So a few quick things. First of all I have to apologize for taking so long with this one, it's been crazy busy around here lately and I haven't had a lot of time to just sit down and write. Secondly, this is another chapter I didn't care to much for. I am not a fan of writing duels, I always feel like it's just tedious and there's no room for the characters to just be themselves. So I know this chapter probably isn't what you might have been expecting but seeing as it was kind of the main focus of season 1 I felt the duel needed to be included. So if you like it that's great if you don't i totally understand. I passed 2,000 views a few days ago and I have to say thank you so much to everyone who is sticking by this, it means a lot! please continue to review and let me know how i am doing, thanks so much! And lastly there's a lot of 'mind shuffling' going on in this chapter, there's line breaks between the dialog every time they switch, i hope that makes it easy to keep track of.
There's talk of prizes, of money or companies to control, but I have no want for that.
"You'll free the souls that you have trapped, Kaiba, Mokuba and my Grandpa," I say, that's all I want.
"It's a deal Yugi-boy, but if I win, your soul get's added to my collection," Pegasus says with a smile.
"You won't win," There's more conviction in my voice than I thought there'd be.
"So courageous," He drawls.
The duel starts off simple enough, but very quickly things turn difficult. Pegasus can use his millennium eye to read my cards. He knows the cards I've placed face down on the field and is able to counter them perfectly. I am down life points and the duel has barely begun.
"How can I win against someone who can see my cards and knows my strategies?" I hear Yugi question.
"I can see your fears Yugi-boy, and what you fear most right now, is me and the power that my millennium eye holds," Pegasus smiles, he seems so gleeful about the whole thing, it disgusts me.
"You can still win this Yugi!" Tea calls from the balcony.
"But how, he's reading all my cards, that eye of his is unstoppable," Yugi thinks.
"Don't give up hope so soon Yugi," I tell him, we've only just started and I won't let Yugi down again.
It's invasive, to know that someone is always reading your thoughts. Now I know how Yugi must feel, with me constantly hovering around in his mind.
I defend for a few turns but that does me no good either.
"I have to go on the offensive,"
I try, but it's still no use.
"Attacking is useless, Pegasus can see my strategies, how in the world can I win?" I can sense Yugi's stress, I know he's worried but I have confidence we can do this. I try and think calming thoughts; it will do the both of us some good.
I go back to defending, hoping I can figure something out, and then Pegasus surprises me again. The new card he's laid out turns any defending monster into stone, making them useless. Now I can neither defend or attack, I am running out of options.
I am then introduced to a new addition to Pegasus's Toon World. He uses a doppelganger card to copy my Summoned Skull and turn him into a toon.
I take a deep breath, try to calm down, I draw.
"Ah, the fabled Dark Magician," Pegasus reads the card in my hand instantly.
"His defeat should be particularly painful, seeing as it's your favorite card," I try and tune out his words, he's enjoying this to much and it's making me sick.
"I don't know what to do, I can't attack, now I can't defend, it just seems hopeless,"
"Yes it does," Pegasus says simply, my eyes snap up to meet his.
"Oh sorry, were you talking to yourself? I really have to learn to stop butting into others conversations, after all accepting defeat is a personal matter." He smiles and chuckles.
I allow myself five seconds to think of every horrible, evil thing I'd like to do to him. Five seconds to enjoy a slight rush of power and then I stuff the thoughts away. I promised Yugi I wouldn't do that anymore and I plan to keep that promise.
"Come on Yugi; remember what you're fighting for!" I turn my head to see Tea and Joey cheering me on. For a few seconds I wonder where Tristen and Bakura went but I don't have time to worry about it right now.
"There right, if I give up now I'll lose the souls of my grandpa and the Kaiba brothers, I can't give up hope, I have to keep going."
I play my Dark Magician and conceal him with the Magical Hats.
"Come now Yugi-boy, you can't conceal him from me," Pegasus says with a laugh.
"We have to stop him," Suddenly I hear Yugi's voice in my head.
"I have magic of my own. Other me, listen," Yugi calls to me, I feel my spirit lighten, suddenly I find myself in the hallway between our soul rooms.
"Quickly Yugi, I can feel Pegasus trying to read our mind," I tell him.
"I thought that we had to do this together, like any other duel. That we should merge our spirits and duel as a team," Yugi explains.
"But Pegasus can read our mind when we're merged together. What if we kept our minds separate, and switch minds so that our thoughts are separate from each other?" He says
"It's a good idea Yugi, I think it just might work."
