Note: Whoopie! I updated! And now the battle between Dartz and the twins shall begin! Enjoy!
Chapter 21: The Final Confrontation
The others stared in utter shock, but Atem glared. Although he was unable to see Nomarch Dartz due to his blindness, he still sensed the presence of pure evil in front of him. He could even hear it in his voice, and he knew. "You!" Atem growled in anger.
Dartz chuckled casually as he came closer. "Well met, travelers. And oh, look! Princess Anzu has made her appearance as well." he said, "I have to congratulate you for coming this far. So many so-called 'brave' men and women have come here to seek the Siren's Pearl, including Princess Nimea. But as you have known, not a single one of them has ever returned; I saw to that." There was a small pause, before the nomarch gave a small frown of displeasure. "I expected you to be no different from those would-be heroes. But instead, here you are, standing before me, still as your true selves! How is this possible? You all should have been fish by now!" Surveying the team, he suddenly laid eyes upon Prince Atem's glaring face. He smirked again. "I should have guessed. Only the eyes of the blind can see the fearsome fiendish squid without the risk of losing their courage." And in a flash, Dartz grabbed the Blind Prince by the collar of his cloak.
"Atem!" Yugi shouted.
"You truly are full of surprises, Prince Charming." Dartz said with a wicked smirk, "Your friends didn't really come face to face with my mind slave until you nullified his power, didn't they? They must have used you for that purpose so they can step in and get all the glory!"
"Don't you dare insult me or my friends!" Atem growled, his anger rising, "If you think I'm just your ordinary blind man, you are sadly mistaken!"
"My, my, such bold words." Dartz mockingly replied.
"Let him go Dartz!" Anzu hollered, growing angry herself, "It's me you want, remember?!"
Dartz once again gave a frown. "I would have had you in my grasp Princess, but thanks to this blind prince of yours, you and your compatriots robbed me of my mind slave!"
"Your anger doesn't surprise me Dartz." Mahaad said, "You wanted my power. That's why you imprisoned me within my own mind soon after you captured me physically!"
"Silence!" Dartz hissed, letting go of Atem, then turned to the team. "You may have gotten the Siren's Pearl out of the oyster, but mark my words: I will not let you leave with it!" He took out an aquamarine gem similar to the one that was wrapped around Mahaad before, and flung it towards the Dark Magician. The gem started to glow in an instant, and the chains appeared.
"Oh no, not this time!" Mahaad said, and he raised his staff and unleashed a ball of light, which destroyed the gem and the chains on contact. The force was enough to even push Dartz to the ground… hard. He stood up, slowly recovering from the shock.
"That does it." Dartz growled at the team, "You want a fight? I'll give you a fight!" That was when he took out his own staff, which actually served as a sword as well. "The Delta kingdom will be mine! And if I have to destroy you to claim what's mine, then so be it!" With a harsh battle cry, Dartz lunged toward the team. Imagine his shock when someone blocked his attack—and that 'someone' was none other than Prince Atem, holding his sword steady and strong. "What?!" Dartz gasped in shock as the Blind Prince shoved him away, seemingly without a hint of effort.
"I told you I'm not your ordinary blind man, Dartz!" Atem said, pointing his sword at the nomarch.
Yugi took out his sword and pointed in the same way as his elder twin brother. "Let's take him down everyone!" he commanded.
"You got it!" Jonouchi said, and with his own battle cry he charged, and the rest of the team followed in suit. Immediately, he used his magic to summon a pair of huge sea snakes to aid him, even as Atem and Yugi attacked him head on. Determined to defend their master, the sea snakes, one red and one blue, lunged at the rest of the adventurers, their fanged mouths wide open and ready to bite. Jonouchi swung his long axe hard to cleave the red snake in two, while Honda used his hand axe to cut the blue snake's head off. All at once that snake grew a new head, and the two halves of its partner merged back together and healed in a flash. Both snakes hissed in anger.
"Okay, that wasn't supposed to happen!" Honda shouted in shock. When the snakes lunged forward again, Seth blocked the attack with his magical barrier, then slashed with his dagger.
"Let's try this then!" Mai said, biting the blue snake while Otogi stabbed it with his three noses. But even as the sea lion tore off a piece of flesh, the wounds healed.
"I don't think it's working!" Otogi panted.
"DARK MAGIC ATTACK!" Mana shouted, and the dark violet balls of magic struck the sea snakes. For a moment they were knocked down, but then they rose again, angrier than ever before. Mana could only let out a small yell before the red sea snake wrapped itself around her. Before long, they both took hold almost every member of the team, squeezing them tight like boa constrictors. Only Shield managed to escape, and she quickly swam into a small patch of seaweed.
