The Legend of Fauna

Two of us? Thought Twilight. How can he tell at all? Is this based on what he knows all his shades have? I always knew he was smart, but does he know all of these other decks well enough to tell he can get around everything? Good gods, am I one of the two?

“Tell me, my dear daughter, have you ever seen my deck?” The girl shook her head. “No sir. Out of the four of you, I've only seen Mother's deck. And that happened a few months ago. I do have an idea of what it is though. Apollo told me about it back in Asgard. He wouldn't say much other than your deck made him sad.” The man let out a thin sigh. “Right... he knows the stories behind the cards in here. All the same, I shouldn't let that cloud my thoughts here. If dueling Zephraim taught you anything based on his inheritance, then you should have a good idea of how I work.” He and his shades placed a hand on their top cards, and drew. “Ah... so they wish to be seen again. Very well. To start, I activate the effect of my field spell, Burial ground of the Fallen Kings.” Sombra placed a card in the field slot of his disk.

The world around the girls began to morph into something even more dreary than the endless desert. The skies darkened and storm clouds thundered above. Poor Twilight flinched at every sound. The ground turn gray and cracked, riddled with dead vines and trees with no leaves. Six Tombs of dark gray stone sat at the edge of the duel fields, a different weapon stuck in the ground in front of each. One, Twilight saw and recognized. An odd shaped curved blade with a strange hilt near a contorted stick that was folded at one point. The next tomb in line had another... sword in it? The thing looked like a hot piece of metal that was twisted all along what little of the 'blade' that could be seen. Then the tomb next to it had a large sword half buried in the ground. It was dark steel with a jagged edge and a sharp guard. The tomb next in line carried a sword that had faint embers floating around it. However, only the hilt was visible. Another tomb, another sword, this one thin and regal made of pure silver. The final tomb however, carried a familiar looking sword with a warped blade running down it. It looked as if it had been charred over long exposure to fire. The wind floating around the thunder ridden air almost carried a song with it... one two three... one two three, two three... a sad song, how barren and frail it sounded.

“To begin, I activate my first card, Soldier of the Fallen Kings. By discarding this card, I am allowed to add a Ritual spell with king in it's title, or a Fallen King Ritual monster. Return to me, Allant, First of the Fallen Kings.” Sombra stuck out his empty hand, as I waiting for something. Then, the second sword Twilight looked at started to move. It shook in the ground until it wretched itself from it's earthen prison, and then started to float above the spot it had been buried. It's edge was just as wicked as she had first thought, having a long curve up to a point before the tip of the sword. It turned edge first and started to fly toward Sombra. As if he'd known where it was coming from, he tilted his head to the side and grabbed the sword by the hilt as it passed. The sword morphed into a card, which he then added to his hand. “Just like Celestia...” The Mage said, in awe at the man's power.

“Next, I activate the effect of Maid of the Fallen Kings. Much like her fellow soldier, she can retrieve a ritual spell with King in it's name, or a Fallen Kings Ritual monster from my deck. To this end, I will have her bring me the ritual spell, The Rise of a Fallen King.” The man slid the card into his disk, and beside him appeared what could only be described as a ghostly vision. The woman looked frail and thin, but clean. Her body was translucent, and as her name suggested, she wore black attire with a dim white apron. She disappeared for a moment, then returned with a shining silver crown. It wasn't anything like what Rarity's king wore, no this looked like an ornament of war rather than a center piece. It was sharp and jagged at the top with a single violet gem in the center the man took the crown from the maid, and she bowed before disappearing again. The crown turned itself into a card, and once again, he added it to his hand.

“And now, to return a Fallen King to his throne. I activate The Rise of a Fallen King. By using the effect of Butler of the Fallen Kings, I may treat this card as the full tribute. From ashen kingdoms to desolate lands, a hero rises to fell the fallen ruler, only to be crushed by their might! The Crowned ruler stands atop mountains of corpses to show his dominance! Rise again, Allant, First of the Fallen Kings!” The crown reappeared on the ground in front of Sombra. The black Sword then shot through it and shattered the silver ornament into pieces. From beneath the sword came a man with stark white hair and sterling pristine white clothing. His skin was of a pale gray. He resembled a dead man, but only in that regard. His irises were bright red, but dim, as if all the light inside had faded long ago. His shoulders were adorned with golden tassels and his pale white clothes were all lined with gold. He reached to the ground and took the wicked black sword in hand. He then stared directly at the pale Angel and brought his sword in position to fight. Funny enough, Fluttershy immediately reached for her side to grab at air. The minute she closed her hand around nothing, she shook her head.

“I see your instincts are still sharp. However, even if you had one, It wouldn't help you here. When Allant is summoned, he returns one of my servants to me. Return to my hand, Soldier of the Fallen Kings.” With the tip of his sword, the white clad king carved a rune into the ground. It began to glow with that same dark violet aura Zephraim's eyes did a few days ago, and from it came another apparition. A translucent knight, covered in fluted silver armor. He carried an ornate gold great sword in one hand, and a small rounded gold shield in the other. If she had to guess, this 'soldier' wasn't just any old knight. He faded out of existence to be come a ball of that dark violet smoke and moved to Sombra's hand. It became a card and slid into place.

“You were right to think you'd need to defend yourself. I attack directly with Allant!” A pale white gale started to form around the empty hand of the white King. “You know that that's not going to work on me! I activate the effect of Backlash of the Round!” A trap card turned over on Fluttershy's side. From her hand, she summoned two monsters. In balls of mist, a pale blue wyvern in a white dress with silver white hair and bright red eyes showed up on the left, and a pale blue eagle wearing bronze wing armor and a helm of the same material. “Perceagle and Gwynerven are summoned, and when Gwynerven is summoned while I have another Round Spirit, then I can target one monster you control and return it to hand!” The man put a hand on his neck as he popped it.

“Now that would have worked on most others, but you know that it doesn't work on me. Allant is unaffected by your cards during the battle phase.” He said with his piercing green eyes to the girl. However, they started to look... sharper than before. “What!?” the pale Angel exclaimed. “Attack Perceagle.” The gale had finished gathering around the white king's hand and he rushed toward the eagle, seeming to move by floating across the ground. He grabbed the eagle with his glowing hand, and crushed it. Mist started to fly toward Sombra, and his life point counter raised by 600. “Why did that happen? You just gained life points!” The pale Angel said.

“Allow me to tell you the rest of his effect. Along side returning one of my servants to me and being unaffected by your cards during the battle phase, Allant can attack twice per turn and steal half the defense points of anything he destroys as life points. Your eagle just so happens to be the enabler for your deck, So I thought it best to be rid of it first. With that said, Allant attacks Gwynerven.” From the spot where Perceagle used to be, Allant raised his sword hand in preparation to cut down the slender drake. The creature seemed to cower before the dark sword came clean through it. The drake evaporated, and mist flew back toward Sombra again, leaving him with 5000 life points. The king then returned to his spot, sword lowered and looking down at the pale Angel.

“Fine, but this will be the last time that I let my monsters get destroyed. I activate the effect of Rescuing the Round. During a turn in which one or more of my monsters are destroyed, I get to search my deck for the same number of Round spirits destroyed this turn and add them to my hand. Pendragon and Merlowl, come to me!” Two cards slid out of her deck, and she quickly added them to her hand. “Then I activate my other trap, Return of the Round. I can banish one Round card in my graveyard to add one monster in my grave yard to my hand. I banish Rescuing the Round, and add Perceagle to my hand.” A single card slid out of her grave slot and now she had three cards in hand. The man smiled at the girl.

