Chapter 6: Watching Elemental Critical Strike (Part 2)
Disclaimer: I. OWN. NOTHING!
…
Turn 6: Zackery Aegis
Zackery Aegis: 2800LP vs Eddie Terror: 4200LP
Zackery Aegis Hand: 1 vs Eddie Terror Hand: 1
"My move now. I draw." Zack said as he drew his card.
"I now play the spell card Pot of Greed. I can now draw two more cards from my deck." Zack said.
Pot of Greed
Spell Card: Normal
The same green pot then appeared on the field again, and disappeared as Zack drew two new cards. Team RWBY then realized they may be seeing that card over and over. Zack looked at his hand and had a plan.
"First off, I play the spell card R-Righteous Justice! Now for each Elemental Hero monster that I control, I can destroy one spell or trap card that you have on your field. I count two, so two of your spell cards are going to go out with a bang. I'm destroying your Soul Absorption, and I'm taking back my Panther!" Zack said, as he played his card.
"Yes! That means Frightfur Bear will become weaker." Jaune noted.
"And Dark Panther will be back in Zack's possession." Oscar added.
"My effect destroys spells and traps with a Yang! Guys?" Yang punned, causing several groans.
The groans were not exclusive to the characters on screen.
Even Yang was awkwardly scratching the back of her head before sighing. "Yeah… I'll admit, not one of the best ones I could've made." She admitted.
"Yeah, it was completely unprompted is the problem." Tai added.
Neptune leaned over to Sun and whispered. "That's not the only problem." He said, getting a nod of agreement from Sun.
"Ignoring the pun, I do have to wonder how that spell is gonna work in terms of execution." Pyrrha commented.
R-Righteous Justice
Spell Card: Normal
The R-Righteous Justice card showed a yellow R as it emitted a red energy. Clayman and Burstinatrix then started to glow red as they then charged. Burstinatrix created a fireball, and fired it at the Soul Absorption, destroying it. What Clayman did was either epic, or disgusting. Team RWBY wondered how Clayman was going to reclaim Dark Panther. Clayman then rushed towards Frightfur bear, as he then forcefully opened his mouth with his hands, as he then jumped into his mouth. Clayman literally jumped into Frightfur Bear's mouth! Everyone, except Zack, was shocked by this.
"EEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Everyone, except Zack, screamed. This included Eddie.
Everyone's jaw dropped at the sight of Clayman's crazy stunt, even Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury. "Did that… seriously just happen?" Was all Cinder had the capacity to say.
"I think it did, but I still can't believe it…" Jaune said.
"I feel like my eyes just short-circuited." Penny muttered in disbelief as Coco's glasses slid down her face and fell on the floor while Velvet pinched herself to see if she was dreaming.
Frightfur Bear eyes then showed a shocked expression, as the top part of his body started shaking. Clayman then jumped out of his mouth, as he was carrying Dark Panther in his arms. Dark panther then turned into a mass of light, as he then returned to the graveyard.
Everyone was silent at the fact that Clayman survived jumping into the monster's mouth and supposed stomach, until…
"DO IT AGAIN!" Nora shouted in excitement.
"NORA!" Ren, Jaune, and Glynda berated the girl.
"That has got to be the most heroically stupid thing I have seen anyTHING do in my life…" Winter said, still in shock from the rollercoaster of events that just happened.
"I guess these guys really know how to be heroic, in every sense of the word." Ruby commented.
"You can say that again." Weiss said, agreeing with her.
Frightfur Bear: 3200ATK – 1000ATK = 2200ATK
"Dark Panther is back where it belongs. Thanks Clayman. Burstinatrix, if you may?" Zack said, talking to his heroes.
Clayman put his right arm to his chest, as an acknowledgement. Burstinatrix, generated a small little flame, and began drying Clayman, who was covered in stomach acid.
"Did…your Clayman…just…" Eddie stuttered.
"Yes. Yes he did." Zack replied.
"That is just sick!" Eddie screamed.
"Oh, pot calling the kettle black, Mr. Stuffed animals possessed by demons!" Blake exclaimed.
"You're calling what Clayman did was sick?! Your monster ate my Panther!" Zack replied back.
"It's normal for an evil teddy bear to eat its victims!" Eddie argued.
"It's normal for Heroes to jump into that monster's stomach, and save the victim! Zack argued back.
"You're crazy!" Eddie yelled.
"Crazy is my middle name. No, seriously. My full name is Zackery Crazy Aegis." Zack said.
Everyone was dumbfounded at hearing that fact. "Seriously?" Ozpin asked.
"I've heard some ridiculous and out there names… but never one that had 'Crazy' in it!" Glynda stated.
"Well, given how insane this world and its logic can be at times… I'd say it fits in all honesty." Yang said.
"Is it sad that I find myself agreeing with that statement?" Mercury muttered to Cinder.
"As much as I'd want to, even I can't disagree with that argument." Cinder responded.
Team RWBY and Anna were dumbfounded that Zack and a Grimm were having an argument that was totally unrelated to the duel.
"Uh, does Zack know he is having an argument with a Grimm?" Blake asked.
"Is he always like this?" Weiss asked, with blank eyes.
"How did you two ever become friends?" Yang asked, stunned by Zack's personality.
"His middle name is Crazy?" Ruby asked, a little shocked by it.
"THAT'S what you choose to question?" The rest of her team asked Ruby, who could only shrug in response.
Anna thought for a moment.
"Yes, sometimes, that's a story for another time, and yes. I saw it on his birth certificate, when he showed it to me for proof." Anna replied cheerfully.
"I do have to admit that Clayman does have the guts to jump into that bear." Yang said, admiring his bravery.
"I have a hard time deciding if that is cool, or disgusting." Ruby said.
Team RWBY did admit that Zack had his moments, but at this point, everything he did was either ridiculously epic, or just plain unpredictable. Weird as it was, they actually saw this as a pro for Zack. Eddie was really getting annoyed. When Burstinatrix was done drying Clayman, Zack got back on track.
"Thank you, now we can move away from the mind-blowing dramatic stunt." James sighed in relief, wondering how much of Zack's lunacy he could take.
"Now that your Bear has lost its lunch, I'm going to activate Fusion Substitute spell card, which is just an amped up version of Polymerization, from my hand. This time, I'm fusing Elemental Hero Burstinatrix with Elemental Hero Clayman, so I can summon a Hero with some firepower!" Zack said, smiling.
Fusion Substitute
Spell Card: Normal
Fusion Substitute showed a Polymerization card in a vortex, with the same orange monsters, fusing together. Burstinatrix and Clayman then jumped into the air as their bodies start to distort into a swirl, as a new monster was about to appear. Ruby was really excited.
The same also applied to the Ruby watching all of this. "Oh boy, I can't wait to see what he breaks out next!" Ruby said, giddy for what could be coming up.
"I FUSION SUMMON! I now summon in defense mode the mighty, the hardcore, wait for it, Elemental Hero Rampart Blaster!" Zack yelled, extending his arm out.
Elemental Hero Rampart Blaster
[LV: 6] [Attribute: Earth]
[Warrior/Fusion/Effect]
ATK: 2000 DEF: 2500
Rampart Blaster then appeared out of the swirl of light. This was a female Elemental Hero, as she had the firepower of Burstinatrix and the build of Clayman. She was wearing high plated metallic gray and dark gray armor. Her shoulder pads had a handle on each of them. She also wore a red suit underneath her armor. For weaponry, she had red metallic blast shield in her left arm, and a micro-missile launcher arm cannon on her right arm. She also wore a daredevil helmet, with a red and yellow flame design, as the lower part of her face showed her light blue skin, mouth and nose. She then dropped out of the sky, positioning herself in a defensive stance, of kneeling on her right leg, and having her shield up.
Everyone was shocked at the newly summoned hero, as Coco has to take her shades off to rub her eyes and make sure she wasn't seeing anything. "Hot damn, this gal is literally built like a defender." She commented.
"She looks like she could get hit by a shot from a rocket launcher and barely feel anything." Sun added.
"THIS IS AMAZING!" Ruby exclaimed, overwhelmed by excitement.
"Incredible, she really looks like an Atlesian Paladin given all that armor." Penny remarked at the sight of the new monster's appearance.
"That hero looks so cool! Look at its right arm! It has an arm cannon!" Ruby squealed.
"That monster looks like a walking tank! I think she could go up against a paladin, and come out with only minor damage." Weiss said, as she was impressed by how durable the monster looked.
Once more, the general of Atlas found himself agreeing with statements of such nature. "I can't argue with that, that monster looks so defensively oriented, I feel like a fall from Atlas to Mantle would only serve as a thrill ride for her." James said.
"Man, these Elemental Hero monsters sure are wild in terms of implication." Qrow commented.
"But… why summon a monster like that in defense mode?" Oscar asked, pointing out the fact that the new monster was in the mentioned battle position, making everyone wonder what Zack had planned.
"I really like the way these ladies think! Attack with fire power and force!" Yang yelled, admiring the ladies of the Elemental Heroes.
"Something feels strange. Zack played his monster in defense mode. But he sounds like he's going to attack." Blake said, observing the monster.
"You guys haven't seen anything yet." Anna said to Team RWBY.
Eddie was taken back by the summoning, but quickly regained his composure.
"Looks like you're running scared, playing a monster in defense mode. I thought you were going to let me have it?" Eddie mocked.
"Oh, I will let you have it. You see, they say a good defense is a good offense, and Rampart Blaster proves that point! While in defense mode, Rampart Blaster can attack you directly with half of her attack points!" Zack said, as Rampart raised her arm cannon.
"What!?" Eddie screamed.
Winter was shocked at the power this monster had. "A monster that can attack directly while in defense mode!" She repeated in a shocked tone.
"That's amazing, it's an effect that literally embodies the connection between offense and defense." Cinder said, admittedly impressed by the effect the monster had.
"Hope you're in the mood for fireworks! Rampart Blaster, attack Eddie directly with Rampart Barrage! Take aim and fire!" Zack declared.
Elemental Hero Rampart Blaster: 2000/2 = 1000ATK (For battle)
Rampart then raised her right arm, and then fired a barrage of micro-missiles in the air as they then arced over Frightfur Bear, and then exploded on contact with Eddie, and the ground surrounding him.
Eddie Terror: 4200LP – 1000LP = 3200LP
"The ability to attack and defend at the same time is so unique. These monsters could give Atlas some inspiration." Weiss said, amazed at Ramparts ability.
"I won't deny it, Atlas would benefit greatly from implementing such aspects of the monsters we've seen into some future projects." James said, unable to not agree with the fact yet again. "Wonder what the R&D department would say if I brought these ideas up to them though…" He mumbled.
"It's…so beautiful." Ruby said, sniffing on a tissue.
"She's just like an immovable fortress." Blake said.
"Oh yeah! This is officially one of my other favorite Heroes!" Yang said.
"Oh yeah, this is definitely up there as one of my favorites at least." Yang said, agreeing with her on-screen self.
"I don't blame you, this monster looks like something anyone from our world would love to have on their side." Ren commented.
"Yeah, man I wish we could fight alongside a huntsman like that." Jaune said with a smile on his face.
"Also, since Zack's monster has higher defense points, then Eddie's monster won't make a dent, and Zack can just keep attacking directly!" Anna said.
"I'll end my turn for that. Your move buddy." Zack said, as he grinned casually.
Turn 7: Eddie Terror
Zackery Aegis: 2800LP vs Eddie Terror: 3200LP
Zackery Aegis Hand: 1 vs Eddie Terror: 1
"You are really starting to tick me off kid. I draw!" Eddie yelled, annoyed with Zack.
The card he drew made him smile wickedly.
"Let's see if you'll be smiling when I play this. The Spell card Stop Defense! This card forces your monster into attack mode!" Eddie yelled.
Stop Defense
Spell Card: Normal
Stop Defense showed an armored knight holding up a shield, and had an X over him. Rampart Blaster then started to glow blue, as she was then forcefully switched into attack mode.
Ruby had a pit in her stomach as she realized what was going to happen this turn. "Oh no…" She muttered.
"A spell that forces a target into a defensive position?" Penny asked in a surprised tone. "It's just like that Zero Gravity trap that Anna used that one time only with the opposite goal in mind." She added.
"That's not good." Pyrrha said, not liking the state of things at the moment.
"Rampart is efficient in defense mode, but she is more vulnerable in attack position." Weiss said, surprised at the card.
"Frightfur Bear! Attack his Rampart with Bear Hammer!" Eddie yelled.
Frightfur Bear then swung his right arm at an extreme force, as he then punched Rampart Blaster throwing her off the ground. She was then sent flying over to Zack, who had little time to react as he was then crushed underneath, Rampart's Weight. RWBY and Anna cringed at Zack getting crushed by Rampart's armor.
The same could also be said for some of the audience. "That's… going to leave a mark." Tai said after a light hiss.
"Yeah, I would only wish that on an unsuspecting Grimm." Sienna admitted.
Jaune subconsciously attempted to clutch his ribs at the sight as he couldn't help but see himself in that scenario somehow.
"And that's not even the end of it." Mercury added.
Zackery Aegis: 2800LP – 200LP = 2600LP
"Oooowwwwwww. My somehow intact bones and organs." Zack asked, in pain.
"If you think that was painful, remember that Frightfur Bear consumes all monsters that he destroys. Consume his Rampart Blaster!" Eddie said, pointing to Rampart.
Frightfur Bear then used its arm to grab Rampart Blaster and then brought her close to her mouth. He dropped her and swallowed her one gulp. He let out a small burp. Yang just fainted as she was even more horrified of seeing her favorite Hero fusion get eaten, whole.
Frightfur Bear: 2200ATK + 1000ATK = 3200ATK
"NOT THE SUPERHERO!" Ruby cried as she shed comical tears.
"And she was so cool…" Ruby said with tears leaking out of her eyes as well.
"Dammit, that thing needs to be stopped, fast." James said while gritting his teeth.
"It's inhumane. Then again, it is a monster teddy bear, but still inhumane." Blake said.
"I think I'm going to be sick." Weiss said, as her face turned green.
"I need to hurl." Anna said, as she held back her vomit.
Zack picked himself up and did a couple of stretches, and made sure he wasn't internally bleeding.
"At least Zack's still standing." Blake said, sighing in a bit of relief.
"Still have the will to fight. Very well then. I'll take pleasure in seeing you squirm. I'll end my turn." Eddie said.
