Episode 8: Big Top Terror, Part 2
Yurik managed to pull himself to his feet as Billy smiled devilishly, entertained by Yurik’s suffering and the congestion of his field.
Happy Token
DEF: 0
Lvl.: 1
Happy Token
DEF: 0
Lvl.: 1
Happy Token
DEF: 0
Lvl.: 1
Billy’s own field was beginning to fill the area of the tent between his the monsters on his field and the ride-themed pendulum monsters on both sides of his field
Parstival Carousel
Pendulum Scale: 1
Parstival Coaster
Pendulum Scale: 5
Parstival Burly Milton
ATK: 1500
Lvl.: 4
Parstival Buster Kitten
ATK: 500
Lvl.: 2
Yurik turned and stood back before Billy, facing him with contempt, which Billy’s face told him he was eating up.
================
Yurik:
LP: 2000
Billy:
LP: 4000
================
“Also,” stated Billy, “just in case you were planning on it, don’t bother. My Happy Tokens cannot be tributed or used as material for a synchro summon.”
Yurik grunted, angered by this fact. With a confident huff, Billy took one card from his hand and placed it in his spell/trap slot.
“I place one card face down and end my turn,” he concluded.
Status: Hand: 1 Life: 4000 Monsters: 2 Pendulum Zones: 2 Pendulum Scale: 2 – 4 Spells/Traps: 1
Pinkie Pie stared at Billy, frightened by his now evil and malicious appearance.
“Billy,” she pleaded, “stop! Twilight’s my friend, and I need to–”
“I’m your friend!” he snapped, making her jump back in fear. “I’m not going to let these lying thieves take you from me!”
“That’s not your decision to make!” Twilight shouted. “Pinkie Pie belongs to her home!”
“Bonnaroo Bonanza is her home! And she’s going to make people laugh by my side for years to come! Now, Yurik, make your next move so I can finish you off quicker!”
Yurik hissed as he put his hand towards his deck, watching as Billy laughed at him once again. Meanwhile, Kieran ran to Twilight and Pinkie Pie, kneeling down to face the former.
“Twilight,” he asked, “how much more energy did you use bringing yourself and Pinkie Pie back here?”
“I’m sorry, Kieran,” she said, “Pinkie Pie refused to cooperate until she could come back to say she was sorry. It will be about twenty minutes before I’m fully charged up again.”
Kieran breathed through his nose, disappointed at this unexpected wrench in the plan. Pinkie Pie looked to Kieran and then the mad Billy again, her ears and mouth drooping as she contemplated the mistake she must have made.
“My turn!” Yurik shouted. “Draw!”
Yurik glanced at his card, glad to see what it was as he added it to his hand
“I place one card face down,” Yurik said, placing another card from his hand to his spell/trap slot, which appeared to the right of the other two set cards on the bottom half of Yurik’s field. “Next, I normal summon my Unioncorn of Night!”
Yurik placed his monster onto one of his unoccupied zones, and from a blue portal that appeared on the center zone to the right of a Happy Token, was the black unicorn with an ebony horn, dark-purple mane, and red eyes.
Unioncorn of Night
ATK: 2000
Lvl.: 4
“Next,” Yurik spoke, revealing a spell card of a silhouetted pegasus flying over a galloping unicorn, “I activate the spell card Pegassistance! While I control a Unioncorn or Pony monster, this card lets me special summon a Pegassist monster from my with the same attribute as that monster!”
“What?” Billy shouted.
“In all honesty,” he responded with a smile, I have to thank you for returning my monster to my hand last turn. Otherwise, that spell would have been dead weight. Good thing that’s not the case, huh?”
Billy gnashed his teeth and grunted at Yurik.
“I now special summon Pegassist of Night!”
Yurik took the last card from his hand and placed it on the only available zone on his blades’ monster card zones, allowing the black pegasus to reappear on the field.
Pegassist of Night
ATK: 1800
Lvl.: 4
“Now,” shouted Yurik, pointing at his target, “Unioncorn of Night, attack Billy’s Parstival Burly Milton! Curse of Shadow!”
A beam of black-and-glowing-purple smoke shot out of the unicorns horn and struck Burly Milton, shattering it into gold sparks. Billy gagged and shouted as both the sparks and spell blew into him.
Billy’s Life Points: 4000 -> 3500
Pinkie Pie watched as Billy was brought down to a knee from the strength of the attack, seizing her with fright.
“Wait!” she shouted. “Stop!”
“Pegassist of Night,” ordered Yurik, “attack Parstival Buster Kitten! Pitch Gales!”
The black pegasus flew up in the air and fanned its wings at the still emotionless cat, a ball of black swirling wind flying down towards it. The cat’s eyes opened a little wider, realizing its fate.
“I activate my trap:” Billy declared, pointing at his face-down card with his hand, “Parstival Protect!”
The card flipped up, revealing a purple face with artwork showing Burly Milton with a large white-and-red umbrella that deflected a white beam attacking it.
“When a Parstival monster I control is targeted for an attack, this card negates that monster’s destruction, saving my Buster Kitten!”
At once, a closed umbrella appeared in the Buster Kitten’s arms, making it quickly open the apparatus. The ball of wind struck the canopy, which bounced off and away from Billy’s monster.
“You still take battle damage,” reminded Yurik.
The sphere of gusts continued its path to Billy, where it enveloped him in its gales, throwing him off his feet with a scream.
Billy’s Life Points: 3500 -> 2200
“Billy!” shouted Pinkie Pie, running to Billy’s aid, much to Twilight’s shock.