“And just like that, you've already recovered. Of course, you are one of mine, so I can only expect this kind of resourcefulness. I'll next activate the effect of Rise of the Fallen Kings in my graveyard. By returning it to the deck, I can target one level 1 Dark Zombie Type monster card in my grave and add it to my hand. As such, I'll be taking my Maid back.” In a ghostly wind, the translucent maid rose from the ground. She bowed to her king, then turned into a dark violet ball of smoke and returned to Sombra's hand. “With these two back in my hand, I'll activate their effects once more, bringing me the ritual spell, To Befall a King, and the ritual monster, Gwyn, Second of the Fallen Kings!” The ghosts both appeared next to Sombra. The first was the Knight, disappearing completely, and the sword in the tomb next to Allant's started to catch fire. It rose from it's spot, singeing the ground as it slid upward. The sword was nearly as tall as Sombra himself, going well beyond the size of a great sword. It flew rapidly at him, but with it's hilt first this time. Like the last one, he grabbed it as it came, then turned it toward the sky. Bright orange lightning struck the blade, and then turned it into a card. Toward the end of the field, Twilight was on the ground, covering her head. The maid returned to him with what looked like a broken sword on a pillow. He took the piece of blade in hand and it turned into a card.

“Once more, I will ritual summon. Servant of the Fallen Kings in my hand, like all the others, can be treated as the full tribute for the summon this card. Broken blades and countless trials bring the new king to his throne! Years, Decades, Centuries, and Eons pass, the King continues to crush his enemies with the spears of light from the sky! The Fallen King will Fall no longer! Gwyn, Second of the Fallen Kings!” A circle of swords the looked like new versions of the broken one piled up in a spot on the field. The burning sword then shot up from under them, breaking each and every one in half. A hand followed, and eventually did what remained of a man. His eyes were black circles surrounded by fire, and the rest of his body looked like his skin was barely still there. Like the other king, this one looked like a dead man, but much more of a corpse than the first. He wore a faded blue tunic that ran half across his still muscly torso and covered his legs to his bare feet. He had bracers on each limb made of gold with an ornate design on the edges and a crown that shot in spikes on his head. Unlike the more gentlemanly appearance of the First king, this man had wild long silver gray hair that spiraled out over his back. His shoulders bore heavy looking gold plates, and about three of them on each side that ran the length of what might have been the neck hidden under all that hair. Under neath that were feathers that were jet black and shined by the light of his burning sword. While the first resembled a man about to fall, this one was truly, a Fallen King.

“I sincerely hope you didn't believe you'd escape damage on my turn with that little stunt alone. The first effect of Gwyn activates upon his summon. I may target a spell card in my grave, shuffle it back in my deck, and then draw a card. As such, To befall a King returns to the deck.” The broken swords surrounding the blue king floated up into his hand. Then, he crushed them. They spread into a white mist that flew toward Sombra, much like Allant's effect, and then he drew a card. “Next, I'll activate his other effect. During a turn in which Gwyn didn't declare an attack during the battle phase, I can inflict his attack points to you directly! Go, rain down your spears of light, Fallen King!” The blue king raised his empty left hand toward the sky. A bolt of bright orange lightning struck him and gathered into the shape of a spear. He clutched the spear and reared back with such force that his foot started to dig into the ground. The sound of thunder followed as the light spear rocketed toward Fluttershy, who made a motion to jump out of the way. While she avoided the initial strike in the air, the blast that followed was much quicker than she anticipated. She crashed to the ground on her hands and knees, a little singing on her clothes every where. She quickly stood back up though, eyes still burning with her will to fight.

“Ah, the eyes that say 'I'll never give in'. If you are truly destined to surpass me, then you will do it of you own accord! As my final act, I will set one card and summon Corruptor of the Fallen Kings from my hand!” In a single motion, the man simultaneously slid a card into his duel disk and slapped a monster on his matter wave. A black liquid started to form in another spot on the field. From it came a man whose body was contorted and malformed, mixing with this dark black substance that took the shape of a dragon's head and manifested itself out of this man's remains. While only half of his face could be seen, he had sharp teeth and an evil smile. “While I control a Ritual monster, this card gains a level equal to that monster. But because I have two, I get to choose. Therefore, he will become level 6. With that, I will move to the next duel.” Real Sombra seemed fade out of existence leaving a shade behind in his current spot and reformed in the spot of the shade before rainbow. I guess this is what he meant, thought Twilight.

“I'm sorry to say that you, Rainbow, are one of the two. Unless you happen to have something in your hand that can end the battle phase.” The blue Angel stared at the card in her hand. “Uh... maybe? I mean... How would you get past my defense?” The man shook his head. “I draw.” The man tilted his head back and sucked in air through his teeth. “And if it weren't bad enough with the hand I had to start with, It's easier now. If you have anything to save yourself, then I suggest you use it.” The girl's wings started to twitch. If it weren't evident enough that she couldn't defend her self here based on the field, then it was even clearer because of that.

“I might as well get this over with so you can take a break. To begin, I activate Super Soldier Ritual.” He slid a card into his disk... or other disk? It didn't look the same as the one he had been using. In fact, this one was a different color. Rather than the black and dark red disk he'd been using, this one was blue. Two bowls filled with fire spawned at either side of Sombra. He discarded two cards, and then one bowl had the Light character in it, and the other had the Dark character. Recognizing the card, Twilight realized just how bad Rainbow actually had it now. “The armor of the darkest knight which shines in the brightest day rises above the rest. A solder who takes an army on his own destroying the enemy completely without remorse! Awaken now, Black Luster Soldier – Super Soldier!” The two flames burned even brighter than before, consuming the two characters completely. A black void opened up in the center of the two bowls of fire, and from it the sight of gold could be seen. As it walked closer, shining red gems appeared, and finally, the Super Soldier hat taken place on the field. He had comparatively blue skin that resembled ice and bright red hair. His armor was flashy and ornate, covered in gold adornments and red gems everywhere. He carried an impressive shield in one hand and a long spiky curved black sword in the other that was also covered in gold and red gems. He looked dangerous, if not completely terrifying. For whatever reason, Rainbow's wings flared out.

“Oh my gods, that's so cool! Where did you even get this! I've only ever seen pictures of this guy, but he's even cooler up close!” Awe struck. That's what that is. “Hmm... not exactly the reaction I was expecting, but I'll take it. These cards are recreated based on data used in old archives and current technology to 'make' soul cards. It's not exactly easy, and not everything one tries to make powerful even works, but if it still exists, A copy can be made. However, The man that originally had this card has long since been dead, and he took his soul with him.” The blue Angel tilted her head. “So wait. Does that mean that there's a way to preserve a soul?” The man shook his head.

