Commissioned by  C-01L featuring their pony OC Cipher and our Yu-Gi-Oh! boss monsters as LCUs!

 C-01L also wrote this short story to go along with this commission ^v^

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“And here, as you can see, our many clone tubes in which our LCU’s are birthed!”

Cipher nodded as he listened to Verra explain the ins and outs of her lab with growing enthusiasm. He smiled at her eagerness to share her own experiences within the tubes as well, in which he appreciated. It was always nice to share in a fellow researcher’s findings. That was the reason for his trip after all. Cipher hoped in learning of some new scientific discoveries, as well as possibly learning some of the technology that Verra and her associates used for his own research. His “boss” was especially interested in the tubes and composition of the cloning pods. But had made it clear that he didn’t want Cipher to do anything unlawful to get the information.

In truth, when Cipher first explained the reason for coming, she was most agreeable to share with him all her knowledge. “After all, knowledge shared is knowledge squared…” Verra smiled happily as she continued the tour. Breezy would have normally given the tour, as Verra was busy with her work. But at the moment, Breezy was away on business, and wouldn’t be back for a while. So the task fell upon Verra, who didn’t seem to mind. But Cipher wanted to thank Verra for her time, and when the tour was over, offered her a gift.

Verra blinked in surprise as Cipher held out a wrapped gift. “What’s this for?”

“A gift from me and my employer…” Cipher beamed, his tail swishing back and forth in excitement. “A thank you present for your generous hospitality. And my boss also said you might appreciate something a little more…nostalgic.”

Verra’s eyebrows rose higher in interest and she unwrapped the box. Her curious expression melted away into pure astonishment as she beheld an all too familiar device inside. She picked it up and slipped it over her wing. It fit her as if it was made for her. The device itself was a Duel Disk, something she indeed had not seen for quite some time. It powered on and activated, its machinations moving just like in the old anime she watched when she was growing up. She laughed. “Oh wow, does this take me back! Tell your boss I said thank you!”

Cipher nodded and bowed. “I will certainly do that…but first, would you like to break in your new toy?”

Verra’s eyes widened and a playful grin flitted across her face. “Oh goodness, I haven’t dueled in ages! I think I still have my old deck somewhere…let me go find it!” And she skipped off through a door and out of sight. It wasn’t long before she came back in, holding a deck of cards. “Found them! Hope you don’t mind going old school?”

Cipher grinned and donned his own duel disk. “Not at all. Just hope you don't mind getting your birdy butt kicked.”

Verra’s eyes flashed playfully. “Cocky, ain’t cha? Then let’s make the game more interesting.”

Cipher raised an eyebrow. “How so? Can’t exactly banish each other to the Shadow Realm…and lets face it, being banished to a cloning pod sounds more like a reward then anything.”

The two shared a chuckle and Verra said “Nothing overly ambitious. I’m getting hungry, so how about the winner pays for lunch? Pizza sounds good?”

Cipher nodded. “Deal! Think Breezy could pick it up for us?”

Verra nodded. “She should be coming back soon, so that works out. I’ll have her pay for it using the company card…and if I win, you simply pay me back.”

Cipher nodded in agreement, readying his own duel disk. “So, where shall we duel?

Verra grinned. “I know the perfect place!” And she led the way through the lab, out past the main chamber, until they arrived at the brightly lit battlefield in the middle of the island. No one was about, which means they had the arena to themselves.

Squaring off, they both faced each other with determined expressions. And in one unified cry of battle and passion, declared:

“DUEL!”

“Guests first! I draw!” Cipher declared, drawing a card in very anime like fashion.

And so the duel began. Verra wasn’t surprised that Cipher used much modern cards than she had. But that didn’t intimidate her. What did surprise her was that much like her own deck, they were LCU themed! She had a favorite creature in her deck that she focused her entire strategy on, and Verra glanced down smugly at her hand to see her star creature already in her hand.

However, it seems she wasn’t the only lucky one. After pulling off some combos, Cipher slapped a card onto his duel disk declaring “I summon: Nenu, the Diety of LCU Snakes!” And the card materialized onto the field, revealing a gigantic snake like humanoid being made entirely of clone tubes! She hissed and stared at Verra with glowing green eyes, her snake arms hissing and spitting slime.

Verra grimaced. “That’s an impressive creature…”

Cipher grinned. “She’s my deck’s ace. And I promise you, she will be one tough cookie to beat. For she has several unique abilities. Including gaining power for every LCU monster in my Graveyard, she is unaffected by card effects. And even if she is somehow destroyed, I can banish an LCU monster from my Graveyard to bring her back.”

