Good Day Readers and welcome to the sequel to One Last Step! Thanks to all of you for the support and I hope that you all enjoy this latest and final edition of the Hope sisters. Due to certain events that happened at the end of One Last Step, this story will solely be told from Katherine's perspective.
Obviously I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh only Katherine Hope, Yumiko Kazayama, the Hope parents and Kylie Hope along with the unique cards within their decks and whatever other OCs decide to crop up. Also italics symbolise a mind conversation, a flash back or anything spoken in a language that isn't Japanese. I would appreciate any responses that you have, please enjoy
Chapter 7: - Yugi VS. Aigami
The rain continued to pound down on me as I ran through the falling droplets attempting to find any sign of the white haired friend I was desperate to locate. But something in the pit of my stomach caused me to believe that perhaps Bakura couldn't be found anymore, at least not within this plane of existence based on what I'd recently learned.
I could feel my clothing becoming more soaked the longer I ran but eventually I had to come to a stop, my lungs finally running out of air and my legs were starting to ache. I had come to a stop at a crossing and was soon joined by Yugi who looked to be as worn out as I felt but with a single shake of the head from both of us made it clear that he'd been as unsuccessful as me in finding Bakura.
Suddenly the loud blaring of car horns caused the both of us to look up in its' direction and my eyes widened and I saw than standing in the centre of the crossing was Seto with his eyes firmly set on Yugi. We ran over to him curious as to what the CEO could possibly want with us all of a sudden with Yugi asking this question.
"Yugi, in three days' time, there will be an announcement ceremony for my latest Duel Disk. It is there where I will be holding a Dueling competition with Duelists that I have selected. Your participation will be mandatory. Katherine, you will stay out of it," Seto informed. I was annoyed at being dismissed in such a way, but we had more important things to deal with than his blasted tournament at the moment.
"Wait a second, Kaiba-kun!" Yugi insisted. Instead of listening, Seto proceeded to reach behind him and picked something up before bringing his arm forward again allowing us to see that the brunette was holding, it was something that caused my blood to turn into ice the moment I saw it… a nearly complete Millennium Puzzle.
"But that's… don't tell me you?!" Yugi questioned. Despite having been given a piece only earlier this day it was still hard for Yugi to believe, Seto confirmed this fact and explained that he would have it complete soon enough and admitted he knew it was missing two pieces. Seto then proceeded to ask if Yugi still had a treasure within his treasure box causing my eyes to widen in surprise at those words.
"How do you know that?" Yugi questioned. Seto claimed he knew everything that happened in Domino since it was under his surveillance. "Kaiba-kun, what is your gain?" Yugi questioned. The CEO admitted that the reason why he was doing this was so that he could having Yugi wear the Puzzle again in order to bring Atem out which caused me to grind my teeth together at the selfish act that this man had taken just to face his rival once again.
"How dare you! How dare you try and bring him back after everything he's been through! Dammit Seto, you're so selfish!" I screamed. I hadn't wanted to believe that Seto would do this when I saw him in the Mortuary Temple, but now it was clear from Seto's words and the almost completed Puzzle that Seto was hell bent on his plan to drag Atem back to our world.
"You can't understand why I want to bring him back. But answer me this, if you could bring back Kylie, would you?" Seto questioned. I froze at hearing those words, unable to comprehend a response to those words given how much pain I was still in from losing my sister; a helicopter appeared above us as Mokuba called down he had closed up the shop for Yugi, Seto hooked his foot onto the metal stirrup that was thrown down to him, but he didn't begin ascending. "Aigami is under my custody. Also, he will appear at the competition. So long as he has one of the remaining pieces, you have no choice but to fight. You will then resurrect the king by your very own hand! Only then will the future be unlocked, one in which the king's spirit does battle with me once more!" Seto declared.
As he spoke the helicopter lifted off flying away from us and left behind was the box that the Puzzle piece had been left inside but then the cars and other vehicles began to move despite us still being in the middle of the road, so we dashed over to it. As Yugi picked it up into his hands a truck began to move towards, us so I wrapped my arm around Yugi as my magic flared ready to act and get us out of danger.
