai shouted from the sidelines.

Joey looked over at her and nodded, then turned his gaze down to his disk and placed his hand on the top card. I’m trying, but she’s stronger than I thought!

He drew and looked at his card. Ah no, not Swordsman a’ Landstar! There has ta be something in my hand that can tussle with her blasted equip cards… Joey blinked as the monster on the end of his hand caught his eye. A wide smile crept across his face and he started to chuckle at his opponent.

“Heh heh heh heh… I think I’ve got just the card ta tear you apart!” Joey declared, slamming the card onto his disk with more force than strictly necessary. “I summon Gearfried the Iron Knight!”

A flash of light deposited a gleaming knight in black and silver armor to the field. It crosses its bladed arms over its chest and shouted a battle cry. Rarity and her monster gave it identical looks of disappointed evaluation.

“That’s your big move?” Rarity asked, holding up her hand over a smirk. “Are all your monsters brutes with no sense of style?”

“Laugh it up!” Joey returned, making a determined fist. “You won’t be having as much fun when it’s kicking your behind!”

“Oh please, I’ve had bigger challenges dueling my little sister, and she can barely string a combo together!”

“At least my monsters don’t need ta be all dolled up before they can fight!”

“How dare you! I’ll wipe the floor with you like last week’s haute couture!”

“Will somebody play some cards already?!” Rainbow Dash shouted from the sidelines.

“Err… right.” Joey said, blinking and recovering a little of his focus. “Gearfried, go attack the Deziner!”

“You didn’t really think a move that obvious would work, did you? I activate Flint Missile!” Rarity’s face down card flipped up and a white blast of energy shot out from the card face. The missile struck the Panther Warrior in the chest and the monster exploded into a cloud of debris.

The fashionista slipped the Flint Missile card out of its slot and into her deck. “I’ll go slowly so that you can understand. My spell card destroys any monster on the field equipped with a Flint card and then returns to my deck to be used again in the future. But the best part is that Flint isn’t destroyed and instead gets to attach to any other monster I want. And wouldn’t your little armored man look dashing with a bit of grey about its neck?”

The spinning blur of her spell whirled out of the smoke like a discus and swirled about the field a few times before homing in on Joey’s knight. Gearfried halted its charge and held its arm up as the chain closed in.

“That will stop your attack in its tracks-” Rarity began, but a cry of effort cut her short. Gearfried had speared Flint from out of the air and the chain writhed like a living thing on the end of its bladed arm. The knight brought its other arm up and smashed it against the metal thing, ripping it to pieces that vanished into flames as they fell.

“Ah…?” Rarity managed, her mouth frozen open in an expression of utter incomprehension. One of her eyes twitched a little.

Joey snickered, the hand over his mouth barely hiding his wide grin. “Gearfried has a special power too, you know. He automatically destroys all spell cards that try ta equip ta him. Looks like you won’t be dressing him up or anything! Now, keep attacking Gearfried!”

The knight dropped back into a fighting stance and leapt forward once more. Rarity fell back a step and dropped a hand to her graveyard once more. “I-I’ll remove Flint from the graveyard to use Crimes Against Fashion!”

Bands of cloth shot out of the ground once more and wrapped around Gearfried’s limbs, holding it in place before it could land a blow. Rarity’s fiend, which had crouched in anticipation of being destroyed, opened an eye and realized its tormentor was trapped. It snorted and reared back up, glaring hate.

Joey clenched his fist in frustration. “Blast it, I gotta end my turn…” Her defenses are just too strong. Nothing I do is getting through ta her! I hate ta admit it, but she’s pretty good!

My goodness, that set my heart racing! Rarity thought, placing a hand on her chest and taking a deep, relaxing breath to steady her nerves. His monsters are just so strange and random. It’s taking all I have to hold him off, and in addition to that he’s barely used any cards at all while my hand is dwindling. This boy is much better at this than he first appears.

She drew her card and appraised his monster critically. “Very well then, if your monster doesn’t want to benefit from my creative genius, then I suppose I’ll just have to improve my own. But first let’s trade out the Deziner for The Foul Fotografer!”

A pillar of light surrounded her fiend. When it faded a new monster slithered about itself where the previous one had stood. The Fotografer’s three heads twined about themselves and hissed forked tongues at their opponent.

“Big deal, my monster has more points!” Joey declared dismissively.

