The Legend of Fauna

        “So, you know all the rules right? I figure that this game is important enough to the country that it's taught in school, but I honestly don't know when it's taught in school anymore.” Zephraim said as they descended toward the yard of Fluttershy's cottage. Spike looked around and he frowned once he locked on a red spot in the teal green grass.

        “I do but... do we really have to play here?” The dragon boy said as he got off of Zephraim's back. Zeph shrugged

        “What's wrong with here? It's a big open space and a good distance away from 'town.'” He said, making air quotes when referring to the very small urban area that called itself a town. Spike sighed.

        “Never mind, this is fine. I guess.” Zephraim gave him a good swat to the shoulder.

        “Don't worry about it. Monday was a special day for everyone. I don't think anyone in our little group is going to be acting like they did Monday any time soon. Now go stand over there and put the disk in duel mode. It should do the rest on it's own after that.” Sending him off with a comforting smile, Spike wandered across the cottage yard until he was told to stop.

Okay... I think I know what I'm doing... oh, there's the button. How have I never noticed this before?

Spike pressed a rather large red button on the bottom of his older model disk, and out of thin air popped a violet matterwave. The screen flashed the words 'Duel Mode On!' and the same words were heard from Zephraim's disk in a computerized voice.

        “Are you ready?”

        “I guess? I... think I know what I'm doing...”

        “Perfect! This will be a great learning opportunity! Remember, we say the word on three. 1, 2, 3!” On queue, the two boys aimed their disks at each other and in unison shouted,

        “DUEL!” A beam of light shot from either side to the center, and the world was suddenly bathed in an almost digital light that augmented the colors of everything around.

“Duel mode activated. MR Field on.” A computerized voice said once a boundary of light had been formed.

        “I think I'll let you go first since your cards a pretty new. I'd rather you not be worrying about my field while trying to figure out how your deck works.” He said after swiping exactly five cards off the top of his deck.

        “Wow. Uh, okay then. I guess I draw my hand now?” Zephraim nodded, and then Spike did exactly that. The main deck count dwindled down to thirty five, and Spike looked over the cards he had. He recognized none of them, save for one that looked reminiscent of another card he knew all too well.

        Seeing that he had an entry card for the extra deck, he checked the count on the other side of his disk, and sure enough there was just one.

Messenger Fusion... Send two monsters from your graveyard to your deck to fusion summon one Messenger monster from your extra deck. Once per turn, if your opponent would activate the effect of a card that targets a card(s) in your graveyard, you can return this card to the top of your deck to negate that effect. You can only activate one Messenger Fusion per turn.

Well, I guess that means I'm partial to the purple cards just like Twilight is. But, don't fusion monsters require specific cards most of the time? Yeah, I think Andromeda is the only one who's generic for her Star monsters... I should look at that card.

        Tapping the extra deck on his disk's screen, Spike was shown the name of a Fusion monster, the materials it required, and nothing else.

Oh, come on! Is it still loading it in? Well... I think I have the specific one in my hand. Messenger Dragon. Spike let a grin start to form on his face. A representation of your soul huh? Yeah, I can see that. Spike returned to the cards in his hand, and eventually started to get a sense of how they worked together. Then he made his move.

        “Okay, I don't know if you've ever seen something like this before, but I can already tell that my deck is a little weird. I'll start off by summoning, Clear, the Upstart Messenger!” Spike carefully took the monster card from his hand and gently placed it on his matterwave. From a circle of bright green flame stepped a humanoid elf with violet skin wearing a beige and brown uniform and carrying a giant metallic envelope in one hand, and a giant letter opener in the other, presumably acting as a sword and shield. The elf had white hair underneath a beige hat that matched his shirt and wore a pair of glasses that looked like they were made of crystal. He had a dark brown tie around his neck with a gold tie clip with a four triangle emblem on it, all pointing inward. Zephraim raised an eyebrow.