“Pinkie,” called Twilight, “stop!”
“Why?” Pinkie cried back, stopping to turn to her. “Can’t you see that he’s hurt?”
“It’s just a duel, Pinkie Pie. Don’t worry about it.”
“How can I not worry about it when he’s down like that?!”
Billy’s grunts served to cease their argument, the both of them focusing on him as he slowly got to his feet, supporting himself with his hands on his knees.
“I…” he panted, “activate… the effect of Parstival Carousel in my pendulum zone.”
Just then, the merry-go-round began to rotate, the horses inside it bobbing gently up and down.
“Once, during my opponent’s turn,” chuckled Billy, “when I take damage, either by battle or a card effect, I can gain life points equal to the damage I took.”
Yurik huffed despondently. Organ music began to sound from the operating merry-go-round, a wave of blue energy wafting from the center of the ride and surround Billy, covering him a soft blue glow.
Billy’s Life Points: 2200 -> 3500
“My Parstival deck is nothing to scoff at,” Billy said. “I will continue to build myself up while I fill your field with Happy tokens. My field will run you down, and there seems to be nothing that can stop me!”
Yurik kept a brave face in front of Billy’s laughter, knowing he still had plenty of strength in him.
“I’m not done yet,” Yurik shouted out, ending Billy’s laughter. “I now overlay my level four Unioncorn of Night and Pegassist of Night!”
Both of Yurik’s monsters transformed into purple auras that began to spiral around each other in the air as a red portal formed on the ground.
“You’re deciding to xyz summon now?” Billy shouted, genuinely shocked.
“With these two monsters,” continued Yurik, “I construct the overlay network! Xyz summon!”
The two auras flew into the portal, where it morphed into a blackish void where a black alicorn with a dark-purple mane and tail, deep red eyes, an ebony tiara on its head, and two light orbs surrounding it jumped out.
“Appear!” beckoned Yurik. “Allicorn Queen of Night!”
The black alicorn folded its wings in, landing on the ground and staring daggers at Billy.
Allicorn Queen of Night
ATK: 2600
Rnk.: 4
“I now activate the effect of Allicorn Queen of Night,” spoke Yurik, removing both cards from underneath his card and putting them in the graveyard. “I can detach two xyz materials from this card when I have no cards in my hand…”
Both of the spheres of light around Yurik’s monster fused into its horn, making both it and the top of Yurik’s deck to glow brightly.
“…then,” resumed Yurik, his fingers over his deck, “I can draw two cards!”
With a whip of his arm, Yurik produced a pair of cards in his hand. Looking out the corner of his eye, he was surprised to see Twilight Alicorn among them along with another pendulum monster. Yurik placed both cards in his left hand, staring at Billy with finality.
“I end my turn,” he stated.
Status: Hand: 2 Life: 2000 Monsters: 4 Pendulum Zones: 0 Pendulum Scale: – Spells/Traps: 3
“Hmhmm,” chuckled Billy. “Of course, you weren’t able to destroy my Buster Kitten. That’s going to be a big problem for you, because the only card in my hand right now is all I’m going to need to defeat you.”
Twilight and Pinkie Pie gasped, stunned by the seriousness and sinister tone his voice had now slipped into.
“Truth be told, this show has been very boring,” he said, “so let’s cap it off with a bang! My turn! Draw!”
Billy drew his card, adding it to his hand without looking at it and reaching for his Buster Keaton card on his blade.
“I tribute my Parstival Buster Kitten,” he said, grabbing the card and slipping it into the graveyard slot, “to tribute summon Parstival Mane Blaine!”
Once Billy placed his card onto his now vacant zone, a curtain was raised up around Parstival Buster Kitten. A drum roll sounded before the curtain dropped, revealing an entirely new monster in its place. The monster was an anthropomorphic white lion with only a pair of baggy, ripped blue jeans on and a black mane.
Parstival Mane Blaine
ATK: 2000
Lvl.: 6
Pinkie Pie looked at the fearsome new monster as Billy began a bout of vicious victorious laughing.
I don’t understand, she thought, bringing tears to her eyes. The Billy I knew was fun… and this… game that they’re playing… it looks like fun, and so does Billy’s deck. Why is he being so mean?
“I activate the effect of my Parstival Mane Blaine,” spoke Billy. “Once per turn, I can banish one Parstival monster in my graveyard and have this card gain its effects until the end phase of this turn! And the monster I choose is Parstival Buster Kitten!”
“Of course,” Yurik growled.
Billy’s monster held its open, flexed paw out towards the ground, its claws and its pads glowing a bright white. From the floor directly beneath the lion’s paw, a white orb containing an icon of Parstival Buster Kitten rose up. The lion grabbed the orb and held it up to himself, squeezing it and popping it like a bubble, covering the monster’s hand, then arm, then entire body in a yellow aura. Mane Blaine roared with the power than now coursed through him.
“Now that it gains Parstival Buster Kitten’s effect,” Billy shouted, feeling his win coming every closer, “my monster now inflicts piercing damage!”
Yurik growled knowing what was to come from this.
“With this attack,” Billy cackled, “victory will be mine! Now, Battle! Parstival Mane Blaine, attack the Happy token to the left of Allicorn Queen of Night! Sleight Slash!”
The lion’s white paw began to glow bright white, reeling its arm back. With a loud roar, the lion swung its arm out at its targeted Happy Token, a large, wispy paw made of light soaring at it. Pinkie Pie covered her eyes and clenched her teeth, unable to see the final blow be dealt.
“Taste defeat, you bastard!” screamed Billy.
