The Crusaders at Canterlot High have never been the best at Duel Monsters. But they're forced to step up their game when mysterious Number cards start appearing. Can they contain the threat before it gets too big?
This story takes place in the same universe as Summer Sun Tournament, but the events occur separately and unrelated to each other.
Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo love playing Duel Monsters, but they're not the best at it. But when strange cards called Numbers start popping up around the school and making their classmates go crazy, they're the only ones who can stop it. Can they handle the responsibility of protecting the school? And what's with the weird floaty guy? (I still suck at summaries.)
Summer vacation was over, and classes at Canterlot High School were in full swing. Three girls in particular were very excited for the new year. The school was divided into two wings: a middle school wing for students in seventh and eight grade, and the actual high school wing. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle were finally finished with eighth grade and were transferring to the high school wing as actual freshman.
"This is it, Crusaders!" the red-haired Apple Bloom told her friends enthusiastically. "Our first day of actual high school! These will be the years we find out what we really wanna do with our lives!"
"Not to mention all the Duel Monsters events!" Scootaloo said, pumping her fist. Duel Monsters was the favorite game of all three girls. "Maybe the game will even be my special talent!"
"Just one problem," the adorable Sweetie Belle said in her high voice. "None of us are that good at Duel Monsters."
"But Ah do have this," Apple Bloom reminded the other girls. She pinched a golden key-shaped pendant around her neck between her thumb and index finger. "This necklace Dad gave me before he and Ma disappeared was always a good luck charm for me. Maybe the luck'll spread to you two."
"And with that luck, we'll be able to increase our skill!" Sweetie Belle squeaked.
"And become the Queens of Games!" Scootaloo finished.
The three girls bumped their fists together, grinned hugely, and shouted, "Canterlot Crusaders Dueling Champions! YAY!"
[One school day and many Duels later...]
"Ah can't believe we lost seventeen times in just a couple hours..." Apple Bloom sighed. The sun was beginning to set, and the three girls sat on the curb out in front of the school.
"Eighteen," Scootaloo corrected. "Remember? All three of us went up against Sunset Shimmer at once and she practically defeated us before we could all get a turn in."
"That doesn't count!" Apple Bloom insisted. "At least there's the beginning of the year school-wide tournament tomorrow."
"Yeah," Sweetie Belle agreed. "During that, we'll probably be put against teams that are more our speed."
Apple Bloom clenched her fists and stood up confidently. "We'll never improve if we don't get any challenges!" she said. "Ah say bring it on, world, because Ah'm... Ah'm feelin' the flow!" A beam of remnant sunlight gleamed off the surface of her pendant.
"'Feeling the flow'?" Scootaloo repeated. "What does that mean?"
"Ah dunno," the young farm girl admitted. "Just kinda thought it up. But Ah guess it means Ah'm just full of energy and confidence."
Sweetie Belle smiled. "I like it," she said. "Let's all feel the flow during tomorrow's tournament!"
Apple Bloom opened her mouth to respond, but she was cut off by a car horn sounding from an old pickup truck. "Apple Bloom! It's time to go!" her older sister Applejack called from the shotgun seat. "Granny's expectin' us to be home in ten minutes!"
"Eeyup!" confirmed the truck's driver, Big Macintosh, who was the oldest and (unsurprisingly) strongest of the Apple family children. He didn't go to Canterlot High anymore, but he still attended school functions.
"Comin'!" Apple Bloom called back. She picked up her backpack and turned to her friends. "See ya tomorrow, girls." They all exchanged their final goodbyes for the day, and Apple Bloom ran to her brother's truck and hopped in the back seat.
That night, as Apple Bloom slept, she tossed and turned uneasily in bed. Her golden key pendant was clutched tightly in her hand. Most who saw this would just assume she was a restless sleeper. However, the real reason for this was that she was having a very unusual dream.
In her dream, she was standing on a dark stone pathway that seemed to drop off at the sides into an infinite abyss of nothingness. All around her, a shadowy fog drifted.
"Dang..." the redhead freshman girl breathed. "This is creepier than an old country ghost town..."
"You said it," came a familiarly squeaky voice. Into Apple Bloom's line of sight came an alabaster girl with pink and lavender hair.
"Sweetie Belle?! What're ya doin' in my dream?!" she asked. "Not that Ah'm not happy to see ya, but..."
"Hey! You girls are here, too?" came the voice of a magenta-haired, orange girl.
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle both spoke at once.
"Scoots?"
"Scootaloo?"
Scootaloo looked at their surroundings. "Weird place, huh?"
"I feel like we should pinch each other," suggested Sweetie Belle. "You know, just to make sure we're all real."
Apple Bloom trembled and pointed behind her friends. "Or we could focus on that...!"
The other two girls turned around and gasped. In front of them was a gigantic, scary stone gate bound with chains. In the middle of the gate was a hole about the size of a human fist. "Unlock the gate..." came a deep, ethereal voice from nowhere, and yet everywhere at once. "Beyond this gate is unfathomable power... Have the courage to unlock it..."
Apple Bloom's pendant glowed. She looked down at it. "Mah key? Is that how we open this thing?"
"Unlock the gate..." the voice told her. "But this power comes at a cost... you must sacrifice something close to you..."
"Sacrifice?" said Scootaloo. "How about no?"
"Ah'm with Scoots," said Apple Bloom. "Ah don't trust this."
"Yeah. And when Rarity told me not to talk to strangers, I'm pretty sure that included freaky nightmare gates," Sweetie Belle agreed.
"Open the gate...!" the voice bellowed.
"Aaaaah!" Apple Bloom sat bolt upright in bed. "Man, that was weird..." she muttered as she looked at her key necklace.
She did not sleep well the rest of the night, kept awake wondering what had happened.
The next morning, the Crusaders met up in front of the school. "Mornin', girls," Apple Bloom yawned.
"Are you okay, Apple Bloom?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Ah'm fine," the farm girl promised. "Just didn't sleep well. Ah had a weird dream last night."
"Me too!" the other two girls chorused.
"Really? About what?"
"I... can't remember," Scootaloo confessed. "The details are a bit hazy."
"Same here," said Sweetie.
"Attention, everyone," came the voice of Principal Celestia over the intercom. "All students participating in the back to school Duel Monsters competition, please proceed to the field. We will begin shortly."
"Alright! Let's go, Crusaders!" Apple Bloom cheered.
The girls watched several Duels take place before their team was due to compete. The teams of three currently Dueling consisted of Vinyl, Octavia, and Flash on one side, and Lyra, Bon-Bon, and Derpy on the other. Each player controlled their own field but shared the same Life Points with their teammates. Nobody could attack until each player had a draw phase, and if one teammate didn't control any monsters while the others did, a direct attack couldn't be declared. Bon-Bon's turn had just finished, and Octavia was up.
"Draw!" the cellist said as she pulled a card from the deck slot of her Duel Blade. "I normal summon Sonata the Melodious Diva to the field!" In front of her appeared a gold-skinned fairy woman in a blue dress. "Next, I play Star Changer to decrease the level of my Soprano the Melodious Songstress by one!"
"Uh-oh. Is she going for what I think she is?" said Lyra.
"I overlay my level three Sonata and Soprano to construct the Overlay Network!" Octavia's two monsters became streaks of light and flew into a spiraling red portal. "I Xyz Summon Muzurhythm the String Djinn!" Her new monster was playing a stringed instrument and wearing a stetson. Two orbs of light circled around him.
"Man, Xyz monsters are so cool!" Sweetie Belle said. "I love how the monsters used to summon it stick around!"
"Yeah! They help out the new monster as its overlay units!" Scootaloo agreed.
"They work together, just like us!" said Apple Bloom. "Ah wish we had some. Imagine how much stronger we'd become with Xyz cards in our decks!"
"And the winners are Vinyl Scratch, Octavia Melody, and Flash Sentry!" Vice Principal Luna announced.
"Aw, dang it! We missed the end of the Duel while we were talkin'!" said Apple Bloom.
"Up next, we have Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo against Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, and Featherweight!"
"That's our cue!" said Scootaloo. The girls all strapped on their Duel Blades as they raced to their side of the field.
"Well well well," said one of their opponents, the girl named Diamond Tiara. "Here I thought you three would chicken out."
"Like heck we would! We're gonna crush ya like ants under a boot!" Apple Bloom shot back.
"Let's see you put that into practice!" Diamond Tiara sneered.
"Oh, you can bet we will!" Scootaloo grinned.
"Because we're feeling the flow!" the Crusaders chorused.
The six Duelists extended the card trays of their Duel Blades. "Let's Duel!" they all said.
Nobody noticed the eerie shaft of light that passed over Apple Bloom's necklace.
Crusaders LP: 8000 Hand (AB): 5 Hand (SB): 5 Hand (SL): 5 Opponents LP: 8000 Hand (DT): 5 Hand (SS): 5 Hand (FW): 5
"Ah think Ah'm gonna go first!" said Apple Bloom. She looked over her cards. "Yeah... yeah, this is a great hand! First, Ah play Foolish Burial to send Lonefire Blossom from mah deck to the Graveyard, then revive it with Monster Reborn!" An orange flower sprouted in front of her. "Then, Ah activate Lonefire Blossom's special ability! It can tribute itself to summon any plant-type monster from mah deck! Ah'll go with Gigaplant!" An enormous plant with a red Venus Fly Trap mouth erupted from the ground around Lonefire Blossom.
Diamond Tiara grimaced. "Ew."
"Ah haven't even normal summoned yet, so Ah'll take the opportunity to give Gigaplant his gemini effect!" Apple Bloom continued. "That's where Ah'm gonna end for now."
Crusaders LP: 8000 Hand (AB): 3 Hand (SB): 5 Hand (SL): 5 Opponents LP: 8000 Hand (DT): 5 Hand (SS): 5 Hand (FW): 5
Diamond Tiara shot a look at Featherweight. "You go first. And don't mess up," she threatened.
Featherweight nodded and drew. "I-I'll set a card facedown, set a monster, and end," he said.
"What kind of move is that?" Diamond snapped.
"Don't worry. I have a trap ready," Featherweight assured the rich girl.
Crusaders LP: 8000 Hand (AB): 3 Hand (SB): 5 Hand (SL): 5 Opponents LP: 8000 Hand (DT): 5 Hand (SS): 5 Hand (FW): 4
"You wanna go next, Sweetie?" Scootaloo asked.
Sweetie Belle grinned. "I'm on it!" she said. "Draw! I summon Aquaactress Guppy!" A pink fish-like monster appeared. "Now, I'll activate her effect, Special Summoning another Aquaactress monster from my hand! I choose Aquaactress Arowana!" The new monster was far more elegant than Guppy. "Finally, I'll play a facedown and end my turn."
Crusaders LP: 8000 Hand (AB): 3 Hand (SB): 4 Hand (SL): 5 Opponents LP: 8000 Hand (DT): 5 Hand (SS): 5 Hand (FW): 4
Silver Spoon grinned. "Looks like I'm up. Draw!" she said. "I summon X-Head Cannon in attack mode!" Her mechanical monster rose on the field. "Then I play the continuous spell card Frontline Base! This lets me Special Summon a union monster from my hand once per turn, and I'll be going with Y-Dragon Head!" A red robot dragon swooped onto the field with a roar. "And I'll activate Y-Dragon Head's effect, equipping it to X-Head Cannon, boosting the cannon's attack points by 400!" The vermilion monster attached itself to X-Head Cannon, their machinery connecting flawlessly. "I'll end my turn there."
Crusaders LP: 8000 Hand (AB): 3 Hand (SB): 4 Hand (SL): 5 Opponents LP: 8000 Hand (DT): 5 Hand (SS): 3 Hand (FW): 4
"You're up, Scoots!" Apple Bloom encouraged.
"I'll do my best, girls," Scootaloo promised. "I draw! Let's go with my Speedroid Razorang in attack mode!" She slapped the card onto her Duel Blade, causing a mechanical monster with golden blades for arms to appear. "Next, I play Card Destruction! We all have to discard and redraw our entire hands!"
Their opponents all grumbled angrily as they complied.
"Next, I'll play a facedown and end!"
Crusaders LP: 8000 Hand (AB): 3 Hand (SB): 4 Hand (SL): 3 Opponents LP: 8000 Hand (DT): 5 Hand (SS): 3 Hand (FW): 4
"Finally, it's my turn," said Diamond Tiara as she drew. "Ooh, nice one. Thanks for the Card Destruction! I banish Illusory Snatcher from my Graveyard to Special Summon Lucius the Shadow Vassal!" A small shadow with a helmet appeared. "Next, I tribute Lucius to summon Kuraz the Light Monarch!" Lucius vanished to be replaced by a regal warrior in golden armor. "By his effect, I destroy your two facedowns and draw two cards!"
"No! Our trap cards!" Sweetie Belle squeaked.
"Try to top that, farm girl," Diamond taunted.
Crusaders LP: 8000 Hand (AB): 3 Hand (SB): 4 Hand (SL): 3 Opponents LP: 8000 Hand (DT): 6 Hand (SS): 3 Hand (FW): 4
"Ah'm gonna make ya sorry ya asked!" Apple Bloom shouted. "Draw! Ah activate the effect of Gigaplant to bring Lonefire Blossom back from the grave, then tribute it again for mah second Gigaplant!"
"I activate my Bottomless Trap Hole!" Featherweight countered. "That'll banish your new Gigaplant!"
Apple Bloom winced as her monster was swallowed up by a dark void. "Fine then. Ah summon Rose Witch!" A young woman in rose-themed attire stood up next to Gigaplant. "Ah'll equip Gigaplant with Malevolent Nuzzler to boost his attack points! Rose Witch, attack that facedown monster! And Gigaplant, attack the Monarch!" Her monsters lashed out with vines and struck their targets. "That's where mah turn'll end."
Crusaders LP: 8000 Hand (AB): 2 Hand (SB): 4 Hand (SL): 3 Opponents LP: 7300 Hand (DT): 6 Hand (SS): 3 Hand (FW): 4
"Draw!" Featherweight drew his next card. "I summon my Sonic Duck!" A green bird appeared. "And I'll attack Aquaactress Guppy!"
"Sorry, but I'm banishing Speedroid Tri-Eyed Dice from my Graveyard to negate your attack!" Scootaloo interrupted.
"Thanks for the save," said Sweetie Belle.
"No prob," Scootaloo told her with a wink.
"I guess my turn is over, then," the small boy said.
Crusaders LP: 8000 Hand (AB): 2 Hand (SB): 4 Hand (SL): 3 Opponents LP: 7300 Hand (DT): 6 Hand (SS): 3 Hand (FW): 4
"And now it's my draw!" Sweetie Belle declared. "I can't really do much to your powered up monster, so I'll change my monsters to defense mode and activate Arowana's effect. This lets me add an Aquaactress card to my hand. And I'll end."
Crusaders LP: 8000 Hand (AB): 2 Hand (SB): 6 Hand (SL): 3 Opponents LP: 7300 Hand (DT): 6 Hand (SS): 3 Hand (FW): 4
"My turn!" Silver Spoon said. But as she drew her card, time seemed to stand still.
Suddenly, the Crusaders were back in front of the gate in the dark plane of existence. "What the?! How did we get here?!" Scootaloo gasped.
"Open the gate with the key..." the disembodied voice demanded. "You will have power beyond imagination..."
Apple Bloom looked down at her key again. "Hey, Crusaders..." she said. "Ah'm kinda curious about all this. Ah wanna know what it all means."
"I dunno, Apple Bloom," said Scootaloo. "Is it really worth the risk?"
"I just want to know what your key has to do with it," Sweetie Belle admitted.
Apple Bloom's eyes widened. "The key... Maybe this has something to do with mah dad! Now Ah have to open it!" She took her necklace off and held it up towards the gate.
"We'll do it together, then," said Scootaloo. She and Sweetie Belle both placed a hand on their friend's key.
As one, they plunged the key into the keyhole and turned.
The chains fell away as the gate swung open. Several glowing, rectangular objects flew from the opening and circled around the girls before scattering. A humanoid figure stood before them...
In a blink, they were back in the Duel. Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, and Featherweight all cackled as a dark aura surrounded them. "I activate my Y-Dragon Head, unequipping it from my X-Head Cannon to summon it," Silver Spoon said as her monsters separated. "Next, I normal summon Z-Metal Tank!"
"Oh no," said Scootaloo. "She's gonna go for the Fusion monster!"
"Not quite," the grey girl said. "I overlay my level four X-Head Cannon, Y-Dragon Head, and Z-Metal Tank to build the Overlay Network!" The portal that appeared and drew in her monsters was black and speckled with stars instead of the normal red. A glowing mark representing a 16 formed over the portal and on Silver Spoon's elbow. "I Xyz Summon... Number 16: Shock Master!"
The Crusaders all gaped as a strange monster appeared. It was bulky, metallic, had a long neck, and was covered in pinkish panels. There were two antennae and red dome-like eyes on its head, and a 16 mark identical to the one on Silver Spoon's elbow glowed on the surface of one of the panels.
"What the heck is that thing?!" Scootaloo cried.
"This is my mighty Number monster!" Silver Spoon answered with an evil smirk. "You might as well surrender now. There's no way to defeat this! Now, Number 16, destroy Aquaactress Guppy!" Her monster fried the fish with an electrical surge. "Now, let's see you try to top that!"
Crusaders LP: 6300 Hand (AB): 2 Hand (SB): 6 Hand (SL): 3 Opponents LP: 7300 Hand (DT): 6 Hand (SS): 3 Hand (FW): 4
Scootaloo shook her head to clear her thoughts as she drew. "I activate the effect of my Speedroid Razorang!" she declared. "By changing him to defense mode, I can decrease your Number card's attack points by 800 until the end of the turn! Next, I summon Speedroid Red-Eyed Dice!" A yellow die with glowing red eyes rolled onto the field and hovered at the girls' eye level. "I'll tune my level one Red-Eyed Dice with my level four Razorang! Level five! I Synchro Summon! Hi-Speedroid Hagoita!" Her new monster could only be described as a giant, rocket-powered racket.
Silver Spoon laughed. "Do you honestly think that your little toy can defeat my Number?!"
"Well, he has more attack points right now, so it's worth a try!" said Scootaloo. "Hagoita, attack that freaky Number thing!" Her monster smacked a rocket shuttle cog at its target, which exploded on contact and sent up a massive smoke cloud.
"Nice shot, Scoots! Ya beat it!" Apple Bloom cheered.
"Check again," said Silver Spoon. The smoke cleared, revealing that her monster was still standing.
"But how?!" Scootaloo demanded.
"You see," Diamond Tiara said, "a Number monster can only be defeated... by another Number!"
"Huh?! We don't have Numbers!" Sweetie Belle cried.
Crusaders LP: 6300 Hand (AB): 2 Hand (SB): 6 Hand (SL): 3 Opponents LP: 6800 Hand (DT): 6 Hand (SS): 3 Hand (FW): 4
"But I do, and I think it's time for me to show you!" Diamond Tiara smirked. "Draw! I first activate Temple of the Kings! Once per turn, this lets me activate a trap card the same turn it's set. This turn, it'll be Zoma the Spirit, a trap that summons itself as a monster!" The trap monster was black and had glowing eyes. "Then, I'll summon Landrobe the Rock Vassal, and overlay it with my level four Zoma to build the Overlay Network!" Another starry Xyz portal appeared, this time with a 52 mark matching one that appeared on Diamond Tiara's cheek. "I Xyz Summon Number 52: Diamond Crab King!" True to its name, her Number monster was a crab made entirely of diamonds, the 52 mark on one of its claws.
"Another one?!" Apple Bloom yelled. "Well, at least it doesn't have any attack points."
"That's what you think! I use one of Diamond Crab King's overlay units to activate his effect!" Diamond Tiara declared. Her crab clamped its claw on one of its overlay units. "Until the end of the turn, his zero attack and 3000 defense are swapped, plus the Rush Recklessly I'm playing for a bigger boost, and he's going right for your Gigaplant! Trim the hedge, Diamond Crab King!" The Number card slashed at Apple Bloom's gemini monster with its huge claws, cutting it to ribbons, then shifted its claws to guard its face. "And he changes to defense mode when he's done attacking. I end my turn with that."
Crusaders LP: 5700 Hand (AB): 2 Hand (SB): 6 Hand (SL): 3 Opponents LP: 7300 Hand (DT): 3 Hand (SS): 3 Hand (FW): 4
Apple Bloom drew her next card and sighed hopelessly. "Ah can't do it..." she said. "There's nothin' Ah have that can defeat those Numbers..."
"Might I suggest using your own Number cards?" a male voice piped up.
Apple Bloom looked to the source of the voice and screamed. Hovering next to her was a semitransparent blue man with spiked hair and eyes of two different colors. "G-ghost!"
Diamond Tiara squinted. "What are you talking about? I don't see any ghost."
"What do ya mean ya don't see him?! There's a gosh darn floatin' blue guy right here!" Apple Bloom insisted.
"I can see him too!" Sweetie Belle said.
"Me too!" Scootaloo gasped.
"Only you three can see me, due to your connection with the key," the ghostly man said. "My name is Astral, and those Number cards are fragments of my memories."
Sweetie Belle raised an eyebrow. "Your memories... are Duel Monsters cards?"
"Duel Monsters..." Astral mused. "Yes. I Duel! That was it!"
"How can a ghost play card games?" Scootaloo asked.
Astral was silent for a moment. "Observation number one," he finally said, "humans seem to Duel for fun."
"Look, if these Numbers are a part of ya, can ya tell us how to defeat 'em?" asked Apple Bloom.
"As I said, use the Number cards in your own decks."
"But we don't have any!" the farm girl replied. "Heck, we don't have any Xyz monsters at all!"
"Are you certain of that?" Astral said.
"Actually, now that Ah think about it," Apple Bloom replied, "they didn't have 'em either at the start of the Duel..." She looked through her extra deck before finally finding an Xyz card that definitely hadn't been there before. "Ah... Ah have one!"
Sweetie Belle checked her extra deck as well. "Huh? How did I get this?" she wondered.
"I know this thing wasn't here before," said Scootaloo, also holding an Xyz monster.
"The only way to win is to summon them," Astral said. "Do it now."
"Look, I don't know who you losers are talking to, but I'd really like to get on with this Duel!" said Diamond Tiara. "Make your next pathetic move!"
Apple Bloom was silent for half a second before grinning confidently. "Ah think y'all are about to be pretty surprised," she said. "Ah'm summonin' mah Copy Plant!" A twisted, gnarled tree creature with glowing eyes grew out of the ground. "His effect lets him copy the level of another face-up plant-type monster on the field like mah Rose Witch! And now, Ah overlay my level four Rose Witch and Copy Plant!" Another starry portal drew in Apple Bloom's monsters. "For the very first time, Ah Xyz Summon! Let's go, Number 39: Utopia!"
An oddly shaped object rose from the portal and slowly transformed into a warrior in white and gold armor. Two swords were sheathed at his hips, and a pair of wings sprouted from his back. A glowing 39 blazed on his left shoulder plate.
"What?!" Silver Spoon shrieked. "You have a Number card?!"
Sweetie Belle threw her friend a sideways look. "You're not gonna turn evil, are you?"
Astral shook his head. "You three share my energy between you. The Number cards are not able to take control."
"Good enough for me," said Apple Bloom. "Alright, Utopia, attack that Sonic Duck! Risin' sun slash!" Her monster unsheathed one of his swords, which glowed gold, and cut the duck down with ease. "Ah'm endin' mah turn with that."
Crusaders LP: 5700 Hand (AB): 2 Hand (SB): 6 Hand (SL): 3 Opponents LP: 6500 Hand (DT): 3 Hand (SS): 3 Hand (FW): 4
Featherweight drew and grinned wickedly. "I play my Summoner Monk, and his effect makes me do it in defense mode!" he declared, calling forth the dark-robed monk. "When he's on the field, I can discard a spell card to summon a level four monster straight from my deck! Come on out, Sacred Crane, which lets me draw a card when it's Special Summoned!" Another bird-like monster.
"Is Featherweight about to summon another Number?!" Sweetie Belle said.
"Indeed I am!" Featherweight answered as another portal opened. "With my level four Summoner Monk and Sacred Crane, I build the Overlay Network and Xyz Summon! Go, Number 44: Sky Pegasus!" As his equine Number monster emerged, a 44 symbol glowed on his forehead. "He'll be in defense mode, and I'll get rid of an overlay unit to use his effect! You have a choice. You can either pay up a thousand Life Points, or say goodbye to Utopia!"
The girls glanced at each other, instantly conveying what they had decided. "Thousand Life Points," they chorused.
"Very well. I end my turn."
Crusaders LP: 4700 Hand (AB): 2 Hand (SB): 6 Hand (SL): 3 Opponents LP: 6500 Hand (DT): 3 Hand (SS): 3 Hand (FW): 4
"You know, I really shouldn't be left out of the Number party here. Draw!" Sweetie Belle said, whipping a card out from her deck. "I activate Ancient Rules! With this, I can Special Summon a level five or higher monster from my hand! I'll take my second Aquaactress Arowana!" The monster Sweetie already controlled gained a twin, but they were both instantly drawn into another portal. "I'm overlaying my two level six Arowanas to Xyz Summon!" she declared. "Time to bring out Number 21: Frozen Lady Justice!"
A pale woman appeared on the field. She wore a beautiful yet somewhat short white dress. Her hair and sword both seemed to be made of ice shards.
"Excellent," Astral encouraged. "The more Number cards you three can get on the field, the better your chances. Now, use Number 21's ability."
"Okay, if you think it'll help," said Sweetie Belle. "I'll remove one overlay unit to activate Frozen Lady Justice's effect!" Her Number card pierced through an overlay unit with her sword. "Sure, she has to give up a thousand attack points because she lost a material, but she wipes out all your monsters that are in defense mode!"
"What?!" their three opponents gasped. They watched as Frozen Lady Justice swung her sword above her head and caused ice spikes to form on the ground, impaling both Diamond Crab King and Sky Pegasus.
"To finish off, I'll play one facedown," Sweetie Belle concluded.
