Yu-Gi-Oh E-Quest: Malefic Wars

by DakariKingMykan

Episode 13: Haunting Hunting: Part 1

EPISODE THIRTEEN

The Terrible Trio was brought before The Princes, and Loki was really raving mad with Sapphire for nearly defeating Celestia and turning her into a card.

“My lord, please forgive me!” begged Sapphire “I just got carried away. I couldn’t stop dueling, and we are supposed to gain energy.”

Loki growled and looked ready to blast him to pieces, but he didn’t. “You are most fortunate that things turned out the way they did, and that my brother and I still have use for you.

Don’t let this happen again!” he paused and looked up at Violet and Khaos “…That goes for all of you!”

The Trio bowed.

“Now, that’s enough, Loki.” said Rubeus. “You’re letting your obsession get the best of you again.”

He stepped forth and addressed the trio. “In spite of the near mess-up, you all did fairly well for your first duels”

Khaos bowed. “It is an honor to serve you, sire, and Prince Loki as well.”

Rubeus nodded thankfully at him and the others, “But don’t let your guards down. The enemies are bound to get stronger now.”

Violet scoffed, “Let them. Some of them already know the truth-- that we can’t be decimated that easily. I can’t wait to get back out there and battle more of those weaklings.”

“A pity we can’t make all our foot soldiers like us. Then there wouldn’t be any trouble.”

Loki shook his head, “We only had enough power to spare to give that to the three of you in your creations. You should feel privileged.”

Rubeus agreed, “Besides, you all know why you were created and why things are like this.”

Khaos nodded once, “And we carry it on with pride, sires. We will collect more power from you, and we will help you unlock the full power that Sunset has.”

The two Princes nodded at the trio.

“That will all. You have your orders.” said Rubeus. “And remember, the honor and future of the Malefic World rests on your shoulders.”

“…So don’t mess it up.” sneered Loki.

The trio bowed and left.

Sapphire sighed heavily as he walked down the dark hall with his comrades. “Well, that was easier than I thought it would be.”

Violet scoffed, “Too easy if you ask me.”

“Well, I didn’t ask you.”

“Knock it off, both of you.” snapped Khaos “We’re supposed to be fighting those fools out there, not bickering with each other.”

The others agreed, but then they gave him a straight look.

“At least we won our duels.” Sapphire pointed out. “You let that Sunset girl get away.”

“I had to…” retorted Khaos “She is getting stronger, and it won’t be long before she knows what she must do.”

“I wouldn’t mind dueling her myself.” said Violet.

She recalled her duel with Rarity, and while it was fun to see her squirm and have one less pest to deal with, “…She was a lightweight. I need strong opponents to duel.”

The Trio still knew their orders; Sunset was to be left alone for a bit, and there was to be no dueling Celestia again, not even by accident.

Celestia was on her knees sobbing softly while gawking at her sister’s soul card.

Sunset finally reached her, in tears herself. She had no words to say over this devastation, and could only hug her principal deeply.

Raven stood near Vic, still holding Twilight’s card in her sweatshirt pocket. All three of them were crushed.

Twilight sniffled, “Poor Celestia!”

“Poor Luna you mean. She’s in a worse fix.” She spoke very softly trying not to make things worse than they were…

…But things were indeed worse!

Vic was salvaging through the remains of his busted generator, and it was all smashed to bits with no way to repair it.

He checked his battery meter, it was still above the halfway mark, and while he had reason to be concerned for himself, he felt more crushed for Celestia.

His anger then began to show for the enemies. “The Dueling Demons!” he grumbled softly “They’re going to pay for this one.”

Raven agreed.

Twilight felt deeply worried now. “I thought the lightning could only take your soul if you lost the duel.”

“Obviously that’s not the case.” said Raven. “It can obviously take the soul of anyone that it strikes.”

Everyone else agreed with this because of the fact that the lightning never came back to strike Celestia.

Sunset then realized, “…The others, they may not know of this yet, or everything else going on either.”

The others all felt their stomachs turn, except Celestia who was still lost in her devastating woes.

As she gazed down at her sister’s card in her hand, memories of their childhood and their always being together flashed before her to the melody of a song…

There were days when I was alone
No one around to talk to or share
But I knew I was never always on my own
I had somebody there… somebody there

We were close as could be
We were friends, she and me
There were times when we’d lose our minds
But in the end, like any other friend
We’d smile and laugh and put it all behind

…My sis and me.

