Yu-Gi-Oh E-Quest: Malefic Wars

by DakariKingMykan

Episode 23: Emotion Games

EPISODE TWENTY-THREE

It took some doing, but Rainbow and Pinkie finally calmed down, though they were still embittered and enraged, not just with the circumstances, but still at each other.

They were both sitting at opposite ends from each other in the groups, occasionally giving each other a snarky glimpse.

The rest of the gang did not like this one bit.

“Come on, you two,” said Robin “We can’t have you both being at each other’s throats now.”

Rainbow scoffed, “Well I wouldn’t be if Pinkie hadn’t messed everything up.”

“Me?!” snapped Pinkie “You’re the one always rushing to be first at everything.”

“Oh, yeah…?!”

“Yeah…!”

“STOP IT!!!” shouted Sunset. Her voice echoed all through the plains, and everyone hushed and gawked at her.

Sunset was panting softly, and spoke severely to everyone, “Things are already bad enough, the last thing we need is to give in to the darkness. We’ll never rescue our friends and get out of this place if we don’t get our acts together.”

Nobody knew quite what to say about that. They did want to escape and stop the Prince Brothers, but the way things were going-- with several friends turned into cards, Celestia, Spike, Princess Twilight all missing, and Karle was out there as well as the trio and other dangers… things just didn’t seem to be going to well.

“Wait a minute.” said Sci-Twi “Maybe that’s it.”

“What do you mean?” asked Shining Armor.

“I’ve been thinking ever since we came here…

The Malefic World is a realm of shadows and negativity, as well as duel energy. So maybe it also feeds off our own darkness-- our inner doubts, our rage, our sadness…”

“You could be right.” agreed Sunset “Which means our emotions here could be more dangerous than we thought.”

“I know the feeling too well.” muttered Raven.

“But how can we help but not feel these ways?” asked Kori. “With all that’s happening; there’s no way we can tune it all out.”

“Then we’ll have to try hard not to give in to the darkness.” suggested Vic. “I’m not trying to say we should just treat it all as nothing, but to just keep our heads up.”

He checked his wrist-com again, and his battery power was still dropping softly, which he didn’t bother to tell the others, and he didn’t have to-- they knew, but they didn’t wish to give in to more despair and more worrisome in case things would get worse.

Rainbow and Pinkie still felt rather grumpy, despite the suspicion.

Both Terra and Raven were also thinking about Gar, and wondering where he was, but both of them seemed to be with different thoughts.

Raven’s thoughts were raging and slowly worsening the more she thought of him, while Terra, she was praying and hoping, “Gar, wherever you are… please, try to understand I just want to make things right again.”

Far away, Gar was starting to stir in his sleep; struggling with nightmares.

Spike, though still locked away within in the dark, was able to feel and hear Gar’s groaning.

“What’s going on?” he wondered. “I wish I could see.”

Gar was really struggling, and then suddenly he just snapped away. He panted a little bit, but then he growled and angrily kicked the sand ahead of him.

“I can’t take this anymore.” he thought to himself, and he thought back to the Titans, “Why did those morons have to come back into my life?!” he paused and thought of Terra “…Especially her!”

Then his mind started to trail back to a very old and painful memory. “No…! No!!” he groaned as he clutched his head, trying his best to supress it, and he only barely succeeded, but it wasn’t enough, because he had already dreamed of it just a few seconds ago while sleeping, and it hurt just as much.

“Hey!!” Spike yelled out from his card. He was hoping to at least try and talk to Gar again about what was bothering him, but it was no use; though he could hear Gar, Gar couldn’t hear him at all-- exactly how Gar wanted it.

Then Spike also remembered how cold and uncouth Gar behaved anyway, despite picking him up and stowing him until they could reunite with the others.

Spike was still determined to learn the true reason behind Gar’s hostility.

“Well, what have we here?” called an evil yet familiar voice.

Gar bolted up to see Violet glaring him down and snickering wickedly.

“What do you want?” he growled at her, to which she snickered in delight, “My, my, what a temper. Looks like someone got up on the wrong side of the sand-trap.”

Gar snuffed, while Spike felt things were about to spiral out of control.

“Gar’s never faced any of the trio before.” he thought. “Even if he wins, it won’t matter because Violet won’t disappear.”