"Yugi-san, Katherine-san," Sera's voice came. In the next instant we were all teleported away from the vehicle and back onto the side of the road, whether it was by my magic or Sera's Prana wasn't important to any of us as we all turned to look at the young girl before us, she could at least give us answers as to what was going on.
"Oh man, we're safe," Yugi admitted. He was quite right, but soon turned his attention to the more important matter at hand. "Sera, you saved us… and this," Yugi informed. He lifted the lid of his box revealing the Puzzle piece, I did have to wonder why the girl had decided to give the piece back to Yugi if she was a part of the Prana, then why on earth was she helping us… I know Kebi told me that Sera disagreed with Aigami's plans, so maybe this was Sera's way of resisting the boy.
"My brother gave me the very piece I entrusted to you… it was my last option to save Diva from going out of control. Also, it was because the Most High Priestess and Mother of the Prana, Lady Kebi asked me to return it and the Gauntlet to those that held them once more," Sera explained. My eyes widened not having expected the secondary revelation to have come from the young girl despite my knowledge of the first. "Kaiba knows. Even if he does collect all the pieces, unless you do it, he cannot bring about the Pharaoh's resurrection. Should the Pharaoh be revived, then we shall be bound to this dimension, forever denied our chance at the future. Yugi-san, whether you decide to complete the Puzzle or not… I leave all of that solely up to you," Sera claimed.
Her magic then erupted once more and she began to fade away from view with her voice echoing back to us asking that we save her brother, both me and Yugi proceeded to turned to look at each other, a thousand words passing between us with that single glance alone. I needed to come clean about what Kebi had told me, it was the only way to prepare my friends and Yugi for what was to come.
"Call the others, I've… got a lot to tell you," I informed.
*Yu-Gi-Oh*
A lot? Honestly it felt like I had more than a lot to tell them, it was probably closer to an entire book more like it and by the end of it all of them were in shocked disbelief yet knowing that I hadn't spoken a single lie to them. I had told us everything from Kebi's involvement up to Shadi's death and even the threat on Yugi's life because of the condition about the Prana's powers.
Now it was the day of the tournament so all of us had gathered at the Duel Arena where it would be held with Yumiko joining us as well, Yumiko was in awe of the surroundings having never been to a proper match since the KHI Grand Prix and this was remarkedly different to that scenario. Unfortunately, I held no such emotions as I had been incredibly agitated in the following days of my meeting with Seto with me becoming slightly waspish if I was approached in the wrong manner, it had caused a very tense atmosphere to press itself down on my home for those three days.
Airplanes were flying overhead probably on some kind of display however one of them began to teeter in the air and then proceeded to begin tumbling down to the stadium. This caused the rest of the audience to begin panicking but I quickly summoned an invisible barrier around the plane which would contain the explosion.
All of a sudden, an explosion in the centre of the stadium occurred which startled me enough that it caused the spell to be dropped as Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon surged out of the centre platform and unleashed its' attack which impacted the airplane. This destroyed the plane before it could crash against the stadium causing a sweat drop to appear on my head… something stank about this scenario. Sadly, the explosion ended up crashing into Blue-Eyes with both of them hurling down to the centre area, so another barrier was conjured in order to protect everyone from harm. Meanwhile the rest of the audience standing with us fled back in terror although my friends remained stationary but still confused about the situation.
Then Seto's laugh echoed from within the flames and his silhouette appeared within the centre of the explosion as he claimed that this whole thing had been performed through his new Duel Disk known as Power Vision. The flames dissipating instantly allowing us to see the brunette CEO properly, unfortunately for him however, I felt a slight tick mark start to pulse on my head at the event that had just happened.
