The Elements of Dueling.

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9

Chapter 1

I was standing on top of a crystal tower, the duel disk on my arm providing some of the only light. Across the room from me was an empty suit of black armor with a device on its arm similar to Yubel's demon hand.

"You will not win," a deep voice above me said.

I looked up and saw a black serpent.

"I attack you directly."

The serpent charged a black beam and blasted me, black fire enveloping me.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

My eyes snapped open and I sat up, sweat covering my body. I looked over at my alarm clock and saw that it was 5:30, half an hour before I was suppossed to get up. I saw a blue light coming from the other side of the room.

I grabbed the remote and turned off the t.v., thinking, "Last time I watch Yugi's duel with Dartz before bed.

Realizing that I wasn't going to go back to sleep, I took a quick shower and grabbed some breakfast. By the time I was done it was only 5 'til 6. I put my duel disk and holoprojector in a bag and stuck the boxes for my deck and extra deck on my belt. I went to the garage and took off on my duel runner.

Even though the hight school was across town I still had 15 minutes to kill before it would open, so I took out my deck and went over strageties. My deck was built to power up and swarm the field with low-level water monsters. Though if that didn't work out I had two strong cards and a couple xyz monsters. As a last resort I kept a double edged sword .in case my back was against a wall. When the school opened, I removed the visor from my bike helmet before entering.

Most of the day I set myself to auto-pilot and zoned out through most of my classes. What I thought about was that dream I had. Even though it was a dream I could feel the wind of the tower, the pain of the fire. None of my dreams were ever that realistic, not even my dueling dreams.

"Eric. Mr. Sullivan," I snapped out of my thoughts to see everyone in my history class was staring at me.

"Yes sir," I replied.

"Please tell us the use of duel pad/disk technology in the past 10 years."

"Okay. 10 years ago Konami decided to increase popularity of Yu-Gi-Oh by using AR technology to create duel pads and duel gazers similar to those in Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal. They also created duel runners for those who were fans of the 5D's series. Though they didn't create real versions of speed spells. 5 years later they created holoprojectors that replaced
duel gazers by making holograms."

"Good job. Now-," the bell rang, "We will continue this on Monday."

I slowly trudged down the hall to the bane of my physical existance, gym class. After warm-ups, we went outside to the track around the football field. I grabbed my bag because after we run, we can duel. I tried to finish as quick as
possible, but it took me 15 minutes to finish the mile and even then I was close to puking. I decided to sit back for a
minute, not only to calm down my stomach but to scope out what decks other people were using.

I looked at the duel that had been going on the longest, Dirk Wells vs. Savannah Knight. Both were very fast runners
and finished in a third of my time. Dirk had his two aces, Red Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon and The Seal of Orichalcos, on
the field while Savannah had her Number 39: Utopia on the field.

I put on my visor, which I programed to show me the stats in a duel, and saw that even though both players still
had 4000 life points(we start with 4000lp at school for time reasons),Dirk had the upper hand. His REDMD had 3300
attack points from the Seal and could summon a dragon from Dirk's hand or graveyard. Dirk might have been a bully and a poor sport, but he had a good stragety.

"I draw," Dirk said, beginning his turn, "I summon Kaibaman in attack mode. Now I tribute him to summon a Blue Eyes White Dragon in attack mode. Now I use the effect of my Red-Eyes to bring out another Blue Eyes from my hand.
Finally, I use Different Dimension Reincarnation to summon my third Blue Eyes. I attack your Utopia with Red-Eyes."

"Go," Savannah called, "Light-wing shield!"

One of Utopia's overlay units flew into its chest and it used one of its wings as a shield to negate the attack.

"White lightning."

One of Dirk's Blue Eyes attack and Utopia negated the attack.

"Now destroy that monster," Dirk had a dark smirk on his face as Utopia was destroyed.

Savannah Lp: 2500

"End this Blue Eyes! White lightning attack!"

Savannah Lp: 0

The bolt of energy hit Savannah right in the chest and she stumbled back. Dirk caught his holoprojector as it fell and Savannah caught hers.

Then Dirk walked up to Savannah and said, "Now give me your Utopia."

"No way! I just got it yesterday," she put her hand on her graveyard as if to protect it.

"Too bad, you should have thought about that before dueling me.

"Stop it Dirk!" I called out, climing to my feet, "It's bad enough that she had to lose to the likes of you, but you
don't need to take her card."

"What are you going to do about it, you long haired weirdo?" He replied. It annoyed me when people insulted my
shoulder length hair.

"Duel me then," I slipped on my battle city styled duel disk, "I win, you stop stealing cards and return the ones you did steal."

"And what if I win?"

I pulled my favorite card, Ocean Dragon Lord - Neo-Daedalus, from my deck, "My favorite card."

"Fine."

I slipped my deck into my duel disk and walked about 20 yards from Dirk. We threw our holoprojectors into the air and yelled, "Holofield activate!" my duel disk unfolding and Dirk's duel pad constructing itself. Then I said, "Duel sync, activate."

Everything that was public knowledge about our duel appeared on my visor. I looked up at the holoprojectors and through the blue holographic aura I could see the sky beginning to darken.

"Hope it doesn't rain," I thought.

"You can go first," Dirk said.

I pulled my hand and drew a sixth card. My hand was pretty good for a starting defense.

"I put one monster in defense mode and one card face down to end my turn."

[bErik Lp: 4000. Hand: 4

"Pathetic," Dirk muttered, "I summon Red-Eyes Black Chick. Now I banish it to summon Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon and I activate its effect, summoning a normal Red-Eyes from my hand. Now Red-Eyes Black Dragon, attack his facedown."

I flipped my monster faceup and revealed it to be Snowman Eater.

"I target your Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon to be destroyed," I said, watching my monster latch onto his and pull them both into the path of attack. When the smoke cleared, only one monster was on the field.

"I end my turn," Dirk was obviously mad about his monster's destruction.

Dirk Lp: 4000. Hand: 3

"I draw. I activate Water Hazard from my hand and use its effect to summon Ocean's Keeper (ATK1500)."

"Why did you summon such a weak monster?" Dirk asked as a strange fish with a trident appeared on my field.

"I'm not done yet. I summon Abyss Warrior to the field and equip it with Aqua Jet," Its attack points went up to 2800, "Now I attack your dragon with my Warrior."

Dirk Lp: 3600

"Now my Ocean's Keeper, attack him directly."

Dirk was knocked on his butt.

Dirk Lp: 2100

I ended my turn and the attack of my Soldier went back to normal. When Dirk got up, his clothes were slightly tattered and he had a bruise on his arm.

Erik Lp: 4000. Hand: 1

"I draw," Dirk sounded tired, "I activate the Pot of Greed and draw two cards. Now I activate Polymerization to
fuse the three Blue Eyes White Dragons in my hand to summon Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon (ATK4500)."

Even though there was a very powerful monster on the field, I was happy that Dirk didn't use Infernities because he was out of cards in his hand.

"I use my Blue Eyes to attack your Ocean's keeper."

"Not so fast!" I said, revealing my trap, "I activate Posiden Wave, negating your attack and dealing you 1600 points of damage."

Dirk Lp: 600.

Dirk's ended his turn.

Dirk Lp: 600. Hand: 0

"I draw," the card I drew was the Moray of Greed now I just needed to draw another water monster, "I switch my monsters to defense mode and end my turn."

Erik Lp: 4000. Hand: 2

"I draw and attack your Ocean's Keeper. Now I end my turn."

Dirk Lp: 600. Hand: 1

The next card I drew was a trap, so I ended my turn.

Erik Lp: 4000. Hand: 3

"I draw and equip my dragon with Big Band Shot (ATK5300). Now I attack your Abyss Warrior."

I was knocked flat on my back as my life points dropped.

Erik Lp: 400

I felt something warm on my cheek and when I rubbed it off I saw that I was blood.

"Oh no," I thought, "our damage is real!"

"Dirk!" I called, "We have to stop this duel or one of us could get hurt!"

"I know," he said, "You will."

Underneath Dirk's voice I could hear a different voice. It sounded like the voice from my dream.

"Okay then," I drew a card, but before I could see what it was someone yelled, "What is that?"

I looked up and saw a large, black hole forming in the clouds. Out of the hole came seven lights; purple, white, green, pink, orange, yellow, and blue. The purple light landed behind me and the rest spread across town. I turned around and saw a purple unicorn. Its leg was bent into a clearly broken position.

"Help," it said in a female sounding voice.

I was about to go over to her when a black energy rope wrapped around my right arm. I looked and saw that the rope was coming from Dirk's hand.

"No leaving until the duel is over," he said darkly.

Dirk Lp: 600. Hand: 1

I looked at the card in my hand and saw that it was my Neo-Daedalus.

"I activate the Moray of Greed," I said, "Now I shuffle two water monsters back into my deck and draw three cards," I looked to see that I had drawn Deep Sweeper, Atlantean Heavy Infantry, and Harmonic Waves. I was about to give up when I saw a glow coming from my extra deck that gave me hope.

"I summon Atlantean Heavy Infantry in attack mode. Now I use its effect to summon Deep Sweeper from my hand. I activate Harmonic Waves to make my Heavy Infantry level four. Now I use my monsters to build the overlay network and xyz summon," I put the card on my duel disk, "Elemental Beast: Aqua Serpent (ATK2500)."

The summoning portal for my monster looked like a glowing whirlpool. The monster itself looked like a giant snake made entirely out of water.

When my monster was summoned, I heard the unicorn behind me say, "That creature controls an elemental."

I didn't know what that meant, but I hoped it was good. I looked at my new monster's attack and saw that it only had 2500 attack points. Then I looked at the effect.
"I activate the effect of my monster. I can remove one overlay unit to destroy one monster one the field. Go! Drowning bite!"
One of the blue lights around my monster flew into it and it bit Blue Eyes, destroying it.
"Unfortunately I can't attack the turn I use this effect so I set one card and end my turn." The card I set was my last resort in case Dirk summoned something.
A dark aura formed around Dirk's top card, "I draw. I activate The Seal of Orichalcos."

"How could he be so stupid?" I thought in horror as the unicursal hexagram formed around us, "Doesn't he realize that if attack damage is real, wouldn't the effects be too?"

"I now activate monster reborn to bring back my Ultimate Dragon. Now attack with neutron blast!"

"Oh no you don't," I said, " I activate last turn. Now I remove every card from the field except my Aqua Serpent, and since this is directly sending cards to the graveyard without destruction, that includes the Seal."

"No!" Dirk yelled in an inhuman voice, "I use the effect of your card to summon Dark Copy Dragon."

I never heard of such a card, but since an xyz appeared in my extra deck it wasn't that strange me."

