Yu-Gi-Oh E-Quest: Malefic Wars

by DakariKingMykan

Episode 48: Having a Breakdown

EPISODE FORTY-EIGHT

The scores were already set…

Celestia LP: 8000

Vic LP: 8000

“No!” Vic insisted. “I’m not doing this. I won’t duel you.”


Celestia scoffed as she drew her first cards, “Like you have a choice…! The duel is already on, so be a man, and face me!

I’ll even start us off for you, it doesn’t matter to me.

…I’ll summon a monster facedown in defense-mode, and I’ll place one card facedown, and end my turn.

So, are you going to duel me, or do I just assume you surrender?”

“I guess I have no choice.” Vic said to himself, and he drew himself a hand of cards.

He held them up, but his weariness made them a little hard to see. “Ah, man!” he thought. “I got to keep it together. I can’t let her win!

But then again if I win… she’ll get carded, just I will if I lose!”


Celestia stood where she was clenching her empty fist angrily. “Well, what are you waiting for!”

Vic snapped to his senses. “You want a duel, well take this… I summon DESKBOT DOUBLE-O THREE!”

(Atk: 500)

“When this little fella is Normal Summoned, I get to play a “Deskbot” straight from my deck…

…I choose DESKBOT DOUBLE-O EIGHT!”

(Atk: 500)

His bots stood together looking strong and sturdy, but Vic did all he could to hide his weary wobbling.

“What’s wrong?” mocked Celestia. “Summoning those two wimps take it out of you?”

Vic could hardly be furious at her. “They’re not weak!” he scolded. “You used to have better respect for all duelists, remember?”

Celestia growled, “Shut up! Don’t try to plant more lies in my mind! Respect is for losers, plain and simple.

Now, hurry up and finish your turn!”

Vic couldn’t believe her attitude at all, but he carried on with his move with all the strength he could find. “Now I activate Double-O Three’s ability, which boosts his own attack points by 500 for each “Deskbot” I have out.”

(Atk: 500) -----> (Atk: 1500)

“Now attack!”

His bot complied and charged forth and blasted down Celestia’s monster, but she didn’t seem the least bit concerned. “I was hoping you’d do that, because when WITCH OF THE BLACK FOREST is destroyed, she lets me add a monster with no more than 1500 defense points to my hand…

…Like my DOUBLE-C CRITICAL EYE.”

Vic felt the nerve to kick himself for falling for such a trick. “Dang!” he thought angrily. “Now she’s got her ace-monster in hand, but not to worry, I know how it works-- She can use it to Fusion, Synchro, or Xyz summon with my monsters, but she can’t it use it unless all my monsters have the right type or level, and I’ve got plenty to watch out for that.”

Now that Celestia was defenseless, he called out to her, “I hate to do this to you, but you leave me now choice!

Double-O Eight attacks you directly!”

His monster rushed in…!

“A predictably and pathetic play!” growled Celestia. “I activate INSTANT SHUTTER!”

“Instant-- What?” Vic had never seen this card before.

“This trap activates when you try and attack me directly. It morphs into a perfect copy of your monster and summons itself to protect me.”

In almost no time, in a magical poof, there stood another Deskbot, just like Vic’s, only it seemed darker in color.

(Def: 500)

“I can’t believe this!” wailed Vic.

Since his attack would do nothing as the point-values were evenly matched, he was forced to call his own Deskbot back.

“I got to admit, that’s pretty clever.” he said to her with a small smile, which made her blink in confusion.

“Now I’ll throw down a facedown and I end my turn, which means your clone-bot there is destroyed!”

Right as soon as the clone vanished, Vic had another blurry spell. His mechanical eye was even warning him about his dwindling energy supply.

“Hold it together, man! Hold it together!”

“Look at you; you can barely stand up.” balked Celestia. “Taking you down will be easier than I thought.

