I am actually exceptionally fond of Duel Monsters Concentration. While it might not be terribly ORIGINAL, I'm still proud of it and the way I managed to combine these two games. There was no way I was going to do a proper Duel Monsters duel—oh man, that'd be way too complicated! That being said, I do plan to include one later on, by carefully transcribing a duel I'll take part in in Nightmare Troubadour. (Oh man, that's going to be so obnoxious.)
I hope you enjoy this chapter! Yami Bakura is a loony.
((The full rules for Duel Monsters Concentration are at the bottom of the post (to avoid potential spoilers for this chapter))
Chapter 3 -_-_- I Refuse to Lose
"You can go first," Yami Bakura said arrogantly, moving around to his side of the cards. The Pharaoh took his place in front of his own. "After all, this is my game, I might as well give you a handicap."
"Do what you will, snake," the Pharaoh spat. He looked at his cards, staring at the blank backs. Who knew what lay under each card? He believed in his cards—he truly believed they wouldn't let him down, and somehow he knew that they wouldn't. We can do it, he thought, speaking directly to both the cards and Yugi. He knew what Yugi would say.
I know you can.
Numbers appeared in the air behind them, thin, burning digits that blazed orange against the purple clouds. 4000, 4000. Before them, the cards expanded, now five feet tall and three feet wide. The no-man's land between their cards shrank.
"Monster, lend me your strength!" the Pharaoh shouted; his voice boomed in the silence of the Shadow Realm just as it did in the middle of a Duel. He threw his arm forward, pointing directly at the black heart of one of the cards. It didn't move.
"Didn't I say, Pharaoh?" Yami Bakura asked sarcastically. "The cards don't flip over until you've chosen both." The Pharaoh scowled, but pointed at one of Yami Bakura's cards.
"Go, my beast!" he shouted. Both cards flipped over at the same time; the Pharaoh felt his heart drop for a moment. Kuriboh—one of his closest monsters, but also one of his weakest. How could it be enough? He looked at Yami Bakura's card and felt his face crack into a triumphant smile.
"My Kuriboh has one hundred more attack than your Dragon Piper!" he shouted, glaring Yami Bakura right in the eye. With a scream, the Dragon Piper shattered into a million triangular pieces, just like when a monster was destroyed in a holographic duel. The Kuriboh turned back over. Yami Bakura's arrogant smirk never slipped, even as the numbers unwound themselves like snakes behind him and moved into new formations.
4000, 3900.
"Well done, Pharaoh," Yami Bakura said. "I enjoy seeing that hope on your face—it lets me know that it'll crush you all the more when you lose." He stared at the face-down Kuriboh thoughtfully. "How fortunate, though; the one monster in my cards that could be defeated by your little mud-covered puff ball." He raised his eyes to Yugi's and glared at him over his smirk. "I purposefully included that card to spark that hope—thank you for taking it out of the game so early!" He pointed at two cards using his index and middle fingers.
"Go! Destroy his pathetic monster!" The two cards turned over, revealing Kuriboh and a Mad Sword Beast. There was another cry, different this time, as Kuriboh shattered. The Pharaoh grunted in pain as his Lifepoints dropped. "Incredible how quickly this game can turn, isn't it?" Yami Bakura asked, smirking. "Now I'm beating you by a thousand points." He shrugged. "Oh well, go again, Pharaoh."
The Pharaoh scowled, but pointed at two cards.
"Destroy his monster with your might!" he shouted. The two cards turned over; his own Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress and Yami Bakura's The Gross Ghost of Fled Dreams. The ghost's scream echoed through the quiet before it shattered. Yami Bakura laughed at something The Pharaoh couldn't see.
"Very well, Pharaoh!" Yami Bakura shouted. "I choose these two cards!" They turned over; the Pharaoh's Beaver Warrior and Yami Bakura's The Portrait's Secret. Two screams shook the clouds around them and both cards shattered. "Well, it looks like I guessed right!" He smirked at the Pharaoh, who scowled bitterly at him. "Then I'll choose these two! Attack!" Yami Bakura's Dragon Zombie destroyed The Pharaoh's Koumori Dragon. "Well, well, Pharaoh—you take another hit. Are you too scared to continue?" He glared haughtily at the Pharaoh, who glared back at him with all the loathing he could muster.
