//------------------------------// // Chapter 10: The Two Trios // Story: Yu-Gi-Oh! Friendship is Magic // by moviemaster8510 //------------------------------// This chapter's featured card: Genex Ally Triforce Synchro Monster Level: 7 ATK: 2500 DEF: 2100 Attribute: DARK Type: Machine 1 "Genex" Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters This card's effect depends on the Attribute(s) of its non-Tuner Synchro Material Monsters. ● EARTH: If this card attacks, your opponent cannot activate any Spell/Trap Cards until the end of the Damage Step. ● FIRE: If this card destroys a monster by battle, inflict damage to your opponent equal to the ATK of the destroyed monster. ● LIGHT: Once per turn, you can select 1 LIGHT monster in your Graveyard and Special Summon it in face-down Defense Position. The following morning in the Canterlot, Alex, Orion, and Twilight were summoned to the palace grounds. “It’s so good to see you again, Twilight Sparkle,” said Princess Celestia. “You too, Princess Celestia,” said Twilight. “It seems Princess Luna was kind enough to grant you a meeting with me about you going back home. Fortunately, we think we found a reason for your being here.” “Please, tell us then,” said Alex. Princess Celestia explained. “We have very good reason to believe that the portal that sent you here was caused by the magic of the elements of harmony.” “What are those?” asked Alex. Twilight answered him. “The elements of harmony are a set of magical artifacts that were used to defeat Princess Luna and Discord twice in times of despair. When we battled Discord, the spirit of chaos, I think that when we restored balance and order to Equestria, that the massive amount of energy ripped a portal from our world to yours.” “That’s exactly right, Twilight,” confirmed Princess Celestia. “Is that it?” asked Alex. “Then why can’t we just use the elements of harmony right now and send us all back home?” “I’m afraid it’s not that simple, Alex,” said Princess Celestia. “The elements of harmony can only have their activation earned through great willpower.” “But we NEED to get home,” explained Alex desperately. “Really?” asked Princess Celestia. “Your being here hasn’t affected Equestria for the worse. On the contrary, your presence has actually livened things up here. And I could hardly see how your world would greatly need you. I mean, your absence would not cause dire, life threatening consequences to your world.” “Well, what about the portal that opened up here?” asked Alex. “Our plane has very minimal damage. Couldn’t you make an airstrip for us so we can fly out into the portal back into our world?” “I hate to inform that we tested that possibility too, but I had a large group of pegasi look in the general direction of the portal, and we had no luck finding it. It seems that when your large aircraft entered the portal, you must have caused it to permanently shut.” Orion then spoke up. "I would have also suggested using my wand to make a new portal, but it would require a very large amount of my energy just to make a portal that's small enough for something like a mouse, so I certainly can't make a portal large enough to fit a plane." Alex pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. Twilight then spoke up. “You said that the elements of harmony need to have their activation earned. Is there any way we could do that other than endangering the lives of many ponies?” “That’s what I want you to figure out,” Princess Celestia said. “I’m giving you a day or two to think up of something. Think of something big that will make the activation of the elements of harmony all but certain. You are dismissed.” Alex, Orion, and Twilight bowed and retired to the dining room for breakfast. “Come on, you gotta!” yelled Applebloom. “We may be able to get our cutie marks if we learn that card game,” said the white unicorn filly with a curly pink and purple mane and tail. “Settle down,” said Charley. “I don’t think I quite know your names yet except for Apple Blossom.” “My name’s Sweetie Belle,” said the unicorn filly. “I’m Scootaloo,” said the orange pegasus filly with a dark magenta mane and tail, “and we’re going to be…” “CUTIE MARK CRUSADER DUELISTS! YAY!” they all cried simultaneously. Charley was becoming restless from the screaming, so she relented and decided to teach them. They then grabbed a random deck of cards but then stopped. “Wait, how do