“Not that we know of. The sheer fact that the Elements are still around is completely a mystery of magic beyond our knowledge. But, that's for another discussion. Because I used Twilight Evening Knight and Beginning Knight for the Ritual summon, Super Soldier gains the following effects: Twice per turn, I can target a card and banish it. Once per turn, I can target a card in your hand and banish it until the end of your next turn. And once per turn if I destroy a monster with him, He can attack again. His standard effect is as follows: If this card destroys an opponent's monster, Inflict damage to your opponent equal to that monster's attack. If this card is destroyed by your opponent's card or battle, special summon one Gaia the Fierce Knight from either your Hand Deck or Graveyard. With that said, this is over, isn't it?” The girl took in all the information she'd just been given. It was a moment before it all clicked.

“That's so powerful... how am I even supposed to fight something like that? All you have to do is banish Cannoneer and I'm done for...” The man nodded. “That's right. Now, Tell me, what do you have in your hand?” Rather than a condescending in his tone, the way he spoke reminded her of her father more than anything else. Especially when he was trying to help her out. “Just some normal monster. It doesn't do anything, and really it's not even that great. Level 1 with 600 attack and defense points...” The man shook his head again. “That's what I thought. Look, kid, If you'd just played that instead, you still coulda had an extra monster on the field. If you would have played your equips to it, then done your ritual, You would have had one more monster on the field. Then, with your bolt action, You'd still have two cards in hand, one monster with equips and another without. It wouldn't have done much, but it would have made me play around you more. I noticed that when you went in for your turn, you didn't really stop to think about what you were going to do next. You just kinda tried to get your strongest cards out. Which, isn't a bad plan, but it's also not always the best plan. You realize that you had a better set up before you summoned your second ritual right?” The girl nodded in disappointment.

“I... see that now. I guess I don't really think too hard about this. My cards were always just better than everybody else's back home, so I never had to really do anything but summon my best stuff. I'd never even lost until I came here.” The man scratched his head. “A rude awakening isn't it? I don't know where you went to school in Cloudsdale, but you must've had some pretty easy match ups then. I hate to be the one to tell you this, but you're not very good at this game.” The blue Angel almost looked like she deflated. She nearly toppled over as soon as he said his piece. “Hey now, don't get all depressed. This is why we train. To get better. I've made champions of worse than you, believe me. Now, I'm going to call it here and let you go back home to get some rest. Tomorrow, It'll just be you and me. We're going to work hard, and by the end of the day, you'll be in position to beat this deck.” The blue Angel started to rub at her eyes and simply nodded to the man, keeping her face down. The cards and the matter waves disappeared, and with a snap of his fingers, Rainbow was gone.

“That's uh... A little depressin' don't ya think?” The blonde said. “To be honest, not knowing what you're up against is hard to deal with, but even so, I really don't think she played that one out too well at all.” The tailor responded. “So, If rainbow is one, and she's getting special alone time with mister Black, what about the other?”The man started to walk toward Applejack's Sombra shade, and he assimilated it with him, now having the green disk on instead of the blue one. “Oh, yeah, the other one could not have possibly even prepared for what's going to happen. I honestly didn't even know what I'm going to do was possible with the deck until I saw what I drew. But, I guess that's what comes with the title of 'The cards of infinite possibility'. There is only one person in this world who I've ever seen perform a summon like the one I'm about to do, and she's only ever done it when extremely irritated, or is using her god like powers on purpose.” The words 'god like powers' tipped Twilight off to who it was.

“You don't mean that synchro summon upon synchro summon thing that Celestia does do you?” The man looked at her as if he didn't expect anyone to know what he was talking about. “Yeah, actually... Where did you hear about that? There aren't many people outside my kin that knows about it, and the others that do are part of hers.” The man said. “Oh, Zeus told me about it. I think he called it an Accel Synchro summon?” The girl said, as if she were questioning her own knowledge. “Ooh, I've heard about that. Only so many synchro players in the world are able to perform something like that, and even then there have only been about a handful who've done it. Even in recorded history, there's a grand total of two or so. Well, I suppose that Celestia would make three, provided anyone actually knew what her deck was.” The tailor said. The man scratched at his beard for a moment, as if deciding on something, then rolled his neck around.

“You're right on that. It has only happened with a select few duelists in history. However, your number isn't exactly right. Our first son can do it as well. How he happened upon it was sort of a miracle on it's own, but all the same, we decided to keep that one off the records. The reasons behind it aren't all that nice and other factors make it unsavory, so I don't think I'm going to give any more details either.” He was certainly skating around something he wanted to say, but felt the need not to talk about. “Uh-huh. So what you're really saying is that you don't want to talk about it because it would make him look bad right?” He gave the red clad Terran a thumbs up. “I know you guys are just teens and all, but he does own Kiebzen now, so I can't just say anything I want about him. Strictly speaking, I don't even exist anymore, and his mother is another person entirely. Of course, you all know the truth. Right?” The four nodded. Fluttershy was oddly quiet though. “It wasn't... the most glorious of circumstances, but I was actually there for that one...” The man contorted his face for a moment, then he frowned. “Oh, that's right... Oh, gods, you were so young. No wonder you were afraid of him for so long.” The girl shook her head. “It's fine now... We're fine now. He's a better person now than he was six years ago...” The two grew silent and stared off into different directions. “So uh... are y'all gonna play?” The man shook him self out of a memory.

“Oh, right, my apologies. Remembering how that actually happened was a bit worse that I originally thought. When you girls grow up and have kids of your own, keep this in mind; if he has violent tendencies, do not disregard his feeling when he tries to talk to you. Anyways, I'm playing Pendulum Magicians with you Apple. I draw!” For whatever reason, the simple act of drawing a card felt like a completely different person was playing this deck than the last. “Ha ha! It's been a long time since I broke this one out. Unlike my own deck which has tons of rather depressing memories attached to it, this one was from a man famous for his desire to entertain with his dueling. I actually saw him perform when I was a child, if that gives you any idea of how old the deck really is. It's sad that I can't remember his name because he was such a fantastic performer. I'm literally the only living person who ever saw him...” The man looked away again, drifting on into memories of a much happier time than the last. He started to get a big grin on his face before he started.

“My dear ladies, I will try my best to give you what this man used to give the Crystal Empire. To begin setting the stage, I'll set my pendulum scales with the scale 3 Xaingke Magician and the scale 8 Xaingsheng Magician!” On either side of the field, two 'magicians' dressed in colorful robes appeared. One carried a giant shield, or two sided sword of some kind, and the other a bow. “Next up is our star performers! With my pendulum scales, I can summon monsters with levels from 4 to 7! Center stage, Performpal Whip Snake, Performpal Silver claw, and the star of this performance, Odd-eyes Pendulum Dragon!” Similar to Applejack's turn, A large crystal in the sky began to oscillate faster and faster until a blue ring formed and shot out several different colored lights. On the field were some more... colorful creatures. A purple snake wearing a top hat and a spotted bow tie. A pale blueish gray wolf wearing the same bow tie, with a collar and a chain lead. And finally, a dragon that was very much what it's name implied. One red eye, one green eye with colored gems all around it's body.

“As you might have noticed, I now control two level four monsters! As such, there's only one place to go with that! I construct the overlay network to perform an Xyz summon!” The bright sky darkened and a vortex of violet white and gold appeared. Something in Sombra's tone seemed to change though... “Fangs of pitch black darkness, rise up against foolish oppression! Descend now, rank 4, Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon!” The vortex turned into dark thunderheads, much like the sky above, and lightning began circulating in them. A black dragon hovered down to the ground from it with glowing yellow eyes. Blacks, violets, and silver, the dragon was a completely different tone from everything else. And for that matter, so was Sombra. The fun air felt like it was becoming more malicious.

