Let's Duel!

by Snake Staff

Rookie Duel

A little while later Twilight and Spike emerged from Golden Oak Library, where they had dropped off their new clothes. The dress Rarity had bequeathed to Twilight hung beside her other clothes, while Spike had acquired an appropriate-sized suit “for being an absolutely perfect little gentleman” as Rarity had put it. It had been difficult to convince him to put the designer clothing away. Twilight made a silent decision to wear the dress to whatever high society function she was next obliged to attend in Camelot.

“Alright, now that we’ve seen to the decorations-”

“And met the prettiest girl in the whole universe,” Spike interrupted.

“And met a girl you think is attractive enough to prefer over your own mentor,” Twilight pursed her lips. “What does our list say we should be doing now?”

“Heh heh,” Spike shied away from her a little. “Uh… anyway, this checklist says we should be enquiring about the music. A girl named Fluttershy is the one to talk to.”

“Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and now Fluttershy!” Twilight threw her hands up in the air. “What other kinds of ridiculous names do they give out in this place?!”

“I know, right?” Spike nodded as the two began walking.

“This town is weird.”

A few minutes of walking saw the duo nearing the town’s edge, where the buildings and road and manicured lawns gave way to a vast and dark forest called the Everfree. The locals mostly shunned the place, considering it cursed or haunted. Twilight thought that was just a bunch of superstitious nonsense. But either way, their latest errand called them to visit a cottage little more than a few dozen feet from the forest. The woman they sought lived there alone, in spite of the forest’s bad reputation.

She, Twilight decided, must be very brave.

As the two approached the location of the cottage they began to hear rhythmic sounds drifting through the air. The closer they got the more obvious it was that it was the sound of music being practiced. No vocals though, which Twilight thought somewhat odd. It was when they finally arrived in sight of the homey little place that source of the sound was finally revealed.

“Birds?” Twilight raised an eyebrow.

But birds it was. Dozens of them, ranging from bluejays to cardinals to popinjays, lined up on the branches of a tree and chirping in their little voices. Together, the song they made was simple and somewhat repetitive, but relaxing and enjoyable enough. At the base of the tree, seemingly acting as a conductor, was a pink-haired, fair-skinned young woman in a yellow sweater and light green skirt.

Putting aside her bafflement with the woman’s choice of chorus, Twilight walked carefully behind her. Gently, she tapped the pink-haired girl on the shoulder.

“Hello,” she began.

“EEEP!” the woman yelped, her birds flying wildly in all directions.

“Oh my!” Twilight put a hand over her mouth when the girl shrank visibly before her. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you or your birds!”

The woman said nothing, looking down at her feet and tapping her two index fingers together.

“Let’s try getting off on the right foot,” Twilight continued after a moment. She extended her hand. “My name is Twilight Sparkle. How do you do?”

The girl again declined to say anything, and did not shake Twilight’s hand. The latter let it drop after a few seconds.

“Uh, what’s your name?” she asked, feeling awkward.

“I-I’m… umm…” she kept looking down. “Fluttershy.”

“I was sent here by Princess Celestia to oversee preparation for next week’s festival, and I was coming by to check in on the music. And from what I heard, it’s sounding beautiful.”

“P-Princess Celestia sent you?” Fluttershy’s pupils visibly shrank. “Oh m-my, you must be a very important person. And I wasn’t r-ready to have g-guests…”

“I’m her student, actually,” Twilight answered in a gentle tone. “And no need, I was just here to-”

“You’re the princess’ s-student?” Fluttershy swallowed. “I’m, um, sorry that I, uh, don’t have much to offer a l-lady of your standing. You see, my power is a teensy bit on the, uh, fritz, so I-”

“Hey there!” Spike, having caught up, interjected himself. “So, are you Fluttershy?”

“Why yes,” she actually met his eyes, even bending over to get more level with him. “I am. Who are you?”

“My name is Spike,” he told her. “Twilight there is my tutor. We were just coming by to check on your music for Princess Celestia.”

“So you’re a student at the princess’ school?” Fluttershy asked, smiling faintly. “That’s wonderful! Would you and Twilight care to come in?”