you even play this?” asked Scootaloo. “Let me teach you,” said Charley. And then their lessons began. Later that afternoon, Alex, Orion, and Twilight were deep in thought. Alex was becoming more and more agitated. Then Twilight got a thought into her head. “Alex, how big was the tournament in that Saffron city you were planning on going to?” Alex answered. “Pretty big.” “How many people would you have to estimate?” “4000? Maybe more.” “That’s a pretty large size. Do you think that that would be large enough?” “Large enough for wh-” Alex suddenly got it. “AHA!” he yelled. “But wait, how are we going to get enough ponies to register for this tournament?” “We’ll bring them to Ponyville,” Twilight answered. “We can send the game rule booklets to various towns all across Equestria. Then they can register for and pick a deck in Ponyville, which we have plenty of in spades.” “That’s going to be a lot of people we’ll need to accommodate,” said Orion. “That shouldn’t be too big a problem,” replied Alex. “There should be various hotels and other housing facilities in Ponyville. Plus, making more housing shouldn’t be a problem if it gets to be too large. If they can restore an abandoned theater in less than a day, they should be able to build some form of housing for them all.” “This sounds good then,” said Twilight. “I think I may have an interesting idea for the tournament standards. Can you hear me out?” asked Alex. Twilight got a quill and paper can began jotting down the notes Alex was making. Charley had finished their lesson later that night. It took much longer to teach the young fillies than the older ponies, as they were more hyper and less focused then the older ponies were. It was time to pick decks. Before Charley could make any suggestions, the three were rummaging through the box of decks. They picked the ones that suited their fancy. Applebloom picked a Karakuri deck, Sweetie Belle a Fabled deck, and Scootaloo a Genex deck. Lucas then told the young fillies that it was time for bed according to instructions from Sweetie Belle’s sister, Rarity. The ponies were too excited to play before they were to go to sleep. Lucas decided to serenade them with his guitar and voice with a lullaby. He decided to sing Moonchild by King Crimson. Sweetie Belle didn’t know this song, so she couldn’t make an impromptu gospel song out of it. Within the first verse, they were all asleep. Lucas and Charley decided to go to their bedrooms to sleep as well. The next morning, Alex, Orion, and Twilight made their way back to Princess Celestia’s palace. “Good morning, Twilight Sparkle, and a good morning to you too Alex and Orion. Have you made any progress with your idea?” she asked. “Actually, we have it finished.” Alex answered. He handed Princess Celestia a paper with a set of rules and told her of the idea. “Twilight here made a great suggestion to host a large dueling tournament in Ponyville. We will invite everypony in Equestria to compete. We will supply the decks and the duel disks for it, and there will be plenty of them to go around. We will also help with the accommodations, so don’t worry about that. I also thought that since this land is built heavily on the morals of friendship, we make the tournament a doubles only set-up, you know, like 2 on 2. This will have the ponies work together as a team and co-operate, and the winning team will be granted a wish by the elements of harmony. If we win, well, you know what would happen.” “I really like the sound of this,” commented Princess Celestia. “But I couldn’t help but think about wish.” “Yeah? We need some reason to draw in attention,” said Alex. “What if you and your friends lose? Your plan will fail then,” said Princess Celestia. “That’s just the risk we’ll take,” said Alex. “Very well,” said Celestia. “I shall make copies of these rules and game rulebooks and post them all throughout Equestria. You are free to go now,” she said. Alex, Orion, and Twilight exited the building where a chariot was waiting to fly them back to Ponyville. That morning, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were up and wanted to duel. Maddie decided to watch over them as Charley slept in. She paired up Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle to duel each other. Apple Bloom realized that they didn’t have any duel disks, so they couldn’t duel. “You could always duel on the floor without a disk,” said