Chapter 5: Kiichana's Duel
"Heart of the cards? What's that mean?"
The following month found Kiichana sitting in Yugi's room, her new cards on his desk and a notepad in her lap. She took notes during Yami's brief lectures and participated in his training duels. When he brought up the phrase he was most well-known for, she found herself slightly confused.
"The way you build your deck," he started, "you use the cards you feel are best. Now, if I were to."
"Yugi!" Soguroku stood near the stairs and called up to them. "Yugi, you have a visitor!"
"Send him up!" Yugi took over and walked over to the door. He looked out momentarily before letting out a gasp.
"Thanks, Mr. Mutou. I just need to ask him a couple questions, then I'll be out of here."
Yugi went pale. "Kiichana, your brother's here!"
Something caught in her throat. "If he catches me here, he'll try to get me grounded!"
Looking around, Yugi looked at the window. "The roof!" He grabbed her wrist and pulled her up onto the desk. "I'm sure he won't look for you there!"
Just as she clambered out the window Sotachii reached the door. "Hey, Mutou. Could I ask you something?"
"Er.sure. What is it?"
"Have you seen my sister recently? She seems to make a big deal about leaving for Wanker's house every afternoon. I can understand a couple times a week, but she's there every day!"
Something inside her started to heat up. "Must he call him that?" she whispered to herself.
"And, well, since you two are best friends, I thought maybe you'd know what she was up to."
"Sorry, Sotachii. If she's up to anything over there, neither Joey nor Serenity will tell me. I'll let you know if she decides to let me know what's going on."
"Oh, well. Thanks anyway, squirt."
Kiichana started to relax. Her footing on the shingles started to slip. She gasped softly, clapping her hand over her mouth.
"Hey, Mutou! Why's your window open? It's colder than Siberia out there!"
"I felt a little warm. That's all."
She suddenly felt her brother's presence closer to the window than before. "Nice view out here nonetheless. You can see Industrial Illusions from here, along with Kaiba Corporations, the arcade, and lying, snot-faced sisters!"
Surprised, she looked toward the window. Her brother glared at her furiously, a dark scowl on his face. "L.Linkin!"
"There's a difference, Kiichana. Wanker doesn't live in a game shop!" He reached out and grabbed her wrist, pulling her in through the window. "I cannot believe you straight out lied to me! You are going to be so grounded when we get home!"
"Linkin, no! Please!"
"That'll mean no more television, no more games, and certainly no more hanging out with those other two twerps!"
Nearly in tears she tried to pull from his grip. "I.I." she stammered. Her gaze went to Yugi, who was once again replaced by Yami. He nodded briefly, causing her to smile. "I challenge you!"
"What?" He looked down at her. "You.challenge me?"
"A game of Duel Monsters. Meet me at Kaiba Land tomorrow after school!"
Sotachii laughed. "How do you expect that'll save you from getting grounded?"
"Fine. If you win, I'll stay away from my friends. But if I win." She smiled. "If I win, you have to drop the charges."
For a moment Sotachii stared down at her. "Errgh.fine. You have a deal, but the duel will have to be today. I can easily tell Dad about your lie when he gets home tonight."
"Deal."
***
"Please, Mr. Kaiba! We need an arena!"
Kaiba shook his head. "Sorry, Kiichana. Kaiba Land is going to close soon."
Peeved, Yami growled. "Kaiba, the duel is for a good cause! Sotachii's reign will end tonight!"
"It already ended, Yami. Yugi beat him, remember?"
"You idiot!" Kiichana kicked Kaiba in the shin, causing to kneel down not in pain, but in surprise. "It was a setup! The Exodia cards were mine!"
Surprised, Kaiba raised an eyebrow. "Your cards? But you were on the balcony with Krokei! How.?"
Nervously she looked away. "I.I asked Serenity to help me. She's the one that actually slipped the cards onto the deck. Mokuba and I were decoys so you wouldn't notice her put the cards there."
"What?" Kaiba looked up sharply. "Mokuba was involved as well?"