Turn 8: Zackery Aegis
Zackery Aegis: 2600LP vs Eddie Terror: 3200LP
Zackery Aegis Hand: 1 vs Eddie Terror Hand: 1
"Then I'll take mine. I draw!" Zack said.
"Huh. This should make things interesting. I summon my Neo-Spacian Glow Moss in attack mode!" Zack said.
"Another superhero from space!" Ruby yelled.
"Keep it down Ruby." Weiss scolded.
Neo Spacian Glow Moss
[LV: 3] [Attribute: Light]
[Plant/Effect]
ATK: 300 DEF: 900
Glow Moss then appeared as he resembled a humanoid alien that was made entirely out of glowing moss, and had two dark circles on his head for eyes.
"Glow… Moss?" Emerald repeated in slight confusion.
"So this monster is… sentient moss in a humanoid form?" Glynda guessed.
"That's… actually kinda cool." Neptune commented.
"But what's it gonna do with that little strength?" Winter wondered aloud.
"First a cat, now moss. What's next? A hummingbird, a mole, or how about a dolphin?" Eddie mocked.
"I wish. Anna said I couldn't add those guys to my deck." Zack said, scratching his head.
This caused everyone to fall down in shock.
"Wait, there's a hummingbird, mole, and dolphin that are each Neo Spacians?" Weiss asked.
"Yep, and since we're not gonna be seeing them anytime soon, I guess I can take back what I said earlier and give you the rundown on what the rest of the cards are." Kai said as he made a quartet of cards materialize in his hand.
"First is the mole of the group, Neo Spacian Grand Mole." Kai showed the card to the audience, which showed a hologram of a bipedal mole with a large metallic collar on its neck with drill attachments on it. "Like the other two we've just seen, it has a unique ability, in that whenever it attacks a monster, before damage is applied, both it and the target monster are returned to their owner's hands." Kai told them.
"Wow, and given what Zack said, he doesn't have that card in his deck at the moment." Yang said.
"That would make for a great counter to Frightfur Bear with such an ability." Pyrrha said, not liking the fact that such a useful monster was not with him at the moment.
"Next is the hummingbird, Neo Spacian Air Hummingbird." Kai showed them the next monster, which was a anthropomorphic hummingbird with a pair of white wings on its back. "His power is simple, but effective, it lets the user gain 500 life points for every card the opponent has in their hand." He explained.
"Huh, that does sound simple, but effective." Jaune admitted.
"Yeah, many Duel Monsters players tend to not care about their life points to a certain degree, but that is far from the case here. But anyways, next is the dolphin, Neo Spacian Aqua Dolphin." The next monster was an anthropomorphic dolphin with a trio of red circular jewels on its chest, and dorsal fins on its head and arms. "This monster's effect lets you discard one card to look at your opponent's hand, then y-" Kai was interrupted.
"I'm sorry, that dolphin monster can WHAT?!" Cinder asked, shocked at the effect's implications.
Kai cleared his throat in response. "Then you pick a monster card in their hand, and compare that monster's attack points to that of a monster you control, if the selected monster's power is lesser than that of the one you control, it's destroyed, and your opponent takes damage." Kai finished the explanation of the dolphin monster.
"It lets you look at your opponent's hand and rout any monsters in it, so long as you have the cards in your own hand to do so." James summed up the effect.
"That certainly sounds effective." Qrow commented.
"And now is the final one, the one not mentioned here, Neo Spacian Flare Scarab." Final monster appeared to be an anthropomorphic beetle-like monster with black chitin-like armor on its body, a large horn on its head, and beetle-like wings on its back. "Flare Scarab is… honestly really underwhelming by itself, it gains 400 attack points, but only for every spell and trap card your opponent controls." Kai said with a flat expression on his face.
Ruby raised her eyebrow at the effect. "That's it?" Ruby asked, to which Kai nodded. "That… really is underwhelming." Ruby admitted, as much as she didn't want to inside.
"Wait, what did you mean by… by itself?" Jaune asked him, emphasizing Kai's choice of words.
"Don't worry, you'll see what I mean really soon, I promise you that." Kai told them.
"Well, alright then." Jaune responded as everyone turned their attention back to the action.
"This guy is really starting to bug me! I'm trying so hard to break his spirit, but each time I seem to succeed, he always seems to pretend like his life isn't on the line." Eddie thought.
"I now attack Frightfur Bear with Glow Moss!" Zack yelled.
"What the- please tell me, this has to do with Glow Moss's effect or something." Weiss said, hoping that the last time Zack took damage didn't do some brain damage.
"I'm sure he has a plan if he's not hesitating in making this move." Ozpin told her.
"Is Zack crazy!? Glow Moss has lower attack points than that overstuffed teddy bear." Yang yelled, who regained her consciousness.
"I wouldn't worry. From what I seen, Zack's moves aren't wasted, and aren't done out of recklessness. He may not look like it, but he is quite smart, in his own way." Blake said.
"I'm not sure if smart is the right word." Weiss said, coldly.
"You don't have to be so cold Weiss." Ruby said, in a deadpanned tone.
"You're doing great Zack!" Anna cheered, waving at him.
"I activate Glow Moss' special ability. Signal Check!" Zack yelled.
Glow Moss then held up three orbs, each of a different color: yellow, blue, and pink. The orbs then cycled as they then lit up.
"Here's how it works. Whenever Glow Moss attacks or is attacked, you flip the top card of your deck and show it to me. Depending on what card it is determines Glow Moss' ability. Now what is the top card of your deck?" Zack asked, smiling.
"Glow Moss's ability is… what can be described as a slot machine?" Roman asked, seeing this type of ability as a really big gamble.
Neo could only nod as she was confused by how such an ability was going to pay off.
Eddie then drew the card.
"It's a Spell Card. Soul Absorption." Eddie said, showing the card to Zack.
"Alright! Since the revealed card is a Spell Card, Glow Moss can attack you directly! Spore Spear!" Zack yelled.
Gloss Moss' blue orb then lit up. He then jumped into the air, as he then generated a spear like weapon and then hurled it at Eddie.
Eddie Terror: 3200LP – 300LP = 2900LP
Neo was shocked at how the gamble effect paid off, so all she could do was clap in response.
"So, that's Glow Moss's power." Winter said, feeling underwhelmed.
"That did do damage, but Zack can't rely solely on a strategy like that, can he?" Ruby asked.
"I doubt it would be a good idea, even with that attack, it didn't do much." Ren noted.
"Why you." Eddie cursed.
"Relax man. On the bright side, you can add the card that was revealed to your hand." Zack said calmly.
"And there's also that, if he keeps attacking every turn with Glow Moss, he'll only give his enemy more resources to strike at him before he can finish the duel." Ozpin added.
"Interesting. A card that makes your opponent draw, but in turn gives you an ability." Blake said, studying the card.
"I wonder what would happen if it revealed a trap or monster." Ruby said thinking about it.
"Still, Zack can't win by dealing 300 points of damage every turn." Weiss said.
"If he did, then this duel would probably be a snore fest." Yang said.
"I think I'll end my turn now." Zack said.
Turn 9: Eddie Terror
Zackery Aegis: 2600LP vs Eddie Terror: 2900LP
Zackery Aegis Hand 1: vs Eddie Terror Hand: 2
"My turn. I draw! First I'll play my new spell absorption, and now I attack your Glow Moss with Frightfur Bear!" Eddie said, as he was getting impatient.
"Damn, even the Grimm is getting fed up with Zack's wacky dueling." Emerald commented.
"Can't say I blame him, this kid's fighting style is really unpredictable with what cards he's using." Ilia said.
"Glow Moss' ability activates now! Signal check! Now the top card of your deck is flipped!" Zack said.
Glow Moss then did his signal check as the orbs cycled between their lights. Eddie then drew his card.
"My Edge Imp Chain. A Monster card." Eddie said.
"Phew. Since the card is a monster card, Glow Moss can end the battle phase." Zack said.
Glow Moss then generated a dome of light around him and Zack, preventing Frightfur Bear from attacking.
"Nice, it can attack and defend." Yang said, liking the result of the effect this time.
Blake didn't share that enthusiasm. "Yeah, but only because of sheer luck." She commented.
"So monsters cards, stop the battle phase. Glow Moss is a good card, but only if you're lucky." Weiss said.
"Agreed. If the card had been a spell card, then Glow Moss ability would be wasted." Blake said.
"So what happens if it's a trap card?" Ruby asked.
"Glow Moss would have to switch to defense mode." Anna answered.
"Huh, so it's still a defensive move, just not the most favorable one compared to the Monster-related one." Roman said.
It would've protected Zack, but at the cost of being used as fodder to make Frightfur Bear stronger." James noted.
"I guess you weren't too far off from the slot machine comparison." Ruby admitted while looking at Roman.
"So if he flipped a trap, Zack would have been safe, but that bear would have just powered up. This monster is just like a game of roulette." Yang said.
"See, even the on-screen blondie agrees with that to some fashion." Roman said with a cocky smile.
"Fine. I'll place one monster in face-down defense position and one card face down to end my turn." Eddie said, as he started to remain calm.
Turn 10: Zackery Aegis
Zackery Aegis: 2600LP vs Eddie Terror: 2900LP
Zackery Aegis Hand: 1 vs Eddie Terror Hand: 1
"So is this Zack's plan? Just keep using Glow Moss' ability till he wins." Ruby asked.
"If so, then that's a risky idea. Glow Moss may stall his opponent, but in the process, he'll fill his opponent's hand with more cards. Also, he may get unlucky getting a bad card." Blake said.
"Zack's got this under control. Besides, he knows the cards that I gave him. He studies his decks first before dueling, so he knows exactly what to do with them the moment he draws them." Anna said.
"Let's just hope that Zack knows what to do here. Otherwise, we're all bear chow." Yang said.
Team RWBY had a collective shiver run down their spine. "I'm guessing you guys had the same thought?" Yang asked her teammates.
"If you're talking about the thought of us ending up getting eaten by that thing, then yes." Weiss said with Ruby and Blake nodding.
"Alright. It's show time." Zack said as he drew his card.
Upon seeing the card. Zack's face burst into a big smile.
"Hey Eddie. I think it's about time I introduce you to somebody." Zack said.
"Oh really. So where is this guy? I'm so dying to meet him." Eddie said, mockingly.
"All you have do, is take a peek in my graveyard. My Elemental Hero Necroshade!" Zack said.
Elemental Hero Necroshade
[LV: 5] [Attribute: Dark]
[Warrior/Effect]
ATK: 1600 DEF: 1800
Suddenly an Astral Image of Necroshade appeared behind Zack. Necroshade had red skin, as his center body was wrapped with skeletal armor, that resembled a rib cage, and it went all the way done to his thighs, as well as the back of his neck. He also wore gray bone like armor on his shoulders, arms, and legs, as they had red markings on them. His feet were also like a bird's feet, only backwards. His face had two red eyes and several black stripes on it. His hands also had sharp claws. Out of all the heroes, this had to be the creepiest out of the bunch. Everyone, except Anna, was shocked at this.
"That monster's an Elemental Hero card?" Winter asked with a weirded out expression.
"That seems like a bit of a reach, admittedly." Pyrrha admitted.
"Well, considering the fact that we've seen Anna use a pig that can spit out its freaking skeleton to defend her from an attack, I'd say many things are possible for just about anything." Nora told them.
Many people looked at her in slight shock, until Ruby spoke. "She's not wrong about that." She said as everyone turned to the screen.
"That's a superhero?" Yang asked, as she was intimidated by its looks.
"He sure looks creepy. He doesn't look very heroic." Weiss said, frightened by the monster's look.
"Don't judge the guy before you get to know him." Blake said, trying to defend Necroshade.
"Yeah! Even the creepiest Superheroes deserve some spotlight!" Ruby yelled.
"Wait. How did he end up in your graveyard? I don't remember destroying him." Eddie asked.
"It's quite simple actually. On the turn I used my Thunder Giant's ability, I discarded Necroshade for the cost." Zack explained.
"Oh, that's clever! He dropped a card that was more useful in his Graveyard at the start of the duel so he could use it later on!" Jaune analyzed the depth of the move that Zack made at the time.
"That… is rather clever of someone as seemingly brutish as him." Winter admitted.
"This kid's certainly got the brain to duel right alongside his sporadic nature." Coco said in a nice way.
"He doesn't look impressive." Eddie asked.
"You saying the ability to let me summon a high level Elemental Hero from my hand isn't impressive?" Zack asked sarcastically.
"A high level monster from his hand rather than the extra deck?" Glynda noted. "Sounds certainly useful when it can be used." She added.
"I wonder what it'll be." Ren wondered.
"It's got to be something cool if it's a high level." Ruby said excitedly.
"Ok. I take it back." Eddie said.
"In other words. Necroshade's true power shows when he is in the graveyard. Zack can summon a high level Hero monster now, and I think I know which one." Anna said.
"You ready Eddie? Cause this monster is what you may call, out of this world." Zack said.
"I wonder what he's going to summon." Weiss wondered.
"Being a high level monster means it has to be powerful. This has to be good." Yang said.
"Let's just hope it's enough to turn the tides of this duel." Blake said.
"I can't wait to see it." Ruby said, wanting to see a powerful hero.
"Come on, summon him already!" Ruby begged with excitement in her voice.
"Keep your combat skirt on, Ruby." Yang said, trying to keep her sister in her seat.
Team RWBY knew they would see a spectacular hero, but they weren't ready for who he was.
"Now, with Necroshade's ability, I can summon an Elemental Hero without sacrifice once per duel. Come forth! Hero of Space and wielder of Cosmic Energy! I summon Elemental Hero Neos!" Zack yelled.
"Even his name sounds Heroic. Wait, did he say Neos?" Ruby said in shock.
"Huh?" Team RWBY noted on-screen Ruby's reaction. "Wait, has that Ruby already seen Neos before?" Yang asked.
"It definitely sounded like it." Neptune admitted.
Elemental Hero Neos
[LV: 7] [Attribute: Light]
[Warrior]
ATK: 2500 DEF: 2000
The hero that appeared wore a white suit, with red lines on his body. His chest contained a blue orb, and on his back. There were also three red triangles surrounding his chest piece. His arms were equipped with shoulder blades. He had blue eyes, a yellow gem on his head, and a backwards curve sharp antenna.
"Hey, it's that monster from the Assault Armor spell Anna used on me in the last duel!" Yang exclaimed.
"So Weiss was reminded of this monster because Neos was the monster depicted on it." Maria noted.