"When Dark Copy Dragon is summoned, it copies the attack of your monster. Now I have a 2500 attack monster. Attack!"

Our monsters battled and they were both destroyed. The force of the blast sent both of us flying, our holoprojectors flying with us. I looked at Dirk and a dark shadow left his body before he passed out.

I got up and walked over to the unicorn. She had some sort of star tatoo on her flank.

"Who and what are you?" she asked.

"I'm Erik and I'm a human," I replied, "Who are you?"

"I'm Twilight Sparkle. Do you know where my friends are?"

Just then my friends; Evan, Brett and Tyler ran up. Evan said in excitement, "Dude, where did you get that awsome card?"

"It just appeared," I replied, "Look do any of you have an idea on how to help me find this unicorn's friends?"

"If you have a map I can use a locater spell to find them," Twilight said.

Tyler pulled out his duel pad's tablet and brought up a map of town. Twilight's horn glowed red and three red spots showed up on the map. Tyler tapped the spots and marked them.

"I'm sending you guys the coordinates," he said as he tapped a few more times.

A map appeared on the screen of my visor. The points were across town from eachother.

"It will be best if we split up," I said.

"I'll come too," Twilight said, trying to get up.

"No you're not. I'll make you a splint and take you back to my place."

"Are you sure that your mom will let you have a talking unicorn in your house?" Tyler asked.

"I would," Brett and Evan said at the same time.

I heard ambulance sirens coming. I quickly set the leg and tied a couple books to it with my jacket. I picked up the mare, who was the size of a large dog and moved as quick as I could to my duel runner and gently set Twilight on it.

"What is this?" she asked.

"Do you have bikes in wherever you come from?"

"Yes."

"It's one of those but powered by electricity."

Twilight looked very interested in the runner, but I didn't have time to answer questions. I put my helmet on and gave Twilight my spare. I took off down the road just as the ambulance showed up.

Author's Note

The deck that Eric uses is mine except for the Harmonic Waves. I hope that you like my crossover.

Chapter 2

When I got home, I parked my duel runner in the garage and gently picked Twilight up off it and carried her inside.

"Mom, I'm home!" I called.

"Hey, Eric," she replied, walking into the room, "I just got a call from the school saying that someone you were dueling got hurt and- why are you carrying a unicorn?"

"This is Twilight. Do you know anyone who can fix a broken leg?"

"I can put a cast on myself if you give me some gauze," Twilight said, causing my mom to to jump back.

"Before you say anything," I said in a soothing voice, "She crashed during my duel with Dirk. I brought her back here because I know what would happen if someone else took her."

My mom sighed, "Fine, but you are completely responsible for her."

I nodded and took Twilight to my room. Then I went over to my sister's room and grabbed some of the gauze she had in her first aid kit.

When I gave it to Twilight I said, "Here you go, though I don't know how you're going to make this into a cast."

"It's just a simple transfiguration spell, though you should leave the room so I can focus," I still wasn't really used to a talking unicorn but I was getting there.

"Sure thing."

I left my room and Mom stopped me and said, "I don't think you should duel anymore."

"What?" I said in confusion, "Why not?"

"The school told me what happened to Dirk. He has five cracked ribs and a mild concussion."

"But all I got was a cut."

"That's what worries me. I watched the episodes of Yugioh too. And anyone who has sense will see that something is going on. I just don't want my little baby to get hurt."

"I swear that I won't get hurt but I'm not going to stop dueling."

"Okay, I know that I can't stop you. Just be careful."

I walked into my room to find Twilight on my bed, reading my yugioh instruction booklet.

"Reading something interesting?" I said.

Twilight looked up and said, "Oh, I was just wondering about that game you were playing."

"Yeah pretty good game. I was wondering, where exactly do you come from."

"I come from a land called Equestria."

"And is everyone there a talking horse?"

"The term is pony. But yes, most of Equestria's inhabitants are ponies."

Twilight spent the next 10 minutes telling me all about Equestria, her friends, and her studies into the magic of friendship.

"How did you get here and what did you mean before when you said that I controlled one of the elementals?"

"It might be easier to show you."

Before I could say anything Twilight stuck the horn to my forehead and I fell into a dream-like state.

FLASHBACK

Twilight was sitting at Sweet Apple Acres with her friends, eating a picinic.

"These are some of the best cookies I've ever tasted Spike," Pinkie Pie said, "Can you give me the recipie?

"Thanks. I worked hard on them," Spike replied.

Before Twilight could congragulate Spike, there was a large flash of light. When the light cleared, Princess Celestia was standing before the seven friends.

"Princess," Twilight said in amazement, "What are you doing here?"

"Twilight have you heard of the elementals?" She asked.

"Just that they were four creatures that controlled the elements that assisted Discord during his reign. Why?"

"There is a fifth that controls darkness. Discord did not call upon his powers because even he knew that it would
mean disaster."

"Okay, what does that have to do with us?"

"This elemental wishes to free his brethen in order to remove his bonds. I want you to make sure he does not
break the seal on them, or if he does, get their hosts on our side."

"What do mean by hosts?"

"When the elementals are freed, they will look for a host while they grow back their power. The host will be given some of the abilities of the elemental in question."

"What if one of us are possessed?"

"You will remain in complete control of yourselves if you are wearing the Elements of Harmony and dragon scales will keep Spike from being possessed."

"Wait. I'm coming too?" Spike asked nervously.

"The elemental of fire prefers the form of a dragon. You might be able to convince it to join us," Celestia replied.

"Lets go get our elements girls," Twilight said.

"No need," the Elements of Harmony appeared on their respective owners, "I will send you to the location of the seal."

Everypony nodded and there was a blinding light. When they could see again, the girls and Spike were at the base of a volcano. Twilight could feel a large concentration of magic coming from the top.

"Lets get moving," she said as she began to walk.

It took hours to get to the top of the volcano and the walk was uneventful. When they got to the top they saw that it was not filled with lava, but boiling water.

Pinkie Pie jumped out over the water and Twilight yelled, "Pinkie stop! You'll be boiled alive!"

Pinkie sped back to the edge in a pink blur, "I was just going to meet the cloud."

"What cloud?"

Pinkie pointed to an island in the middle of the lake where a black cloud was shooting a stone slab with magic.

"Hello element bearers," the cloud said in a voice that sounded older than everything, "You are too late to stop
me."

The slab cracked and four energey orbs flew into the air before dissapearing.

"Hmn," the cloud said, "It appears as though my brothers have found hosts in a new world."

The water turned in to a swirling black vortex and the cloud flew into it.

"Come on," Rainbow Dash said," we're losing them."

Before Twilight could say anything, the ponies lept into the vortex, Pinkie pulling Twilight and Fluttershy with her.

END FLASHBACK

I awoke on my bed and found that almost no time had passed.

"What happened?" I asked groggily.

"I used a variation on a memory spell to share my memories with you," Twilight replied, "It seemed easier than explaining."

I came to my senses and said, "Celestia said that the elementals would possess their hosts, yet why am I in control?"

"Maybe it is too weak or just doesn't want to bother controlling you."

"Good theory. Wait, you said you were wearing your Element of Harmony or whatever when you came here so where is it?"

"I don't know."

Just then I noticed something in Twilight's mane. I pulled it out and found a Yugioh card with a picture of a crown with a star shaped, purrple jewel set into it.

Twilight levitated the card out of my hand and said, "My element has been turned into one of your cards. How?"

"Maybe it's because of the portal you went through like with the elementals."

"Perhaps. I wonder if I can access its powers."

An idea formed in my head, "Come with me if you can walk."

I walked out of my room with Twilight close behind, the magical cast on her foreleg not hindering her a bit. I led her downstairs and outside to my shed. I opened the door to reveal a a space filled with electronic parts.

"Wait right here," I said, going inside. I grabbed the smallest duel pad I had and brought it outside along with a holoprojector. I strapped the first device to Twilight's leg and threw the holoprojector into the air.

"Put the card in one of the lower slots," I said.

Twilight did as I asked and a crown like the one one the card appeared in the air. I tried to grab it but my hand
went through it.

"What are you trying to do?" Twilight asked.

I went back into the shed and put on a pair of wire covered gloves.

"What are those?"

"I call them full contact gloves," I replied, "They allow me to interact with the holograms."

I grabbed the crown and put it on Twilight's head. Then I said, "Anything?"

She shook her head, "The abilities of the Elements can only be used when all six are together."

"Well you still look cute in that crown."

Twilight started blushing and I realized what I said. I grabbed the holoprojector and deactivated it.

Twilight looked around and said, "When's your running of the leaves?"

"Running of the whatnow?"

"In Equestria we run a race to knock down the leaves from the trees."

"We don't do that here. The leaves fall on their own."

"Strange. If I can return to this world without both of ours being in danger, I really must study it. Uh, is your box supposed to be glowing?"

I looked down at my extra deck box and saw that Twilight was right. Then I heard the electric noise of multiple duel runners in front of my house.

"I guess that that's our friends," I said, "Lets meet them."

Twilight and I walked into my house and went to my front door. I opened the door and saw my friends, five technicolor ponies, and a three foot tall purple and green dragon. Brett pushed everyone aside and held a card to my face. The card said Elemental Beast: Hyperion Dragon.

"How did you get that?"

Chapter 3

Flashback

Brett was riding his duel runner down the road, listening to Hyperdrive on his helmet's built in mp3 player. When the other guys and him split up he was lucky that two of the visitors landed in the city's turbo duel stadium. When the stadium came into view, Brett sped up to make it there before anyone noticed two talking ponies.

When Brett got inside the stadium, he saw two multicolored pegasi with three humans he didn't want to meet. The went by the name Wolfpack, though everyone knew they based themselves on the Triad of Terror from Yugioh Zexal. Heck, they even used magnet cards.

"Come on," said the leader, Grey, "Just duel us."

"I don't know what you mean by duel," a blue pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail said, "So just leave us alone or I'll make you."

"I don't think you have a choice. Husk!"

A large man grabbed the yellow and pink pegasus behind the blue one. He held one of her wings away from her body. The yellow pegasus began to cry and said something Brett couldn't hear.

"Hey, they said they don't know how to duel," Brett yelled, "Leave them alone."

Grey turned towards Brett and said, "We were told to come here and pick up these two by our employer, but I suppose we can defeat you first."

Husk put the yellow pegasus down and Brett ran over to her.

"The name's Brett," he whispered, "Your buddy Twilight sent me. Now are you hurt?"

"No," the pegasus said in a quiet voice.

"How do you know Twilight?" the blue one asked.

"She crashed during my friend's duel," Brett replied, "He's taking her back to his place to fix her leg, which was
broken when she fell from the sky."

