"Clear Wing Rider, attack!" shouted Zipp as the girl gave her monster the command to attack and take out her opponent.

Watching from afar with a tablet in hand was Applebloom as the farmer noticed the heiress' latest win. She inputted the result of the practice duel as her tablet made the girl's image pop up. It then showed her image among the other students in her Synchro Class as it shot straight to the top. She formed a smile and a light nod as, the past few days, Zipp had been on a roll, and all the wins she'd racked up had put her currently at the top of the rankings.

Celestia was in her office, looking at the leaderboards from all the dueling instructors as the students' positions in the ranking system changed every second. However, the principal pulled up a certain student's profile. The woman looked at Mario's profile as the boy's ranking barely had moved since the start of last semester. He wasn't at the bottom of Sweetie Belle's class, quite the opposite; with his skill set, he could easily be at the top. But yet, it seemed he didn't want to partake in any duels. Celestia was hoping that perhaps Mario would want to take the opportunity to compete in the Friendship Games like his parents before him, but it would probably only backfire. In the end, the principal could only watch and figure out who among the many students would be representing them in the event when it came.

Celestia reached over to a remote that sat on her desk, and she pointed it at the TV screen on the wall. A reporter was shown as she was covering the latest duel from the World Champion during his overseas tour.

"And after a stellar victory from the World Champion, it's been decided that on the final day of the tour, he will defend his title in the UK against one of his toughest challenges. A duelist who many said had him beat during their last encounter."

Isaac was shown in a locker room as he leaned against the metal things. The World Champion had his cap in his hand as he breathed a tired sigh. He lifted his head as it looked to the heavens; the reporter's words were heard as the World Champion closed his eyes.

"It appears the country gal herself, Ms. Applejack, has staked her claim on having one more match with the Prince. And in the UK, the battlefield is set."

Isaac punched one of the lockers as he let out some pent-up aggression. Just then, a door was heard as the light dawned upon his back.

"You good?" asked Juniper as she approached her client.

"Yeah," said Isaac as he leaned against the lockers and put his cap on.

"Hard-fought duel," said Juniper as she wiped her client's forehead with a rag.

As she took care of him, Isaac began to recall some things. He'd been told by Aj herself that she managed to politic her way into getting another title shot; it stunned the World Champ to see one of his best friends take that route as all Aj had to do was ask for a title shot, and he would have given it to her. But… to hear that she went to the higher-ups of the dueling committee to ask for another title shot. It just… it just… felt odd.

"I deserve one more match!" demanded Applejack when they met up for some drinks in a bar.

"You still trying to get over what Aj did?" asked Juniper as she could see what Isaac was thinking due to his expression.

"It just doesn't make any sense. All she had to was ask me. Me! And instead… she goes to the board to demand a title shot."

"I get it. She's your friend. And what she did to get that title rematch is a bit sketchy. But I'm sure she felt like she had a good reason. Either way, even if she didn't go to the board to ask them, you told yourself that you'd give her a title rematch. So… we're in the same boat we would've been."

"It's just… I never pictured Aj going to suits and demanding a request. She's not the kind of person to do that."

"Yes, but you forget. She's determined and stubborn, not to mention prideful. It's not easy to break old habits. You, of all people, should know that." said Juniper with a smile.

"I see your point," smiled Isaac to Juniper. "I hope you know what you're doing, Aj."

Once they had their stuff packed, the pair began to leave the arena as they headed to their awaiting ride.

"Tell me, has Twilight figured out anything?" asked Isaac.

"She found some information!" said Juniper as the pair entered the back of their ride and handed her tablet to her client. "According to her, she found records of a similar evil that's terrorized before. She also found these."

"What are they?" asked Isaac as he saw the seven marks that his wife and AI assistant uncovered.

"According to records, these marks were wielded by the warriors that stood against her. A group of people were selected to fend off the evil one and her army of shadows," stated Juniper as they drove off. "These marks appear when a chosen individual is worthy of its power. They each represent something, but when combined together, they create a power force to combat the darkness."

"You said these marks appear when they select an individual?" asked Isaac.

"Correct. In fact, those marks attract the darkness. Whoever bears the marks is a target for the evil one and her minions."

"Is that why they attacked the kids? To see if they were worthy?" said the World Champion.

"Hard to say, Isaac. It seems whoever this evil one is, is trying to hunt down whoever may bear a mark to avoid them banding together and defeating her," stated Juniper.

"Let's hope we can find whoever bears these marks before these Shadow Duelists get to them."

"Twilight is having trouble finding more historical records of this evil one."

"Tell her I might be able to help," said Isaac as he had a contact that might help his wife in uncovering this mystery. "Speaking of which… any word from her?"

"She's currently en route," smiled Juniper.

"Good," said Isaac before turning to the window and resting his arm against the still. His mind played back to the secret conversation he had with Applejack.

"I deserve one more match!" echoed the country gal's voice in his head.

At CHS, Spitfire was running through some stuff in her office as she tried to devise her new proposal plan for the next teacher's meeting. The fiery woman was looking to see if she could convince Celestia and Luna to lend her money to purchase some new equipment for gym class.