Gar had readied his duel disk without a word or thought of it.

“Anxious for a duel, eh?” taunted Violet “Or are you just taking out your rage on me like you do everyone else you run into.”

Gar growled at her, which only confirmed her theory. “Let’s just duel already. The sooner I duel you, the sooner I can figure a way out of this place.”

“Is that so?” hissed Violet “Or are you just desperate to run away from your troubles again?”

“Shut up!” growled Gar “You don’t know anything about me, so who are you to judge?”

As violet got her duel disk ready, “You don’t think we don’t know the truth do you? You have a lot to learn about how the Malefic World works.

We not only feed off the darkness and negativities, but we also can read them, and yours is no different.”

Now Gar felt a little tense-- because he had lost his protective electrodes, he wasn’t impervious to most magic. Then again, Malefic magic was unlike anything he had ever seen.

Still, he remained undeterred.

“Let’s do this!” he said as he pulled up his first cards.

Gar LP: 8000

Violet LP: 8000

He looked down at his hand and thought, “Perfect! I already have three Exodia pieces, and getting the other two should be easy.” he peeked over his cards at his opponent. “As soon as I win this duel I can make a break for it.”

“Ladies first…” hissed Violet “And the first card I play is POLYMERIZATION.”

Gar growled at the very sight of that card, and felt infuriated at what was coming next.

“From my hand, I fuse two PREDAPLANT LILIZARD(s)”

The two plant creatures leapt up high and began to merge together.

“I Fusion Summon… PREDAPLANT CHIMERAFFLESIA!”

(Atk: 2500)

The very flower monster she had used once before, in her duel with Rarity, spread out its vines and hissed with venom drooling from its fangs.

Gar was quivering at the very sight of this card and grumbling “Fusion.”

Spike could feel Gar’s anger, and while he couldn’t see the duel, he could see practically hear it.

He knew Gar wasn’t fond of Extra Deck monsters; preferably Fusion, and he was about to find out why.

“What’s wrong?” taunted Violet. “Oh, but of course… you can’t stand Extra Deck creatures because it represents something you despise most…

…The power of Teamwork.”

Gar clenched his left fist furiously.

Spike heard this as he thought, “He hates teamwork?

Well, of course he would; he used to be a Teen Titan-- a member of a team, and he can’t stand any of their guts now.

Plus, he also doesn’t seem to like friendship, which is why he gives my friends a hard time about it.

…But that still doesn’t explain enough. How can one guy carry such a grudge, and on people he doesn’t even know or did anything to him?”

“I know what you’re up to, and it won’t work!” sneered Gar to Violet. “You won’t throw me off my game.”

“Humph.” Violet grunted as she put a card facedown. Then she thought silently, “I think I already have.

You know you can’t get rid of me, even if you win, yet you didn’t run and chose to duel anyway. It goes to show how you’re positively filled with rage, which helps me either way; win, or lose.”

“It’s my turn!” shouted Gar “I draw…!”

He looked at his card.

“Excellent!” he thought “I now have the fourth Exodia piece, and I already have what I need to get the final part. This duel is as good as mine!”


“Prepare to lose it all!” he balked at Violet. “I summon the monster… SANGAN!”

(Ak: 1000)

Violet narrowed her eyes at the dumpy little critter.

Gar thrust his arm forth. “Now, Sangan… attack that oversized plant creature!”

His monster complied and rushed forth, ready to take a bite.

“Once Sangan goes to the graveyard, I can use its ability to add the final piece to my hand. Then Exodia will be complete, and this duel is over.”

“Sorry, but I can’t allow that!” called Violet “I activate the trap NEGATE ATTACK, which stops your monster dead in its tracks and ends the battle!”

Gar growled softly as his Sangan skid to a halt and resumed its standing position.

“You don’t think I know of your Exodia strategy, do you?” sneered Violet. “You won’t summon him all that easily.”

Gar snuffed, “I’ll place one card facedown, and end my turn.”

He then thought to himself. “Smooth move. She managed to avert me that time, but I have ways of getting what I want. There are other ways to make Exodia appear.”

Spike was astounded that Violet was actually able to stall Gar’s sneaky move, but he was more than certain that this duel was far from over.

“Well now, it’s my move.” said Violet, and she drew a card.