"So Weiss recognized him, but how did Ruby recall his name?" Sun asked.
"Something tells me we're about to find out." Sienna said, pointing at the screen.
"Something wrong, Ruby." Anna asked.
Anna then noticed that team RWBY had gone completely silent, not out of awe, but shock and surprise. Zack takes notice of this and wonders why they look like they had seen a ghost.
"If those faces aren't a sign of them knowing him, I don't know what is." Mercury said with folded arms.
"Uh, are you girls okay?" Zack asked.
"It was you. It was you all along." Weiss said slowly.
"Huh?" Zack said with a blank look.
"Huh?" Many in the audience had the same reaction.
"I don't like how low that tone was…" Blake said, worried about what Weiss might do.
"ZACKERY!" Weiss yelled, as she then tackled Zack.
"I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN SOMEONE AS UNCOUTH AS YOU WOULD DO THIS TO US!" Weiss yelled, shaking Zack by the collar.
Everyone was taken aback by Weiss's stunt and how loud she was as well. "Damn, what's got Weiss this steamed?" Neptune asked worriedly.
Eddie then stood in place as he just watched the scene unfold, and had a sweat drop on his head.
"Damn, even the Grimm whackjob doesn't know how to react to this." Qrow muttered while at a small loss of words himself.
"I can't say I blame him, the moment Zack summoned that Neos monster, this went way off track from the duel." James responded.
"What are you talking about?!" Zack asked, as she tried to pull Weiss off.
"YOU WERE THE ONE WHO DID THIS TO US! YOU TURNED US TINY!" Weiss yelled.
"Eh?" Zack replied.
"DON'T PLAY DUMB WITH ME! NOW CHANGE US BACK TO NORMAL!" Weiss yelled.
"What does him summoning Neos have to do with them… being…" Glynda started speaking until she had a thought. "Is it possible that…" She muttered.
Anna was confused, as she saw Blake and Yang sharing the same shocked expression. Ruby was just as shocked, but immediately went back to being star struck by the Neos' look.
"Can someone explain to me what is going on?" Anna asked.
"That card that Zack just played, Neos. He was the guy who sent us here." Blake said, still shocked.
"Eh?" Was all Ruby could let out.
"Say what?" Sun added.
"The… monster sent them to that world?" Cinder finished with a shocked expression.
Weiss had finally stopped shaking Zack. Anna and Zack remained silent for a moment, as they were silent for a moment, with blank looks on their faces. Zack then turned his head at Neos, and the back RWBY, as he repeated the procedure for a couple more times.
"EEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHH!" Anna and Zack screamed.
"EEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHH!" The majority of the audience had effectively the same reaction.
"How did he do that?" Oscar asked, astonished by the concept.
"Why make them tiny?" Velvet asked.
"If he sent them to this world… then that'd connect to the fact that he knows about the Grimm and asked that Team RWBY to help in defeating them." Ozpin analyzed the situation in further depth, thinking with his head still on his shoulders.
"But how did he know where to look, and why Team RWBY specifically?" James asked.
"It's possible that it's because they're young and kind-hearted when compared to most other Huntsman out there." Maria theorized.
Everyone looked at her with a raised eyebrow as she looked back at them. "Take it from a Huntress who's lived through more years than everyone in Team RWBY combined, I've seen plenty of Huntsmen and Huntresses who've only strived for the position for the power and benefits it nets them. But…" Maria looked at Team RWBY who were in the audience with her. "You four kids have more kindness and heart than many of them combined. It's possible that's the reason why you were selected for this task of beating the Grimm through Duel Monsters." Maria told them.
The four of them thought about that hard before Ruby spoke up. "Our other selves were chosen because… we're kind." Ruby repeated.
"She's not too far off in the reason for thinking that." Kai told them, getting their attention. "People like me don't say much when we're allowed to do so, but what I'll tell you before this chapter is over is this one saying that is connected to every version of Remnant." Kai said before finishing that thought.
"Victory is in a simple soul." Kai said in a solemn tone, making Ozpin widen his eyes in response.
"Victory is in… a simple soul?" Weiss said in a low tone.
Yang and Blake looked at each other, lost in thought with each other. While Ruby thought hard about how to respond to that, only to draw blanks at every turn she mentally looked towards.
"I suggest we get back to the viewing of this chapter. The last thing I want is for you all to get a headache thinking too hard on this one just one quote." Kai said as everyone looked at the screen.
"You mean…Neos…sent you here!?" Anna asked, as she was stunned.
"It's true. I remember this guy's face as clear as day." Yang said, as she sounded serious.
"Ok. So you met Neos! THAT DOESN'T EXPLAIN WHY YOU'RE SHAKING ME WEISS!" Zack screams.
"ISN'T IT OBVIOUS!? YOU HAVE A NEOS CARD, AND THAT MEANS THAT YOU HELPED NEOS SENT US HERE, AND THEN TURNED US TINY WITHOUT HIM KNOWING AS SOME SICK JOKE!" Weiss yelled.
"I get that Zack is a bit eccentric, but I highly doubt he'd think of something like that as some silly prank." Winter admitted.
"Yeah, I don't see any good reason why he'd so much as suggest doing that, if his reaction to Blake being a Faunus was of any indication." Sienna added.
Ghira was gonna add onto that, but stopped when he thought about what had just been said. "Did… the leader of the White Fang and a Schnee actually agree on something just now?" He asked with a stupefied look on his face.
Winter and Sienna looked at him and then to each other in shock, where they then looked away from each other while Sienna was whistling casually.
"No. Zack has nothing to do with this." A voice spoke.
Everyone turned their heads towards the voice, and it came from Neos. This shocked everyone. Zack had his jaw dropped, as Anna just turned white as she stared at him.
"I can assure all of you that there is a completely logical explanation to all of this. I'll explain everything, until Zack wins this duel." Neos said.
"Woah… That's the voice of Neos…" Jaune muttered.
"He sounds so epic." Ruby said with a smile on her face.
"Oh yeah. I forgot I was dueling." Zack said with a casual look, causing everyone, except Neos, to fall down with shock.
The viewers reacted the same way, some holding on to their seats while others just dropped their heads.
"How is it that that dolt reacts from something like this to forgetting his duel?" Weiss's eye twitched in annoyance as he sat back in her seat.
"This is Zack we're talking about. He's proving to be very unpredictable." Pyrrha comments, seeing that Zack is unpredictable in both dueling and interactions.
"As much as I hate to say it, that sounds about right considering all we've seen up till now." Cinder admitted, unable to deny the fact.
"Very well then. Now I believe you know what to do." Neos said.
"Sure thing Neos. Oh, by the way. How come you never talked to me before when I used you in my past duels?" Zack asked.
"The duel energy is much stronger here, allowing me to communicate with you through this card. Also, I'm using a great amount of my energy to be here. Team RWBY's aura allows them to interact more freely with this world, so don't expect this to happen so much." Neos replied.
"Interesting… So Team's RWBY's influence is what gives Neos access to communications" Ozpin theories in awe that Aura could achieve such a feat.
"Yes indeed." Kai nodded. "You can be amazed at how Aura can affect other worlds and vice versa."
"Well whatever works for you." Zack said, as he and Neos got fired up.
"Oh yeah! Time to see what Neos can do!" Nora jumps in excitement in her seat.
"I can't wait to see what Neos can do!" Ruby said.
"Yeah! Me too!" The viewing Ruby said, equally excited as her counterpart.
Eddie, was intimidated at first at the sight of Neos, but realized he was a normal monster.
"So that's what you wanted to show me? Your Neos may be strong, but my Frightfur Bear is superior to both of your monsters. So are you done yet?" Eddie said.
He's right… As I recall, the color theme of the monster card shows that Neos is a normal monster." Glynda comments in concern, recalling how each card color represents the said Duel Monster card.
"I'm sure the boy knows what he is doing. He hasn't failed to impress this far." Ghira said, seeing that Zack was very confident with Neos at his side.
"Of course I'm not done yet. I know that Neos and Glow Moss can beat your monster. But if I unite them, then that's a whole different story." Zack said.
"He's going to use them to Fusion Summon something?!" Sun says in excitement at what will happen next while his tail wags a bit.
"How are you going to do that? I've been paying attention to your hand, and you don't have a fusion card in your hand." Eddie said.
"Oh?" Sun's tail dropped a bit at that revelation.
"Got to admit, that Eddie guy has a good eye to notice that." Roman comments.
"And you're only allowed to have three of the same card in your deck, and so far, Zack has only used Polymerization and that Fusion Substitute." Weiss recalls, counting the number of times Zack had Fusion Summon.
"For other fusion monster, that would be the case. However, my monsters have a neat trick. Neos, Glow Moss. You guys ready?" Zack asked.
"I'm always ready." Neos replied.
"I'll do my duty." Glow Moss replied.
"Alright then! Let's go! CONTACT FUSION!" Zack yelled.
"CONTACT FUSION?!" The students all shouted in shock while the others were stunned.
Neos and Glow Moss then jumped into the air as they then aligned themselves in a vertical position. They then began to shine brightly in a blue light as it enveloped them. Team RWBY was stunned by the spectacle, while Eddie covered his eyes.
"What is this light?!" Eddie screamed.
"It's contact fusion. You see, Neos can fuse with other neo-spacians, through Contact Fusion. So by returning Neos and Glow Moss to my deck, I can summon their fusion Counterpart!" Zack said.
"No way…" Cinder muttered, completely shocked at how Zack was fusing his only monsters this time.
"A fusion method that sends monsters to the deck. That sounds incredible." Weiss said.
"Good thing I always carry sunglasses." Yang said, as she put on her shades.
"Ditto!" Both Coco and Yang say while they wear their shades.
"Behold! Introducing Elemental Hero Glow Neos!" Zack yelled.
Elemental Hero Glow Neos
[LV: 7] [Attribute: Light]
[Warrior/Fusion/Effect]
ATK: 2500 DEF: 2000
The monster that appeared resembled that of Neos, only that he was entirely different. His entire body was glowing, the same color and light as Glow Moss did. He was equipped with lighter armor, with his chest plate, only covering his top section of his body. Arm guards that had shorter arm blades. Shoulder guards that were rounded, and lower legs guards. His mask covered the top portion of his head, as it revealed the lower part of his face, as it also had two horns. He also had white hair. Team RWBY was shocked at the monster as they were speechless. Ruby was grinning ear to ear, while Yang whistle.
The viewers were also shocked and mesmerized at the revelation of a new Elemental Hero by fusing Neos and Neo-spacian.
"So instead of discarding the said fusion material monster to the graveyard, they are only sent back to the Deck… That's an incredible way to twist the basic fusion summoning." James exclaimed.
"Amazing…" Maria says in awe she may not see any color through prosthetics, but she can tell how powerful it was seeing how much light it was releasing, something she was familiar with in the past.
"Love what he's wearing. It really screams out the whole hero of the light theme." Coco grinned, as she dropped her shades a bit to have a closer look at the new hero.
"Now that is a shiny hero." Yang said.
"You don't have to tell me twice." Blake replied.
"So there are more ways to summon a fusion monster than just with fusion cards?" Emerald asked.
"That's right." Kai told them. "Contact fusion can be done by either shuffling monsters you control into your deck or by banishing them entirely, most archetypes benefit greatly from whichever method they use, but the ones that do can be very game-changing when used correctly." He explained.
Zack was far from done.
"I activate Glow Neos' ability! Once per turn, I can destroy one face up card that you have on your field, and depending on what that card is, GIow Neos' gains a special ability. I'm going to destroy the Rampart Blaster that's in your Frightfur Bear! Go, Signal Buster, Blue Lightning!" Zack yelled.
"So instead of a slot machine-like effect, it's an effect dependent on what card on the field is destroyed?" Sienna stated.
"That seems a lot less risky than Glow Moss's ability, that's for sure." Ilia admitted.
"Hmmmm…" That comment got James thinking of something.
Glow Neos then generated an Electrical Blue orb in his hand and fire it at Frightfur Bear. The orb made a hard impact with his stomach, as Frightfur Bear vomited Rampart Blaster. Rampart then fell into a black portal, sending her to the graveyard. Upon seeing a contact fusion, and a cool ability at the same time, Ruby's brain couldn't take this much excitement as she then fainted.
Frightfur Bear: 3200ATK – 1000ATK = 2200ATK
"Ah! Ruby!" Tai shouts in concern seeing that her daughter also passed out from the sight of what Glow Neos did.
"That was awesome!" Oscar smiled ear to ear seeing such an awesome feat, as while he was on that farm, he hadn't experienced much excitement.
"Now only did he get Rampart Blaster back in his Graveyard, but he also weakened that Bear by just enough that he can destroy it." Pyrrha cheered.
"KICK HIS BUTT, GLOW NEOS!" Nora shouted with excitement.
"Take it easy Zack! You're going to overload Ruby's brain if you don't slow down!" Yang said, as she woke her sister up.
"I love this deck." Ruby said, as she regained her senses.
Eddie was surprised from the explosion.
"Don't relax yet Ed. Since the card I destroyed with Neos' ability was a spell card. He can attack you directly!" Zack said pointing at him.
"What?!" Eddie yelled.
"Oh nice, that'll let him do even more damage!" Ruby exclaimed.
"Glow Neos! Attack Eddie directly! Lightning Spear!" Zack shouted.
Glow Neos then jumped into the air. He then generated a glowing spear in his hand, as he threw it at Eddie.
"I play my face-down! Damage diet! This card halves all damage I take this turn!" Eddie said, as he braced himself.
Damage Diet
Trap Card: Normal
Damage Diet showed a young orange haired girl, with pig tails and in overalls, gracefully dodging monkey bars with fists. The lightning spear then hit a barrier surrounding Eddie as he received half the damage.
Eddie Terror: 2900LP – (2500/2)LP = 1650LP
"Uh oh." Ruby muttered, not liking how the Grimm countered the damage that was going to hit him.
"Damn, that Grimm is one stubborn bastard." Qrow swore.
"But the fact that he's keeping the Grimm on his toes is a pretty good feat, I won't deny that." Tai admitted.
"I actually can't believe I'm saying this, but Zack is actually a decent duelist." Weiss said.
"Well. Looks like the Ice Queen does have a little warmth in her." Yang teased.
"Quiet you." Weiss said, annoyed.
Anna however had a worried look on her face.
"Something wrong Anna?" Blake asked.
"Yeah. Zack monster has a fatal weakness." Anna said.