The paw struck the Happy Token, exploding it in a large burst of white that covered Yurik, making him yell from the intensity of the force and heat. Hearing the sound of his opponent’s anguish, Billy let out one last maniacal laugh.
“Now you know my strength,” Billy shouted, “as well as why you should never cross me!”
The only sound that Billy could hear following the trailing off of his echo was the sound of crying, but it didn’t seem to be coming from his opponent. Turning to his right, he looked to see Pinkie Pie with the wrists of her wet hooves against her eyes, her mouth open to let out her incessant sobs. Billy’s face instantly contorted in fear at her expression, gasping shakily.
“Pinkie Pie,” cooed Billy, feeling sad himself, “what’s the matter?”
“What’s the matter?” Pinkie Pie shouted, looking at Billy with furious eyes that pierced his heart. “You really hurt someone that was only trying to help me go home! All I wanted was to say goodbye and leave with both of us happy, but now, all I can say to you is… you’re just a big meanie!”
Billy gagged, knowing that his mad state had just tarnished Pinkie Pie’s impression of him as she resumed her crying.
“By the way, guys,” Yurik shouted, silencing Pinkie Pie, “I’m just fine”
The white cloud began to fade from around Yurik, revealing him standing strong and confident, albeit scuffed up.
Yurik’s Life Points: 1000
Pinkie Pie and Twilight smiled brightly, seeing that Yurik was still well and fighting.
“Huh?” Billy shouted. “I don’t understand! That attack should have ended you! My monster had 2000 ATK!”
“You might want to check that again,” Yurik said smugly, pointing at Billy’s monster.
Billy looked at his monster, shocked when he saw the stats his monster now had.
Parstival Mane Blaine
ATK: 1000
Lvl.: 6
“But…” Billy stuttered. “But how?”
“Simple,” Yurik said, pointing to a now visible standing trap card from the smoke featuring an alicorn striking an ogre-like monster and making it shrink. “I activated my trap, Sap Zap Magic. While I control a spellcaster-type monster when my opponent declares an attack, I can halve that monster’s ATK until the end phase.”
“Nice one!” Walt called back.
“Now Yurik can destroy Mane Blaine next turn!” commented Twilight.
“Yeah!” Pinkie Pie cheered. “Go Yurik.
Hearing Pinkie Pie’s cheer, Billy began to tremble and growl, his eyes and teeth now brimming with hate and malice.
“You bastard!” he shouted at Yurik, surprising him. “I’m far from done! If you think your monster’s all it’s going to take to beat me, you’re an even bigger fool than I thought! I activate the original effect of Parstival Mane Blaine!”
Both of the lion’s paws began to glow brightly.
“When this card destroys a monster by battle, I can special summon a Happy Token to your side of the field!”
Mane Blaine crossed its arms and swung them out, a puffy cloud flying out to the unoccupied monster zone. Upon appearing over it, the cloud burst with a poof a Happy Token monster falling down from it and placing itself onto the zone and staying still.
Happy Token
DEF: 0
Lvl.: 1
Billy took the last card in his hand and slipped it into his spell/trap slot.
“I place one card face down and end my turn.”
Status: Hand: 0 Life: 3500 Monsters: 1 Pendulum Zones: 2 Pendulum Scale: 2 – 4 Spells/Traps: 1
Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Walt, Alice, and Kieran looked at Billy with a sense of pity, each of which were invisible to his eyes as they stared Yurik down.
“Billy,” Yurik spoke as calmly and soothingly as possible, “why are you still fighting this? It’s clear Pinkie Pie is scared of you now. Do you really think she would want to stay with you after what you’ve shown yourself as?”
“It doesn’t matter anymore,” breathed Billy. “I’ve lost Pinkie Pie, and so now, I’m going to lose all of this!” he barked, spreading his arms out to refer to the tent. “All I have left is my pride, and like hell I’m letting you take that from me now!”
Yurik lightly gasped, along with Pinkie Pie and Twilight, intrigued by this new information.
“You mean…” Yurik suggested, “you’ll lose Bon–”
“Shut up and just take your turn,” demanded Billy. “I’m tired of waiting on you.”
Yurik furrowed his brow, acknowledging his defensive façade.
If I can draw a pendulum monster, thought Yurik looking at his nearly packed field, and the right one at that, I can bring my Twilight Alicorn to the field. However, I won’t be able to summon a single monster after that thanks to these tokens. But…
“Hurry up!” ordered Billy.
“Fine then,” he responded, reaching for his deck. “My turn! Draw!”
Yurik looked to see that he had another pendulum monster with him, the ranks sufficient enough to allow him to summon. However, he placed the card in his hand, looking back at the location of one of his set cards.
Now that your hand is empty, Yurik mused, it’s the perfect time to finally play this…
“I activate my set spell card Return Rising!” he shouted as he threw his arm up, a green card flipping up to show sheep being lifted up by a soft gust into a blue, cloudy sky. “This card allows me to shuffle as many monsters as I want on my side of the field into the deck and inflict 200 points of damage for each monster returned.”
“No way!” Billy shouted.
“I shuffle the three Happy Tokens on my field into the deck!”
A twister began to pick up, Yurik and his Allicorn Queen of Night keeping their ground as the gusts got stronger and stronger.
“But Tokens can’t be shuff…” spoke Twilight. “I see, he’s just removing them from his field!”
“And with three tokens,” summarized Alice, “that’s 600 points of damage.”
The winds finally picked the three happy tokens up, where they bobbled freely in the twister before they popped into golden sparks, which were picked up by the tornado as it began to move towards Billy. Once Billy was caught in the gales, he shielded his face as his body was bombarded with the shining fragments of the Happy Tokens.
