Chatper 9
Duel with a Ghoul
Everyone was standing in shock as they looked at what appeared to be Kaiba, set to duel Yugi. "Yugi, you don't have a ghost of a chance beating Kaiba a second time because, this time, he is a ghost!" Kemo claimed. "A ghost?" Yugi asked. "G-g-g-g-ghost?" Fluttershy asked, spooked. "Stop it, Kemo!" Mokuba demanded. "It's a fact, two witnesses saw him jump to his doom." Kemo responded, shocking everyone. "Liar! Take back what you said!" Mokuba demanded. "Get used to it. All that's left of Kaiba are your memories, plus a very cranky ghost just looking for revenge for his first defeat." Kemo responded. "It's not him!" Yugi retorted. "Well, he's seen better days if you look him in the face. Now take your place, Yugi. It's time to duel, with a ghoul!" Kemo responded. "It can't be! That guy's nothing but a fake, a trick by Pegasus! Don't worry, Mokuba, I'll win your freedom, then we'll find your brother." Yugi retorted. Little did any of them know that Pegasus was watching the whole thing from his castle, laughing. "This is extremely entertaining! I just love reality TV." he said. "Who is Yugi dueling?" the head of security asked. "It's Kaiba. What's left of him. The poor boy had shown so much promise." Pegasus answered. "But now he's... It's... Hey, how did you do that?" the head of security asked, baffled because he was one of the first to get news of Kaiba's apparent suicide. "I really can't take all the credit. I had help from Yugi. And now, to return the favor, I'm going to teach him a lesson, about the real power of the Millennium Items!" Pegasus answered as Yugi took his place on the battlefield.
"Yugi, you look like you've seen a ghost." Kaiba's spirit said. "That's enough!" Yugi sharply responded. "I am no longer of this world, and it's all because of you. I could've had it all, and remained world champion, but when you beat me, you took more than just the match. You stole my life and destroyed my soul." the ghost continued. "You're nothing but an imposter so stop the lies and let's start the duel." Yugi responded. "Fine with me. This time you won't beat my cards." the ghost retorted. "You may look like Kaiba, but there's no way you or anyone can imitate his deck!" Yugi shouted. "Don't you mean, my deck?" the ghost asked. "Beat him, Yugi! He's nothing but a fake!" Mokuba shouted. "Yeah, that so-called ghost doesn't even sound like Kaiba!" Rainbow pointed out. "Rainbow's right. Plus, he looks too shriveled in the face to even look like Kaiba!" AJ added. "Show that phony phantom who's boss!" Pinkie shouted, prompting Yugi to nod. 'Yugi. I know you can hear me. I know you can sense my thoughts, and I know that you can see the truth. I am Seto Kaiba, but this time, you're dueling someone who's got nothing to lose.' the ghost said telepathically, seemingly knowing that Yugi could sense another person's thoughts thanks to his Millennium Puzzle. "Kemo, once I beat Yugi, Pegasus can have Kaiba Corporation. All I want is revenge. Three stars says I win." the ghost said aloud. "Fine by me, that means when the duel's done, I'll have six!" Yugi responded, but something that the specter said caught Twilight's attention. 'Okay, now I know that's not a ghost nor is it Kaiba. Kaiba would NEVER give up his company, let along give it to anyone else!' she thought. And so, with a single, simple "Let's Duel." from the ghost, both players' life point counters set to 2000 and the game began.
