A/N: If anyone was curious about the sudden change to Diabound's effect in this chapter compared to my previous story, that's because there now exists a simpler and more sensible ruling on the Yu-Gi-Oh! Wikia, which I'm now running with rather than the estimated rulings that were used for the last story. This should make everything a bit simpler.
Once again 7th Librarian plotted this entire duel (with a little well placed bribery from myself), and in the interests of getting chapters out on time, we've decided just to put a big original card list for the whole story in the last chapter, rather than do a million little ones at the end of each duel. If you really can't wait that long, please PM either 7th Librarian or myself.
On a completely unrelated note, I am beyond pissed off to find that AdultFanfiction has recently been blocked by my browser because it contains malware (not sure if this is just Google Chrome, or a wider thing). I'm pissed because one of the best fanfiction writers that I've ever had the pleasure of reading is on AdultFanfiction (she's on MediaMiner too, but she doesn't update there as regularly as she does on AFF). If anyone happens to be in the know about this situation with the website having malware, can you just let me know if this is a wider problem, and if it is looking to be a permanent issue?
And now I've distracted you enough. Read on!
OOO
Chapter 10: Fallout
The rain pelted down on the concrete, each droplet like a bullet against the tarpaulin below. Bakura shook his dripping bangs out of his face and stared down his opponent. She did not flinch, the spark of cruelty lighting her deep brown eyes as she drew her opening hand.
/Hana Nasri...hikari?/
Ryou knew what he was asking – Bakura had not been watching much of round one, and he had completely ignored Hana's match against Seto the day before. After all, it would be a cold day in hell before Kaiba lost to anyone who's name was not Yugi.
/Second place in the African championships. Fairies. Darklord to be precise/
Bakura had never heard of them, and he groaned. This was an added complexity that he did not need, and he yanked his sixth card out of his deck.
"Let's get this over with," he muttered, scanning his hand, and grinning.
"Let's see the Orichalcos best my strategy."
"I'll start by activating the spell card Take Over 5. This simply allows me to send the top five cards of my deck to my graveyard."
He yanked the cards out of the disk and slotted them into the graveyard, watching them slide in one at a time, each one furthering his options. Take Over 5 was right behind them.
"Now I can banish Take Over 5 from my graveyard to special summon my Death Magic Soul to the field."
The first monster appeared in a whirl of black shadow, revealing a floating purple cloak, with wisps of black shadow creeping out of the edges. The cloak was pulled back to reveal a sinister looking smiling face (900/100).
"Now for my next trick," the King of Thieves smirked. "I activate my Flute of Hammelin. Now I can choose a monster that went to my graveyard this turn, and send all copies of it to the graveyard. And I think my Necro Mannequin will do just fine."
Creepy and yet seductive music weaved over the rooftop, and the two monsters slid out of Bakura's deck before disappearing into the depths of his graveyard.
"And now for some bigger guns," Bakura cocked his head at Death Magic Soul. "I'll tribute Death Magic Soul for my Dark Ruler Ha Des!"
Where the floating purple cloak had been standing, there now loomed a green skinned fiend, robed in heavy purple velvet and armour plating (2450/1200). It sneered across the field at the girl, who just arched an unimpressed brow.
"And with two cards facedown, I end my turn," Bakura declared, emptying his hand and folding his arms cockily. "Your turn, Hana."
She rolled his eyes. "Smugness won't get you a victory, Thief King."
Bakura's eyes narrowed. "Keh. Death Eaters filled you in then? If you knew what was good for you, you'd have thrown that stone back in their faces sooner than challenge me."
"A five thousand year old fluke binding you to a piece of jewellery does not make you powerful," Hana declared, pulling her sixth card from her deck and studying it. "And I aim to prove it."
"You are certainly encouraged to try," Bakura shrugged casually.
/Bakura, don't goad her/ Ryou warned. /We need to see if we can coax some answers out of her, and she won't do that if she's mad/
/Well we all know I'm not the coaxing type/ Bakura drawled back. /And if you ask me, she's more likely to blurt something out if she's furious/
Hana had barely enough time to check her new card, before Bakura hit a button and caused one of his set cards to rise. "Now it's your standby phase, I'll activate my Message of Destiny trap card. Now during each of your standby phases, if I have an empty hand-" he waved the appendages to demonstrate. "-I can send one Destiny Board or Spirit Message card from my deck to my graveyard. If all five of them are sent to the graveyard this way, then I win."
Hana hissed. "So it's doing Destiny Board without taking up your spell and trap card zones!"
"Indeed," Bakura smirked. "I'm not stupid. I know if you get the Seal out, Dark Sanctuary is useless to me, and my strategy would be dead. This is far more reliable."
As he spoke, he slipped the fearful trap card into his graveyard. The board swam into existence above his head, the arrow moving slowly over the 'D' and illuminating the sky with a fiery version overhead.
"Hey!" Hana objected. "Destiny Board doesn't start with D! Your board reads 'FINAL'. I've seen it!"
Bakura shrugged. "There are two versions of artwork for the Destiny Board series. Not many people know that when the cards were first designed the board read 'DEATH' instead. But then the moral guardians put their foot in it, and Industrial Illusions were forced to change the text to 'FINAL'. I was lucky enough to get my hands on a 'DEATH' series a couple of months ago." He smirked. "It's too bad the moral guardians also say I can't use 'DEATH' in official tournaments. 'DEATH' is more...me."
"Well then," Hana relaxed a little. "I guess you won't mind me sending you there. I activate Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen!"
The spell card was set in the tray, and the roof was immediately surrounded by beautiful pillars of stone. Wreathes of flowers criss-crossed their way up the columns, and curtains swayed in the breeze. It would have been breathtaking had the rain not still been coming down in sheets.
/Uh oh.../ Ryou thought.
/Yeah/ Bakura's knowledge of fairy monsters was sketchy, but he did know what this card meant. /She's bringing out the big guns early/
"I summon Darklord Asmodeus, in attack mode!"
There was a swirl of light from the hall, and emerging from behind a curtain was the fairy, robed in white, with ornate black armour plates and a feathered headdress. His wings were black to contrast the headdress, and it snarled at Bakura in a way that promised retribution (3000/2500).
"And now for Asmodeus's effect," Hana announced. "I send one fairy from my deck to my graveyard. So off goes Athena."
The white robed warrior-fairy appeared for just an instant before vanishing like a ghost.
"Don't mess around, do you?" Bakura quipped.
"Expecting a slow build up?" Hana asked smugly. "I'm not your average fairy duellists. I don't do slow. Observe. Asmodeus, attack Dark Ruler Ha Des with Redemption Strike!"