"Attack my beast!" he shouted in response. The two cards turned over; his own Skull Red Bird to a Headless Knight. A muffled cry of pain; the Headless Knight shattered.
"Incredible, Pharaoh," Yami Bakura scoffed, even as his fiery numbers moved. "How unfortunate you are! You keep choosing monsters that only win by a hundred points. Is someone losing his touch?" He pointed at two cards before the Pharaoh could answer. "Cards!"
The two cards turned over—his own Penguin Soldier and the Pharaoh's Mystical Elf. A squawking cry rang through the heavy air and the Penguin Solider shattered.
2800, 3650.
"What was that about my luck?" the Pharaoh asked, showing a little of his own arrogance. He crossed his arms and smirked. "You just so happened to choose one of the few monsters my Mystical Elf could defeat! It would seem that you're loosing your own touch." The numbers behind Yami Bakura shifted again—his smirk didn't.
"You might have destroyed my Penguin Soldier," he agreed, "but its effect will take much more from you!" The cry sounded again, stronger this time, angry and determined. The Penguin Soldier itself appeared over the field—not the card, but the monster—waving its sword in anger. "Go, my Penguin Soldier! Destroy two of his monsters!" With a war cry, the penguin pierced first one card and then a second; the two cards shattered without turning over. The penguin shrieked in triumph before being blown away, as if it was made of smoke, by a nonexistent wind.
"No!" the Pharaoh shouted, looking at the gaps in the neat rows of cards. "That isn't right! Penguin Soldier's effect sends two of my monsters back to my hand, not to the graveyard!"
"Oh, did I forget to mention?" Yami Bakura asked, sounding pleased with himself. "There is no hand, or graveyard, so all cards are removed from play! Only cards that call a monster from the graveyard can be used to summon these monsters—which have to stay in face-up position—not cards that call monsters from your hand or deck."
"Damn you, Bakura!" the Pharaoh shouted. "All rules to the Shadow Game must be told before it begins!" Yami Bakura shrugged.
"What can I say, Pharaoh? I just 'forgot'." He laughed darkly and the Pharaoh ground his teeth together.
"My turn!" the Pharaoh shouted, cutting Yami Bakura's laughter short. "I turn over this card—my Mystical Elf!" The card he pointed to turned over. "I set her in Defense Mode and end my turn." The card rotated by itself. Yami Bakura smirked.
"Very well, Pharaoh!" he said, crossing his arms. "I don't believe it'll help you, though!" He pointed to two of the face-down cards on the field. "Consume his Lifepoints!" The two cards turned over; a triumphant smirk settled over the Pharaoh's face for a moment before turning to horror. His card was a Gemini Elf, one of the most powerful four-star monsters in the game with 1900 attack. But Yami Bakura's card was Patrician of Darkness. A card with 2000.
Gemini Elf shattered as the fiery ropes that were his Lifepoints rearranged themselves. Yami Bakura was ecstatic.
2700, 3650.
"Dammit!" the Pharaoh swore under his breath.
"You can do it!" Yugi shouted from where he hung against the boiling sky. "Believe in the Heart of the Cards, Pharaoh! I believe in you! You can win this!" The Pharaoh looked up at his partner and smiled. Yugi smiled back. He'd forgotten for a moment that Yugi was watching this game as well. He could suddenly feel his partner's presence like a field of electricity around him—confidence surge through him, knowing that his partner was there, cheering him on.
The Pharaoh nodded once to him before turning back to the duel.