“But that will weaken her…” Verra thought, a spark of inspiration flaring in her mind. “Every time he revives her, she will become weaker and weaker. No doubt he has cards though to ensure his graveyard is jam packed to power her up. Or maybe even return creatures he has banished back to not only reuse, but to fuel her strength. He’s not wrong, this will be a tough challenge.”

Cipher laughed, watching Verra consider her options. “It's ok to surrender, you know…”

Verra grinned and drew for her turn. “Sorry, I’m no quitter. And I’ll prove it with this!”

And so their epic battle continued. Verra’s suspicions were confirmed. Cipher’s deck was much like her own, centered around keeping his creature in play, and ensuring it stayed strong with a Graveyard full of Monsters. The one thing she noticed though was that he relied on a lot of spell and traps that required to be on the field in order to chain his creature’s effects. With that thought in mind, she formed a plan. She managed to block many of his attacks or foil some of his combos with combos of her own. Until at last, she was able to pull out the combo for her deck’s headliner.

“Thanks for that! Now I’m able to call my deck’s Ace! Come on out, LCU Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys!” In a brilliant pillar of jade light, her creature, a giant metallic phoenix, descended from the sky, its wings and tail glowing with nimbus clouds of clone slime. It roared, flaring its wings and declaring its challenge to the world about it.

Cipher grinned. “Nice! But she is still weaker than my Nenu.”

Now it was Verra’s turn to get cocky. “Well then, how about we start over? I play “Torriental Tribute! And I’m also going to chain “Time Skip!” Now pay attention, this is where things get complicated. So first, “Torriental Tribute” destroys all monsters out on the field.” In two giant explosions, her precious phoenix and Cipher’s snake exploded, making Cipher grunt as the shockwave hit him. “Then, “Time Skip” fast forwards the duel by one turn and restarts my turn. Of course, I have to pay half my life points. But that’s a price I’m willing to pay. Because now I can call back my Phoenix from the grave!”

And indeed, true to her word, her monster returned in a brilliant pillar of jade light.

Cipher growled. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of her next turn!”

Verra grinned. “Oh I’m afraid there won’t be a next turn. For you forgot about my girl’s special ability. For when she is summoned by her own effect after being destroyed, she destroys all spells and traps on the field!”

Cipher’s face paled and he watched helplessly as his precious combo was dismantled, leaving him wide open. “Can…can we talk about this?” He asked with a nervous smile.

Verra grinned. “Sure, after you write me a check for that pizza. LCU Phoenix, attack!” And with an ear shattering shriek, her Phoenix of Nephthys opened her maw and show out a brilliant green flame that consumed Cipher…and his life points…

The holograms faded, and Cipher was seen, laying on his back, panting. Verra grinned, deactivated her duel disk, and walked over to the tuckered out pony. “And that’s game!” she grinned, holding out a wing to help Cipher up.

Cipher grinned and accepted the helping “hand.” “Damn, I thought I had you. That was some good dueling.”

Verra giggled. “Good to know I’ve still got it. You're not mad are you?”

Cipher grinned. “Hell no! That was a blast! But you definitely owe me a rematch.”

Verra nodded. “Anytime. But for now, you still owe me the bill.”

Cipher nodded. “Of course, we just need Breezy to_”

The sound of chewing made them both turn to see Breezy sitting by the sidelines. She must have snuck in during the heat of the match. But even as they stared back, they could see she was chewing something…and beside her was a nearly fully eaten pizza.

“Breezy, how long have you been there?” Verra demanded, exasperated.

Breezy swallowed and smiled sheepishly. “A while…I saw you two dueling and I didn’t have the heart to interrupt you…I guess I got a little hungry while watching…” She gave a chirp, hiccuping with a blush.

Verra rolled her eyes, and Cipher laughed. “Well, I’ll still pay for the pizza. But seeing as how Breezy ate our lunch, perhaps we could work out some other arrangement?” And he nodded to the clone tubes.

Verra grinned. “Fine, but Breezy has to be the one in the middle…she needs to be taught a lesson about eating other people’s food…” Cipher grinned in agreement and Breezy chirped in mild protest as Verra and Cipher grabbed her and began to drag her to the tubes, an anxious smile flitting across her beak. Good thing she always had room for dessert…

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