The first two of Beerus's twisted game are chosen to participate in the Duellist Universe Tournament. Their opponents will both be friends and rivals but can friendship be established to rescue the first Hostage of Beerus
(I know the name of the story should be Hunt for Celestia but Hunt for Celestia was meant to be the overall name for all the adventures in the other worlds)
Beerus returns to Equestria and chooses his first two game pieces Twilight and Fluttershy. When they arrive at the Duellist Universe Tournament, they find they'll have to learn a new game and they're in with some of the best duellists the game ever produced. If they fail to advance, they'll lose their one chance to save the first hostage, Discord. Then disaster strikes!
“Soon the forces of good will fall, former Pharaoh!” Beerus said as he drew a card from his deck, bored by the game, having spent years learning this stupid Duel Monsters, he was ready to defeat the man before him and he would have to remember to thank the Supreme Kai of time for this chance. Atem the legend himself was his opponent, duelling in a space between the dimensions, death, life it was all the same here and Beerus loved it. A personal deck made up of famous fighters from his dimension “So here we go hmmm I think I’ll start with this I summon Yamacha the Z fighter in attack in mode!” Yamcha appeared on the field with 1200 attack points and 330 defence points “And when I summon him I get to summon another monster from my deck, so long as the monster I pick is a tuner monster, so I summon Krillin the Z fighter!” Krillin appeared as a tuner with 1500 attack points and 600 defence points “Now I synchro summon for my level 7, Vegeta the Z fighter in attack mode!” Vegeta appeared with 2300 attack points and 1400 defence points “Now to end my turn I’ll play two cards face down!”
Atem silently drew a card from his deck and frowned “You have to stop this madness!” Atem called over to Beerus but the god of destruction smirked in return before pointing to Atem’s deck, Atem took that to mean he was out of options and he said “Very well then, I set one monster in defence mode before playing a card face down and that ends my turn!”
Beerus smirked as he drew his card and smirked “I summon Tien the Z fighter in attack mode!” Tien appeared on the field with 1700 attack points and 1000 defence points “So tell me Atem do you know why we’re duelling right now?” the former pharaoh retained his frown but shook his head “Well, I’ve decided to host a tournament called Duellist Universe, consider it a sequel competition to Duellist Kingdom but the stakes are much higher, there will be four worlds competing but only one will be granted the right to go on with existing!”
“You can’t!” Atem yelled and looked at Beerus with anger “I won’t let it happen!”
“Hmmm I don’t recall asking for your opinion, I’m Beerus the god of destruction and I do what I want to do. Your world will provide me with excellent entertainment!” Beerus said as Whis looked on bored by the long winded speeches but he continued to eat his pudding “Hey Whis remember to save me some of that delightful pudding” to which Whis sighed nodding “Excellent, so Atem either you win this duel or your world will be forced to compete!” he then looked back at his hand “Hmm I guess I’ll play the spell card double summon! This allows me to summon a third monster! Come fourth Android 18 in defence mode!” Android 18 appeared with 2000 defence points and 1300 attack points “Now onto my attacks! Tien why don’t you start us off, attack!” Tien flew up putting his hands in the shape to launch the Tri-beam, the attack fired out and flipped up the Mystical Elf with 2000 defence points “Hmmm so I guess I lose 300 points” which was correct Beerus’s life point meter went down to 3700 “Vegeta be a sport and attack!” this time the Mystical Elf was destroyed “With that, I’ll end my turn!”
“My move!” Atem yelled drawing a card but his hand was a sorry sight, no card he had could stop Beerus’s monsters, his face down card was swords of revelling light and it was the most helpful, he needed a plan and then he noticed it, he had The Winged Dragon of Ra in his hand “I summon Queen’s Knight to the field in attack mode!” the monster appeared and Atem continued his move “Next I’ll play Swords of Revelling light! That’ll hold you back for three turns!”
“Oh dear, whatever shall I do? I have no move to counter that” Beerus said bored by the whole play “Your Queen’s Knight is still no match for my monsters! Those Egyptian Gods are also no match for me, face it Atem you’re going to lose!” he then activated a trap “Go! Dragon ball wish! This card has three effects, step one it allow me to revive a monster from the graveyard and so you’re mystical Elf will do!” Mystical elf appeared on Beerus’s field “Step two it lets you summon any monster from your deck barring any divine beasts!”
“Come forth Dark Magician!” Atem yelled as his monster appeared on his side of the field “Why would you allow me to summon a monster from my deck?!” Atem wasn’t sure if this was genus or just pure insanity “My dark magician has 200 more attack points than your Vegeta!”
“Ah, my dear pharaoh, patience, you forget about the third effect! It allows me to summon a monster who has 100 more attack points more than your monster!” Beerus explained as Atem looked horrified “I therefore summon Goku the Z fighter!” as Goku appeared on the field “I then play my final trap! Shenron’s death! This card allows me to clear your side of the field of magic and trap cards!” Atem looked on horrified as the swords failed and Beerus asked “My move?”
Atem looked at his hand, nothing but monsters and said “Your move”
Beerus drew a card and laughed as he said “I play Pot of greed! Thanks to this card I get to draw two more cards from my deck” drawing two cards, he smirked at them “Now I sacrifice Mystical elf and Android 18 to play my spell card Super Sayian God! This card requires there to be another two Z fighter monsters on the field and look I have them! Now Goku is sacrificed to summon Goku the super sayian god!” Goku cried out as he changed into his blue haired form, his attack points changed to 4000 but it got worse “Now he gains the attack power of all other Z fighters on the field! So that’s another 4000 points!” Beerus smirked as he said “I also equip him with the Sword of life, this boosts his attack by 500 for every z fighter on the field! This brings his attack power to 9500!”
Atem yelled "It's over 9000!" Atem looked at his monsters knowing neither one could stop an attack from the Goku monster before him. His loyal servant Dark Magician would be no match for the monstrosity before him.
“My pharaoh I will not abandon you!” the dark magician said “Have faith in the heart of the cards! They will not fail you, please!”
Atem sighed “I’m sorry old friend but that’s exactly what’s about to happen, we have failed our world, we have failed Yugi and all his friends, Mahad, the battle is done and we have lost!” he looked at Mahad with a sad smile “But what say we lose with some heart! Dark Magician! Go now! Attack, Goku, Dark magic attack!” Mahad turned and leapt forward “Yugi, Joey, Tristan, Tea, I have failed you all and for that I’m sorry!”
Beerus smirked watching the Dark magician's attack harmlessly glance off Goku “Goku counter-attack” Beerus said calmly as Goku charged his attack. The Kamehameha ripped through the air and struck the Dark Magician head on “And so ends this game!”
“AHHHHHH!” Mahad screamed as he was vaporised by the attack and Atem’s life points dropped to zero.
Whis stepped forward and tapped Atem on the head with his staff “Aw well you lost now back into the puzzle!” he drew Atem into his staff and the millenium puzzle formed in his other hand as Atem was drawn into the staff “There we go Lord Beerus, any parting words to the Pharoh before I throw it back to Yugi Moto?”
Beerus smirked as he stepped forward and said “Pharoh, remember I want Seto Kaiba, Joey Wheeler, Mai valentine and yourself to meet me in three days at Domino museum at 7pm!” with that Whis threw the puzzle through a portal “What do you think Whis, what say we go get some Ice cream, the battle in Equestria should be almost finished, we should probably go grab Celestia and our other guests so our game can start, um curious question though which pony should we get to compete in our first little contest?”
“Well Lord Beerus, it might be a good idea to make that Twilight Sparkle compete in the first game but I’d advice we roll a dice on the other one?” Whis said with a bored smile before looking out a dice with five of the sides marked with the remaining heads of the main 6 and the sixth side was marked with a symbol that meant roll again “So do you want to roll my lord?”
“Yeah….okay” Beerus said as he took the dice and rolled it, finally coming to a stop on “That pony, hmmm I can’t remember her name, what is it again Whis?” Beerus asked still bored by the whole experience of deciding who they were to toy with! “Well?”
“Uh…hang on I’m just looking up in the…uh….the…play book” he said looking through a glossy book with a cover that had the faces of the main 6 and the words “Equestria the game” but finally said “I think that one’s called Pinkie Pie…no wait…it’s Fluttershy!” smiling.
“Excellent!” Beerus said looking forward to letting the true game begin, all their games so far was shaping their future fun and Beerus smirked “Well Whis, Yusei and Jaden await” he laughed before saying “Maybe we should stop on route for like a Mcdonald’s or something” Whis looked at Beerus with a sigh “Alright Subway then! I mean we did skip breakfast, I just thought we could do with an early lunch?” Whis smiled shaking his head “I suppose we could go get some Pizza?”
Beerus smirked across at Jaden as Jaden drew his card from his deck, Jaden frowned and said “I play polymerization to fuse Elemental hero Sparkman and Elemental hero Flame Wingman in order to summon Elemental hero Shining Flare Wingman! Now I count the number of Elemental Heroes in my grave and my monster gains 300 attack points for each! That gives my monster a total attack strength of 5800 points!” Jaden then added “I guess your threat to take all my friends has proven to be wrong!”
Beerus continued to smirk before saying “We’ll see” his only monster was Master Roshi the Z fighter with 700 attack points but then he added “Attack and you’ll lose” Beerus said with a confident swish of his tail.
“Oh yeah! I attack with Shining Flare Wingman!” Jaden yelled as the monster flew forward but Beerus’s spell activated “What is that?!”
“It’s the quickplay spell card, Final Sacrifice, it only works when I have a Z fighter monster on the field but what it does is channel our life points, except 100 points into that Z fighter, so you have 3000 and I have 2600, by my math that means, Roshi’s attack points becomes 6300!” Roshi buffed up to his most powerful shape and launched the Kamehameha, Shining Flare wing man was destroyed and Jaden’s remaining 100 points dropped to zero “On the plus side, the monster it’s used on is destroyed right away but I don’t suppose that matters”
Jaden collapsed to his knees and said “No…I lost…please don’t!” he said looking behind Beerus to his captured friends and looked at the god of destruction with despair “I’ll…do anything!”
Beerus smiled “Pick three, to compete in the Tournament I’ll be hosting in two days and if one of your friends or yourself, should win I’ll let the rest of your friends go” he threw Jaden a blank card and said “Meet my assistant Whis at Seven pm at Domino peer in two days! Now choose who will go free!”
Jaden couldn’t be asked to choose from his friends but he didn’t have a choice, he had to choose very carefully and he said “Alexis, Zane and Aster” he’d wasn’t sure with his choices but they were allowed to run over to Jaden as Beerus disappeared “What…have I done!?”
Alexis helped him to his feet and said “Jaden we all know you did your best but we have to focus on saving our friends from his grasp”
Whis smiled as he finalised the details of the tournament, the ponies they had captured were being treated like guests, they couldn’t escape but they were still treated well and Whis was enjoying having company on Beerus’s planet. “Scootaloo, be careful with that” Whis said as he walked past and stopped at the lake “Ah, Beerus should be back shortly, Celestia”
Celestia continued to be very hostile towards Whis, true she had only been on Beerus’s home planet for a few hours and she was cross to be a prisoner again but she sighed “Indeed” she said “Why is your Lord Beerus doing this?”
Whis shrugged and said “He’s just doing it because he was bored and took a liking to Equestria…I mean, it has all the tasty treats of Earth and then he began to watch your student’s adventures. He thought it would be funny to toy with her but yeah he might have gone too far” he then laughed “Nah it’s all in good fun”
Luna said as she walked over “How can you truly believe that? Thanks to your actions Equestria is destroyed and…nothing can bring it back!” she said tears dripping from her eyes “Our lives aren’t a game! There is no game worth the lives of others!”
Beerus arrived back and said “Hmm haha I have seen so many lives snuffed out like candles…it’s no big deal” he then traced his finger through Luna’s mane “Your planet is fascinating to my game and the fun potential is purely…endless” he then cupped his chin “The best part is…Equestria is just one small part of that planet…”
“Then why was it worth murdering ma brother?” Applebloom screamed as she sat at Luna’s hooves, her eyes puffy with tears and her mane a mess “I…I want…ma…ma brother back!”
Beerus looked at Applebloom before saying “Applebloom…isn’t it? Well you’ll get your brother back I’m sure…the dragonballs and all” he sounded bored by the filly's question but then Beerus turned to Whis “So Whis is my new toy ready?”
Whis nodded with a smile “You mean your duel runner? I got the very best one I could” he explained as he snapped his fingers and then a duel runner appeared. The runner was a bright green colour, with red highlights and was built to resemble a power ranger shark cycle with the hammer head design at the front “Does this match your needs my lord?”
Beerus smiled and said “Truly Whis you have outdone yourself, when I duel Yusei, the final piece of the puzzle will be in place and have you got the decks for our guests ready?” he was referring to Twilight and Fluttershy as he spoke “I do hope they’ll be able to pick up the basics”
Spike ran up and screamed “That isn’t fair! They don’t know the game…how long will you give them to learn?” Whis held up 4 fingers “Four weeks?” Spike guessed but Whis shook his head “Four days?” another shake “Four hours?” a nod “But that isn’t fair!”
Beerus frowned and said “Fairness has nothing to do with it…if Twilight is so smart, she should do just fine or I’ll destroy your world” he then got onto the duel runner “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a duel I need to get to” He turned on the engine and drove through a portal. Beerus headed straight for the motorway to see if you could find Yusei, after a while he found his target and called out “Yusei Fudo, I’ve been looking for you! Duel me!”
Yusei turned his head and had to do a double take “Um…why?” he asked over the roar of the engines “Why do you want to duel me?” he then thought about it “I mean I don’t know you!”
Beerus raised his finger and pointed towards the open ocean, the blast of energy that fired out caused the water to rise three miles up very rapidly “Next time…I’ll aim for your city” he said simply “Unless you duel me!”
Yusei was horrified, if that kind of energy hit the city, the city would be demolished and he said “Alright, it’s time to rev it up!” he said as speed world activated and the two began to ride on the allocated duel course “Alright I’ll take the first move! I’ll start by summoning a monster in face down, defence mode and lay a card face down! Your move!”
Beerus drew his card and smiled “I’ll set two cards and summon Tien the Z fighter in attack mode!” he said and smiled “I’ll then launch an attack! Tien attack with Vollyball technique!” however Yusei’s trap activated revealing a Scrap Iron Scarecrow, that negated the attack and then the card was laid facedown “Hmm very interesting. I’ll end my turn”
Yusei drew his card and said “I play another monster in defence mode and set another card face down” he then looked at Beerus’s monster, he’d never seen that card before but that was no reason to doubt it was dangerous and if he couldn’t summon his Stardust soon, this duel might very well be over “Come on make your move!”
Beerus drew a card and said “I summon the tuner monster Satan the fake Z hero in attack mode!” the form of Hercule Satan appeared on the field with 100 attack points and 100 defence “I’ll then use it to give Tien a tune up and summon Cell the Perfect!” Cell appeared on the field with 2200 attack points “This card allows me to copy any two cards you have on the field and I pick Scrap Iron scarecrow and that facedown monster! Now Cell attack”
Yusei then activated his Scrap Iron Scarecrow but the attack ripped through the trap and struck the monster which turned out to be Shield Warrior “What happened?!” Yusei yelled in alarm “My trap should have stopped that attack!”
Beerus laughed “Any card copied by Cell is instantly destroyed as soon as the attack is declared and if I’m not mistaken your other monster was the one Cell copied” as soon as Beerus explained that, Yusei’s monster exploded revealing Quilbolt Hedgehog “Well it’s your move”
Yusei looked at the field and then at his hand, except for his face down spell, there was nothing else on the field but he’d just drawn Junk synchron and then he got a move in mind that might turn the tide, his facedown was One for one “I activate the spell card one for one, giving up two speed counters and summon Sonic chick from my deck” he’d discarded Speed warrior to activate the spell and then he said “I then summon Junk Synchron! Now Junk Synchron’s bond with his friends is very strong, so he revives his friend Speed warrior and Quilbolt Hedgehog decides to tag along too!” the four monsters appeared on the field in attack mode.
Beerus smirked and said “If that’s all you got you won’t win and I’ll…”
“I’m not done yet!” Yusei interrupted and he then said “Watch as Juck Synchron gives Quilbot hedgehog a little tune up!” the monsters rose up as the summon began “You threatened my home, you threatened my friends, as my monster appears before you know my friends and I will never fail. I synchro summon Junk Warrior!” the monster appeared on the field in attack mode “Now Junk warrior gains attack power from any level two or below monsters so that’s an extra 1200 points!” he then frowned across “Now attack Junk Warrior! Scrap fist!”
Junk Warrior flew forward avoiding Cell’s attempts to blast it down and punched Cell in the stomach, Beerus’s life points dropped to 2700 but he smiled and said “Is that all you got? I’m disappointed” but suddenly Speed Warrior and Sonic Chick attacked resulting in his points to drop to 1400 “Hmmm my turn?”
Yusei shook his head and said “I’ll set a card facedown and end” he had taken a huge risk, by not summoning his two weaker monsters in defence mode but his hand contained the card Tune Warrior, next turn he’d be able to summon Stardust Dragon and win “Make your move!”
Beerus drew a card and said “I win. I play the spell card Z signal! This lets me summon two z fighter monsters from anywhere! So I summon Yamcha the Z fighter and Tien the Z fighter! When I summon Yamcha I can summon another Z fighter so long as it's a tuner monster, so come fourth Krillin!” he then smiled “I’ll overlay Yamacha and Tien in order to summon fat Majin Buu but then I’ll play Rank Up-Barian’s Force to unlock Super Majin Buu!” Majin Buu appeared, before the magic of the spell card turned him into his Super form with his attack points set to 1500.
“N…no what is that thing?!” Yusei said staring at the pink monster who grinned evilly at him “No matter it’s still no match for my Junk Warrior!”
Beerus smiled calmly and said “That’s why Majin Buu’s special ability will now activate allowing Buu to absorb all your monsters and gain all their attack points times two!” he laughed as Buu turned Speed Warrior to chocolate, Sonic Chick to candy and Junk Warrior to an iced fruit cake “Now his attack power is 10 000!” eating the treats Buu changed to resemble himself crossed with Junk Warrior “Now attack Yusei directly!”
“No…It can’t be!” Yusei screamed his facedown card couldn’t stop the attack as Majin Buu flew up and charged his fist that looked strangely like Junk Warrior’s fist. Then flew straight down and Yusei crashed due to the impact “N…N…No…I fail…failed”
Beerus floated over and said “Now I want you to gather your fellow signers and Leo” he then looked over at the city “Otherwise, I’ll destroy your planet and you along with it” he smiled and added “You’ll meet my assistant Whis at the sight of your greatest success, the duel stadium, in two days at 7pm but you might want to improve that weak deck”
“Why!? We’ve done nothing to you?!” Yusei yelled out weakly as he got up and tried to punch Beerus but missed before collapsing “Please…tell me”
“Because it’s fun” Beerus said, he popped a card into Yusei’s jacket pocket before disappearing.
An hour later Blister and Tanner were driving on their way to work, when they spotted Yusei lying on the road and they stopped “Yusei! Oh no! What happened?! Yusei!” Tanner yelled as he jumped out and ran over “Blister! Call an ambulance! Yusei is in a bad way!”
Blister called the ambulance, as they waited for an ambulance, a duel runner rolled up and Akiza looked at Yusei before saying “Who did this?!” she then jumped off the runner and walked over to Yusei “Yusei? Please open your eyes” she whispered gently as she cradled his head in her lap but her strength failed her as tears splashed onto Yusei’s face and she cried out “Yusei…please…do not go where I can’t follow…please…hold on”
The ambulance arrived and Yusei was taken to hospital, his injuries were serious, they were the worst of his young life but Akiza stayed with him. Word got around to Crow, Jack, Leo and Luna, the four practically arriving at Yusei's room at the same time. It was then Crow spotted the card in Yusei’s jacket pocket and took it in his hand “Is that a pony?” he asked as he looked at the Pony on the card “I’ve never seen a card like this. It looks like a monster…who gave this to Yusei?” there was silence before Crow sighed “Whoever gave it to him…I bet they’re the ones who hurt him”
“What’s the monster’s name Crow?” Jack asked pointing to the card but he took it and read “Twilight Sparkle”
“OOO I bet it’s a calling card…I bet this Twilight Sparkle hurt Yusei after she lost a duel to him!” Leo said excitedly “They do it in the movies!”
“Leo this isn’t a movie, besides it’s a pony” Luna pointed out “Why would whoever did this design a pony version of themselves…before hurting Yusei?”
Jack however said “Regardless. We must remember the name” he then put the card back “It might be a clue” he then walked out before turning and added “I’m going to go and check the surveillance cameras with Trudge, to see if we can identify whoever it was that was duelling Yusei”
Crow, Luna and Leo all went home three hours later but Akiza sat by his bedside “Please Yusei…” she said as she waited for the signs that he was okay but he remained unmoving except for his chest moving up and down but it was so sad and slow “I…I love you” Akiza mumbled as she continued to wait. Her hope beginning to fade but if Yusei didn’t wake up soon, Beerus’s threat would become an all too real possibility.
“We were able to find quite a few supplies, we’ll be alright for about two months but after that…” Sailor Jupiter finished reporting to Twilight but the words failed her when she got to the reality, that their food and water was going to run out. It was the day Beerus and Whis were due to return for their sick game to begin but it was then Sailor Jupiter raised a question that was of concern to her “What I don’t get…is why keep us here? I mean they said they wanted you ponies only to compete in their games, in fact they could use us to force you to compete”
Basil sniffed indigently, chewing a carrot that was part of his rations and said “Ah well, ma lady, who’s says we’re not another thing, that Beerus chap is using as a way to force the ponies to compete. I’d say there might be one other jolly horrible thing” he paused, looking at Sailor Jupiter and Tien before sighing “Pardon my curiosity, my good fellows but aren’t you both omnivores? You eat both vegetables and meat”
Tien nodded slowly and said “So what’s your point?” he couldn’t understand why it mattered.
Twilight realised in horror “Aside from us, there’s no other lifeforms, so therefore, there's nothing you two could possibly eat to cover your meat intake!” she looked up a book in her library and walked out with a book on omnivores “If this book is correct…meat covers the need to produce protein for omnivores but there’s more to it, meat has more uses than just that and…”
Tien then interrupted “But wasn’t Iroh here for two months?” he asked as he sat back down at the table “Where did he get the protein source he needed?”
Twilight sighed “You know the answer; we were able to supply you with fish. Which in omnivores is another source of protein” Twilight explained and then added “Regardless we had better move onto the next issue, whomever Beerus chooses needs to go prepared, Beerus will likely pick our strongest ponies to get them out of the way”
“Wouldn’t that be Rainbow Dash and Applejack?” Rarity asked looking across at the two “Darling, There’s no way we can predict who Beerus will choose, because if we can bet on one thing it’s...”
“Is that sicko plays by a different rulebook” Rainbow Dash finished for Rarity but kept going “There’s also that metal pony to think about, where did he come from and how the hay did he know Applejack?!”
Applejack however sighed and said “It doesn’t’ matter, we got bigger things to think about” she pointed to the map “Right now we have ta focus on finding out if any other ponies survived Serpatera’s absorbing trick!”
Whis then appeared floating over the map “The time has come” he said simply, everyone in the room tensed up and he added “Oh come now? Isn’t this the castle of the Princess of friendship. I’m here as a friend” he smiled in a friendly manner “Oh it's just so wonderful to know we’ll be getting to know each other better. I mean you all like fun don’t you?”
Pinkie Pie snarled and said “Just get on with it!”
Whis looked around looking hurt “Aaawww, well Beerus and I have decided” he said as Applejack and Rainbow Dash raised their hooves hoping to volunteer instead but Whis said “It’s neither of you two but nice try. I thought Twilight should lead us off and Beerus rolled a dice for Fluttershy” there was a noticeable gasp and the group tried to protect the two “We’ll also be taking emotional support, Basil Stag hare you’ll be coming along too. You all have ten minutes to prepare” he then disappeared into a chair in the corner.
Fluttershy trotted over to Twilight and mumbled in her meek tone “Twilight, I’m not sure I can do this, I mean going to another world and...maybe you can ask Whis if you can have a different pony help you?” she looked down as she spoke “I mean…I’m not sure I’ll be of much help”
Rarity heard Fluttershy and said “Fluttershy! How could you say that?!” she looked shocked at the mere suggestion “I…I mean with everything you’ve done…you’ve proven your strong, Darling!”
Pinkie Pie nodded, before jumping around excitedly and said “Yeah remember that time you caught up with Rainbow when we had to stop Discord? Or that time you revealed Starlight Glimmer? Or that time…”
“I think she gets it Pinkie” Rainbow Dash said as she looked over at Whis “Besides, Flutters, we all would’ve had to go at some point and better you get yours out of the way”
Basil however shook his head “Frightfully wrong, olde girl, don’t you recall this little adventure will only get us back one hostage. So Fluttershy will have to go again after this, frightfully sorry” he said looking at Fluttershy but smiled and added “Besides wasn’t it you, ma lady that overcame Zedd’s frightfully rude spell?”
“Yes, I did” Fluttershy said as she smiled and looked at Whis “I’ll help rescue our friends!”
Twilight smiled and said “You won’t be doing it alone, Basil and I will be there too to help put this game to bed” Basil nodded as Twilight turned to him “So I think that’s our time up, let’s go talk to him” and so the three approached Whis and said “We’re ready to go”
Whis looked up smiling and said “Oh are you sure, we have another five seconds” he then waved his staff and they disappeared from the castle, reappearing on an island floating in the sky “This is where your challenge shall be held. Welcome to the Duellist Universe Tournament on the Animarium!”
Twilight looked down and realised she was in her human body “Why am I in this body?” she then had a horrible thought and turned to look at Basil and Fluttershy. Basil was unchanged still an unusually tall hare and looking a little ruffled. However Fluttershy was in the human Fluttershy’s body “Fluttershy are you okay?”
Fluttershy looked at her hands and squealed “No…not again…I don’t want to be Shadowshy again!” she screamed as she tried to hide her face but she then looked down and said “I…I hate this…please turn me back into a pony?!” she asked Whis but he shook his head “Why not?!”
Whis shrugged and pulled out two decks of cards handing them to the two girls “I don’t know Beerus just thought this was for the best. Now these cards belong to a game called Duel Monsters, it’s a game from a dimension where they solve most of the world’s problems and as such the best players of the game have been raised for generations” he stopped and smiled as a man, dressed in a red and white suit with long white hair, stepped out from behind a tree “This is Maximillion Pegasus, in his dimension he invented the game…so he’ll have four hours to teach you the game while I go get the other participants” he then looked around “Any questions?”