The fairy seemed to vanish into the air, leaving only black feathers floating to the ground in its wake. Bakura smirked, and pressed another button on his duel disk. His second facedown card lifted, and Darklord Asmodeus flew straight into the brilliant shield of light, sliding down comically to the ground.
"Sorry Asmodeus, perhaps you'd like to try getting past Spirit Shield before you go after my monsters," Bakura said, slipping a Necro Mannequin into his pocket. "As long as I have fiends or zombies in my graveyard, you can't touch me."
Hana scowled, set one card, and waved him on. Bakura drew and shrugged.
"I'll set this, and call it a turn," he said casually.
/All I have to do is keep my force safe as a defence/ he thought to himself. /And wait another four turns for Destiny Board to fill itself in/
/Be careful Bakura/ Ryou cautioned. /The best laid plans of mice and men.../
/Are you calling me a mouse, hikari?/ Bakura demanded.
/Never mind/ Ryou sighed. /I'm just saying be careful. You know how fast this game can change/
He did know, but Bakura was determined. Even if something detrimental did happen to Destiny Board, he still had back up plans. In the mean time, he would chip her points down, so that if worst did come to worst, he could at least try to zero her quickly.
Eyeing his fresh set card warily, Hana drew and the spirits swarmed around Bakura again. The Ouija board moved its arrow slowly, and the second flaming letter appeared. Bakura slipped 'Spirit Message – E' into the graveyard.
Hana's eyes flicked up at the board before she got on with her move. "I activate Trade-In, discarding one of my level eight monsters in order to draw two cards."
A creepy looking black fairy called Darklord Superbia vanished into her graveyard, and she plucked two more cards from the pile. Bakura couldn't help but think that if the Pharaoh were here right now, he would be ranting about ruthlessly throwing your monsters away for more cards. But he was not the Pharaoh, and Hana was not in her right mind. So he just let her get on with it, sending a quick prayer to the Gods that she didn't draw the Seal.
"I summon Gellenduo to the field, in attack mode!" Hana announced. In the intimidating shadow of Darklord Asmodeus appeared two tiny little marshmallow-like shapes. One was a pale green, while the other was pink. Each of them had halos and circled around each other, squeaking in joy and delight (1700/0).
"I should be putting those on top of my hot chocolate!" Bakura snorted. "They're harmless!"
"You're an idiot," Hana declared. "Were you not watching any of my duels?"
"I...may have fallen asleep..." Bakura admitted. Hana seemed to inflate with rage.
"I'm going to make you regret that! Gellenduo have a special ability – aside from counting as two tributes for a tribute summon, they can't be destroyed in battle! So good luck, but these marshmallows don't melt so easily!"
She chose her next card swiftly. "I activate the continuous spell card, Card Taxation! Now I select one card on the field, and if the owner uses its effect, their opponent can draw one card. And I think your Spirit Shield-"
"I chain!" Bakura interrupted, his facedown flipping up as the spell streaked across the field. "Fiend's Hand Mirror – now I can redirect the target of Card Taxation to another card – and I choose Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen!"
Hana gave a shriek of disbelief as the spell hit the mirror and the walls of the hall began to glow ominously.
"Darklord Asmodeus, attack Dark Ruler Ha Des!"
Once again, the fairy vanished, and once more, Spirit Shield lit up in front of Dark Ruler Ha Des, sparkling as raindrops slid off it. Asmodeus was wise enough not to slam into it this time, but he still glared furiously at the fiend, who just tipped his glass of wine to him in a sporting fashion.
"Care to try again?" Bakura asked, slipping another Necro Mannequin into his pocket.
"Yes I do!" Hana announced. "I activate my trap card, Combo Strike!" Her trap lifted slowly. "Now because the attack of my monster was negated, I can do it again! Asmodeus, destroy him!"
The fairy vanished again. Sighing heavily, Bakura removed the last Necro Mannequin from his graveyard, causing the shield to flare once more.
"You're going to run out eventually!" Hana jeered, setting a card facedown. "I just have to wait! I end my turn!"
Bakura drew and smiled over the field at her. "Don't wait too long. You don't know when your destiny will catch up with you." He looked upwards to the half finished Destiny Board. "But this won't be very interesting if I just sit here and watch the fates play their spelling game. So I'll activate my Pot of Greed."
He slotted the card in, and the laughing jar appeared momentarily before bursting into fragments. Seeing his two cards, Bakura cackled.
"Things just got a lot more interesting!" he proclaimed. "I activate ParaNormal Fusion! Now I can send a fiend or zombie from my banished pile back to my graveyard, and summon their fusion monster! So I'll fuse my three Necro Mannequins to summon my Necro Puppeteer!"
The three twisted mannequins appeared before the thief, their limbs popping apart one by one and reworking themselves into a new shape. With thin spindly legs, and a torso made up of five pairs of arms linked together, Bakura's Puppeteer lurched upright, its head twisting up from its spine and popping loudly into place. Long strings trailed from its fingertips and a purple cloak wrapped itself loosely around the puppeteer's shoulders (2000/2000).
Hana smirked. "Why thank you. So kind for a thief to seal his own demise."
"What are you on about?" Bakura demanded, folding his arms in an unimpressed fashion.
"By special summoning a monster, you've allowed me to chain my quickplay spell – Demise of the Land!"
Bakura recoiled from the sight of the spell. "Hana, think about what you're doing!"
"I am!" the girl snapped, as her deck spat a card out of the side. "I'm doing just as I was asked! Bringing the Death Eaters your soul!"
Her field slot opened and the card vanished to the depths of the duel disk. The winds spun around the duellists, splattering them both with stray raindrops, and the sickly green light burst out of Hana's duel disk. Bakura shielded his eyes as the powerful magic washed over his senses and engulfed him in its grasp. The Seal spread over the rooftop, scoring the six pointed star into the ground. Asmodeus (3000/2500 – 3500/2500) snarled and Gellenduo's (1700/0 – 2200/0) sweet countenance turned to malice as they were branded with the mark on their foreheads.
"Now that..." Hana declared, brushing the shorter bits of her hair away from her own seal. "Is real strength! I'm going to take you down!"
"I hesitate to remind you," Bakura said. "But it's still my turn."
"I know that!" the girl snapped. "So get on with it, dom gat!"
She had been brash and confident before, and now that had turned into wild arrogance. As Bakura wiped rainwater off his face and hastily tried to rethink his strategy, Ryou's voice threw his train of thought off.
