The Elements of Dueling.

by theultimatebrony

Chapter 8

I was standing in the same field as before, Brett and Evan standing a few yards away.

"Where are we?" Evan asked.

This is your mindscape. The voice sounded like all three elemetals were speaking at once. First, Evan must accept our power.

"Sure."

Quake Lord appeared and stuck his scythe into Evan's chest.

"What are you doing?" I yelled as the monster was absorbed into Evan's body and he fell to his knees.

It is just part of the proccess. The same thing happened to you two.

"I'm fine," Evan said as he stood up.

Now it's time to learn how to fully use your abilities.

"But this is a dream," Brett said, "We are just going to use our imaginations."

"What if our powers are connected to our imaginations?" I countered.

Exac-. My vision blurred and my hearing stopped working.

-----------------------------------------

My eyes opened and I was back home. I looked around and didn't see Twilight. I went upstairs and found Twilight halfway through one of my books.

"Whatcha reading?" I asked, causing Twilight to jump.

"A book called Eragon," she replied, "It's interesting how magic is portrayed in the story."

"Uh huh. I was actually wanting to ask you a magic question."

Twilight closed the book, "What kind of question?"

"Is unicorn magic powered by imagination?"

"No. A unicorn is born with a certain level of potential. Most can just levitate things. Why do you ask?"

"The elementals told us our powers are connected to our imaginations somehow. What I understand is that I
can create anything from water."

I focused and condensed the water in the atmosphere into small drops. It wasn't much, but I could work with
it. I froze the water, melted it, and shaped it into a double helix, all with the flick of a few fingers. I let my mind wander a little and the water turned into a serpent, a card, and a pony. At the last transformation I evaporated the water.

"You seem to have that down," Twilight said.

"Thanks," I looked around and saw three decks on my desk, "Do you mind if I look at the decks you made for your family?"

Twilight shrugged, "I don't mind."

I flipped the top card of each deck up to find which one was Twilight's. I then looked at the other two. One was a Heroic deck and the other was a Crystal Beast deck. They were both extremely powerful and I could see many strageties from a glance.

"Why did you chose these decks?" I asked.

"The Heroic cards are for my brother, Shining Armor. He was captain of Canterlot's royal guard before going to the Crystal Empire. The deck felt right to give him," Twilight was obviously close to her brother.

"What about the Crystal Beasts?"

"Those are for my sister-in-law, Cadence. She is princess of the Crystal Empire so that deck seemed right, though I wish there were some love based cards."

The name Crystal Empire seemed familiar in some way. I thought for second before it hit me. The place I was in my dream a couple days ago was some sort of crystal. I went to the bathroom and got some water before coming back.

I formed the water into the room from my dream and asked if Twilight reconized it.

"That's the ballroom of the tower in the empire. How do you know what it looks like?"

"I saw it in a dream the day you came here," I explained, "I was dueling a suit of armor. I got attacked by a huge serpent when I woke up."

"Maybe-" before Twilight could finish her thought, we heard a crashing sound downstairs.

I ran down to find that everyone was missing and the window was smashed. I looked on the floor to find an old flyer for a race. My parents came running downstairs and Tyler came from the downstairs bathroom.

"What's going on?" Dad asked.

"They got kidnapped by someone," I replied. A large feather caught my eye, "Or something."

Twilight examined the feather and said, "It came from a griffon."

Tyler noticed the flyer in my hand and said, "What's that?"

"A flyer from that race track the next town over," I replied, "But it's been closed for years."

"Maybe that's where the others are?"

"Maybe. But how in the world did a griffon carry two humans, five ponies, and a dragon?"

I can sense elemental magic was used here. This griffon used Wind for its perposes.

I tried to contact Brett and Evan through my mark, but I didn't hear a reply. That either meant something was jamming the signal or they couldn't reach their own.

I began to walk upstairs and said, "After I get changed, I'm heading to that track."

"Maybe we should call the police," Mom suggested.

I shook my head, "They would never believe us. Plus, if this griffon can control air, what good would cops be?"

I went to my room and slipped on some jeans and a black tee. It was early in the morning and a little chilly, so I put on a blue jacket. I went to the garage to find Tyler and Twilight.

"I hope you weren't expecting us to stay," Tyler said.

I let loose a toothy grin, "Nope. Now let's ride."