“Yeah I have questions” Twilight said “What is that?!” she pointed behind Whis and he turned to see what Twilight was pointing at.
“Oh that’s one of the residents of this island” Whis said lightly “We asked Princess Shayla if we could use her island for the tournament or Beerus would destroy it” the shocked looks on the four’s faces summoned up their feelings “We may have built quarters for our competitors, restaurants and basically everything Shayla doesn’t like on her island but we’ll remove them when we leave” he then disappeared.
Pegasus turned with a sad expression “So…let me have a look at the decks he gave you?” he asked but the other three looked at him with distrust “Look I don’t want to help them anymore than you do but if we don’t teach you the game…then you won’t stand a chance against Yugi boy or Kaiba boy” he then added “Also there’s no point sending lambs off to slaughter against the wolves of my game”
Twilight sighed, he was right and she handed him the deck “So how do we learn the game?” an hour later Pegasus had finished teaching Twilight the basics but still Fluttershy was failing to pick up the basics “Come on Fluttershy…we only have three more hours” Twilight said trying to be supportive but another hour passed, Fluttershy finally picked up the basics, so they could move on to learning about their decks and then Pegasus admitted something troubling “What do you mean you don’t recognise the cards that Whis gave us?!” Twilight asked in horror.
Pegasus shook his head “These are cards I’ve never laid eyes on, we only have two more hours to figure out how to use these cards and that just isn’t enough time to figure out how these cards work” he explained but he then pulled out three files “However if you learn about the decks of the three most powerful duellist I know of…you might stand a chance” he then went over Yugi Moto, Seto Kaiba and Joey Wheeler’s decks. It took up the remainder of their time but left them just enough for Pegasus to explain how to use a duel disc “That’s the best I can do…the rest is up to you”
Fluttershy took his hand in hers and said “Thank you…I know thanks to your help…we’ll be able to save our world” she paused before smiling “We’ll always remember your…kindness”
Pegasus smiled “It was my pleasure, Fluttershy but I can’t help you any further, all I can do is wish you the best of luck” he said as Whis reappeared “Sorry I have to help my home dimension now…good luck” he walked towards Yugi with a sad shake of his head. The gathered duelist looked around, curious about their surroundings, Yugi was wearing the millenium puzzle again, Jaden was frowning clearly not in the best of moods and Yusei was still knocked out, he was being carried by Jack.
“Well Fluttershy, Twilight we had better go meet the competition…no need to be unfriendly, aye what?!” Basil said as he turned to look over at the large group of people looking at him with strange looks “Well?”
Twilight, Basil and Fluttershy walked over and Fluttershy approached a man in a long white coat with dark brown hair “Um hello my name’s Fluttershy…how are you?” Fluttershy said timidly.
“Hmmm don’t talk to me” Kaiba said as he turned away and walked away “I can’t understand why I’m here”
Twilight approached a man with yellow marks all over his face and orange hair “Um hello my name’s Twilight Sparkle…what?” she suddenly noticed that the man’s friends seemed to casting her dirty looks but that was quickly replaced by one trying to punch her and it was only due to Basil blocking it that Twilight wasn’t floored “What I do?!”
“You hurt Yusei! Don’t you deny it!” Crow yelled as he tried to get past Basil and punch Twilight “Why?! He never did anything to you! He only woke up briefly to tell us we had to go to the stadium!” Akiza pulled Crow back and shook her head “Akiza! She hurt Yusei, didn’t she!?”
“Of course not!” Akiza snapped “Yusei mentioned nothing of a Twilight Sparkle! If they had anything to do with it, don’t you think she’d be attempting to avoid us, she clearly doesn’t know us and you tried to punch her!” she turned to Twilight and smiled “Sorry we’ve had a stressful couple of day, my name is Akiza. It’s nice to meet you”
“Jolly good to meet you. My jolly name’s Basil Stag Hare, mam! At your service: expert scout, hind leg fighter, wilderness guide and... camouflage expert!” he said with a fresh audience to introduce himself to. Crow was giving him a concerned look “Read your mind, sir! Neither mad, nor dangerous. Delighted to meet you, dear fellows!” Basil extended his hand to shake someone’s hand.
Joey stepped forward and shook it warmly “It’s nice to meet you, man. The name’s Joey Wheeler but you can call me, Joey” he said but then he noticed Fluttershy looking at him with a smile “Fluttershy wasn’t it? I wouldn’t worry about Kaiba…he’s a major grump…I pretty sure he earned his money but frowning” he joked and Fluttershy giggled but then noticed the man who’d told her off walk up “Ah Kaiba”
“Hmm don’t know why a loser like you, Wheeler is here if this is supposed to be a duel monsters tournament. Why don’t you go duel a Chihuahua?” Kaiba joked darkly “Considering you suck at this game”
“We’ll see Kaiba!” Joey snapped and then smirked “If you’re so sure you can beat me again, why don’t we play for stakes this time! Both our previous duels were off the books, right?” Kaiba nodded and smirked in return “How about we see if we can duel first in the tournament and whoever loses gets knocked out?”
“Joey?” Yugi interrupted unsure if this was a good idea.
“Quiet, Yug, let me take on Mr Moneybags!” Joey said not taking his eyes off Kaiba who’s smirk seemed to have grown wider “Tell ya what, Kaiba, we’ll even take a page from your tournament’s books and I’ll gamble my Red Eyes against one of your blue eyes?”
Kaiba then laughed “Alright, Wheeler, you lost it at the start of Battle City, might as well lose it at the start of every tournament to get Yugi to win it back for you!” he said as he shook Joey’s hand “Everyone got that, we get the first duel!” everyone nodded and suddenly there was someone laughing at the back, Beerus.
“How entertaining! I’ll make it even better, everyone in the tournament will have to watch the duel and I’ll even offer this special card for the winner of the duel” Beerus said holding up a card that had a pony on the card, Sweetie Belle was the pony on the card. “But first I must explain the rules of my tournament, like Duellist Kingdom the set-up is the same but since there are only sixteen duellist, I’ll be handing out four star chips, at the end of the first day to the top two duellists. Now onto the rules while we’re here. All duelling will take place between 11am in the morning and 4pm. That way…the fun will be able to continue longer. However once you get ten star chips, you’ll join Whis, Pegasus and myself in the castle at the top of the hill” he paused smiling before pointing to an identical copy of Pegasus's castle at the top of the tallest hill “There is accommodation, with entertainment and food outlets, so you can’t say I’m not good to you and now, are there any questions?”
Twilight however looked at the card in Beerus’s grasp “Sweetie belle….no” she said.
Twilight, Basil and Fluttershy stood with Yugi as Joey and Kaiba stood across from each other on a grassy field. The wind whistled around them as Whis walked up and coughed holding up a card. He smiled at the assembled audience, it was at that moment all the duel discs that the duellists wore were switched out and replaced with differently designed duel discs. Yugi, Kaiba, Joey and Mai were wearing duel discs that looked like a blue eyes white dragon head, with a field area jutting out and the eye of Horus was on the deck storage area. Jaden, Alexis, Zane and Aster’s duel discs were decorated to resemble a cyber dragon wrapping around their arms with a duel field area jutting out and a GX medal over their deck zone. Yusei, Jack, Crow, Akiza, Luna and Leo’s duel discs were replaced with the design of the crimson dragon with the duel field jutting out. Fluttershy and Twilight both got the strangest duel discs, the field had each zone marked with a member of the main 6 except for Twilight and then they noticed the centre area bore Twilight’s Cutie mark. Each duellist noticed they now wore a duel glove on the other hand with two star chips each.
Whis then spoke calmly “Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen! To the opening Duel of the Duellist Universe Tournament! On my right we have the owner of Kaiba corp, the former world champion and renowned duellist, Seto Kaiba!” Kaiba smirked and then he turned “Then we have the duelling chimp, Joey Wheeler!”
“Hey!” Joey snapped.
Crow nudged Jack and whispered “Bet you a can of cola, Joey woops Kaiba” he giggled and held up his hand for Jack to accept the deal “It’s kind of like you and I duelling though, isn't it?”
Jack nodded and said “Yeah and the result would be little different…I’d school you” he then shook Crow’s hand “You’re on, Kaiba wins you give me a can of cola and if Joey wins, I’ll give you a can of cola”
Akiza groaned “We’re already going to have to bet these Star chips and here you are gambling cans of soft drink!” she said indignity “Besides we both know Kaiba is going to win…by all accounts of the two duels they’ve had, Kaiba has won both...convincingly”
Crow smirked and said “Care to put your money where your mouth?” he held up his hand and Akiza shook it. Everyone else was talking about who they thought was going to win, only Twilight, Crow, Basil and Fluttershy thought Joey stood a chance.
Whis continued, after letting the chatter die down “Let the match begin! Kaiba, you have the first move” he said sitting in a chair ready to ref the match.
Kaiba drew a card from his deck and said “Well, Wheeler this shouldn’t take long. I’ll start by summoning Battle Ox in attack mode!” the massive ox monster appeared with it’s axe ready to destroy whatever Joey would throw out “I’ll end my turn with a face down”
Joey looked up at the monster remembering, back at duellist kingdom when the massive ox had humiliated him and left him a joke. He drew a card and smiled “I summon Axe Raider in attack mode!” he said and then set two cards face down “I end my turn! Now let’s see what you got moneybags!”
Kaiba frowned and said “I’ll send you back to Yugi crying about your defeat for a third time!” he drew his card and smirked “I’ll play pot of greed and then Blade Knight!” the warrior monster appeared the sun glancing off it armour and then Kaiba held up a spell card, polymerization “I’ll use this to merge Battle Ox with Mystic Horseman in order to summon Rabid Horseman!” the monster appeared prancing it’s hooves “Remember this monster, Wheeler, you could barely beat it the first time!”
Joey snapped “Look, Kaiba, I’ve grown a lot stronger since then and I’m sick of you trying to make yourself sound amazingly skilled but you just rely the power of your Blue eyes white dragons!” he then made a deadly promise “I promise that I’ll destroy all three in one turn!”
Kaiba smirked and said “There you go again, shooting your mouth off and I’ll bet you rely on your inferior Red eyes! Blade Knight attack, now unless you have forgotten, when Blade knight attacks it gains 400 attack points!” it was true the attack points went to 2000 and Kaiba said “Your Axe Raider is done!”
Joey smirked “Your too arrogant, Kaiba” suddenly Axe raider was equipped with a shield that dragged Rabid Horseman into the line of Blade Knight’s attack and both monsters were destroyed “Magic Arm Shield! You done Kaiba?”
Kaiba growled “I’ll play a card face down”
Joey drew a card from his deck and looked at his hand, he had two monsters but only one, he could actually summon “I summon Armoured Lizard!” he then looked at Kaiba’s two facedowns but he had to risk it “Axe Raider, Armoured Lizard attack, Kaiba directly”
“Negate Attack! This ends the battle phase. Are you done making a fool of yourself?” Kaiba said sounding bored, to which Joey nodded and Kaiba started his turn drawing a card, his hand had nothing but two Flutes of summoning dragons, he set them before saying “I play Card of demise!” he drew five cards and added “It’s over!”
Joey sighed “Your way too arrogant”
“I play Lord of dragons and flip my two spells, two flutes of summoning dragon!” he smiled as the Lord of Dragon held the flutes and the note went out calling “Three blue eys white dragons and my Twin Headed Behemoth!” Kaiba began to laugh, Joey looking a little annoyed “Well my first Blue eyes lay his Axe raider to waste, White lighting!”
The Dragon roared and the hologram of the Axe raider flinched as the attack burst towards it but the attack failed to find it’s mark “I activate Negate Attack!” Joey said as the trap stopped the attack “Looks like great minds think alike” Joey joked.
Kaiba smirked “No matter next turn, I’ll finish you!” he said
Joey drew a card and said “Sorry Kaiba I play my first card pot of greed and then I play Monster reborn to revive your Battle Ox and then I play snatch steal to steal your Lord of dragons!” the monsters appeared on the field and Kaiba’s frown grew “I then sacrifice Lord of Dragons, Battle Ox and Axe Raider to summon Gilford the Lightening!” the warrior appeared on the field and drew it’s sword “Remember what I said Kaiba about destroying all three of your blue eyes in one turn...I meant one blow! As soon as Gilford is summoned he destroys all monsters on my opponent’s side of the field!”
Kaiba’s eyes went wide “N…No!” the blast of lightening went out and hit all four dragons destroying them “This can’t be happening!”
“Then I suggest you close your eyes!” Joey said as he then had a thought, being reckless would lead to defeat Kaiba still had a face down! “I’ll switch my Armoured Lizard to defence mode and then Gilford will attack lightening sword!”
Kaiba activated his trap and said “I activate the trap, Attack Guidance Armour and I attach it to your armoured lizard!” Gilford’s sword struck Armoured Lizard, it was lucky for Joey, that he’d stopped and thought through his move or he’d have taken a big hit “My move?” to which Joey nodded. Kaiba drew a card and Twin headed Behemoth reappeared on the field it’s points set to 1000 but Kaiba’s only other card was “I summon Vorse Raider in defence mode and end my turn!”
Joey drew a card and sighed, he only had two cards in his hand and he said “I play Gearfried the iron knight!” the iron armoured knight appeared before Joey “Gilford attack Vorse raider!” Gilford charged forward and cut Vorse Raider’s head off “Gearfried attack Twin Headed Behemoth with your iron blade!” Gearfried ran his sword through the monster and Joey said “I’ll end by playing a card facedown!”
Kaiba drew a card and smirked “I play Monster reborn to revive my Blue eyes!” he said as the massive dragon appeared on the field and Kaiba pointed to Gilford “Attack! White Lighting!”
“I activate my trap card! Skull Dice!” Joey yelled in response, the trap’s little devil imp appeared and the dice rolled out, landing on a two and Blue eye’s attack dropped to 2800 making it the same strength as Gilford. The warrior monster charged forward and thrust his sword through the dragon’s chest but the dragon got off a second shot, hitting Gilford square on and both monsters disappeared with a roar of pain. Joey drew a card and said “I summon Alligator's sword in attack mode. Now both my monsters attack!” Kaiba’s points dropped to 700 “I end my turn!”
Kaiba drew a card and smiled “Well done, Wheeler…you win!” he revealed the card he’d drawn “Soul Exchange and I have no card to use it with” he then added “You were right…you have been getting better but it’s more fun to tease you. I end my turn”
Joey drew his card and said “I sacrifice my two monsters in order to summon Red-Eyes black dragon” the dragon roared, almost anticipating the victory that had been denied to Joey for so long but Joey paused, it felt weird and all he had to do was attack and he would have just beaten Kaiba. Then again, he’d been in this situation before and it hadn’t ended with victory “Red Eyes inferno fire blast!”
Kaiba smiled again as the fireball consumed him, he walked forward as his life points hit zero and said “Well Wheeler you know what you have to do…you had better win this tournament, since you just beat the best duellist in the tournament” he laughed and shook Joey’s hand “I’m still going to call you a duelling monkey though” and he pulled out a blue eyes white dragon but sighed handing it to Joey “Here”
Joey however smiled and shook his head “I have my own dragon…you keep your blue eye wimps” he joked before pulling out his red eyes but said “Thanks though” Kaiba however pushed another card into Joey’s hand with his two star chips “Summoned Skull?”
“Yeah I had a spare” Kaiba smiled “Besides, it’ll let you summon that Red eyes skull dragon of yours?” he then turned and added “Good duel for a duelling monkey”
“Good duel for a stuffed shirt moneybags” Joey retorted before turning towards Yugi “Well, that was fun, right Yug!” he asked as he looked at the stunned crowd but the silence was broken by Fluttershy
“Yes! You did it! You beat him!” Fluttershy screamed with joy but then blushed and mumbled “We were rooting for you” she then looked into Joey’s eyes and said “You were amazing”
Joey smiled back “Uh…yeah, I’m looking forward to duelling you” he said trying to make the conversation a little less awkward “I’ll bet you’re an awesome duellist!” he looked at her duel disc and said “Your world must really like ponies?”
Suddenly Whis interrupted the conversation “Wow what a duel Mr. Wheeler. Here’s your other prize… the card Sweetie Belle” he said handing the card to Joey and noticing Fluttershy trying to reach a hand up to it “Now for a rule on this card Mr Wheeler, it’s a card you can only give to another after you lose a duel”
Joey raised an eyebrow “Why?”
Whis shrugged “It’s just the rules” he then whispered into Twilight’s ear “You and your friends are also forbidden to mention that you are ponies or Beerus will destroy your planet” he then raised himself high and yelled “Well now that we have the first duel of the tournament out of the way! We’re going to have a twenty minute break before any more duelling! This will also give you time to spread out….as in duellist kingdom, fireworks will mark the start of more duelling but they’ll also mark when duelling is to stop at the end of the day!” he smiled and walked over to Beerus.
Many of the duellist split up but Twilight, Fluttershy and Basil decided to ask Joey and Yugi if they could stick with them, after a bit of convincing Joey and Yugi agreed but mainly because Joey joked Fluttershy reminded him of Yugi. Elsewhere Crow was smiling at the seven cans of cola, he’d won, Jack and Akiza grumbling about how he cheated them. Jaden and Alexis walked off to the south, as the Zane and Aster went off on their own. Mai Valentine walked off to the mountains area, where her deck would have an advantage but the field power bonus didn’t exist in this tournament. Finally after twenty minutes Beerus started the Duellist Universe Tournament with a bang!
“So your supposed to be tough?” Alexis asked as she readied her duel disc looking at Mai Valentine who readied her duel disc in response and both prepared to duel as Jaden sat by watching. Elsewhere Zane and Aster were having a rematch, with the winner getting all the pride from the duel and also hoping to win two extra star chips from the duel.
“So who’d you recommend we duel first, Yugi?” Twilight asked as they walked through a forested area. So far they had not bumped into anyone else, not that Twilight was in any rush to start duelling people, the fact remained they didn’t know much about their cards, Twilight had looked over the cards a few times now but even with Yugi’s help the use of the deck wasn’t clear. It made things even worse that either Fluttershy or herself did not have any experience duelling “Well?”
Yugi sighed shaking his head “I’m afraid with all the duellists I don’t know, I wouldn’t know who to challenge for certain, you might want to see if it’s possible to switch your deck out for something else because as things stand that deck might only lead to defeat” Yugi said with a sad sigh “Otherwise we’ll just have to see who we come across first. Also I wouldn’t gamble both your star chips in your first duel” he elaborated by saying “You might very well lose the first duel”
Basil ruffled and said “Yeah right. Twilight will most certainly kick any opponent’s deck into the long grass!” he smiled with a big grin.
“Not if the grass fights back” a voice said behind them, they turned to see the signers, Akiza standing in front of the group and she said “I challenge you to a duel!” she pointed to, Fluttershy “Or are you just some fangirl!”
Fluttershy tried to hide behind Basil “No, I’m not ready!” but Basil turned and she looked up at the kind hare’s face “Please…no”
“Ma ladies, if we are to save our friends…then you’re going to have to accept this challenge and promptly kick her ass!” he said before turning to Akiza and saying “No offence” Fluttershy nodded and readied her duel disk “Jolly good show!” Akiza nodded and the two stood across from each other. Basil smiled as Yugi, Joey, Twilight and himself walked over to where the other group was sitting and the duel began.
Akiza smiled across and asked “So may I get a name and do you want to go first?” Akiza looked at the timid girl across from her, clearly she wasn’t the most confident person but that didn’t matter as long as she was a duellist worth duelling “Well?” she asked kindly.
“Um…my name’s…Fluttershy and…whatever you want” Fluttershy said rubbing her arm trying to hide behind her curtain of hair, she didn’t want to duel, besides surely all they needed was for Twilight to win and she wouldn’t need to keep duelling.
“I’m sorry, what was that? It sounded like Fluttershy” Akzia said sounding very confused “You do know you have to declare your moves loud enough for your opponent to hear them? I’ll go first then!” she felt frustration as she drew a card from her deck and said “I’ll start by summoning Bird of Roses in attack mode!” the massive bird monster appeared screeching it’s battle cry and Akiza said “I end my turn by playing a card face down”
Basil sighed and said “I hope Fluttershy doesn’t let the tension of this first duel get to her” he looked at Akiza with a frown “Because her opponent certainly seems like a jolly tough opponent” he then noticed the looks he was getting from Crow and Jack who both looked a little uncertain “Um what’s wrong?”
“Did you just say this is your friend’s first duel?!” Crow asked clearly concerned, Leo and Luna then heard the conversation and both turned with horrified expressions “Because if that’s the case she's in real trouble! Akiza’s duelling skills are fearsome!”
Fluttershy looked at her hand and flinched unsure of what to do “Um…I summon…um…Pikachu smash in defence mode” she said as the Pikachu appear with 800 attack points and 1200 defence points but it wasn’t in defence mode, the energetic monster jumped excitingly in attack mode and Joey noticed as he ran forward “What’s wrong?”
Joey looked into her eyes and said “Do you know how to work a duel disc?” he had heard his sister had once made the same horrible mistake and Tristan had paid the price “You have to lay the card sideways on the duel disc if you want the monster in defence mode!”
“Oh…oh no!” Fluttershy said as she tried reposition the card but she couldn’t “What’s going on?”
The voice of Beerus answered the question coming from the duel disc “Naughty naughty, cheating is forbidden in my tournament” he said as the duel disc gave Fluttershy’s fingers a small electric shock “So you’ll just have to wait for your next turn to change it’s mode”
Akiza snapped “Let her! It was just a simple mistake!” she felt so sorry for the girl in front of her and the fact was quickly becoming clear she was duelling someone who didn’t know what they were doing “She’s just a beginner!”
“Yeah, man that ain’t cool!” Joey said as he looked at the duel disc but there was laughter from the device “What the?! Are you laughing at me?!” Joey wondered what causing Beerus such amusement and he snapped “Oh come on!”
Whis’s voice said “Mr Wheeler, please stand back and let Miss Fluttershy finish her turn” as he finished Joey disappeared before he reappeared beside Yugi and Whis continued “Now Miss Fluttershy is that all you’re going to do?”
Fluttershy looked at her hand before sniffing in fear, “I play a card face down and…end” she said as she looked across at Akiza who looked at her sympathetically “Thank you, for trying to help” she said as Akiza drew a card from her deck “I really appreciate it”
Akiza looked at the card she’d just drawn before saying “It’s not fair but I have to win, so I have no choice but to end this. I summon Twilight Rose Knight and set a card face down!” the small warrior monster appeared on the field wielding it’s sword “Now I synchro summon Black Rose Dragon!” the massive dragon roared as it appeared on the field and looked down at Fluttershy who tensed up “Now Black Rose Dragon attack! Rose Flame Blast!”
Fluttershy quickly tried to remember how to activate a trap and hit the button “Go! Negate Attack!” the trap activated just in time to stop the attack and she sighed. Close one “Is it my move?” she asked unsure of her next move but Akiza nodded smiling and Fluttershy drew a card “I summon Samus Smash by tributing Pikachu Smash” Pikachu disappeared as a woman in a blue jumpsuit appeared wielding a gun, her attack points were 1800 and defence sat at 1200 “I then play the equip spell Armour up!” Samus smiled as her armour appeared and she jumped into it, her attack points jumped to 2700 and her defence went to 2000 “I did it!” Fluttershy said looking at her monster that looked ready for battle “Attack, Samus!” but as soon as Samus flew up to the dragon something opened in front of the dragon “Oh no, where did it go?!”
Akiza sighed and pointed to the trap she’d just triggered, Dimensional Prison “Sorry your monster has been removed from play and won’t return in time to help you” she said with tears in her eyes and said “Do you end your turn?” Fluttershy nodded and Akiza drew a card, she felt nothing but sympathy for Fluttershy “You have played a valiant duel and I respect you but this ends now! I play Monster Reborn to revive Rose Knight and then I summon Rose Fairy! I’ll Synchro summon Splendid rose!” the monster appeared “Now go Splendid Rose attack!” the attack struck and Fluttershy was send reeling from the impact.
“Thank you” she mumbled looking at Akiza with a smile, then noticed Akiza looking confused “For trying to help me…I appreciate it” she then looked at the dragon and like it’s master, it had tears splashing from its eyes but roared “It’s beautiful”
Akiza then said “It’s not fair…you probably have just as good a reason as we have and…it doesn’t seem fair to be thrown in with players with infinitely more experience than you!” she then sighed and smiled “You did well! Black Rose Dragon attack!” the dragon roared as the attack was send from it’s mouth at Fluttershy and she smiled as her points hit zero.
Akiza walked forward as Fluttershy presented her with her two star chips but “Keep one, it wasn’t a fair duel….Flutttershy…I want to help you” Akiza said as she looked into the kind girl’s eyes “Everyone on this island is fighting to protect something they cherish and…I think you and your friends are duelling for something beyond our imagination”
Basil smiled as he walked up “Jolly kind of you” he said as he bowed to Akiza “You fought with such honour and valour! Jolly good show, valiant attempt worthy of the best meal we can conjure up later...An army fights on it's stomach, don't ya know!” then everyone present got a chance to chat and talk Crow apologising to Twilight for accusing her. It was then Basil brought up a good point “If only four of you can make it to the finals, then everyone here will have to duel each other at some point, won’t they?”
Jack nodded and said “Maybe but we can delay the duels with Twilight and Fluttershy till we can teach them more about duelling” he then pulled out his deck “Besides we still need to wait till Yusei’s on his feet again and then we can really kick butt”
Joey whispered to Fluttershy “You really did well”
“Thank you” Fluttershy said in return “That really means a lot….from a duellist of your um…skill” she couldn’t help but feel great respect for Joey as they walked through the forest “So um…I was wondering why…are you and Yugi duelling in the tournament”
Joey pointed to the puzzle around Yugi’s neck and said “There are some things that should have passed” he then explained quietly about the return of the puzzle and how it wasn’t right for it to be back “I mean Atem is a great guy but…he’s not supposed to be part of Yugi’s life anymore and the longer it’s with Yugi…the more likely he’ll be tempted not to give it up”
Fluttershy nodded and said “Oh…okay” she wanted to explain the full details of Equestria but now she could appreciate how much the other competitors had in this tournament “So um it’s really nice to have you as a friend”
“Same” Joey said with a smile.