/I wish we knew her better...we might have been able to talk her out of it. If she were fighting Ali or Leon, or one of the other duellists that she's friends with.../
/Don't be stupid/ Bakura rolled his eyes. /You saw what happened yesterday. Kaiba's little brother had no problems being cruel to him under the Orichalcos, and Hermione couldn't get through to Ron even before the Seal was out. Whoever's doing the Imperius curse is too strong/
Ryou was silent for a long time, before he spoke once more.
/We can't draw, can we?/
/Unfortunately, no/
/...we have to beat her?/
/Just like we did Rex and Weevil/ he felt Ryou flinch at the memory, but it did the job./And the sooner the better before she has a chance to upset our strategy somehow. We need to attack/
/Set up some defence just in case. We can't afford to be reckless/
"Hurry up!" Hana stamped her foot impatiently. "I don't have all day!"
"I'm giving you some time to contemplate your own foolishness," Bakura snapped back. "But if you insist – I'll use the effect of Necro Puppeteer, tributing it to summon back all three of my Necro Mannequins in defence mode!"
In a grotesque reflection of its earlier performance, the puppeteer's limbs popped off once more and rearranged themselves into the three small contortions of arms and legs (500/500).
/That enough defence for you, hikari?/
/Yes, that is perfectly adequate/
Pulling his smirk back on, Bakura gave the last card in his hand a confident look before placing it onto the disk.
"I tribute one of my Mannequins to summon Diabound Kernel!"
One of the Mannequins popped into nothing, replaced instead with Bakura's Ka. The snake tail hissed at Darklord Asmodeus, who just glared in response (1800/1200).
Hana burst out laughing. "Okay, now let me give you a moment to contemplate your foolishness," she said spitefully. "Your monster is four hundred attack points short of my weakest!" She pointed at Gellenduo, who snarled at him with vicious looking teeth. "It'll rip it to shreds!"
"Should I break out the whipped cream?" the King of Thieves deadpanned. "You know nothing of Diabound's true power! Go my monster! Show Asmodeus your special gift!"
Diabound seemed to blur until it was almost indistinguishable from the rain-splattered ground, before slipping as silent as a serpent itself towards Asmodeus. The fairy peered here and there for the camouflaged fiend, but it found nothing until something seized it tightly in its grip. Asmodeus struggled, but his face was already paling and the power he radiated seem to drain into the floor (3000/2500 – 3500/2500 – 1700/2500).
Hana was beside herself with fury. "What did you do to my monster?!" she shrieked.
"Brought him down to size," Bakura sneered. "Diabound equips itself to a monster and reduces its attack by that of its own. The perfect weapon to fight against something as cripplingly broken as the Seal of Orichalcos!" He turned to his second monster. "Now my Dark Ruler, attack Darklord Asmodeus!"
The fiend tossed his wine glass over his shoulder and shot flames of purest black from his hands. Darklord Asmodeus caught fire and crumpled to the ground where he dissolved into a fine black ash. Rainwater soaked in and turned the ash to sludge. Gellenduo hissed angrily across the field before exploding into puddles of green and pink jelly.
Life Points
Bakura: 8000
Hana: 7250
Hana stamped her foot. "Ag nee! Now because I took damage, my Gellenduo are gone!"
"Yes, and even better," Bakura looked entirely too smug. "My Dark Ruler Ha Des's effect means that Asmodeus's effects are negated, so you can't summon the tokens in his place."
Hana snarled in a feral manner, as Diabound reappeared in the flesh on Bakura's side, arms crossed in defence mode. She yanked another card out of her deck, and another ghostly letter appeared above Bakura.
"Tick tock..." the thief king said, as the letters 'D' 'E' and 'A' hovered overhead like an ominous cloud.
"Oh shut up!" Hana studied her hand and ground her teeth together in obvious frustration. "A time limit doesn't worry me! I told you I don't hang around in duels."
"No, indeed, as you so readily hang around to let yourself be brainwashed," Bakura sniped.
"I'm not brainwashed," Hana retorted confidently, fingering the Orichalcos stone around her neck. "Just helping a better cause...to rid the world of everyone wrong in it!"
"Really?" Bakura's voice became cold. "And what's that you're wearing under the stone?"
Confused, Hana's fingers fumbled at her throat, eventually coming into contact with the small smooth cross. "How-"
"I'm a thief," Bakura sneered. "You think I wouldn't notice something gold hanging in plain sight? Now I'm not very up to date with these modern religions, but I'm pretty you wouldn't wear that if it wasn't important to you. And I'll bet anything that your faith would never condone the genocide of people just because they have no magic, or weren't born to magical parents. I fight good guys all the time, Hana, and you feel like a good person. You're just being manipulated by a cheap puppetmaster who likes to feed off anger."
Through the rain pelting against their faces, Bakura saw Hana stroking the gold, a contemplative look on her face. His heart raced hopefully, and he stood up straighter against the wind...
...Hana's blank look vanished, and her challenging smirk came back, along with the red spark of malice in her gaze.
"Nice try, Thief King," she said, slapping a monster onto her duel disk. "I use Valhalla Hall of the Fallen to special summon Airknight Parshath!"
An angelic man with white feathers, golden armour and the lower body of a palomino horse appeared, brandishing a dangerous looking spear at Bakura as the seal branded itself onto its forehead beneath the halo (1900/1400 – 2400/1400).
"And thank you very much," Bakura grinned. "Now thanks to Card Taxation, I can draw."
Inside though, Bakura felt disappointment fall like a heavy tapestry on his shoulders. /I'm sorry Ryou/
He felt his hikari sigh with regret.
/It was worth a try. I guess even faith isn't enough to break the Orichalcos. Now we've got no choice...we have to beat her/
/So it seems.../
"Well aren't you special?" Hana replied sarcastically. "Parshath, attack the Necro Mannequin on the left with heavenly strike!"
The knight reared back and charged at the doll. Bakura calmly slid his third Necro Mannequin out of the graveyard and into his pocket, and Spirit Shield burst into life again, sending the fairy monster reeling backwards, stamping and shaking his head to clear it.
"ARGH!" Hana raged, and almost threw her cards on the floor. Through damp bangs and the glowing seal, she glared at Bakura.
"I'm sorry, is this frustrating you?" Bakura asked innocently.
Teeth bared, Hana slapped her last card into her spell and trap zone. "Go!"
"As you wish," Bakura shrugged, drawing and adding to his hand of one. "Let's have some fun, shall we? I'll tribute one of my Mannequins for my Earl of Demise!"
The doll vanished, replaced with a bald blue skinned man with one bulging eye, robed in shabby finery, and wielding a wickedly thin rapier (2000/700).
"But before he gets to have his fun," Bakura said, raking his sopping hair out of his eyes. "Diabound, curse her Airknight Parshath!"