        “Summoning a normal monster on the first turn? Either you're ballsy as hell, or there's more to this guy than it seems.” The Angel said, waiting patiently with his arms crossed and his wings flared out. Somehow, Spike felt like he'd seen this pose before, but couldn't think of where.

        “I think you'll be surprised at what this guy can do. As far as I can tell, most of my deck uses him in some form or fashion. So, next up, I activate the effect of Experienced messenger in my hand. If I control a normal monster, I can special summon him.” With a little more speed, Spike summoned another monster. The new monster resembled an old man with dark brown skin. He had a white beard and hair, a few scars on his face, and a tattered version of the uniform that Clear wore. He carried some kind of futuristic rifle that looked like it shot long thin projectiles, and rather than on a tie clip, the gold emblem was on the center of his hat.

        “When Experienced Messenger is summoned, I excavate the top three cards of my deck, then draw three cards. After that, I put three cards from my hand on top of the deck and send the top two to the graveyard.” Zephraim tilted his head.

        “Wow. Excavate cards? This is gonna be really interesting. And then you stack the deck just to get rid of whatever you have in your hand that you don't need or want there? If I knew any better, I'd say your deck likes to play in the graveyard.” Spike nodded.

        “It looks that way, but maybe not the way you think either. Like I said, this is weird. The cards I excavated were: Messenger Sorting Station, Messenger Organizer, and Surprise Delivery. I draw those three cards, and put three from my hand back on top, not necessarily the cards I drew...” Spike paused to read his three new cards, and since he excavated them, Zephraim did the same.

        “Eww. Surprise Delivery just looks like a nasty control card. You get to summon a monster and seal away two spots on my field with tokens until they blow up. I can't even do anything with them.”

        “Mmhmm...” Spike said, deep in thought.

Now, if I put this one on top, I can get her effect to go off, and if I send the other one, I can excavate another two cards. Then I can set this one, and use whatever I excavate to power something up in case it gets attacked... but If I do this, then I'll have to shuffle the deck, and that will ruin my set up... Oh wait, if this is out, they don't go back to the deck, but to my hand instead! I can do this!

“Okay, so I put these three back, and then the top two get sent to the grave. Because Starbright Messenger was sent to the grave from the deck, her effect activates, and I get to destroy a monster on the field.” Zephraim tilted his head again.

        “Oh?”

        “So, I'll destroy Clear.” The violet skinned Elf seemed to more or less explode in a brilliant ball of light.

        “And what purpose does that serve exactly?” The angel asked.

        “Because it was a normal monster that Starbright destroyed, She gets to special summon herself in face up defense!” In another wake of green flames in the shape of a portal, a scantily clad pale white skinned elf took a spot on the field. She wore a similar outfit to the other two messengers, but her 'shorts' were more or less brown denim boxers, and her shirt covered down to the edge of her ribcage and was half open in the chest. A brown Tie that was longer than her shirt hid her cleavage, and like the Experienced Messenger, she had four cone emblem on her hat. She shared the long pointy ears with Clear and had wavy violet hair that met the end of her 'shirt' on her back. She carried what resembled a long range sniper rifle that was covered in lights and had a similar shape to the other messenger's gun.

        “I wanna say that that looks familiar, but I couldn't tell you from where.” Zephraim said. Spike furrowed his brow stared hard at his newest card, but couldn't place the odd familiarity either.

        “Huh. Same. Well anyways, the important part about her is that if a Messenger monster would be sent from the graveyard to the deck, I get to add it to my hand instead. Next, I'll activate probably my last card this turn, Messenger Fusion! I can return cards from my graveyard to my deck to fusion summon a Messenger monster, but since Starbright is out, I get to add them to my hand instead!” Suddenly, as if someone were speaking them to him, Spike heard a string of words echo deep within his mind. Without realizing it, he began to repeat them out loud.