"Huh?" Ruby let out upon hearing that.
"Wait, what?" Tai asked.
"A weakness?" Jaune asked.
"I knew it." James said, not liking what that weakness could be.
"Sadly, all heroes have weaknesses." Ruby said.
"So very true." Jaune agreed. "As mighty as heroes are, they all have weaknesses."
"A sad fact for all heroes." Nora nodded in agreement.
"But what kind of weakness is Anna talking about?" Mercury questioned. He didn't care about the comic-book cliché thing but was more interested in why that Neos monster has a weakness.
"That was quite mature for you Ruby." Weiss said.
"I can be mature at times too." Ruby said.
I have my moments." Ruby puffed in pride.
Anna then explained the weakness.
"Neos has the power to fuse with other Neo-spacians through contact fusion, by returning himself and the Neo-spacian to the deck to summon a Neos fusion monster. However, the Neos fusion monster has to return to the extra deck at the end of the turn." Anna explained
"WHAT?! But that will leave Zack wide open if that's the case!" Velvet shouted as her rabbit ears perked up, seeing that Glow Neos was the only monster in Zack's field and that he was wide open if it was gone.
"So something as powerful as Contact Fusion does have a drawback." Winter comments, seeing the weakness of such a powerful fusion method.
"And what a drawback it is." Qrow remarked, not liking the implications of what will happen should that actually happen.
"But that'll leave Zack wide open!" Yang yelled.
"So it's basically a double edge sword. Powerful effect, but limited time." Blake said.
"That time in question being only one turn." Ilia added.
"Guess you didn't think that through kid." Eddie said, feeling safe.
"Don't worry guys. I got this under control. But instead of talking, why don't I just let the cards speak. I play the Equip-Spell Card Instant Neo Space!" Zack said.
Instant Neo Space
Spell Card: Equip
Below Glow Neos, a white space portal opened up. It showed on the other side a beautiful space like word, vibrant with colors.
"Wow…! So pretty!" Pyrrha says, charmed at the beauty of the light.
"What is that light?" Kali asked, charmed by the light.
"Thanks to my Instant Neo Space, my Glow Neos is staying put." Zack said.
"So there's a card that can keep a fused version of Neos in place? Awesome!" Sun cheered.
"Now Zack doesn't need to worry about losing Glow Neos!" Neptune added.
"What Zack did was pretty smart. Did I just use the words 'smart' and 'Zack' in the same sentence?" Weiss said, questioning herself.
"Gonna agree with the ice princess on-screen." Roman said while earning a 'Hey!' from Weiss. "I honestly thought this kid was all talk, but he knows exactly what he's doing."
Neo pulled out a sign that said. "He's not too bad." Before flipping it over with the back saying. "He's actually pretty competent." Which Yang saw.
"Huh, didn't take you as someone who'd give out compliments." The blonde said as a jab to her, earning a glare from the mute lady herself.
"Next I activate the effect of my Fusion Substitute in my graveyard! By banishing it, I can return my Rampart Blaster back to my deck, and draw a card." Zack said, as Fusion Substitute was removed, Rampart returned, and he drew one card.
"Don't forget, I have soul absorption on my field, and a card was removed from the game, so I gain 500 life points." Eddie said.
Eddie Terror: 1650LP + 500LP = 2150LP
"No worry. Like I said, I turn those life points to zero. I place one card facedown and end my turn." Zack said, ending his turn.
"Alright then, Zack was able to take the lead in terms of Life Points, and has a powerful monster on his field." Yang said, liking how the tides were turning.
Turn 11: Eddie Terror
Zackery Aegis: 2600LP vs Eddie Terror: 2150LP
Zackery Aegis Hand: 0 vs Eddie Terror Hand: 1
"You have made a fool out of me for the last time boy! Draw!" Eddie said.
Upon seeing the card, he then began to laugh insanely. After all the trouble that Zack put him through, he was starting to lose it. He now finally got the card that would change the tides of the duel.
"Oh no…" Jaune grimaced at how he was laughing at the card he had drawn.
Cinder only gritted her teeth, as she recognized that insane laughter from anywhere. 'Even I won't deny it, this guy and Tyrian would make for a REALLY bad combination.' She thought nearly immediately.
"Uh, I don't get it." Zack said, looking at Eddie.
"Listen here kid. You're about to witness the ultimate monster I have in my deck!" Eddie screamed.
"The ultimate monster of his deck!?" Pyrrha gasped.
"But… how is he gonna do that? All he's got is Frightfur Bear on his field and a pair of cards in his hand." Oscar asked while taking note of the Grimm's resources.
That was when Ruby had a crazy thought, thinking back to Zack's Contact Fusion. "Maybe with the right card, he has more monsters to use than we'd think." Ruby said aloud.
"What would that mean?" Blake asked, until Jaune thought about that.
"Well… we know from Neos and his Contact Fusion that monsters don't NEED to be sent to the graveyard to fuse toge-" That thought made him have a pit in his stomach. "Oh no…" He let out.
"Jaune, what is it?" Sun asked.
"Sorry I asked." Zack said.
"I now play the spell card Frightfur Fusion! By banishing fusion material from my field and graveyard, I can fusion summon a Frightfur fusion monster! I'll use the two Edge Imp Frightfuloid that were sent to my graveyard, and the Frightfur Leo that you destroyed to summon your worst nightmare." Eddie said, with a crazed look.
"I KNEW IT!" Ruby and Jaune shouted at the same time.
"He's fusing together monsters FROM the graveyard!?" James exclaimed in shock.
"And he's fusing three at the same time, too." Tai noted.
"But when did those other two monsters he's using for it get in the Graveyard at all?"
"Since when did you have Frightfuloids in your grave?" Zack asked.
"My Kuribandit took them, and sent them to the grave!" Eddie said.
The students of Beacon were shocked at that fact, and at the fact that the silly-looking pirate-like fur ball was able to set up for this. "Oh no…" Blake muttered.
"I didn't expect such a silly monster to actually do something like that." Coco admitted.
"To think he'd benefit from having so many cards out of five discarded like that." Winter said, gritting her teeth.
"And Zack was none the wiser to those cards getting sent there." Ghira added.
"Those Kuri- cards really are a force to be reckoned with if this is any evidence then." Glynda said as she gritted her teeth.
Team RWBY realized what Anna said was true. Never underestimate anything with kuri- in its name.
"That is one pesky fuzz ball." Yang said.
Frightfur Fusion
Spell Card: Normal
Edge Imp Frightfuloid
[LV: 4] [Attribute: Dark]
[Fiend/Effect]
ATK: 1300 DEF: 1300
Frightfur Fusion showed a toy bear with bat wings, a puppet with sharp fangs and horns, and a toy dragon that were being wrapped up in orange ribbons, as they were in a swirl of light with other toys. Two Edge Imp Frightfuloids then appeared above Eddie. It was the toy version of Frankenstein as it had the head of a dog, with several parts, a baby face, with the neck of a rolled up paper, pencils jabbed into its body, a tape measure on its left side, along with three triangles, a bottle on its right side and it was all connected to a ball of yarn. Blake screeched like a cat, after seeing the dog part of the monsters. She then jumped on Anna's shoulder, causing her to lose balance.
"Damn, those are some ugly mutts." Sienna commented, not liking the look of those monsters.
"What's up with that name though?" Ruby asked.
"It's a translation to their passive ability that gives them the "Frightfur" classification at all times." Kai told them.
"So they're the same kind of monster, because of that ability, as Frightfur Bear and Leo?" Penny asked.
"Exactly, and that's just what he needs to bring out the big guns. Take a look." Kai said, directing their attention to the screen.
"Sorry Anna." Blake said.
"It's fine. I was starting to forget that you are part cat." Anna said, as she got up.
Frightfur Leo then appeared alongside the two monsters. Their bodies then started to distort into a mass of light as they started to fuse together.
"Unusual plaything possessed by demons! Destroy and root out the plebeians who dare oppose you! I FUSION SUMMON! Come forth and appear chimeric fusion of all toys! Frightfur Chimera!" Eddie chanted.
Frightfur Chimera
[LV: 8] [Attribute: Dark]
[Fiend/Fusion/Effect]
ATK: 2800 DEF: 2000
The ground then shook, as it then burst open revealing a monstrous creation. It wasn't as scary as the other fusions, but it was humongous. It stood on four yellow anvils for feet, and had three heads. The main body resembled a pink bear, on a mechanical joint, with some of its stuffing ripped out. It looked like a normal pink teddy bear, if it didn't have two yellow horns. One head looked like a brown bean bag with sharp teeth, blue eyes, two wrenches with horns, and was on an extended curved neck. The last head resembled the head of an otter, or whatever it was, but it had multiple horns sticking out of its head and was on an accordion-like neck. Anna and RWBY just stood in silence at the size of the monster. It gave out a cackling laugh.
Silence.
That was all that could be heard at the moment as the viewers looked at the literal abomination that had been summoned.
"I was honestly expecting something bad to appear when he was fusing three monsters together, and I'm still horrified beyond belief." Qrow admitted.
"Good god…" James muttered, shocked at how thematically terrifying this monster was.
Penny looked on in silent horror as she thought about the logistics of this monster. 'This monster is meant to be demonically possessed stuffed toys combined into one being, and since it's a chimera in both appearance and name, the toys in question are completely different.' She kept on thinking hard on this monster's look. 'If something like this were to happen to me… a demon possessing me… what exactly would happen?' Penny asked internally, hoping to never get a concrete answer of any kind.
Even Cinder was appalled by the look of the monster that the Grimm had just summoned. Cinder didn't even know what to say in response to the sight of it. She had seen Salem create appalling incarnations of darkness in the form of various types of Grimm even Ozpin and James have yet to fight or even encounter in person. But none of what Salem has conjured up in her time knowing her matches… this thing.
'Just… what IS Duel Monsters… really?' Cinder asked, fearful of what the answer could be even if she just thought it. 'The things that we've seen outside of Anna's deck. The things that Team RWBY fought and defeated, even if it were by ruling of the game…' Cinder swallowed her nerves as she looked at the screen. 'Could this prove that… there are beings with power beyond what Salem has?' Cinder thought to herself before focusing on the duel.
Completely unaware of Kai monitoring her thoughts. 'I suppose that after this chapter is over, I might be able to use… that after all.' He thought before looking at the other reactions.
"I feel as though this is something I ought to throw up over, but I'm not sure myself honestly." Nora admitted.
"If this was used in the middle of a duel in front of an audience of children, I don't think they'll be keeping their innocence afterwards." Weiss said, disgusted by the monster's appearance when compared to the other Frightfur monsters.
"Imagine if there was a Grimm like this in Remnant." Weiss said, in fear.
"That cannot happen under any and all circumstances, and if it did happen anyways, that Grimm must be eliminated with as much haste as one can spare." Glynda quickly said, completely serious and adamant about that fact.
"Agreed." James agreed with the professor of Beacon, making a mental note to focus any military assets he can spare on such a Grimm should such a beast come to be at all.
"I don't want to imagine it." Blake said.
"If you think this is bad, then it's about to get a lot worse, because now that three monsters were removed from the game, I gain 1500 life points due to my Soul Absorption!" Eddie declared as Soul Absorption glowed and increased his life points.
Eddie Terror: 2150LP + 1500LP = 3650LP
"His life points increased again!" Ruby said, in horror.
"Factor in the fact that the damage Glow Neos's attack did to him was halved, and that means he completely healed off the damage." Blake said worried about how Glow Neos's damage dealt to the Grimm was now gone.
"Yeah, and then some." Yang added, noting that the Life Points given to the Grimm were more than the damage in question.
"I now play Suture Frightfur! I can now revive a Fluffal monster in my graveyard! I'll choose the Fluffal Owl that my Kuribandit sent to the graveyard! I'll also flip summon my Edge Imp Chain!" Eddie declared.
Fluffal Owl
[LV: 2] [Attribute: Earth]
[Fairy/Effect]
ATK: 1000 DEF: 1000
Edge Imp Chain
[LV: 4] [Attribute: Dark]
[Fiend/Effect]
ATK: 1200 DEF: 1800
A black portal then appeared on the field, as a brown and light yellowed furry owl, with glasses, emerged. The Edge Imp Chain was then revealed. It was a monster that had multiple chains connected to it and had two red circle eyes.
"No more… I don't want to see adorable monsters turn into horrifying ones…" Velvet subbed as she covered her face with her rabbit ears over her eyes.
"Shhh… it's okay, bunbun… it's all going to be over soon." Coco comforted her teammates as she hugged her.
"I activate Fluffal Owl's special ability! By paying 500 life points, I can fusion summon a Frightfur monster, using monsters on my side of the field as fusion materials. I now fuse my Edge Imp Chain with my Fluffal Owl!" Eddie declared.
Eddie Terror: 3650LP – 500LP = 3150LP
Fluffal Owl and Edge Imp chain slowly ascended into the air, as their bodies began to distort into a swirl.
"I FUSION SUMMON! Chain beast that binds everything! Frightfur Sheep!" Eddie chanted.
Frightfur Sheep
[LV: 5] [Attribute: Dark]
[Fiend/Fusion/Effect]
ATK: 2000 DEF: 2000
The monster that just appeared was a toy sheep with googly eyes, with chattering teeth that could grind a person. Its body resembled yellow fur, but it had two disks connected to its body by chains. Its back legs were also chain disks. Normally team RWBY would have been creeped out by this monster, but it made them wonder how an owl becomes a sheep.
"Wait, what?" Nora tilted her head in confusion, granted she was creeped out by the sheep monster but was confused by how the owl turned into a sheep.
"Did that owl turn into a sheep?" Emerald raised a brow at the weird summoning result.
"That… does not make any logical sense." Winter shook her head at the absurdity of it all.
"Uh… have you seen the last few things we've watched lately?" Ruby asked her.
Winter was going to respond with a yes, but soon realized what that would entail. "Touché." She chose to say instead.
"Did that owl just became sheep?" Ruby asked.
"I believe so." Anna replied.
"That makes no logical sense no matter how hard you think about it." Weiss said, shaking her head.
"Right!? How can an owl turn into a sheep?" The viewing Weiss questioned as she tried to comprehend it.
Qrow sighed as he rubbed his forehead. "There is no drink on Remnant strong enough for what I'm feeling right now." He muttered.
"After everything we seen in this game, I think it's safe to assume that some things won't make sense in this game." Blake said.
"This game is amazing, but I find that weird." Ilia added.