"They have to approve this," snickered the woman as she was sure this would convince both sisters and put her in the running lead for the Teacher of the Year Award.

A knock was heard at her door.

"Who is it? What do you want?!" shouted the woman, as she didn't like any unscheduled appointments.

The sound of the door was heard as it creaked open. Spitfire had her chair turned so she didn't see had entered her office. She just sat looking at her plan and expected the person to speak.

"Hey! You have something to say or what?!" said the woman as she was very busy.

"Sup… Cap!"

Spitfire's eyes widen at the voice of the person who spoke. She turned around in her chair and gasped upon who the identity of the person was.

"You son of a bitch!"

The sound of the bell rang as the students began to file into the gymnasium for their class. A whistle was blown as Spitfire stood in the center of the room as she had her drill sergeant demeanor and look on.

"Fall in lines, rookies!" shouted the woman as the kids all sat in front of the woman, making sure they didn't arrive last lest they suffer her wrath of running 50 laps. "Alright, today's lesson is this. If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball!"

The woman tossed a ball, and it hit one of the students sitting; they were unprepared as they got smacked in the chest and fell down to the floor. The others saw this and all groaned before Spitfire approached the student she picked on before taking the ball and stomping on their chest to make them breathe again as they gasped and sucked for air.

"If that wasn't clear, we're playing dodgeball!" said the gym teacher as she gestured to the line of balls she had lined up. "Evens versus odds, no exceptions, no changing teams to be your friends. Not in my class. You want a friend, go get a dog!" shouted Spitfire as she said her catchphrase.

The students all began to stand up as they made their way to the side of the field they were assigned. Hitch and Zipp stood at the ready as the boy was tying his shoes and making sure none of his laces were to be undone in the middle of the game; the girl was arched over as she was looking to take off toward the balls the moment Spitfire blew her whistle. All the other students were stretching as they were preparing for war when Spitfire gave the signal.

"By the way! We got a special guest joining us today!" said Spitfire.

The students were intrigued by what their teacher said until they saw who the person was. Standing next to their gym teacher was none other than the third-ranked duelist in the world and the top soccer player in the world. Rainbow Dash arrived earlier and stopped by her former captain's office, standing beside her friend as she wore a whistle and a cap. The teens were all amazed to see a pro-duelist of Rainbow's status appear; it caused some murmuring to occur as one person had her eyes set on the duelist.

A whistle was blown, as that meant it was game time. While everybody began to move, Zipp was left behind as she looked at Rainbow. Having not heard of her until she challenged Isaac for the World Champion, Zipp spent countless hours watching films of Rainbow's entire career. The teen had been studying and making notes of all her duels in an attempt to see if she could duel like her, given they had a similar deck.

"Zipp!" shouted Hitch.

"Huh?"

The girl turned just in time to see a dodgeball heading for her as she leaned out of the way at the last second. The girl had remained against the wall as she made herself an easy target. Several more balls were thrown at her, and she did her best to avoid them before grabbing one and using its momentum to reverse-throw it back to the person who fired it to get them out. The girl, not tunned into the game, began to move all while Rainbow watched with a curious eye.

After an intense game of dodgeball, Zipp and Hitch made their way to their Synchro class, as today would be another day of practice duels to see who would rise in the ranks. As the students began to check their decks and make adjustments, Applebloom walked in.

"Alright, y'all. Ready to duel?!" asked the woman, to which she got some pleasant responses. "Good. By the way, I got someone special who will also judge your skills."

For the second time, Rainbow managed to make another amazing impression as she appeared and removed her shades to look at the students belonging to the Synchro department. Many of the kids gasped at seeing the pro duelist, while others began to get nervous as the pressure of being judged by a high-caliber duelist such as Dash herself made their nerves kick up. Applebloom got her class to follow her as she led them outside.

After assigning partners, the kids got to work. Both Applebloom and Rainbow walked about as they examined each student with a keen eye. The sight of both their teacher and pro-duelist did cause some to let the pressure get to them and make mistakes, which Rainbow enjoyed as it gave her pleasure. Soon the pair sat on the nearby bleacher as they continued to spot the kids.

"What do you think?" asked Applebloom to the friend of her older sister.

"I'll be honest, AB. This the best you got?" said Rainbow, as she didn't seem too impressed by what she saw.

"It's only their second semester, Dash."

"I was already in the top 3 when it came to winning tournaments for CHS by my second semester. These kids won't even make the top 32!" stated Rainbow. "Who are your top students?"

"Well, let's see…" said Applebloom as she looked at her tablet and proceeded to look at the current rankings of her class.

"There's Thunder, he's currently 5th ranked overall. Though he does have a tendency to be hesitant about his moves," said the woman as they peeked over to the boy's duel and saw him struggling to make his next move.

"Hesitation is weakness. Well… at least that's what Spitfire always said to us when we had to listen to her. Still, you can't second-guess your moves regarding a duel. You gotta have confidence!" stated Rainbow. "Who's next?"

"Let's see… there's Zoom. She's quite confident!" said Applebloom as they looked to where the girl was as she brought out her latest Blackwing Synchro monster.

