11. Contact
Bakura reeled as Marik took a full 1900 points worth of damage when Ishizu activated Judgment of Anubis to counter his Mystical Space Typhoon magic card. Instead of Marik destroying Ishizu's Sword of Dogra as planned, she negated Mystical Space Typhoon and sent his Swallow Tail Lizard to the graveyard, inflicting damage equal to Swallow Tail Lizard's attack points. He now had only 1500 Life Points. At least he had gained 1000 points from its special ability before it was destroyed—he had summoned Swallow Tail Lizard during his last turn, and its effect boosted him 1000 points during each of his standby phases. On the field, he had Lord Poison in attack mode and Revival Jam in defense mode, plus Jam Defender and two facedown cards. Ishizu had 2100 Life Points, Spiria in defense mode, and Zolga—equipped with Sword of Dogra—and Agido in attack mode. There was nothing left for him to do, so he ended his turn.
Ishizu drew a card, then played it, summoning Sonic Bird to the field.
In Bakura's head, he could hear Marik's thoughts. Sonic Bird. That's not a card Ishizu has ever had. Interesting.
From the side of the garden, Odion echoed his concerns. "Be careful, Marik. That card does not belong to Ishizu."
"Yes, I know. Finally getting to your 'master's' cards, are we, Sister?"
Ishizu smiled, and Bakura mentally nudged Marik. You know what its special ability is, right?
Of course. I believe this duel is about to get interesting.
"First, I'll use Spiria's special ability to look at one of your facedown cards." She chose one of his two cards, and it revealed itself to her—the trap card Spirit Shield.
One of your cards, Ry, Marik observed. I wonder if she'll notice.
If she did, she didn't comment. "And now, with Sonic Bird's special ability, I can retrieve one ritual spell card from my deck and add it to my hand." Bakura could feel Marik's anticipation as she played the ritual spell card. "Then I'll sacrifice Sonic Bird and Agido to perform the Final Ritual of the Ancients and summon Reshef the Dark Being!"
Bakura hadn't ever seen Reshef the Dark Being in a duel before, let alone a Dark Game, so he was rather taken aback by its dramatic summoning, with the bright light from the Final Ritual of the Ancients tablet and the loud humming sound and rushing wind.
Marik was less impressed. Cheap theatrics. There are much more powerful cards than Reshef the Dark Being.
Bakura thought about Téa and the description he'd heard of Reshef's attack on her. Things are different in the Shadow Realm, Marik.
Yes, but the shadows are our domain, Ry.
Bakura balked at this, but he knew Marik was right. Is it time for me to step in? We have everything on the field and in your hand that we need.
Yes, but if we use Witch of the Black Forest, we have to show her the card we choose before we play it. It could tip our hand.
Bakura thought about this a moment. True. But she didn't seem to notice Spirit Shield. With Ramesses pulling the strings, she might miss the significance.
Marik didn't have time to answer because Ishizu discarded one spell card from her hand to use Reshef's special ability to take control of Marik's Revival Jam. With Revival Jam off his side of the field, Jam Defender was useless, and she was free to attack his Lord of Poison, so she sent Zolga with her Sword of Dogra to do the job.
"Not so fast, Sister. I activate my instant magic card Hidden Soldier, which allows me to return one monster on my side of the field to my hand and summon a different level four or lower monster to replace it. Lord of Poison, return to me, and in its place, I play Witch of the Black Forest in defense mode."
Zolga attacked and destroyed Black Witch of the Forest, then Ishizu sent Reshef in for the direct attack, but Marik activated his other facedown card, Spirit Shield, which prevented all battle damage so long as he removed one monster in his graveyard from play. He eliminated Gilgarth, then used Black Witch of the Forest's special ability to go through his deck and add one monster with a defense of less than 1500 to his hand. Fortunately for them, the card they wanted had only 1200 defense points. Marik found the card, then showed it to Ishizu before adding it to his hand.
Diabound.
Mai stepped up to the field to take her turn, looking expectantly at Julius.
"Is there a reason you aren't drawing, Ms. Valentine?"
"What, no guardian? You've summoned a new guardian at the beginning of every one of my turns."
"Because you were the first player."
"Yeah, I figured that out."
"I'm quite content with Ultimate Obedient Fiend. Now shall we get on with it?"