"AND Serenity?" Joey crossed his arms over his chest. "Kiichana, you told me that you weren't going to ask my sister for help!"
Both Mokuba and Serenity stared at the ground. "I'll have to agree that Sotachii has grown vengeful having been defeated in one turn," Kaiba said, ignoring the youths as he rose to his feet. "I guess I can allow the duel, but with a slight difference. Just give me a moment." He turned around and walked off.
A loud whining sound caught their attention. Yami turned around to see the duel referee pull up on her moped. Just behind her was the wild-haired Yami Bakura.
"Don't tell me we beat Tomo-tachii here!" said the tomb robber, jumping off the bike. "Well, at least he's giving me a few more reasons to laugh at him."
"And tease him for pulling a Wheeler!" Megumi smiled. "No offense, Joey."
"Well, uh, none taken, I guess." He smiled back, rather sheepishly.
After a moment Yami Bakura stepped up to Kiichana. "I did it for Wheeler, so I'll do it for you as well. I'm letting you borrow a few cards so maybe you can defeat your brother." He held five cards toward the girl. "You can use it in case the Exodia plan doesn't work."
Moments later Kaiba returned, two boxes in his arms. "I've never made exceptions for late duelists, and I'm not about to, but I'll allow the duel to commence out here." He handed one of the boxes to Kiichana. "If you defeat Sotachii, I'll allow you to keep it."
"Wow!" She looked at the box. "A Duel Disk system? Are you serious?"
"A gift for silencing him for good." He smiled, an action he seemed to rarely do. "Surprised you beat him here, Megumi. I thought for certain I'd be cleaning up the mess made by another destroyed hovercard."
"You need to get a life, Kaiba!" Sotachii stepped down from his hovercard. "And Megumi, I was wondering if you'd ever get here."
As the referee stared at him, Kiichana slipped the Duel Disk onto her arm. "Enough talk! Are you ready?"
"Sure as hell!" He snatched the second box from Kaiba and equipped the miniature dueling arena to his arm. "Get ready to be grounded for the rest of your life!"
"DUEL!"
Linkin: 4000 Kiichana: 4000
Megumi held up her hand. "The battle of the siblings is about to begin! Battle City rules will apply, minus that whole 'give up your rarest card' shebang."
"Battle City?!" Sotachii stared at her for a moment. "But.!"
"Rules are rules, bro." Kiichana grinned.
"Fine. I'll play one card face down, then summon Overdrive, attack position. That's it for me."
A large tank appeared on the field, roaring idly beside Sotachii, as did a card that was roughly the size of a hovercard. Kiichana shrugged, drawing a card. "First of all, I don't quite trust your face-down card. Activating magic card Bait Doll!"
"What?" Sotachii backed up, bumping into the Blue-Eyes statue. A strange object, most likely a voodoo doll, appeared on Kiichana's side of the field. "Pegasus warned me about that card!"
"Because your deck is constructed of monsters and trap cards, right bro?" She pointed at the face-down card. "Force activation!"
The card on the field sparked before it rose up. On the face was a monster that seemed to be stuffing its face with food. Despite Sotachii's protests, it soon disappeared. "No! Not Just Desserts!"
"Such a pity. And it was an untimely discarding, too. I'll also play Graceful Charity, then place a monster face-down, defense position." She grinned as she drew three cards, discarded two, and slipped Bait Doll back into her deck and reshuffled it. "Your go, bro."
Sotachii cursed under his breath. "No matter. I still have Overdrive. Attack the face-down card!"
Kiichana laughed. "Did I forget to mention that the face-down card was Illusion Wall?"
Just as the tank reached the face-down card, a wall appeared from nowhere, stopping the tank in its tracks. "Overdrive goes back to my hand because of the effect!"
"Too true."
Linkin: 3750 Kiichana: 4000
"Fine. I'll just end my turn; it's not like I can summon a better monster."
A devious smirk crossed Kiichana's face. "We'll just see about that. And I might as well see if you're lying or not. Activate Eye of Truth!" On the field appeared a card that had an image of an eye on the front. "Okay, let me see 'em, bro."
