Chapter 53: Double Duel

Akia was sitting in the backseat of the taxi with Bakura leaning on her shoulder. Akia's grandpa was sitting in the front seat next to the taxi driver. The Spirit of the Ring was still acting weak as to not raise any suspicions, not that Akia would even notice at this point. She was sighing softly and staring out the window with a far off gaze. Akia was too preoccupied with that stranger from earlier. She was so confused at what she was feeling when she saw him. She couldn't think straight ever since she saw him. If it weren't for Bakura wanting her to come along, she would've wanted to talk to this Namu individual some more and get to know him.

On their way to the hospital, while looking out the car window, Akia saw two familiar figures up on a mall roof.

"Stop the car! I'm getting off here. Sorry Bakura, you'll have to go to the hospital without me. Grandpa can you take care of Bakura for me?"

Bakura: "Wha-"

Sugoroku: "Of course, don't worry about it, you go tend to whatever you need to do and Bakura will be safe with me."

Akia gave her grandpa a grateful smile and, ignoring Bakura's protests, she headed off. As she got closer, she was able to confirm what she had seen. It was Yugi and Kaiba Seto there on the roof, their backs facing her direction. From what she was able to see, they had their duel disks activated. Why were they duelling all the way up there, she asked herself. Without wasting any more time wondering what was happening, Akia headed into the mall to look for a way up to the roof. After searching around, she sneakily took the employee only stairway that lead her up to where she wanted.

When she finally opened the door to the roof, the scene before her only brought up a whole new set of questions. Yugi had switched places with the other Yugi who was now dueling alongside Kaiba against two cloaked individuals who were wearing half masks.

"What in the world…?"

One of the duelists that Kaiba and Yugi were duelling was short with a white mask, while the other was taller and had a black mask. Akia also noticed that there were what seemed to be explosives affixed to the Life Points of each player.

The one with the white mask still had all of his life points intact. He had on his side of the field "Masked Beast Des Gardius" (3300/2500) in Attack Position, "Mask of the Accursed" which was equipped to Yugi's "Beta The Magnet Warrior", "Mask of Restrict", and "Mask of Dispel" which seemed to be targeting Yugi's "Multiply. Yugi had 1500 Life Points remaining and controlled "Beta The Magnet Warrior" (1700/1600) in Defense Position, "Alpha The Magnet Warrior" (1400/1700) in Attack Position, and "Multiply". The one with the black mask had 3700 LP remaining and was controlling "Masked Doll." Kaiba had 2100 Life Points remaining and controlled "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" (3000/2500) in Attack Position.

"This is not looking too good…"

Akia mumbled to herself. None of them had noticed her being there yet. They were all too focused on the duel. Just as the one controlling "Masked Beast Des Gradius" was about to declare an attack on Yugi's "Magnet Warriors," Kaiba dissuaded him saying that not destroying his "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" would be a mistake. That saved Yugi from losing more Life Points, since he did not have many left, but it did bring Kaiba's down to 1800.

Yugi: "I draw."

As soon as he drew his card, he lost 1000 Life Points due to the effects of Mask of the Accursed" and "Mask of Dispel," bringing his Life Points down to 500.

Yugi: "I summon "Gamma The Magnet Warrior." With all my "Magnet Warriors" on the field, I can combine them to summon "Valkyrion the Magna Warrior" (3500/3850). I will set a card face down and attack your "Masked Beast Des Gardius," destroying it and taking 200 of your Life Points!"

The shorter duelist's Life Points drop to 3800.

"Hahahaha, destroying my monster activated its effect. This allows me to activate "Mast of Remnants" from my Deck and equip it to "Valkyrion the Magna Warrior". This will give me control of your "Valkyrion"!"

The white masked cloaked duelists cackled. It was not the turn of the one with the black mask. The air was so tense that Akia didn't dare make a sound that might distract Yugi and Kaiba. The tall man activated "Masquerade" gave him control of "Valkyrion the Magna Warrior." "He then targeted Yugi with "Valkyrion" directly to finish him off. However, Yugi activated his face-down "De-Fusion" to return "Valkyrion the Magna Warrior" to his Deck and Special Summon "Alpha The Magnet Warrior" (1400/1700), "Beta The Magnet Warrior" (1700/1600), and "Gamma The Magnet Warrior" (1500/1800) from his Graveyard to his opponent's side of the field in Attack Position.

Kaiba: "My turn, I draw! I activate "Soul Exchange." This allows me to use the monsters you control as tributes. I will tribute "Alpha The Magnet Warrior", "Beta The Magnet Warrior", and "Gamma The Magnet Warrior" to summon "The God of Obelisk" (4000/4000). I will attack Umbra directly! Disappear weaklings! God Hand Crusher!"

The tall one called Umbra screamed as the explosives go off, causing the glass beneath him to shatter, sending him down, plunging to his death. That was when, however, he opened up a parachute that he was hiding, which then got caught on a flag pole.