        “Dragon of deep space, combine your powers with the herald of hope and join together to form a greater being! Fangs of viridian flame, wings of deep space, eyes of the herald! Deliver justice to those who deserve it, Messenger Dragon!” In a swirl of bright green flames, Clear the Upstart Messenger and a little dragon that Spike had sent to the graveyard with Starbright, disappeared. A flash of violet shot out from inside the vortex of green fire, and out came the dark nebulaic claws of a beast. The Creature rose from the burning vortex until it's giant tail had finally exited the fires.

        The dragon's scales were an unusually pale shade of jade green, and along it's spine ran dark crystals that had galaxies and stars in them, much like Andromeda's cape. It's wings and talons followed the same scheme as it's spine crystals, anywhere that wasn't covered in pearly dragon scales showed stars and galaxies moving in space. It's spine crystals ran all along it's back to it's tail, where the crystals seemed to group and from what resembled a dark flail. Embossed on it's forehead was the golden emblem of the messengers, just above the dragon's bright green eyes that looked identical to Spike's.

        Zephraim looked up and down the dragon, and as he did, he came across the strangest sense of déjà vu. The dragon looked back at him, and Zephraim started to feel like he wasn't just staring at a card.

        “This is interesting. I've heard of fusion being bad for hand management, but your fusion kinda works the opposite way of everyone else. So, what does this guy do?” The Iscandor family liked to put into practice the art of subtle manipulation by asking their opponent to tell them what their cards did. One wouldn't notice exactly how it worked unless they were told, but most of the Iscandors can read faster than the average person. They use the time in which the opponent is explaining their card to plan around it or against it.

        Most saw it as a curtsy, and others typically explained their cards to their opponents anyways, but Celestia always made it a point to get her kids and nephews to ask first. Time is a valuable resource in a fast paced game like this after all.

        “Well... A lot actually. One, he can't be targeted by your cards. Two, He can excavate three cards and put them back in any order, once per turn. Three, I can discard a card to send the top two cards of my deck to the graveyard. And four, he acts kinda like a Pendulum monster in that he can't go to the grave, but goes to the extra deck face down instead. Uh, it also says that that effect can't be negated, so I guess it's mandatory.” Spike said, tilting his head at the card as he read it.

        “I see. Well, it is definitely... unique.” He said, still holding the gaze of the dragon before him. A thought crossed his mind, and then he shook his head. Spike was about to continue his turn.

        “Well, since he can, I'll go ahead and use Messenger Dragon to Excavate the top three cards of my deck!” The pale jade dragon spewed a lime green flame. The flames took the shape of three rectangles which then turned into large flaming versions of the three cards Spike Excavated.

        “Hmm... Messenger Organizer, The Upstart Messenger's Stand-in, and Renegade Messenger...” Spike said absent mindedly reading through the two new cards. Let's see... If that happens, then I can... okay, that should do it.

        “Okay, So now I'll activate the third effect of Messenger Dragon. By discarding Clear, I send the top two cards from my deck to the grave. When this happens, the effect of Messenger Organizer activates. I can set a messenger spell or trap from my grave on the field. With that said, I'll set Renegade Messenger. With that said, I'll set two cards, and end my turn.” When all was said and done, Spike looked at his hand, then at his field. Three monsters on the field, all above level four no less, three cards set, and two in hand. Then, there were two cards in grave, and he knew what was on top of his deck. If math was working right here, he had gone from five cards to what essentially comes out to eleven cards.

        “Whew. Talk about a six card gain. You're sweating me kid.” Zephraim said, popping his neck.

        “Yeah, I just counted that. I don't know that I've ever seen anybody get this many cards out at one time before.” Spike replied, a little amazed at just what his new deck could do. Zephraim shrugged.

        “Well, you've clearly never seen mom play. And I suppose you've never seen a good pendulum deck go off either. Those things are scary. But, since I'm neither of those, I guess I'll just have to show you what a few powerful cards can do on their own.” He said. With his hand beginning to let off that mist again, he swiped a card from the top of his deck and smiled.

I don't like the looks of that...