"Hey, at least this weirdness has some epic factors to it a little." Sun comments, earning a few words of agreement, glad the tension has lightened somewhat.
"Hate to break the mood, but Zack's now at a disadvantage." Neptune pointed out, snapping everyone back to the screen.
"Zack's in trouble. Eddie has three Frightfur monsters on his field, and they all want a piece of Zack!" Yang said, worried for Zack.
Zack had to admit that he was a little nervous, as he stepped back just a bit. Eddie had Zack hanging by the ropes. He wanted him to suffer after everything he had done.
"Frightfur Chimera, attack Elemental Hero Glow Neos!" Eddie yelled.
Frightfur Chimera responded as the bear part of the monster, pulled its body back, and then spat out a cartoonish missile at Glow Neos, which then exploded on contact. Zack shielded himself from the explosion.
Zackery Aegis: 2600LP – 300LP = 2300LP
"GLOW NEOS!" Zack yelled.
"NOOOOO! Not Neos!" Ruby wailed in sadness as the students of Beacon were getting worried about what might happen now that Zack lost his only monster.
"Don't worry. You'll see him sooner than you think. Whenever my Frightfur Chimera destroys a monster in battle, I can take control of that monster with half of its attack points! Plus, for every monster I control by this effect, my Chimera gains 300 attack points." Eddie chuckled.
"IT CAN WHAAAAAAAAAAT!" Everyone shouted in shock at the effect that monster had in question.
"That monster can STEAL the other player's monsters?!" Glynda asked, shocked at the prospect of such an ability.
"IS THAT EVEN ALLOWED?!" Nora shouted, asking Kai for an answer.
"Yep, it is indeed a mechanic in the game where some cards let you use an opponent's monster as your own with certain effects." Kai answered.
"Is he seriously gonna wind up getting beat by his own monster?" Mercury asked, admittedly not a fan of the irony of Zack getting defeated by a monster from his own deck. 'Wait… why do I feel that way?' He thought to himself, confused by that train of thought he just had.
"That's definitely not a way I'd want to go down." Qrow commented, the thought of such a scenario reminding him of a certain sister/bandit he knows too well.
Zack then watched in horror as Glow Neos reappeared on Eddie's side of the field, with the only difference being that his Glow was faint.
"That Hero doesn't belong to you!" Ruby yelled, in anger.
"Yeah! You stole it from him!" Yang yelled, as her hair flared up for a moment.
"It must be painful for Zack to have his own friend turned against him." Blake said, horrified by the ability.
"The worst part is that Eddie has three attacks." Weiss said.
"If my math is right, all he has to do is get two of those attacks to land unhindered, and Zack loses." Weiss stated, noting the Attack Points of all of the Grimm's other monsters counting Glow Neos.
"But how's Zack gonna survive that fact, if he's able to?" Velvet asked.
"HANG IN THERE ZACK! YOU CAN DO IT!" Anna yelled, worried for Zack.
"I make you suffer from your- Wait, what's going on!?" Eddie said, seeing the Instant Neos Space card glowing.
"Huh?" James wondered what was going on with the spell card.
"Instant Neo Space?" Kali wondered.
"What's it doing?" Yang asked.
"Hopefully something good." Neo said by holding up a sign.
"You may have taken my Glow Neos. But I'm not alone. The other effect of Instant Neo Space activates! When the monster equipped with it leaves the field at any time, I can summon Elemental Hero Neos from my hand, deck or graveyard. Return, Neos!" Zack yelled.
Elemental Hero Neos then emerged from the portal that Glow Neos was originally hovering over, and then took on an offensive stance.
"Yes, the spell is able to act as a failsafe in case a fusion form of Neos is destroyed." James said, smiling at the effect.
"And Neos is stronger than any of that Grimm's monsters, he's in the clear." Yang cheered.
"With Neos by my side, your monsters won't take us down!" Zack said, as he looked at Neos, who looked backed at him.
"Let's test that theory then. Frightfur Sheep, attack his Elemental Hero Neos!" Eddie yelled.
"Huh?" Yang let out, feeling a pit in her stomach at the fact that despite Neos being stronger, the Grimm is still attacking.
"I've got a bad feeling about this." Oscar admitted.
"That sheep only has 2000 attack points. Why's he attacking with it?" Anna asked, curious about what was happening.
The sheep then swung its chain disks at Neos, but Neos evaded the attacks as he then delivered a downward strike destroying the sheep with his right fist, which then exploded.
Eddie Terror: 3150LP – 500LP = 2650LP
"What reason could have had to do that, he just lost a monster he had to expend some life points to summon." Ilia wondered.
"He had to have had some ulterior motive for such a move." Sienna guessed.
"Now that was a stupid move. I guess Eddie lost his mind after all the beating he has been getting." Yang said, smiling confidently.
"Wait. Something is happening." Blake said as she noticed something.
A black portal then opened up, and a chain shot out of it, heading straight for Neos, as it tied up his arm. More chains then came out, as they began restraining Neos. Everyone was startled by what was happening. When they looked at the portal, Frightfur Sheep then emerged from the graveyard.
"The sheep came back?" Ruby asked, shocked at the fact that Frightfur Sheep was back on the field no worse for wear.
"But how did it do so? That Grimm didn't use any sort of spells or traps." Sun said, noting the lack of such moves on the Grimm's part.
"It must have been something from the monster itself." Coco theorized.
"I thought Neos destroyed that sheep! Why is it back!?" Ruby said, scared of what it was doing to Neos.
"Whenever Frightfur Sheep is destroyed in combat, or from an effect from my opponent, I can bring it back with 800 extra attack points once per turn. Now let's try this again. Frightfur Sheep! Turn his space man into sawdust!" Eddie yelled.
Frightfur Sheep: 2000ATK + 800ATK = 2800ATK
"Its destruction only made it come back stronger!" Cinder exclaimed, shocked at the ability and how it belonged to what seemed like a comparatively weak Frightfur monster.
"That means Neos is getting the cut. Literally!" Yang asked, not even wanting that pun acknowledged.
Frightfur Sheep then used its chains to bring Neos closer to it, as he failed to break out the chains. When Neos was close enough, Frightfur Sheep then used its two spinning blades, and swung them horizontally at Neos, destroying him.
Zackery Aegis: 2300LP – 300LP = 2000LP
"NNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOO! NOT NEOS!" Ruby yelled, horrified seeing Neos destroyed.
"Zack doesn't have any monsters left to protect him. He's wide open!" Weiss said.
"Plus, he didn't use that facedown to protect his monster, so it probably can't negate his attacks." Blake said, analyzing Zack's field.
"No way. We're going to die if he loses." Yang said in disbelief.
"And that Frightfur Bear has just enough Attack Points to finish him off on its next attack." Winter added, praying against whatever odds may be present that Zack has a plan.
"Is this really the end of the road?" Cinder wondered, doubting that it would end like this.
"COME ON, ZACK! DO SOMETHING CRAZY!" Nora cheered.
"It'll take a miracle of some kind to get out of this?" Qrow said, nervous of his semblance somehow making things go south.
Ozpin held his breath, not knowing what could happen if the card Zack has face-down on his field couldn't negate attacks.
"Come on Zack. You manage to get this far. Please be alright." Anna thought, praying for Zack's safety.
"Your face-down has been quite idle. I guess it doesn't do much. Get ready boy, because this next attack is going to be the last thing you'll ever see! Frightfur Bear! Attack him directly with Bear Hammer!" Eddie yelled.
Frightfur Bear then swung his right arm at Zack. RWBY and Anna just watched in silence as the arm was getting closer to Zack. Eddie thought Zack's facedown was a dud. The only reason why it hasn't been activated, because the conditions weren't fulfilled, and Zack saved it for this occasion.
The students of Beacon could almost hear their hearts beating as if they were inside their heads, shocked stiff and completely unaware of what was going to happen next.
"Neos may be gone, but his spirit is always with me! I play my face-down trap card! Hero Spirit!" Zack yelled.
Hero Spirit
Trap Card: Normal
Hero Spirit showed a red armored warrior standing on top of a rock pillar, as the sun rose behind him. There were also several barbaric monsters from below, gazing at the hero. Suddenly, an astral image of Neos then appeared as he then got in front of Zack and then raised his arms in the form of a cross, and blocked Frightfur Bear's attack.
"What the…" Emerald muttered, shocked at the sight.
"Hero Spirit?" Ghira, Kali, and Sienna also muttered in complete disbelief.
"Neos is back?" Weiss asked in loud shock.
"But how?" Ren asked.
"WHO CARES, HE PROTECTED ZACK!" Ruby screamed in sheer excitement and glee at the fact that Zack was still in the game.
"YEEEEEHAW!" Nora added to the excitement Ruby was giving off as she literally jumped with joy.
"It's a miracle…" Pyrrha muttered "The spirit of a defeated hero coming back to help you in the darkest hour." She said, marveling at the effect and it's symbolic portrayal.
"Amazing…" Jaune added to the marveling that Pyrrha was doing.
"What's going on here!?" Eddie said, surprised at Neos's reappearance.
"My Hero Spirit trap card can only be activated if an Elemental Hero was destroyed in battle this turn. With it, I can change all the battle damage done by one monster on your field for this turn to zero." Zack said.
"That's why he didn't use that card, it's meant to reduce damage, not stop attacks outright." Blake said, realizing the point of that card.
"If he used that card at any other opportunity during this turn, it would've been wasted given how miniscule the damage was in comparison to a direct attack itself." Ozpin analyzed the move Zack had made, after sighing in relief a little.
"Even though he has one more attack to throw at him, it still won't hurt him as much as the attack from Frightfur Bear would've dealt him." Ilia said, remembering that Glow Neos's Attack Points were halved due to Frightfur Chimera's ability.
"I still have one more attack. It won't finish you, but now you will feel the wrath of your own monster's strength! Glow Neos, attack your master directly!" Eddie said.
Glow Neos, then jumped into the air. He then generated a Lightning spear, as he then hurled it at Zack, piercing him.
"AAAGGGGGGAAAAAHHH" Zack yelled, as this was the most damage he has taken during this duel.
Zackery Aegis: 2000LP – 1250LP = 750LP
Ilia's spots blue as she visibly cringed at the sound of Zack's yelling in pain. "Nevermind, that looked really painful." She said.
"I never thought a human from that world would get impaled by a spear of actual energy and live to tell of it." Pyrrha commented.
"I know right? Comparing this attack to that big punch Anna received in her last Duel, I'm surprised they didn't wheel her off to the hospital." Yang commented as well.
"Indeed, given that the attack in question was 3000 Attack Points worth, and this one is barely half of that amount, I feel like the only reason Zack felt that much pain was because he's not used to these duels." Penny said, comparing the previous duel's event of Lead Yoke attacking Anna directly to the attack Zack had been victim to.
Team RWBY and Anna were glad that Zack survived, but now they were worried if Zack could win. His situation was worse than Anna's, as she had cards on her field and some cards in hand, but Zack had nothing. No cards in hand, no monsters, and no traps.
Qrow growled at the sight of the hopelessness at the situation. "Fuck! Damn, this is about as morally debilitating as a small team of Huntsmen learning about an army of Grimm heading their way to kill them." Qrow swore.
"He fought through the flames, but how can he counter when he now has nothing on the other side to fight the one who lit those flames." Cinder wondered, earning a side glance from Roman.
That phrase, however, made something in Ruby's head click. 'Wait a moment…' Ruby thought back to that night when she first fought Roman and met Glynda and Ozpin, there was another prominent person who she had encountered on that night. A woman in a red dress who… controlled and shot flames as a power of some kind.
Ruby looked back at Cinder for a brief moment while no one was looking and saw Cinder wearing a dress that was almost exactly, if not THE, dress that the woman from that night had wore, and she also had an analytical look in her eyes. A look she has a faint recollection of seeing before.
…
…
And then it hit her.
'Is she… the one who…' Ruby thought until she decided to brush that thought to the side for now and focus on the duel.
"Shame I couldn't defeat you this turn. You only delay the inevitable. I'll end my turn. So now make your move, if you have one." Eddie said, mocking Zack.
Glow Neos' effect then activated, as he then returned to Zack's extra deck.
Neptune sighed in a small amount of relief at that. "Well, that's one less monster to worry about." He said, trying to lighten the mood.
"Zack may have no cards in his hand, but so does the Grimm, so he won't be able to defend against whatever Zack will throw at him." Sun said, liking that fact.
"If Zack gets something to throw at him at least." Blake commented on that fact, bursting Sun's bubble on that front.
It was hard for Anna to watch her friend struggle as she could see he was desperately trying to think of something. Team RWBY knew Zack wouldn't give in, but didn't know if he could fight back.
"Zack." Anna said softly.
"Zack can't lose now. Not after all he has done." Ruby said.
"Losing Neos must have hurt his morale. He's alone on the field." Weiss said.
"I'm sure he'll pull through. He did take a beating from me, and survived." Yang said, trying to encourage everyone.
Yang could only sigh at her other self's attempt at a moral pick-me-up, not even knowing what to say to it.
"I don't know, Yang? A duel and a beating from you are completely different, when it comes to surviving." Blake said.
Turn 12: Zackery Aegis
Zackery Aegis: 750LP vs Eddie Terror: 2650LP
Zackery Aegis Hand: 0 vs Eddie Terror Hand: 0
Zack got up, as he supported himself with his legs. He was silent for a moment.
"Look kid, winning at this point is impossible, so I suggest you take your turn, and at least go out quietly." Eddie said.
Zack remained silent. He then gave out a chuckle.
Cinder raised an eyebrow at Zack's chuckling in this situation.
"He's laughing?" Tai asked, confused at the action.
Pyrrha was confused as well. "What's exactly going through his mind?" She wondered aloud.
"Heh. You know what? Winning at this point is impossible." Zack said.
Everyone was shocked as if a lightning bolt had struck them all at the same time. "WHAT?!" Team RWBY and JNPR shouted, wishing he hadn't said that deep down, and looked visibly betrayed on the outside.
"HAS HE LOST IT OR SOMETHING?!" Coco asked loudly, not liking how he just up and acknowledged that statement as some kind of fact.
"At least make some witty banter with him or something!" Sun exclaimed.
"What are you saying Zack!? Are you giving up on us!?" Weiss yelled, shocked at what Zack said.
"And you call yourself a true friend to Anna." Blake said, revolted with what Zack said.
"I knew you would eventually see it." Eddie said.
"However, the word impossible is nothing more than just a wall you need to knock down." Zack said.