"Mmm… like her attitude, but… she needs work. Next?"

"There's Izzy!"

The two looked at where the girl was, and despite being about to be pummeled by her opponent's latest attack, she kept a sincere smile.

"Is she always… ah, what's the word?"

"Izzy's pretty smart in her own right. It just… takes time. You should see her math and workshop grades, her creativity flowin' out of her hair. I vouched for her personally to Principal Celestia to compete in the Friends and Family duel." said Applebloom.

"If you say so," remarked Rainbow.

"Next is Hitch!" said Applebloom as the boy managed to defend his opponent's attack before triggering his facedown. "While she may not admit it, I think Applejack might have taken a shine to the boy."

"So… he's Aj's boy, huh?" said Rainbow as she could see that Hitch did have some qualities that matched her arch-rival. "Not bad-ish."

"And lastly is Zipp. She's the daughter of Ms. Haven, the current sponsor of Isaac," said Applebloom as Rainbow looked at the girl.

The chromatic-haired duelist closely watched the heiress as something drew her toward the teen. Zipp summoned her latest Speedroid monster as seeing that she, too, had a deck similar to hers did catch Rainbow's eye. Not to mention the fact that her mother was Isaac's latest sponsor couldn't have been a coincidence and meant something even deeper.

"Mmm…" muttered Rainbow as she continued to watch.

Soon the practice duels ended as Applebloom had her students gather around.

"Excellent work, everyone. Now, I have a special announcement!" stated the teacher as Rainbow appeared beside her. "Ms. Dash here has come up with a rather unique idea that I'm sure y'all are goin' to enjoy. I'll let her speak."

Rainbow stepped forward and lowered her shades to see the teens before her. She then got their attention as she spoke.

"You five!" stated Rainbow as she pointed to Hitch, Zoom, Thunder, Izzy, and Zipp. "Tomorrow, you all are facing me in a duel. One by one! Ms. Applebloom says that you're the best. I'll be the judge of that! Nobody does that better than me when it comes to being awesome on the dueling field because I am HER! And when I shoot… I don't miss."

She walked away after throwing down the challenge as Zoom, Thunder, and Hitch were left processing what transpired. Izzy didn't seem to intimidated by Rainbow's challenge, while Zipp seemed motivated, almost accepting of Rainbow's challenge to prove she was the best and the skills to back up her claim.

It didn't take long before word got out as Applebloom and her class all gathered in the Dueling Arena building and sat to watch Rainbow's little challenge. The five selected duelists all stood outside in the hallway, with each having a different expression. Zipp was the most calm and cool of the group as she leaned against the window with her hands in her pocket.

"Thunder, you're up first!" said Applebloom as she went to fetch her student for his test with Rainbow.

Thunder gulped as he nervously followed his teacher into the arena. Leaving the others all to await and anticipate what their match might be. It didn't take long before Applebloom returned as she told Zoom to go next. As predicted, Rainbow demonstrated her dominance as she ran through both Zoom and Thunder. Then next came Izzy, and the girl actually proved Rainbow wrong. For the soccer player, she felt like Izzy was similar to a party-loving individual she knew, but to her surprise, she was actually more company than she appeared. She had the impression that she was rather slow, but quite the opposite, Izzy got some of her tactics much faster than Zoom or Thunder did. In that aspect, she was impressed by the girl's mind, but in terms of if her skills were on par, she fell just short of the measuring stick and beat her.

Outside, Hitch was pacing back and forth as the pressure and nerves were starting to get to him. All the while, Zipp had remained calm this whole time. She lifted her head up to see her friend's pacing.

"Calm down, Sheriff, before you make a hole in the ground."

"Sorry, it's just… this is a pro duelist. Imagine how we stack against someone like her. Ms. Applebloom might deem us failures and hold us back a grade for not meeting standards and expectations." said Hitch.

"She's not gonna hold us back, Hitch! We're some of her best students. I'm sure we'll be fine."

"How can you be so calm, Zipp? Aren't you at least a bit worried about how you'll do against someone like Ms. Dash? She's not the third-ranked duelist in the world for nothing."

"Because I am! Plus, don't tell anybody but…" said Zipp before looking to her left and right to see if anyone was nearby other than them. "I'm kinda fangirling that I'll be dueling her. She's cool and awesome."

"Can't deny that," said Hitch.

"Hitch?" said Applebloom as she appeared. "You're next."

"Right," said the boy as he took a deep breath.

"Knock'em dead, sheriff!" said Zipp, patting his shoulder.

Hitch began to follow Applebloom inside the arena as they came to the end of the corridor hallway and into the main floor. The boy looked about as he saw his classmates, Thunder, and Zoom, sitting among the crowd. Hitch followed Applebloom to the field as Izzy got off and approached her friend.

"How'd it go, Izzy?" asked the boy.

"I had fun. Seriously, she's good. Like really good." warned Izzy.

"I bet," said Hitch as he peeked around his friend to eye Rainbow, who lowered her shades slightly to eye her next challenger. "Wish me luck."