When Sotachii crossed the field to show her his hand, she laughed at what she saw. "That's it? Two of your Dark Magicians and your three Red-Eyes? You don't even have enough to summon either of them!"
"Shut up. Is that all you're doing?"
"Nope." She slid two cards onto the disk's platform. "I'll play The Forgiving Maiden, defense position, then I'll play Card Destruction!"
"You're cheating somehow!" Sotachii growled as he drew six new cards.
"And I have one more trick up my sleeve!" She played another card. "Activate Monster Reborn!"
Sotachii was laughing now. "What for? You don't have any monsters in your graveyard!" He paused. "I get it! You had a high-level monster in your hand that you really wanted to summon!"
"Who said I was bringing back one of my monsters?" She raised one hand into the air. "Come forth Dark Magician!"
Even from across the field she could see her brother's face turn pale. "You had this set up!"
"Now who mentioned that?" She flicked her hand at him. "Make your move."
Drawing a card, Sotachii groaned. "The hell? How is it I don't have any luck?"
"Dunno, bro. Maybe it ran out?" Drawing another card, she smiled. "Tell me, bro. What would be like a nightmare to you?"
"Losing to those bozos over there!" He pointed to Yami and his friends.
"Losing to anyone would be a nightmare to you." She pulled one of her monsters from the field. "I'll sacrifice Illusion Wall to bring out Dark Witch, attack position!" Her smile never faded. "Also, I'll use Polymerization to fuse The Forgiving Maiden from the field and Marie the Fallen One from my hand to form Saint Joan!" With another dismissing wave she scoffed. "But I'm not sure if I'll need to use her. Dark Witch, Dark Magician, attack his life points directly!"
The violet-haired fairy screamed forward and slashed at Sotachii with her spear. Just after, the tall violet-clad wizard stepped forward, pointing his staff at him. Sotachii fell to his knees.
Linkin: 0 Kiichana: 4000
"I.I lost?" He stared at the ground. "I lost to my own sister? But." He grabbed his head. "No! Not her! You can't do it! I won't let you do that to her!"
He soon rose to his feet, cackling sinisterly, and walked up to Kiichana. "He can plead all he wants. I just don't like being taken lightly!" His hand shot toward her, grabbing her by her throat. "But to lose to a girl, that's just plain embarrassing! I'll make sure you don't do anything like that again!" The tassels of the dark Millennium Ring twin stood up straight, pointing right at Kiichana. The item and Kiichana both glowed brightly before she fell limp in his hand. "Good riddance!"
Those watching gasped. "Kiichana!" Yami shouted.
Mokuba and Serenity threw themselves against their respective brother's sides. Kaiba placed a protective arm around Mokuba's shoulders while Joey knelt down to embrace his younger sister.
"Too close if you ask me."
Taken aback, Yami looked back. Holding a single card in his hand, Pegasus sighed. "A moment longer, and she wouldn't be here." He showed the card to the Egyptian spirit. A frightened girl appeared on the card, but a slight sense of relief could be seen in her face. "I promise you right now I didn't know the Dark Talisman to be this destructive."
"You mean.you gave that to him?"
"As a gift, but like I said, I was naïve about the consequences." He looked down at the card, then back at Sotachii. "Cease your rampage now, Sotachii!"
"My name isn't Sotachii, old man!" The dark soul spirit growled fiercely. "Call me Maji."
"It won't matter what we call you!" The tomb robber stepped forward, shuffling his deck. "You, me, Shadow Realm. Now." He slipped his own Duel Disk onto his arm.
Maji threw Kiichana's soulless body aside. "Fine. Whatever you say, fuzz- head." At the wave of his hand, both pale-haired teens disappeared into a thick cloud of dark violet.
***
Kiichana woke up moaning. She seemed to show no recollection of what happened, but her arms were immediately around Pegasus' neck. "Thank you!" she yelped in his ear. "He was going to destroy my soul like he was going to destroy Joey's!"
Returning the embrace, Pegasus looked at the cloud that was the Shadow Realm. "I'll make sure there's no more soul shredding." He rose to his feet, bring her with him.