Maddie. “But that’s not NEARLY as cool,” complained Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo was over by Sammy who was practicing her bass, and she whispered something in her ear. Then Sammy got up and put on her duel disk, putting Scootaloo’s deck in the slot, intending to make Scootaloo’s moves for her. “Maddie,” she declared, “I challenge you to a duel!” “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” said Maddie. “Why don’t you play one of your friends?” Scootaloo responded with, “But I’ll never earn my cutie mark dueling one of them. No offense.” “None taken,” replied Sweetie Bell. “I’m dueling you, and that’s final,” said Scootaloo. “Fine then,” said Maddie. “I’ll teach you what happens when you play with the big dogs.” She unsheathed her duel disk, and Sam unsheathed hers. “DUEL!” they yelled. Maddie vs. Scootaloo Maddie’s Turn: Maddie summons Strategist of the Ice Barrier in defense position (ATK: 1600 DEF: 1600). Maddie activates its effect to discard 1 Ice Barrier monster to draw 1 card from her deck. Maddie places 1 card face down and ends his turn. Status: Hand-4 Life-4000 Monsters-1 Face Down Cards-1 Scootaloo’s Turn: Scootaloo activates Graceful Charity, drawing 3 cards and discarding 2. Next, she plays Monster Reborn, special summoning R-Genex Overseer (ATK: 200 DEF: 100). She activates R-Genex Overseer’s effect, special summoning a level 3 or lower monster from her hand, and she chooses R-Genex Crusher (ATK: 800 DEF: 800). Next, she normal summons R-Genex Magma (ATK: 1000 DEF: 200). Scootaloo tunes R-Genex Crusher and R-Genex Magma with R-Genex Overseer to synchro summon Genex Ally Triforce (ATK: 2500 DEF: 2100). Scootaloo attacks Strategist of the Ice Barrier. Maddie attempts to activate Mirror Force, but due to Genex Ally Triforce’s effect, because an EARTH non-tuner attribute monster was used in the synchro summon, Maddie cannot activate spell or trap cards until the end of the Damage Step. The attack goes through. Also, because a FIRE attribute monster was used in the synchro summon, another effect of Genex Ally Triforce is that when it destroys a monster in battle, it inflicts damage equal to the ATK of the destroyed monster. Maddie’s Life Points: 4000 -> 2400 Scootaloo ends her turn. Status: Hand-2 Life-4000 Monsters-1 Face Down Cards-0 Maddie’s Turn: Maddie summons Caravan of the Ice Barrier in defense position (ATK: 500 DEF: 200). With its effect, Maddie can send two Ice Barrier monsters from her deck and both players draw a card. Maddie places 2 cards face down and ends her turn. Status: Hand-3 Life-2400 Monsters-1 Face Down Cards-3 Scootaloo’s Turn: Scootaloo summons Genex Searcher, but Maddie activates Torrential Tribute, destroying all monsters on the field. Because Caravan of the Ice Barrier was destroyed by Torrential Tribute’s effect, Maddie activates Card of Last Will, drawing 5 cards. Scootaloo places 2 card face down and ends her turn. Status: Hand-1 Life-4000 Monsters-0 Face Down Cards-2 Maddie’s Turn: Maddie plays Magic Triangle of the Ice Barrier, revealing 3 Ice Barrier monsters in her hand and chooses 1 card the opponent controls and destroys it and chooses one of Scootaloo’s face down cards, which was a Negate Attack. With this effect, Maddie can special summon an Ice Barrier from her hand, and she chooses General Gantala of the Ice Barrier (ATK: 2700 DEF: 2000). Next, she normal summons Samurai of the Ice Barrier (ATK: 1800 DEF: 1500). Maddie equips Axe of Despair onto Samurai of the Ice Barrier, increasing its ATK by 1000 (ATK: 1800 -> 2800). She attacks Scootaloo directly with Samurai of the Ice Barrier, but Scootaloo activates Call of the Haunted, special summoning Genex Searcher (ATK: 1600 DEF: 400). Scootaloo’s Life Points: 4000 -> 2800 Scootaloo activates Genex Searcher’s effect. When destroyed in battle, she can special summon a monster with 1500 or less ATK from her deck and she chooses Genex Turbine (ATK: 1400 DEF: 1300). With its effect, all Genex monsters gain 400 ATK (ATK: 1400 -> 1800). General Gantala of the Ice Barrier attacks Genex Turbine. Scootaloo’s Life Points: 2800 -> 1900 Maddie places 1 card face down. In the End Phase of her turn, she can special summon an Ice Barrier monster from her graveyard. She chooses General Grunard of the Ice Barrier (ATK: 2800 DEF: 1000). Maddie ends her turn. Status: Hand-1 Life-2400 Monsters-3 Face Down Cards-2 Scootaloo’s Turn: Scootaloo