Elsewhere the duel between Zane and Aster was reaching it’s end. Zane yelled “Cyberdark Dragon attack! CyberDark Pulse blast!” the giant beast roared with it’s attack points set their maximum and Aster looked on in horror as his Destiny hero Dogma flew up to encage the giant dragon and one blast later “I win!” Zane said in triumph.
Mai looked on as her life points dropped to zero as Alexis claimed her victory “Sorry Mai but I win…now hand over your star chips” Alexis said as the monsters disappeared “I did it Jaden! A few more duels and we’ll save our friends!”
“Way to go, Alexis” Jaden said as he thought about challenging Yugi “Then I’ll get my chance to duel Yugi in the finals!” he smiled excitingly “It’ll be then I can truly get my game on!”
Alexis groaned “Jaden, we talked about this…that catch phrase is really silly” she said as they walked away from Mai.
Beerus smiled as he watched the duels with a pot of popcorn “AH Whis humans have the most delightful food…now where’s that delicious orange beverage that small island calls Irn Bru?” he found his drink and drank deeply “Ah! This is so entertaining, I just love reality TV…do you think our favourite little couple will get to together?”
Whis smiled and said “I’m sure they will” he then chuckled as he pulled out a deck of cards “But I can’t wait till the end of the day and I’ll get my chance”
“Cyber End Dragon! Super Strident Blaze!” Zane yelled as Twilight looked on helplessly, as the giant robotic Dragon began to charge up its attack. She looked down, how could this be happening, tears dripped from her eyes and she looked as the monster before her seemed to flinch before the attack “Now Cyber End Dragon! End this!” the attack burst forth.
Basil Stag Hare yelled “NO!” as the attack struck the monster with horrific power and the life points dropped to zero. Fluttershy dropped to her knees weeping as, the monster disappeared and Zane Truesdale stepped forward to claim his prize. He took the starchips and smiled coldly. Basil charged forward and yelled “Give them back!”
Fluttershy however shook her head and numbly said “It’s over Basil!”
An hour earlier
Leo and Luna had just finished challenging Jack and Crow to a double duel but the duel had ended with Jack and Crow claiming victory. The duel had been exciting and close but Crow had managed to summon his Black Wing Armour Master, thus the duel had ended when it had attacked Luna directly. Twilight, Fluttershy, Basil, Yugi and Joey clapping their hands as Luna’s life points hit zero. Jack and Crow walked up to Leo and Luna to accept their prizes.
“Well done, Leo, you’ve really improved” Jack said shaking the young boy by the hand and smiling gently as Leo handed over his two star chips but Jack could tell the boy was still feeling depressed “Hey…chill kid, you pulled off some really impressive plays during that duel. No shame in that” Jack added.
Leo nodded with a sad look “I know, I just wanted to…do better” he said but then smiled “Next time Jack, I’ll take you down!”
Jack laughed “Well kid, you’ll need to keep improving your skills at the duel!” Jack said giving Leo a thumbs up.
Crow then claimed his starchips from Luna and said “You did awesome, Luna!” who smiled and Crow added “Well you two certainly are improving every time you duel!”
Jack nodded and said “Well they were members of team 5ds” he then turned to Akiza who was sitting with Yusei’s head lying on her knees “Still not awake?” he asked as Akiza sadly shook her head and Jack sighed “I thought a duel between members of team 5ds would wake him up. Come on!”
Luna sighed sadly “Maybe we shouldn’t have brought him?” she asked sadly to which all the members of Team 5ds looked to her crossly, except for Akiza who stroked his hair gently “S…Sorry”
“No…maybe your right Luna” Akiza said as she looked at Yusei’s closed eyes as tears began to splash on his closed eyes and her despair seemed to be getting the better of her “He’s too hurt to compete”
Fluttershy took a step forward and kindly put a hand on Akiza’s shoulder “Would he have wanted that thou? We’re all fighting for our worlds…I know it’s hard but would he have forgiven you if he had been left out?”
Crow nodded “Yeah, um…Fluttershy right? Yeah, she is right. Yusei never would have accepted excuses from us, if we had left him back at New Domino and he’s always wanted to protect his friends” he said as he and Jack supported Yusei’s weight across their shoulders “Well I guess we had better decide who’s duelling next?”
“Before that I need to ask Yugi something” Twilight said as she turned to talk with Yugi and held up her deck “Um, Yugi, would you please take a look at my deck?” she asked nervously holding the deck between trembling fingers. Having spoken with Joey, he had given Yugi quite a lot of praise but now she felt her nerves surrounding asking the question “Please, I need to know” she added hopefully.
Yugi looked at her with his gentle smile and said calmly “Sure, it would be my pleasure” he took the deck from her, looking through the deck thou soon forced the gentle smile to surrender, giving way to a look of abject horror and Yugi said “Um…Twilight…did Fluttershy and yourself build your own decks?” he couldn’t believe someone could build a deck so carelessly.
Fluttershy mumbled “Um…no…Beerus said we…were to use these decks….why is that bad?” she asked the question in her Flutterdry tone.
There was a long moment of horrified silence from the duellist around them, before Jack stepped forward and snapped “Bad?! It couldn’t get much worse! If you don’t build your own deck…how are you supposed to know the deck’s strategy and it’s layout?!” he pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned “How bad is it, Yugi?”
Yugi looked through both decks, three times each, his face seemingly growing more depressed as he looked through them and he finally said “They’re unusable. Fluttershy’s deck contains a lot of monsters that have very specific summoning requirements and she has no way to summon them! Twilight’s deck has only one spell but luckily it has three copies of this one spell and no traps! If either deck is used in a duel with opponents of such skill as the ones we have seen in the tournament thus far, then the results are a foregone conclusion and they will lose!” he then added with a smile “We’ll help you rebuild your decks tonight when the duelling is finished for the day and we’ll also need to help train them how to use the decks. At least then they’ll have a fighting chance!”
Basil smiled as he walked up and clapped Yugi on the back “Jolly good show, ole chap! We really do appreciate the help, aye what?!” he then turned to Jack and said “Jolly good of you to be so honest, takes great courage of character to be so honest!”
“Still one thing leaves me confused” Joey said in a concerned tone, before he turned to Fluttershy and asked “You told me that Pegasus helped you to learn the game? Yeah?” Fluttershy nodded and Joey continued “Why didn’t he pick up on these clear flaws?”
Akiza featured a guess “By most historical accounts Pegasus was a pretty slimy operator?” to which both Yugi and Joey nodded “Well maybe he was trying to interfere with Twilight and Fluttershy’s chances?” to which there was a murmur of agreement from most of people present “Still maybe Beerus told him, he was just meant to teach you three the game and nothing else?”
Crow then sighed “Well it doesn’t matter now, we’ve got enough stacked against us, without wondering if Beerus and Whis cheated, right?” he asked and the group nodded in agreement “We’ll just need to keep anyone from duelling Twilight or Fluttershy”
“Oh I don’t think so!” came the voice of Whis from Crow’s duel disc and he appeared above the group. Before anyone could stop him, Whis had grabbed Twilight, before he flew her to Zane Truesdale, who had just beaten Jaden Yuki again and was looking for a fresh victim “Ah, Mr Truesdale I have a fresh opponent for you”
Zane looked at Twilight with a cold glare and said “She doesn’t look like much of an opponent. You’d better be worth my time, I have six star chips and I can tell you only have two!” he frowned disappointed by the weak opponent “Well I suppose you should be honoured to be beaten by a duellist of my calibre!”
Twilight shook her head and said “No, sir I will not!” she wasn’t going to be bullied into a duel but Whis walked over and pointed to her duel disc which had activated all by itself “No…no!”
“It would seem you don’t have choice, Miss Sparkle” Whis said as he sat down on a lawn chair and added “I’ll be referring this match, now ladies first, so Miss Sparkle will take the first turn and we’ll go from there”
Twilight sighed and drew five cards from her deck but all were monsters “I can’t win, not like this” she said to herself and looked in the direction her friends were but said to herself “Yugi, Joey, everyone! Help!”
“No outside help!” Whis said blowing a whistle as if he were referring a football match “Miss Sparkle please make your first move!”
Twilight drew her first card and says nervously “I’ll set this card in face down defence mode!” and she sighed, there was nothing else she could do since except for three cards all the cards in her deck were monsters “Your turn”
Zane drew a card from his deck and said “I summon my Cyber Dragon in attack mode” he then placed a card face down “After I play this face down. I’ll launch my attack! Cyber Dragon Strident Blaze!” Zane’s Cyber dragon reared up, the attack shooting out from his open maw, Twilight’s monster flipped up and revealed a man dressed all in green but as the attack drew near, Twilight felt a card in her hand vibrate before flying out and a warrior in red stood in front of the man in green before slashing the attack in half with his sword “What the?!”
The Red warrior yelled “The Burning Flame Element! The Red Mage, Magi Red!! You will not harm my brother!” he turned to the warrior in green and said “Are you alright Makito?!”
The green warrior nodded before turning to Twilight “What’s going on?” he asked her, he sounded very confused but he then turned drawing out an axe “Last thing I remember was working in the garden and then….there was a flash” he held his helmet but then turned back to Twilight “Um wait…why are we speaking English?”
“Because it’s just easier that way” Whis sighed and said “I guess taking heroes from other realms for cards, wasn’t such a good idea” he then looked at Zane “So is your turn finished?” to which Zane nodded looking cross “Alright Miss Sparkle it’s your move”
Twilight nodded as she drew a card from her deck and smiled, the spell card “I play the field spell Super Sentai Battle zone!” the area around them shifted and changed before the green field they had been in, gave way to a grey quarry and a symbol on the ground with Japanese lettering. Twilight smiled as she looked at the field “With this card out the effect changes according to how many Super Sentai monster is out and since I have two, I can special summon another sentai ranger this turn from my hand but first…I normal summon Liveman Blue!” a female warrior appeared on the field dressed in blue “With her on my field, I can summon any sentai monster from my deck!” she looked through her deck and picked one “I Special summon Gokagier Pink!”
Zane looked on in shock as Twilight’s deck summoned monster after monster but then he noticed all their points were the same, a mere 1200 attack points and 1200 defence points “If you think summoning a bunch of weak monsters will beat my Cyber dragon! Guess again!”
Twilight smiled “But you forget I still have one more special summon and I summon Magi Yellow!” the monster appeared, doing some punches before Twilight smiled at the five monsters she had assembled “Now I can do this!” all the monsters bar Gokagier Pink disappeared into her deck and were quickly replaced by Gokaiger Red, Blue, Yellow and green “I’ll now use the effect of the field spell to fuse my five monsters into Gokaioh!” the giant robot appeared with it’s attack points set to 3000! “Now attack Gokaioh!”
Zane smirked as the robot charged forward and said calmly “Negate Attack!” the attack of Gokaioh was blocked and Zane smirked “Now it’s my turn!” he drew a card from his deck.
Suddenly Basil and Fluttershy arrived on the scene with Yugi, Joey and team 5d’s “Twilight! Are you okay?!” Basil yelled in alarm but as he observed the field before him “You seem to be giving this chap a jolly good fight!” Twilight nodded with a smile and Basil gave her the thumbs up “Keep giving them blood and vinegar then!”
Zane laughed before saying “Might want to watch what you say!” he smirked and revealed the card he held “I play the spell Power Bound! To fuse the cyber dragon on the field with the two in my hand and I summon Cyber end dragon!” the giant triple headed dragon roared as it appeared on the field “Prepare to lose!”
Twilight quickly looked at the field spell and the monster she had on the field “It’s over, the only effect the spell has is….useless and....I’ve failed everyone else!” tears splashed from her eyes “Fluttershy….It’s up to you…I’m sorry!”
Fluttershy mumbled “Twilight…no!”
“Cyber End Dragon! Super Strident Blaze!” Zane yelled as Twilight looked on helplessly as the giant robotic Dragon began to charge up its attack. She looked down, how could this be happening, tears dripped from her eyes and she looked as Gokaioh before her, it seemed to flinch before the attack “Now Cyber End Dragon! End this!” the attack burst forth.
Basil Stag Hare yelled “NO!” as the attack struck Gokaioh with horrific power and the life points dropped to zero. Fluttershy dropped to her knees weeping as, the monster disappeared and Zane Truesdale stepped forward to claim his prize. He took the starchips and smiled coldly. Basil charged forward and yelled “Give them back!”
Fluttershy however shook her head and numbly said “It’s over Basil!”
Yugi however grabbed Zane’s wrist and said “I challenge you!” Zane smirked and nodded “Right now! If I win….you give me Twilight’s star chips back!” the two then stood apart from each other, Yugi smiled as the power of his puzzle activated and Atem looked across at Zane who glowered back “So if you beat me…you’ll be in the finals!”
Akiza and Joey helped Twilight to the side as she wept into Akiza’s shoulder “It’s okay, Twi, Yug, will totally own him!” Joey said with a smile “We’ll get your star chips back!” he however had to admit the chances had never looked more serious, Zane could summon a monster with 8000 attack points, could Yugi really win and Joey frowned “Yeah he’ll totally win!”
The air was filled with the subtle silence of baited breath as Yugi and Zane drew the cards that would begin their duel. Yugi looked across at Zane with a calm confidence that awaited his opponent to take the first move because according to Twilight taking the first move may have been a mistake and he awaited Zane’s opening move.
“I summon Proto Cyber Dragon in attack mode!” Zane declared as the grey robotic dragon wrapped its serpentine body around Zane’s feet, the attack points registered as 1100 and he added “I’ll also play a card face down…it’s your move”
Yugi drew a card from his deck and smiled “That monster of your looks impressive but it’s points are somewhat lacking, I summon Magician's Valkyria and play two cards face down. I’ll also play Graceful Charity!” As he drew the three cards, discarding two, Yugi knew from what Twilight had told him, Zane would attempt to fuse his monsters together but he hoped his face downs would prevent it. He looked across at Proto Cyber Dragon and yelled “Go Magician's Valkyria attack his Proto Cyber dragon with Mystic Sceptre Blast!”
The Powerful Magician fired a blast from her Sceptre which flew out, cutting the Proto cyber dragon’s head off from the rest of its body resulting in it to explode, Zane’s life points dropped to 3500 and Zane smirked “That was a big mistake, Moto” he said coldly “Now I’ll defeat you and I’ll be one more step closer to achieving victory” he then glanced across at the other duellists “Then one more duel and I’ll be in the finals!”
Joey smiled and then laughed as everyone stared at him somewhat confused “The amount of times I’ve heard Kaiba make similar threats during a duel are simply priceless!” he then looked at Yugi “Yugi always has a plan and Zane is about to learn that the hard way!”
Fluttershy however mumbled “I don’t know” Twilight sat on grass weeping about how she’d let Equestria down and no matter how hard Akiza, Basil and herself tried, they couldn’t get the tears to stop “We shouldn’t underestimate him!”
“Yes, quite. The blaggard certainly seems confident and that confidence doesn’t appear to be misplaced” Basil said with a frown across at Zane but then he looked down and then punched his fist into his hand “Dashed bad luck; I just wish I could help!”
Joey sighed and clapped Basil on the back “You’re helping in your own way, man. I mean I wish Tristan and Tea were here to help, it’d feel good to have their emotional support but Twilight and Fluttershy have you here for support and advice!”
Basil frowned before shrugging off Joey’s hand “Damned lot of use that does!” he snapped as he looked at the ground “I mean I’m a dashed foot fighter and I can’t help but watch at the side-lines. At least when Matthias was off giving Cluny a good whalloping I could be giving Cluny’s rabble a good kicking!”
Fluttershy however hugged the hare with her head rubbing against the hare’s upper arm “Please…don’t put yourself down. We need you” she said with a small glance at Twilight “Now more than ever”
“I play polymerization to fuse the two cyber dragons I have in my hand together!” Zane declared holding up the two required cards, while a massive black vortex appeared above him and two cyber dragons appeared behind him before disappearing into the vortex “In order to summon Cyber Twin Dragon!” the two headed robotic dragon appeared with giant roar “And now...what the?!”
Yugi had just activated a trap which had just sucked in Zane’s new monster and Yugi’s Magician's Valkyria “Sorry Zane, I activated the trap, Dark Renewal and I used your Cyber Twin Dragon to pay the cost!” he then paused with a smile and explained “You see for this card to work, I need to have a Dark Magician in the grave and a Spellcaster on the field! It then let’s me summon the Dark Magician from the grave!” Dark Magician appeared on the field with a twirl and Yugi gave everyone watching the thumbs up “Any questions or is that the end of your turn?”
Zane thought back, realising Yugi must have send Dark Magician to the grave when he used graceful Charity, he looked back at his hand and shrugged “I’ll play a monster in defence mode and end” he still had a face down trap “Your just as tough as I expected”
Yugi smiled across and said “You too, your cyber dragons are interesting” he then drew a card and sighed “This duel might be over all too soon. I activate the trap dust tornado, this destroys one spell or trap card on your field” the tornado destroyed Zane’s trap and Yugi continued “I then play the spell Monster reborn to revive Summoned Skull!” the fiend monster appeared and Yugi then smiled “Sorry to say I still have my normal summon and I summon Queen’s Knight!”
Zane smiled “It would seem you’ve won” he said but if Yugi attacked with Queen’s knight first, he might still have a chance.
Yugi yelled “Summoned Skull attack with your lightning strike!” the electric attack shot out from summoned skull and struck Zane’s Cyber Phoenix who’s poultry 1600 defence points were no match for Summoned Skull’s 2500 attack points. Yugi then declared “Queen’s Knight attack with your royal blade and Dark Magician use your Dark Magic attack!” with no defences Zane’s life points dropped to zero.
Zane smiled “That was a good duel” he said walking over and handed Yugi Twilight’s two star chips “I hope for a rematch in the finals” he then walked away.
Yugi nodded and walked towards Twilight “These are yours” however Twilight didn’t move and Yugi tried to lift her hand up to give her the chips but Twilight jerked her hand away “What’s wrong!?” he asked concerned “Twilight these are your star chips!”
Twilight however said “I’m useless! I failed Equestria! I don’t want to gamble the fate of my world on a card game!” she snapped the last two words and began to sob into her hands “Please don’t make me!”
Basil was horrified “Stuff and nonsense! If you won’t fight! Then I will!” he took the star chips from Yugi but Whis hoovered over “What do you want?!”
Whis simply smiled and said “Without a deck or duel disc. You can’t compete” he then looked into Basil’s eyes and saw the fire that burned within Basil and said “Oh well then I guess, I’ll make an exception. Here!” he snapped his fingers and Basil in a small second was wearing a duel disc but Whis added “You’ll notice you have your own deck but your only Twilight’s sub until she steps back in”
Basil smiled as he felt the duel disc but then he looked at the deck and screamed “You fiend! How dare you?!” he passed the deck to Crow who happened to be standing next to him, as he couldn’t bear to look at it, the first card had told him that something was very wrong and Basil added “You can’t do this!”
Crow read the name of the first card on top which happened to be a spell “Late Rose’s song?” the picture on the card was that of a single rose in full bloom “What’s so bad about it?” Crow asked clearly confused.
Basil however was shaking in uncontrollable rage “You blaggard! How dare you?! Admit it!” he snapped as he resisted every urge he had to punch Whis across the smug expression he had “You…you…!” the words simply died on Basil’s tongue as tears splashed from his eyes and he uttered one word in a heartbroken tone “…Redwall…!?”
Whis’s smile didn’t seem to change but he said in a calm tone “Yes, we took friends, enemies, heroes and villains from your world Mr Stag” the calmness of his tone seemed to make his cold statement all the worse “Now they’ll be your deck and your wrong Beerus and I can do this”
Basil looked down as tears splashed from his eye, he felt the anger, the dishonour and yelled “Well then, I will avenge my world and I challenge you!” his duel disc activated as the words left his lips “I notice you have a duel disc, you scraggy demon and you have the star chips for the end of the day! I challenge you for all four!”
Whis looked at the star chips and began to laugh “You have a mere two star chips what could you offer for the other two?” he paused and smiled “Tell you what, this will be an all or nothing match. I’ll stake my four star chips and my deck. You’ll stake your star chips, life and deck. So do we have a deal?”
Jack suddenly spoke up “Those stakes are ridiculous! We already know they don’t play fair and you’re going to gamble not only your own stake in the tournament but Twilight’s too?!” he snapped clearly not impressed with the hare’s common sense “Its madness. Let me take him!” he activated his duel disc as he spoke but Joey raised a hand and stopped Jack “Why are you stopping me?!”
Joey frowned at him shaking his head before turning to Basil “Don’t ya see, Jack, it’s a question of pride for Basil and we have no right to stop him!” he explained as he a big grin began to show “He may only know the basics but I know he can win. Right Yug?” Yugi nodded with a smile and the group all watched as Basil and Whis took their positions across from each other “Come on, Basil, you can do it!” Joey yelled in support.
Whis looked calmly at Basil before saying “If it’s all the same to you, my good fellow, I’ll take the first turn?” to which Basil nodded “Alright, hmmm what to do? I’ve rarely played this silly game but I think I’ll play this monster in defence mode and set a card” the cards appeared on the field and Whis shrugged with a cool smile “It’s the best I could do”
Crow frowned as he watched Whis’s first move “That can’t be his first move? He’s playing Basil” he whispered to Akiza who nodded “Be careful Basil, he’s trying to trick you into making a mistake!”
Basil nodded and drew a card from his deck, he read each card in turn, most of the monsters were friends, friends he’d left at Redwall, how could he send out a friend without offering help, a tear splashed onto the card on the far right, then he looked at the card he’d just drawn and he choked back a sob. He then yelled “I play a card face down! Then I….” he looked at the monster card, no anything but that, he swapped his cards and said “I summon Luke the Warrior in attack mode!” Luke looked strong but the attack point registered in at a mere 1350 as the mouse warrior appeared and looked at Whis with eyes full of pride “Now go Luke attack!”
Whis smiled as Luke charged forward, jumping over the monster as it appeared and there was an audible gasp from Fluttershy and Twilight, before Twilight screamed “Stop!” the monster, was a pony and Luke’s sword was mere inches from her throat when Basil stopped the attack “Mum?!” Twilight’s eyes were streaming tears as she saw the defence points of 1200 “I’m sorry Basil please don’t!”
Basil looked at Twilight Velvet with an understanding smile, before shaking his head at Luke and said “Dashed bad ole chap, come back!” he said Luke walked back and Basil frowned at Whis “Blaggard, I end my turn”
Whis shrugged and said “So it’s my turn oh my!” he drew a card and his smile became unbearably wide “I’ll sacrifice Twilight Velvet to summon Princess Luna!” the princess of the night appeared with her wings extended, her attack points set to 2000 and she looked confused “I’ll then throw in this spell, Nightmare Awaken!” Luna disappeared in a cloud of smoke to be replaced by Nightmare Moon with her attack points at 3300 “Ah she seems so happy!”
Nightmare moon began to cackle “I have returned!” and without warning her horn blasted out an attack that hit Luke square on, who screamed in agony as he was destroyed but Nightmare moon’s enjoyment only increased “Opps”
Basil’s life points dropped to 1950 and he looked horrified “Well dashed bad luck!” his postion clearly wasn’t the best as he looked at his hand full of friends, none of which he wanted to send out to face the wrathful nightmare before him “Darnation, well this is a jolly difficult spot ae wat!?” he said with a smile but it was clear he was up against a wall. The fate of the duel would rely on the next card he drew and the odds were stacked against him.
Basil looked at his duel disc, his heart in his mouth, he’d rarely felt this enormous pressure anymore, the next card would decide the fate of himself and Twilight. He stared across at the crowd watching, they were all trying to raise his spirits, Jack nodding with a smile, Crow giving the thumbs up while Leo held Luna’s hand smiling, all seemed eager to see Basil win, all that is except for Twilight, whose eyes were overwhelmed by tears and Basil sighed, he had no choice. He drew a card from his deck, hardly daring to look at it, then he turned the card and his spirits were lifted right away. His life points stuck at 1950, his chances looking slim, he then he looked at his hand and something sparked in his mind, forming into a plan, it was a long shot but then this creature had never seized to surprise him.
“Jolly good! I summon Matthias the Warrior in attack mode!” Basil declared as the mouse warrior of Redwall appeared on the field drawing his sword from his abbey robes, he turned with a smile towards Basil and nodded encouraging. Matthias’s attack points registered in at 2300 “This card is level five but jolly good luck for me, I can lower its level by one by giving up a card from my hand” he discarded a card from his hand and even better I can still normal summon this turn!”
“Ah Basil you old stomach on legs. Took you long enough to summon me!” Matthias said over his shoulder giving Basil the biggest smile which Basil returned “Wow she looks tough” Matthias had just spotted Nightmare Moon and his sword glow seemed to grow all the brighter.
Akiza smiled as she watched the move, it was a start, the monster certainly seemed to be Basil’s ace in the hole but then she heard a groan and looked down to see Yusei’s eyes opening wide “Yusei! Your awake!” and she hugged him close “We’ve been so worried!” the entire group from Team 5d’s gathered as Yusei smiled and patted Akiza on the back “We were so worried! I thought, I’d never….” Her words failed her and she blushed.
Jack slapped Yusei across the part of Yusei’s back he could reach and laughed “Yeah it’d take more than a little crash like that to take Yusei out of it!” he said trying to hide the concern he’d felt “I was beginning to think I’d never get my rematch!”
Yugi smiled and walked over to Yusei “It’s certainly nice to see you again, Yusei” he shook Yusei by the hand and the two remembered their duel against Paradox “Feel up to a duel soon?” Yugi was eager to take Yusei on in a duel but then Yusei pointed at the duel “Ah, that might be a long story”
“I have time” Yusei said trying to push Akiza off him as he rose to his feet weakly but determined “Is that a giant rabbit?” he asked clearly confused by the sight of Basil, who smiled across and gave an uncertain thumbs up “Oh those scores don’t look good. I take it we want the rabbit to win?”
Crow nodded as he said “Yeah the situation isn’t good but first we need answers” he looked at Fluttershy and asked calmly “Why’d your friend call that horse, mum? Your both human aren’t you? Or are you hiding something?”