“I’m sorry,” Fluttershy half-whimpered inside the snug little cottage. “I’d love to offer you some herbal tea or nice hot food, but I’m afraid I wasn’t expecting any guests. So I, um, don’t have anything ready for people. I’d have to stoke the fire and cook.”

“Fire?” Twilight raised an eyebrow from her sofa seat. “Not to impose, but don’t you have an oven or something?”

“Oh y-yes. But, umm… it’s an electric model and the, uh, power is out. I’m so f-far off the main line that it sometimes happens.”

“Shouldn’t your house have a D-Energy capture mechanism?” Twilight asked. Most buildings that were up to code had an emergency backup generator capable of absorbing energy from nearby duels using the owner’s disk. They could generally keep a building powered for days in complete blackout situations.

“Well it d-does, but… but…” Fluttershy tapped her fingers together and looked down.

“But what?” Spike prompted.

“But I’m scared to duel,” she squeaked. “I mean… there are so many big m-monsters and scary traps and my cards gets hurt.”

“But don’t you want to have electricity?” Twilight asked, a little pity showing on her face.

“Oh yes, it’s quite nice to have that but…” Fluttershy looked back at her feet. “I don’t even have any opponents even if I did w-want to…”

“I can be your opponent,” Twilight offered gently. “I-”

“NO!” Fluttershy threw up her hands to protect her face, shielding herself from the world.

“F-Fluttershy?” the shock was evident in Twilight’s voice. “Are you… alright?”

She lowered her hands a fraction. “I m-mean… I could n-never duel the princess’ own student… you’re m-much too strong for me…” she hesitated. “And too scary.”

“What about me?” Spike cut in.

“Y-you?”

“Yeah. Twilight’s Celestia’s student, but I’m not. Why don’t you duel me instead? That way you could get some power back in here again.”

“W-well, children are much less scary than adults…” Fluttershy seemed to be considering it.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Twilight whispered into Spike’s ear. “Remember what’s in your deck. You might well give the poor girl a heart attack.”

“Do you want me to use yours instead?” he countered, just as quietly.

“…Good point,” Twilight admitted. “Just try not traumatize her if she accepts.”

“Can do.”

“You k-know what?” Fluttershy spoke up. “I’ll accept your challenge.”

“Great!” Spike smiled as gently as he could. “Let’s take this outside.”

Spike and Fluttershy faced one another a short distance outside the latter’s cottage, well within the capture radius of her D-Energy generator. Both wore duel disks, with Fluttershy's noticeably a bit dusty. Twilight stood safely on the sidelines, propped up against a tree with her arms folded across her chest.

“Let’s duel!” the contestants shouting, drawing their opening hands.

“Y-You can go first,” Fluttershy offered.

“Thanks,” said Spike, drawing a card. “I summon my Planet Pathfinder in attack mode!”

A green and white space rover with red wheels appeared on his side of the field.

“Next I’ll place two cards face-down and end my turn.”

“Oh my,” Fluttershy said softly, drawing her own card. “I’m afraid I can’t make a move as impressive as that. I place one monster in face-down defense mode, and one card face-down.”

Both cards appeared on her side of the field.

“And that’s it for me.”

“Alright,” Spike drew another card, smiling. “Hey Fluttershy, when you were a kid, did you ever watch giant monster movies?”

“Oh no!” she answered quickly. “Those movies are s-scary! I could never watch them!”

“Really?” his face fell. “Because I always loved them! The action, the thrills, the epic battle scenes as the terrible monsters stomped through downtown!” he sighed a little wistfully.

“Umm… no offense… but, um…” Fluttershy looked terribly indecisive. “What does that have to do with our duel?”

“Once I play this?” Spike grinned, holding up a card. “Everything.”

Fluttershy swallowed.

“First I’ll use my Pathfinder’s special ability, which lets me sacrifice it to add one Field Spell from my deck to my hand!” he declared.

The machine monster vanished just as quickly as it had come. Spike went through his deck, plucked out a card, and put it in his hand. He then reshuffled and replaced his deck inside his duel disk.

Oh no, Twilight rubbed her temples. He got one of the monsters he was looking for already. Maybe I should have made him use my deck instead.

