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 9: - The Face of Evil
My teleportation landed me beside Seto who jumped slightly upon seeing me but I quickly seized a hold his trademark coat and then I swiftly teleported over to the rest of us. Unfortunately, it had the side effect of jarring the brunette CEO quite rapidly, but I had successfully pulled off the feat just in time for the enemy to show up in the stadium as everything turned dark.
A glowing orange cube had somehow come to lie in the stadium whilst a dark laugh echoed around us as the Millennium Puzzle clattered against the floor. Warily I began to tentatively approach the cubed object with the footsteps indicating that the other two were following behind me, Yugi acknowledged it as being Aigami's cube before the evil laughter rang out once again.
"GET BACK!" I yelled. As I let the words slip passed her lips, an image of the Millennium Ring appeared on one of the cube's faces then an evil energy burst from the topmost face, so we proceeded to follow my warning and promptly leapt backwards giving us some space from the strange object that was spewing out dark magic like a fountain.
The evil energy began to weave through the stadium as the cube proceeded to grow larger in size, the audience knew that something was very wrong even without having any magical powers as they gazed around fearfully. Meanwhile the three of us on the platform kept a wary eye on the cube knowing that whatever was about to happen would come from it.
"You human's sure like to repeat yourselves, eh?!" A voice commented. Yugi seemed to find the voice familiar and it did indeed sound familiar, the cube had grown into a large size as black and red colour completely drowned it. My magical instincts were going haywire with RUN YOU FOOL! warnings and I was inclined to agree with those instincts as the Millennium Ring became more prominent.
A scream of pain came from down below causing me to look over only to see a man in the stadium being erased and this condition was spreading to more people within the Duel Arena causing my worry to begin bubbling. Although at that moment something proceeded to emerged from the cube, I suspected that the individual had once been Aigami but now the power of the Millennium Ring had twisted the boy into a monster.
This monster took on a grotesque demonic appearance: with its' skin having become a dark greenish-grey shade with numerous cube-like structures protruding all over the body the larger. More prominent ones were a sickly pinkish-purple colour and featured black vein-like cracks which covered most of its' body, as well as forming a rigid cube-like tail and the smaller; less prominent ones which were a dark grey or black colour appeared in places like its' hair and even formed a pair of rigid cube-like wings.
The monster's arms were longer with a single spike on the elbows and the fingertips elongated into talon-like claws, the legs had become double-jointed and also featured a single spike, which forced the monster to walked on its' toes, with the heels constantly in the air with large talon-like toenails. The hair had become white whilst also being more unruly and unkempt, its' teeth being yellow and sharper, whilst the tongue had become long and blue and the ears had become pointed and more elf-like.
Most notably however was that the Millennium Ring had become fused to the monster's chest with visible and rather pronounced blood vessels surrounding the accursed object. The monster's multitude of eyes could freely move about the sides of the cubes that were protruding from its' head giving it three hundred and sixty degree vision.
"Do you think he fused with Zorc Necrophades?" I asked. Despite knowing that the malignant god had been destroyed by the Creator God after Atem had summoned her, I couldn't help but wonder if a small sliver of the demon's soul had actually managed to survive in the Millennium Ring or if this was just the black magic of the Ring all by itself.
"I don't know and frankly I don't care. All I need to know is its' big, bad and most definitely ugly, those are the only things that matter apart from kicking its' ass back to the Shadow Realm for good," Andromeda hissed. My sister's ace had a point and the boys finally spoke with Yugi questioning if this really was Aigami, clearly not being able to believe it had formerly been the crazy sorcerer although no one could fault my boyfriend whilst Seto made a quip about his looks by claiming he'd looked better than right now.
"Big brother!" Sera exclaimed. The girl appeared in front of us suddenly surprising everyone included the twisted monster that was her brother since none of us had been expecting her to suddenly jump into the middle of this mess. "Big brother, what in the world is this?" Sera questioned. As she did four more people showed up, but the twisted monster claimed that Sera was pure and radiant since she was connected to others' consciousness and went on to claim his form was both ugly and beautiful claiming it was the price to pay for the utopia they'd hoped for.
"Ok… maybe it is Zorc, now that just gives me an extra reason to beat this monster," I commented. At this moment the gigantic and corrupted cube rose into the sky whilst the monster kept ranting on, he basically claimed that it was now time to open the door and drag everything to a dark dimension… not on our watch was that happening.
"This is the worst possible scenario and I didn't even see it coming!" Kebi screamed. All of us without the Prana and Sera whipped around to see the ghost of mine and Kylie's ancestor standing then with an enraged look crossing over her face. "Sera, get to safety along with the others. Yugi, Kylie, Katherine and Seto I beg of you all, please stop this demon before he devours your world, I can't stay much longer!" Kebi pleaded. As if to make the last point very clear Kebi suddenly faded away, she attempted to say something but only static sounded before she vanished.