Fluttershy looked to Joey for support and seeing the reassuring smile, that told her, they would understand but Fluttershy still remembered the rules Beerus and Whis had set for them. Still was there any point in keeping that up anymore? They already suspected them of being something they weren’t, she needed Twilight but she was in no state to make that decision or was she? “I…I don’t know what to….tell you” she finally said looking down at the ground in shame “I…want to tell you all but….I can’t”
There was a long moment of silence with many looks exchanged, some of mistrust, a few suspecting Beerus and Whis but then Yusei said with a small reassuring smile “Alright, we’ll need to hear the truth at some point but for now….that rabbit is continuing his move” and they all turned to see Basil choosing the monster he’d normal summon.
“Alright you blaggard! I summon Warbeak the Sparrow!” Basil declared as the bird appeared on the field unfurling her wings with a loud chirp, that was Warbeak’s battle cry and landed next to Matthias with a smile on her beak, her attack points registered at 1500 “Next I play the field spell, Redwall Abbey!” there was a rubble from behind Basil and the tall walls of Redwall rose from the Earth “With that, you rapscallion, I can then summon any Redwall monster from my deck and all it costs is the top three cards from my deck! So I choose Orlando the Axe!” the massive Banger warrior appeared roaring with his battle axe but he smiled at Matthias who shook his massive paw and Orlando held the mouse’s paw as an equal. The Banger’s attack points were nothing to sniff at, an impressive 2500 and suddenly a cheer went our from Redwall “I forgot to mention for every Redwall on the field, they gain 200 attack points for each but I’m not done”
However before Basil could continue “It’s been too long, Matthias!” Orlando suddenly said as a tear splashed from Orlando’s eyes. Bangers lived much longer than Mice so Orlando could still remember the tragic day, Matthias warrior of Redwall had passed on to the Darkwood and Matthias felt the same pain as Warbeak had died long before he had “Looks like we get one more fight mouse warrior” his attack points now sat at 3100.
Warbeak squawked loudly “Crazy mouse!” she slapped her wing around Matthias’s back “Warbeak so happy to get one more fight with Crazy mouse!” her attack points now sat at 2100. She then took to the air and stared coldly at Nightmare Moon “Horseworm! Warbeak killy killy!”
Nightmare Moon looked bored at the Sparrow and laughed “I control the night, Sparrow! Your no match for me!” she then shot a warning blast from her horn, that narrowly missed Warbeak but landed short of Orlando “Opps”
Matthias couldn’t help a chuckle “Hmhm Warbeak my old sparrow friend, wait for Basil!” he said and turned nodding to Basil with the calm smile Matthias gave to those he trusted “Go ahead Basil! Let me attack!” his attack points sat at 2900 but Matthias wasn’t scared of Nightmare Moon.
Basil nodded and declared “I then play the spell! I am that is!” the spell card flipped up on the field and Matthias drew his sword “With this jolly card in play! I can summon a legend! Martin the Warrior!” Martin the Warrior appeared, his attack points set to 2300 which instantly increased to 2900, he was clad in the same armour Matthias once wore “He has a special ability like no other! He can destroy one card on the field for every card I discard!” Basil only discarded one but that’s all he could afford to do “Destroy Whis’s spell card!” Martin raised his sword high and the spell was destroyed “Orlando, I’m sorry old chap but…”
Orlando turned and placed a reassuring paw on Basil’s shoulder, before nodding “Do it ya crazy rabbit!” he said with a smile and turned, thanks to Martin, his attack points were the same as Nightmare moon’s attack points.
However Basil turned to Fluttershy who nodded and Basil yelled with tears in his eyes “Orlando attack with you jolly axe!” Orlando roared and charged, everything seemed to slow down, as Orlando charged forward, Nightmare Moon fired at him, hitting him square in the chest, Orlando tripped hurt but got back up and kept charging. He jumped high, swinging his axe and Nightmare Moon fired again but both were destroyed.
Joey sighed “I gotta say that was really tough to watch” he whispered to Yugi who nodded “Will ya be okay, Fluttershy?” who turned her face towards him, for all she knew Princess Luna was dead and she buried her face into Joey’s shirt “It’s okay! Basil has won!”
Yusei however frowned, somehow he doubted it would be that easy, surely Whis wasn’t this much of a push over and from what Crow had been whispering to him, Basil shouldn’t have been doing so well. He then stared at Whis, something was very wrong, Whis was smiling and Yusei didn’t like it “I wonder what that snake has up his sleeve” he growled, he then looked at Akiza who was still hugging him close “Um Akiza…are you okay?”
Akiza nodded and she whispered “Yes…I’m just happy your safe”
Basil meanwhile also suspected something wasn’t right but he yelled “Warbeak attack!” the sparrow dived at Whis who seemed still unfazed as his points took their first hit and dropped to 1900 “Now Matthias attack!”
Matthias nodded and charged forward swinging his sword, dropping Whis’s points to zero and Whis sighed “It would appear I have lost, that was a splendid duel and I look forward to the next” he then disappeared leaving the prizes he’d promised, the deck and the four star chips.
Basil walked up and seized his prizes “That was far too easy, old chaps” as Luna and Leo ran up to congratulate him “What is that snake up to? Me thinks whatever it be, it be dashed underhand” he then walked towards Twilight and held out the star chips along with the deck but Twilight turned away in shame “Oh come now! We need you!”
Twilight choked out “I lost…that’s all there is to it”
Basil swore "OH for bally shake!" but despite that, he knew Twilight wouldn't be moved from her position.
Akiza still held Yusei close and whispered into his ear “You scared me more than ever, Yusei! Why can’t we be…” but before she could say it, she stopped and said “More”
Yusei sighed “We’ve been over this, it just wouldn’t work” he then pulled away and walked away but a tear trickled down his face “Yugi, I challenge you and Joey to a double duel!”
Beerus smiled as Whis arrived back “So they have the deck?” to which Whis smiled bowing low “Excellent, now let’s see what they choose to do with the deck” he then laughed “That deck is their best hope…once Yugi or Yusei look it over…what will they do?” he munched on more popcorn “And the next time you duel Whis, I want you to knock Zane from the tournament. He bores me and I want the four most interesting finalists!”
“Yes, Lord Beerus” Whis said with a low bow, as he turned and walked towards the door. He then stopped and said calmly “Have you considered your next step, Lord Beerus?”
“I think it may even be time to collect Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash for their trial” Beerus said with a thoughtful grin “The next move of our little game is about to begin and they’ll face the toughest challenge” suddenly Beerus’ features seemed to turn darker “How long before it emerges?”
Whis shook his head “I’m afraid, Lord. I know not” he then left Beerus frowning at a mirror “We must be ready thou” he said to himself.
“Yug, you realise what will happen if Yusei and his partner win? You only have two star chips” Joey looked at Yugi, as they planned for their duel against Yusei and whoever he chose to be his partner “Then…you’ll be knocked out” he couldn't explain why but the way he’d seen Akiza, Crow, Jack, Luna and Leo duel made him suspect this duel would be their toughest yet.
Yugi frowned, slowly nodding but then he smiled saying “Joey, relax, every duel is a risk but we need to reach the finals, right?” to which Joey nodded but didn’t seem too convinced “We’ll win and then we’ll be one step closer to finals. Besides, your forgetting Yusei only has two Star chips too, so if we win, he’ll be out and it’ll make it easier to save our world”
Twilight sat hiding her face in shame against her knees, as Fluttershy and Basil tried to convince her to forgive herself, that her defeat wasn't the end of the world but it didn't seem anything they could say was getting through. Fluttershy finally sighed and said to Basil “I wish....some pony like Applejack or Rainbow Dash were here, they’d be able to get through to her…I’m just…not” she looked at her own hands with frustration and then hugged Basil “How can we win the tournament all alone?!”
Basil put his arms around her encouragingly but knew, Fluttershy’s despair likely came from Twilight’s own feeling of despair “Good gracious, ma lady! Your selling yourself short! We just need to believe we can win!” he couldn't admit to Fluttershy that their chances weren't all that good, they were beginners, rookies and they were taking on champions but to admit defeat now, would simply not do “Come on, Twilight, your better than this”
Twilight numbly shook her head and mumbled into her knees “I could have done a lot better!”
Basil snapped “Oh balderdash! You tried your best?” to which Twilight nodded “Then you gave all you could! No one has a right to ask more of you than that!” he sighed kindly as he sat next to Twilight and patted her on the back “Now why don’t you take these Starchips and we’ll get you to the finals!” however Twilight moved away and turned her back to them.
Fluttershy looked across to the duelling area, judging by the sun, this would be the last duel of the day and Yusei stood with his partner, Akiza. Fluttershy found that odd, as Jack and Crow had seemed so eager to face Yugi, taking into account the row they’d had that argument and now seemed ready to duel. Joey and Yugi walked up ready to duel as well “Good luck, Joey!” Fluttershy called quietly.
Basil realizing he’d failed to motivate Twilight, smiled as he walked up to Fluttershy’s ear and whispered “You certainly seem fond of, sir Wheeler?” he asked as Fluttershy turned away with a smile “He is certainly a gentlemen to offer such help. With the stakes the way they are, aye wat!” Fluttershy nodded her agreement.
The duellists drew their cards, with Akiza being allowed to take the first move, she smiled her hand looked very strong, she looked to Yusei who seemed totally consumed by the hand he hand but Akiza knew he was just ignoring her. They had drawn lots to see who’d get to partner Yusei and she’d won “I summon Wall of Ivy in defence mode!” the monster appeared as the ivy formed it’s defensive position. Akiza then yelled “I’ll also place two cards face down! Your move!”
“If Plants is all you got…this duel will be over soon!” Joey smirked, he looked at his hand and said “I play Scapegoat! Then I’ll play a monster in face down defence mode! Followed by a face down card!” Joey looked at Yusei, something about Yusei’s focused look gave Joey a thrill, Yusei was clearly a skilled player and Joey couldn’t wait to see what he had up his sleeve “I end my turn there!”
Yusei drew a card from his deck and frowned, his hand wasn’t the best but hopefully, he’d be able to hold out long enough to summon something strong “I summon Shield Warrior, in defence mode and then I set a card. Turn end!”
Yugi, who had already switched with Atem looked across at Yusei “What a shame Yusei, I expected more from you” he drew his card and yelled “I start with two face downs and then I summon Queen’s knight in attack mode!” the warrior monster appeared with a flourish of her blade “I’ll then pass onto you, Akiza!”
Jack frowned “Hmmm the field is certainly full of traps, it would seem Yugi and Joey have three and Akiza and Yusei have four. It’ll probably be unsafe for anyone to attack” he said to Crow who nodded “Still, from what I know about Joey, he’ll probably take the risk but the rest might play it safe”
Crow nodded again “I think it’ll depend on Joey’s hand, weather he’ll attack or not” he said calmly as Fluttershy walked over “Hey, how’s Twilight doing?” Fluttershy sadly shook her head “Man, she really likes to beat herself up. What a princess…what?!” he caught the look on
Fluttershy’s face which was a little shocked “Oh come on, she’s not really a princess is she?”
Luna looked at Twilight with a concerned look “She must be under a lot of pressure” she said in a worried tone.
“Well I hate to break it to you, Luna! We’re all under a lot of pressure! What part of the world blowing up did you miss?! I mean it’s totally crazy!” Leo exclaimed as he went a mile a minute.
Crow then snapped “Leo! Cool it! Drawing attention to the issue! Doesn’t help the issue!” he then turned to the field “Looks like Akiza’s ready to make her move”
Akiza’s look fell upon the four scape goats and the monster Joey had in defence mode, she could destroy Yugi’s monster but that facedown monster could be a threat and she couldn’t allow that threat to be ignored “I’ll sacrifice my wall of ivy to summon Gigaplant!” the massive plant monster appeared roaring out its battle cry “Now attack, Joey’s facedown monster!” the monster launched it’s razor sharp barbs at Joey’s monster, Joey Panther Warrior appeared hiding behind it’s shield but then it stopped short “What the?!”
“You activated my trap! Spellbinding Circle!” Yugi yelled as Gigaplant’s points were lowered by 700 points “Joey! I do believe now’s your chance!”
“You got it, Yug! My turn?!” Joey yelled as Akiza nodded to mark the end of her turn “I’ll switch Panther Warrior to attack mode and then sacrifice one of scapegoats! So he can attack!” Panther Warrior charged forward, Gigaplant squirmed trying to escape but then “Is that a second monster?”
“No, Scrap iron Scarecrow!” Yusei declared as Panther Warrior’s attack failed as it’s sword clashed with the scarecrow “Sorry, Joey, better luck next time!”
Joey groaned “I’ll end my turn by summoning Gearfried the iron knight” the warrior monster appeared in attack mode alongside Panther Warrior. Joey nodded to Yusei “I think it’s your move!”
Yusei smiled “Thank you” he then looked at his hand with a calm look “I think for this move, I’ll summon Shield Wing in defence mode and that’s it” his smile seemed content but Yugi wasn’t sure what to make of it as he drew a card and stared at Yusei “Problem, Yugi?”
“No, I summon King’s Knight in attack mode!” Yugi yelled as the warrior appeared raising his sword high into the air, which Queen’s Knight copied and two joined their swords “Since I control both King and Queen’s knight, I’m automatically allowed to summon my Jack’s knight!” the third warrior appeared on the field with a smile “Now Queen’s knight attack Shield wing!”
Yusei watched with an amused chuckle as Queen’s knight failed “Sorry Yugi, twice per turn Shield wing cannot be destroyed by battle”
Yugi’s glance however had switched targets, Akiza’s Gigaplant currently only had 1700 attack points, so if he could destroy it then his king’s knight could launch a direct attack and he smiled “Fine then I’ll attack Gigaplant with my Jack’s Knight!” Jack’s Knight charged dodging Gigaplant’s attempts to defend itself.
“I don’t think so go Scrap iron scarecrow!” Yusei declared as his trap was sprung.
“NO, it can’t be!” Joey yelled as the attack failed “Yusei! You cheated, you can’t activate a trap more than once! Unless you have doubles of that card!” however Yugi and Joey then witnessed the trap return to the face down position “Yug, what are we supposed to do about a trap like that?”
Yugi smiled “That’s a very interesting trap you have there, Yusei” he said with a friendly thumbs up. He then frowned “Sorry to say, can’t have it staying on the field thou” he activated his trap “Dust Tornado! This trap destroys, one spell or trap card and allows to set a trap!” the dust tornado ripped through the scrap iron scarecrow and Yugi set a card face down and then knew he couldn’t do anything further “Sorry, Joey, I did my best but I end my turn” Joey gave Yugi the thumbs up, Akiza drew a card and from the look on her face this duel was about to get a little bit wild.
Fluttershy watched the exchange with a mixture of interest, excitement and fear “Oh my!” she gasped as she watched “They’re really good aren’t they?”
Crow nodded and said “Well from where we’re from Yugi and Joey are a bit of a legend. Their duels are recorded as some of the most intense! Yusei and Akiza are both formidable duellist” he then paused as he looked at Jack who was frowning “Hey, what’s wrong Jack are you still cross you didn’t get your shot at the king of games?”
Jack let out a laugh before saying “Don’t pretend you weren’t wanting a chance to test your moves against Yugi or Joey” as he gave Crow a slap on the back “Still I’m concerned, do you think Akiza’s head is in the game? She still seems upset that Yusei….”
Basil chucked “Balderdash! I can see the fire in those eyes from here, none of them are willing to give an inch and this duel is clearly going to be jolly tight!” he said as he looked at Jack, he then heard footsteps walking closer and turned to see Twilight watching the duel with interest “So are you feeling more like yourself aye missy? Aye what!” Twilight remained silent “Bally rude not to answer the question don’t you know!” Fluttershy tapped him on the elbow and said “Basil, maybe we should give her some space?” she then turned back to the duel as Akiza began her move “So what can she do about that spellbinding circle?” she asked Crow “I mean she has got to have a way….doesn’t she?” Crow and Jack both nodded.
“I’ll use Gigaplant’s special effect to special summon Dandylion and then I’ll normal summon Copy plant!” Akiza declared as the two monsters appeared on the field “I’ll then use copy plant’s effect to copy Panther Warrior’s level!” copy plant changed into a copy of Panther Warrior and then Akiza smiled “I’ll then synchro summon, Black Rose Dragon!” the massive dragon appeared roaring and looked at Joey’s monsters with interest “When Dandylion leaves the field I get to summon two fluff tokens!” the two tokens appeared on the field in defence mode.
“Woah Yug! That dragon looks seriously bad!” Joey said with a look at the dragon “It’s as strong as my Red Eyes!”
“Well, Yugi is the one who has to fear my Black Rose, because it’s attacking his Queen’s Knight!” Akiza declared “Black Vining bloom!” the dragon’s long thorny vines grabbed Queen’s knight but suddenly a chain wrapped around Black Rose’s neck and dragged it down into defence mode. Queen’s knight was freed from the vines and looked at Panther Warrior holding the chain with a smile “What happened?!” Akiza said in alarm.
“Sorry, you activated my trap card Kunei with chain! When activated I can activate both effects, switching your monster’s mode and raising my Panther Warrior’s attack points!” Joey declared as Queen’s knight landed. Akiza nodded to Joey marking the end of her turn “Alright my move!” he then looked at Yugi who nodded his support “Gearfried, attack Black Rose with your steel sword!” Gearfried launched forward, slashed Black Rose Dragon across the head and Akiza glowered at Joey “Now Panther Warrior, I’ll sacrifice one scapegoat and have my panther warrior attack your Gigaplant with double slash!” Panther warrior now had 800 more attack points than Gigaplant as it dodged round it’s vines but then Panther warrior stopped short “Huh?!”
“Sorry Joey, I activated my trap, Defence Draw!” Yusei declared as he showed his trap “It stops your attack and lets me draw one card!” he drew the card and said “I’m sorry Joey….your about to lose!”
“Huh!? I’m ready for you bring it on!” he looked at his hand and said “I summon Little Winguard in defence mode and that ends my turn!”
Yusei drew a card from his deck and said “I summon Nitro Synchron in attack mode, I’ll then play the spell card, Card Destruction!” everyone send their hand to the graveyard and Yusei continued “I’ll then use Akiza’s Gigaplant to special summon my level eater!” Gigaplant’s level dropped by one as a the little insect monster appeared in defence mode “And then with Akiza’s permission, I’ll use Nitro Synchron to give Gigaplant a tune up!” which Akiza nodded to “I summon Nitro Warrior!” the massive warrior monster appeared “I’ll then play spell card Reinforcements of the army which will raise Nitro Warrior’s attack points by 1000 points!”
“Oh my jolly goodness!” Basil exclaimed as Nitro Warrior appeared on the field “That Yusei fellow certainly has some jolly powerful monsters!”
Yusei then said “I’ll use Nitro Warrior to attack Panther warrior!” Nitro Warrior flew towards Panther Warrior who roared as Nitro Warrior’s attack struck. Joey’s life points went down by twelve hundred but then Yusei said “When Nitro Warrior destroys a monster and inflicts damage to the player, I am then allowed to select one of my opponent’s monsters to switch to attack mode and attack a second time, sorry Joey I select your scapegoat token!” Joey watched in horror as Scapegoat switched to attack mode “Now Nitro Warrior attack, with your Dynamite crunch!”
Joey cried out “NO!” but it was too late, his life points dropped to zero “Yug, I’m so sorry”
Yugi shook his head “Don’t worry about it Joey, I’ll win it for the both of us!” he said as Yusei’s turn ended “My move! I’ll play Monster reborn, to summon Dark Magician girl, I send her to my graveyard when Yusei played Card Destruction and then I’ll play pot of greed, this lets me draw two cards!” Yugi drew his cards as Dark Magician Girl appeared on the field doing a V victory sign across her face.
“Huh, I don’t get it! What good will that do Dark Magician girl’s attack points don’t come close to Nitro Warrior’s attack points!” Leo said confused by Yugi’s moves “I mean unless he gets the perfect draw….I don’t see how he could win!”
Twilight now on her feet said “This is only the beginning of his move” she watched Yugi with wide eyes, she then smiles and says “You can tell by that smile!”
Yugi then yelled “I’ll follow that by playing Sage’s stone! When Sage’s Stone is played and there is a Dark Magician Girl on the field, it allows me to summon Dark Magician!” the Dark Magician Girl gasped in joy, as Dark Magician appeared looking cross at Nitro Warrior “Now it’s time for a magic trick, I’ll start by playing Mystic Box, first my Dark Magician closes the doors on my Dark Magician Girl as swords rain from the sky!” Dark Magician girl stepped into the box, followed by Dark Magician closing the box, the swords appeared and stabbing the box.
“What the!? You’ve lost your mind! Why would you kill your own monster like that!” exclaimed Akiza looking at the box containing the Dark Magician Girl with shock but then she saw a second box appear around Yusei’s Shield Wing “What the?!” but then the second box opened and Dark Magician Girl leapt out giggling “Then….that means!” the first box opened revealing shield wing full of swords “I can’t believe I fell for that!”
Yugi smiled with satisfaction and yelled “I then sacrifice both magicians to summon the Sorcerer Of Dark Magic!” lightning struck the ground as the Sorcerer appeared and looked across at Yusei’s Nitro warrior “And I still have my normal summon, so I summon Celtic Guardian!” Yusei frowned and said “Well Yugi you certainly have quite a lot of monsters” he sighed before smiling “Sorry Akiza, I think I let us down”
“Sorcerer, celestial blast attack!” Yugi declared as the Sorcerer launched an attack that destroyed Nitro Warrior in a fiery inferno “Now Jack’s Knight attack Shield Warrior!” the attack struck with a almighty blow that defeated Shield warrior when Jack’s Knight’s sword shattered his shield “Now Celtic Guardian attack Yusei’s level Eater” Yusei’s bug didn’t stand a chance as Celtic Guardian cut it down “King’s Knight attack Yusei directly” Yusei frowned as his life points hit 1900 “That’ll do for now!”
Basil smiled before wiping his brow “That was jolly close, I thought Yugi had that Yusei bang to rights but my math has never been that good…unless it comes to food!” he said but then turned serious “Shame to say but I think Yugi has had his last chance!”
Akiza drew a card from her deck and said “I play Lightening vortex!” the spell ripped through Yugi’s monsters before Akiza said “I then play monster reborn and…” she paused she wanted to be kind, Yugi was a friendly induvial and it didn’t seem fair but she decided to take it easy “I summon Dark Magician Girl!” Dark Magician Girl appeared and looked at Akiza with a searching look but smiled sadly “Attack dark magic attack!” Yugi’s life points hit 2000.
“Akiza! How dare you! You could have revived Yusei’s Nitro Warrior….why did you take it easy on me?!” Yugi demanded clearly insulted “My face down could not stop your attack and now you have left your team mate to finish me off”
Yusei however said “It’s okay, my move. I summon Junk Synchron and this lets me special summon Shield wing. Now my Junk Synchron can give my Shield Wing a tune up” the two monster rose into the air and Yusei continued speaking “Yugi, we defeated Paradox but here I must be the one to defeat you! I synchro summon Junk Warrior!” Yusei paused, Yugi was a friend, a rival, yes but could he go through with it?
Yugi smiled impressed “Go ahead Yusei attack!”
Twilight watching at the side lines saw Yugi’s expression and said “He…isn’t scared…then what right do I have to be scared?” she then turned to Basil “I want you to carry on in my place through the tournament Basil in my place. I think….I’m ready to move on though”
“Jolly good” Basil said patting her on the back.
“Junk Warrior attack with Scrap fist!” Yusei yelled, Junk Warrior flew forward and punched Yugi. The life point metre hit zero. Yugi and Joey were defeated, while Joey had four star chips, Yugi only had two and therefore was out. Beerus watching the duel from afar frowned at the result but then the bell rang to mark the end of the first day “Good duel, Yugi”
“This must be the place” Joey said as the group walked into a large building complex, they had been searching for the accommodation for an hour and finally they found it. The large building had been invisible until the bell had rung, it looked for all the world like a five star hotel, the entrance way had many different shops, they looked around before their eyes fell on Beerus standing looking at them with a massive grin and Joey said darkly “What do you want?”
“I thought I’d come down, to spend time with the people in my little tournament and sample the many earthly delights being sold here” he explained as he looked around “Oh before I forget, everything here is free, so help yourselves and relax. Just don’t annoy me or I’ll have to destroy you” he flew away to a food shop selling many different cakes “Ooo this one has Pineapple”
Fluttershy sighed and said in a small voice “It’s hard to believe he’s the same one who has threatened our worlds” she then shrugged and walked over to a shop. As the group began to split up Twilight found herself standing next to Yugi.
“Um….I watched you duel…you really inspired me” Twilight said in a calm tone but her respect for Yugi was hard to express “Could you help Fluttershy and Basil?” to which Yugi smiled and shook his head “What?! But why?!”
“Because Basil wants you to take his place” Yugi said smiling at her “You can’t let the fear of defeat dominate your life. I let the fear of hurting people dominate me, it nearly lost me everything but what I learned from the experience is to trust my friend” he gave the millennium puzzle a small tap as he spoke and then admitted “It’s kind of strange to have this back” he smiled as the pharaoh nodded behind him within his mind.
Twilight nodded and sighed “I know I should duel again but you saw how well Basil did…maybe it’d be better if he did continue in the tournament in my place?” but she then noticed Yugi shake his head “Why shouldn’t he?!” she exclaimed angry by how mysterious Yugi was being.
Yugi simply said “Whis let him win”
Fluttershy sat at a table eating a salad slowly, she was only a few feet from Beerus who was now eating a few cakes to himself but he seemed to be ignoring her. Joey then walked up with a cheese burger and some French fries and sat across from her “So you gonna change that deck of yours? I found a card shop on the next floor and according to the owner told me, Beerus is paying for all the cards we want, I mean when Beerus said everything was free I didn't think he meant the cards too but we’d better find out what style suits ya!” he said as he began to eat his food slowly.
Beerus then turned and said “Do I hear a conflict of interest? Remember Mr Wheeler, you’re the only one left from your world in this competition and it would be a shame to take your star chips away” he then smacked his lips “This pudding is simply divine! Anyway you can’t interfere with another duellist’s deck or you’ll be disqualified!”
“Says the guy who gave her a deck that’s totally unusable!” Joey snapped and then added “Besides we just want to give her a chance!”
Beerus smirked as he rose to his feet to look Joey in the face “Oh, we? Are we sure? There isn’t another reason you’re wanting to help her? Maybe you see something of yourself in her and maybe…”
“No! It’s just the right thing to do! Her world is in just as much danger as mine and…” he looked at her before adding “I want a fair duel from her…I want to meet her in the finals!”
Basil ran up holding a great assortment of his favourite foods and snapped “You blaggard! How dare you question, Mr Wheeler’s intentions? He just wants to see justice done….unlike you, your hosting a tournament, just for jollies!”
