"Attention duelists! My mullet is informing you that the duel between Marik Ishtar and Lyra Heartstrings will begin in three minutes!"

"You get him, Lyra!" Bon-Bon cheered her friend on. "Show Marik that you're no pushover and win this for us!"

"I will. Trust me, I will," Lyra strolled down the bleachers with a definite spring in her step.

"Hey, where did Mokuba go?" Twilight asked.

"Who?" everyone else asked in response.

"You know, Kaiba's little brother, confirmed to us what's going on with Kaiba? Anyone?" Twilight went on.

"I remember beating up two guys with him one time, but that's about it," Yugi responded.

"Maybe he got kidnapped," Joey suggested. "He tends to have that happen to him frequently."

"Then we have to go save him!" Twilight rose from her seat and sprinted down the bleacher steps in search of Mokuba.

"Yeah! What are we doing just sitting here?!" Applejack followed after Twilight, along with the rest of the Rainbooms and Sunset Shimmer.

"Honestly, what are they so concerned about?" Joey remarked. "Mokuba's going to be fine at the end of all this, guaranteed."

"Who?" Tristan asked.

"Attention duelists! The duel between Marik Ishtar and Lyra Heartstrings is about to begin!"

Marik and Lyra drew their starting hands at their Life Point counters rose to, you guessed it, 8,000.

"It's my turn!" Marik drew a card. "First I'll set one card face down, then I'll summon Ra's Disciple in defense position!"

On Marik's side of the field, an Egyptian man clad in a breastplate and a cape that seemed to be made of pure gold, along with an embroidered loincloth around his waist and a helmet resembling the head of a great falcon on his head, appeared, kneeling in front of the tombkeeper who summoned him. He had only 600 Defense Points.

Ra's Disciple?! That's one of the most powerful cards in all of Duel Monsters! Sugoroku said.

"Grandpa, you think Kuriboh is a powerful card," Yugi pointed out.

Kuriboh?! That's one of the most powerful cards in all of Duel Monsters! Sugoroku said.

"I think that'll do for now," Marik said.

"It's my turn!" Lyra drew a card. "I summon the Pony Of Fire in attack position!"

On Lyra's side of the field, a pony with a pure white coat and a mane and tail that appeared to be made of fire shimmered onto the field with 2,200 Attack Points.

"Due to Pony Of Fire's effect, I get to summon another 'Pony Of' monster to the field from my hand!" Lyra placed another monster down. "So I summon the Pony Of Water attack position!"

Another pony, this time with a light blue coat and a flowing mane and tail that seemed to be made of pure water appeared on the field to the left of Lyra's Pony Of Fire, also with 2,200 Attack Points.

"Both of these monsters start with one humanity counter attached to them," Lyra explained. "Now, monsters, attack!"

Lyra's Pony Of Fire and Pony Of Water immediately began to gallop forward, with Pony Of Water headbutting Ra's Disciple and shattering him and Pony Of Fire shooting a column of fire directly at Marik as he screamed and writhed in false agony and his Life Points fell to 5,800.

"I end my turn!" Lyra declared.

"No! You destroyed Ra's Disciple!" Marik drew a card as he tried his best to sound distraught. "But it was all according to plan! I place one card face down and play Monster Reborn to bring back Ra's Disciple in attack position!"

Ra's Disciple returned to the field with 1,100 Attack Points to his name.

"Due to my monster's special effect, I get to summon two more of Ra's Disciples from my deck!" Marik searched through his deck for his new monsters and shuffled. "Arise, Ra's Disciples!"

Two identical copies of Ra's Disciple appeared on either side of the original, all standing firm against their opposition.

"So you summoned more of him. So what?" Lyra asked derisively.

"I'm not finished yet!" Marik slammed another monster onto his playing field, and the whole arena began to glow with an almost blinding golden aura as Ra's Disciples winked out of existence. "Tell me, Lyra, have you ever danced with the pale moonlight in the middle of the day?"

"Wh-what?" Lyra asked confusedly.

"Never mind, it sounded better in my head. Now, come forth, Winged Dragon of Ra!" Marik called out, an arm raised skyward.