Crusaders LP: 4700 Hand (AB): 2 Hand (SB): 4 Hand (SL): 3 Opponents LP: 6500 Hand (DT): 3 Hand (SS): 3 Hand (FW): 4
Silver Spoon glared. "Draw! I don't like your facedown card, so I'll activate Shock Master's special ability!" Her freaky-looking monster absorbed an overlay unit. "For the cost of one material, I can declare a card type that I don't want you to use on me. For the rest of this turn, you can't activate any trap cards!"
"Oh no!" Sweetie Belle shrieked. Her card became covered in electricity.
"Now, Shock Master, attack the Frozen Lady Justice!" Silver Spoon ordered. Her monster charged a plasma bolt.
"We'll be activating Utopia's ability now!" Astral declared.
"Astral, we've got this!" Apple Bloom snapped. "Besides, they can't even hear ya! Ah'm activatin' Utopia's effect!" Her Number monster drew an overlay unit into his chest piece. "By coughin' up a material, he can block your attack!"
Shock Master fired off an electrical blast at Frozen Lady Justice. Then, out of nowhere, Utopia jumped between them. He raised one of his wings to guard against the attack, completely absorbing it.
Silver Spoon growled in frustration. "Grrr! I summon my B-Buster Drake and end my turn!"
Crusaders LP: 4700 Hand (AB): 2 Hand (SB): 4 Hand (SL): 3 Opponents LP: 6500 Hand (DT): 3 Hand (SS): 3 Hand (FW): 4
"Now," Astral said as he turned to Scootaloo, "it is time for you to summon your own Number."
"I'll see if I can," the orange girl replied. "Just need something that can get more than one monster on the field." She drew her card, then grinned. "Like my Speedroid Double Yoyo! When this guy is summoned, my Red-Eyed Dice will be coming back from the Graveyard to join him!" Her die reappeared alongside a monster that really did look like two giant yoyos.
"But you can't summon your Number with those two. They are not the correct level," Astral pointed out.
"Not yet," Scootaloo corrected. "I activate my spell card Level Lifter! All I have to do is discard a monster, and all of my monsters will change to match its level! I'm getting rid of my Slot Machine!"
"Now that both of my monsters are level seven, I'm gonna overlay them!" Scootaloo declared. "I Xyz Summon Number 42: Galaxy Tomahawk!" Her monster appeared to be an arrowhead-shaped spaceship. "Next, I'm playing Shield and Sword! This spell card swaps the attack and defense of every monster on the field until the end phase! Go, Galaxy Tomahawk, get rid of that Shock Master!"
"No! Not my precious Number card!"
Galaxy Tomahawk raced across the field and sliced through it's target.
Crusaders LP: 4700 Hand (AB): 2 Hand (SB): 4 Hand (SL): 0 Opponents LP: 5100 Hand (DT): 3 Hand (SS): 3 Hand (FW): 4
"You'll pay for destroying our Numbers!" Diamond Tiara hissed, her new card already in her hand. "And it all starts with Raigeki!" Lightning crashed down on the Crusaders' field, destroying their Number cards. "Now, I summon Dark Blade and attack directly!"
As Diamond Tiara's black-armored knight charged, Sweetie Belle chuckled. "Looks like you forgot about my trap card! And it's Magic Cylinder!"
"No!" Diamond Tiara growled. Her monster's attack was redirected at her and her team.
Crusaders LP: 4700 Hand (AB): 2 Hand (SB): 4 Hand (SL): 0 Opponents LP: 3300 Hand (DT): 2 Hand (SS): 3 Hand (FW): 4
"Guess Ah'm up!" Apple Bloom said. "And Ah'm really feelin' the flow now!"
"I do not understand," said Astral. "What do you mean by 'feeling the flow'?"
"It just means Ah'm all ready to go!" the red-haired girl told him. "Draw! Ah activate mah Puppet Plant!" A seemingly sentient plant grew next to her. "By discardin' him, Ah can take control of your Dark Blade for a while!" The vines of her monster wrapped around Dark Blade and dragged it to her field. "Next up is mah Pot of Avarice! Ah get to shuffle five monsters back into mah deck or extra deck and draw two cards!" She did so and smiled. "And now for mah Botanical Lion, which Ah'll overlay with Dark Blade to bring back Utopia! Now, Utopia, attack that B-Buster Drake!"
"We'll still be in this, even when that attack lands!" Silver Spoon pointed out.
"In that case, Ah'm playin' Utopia's effect to negate his own attack!"
Everyone looked at her in confusion. "Why would you do that?" Scootaloo asked.
"Let's just say Ah had a feelin' this would come in handy," Apple Bloom winked. "The quick play spell Double or Nothin'! Since Utopia's attack was negated, he gets another chance to hit ya, but with twice the attack points!"
"B-but that's enough to...!"
"You know it! Go, Utopia, risin' sun slash!"
Utopia swung his swords with all his strength, knocking all three enemies on their backs and reducing their Life Points to nothing.
Winners: Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo
"... Girls... we did it," Sweetie Belle said. "We won!" She and her friends shared a tight group hug.
Astral nodded. "And now that we have defeated them, their Number cards belong to us." He held out his hand. A glowing card flew from each of the fallen opponents and into his waiting grasp.
"Uh... we kinda did all the work," Apple Bloom reminded the ethereal man.
"But we also would've been crushed without the Numbers he brought us," Scootaloo pointed out.
"One thing is for sure, though," Sweetie Belle grinned. "We have six Numbers between the three of us now, and there's absolutely no possible way whatsoever for us to lose this tournament as long as we have them!"
[A few moments later...]
"DISQUALIFIED?!" the Crusaders all shouted after Principal Celestia told them the bad news.
"I'm sorry, but yes," Vice Principal Luna said to them. "For using unregistered cards that might give you an unfair advantage. Not to mention that your opponents are literally unconscious right now."
"Well, we probably should've seen that coming," Sweetie Belle admitted. "But at least we had fun Dueling!"
"Yeah!" Scootaloo agreed. "Crazy, saving-our-jerky-classmates-from-magical-trading-cards kind of fun, that is."
"Who cares if we win the tournament, anyway?" Apple Bloom asked with a smile. "We're really startin' to grow as Duelists now!"
"Observation number two," said Astral. "Some humans do not seem to care about winning or losing, instead choosing to see the end result as an opportunity to improve."
That afternoon, after the tournament had ended, the Crusaders sat next to the pedestal of the Wondercolt statue in front of the school. Astral hovered above their heads, watching them.
"Listen, Astral," Apple Bloom finally said to him. "Not to be rude or nothin', but why're ya still followin' us around?"
"I am bound to your key, for a reason that I myself am not quite sure of," the ghostly man answered. "And I need your help."
"Help? What do you need us to do?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"I need you to seek out those who are wielding Number cards," was Astral's answer. "The more you three help me collect, the more I can piece together my memory. Maybe then I can remember what I was sent to this world to do. And you've seen how dangerous they can be in the wrong hands."
"One thing's for sure, Crusaders: this won't be easy," said Scootaloo. "But Astral really does need us, and I'm not gonna let him down!"
"Me neither!" Apple Bloom agreed. "Astral, of course we'll help ya! You're our friend, after all!"
Astral looked at her with a quizzical expression. "Am I?"
"Yeah!" squeaked Sweetie Belle. "You helped us defeat those Numbers! Now, we'll help you get the rest of them, no matter how dangerous it'll be! Because that's what friends do!"
Observation number three, Astral thought. Friendship is a powerful thing. Those joined by its bonds will brave many dangers for each other. These three humans are a prime example of that bond.
"And since you're our friend, ya oughta know our names," Apple Bloom told him. "Ah'm Apple Bloom, and they're Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. Ah call 'em Sweetie and Scoots for short sometimes."
Astral smiled at the girls. "Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. I am very pleased to be your friend."
"Alright, girls, it's time to start collecting!" Scootaloo said.
"CANTERLOT CRUSADERS NUMBER CARD COLLECTORS! YAY!"
A group of students were sitting around a table at the school cafeteria. Many of them seemed to be watching a sophomore boy with snowy skin, spiky black hair, and dark green eyes. He was wearing jeans, a leather jacket, a shirt with a pair of dice on it, square sunglasses, and a rabbit foot necklace. In his hand was a cup. He placed his other hand over the top of the cup and shook. A clattering sound came from within it. "So, Flash, you know the deal," he said. "If I roll an eighteen this time, you're buying lunch for all of us."
"Bring it on, Trick!" said Flash Sentry. "There's no way you're rolling three more sixes!"
"We'll see," said Trick. He tossed three dice from the cup. They tumbled and rolled over the surface of the table. Everyone watched tensely. The first one stopped rolling and came up six. The second soon followed its example, making a total of twelve.
"Oh man..." Flash gripped the edge of his chair as the third die slowed down. Finally, after what seemed like forever, it stopped...
And came up six.
"Sorry, Flash, but food's on you," Trick smirked.
Flash buried his head in his hands. "Dang it! Best four out of seven!" he insisted.
"Ya don't owe him anything," Apple Bloom said as she approached with her lunch tray. Unseen by everyone else, Astral hovered behind her. "This guy's playin' ya. The dice are rigged."
Trick's eyes widened ever so slightly. "No they're not. I'm just really lucky."
Apple Bloom rolled her eyes and picked up a die. "Ah know a scam when Ah see one. Trust me. Ah've been to the Flim Flam brothers' pawn shop." She held the die up for everyone else to see. "Look. The edges are filed down and rounded. The only side with corners that haven't been rigged is the one on the other side from the six, so the six'll come up more often."
Everyone else leaned in and squinted. "Hey... she's right!" Sandalwood said. "It IS rigged! Totally uncool, bro!"
"I fell for this yesterday!" Lyra complained. "You owe me money!"
"Wait, guys! There's a perfectly good explanation!" Trick said hastily.
"Yeah? And what is it?" Flash asked, arms crossed and standing at his full height.
"I... don't have lunch money?"
Everyone groaned and walked away, leaving only Trick, Apple Bloom, and Astral. "Maybe you'll learn a lesson in honesty from this," Apple Bloom said. She turned and left, Astral right above her.
Trick slammed his fist on the table and growled softly. "You're going to regret this, you filthy freshman. Nobody messes with Trick Dice and gets away with it. For now, I'm just gonna have to find a new group of suckers to scam."
"I do not understand, Apple Bloom," Astral said. "What was the reason for that boy to rig his dice?"
"He's just a no-good scammer that takes advantage of others," Apple Bloom told him as she sat down at her usual table to wait for her friends. "Folks like him get a kick outta stealin' from people and bein' dishonest."
"Is that common among humans?"
"More so than Ah'd like," the farm girl grumbled as she started eating.
Observation number four, Astral noted. Some humans are far less kind than those I have come to know.
Later in the day, as the students retrieved their books for afternoon classes from their lockers, Trick Dice wandered the halls. His sunglasses were farther down his nose than before so he could peek over the frames at passersby. Eventually, he spotted the cross-eyed blonde girl named Derpy shutting her locker door. Pushing his shades up and grinning, he strutted over to her. "Hey! Derpy, right? So, I was wondering if you wanted to bring some friends to hang out with me at lunch tomorrow?"
Derpy shook her head. "Sorry, Trick, but I heard about your scam," she said. "Everyone did. And I don't really think anyone will feel comfortable hanging out with you for a while." She walked away, leaving a wide-eyed scam artist behind.
Trick Dice yelled something unintelligible and punched a locker, denting the metal. "There has to be another way to get some respect around here..."
Something fell out of the damaged locker and landed by the scammer's feet. He looked down at it curiously. "A blank Duel Monsters card?" He reached down and picked it up. "I guess I could do something with this."
A dark aura surged from the card and wrapped around Trick's entire body. As he looked, the card began to change. Artwork, stats, and everything appeared on it. "Yes, Trick... let the Number take hold..." a deep voice echoed through his head.
Trick smirked and chuckled evilly as he looked around at the other students. "Oh yeah," he said as a mark representing an 85 glowed on the palm of his right hand. The aura died down, leaving a sinister glint in his eyes. "I know exactly what I'm gonna do with this."
"... And he seemed angry when Ah walked away! Like it's somehow MAH fault he's a bad person!" Apple Bloom finished explaining to the other two Crusaders out in the schoolyard.
"That's just sick," Scootaloo said. "I can't stand people like that!"
"Neither can I," said Sweetie Belle. "He probably learned his lesson, though."
Screams echoed from inside the school as the doors slammed open. Students flooded out in a panic. Some had their Duel Blades extended. Others were looking over their shoulders in fear.
"Whoa! What in the hay?!" Apple Bloom exclaimed. "Flash!" She called the blue-haired boy over. "What's happenin' in there?"
"It's Trick! He clearly learned nothing from you exposing him as a fraud!" Flash said before continuing to run.
Sweetie Belle looked to their floating friend. "Astral? Do you think it's a Number card?"
"It very well might be. We should investigate," Astral answered.
"Right," the girls said at the same time. They ran through the school hallways before encountering the older boy standing over a fallen senior girl.
"Look, we had a deal!" Trick snapped. "I won! Now cough up that card! If you don't cooperate, I'll take your whole deck!"
"The ante rule isn't allowed on school grounds!" the girl protested. "And you could seriously get suspended for all this!"
Trick laughed. "Ha! You think I care about that? Now give me the deck!"
"Hey, Trick!" Apple Bloom yelled. "Why don't ya pick on someone your own size!"
"We're all smaller than that other girl, Apple Bloom," Sweetie Belle pointed out.
"It still works!" the red-haired girl insisted.
Trick turned around with a scowl. When he saw who challenged him, his face broke into an unpleasant grin. "Apple Bloom! So glad you could make it!" he said sarcastically. "You know, I should be thanking you. People aren't impressed by my dice routines anymore, but with this new card I picked up in my despair, I found a much better way to get respect: Dueling!"
"That confirms it. He has a Number," said Astral.
"Nobody respects ya! They're all afraid of ya!" Apple Bloom said. "The only thing Ah hate more than a lyin' cheater is a bully, and you're two for two now! Ah know you have a Number card!"
"Yeah, and I remember yours from the other day," Trick replied. "Let's wager not just ours, but your friends' too! Winner of this Duel keeps all the Numbers!"
"That's kinda how Number Duels work anyway, according to Astral," said Scootaloo.
"Ah accept your challenge!" Apple Bloom cried. She extended her red Duel Blade in a dramatic fashion. "Duel Blade, activate! Time to feel the flow!"
Trick cackled as he pulled out the card tray of his own Dueling device. "Don't worry. I'll try to cheat as little as possible."
"Hope you don't mind, but I'm going first," said Trick. "Let's start off with my continuous spell, the Dangerous Machine Type-6!" A massive roulette machine appeared behind him. "You'll be seeing more of that later. Now, I set two cards, one monster, and end my turn." The projections of all his facedown cards appeared.
"Now, Ah draw!" Apple Bloom declared. "Let's start off with two facedowns of mah own and Seed of Flame in attack mode!" A seed pod with limbs and a flaming top burrowed up from the floor.
"That's cute," said Trick in a mocking tone. "A plant that's burning up before it even sprouts is no threat to me."
"Don't underestimate this little guy," Apple Bloom shot back. "Seed of Flames, attack his monster!"
"You've attacked into my Dice Jar," said Trick. His monster card flipped up to reveal a stone jar with a grinning face on top. The face spat out a pair of dice, one landing in each player's hand. "When it's flipped up, we both roll a die, and one of us takes damage depending on the result." He tossed his die, and the 85 on his palm seemed to glow brighter. "Go, dice-roll!"
"Guess Ah have to," said Apple Bloom before tossing her own. "Go, dice-roll!"
The dice clattered to the floor. Apple Bloom's came up a one, and her opponent rolled a six.
"Nice! Something different happens when the winner rolls a six with this effect!" Trick said. "Instead of five-hundred times the result, you'll be taking a thousand times my roll!"
"Say WHAT?!" Apple Bloom screamed before the dice exploded, sending a plume of debris in her direction. "There's no way ya got that lucky!"
Astral gasped. He looked down at his hands as they started to fade. "This is not good... In a Duel with another Number user, my survival is dependent upon your victory... As you lose Life Points, I start to disappear..."
"Why didn't ya mention that earlier?!" Apple Bloom demanded.
"I did not want to worry you," was Astral's answer.
"But it's mah job as your friend to worry about your safety!"
"Excuse me, but if you're done talking to yourself," Trick called out, "there's a Duel I'd like to win!"
The farm girl glared. "You're not gonna win! Ah'm protectin' mah friend! So do your worst, ya cheater!"
"My worst is probably better than your best!" Trick taunted. "I draw! And now, my Dangerous Machine Type-6 activates." Another die appeared in his hand. "I can roll this to activate one of six effects. I'm hoping for a three, which'll let me draw another card. Go, dice-roll!" He threw the die and smirked at the result. "Three! That's another card for me!" He drew. "And now, I activate Pot of Greed for two more cards!" He looked over his hand, now consisting of four cards. "Yeah. If everything goes right here, I can summon my Number monster!"
"Uh-oh!" Apple Bloom gasped. "Ah might lose, and then Astral..."
"I play Monster Reincarnation!" Trick declared. "I'll discard my Grave Squirmer to add Dice Jar back to my hand! Then, I normal summon The Lucky Mage!" His new monster looked very odd. Its main body was blue and crystalline, and it had two grey hands floating at its sides. "And now, I activate the Monster Slots spell card!" A massive slot machine materialized, its slots already spinning.
"How does that work?"
"I'm glad you asked," said Trick. "I can activate this card when there's a monster on my field with a level matching that of a monster in my Graveyard." The first two slots stopped spinning, depicting his Grave Squirmer and Lucky Mage. "I have to banish the monster I chose that's in my Graveyard, then draw yet another card!"
"Seriously?! Again?!" Apple Bloom growled frustratedly.
"That's right! And if it's another level one monster, I can Special Summon it!" the scam artist said. He drew his next card, and the final slot stopped on another Lucky Mage. "And now my second Lucky Mage comes to the field! I'll activate both their effects! Just gotta roll a die for each of them, and their levels will become what I roll!" Two more dice appeared in his hand, his 85 mark flashing again. "Go, dice-roll!"
Apple Bloom crossed her fingers. "Please don't be what he needs..." she prayed.
The dice clattered to a stop and both came up four. Trick smirked. "Perfect! Now that both of my Lucky Mages are level four, I'll use them to build an Overlay Network!" His monsters turned into streaks of light and flew into the black portal. "You're in for it now! I Xyz Summon Number 85: Crazy Box!" A distorted black cube about the size of an average person with its overlay units orbiting around it rose from the portal. There were a few gaps in its surface, and a glowing red eye stared through one of them. The 85 symbol glowed on one of its corners.
"That thing... it's so strong..." the farm girl breathed.
"You're just lucky he can't attack due to his own effect," said Trick. "What I can do, though, is test my luck even further by removing an overlay unit!" One of the units circling around Crazy Box flew into Trick's hand and morphed into a black die with eye-like dots. "Go, dice-roll!" he yelled again as he threw it. It stopped in the exact center of the field with the five on top. "A roll like that means I can destroy one card on the field! Say goodbye to your little seed!"
Apple Bloom shielded her face with her arms as Crazy Box fired a red beam down onto her field. "Well, since Seed of Flame was destroyed by an effect, Ah get to clog up one of your monster zones with a Seed Token and summon any level four plant from mah deck! Ah choose mah Bird of Roses in attack mode!" A tiny seed shimmered into existence next to Crazy Box, and the now extinguished Seed of Flame sprouted into a bird-like monster covered in leaves and rose petals.
"Then I'll end my turn. Not that you can do much now," Trick said.
Apple Bloom glared, then smirked. "Ya know what the funny part is? You're prob'ly cheatin', but Ah'm still gonna win. Draw!" She whipped out her new card. "Ah summon Cactus Fighter!" The floor next to her Bird of Roses was ripped apart from underneath as a cactus human hybrid with large fists came to the field. "Time to bring out one of mah own Number monsters! Ah use mah level four Bird of Roses and Cactus Fighter to build the Overlay Network! Ah Xyz Summon Number 39: Utopia!"
Trick smiled as the winged warrior flew out of the Xyz portal. "There's that card that won the last Duel for you. I'll love taking it away. It'll be the perfect revenge!"
"Utopia ain't goin' anywhere!" Apple Bloom replied. "He'll be dishin' out one heck of a hit, though! Go, Utopia, risin' sun slash!"
"But Utopia cannot defeat the Crazy Box," said Astral. "He is not strong enough."
"Ah wasn't goin' for Crazy Box," Apple Bloom said. "That token that mah Seed of Flame gave 'im has zero attack points, and Ah put it in attack mode! Slice right through that seed!" Her Number monster raised his sword and brought it down with all the force he could muster, cutting the token perfectly in half.
"I'll admit it. That was a clever use of the tokens," Trick told his opponent. "Too bad it won't work again."
"Ah don't need it to. There's another way to beat ya, and Ah'll find it. For now, Ah end mah turn."
Trick cackled. "Your Numbers will be mine! I draw! And once again, I gamble with my Dangerous Machine Type-6! Go, dice-roll!" The die once again rolled to a stop agonizingly slowly. "Another three, so another card!" He drew with a sneer. "And I'll activate it! Change of Heart! Until the end phase, Utopia is under my control!" As he said this, a 39 mark appeared on the back of his right hand to join the 85 one.
"No! Utopia!" Apple Bloom cried as her warrior drifted over to Trick's side of the field. "Come on, Utopia, snap out of it!"
Astral suddenly stopped hovering and collapsed to the floor. "I... I feel weak..." he said.
"Oh no, Astral!"
"It's no use!" Trick taunted. "I'll activate Crazy Box again with his last overlay unit!" His next roll came up six and Crazy Box exploded.
Apple Bloom blinked. "What just happened?"
"Well, when I roll a six with Crazy Box, he destroys himself," Trick explained. "Fine by me, though! I activate my trap! Xyz Reborn! This revives an Xyz monster in my Graveyard and attaches to it as a new overlay unit! Come on back, Crazy Box!" A dark violet portal shot the Number card back out with one new orb of light circling it. "Now, I'll end you by attacking directly with your own Utopia!"
"No! Apple Bloom!" the other Crusaders yelled.
"Ah ain't goin' down that easy!" Apple Bloom said. "Ah play one of mah facedowns, Negate Attack! Ah'm safe and your battle phase is over!" Utopia's sword simply bounced off an invisible barrier.
Trick scoffed. "Tch. You bought yourself one more turn at best. I end, and my Change of Heart wears off." True to his word, Utopia drifted back over to Apple Bloom and the 39 mark on Trick's hand vanished.
Astral seemed to regain some of his strength. He hovered again, but his body was still fading. "That was a close call."
"Glad to have ya back, Utopia," Apple Bloom said to her monster. She then turned to her ghostly friend. "Ya alright, Astral?"
"Now that Utopia is back on our side, I feel much better," said Astral. "But his Number is still too powerful."
"Don't worry. Ah have a plan," Apple Bloom told him. "And it's all thanks to Trick takin' Utopia."
Astral's head tilted in a quizzical manner. "How is that?"
"Just watch," the redhead replied with a wink. "Draw! First up is mah Heavy Storm! This'll get rid of every spell and trap card on the field!" A tornado whipped up over the field, blowing away the facedown cards and dismantling the Dangerous Machine Type-6.
Trick gasped. "My cards!"
"That's not all!" Apple Bloom declared. "Next, Ah activate Mark of the Rose! By banishin' the Seed of Flame in mah Graveyard, Ah can equip this spell to Crazy Box!" A pinkish rose symbol emblazoned itself over Crazy Box's 85, and the monster moved over to float next to Utopia.
"Huh?! What are you doing to my Number card?! Answer me!" Trick demanded.
"As long as Mark of the Rose is equipped to a monster, that monster is always under the control of the player whose turn it is," Apple Bloom explained to him.
Trick stared slack jawed. "Like when I used Change of Heart...!"
"Now, let's see how much better your Crazy Box does with an honest wielder!" said Apple Bloom. "Ah activate his special ability by usin' an overlay unit!" The ball of light flew at the farm girl. She jumped up and caught it in her hand as it transformed into a red die rather than a black one. "Go, dice-roll!" she said, giving a little spin as she threw the small cube.
Everyone held their breath as the die rolled. It rotated on its corner slightly as it began to reach the center of the field, fell, bounced one last time, and finally stopped.
"Four," Apple Bloom said. "That means Ah can negate the effects of one face-up card until the end of this turn." She considered her options for a moment before it occurred to her. "Got it! Part of Crazy Box's effect is that he can't attack, so Ah'm gonna have him be negatin' himself!"
"No! It can't end like this!" Trick wailed.
"Crazy Box, attack him directly!" Apple Bloom commanded, prompting the cube-like monster to shoot a beam at Trick from its eye. "And now you're up, Utopia! Just enough attack points to win! Finish this Duel with one more direct attack! Risin' sun slash!"
Trick cried out in anguish as Utopia's glowing weapon was slashed directly at him, knocking him on his back.
Winner: Apple Bloom
Astral's body stopped fading as the Duel holograms vanished. He was back to his normal state. "Thank you, Apple Bloom."
The farm girl turned to him and smiled. "Astral! You're okay!"
"Indeed," Astral said, his hand now outstretched. A glowing card flew into it and transformed into the Crazy Box card. "And we have captured another Number." He gasped softly as the memory tied to the card rushed through his mind. He saw an entire world of ethereal energy and stars. He saw himself flying through it. This world... he thought. It is where I came from. I share my name with it. The Astral World...
Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo both ran up to Apple Bloom and hugged her, congratulating her on her victory. Their celebration was cut short, however, as Trick Dice groaned.
The scammer sat up and held a hand to his forehead. "But I can't lose... How will anyone respect me now...?"
"Ah'll tell ya how to get respect," Apple Bloom said to him. "By not lyin' to people all the time. If ya start bein' nicer, you could even make friends. And friends will make you feel better than all the respect in the world could. And if ya need help gettin' started, Ah can be your first friend." She held her hand out toward him.
Trick hesitated, then gripped her hand and rose to his feet. "Thank you for giving me a chance. I promise, I'll never scam anyone again."
The two students smiled and shook hands firmly.
Astral watched the exchange take place. "Observation number five," he noted. "Dishonesty is never an acceptable way to gain respect. Even in a world full of dishonest people, those who retain good morals will always be the happiest."