"Where is he?"
"The Shadow Realm." Yugi pointed to the cloud. "Bakura's in there with him. I hope he has as well a victory as you did, Kiichana." He smiled softly. "And you never had to summon Exodia!"
She looked away. "I had to sacrifice it to destroy my brother's hand. Four of the pieces were in my hand by that time."
"So you never really needed Exodia to defeat your brother. I'm impressed." Yugi placed his hands on her shoulders. "Yami taught you well, Kiichana." He looked at her Duel Disk, the cards still in the positions they were in when the duel was over. "I've been meaning to ask you where you got Dark Witch."
"From Mai. She gave it to me in exchange for a Harpie's Brother." She soon smiled at him. "That's why I asked him what his nightmare would be. I was hoping he'd say losing to Mai, which is when I'd tell him how I got the card."
After a moment the cloud disappeared. Both pale-haired duelists were kneeling on the ground, panting heavily. "You idiot! You could've gotten us both killed!"
Megumi ran over to the duo. "Bakura-kun! Tomo-tachii! You two okay?"
"If you stop calling me Tomo-tachii, I'll let you know." Sotachii stumbled to his feet, cradling his head with one hand. "I feel like a freight train just ran over me."
Kiichana ran over and looked up at her older brother. "Are you still possessed by that demon spirit?"
"Possessed? Demon spirit?" He laughed. "Kiichana, have you been reading Dad's old ghost stories again?" Instead of waiting for an answer, he started steering her toward his hovercard. "Come on, Kii-chan. I still have some homework waiting for you."
"What?"
He ignored her, staring back over his shoulder at Bakura. "Hey, fuzz-head! Let's have a rematch on Saturday!"
Bakura waved. "I'll look forward to it!"
"A rematch?" Kiichana looked up at Sotachii as she jumped onto the hovercard behind him. "I don't think you've ever sought, or let someone else seek, a rematch since the rematch you had with Joey last month."
As the hovercard floated lazily through the streets, he shrugged. "I'll probably lose, but who cares."
"Heart of the cards? What's that mean?"
The following month found Kiichana sitting in Yugi's room, her new cards on his desk and a notepad in her lap. She took notes during Yami's brief lectures and participated in his training duels. When he brought up the phrase he was most well-known for, she found herself slightly confused.
"The way you build your deck," he started, "you use the cards you feel are best. Now, if I were to."
"Yugi!" Soguroku stood near the stairs and called up to them. "Yugi, you have a visitor!"
"Send him up!" Yugi took over and walked over to the door. He looked out momentarily before letting out a gasp.
"Thanks, Mr. Mutou. I just need to ask him a couple questions, then I'll be out of here."
Yugi went pale. "Kiichana, your brother's here!"
Something caught in her throat. "If he catches me here, he'll try to get me grounded!"
Looking around, Yugi looked at the window. "The roof!" He grabbed her wrist and pulled her up onto the desk. "I'm sure he won't look for you there!"
Just as she clambered out the window Sotachii reached the door. "Hey, Mutou. Could I ask you something?"
"Er.sure. What is it?"
"Have you seen my sister recently? She seems to make a big deal about leaving for Wanker's house every afternoon. I can understand a couple times a week, but she's there every day!"
Something inside her started to heat up. "Must he call him that?" she whispered to herself.
"And, well, since you two are best friends, I thought maybe you'd know what she was up to."
"Sorry, Sotachii. If she's up to anything over there, neither Joey nor Serenity will tell me. I'll let you know if she decides to let me know what's going on."
"Oh, well. Thanks anyway, squirt."
Kiichana started to relax. Her footing on the shingles started to slip. She gasped softly, clapping her hand over her mouth.
"Hey, Mutou! Why's your window open? It's colder than Siberia out there!"
"I felt a little warm. That's all."
She suddenly felt her brother's presence closer to the window than before. "Nice view out here nonetheless. You can see Industrial Illusions from here, along with Kaiba Corporations, the arcade, and lying, snot-faced sisters!"
