Author's Note

Alright, this is the final version of this duel. It took me ages because of the constant corners I wrote myself into!

Rainbow's deck is just TOO GOOD!

Duel #1: Light up the Night! Ultra Athletes vs. Ancient Gears! (Part 2) (by Night-Quill) Rewritten

It came as no surprise that the declaration of Night Quill’s challenge had attracted quite the crowd come the end of the day, seeing how he would be dueling the third runner up of the Autumn Crown tournament. And with the pronounced, costly wager that the infamously confident athlete had not the wisdom to back down on.

Sunset sat with Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rarity, along with the Cutie Mark Crusaders along the bottom of the bleachers in the middle, both duelists taking a side parallel to the bleachers. If Sunset wasn’t mistaking, the both of them deliberately wanted the whole school’s attention. For Rainbow the reasons were obvious: She was Rainbow Dash, star athlete of Canterlot High and one of its top duelists to boot. Naturally she wouldn’t deny others the chance to see her go out and be ‘awesome’ as she often put it.

All around her and her friends duel disks switched on to spectator mode, herself complying as the touch screen of her black and red one lit up, awaiting the upcoming signal that was to trigger any minute now.

“Let’s hope Rainbow knows what she’s doin’” said Applejack, her own orange and green disk blaring to life, “Bronze, or silver or whatever she’s claimin’, especially with that wager she was so thickheaded to accept.”

“Why should she even comply to this stupid wager anyway?” asked Sunset Shimmer, the familiar pang of guilt reverberating through her mind, “We’re supposed to be past all that now.”

Pinkie Pie leaned next to Sunset, “Ooooh, someone hasn’t paid attention to theeese thiiings,” she sing-sang vaguely.

Sunset turned to Rarity in the hopes of an answer.

“It’s a matter of etiquette, darling,” said Rarity, “Of course, instead of it being pistols at dawn, Night Quill is asking Rainbow to temporarily relinquish her ability to duel.”

Sunset felt she was better left not understanding the foolishness of such a custom, instead looking over at the field as the two duelists approached one another, meeting in the middle of the field.

-

Rainbow Dash eyed the bowler hat wearing student with a wry smile of confidence, extending her hand, “Just to show I’ll honor our agreement, Quill.”

Night Quill took Rainbow’s hand, and promptly came to regret it as Rainbow squeezed tightly. Not hard enough to break or bruise anything, just enough to let him know she was not playing around.

She grinned as Night Quill rubbed his hand with an expression of discomfort, “Good. Maybe this will teach you to stay out of matters that don’t concern you, Dashie.”

Rainbow said nothing as the two turned around and assumed the adequate distance between one another. She watched as Night Quill activated his duel disk, a muted green like his vest and scarf, with black outlines. Rainbow followed suit, the two halves of the card tray sliding forward, combining, before sliding together along her arm with that strangely satisfying sound. Her screen blared to life as the auto-shuffler turned on, her cards rattling in their holder for a moment.

“Opponent detected.” said the synthesized voice through her duel disk, “Streaming data.”

A holographic image of Night Quill appeared over the device, “Duel mode set. Initiating.” The projection changed to the familiar split screen, her own image and field on the left, her opponent’s to the right with the grid of each other’s fields, “Commence duel?”

“You can bet on it,” said Rainbow, tapping the button with finality.

“Game start!”

-Rainbow Dash Life Points: 4000-

-Night Quill Life Points 4000-

The split screen flashed between her and Night Quill, the digital chime ringing as it stopped on Night Quill.

Turn 1: Night Quill

“Now let’s see here…” murmured Night Quill through the disks’ in-built communicator, “I draw.”

Night Quill looked over the cards fanned in his left hand and the one he just drew, “I start by setting one card,” a hologram of a facedown card materialized on his field, “Then activate the field spell ‘Geartown,’” a compartment at the front end of his duel disk’s tray slid out, placing his card into it, before he pushed it back into the tray.

The disks projected what looked like a small, industrial town rise within the soccer field. Around Night Quill and Rainbow Dash emerged a series of buildings incorporating intricate systems of gears and cogs that whirred to life.

“And from my hand I activate the spell ‘Ancient Gear Catapult:’ When I have no monsters in play, I can destroy one face-up card on my side of the field. So I’ll get rid of Geartown,” to which the town immediately began to crumble around them and sink back into the ground.

He just offed his own field spell the moment he played it? What’s his angle?

“After this I can special summon one Ancient Gear monster from my deck, ignoring any summoning conditions included,” he ran a finger across his disk’s touch screen, until the card of his choice slid out of his deck, “I summon my ‘Ancient Gear Golem’ in attack mode. (Level 8, 3000/3000)”

A large summoning portal opened before Night Quill, something big, and most definitely powerful slowly rising from the void, the first things to greet Rainbow Dash and the crowd being a single, ominous red glow from the emerging figure.

Rainbow looked on in sheer awe as from the portal emerged a towering antique looking humanoid robot. Composed of a faded brownish metal, the gaps showing off a series of intricate gearwork mechanisms. From within its head, which was shaped like the helm of a warrior of antiquity, through one of the eye holes, shone an ominous red light.

-

“Big robot!” cried Pinkie, pointing a perplexed finger at the gearworks automaton.

“And on his first turn,” added Applejack with a nod, visibly impressed.

-

“As a bonus; when Geartown is destroyed, it lets me special summon an Ancient Gear Monster from my hand, deck or graveyard,” said Night Quill with a smirk, “So in addition to my Golem, I’ll also summon ‘Ancient Gear Wyvern’ from my deck in attack mode. (Level 4, 1700/1200)”

The blue summoning portal opened: From within it emerged an antique mech in the shape of a two-legged dragon; a faded greenish brown in color with its exposed interiors also being composed of gearworks. A haunting yellow light shone from one of the gaps meant to be its eyes.

“When Ancient Gear Wyvern is summoned, I can add one Ancient Gear card from my deck to my hand,” his next choice slid out of his deck, “I pick ‘Ancient Gear Fusion’ to be added into my hand. But because of Wyvern’s effect I will not be able to set any more cards this turn. But I can still play spells, so I play ‘Ancient Gear Fortress’ to boot.”

The ground rumbled when a sandy brown, very antiquated looking tower began to rise behind Night Quill and his Golem and Wyvern, each facet adorned with a giant gear.

“I’ll end my turn there. Your move, Dashie,” Night Quill called with a determined look in his eyes.