Many of the scenes included from the beginning…

Celestia and Luna as toddlers, playing together, sharing toys, and sometimes getting into fits and arguments, and ending up turning away from one another, which were often soon dissolved and made up, as was shown by the sisters hugging.

They grew up and went to school, and Celestia looked out for Luna when she was picked on by bullies.

Celestia would struggle with dioramas for projects, and Luna would help her-- holding things steady while Celestia glued them in place.

Then they came to be teens in high-school, and they would help each other with homework, and they would have hard times, and silent spells… a typical teenager attitude.

In the end, the sisters never broke their bond, and were always there for each other, even through college, through their days as teachers, and finally taking over as councillors for Canterlot High.

She’d be there to catch me whenever I’d fall.
If she was in the dumps, I’d always be on call
With a shoulder try cry on, and be there and rely on
Sisterly love that would conquer all…

We were close as could be
We were friends, she and me
There were times when we’d lose our minds
But in the end, like any other friend
We’d smile and laugh and put it all behind

…My sis and me.
…My sis and me.

My sis… and… me…

The song ended and the flashbacks faded back to Celestia clutching the card. Her teary expression faded, replaced with anger and determination.

She wouldn’t let her sister’s sacrifice be in vain, and she didn’t want to let anyone else suffer like this. She would find the Prince Brothers and make them pay for everything!

“We should move out, and find the others before they fall into trouble.”

The others couldn’t agree more, especially Sunset “They already got Rarity, and now Luna, and they plan to go after more of us.”

“Wait…” Twilight called “What about Vic’s power cell? It still isn’t fully charged.”

Vic assured her, “I’ve got half a tank full, and that’s good enough. I should be perfectly fine, as long as I don’t duel, or use my gear too much.”

To ensure this, he removed his duel disk, and stowed it in a secret compartment in his backside, along with his deck, so he couldn’t be forced into a duel.

“Besides, the others are right. The sooner we head out, the sooner we can find the others, and then we all work together on getting out of this realm.”

“And… just how are we supposed to find them if we don’t use your scanner?” Raven asked. “They could still be anywhere.”

Sunset sighed, “I guess we do it the old-fashioned way… and look.”

There was a loud hint of panic and worry in her voice. She wasn’t playing around, and really wanted to get going.

So, off they all went, exiting the building and making their way through the city and into the outer lands again.

All the footprints, if any from before, had now vanished-- blown away by the sands in the breeze, but still the fearless group trekked on, while keeping a lookout for more Maleficans looking to duel.

Celestia kept her sister’s soul card in an empty pocket of her blazer, and took practically every half minute to feel inside at it, which helped fuel her to keep going.

As for Sunset, as much as she was eager to find her friends, she couldn’t stop thinking about her duel with Khaos, and that creature in her dreams.

“Unleash the power. Free me…!”

That single call kept echoing at her.

“What does that thing mean?” she kept asking herself. “What kind of power is it, and how do I free it? How do I know if I can even trust it?”

Suddenly, she had a thought, and reached into her disk for a card in her Extra Deck-- the one that was still blank on both side.

This time, upon looking at the card…

“Huh?” she stopped dead in her tracks.

“What’s wrong?” asked Raven.

Sunset held up her card, “Look at this.” and she flipped it over revealing it had magically changed, while it was still blank on one side, on the side she held up there were now four tiny diamond embedded into it.

Each one was a different color-- Purple, Blue, Black, and Green; the very same colors as those lights that shrouded her whenever she performed one of the Summoning techniques.

She told Celestia and Vic about her visions, and that creature.

“Sounds like quite a call for help.” said Vic.

Sunset finally put her finger on things; “Maybe that’s it. Maybe that creature is sealed within this card, and it wants me to release it just like I unlocked all the other blank cards I got.”

Celestia’s eyes began to light up. “You mean this card may have the power we all need to get us out of this; the power to bring Luna back?”

“I don’t know…” replied Sunset “But I remember the day I got these cards, it was “To help save the world.” That’s what the note said.”

She stared down at the four diamonds, “…But I don’t know how to unlock it. These diamonds just appeared on it out of nowhere…and…” she paused.

