Chapter 7: End Game
"Ha! I hope you don't think I will let you get away with this," he said inserting a card, "Activate magic card: Devil's Seal!"
As Jounouchi tried to think of what this card did, he saw a pentagram form under the Android Psycho Shocker. A light field surrounded the monster, trapping it.
"Nani?!"
"Surprised Jounouchi? It's just a little card I thought of that I never would have imagined it would serve me like this."
"What is it?" he asked as he looked at his encased monster.
"This magic card encases one monster in a field of arcane magic. In doing so, it seals its attack and traps any influence it has on the field to that space. Thus, your Android's negating effect is taken away from the field."
"No!" Jounouchi said as he waited for what was going to happen.
"You better bet you're damned now," Norman said as his trap card turned into the Tower again, "Now my monsters will get the boost in power when you attack."
"We almost had him…" the other Yugi exasperated.
"Of course," Norman continued, "I can still attack that Psycho Shocker. My card only seals it, but I'm not going to attack. Instead, I shall sacrifice my Duke of Ghosts for the Millennium Shield in defense, and now for my come back."
"Come back?"
"I shall now play this: Soul Selling Deal," he said inserting the card, which displayed itself, "With this card I can discard my hand to return my life points back to the number I began with in the duel."
"No. That means…"
He didn't even finished the sentence before he saw Norman discard his hand and his life points go back up to the original set of 4000.
"My cards are unbeatable even if I don't have all the information. Unfortunately, I have to end my turn now due to Soul Selling Deal, but it does not matter. I want to see your last fleeting hope die when you get impaled."
Jounouchi drew and looked at the card: Shield in left hand, Sword in right hand (Shield and Sword).
"He's going of on the defense," the other Yugi commented.
"Then I can use this."
"No, it's a trap."
"What do you mean?"
"Think about it, Jounouch-kun. He's summoning a monster that's not a devil or magic user type. He's luring you to attack, and his life points cannot be reduced with his trap card in effect. Shield in left hand, Sword in right hand is only good for one turn too, so he will probably summon another devil or magic user after you attack."
"Damn. And that force field is blocking Android Psycho Shocker's ability and attack."
"If he can be attacked, then you can probably sacrifice it if necessary, but you need its effect."
"Then all I can do is defend…"
"Set one monster face down," Jounouchi said as he placed the card, "End my turn."
"My turn," Norman said as he drew and looked at the card, "Activate this face-down card."
"I almost forgot he had a set card…"
The card revealed itself to Jounouchi: Pot of Greed. At first, Jounouchi was confused, as anyone, even Norman, would know that magic card is best used as soon as possible, but he had it down for several turns.
"Now I can draw two cards," he said as he did so, "And now I activate one of my favorite cards out of this set, a little quick play card called Reversed Hanging of Avarice!"
"Nani?!"
"I can activate this when I draw outside of my draw phase. It deals direct damage to your life points equal to the number of cards I draw times 1000, but it has a little treat to it as well."
Jounouchi saw what looked like a gallows' beam appear above him. A noose, attacked to a pulley on the beam, dropped down and caught his neck. Unfortunately, Jounouchi's hands, when trying to remove it, were pinned to his side by an unseen force.
"Don't worry," Norman said gleefully, "These holographic emitters can use small force fields to simulate real thing with direct damage cards. Malik once told me that these types of cards are dangerous in duels."
Jounouchi tried to say something, but at that time, the rope began to pull up and choke the blonde teenager. Norman laughed softly at this until Jounouchi's life points dropped to 1000. The entire hologram then disappeared, and Jounouchi gasped for breath.
"That's the price of avarice… 'Pier Della Vingna,'" he called Jounouchi, "Now I will also set one monster down, and end my turn. All that's left now is betray Yugi by losing…"
Jounouchi, after a few more heavy breaths, drew his card.
"Black Magician!" he thought as his eyes widened, "Yugi's favorite…"
"Jounouch-kun…" the other Yugi trailed off.