Behind Marik, a shining golden sphere ascended like the rising sun, making Marik look like he was about to make the best slam dunk in the history of basketball, only he was playing Duel Monsters. The light from the sphere was so bright that everyone in the gymnasium shielded their eyes.

"Nyeh, I don't remember the Winged Dragon Of Ra being this bright before!" Joey remarked.

"Who?" Tristan asked.

When the sphere reached its zenith, it unfolded into a phoenix-like creature, made of gold and wreathed with divine fire. This Winged Dragon Of Ra had 3,300 Attack points with which to exercise its divine wrath. "Now, Winged Dragon Of Ra, annihilate her Pony Of Water!" Marik commanded.

"Reverse card, open!" Lyra countered as she flipped over her face down card. "Negate Attack! This card lets me negate one attack that you-"

"Are you seriously explaining Negate Attack to me?!" Marik interrupted.

"Yeah," Lyra said. "Do you even know what it does?"

"Its effect is in its frigging- you know what, I'm going to end my turn!" Marik shouted.

Yami Bakura was lounging in Canterlot High's empty library, putting his feet up on his former council meeting table and examining a trading card while feeling extremely satisfied with himself, when suddenly seven technicolor skinned girls wielding all manner of instruments and sound equipment barged into the room and surrounded him, seemingly ready for a concert.

"Oh bollocks, it's you," he said disgustedly. "What the hell do you girls want?"

"We know what you did with Mokuba," Applejack said as threateningly as she could muster.

"Mokuba? Mokuba...wait, who are you talking about again?" Yami Bakura asked.

"Don't play dumb with us, Bakura," Rainbow Dash said derisively. "Undo your spell on him, or we will be forced to use force."

"'Forced to use force'?!" Yami Bakura stood up and guffawed heartily, unnerving the Rainbooms. "Oh, that's the best thing I've heard all day! Go on, use your force!"

"Alright, your funeral," Rainbow Dash strummed a sweet riff on her electric guitar, sending a teal energy blast Yami Bakura's way. Before Rainbow's blast could slap some sense into Yami Bakura, his Millennium Ring's tendrils pointed at it and 'caught' it, so to say, rebounding it as a sound wave knocking all of the Rainbooms off of their feet.

"Are you seriously trying to fight me with instruments?" Yami Bakura laughed some more. "Oh, that's rich!"

Rainbow Dash picked herself up, dusted herself off, and sighed. "Desperate times call for drastic measures," she plugged a sound amplifier into the outlet behind her and raised her microphone to her mouth. "And IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII..." the Rainbooms covered their ears as Yami Bakura fell over screaming, being caught completely off guard. "...will always love you!

Yami Bakura sprinted out of the library at full speed as he tried to pick up his trading card and cover his ears at the same time. "Sirens of death, trouble me no more!" As Yami Bakura made his hasty retreat and Rainbow Dash stopped singing, the library became eerily quiet. The Rainbooms noted that the librarian should've scolded them for being excessively loud in the library, but no librarian was to be seen.

"I think we just won," Sunset Shimmer noticed.

"No, really?!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed exasperatedly.

"It's my turn!" Lyra drew a card. "That means my 'Pony Of' monsters get one more humanity counter! So now I'll play my Portal To The Human World spell card, giving them each one more humanity counter, and then I'll spend their humanity counters and use their effects in order to banish them from the field and special summon the Champion Of Fire and the Champion Of Water to the field in attack position!"

The Pony Of Fire and the Pony Of Water both shined white and left the field, in their place rising two knights clad in full mail armor, one with a pale white face and red-orange hair spiked like a wildfire and the other with a more light blue complexion and voluminous hair that flowed like a river respectively. Both Champions had 4,400 Attack Points.

Marik glanced in Lyra's direction and did a double take. "Gah! How the hell did you summon those?!"

"Were you seriously not listening to a word I said?" Lyra asked derisively.

"Sorry, what did you say again?" Marik asked.

"Forget it. Champion Of Fire, attack his Winged Dragon Of Ra!" Lyra commanded. The Champion Of Fire ran forth valiantly, his hair flickering like a raging campfire as he unsheathed his broadsword. Unfortunately, Marik had a trap card prepared for this occasion.

