//------------------------------// // Turn 8: Trigger Happy vs. Clear Night's Sky // Story: It's Time To Duel! // by DagaYemar //------------------------------// Keith Luna 4000 4000 “Before we begin, there is one thing I must make clear.” Luna said sternly, taking a step forward and holding up her disk threateningly. “I want your word that this duel will be just between us, and regardless of the outcome that young Spike will be safe.” The man tilted his head to the side and grinned. “Now, what kinda sense does that make? I already told you that I’m not supposed to let anyone get passed, so that brat’s as deep into this as you are!” Her eyes narrowed to slits, but otherwise Luna kept her calm. “I see. Then may I ask your name?” “Don’t see anything wrong with that.” The man jabbed a thumb into his breast and threw out another cocky grin. “The name’s Bandit Keith! Remember it the next time someone asks who stamped you into pulp!” “I only ask because I like to remember the names of those whom I have crushed!” Luna declared, taking the first turn with a decisive snap of her wrist. “I utilize the field spell Empyrean, Cradle of the Stars!” A bright light built up in her disk as she slipped the card into the field spell slot. The light grew until it was almost painful to look at and suddenly shot up into the sky. The beam hit the slowly gathering cloud cover and burst, chasing away the clouds in a great circle far above the duel. Instead of the light blue that should have been there at this afternoon hour, the clearing revealed a sky as pitch black as the deepest night. “Showy, but what’s it do?” Keith asked snidely. “You will find out in due time.” Luna informed him, slotting her next card into place. “I place one card in reverse and summon forth my first soldier, the mighty Ursa Major!” For a moment her card shimmered into being on her field, but the card was almost instantly overcome by an inky violet darkness shot with pinpoints on light. The rectangle of night sky held for a few seconds more, and then the stuff seemed to flow out in a tide that seemed to go on and on. The stuff build up on itself and unfolded into the shape of a great bear rising up three stories over the little people around it. The bear was partially see-through and its shining purple body was speckled with bright stars. A golden eight-point star was stamped across the monster’s brow. “And so I turn over priority to you.” Luna proclaimed, taking a step back stiffly with one leg to stare back at him from the side. “That’s sure a big guy!” Kaith whistled as he drew a card. “But its points don’t match its bulk at all! Now let me show you a real badass monster! Watch closely now; this guy’s called the Twin Barrel Dragon and he’s got a one in four shot of showing up bearing gifts!” A robotic creature popped onto his side of the field and landed on its springy legs with a little bounce. The thing looked like a raptor crossed with a handgun, and as Luna watched the two gun barrels that made up its head started flashing bright red. They alternated on and off for a few second before both barrels lit up and stayed that way. At this, Bandit Keith burst out with braying laughter. “Lookit that! The little guy’s just foaming at the mouth to tear you apart! With both barrels lit, my dragon can shoot down any card I want. Time to make a rug outta that bear!” The dragon leaned back and shot a ball of energy straight into the Ursa Major’s chest. The shot went straight into the monster and detonated, and then the bear started to fall apart. Its violet glow faded to nothing, leaving only a few shining pinpricks of light floating on the field. The lights suddenly shot up and settled on one part of the night sky, arranging themselves into a simple pattern that was clearly a constellation. “What the crap was that all about…” Keith muttered, but shook his head and put it out of mind for the moment. He picked another card from his hand as steam hissed out of his monster’s cooling barrels. “I think I’ll use Machine Assembly Line to raise my machines’ attack points by a cool two hundred. Now blast her with a direct attack!” The robot glowed as his spell gave it just a little extra power. It rocked back on its springy legs and took aim. “Just a moment, I wish to use the trap known as Needlebug Nest!” Luna declared, started to pull cards from her deck. “This card has the ability to send the top five cards of my deck straight to the grave. And it just so happens that all five are Star Beasts!” She held up the five cards and streams of light streaked out of them, showering up into the sky. When the light show was finished there now existed half a dozen constellations high above them and the light radiating down was much brighter. This mattered little to Keith’s dragon, which fired its attack with a snap of its head. The red energy bullet slammed into