“What?” asked Vic.

Twilight had the idea of what Sunset was thinking. “I remember during the duel… Khaos said…”

“…I can see why my masters are interested in your dueling.”


This made everyone realize it was possible the Prince Brothers knew about Sunset’s cards too. Maybe they had known all along, which meant that Sunset was in the biggest trouble of all.

Sapphire tried to duel her, but Celestia intervened, forcing her to duel Khaos instead.

“They’re all after me the most.” Sunset realized. “Just like the Prince Brothers wanted me to duel in the Friendship Cup Tournament from day one, and the other girls too; because they wanted the use of our Equestrian energies to unlock the Malefic World in the first place.”

“We get all that…” said Raven “But why are they still after you in particular?”

Sunset looked down at her card, “If these cards were given to me to save the world, they know that I have the power to stop them, and they’re probably trying to keep me from unleashing it.”

“It would explain why they separated all of us.” said Vic “Then it’s easier for them to come after you.”

With this in mind, everyone felt it best to get it going and round up the other groups all the faster.

Sci-Twi’s group had traveled a long way across the shadowy lands since Terra’s duel with Karle before finally running low on steam. They stopped to have a long rest by large rocks to help them lay low.

Shining Armor took the first watch to keep an eye out for more danger.

Terra, Cadance and Applejack were all sleeping peacefully, with the exception of Applejack’s slight snoring.

Spike didn’t sleep at all, and he didn’t have to-- being a mere soul in a card, but he was growing concerned…

Sci-Twi just couldn’t bring herself to sleep ever since Karle revealed herself. You couldn’t blame her either…

…After all the things Karle threatened, and that she stole Twilight’s deck and duel disk and was planning to only cause trouble.

“You really should sleep, Twilight.” he whispered softly.

Sci-Twi just nodded like she half heard him.

Then her brother turned to face her and saw she was still awake.

“You’ll be pretty tired if you don’t catch a wink.” he teased.

She smiled at him, but weakly.

Then she looked at the sleepers. Applejack rolled over and continued to snore with her hat over her face. It went up and down like a shade as she snored.

Even though she knew she had to sleep, and so did the others, it still baffled her scientifically. “How can people who bear so many burdens just crash off and sleep?” she wondered.

She felt more concerned for Terra, and wondering if the other Titans were having it any easier; what with Gar still out there, and worse, even if everyone escaped from the Malefic World what would happen to the Titans; they had been exiled from Jump City and had no place to go.

Far, far away in the hollowed rock, Dick was finally talked into taking a rest by Kori while she took the next watch.

Rainbow, Pinkie and Fluttershy were sleeping too.

All three of them were dreaming and softly muttering in their sleep.

Pinkie was dreaming about a land covered in cakes, pies, and other goodies, and she wanted to sample it all-- bite-by-bite

“Yummy.” she sighed softly as she rolled over.

As for Rainbow, she was dreaming too, but she was dreaming of being the strongest, most powerful duelist in the universe; so great that Karle, Masquerade, even the Prince Brothers and their army of Maleficans fell to her forces.

“Go get ‘em!” she shouted to her army of Raidraptors, and her massive swarm of feathered friends would caw and screech as they unleashed their wrath upon all her enemies.

Wings of fire…

Sonic screeches…

Powerful gusts…

The monsters attacked them all, blasting them all into sparkles, and leaving them all trapped within cards for their wicked ways.

The good people would cheer and holler.

“HAIL RAINBOW DASH: QUEEN OF ALL GAMES!!”

And Rainbow, many times her normal size, would be seen standing higher than all the buildings and laughing with power like some kind of maniacal, unopposable giant.

Rainbow could only give a very soft by satisfying sigh in her sleep.

Fluttershy… all she dreamed of was everything nice, clean, and quiet; so quiet you could hear the snails crawling.

She could only sigh. “Ahh… blissful peace… Nothing but quiet. If this is a dream, please don’t ever wake me up!”

The poor girl, she really wanted the nightmares to end, and to be home in the real world without all the evil and stress.

…A dream that many would want to share and to wake up too.

…Dick, unfortunately, was cringing softly in his sleep as he struggled with a nightmare!

There he was, in the crumpling ruins of Jump City.