The fiend melted into the ground once more, oozing its way into Airknight Parshath, who thrashed and flailed as though trying to shake a wasp out of his armour (1900/1400 – 2400/1400 – 600/1400).
"Like I'd let you do that for free again!" Hana snapped, pressing a button on her duel disk. "I chain Card of Last Will to your Diabound's effect – now since my monster lost attack points, I can draw five cards."
She replenished her hand, while Bakura just gave a fiendish grin.
"Whatever makes you happy," he gave a condescending bow. "Earl of Demise, attack Airknight Parshath with Sword of Peril!"
Rather than lurch across the field as expected, the Earl zipped across, rapier flashing through the air, neatly bisecting Airknight Parshath through the middle. The tip of the fairy's blade clattered to the floor before it dissolved into the rain.
Life Points
Bakura: 8000
Hana: 5850
"Don't you dare!" Hana warned furiously, as Diabound reappeared on Bakura's side of the field.
"Oh where's the fun in that?" Bakura asked. "Diabound, Dark Ruler Ha Des, attack her directly!"
Hana had only a second to brace herself before black flames burst into life around her, and a shockwave of pure white energy sent her crashing backwards into the wall of the Seal. She fell to her knees coughing, her hands leaving little rivers of blood in the puddles.
Life Points
Bakura: 8000
Hana: 1600
"Bliksem!" the ancient magic flared, and Hana's breath returned in a roar. "Jy sal nie so maklik wen nie!"
Bakura spoke no Afrikaans, but knew enough about human behaviour to know that he was being sworn at. Quietly, he set one card and ended his turn. Still snarling, Hana drew, and the Ouija board creaked as letter 'T' appeared above Bakura's head.
/I can taste our victory.../ in spite of the horrific circumstances, Bakura felt that familiar rush of adrenalin that accompanied an imminent win, and he licked rainwater off his lips.
/It's not over yet Bakura/ Ryou cautioned. /We still have to survive this turn/
/I know. I know/
His thoughts must have shown all too well on his face, as Hana snarled at him.
"You think you've beat me?" she demanded. "Think again! I use Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen to summon Darklord Zerato!"
As Bakura drew for Card Taxation, Hana's monster descended in a whirl of dark flames. The thief blinked – Zerato looked more like a fiend than a fairy, with bulging blue muscled skin, and wicked red spiked armour that matched his demonic wings. He carried a dangerous looking serrated blade, and stood tall over the field as the Seal branded itself into his forehead, turning his eyes the same shade as his wings (2800/2300 – 3300/2300).
"Not bad..." Bakura nodded. "Not bad at all."
"I'm not finished yet!" Hana declared. "I activate Trade-In! Now I can discard a level eight monster to draw two cards."
She shoved a card ruthlessly into her graveyard and drew twice more. "Perfect! You're finished now Bakura!"
"I doubt that," Bakura deadpanned, but Ryou suddenly went rigid with terror in his mind.
/Oh no...Zerato's effect!/
/What?/ Bakura wondered now if he maybe should have paid attention during the first round.
"You should know better than to doubt your opponent!" Hana hissed. "Because I use Darklord Zerato's effect, discarding a dark monster from my hand –" she did so. "To destroy all of your monsters!"
Now it was Bakura's turn to go rigid in terror. "What?!"
It was too late – dark energy flooded into Zerato's blade, turning it into a wicked looking tongue of flame. With a single slash, he cut clean through the bodies of all three of Bakura's monsters, bisecting them cleanly. They had barely enough time to scream before they dissolved from the field.
Hissing, Bakura lowered his arm from his eyes, finding his field bare save for Spirit Shield. "It's not over!"
"Oh it is!" Hana said. "Because you see, I have this!" she waved her next card at him – it was Monster Reborn. "And with it, I can bring back my Darklord Superbia!"
The peculiar looking fairy from earlier appeared on the field, its body shaped like a black decorative pot with arms and a black round tail coming out beneath it. Its wings were magnificent brown feathers that extended to twice the height of its body, and it flexed its clawed fingers at Bakura (2900/2400 – 3400/2400).
Bakura examined both monsters, and his life point count. If he didn't have Spirit Shield, he'd be worried about the amount of damage that those two would inevitably deal. As it was, he could have just survived it...
"Don't look so relieved!" Hana called across the field. "I'm not done yet! Superbia's like a guardian angel, and his special effect means that when I revive him from the graveyard, I can also bring another fairy back! So with it, I summon Athena to the field!"
The serene looking warrior fairy dressed in white appeared with a radiant glow that was instantly tainted dark in the wake of the Seal of Orichalcos (2600/600 – 3100/600).
"And now Athena's effect activates!" Hana cried triumphantly. "I send a fairy – like Superbia – to the graveyard, and I can special summon another one in its place...so I'll bring Superbia back again, and because he was summoned back from the graveyard, another fairy comes with him! Airknight Parshath, welcome back!"
The half angel, half horse appeared once more, pointing his sword at Bakura and scowling furiously, as though it remembered how the thief had beat him earlier (1900/1400 – 2400/1400).
/Bakura, I don't need to tell you that that attack is really going to hurt if you let it go through!/ Ryou said anxiously.
/Don't fret, hikari/ Bakura assured him. /We still have Spirit Shield, and more, should things go badly. Trust me. As Wheeler would say, we have this duel in the bag/
As he thought this, Bakura's limbs suddenly glowed white and pain raced up his spine, leaving him panting.
"Oh sorry," Hana's voice was not the least bit apologetic. "I should have mentioned that Athena delivers six hundred points of damage every time a fairy is summoned."
Life Points
Bakura: 7400
Hana: 1600
"Duly noted," Bakura said dryly. Hana's smirk was cruel.
"Oh I know what you're thinking," she said. "You're thinking you can hide behind your shield like a little baby and weather this storm out? Well I'm sick of that thing, so off it goes! Heavy Storm!"
Bakura's objection to being called a baby died swiftly on his lips as the winds picked up again. Rainwater splattered his face and arms, and the last of his cards vanished off the field, including Spirit Shield and Message of Destiny. Now it was Bakura's turn to swear in his own language as his entire strategy disintegrated before his eyes.
"Say your prayers, Bakura!" Hana shouted. "Darklord Zerato, you first! Wrath of the Fallen Angel!"
Zerato's blade glowed a soft gold, completely at odds with his almost demonic appearance, and he shot across the field with a single flap of his powerful wings. The weapon slashed at Bakura's waist, sending shocks of holy energy bursting through his senses. He fell to one knee, raising his head enough to smirk again.