"I won't let your luck faze me, Bakura!" he shouted, his voice reinvigorated by the reminder of Yugi's presence. Instead of looking cowed by this surge of confidence, Yami Bakura looked delighted. "I believe in the Heart of the Cards, and my bond with Yugi! I won't fail him, and our friendship will not be broken by some foolish game! Come, my monster! Destroy his Patrician of Darkness!" He pointed to two cards; the first one turned over on his side, and he felt a stutter of horror in his heart; Man-eating Treasure Chest. That was only 1600 attack; not nearly enough to destroy his Patrician of Darkness. Had the Heart of the Cards failed him?
"Tch." He looked up to see Yami Bakura grimacing, staring at his card on his side that had been turned over. The Pharaoh looked as well and felt his eyebrows climb up his forehead. The card that had been turned over was a Baron of the Fiend Sword, not the Patrician of Darkness. The Pharaoh had remember the Patrician of Darkness' position incorrectly and pointed to the wrong card. Before his eyes the card shattered, and Yami Bakura's Lifepoints rearranged themselves into a new number.
2700, 3600.
"Impressive once again, Pharaoh." Yami Bakura looked into the Pharaoh's eyes, and he wasn't smiling so much anymore. He looked frustrated. "Even when you make a mistake you aren't wrong." His smirk returned, but it was more an expression of anger than contemptuous amusement. "But I won't allow you to be so lucky anymore!" He pointed to one of his cards, one right next to the gap left by his Baron of the Fiend Sword, which the Pharaoh knew housed the Patrician of Darkness. "I flip my Patrician of Darkness over, locking him in Attack Mode! Move now, Pharaoh! What will you do when the only monster you can attack is my Patrician of Darkness?!"
The Pharaoh stared at the card, his brow furrowed in concentration. He knew the Patrician of Darkness' effect allowed its controller to choose the target of all of their opponent's attacks—and why wouldn't Yami Bakura send all of the Pharaoh's monsters at his Patrician of Darkness, expecting each to smash against its attack and be destroyed? This meant that the Pharaoh couldn't target any of Yami Bakura's face-down cards in the hopes that they were weaker, and chip away at his Lifepoints that way. His only hope was to believe in the Heart of the Cards and trust them to save him.
"My monster!" he shouted. "Attack, and take my faith with you!" The card flipped over. Its attack wasn't nearly enough to destroy Bakura's Patrician of Darkness.
But its effect was.
It shattered with a scream, and the numbers behind the Pharaoh changed. But the smirk on his face didn't.
"You may not know this, Bakura, but my Newdoria comes with a special effect—when it's destroyed in battle it can destroy one monster! And I choose your Patrician of Darkness!" Heavy, percussive beats shook the ground, jarring both the Pharaoh and Yami Bakura; the cards didn't move. A massive creature suddenly appeared behind the Pharaoh, towering over him. It glared at Yami Bakura—who took a step back, his face set in an aggressive scowl—with sightless eyes. "Destroy his card, my monster!" The Newdoria let out a howl and brought one of its limp hands crashing down onto the Patrician of Darkness. It cast a shock-wave out, making some of the cards spin and fly into the air as the Patrician of Darkness shattered with an agonizing keen. The cards that had been sent flying flew back to their proper places and settled once more, seeming as if they'd never been disturbed. The Newdoria blew away like smoke, just like the Penguin Soldier before it.
1900, 3650—but Yami Bakura was down one of his more powerful monsters.
Yami Bakura scowled.
"Count your blessings, Pharaoh! You were fortunate this time, but next time you won't be so lucky!" He pointed to two of the cards, then brought his hand up and pointed them straight at the Pharaoh's heart. The two cards flipped over; the Pharaoh flinched as his monster—and a hundred of his Lifepoints—were destroyed.
"You can do it Pharaoh!" Yugi shouted, suffusing all of his hope and faith in his voice. The Pharaoh clenched his fists; he couldn't let Yugi down. Not Yugi, not to an enemy as despicable and loathsome as the Spirit of the Millennium Ring.
