Chapter 11
The tournament was underway, with duels going on simultaneously. They took place just about everywhere imaginable in Domino City. There were some bystanders who would stop to watch, and of course there were some people who were not thrilled because of the inconveniences caused, such as the roads being blocked.
Two young men were on the streets, concluding a duel. One had long grayish blue hair, and was sitting on the ground. The other one had mullet cut blonde hair.
The blue haired young man had just lost the duel. He let out a sigh of dismay. 'Oh man, I was so close. A rule is a rule, though, and he beat me fair and square.' He took out a locator card and his rarest card, handing them over to his opponent. "Here. Good luck on your other duels."
"Hmph!" The blonde guy snatched them away. He stared at the rare card and a look of disdain appeared on his face. It was not powerful enough for him. 'He calls this a rare card? Surely he has something better than this and is just trying to escape the rules because he's mad he lost.' He glared at the blue haired boy. "Hand me the other rare card in your deck right now!" he demanded.
The blue haired boy raised an eyebrow at the ingratitude displayed and shook his head."I'm afraid I can't do that. Just because you won the duel that doesn't give you the right to change the rules. You're cheating."
"Your words are spoken like a true loser. The card you gave me is a piece of trash!"
The loser of the duel let out a groan of frustration. "But the rules say you only get my one rarest card," he protested. "Are you trying to get me in trouble or something?"
"I don't care what the rules say! If you get kicked out of the tournament, then so be it! There's no way in hell I'm taking this piece of crap! Now give me the two rarest cards in your deck if you know what's good for you!" He yanked on his opponent's shirt in order to make him listen.
The young man struggled against his rival's grip. "Two cards? Come on."
All of a sudden, the duelists heard a shrill sound of a whistle blowing and a young boy's voice yelling, "Dueling foul!"
The blonde young man released his opponent's shirt and glanced up. There stood a short little boy with long wild black hair, dressed in a striped shirt and jeans standing a few feet from them, giving him his best stern look.
The blue haired young man let out a sigh of relief. He was just thinking about how he would have had to get physical and risk getting expelled from the tournament. 'Thank you, Commish. You're a life saver.'
The blonde scowled at being interrupted, then his scowl transformed into a look of amusement as he sized Mokuba up. 'This little runt can't do anything to me.' "Get lost junior or I'll throttle you just like how I'm gonna throttle this loser here."
Mokuba's eyes widened a bit at the guy's audacity. He was aware of the fact that the duelist was much bigger than him, but he wasn't intimidated in the least. He was well past that stage. "Junior? You've got some nerve referring to me that way. As commissioner of the Battle City tournament, what I say goes. Do I make myself clear?"
The young man sneered at Mokuba. "Whatever. Now for the last time, get lost if you know what's good for you!" He cracked his knuckles.
Mokuba growled softly, hardening his eyes even more."If you want to be in the tournament, then you'd better do as I say!"
"Or else what?" The blonde snickered under his breath.
A cold, deeper voice answered, "I will have to personally deal with you, you detestable windbag of a duelist."
That icy tone sounded very familiar to the belligerent winner of the duel. It could only be one person-the tournament host himself. He glanced up, and sure enough, Seto Kaiba was standing there with an expression on his face that was between a glower and a sneer. But he was only slightly fazed. "Well if it isn't Seto Kaiba."
"When you disrespect my brother, you disrespect me as well. Besides, I do not tolerate bullies." The teen CEO placed his briefcase on the ground and opened it. "I can see that you have no honor and respect, and I am just the one to teach you."
"Is that so? Well, how do you figure?"
"I challenge you to a duel, under the condition that you use some of these cards to improve your mediocre deck," answered the former world champion.
The bully eyed all the cards, his jaw dropping. 'Wow, look at all these rare cards. Not that I really need them since my deck is already pretty powerful, but I guess a boost wouldn't hurt. Besides, there's no way I would pass up a chance to make Mr. High and Mighty squirm.' His lips spread into an impish grin as he chose the cards he most wanted to use. He then slipped them into his deck and glanced up at the CEO, smirking."All right let's do it," he said. "With these cards and my skill, there is no way I'll lose. Watch out Kaiba. I'll make you pay for meddling in my affairs." He placed the deck in its slot on the duel disk and activated it.