Life Points
Bakura: 4100
Hana: 1600
"Why thank you Hana – since I just took damage, I can activate the effect of Gorz, the Emissary of Darkness in my hand. Now I can summon him in defence mode, and because I took battle damage from your attack just now, I can summon an Emissary of the Darkness token, which has the same amount of points equal to the battle damage I just took."
Gorz (2700/2500) was a tall skinny man in black armour, with deadly looking blades coming out of the wrist guards. His hair was red, and spiked like a porcupine. The Emissary Token appeared next to him as a woman in grey armour of a similar design, with a red dress beneath, and a long white blade (3300/3300).
"They're just more pins for me to bowl down!" Hana sneered. "Athena, your turn! Take out Gorz with Heavenly Strike!"
It was hard to conceive of such a gentle looking fairy doing any harm, but as she turned her furious eyes on Gorz, Bakura knew that she would spare nobody. Throwing her shield back to give herself more leverage, she took off into the air, coming down heavily and firmly onto Gorz and cutting him cleanly in two. Even as she darted back to her side of the field she still looked graceful.
Bakura spat on the already damp ground. "You haven't won yet, Hana!"
"It won't be long now Bakura!" Hana assured him. "Now it's my second main phase, I play Dark Core, discarding a card to remove your token from play!"
Growling low in his throat, Bakura dismissed the token with a wave of his hand, leaving his field bare once more. Hana waved him on mockingly.
"Go on Bakura. Try and claw your way out of this trap. Then I can send my fairy's after you and knock you straight back into the grasp of the Orichalcos!"
OOO
"Gilford, attack Rich Boy directly!"
It was clear that Kaiba tried not to buckle from the attack, but as the warrior slashed at him across the chest, he stumbled and only caught his footing at the last second. Across the field, Joey could see his face, twisted with fury at the loss of his favourite monster.
Life Points:
Joey: 1700
Kaiba: 1100
"You'll pay for that Wheeler!" the CEO hissed. With the rain banging on the marquee like a chorus of drums, Joey had to strain to hear his insults, and rather than respond in kind, he just let himself crow victoriously, knowing that would infuriate his opponent even more.
"It's alright Kaiba, I think I've embarrassed you enough this turn. Your move." Not that he could do anything else – his last card in his hand was Dark Dragon Ritual. He'd used all his other resources getting Gilford out on the field.
Snarling like his Blue Eyes, Kaiba drew. Immediately his face turned malicious.
"This duel was boring for me the moment it began – so its time I put you in your place Underdog, and move on to the real fight!"
"Say what?" Joey demanded.
"You heard me!" Kaiba snapped. "I wouldn't normally waste my most powerful monster on a second rate hack like you, but you're standing in my way! I play Monster Reborn! Return to me, Blue Eyes White Dragon!"
With a joyful roar, the dragon was back, prompting cheers of joy from Kaiba's fans. Instantly she was enveloped by a while light, and the swirling vortex of Polymerization appeared.
"Aww you're kidding me!" Joey cried.
"I don't need to do jokes Wheeler," Kaiba snarked, as Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon appeared, her tail wrapping around behind her master, and all three of her heads snarling at Joey. "You're the biggest joke on this field!"
Joey glared at the insult, but inside, he gave a resigned sigh. He had done his best this time. There was nothing to regret. He would get better before the next championships, and the next time, he would beat Kaiba. He had no doubts about that.
"Now take this as a hint, Wheeler," Kaiba finished his posturing with a sweep of his arm. "I don't suffer losers gladly! Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon, wipe out Gilford with Neutron Blast Attack!"
Joey was determined to hold his ground, head bowed in acceptance. Unfortunately, not even he could stand the force of Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon, and he found himself flung backwards onto his backside. Pain shot up his arms where he had braced himself, but he did not let it show, determined to have his last second in the tournament with some dignity.
Life Points:
Joey: 0
Kaiba: 1100
"AND THE WINNER IS, SETO KAIBA!"
The announcer was barely heard over the screaming and stamping crowd. Joey got to his feet and brushed himself off. Kaiba was already sweeping impatiently off the field, his mind already off this match, and focused on the only one that really mattered to him – his match with Yugi.
"Yugi," Joey thought, and resisted the urge to run for the tunnel. He had to stay calm, despite the oppressive pulse of the Orichalcos that filled the stadium. He knew from the way that the magic was behaving that someone had found it. He only hoped that they were winning.
As soon as he had been swallowed up by the dark tunnel, Joey ran, knowing that this was going to be a million times tougher than Kaiba had been.
OOO
"Well now," Hermione was smirking in a way that Harry had never seen before – like a cat who had got the cream. "I believe that's five galleons you owe me Ron."
Harry rolled his eyes, and tried to twist the stiffness out of his neck. He hadn't torn his eyes away from the match for a single second, for it had been painfully close until the very end. There had been plenty of nail biting moments, most centring on Joey's apparently strong streak of luck, but in the end, Kaiba had edged him out. Harry had to admit, while Joey vs Yugi would have been good, it was no doubt a match between Kaiba and Yugi that everyone was really here to see.
Turning his head to the left, and wincing as his muscles protested, he froze again as his eyes found Ron, not hunched over in anticipation as he had thought, but doubled over with an alarming shade of green colouring his face.
"Ron, are you okay?" Harry asked, reaching to squeeze his friend's shoulder. Ron's whole body snapped to attention, his eyes wide.
"I think something bad has happened," he said. "Something really really bad is happening right now."
Harry felt a shiver that had nothing to do with the rain outside. "Okay...what kind of something?"
"I don't know," Ron shook his head. "But I think we should go find the others and make sure they're okay." He was on his feet instantly. Harry had no idea what was going through his friend's head, but he had never seen Ron freaked out in this way before, and he knew it wasn't just a dodgy breakfast making him green. Whatever this 'feeling' of his was, it was serious.
"As if we needed more things going wrong..." Hermione said, but she got up and bagged her match schedule regardless. "Come on. We've got forty five minutes before the finals. Let's hope whatever this is, more people aren't already involved."
OOO
/Time to go for broke, hikari/ Bakura thought.
/Okay Bakura. I trust you/
In spite of the dangerous situation, Bakura smiled as he drew.
"I play Turnabout Treasure. As it's the only card in my possession at the moment, I can draw cards equal to the number that you control. And I count four." He added, pretending to count each of her monsters. She rolled her eyes as he drew again.
/Success!/ Bakura cheered. /I'm a genius!/
"Don't count me among Voldemort's soul collection yet, Hana," he said. "I banish my Necro Puppeteer and two of my Mannequins to summon Dark Necrofear!"
