In an abandoned factory, where no living thing other than rats has set foot in a really long time, where a duel arena is conveniently located nonetheless (for some reason), a duel is taking place right now. In fact, one of the duels with the highest stakes in the history of duel monsters (both modern history and ancient history; because let's not forget that this game was played in Ancient Egypt too, albeit with real, bloodthirsty beasts instead of cards). Yugi Muto versus Rebecca Hawkins. Or, more correctly, Yugi Muto versus Marik Ishtar, since the latter is Yugi's true opponent. Marik, a tormented soul, whose life has made him so bitter as to abuse a little girl in a sadistic duel over the Millenium Puzzle.

It's Yugi's turn again. He has nothing that can defeat the Millenium Shield, a wall monster with 3000 DEF points. But he has to play a monster anyway for the duel to continue. 'I play the Curse of Dragon (2000/1500) in attack mode.'

A winged, golden, serpent like dragon appears, hovering above one of the squares on Yugi's field. It highlights its entrance with a flap of its wings and a dragon cry.

Back to Rebecca. 'And now, Yugi,' she says in a distorted voice, 'I equip this spell card to the Millenium Shield. Ring of Magnetism!'

The possessed girl places from her hand on the board a spell card depicting a badly aged hand wearing a glowing, green ring. Almost the very next moment, a larger version of the aforementioned ring appears on the field, surrounding Rebecca's monster, whose DEF points surprisingly drop from 3000 to 2500.

Yugi raises an eyebrow. Why did she play a card that made her monster weaker?

'Next,' Rebecca continues, placing one more card from her hand on the board, 'I play the Cannon Soldier (1400/1300) in defense mode and end my turn.'

A large robot appears on the field. Its limbs are purple, its torso is green and a tank cannon protrudes from its faceless head. With its legs making a mechanical sound, it kneels down into a defensive position.

Yugi gasps. In this early duel monsters era, when duels are still played with only 2000 life points, the Cannon Soldier is one of the most dangerous creatures in the game. By sacrificing another monster on their field, a player can command the Cannon Soldier to perform its special attack, outside of the battle phase, inflicting 500 points of direct damage on the opponent! Yugi has to get rid of that monster as soon as possible. In fact, right now!

'Curse of Dragon, attack the Cannon Soldier,' the boy cries anxiously, pointing at Rebecca's monster.

The dragon obeys Yugi's command and breaths fire. However, at that moment, something unexpected happens: The fire changes course and hits against the Millenium Shield! Even with 500 fewer DEF points than before, Rebecca's wall monster is still strong enough to withstand that attack. And although the Curse of Dragon remains on the field, since its attack against a defensive monster failed, the difference between the Millenium Shield's DEF and the attacking monster's ATK is inflicted as damage on Yugi.

'Your hell begins, Yugi,' Rebecca smiles, in a distorted voice and a sadistic tone thereof, as the life points of the boy decrease from 2000 to 1500.

The gasping lad does not bother asking. He has figured this out already; now that the Millenium Shield is equipped with the Ring of Magnetism, all Yugi's attacks will end up targeted at that monster. And, with 2500 DEF points, it's unlikely that Yugi will find a way to destroy it anytime soon!

'My turn again,' Rebecca triumphantly draws one more card. 'I play a second Witch of the Black Forest.'

A monster identical to the female one Yugi's Celtic Guardian slew earlier appears on the field. Yugi is not sure whether Marik played it in attack or defense mode, but it doesn't matter anyway. He's obviously going to sacrifice it right away in order to activate the Cannon Soldier's effect.

And indeed, as Yugi predicted: 'Now I switch the Cannon Soldier into attack mode.'

The machine straightens its legs, ominously. Yugi mumbles curses.

'Next, I tribute the Witch of the Black Forest. CANNON SOLDIER, CONDUCT YOUR SPECIAL ATTACK!'

The beautiful witch uncomplainingly turns into ectoplasm or something, which fuels the Cannon Soldier's cannon. The latter fires a blast which bypasses the Curse of Dragon and ends up hitting Yugi, causing a vibration which makes the boy wince as his life points further drop from 1500 to 1000.

