Thank you my reviewers. I've just finished working on my duel prep, so you know what that means! The fun can now start. Enter the first shadow game, the stage is set for a battle between two evils. Oh, and no TopRanger237, I won't be including a blue-haired leprechaun wearing shorts in this story.
12 - Marik vs Bakura: Part One
"I can't believe those two psychos are about to throw down."
"I know what you mean, Joey." Yugi frowned to himself in contemplation as the group of teens headed toward the elevator. His footsteps began to slow and they all stopped, trailing further behind the other security worker and the Kaiba brothers.
"Yugi?" Tea looked at his face inquisitively.
"With both of those madmen on the playing field at the same time this match will be incredibly dangerous. Possibly even for the spectators."
"You think?" Serenity huddled up in fear.
"We got to go, Yuug." Joey pressed. "You have one of those items too, right? So you'll be able to make sure nothing too bad happens. Plus I need to learn as much as I can to take down either Marik or Bakura."
"We should think of this as a good thing, right?" Tristan spoke up hopefully. "One less bad guy either way who wins."
"Yeah!" Duke agreed enthusiastically. "Instead of someone innocent getting sent away to that shadow place it's going to be someone evil one way or the other."
"I'm afraid it's worse than that." Yugi mumbled and they all looked at him. He closed his eyes, fists clenched and trembling before he looked up. "In this upcoming duel Bakura's good side is also at stake. He's our friend. At the same time however, what Ishizu and the 'new' Marik have been saying has led me to consider that the original tomb keeper Marik may not be entirely at fault for his actions so far."
"So… what you're saying is…" Joey frowned in thought.
"If this is truly a winner-takes-all of the highest gamble, then one innocent soul might be lost regardless." Yugi scowled in determination. "I have to be present for this duel. Maybe there's some way I can both intervene and keep everyone nearby safe."
"We're right behind you Yugi!" Tristan slapped a hand to his back and gripped his shoulder, almost throwing the smaller boy forward.
"Tristan?"
"I don't care how dangerous it is, we'll be there to back you up any way we can. You too, dude." He offered Joey his knuckles and the blonde guy fist-bumped him.
"Thanks pal."
"This duel may be the most dangerous one we've ever witnessed." Yugi warned. "Two Millennium Items will clash and they're both being controlled by terrible forces." Not to mention Marik has a god card and Bakura has Pegasus's eye.
"Well if you say so." Everyone turned to Mai as she was listening in at the edge of the group. Flicking her hair she strolled off toward the voyeur elevator. Yugi could easily detect the scepticism in her voice.
"She has no idea about the danger here, does she?" Tea muttered.
"Not at all…" Joey was still staring after her, concern clouding his features.
"Let's go guys." Serenity urged. "I'm coming too. I know it'll be scary but it can't be any worse than waiting down here alone while knowing so much evil is going on in this blimp!"
Reaching up Ishizu clutched her necklace in fear. A vision of blinding glory: the sun god dragon. A shroud of concealing darkness: the shadow realm being cast from two items. Something big was going to happen in this next match. Two evils were about to face and the one that emerged would be all the more powerful and corrupted. In this winner-takes-all match the victor would gain possession of three Millennium Items and the most powerful god card. The loser would be sent into eternal darkness.
Marik! Ishizu felt so much worry for her younger brother that she leapt out of her chair.
Looking down at the unconscious Odion her eyes wavered. She lowered herself back down. The Pharaoh will do what he can to keep everyone safe, but should he fail… An image of Ishizu's kid brother laughing flashed in her mind's eye. The innocent Marik is gone. He is at least partly responsible for his actions… I must be strong. Ishizu promised to stand guard over her older brother. She would need to have faith.
"Greetings Ishizu."
"Shadi?" She turned and saw the mysterious man standing by the door. "I'm used to seeing you once only every few years. Why are you back so soon?"
"To warn you." The man's blank face was now serious beneath his white turban. "Whatever evil triumphs from this duel it will likely be you who has to stop it. For they will come after your Millennium Necklace and you don't have a card in your deck that can defeat Ra."
"That may be." She rested her hands in her lap and looked down. "What I really want to know is… will Marik be okay?"