"Huh?" Many of the students who were shocked by his statement let out in confusion.
"What does that mean…" Penny wondered.
James wondered that as well until a thought came to him, as he remembered all those times Anna had faced crazy odds, while not as bad as what Zack was in now, were still bad, and how Zack had been there supporting her through all of it without doubting her for a moment, which made him think back to what Kai had told them about that one phrase. 'Victory is in… a simple soul.' James repeated that line in his head, before turning to the screen in realization.
"As if you can defeat me. You have no cards in your hands, and one card isn't enough to save you." Eddie argued.
"Do you know what I think about the word impossible?" Zack asked.
Everyone then noticed Zack's expression. While he usually had his normal grin and smirk, he looked dead serious.
"Woah… that's one tough look he's got." Yang said, impressed by how unyielding he looked.
Pyrrha saw that face and was reminded of the determination that Jaune had displayed when defending Cardin from that Ursa Major in the Forever Fall forest and basically telling him to get a change in attitude. "He isn't gonna back down an inch." Pyrrha said, already regaining some confidence from that look alone.
"The word impossible, is just nothing more than a challenge, a challenge that I can overcome, a challenge of making the impossible possible. Making the illogical the logical, and redefining reality itself. Those are the words that I live by every single day of my life." Zack said.
Team RWBY were stunned by Zack's words. Some of it sounded crazy and insane, but yet was inspiring in its own way, somehow.
The same can be said from pretty much everyone in the room that heard it. "Woah…" Oscar sighed in awe.
"That was one epic speech." Yang commented, amazed at how… up-lifted she felt compared to just less than a minute prior.
"Gotta hand it to him, he's got one hell of a way with words." Qrow admitted.
Tai nodded in agreement. "You can say that again." Tai said with a smile on his face.
"It was awesome." Sun exclaimed.
"It was… inspiring." Ilia of all people said in a tone that showed she was both shocked and amazed at how that train of thought.
"It was…" Ren was gonna add something to that list of adjectives, but didn't know what to say.
"Crazy?" Nora finished Ren's sentence, getting him to look at her with a smile.
"Yeah… Crazy." Ren said, agreeing with her description.
"Well… it is his middle name." James admitted with a smile of his own, which Ozpin noticed, but decided to hold off on talking about what was on his mind at this moment, not that it stopped him from growing a smile of his own.
"Despite his… ludicrous antics, he really… pardon my language, he really knows how to pull a serious pep talk out of his ass." Weiss said, not even bothering with mincing words.
Blake followed that logic and spoke up in a similar fashion. "Damn straight, he does." She said with her own smile.
"Did Zack just say something inspiring?" Weiss said, trying to comprehend what Zack said.
"I don't know about you, but Zack looks and sounds like a completely different person." Ruby said.
"You're all talk! You can't possibly beat me at this point! I got three monsters that will shred you into pieces!" Eddie said.
(Play Impossible Victory)
"Well fair warning. This deck of mine is telling me to defeat you with all my might! So get set to get decked! I DRAW!" Zack yelled.
A gust of wind then blew around the area from where Zack was standing. It was only a draw, but everyone felt the massive pressure that Zack was giving off. Zack then looked at his card, and then smiled.
"He got something good!" Nora cheered, loving the sight of the smile on his face.
"I special summon Elemental Hero Bubbleman from my hand in attack mode!" Zack declared.
Elemental Hero Bubbleman
[LV: 4] [Attribute Water]
[Warrior/Effect]
ATK: 800 DEF: 1200
Bubbleman wore a blue suit, along with chest armor, which seemed to house his water core. He wore a helmet that had two horns on his head and two eye slits. His main weapon was his bubble shooter that was attached to two canisters attached to his back. He also wore light blue boots and gloves.
Some people in the room were completely confused by this. Not by what comeback Zack could be planning, but more on the thought of a superhero fighting with actual bubbles.
"Okay, that is a weird thing to fight evil with." Jaune admitted.
"It doesn't have to be for fighting, it could be for putting out fires or providing some kind of support for others." Winter said, listing off and thinking of practical uses for such a focused power.
"Yeah, actually, some comics and shows I've read have involved superheroes just coming in and saving people rather than solely fighting a villain of some kind." Ruby added in defense of the power.
"Wait. There is a superhero that fights with bubbles? That sounds kind of weird." Weiss said confused about this hero.
"A super power based around bubbles sounds okay to me." Ruby said.
"Did Zack say Special Summon?" Blake asked.
"Still not as good as Burstinatrix." Yang said.
"If Bubbleman is the only card in my hand, I can automatically special summon him." Zack said.
"So he can still use his normal summon." Glynda stated, but was perplexed at how exactly Zack was gonna make use of it with no other cards in his hand.
"He's got to have a plan if he's outright stating that ability of Bubbleman's." Ozpin noted.
"That monster is nothing compared to my Frightfurs! Its attack power is pathetic!" Eddie stated, but couldn't help but feel nervous.
"Don't sell my Bubbleman short just yet, because he has another ability! When I summon Bubbleman, and I have no other cards on my field, I can draw two cards." Zack said as he drew two.
The students of Beacon were shocked at this. "So it's all come down to this. He gets two cards to draw with this effect, and all he has to do is use them correctly." Pyrrha said, realizing what Zack was aiming for with Bubbleman.
"But can he really make a comeback with just two extra cards?" Velvet asked.
"Velvet, if that speech of his was any indication, he's gonna pull something off with those cards." Coco stated, confident in what Zack said before he began his turn.
Time seemed to slow down as Zack drew his final two cards. Team RWBY and Anna held their breath as this was now the deciding moment of the duel. Zack looked at his cards, and stared in amazement of what came to him. He then envisioned victory and how to accomplish it.
The audience watched in silence as they held their breaths, anticipating what kind of odds Zack would do now that he had two extra cards in his hands.
"Since Bubbleman was special summoned, I can still normal summon one monster this turn, and I know just who to play. I summon Elemental Hero Prisma!"
Elemental Hero Prisma
[LV: 4] [Attribute: 4]
[Warrior/Effect]
ATK: 1700 DEF: 1100
The monster that appeared was highly different than the other Heroes. His body was literally composed of crystals. His main body was a triangular shape, with jagged shoulder pads. His upper chest was made of light blue armor, as well as his waist section. His legs were made of diamond like trapezoid shape. His arms were connected on a ball like joint, having sharp shoulder blades, and on a rough rectangular base, with blue hands. His head resembled that of a diamond like shape that was light green. He also had two crystalline wings. Although seeing the monster before, Anna thought he look spectacular. Ruby, Blake and Yang were all dazzled by the monster's appearance. Weiss on the other hand had stars in her eyes, as she was enthralled by the monsters appearance. It didn't help that the moonlight and the stars were shinning on him, causing his body to sparkle in the night.
"So… beautiful." Winter said, entranced by the monster and a few viewers.
"Wow… that hero is so pretty." Velvet's eyes sparkled in awe at how dazzling the monster appeared.
"I think this one is my favorite." Coco says as she drops her glasses to have a good look at it.
"So… pretty…" Emerald's muttered in awe, almost in a trance at seeing the monster so much she just wanted to steal it.
"Wow, never seen you so entrance bef–OOF?!" Mercury's musing was quickly shot when Emerald jabbed him in the gut without even looking away from the monster.
Neo's eyes sparkled at how pretty the monster was while pulling out a sign. 'I wonder if I can get that card? It really speaks to me.'
"Can't say I blame you, Neo. I'm starting to see the value of these cards now." Roman says, seeing that this card game can really sell.
"Now that's a monster that has bling." Yang said.
"It sure is." Yang agreed with herself.
"And the whole setting is making Prisma even prettier." Blake admits.
"So…beautiful." Weiss said, entranced by the monster.
"I think Prisma shut down Weiss' brain." Ruby said.
"And it looks like it's happening to our fellow Schnees." Qrow snickered, seeing that the said monster entranced both Schnee siblings.
"Prisma sure is a lady killer. Even though it's unintentional." Anna said, remembering the first time she saw Prisma.
Prisma takes notice of this, and out of respect, he waves his hand towards Weiss as a friendly gesture, which caused her to pass out.
Funny enough, Weiss also passed out.
"Ah! Weiss!" Ruby panicked a bit as she tried to wake up her partner.
"Well, this is amusing." Sienna mussed, seeing that the young Schnee would pass out like that and what was musing was that Winter was not paying attention at all, making Ilia chuckle at the sight of it all.
"I think she likes you Prisma. Now then, time for you shine. Well, with your ability. Now by revealing one fusion monster from my extra deck, I can send a fusion material monster needed for that card to the graveyard, and Prisma's name becomes that monster. I reveal my Elemental Hero Glow Neos, and send Neo-Spacian Glow Moss from my deck to the graveyard. Prisma! Use your hidden powers to transform into Glow Moss! Reflect Change!" Zack declared
Zack then sent Glow Moss from his deck to the graveyard, and Prisma started to glow in a massive light. When the light died down, his body resembled Neo-Spacian Glow Moss. Prisma's change in appearance caused Weiss to snap out of her daze. Yang was snickering at her. She then started blushing so hard that her face turned completely red of embarrassment.
Most of the girls also snapped out of their trance, seeing that Prisma had changed its form.
"Welcome back. Did you like Prisma's new look?" Yang teased Weiss, making her blush just as hard as her counterpart.
"But why would Zack have Glow Moss sent to the graveyard?" Penny tilted her head, wondering what the purpose of it would be.
"So what does that do? Your Elemental Hero Neos is in the graveyard. So you can't fuse him with your Prisma. Besides, even if you do summon Glow Neos, I would have enough life points to survive if you used his signal buster and destroyed my spell card. It's impossible" Eddie said.
"Hate to say it, but he's got a point. I can tell the kid's got something on his sleeves, but I don't see it." Tai admits.
"But Zack has one more card." Glynda points out. "As far as we know, one card can change anything in the game."
"Like I said. I do the impossible. And to show you, I play this! The spell card Miracle Contact!" Zack yelled.
MIRACLE CONTACT?!" Everyone shouted, not expecting such a card Zack would use.
"Miracle what!?" Eddie exclaimed.
Zack's graveyard then began to glow as Neos, Glow Moss, and Dark Panther then emerged from the graveyard.
"It's Neos?!" Oscar exclaimed.
"Even Glow Moss and Dark Panther!" Sun added.
"Miracle Contact allows me to send fusion materials monsters from my hand, field or graveyard back to my deck, to summon a Neos fusion monster! I return Elemental Neos, Glow Moss and Dark Panther back to my deck. TRIPLE CONTACT FUSION!" Zack yelled.
"TRIPLE CONTACT FUSION?!" The students shouted in shock again while the others could only gap at something impossible was happening in front of them.
Neos, Glow Moss, and Dark Panther then flew into the air, as they then entered a galaxy and were then enveloped in bright flash of light.
"I hope you guys are ready, because IT'S SPPPPAAAAACCCCCCEEEEEEE TTTTTTIIIIIMMMMMMMIMEEEEEEEE!" Zack screamed to the top of his lungs, as he pulled his arms back in and crouched down, and then thrusted both arms into the air.
"Oh my gosh oh my gosh! This is getting real!" Nora squealed.
"He's fusing two more monsters with Neos!" Pyrrha gasped at the sight of it all
"He's making a contact fusion from the graveyard?" James says in disbelief.
"Hence the word Miracle Contact." Ozpin added while utterly curious at how this fusion will result too.
"I like what Zack just said." Penny giggled.
"As much as I want to berate at his behavior, I am far too focused on what monster will appear." Winter comments, not turning away from the light.
Anna giggled at what Zack did. Ruby and Yang were focused on the fusion summoning that was taking place, as the light was exhilarating. Blake rolled her eyes, but smiled in amusement that Zack was being himself. Weiss just face palmed at what Zack just did, and shook her head.
"Come forth! The combination of light, darkness and the cosmos! Elemental Hero Chaos Neos!" Zack yelled.
Elemental Hero Chaos Neos
[LV: 9] [Attribute: Dark]
[Warrior/Fusion/Effect]
ATK: 3000 DEF: 2500
What emerged from the light was a hero who was covered by bat like wings. He then opened his wings and got into a battle stance. This form of Neos had him wearing a black suit, with white blade gauntlets on each of this arms. His upper body had chest armor, with sharper and sleeker shoulder guards. His wings look like one of bat or vampire. He had a rough edge face, which resembled that of a bat, with a yellow gem on his forehead. He also had long blue hair. His right arm also had a black claw. Ruby almost fainted after seeing the appearance of this monster, if it weren't for Yang. Weiss had to admit that Chaos Neos did look like a vampire, but handsome as well. Blake sort of blushed at this monster, but didn't know why.
The audience could only stare in utter awe at the new Neos monster.
"Chaos…" Ruby started nearly fainting like her counterpart.
"Neos…" Jaune finished as the two stared at the monster with sparkles in their eyes.
"Whoa… Chaos Neos looks like a Faunus." Ilia says, immediately admiring this iteration of Neos.
"He must certainly does…" Sienna admits, while having a light blush on her face, welcomed at how handsome the monster was to her.
"The combination of light, darkness, and cosmos…" Ozpin mutters. He knew that combining light and darkness created humanity on Remnant but never once thought of the idea that the addition of the very cosmos would create this monster.
"I activate Chaos Neos' ability! Chaos check!" Zack declared.
Chaos Neos then held up three different orbs in a vertical line, and they then began to spin like a slot machine, switching between colors of white and black.
"Another alternate ability similar to Glow Moss." Ren points out.
"I wonder what will this one will be?" Coco asked, very eager at what this fashionably bat-themed monster will do.
"Chaos check is quite interesting. The number of white orbs that appear depend on his ability. If I get one light, then all I control return to my hand. Two lights lets me negate all the effect of all your monsters. Three lights lets Chaos Neos destroy all your monsters." Zack said.
"Whoa! That's powerful!" Sun exclaims.
"Yeah, but it's like Glow Moss's gamble effect." Neptune points out.
"Not surprising, seeing how powerful the ability is." Roman comments, agreeing with the reason for this gamble-like effect.
"As powerful as it is, he's risking it all at this turn!" Emerald points out she agrees that the effect is powerful but sees that this is ultimately risky.
"You're risking your life over a game of chance!? That's ludicrous, to get three lights!" Eddie screamed.
"It does sound crazy." Blake admits.
"But this kind of crazy is perfect for Zack!" Yang counters with a huge grin waiting for something big to happen.
