Yugi grits his teeth as the Terrorking Salmon is charging at him, swimming with a creepy underwater bellow.
'This is the end, Yugi,' Mako cries triumphantly.
'I activate my set card,' Yugi declares. With a gesture of his, he makes his face down card turn face up.
'WHAT?' Mako cries, his eyes bulging. He had a trap card over there all this time? Why didn't he activate it earlier?
'Nutrient Z,' Yugi haughtily declares the name of the card. It depicts a strange looking container with a Z symbol carved on it and the 4000 number below that symbol. The aforementioned container is decorated with the statuette of a bat on top of it. 'I can activate it when I'm about to take 2000 or more points of damage. I gain 4000 life points!'
Mako curses as Yugi's life points increase to 4600. Then, after the Terrorking Salmon has bitten him, they decrease to 2000.
Mako sighs and ends his turn, disappointed. True, he still has a great advantage, but, for a moment, he thought this duel was already over. This is frustrating.
Yugi draws, with a determined expression. He escaped defeat, but he knows he still has a long way to go to win this duel.
Ishizu is walking back to the hotel she's staying at, with passers by turning their heads and looking at her curiously; a woman dressed like that is not a usual sight in the developed world. What they don't know is that, right now, underneath her veil, she's smiling, something she does so rarely.
Today's events have given her hope! She was standing in front of the window in her room and gazing when she felt the aura of a God. She doesn't know how she sensed it, she just did. Perhaps, all those years she counted too much on the powers of her Millennium Item, which was proven useless in the end, she lost sight of her natural intuition.
In any case, the fact that Obelisk appeared in the deck of that girl is a sign. A sign that Gods haven't abandoned humanity. A sign that there is still hope! Perhaps even for her brother!
Mai is standing on the bank of a lake and looking at her sexy reflection. Yeah, she knows that she's sexy. She sees no reason not to admit it. She sees no reason to be modest about it either. She's too smart NOT to be aware of the effect she has on most men.
What were those things that Isa chick told her about Gods? Lol, just imagine. Wouldn't it be funny if it turned out that those grotesque giants Ancient Egyptians used to draw and worship existed for real?
The woman raises her eyes to the sky. 'God guys,' she whispers. 'Have you been up there all along? Did you already know me when I was born? Were you up there and looking at me when I went through the hell that my childhood was? Then why didn't you do anything about that, Gods? What kind of God would just stand idly by while...'
Mai abruptly stops. She lowers her eyes to her reflection anew and laughs. She can't believe she really tried to initiate conversation with some nonexistent...
That moment, an eerie, distorted voice interrupts her thoughts. 'At last! I have found you, Mai Valentine!'
The woman gasps, turns around and sees Strings, Marik's brainwashed doll, standing across from her, with his duel disk ready for battle.
'I play the Swords of Revealing Light,' Yugi declares and activates, from his hand, the spell card showing three swords reflecting a blinding, white light. 'Now you cannot attack me for three turns.'
The aforementioned swords plummet, seemingly from the sky, and trap Mako's salmon, which freezes.
The tan skinned duelist growls.
Yugi plays a monster in defense mode before ending his turn. Mako cannot discern the newly summoned creature behind the Swords of Revealing Light, but he can tell it's just a weak, vanilla monster.
'My turn,' a frustrated Mako unnecessarily declares and draws. Well, he cannot attack for three turns, but that doesn't mean he has to be idle. He can keep strengthening his forces while waiting for those fucking swords to go away.
'I play the Star Boy (550/500) in defense mode.'
A red starfish appears. It has a single eye and a mouth which reveals a series of sharp teeth as the creature opens it and lets out a growl. Creepy!
'As long as this monster is on the field, all water monsters on the field, including itself, gain 500 ATK points.'
Yugi curses as the Terrorking Salmon's ATK points increase to 3100.
'Then I equip my star fish with the Heart of Clear Water,' Mako carries on, playing the aforementioned equip spell card. 'It can be equipped only to monsters with less than 1300 ATK points, but, even having got the power boost from the Legendary Ocean and its own effect (1250 ATK), the Star Boy is still weak enough to meet this requirement.'
The aforementioned heart, which looks like a head from a horror movie, attaches itself to the Star Boy. 'As long as this card is attached to a monster, that monster cannot be destroyed in battle or by effects that target it! Your turn! Two more turns until I can attack again.'
Yugi draws and smiles. Time for our counterattack!
'I summon Gamma the Magnet Warrior (1500/1800) in attack mode.'
A pink, short robot made of magnets appears on the field, clenching its metal, gray fists.
Mako raises an eyebrow. What is the opponent up to?
'Next, I play the spell card Ties of Brethren.'
Yugi places a spell card from his hand on the board. It depicts three felinoids wearing armor, wielding swords and charging at some unseen common enemy.
'By paying 1000 life points, I get to summon, from my deck, two low level monsters of the same category as a low level monster on my field.'
Yugi's life points drop to 1000 and two other magnet warriors appear at each side of Gamma: Beta and Alpha.
Beta the Magnet Warrior (1700/1600) is yellow and has tiny eyes. Alpha the Magnet Warrior (1400/1700) is gray and faceless; he's wielding a sword and a shield.