"That can't be determined." The robed man turned away. "However if he is victorious you will want to transport Odion to a hidden room. Marik's evil side will try to get rid of his sworn protector." He wisped away at that, white cloak fluttering out of view.
"Thank you, Shadi…"
"Duellists please take your marks! Elevate the field!"
A mechanical whirring raised them above their spectators, the night was windy and cold but didn't hinder the smiles of the contenders. Marik's grin was crazed, almost warping his face as he stood with his legs apart on the red arrow. Bakura stood atop the blue arrow with a smirk of his own. Both villains seemed to believe they had the upper hand in this match.
As the crowd of viewers grew both duellists began shuffling their decks. Their field was still damaged-looking, with blackened marks and broken railings. However the holographic units fizzled to life and the stage came to a smooth stop at the correct altitude. Two life point counters beeped up to 4000.
"I've got crew members running constant diagnostics of my holographic simulators and all on-board Kaiba Corp technology for that matter!" Kaiba announced. "Nothing's getting in the way of this duel, and if you don't want to bore me Marik" the crazed man's eyes moved to leer at the taller guy "You'll bring out your fabled god card. The real one this time."
"Don't worry. I fully intend to crush this fool with the wrath of god." He chuckled darkly, eyes back on his prey.
"I have strategies and powers of my own." Bakura crossed his arms and smirked. "You'd be the fool to underestimate me."
"I declare the third match of the Battle City Finals begun!" Rolund waved his arm. "Marik Ishtar takes the first turn!"
The grey-haired guy lifted his gleaming rod and threw his head back in laughter. The gold light intensified and somewhere behind him a patch of darkness tore through space and began creeping misty purple across the area. Soon after Bakura's eyes narrowed and his own ring started glowing from around his neck, matching the intensity of Marik's item. Purple shadows appeared behind him and spread across to envelope the arena as well.
Both shrouds of darkness met at the middle, their seams vanishing and blocking out the starlight. Yugi and his friends bunched up fearfully. A cold chill ran through the spines of the helpless voyeurs and an ominous silence abounded as both players drew their hands. This place just felt creepy and wrong.
"As you're aware we're both now playing in the shadow realm." Marik's gaze flickered over his cards menacingly. "As much as I'd like to test out one of my torturous shadow games unfortunately I can't. My opponent also knows how to call upon the darkness so our powers cancel each other out."
"I don't need a special game to beat you Marik. The prize is too great for me to be distracted by the frivolous detail of our match." Bakura smiled.
"Either way the loser forfeits their soul and all our monsters are real!" His opponent screamed. "So!" He slapped a card onto his duel disk. "Let's start already! I summon Makyura the Destructor in attack mode!" A menacingly purple bladed warrior appeared with three sabres emerging from each arm like claws. Its head was black and featureless with only a single eye in the middle. A holographic box appeared displaying 1600. "That ends my turn."
"A single monster, aye?" Bakura muttered as he drew a card, although he was well aware of the creature's ability. "I set a monster in defence position and play one card face-down. That'll do for now."
"Hmph." Marik whipped a card from his deck and then analysed his opponent's field. "Gil Garth, come forth!" A tall robotic fiend covered in tiny spikes and with a large sword appeared on 1800. "Now Makyura destroy this fool's hidden monster! Attack!" The glowing eye on his forehead seemed to intensify as he watched his warrior charge. It scratched apart the floating card and revealed a screaming one-eyed mutant inside a jar before it shattered.
"I'm afraid you just attacked my Morphing Jar." Bakura lifted the card off his disk before sliding it and his hand into the graveyard slot. "We both must throw away our hands and draw five cards."
Marik scowled as he discarded his hand. His fingers quickly dished out five new cards and he relaxed when he saw there was still a trap he could use.
"Using a draw card so early on in the match? Obviously you're planning something, but it's futile. Gil Garth attack him directly!" The tall monster shuddered and then lurched forward.
Gasps of surprise abounded as Bakura's face-down failed to save him. The sword sliced through his torso and the white-haired teen cried out in pain before falling to one knee. With his head lowered his life points reduced all the way to 2200.
Marik didn't seem impressed by his victory, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"That attack looks like it really hurt him somehow…" Mokuba spoke up, staring around at the encompassing darkness fearfully. The winds were gone leaving everything eerily silent.