“Now then, our dragon might look scary now, but just wait! The real thriller is yet to come! I activate the effect of Xaingsheng Magician! By targeting both of my monsters, I can change the rank of Xyz dragon to match Pendulum dragon's level. And then, I will use the effect of Xaingke Magician! I can target one Xyz monster and turn it's rank into a level!” Is he about to...? oh sweet divinity, that's exactly what he's doing! I've never even heard of an Xyz summon on top of another! Are there other ways to do this? The Mage girl thought as she watched the spectacular summon. “Now we have two level 7 monsters! Once more, I construct the overlay network!” Another vortex, but this one made of purely black white and violet lights. “Dragon of dual colored eyes, eradicate all enemies who oppose you with your scales of wrath! Rise up, rank 7, Odd-eyes Rebellion Dragon!” A violent bolt of lightning struck into the center of the vortex, causing the ground to shake. From inside, a larger dragon that looked like it was half machine arose. It's body was pitch black with glowing lines coming off it's more mechanical parts. It had orbs of violet light coming from each of it's tuning fork like wing pieces, and eyes of red and green. At the moment, Sombra had an unusual smile. Rather than the happier, entertainer look he had going earlier, now he looked much, much, more like he was about to take joy in killing something.

“When Rebellion is summoned by using an Xyz monster as his material, he gains these effects; I get to destroy all level seven or lower monsters you control and then inflict 1000 damage to you for each one. On top of that, I can also attack up to three times with this monster this turn!” Applejack blinked once and then grabbed her hat. “Whoa, nelly! Ah cain't just have that happen! Geez, at least it's only got three thousand. A little more and this woulda been over fer me. Ah activate my trap card, Army Crest of Promotion! When a monster I control would be destroyed, Ah can send one level 5 or lower monster to the extra deck face up, and special summon a monster that's 1 ta 4 levels higher from my deck. With that said, Defender's gonna book it, and Paladin's gonna take his place!” A bright red shield appeared in front of the armored knight, and the shield began to orbit him. A sound started playing that sounded like something was rising, and then a bright gold light shot from inside the shield. In place of the armor knight was now a red headed paladin atop his brown horse. “Quick witted, I like it. However, you still have a level 4 and 7 out that rebellion can destroy!” The black dragon began to charge it's orbs of energy. They began to connect to one another with more lightning, then, each one fired a beam at her two lower level monsters. Both were obliterated easily, and the Blonde made a jump for her knight's horse. The shock waves passed, and the girl was protected by her paladin's shield.

“Whew. That was a close one.” The man on the other side nodded. “You did well. There wasn't a single opponent that survived that when the old performer dueled back in the day. Since your paladin just so happens to be out of reach for me, I'll set one and pass the turn.” The girl used her paladin to help her off the horse and stood back where she started. The tailor just looked at her shocked. “Since when have you been able to do that? I don't remember you having that card when we were younger.” The blonde shrugged. “Ah don't know. A while? Ah got that card not too long ago actually. Just up an out of the blue, one of the normal monsters just kinda, turned into it.” She pressed a button and the trap popped out of her disk. She held it up for Rarity to see. “Ah actually used ta use her. She's still in the picture, but now she's a trap. Do ya remember?” The tailor inspected the card. Inside it's image was a woman, or really, a young blonde girl in bright orange armor holding up the red shield.

“Oh, that's right! What was her name... Scout wasn't it?” The Terran nodded. “Yeah, that's the one. Ah always thought it was weird that she was level 1. Ah couldn't pendulum summon her, and she didn't have a pendulum effect or a high or low enough scale ta do anything, So Ah didn't quite get her purpose. As it turns out, Ah guess Ah just hadn't grown up enough yet.” She said smiling while looking at the card. She put it back where it belonged. “Ah well. I suppose that's true. You still haven't changed much in my opinion, but I'll leave it at that for now. I'm under siege now correct?” The man nodded, and phased in and out of a shade. Now standing in front of rarity, he drew a card.

“So uh... I apologize in advance for this, because there is literally nothing you can do to stop me here. You're number two marshmallow.” Twilight let out a sigh of relief and Rarity gasped. “Moi? What are you about to do?” The man popped his fingers. “Allow me to show you. Before I begin though, a little history about the original owner of this deck. He lived in a land that was highly oppressed by it's rulers and sought out freedom for the people of the slums of that segregated city. At first glance, those that saw his deck simply shook their heads and said 'what a mess'. But after time went by and the child grew, he became a force to be reckoned with. His cards would always be there when he needed them, and he was truly 'in tune' with his soul. It's said that he never lost a single game in his entire life, and through the ages, there still isn't anything to disprove it either. However, on the fated day of bringing equality to his home, he was murdered by a rival. The city was redominated by the ruling family, and in it's place, the Empire now stands.” The girls looked to one another, all with confusion on their faces.

“So wait, why don't I know about this? This is Tenshen you're talking about right?” The pale Angel said to her father. “It never came up. By obligation, we're not legally allowed to say anything about the Empire other than it's a place that exists due to our trading laws with them. As long as we keep our heads down, we can still receive and send goods over there without getting into a fight. It's not the greatest situation in the world, but it means that we can still help the innocents in the land that that filthy oligarchy runs. Believe you me, Celly and I have argued about our stance on Tenshen more than once, but she's not willing to sacrifice the safety of our people over those of another land. Of course, that isn't to say she doesn't let me go off and help where we can under a different name, but we can't do anything against them officially. Because in the event that we do, we could risk an attack on our shores and neither of the Queens are willing to do that.” The group was silent.

“That's terrible! So like, even the most powerful people in the world are stopped by hostages?” Said the pink headed Terran after the silence had passed. The man nodded. “Having a conscience is difficult. At one point in my life, I didn't, so I know how they operate. But now that I'm the one with people to protect, maneuvering becomes more difficult. The word quagmire doesn't exist for no reason. But enough of this. To begin, I activate the effect of Unknown Synchron! As long as I control no monsters, I can special summon it from my hand, but only once per duel.” On his field spawned a little one eyed mechanical ball with two little antennae coming out of it just above it's eye. It looked like it was made of spare parts. Not yet... wait for something bigger... I don't know what he's got coming, but whatever it is, I can stop it once it gets here... The tailor thought to herself. “Next, I activate the effect of Quickdraw synchron! By discarding one monster from my hand, I can special summon him. I'll discard level eater.” He slid a card into his grave slot, and then on his field spawned another little machine. This one was in the shape of a cowboy holding a revolver pistol with metal parts that made it look like he was wearing boots. Together, they didn't look like they amounted to much.

“Now I activate the effect of level eater in my grave! By lowering the level of my level 5 Quickdraw to 4, I can special summon it.” Another monster on the field now, this one was just a ladybug with an orange shell and a yellow star on it's center. “Next, I tune my level 1 Unknown Synchron and my level 1 level eater! Clustering wishes open the new speed's horizon! Become the path it's light shines upon! The power of hope, Formula Synchron!” A green ring and a single star were shot with light, and in it cam another robot. This one looked like a race car mixed with a child sized robot, much like the cowboy next to it. The power of hope? Maybe I should have stopped it right at the beginning... I can't use this card to stop a synchro summon... The tailor thought.