'And of course, since the Witch of the Black Forest was sent to the graveyard, thanks to her effect, I get to add 1 more monster from my deck to my hand,' Rebecca casually explains.

'This isn't good,' the boy thinks, a bead of sweat on his temple, as he checks his hand. 'Unless I find a way out of this now, on her next turn, Rebecca will play another monster, then sacrifice that monster along with the Millenium Shield, in order to activate the Cannon Soldier's effect twice in a row. Then I will take 1000 points of direct damage and my life points will fall to zero.'

'Before I end my turn,' Rebecca declares, 'I also equip one more spell card to the Millenium Shield. Heart of Clear Water!'

'SON OF A...' Yugi cries in despair as the possessed girl places on the board a spell card that depicts a red heart. It doesn't look like the hearts drawn on Valentine Day cards, but rather like what a human heart really looks like! Also, there is a face on it. The aforementioned face has an expression of agony.

The aforementioned heart appears on the field and attaches itself to the Millenium Shield. 'This card can be equipped only to monsters with less than 1300 ATK points,' Rebecca unnecessarily explains. 'As long as this heart is on the Millenium Shield, that monster cannot be destroyed in battle or by effects that target it. In other words, even in the unlikely case you summon a monster strong enough to overcome my shield's 2500 DEF points, you still won't be able to destroy it. And the Ring of Magnetism will force you to attack only my shield every time you declare an attack!'

Yugi's eyes bulge in despair. This is one of the most ingenius combos he has ever seen. He doesn't know whether Rebecca really is that good herself or Marik's control improves her dueling skills. Either way, now he cannot touch the Cannon Soldier. Will he... (Yugi gulps)... will he lose on the next turn?

Marik causes the possessed girl to giggle, in her normal voice this time, in a manner that would seem so cute under different circumstances. Next, with her voice distorted anew, Rebecca points at Yugi and says, 'On my next turn, the puzzle is mine.'


Yami Mokuba is walking on the street, this time wearing the Millenium Ring in plain sight instead of hiding it underneath his clothes. The ornaments that normally just hang down from the ring are now raised, pointing in the direction Yami Mokuba has to go in to reach the place the Millenium Item signals are coming from.

'Show me the way to our enemy, ring,' the possessed boy caresses his Millenium Item with a malicious smile. 'If everything goes well, soon, I'll expand my Millenium Item collection.'


Yugi closes his eyes, trying to resist his urge to cry, which would give Marik further satisfaction. So will he lose his partner forever? Can he only spend his next turn watching helplessly until Rebecca's next turn comes, which will mark his loss?

Stupid him! How could he ever believe that he could win without his partner? It was the spirit of the Millenium Puzzle that always won the duels, it was the spirit of the Millenium Puzzle that always made everything right. That's why Yami Yugi insisted that Yugi let him help him during his duel with Mai. Because he, too, knew that, without him, Normal Yugi is just... normal. A timid, good for nothing nerd. And, just as Yugi couldn't defeat Mai without his partner's help, he cannot win this duel either. It was futile to even try in the first place!

'You'll be better off without me, partner,' Yugi says in his head, surrendering to his fate. 'I don't deserve your help. I wish I had never found the Millenium Puzzle in the first pla...'

'YUGI!' a female voice interrupts his thoughts.

Yugi opens his eyes and turns his head, surprised. 'Tea? What are you doing here?'

Marik causes Rebecca to turn her head and give the female newcomer an annoyed look.

'I'll always be here for you, Yugi,' Tea says, with her hand on her chest. 'I'll never leave you alone.'

A tear rolls out of the boy's eye. 'Oh, Tea...'

'You see, Yugi,' Tea closes her eyes, her hand still on her chest, 'when you first found the Millenium Puzzle and the other you became part of our lives, I thought I was in love with him while I still saw you as a friend. But now I realize that I cannot treat you and him as different persons. In a sense, you are different persons, but, in another sense, you are not. You are a dual entity!'

Yugi gasps, blushing.

Tea opens her eyes, raises them to Yugi and concludes her confession, 'You are my beloved duality. I have exactly the same feelings both for you and for the other you! If I lose one of you two, I might as well have lost you both. So, please, Yugi, win. I know you can do it. Because you are the same person as the other you. If the other you could do it, so can you!'

