Good Day Readers. Obviously I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh only Kylie and Katherine Hope along with the unique cards within their decks and whatever other OCs decide to crop up. Also italics symbolise a mind conversation or a flashback, or something in another language.
Thank you to Guest for your review and yes, Seto and Mokuba have known the Hope sisters since they were children, it was shortly after the monster known as Gozubura adopted the brothers that they met. I would appreciate any responses that you have, please enjoy
Chapter 22: - The Destined Last Turn
Time seemed to stand still as we waited for Jounouchi to make his move given that this was most likely the last turn of this duel and that meant that me and Kylie had to be ready to spring into action at the slightest movementif we wanted to save the boys and Anzu before they died, acting before that moment was too dangerous since the Ghoul in the crane was watching us quite closely to make sure we didn't try and stop the duel; Honda let a curse slice through the silence surrounding us.
"Is there nothing we can do?" Otogi asked. Sad to say but there really wasn't anything we could do, all of us had basically walked right into the trap not knowing what cards Marik held and knowing we didn't have a damn thing that could help us in this scenario, even with mine and Kylie's magic the threat on Anzu's life was enough to make our magics stay contained until the opportune moment arrived, we had been gathering magic the entire duel just waiting for it to come.
"Not without dropping that container on Anzu," Kylie stated. Mokuba stated the obvious to his brother, that we were almost out of time, then Anzu called over for someone to stop them and for us to forget about her yet Seto's expression twisted into a grimace at that thought so Kylie grabbed him and whispered in Seto's ear who looked at my sister but nodded in agreement to her suggestion, he then pressed the communicator on his collar and spoke into it.
Throughout all of this Jounouchi hadn't made a single move and I was beginning to worry about what card he could have possibly drawn to make him stop moving, perhaps the blonde boy and the psycho controlling him could have possibly been in a tug of over his mind and the inability to know what was going on inside of Jounouchi's head was really annoying, especially since any tampering with it could destroy Jounouchi's mind permanently.
I glanced at the thread that represented the connection between Jounouchi and the Millennium Rod which was leading away from the duel arena but the thickness of the cord displayed that Marik was much closer than the last few times he'd controlled someone which meant that he could be found if I moved fast enough once the others were safe but saving my friends came first.
Suddenly Jounouchi let out a grunt of pain as he raised a hand to his head causing everyone to focus on him as the blonde boy began to speak, Jounouchi seemed to be recalling his memories as a duelist which could possibly be the key to bringing Jounouchi back from the mind control since everything else that had been tried seemed to have failed, if not then I'd have to risk facing Marik to cut the cord off at the source.
"My… memories…," Jounouchi spoke. However something seemed to pulse along the cord causing the blonde's eyes to shrink down and then Jounouchi threw his head back and let out a scream as he fell to his knees whilst gripping his head with both of his hands, the hands dropped and his body began to violently shake. "SHUT UP ! I DON'T WANT TO HAVE THAT IN MY MEMORIES!" Jounouchi screamed. It had been so unexpected that I jumped and hugged Kylie's leg due to the shock.
"Jounouchi-kun!" Yugi called. However Jounouchi's hands returned to gripping his head causing me to apply pressure to my bottom lip as a pit opened in my stomach at seeing what Jounouchi had to be enduring because of the monster that was messing with our lives and treating us as if we were nothing but pawns to him, I glanced at the time left on the anchor and felt the pit widen as I realised there was less than two minutes left
'Damnit, this waiting around is damn near killing me. I wish I was strong enough to stop Marik's ambitions, here and now.' I thought. Feeling as if there was nothing I could do to help my friends because of how weak I was left a sour taste in my mouth at my lack of capabilities, Yugi then called out to Marik knowing he had to be watching the duel from somewhere and proclaimed that the only loser of this duel was Marik because Jounouchi had beaten him by not falling to his machinations.
However the bomb reached its' last minute, but Yugi declared that he was going to get Jounouchi's heart back which in Yugi's mind meant that even if both lost and were dragged into the sea then Marik would have lost the duel and that meant the psycho would remember it forever; Seto wondered what the boy could possibly be up to by saying those words although I think that Yugi was attempting to shake Marik's control over Jounouchi.
"Let's make a wager Marik! Will I get Jounouchi-kun's heart back first! Or will you take my Life Points to zero?! We've got no time left! So try attacking me, Marik!" Yugi challenged. My heart twisted tightly at the daring words that Yugi had thrown out at the psychopath that really wanted him and Yami dead, my hands had released Kylie's leg and were now twisting tight together, close to my chest.
"Don't…," Jounouchi spoke. I looked over at him and saw that the card which the blonde had recently drawn was glowing with an ominous light and the hand holding it was shaking but soon Jounouchi let out a scream as the familiar Eye of Wedjet appeared on the blonde's forehead, it seemed that Marik had completely taken control of Jounouchi in order to end this duel. "DIE YUGI! DEATH METEOR!"Jounouchi/Marik declared.
