Yu-Gi-Oh E-QUEST

by DakariKingMykan

Episode 31: Final Foursome

EPISODE THIRTY-ONE

The duelists and patrons all made it to the center of the park, where a large dueling ring had been set up, and standing in the center of the ring were four duelists.

Two were twin brothers. Both of them wearing white T-shirts, but their jackets, track pants, and even their hair colors were different-- Red and Blue.

And the other two duelists were none other than Terra and Masquerade.

Masquerade stood with his arms folded, and just kept perfectly still, but Terra was getting creepy vibes as she stood next to him, as if she could feel the tension that he didn’t appreciate being next to her.

Rubeus and Loki then appeared on the big behind the ring.

“Attention all duelists…” Rubeus announced “We have found six of our finalists.”

The screen then changed revealing the six finalists-- Sunset, Pinkie, Rainbow, Raven of course. Then there was Celestia and unfortunately Karle.

Applejack realized that Yosei obviously didn't make it to the finals after all. "I guess my kindness didn't really pay off for him after all."

She felt very bad for him, feeling he was such a great guy. She just hoped he'd be okay wherever he was.

“I can’t believe Celestia’s in the finals too. This is fantastic!” cried Sunset.

“Yeah, but what about the remaining two finalists?” asked Robin.

He was about to get his answer as Loki explained,

“As you know, we require eight finalists, and as it is, even after the virtual world game has come to an end, we still have four duelists remaining in the tournament.”

He referred to the four duelists standing in the ring.

Rubeus then announced “In order to decide, these four duelists shall now have a four-way Battle Royale duel, and then, after the first two duelists who are eliminated, the remaining two will proceed to the finals.

The two boys at the end snickered at one another, obviously planning something sneaky.

The duelists were asked to take their positions at opposite corners.

“Pyro.” The red duelist…

“Cryo.” The blue duelist and Pyro’s twin brother

Then there was Terra and Masquerade.

Terra turned slightly to gaze over at Masquerade afar from her side of the ring, and while she couldn’t see, under his mask, he was glaring most furiously at her.

Pinkie shuddered softly, “That’s a new one.” she said referring to her Pinkie Senses, “this is going to be one heck of a duel.”

Rainbow agreed, “Normally I’m all up for this Battle Royales, but since Masquerade’s in it, this could be a total shutout.”

Rarity fanned herself with a paper fan she had, “I’m sweating bullets just thinking about it.”

The Titans felt the same, and they were hoping that somehow Terra could get into the finals to further enhance the odds of winning everything needed, but they had serious doubts, all due to Masquerade.

“He’s tougher than he looks.” said Kori “He just may clean all of them out in one turn.”

“I don’t know about that,” said Vic “I think Battle Royales have different rules than normal duels.”

Indeed, the rules were announced just then by the Prince Brothers…

-Each duelist was to limit their decks to 40 cards.

-Each duelist started with 4000 life points instead of the usual 8000.

-Each duelist could attack any of the other players, and each duelist could also defend another with card effects.

-No duelist could attack one another on their first turn, or play any card effects, unless the effect of the card said as so.

-Direct attacks were off-limits. This rule was to ensure that each duelist would have a fair chance and not be ganged up on. The only way around this rule was if a card effect permitted direct attacks.

-In response to the “No Direct-Attacks” each duelist was not permitted to play no monsters to try and maintain safety, unless they had none to play. Therefore, hands and cards held would be closely monitored. If any duelist willing refused summoning a monster in two turns, that duelist would be disqualified.

Masquerade snickered softly, “Is that all? …Piece of cake.”

The turn orders were displayed on the big screen with the life point scores.

Pyro LP: 4000

Cryo LP: 4000

Terra LP: 4000

Masquerade LP: 4000

“So Masquerade goes last?” said Raven “That could give the others the advantage.”

Sunset agreed, “Knowing his reputation, the others may all set up moves that could take him down fast.”