Billy’s Life Points: 3500 -> 2900
“And now that my field is open…” Yurik stated, grabbing two of his pendulum monsters, “I set the pendulum scale with the scale 5 Unioncorn of Wind and the scale 8 Unioncorn of Earth!”
Yurik placed both cards onto the outer zones on his blades, making two blue pillars of light to appear on the sides of the field. Rising from the left and right pillars was Yurik’s tattooed jade-green unicorn and a craggy brown unicorn with long, blades of grass for a mane and tail. The dark-blue sky and the multi-pointed star began to appear along the tent’s ceiling.
Unioncorn of Wind
Pendulum Scale: 5
Unioncorn of Earth
Pendulum Scale: 8
“I can now special summon any monsters from my hand whose levels are 6 or 7,” Yurik spoke, grabbing his Twilight Alicorn Card. “Pendulum summon!”
Yurik placed his card onto one of his four available zones, making a red portal open beneath the star and shoot out a magenta aura that landed on the ground, blowing dust all about him. A fanning of the lavender colored alicorn’s wings blew away the smoke and revealed Yurik and the entirety of his battlefield.
“Come to me!” shouted Yurik. “Twilight Alicorn!”
Twilight Alicorn folded its wings back to its sides and gazed at Billy angrily as he did towards it.
Twilight Alicorn
ATK: 2500
Lvl.: 7
What does it matter? Billy thought with a grin. Even with his two stronger monsters, he’s still going to have trouble defeating me this turn thanks to my Parstival Carousel and the card I’ve got waiting for him.
“I now activate the effect of Twilight Alicorn,” Yurik declared, “allowing me to special summon two monsters in my pendulum zones to my field!”
“What!” shouted Billy. “Im– Impossible!”
“Let’s go! Summon shine!”
Twilight Alicorn’s horn began to shine, covering the monsters in Yurik’s pendulum zones on the field in a magenta aura before they both vanished and reappeared on the monster zones on Yurik’s field.
Unioncorn of Wind
ATK: 1500
Lvl.: 4
Unioncorn of Earth:
ATK: 600
Lvl.: 4
“Now,” declared Yurik, denying Billy a chance to comment, “I will overlay my level 4 Unioncorn of Wind and Unioncorn of Earth!”
Both of Yurik’s monsters became a green and orange aura that danced about in the air before the widening red portal forming on the ground.
“With these two monsters,” he exclaimed, “I construct the overlay network! Xyz summon!”
The two auras flew inside the red portal, the vortex inside now appearing white. Rising up from the portal was a muscular brown alicorn made of mud and rock with sheets of stone for wings. A crown made of branches and leaves was fused to its head, its regal appearance forever on its body. Two light orbs swirled around its body.
“Come on!” Yurik called. “Allicorn King of Earth!”
The brown alicorn widened its stance in a defensive fashion as it face Billy and his sole monster.
Allicorn King of Earth
DEF: 2600
Rnk.: 4
Billy stared incredulously at Yurik’s new monster for several moments, only for him to lean back with his hand over his face, letting out condescending laughs.
“After all that,” he shouted, “you’re putting your monster into defense position?”
“You shouldn’t be laughing,” Yurik said. “Yes, I’m well aware of your Parstival Carousel’s effect, but it still won’t hold a candle to the offensive might my monsters now possess.”
Billy continued to laugh at Yurik’s supposed foolishness.
“Come on, then!” Billy beckoned, flicking his hands towards himself. “Let’s see you try!”
“I’ll do more than that,” stated Yurik. “I activate the effect of Allicorn King of Earth!”
“Huh?”
“Once per turn,” he explained, removing a card from underneath his monster and putting the card into his graveyard slot, “I can detach one xyz material from it. So now, until the end of the turn, my monster can attack while it’s in defense position, applying its DEF in place of its ATK.”
“You…” Billy stammered, his whole body frozen and involuntarily shivering, “You can’t be serious!”
A single orb melded inside the horn of Yurik’s monster, charging it up with an orange colored energy that surrounded its entire body.
“Now,” commanded Yurik, “Allicorn Queen of Night, attack Parstival Mane Blaine! Lunar Spear!”
The black alicorn charged its horn, which glowed an ethereal blue before it shot out at Billy’s monster.
“I activate my trap, Parstival Balloon Bounceback!” Billy shouted, making a purple card flip up with art of a red balloon with Parstival Mane Blaine’s face on it intercepting the fist of a fiendish monster as it tried to attack Parstival Buster Kitten. “When my opponent targets a Parstival monster I control for an attack, I can shuffle one Parstival monster from my graveyard into my deck and negate the attack!”
From a purple-and-black portal that opened on the ground, a red balloon with Parstival Burly Milton’s face on it rose up into the path of the attack, the balloon popping and the spell dissipating once the beam had hit it.
“You’re up, Allicorn King of Earth!” rooted Yurik. “Attack Parstival Mane Blaine! Rock Rupture!”
The brown alicorn charged its horn with it aiming at the ground. Its magic struck, making the ground rise up from in front of the alicorn towards Parstival Mane Blaine. Once it reached the lion, the ground erupted, sending both the monster and Billy off their feet, showering and flinging rocks at them. Parstival Mane Blaine burst into gold sparks as Billy rolled to a stop on the floor.
Billy’s Life Points: 2900 -> 2300
Oh no, Billy thought, a shot of panic shooting into his face as he jumped to his feet. That’s what he was aiming for! If I don’t use Parstival Carousel’s effect, I’m finished!