"Hey are you going to duel us or not?" Grey said annoyingly.

Brett got up and sat on his duel runner, saying, "So how are we going to do this?"

"All four of us duel at once. We all start with 8000 lifepoints and if you get one of us to zero, we lose. Any
questions?"

"I got it."

The four duelists activated their duel runners and road to the starting line. The stadium's holoprojectors activated
and the clock began to count down. 3...2...1. When the clock hit zero the duelists sped off. Brett rounded the corner first
so it was his move.

"My turn first," he said, "I draw. I summon Solar Flare Dragon (1500 ATK)."

"1500 attack," Grey said with a smile, "We will defeat you easily if you have more like that."

"Why do the bad guys always underestimate the good guys? I activate double summon, allowing me to bring out
another Solar Flare Dragon. Now I set one card and end my turn, which means you get hit with 500 points of damage for
both my dragons."

The two dragons shot fireballs from their mouths at the Wolf pack.

Grey Lp: 7000.

Timber Lp: 7000.

Husk Lp: 7000

Brett Lp: 8000. Hand: 3

"I draw," the smallest of the group,Timber, said, "I activate Dark Strength Drain. Now your monsters lose all their
attack points." (ATK 0) "Now I summon Magnet Ape Epsilon in attack mode." (ATK 1700) "I set a card and end my turn."

Timber Lp: 7000. Hand: 3

"I draw," Husk said, "I activate Dark Ability Drain, which negates all your monsters' effects."

"Where did you get those cards?" Brett asked.

"Our employer gave them to us to insure the capture of the pegasi," Grey replied, "Now let us continue."

"I summon Magnet Crocodile Zeta in attack mode," Husk continued, "Now I end my turn."

Husk Lp: 7000. Hand: 4

"I draw," Grey said, "I summon Magnet Eagle Delta. Now I activate Magnet Fusion and use our monsters to
summon Electromagnetic Magnedragon." (ATK 4500) "Since in a battle royal setting no one can attack on the first move I
end my turn."

Grey Lp: 7000. Hand: 4

"I draw," Brett said. The card was Giant Trunade. But Brett had a card that could stall the duel for a win, Zerozerock. "I activate Ze-"

"Summon me," a serpentine voice said.

Brett looked at his extra deck and saw a glow. He pulled out a new card and smiled.

"I summon Fire Kraken. Now I overlay my three level four monster to build the overlay network."

A flaming vortex appeared in the sky and Brett's monsters flew into it.

"I use my beasts of flame to summon the ancient diety of fire. Come forth, Elemental Beast: Hyperion Dragon!"

A large, humanoid dragon came out of the portal. Its body was cracked with flames coming out and its wings were composed of fire. But its attack.

"No attack points!" Grey laughed, "You use three monsters to summon a monster with naturally no attack points."

"Don't underestimate a monster's power just because its attack is low. I activate giant trunade, which takes down your spells."

"So?"

"Now I activate the effect of my dragon. I can remove one overlay unit to destroy your monster and gain its attack until the end phase. Go, flame absorbtion."

Grey looked strangely unconcerned as his monster burst into flame and was absorbed in to Hyperion Dragon.

"Attack Grey directly."

"I can use the effect of Magnetic Balance from my hand, discarding it to negating your attack."

"I activate Double or Nothing, doubling the attack of my monster and letting me attack again."

A large flame grew in Hyperion Dragon's mouth.

"Nova Burst!"

Grey Lp: 0

Grey was hit by the flame and his duel runner released steam as his lifepoints dropped to zero. Brett drove back over to the pegasi.

"That was awsome!" the rainbow maned one said, "You got to show me how to do that."

"Thanks. Can you both fly?"

"I'm Rainbow Dash, the greatest flyer in Equestria."

"Well you're on Earth and we haven't heard of Equestria. Can your friend fly?"

"N..not very well," the yellow pegasus said.

"Then hop on," Brett said, "What's your name?"

"Fluttershy," she said in a low whisper.

"You can trust me."

Fluttershy flapped and landed on the back of the duel runner, holding as tightly as she could to Brett.

"Lets ride."

End Flashback

"And that is how I got the card," Brett concluded.

"Strange that he was chosen to bear the elemental of fire," I thought. Then I said, "Congrats on the duel. I can't believe that you took out the Wolf pack with two turns."

"Me neither. Now who are our other visiters?"

"I am Rarity," the white unicorn said in a European accent.

"Mah name's Applejack," the orange pony with a stetson said. Then she shook my hand with so much force that my arm was nearly dislocated.

"I'm Pinkie Pie!" the pink pony yelled. Then she pulled a cannon out of nowhere and launched confetti."

"And I'm Spike," the dragon said, "Twilight's number one assistant."

"Can you show us that cool dragon Brett?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I have a better idea," I said, causing everyone in the room to look at me.

We went up to my room and I put my Yugioh disk in my DVD player (I never bothered to get Blu Ray) and set up
episode one.

"This is a fictional creation that is a series of moving pictures," I explained.

"We know what a movie is," Rainbow Dash said, "Now start it up."

"Wait," Twilight said, "Do you have some parchment and a quill?"

I pulled some paper and a pen from my desk and Spike took them.

"What do you want me to write?" he asked.

"Dear Princess Celestia. We are all fine and acounted for. We have landed on a planet called Earth and we have
found two of the hosts of the elementals. They appear to be on our side. The strange thing is that the creatures are not ponies and call themselves humans. Also the elementals and our Elements have taken the form of cards that they play with called Yugioh. I am unsure if we can access the powers of the Elements of Harmony though the elementals can be used during this game. Please write back if you have any information on Earth or a way to get back to Equestria. Your
faithful student, Twilight Sparkle."

When Twilight finished, Spike roled up the paper and blew fire onto it, causing it to turn into smoke.

"Why did he do that?" I asked.

"Spike can use his fire to send my letters to the princess," Twilight replied.

"Interesting."

I turned on the episode and left the room, motioning for my friends to follow.

"Did anyone else notice the tatoos on their sides," Evan asked before I said anything.

"Rarity told me they were called cutie marks and represented their special talents," Tyler replied.

"Uh, guys," I interrupted, "did the ponies have a strange card with them?"

My friends pulled cards from their pockets and I pulled out Twilight's card. Then I told them how the ponies and the dragon got here.

"Does anyone else think that we stepped into an episode of Yugioh?" Tyler asked. Everyone nodded. Then he said, "So who will be taking which pony?"

"I think that we should take the ponies we found, but Spike also stays with me," I replied. I heard my stomach growl, "I also think I'm going to ask Mom if she'll order pizza."

I went downstairs and heard the sound of a bus pull up in front of the house.

"Oh no," I thought, "Addy's home."

Addy was my younger sister. If she found a bunch of ponies in the house she would go all fan-girl on them (she really likes those sorts of mythological creatures).

When she walked inside she said, "Hey bro. Did you see that huge duel over at the high school? I heard that one of the participants got sent to the hospital."

"Yeah," I replied, rubbing my neck, "I was sort of the guy who beat Dirk in that duel and sent him to the hospital."

"Wow! You got to tell me about that!"

"Uh, give me five to talk to Mom."

I walked into the kitchen where Mom was on the phone.

"Yes. That would be three large cheese pizzas and two large meat lover's pizzas. Thank you," Mom hit the end call button, "I was just ordering dinner. Was that what you were going to talk to me about?"

"Yep," I replied. Then I heard a scream from upstairs.

"What was that?"

I ran upstairs and found Fluttershy on the floor with her hooves covering her eyes. I looked on the television screen and saw Blue Eyes White Dragon.

"Does she have a thing with large dragons?" I asked Twilight, who nodded.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize. But don't worry, everything will be alright."

We finished watching the episode and watched another episode and a half before my dad and the pizza guy pulled into the driveway. I waited until the pizza guy drove away before leading my guests downstairs.

When my dad saw the ponies he said, "So your mother wasn't pulling my leg."

Over dinner Twilight and I explained our predicament and the living arrangements we agreed on

Whan we were done Dad said, "Does anyone know why my son has been chosen by an extra-dimensional beast that is taking the form of a card?"

"I'm not sure," Twilight replied, "It might just be because Erik was the nearest one using a water deck."

"As long as you try not to get hurt," Dad said to me, "you can help these ponies and dragon."

When dinner was over it was 5:00. My friends left and took five of the ponies with them. I took Twilight to the shed and let her in.

"I'm going to resize some duel pads for your friends. Do you want to watch some more Yugioh?"

"Sure," Twilight replied, "Though could I see an episode with those xyz monsters, as long as it doesn't spoil the series."

"Ah, you want to see the Zexal series. Have you been thinking about the kind of deck you want?"

"Yeah. Are there a large number of magic users?"

"Uh huh. You like to do magic?"

"Yes. I am the personal student of Princess Celestia and my talent is magic."

"She's the student of her country's monarch," I thought, "She must be extremely powerful."

"I may have a deck for you," I said.

I pulled my spare deck out of a duel pad. It was my old Spellcaster deck I used to use. Twilight took the deck from me and began to look through it.

"What's this?" she said confused, "Is this Exodia?"

"I forgot I had those still. You can keep them, I'm not really interested in using it."

"Thanks."

I put on Zexal and got to work. After I resized the duel pads, I made some pony and dragon sized duel visors. I figured they'd come in handy for the new duelists. When I was done with everything I sat down and watched the show with Twilight.

After Kite's duel with Yuma I looked at the clock. It said 10:00.

"It's time to go to bed Twilight," I yawned.

Twilight and I went back inside and up to my bedroom. Spike was sleeping on the spair blankets in my closet.

"Where am I going to sleep?" Twilight asked.

"You can just sleep in my bed until we figure something out, just don't tell my parents."

"Thank you very much Erik!"

Twilight lied down in my bed and I beside her and I went to sleep.

Chapter 4

I was standing in an impossibly large field, unable to see anything but knee high grass.

"Crap," I thought, "Twilight ran me through with her horn and now I'm in the Underworld."

Then I spotted a sparkling blue lake.

"Okay. Not the Underworld, just a dream."

"Hello dream Erik," a voice behind me said.

I turned around and saw Brett in his dueling clothes.

"Why are you in my dream?" I asked.

"How do I know this isn't my dream?"

"You are in the same dream," a regal sounding voice said.

I looked up and saw two winged unicorns. I reconized one as Princess Celestia from Twilight's memory. The other was blue and I had no idea who she was.

"Hello young humans," Celestia said, "I am Princess Celestia and this is my sister, Luna. We are greatly pleased to meet you."

"Likewise," I replied, "But how and why are you in our dream?"