"I'll protect you, my partner!" the Pharaoh shouted, flinging his hand out, his fingers spread wide. "I'll protect my puzzle and our future! I will not fail you!" He pointed to two cards. "Destroy his monster!" He scowled bitterly; a tie. The two shattered, but he ignored them—he was already on to the next two. "Attack!" The two turned over and the Pharaoh laughed with victory—his Fairy King Truesdale had a thousand more attack than Yami Bakura's Pyramid Turtle.
"Now Pharaoh, really—why on earth would you be laughing now?" Yami Bakura asked, his voice sly and dark, even as the fiery numbers moved behind him and his card shattered with a scream. The Pharaoh fell silent, eyeing Yami Bakura warily. "Didn't you notice, Pharaoh? The color of my card?" The Pharaoh's eyes widened.
"It was an effect monster!"
"And there's that purported 'brain' coming into play again!" Yami Bakura said, his voice dripping with scorn. "My Pyramid Turtle allows me to summon one zombie-type monster with a defense of 2000 or less from my deck!"
"But we don't have decks!" the Pharaoh shouted; he knew Yami Bakura was going to shed light on yet another rule the Pharaoh hadn't heard of. Yami Bakura grinned at him, none of his earlier frustration showing, and wagged his finger back and forth.
"And there's that interrupting thing again, as well, Pharaoh. You may think you're so high-and-mighty, but how about letting us little people speak when we have the power to bring you big ones to your knees?!" He threw his arms out to either side and laughed. An enormous ripple appeared in the clouds above them and a monstrous shape emerged, larger than their entire playing field. It roared, its cry deafening. The Pharaoh grimaced and held his hands tightly over his ears, but Yami Bakura didn't seem to notice the sound—he was still laughing as if he had just thrust a dagger through the Pharaoh's heart already. "Go, my Pyramid Turtle! Reveal to me the location of my Vampire Lord!" All of the cards started to shake and rumble as if the plane they were on was rippling; the Pyramid Turtle roared again, and then suddenly a card in the row closest to Yami Bakura and a little to the left of his hand flew into the air, spinning and turning as it did until it fell onto the plane once again. It sent the cards rocking in one final shock-wave before both the energy and the Pyramid Turtle receded once more.
The Pharaoh glared at the face-up Vampire Lord, torn between his horror at its arrival and his fury with Yami Bakura for not telling him all of the rules. He could practically feel Yami Bakura's smirk like a dagger over his throat.
"Now it's my turn, isn't it?" Yami Bakura asked. His voice dripped malice and a promise of blood. "Go, my Vampire Lord! Suck the life from my enemy's body!" A card on the Pharaoh's side of the field flipped over; Giant Red Sea Snake. With a cry it shattered, scattering the Pharaoh with shards. He scowled. "And guess what?" The Pharaoh glared at him, knowing what followed could not possibly be good. "When my Vampire Lord takes a bite out of your Lifepoints—as it just did, dear Pharaoh—I get to choose one type of card and you must remove it from your deck. Which means you must send one of your Monsters to the graveyard from the field!" The Pharaoh ground his teeth, but he believed Yami Bakura; he knew that card's effect as well.
"I choose my Feral Imp! Thank you for your sacrifice, my monster!" A card two rows away from him flipped over and shattered with a scream. He could hear Yami Bakura starting to chuckle.
"Well… well… well, Pharaoh. Still feeling so high-and-mighty?" The Pharaoh raised his eyes to glare into Yami Bakura's. The Pharaoh was positive in that instant that he stared into the face of evil—every part of Yami Bakura's expression, the smile, the way his eyes were narrowed, reeked of absolute joy at the Pharaoh's frustration, at the fact that he would lose his soul forever when he lost. There was absolutely no doubt in that face—the Pharaoh would lose, and when he did he would shatter like the worthless soul he was, lost for all eternity in a pit of hell he was only deserving of. And the fact that the Pharaoh could see this, could imagine that fate, could be shaken by the horrendous thought of it, filled the Spirit of the Millennium Ring with ecstasy.
But he was making a big mistake—the Pharaoh wouldn't lose. The Pharaoh didn't lose. Never. No matter how skilled his opponent, no matter how poorly-suited he was to the game.