Black flames licked at Bakura's side of the field and the blue skinned fiend appeared, cradling her doll in her arms. She gazed blankly at the fairies that opposed her, before crouching in defence mode (2200/2800).
"Now I activate Graceful Charity," Bakura continued, swiping three more cards from his deck.
/Just what we need!/ Ryou said excitedly.
/Told you I was good/ Bakura said, discarding Spirit Message – H and The Gross Ghost of Fled Dreams to his graveyard.
"I play my Envoy of Death spell card! I banish all my Spirit Messages along with Destiny Board from my graveyard, to summon a monster so terrible even fate trembles before it!"
The five words spelling death appeared above Bakura's head, swirling into a black vortex and vanishing into the abyss. From within something growled, and a pair of bony claws pulled their way over the edge of the portal. Mottled skin and ragged hair followed, yellowish fangs bared, with a pair of demonic red eyes that glared across the field, before it curled up to sleep in defence mode(0/0).
"Meet Death Reaper Dragon – Necrosythe!" Bakura announced. His dragon ruined the attempt at drama by snoring loudly.
"Doesn't look that great," Hana said, folding her arms and eyeing it warily in spite of her words. "What does it do? It must do something to justify you getting so excited."
"You'll find out soon enough," Bakura said. "But for now, I'll set a card facedown and call it a turn."
Not taking her eyes off the slumbering dragon for a second, Hana drew. She immediately dropped the card into the discard slot.
"I use Zerato's effect again – I don't know what that dragon does, but it won't be doing it for long! Destroy his monsters Zerato!"
The fairy obliged, and Bakura bit back a curse. He had been banking on her not drawing a monster, and he sent a silent apology to Dark Necrofear as she was chopped swiftly through the middle by the fiery blade. To Zerato and Hana's astonishment however, the blade stuck in the scaly hide of Necrosythe, who merely opened one red eye to look at the fairy condescendingly before going back to sleep.
Hana snarled. "Let me guess? Can't be destroyed by card effect?"
"Specifically cards that don't target," Bakura corrected. "I'm afraid you've failed this time."
Hana threw back her head and laughed. "Whatever, dom gat!It's still got zero defence points, so its effectively useless at protecting your life points! I use Athena's effect, sending Superbia to the graveyard, and bringing it back once more!"
The creepy looking fairy vanished before reappearing again almost instantly.
"And coming with him this time – its Gellenduo!" Hana announced, as the two tiny fairies reappeared, circling around each other and snapping viciously at Bakura (1700/0 – 2200/0).
"Oh joy..." Bakura deadpanned, cursing as Athena's effect kicked in and dealt him more damage.
Life Points
Bakura: 3500
Hana: 1600
"Your dragon might be able to sleep through card effects, but I doubt it can sleep through this!" Hana shouted. "Darklord Zerato, attack Necrosythe!"
The muscled fallen angel darted across the field, sword raised before leaping high into the air. The blade came down hard on Necrosythe's neck, and hit the hide with a resounding clang. The sword spun away across the field, and the dragon opened a lazy eye, and snorted gently at the angel. Zerato went tumbling comically onto his backside.
Hana was enraged. "Oh you have got to be kidding?!"
Bakura was cackling. "I'm afraid not! You have just signed your own death! Did you really think something with zero attack and defence points that took so much energy to summon would be destroyed so easily? Necrosythe cannot be destroyed in battle or by card effect! And when it's attacked it does something very special!"
Underneath Zerato's feet, the same black vortex appeared, sucking the scrabbling fairy in.
"What did you just do?!" Hana roared.
"Necrosythe destroys the attacking monster, and allows me to do something else!" Bakura said. "Now every time it is attacked, I can move one Destiny Board or Spirit Message from my banished pile to my graveyard. If they're all moved back to the graveyard this way, I get an instant win!"
Hana snorted. "Oh please! Like I'm going to attack you now, knowing that! You should have kept your mouth shut!"
Bakura had a truly wicked smirk on his face. "Oh I don't think that's going to be a problem," he said, pressing another button on his duel disk. "For I activate Parallel Worlds, banishing Dark Arena from my deck to give Parallel Worlds the same effect! And that effect is-"
Hana's eyes widened in fear. "Oh no!"
"Oh yes!" Bakura cheered. "Every monster on your field is forced to attack me!"
Gellenduo was first, leaping up to Necrosythe with both sets of teeth open and snarling. Once more, they bounced off the dragon and landed with a plop on the ground, before sinking into the black vortex. Ariknight Parshath followed suit, landing sprawling some feet away and vanishing into the depths. Bakura winced as damage radiated through his body, until he remembered that Parshath had just dealt him piercing damage through defence. Hana yanked a card out of her deck, just staring at it blankly, while Bakura moved Spirit Message E and A to his graveyard, where they joined D above his head.
Life Points
Bakura: 1100
Hana: 1600
"Three down!" Bakura was all but trembling with excitement as Athena launched into the charge, her own sword clanging off the dragon's hide and clattering to the floor as she tumbled down the vortex into darkness. The letter T appeared hovering over Bakura's head.
"This is the end!" Bakura roared, as Superbia began to swirl with shadows.
And suddenly Hana looked up from her hand and smirked.
"Overconfidence is so unbecoming of a thief...you just sealed your own fate!"
She shoved the one remaining card in her hand – the one she had just drawn from Parshath's effect – and shrieked with triumphant laughter.
Bakura's whole body went slack. The card was Enemy Controller. It took the full meaning a few seconds to sink in, but when it did his entire body seemed to burst into life.
"NO!"
He was too late, as the lumbering Necrosythe rolled itself onto its feet and into attack mode, just as Superbia sent a slash of dark energy scything its way down its body. The great dragon roared in pain as its tough hide finally split open into two, and with a final snarling cry, it burst into nothingness.
Life Points
Bakura: 0
Hana: 1600
OOO
Deep in the tunnels of the stadium, Joey stumbled to a halt, his face green.
"Joey," Yugi was in a similar state. He could feel his stomach rolling like an out of control Ferris wheel. He did not need to ask if his friend had felt that. They both knew what it meant. The battle was over. And Bakura – their only friend who had been unaccounted for after Joey's match – had been in the middle of it.
"He'll be fine," Joey said, his voice dry and shaky. "He'll be fine..."
But Yugi had a horrible gripping sensation in his chest, and he just knew that it wasn't fine at all.
OOO
The Seal was closing in slowly, its victim decided, its next feast at hand.
Bakura barely noticed it.
He had failed.
Failed to hinder Voldemort's plans...
Failed to beat the Seal...
Failed to save Akila, Amane and all those other souls...
Failed to save himself.