plays Pot of Greed and draws 2 cards. Next, she plays the equip spell Premature Burial, paying 800 life points to special summon Genex Ally Triforce from the Graveyard. Scootaloo’s Life Points: 1900 -> 1100 Next, she plays the spell Limiter Removal, doubling the ATK of all Machine Type monsters (ATK: 2500 -> 5000). She attacks General Gantala of the Ice Barrier. Maddie’s Life Points: 2400 -> 100 Scootaloo activates Genex Ally Triforce’s effect to inflict damage equal to the destroyed monster’s ATK. Maddie then activates her trap Barrel Behind the Door, switching effect damage inflicted on him onto Maddie, but Scootaloo activates Solemn Judgment, paying half of her life points to negate Barrel Behind the Door’s activation and destroy it. Scootaloo’s Life Points: 1100 -> 550 Genex Ally Triforce’s effect resolves. Maddie’s Life Points: 100 -> 0 Scootaloo wins. Everyone in the room was in shock. The first ones to break the silence were Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, who ran over to her cheering. The three of them looked at Scootaloo’s flank, but it was still bare. “No cutie mark? I guess we should find something else to do,” said Scootaloo sadly. “No,” said Maddie. “You have some real talent. Don’t give this up because you didn’t get your cutie mark. If you keep this up and defeat even harder opponents and come out of even harder situations, you’ll get it for sure. I promise you.” Applejack and Rarity stopped by to pick up their girls. “Girls,” they both called, “Time to go home.” “Bye guys!” called the three fillies as they went away with their sisters. Soon, a chariot landed by the theater, dropping off Alex and Orion. They thanked the guards that pulled it, and they flew off again. Alex and Orion went to several bulletin boards in the town square and pinned large pieces of paper on them. It read: Equestrian Friendship Dueling Competition Beginning one week from today, registration for the Equestrian Friendship Dueling Competition will commence in the town of Ponyville. Rulebooks concerning the game being played will be handed out by various vendors in the towns of Equestria. Registry for a deck, duel disk, a scooter for riding duels, and free housing for your stay in the tournament will cost 10 gold coins (8 if you are a resident of Ponyville). Rules for the Equestrian Friendship Dueling Competition 1. Competitors must duel in teams of two; no exceptions. 2. The competition is eligible to all ages, genders, breeds, and species. 3. Each team member has 5 Monster and 5 Spell/Trap card zones. 4. There are two sides of the playing field, with a team of two occupying 1 side. 5. Each player uses their own decks and controls their own cards. 6. Each team shares 1 graveyard (1 graveyard per team). 7. Each team is given 8000 life points at the start of a duel. If a team’s life points reach 0, then they lose the duel. 8. Teammates can’t control another teammate’s monster. With permission from their teammate, however, they can use another teammate’s monster(s) to assist in a tribute summon, special summon, ritual summon, fusion summon, synchro summon, or xyz summon. Any other non-standard controlling of a teammate’s monster is prohibited. 9. No teammate can declare a direct attack unless there are no monsters on the opposing team’s side of the field. 10. There can only be 1 field spell active on the field at a time. 11. Each teammate can have 3 or less copies of any given card in their deck or extra deck (6 copies of any given card per team). 12. Teammates can talk amongst each other, compare hands, and share information with each other as long as it doesn’t break sub-rule iii of rule 13. 13. Any of the following instances and practices before, during, or after any duel will result in an immediate expulsion from the competition: i. Stacking the deck ii. Having four or more copies of the same card in your deck iii. Looking at the hand/deck of an opponent that wasn’t allowed by a card effect (if a player forces/tricks you into seeing their hand/deck if it wasn’t allowed by a card effect, it will result in their immediate expulsion) iv. Turning off the auto-shuffle function on the duel disk v. Drawing extra cards than instructed from a card’s effect/draw phase. vi. Marking your cards vii. Shuffling cards in your graveyard viii. Breaking Rule 8 (not to be confused with viii in this list) ix. Bullying, harassing, etc. x. (For Riding Duels Only) Intentionally incapacitating an opponent (by means of tripping, rough physical contact, etc.). xi. (For Riding Duels Only) Intentionally keeping a far distance from and/or evading your opponent (there is a 200 foot maximum distance of which you are to be separated; 400 foot maximum distance for duels involving 2 flyers). xii. (For Riding Duels Only) Not following the intended circuit (this doesn’t apply to duels involving 2 flyers). 