The Pharaoh. Did. Not. Lose.
He was the King of Games, and he didn't need some false title given to him by Seto Kaiba to know that. He'd proven it time and time again—every time Yugi was in trouble, every time he was challenged, or he made the challenge, to protect his friends or to protect his puzzle. Every game he played, he won. No matter how tough, how tight, how frightening, no matter the stakes.
He would not lose because he could not lose.
And if he could beat Seto Kaiba, and Maximillion Pegasus, and Marik on countless occasions, each in a game as complicated and prone to turn-arounds as Duel Monsters, he could certainly beat this two-bit hack at a child's game of Concentration!
"Laugh all you want, Bakura!" he shouted, hoping his resolve and his anger and confidence shone through his voice and burned Yami Bakura's skin. By the way Yami Bakura's grin fell away, he guessed that, to some degree, it did. "It'll be your only comfort when you whither in the Shadow Realm!" He called upon two face-down cards; they flipped over, and Yami Bakura's card shrieked in pain as it shattered. The numbers rearranged behind him again. The Pharaoh's 1600 to Bakura's 2400.
Yami Bakura smirked, but he didn't really look as sure as he let on.
"Poor Pharaoh, it's alright. You don't have to act brave anymore—when you're lost in the Shadow Realm, I know someone will mourn your passing—with you gone, who else will I have to crush?!" He threw his head back and laughed, and the Pharaoh suppressed a scowl.
Damn that bastard, damn him to the deepest pits of hell.
"Well, I won't keep you waiting, Pharaoh—I know how the worry can be worse than the event!" He pointed first to his Vampire Lord and then to one of the Pharaoh's cards and pitched his arm into the sky; the Pharaoh's card flipped over. "Of course, in this case, the real thing is so, so much worse!" A scream; the Pharaoh flinched as his Lifepoints were lowered once again. "And thanks to my Vampire Lord's effect, you're now down another monster, aren't you?"
"I choose my Stone Soldier," the Pharaoh said, his voice still burning with confidence. Little losses like these wouldn't shake him. Duel Monsters was all about sacrifices, about taking the hits when you could so that you could deal them back worse. And deal them back he would.
A card two rows down and to his left shattered with an agonizing scream. Yami Bakura smirked.
1400, 2400.
The Pharaoh could feel a tendril of anxiety deep in his stomach, emerging even through his confidence and resolution. Bakura had a thousand more Lifepoints than him. And the field was starting to look very empty—Yami Bakura still had more than half of his monsters, but the Pharaoh had only seven left. Seven. True, he hadn't revealed anything truly powerful yet, which meant that the odds were high the monsters he'd need would be in these seven cards, but what if Yami Bakura had effects that threw away his monsters regardless of attack? It was a frightening thought.
He tried to push everything away; he knew the thoughts wouldn't help him, knew it could only hinder him. He had to play to win, and he had to play knowing he would win. He shunted everything to the side until there was only one thought in his head that he knew to be absolutely true—he couldn't survive any more turns with the Vampire Lord on the field.
"You can do it, Pharaoh!" The Pharaoh turned again to Yugi, his partner's eyes ablaze with confidence. Yugi had been silent through most of the duel, letting the Pharaoh concentrate. "Things might look bad, but this is always the part of the duel where everything falls into place, all of the cards come together! Believe in the Heart of the Cards, Pharaoh, just like you always do! They always come through for us, always now, when things look so dire and hopeless! Just believe in the Heart of the Cards, like I believe in you! They know we're right, they know we're just! They won't let us lose!" If the Pharaoh had ever been thankful for his partner—and he had on several occasions—it was nothing compared to how he felt now. For a second he wondered how he could ever live without Yugi, and for a second he was glad that if anything happened to his partner he wouldn't be around too long to have to deal with it. But he quickly threw that thought away—he didn't want to take comfort in the fact that if Yugi died he'd pass on, too. Right now he had to focus on not letting that happen, so he and Yugi could have years to spend together yet.
Yami Bakura was making gagging noises in the background.