"I…" he thought after several seconds, "Want to use this…"
He could feel the other Yugi in front of him. Everything seemed to trail off as he began to talk to him in his mind.
"Why do you want to use this card, Jounouchi?"
"You said Yugi's fighting spirit is in his deck right?"
"Hai."
"If that is the case, this is where it is most concentrated."
The other Yugi just stared at Jounouchi.
"If any monster is going to help me, this is the one who will help me the most."
"…Ok. I wouldn't recommend you sacrifice the two monsters you have now; they may be needed later. You have two cards that can summon it without sacrificing monsters though."
"I do?" he thought coming back to and looking at his hand, "That's it!"
"Ok! Set one card face down," he said inserting a card, "and activate Card Destruction."
"Hm." Norman breathed, "Oh well. Even though I already used my magic card, I guess a new hand will not do you much good."
Both of them discarded their hands and drew new ones. Tragically, Jounouchi only was able to pull only magic cards and one two-tribute monster, Gilford the Lightning, but he noticed something.
"Hurricane (Grand Trunade)! I won't destroy the Channeling Tower, but it will get it off the field."
"Now, activate magic card: Raise Dead!"
The card flipped up, revealing the ankh symbol.
"And, I chose to resurrect Black Magician!"
Norman was shocked as the mage appeared, but quickly checked it.
"Big deal. You can't penetrate my defense."
"Dang it. I could summon Gilford, destroy his monsters, and use Hurricane to get the Tower off the field to attack his life points directly, but that won't bring his life points down enough to defeat him."
"And he most likely has some demon or magic user cards in his hand," the other Yugi added, "And he will set the Tower again and activate it as soon as possible. We have to defeat him in one turn to win."
"End my turn," Jounouchi said sadly.
"Good, let's see what we've got," Norman said as he drew.
"Ha…ha ha ha ha!!" he laughed, "Now you will die! Sacrifice my set down monster to bring out Summoned Demon (Summoned Skull)!"
Jounouchi gasped as one of Yugi's other deck monsters rose up from a thundercloud on the ground. Lightning lightly flung in the room, crackling with the echo.
"Now you're really in a bind, Jounouchi. Even if you decide to attack with the Black Magician, I'll transfer the power to my Demon and have it attack, bringing your points to zero. Hell, I'm not going to attack just to see you tremble before you suffer an agonizing death."
"No. I must win this…and in the next turn. He'll start attacking me eventually. And I can't activate Gilford's effect unless I sacrifice three monsters. Even if I can sacrifice Android Shocker…"
"Jounouchi," the other Yugi said, "You can win this…we can win this…for Yugi."
"All right. I must get a winning card. I have to bet all of it on this one."
Jounouchi put his fingers on the deck and closed his eyes, not wanting to see the card until he drew it completely. He could feel the other Yugi also on the deck. Then he felt something else…Yugi himself.
"I will win this with his fighting spirit. We will win…"
Jounouchi drew the card and looked at it. Norman then saw his opponent smile, but it was different. This smile began to frighten him.
"Why is he smiling? He should be trebling, preferably begging for mercy…"
"Activate magic card: Brain Control!"
Norman gasped as the card appeared and transformed into a brain with two dark arms at its side.
"I will take control of Summoned Demon this turn," Jounuchi stated as two hands from the brain grabbed the monster and brought it to his side of the field.
"Why? You can't penetrate my defense!"
"Wrong. Sacrifice Android Psycho Shocker, my set monster, and Summoned Demon…" he commanded as all three monster disintegrated.
"Three scarifies!?" Norman questioned.
"…And, summon Gilford the Lightning!"
The thunder warrior appeared and lightning flashed across the room. Suddenly, the lightning fired at the Millennium Shield and destroyed it.
"AHG!" Norman yelled, "What the fuck happened?!"
"When Gilford is summoned with three sacrifices, he can destroy all of my opponent's monsters."
"What?! No!"
"And with no demon or magic user monsters, you cannot use the effects of the Channeling Tower."