14. Duels will take place over the course of three days from 8 AM to 6 PM. No duels can start before or after then. Duels that run over the 6 PM deadline will end in a draw with a loss on both teams records. You must duel 3 times a day. Any less will show as losses on your record, and any more do not count toward your record. The finals will consist of 8 teams competing in a bracket. Placement in the finals will be determined at the end of the 3rd day by the amount of wins over losses that each team makes in that time period. You cannot duel any given team more than once. If any number of teams vying for the final spots on the bracket tie for best winning/loss record, placement in the finals will be chosen through lottery. 15. Before a match starts, the teams can choose and agree to play in one of four ways: A. Standard Doubles: Two on two play that follows the above rules. B. Relay: Follows the same basic principles of normal one on one dueling. Starts as a one on one battle, with the two starting players starting with 4000 life points. When one teammate’s life points hits 0, the other teammate continues the duel with 4000 life points using whatever cards were on their teammate’s field when they lost in the exact positions they were in when their life points reached 0. On the turn in which any players' life points reach 0, it will immediately go to to the End Phase of that turn. Teammates can also switch at any time, using whatever cards were on their teammate’s field when they switched in the exact positions they were in when they switched. Switching can only happen once per duel. Switching at any given time will bring your turn into the End Phase. Teammates cannot share decks, hands, or graveyards during the match/switch. The teammates can still share information with each other as long as it doesn’t break sub-rule iii of rule 13. If the second duelist’s life points reach 0, they lose the match. C. Standard Doubles (Riding): Follows the basic principles of standard doubles mode, but will be played with the field spell Speed World 2. This cannot be removed, destroyed, replaced, nor can the effects of it be negated. Each teammate must be in continuous motion throughout the duel (by running, flying, or use of a vehicle) and must maintain a speed of at least a canter down a continuous and easy to follow circuit. A pause or reduction in speed for over a minute from any teammate will result in that team forfeiting the match. If any teammate is unable to adhere to the rules of Rule 15 Mode C, either because of physical/natural/health complications, they don’t have the cards necessary, or any other reason, they cannot play in modes C or D. D. Relay (Riding): Follows the basic principles of relay mode, but using riding duel elements shown in Rule 15 Mode C. Rules for the Equestrian Friendship Dueling Competition Finals 1. Follow the rules of 1 – 13 in Rules for the Equestrian Friendship Dueling Competition. 2. If a team loses a match, they are ineligible to continue playing in the tournament. 3. Before a match starts, one of the four modes in Rule 14 will be chosen at random. The teams who will conduct in a riding duel must be required to fly (special modifications will be made to ensure that those who can’t fly can). 4. The winning team of the tournament will be eligible to compete against the rulers of Equestria, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna in a standard doubles match. If the team defeats Princess Celestia and Princess Luna in that duel, they will be granted one wish. Losing against them will not affect their status of their place in the tournament. When they were done, Alex and Orion then ran towards the theater where Maddie and Sammy were waiting. They opened the door for them and they all walked inside. As this was happening, a large number of ponies were walking to the bulletin boards in the town square reading the news of what would be happening in Equestria a week from that day.