"I am the pincess of night and dreams," Luna said, "I am able to enter the dreams of whoever I chose, even from other universes."

"Like that's not creepy," I thought.

"That is so cool," Brett said with a smile.

"Thank you," Luna replied with a small blush.

"We are here," Celestia continued, "because I have a message for my student, Twilight Sparkle."

"Why didn't you send it through Spike or enter her dream?" I asked.

"For some reason we are unable to locate Twilight and her friends in your world, whether it be by magic or by
letters."

"Do you think the dark elemental has something to do with that?"

"I don't see how, unless... Luna, we must double our search efforts for finding Discord. If Darkness took even a
small amount of his power it could be disasterous."

"Wait!" I yelled as the two princesses floated towards the sky, "Who's Discord?"

"Ask Twilight!" Celestia yelled back just before she disappeared.

"So now what?" Brett asked.

Now, it is our turn to speak.

I heard a serpent-like voice in my head. Well, since it's a dream I guess that it was all in my head, but that
doesn't matter. I saw my Aqua Serpent rise out of the lake

"Dude," Brett said, "your card is talking to us."

He's not the only one.

A fireball fell from the sky and Brett's Hyperion Dragon stepped from the small crater it created.

"Why are our cards talking to us in or dream?" Brett asked.

We wish to give you use of our powers. Aqua Serpent said.

"How would you do that?" I asked with a raise eyebrow.

You must allow us enter your souls. Hyperion Dragon said.

From my knowledge of television I knew that letting a being from another world inhabit your soul is generally a bad thing. And I'm not just talking about Yugioh.

"What kind of powers are we talking about?" Brett asked.

The ability to control our element, the ability to communicate with your fellow hosts by thought, feeling their pain. AS replied.

"Would you have any control over us?" I asked. AS seemed to be the trustworthy one.

No. You would stay in total control.

"I say we do it," Brett told me, "This might help us find the other elementals and fight Darkness."

"If you say so. Fine, we accept.

My elemental stuck his head into my chest and I blacked out.

—————————————

I opened my eyes and saw my ceiling. I sat up and saw Twilight sitting at my desk, reading something.

"Morning Twilight, whatcha reading?" I asked.

"Good morning. I'm reading one of your comic books. It's called Green Lantern," she replied.

I took a look at my shelf where I kept my comics. I found the first in my collection at a yard sale a few years
ago and loved the Green Lantern series. The only one in my collection that wasn't on my shelf was the one Twilight was
reading and it was the sixth issue in the Emerald Dawn arc.

"How do you like it?"

"It's very interesting. But the Guardians seem like jerks."

"Quite. Hey, I had a dream last night and your princesses were in it."

I told Twilight about my encounter with the princesses and the elementals.

When I was done she said, "It is strange that their magic can't find us but can find you. And it is really bad that Discord is missing."

"By the way, who is Discord?"

Twilight told me how they defeated the lord of chaos. Then she told me how Fluttershy reformed him. From what she said, Discord would have the power to dimension jump at will.

Twilight seemed distracted so I asked what was wrong. She asked if I always had tatoos on my arms.

I looked and saw two blue fin-like tatoos, one on each arm. Berfore I could ask what they were I heard Brett's voice in my head.

What the heck is this thing?

"Hey Brett. Can you here me?" I said aloud with Twilight looking at me like I was crazy.

I rubbed my mark and thought, "How does this thing work?"

Get out of my head! Wait, is that you Erik?

"Yeah, I think I figured out the telepathy. We have to touch one of these marks on our arms."

Cool. I'll call the guys and tell them about this.

"Good idea, and tell them to meet us at Pete's. We need to get the ponies some decks."

On it. See you in what, an hour?

"Yeah, that's good."

I let go of my mark and said, "Okay Twilight, I'm going to take a quick shower and grab some breakfast. After that my friends and I are going to take you and your friends to a card shop to get decks."

"But you already gave me a deck," Twilight said.

"You might want some different cards to make your deck more you. That reminds me."

I took Twilight's Element and gave it to her.

"You might want this. It has an effect that works with Spellcasters."

I went into my room's bathroom amd got in the shower. As the water ran over me I remembered what my
Serpent told me.

The ability to control our element.

I held my hand out and focused as hard as I could. The water on the shower floor slowly rose untilit was level with my hand. I clenched my fist and the water froze into an ice ball.

"Whoa," I said, my eyes widening.

I grabbed the ball and got out of the shower. I slipped on towel around my waist and went to my room. Twilight
wasn't in there. I got dressed and went downstairs where my family was eating with Twilight and Spike.

"Hey Erik," Addy said, "Spike made these awsome pancakes that you have to try. Uh, why are you holding ice?"

"How did you get those tatoos?" Mom yelled.

"I think it might have something to do with Aqua Serpent giving me its power," as I spoke, absent mindedly
melting the ice and forming it into the shape of my monster.

"Cool, you're a water-bender," Addy really liked Avatar even though it hasn't been popular for a decade.

"I guess I am." I waved my hand and made the water go down the kitchen sink, "Now did I hear something about pancakes?"

After eating about eight pancakes I was full and ready to get moving.

"Those were some good pancakes Spike," I praised.

"I do have some talents," Spike replied.

"We should get going. I need to take you and Twilight to the card shop."

"I'm getting a deck of those cards?"

"Yep. I already made you and the others some duel pads, we just need the decks for you to use."

I ran upstairs to grab my own deck. I was about to put on my duel disk when I heard a voice.

You don't need that anymore.

I decided to listen to the voice and took Twilight and Spike to the shed to grab the stuff.

"So this lets me duel?" Spike said as he strapped his duel pad on.

As Twilight was putting hers on, I noticed that her cast was missing.

"Where's your cast?" I asked.

"Ponies can heal fast and unicorns even faster than that because of our magic," Twilight sounded confused, "Do you not heal as fast.

"Nope. For a human, a broken leg can take from a few weeks to a few months to heal."

"I wish I could write everything I was learning about humans down."

"Depending on how long you're here, you might need alot of paper."

Twilight's mood seemed to go down when I mentioned Equestria.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I just miss home, I guess," Twilight replied, "plus my family is probably worried about me in another universe."

"I wish I could help you get back."

You can.

"Who's there?" I asked, feeling a little crazy.

Look in your deck.

I looked in my extra deck and pulled out my Elemental Beast.

"Are you talking to me?"

Yes. Now tell your friends to put their appendages on your marks. That will allow me to communicate with them.

"Uh, okay," I had Spike and Twilight put their claw and hoof on my marks.

Good, now I have your attention. I can help you get back to where you belong.

"Wait," Twilight interrupted, "How are you talking to us and how can you get us home?"

Just because I have taken this form does not mean I am not powerful. As for your second question,each time my brothers and I are used in one of these duels, we become stronger. If we become strong enough, we can open a portal to Equestria.

"There's a tournament in couple days for fall break," I suggested, "We could enter and hopefully also find the other hosts for the Elemental Beasts."

Excellent idea. Now I do believe you have an appointment to keep.

I looked at the clock in the shed and saw that I had 10 minutes to get to the card shop. I put all the dueling gear in a bag and ran out to my duel runner. I gave Twilight on helmet and Spike claimed his scales would protect him during a crash so I took the other one.

Even though Riverside, Indiana was a small town, it had duel runner ramps for quick shortcuts. I mangaged to make it to Pete's Cards with 5 minutes to spair. Unfortunately, I was still the last on there. Considering I didn't get more than a second glace from passerbys, I guessed they thought the Equestrians were fancy holograms.

When we entered the store, I walked up to the front desk and said, "Hey Pete, can you hook our friends up with their first decks?"

A tall, muscular man came in from the back and said, "Ah, it's Erik Sulliven. Where are these friends of yours?"

I motioned to Twilight and her friends and Pete said, "Well, I thought you were doing hologram experiments again. It's good that there are some new folks that want some decks."

"Thanks, Pete. Now you six, go and find some cards you want in your deck and Pete will help you out," then I spoke to Twilight specificaly while grabbing three dollars from my wallet, "Take this and find nine cards you want."

"Thanks Erik," she replied before going to the back with her friends.
While they were gone, I explained Aqua Serpent talking to me and we agreed to enter the Fall Break Tournament After about half an hour they came back with their new decks. Fluttershy had a Naturia deck. Pinkie had a Worm deck, which I had no idea about and didn't want to know. Rainbow Dash had a Crystal Beast deck with Rainbow Dragon. Applejack's deck was plant based and had Black Rose Dragon. Rarity had Gem-Knights and Spike had dragons.

Twilight was holding two more decks with her magic and said, "Can we get these for my brother and sister-in-law?"

"Sure," I replied and thought, "Thank God this is buy one get one free week."

My friends and I pooled our cash and had the $80 for the decks.

When we walked outside, Twilight said, "Can I duel you to see if I know the game well enough?"

"Sure thing," I replied with a smile, And you might be able to enter the tournament too."

"Wait, you don't have a duel pad."

I looked at my bare arm and saw my mark begin to glow. The glow moved up my arm and when it disappeared, I had a duel disk shaped like the fin of an undersea creature on my arm.

"Ooh," Pinkie said.

I tossed a holoprojector to Twilight and we threw ours up in the air and said, "Holofield activate!"

Everyone, pony and dragon put on the visors I made and Twilight's duel pad assembled itself.

"I'll go first," Twilight said, drawing a card and levitating her hand in front of her, " I summon Skilled Dark Magician in attack mode(ATK1900). Now I activate Meteor of Destruction, dealing you 1000 points of damage and giving my Magician one Spell Counter. (Spc 1)

Erik Lp: 7000

I cringed a bit as my lifepoints dropped, but kept my smile.

"Now," Twilight continued, "I activate The Magical Citadel of Endymion, giving my Magician another Spell Counter(Spc 2). I activate Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy my Citadel, but I remove the Spell Counter it got from my card's activation to save it."

I was a bit surprised by Twilight. She had only known about the game for a day and was making moves like an experienced duelist.

"I destroy my Skilled Dark Magician with its three Spell Counters to summon Dark Magician(ATK2500). Now I end my turn."

Twilight Lp: 8000. Hand: 2

"Why didn't she attack?" Applejack asked.

"You can't attack until both players have had a chance to play," I explained, "Now, I draw."

The card I drew was perfect.

"I activate Water Hazard, allowing me to summon Abyss Soldier(ATK 1800). Now I summon Abyssal Kingshark(ATK1700). I activate the effect of Abyss Soldier, by discarding Friller Rabca I return your Dark Magician to your hand."

"Not good," Twilight muttered.

"Not good is right," I replied, "I overlay my monsters to xyz summon Elemental Beast: Aqua Serpent(ATK2500).