'Monsters summoned by this effect can neither attack nor be tributed, Yugi,' Mako sighs. 'Are you supposed to somehow win by defending indefinitely?'
Yugi chuckles. 'Who said I'm gonna defend anymore? MAGNET WARRIORS, UNITE! FORM AN UNSTOPPABLE FORCE. VALKYRION THE MAGNET WARRIOR (3500/3850).'
The three little monsters merge, moreover without the help of some Polymerization card, and form a much taller and more imposing magnet warrior.
Mako gasps.
'Furthermore,' Yugi continues, 'as if he wasn't already strong enough, I equip my new monster with the Lightning Blade.'
This spell card depicts a sword surrounded by sparks. The aforementioned sword appears in Valkyrion's hand, replacing the one he was already holding.
'Not only does this electric sword strengthen my already super powerful warrior but also it weakens all water monsters on the field.'
Mako gasps as Valkyrion's ATK power rises to 4300 points and the Terrorking Salmon's ATK power drops to 2600.
'VALKYRION,' Yugi points forward, 'FRY THIS FISH!'
The merged magnets charge at the salmon and strike it with their sword, causing it to flail as it is electrocuted. The Terrorking Salmon finally breaks into a million tiny pieces and Mako's life points drop to 2300.
'I bet one locator card,' Mai declares. Since she needs one more locator card to qualify for the finals, she has no reason to wager more.
'Whatever, I don't care,' Strings, who is actually Marik speaking through this body, shrugs. 'I don't want your locator cards anyway, Valentine. I want your God Card. And to kill you!'
Mai inwardly admits that the anticipation in his tone of voice when he said he wants to kill her is giving her the creeps. But she's (successfully) trying to act cool and fearless. 'Okay, Marik, or whatever your name is. I understand, more or less, from what you've said so far, why you want to kill Yugi. But why do you want to kill me too, dude? Are you secretly gay and jealous of my big boobs or something?'
'I hate the Pharaoh and, as a result, I hate anything and anyone related to him as well,' Marik explains.
Mai rolls her eyes. 'Let's duel,' she says and produces a coin. 'Heads or tails?'
Mako is looking at the field for a while, dumbfounded, as if he is expecting something to be different from a moment ago. As if he's expecting things to magically go back to the way they were the previous turn, when he had the upper hand. No, nothing like this happens. Yugi has a monster with 4300 ATK points on the field and, to make matters worse, Mako is still unable to attack for two turns, even if he finds a way to overpower Yugi's absurdly strong magnet.
'Your turn, Tsunami,' the boy with multicolored hair smiles provocatively.
Mako growls and clenches a fist. No, it cannot end like this. It just can't!
Remember, Mako. Remember the reason you became a duelist. Your father died when you still were very young. Because of the sea. The sea, which you loved more than anything else, and, surprisingly, you still love more than anything else, even though it is your father's murderer.
You lived in a poor village. It was because of your father's hard work that you barely managed to at least graduate from primary school and get some elementary education. It was because of your father's death that you couldn't continue getting education, you couldn't go to middle school. Because you now were the one who had to fish to feed yourself but also your mother and siblings.
You participated in the Japanese duel monsters championship. With your water themed deck. And, just as you fought hard and won at sea, you fought hard and won in cards too. You reached the semi finals, where you lost to Weevil Underwood; the only participant who managed to defeat you was the one who later won the trophy!
Even so, you won the match for the third place. The prize money you won along with the bronze medal was enough to offer your family a better life, at least for the time being. But it wasn't enough for you.
That's why you entered the Duelist Kingdom as well. To buy a larger boat, to stop 'working for the man', to become the boss of yourself.
And that's why you entered the Battle City. So win, Mako. Just win!
The lightly dressed duelist draws. Yes! He knew that, just as he tames the sea, he can tame his luck as well.
'I play Big Wave Small Wave,' he cries and places on the disk a spell card depicting various sea creatures drowning... in lava.
'It allows me to destroy all water monsters on my field. In exchange, I get to special summon, from my hand, as many water monsters as the ones I destroyed.'
A wave of lava engulfs and destroys the Star Boy (since it didn't specifically target that monster, the Heart of Clear Water couldn't protect it).
'And now, I summon a level eight monster. OCEAN DRAGON LORD NEO DAEDALUS (2900/1600).'
A gargantuan, two headed, serpent like creature appears. Its belly is violet and its back is light blue.
'What is that thing?' Yugi cries.
'Don't get desperate yet,' Mako chuckles, arms crossed. 'Let me tell you about its effect first. By sending the Legendary Ocean from the field to the graveyard, all cards on the field AND in our respective hands are destroyed. All cards except this monster!'
'It does WHAT?'
With a swing of its tail, the Ocean Lord turns the water mass around them into a torrent that, as Mako said, sends any other card to its eternal rest. Yugi's monsters are destroyed. The swords of revealing light are destroyed. The water that has engulfed the field since the beginning of the duel is gone too.
Yugi is staring at the gigantic monster, with his eyes bulging. All cards on the field and in his hand! Gone! He is now all alone against this overpowered monster.
'Look your defeat in the eye, Yugi,' Mako uncrosses his arms and points forward. 'NEO DAEDALUS, DIRECT ATTACK!'