YUGIOH

Eternal Darkness 2

Chapter 10.

The duel had now begun. Kaiba was first to move. Yami noticed the first set of monsters Kaiba had been summoning were all dark monsters, starting with Giant Germ. One was sacrificed to summon yet another dark monster: Vampire Lord.

Kaiba boasted. "Not so easy to remove, is it Yami? Whatever traps or magic you throw at him, he just keeps coming right back…nearly undefeatable!"

"Vampire Lord is not an invincible force, no matter how much he tries to be. Like anything else, he can still be permanently defeated by an even greater power. I summon Black Luster Soldier!" Yami announced.

Kaiba used a trap to block Yami's attack this round. He grinned, stating. "But you forget…this Vampire Lord is different and happens to have a more powerful form. I use Wings of Darkness! It let's me use a dark monster as 2 tributes instead of one, and I sacrifice him to summon my Blue Eyes White Dragon!"

Yami glared at the light dragon on the field.

Kaiba chuckled, stating. "You forget, Yami…I am more than just darkness. Through my other form, I am also light. Also, Wings of Darkness had a second ability. If the tribute monster is used to summon a light monster, it increases my monsters attack by 200!"

Yami's eyes widened, realizing what that meant. Kaiba's Blue Eyes was stronger than his Black Luster Soldier.

"Blue eyes, attack his Black Luster Soldier!" Kaiba commanded.

"You're wrong, Kaiba!" Yami announced. "No matter how bright your monster shines, the core of it is still now darkness! I use Dark Rift!"

"What?" Kaiba spat.

This new card ended up freezing Kaiba's Blue Eyes in place like a Spell Binding Circle. But it did more than that. If the attacking monster was attributed by a dark monster, it reduced the monster's attack by half, now turning Kaiba's monster into a 1600 attack.

Yami attacked and Blue Eyes was destroyed. But Kaiba had a card that at least countered Yami's life point attack, returning his points that were taken.

Yami then told him. "The darkness that summoned your Blue Eyes only left your monster hallow inside. It shall never be at it's true glory until its core is light again!"

"We'll see about that! Their combined might has a power you'll never understand! And they will gladly serve their purpose in order to defeat anyone that stands in their way!" Kaiba claimed.

That left Yami confused. He was pretty sure what was coming next…Kaiba would summon his Ultimate Dragon to defeat him. But Kaiba's words didn't match. 'What is he planning?'

"Blue Eyes and Vampire Lord are removed from play to summon my new monster…Chaos Emperor Dragon!"

"What?" Yami asked surprised by this, which quickly changed to anger. "Those two cards presently represent your soul, Kaiba! Why would you so recklessly abandon them for this?!"

"As I've said…you never understood." Kaiba said. "They are nothing more than tools to serve my purpose! These two monster have no true importance in existence! I would gladly sacrifice them both in order to achieve my ultimate goal!"

Yami raged again. "Is this what your new form had brought you, Kaiba? We are once again standing on the top of Pegasus castle, while you are so eager to cast your life chip to the wind! Have you learned nothing all this time? Your life chip is a thing of value that needs to be protected! This path you have chosen will only lead to your destruction in the end!"

"I no longer have a life chip to protect!" Kaiba spat. "Isn't that what you've been telling me? If I die, there is no soul left to bring me to whatever after life I would deserve, which I hardly believe would be heaven, anyway. If that's the case, then it doesn't matter, anymore! There is only one true thing that I need to protect, and I have become the armor to make sure that item is protected. I use Chaos Emperor's ability to wipe everything from the field!"

Yami shielded his eyes as everything was literally destroyed before them, hitting Yami hard in life points, leaving him nothing but 50 life points left.

Kaiba laughed at Yami's sorry excuse for life points. "One more push…and it's all over. Just like a normal human, Yami. Compared to me, everyone is so fragile, now. Don't you understand? With a push, a nudge, a stare, all my enemies are brought to their knees. Even you are nothing more than a normal human, Yami…your Millennium Puzzle is gone."

Yami blinked and looked down where the puzzle used to rest. It no longer adorned him, now forever put away back to where the power originated from.

"You're just as weak as everyone else is, now." Kaiba continued. "This power has made me invincible, allowing me to protect whatever I need kept safe…and that's exactly what I'm going to do!"

Yami looked back over the field at Kaiba, and shook his head. "Once more, you are wrong. You have allowed this false power to blind you to the truth. You have been here before, Kaiba! Once again, you think surrounding yourself with darkness makes you powerful enough to protect what is important. But all it does in the end is consume you from the inside! Magician of Black Chaos…come to me!"