"Remind me to punch him when this is over," I growled. None of the others blamed me in the least since this kind of display wasn't needed at all, Seto wasn't even fazed by the fear he had probably hit people with because of that unnecessary stunt which still had my heart pounding. Seto began to make one of his speeches that interestingly enough was focused on freeing the soul from the body which he dubbed a prison and it was possible with his newest Duel Disc and that he wanted us to overcome the borders that separated us, just like what Shadi and Kebi had wished of the Prana.
"Now the time has come to show yourselves, oh mighty Duelists!" Seto declared. From one of the ends the sound of elevators came making everyone look in that direction allowing us to see Aigami and Yugi appear from inside the tubes that had held them before, naturally Aigami was surprised to see Yugi involved probably not knowing about Sera passing on her piece to him.
Seto talked about hand selecting the two opponents because they were the best – naturally I was rather insulted but pushed it aside to focus on the Duel – of course people did recognise Yugi due to his title. But people were unsure about who Aigami was which didn't surprise me, but I knew that his accused Dimension Deck was going to present a significant problem for Yugi to face off against even with my prior warning of it.
"And then, there is this golden puzzle houses in which the proud soul of champion is sealed! However, it is short just a few pieces! The remaining two are being held by the two Duelists I have invited here!" Seto revealed. He had lifted the nearly complete Millennium Puzzle into the air above his head, before he lowered it once again to hang at his side. "First, Aigami, I'll start with you!" Seto declared. A line of blue light formed a bridge between the elevator and the Dueling platform which rose above our heads.
"Wait Kaiba-kun. This is my battle to fight, between me and Aigami-kun!" Yugi argued. There was a hard look in his eyes similar to Atem whenever he was angry with the gaze being pointed at Aigami, although Seto argued with my boyfriend's words causing him to turn back to the brunette. "Kaiba-kun, Aigami-kun has used his powers to send my friend to another dimension. I'm going to get my friend – Bakura-kun – back. That's why this Duel is mine! I am getting back an important friend of mine!" Yugi snapped.
It truly was astonishing to see how much Yugi had grown due to meeting Atem and then separating from him, the shy and unassuming boy had become someone brave and assertive enough for Seto to actually pause in his decision. Surprisingly enough for those who knew Seto personally, the CEO complied with Yugi's demand, so the two Duelists walked down the lanes that connected their elevators to the central podium as Aigami asked if Yugi could beat him, referring to him as the Vessel for the Pharaoh… he is more than a vessel!
"Aigami-kun, the piece of the Puzzle that Sera entrusted to me is right in here. She wants me to stop you, Sera said so herself. No matter what happens to you two… I will fight you with all I've got," Yugi revealed. Seto then called out to Yugi and quickly threw down a white and red version of the new Duel Disk to Yugi demanding he use to so that Seto could see how they fight, the Duel Disk opened up and the duel began.
Aigami – LP: 8000
Yugi – LP: 8000
Before actually making a move, Aigami decided to teleport this duel into whatever creepy place the Dimension Duels take place thus staining the whole world pink and the swirling dark red vortex hanging above us. This caused a heavy weight to appear within my stomach, despite already experienced it once, this place was still creepy as heck.
Screens then popped up in front of Yugi and the rest of us, explaining what this whole thing was about, Yugi didn't hesitate as he immediately drew a card from his deck and then removed a card from his hand so that he could summon it out which was Sentry Soldier of Stone in defence mode with its' power at the maximum level.
Sentry Soldier of Stone – Attribute: Earth, Type: Rock, Level: 3, ATK/1300, DEF/2000
Yugi then proceeded to add two face down cards as well before ending his turn allowing Aigami to take the reins in this duel and the crazy sorcerer commented that Yugi would be no match for the power of the Prana. He then proceeded to summon out that weird Vijam creature he liked to use, we're really lucky that Kebi had soul-napped me to warn me about Aigami before this day.