The Seal was shrinking but he was only dimly aware of it. He saw Hana's smirking face growing further and further away, before vanishing beyond the veil of green magic.
Instinct told him to move, to save himself before it was too late. But he knew that there was nothing. No way of escaping, and nothing that could be done to save him now. He had lost, and the Orichalcos was no more merciful than the Shadows. He had played Russian Roulette with his soul one too many times, and it had finally caught up with him.
/Bakura!/
His light sounded anguished and he snapped partially out of his numb trance.
/Ryou...I'm so sorry./
He felt his hikari's spiritual presence behind him, but he did not turn around to look.
/I'm sorry too/
Disbelief flooded his system, and he opened his eyes and faced the incoming Seal bitterly. Why was Ryou blaming himself for this? He had been the duellist. He had been in the drivers seat. And now he was the one who had crashed. /For what?/
A soft hand rested gently on his shoulder, silently begging for forgiveness.
/For this/
The hand squeezed and pulled, whirling Bakura around on his heel and driving his cheek straight into the oncoming fist. Pain exploded through the thief's head, and he slumped to the ground in a daze as the magic finally encircled him in its sinister grip.
OOO
Mai did not feel the burning in her legs any longer, or the sting of air being pulled and pushed quickly out of her lungs. She had tuned out the sounds of Rebecca's whining and Duke suggesting that they check down each corridor. She pushed herself up the next flight of steps, feeling only the chill on her skin, and the sickness that pounded away in her mouth and ears. The Orichalcos was nearby. And it was feasting. They were already too late. Somebody had lost their soul. The only question was who.
"Hold on Mai! We need a breather!" Hermione yelled. The witch was doubled over the railings on the staircase, and Mai wondered for a moment if they bothered to teach physical education at Hogwarts.
"It's this way!" she called. "I can feel it! One more flight of steps!"
"How can you feel it?" Hermione panted, as they took the next flight.
"Probably because she used it," Rebecca was faring very badly, having to keep up with everyone on her shorter legs. "I can sorta feel it too. I wore one of the stones for a while around my neck, so maybe that's why we're extra sensitive to it."
As she turned up the next flight, Mai caught sight of the horrified look on Hermione's face, and she felt instantly guilty. Clearly nobody had ever told the witch that she had used the Seal herself. Mai could not help but feel a little irritated at Rebecca for bringing it up. But now was not the time for an argument. They were almost there.
"Not Bakura," she swore to herself as she flung her weight against the roof door. "Please for everyone's sake, don't let it be Bakura..." she did not know Ryou or Bakura particularly well, but she could only imagine just how upset Joey and Yugi and everyone else would be if he had lost. And then she realised she did not have to imagine. They were her friends too.
The rain thundered down from the heavens, as the Seal gave one last greedy glow before fading away into the storm. At the bottom of it, lay the white haired male.
Mai's heart sank.
"Oh no..."
"Ryou!" it was Hermione who had screamed, but Mai's eyes were already drifting over the other side of the roof, where she knew she would find the one who had done this. Sure enough, Hana's head had snapped up at the unexpected interruption. She seemed to be unarmed, and Mai recognised the look of pure cruelness masking a blank slate – she was brainwashed in the same way the others had been. She had paused in the middle of shuffling her deck, the satisfied face of victory worn with pride.
Mai saw red, and ran for her, at the same time Hermione yelled.
"Stupefy!"
The jet of red light streaked past Mai and collided hard with Hana. She flew backwards into the railings, and for a horrible moment, Mai thought she might fall over. But then she slumped like a marionette with the strings cut down onto the ground. Skidding to a halt, Mai wrapped her fingers around the chain that held the Orichalcum. With a sharp jerk, she snapped it free of her neck, and with a fury over a year in the making, she stamped hard, crushing the stone into fine powder beneath her heel.
She heard everyone breathe a sigh of relief, and suddenly the rooftop did not seem quite as oppressive.
"Is he...?" Rebecca sounded shaken as Duke rolled their friend over. He looked peaceful to Mai, and she wondered if that was what she looked like after she had lost her soul.
"I don't know Becks. But I think he did – why else would she still have been standing?"
"But...are they both gone?" Rebecca asked. "Or is one of them still there? You know? Like with Yugi and the Pharaoh?"
Mai drew a sharp breath as she realised that Rebecca was right – even if Bakura had lost the duel, the Seal of Orichalcos only had room for one soul at a time. One of them was still in there. She hurried to Duke's side and began checking the unconscious body over. Thoughts of first aid training helped stabilise her thoughts.
"What about Hana? What did you do to her Hermione?" Rebecca, now turned to face the door just in case someone tried to ambush them, took her eyes off it for a moment to glance at their new friend. Hermione looked sheepish.
"Stunning spell. I'm not really supposed to do it to muggles, but desperate times..." distractedly she pulled Hana's eyelids back. "Yeah, she's out cold. I think I'd better wipe her memory..."
"Are you sure?" Duke looked up. "She might know something."
"Ron and Mokuba didn't," Hermione reminded him. "And neither did any of the others. The Death Eaters have gone out of their way to make sure whoever did this can't be traced. No. I think I'd better do it now. Ron and Mokuba may not have remembered anything, but I don't want to take the risk especially with someone who doesn't know anything about magic. She'll be horrified with herself if she remembers any of it."
None of them disputed that – Mai felt her own shame creep up from the corners of her mind, and she hastily squashed it back.
"Can you carry him?" she asked Duke. "I'd like to get him back to the box as soon as possible. If we're found up here I don't know how we'd explain this."
Carefully, Duke lifted their unconscious friend over his shoulder. Hermione was muttering and prodding Hana with her wand, doing things that Mai could only hazard a guess at. Finally she seemed to be done, and she helped Mai lift her gently off the floor. As they meandered carefully through the door, Rebecca hung up her phone.
"The others will meet us back at the box," she reported.
"Hang on guys," Hermione muttered. "We'll get you safe, and then we'll find out who did this and put it right."
But as they walked in their odd formation, with Hana's weight pressing down on her shoulders, Mai had a horrible feeling that it was not going to be that easy at all.
OOO
Yugi was numb as they draped Ryou's body on the sofa, and began arranging him into the most comfortable position. He looked tiny and fragile as Duke unclipped his duel disk and placed it on the floor beside him. Everyone in the box just stared at him. Joey was swearing up and down about finding whoever had done this and pounding them into next week, a sentiment which most of the box seemed to share. Serenity was saying something about trying to locate Ryou's dad to tell him that he had been hurt, but Yugi was not listening to anything. Seeing the Millennium Ring glint from around his friend's neck, he buried his face in his hands, unable to look anymore.