"And now, I overlay my level four King's Knight and Queen's Knight to construct the Overlay Network!" declared a small British boy named Pipsqueak. His two knights flew into the star-covered portal that opened on the field. "I Xyz Summon Number 50: Blackship of Corn!" A black sailboat with a 50 painted on its sail floated into position.
"So that's your Number monster?" Scootaloo asked. "A pirate ship? I'm not impressed."
"You should be!" said Pipsqueak. "Pirates are the most feared seafarers of all time! They prey on those weaker than them, and I'll do that to you now by removing an overlay unit!" One of the units circling the ship was drawn into a starboard cannon. "My Number can destroy a monster with less attack points than it and inflict a thousand damage! Fire away, Blackship of Corn! Destroy her Speedroid Razorang!" The cannon that absorbed the overlay unit shot it as a cannonball at the opposing machine. "I end my turn with that."
"Then I draw!" said Scootaloo. "I summon Speedroid Double Yoyo! When he's summoned, he can bring back one Speedroid monster from my Graveyard as long as it's level three or lower!" Her Double Yoyo appeared and extended one of its yoyo-like appendages into a violet portal, pulling out Speedroid Terrortop. "When my Terrortop is summoned, I can add another Speedroid card to my hand! I'll take my Red-Eyed Dice and play Double Summon so I can normal summon it!" Her cube-shaped monster rolled onto the field with four on top and floated into the air. "I activate my Red-Eyed Dice's special ability, targeting a Speedroid monster and changing its level to anything from one to six, so my Terrortop is now level four!"
"Looks like Scoots is goin' for a finishin' move!" said Apple Bloom.
"With my level four Terrortop and Double Yoyo, I'll build the Overlay Network!" Scootaloo said as her machine monsters were turned into light and drawn in. "I Xyz Summon Number 44: Sky Pegasus! And I'll activate his effect! You can either pay a thousand Life Points or have your Blackship of Corn destroyed!"
"But I only have 800 Life Points left!" Pipsqueak realized.
"Which means your Number is shipwrecked!" Scootaloo replied with a grin. Sky Pegasus flapped its wings and whipped up a gale, blowing Pipsqueak's Number away to the Graveyard. "Now, Sky Pegasus, attack Pip directly and end this Duel!" Her Number reared up on its hind legs and stomped down on Pip, knocking him back.
Winner: Scootaloo
"Alright Scootaloo!" Sweetie Belle cheered. "You won Pip's Number card!"
Astral stretched his hand out and grabbed the Number card from Pipsqueak as it came to him. "That is now eight Numbers down," he said.
Pipsqueak sat up slowly and groaned. "Oh, my poor aching head... What happened?"
"You were actin' nuttier than a squirrel at a peanut farm," Apple Bloom told him.
"Yeah. You thought you were a pirate or something," supplied Sweetie Belle.
"Don't worry, though," Scootaloo reassured him. "We took your Number card from you, so now you're back to normal."
"Thank you, Crusaders," Pipsqueak said. "I apologize for causing so much trouble."
"Ahem." Someone cleared their throat behind them. The girls turned around to see that Principal Celestia had emerged from a nearby classroom, apparently just in time to hear the part about taking the card. Her arms were crossed, and she was giving them a disapproving look.
Sweetie Belle smiled innocently. "H-hey, Principal Celestia! Lovely day we're having. Heheheh..."
"You three. My office. Now," the aurora-haired woman said before walking down the hall.
The Crusaders didn't move for a moment. They just watched their principal go with worried expressions. "We're doomed," Scootaloo said bluntly.
Meanwhile, Vice Principal Luna was trying to control the hallway traffic on the other side of the school. It was a stressful job, to say the least. "Miss Pie, please stop shooting party cannons! Your locker reassignment is on the second floor, Snails. Miss Dash, no running in the halls! Oh! Miss Derpy, that is the men's restroom!"
"Oops! Sorry, Vice Principal Luna!" Derpy apologized over the din of the crowd.
I need a moment to myself... Luna thought. She ducked into an unoccupied classroom and sighed. "This job is going to be the death of me," she grumbled. "I do everything I can around here, but these kids never listen to me. They listen to my sister, though, because she has more authority..." She sighed again and rubbed her forehead. When she looked up again, she noticed a paper rectangle on one of the desks. "I suppose I have to clean that up..." She walked over and grabbed the piece of trash.
Little did she know that it was not trash, but a card. The card's dark aura enveloped her body, causing her breath to go short and her eyes to widen. "Yes, Luna... let the Number take hold..." a voice told the blue woman.
Luna sneered as a glowing 87 appeared on the center of her collarbone. "I can feel this power...!" she said. "They'll listen to me now. No, better yet, they'll all bow down to me!" She laughed, then slammed the classroom door open and stormed into the hallway.
Celestia was seated behind her large oak desk in her office. Her hands were together in a prayer-like position. Across the desk from her, the Crusaders sat in plastic chairs. "So," she finally said. "You three have been disregarding this school's ban on the ante rule."
"Look, it's not that simple," Apple Bloom tried to explain.
"You know the reason that rule isn't allowed here is to prevent students from fighting over cards, right?" Celestia continued. "And today isn't the first instance of this. Diamond Tiara told me the other day that you took one of her cards. She even demanded that I tell you to give it back."
"We can't give it back," Scootaloo said.
"And why is that?"
"Because it's pure evil!" Sweetie Belle said. "All the Number cards we've been taking are, and Apple Bloom's necklace makes it so they don't effect us, but they effect other people and turn them evil and stuff! We're collecting them to keep people safe and help our invisible floating Duelist friend named Astral who's only visible to the three of us get his memories back!"
Celestia didn't look convinced. "What part of that were you expecting me to believe?" she asked.
"All of it! It's all true!" Sweetie Belle insisted.
"Ah promise, we're not makin' it up! Ya have to believe us!" Apple Bloom begged.
"To be fair, it does sound pretty crazy when you say it all out loud," Scootaloo reasoned.
"But there's a portal to a magical pony world in front of the school, we've been through two demon attacks in the past year, and there are seven magical girls enrolled here!" Apple Bloom pointed out. "Why is our Number card story so hard to believe?"
Celestia just sighed. "If you won't tell me the truth, then I'll have no choice but to put you in—."
"DETENTION!"
All the occupants of the office jumped as the scream echoed from the other side of the door. "Luna?" Celestia gasped.
"Are y'all thinkin' what Ah'm thinkin'?" Apple Bloom asked. Her friends nodded to convey the silent message.
Number.
The aurora-haired principal stood up to leave the office. "You three stay here. I'm going to investigate." The second the door closed behind her, the Crusaders jumped up from their chairs to follow.
"Detention? What for?" a girl named Lightning Dust demanded.
"For not bowing down as I walked by!" Luna answered.
"What?! Since when is that a school rule?!" said Lightning Dust.
"Silence! I ought to have you expelled for talking back to your queen!" Luna snapped.
"Luna? What's going on here?" Celestia asked as she approached.
Luna glared at her. "Stay out of this, sister. Now that I have real power, you can't get in my way anymore."
"You're being unreasonable," Celestia said calmly.
"And you're being the control freak that I so utterly despise," Luna hissed.
Celestia gasped, her hands going over her mouth in shock. Her eyes watered as the pupils contracted. "Luna... what's happening to you...?"
"We told ya back in your office that this kinda thing was happenin'," Apple Bloom said as she and her friends arrived. She pointed to the glowing 87 on Luna's collarbone. "She musta picked up a Number card."
"So you were telling the truth..." Celestia breathed.
"Don't worry. I can handle her," said Sweetie Belle. She stepped forward and extended her Duel Blade. "Sister problems are something I can relate to. Now I'll help you with yours."
Luna strapped on her own black Duel Blade. "You dare defy me? Fine. I'll defeat you and make an example of your humiliation!"
"Let's Duel!" the student and vice principal shouted.
Sweetie Belle LP: 8000; Hand: 5 Luna LP: 8000; Hand: 5
"I will begin this Duel by activating Card Destruction!" Luna declared with a sneer. "We will now both discard and redraw our entire hand!"
"Fine by me," said Sweetie Belle as she placed her cards in the Graveyard. "That wasn't really the best hand anyway. This one is way better."
"But my new hand is perfect!" said Luna. "I summon Divine Dragon Apocralyph, then banish it from the field to Special Summon my Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon!" A massive black dragon descended onto the field and roared, blowing Sweetie's hair back with its hot breath. "And next, I banish Fabled Ashenveil, Archfiend Soldier, and Mad Archfiend from my Graveyard to Special Summon this monster! Go, Dark Necrofear!"
Sweetie grimaced and squealed in fear as the very disturbing-looking fiend rose from a dark portal. "Mother of Faust, what is that thing?! It's hideous!" she screamed.
"Surely you've heard of Dark Necrofear," said Luna. "When it's destroyed, I gain control of one of your monsters! For now, I will end my turn."
Sweetie Belle LP: 8000; Hand: 5 Luna LP: 8000; Hand: 1
Sweetie Belle began her turn nervously. "Okay, let's see... Well, Necrofear can't control my monsters if I don't have any! I play Smashing Ground!"
Luna chuckled. "Since an effect was activated that would destroy a card I control," she said, "I can send Necrofear to the Graveyard myself to Special Summon a new monster! Let's go, Dragonic Knight!" As her fiend disappeared, a dragon with armor, a shield, and a sword took its place.
"Guess that kinda backfired," said Sweetie. "Now, I normal summon my Aquaactress Tetra and activate her effect, adding Aquarium Set to my hand and activating it, boosting my water monsters and Aquaactresses by 300 attack and defense points! Then I play a facedown and Swords of Revealing Light!" Glowing energy blades rained down on the field, which had taken the form of an aquarium. "This'll protect me for a while. I end my turn."
Sweetie Belle LP: 8000; Hand: 2 Luna LP: 8000; Hand: 0
Luna sneered at her. "A pitiful attempted to defend yourself. Once I crush you, I'll get my horrid sister out of the way once and for all and rule this lowly place as its queen!"
"How could you say something like that?!" Sweetie Belle asked. "She's your sister! I know you love her, it's what sisters do!"
"Silence!" Luna snarled. "She's never been there for me! Why should I love her?!"
Celestia gasped. "Luna, if you really feel that way... I'm so sorry..."
"Stay out of this, sister! Draw!" Luna growled. "I activate Pot of Greed to draw twice more!" She looked at her new cards and cackled. "First up is Monster Reborn, allowing me to revive my Dark Necrofear!" Her fiend reappeared, sending more shivers down the spine of her opponent. "I will end my turn with that."
Sweetie Belle LP: 8000; Hand: 2 Luna LP: 8000; Hand: 1
"I'll snap you out of this, Vice Principal Luna!" Sweetie promised. "I draw! I normal summon my Aquaactress Guppy and use her effect to summon my Arowana!" The two fish-like monsters joined their own sister on the field. "Arowana's effect let's me add another copy of her to my hand! See how the Aquaactress sisters all work together? That's how a family is supposed to be!" she said.
Luna huffed indignantly. "Spare me the talk about family and just fight me!" she shouted.
"If you insist!" said Sweetie Belle. "I activate my Aqua Story- Urashima! Thanks to your Card Destruction earlier, there's an Aquaactress in my Graveyard, so I can negate the effects of your Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon and reduce its attack points to a measly hundred! Get rid of that thing, Arowana!"
Luna growled as her dragon was destroyed. "It matters not. After two more of my turns, your Swords of Revealing Light will vanish, and I will win this!"
"We'll see about that!" Sweetie countered. "I end my turn."
Sweetie Belle LP: 8000; Hand: 2 Luna LP: 5500; Hand: 1
Luna drew a card and grinned. "It is time," she said. "Since I control a level eight monster, I can normal summon without tribute my Parsec, the Interstellar Dragon!" A purple dragon with a thin body and green detailing appeared on her field.
Sweetie raised an eyebrow. "Only 800 attack points?"
"But it is another level eight monster," the vice principal pointed out. "And I will have a third when I boost my Dragonic Knight's level by one with Star Changer!"
Astral inhaled sharply. "Three monsters with the same level..."
"Just like Shock Master, Luna's Number probably needs three materials," said Scootaloo. "I've heard Xyz monsters that need more than two are always insanely powerful."
"I overlay my level eight Dark Necrofear, Dragonic Knight, and Parsec to construct the Overlay Network!" Luna declared. The 87 on her collarbone glowed brighter as her monsters were drawn into a portal. "You are done for now! I Xyz Summon Number 87: Queen of the Night!" A sealed flower bud rose from the portal and bloomed, revealing the upper half of a pink-haired woman in a black and green dress wielding a two-bladed dagger. A red 87 glowed on the monster's waist.
"So that's your Number," Sweetie observed. "Good thing my swords are still up."
"For now, yes," Luna hissed. "I activate the first effect of Queen of the Night!" Her monster grabbed one of the overlay units orbiting her and held it close to her heart. "By using one of her Xyz material, I can make her gain 300 attack points! I end my turn for now."
Sweetie Belle LP: 8000; Hand: 2 Luna LP: 5500; Hand: 0
Sweetie Belle began her turn with her draw. "Okay. I'll activate my Aquaactress Guppy's special ability, summoning my second Arowana!" she declared. "And I'll overlay my two level six Arowanas to Xyz Summon my own Number monster! Let's go, Number 21: Frozen Lady Justice!"
"Your Number is nothing compared to mine!" Luna growled.
"Maybe she's not as strong, but she has a lot going for her!" Sweetie promised. "I'll end my turn for now."
Sweetie Belle LP: 8000; Hand: 2 Luna LP: 5500; Hand: 0
"So it is now my draw!" Luna shouted, whipping out a card. "And I will activate this new card! Heavy Storm!"
Sweetie Belle gasped! "Oh no! Without my aquarium and swords, I'm totally vulnerable! At least I get to summon a Guppy from my Graveyard in defense mode."
"Even more so when I remove another overlay unit from my Queen of the Night to boost her attack points by another 300!" the vice principal cackled. "Go, my Number, attack Aquaactress Tetra!"
Sweetie cried out as she took the heavy hit and Astral started to fade away. "It's so strong..." she breathed.
"I will end the turn there," Luna said with a sneer. "See what you can do about this."
Sweetie Belle LP: 4500; Hand: 2 Luna LP: 5500; Hand: 0
Sweetie's face turned to hopeful as she drew her card. "I'll set this card facedown and end my turn," she said simply.
"But during your turn, I activate my Number's second effect!" said Luna. "By using her last overlay unit, she can lock down your new facedown as long as she remains face-up on the field!" The card was wrapped up in vines.
The other Number wielder didn't seem worried. "It's your turn either way."
Sweetie Belle LP: 4500; Hand: 2 Luna LP: 5500; Hand: 0
Luna drew her card and laughed. "Queen of the Night, attack her Guppy!" she ordered.
"I'll activate another card I had to ditch with your Card Destruction!" Sweetie countered. "By banishing Breakthrough Skill from my Graveyard, I can negate your Number's effects!" she said. "And now, since it's not being locked down anymore, I activate Quaking Mirror Force!"
"No!" Luna snarled as her monster was forced into facedown defense mode. "Very well. I end my turn."
Sweetie Belle LP: 4500; Hand: 2 Luna LP: 5500; Hand: 1
"This ends now! Draw!" Sweetie yelled in her squeaky voice. "I activate the effect of Frozen Lady Justice, removing an overlay unit from her to get rid of your defensive monster!"
Luna cried out in frustration as her card was slashed to bits by the sword-wielding woman.
"Now I play Monster Reborn to bring back the Arowana I detached and equip her with Megamorph! Her attack points double since my Life Points are lower! First, my Aquaactress sisters will attack you, and then Frozen Lady Justice will finish this Duel!"
Winner: Sweetie Belle
Luna flew back as the attacks struck, landing heavily on her back and groaning.
Astral extended a hand and absorbed Luna's Number. He gasped as the memory connected to it returned. Are they... my family...? he wondered as he saw multiple beings that strongly resembled himself.
Celestia ran to her fallen sister and helped her stand. "Luna, are you okay?" she asked.
Luna began sobbing into her sister's shoulder. "No, Celestia, I... I feel broken inside..." she choked out. "I knew what I was doing... what I said to you... and, to some degree, I truly did believe it... Can you ever forgive me...?"
Celestia gently shushed her crying sister and hugged her tightly. "Of course I forgive you, little sister. You weren't in your right mind." She turned to the Crusaders and smiled. "Thank you, girls, for snapping her out of it. Is there anything we can do to repay you?"
Apple Bloom smiled back. "Just let us keep collectin' the Number cards. That's all ya need to do."
The principal nodded. "Of course. Luna, you take the rest of the day off. After work, we'll just have a family evening."
Luna wiped away her tears and smiled. "I... I would very much like that."
"Observation number six," Astral noted. "While friendship is a powerful thing, nothing is stronger than the bonds between family."
It was a beautiful Saturday morning at Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack pulled a cart up to one of the many apple trees and smiled. "Another hard day's work ahead of me today," she said, reaching up to the tree branches and wrapping her fingers around the shiny red fruit.
With a disgusted grimace, Applejack yanked her hand away from the apple. "Ew! Why is it all squishy and slimy?" she said, flailing her hand to shake off the slime. "It almost feels like something ate this one days ago."
Apple Bloom approached her older sister, Big Macintosh not far behind. Astral hovered next to her, but her siblings of course couldn't see that. "AJ, the trees over there don't have any good fruit! It's all got bite marks in it!" she said.
Applejack raised an eyebrow. "Really? Not one apple good enough to make into jam or cider?"
"Eenope," said Big Mac, shaking his head.
"What the heck caused this?" Applejack wondered.
"If it is any help to you," Astral said to Apple Bloom, "I happened to spot several leathery-winged animals feasting on the apples late last night."
Apple Bloom grumbled. "Fruit bats. Just our luck."
"Bats, huh?" said Applejack. "Ah think this calls for some help from an animal expert."
"Eeyup," Big Mac agreed.
Later that afternoon, Fluttershy came to the farm. She examined the tiny bite marks on one of the fruits and nodded, turning to look at the Apple family siblings. "Definitely fruit bats. This is a very distinctive shape," she said.
Applejack crossed her arms. "Great. Now, can ya help us get rid of 'em?"
"Get rid of them?" Fluttershy repeated, sounding surprised. "You don't want to do that, do you? The bats eating the apples will transport the seeds, promoting verdancy and healthy growth in the orchard."
"Ah can't have the bats eatin' our crops," Applejack insisted. "We ain't usin' pesticides, and you're the only one Ah know who can help us handle the infestation."
"If you don't want them to eat all the crops, you could establish a bat sanctuary on the far side of the orchard," Fluttershy suggested. "Separate a few trees for the bats to get their food from. It's a much better solution than driving them all out of here."
Her friend just narrowed her eyes. "The bats ain't stayin'," she said.
"Wait a minute, sis," said Apple Bloom. "Fluttershy is the expert. If she thinks we should let the bats stay, Ah think we should give 'em a chance."
"Do ya want the little vermin to eat everything here?"
Apple Bloom opened her mouth to offer a rebuttal, but couldn't think of anything. She sighed and slumped her shoulders. "No..."
"That's what Ah thought," said AJ before turning back to Fluttershy. "So. How can we scare 'em off?"
Fluttershy frowned and looked away, accepting defeat. "I guess I can try using my Stare on them," she whispered.
"Observation number seven," Astral noted. "The stubbornness of humans can sometimes be too strong to be swayed, even by friends."
By the time the sun began to set, all the bats had been rounded up and caged. Fluttershy looked sadly through the bars at the little guys. "I wish there was something I could do to help you stay..." she said to them. It was then that she noticed a small piece of litter in one of the cages. "Oh, I can't have one of you choking on that," the animal caretaker said. She carefully opened the cage, reached her hand in... and grabbed the blank card.
Fluttershy gasped the second her fingers made contact. Her pupils shrank down to pinpricks as dark aura enveloped her body. A glowing symbol that looked like a 24 shimmered into existence on the inner side of her right wrist. "Yes, Fluttershy... Let the Number take hold..." a disembodied voice told her. The card changed into a menacing Xyz monster.
Fluttershy smirked and chuckled as she began opening all the bat cages.
The next morning, Applejack growled in frustration when she saw that the orchard was even worse for wear than before. "What in tarnation?! Ah thought Fluttershy got rid of the bats!" she said, turning to her two siblings. "Alright. We're gonna stake out the orchard tonight and drive those pests out ourselves!"
Apple Bloom frowned. "But it's a school night. Are ya sure that's a good idea?"
"It's these apples that help us pay for school. Are ya with me or not, Apple Bloom?" AJ replied.
"Ah guess Ah'm with ya," said Apple Bloom. "But if mah grades slip, Ah'm blamin' you."
That night, the Apple siblings marched through one of the few parts of the orchard that the bats hadn't touched, all carrying flashlights. Applejack was wielding a baseball bat so that she could "scare 'em off with a cruel display of irony." Apple Bloom had brought her Duel Blade on Astral's recommendation. One never knew, he had said. The ethereal man was joining them as well, noticed only by the youngest sibling.
The young redhead shivered nervously. "Ah don't like this," she said to her sister. "It's too quiet and Ah feel like someone is watchin' us."
"Don't be silly Apple Bloom," Applejack said, pointing her flashlight up at the branches. "There's nothin' to be afraid of. Right, Big Mac?"
"Eeyup..." their older brother said, but even he looked uncomfortable.
A shadow darted across the orchard path in front of them, causing them to jump. Applejack waved her flashlight around in a panic, trying to catch a glimpse of the shadow. "Alright, who's there?! Come on out and face us, ya coward!" she shouted.
"If you insist," said a very familiar voice in an unfamiliar tone. It seemed to come from the branch directly above them.
"No... It can't be..." Applejack muttered. She slowly pointed her flashlight upward to reveal... "Fluttershy?!"
Indeed, the pink-haired girl was perched in the tree over their heads. But she was almost unrecognizable. She was wearing a very tight black dress that over accentuated all of her curves and a silver necklace with a blood red gem in the center of its pendant. Her hair was a mess, and several bats were even nesting in it. She had dark eyeshadow and red lipstick, which was quite unlike her. Most notably, her now pointed teeth were prominently displayed in her sneer.
"Fluttershy is no more," she said as she dropped to the ground, landing with catlike grace. "She disappeared when you tried to get rid of her animal friends. In her place is a vampire ready to bite back!"
"This is crazy!" Applejack cried. "The Fluttershy Ah know would never do anything this drastic!"
"I told you, Fluttershy is gone," Fluttershy repeated. "For I am Flutterbat!"
Applejack looked unimpressed. "Flutterbat? Really? That's what ya went with?"
Flutterbat's only response was to stare directly into Applejack's eyes. Applejack, without hesitation, gave herself an atomic wedgie.
Apple Bloom winced as her sister howled in pain. "Ooh, that's GOTTA hurt...!"
"Look there, Apple Bloom," said Astral, pointing to the 24 on Flutterbat's wrist. "She has a Number card."
The youngest Apple child nodded. "Ah see it," she said. "Big Mac, help AJ. Ah know how to deal with Fluttershy."
AJ's eyes widened. "What?! Ya think we're gonna let ya do this alone?! Don't be stupid!"
"It's the only way. Ya have to trust me on this," Apple Bloom said as she stepped forward. "Are ya with me?"
Applejack, seeing the conviction in her sister's eyes, nodded. "Ya bet Ah'm with ya."
"Then stand back," Apple Bloom said, extending her Duel Blade. "Fluttershy, Flutterbat, or whatever ya call yourself now. Ah challenge you to a Duel!"
"A Duel you say? And what's in it for me?" Flutterbat asked with a quizzical expression.
"If ya win, these," Apple Bloom answered simply, holding up Utopia, Diamond Crab King, and Crazy Box.
Flutterbat smirked and licked her lips. "Such power in those cards... Very well, I accept your challenge. But you will also become my minion when I defeat you."
"Ah won't lose," said Apple Bloom. "Ah already know how your deck works so Ah can counter it."
"Oh, I won't be using that inferior deck," said Flutterbat. She strapped on a Duel Blade resembling a bat wing. "I have a new one to try."
"Won't make any difference!" Apple Bloom replied. "Duel Blade, activate! Get set to get decked!"
"I shall go first," said Flutterbat. "And I begin with the field spell card Zombie World!" As she activated the card, the orchard around them morphed into a graveyard with a ghostly fog drifting about. "With this in play, every monster on the field and in the Graveyard becomes a zombie, and only Zombie-type monsters can be Tribute Summoned. I will then set one card and summon Vampire Lady in attack mode!"
Apple Bloom shivered as Flutterbat's monster appeared. "Zombie deck. Ah hate these things," she said.
"Be careful. That field spell could be problematic," Astral warned.
"For the time being, I will end my turn," said Flutterbat.
"Mah move, then! Draw!" said Apple Bloom. "Ah summon Lonefire Blossom and activate its special ability!" she declared. The orange flower sprouted in front of her, glowing softly in the night. "By tributin' itself, it lets me Special Summon mah Gigaplant straight from the deck! Go!"
The flower yielded absolutely zero reaction. Flutterbat chuckled.
"... Uh... why didn't it work?" Apple Bloom said worriedly.
"Lonefire Blossom's ability requires that you tribute one Plant-type monster," Astral pointed out. "But with Zombie World in play, it is no longer Plant-type. Nothing is."
"Dang, that's right," Apple Bloom realized, growling a bit in frustration. "There goes that strategy... Ah set two cards facedown and end mah turn."
"And my turn begins. I draw!" said Flutterbat. "I activate my trap card Xing Zhen Hu!" she declared, flipping up her facedown card. Several weights tied themselves to Apple Bloom's facedowns. "You won't be able to use either of those cards as long as Xing Zhen Hu is on the field."
"Uh-oh! Ah'm totally vulnerable!" Apple Bloom cried.
"Indeed you are," Flutterbat taunted. "Vampire Lady, attack Lonefire Blossom!" Her vampiric monster charged forward, slicing her target with her claw-like nails.
Apple Bloom winced as Astral faded slightly. "That's a pretty heavy hit, there..." she said.