Everyone still looked at Masquerade, wondering how he would handle all this, but remembering that he took out those five punks single handily and all at once.

The twins on the ring, looked back at each other and nodded.

Rubeus then announced, “…Let the duel begin!”

The duelists all drew five cards. No one was allowed to draw on their first turns.

“This is it,” said Pyro as he eyed at Terra and Masquerade “You two are toast. We’re going to clean your clocks, right Cryo?”

His brother nodded, “You bet, we’ll freeze and then roast them to pieces!”

Terra’s features hardened, but it was Masquerade who called at them, “Just make your moves so I can beat you and get out of here!”

The brothers took insult to this.

You think you’re so tough behind that mask.” said Pyro, “Well let’s see you face this…

I summon BROTHERHOOD OF THE FIRE FIST - BEAR!”

(Atk: 1600)

“Then one card facedown and that ends my turn.

You’re up, bro.”

Cryo nodded, “Time for the deep freeze. I summon DANCE PRINCESS OF THE ICE BARRIER.”

(Atk: 1700)

“Then I’ll put two cards facedown.”

Then it was Terra’s turn, and she thought softly, “These two brothers are probably teaming up to take me and Masquerade down, and I have no idea knowing how their decks work.

Maybe I should just play it safe for now.”

She grabbed her card, “I’ll summon one monster face-down in defense-mode, and that’s all.”

“That’s all?” laughed Pyro.

“That’s got to be the lamest move I’ve ever seen.” added Cryo.

“I wouldn’t laugh if I were you,” hissed Masquerade “You’re moves are just as lame as hers, and it’ll make it all the easier for me to crush you.”

Terra shuddered softly, while the brother growled in anger.

“Just make your move.” sneered Pyro.

“As you wish.” hissed Masquerade. “I place four cards facedown, and I summon KURIBOH in defense mode!”

(Def: 200)

All three of the other duelists were now concerned as to his playing all five of his cards at once.

The crowds were astounded as well.

“Why did he play all that?”

“What’s he up to?”

The gang was most concerned too, especially Sunset.

“What’s he thinking?” she wondered.

Fluttershy and Pinkie looked at the cute little fur-ball, and thought he was simply adorable, but it also struck them as odd that Masquerade would play such a cute and weak monster.

Pyro and Cyro looked at one another.

“I’m not going to let you intimidate me!” Pyro growled, “It’s my draw…”

Once the standby phase activated, Masquerade went for it.

“I activate my facedown card MULTIPLY, allowing me to sacrifice my Kuriboh, and summon five Kuriboh-Tokens to my field.”

Surely enough, his field was then covered with five Kuriboh at once.

(Def: 200) x5

“EEE…!!” Pinkie squealed with glee “More cuties! I can’t stand it!”

Fluttershy sighed and gawked lovingly at the furry little guys, but then she wondered, “What does Masquerade plan to do with those.”

She almost immediately got her answer.

“Now I play the trap OJAMA TRIO, and with this I shall summon three Ojama Tokens to Pyro’s side of the field.”

“What?!” snapped Pyro.

Three more tokens, ugly as they were, appeared on Pyro’s field, and all made funny faces at him!

(Def: 1000) x3

“Hey, what gives!” snarled Cryo.”

Masquerade only snickered, “Now I reveal my third facedown, SPELL TEXTBOOK!

It allows me to shuffle my deck, and then I draw one card, and if it happens to be a spell card, I can activate it immediately.

His deck automatically shuffled itself, and Terra was starting to get nervous.

“What is he doing?” she wondered.

Masquerade then drew his card and grinned, “I activate the spell SLASH DRAW!”

All the opponents and everyone in the gang gawked with curiosity and nervous expressions.

“I now have send to cards from my deck to the graveyard equal to the number of cards that are currently on the field.”

The twins blinked in shock.

“What?!” cried Terra “But there fifteen different cards in play…!”