Buildings were cracking and dropping bits of rubble by the second. The streets were cracking open like fissures, and the people… the poor people were starving and struggling to keep alive.

Dick then saw a poor little girl who looked lost and couldn’t find her mother.

As a hero, Dick felt obligated to try and help her.

He walked up softly to the child and asked “Are you lost?”

The girl looked up at him, and her features hardened into anger. “You! You’re a Titan!” she screamed, and then she called “HELP!! HELP!! IT’S A TITAN!!!”

Her screams alerted loads of adults and teens, whom were all armed with broken bottles, steel rods, or wooden clubs. Some even had burning torches, and the all began to holler like savages—and given their current dishevelled state it was understandable.

“A Titan…!”

“You let us down!!”

“You’re not welcome here!!!”

“LET’S GET HIM!!”

“Wait, hold it!!” shouted Dick, but his efforts to reason with them all were in vain, and he saw no choice but to flee.

Luckily, he still had some of his gear on him, such as his handy grappling-line, which he used to latch onto a building side and swing himself up and away from the savage crowds.

Unfortunately for him, the spot his hook was latched onto began to crumple because of the building’s poor state, and it broke off causing Dick to fall towards the open streets below, and with nothing else to grab onto.

He was very lucky… the ground he fell towards collapsed, causing him to fall deep into the underground of the crumpling city, and he was able to use another grappling-hook on a strong stalactite to suspend himself a few feet off the ground.

He set himself down safely, but he soon found out he wasn’t alone.

“Nice to see you again, Robin.”

He knew the sound of that voice. He turned round and saw... HIM…! “Slade…!” his old nemesis whom he hadn’t seen since Raven’s father, Trigon, took over, and he actually helped defeat the evil demon lord, and then disappeared.

“It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?” the masked man asked.

Dick clenched his fists, “I thought I’d seen the last of you.”

“Uh-uh-uhn…” Slade said waving his finger “This is a dream, where anything is possible, but then again maybe it’s your guilty conscience tormenting you again for your own misdoings.”

“You’re not one to talk about misdoings, Slade.”

“Am I…? Either way this does not erase what has happened to you, your city, or your precious team, has it?”

The more he taunted him, the angrier Dick became, and he charged at the madman, only for Slade to leap out of the way.

“Oh, come now, you don’t really think that’s how we’re going to settle this, do you? This isn’t the first time you’ve had nightmares like this.”

He was right; Dick had had this recurring nightmare before, ever the city fell into decline and began to crumple.

Then came those undeniable feelings of guilt, shame, remorse, knowing fully well that he and the Titans played large roles in the city’s doom and turning the entire world against helping.

Dick began to clutch his head in anguish as he ran blindly through the darkness trying to shake it all off, but Slade would only remind him. “…No matter how hard you try to run, you can never escape the truth, Robin.

The people no longer believe in you. They don’t wish to see you anymore, and I feel they made the right decision.”

“STOP IT!!” Dick shouted “I won’t listen to this anymore!”

Sadly, he couldn’t just wake up from the dream whenever he wanted; it had to roll out.

Slade then appeared before him, standing on a rocky mound, and he had a duel disk on his left arm.

“You really ought to do something about that temper of yours.”

Dick got the gist already, and already he would deny him. “Why should I duel you? Nothing will change from that.”

“Quite so…” agreed Slade “…Too bad the choice isn’t yours.”

Dick then looked down at his arm; his duel disk seemed to appear out of nowhere and was already armed and activated.

…Then, to make it worse, the ground began to rumble as the rock began to crack all around him. It all collapsed leaving himself and Slade both standing on large rock pillars with a pit of flowing lava below.

“Now what do you say?” asked Slade. “If you still want to run, feel free to try, but note: Even if you were to succeed-- which you will not-- are you truly the hero you used to be-- running away from danger instead of facing it?

Or is it because you still can’t stand up to yourself and all the horrible things you’ve done to the very people you once protected and served?”

Finally having reached the peak of his patience, and realizing there was no other way out, Dick conceded and agreed to duel.

“If it’ll shut you up and get me out of these sooner, then fine.”

Slade nodded, and the two men stood with their inner aura’s blazing like the lava below them.

“DUEL!!” they shouted, as the lava flared from below.

To Be Continued…