-

“So, these are Ancient Gears, huh?” asked Applejack, eyeing her screen, “A 3000 attack and defense monster on the first turn and an extra to boot. Hmm, could be tough. But didn’t he just give ‘imself a mighty big liability?”

“That’s right,” added Rarity, “Rainbow Dash is most likely to send out her Dreadnought Dunker first chance she gets.”

“I’m not so sure,” Sunset replied, eyeing the towering Ancient Gear Golem warily, “He’s bound to be knowledgeable about Dash’s deck. What’s more; he has that Ancient Gear Fortress on the field too. I don’t think he’d risk such a big beatstick so carelessly…”

-

Turn 2: Rainbow Dash

“My move,” Rainbow drew her card, “I summon U.A. Midfielder in attack mode. (Level 4, 1200/1000)”

Emerging from the portal came Rainbow’s common starting monster, the white, green and orange neon armored soccer player that stood before her, arms crossed.

“I activate Midfielders ability; by returning him to my hand, I can special summon ‘U.A. Dreadnought Dunker!’ (Level 7, 2500/1800)”

Midfielder leapt back into the portal, followed by Rainbow’s primary offensive monster; the white and blue armored cybernetic basketball player leaping forth. He flexed his arms, grinning confidently, befitting his owner.

“Fitting; your monsters show off as much as you do,” chortled Night Quill.

Rainbow chuckled, “Hey, what’s not to look good while having fun?” she quipped before forcibly jerking a finger towards Ancient Gear Wyvern, “Dreadnought attacks Ancient Gear Wyvern!”

A shining blue ball of energy materialized in Dreadnought Dunker’s hands before rushing at the mechanical wyvern, dribbling at inhuman speeds before leaping into the air. He brought the ball up and over his head, ready to dunk it on top of the robot dragon.

“I play my facedown card; ‘Pulse Mines’!” Night Quill responded, pressing the trigger button.

Before Dreadnought Dunker could fling his orb, a series of spherical, violently crackling explosions covered Rainbow’s field, forcing him to fall back down, covering his face, along with Rainbow.

-

“What is that?!” called Fluttershy, the intensity of the simulation making some people in the audience hold up their hands protectively. Off the corner of her eye, she noticed how Pinkie’s cotton candy hair had somehow become even more frizzled, “How is that even possible?”

“Meh,” the party girl shrugged, “It’s always been very inconsistent…” she said flatly.

-

“Pulse Mines can only be activated as long as I control a machine-type monster on my side of the field; it forces your monsters to switch to defense position, thus negating your attack,” said Night Quill, “Also, any monster you summon for the remainder of this turn will be forced into defense position.”

Rainbow smirked, “Gotta admit; that was a nice opening hand on your part. Since I couldn’t deal damage, I couldn’t take out that golem of yours. But I’m not about to leave Dunker at the mercy of those things,” she slid a card out of her left hand, “I activate Dunker’s Ultra Athlete ability to return him to my hand and special summon Midfielder back. (Level 4, 1200/1000)”

Dreadnought Dunker, upon seeing the portal re-emerge behind him, performed a showy backwards somersault to dive back in, followed by the cybernetic soccer midfielder leaping out, sliding to a halt.

“At this point I play the quick-play spell ‘Inferno Reckless Summon!” Rainbow interjected, swiftly inserting the card into her duel disk, the image of the card sliding up onto the field, “I can activate this when I special summon a monster with 1500 or less attack points in attack mode while you also have a monster in attack mode. It lets me summon every copy of that summoned monster from my hand, deck and graveyard,” she elaborated, during which two cards slid out of her deck, “So I summon my other two Midfielders onto the field to join their teammate!”

A portal opened on both sides of Rainbow’s Midfielder. From each leapt out a matching duplicate of the soccer fighter, whom held up both hands for his newcomer teammates to receive a high-five from each of them.

“Though there is a catch,” Rainbow added, wincing slightly, though it was not in the least bit genuine, “It lets you special summon all copies of one monster on your side of the field as well. But I seem to recall you saying your Ancient Gear Golem has specific summoning conditions to fill…” she raised a daring brow.

Night Quill kept a neutral expression as a card slid out of his deck as well, “I special summon my second Ancient Gear Wyvern from my deck in attack mode,” at which a second mechanical wyvern emerged off the ground beside its duplicate, “And since I summoned another one, its effect lets me add an Ancient Gear card to my hand,” to which a card slid out from his deck again, flashing it as some form of trap card, “But, because of Pulse Mines’ effect, your Midfielders are switched to defense mode this turn.”

Rainbow’s assembled Midfielders all got down on a knee, bracing themselves to the ground.

“Maybe so, but it’s no problem for their other teammate;” she indicated one of the assembled soccer fighters, “I return one of my new Midfielders to special summon ‘U.A. Goalkeeper’ in defense mode. (Level 6, 1000/2800)”, to which one of her Midfielders leapt back through the portal, in return emerging Rainbow’s primary defender; a soccer goalie adorned in a full-body encompassing suit of predominately white armor with green glowing lines running through it. He took a hunched position beside the Midfielders.

“I place one card facedown, and it’s all yours, Quill,” she declared, pressing her right hand to her hip confidently.

-

“Alright, go Rainbow! Yaaay!” screamed Pinkie, swinging a pair of blue foam fingers she had inexplicably gotten out of nowhere.

“That was spectacular!” said Rarity eagerly, “Not only did she bring out all her Midfielders, now there’s no danger of Night Quill destroying them!”

“On top of that; since she still has two Midfielders out, she can switch ‘em both out at any point for a surprise beatin’!” added Applejack, no doubt her unwavering honesty overtaking the now much friendlier rivalry between her and the athlete.

-

Turn 3: Night Quill

Night Quill drew his card, “So you special summoned your deck’s main means of rotating your athletes and brought out the one monster that can protect them from being destroyed by attacks and effects. I’ll admit; a fine play on your part. Even if my Ancient Gear Golem attacks, any one of your monsters will survive regardless.”

Rainbow chuckled, “What can I say? I’m awesome.”

Night Quill frowned, “Nevertheless, time I put you in your place,” he slid a card into his disk, “I activate ‘Ancient Gear Fusion.’”

Rainbow swiftly brought a hand to her card tray, “Hold that though,” she blurted, her fingers over her remaining two Midfielders, “I activate my Midfielders’ abilities; sending them both back into my hand at the same time,” on cue, her soccer fighters retreated into the portals, “And in their place I bring back Dreadnought Dunker (Level 7, 2500/1800) and also special summon ‘U.A. Perfect Ace’ (Level 5, 1500/2500) in defense!”