“Let’s see what my Wellspring of Inspiration has to say about that!” she returned as her spell card began to glow. The pair of cards appeared and Rarity barely gave the two of them a frown before pointing to the one on the left. “It’s not what I would have chosen myself, but creativeness is by definition trying new possibilities. I attach Mist Body to the Fotografer, which activates its very special ability!”

The fiend’s body became clouded immediately, obscured by a mist that gave it a ghost-like appearance. But Joey didn’t have any time to appreciate this fact before the creature’s heads shot forward on their long necks and circled about him, trailing smoke like spectral serpents. The central eye on each of the heads grew out from the head like the telescoping lens of a camera and started blasting bursts of light. Joey threw his hand up over his eyes in pain as the flashbulbs pressed in on him.

“It’s a shame, but I must end my turn there. I’ll pay for the Wellspring and pass it on to you.” Rarity fumed as the red aura surrounded her. Talk about terrible luck! I didn’t get anything to boost my Fotografer’s attack power… but at least I’ve still got plenty of equip spells in my graveyard from the last few of times I used my trap card. That will keep me safe for a while…

Joey grumbled under his breath and drew a card, but his mood changed as soon as he saw what it was. “All right, Graceful Charity! With this I can finally get something good!”

A gentle light shone down on him as he drew three cards from his deck and gawked at what they were. He blinked several times and quickly checked with the other cards in his hand, and then looked up and met Rarity’s eyes, causing her to take a step back in surprise. There was a determination in them that simply hadn’t been present there a second ago.

This is where I turn it all around, he thought, selecting one of the new cards he’d drawn and one of his old. “First, I’ve gotta discard these two cards. Next, I’ll play one card face down. And finally I’ll trade up Gearfried for Jinzo!”

His knight was engulfed in a pillar of light and when it faded, a terrifying figure had taken its place. Rarity actually gagged a little at the thing. “What… what IS this abomination?! This is the most hideous monster I’ve ever seen, and I just watched a slimy pot swallow a dragon with its stomach! Why would you play such a disgusting card?”

“Aw, don’t be like that. You’ll hurt his feelings!” Joey mocked, as his monster’s eyes began to glow a sinister red. “But on tha subject of hurting…”

A bright red laser suddenly shot out from Jinzo’s goggles. The laser traced a buzzing line over her trap card for a moment before the whole thing burst into flying duel shards. Jinzo crossed its arms over its chest and leaned back a little, as if relaxing after a job well done.

“Jinzo is an incredibly strong card that destroys all active trap cards on the field!” Yugi said, cheering on his friend. “It’s one of the strongest cards in his deck, and just what he needed!”

“He sure has the luck of the draw…” Applejack agreed reluctantly.

“Well… when Crimes Against Fashion is destroyed, I’m allowed to return all the spells it removed back to the graveyard.” Rarity said, taking Golden Treads and Flint out of her pocket and inserting them into her disk.

Joey shrugged and threw his fist out dramatically. “Whatever! That won’t matter once I wipe that snake of yours from tha field. Jinzo, attack with Psycho Shocker!”

His monster held its long arms up in front of its chest and a blue orb crawling with electricity formed between its palms. Jinzo thrust its arms out and the ball shot forward and slammed right through the Fotografer’s midsection. Its body, made out of smoke as it currently was, billowed out and reformed as the attack passed through it. Rarity didn’t fare nearly as well, however, as the ball clipped her on the shoulder as it shot passed.

“Nice try, but Mist Body prevents my monster from being destroyed by something as uncouth as battle.” Rarity said, clutching her injured arm with a grimace.

Joey flicked the end of his nose with his thumb and grinned. “Yeah, what else is new? I still got you that time! So go ahead and take your turn so I can do it again!”

Rarity grit her teeth in a very unladylike way and savagely drew a card. One look at what it was, however, was enough to calm her down and reassert her self-control. “Very well, I think it’s time to bring this duel to a close. Tell me, Joey, why do you think I use a card as dangerous as Wellspring of Inspiration, even though it puts such a heavy toll on my life points?”

Joey blinked and then tilted his head to the side, closing his eyes to think. “I dunno, you’ve gotten quite a few of those equip cards outta it…” His eyes snapped open at a sudden thought. “Wait… cards!”

“That’s right,” Rarity said, holding up her duel disk for emphasis. “Thanks to it, I've basically been drawing three cards each turn. It’s only been a few turns, but I’m already nearly halfway through my deck. I’ll probably only need to activate the spell once or twice more before I find what I’ve been searching for.”