Meanwhile, swords clashed as Atem and Yugi continued their battle against Dartz himself. The twins each fought the nomarch on opposite sides, and Dartz was forced to switch from one opponent to the next. "Damn it!" Dartz hissed at Atem, "For someone who's blind, you're even better than I thought!" Atem's sword clashed with the nomarch's blade staff, and they both pushed hard.
"Believe me when I say this, Dartz!" Atem said, "I will not let you take control of the Delta! You will pay for what you have done to Princess Nimea and all the other treasure hunters!"
"And I will not let you take Princess Anzu!" Yugi hollered, "If you want her, you'll have to get through me!"
Dartz turned to the side and suddenly gave a wicked grin. "You really think so? Ha! By the way things look over there, I won't have to!"
Yugi looked to the side as well, and was horrified when he saw all his friends being constricted by the two huge sea snakes, and that Anzu was among them! "Anzu!" Yugi exclaimed, and in a flash he swam up in order to save his beloved. But Dartz swung his bladed staff and a boomerang-shaped arc of aquamarine colored magic surged up and slammed right into the younger prince from behind. He screamed in pain, before sinking unconscious to the sandy ground.
"YUGI! NO!" Atem exclaimed, and his rage toward the nomarch became even more intense than ever. "You hurt my younger brother!" he roared, picking up the spear head and taking aim, "I won't let you get away with this!" With the nomarch in range of his echolocation, he threw the spear head with all his might. Dartz simply smirked, and quickly moved out of the way at the last minute. The very fact that the spear head flew right past its target was enough to take the Blind Prince by surprise. What?! he thought, I missed?! Dartz's smirk became a wicked grin, and with evil laughter, he pounced on Atem head on. Atem raised up his sword to defend himself, but for once, it was not enough. Blood spewed like red clouds out of the cuts he received from the nomarch's blade staff, and he yelled in pain through clenched teeth.
"Atem!" Shield screamed from her spot.
"Ha, ha, ha, ha! Not so extraordinary now, are you Prince Charming?" Dartz mocked. Atem's milky-veiled eyes responded with a glare. Just then Shield came out of her hiding place and slammed her body against Dartz, forcing him right into the cave wall.
"Go get him, Atem!" She cheered as she swam toward Yugi. By that time, Atem managed to regain whatever strength he had left and launched himself toward the evil nomarch just as he was recovering from the shock. The swords clashed once again, and the Blind Prince found himself struggling.
"What are gonna do?!" Jonouchi said, trying to pull the coiling sea snake's body away from his neck, "Atem's bound to get killed if we don't do something!"
"We'll have to get rid of those sea snakes first!" Anzu said, trying to free herself from the grip of the other, "Otherwise we won't even live to help him and Yugi!"
"We're doomed!" Honda wailed, but just as the sea snakes opened their mouths to finish off the team, a red eel suddenly sped in front of them, slapping them in the face.
"Hi there!" a cheerful voice called out from the eel. Mai stared in amazement.
"Ryou?!" she gasped.
"What are you doing here?" Otogi asked.
"I saw that you guys were having some trouble." Ryou replied, "Perhaps I can be of some assistance!" And at once, he sped right into the sea snakes, biting each one as he passed by. The snakes hissed in agony and were forced to let go of all the members of the team.
"Thanks!" Mana said, after taking a well-needed breath.
"Now let's take care of those beasts and get it over with!" Mahaad said. "DARK MAGIC ATTACK!" Powerful balls of dark-violet light shot from Mahaad's staff, knocking the sea snakes senseless.
"Time to finish you off!" Anzu said, and she thrust her dagger right into the top of the blue snake's head. It roared in pain.
"And now for the final blow!" Seth roared, holding up his dagger. "WHITE LIGHTNING ATTACK!" A bolt of blue-white lightning shot from the dagger, and it struck both sea snakes simultaneously. With one last hiss of pain, the snakes fell to the sandy ground, dead, before they blasted into pieces and disappeared.
"Yeah!" Honda said, "Way to show them!"
"Don't celebrate just yet!" Seth said, pointing, "Look!"