Vijam the Direction World Seed – Attribute: Dark, Type: Demon, Level: 1, ATK/0, DEF/0
"Next, I use one Vijam to Dimension Special Summon this Monster! Geira Guile the Direction World King!" Aigami declared. That Monster was completely different to the kinds of Monsters that he had Summoned against Seto which meant my warnings were possibly useless. "Direction World King Monsters have an original Attack Power of zero, but by integrating it with Vijam, it raises its' Attack Power by eight hundred points. In addition, when a Direction World King Monster appears in this dimension, it inflicts eight hundred points of damage to you!" Aigami declared. The pylon like things on the Monster rotated rapidly before sending out bellowing waves of wind to smack into Yugi
Yugi – LP: 8000 – LP: 7200
Geira Guile the Direction World King – Attribute: Wind, Type: Angel, Level: 2, ATK/0, DEF/0
Geira Guile the Direction World King – ATK/0 – ATK/800
"Next, the Permanent Magic, Direction World Karma!" Aigami declared. He proceeded to hold out the card that was in his hand. "By integrating two more Vijam Monsters, it increases Geira Guile's Attack Power!" Aigami declared. The monsters appeared on the field only to vanish in a swirling orange glowing set of cubic objects and flowed into Geira Guile which caused an adornment to manifest behind and above it.
Geria Guile the Direction World King – ATK/800 – ATK/2400
With this new increase in strength, Geira Guile was capable of destroying Yugi's monster thus dealing even more damage to the young boy's Life Points which caused my teeth to grind together. This was due to the fact that Aigami was a lot better at Dueling than he had let on, even though I had a front row seat to it before, it was clear to see how his Direction World monsters had pushed Seto into a corner during their duel.
Yugi – LP: 7200 – LP: 5200
"Trap, activate! Dig of Destiny! By receiving damage, I get to draw one card," Yugi revealed. His body had been sent flying back due to the impact of losing his Life Points and when he got up, I was able to see the scuff marks on his body. That meant that the damage he had been dealt was real… could we get one world saving duel that didn't deal real damage for once!
"Once a direction World King finishes a battle, by returning it back to the Deck, it brings out the Vijams that it had assimilated to the field," Aigami declared. As he spoke Geira Guile separated out into three Vijams and the crazy sorcerer drew a card from his deck. "And, I gain a new Direction World Monster! I Dimension Special Summon again! Come forth, Vulcan Dragni the Direction World King!" Aigami declared. The new Monster appeared on the field and I was getting increasingly disturbed by these creepy Monsters. "First up, the Effect Damage!" Aigami commanded. Blazing flames spiralled forward to swallow up Yugi
Yugi – LP: 5200 – LP: 4400
Vulcan Dragni the Direction World King – Attribute: Fire, Type: Angel, Level: 3, ATK/0, DEF/0
Vulcan Dragni the Direction World King – ATK/0 – ATK/1600
"Now, this time it's a Direct Attack!" Aigami declared. The new Direction World King proceeded to unleash a kind of laser like attack that flew forward and smashed into Yugi, forcing a scream to escape from him; this also caused my bottom lip to be pulled between my teeth as worry began to brew like a storm within me whilst Yumiko tightened her hold on my hand.
Yugi – LP: 4400 – LP: 2800
"Not fair," Yumiko whined. Where this any other duel I would be inclined to responded to my cousin but this time around I was far too worried about what was going to happen. I untangled our hands in order to wrap my arm firmly around her shoulders in an attempt to comfort her, remarkably similar to how Kylie always used to comfort me back in the day.
As if twice wasn't bad enough, Aigami decided that he was going to have his damned monsters pull another transforming trick into another Direction World King monster. This meant it was probably going to have the same Special Effect as the previous two, Aigami proceeded to summon out Indiora Death Volt the Direction World Super Emperor and what do you know? The effect was the damned same! I'm getting a little tired of this!
Yugi – LP: 2800 – LP: 2000
Indiora Death Volt the Direction World Super Emperor – Attribute: Light, Type: Angel, Level: 4, ATK/0, DEF/0
Indiora Death Volt the Direction World Super Emperor – ATK/0 – ATK/2400
"This is the end Yugi. Be gone to the far side of the dimension!" Aigami declared. The front of Indiora Death Volt 's chest processed to open up and an attack was beginning to charge; however, Yugi quickly activated his face down which was the Trap, Warrior's Devotion, allowing him to sacrifice a monster in order to cut the attacking Monster's power by its' own, the monster he sacrificed was Silent Swordsman Level 5.
