A/N: Here you are, finally got the other part finished up. Sorry it's so late, but, it is a bit longer this time. Hope it makes up for the wait. Let me know what you think!
Yami was nervous as he and Yugi walked through the gates to the Kaiba residence. It had been a long time since they dueled here, and the first memories were not likely to be fond for Yugi. He knew that Kaiba had changed since the last time they were here, but he was uncertain about what his aibou's reaction would be to the choice of location. As much as Yugi professed friendship at Kaiba, Kaiba's distrust in the concept still rubbed Yugi the wrong way. Plus there were those weird emotions that had kept spilling across their connection before Yami had received his own body. Yami thought maybe it was because his aibou might not have realized the extent to which Kaiba had improved. It was like Yugi felt Kaiba was undeserving of Yami's attention, and it was the only explanation that Yami could think of as to why that would be. He didn't want anything to hurt the other boy while they were here, although he also realized that worrying was pointless. He had absolute faith that Yugi could now take care of himself.
Moreover, he knew this was the perfect chance to say something to Kaiba about his own feelings, and he was worried about the reaction. It was likely to be negative if it wasn't said in the right way, but he didn't feel like manipulating Kaiba to get the results he wanted. Yugi had said that saying something soon was important, but Yami felt like it was much to soon to be saying anything at all. Kaiba didn't know him at all yet; this was to be their first interaction since Yami got his own body, so how would saying something now be fair? He just wanted some way to keep seeing Kaiba on a regular basis. Talking about his feelings could come later, if at all. But Yugi seemed to think it was important to get this over with. Still, couldn't this all wait? But Yugi had been right about so many things before. It was hard to ignore his advice, and he didn't want to make the younger boy unhappy.
With Yami's thoughts looping in and out between Yugi's reactions and what he would say to Kaiba, he allowed himself to be lead to the same dueling arena where he had fist summoned Exodia. Kaiba was already there, dressed in his customary sleeveless white trench coat and black clothing, a knowing sneer on his face as he stood waiting on his part of the dueling arena.
"I will beat both of you in a duel today," he stated, pointing at Yami. "You first. You were the one who dueled me all those times, right?"
Yami nodded. It seemed with Kaiba's acceptance had come understanding about Yami's past role in Yugi's life.
"Since Yugi beat you, I need to beat you both. I trust you both still have your own decks?" The pair nodded again, but Kaiba continued talking without waiting for a response, "Then get up here, Yami."
Yami hurriedly took his place on the dueling platform, smiling inwardly at the sound of his own name on Kaiba's lips. The arena didn't quite look the same as the last time the pair had been in the room. The dueling platforms had been redesigned to look sleeker, were colored white and blue to thematically match the duel disk system, and now seemed to operate by plugging into the duel disks instead of by taking the user's deck directly. However, the large 4-way screen showing both opponent's life point totals, as well as the original deep blue grid to display holograms, remained.
"Let's make this duel more interesting," Yami surprised himself by challenging Kaiba. "Since Yugi holds the title now, let's fight for something else."
"And what do you propose?" Kaiba asked with a tilt of his head.
"Whoever wins gets a request of the other."
"And what would I possibly request of you?"
"That's your decision. Anything that you want to ask of me."
"Fine. Though don't blame me when you lose."
Yami nodded in acquiescence.
"Let's duel," they simultaneously chanted.
The two duelists drew their opening hands. "You go first," Kaiba said to Yami. "You'll need it."
The duel progressed as normal, Yami summoning his Celtic Guardian as an opener, promptly beaten by Kaiba's Battle Ox. The duel went back and forth for a bit, the two struggling to gain an edge over the other. Yami felt alive in a way that he knew only dueling Kaiba could make him feel. While dueling Yugi was a challenge, it was dueling Kaiba, with the intense posturing and psychological games that really made his blood pump. Kaiba's beat-down strategy seemed to be gaining the edge, and so Yami predictably summoned his God cards to contend with Kaiba's powerful creatures, although he now knew the risks of the move due to the ceremonial duel.
By now Kaiba had both his XYZ Dragon Cannon and his Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon on the field, and was staring the Gods down without fear, a taunting smirk on his face. "Now it is my turn to bring down the Egyptian Gods." Yami knew that if Kaiba had acquired a Magnet Force card as well, the XYZ Dragon Cannon would function just as well as Yugi's Magnet Warriors for the card. But, Yami also knew that Kaiba wouldn't use the exact same strategy as Yugi had. It was too boring, too predictable. And, rather than allowing the monsters to completely destroy each other, Kaiba likely couldn't resist letting his own monsters have some of the glory. So Yami set Mirror Force and waited.