“Next, I'll normal summon Junk Synchron from my hand!” He placed a card on the now white lined duel disk, and on his field appeared yet another robot. He was bright orange and covered in dents. It looked like he had a beat up old motorcycle motor on his back. “When Junk is summoned this way, I can target a level 2 or lower monster in my graveyard and special summon it! Come back, level eater!” The bug returned, and just like that, Sombra had summoned four monsters. “Then, the effect of Dopple warrior happens! When a monster is special summoned from my graveyard, I can special summon it from my hand!”

Now! This is your last chance! If he gets this out, It's likely the last two levels he needs to make twelve! If you can't stop him here, he's going to summon something way beyond your league! “Not so fast! I activate the effect of Prix de la Guerre! By tributing my Bishop, I can negate the effect of a card that would summon a monster and destroy it!” The bishop tapped her book, and the pages began to fly everywhere. She disappeared, and a futuristic mounted cannon began to charge behind where she stood. “I thought you had something like that, but this is exactly why I said you couldn't have prepared for this. I activate the effect of my last card in hand, Yuki Usagi. By discarding this card, I can negate the activation and effects of a spell or trap card, then destroy it.” He sent a card away, and a girl with white hair, red eyes and little red horns poking out of her head appeared. She threw a piece of paper at the cannon that then lit with a blue flame. A rabbit like creature that was some kind of ghost went from the paper, then into the cannon. The cannon exploded, in bright little sparkles that rained down like snow.

“Oh no. Oh dear, I have no idea what you're about to do, but now I don't have anything to stop you from doing it...” The man nodded. “That's correct. Now then, I summon Dopple Warrior!” A man showed up on the field next. He wore a black overcoat, boots, and a hat that his his face. He carried a gun that looked to be an automatic rifle, and had a shadow that looked eerily alive. Now, he had five monsters on the field. “First, I tune my level 3 Junk Synchron and my level 1 Level Eater! Come forth, Armory Arm!” Three rings and one star, another light and then... a giant... arm. Literally, a large mechanical hand. He summoned a hand.

“A... hand? What in the world?” The man smiled. “Don't you worry, we've still got two more summons to perform. Next, I tune the level 4 Quickdraw and the level 2 Dopple Warrior! Clustering forces become the lance that pierces the heavens! Become the hope that believes in hope, Drill Warrior, pierce through the heavens!” Four rings, two stars, one light, one Warrior. It was a dark orange, and looked like a mech with two drills coming out of it's shoulders, and one Giant drill on it's right hand. “Now pay close attention as this part is important. When Dopple is used as a synchro material, I get to special summon two dopple tokens at level 1 with 400 attack each.” The shadow of the Dopple warrior rose in two different spots on the field, resembling the shades all around holding Sombra's duel disks. “The time has come. The very last duel that this man saw, the one in which one of the most powerful cards in history ever came out of a soul arrived on this earth! I tune, The level 2 Formula Synchron, the level 4 Armory Arm, and the level 6 Drill warrior! When stars come together to become one, new bonds shine upon the future! Become the path that lights the way! Over Limit Accel Synchro, Shooting Quasar Dragon!”mete

Up until now, the cards Sombra had been using felt... empty. It's not unusual for someone using machine created cards to have soulless monsters. But this one was starting to exude pressure. When the tuner shattered into rings, rather than green they were gold. The stars were brighter, and the lights illuminating from them dispelled the darkness in the sky. The air felt electrified, and the whole area was covered in golden light. A blinding light shot through the sky, and the sound of a dragon's cry could be heard from miles away. When sight returned, a glittering white dragon was floating above Sombra's field. And it was huge. The cloudy sky created by the field spell from Sombra's duel with Fluttershy was broken by the dragon. The entire sky flowed around it, as if it broke the very atmosphere. “By the Gods... What in the world...?” The man was breathing heavily and clutching his chest. A small stream of blood was running down his nose. “Father!” Said the pale Angel, noticing the blood.

“Calm down, I'm fine. What you're seeing is the real deal. When the Tenshenese hero died, this card was all that remained of him. Even though he was killed, his soul could not be broken. Immortalized in this card is that man's desire to bring freedom and justice to his people. However, wielding this thing is damn near impossible. That man had an uncontrollable spirit, and even now, It basically breaks down my body for every second I use the card. This, like your elements, is one of those anomalies, but far more powerful on it's own. He's also more stringent to summon. At minimum, it requires 3 synchro monsters, and one of those must also be a tuner.” A loud cracking sound came from Sombra's body, and then the man grabbed at his wrist.

“Shit! Okay, enough of that, I need to end this. I activate the effect of level eater one more time, summoning it from the grave.” The lady bug returned and took a place next to the tokens. “Very well, I see that there is no point to continuing this. I surrender.” The girl removed her deck from her disk, and her field disappeared. The man followed suit with his good arm, and the dragon let out one last cry.  It shot through the sky until it disappeared. “Oh thank gods.” The man said as his magic started to work on his now bleeding coat sleeve. “Gods damn it. She is going to yell at me when I get home... You did fine Marshmallow. I doubt you'll ever run into anything that strong again in your life, provided you don't challenge an angry wife of mine. Had you your Harmonian, I doubt you'd have even let me summon it, even with Yuki Usagi. I have high expectations for you. You show promise.” He had finished repairing his arm and then moved to shake the girl's hand.

“If you say so... That dragon was... more than I could have ever imagined possible. I wouldn't even know how to begin to reach a power like that.” The girl instinctively reached for the right hand of the black clad Mage, but found another left waiting for her instead. “I'm sure you don't get to shake with your dominant hand very often, but as I said, I see promise in you, and I respect that.” She looked into the green eyes of the old demon king and smiled to herself as a thought ran through her head. “Now I see it. Thank you, Mr. Black, for the very eye opening duel.” She shook his hand, and while it was different, it felt better than using her right like the rest of the world insisted. For once, it felt like respect. “You get some rest as well. Tomorrow is another physical training day, and the last one before we have to get the six of you ready to stop the end of the world as we know it.” The tailor's smile immediately disappeared right before she was warped back home. The remaining four girls seemed to feel about the same way as Rarity before she left.

“So... Everyone really is gonna die if we mess this up, aren't they?” Said a more somber pink haired Terran. The man frowned and shook his head. “As of now, I don't think anyone is going to die. Two of you are strong enough to fend off myself and a legend from the past, and that's alone without the help of your Harmonians. I believe that by this time Monday, This country won't be plunged into chaos, and we'll have six new heroes to thank for it.” The man said with confidence in his voice. “You mean it?” The girl asked, looking up at him like he was her own father. The man smiled and nodded. “I do. But, I still haven't seen what you can do. So now's your chance to show me.” He walked into a spot where his shade stood wearing a yellow lined duel disk and seemed to fade into it, with the white lined disk disappearing in favor of the yellow one. He took a single card, and as he expected, the girl activated a trap.