Dreadnought Dunker somersaulted back onto the field, doing a needlessly dramatic landing on outstretched legs and one hand to the ground, while beside him emerged what looked to be a cybernetically armored baseball pitcher in white and dark teal armor, complete with a thick matching glove, and what looked like thrusters in the likeness of wings on his back and a visor helmet.

“I play Perfect Ace’s ability,” Rainbow declared, the new monster taking a stance like preparing for a pitch, “By discarding a card, I can negate the activation of a card or effect-” but as she moved to slide a card into her graveyard slot, her screen flashed red whilst Perfect Ace looked in his glove in confusion, “What?!”

Night Quill held an arm out the side, Ancient Gear Fusion gripped between his index and middle fingers, “Ancient Gear Fortress prevents you from activating effects in response to Ancient Gear cards and effects. Sorry, Dashie, but I’ve observed how you duel. I know what you’re capable of. So, without further delay…”

The instant the card’s image popped up, up above the fusion vortex opened. As it swirled, Ancient Gear Golem suddenly began to fall apart, armor plating being undone, unfurling its internalized systems of gears and cogs, all of the pieces being sucked in.

“Ancient Gear Fusion lets me perform a Fusion Summon using Ancient Gear Monsters in my hand and field. However, if Ancient Gear Golem is on my field, it also lets me take materials from my deck as well,” two cards slid out from his deck, which he seized and slid into his graveyard slot.

Silhouettes of two more Ancient Gear Golems appeared, which too quickly fell apart and were sucked in. Night Quill held out his arms as the vortex began to surge and crackle.

“Mechanical giants, bearing ancient souls; unite together and become a vessel of untapped power!”

Night Quill slammed his palms together, “Fusion Summon! Come forth! Level 9! ‘Ancient Gear Megaton Golem’! (3300/3300)”

Emerging from the portal came the largest monster Night Quill had summoned thus far. Its body was a much more pristine grey metal, its upper body identical in shape to Ancient Gear Golem, only in place of its normal two legs was a sextet of heavy, mechanical limbs, along with six arms matching those of Ancient Gear Golem’s. Three glowing dots emanated from within its helm of the head. A chorus of amazement permeated the soccer field as the students beheld Night Quill’s new monster descend with a muted boom.

-

“¡Ay-ay-ay! ¡Un robot aún más grande!” blurted Pinkie Pie, pointing at the new monster with eyes that looked like they would pop out of their holes.

“That… would be an apt way to put it, Pinkie,” concurred Rarity, raising a hand to her mouth in her amazement.

-

Rainbow looked at the new mechanical gestalt with a furrow, 3300 attack points for three golems? Even if he does attack I’ll barely feel it, what with my Goalkeeper, and those Wyverns can’t make a dent at all. Not to mention I have U.A. Penalty Box set, so I’m going to remove it from play anyway.

“I attack your U.A. Goalkeeper with Ancient Gear Megaton Golem!” Night Quill declared, pointing at the hunched goalie.

Ancient Gear Megaton Golem’s internal gears whirred to life as it trod towards the much smaller athletes, twisting its body to the side, its three right arms all outstretched for the strike.

“I activate Goalkeeper’s effect!” Rainbow called, on cue, a blue segmented forcefield materializing over the goalie.

The multi-limbed automaton swung all three fists in an arcing blow, shattering the forcefield.

“I activate-” but just when she pushed the trap trigger button, the facedown hologram on her field simply sparked, “Whu-?!”

“Ancient Gear Megaton Golem stops you from activating traps when it attacks until after the damage step. I told you Dashie, I’ve seen how you operate.”

Rainbow frowned, “You do know you still didn’t even destroy my monster, right?”

“Didn’t I?” asked Night Quill with a raised brow, to which he held out a hand and snapped his fingers.

The golem brought up its left, more claw-like arms and swung at Goalkeeper again in an upward scooping motion, sending him flying well off the field out of range from the holo-emitters.

“And then to get rid of your offense,” Night Quill added with a smirk.

The golem then reared up on its backmost legs and stomped down with a resounding boom, crushing Dreadnought Dunker under its sheer mass, billowing a cloud of virtual dust in its wake.

-Rainbow Dash Life Points: 3200-

“For every Ancient Gear Golem used in the fusion, Ancient Gear Megaton Golem can attack that many times each turn,” Night Quill elaborated, “Even if you were to fill your field back with your athletes, without Goalkeeper my golem will mow them down until there’s nothing left to defend you from the coup de grace.”

Rainbow grimaced, this time genuinely; the vision of Night Quill behind the large six-legged, six-armed golem and the two wyverns flanking it being positively sinister, added with the gear-embossed tower behind him. Rainbow then, oddly enough, grinned as she eyed her opponent, with the Ancient Gear Megaton Golem standing before him like the ultimate back-up pal, staring down at her ominously with the three red glowing dots that were its eyes.

“If I’d have known beforehand, I so would have sought you out during the Autumn Crown tournament!” she said, ecstatic, “Seriously, man! I feel friggin’ robbed over this!”

Night Quill stared back at her perplexed, before pursing his lips, “I end my turn.”

-

“Quite the spectacle, wouldn’t you say, girls?” Sunset and her friends looked up to see, to their surprise, Vice-principal Luna walk up to them along the bleachers, “May I?”

Fluttershy and Sunset graciously scooted to the side to let her seat herself between Sunset and Rarity.

“Vice-principal Luna? What brings you here?” asked Fluttershy, mirroring the rest of their surprise to see the secondary authority of Canterlot High among them.

The Vice-principal casually leaned her elbows against her knees, “Just enjoying a fine duel,” she chuckled with a smile that felt exceptionally sweet for the otherwise overly professional woman, “Those two are putting on a spectacular performance.”

“Were it not for the silly wager,” murmured Sunset.

“Hmm, I might have figured as such,” said Vice-principal Luna, shaking her head amusedly.

“You too, huh?” asked Sunset.

“Rainbow’s MyStable post said it all,” said Luna, looking over at Sunset, “I knew it would draw Night Quill’s ire.”

“Pardon me, Vice-principal Luna, but do you know the reason for this passive aggressiveness?” asked Rarity.