"Guess I'll go first. And I'll start off with the Hitotsu-Me Giant." the ghoulish Kaiba imposter spoke as he played said card. But as the monster appeared, Yugi was taken aback. "Is something wrong? It's your turn to move, Yugi." the ghost pondered. 'The Hitotsu-Me Giant, is how Kaiba began our last duel!' Yugi thought. "There's a card just like that in my brother's deck." Mokuba said in shock. "Just because it's the same card, doesn't mean it's the same deck!" Rarity pointed out. 'He's trying to confuse me by making the same opening move Kaiba did, but it'll have the same result.' Yugi said to himself. "I'll start with this card! Go, Dark Magician!" Yugi shouted as he played his best card. "Dark Magic Attak!" he added as the Dark Magician destroyed the Hitotsu-Me Giant, dropping the Kaiba imposter's life points to 700. "So much for your giant." he concluded. "You're as strong as ever, Yugi." the imposter said with a laugh. "I can't believe it! That carbon-copy Kaiba is laughing despite losing 1300 life points so early in the duel!" Spike said. "It's funny how things have come full circle, Yugi. What are you thinking in that feeble brain of yours right now? I bet I know. You've come to the conclusion that, no matter what, there's no way you can win, and you couldn't be more right. Even a simpleton like you now knows that I must be Seto Kaiba. And once you accept that fact, you may as well accept defeat." the ghost spoke. "I don't care who you are, you're going to lose to me just the same!" Yugi retorted. "But, Yugi, you barely beat me the last time we dueled, and this time, your big advantage is, gone." the ghost responded. "What do you mean?" Yugi asked. "Exodia. You've lost Exodia. You were only able to beat me last time with Exodia in your deck, and without it, you can only lose." the ghost answered, bringing a look of shock to Yugi's face. 'Wait, how does he know that Yugi lost the Exodia cards?!' Twilight pondered.
Meanwhile, back in Domino City, a familiar figure was standing behind a tree, watching two guards keep an eye out before the gate of a mansion. That figure, was Seto Kaiba, having managed to grab a ledge when he, supposedly, jumped to his death back at his cottage. Seto set about scaling the walls of the mansion grounds, since it was his mansion to begin with, before pulling a chain that opened a secret door to an underground room of the house. After revealing a secret door behind a bookcase and using the retinal scanning device to unlock the door, Seto entered the room, sat down, put on a headset and powered on the computer terminal. "Running identity verification protocol, please state your name." the computer said. "Seto Kaiba." Seto responded, granting him access. "I thought I've seen it all, but having to break into your own house?" the computer asked, surprised that Seto would even do such a thing. "It's too long a story for right now." Seto responded. "Too long a story? Well, maybe I'm not in such a talkative mood myself right now." the computer responded. "I'd find that hard to believe." Seto said, clearly knowing his computer was trying to be a wise-guy. "Such a smart guy. While you were off galivanting, a hostile takeover of Kaiba Corporation has begun." the computer said. "I know." Seto responded, aware of the situation. "At the same time, Maximillian Pegasus kicked off his Duel Monsters championship tournament at Duelist Kingdom. And my sources tell me that if Yugi Muto, personally invited by Pegasus himself, is defeated by Pegasus, or a competitor that represents him, the Big Five on the Kaiba Corporation board of executives promised him they'd lay all of the company's technology at his feet, merge with Industrial Illusions, and completely take over the company!" the computer continued. "He won't win. Yugi's unbeatable. His deck has Exodia in it." Seto said with doubt, remembering how Yugi destroyed him weeks prior. "Yeah, well, some time after you lost to Yugi, he lost the Exodia cards." the computer revealed, shocking Kaiba. "No way!" he shouted, thinking that without Exodia, Yugi might not stand a chance of winning the tournament finals. "When it rains, it pours. Thanks to the Big Five, Pegasus knows all about the corporation bi-laws that require a living Kaiba family member and heir to the company to make any change of control legal. Mokuba is his prisoner, and with you supposedly out of the way, it's likely that Pegasus and the Big Five will asert all kinds of pressure to make your brother do what they want, one way or another. So now, you know. What are we gonna do?" the computer continued. "They'll keep my brother safe, at least until the takeover is complete, so I've gotta make sure Pegasus doesn't defeat Yugi in a duel, no matter what. I'm not gonna give up Kaiba Corporation without a real fight! It's takeover time, by me! We're gonna hack right into Pegasus' computer mainframe. Next stop; Duelist Kingdom." Kaiba responded.
Back on the island, the duel continued. "Are you here to play head games, or Duel Monsters? It's time for your move." Yugi said as the imposter prepared his next card. "And it's gonna blow your mind. This next card's a blast from the past, Yugi. With the emphasis on blast." the imposter said as he revealed the card, shocking everyone around. "I summon the Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" he continued before the massive creature appeared. "Only one deck has got that card!" Joey said. "Not just one, THREE of them!" AJ added. "That means, what Kemo said, could it be true?" Mokuba pondered. "Looks like the advantage is mine." the imposter said with a laugh. 'So this really is Kaiba's deck. There's no other explanation. Then, does that mean that Kaiba...? Kaiba is really...?' Yugi thought to himself, starting to wonder if he really was dueling against Kaiba's ghost. "Don't worry, Yugi, my feelings weren't hurt when you called me a liar. Now admit that you were wrong!" the imposter demanded, but Yugi just grunted. "Not having a real body isn't so bad. You wouldn't believe what one could save in food bills alone that way. But I still get to enjoy the finer things in life, like revenge, and I'm going to savor its sweet taste for a very long time!" he continued. "Be quiet! Please, someone make him go away! Please just make him leave!" Mokuba demanded, with tears in his eyes. "Almost breaks my heart to hear my little brother being so sad, if I still had a heart." the imposter responded.