“I activate Parstival Carousel’s effect in my pendulum zone,” Billy exclaimed, “gaining life points equal to damage I took this turn.”
The carousel began to twirl as the music slowly built up, the wave of blue energy that came from it caressing the anxious Billy and making him glow blue.
Billy’s Life Points: 2300 -> 2900
“Your turn, Twilight Alicorn!” commanded Yurik. “Attack Billy directly! Bright Burst Magic!”
Twilight Alicorn charged its horn and launched its magenta beam from it right at a terrified Billy, taking the shot straight in the stomach and shooting him out away from the playing field. Billy yelled in agony as he was sent flying, striking the ground and roughly tumbling down, a painful grunt leaving Billy’s lips each time he touched down. Billy finally stopped, lying hurt on the dirt.
Billy’s Life Points: 2900 -> 400
Yurik smirked as his opponent refused to get up while Twilight and Pinkie Pie cheered in jubilation at Yurik’s comeback.
“I end my turn,” he said.
Status: Hand: 0 Life: 1000 Monsters: 3 Pendulum Zones: 0 Pendulum Scale: – Spells/Traps: 1
Pinkie Pie looked to Billy, whose concern began to grow as he refused to stand up, his shuddering torso his only sign of life. Pinkie Pie’s ears drooped down as she couldn’t stand her guilt any longer.
“Billy!” she cried.
Pinkie Pie galloped out to Billy, much to Twilight and Kieran’s shock.
“Pinkie Pie!” shouted Twilight. “Come back!”
The pink mare refused to listen, slowing herself down to see Billy curling himself into a ball, sobbing profusely, his cries becoming loud enough for Yurik and the others on the sidelines to hear. Yurik, interested in Billy’s new attitude, walked over towards him, feeling a sliver of empathy for his foe’s current state.
“Just…” he wept. “Just go… take Pinkie Pie and leave. Just let me fall alone…”
“Let you fall alone?” Yurik asked. “What do you mean by that?”
“You aren’t from around here, are you?”
“No, we’re not. What does that have to do with anything?”
Billy sniffled, preparing to bare his soul to him.
“If you could see this place only a week ago…” spoke Billy. “Rides running with at most four people at a single time if I was lucky. Vendors standing and waiting every day for someone to buy a hot dog or some popcorn, eventually selling little to nothing at all.
Yurik breathed in deep, suddenly beginning to fully understand Billy and his madness.
“This park was nothing but a fish on the end of a fisherman’s hook,” Billy prosed, “gasping for air until the world eventually ate it for its dinner and would think nothing else of it.”
Billy managed to find the strength to sit Indian-style and face Pinkie Pie with a slight shimmer in his eyes.
“When I found you,” he continued, “and you showed me your abilities, my heart soared. For once in so many years, I saw genuine smiles on those people who actually found themselves bored enough to step into this tent. And you brought them in… all the full houses both yesterday and today… they were all because of you.”
Pinkie Pie’s tears began to form as she found it harder and harder to hold back her sobs. Twilight, Alice, and Walt even looked sympathetic in the face of Billy’s story.
“I’m sorry, Pinkie,” he began to break down. “I was so selfish… I just didn’t want to lose the one and only thing left that was keeping me and my park afloat.”
Pinkie Pie watched as Billy’s head dipped down, groaning in a failed attempt to mask his oncoming cries. Yurik, turning to Kieran, gave him a pleading look, not wanting to leave him in his despair. Kieran, without a second thought, nodded in approval. With a thankful smile and nod back, Yurik turned back to the seemingly inconsolable Billy.
“Listen,” Yurik said, getting Billy to look up to him, “we’re not leaving… not yet. You still haven’t proven that you’ve earned your solid field generator.”
Billy gasped, his crying having come to an end at this statement, now replaced with sheer confusion.
“But…” he responded. “That was all a lie… wasn’t it?”
“Yeah,” admitted Yurik, “we’re not a charity. We’re just a bunch of kids trying to find these ponies to bring them back home. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have the means to restore your park to its former glory.”
Billy turned to Kieran, who gave him an honest nod in response.
“Huh…” Billy exhaled, feeling a surge of excitement rising in him, much to Pinkie Pie’s glee. “You mean–”
“Let’s finish this duel, Billy!” yelled Yurik, running back to his field with his three awaiting monsters. “It’s your turn, and I want to see this match to its end!”
Billy, a genuinely happy smile etching across his cheeks, jumped to his own feet and sprinted back to his field, sliding to a dramatic stop. Pinkie Pie galloped back to the sidelines to Twilight, who gave Yurik a proud grin.
“Good job, Yurik,” she whispered.
“I may not have a monster in my field or a card in my hand,” exclaimed Billy, “but with a little help from my deck, the possibilities are endless! My turn! DRAW!”
Billy’s draw was so vigorous that he spun in a complete, but graceful twirl. Regardless, Billy was smirking with delight at the card he had just drawn for himself.
“While my opponent controls at least three monsters,” Billy announced, “I can special summon this card from my hand!”
“What do you have there?” giggled Yurik.
Billy held his card up, which Yurik could see was a level 10 monster of some kind, making him a touch wary.
“Master of ceremonies,” chanted Billy, “appear on the stage and bring the curtain down on my foes!”
Billy placed the monster onto his monster zone, a smoky whirlwind rising from the ground as a result and growing in immense size. The twister burst, revealing a large humanoid creature completely covered in an armor painted like a tuxedo, along with a black helmet in the shape of a crushed top hat, as well as a sword with a hooked hilt like a cane.