Mai reached for her deck, praying that she would draw the right card. 8600 Life Points was a lot to get rid of in only two turns, but if she could draw her Phoenix Formation, they could get a good start. Come on, Heart of the Cards, I need my Harpies, I need my Phoenix Formation, please let it be the next card… She closed her eyes as she drew, praying, then opened and looked at the results.
Harpie Lady Phoenix Formation.
Thank you.
She smiled at Julius. "I'm in the mood for a party. A Hysteric Party, to be exact." She activated her Hysteric Party spell card. "By discarding one card from my hand, I can special summon as many of my Harpie Ladies as possible from the graveyard, so I'll take all three of my Cyber Harpies back, thank you." She discarded Stamping Destruction and her three Harpies appeared beside Obelisk and Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon. "And now, Professor, here's a little trick my Harpies can do that you might remember from our little dream duel. Time to form up in Phoenix Formation, Ladies!"
"YES!" Joey pounded his fist into his hand. "I knew it! Way to go, Mai!"
She winked at him as she played the Phoenix Formation. Her three Harpies stood together and started glowing electric blue. A ghostly flaming bird flew from their midst and headed toward Julius's side of the field as Mai directed it to attack Curse of Dragon, her captured Harpie's Pet Dragon, and Reshef the Dark Being. It annihilated all three of them with ease and gave Julius 500 points of direct damage—the combined attack points of the three destroyed monsters. It would've been more had Slifer not reduced all the monsters' attack points when they were summoned, but Mai would take what she could get. Julius was still at 8100 Life Points, but he only had Dragon Dwelling in the Cave left to defend them. With three Harpies at 1800 apiece, she could get rid of the remaining monster and take another 3600 Life Points, then hopefully Joey could do the rest. "Attack his Dragon Dwelling in the Cave, Cyber Harpie number one!"
"I activate my Mirror Force Trap card!"
Mai swallowed. Not only would Mirror Force block the attack, it would destroy all of their monsters in attack mode—and every one of their monsters were in attack mode, including the formidable Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon. Only Obelisk would be spared, as trap cards were useless against god cards.
"Activate Desert Sunlight!" At Joey's command, one of his facedown cards sprang up, depicting an Egyptian temple under a blinding sun. All of their monsters —Mai's Harpies, Kaiba's Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, and even Yugi's Obelisk since once again the trap was being used for it instead of against it—went into defense mode, saving them from Mirror Force's effect. Not only that, but Julius's Chorus of Sanctuary gave them each an additional 500 defense points, leaving the Harpies with 1800 each, Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon with 4300, and Obelisk with 4500.
Mai beamed. "Nice save, hon!"
Even Kaiba gave Joey a small nod. Not a smile, not a compliment; just the barest of acknowledgements. But from Kaiba—to Joey—it was like an entire ballad of praise.
"A nice save indeed, Wheeler." Julius offered him a nod of his own. "But you'll find that still leaves me with 8100 Life Points, and you only have one move left. Oh, and Ms. Valentine, Helpoemer will be taking that last card in your hand now that your battle phase is over."
The ghost hand did indeed take her last card, Amazoness Spellcaster, and send it to her graveyard, ending Mai's turn. As she passed Joey on her way off the field, she put her hand on his arm. "It's all up to you, hon."
He nodded, looking more nervous than she'd ever seen him, which was saying a lot. She squeezed his arm in silent support and was about to head back to her place on the "bench" when something off field caught her eye. Tristan, Téa, Serenity, and Mokuba were grouped together in what looked like a team huddle. What are they up to?
Joey started to pull his arm away to take his position on the field, but she squeezed it again, stopping him. Leaning close, she whispered, "If you can't beat him, stall."
He frowned at her. "Thanks for the vote of confidence."
"No, it's just that… don't look, but I think the cheerleaders may have hatched some sort of plan. We need to buy them some time."
Téa blinked. "What?"
"Can you even do that?" Serenity asked.
"Why not?" Tristan answered for her. "The whole reason that he can get into her head even without the Millennium Rod is because of the 'pathway' he'd already left there before, like a piece of him in her head or something."
"Ew, thank you!" Téa shook her head. "What am I, a Jedi Knight? I'm supposed to use the Force to call him?"
"I don't know. You're the one he can talk through, not me!"
"If you're gonna try, you better do it quickly," Mokuba said, glancing toward the field. "Joey's up. If he doesn't win and Yugi's not awake by the time his turn's over…."
Serenity put her hand on Téa's shoulder. "What did it feel like when he took you over?"