"Let's find out. Chaos! Time to give Chaos Check a spin!" Zack declared.
"So the fact of whether we survive or get killed is all based on a game of chance?" Ruby asked.
'Looks like it.' Neo's sign says but has a good feeling.
"Well, if you think about it, life is a game of chance. Things just happen just by chance." Blake said.
"A true fact about life." Ghira nodded at his daughter's words. "Anything can happen in your life."
"Whether one may like it or not at that." Roman admitted.
"Looks like Zack feeling lucky tonight." Yang said.
"Zack! Go beyond your limit!" Anna yelled.
"Fingers cross!" Oscar says as he crosses his fingers and hopes for the best.
Everyone watched in silence as they all wondered what the result of Zack's gamble would goat this duel.
Chaos Neos then begun spinning his three orbs. Everyone watched in suspense as his the orbs spun. The first orb stopped on the color white. The other two kept on spinning, and the middle one started to slow down. It then landed on white. The only thing that was needed was for the last orb to be white. Anna had hope Zack would win. Ruby put her hands together and prayed. Weiss was secretly rooting for Zack, but didn't show it. Blake just watched with a calm look. Yang had high hopes and smiled having the feeling Zack would get it. The final orb started to slow down, as it then slowly stopped. Another white light.
"YES!" All the students cheered at the impossible being possible.
"I… don't believe it…" Cinder mutters in utter disbelief that Zack could get the gamble he needed to win.
"I can't believe it… the odds were all against him… I can't comprehend it!" Penny shouts, not believing that something illogical just happened.
"He really can make the impossible possible…" Ilia mutters in disbelief, and additionally to her realization. She was beginning to respect humans.
"No! That's…impossible!" Eddie screamed.
"News flash buddy! The impossible is nothing more than a stepping stone for me! Chaos Neos got three white lights! That means that mean your Frightfurs, are a thing in the past!" Go! Aura Dark Spiral!" Zack yelled.
Chaos Neos then jumped into the sky as he looked face to face with the Frightfurs. He then retracted his wings, and reopened then, sending out a furious flash of dark energy. The dark energy then changed into thousands of black bats, as they then swarmed the Frightfur monsters. The Frightfurs tried to fend them off, but with no avail. They felt the one emotion they wanted to place in their opponent: fear. They then exploded in a dark explosion. Frightfur sheep then returned due to its ability.
"Yes! All of the Frightfurs are gone!" Kali cheered.
"But the sheep is still there." Glynda added.
"I doubt that's going to be there long." James added.
"Not going to lie… that was kickass!" Mercury grinned, liking the unique effect of the attack.
"That was a sweet move." Qrow grinned.
"Looks like Neos just went, batty." Yang punned.
"That was good, but I found it so-so." Coco comments.
"You found it good, so it counts." Yang shrugged, still earning a point from that.
"I'll admit, that was good one. But not still not funny." Anna said.
"Lighten up Anna." Yang said.
"That was amazing!" Ruby said, amazed by the effect.
"I know right? Out of all effects, that one was really amazing!" Ruby cheered.
"I take back any and all suspicions I had about this game. It's AWESOME!" Coco exclaimed.
"This game is really giving me goosebumps!" Pyrrha comments in excitement.
"HAHAHA! I haven't witnessed anything this exciting in a LONG time." Maria said, loving how Zack was able to make a comeback.
"I never thought I would get stressed out because of a card game." Weiss said, glad Zack got what he needed.
"A real stress indeed." Winter agreed.
"But so worth it!" Tai added.
"That was an ability, so it doesn't count as an actual attack. Zack's going to claim victory." Blake said.
"She's right! Chaos Neos can still attack!" Velvet cheered.
"That hero is really living up to its name." Ren added with a light smirk.
It was time for the finale.
"Chaos Neos! It's time to break the chain sheep!" Zack declared.
"This can't be! I'm the Nightmare of Huntsmen." Eddie yelled, in disbelief.
"Well, if you are a Nightmare, then guess it's time for you to wake up. Alright Neos, let him have it! Chaos Kick!" Zack yelled.
"Oh! That was a good one!" Tai says, liking that comeback.
"Go Chaos Neos!" Ilia cheered.
Neos then flew high into the sky, until he was behind the moon. He then, surround himself with his own wings, as he then became a twister of darkness, destroying the Frightfur Sheep, with a downward strike.
Eddie Terror: 2650LP – 200LP = 2450LP
"Damn! That was one hell of a kick!" Mercury says in awe and jealousy.
"Prisma! Get in there, and attack Eddie directly! Spore Spear!" Zack yelled.
Prisma then created a glowing spear, and then hurled it towards Eddie, inflicting damage.
Eddie Terror: 2450LP – 1700LP = 750LP
"Almost there! Almost there!" Ruby cheered, seeing the end of the duel.
"Go, Zack! Finish it!" Jaune and the rest cheered for the Elemental Hero Duelist.
"Alright, the Final Attack! Get ready Bubbleman! BUBBLE CRITICAL FINISH!" Zack yelled.
Bubbleman then circled his right arm, and then aimed it at Eddie. He then fired a stream of bubbles, causing him to slide back. The stream of bubbles made a hard impact with Eddie sending him flying, and ending the duel.
"Curse…you." Eddie said, as he then vanished.
(End Impossible Victory)
Eddie Terror: 750LP to 0
Winner: Zackery Aegis
Everyone cheered at Zack's impossible victory.
"My word…" Was all Glynda could say. "He actually did it." She muttered.
"ELEMENTAL HEROES FOR THE WIN!" Ruby and Nora screamed in excitement.
Cinder was gobsmacked at the fact that Zack had actually won the duel. "I don't believe it… he actually won with the odds stacked against him." She muttered.
"ALRIGHT! Now that's what I call a victory!" Zack yelled as he jumped into the air.
Ruby then ran up to Zack and cling to his arm, almost knocking him down.
"THAT WAS AMAZING ZACK! You've got to show me every card in your deck! You almost looked like an actual hero at the end." Ruby said.
"Yeah! Who would have thought that you would were such a good duelist!? You sir just won my respect." Yang said, as she ruffled his hair.
"I suppose you are good in certain aspects. But, I would be lying if I were to say your duel wasn't good." Weiss said, hesitantly.
"Hehe, even their Weiss acknowledged that." Neptune said smiling.
"Aw Weiss, you really are a softy!" Zack said bringing her in with one arm.
"Don't touch me." Weiss said, coldly.
"Anyway, while that was a good duel, I think it's about time we needed answers." Blake said, turning her attention to Neos, who just defused.
"Oh yeah, now that the duel is over, he can start explaining things." Ruby noted.
"And tell them why they're so tiny." Winter added, hoping for an explanation on that, though not as much as Weiss was.
"I don't have much time, so I'll try to keep it brief. You see, being the Hero of the cosmos, it's my job to watch over the space-time continuum." Neos said.
"Why time?" Zack asked.
"Space and time happen to fall under the same category of space. Anyway, during one of my observations, I noticed a crack in space. When I investigated it, I was attacked by black creatures with bone-like masks." Neos said.
"The Grimm." Blake responded.
"What?!" Ozpin responded, shocked at that revelation.
"The Grimm attacked Neos by breaking through a crack in space and time?" Ruby repeated.
"It sounds like it." Tai said, almost not believing it.
Cinder was even more shocked by that statement. 'How is that even possible? As far as I'm aware Salem has expressed no desire for anything outside of ruling Remnant.' Cinder then thought back to the Liege and how seemed like the mastermind of everything. 'That liege… something is up with him…' She concluded.
"I called my fellow Neo-Spacians to fend off the invaders. We fought with all our might. However, darkness was able to slip past us and enter this world. After the encounter, a light flashed from the crack. That was when you four appeared." Neos said.
"I remember that day. We were just walking in the courtyard until we were engulfed in that light, and then we met you Neos. You told us that the Grimm went to another world, and that was where we decided to help you." Blake said.
"Well now, looks like I wasn't too far off." Maria said, noting that it was them who decided to help Neos out.
"Indeed so." Ozpin agreed.
"Honestly, if it were any ordinary huntsman, I actually would think it would be less effective as they are, given all the feats they've displayed." James admitted.
Glynda was honestly shocked at that statement. "Well now, that's certainly something I didn't expect myself to see, you acknowledging the hard work these children put into their fighting." Glynda said, slightly smiling at his doing so.
"I guess… I can see why Neos chose them… over a group of huntsmen like Atlas's Ace Ops for example. They're a group meant to work together, but also not have significant bonds with each other should one of them die in battle." James explained.
Ruby was shocked at that news. "But… how could they figure out how to work well with each other if they don't bond with each other?" She asked.
James sighed. "Honestly… I'm not even sure if that's even possible with simple to advanced military training alone." He admitted.
"So why are the Grimm invading?" Ruby asked.
"We don't know yet. The Elemental Heroes have their best researchers on the case, and they will send any information to your scrolls. I can't just appear at will all the time. You would not believe how much energy it takes to materialize here." Neos said.
At that moment, everyone was silent, as they had nervous looks on their faces.
"Yeah… about that…" Blake commented.
"You lost them didn't you?" Neos asked, having a sweat drop on his head.
"Yeah. We sort of did. So how come we aren't experiencing the same problem." Yang asked.
"The four of you were sent here along with your aura. Your aura seemed to have mixed with the duel energy that was required to send you here. While only your duelist can see you, your aura allows you to interact with the world, unlike other spirits." Neos said.
"Oh, so that's why those versions of us can interact with the real world, our auras are allowing us to do so." Weiss concluded.
"I guess duel energy is a really versatile form of energy if it lets them interact with this world when we normally wouldn't." Coco commented.
"It must be if it's able to interact with their aura." Roman added.
Neos' body then began to flicker, as he seemed he was losing power.
"It seems like this all the time I have left. If you have any other questions, I'll answer them the next time we meet." Neos said.
"That's simple, all I have to do is duel again in one of these barriers, and then summon you." Zack said.
Everyone sweatdropped at the thought of that. "Yeah… cause people obviously risk their lives in these types of duels for just that and no other reason." Nora sarcastically said, earning looks from her teammates. "Why're you staring at me? I'm right!" She proclaimed.
"It's not that simple. Yes, while it is true that using me in your darkness duel allowed me to appear here, in order for me to appear here, I also must use a significant amount of my energy, and it takes a while to recharge." Neos stated.
"Nothing is ever simple. Except for eating, and sleeping." Zack said.
"I can't believe you were the one who saved us." Weiss said, under her breath.
"Well, I admit, I can believe it, I almost feel as though it was some sort of made-up story from a rabid fan of his or something." Winter said.
"I agree with that, honestly…" Weiss said as the two Schnee sisters and everyone else were oblivious to Kai discretely wiping a nervous sweat drop off his brow.
'I will admit to many things about them and their world, but that is something I'll take with me, to my grave and away from them.' Kai thought to himself.
"Wait! Why are we like this?" Ruby asked, referring to her chibi body.
"It's a long explanation. I'll tell you when I see you again!" Neos said, as he then disappeared.
"Oh drat, he couldn't explain the small body thing…" Weiss cursed before sighing.
"I do have to wonder what it was that forced him to make that move?" Tai said aloud.
"Maybe because their aura and duel energy mixed at all, it would make them too visible to normal people?" Qrow theorized.
Winter scoffed. "Oh come now, that's completely-" She stopped for a moment to think on that, before a thought crossed her mind. "Actually… that's not a bad guess." Winter commented.
Glynda, Ozpin, James, and especially Qrow all looked at her in shock. "Did… you just admit… that Qrow might be right about something?" Glynda asked her.
"Well, it's just… if the aura is like a protective barrier around Weiss and her teammates, and Duel Energy revolves around the materialization of and interactions between duel monsters, it's possible that them being so small was a way to make a… happy medium between them different forms of logic of our two world, how our aura's protect us, and how duel monster spirits are untraceable outside of duels." Winter explained to them, slightly blushing at the stares she got.
"So… I might actually be correct, and you agree with that." Qrow summarized. "Man, this chapter really is full of miracles." He said, slightly perplexed.
Everyone just stood in place after hearing what Neos said. Zack and Anna looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders. Ruby then screamed in shock.
"What's wrong sis?" Yang asked.
"I forgot to ask for his autograph!" Ruby yelled.
"Well… it could be worse… all six of you could be dead." Oscar said as a way to cheer up their Ruby, who was wishing for an autograph as well.
"He's not wrong, if the kid made one wrong move during that duel, you'd all be six feet under right now." Maria told them.
Weiss just rolled her eyes, while Blake grinned a bit. Yang was trying to cheer Ruby up.
"BIG BROTHER!" A little girl's voice yelled.
Out of nowhere a small little girl was running up towards the group and was waving at them. She appeared to be 12 years old. She was wearing a dark blue skirt, with a sakura flower pattern design on the edges. She wore a white hoodie unzipped and a green shirt underneath. She had black hair with two pigtails, and brown eyes.
"Huh? Is that…" Yang was gonna ask until her question was answered.
"Mia! You're back!" Zack said, running up to her sister.
"Mia? As in Zack's sister?" Yang asked.
"What gave it away? The fact that she called him big brother?" Blake said.
"Nice to see you Mia! Now how's my little sister doing?" Zack said, ruffling her sister's hair.
"Yeah, it's that little sister that was on a field trip." Blake said, remembering what was said about her in particular.
"She looks adorable." Coco commented.
"She kinda reminds me of one of my sisters when they were younger." Jaune also commented.
"Really? I didn't know you had siblings, how many?" Sun couldn't help but ask.
"Oh, ummmm… seven." Jaune asked, shocking nearly every guy and grown woman in the room, along with Cinder's group.
"Seven sisters, and you're the only male child in your family?" Cinder asked, unable to fathom how he was able to handle such an environment.
"Yep." Jaune answered reluctantly.
"Dude… your parents need a new hobby." Sun commented.
"I'm doing fine. Besides, that duel you had was intense!" Mia said.
"It sure was. Wait. How did you know I was dueling?" Zack asked.
"She knows about the duel?!" Velvet asked loudly.
"But how though? She wasn't anywhere inside the barrier." Kali stated, confused at the girl's apparent knowledge of the duel.
"I rigged your duel disk to let me know whenever you are in a duel. I can only see the duel in a simulation play mat style though. It was still a nice fight. Made the trip back home more fun." Mia replied.