Luna’s chest and rocked her back a step, and the cards she’d be holding out flew out from her nerveless fingers. Luna 2700 “Wait a minute, what is this crap!” Keith cried, pointing an accusing finger at her. “You should have taken way more damage than that!” Luna panted a little but steadied herself, looking threateningly up at him through the hair that had fallen over her face. “My Star Beasts are a special breed of monster which only I possess, and they do not rest in the graveyard when they are destroyed. Rather, they leave the game entirely and retire to the heavens!” She brushed the errant hairs back into place and pointed dramatically into the sky. “Once there they build in power, increasing the strength of every Star Beast that comes after. And so long as Empyrean exists to house them, each one will protect me from one hundred points of damage apiece!” “Tch, what a pain…” Keith growled, gritting his teeth. “I end my turn there. And don’t get too cocky about that move, you just lucked out getting so many monsters like that!” “Not true.” Luna said, snapped the top card from her deck out decisively. “I use very little spells or traps, so most of my deck is comprised of monsters. Monsters such as Scorpius!” Once again her card appeared and a mass of nebulous stars poured out of it, this time taking on the form of a reddish scorpion. It stood about half the size the bear had been and the eight-point star on its brow was a bright purple. It raised its pincers into the air and clicked them threateningly. “Scorpius may not have the sheer power necessary to defeat that creature,” Luna continued, “But the ability it possesses more than makes up for its inevitable loss! Scorpius, gather the strength of your fallen brothers and strike this loathsome man!” Another small beam of light joint the heavens as Luna discarded another one of her cards to activate Scorpius’s effect. The little light given off by the stars seemed to focus on the monster below and the scorpion raised its tail high. A glowing coal of light grew on the tip of its stinger and burst forth, carving a line down the front of Keith’s shirt. Keith clutched at his chest and glared daggers at the monster. Keith 3300 “And the beast sacrificed to Scorpius was Corvus, the little crow!” Luna continued, fanning out her deck with her free hand. “When the sign of Corvus ascends, any card graced with the name of Welkin goes right to my hand.” “So what?!” Keith shouted, drawing a card. “You think a little scratch like that was supposed to be impressive? I barely felt it! And now I’m going to trade up my Twin Barrel for a Blowback Dragon!” His robot was sacrificed for a much larger version, and the mechanical terror glowed as his spell card powered it up a bit. It rocked back on its legs and let loose a squealing metal roar. “In case you haven’t been paying attention, my dragons all run on a similar theme.” Keith said, grinning fit to split his face in two. “And Blowback’s one of the best! Once per turn, this guy’s got a fifty-fifty chance of blowing any card on the field straight to hades!” “Th-that’s not fair!” Spike interrupted. “Fair?” Keith glared at the boy with such menace that the rest of his objections lodged in his throat. “Have you ever stared down the barrel of a gun, knowing that whether or lived or died was up to nothing but blind luck? I have, and let me tell you something.” He broke out into a smile that could only be described as lunatic. “Nothing make you feel more alive!” Luna held out a calming hand to Spike. “Do not worry, my friend. His servant may be strong, but I have faced danger of this kind before. And more to the point, that strength comes with a price; he can exert no control over it at all. He has sacrificed precision for power and that is where our victory lies.” The Blowback Dragon had been pulsing all during this exchange, light traveling up its spinal nodes and causing the barrel of its face to flash. As soon as Luna uttered those words something like the hammer of a pistol cocked up and slammed into the back of the dragon’s head. There was a loud, empty click and the pulsing died away, leaving the dragon standing silently on the field. Evidently, its ability wasn’t going to activate this turn. Keith grinned and waved his cards in their direction. “See, what’d I tell you! Nothing beats the rush you get when your luck pulls in and you get to live another day, eh? Well don’t get too comfortable, I can still blast that bug apart by attacking it! Photon Blast!” The dragon rocked back on its legs as its head snapped back from the recoil of its own attack. The energy bullet struck Scorpius dead center and the beast exploded, disappearing in a cloud of dust. Streaks of light shot up from the cloud, forming a new shape in the sky above. Luna 2500 “Hardly any damage… that’s getting really annoying…” Keith growled. “I set