“And now I play the Field Spell Card Kyoutou Waterfront!” Spike called.

The side of his duel disk popped open, and he inserted his card into the special field slot. There was a brief rumbling, and then from the behind the young boy a vast tower burst from the ground. It rose up far over the two duelists, gold-tipped and shining. A half-dozen lesser skyscrapers of various sizes soon joined it. They towered easily over both duelists.

“W-What does that do?” Fluttershy squeaked.

“You’re about to find out,” Spike told her. “Because from here on out my Kyoutou Waterfront gains one Kaiju Counter every time a card goes from the field to the Graveyard, to a maximum of five! Next I’ll summon,” he flipped a card in his hand around. “Radian, the Multidimensional Kaiju!”

Twilight’s eyes went wide.

I know this strategy!

“But that’s a seven star monster,” Fluttershy protested. “You need two monsters to sacrifice, and you don’t have any.”

“Not a problem,” Spike grinned confidently. “Because my Radian’s special ability lets me sacrifice your monster instead!”

“What?”

A pillar of blueish-purple light erupted from the ground, consuming Fluttershy’s face-down monster.

“My poor Marshmallion!” she cried out as the light raced upwards, vanishing into a swirling portal high in the air.

“And because a card just went to the Graveyard, I gain one Kaiju Counter. Of course there is a downside,” Spike went on. “Sacrificing your monster means that Radian will appear on your side of the field.”

“My side?” Fluttershy looked up.

The portal that the light had disappeared into flared. More purple and blue energy swirled out from inside it, grounding itself in front of Fluttershy. The next instant the energy rose and began to solidify before the cringing girl. A vaguely-humanoid black giant with insectile red eyes took shape. Its silhouette flickered and jumped from second to second, the monster seeming to exist in more than one place at once.

“B-But why?” Fluttershy shivered, barely daring to peek up at the monster. “Why give me a creature with 2800 attack points?”

“Because,” Twilight answered from the sidelines. “He plans to take it back.”

“Right you are!” Spike nodded. “Reveal face-down card, Owner’s Seal! This handy Spell Card reverts control of all cards to their original owners! So, Radian, come over to me!”

The giant flickered again, and then vanished. He reappeared in front of Spike, staring down Fluttershy with soulless red eyes.

“Meep,” she took a step back.

“And guess what? Now that Owner’s Seal has gone to the Graveyard, I get a second Kaiju Counter! And that’s just enough to activate Radian’s special ability!”

The outline of Spike’s monster flickered with greater intensity. One moment there was one giant, the next there were two on his field.

“H-How?!” Fluttershy’s eyes were wide.

“Once per turn I can sacrifice two Kaiju Counters to have Radian create one Radian Token on my side of the field with all 2800 of his attack points!”

“That means your monsters have a combined attack strength of 5600! On your second turn!”

“Right you are,” Spike nodded. “So let’s not waste any time! Radian and Radian, direct attack! Wipe out her life points right now!”

The twin black giants extended one clawed hand apiece. The air swirled around them as the barriers between dimensions stretched and contorted, unleashing two lances of purple energy. These crossed the field in an instant and exploded spectacularly. Fluttershy vanished from sight in a pillar of black smoke.

“Spike!” Twilight yelled at her pupil. “I thought you said you weren’t going to traumatize her! If she thought dueling was scary before, what’ll she think now?!”

“What was I supposed to do?” Spike defended himself. “My deck gave me the perfect hand for a fast takedown! What other strategy could I have used? Besides, won’t ending it quickly make it better for her?”

“You trashed her before she got to really do anything with one of creepiest cards in your deck! How could you possibly think that would be anything but-”

“Um, excuse me,” a tiny voice interrupted.

Twilight and Spike turned as one towards the source. The black smoke was fading away, revealing a battered-looking but still-standing Fluttershy. She held one card out for them both to see.

“I, um, discarded my little friend Kuriboh here,” she explained. “That lets me negate the damage from one of your direct attacks. So I’m still in this duel.” Fluttershy paused. “If that’s ok with you, that is.”

“Fine by me,” Spike shrugged. “I’ll end my turn right there.”