The students of Beacon sweatdropped at hearing this. "Yep, a whole… lot more fun, for sure…" Ruby said, unamused.
"Because, you guys nearly dying from the risk of a botched game of chance is always a fun time…" Neptune muttered.
"She's got one wacky sense of fun, but considering she's Zack's sister, I guess I shouldn't be surprised." Mercury couldn't help but say.
"Well that's kind of weird." Weiss said.
"That's the relationship between Zack and Mia. Just being a brother and sister thing." Anna said.
"Well, glad I could entertain you unintentionally. So how was your trip?" Zack asked.
"I'll tell you more about it later. Dad and mom are coming over here so we can cook that dish." Mia said.
"You don't mean…" Zack said.
"Kuri-rice." Mia said, grinning ear to ear.
"Oh boy! An Aegis classic!" Zack said.
"Well, he's certainly excited for whatever that Kuri-rice might be." Pyrrha commented.
"Considering how that Kuribandit surprised us, I'm not surprised, given the name of it." Jaune commented.
"Oh by the way Zack. Who are those four kids next to Anna?" Mia asked.
"You can see them?" Zack asked, surprised.
"What th- She can see them too?" Weiss asked, confused by how she's able to do so.
"But how though?" Velvet asked.
"Maybe because she's Zacks' brother or something? I mean, both Anna and Victoria are able to seem them, and they're sisters." Ren theorized.
"That does make sense, but… is something like that even able to be a genetic trait?" Oscar wondered.
"That's highly unlikely, if that were a trait passed through genetics, there should've been at least some other people who would have noticed them." Ozpin stated, secretly taking that thought with a grain of salt, but not completely believing it.
"I'm not blind Zack. So are you going to introduce me, or what?" Mia asked.
"Well sure. By the way, they're spirits." Zack said.
"Oh. That's quite interesting." Mia said.
Team RWBY was surprised that Zack's sister could see them, but immediately prepared themselves to meet Zack's sister.
"Don't worry girls. Mia is really sweet, and surprisingly mature in a way." Anna said.
"She doesn't look mature to me." Weiss said.
"She has nice hair." Yang said.
Zack then brought Mia close to Team RWBY.
"Okay Mia, this is Ruby." Zack said.
"Hi." Ruby said, as she smiled and waved.
"This is Weiss." Zack said.
"Hi. I guess." Weiss said.
"This here is Blake." Zack said.
"Hello." Blake said.
"And this is Yang." Zack said.
"What's up?" Yang said.
Mia was silent for a moment as she was thinking of what to say to the four girls.
"Hi, I'm Mia Aegis, and it is a pleasure to meet all four of you. I hope to get to know you all more. Any friend of Zack is a friend of mine as well." Mia said.
Strangely to RWBY, and mostly Weiss, Mia did sound a lot more mature than your average 12 year old.
"Woah… that DID sound mature." Glynda said in surprise.
"Yeah… miraculously…" Roman let out in just as much surprise.
"Wowza." Neo said via a sign.
"Are… they sure that…" Winter began to ask until…
"Are you really Zack's younger sister? Your personalities are completely off." Weiss said, shocked.
"Yeah, that. Are they sure about that?" Winter finished, still dumbfounded at how Mia sounded so mature to Zacks' wacky deposition.
"Oh. We get that a lot. My brother can be quite a handful at times. Sometimes people get confused about who actually is the older sibling. I find it amusing at times." Mia said.
"She actually finds it funny how that happens?" Yang asked, mildly weirded out by that while also finding it funny.
"I can see why, comparing the way she talks and her posture to those of Zack, there's a very clear contrast." Penny said, taking note of how Mia was acting and actively comparing them to Zack and past events involving him.
"Hey! You can be a handful too, you know." Zack said, defending himself.
"Oh really? May I remind you brother of the several blunders you made? Like the time you wore your pajamas to school?" Mia said, smugly.
"It was just one time! Besides, you aren't perfect yourself! You almost threw my deck into the washing machine, just because you thought they needed to be cleaned!" Zack yelled.
"Yikes, I don't think he'd let her off the hook if she succeeded." Nora said, wincing at the thought.
"I was 3 years old at that time. My mind barely developed, and my cognitive thinking was immature. Your incident happened when you were my age, and I always know what I'm wearing when I'm awake. However, on the bright side, they say that failure is nothing but a lesson, so knowing all the future failures you will probably do in the future, you will have more experience than me from learning from those lessons. So keep learning, big brother." Mia said, cheerfully.
"HOW IS THAT SUPPOSE TO BE A BRIGHT SIDE!? I JUST WANT TO DO THE IMPOSSIBLE, NOT FAIL MISERABLY ALL THE TIME!" Zack yelled.
"Hey, it's quite impossible for you to do something without something crazy happening, but I don't see you doing that." Mia said.
"THAT'S BECAUSE CRAZY IS WHAT MAKES ME DO THE IMPOSSIBLE! IT'S LITERALLY MY MIDDLE NAME!" Zack yelled.
"Man, he is blowing his top about as much as Yang when someone pulls a hair off her head." Jaune commented, shocked at how loud he was.
"Yeah… he does." Ruby said, agreeing with that statement.
"No objections there." Weiss agreed, and Blake nodded.
Yang wished she could retort to that, but then memories of her first haircut flashed into her mind. "Well… it could be worse…" Yang grumbled.
"As much as I would like to point out all these faults in this conversation, I think it is quite inappropriate to display this kind of behavior in front of our friends." Mia said, still smiling.
Zack only clenched his teeth, as his sister had just won the argument. He loved her little sister from the bottom of his heart, but sometimes, she just acts way too mature for his own good.
Team RWBY were quite shocked to see a little girl giving a lecture to his older brother. Anna just looked down and shook her head. She sometimes thinks that Zack and Mia traded ages.
"That is perfectly understandable, it really is like their ages are in the wrong place." Roman said, not arguing with that statement.
Neo found herself secretly blushing at that thought, as some of Roman's past associates have confused her for a child before… She showed them otherwise.
Here is what RWBY thought.
"She's only three years younger than me, but acts more mature than me." Ruby said in a deadpanned tone.
"Heh… even your other you is shocked at that." Sun said with a small laugh.
"Yeah, I'm not sure how to approach that if it were really me there." Ruby admitted.
"I wonder how life would be if Ruby was like that?" Yang said, as she then thought of Ruby lecturing her, giving her little to no chance of a comeback.
(Yang's mind)
"Please restrain yourself, big sister. You can't just go destroying clubs just because you didn't get what you want. Yang, watch your diet. Your posture is wrong. Don't just go seducing boys for the thrill of it." Ruby said.
Many of the students of Beacon were dumbfounded at the thought of Ruby acting like that.
"Is that… how I sound to you guys?" Weiss couldn't help but ask.
"No offense, but yeah, kinda." Nora answered.
Winter could only blush at hearing this. Given how her overly proper and strict demeanor more than likely rubbed off on her sister on top of all the pressure she must've felt as heiress to the SDC, that would mean that she was the reason for Weiss's strict nature.
'I… suppose that… I could turn my strict nature down a bit…' Winter thought while holding her hand up to her chin.
(Reality)
"Then again, I would rather not." Yang said, trying to forget those thoughts.
"Well this is a strange turn of events. A younger sister lecturing his older brother. Now I've seen it all." Blake said.
Anna, Ruby, Blake and Yang all then noticed Weiss was acting weird. On closer inspection, she appeared to be holding back her breath. Like she was trying not to laugh.
"Well I'll be, something involving Zack and his crazy antics actually got you to laugh." Sienna remarked with a smirk.
"Oh shush…" Weiss said with a faint blush.
"Weiss. Are you laughing?" Ruby said shocked to see her friend clutching her stomach.
"I'm…not…laughing." Weiss said, trying to deny the fact that she was laughing.
"Is something amusing about our conversation?" Mia asked Weiss.
"It's just…so amusing…to see…this." Weiss said, as she then started giving out small forms of laughter.
To Weiss, it was quite amusing to see Zack get lectured for his childish actions, by his little sister. Weiss doesn't really like people at first, but Mia made quite the impression on her. Her attitude and the way she acted was quite proper for a young lady of her age.
"Yeah, this does have a hilarious form of irony with how the younger of the two siblings by a fairly large gap in years is more mature than the older of the two." Maria admitted before laughing a little herself.
"Well no surprise there. Zack sure does bring comedic relief for the family, and a day in the house is never boring with him around. He's like an entertainer." Mia said.
"ARE YOU SAYING I'M A CLOWN!?" Zack yelled.
"Oh no. You put clowns to shame Zack. They could actually learn from you." Mia said, teasing Zack.
"Oooooooooohhh… That's a burn just as tough as one from Burstinitrix." Yang joked.
"And right after he saved their skins too." Sun said.
"Oh, ha, ha… Real funny Mia." Zack said.
"Please…stop." Weiss said, as Mia's remarks were amusing Weiss, as she started to grin even more.
"Do you find it displeasing? By the way, it's not healthy to keep in a laugh. You will feel much better if you let it out." Mia said.
Weiss then started to laugh uncontrollably as Mia patted her on the back. Seeing this made the rest of team RWBY laugh. Zack was still a little peeved, but decided to laugh as well. He couldn't stay angry at his little sister, and she did have a point. Anna laughed as well, knowing that team RWBY were just another part of the family to her.
James smiled at the sight, despite those four girls being sent there to stop the Grimm and almost dying from facing odds stacked against one of their friends, they're able to laugh right now despite it all. 'Maybe this is what Kai meant that phrase, and if so, then maybe…' he began thinking, not noticing Kai frown sadly.
'Dammit, I hope what happens next won't deter him from those thoughts…' Kai hoped. 'He's a good man, it's just… that semblance is both a blessing and a curse.' He thought to himself.
"It's nice to have friends in your life, whether the moment is bad, or even good. As impossible means a challenge to Zack. Friend also means family to me." Anna thought.
Anna decided to enjoy the moment. Although she found a smiling and laughing Weiss to look really weird. It just didn't seem right.
"OH COME ON!" Weiss shouted at that, making her friends laugh at her expense as she pouted cutely.
End of Chapter 5
Kai sighed as the screen went black, but this time in addition, lights that were on the ceiling turned on, illuminating the room in a warm light. "So then, what did you think of that chapter?" Kai asked them with a smile.
"It was awesome!" Ruby obviously declared. "Finally getting to see Zack and his deck in action, all the cool hero monsters, and him coming out on top and doing the impossible…" Ruby was visibly shaking as she could barely contain her excitement. "IT WAS EPIC!" Ruby shouted with nothing but joy in her voice.
"You know it, sis. That duel was crazy!" Yang added.
"Seeing Neos and all those heroes come out on top over those crazy demonic plush toys was pretty incredible, not gonna lie." Weiss admitted.
"I just wish we didn't have to see all those cute plush animals get torn apart like how they did." Velvet said, not liking how the Fluffal monsters got visibly butchered and ripped open despite looking like simple plushies.
Kai thought on that statement. "If you want, I could give you a Fluffal themed plush as a souvenir of some kind, completely demon-free." He offered.
Velvet gasped at the offer. "I'd love that!" She answered with stars in her eyes.
"It was quite enjoyable seeing Zack finally get into some action after all this time on the sidelines." Ozpin commented.
"Even if we weren't hear as long as you all, I agree with that, he's a pretty adequate duelist." Ghira said with Kali nodding in agreement.
"He's certainly got the bravery of a huntsman, that's for sure." She commented.
"On that, we agree." Sienna said.
"I won't deny it, that duel was pretty incredible, now it makes me want to see what Anna herself is able to do when she duels." Roman admitted as Neo held up a sign.
"She'll probably win next time." Neo said with a bit of an eyeroll.
"If someone says that wasn't a good first impression of what dueling is like, then I don't know what it could be." Maria said with a smile on her face, loving the thrill she got from watching the duel itself.
Kai spoke with a smile on his face. "Glad to hear that you all liked it." Kai said until he frowned. "Now then…" She walked up in front of them all.
"I think it's time I told you all… EXACTLY why you all are here." Kai declared as everyone felt like the gravity in the room intensified.
"Yes, actually. You said you were gonna do that at the end of the last chapter. What exactly is it you want to show us?" Ozpin asked him.
"Well, it has to do with my calling out the four of you at that moment." Kai told him as Ozpin, James, and Glynda looked shocked, while Qrow had a resigned expression on his face.
"I knew this was coming, but I didn't think you kids would find out like this." Qrow said in a low tone to Ruby and Yang.
"Uncle Qrow?" Ruby said, completely lost on what he was getting at.
"What do you mean?" Yang asked.
"It's… complicated." Tai told her, shocking them both.
"Wait… you in on what he's hiding too, dad?" Yang asked with wide eyes.
"He does…" Kai confirmed as everyone looked at him. "And you all are going to see what it is." He told them.
He reached upwards and snapped his fingers as a Duel Monsters card appeared in his hand with the back of the card facing everyone. "You won't see everything, I'll tell you that… but you will see enough to tell you what you have a right to know." Kai told them as he turned the card around.
A bright light shined from the front of the card as it eclipsed everyone, who had no idea what could happen…
Except Cinder who couldn't think of any way to stop it. 'Oh shit…' She swore in her head as the light washed over everyone.
...
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS!
Two months... of college and personal trials and tribulations up till now...
Have all lead to this moment. Where the first intermission comes up after this chapter.
But I'm not going to be updating this story with my next update, now that I finally completed the second part of chapter 5, I'm going to take a break from writing up this chapter so that I can focus on my other fanfics.
Speaking of which, I have one announcement to make concerning my first ever fanfic, RWBY Movies: Watching the Multiverse...
I'm going to try and remake it at SOME point! It won't be my next update, it won't be coming out this month, hell for all I know it might not even come out till... I don't know, 2024 or something. But alongside all my other projects, I'm going to try and remake that fanfic from the ground up, since that WAS what got me on this path of fanfic writing and... I really want to make one that I'm able to be proud of personally, especially since I let my bias take full hold of me in that one intermission.
In addition, I'll also decided to ditch my RWBY Movies: Watching Remnant's Phantom Thieves fanfic, since the author of the fanfic itself, has officially released the starting chapter to a remake of the story, I'm afraid I'll have to call it off, since it wouldn't make much sense to continue with it sadly.
P.S. After this chapter is released, I'll update my chapter update plans on my profile's main page in order to show what exactly I want to update in the future, my next update, I plan on making on trying to make a double feature.
That's all for now, thank you for your patience.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all.