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 for the review from Guest and no problem about updating my story. I would appreciate any responses that you have, please enjoy
Chapter 24: - Death-Calling Ouija Board
Quivering in Kylie's arms I looked at the duel, worry churned my stomach as I tried to think about what could be causing such worry; it wasn't my fear that was causing the shaking, instead it was something else… there was something else here in this dark place but I couldn't see it, all I knew of this strange entity was that it was filled with bubbling, roaring hatred.
"I direct attack with Magnet Warrior Gamma!" Yami declared. The chosen monster proceeded to race forward and common sense told me that Yami should have won this, Dark Bakura's Life Points should have plummeted to zero and this duel would be over, yet my instincts were in direct opposition to that common sense that it deeply confused me as I gripped my sister even tighter.
Suddenly something, it looked like a ghost, shot out of Gamma and straight toward Yami confusing all of us but I knew that ghost was the hateful entity that I'd been sensing since Dark Sanctuary activated; the ghost flew through Yami as Dark Bakura declared Spirit Burn with Yami trying to figure out what had just happened as the evil spirit laughed.
"You must be really surprised. He's been possessed by the Hateful Spirit of Dark Sanctuary, the Onryou. The Onryou becomes an Equipment Card and attached itself to one of the opponent's monsters," Dark Bakura explained. Yami clarified that this evil ghost was inside of Gamma then the madman revealed that Onryou would attack when ordered but it would be Yami that took the damage of half the possessed monster's attack points.
Yugi – LP: 4000 – LP: 3250
"And the seven hundred and fifty you lost will be added to my Life Points," Dark Bakura revealed. My mouth unhinged upon hearing the last bit and I almost felt like yelling at the spirit for this underhanded card, except at that exact moment the creepy spirit flew right by us causing me to squeak in fright and I moved closer to my sister for comfort until the ghost left our area, letting me relax, even if it was only by a hair's breadth.
Dark Bakura – LP: 150 – LP: 900
"You absorbed my life?!" Yami questioned. This Dark Sanctuary was a truly terrifying card with all the effects that it had thanks to that accursed ghost, Yami had to figure out a way to get rid of that damned thing before he ended up running low on Life Points; Dark Bakura claimed it was too early for the ancient spirit to be surprised and claimed it was the start of his deck's terror.
"Lovely," Kylie drawled. Sometimes I wish I wasn't so scared of things like this wishing I could be more like my sister, Dark Bakura made his move by pulling a card from his deck and then proceeded to activate the Permanent Trap known as Ouija Board, naturally those native to Japan or less travelled were confused by the objects appearance as Jounouchi wondered what it was.
"I-In We-Western c-countries a Ouija B-Board i-is u-used t-to co-communic-cate wi-with sp-spirits," I shakily explained. Shizuka wondered if it was similar to Japan's Fox Spirit whilst Anzu claimed it was creepy; Dark Bakura explained the function of the Ouija Board to spell out a message from the spirits with the planchette moving across the board until the hole in its' surface encompassed a letter, this letter from D.
As if responding to the chosen letter a small pale blue fireball appeared in the air with the letter D hovering within its' circumference, Yami was surprised by this but Dark Bakura laughed at this and went on to reveal in the coming turns that four new letters would join the D on the field and these letters were E, A, T and H; there was only one word those five letters spelled out and that was Death which Yami also managed to figure out.
"That's right! When all the letters of 'death' mark the message of demise, even if you still have Life Points remaining, you'll be eliminate right on the spot!" Dark Bakura explained. He then began to laugh , this meant that Yami had at least only four turns left until the message was fulfilled and with that Hateful Spirit flying about able to possess Yami's monster it made it a risk to attack Dark Bakura.
However there had to be a price to pay for Dark Sanctuary to stay on the field, it was simply too powerful for there to be no cost attached to it at all; true Dark Necrofear's destruction activated it but that didn't mean there were no further costs attached to it, Dark Bakura then proceeded to activate a Magic Card known as The Dark Door which forced Yami to only attack with one monster each turn.
'Rats! With that Yami'll have to take a gamble on which monster is possessed and if he guesses wrong then that's it for attacking that turn. Unless he manages to draw Cyclone or something like that sooner than four turns.' I thought. As I did Dark Bakura proceeded to set one card face down and he then summoned out Earthbound Spirit in attack mode, he was really confident in the spirit keeping him safe.