"Good luck," smiled the girl as she hugged her friend quickly before joining the others in the stands.

"Hurry up, kid! I ain't got all day!" shouted Rainbow as she was bored.

"Good luck, Hitch. Just do your best, okay!" said Applebloom, patting his head and trying to offer support and encouragement to her student not to worry too much.

"So, you chickening out?!" asked Rainbow.

Hitch took a moment to center his mind as he strapped on his duel disk. It activated as it projected a green card tray; Rainbow activated hers to project a sky-blue card tray of energy.

"Opponent detected. Streaming data. Duel mode set. Initiating. Commencing duel." said their duel disks.
"Let's duel!" shouted both duelists.

Rainbow's Life Points: 8000-
Hitch's Life Points: 8000-

"Go first, kid. You're gonna need it," mocked Rainbow.

Turn 1: Hitch (Hand 5)

"I'll show you!" said the boy, trying not to let Rainbow's cocky demeanor put him down. "I place two cards facedown. That's all."

"Seriously?!" shouted Rainbow at how Hitch basically wasted his turn and her time. "How dare you disrespect me, bud! I gave you a chance, and you did nothing!"

Hitch flinched a bit at Rainbow's bark.

"You wanna disrespect me? Fine. I don't respect you! Which means… I have no regrets for what I'm about to do to you, kid. I'm gonna murder your ass!" stated Rainbow as she was dead set on teaching Hitch a lesson.

Turn 2: Rainbow (Hand 5)

"You're a poor excuse for a duelist! Let me show you what a real duelist does!" said Rainbow, drawing her card confidently. "I'll start by activating the Terraforming spell card. Now I can add a field spell to my hand. And I choose U.A. Stadium!" A column of light burst up from behind Rainbow and split, fanning in a circle around her and Hitch. In its wake appeared the walls of a massive sports arena, glass windows framing spectator boxes and rows of seats. As the circular energy met again and finished forming the field, a large ring appeared floating above them and activated in rows of blue lights, holograms projecting displays and statistics of the duelists.

"Next, I summon my U.A. Midfielder(1200/1000)." A portal appeared before her, and her monster jumped into a crouch, an athlete with spiked brown hair and glowing silver and green armor. Rainbow reached to tap on her duel disk's screen without looking. "When I normal summon a 'U.A.' monster, the effect of U.A. Stadium lets me add a 'U.A.' monster from my deck to my hand." The holographic field projected the image of a card that flipped over as Rainbow took her card from her deck. "I'll take this, U.A. Goalkeeper. Next, I'll return Midfielder to my hand to special summon Goalkeeper(1000/2800) in defense mode."

Midfielder swirled up into another portal. With a large thud, Rainbow's monster descended to the field, a massive creature in thick white and orange hockey armor with glowing green lines crossing the pads. It crouched and held its hands out to the side, a red visor over its eyes lighting up.

"Special summoning a U.A. monster activates the other effect of my U.A. Stadium, giving all my monsters a permanent boost of 500 attack points." Rainbow snapped her fingers and pointed at Goalkeeper as electricity surged over its armor(1500 →2000). "If you think I'm stopping there, think again! I play the spell card, Reasoning! Here's how it works, kid! You declare a monster level from 1 to 12. Then I excavate my deck until I find a monster that I can summon. Then if the monster I drew is the exact number level you called, I sent it along with all the previous cards that came before it to the graveyard. If not… I get to summon it. So… pick a number!"

"Uh, well…" said Hitch as he could feel Rainbow's tough demeanor getting to him.

"You wanna continue to disrespect me!" barked Dash.

"I pick… 4!" blurted out Hitch.

"Let's see!" said Rainbow as she excavated her first card, which wasn't a monster, and then went to look at the next top card. She drew her next card and smirked as it was indeed a monster; she held her smirk to look at Hitch. The teen was afraid of what card the woman might have drawn as she flipped it over.

"U.A. Mighty Slugger. And it's not Level 4, it's Level 5! You failed! Just like I expected. Come forth!" shouted Rainbow. Her newest monster descended from a portal above her, a baseball star in black and silver sports armor. It posed with an arm held out, a metal cylinder in its hand, and with a flash of light, it extended a holographic red light in the shape of a baseball bat.

"Just so you know, when Mightly Slugger attacks, you aren't allowed to activate cards or effects. So you two pathetic facedowns are useless. This is what playing it safe gets you, kids! Teach him a lesson!" barked Rainbow. Her monster tossed a baseball up before smacking it hard against it bat as the ball sailed forward with tons of velocity and momentum. Hitch blinked, and the small and deadly ball smacked him, knocking him to the ground.
Hitch's Life Points: 5700-

The boy groaned with some pain as the attack Rainbow's monster did had a bit more power behind it as if she was sending a message to the teen about disrespecting her. Dash felt a sense of pleasure about battering around the boy before her as she wasn't going to show him mercy. Not unless he begged.

"That's how you duel, kid. Remember that. And remember that I am HER! I end my turn!"