“And I shall activate Chimerafflesia’s special ability; and ability that lets me target your Sangan and banish it!”

“What?!” shouted Gar, and he watched as the giant plant ensnared his monster in its massive vines and sent it away, and because it wasn’t destroyed or sent to the graveyard, its effect could not be played.

“So sad,” mocked Violet, “But that’s what happens when you duel against cards you’ve never seen before.”

Gar paid her no mind or response.

“What’s the matter, tongue-tied, well maybe this can shake you free...” she engaged her Battle Phase and ordered her monster to make a direct attack.

Gar then shouted, “I activate the trap SAKURETSU ARMOR! Now your monster will be destroyed and I’ll escape unharmed!”

“Oh, really?” called Violet “We’ll see who has whom. I activate from my hand, DE-FUSION, which sends my monster back to the Extra Deck, and then I get to summon the two monsters I fused to form it.

So be gone, Chimeraffleisa… and come forth my two PREDAPLANT LILIZARD(s)”

Her two plants sprouted up, and hissed with drooling venom.

(Atk: 1200) x2

“And by the way,” said Violet “Since they were summoned from the graveyard, they each let me draw one card.”

This gave her three cards in hand, but Gar didn’t seem amused, making her feel insulted.

“Well, it’s still my battle phase, which means I can send both my plants to attack you directly. Go, my pretties!”

The two plants leapt up high and began to swat and whack at Gar, and he didn’t even move or flinch.

Gar LP: 8000 -----> 5600

Gar was shocked by the painful waves, but he stayed strong and stood his ground, and he made no attempts to show rage now.

Violet glared angrily at him. “Looks like you’ve changed dramatically since we started. But then again that’s life… Things Change… you know.”

Hearing those two words “Things Change” actually did provoke him, making him stiffen and growl.

“I told you,” Violet sneered “We know of the darkness within you. That’s the Malefic way. We see, we feed, we take delight, and yours is among the biggest rage I’ve seen, all because of Things Changing.”

Gar was quivering again as painful memories shot through his mind, and Spike could feel the tension himself.

“Things Changing?” he wondered. “What is she talking about?”

Violet didn’t say anything else, despite what she knew. To her; Gar’s growing rage was more than enough for her.

“Looks like I hit a nerve there, but for now, I’ll end my turn with two facedowns.”

Gar was still struggling with those horrible memories and barely managed to shake them off.

“I draw!” he shouted loudly and furiously.

“Now, I activate the spell CARD DESTRUCTION!”

Violet and Spike were both shocked.

“Now we each throw away all the cards in-hand to the graveyard, and then draw the same number of cards we had before.”

Violet only had one card to toss, but Gar placed all four Exodia pieced in his hand to the graveyard.

“What’s he thinking?” Spike wondered. Though he couldn’t see the cards or read Gar’s mind, he was certain of what happened. “He just threw nearly all his best cards away.

“And now!” shouted Gar, “The monster I’m about to play is something rather special, but first I have to shuffle all the monsters in my graveyard into my deck.”

His four monster cards ejected from the duel disk, and he added them to the deck, and they shuffled automatically.

Suddenly, the entire field began to quake as powerful lightning bolts struck a card that Gar held up high.

“What are you doing?” asked Violet.

“I’m summoning this…!” shouted Gar “Behold… EXODIUS, THE ULTIMATE FORBIDDEN LORD!”

The massive monster appeared, and it was gigantic, and an exact resemblance of Exodia himself!

The creature pounded its mighty fists together, making massive sparks fly.

(Atk: ?)

Violet’s shock immediately faded into amusement. “That’s an interesting summon, but you don’t really expect me to feel intimidated, do you? It has no attack points.”

Gar scoffed, “You’re just as pathetic as other opponents I’ve had.”

Violet took offense to that.

“I realize my monster hasn’t any attack strength, which is why it can be easily changed; with the help of this spell; GRACEFUL CHARITY.

Now I draw three cards, and then I discard two.”

Once he drew his cards, he was most pleased. “For my discard, I’ll send two normal monsters to the graveyard.”

“Since I now have two normal monsters in my graveyard, Exodius will gain 1000 attack points for each of them.”

(Atk: ?) -----> (Atk: 2000)

Violet narrowed her eyes.