Téa shrugged. "I don't know. Like… like a dream. You know, when you have no control over what you're doing, you just sort of watch from inside your own head?"
Serenity nodded. "Try concentrating on that feeling, on how it felt when he took over, not by force, but when you let him in. Find that part of your brain where he burrowed in."
"Ew! Would you people please stop talking about my brain that way?" But she closed her eyes, following Serenity's suggestion. She tried to feel what it had been like to have him take her over, controlling her arms and her feet, moving her like a marionette. She tried to remember the spark she'd felt when he'd bumped into her in the diner, when even unconscious he'd grabbed her arm in Duke's bedroom. Marik… I need your help. Please….
You were right, Marik, Bakura thought as Ishizu didn't give Diabound so much as a second glance. She isn't attaching much importance to Diabound.
He does only have 1800 attack points. Not as outwardly powerful as some of the other heavy-hitters of Duel Monsters. Now we just have to— Marik cut off abruptly and Bakura frowned, sensing his sudden distraction.
Marik?
There was no response, and then Bakura had the sensation of being suddenly slammed into his own body. While it was a relief to feel his own limbs and to be able move by his own will, Marik's sudden and unexpected departure was alarming. Marik?
"I end my turn, Brother," Ishizu said. "Your Jam Defender can come back to you."
Bakura blinked, confused. He'd been watching the duel closely, anticipating taking over from Marik as soon as they played Diabound, but he was thrown by the abrupt way he'd been given control again.
Odion noticed the change. "Marik?"
Bakura nodded, afraid to speak lest he give away too soon that it was he and not Marik in control. Trying to clamp down on the panic over Marik's whereabouts that was starting to overcome him, he forced himself to focus on the task at hand. Draw first, then get Diabound on the field. He reached for his deck, his hand closing on the top card when as suddenly as he'd left, Marik's presence returned. Bakura had to bite back a gasp. Marik?
Ry?
Bakura let out a long, relieved breath. What happened?
It's Téa. She needs my help, but with my body unconscious and unable to anchor my mind, I can't be in multiple minds at the same time. As soon as I focused my attention on her, I lost you.
Bakura tried to make sense of this. Wait. Téa? How did you know she needed you?
He could sense Marik's mental shrug. I'm not really sure. It was like she was calling for me.
Bakura pushed back his discomfort with the fact that Marik could get into Téa's head just as easily as he could Bakura's own. What does she need?
I'm not sure. I was only there for a moment. They're in the ceremonial chamber of my childhood home, I think. In a Dark Game with Ramesses, but I wasn't there long enough to figure out what was going on. When I realized I'd lost you, I turned my attention back here and lost her.
"It's your turn, Brother. Or are you conceding?"
Marik took full control of Bakura to snap at Ishizu. "So long as you're under that bastard's control, I concede nothing to you, Sister. On the contrary, I already hold the cards I need to defeat you—and him."
Bakura looked at the Diabound card in his hand—a card he hadn't used or even looked at in three years. A card he'd never used on his own at all. It was the Spirit of the Ring's card, and one he didn't want to so much as look at again, let alone hold in his hand and use in a duel. But he'd kept it, and now it brought a memory flashing through his mind. He was standing on a rooftop surrounded by the purple mist of the Shadow Realm, facing Seto Kaiba in a duel. Kaiba had Blue-Eyes White Dragon, formidable as always with 3000 attack points, but Bakura had Diabound, which had been powered up to 3300 attack points thanks to the effect of his Mirror Tablet. Diabound attacked…
Mission accomplished.
As suddenly as it had come, the vision was gone, replaced by Ishizu standing across the garden from him, Zolga, Spiria, and Reshef the Dark Being forming a vanguard before her. Had he been in control of his body, Bakura would have smiled. Marik, go to Téa. I can take it from here.
He could feel Marik's hesitation. I know you were about to take over anyway, but not alone. I want to be here—
It'll be fine. Odion is here.
Remember what Yugi said about touchstones? Odion is my touchstone, not yours. He won't be able to help you if the Orichalcos—
The Orichalcos has no power over me. You said yourself, the Shadow Realm is my domain. Now go, help Téa, and leave Ishizu and Reshef to me.
There was another moment of hesitation, and then he felt Marik's release. I'll be back as soon as I can. I love you, Ry.
Bakura, back in full control of his body, nodded. I know.