My heartbeat stilled as the blood in my veins promptly froze upon hearing the name of that Magic card, by paying five hundred the activator of this card was able to inflict one thousand points of damage onto the opponent and that was all that Yugi had left; as the card was activated the sky above the duel twisted into a swirling purple vortex with an empty black spot in the centre were the aforementioned meteor began to fall, at a crawling pace, out of.
Jounouchi – LP: 1100 – LP: 600
"Not good… very not good. Unless Yugi's face down card can save him… Katherine be ready to move," Kylie spoke, the last part in English. I barely registered the movement of my head in agreement due to the sheer amount of shock that I was currently suffering from, it almost felt like an out of body experience, I was that disconnected to the world before me.
The blazing orange and yellow orb of death shot out of the vortex straight towards Yugi which caused my breath to seize in my throat as I waited for something to happen, whether for the duel to end or for Yugi to pull some kind of reversal, however I felt a surge of strong will power cut through my numbed state and bring me back as I heard Jounouchi calling out for Yugi not to die and the symbol on his forehead was shattered and the cord dissolved to nothing… Jounouchi was free.
"Jounouchi-kun!" Yugi called. Relief thick within his tone at the fact that his best friend had managed to break free from the madman's complete control with tears gathering in his amethyst eyes. "Set card, open! Spirit's Mirror!" Yugi revealed. The card opened up to reveal the artwork and it was then projected out allowing the fairy to capture the meteor in its' mirror. "This is a counter Trap for when the opponent uses a Spell card. The Spirit's Mirror allows me to absorb and redirect the attack!" Yugi explained.
"Yugi…" Jounouchi called out. His eyes had returned to their normal expressive state but now Yugi had control of how this duel ended, whether the attack was redirected or – to my heart's serious discontent if the ache I felt was anything to go by – attack himself, a third option was to let the timer run out but that was the worst possible scenario. "Why are we fighting?" Jounouchi asked. He was holding the Millennium Puzzle and his expression was one of deep confusion.
"That's enough Jounouchi-kun. Our fight's over," Yugi admitted. I didn't like the way this conversation was going to go when Jounouchi repeated the last word again. "I believed… that we weren't the ones fighting in this duel. You were fighting Marik within your heart and I was fighting to ensure our friendship stayed intact. Even though I had to fight myself! And we both won!" Yugi carried on. I think he was only confusing Jounouchi even more than before, however the bomb had reached the last thirty seconds.
At that moment the sound of a chopper reached my ears as the wind began to tangle up my hair, Kylie touched my shoulder as we all turned to look at it beginning to fly over to the Ghoul and Anzu which caused Kylie's hand to tighten and so I immediately activated my magic and teleported myself to beside Anzu causing the brunette to yelp in surprise.
"Don't move!" Kylie ordered. Anzu turned still as a statue at my sister's words whilst the Ghoul whipped over to face us but I already placed a hand around Anzu's arm and Seto covered us by throwing a card straight into the Ghoul's hand holding the detonator forcing him to drop if and safely allowing me to activate my magic then both me and Anzu were teleported back to my previous location.
The Ghoul cursed me and Seto then made an attempt to retrieve the detonator probably to try and kill us by changing the crane's angle but Seto wasn't having any of that as he swung his knee into the Ghoul knocking the puppet to the ground, meanwhile the helicopter that had been called hooked the cable holding the container and swung it away causing the crane to fall over and into the sea, an explosion followed shortly after.
"HOW DID YOU DO THAT!?" I heard everyone that was not my sister demand. Shizuka had also had no part and simply looked around blindly at us, very confused by the sudden cry, I didn't answer and instead saw Kylie hand Seto his card back, his face was sour meaning it had probably been Blue-Eyes or Obelisk that he used to help us out, whoever it was I was really grateful to that card.
"Now isn't the time, Yugi and Jounocuhi need us," I insisted. The others seemed to swallow their words at what I said but I was right as we turned our attention back to the duel that was going on before us, neither duelist had made a move although I saw the relief in Yugi's eyes when he spotted that Anzu was free whilst Jounouchi was made even more confused by the occurrence.
"I played Spirit's Mirror so I can buy a little time. So I could say everything I wanted to say at the end… Jounouchi-kun, you taught me I wasn't alone. And you taught me courage… you're my best friend. Jounouchi-kun… I love you," Yugi admitted. Tears had gathered in both boy's eyes as the blonde boy had called out to the one speaking several times whilst Yugi spoke, speaking of which, Yugi had used the lesser Japanese phrase for love when he said that. "Spirit! Aim the Death Meteor attack at me!" Yugi demanded.