Luna looked over on the field as Ancient Gear Megaton Golem settled back down onto Night Quill's field, seeming to consider Rarity’s question thoroughly, “Night Quill has a… complicated relationship when it comes to his brother, Sharp Stroke. It’s had an adverse impact on him for a while now, hence what you see now.”

-

Turn 4: Rainbow Dash

Rainbow drew her card, “Seriously, why would you give up getting into the top sixteen of the Autumn Crown when pulling off stuff like this? You could have made top eight, if not even top four for sure!”

Night Quill frowned, “Why do you care?”

Rainbow rolled her eyes, “Because I know good skill when I see it. Even back then I was willing to admit that AJ over there,” she jerked a thumb towards the bleachers, “She was always my equal. I’d never say it in her face, especially back then, but it’s the truth. She could just as well have been in the finals. Rarity, Spitfire, Ember, you…”

Night Quill lowered his duel disk slightly, “Equal? Know what it means being ‘equal’? Nothing! You’re someone’s better, or their worse, whether you like it or not.”

Rainbow looked at her opponent with a shocked grimace, “That is some messed up thinking!”

“Not that you’d know; never having lived under someone else’s shadow, on top of the indignity of failure, Miss Star Athlete” Night Quill growled.

Rainbow reciprocated the bowler hat wearing student’s frown with a frustrated pout, before going over the sizable five cards she had in her hand so far; three being her saved Midfielders, while the other two were ‘Necro Gardna’ and ‘Hand Destruction’ that she just drew. She pursed her lips, not feeling eager to discard one of her few low-level monsters. On the other hand, leaving them out as fodder for night Quill’s Megaton Golem and Wyverns felt equally distasteful.

“I play the quick-play spell ‘Hand Destruction’,” Rainbow Declared, sliding the card into a slot, “With this, we both discard two cards, and draw twice.”

The two did as the card directed, both sliding two cards from their hands into the graveyard slots, to which their duel disks chimed in approval to draw. Rainbow looked at her two new cards; ‘Poinpoint Landing’ and ‘Back to the Front’.

“I next play the continuous spell ‘Pinpoint Landing,’” Rainbow slid her next card into a slot, “With this card in play, for the first time in each turn when I happen to special summon a monster from my hand, I can draw one card,” she then placed a hand over her tray, “I return Perfect Ace to my hand to special summon back one of my Midfielders in defense (1200/1000).”

On cue, Perfect Ace leapt into the summoning portal, Rainbow’s Midfielder dashing back onto the field, kneeling down vigilantly. To this her duel disk chimed once more, urging her to draw her new card. This should work nicely.

“I summon my second Midfielder back, also in defense,” she declared, the second copy of the cybernetically enhanced soccer player somersault out of the summoning portal, kneeling next to its kin.

“I then return that Midfielder back into my hand to bring back Perfect Ace in defense (1500/2500)” the second Midfielder skidded backwards into the portal, Perfect Ace hovering out with the thrusters donned on its back, assuming a hunch stance, one hand nestled into his glove, “I place one card facedown, and that’s all she wrote,” she quipped.

Turn 5: Night Quill

Night Quill drew, his hand being dauntingly full too with five cards. He seemed to be observing the field, keeping a rather well practiced poker face, not letting Rainbow read his expression.

“I place one card facedown,” he called, the card hologram materializing on his field, “I attack with Megaton Golem!”

Rainbow smirked, sliding a hand over the tray of her duel disk, “At this point I activate Midfielder’s ability; once during the opponent’s turn, I can return an Ultra Athlete other than him to my hand to special summon another one!”

“What point does that serve…? Unless one of the cards you drew was…” Night Quill muttered.

“I special summon, in defense mode, ‘U.A. Rival Rebounder’! (Level 6, 2200/2300)”, on Perfect Ace’s rocket propelled retreat, another, slightly less armored, and donning a different headgear, basketball player leapt out, landing into a kneeling position as he held his arms out in front protectively, “At this bit Pinpoint Landing’s effect activates,” to which she drew a card, “And when Rival Rebounder is special summoned during my opponent’s turn, he lets me special summon another Ultra Athlete from my hand, or the graveyard, so guess who’s back on the field, Quill?” she grinned daringly as her choice of card slid out from the graveyard.

“Don’t tell me…” muttered Night Quill, clearly sounding frustrated.

“That’s right; let’s welcome back U.A. Goalkeeper! (1000/2800)” Rainbow called out as the dark, purplish graveyard portal opened beside Rival Rebounder, the white armored soccer goalie emerging from within, whom Rebounder slapped firmly against the shoulder in welcome.

Night Quill grunted with frustration, as he would once again be forced to only destroying Rainbow’s monsters with little effect.

-

As her friends were scrutinizing events, Sunset noticed their vice-principal observing the duel with great intrigue, “Vice-principal Luna, you should know that Night Quill challenged Rainbow with an ante, that whosoever loses this match forfeits their deck to the victor for the rest of the term,” she said with urgency.

“Is that right?” she asked, glancing over in Night Quill’s direction of the duel.

“We’re past all this now, aren’t we?” Sunset said imploringly, “Can’t you call it off? We’re still on school property, under your jurisdiction. What if Night Quill’s animosity will just revert everything to the way before the Autumn Crown tournament?”

Luna closed her eyes contemplatively, “You are correct, Sunset,” she stated, looking over at Sunset, “If events don’t go favorably for Rainbow Dash, I will put an end to it.”

“Why not just now?” asked Sunset in confusion at the vice-principals strangely aloof demeanor.

“Night Quill lives under the impression that he needs to prove himself before others over a misguided sense of inferiority he’s struggling with,” she placed a hand on Sunset and Rarity’s shoulders in addressing the quintet, “This is already breaking student confidentiality, so I must ask that you keep this just between us.”

“You can trust us, Vice-principal Luna,” said Applejack with an earnest nod.

“I concur, our lips are very much sealed,” added Rarity for emphasis.

“I appreciate it,” said Luna, looking over at the duel in progress with everyone else, “You see, Night Quill himself applied for a position at Crystal Prep, after his brother had already graduated.”

“The international circuit duelist Sharp Stroke, right,” Sunset acknowledged.

“Back then an up-and-coming regional finalist,” Luna elaborated, “Night Quill’s dueling aptitude and drive were acceptable. It’s just that he has certain weaknesses, if going by grade level, to which he was decline enrollment. Hence why he’s here with us at CHS.”

“Ah always figured if you’re wealthy you can get into Crystal Prep no problem,” Applejack spoke with a hint of sourness.