“I Draw… and I play the spell PAINFUL CHOICE! You remember how this works; I show you five cards from my deck, and you pick one for me to keep, and the rest get tossed out.”

Vic clenched his fist softly as Celestia selected her cards, then the five images appeared over her head.

FILM MAGICIAN…

LEVEL AWARD…

CRITICAL TUNING…

RAIGEKI…

CARD OF SANCTITY…

Vic gazed at all the cards, knowing every one of them was likely to be bad news, knowing Celestia already had her Critical Eye in her hand.

He thought to himself, “I think I know which one to let her keep, but all those other cards… why would she risk sending them all to the graveyard just like that?”

He had no time to over-ponder it, and he pointed at the first card, which was Film Magician. “…You keep that one.”

Celestia snickered as she added the magician to her hand and sent the four spells to the graveyard.

“You did exactly what I needed you to do.”

Vic blinked in confusion.

“…I activate the spell LIFE TRANSFORMATION!”

This was another card Vic had never seen before.

“In order to play this, I have to send my entire hand to the graveyard.” She discarded all four of her remaining cards, including her Critical Eye and her Film Magician.

“Now…” Celestia shouted as she threw her arm up high “…I can target four spells in the graveyard and set them facedown on my field.”

Vic’s eyes widened, “Four spells?!” he exclaimed “…You mean the four I just made you send away?!”

The four cards then appeared before Celestia facedown.

“You loser! I knew you’d let me pick my Film Magician, and now thanks to you I’m ready to strike back.

…Especially when I activate CARD OF SANCTITY! Now we both draw until we each hold six cards!”

“Ah, man! This cannot be good.” Vic murmured. At least he was able to draw two new cards, but as he looked at them, they were hard to make out with his failing vision.

The blue glowing from his robotic armor were starting to fade out a little, indicating he was dangerously low on power.

Celestia noted how he was still standing despite his condition, like a top contender.

“What is with him?” she wondered in thought. “There’s no way he can win this, and he still refusing to back down.”

…Refusing to back down. That brought on more flashes in her head of all the strong determination everyone had shown before, and even she herself did in the tournament, when she dueled all her opponents, which helped her get to the finals to help her friends.

…Her friends?!

“No!” she thundered as she held her head angrily. “Stop it! Get out of my head!”

Vic could see she was struggling with her good memories again, which was more than enough proof that her goodness was still in her.

“Don’t fight it!” he called to her. “Keep remembering! You can beat the darkness that’s controlling you!”

Celestia still managed to maintain her evil stance. “I’m not brainwashed, but when I’m finished with you, you’re going to be all washed up.”

Vic felt frustrated, but hardly had the energy to show it much.

“On with the duel!” Celestia bellowed “And I activate RAIGEKI, with it’s thunder force on the field, it’ll destroy all your monsters!”

“Ah, nuts!” cried Vic.

The thunder roared, and lightning began to strike from above Vic’s field... forcing him to quickly reach for his duel disk.

KAPOW!! The lightning struck the field, the light was rather blinding, but Vic hardly had enough energy in him to scream loudly.

“So there!” snapped Celestia, but when the light faded out, she couldn’t believe her eyes—Double-O Three was still standing, and with extra attack points.

(Atk: 1500)

“What’s the big idea?!”

Vic managed a small smirk, “Well first: I used Double-O Three’s effect to boost his attack power, and as for why he’s still here… well that’s all thanks to my OVERTRAINING trap card…!

It keeps him from being destroyed in battle or by card effects this turn, but he gets destroyed at the end of my next turn.

So, while you did destroy Double-O Eight, you won’t get past Three so easily.”

Celestia growled, but then scoffed. “So, you saved one lousy monster, that doesn’t mean a thing!

From my hand, I activate MONSTER REBORN! I use it to revive my Double-C Critical Eye!”

(Atk: 1400)

Vic suddenly had a sick feeling, “Oh, no! Don’t tell me!”

Celestia snickered, “I activate my facedown spell LEVEL AWARD, and with it, I can change the level of your monster from 3 to 5.”