Kaiba's eyes widened in horror as Yami's Magician of Black Chaos was suddenly summoned to the field. And the destruction from Chaos Emperor Dragon left him literally with nothing to protect himself. "No, that's impossible!"

"Kaiba, your mad desire to wipe everything off the field also had me discard not only my Magician of Black Chaos, but also a card known as Magician's Soul. This card only activates when discarded to the graveyard directly from my hand. As long as I had at least one magician in my hand at the time, I can summon it directly to the field at the beginning of the next round.

"It doesn't matter!" Kaiba spouted. "Even with him on the field, he's not powerful enough to take me down in one turn. Despite everything, I still have my full life points, while you're left with a measly 50. While you take your pathetic shot at me, next round I'll crush you, and throw you to the wind!"

"There wont be a next turn, Kaiba. You've already lost. You just don't know it, yet." Yami told him, causing him to look nervous.

'No…it's not possible!' He thought, looking at Yami, then down at the monster. All Yami had was that one monster…he didn't even draw his card for the next turn, yet. "There is no way to take me down in one turn!"

"You are the one that in fact helped create the path, Kaiba." Yami said, drawing one card to his hand from the deck. Thanks to Chaos Emperor Dragon's ability, it's all he had.

But as usual, Yami somehow knew what card was coming next, before he even drew it. Yami took that card, and placed it on the field. "I now use the magic card Megamorph." Yami replied.

"No!" Kaiba cried, now knowing exactly what that meant. Yami was right…by bringing Yami so low in life points on the field, Yami was able to use that card to double the attack points his Magician of Black Chaos had, making him a whopping 5600 attack monster. And after Kaiba destroyed everything on the field, he had absolutely nothing to protect himself with.

"The difference in our strategies Kaiba, is while I did everything I could to hold onto my monsters, finding each one important, your immortality had made you recklessly willing to throw everything away, and cast it aside like it's nothing in order to take down your opponents. But in the end, after throwing your mortality away, you are left with absolutely nothing." Yami explained.

Kaiba spat out. "Just, get it over with!"

"Magician of Black Chaos, attack Kaiba directly!" Yami stated.

His monster attacked, and Kaiba once again lost the duel.

Roland began to give his announcement that Yugi was the winner of the duel, as Yami moved over to Kaiba, who's head was down…his hair once again hiding his eyes from the shame of failure in the match.

Yami took the vial from his belt and brought it up for Kaiba to take. "Please, Kaiba. I understand now why you feel the need to hold onto this form. But you need to understand…this strength is an illusion. Your humanity can defend your brother greater than you can ever realize being a vampire can."

"This is not a duel, Yami…it's real life. And I will not accept your pathetic sense of charity!" Kaiba spat.

"Kaiba, please!" Yami said, as Kaiba turned and leaped off of the dueling ring without taking the stairs, still fuming.

Yami hesitated as Kaiba did that, since it was pretty high up, and it was not a leap a normal human should take, hoping his carelessness was not caught by people watching him. He landed a good ten feet without blinking and continued to storm off.

Yami quickly reached the other end of the ring, calling down. "It's not a charity piece! Why can you never accept a gift of friendship!"

But his retort was either un-heard or ignored as Kaiba continued to walk away.

In frustration, he cried out louder. "You had once offered me life with Devil's Sanctuary! Would you not let me offer you life, in return?"

But it was no good…he had already walked away.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Yami finally walked down himself from the duel. After Roland gave his announcements on his winnings, he approached his friends looking disappointed.

Yugi approached, looking sad. "I saw you try to give it to him, and he still wouldn't accept it. I'm sorry, Yami."

"We have plenty of time, though." Tea said. "Just because he didn't accept it today, doesn't mean he wont accept it later."

Yami shook his head. "He is so certain being a vampire will better protect his brother, he doesn't even want to consider going back as a human."

Yugi said. "Well maybe we should try to find Mokuba, then. I bet if we let him know, he could probably help talk some sense into his brother."

"Yes, I suppose." Yami said, but hated to have to resort to that. Kaiba would not be happy if they bypassed him to talk to Mokuba about it. But he would if he had to. Kaiba's mortality was even more important than his pride. Hopefully…he'd understand.

Yami then realized something, looking around. "Where's Joey?"

Tristan shook his head, not looking happy. "He never made it back from being tutored at his teacher's place."