Surprised, she looked toward the window. Her brother glared at her furiously, a dark scowl on his face. "L.Linkin!"
"There's a difference, Kiichana. Wanker doesn't live in a game shop!" He reached out and grabbed her wrist, pulling her in through the window. "I cannot believe you straight out lied to me! You are going to be so grounded when we get home!"
"Linkin, no! Please!"
"That'll mean no more television, no more games, and certainly no more hanging out with those other two twerps!"
Nearly in tears she tried to pull from his grip. "I.I." she stammered. Her gaze went to Yugi, who was once again replaced by Yami. He nodded briefly, causing her to smile. "I challenge you!"
"What?" He looked down at her. "You.challenge me?"
"A game of Duel Monsters. Meet me at Kaiba Land tomorrow after school!"
Sotachii laughed. "How do you expect that'll save you from getting grounded?"
"Fine. If you win, I'll stay away from my friends. But if I win." She smiled. "If I win, you have to drop the charges."
For a moment Sotachii stared down at her. "Errgh.fine. You have a deal, but the duel will have to be today. I can easily tell Dad about your lie when he gets home tonight."
"Deal."
***
"Please, Mr. Kaiba! We need an arena!"
Kaiba shook his head. "Sorry, Kiichana. Kaiba Land is going to close soon."
Peeved, Yami growled. "Kaiba, the duel is for a good cause! Sotachii's reign will end tonight!"
"It already ended, Yami. Yugi beat him, remember?"
"You idiot!" Kiichana kicked Kaiba in the shin, causing to kneel down not in pain, but in surprise. "It was a setup! The Exodia cards were mine!"
Surprised, Kaiba raised an eyebrow. "Your cards? But you were on the balcony with Krokei! How.?"
Nervously she looked away. "I.I asked Serenity to help me. She's the one that actually slipped the cards onto the deck. Mokuba and I were decoys so you wouldn't notice her put the cards there."
"What?" Kaiba looked up sharply. "Mokuba was involved as well?"
"AND Serenity?" Joey crossed his arms over his chest. "Kiichana, you told me that you weren't going to ask my sister for help!"
Both Mokuba and Serenity stared at the ground. "I'll have to agree that Sotachii has grown vengeful having been defeated in one turn," Kaiba said, ignoring the youths as he rose to his feet. "I guess I can allow the duel, but with a slight difference. Just give me a moment." He turned around and walked off.
A loud whining sound caught their attention. Yami turned around to see the duel referee pull up on her moped. Just behind her was the wild-haired Yami Bakura.
"Don't tell me we beat Tomo-tachii here!" said the tomb robber, jumping off the bike. "Well, at least he's giving me a few more reasons to laugh at him."
"And tease him for pulling a Wheeler!" Megumi smiled. "No offense, Joey."
"Well, uh, none taken, I guess." He smiled back, rather sheepishly.
After a moment Yami Bakura stepped up to Kiichana. "I did it for Wheeler, so I'll do it for you as well. I'm letting you borrow a few cards so maybe you can defeat your brother." He held five cards toward the girl. "You can use it in case the Exodia plan doesn't work."
Moments later Kaiba returned, two boxes in his arms. "I've never made exceptions for late duelists, and I'm not about to, but I'll allow the duel to commence out here." He handed one of the boxes to Kiichana. "If you defeat Sotachii, I'll allow you to keep it."
"Wow!" She looked at the box. "A Duel Disk system? Are you serious?"
"A gift for silencing him for good." He smiled, an action he seemed to rarely do. "Surprised you beat him here, Megumi. I thought for certain I'd be cleaning up the mess made by another destroyed hovercard."
"You need to get a life, Kaiba!" Sotachii stepped down from his hovercard. "And Megumi, I was wondering if you'd ever get here."
As the referee stared at him, Kiichana slipped the Duel Disk onto her arm. "Enough talk! Are you ready?"
"Sure as hell!" He snatched the second box from Kaiba and equipped the miniature dueling arena to his arm. "Get ready to be grounded for the rest of your life!"
"DUEL!"