After gathering himself Bakura got back onto his feet and winced out a smile.
"Is that all Marik?"
"Make your move."
"Very well." He drew a card. "Ah, just what I needed. I summon Doomcaliber Knight!" A skeletal horseman wielding a bone shield and lance trotted onto view. Its attack registered as 1900.
"Finally taking this game seriously I see." Marik mocked.
"Oh I've been taking it seriously all along." Bakura raised his arm. "Reveal face-down! Call of the Haunted! Say hello to another powerful monster of mine, Dark Necrofear!" A bald blue fiend cradling a broken doll appeared and hummed eerily. A holographic box displayed 2200. "Now I possess two monsters of greater strength than yours, but I'm afraid it's far worse than that."
"Go on." Marik pressed him emotionlessly.
"You see Marik, summoned from the hand or not Dark Necrofear still requires me to remove three fiend monsters in my graveyard from play. I drew these four fiends, my Morphing Jar and my Call of the Haunted in my first turn. Quite a lucky feat, and now the fun can begin." Bakura swiftly pointed towards his enemy. "Now my Doomcaliber Knight! Destroy Gil Garth!" His horseback warrior reared up with a fearful neigh before charging, its lance speared the opposing monster and it shattered. "Dark Necrofear destroy Makyura the Destroyer!" His alien-like monster bulged its eyes with a zombie hum before firing red rays that incinerated Marik's last monster.
As the smoke cleared Marik was seen shielding his face, his life point counter beeped down to 3300. Swinging his arm away with a murderous cackle he slid a card into his disk slot.
"On the turn Makyura is destroyed I can play trap cards from my hand! So I'll bind your oh-so-powerful monster in my Nightmare Wheel!"
"Not quite." Bakura dipped his head and Doomcaliber Knight whinnied before exploding.
"What?!"
"When my opponent activates an effect, any effect, it's negated and I lose my monster. But look at it this way: now you only have my oh-so-powerful monster to deal with on its lonesome, Marik."
"Tch. Don't get too confident, your souls are mine to devour." He drew a card with a murderous expression and their two Millennium Items glowed in sync at each other. "I have another way to clear your monster from the field. Newdoria!" A gross hunch-backed fiend gurgled at Bakura, 1200 points appearing beside it. "Attack his monster!" It raced towards its target with an unsteady gait but the other monster was ready for it, opening its eyes and frying the squealing mutant in another red beam.
Bakura narrowed his eyes but then widened them in alarm when his monster blew apart.
"Gone." Marik chuckled and his life points decreased to 2300.
"Should've taken greater caution with your life points, Marik." This time Bakura's expression matched his opponent's in bloodthirsty glee. The end of his duel disk slid open in waiting and he slipped in a card, when it closed his machine shimmered in rainbow light and a new kind of darkness began to overtake their battlefield. "You've enabled me to unleash Dark Sanctuary, a field magic card of unrivalled ability. This card is the cornerstone of my deck's strategies Marik, and thanks to you I've managed to assemble all the pieces required to bring it out."
An ominous castle loomed from behind the white-haired player. Gigantic eyeballs and teeth appeared all around them, only intensifying the fearful aura of their dark plane. Marik's eyes wavered back and forth in confusion before he glowered at his enemy.
"No effect can overcome my god monster."
"You place too much faith in one card."
"You underestimate the ancient powers at work in this tournament."
The two villains eyed each other fiercely, Bakura grinning widely as Marik narrowed his eyes in waiting. The spectators shifted their stances, Serenity was huddled right up to her brother while Mokuba tried to stop himself from shaking.
"Hey Seto… something seems strange about the monsters in this duel. They look so real, and the sounds they're making… plus I've had this really bad feeling ever since this duel started and that darkness first appeared… Seto?"
His brother was distracted fiddling with the communication device in his collar. It wasn't working, but there couldn't be any kind of interference. Their security was locked up tight. So… just what in the world was going on right now?
"Just wait Marik, it won't be long before Dark Sanctuary destroys you."
So Bakura's still gone with Dark Sanctuary? Only now it seems that things have gone even more so in his favour, being able to draw it out this early on in the game. Victory is still far out in the horizon and someone with an Egyptian god will not be easy to beat.