I am ready to fight, master.

"D, did that thing just talk?" Fluttershy asked.

"I think so," I replied, "I attack Twilight directly!"

Suddenly the Citadel around us faded and a voice said, "Duel override accepted."

I looked around and saw a teen with a black overcoat and a white shirt on.

"James," I muttered, "Why did you shut down our duel?"

"I wish to procede with vengence now," James said, a black energy rope coming from his hand and wrapping around Evan's wrist.

"Really," Evan said, "you want to duel me after what I did 2 years ago?"

"Yes, and my new employer has given me the power to do so."

A dark aura formed around James' arm and created a duel disk.

"Is that..?" Brett said.

"Yep," I replied. The duel disk was a chaos duel disk.

"I know," James continued, "not the best fashion choice, but a needed one. So what will it be, duel or not?"

Evan assembled his duel pad and threw his holoprojector into the air and said, "Lets duel!"

Chapter 5

I stepped back away from the duel field and my fin returned to being a mark, taking my deck with it.

"Who is that guy?" Twilight asked.

"James," I replied, "Evan beat him 2 years ago."

"I should have won!" James yelled.

"Are we going to talk or are we going to duel?" Evan said, his voice emotionless. Whenever he dueled, he acted like the machines he used.

The two activated their holoprojectorss and drew five cards.

"I'll go first," Evan said as he drew a card, "I set a monster and end my turn."

Evan Lp: 8000. Hand: 5

"I draw," James' voice was filled with rage and I had a vision of him as a red lantern, "I activate Pot of Greed. Now I banish two Photon Caesars from my hand to summon two Dark Photon Tsars."

"Dark Photons?" I thought, "So these are the power Darkness has given him."

"I overlay my monsters and xyz summon," he continued, "Number 107: Galaxy Eyes Tachyon Dragon(ATK3000)!"

As I saw his monster form, my body stiffened in fear.

"Are you okay?" Brett asked.

I nodded, remembering the time I faced the beast.

FLASHBACK

"Go Galaxy Eyes, tachyon stream of destruction!"

The blast hit my Dark Magician and my lifepoints dropped to 1500.

"Now, since I used my monster's effect, I can attack again!"

Before the light of the attack hit, I saw James' sadistic smile.

END FLASHBACK

James must have seen the scared look on my face because he said, "Ah, you still remember when I unleashed my beast upon you. Don't worry, Evan is getting something alot bigger. I activate Dark Xyz Evolution. This allows me to summon the creature Darkness gave to me so I can destroy you. I call forth Dark Tachyon Dragon(ATK4500)."

"Why do you want to destroy me?" Evan asked.

"Because when you beat me, you ruined my life!"

"How did losing one duel ruin your life?"

"It wasn't that you beat me, it's that you beat me in one move."

"How did he beat you?" Fluttershy asked, hiding behind Brett.

"Oh, I'll tell you how."

FLASHBACK

"Now my Photon Dragon, attack his facedown," James watched with a smirk as Evan's facedown monster was blown away. The crowd of students around the duel had grown tremendously. Most had never seen a duelist go more than a couple of turns and were interested.

"I draw," Evan said, "I activate Zenmailfunction to summon Wind- Up Warrior. Now I summon Wind-Up Knight. I overlay my monsters to summon Wind-Up Zenmaister(ATK2500). I activate Xyz crown, making my monster's rank its level. Now, I use Double Summon to bring out a Wind-Up Knight. I overlay my monsters and bring out another Wind-Up Zenmaister(ATK3900). I activate Fissure to destroy your monster."

"At least his monster can't wipe me out," James thought.

"I activate Limiter Removal to double my monster's attack(ATK7800). Attack!"

James Lp: 0

END FLASHBACK

"After that, all my friends left me. Now, Darkness has given me the power to take your friends in return for the Elementals. Now I activate Gift of the Dark One. This protects my monster from the effects of my next card, The Seal of Orichalcos."

Every human seemed scared by James' choice of card.

"Isn't that the card Dirk used on you?" Twilight whispered.

"Uh huh," I replied, "In the show it steals the loser's soul."

"It's good that this is real life then."

I just looked ahead.

"I remove one overlay unit," the dragon snapped at on of the dark orbs around it, "Now my monster deals piercing damage. Now attack with dark tachyon blast."

Evan Lp: 3300.

After the blast hit Evan's monster, it rammed into him and threw him against the energy barrier. My body was
racked with pain.

I touched my mark and thought, "Did you feel that?"

Yeah. Do you think-

"Maybe," then I yelled, "You okay man?"

Evan stood up and stuck his thumb in the air. His lifepoints were at 3300 and I was surprised that he could stand from the blast.

"You destroyed my Wind-Up Honeybee," he said, "That allows me to bring out Wind-Up Soldier(ATK1800)."

"I end my turn," James growled.

James Lp: 8000. Hand: 1

"I draw. I summon Wind-Up Warrior. Now I overlay my monsters to xyz summon Wind-Up Zenmaister."

"Maybe he doesn't have an Elemental," I thought to myself.

"Now," he continued, "I use Xyz Crown to make my monster level 4. I use my Double Summon to bring out my last Wind-Up Soldier. I overlay my monsters to summon Elemental Beast: Quake Lord(ATK3000)!"

A crack opened in the ground and the overlay units flew into it. From the hole rose a huminoid figure with sickle strapped to its back.

"I use my monster's effect. By removing one overlay unit from my monster, I destroy both our monsters and deal you damage equal to the number of overlays times 500."

I quickly counted up the overlays. Three for Dark Tachyon Dragon. Three for Quake Lord. That added up to
3000 points of damage. Six beams of light hit James square in the chest and he stumbled back. His shirt had a hole in the center, but he was uninjured.

James Lp: 5000

"So," James smirked, "You got my lifepoints down to 5000."

"I'm not done yet. When my monster is destroyed, he hits both of us with 3000 points of damage."

Two sickles came from the crack in the ground and swept the duelists off their feet. Despite only having 300 lifepoints, Evan seemed happy.

Evan Lp: 300

James Lp: 2000

"I set a card and end my turn," Evan concluded.

Evan Lp: 300. Hand: 0

"I draw," James said, "I activate monster reborn to bring back Dark Tachyon Dragon(ATK5000).

"I activate Xyz Reborn to bring back Quake Lord in defense mode."

"So, I can't attack without losing myself."

"Correct. I plan on ending this in a draw."

"Why would you do that?"

"Because I don't believe in dooming someone over the events of a duel. Even though you have sided with the wrong side, you deserve a second chance."

I didn't realize that Evan could be so deep and I respected him for trying to tie the duel. I would have justended the duel and felt guilty about it later.

"I end my turn."

James Lp: 2000. Hand: 1

"I draw," Evan inhaled sharply and I knew the duel was over, "I use Dark Hole to destroy our monsters. The duel is over."

A black hole formed above the duelists and the monsters were sucked into it. A shockwave was emmited and knocked them down.

James Lp: 0

Evan Lp: 0

Even though the duel was a tie, the Seal began to shrink around James.

"What is going on?" James cried. I could hear not anger, but fear.

The Seal moved to just around James and his eyes turned black.

"Hello brothers, long time no see," the voice I heard was the same that came from Dirk at the end of our duel.

Darkness, my marks glowed as Aqua Serpent spoke.

"Don't worry, I'm not taking this boy's soul. I'm just using him to talk. First of all, there is no longer a need to hunt for the last elemental. I already have it in my control," as he said this, I could see a dark shape leave from the corner of my eye.

"Not good," I thought.

"Also, I have to thank you," Darkness continued.

"Why?" I asked angrily. I had no idea why I felt so angry. Maybe it was his presense.

"Because, no matter how much dark energy this world posseses, I can't make a portal out. But, if you use the other elementals, I can slip through the portal you create. Although, if you don't return the ponies to Equestria, I have left enough of myself behind to wreak some serious havoc. That is all I have to say."

The Seal and the chaos disk disappeared and James dropped to the ground.

"What do we do now?" Twilight asked.

Author's Note

Wow, another duel ends in a tie. Now, where is the next elemental, who or what was that shape, and Pinkie break the fourth wall. All these questions and more might be answered in the next chapter of The Elements of Dueling!

Chapter 6

"What do we do now?" Twilight asked.

Evan walked over to James and his fallen cards. He reached into the pile and pulled out a single card.

"What are you doing?" I asked, "We should be getting the Equestrians back to my place before someone notices that they're not holograms and you're stealing the guy's cards?"

Evan tossed me the card, it was Number 107. Then he said, "Just in case he comes back after us. Now we should go."

As we hopped on our duel runners, I called out, "Don't head to my place in a group or else someone might notice."

Everyone nodded and we all sped off, the Rainbow flying into the clouds and the rest of the ponies and Spike holding on. When I got back to my house, I took Twilight up to my room and Spike began to explore daytime television.

"Where's the rest of your family?" Twilight asked when we got inside my room.

"Out shopping," I replied, rummaging around in my closet until I found a device that looked like two game mats stuck together, "Aha! There you are."

"What's that?"

I grabbed my duel disk and began to press some buttons on my device, "It syncs up with dueling devices and acts as a miniature holofield."

"Interseting. What do you plan to do with it?"

"This," I put Aqua Serpent on the duel disk. Then I summoned my fin-shaped disk and removed my deck, saying, "I'm going to remake my deck. So ask Aqua Serpent any questions you might have."

"Why would I want to ask it anything?"

Because you are an extremly curious mare and I've been alive longer than Equestrua has existed.

"Exactly," I said, pulling a large box of cards from my closet.

"Well, there are a few questions. Why did you work with Discord?"

He agreed to keep out of the deep seas and not to hurt my sea ponies.

"Sea ponies are real?"

"What are sea ponies?" I interrupted.

"Imagine a pony but with a fish tail instead of hind legs."

"Okay. What other questions do you have?" I decided not to get into a conversation about mermaids.

"Do you have an idea about who has the last elemental?"

When we were trapped, we agreed to choose hosts that were friends, so Tyler should have been the next bearer. If Darkness has forced Wind upon someone, it would have to be a pegasus, a griffon, or one of the seven and a half billion humans on this world.

"Why would just those three groups get it?"

Each sentient species is affiliated with an element. Pegasi and Griffons are with Wind. Sea ponies are with
Water. Earth ponies are with Earth and Unicorns and dragons are with Fire.

"So who are humans with?" I asked, my deck now complete.

Humans are, for lack of a better word, strange. They are unaffiliated with an element and therefore can control
them all.

I was about to ask something else when Spike called out, "Erik's friends are here!"