“No!” cried Vic.

“Yes! Now I activate my facedown, CRITICAL TUNING! It changes your monster’s level back to 3, and then it becomes a perfect clone of it!

And since I have Critical Eye, I can negate its effects, and then Synchro Summon using both these monsters with Critical Eye acting as a tuner monster!”

Vic watched as the tuning process began, and Celestia called out…

“Forged from the earthly depths below,
I forge a mighty beast for you to know!

I Synchro Summon TRIPLE-C ROCK BLASTER OF BATTLE!”

(Atk: 2200)

Vic glared up at the nasty weapon, and how it was arming itself for action.

Celestia snuffed and said, “Now I activate Rock Blaster’s ability, he targets your monster and blows 1000 of its attack points away!”

POW! The blast was fired, and the helpless bot was struck hard.

(Atk: 1500) -----> (Atk: 500)

Vic moaned angrily.

“And now…!” Celestia called as she engaged her battle phase. “Rock Blaster attack…!

Oh, and I should remind you; when Rock Blaster attack, he gains 200 attack points for the level of every Earth monster in play.”

Vic calculated it up quickly. “The total level is 9!”

Celestia chuckled, “That means he gains 1800 attack points!”

(Atk: 2200) -----> (Atk: 4000)

The blaster charged up, and fired its massive blast at Vic’s weak little bot…

(Atk: 4000) VS (Atk: 500)

Celestia warned him, “Your monster isn’t destroyed, but you’ll still take a load of damage!”

Vic was shocked hard by the damage waves, which did make him scream in pain, and go down on his knees.

Vic LP: 8000 -----> 4500

While several corridors away, Sci-Twi and the other ladies all heard the sound. “We’re almost there!” cried Sci-Twi.

“Oh, Vic… please be okay!” begged Kori.

Terra and Pinkie prayed his was okay too.

Vic was starting to see darkness now-- incoming, fading out into black.

“Gotta… keep… standing!” he groaned. He just barely managed to get back onto his feet, but the fading was still coming, in and out, and in and out.

“Give up yet?” asked Celestia.

“Not… a chance!” he replied wearily. “I’m not giving up on you, just like your sister wouldn’t!”

“My sister…?”

More flashes appeared, of her and Luna, and how Luna sacrificed herself and was turned into a card, sparing Celestia from such a fate.

By this time, it was becoming harder and harder to maintain her evil stance. “I can’t believe this!” she growled. “I won’t believe me! My sister was a fool to do that, and you’re a fool to remind me of her!

Just shut up!”

Vic said nothing, figuring he really shook her up.

“I place five cards facedown and end my turn, which means my blaster is now destroyed!”

Her monster was gone, her hand was empty, and now Vic was up.

“Here… I… come!” he said while struggling to take a card, giving him seven in his hand.

He had to hold his cards close up to his face to make out what he had, and while he had an impressive hand, part of him was still concerned to use it…

…But he had no choice!

“I use Scale 1 DESKBOT DOUBLE O SIX and Scale 10 DESKBOT DOUBLE-O FIVE to set the Pendulum Scale!”

The bots took their places in the lights, and Vic called out… “It’s PENDULUM TIME!” which took out a load of his breath.

Nonetheless, he summoned three monsters--two from his hand, and one from the Extra Deck.

“DESKBOT DOUBLE-O TWO…” (Atk: 500

“DESKBOT DOUBLE O SEVEN…” (Atk: 500)

“DESKBOT DOUBLE-O EIGHT…” (Atk: 500)

He managed to keep himself awake as he continued his move, “Double-O Two let’s me add DESKBOT DOUBLE-O ONE to my hand, and just in time for me to play him!”

(Atk: 500)

Now he had a full field of five Deskbots in play, but he was panting hard to catch his breath for what he wanted to do next.

“Level 1 O-One tunes with Double-O Two and Double-O Seven!