Turn 3: Hitch (Hand 4)

Hitch somehow mustered up the strength to stand up after taking a knocking from Rainbow. The teen looked at Dash as her cocky persona was at an all-time high. How Zipp was a fangirl of her, he couldn't see, but right now, he shouldn't be concerned with his friend. He needed to focus and redirect his attention to surviving this duel and showing Rainbow that he did have some skill. He shrugged himself off before drawing.

"It's my move. First, since I don't control a monster and you do, I can special summon my Unknown Synchron(0/0) from my hand. Next, I activate One for One. This spell card lets me send one monster from my hand to my graveyard to special summon a Level 1 monster from my deck. I send Quillbolt Hedgehog to my graveyard to special summon Tuningware(100/300). Next, I summon Synchron Carrier(0/1000); this card lets me normal summon an additional 'Synchron' monster this turn."

"That all?" taunted Rainbow.

"Actually, no! Now I'll tune my Level 1 Unknown Synchron, Level 1 Tuningware, and Level 2 Synchron Carrier!" stated Hitch with some confidence in his voice. His first monster turned into a single giant green ring as it circled the other two with a surge of light going through. "I Synchro Summon, Armory Arm(1800/1200)!"

"I'm not impressed," scoffed Dash.

"Well, due to Tuningware's effect, whenever it's used to Synchro Summon a monster, I get to draw a card. Next, I activate this spell card, Tuning. This card lets me add a 'Synchron' tuner monster from my deck to my hand and then send the top card of my deck to the graveyard. I'll add Junk Synchron to my hand and then discard the top card of my deck." stated Hitch as his deck ejected the card for him to grab after discarding the top card of his deck. "Next, I'll use the additional summoning I got to summon Junk Synchron. And the Junk Synchron's effect allows me to bring back Tuningware. Then I activate the effect of my Quillbolt Hedgehog from my graveyard; while I control a tuner like Junk Synchron, I can special summon Quillbolt Hedgehog from my graveyard."

"Mmm," responded Rainbow as she was impressed by Hitch's skills to summon multiple monsters in a single turn and set up for what he was about to do.

"Now it's time for a second Synchro Summon, I tune my Level 3 Junk Synchron with my Level 1 Tuningware and Level 2 Quillbolt Hedgehog." Junk Synchron then pulled a cord on itself, transforming into three giant green rings as Hitch's other monsters jumped in between them. "I Synchro Summon, Stardust Charge Warrior(2000/1300)!" Out emerged a warrior dawned in white and blue armor with bits of yellow around its shoulders and legs, with two sword sheathes on its waist. "When Stardust Charge Warrior is summoned, I get to draw a card."

"Even so, my Mighty Slugger reigns supreme!"

"Not for long! I activate Armory Arm's special ability, I equip my Armory Arm to my Stardust Charge Warrior to increase my Stardust Charge Warrior's attack by 1000 points to a grand total of 3000. And whenever my Stardust Charge Warrior destroys one of your monsters and sends it to the graveyard while equipped with Armory Arm, you lose life points equal to your monster's attack points."

"Excellent work, Hitch!" shouted Applebloom at her student.

"Stardust Charge Warrior, attack and destroy her Mighty Slugger!" commanded Hitch as his monster rushed forward and used one of its swords to slice Dash's monster in half before it exploded.
Rainbow's Life Points: 7300-

"And now, due to my Armory Arm's effect, you lose 2300 extra Life Points due to Mighty Slugger being sent to the graveyard!" said Hitch with a confident smile.
Rainbow's Life Points: 5000-

Nearly everybody attending was shocked to see that Hitch had not only destroyed Rainbow's monster, but managed to deal the same amount of damage she dealt him on her turn and then some. The boy was in the lead against the pro duelist as Hitch took a moment himself to register what he had just done and was stunned by his actions.

"I… Did I just do that?" mumbled the boy as he felt his hand was shaking, but a good scary shaking.

"Nice shootin', Hitch!" smiled Applebloom to her student as it did her proud to see one of her apprentices take it to someone like Rainbow.

"I end my turn."

Turn 4: Rainbow (Hand 4)

Rainbow, who had stood her ground, dusted off her shoulder before slowly removing her shades and hanging them on her shirt while cracking her neck. She wasn't phased by Hitch's move and prepared to draw.

"It's my move! I draw! And I activate my continuous spell card, U.A. Draft. With this, I only have to pay 500 Life Points, and I can summon any 'U.A.' monster from my deck. So I'll call out my Dreadnought Dunker(2500/1800)!" A muscular basketball player in dark blue and black pants and a thick silver and orange chest piece materialized.
Rainbow's Life Points: 4500-

"Next, I'll summon my U.A. Midfielder, which allows me to add another 'U.A.' monster from my deck to my hand. Then I'll tag out my Midfielder so that I can summon my U.A. Rookie(100/300)." A boy with brown scruffy hair and a shiny bronze metal suit with blue and orange patterns appeared. "Next, I activate my Rookie's special ability, which makes him a real team player! So by sending him to the graveyard, I can replace him with a Warrior-type monster from my hand, deck, or graveyard. So, Rookie, I'm gonna bench you for a bit, little bud, so I can bring out my X-Saber Pashuul(100/0) in defense mode!" An elderly warrior with a massive mess of tangled black hair, dark blue armor, and a massive sword appeared before Rainbow and knelt. "Then I tune my Level 2 X-Saber Pashuul with my Level 6 Goalkeeper!" X-Saber Pashuul lit green and split into two giant rings that rotated and floated around Goalkeeper as a column of yellow light rose around it.