I put Aqua Serpent back in my deck box and got up. When I turned my legs collapsed and I fell on top of Twilight. When we landed, my lips came in contact with hers.

I got off of Twilight, my face feeling like it was on fire, and said, "Are you alright."

"Yeah, I'm fine," Twilight's tone told me that she was surprised but not angry.

"Maybe we should keep this to ourselves."

Twilight nodded, "I agree."

As we walked downstairs, I began to inwardly converse with Aqua Serpent, "Did you do that?"

Nooo. I could hear the sarcasm in his voice.

"Just tell me before you try to take control of my body so we don't do that again."

When we got outside, Brett stepped up to me and said, "I challenge you to a duel. I've been itching to have a crack at your new card."

"I was wanting to finish our duel," Twilight said.

I thought a moment before saying, "Spike, get over here. We're having a tag duel."

We all walked over to the soybean field near my house, Brett and I explaining how to play the game and the rules of a tag duel. Spike and I would be a team, as would Brett and Twilight. Each team would start with 16000 lifepoints. Teammates could use eachother's monsters for summoning but could not see hands or facedowns.

When we got to the dueling site, Brett asked me, "How do I make a duel disk appear out of thin air?"

"Just focus," I replied as I summoned my disk.

Brett closed his eyes and his arm burst into flames. When the fire disappeared, it left behind a duel disk shaped like a dragon's wing. I took no time to marvel as I threw my holoprojecor into the air, everyone else folowing suit. Brett
and I drew five cards and Twilight and Spike assembled there duel pads and drew.

"I draw," Brett said, taking the first move, "I summon Solar Flare Dragon(ATK1500) and I end my turn."

Brett and Twilight Lp: 16000. Brett hand: 5.

Erik and Spike Lp: 15000.

I shielded myself as the dragon fired at me and Spike.

"Why did we take a thousand points of damage?" Spike asked, "he only has one of those monsters."

"It takes 500 points away from each opponent," I replied, "So it took 1000 out of our combined lifepoints. But I'm not going to dwell on that so I draw. I activate Water Hazard which allows me to summon Oceans Keeper(ATK1500). Now
I summon Atlantean Heavy Infantry(ATK0). Because of his effect I can summon Abyss Soldier from my hand. Now I activate Star Changer to make Atlantean Heavy Infantry level three. I overlay my level three Oceans Keeper and Atlantean
Heavy Infantry to xyz summon Number 17: Leviathan Dragon (ATK2000)

"Why didn't he summon his Elemental?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Erik always has two plans," Brett replied, "Don't you?"

"I use the effect of Abyss Soldier," I continued with a sly smile, "I discard Friller Rabca to return Solar Flare Dragon to your hand. I end my turn."

Erik and Spike Lp: 15000. Erik hand: 0

"I draw," Twilight said, "I activate Ancient Rules to summon Dark Magician (ATK2500) I set a monster and two cards and end my turn.

Brett and Twilight Lp: 16000. Twilight hand: 1

"I guess I go now," Spike said, "Because Twilight has a monster and I don't, I can summon Hieratic Dragon of Tefnuit in attack mode(ATK2100). Now I tribute my monster to summon Hieratic Dragon of Eset(ATK1900) and because I tributed Tefnuit, I can summon Hieratic Seal of the Sun Dragon Overlord from my deck(ATK0). Now, I use the effect of Eset to
make it level eight. I overlay my monsters to xyz summon Hieratic Sun Dragon Overlord of Heliopolis(ATK3000). I use his effect to remove one overlay unit, discard a monster, and destroy Dark Magician. Now attack Twilight directly!"

"Spike, wait!" I called, but the dragon already fired his attack.

"I activate Negate Attack," Twilight said with a smile, "The battle phase is over."

"That was close," I said.

"Why?" Spike asked.

"Because, she has a Magic Cylinder and a Sakuretsu Armor in that deck. Just try to be careful."

Spike nodded, "I set two cards and end my turn."

Erik and Spike Lp: 15000. Spike hand: 2.

"Looks like I'm up again," Brett said, "I activate Card Destruction. Now we have to discard our hands and draw the
same amount," Everyone did this but me, "I activate Message in a Bottle to bring back Solar Flare Dragon, Flamevell
Archer, and Flamevell Dragonov in defense mode(DEF1000)(DEF200)(DEF200). Now I'll summon another Solar Flare Dragon(ATK1500) and activate Harmonic Waves to make Flamevell Archer level four."

"I activate Dust Tornado to destroy Harmonic Waves," Spike said.

"I activate Mystical Space Typhoon from my hand to destroy your tornado," Brett said, the two tornados cancelling eachother out, "Now I overlay my two Solar Flare Dragons and Flamevell Archer to xyz summon Elemental Beast:
Hyperion Dragon!"

When Hyperion Dragon was summoned, the mark on my left arm began to glow. I looked over to see that Evan had nit yet excepted Quake Lord and therefore had no marks.

"I activate Spellbinding Circle to keep your monster from attacking," Spike called.

"That still does not negate his effect. I detatch one overlay unit to destroy your Hieratic Dragon and gain his attack
until the end of my turn." Hyperion Dragon(ATK3000). "I activate Zerozerock and end my turn."

Brett and Twilight Lp: 16000. Brett hand: 3

"I draw," I said, hoping for a good draw, "I summon Codarus(ATK1400). I overlay Codarus and Abyss Soldier to xyz summon Elemental Beast: Aqua Serpent(ATK2500)."

When I summoned my monster, the hair on my arms began to stand on end. The air became humid from the fire and water clashing.

"I use the effect of Aqua Serpent to destroy your monster by removing one overlay unit."

The air around the battle got even more humid when my monster used his effect. So humid, in fact, that I had to remove my visor because it was fogging up.

"I end my turn."

Erik and Spike Lp: 15000. Erik hand: 0

Twilight drew a card, "I summon Spirit of the Pot. Now I use the Pot of Greed to draw three cards with the effect of my Spirit. I activate Temple of the Kings so I can activate traps the turn I set them. I set and activate Call of the Haunted to bring back Dark Magician(ATK2500). I attack Leviathan Dragon and end my turn."

Erik and Spike Lp: 14500

Brett and Twilight Lp: 16000. Twilight hand: 1

I wasn't afraid that the lifepoints of Spike and I was down to 14500. As long as I had Aqua Serpent Spike we were safe.
Spike drew, "I just set a card and end my turn."

Erik and Spike Lp: 14500. Spike hand: 2

"My turn. I just set a monster and one card.
Brett and Twilight Lp: 16000. Brett hand: 1

"They're probably setting up for something big," I thought, "Spike's card is most likely Xyz Reborn, Call of the Haunted, or Monster Reborn."

"I draw," my card was Posiden Wave, "I set a card and attack that facedown." It was Flamvell Poun so Brett added a monster to his hand. "I end my turn."

Erik and Spike Lp: 14500. Erik hand: 0

"I draw," Twilight took a deep breath, "I use Monster Reborn to bring back... Hyperion Dragon!"

Twilight, no!"

When the card was summoned to Twilight's side of the field, her coat began to catch fire. I took off the jacket I was wearing and began to smother the flames.

When I was done I looked up at Aqua Serpent and yelled, "You said unicorns could control Fire!"

I should amend my earlier statement. They can control it if they are chosen.

I just removed Aqua Serpent from my disk and began to take Twilight back to my house. Behind me Pinkie Pie yelled, "Seriously Quilltip. Why do you keep interrupting good duels?"

Chapter 7

As we walked back to my house, Brett looked guilty. It was as if he thought it was his fault Twilight got hurt.

I touched the mark on one arm and thought, "You do know it wasn't your fault. Right?"

I think it was. I could have told her not to bring back my card. I could have waited for you to duel her. His thoughts even sounded sad.

"It still wasn't your fault. She just couldn't control the power. Only you can."

"What if I don't want this power!" Brett was yelling now, "I don't want to posess a power that could hurt my friends if I can't control it!"

Brett moved with inhuman speed towards my house. I saw him leave on his duel runner.

I was about to use the telepathy thing when I heard Aqua Serpent The path of those who control fire is a hard one. But your friend is strong. He will succeed in controling it.

"Do you really think so?" I thought.

I know so.

My thought conversation was interrupted when Rainbow Dash yelled, "Where are you going Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy flew off in the direction of Brett. She didn't speak or look back but I knew she would try to comfort him.

"When you were yellin' at yer card you said something about it saying Twi could control fire," Applejack said, trying to change the subject, "What did you mean by that?"

The rest of the way home Twilight and I explained the conversation with Aqua Serpent. The only interruption is when Pinkie exclaimed something about seaponies being real. Whe we were done I said, "Is there anyone that is a pegasus or griffon that would want revenge against you?"

"Pick me! Pick me!" Pinkie said with a hoof held high. I nodded to her and she said, "There was that mean old griffon named Gilda. She made Flutttershy cry."

"And there's Lightning Dust," Rainbow Dash added, "I sorta got her kicked out of the Wonderbolt Academy after
her tornado idea nearly killed my friends."

"What 'bout Changelings?" Applejack asked, "They could turn into a pegasus."

"Changelings?" Evan asked.

"Shapeshifters who drain love from their victims," Twilight explained, "They led an attack on Canterlot a few
months ago."

"Could a Changeling have it?" I thought.

It is quite possible. And Darkness created the Changelings so they hold a certain level of loyalty.

I relayed this to the others.

"So we have Gilda, Lightning Dust, and the Changeling hive," Twilight listed, "What do we do now?"

"We wait until one or more of them come to us," I said, maybe a bit coldly, "Unless they show themselves to the
whole world, we aren't going to find them."

The others agreed and we entered my house. My parents were putting groceries up, but my usually hover around the kitchen until she can get food sister was nowhere to be found.

"Where's Addy?" I asked.

"She's at her friend's house because it's your turn to host movie night," Mom replied.

I totally forgot about movie night with everything happening today. Every Saturday we watch a movie trilogy.

"Thanks Mom," I said, "I forgot with how busy we've been."

"What all happened?"

I explained everything that happened today. When I mentioned Twilight getting burned, Mom's eyes widened, "Is she alright?"

"I'm fine," Twilight assured, "The burns healed with my magic."

"Where's Brett at?" Dad asked, "And the yellow pegasus too."

"Brett drove off and Fluttershy went to comfort him," I replied, "He felt guilty because his card hurt Twilight."

"He'll be okay as long as no one else tries to duel him. And I have a feeling that no one will try.

I shrugged, "For their sakes I hope they don't." I was starting to feel uncomfortable from the sweat from the duel. "I'm going to take a shower."

I went upstairs and started up the shower. Besides washing off the sweat, warm water helps me think.