“Alright, back to me. Before I draw, I’ll activate my face-down Solemn Wishes. It gives me 500 life points every time I draw a card.” Fluttershy then drew and added the card to her hand.

“Twilight is right though, Spike. Those monsters of yours are a-awfully scary. I wish they wouldn’t attack me anymore.”

“And I wish Twilight wasn’t so obsessive and fussy,” Spike said, earning a glare. “But we don’t always get what we want.”

“I understand,” Fluttershy said softly. “You want to win. So that’s what my Swords of Revealing Light are for!”

Dozens of shining blades of pure energy appeared from nowhere to cover Spike’s entire side of the field, pinning his monsters in place.

“My swords will remain on the field for your next three turns,” she explained. “And while they’re still there none of your monsters can attack me.”

“Hmmm,” Spike’s brow furrowed a bit.

“And next I’ll play my good friend Revival Jam in defense mode.”

A light blue blob of goo appeared at Fluttershy’s feet, looking absolutely puny next to Spike’s twin terrors.

“Then I’ll place one card face-down and end my turn.”

“My move,” said Spike. “So look out!” he drew his card.

Hmmm… he looked down at his four-card hand. Not good. I don’t have anything that can destroy her swords right now, so my monsters are helpless. And I have no idea what she’s planning. Better be cautious.

“I’ll set one monster in face-down defense mode,” he said. “And that’ll do for now.”

“Alright,” Fluttershy drew another card.

“I summon my Spirit of the Breeze in attack mode mode.”

A green-skinned, blue-haired fairy in the yellow dress appeared, staring serenely across at Spike.

“As long as my Spirit remains on the field in attack mode,” Fluttershy explained. “I gain 1000 life points for every one of my Standby Phases that goes by.”

But she has 0 attack points, Spike thought. So far, just about everything she’s played has been to defend herself or gain life points. Nothing she’s summoned poses the slightest threat to my Kaiju monsters. What’s she planning?

“That’ll do it for this turn,” Fluttershy finished.

“Then it’s my move!” Spike drew. He looked at the card and didn’t even bother to place it in his hand. “I’ll play this face-down and call it quits.”

“Then I guess it’s my turn again,” Fluttershy drew, her life points shooting up from the twin effects.

“I reveal one of my face-downs, Kaiju Capture Mission!” Spike interrupted. “This lets me change one of my Kaiju monsters into face-down defense mode once per turn. And I choose my Radian. In exchange, the card gets one Kaiju Counter!”

One of his black giants disappeared into a face-down card.

“I summon my Inaba White Rabbit!” Fluttershy declared.

A small, semitransparent white bunny rabbit coalesced at her feet.

“Now attack his life points directly!”

“Wait, what?”

Fluttershy’s tiny creature cleared the entire field in one hop, landing directly atop Spike’s head. He fell roughly over onto his behind.

“Oh my, did that hurt?” Fluttershy asked kindly.

“A little,” Spike rubbed his rear as he stood back up.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I should have warned you. My cute little bunny’s effect allows him to bypass your monsters and attack your life points directly.”

“I got that.”

“And next I’ll play Poison of the Old Man. This allows me to inflict 800 more points of damage straight to your life points.”

Spike gritted his teeth.

“Sorry,” Fluttershy squeaked. “I don’t like to see poor innocent creatures get hurt, so I like to take the fight directly to my opponent.”

“You know they’re only holograms, right?” Spike asked. “Not real creatures?”

“But does that make it right to hurt them?” Fluttershy asked.

“Um, yes,” Spike blinked. “It’s what they’re for.”

“Well I happen to disagree,” she answered. “If that’s okay with you, that is.”

“Whatever,” he shook his head. “Just finish your turn."

“Well, alright. My adorable little rabbit comes back to my hand at the End Phase of each turn.”

Her rabbit dissolved into white energy, which rushed back into its card. Fluttershy picked it back into her hand with a smile.

“My draw!” Spike added a card to his hand, frowning.

Still nothing for the swords. Plenty of monsters, but nothing to do with them. Unless…

“Don’t forget that because you sent a card to the Graveyard last turn my Waterfront gets a Kaiju Counter!” he said. “That gives me two! Next I switch Radian into attack mode!”