"No!" Norman thought as he looked at the Tower, "I didn't expect to have this happen… But wait!"
"You little bastard! You forgot that my life points are safe… Ha ha ha…"
"Wrong again, Norman," Jounouchi said calmly holding up the Hurricane card.
"Huh?" Norman questioned, "You can't destroy the Tower."
"You really don't know this game, do you?" he near-insulted, "There is a difference between destroyed and removed from the field."
Jounouchi slipped the card in, calling its name, and a sudden gust of swirling wind burst up and filled the room. Norman watched in horror as the Tower disappeared and the card itself returned to his hand. Now, with nothing on his field, he backed up and glued his eyes on Jounouchi's monster.
"Gilford the Lighting direct attack!" Jounouchi commanded.
Gilford leaped forward and slashed its sword at Norman. After the attack, Jounouchi could feel the other Yugi behind him.
"Black Magician," they said together, "Direct Attack!"
The Black Magician pointed his staff at his target, and Norman, for a second, though he saw a hint of anger in the monster's face. The thought was pushed back as its Black Magic attack hit Norman directly and reduced his life points to zero.
"Yeeeeeahhhhhhhhh!!!" Jounouchi yelled in cheer as he was released from the restraints, the ring and poles dropped back down, and the slot covered up again.
Norman suddenly threw off the duel disk and took out his gun. Jounouchi froze as the loser of the duel pointed it right at Jounouchi's head.
"Ok, give me the fucking deck and no one gets hurt."
"I won!" Jounouchi protested, "You said you would release Yugi."
"I did say that. Oh well."
As Norman got closer to Jounouchi, a trap door opened below him.
"Nani?!" Jounouchi questioned as Norman fell down.
"It must be the penalty the opponent gets on that side," the other Yugi said.
Norman caught the side of the opening with the hand that was holding the gun. Jounouchi rushed over to it and saw that Norman was above a pool of water that had bare wires running though it.
"Damn!" Norman cursed, "I thought I got rid of that command on the computer."
Suddenly, a voice came on a speaker.
"Hello duelist," it said, "I assume you've lost the duel."
"Malik!?" both Jounouchi and Norman said.
"This must be when he was still trying to kill me…"
"How?" Jounouchi asked, "Is it a recording."
"Since you obviously tried to delete this program, I've had one of my men, Pandora, put it back. If you are Norman, I just want to say that I never liked you, but I needed someone in the states. You were just a tool, but I hope you like this death game. You are fond of unorthodox execution methods, so what better way for you to die than this," the voice said before laughing and cutting off.
"Damn it, Malik, you little fucker," Norman said as he tried to pull himself up.
Jounouchi grabbed Norman's arm and tried to pull him up.
"Help me!" he yelled.
"You've got to help me pull you up. Let go of the gun."
"No… I need it…" he said trying to use his free hand to grab the edge in vain.
"Come on," he said trying to pull him up, "Let go of the gun. If you try to pull up, you're fire it and take me down with you."
Norman looked down at the pool. It was too wide for him to swing and throw himself to the edge of it, and he remembered that the wires had over a 100,000 volts running though them once the trap was activated.
"If I drop the gun, he'll pull me up, take it, and force me to go to the police. To hell with that. At least I won't go alone!"
"You know, that's not a bad idea. Die!" he said pulling the trigger.
Suddenly, the Millennium Puzzle glowed and temporarily blinded the suicidal man. He looked up as saw a hideous creature holding on to him instead of Jounouchi. He tried to fire the gun, but it turned into a snake that was staring at his hand. As he dropped the gun, he began to claw at the monster with his grabbed arm. The monster, surprised and shocked, let go of his arm. Unexpectedly, the monster turned back into a shocked Jounouchi. Time seemed to stop for him it dawned on him that he frightened the teenager, and he let go due to it.
"How…?"
Suddenly, he could hear another voice in his mind.
"Penalty game: Inner Monster Illusion…"
All sound stopped and he saw his opponent get smaller and smaller. He hit the electrified water and thought no more.