Author's Note: OKAY!! Sorry this one took so long, but we needed to see how the Battle City double-duel ended, so we didn't make ours end the same way. Anyway, enjoy!!
Chapter 20
"The Eighth Duel: Yugi/Kaiba vs. Earth/Lightning"
"So you say. Yugi, I believe that makes it your turn," Kaiba watched as Yugi glanced over at him with a tiny nod and then selected his card.
(Mirror Force) Awesome! Maybe I could lure them into attacking me, then Kaiba and I will have a free field to attack with! Yugi looked up from his card "I'll place one card face-down, and Kuriboh in attack mode (300/200)!" The furry little ball of fuzz appeared on the field, took one look at the other combatants, and hopped behind the metal warrior next to him, scared of the other monsters on the field.
Blitz impatiently drew another card from his deck (Stim-pack), "Ha Ha! I'm discarding my Thunder Dragon from my hand to select two more from my deck," His one card slipped into his graveyard, then two more of the same were handed to him, "And now, I'll fuse them with Polymerization, to form the mighty Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon (2800/2100)!" The polymerization card appeared and mixed the two identical monsters together, forming a powerful new creature that teamed with lightning power, "Finally, I'll equip him with the Stim-Pack card, giving him a rush of Attack power (3500/2100)!"
As Blitz moved to announce his attack, he looked over at Kaiba when he heard a muffled snickering. Kaiba's shoulders were shaking with stifled sniggering. All at once, he threw his head back and laughed a cold sharp laugh that pierce the still night air. Yugi eyes him curiously, wondering if Kaiba had finally cracked under pressure.
Blitz growled angrily, "What's so funny?!?"
Kabia wiped a small tear from his eye as his laughter died down. "You fool. I was hoping you'd pull some stunt like that," he said, "I'll activate both my trap cards: Solemn Wishes and Bell of Destruction!" A metal ring wrapped itself around the two-headed dragon, which caused it to begin jerking around violently, "My Bell of Destruction will deal direct damage to each player depending on the attack power of the monster it is equipped to!" With a violent explosion, the dragon imploded, separating its head from its body and then shattering into hundreds of pieces. Each player's life points took a major dip, changing from 4000 to 500.
The world's most famous duelist grinned savagely at Blitz, finding his flabbergasted expression amusing, "Did I forget to mention that it destroys the monster as well? Oops, silly me." His one trap card disappeared from the field, and he focused his attention to the other, "Now, this handy card will give me 500 more life points each time I draw a card," He frowned slightly, as if remembering something unpleasant, "And since this is a double duel, each time my partner draws a card he'll get the same advantage."
Blitz was stunned. His most powerful monster… gone, just like that… He recovered, but still looked badly shaken, "Well, the least I can do to repay you Kaiba, will be to eliminate your partner! Oscillo Hero #2, attack Kuriboh, and finish off Yugi Moto!" His eyes glinted savagely, "This is for my siblings!!!!" The red, spherical lightning warrior rushed forward towards the weaker monster.
Yugi, grim determination etched in his face, simply pressed a button on his Duel Disk 2, "I activate the Mirror Force trap card, which destroys your monster instead of mine!" The blot of electricity that had been aimed a Kuriboh now reversed direction and came back at its creator, striking the creature with deadly force that shattered it.
Kaiba slipped a card from his deck (Ring of Defense) and smirked slightly as his life points increased to 1000, "I summon Cyber Stein in defense mode (700/500)!, Now, Battle Ox, attack Blitz directly!" The large, humanoid warrior rushed forward, axe glinting off of the arena lights.
Blitz moved to activate his trap, but his mother beat him to it. Terra's loud, clear voice filled the room, "I activate my trap, the Regulation of Tribe!" A brown, leathery-skinned man in long robes appeared in front of the Lightning Elemental and held out a hand. The Battle Ox slowed to a stopped and walked quietly back in front of Kaiba.
"What the –?" Kaiba cried, "Why didn't my monster obey me??"
Terra laughed, "I guess it just lost the will to battle, Kaiba," she said, "Or maybe it was that I activated my trap card Regulation of Tribe! It allows me to declare one type of monster and prevent them from attacking! And, naturally, I chose Beast-Warrior type, stopping your Ox in its tracks!"
Kaiba cursed under his breath, fists clenched in angrily. Battle Ox was useless as long as that irritating trap remained on the field, "Fine. I place one card face-down (Ring of Defense), and end my turn."