Her continuous spell glowed again as it activated and the two floating cards appeared, bringing a triumphant smile to her face. “And there it is, the equip spell Rhinestone Crown! I’ll equip it to my Foul Fotografer, and you know what that means!”

The floating card to the left spun around and flared white, and a silver and blue crown floated out from the center of the light. It alighted upon the fiend’s middle head and the other two hovered around it, admiring it from every angle. Then all three heads snapped towards Joey and shot forward, their camera lens’ eyes extending and emitting blinding flashes. Joey clamped his palms over his eyes and turned his back to the lights, but the heads followed around him until he had enough.

“This crown, while eminently fashionable on its own, allows me to sacrifice my monster as if it were two instead of one.” Rarity explained, extending a hand to her monster. “So now I will summon the pinnacle of society, The Diva of the Spotlit Runway!”

The Fotografer’s heads hissed at Joey one more time before it was replaced by a large feline creature. It flicked its long hair out with one paw and sniffed up its nose at him before rearing back and spreading its forelegs out in a sweeping gesture. The ground around its feet began to glow and silvery tendrils rose up and starting wrapping around its body.

Rarity held up her disk as cards started to pop out from her discard slot. “My Diva is the queen of the fashion world and never steps into battle without proper accessories! In this case, every spell card I’ve sent to my graveyard is at her disposal! Only the best for the best!”

The bright lights swirled and swirled, only fading reluctantly to reveal a startling transformation had occurred to her monster. It was almost twice its original size and bedecked in incredibly fancy clothes, with Golden Threads stitched all about the gown. The Flint chain hung draped around the fiend’s throat like a necklace and the crown Rarity’s just played lay atop its head at a relaxed angle. The creature placed a paw under its chin and laughed condescendingly.

“That’s one decked-out monster…” Joey mumbled, and then broke out in a wide grin and pointed up. “Looks like you made a little mistake in your rush. That Flint card won’t let your monster attack!”

“Oh no, you’re right!” Rarity exclaimed in mock horror. “I was too greedy and now have been foiled by my own card! If only the Diva had another ability that could somehow save me from my own hubris… oh wait, she does!”

The Diva dropped its paw to under the chain about its neck and the chain started to glow with a white fire. The fiend chopped its arm out and the fire shot forward in a stream that engulfed Jinzo. Jinzo groaned in pain as it dissolved in the fire, leaving only a sooty smear on the ground.

“Not Jinzo!” Joey grunted, looking down at the stain with dismay.

“And that was just her special ability! Do you have any last words before the Diva puts an end to this little game?” In front of her, Rarity’s monster tilted its head way back and glowing light started to collect around it.

“Just one thing…” Joey said, grinning like he’d just thought of the cleverest joke in the world. “Wearing somebody else’s old things? That sounds like a fashion ‘fow pah’ to me!”

“…It’s pronounced ‘faux pas’…” Rarity started, but froze with her mouth hanging open as she registered what was happening in front of her.

Bolts of cloth burst out of the ground and wrapped themselves around the Diva’s legs and neck. The fiend reared back and tried to break free of the bonds, but they proved too much for it to handle. The Diva was forced to lay with its belly flat on the floor and the energy it had been gathering to attack faded around it.

“But that’s my Crimes Against Fashion!” Rarity cried in disbelief. “How did you get it?!”

“I sent this little guy ta borrow it from you. His name is Graverobber.” Joey pointed to a little figure hovering in the air next to him. The creature had Rarity’s trap held between its hands and wiggled it a little for emphasis.

Rarity poked a finger in his direction. “But that’s not enough! You have to use up an equip card to use that trap!”

“You mean like Salamandra?” Joey asked, holding up the card in question. “I sent this baby ta tha graveyard back when I used Graceful Charity. And thanks ta this little combo, your attack is stopped cold!”

“My, my! Excellent playing, Joseph. You continue to surprise me!” Pegasus praised, offering a little clap.

Rarity bit the inside of her cheek. “Well, you’ve only managed to stop me for one turn. The Diva has enough spells to destroy up to three monsters and thanks to the Golden Threads, she can’t be killed in battle! There’s nothing you can play that can save you!”

“Nothing?” Joey challenged, drawing his card for the turn and playing it. “Pot of Greed! This lets me draw two more cards from my deck!”