Masquerade didn’t seem to card and ditched the required amount of cards, “And if any of you are thinking of play Trap Cards against me, think again, “Because now I play TRAP STUN, which will negate any and all trap effects for the remainder of the turn.”

The brothers gasped in horror.

“What is up with this guy?!” cried Pyro.

“I don’t know, but maybe we underestimated him.” said Cryo.

Masquerade chuckled, “I’m not surprised you did, and just like everyone else who has before, it’s about to cost you all, because now, the secondary effect of my Slash Draw activates, which lets me draw one card.”

He took his card, “Well, what do you know about that…?” and he revealed it to be another Slash Draw card.

“Oh, no!” cried Twilight.

“What?” cried Robin “What happens now?”

He got his answer as the entire duel field began to rumble and quiver, and every single card in play, including all of Masquerades cards were destroyed in big explosions, which blew past all the other duelists.

“Don’t tell me,” said Applejack “Because he drew that card, all the cards went poof like that?”

Twilight nodded, “And that’s not the worst of it!

Now for every card that was destroyed, he can inflict each player with 1000 points of damage for every card that was destroyed!”

Everyone gasped, yelped, or jumped in extreme shock, and Rarity fainted, like her usual dramatic self.

Since Masquerade had plenty of damage to dish out, all three of his opponents were shot from the effects of the cards, and knocked to the ground while he himself laughed at their humiliation.

Pyro LP: 4000 -----> 0

Cryo LP: 4000 -----> 0

Terra LP: 4000 -----> 0

There was a single face on any other that was neither shocked, astonished, or of all this, horrified at what just happened, especially Terra as she sat on her knees, shaking with fear, but not as fearfully as the brothers were.

“Forget this! I’m out of here!” cried Pyro, and he ran off like a cowardly cat.

“Hey, bro, wait for me!” called Cryo “I don’t want to go to the finals against that guy!”

The brothers had run out of the park as fast as lightning, but Terra was the only one who stayed behind.

Terra gazed at Masquerade, and he scoffed at the cowardice of the boys.

Then he looked at her, and she could feel him glaring at her behind his mask, and noticed he was clenching his fists tightly and shaking slightly, and he turned and left the ring without even saying anything to her.

She kept watching him walk away until he had disappeared around the corner.

“Terra…!” Vic called, and he tried to get up onto the mat, but the security guards held him back.

“No outsiders allowed in the ring.” one of them said.

“The duel’s over! Let us through!” demanded Robin.

Kori and Raven both flew up, over the guards, and onto the ring, much to the amazement of the crowds.

“Terra,” said Kori “Are you okay?”

“Hey!” snapped a guard “Get out of the ring!”

Raven turned to face the guards and gave them a nasty, demonic stare, with her eyes glowing furious red, frightening the men to back away.

Terra was helped to her feet and finally snapped out of her trance, “I’m okay. Really I’m fine.” But then she turned back to face where Masquerade had stood.

As for everyone else, they were all wondering the same thing…

“Soooooo… what happens now?” asked Rainbow “Who else goes to the finals?”

Nobody had a clue, considering that all three opponents were knocked out at the same time.

“That Masquerade is completely ruthless!” remarked Rarity “He seemed to rather enjoy inflicting humiliation on those people.”

“Maybe, but that still doesn’t answer our question.” said Robin.

The answer was about to be given as the Prince Brothers reappeared on the screen.

“Sorry for the delay, folks.” said Rubeus “We had seen the duel and… well, we were quite surprised of the outcome.”

“Indeed,” Loki agreed “As was stated: only two remaining duelists were to proceed to the finals. Masquerade is one of them for having beaten all three opponents in one shot.

However, in view of the three-way defeat, since our other two competitors have fled and are no longer present, we feel it only proper to award the last position in the finals to Terra.”

The crowds began to cheer for her, and Terra couldn’t believe her ears.

“I did it?”

“I… guess you did.” said Raven.