Beerus looked calmly at Basil before saying “I am hosting this tournament, how’d you put it, more than just for jollies and besides it’s just a curious little question. Surely there’s no harm in that?” with that Beerus flew away with a slight laugh.
“What a jerk?” Joey said as he grabbed his burger and took a big bite but chewed quite slowly before saying through his food “We gotta work out a way for you to be able to duel properly, Fluttershy”
“Quite” Basil said as he too began to eat but then took pause and said “Well my deck seems okay…maybe we can combine mine with Fluttershy’s deck and then we can rock paper scissor to decide who carries on?” he smiled clearly thrilled with the idea “What do you think Mr Wheeler?”
“Well we’ll have to check with Yug and Yusei but if they give it the green light….then the holder of the deck will have a chance!” Joey said with a smile “What do you think, Fluttershy?”
“I…think it’s an okay idea” Fluttershy mumbled as she poked her salad and sighed “But maybe we should just combine the decks and let Basil win the tournament? I’m no good at it” she looked at her hands as she trembled to hold back the tears, remembering her defeat to Akiza.
“No. Don’t you say that Miss Fluttershy!” Basil snapped looking furious “You can’t just abandon the cause because you don’t have any dashed respect for yourself!” he took a deep breath and added “You are better than that!”
“Oh, okay….then I’ll do my best!” Fluttershy said with a small smile but her eyes stills showed the sign that she wanted to quit “So where do we start?”
“We start with making your deck usable and then…” Joey began but then he noticed Kaiba walking up and said “What do you want Kaiba?”
Kaiba smiled “We thought we’d offer our help, since you Wheeler are still in the tournament and it just wouldn’t be fair on her. To have an enemy know her deck” he said, before two more people walked up Luna and Leo “These two also insisted upon helping, we got a wide selection of cards from the shop upstairs and hopefully these should help. Oh and Mr um Hare, could you go with Wheeler and get us something to drink?” and so after Joey and Basil had walked away. Kaiba, Leo and Luna got to work helping Fluttershy’s new deck, teaching her how to use it and finally after a few hours of work, Fluttershy had a deck that had the best possible combination of cards and then Kaiba said “Time to put it to the test” After some practise duels, Fluttershy had succeeded in winning her first duel against Leo and Kaiba smiled “Good hopefully with some luck….you’ll be able to get to the finals” the best part of the new deck was that none of the cards were the same.
“Thew, that was tough” Leo said with a cocky grin but he then looked at Kaiba “I also can’t believe we totally got to build a new deck with a total legend of Duel Monsters” Kaiba laughed and Leo smirked “Hey! Bet you can’t beat me in a duel?”
“Ha, I’d have more of a challenge duelling Mokuba” Kaiba said with a laugh, in truth Leo reminded him of Mokuba a little bit and he added “But alright. I’ll take you both on. You’ll both start with 4000 life points and I’ll start with 8000” he activated his duel disc and the twins activated theirs.
Joey walked over with a smile and sat next to Fluttershy “Kaiba maybe a jerk but he’s a softie at heart” he said as he looked at the completed deck on the table “So you ready?” Fluttershy nodded with a smile.
Leo drew a card and said “Alright, I’ll start with Morphtronic Celfon in attack mode and now for his dial up ability!”
Kaiba smiled and said “Hmm interesting. I can’t wait!”
“Well you won’t be disappointed, Mr Kaiba, Sir! Because Celfon dials a number and based on what number it lands on that’s the number of cards I reveal from my deck and if there happens to be a Morphtronic monster among them, I get to summon it right away!” Leo explained and Luna visibly sighed as Celfon’s dial landed on one “A 1, aw man!” Leo revealed the card but he smiled “Alright I summon Morphtronic Magnen! In attack mode! Turn over!”
Luna drew a card and said “I set a card face down and summon Regulus in defence mode!” she then nodded to Kaiba “Your move”
Kaiba smiled and said “Alright I’ll start with the spell card, Pot of Greed, this lets me draw two cards and next I’ll summon X-head Cannon in attack mode. Before setting two cards face down!” he then paused before saying “I hope to see your best”
“My move! I’ll use Celfon’s ability to go for a dial up!” Leo declared as he drew a card and watched as Celfon dialled up a “3?! Okay!” Leo looked at the top three cards from his deck and said “I summon a second Morphtronic Magnen in defence mode and then I’ll switch my first Magnen to defence mode! When I have two Magnen on the field in defence mode you can’t attack my monsters!”
“Hmmm just great” Kaiba smirked as he observed the field in front of him.
“My turn” Luna said calmly as she drew a card from her deck and paused as she looked at her hand. She seemed to be trying to make a decision and then she said “I summon Fairy Archer in attack mode!” the monster appeared and Luna added “Now since I have two light monsters on the field, I can use Fairy Archers special effect to dish out 400 points of damage for each! With Regulus that’s a total of 800!” Kaiba’s life points dropped and Luna said “I’ll end my turn”
“Play time’s over” Kaiba said calmly as he drew a card and paused as he too began to think “I’ll play tribute to the doomed! To activate this card I have to discard a card and then I can destroy one monster” thick bandages wrapped around one of the Magnen and it was dragged to the grave “And I’m not done, I’ll then activate the trap card, Call of the Haunted to revive Y-Dragon head!”
“Hey! You cheated! That card wasn’t in your grave!”Leo began
“Because he send it to the grave with Tribute to the doomed, Leo” Luna explained calmly “Sorry Mr Kaiba continue”
“Um Okay, I then normal summon Z-metal Tank!” Kaiba said as his monster appeared “I now fuse X,Z and Y into XYZ Dragon Cannon! Now all I have to do is discard a card from my hand and I can destroy one card. Sorry Leo I pick your remaining Magnen!”
“Oh man! That means Celfon is wide open” Leo cried out freaking out
“That’s right! Dragon Cannon attack with Dragon cannon blast!” Kaiba declared as the attack was launched and Leo’s points dropped to 1300 “My turn is at an end”
Leo drew a card sadly and said “I play a monster in defence mode”
“Hmm shame, I expected better” Kaiba said looking sadly at the boy who seemed to have lost all his spirit and Kaiba then smiled “Hey Leo, no need to look so down, you were playing really well, so what’s with the sad look?”
“Yeah come on Leo! You have to believe in yourself” Luna said as she drew a card “I’ll set a card face down and then I’ll summon Sunlight Unicorn! I’ll also use Fairy Archer’s special effect to drop your life points by 1200! That ends my turn!” Kaiba’s life points were now standing at 6000.
“To start I play Card of demise! Now I have to draw until I have five cards in my hand!” Kaiba explained as he drew four more cards “Hmm I’ll start by summoning Battle Ox in attack mode! Now I’ll use XYZ dragon Cannon’s affect to destroy Fairy Archer and then I play, Monster Reborn to revive Blue eyes White Dragon!” the dragon roared as it appeared “And yes Leo when I used the effect of my Dragon Cannon I discard Blue eyes” Kaiba couldn’t help but laugh at the look on Leo’s face “Sorry”
“Blue Eyes White Dragon!” Leo screamed happily “Man that’s like a total legend and I’m duelling against it!”
“Well sadly Leo, I can’t allow your sister to continue” Kaiba smiled sadly “I’ll attack Sunlight Unicorn with my Blue eyes and…”
“NOOO!” Fluttershy screamed there were tears in her eyes “Not again!” Fluttershy’s trembling was also worse than ever as she sat crying and the duel was brought to a halt “Please…not again…not again”
Basil walked over and said “Fluttershy, calm down…sorry you three um this looks bad” Joey and Basil helped calm Fluttershy down before both nodding to Kaiba.
“Right” Kaiba said slowly looking at Fluttershy with concern but then he yelled “Blue eyes, white lighting attack!” the attack stuck Luna’s unicorn and her life points dropped to 2800 “Now Dragon cannon attack Regulus!” Luna’s life points dropped to 1700 “Now Battle OX direct attack!”
“Luna!” Leo called out as his sister was defeated “You’ll pay for that! My move!”
“No, hang on!” Kaiba said as he calmly set a card face down “Now’s it’s your move”
“I play Morphtronic Boomboxen in attack mode and then I flip Morphtronic Scopen!” Leo said as his two monsters appeared “I’ll then synchro summon them to summon Power Tool Dragon! Now with my own ultimate dragon, I use its effect to add a random equip smell card and I got” Leo looked at the card his deck had given him “I play Power Tool C&D. This raises Power Tool Dragon’s attack points by 1000…Now attack Dragon Cannon!”
Kaiba smiled as Power tool Dragon destroyed his monster “Sorry, Leo, I want to see more of what you got but I activate my trap…Ring of Destruction and I’ll use it to destroy my Battle Ox” he also activated a spell card “My ring of defence will prevent me from taking any damage” as the Battle Ox was destroyed, Leo’s life points hit zero but Kaiba stepped forward “You two did really well” As the three duellists spoke Fluttershy was lead away by Basil and Joey.
“Thank you” Luna said but then she frowned “What do you think happened to Fluttershy?” Kaiba shrugged “It looked like she was terrified”
Little could any of them have known that Beerus had been watching, from a room far above them and he said to himself “Young Fluttershy, so innocent reminded of Serpentera by a hologram of a dragon but I…hmm not many in this or any other world could sneak up on me, Doctor” he turned to see a young man staring at him “I trust your mission was a success?” the Doctor shook his head and handed Beerus some photos “This was the best you could do? Sad but I guess we’ll have to send someone who can get closer”
“Indeed and I have just the man in mind but he will need help” the doctor said as he turned “This is Captain Jack Harkness!” as another man approached Beerus “How’s the training coming? I mean watching Equestria burn wasn't easy for this training so it had better be going well”
“Not well” Beerus said shaking his head “And we’re running out of time, Whis will get you a team, Mr Harkness”
“Fluttershy, what happened yesterday at that duel with Kaiba, Luna and Leo?” Joey asked looking at the girl before him with deep concern, her break down the day before had made both Basil and Joey very concerned but having made the decision to allow her to rest. They’d spend the night discussing ideas for how to help her but over breakfast they’d gotten nowhere and now time was marching on before the tournament would start afresh “I mean this doesn’t make any sense…it was just one monster attacking another?”
“Does this have anything to do with that bally Serpentera? You have to jolly well push past it, if that’s the case and help us save Sweetie Belle” Basil said in an understanding tone but looking Fluttershy in the eye with a sharp determined look “Today…you’ll win your first duel…we got your next opponent all lined up as soon as the bell rings”
“Um w…who is it?” Fluttershy asked timidly as she looked around and spotted Jack walking up to them and she shook her head “N…no please Basil…I’m not ready” but at that moment the bell rang and Jack activated his duel disk “Please…Jack”
“Enough talk! It’s time to start this duel!” Jack said as he bet his star chips “I’ll bet my four for the four of yours and…” but before he could finish he noticed Fluttershy only had one star chip “Where are the other three?” he asked confused “I thought you said Basil, she beat you last night and won your chips?!”
“Oh she did, that Kaiba fella and I used fake cards to train her on how to use my deck” Basil said as he switched the decks, while handing her the star chips and added “Don’t give me that look, Fluttershy! You need to have dashed confidence! Believe in yourself!” and with that he walked away.
“Well if we’re all ready…let’s get this duel started” a man said walking up to the group and holding up a blank piece of paper “I am Whis’, replacement Mr Smith” he smiled and said “Now let’s see our two, competitors shake hands and let’s have a clean duel?” Fluttershy and Jack shook hands but when Mr Smith offered both refused “Oh well, Jack won the coin toss so he goes first and I want to see you both give it all you got”
“Hang on!” Jack said “I want Fluttershy to go first” he smiled and added “Besides it’s the polite thing to do, right Basil?”
“Absolutely” Basil said happily
Fluttershy drew her hand and looked at it with a desperate look but as she held the cards in her hand she looked at Joey for advice but only found a firm stare “I summon Cornflower the kind in defence mode” the little mouse maid appeared on the field, her defence points set to 1200 and smiled back at Fluttershy “I then set a card face down” the card appeared and Fluttershy added “I’ll end my turn”
Jack looked at his hand and said “I summon Mad Archfiend in attack mode! I’ll also play a card face down. Now Mad Archfiend attack Cornflower with your cruel crush and Fluttershy, I should say that when my Archfiend attacks a monster in defence mode…it deals piercing damage!”
At the order of attack, Basil closed his eyes and whispered “Forgive me…I am so sorry” he felt a single tear leak down his cheek. Mad Archfiend flew forward, grabbing Cornflower round the neck picking her up and in a sickening sound of crushed bone Cornflower was destroyed “AHHHH!” Basil screamed tears streaming from his eyes as Cornflower disappeared and he began to cry “No…I let her down!” Basil sobbed as Joey put an arm around him “I should...have…I don’t know” Fluttershy’s life points dropped to 3400 and Basil sniffed “Sorry Joey…old chap”
“It’s okay” Joey soothed but then snapped “Fluttershy…your turn, counter attack time!”
Fluttershy thought to herself, that it were easier said than done but as she drew her card, she saw found something surprising and smiled back at Joey “I play the spell card, Star Blast! Now for every five hundred life points I give up…I can reduce the level of a monster by one and I give up 1500!” her life points reduced to 1900 and she then said “I then play double summon and summon Red eyes Black dragon!” the huge dragon appeared spreading it’s wings and roaring “Thanks Joey and Basil this next one is for you! I summon Mathias the Warrior!” she then smiled as the mouse warrior appeared and got ready for battle.
“I have to say, Fluttershy…that is a very impressive force you have assembled but it won’t be enough to beat me!” Jack said with a cocky grin and added “I activate my trap card, Shadow spell” the chains from the trap wrapped themselves around Mathias, dragging the mouse warrior to a knee under the weight of the chains and Jack smirked “Looks like your mouse is in a mouse trap”
Fluttershy’s eyes flashed angrily “That….isn’t funny! You big Meanie!” she yelled “Red eyes…inferno fire blast!” the black dragon roared and fired a volley of fireballs at Jack’s monster, Mad Archfiend dodged the first fireball but the second and third and fourth struck it “Keep…going!” the attacks kept striking the fiend monster before it finally disappeared “I end!”
“Good grief! Fluttershy is scary when she’s angry!” Joey said with a smile "But that must have felt good. I wonder what Jack’s got up his sleeve because with 3400 life points…he’d both in a great and terrible position” he paused and added in a dark tone “This turn could decide the outcome of the duel” he looked at Fluttershy hoping she’d emerge as the winner but Jack was as skilled as they came.
“I’ll Special summon Vice dragon and then I’ll normal summon Dark Resonator!” Jack exclaimed and smirked “Dark Resonator is now going to give Vice Dragon a little tune up!” dark resonator struck it’s tuning fork and stick together, before disappearing into three circles which formed round Vice dragon but then the two monsters disappeared in a bright flash. The claws of a massive dragon emerged from the flash and Jack yelled “Behold, Red Dragon Archfiend!” the roar of the dragon shook the building.
No one noticed Mr Smith whisper “So those are two of them then?” he smiled and watched with glee.
“Red Dragon Archfiend! Attack with Scorching Crimson Flare!” Jack ordered as Red Dragon Archfiend powered up its fire ball and targeted Mathias who braced himself “No matter what that mouse does…he’s still going to wind up ashes!” suddenly three tiny blurs passed by the dragon who looked around confused as one clashed with it's head and the dragon began to snap at it with it bared teeth “What the?!”
“I activated the Trap card! Attack of the Sparrows!” Fluttershy said with a small smile “At the cost of half my life points and my entire hand, three effects take place, first it stops one attack and none of my monsters are harmed” as she spoke one of the sparrows flying round the dragon’s head was destroyed “Next I get to destroy one spell or trap card…Mathias is free!” Mathias broke the chains and the second sparrow was destroyed “I then get to summon a monster who equals the level of the weakest monster my opponent controls but since you only have Red Dragon Archfiend…I summon Captain Snow the Owl” the third sparrow burst into flames but no monster appeared.
“Hello mouse!” suddenly from above them flew down a majestic white owl as large as Red Dragon Archfiend. Captain Snow’s attack points registered as 3000 “It’s been a long time…I’m still under oath never to eat any mice…and shrews!” he said looking a little annoyed “So what kind of mess have you gotten me into?”
“Ask Basil” Mathias answered with a smile as the owl spotted Basil but didn’t seem all that keen on asking “Alright time to slay the dragon!” Red eyes gave a mournful growl and Mathias laughed “No of course not you. I meant the bigger dragon” he shrugged and Red eyes growled again “Oh I’ll tell him, um which one of you is Joey?” Joey waved and Mathias smiled “He just wants to say thank you for making him feel so lucky to be your monster” Red eyes nodded with what could only be assumed to be a grin but then Mathias added "He also says he smells like an old leather boot!" Red eyes shot a small spurt of flame at Mathias' tail in response.
“Wait how do you understand my dragon?” Joey asked clearly confused but then he smiled and shook his head “Your making it up!”
“No...I swear!” Mathias said as he turned to Red Eyes as he tried to dodge the flames “He seems quite proud of you. You understood him right Basil?” but Basil shook his head and then another growl from Red eyes “Oh…apparently I can understand him because I’m a…duel monster?”
Fluttershy smiled and said “My turn?” Jack nodded smiling but he sighed looking sadly at the ground, his hand only had monsters, in truth it’d been a bad draw and he had gabbled but now he knew it was all over as Fluttershy drew a card “I play the field spell Redwall Abbey!” the abbey rose behind them, giving Snow and Mathias a 400 point boost “I’m sorry, Jack, Captain Snow attack with diving claw pummel!” Snow launched into the air and came down like a bullet, right onto Red Dragon Archfiend’s neck and the dragon still raised its head but an arrow from Redwall shot it. Fluttershy mumbled “Mathias attack with silver blade slash!” Mathias struck at Jack’s life points and then Fluttershy whispered “Red Eyes inferno fire ball!” Jack’s points hit zero as Red Eyes finished the duel.
“That was a very good duel…one more star chip and you’ll be in the final” Jack said with a smile “I get the impression you’ll challenge Akiza to a rematch?” to which Fluttershy nodded “By the way where’s your friend Twilight?”
“I saw her with Yugi last night” Basil said concerned but then he shrugged “We both know she can handle herself…jolly good show…woah!” as he spoke a spinning purple object spun between Basil’s ears “Who has the bally guts?”
“Opps, should have aimed lower…the name’s Ian!” a short boy with spikey blue hair and a green rifle “Our boss says we have to take out any Equestrians we find! So are these the guys, boss?” but if the Ian boy seemed like a threat the man that stepped out made Joey shake with fear and the man was followed by three more boys “Meet my team, Bakura, Bryan, Spencer and Tala!”
Joey snapped “There’s no way…you can’t be back!”
“So good to see you, Joseph” Bakura said with a cruel smirk and activated the device attached to his wrist “Now…time for revenge! You thought the ghost of revenge would allow me to stay buried forever!” he laughed “I summon Diabound! Crush them all!” the huge monster appeared, the room grew darker as Diabound surrounded the group of intruders.
“Who are you working for?!” Joey snapped as he drew a card from his deck and shouted “I summon Gilford the Lightening!” the warrior monster appeared with a yell of rage and Jack also summoned his Red dragon Archfiend but Diabound swatted both monsters with its tail
“Damn it!” Joey snapped frustraited.
“Oh our master isn’t fooled by Beerus’ tricks and lies!” Bakura explained as he turned to the corner “Our spy informed us when his little training routine began on Equestria. Flash come and take your credit” Flash Sentry stepped out in a battle armoured uniform but his face bore an unmistakable grin “We were send to take out the key to his plan! She is merely the start!”
Fluttershy mumbled “I summon…Mathias the Warrior!” but the cards refused to work and she said “What’s wrong?!”
“You need to say it with conviction!” Beerus explained landing amongst them “Sorry for this little pantomime but you still need to get the cards for the hostages to pass the training” he stood smiling as he send a blast of energy at Diabound but the monster dodged the blow and a man standing behind the group of enemies caught the attack “Hmm looks like I shouldn’t have used the illusion version of you”
“I was flattered you used a training dummy of me but let me show off my full power” Aizen said with a sinister smirk.
“Oh this isn’t jolly good!” Basil said in a worried tone.
“Yugi! Watch out!” Twilight yelled as a monster launched an attack against Yugi, Yugi turned his head just in time to dodge it but the attacker smirked “Who are you?!” as the man began to laugh as he looked at the two “Is that a duel monster?!”
“OH, you must be the Twilight Sparkle I was send to destroy! They call me Marik Ishtar and Yugi owes me a nice dish of revenge!” Marik boasted as he licked his lips “I also have some party favours for you little, Twilight! Kill her, my putties!”
“I don’t get it we already defeated, Lord Zedd! How’d you get his putties!?” Twilight declared as the putties surged forward “This shouldn’t be possible!?” she quickly dodged round two putties before kicking them and gasped as Whis suddenly appeared above them “What’s going on Whis?!”
“Well confession time, after we take care of your new friends” Whis quickly said as he dodged an attack fired at him by another new comer “Oh, I guess it’s time to see how powerful you are, Mr Darkseid and here I thought you didn’t make friends easy but look at all your new friends”
“Laugh while you can, clown! For now your doom is here!” Darkseid declared as he flew up to Whis and said “You and your clown of a master thought we were fooled! We know what you have been planning and now for the insult of defying us! You will die!” Darkseid threw a punch at Whis as Whis opened his mouth to reply but as the attack reached it’s target, Darkseid felt all the movement in his body stop “What?! What sorcery is this?!”
“You activated my trap! Spellbinding circle!” Yugi declared as Darkseid began to struggle “So it worked!”
“Well done, Yugi but this area is overrun! Fall back and regroup with the others!” Whis ordered as he looked at Marik and the army that now threatened to surround them “We’d be better off united than divided!” he then added “I have to check on Equestria and a few other places while I'm at it!” and with that he disappeared.
“Celtic Guardian! Defence mode!” Yugi declared as he grabbed Twilight’s arm “As much as I don’t want to agree with Whis. He's right! Come on!” the two began to run but quickly realised they were surrounded but they weren’t alone a blast of green energy struck the putties forcing them back. Turning Yugi and Twilight found themselves looking at Stardust Dragon “Akiza, Yusei, Crow! Come on! We need to find Joey and the others!” Yugi said as the three other duellists ran up to them.
“Hope you weren’t planning to hog all the fun to yourselves?” Jaden said as he walked up with Mai and Alexis “Come on let’s give this lot a butt kicking they’ll never forget! Hope no one objects to me going first! Come fourth Elemental Heroes Neos, Flame wingman and Tempest!” Jaden’s three Elemental heroes appeared and began to attack the putties.
Yuesi smiled “To be fair my Stardust is already out but I think Nitro Warrior and Turret Warrior want a go!” he held the cards up and the two monsters appeared who in turn started to fight too.
“Well my Celtic Guardian was out before either of you two monsters but here let me add Buster Blader, Dark Magician and Summoned Skull!” as the monster appeared Yugi order “Buster slash, Dark magic attack and Lighting strike!”
“Oh Alexis, can you believe they’re leaving us out? I think my Harpies and their Pet Dragon might have something to say about that!” Mai said as her monsters appeared alongside the others.
“Quite rude, Jaden but what the heck I’ll help!” Alexis said as she held up two cards “Cyber Blader and Cyber Prima! Show them how it’s done!” the two minsters appeared and began to attack.
“I guess it’s my turn then?” Akiza asked turning to Crow “Okay Black Rose Dragon is the only card I need!” the dragon roared as it was summoned and began to fire at the putties with a satisfying roar “Oh yeah! Come on Crow, Twilight!”
“Well I guess birds of a feather and all but make room for Blackwing Armour Master, Blackwing Dragon and Blackwing Bora the spear!” Crow said as he summoned his monster “Toast them guys!”
Twilight looked at her deck trying to figure out which cards would be best to summon but she still had to bear in mind she was a beginner “I…I guess these monsters Gokaioh, Battle Fever Robo and Magiking!” she looked at the monsters as they appeared “Okay! Attack with everything you’ve got!” she declared. However the giant robot monsters didn’t move an inch “They need us! Please, help us!”
Marik began laughing cruelly as he walked closer “You don’t have the spirit needed to command the respect of those monsters. However with my new deck, I now have power beyond what I dreamed of! I’d suggest you tell your friend, Sailor Jupiter about who my master captured and enslaved” he held up five cards and declared “I summon Sailor Moon, Sailor Mars, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Venus and Sailor Mini Moon!” as the five heroines appeared, all could see a black collar around their necks and their eyes shone a bright red “I look forward to enslaving Jupiter next!”
“Those are Sailor Jupiter’s friends. Let them go!” Twilight yelled enraged and turned to her monsters “You have to save the scouts! Please they need us! These worlds need you! Please….they’re our friends!” the three giant robots suddenly looked down at her “I believe in you!”
“Enough! Kill her, Sailor Mars!” Marik hissed as Mars stepped forward, she was trying her best to resist but her body was not within her control and tears began to leak down her face “What are you waiting for!? Kill her!”
“For….For…give.…me!” Mars whispered as she prepared her attack “Mars Fire Sniper!” the fire attack formed as she took aim but she still tried to resist “Please giant robots….help her! NO!” the attack shot towards Twilight who covered her face but Battle Fever Robo blocked the attack “YES! Girls their attack power is higher than ours! Attack!” Mars said smiling.
“Wait no!” Marik screamed realising that what Mars said was true “I won’t let you!” but as he said it the scouts ran towards the giant robots “If they’re destroyed! My life points will drop to zero!” he wasn’t wrong the attack points of each scout was 2500, with the exception of Sailor Moon who had 3000 but Battle Fever Robo’s attack clocked in at 4500! The two other robots had attack powers of 3500. So the scouts charged straight for the Battle Fever robo.
“Wait don’t! If your destroyed! Won’t you die?!” Yugi shouted trying to warn the scouts “There’s got to be another way!”
“There is!” Yusei said “They won’t die, of we send them to the next dimension but do any of us have such a card!”
Jaden smiled “Doctor Banner did, so I activate the trap Macro Cosmos!” as each scout was defeated they were drawn into the portal “Alright, it’s lucky I still had that card in my pocket” Jaden gave the thumps up.
Marik however looked furious “N…No not again! This can’t be happening!” he looked at the cards on his duel disc “There is one way to win!” he reached for the Sailor Moon card clearly intending to rip it up.