You have a question burning in your mind. What is it?

"I was wondering, how did you get imprisoned?"

The marks on my arms began to glow brightly and I could hear thunder outside Let me show you.

I was floating above a forest under a red sky.

"Where am I?" I thought.

You are in my memory of that day. Just observe.

I stared on until I heard a great roar. I looked up and saw Hyperion Dragon come through the clouds.

"We will defeat you in the name of Discord," it roared.

I looked in the direction it was looking and saw Celestia and Luna. They had six orbs of light floating around them.

"No Fire," Celestia said, "We will defeat you."

Fire flew at the princesses and was blocked by an energy field. While they were distracted Aqua Serpent wrapped around Luna's wings and a griffon materialized out of thin air and latched onto Celestia's.

"Why do you fight for Discord?" Luna asked as she fell, "He is hurting innocent ponies."

"I wish to protect the ones under my care," Aqua Serpent replied.

"Then fight with us. We will protect the sea ponies."

"No."

Luna shot a bolt of energy at the water on her wings and she pulled up right before she hit the ground. Celestia wasn't as lucky.

"Are you okay sister?" Luna yelled.

Celestia's wing was bent in an awkward direction, "I'll be fine."

Luna landed and rock grew around her wings and legs. The same was happening to Celestia.

"Discord will reward us greatly for this," the ground rumbled as it took shape.

"At last," Fire said, flying down from the sky, "this war is over and our lands are safe."

As the stone reached Celestia's neck she called out, "We are not finished yet!"

The Elements of Harmony began to glow and created a perimeter around the elementals. The stone around the princesses broke and they were levitated out of the glowing ring. A mountain grew as the princesses said in unison, "We seal you where four become one. You will remain there until those able to control your strength exist."

When they were done the elementals were sucked into the same island that I saw in Twilight's memories. Then there was another bright glow.

I was back in the shower, my hands gripping the sides of the tub for support. My head felt like I got up from laying down to fast.

"Whoa," I muttered, "That explains why Darkness was able to free you."

Yes, now go downstairs. I sense something.

I dried off and got dressed before going downstairs. When I entered the living room, Fluttershy and Brett were down there.

"Brett!" I exclaimed, "You came back!"

"Yeah," Brett replied, petting Fluttershy's mane, "Fluttershy convinced me to come back."

"I'm glad she did," then I looked at the table in the room. Rarity and my dad were having an oldschool duel. Rarity was at 3400 lifepoints while my dad had all his, plus his Five Headed Dragon was on the field.

"It's my turn," Rarity said as she drew, "I summon Gem-Knight Tourmaline (ATK1600). I now activate Creature Swap to swap my Gem-Knight for your dragon. Now I equip Five-Headed Dragon with Element of Harmony-Generosity."

"Wait. Is that card even legal?" Dad asked.

"Just roll with it," I replied.

"I now give up 3000 lifepoints to increase my monster's attack by the same amount (ATK8000). I activate Fissure to destroy Tourmaline and I attack you directly."

Erik's dad Lp: 0

"Best two out of three?" Dad asked and I laughed.

Until about 7:00 we dueled and then my parents went upstairs so we could watch our movies.

"How about we watch the Star Trek trilogy?" Tyler asked and we all just stared, "Or not."

"What about Star Wars?" Brett asked.

"Original Trilogy, prequels, or New Trilogy?" Evan replied.

I thought for a moment. The ponies were most likely unacustomed to realistic looking violence so I had to think of a trilogy that I had that wasn't so violent.

"What about Toy Story?" I asked. When I was about three the third one came out and all three were favorites of mine.

"That sounds nice," Fluttershy replied. She was hiding behind the couch at the mention of war.

The others eventually agreed and I went to pop some popcorn and get sleeping bags while the others were unfolding the sofa bed. When all the refreshments were ready we popped in the first movie and relaxed.

Seven and a half hours, five bags of popcorn, and six liters of pop later Twilight and I were the last ones awake.

"Did you like the movies?" I whispered to the unicorn whose head was on my chest.

"Yeah," Twilight replied, "Could you do me a favor?"

"What kind of favor?"

"Could you rub my stomache? It helps when I can't sleep."

"Sure thing."

I rubbed Twilight's soft stomach until she fell asleep. I fell asleep to the sounds of television static and Rainbow Dash's snoring.

Chapter 8

I was standing in the same field as before, Brett and Evan standing a few yards away.

"Where are we?" Evan asked.

This is your mindscape. The voice sounded like all three elemetals were speaking at once. First, Evan must accept our power.

"Sure."

Quake Lord appeared and stuck his scythe into Evan's chest.

"What are you doing?" I yelled as the monster was absorbed into Evan's body and he fell to his knees.

It is just part of the proccess. The same thing happened to you two.

"I'm fine," Evan said as he stood up.

Now it's time to learn how to fully use your abilities.

"But this is a dream," Brett said, "We are just going to use our imaginations."

"What if our powers are connected to our imaginations?" I countered.

Exac-. My vision blurred and my hearing stopped working.

My eyes opened and I was back home. I looked around and didn't see Twilight. I went upstairs and found Twilight halfway through one of my books.

"Whatcha reading?" I asked, causing Twilight to jump.

"A book called Eragon," she replied, "It's interesting how magic is portrayed in the story."

"Uh huh. I was actually wanting to ask you a magic question."

Twilight closed the book, "What kind of question?"

"Is unicorn magic powered by imagination?"

"No. A unicorn is born with a certain level of potential. Most can just levitate things. Why do you ask?"

"The elementals told us our powers are connected to our imaginations somehow. What I understand is that I
can create anything from water."

I focused and condensed the water in the atmosphere into small drops. It wasn't much, but I could work with
it. I froze the water, melted it, and shaped it into a double helix, all with the flick of a few fingers. I let my mind wander a little and the water turned into a serpent, a card, and a pony. At the last transformation I evaporated the water.

"You seem to have that down," Twilight said.

"Thanks," I looked around and saw three decks on my desk, "Do you mind if I look at the decks you made for your family?"

Twilight shrugged, "I don't mind."

I flipped the top card of each deck up to find which one was Twilight's. I then looked at the other two. One was a Heroic deck and the other was a Crystal Beast deck. They were both extremely powerful and I could see many strageties from a glance.

"Why did you chose these decks?" I asked.

"The Heroic cards are for my brother, Shining Armor. He was captain of Canterlot's royal guard before going to the Crystal Empire. The deck felt right to give him," Twilight was obviously close to her brother.

"What about the Crystal Beasts?"

"Those are for my sister-in-law, Cadence. She is princess of the Crystal Empire so that deck seemed right, though I wish there were some love based cards."

The name Crystal Empire seemed familiar in some way. I thought for second before it hit me. The place I was in my dream a couple days ago was some sort of crystal. I went to the bathroom and got some water before coming back.

I formed the water into the room from my dream and asked if Twilight reconized it.

"That's the ballroom of the tower in the empire. How do you know what it looks like?"

"I saw it in a dream the day you came here," I explained, "I was dueling a suit of armor. I got attacked by a huge serpent when I woke up."

"Maybe-" before Twilight could finish her thought, we heard a crashing sound downstairs.

I ran down to find that everyone was missing and the window was smashed. I looked on the floor to find an old flyer for a race. My parents came running downstairs and Tyler came from the downstairs bathroom.

"What's going on?" Dad asked.

"They got kidnapped by someone," I replied. A large feather caught my eye, "Or something."

Twilight examined the feather and said, "It came from a griffon."

Tyler noticed the flyer in my hand and said, "What's that?"

"A flyer from that race track the next town over," I replied, "But it's been closed for years."

"Maybe that's where the others are?"

"Maybe. But how in the world did a griffon carry two humans, five ponies, and a dragon?"

I can sense elemental magic was used here. This griffon used Wind for its perposes.

I tried to contact Brett and Evan through my mark, but I didn't hear a reply. That either meant something was jamming the signal or they couldn't reach their own.

I began to walk upstairs and said, "After I get changed, I'm heading to that track."

"Maybe we should call the police," Mom suggested.

I shook my head, "They would never believe us. Plus, if this griffon can control air, what good would cops be?"

I went to my room and slipped on some jeans and a black tee. It was early in the morning and a little chilly, so I put on a blue jacket. I went to the garage to find Tyler and Twilight.

"I hope you weren't expecting us to stay," Tyler said.

I let loose a toothy grin, "Nope. Now let's ride."

We put on helmet and got on our duel runners. Before we left, I told my parents to look for us if we weren't back by noon. Then we sped our way out of town.

Once we got out of town and were heading south, I asked, "Twilight, what can you tell me about the griffon?"

"Well, her name's Gilda. She used to be Rainbow Dash's friend before she exploded in rage over a few party pranks Rainbow pulled."

"Sounds like she has anger issues."

"Not only that, but Pinkie says she stole, made Applejack's grandmother freak out because she thought her tail was a rattle snake, and yelled at Fluttershy when she accidentally bumped into Gilda while leading ducks to a new pond."

I thought about this. The others we fought had a personal vendetta against us, minus the Wolfpack, yet Gilda had no beef with humanity. Maybe Darkness promised a way to get even if she helped it.

"Hey," Tyler called through the radio on our helmets, "We're here."

We pulled into the parking lot and stopped. When I pulled off my helmet, I began to breath through my mouth so I wouldn't have to inhale the stench of oil and exhaust that permanately lingered here. When I was younger my grandpa brought me here for one of the last races. I hated it because of the cars were incredibly noisy, a trait shared by sisters and chihuahuas.

When Twilight pulled off her helmet, she looked like she was about to puke, "What is that stench?"

"That is the smell of pollution," I replied, "Try to breath through your mouth. It helps."

We made our way to the track where a certain griffon was.

"Where are our friends?" I asked, forming my disk.

"You mean the lame-o ponies and the other elementals?" Gilda replied in a voice that reminded me of a barbie movie Addy forced me to watch, "They're up there."

We looked up to find our friends floating in mid-air.

"Let them down," I growled, the dew around me floating.

"I'll let the humans go right now," Gilda snapped her talons and Brett and Evan floated down, unconcious, but fine, "But the ponies won't come down until I get beat in a duel."

"Fine. Let's duel."

"No, I want..." Gilda pointed at Tyler, "him."

"Fine with me," Tyler said, assembling his duel pad, "I'll take you down."

"Gilda began to chuckle, "Great, but we need some rules first. All the ponies and the dragon are suspended above the ground. If you loose, they go splat."

"Anythong else?"

"Yes," Gilda produced a card and threw it to Tyler, "You get to use the elemental. If you deal me any battle damage with it, you win. Deal?"