“And what’s more,” said Gar “Whenever Exodius attacks, I’m required to send another monster from my deck to the graveyard, making him even stronger.”

Violet growled again!

Gar engaged his battle phase. “Now I send the Left Leg of Exodia to the graveyard, to increase the strength of Exodius!”

(Atk: 2000) -----> (Atk: 3000)

“Exodius, attack now!”

His mighty beast-- its huge fists was sparking with electric-like currents as it swung back and pounded one of the small Predaplants to pieces.

(Atk: 3000) VS (Atk: 1200)

Violet LP: 8000 -----> 6200

Violet was unharmed by the point loss, and far from amused that her monster was crushed.

“You’ll pay for that, I assure you.”

“Ha!” scoffed Gar. “That’s what they all, but they never learn.”

He placed two cards in his hand facedown.

“But there is something you might as well learn now, and that’s another power of my Exodius…

With each passing turn, not only will I send more monsters to the graveyard to beef up his strength, but if I send all five pieces of Exodia to the graveyard, Exodia will then be complete, and I’ll win the duel!”

Now Violet’s eyes bulged wide in shock.

“So, you’re planning to beat me in just four turns? …Very clever. It’s no wonder you’re considered an expert player.”

Gar then thought softly. “Yes, I am an expert, and far greater than you realize.”

He thought that as if he were up to something far worse than planned.

Spike couldn’t hear those thoughts, and really wished he could see the duel now, but it was a good thing he could still hear it all, and was taking down notes of everything.

“Well, that was interesting, though hardly worth much.” scoffed Violet. “Now it’s my draw!”

She pulled out her card, giving her two in hand and thought silently at what she had. “This is perfect… just what I need to secure my victory over this fool.”

She paused and looked over at him. “Then again… I ought to stir him up a little more. The masters will be pleased with the duel-energy obtained regardless.”

“Tell me…” she called to Gar. “Does this dueling and tough-guy act make you pleased with yourself?”

“Just move already!” sneered Gar. “The sooner I win this duel, the better.”

“Okay then, don’t answer; not that you actually need to… I can see right through you; dueling to silence your insecurities. Putting people down to have power over them, and seeking vengeance on those who wronged you.”

As she wanted, Gar’s face curled into fury behind his covers.

Violet snickered softly. “Yes, sad, really; no matter how much you try to hide and cover it up, the pain is always there, feasting on your soul-- on your mind.”

“Will you just move already?!” demanded Gar.

“As you wish...!

I summon PREDAPLANT CHLAMYDOSUNDEW.”

(Atk: 600)

“And next I activate its special ability, which allows me to use it, and my Lillizard to Fusion summon yet again!”

Gar clenched his left fist again as he watched the fusion begin, can Violet called out, “Welcome back, PREDAPLANT CHIMERAFFLESIA!”

(Atk: 2500)

The monsters extended its vines and roared.

Then Violet engaged her battle phase, “Now my pretty, attack Exodius!”

Her monster complied and prepared for attack.

Gar narrowed his eyes behind his coverings. He knew Violet wouldn’t willingly just attack with a weaker without a good reason.

“I activate my monster’s special ability.” Violet shouted “When it attacks, I can make your monster lose 1000 attack points, while my monster gains 1000 points.”

“Ugh!!” groaned Gar.

(Atk: 2500) -----> (Atk: 3500)

(Atk: 3000) -----> (Atk: 2000)

“Now that your so called “Ultimate Lord” is weaker, it’s well on its way out.”

Exodius was grabbed by the monster vines, and it looked as if it was about to bite the dust.

“Don’t think so!” sneered Gar. “I activate the trap, HALF COUNTER.”

“Ah!” cried Violet.

“This trap allows Exodius to gain attack points equal half of your monster’s points, making Exodius stronger than your creature.”

(Atk: 2000) -----> (Atk: 3750)

Violet growled and watched as Gar ordered his monster to counter attack, and destroying her precious Predaplant with its might fist.

(Atk: 3750) VS (Atk: 3500)

Even though Gar wasn’t able to send a monster to his graveyard, since he was only counter-attacking, he still felt so satisfied to see the monster blow away, and Violet take damage.

Violet LP: 6200 -----> 5950

“So much for your pathetic Fusion Monster.” sneered Gar.