"And now, Vampire Lady's special ability activates!" said Flutterbat. "Since this lovely lady inflicted battle damage, she will force you to send a card from your deck to the Graveyard, the type of which I get to choose. Say goodbye to one of your trap cards."
Apple Bloom grunted in irritation and placed a Jar of Greed in her Graveyard.
"Apple Bloom, you will need to make up for your earlier misplay," said Astral.
"Ah know. Ah just need some time to think of a plan," Apple Bloom replied. "For now, Ah'm just gonna have to wing it. Ah draw!" She whipped out a card and looked at it. "That could help. Ah summon Botanical Lion to the field!"
"And I activate another trap card!" said Flutterbat.
Apple Bloom winced, expecting something like Bottomless Trap Hole. However...
"Needlebug Nest! The top five cards of my deck are sent to the Graveyard!"
Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow. "Gettin' rid of your own cards, huh? Fine by me. Botanical Lion, take down Vampire Lady!"
"I banish from the Graveyard my Necro Gardna to negate your attack," Flutterbat countered. "Do you see now why I shrunk my deck?"
Apple Bloom groaned. "Just perfect. Now she has moves to make that Ah can't even see comin'! Guess Ah end mah turn."
Flutterbat sneered. "I draw! And now, it is time for my ultimate beast to emerge."
"Oh no," Astral said. "She is going to summon her Number monster."
"I banish Mezuki from the grave to activate his special ability," said Flutterbat. "He offers himself as a means to raise the dead, so I may revive another monster that was struck down by Needlebug Nest. Come forth, Vampire's Curse!"
Apple Bloom frowned as the pale, bat-winged man appeared. "But he's level six. Ya can't Xyz Summon with him and Vampire Lady," she pointed out.
"Perhaps not, but there is one last monster in my Graveyard that has yet to show itself," said Flutterbat. "Since a level five or higher Zombie-type monster has been Special Summoned, I pay 2000 Life Points to revive Vampire Grace!" Her new vampire rose from one of the graves surrounding them. "But before I Xyz Summon, Vampire Grace's special ability activates. You will now send a monster from your deck to the grave."
"This deck is just tearin' me apart from the inside," Apple Bloom muttered, sending away a Rose Witch.
"And now," Flutterbat continued, her teeth looking pointier and her Number mark glowing brighter, "with my level six Vampire's Curse and Vampire Grace, I build the Overlay Network!" A black portal opened on the ground between the two Duelists. The two vampires morphed into streaks of light and flew into the center of it. A giant 24 symbol glowed just above the portal. "Come forth, mighty king of the Underworld, and rule the night as it is meant to be ruled! I Xyz Summon Number 24: Dragulas the Vampiric Dragon!"
From the portal emerged what looked like a giant bat wrapped up in its own wings. Its true form was revealed, however, when the wings were opened. The creature was an enormous black dragon with spiked, bone-like armor, blood red streaks through its scales, and a 24 blazing on its chest. It let out a loud roar and glared down at Apple Bloom, hissing.
Unseen by his siblings, Big Mac had a horrified expression on his face. That can't be... he thought.
"Death..." Apple Bloom breathed out, finishing the thought for him.
"Now, I enter the battle phase," said Flutterbat. "Dragulas, my friend. Kindly dispose of her Botanical Lion with your Midnight Haze." Her Number monster roared and shot a jet of dark violet mist from its mouth, destroying Apple Bloom's monster. "And now, Vampire Lady will attack directly! With her effect, you will lose another monster card from your deck!"
Apple Bloom cried out as the attacks struck, Vampire Lady forcing her to get rid of a Puppet Plant. Astral began to fade even more. "This ain't good," she said. "If she gets any more turns like that, Ah'm done for!"
Apple Bloom drew her next card nervously. "This could help. Ah activate Pot of Greed to get two new cards!" Drawing once again, she frowned. "Ah can only play defensive for now, so Ah set a monster and end it."
"A worthless attempt to defend yourself," said Flutterbat. "I draw!" She didn't even bother to look at her new card. There was no need. "Dragulas, destroy the facedown!"
Apple Bloom grinned. "Sorry to disappoint ya, but that facedown card is Marshmallon!" she said. Her monster flipped face-up to reveal a soft, candy-like creature. "This little fella can't be destroyed by battle, and since ya flipped him up by attackin' him, ya take a thousand damage!"
Flutterbat winced as the damage was bounced back at her. "Very well. Main phase two, I activate Lightning Vortex! By discarding one card, I destroy Marshmallon!" Thunder rumbled overhead as lightning crashed down on Apple Bloom's field and vaporized her monster. "With you left defenseless, I end my turn."
Frowning, Apple Bloom began with a draw. Her frown vanished when she saw her next card. "Mah deck gave me just what Ah need! A Mystical Space Typhoon!" she declared.
"What?!" Flutterbat growled as the spell card was used to destroy her Xing Zhen Hu.
"And now that it ain't bein' locked down, Ah can activate Call of the Haunted to bring back Botanical Lion!" Apple Bloom said. "Then Ah normal summon Cactus Fighter and build the Overlay Network with mah two monsters!" Another Xyz portal opened, drawing in Apple Bloom's plant monsters. As she brought out her ace card, she didn't see her brother look even more worried. "Let's go, Number 39: Utopia!"
Astral smiled at her. "Excellent. Our victory is assured now," he said.
Flutterbat simply smirked. "A strong Number monster indeed," she said. "But it is nothing against mine. I activate Dragulas the Vampiric Dragon's special ability!" Her monster roared and snapped its jaw shut around one of the units circling it. "During either player's turn, I can remove one of his overlay units to target one monster that was Special Summoned from the extra deck and force it into facedown defense mode!" Dragulas's eyes glowed as it stared at Utopia. "Gaze into the eyes of a vampire. You are helpless against their mesmerizing allure."
Apple Bloom could only watch as Utopia disappeared to be replaced by a facedown card. "No! Utopia!" She shook her head. "He may be vulnerable, but you're crazy if ya think that'll do me in! Ah activate Scapegoat to summon four tokens in defense mode! Now Ah'm protected even if ya destroy Utopia! Ah end mah turn with that."
Flutterbat made a disappointed noise as she drew a card. "You shouldn't have done that. You are now more vulnerable than you would have been. Firstly, I summon my Lancer Archfiend in attack mode! Then I equip Dragulas with the spell card Fairy Meteor Crush!"
Astral gasped. "Now, two of her attacks will inflict piercing battle damage...!"
"But all of mah tokens have zero defense!" Apple Bloom realized.
"Now, my battle phase!" said Flutterbat. "Vampire Lady will be the first to destroy a token, and Lancer Archfiend's special ability activates, allowing her to inflict piercing damage!" Her fiend gave one of its weapons to Vampire Lady, who used it to stab right through the token. "Her effect now forces you to get rid of another monster card in your deck. Lancer Archfiend will then attack a second token, and Dragulas will destroy a third token and inflict more damage!"
Apple Bloom screamed and fell back. She had taken too much damage and barely had any Life Points left. Astral was almost completely transparent now. "She's just too strong..." the ghostly man lamented.
"You have one turn remaining at best," Flutterbat taunted. "I end my turn."
Apple Bloom stood up slowly. "You're right. Ah have one turn left," she said. "And Ah'm gonna use it to win this thing!"
"Apple Bloom, it is not possible," Astral said. "If you try to attack with Utopia, she will only use Dragulas to set him facedown again, then inflict a fatal blow on her next turn."
"You shut your yap, Astral!" Apple Bloom snapped, surprising her friend and herself. "Ah know it's possible, and Ah'll show ya! We just need to believe it can be done!"
A warm feeling spread through Astral's body. The feeling was new, but familiar at the same time. It was comforting. It was... hopeful. "Go on, then. Do what you can," he said.
Apple Bloom nodded. "Ya made a big mistake not destroyin' Utopia when ya had the chance, Fluttershy," she said.
Flutterbat raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? If anyone is making a mistake here, it's you for not surrendering."
"Not gonna happen!" Apple Bloom retorted. "It's mah turn, and Ah draw!" She whipped a card from her deck.
"You know that I'll just neutralize your Utopia with Dragulas!" Flutterbat growled.
"Not this time!" said Apple Bloom. "Ah activate mah facedown card Forbidden Chalice on Dragulas the Vampiric Dragon!"
Flutterbat laughed. "That's your plan? To give my monster 400 extra attack points?"
"Forbidden Chalice also negates the target's effects until the end phase," Apple Bloom said, causing Flutterbat's eyes to widen. "But there ain't gonna be an end phase! Ah play mah Pot of Avarice, shufflin' five monsters in mah Graveyard back into the deck!" She did so, grinning widely. "And then Ah get two new cards in mah hand." She grabbed the top two cards of her deck. "Here we go. Ah... DRAW!"
"No amount of cards can save you now!" Flutterbat snarled.
"But these two specific ones just might," Apple Bloom countered. "First, Utopia is flipped back to face-up. Then Ah equip him with Megamorph! Since ya have more Life Points than me, his attack power doubles!"
"It's gonna go even higher when Ah play mah favorite combo with Utopia!" Apple Bloom grinned. "He's gonna attack Dragulas only to use an overlay unit to negate his own attack! And then, ya know it, ya love it, Double or Nothing!" A bright aura glowed around her monster as he charged forward with both of his swords.
Flutterbat hissed and covered her face. "So... bright...!"
"Utopia, hit Dragulas with all ten-thousand of those points!" Apple Bloom commanded. "Rising sun ultimate slash!"
"NOOOOOOOOOO!"
Winner: Apple Bloom
The shockwave from the attack was so powerful that it sent Flutterbat flying. She slammed into a tree with a loud "Oof!" and slumped down at the base of the trunk.
"Fluttershy!" Applejack cried. She ran toward her fallen friend as Astral absorbed the Number card out of her. "Are ya alright, sugarcube?"
Fluttershy groaned in pain and sat up slowly. "My body is sore from the impact, but I should be fine," she said, frowning. "Did I really wear this? That's not like me at all."
"Listen, Fluttershy... Ah'm sorry for not listenin' to you before about the bats," Applejack said as she helped her friend back to her feet. "If Ah knew all this would happen..."
Fluttershy smiled. "I forgive you, Applejack," she said. "You were just frustrated by them. I'm sorry for, pardon the pun, going batty on you."
Applejack chuckled. "Apology accepted. We'll get right to work on the bat sanctuary after school tomorrow." With that, the two girls hugged.
"Observation number eight. Forgiveness can always be reached between two people who truly care for each other," said Astral. After a brief pause, he smiled and added, "Observation number nine. When the odds are against you, all you need is faith and hope."
"Hey, sis," Big Mac said quietly to Apple Bloom. "Ah'm just gonna ask what me and AJ were both thinkin'. Who were ya talkin' to?"
"Uh... imaginary friend," Apple Bloom blurted out.
But Mac knew this was a lie. Later in his room, he was looking at a particular card of his, a blue-armored Battlin' Boxer monster. "It's happenin' too soon," he muttered. "And even worse, Apple Bloom is in the middle of it all... Dad, if you're really up there... give us strength..."
It was late in the evening. A Duel was taking place in the parking lot of the Canterlot City Mall, but time didn’t seem to be moving outside of it. One Duelist was a blue girl with silver hair, and the other was a mysterious figure with a long, tight, white coat, a maroon scarf covering the lower half of their face, violet hair tied back in a ponytail, and a strange glowing mark around their right eye. The girl, well know at the school as Trixie, had the field advantage, while her opponent controlled no monsters.
“Trixie admits, you had her on the ropes for a while,” Trixie said to her opponent. “But you never stood a chance against this Number monster, or the Mighty and Indestructible Trixie! Big Eye, attack directly!” Her cone-shaped monster shot a blast of magic energy.
Her opponent wasn’t going down so easily. “I activate my facedown card, Forbidden Lance!” the Duelist declared in a seemingly altered voice, making it hard to determine if they were male or female. “This will lessen the damage I take by shaving 800 attack points off your monster until the end phase!” They took the damage with a grunt.
“What a pointless move. Trixie will win on her next turn anyway,” Trixie replied. “For now, she ends her turn.”
“Awfully cocky,” her opponent commented, “for someone who’s letting a card boss her around. I draw!” They pulled a card from the deck slot of their dragon-themed Duel Blade. “I summon in attack mode my Photon Cerberus!” On the field appeared a large three-headed dog made mostly of red metal and blue energy. “Neither player can activate traps on the turn this card is normal summoned. Next, I use the spell card Photon Sanctuary to summon two Photon Tokens to my side of the field! And now, oh you’re in for a surprise. Both of these tokens have 2000 attack points, and I’ll tribute them!”
“But you’ve already normal summoned!” Trixie said with a laugh.
“Very observant,” the Photon user said sarcastically. “But you see, I can tribute two monsters with 2000 or more attack to Special Summon this monster!” The two tokens vanished as the Duelist threw a boomerang-like object. “Come forth, Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon!”
Despite looking frightened by the strange dragon, Trixie smirked. “Good thing it can’t destroy Trixie’s Number by battle,” she said. “And next turn, Big Eye will just take control of it. You’ve sealed your fate.”
“There won’t be a next turn,” the mysterious Duelist said. “Galaxy-Eyes, attack with your photon stream!” As her dragon blasted Big Eye with a beam of crackling energy, both it and the attack target vanished.
Trixie gasped. “What have you done to Trixie’s monster?!” she cried.
“When Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon battles another monster, it can banish itself and the other monster until the end of the turn,” her opponent explained. “And now I use the quick play spell Photon Lead to Special Summon Photon Crusher from my hand! With it and Photon Cerberus, I attack directly and end this Duel!”
Trixie fell on her back, groaning in pain. Her Number card was then drawn into a device strapped to her opponent’s right arm as their coat changed to a dark grey color. “I’ve got it. Number 11: Big Eye,” the unknown individual said. “But this is only the first of many.”
“Who are you…?” Trixie asked.
“To the world, I’m known as Number Hunter,” the Duelist said. “And I feel like you could be helpful to me, Trixie. Tell me… where can I find more Number cards?”
[One month later…]
“It’s pretty hard to believe that five whole weeks have passed since the Numbers started appearing,” said Apple Bloom as she and her friends exited the school at the end of the day. “And we only have ten out of… how many?” she asked Astral.
“Ninety-nine,” Astral answered. “But there is still cause to be optimistic. Any progress is good progress.”
“By the way, have you girls seen the news lately?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Apparently, there have been a ton of issues of people acting weird, then suddenly falling unconscious. The strangest part is that they all just kept muttering ‘Hunter’ in their near-comatose state.”
“That is really weird,” said Apple Bloom. “Ah wonder if it has anything to do with a Number…”
A few other students ran by, jostling them a bit. “Hey, what’s going on?” Scootaloo asked.
“Didn’t you hear?” one of them replied. “The new girl is Dueling Flash!”
Sweetie Belle gasped. “The new transfer student that came a few days ago? Star something or other?”
"Starlight Glimmer," Apple Bloom remembered. "Let's go watch. Ah kinda wanna see how she plays." Her friends nodded, and they all headed off.
The Duel was taking place near the school football field. Flash seemed to be winning. He had his ace monster, Heroic Champion Excalibur, on the field, and had just destroyed a facedown monster. "I'll end my turn there," he said. "Good luck, Starlight."
"The good wishes are appreciated but not necessary," Starlight replied, blowing a lock of her purple and teal hair out of her face. "I draw!" She looked at her new card and grinned. "Since I drew a normal monster, Aqua Madoor, I can reveal it and draw a second time thanks to my Heart of the Underdog continuous spell." After seeing the next card, she offered a friendly smile. "This has been fun, but it looks like I win."
Flash was confused. "Huh? But my ace is in play and you've barely scratched my Life Points," he said.
"There are ways to win a Duel besides doing damage, and I just drew the last card I need for one of them," said Starlight. She placed a card from her hand into each monster zone on her Duel Blade, causing a huge magic circle to glow in the air.
"No...! Y-you don't mean...!" Flash stammered as the biggest monster he had ever seen appeared in front of his opponent.
"Oh, I mean!" Starlight replied. "Exodia! OBLITERATE!"
After Flash was blasted by the unbeatable monster, the gathered crowd stared in quiet awe. Apple Bloom was the first to break the silence. "That was amazing. Ah never thought Ah'd see Exodia in action," she breathed.
Starlight looked over at her with a smile, but she seemed to feel uneasy when she saw Apple Bloom and her friends. "Thanks, I guess," she said shyly before abruptly leaving.
Scootaloo huffed and crossed her arms. "Rude. She just walked away from a conversation."
"She's probably just shy," said Apple Bloom. "Understandable. She is new here."
As soon as Starlight was behind the school and out of sight, she dropped the shy act and became all seriousness. She put on an earpiece with a microphone and began speaking. “You there?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m here,” a female voice on the other end replied. “Has anyone made the connection yet?”
“No. My Exodia deck has been the perfect disguise,” Starlight answered. “But that’s not why I called. I need info on three girls. There was some insane energy coming off them. They might have multiples each.”
“Can you describe them to me?” the girl she was calling asked.
“All three about freshman age. A tallish redhead with a country accent, shorter tomboy friend with magenta hair, cuter girl with lavender and pink hair,” Starlight listed off.
“Cute, huh? Hope you’re not considering leaving me for her,” the other girl said jokingly.
Starlight chuckled. “Don’t worry, you know I only have eyes for you,” she said. “But seriously. Can you get me some info on these girls?”
“Right. Just give me a second...” the other girl said. Buttons of a computer keyboard being typed on rapidly could be heard through the earpiece for a few moments before she spoke again. “I found three people in the school database who match your descriptions named Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. I’ve seen them all hanging out at Sugarcube Corner after school every day.”
“Then I’ll catch them while they’re headed to the cafe,” said Starlight. “Wish me luck, Trixie.”
Trixie chuckled from the other end of the call. “You’ve collected fourteen Number cards so far. This shouldn’t be a problem,” she said. “But still. Good luck.”
“Thanks,” Starlight said before pulling a long grey coat and a maroon scarf out of her backpack and putting them on. She then hung up and removed her earpiece. “Get ready, girls. Number Hunter is coming for you.”
Later, the Crusaders were on their way to the Sugarcube Corner cafe. As always, Astral hovered close by. Apple Bloom was expressing some worries that she had.
“Ah feel like most of our wins against the Numbers have just been good luck,” the young redhead was saying. “What happens when our luck runs out?”
“If you lose a Duel against another Number holder, you lose all of your Number cards, and I fade from existence,” Astral reminded her.
“And that’s what Ah don’t want to happen,” said Apple Bloom.
“Don’t worry, Apple Bloom,” said Scootaloo. “We’re getting stronger already. And chances are the next person we Duel won’t be that big of a deal.”
“LOOK OUT!” Sweetie Belle suddenly shouted, pointing toward a bike that was careening toward them, out of control. The girls wouldn’t have enough time to move. They all shut their eyes and braced for the impact…
But it never came.
Apple Bloom tentatively opened her eyes and quietly gasped at what she saw. The bike had frozen mere inches away from them. Not only that, but cars had also stopped in the streets. People were stuck mid stride. Even the bugs that had started to swarm the lampposts were frozen in the air.
The other two Crusaders opened their eyes as well and had similar reactions. “Astral, what’s happening? And why isn’t it affecting us?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“I… do not know,” Astral admitted.
“Allow me to explain,” an altered voice said behind the group. They turned around to see a figure in a long grey coat. The one who went by Number Hunter in this disguise, but was Starlight Glimmer by day.
Apple Bloom frowned. “Who the heck are you?”
“I am Number Hunter,” the mysterious Duelist introduced herself. “This is what I call a time field. Time isn’t stopped, just moving at one ten-thousandth of its usual speed. The only ones who aren’t slowed down… are those with Number cards.”
The girls were shocked. “So ya hunt down people with Numbers and collect the cards for yourself…” Apple Bloom breathed.
“Exactly. And now I’m here to take the Numbers from you,” said Number Hunter. “And of course, the only way to do that is to defeat you all in a Duel.”
“All three of us at once?” Scootaloo asked, receiving a nod in response.
“We should go. Something about this Number Hunter person feels dangerous, even if she will be outnumbered,” Astral warned.
Apple Bloom took note of this warning and looked Number Hunter right in the face. “Sorry, but we’re gonna have to say no,” she stated, and they began to walk away.
The look in Number Hunter’s eyes suggested that she may have been smirking behind her scarf. “I’m afraid you don’t have a choice,” she said, holding up her right hand. Three ropes of red energy shot forth, one wrapping around each Crusader’s wrist before becoming invisible. “Those anchors won’t break until after we Duel. Time will even resume its normal speed afterwards. But a Duel has to end here first.”
“Looks like we don’t have a choice,” said Scootaloo, extending her Duel Blade. “You want a Duel? Then that’s what you’re gonna get!” The other two nodded in agreement, their own Duel Blades activating.
Number Hunter chuckled. “Excellent. The three of you will each control your own field, but you’ll share the Life Points and be attacked as if you only have one field, and nobody can attack until we’ve all had a draw phase.”
“Sounds alright to me,” said Apple Bloom. “Do your worst, ya crazy weirdo.”
“Oh, I will. And your Numbers will still be mine!” Number Hunter said as she readied her dragon-themed Duel Blade. Then a strange mark appeared around her right eye, the iris changing from aqua to bright red. “Photon Transformation, go!” she shouted as electricity crackled in the air around her for a brief moment, her coat turning white. The Crusaders were too shocked by this to notice her wincing slightly. “Let’s begin.”
Crusaders LP: 8000 Hand (AB): 5 Hand (SB): 5 Hand (SL): 5 Number Hunter LP: 8000; Hand: 5
“I’ll even let you all go first,” Number Hunter offered.
“Well, okay then,” Apple Bloom said as she began the game.
“Play smart. We don’t know what kind of deck we will be facing,” Astral advised.
Apple Bloom nodded. “Right. Ah set two cards facedown and normal summon mah Seed of Flame in attack mode!” she declared. The projections of her facedowns appeared on the field, as well as her flaming plant monster. “Ah end mah turn there.”
Crusaders LP: 8000 Hand (AB): 2 Hand (SB): 5 Hand (SL): 5 Number Hunter LP: 8000; Hand: 5
Sweetie Belle took a moment to realize it was her turn. “Oh, are we all going before you?” she asked. “Okay. I draw!” Looking over her cards, she made her decision on what to play. “I summon Deep Sea Diva and activate her special ability, bringing out a level three or lower Sea-Serpent monster from my deck, and I choose my Atlantean Attack Squad!” The two fish-like monsters appeared on her field with a splash. “Then I boost my Diva’s level by one with Star Changer and tune these two together to Synchro Summon my White Aura Dolphin!” Her Diva morphed into three rings of green light, which encircled the white orbs of light that her Atlantean Attack Squad turned into. In a bright flash, a large dolphin was hovering over the field. “With that, I’m gonna end my turn.”
Crusaders LP: 8000 Hand (AB): 2 Hand (SB): 4 Hand (SL): 5 Number Hunter LP: 8000; Hand: 5
Scootaloo gained a confident expression on her face. “Now it’s my go!” she said. “I draw! First up, I activate Graceful Charity so I can draw three cards! Of course, then I have to discard two.” After examining her new draws, she chose her discards and continued. “I summon Speedroid Red-Eyed Dice! Now, since I have a wind-attribute monster on the field, I can Special Summon my Speedroid Taketomborg! Then I tune my Dice with Taketomborg to Synchro Summon this guy right here! Hi-Speedroid Puzzle!” Her Synchro monster appeared, not looking all that impressive. But anyone who knew Speedroids was aware that it could still be dangerous. “Then I set a card and end my turn.”
Crusaders LP: 8000 Hand (AB): 2 Hand (SB): 4 Hand (SL): 3 Number Hunter LP: 8000; Hand: 5
Number Hunter laughed. “You look so confident in your opening moves,” she said. “That’ll make it all the more satisfying to crush you. I draw!” Her card seemed to glow as she pulled it from the top of her deck. “First, I activate Pot of Greed to draw twice more! Then I play Reinforcement of the Army, a spell card that lets me add one warrior from my deck to my hand! The warrior I choose is Daybreaker!” She held up the monster and added it to her hand, which now consisted of seven cards. “Now I can Special Summon my Photon Thrasher since I don’t control any monsters yet! Up next is the spell card Photon Lead, allowing me to Special Summon a level four or lower light-attribute monster like Daybreaker from my hand! And Daybreaker’s special ability activates, summoning a second one from my hand since it was Special Summoned!” The three armored warriors all emerged on Number Hunter’s field, glaring at the Crusaders. “These three won’t be around for long, because I use them to build the Overlay Network!” Her monsters transformed into light and flew into the black portal that opened beneath them. “Behold Number 69: Heraldry Crest!”
The girls all stared as the large Xyz monster rose from the portal, three units orbiting around it. “A Number monster out already?!” Apple Bloom said in fright.
“Indeed. And that’s not all!” Number Hunter declared. “I have yet to normal summon this turn, so I bring Photon Cerberus to the field! And since I successfully normal summoned a level three monster, I Special Summon Kagemucha Knight! With these two, I build the Overlay Network once again! Come forth, Number 20: Giga-Brilliant!” As she said this, a large silver insect emerged from another starry portal.
“TWO Numbers?!” Sweetie Belle cried.
“Such incredible power…” said Astral.
And Number Hunter wasn’t even done. “I activate Giga-Brilliant’s special ability!” she continued. “By detaching one of its overlay units, it boosts the attack points of every monster I currently control by 300!” Her monsters’ attack power rose, and she laughed, holding up the last card in her hand. “And now for my final play this turn.”
“You already have two strong Number cards on the field! What else could you possibly do?!” Scootaloo asked.
“Tribute them,” Number Hunter answered simply, surprising all three of her opponents, as well as Astral. “Thanks to the boost from Giga-Brilliant, both of these monsters now have attack power higher than 2000, so I can tribute them both to summon my real ace!” The Numbers disappeared as she threw a large boomerang thing. “Come to the field, my ultimate Number-slaying beast, Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon!”