one card and end my turn. Gonna play anything useful this time?” “You shall see.” Luna said, contemplating his face down with a frown. Hmm… is it time to unleash the spell Corvus brought to me? No… that is the first trap this man has lain so far, it would be unwise to rush into it. “I summon the water bearer, Aquarius, to the field!” The amorphous sky-stuff formed up into the shape of a light blue girl this time, with gimlets for eyes and long flowing hair. Standing at a modest story and a half, the girl carried a large vase sideways over her shoulder, and a stream of sparkling water gushed continuously from it. “My Aquarius washes any monster with less stars than those I have gathered in the sky back to your hand.” Luna declared with a wave, and the water pulsed forth at her command. It instantly became a towering wave that caught the Blowback Dragon up and threw it up over the side of the helicopter pad. The robot shimmered and disappeared as it went over, and the physical card reappeared in Keith’s hand. “All right, now he’s defenseless!” Spike crowed, hopping a little in excitement. Luna smirked and thrust her hand out. “Aquarius, strike him directly!” Her star beast nodded to her with its sightless eyes, then lifted its jug high over its head. With a slash of its arms the creature brought the jug down sharply and sent a slash of water scything across the field. Through all of this Luna kept her eyes glued to Keith’s face down card, waiting to see what it going to do. So it took her by surprise when he just bowed his head and allowed the wave to slice right through him without comment. Keith 2300 “Is that all you got?” Keith growled, throwing his hand in the air. “Then I’m going to use Fires of Doomsday to summon two tokens to my side.” A pair of dark black flames sprang into being on his field. The fires grew a pair of thin arms and a single emerald eye in the center of their foreheads. The pair of them stared with dead-eye blankness at their opponents. Spike sniggered and pointed at the tokens. “Did something throw off your game? You activated that too late to block the attack!” “I do not believe those imps are for defense.” Luna admonished the boy, looking down at her hand and making some quick calculations. “I will end my turn there.” “Then it’s time I taught you a trick!” He drew and barely glanced at the card before activating it. “I use the spell Fiend’s Sanctuary to summon a Metal Fiend Token to the field. But don’t blink, because I’m gonna sacrifice it right away!” A magic circle appeared momentarily on his field and a thing that looked like a cross between the Doomsday tokens and a steel ringworm rose out of the center of it. Mercifully, the strange token almost immediately disappeared in a flash of light to be replaced by a new machine. This one was heavily built, with bladed armored plates covering its arms and legs. A gleaming cannon barrel rose out of each of the robot’s shoulders. “Behold the new and improved Cannon Soldier MK-2!” Bandit Keith cried in triumph, spreading his arms wide. “Not impressed yet? We’ll see what expression’s on your face when I sacrifice my Doomsday tokens to blow your life points apart!” The twin flames rose up and were absorbed into the engines on the robot’s back. Its double barrels lit up as it leaned over and took aim, unleashing its lasers in a deafening blast. Luna took it right to the chest and was driven back, but Spike managed to catch her before she could fall. Luna 1000 Keith roared with laughter, clutching his sides. “I knew that shabby skyline of yours wouldn’t protect you from card effects! And none of those star beasts have an ounce of attack power worth anything! Cannon Soldier, kill that piece of trash that dared to attack me!” The machine held up its arms and a tiny barrel popped out of the center of its stubby hands. It sprayed a stream of machine gun fire over Aquarius, who fell back with a silent scream. The girl came apart at the seams and its stars shot up into the sky to join the others. Luna 700 “Haw haw haw!” Keith laughed, reveling in the moment. “Just watch those life points fall! Is there anything better? Now show me a face that’s lost all hope!” “I am sorry to disappoint, but you have not broken my spirit yet.” Luna replied. Despite the situation, a satisfied smile graced her face. “How can you be so calm?! Don’t you know what’s at stake?!” Keith demanded. Luna shook her head and pointed up at the stars above her. “It doesn’t matter whether I win this duel or not; my only goal has been to warn my sister and her charges of the danger I sensed. My way of battling is very flashy and I watched them dueling on the roof of that castle as I arrived. By now they have seen our duel and must be wondering why I have come, and who I fight. I expect they are coming to investigate-” She was cut short as Keith brayed with laughter