Linkin: 4000 Kiichana: 4000
Megumi held up her hand. "The battle of the siblings is about to begin! Battle City rules will apply, minus that whole 'give up your rarest card' shebang."
"Battle City?!" Sotachii stared at her for a moment. "But.!"
"Rules are rules, bro." Kiichana grinned.
"Fine. I'll play one card face down, then summon Overdrive, attack position. That's it for me."
A large tank appeared on the field, roaring idly beside Sotachii, as did a card that was roughly the size of a hovercard. Kiichana shrugged, drawing a card. "First of all, I don't quite trust your face-down card. Activating magic card Bait Doll!"
"What?" Sotachii backed up, bumping into the Blue-Eyes statue. A strange object, most likely a voodoo doll, appeared on Kiichana's side of the field. "Pegasus warned me about that card!"
"Because your deck is constructed of monsters and trap cards, right bro?" She pointed at the face-down card. "Force activation!"
The card on the field sparked before it rose up. On the face was a monster that seemed to be stuffing its face with food. Despite Sotachii's protests, it soon disappeared. "No! Not Just Desserts!"
"Such a pity. And it was an untimely discarding, too. I'll also play Graceful Charity, then place a monster face-down, defense position." She grinned as she drew three cards, discarded two, and slipped Bait Doll back into her deck and reshuffled it. "Your go, bro."
Sotachii cursed under his breath. "No matter. I still have Overdrive. Attack the face-down card!"
Kiichana laughed. "Did I forget to mention that the face-down card was Illusion Wall?"
Just as the tank reached the face-down card, a wall appeared from nowhere, stopping the tank in its tracks. "Overdrive goes back to my hand because of the effect!"
"Too true."
Linkin: 3750 Kiichana: 4000
"Fine. I'll just end my turn; it's not like I can summon a better monster."
A devious smirk crossed Kiichana's face. "We'll just see about that. And I might as well see if you're lying or not. Activate Eye of Truth!" On the field appeared a card that had an image of an eye on the front. "Okay, let me see 'em, bro."
When Sotachii crossed the field to show her his hand, she laughed at what she saw. "That's it? Two of your Dark Magicians and your three Red-Eyes? You don't even have enough to summon either of them!"
"Shut up. Is that all you're doing?"
"Nope." She slid two cards onto the disk's platform. "I'll play The Forgiving Maiden, defense position, then I'll play Card Destruction!"
"You're cheating somehow!" Sotachii growled as he drew six new cards.
"And I have one more trick up my sleeve!" She played another card. "Activate Monster Reborn!"
Sotachii was laughing now. "What for? You don't have any monsters in your graveyard!" He paused. "I get it! You had a high-level monster in your hand that you really wanted to summon!"
"Who said I was bringing back one of my monsters?" She raised one hand into the air. "Come forth Dark Magician!"
Even from across the field she could see her brother's face turn pale. "You had this set up!"
"Now who mentioned that?" She flicked her hand at him. "Make your move."
Drawing a card, Sotachii groaned. "The hell? How is it I don't have any luck?"
"Dunno, bro. Maybe it ran out?" Drawing another card, she smiled. "Tell me, bro. What would be like a nightmare to you?"
"Losing to those bozos over there!" He pointed to Yami and his friends.
"Losing to anyone would be a nightmare to you." She pulled one of her monsters from the field. "I'll sacrifice Illusion Wall to bring out Dark Witch, attack position!" Her smile never faded. "Also, I'll use Polymerization to fuse The Forgiving Maiden from the field and Marie the Fallen One from my hand to form Saint Joan!" With another dismissing wave she scoffed. "But I'm not sure if I'll need to use her. Dark Witch, Dark Magician, attack his life points directly!"
The violet-haired fairy screamed forward and slashed at Sotachii with her spear. Just after, the tall violet-clad wizard stepped forward, pointing his staff at him. Sotachii fell to his knees.
Linkin: 0 Kiichana: 4000
"I.I lost?" He stared at the ground. "I lost to my own sister? But." He grabbed his head. "No! Not her! You can't do it! I won't let you do that to her!"