I surrender control for now, and close my mind off from Yugi. I hear nothing; I see nothing, now I only have to wait to feel the mental tug that indicates it's my turn again.
Pegasus attacks one of my magical hats, but he picked the wrong one.
"What, that's impossible!" He shouts.
"Not so impossible Pegasus, you just read the wrong mind," I say.
He glares at me; he must be able to tell that something is different, he looks livid.
"I'll lay one card face down, why don't you try and read my mind, see if you can tell me what it is," I goad, then I wait, the second I feel Pegasus push at my mind I call for the Other Me and we switch.
"I, I can't see it, I don't know what card it is!" Pegasus exclaims.
"That's because I don't know what it is either; you see I am no longer Yugi Moto. 2 minds inhabit this body and we've realized that to keep you from reading our thoughts, we'll keep our minds separate, and switch minds, so you can't read our cards." I explain
"So go ahead and attack again Pegasus, after all you have a one in three chance of choosing the right hat," I say.
Pegasus is silent for a while but eventually I feel the familiar push at my mind, and Yugi and I switch again.
"I must have got him this time," Pegasus says, but after the smoke clears from his most recent attack the Dark Magician is still concealed.
"I think for now I'll lay this card face down," I say, and then allow the Other Me to take control again.
We keep this up for a few turns, even when our magical hats are eventually destroyed, Yugi has a plan, the cards he's laid face down on the field help us.
"You look frustrated Pegasus," I say, allowing myself a small smile.
"I suppose we just thought it only fair to use a bit of magic against you as well," I add.
He's angry, he moves to attack again, I let Yugi take over, he knows what cards he laid facedown.
I use one of my magic cards to destroy Pegasus's Toon world card, the attack of Toon Summoned Skull is then deflected back at all the revealed Toon monsters. It took a difficult strategy but we managed to take a decent chunk out of Pegasus's life points.
"I am very proud of you Yugi, this was your idea after all," I hear the Other Me say.
"Enjoy this small victory Yugi-boy, I don't plan to let you win this duel, and once I am victorious, I'll take possession of your puzzle," Pegasus says.
"I won't let you do that," I say, my hand holding tight to the puzzle.
"You'll find you don't have much of a choice, and I am about to make this battle much more difficult," He says.
I am confused at first but then I realize what he meant. The world goes dark around us; I know this isn't a good sign.
"A shadow game," I feel the worry of the Other Me, he understands firsthand how dangerous this can be.
"The strain of maintaining your mind shuffle tactics here will make winning much more difficult." Pegasus explains.
He's right, I already feel exhausted, I find it difficult to catch my breath and everything seems out of focus.
"Yugi, I can survive here much easier than you,"
"No, we can't give up our strategy; it's the only thing that's working." I tell him.
"We have to keep switching our minds," I add.
I am not willing to give up yet, but it's difficult to concentrate.
"Yugi, if it's to much let me take over, you can't handle this stress,"
He's concerned, honestly so am I. I close my eyes and allow him to take control.
Pegasus has summoned another monster, Relinquished. The Curse of Dragon monster on my side of the field should be able to help me, but that idea is shot down when Relinquished absorbs him. I won't give up though, I attack with my Dark Magician but something I wasn't expecting happens. Relinquished defends, he uses my Curse of Dragon that he absorbed and shields himself; I end up taking damage instead of Pegasus.
The next thing I know my Dark Magician is being absorbed by Relinquished. This isn't working, any monster I play will be used as a shield and then I can't attack.
"Let me switch, I'll play a card, we'll trip Pegasus up again, it was working." Yugi insists.
"You're not strong enough." I tell him.
"Please, you have to trust me."
I do trust him, but I worry about him too. I can survive in this realm so much easier than Yugi. I was kept in the shadows for so long, I know this dark magic flows through me and that makes it easy for me to reside here. Yugi is to pure, but I have to give him a chance, it may be the only thing that saves us.
The second I am back in control again I almost fall over. It's to difficult to breath here. I try and make my turn quick. I play a monster, but Pegasus promptly destroys it. The force of the attack is overbearing, suddenly the whole room seems to be spinning. I draw and lay one card face down, now at least there's one card Pegasus won't know about.
"Yugi, you must switch quickly," I can hear the Other Me talking but his voice is faint. I feel my knees go week, and my vision goes dark.
"Yugi, Yugi!" I wait for him to say something, anything. His soul returned but he feels empty. I kneel beside him, rest his small form in my arms, but there's nothing. I can't feel his spirit, he can't be gone, he can't be.