Kaiba gave a mischievous smile, which sent chills down the bully's spine. 'I can't wait to wipe that smile off his face.' The CEO let out an evil chuckle. "I only need one card to teach you a lesson the hard way!" He happened to be holding his Egyptian God card. He didn't bother summoning 3 monsters to sacrifice it, since he was not in an official duel. "I summon Obelisk the Tormentor!" The blue creature towered over the skyscrapers in Domino City. "Attack this snake's life points directly!"
The immensely powerful behemoth emitted a blast from its fist at the bully. "Ahhhhh!" he screamed. He had never felt so much power from a monster before. The shock from the attack made him drop all of his cards, and he collapsed, too. A gust of wind blew and made the cards scatter even more. Letting out a cruel laugh, Kaiba left with his brother.
The bully's opponent stared agape, amazed by the Egyptian God monster's power. He glanced over at his tormenter, who was a quivering mess. He couldn't help stifling a smug laugh. "Now who's the loser?" he gloated.
Mokuba walked alongside his brother with a big smile on his face. If his brother didn't come to his rescue, he didn't know what would have happened. All he knew was that things would have turned ugly in one way or another.
'No one messes with my brother, especially not when I have an Egyptian God card in my deck,' mused Kaiba. 'That loser wasn't worth my time and energy. I won't feel satisfied until I use my god card on a real opponent, like Yugi. It's only fitting that I demonstrate its power on him so he'll know what he's up against.'
Many of Marik's weaker servants were fatally wounded by the lightning blasts from the anger of Ra, so they would be off duty for awhile. That meant the plan had to be slightly altered. The healthy rare hunters, including Odion gathered at Marik's secret hideout for a meeting. Marik had sent Keren to watch over the injured rare hunters, just to give her something to do. She shuddered at the thought of it, as she noticed the way they looked at her during the few meetings she attended, making it clear they despised her. Being the meek person that she was, she graciously agreed to the request, just to avoid trouble.
"Master Marik, I have some important information for you," Odion told the cornsilk blonde young man.
"Oh?" Marik looked interested. He needed all the info he could get to aid him in his nefarious plans. "And what information is that, Odion?"
"Seto Kaiba has played the third Egyptian God card in Battle City just moments ago. It seems to be immensely powerful."
"It is." Marik furrowed his brow upon realizing Keren had been telling the truth when she said Ishizu gave the card to Kaiba. 'How fortunate. It wouldn't be within her best interest to give me false information.'
"Perhaps the little wench is more useful than I thought," commented one of the other rare hunters. Just like Marik, they believed she was not to be trusted. However, it was more than mere suspicion.
"So it seems. So far Odion is doing a wonderful job making sure she remains cooperative, unlike Ishizu, who has begun to conspire against me." Marik recalled the day when he first made plans to escape the fate he so despised and get revenge on the pharaoh for bringing such a curse on his family. He had managed to retrieve two of the three God cards, but when he went to get the third one, Ishizu had blocked his way and informed him he would have to find it if he wanted to carry out the plan so badly. "Ishizu was a fool to give Kaiba that card," he said impetuously. "He has very little understanding of its true strength, and only organized the tournament out of greed. However, his ambitions will send him to his doom."
"Sir, do you want me to send a rare hunter to snatch Obelisk the Tormentor from Kaiba?" asked Odion. He, too, believed Kaiba's greed would be the end of him one day.
Marik thought about this. Seizing the third Egyptian God card sounded very tempting, so did showing Kaiba what true power was about. 'However, there are more important matters to deal with, like weakening the pharaoh to make it easier to eliminate him.' He hesitated before answering, "No, let Kaiba enjoy his game for awhile longer. Dispatch Arkana to defeat Yugi Mutou in a duel."
"Yes Master."
Meanwhile, Vicki had decided to leave the hospital to see if she could find Joey. 'I would like to watch at least one of his duels.' She shut her laptop down, packed it in her case and walked towards the exit. "I'll be leaving you now, love. I will see you later."
"Hey Vicki, wait!" Serenity called after her.
The brunette turned around to look at the young girl. "Yes, Serenity?"