The Crusaders and Astral all stared in absolute terror as the dragon emerged from the thrown object in a bright flash of light. Its main body was composed of unknown red and dark blue materials, and the rest seemed to be made of energy. True to its name, they could see vast spirals of stars in its eyes. It let out a loud roar, its breath blowing all of them back.
I recognize this creature… Astral realized. He looked down at his hands and saw that they were shaking. What am I feeling? Is this what it means… to be afraid?
“Now,” said Number Hunter, “the real Duel begins.” Her dragon roared again, giving the girls a sense of impending doom.
“What is that…?” Sweetie Belle muttered frightfully as she stared at the dragon looming above her and her friends.
“This is the monster that will be your downfall,” Number Hunter gloated. Though, to be fair, she had a right to gloat right now. “You’ll just be three more successful targets soon. For now, I end the turn.”
Crusaders LP: 8000 Hand (AB): 2 Hand (SB): 4 Hand (SL): 3 Number Hunter LP: 8000; Hand: 0
Apple Bloom drew her next card with a trembling hand. “Ah really hope that thing ain’t as tough as it looks,” she said.
“She was willing to use up two of her Number monsters to summon it,” Astral pointed out, also looking quite afraid. “There must be a reason for that.”
“True. Guess Ah’m gonna have to play a bit defensively,” Apple Bloom agreed. “Ah switch Seed of Flame to defense mode and summon out a Goblindburg!” she declared. Her seed-like monster crouched in a defensive position as a small goblin creature flew a red plane onto the field, carrying a large metal crate underneath it. “Since Ah summoned this guy, Ah can activate his special ability, lettin’ him change to defense mode and bring along another level four monster to join him, like Botanical Lion!” Goblindburg’s metal crate dropped onto the field and fell open, revealing the plant-like feline.
“You can’t just hide behind defensive walls like that,” Number Hunter pointed out.
“Then let’s bring out a better fighter!” Apple Bloom replied. “Ah use mah level four Goblindburg and Botanical Lion to build the Overlay Network! Come to the field, Number 39: Utopia!”
“Interesting,” Number Hunter said to herself with a hum as the white-armored warrior emerged from a starry portal. “So she has a Number like this…”
“Utopia and mah facedowns should protect me,” said Apple Bloom. “Ah’m gonna call it a turn.”
Crusaders LP: 8000 Hand (AB): 1 Hand (SB): 4 Hand (SL): 3 Number Hunter LP: 8000; Hand: 0
Sweetie Belle thought hard about her move after drawing her next card. “I guess I should bring out my ace too,” she decided. “I normal summon my Aquaactress Guppy and activate her special ability, summoning Aquaactress Arowana from my hand! Arowana’s effect now! She adds Tetra to my hand!” She pulled another card from her deck.
“So many monsters that stand no chance against mine,” Number Hunter taunted.
“Shut up!” Sweetie Belle said in frustration. But she was worried that her opponent was right. “I overlay my level six White Aura Dolphin and Aquaactress Arowana to bring out Number 21: Frozen Lady Justice!”
Astral started to look a bit more relaxed as Sweetie’s main Number appeared on the field, but something still unnerved him. If Number Hunter was telling the truth about her dragon’s power, would the Number cards even be enough?
“I can’t do much else now, so I’ll call it a turn,” Sweetie finished.
Crusaders LP: 8000 Hand (AB): 1 Hand (SB): 4 Hand (SL): 3 Number Hunter LP: 8000; Hand: 0
“My go. Draw card!” Scootaloo declared. “I summon Speedroid Terrortop to the field! This guy will bring another Speedroid to my hand! I’ll take a Double Yoyo. Now I activate Level Lifter, discarding my Slot Machine to make my monsters on the field match its level, then build the Overlay Network! Come on out, Number 42: Galaxy Tomahawk!” Since she had yet to draw her Shield and Sword, she put her monster in defense mode and ended her turn with that.
Crusaders LP: 8000 Hand (AB): 1 Hand (SB): 4 Hand (SL): 2 Number Hunter LP: 8000; Hand: 0
“Don’t worry. Ah have some cards ready in case she attacks with her dragon,” Apple Bloom whispered back. “Besides, she can’t destroy our Numbers by battle and has no cards left in her hand.”
Number Hunter declared the beginning of her turn, drew a card, and laughed. “The cards have been kind to me. I activate Card of Sanctity! We all draw until we have six cards in our hands!”
“Okay, that might be a bit of a problem,” Apple Bloom acknowledged before they all complied with the effect of the spell card.
“Now I play Melody of Awakening Dragon!” Number Hunter continued. “By sending one card from my hand to the grave, I can add two powerful dragons to my hand from the deck. I’ll take my other two Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragons.” She added the monsters to her hand and grinned at the girls’ nervousness. “But I won’t be summoning them yet. I will, however, activate Heavy Storm!”
“One no!” Scootaloo gasped as her and Apple Bloom’s trap cards were blown away by a tornado. “My Storming Mirror Force…!”
“My next spell card is Upstart Goblin,” said Number Hunter. “You get a thousand extra Life Points, and I draw a card. And since you now have more Life Points that me, I can safely equip my dragon with Megamorph and double its attack points! Now, Galaxy-Eyes, attack Aquaactress Guppy with your photon stream!”
The Crusaders cried out as the massive beam of energy struck Sweetie’s monster, taking away most of their Life Points immediately. “That’s so crazy...!” Scootaloo muttered.
“I end my turn with that,” said Number Hunter, her expression unreadable through the scarf.
Crusaders LP: 3400 Hand (AB): 6 Hand (SB): 6 Hand (SL): 6 Number Hunter LP: 8000; Hand: 4
“Mah turn then. Draw card!” Apple Bloom said.
Astral, who was mostly faded already, drifted in to give her some advice. “Now that you have less Life Points, Megamorph is decreasing her monster’s attack power,” he said. “Now is the perfect time to destroy it.”
“Ah plan to, but first Ah’m equippin’ Utopia with two copies of Malevolent Nuzzler!” Apple Bloom declared with a confident grin. “That’s a total boost of fourteen-hundred attack points! Utopia, attack Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon with rising sun slash!” Her powered-up warrior unsheathed one of his swords, and a golden haze surrounded the blade as he charged forward.
“I activate Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon’s special ability!” Number Hunter retaliated. “Counterattack, now!” Her monster blasted another beam from its mouth at Utopia, causing a bright flash.
Apple Bloom shielded her face from the light. “What good is that gonna do…?” she grunted. Then she went wide-eyed when she saw that the battling monsters were gone. “What in the hay?!”
Number Hunter sneered. “That’s my dragon’s power. When it battles another monster, it can banish itself and that other monster. Not only that, but they both come back during the end of the battle phase,” she explained.
“And all the equip cards are gone, so it’s gonna be stronger than us again,” Apple Bloom realized. “Okay, main phase two.” True to her opponent’s word, the monsters returned, but something on the Duel Blade’s display screen caught her eye. “That big lizard’s even stronger than before!”
“Oh, I must’ve forgotten to mention,” Number Hunter said. “When Galaxy-Eyes uses its ability on an Xyz monster, it gains 500 attack points for each overlay unit that monster had. You see now why Galaxy-Eyes is my Number-fighting monster? It makes itself stronger by turning a Number's power against it.”
Apple Bloom scowled. “Ya ain’t scarin’ me. Ah’ll slap down two facedowns and end,” she said, but even though she said she wasn’t afraid, she was quaking with fear on the inside.
Crusaders LP: 3400 Hand (AB): 3 Hand (SB): 6 Hand (SL): 6 Number Hunter LP: 8000; Hand: 4
Sweetie Belle had to be snapped out of her shock by Astral before she could begin. “Sweetie Belle, the team is depending on you. Take your turn,” he said.
“R-right,” Sweetie replied, shaking her head and drawing a card. “I activate Moray of Greed, shuffling two water-attribute monsters in my hand back into the deck to draw three cards,” she began.
“Anything good?” Scootaloo asked as her friend picked up a few more cards.
“I can at least reinforce our defenses with three facedown cards,” said Sweetie Belle. “But that’s all I can do.”
Crusaders LP: 3400 Hand (AB): 3 Hand (SB): 4 Hand (SL): 6 Number Hunter LP: 8000; Hand: 4
Scootaloo frowned at her next draw. “Not the best card for this situation, but it could help. I activate Hand Destruction!” she said. “We all discard two, then draw two!” Her next cards were even more disappointing. “I can’t even do anything else right now. Guess I have to end it.”
Crusaders LP: 3400 Hand (AB): 3 Hand (SB): 4 Hand (SL): 6 Number Hunter LP: 8000; Hand: 4
Number Hunter shook her head, sighing. “For Number card holders, you’re such weak Duelists,” she said. “It’s time for me to end this. I draw!” She glanced at the new card and cackled. “Beautiful! I summon a new Photon Cerberus, preventing the activation of traps this turn! Next, I play Photon Sanctuary, summoning two tokens with 2000 attack points to my side of the field! However, now I can only summon light-attribute monsters this turn, but that won’t effect me too much. I tribute the tokens to summon a second Galaxy-Eyes!”
“Another?!” Scootaloo shrieked.
“And with our traps nullified, how can we even stop them?” Astral breathed.
“Even Utopia can’t do anything. Not without his overlay units,” said Sweetie.
“You don’t have to worry too much about my dragons,” Number Hunter said with a falsely comforting tone. “They’re not staying around. I’m using them to build the Overlay Network!” Another Number portal opened on the field, absorbing the two dragons into it. Then, a much more ferocious version of them emerged. It had multiple tails, all long and covered in armor. Its wings were huge, and a red 62 blazed on one of them. “My mightiest Number! I Xyz Summon Number 62: Galaxy-Eyes Prime Photon Dragon!” Number Hunter shouted. She then winced and grunted in pain as more photon energy sparked all around her body.
Apple Bloom noticed her pain. “Girls, look. She’s hurt,” she pointed out. “That card must be too strong.”
“We need to help her!” Sweetie cried.
“No! I don’t need your help!” Number Hunter growled. “I activate Number 62’s special ability by removing an overlay unit!” Her dragon absorbed a unit and roared. “It now gains attack points equal to the combined ranks of all Xyz monsters on the field times 200 until the end of the turn!”
Astral gasped, floating back quite a bit. “Nine-thousand…”
“Looks like this is it,” said Scootaloo.
“Astral… Ah’m sorry… we failed,” Apple Bloom said, holding back tears.
“Apple Bloom…” Astral whispered. “My time on Earth may have been brief, but you girls made it meaningful. That is not a failure to me. Thank you.”
“Galaxy-Eyes Prime Photon Dragon!” Number Hunter bellowed, wincing as her energy sparked again. “Finish this Duel!” The dragon roared, charging up a beam in its mouth, and…
… The Duel holograms suddenly vanished, and Number Hunter’s Duel Blade beeped a warning signal as her coat turned back to grey. “Alert. Vitals unstable. Duel aborted,” a female AI voice said from her device.
“What does that mean?” Sweetie asked.
“It means she’s hurt so bad that the Duel had to stop before it got worse!” said Apple Bloom. “Come on, Number Hunter, let us help you!”
“I refuse to accept help from you,” Number Hunter said. “Remember this: you only escaped this time because we were interrupted. When I recover, you won’t be so lucky.” She strapped her Duel Blade to her back, and it morphed into a jet pack that carried her away over the buildings.
Time resumed, but the Crusaders stood frozen in shock. They didn’t even move when the out-of-control bike from before the Duel zoomed past right behind them. “Who was she?” Sweetie Belle muttered.
“Someone who’s doing the same thing we are,” said Apple Bloom. “But she’s a whole lot stronger.”
“How is that even possible? I thought the key was the only way to be protected from being taken over by Numbers,” said Scootaloo.
“But she has a mysterious power and cards we’ve never even heard of,” Apple Bloom replied. “There must be more to this whole thing than any of us know.”
Astral shook his head slowly. “I know I’ve seen that Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon before, but I do not know where. Only that it invoked great fear back then as well. If I could only remember more, we might be able to think of something,” he said.
“In order for you to remember, we would need to get more Numbers,” Sweetie Belle murmured. “But with how weak we are…”
“Can we even compare to them?” Apple Bloom said, finishing the thought.
Observation number ten… Astral thought. Defeat and despair can be just as powerful as hope and friendship, sometimes even more so. Despair consumes hope until it is completely diminished…
Not much later, Starlight arrived at an apartment. She threw open the door, tore off her Number Hunter scarf and voice changer, cast them aside, and leaned against the doorframe, breathing heavily.
“Starlight!” Trixie cried out, running forward to hug the lavender girl. “What happened out there?”
“Had to abort the Duel just before I could win. Looks like that Galaxy-Eyes Number uses up too much of my power to sustain itself in this world. Really messed up my body” Starlight answered. “But it’s not a total bust. I got some info. Those girls were a lot different. Their behavior didn’t line up with other people possessed by Numbers, and they kept talking to something called Astral, even though there was nobody there.”
Trixie frowned, her brow furrowing. “Then what are we gonna do?” she asked.
“Wait and observe,” said Starlight. “And keep an eye out for other Number cards as usual.”
“Right. Just try to be more careful out there,” Trixie replied, hugging Starlight again. “I love you, and I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“I love you, too,” Starlight whispered. “And I promise, I’ll end the threat that the Number cards pose against this world that we call home. Nobody will be hurt after that.”
Meanwhile, Diamond Tiara was arguing with Silver Spoon in her lavish living room. “Don’t you want the power from those cards back?!” she shouted.
“Diamond, we’ve been over this a million times,” Silver Spoon said, exhaling through her nose. “We weren’t ourselves when we had those cards. You’ve become obsessed.” She stood up and walked over to the front door, which the butler opened. “And I want no part of it. Come talk to me when you’re not crazy.” With that, she left, the door slamming with finality behind her.
Diamond Tiara yelled and slammed her fist on the table. Her eyes stung with the threat of tears. “I’ll show her. When I have that Number back, she’ll see how wrong she was. And Apple Bloom will pay.” She looked through her deck again to see what upgrades she could make, but the Monarch cards just didn’t seem right for the job. She wanted to get revenge and take back her Diamond Crab King, but she would have to get better cards to do it.
Then a dark aura enveloped her body when she came to a card that hadn’t been there before. A blank one. “Yes, Diamond Tiara…” a disembodied voice said with a dark purr as the card changed. “Use your anger to get revenge, and let the Number take hold…” A glyph in the shape of a 98 appeared on her cheek, and she sneered, a madness lurking in her eyes.
"This is so much better than the last time!" the rich girl cackled. "But it's not enough. I need more power if I want to accomplish my goals..."
It had been a few days since the Crusaders’ encounter with the mysterious individual calling herself Number Hunter. They were still very upset about what would have been a crushing defeat if the Duel hadn’t been automatically aborted. For the first time since Astral had first appeared to them, their confidence, not to mention their motivation, was incredibly low. Number Hunter knew what she was doing and had an unknown deck that nobody could counter. Compared to that, what right did three fourteen-year-old high school girls have to even try to intervene?
At this current time, the girls were on their way to the school cafeteria to get lunch with Astral in tow. They masked their negative feelings with friendly small talk… until Apple Bloom finally did what they all knew was inevitable. “When are we gonna get back to collectin’ Number cards?” she asked.
Scootaloo sighed. “I don’t think we should. You remember what happened,” the tomboyish member of the group replied sadly.
“Ah remember all too well,” said Apple Bloom. “But we made a promise.” She took off her key pendant and held it out to her friends. “We share a bond through this key, so it’s our job to collect the Numbers.”
Sweetie Belle looked up at her with a stony expression. “Is it, though?” she asked.
“Maybe…” Scootaloo said with a sigh. “Maybe we’re just not good enough.”
Apple Bloom let out a quiet gasp. Her grip loosened on the key, and it tumbled from her fingers and onto the floor, flipping over a few times and landing right behind her. “What…?”
“Apple Bloom,” Astral whispered to himself. He drifted toward the key and reached out for it. However, as soon as his fingers came within an inch of it, he was absorbed into it, much to his shock.
A boy their age was walking by when the key hit the floor. The boy’s attire consisted of a blue hoodie, khakis, and running shoes. His skin was a light scarlet color, and his hair and eyes were an interesting shade of light blue. He heard the quiet clink of metal against linoleum and glanced down to where the item had fallen. Picking it up, he tapped Apple Bloom on the shoulder. “Is this yours?” he inquired.
Apple Bloom glanced over at him and nodded. “Yeah, thanks,” she answered, taking the key and slipping its chain back over her head.
“Be more careful with your things,” the boy said before walking away toward the freshmen locker bay.
Sweetie Belle frowned. “Who’s he?”
“I have gym class with him. Pretty sure his name is Rush,” Scootaloo replied. “Anyway, can we just drop this Number argument for now? I’m hungry and I want some lunch.”
“Fine. Let’s go. C’mon, Astral,” said Apple Bloom, but she received no response. “… Astral?” The young redhead turned around to where the ethereal man had been a moment before and was surprised to see that he was gone. “Where did he go?”
Inside what seemed to be a pocket dimension within the key, Astral was in awe of his surroundings. The place looked very similar to the Astral World that he had remembered when Number 85: Crazy Box had been claimed by Apple Bloom. Not only that, but an enormous mechanical structure loomed in front of him. It was an oblong thing that looked like it was made mostly of giant gears, at least a hundred of them. “What is this place?” he wondered out loud. As he examined the structure, even going inside of it, ten of the gears began to turn slowly.
It was as he passed by one of the rotating gears that he noticed something. In the center of the gear was a pedestal, and a 39 glyph glowed on it. “Ten active gears, ten collected Numbers…” he guessed. Sure enough, he found the marks of the girls’ Number cards on all the moving gears.
“What does this mean…?” Astral murmured.
Meanwhile, back outside the key, the boy that Scootaloo had identified as Rush was walking through the halls to his next class. However, he was stopped in his tracks when he saw something glowing tucked behind a note on the bulletin board. “Hello, what’s this?” he said, pulling the note free from its staples and catching the object that fell from behind it…
A blank Duel Monsters card.
Rush cried out as he was wrapped in a dark aura, the card changing in his hand. But as suddenly as the aura had appeared, it vanished. A symbol briefly flashed on Rush’s hand, and he smiled down at the card’s new appearance: a small pink dragon with a wind-up key poking out from its belly. “You wouldn’t even hurt a fly, would you?” he asked it.
“Talking to a card again, weirdo?” a voice taunted. Rush didn’t have any time to respond before he was pushed to the floor by Snails of all people. He looked different, though. His normal goofy grin was replaced with a sneer, and he was wearing a muscle shirt despite his lack of muscles. Snips stood next to him as always with similar deviations from his normal appearance. Most notably, marks in the shape of a 61 and 19 respectively glowed on their forearms.
As Rush hit the floor with a pained grunt, several cards spilled from a box in his pocket. “No, my deck!” he cried, scrambling to collect the scattered cards. After a moment, he had most of the cards back, but he panicked when he noticed some were missing. Those cards meant the world to him. He couldn’t bear to lose even one.
“Looking for these?” Snips asked as he tauntingly held up the six missing cards. La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp, 4-Starred Ladybug of Doom, Tribe-Infecting Virus, Raging Flame Sprite, Man-Eater Bug, and Skelengel.
“My favorite cards…! Give them back!” Rush demanded, standing up to try and snatch the monsters back.
Snails just threw him back to the floor. “Oh, we will, but only if you do what we say,” he said. “If you don’t, we get rid of them. Permanently.”
Rush gasped. “You wouldn’t…”
“We would,” Snips replied. “Meet us by the statue later, and don’t tell anyone about this.” He and Snails walked away, cackling, their Number marks blazing brightly.
Over an hour later, Rush was still angry at Snips and Snails, and it wasn’t exactly staying contained. He was snapping at people a lot more than usual. But a faint glimmer of hope came during gym class.
Coach Iron Will was conducting warmup drills for the class, which consisted primarily of laps around the jogging course. At about the third lap, Rush and Scootaloo were right alongside each other. “Hey. I heard you were pretty tense today,” said Scootaloo. “Are you doing alright?”
“None of your concern,” Rush replied, wiping some sweat from his forehead. “I’ve just been in a bad mood since…” He caught himself. “It’s nothing.” Then he remembered what he had been hearing about Scootaloo and her friends over the last few weeks. “Actually, you might be able to help. You and your friends take evil cards from people, right?”
Scootaloo shook her head. “Had a bad experience with that recently, and I don’t think I can anymore. I felt especially useless in our last Duel,” she explained.
Rush decided to get right to the point. “Snips and Snails took my favorite cards and they’re using them as leverage against me,” he said. “And they had marks.”
“Wait, what?!” Scootaloo gasped. “Whoa!” That part was because she had almost tripped over her own feet upon hearing this news. “Okay, so what do you want me to do?”
“Duel them into submission and get my cards back,” said Rush. “I can get you something for your troubles.”
“No, you don’t need to do that,” Scootaloo told him. “I’m willing to help any Duelist who gets separated from their precious cards. But how are we gonna get out of class to take care of it…?”
Rush frowned slightly at her, one of his eyebrows raised. “Isn’t it obvious?” he asked. “Take a dive.”
Scootaloo immediately understood. She very convincingly pretended to trip and fall over. “Ah! My leg!” she wailed dramatically.
Iron Will blew his whistle. “Scootaloo, get to the nurse!” he said. “Slow Spirit, help her get there!”
Scootaloo only had to wonder for a second who Slow Spirit was before Rush pulled her to her feet and helped her fake-limp inside. “Slow Spirit?” she asked once they were out of earshot of the coach.
“Yeah. Rush is just my nickname,” the boy explained. “It’s usually what I go by. People sometimes say my real name is ironic.”
“Right. Gotcha,” Scootaloo said. “Now, let’s go get your cards back!”
Back inside the key, Astral’s attention was suddenly draw to gear 42 as the glyph on it started to glow brighter. He could sense that something was about to happen with Scootaloo. “I have to find a way out to warn Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle!” he said, and no sooner did he say it than he was teleported out of the key and into the school hallway, just outside the girls’ bathroom.
Apple Bloom yelped and jumped about three feet in the air as her ghostly friend suddenly appeared. “Astral! Ya darn near gave me a heart attack!” she squeaked, clutching her chest and trying to regain her breath. “Where were ya?”
“No time to explain. Scootaloo is about to Duel,” said Astral. “You and Sweetie Belle need to find her quickly.”
“She is? Then you’re right, we need to hurry!” Apple Bloom replied. She quickly ran through the halls, hoping to find her friends.
Scootaloo and Rush, still wearing their gym clothes, soon met Snips and Snails out front. Just like they told Rush, they were waiting by the Wondercolt statue. “Why did you bring this dweeb?” Snails asked.
“To Duel you and get payback,” Rush answered simply.
Snips glared at the other boy. “We told you not to tell anyone, and what would happen if you didn’t do what we said.”
“Can it. Like he said, we came to beat you,” Scootaloo snapped, loading her deck and grinning. “Duel Blade, activate! Come on, Rush, we can take them down together!”
Rush shook his head. “I’m not Dueling. Not without my full deck. I refuse,” he said.
Scootaloo frowned, a bit taken aback by this. “Uh… I was under the impression that this would be a 2v2 game. Please, I can’t Duel them alone,” she pleaded.
“I’m not Dueling without all my cards! It’s just not right!” Rush insisted.
Snails sneered at him. “You mean these cards?” he taunted, holding up the six stolen cards bound together with a binder clip. He then took out a pair of scissors, opened the blades, and held them under the precious items.
Rush’s eyes went wide with fear. “No, please! Don’t do it!” he cried.
“Oh, quit being such a big baby,” Snails sighed. Then something hit his hand, causing him to wince and drop the cards. “Ah! Owie!”
Rush quickly ran forward to catch the cards. As he removed the binder clip, the projectile that hit Snails hit the ground and rolled to a stop by his foot. “Is that an apple?”
Scootaloo looked to where the apple had come from, and her grin returned. Her friends were all there.
Apple Bloom tossed another apple in the air and caught it in her hand. “Looks like fifth grade baseball finally paid off,” she said with a grin of her own.
“Go Scootaloo! Teach them a lesson!” Sweetie Belle cheered.
Astral floated over to the magenta-haired girl. “Now is not the time to be unconfident. You must give it your all in this match,” he told her.
Scootaloo nodded. “Right. Time for me to feel the flow. Can I count on you for help now, Rush?” she asked.
Rush shuffled his deck and loaded it into his Duel Blade. “Oh yeah. Now I’m gonna destroy them.”
Snips growled. “You punks! We’re gonna defeat you and take every single card you have!” he threatened. “We’ll use the classic Tag Duel rules where teams share a field too.”
“Sounds alright to me,” said Scootaloo.
“Let’s Duel!”
Scootaloo and Rush LP: 8000 Hand (Scootaloo): 5 Hand (Rush): 5 Snips and Snails LP: 8000 Hand (Snips): 5 Hand (Snails): 5
“I think I’m gonna go first,” said Scootaloo as the four Duelists drew their opening hands. “I’ll activate the spell card Hand Destruction! We’ll all discard two cards, then draw two new ones!”
“You think you’re gonna beat us with draw power?” Snails taunted as he picked up his new cards.
“Knowing you two, I probably could…” Scootaloo muttered. “I normal summon Speedroid Ohajikid!” A small humanoid robot with a tattered cape and a hat appeared on her shared field. “Since he was normal summoned, I can activate his special ability! He summons a tuner monster from either player’s Graveyard and then immediately tunes with it to bring out a wind-attribute Synchro monster!” She used her Duel Blade’s display screen to check the Graveyards for any tuners besides the ones she herself had discarded. “Aha! Here we go! I Special Summon your Rider of the Storm Winds!”
“Huh?!” the two Number hosts gasped as their dragon rider materialized next to Scootaloo’s monster.
“And just like I said, your level one Rider immediately tunes to my level three Ohajikid once it’s summoned!” Scootaloo continued. Her monster broke down into three orbs of light while Rider of the Storm Winds formed a green energy ring around it. “Synchro Summon! Take them apart! Hi-Speedroid Puzzle!” A thin, pointy-looking robot with a blaster hand emerged in a flash of light. “With Puzzle on the field, I end my turn.”