once again. “You’re acting so calm because you expect the cavalry to show up?!” he gushed, doubling over with dark mirth. “Well, how about we crush that little hope of yours right now!” He straightened up and snapped his fingers, and suddenly they could see something in the air between them and the castle. It seemed to be a clear sheet of crystal, fine enough to be near invisible, and it stretched all the way around the tower they had seen their friends on. Luna could only stare at the apparition with surprise, shaken down to her core. The magic barrier faded from sight after a moment, but she was sure it was still there, obscuring the truth from her friends. “My Master doesn’t want anyone in the castle to be disturbed.” Bandit Keith explained, and a peculiar look of adoration momentarily crossed his face as he mentioned his master. “So he made sure that nothing would distract them from their little ‘tournament’. That means your warning has fallen on deaf ears!” He lost himself in another bout of mad laughter. “Oh no…” Spike said, but turned sharply as Luna dropped a hand on his shoulder and pulled him close. “There is nothing for it.” She whispered quickly, wanted to get it out quickly before Keith’s attention returned. “When I give you the signal, take the briefcase and run for the castle. Do not worry about me, just run!” “What do you mean?” Spike asked, concerned, but she’d already turned back to the duel. “Is it my turn?” she demanded, and then proceeded without waiting for his response. “Then I suppose there is no further need for me to drag this duel out. I cast Welkin Polymerization!” “Someone’s all fired up.” Keith said, but craned his neck back as the stars far above them began to swirl together. “This spell allows me to combine my constellations into new forms to serve me!” Luna declared, selecting two of her star beasts and placing them on the bottom of her deck. “I choose to fuse together Cygnus the Swan and Fornax the Furnace to form the mighty firebird, Phoenix!” A glowing mass of bright orange star-stuff flowed down from the sky, gaining brilliance until it was almost too much to look at. The mass unfolded as the monsters wide wings unwrapped from around its body. It had a fiery crest of feathers atop its head above a golden eight-point star and three long, curving tail feathers. The great bird hung suspended in the sky and beams of light radiated off it from all angles. Luna chopped her hand down sharply. “Phoenix, strike down his ferrous minion!” The firebird crowed a surprisingly melodious cry and rose up with a flap of its mighty wings, turning over a backflip and flying straight at the Cannon Soldier. It grasped the robot in its talons and dragged it up into the sky. With a squeeze, the machine was split in two and the pieces fell down to the earth below, where they landed in a great eruption of dust and smoke. Keith 1900 The Machine Assembly Line spell card, all but forgotten, suddenly lit up with power. A number of conveyor belts appeared on the ground and started trundling bits and pieces of the fallen robot into the card-face. The spell glowed with power as each bit was funneled in. “For all your big talk, that was barely decent!” Keith grunted, drawing a card and breaking out in another grin. “Haw! I’ll show you what a REAL monster looks like. First I’ll summon this worthless Cannon Soldier, and then I’ll use Tribute Doll to trade it in for something useful!” His newest machine appeared on his field, a weaker version of the soldier that had just been destroyed, and it barely has time to fully stand up before Keith’s spell appeared behind it. Hundreds of metallic grey threads poured out from the spell and wrapped themselves all about the Cannon Soldier. The robot flailed against their pull but was helpless as it was dragged into the card. As soon as the monster was completely consumed the card burst into brilliant light. The thing that emerged from the light resembled his other Barrel monsters, but much larger. Its heavy metal body barely fit on the stone walkway. In addition to the long barrel that made up its head, it had two more guns on either side of its body like arms. All three barrels little up with energy and began to pulse back and forth. “This is the one that started it all, my Barrel Dragon!” Keith crowed, spreading his arms. “Unfortunately, that shitty spell doesn’t let me attack you normally this turn, but his ability gets around that! If even one barrel has a bullet in it, it can make a magical attack on any monster! Now let’s see if my dragon’s packing heat!” The dragon’s barrels pulsed on and off, and suddenly the one on its right side blazed fully to life. A deafening blast accompanied the gun as it fired a bright bullet that struck the firebird dead on. The phoenix screeched as it disappeared into a massive explosion, although Luna's life points