Atem and Dartz pushed hard against each other with their swords. The sound of steel against steel repeatedly echoed in the cave, until finally, Dartz unleashed his magical arc attack. Atem went to the side to dodge it, but it still made a cut on the side of his body. Then the nomarch pounced on Atem, grabbing hold of him. The force of the attack was enough to send them both floating—until they landed right in between the shells of the oyster! Atem felt the sharp edge of the bottom half of the shell press against his back as Dartz pinned him down. The whole time, the Blind Prince never let go of the Siren's Pearl. Dartz chuckled as he saw the wooden board that kept the oyster from closing shut. "So it all comes down to this." he said, lightly laying a hand on the board. "All your efforts to retrieve that Siren's Pearl, to succeed where everyone else has failed…"--he pried the Pearl out of the Blind Prince's hand, still managing to pin him down with his knees-- "…All that, for nothing!" He leaned forward, once again placing a hand on the board. This time, he applied a little bit of pressure. "Once I remove that wooden board from between the shells, the top of the oyster will fall down on you. It will chop you in half, resulting in instant death. There's a tiny part of me that actually pities you, Prince Charming. You know why? I can tell just by looking at your face... You're born with those milky-veiled lenses, are you not? The poor prince! Even as a child, you must have been shunned by your own people! The elders must have given you dirty looks in spite of your royal lineage. They must have talked about you from right behind your back!" Atem's eyes widened a bit, and Dartz continued his little mind game, "And your peers! Oh, they must have made fun of you! They might even have shoved you hard into the dirt, kicking you when you were down! All simply because you are blind." The memories of that one single day of torment raced through Prince Atem's sightless mind, and his milky-veiled eyes stung with tears that could not be seen underwater. But Dartz's words fueled his righteous anger just as much as they hurt him.
"You can crush my body if you want…" Atem growled, "but I… will never let you crush… my heart!"
"Heh, heh, heh, in that case," Dartz said, slowly pulling the board, "I'll crush them both at once and put you out of your misery!" Slowly the board began to slip. "So long Prince Charming." Then suddenly, the nomarch felt something sharp strike the back of his hand, the hand that held the Siren's Pearl. With a yelp of pain, he was forced to throw the Pearl right behind him. And guess who managed to catch it? That's right! It was none other than Prince Yugi, who had managed to regain consciousness and get himself back up. He glared as Dartz turned around and faced him. "What?!" Dartz shouted in shock.
"Don't think you'll take me down that easily, Dartz!" Yugi said.
"Why you--" Dartz roared, getting off of his previous prey and raising his blade staff. But Atem, sensing the distraction and pinned down no longer, let out and battle cry and he made his attack, basically shoving himself up and out of the oyster. Dartz immediately turned around to face the elder twin when he heard the battle cry, but this time, he could not react fast enough. He stared in utter shock as Atem's sword plunged deep into his stomach, just below where his heart is. The sea around them had turned red with clouds of blood.
Atem's glared hard, and Dartz lifted a shaky hand. The Blind Prince pulled his sword out, put it in his sheath, and grabbed his enemy by the hair on top of his head. "So much for dominating the Delta." Atem said. Then, feeling the top shell of the oyster with his free hand, he shoved Dartz right inside the oyster, and kicked away the wooden board with his right foot.
"NOOOOOOO!" screamed the wounded Dartz as the top of the oyster shell crashed down and clamped shut, trapping him inside. A powerful gush of water struck Shield and Yugi, rolling them over toward the rest of the team. Right at the very same time, however, Atem felt a stab of pain in his right ankle, and his cloak became a little tighter. He weakly tried to move, but he found that he was held fast.
"Yeah!" Jonouchi cheered, "You did it!"
"Way to go you guys!" Anzu said smiling, and she hugged Yugi as he sat up, a little dizzy from the spinning.
"Are you all right Anzu?" Yugi asked.
"I am now, Yugi." Anzu said, "And so will Nimea and all the others, thanks to you and--"
"Atem?!" Mana said suddenly, seeing the Blind Prince float motionlessly by the oyster, "Atem, what's wrong?" All the others looked up and became worried. By the way he held his head, he looked as though he was feeling faint and ill. Finally, though, he lifted his head up.
"What the hell just happened?" he said, "I'm stuck! I can't move an inch!"
"Oh no!" Mai gasped.
"Atem!" Yugi shouted in alarm. Shield, who had hidden her head in horror of the gushing water, now peered through the cloudy, bloody water. All at once, she rushed toward her trapped friend, just as the sand settled down.
"Aaah! By the gods of the desert!" she panicked. When she finally got close enough, she let out a sigh of relief.
"What is it Shield?" Honda asked worriedly.
"It's all right everyone!" Shield said, "It's not as bad as I feared. Atem, I thought your whole foot was caught, but as it turns out, that rush of water has saved you from suffering the same fate as Dartz!"