Scootaloo and Rush LP: 8000 Hand (Scootaloo): 2 Hand (Rush): 5 Snips and Snails LP: 8000 Hand (Snips): 5 Hand (Snails): 5
“My turn! Draw!” Snips declared. “You shouldn’t have left such a weak monster on the field. Since you dweebs have a monster out and I don’t, I can Special Summon a Cyber Dragon in attack mode!” A serpentine machine descended onto the field with a roar. “Up next, I activate this spell card! Reasoning! … Wait, how does this work again?” He took a moment to read over the card’s effect. “Oh, that’s right! You declare a monster level, and I send cards from the top of my deck to the Graveyard until I find a monster that can be normal summoned! If it doesn’t have the level you declared, I can Special Summon it! Otherwise, it goes to the Graveyard.”
“Okay, he started with a Cyber Dragon, but knowing these two, it’s not a full Cyber Dragon deck,” Scootaloo said to Rush. “Normally, the smart choice would be to choose level four.”
“Yeah, but he can Xyz Summon if he gets another level five monster,” Rush pointed out. “I think we should say five just to be safe.”
“Okay, five it is,” said Scootaloo.
Snips began excavating his cards. Then he smirked when he found an appropriate monster. “I summon my level four Wind-Up Shark!” A toy shark with a wind-up key in its fin swam out from his deck.
“Wow, you were right. Sorry for convincing you to say five,” Rush apologized.
“Don’t worry about it,” Scootaloo reassured him. “At least he still can’t Xyz Summon.”
“Ugh, that’s true…” Snips groaned. “… Hang on, yes I can! I activate Wind-Up Shark’s special ability!” His monster’s key began to turn, and it let out a powerful roar. “Once per turn, I can wind him up or down a level, and I choose to wind him up to level five!”
“Dang it,” said Scootaloo.
“I overlay my level five Cyber Dragon and Wind-Up Shark to build the Overlay Network!” Snips said as his Number mark began to blaze even brighter. His monsters were drawn into a starry black portal. A 19 appeared over the portal as a bulky blue dinosaur emerged, roaring as its body gained a layer of permafrost and another yellow 19 glowed on its chest. “How do ya like that? Number 19: Freezadon! And he’s gonna attack your Puzzle!”
Scootaloo smirked. “You need to be more careful. I activate Hi-Speedroid Puzzle’s special ability!” she said. “When he battles a Special Summoned monster, I can double his attack points during the damage step! Full assembly!” Her Puzzle gained an aura of power as it counterattacked against Freezadon with its blaster.
Snips growled. “But you can’t destroy a Number by battle. I end my turn by setting a monster facedown in defense mode.”
Scootaloo and Rush LP: 8000 Hand (Scootaloo): 2 Hand (Rush): 5 Snips and Snails LP: 7400 Hand (Snips): 3 Hand (Snails): 5
“My turn! Draw!” Rush looked at the card he drew and smiled when he saw it was one of his favorites. “I summon La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp!” An ancient golden lamp appeared on the field right next to Scootaloo’s Puzzle, and a green genie emerged from it with a sinister chuckle.
Snails smirked. “That card will be ours again once we win,” he taunted.
“Don’t count on it!” Scootaloo retorted. “Let’s get some battle damage in!”
“I’m on it!” said Rush. “I attack Number 19: Freezadon with Hi-Speedroid Puzzle, activating its special ability! Full assembly!”
Snips and Snails both grunted in irritation as the ice dinosaur was hit again, dealing them some more damage.
“Now, I’m gonna trust La Jinn with these three wishes,” said Rush, holding up the indicated number of cards. “I set three cards facedown. Turn end.”
Scootaloo and Rush LP: 8000 Hand (Scootaloo): 2 Hand (Rush): 2 Snips and Snails LP: 6800 Hand (Snips): 3 Hand (Snails): 5
“And now it’s my turn,” said Snails. He drew a card and frowned. “Darn it. I won’t be able to summon my Number yet. But I will activate the field spell Jurassic World!” He placed the card, and the field around them turned into a prehistoric habitat. “All dinosaurs on the field get a boost of 300 attack and defense points!”
“Do you even have any dinosaurs in your decks besides your Numbers?” Scootaloo asked seriously.
“… Maybe,” Snails replied. “I summon my Apple Magician Girl in attack mode!” A female spellcaster in red armor drifted onto his field.
“Why is that even in your deck?” Rush asked him.
Snails shrugged. “I dunno. She’s cute?” he said. “Anyway, Freezadon now attacks La Jinn!” The dino shot an ice blast at Rush’s monster, destroying it. “How does it feel to see your friend destroyed like that?”
“Don’t worry, La Jinn won’t be gone for long,” said Rush. “You activated my trap card, Miracle’s Wake! This card revives one monster that was destroyed this turn! Come on back, buddy!” His monster reappeared and shared a grin with the Duelist. “And I’ll also chain the trap card Shattered Axe! This card equips itself to Freezadon, and it’ll lose 500 attack points during each of my standby phases!”
Snails frowned. “I set two cards and end my turn.”
Scootaloo and Rush LP: 7500 Hand (Scootaloo): 2 Hand (Rush): 2 Snips and Snails LP: 6800 Hand (Snips): 3 Hand (Snails): 2
“Back to me now! Draw!” said Scootaloo.
“Feel free to use my last facedown,” Rush offered.
“I think I will. Go, Jar of Greed!” Scootaloo declared. “I get one extra draw!” She pulled out an extra card, chuckling when she saw the spell. “I activate Shock Surprise! By banishing up to two Speedroids from the grave, I can destroy that many cards on the field! I’ll banish the Speedroid Taketomborg I discarded earlier and my Ohajikid to destroy the two facedowns you just set!”
“Scootaloo, wait. Target Apple Magician Girl,” Astral warned a second too late. Scootaloo’s card was already activating. Ghostly images of the banished Speedroids appeared before turning into lightning and zooming toward the set cards.
“I’ll chain the facedowns in response!” said Snails, flipping the cards up. “First is Ring of Destruction! It destroys La Jinn and deals its attack points as damage to both sides! At least it would, if the second facedown wasn’t Ring of Defense! Now only you take the damage!”
A mechanical ring with flames spewing from it formed around La Jinn and detonated. Snips and Snails were saved from the explosion by a circle of shields.
“I’ll make sure they do,” said Scootaloo. “I summon Speedroid Tri-Eyed Dice!” A pyramid-shaped die rolled onto the field. “And now, level three Tri-Eyed Dice tunes with level four Puzzle! Synchro Summon! Bombs away! Dark Strike Fighter!” Unlike Scootaloo’s Speedroids, which resembled toys, this Synchro monster looked like it was half humanoid robot and half fighter jet. “And now, I attack Apple—!”
“Do not attack the Magician Girl,” Astral warned. “It may severely cripple you.”
“Okay, then I attack the facedown monster!” Scootaloo quickly amended.
“That was a Marshmacaron!” said Snips as the blobby pink monster was destroyed. “Now I can summon up to two copies of it from anywhere! I only have one more in my deck, though.” His monster was quickly replaced.
“Alright. I end my turn,” said Scootaloo.
Scootaloo and Rush LP: 5700 Hand (Scootaloo): 2 Hand (Rush): 2 Snips and Snails LP: 6800 Hand (Snips): 3 Hand (Snails): 2
“It’s my turn!” Snips said as he whipped out another card. “I activate Card of Sanctity to refill all our hands!” Everyone drew their cards, and Snips grinned. “I think for now I’ll just activate Overlay Regen to give Freezadon another overlay unit, then switch him to defense mode, set a card and end my turn.”
Scootaloo and Rush LP: 5700 Hand (Scootaloo): 6 Hand (Rush): 6 Snips and Snails LP: 6800 Hand (Snips): 4 Hand (Snails): 6
“You really shouldn’t have used that Card of Sanctity,” Rush said as he began his next move. “Draw! And during my standby phase, Shattered Axe takes a few attack points off your dino. Now I activate the spell card Tribute to the Doomed! By discarding a card, I destroy the Apple Magician Girl!”
Snails gasped as his card was taken out. “My monster!”
“Hurts, doesn’t it?” said Rush. “Double Summon is next, so I can normal summon twice this turn! I summon Drillroid and Leotaur!” His two monsters looked like a digger drill with a face and a sword-wielding lion man respectively. “They’re both level four, so I’ll build the Overlay Network!” From the resulting Xyz portal came an armored butterfly woman with parts of her body glowing blue. “I Xyz Summon Photon Papilloperative!”
Scootaloo gasped. “A Photon monster…?”
Astral couldn’t be sure, but he thought he saw a mark briefly shimmer around Rush’s eye.
“I activate Photon Papilloperative’s special ability!” Rush continued. “By removing one overlay unit, she targets a defensive monster on the field, switches it to attack mode, and makes it lose 600 attack points! Freezadon is about to get a whole lot weaker! And then I attack it with Photon Papilloperative!” As the attack landed, though, Rush noticed the pained look on the Number monster’s face. “I end my turn with that,” he finished.
“Why didn’t you attack with Dark Strike Fighter?” Scootaloo asked.
“I don’t want to hurt it too much,” Rush answered.
Scootaloo and Rush LP: 5700 Hand (Scootaloo): 6 Hand (Rush): 2 Snips and Snails LP: 5900 Hand (Snips): 4 Hand (Snails): 6
“Stupid move. And it’s my turn now!” Snails said as he drew. “I’ll use Snips’s facedown DNA Surgery to turn everything on the field into a warrior-type monster! Then I summon my Poison Mummy in attack mode!” A decaying red mummy dug itself up from the ground in front of him. “Now, I activate Tannhauser Gate! This spell lets me target two monsters on the field that have the same type and less than 1000 attack points. And like I said, everything is warrior-type now, so I can use Poison Mummy and Marshmacaron, adding their levels together and making both their levels the result!”
“Two level fives,” Scootaloo added up.
“That’s right! And I overlay them to summon Number 61: Volcasaurus!” Snails cackled. “And I activate its special ability, detaching an overlay unit to destroy Photon Papilloperative and inflict its attack points as damage! And do you know the best part? Freezadon’s ability lets Volcasaurus use its own overlay units to do the job!”
“Say WHAT?!” Scootaloo cried.
Volcasaurus shot a blast of magma at the Photon monster and burned her to a crisp. “What do you think of that?” Snails taunted. “I’m gonna have to put Freezadon back in defense mode and end it there, though. Your Dark Strike Fighter is too tough. Oh, wait, I forgot to get rid of DNA Surgery with Mystical Space Typhoon. Don’t need anything to be a warrior anymore, and our Numbers can have their field bonus back.”
Scootaloo and Rush LP: 3600 Hand (Scootaloo): 6 Hand (Rush): 2 Snips and Snails LP: 5900 Hand (Snips): 4 Hand (Snails): 4
“I hope I can get a good card here…” Scootaloo muttered as her turn began. “I… draw!” She grinned at her opponents. “I drew it. A card I put in this deck specifically to bring out that monster.”
Snips and Snails both gulped. “That sounds ominous,” said Snails.
“I’ve never been able to do this before, but here it comes now,” Scootaloo went on. “I summon Red Resonator to the field!” Unlike her other monsters, which were machines, this one was a flaming fiend with a staff and a giant tuning fork. “Activating his effect, I summon Speedroid Menko in defense mode!”
“A Resonator monster in a Speedroid deck?” Rush asked. “Seems a little hindering.”
“Maybe it would be if I didn’t need a level two tuner monster,” said Scootaloo. “I tune Red Resonator with my level seven Dark Strike Fighter to bring out a monster I never could before!” Her monsters broke down into their respective lights, and their Duelist finished her chant as a red tank equipped with mechanical dragon parts appeared. “Synchro Summon! Fire at will! Vermillion Dragon Mech!”
“W-where could you have gotten a card like that?!” Snips stammered.
“I’ll never tell,” said Scootaloo. “But I will use my Vermillion Dragon Mech’s special ability! By banishing the tuner monster Speedroid Red-Eyed Dice in my hand, I can target and destroy one card on the field, and I think I’ll get rid of that Freezadon! Don’t want it lending out anymore overlay units! Go, vermillion cannon!” A ghostly image of Red-Eyed Dice was absorbed into Vermillion Dragon Mech’s main cannon and blasted as energy at Freezadon, exploding it to pieces. “With that, I set three cards and end my turn.”
Scootaloo and Rush LP: 3600 Hand (Scootaloo): 2 Hand (Rush): 2 Snips and Snails LP: 5900 Hand (Snips): 4 Hand (Snails): 4
“My turn! Draw!” Snips declared. “You may have destroyed my Number, but Volcasaurus has its own overlay units too! This time, I’ll use his effect to get rid of your mech! Say goodbye to an even bigger chunk of your Life Points!”
Scootaloo chuckled as the magma blast was launched. “Goodbyes are so hard, though. I’d rather say hello, so I activate Rainbow Life!” She and Rush were coated in a multicolored light. “By discarding a card, I can turn all Life Point losses this turn into a gain!”
“You still lose your mech!” said Snails.
“And when he’s destroyed, I get a banished tuner back to my hand,” said Scootaloo.
Snips growled in anger. “I end my turn…!”
Scootaloo and Rush LP: 6300 Hand (Scootaloo): 2 Hand (Rush): 2 Snips and Snails LP: 5900 Hand (Snips): 4 Hand (Snails): 4
“And now, I draw!” Rush declared.
Suddenly, a voice echoed in his head. Use me… it told him as a card in his extra deck glowed.
Rush was silent for a moment after he heard that. “… Hey, Scootaloo, can I borrow your Menko?” he finally asked.
“If you have a good play, feel free,” Scootaloo told him.
“Right,” Rush said, nodding. “I summon Black Brachios!” A black dinosaur with a long neck appeared on the field. “But I choose not to activate his summon effect. I now overlay Black Brachios with Speedroid Menko!” To everyone’s surprise, the two monsters were drawn into a Number portal. “Going towards the future with help from the past. Fond childhood memories taken form, help rush this battle to a close,” Rush began to chant. “I Xyz Summon! Number 82: Heartlandraco!”
Astral gasped as the pink toy dragon emerged on the field. “This boy has a Number card?”
“Apparently,” said Scootaloo in awe. “But he seems fine to me.”
“Before I do anything else, though, I equip Black Pendant,” said Rush, the black-jeweled necklace appearing around his Number’s neck. “Now, I activate Heartlandraco’s special ability! By removing an overlay unit, he becomes the only monster that can attack, but he attacks your Life Points directly!”
“WHAT?!” Snips and Snails both cried out. They grunted as the dragon struck each of them with a fireball.
“I think I’ll go ahead and end my turn now,” Rush finished.
Scootaloo and Rush LP: 6300 Hand (Scootaloo): 2 Hand (Rush): 1 Snips and Snails LP: 3400 Hand (Snips): 4 Hand (Snails): 4
Snails scowled. “Doesn’t make a difference! I draw!” he said. “Now, I—!”
“Quick, left facedown!” Scootaloo interrupted.
“Got it! Fiendish Chain!” Rush said quickly.
“Darn it!” Snails shouted as dark chains wrapped around his Number. “Volcasaurus is useless without its effect! But I do have a Monster Reborn to bring back Cyber Dragon and a Limiter Removal to double its attack points! Go, Cyber Dragon! Use your new strength to attack Heartlandraco!”
Cyber Dragon just hovered there, looking confused.
“Sorry, but you can’t attack Heartlandraco as long as we control a face-up spell card,” Rush informed him.
Snails sighed. “I set a card and end my turn, and Cyber Dragon is destroyed due to the other effect of Limiter Removal,” he said. True to his word, Cyber Dragon exploded.
Scootaloo and Rush LP: 6300 Hand (Scootaloo): 2 Hand (Rush): 1 Snips and Snails LP: 3400 Hand (Snips): 4 Hand (Snails): 2
“Guess it’s my turn,” Scootaloo said as she drew. “I’ll activate my own Monster Reborn to bring back Vermillion Dragon Mech and once again activate his special ability by banishing Red-Eyed Dice from my hand!” Her monster reconstructed itself and fired.
“I use my Dimension Guardian to make Volcasaurus completely indestructible!” Snails countered, and a shield formed to defend his monster from the blast.
“Then I’ll just use Heartlandraco’s effect to attack directly again!” Scootaloo declared, and her teammate’s Number let loose another barrage of fireballs. “Then I end my turn.”
Scootaloo and Rush LP: 6300 Hand (Scootaloo): 1 Hand (Rush): 1 Snips and Snails LP: 900 Hand (Snips): 4 Hand (Snails): 2
Snips grinned wickedly at his next card. “I set one monster facedown in defense mode and end my turn,” he said. The little punk’s monster has no overlay units left. He’s gonna have to attack my Grave Squirmer now, and its special ability will activate when it’s destroyed by battle, getting rid of Fiendish Chain so Volcasaurus gets its effects back!
Scootaloo and Rush LP: 6300 Hand (Scootaloo): 2 Hand (Rush): 1 Snips and Snails LP: 900 Hand (Snips): 4 Hand (Snails): 2
“My turn!” Rush declared as he whipped his next card out. “Okay, that monster he set is obviously something I don’t want to attack, but there’s nothing else I can attack…” he muttered.
Scootaloo grinned. “Hey, Rush. Use my last facedown card.”
This suggestion prompted Rush to check the card on his display screen. “No way, a Grave Robber…? Okay, I use my teammate’s Grave Robber trap card! By paying 2000 Life Points, I can add a spell card from your Graveyard to my hand! And the spell I choose… is Overlay Regen!”
“Oh no, we’re in trouble!” Snails cried as the card was taken.
“I activate your Overlay Regen on my Heartlandraco, giving it one new overlay unit!” Rush said, playing the spell and smirking. “This oughta teach you not to mess with me anymore. I’ll use Heartlandraco’s ability one last time, letting it bypass your monsters for a final direct attack! Finish this Duel!”
Winners: Scootaloo and Rush
As the two boys were blasted backward by the attack, Astral held out a hand to absorb their Numbers. However, he only got Volcasaurus. Freezadon went to Rush.
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle ran forward with excited cheers. “Awesome job out there, Scoots!” Apple Bloom shouted gleefully.
Scootaloo blushed and grinned, flattered. “Aw, come on. Rush did most of the work.”
“Don’t put yourself down like that,” said Rush. “You summoned powerful monsters and did a lot of damage. Not to mention your Grave Robber kinda saved us at the end there.”
Scootaloo slowly realized that he had a point. “Yeah… Yeah, you’re right! I did do pretty good!” she agreed, then turned to smile at her friends. “Girls, I think I’m back in the Number collecting business!”
“Observation number eleven. A few kind words can go a long way in restoring confidence,” said Astral.
“By the way,” said Sweetie Belle, looking at Rush with a suspicious glare. “How do you have a Number card?”
Rush shrugged. “I found it. Doesn’t really seem to be doing anything to me,” he said. “I kinda like the little guy and would prefer if you didn’t try to collect him from me.”
“Well, as long as you’re the one in control and not the Number, I don’t see a problem with it. We’ll definitely keep an eye on you, though,” said Scootaloo.
Rush nodded in understanding. “Of course,” he said, holding the Freezadon card out to her. “But this one is all yours.”
Scootaloo smiled and shook her head. “Keep it. If you run into another Number user, you could use the extra power.”
Later, as Rush was walking home, time stopped around him. “What the heck…?” he mumbled quietly.
“You,” Number Hunter said as she slowly approached him from behind. “I want to talk to you.”
“You froze time like this, didn’t you?” Rush asked.
Number Hunter nodded. “Yes, and only those with Number cards are unaffected. Now, I’ll Duel you and take yours.”
“Why? They’re not hurting anyone,” Rush replied. “Plus, if any criminals have Numbers right now, nothing is stopping them from doing evil things. You really need to rethink this whole timey-wimey thing.”
“Um… uh…” Number Hunter said awkwardly, realizing that he was probably right. “… Okay, fine. How do you feel about an alliance?”
A caramel-skinned ginger boy sat in front of his computer in a dark room. There was a wicked smirk on his face as he tapped away on the keyboard and clicked with the mouse. “Set and sent,” he said. “This hack should be untraceable. Those idiots will never know who took the data.” After a few minutes, a notice popped up on his computer screen, confirming success. The printer next to him whirred to life and began shooting out cards. “Hmm… Now that’s interesting,” the boy muttered as he began to look at the new cards.
Next morning, the press was all over this. “Chaos in the gaming world last night, as the database of Industrial Illusions was hacked, and data on several unreleased cards was stolen!” a newscaster on TV was saying. “Company president and founder, Mr. Maximillian Pegasus, has already issued a statement saying that the database’s backup was not touched, and the cards will still be released on schedule. His employees are working diligently to find the hacker, and they are offering a cash reward to anyone who has any helpful information.”
The story was all anyone could talk about at school that day. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo in particular had some thoughts about it. “I just don’t understand,” Scootaloo was saying as they all got their books out of their lockers in the morning. “How could someone hack Industrial Illusions? And I mean that in a moral sense and a ‘how is that possible?’ kind of way.”
Apple Bloom shrugged. “Beats me. But it’s not like there’s anything we can do,” she said. “We don’t know who did it, and we’re just kids.”
“Even if there was something we could do, we have other responsibilities. School stuff, social lives,” Sweetie Belle said.
“And Numbers,” Scootaloo added.
Sweetie sighed. “I get that you’re back in the game, but I still feel a little iffy about it. I’m sorry, but I can’t just suddenly decide to be confident again,” she apologized.
“Is there anything we can do to help with that?” Astral asked her. “Anything at all?”
“That ain’t how it works,” Apple Bloom told him. “If we help her too much, then she won’t trust in herself again.”
Astral hummed, then nodded in understanding. “Of course. In that case, I will simply continue to support her.”
As the girls walked away from their lockers, they ran into their friend Button Mash. He was dressed in his usual propeller hat, shorts, unzipped grey hoodie, and T-shirt depicting video game characters. Today, it was Smash Bros. “Oh, hi girls. How are you?” he said with a smile.
Sweetie Belle blushed and began to nervously run her fingers through her hair. “H-hey, Button,” she replied. “It’s see to good you. I mean good to see you!”
Apple Bloom gave her a quizzical look, then shrugged and smiled at Button. “We’re doin’ alright. We were just talkin’ about the reported hack at Industrial Illusions,” she said.
“Yeah, I saw that story on Facebook this morning,” said Button. “One thing’s for sure, though. Whoever the hacker is will have a huge advantage with cards nobody’s seen before.” He glanced up at the clock on the wall and sighed. “I need to get to math class. See you girls later.” On that note, he walked away, leaving Sweetie’s friends awkwardly looking at her.
“What was that?” Scootaloo asked.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sweetie Belle insisted, her cheeks turning a slightly darker shade of red.
“Ya got all flustered when Button came over here,” Apple Bloom said. Then a look of realization dominated her features. “Holy Faust… You like him, don’t ya?!”
Sweetie Belle squeaked in embarrassment. “N-no way!”
“You totally do!” said Scootaloo, and she began to teasingly sing. “Sweetie and Button, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g!”
“Geez, what are you, in the second grade?” Sweetie groaned. “… And I just remembered I’m in the same math class as him. Beautiful…”
“Ya wouldn’t even care if ya didn’t like him,” Apple Bloom teased.
“Oh, shut up.”
“Observation number twelve,” Astral said quietly. “Humans will deny feelings for each other, even when those feelings are painfully obvious.”
“Whose side are you on, Astral?!”
A few minutes later, Sweetie Belle made it to math class and saw Button passing the time by having a tabletop Duel with Rumble. It looked like Button was winning. That was unusual, since Rumble was the better Duelist out of the two of them.
“I’ll go ahead and drop a RAM Clouder,” Button began as the turn was passed to him. “And I equip it with Axe of Despair, then attack Blackwing- Blizzard the Far North for game.”
Rumble frowned. “Nice job on the win, but I haven’t heard of most of those cards,” he said.
Button shrugged. “There are like a million cards out there. Nobody knows all of them besides the guy who made ‘em,” he replied, collecting his cards from the table and shuffling his deck.
“Yeah, but I don’t think a whole new deck would pop up without anyone hearing about it,” said Rumble.
Sweetie hummed as she watched this exchange take place. Behavior like that was weird for Button. She would have to look into this further. She took her phone out of her pocket and used it to google “duel monsters ram clouder.” The top result was an article from a few weeks ago. The headline read “New Duel Monsters cards announced to be released in December! Brand new Cyberse-Type: Draconnet, Bitron, RAM Clouder!”
“December?” she muttered. “But it’s the middle of October… No. It can’t be…!” There wasn’t much time to think about it, though, sine the teacher entered the room right then to begin the class.
Later, during lunchtime, Sweetie noticed that Button was on his way to the computer lab instead of the cafeteria. Frowning in confusion, she followed him secretly. Some might find it creepy the way she was stalking him, but she couldn’t think about that right now, even though it brought a red tint to her cheeks.
Button stopped right outside the computer lab and sighed. “Sweetie Belle, you’re not stealthy. I know you’re there.”
Sweetie let out an embarrassed squeak and emerged from her hiding place behind a trash can. “So, uh… any reason you’re here and not getting lunch?” she asked. “Or why you have a card that shouldn’t be released for two more months?”
“So, you looked it up, huh?” Button replied. “I did it for you, you know. You would definitely notice me if I was the strongest Duelist in the school.”
Sweetie Belle’s eyes went wide. “Don’t tell me you’re the hacker!”
“Maybe I am, maybe I’m not,” Button said. “Why don’t you Duel me and find out?”
After a moment of consideration, Sweetie nodded. “Alright, fine. But if I’m right, you get rid of the stolen cards if I win.”
“It’s a deal,” Button agreed, activating his Duel Blade. “Let’s Duel!”
Sweetie gasped when she saw something on the back of his hand: a red 34. He had a Number. “Wait, I changed my mind!”
“Too late! You’re not going anywhere until this Duel is finished!”
There was no way out. Sweetie was trapped. She growled in frustration. “How did I not see this coming…?”
Button laughed. “I haven’t even decided what I get when I win. How do your Number cards and silence sound? Now, as I was saying, let’s Duel.”