Terra’s disk then gave that playful theme, officially declaring her a finalist, and her picture appeared on the screen along with the other finalists.

“Behold our eight finalists!” Rubeus announced.

The crowds went wild with cheers and joy.

Rainbow and Pinkie slapped a high-five, and Sunset grinned wide while thinking, “Finally, we’re one step closer to saving our friends.”

Just then, her duel disk screen began to glow white, as did the other finalists, even those who were not present in the area.

Then the white light faded and there on the screen appeared the image of a card with a barcode on it.

“Attention finalists…” Rubeus announced “Behold the keys that you will require to gain you entry to the finals.

What you shall do with these, all will be revealed tomorrow morning at Ten AM, and those who are late will be instantly disqualified.”

“We also would like to take this opportunity to thank those of you who didn’t make it to the finals.” Added Loki “You tried your best, and that is what is important. Thank you for participating in our tournament and you may keep your duel disks as consolation prizes.”

Many of the duelists felt sour and miserable, but some of them accepted it and were grateful to have played.

“And as for you, Finalists.” announced Rubeus “We will see you tomorrow. Until then, enjoy the rest of this day, and get a good night’s rest.

Tomorrow begins the real quest-- the road that determines our champion.”

No more was said, and the brothers faded out.

“So, what now?” asked Applejack.

It was only early afternoon, but the gang didn’t feel nearly as tuckered out.

“I’d like to go back to the camper and check up on Spike.” said Twilight.

Vic patted her shoulder and went with her.

Before the others could decide what to do, along came Cadance and Shining Armor with their respective trinket and goodie carts.

“Whoo-! Nice going guys.” said Shining Armor “I knew you could do it.”

“I’m so proud of those of you who made it to the finals.” added Cadance.

The finalists themselves felt pleased.

“Um, you all realize,” said Raven “We’re all going to have to be dueling each other now.”

Pinkie blinked once “Yeah, so?”

Sunset added, “We can just look forward to honorable duels, like when Pinkie and I dueled each other.”

The others agreed.

“And besides, there’s five of us in the finals,” said Terra “That guarantees us a great chance for one of us to win it all.”

Much as all the others agreed, Fluttershy was dreadfully skeptical, “But… but… what about Masquerade?”

Everyone’s features changed to concern and stun. They all knew how powerful he was, and how it was impossible to determine or be prepared for whatever strategy he’d throw their way.

Kori had an idea, “…I think we should talk to him again.”

Everyone turned to face her.

“Um, we tried that once before,” Applejack pointed out “And he didn’t seem to care much for your ailing city.”

Everyone had a flashback to when they first spoke to him about it, during his duel against Kori.

“I know of Jump City, and the way it crumpled. All you’re doing is wasting your time.

No one’s interested in saving that dump-heap, and as far as I see, those people brought it on themselves.”

Robin felt extremely angry remembering all that, but more of all the shame and guilt it brought back because of all the changes and greed that caused the city to fall in the first place.

“I really don’t think he wants to listen.” then he looked at his wife “I’m not trying to discourage you, honey, but I just don’t think it’ll work.

That kid is as low as you can go.”

“I’m inclined to agree with you,” said Rarity “However, and much as I cannot believe I am about to say this about Masquerade,” she paused and took in a deep breath “…As much as he does have a rather demeaning and baffling attitude, he hasn’t made any attempt to harm anyone, at least not incredibly physically.”

“Um… hello…?” Rainbow said “I just got knocked back by his ruthless dueling.”

“Maybe,” said Terra “But I think she means he wouldn’t actually want to hurt anyone. The most harm he’s done is emotional taunting and breaking spirits.”

“Exactly,” agreed Kori “We should give it one more try, and besides, a duelist of his skills should be using his resources to help people, like we are.”

The others were all amazed, even though she lost to Masquerade, and he called her a whole bunch of horrible things, especially “Troq” she was still willing to try and reason with him?

The others decided to go along with the idea. What did they have to lose by trying?