We put on helmet and got on our duel runners. Before we left, I told my parents to look for us if we weren't back by noon. Then we sped our way out of town.

Once we got out of town and were heading south, I asked, "Twilight, what can you tell me about the griffon?"

"Well, her name's Gilda. She used to be Rainbow Dash's friend before she exploded in rage over a few party pranks Rainbow pulled."

"Sounds like she has anger issues."

"Not only that, but Pinkie says she stole, made Applejack's grandmother freak out because she thought her tail was a rattle snake, and yelled at Fluttershy when she accidentally bumped into Gilda while leading ducks to a new pond."

I thought about this. The others we fought had a personal vendetta against us, minus the Wolfpack, yet Gilda had no beef with humanity. Maybe Darkness promised a way to get even if she helped it.

"Hey," Tyler called through the radio on our helmets, "We're here."

We pulled into the parking lot and stopped. When I pulled off my helmet, I began to breath through my mouth so I wouldn't have to inhale the stench of oil and exhaust that permanately lingered here. When I was younger my grandpa brought me here for one of the last races. I hated it because of the cars were incredibly noisy, a trait shared by sisters and chihuahuas.

When Twilight pulled off her helmet, she looked like she was about to puke, "What is that stench?"

"That is the smell of pollution," I replied, "Try to breath through your mouth. It helps."

We made our way to the track where a certain griffon was.

"Where are our friends?" I asked, forming my disk.

"You mean the lame-o ponies and the other elementals?" Gilda replied in a voice that reminded me of a barbie movie Addy forced me to watch, "They're up there."

We looked up to find our friends floating in mid-air.

"Let them down," I growled, the dew around me floating.

"I'll let the humans go right now," Gilda snapped her talons and Brett and Evan floated down, unconcious, but fine, "But the ponies won't come down until I get beat in a duel."

"Fine. Let's duel."

"No, I want..." Gilda pointed at Tyler, "him."

"Fine with me," Tyler said, assembling his duel pad, "I'll take you down."

"Gilda began to chuckle, "Great, but we need some rules first. All the ponies and the dragon are suspended above the ground. If you loose, they go splat."

"Anythong else?"

"Yes," Gilda produced a card and threw it to Tyler, "You get to use the elemental. If you deal me any battle damage with it, you win. Deal?"

"Deal."

Gilda snapped her talons and Twilight floated up to her friends.

"Why did you do that?" I yelled.

"I said all the ponies," Gilda explained.

Tyler pulled out his holoprojector, but Gilda said, "You won't need that, this will do the work."

A duel disk appeared on Gilda's left arm. It looked like five metal feathers attached to a wrist dealer. She drew five cards and said, "Your move."

At this point Brett woke up and said, "What happened?"

"You got kidnapped by a griffon and Tyler's dueling to save the ponies."

Brett stared for a second, "What deck does he use?"

I had no idea. Tyler never dueled around us and never spoke about his deck.

Tyler drew six cards and said, "For my first move I activate the field spell Divine Wind of Mist Valley. Now I activate Hand Destruction, causing us to send two cards in our hand to the gaveyard and draw two cards." They both did this and Tyler continued, "When Mist Valley Baby Roc is sent to the graveyard from my hand, I can summon it to the field (ATK400). Now I use Monster Reborn to bring back Mist Valley Executor (ATK2100). I tune my level two Mist Valley Baby Roc and my level five Mist Valley Executor to synchro summon." A bright light appeared in the sky, awakening the
unconscious ponies and dragon. "Appear Mist Valley Thunderlord (ATK2600)! I set one card and end my turn."

Tyler Lp: 8000. Hand: 2

"Finally, your turn is over," Gilda said as she drew, "Now I can take down that lame monster. I activate Monster Reborn to bring a Harpy Lady (ATK 1300) from my graveyard. Now I summon another Harpy Lady. I activate Elegent Egotist to summon my third Harpy. I activate the spell Xyz Snatch."

"I've never heard of that card," I thought, "What does it do?"

"This puppy allows me to use my monsters to xyz summon an xyz monster you have. Now I overlay my Harpy Ladies and xyz summon." A light went from Tyler's deck box to Gilda's hand. "I summon Elemental Beast: Luft Griffon (ATK2600)." A green griffon appeared in front of Gilda. All my friends looked at me for a translation because I was the one taking German.