“Ladies first,” said Sweetie Belle. “I summon Aquaactress Guppy and use her special ability to summon Aquaactress Tetra from my hand!” Her monsters swam into place elegantly through the air. “Tetra’s effect now, I add Aquarium Stage to my hand!” Her Duel Blade ejected the card for her and she grabbed it. “Next, I activate Aquarium Stage and Aquarium Lighting! With this combo of spells, my Aquaactress monsters’ attack and defense points double while they’re battling, my water monsters can only be destroyed in battle by other water monsters, and my Aquaactresses are immune to your monster effects.” The area around them began to take the form of what looked like an underwater concert hall. “With that, I’m gonna call it a turn.”
Button smirked at her. “Not a bad first turn setup, but it won’t do you any good. Draw!” He kept a pretty decent poker face as he glanced over his hand. “Since I have no monsters out, I’ll Special Summon my Linkslayer in attack mode!”
Sweetie gasped as the monster emerged. “A cyberse monster…!”
Button nodded. “And since I have one of those on the field, I can also Special Summon a Backup Secretary!” A digital-looking woman appeared next to his Linkslayer. “For my normal summon, I’ll bust out a Draconnet! And since he was normal summoned, a level two or lower normal monster from my hand or deck can log on as well! I’ll bring Bitron out from my deck in defense mode!” A bat-like creature and a small monster that looked like it was mostly computer both emerged in flashes of light. “I’ll set two cards facedown. Now Linkslayer, Draconnet, and Backup Secretary attack Tetra!”
“Aquarium Lighting doubles her attack and defense, and Aquarium Stage prevents her from being destroyed!” Sweetie reminded him.
“But you still take damage!” Button countered.
As the damage was dealt, Astral gasped as he felt himself begin to fade. He was in line at the cafeteria with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo at the time. “Oh no…”
“What’s wrong, Astral?” Apple Bloom asked, turning to look at him. “You’re lookin’ more see-through than usual.”
“I believe Sweetie Belle is in a Duel with another Number holder,” Astral warned. “We have to find her now.”
Scootaloo groaned. “Now? Really? But it’s taco Tuesday!” she protested.
Apple Bloom gave her an incredulous look. “Really, Scoots?! For cryin’ out loud, get your priorities straight!” She grabbed her friend by the arm and dragged her away.
“No…! Must... have… tacos!” Scootaloo whined.
Back with the Duel, Button was laughing. “I end my turn. Let’s see you get past this.”
Sweetie shivered nervously as she began her turn. “I draw! Now, Tetra’s special ability adds Aquarium Set to my hand, and I’ll activate it!” The underwater theater setup was completed as the new spell was activated. “Now all my water monsters get an attack and defense boost of 300, and Aquaactresses get 300 extra! Now I’ll summon an extra Guppy to the field. Tetra, attack the Draconnet!”
“I activate my facedown quick play spell Cynet Backdoor! I can banish a cyberse monster until my standby phase and add a weaker one to my hand!” Button countered, causing his Draconnet to vanish into a red hole made of data. “Draconnet is logging out for now, and I’ll be grabbing another Backup Secretary.”
“Alright, then Tetra will attack the Secretary on the field!” Sweetie said. “Now my Guppies will attack Bitron and Linkslayer!”
Button didn’t even flinch. “Go ahead and clear my field. It won’t do you any good.”
“My turn! Draw!” Button declared. “And like I said, Draconnet will relog.” His monster flew back through the data gate as he cackled. “Since there’s a cyberse monster on the field, I can Special Summon a new Backup Secretary from my hand! And now I activate my trap card Powerful Rebirth!”
“Uh-oh…!” Sweetie muttered, her eyes widening slightly.
“I can tell you’ve seen this card before,” said Button.
Sweetie Belle nodded. “You can revive a level four or lower monster in your Graveyard, then boost its level by one and its attack and defense by a hundred,” she remembered.
“That’s right, and I’m using it on Bitron!” said Button. “And with my level three Draconnet, Backup Secretary, and Bitron, I build the Overlay Network and Xyz Summon!” His monsters flew into the black portal, and his smirk grew wider. “Let’s crush this scrub! Number 34: Terror-Byte!” The monster that emerged was very unusual. It was some sort of yellow and blue beast made almost entirely of giant computer chips and data. Its red eyes and electrical horn glowed with a sinister light as its 34 mark lit up, and it let out a mechanical roar.
“Okay, that it one scary pun creature,” Sweetie Belle murmured.
Button nodded, humming slightly. “But it doesn’t have any attack points, so I’ll put it in defense mode,” he said. “Up next is the spell card Harpie’s Feather Duster! It’s gonna sweep all those Aquarium cards off your field!”
“Oh no!” Sweetie Belle cried. “Without those spells, my monsters are vulnerable…!”
“Which means it’s time to start clearing!” said Button. “I activate Number 34: Terror-Byte’s special ability! By detaching one of his overlay units, I can take control of Aquaactress Guppy!”
“What?!”
Terror-Byte’s horn lit up and sparked, sending a tendril of electricity at its target. One of the Guppies was dragged over to Button’s field, and the boy smirked. “For my normal summon, I’ll bring out a Cyberse Wizard in attack mode! I’ll use Guppy to destroy Tetra and my Cyberse Wizard to take down your other Guppy!”
Sweetie cried out in fright as the attacks made contact, clearing her field completely. “In just one turn, he managed to make it so that I’m wide open,” she breathed.
“I’ll end my turn there,” said Button. “Due to the effect of Terror-Byte, you get your Guppy back.”
Sweetie Belle looked down at the Life Point meter and sighed hopelessly. “He’s almost four-thousand ahead after only a couple turns. There’s nothing I can do. I really am too weak for this job,” she muttered, reaching to place a hand on top of her deck in submission. “I surren—.”
“Don’t ya dare finish that sentence!” Apple Bloom interrupted as she and Scootaloo sprinted up behind her, Astral hovering close by.
“Girls? Astral? What are you doing here?” Sweetie asked in surprise.
“We came to cheer you on!” Scootaloo said. “You took down Vice Principal Luna! Compared to her, Button is a piece of cake!”
“Yeah! You’re a great Duelist!” Apple Bloom asserted. “And no matter what, we’ll always be right here beside ya!”
Astral nodded. “We believe in you. Trust in your own skills now.”
Sweetie wiped a few joyful tears from her eyes. “If you all believe in me… then I believe in me too!” she proclaimed. “My turn! DRAW!”
Button chuckled and shook his head. “You’re definitely dramatic, I’ll give you that,” he said. “But it’s not gonna help.”
“I can see how you’d think that,” Sweetie replied. “I’m sorry to be the one to tell you you’re wrong, though. I activate my spell, Pot of Greed, letting me draw two extra cards! And then another Pot of Greed!” She smiled when she looked at her resulting hand.
“That won’t do you any good!” Button taunted.
“Wrong again,” Sweetie replied. “I summon Deep Sea Diva and activate her special ability, summoning a level three or lower sea-serpent monster from my deck! Come on out, Legendary Atlantean Tridon!”
Button went wide-eyed as the serpent swam into position. “Y-you’re planning on summoning…!”
“Exactly! I activate my Tridon’s special ability!” Sweetie continued. “By tributing him and another sea-serpent, I can bring out Poseidra the Atlantean Dragon and make all your monsters lose 300 attack points!”
“NO!” Button growled as his Cyberse Wizard was weakened and the massive sea monster crashed onto the field.
“And now, it’s time to close the curtains on this Duel!” Sweetie said, smiling confidently. “I activate Monster Reborn to bring back a Guppy, then activate the effect of my first Guppy to Special Summon an Arowana from my hand! Arowana can add another copy of herself to my hand, and my second Guppy will summon her! Then I overlay my Arowanas for Number 21: Frozen Lady Justice!”
Apple Bloom cheered. “Yes! Your ace Number!”
“Even with that thing out, you can’t defeat me!” Button shouted.
“Oh, can I?” Sweetie said. “I activate my equip card Psychic Blade on Poseidra! By paying up to 2000 Life Points, I can give him that many attack points! Then I use my Smashing Ground, destroying your monster with the highest defense! In this case, it’s Terror-Byte!”
Button stared in disbelief as his monster was smashed. He did the math in his head and came to a realization. “Is this it…?”
“This is the end!” Sweetie Belle confirmed. “Poseidra, take down his weakened Cyberse Wizard! Guppies and Frozen Lady Justice, attack directly and finish this Duel!”
Winner: Sweetie Belle
Button was thrown back by the attacks, and Astral quickly absorbed his Number card. “Excellent job, Sweetie Belle,” the ghostly man praised.
Sweetie took a bow like she had just finished a performance. “Thank you! Thank you, I’ll be here all week!” She then looked over at her friends with a sincere smile on her face. “Seriously, though. Thanks. I couldn’t have done it without you.”
“Hey, we may have helped you with your confidence issues, but those plays were all you,” Scootaloo said, giving her a friendly punch on the arm.
“I wouldn’t have been in there long enough to make the plays if you didn’t show up and stop me from surrendering,” Sweetie pointed out. “This is just as much your victory as it is mine.”
“Observation number thirteen,” Astral whispered. “Belief in one’s self can be strengthened by the support of those they care about.”
“By the way, what was that wizard thing Button had?” Apple Bloom asked.
Sweetie gasped when she suddenly remembered. “That’s right! He was the hacker!” she said. “That was one of the cards he stole!”
“What are we supposed to do about that? We can’t turn him in, it wasn’t his fault,” said Scootaloo. She looked over at the fallen boy… and frowned in confusion, seeing that he was gone. “Where did he go?”
While the Crusaders were talking to each other, Button had run away and hid behind the school. His mind was in a jumble at the moment. Had he really hacked Industrial Illusions?
“Young one.”
Button gasped and looked to the source of the voice. Standing a few feet away was a golden-haired man in a white collared shirt and a tan vest.
“I sense you are in need of refuge,” the man said. “I can help you in exchange for a small favor.”
Saturday. The beginning of the weekend A day to be as lazy as you want. A day to do absolutely nothing whatsoever.
… Just not for the Crusaders.
“How did I let you talk me into this?!” Sweetie Belle screamed in terror as she and her friends rolled at high speed down the sidewalk on a bike.
“Because you knew it would be awesome!” Scootaloo said with a crazed laugh. She began to pedal faster, accelerating them down the hill. “Let’s see if the added weight of two more people can help me break my downhill speed record!”
“If things go south, the only things breaking will be our necks!” Apple Bloom wailed.
Scootaloo grinned. “What’s life without a little risk?”
“Safe!” Apple Bloom answered immediately. “And this is more than just a little risk!”
After a few more seconds of riding and a substantial amount of screaming from her friends, Scootaloo applied the breaks. The bike skidded to a stop, and she checked her stopwatch. “Darn it. So close,” she said. “Let’s go again!”
“No!” Sweetie Belle shouted, hopping off the bike. Her legs wobbled like gelatin as she staggered away from her athletic friend. “I’m going to the cafe for a smoothie, and you’re buying to make up for the horror you just forced me to endure!”
“Actually, smoothies do sound pretty good,” said Apple Bloom. “Scoots, go get your wallet.”
Scootaloo sighed. “Alright, I guess that’s fair…”
When the girls entered the cafe about twenty minutes later, they all got their smoothies and sat down at a corner table. A TV mounted on the wall behind Apple Bloom and Scootaloo’s seats was showing the local news. It was mostly just the usual boring stuff, a brief update on the Industrial Illusions hacking incident, and more boring stuff. Then Sweetie saw something on the screen that made her do a spit-take. “Girls, look!”
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo turned around to face the TV quickly, Astral emerging from the key as they did so.
“Today, the wealthy entrepreneur and famous Duelist Sombra Umbrum will be arriving in Canterlot City for a fundraising event,” the newscaster narrated. “People will be able to find him at city hall.” The screen showed a live video of a grey-skinned man with black hair, piercing violet eyes, and a nice suit. But what really caught the girls’ eyes was what accompanied him. By his right side was a black silhouette that looked almost exactly like Astral.
“You see that thing too, right?” Sweetie Belle asked her friends.
“Ah see it. Still workin’ on believin’,” said Apple Bloom. “Is that another Astral?”
“It looks so much like me,” Astral muttered. “Perhaps this Sombra man has information on the Number cards.”
“Then we need to talk to him,” said Scootaloo.
“Definitely,” Apple Bloom agreed. “Hopefully we can get him on our side. We need all the help we can get.”
“Not necessarily,” Sweetie Belle replied. “We’re all getting our drive back.”
“It’s not mah drive Ah’m worried about,” said Apple Bloom. Her friends all nodded in understanding.
Later in the day, the group arrived at city hall, Astral back inside the key. Just like it had said on the news, Sombra was there. He was outside with the black Astral, seemingly assessing the area.
“Excuse me! Mr. Sombra!” Sweetie called out as they all approached him.
Sombra glanced over at them and smiled, but something about it was… unsettling. “Hello, girls. What can I do for you?” he asked.
“We were wondering if you knew anything about something called Number cards,” said Scootaloo.
This seemed to catch the black Astral’s attention. He looked at the girls and immediately noticed Apple Bloom’s key. “That girl’s pendant. It’s what we’ve been looking for,” he whispered to Sombra.
The wealthy man smirked. “Oh, I know a lot about Numbers,” he said. “Come inside. I rented out some space. We can talk in there.” He went inside city hall. After a moment, the Crusaders followed. Sombra brought them to a multipurpose room with a few chairs set up. “Have a seat.”
The girls all sat down. Immediately, metal restraints sprang from the chairs and bound them all down. “Hey! What the heck?!” Apple Bloom cried.
Sombra looked right at her. “Your necklace. Where did you get it?” he asked.
“Mah dad gave it to me, but what’s goin’ on here?!” Apple Bloom shouted.
“It’s not that complicated,” the black Astral replied. “My name is Dark Mist, and I am the embodiment of Sombra’s Number card. My goal is to claim the power the other Numbers hold, and Sombra is helping me with that, but we need your key to accomplish it.”
“Well, y’all ain’t gettin’ it!” Apple Bloom growled.
Dark Mist chuckled. “You are going to give it to us, whether you like it or not,” he said, reaching forward.
Suddenly, Astral burst from the key in a flash of light. “You will not harm these girls!” he shouted. “Not as long as I am here to defend them!”
“Is that so?” Dark Mist asked with a sneer. “In that case, we’ll just defeat this girl in a Duel and make it so that you’re not here.”
Apple Bloom’s eyes went wide. “W-what?! But Ah can’t Duel a professional!”
“If you want to guarantee the safety of your friends, you have no choice,” said Sombra, pressing a button on his watch and unlocking the redhead’s restraints. “What’s your answer?”
Apple Bloom look at her friends, then scowled at Sombra. “Ya crossed the line when ya threatened mah friends,” she said. “Duel Blade, activate! Get set to get decked!”
Sombra chuckled as he strapped on his own Duel Blade, and Dark Mist flew into his deck. “This will be over quickly.”
“I’ll go first,” said Sombra. “And I begin with the spell card Dark World Dealings. We both draw one card, then discard one card.”
Apple Bloom frowned as she drew. She had some good cards in her hand. This could mess up her combos. “Alright, Ah discard mah Dandylion,” she decided. “And since Ah did, Ah get two tokens in defense mode.” Two balls of dandelion fluff drifted into place in front of her.
“And I discard my Lucent, Netherlord of Dark World,” Sombra said, then grinned as an armored fiend appeared on his field.
“Huh? What happened?” Apple Bloom asked.
“The special effect of my Lucent happened,” Sombra told her. “When it’s sent from my hand to the Graveyard by a card effect, I can Special Summon it to my field.”
“Many Dark World monsters have similar effects that rely on them being discarded,” Astral warned. “His deck will be filled with easy summons and destruction.”
“I set a monster in defense mode and one card facedown,” Sombra continued. “This will end my turn.”
“Mah turn! Draw!” Apple Bloom started. “Ah summon mah Botanical Lion in attack mode!” Her floral beast leapt onto the field next to her tokens with a growl.
“That beast doesn’t have enough attack points to defeat my Lucent,” Sombra pointed out with a smirk.
“Might wanna check your math on that,” Apple Bloom replied as her monster’s strength suddenly increased. “This little fella gains 300 attack points for every single one of mah face-up plant monsters! With mah tokens and himself, that’s three, makin’ him just strong enough! Attack Lucent with botanical claw!”
As the monster charged in, Sombra laughed. “I activate my trap card, Raigeki Break. By discarding one card from my hand, I destroy one card on the field, and I choose one of your tokens.” A bolt of lightning crashed down on his opponent’s left token. “With one less plant in play, your Botanical Lion is once again weaker than Lucent. And the card I discarded is Beiige, Vanguard of Dark World. Like Lucent, it will revive itself when I discard it.”
Apple Bloom winced as the opposing fiend gained an ally and counterattacked, destroying her monster. “Dang…! He took mah monster out and summoned another just like that,” she muttered. “Ah set a card and end mah turn.”
“Now it’s my turn. I draw,” said Sombra. “And what a draw it is. I activate Card of Demise. This allows me to draw until I hold five cards. However, after five of my standby phases, I have to discard every card in my hand.”
“Setup for more Dark World effects to activate later in the game,” Apple Bloom realized.
“Indeed,” Sombra replied with a sinister glint in his eyes. “Beiige will destroy your final token, and then Lucent will attack you directly.”
After taking the hit and seeing Astral fade slightly, Apple Bloom quickly took action. “Ah activate mah trap Damage Gate! Since Ah just took battle damage, Ah can summon a monster from mah Graveyard whose attack points are less than or equal to that damage! Botanical Lion ain’t down just yet!”
Sombra snorted. “Not as if that can help you. I end my turn.”
“If you can summon Utopia, you’ll be able to defeat his monsters,” Astral said.
“Ah’m on it,” Apple Bloom said. “Draw! Ah summon Copy Plant!” Her twisted tree-like creature sprouted next to the lion. “This guy does pretty much what it says on the package: he copies the level of another plant! And now, Ah use mah two level four monsters to build the Overlay Network! Go, Number 39: Utopia!”
“An interesting monster,” Sombra said as he looked at the winged warrior. “Go ahead and attack. See what happens.”
“That’s the plan!” Apple Bloom replied with a grin. “Utopia, rising sun slash! Take down the Lucent!” Her ace Number nodded and unsheathed one of his curved blades, destroying the fiend with one quick slash. “Ah set a card and end mah turn.”
“I draw, and Card of Demise now has four turns remaining on it,” said Sombra as his turn began. “I set one card facedown and activate my field spell The Gates of Dark World.” The area around the Duelists transformed into a massive stone archway with opened double doors, looking like the entrance to the underworld. “By its first effect, all fiends on the field gain 300 attack and defense points.”
“That’s still not strong enough. And even if it was, only Numbers can defeat other Numbers,” said Apple Bloom.
“I’m aware of that,” Sombra told her. “So for now, I’ll set my Beiige to defense mode and end my turn.”
“On the defensive, Ah see,” Apple Bloom said, drawing her next card. “Ah summon Lonefire Blossom, then use its special ability to tribute it and bring out Gigaplant! Gigaplant is gonna take out Beiige, And Utopia will go after the facedown! Plus, with mah Strike Slash trap card, he’ll gain 700 and inflict piercing for the turn!”
Sombra grunted as he took the damage, mostly out of irritation, but he didn’t look too annoyed. “The facedown monster was Scarr, Scout of Dark World,” he said. “When it’s destroyed by battle, I can add a level four or lower Dark World monster from my deck to my hand. I choose a second Scarr.”
“Fine by me. Ah still took a big chunk of your Life Points,” said Apple Bloom. “Ah end mah turn with that.”
“Three turns now remain on Card of Demise,” Sombra said after he drew. “Now, I activate the second effect of The Gates of Dark World. By banishing a fiend from the Graveyard and discarding a fiend from my hand, I can draw once more. I banish Scarr, Scout of Dark World and discard Broww, Huntsman of Dark World. Broww’s effect will let me draw one more card.”
Apple Bloom frowned. “No Special Summons this time, huh?”
“I don’t need any extra summoning, said Sombra. “I set one monster, then another card facedown, and activate my continuous spell The Dark Door. With this in play, only one monster can attack each battle phase. I end my turn with that.”
“Mah move, then. Draw!” Apple Bloom declared. “Ah think Ah’m just gonna go straight for the attack! Utopia, get rid of it!”
“You’ve attacked my second Scarr,” said Sombra. “By its effect, I add my final copy of it to my hand.”
“He is planning something,” Astral said. “Be cautious moving forward.”
“Right,” said Apple Bloom. “Ah’ll give Gigaplant its gemini effect, then use it to bring back Lonefire Blossom. Lonefire Blossom will tribute itself for a second Gigaplant, and Ah end mah turn.”
“Only two turns left until an onslaught of Dark World effects. I draw,” Sombra began. “Now once again, I activate the effect of my The Gates of Dark World. I banish Scarr, Scout of Dark World, discard Gren, Tactician of Dark World, and draw one card. However, Gren’s effect is not optional, so I have to destroy one of my facedown cards.”
Apple Bloom grinned. “Bit of an inconvenience, hm?”
“A minor setback,” said Sombra. “Once again, I set one monster and a new facedown and end my turn.”
“That’s definitely his last Scarr,” said Apple Bloom. “Not like gettin’ another fiend will help too much. Draw!”
“He set each Scarr, Scout of Dark World knowing they would be destroyed,” Astral pointed out. “Perhaps he doesn’t necessarily want them on the field for their effects.”
“Good point, but Ah’m never gonna get to his Life Points if Ah leave monsters on his field,” said Apple Bloom. “Utopia, attack the facedown again!”
“You were correct in assuming that it was Scarr,” Sombra told his opponent. “This time, I’ll take a Ceruli, Guru of Dark World from my deck.”
Sombra drew to begin his turn. “Card of Demise will activate on my next turn,” he said. “Once again, I use the effect of The Gates of Dark World, banishing my final Scarr and discarding Sillva, Warlord of Dark World. When Sillva is discarded, it is Special Summoned.”
“It’s strong, but ya can’t beat me yet!” said Apple Bloom.
“I wouldn’t be so sure if I were you,” Sombra taunted. “I activate my trap card, Return from the Different Dimension. By paying half my Life Points, I can summon as many of my banished monsters as possible, which means all three of my Scarrs will return to the field.”
Apple Bloom gasped. “Three monsters…”
“Yes. With my three Scarrs, I build the Overlay Network to Xyz Summon your doom,” Sombra cackled. The black portal opened, drawing in the three fiends, as well as a mysterious shadow. “Come to me, Number 96: Dark Mist.”
This monster looked nothing like Astral. It was a demon with gaseous shadows pouring from various points on its body. Its eyes glowed crimson, and a 96 mark shimmered on its head, as well as Sombra’s hand.
Apple Bloom was terrified… until she checked her Duel Blade’s display screen. “Only a hundred attack points?” she noticed. “Well, four hundred with his field spell, but still.”
“Low initial strength does not indicate weak potential,” said Sombra. “I activate Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy my Dark Door. Now, Sillva will attack your Gigaplant on the left.”
“Ah activate Utopia’s special ability!” Apple Bloom countered. “By removin’ an overlay unit, he stops the attack!”
“Then I attack Gigaplant with Dark Mist.”
Apple Bloom frowned. “Why would ya do that?”
“To use Dark Mist’s special effect,” Sombra answered. “When it battles another monster, I can remove one overlay unit to halve the attack points of that monster and give those lost attack points to Dark Mist itself.” Dark Mist hissed as it absorbed the power of Gigaplant and struck it down with a whip-like arm. “I set three cards and end my turn.”
“Okay, not gonna wanna hit that Number,” Apple Bloom muttered to herself, drawing a new card. “Ah set two cards facedown and activate Rush Recklessly so Ah can attack Sillva with Utopia!”
Sombra growled in frustration as his fiend was taken out. “A clever move, but I will still win this,” he said.
Apple Bloom glared at him, then sighed. “Turn end.”
After Sombra drew a card, he immediately sent his entire hand to the Graveyard. “Card of Demise has kicked in, and three effects can activate. Broww lets me draw a card, Ceruli summons itself to your field, and Gren destroys your left facedown card. Then I use my trap Jar of Greed to draw once more, and my facedown spell Pot of Greed to draw twice more.”
“He planned that,” Apple Bloom muttered. “Even after Card of Demise emptied his hand, he had plenty of draw power ready.”
“Now, Dark Mist will attack your second Gigaplant,” Sombra declared.
“Ah activate Utopia’s special ability one more time to stop the attack!”
“Nice try, but I use my trap card Solemn Strike,” Sombra countered. “By paying 1500 Life Points, I negate Utopia’s effect’s activation, then destroy Utopia.”
Apple Bloom gasped. “No!”
“Once again, I use the effect of Dark Mist to take half of Gigaplant’s attack points as its own,” Sombra said, prompting his monster to continue the attack and destroy its target. “I now activate Poison of the Old Man to regain 1200 Life Points, then set one card and end my turn.”
Apple Bloom drew her next card hopefully, then used her own Pot of Greed. “This could help. Thanks for the Ceruli, by the way.”
“What?” Sombra said, looking rather confused.
“Ah activate Monster Reincarnation!” Apple Bloom. “By sendin’ one card in mah hand to the Graveyard, Ah can add Gigaplant back to mah hand! Then Ah tribute your Ceruli to summon it!”
“I see. Tribute fodder,” Sombra hummed. “But you seem to be forgetting that Dark Mist still has an overlay unit left.”
“Actually, Ah didn’t forget,” said Apple Bloom. “Ah activate Forbidden Chalice on your Dark Mist! This’ll give it 400 attack points and negate all its effects for the turn!”
Sombra went wide-eyed. “That leaves it with 800 attack points, and non-Numbers can destroy it…”
“Gigaplant, attack Dark Mist!”
“I activate Rainbow Life,” Sombra countered. “By discarding one card, I turn all Life Point losses this turn into a gain.” The attack still went through, and his monster was defeated.
Apple Bloom slowly smiled. “Ah did it…!” she said. “Ah defeated Dark Mist!”
“You may have beaten my Number, but you haven’t beaten me,” Sombra said with a sneer. “My turn. I draw.”
Apple Bloom frowned. “What else could ya possibly have up your sleeve?”