The Pharaoh closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He let his belief in the Heart of the Cards, in his partner, in the fact that they held a bond that couldn't be broken and wouldn't be broken now, flow through his body. He then pointed, unsure where he pointed, or at which card. He opened his eyes and stared straight down his finger, at the black heart in the back of a card.
"Go! My monster! Take the faith in my heart and strike his Vampire down!" He could hear Yami Bakura scoff. He watched as the card flipped over. Yami Bakura gave a strangled cry of shock and his Vampire Lord shattered, taking some of Yami Bakura's Lifepoints with him.
1600, 1900.
The Pharaoh smiled at the face of his Dark Magician.
"Thank you, my friend," he said to the card as a cry of joy came from Yugi on the sidelines. "It's wonderful to see you." The card flipped back over again, hiding in the shadows, ready to attack at its master's next call. Yami Bakura was growling quietly in the back of his throat, but he forced his annoyance down.
"Very good, Pharaoh! It would seem luck's on your side, this turn!" he shouted. "But don't think you'll be so fortunate the whole game. There's still plenty yet, and I will destroy you and that foolish host's spirit and claim your puzzle as my own! Nothing will stop me from gaining all of the Millennium Items and fulfilling my goals, and least of all some amnesiac pharaoh!" He pointed directly at the Pharaoh's heart. The Pharaoh gave a quick laugh.
"Except for your general incompetence, of course." Yami Bakura drew his shoulders up in reflex. He hissed at the Pharaoh.
"My monster! Attack his face-down card!" he shouted. A card on his side of the field and a face-down card on The Pharaoh's side both flipped over. With a scream, the Pharaoh's was destroyed. The Pharaoh shrugged it off and called upon his Dark Magician and one of Yami Bakura's monsters; the thing never stood a chance. Yami Bakura grimaced in pain.
"Don't get haughty yet, Pharaoh," he snarled. The Pharaoh smirked. "Just because you've gotten lucky this time doesn't mean you'll win. You can rely on that Dark Magician of yours if you want to, but don't think it can support you forever."
"I don't need it to last forever," The Pharaoh said, crossing his arms in front of his chest. He was still worried, still aware that he was in a perilous position. But showing a strong side to Yami Bakura, showing that confidence that lurked there, too, was his best weapon right now. "I just need it to last long enough to decimate what remains of your Lifepoints."
Yami Bakura growled furiously and gestured to two face-down cards. They flipped over, and he was barely able to restrain a frustrated grunt as his card shattered, taking some of his Lifepoints with it. The Pharaoh was unable to hold back a laugh.
"Don't speak so soon, Bakura. Maybe you should stay quiet as well. After all, better to keep your mouth shut than to shove your foot in it." He raised his hand up and pointed to one of Yami Bakura's cards. "Go, my Dark Magician! Destroy his face-down card!"
Yami Bakura almost screamed as Dream Clown was destroyed, taking almost all of his Lifepoints with it. The Pharaoh couldn't help but smirk.
"What you said before is true, Bakura." Yugi was cheering loudly in the background. "It's amazing how quickly the tables can turn. Look at our Lifepoints, and look at the field. Now you have only one monster more than I do, and one of mine is the Dark Magician. What do you have that can beat that?"
Yami Bakura didn't say anything; he just glared at the Pharaoh and seethed. His shoulders moved in time to his breathing. He didn't say anything. He could feel that he was on the edge of a dangerous precipice. He was near the end of his rope—there wasn't much hope that he could defeat the Pharaoh when he was in such a weakened state. And what irritated him more was that the Pharaoh knew it.
The Pharaoh turned to the prone form of Bakura, who was still hanging unconscious by the dark rings of cloud around his wrists and ankles. A frown settled over his face, and some of the sharp taste of victory turned bitter.
"I'm sorry, my friend," he said to the unconscious body; Yugi glancing at his friend as well. "But I promise—I will save you." Yugi couldn't turn from Bakura for a long moment—might this be the last time he would ever see him? He turned back to the Pharaoh and gave out a frightened cry. But it was too late.