"Thank you so much for telling me what was going on in my brother's duel. It really meant a lot to me, and I know it must have been a lot of work for you." She felt a little like she was taking advantage of the brunette, but it wasn't something she could help. After all, her eyes were not completely healed enough for her to remove the bandages yet.
"It was no problem, love. I was glad to do it, and it also gave me an opportunity to get to know you."
Serenity smiled slightly, happy to have gotten to know Vicki as well. 'She seems friendly and easy to talk to.'
"Well I'm off now, lassie. If you want to talk to me, you know my cell phone number."
"All right. Bye for now, Vicki."
"Later." Vicki left the hospital room.
Yami was still on the lookout for another challenge. He took out the Red Eyes Black Dragon card and glanced at it. Yugi's spirit appeared next to him. 'Thank you, Joey. You have no idea how much this means to me.' Lending him the card was one of the kindest things the blonde had ever done for him. 'I feel a little guilty taking it, though. What if he needs it at some point?' He turned to face his alter ego. "Do you think Joey can survive in this tournament without his Red Eyes?"
"I believe he can. He is an excellent duelist and gets better with every duel he fights," replied Yami. He remembered Joey's wish to prove he was a true duelist and was confident that by the end of the tournament, he would have proven himself.
Just then, a harlequin dressed like a clown appeared. "Hello, Yugi. We've been expecting you."
Yami raised an eyebrow and then frowned. He had an uneasy feeling about the clown. "Who's we?"
"If you want to know, then you must follow me. Walk straight ahead and into that tent. It would be in your best interest to go, so if you are considering declining, know that it isn't exactly an option. And make haste, for it would be rude to keep my master waiting." The harlequin laughed and flipped backwards behind the tree.
Yami lowered his eyes a bit. 'Marik must be behind this. In that case, I am most likely walking into a trap, but I have no choice. I am on a mission to stop him.' He proceeded to walk towards the tent.
Mr. Mutou and Tèa happened to be following close behind. Tèa had a small smile on her face. 'Finally, I've got a chance to watch him duel.' "Hey Yugi! Wait up!" The ancient pharaoh showed no sign of hearing her, and entered the tent. Mr. Mutou and Tèa broke into a jog, worried that something would happen to him.
Once inside, Yami saw a box on the stage that looked like his Mystic Box card, only it read Magic Show instead. Now he knew something fishy was going on. 'I have a bad feeling about this.'
The harlequin appeared again. "Enter here, Yugi. My master awaits your arrival." He disappeared just as quickly as he showed up.
Yami cautiously stepped inside the box, and just as his magic card did with his Dark Magician, the box made him disappear. Tèa and Mr. Mutou arrived just in time to see this.
"Yugi!" the young girl cried out in horror. She didn't want to know what trap he fell into.
"I'm getting too old for this," muttered the elderly man. He wasn't sure how much more of the stress of Yugi's dangerous adventures he would be able to handle.
The magic box transported Yami into a tiny room. Once he stepped out, he spotted a computer. On the screen was information about his dueling credentials…the same info that was shown when he purchased the new duel disk. He hoped his challenger wouldn't take forever to show up. He didn't have time to waste. Sighing heavily, he eyed the screen. He got a look of mild surprise when it gave off a bright glow, followed by a female's voice quipping, "Hacking into Battle City database for Yugi Mutou. Dueling level: level eight. Rarest card: Dark Magician." Just as she said that, the Dark Magician's original purple robe turned red. Also, his complexion, which was originally pale, turned into a medium brown color and his serious expression changed into an evil grin. A hologram of the newly transformed Dark Magician appeared in front of him.
The ancient pharaoh gasped. "My Dark Magician!"
Dark Magician gave an evil chuckle. "I've been waiting for you. You are not worthy of having me in your deck, so prepare to lose me forever. You're not the only duelist with my power in their deck Yugi and you're certainly not the best! It's time you met the true master of the Dark Magician!" He pointed his staff at Yami.
Yami couldn't help chuckling. As unsettling as it was, he knew his Dark Magician would never betray his trust that way. "All right. Enough of these tricks," he said calmly.