"You've activated my trap card, Magical Hats!" Marik exclaimed.

"Magical Hats?!" Lyra exclaimed.

"Magical Hats!" Marik confirmed. "Magical Hats allows me to hide the Winged Dragon Of Ra along with two spell or trap cards inside of three hats," Suddenly, the Winged Dragon Of Ra disappeared in a puff of smoke, and three magician's top hats adorned with question marks took his place. "One hat contains the deity you wish to slay, the others contain cards that will wipe out all of your monsters. With that in mind, I have just one thing to ask. Do you feel lucky?"

"I do!" Lyra boasted with extreme confidence. "Champion Of Fire, attack the middle hat!"

Champion Of Fire swung his broadsword at the middle hat, launching a curved orange blade of energy and causing the hat to shatter. Underneath the hat, the card Raigeki was revealed, prompting a look of dread on Lyra's face as her monsters were vaporized by thunderous bolts of lightning.

"Not lucky enough," Marik said as the Winged Dragon Of Ra was revealed to be in the right hat.

"Well, I end my turn!" Lyra crossed her arms in a paltry act of defiance.

"This ain't good for Lyra," Joey said. "With no monsters on the field, the Winged Dragon Of Ra will make her into toast!"

"Joey, we gathered that already," Tea replied.

"Yeah, thank you Captain Obvious," Yugi snarked.

"It's my turn!" Marik drew a card. "Hey Lyra, do you want to hear a fun fact?"

"No," Lyra said,

"The Hieratic Text on the Winged Dragon Of Ra card says I can pay all but one Life Point and add that value to Ra's Attack Points," Marik's Life Points dropped all the way to 1 while the Winged Dragon Of Ra's Attack Points soared to an astronomical 9,099, and divine fire began to jump from part to part on its body like solar flares. It was at this point Lyra realized that fun facts are not always fun.

"Th-that's n-not real!" Lyra stammered. "You can't do that!"

"I just did!" Marik boasted. "Now, finish this, Winged Dragon Of Ra!"

The Winged Dragon Of Ra made a cry like a falcon's, except more booming and regal, as the field became saturated with blinding light. A searing hot wave of fire blasted Lyra off her feet and onto the gymnasium floor as she screamed in what seemed to be real pain and her Life Points went straight to zero.

Pegasus just stood on the podium blinking for a few seconds, before coming to his senses and realizing that the duel was over. "Uh, it appears we have a winner! Congratulations, Marik! You'll get to face Yugi boy in the Losers' Bracket finals!"

"Why is it called the Losers' Bracket, anyways?" Marik questioned. "I'd prefer it to be called the Winning Impaired Bracket."

"You know what, I'm not even going to dignify that with a response," Pegasus said.

Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna, who were supervising the matches this time, rushed over to Lyra, growing concerned after she laid on the floor breathing heavily and moaning in pain for a good while. Principal Celestia pushed up Lyra's sleeves and saw that she had legitimate burn marks all over her body. "She has second-degree burns!" she turned to look up towards Pegasus. "Are you sure this is even safe?!"

"Not at all!" Pegasus admitted. "This is actually a very dangerous card game, where only the most mystically capable players even make it out alive."

"We can have you arrested for this, you know!" Vice-Principal Luna threatened, to which Pegasus chuckled.

"You and what lawyers?" he asked tauntingly.

"What are you even going to tell the police?" Marik asked. "'This girl was burned with ancient Egyptian magic channeled through a children's card game.' That sounds stupid to me, and I'm the one who legitimately did that!" Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna grumbled as they carried Lyra's smoldering, whimpering form out of the gymnasium and to the nurse's office.

"Nyeh, when I said Lyra was going to be made into toast, I didn't mean that literally," Joey said concernedly.

"That's it, I'm so going to kick Marik's ass in a card game!" Yugi said resolutely.

Hear hear, Yugi! Yami's translucent form gave Yugi the thumbs up.

Author's Note

Will Yugi beat Marik in their upcoming duel?! What will Yami Bakura do next?! Will Pegasus ever get arrested for what he's done?! And what the hell is even going on with Kaiba?!

Find out on the next few episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh Z!