Yugi – LP: 2000 – LP: 1900
Indiora Death Volt the Direction World Super Emperor – ATK/2400 – ATK/100
"Yugi plays too close to the edge sometimes," Yumiko breathed. I didn't blame her for thinking like that, Yugi really had taken a massive risk by waiting until the last moment in order to unleash his trap to save his Life Points but at the same time it had been the best move that he could play, Aigami's Direction World monsters were a fearsome group to be reckoned with.
"Reduced its' Attack to survive, huh?" Aigami spat. However, Yugi didn't even seem to be listening to the boy's words as he simply drew a card from his deck and then summoned out a monster known as Gaia Lord the Dark Knight, which had its' stats spirited to their maximum amount, hopeful his counterattack would begin now.
Gaia Lord the Dark Knight – Attribute: Earth, Type: Warrior, Level: 7, ATK/2300, DEF/2100
"He's raising its' Attack to the max, again?" Aigami questioned. But my boyfriend didn't deem it necessary to give a response to the surprise that his opponent displayed as he commanded his Dark Knight to attack the Direction World Emperor thus destroying the abnormal beast and finally dealing some damage to Aigami's Life Points after all the wounds Yugi had taken in the duel.
Aigami – LP: 8000 – LP: 7900
"Even if Indiora is destroyed, it returns to my hand Summoning the assimilated Vijams in its' stead," Aigami revealed. The Indiora Monster had been pierced by Gaia's two lances but Indiora then proceeded to break up in glowing orange cubes which reformed into the three Vijam Monsters that Aigami had used to Summon that infernal Monster. "Then, I will send Direction World Karma on my field to the Graveyard to halve your Life Points!" Aigami declared. The three Vijams unleashed blasts of energy at Yugi which forced the boy to be sent flying up into the air.
Yugi – LP: 1900 – LP: 950
"This is no good. He can't make a dent in him," Honda stated. Sadly, the boy was right, with Anzu already having looked away, but Jounouchi was still standing strong as he encouraged Yugi to fight; Yumiko had buried her head into the folds of my skirt whilst I looked on with a worried expression twisting across my face but I refused to lose faith after everything we'd been through.
"Get up my love, I know you can win," I mentally encouraged through our bond. Aigami claimed that Yugi had to know he couldn't defeat the crazy sorcerer now, but Yugi wasn't going to give up the fight as he immediately rose to his feet and he promptly threw down three face down cards to support his monster, claiming he would never give up with our future on the line.
"Future, you say? Your consciousness is mismatched and distorted. All foolish, ugly and weak; this world is too warped and has no desirable future. I know you feel it to be so as well. Master Shin said so himself. That you are a similar entity to us, the same goes for Katherine along with that girl clinging to her. Surrender now and hand over the piece, then why not join us? To a brilliant dimension, to a future solely meant for us! The world we Prana shall go to is a world of a higher plane. An ideal world with neither strife nor hatred nor fear, with all of its' people in sync with one another," Aigami offered even outstretching his hand.
"I can't go and I know Kathie won't either. And if she doesn't go neither will Yumiko, Katherine's cousin," Yugi responded. Aigami was surprised by the refusal and his eyes flickered down to me seeing the cold look that I shot at him for the words he spoke and I then shook my head in a stiff manner to emphasise my feelings. "Aigami-kun, hatred yields nothing," Yugi informed.
"To remove hate, is to remove love. To remove fear, is to remove survival. This world, existence itself, is made of opposites that balance each other, thus one cannot be removed without its' opposite also leaving and I will not give up on love," I hissed. Aigami's hand clenched into a fist claiming we didn't know that our peaceful life came with a sacrifice having been made and then a wave of Prana magic engulfed us, but I used my magic to block it from touching me although I didn't reach Yugi in time.