He soon rose to his feet, cackling sinisterly, and walked up to Kiichana. "He can plead all he wants. I just don't like being taken lightly!" His hand shot toward her, grabbing her by her throat. "But to lose to a girl, that's just plain embarrassing! I'll make sure you don't do anything like that again!" The tassels of the dark Millennium Ring twin stood up straight, pointing right at Kiichana. The item and Kiichana both glowed brightly before she fell limp in his hand. "Good riddance!"
Those watching gasped. "Kiichana!" Yami shouted.
Mokuba and Serenity threw themselves against their respective brother's sides. Kaiba placed a protective arm around Mokuba's shoulders while Joey knelt down to embrace his younger sister.
"Too close if you ask me."
Taken aback, Yami looked back. Holding a single card in his hand, Pegasus sighed. "A moment longer, and she wouldn't be here." He showed the card to the Egyptian spirit. A frightened girl appeared on the card, but a slight sense of relief could be seen in her face. "I promise you right now I didn't know the Dark Talisman to be this destructive."
"You mean.you gave that to him?"
"As a gift, but like I said, I was naïve about the consequences." He looked down at the card, then back at Sotachii. "Cease your rampage now, Sotachii!"
"My name isn't Sotachii, old man!" The dark soul spirit growled fiercely. "Call me Maji."
"It won't matter what we call you!" The tomb robber stepped forward, shuffling his deck. "You, me, Shadow Realm. Now." He slipped his own Duel Disk onto his arm.
Maji threw Kiichana's soulless body aside. "Fine. Whatever you say, fuzz- head." At the wave of his hand, both pale-haired teens disappeared into a thick cloud of dark violet.
***
Kiichana woke up moaning. She seemed to show no recollection of what happened, but her arms were immediately around Pegasus' neck. "Thank you!" she yelped in his ear. "He was going to destroy my soul like he was going to destroy Joey's!"
Returning the embrace, Pegasus looked at the cloud that was the Shadow Realm. "I'll make sure there's no more soul shredding." He rose to his feet, bring her with him.
"Where is he?"
"The Shadow Realm." Yugi pointed to the cloud. "Bakura's in there with him. I hope he has as well a victory as you did, Kiichana." He smiled softly. "And you never had to summon Exodia!"
She looked away. "I had to sacrifice it to destroy my brother's hand. Four of the pieces were in my hand by that time."
"So you never really needed Exodia to defeat your brother. I'm impressed." Yugi placed his hands on her shoulders. "Yami taught you well, Kiichana." He looked at her Duel Disk, the cards still in the positions they were in when the duel was over. "I've been meaning to ask you where you got Dark Witch."
"From Mai. She gave it to me in exchange for a Harpie's Brother." She soon smiled at him. "That's why I asked him what his nightmare would be. I was hoping he'd say losing to Mai, which is when I'd tell him how I got the card."
After a moment the cloud disappeared. Both pale-haired duelists were kneeling on the ground, panting heavily. "You idiot! You could've gotten us both killed!"
Megumi ran over to the duo. "Bakura-kun! Tomo-tachii! You two okay?"
"If you stop calling me Tomo-tachii, I'll let you know." Sotachii stumbled to his feet, cradling his head with one hand. "I feel like a freight train just ran over me."
Kiichana ran over and looked up at her older brother. "Are you still possessed by that demon spirit?"
"Possessed? Demon spirit?" He laughed. "Kiichana, have you been reading Dad's old ghost stories again?" Instead of waiting for an answer, he started steering her toward his hovercard. "Come on, Kii-chan. I still have some homework waiting for you."
"What?"
He ignored her, staring back over his shoulder at Bakura. "Hey, fuzz-head! Let's have a rematch on Saturday!"
Bakura waved. "I'll look forward to it!"
"A rematch?" Kiichana looked up at Sotachii as she jumped onto the hovercard behind him. "I don't think you've ever sought, or let someone else seek, a rematch since the rematch you had with Joey last month."
As the hovercard floated lazily through the streets, he shrugged. "I'll probably lose, but who cares."