“Let’s go!” called Billy. “Parstival Emcee – Insidious Caesar!”
Yurik stared upon Billy’s ace monster with both excitement and eagerness, wondering what kind of surprises the threatening-looking monster would hold.
Parstival Emcee – Insidious Caesar
ATK: 3000
Lvl.: 10
Yurik grinned upon seeing the monster’s attack, as well as letting out a chuckle.
“Not bad,” Yurik complimented. “However, even with that monster’s ATK, it still won’t wipe out my life points if you attack any one of my monsters.”
“Hmph,” chuckled Billy, “who said I was going to be attacking one of your monsters.”
“What?”
“I activate the effect of my Parstival Coaster in my pendulum zone! Once per turn, I can target one Parstival monster I control and allow it to attack the opponent directly!”
“No way!”
“Yes way! Also, the card cannot be targeted by the opponent’s spell and trap cards, so that last set card of yours will probably do squat. With this attack, I’ll finally take you out!”
Insidious Caesar hopped up towards the roller coaster’s train, landing into the front seat of the front car. At that moment, the tracks of the roller coaster except for the ones directly beneath the car had vanished.
“Battle!” Billy ordered. “Insidious Caesar, attack Yurik directly! Show of Throes.”
The roller coaster sped forwards behind Billy, new track forming in front of the train while the track it passed over disappeared. The roller coaster then banked around and straightened itself right towards Yurik. The train picked up to tremendous speeds as it passed by Billy, blowing his coat out as he grabbed his hat.
“This is the end of the show!” Billy shouted as the train came closer.
Twilight and Pinkie Pie looked more impressed and enthralled than frightened as they turned back to Yurik to see how he would counter.
“I activate my trap,” Yurik declared with a wave of his arm, “Mage Miracle!”
Yurik’s card flipped up to reveal a blue-robed wizard deflecting a lightning bolt with a sparking blue shield.
“When my opponent declares an attack while I control a spellcaster-type xyz monster, I can pay life points equal to that monster’s rank times 200 and reduce the battle damage to 0.”
"It's a rank four monster times 200," calculated Twilight. "That's 800!"
“Amazing!” gasped Billy.
“Hurry,” cried Yurik as he threw his arm out towards his black alicorn monster, “Allicorn Queen!”
A blue aura formed around Yurik’s hand and wrist as the aura escaped his arm and flew towards his monster’s glowing horn, all while Yurik groaned from the life being drained from him.
Yurik’s Life Points: 1000 -> 200
The blue energy melded with Allicorn Queen of Night’s horn, allowing it to shoot a similarly colored beam at the tracks forming before Billy’s roller coaster. Once they hit, translucent-blue tracks shot out from the original and formed a half-loop just over Yurik’s head.
The train sped onto the magical rails and soared over Yurik and his monsters, blowing a blast of wind through Yurik’s clothes and hair. The wood-and-metal tracks reformed at the loop’s half loop, corkscrewing back upright and returning towards Billy and his field, where the original ovular circuit was formed anew. Twilight and Pinkie Pie sighed in relief at the close call.
“Hmm,” Billy moaned as his monster hopped out of the car and onto his field. “You might have escaped this time, but next time, you won’t be so lucky. I’ll just activate the effect again and bypass right through your field. But until next turn, I end my turn.”
Status: Hand: 0 Life: 400 Monsters: 1 Pendulum Zones: 0 Pendulum Scale: 2 – 4 Spells/Traps: 0
“Let’s go, Billy!” shouted Yurik, reaching for his deck. “My turn! DRAW!!”
Yurik looked out at his card, his eyes widened at what he considered his victory ticket. Twilight and Pinkie Pie leaned in, wondering how Yurik’s likely final turn would play out.
“I tribute my Allicorn King of Earth,” Yurik said, putting his monster and card beneath it into his graveyard slot, “and tribute summon Armored Pegassist.”
The muscular brown alicorn disappeared, and once Yurik placed his last card onto the monster zone where it had been, a dark grey pegasus in black armor appeared from the blue portal that opened upon that zone.
Armored Pegassist
ATK: 1800
Lvl.: 6
“I now activate the effect of Armored Pegassist!” explained Yurik. “Once per turn, I can equip this card to a monster I control and have it gain 500 ATK, and the monster I choose is Allicorn Queen of Night!”
The grey pegasus shone bright before it disappeared, its armor left behind, only for it to float towards the black alicorn and down onto its back, neck, wings, and head, shifting and morphing for it to fit perfectly on. With a fortified whinny, Allicorn Queen of Night was ready.
ATK: 2600 -> 3100
Billy, realizing his end now, bowed his head, closed his eyes, and smiled humbly.
“Attack!” shouted Yurik. “Allicorn Queen of Night, destroy Insidious Caesar. Lunar Spear!”
The black alicorn’s blue glow on its horn mixed and swirled with black as it shot out at Billy’s monster, exploding it in a flash and wave of hot smoke, which Billy shielded his face from.
Billy’s Life Points: 400 -> 300
“This is it!” Yurik yelled. “Twilight Alicorn, attack Billy directly! Bright Burst Magic!”
Twilight shot its signature attack at Billy, striking him now in the chest as he flew back, but silently as he reveled in the intensity of the match he had played.
Billy’s Life Points: 300 -> 0
Yurik wins.
“He did it!” cheered Pinkie Pie, hopping up and down on her back legs while punching the air above her. “I don’t know exactly how he did it, but he did it!”