From the great big assembly line,
Check out this... mechanized monster of mine!

I Synchro Summon… DESKBOT JET!”

(Atk: 500)

His Jet soared round and landed behind. Vic felt so weak and tired, his head ached a bit, and the Jet’s engines revving made it worse.

“He gets… 500 points for each “Deskbot” card I have out, and I’ve got five!”

(Atk: 500) ------> (Atk: 3000)

“But he’s going to gain a little more, thanks to Double-O three’s ability, he’ll gain another 500 points.”

(Atk: 3000) -----> (Atk: 5500)

“Fifty-Five Hundred Points?!!” wailed Celestia. “That’s enough to wipe out more than half my life points!”

“You… bet’cha!” Vic said groggy.

He hated himself for what he was about to do, but it had to be done. “Deskbot Jet… direct attack!”

His jet powered up, ready to fire.

“Nice try…” Celestia mocked. “I activate my trap, PINPOINT GUARD! It let’s me revive Critical Eye from the graveyard.”

(Def: 1000)

“And what’s more, it can’t be destroyed this turn. So, your attack isn’t going to work!”

“That’s what you think!” snapped Vic.

“Huh?

“I’ll just have Jet redirect his attack to your Critical Eye activate from my hand the spell AFTERSHOCK!”

“What’s that?”

Vic managed a small grin. “…It’s bad news for you, you see, when my Deskbot Jet attacks your defense monster you still take damage!”

“Ah!”

There was nothing she could do, and the Jet fired, blasting hard at her indestructible Critical Eye, but the force of the blast passed right through it, and struck her, shocking her hard and making her scream.

(Atk: 5000) VS (Def: 1000)

A blast that hard cost her half of her life points, and shocks to really burn.

Celestia LP: 8000 -----> 4000

Vic was panting stressfully to keep himself awake, while Celestia lay on the ground, smoldering with smoke. “You’ll pay for this!” she growled. “I won’t lose! I can’t lose! I’m the Malefic Queen!”

“No, you’re not!” Vic called. “You’re not evil, you’re one of the good guys, and I know you know this.”

He placed the last card in his hand facedown, and right then he had an idea.

He reached behind him and pulled out another card-- Cadance’s soul card. “Check this out…!” and he tossed it at her.

She caught it and looked at it.

She remembered how Cadance sacrificed herself to save Kori, the same way Shining Armor did when she defeated Sunset.

“They sacrificed themselves to save the others.”

Vic nodded warily, “That’s what friends do, for each other! Remember?”

Celestia’s entire body gave a small glow, pulsating in and out, in and out, as if they evil were about to wear off!

Then it stopped!

“The sooner I beat you, the sooner I can get away from all these ridiculous feelings!”

“But they aren’t!” protested Vic “It’s the way you really feel. It’s the real you! You’ve got to believe in the good in you again.”

“STOP IT!!” Celestia bellowed “I won’t turn my back on Prince Loki!”

Vic was growing more and more weary. “I end my turn, and as I said before… Double-O Three is destroyed because of Overtraining!”

His bot bust into nothing.

“His effect also wears off, and since I have one less “Deskbot” card out, Jet gets weaker.”

(Atk: 5000) -----> (Atk: 2500)

“But there is one thing you should know… Double-O Eight gains 500 attacks points for every “Deskbot” I have in the graveyard, and there’s currently four.”

(Atk: 500) -----> (Atk: 2500)

“It’s your move.”

“About time!” sneered Celestia. “I draw!”

Her hand was shaking, and she was sweating too.

“What’s wrong with me?” she wondered “I have all that I need to take this dummy out! So why do I feel like this is… wrong?”

The more she tried to ignore the feelings, the stronger they became. So, she tried distract herself by dueling.

“I activate the trap ELEMENT CONVERSION! This let’s me change the attributes of all the monsters in play for the rest of the turn…

…I choose to make them all Wind!”