Normally I would have been worried about my double despite her being dead but at that moment Kebi's prior warning about how badly things could go if the power of the Prana was used incorrectly rang loud and clear in my mind. Especially so when I saw that Kebi's current words were also true, those black streams of energy were starting to erase our world.
Sera called out to her brother asking if the cube had somehow been transformed into a ninth Millennium Item – THAT IS NOT A GOOD THING! – Sera commented on what Shadi had taught them how to activate the cube the Eight True Millennium Items had to be gathered and Atem gone from the world making it a doorway only for the chosen to a beautiful new world but then Aigami asked what happened if impurity leaked into the cube.
He did not wait for an answer as the corrupted power of the Ring shone out, Sera called out to her brother however the evil of the Ring was too great for the girl to reach her brother. This damned beast proceeded to use the Ring's evil power to wipe out her and the rest of those that bore the Prana ensuring they couldn't use its' power against him.
"Come, I shall make both of you fall victim as well!" This Dark Aigami declared. I heard Yumiko crying in fear screaming for both me and Yugi whilst Anzu called up to all of us, the darkness that was pouring from the cube would destroying everything unless it was stopped and once more it was up to me, my friend and my boyfriend to stop it… huh, almost like with Dartz.
"Yugi, Katherine, do you still have the will to fight?" Seto questioned. Yugi called out to the boy as Seto handed me a new Duel Disk but in purple and silver colours – he knew me so well sometimes – I proceeded to strap it on and attached the head piece to the necessary area before all three of us swiftly slotted our Decks in. "Diva, you and I are going to settle this right now!" Seto ordered. He was clearly ready to fight against the demon that had dared to try and corrupted our beloved world, there was no way that the CEO was going to let anyone take away the world or try to dominate it in anyway no matter who or what that individual was.
"To protect my friends and family, I will fight you!" Yugi added. As per usual it seemed to come down to all of us fighting together against some damned evil that didn't know when it was beaten but, in a way, there wasn't any other way that I would have had it to begin with; there was something comfortable and nostalgic about fighting alongside these two, even with a small couple of holes in the team we were fighting with.
"Crawl back under whatever rock you came from because your world isn't one any of us are interested in!" I spat. Seeing our defiance, Dark Aigami proceeded to agree to our terms of a Duel believing it would still destroy us but could savour the experience slowly, a card popped out of the cubes on its' arms implying they formed an organic version of the Duel Disk.
Dark Aigami – LP: 8000
Katherine – LP: 8000
Seto – LP: 8000
Yugi – LP: 8000
Dark Aigami started this duel by Summoning out a Monster that he claimed would plunge the world into darkness, it was another one of Aigami's Direction World monsters with this one being known as Crimson Nova the Dark Direction World God probably meaning that Aigami's deck had become infected by the Ring's evil as well.
Crimson Nova the Dark Direction World God – Attribute: Dark, Type: Demon, Level: 10, ATK/3000, DEF/0
Dark Aigami proceeded to set three face downs however at that point, beams made up of cubes proceeded to shoot out of Crimson Nova's eyes slamming into not only me but my teammates and even Dark Aigami as well. Three thousand Life Points were stripped from each of us implying this must have been some kind of Special Effect that the monster had.
Dark Aigami – LP: 8000 – LP: 5000
Katherine – LP: 8000 – LP: 5000
Seto – LP: 8000 – LP: 5000
Yugi – LP: 8000 – LP: 5000
"To think you'd inflict damage to not only us but to yourself as well at the end of your turn" Yugi pointed out. The impact of that Special Effect had been a real one and it had winded the three of us, yet that damned demon was heartedly laughing either at the pain it was enduring, our pain or perhaps both… this is exactly why I hated demons! However, when I looked down at my hands, I couldn't help but gasped in shock causing the other two to look at me only for them to notice what I'd already seen, that parts of me were starting to fade away.
"Noticed it, have you? This is no ordinary Duel, your bodies are getting consumed by the dark particles equal to the amount of Life Points you lost!" Aigami declared. The two men quickly looked at their bodies and found that parts of it were beginning to evaporate into smoke, scarily reminding me of when Atem and Kylie had Dueled against Other Marik in the Battle City final.
"Damn, the Shadow Realm and that creepy Dimension that Aigami could access before are bleeding into one another. This is an over the top dangerous Shadow Game!" I realised. Seto wasn't going to let this realisation stop him as he promptly summoned out his Pandemic Dragon with him spiriting its' attack to the maximum because we couldn't afford to hold back.
Pandemic Dragon – Attribute: Dark, Type: Dragon, Level: 7, ATK/2500, DEF/1000
"I use my Life Points for his effect, decreasing your Monster's Attack Power! Then, Pandemic Dragon takes any Monster whose Attack Power has fallen lower than its' own and destroys it!" Seto declared. By weakening Crimson Nova that meant that Pandemic Dragon would be able to get rid of this rather troublesome monster and allow the rest of us to launch direct attacks at Dark Aigami so long as those face down cards didn't get in the way.