"It means something like air or wind," I explained.

"Now I use it's effect," Gilda continued, "By removing one overlay unit I can summon a Wind monster from my deck. I summon Harpies Pet Dragon (ATK 2000). I activate Blustering Winds to give my dragon some more attack strength (ATK3000). Harpies Pet Dragon, attack his Thunderlord!"

"Sorry," Tyler said, "I use his effect to return my facedown to the hand and give him 500 attack point (ATK3100)."

The fireball that the dragon shot was deflected and the dragon was destroyed.

Gilda Lp: 7900

"When I return a card to my hand, the Divine Wind lets me special summon Mist Valley Falcon (ATK200) from my deck."

"I set a card and end my turn (ATK2600)," Gilda grumbled.

Gilda Lp: 7900. Hand: 0

"I draw," I could here the happiness in Tyler's voice, "I set two cards. I return one to give my Thunderlord a boost (ATK3100) and summon a Mist Vally Shaman (ATK1200). I tune Mist Valley Shaman and Falcon to synchro summon another Mist Valley Thunderlord (ATK2600). I return my other card to increase my new monster's attack (ATK3100). I attack your Elemental Beast with my first Thunderlord."

"I activate my Mirror Force!" Gilda exclaimed, using the oldest trap in the book.

When his monsters were destroyed, Tyler looked at his empty field and said, "I end my turn."

Tyler Lp: 8000. Hand: 2.

"I draw. I use the effect of Luft Griffon to summon another Harpies Pet Dragon (ATK2000). Now I summon Harpie Queen (ATK1900). My queen increases the attack of my dragon (ATK2300). I attack with all three of my monsters."

I counted the damage in my head and it would add up to 6800. Tyler flew backwards and hit the ground.

Tyler Lp: 1200

"Get up Tyler!" I yelled as he slowly stood. His clothes were full of holes and he was covered in scratches.

He looked at the sky and yelled, "Rainbow Dash! Give me your power!"

Tyler's deck began to glow and Gilda's eyes widened in fear. Tyler drew and cried, "I use the spell Element of Harmony-Loyalty." A gold necklace with a ruby shaped like a lightning bolt appeared on Luft Griffon, "You gave me this monster and now I'm taking it back." The green griffon went to Tyler's side of the field, "When my monster is equipped with this card, it can attack directly. Attack with Aero Fury!"

Gilda Lp: 5300.

The griffon attacked and slashed Gilda down the chest. Because the rule that Gilda set, Tyler won with that single attack. All the ponies and Spike slowly drifted to the ground.

Rainbow saw Gilda lieing on the ground and ran over to her, saying, "Gilda! Are you alright?"

It was not blood that seeped ftom Gilda, but black energy. I could hear her weakly whisper, "I'm sorry."

"What's happening G?"

"When I left you, back in Ponyville, I felt terrible. Eventually I couldn't take it anymore and tried to end my life."

Everyone gasped and Fluttershy buried her head in Brett's leg.

"Darkness kept me from dying and said that I could have vengence. All he wanted in return was my soul. I gave it to him. Now that I'm defeated, his power is leaving me."

"Gilda," Rainbow said with tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry Dash. Please forgive me."

At the last word, Gilda faded away. We all stood there until we heard a new voice in our heads.
You can still save her.

We all turned and saw Luft Griffon, who was there despite the end of the duel.

Her soul is still with Darkness. If you defeat him, she will be saved.

The monster returned to Tyler's duel disk and we looked at eachother with hope. Because of this, I felt a rage in my heart that would not go away until Darkness' defeat.

"Come on," I said, "We need to duel at that tournament even harder so we can get to Equestria and beat this guy."

Author's Note:

I will now be using different colors for the Elemental voices. Wind for green. Brown for Earth. Red for Fire. Blue for Water.

Comments

[Night_Moon60606]

so...wheres Chapter 9? its not showing up even though i got a notice that this story updated...

[theultimatebrony]

3036607 I accidentaly hit the publish button because of the tablet I'm using. Sorry for the confusion.

[Night_Moon60606]

3041320 so when is the real chapter coming? because im all for it...

[nightshroud96]

Not liking how Spike was easily captured too and needing rescue like that..