Once the wave of magic receded, I dropped my magic and saw that Yugi was still unaffected in his stance as Aigami claimed that as the Prana, they would cast aside the world – calling it contaminated – and even being human in order to travel their new dimension. The crazy sorcerer proceeded to draw a card and brought back Indiora Death Volt, but this activated Gaia Lord's Special Effect causing his attack points to raise by seven hundred with a draconic Monster appearing on the field which Gaia Lord proceeded to mount.
Yugi – LP: 950 – LP: 150
Gaia Lord the Dark Knight – ATK/2300 – ATK/3000
"No use! Direction World Wave! Indiora's Attack doubles and your monster's Attack Power halves!" Aigami declared. Yumiko let out a small squeak as she tried to bury her head even further into my skirt chanting 'this is a dream' over and over again no doubt hoping to actually make it come true, meanwhile the rest of us were greatly worried about what was going to happen.
Indiora Death Volt the Direction World Super Emperor – ATK/2400 – ATK/4800
Gaia Lord the Dark Knight – ATK/3000 – ATK/1500
"Once you are gone, Kaiba's scheme to resurrect the Pharaoh will be a bygone memory. And then, us Prana will travel to a new Dimension!" Aigami yelled. The Super Emperor was powering up its' Attack however before it could be unleashed Yugi claimed he had been waiting, confusing us all as to what he meant, perhaps he had a plan.
"I've been waiting for this exact moment. Permanent Trap, Dimension Sphinx! When there is double or more of a difference in Attack Powers between battling Monsters, it inflicts to you damage equal to that difference!" Yugi retaliated. A sphinx monolith appeared behind him and a red beam of light came out of the statue flying up to Gaia Lord who reflected the beam into explosive energy off of his lances and it stuck hard into Aigami.
Aigami – LP: 7900 – LP: 4600
"You had a Trap like that… but, the battle still goes on!" Aigami declared. He was so disinterested in the damage he'd just been dealt solely because he was so sure that he'd won; but Yugi soon proved him wrong by activating a second Trap known as Dimension Guardian which kept Gaia Lord from being destroyed and then Yugi activated a third Trap card which was known as Dimension Mirage.
"Due to my Monster not being destroyed, you Monster must attack again!" Yugi declared. I grinned at the combo that Yugi had managed to pull off via these three cards since all three were Permanent Traps which meant that due to the effect of Dimension Sphinx the difference in damage was once more dealt to Aigami as damage, then Dimension Guardian kept Gaia Lord from being destroyed by the Direction World Emperor. "This is the combo that can defeat you… the Dimension Trap Pyramid!" Yugi announced.
Aigami – LP: 4600 – LP: 1300
By combining these three cards together it effectively created an Infinite Loop that Aigami was incapable of escaping which the crazy sorcerer realised, with the damage he already received and the damage he was about to as his Emperor attacked it was clear that the mad boy was going to lose this duel. Admittedly I had to stifle a laugh at seeing Yugi use an infinite loop to defeat a dangerous opponent, he really had learned so much from Atem.
"Aigami, you said all of you are going to open new doors and travel to an ideal world on a higher plane. Our world may indeed be one distorted from your perspectives. But this world also has a future. I have friends near and dear who live here. And all of us believe in our futures!" Yugi lectured Aigami. He did this before the final blow and with that the final attack was dealt in this duel ending it with Yugi's victory.
Aigami – LP: 1300 – LP: 0
"Think that's it? Is the Prana defeated?" Athena asked. Once the smoke was cleared, the audience cheered as Aigami collapsed with the world returning to normal, but my Spirit Partner wasn't as satisfied as the rest of them which was clear in her voice when she spoke her question with my eyes looking at the woman and seeing unsettled expression.
"Hopefully… but with our luck, when has it ever been that easy?" I responded. The answer to that was never, every time we faced an enemy it had been a long, hard and difficult road to beating them but I could only pray that this time around it would be a different story but… then Aigami vanished.