Yu-Gi-Oh! EG: Neo W.R.P.G U.S. Selection Arc

by foxmaster

Team Practice, Part 2

Starlight continued driving onward, eventually catching up to Silver and drawing her opening hand.

DUEL
Silver Chance LP: 2500
Starlight Glimmer LP: 4000

“It’s my turn now; so I draw!” Starlight said as she drew her sixth card. Starlight checked her hand, searching for a way to get rid of Silver’s dragons.

“Let’s see how you like this! I activate my own Raigeki to destroy every monster you control!” Starlight said as the same bolt of lightning Silver had called down before blasted towards Scarlight and Flare Metal, leaving a huge plume of smoke in its wake. Starlight grinned, certain she destroyed both of Silver’s dragons... until the smoke cleared, revealing that Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon was still flying high -- without so much as a scratch on its body.

“What? How is Flare Metal still alive!?” Starlight shouted in shock.

“As long as my dragon has at least one Overlay Unit, he can't be destroyed by any card effects,” Silver explained. “And since you activated your Raigeki, you take 500 points of direct damage.” Flare Metal flapped his wings and sent a wave of fire and embers at Starlight, burning the air around her.

Silver LP: 2500
Starlight LP: 3500

“Great. So; I basically just played a card that did damage to myself and nothing else... moving on! I Summon Elemental Hero Blazeman in Attack Mode!” A man covered in the fire with orange armor flew onto the field and threw his fist forward with a grunt as if he was posing for the cover of a comic book.

Elemental Hero Blazeman
LV: 4
ATK: 1200

“When I Normal or Special Summon Blazeman, I can add the Spell Card Polymerization from my Deck to my Hand! Next; I activate Blazeman’s other effect. By sending Elemental Hero Necroshade from my Deck to my Graveyard, Blazeman’s ATK, DEF, and his Attribute become the same as Necroshade’s until the end of my turn!” The flames on Blazeman’s body burned a bright purple, taking the shape of Necroshade.

1200 + 400 = 1600

“Now, I activate Mask Change -- sending Blazeman to my Graveyard to summon my Masked Hero Anki in Attack Position!” Blazeman’s mask vanished and was replaced by Anki’s mask, then Blazeman’s body transformed into that of the Masked Hero Anki, and with a wave, he dispelled the flames around him.

Masked Hero Anki
LV: 8
ATK: 2800

“Flare Metal burns you for 500 points, once again!” Flare Metal flapped again and sent another wave of fire at Starlight. “That’s already a fourth of your Life Points; you’d better stop it quickly!”

Silver LP: 2500
Starlight LP: 3000

“Next; I equip Anki with the Equip Spell Mist Body, which means that he can't be destroyed in battle.” Anki’s body was shrouded in a thick mist, giving him a phantom-like appearance. In response to the new Spell’s activation, Flare Metal flapped his wings again -- burning Starlight for 500 more points.

Silver LP: 2500
Starlight LP: 2500

“Battle! Masked Hero Anki attacks your Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon!” Anki leaped at Flare Metal and raked its clawed fingers right across the dragon’s chest. Flare Metal valiantly tried fighting back, but its claws could not hit the phantasmal hero, and with a pained cry it exploded in a torrent of flame.

“When Anki destroys a monster in battle, I can add one "Change" Quick-Play Spell Card from my Deck to my Hand -- so I will add a copy of Mask Change II to my Hand! Finally, I’ll place one card face-down and end my turn!” Starlight said as a face-down card appeared behind Anki.

“It’s my turn now; I draw!” Silver said as he drew his third card. He checked for a way around Anki, but he was unable to find one. Luckily, he noticed an Action Card coming up above him and used a well-placed ramp to jump high and grab it. “I activate the Action Card Hand Recharge! This Action Card allows me to return all the cards in my Hand to my Deck, and draw five new cards to replace them.”

Silver placed his hand on top of his Deck and shuffled it; after which he drew his new cards in accordance with his Action Spell’s text. Silver was delighted to see he had drawn a powerful hand containing only Pendulum Monsters and decided to test Starlight’s ability to handle a surprise twist.

“I’ll use the Scale 1 Dragonpulse Magician and the Scale 8 Timegazer Magician to set up my Pendulum Scale!” Silver said as two slots at each end of his Duel Disk opened up, closing after he placed the Monster Cards in his Hand on each side. The word “PENDULUM” appeared on his display screen, and two pillars of light shot up on either side of Silver’s Runner.

In the midst of the left pillar; a boy in a white robe with a long, braided ponytail and a dual-bladed sword floated motionless above a stylized 1, and on the right side appeared a magician in a black robe, equipped with a red scarf and a gauntlet with a gold scythe-like object attached -- and he floated above a stylized 8.