There was more laughter; this one high pitched and girly sounding. The perpetrator revealed himself. He was dressed in a red suit and top hat, his face covered by a striped masquerade mask. He happened to be holding a Dark Magician card. The picture on it looked exactly like the illusion that materialized before Yami. "Welcome, Yugi Mutou. I am the illusionist known as Arkana. Soon, your Dark Magician will be under my control." He chuckled again. "Only one person can understand the true power of the Dark Magician, and it's not you."
Yami grimaced a bit, growing tired of Arkana's taunting and gloating. "That's enough!"
The illusionist let out a chuckle. 'Hmmm. So this is the boy Master Marik wants me to destroy. I wonder if he is as powerful a duelist as my master says he is. There's only one way to find out. ' His lips stretched into a smile. "I'll tell you what. We'll decide which one of us is most worthy to wield the power of the Dark Magician in a duel. The winner will take the loser's Dark Magician."
"I accept your challenge. You must know that when a duelist builds his deck he chooses his favorites from different types of cards. However, sometimes a card can choose a duelist. A true duelist can tap into its power. The two are connected and each is bound by the Heart of the Cards. The Dark Magician has chosen me." Yami pulled his Dark Magician card from his deck and an illusion of it appeared behind him. "I have placed my faith in my Dark Magician. He has never let me down in a duel before and he won't begin now. Winning him from me will be no easy task."
Arkana smiled. "Ah, so it's true. The great Yugi Mutou never backs down from a challenge. I like your determination, but it won't be enough to defeat me. Marik has built the perfect deck for me. What I can promise is that I will reward you with a grand magic show. I have orders from my superiors to make this show a spectacle."
Yami cocked an eyebrow. He knew for a fact he was facing another one of Marik's rare hunters, but the illusionist made it sound like he had more than one superior. "Who else are you working for besides Marik?"
"You will find out in due time, Yugi. For now, just worry about me."
Yami gave a frustrated sigh. He didn't intend to put up with this rare hunter keeping secrets.
Arkana chuckled softly to himself. 'Perhaps I can teach Yugi to lighten up in our duel.' "This room is a bit cramped, don't you think? Not exactly the ideal dueling arena. There is a slightly more spacious one. Follow me."
Without a word, Yami followed Arkana to a circular shaped dueling arena. The two men placed their decks on the table and proceeded to shuffle them. Yami kept a sharp eye on the illusionist to make sure he didn't pull any sleazy stunts. "I'm watching you. Don't try any of your underhanded tactics," he warned as he shuffled Arkana's deck.
"Not to worry. I am way beyond that stage."
"Just to be sure, I'll be the one cutting your deck."
Arkana gave a wicked smile. "Of course. You know there's a saying in high rolling and card sharks. Always trust your opponent, but only after you have cut their deck."
Yami took one of Arkana's cards and trimmed the edges, then placed it in the midst of the deck. He handed Arkana back the deck and took his. "Here's another. Never trust a masked man."
Arkana gasped as if he were hurt by his opponent's lack of trust. "I'm offended. When I prove I am the master of the Dark Magician, you will regret that remark."
"We'll see about that."
"Yes we will. Now come on. We have very little time to waste." Arkana and Yami took their places on the arena. "I must warn you, the stakes for this duel are extremely high. The winner leaves a free man, whereas the loser will get his legs cut off and bleed to death."
Yami gave a look of horror. He expected the duel would be anything but friendly, but he didn't think Arkana would be this sadistic and ruthless. "What kind of person would place a gamble on someone's life? Are you a sadistic madman?"
"No, I am undefeated at my game."
"Not likely. You have met your match, so get ready. It's time for us to duel!"
"For once, I agree. Let the show—I mean duel begin!" The table lowered into the ground and shackles appeared around the young men's ankles, trapping them.
"No!" cried out Yami.
Arkana gave the ancient pharaoh an amused look. "Calm yourself, Yugi. Both of us are locked in, so neither of us can escape. As you know, those shackles are the least of your worries."
Yami did know, and he didn't like it at all. 'Defeat is not an option in this duel. Marik must have had a hand in this. I am sure of it.' He glowered at the illusionist.
Arkana noticed the spiky-haired young man's scowl. He clicked his tongue in amusement and then looked almost serious. "To show you how kind and considerate I am, I will explain the rules to you." He pointed to the chest box on each side of them that contained 4000 points on it. "You know what that is?"