“Now that you've officially started, I can get going. I activate Fireworks Zodiac Inu!” Four colors of fire works shot out of her open trap cards and formed the shape of a dog. After it came together, it was almost literally just a shiba, save for it's bright unnatural coloring and the small throwing knife in it's mouth. Some how, it looked furry, while at the same time like it was made of paper mache. “So, this is my dog. Sometimes I call him Koromaru. He's level 7, Fire, beast type with 2000 attack and 2500 defense. He doesn't like to blow up. He also doesn't like it when his friends blow up. So, he stops that. While he's face up, he can't be destroyed by battle up to twice per turn. At the same time, my other Zodiac traps can't be destroyed by battle at all. And next up is, Fireworks Zodiac Rat!” A new trap opened, and an even smaller creature took shape from it. The colors wrapped around an animal that was a quarter the size of the dog with a long scraggly tail. It stood on it's hind legs and twitched it's little head every which way at every noise that was made.

“I call this one Twitchy! Level 7, Fire, beast type, 2000 in both stats. When Twitchy shows up, he deals 1000 damage to my opponent!” The rat turned it's bright red orbs of eyes at Sombra and started running. The colors on it's body split, and four shades of the rat spawned on either side. The shades then started jumping and ramming themselves at him, popping in little explosions until the real rat headbutted Sombra's forehead, then scurried back to it's place. The man rubbed at the now red spot, wincing as he did so. “It may have been light, but it sure wasn't weak. Geez.” The red clad girl made a bow. “That's all at the moment. Please, go ahead. It's still your turn.” The pink haired Terran smiled her crazy smile at him. “Alright then... First off, I summon Gagaga Magician!” What came next was a man wearing black heavy robes with leather plates and chains flying all around him. He had white hair, and a ridiculous pointy hat with orange accents on everything he wore. “Holy edge lord batman!” Said the girl, acting as if she were in shock.

“Well, from what we know about this guy, he was a young man during his final days, and his deeds were done before he even made it to teenager. It's possible that the entire deck was based on his heroes, and maybe this guy was one of them. All the same, he didn't last long. Supposedly the kid either died or went missing after he set out to find his parents. Of course, that's all that we really know. His cards are a bit of a mystery too. These monsters in his extra deck all have the name 'Number' to accompany them, along with some designated number from 1 to 100. he was referenced as the savior of Anya in their relics, the King of wishes, they called him, but who he was has been completely forgotten or erased from history. Nothing remains of his legend but sparse details and engraved versions of his cards found deep within the Anyanese mountains. In total, there have been about 82 discovered, with some of them containing numbers up to 99. each and every one is different, some of them resembling others, some explicitly working together. These cards and that kid remain in the dark for the most part, but somehow, they seem to fit together. In any case, these are what he used to call upon the Numbers, so this is how I'm going to represent him today. Next, I activate the effect of Gagaga Child in my hand. While I control another Gagaga card, I can special summon him from my hand.”

In a sense, this kid could have been either a son or brother of the magician due to how obscured the guy's age was. He was about half the size of the magician, had a similar pointy hat, a similar colored jacket, but wore a regular school uniform otherwise. He carried what looked like an ice pop in his left hand. “When the kid is summoned, he gains a level equal to that of another Gagaga monster I control, or in this case, 4. Now then,  I construct the overlay network with my two monsters! Come forth, Number 39: Aspiring Emperor Hope!” A dark cloud of swirling gold and violet lights started to spin as the two monsters flew inside it. The vortex shot the ground with bolts of lightning until finally, The Emperor descended. The shape of a man wearing nothing but white and gold armor above what could only be described as a body suit. If there was anything to compare it to, the Gundam comics that spike liked to read would be what came to mind. A giant white robot that would typically save the world while being piloted by some teenager with mental stability issues. Wings, big swords, even a green gem in the center of it's chest almost pointed to that. Apparently, Pinkie had the same thought.

“Nice Gundam ya got there? Will this one transform into a plane and yell out 'hallelujah'?” Whatever reference she was making, no one else seemed to know as to what it was. The man pulled his lips together as if he'd eaten something sour. “I'm... just gonna ignore that. Anyways, your monsters pose a problem because, at the moment, I can't get around them with just Hope.” The pyro followed his sentence, catching every word he said. “But you can do something to change that can't you?” The man nodded.

“Correct. This boy, the original owner of these cards, was said to be the very first person to ever 'rank up' an Xyz monster. Hope here was his ace in the hole, and when things got rough, hope would respond to his soul and evolve accordingly. So, let start with this, I activate Xyz Change tactics!” The man placed a card in his disk and behind hope spawned a dark portal with orbs of light floating out from it. “As you might be wondering, This card allows me to pay 500 life points to draw an additional card every time I Xyz summon a Hope card.” The girl squinted her eyes. “So... provided this is going where I think this is going, you're going to upgrade this guy, not just once, but a few times, correct?” The man nodded again. “I knew you were quick. The first change, Chaos Xyz Change! Chaos Number 39: Aspiring Emperor Hope Ray!” The Emperor seemed to suck in all the wings and flare about his armor, turning into what looked like a sword and dipping back into the swirling black gold and violet vortex, sending light all around it's entrance as it did. After fully disappearing, a loud bell like sound went off, and then a similar shape started to rise from the vortex. The black and white object started to unfold itself into a new incarnation of hope. On it's back was a giant sword, almost as tall as hope himself, and most of the white armor had been given black accents or changed to black completely. The mask that covered his robotic face was gone now, revealing something more human. The numbers that were on it's right shoulder piece were now glowing bright red.

“And now I'll pay the toll to draw a card.” The man swiped at his disk and smiled at the card in his hand in a similar fashion to the way he did with Applejack's duel. This did not bode well with Pinkie, but she decided to wait a little longer before responding to anything. Remembering what her sister's rank up deck was like told her that rank up magic cards were dangerous on their own. “Now for part two! I activate the spell card, Rank Up Magic Numeron Force! By targeting one Xyz monster I control, I can Xyz summon a 'C Number' monster from my extra deck with one rank higher and the same type as the target! Grasp Victory in the shining future! Clustered feelings connected by our hearts will change the world! Chaos Number 39: Aspiring Emperor Hope Ray Victory!” In a ball of blinding teal blue light, Hope began to transform into it's next stage. He grew larger, more armored, regaining his mostly white color, and adding red into his color scheme. His face looked more like a transformer than a Gundam now, all the points on his body growing to sharper lengths, looking more and more like an emperor about to take place atop his throne.

“Oh, no.” Pinkie quietly whispered as her screen showed her trap cards now all in the spell and trap zones. “So you noticed that something else was up did you? The second effect of Numeron force goes as such; If there are any other face up cards on the field after my Xyz monster is summoned, all those other card's effects are negated, turning your trap monsters into simple traps. Along side this, when victory attacks, you can't activate spells and traps until after the damage step. Finally, if Victory was summoned by ranking up a Number 39 monster, I can use the following effect: Once per turn, if this card attacks a monster, I can detach one Xyz material to increase this card's attack points by the attack of the targeted monster.” In short, bad news for pinkie if she didn't have a way to counter it.

“Wow. I... I don't like that card. At all. Okay so, I activate the effect of Fireworks Emergency Overlay! By targeting two face up Zodiac trap cards that summon themselves with the same level, I can perform an Xyz summon!” Her two trap cards were released from their negated prisons and formed a much more colorful version of the usual overlay vortex. “The Eastern Dragon roars in the blue sky! Guardian of the cardinal direction maintains balance among four great beasts! Come forth, Fireworks Zodiac Azulong of the East!” The red blue green and yellow vortex shot a tornado down in all of it's bright hues. A dragon, more like a snake than what most think of descended from the vortex. It's body was long and waving, covered in pale blue fur, striped with white at every section that had appendages. It had arms and wings all along it's body, each with bright white feathers along it's bones and the four colors at every primary and secondary. It's face carried four eyes of bright red, and the mouth of some kind of hairy beast.