"I align the knight's blade and the athlete's defender and bring out a brand new titan!" Rainbow grabbed her card and slapped it on her duel disk. "I Synchro Summon! Rise up, Colossal Fighter(2800/2000)!" The light receded, revealing a massive figure in thick beige armor. It stood up, light gleaming off a green visor over its eyes, and crossed its arms. "First off, the other effect of my Stadium activates, giving both of my monsters 500 attack points. Then I activate Colossal Fighter's ability. He gets an extra 100 attack points for every Warrior-type monster in the graveyard." The duelist held up her duel disk. "I count four - Pashuul, Rookie, Goalkeeper, and Mighty Slugger. So Dreadnought Dunker's attack points are 3000 while my Colossal Fighter has 3700 attack points!"

"That's not good!" said Hitch as he saw the power surge through Rainbow's latest monster.

"Dreadnought Dunker, attack his Stardust Charge Warrior!"

"I activate my facedown, Scrap-Iron Scarecrow!" exclaimed Hitch as one of his facedowns flipped up. "Thanks to his trap, I can block your monster's attack. Then it flips facedown for me to use again later!" A metal scarecrow appeared and took the hit from Rainbow's monster before it set.

"You fell right for my trap! 'Cause by faking you out with a monster with the same attack points, I can now use my stronger monster to destroy yours. And you can't use your trap card again. Colossal Fighter, attack Stardust Charge Warrior!"

"I reveal my second facedown, Defense Draw! Now I don't take any damage from this battle, and I draw one card!" stated the boy. A wall of cards appeared in front of him to absorb the blow from the aftereffect as Hitch's monster was destroyed.

"I call it luck that you survived. Either way, you won't last long, kid. Take your turn!" scoffed Rainbow as she set a card facedown.

Turn 5: Hitch (Hand 3)

"It's my move, here goes!" stated Hitch as he looked to turn things around. "I summon Sonic Chick(300/300) in defense mode." A small baby chick wearing red boots appeared and let out a squeak. "Next, I place one card facedown and end my turn!"

Turn 6: Rainbow (Hand 2)
"To think I actually expected you to do something. It's clear you're done," stated Rainbow as she drew. "Now, Dreadnought Dunker, attack his Sonic Chick!"

"Go ahead, because Sonic Chick's ability makes it so that it can't be destroyed by any monster with 1900 or more attack points!" stated Hitch as his tiny chick was being hammered away by Rainbow's monster that it took all its strength to hold off the attack.

"Like it matters. Now then…I destroy my U.A. Draft spell card. Doing that allows me to draw two cards." stated Rainbow as she looked at what she drew. "I end my turn."

Turn 7: Hitch (Hand 2)

"Then it's back to me! Here goes!" said the boy as he drew. "Now by discarding one monster from my hand, I can be able to special summon my Quickdraw Synchron(700/1400)! Next, I activate my facedown, Graceful Revival! It allows me to bring back a Level 2 or lower monster from my graveyard, so I'm choosing my Tuningware! And remember, my Tuningware can count as a Level 2 monster when I use it to Synchro Summon. So now I tune Sonic Chick and Tuningware with my Quickdraw Synchron!" Quickdraw Synchron turned into five giant green rings that rotated around his companions as a yellow light surged through.

"Let's rev it up! I Synchro Summon, Nitro Warrior(2800/1800)!" exclaimed Hitch as he summoned one of his most powerful monsters. "Next, Tuningware's ability kicks in, allowing me to draw a card." The boy drew in anticipation as he looked at the card. "Nice! I play the equip spell card, Junk Barrage! And because I played a spell, Nitro Warrior gains 1000 attack points for this round! Making its strength rise to 3800. Now Nitro Warrior, attack her Colossal Fighter!"

The boy's monster leaped into the air as its fists glowed. It let loose a barrage of raindown fists that Colossal Fighter tried to cover up but was taken out. Rainbow raised her arm up to cover her eyes as she took the damage.
Rainbow's Life Points: 4400-

"But there's more because due to the effect of Junk Barrage since my Nitro Warrior destroyed your monster, you take damage equal to half of its attack points!" stated Hitch as his monster rain downed more fists at Rainbow, who stood her ground and didn't let the attack take her off her feet.
Rainbow's Life Points: 2550-

Once more, Hitch did a rather impossible task as not only did he manage to land another attack on the pro duelist, but he had nearly dwindled her Life Points to a quarter of their original total. For the boy, he was starting to feel proud, knowing that all of Rainbow's smack talk was starting to come back to bite her.

"I…"

"Hold on! I activate my Colossal Fighter's!" shouted Rainbow. "When it gets destroyed, I can revive a Warrior-type monster in my graveyard. So I choose Mighty Slugger!" stated Rainbow as her monster rose.