However, that accursed monster revealed that Crimson Nova didn't lose any attack points and thus wasn't destroyed by Pandemic Dragon due to the fact that it was immune to the effects of any monster that had three thousand attack points or less which meant that Seto had sacrificed his Life Points for absolutely nothing!
Seto – LP: 5000 – LP: 4500
"Seto, we can't spend our Life Points frivolously in this match, the damned demon's bound to have tricks up his sleeve concerning Special Effect. Normally I'm all for planning and trickery but this time around it might have to be brute force that we use to beat this psycho," I insisted. Seto was annoyed by this sudden twist and so he decided to end his turn by setting one card face down.
"My turn! I Dimension Summon Silver Gadget!" Yugi declared. The silver machine monster popped onto the field in attack position with its' stats having been spirited to the maximum once more. "Then Silver Gadget can Summon an ally Monster! Come, Gold Gadget!" Yugi revealed. The new gadget Monster appeared on the field beside its' counterpart. "I set two cards and end my turn," Yugi announced. He did this as he threw down the mentioned two face down cards.
Silver Gadget – Attribute: Light, Type: Machine, Level: 4, ATK/1500, DEF/1000
Gold Gadget – Attribute: Light, Type: Machine, Level: 4, ATK/1700, DEF/800
"My turn!" I declared. I pulled a card free and looked at it, in response to Aigami's threat I had proceeded to focus on finding a way to meld mine and Kylie's Decks into one, it was still a work in progress but with this prototype Deck, I might just have the power I needed to stop Aigami's evil intents. "I Dimension Summon Virgo!" I declared. I spirited her stats to the maximum and the angelic maiden appeared on the field with a flourish as she settled herself down on the field in a defensive position, Virgo would be absolutely necessary given that Crimson Nova's Special Effect. "I set one card face down and end my turn!" I declared. The card appeared on the field as I spoke those words.
Virgo – Attribute: Light, Type: Magician, Level: 2, ATK/500, DEF/2500
"That's all? In that case, I'll kill you first! Yugi!" Dark Aigami mocked. However, Yugi was too quick as he activated his Trap, Metalhold the Moving Fortress which allowed him to summon it as a monster and insert his two gadgets into the fortress which would add their attack points to the new Trap monster whilst also preventing the rest of our monsters from being attacked.
Metalhold the Moving Fortress – Attribute: Earth, Type: Machine, Level: 4, ATK/0, DEF/0
Metalhold the Moving Fortress – ATK/0 – ATK/3200
Since Metalhold was stronger than Crimson Nova, the demonic Directional World beast was clearly going to be destroyed but the demon opposing us activated his own Trap known as Direction World Defence Formation preventing the attack from hitting Crimson Nova. Unfortunately, it also brought out two more of those damned monsters to back up the one currently on his field and he let out another of those dark laughs.
"I'm getting really tired of that laugh," Seto blandly informed. I couldn't blame him for feeling that way since it was getting to be very annoying, Dark Aigami then had one of his new Crimson Novas Attack Seto's Pandemic Dragon destroying it and removing some of Seto's Life Points, causing me to grimace worryingly. "When Pandemic Dragon is destroyed, it lowers all other Monster's Attack Points by one thousand points," Seto revealed. I gritted my teeth tightly since that meant that Virgo had absolutely no Attack Power left.
Seto – LP: 4500 – LP: 2000
Metalhold the Moving Blockade – ATK/3200 – ATK/2200
Virgo – ATK/500 – ATK/0
Since Crimson Nova wasn't affected by any monster with Attack Points lower than three thousand none of Dark Aigami's monsters weren't afflicted with the deduction in points causing the monstrous being to laugh at our poor misfortune. We needed to find a way around this horrid creature's deadly Monsters before we ended up losing all of our Life Points, the only good thing was the new idea Uncle Pegasus had wanted to try out with increased Life Points, that was all that had kept us in the game by this point. Unfortunately, Dark Aigami wasn't going to give us a chance to rest as he swiftly proceeded to have his third Crimson Nova attack Metalhold.
The ugly tentacle of the creature flew forward and proceeded to burrow its' way through Metalhold, causing the Monster to be destroyed by the attack as the tentacle curled back to its origin point. I worriedly looked over at Yugi, seeing that he was breathing heavily as more of his body started to fade away thanks to that accursed attack and my worry became much worse by this point.
Yugi – LP: 5000 – LP: 2800
"That's not all! When Crimson Nova destroys a monster, it's allowed to inflict suffering upon all of you once more!" Dark Aigami mocked. A scowl curved across my lips as I worried about what to do, my face down card wasn't Shield Maiden or anything that could interrupt the attack curving towards all three of our position; also I had no clue as to what cards Seto and Yugi might have resting on their field on within their hands… speaking of which I didn't have a card in my hand that could help to protect us either.
"Katherine, calm down. we'll be fine," Yugi insisted. His words alongside his unwavering confidence and certainty flowed into through our bond alongside the image of a card that I now knew was currently resting on Yugi's field, allowing me to understand what would happen next.