With a hideous snarl, Yami Bakura had pushed himself off the ground and was sailing towards the Pharaoh already—the Pharaoh barely had time to turn before Yami Bakura was on top of him, his fingers clawing at the chain around the Millennium Puzzle.
"I won't lose!" he screamed as the Pharaoh struggled to beat him off. "Not to some foolish, arrogant kingling like you!"
The two rolled about, fighting each other with all of their might, punching and kicking and beating at each other as hard as they could. Yugi was still making sounds of horror and dismay, urging the Pharaoh on and reacting to every hit the Pharaoh took as if they had been struck against himself, too, but he was struck fast, and there was nothing he could do but watch the two of them try to kill each other with their bare hands.
Yami Bakura had wrapped his hands around the puzzle and was tugging at the chain, wrenching at the Pharaoh's neck. The Pharaoh ground his teeth and tried to pry Yami Bakura's hands away from the puzzle, while at the same time trying to kick him as hard as he could. One good hit to the chest or stomach might have been enough to knock him away. But Yami Bakura seemed oblivious—he was too focused on stealing the Puzzle to feel anything else.
Suddenly the world began to grow hazy and insubstantial, like the Pharaoh was floating in a dream. He blinked owlishly, but it didn't help—he was still just as strong, and still in control of his body, but the world felt… surreal. Too surreal. Like it wasn't even real anymore, or at least he wasn't a part of it anymore. He could hear Yami Bakura's manic laughter ringing in his ears like a bell, though it was like someone had covered the bell first. The Pharaoh abruptly had a sickly feeling of being washed away by a powerful wave and then being pulled back in by the tide. And it was then that he understood.
Yami Bakura's Millennium Ring had the power to separate a soul from its vessel, whether that was a person from their body or a monster from its card. And he was trying to use that power of the Millennium Ring to force the Pharaoh's spirit out of the Puzzle.
The Pharaoh called upon the power of the Puzzle—to place a soul back in its body—using all of its, and his, power to keep his spirit in the Millennium Item. Yami Bakura growled in irritation as he realized the Pharaoh had discovered his plan. Yami Bakura called on all of his power, as well.
The full force of the Egpytian Pharaoh and his Millennium Puzzle warred with the Millennium Ring and the spirit bound within it.
For a moment the world seemed to swim in a clear water of dreams and nightmares, and then everything went black.
DUEL MONSTERS CONCENTRATION RULES:
.. Each player puts twenty monster cards face-down in attack position, five cards wide and four cards deep. They are in completely random order, neither you nor your opponent should know where each card is to start with.
.. Players take turn choosing one of their monsters and then one of their opponent's monsters
:: If your monster has higher attack than your opponent's, your opponent's life-points take the difference, and their monster is destroyed. Your card is turned face down again.
:: If your monster has lower attack than your opponent's, your life-points take the difference and your monster is destroyed. Their monster is turned face-down.
:: If your monster and your opponent's monster have the same attack, both cards are removed from play, and the player who called the match gets to go again.
.. Each player has 4000 life points
.. You lose by: running out of cards first -or- running out of life points first
.. Flip effects still take effect
:: since there are no hands, monsters that return cards to an opponent's hand are simply removed from the field
:: monsters that bring cards back from the "graveyard" can bring a card that has been removed back onto the field; cards that call cards from the deck call monsters from the Field-otherwise the effect is negated
:: there are no magic or trap cards*
.. WHEN YOUR TURN STARTS YOU CAN TAKE TWO ACTIONS:
:: attack your opponent's monster
:: flip one of your cards over
.. Once a card is flipped over it must remain face-up for the duration of the game (unless a monster's effect allows you to turn one card face-down)
::this will activate a monster's flip-effect
:: You can then move it into defense position if you want to
..when a card is in defense position your life-points won't take a hit
.. you must flip a card over to put it into defense position
*There is actually a more complicated version of this game, but shhh, it's supposed to be a surprise. ;)