"In that case, I'll end my turn with a facedown!" said Hitch, as he was ready for anything Rainbow might throw his way.

Turn 8: Rainbow (Hand 5)

"My turn. And I'll activate my facedown, Descending Lost Star! So now I bring back my Colossal Fighter, but its effects are negated, it drops one Level, and its defense points drop all the way to zero!" stated Rainbow.

"Why play that card if it's such a huge loss?" wondered Hitch at Rainbow's play.

"Next, I summon my Speedroid Red-Eyed Dice(100/100)!" stated Rainbow as her 3-D pyramid monster rose and had the eyes on each of its surfaces looking about.

"Oh, no!" said Hitch, as he knew that Rainbow just summoned a tuner monster due to how often Zipp used that same monster.

"I tune my Level 1 Red-Eyed Dice with my Level 7 Colossal Fighter to pave the way for an even mightier beast!" shouted Rainbow as her monster turned into a single green ring that rotated around her other monster as a yellow light surged through. "Watch as the essence of that monster takes shape! Watch as it is forged by raw power! I Synchro Summon! Take flight, Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon(3000/2500)!"

Hitch was in awe and gulped as he was now staring face-to-face with Rainbow's most powerful beast. The roar from the dragon sent shivers down his spine.

"Game over!" said Rainbow. "Mighty Slugger, attack! And due to its effect, you can't activate any cards or effects until the end of the battle! Then my dragon's ability kicks in! It stops Mighty Slugger's ability and eradicates it! But by doing that, my Crystal Wing gains the attack points of my Mighty Slugger! So it has 5300 attack points!" stated Rainbow. "And now, Crystal Wing will attack your Nitro Warrior, and it gains all of Nitro Warrior's attack points for an even bigger boost!"

"That's 8100 attack points!" exclaimed Hitch at how powerful Rainbow's dragon was. "I activate my Scrap-Iron Scarecrow to block..."

"Don't think so! I reveal my facedown, Solemn Judgement! By paying half my Life Points, I can negate your trap and destroy it!" said Rainbow, using a very powerful and rare card to counter Hitch.
Rainbow's Life Points: 1275-

Hitch was left without anything as he could only watch as Rainbow's dragon took out his monster and caused a huge wave of damage to head toward the boy as he covered up.
Hitch's Life Points: 400-

The boy looked up to see Rainbow's remaining monster charging at him.

"Dreadnought Dunker, finish him!"

The monster reeled back his fist and thrust it out quickly; it made contact with Hitch's chest and knocked the boy down as he let out a defeated cry of anguish before colliding with the field.
Hitch's Life Points: 0-
Winner: Rainbow

"Hitch! Hitch, are you okay?"

Both Izzy and Applebloom were by the boy's side as he lay on the floor. With a groan, he started to stir as he sat up and rubbed his head. He looked ahead to see Rainbow and then around as it hit him.

"I… I lost, didn't I?" said the boy.

"Well… I wouldn't say it was a total loss. I mean, you kinda… you… yeah, I got nothing." said Izzy as she couldn't figure out how to phrase her wording to not be too down on her friend and just gave up. "But hey, you did your best, and that's what matters, right?" The girl put on a carefree smile to lift Hitch's spirits.

As Hitch stood up, Zipp appeared as it was now her turn, and she was looking forward to it. She walked past her friends and gave a thumbs up, which they returned, wishing her luck against Rainbow. Applebloom let Izzy attend to Hitch as she walked beside her last student who stood before Rainbow, having an excited smile.

"Alright, Zipp. You're the last one," stated the farmer.

"Not today!"

"Huh?"

Rainbow sneered while looking at Zipp as she pulled her glasses off from her shirt and flicked them open.

"I've wasted enough time today," stated the pro duelist as she put on her shades.

"Wasted time?!" said Zipp as she couldn't believe what she heard.

"Kid, I know your limits. I've seen it from your friends over there!" stated Rainbow, pointing behind Zipp at Izzy and Hitch, where the girl had the boy's arm over her shoulder. "You may claim to be slightly better than them, but that's not saying much. You can't hang with me, kid. No one can."

"Hey, those are my friends! And nobody disrespects me or them!" said Zipp as she stood up for herself and her pals.

"Listen, kid," said Rainbow as she looked directly at Zipp through her shades. "Take it from someone who was in your position when she was your age. Take it from someone who walked these halls before you, claiming you're the best doesn't mean you have made it. You look cool. You got the swagger. But there is nothing. Nothing! You're gonna come out here and say something that I haven't heard before. And tomorrow, there's nothing that you're gonna do that I haven't seen before either."

"Oh, okay, okay, okay," said Zipp as she was looking to get into it with Rainbow regarding smack talk. "You've never seen, so maybe you've never seen anything like being at the top of your class, huh? Or… you've never seen a better version of you, huh?" The heiress stood her ground as she called out the pro duelist by saying she was a better and improved version than her.

Safe to say, that little comment did make Rainbow flinch her lips as it ticked her off.