“Not so fast!” Yusei yelled as he ran forward and kicked Marik in the stomach “Akiza help me get his deck!” Akiza nodded and turned to her dragon, who’s thick vines wrapped Marik, giving Yusei a moment to grab the deck “Alright!”
“Well done, Yusei! I activate the trap, Return from the different dimension!” Twilight declared as the scouts returned to the field “It’s over Marik! We’ve won!”
Marik began to laugh weakly as he began to turn to ash “Oh you think so….I may have failed this time but my Master will win! You have one a small skirmish but not the war!” his left eye was the last part to disappear but he ended with “Equestria will be the first to fall to my Master!”
“What are you talking about?! Equestria lies in ruins!” Twilight said confused as to why Marik was making such a weird declaration about Equestria falling but then it dawned on her and she whispered to herself “Could it be possible that Equestria is unharmed?”
“Twilight!” Fluttershy suddenly ran up looking out of breath and Basil Stag Hare standing behind her fighting off the putties as best he could “Lord Aizen has returned! Joey and others needs your help!” she explained as she ducked a flying puttie, that was send flying by Buster Blader and he added “Please! Come on!”
“Battle Fever Robo! Please help us get to our friends!” Twilight asked as the giant turned and nodded “Lauch the Lightening Sword!” she ordered and with a single slash half the remaining putties were reduced to ashes but Twilight had little chance to rejoice as they ran in the direction Basil and Fluttershy had come from.
“So when did you become this strong Aizen?” Beerus mocked as he flew round, his attacks were having an effect but with the power boost Aizen had gained from the enemy force, Beerus was struggling to win and fact was Aizen would soon achieve victory. Below the demolition boys and Bakura were pushing Joey, Kaiba and Jack back “Victory is ours!”
“Want ’a bet?! Tiger claw attack!” a voice called out and a silver coloured Beyblade clashed with Brian’s Beyblade “Looks like it’s time for some payback Brian!” Ray of the bladebreakers stood looking cross.
“Oh yeah! Seaborg!” Spencer yelled
“Cat scratch attack!” a pink Beyblade clashed with Seaborg and pushed it back but the attack of the pink Beyblade was endless “Hey Ray you’d better keep your guard up” Mariah of the White Tigers walked up to Ray and kissed him on the cheek.
“Mariah!” Ray yelped embarrassed
“You’d better watch your back girly!” Iain declared “Wyborg! Attack!”
“Little punk! Your battle is with me! Stampede rush!” a brown blade clashed with Wyborg and pushed it back “I’ve been looking for a chance to repay you for beating me in Moscow!” Steve of the All Starz stood with a smirk on his face.
“Damn these inferior bladers are starting to annoy me!” Tala growled and he launched his blade aiming for Ray and Brian “Wolborg! Attack!”
“You need to calm down, my good man but maybe you need to be taught some proper manners. Wing dagger!” a large blue blade clashed into Wolborg driving it back “Ray, I’m terribly sorry for being late but Johnny was so eager to come too and I just had to get my crack at this one” Robert of the Majestics stood with a big smirk on his face.
“How!? How could we be losing they’re weaker than us and yet we’re losing!” Tala fumed as Spencer’s blade stopped spinning and Mariah switched targets to help Ray crush Brian who’s blade was smashed into pieces by the sheer force of the attack “We’ve been given such a power boost we should be winning” Iain’s blade shot past Tala’s head as Steve beat it and joined in with Robert’s attack against Wolborg “NO! I can’t lose! I won’t lose! I…” but at that moment the blade known as Wolborg was crushed by the force of the attack “Master Bakura!”
“Fools!” Bakura snapped in rage but his monsters were also struggling to beat Joey, Jack and Kaiba’s monsters “Damn it! I won’t lose again!”
“Then maybe you should shut your eyes!” Twilight exclaimed “Battle Fever Robo! Lightening sword!”
“Mathias! Sword slash!” Fluttershy yelled with conviction and this time the warrior mouse appeared slashing his sword causing a rush of air to fly towards Bakura’s monster.
“Lightening Blade!” Joey yelled.
“Neutron Blast attack!” Kaiba yelled
“Scorching Crimson Flare!” Jack yelled
The attacks stuck Bakura’s Diabound who could not withstand the full force and crumpled to dust “Damn it! Aizen! We need to retreat!” the portal opened up and the evil forces made their way through it “I’ll get my revenge soon and when I’m done…Equestria will be a ruin!”
After everyone had gathered round, Twilight turned to Beerus and said “What were they talking about?!” she paused “You destroyed our home?!” she pointed her finger at him with an accusing tone but then Beerus began to laugh “What’s so funny?!”
Beerus smiled and said “You really believe I the god of destruction would use an indirect method?! I’m insulted! That’s it! I’m not telling you anything” but a moment past and again he burst into laughter “Okay, okay, you broke me. I’ll tell you everything. To put it simply, your asleep, we wanted to show you what was at stake if we couldn’t get you ready for the war that is approaching and thus we approached Princess Luna. After a little convincing involving a rubber duck…”
“How did a rubber duck convince Luna?” Twilight asked in shock.
“You don’t want to know, anyway after Luna saw our nightmares, she agreed to help us” Beerus said as he tossed a coin and caught it on the tip of his claw “We also got Discord to help us with this training exercise” with that a loud pop and Discord appeared laughing.
“Does Celesia know about this?!” Fluttershy asked in alarm “There’s no way she’d agree to this!” she gestured at all the duellists gathered round them.
“Who do you think we approached first?” Whis said appearing above them “When we explained the situation, they started to help us identify weaknesses in Equestria’s defences!” Whis then added “We also needed to get the other worlds on our side ready for battle! Sadly we were wrong…the Power Rangers have already fallen!”
“That’s impossible!” Beerus said in alarm “Their earth seemed so well defended!”
“They had no united leadership and were hit so hard they fell easily!” Whis said sadly “I was able to rescue a few of them but most were killed” he then walked beside Beerus and the blow was clear “We’ll need to whip you and your friends into shape”
Discord changed his shape into Mighty Mick from Rocky “Don’t you worry! I’ll whip these ponies, bladers, scouts and duellists into shape!” as he then made some training equipment appear forming a makeshift gym “Right! I want to see you all sweat like you’ve never sweat before and even before that! Run round the island two thousand times!”
Basil began to laugh “Well I do say. That will be a most topping warm up!” he paused and added “But I do believe we’ll need to save that for later, Discord my good fellow!”
“I hope that helps you understand the situation” Beerus said in a serious tone “And I pray we’ll be ready to win this war after your training is complete!”
“Well I’ve still got a lot of questions but I’m in” Twilight said as she turned to Ray “I hope we can count of your help”
“The Bladebreakers never turn down a challenge!” Ray said with a smile “Hope you guys are game?” Steve, Mariah and Robert nodded.
“I’m ready to get my game on!” Jaden said and smiled to Neos “We’re game!”
“Jolly good show! I’m ready to give them a jolly good kicking!” Basil Stag hare said with a smile “So long as we’re ready to fight!”
“We’re going to win this tournament!” Fluttershy said with a firm smile.
“Oh is that so?” Yuesi said “Well you’ll have to get through me to do that! As I see it, you need to earn the right to win…on your own from now on!” he activated his duel disc and said “I challenge you Fluttershy!”
“W…what?!” she said in alarm
“Sounds like a plan” Ray said with a grin “Hey, come on you can do it…um…Fluttershy?”
“Never lose hope, Fluttershy!” Basil said with a big thumbs up.
“Okay! I’m ready!!” Fluttershy said activating her duel disc “Hope you’re ready to lose, Yusei!”
Fluttershy stood with her duel disc ready, she faced Yuesi as they shuffled the other’s deck, nervously preparing for the word to begin their duel and she looked at the deck she was shuffling but within her mind, she dwelled on Joey within the crowd. So many friends had been made on this adventure but if it wasn’t for Joey’s constant support they would have been knocked out. She then turned to look at Joey, who smiled with his supportive smile and she smiled back. The fact remained however that her chances against Yuesi were minimal, he had defeated Joey so easily and now she had to do the impossible and win! She then remembered their adventure back in Equestria, so much had changed, dream or not, none of them were the same and she said to herself “I don’t want to do this” she looked into Yuesi’s eyes and added “I don’t want to play against you! This isn’t fair”
“Life rarely is” Yuesi sighed as he handed her deck back and continued “You have to beat me and that’s all there is to it” he gave her a small encouraging smile and walked across the field. The air was thick with tension, every step echoing around them as he headed for his spot on the field and when he finally turned round the life point counter hit 4000. Both duellist drew their opening hand, as they had already agreed on Yuesi going first, he drew a sixth card and after a moment looking at his hand said “I summon Max Warrior in attack mode!” the monster appeared with a twirl of it’s weapon and stood ready for the fight “And to end my turn I’ll play two cards face down!”
Joey sighed from the side-lines with Twilight, Yugi and Basil “This can’t be fair” he said slowly, he looked at Yusei with a concerned look, he then looked at Fluttershy feeling his heart ready to burst with pity and he then turned to Yugi but noticed Atem had taken his place “Atem? Come on! This can’t be fair!” he snapped as he hoped Atem would agree with him but Atem remained silent “Come on!”
“Wheeler!” Kaiba suddenly snapped walking up and gave him a deep scowl “How dare you call yourself a duellist!? You have so little faith in Fluttershy’s ability to stand on her own!” he then looked at Fluttershy with a smile on his face “If you care, then believe in her and her hopeful victory”
Ray then walked up and said “Yeah, my team believed in me when I needed them to and now so must you!” he gave Joey a slap across the back “She needs to see that you believe in her” and he smiled “All of you” Twilight smiled to confirm that she did believe in her friend “The odds are stacked against her but…I heard in this old movie, never tell me the odds!” Ray and the other bladers smiled as they all watched Fluttershy nervously draw a card “Here she goes!”
“Come on, Fluttershy! You can win!” Joey cheered all of a sudden, he was quickly joined by Steve, Twilight, Basil, Mariah and Ray as they cheered for Fluttershy, she smiled meekly but her mind was drawing blanks “Believe in the heart of cards!”
Fluttershy gave a chuckle and said just loud enough for her friends to hear as she looked at the only monster in her hand “I play the spell cost down!” she discarded a card and said “This let’s me lower the level of one monster in my hand by two stars. So with that I can summon this monster, I summon Rakkety Tam MacBurl!”
The response from those watching was laughter, Basil being the only one that didn’t burst out laughing, the monster looked too silly for words, A squirrel in tartan, a hat and a long sword with a small shield, stood on the field but Basil hushed the laughter with a cough “Now…see here you rapscallions! Show the warrior some respect! He is a jolly good fellow”
“Ack, dunna ya worry about it” Rakkety said as he looked at Max Warrior with a mad glint in his eyes “So long as I can sink ma blade into enemy hide…I’ll be just grand” his attack points were registered at 2200 and he added “Ya should probably check what I can do!” he held up two swords and turned to Fluttershy “I can call a mate to back me!”
“Oh really?!” Fluttershy asked as she checked the card “Oh right! I’ll use Rakkety’s ability to call Matthias the warrior!” the warrior mouse appeared with a smile and took the second sword from Rakkety who clapped the mouse across the back “Then I’ll use this card! The late rose!” suddenly roses sprouted on Yuesi’s face down cards “As long as I give up 500 points a turn, your face down cards lose their effects!”
“NO! Yuesi said in alarm but the damage was done and then one of the roses’ petals fell off “What’s going on?”
“The second effect of this card, lets me summon a monster from my deck, who’s level equals the number of face down cards you have!” Fluttershy explained with a smile “So I summon Logalog Shrew in defence mode” the shrew appeared with an impressive flip with his defence points set to 1200.
“Mathias! You crazy mouse warrior!” Logalog said as he kneeled in defence “Let my special ability offer you aid!” the attack points of Rakkety and Mathias were raised by 300 points.
“After that since, Logalog is a tuner, Luna told me I can synchro summon Mathias and Logalog for Power tool dragon!” Fluttershy said with a faint smile and whispered “Thanks Leo for the lone of his best monster” the mechanical dragon appeared with a loud roar “I…I did it!”
“Yeah way to go, Fluttershy!” Joey yelled in joy and turned to Leo and Luna “You two did something incredibly kind for her” he smiled as a single tear leaked down his cheek “I thought for sure she was going to…”
“As I said, Wheeler, she’s learned fast and we should all be proud for the parts we played in helping her improve but this duel is a long way from being done. Yusei’s face down’s may have lost their effects but look at his face” Kaiba explained as the group look to Yusei, the look of Yusei’s face showed no sign of panic or concern and if anything was the very definition of calm but then Kaiba snarled “Especially with those two jokers” giving Whis and Beerus a dark glare “They have more reason than most to change things”
“Wouldn’t surprise me either” Basil said as he rubbed his chin “Dashed chap is hard to read. Be a bit of jolly good tactics to change things up when no one’s looking”
“Power tool Dragon, attack!” Fluttershy ordered as the dragon roared and flew forward, Max Warrior blocked the blow from the right but was then smashed to pieces by the left. However Yusei’s life points remained unchanged and Fluttershy looked on in horror “Huh?!” Yusei held up a single card, Kuriboh.
Yugi smiled “I noticed Leo giving Fluttershy a card so I just gave Yusei one” he explained in Atem’s voice and shrugged but then they all heard Beerus snickering “Oh no!”
“Oh yes! Since we’re playing that little game” Beerus chuckled darkly “Discord, if you will” Discord nodded and snapped his clawed fingers. Suddenly the decks shuffled violently and the two duelist’s hands were drawn into the decks “Now draw the same number of cards you had”
Yusei drew three cards and Fluttershy drew two but Yusei snapped “This isn’t fair! Fluttershy only just learned the rules! Now you change her deck into a random assortment of cards that don’t match!” he then looked at his deck “I have no problem adapting but you can’t do this!” “Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do hairgel boy!” Beerus snapped as he glowed slightly “Or I’ll have Whis feed you one of our leftovers!”
“That doesn’t sound that bad” Basil said slowly
“One of our leftovers from a planet that tried to poison me!” Beerus mumbled as he flicked his wrist “Now I believe it’s still your turn, Fluttershy”
Fluttershy nodded and looked at the cards in her hand “I play the spell card, pot of greed! This lets me draw two cards and then…” she looked at the two new cards and sighed sadly “I play a card face down and that it”
“Not a lot she can do, this position just isn’t workable” Robert said as he cleaned his blade and added “The best she can hope for is that Yusei didn’t get anything good” but as he spoke Yusei drew a card and shook his head sadly.
“I summon this monster…uh Starscream Armada fire!” Yusei said as a bright blue jet flew from the card but as it drew close to the ground, it changed into a robot with a sword, it’s attack points set to 1800 and Yusei smiled “When I successfully summon this creature I can summon a machine monster from my deck of the same level!” he looked through his deck and picked a card “I Special summon Bri synchron fire your jets for a synchro summon” Bri synchron appeared and then disappeared as the circles formed round Starscream.
“Oh no! Yusei must be going for Stardust Dragon!” Crow said in alarm “This duel could be all over!”
“I summon Optimus Prime the Autobot commander!” Yusei dramatically as a large truck rolled onto the field and again transformed “His original attack is 2700 but thanks to Bri Synchron it’s raised to 3300!” he looked at Fluttershy sadly “I’m sorry but this has to be done! Optimus attack with max fire!”
Optimus suddenly mumbled “Forgive me” he took aim at Power tool Dragon but suddenly a rock hit Optimus in the head “What?!”
“Ya forget about me, ya scrap heap joker!” Rakkety said with a smirk “Come on then ya metal jerk! Bet ya canna hit me!” he then stuck his tongue out and blew a raspberry “I bet that’s the sound ya make when ya rust!”
“What’s he doing?” Joey mumbled “No matter which monster receives the attack, it’s going to do a lot of damage”
Twilight smiled as she saw the look in Rakkety’s eyes “He knows something we don’t!” she said with a big smile and added “I’ll bet you anything, it’ll be a way to get a monster out that can stand up to Optimus!”
“Maybe but what?” Joey said sceptically
“Oh fine!” Optimus said as he aimed his gun at Rakkety “Max fire!” the attack struck Rakkety with horrible force and he collapsed to the ground coughing in agony as he raised his head weakly but then he began to laugh “What is it?” Fluttershy’s life points dropped to 2900.
“I have another effect….if the monster I helped summon is destroyed before me…I can help my owner by summoning a monster who’s level equals tha number of turns that separate our destructions and I count one! The monster can come from anywhere” Rakkety explained “If Fluttershy’s dosa mind, I’ll pick the tuner monster Garfield!” the orange cat appeared as the squirrel disappeared.
The cat let loose with a massive yawn and said “This seems pointless” he then shrugged and went to sleep.
“Not exactly the most amazing choice is it?” Crow said looking at the cat “It’s just a normal cat?”
“I have a special effect” Garfield snapped as he opened an eye lazily glaring at Crow.
“Really? Care to tell the rest of us” Ray said with a frown.
Garfield yawned and muttered “For once I can talk and instead of asking me important questions like, How I manage to look this good for my age? You ask what I can do in a children’s card game?” he rolled his eyes and muttered “I forgot it” to a collective groan from the audience.
Yusei began to laugh and said “Well I’ll just end my turn” he smiled at Fluttershy and added “I hope this isn’t too much for you”
Fluttershy however smiled and whispered “Thank you Rakkety. I know what I must do!” she drew a card and looked at her hand “I play Harpie’s feather duster!” Yusei’s back row was destroyed and she added “Now I synchro summon Merlin the mage!”
“Merlin!” Yusei said in awe but then his face fell at the monster that appeared “That’s not Merlin!” the spellcaster before them was a boy, in a brown jacket and a red scarf “Merlin is supposed to be an old wizard”
“Well you have to age before you can become old” Merlin said quietly, his attack points were set to a mere 200 but then the magic in the air began to build and Fluttershy’s deck glowed bright “I however can summon as many spellcaster monsters from either deck as long as a single warrior monster is summoned too!”
Fluttershy smiled “I’ll use Merlin’s special effect to summon…” she looked at her deck and smiled “I choose Natsu the dragon mage, the Sakura of the cards and Gandalf the wise. Now for the warrior I choose Arthur king of Camelot!” the four monsters appeared, Natsu’s attack was 2000, Sakura was 1700, Gandalf smiled as his points clocked in at 2300 and Artur’s attack was 3000 “Now it’s your turn. You need to summon 3 spellcasters and one warrior”
Yusei smiled “Okay” after a long pause he chose his four cards “I summon Dumbledore the headmaster, Elsa the frozen queen, Rita the Empress of Evil and my warrior is the mighty Sora keymage!” Dumbledore matched Gandalf’s attack points, Elsa had 1600, Rita held an attack of 2000 and Sora had 2500 “So what now?”
“According to the card, Merlin adds the attack together of all the monsters and divides it in 5 but then attacks automatically” Fluttershy mumbled as Merlin did just that and his attack points became 4120. Thus Merlin focused his magic into his hands and launched a devastating blast of energy striking Optimus. Yusei’s lifepoints dropped to 3180 “Now Arthur attack Sora!” Arthur drew his sword and charged forward, Sora blocked the first strike but Arthur disarmed him and then cut him in half.
Yusei lifepoints dropped to 2680 but he smiled “I activate the special effect of Sora allowing me to summon Ariel of the sea in defence mode!” a mermaid shot out the card and sat on the field her defence set to 2000.
“So now Gandalf attack Elsa with magic staff strike!” Fluttershy ordered as Gandalf charged forward and blasted Elsa with a concentrated blast of energy, Yusei points dropped to 1980 “Well another bites the dust! Natsu attack Rita!” both monsters exploded as they attacked. Leaving Yusei with Dumbledore and 1980 lifepoints but his smile only seemed to grow bigger.
At that moment Whis received a tap on the shoulder from the Doctor “We have a problem, the scouts have been driven back to the portal and they’ve taken casualties. There’s only two left” the Doctor explained and then he dropped the worst news “They got through the portal to the Rendezvous point but they were followed and the portal won’t shut! They need help”
“I’m on it” Whis said as he turned to the Doctor “This may take a while but what I need you to do is to ensure Applejack and Rarity make it to Coruscant…okay?” the doctor nodded and Whis sighed as he left.
“Good luck, Whis” the Doctor said as he walked towards a blue box.
Yusei drew a card and said to Fluttershy “I have to admit, you’ve improved, even in this situation where the odds are stacked against you….you don’t give up and you keep duelling!” he raised a card in his hand “When this duel ends, no matter the result….I want you to take this and know we’re with you” he then picked his move “But just because I admire your moves doesn’t mean I’m getting soft. I play the field spell, Hogwarts!” the massive castle appeared behind him “Now for it’s effect I get to summon a new monster for every three spells I have in my graveyard, so long as it’s a spellcaster and I have six so I summon Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl!” the two monsters appeared.
Fluttershy smiled happily and said “I activate my trap card when you summon two monsters at the same time I can play the trap, Dragon calling allowing me to Summon Red Eyes Black Dragon!” the dragon roared as it appeared.
“Okay very impressive but I still have two cards left. I play pot of greed” Yusei said as he knew the next turn would be the decide it for better or for worse “I play two spells. First Thousand knives to destroy Merlin!” Merlin dodged the knives as best he could but finally the knives struck “And second the spell card United we stand to Dark Magician. He now gains 800 points for every face up monster I control!” Dark Magician’s attack became 5700 “Okay Dark Magician attack Arthur!” the attack did horrible damage and dropped Fluttershy’s life points to 200 “Now Dark Magician Girl attack Sakura” however Gandalf suddenly glowed bright “What the?!”
“My good man, if I sacrifice myself I can end the battle phase but I have to have more attack points than the attacking monster” Gandalf said as he disappeared in a flash.
“So it’s your turn” Yusei said dryly.
Fluttershy drew a single card and said “I play the spell Card of demise! This let’s me draw till I have five cards” she drew four “I then play the spell Monster reborn! I’ll use it to revive Power tool Dragon!” the dragon appeared with a mighty roar “I’ll then play the spell call of Discord”
“Oh that’s me!” Discord exclaimed as he flew over and landed on the field dressed as the Blue eyes white dragon “My special ability allows me to steal a spell from you Yusei so if you don’t mind…” he slapped Dark Magician and took the united we stand card “Oh now Red eyes catch!” Red eyes black dragon roared as it’s attack points jumped to 4800.
“So it’s over….Fluttershy…you’ve grown so much” Yusei said as a single tear leaked down his cheek “Go for it!”
Fluttershy smiled “Thank you Yusei” she turned to Red eyes and said “Red eyes black dragon, inferno fire blast on Dark Magician!” the dragon flew forward and fired a fire ball at the magician who countered but the blast was too strong. Yusei’s life points hit zero.
Chapter 14- The four way clash for the semi finals
Whis stood in the centre of four duelists getting ready for a four way duel as Kaiba, Twilight, Yuesi and Yugi looked on smiling “It’s hard to believe it” Kaiba said as he looked at Joey “I remember when I did this set up in Battle city….to think Wheeler is the only one of the four from that duel in this duel” he began to laugh as a single tear leaked down his cheek “Fluttershy has also grown so much as a player”
“YYYYeeeaaaahhhh” Yuesi said angrily, drawing out the word as if he was taking the piss, as he looked at Akiza and snarled “But it hardly seems fair what’s about to happen”
“You mean the randomised cards?” Basil asked walking over shaking his head “At least they were allowed to draw out 100 cards and pick from them”
“Yeah but Yuesi is right” Crow said as he looked at his deck “I mean there’s no other way to put it, Fluttershy has grown stronger but….it’s like the odds are stacked against her again” he then added “I just wish I still was in this tournament!”
“You lost to Jack, fair and square” Yuesi said evenly as he then added “This duel is between Fluttershy, Jack, Akiza and Joey. So deal with it”
“Yeah but rock, Paper, scissors and losing by paper!” Crow fumed and then added “I mean I could totally kick ass in that duel!”
Twilight laughed and said “You did pick Rock” she then frowned and whispered “Good luck, Fluttershy”
Whis turned his staff into a microphone as he coughed, once, then again and finally said into the microphone “Welcome to this four way tussle between legends! The king of the turbo duels, able to always able to put on a show and with the silver outfit, Jack Atlas!” Jack raised his fist high into the air and smirked “Now behind me, the element of Kindness, Animal friend and reformer of chaos, Fluttershy!” Fluttershy smiled and waved to Twilight “On my left the monkey of duels, the underdog and the restorer of sight, Joey Wheeler!” Joey waved around, looking really silly and causing Kaiba to face palm, groaning “And last but not least the rose of a duelist, the witch of New Domino and queen of plants, Akiza Izinski” Akiza didn’t move but did smile at Yusei.
“Man, I can’t believe no one from Duel Academy made it to the finals” Jaden said as he looked at his hands and groaned “Were we really the worst?”
“Not really” Beerus said sitting next to Jaden as he chewed on Popcorn “We did have the option to get more duellists from other timelines but Whis and I couldn’t stand that Yuma, brat” he offered Jaden some popcorn and added “You and your friends did fine…it just wasn’t good enough…but we still appreciate your help”
Jaden smiled and added “Man, Yuma must be terrible” Beerus nodded and Jaden ate some popcorn “You know Pizza would be awesome”
“Whis! Pizza!” Beerus said as he threw the popcorn away.
“Just a second my lord!” Whis responded as he then turned to the audience “So this duel is like the duel in Battle city! With four duelists and this duel will decide the duels for the semi finals!” he then drew four cards “I have four cards, now time to decide the order of this duel!” he threw the cards into the air and flew up grabbing one “Right Joey first” he grabbed a second “Fluttershy next” a third one was grabbed “Akiza” and finally a fourth card “Then Jack!” he then landed and added “Also bear in mind none of you can attack on your first turns! So prepare to duel!”
The four drew their opening hands and Joey said “This is it” he looked at his hand and smiled “Alright I’ll set two cards face down and then summon Armoured Lizard in attack mode!” he looked at Fluttershy and yelled “Goodluck!”
“Right” Fluttershy mumbled drawing a card to begin her turn “I summon…” all the monsters in her hand…they were all animals? That was cruel, what did cute little animals ever do to deserve a duel like this? It wasn’t fair, all the cards she’d gotten had been formed into a deck by Whis, saying he was doing her a favour “I don’t understand?” she didn’t want to summon any of them “I…Summon..” she couldn’t…she wouldn’t but then she had to win “I summon…Crystal Beast Topaz Tiger!”