His red-eyed black giant appeared back on the field.

“And next I’ll use his special ability to sacrifice one counter from Waterfront and one from Capture Mission to summon a second Radian Token to my side of the field!”

A third identical monstrosity took its place alongside the first two.

“G-gosh…” Fluttershy swallowed. “That sure is a lot of big scary monsters you have there.”

“Oh, you ain’t seen nothing yet,” Spike smiled. “Because next up I’ll sacrifice your Spirit of the Breeze to summon Kumongous, the Sticky String Kaiju on your side of the field! This also gives my Waterfront a Kaiju Counter!”

Fluttershy’s gentle spirit creature screamed and vanished into a white pillar of light. The pillar spread out and solidified, forming a massive bladed spider easily several stories tall. The girl was completely engulfed by the massive arachnid’s shadow.

He got rid of her biggest source of life points, Twilight considered from where she stood. But he also gave her a very powerful monster with a useful special ability. And because each player can only control one Kaiju monster, he can’t take it back.

Beneath the spider’s abdomen, Fluttershy was shuddering openly, hugging herself and rocking back and forth.

“Cute little bunnies, cute little squirrels, cute little birdies…” she recited. “Cute little bunnies, cute little squirrels, cute little birdies….”

“And I think I’ll end my turn right there,” Spike crossed his arms. “That means your Swords of Revealing Light expire, and I get a Kaiju Counter as they go to the Graveyard!”

Indeed, the blades of light were fading away, allowing all three of Spike’s black giants to loom over the field like angry gods about to strike.

“R-Right,” Fluttershy drew her card with a trembling hand.

“I summon my Inaba White Rabbit b-back to the field.”

Her semitransparent bunny appeared again.

“Attack his life points directly!”

Once again, the rabbit cleared the field in a single hop. This time Spike braced himself, managing to avoid being knocked over.

“And with that I think I’ll e-end my turn,” she finished.

“Then it’s my go!” Spike drew, barely even pausing to look at the card. “I’ll sacrifice two Kaiju Counters for a third Radian Token. And then I’ll attack your Kumungous with one of my Radian Tokens!”

One of the black giants raised a hand, unleashing a spear of purple energy.

“I a-activate my face-down card, Jam Defender!”

Fluttershy’s long-inactive goo monster sprung into motion. It stretched its body far longer than should have been possible, intercepting the Kaiju’s attack. It immediately exploded into a million tiny droplets of goo.

“Fine, but I don’t understand what that gets you,” Spike shrugged. “I was going to attack your slime creature next anyway, so what was-”

The boy bit his tongue as the blue goo that was raining down started to move in a different direction. Slowly at first, but rapidly picking up speed, the pieces raced back to where the monster had sat. They converged on one another and merged back together. In seconds, Revival Jam sat exactly where it had been, no worse for the wear.

“As its name s-suggests, my friend Revival Jam can resurrect itself automatically every time it’s destroyed in battle. And my Jam Defender card will allow it to intercept all of your monsters’ attacks.”

He’d have known that if he had bothered with the reading I assigned him, Twilight mused.

“Fine,” Spike growled. “I use Kaiju Capture Mission to flip the real Radian to face-down defense mode for another Kaiju Counter.”

“I draw,” Fluttershy was still shivering beneath the monster Spike had given her.

“I’ll p-play the Pot of Greed I just drew to draw twice more. Solemn wishes only gives me 500 life points for that, though.”

“Next I activate Messenger of Peace.”

“Not that card!” Spike called.

“Even though it will cost me 100 life points every Standby Phase, it’s worth it. It will prevent all monsters with more than 1500 attack points from attacking,” Fluttershy explained. “And next I’ll play my Wave-Motion Cannon.”

A bizarre-looking energy cannon riddled with pipes, gages, gears, and smokestacks appeared behind her.

“Now, all I have to do is send this card to the Graveyard on my next turn, and I inflict 1000 points of damage to your life points,” she explained. “And then I’ll activate a second copy of Poison of the Old Man to hit you for 800 points!”

“And on that note, I’ll summon my Inaba White Rabbit and attack your life points once again!”

Spike winced as he got another face-full of rabbit.

“I’m getting really sick of that bunny,” he growled.