Earthbound Spirit – Attribute: Earth, Type: Demon, Level: 4, ATK/500, DEF/2000
"I plan to sacrifice this guy," Dark Bakura revealed. That confused me as it did Kylie seeing as how explaining his intention's wasn't necessary and there was a risk that Yami's choice in attacking monster might be correct thus preventing his sacrifice. "The Permanent Field Magic, Dark Sanctuary, requires a sacrifice each and every turn. Turn over!" Dark Bakura declared. In response the newly summoned monster was swallowed up as had been the intent.
At least now I knew of the price required and several counter strategies flitted through my head as to how that could be stopped, of course nothing would happen if Yami didn't have the necessary cards to follow through with any of the counter strategies that I thought up; the ancient spirit drew a card and proceeded to analyse his cards before making his move by summoning out Kuriboh.
Kuriboh – Attribute: Dark, Type: Demon, Level: 1, ATK/300, DEF/200
Whilst Kuriboh normally brightened my day no matter what, this time however it didn't because of how terrifying everything else was at this moment that prevented me from feeling any joy upon the furball's appearance, Yami then proceeded to have Black Magician Girl move in for the attack; however the blonde magician proceeded to freeze up as the Onryou surged out and smashed into Yami, this latest Spirit Burn brought the duelists' Life Points to be almost equalised.
Yugi – LP: 3250 – LP: 2000
Bakura – LP: 900 – LP: 2150
Naturally Yami was surprised by this turn of events but the fact that this evil spirit could change between hosts seemed obvious and Dark Bakura went on to state that this was indeed the case and Yami had to be careful with his choices or risk self-destruction, Yami had no choice but to end his turn since he had no other useful cards in his hand thus this caused the letter E to appear much in the same way its' predecessor did.
Dark Bakura bragged about how every time Yami's turn came to an end then another letter of the death message would be brought to play in the duel, suddenly Kylie let out a small hum sound as she starred at Dark Bakura's duel disk and I noticed that Yami was doing the same thing so I turned my gaze to the object and I saw that he currently had four cards resting in his Magic/Trap zone.
"Bakura, before you gather the 'Death' letters, you still require three more of the Death message cards. But you only have one open slot on your disk open!" Yami stated. That was true and as such without two more slots being free then Yami was safe for far longer than four turn; however instead of being surprised or angered by the acknowledgement, the evil instead proceeded to grin.
"Thank you for the warning. But don't go thinking you found a weakness in my strategy!" Dark Bakura insisted. The way he was confident about Yami knowing this fact caused my lips to twisted into a deep frown as I wondered what he was up to. "Let me explain, Dark Sanctuary doesn't have the Onryou as its' Special Ability! I can now play both Magic and Trap cards in the Monster Zone slots on the disk!" Dark Bakura explained.
Naturally all of us were shocked by this announcement and I think Kylie started to choke a little judging by the weird sounds that she ended up making, things were definitely going to get worse before they could get any better and I was worried about whether Yami would be able to stop the message from being completed and win the duel.
"My Occult combo is perfect! Yugi! Your life ends in three turns! You can't escape this fate!" Dark Bakura declared. The others watching with us were naturally worried about this turn of events but all we could do was hold out hope that Yami would be successful in stopping the Ouija Board as Honda pointed out although Mai reminded them that none of us – expect maybe Dark Bakura – knew which monster was possessed by the Hateful Spirit.
"Big brother, is Yugi-san going to lose?" Shizuka asked. Jounouchi's response was it wouldn't happen showing the complete faith that he had in his best friend and it was something that we could all draw strength from as we were forced to watch our friend struggle in this duel; Dark Bakura made his move by summoning out Critter.
Critter – Attribute: Dark, Type: Demon, Level: 3, ATK/1000, DEF/600
Dark Bakura then proceeded to sacrifice Critter in order to keep Dark Sanctuary on the field thus leaving him unprotected but its' sacrifice did allow the psychotic spirit to add a monster with fifteen hundred attack points or less into his hand, with that done Dark Bakura proceeded to end his turn thus giving Yami a chance to escape from the death trap he was currently stuck in.