remained untouched thanks to Empyrean. “Are you sure that was the wisest move to make?” Luna asked with a hint of a smile. “What are you blabbering about?” Keith asked irritably, but his eyes widened behind his shades as he looked up. A number of stars were flying up from the dispersing cloud to form a new constellation, but others were falling down! There were five in total, and as they reached the field they were surrounded by a roughly oval sphere of orange sky-stuff like a shell. Luna folded her arms and looked down her nose at his confusion. “Phoenix may have passed on, but it has filled my field with a number of phoenix eggs. These eggs take on the mantle of the great bird itself, and each one will burn a portion of your life points away as long as they remain!” The line of eggs lit up in a blazing fire, forming a wall of flames separating the two of them. Bandit Keith was also surrounded in flames and he threw his head back and howled in pain. Keith 1400 “Now?” Spike asked, nervously bouncing from the balls of one foot to the other, but Luna shook her head softly as the fire died away and Keith leveled them with a murderous glare. “And now, to continue…” Luna said, drawing a card and setting it aside in favor of another. “My lovely eggs have yet another use, as sacrificial material. I will exchange two of them to call forth the undisputed ruler of the night sky, the all-encompassing Draco!” What appeared on her side of the field put all the other star beasts before it to shame. It seemed to unfold endlessly into the sky as it rose up, scrapping the heavens with its long serpentine body. Its bright emerald color shone like an expertly cut gem and the stars of its eyes burned like miniature suns. It opened its mouth and let loose a throaty roar. “Draco is the largest monster in my domain, and the strength it possesses reflects that very aspect. For every single star on each beast in the night sky, the attack points of my dragon raise by one hundred. At present, this gives Draco a commanding power of thirty-four hundred!” “Well, don’t you feel special!” Keith spat venomously, opening his arms in a ‘come-and-get-me’ stance. “That’s still not enough to finish me off, so bring it on!” At that moment there was a blinding burst of light as some impossibly brilliant sun suddenly appeared above the castle. It blew away the gathering cloud cover and blotted out the night sky of Empyrean on that side completely. For a moment that magical crystal barrier was visible again and then even the top of that started to bubble away, letting loose rays of impossibly bright light. Bandit Keith spun around and gawked up in horror. “What the crap is that?!?” That must be Solis Tia! Luna thought, her mind racing. This could be the chance I have been waiting for! “Spike, now!” she shouted, raising her hand up to her dragon at the same time. “Draco, unleash the power of the heavens upon him right this instant!” Spike gulped but launched forward, placing his trust in her completely. Keith spun around at her shout and saw the boy dashing like a maniac right towards him. He held out his arm to stop him just like last time, and that was when a stream on light slammed into his Barrel Dragon from the celestial’s jaws. The resulting explosion knocked his balance away and drove him to the ground, pinning him in place for a few crucial seconds. Keith 800 Spike leapt nimbly around the piles of scrap being carted into Keith’s spell and took off towards the waiting castle like a rocket. By the time Keith was climbing slowly to his hands and knees, he was already climbing up the large staircase. Keith caught sight on him and raised his arm, but a shout from Luna froze him in place. “You should be paying more attention to your foe,” she cautioned him, “because I just ended my turn by laying one card in reverse. That means my trio of remaining eggs burn yet more of your life points away!” Keith 500 Keith burst to his feet and spun around as the flames on him died away and Luna immediately became aware of two very disturbing facts. The first was that Keith had lost his bandana when he was blown over and his shades were hanging on by only one ear. The other thing was that something was terribly wrong with this man, and she immediately recognized what it was. A jagged black and red crystal was embedded in Bandit Keith’s forehead and seemed to beat with an oppressive menace. The whites of his revealed eye had been replaced by a sickeningly bight green, and the iris glowed a blood red. Thin trails of purple mist oozed out the corner of his eye before he readjusted his shades, hiding the eye from view and cutting off the mist like magic. Above them the crystal barrier reformed itself and all at once a number of half-formed suspicions solidified in Luna’s mind. “Sombra!” she exclaimed, staring at the possessed man in a new light. “You