“I see... Unexpected, but then again, I'm not ever sure just what you might do. So, tell me what it does. Surely this is some kind of counter to Victory?” The girl nodded. “You probably know this, but there are some cards that shut down entire decks like mine. I run solely off traps, and all it takes to stop me on most occasions is a well placed Jinzo or Royal Decree on the first turn. When I was younger, before I got my Terran's mark, I had to get creative to fight this kind of stuff, but in the end, there really wasn't much I could do to fight it with what I had available. But I wasn't about to break my theme and give up. When the day finally came and that sonic boom started the fire works early, My mark realized itself and this is what came to me. Azulong is just one of the many counters to an anti trap strategy. Just like your spell nuked the effects on the field, Azulong does the same. Every face up card has it's effect negated other than Azulong. Along side that, Once per turn, I can detach one material to permanently reduce one monster's attack by the attack of Azulong. Finally, after said monster is Xyz summoned, I get to search my deck for a Fireworks Component card, and set it in my spell and trap zone as if it had been set last turn. You better have something planned, otherwise, this game is mine, Sombra.” The man lowered his eyes, and smiled.

“Defensive are we? You must have been a fun kid to be around before whatever happened to make you who you are. But you are right. This doesn't look good for me. But what is a rank up deck without being able to rank up again right? I discard the Rank up magic Astral Force in my hand to meet the summon conditions of a monster in my Extra deck! Joining together as one united star, the will of the gods pierces through the sky like thunder! Appear now, Number 99! Dragon King of Wishes, Hope Dragoon!” The current version of Hope transformed into a bolt of lightning and shot through the cloudy sky, much like the last dragon Sombra summoned. When the sound of thunder rang out, another bolt shot back to the ground releasing the new creature Hope had evolved into. In it's place was a new Dragon with golden scales. It wore a modified version of Hope's armor with green orbs all along it's spines at either side of it's gigantic body. Much like the last dragon, this one covered most of the sky and broke the clouds with it's very being.

“Sweet divinity, Again!? Where do you even get this crap!” The man crossed his arms. “Didn't I already tell you? Anya. In the mountains. Now then, I set two cards and move to the battle phase! Hope Dragoon attacks Azulong!” The girl rubbed her eyes to confirm what she was seeing, and then quickly tapped a card on her disk. “I activate the effect of Fireworks Component Copper! If I control a Fireworks Xyz monster, I can activate this card! When I do, It attaches itself to an Xyz monster I control and gives it the following effect! This card negate it's own destruction by detaching one if it's material!” The dragoon had finished Charging whatever breath it was about to unleash on Azulong, and Azulong had crushed one of it's floating red orbs in one of it's many claws. A bright golden beam of light shot out of Hope's mouth, hitting a shield of blue surrounding Azulong. This did not however protect Pinkie from being blasted a good ten or so feet from where she stood. She protected herself from the fall, only to scrape at her arms where her gloves did not protect. She got up, breathing heavily and bracing herself against Azulong's tail.

“And you're sure... this one is just a copy right? Was that just... you?” She said in between pants. “Possibly. This card is sometimes said to alter the left eye of the user, so even the copy may have traces of the original's power, but as far as I can tell, that was just me.” He pulled a mirror out of his pocket to check his eyes. Seeing that nothing was out of the ordinary, he slid it back into his pocket. As he did, Pinkie could have sworn she saw his eye flash bright gold for a second. “Well, I didn't think you'd lose, that's for sure. And you've proved that much. So here's the final form of Hope's effect. Once per turn, I can target a number monster in my graveyard and special summon it in face up defense with it's effects negated. With this comes the ability to negate any card effect that targets Hope dragoon by detaching an Xyz material and then destroy said card. If you can't see where that's going, then, I wouldn't know how you knew I was going to do anything in this game. But, that's the end of my turn with you. Any other traps you'd like to spring on me?” He said, either trying to provoke the red clad Terran, or just trying to see if he could bait her into doing something prematurely.

“I don't have anything else for right now, but I do have something to say. Why in the hell do all these guys have ridiculous cards that end up in some crazy dragon? With everybody but Rainbow, you've managed to pull out some crazy dragon that has either a jank ass effect or 4000 attack points, which isn't a thing that normal people ever accomplish! If we're being honest here, The one up against Applejack can literally nuke the field, and it's the most tame of the three of them! They keep getting bigger! I wouldn't be surprised if he pulled another one on you with even more attack! What the hell!” The girl exclaimed as she turned to Twilight, clearly frustrated with the situation she was in. Sombra began to scratch at the back of his neck. “Are you alright Pinkie? You didn't act at all like this when we dueled...” Said Twilight to her left.

“No, I'm not alright! This is just like... It's just like! Ugh, forget it. Move along.” The girl said crossing her arms, more frustrated than before. She was fuming for sure, and for whatever reason, her hair seemed to start to straighten itself. “Okay... I'm just going to let you simmer on that...” Sombra faded in and out of spots, swapping duel disks along the way, now in front of Twilight. “Alright Black. What do you have for me this time?” The indigo haired girl said as Sombra drew his card for turn. “As much as I hate to admit it, almost exactly what Pinkie said. But this should be a good test for you. If you can get out of this one, I'll have to clap for you.” The smug on Twilight's face immediately melted. But he's playing masked heroes again... what dragon is even associated with heroes? There shouldn't be one! She thought.

“Now, you're probably thinking that there isn't a dragon associated with heroes...” Of course,  this is Black she's dealing with. He's always been able to basically read her mind anyways. “And you're right, there isn't. All Hero monsters are in fact warriors. But, this card is a little bit of a step away from the whole Hero title, as it doesn't bear it. To begin, I activate the effect of E – Emergency Call, adding elemental Hero Neos to my hand.” Then it came to her. “No... there's no way... I thought this was masked heroes! Why do you have that in there!?” She said slowly realizing the gravity of Pinkie's prediction coming down upon her. “Many hours of testing have revealed that the deck has no real out to being overpowered other than this and Koga, and if Koga has his effect negated, or can't target, then it's just about done. And besides, having a dragon completes the theme of what I've got going against the six of you.” Twilight reached for her temples awaiting the inevitable use of Fusion to summon one of the few cards she couldn't deal with.

“Without further ado, I activate the effect of Fusion. By sending elemental hero Neos and the Rainbow Dragon in my hand to the grave, I fusion summon! Dragon of the seven colored light, Hero of possibility! Join together In harmonious union to create the greatest hero of all! Appear, Rainbow Neos!” A bright Arc shot through the sky again, this time, forming a full rainbow halo above the field. The clouds cleared as a giant man with wings of gold and white feathers descended. He wore shining white armor with crystals of indigo and gold in his armor and wings. “Not again!” The girl exclaimed, quickly covering her mouth not meaning to say anything. Much like with the last two monsters, the remaining girls were starstruck by the new monster. “Good gods, Pinkie was right. They just keep getting' bigger!” Applejack said as she removed her hat to get a better look at the giant Angel. “Y-you don't happen to have one of these yourself, do you dad?” The pale angel said, managing to take her eyes off the giant before her. The man simply bent over and winked. The girl swallowed.