"My turn! Draw!" Yami announced. He removed the top card and I noticed that the crazy spirit was smirking, only he could see the Onryou before the spirit launched its' attack on Yami and as such only he would know the monster that was chosen; Yami looked between his monsters attempting to determine which one was possessed, Kuriboh was obviously out so that left Black Magician Girl and Magnet Warrior, there was a lump in my throat as we waited for Yami to make a decision.
"I summon Big Shield Gardna, in defence mode!" Yami announced. The monster was projected onto the field and we could at least be assured that this monster wasn't possessed but attacking with it would be even more useless than attempting to attack with Kuriboh due to its' low attack power, I let out a shaky breath as we continued to wait for the inevitable choice.
Big Shield Gardna – Attribute: Earth, Type: Warrior, Level: 4, ATK/100, DEF/2600
"Haven't you realised it yet Yugi! There's no point in trying to defend yourself!" Dark Bakura mocked. Even though it left a vile taste in my mouth I had to admit that the psychopath was right and Yami had to pick one of his monsters since by this turn's End Phase he'd only have two more left and if he didn't do anything this turn it'd be a waste of a potential opportunity to win or at least regain the lead.
"I attack with Magnet Warrior Gamma!" Yami announced. The chosen monster proceeded to attack but Dark Bakura quickly activated a Trap card known as Dark Spirit of the Silent which let the evil spirit choose which of Yami's monsters attacked; naturally the psychopath would choose the one possessed by the Hateful Spirit and Black Magician Girl was forced to attack – tears bubbling in her green eyes as she did – causing Onryou to surge forth and smash into Yami, stripping him of more Life Points and giving them to Dark Bakura.
Yugi – LP: 2000 – LP: 750
Bakura LP: 2150 – LP: 3400
The evil spirit was completely assured of his victory with even Otogi believing that there was no way to stop the combo that had been set up, sadly that proceeded to upset Shizuka which got Honda angry at the shop owner for worrying the brunette girl; the girl turned to her brother but Jounouchi didn't respond to her, so Kylie reached over to lay a hand on the girl's shoulder causing her to look at my sister with surprise in her eyes.
"He'll win, have a little faith Shizuka," Kylie reassured. We turned our attention back to the duel with Dark Bakura continuing to mock Yami who was quiet and not making any moves, he must have been trying to figure out what moves he could make to escape the combo standing before him, I noticed Yami's eyes narrow before he set two cards face down.
"So you still continue on with your futile strategies even when the certainty of death awaits you?!" Dark Bakura mocked. Yami stated that he would always survive that one turn in order to see the possibilities that the next turn would bring him. "Don't make me laugh, there are no 'new possibilities'!" Dark Bakura retaliated. Yami proceeded to end his turn allowing the evil spirit to activate his third Spirit Message bringing A onto the field and tightening the tension on the field.
After mocking Yami a little more, Dark Bakura finally made his move by bringing a monster onto the field, it was so obvious that the only reason he was bringing out such a monster was to sacrifice it for his Dark Sanctuary; he was so confident in the combo that he had set up that he saw no possibility of him losing, the evil spirit summoned out Grudge Aggregate.
Grudge Aggregate – Attribute: Earth, Type: Demon, Level: 2, ATK/900, DEF/200
Just as predicted Dark Bakura sacrificed his monster to protect Dark Sanctuary and then proceeded to gloat about the victory he was so certain he had in just two more turns before ending his turn; Yami's response was to claim that the evil spirit had become full of himself and it would have been safer to keep his ego in check, naturally Dark Bakura was insulted and angered by the ancient spirit's taunting words.
"Bakura… in my next two turns, I will crush your Occult Combo!" Yami declared. Mai asked if he had found a way to fight back and Jounouchi was equally happy about this fact and stated his belief in his friend for finding a way out of this situation, however I was still metaphorically holding my breath until Yami actually managed to stop Dark Bakura's combo.
Yami proceeded to start his turn but the psychotic spirit Yami was facing didn't believe our friend's claim of beating his combo and even believed that Yami was the one full of himself; however Yami's response was that a Duelist had as many possibilities as the cards that where held in their hand as he moved to readjust his hand before activating one of the face downs he played last turn.