“Oh, really?!” growled Violet “Well let’s see how you like this-- I play a trap of my own… PREDAPLANT REBORN! Return to me, Chimerafflesia!” and in a snap, her monster had grown back through the ground….

(Atk: 2500)

…Much to Gar’s annoyance.

“Now let’s try again, shall we…?” said Violet. “Chimerafflesia, attack again, and use your special ability to make yourself strong again!”

(Atk: 2500) -----> (Atk: 3500)

(Atk: 3750) -----> (Atk: 2750)

Once again, the two monsters began to clash, and it looked as if Exodius would lose.

“Nice try!” called Gar “But I activate MIRROR FORCE. So now your attack is sent back to you, and your monster will be destroyed.”

The attack was repelled and began to head straight back.

“Think again!” snapped Violet “I activate yet another DE-FUSION! Sorry, my pretty, but you’ll have to go again.”

Her monster quickly vanished; back to the Extra Deck.

“And now I bring back my other two monsters… PREDAPLANT CHLAMYDOSUNDEW, and PREDAPLANT LILIZARD.”

(Def: 200)

(Def: 1200)

The repelled attack missed its target since the monsters were in defense mode.

Violet snuffed, “And since Lilizard was, once again, revived from the graveyard, I draw yet another card.”

Gar only stood with his arms folded, not making a sound.

Violet was actually impressed the way he was about to avert her the way he did.

“His inner-rage drives him forth.” she thought. “I’ll admit one thing. His skills are quite impressive, but if he thinks he’s got this duel won, he’s got another thing coming.”

She looked down at the single card she drew. “Especially since I’ve just drawn the one good card I need that will assure my victory.”

She placed the other card in her hand facedown, ending her turn, which made the attack of Exodius return to 3000.

“My move now!” sneered Gar and he drew a card.

“I play POT OF GREED, so now I draw two cards.”

When he was through, he had three cards in hand, and thought. “This will do me nicely. There’s no way this robed witch can out-duel me. No one has been able to out-duel me, and no one ever will.”

He grabbed one of his cards, “I now equip Exodius with the spell SWORDS OF FLASHING LIGHT – TRYCE!”

The two swords materialized and the might monsters grabbed one in each hand.

(Atk: 3000) -----> (Atk: 2500)

“True, I may have weakened his attack by 500, but it’s a small price to pay, because this spell will allow my monster to attack twice this turn, and every time I attack, another monster gets sent to the graveyard, which means Exodius will only grow stronger.

But first, I activate MYSTICAL SPACE TYPHOON, to destroy that facedown card of yours.”

In a blast of strong winds, the card was shattered, much to Violet’s annoyance.

“Now, nothing’s going to stand in my way.” said Gar. “Exodius, attack now!

I offer this Right Leg of Exodia to the graveyard to make you stronger!”

(Atk: 2500) -----> (Atk: 3500)

With one swing of those swords, the Lilizard was sheered to grans of dust.

“And now, thanks to my swords card, I’ll send this last card out of my hand to the graveyard so Exodius may attack again, and I’ll offer this Left Arm of Exodia to power him even further.”

(Atk: 3500) -----> (Atk: 4500)

Exodius attacked again, destroying Violet’s last monster, leaving her totally wide open, and she was angry while Gar was pleased.

“And by the way…” he called “The card that I sent to the Graveyard is KING OF ABSOLUTE BACK JACK.

Sending it to the graveyard activated his ability, allowed me to arrange the top three cards on my deck in any order I wish.”

He quickly looked at his card, and was especially pleased with what they were, and he laid them all back down the way he wanted.

“This duel is all mine now.” he thought.

As for Spike, he heard everything that happened. “This is incredible!” he said to himself. “Gar’s got Violet where he wants her.

It’s like he’s the ultimate duelist, and that no one can ever beat him.

No matter what anyone ever throws at him, he always seems to be one step ahead.”

Gar glared his opponent down. “You may as well give up. You can’t beat me! Exoduis is incredibly strong now.

On my next turn, I’ll be able to attack twice again, and even if I fail to wipe out your remaining life points, it won’t matter. I now have three Exodia cards in the graveyard. As soon as Exodius makes two more attacks, Exodia will then be complete!”

Violet only snickered. “And if you win this duel, what then?”

“Hmm…?”