"Well, what do you see?" Atem asked.
"Your ankle has been cut; it's bleeding along with your battle wounds even as I speak. But thankfully, it's only the hem of your cloak that keeps you a prisoner."
"Thank God!" Seth said, and the others sighed in relief.
"Okay Atem, don't move." Shield instructed, "I'm going to bite through it, that is if you don't mind."
"Not at all," Atem said, "Thank you." As the sea turtle snipped off and spat out bits of cloth, Yugi swam forward.
"Here's the Siren's Pearl Atem." he said, handing the prize over to his elder twin brother.
"Thank you Yugi." Atem replied. It was at this moment, he felt something cold and slimy slither against his arm and the hand that now held the Pearl. He would have thought that it was a sea snake, had it not been for a familiar voice that spoke to him.
"Hello again Yugi!" Ryou said, "In all my life, I would never have guessed that you and your twin brother are both princes! I feel honored to have been able to help you. And Atem, by succeeding where everyone else has failed, you've actually inspired me! Anyway, I'd best be going. I can only hope that we'll meet again soon! Tootles!" and with that, the red eel swam away, and was gone in a flash by the time Mahaad swam over to help Shield.
"Ptooey!" Shield said as she spat out one more piece of cloth, "Oh Mahaad, how nice of you! I was going to ask for some assistance."
"Glad I can help. I'll take it from here." Mahaad replied, and he used the dagger he borrowed from Seth to cut the last bit of cloth. "All right Atem, you're free. Now let's get you healed up before we leave. You do the honors Seth."
"Gladly." replied Seth, and immediately cast a healing spell on his cousin. The others stared at the oyster as the High Priest did his work.
"He's not going to come back out, is he?" Anzu asked in concern.
"It's highly unlikely." Mahaad replied. "I don't think the oyster would even want to free him. Besides, it would be another five hundred years before another Siren's Pearl replaces the one we took out, and by the time that happens, Dartz would already be dead. So basically, the Delta kingdom has seen the last of him." Finally, Seth was finished, and Atem stood before his friends, with no sign of a single scar to show that he had been injured.
"All right everyone." Atem said, "Now that we got the Siren's Pearl, let's head back to the surface."
"In that case, I'll stay here and wait for you." Otogi said. "And before you leave Atem… I must admit it. I was surprised when I discovered that you're a prince!"
"Hey, we know just how you feel when it comes to surprises." Jonouchi said with a grin. "We'll see you again in your true form!" The three-headed swordfish nodded. And so Atem took hold of Shield's shell and all the others, including Mahaad, followed him out of the cave, and through the cold green water. Then they all swam upward, through the forest of giant seaweed until the water grew warmer—with the blessed sunlight of the surface.
Back at the surface, Kisara and Shizuka were waiting anxiously with the royal ferryman in their boat. "It's been five days since they left!" Shizuka said, weaving her newest basket. "I hope nothing bad has happened! I'm so worried!"
"I'm just as worried as you are Shizuka." said Kisara, "But for their sake, we mustn't give up hope." Shizuka gave no reply, so the peasant girl went back to looking at the water. Suddenly, someone rose up and broke the surface of the water. Kisara shrieked in surprise, since the first ones to come up was right in her face! Shizuka looked up from her basket weaving, and her worry vanished and became utter joy.
"Atem! Yugi! Shield! It's you!" she said. It wasn't long before the rest of the team rose up, and Jonouchi grinned.
"What up Sis?" Jonouchi greeted, "Did you miss us?"
"Jonouchi! You're all right!" Shizuka said joyfully, "And so is everyone else! For a moment, I thought we lost you forever!"
"You don't need to worry anymore Hon," Mai said.
"That's right, we're back!" Honda said.
"Seth! You're safe! Thank the gods of the desert you're safe!" Kisara said, taking hold of the High Priest's hands. Tears of joy were streaming down her eyes, and Seth smiled.
"I told you somebody's going to get the Siren's Pearl!" Seth said.
It was at that moment that Atem lifted up said Pearl for all to see and added, "And that 'someone' is us! Right Yugi?"
"Right!" Yugi replied with a wink. "Let's get back to shore, shall we?" As Jonouchi, Mai, and Seth got on board to join Shizuka and Kisara, the two girls stared in wonder and the newly recovered Siren's Pearl… and so did the astonished ferryman!
Note: This story's not over yet! In the next chapter, the heroes have a time of rest. Then they all have an audience with Pharaoh Setna-- and Pharaoh Akunumkanon! What else happens? You just have to find out! Until next time!