"YUGI! NO!" I screamed. However the Spirit complied as it spun around to face Yugi and the blazing ball was sent flying towards the boy causing the rest of us – except Seto and Shizuka – to cry out the boy's name whilst I felt tears slip down my face as the attack hit him causing a massive explosion and the area around Yugi was swallowed in light, eventually the light faded and Yugi slumped to his knees.
Yugi – LP: 1000 – LP: 0
As a result of Yugi's Life Points dropping, Jounouchi's box pinged open revealing his key and the bomb – which had reached the last damn second – beeped for a few moments before the timer reset itself to the thirty second time limit before the anchor dropped, Kylie didn't waste a second as she started moving again towards Yugi.
"Use the key! It'll unlock the shackle around your ankle!" Kylie yelled at Jounouchi. That startled me into action as I ran over to join my sister as we both knelt by Yugi's side, he was seriously exhausted but not to the point of unconsciousness as he managed to give Jounouchi information on the situation and how to escape it.
Me and Kylie found that the shackle couldn't be pried or cut off with magic, neither could its' chain, and when Kylie went to use her magic to create a key she yelped and practically jumped away as she violently shook her arm implying there was some kind booby trap in the keyhole and she'd probably just pulled away in time.
I moved over to the box holding Yugi's key and delicately scanned it, finding that there was magical booby traps and enchantments over it, meaning that everything else securing Yugi probably had those same protections and it would take too gods damned long for either me or Kylie to undo the bindings so I looped my arm around Yugi's chest, ready to teleport away as soon as possible since I had to gathered my magic once more.
"You idiot! I can't leave you behind and run away!" Jounouchi protested. However Yugi didn't listen as he removed his Duel Disk from his arm so that it wouldn't be dragged in with him. "What can I do? What the hell can I do?!" Jounouchi cried. However right after those words were said the blonde boy fell quiet but I didn't have time to focus on that as I continued gathering magic at a fast pace. "Red-Eyes! Attack me! Shoot a Black Flare Bullet and reduce my Life Points to zero!" Jounounchi commanded. That got a loud what from my sister as my eyes widened in understanding at what the blonde was attempting to do.
Red-Eyes complied and shot Jounouchi thus dropping the boy's Life Points to zero after that attack hit Jounouchi the holograms of the activated card proceeded to disappear as Red-Eyes let out once last roar; in compliance with the rules that Marik set out Yugi's box proceeded to pop open revealing the key that was necessary for us to set Yugi free from this accursed shackle.
Jounouchi – LP: 600 – LP: 0
I reached my hand forward only to scream as a violent shock ran up my arm, there had been a layer of enchantment inside the box to stop any magic user from getting the key, damn psycho sure took precautions against me and Kylie since I couldn't summon the key out either; I had ended up saying all of that information aloud from the shocked expression on Kylie and Jounouchi's faces.
"Yugi! I won't let you die!" Jounouchi declared. I saw the boy put down the Puzzle and his own Disk before grabbing the chain and so Kylie asked about his own key. "I don't have time to grab my own key!" Jounouchi stated. The crazy boy had grabbed a hold of the chain and proceeded to jump across the gaping middle using the chain as a grapple point to ensure he didn't fall into the sea mid-jump.
As Jounouchi neared I glanced at the bomb only to fine there were three seconds left; two seconds, Jounouchi reached out his hand desperately trying to close the distance between him and the box; one second, I kept gathering my own magic and reached my hand forward in order to grab Jounouchi so that I could teleport him safely to land; the bomb exploded and the anchor plummeted into the sea.
Reacting faster, Kylie lunged forward and grabbed the chain before surrounding herself in purple light and slamming both feet into the wooden decking as she pulled back but even Kylie with magical enhancements couldn't hold back a three kilogram weight for long, Jounouchi managed to grab Yugi's key just as all three were pulled off the wood and into the water.
"Someone grab the key in Jounouchi's box!" I cried. My mind was a whirl as I threw off my cardigan, sucked in a deep breath and dived into the water causing my eyes to flinch shut for a few minutes due to the sting of salt before I adapted and could open them, looking down I saw my sister holding onto the chain desperately kicking her legs to stay afloat as the anchor continued to sink, Jounouchi swam over to a an unconscious Yugi.
I swam down to my sister and added my own feeble strength and magic to the mix allowing us to begin swimming upwards but I could already feel my muscles shrieking in protest; Jounouchi unlocked Yugi so Kylie slapped me and gestured at the boy, her gaze was hard enough for me not to try and argue so I let go and swam over to Yugi, wrapping my arms around him I kicked off back up to the surface.
We emerged gasping for breath but I managed to pull myself and the exhausted boy over to the others, once close enough Honda swiftly grabbed the two of us and hauled us out but when they began to ask about Jounouchi, I realised none of them had grabbed the key that Jounouchi needed to escape so I struggled to my feet and attempted to move over to the other side to grab that damned key, but a sight stopped me and caused my eyes to widen.