“About time” the tiger said turning his head as he was summoned “I was growing board”
“Why did I expect anything different?” Fluttershy groaned “I set one card face down”
Akiza drew a card saying “About time! I summon…um…this is different” her monsters weren’t plants at all but instead a pile of machines “I summon Giga tech wolf in defence mode and set three cards facedown!”
Jack drew his card and said “I summon Battle Ox in attack mode! I then end my turn” Jack was depressed all the cards in his hand were monsters. He then looked at the monsters on the field and said “Hang on! These are all real cards!”
Yugi nodded and said “Yeah that’s weird…normally the cards that we’re given are weird cards” he then turned to Whis who smiled “You have something up your sleeve don’t you?”
Whis laughed and said “Well their decks do contain one…um…weird card and the idea is...well they must each summon the card or be disqualified!”
Twilight felt the blood drain from her face, so if Fluttershy couldn’t summon the monster that could be anywhere in her deck and protect her life points until it was done they’d be out of chances “Fluttershy! You have to summon it!”
Fluttershy nodded as Joey gave Twilight the thumbs up “Don’t worry, Twilight…I’m about to summon mine!” Joey said as he then added “It’ll allow us all to summon our needed monsters!” Akiza and Jack smiled in response as Joey drew a card “Ah….going to have to wait a bit...” he looked at his hand but said “Let’s see, I summon Giant Solider of Stone in defence mode!” he smiled at Fluttershy “Your move!”
“Um right…I summon this Chrystal Beast Cobalt Eagle!” Fluttershy said after drawing a card and smiled as the eagle from the card gave her a smile “Right! Attack Topaz! Get Akiza’s Wolf!”
Topaz tiger nodded and charged forward but Akiza smiled sadly “I activate my trap card Magic Arm shield!” the shield grabbed Jack’s Battle Ox “Forgive me”
“No need!” Joey said as he activated a trap “I activate the trap Reinforcements!” the card raised Topaz tiger’s attack to 2100 and as it’s claws clashed with the axe of the battle ox, the axe gave causing the battle ox to roar in pain and fall to the ground “Sorry Akiza” Akiza’s lifepoints dropped to 3600.
Fluttershy suddenly snapped “I don’t need you to baby me! You have to let me make my own mistakes!” she knew she had grown and for Joey to save her was nothing short of insulting “Please…don’t help me next time”
“She’s right Joey” Atem suddenly said from the side lines “You didn’t like it back in battle city, so don’t do it to her, Fluttershy has earned her place in this final and you need to show her respect”
Yusei then said “The fact you helped her there was nothing short of disrespectful conduct”
Joey nodded as Fluttershy saw her opening “Cobalt eagle attack Jack!” suddenly as the eagle flew to Jack, Armoured Lizard jumped in front of the attack, the lizard bit down on the eagle’s wing joint, destroying it and dropped Fluttershy’s life points by 100 point “Thank you” Joey nodded “My cobalt Eagle isn’t gone though” the Chrystal gem appeared at her feet as she spoke “I end my turn!”
Akiza drew a card and said “I sacrifice my Giga tech wolf and summon Machine King!” the wolf howled as it was sacrificed for the machine king, which appeared and aimed it’s fist at the Armoured Lizard “Attack Fluttershy’s Topaz tiger with jet punch!” the Machine King switched targets and fired the attack, the tiger jumped to avoid the attack but the fist came back striking the tiger in the back. Fluttershy’s life points dropped to 3200 “I end my turn”
“My move!” Jack declared as he drew a card and groaned “I start by special summoning Cyber Dragon and then I play the spell card monster reborn! To revive my Battle Ox!” the two monsters appeared ready for a fight but then Jack added “I’ll sacrifice them both to summon the Balrog!” suddenly flames roared to life in front of Jack and a terrifying monster clad in darkness and flames rose.
Whis smiled “So Jack is safe” the Balrog’s attack power was registered at 3300 and then it’s effect activated “If I remember right when summoned the Balrog stops traps being activated in the same turn it attacks”
“So if Jack doesn’t declare an attack….traps won’t work?!” Yugi said in horror but then smiled “I suspect Jack won’t be able to resist not attacking” but Yugi was wrong. Jack nodded to end his turn and Joey drew a card.
“I sacrifice my two monsters to summon my warrior monster, Boromir the horn!” Joey declared as his warrior appeared his attack coming in at 100 but then the man drew a horn “When summoned, I can use his mighty horn to destroy all monsters on the field and then we all must pick a monster from our deck that equals the level of the strongest monster destroyed!” he smiled and then added “That monster is then summoned but if it’s destroyed, the attack points of the monster are taken out of our lifepoints!”
“Akiza and Fluttershy will have to pick the monsters that they need to summon to not be disqualified!” Twilight said calmly as Fluttershy looked through her deck “Come on!”
Fluttershy found it “I summon Rainbow Dash!” Twilight and Basil smiled as a rainbow streak flew down and landed next to Fluttershy, the pony version of Rainbow smiled at them but when she opened her mouth to speak no sound came fourth “Rainbow?” Rainbow shook her head and a single tear trickled from her eye as her attack points came in at 2500.
“I Summon Jaeger Gipsy Danger in attack mode!” Akiza declared as the ground suddenly shook as the giant robot appeared, it slammed one giant fist into its other hand and it’s attack points sat at 3600 “When summoned I can summon another monster but it has to be weaker than 500 points attack points…so I summon Marshmallon in defence mode!”
Jack’s chose “I summon Blue Eyes White Dragon!” the white Dragon flew out from the card and roared it’s battle cry.
“I choose Black Luster Solider-Evoy of the beginning!” Joey declared as the monster appeared and drew it’s sword “I’ll then equip it with the spell card, Lighting Blade!” the attack of the monster jumped to 3800 points “Now sorry Jack! Black Luster Solider attack Blue eyes!” the sword slashed the monster in half and Jack’s life points took 3800 damage dropping them to 200 “Fluttershy forgive me….Black Luster Solider use your second attack to attack Rainbow Dash!” the damage done dropped Fluttershy’s life points to zero.
“She worked so hard but it just wasn’t enough” Whis said and added “In the next round she’ll need to be more prepared”
However Basil said “I get it! Jolly good show! Fluttershy’s trap…it could have stopped the attack but she can still activate it right?” Whis nodded and Basil laughed “Jolly good! Absolute pleasure to watch! Fluttershy has chosen her opponent already!”
Akiza drew a card and said “I declare an attack on Jack!” but at that moment as the Jaeger launched it’s fist at Jack, two barrels appeared and the fist went in one and fired out the other one “What the?!” Akiza shouted in alarm as the fist headed back straight at her.
“I activated my trap….Magic cylinder!” Fluttershy said as she smiled and Akiza smiled in return “I swore from the start that it’d be you and me in the semi-finals!”
“Sounds like fun” Akiza said and watched as her life points dropped to zero.
Whis flew forward and declared “The finals have been decided! In the first duel, Akiza will face off against Fluttershy and in the second Joey vs Jack!” there was a roar of approval from all who watched the duel “Now rest up! In two hours we’ll have the first duel!”
Fluttershy walked over to Twilight but Mariah stepped in front of her and hugged her “Oh wow! That was so cool! You did really well! You didn’t even let defeat get you down!” she said as she pulled away and handed her a small pink object “Here…take this for good luck” Fluttershy looked down at the pink Beyblade “Well….we’re all rooting for you”
“I’m not” Robert said bluntly as he walked up “She’s really weak”
“Ignore him” Mariah said as Fluttershy blushed “Is it true?! That only a few days ago you didn’t know how to play, learned in less than a day and now you are in the finals?!” Fluttershy nodded and even Robert’s mouth dropped open in shock “WOW! That’s so cool!”
“Um thank you but I got really lucky” Fluttershy mumbled.
Robert laughed “If there’s one thing I’ve learned from Tyson and being British overall….luck isn’t always unearned” he said as he added “Tyson didn’t always have tons of skill but luck certainly helped him beat me….also my country got really lucky a while back but I know that luck wasn’t unearned”
Fluttershy nodded and mumbled “If you don’t mind…I need to talk to Twilight” she pushed past and looked into Twilight’s eyes “I hope I did the right thing”
“It’s not what I think here” Twilight said calmly “It’s what you think!”
Fluttershy looked at the Beyblade and then her deck “I can win!”
Akiza sighed as she shuffled Fluttershy’s deck, the semi-final duel between them was about to begin, both their decks were ready and they’d been allowed to rebuild their decks with whatever cards they’d wanted to. Akiza was back with the cards she trusted and Fluttershy had taken advice from just about every person in the area. Joey and Jack watched from the side lines preparing themselves for what was about to come “It’s hard to believe” Akiza suddenly said as she took back her deck from Fluttershy “You and I played each other earlier in this tournament and to be honest I never thought….that’d you and I would play each other again”
Fluttershy nodded as she took her own deck back and mumbled “I know but I said to myself….I would give you a proper match and I’m sorry but may I suggest that you surrender” even though the words had been quiet, the following response was so quiet the words sounded as if they’d been yelled and then the audience cheered “I mean it”
“I have no doubt that you do but Fluttershy be real here…your chances are limited at best” Akiza said kindly as they began to walk to their starting positions “But if you insist….I’ll even place a bet. If you win, I’ll give you my black rose dragon to use in the remainder of the tournament and if I win….well you must do me a favour?”
“I’ll do you the favour even when I win” Fluttershy said as the two activated their duel discs. As agreed Fluttershy started the duel by drawing a sixth card, again her deck had of course been altered but her new strategy would be the difference between victory and defeat “Okay! I’ll set a monster in defence mode!” she then picked two cards “Then I’ll set two cards face down and activate Graceful Charity! Your turn!” she quickly drew three cards and then discarded two.
“Okay!” Akiza said as she looked at her hand “I’ll start by summoning Violet Witch in attack mode!” she then added “I’ll then play the field spell Black Garden!” the garden spell went straight to work as thick dark vines covered the field, the vines were covered in thorns but then something happened that Akiza had not intended. The hologram looked a little too real and as Akiza reached a hand towards the vines, felt solid mass under her hand but not just that. The blood that trickled from her palm had come from a single thorn “OH NO!”
Whis floated above them “Oh didn’t I tell you? This duel will between real monsters to make sure this duel is more….entertaining” there was a horrified gasp from those watching “It’s all thanks to your powers Akiza” Akiza quickly tried to bring her powers back under control but nothing changed “Nothing you can do will change the duel’s conditions”
“OH NO! Stop this duel!” Yusei yelled, he remembered all too well what had happened when Black Garden had been made real by Akiza’s powers back in the fortune cup and the injuries that Sir Gill de Randsborg had taken. If all Akiza’s powers were back, then both herself and Fluttershy were in terrible danger “Why?!” Yusei screamed “Why would you do this?!”
Whis at first ignored Yusei’s question but then said in a deadly serious tone “The war we’re about to fight won’t stand for excuses…we need to be ready for not only the sight of blood but the pain to come” he then added “The duel will go ahead and surrender isn’t an option”
“Fluttershy!” Twilight screamed “Let her out! This isn’t right!”
“NO! Twilight, Equestria needs us to be strong and if this is one of the prices I must pay….then I pay it gladly” she said as she then turned to face Akiza “Please…keep going”
“I…I…Violet Witch, attack!” Akiza ordered as her monster flew forward, towards Fluttershy’s defence position monster but when the monster flipped up, Akiza’s life points dropped down to 3100 “What the?! That’s not your monster!” Elemental Hero Clayman stood having absorbed the blow “Isn’t that….Jaden Yuki’s monster?”
Fluttershy nodded and said “Everyone knocked out the tournament let me borrow a few cards for this duel” she then activated a trap “I activate the trap, call of the haunted!” Akiza smiled as she knew what monster was coming “I summon Blue Eyes White Dragon!” Joey smiled at Kaiba who shrugged as Blue Eyes’ attack points dropped to 1500 and then Fluttershy said “Is there anything else, you want to do before you end your turn and I start mine?”
“Well yes, I set three cards face down and end my turn” Akiza said as she set the cards “I hope you have more surprise moves” she said as she waited for Fluttershy to begin her move “You have certainly improved”
“Thank you” Fluttershy said as she drew a card and looked at her hand “Forgive me, I borrowed a card from Mai! I play Harpies’ Feather duster!” the card whipped up and destroyed all the cards in Akiza’s spell and trap zone including the black garden. At the same time all the tokens on the field wilted, then disappeared but there was no target for their next effect to activate.
“NO! There aren’t any monsters in my grave” Akiza said with a sad look at her graveyard.
“I then sacrifice Blue eyes to summon Summoned Skull!” Fluttershy said as the large demon skull monster appeared with a fearsome growl “Sorry about this! Summoned Skull attack with Lightening Strike!” lightening roared around the fiend as it powered up its attack and Violet Witch braced itself for impact. Then in a roaring surge of lightening, the attack fired out and zapped the witch. Akiza groaned as thick burn marks appeared along her arms, the lightening zapping some of her strength “Akiza! Are you okay?!” Fluttershy screamed as Akiza’s life points dropped to 1700.
“Ye…Yeah…I’m fine…is that all you got?!” Akiza said panting “So long as I still have points…I’m not beaten yet!” she then looked through her deck “Thanks to the effect of my witch, when it’s destroyed by battle I can add a plant monster with 1500 or less defence points” she picked her card “So I’ll add my Copy plant to my hand!”
“Man that was a good move but can Fluttershy keep it up, Yug?” Joey asked as they watched the exchange.
“Well it depends, Akiza has played the game longer and is a greatly skilled player” Yuesi said as he watched the game “But Fluttershy does have an advantage”
“Jolly good what is it?” Basil asked as he chewed on a carrot “This bally game is jolly difficult, any advantage could be the edge Fluttershy needs to win!”
Kaiba spoke up before Yuesi could “Well Fluttershy has watched Akiza duel and knows her tactics, whereas Fluttershy’s deck is a mixed bag of cards that we let her borrow and while normally that could lead to defeat. All the cards she asked for were well chosen” Kaiba then pointed to the field “Akiza’s moves are limited now because I suspect Fluttershy tried to pick cards that'd give her an edge”
“I wouldn’t bet on it” Yugi said as he looked at Akiza “Akiza has still got this game under control...look at her face” he then stared at Fluttershy “But of course Fluttershy seems calmer than she did the first time they played” he laughed “It’s truly anyone’s game”
Robert nodded “Agreed, having watched the Bladebreakers for as long as I have….you can never underestimate the underdog” he said as the beybladers in the group began laughing “I can just see the same strength coming from these two”
Akiza drew a card to begin her turn “Okay….so I’ll start with this Monster Reborn! In order to revive Violet Witch and then I summon my copy plant! This card lets me copy one of your monsters levels!” she pointed to Clayman “So I’ll copy his level!”
“I don’t get it” Leo said as he looked on “Clayman and Violet witch are both level 4 monsters…so they equal 8…not seven. She can’t summon Black Rose!”
“He’s right I can’t summon Black Rose but I can summon another monster!” Akiza said as copy plant and Violet witch began to execute a synchro summon “I Synchro summon the level 8….Stardust Dragon!” the crowd gasped as the dragon roared and flew up from Akiza's card.
“She changed up her deck!” Crow said in shock “Yusei!”
“Well I couldn’t just let her go in without a little help” Yusei said laughing slightly “I may want Fluttershy to do well but no point making it easy” he then whispered to himself “Come on Akiza. Don’t let her win”
Akiza then said “I play the spell card Pot of greed! So I draw two cards and then I play….the Equip spell, Silver wings!” Stardust roared as it’s wings shone bright “I’m sorry Fluttershy but you must know…it’s over” she then added with a tear trickling down her cheek “Stardust attack Summoned Skull!” Stardust flew forward, the field shooting lightening at it but the attacks did little to prevent, Stardust flying through Summoned Skull “Fluttershy, Summoned Skull is beaten and I end my turn”
“Well at least she still has Clayman?” Luna said as she looked at Fluttershy “And she didn’t lose any life points”
“Yeah but I doubt she has enough cards to be able to win….she’ll need to destroy Stardust three times in battle in one turn” Jaden said sadly “There’s no easy way for that to be done”
Fluttershy sighed as she drew a single card, she looked down at her two face downs, sadly both were spell cards, they had been a bluff in the hope that Akiza would mistake them for traps but at this moment her hand was void of any way to destroy Stardust “I’ll set a monster in defence mode and end my turn” she said sadly.
“I’m sorry, Fluttershy” Akiza said as she drew a card “I summon lord Poison in attack mode! Then I equip Fairy Meteor crush to Stardust”
“OH NO! Now when Stardust hits a monster in defence mode…the difference between it’s attack points and the defending monster’s defence points will be taken out of Fluttershy’s life points!” Alexis said sadly “it’ over”
“Stardust Dragon attack Clayman with Starshower blast!” Akiza ordered as the dragon flew up and powered up it’s attack. The stream of energy that hit Clayman dropped Fluttershy’s life points to 3500 but the rocks from Clayman struck her in the stomach, dropping her to her knees “Fluttershy!”
“I’m okay!” Fluttershy gasped as she struggled to her feet “Just take your next move!”
“NO! Fluttershy!” Twilight screamed as she tried to run to Fluttershy’s side but Basil stopped her “Let me go! She needs to stop!”
Basil shook his head “Forgive my hand but you must respect Fluttershy’s request. Jolly terrible business but believe in her and if you show her weak eyes, she may only give into her own fears!” he said firmly.
“I..I..I…you’re right” Twilight mumbled before screaming “Fluttershy! You can win!”
“I know Twilight” Fluttershy mumbled.
Akiza then yelled “Lord Poison attack!” then when the monsters flipped up “Clever girl” cyber jar blasted Lord Poison and Stardust “Sorry, Fluttershy but if I send Silver wings to the graveyard I can prevent Stardust being destroyed” she then drew five cards “Okay I summon Bird of Roses and Twilight Rose Knight!” the two monster surged onto the field in attack mode.
“I summon…Silver Fang, Armoured Lizard and Battle Ox!” Fluttershy said calmly as the three monsters appeared “Anything else?”
“Bird of Roses attack Armoured Lizard!” Akiza ordered, the bird flew forward and struck Armoured Lizard across the chest. The monster flew back into Fluttershy dropping her life points to 3200. Then Akiza said “I’ll then Synchro summon…Black Rose Dragon!” Twilight knight and Bird of Roses supplied the summon requirements as Black Rose Dragon roared its battle cry “Your move!”
Fluttershy drew a card and said “I’ll switch my two monsters to defence mode and then I play a third monster in defence mode” she had nothing else left.
“Sadly I have to end this” Akiza said as she drew a card and sighed “I summon Blue Rose Dragon” the little dragon flew fourth “Blue Rose attack the face down card!” the dragon flew forward but bounced off the defence monster “Well I see you got lucky”
“Etoile Cyber!” Fluttershy said sighing happily “Your blue Rose Dragon’s attack was the same as her defence points”
“Well Blue rose’s big sister is a lot stronger! Black Rose!” Akiza ordered as the Black Rose dragon launched its attack. Etoile Cyber screamed as she was destroyed “Sorry but Stardust is still equipped with Fairy Meteor crush….attack Battle ox” the blow struck dropped Fluttershy’s life points to 1700 and her arms began to bleed “I’m so sorry but I also play this spell card…spell shattering arrow” Fluttershy’s two face down cards were destroyed and her life points dropped to 700 “I’m sorry”
“D…Don’t be…I’m about to win!” Fluttershy said, as she spoke she sat on the floor two arrow marks in her legs “I….will win!”
“She’s lost it! Too many blows to the head” Steve said in shock.
“Shut up! That isn’t funny!” Twilight snapped as she watched her friend praying for her victory “Come on!”
“Twilight, I’m sorry but all she has is a weak 3 star monster and a few cards in her hand” Zane said sadly shaking his head “It’s all over”
Joey snapped “NO! Twilight's right! She can win!” he smiled and added “Besides, she doesn't look ready to throw in the towel…she knows she's still in with a chance of winning” he laughed “The day she loses this duel will be the day…hell freezes over”
Fluttershy drew a card and said “I’m sorry, Akiza but I’m about to win” Akiza smiled and nodded “I’ll start with the card that began your turn around, Pot of greed!” she drew more cards and added “I then play the spell Monster reborn to call back Summoned Skull from the grave!” the fiend rose from the grave and growled “Then I play the spell polymerization! To merge Red Eyes Black Dragon, in my hand, with Summoned Skull to summon….Black Skull Dragon! I hope that’s okay?”
“Oh my!” Akiza said as the dragon roared and looked down at her three dragons “It’s not enough thou. The maximum damage you can do is 1600 and my life points are 1700. Next turn I’ll be able to win”
“Oh I’m not done! I have two cards left…I play the equip spell Megamorph! I’ll equip it to Black Skull” Fluttershy said as she then added “Then I equip Horn of the Unicorn to Silver Fang and switch him to attack mode!” she then added “Forgive me” she ordered “Black Skull dragon! Attack Stardust dragon with Molten Fireball!”
“I’ll use this card in my hand!” Akiza declared “Half Shut! This let’s me half your Black Skulls attack back down to 3200!” the attack hit and dropped Akiza’s life points to 1000 “That was close” she then noticed her sleeve was on fire and quickly put it out by rolling on the ground “So next?”
“Silver fang! Attack Blue Rose Dragon!” Fluttershy ordered and the wolf lunged at the dragon dropping Akiza’s life points to 700.
“very good but since you destroyed it I can now summon any plant monster from my grave! So I bring back my Violet Witch!” Akiza said as she summoned back her witch in defence mode “My turn?”
“No…I’ll play one card face down” Fluttershy said as she then nodded.
“Alright! I’ll play the spell! Mystical Space Typhoon on your megamorph!” Akiza said as she drew a card “Then I’ll attack with my Black Rose against your silver fang!” Fluttershy’s life points dropped to 200 “I’m sorry, Fluttershy but I also play one card face down to end my turn!”
“Man just when this duel seems finished….Akiza or Fluttershy manage to pull out some card that turns this duel on its head” Jaden said as he watched on and added “It kind of reminds me of reading about your duels, Yugi”
“Hmm yeah but Fluttershy’s next turn will decide the winner” Yugi said as they watched with baited breath.
“I draw! I summon Blackwing Bora the spear in attack mode!” Fluttershy declared as the winged monster took to the sky and then she added “You can’t stop this bird! Attack violet witch, Bora!” the following attack dropped Akiza’s life points to 100 “Now Black skull!”
“Activate Trap!” Akiza declared “Magic Cylinder!”
“Activate Trap!” Fluttershy said in response as the attack from Black skull was drawn into one cylinder and fired back at her “Trap Unit!” her life points dropped to 100 but the damage was reduced to zero “I’m still in this! I’ll end by setting one more card face down”
“My turn!” Akiza said and without thinking ordered “Black Rose attack Bora!”
“Negate attack!” Fluttershy called out “Nice try!”
“I should have seen that coming…it’s over…” Akiza said sadly as she dropped her arms down by her side “I’ve given it everything I had but you still beat me….Fluttershy go for it”
“I’m sorry, Akiza and thank you” Fluttershy said drawing one more card “Black Skull Dragon! Molten Fireball attack!” the Black skull dragon roared as it gathered energy and fired the molten meteor at Black Rose Dragon but as the attack hit, Akiza’s life points dropped to 0 “I won?”
“You did indeed” Whis said landing next to her “And I must say….”
“Akiza!” Yusei suddenly yelled out and he ran up beside her “Akiza! Please…open your eyes!” he then turned to Whis “You creep! How could you do this!? She….played your sick game and….please, Akiza wake up…I….I…”
“Yeah that duel was messed up!” Joey ran up snapping “You mean…that could me or Jack next or it could have been Fluttershy?!”
“Well this is for all the marbles and the stakes of the coming battles will be much worse” Whis said as he twirled his staff “Sorry but let the next match between Joey Wheeler and Jack Atlas begin in ten minutes!”
“Come on, Yusei…let me give you a small hand” Basil said as he helped carry Akiza off the field “Hardly good manners…getting caught up in their battle aye wat!” he paused and turned to Fluttershy “Now then, m’lady, let’s take a look at those nasty injuries aye wat!”
“I’m okay” Fluttershy countered “I just hope they’ll be okay” pointing to Joey and Jack.
Yugi looked through Joey’s deck and sighed “There is a chance…but Joey remember to bear in mind that Beerus or Whis could change the rules at any given moment” he said as Kaiba nodded and Yugi then added “Our chances are still extremely poor….Jack really is a skilled player, they call him the king of turbo duels” Joey smiled and looked out a single card “Joey…Red Dragon Archfiend could probably use Red eyes as a tooth pick”
“Just as well, Yug, that I’m not going to rely on Red Eyes” Joey said seriously as he then turned to see Fluttershy and Twilight approach “Hey, Fluttershy…I can’t wait for our duel”
Fluttershy looked away and said “But…I don’t want…to duel you”
Yugi smiled and showed her a single card, the black skull dragon and said “I still remember this was the card that appeared in a duel I didn’t want to play” he smiled and handed it to Joey. Suddenly the puzzle shone bright and Atem took over “As long as you two give it your most honourable duel…there is no shame in victory or defeat”
Beerus suddenly stepped into the centre of the duelling area and shouted loudly “Alright we have one more duel before the grand finals! On my right please welcome the king of the turbo duel and the Red Dragon Archfiend master!” the gathered duellists did indeed applaud as Jack stepped up to his starting place “And on my left the underdog who proves anything is possible, let’s hear it for, Joey Wheeler!” Joey stepped up too and again there was applause “Now before you two get any ideas….Whis and I have decided to shake things up”
“Oh no….I knew it” Yugi said but only Atem heard him. Atem countered with “Calm yourself, Yugi…this may prove to be a good thing”
Beerus continued as Atem and Yugi had their discussion “So we have chosen three decks from duellists who didn’t make it into this tournament at all….one belongs to none other than Paradox! This deck uses Malefic monsters! The next deck is the deck of Marik Ishtar and yes the god card, Ra is included in this deck!” there was a stunned silence before Beerus declared the final deck “This third deck is none other than the deck that proved unstoppable to a future hero…the deck of Kite Tenjo!”
Jack raised his hand “I’ll use the Marik deck” and he took the cards into his hand but he didn’t look happy “If I may suggest Joey and I should be allowed to change the deck by a maximum of ten cards but also be allowed to include whatever extra deck cards we want”
“What are you doing?!” Joey demanded.