They all decided to spread out and look for him in the big theme park.

“Oh, has anyone seen Twilight?” asked Shining Armor “We haven’t seen her all day.”

Rarity and Fluttershy stopped in the tracks.

“She told us she had seen you this morning?” said Fluttershy.

The couple was confused,

“We work the afternoon shift today.” said Cadance “Twilight was out of the house before we even got up this morning. So we haven’t seen her at all.”

Rarity and Fluttershy felt more confused than the couple were.

“She’s with Vic at the Titans camper.” said Rarity “We can go get her for you.”

“Nah, never mind,” said Shining Armor “You’ve got work to do, and so do we. We’ll see her later at home.”

The couple then went off with their carts.

Meanwhile, outside the park, the brothers, Pyro and Cryo were being threatened by two unseen ladies who had familiar voices.

“We paid you twerps to make into the finals and duel for us to get that prize money,” growled one of the ladies.

“But you lose the duel so easily, and you flee like a couple of bratty babies!” shouted the other.

“You don’t understand. That Masquerade is in a class by himself.” whined Pyro.

“He totally had us outmatched, and we couldn’t even try to fight back.” added Cryo.

The ladies only looked crosser at the two boys, and the boys looked as if they were going to start blubbering like the weak babies they were.

“You may be out of the tournament, and blown our chances of getting the money.” said one of the ladies “But we’re going to give you one last chance.”

“But how?” asked Pyro “We’re out of the tournament, and the finalists have all been decided.”

“Not at that,” hissed the other lady “We’re talking about a whole new game… called “Payback.”

The brothers looked intrigued.

“We’re listening.” said Cryo.

Back in the Titans’ camper, Robin forwarded the message to Vic about their plan, and as expected, Vic was very skeptical about the idea of reasoning with Masquerade, but he agreed to help out when and if he could.

Unfortunately, there was no hope of locating him anywhere.

“I’ve tried every frequency possible,” he said “I can’t locate him anywhere; I can’t even lock onto to his duel disk while it’s turned off.”

It was also remembered how Masquerade was seemingly undetectable by any electronic equipment, and even Raven’s psychic-contact didn’t seem to work.

“He’s gone to fantastic lengths to stay hidden,” said Twilight “But why? What’s he got to hide? What is he trying to avoid?”

Robin began to suspect the possibility, “He could be a wanted criminal on the run from the law.

There’s got to be a way for us to I.D him.”

Vic pondered and pondered, “I got it… we can’t I.D him through ordinary scans, and we can’t X-Ray him, but maybe we can make connections, like DNA samples.”

Twilight’s eyes lit up behind her glasses, “The best we can hope for is a saliva sample-- on discarded foods, a soda can, or even a simple drinking straw.”

“Right, now we’re getting somewhere.” said Robin “But first we have to find him.”

The team agreed and kept on searching, but by the end of the day, it was no good, Masquerade was nowhere to be found-- obviously having left the park after the duel ended.

Vic pounded the console and grumbled, “It’s like looking for a shadow in a dark alley.”

Twilight clenched her fists angrily, but then her expression changed to a tad of sadness, almost guilt!

“You okay?” Vic asked.

She snapped herself to her senses, “Yeah, I’m fine.”

Just then, her cellphone rang, Sunset was calling to invite her out to dinner, courtesy of Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna. All the Titans were invited as well along with Cadance and Shining Armor.

“I’m all up for that.” said Vic, “Just let me lock up the systems.”

Twilight agreed and grabbed her knapsack, but she took a moment to look at Spike’s motionless body, and softly stroked his little head. He still felt warm.

“Don’t worry, Spike.” she said softly to him “It won’t be long now. We’ll get your soul back.”

She then stepped out of the camper to head to meet up with the others.

Vic finished up closing off all the computers and locking the systems, and he headed off to meet up with the others, when he noticed a card was on the floor of the camper.

He picked it up and gawked at it, “Where’d this come from?”