Vic had a feeling he knew what was coming.

“From my hand I activate MONTAGE FUSION! It snaps a picture of your Double-O Eight there and clones itself into him.”

In a snap like a camera, a second Double-O Eight was formed.

“And now…” shouted Celestia “I’m allowed to use it and Critical Eye to Fusion Summon!”

The monsters merged, and Celestia called out…

“Swift as the howling winds will blow,
I call on a creature to smite all I know!

I Fusion Summon TRIPLE-C SONIC HALBERD OF BATTLE!”

(Atk: 3000)

The magical scepter appeared, shrouded in a shield of strong gales.

Celestia laughed wickedly. “You don’t have a chance against me now. My Halberd can’t be destroyed this turn, and it’s allowed to attack twice in one turn.”

Vic was so tired he could barely manage a soft moan.

Celestia engaged her battle phase. “Halberd, attack Double-O Eight!”

The scepter waved around in circles and shot a blast straight at Vic’s monster.

Ever so weary, Vic managed to reach his duel disk. “…I… play a… trap… ENERGY DRAIN!”

“Ah!” Celestia gasped.

Vic didn’t smirk, but he did manage to explain, “This gives Double-O Eight an extra 200 attack points for each and every card you have in play.”

He couldn’t see too well, but remembering how Celestia had played, he knew she still had four cards in play—Halberd, and three other facedowns.

“…That means… Dobule-O Eight gets an extra 800 points!”

(Atk: 2500) -----> (Atk: 3300)

Halberd’s attack was getting in closer!

“I have a trap too!” protested Celestia “Activate PHOTO FRAME!”

“What’s… that…?” Vic wearily asked.

Celestia snickered, “This trap copies the effect of a card you just used. So now I get to use your Energy Drain card, so my Halberd gains attack points for all your cards.”

Vic could hardly believe, or even hear her. He was about ready to drop. His mechanical eye was warning him of his inevitable shut down!

Celestia, not taking notice of this, hollered, “You have five cards in play, so my Halberd now gain’s 1000 points!”

(Atk: 3000) -----> (Atk: 4000)

The attack continued, and Double-O Eight was totaled.

(Atk: 4000) VS (Atk: 3300)

The shocks were so painful, and Vic felt so weak, he barely could make a sound.

Vic LP: 4500 -----> 3800

He was down on one knee, and Celestia wasn’t through.

She even snuffed, “Look how pathetic you are, but that’s what you get for being a fool, trying to convince me of friendship and nonsense.

Well, I’m about to shut your friendship out for good, especially now that you have one less Deskbot out, so now your overgrown plane there loses more attack points!”

(Atk: 2500) -----> (Atk: 1500)

“But I’ve got even worse news: I activate CALL OF THE HAUNTED, and I’ll use it to bring back an old friend of mine…

…Triple-C Rock Blaster of Battle!”

(Atk: 2200)

“And you remember what it does-- it targets your monster and blows 1000 attack points off, making your jet nothing more than a paper plane!”

(Atk: 1500) -----> (Atk: 500)

Even in his weakened-state, Vic knew he was finished. Celestia could attack with her Halberd again, and then use Rock Blaster to wipe out any life points he’d have left.

Celestia saw this too. “You’re going down! It’s all over! Any last words?”

“Just this…” Vic said softly and, pushing all the strength he had left in him, he lifted his head up, and gave her a weak smile. “…Good Game.”

“Huh…?”

“You played well…

You’re an awesome duelist… that’s why… you’ve always been special… to every… one.”

That was the last push she needed. Celestia remembered everything as every memory of all the good times, all her friends, her loved ones, flowed by her clear as glass.

At the end of it all, she saw only her true self, not as a Malefican, but as Celestia.

“Ohhh….!!” She wailed as she was enveloped in strong light. All the evil wore off, and she reverted to her normal self…

…Just in time to see Vic keel over forward.

“Vic!” she cried as she ran over to him, dropping all her cards everywhere, and the dueling images vanished.