“Most of the time,” Luna chuckled, “Sharp Stroke is one of few who made it based on merit alone: Their family comes from a humbler background, so he’s not just a pro-grade duelist, but an academic with high honors who went beyond what was expected of his standing. I’m not certain if any of you have had similar circumstances, but this reflected quite harshly on Night Quill’s credibility among family and peers.”

“Oh…” Sunset looked nowhere in particular, “I could sort of relate…”

“I guess he took to the…” she glanced at Sunset apologetically, “…Previous system like a fish to water where he could focus on proving his worth. I understand he’s not doing it out of any malice. He just wants to be acknowledged as something else other than just the inadequate sibling to an overachieving pro, who failed to live up to expectations.”

“Well, I could certainly understand wanting acknowledgement, but not like this,” said Rarity, sounding indignant.

“So then, why the forfeit of the Autumn Crown tournament when he’s clearly had the skill to make it?” asked Sunset.

“It’s psychological: When things don’t go in his favor or he fails in his efforts, it breaks him on the inside,” said Luna, to which she sighed, “I’ve been trying to help him understand that he does not need to compare to his brother and be recognized, but I haven’t been able to get through to him much.”

“So that’s why you’re not interrupting this,” Sunset said in realization.

Luna gave Sunset and approving look, “I believe perhaps dueling someone his equal might establish a connection other than family or faculty that would make him understand. Of course, this would require that Miss Rainbow Dash come out the victor.”

-

Night Quill looked over the cards in his hands, then his screen, his cool demeanor having given away slightly, as he was clearly frustrated over Rainbow’s seemingly unbreachable defenses.

“C’mon already,” called Rainbow, giving him a taunting wave, “Are you gonna attack or not?”

Night Quill appeared contemplative as he went over the field once more, “As you wish…” he smirked, “I attack Midfielder (DEF 1000) with one of my Ancient Gear Wyverns (1700/1200)!”

One of Night Quill’s wyverns revved back its segmented neck, launching its head forward, metallic jaws agape, followed by the uncanny sound akin to machinegun fire as Midfielder was pelted by a series of small explosions that obliterated him.

“I activate ‘U.A. Penalty Box’!” called Rainbow, to which four walls of wood with tall windows erupted around the wyvern, the top being blocked off by a row of energy beams. The contraption then sank underground, taking the mechanical dragon with it, “When your monster battles with an Ultra Athlete, this removes it from play until your second end phase!”

“At least I don’t need to worry about that anymore!” Night Quill retorted, “I now attack your Rival Rebounder (DEF 2300) with Megaton Golem (3300/3300)!”

Ancient Gear Megaton Golem’s internal gears revved to life once more as it swung down brutally with its left set of arms down on the kneeling basketball fighter. The strike swerved slightly sideways, missing its mark as the segmented forcefield that formed over its target shattered. The golem then brought around its right set of arms, obliterating Rival Rebounder with a resounding boom that no doubt would have left quite the sizeable crater if not for them being holograms.

“And lastly your Goalkeeper (DEF: 2800)!” Night Quill declared, snapping his fingers and pointing at the hunched goalie, which his golem subsequently smashed just as it had with Dreadnought Dunker previously with its frontmost legs, “Now you’re wide-open! I attack you directly with my second Ancient Gear Wyvern (1700/1200)!”

“I play my facedown card; ‘Return to the Front’!” Rainbow’ facedown revealed itself, the graveyard portal opening on her field from which emerged Rival Rebounder, kneeling defensively (DEF: 2300), “Yea, lucky for me your Wyverns don’t share the same trap negating effect as your golem. Return to the Front lets me special summon one monster from my graveyard in defense mode.”

“Oh for the love of-” Night Quill said with a grimace when a second graveyard portal opened beside Rival Rebounder.

“And since Rival Rebounder was special summoned on your turn again; he lets me special summon another Ultra Athlete from my graveyard; to which I choose my U.A. Dreadnought Dunker! (Level 7, 2500/1800)” from the portal in another flashy somersault leapt forth Rainbow’s basketball fighter, who proceeded to high-five its kneeling teammate before standing defiantly before the rearing wyvern.

Night Quill frowned, “I call off my attack,” his wyvern lowered its head, concealing the rotary gun nestled within its metallic jaws, “Since I now have two machine-types on my field, I can play from my hand ‘Iron Draw.’ This lets me draw two cards, but keeps me from special summoning more than once this turn,” his duel disk chimed, making his overall hand count six, “Next, I play the spell ‘Magical Stone Excavation;’ by discarding two cards, I can bring one spell card from my graveyard to my hand.

Rainbow glanced at her screen as his Ancient Gear Fusion was designated the target, the destructive spell sliding out of the graveyard slot.

“I then set one card facedown, and end my turn,” Night Quill declared with finality, his previously ebbing poker face having returned.

-

“Ah jus’ don’t like where this is goin’.” muttered Applejack, staring between the field and her duel disk’s screen intently.

“Two monsters and two face-down cards, not to mention him having that fusion card of his back,” added Rarity, inadvertently gripping at the folds of her skirt from the tension.

“But didn’t he send all three of his golems to the graveyard?” asked Fluttershy in a tensed whisper.

“For now, at least,” Sunset replied, eyeing Night Quill’s field suspiciously, “If he’s a fusion user like Flash and Twilight, he’s bound to have the means of bringing his materials back to him.”

Sunset glanced through her peripheral vision at Vice-principal Luna, who seemed to share the tenseness of the moment, her hands grasped together as she observed the spectacle before them.

-

Turn 6: Rainbow Dash

Rainbow drew her next card, to which one of Night Quill’s facedowns suddenly flipped up on the field.

“I activate the trap card ‘Jar of Avarice,’” he called over the communicator, “This lets me return five cards in my graveyard to my deck and draw once.”

Rainbow wasn’t certain whether or not she should have been relieved or remain concerned as she watched Night Quill’s disk eject five cards from its graveyard slot, which were promptly slid into the deck holder, initiating the auto-shuffler, after which he drew one card.

“I return Rival Rebounder to my hand, to bring Perfect Ace back out onto the field in attack mode, (Level 5 1500/2500)” on her field, Rival Rebounder leapt back into the portal, giving Dreadnought Dunker a smirking farewell, after which Perfect Ace came hovering onto the field with its thrusters, landing on its knees before assuming a slightly hunched pose mimicking a pitcher on the mound at the ready. Pinpoint Landing’s image flashed in response, followed by the familiar chime.

