Hi there! Welcome to my very first story on . Hope ya like it!
Story Notes: AU, splitting from canon around the end of season 2 in the anime. To clarify, Yami vs Marik has been started on the Doomship, which is still hovering over Domino. Also, it's getting broadcasted live worldwide on the Card Game Channel. Because this way Kaiba can show off his new technology. Some pairings, all of which are het.
Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh belongs to the awesomeness that is Kazuki Takahashi. The Marik-wins idea was inspired by an epic and severly underrated fic called Sakakku. Check it out!
The Enemy Has The Move
Prologue: Dusk
"Welcome back to the finals of the Battle City Tournament!" On the screens in the city, rows of data appeared above the announcer's head. "Here's what you missed! After the last quarter-final, previously unknown duelist Ishtar Malik challenged the reigning champion, Mutou Yugi, to the first of the semi-finals. Kaiba Seto," a close-up of the man giving his ultimatum appeared in a box in the corner of the screen, "at first declined this, but after Ishtar threatened to drop out, he agreed. It's very windy up here, but that isn't stopping these two!"
As the announcer continued to jovially recap for the viewers, Mazaki Anzu huddled her windbreaker closer. It really was windy up on the blimp. But Kaiba had been planning this final for ages. At the suggestion of landing, he had growled and told them that the only way off now was to jump off, which, by the way, they were quite welcome to do.
She turned her head to where the boys watched the duel avidly, cheering Yami on. After she'd got tired, she had handed cheerleader duty over to them. Ryuji's chant could use some work, she observed, but Honda had his timing to an art. Better start cheering again soon, she thought. Soon.
Briefly, she wondered where Shizuka had got to. Then she shrugged it off; she was probably using the facilities or something. Or checking on Mai and Rishid. Or looking for Bakura. She worried about him for a moment, but then passed it off with the thought that he was probably okay. The Ring-Spirit didn't want him dead, after all.
Oh, there she was. Shizuka waved from behind the platform, and went back to watching the duel. She had just been out of her line of sight, was all.
Then again, I will have to give her a lesson in Duel Watching Etiquette later. I mean, this is what? Her fourth, fifth chance to watch it? She should know by now that you don't wave.
Three people were just standing around. Kaiba was one, watching the world through his frosty glare, as usual, and occasionally stopping Mokuba from falling over the rail. Ishizu was standing straight up and staring at the duelists. Or through the duelists, which was what it looked more like.
Probably seeing the future or something. Which was odd, since she didn't have the Tauk anymore-
Tauk. Sennen. Puzzle. Yugi. Yami. Duel. Cheering.
Frack.
"Go Yugi! Go, go Yugi! You can do it, Yugi! Go go Yugi!" Not her best cheer, but easy to do quickly. Having done that, she checked what was actually happening in the duel to see if she could make up a cheer based off his current situation.
She gasped in surprise and shock.
Malik – Marik, she mentally corrected herself – had summoned a God Card. The Sun Dragon Ra unfolded itself and sent out a great big fireball at the Black Magician. The Magician was strong. The Sun Dragon was stronger. It blew away the Magician's ashes.
Anzu had seen a few battles with God Cards, and the one thing they all had in common was that when they were summoned correctly, the summoner had as good as won. But Yami can beat him, she thought. What about the Sky Dragon? He'll get that, surely. Then he'll destroy the Sun Dragon, and in turn, Marik. He'll win. He always wins.
Right?
Five monsters on the field. All fell to the Sun Dragon. Yami frantically played card after card, but he couldn't stop the Sun Dragon. Anzu kept hoping that Yami would draw the Sky Dragon and he would win and the world would be saved. But the card must have been too low in the deck, for as the Sun Dragon prepared to blast his life points Yami closed his eyes as if to accept his fate.
It was about then that Anzu fully realised just how screwed they were.
He couldn't win, but maybe he could still be saved. Yes, yes, maybe he could, maybe she could take the fireball… But then barriers of transparent black licked over the arena, and she realised that Marik wasn't letting his prey go again.