It didn't take long for Yami to catch on. It was a dueling set up that was connected to the razors. "Those are life points. The closer they get to zero, the closer the razor gets to us."
"Exactly right, Yugi. Now look down between your feet."
Yami did so, and saw a box. "What type of box is it?"
"It's a key box that is your only salvation if you are fortunate enough to win this duel. It contains a key that will enable you to unlock the shackles around your legs."
As twisted as the plot sounded, Yami realized going along with it was the only way to stop him. "All right, enough talk." The two gentlemen drew their five cards.
Arkana smiled widely at the fact that he was fortunate enough to get Dark Magician on the first draw. 'Just as I thought. Yugi was clever, but even he wasn't smart enough to stop my trick. I've manipulated certain cards. Even though Yugi buried the Dark Magician card deep within my deck, I've trimmed the edges of it to make it slightly smaller than the rest, so it showed up on top when he cut my deck. '
"I'll start this duel!" announced Yami, putting on his game face. 'I have to come up with a strategy quickly to avoid falling victim to any more of Arkana's tricks.' He looked at the cards in his hand, knitting his brows together. 'It's best to prepare a defense for now.' "I place one card face down and summon Alpha the Magnet Warrior in defense mode! That ends my turn."
"I'll summon my Legion the Fiend Jester, also in defense mode!" (1500 def) A scrawny young man wearing a cone shaped hat materialized. Arkana gave a devious smirk. 'Just one more monster and I will be able to sacrifice them in order to summon my all powerful Dark Magician! I'll show Yugi what being a true master is all about!'
"If I were you, I wouldn't be smiling right now," said Yami, drawing his card. 'To defeat a trickster, I will have to think like one so I can be prepared for anything. It will be tough, but here goes.' He gave the illusionist a smug look. "Since I don't trust your hand, I will play a magic card!"
"Don't trust my hand?" Arkana repeated.
"Take this. I play Card Destruction!"
A sweatdrop appeared on Arkana's forehead. His confident smile turned into disappointment when he realized his scheme was ruined. "Not that! My precious hand!"
"I see you know what that means. I suspected you fixed your first hand, so rather than falling victim to another one of your tricks, I decided to have both of us discard our hands so we can start over with a clean slate." Yami sent every card in his hand to the graveyard and drew the exact same amount he discarded. "Say goodbye to your opening hand."
The trickster did as he was told, and drew his five new cards while grumbling under his breath. He glared at Yami. "You'll pay for that. You just got lucky. Well, your luck will run out soon enough, and when I defeat you in this duel, you'll be sorry."
Yami merely smiled to himself, for he had led Arkana into his trap. "It is you will be sorry. I reveal my face down card, Brain Control! This card lets me control any of your monsters, like Fiend Jester!" A purplish colored brain grabbed Arkana's Fiend Jester with its outstretched green hands and placed it on his side of the field.
Arkana cringed. "No! My monster!"
"I'm afraid I'm not done yet. I sacrifice my Magnet Warrior and your Fiend Jester which allows me to summon my ultimate monster. Fear the power of my Dark Magician!" (2500 attk)The spellcaster appeared on the field.
Arkana's annoyance turned to fear as he started quivering. He had no monsters to protect him or any face down cards on the field to block the attack. He realized how much he underestimated Yami. 'I have to take my game up a few notches and soon, otherwise I'll lose!'
"When you believe in your deck, you don't need to cheat. You believe in trickery and winning at all costs! Now you'll see what happens when you have faith in your cards and duel honorably! Dark Magician, attack his life points directly!" The wizard swiftly twirled his staff around and shot a blast of dark magic at Arkana, taking his life points down to one thousand, five hundred. The circular razor moved dangerously close to him. "You're just one direct attack away from falling victim to your own demented trap," stated Yami.
Arkana panted several times, trying to catch his breath. 'It can't be! My life points are more than half-way gone and the duel has just begun.' After recovering from the attack, he looked at Yami with a smirk on his face. 'It doesn't matter. He may be on top now, but I was merely testing his dueling prowess. After all, a true magician never reveals his secrets until the time is right. I have lots of tricks up my sleeve that have yet to be revealed, and once I unleash them, he will meet his demise! Ahahaha!'