/Was that what it was like last time?/ he whispered across the mind link. Yami had not said a thing, but Yugi could feel the horror emanating from his dark. They were both in shock. There was always someone at stake – someone close to them. Joey. Tea. Tristan. Mai. But never had either of them thought that this time it would be Ryou and Bakura. They were untouchable in a way that made their loss only more terrifying. They were Millennium Item bearers. They were the game masters of the Shadow Realm...so how could they possibly have lost?
/A thousand times more painful for me/ Yami replied in a sombre tone. /But yes/
As he gripped his hair, Yugi heard new footsteps arrive. Harry and Ron, who had been scouring the outside of the stadium, were the last ones to return, with Mai right behind them. Exhausted from all the running around, Mai flopped into a chair, and Ron immediately began echoing Joey's curses from not a moment ago.
"Where's Hermione?" he asked, seeing that she was missing and immediately launching into a panic.
"Talking to Hana," Duke assured him. "She and Rebecca are just filling in her memory. Making sure the spells work and stuff. Ali's with them – she freaked out when she saw Hana was unconscious, but I think they told her she fainted or something..."
Yugi wanted to be worried about Hana, and relieved that she was okay after being brainwashed, but his mind was too full of Ryou laying there on the sofa.
"What happened?" Harry asked, looking around the room, clearly wondering who he should be asking.
Yugi shut his mind down as Mai and Duke launched into an explanation of how they had found him. He did not want to listen again. His mind's eye was being filled with images of his friend screaming and a sickening green light pulsing greedily as it stripped away each of his friends one by one.
Sensing his partner's mental anguish, Yami gave him a mental nudge.
/Aibou. We can't fall into despair/
/I know/ Yugi replied, but his response was automatic, as he entertained just how easy it would be to do it. To just break down and let his grief smother him. How did they always manage to keep going after stuff like this? If he had ever known, it seemed to escape him now.
"Malik's gonna hit the roof when he hears about this," Harry was saying, not tearing his eyes off Ryou. "When does he land?"
"Two hours. He won't be home before four o clock the earliest," Yugi reported in a dead voice. He sensed everyone looking at him, and felt a soft hand on his shoulder. Tea, he realised. He'd know her touch anywhere. It stabilised him, and seemed to draw him out of the dark part of his mind that just wanted to give in. He placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed back.
"But wait," Ron was looking between Ryou's inert form, and Yugi, and Yugi could just guess what he was going to say. "If they lost and the Orichalcos took a soul – like with you and the Pharaoh – does that mean one of them is still in there?"
Hermione, who had returned not thirty seconds ago, gave a hollow choking sound. "'Still in there'? Honestly Ron, Ryou's body isn't a gift box!"
"You know what I mean!" Ron admonished, his ears going pink.
"Yeah, one of them is still in there," Joey said, putting poor Ron out of his misery.
"Okay...so when will he wake up?"
Joey shrugged. "Don't know. I mean..." he glanced nervously at Yugi, who just nodded softly. There was no sense in pretending that they had not been in this situation before. "The Pharaoh woke up in about five minutes. But it's been fifteen already, and Ryou doesn't look like he's stirring at all. Who knows when he'll be up."
A hush fell over the box, most people choosing to look at their feet. Mai got up abruptly and left the box. Looking worried, Joey followed after her. Yugi felt a squeeze at his waist, and saw Tea leaning her head on his shoulder. His jacket was dampening slowly.
/Did she cry last time?/ he asked, feeling a surge of wretchedness course through him. Yami gave a mental shake of his head.
/No. She was strong and she never stopped believing that we would get you back./
Yugi glanced out of the corner of his eye, finding nothing but soft brown hair pressed against his neck. He slipped his hand into hers and squeezed.
"She must have doubted sometimes though," he said it to himself, but he knew Yami would hear regardless. "Why else would she have cried in relief when I came back?"
There was a soft cough, which caused everyone to jump. Pegasus's henchman Croquet stood in the doorway, with his hands folded neatly behind his back.
"Mr Mutou, your presence is required downstairs in preparation for the finals."
Yugi felt everyone's gaze fall on him, and his own eyes fell on Ryou's prone body once more. He felt the head lift from his shoulder and he knew Tea was worrying about him from the way she gripped his hand tightly.
"Can you give him five minutes?" Tristan's tone was more than a tad irritated. "One of our friends has just been hurt!" he pointed at Ryou for emphasis.
"No."
Yugi was as surprised as everyone at how strong his voice came out. He felt Yami stirring in the back of his head, mentally pulling himself together in preparation.
"Yugi," Tea's voice was full of worry, but he squeezed her hand. He knew what he was doing.
"Tell Pegasus I'll be there in a minute," he said, getting to his feet and picking up his duel disk from underneath his seat. Croquet nodded and marched off down the corridor.
"Yugi are you sure about this?" Harry asked.
"Yeah man, I'm sure they'd get it if you wanted to postpone," Tristan added gently, but Yugi shook his head.
"Thanks guys, but I don't want to postpone. I've made up my mind." He clipped the disk to his arm, and gripped the Puzzle in one hand. "I'm going to go out there – we are going to go out there. And we're going to win. We're going to win this for everyone. And then after we win, we're going to hunt down Voldemort, and we're going to get our friends back."
He turned to face the stadium out of the thick tinted windows. The stands were still only half full, with half an hour of lunch still left. "The Death Eaters are out there, and they're watching us. We're going to show them that we're not beaten. We've only just started to fight."
Facing Tea and Tristan he gave them what little smile he could manage. He trusted them above everyone else, and he knew they would understand. "Look after him when he wakes up. It's going to be hard."
Tristan nodded, and sat down on the arm of the sofa next to Ryou's feet. The worry slowly eased out of Tea's face and she smiled.
"We've got it Yugi."
"Yeah, just knock Kaiba down a peg or two so we can put everything right," Tristan agreed.
Feeling a little better, Yugi saw Ron and Hermione exchange incredulous looks. Harry was watching him with an unreadable expression. Yugi's confidence shook a little.
"It's not that I don't care about him-" he began, but Harry held up a hand.
"We know," he nodded. "You're right. Bakura would probably be really pissed if you forfeited a championship because of him."
"So would Kaiba," Rebecca put in, and a few people managed chuckles at that.
"Go Yugi," Tea gave his shoulder a squeeze. "We'll be here when you get back."
Her touch warmed him and his confidence was instantly restored. Gazing out at the stadium one last time, Yugi turned and headed for the door, for another battle, and another promise that was becoming hauntingly familiar.
"Wait for me Bakura..."
OOO