As the fireball streaked down and hit Yami on the head, she thought she saw the two Yugis, one in front of the other, protecting the other, before the fire licked around them, hiding them from view. Then the LP counter hit 0, and Marik began to laugh.
The laughter echoed all around the blimp. It was hideous, insane, inhuman.
Anzu buried her head in her knees, sobbing her heart out.
Honda just stood there, blinking, like he couldn't believe it was true.
Jounouchi tried to climb atop the platform and duke it out with Marik. Shizuka dragged him back.
"There's nothing you can do, big brother. I don't want you to die."
Ryuji howled at the sky, at the storm, daring it to make anything worse.
Mokuba buried his face in Kaiba's jacket. Seto carefully manoeuvred the two of them so that he was between Mokuba and Marik.
Ishizu watched in silence with the same stare as always. Then she shut her eyes, accepting the world's doom.
The camera crew looked around, confused, and the announcer cut to an advert break.
Dinosaur Ryuzaki and Insector Haga looked at each other as the ads began, as if the other would know what the heck had just happened.
Esper Roba wasn't a telepath, truth be told, but did have some psychic senses, and he heeded their warning to get as far away from that blimp as possible.
Sugoroku Mutou watched. Then he remembered his theories. Then he panicked, for the fate of his grandson and the fate of the world.
Kajiki Ryouta packed up his fishing kit and brought out the boat. The fish seemed to be heading offshore. That was fine. He'd follow them.
Rebecca Hopkins saw the fire and heard the laugh. Logic dictated that she should run, hide, or both. She ran to the Kame Game Shop.
Pegasus Crawford watched on his hospital bedside TV. After a few moments, he nodded and flipped the channel.
Alright, alright, Shadi, don't panic, don't panic. He might have the Rod and Puzzle, all right. But he might not have the others.
Tauk?
Ishizu gave that to the Puzzle-bearer.
Ring?
He remembered the glint of gold under Marik's cloak.
Don't panic yet, don't panic yet, he might not have the Eye, who had the Eye last?
The Ring Spirit.
All right, Shadi, you can panic now.
Mai Kujaku still couldn't remember the people on the beach. She wasn't sure she hadn't known them before. She wasn't even sure about her name. There were two things she was sure about though.
Her tormentor. He – it? – would be back.
And that somewhere outside her prison, something had gone horribly wrong.
Deep in the Shadow Realm, Yami Bakura and Malik began yet another heated argument about exactly whose fault it was that Marik now had five out of seven Items.
Ryou Bakura watched through a tiny silver window as the flames died away and Marik took his prize from Yugi's body. He knew he should care, but he just felt detached.
And Marik laughed, and laughed, and laughed.
-0-0-0-
It's a nightmare, Anzu thought. Just a nightmare. She tried pinching herself. Anything rather than admit that Marik really was bringing the Puzzle down on Yugi, to stab him to death with the Item that had claimed him. Marik lifted the bloodstained Puzzle over his head, and gave one final laugh-
Before the boom mic came crashing down in his ribs.
Marik fell, and the Puzzle rolled away. The wind crashed him down onto the platform in front of the shocked soundman. Everyone stared at him. He stared at the boom mic, as if not believing what he had just done.
Marik twitched, and the soundman brought the boom mic down again.
For a second more, there was silence. Noone was ever quite sure who took advantage of the lull and shouted above the wind at the top of their voice:
"EVERYONE OFF THIS BLIMP!"
The call spurred everyone into action. Mokuba grabbed a mic and sent out a warning message all over the blimp. Honda and Ryuji handed out parachutes. Shizuka and Ishizu ran below decks to gather up more. Kaiba barked orders at everyone who came up. The soundman stood like a guard over Marik and Yugi.
Anzu and Jounouchi looked at each other. Then he pushed her onto the platform. She helped him up. Then the two crept to Yugi's prone body.
Marik had stabbed him in the side, and blood had already started flowing. Anzu ripped off her windbreaker and carefully wrapped it around him. Not that it would do much good, but it was better than nothing. Meanwhile, Jounouchi tapped her on the shoulder.
"Anzu?"
She was trying to tie a half-remembered knot from a first aid course, and so didn't react for a second. "Mmm?"