Twilight galloped out to Yurik as the monsters on both of their fields began to disappear. Kieran, Walt, and Alice walked up to him as well as Yurik removed his cards from his zones and attached his blade disk to the side of his duel disk once the blades receded back in.
“Nice job, man!” congratulated Walt.
“Yeah, really nice!” cheered Alice.
Yurik ignored them as he walked towards Billy as he lied on his back, his arms and legs spread comfortably out, and a smile on his face. Yurik stood over him and bent over, offering his hand. Billy, looking up to see the gesture, reached up and gripped his hand a pulled himself up with his blade disk and pendulum monsters in his hand, Yurik pulling up as well.
“You did real well back there, kid,” Billy spoke.
“You’re not too bad yourself there, mister,” Yurik responded.
Billy chuckled at the kind words, although he couldn’t help but feel odd and awkward about receiving them, sneering the corners of his mouth around as he put his blade disk to the side of his duel disk and put the two cards back into his deck.
“Well,” Billy said, brushing the dust and dirt from his pants and coat, “this could have gone a little better.”
“Yes,” scolded Kieran as he approached with Alice, Walt, Twilight, and Pinkie Pie, “it should have. However, it seems that all is well, and that you’re fine with us returning with Pinkie Pie, correct?”
Billy nodded with hesitation.
“Yes,” he softly relented. “As much as it pains for me to see her go, I will be happier knowing she’s in a place where she belongs. I’m sorry for causing you all so much trouble. However…”
He then turned to and knelt down to Pinkie Pie, petting her mane, which she felt more comfortable with now.
“…the one I owe a true apology is you, Pinkie Pie. I had no right to keep you here, especially when your own friends have come to rescue you.”
“Aw,” she squeaked, “it’s not a problem, Billy. As long as you’re sorry, and you truly meant it.”
Pinkie Pie bopped Billy on the end of the nose on her last two lines, causing Billy to smile at her unwavering happiness and energy.
“Before we leave,” Kieran said, pulling out a checkbook from his back pocket, “there’s something I owe you before we finally leave.”
Grabbing a pen from inside the book, Kieran began writing quickly on the first paper inside. Billy stood back up and turned to Yurik and Twilight who stood beside each other with an expectant look in his eyes.
“You take good care of her,” he requested.
“We certainly will,” agreed Yurik. “She’s in perfectly capable hooves.”
With a final scribble for a signature, Kieran tore the check from his book, walking up to Billy and presenting it on an open palm.
“Take it,” Kieran suggested, “as a token of our gratitude for your co-operation and a sign of leaving on good terms.”
Billy pinched the check in between his index and middles fingers and looked at it, the amount written making him gasp slowly, unable to believe what he was seeing.
$75,000
“But…” Billy said, feeling even guiltier now, “this is…”
“A bit more that fifty-thousand, yes,” interrupted Kieran, “but you might need the extra twenty-five to pay any debts or to be able to run the thing right now. You can even cash it in immediately if you wanted to. It will clear.”
“I…” Billy began to sob again, putting the check to his forehead as if wanting to feel its genuineness. “Thank you. Thank you very much.”
“Now,” Kieran said, looking upon Yurik, Walt, and Alice, “we will need to be leaving shortly. These three still have school the next morning. I will allow you to give your final goodbyes to Pinkie Pie before we leave.”
“Right…”
Billy knelt down once again and looked Pinkie Pie in the eyes. Pressing his lips together, he finally decided. He lifted his left arm with his duel disk up slightly and put his hands on his deck, sliding the entirety of it out.
“Please…” Billy croaked sadly, handing his deck towards her. “Take this with you.”
Pinkie Pie, shocked at Billy’s present, jerked her head up with an slack mouth.
“But,” she attempted to reason, “this is your deck.”
“No,” he responded, reaching further out, “it’s yours now. Now you’ll always have something to remember me by.”
Pinkie Pie’s eyes began to moisten as she knew the time was coming short. Yurik put his hand out to Billy for the deck, which he easily placed in his hands for her. Pinkie Pie then leapt onto Billy and wrapped her arms around his chest, squeezing him tight for one last time.
“Thank you, Billy,” she wept. “You’ll always be the Billy I remember.”
Billy wrapped his own arms around her, savoring her soft coat and puffy mane against his cheek, tears running down his eyes.
“That’s enough,” Kieran said. “We must leave now.”
Billy let Pinkie Pie go, his hands running along her coat as she backed up towards Yurik and Twilight. Billy stood to his feet and backed away, separating himself further from her.
“Aaron,” spoke Twilight, “I should have enough magic to send us back to the motel.”
“Then we shall see you over there,” Kieran responded. “Everyone else, come.”
Yurik, Walt, and Alice turned to the exit to the tent but not before giving Billy one final wave. Twilight charged her horn as Pinkie Pie fanned her hoof at Billy, a bright, consoling smile on her face. Billy waved goodbye with a nervous breath as Pinkie Pie and Twilight were encased in a bright light before vanishing. Looking up, he saw as the feet of Alice and Yurik went behind the wall of the entrance, leaving him completely alone.
Billy looked back down at the check in his hand, it being the only thing left of Kieran, Yurik, Twilight, and Pinkie Pie. Billy slapped the check against both sides of his hand with a chuckle as he walked to an exit in the back, wanting nothing more than what would be a good night’s sleep.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
On Kieran’s plane, Walt and Alice laid back in their seats as they went off to sleep. Pinkie Pie, on the other hand, bounced excitedly up and down in the aisle between the seats where Yurik and Twilight sat. The two watched as Pinkie Pie’s mouth moved to speak, only for nothing to come out. Yurik looked to Twilight confusedly, to which Twilight responded with a shaking of her head and a rolling of her eyes.