"Trap Card! Collected Power! Every Equipment Card on the field is now equipped to Kuriboh!" Yami announced. As a result of the Trap card, the Incantation Book of Black Magic attached to Black Magician Girl appeared above her and then flew to land in front of the little furball; all Equipment cards also included the Hateful Spirit meaning that we now knew which monster was possessed by the Onryou.
As Yami explained what was going on I noticed that poor Kuriboh seemed to be greatly confused by the book resting in front of it which caused a small giggle to come from me, the Onryou then surged from Black Magician Girl and into poor Kuriboh; however Yami wasn't finished as he used Exorcism in order to destroy all face up Demon-type monsters and Kuriboh was a Demon-type.
Thanks to Exorcism Kuriboh would be destroyed alongside all of its' Equipment cards as a result which meant that the spirit haunting Dark Sanctuary was destroyed as well meaning that none of Yami's monsters would be possessed anymore and he was safe from taking any damage when making an attack against Dark Bakura now.
"I wouldn't get too cocky if I were you, Yugi! It's not as if you've completely broken my Occult Combo or anything!" Dark Bakura warned. However Yami's response to the evil spirit was that he wasn't done with his turn yet which caused the white haired man to freeze briefly as his eyes widened, I looked at the face down card that remained on Yami's field.
There was definitely one way I could think of to defeat this dangerous combo and it required the destruction of Dark Sanctuary since that card was the cornerstone of Dark Bakura's entire strategy, the way to stop that card was related to its' activation requirements; those around us cheered the ancient spirit on but I felt a sharp spike of magical energy come from behind me causing me to look backwards as did Kylie.
Our eyes locked onto Namu before turning back as we cast each other a sideward glance, neither of us trusted this boy and I wondered what he could possibly be up to and what kind of magic he was using… it actually felt similar to my Millennium Gauntlet which left a sour taste in my mouth at the possible meaning behind that feeling so I tightened my hands as I focused on the duel before me.
"Bakura! I'm going to destroy your Occult Combo! The Magic Card, Resurrection of the Dead!" Yami announced. The card rose up and in response a light began to shine from Dark Bakura's graveyard meaning that the monster was coming from his sacrificed group. "Dark Necrofear revives!" Yami revealed. The terrifying creature emerged back onto the field alongside its' creepy doll cradled in the monster's arms.
As a result of the monster's return, Dark Sanctuary started to destabilise and proceeded to fade away causing my body to relax without that oppressive aura bearing down on my shoulders; Yami stated that since Dark Sanctuary was gone then Dark Bakura had lost his extra spaces with only one free slot left on his Duel Disk, ergo if he wanted to complete the Death message then he had to get rid of The Dark Door, opening himself up to a series of attacks if he did so.
"Now I can attack you with this guy! Dark Necrofear! Prey for Death Gaze!" Yami declared. The blue skinned monster widened its' eyes causing red beams to shoot from the orbs and over towards Dark Bakura, hitting him for the first time since Dark Sanctuary's activation and finally depleting some of his vastly accumulated Life Points. "Now my turn is over!" Yami stated. I looked at Dark Bakura to see that the evil spirit was rather angered by the blow he'd been dealt.
Bakura – LP: 3400 – LP: 1200
"Ouija Board's effect activates!" Dark Bakura declared. The fourth letter was brought onto the field but as a result the final open slot on the psychopath's Duel Disk had been filled and Yami explained the condition for Dark Bakura to complete his message that I had already spotted, Yami also stated the problem that would occur if he did remove The Dark Door also Dark Bakura wouldn't be able to get enough monsters out to protect him from taking damage.
Dark Bakura really wasn't taking this well, whilst the others were completely assured that our friend was going to win this duel; however there was something I just couldn't shake off yet until the last Life Point fell away, Dark Bakura swore not to lose and then proceeded to draw a card from his deck but upon seeing it, he began to laugh.
"That's far enough Yugi! So long as I have this card, you can't stop my Occult Combo!" Dark Bakura announced. Jounouchi was shocked by this and wondered if the evil spirit actually had a strategy in mind to defeat Yami, even I was a little sceptical of what card Dark Bakura could use to possibly prevent Yami from winning this duel.
"Just what card did he draw?" Yami wondered. That was truly the question upon each of our minds.