"What're we gonna do with the Puzzle?"
That made her stop. They couldn't leave it here, for Marik to use, of course. After a moment's thought, she decided.
"Break it."
"Whah?"
"Marik can't use it that way. And… Yugi…" She gulped. "Won't be needing it anymore."
Jounouchi nodded solemnly, and threw the Puzzle onto the deck. It landed near Honda, who was tying on his parachute. Anzu leapt down, and Jounouchi followed her, taking Yugi with him.
"We can't just leave him for Marik to savage!" Anzu nodded, and helped him lower Yugi down. When he saw what was going on, Ryuji came over to help.
That done, Jounouchi started pulling at the Puzzle. He pulled and grasped and twisted, but it was no use. Finally he sighed and handed it to Ryuji with a, "You try."
Ryuji tried. Anzu tried. It was only when Honda came over that the Puzzle split into its component pieces. Odd, that.
"Ishizu is going to try to figure out how to get Mai and Rishid off, but we think we've sent everyone up here." Shizuka chatted as she came upstairs, attaching her own parachute. When she saw what they were doing, she stopped before running over to the group.
Mokuba was watching the various people hurl themselves off the blimp. Seto, Marik, Ishizu and Yugi's friends were the only people left on the blimp. What were they doing, anyway? He trotted down the emergency steps and raced over to the group.
The Puzzle had clattered onto the deck, and the group gathered the pieces into the centre. As Anzu and Jounouchi attached their parachutes, Ryuji, Honda, Shizuka and Mokuba debated what to do with them.
"Throw them over the rails," suggested Ryuji, but the proposal was instantly rejected by everyone else.
"The Puzzle's what brought us together!" shouted Honda. "We can't just leave it!"
They seemed to be on the verge of a fight when Mokuba shouted, "WAIT!" Then, more quietly, "I have an idea."
"We each take a piece, all right? And then we throw the rest off the blimp." There was a pause, then everyone nodded.
As Yugi's oldest friend, Anzu was first to try. She chose the piece which had held the rope.
Jounouchi went next. He tapped a few pieces before taking one of the corner pieces.
Honda took an insignificant edge piece. "It just feels right," he told the others.
Mokuba bit his lip, before taking two corner pieces. "For Seto," he said quickly, as they glared at him.
Shizuka moved her hand over the pieces, before diving for the last of the corners. She picked it up, and examined it.
Finally, Ryuji picked up the largest side piece, before moving to shove the pieces over the edge of the blimp. Anzu flung her hand out in front of him. "Huh?"
Anzu grabbed the piece with the Wadjet Eye and tucked it into one of Yugi's pockets. Then the six of them, together, slid the Puzzle pieces over the side of the blimp. One slid along the side. Jounouchi made to grab it, but Kaiba picked it up.
Seto looked at the golden gleam, before hurling it over the side. Shizuka breathed a sigh of relief.
And then the soundman screamed.
Marik stood up on the platform in all his bloody terror, flinging the soundman's corpse over the rails. Then he turned to face them, and licked the blood off the knife in the Rod.
That act brought the watchers out of their horrified trance. Seto hurled Mokuba off the blimp before jumping off himself. Jounouchi grabbed Shizuka and pulled her through an emergency gap in the rails. Ryuji and Honda fought to get out before Anzu kicked them through. Anzu herself dragged Yugi – no need to be careful now – through to the gap, before pushing him into the air. She watched him fall down into the sea, and her heart gave a pang. She was only distracted sufficiently when she heard Marik's boots hit the deck, and she ran into the sky.
As the air rocketed past her face, she scrabbled for the parachute's pull. Finally, she grabbed it, and slowed down enough to see that she was probably going to land in Domino, what with the wind and all.
Anzu tried to turn her head to see the blimp, and caught a glimpse of a spray of glass and a figure in white falling. So Ishizu's safe.
She looked down at the city. But what about the world?
-End Chapter-
So, chapter over. If I have anything OOC/canon contradicting/laws of physics breaking/just plain bad/formatted horribly, feel free to point it out.
Reviews are welcomed. Constructive crit is appreciated. Flames are not. Don't do them.
Bye!