Meanwhile, back at the Kaiba mansion, Kaiba was continuing his own mission. "We've easily broken through the Duelist Kingdom computer system." the computer confirmed. "Too easy. Okay, when it comes to computer duels, Pegasus has met his match. Now, it should be a piece of cake to find the field on which Yugi is dueling." Kaiba said. "I'm looking, I'm looking." the computer said has it started to search until it hit a roadblock. "Access denied?" it asked, confused as to what happen. "What did you do wrong?" Kaiba asked. "Don't blame me! I finally found the security and it's all around Yugi's data!" the computer answered. "I shoulda known. Fine by me, Pegasus. Go ahead and give it your best shot, there isn't a computer system anywhere on Earth that I can't break into. Here's the thing; every computer has a back door, if you know where to look. And guess where we're gonna look." Kaiba responded. "Beats me." the computer responded, not sure what its human master was thinking. "It'll be quicker if I take over on manual for a while. Data from all the duels is being beamed from the island to an orbiting Industrial Illusions satellite and back down to their mainframe. These transmissions are obviously highly encrypted. If we can somehow force the Industrial Illusions computer offline, I'm sure their backup systems won't have as much security." Kiba explained. "Are you saying we can make their computer mainframe crash? From here? But how?" the computer asked. "A computer crash is exactly what I had in mind. The biggest computer crash ever, and I'm gonna use Pegasus' own satellite to do it." Kaiba answered. "But I've already tried to hack into their systems." the computer responded. "My idea's different. Once the security is down, we should be able to freely access the data. Be ready with a search for the Dark Magician." Kaiba said. "Gotcha. Dark Magician inquiry loaded and standing by." the computer said, finally understanding what part of Kaiba's plan was. "Good. If Yugi's dueling, he's sure to use that card." Kaiba said. "So, spill it already. How in the world are we going to use Industrial Illusions' own satellite to bring down their computer mainframe?" the computer asked. "By bringing down the satellite itself, down all the way!" Kaiba answered, indicating that he wanted to bring the satellite out of orbit and back down to Earth, the hard way. Soon, the computer started to analyze the satellite schematics and security. "Loading satellite schematics. M class Triton Series, booster rocket controls online. Locating orbital coordinates." it said. Soon, its orbital position was found and the security was next. "Breaching onboard security." it continued, before the job was done. "You are now the proud owner of an Industrial Illusions satellite. "Great, now plot a crash course for the computer mainframe" Kaiba commanded. "Uploading new coordinates now." the computer responded as the screen showed an onboard camera looking down on the United States of America as the satellite zoomed down towards the planet's surface, and right for the mainframe's location in California. "We are locked on target for the computer mainframe." it continued. "Virus software won't stop this. Pegasus, you're on notice that the Kaiba Corporation's still mine!" Kaiba said, pleased with what was about to happen. "Satellite impact in ten seconds." the computer said before the satellite crashed right into the mainframe, going offline upon impact.
Back at Duelist Kingdom, the duel, and the mind games, continued. "I won't attack just yet. Why rush to victory when I can draw it out as long as long as possible instead?" the imposter said as he played a card face down. 'There's more to it than that. He's hiding some sort of magic or trap card, I know it!' Yugi thought to himself. "Dark Magician, go to defense mode." Yugi commanded as the monster switched its battle position. "And I summon Curse of Dragon, on the defense, as well." he added as the monster appeared. "Good, that means Yugi will have two turns to come up with a way to take that dragon down." Twilight said. "Smart playing, Yugi, unfortunately, it wasn't smart enough. You played right into my hand, with Stop Defense!" the imposter said as he revealed his card. "Oh, no!" Yugi shouted as Curse of Dragon was switched to attack position. "Now your inferior dragon has been switched into attack mode." the imposter said, shocking everyone. "Why, that no good varmint! He played Yugi like a fiddle!" AJ shouted. "Yugi!" Mokuba called. 'While Stop Defense is in play for the turn, my Curse of Dragon can't defend itself. I've got to think of a way out before the same thing happens to my Dark Magician.' Yugi thought to himself. "It's time, Blue-Eyes White Dragon! Use your White Lightning attack!" the imposter commanded as the Curse of Dragon was blown away. "Well, so much for your Curse of Dragon." the imposter added as Yugi's life points dropped to 1000.