“Pinkie,” whispered Twilight, “when I said be quiet, I didn’t say you couldn’t talk. Just keep your voice down okay?”
Pinkie Pie stopped hopping and leaned her body and head towards Twilight.
“Okay, then,” she whispered with a smile. “I was just saying that I’m super glad to be with my friend Twilight and meet a bunch of new friends that will help save our old friends so me and my friends can go back to Equestria and continue being friends!”
“Now, Yurik,” spoke Twilight, “you wouldn’t mind if Pinkie Pie stays with us and Walt when we get back to Naperville, do you?”
“What?” Yurik hissed. “This pony is essentially flubber if it was pink and was a horse! There’s no way we can hide her!”
“I promise I’ll be good!” begged Pinkie Pie. “Pinkie promise. Pinkie promise!”
“Pinkie Pie, I don’t–”
“It’s okay, Yurik,” interrupted Twilight with a gentle hoof on his arm. “When Pinkie Pie makes a Pinkie promise, her word is as good as selling her soul to Tartarus itself.”
Yurik, still unsure of whether to trust Pinkie Pie with this, turned back to face her with an icy glare, only for her to cross over her heart with her hoof and stick the end of her hoof onto her right eyelid. Seeing into her honesty, Yurik kept his gaze up as he smiled.
“Alright,” he said, “you can stay.”
“YEA–” Pinkie Pie began to shout, only for her to close her mouth with her hooves.
Pinkie Pie opened her mouth as if to say, “Yeah,” only for no sound to come from her mouth. Yurik glanced over to see Alice and Walt stirring in their sleep.
“Well,” Twilight said, stretching her arms and wings, “it’s been a long day, and I’m dying to get some sleep.”
Twilight folded her arms underneath her head and leaned back, lying down and closing her eyes. Pinkie Pie walked further on down the aisle, looking for an empty seat of her own.
“You go on ahead, Twilight,” responded Yurik with a flick of his hand and then reaching for his backpack on the adjacent seat. “I still need to do a little studying before school.”
Yurik pulled out a Calculus book and flipped open to the latter quarter inside, looking at the equations and principles inside. Just then, Twilight’s head and hooves appeared over the back of her seat, facing Yurik.
“Can I help you?” she asked eagerly.
“Huh?” Yurik questioned. “Didn’t you just say you wanted to sleep?”
“I don’t mind, really. I’m used to pulling all-nighters very often in my world. Plus, if it’s to help you…”
“Hey,” Yurik spoke with an inviting shrug, “if you’re up to it, I’m glad for the help. Can you just grab you and me some soda while I get my study guide out?”
“Is coke okay with you?” she asked, trotting to the back of the plane down the aisles.
Yurik smirked at what he was sure would escalate into a very energetic night.
“Sure,” he responded as he watched her open the fridge.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
In the late night the next day, on the edge of a cliff on Mt. Takahata overlooking the cities of Kameyama and Suzuka as well as the Ise Bay, a single man sat alone. Wearing both a grey sleeveless sweater and a sleeveless, black, leather trench coat with a matching grey hood hung behind him, as well as black cargo pants and a pair of black hiking boots, his legs dangled over the edge where a vast landscape of trees awaited him.
A metal chain with five large, diamond shaped links and a blue and red gem on both ends of it was folded and hung with care on a carabineer on the right belt loop of his pants. As well, a long, triangular metal device was fastened atop his left arm, with two small slots on the slant closer to his wrist, a space containing a few cards on the longer slant to the left of the other one, and a slot for his deck that was attached to the device on the left side of his right wrist.
The man’s face and exposed arms were pale, but young, suggesting someone in his late teens or just beginning their twenties. His hair was messy, short, and blonde as it flickered in the high-altitude wind. A black cellphone was placed against the man’s ear conversing with someone.
“You say she’s already been taken?” the man spoke, slightly irate.
“There’s no other explanation,” the person on the other line spoke. “I just saw a video online showing a Billy Bonnaroo show in Jacksonville that morning without Pinkie Pie in it. She had to have been taken!”
“Matthew,” the man said, “calm down…”
“She would have been a steal too, but you just had to send us up to Japan, didn’t you?”
“Calm down!” the man said with more firmness. “The pony we’re looking for has been spotted all about this mountain region by various sources; finding her is going to arguably be the most difficult out of all of them, so we will stay until we do.”
“If someone has already taken Pinkie Pie, that must mean that they’re looking for the others like we are.”
“Then we will deal with them when they eventually arrive.”
“And when is that?”
“In due time, Matthew. In due time…”
Silence came up on the other line.
“Is that all, Matthew?” the man asked.
“No, Orpheus…” the man responded. “That is all.”
“Get some rest, then. Put your mind at ease.
“Yes. Thank you.”
“Goodnight, Matthew.”
The man named Orpheus pressed the red call-end button on his phone, casually putting it back into his front-left pocket. With a push up from his arms, Orpheus hopped to his feet, getting a much clearer and wider view of the mountain range and the bright Japanese horizon.
“Where are you,” he softly whispered into the night, “Rainbow Dash…?”
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Nice and fun, but now I'm worried for Rainbow Dash!
I loved how that duel concluded since everyone had a happy ending there. Also, that mysterious organization...
Rainbow Dash is next! yay!!
Im predicting Rarity in England, Applejack in Europe somewhere (maybe Belgium I dunno), and Fluttershy in Russia. Dont ask me why with Fluttershy, its just a gut feeling.