are the one whom I sensed at work here!” Bandit Keith giggled and settled into a ready stance with his hand over his duel disk. “Sombra… yeah, that’s the name of my Master. And soon he’ll be yours too, as I’ve grown tired of this game! Let me show you the power that serving him brings! “There’s not nearly enough cards in my hand to properly punish you for everything you’ve done to me, so I’ll use the Card of Demise to draw a new hand! Then I’ll use Return of the Doomed to bring my Barrel Dragon back!” His machine reappeared on his field and leveled its various barrels at Luna’s field. However this time Keith’s luck was out, as the silence of its turrets implied that its ability had failed to activate. Keith threw out his hand dramatically. “No matter, there’s plenty of destruction where that came from. Remember my Machine Assembly Line? It’s been gathering scrap from all the useless pieces of junk I’ve lost this duel and I’ve got enough now to bring any level four machine back together. So get ready for Twin Barrel Dragon, take two!” His continuous spell burst into light and disappeared, leaving the small dragon standing in its place. But like his other monster its barrel only glowed for a few moments before it faded, without blowing any card apart. Luna crossed her arms. “You are coming up short, Bandit Keith. Or has the false strength of Sombra already left you?” “Master Sombra’s power is limitless!” Keith screamed. “Now watch closely, as I’m not going over it twice. I sacrifice Twin Barrel for Blowback Dragon once more!” His third mechanical dragon took the place of his smallest, and this time its ability was successful. The dragon unleashed a blast that ripped Luna’s face down card from the field. She held up her arm to protect her face from the wind of the bullet’s passing. Keith grabbed another card and rammed it home into his disk. “Hold onto your hat, because the fun is just getting started! I use Polymerization to fuse my Barrel and Blowback dragons together into the Gatling Dragon! This beast is so terrifying that it destroys a random number of monsters simply by showing up!” His two remaining machines swirled together, becoming yet another strange fusion of metal, monster, and modern weaponry. It rolled forward on its huge spiked wheels and suddenly unleashed a flurry of bullets from its three heads. Its coil-like necks snapped around like thrashing snakes from the force of its attack, spraying bullets in literally every direction. Keith laughed his head off as bullets whizzed through the air around him, while Luna crouched down to make as small a target as possible. Draco roared in pain as countless bullets traced over its body and it detonated, along with two of the remaining eggs. Draco’s stars rose up into the sky to join the others as the mechanical horror’s barrage finally drew to a close. The ferocity of the assault had driven the breath from her lungs, but Luna climbed to her feet resolutely and even managed a confident air. “So close, my confused foe. One egg remains, and you have finally run out of tricks!” “You think that was all?” Keith asked in a small voice before screaming at the top of his lungs. “I’m never out of bullets! I use the spell De-Fusion!” The last of Luna’s confidence faded from her face as the Gatling Dragon vanished and his original two monsters returned. “No…!” “That’s right. Not only have my dragons returned, but I can use their abilities once again.” Keith raised his finger and pointed straight up. “Blowback, those shitty lights have been an eyesore for too long. Put ‘em out!” The Blowback Dragon leaned back and after a few seconds of flashing fired a bullet straight up into the sky. It arced higher and higher before exploding into a bright supernova that shoved every star out of their proper alignments. They faded from sight as the clouds rushed in to fill the empty space. To Luna, her crumbling field spell perfectly captured her complete loss. At least Spike made it to safety. She thought as the barrels of his other dragon began to glow. He will be able to warn them of the danger. The battle is lost, but the war may yet be saved… The Barrel Dragon roared and launched a trio of blazing energy bullets. The first smashed her remaining egg to pieces and the last two crashed into the ground about her, lifting her from her feet and dashing her roughly against the helicopter. She dropped senseless to ground, stunned. Luna 0 The world slowly returned to her, and the first thing she saw was that Bandit Keith was standing above her. He knelt and she saw that he was holding something in his hand. She tried to roll away from it, but her grabbed her shoulder roughly to keep her still. “And now, your penalty for losing.” He said as he slipped the golden circlet around her throat. It tightened immediately and the bright red crystal set into its center began