"I mean, look, hey, we could go on all day. I'm accepting the challenge!" stated Zipp, not backing down from Rainbow Dash.

"Zipp, right? Let me tell you something. You're not talking to someone who cares if you think she's cool. I do and say what I want because I have the skills to back it up. I don't care what you think." said Rainbow, pointing at Zipp.

"Okay, okay. But you know what? I think that you think that you're gonna come in here, in my home! And mow me over! And on top of all that, somehow you gonna make yourself relevant again!" said Zipp, getting in Rainbow's face. "You know, it's possible, but it's not probable, Dash. But let me be honest with you. I'm not new to this! I've had people come and challenge me and try to pull my card. I had to defend my territory!"

"You think you're the only one? I did the same thing as you, and you know what happened to everybody that tried. I sent their asses packing! I put them on a T-shirt! I hung them in the rafters!" shouted Rainbow as she referenced how whenever she made her entrance, she had jerseys with the names of her defeated opponents hung to serve as her list of accomplishments for all to see. "And the only difference between you and them, now that I think about it… not a goddamn thing! So understand, kid, I could make a jersey and put your name on it, but you're not worth it!"

Rainbow removed her shades to directly look the teen in the eyes as both held scowls.

"If you think beating me will be some jackpot, you are sorely mistaken. See… you, and your friends, along with your classmates," stated Rainbow, once more pointing behind Zipp at her friends as the girl looked at them before listening to Dash, "You throw these surface-level insults, and they just don't land. I've already had over a 15-year career that most of you will only dream of so if you want to talk about success, about skills, about fame. You pick the category Zipp because you will take that L. Understand all of that came from being a main event player on the main roster for nearly two decades!"

Zipp let what Rainbow said soak in as she took a step back and nodded her head. The girl fully understood what the pro duelist was saying as she agreed with her points.

"Okay. Well, you used to be that. What happened?!" counter Zipp as it made everyone gasp at her remark. "You know what you had? You had nearly 2 decades on me! Since you wanna talk numbers, let's talk numbers. At seven years old, I was already winning my youth school tournaments. At seven years old, you were… you were getting kicked out of every school you attended. Let's talk about it."

Zipp struck a personal nerve with Rainbow as the pro duelist didn't expect the teen to have done her research on her.

"I didn't want to have to do it. Look, let me put it to you like this. After a while, this whole, man, us against y'all. Old generation vs new generation. The whole thing gets old. Now I'll give you credit where credit is due. I give you and all the OGs the credit they deserve. You guys set the bar pretty high. You set the bar high for us to follow!" stated Zipp as she acknowledged what Rainbow did to pave the way for her to stand here. "But one thing I refuse to do is to live my life, day to day, and come in here and try to meet your expectations. Because I will not meet your expectations, I will create new expectations of my own!"

Zipp got a round of applause from her classmates as she seemed to be saying what they were all thinking.

"Because you might say that this is your house. And I know you haven't been here a long time. But go ahead and check the deed, Rainbow, because my name is on it! And since you left, I built a couple more rooms in this house! I put some windows in this house! Man, I had to put a new roof up because I tore that bitch off so many times!" proclaimed Zipp, further showing she could go toe to toe with Rainbow in terms of smack talk. "So it doesn't matter which way you want to flip it, Dash. You can bring up money, you can bring up accolades; it doesn't matter because, at the end of the day, this is the house that Zipp Storm built! Or maybe I should use your catchphrase because it seems that I am… HER!"

"Let me teach you a lesson, kid," said Rainbow softly while getting all up in the teen's face. "If you have to come out here and tell these people every time that you are HER if you have to come out every week and convince yourself that you're HER. You're not. You're a nobody. That's why I barely noticed your ass when I first walked in. You're insignificant."

The two duelists kept their eyes on each other as Rainbow made her point.

"Now, normally, this is the part where I crack you upside the head and leave you lying. But… I don't need to do that; when I'm done with you, kid, I'm putting you in your place. I'm hopping onto the next flight to go win another soccer medal, to continue to prove my dominance as a pro duelist, I'm gonna drink from some cider that you wish you could afford, I'm gonna kick back and say to myself: 'Today was a good day.' And you want to say that you built this house; I laid the foundation way before you. As far as I'm concerned, I'm the freaking landlord here! And rent's due, you son of a bitch!"

Zipp looked to say something but was stopped by Rainbow.

"Wel…"

"No. The lesson is over," said Dash, putting on her shades and walking past Zipp, bumping her shoulder into the girl to walk off.

Zipp turned to look at Rainbow's retreating figure as it was clear the two were on a collision course with each other.

Author's Note: Talk about making some points. Props to Zipp, for not only standing her ground against Rainbow, but actually making some good points. Points about her being a slight better version than Dash due to how she's more level-headed and not bragging about ego and awesomenessas well as addressing the issue about it being old generation vs. new generation. Which I believe can also translate to the actual show about how it's not just trying to follow the expectations that G4 set but try to make their own expectations which it seems to be doing in some aspects. And let's not discredict Hitch for at least holding his own against Rainbow. But it's clear Zipp is gonna have her toughest challenge ahead.