“Pinpoint Landing lets me draw once more,” which Rainbow did, making her overall hand-count six, giving her ample fodder for Perfect Ace’s effect, “Then I normal summon Midfielder (1200/1000) back out onto the field,” her opening monster slid out onto the field, “And I’ll return him immediately to special summon ‘U.A. Playmaker.’ (Level 8, 2600/2000)”

Backflipping back into the summoning portal, this time the Midfielder being replaced by a man in predominately white football armor with bright glowing orange grooves along its surfaces. He slammed an equally fiery glowing oval against his hand in threatening posture. Rainbow could see even at the distance how Night Quill’s lips became pursed.

“I attack Ancient Gear Wyvern (1700/1200) with Dreadnought Dunker!” Rainbow declared, jerking a finger towards the mechanical dragon.

Dreadnought Dunker leapt into the air as it had previously.

“At this point I activate Playmaker’s effect!” Rainbow announced, indicating the cybernetic linebacker, “By decreasing his attack points by 800 (2600 -> 1800), I can boost Dreadnought Dunker’s attack by the same amount (2500 -> 3300).

Playmaker tossed the fiery glowing football to Dreadnought Dunker, who in an impressive airborne flip snatched it and sent it torpedoing at Ancient Gear Wyvern, the impact resulting in a loud explosion that sent out a virtual dust cloud.

-Night Quill Life Points: 2400-

Finally left a mark! “And when Dreadnought Dunker inflicts battle damage, he lets me destroy one card on the field. And I’ve made the obvious choice!”

From the dust cloud the fiery glowing orb rebound and struck Ancient Gear Megaton Golem. With a resounding crash, the basketball fighter’s orange glowing sphere pierced through the robot’s chassis. It began to rattle and shake uncontrollably, its arms jerking awkwardly until its entire top section exploded into a spray of shrapnel and loosed gears, leaving only its legs standing, which then toppled into a heap of scrap, finally ending the mechanical giant.

“And here comes that coup de grace you mentioned earlier!” Rainbow shouted, pointing at Night Quill as Perfect Ace tensed in preparation.

Just then the heap of scrap metal that was Megaton Golem’s remains began to shiver, an ominous light beginning to emanate from the mess of virtual metal plates and gears. With a resounding crash, a large metallic fist erupted from atop the heap.

“When Ancient Gear Megaton Golem is removed from the field by an opponent’s card effect, it triggers its final effect,” Night Quill announced, indicating the shifting pile of scrap, “It lets me summon from my extra deck ‘Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem’, ignoring its summoning conditions!”

The scrap pile shifted and rumbled as the mass began to reshape itself. Arising, as each piece of faded metal and loosed gear found its place, a new gearworks automaton took the place of the demolished Megaton Golem. It seemed even heftier than the monster whose remains made up its body, once more bearing a resemblance to Ancient Gear Golem, though its metal assumed a sandy brown hue, and instead of walking on two legs, or six, its lower half was composed of an entirely new, quadruped body, like a centaur, with three tails composed of chains. In place of its left arm was instead a more pristine, vicious battering ram with three claws jutting out at the end. (Level 10, 4400/3400)

-

Pinkie Pie's jaw proceeded to drop to an almost unnatural width, “¡Dios mio! ¡Un robot que es mucho más grande!”

“At least your Reinish is coming along nicely, Pinkie,” Rarity complimented before looking back up at the aforementioned “robot that is much bigger”.

“So that’s his trump card?” asked Sunset, looking over the monster’s stats, the whopping 4400 attack points making it outclass most monsters she’d seen in Duel Monsters yet.

-

Rainbow smirked, “So that’s why you let me attack openly…” she mused aloud.

“Indeed, I realized trying to mow down your field with multiple attacks was proving futile, so I deliberately baited you with my Ancient Gear Wyvern so that you’d destroy Megaton Golem with Dreadnought Dunker. Now even with your Playmaker out, you won’t have enough time to build up your attack strength to outdo my Ultimate Golem,” Night Quill smirked, “Sorry, Dashie, but it looks like I’ll be the coveted bronze medalist until today is done.”

“Pity you couldn’t have earned it in the tournament,” Rainbow noted, “Seriously, you just gotta know that you’re good. Why would you just quit after losing a single duel. To Flash Sentry! It’s only Flash Sentry we’re talking about.”

Night Quill frowned again, “I can’t afford to lose,” he stated with strong finality, “Not to anyone. Not ever…”

Rainbow crossed her arms, as best as one would wearing a duel disk, at any rate, “I thought I had it bad during the…” she glanced towards the bleachers, the sight of Sunset making her immediately regret bringing up the past, “During the past system. Night Quill, the days of the Autumn Crowns back then are over: You’re not going to have authority in this school regardless if you beat me. Trust me, Principal Celestia offered the title to Sunset and Flash since Twilight up and vanished. And Sunset had just finished undoing that mess.”

Night Quill sighed, “I figured as much…”

“So that’s what this is? You want to be old Sunset point two? You want to make everyone turn against each other?!” Rainbow looked angrily at her opponent, “Do you know how much I lost over that crap trying to best AJ? She was my best friend, and is again, and I can’t be happier. I could have lost so much more if someone hadn’t reminded me of how much more dueling is…” she looked back at the bleachers, spotting the three CMC girls with her friends, specifically Scootaloo.

Night Quill grit his teeth, “Are you done with your turn?”

Rainbow looked at the angered Night Quill disapprovingly, before going back to her hand, “I return Playmaker into my hand to special summon Midfielder back onto the field in defense, (1200/1000)” she declared more glumly, as Playmaker leapt back once more into the summoning portal, followed by Midfielder vaulting onto the field, assuming a defensive kneel, “I set two cards face-down. There. Your move.”

Turn 7: Night Quill

Night Quill drew, “It’s time to put an end to this…” he muttered, “I set a card face-down,” he pointed a finger forcefully at Midfielder, “I attack your Midfielder with Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem!”

Rainbow furrowed her brow as the latest gearworks automaton trampled across the field at the kneeling Midfielder, bringing up its vicious battering ram towards him.

“Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem inflicts piercing damage, and like its cousins, you can’t activate spells or traps when it attacks! You’re finished, Dashie!” Night Quill proclaimed, grinning eagerly.

4400 attack points, can’t be stopped by traps, and my Midfielder has only 1000 defense to my 3200 life points…!