“Something very special, but only if I can draw it,” Sombra said. “I activate Card of Sanctity, forcing us both to draw until we hold six cards.” His face broke into a very unpleasant grin after that activation. “Ah, here it is.”
“Ah don’t like the sound of that,” said Apple Bloom.
“To summon this monster, I have to banish seven different dark-attribute monsters from my Graveyard,” Sombra explained. “I banish Scarr, Sillva, Beiige, Ceruli, Broww, Lucent, and Gren.” As he held up the card, his grin grew even wider. “May all light turn to darkness, and even the strongest shall tremble in terror! I summon Rainbow Dark Dragon!”
Apple Bloom could only stare as a massive black dragon with a serpentine body flew onto the field. Multicolored crystals glittered among its scales, and its eyes drove fear deep into her heart. “Oh no…”
“Now, I equip my dragon with Axe of Despair and activate its special effect,” Sombra went on. “By banishing all other dark-attribute monsters from my Graveyard, it gains 500 attack points for each one.”
“That’s 7500!” Apple Bloom cried, hearing her friends behind her sharing in her horror.
“Rainbow Dark Dragon!” Sombra bellowed. “Attack Gigaplant with black spectral stream!”
Apple Bloom gasped as the attack was launched. Fortunately, she was able to use a trap card in time. “Go, Half Unbreak! Gigaplant ain’t destroyed, and Ah only take half the damage!”
“But it’s still an almost fatal blow,” Sombra said.
As the blast struck, Apple Bloom screamed. She fell to her knees, breathing heavily as Astral faded almost completely.
Sombra cackled. “I end my turn with one last facedown card. Good luck overcoming my dragon.”
“Apple Bloom… this is the end,” Astral said. “His monster is too powerful, and your Life Points are too low. No matter what you do, he will win on his next turn.”
With desperate tears in her eyes, Apple Bloom glanced back at the girls, still strapped to their chairs. “… No…” she said. “Ah can’t let that happen…! Mah friends are all counting on me…! Sweetie, Scoots, you, Ah won’t let y’all down!” She stood up slowly. “Ah’ve been there for y’all in the past, and Ah sure as heck ain’t gonna stop now!”
Astral suddenly let out a gasp as small particles of light began to drift around him. I can feel what she’s feeling, he thought. This is different from confidence. It is… determination. His eyes began to glow, as did something in Apple Bloom’s extra deck.
Apple Bloom took the glowing card from her Duel Blade and frowned. “What’s this…?”
“Your determination taken form,” Astral realized. “You were right. We cannot allow him to win.”
Nodding and turning to face Sombra again, Apple Bloom drew her next card. “Ah activate the spell card Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Axe of Despair!” she began. “Then Ah play Pot of Avarice, shufflin’ five monsters in the Graveyard back into mah deck or extra deck and drawin’ two cards! Then Ah summon Goblindburg and activate his special ability, lettin’ mah Cactus Fighter join him on the field by changing him to defense mode! Now, one of the cards Ah put back with Pot of Avarice was Utopia, and Ah’m gonna overlay mah two monsters to bring him back!”
Sombra just laughed at her as the warrior emerged. “Even a Number monster has no hope of defeating Rainbow Dark Dragon,” he taunted. “It still has 6500 attack points.”
Apple Bloom grinned. “Oh, this ain’t even his final form! By combining Utopia with his overlay units, Ah can rebuild the Overlay Network!” she said as Utopia dove back into the portal he came from. She held up the new card, and there was a blinding flash of light.
Sombra held up an arm to stop the light from shining in his eyes. “What is that…?” he grunted.
As Apple Bloom continued her summon, Astral began speaking and moving in unison with her. “With the power of hope and determination, the messenger that changes chaos into light, descend and bring justice by smiting the wicked!” they chanted. “Go, Chaos Xyz Evolution!” As they spoke, Utopia reemerged from the portal, but he looked different. His helmet had a more mask-like look to it, the silver parts of his armor had become slightly darker, his wings and shoulder plates had grown longer, and there was an enormous third sword strapped to his back. His 39 mark blazed brighter than before, three orbs of light orbited around him, and he let out an echoing battle cry. “Appear! Chaos Number 39: Utopia Ray!”
Sombra stared in shock for a moment before sneering. “I don’t know how you did that, but you still won’t defeat my dragon. That thing has the same attack points as Utopia.”
“Not for long! Ah activate Chaos Number 39: Utopia Ray’s special ability!” Apple Bloom declared. “This effect can be activated as many times per turn as Ah want as long as he has overlay units! For each one Ah detach, he gains 500 attack points and one monster you control loses a thousand! Overlay charge!” As she said this, Utopia Ray sprouted two extra arms, which unsheathed the giant sword on his back an held it high over his head. His three units all flew up and melded themselves into the weapon, causing it to glow.
Sombra’s eyes widened as his monster became weaker. “It’s not possible…!”
“Now Ah activate Magical Stone Excavation!” Apple Bloom continued. “Just gotta ditch two cards in mah hand, and Ah can take Forbidden Chalice back from the Graveyard, then use it on your Rainbow Dark Dragon!”
“But without its effect, its attack points will be even lower…!” Sombra gasped.
“Low enough for Gigaplant to take it down for a thousand damage!” Apple Bloom declared as her monster crushed the enemy dragon in its vines. “Utopia Ray, attack directly and bring his Life Points to zero! Rising sun chaos slash!”
“This can’t be…! I’m unbeatable!” Sombra shouted as the giant glowing sword came down on him.
Winner: Apple Bloom
As Sombra was knocked unconscious, Apple Bloom ran forward and pressed a button on his watch, releasing her friends from their restraints, and Astral held a hand out to absorb the man’s Number.
The ghostly being gasped as his fingers made contact with the card. This was the first truly noteworthy memory he had regained in a long time… and it wasn’t good. He saw Astral World again, but something was different. Projectiles of dark energy were hurdling toward his home world and exploding on contact. It was being destroyed…
The Crusaders hugged each other tightly. “Ah can’t believe Ah almost lost ya,” Apple Bloom was saying.
“But you totally killed it out there!” Scootaloo said with a grin.
“Definitely!” Sweetie Belle agreed. “The way Utopia changed like that was incredible! How did you do that?”
“Ah have no idea, but it got the job done!” Apple Bloom said, smiling widely. “Ah think that Duel even did the trick! Not only am Ah confident, but Ah’m determined!”
Observation number fourteen. Determination, along with hope and friendship, is the ultimate strength, Astral thought. Then he stared back down at the card he had taken. Dark Mist… are there others like you?
Silver Spoon was worried. Her best friend had been so distant from her lately that she might as well not have been there at all. And as if that wasn’t enough, she had heard so many rumors going around. Diamond Tiara had apparently become even more full of herself than usual, and considerably aggressive. Sure, she was never the nicest person, but it wasn’t like her to Duel someone to the point of injury.
The grey girl sighed and lowered her head, the lenses of her glasses glinting as the caught the light of a lamp. She then reached over and picked something up off her ornate desk: a very special Duel Monsters card.
“Something needs to be done.”
The next morning, Canterlot High School’s hallways were crowded with students trying to get to class. Among them were the Crusaders, walking with their recently made friend Rush. Apple Bloom was in the middle of telling him the story of how she had defeated Sombra, leaving out the fact that Astral existed to avoid looking crazy. “So everything looked hopeless, right? But Ah had to save mah friends. Then out of nowhere, a new card appeared! A Chaos Number! So Ah brought back Utopia, then used him to summon the Chaos Number, weakened the Rainbow Dark Dragon with its effect, and the rest is history.”
Rush smiled. “That’s pretty impressive,” he said. “And to think the most exciting thing that happened to me over the weekend was pulling a Temple of the Mind’s Eye from a booster pack.” This wasn’t true. He actually had gotten that card, but he also spent a lot of his time doing recon for Starlight. He had been told to keep that a secret.
Scootaloo grinned. “That’ll give a good boost to your deck,” she said. “It’s a pretty risky card, though.”
“I can deal with a little risk,” said Rush. “I come here every day, don’t I?”
“Good point,” Sweetie Belle said. “By the way, your Number cards haven’t been acting up, have they? I would hate to have to Duel them out of you.”
Rush shook his head. “I don’t think I’m being possessed, at least,” he answered. “I know it might sound weird, but I’m getting this feeling from Heartlandraco, like it’s trying to protect me from anything evil that other Numbers might try to do to me.”
Astral hummed as Rush said this. “How strange,” he whispered to himself. “First Dark Mist is able to manifest a spiritual body for itself, then Utopia gains another form, and now this theory about Heartlandraco. The Numbers may be fragments of my memories, but they seem to be sentient at times and evolving. There is clearly more to them than meets the eye…”
Apple Bloom was about to make a comment when someone bumped into her from behind. She stumbled and almost tripped as the offender walked past her and groaned when she saw who it was. “Silver Spoon…”
The wealthy student shot a glare at the redhead. “Watch where you’re going, loser,” she snapped.
“Watch where Ah’m goin’?!” Apple Bloom said incredulously. “You’re the one who bumped into me!”
“You were in my way,” Silver Spoon said, as if that was supposed to be a valid excuse.
“It’s a matter of politeness, something you would never understand,” Apple Bloom replied.
“Forget politeness, I have money.”
“Yeah, too much of it,” Apple Bloom muttered. “No wonder you’re such a terrible person.”
Silver Spoon’s eyes narrowed. “What did you just say?”
“Ya heard me. Ah tell it like it is,” Apple Bloom said, getting up in Silver Spoon’s face to make sure she got the message. “You. Are. A. Terrible. Person.”
Silver Spoon pushed her into a locker and snarled. “You. Me. Football field. Four o’clock. We’ll settle this with a Duel. Don’t you dare be late,” she hissed before walking away.
Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo helped their friend back to her feet. “This could be bad,” Sweetie said. “Did you see how angry she looked?”
“What if she picked up another Number?” Scootaloo added.
“Either way, Ah don’t really have a choice but to Duel her,” said Apple Bloom. “Clear the afternoon. We have new plans.”
At exactly 4PM sharp, the Crusaders and Rush made their way to the football field behind the school. The field was deserted apart from Silver Spoon, who was standing by the southern goalpost with her arms crossed when they arrived. “Wow. You actually showed up,” she said, adjusting her glasses and causing them to glint menacingly. “We’ll play with standard rules. And to make things more interesting, the winner will get one thing from the loser. A favor, an item, as long as it's relatively reasonable. I’ll decide what I want after I win.”
Apple Bloom scowled. “Ya ain’t gonna win. Mah friends are here to support me,” she said, strapping her Duel Blade to her arm. “And Ah’m feelin’ the flow!”
Sweetie Belle smiled. “You haven’t said that in a while. Glad to hear it coming back.”
Apple Bloom nodded and grinned. She loaded her deck and extended her card tray. “Ready?”
“Ready,” Silver Spoon said, inserting her own deck.
“Ah’m goin’ first!” Apple Bloom declared. She looked over her hand. “Ah summon Rose Witch in attack mode and set two cards facedown! That’ll do it for me.”
“Be ready if she has a Number,” Astral warned, receiving a nod in response.
“My turn,” Silver Spoon began, calmly drawing a card from her deck. “I activate the field spell Union Hangar. Upon its initial activation, I can add a light-attribute union machine monster from my deck to my hand. I’ll take my Y-Dragon Head and normal summon it.” Her mechanical red dragon swooped onto the field with a roar. “Now the other effect of my field spell activates. Since a union machine was summoned, I can equip it with another compatible union monster from my deck, like my Z-Metal Tank.” A yellow assault tank sped into position and linked up with Y-Dragon Head. “While equipped with Z-Metal Tank, my Y-Dragon Head gains 600 attack points, bringing it up to 2100. Go, attack the Rose Witch!”
“Not so fast! Ah activate Negate Attack!” Apple Bloom countered. A barrier formed to block the advancing machine. “This stops your attack and ends the battle phase!”
Silver Spoon groaned. “That would figure. I set one card facedown. Turn end.”
Apple Bloom looked down at her hand as she drew her next card. “That’ll work. Ah summon Lonefire Blossom and activate its special ability! By sendin’ it to the Graveyard, Ah summon Gigaplant from the deck! Then Ah take out the Z-Metal Tank with Mystical Space Typhoon!”
“No!” Silver Spoon growled.
“Yes!” Apple Bloom replied. “Gigaplant, attack the Y-Dragon Head! Rose Witch, attack her Life Points directly!”
“I activate Counter Gate!” said Silver Spoon. “This trap card can be activated when you declare a direct attack. It lets me stop the attack and draw a card, then normal summon the card if it’s a monster.” She drew the card and smirked. “Perfect. I normal summon my Summoner Monk, and his effect puts him in defense mode!”
Silver Spoon grinned as she drew. “I activate Soul Charge! Instead of conducting my battle phase, I can revive any number of monsters in my Graveyard by paying a thousand Life Points for each one! Come back, Y-Dragon Head and Z-Metal Tank!”
Apple Bloom went wide-eyed. “Uh-oh! Ah know what this means!”
“Darn right you do. I’ll use my Summoner Monk’s special ability! By discarding one spell card, I can Special Summon a level four monster from my deck! And of course, I choose my X-Head Cannon!” At that declaration, the third machine of the set stood tall and proud among its brothers. “And now, by banishing these three from the field, I Fusion Summon XYZ-Dragon Cannon!” The machines all merged together, forming a red, yellow, and blue mech.
Apple Bloom gulped. “This could be bad. Especially if she uses the effect…!”
Silver Spoon chuckled. “I activate Swords of Revealing Light, summon Armed Dragon LV3, and end my turn.”
“Huh? Why didn’t she use XYZ-Dragon Cannon’s effect?” Apple Bloom wondered. She shook her head. “Can’t worry about that now. Mah turn! Draw!”
“I assume you will use your Gigaplant’s effect,” Astral said to her.
“Eeyup!” Apple Bloom confirmed. “By givin’ up a normal summon this turn, Ah can give Gigaplant his gemini effect, which lets him revive Lonefire Blossom! Then Ah use Lonefire Blossom to Special Summon mah second Gigaplant!”
Silver Spoon hummed. “So you can Xyz Summon now…”
“And Ah know just the monster to help me out!” said Apple Bloom. “Gonna be interesting to use, too. The only Xyz monster Ah usually used for a while is Utopia. But not this time! With mah two level six Gigaplants, Ah build the Overlay Network!” The two enormous plant monsters were drawn into a portal, and a familiar beast with bat-like wings emerged. “Bring the fright, Number 24: Dragulas the Vampiric Dragon!”
Scootaloo blinked in slight surprise on the sidelines. “Huh. Haven’t seen that thing since she told us what went down with Fluttershy.”
“I think I know what she’s planning,” said Sweetie Belle.
“With your Swords up, Ah can’t attack, so Ah end,” Apple Bloom finished.
Silver Spoon just shook her head. “Trying to give yourself an unfair advantage with Number cards, I see,” she said. “My turn. Draw. And during my standby phase, my Armed Dragon LV3 grows up into Armed Dragon LV5!” Her small dragon went through a very fast growth spurt, gaining more armor and spikes on its body.
“Ah activate Dragulas’s special ability!” Apple Bloom said quickly. “By detachin’ one overlay unit, he can force a monster on the field that was summoned from the extra deck into facedown defense mode!”
With a grunt of irritation, Silver Spoon continued her turn. “I activate Terraforming to take a second Union Hangar from my deck, then activate it by getting rid of the first one!” she said. “And upon its initial activation, I add W-Wing Catapult to my hand! I’ll normal summon it, then use my Armed Dragon LV5 to attack Rose Witch!”
Apple Bloom winced. “That’s gonna leave a mark.”
Astral glanced down at his hands and saw that he wasn’t fading. “She does not seem to have a Number,” he said.
“Well, that’s a relief,” said Apple Bloom. “Ah still can’t let her win, though.”
“I’ll be ending my turn there,” said Silver Spoon. “And during my end phase, since Armed Dragon LV5 destroyed a monster by battle this turn, he grows up again. Come forth, Armed Dragon LV7!” As her dragon got even bigger and grew several blades on its body, her turn was passed.
Apple Bloom hummed, drawing her next card. “Ah’m startin’ with Pot of Greed, lettin’ me draw two more cards from mah deck,” she said. “Then Ah summon Cactus Fighter, and since he’s level four, he can bring along mah new monster Kagetokage!” Her cactus creature jumped into play, followed by a lizard-shaped shadow with glowing eyes.
“Are you summoning Utopia?” Astral asked.
“No, he ain’t strong enough to do much against those monsters,” Apple Bloom said, shaking her head slightly. “What Ah can do is leave it up to chance. Ah overlay mah Cactus Fighter and Kagetokage to bring out Number 85: Crazy Box!”
Sweetie Belle smiled as the cube-like monster emerged on the field. “I remember that. It was the first Number she took after we figured out how everything worked with them.”
“Yeah. I wonder how Trick is doing these days, anyway,” said Scootaloo.
Rush raised an eyebrow. “Trick? Like the guy who did those scams, Trick Dice?” he asked.
“He’s working on changing,” Sweetie Belle assured him.
“Now, Ah activate Crazy Box’s special ability!” Apple Bloom declared. One of the Number’s units flew into her hand and morphed into a die. “Just gotta roll this and see what happens. Go, dice-roll!” She grinned as the roll came up five. “That means Ah can destroy one card on the field. Say goodbye to your Swords of Revealing Light!”
Silver Spoon gasped. “That means my monsters are vulnerable!”
“And mine are ready to attack!” said Apple Bloom. “Dragulas, attack W-Wing Catapult! And with mah Strike Slash trap card, he gains 700 and piercing for the turn!”
“What?!” Silver Spoon shouted. She raised an arm in front of her face to shield herself from the shockwave of the attack. “How obnoxious…!”
“That was a heavy hit, but you won’t get lucky again!” Silver Spoon growled, drawing frustratedly. “Oh, this is perfect. I activate Card of Demise! This lets me draw until I have five cards in my hand. However, if I don’t use them in five turns, I lose them in five turns.”
“Ah remember Sombra had that card,” Apple Bloom muttered. “Guess it does have some uses in a union deck.”
Silver Spoon frowned. “Not quite the new hand I was hoping for. I’ll set a monster facedown in defense mode and two cards in my back row. Not much point in flipping XYZ-Dragon Cannon up right now due to your monster’s effect, though. Armed Dragon LV7, attack Dragulas the Vampiric Dragon!”
“Number monsters can only be destroyed in battle by other Numbers,” Apple Bloom reminded her opponent.
“But you still take damage!” Silver Spoon replied as the attack landed. “I end my turn.”
Apple Bloom scowled. “Ya can’t keep this up forever,” she said. “Mah turn! Draw! Ah’ll use Crazy Box’s last overlay unit to activate his special ability!” She caught the unit-turned-die as it flew at her. “Go, dice-roll!” This time, her roll came up two. “This means Ah get to draw a card,” she said, doing so. “Yes, a Malevolent Nuzzler! Ah equip it to Dragulas and attack Armed Dragon LV7!”
Silver Spoon didn’t even react, other than scoffing and sticking her nose in the air.
“That’s where Ah’m gonna end it,” the redhead finished.
“My turn,” said Silver Spoon as she drew. “Four turns left for Card of Demise now. I activate Summoner Monk’s special ability, discarding a spell to bring out a level four monster! I choose my V-Tiger Jet, then flip summon my second W-Wing Catapult!”
Apple Bloom frowned. “Even if ya summon somethin’ from the extra deck, Ah can just stop it with Dragulas,” she said.
“I’m still doing just that!” Silver Spoon said with a grin. “By banishing V-Tiger Jet and W-Wing Catapult, I Fusion Summon VW-Tiger Catapult!” A large yellow and blue machine monster with rocket boosters was formed from the merging of those two monsters. “And that’s not all! Now, by banishing it and XYZ-Dragon Cannon, I can bring out my VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon!”
Apple Bloom stared as the enormous mech was fully assembled in front of her. Its red, yellow, and blue painted surface gleamed in the light of the afternoon sun. “That thing is huge…! Too bad. Dragulas, do your thing.”
As her new monster flipped facedown Silver Spoon shrugged. “Then I use my facedown Dust Tornado to take out your equip spell and end my turn.”
“Ah have to get that machine off the field before she can flip it face-up again,” Apple Bloom said, starting her turn. She looked down at her next card. “Ah activate Pot of Avarice, shufflin’ five monsters in mah Graveyard back into the deck and drawin’ two cards!” After pulling the new cards from the top of her deck, her grin became even wider. “Now, Ah play Forbidden Chalice on Crazy Box so he loses his effects and gains 400 attack for the turn! Then Ah summon Goblindburg, bringin’ out Bird of Roses with his effect, and buildin’ the Overlay Network! Come on out, Number 39: Utopia!”
“With all those monsters on the field, she’ll be able to bring Silver Spoon down to almost no Life Points!” Scootaloo cheered.
“And there’s no way she’ll be able to come back from it! Apple Bloom has this won!” Sweetie Belle said.
“Crazy Box, destroy VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon!” Apple Bloom commanded. “Dragulas, take down the Summoner Monk! And Utopia, attack directly!”
Frustratingly, Silver Spoon didn’t even flinch. Apple Bloom frowned in confusion and ended her turn.
“That’s so weird. She’s about to lose. Why doesn’t she look worried?” Rush said as the rich girl drew her next card.
“I don’t know,” Sweetie Belle replied.
Silver Spoon pushed her glasses up her nose, causing them to flash as they reflected the sunlight. “I have you right where I want you,” she chuckled.
Apple Bloom snorted with laughter. “Yeah right. Ya have no monsters out and only three cards in your hand, while Ah have three Numbers. How can ya possibly bounce back?”
“Let me show you,” Silver Spoon replied. “Since I Special Summoned both my Armed Dragon LV7 and VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon during this Duel, I’m able to banish them from my field or Graveyard to summon the most powerful card I own! Ready, aim, fire! Armed Dragon Catapult Cannon!” This new monster was unlike anything the others present had ever seen. The enormous dragon with incredible mech armor towered over everything else, casting a massive shadow. It roared, blowing everyone’s hair back.
“Sh-she let me think Ah was winning… just to bring out a monster like that…” Apple Bloom breathed.
“She must be waitin’ for somethin’,” Apple Bloom muttered. “But it’s not gonna happen! Ah draw!” When the new card was added to her hand, her excitement was clear. “Mah Double or Nothing. Ah still have a chance! Utopia, attack and use an overlay unit to negate it so Ah can use Double or Nothing and finish this Duel!”
“That won’t work,” Silver Spoon said at once. “I activate Armed Dragon Catapult Cannon’s special ability in response to your attack! During your turn, I can banish a card from my deck or extra deck to banish every single card from your field and Graveyard!”
“Say WHAT?!” Apple Bloom cried. She winced as a massive explosion shook the field, and all three of the Numbers Apple Bloom had summoned were gone when the smoke cleared. “No…”
“Do you have anything to defend yourself in your hand?” Astral asked.
“Nothing,” Apple Bloom answered. “Ah have to end the turn.”
Silver Spoon grinned. “I activate a card that I’ve been holding on to for a while now: Limiter Removal!” A bright light glowed around her ultimate monster. “This doubles the attack points of every Machine-type monster I control, but all my machines on the field are destroyed during the end phase.”
“But with 7000 attack points and nothing to stop it…” Sweetie muttered.
“There won’t be an end phase,” Scootaloo finished.
“Armed Dragon Catapult Cannon,” Silver Spoon said with a sneer. “Destroy.”
The monster took aim with all of its weapons and fired.
Winner: Silver Spoon
Apple Bloom fell to her knees. “After all this, Ah lose to someone who doesn’t even have a Number,” she said sadly, tears beginning to form in her eyes. Her friends ran over to comfort her, but she was already wallowing in her self-pity.
Silver Spoon collapsed the card tray of her Duel Blade and approached slowly, the others all looking up at her. “You remember our agreement,” she said. “But before I tell you what I want, let me just say… sorry for tricking you.”
Apple Bloom gave her a half-lidded, unamused stare. “What.”
“Yeah, I kinda bumped into you and made a scene on purpose so I could challenge you without there being any chance you would decline,” Silver Spoon admitted, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly.
“But why in the heck would ya pull such a convoluted scheme?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Because…” Silver Spoon paused, sighing sadly. “Because with how horrible I’ve been to you all these years, I figured you wouldn’t agree to help me any other way. Duelists’ honor and all that. You would definitely honor an agreement we made based on the outcome of a Duel.”
“Help you?” Sweetie Belle said in surprise. “With what?”
“It’s Diamond Tiara,” Silver Spoon replied. “Ever since you girls took our Number cards, she’s been obsessed with coming up with ways to get hers back. And lately, she’s been getting worse. She’s angrier, more aggressive. She’s just not the same. I’m worried that she might’ve picked up another one, and that she’ll be damaged and…” She trailed off and choked out a desperate sob. “Please… I just want my best friend back… I want her to be alright…”
The girls and Rush stared in disbelief. The story she had told was shocking, of course, but how she was acting was even stranger. Silver Spoon, the confident and tough bully, was actually crying.
After a moment of silence broken only by the sobs of the grey girl, Apple Bloom stood up slowly. “Silver Spoon,” she said in a low voice. “If ya just told us all that from the beginning, we would’ve helped.”
“I realize that now,” Silver Spoon said, burying her face in her hands. “But after being even worse to you during that Duel, I completely understand if you don’t—.”
“Where do we start?” Apple Bloom asked.
Silver Spoon looked up in surprise. “Y-you really want to help me?” she asked. “Even though we’ve been bitter enemies since the fourth grade?”
“The way I see it, enemies are just friends whose hands you haven’t shaken yet,” said Sweetie Belle, smiling warmly. “I can tell you’re really serious, and I’m willing to bury the hatchet.”
“Me too,” Scootaloo agreed.
“Me three,” said Apple Bloom. “We’ll help ya get your friend back to normal. You’re one of us now.”
Observation number fifteen. Even those who have anger towards each other can form friendships given proper time and circumstance, Astral thought.
Silver Spoon wiped her eyes and smiled. “In that case, we start at my place where I’ll help you upgrade your decks.”