I feel something new now, a pain in my heart as I stare down at Yugi. I feel empty, alone. I squeeze my eyes shut and focus every bit of energy I have. I must stay calm; Yugi is depending on me, even more so now.
When I open my eyes I see Pegasus, with a smile on his face.
"It seems like you failed to protect Yugi, whoever you are, maybe he'd be better off without you."
My thoughts grind to a halt.
Whoever I am.
I am a person, I am important. I was born from darkness but I am changing. I won't be told who I am, and I won't be held down by the person I once was. I won't cling to the past, to the evil and darkness that consumed me.
Yugi would not be better without me
Not anymore. I made a total mess of things in the beginning, I couldn't control my actions and I hurt people. But Yugi taught me better, he helped me, he continues to help me every day. And in some way, I feel like I've helped Yugi, maybe not much but enough.
Yugi wouldn't be better without me and I wouldn't be better without Yugi
We're better together, as a team, we help each other.
"For what you've done Pegasus, I'll show you no mercy," I will save Yugi; he didn't sacrifice himself for nothing
"As long as I can read your mind, there's nothing you can do,"
Maybe he's right, I want to win, but Yugi's mind shuffle strategy was the only thing giving us a fighting chance. Now that Yugi is gone, Pegasus can read my cards again. Maybe his sacrifice was in vain.
Yugi is still with you
This is a voice I don't recognize. I close my eyes and find an older man standing in front of me.
"Are you?"
Yugi's grandpa, yes. Yugi's heart is still in this. His friends keep his spirit alive, and they haven't given up on him.
I understand what he means. I can feel it now, a force inside my mind, a strength I didn't know was there before. Its Yugi's friends, I know this. Tea, Joey and Tristan, they stand strong for Yugi, and because of this I can't give up.
Pegasus tries to read the next card I draw but he can't, I can feel the force of Yugi's friends blocking his powers.
I use my mystic box card to switch my Dark Magician with Pegasus's Bakudan Blaster. Pegasus passes his turn. I then take control of his Relinquished, he laughs.
"The detonator is set to go off, you'll lose anyway," He says.
I simply smile; I know what I have to do. I play the last card Yugi laid, the Dark Magic Ritual card. I sacrifice Bakudan and my Dark Magician and summon the Magician of Black Chaos.
"You're done Pegasus; Yugis' last act of courage will finish you," I tell him.
"Oh the Chaos Mage will end this match, but sooner than you think," He's still so confident, I wish I knew what he was planning, but Yugi gave us a fighting chance, he risked everything, I just have to trust it will work.
Pegasus fuses Relinquished with another monster to create the Thousand Eyes Restrict. My Chaos Mage is trapped in his monsters gaze.
"It's all over; Yugi's card has failed you both," Pegasus shouts. He tries to absorb my monster, but I have a counter attack planned.
I play my Kuriboh card and use multiply, so Pegasus's Restrict absorbs all the Kuriboh's instead. Because Kuriboh attacks on contact, Pegasus loses three hundred life points and his Restrict is blind. My Chaos Mage is now free to attack and with one last blow, we've won the duel.
I can feel Yugi's spirit now, a lightness in my soul; I close my eyes and allow him to take control.
"Pegasus, you're finished, we've won," Pegasus stands bent over his cards, he mutters and holds his eye, I can't hear what he says but I don't care to. I close my eyes and find myself standing in front of the Other Me.
"I don't know how to thank you," I tell him, and it's true I don't.
"It was your courage that won us this Duel Yugi," He tells me, his eyes calm for the first time in a while.
"And your determination," I say, the corner of his mouth lifts into what I take as a smile and he nods.
"But honestly, we did it together, as friends," I add. His eyes widen and for a split second I see shock on his face.
"Yes, as friends,"
I smile and hold my hand up to him, his brow furrows in confusion.
"High five," I say, as if it's self explanatory. He thinks for a few seconds then nods and holds his hand up, mirroring mine.
We can't physically touch like this, but we high five each other none the less. It feels good to know this whole mess is over.
I am also happy to see that the Other Me is calm now, the past day or so has been difficult on him.
"I'll take over from here, why don't you rest?" I tell him, I am sure his spirit is drained.
"Thank you," He says with a nod and then he's gone, back to his soul room I suppose.
When I open my eyes again the darkness is gone and my friends stand in front of me. They offer me hugs and cheers and I smile so wide my cheeks hurt. I never believed I would get to experience something like this, friendship. I would do anything for them, and I know they feel the same, it's a wonderful feeling.
The bad news comes when we turn back around and find that Pegasus is gone, no one knows if he's released any of the souls he promised to free, we have to find him, and fast.