“See? What did I tell you. These were all losing battles to begin with. Gods!” Pinkie said as she laid down and sprawled herself out, still looking at the new giant monster. She raised one hand to the half cloudy sky that was broken by the two monsters in different places. “They're so big, they affect the clouds of the friggen field spell!  What am I even looking at? Sure, the four of us managed to survive A turn, but who says any of us have a shot at beating this crap! And this is the kinda crap that we're supposed to fight against to save the world? Unbelievable!” The red clad Terran let her hand fall back to the cold gray ground of the graveyard. “Woah there, what's even gotten into you? Aren't you the inheritor of Optimism? Where did all this pessimism come from?” The girl sat up and crossed her arms and legs.

“Your monsters, and memories of my family, that's where. Every last one of them had a hard counter to me, nothing was ever 'fun' when I tried to play this stupid game that some how controls the entire world. And finally it was fun, when I figured out what I wanted to be in my life. And now? It feels just as helpless as it did then. I can't fight this! I don't know that anything in my deck could deal with that even if I had Optimism! And that's just this deck, not to mention the rainbow giant over there! I know what he does. I don't know that anyone in elementary school doesn't know what one of the most powerful cards to come out of Fauna does. Removes my grave, blows my back row? Nothing. I have nothing against that. Could I deal with the combo? Maybe. I could probably stop that before it got too far. What ever that crazy armor guy was? I don't know, probably? That didn't look like it would have been too hard to deal with, I guess Rainbow just sucks.” Sombra stomped his foot with a sound as loud as thunder, effectively shutting Pinkie up.

“HEY! You shut your mouth.” He walked forward, leaving his shade in front of Twilight holding the duel, and heading directly to the girl on the ground. Now towering over her, her picked her up by her collar. “Hey! What are you-” He jerked her to eye level. “At no point are you ever to mock another duelist. You can sit here and whine like the pathetic little shit you're pretending to be, but don't you ever make fun of some one else behind their backs! I know you're better than this, and I know that Rainbow did what she could, but she never gave up and started crying about it! I've beaten sense into my kids before, and I will do it again, Pinkimena Diane Pie! I don't care what happened to you before, but that gives you absolutely no reason to act like this in the face of adversity. You are the heir of Optimism, and if you don't start acting like it in the next ten minutes, I will make you wish you did. Got it?” Fear began to take hold of the red clad Terran as she stared into the slowly darkening green eyes of the adult. Hints of red started to appear in his irises. The girl nodded.

“Y-yes sir...” The man lowered her to the ground and returned to his spot, assimilating himself with the shade. “That was your warning. If anyone else wants to complain, then keep it in your head. I don't want to hear it. I know all of your decks almost as well as the ones I'm piloting. Every last one of you has the ability to get around these with what you have now, so don't you dare give up. Do I have a yes sir!?” In unison, the now frightened girls stood attention and said “Yes sir!” Sombra lowered his piercing gaze and nodded. “Good. Now then. As you all should know, Rainbow Neos can return monsters, spells and traps, and cards in the graveyard to the deck by paying a cost of a monster I control, a spell or trap I control, or sending the top card of my deck to the grave, once per turn. Twilight, I will be returning your grave back to your deck.” Sombra's eyes were much colder now than they had been. He took the top card of his deck and placed it in the grave slot, then the giant Angel began to flap his wings. The vicious winds weren't strong enough to take her off her feet, but they were close to knocking her over. The giant stopped, and her deck shuffled itself. So much for getting Fusion back, or using ram at all.

“Next, I summon Stratos.” Sombra placed a card on his matterwave calmly, a sign that Twilight knew all too well he was angry. A brooding Black was not a fun one to be around. A man clad in green white armor in a dark blue skintight suit took a place next to the giant. He had airplane wings with rotors in them on his back and a visor that covered his face. “His effect then activates. I get to add a Hero monster from my deck to my hand. I'll add elemental Hero Bubble man.” Stratos whipped up a wind that circled Sombra, pulling a card out of his deck and flying it to his hand. “Next, I activate Mask change. By sending Stratos to my graveyard, I special summon a Masked Hero monster with the same attribute but a higher level. Warrior of Kazald, Champion of the winds! Bring forth the power of the tornado, Masked Hero Kamikaze!”

Several blacked out masks started to fly around Stratos as he himself became blacked out. His armor swapped and one of the masks connected with his head. A bright green light shot out from him, and in his place was a new hero. He was clad in lime green, wearing new armor that flowed into his body suit with a cape and more form fitting mask. He now reminded Twilight of Iron man more than anything. “Now I set one card, and special summon Bubble man from my hand using his effect.” Another silent placement, and another hero entered the field. More tech-ed out than the others, this light blue bubble themed warrior sat in defense mode.

“Finally, I activate the card I just set, Mask Charge, Adding the Mask change I just used, and the Elemental Hero Blazeman that was sent to the grave via Rainbow Neos.” Ugh, of all the things he could have milled, why did it have to be that? Twilight thought. Great. If I can't clear his field next turn, then he's gonna get contrast out, and that will be the end of that. Negate any card that comes on the field during any turn each turn. As if Neos wasn't bad enough... At least I can save Gravity for now. “Now then, I'm sure you have something in you hand to keep this from ending here. So, Neos attacks Gravity.” The Mage simply slid a card in her grave. “I activate Shield of the Star. My cards can't be destroyed until the end of the turn.” The man rubbed his chin.

“Damn, maybe I should have just pitched Stratos to rid you of Gravity. Well done kid. That doesn't stop you from taking 1300 damage though.” The Giant began to charge it's wings, and at the same time, Twilight began to prepare a barrier for herself. Rainbow Neos lifted in the air and shot down on Gravity with immense force, nearly knocking everyone but Sombra and Twilight off balance. Twilight's barrier held well against the incoming force as opposed to most of the duels she'd had lately, which was nice for a change. Neos flew back to his spot towering over most of the field, save for the Number 99 to it's left which was slightly taller. The low hanging clouds had started to recover themselves, blocking the sky once more. Sombra looked over the four remaining Duelists and nodded to himself.

“Well, you're the ones that made it to turn 3. Barring my ridiculous hand against Rarity, you all prepared yourselves to be at this point. Now, you all have about this turn to win. Trust in yourselves and believe you can pull out of the situation you're in. You never know what card you have that can turn a Duel around. With that said,” The edges of the man faded into the dark red color of his shade and the edges of Sombra started to appear before Fluttershy with his red and black disk on.

“I have different expectations for you however... Our duel is personal. Like your elder brothers and sister before you, this is your evaluation test! Surpass your father with your own power!” The lightning in the clouds started to circulate more frequently now, jumping from cloud to cloud. Both of the ghostly figures on his field turned to face Fluttershy, raising an empty hand over their outstretched sword arms to point at her, like some kind of sign of respect. From underneath her coat, the girl took a smaller weapon, likely a dagger that she kept on hand at all times, and raised her arms in like. The two monsters, seeming satisfied with that returned to their neutral positions. Fluttershy put her dagger away and raised her hand to her disk. “So that's what you're after... If this is finally the day, then I will rise to your challenge! Today is the day I defeat you, Father!” She took hold of the top card on her disk and it began to burn bright blue with her soul art. “I... Draw!”