"Hey! Partner! Are you safe?"

The one remaining called out.

Yugi: "Parachute, huh? Well I expected that of you guys from the start. This isn't much of death match then, is it? You no longer have any hopes of defeating us. How about you surrender?"

Kaiba and Yugi's opponent was shaking in fear. He dropped down to his knees, speechless.

Kaiba: "I won't accept that! To win, we need to defeat both of them. I will send him straight to hell!"

Yugi: "Wait, Kaiba. There's no reason to harm him also. Why tarnish our humanity for such a duel."

Kaiba: "To crush my enemy is the only "humanity" I believe in."

While they were arguing, Akia noticed the cloaked man holding his head in his hands and then he started screaming in pain. That was when she decided to finally make her presence known.

"Yugi, Kaiba!"

Yugi: "Akia!"

Kaiba: "What are you doing here? And what's happening to that lunatic?"

"Ma… ri…!"

Yugi: "Marik?"

Akia's eyes widened at the mention of his name. The masked individual seemed calmer in demeanour, but his tone was completely different. His exposed eye was rolled back up.

"I saw Obelisk clearly! The power of the god is very strong."

Yugi: "Marik! Stop hiding and show yourself!"

The man that Marik was now controlling chuckled.

Kaiba: "His personality changed!"

Yugi: "Yeah. Right now he's being controlled by someone else entirely."

Kaiba: "Impossible! By who, exactly?"

Yugi: "The leader of the Ghouls, Marik. The man who owns the final God Card."

Kaiba: "The owner of "Ra the Winged Dragon"?"

"Marik" chuckled some more.

"Pleased to meet you, Kaiba-kun. Right, right! Thank you for taking care of my weak underlings in this duel. They bought me the time I needed. Now I have an idea of both your decks as well. On top of that, my Ra has a terrifying power, stronger than both your God Cards. There's one more part to my plan. Yugi, this is about the fight that lasted over 3000 years between us. You must perish at my hands to ease the anger of our Tomb Keepers' clan and carry out our revenge. In order to ensure my revenge, I've prepared a few extra soldiers on my team. The little followers you call friends have already fallen into my control and have become warriors that will be used against you."

"No… Jounouchi-kun… What have you done? Please Marik, stop this!"

Akia shouted out, surprising everyone. Tears were forming in her eyes.

"It's too late to stop."

"It's not! Please… Let's meet up, figure things out together… All of this can only end badly for everyone and even for you."

"I don't need you lecturing me like you know me. You know nothing about me, Akia. You've lived such a sheltered life while I had to suffer because of the spirit inside your brother!"

Akia walked closer to the Ghoul, hoping to see Marik in there somewhere.

"Then help me understand you… All these years since I met you when we were children, I've been longing to see you again…"

Due to her tears, she was unable to finish her sentence. On the other side, Marik's heart squeezed uncomfortably. Kaiba, not caring about any of it, walked up to Marik's puppet, pushing Akia out of the way.

Kaiba: "Move."

She almost lost her balance, but Yugi stabilized her in time.

"Still such an asshole…"

She muttered as she dried off her tears.

Kaiba: "We won the duel so tell me where you took Mokuba! Where's my little brother? You promised you'd return him to me!"

He shouted at the puppet.

"Promised to return him?"

Kaiba lifted the short man by the collar.

Kaiba: "You bastard."

Yugi: "There's no point in threatening him, he's not even conscious…"

The controlled body let out an eerie laugh before collapsing on the floor.

Yugi: "Kaiba, help me find my friends. I'm sure Mokuba will be there as well."

Kaiba: "Yes, I will definitely go find Mokuba. Before that, though, let's take the puzzle cards."

Kaiba went to the unconscious man and took out two puzzle cards, giving one to Yugi.

Kaiba: "Now we both have six, which qualify us to enter Battle City finals."

Yugi: "Kaiba, this is not the time or place to think about the finals."

"But he's right, Yugi, even though I hate to admit it. We need to also think about the finals, since that's the best way to stop Marik."

Yugi sighed in defeat.

Yugi: "Do you have enough puzzle cards?"

"Yeah, I do."

Their conversation was then cut short when a Kaiba helicopter came up to their location. To everyone's surprise, Mokuba showed up at its entrance.

Mokuba: "Big brother!"

Kaiba: "Mokuba!"

The helicopter then landed on the roof and the three of them ran to it to jin Mokuba. Since all of them thought that Marik had caught him, he explained to them that Anzu helped him escape. Kaiba then decided to help Yugi and Akia find their friends, since it was thanks to Anzu that Mokuba is safe.

On the other side of town, Honda was riding the train with Shizuka who was still recovering from her eye surgery. They were chatting about how Jounouchi would be thrilled to have Shizuka by his side during the tournament. They hadn't gotten the news yet of the kidnapping of their friends. Little did they know, Marik had his eyes on them, planning to catch them next.