to beat like a heart. Her still slightly dazed eyes suddenly filled with green light and she stopped struggling, seeming to be listening to a voice only she could hear. Keith chuckled and rose back to his feet, turning to look back at the castle. “Welcome to the service of Master Sombra, sister. And don’t worry about letting that brat get in, there’s no way he can stop our master’s plans now. “Master Sombra’s other servants will make sure that the tournament continues just as planned.” … Celestia spun the golden bracelet with the red ruby on her wrist idly as she contemplated her student’s story. “A night sky in the middle of the day… I didn’t see anything myself, but there’s no reason to doubt you. It must have been my sister’s Star Beast deck. But what would she be doing on the island?” “Why don’t we just ask her?” Applejack asked, but Celestia was already shaking her head. “That boy Bakura still has Ataxia and Discord.” Celestia reasoned calmly. “I don’t know why Luna’s here, but whatever it is can’t be more important than getting those cards back. We have to keep this tournament running until we get those cards!” “Well, then why don’t Rarity and I go see if we can find her?” Rainbow said, linking arms with Rarity. “We’ve already been eliminated, so there’s no reason for us to stick around. We’ll go see what she wants and be back in a flash!” Celestia opened her mouth to say something, but Pegasus smoothly spoke first. “That’s an excellent idea! Just head back the way you arrived and you’ll find the front gates in no time. Meanwhile, we’d better get back to the match, it seems young Bakura is growing restless.” The group turned and saw the white haired boy was watching them with a dark grin. When he saw them watching he spun on his heels and beckoned them to follow as he marched back outside to the arena. “Don’t worry Twilight, we’ll be back in a jiffy!” Rarity said with forced cheerfulness, dropping a hand companionably on Twilight’s shoulder. Twilight glanced at the couch where they had lain Fluttershy. The girl was still unconscious, but they had made her as comfortable as possible and she seemed to be alright for the time being. She turned back to her friend and smiled a little, nodding. Rainbow took that as her cue, once again linking arms with the fashionista and dragging her through the double door back into the castle. “Let’s go.” Twilight told the people around her, steel underlying her words. “We’ve got our own battle to win!” She led the group back out onto the battle arena. Bakura was already standing in the middle of the field with his arms crossed, waiting. As soon as he saw them approach he snapped out his arm and his duel disk activated. “I think I want to take the next turn, gents.” He said, holding up the stolen cards before placing them firmly into his deck. “I want to give these babies a little test run. And as I recall the rules of this little competition, no duelist may fight twice in a row. So that means someone other than Ms. Sparkle needs to be my opponent.” Twilight froze halfway to her spot on the field, realizing he was right. Joey shoved his way to the front of the group and raised his fist threateningly. “You're just too scared ta face her God cards, aren’t you? Er… I mean, they aren’t God cards… or not yet… um, if we lose, then they are Gods…” Yugi placed a restraining hand on Joey’s shoulder and pulled him back. “Don’t worry, Joey. This is fine. One of the others can duel him if that’s what he wants.” He turned to Twilight and gave her his most confident smile. “Trust me, I have a plan.” Twilight hesitated, but then returned Yugi's smile with one of her own. She stepped back from the stage and returned to her friends. “Well in that case, ah’ll take him on!” Applejack said determinedly, snapping on her disk with a decisive motion. “He needs to be taught a lesson for what he did to Shy and ah’m just the duelist to give him one!” Twilight caught her arm as she stepped forward. “Be careful out there. We don’t have the Elements this time, so whatever you do, don’t let him play that card!” “Ah know what ah’m doin’, Twi.” AJ twanged, slipping her arm free and dropping her a wink. “’sides, this is just a warm-up until you can take him on yourself. Ah won’t take a dive, but there’s more to my deck now than the last time ah faced down that mashed-up monster!” Bakura smirked as she walked over to her side of the field. “The cowgirl, eh? Well, can’t say there was all that much choice. How about I give you a little handicap and run the deck Pegasus prepared for me. Think that will give you enough of a chance to make this interesting?” “Ah don’t care what deck you’re usin’.” Applejack said roughly, spinning in place and stamping her foot down hard. “Just so long as you’re ready to lose!” Next time on Yugioh: It's Time to Duel Dark Ruler's Domain vs. A Day at the Rodeo