“I’m sorry,” said Fluttershy. “But I promise, it’ll all be over soon. I end my turn.”

She’s right, Spike looked at his hand. I haven’t got anything that can prevent my life points from being wiped out next turn. Deck don’t fail me now.

He drew one card.

Not… exactly what I was hoping for. But I still have a chance.

“I reveal my face-down card, Trade-In! It lets me discard one eight star monster to draw two more cards! And for Trade-In going to the Graveyard, I get a Kaiju Counter on my Waterfront!”

Spike drew two more card, stared down at them, and then grinned.

“Next I activate the Spell Card Mystical Space Typhoon, which lets me destroy your Messenger of Peace!”

A tornado whipped across the field, destroying Fluttershy’s card.

“I s-still have my Revival Jam and Jam Defender!” she managed in a squeaky voice.

“Not for long! Since two cards just went to Graveyard, I get another counter on my Waterfront! And now I’ll sacrifice my original Radian and my face-down defense monster to summon my ultimate creature, Dogoran the Mad Flame Kaiju!”

Both of Spike’s monsters burst into flames. The fires washed over the field, causing Fluttershy and even Twilight cover their faces as they were engulfed in violent red-orange flames. Slowly but surely, a titan rose out of the fire pit behind the young boy. Easily the largest monster on the field, a towering grey-black reptile stood on two legs, clawed arms and long wings spread wide. More flames licked the edges of his mouth.

“Impressive, huh?” Spike asked. “Now check out his special ability! I can sacrifice three Kaiju Counters and his attack for this turn to destroy… every monster that you have on the field!”

“NO!” Fluttershy cried with tears in her eyes. “Not my poor creatures!”

“Sorry, but I wanna win this one!” Spike pointed across the field. “Dogoran, destroy all of Fluttershy’s monsters!”

His behemoth drew back its head, taking a deep breath. And then it flung open its jaw and gushed a torrent of the red-orange flame. It swept over Fluttershy’s side of the field, consuming Revival Jam and Kumungous alike in the wild conflagration.

“And now, my three Radian tokens!” Spike gestured at her. “Attack Fluttershy’s life points directly! End this duel!”

All three of his gigantic black creatures raised their claws hands. As one, three blasts of purple energy soared across the field to explode again their opponent.

“And that’s how we do it back at Duel Academy,” Spike crossed his arms with a confident smile.

“Well…” Twilight said. “You did win, fair and square. Though you cut it mighty close.”

“Like you don’t?”

Twilight ignored that. “But I hope that Ms. Fluttershy is ok.”

As if on cue, the holograms and the smoke that had been concealing the pink-haired girl faded away into nothing. Fluttershy was on her hands and knees, long hair covering her face.

“Oh…” Spike’s expression fell. “I hope she isn’t taking this too hard.”

“Fluttershy?” Twilight began walking towards her. “Are you alright?”

“I’m… I’m…” Fluttershy slowly looked up. “Actually, I’m feeling… kind of alright?”

Twilight and Spike looked at one another.

“Really?”

“Um, yes, actually,” Fluttershy pushed herself back onto her feet. “I mean, that was really scary and all. Especially your monsters, Spike.”

“Heh heh…” he scratched the back of his head.

“But at the same time it was… kind of fun.” Fluttershy looked as puzzled as the two of the newcomers. “I mean, sure I got scared, but I also… umm… sorta felt into it. My cards and critters were with me, and even though they did get a bit roughed up I got the sense that they still enjoyed it.”

“Well, it is what they’re meant to do,” Spike pointed out.

“And since they enjoyed it… I guess I did too,” Fluttershy paused. “Maybe dueling isn’t quite as bad as I remember it.”

“Remember it?” Twilight asked.

“Oh, this was my first duel in about five years or so.”

“Wow,” Spike marveled. “Then you did really well!”

“You think so?”

“Definitely,” Twilight nodded her agreement. “To get that close while so rusty… you must have a real talent for this! If you practiced more, you could go far.”

“Oh, gee…” Fluttershy looked at her feet. “I don’t know about that…”

“Well, I think so.”

“I…” Fluttershy paused. “Thank you. Both of you.”