Kaiba himself was eager to try out the new combo to defeat the Egyptian Gods. Despite the fact that Yugi was the one to discover the strategy, he felt like he could put his own twist on it to make it his. Gone were the days where he would run endless computer simulations trying to figure out how to keep the three cards from going infinite on him. He smiled to himself and set three cards face-down.
Yami drew his next card, his Dark Magician. This will be useful once we figure out what happens with the Gods, Yami thought, storing the card in his hand. Whatever Kaiba had planned would happen either way, and so Yami sent Ra at XYZ Dragon Cannon, waiting to find out if Kaiba had the combo. As Yami predicted, the other duelist used De-Fusion, separating the machine back into it's component parts. Slifer's effect activated, and Kaiba used Magnet Force in order to bounce the effect back to the other Gods instead. Obelisk was down to two thousand points, Slifer itself was still at three thousand where it started, and Ra was at twenty-five hundred. All were weak enough to be destroyed by Kaiba's Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon.
Still, Kaiba now had three weaker monsters on the field, and Yami didn't want to take any chances with them. He wasn't sure if Kaiba could bring XYZ Dragon Cannon back this turn to take advantage of his trap card, but there was no reason to leave the other monsters alive if he didn't have to. For some reason, Kaiba had summoned the X Head Cannon in attack mode, even though the others were in defense. It seemed that Kaiba wanted him to attack that monster. But there wasn't anything else Yami could think of that would save the monster from the attack. Maybe a bluff? Yami felt confident the duel was still under his control. He looked into the other duelist's bright blue eyes defiantly.
Kaiba caught the look sneered, "You'll be doing what I want you to when this duel is done, so what are you waiting for? Do something."
Yami did, after quickly suppressing the tight feeling in his chest that Kaiba's words had brought on. Taking a steadying breath, he attacked the X Head Cannon with Obelisk the Tormentor, wanting to keep Slifer safe, just in case the final face down card could somehow affect a God. Kaiba's smile widened, thoroughly enjoying the mistake. "I activate my final card- shrink. This makes my monster lose 900 attack points, but because it is a machine, I can redirect the effect this turn. Obelisk looses 900 points. Now X Head Cannon- counter attack!" Obelisk roared before exploding into a pile of pixels when hit by the impending shot.
"One down, two to go," Kaiba taunted.
However, despite the other duelist's bravado, Kaiba now had no more spell or trap cards, leaving him open to Yami's attack with Slifer. Still, the other duelist seemed unfazed by the 2200 life points he had just lost. Ra finished off Z Metal Tank, and Yami passed the turn.
Kaiba smirked yet again after drawing his card, before commanding, "Go my ultimate beast, destroy Slifer, the Sky Dragon!"
"You've fallen right into my trap," Yami exclaimed, wondering why the other duelist continually failed to deal with the traps that he would lay. It wasn't as though Kaiba was unaccustomed to seeing the strategy; on multiple occasions he had predicted the move when they were dueling together. Perhaps most impressive was when Kaiba had correctly guessed that Yami controlled a face-down Mirror Force trap in order to merge it with his Critias in the duel against Dartz a little over a year ago. Yet when they were dueling against one another, Kaiba seemed to fail to predict Yami's tactics more often.
Musings aside, Yami revealed the Mirror Force card and destroyed the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon. Kaiba's look of anger was quickly replaced by one of determination. He glanced at his hand and rapidly chose a card from it.
"Fine. Then I play Monster Reborn, bringing back my Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon." The beast roared back to life furiously, glaring just as hard as Kaiba at the other side of the field. "I set one card. Your move."
Yami was impressed the other duelist had the right card to deal with the setback. Kaiba must have also reevaluated his trust in his deck when he decided that Yami's existence was real. How else would he have recovered so easily? What else might have changed about the skeptic? Yami wanted to know more about Kaiba almost as much as he wanted Kaiba to better know him. Too bad I will have to say something soon, Yami thought. But then again, Yugi could be wrong... Yami distracted himself from the circular thoughts by bringing himself back to the duel and the stakes. He wondered vaguely what Kaiba would ask of him to do if he were to lose, and decided that he wouldn't mind losing just to see what Kaiba would come up with. However, he much preferred his own plan, which required a win.