        “It seems as if my deck wants me to fight fire with fire! Here's a look into the future, I'm about to wipe your field using the effects of two cards!” Zephraim said as he slid the card he just drew into his disk.

        “To begin, I'll activate the effect of my own version of fusion, Grayscale Blending Apparatus!” In the center of his empty field, the grassy ground started to become gradually more blurry in one spot until finally it was just a white circle of nothingness spinning inward.

        “Machine of wavelength, stone of fire, combine your powers into a glittering flame to illuminate the night skies! Appear, Iridescence, the Grayscale Star!” A red figure that looked vaguely like a video game character and a white orb of machinery flew into the rotating blur. The blur started to move through several shades of red until it settled on a particularly bright one. The color formed a column, and from that column stepped a strangely familiar figure. She looked to be a very tall Angel with bright white wings, draped in set of robes that looked to be hand drawn which faded from white to black at the bottom.

        The 'robes' as they were, only covered her chest and face on her upper body, hiding her fairly gratuitous features there, stopped just below her rib cage, then started again with a darker open dress that exposed the whole of her right thigh down to her feet. She wore strap sandals that climbed all the way up to her calves and carried two swords the glowed in various shades of the rainbow all along their blades with black and white on either edge. Along her arms were bands that moved along the color spectrum like her blades that continued to her fingers which had two rings on her index and ring fingers. Where the monster was not hand drawn or glowing with a rainbow filter, she was fairly tan, not to dissimilar to Zephraim's own skin color.

        “Now I know that looks familiar.” Spike said, crossing his arms and frowning. Zephraim shrugged.

        “Eh, I can't help it. From what I hear, Fluttershy got her own version a just day or so ago, and that makes all but one of us that have a card based on her. Out of the five anyways. But don't worry, this isn't nearly as strong as the real thing, she just does something similar. But anyways, let's get started! When Iridescence is summoned, she negates the effects of all other cards on the field!” Spike's ears perked up, and then he remembered he had a trap he needed to activate.

        “Not so fast! I activate the effect of Surprise delivery! Since you already know what it does, I summon clear in defense, and two package tokens on your side in attack position!” Like before, the violet skinned elf appeared from green flames, this time carrying two large cardboard boxes wrapped up with chains. The elf tossed them over to Zephraim's field at either edge, effectively removing two spots for him to play monsters to. Then clear brought his envelope and opener out and crouched behind them.

        “This is fine for now, but try and make sure you tell your opponent what your cards do in the future. Your cards only belong to you, so unless you've played your opponent before, they've likely never seen them.” Zephraim said. The dragon boy scratched at the scales on his cheeks.

        “Oh, right. My bad.” Spike said.

        “Anyways, now that that's happened, you cards lose their effects!” Iridescence took her blades and clashed them in mid air, sending a wave of Rainbow across the field, removing the color from every other monster as it passed, save for Clear who had no effect to take.

        “Alright, so what was important about that?” Spike asked.

        “Ah, I'm glad you asked. To properly wipe the field of a deck that likes to play in the grave, we have to send cards back to the deck. But, I can't do that unless I take the effects of everything on your field away first, and there would be no wipe if you had say, a face up spell, because this particular card can't do anything about those. The next step to field wipe would be retrieving my tuner monster. I activate the effect of Blending Apparatus in my graveyard! By shuffling this card into my deck, I get to add a light or dark attribute monster to my hand. With that said, I'll add Grayscale Brightness.” A small rotating ball of void appeared beside Zephraim, turned golden, and then faded into nothingness. He took a card that was sticking out of his deck and placed it on his matterwave.

        “Next, since you did the hard part for me, I'll just normal summon Brightness.” As if a ghost had walked onto the field, the shining silhouette of a woman stood next to Iridescence. “When brightness is summoned, I can target a monster on the field and copy it's level. I'll target Experienced Messenger to make her level 5.” The white silhouette changed to match the outline of Experienced messenger.