Yugi smiles. Now he knows why his partner wanted them to fight togehter. It wasn't that he didn't have faith in Normal Yugi's abilities. It was that his partner and he always fight together. Because, in a sense, they are the same person. They are, as Tea put it, a dual entity. Yugi smiles at the woman. 'Thanks, Tea. You were here when I needed you most,' he says in his head.

With his eyes blazing with resolve, Yugi turns to Rebecca. 'My turn,' he cries.

With his doubts cast away, he draws his next card. He has no idea what his relationship with Tea will be like from now on, after that confession of hers. But he can find that out later. At the moment, only one thing matters in the world: to win this duel!

Yugi looks at his newly drawn card and smiles. 'I play the Summoned Skull (2500/1200), in attack mode.'

A large demon appears on the field. His muscular body consists of white as well as of purple areas. He has two large, blue wings and long, black, sharp claws. On his white head, there are two long, curvy horns the same color. His mouth and tiny, pupilless, green eyes are frozen in a toothy, menacing expression. The monster produces a demonic growl.

'I don't think this will help you,' Marik casually says, unnecessarily commanding Rebecca to lazily swirl her finger around one of her naked nipples.

'I'm not done yet,' Yugi continues determinedly. 'I play a spell card. Brain Control!'

Rebecca gasps as Yugi places on the board a card that depicts a (presumably human) brain, with two green hands over it. The aforementioned hands appear on the field and hover above the Millenium Shield for a moment. Next, they grab that monster and take it to Yugi's field, where it will be under Yugi's control for this turn.

'Since I cannot destroy your exasperatingly annoying shield, I'm gonna sacrifice it,' Yugi snaps his fingers. 'I play a ritual spell card. Ritual of the Elements!' (ORIGINAL CARD)

Yugi places a ritual spell card on the board. Two pots appear on the field, one behind the hovering Curse of Dragon and one behind the Millenium Shield. The two monsters are sucked into the respective pots as the Summoned Skull kneels in order to receive the new power that is going to be bestowed on him.

When Yugi played the Black Luster Ritual against Mai (in a parallel universe, that is, since, in this one, he never got to play it), one compatible monster was sacrificed to the darkness while another compatible monster was sacrificed to the light; this transformed Gaia the Fierce Knight into the Black Luster Soldier. Likewise, in the same parallel universe, with another ritual card, he transformed the Dark Magician into the Magician of Black Chaos, in his duel against Pegasus.

This time, the Curse of Dragon, being a fire breathing monster, is offered as an appropriate sacrifice to the element of fire, while the Millenium Shield (with its magnetic ring rendering it compatible) is offered to the element of thunder. As a result of the collision of the elements, a portal to the chaos opens, transforming the Summoned Skull.

'Meet the sovereign of the elements,' Yugi introduces the transformed monster as it is standing up. 'This is the strongest monster my deck can produce! DEMONIC MONARCH (3200/1800).' (ORIGINAL MONSTER)

The former Summoned Skull is now different from before. The purple areas on his body have turned blue. His eyes have become red and larger. His mouth is no longer frozen in that toothy expression, with his teeth having become sharper and his wisdom teeth kinda protruding out of his mouth. Also, he's now wearing a black cape, which he flaps in order to highlight his new state.

'Demonic Monarch,' Yugi points a finger. 'Attack the Cannon Soldier.'

The Demonic Monarch raises his arms, in the same manner he used to do so as Summoned Skull, except this time he fires a blast that consists of fire with electric sparks surrounding it. The super powerful blast hits the Cannon Solider, which is obliterated.

'MOTHERFUCKER,' Marik cries through Rebecca's mouth as his life points drop to 200.

'My mother is dead, bastard,' Yugi unnecessarily explains, with a solemn expression.

'ALMOST THERE, YUGI,' Tea cries, bouncing. 'YOU'VE GOT THIS!'

'Wrong, mortal woman,' Marik thinks, as a malicious smile forms on the possessed girl's face. 'He's got nothing!'