At that very moment, Sci-Twi and the others came round the corner just in time to see it happen.

“Celestia! She’s normal.” cried Pinkie, but her stomach, like the others, turned at the sight they saw.

“Vic!” cried Kori and Terra.

Celestia held him in her arms. “Vic, no! Please… I’m so sorry, it’s not over, we can find a way out of this.”

Vic’s voice was so low and soft he could hardly be heard. “It’s… too late. My cell’s history. I can’t finish… the duel, So… you… win. …I’m a goner.”

Nothing Celestia could say or do could stop the oncoming lightning ready to claim its victim.

“You… keep… strong now!” Vic said, and with the very last of his strength, he shoved her off hard just as the lightning struck him, and he couldn’t even scream.

“VIC!!” the others all shouted.

The light had faded, and Vic’s duel disk, his cards, were all scattered along the floor, and a lone card-- his soul card-- softly floated down onto the carpet.

“Oh, no!” Tears came to Terra’s eyes.

“We’re too late.” Sci-Twi peeped tearfully.

Easily, Celestia felt the worst as she scooped up Vic’s card, and her tears of shame splashed on down on it.

“Vic…! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean it! I really didn’t!” She paused and reflected upon all her evil deeds, which made her hurt worse. “Cadance… Sunset… Shining Armor! What have I done?!”

The other ladies walked up to the sad woman to comfort her. She couldn’t help what happened—she was only brainwashed.

But as they neared her…

“…What a tearful sight you are.” hissed a sinister voice.

The ladies all looked up and saw Loki, standing in the very hall, snickering wickedly.

“It’s you!” growled Kori.

Pinkie quivered with rage, and her eyes turned fiery red! The others all felt the same.

Loki glared at Celestia. “So, you’ve returned to normal. Perhaps it is a dark sign-- you are unworthy of being my queen after all.”

Celestia bolted upright. “I am NOT your queen! I never was, you monster! You and your brother will pay for everything you’ve done!”

Loki only laughed, “That’s a good one, but I’m afraid that neither of you can actually carry out such a threat.”

“Do the math!” protested Sci-Twi “There’s five of us, and only one of you, and you add up our extreme rage and determination, we will stop you!”

Loki glared wickedly at the ladies, and they glared back hard at him. It really looked as if the flames were going to be thrown…

…When suddenly, all the ladies just vanished out of sight, while a strong forcefield shrouded Loki.

“What?!” he exclaimed in shock.

He remained alone in the hall, and try as he did, he couldn’t seem to dispel the barrier around him, but he had a strong hunch who was behind this!

Dick and Rainbow were running through the castle, when they suddenly began to glow, and before they could yelp or say anything, they, too, had vanished.

Right just a way from where they were, someone was hiding in the shadows and saw them vanish, but he himself remained untouched.

The group all re-appeared outside the castle, all landing in one big pile on top of each other.

“Kori?”

“Dick!”

“Pinkie? Twilight? Celestia…?!”

“Rainbow!!” the other three Equestrians exclaimed.

The group straightened themselves out and got up onto their feet. Kori threw her arms around Dick, nearly crushing him.

“Glad to see you too, hon…!” he groaned.

Rainbow hugged Pinkie and Sci-Twi, but was surprised to see Celestia, and looking normal.

“It’s okay.” Pinkie said, “She’s back to her old self again.”

Celestia nodded, but then she looked a bit sad again.

“Where’s Vic, and Cadance?” asked Rainbow.

“Uh… I think we have a bigger problem right now.” Terra whimpered.

Everyone looked in the direction she was facing, and there stood Sunset, chuckling sinisterly.

She looked up, her evil eyes were glowing with an eerie light. “…It is time!”

Author's Note:

Gosh... Riley Akaba's deck is incredibly hard to work with.

I really hope they reprint the cards if they ever make them real

Comments

[Tower of gray]

Nice.