        “Next, I'll special summon Jasper Outside the Grayscale using his effect.” Out of a circle of black white and orange flames, a familiar dragon flew to Iridescence's side. Hand drawn with all it's shading done in cross hatching and black ink, the dragon had two arms with three talon claws, bat like wings, and a tail with a large flame at it's end. Spike narrowed his eyes.

        “Is that a... Charizard?” He said, pointing to the 'Jasper' dragon. Zephraim looked away.

        “Most of my childhood was spent in video games... and some of my teenage years... and... most of this year... But uh, all my monsters are kinda like that. At least the ones with color anyways.” Spike tilted his head.

        “That didn't exactly answer my question.” He said, modeling his tone after his sister.

        “And it wasn't supposed to! I activate the effect of Grayscale Vector Apparatus! It turns all face up monsters with no effect face down!” A black column shot from one monster to the next on Spike's field, turning them all into floating card backs.

        “Awe. So much for that. But that still doesn't quite 'wipe' my field.” Spike said.

        “Don't worry, the next card is going to do that. I'll keep my promise, I swear. Since I'm not going to be a dick and lock the field in your first duel, I'll synchro summon instead of being rude. At least you have a chance this way. I tune the level 5 Grayscale Brightness with the level 5 Jasper Outside the Grayscale! Arbiter of light and darkness, bring judgment upon truth and ideals of the creator! Come forth, Eraser, the Grayscale King!” The shining silhouette turned into five green rings which the 'dragon' then flew inside, turning into stars. A column of light shot through the rings and stars, leaving behind what could only be described as a king.

        He was, strangely shorter than Iridescence, but was armored and robed in very detailed and ornate black and white whilst wearing a crown that glowed with the color spectrum. He carried a black ax in his hands that was nearly the size of Spike. It's blade glowed to match his crown and Iridescence's swords. Spike finally looked at the monster's face and realized why this one looked familiar.

        “So uh...” He began.

        “Just... let it go. I know. I promise. I have older siblings. I've heard enough about it. By banishing one card from my graveyard, Eraser can return all set cards to their owner's decks. Cards and effects cannot be activated in response, and each player shuffles their deck afterward if cards were added to it. Since I have nothing to return, it's all you.” The King raised his Ax, then brought it to the ground, sending a wave of rainbow color over all of Spike's field, bouncing each of his cards to their respective decks. Spike looked at his now empty field, then looked at Zephraim.

        “So, I'm no math buff, But I'm pretty sure an attack from a 2500 and a 3200 will make more than 4000 life points go away. How exactly do I have a chance?” Spike asked, starting to feel a bead of sweat drip down the nape of his neck.

        “Eraser cannot attack during the turn he activates his effect. I'll go ahead and tell you that I have a spell card in my hand, which I could have used to end the duel right now, but didn't and has no use at the moment. You'll have 1500 and one turn to make a come back. Eraser doesn't allow players to set cards either, so no traps without playing them from your hand, and no face down monsters. One last move, and that will be to have Iridescence attack directly. Don't worry though, I've turned my matterwave generator to non-solid. She can't hurt you... this time.” With the snap of his fingers, Iridescence shot forward and stabbed Spike in the chest. He was stunned to see the Angel woman almost pop from one spot to another, and even more so to see what looked like a real sword piercing his his sternum. Iridescence warped back to her spot on Zephraim's field, and Spike dropped to his knees.

        “Sweet divinity, what the hell? That could have been real!?” He said, letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Zephraim nodded.

        “An unfortunate truth about this game is that it can, and has, been used to kill before. This is why students are taught to play the game with control in their minds and as friends, not enemies. You must always be mindful when you play because you do have the power to hurt someone. There are safety features in place, such as the MR fields and the limiters, but those can all be turned off. Always remember that.” The Angel explained, taking a more serious tone.

        “Oh... oh gods, then... that means that Twilight really...” Spike looked to Zephraim, only to find the same expression still on his face.