Silver: ♦1___________8♦

“Now that that’s done, I can Pendulum Summon any monsters between the levels of two through seven!” Silver announced. “Pendulum Summon: appear, my monsters!” he added as he placed three new monsters onto his Duel Disk. Three streams of light came out of a portal that manifested in-between the magicians that made up the Pendulum Scale, and these lights transformed into three copies of the same dragon, a blue orb inside their chests, two green orbs on their left wings, one red orb on their right wing, and piercing heterochromatic eyes of red and green. “Come forth; my three Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragons!”

Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon [3]
LV: 7
ATK: 2500

“A… Pendulum Summon? Well, no matter how many monsters you Summon, they can’t survive this! I activate my Trap, Bottomless Trap Hole -- so now all three of your dragons are destroyed and banished!” Starlight said the ground tore open up beneath all three Odd-Eyes dragons and swallowed them whole, leaving a grimacing Silver’s field wide open. “Well, I guess you passed that test with flying colors. I end my turn!” Silver said as he and Starlight approached the starting line once more.

“My turn; I draw!” Starlight said as she drew her next card, ready and willing to deliver the final blow. “Battle! Anki, attack Silver directly with your Shadow Claw Strike!” Starlight commanded as Anki vanished, reappearing in front of Silver and slashing him with pointed claws, causing his damaged Runner to furiously emit smoke.

Silver Chance LP: 0
Starlight Glimmer LP: 2500
Winner: Starlight Glimmer

After the smoke cleared, Silver looped back around to the starting line and passed the baton to Sunset -- along with his set Pendulum Scale. Sunset offered Silver a smirk and a nod as she took off. Silver grabbed a remaining bottle of the fizzy apple cider Applejack had brought over, and leaned back, ready to watch the finale of their training exercise on the screen by his side. After only a minute or so, Sunset caught up to Starlight and drew her own opening hand.

DUEL
Sunset Shimmer LP: 4000
Starlight Glimmer LP: 2500

“Looks like it’s down to just you and me, Starlight. It’s finally my turn, and I’ll draw!” Sunset said as she drew her sixth card. She spent a few seconds thinking about how she could get past Anki until she remembered that Silver had left her with his Scales. “I’ll use Silver’s set Pendulum Scale to Pendulum Summon two copies of Quillbolt Hedgehog from my Hand!” Sunset said as two streams of light transformed into a pair of orange hedgehogs with bolts for quills on their backs.

Quillbolt Hedgehog [2]
LV: 2
ATK: 800

“Next; I Normal Summon my Jet Synchron!” Sunset said. A tiny robot that looked like a jet turbine skated onto the field next to Sunset.

Jet Synchron
LV: 1
ATK: 500

“I tune my level one Jet Synchron with both of my level two Quillbolt Hedgehogs.” Jet Synchron spun its turbine-like body furiously before bursting into a star, then a ring -- encircling the two hedgehogs before turning them into a pillar of light.

LV2 + LV2 + LV1 = LV5

“Clustering stars, become a force that can accelerate past the limits of humanity -- and become an unstoppable force of good! Synchro Summon! Take to the skies, Jet Warrior!”

A humanoid warrior with an upper body that resembled a jet plane descended from the sky and landed next to Sunset, using its rear booster to keep up with her Runner.

Jet Warrior
LV: 5
ATK: 2100

“Since I used Jet Synchron as Synchro Material, I’m allowed to add a ‘Junk’ monster from my Deck to my Hand, so I choose to add Junk Synchron to my Hand. That's not all, though -- when I Synchro Summon Jet Warrior, I can ‘bounce’ one of your cards -- returning it back to your Hand -- so I am ‘bouncing’ your Anki right back to your Extra Deck!” Jet Warrior spun his turbines and created a tornado that blew Anki off the field, dispersing the mist that surrounded him.

“Battle! Jet Warrior, attack Starlight directly with Flaming Whirlwind!” Jet Warrior rapidly spun his turbines once again, this time summoning two twisters, and then fired the flamethrowers on his wings; creating two flaming tornadoes that whipped across the field and burned Starlight severely.

Sunset LP: 4000
Starlight LP: 400

With a groan, Starlight shook her head and did her best to recover. She spotted an Action Card coming up on her left and grabbed it, hoping it could save her. It wasn’t nearly as powerful as she had hoped, but it would do for now. “I activate the Action Card Medi-Charge; which gives me an extra 800 Life Points. That should keep me in the game a bit longer.”

Sunset LP:4000
Starlight LP:1200

“We’ll see about that. I end my turn!” Sunset said.

“It’s my turn again, and I’ll draw!” Starlight said as she drew her card. She was excited to see that she had drawn just what she needed. “Since Elemental Hero Necroshade is in my Graveyard, I can Normal Summon a high-level Elemental Hero monster without tributing any monsters just once, and I’ll take advantage of that to Summon my Elemental Hero Bladedge!” A man made of solid gold with wings and razor-sharp blades under his arms slid next to Starlight, striking a formidable pose.