Yami looked concerned, not liking the sound of that.

Tea then noticed a familiar face in the crowd and pointed. "There's our teacher, now!"

"What?" Yugi asked and looked over.

Mr. Gabriel seemed to be focused on where Kaiba went, and was headed straight in that direction.

The group quickly ran over to where he was, distracting him from what he was doing. "What? Oh…children." He said, looking them over. His focus ended up on Yami's stern face, seeming intrigued. "Mr. Motou…I didn't realize you had a brother."

Yugi cleared his throat, stating. "My, uh…brother's name is Yami."

"Darkness?" Gabriel asked, with intrigue.

Tristan then asked. "Where's Joey?"

Gabriel looked puzzled. "You mean he's not with you? I assumed he skipped tutoring to play. He never showed up at my house. I have no idea where he is."

The whole group seemed to deflate from his reply.

"I'm sorry." He said, looking ahead where he originally wanted to go. But he felt the window of opportunity had passed, and considered otherwise. Instead, Gabriel turned another direction. He said. "Good day, children…I'll see you Monday, back at school." And walked away.

Yugi looked greatly worried from what the teacher said about Joey. "Joey fully intended to go over there. If he never made it to his house or with us, then what could have happened to him?"

Yami continued to stare at Gabriel, even after he left. "I have a strange feeling about this teacher of yours, Yugi. I don't trust him."

At that moment, Mokuba walked up. He looked rather depressed, which was expected. After all…once again, his brother lost to him.

"Here, Yugi…this is the reward money for winning the tournament." He said, handing him an envelope. Mokuba wasn't happy in the least to have to do this. He was really hoping this time his brother was going to win. "I guess that once again makes you the game king."

Yami shook his head. "I'm not concerned about the award money, Mokuba. That's not why I challenged Kaiba. Mokuba…had you seen Joey anywhere?"

Yugi moved up, adding. "Joey was going to be tutoring with our substitute teacher, Mr. Gabriel, but he never made it here, and now he's missing!"

At that comment, Mokuba's eyes widened. "Did you say Gabriel?"

"Yes…why?" Yugi asked.

Mokuba replied. "Well, I haven't seen Joey, but the name of your teacher sounds familiar. I think that was also the name of this creepy investigator guy who showed up at our house just a couple weeks ago. He was asking some really weird questions about Cavnar."

Yami turned to Yugi. "Yugi…I believe Gabriel himself is responsible for Joey's disappearance. I think we should pay a visit to this teacher's house."

"I agree. Let's go!" Tristan said.

Mokuba looked at the envelop, not sure what to do with it. If Yami didn't accept it, he knew his brother was going to be pissed off.

But before they left, Yami turned back to Mokuba. "Mokuba…I need you to know something. I have been doing research in Egypt for the last year, and I presently have a vial on me that is capable of changing your brother back to being human, once again."

"You do?" Mokuba said, his eyes widened in shock. "Do you need to see my brother?"

"I already have, and he refused it." Yami explained. "Mokuba…it's important that Kaiba accepts this offering. If he does not accept this, his soul will never find peace. I was unable to convince him that being human is the best way to be. But perhaps you can talk to him, and help him understand."

Mokuba blankly nodded.

The group waved their goodbyes, and finally left.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Narr: Where's Joey? What happened to him? Is Gabriel really responsible? What will happen when they go to see him? And will Mokuba talk to Kaiba about the vial? Will he convince Kaiba to take it? Don't miss the next exciting chapters ahead!

If there's one thing I've learned during story writing, it's that the accuracy and the duel itself has no real importance to the readers. It's actually quite boring, which I agree. What makes it exciting is what is said during the duel. In the show, they used the game as a form of battle with each other. Their blades are the cards which symbolize their hearts, their pride, their beliefs…and it all gets pumped into game as they challenge each other. Normally, the one who's most 'right' in their argument usually wins…though there can be flukes to that, as well.

So, it's interesting to see the two character's clashing beliefs come together, and find out the outcome of it. Yami and Kaiba are normally the best for this, for they're probably more comfortable talking during a duel than out. Games revolve around the lives of these two, so it's only natural that they're most passionate during this time. (And that's how Yami/Kaiba fics were created!)

Anyway…thank you all for your reviews, I hope you've liked the story so far. I reply to all my reviews, so if I missed someone please let me know.

I'm hoping I can finally return to some stability and start posting once a week, again…atleast until this is over. I'm sorry to say I'm honestly not sure I have anymore fics to offer for a while, after this one.