        “That's right. With the limiter, with the MR field, she still managed break through the safety features and seriously injure a student. Of course, this isn't even the first time that that's happened as well. A proctor, a teacher, a student she was in an argument with, before the most recent one. Hell, had it not been for Andromeda, even though it was in part his own fault, we would've had a crispy Rainbow Fume a few days ago.” He continued, waving his hands around as if it were all mundane talk.

        “Then... how in the world did the Queens use this kind of magic to unite the country? I can't think that something like this wouldn't cause fear, right?” Spike asked, trying to think back to his history classes. Zephraim smiled.

        “Don't forget, we call it a magic game for a reason. Rather than just tell you, I think I can show you how if we just keep playing. You have one turn left before I end the duel. You don't know what's in your deck, and neither do I. I think you have something special with that dragon of yours, and you have all the pieces but one to bring him back. I think you have the ability to win. So go ahead and try and turn your situation around. Trust yourself and you might just be surprised at what you can do.” Spike frowned.

Turn this around? How am I supposed to do that with just two cards? Wait a minute... this card is a searcher! If I can find something to get Clear in the grave, then that's all I need to do! If I can just get something that mills the top card of my deck...

        “Okay... here goes nothing!” Spike pressed his fingers against the top card of his deck and drew. For a moment there, he thought he saw a hint of pale green mist on his hand, but it was gone as quickly as it had appeared. When he looked at his card, he knew he could do it.

        “Ha! No way, this is it! Alright Zeph, you better get ready 'cause I think I've got this!” The Angel put his hand to his mouth.

        “Do you now? Why don't you show me?” He said, taking a smile out of his mother's bag of tricks.

        “For starters, I'll activate the effect of Pet Messenger in my hand! By discarding it, I get to search my deck for a level four or lower monster, and Clear the upstart messenger!” A small dragon that shared it's colors with the actual Messenger Dragon Came from behind Spike and dropped a package at his feet. The box fell away to reveal the violet skinned elf and a new monster that resembled some kind of cross between Andromeda and the Experienced Messenger. The spiky, pink haired mailman carried a tall staff with the Messenger emblem on it's end and wore a cape with three pointed shoulder pads above his beige shirt. He even wore Andromeda's tutor's cap with it's emblem traded for the messenger one. The two faded away and spike added those cards to his hand.

        “I'll add Messenger Magician and clear to my hand. The deck then shuffles itself, and I have to put one card from my hand back on the top. But, that's where my next card comes in! I activate Messenger Checklist!” To the left of Spike appeared another elf in the messenger's uniform at a wooden desk with several stacks of paper work on it that she was furiously filling out. This female messenger was far more modest than the other, and looked more like clear in that she matched skin tone, but had straight dark indigo hair.

        “Once per turn, I can excavate the top card of my deck. If it's a monster, I can send it to the grave and draw one card. If it isn't, that card goes to the bottom of the deck. But since I just stacked it...” The girl at the desk scribbled something down on a new piece of paper, then folded it up into an envelope. It burned in green flame, then she went back to work. An image of clear in the same green flame appeared above her, then faded away.

        “Which means I get to draw again. But at this point, anything that helps is just over kill. I have everything I need already. Next up, I activate Messenger Sorting Station! By Shuffling this card back into the deck, I get to add one spell card from my grave to my hand, getting me Messenger Fusion!” Out of a circle of green flames shoots a capsule. It popped open and showed the printed version of Messenger fusion. Spike took the card from his grave slot and added it to his hand.

        “Now that everything is in place, I activate Messenger Fusion one more time! Dragon of deep space, combine your powers with the herald of hope and join together to form a greater being! Fangs of viridian flame, wings of deep space, eyes of the herald! Deliver justice to those who deserve it, Messenger Dragon!” From the vortex of flame crawled the Jade dragon once more, taking a stance and letting off a powerful roar.