Back at the Kaiba mansion, Kaiba was looking for the field Yugi was dueling on, with little success. "No Dark Magician there. Next field." Seto said. "We've exhausted almost every possibility of locating Yugi Muto. Field 146 is the final active duel." the computer responded. "Then, he's gotta be there! Search field 146!" Seto commanded. "You got it." the computer responded, however, something happened to prevent it from searching. "What was that?" Seto asked. "Looks like I crashed." the computer answered. "Reboot!" Seto ordered. After a bit, the computer was back online. "Back online." it said. "Enter field 146!" Seto ordered, but the same result occurred. "I'm frozen again! It's worse this time." it responded. "Hang on, let me have a look." Seto suggested as he looked into the problem and found the source. "Gotcha. Just as I thought. So, a virus, a good one. That means, just one thing; searching for Yugi's cards activates the virus. Yugi's inside! Get ready to go in." he continued. "But the virus encoded security door." the computer responded. "We've come this far already and I'm not gonna blow it. Actually, yes I am." Seto said smugly before using a program that forced the door down, only to find a new obstacle. "Huh? What's that?" Seto asked. "It's a virtual fortress. Sensors indicated that all of the data from Yugi's duels is processed here. You won't blow your way through this thing. It's the ultimate defense, and it's impossible to penetrate without the password." the computer answered. "A password? If I know Pegasus, that ego-maniac would never think that anyone would outsmart him and get even this far. We're going in." Seto said. "The password?" the computer asked. "Pegasus." Seto answered.
Back at the duel, Yugi was pondering what to do. 'How can I defeat his Blue-Eyes White Dragon?' he asked himself before Kemo laughed. "Hey, Yugi, you gotta admit, for a stiff, this Kaiba's sure got game." he said. "That's not my brother! There's just no way! Yugi, you know that's not him. Everyone thinks he's a bad guy, but I know my brother, and he's not mean like this! He's my best friend in the whole world, that thing's not him! You just gotta believe me!" Mokuba shouted with tears in his eyes. 'I wish I could be as sure as you, Mokuba, I don't know what to believe. But I do know for sure, this duel's not over yet!' Yugi thought to himself as he prepared his next card. "I play Magical Hats, to conceal the Dark Magician!" he said aloud as four hats appeared on the field and the Dark Magician itself disappeared, catching the imposter off-guard. "He's under there, somewhere, but which one?" Yugi asked. "Are you so desperate that you have your Dark Magician doing simple hat tricks?" the imposter asked back. "It's not a trick, and it's not so simple. Your move, but you better think twice before you choose. Just do the math. Four hats, only 25% chance you'll find the Dark Magician. The real question is; what else is hiding beneath those hats?" Yugi responded, taking the imposter aback. "I know this trick! I used that same combination in my practice duels!" Twilight said with glee. "Now that's what I call pulling one out of the hat!" Pinkie added.
Back at the Kaiba mansion, the virtual fortress was unlocked successfully. "You were right about the password! The virtual fortress is unlocked, we now have access to Yugi's data and it was just his turn." the computer said. "Pegasus thinks he can make up all the rules in this game, but he could never have imagined this brand new twist; I'm back!" Kaiba responded. Back at the duel, the imposter was deciding which hat to attack first. "So predictable, I know where the Dark Magician hides." he said. "If you're so sure, then move." Yugi responded. "It's a shame this duel is going to end so soon, despite your Dark Magician being in defense mode as it was hidden. White Lightning!" the imposter responded as his dragon opened fire at the hats. 'If he attacks the right hat, I'll lose more than just this duel. Much more.' Yugi thought to himself as the blast drew closer.