Drawing his next card, Yami looked at it to see if it could help him deal with the powerful monster on the other side of the field. Kuriboh. Well at least I have a little bit of time to figure something else out. He saved the card, allowing Slifer to move up to four thousand attack points. Still, it wouldn't be enough to overpower Kaiba's dragon. He needed something else, and he trusted in his deck to eventually give it to him. Leaving Ra in attack mode, he switched Slifer to defense mode and ended his turn. Hopefully Ra would be too tempting a target, and Kaiba would leave Slifer alone.
Looking at his next card, Kaiba remarked, "Now it's time for me to put you in your place," revealing Card of Demise. He drew five more cards, smiling as they entered his hand. "Blue Eyes, attack the Winged Dragon of Ra!" Yami was right, the other duelist couldn't resist additional damage to Yami's life points.
Discarding Kuriboh smugly, Yami tried to save his monster, but Kaiba's face light up as though he had been expecting just that move. "I activate my trap. All I have to do is discard one card, and I negate Kuriboh's effect." Yami watched as his life points dropped on the large TV screens in the center of the arena. He was down to five hundred life points and had lost Ra, the most powerful God card. Kaiba only had seventeen hundred points though, and so there was still a chance that he could pull off a win. Kaiba set a card, then passed the turn.
Yami drew his card and immediately played it: Card of Sanctity. Each player would draw until they had six cards in hand. This brought Slifer's attack up to six thousand. He was almost there. Switching Slifer to attack mode, he called out an attack, "Slifer, attack the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon!" Now Kaiba had just two hundred life points left. The game seemed to have turned in Yami's favor.
As Kaiba considered his options, the young duelist somehow managed to look even more serious. Until now, Yami had mostly been focusing on the duel too much to notice the other duelist's appearance. However, now that there was a bit of a pause, he was able to better study the other's features. Yami thought it was likely that Kaiba's brow was furrowed, though it was hard to tell with the way Kaiba's bangs hid it from view. The bridge of his nose was wrinkled in concentration, and his nose twitched in time as the tall duelist ground his teeth. His hand clenched his cards tightly, forcefully drawing the next card as though it would save him.
Looking at it, he grinned. "The tables have turned once again. I set this card face down and then I play Luster Dragon in attack mode. I'll equip him with Dragon Treasure to raise him three hundred points, to 2200 attack. I set one more card, then I will play Exchange- you can take one of the cards from my hand, and I get something from yours. I'll even offer you my Pot of Greed card, to show you that it doesn't matter how powerful Slifer gets, I can still bring it down."
Yami was surprised by how bold Kaiba was being. Slifer was already huge, and from the looks of his hand there wasn't much that the other duelist could do about it. And it wasn't like Slifer was affected by traps. The other duelist couldn't possibly be planning to pump the Luster Dragon that much, could he? Yami could think of no trap that could do that.
Yami took the Pot of Greed, wondering about Kaiba's plan. Kaiba made his selection from Yami's hand, and passed the turn.
Yami drew his card, then activated the Pot of Greed to see what else he would get. He smiled at the hand. Kaiba had to be bluffing. There was nothing the duelist could do to stand up to this hand. The trap that Kaiba laid barely registered: Heavy Slump. Kaiba seemed to have this card specifically to counter Slifer's effect. Rather than attack the monster, he had instead decided to attack Yami's large hand size. So that's why he gave me Pot of Greed. I fell right into that one. Sadly, the spiky-haired duelist shuffled his hand back into his library and drew two cards, letting Slifer's attack points fall.
"I set a card, switch Slifer to defense mode, and end my turn," Yami declared, an annoyed frown crossing his face.
A grin passed over Kaiba's face as he drew his next card. "I summon Vorse Raider in attack mode! Luster Dragon, attack Slifer now! It seems it's time for me to win, Yami."
But Yami shook his head. As the holographic dragon reared back it's head to destroy the monster, he activated a trap: Spellbinding Circle. It wasn't enough to save Slifer though, as Vorse Raider quickly charged forward, slicing the red dragon in half. The gods were no more.
Kaiba was laughing, clearly enjoying his current position. "Take your turn, Yami. I am enjoying destroying you."
"It's not over yet Kaiba!" Yami shouted, dramatically drawing his last card, using all his will and trust to ensure it was a good one. Glancing at it, it was his turn to smirk. "Now I play Monster Reborn to bring back Obelisk the Tormentor!"
The blue God rose threateningly out of the ground. "The effect only lasts one turn, but that is all I need. Obelisk, attack Kaiba's dragon with Fist of Fate!" Kaiba's face quickly turned from victorious to stunned as the monster crushed through Luster Dragon to finish off his life points. He scowled at the other duelist.
"Fine," he grimaced aprehensively, "What do I have to do?"
"Tutor me in math."