“Trying to make this more fair” Jack said simply as Beerus nodded and Joey pointed to the Paradox deck “Hmm interesting…but it takes more than powerful monsters to win a duel” Joey nodded as he replaced cards as needed.
“This should prove to be interesting” Whis said as both duellists shuffled their opponent’s decks he then looked over at Fluttershy who’s face bore a look of concern “I’d relax if I were you…no matter whom you face in the final duel…they will prove to be stronger than any other player you have yet faced”
Jack began the duel by drawing his opening hand and an extra card “Alright hope this doesn’t bring back any bad memories but I’ll start by summoning Drillago in attack mode and then I set two cards face down!” Jack smiled as he then said “You know something Joey even with that deck…you’re chances are still not great”
Joey smiled back “Don’t bet on it!” he drew a card but then his face fell, there wasn’t a single card he could play and he sighed “I…I…end” the hand he held contained monsters and one trap, Malefic Claw Stream but it was useless.
Fluttershy mumbled “What happened?!” she felt her heart break as she watched the powerful duellist she had grown to know unable to move.
Jack sighed and said “I don’t like this but a win is a win” he drew a card and then declared “I summon Makyura the destructor in attack mode!” he then looked sadly at Joey “I was expecting more from you….Makyura the destructor, Drillago….ATTACK!” both monster slammed into Joey’s lifepoints dropping him down to 800 points “Hope you have something to put up a fight”
Joey looked at the deck, while it was true he’d changed some of the cards, it was still unlikely to make a difference and he sighed “I draw!” he was scared but finally he looked and smiled “I play pot of greed! This lets me draw…”
“We all know what it does! Every duellist here likely has several copies of that one card!” Kaiba snapped from the side lines as he felt very annoyed by the explanation of the same card for the 1000th time.
Joey drew his two cards and smiled “I summon Panther Warrior in attack mode!” the warrior cat appeared on the field roaring it’s battle cry “I then set one card face down!” Joey knew well enough that if Drillago launched an attack it would be able to bypass his Panther and hit him directly but his trap would hopefully turn the tide.
“Alright, Wheeler if that’s all you got…I draw and then Drillago attack and end this!” but as Drillago’s attacked and was mere inches from Joey’s face, Makyura the destructor appeared in front of the attack and both monsters were destroyed “No way! What happened?!”
“My trap card” Joey said pointing to his flipped trap and it was Magic arm shield “When you declared the attack I used this little number to pull Makyura in front of the attack”
“Well done, Joey” Yugi whispered as in one fell swoop, Joey had destroyed all Jack’s monsters.
Jack smiled and said “I have to admit I’m impressed but I now play this monster in face down defence mode and end my turn”
Joey nodded “If you found that impressive I play this! Malefic World!” the field spell had just been drawn into his hand as the turn began and finally Joey could play a powerful monster “I summon Malefic Cyber End dragon!” the massive monster appeared with a roar and Joey added “It’s kind of funny…this monster reminds me of Kaiba’s ultimate dragon but I’m the one controlling it”
“Don’t get cocky, Wheeler” Kaiba snapped as he had to admit the fact Joey was controlling such a powerful monster made Kaiba a touch uncomfortable.
“Malefic Cyber End Dragon attack!” Joey ordered but as he ordered it, a trap activated on Jack’s field and it was Nightmare Wheel “Oh no!” the card made Joey’s attack useless and worse if Joey didn’t think fast, he’d lose even more life points but then it occurred to him “Panther Warrior attack! Use Malefic Cyber End Dragon as the tribute!”
Panther Warrior roared as it surged forward but Jack’s monster then flipped revealing none other than Dark Resonator. The little monster raised a stick and blocked the attack “Nice try Wheeler but my Dark Resonator needs to be attacked twice to be destroyed” he then added “So is that all you got?!”
“Hardly! I special summon Malefic Red Eyes Black Dragon and set one more card face down” Joey declared as he looked down, his chances didn’t look good as Jack drew a card “So going to finish me off?”
“Yep, I play monster reborn to revive Makyura! And then I sacrifice it to summon Vice Dragon!” Jack declared as his monster appeared and he then added “I’m sorry but I now Synchro summon my two monsters to summon Red Dragon Archfiend” Jack’s massive red and black dragon emerged with a roar looking down at Joey’s Red Eyes bearing it’s fangs in rage “Now Red Dragon Archfiend attack Joey’s Panther Warrior!” the blazing inferno launched out but then Joey’s Dragon jumped in front of the attack “What the?!”
“I activate the trap card! Malefic Claw Stream!” Joey declared as both dragons were destroyed and Joey sighed “Oh well…my turn?” Jack nodded and Joey looked at his new card “I set one card face down and then I special Summon Malefic Rainbow Dragon! Rainbow Dragon attack!”
“Trap activate! Mirror Force!” Jack declared as he revealed the trap “All your monsters are destroyed!” Joey having no counter move watched on as his monsters were destroyed “My move!” however Jack was stuck for any move he could make and sighed “I’ll pass my turn”
Joey drew a single card, looking down sadly and said “I’m sorry Jack but this is the end” he activated his trap “Return from the different dimension! Rainbow Dragon, Red Eyes Black Dragon and Cyber End Dragon!” Jack looked on in amazement then Joey revealed the card he just drew “I play the spell card Exchange!” Joey’s revealed his hand and Jack picked the blue eyes white dragon but Jack’s hand contained a single card Joey wanted “Give me the winged Dragon of Ra!”
Yugi and Kaiba’s eyes went wide but Twilight felt the magical presence the card contained and whispered “Yugi…can Joey handle such a powerful…thing”
“The Winged Dragon of Ra is a god card” Jaden Yuki said from behind her “It’s said to be the strongest of all the gods….if Joey is able to summon it….it’ll gain the attack of all the monsters sacrificed to summon it” Jaden then added “That would be over 10000 attack points”
Fluttershy whispered “Can Joey handle such a card?”
Kaiba smirked and said “Nope”
“Now hang on Kaiba be fair…Joey nearly beat Marik when he used the card” Yugi said in all seriousness “However I suppose the God cards have only been handled by three duellists…myself, Kaiba and Marik” there was a drawn out breath and Yugi called out “Joey don’t do it!”
Joey looked at the card and whispered “But why not…I need to prove…”
“He’s not!” Kaiba said in stunned shock and then screamed out “Wheeler! Please for the love of god, don’t do it…you have nothing to prove…”
“It’s easy for you to say but…I just want to show that I’ve grown stronger” Joey said as he looked at the card “I need to do this”
Fluttershy screamed “No you don’t! Please Joey…you’ve already proven your strength but now show us the smart duellist we all know is there!” tears spilling from her eyes as she wished for Joey to stop “That card is too powerful!”
Joey looked at Fluttershy and said “I know there’s risk to this but I remember how to summon it” Jack smiled, nodding as Joey removed the three monsters needed for the sacrifice “I summon the Winged Dragon of Ra!” the sky grew dark as the golden orb of light appeared, Joey still having to prove that he was worthy be reciting the ancient chant but Joey remembered the chant word for word and as he dug deep he declared “Almighty protector of the sun and sky, I beg of thee, please heed my cry. Transform thyself from orb of light and bring me victory in this fight. I beseech thee, grace our humble game. But first I shall...call out thy name, Winged Dragon of Ra!”
At first there wasn’t a reaction but then the orb opened slowly and the Winged Dragon of Ra appeared. It’s mighty roar shook the very air and Jaden’s warning proved to be correct as the attack total read “10400?!” Twilight whispered in stunned shock “If that attack hits…Jack could be badly hurt!”
Even Joey’s mind was numb with shock, he’d summoned the monster only Atem had a right to summon but it appeared to be obeying him. He raised a hand in the air and whispered “Sorry Jack” but Jack smiled and nodded as his trap activated revealing, Call of the Haunted. Red Dragon Archfiend appeared roaring up at Ra but it was simply an act of defiance because despite Jack’s move the attack would prove to be a game ender. Joey looked on as he said “I made a mistake”
The dragon sensing Joey’s fear looked down and roared its displeasure but before it could strike Joey down…Fluttershy met his gaze head on and said in her most threatening tone “How dare you?! Now see here, mister! You will not strike down, Joey! He is simply overwhelmed by your greatness! There is no need to lose your temper”
And then in a voice more ancient than the sands of Egypt Ra spoke, it shook the earth and Fluttershy’s shook in fright “You assume much…I am the god of the sky! My time and energy has been wasted on a coward’s weakness!” there was a pause before it added “A god does not lose its patience”
“Now I don’t know about that” Beerus suddenly said
“Uhhh Lord Beerus….I didn’t notice you….are you well?” Ra asked clearly flustered “I’m sorry if I offended you”
“That’s quite alright…now if you could calm down and let Mr Wheeler use you’re attack…besides you did kill him or send him to the shadow realm…one of the two” Beerus said simply “So maybe this is only fair?”
Ra nodded “Um Mr Wheeler…I know my power maybe a little overwhelming but I promise…I won’t kill you…this time” Ra said as Joey nodded “And sorry Miss Fluttershy, I have to admit for a mortal…you’re very brave”
Joey feeling a little more confident declared “Winged Dragon of Ra attack! Blaze cannon!” the dragon of Ra powered up its attack and in a brilliant surge of fire Red Dragon Archfiend was defeated easily. Thus Jack’s points hit zero.
However despite the intense attack, no one cared about that and were more surprised by Fluttershy standing up to the legendary dragon “Wow!” Leo said as he gave her a high five “Man how did it feel to stare down a god!?”
“Scary” Fluttershy admitted.
“Oh man that was awesome!” Jaden said as he also gave her a high five “I mean you were like, How dare you and then you told it off”
Beerus coughed and said “Well I was the one who got Ra to obey, Joey and all….so where’s my credit?” he smiled and approached Fluttershy “I do believe this is yours by virtue of earning it” he took a card from Joey and Fluttershy looked at the card.
“Sweetie Belle” Fluttershy mumbled.
“Jolly good show! That means there’s no bally reason for you to take on Joey in the final right?” Basil asked as he hoped over but Fluttershy shook her head “Wait why not?!”
“Because Beerus will take the card back if I don’t” Fluttershy said sadly “Right?” Beerus nodded and Fluttershy approached Joey “I don’t want to duel you….but I guess we’re next?” Joey nodded and offered her a hand shake “Please let me…just say I value your friendship and please give me everything you got”
Joey smiled and said “Let’s get to it!”
“As much as we all want to see that” Whis said as he walked closer “The day for duelling is at an end and thus the finals will happen tomorrow”
Basil sighed and whispered “Well that’ll be interesting” Fluttershy and Twilight nodded as the crowd began to disband “You feeling okay, Mam?” Basil asked looking concerned at Fluttershy and then in horror, noticed Fluttershy was bleeding, the blood leaking down her face wasn’t hard to miss but Fluttershy then collapsed “Blast it! Looking into the eyes of a god, terrible idea but then again taking on old poison teeth wasn’t either!”
Fluttershy mumbled “My eyes…burn”
Atem approached in Yugi’s body and said “I’m sorry, Fluttershy…you were very brave to stare down Ra but Ra isn’t a normal dragon” he then looked into her eyes “Yep…her eyes are damaged” he then helped Basil lift Fluttershy onto Basil’s back “We’d better find a doctor”
“So tomorrow the tournament will end?” Twilight asked as she sat with Yuesi, Akiza, Basil and Usagi “It feels like this started so long ago but I’ll be glad to see the end of it” there was a collective nod round the group as they raised a glass “Here’s to the future…and our continuing friendship” but the smiles on many of the gathered people’s faces seemed to falter as Akiza and Usagi both shook their heads “What’s wrong?”
“Do you really think….we’ll…” Akiza began but she couldn’t finish as she choked back a sob “We’ll all be going back to our own worlds and our memories will likely be gone of each other….we’ll never see each other again and we won’t remember these events” Basil and Yuesi nodded putting their glasses back on the table “So can any of us call those from other worlds friends if….we forget it or even if we do remember it….and that’s if we survive the battle against the evil forces”
“No…” Usagi said as she stood up “Friendship can stand on its own through any hardship that we may face…all the times I’ve faced unspeakable evil and often assumed…I’d never see my friends again…well Friendship is a bound that joins us together in hope and happiness but it also joins us together through the worst that fate can throw at us! I believe the friends we’ve made here will remain through the rest of our lives!”
“Well said ole girl!” Basil said picking up his glass and looked down “One of the greatest Mice I ever knew, Matthias stood for more than just an old abbey! He stood for the bounds of Friendship and love that could be forged there! And those bounds lasted beyond our short lives!”
Yuesi smiled and picked up his own glass “Amen! Here’s to all the new friends I’ve made and the special bound I denied myself” he said grabbing Akiza’s hand “I’m sorry Akiza…I should have told you sooner…but I do love you”
Akiza smiled and sighed “As do I” she gave Twilight the thumbs up “Here’s to Joey and Fluttershy’s amazing duel tomorrow”
“Speaking of I wonder how Fluttershy is doing?” Twilight asked as she looked concerned
“Well Ami and Rai are tending to her. Ami has medical training and Rai knows a lot about the spiritual realm” Minako said as she came over and sat down “It’s very serious thou…she may not be ready to duel tomorrow or even the day after that…Ra took it out of her”
“But….” Twilight began “She…needs to be ready!” Basil put his hand on her shoulder and shook his head “Basil!”
“Now pardon me, mam but wasn’t it a bright young mare who once said she believed in Fluttershy” Basil asked as he smiled calmly and Twilight nodded “Then surely, mam you have to keep your faith in Miss Fluttershy!”
Robert walked over and sat down saying “Quite, she has the spirit of a warrior the likes of which…I’ve never seen before” he laughed “Even Tyson would be hard pressed to top her” he got his Beyblade out “Still who wants to see a fun little beyblade match?”
Steve sitting nearby stood up, reading his football laucher and smirked “Dude! That sounds awesome! I’m totally ready!” he put his football down on the ground as the prop up spikes dug into the ground “Come on, Alfred! Let’s get to it!”
Mariah smiled as she jumped down from a tree “Hey let’s make this a three way” Steve and Robert readied themselves “Whoever wins gets to choose dinner for the rest of us” Mariah added.
“Sounds like Pizza to me” Steve said
“Oh please Fish and Chips!” Robert joked as he had no intention of doing that.
“Oh come on…why should losers choose?” Mariah asked, the three smiled and began laughing “Hey Twilight! Want to start us off?”
Twilight nodded standing up and said “Alright 3…2…..1…GO!” but the bladers shook their heads “Shouldn’t you three have….”
Ray jumped down from the same tree Mariah had come from and said “Beybladers begin matches like…tell you what, why don’t you help me provide commentary before I start this match?”
“More a Pinkie thing than, my thing but what the heck, Sure!” Twilight said as she turned to the others who gathered round to watch the match. Along with the outer Sailor Scouts, Jaden, Kaiba and Alexis gathered to watch the match “Wow! I can’t wait to watch this!”
Ray smiled and yelled “3, 2, 1….let it rip!” the three bladers launched their blades “This should be an impressive match! Between three of the strongest bladers, on our right Twilight is Steve who loaded his blade with Attack rings and is totally legal!”
“So I take it the pink one is Mariah’s, it seems to be the fastest of all and it’s running rings round the other two” Twilight said clearly unsure of herself
“And of course the final blade is Robert’s the largest of all but his wide attack ring hides the power of his bit beast is the powerful…” Ray began but Robert’s bit began glowing and Ray smiled and finished “The powerful, Griffolyon!”
Griffolyon roared fourth from it’s Beyblade but Steve smirked “Hate to say it Robert but Trihorn and I are going to pluck that giant chicken!” he said as he then ordered “Trihorn!” the bull roared fourth and it faced Griffolyon.
Robert smiled “Oh Steve really….when it comes down to it…..you are merely a paper tiger before the storm of Griffolyon!” he said as he looked at Mariah who smiled back “So I guess Galux?”
“You read my mind, Galux, Cat scratch attack!” Mariah yelled as her pink cat growled appearing alongside the other two. Then all three blades clashed and there was a bright flash. When the light dissipated the three blades had stopped spinning, their energy utterly spend but in the middle of them sat a bright Blue orb no bigger than a chestnut “What the?” Mariah asked.
“Man that hurt!” a voice issued from the orb
“Huh?” most of the group said but Basil stepped forward and picked up the orb “Dashed silly little thing…” he murmured as he inspected the orb “Now what are you?”
“Mine is what it is!” A voice from behind Kaiba said as a small blonde boy pushed past and ran up, grabbing the orb “Oh Preyas are you okay!? And where are we?”
“I think the better question is who are you?!” Ray asked bearing his teeth and readying his blade “You are the intruder here and now you’ll pay for it! Let rip!” he launched his blade but as he did so, the blue orb shone bright and Preyas grew into a monster who caught the Beyblade with his claws “Hey!?”
“Hey man you got a serious temper or what?!” Preyas said but then the blade was still spinning “OWWW oh man that hurts!”
“Driger! Tiger Claw attack!” Ray ordered as his bit beast surged fourth forcing Preyas to drop it and roaring as it charged “Yeah! Slice him and dice him!”
“Preyas!” the boy cried out but he didn’t need to worry as Preyas easily dodged the attack and stuck his tongue out.
“Hey whiskers can’t get me!” Preyas taunted and Driger roared it’s anger but Preyas then said “Hey Marucho! Ability card time!” but as Marcucho reached for an ability card Kaiba and Jack picked him up by the scruff “Hey put my partner down!”
“That’s enough!” Twilight said as she summoned Battle Fever Robo and all the others were now ready for a fight “You thought you could attack us again!? You really are foolish!”
“A..a..a…..attack?!” Marucho said very confused by all the angry looks directed at him and Preyas “OH Wait you got the wrong idea!”
Beerus landed and said “Sorry my fault…I was trying to look into other worlds with Whis and well that clash of energy opened the portal to the Bakugan world…thou to be honest I never intended to bring any of the Brawlers here…especially the Joey Wheeler of that world who lacks the courage or the common sense!” he looked at Marucho sadly “But he’s here so I suppose we’re going to have to include them!”
“B….b…but…” Marcucho began “Dan and the others need me!”
“Oh no, sir” Whis said as he too touched down “It would appear that the boy is not wrong…we took him at the worst possible moment…now that ghastly fellow, Naga wins”
“What happens to Dan and Drago!?” Marcucho asked as he hoped for the best “Do they survive?!”
Whis sighed and shook his head “Young Dan is killed and Drago is absorbed”
Marcucho began to cry and Usagi walked over “Oh there there…it’s not that bad…that’s not going to happen…we’ll get you back and you can help save the day” she said as she hugged him gently rubbing his back.
“I’m beginning to understand why Sailor Jupiter spoke so highly of her” Twilight whispered to Basil.
“Hey…we can’t get you back tonight” Whis said as he looked at his staff but then added “But we’re about to do our finals of the Duel Monsters Tournament and once that’s finished we’ll get you back”
Marcucho smiled as he calmed down and said “O…okay”
“She still hasn’t woken up, Twilight” Rai said as she sat by Fluttershy’s bed, three days had passed since Fluttershy had passed out and she didn’t seem all that close to waking “I don’t know what else we can do…we’ve tried everything we can”
Whis sighed “Twilight, I’m sorry if she doesn’t wake up in a few days…we’ll have to declare Mr Wheeler the winner” he said as he walked out sadly and with a heavy sigh “I wish we had more time, sir but our time is running low”
Beerus nodded as he looked at his hand, where a small pocket watch sat and he whispered “We’re running out of time indeed…if Goku can’t convince the surviving Power Rangers and if our scout team don’t get back soon…we’ll be doomed to failure” he shook his head “I’m afraid by 4pm today if Miss Fluttershy has not awoken then Mr Wheeler will be the winner and the ponies will be a lost cause”
As the hours ticked by, Fluttershy slept on, her fate hanging on the edge of a knife but as time drew to 4pm…she opened her eyes “Huh?! What happened?” there was a scream of joy by Twilight, Ami and Rai “How long was I out?” “It doesn’t matter….the final match is in five minutes” Beerus said walking in
And so the final match of the Duel Monster Tournament began, Joey stood with his duel disc ready but his normally smiling face was grim with sadness “I can’t do this…” he said as Fluttershy stepped up her deck of cards, both players had been given custom decks by Whis “You’ve become too good a friend but I have to win…I just can’t”
Fluttershy smiled gently “It’s okay, Joey….we both have friends counting on us but the fact we’re friends can’t stop us from doing the right thing…and even if you win…we’ll still be friends” she said as she then added “You’re a true friend but if you have any respect for me…you won’t hold back!”
“Okay!” Joey said “Then I expect your best!”
Fluttershy nodded saying “I’m ready” but she thought to herself ‘Alright Joey…you asked for my best and I intend to give it to you’.
Joey’s mind likewise thought ‘You and Yugi are entiled to the same…I won’t insult you by giving you anything less than my all! I’m going to come at you hard right from the start’, the two drew their opening hands and Joey had won the coin toss “I summon Alligator Sword in attack mode!” he said as he summoned the Alligator Swordsman and set a card “And that’s it!”
Fluttershy nodded “If that’s all you got! You’re in trouble! I summon Matthias the warrior in attack mode!” she said as the Warrior Mouse of Redwall appeared “Luckily for me this card maybe a level 5 but if I give up a card from my hand I can summon it right away! And best of all I can still Normal summon! I summon Cornflower the Kind and then I play a spell card! It’s called the Dying Hope of Mortimer! This powerful card can only be played when Matthias and Cornflower are the only cards on my field! It allows me to name a monster from your deck and fuse it with Cornflower and Mathias to form an all-powerful monster!”
Joey gulped as he looked at his deck, Fluttershy knew a few of his cards but he smiled “Come on then! Name your monster!”
Fluttershy nodded “Hmm Gilford the Lightening!” the monster appeared on her field and Fluttershy sighed “Now fuse into my deck’s most powerful monster!” the three monsters fused “I summon Mathias the Legend!” Mathias appeared in his full armoured form and his attack points read 3200 “His special ability allows me to summon another Redwall monster and play the field spell!” Redwall Abbey appeared behind her raising Mathias’ attack points to 3400 “I summon Warbeak the Sparrow and set one card face down!” Warbeak flew fourth.
“Crazy mouse! Great to fight one last time” She then smiled “Warbeak killy killy?” asking Fluttershy for permission and Fluttershy nodded “Killy!” the attack surged towards Alligator sword but then Alligator Sword raised a shield “What the?!”
“I activate the trap, Magic Arm shield! Time for the catch of the day!” Joey declared as the shield dragged Matthias in front of the attack and Fluttershy’s lifepoints dropped to 2300 “Sorry, Fluttershy! My move!” he drew a card and smiled sadly “It’s ironic….but I play the spell polymerization to fuse Red Eyes Black Dragon and Summoned Skull to summon….” He paused as his monster appeared behind him “The black skull dragon!” he smiled as he held up his last two cards “Forgive me….I play the spell Giant Trunade! Returning all spells and traps to their owners hands…including the Abbey!” this brought Matthias’ attack points back down to Black Skull’s attack points but then Joey played his final move “I play Graceful dice!”
“It’s over if the dice rolls any number other than one….then Joey will have won” Yugi said sadly “It’s a shame for Fluttershy…her improvement in this game has been starling” he shook his head as the dice rolled and landed “No….that’s so unfair….a 6!”
The attack points of all Joey’s Monsters were timed by 6, Alligator’s sword attack became 9000 and Black Skull’s became 19,200. No matter what, Fluttershy’s lifepoints were going to hit zero and nothing could stop it “Black Skull Dragon! Molten Fire ball attack!” the attack hit with a devastating power Matthias screaming in the intense pain but it wasn’t over.
“I activate the effect of Kuriboh!” Fluttershy declared “By discarding this card I avoid taking damage this turn!” the attacks would do very little good now but now Fluttershy only had three cards in her hand including the ones send back to her hand “Thanks, Joey” before the duel, Joey had given her the card and it had just saved her “My move?” Joey nodded as Fluttershy drew a card “I play the spell Monster Reborn!”
“Sadly she can’t revive Matthias the legend…so what’s she going to revive?” Yuesi asked from the side lines.
“Whatever it is…she’ll have to pick wisely” Yugi said.
“I revive Matthias the Warrior!” Fluttershy said as the warrior Mouse returned “I’m not done yet! I play field spell” however despite all this she was still shy 700 points to even match the Black Skull “I play the equip spell, Cluny’s banner!” the equip spell appeared beside Matthias who frowned and nodded “This card’s effect is that I can equip a monster from my grave to Matthias and he gains half its attack points!”
Joey smiled “Very clever go for it!”
“I equip Matthias the legend to Matthias the Warrior” Fluttershy declared as she watched Matthias’ attack points jump to 4000 and Fluttershy then set a card “Matthias attack Alligator Sword!” Matthias charged forward and Alligator charged out to meet him, blocking Matthias’ first strike but it’s sword shattered from the impact. The monster screamed as it was destroyed, Joey’s life points hit 1500.
“No! Fluttershy that was the wrong move!” Kaiba declared but it was too late as Joey drew a card.
“I play the spell Pot of greed. This lets me draw a two cards and then I set one…I also play the equip spell Dragon Nails!” Joey declared, Black Skull’s attack jumped to 3800 “Opps”
“More than an opps…I’m afraid” Fluttershy said forgetting the danger “Attack Matthias!”
“Trap activates! Metalmorph!” Joey declared as Matthias charged forward, his sword raised but the trap Equiped to Black Skull and raised its attack points to 4100. Matthias jumped bringing his sword down but the Black Skull fired a fire ball at him. Fluttershy’s lifepoints hit 2200 but her last hope lay with her face down.
“My move!” Joey said as he drew a card “You’ve put up a brave fight and this is hardest move I’ve ever had to make but it ends now! I play Monster Reborn to Revive Matthias the Warrior from the Graveyard!” Matthias appeared as he sadly looked down “Matthias I’m sorry but I…”
“It’s okay…We’re proud of her” Matthias said as he readied his sword “Permission to attack!” Joey nodded “AHHHH!” the warrior mouse charged forward as he got close a scaregrow appeared “A trap?!”
“Scrap Iron Scarecrow!” Fluttershy said as she looked down sadly.
“I suspected that” Joey said sadly “Molten Fire ball attack” the attack struck and Fluttershy’s lifepoints hit zero.