Pinkie Pie let out and overblown, wheezing gasp, her hair, and somehow, her foam fingers deflating against all logic.

“And Rainbow only has 3200 life points remaining!” Rarity fretted.

Fluttershy let out a squeaked whimper in response to everyone else’s dire commentary.

-

Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem’s battering ram arm connected with what sounded like an earth-shattering impact. The crowd of students watching let out a collective gasp, as another cloud of billowing virtual smoke arose come the resounding boom.

“It’s over!” Night Quill declared, holding up a fist in triumph, “It wouldn’t have had to come to this, but you just couldn’t have left well enough alone, Dashie. Though at the very least I trust you that you will honor the terms of our wager, just as you said.”

-Rainbow Dash Life Points: 3200-

Night Quill raised a perplexed brow as the dueling system hadn’t responded, “Huh? Is the system glitching?”

When the dust began to clear, Rainbow’s monsters revealed themselves, all three unscathed. The crowd let out a unanimous chorus of amazement and befuddlement, as Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem’s fist was being held back; not having quite reached its target.

“What?!” Night Quill blurted, “A trap?! But Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem prevents you from activating traps in battle! What did you…?!”

The clouds finally cleared, with Rainbow standing defiantly behind her monsters, her finger resting on her duel disk’s screen. The rainbow-haired athlete smirked with her trademark confidence as everyone’s attention turned to whatever was keeping the golem's attack from getting through:

An astral silhouette hovered just before Midfielder: A humanoid in red and blue thorny armor with long white hair and an expressionless red mask with glowing yellow eyes. Its arms, crossed protectively at its front, had stopped Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem’s attack from reaching. A card slid out from Rainbow Dash’s graveyard slot, which she took and slid into the banished compartment.

-

“Rainbow chose well,” Luna commented, “She banished ‘Necro Gardna’ (600/1300) from her graveyard to negate Night Quill’s attack,” Sunset and her friends’ stares did not go unnoticed by the vice-principal, to which she couldn’t help but chuckle mirthfully, “I have been around the dueling scene quite a bit.”

-

“Necro Gardna?!” Night Quill stood, perplexed, “But how did you…?! You put it in your graveyard using Hand Destruction…”

“Yea, just kinda forgot for a moment,” Rainbow chuckled sheepishly.

“I’ll admit; you certainly are worthy of the bronze medal…” said Night Quill in a strikingly humble manner.

Rainbow brought her hands to her hips, “You could have been too, if you hadn’t just quit so far into the tournament.”

Night Quill growled frustratedly, “I set one card facedown and end my turn…” he muttered, having three facedowns on his field.

“But before you do,” Rainbow interjected, “I use Midfielder’s effect to return Perfect Ace to my hand,” Perfect Ace once more hovered into the portal with its wing thrusters, “To special summon back Rival Rebounder in defense mode, (2200/2300)” after which the lighter armored basketball fighter emerged into its defensive kneel, “Since I special summoned a monster from my hand, Pinpoint Landing’s effect lets me draw a card.”

The purple graveyard portal appeared once more beside Midfielder, “And with Rival Rebounder, I can special summon an Ultra Athlete from my graveyard, so I’ll bring back Goalkeeper (1000/2800) in defense mode!” the armored soccer goalie emerge once more, making Rainbow’s field presence comprise of Dreadnought Dunker (3300/1800), Rival Rebounder (2200/2300), Midfielder (1200/1000) and Goalkeeper (1000/2800) against Night Quill’s only monster (4400/3400).

Just then the penalty box erupted back out of the ground, releasing the confined Ancient Gear Wyvern from its containment back onto Night Quill’s field (1700/1200)

Turn 8: Rainbow Dash

“Alright, my go,” Rainbow drew her card, “At this point I’ll return Midfielder to my hand to special summon back Playmaker (2600/2000),” she declared as Midfielder once more leapt into the portal, replaced by the cybernetic linebacker.

“I activate my face-down card; ‘Bottomless Trap Hole!” Night Quill called out, one of his three facedowns rising up.

Before Playmaker had the chance to touch the ground, the earth under his feet suddenly opened up into a pitfall with a swirling vortex of darkness within. The linebacker fell into the blackness within, after which the pitfall closed.

“Bottomless Trap Hole destroys a summoned monster with 1500 or more attack points and banishes it,” Night Quill explained, prompting Rainbow to slide Playmaker’s card into the banished compartment, “I know what you’re up to, Dashie; you’re trying to boost your Dreadnought Dunker high enough so that it could destroy my golem.”

Rainbow pouted, “Well, even if you did destroy Playmaker, I can still draw a card from the effect of Pinpoint Landing,” her duel disk chimed, allowing her to draw, having accrued a sizable seven cards in her hand, “I return Rival Rebounder to my hand to summon ‘U.A. Mighty Slugger’ in attack mode!”

Another one of Rainbow’s athletes took to the field, this time a black and silver armored baseball batter, red gauges lining the sides of his outfit, as he brandished a futuristic baseball bat with a red glowing hull.

“And I equip him with ‘U.A. Powered Jersey,” to which a white addition of armor appeared and tethered itself to Mighty Slugger, sending a surge of power through his body, causing his bat to change from a muted red to a radiant orange, “Powered Jersey increases an Ultra Athlete’s attack points by 1000, and if it destroys an opponent’s monster, it can attack a second time. And any battle damage you take from the equipped monster is doubled (2300 -> 3300).”

“I see, you’re concerned over my facedown cards, hence why you wasted your move bringing out that weaker Mighty Slugger,” Night Quill surmised, “Then let me alleviate your concerns. I activate my second facedown; ‘Limiter Removal!’”

A surge of electricity ran through the card’s image, which trailed down onto the field and flooded its way into Night Quill’s golem (4400 -> 8800) and wyvern (1700 -> 3400), “When Limiter Removal is activated, it doubles the attack power of all machine monsters on my side of the field, but at the end phase of this turn they are destroyed. I will not permit you to destroy Wyvern to get at my Golem.”

Rainbow smiled, not perturbed in the slightest, “You may have noticed I still have plenty of cards in my hand; one of them being ‘Guard Penalty,’” she elaborated, sliding said card into her disk, “This card lets me target one monster on your side of the and change it’s position, and lets me draw a card to boot.”

Night Quill watched as his Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem suddenly knelt down on its equine-like lower body (DEF: 3400), “Your monsters are still too weak to face up to either my golem or Wyvern, even if Limiter Removal only doubles attack points.”