That sight was, without a single hint of hesitation or fear in her beautiful green-brown eyes, Jounouchi's little sister Shizuka diving into the sea with a key in her hand; we didn't have to wait long before Kylie, Jounouchi and Shizuka allow broke the surface of the water, with the girls supporting the blonde who gasped for breath, Kylie smacked him on the back a few times before poking his cheek causing Jounouchi to look at her.
"Jounouchi… your sister is almost as amazing than my own," Kylie admitted. Jounouchi smiled weakly at my sister who broke away from them allowing the brother and sister to have their reunion before Yugi called out to his best friend and Jounouchi returned the greeting, the trio all swam to the edge and pulled themselves out. "Ahhh, I guess Marik hightailed whilst we were saving everyone's lives. I would have really like to kick that psycho's ass," Kylie complained. I one hundred percent agreed with her feelings on the matter.
"Yugi, I… I… s-sorry," Jounouchi apologised. Yugi stated that it was fine, however Jounouchi didn't accept this because of what he did to Yugi but the young boy pointed out that the blonde had protected what was most important to them and that was enough to him. "No, it's not enough! It's true I have no memory of when it first started, I was completely being controlled by that bastard. But I gradually became aware of what I was doing… I knew full well what I was doing to you and even then… I couldn't stop myself… I can't forgive myself for that. I'm a failure as a duelist!" Jounouchi ranted.
Before anyone else could response, Mai walked up and promptly slapped the blonde across the face causing him to shut up as he cradled the abused cheek whilst looking at the blonde vixen wide-eyed; Mai ordered him to stop being such a baby and was disappointed in how easily he threw away his duelist's pride, she reminded him of why he dueled so hard in the Duelist Kingdom and condemned him for wanting to hide now for something he'd done.
"I don't want Shizuka seeing me like this! I'm a failure of a brother! I'm already long passed gone!" Jounouchi argued. Honda yelled at the blonde to stop feeling sorry and told him that Shizuka had come all this way in order to give Jounouchi courage, that snapped Jounouchi back to reality as he looked at his sister. "That's right Shizuka… your eyes!" Jounouchi realised. Shizuka must have removed her bandages at some point before diving in and the girl cheerfully admitted that Jounouchi had given her enough courage.
"The first thing I saw… was you putting your life on the line to save Yugi-san!" Shizuka revealed. The girl was so happy that she had been reunited with her brother because of the support his friends and given her and the two siblings proceeded to embrace each other, it was a heart-warming scene and after all the chaos of the last hours, seeing those two reunited against the setting sun was such a relief that I almost slumped down to the ground from relief.
We walked off of the death match set up and returned to the boat we'd arrived at before, Jounouchi returned the Puzzle to Yugi whilst a Hope Industries car departed having given me and Kylie a much needed change of clothing, due the soaking we took thanks to our dives earlier, Seto and Mokuba then began to leave but not before Yugi called out to the older individual.
"Tell the other Yugi… no, Kylie called him Yami, tell Yami this; that you and your friends have given me 'the answer'. I'll be waiting for you at the final stage of the Battle City tournament!" Seto stated. I smiled at seeing Seto accept that Yugi and Yami were completely different individuals, but his final words had served to remind us that the final battle was coming and if Marik was going to take back Osiris and Obelisk then he'd do it at the Battle City Finals.
After a brief discussion about Shizuka watching the finals duels, Mai warning us not to underestimate her Amazoness deck and Jounouchi reconfirming his promise to duel Yugi as true duelists, Kylie lay out the puzzle cards on her deck which caused a holographic image of the final location to be projected from it but the others were confused by the place's appearance since they didn't know where it was.
"That's the area under construction by Kaiba Corporation," Kylie admitted. She removed the Puzzle cards and put them away before she turned to the rest of us. "Seto doesn't joke about dueling so we had best get going before we're late," Kylie suggested. The others nodded so Mai offered us a ride in her car which we all head over to and got in, well technically Mai, Shizuka, Yugi, me and Anzu got in whilst Kylie, Jounouchi, Honda and Otogi sat around the back with me and Kylie making chains to keep us locked onto the car.
"By the way… Kylie-san, Katherine-chan… exactly how did you do what you did earlier?" Mai tentatively asked. It was no surprise that this questioned was asked since I was excepting but it had taken longer than I previously thought it would for one of them to actually pose the question, looking at Kylie who nodded that she agreed to my non-voiced suggestion that we should explain things to everyone.
Yet before we could begin talking I felt the cold ripple of a Shadow/Dark game reaching its' conclusion wash over me and Kylie causing both of us to tense up in response to its' appearance, someone… perhaps Marik or that evil spirit or, even worse, someone we didn't know was up to something involving that dark power.