“I mean… you’ll have won the duel, and even if I don’t disappear, you’ll have still beaten me. Will you feel any better about yourself? You’ve beaten a great many opponents in all your years, but in the end… what does it really do for you?

You just go off to trounce someone else, and then another… and again… and again… because your darkness and your problems are always with you.”

“Shut up!” Garfield hissed softly. His rage was rising again, and he thought softly. “I have every right to be the way I am, and that’s how it will always be.

I’ll never go back to the way I once was, and no one will make me!”

Violet then drew her next card. “Well, you seem to have a bigger deep-seated hate than I thought. In that case: allow me to put you out of your misery.

I summon PREDAPLANT OPHRYS SCORPIO!”

(Atk: 1200)

“And when it is successfully summoned, I send this monster in my hand to the graveyard, so now I can summon another “Predaplant” from my deck, and I choose this…

…PREDAPLANT DARLINGTOINA COBRA!”

(Atk: 1000)

“When this creature is summoned by a Predaplant’s effect, it allows me to add one “Fusion” spell to my hand from my deck, and what better than my good old POLYMERIZATION!”

Gar’s rage began to rise once again at the thought of another Fusion summon coming.

However, soft winds suddenly began to stir distracting the two duelists.

Khaos and Sapphire then slowly descended upon their flying clouds.

“What are you two doing here?” sneered Violet. “Can’t you see I’m in the middle of a duel?”

“Yeah, well duel’s over.” replied Sapphire.

“Prince Loki wishes to see all three of us… immediately.” added Khaos.

Violet really didn’t want to leave, especially feeling so confident that she was about to make the move to end the duel, but she wouldn’t dare defy order from either of her masters.

So she terminated the duel, causing all the images to vanish.

“What are you doing?” shouted Gar.

Violet already hopped up onto her own cloud. “We’ll have to finish this some other time. Consider yourself lucky, and take it easy with those problems of yours.”

Gar didn’t know how enraged he could possibly feel, but the trio suddenly took off and left him alone where he was in the open plains.

Gar didn’t like it when his opponents suddenly quit and run, even if it meant he won. He really preferred trouncing them himself, which he felt he would have done as he looked at the top three cards on his deck.

And as the trio flew off, the two men told Violet of the three cards they had seen as they came flying in overhead.

“What?!” snapped Violet “So I would have lost, no matter what?”

“Yes!” snapped Khaos.

“His top card was THREATENING ROAR.

Had you summoned your Starving Venom Fusion Dragon, he would have used Back Jack’s ability from the graveyard to activate his trap, thus… preventing you from attacking for the rest of the turn.”

“No joke…” agreed Sapphire “And then on his turn, he’d draw a second card; a handy little spell called AURORA DRAW.

Since he had no other cards in his hand, that would let him draw twice more, and one of those draws was the spell HALF SHUT.”

Violet was totally astounded and shocked. “It all makes sense now.” she thought, and she was right.

“He would use Half Shut to cut my Dragon’s power in half, giving it only 1400 attack points. Then, he would just use his Sword card to let Exodius attack me twice by discarding whatever other card he would pick.”

There was no doubt about it; Violet would have lost the duel… either she would have no life points left from the attacks, or Exodia would have been completed in the graveyard and cost her anyway.

“I can’t believe it!” she grumbled. “I won’t believe it!”

“Never mind.” insisted Khaos. “We still would have had collected vital duel energy, but just the same; I would suggest we refrain from dueling that one for a while. His skills are not like most others.”

Violet agreed without much reluctance. Since she and her comrades already knew much of Gar’s inner darkness, it was agreed to let him continue to roam about and duel on his own to generate even more power their masters would absorb.

“What do you suppose the bosses called us for anyway?” asked Sapphire.

“We’ll know soon enough.” hissed Khaos.

Gar was still in a bit of a huff that the duel was just called like that, and he was more enraged that Violet dared to bring up mentions of so many bad memories of his past, which were still, now, trying to come back and torment him again, making him growl and groan softly as he tried to shake them off.

“The sooner I get out of this nightmare, the better.” he felt, and he walked off to venture forth into the realm…

While Spike was still contemplating about all he heard during the duel, especially the words “Things Change.”

He figured that if anybody would know it would be the Titans. “I’ve got to get back to them, somehow, and settle this once and for all.”