"Deal."

Gilda snapped her talons and Twilight floated up to her friends.

"Why did you do that?" I yelled.

"I said all the ponies," Gilda explained.

Tyler pulled out his holoprojector, but Gilda said, "You won't need that, this will do the work."

A duel disk appeared on Gilda's left arm. It looked like five metal feathers attached to a wrist dealer. She drew five cards and said, "Your move."

At this point Brett woke up and said, "What happened?"

"You got kidnapped by a griffon and Tyler's dueling to save the ponies."

Brett stared for a second, "What deck does he use?"

I had no idea. Tyler never dueled around us and never spoke about his deck.

Tyler drew six cards and said, "For my first move I activate the field spell Divine Wind of Mist Valley. Now I activate Hand Destruction, causing us to send two cards in our hand to the gaveyard and draw two cards." They both did this and Tyler continued, "When Mist Valley Baby Roc is sent to the graveyard from my hand, I can summon it to the field (ATK400). Now I use Monster Reborn to bring back Mist Valley Executor (ATK2100). I tune my level two Mist Valley Baby Roc and my level five Mist Valley Executor to synchro summon." A bright light appeared in the sky, awakening the
unconscious ponies and dragon. "Appear Mist Valley Thunderlord (ATK2600)! I set one card and end my turn."

Tyler Lp: 8000. Hand: 2

"Finally, your turn is over," Gilda said as she drew, "Now I can take down that lame monster. I activate Monster Reborn to bring a Harpy Lady (ATK 1300) from my graveyard. Now I summon another Harpy Lady. I activate Elegent Egotist to summon my third Harpy. I activate the spell Xyz Snatch."

"I've never heard of that card," I thought, "What does it do?"

"This puppy allows me to use my monsters to xyz summon an xyz monster you have. Now I overlay my Harpy Ladies and xyz summon." A light went from Tyler's deck box to Gilda's hand. "I summon Elemental Beast: Luft Griffon (ATK2600)." A green griffon appeared in front of Gilda. All my friends looked at me for a translation because I was the one taking German.

"It means something like air or wind," I explained.

"Now I use it's effect," Gilda continued, "By removing one overlay unit I can summon a Wind monster from my deck. I summon Harpies Pet Dragon (ATK 2000). I activate Blustering Winds to give my dragon some more attack strength (ATK3000). Harpies Pet Dragon, attack his Thunderlord!"

"Sorry," Tyler said, "I use his effect to return my facedown to the hand and give him 500 attack point (ATK3100)."

The fireball that the dragon shot was deflected and the dragon was destroyed.

Gilda Lp: 7900

"When I return a card to my hand, the Divine Wind lets me special summon Mist Valley Falcon (ATK200) from my deck."

"I set a card and end my turn (ATK2600)," Gilda grumbled.

Gilda Lp: 7900. Hand: 0

"I draw," I could here the happiness in Tyler's voice, "I set two cards. I return one to give my Thunderlord a boost (ATK3100) and summon a Mist Vally Shaman (ATK1200). I tune Mist Valley Shaman and Falcon to synchro summon another Mist Valley Thunderlord (ATK2600). I return my other card to increase my new monster's attack (ATK3100). I attack your Elemental Beast with my first Thunderlord."

"I activate my Mirror Force!" Gilda exclaimed, using the oldest trap in the book.

When his monsters were destroyed, Tyler looked at his empty field and said, "I end my turn."

Tyler Lp: 8000. Hand: 2.

"I draw. I use the effect of Luft Griffon to summon another Harpies Pet Dragon (ATK2000). Now I summon Harpie Queen (ATK1900). My queen increases the attack of my dragon (ATK2300). I attack with all three of my monsters."

I counted the damage in my head and it would add up to 6800. Tyler flew backwards and hit the ground.

Tyler Lp: 1200

"Get up Tyler!" I yelled as he slowly stood. His clothes were full of holes and he was covered in scratches.

He looked at the sky and yelled, "Rainbow Dash! Give me your power!"

Tyler's deck began to glow and Gilda's eyes widened in fear. Tyler drew and cried, "I use the spell Element of Harmony-Loyalty." A gold necklace with a ruby shaped like a lightning bolt appeared on Luft Griffon, "You gave me this monster and now I'm taking it back." The green griffon went to Tyler's side of the field, "When my monster is equipped with this card, it can attack directly. Attack with Aero Fury!"

Gilda Lp: 5300.

The griffon attacked and slashed Gilda down the chest. Because the rule that Gilda set, Tyler won with that single attack. All the ponies and Spike slowly drifted to the ground.

Rainbow saw Gilda lieing on the ground and ran over to her, saying, "Gilda! Are you alright?"

It was not blood that seeped ftom Gilda, but black energy. I could hear her weakly whisper, "I'm sorry."

"What's happening G?"

"When I left you, back in Ponyville, I felt terrible. Eventually I couldn't take it anymore and tried to end my life."

Everyone gasped and Fluttershy buried her head in Brett's leg.

"Darkness kept me from dying and said that I could have vengence. All he wanted in return was my soul. I gave it to him. Now that I'm defeated, his power is leaving me."

"Gilda," Rainbow said with tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry Dash. Please forgive me."

At the last word, Gilda faded away. We all stood there until we heard a new voice in our heads.
You can still save her.

We all turned and saw Luft Griffon, who was there despite the end of the duel.

Her soul is still with Darkness. If you defeat him, she will be saved.

The monster returned to Tyler's duel disk and we looked at eachother with hope. Because of this, I felt a rage in my heart that would not go away until Darkness' defeat.

"Come on," I said, "We need to duel at that tournament even harder so we can get to Equestria and beat this guy."

Author's Note

I will now be using different colors for the Elemental voices. Wind for green. Brown for Earth. Red for Fire. Blue for Water.

Chapter 9

After what happened with Gilda, we all went back to my place to train for the tournament. We dueled almost every moment and tried every strategy we could think of. When sundown came, the others left and I was finishing up my duel with Addy.

"I overlay Abyss Warrior and Abyss Soldier to xyz summon Elemental Beast: Aqua Serpent (ATK2500). Now I use the spell Xyz Energy to lose one overlay unit and destroy your Ancient Fairy Dragon. I attack you directly."

Addy Lp: 0

I caught my holoprojector and took a drink from my canteen. Then I thought, "How many more duels until we have enough power to go to Equestria?"

At least a total of eight if the duelists are strong enough.

"Enough for the tournament."

I walked over to Twilight, who was sitting on a plastic chair, and told her this.

"So you still have to do the tournament," Twilight observed.

I nodded, "Come inside and I'll explain the tournament more."

We went up to my room and sat on my bed. I materialized my disk and set my deck in front of me. Then I took more cards out of a box and arranged all of them.

"The tournament is made up of the top one hundred duelists in Indiana," I said, "The first round eliminates fifty, the second eliminates twenty five." I cut the amount of cards in half twice (I like visual aids). "The third round is a battle royal format where the final twenty five wander around a maze and battle whoever they find."

"It sounds chaotic," Twilight said.

"It is. This is also the first year me and the other guys are participating, though I wonder where Tyler has been dueling at."

"How are you chosen for this tournament?"

"All registered duel pads are connected to a central computer where all the dueling data goes. Somehow the
computer decides who will get into the tournament."

"What do you get as a prize?"

"A rare card and you move on to the nationals. If you win the nationals you get a thousand dollars and
move on to the world championships. The world champ was a guy from Indiana last year. He goes by the name Phobos."

"That sounds like an ancient fear diety."

"He uses a Fire King/Flamvell deck. It's hard to beat, but I have confidence that my deck is strong enough.

I put my cards away and lied down on my bed. Twilight said she was going to get a snack and left the room.

I pulled out Aqua Serpent and thought, "What are your thougnts on the tournament?"

I am not sure what to expect. We should just worry about one opponent at a time and as they come.

I continued laying back until Aqua Serpent started talking again, You're thinking about Twilight.

I sat up, "No I'm not."

I can see into every pore of your mind. I know that you've been thinking about the kiss that happened.

"A kiss that you caused," I was getting agitated at Aqua Serpent. He was right though, I had been thinking about it. Every time I was near Twilight, I got nervous. I thought that I was just worried that she would judge me, but maybe it was more.

Are you going to pursue this? I know you want to.

"No. She's nice, smart, and, I admit, beautiful, but I'm not going to ask her out. She's from a different universe and we'll have to part when this is all over. Plus, she probably has someone that she has her eye on."

"I don't," a voice from the doorway said.

I looked up and saw Twilight standing at the door. As she walked in and closed the door I felt my face burn in embarrassment.

"I, uh, um," I tried to say something to defend myself.

Twilight sat down beside me, "I don't have any feelings for stallions I know. Though that doesn't say much considering ninety percent of the population of Ponyville are mares. Did you mean it when you said I was beautiful?"

"Um...yes."

Twilight looked down at the floor and began to blush, "I was sort of hoping you'd say that."

"Does this mean..?" I thought. I then said, "Do you any feeling for a non-pony?"

"Maybe. I might be sitting next to him right now."

I saw black spots slipping into my vision. I shook my head and said, "I would ask you out but I don't have a holoprojector that can make you look like a human."

Twilight frowned a little, "There's also the fact that we would have to split up when this was over, you were right there."

If you would hove Twilight put a hoof on a mark, I have a suggestion that might help you.

I put Twilight's hoof on my arm.

If you were to find Discord, he might provide a way for you to see each other. Even if not in person, some sort of Skype-y thing.

"Do you really think he'll do that?" Twilight asked.

It is possible. Also, there is a portal that will lead from Earth to Equestria opening in five months. It will be open for three days and close for two and a half years.

I looked at Twilight, "I think he's telling the truth."

What reason would I have to lie to you? Seriously.

"Hazaa!" I thought.

"This means we can go out," Twilight said, "I'll have to figure out how to tell Shining Armor, whether we should tell the others..."

I pulled Twilight's face up to mine and kissed her. I pulled away and said, "We can figure out that later."

I pulled Twilight closer and we began to kiss again. I accidentally touched my mark and heard a voice in my head.

Score! You owe me twenty bucks guys.

I pulled away and thought , "You guys were betting on whether I would end up with Twilight?'

Brett's voice appeared in my head, Maybe. You are the biggest bookworm we know and Twilight is the biggest the ponies know. It was natural. I bet that would happen before we got to Equestria and Tyler bet you couldn't get a girl since the eighth grade.

I grumbled and ignored him. I lied back down and Twilight snuggled up to me.

"Good luck at the tournament tomorrow."

I thanked her and went to sleep.

Author's Note

Finally! Next chapter begins the tournament and the addition of new antagonists.