Alright, Heart a’ tha Cards, just one more time, Joey thought, placing a hand slowly on his deck. He drew and studied the cards he’d gotten, and then broke out into a wide smile.

“Perfect!” he shouted, slapping one of them into his spell slot. “It’s tha spell card Landstar Forces! This allows me ta summon as many Landstar monsters in my hand as I got. And I’ve got quite a few a’ them!”

Joey quickly played out all but one of the cards left in his hand. Three cartoonish figured popped out of his disk and grew to full size, floating just a little bit in the air. One was dressed as a European musketeer, another as an army commando, and the middle one was a little swordsman. The swordsman lifted up its weapon and waved it threateningly.

“You have these weak cards in your deck…?” Rarity asked haltingly, blinking in disbelief. “But what can you do with such low-level monsters?”

Joey waved his last card back and forth. “Didn’t you notice? I’ve still got my normal summon left ta go this turn! And I’ve got this special guy who needs three sacrifices ta come out!”

“No way!” Twilight exclaimed, “He was able to set up a triple sacrifice at this stage of the game?!”

The three Landstar forces raised their weapons together in a point above their heads and disappeared into a pillar of light. The sky darkened and lightning flashed as the pillar shrank back down to a glowing ring on the ground. In the center on the ring knelt a burly warrior with its head bowed before a gigantic sword impaled in the ground. With a decisive movement the warrior reared up and tore the blade from the ground, raising it high over its head. The monster roared and lightning struck the sword as if to punctuate its fury.

“Wh-wh-wh-what is that?!” Rarity cried, stepping back and lifting her arms up fearfully.

“His name’s Gilford tha Lightning.” Joey declared. “And when he’s summoned, he destroyed every other monster on tha field!”

Gilford shouted a battle cry and swung its sword down sharply, pointing it directly at the Diva. Electricity crackled down the length of the sword and leapt out at the fiend, striking it in the chest. The Diva screamed and fell back, mini explosions traveling up and down its body before one big eruption shattered the whole creature into fragments. Glittering pieces fell around Rarity like snowflakes as she looked on with a panicky look in her eyes.

Joey smirked and clenched his fist in victory. “And much like your own ace card, that was only Gilford’s special ability! Now attack and drop her life points ta zero!”

The warrior let out a battle cry and charged forward, bringing its sword down in a strong overhead slash. Rarity screamed as it passed through her, lifting up a great cloud of smoke as it smashed into the ground at her feet.

“And that’s game!” Joey exclaimed, flashing her a salute. “Not bad at all! That was a lotta fun!”

“Same to you as well.” Rarity sighed, slipping her deactivated duel disk off her wrist. She walked back into her group of apologetic friends and returned it to its valise.

“Great job, Joey. Nice playing.” Mai said as Joey join his friends.

Joey ran a hand through his hair in embarrassed pride. “Yeah, that was pretty cool! So who’s next?”

“Actually, why don’t you go Fluttershy?” Twilight said, putting a friendly hand on her shoulder.

Flutterhsy flinched back from the touch as if she’d been shocked. “Oh no, I couldn’t. You haven’t had a turn yet. Why don’t you play instead?”

“Fluttershy, is it?” Bakura asked, stepping forward and extending his hand gently. “How about the two of us have a match. According to the rules, it’s either me or him, after all.” He nodded his head over his shoulder at Kaiba, who glared back and sniffed disdainfully at them.

Flutterhsy shrank back a little from that look, but then cautiously took the offered hand and shook it. “A-all right. Let’s have a good game.”

“I’m sure we will.” Bakura said and turned around, walking towards his spot on the duel field. With his back to the others his features took a dramatic change. His pupils shrank and shot as far as they could go to the right, as if he could still see them from the corner of his eye. A dark cast fell over his face and his mouth scrunched up into a feral grin.

There’s no doubt about it, he thought to himself, I definitely felt the darkness of the Shadows in her that time! A darkness that might even match my own! I need to find a way to draw that darkness out of her and then see if I can take it for my own!

“Don’t worry, you'll do great Fluttershy!” Pinkie said cheerfully as the shy girl slipped her disk on her arm. “You deck even beats mine most of the time! You’ll be able to handle this no problem!”

“Thanks…” Fluttershy said softly, but she didn’t believe it. Most of the duels she’d played hadn't been in front of an audience this intimidating…

Fluttershy blinked in surprise but quickly shook her head. No… no, I really should do this on my own.