Elemental Hero Bladedge
LV: 7
ATK: 2600

“Battle! Bladedge, attack Jet Warrior with you Slice and Dice attack!” Bladedge charged at Jet Warrior with his blades pulled back, ready to chop up his opposition -- until Sunset grabbed an Action Card of her own.

“I activate the Action Spell Card, Miracle! Not only does this protect my monster from battle destruction, but it cuts the damage I would have taken in half.” A barrier formed around Jet Warrior and the damaging shockwave Bladedge’s attack produced fizzled out as it struck Sunset’s Runner.

Sunset LP: 3750
Starlight LP: 1200

“Good thing I was ready for something like that to happen. I activate the Spell Card Broken Blade Stab,” Starlight said as a Spell depicting an image of a splintered katana burying itself into a screaming warrior’s chests was projected onto her field. “I can only activate this card when a monster of mine fails to destroy a monster of yours, and it deals half of your monster’s Attack Points as direct damage to your Life Points.” A similarly broken katana flew out of the card’s image and ran itself into Jet Warrior’s body, and bits of scrap metal split off of its form and clipped Sunset and her Runner.

Sunset LP: 2700
Starlight LP: 1200

“With that, I end my turn!” Starlight said as her Spell Card’s image faded away. Jet Warrior pulled the blade from its chest with a grunt and threw it to the ground, where it splintered fully and dissipated.

“Not a bad move, but I’m still in the lead. It’s my turn, and I draw!” Sunset said as she drew her card and scanned through her hand. Sunset confirmed that she had nothing to get past Bladedge... but she did notice an Action Card to her right and snagged it. She looked at the card and laughed. “What a way to end it, huh? I activate the Action Card Phoenix Arrow -- so you take 1500 points of direct damage. Game over, Starlight!” Sunset made the motion of firing an arrow of flame from an invisible bow and watched it turn into a blazing phoenix, striking Starlight’s Runner and causing it to smoke.

Sunset Shimmer LP: 2700
Starlight Glimmer LP: 0
Winner: Sunset Shimmer

With the duel over, Sunset and Starlight pulled over at the starting line and shared a friendly handshake.

“Congratulations!” Silver said, clapping his hands together as he approached the others, Twilight and Lyra in tow. “You two did great out there. I’d call this a successful lesson! You might want to work on your Decks a bit, though -- you’re probably not ready to deal with Team Skull Crush just yet.”

“Hey, what was that Summoning method you used?” Starlight asked Silver. “The, uh, ‘Pendulum’ thing. I never saw it used in any Duels back in Equestria. Twilight?”

Twilight shook her head. “I was surprised, as well. It seems like a very powerful technique.”

“Pendulum Monsters are a relatively new form of monster,” Silver explained. “They are unique in that they are both Monster Card and Spell Card. When used as Spells, they are set in their own Zones -- called ‘Pendulum Zones’ for obvious reasons -- and have different effects depending on which Zone you place them in.” Silver demonstrated by opening the Pendulum Zones on his Duel Disk, using the same magicians from before to set the Scales. He placed one of his Odd-Eyes dragons on the field in a Monster Zone.

“As I said in the Duel, Pendulum Summoning allows you to Summon multiple monsters from your Hand, as well as face-up Pendulum Monsters from your Extra Deck, all at the same time. Due to the fact that they’re all Summoned at once, if you can respond to the Summon -- like Starlight did with Bottomless -- you can potentially destroy all of the Summoned monsters.”

“Wait,” Twilight interrupted. “Face-up Pendulum Monsters… in the Extra Deck?”

“I’m getting to that; don’t worry. Usually, when a Pendulum Monster is destroyed it goes to the Extra Deck instead of the Graveyard. They go to the grave when their Summons are negated, they are discarded or otherwise specifically sent there from the Hand or Deck, or when they are detached as Xyz Materials.”

With the brief, an impromptu lesson about Pendulum Summoning and Pendulum Monsters finished; Sunset, Twilight, and Starlight gathered up their respective Duel Runners and went back to Sunset’s place for the night. Lyra stayed behind to help clean up Silver’s workshop and ended up crashing at the Silver Mansion for the night.

Author's Note:

Card Info:

Action Spell - Hand Recharge

Spell/Action Spell

Shuffle every card in your hand into your Deck; draw 5 cards.

Action Spell - Medi Charge

Spell/Action Spell

Gain 800 LP.

Broken Blade Stab

Spell/Quick-Play Spell

If a monster you control attacks, and the attacked monster is not destroyed: you can inflict half of that monster's ATK as damage to your opponent’s LP.