“Wanna put that to the test?” Rainbow swung her arm forth, “I attack Ancient Gear Wyvern with Mighty Slugger!” the powered-up Mighty Slugger reared his bat, a glowing blue sphere appearing before him in the path of his swing.

“At this point I activate my trap card; ‘Battleguard Rage!’” one of Rainbow’s two facedowns lifted, “This boosts a warrior-monster’s attack by 1000 points, but instead of going to the graveyard, the monsters it destroys return to your hand!”

Mighty Slugger (3300 -> 4300) swung its bat, sending the sphere rocketing at Ancient Gear Wyvern, which exploded upon impact.

Night Quill grimaced in disbelief as the system feedback caused his left arm to jerk, causing him to teeter backwards is if by some invisible strike.

-Night Quill Life Points: 600-

“And then for your golem!” Rainbow continued with her assault, Might Slugger launching another sound-barrier breaking slug.

The second attack flew straight through the defending Ultimate Golem. Like its predecessor, it began to shake violently, but this time a series of smaller explosions racked its body internally, before falling into a heap of smoldering metal.

-

“Hoo-ey! Two for one!” hollered Applejack, standing up, “Great duelin’ out there Dash! You got ‘im now!”

The crowd sprung into uproarious cheers with Applejack, Pinkie cartwheeling along the front of the bleachers in cheer.

-

Night Quill grit his teeth as the crowd began to chant Rainbow’s name, “I’m not finished yet! I activate my final facedown; ‘Ancient Gear Reborn’!”

The ground before Night Quill burst forth as a large, forebodingly familiar metallic arm thrust forth, pushing against the ground, revealing itself as the previously thought destroyed Ancient Gear Megaton Golem, rising back on top of its six legs (3500/3300).

At the same time, the remains of Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem sprouted a similar pair of brownish hued arms that too braced the ground and pushed up, revealing a newly risen original Ancient Gear Golem (3000/3000).

“Whoa! What the hell?!” exclaimed Dash as two of the monsters she’d spent the entire duel painstakingly to try and avoid being hit by suddenly arose once again.

“Ancient Gear Reborn lets me special summon an Ancient Gear monster from the graveyard if I have no monsters on my field, and increases its attack points by 200. Also, when Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem is destroyed, it special summons the original Ancient Gear Golem from the graveyard, ignoring its summoning conditions,” Night Quill iterated, flanked by the two resurrected golems.

-

Pinkie stopped midway through a cartwheel, landing with her legs split apart front and back, but it seemed to not even inconvenience the party girl as she beheld what was happening on the field.

“Aw, come ooon…”

-

“I will not make that same mistake again. You may have shaved off most of my life points, but in terms of power I still outdo you. Your Powered Jersey equipped monster will have to return to your hand if you plan on keeping it, and without your Playmaker you can no longer power-up your monsters,” Night Quill said boastingly.

-

Even if she risks attacking with Dreadnought Dunker, I’ll still have 300 life points, and she knows if she destroys Megaton Golem, I’ll just summon another Ultimate Golem. In my hand I have Ancient Gear Fusion and Ancient Gear Workshop, with which I will just summon Ultimate Golem again regardless. I have plenty of fodder thanks to not summoning excess monsters because of that Dunker.

None of her remaining monsters can stand up to it. No matter what, I’ve won. And then I can move on to beat Flash Sentry, and then Sunset Shimmer, now that it’s proven she can be beat…

-

“Night Quill,” Rainbow called out, “Listen, I don’t know what it is between you and your brother that riles you up so bad. But I just wanted you to know, despite all the aggression, I had a lot of fun!”

Night Quill looked perplexingly at Rainbow Dash, “What? The duel is far from over! Even if you attack with Dunker, I’ll still have life points left. Or are you trying to appeal to my better nature to try and get out of our wager? News flash, Dashie; I don’t have one.”

Rainbow let out a scoffing chuckle, “Keep telling yourself that. Deep down, I bet you just want to enjoy this like everyone else, but there’s just something in you that’s stopping you and you just won’t let go.”

-

Sunset blinked as she saw what she though was a ghostly silhouette hovering beside Rainbow Dash. Even after rubbing her eyes, she saw as it persisted. The apparition was that of a light blue, fey-like woman, matching Rainbow’s skin tone, with a waving head of rainbow-colored hair, garbed only in a blue see-through veil, and had what looked to be wings on its back.

Pietas?! Sunset thought, looking down at her deck, when she realized the faint blue glow emanating from some of the cards. She promptly covered it with her hand and looked around flustered. To her surprise, no-one seemed to have noticed the fairy floating beside the star athlete.

“Sunset?” Rarity looked at her with concern, “Are you alright?”

Sunset looked back at the fashionista, her eyes darting between her and Pietas, who remained at Rainbow’s side still.

“Y-yea! Yea, I’m alright, just thought I heard something,” she said dismissively, noticing that her deck was still glowing softly.

-

“If this is what it gets you to listen, then I guess it’s what I gotta do,” sighed Rainbow, sliding a card from her hand and onto her duel disk, “I play the quick-play spell ‘Arrivalrivals.’”

-

Sunset watch intently as Pietas reached out into Rainbow’s hand, the two of them, herself also not noticing the Harmony Spirit beside her, in tandem placed a specific card into her duel disk. Sunset’s own duel disk’s screen showed the card Rainbow, and Pietas by extent, had played.

-

“This spell lets me conduct a normal summon during the battle-phase, to which I summon ‘Spell Striker’ from my hand,” she declared, taking another card from her hand and slapping it onto the tray.

Materializing onto the field was a tiny, humanoid adorned in simple blue armor, most notably a horned helmet and donning a red cape. In one hand it held onto a wand with a zigzagged tip (Level 3 600/200).

“What are you…?” Night Quill muttered.

“Spell Striker, with its effect, attacks you directly!” Rainbow declared, pointing straight at Night Quill.

Night Quill’s eyes widened upon seeing the card statistics on his duel disk, and seeing his current amount of life points, “No…”

The small Spell Striker ran forth on its stubby legs, seeming to go entirely unnoticed by the looming Ancient Gear Golems, towards Night Quill, who was looking on at the spectacle in utter disbelief. It bounced into the air, hovering just before the bowler-hat wearing duelist, and raised its wand. With a swing, it sent a jolt of electricity that sparked against the forcefield around him. Despite no feedback from the system, Night Quill, his expression retaining the look of shock and indignation, slumped to his knees.

-Night Quill Life Points: 0-