        “Well, that was quite a lot of effort for a dragon that can't kill Eraser. But you said you already have the pieces you needed, so I bet that magician messenger can do something to change that.” Zephraim said.

        “Nope!”

        “Nope?”

        “Nope. I don't need to beat either of 'your' monsters. Just watch and see! I summon Messenger Magician from my hand!” Like all the others, the Magician stepped from a portal of green flames to the side of the dragon. “Because I summoned him while I control a Messenger fusion monster, all monsters I control gain the piercing ability until the end of the turn!” The magician shot two orbs of flame above itself and the dragon, which then orbited the monsters in the same way that an Xyz material would.

        “Ha ha! It looks like Surprise delivery has more uses than just locking my field.” Zephraim said.

        “That's right! Now I activate the other effect of Messenger magician! By tributing him, I can have one monster attack twice this turn!” The Magician wrapped himself up in his cape until he disappeared. The remaining ball of flame turned red, and then started to orbit Messenger Dragon.

        “The stage is set little man. Take your first game.” Zephraim said, holding his arms out as if he was waiting for a hug.

        “Alright! Messenger Dragon, Attack the Package tokens!” The dragon reared up on it's hind legs, then roared a large column of flame at the ground. It split in two and headed straight for the package tokens. Both of the chained boxes were vaporized instantly, and the flames then engulfed Zephraim. His life point counter dropped to zero, and then all the cards on the field disappeared. Zephraim approached Spike and gave him a pat on the back.

        “So, what do you think? Do you like the game?” He asked.

        “Do I like it? That was awesome! I've always watched from the sidelines before, but to actually be there and pull off the comeback myself is... amazing! I know you went easy on me, but I just gotta know, how were you gonna win without using that eraser guy?” Zephraim rustled Spikes hair.

        “Unfortunately, that's a secret. But who knows? I might pull that card out one of these days. But here's a hint. While I went for the synchro summon, what else could I have done with my field?” Spike started to bring his hand to his lips.

        “Hmm... What else...?” After a few minutes, Zephraim sighed.

        “One more hint. My tuner was thesame level as my non tuner.” Spike snapped his fingers.

        “Oh, an Xyz summon! You had two level 5 monsters out!” Zephraim nodded.

        “There we go. My deck is made to go into all the forms of Extra Deck cards. I have several of each kind, so I just summon what fits the situation. I must say though, you still managed to gain hand advantage after you had achieved your win condition. That's not something everyone can do. I think you've got some natural talent for this.” Spike could feel his tail beginning to wag.

        “Really? You're not just saying that right?” Zephraim rolled his eyes.

        “How can you not trust me after all that? Do you know how hard it is to change the setting in a matterwave generator? People out side of those with government keys can't even access it!” Spike took a step back.

        “Okay, okay, I believe you. Geez. Heh... I won a duel today. If you tried to tell me that I would ever do that yesterday, I wouldn't even believe you.” Spike said, looking up at the clear sky.

        “Well, sometimes, all you gotta do is speak up. It might not be the easiest thing in the world to just tell someone your fears, but that's really the only way you'll be able to get help.” Zephraim said, crouching down next to Spike. Spike sat down and continued to watch the sky as the two sat in silence. The wind was strong and the clouds moved quickly. After some time, Spike finally spoke up.

        “So... I know that this isn't exactly what you wanted to hear, but I think I learned a little more about you in our duel, and I'm still not sure whether or not you actually like Twilight. I know you care, and I can tell that you're trustworthy, but I just don't really...” He trailed off. Zephraim stood up.

        “Honestly, I don't know whether or not I actually 'like' Twilight. But at the very least, you telling me that you trust me is all I can really ask for. As long as you do that, I'm sure things will turn out fine.” Spike got to his feet and stood with him.

        “I sure hope so. Between you and me, I like the world the way it is. I don't really want to see it end.” Zephraim shrugged.

        “All we can do now is try our best and pray that it doesn't. Come on, it's getting late. Let's head back home.