Terra selected a card (Queen Bird (1200/2000)) and said, "I'll tribute my Protector of the Throne for Queen Bird in defense mode. Also, I'll send my trap card to the graveyard, so I don't have to pay to keep it. And that ends my turn. When you get your chance, I dare you to attack, Kaiba," she said, grinning at him malevolently.
Kaiba folded his arms across his chest, fuming. He wished he could shut her up right away, but he had to wait until it was his turn again, "Hurry up, Yugi! This is a waste of my time!"
Yugi selected a card (Chosen One) and considered his options. He did have the means to use it, but it would be a calculated risk. Could he rely on Kaiba to defend him from attack if this failed? He watched as his life points doubled from Solemn Wishes and addressed the other Duelists, "I switch Kuriboh into defense mode! And now, I'm playing the magic card Chosen One!" his two magic cards and his Dark Magician card appeared face-down in a circle around the chooser.
"Chosen One??" Blitz said, "What's that do??"
"It lets me choose three cards from my hand, two magic or trap and one monster. If the chooser lands on my monster, then it is automatically summoned onto the field. If not, then all three are destroyed."
A second later, the top began to spin. Faster and faster it went. Kaiba watched it with interest. He'd seen this card before – during the Battle City Tournament. Had Yugi claimed it from Lumis at the end of their first double-duel??
Yugi swallowed hard. The nervous lump in his throat was growing larger and he wished more than ever that Yami could have been with him, to reassure him that this would work. He felt the Millennium Puzzle vibrate from within his pocket and looked around quickly.
Dedi was standing high above them, on the roof of a nearby building. Next to her, he could make out the fading form of Yami. They had come after all! His friends were all coming up alongside the Egyptian pair, staring down at him, worry and confusion evident on their faces.
Dedi turned and said something to Yami. In response, he leapt of the roof, landing catlike in the center of the area. No one but Yugi could see him, and as he stepped towards his counterpart, Yami saw Yugi's expression turn cold. "Yugi…" he said, "What's wrong?"
Yugi pretended not to hear and turned his attention back to the field, where the chooser was slowing to a stop. It finally ceased movement and selected one card. It was lifted face-up, revealing the Dark Magician for everyone to see.
Kaiba was shocked. Yugi's luck seemed unfailing. How was it that 1-in-3 odds and worse could always work out for him at times when it was most important?
In a flash of light, Yugi's favorite monster had materialized, arms folded confidently across his chest. Yugi looked past Yami (who seemed to be more see-through than usual) and watched the flabbergasted expressions of his two opponents, "Now, I switch my Alpha the Magnet Warrior (1400/1700) into attack mode. Dark Magician, attack the Queen Bird!" The master mage rushed forward to strike at the cowering fowl, but Blitz held up a hand.
"Stop right there, kid! My Negate Attack trap card will block your attack, and end your turn! Now, my move…" The Lightning Duelist drew his card (Mountain), "First, I summon the insect Pinch Hopper (1000/1200)! Next, I'll place the down the field card Mountain!" He grinned, knowing that this next move would make very little sense to the child, "Now, Pinch Hopper, attack the Magnet Warrior!"
"What!?!?" was heard from both Yugi and Kaiba at the same time. The insect monster rushed forward and attempted to attack the magnet soldier, but it was too quick for the little bug, which ended up having its head detached from its body.
Blitz grinned broadly, and his life points dropped down to 100, "Now, I can summon one monster form my hand with my Pinch Hopper's destruction, and I choose this!" He slapped down a card, which materialized on the field, and looked like the top third of a very, very large creature, "My Sanga of the Thunder (2800/2400)! And as my Sanga attacks your pathetic Alpha, your life points will drop to zero! HA HA HA HA!" The Lightning duelist grinned in an animalistic manner and he watched his large creature fire hundreds of bolts of electricity at Yugi's magnet warrior.
Yugi could only stare in horror, waiting for the end. The bolts hit his magnet warrior and overloaded it, causing it to violently implode. The young boy waited for his life points to drop to zero, but instead there was a spinning ring with large metal leaves blocking the remainder of the bolts. What!?! But how- The vessel of the pharaoh looked over at Kaiba, who looked mad clear through.
"I've activated my Ring of Defense, which blocks any life point damage that could be dealt to me or my partner this turn!" Kaiba was seething. That brat made me waste my only defense! If I lose because of Yugi, he's going to be very, very sorry…
Yugi wiped his forehead with his sleeve and cheerily turned to Kaiba, "Thanks! I was so worried that-"
"Shut your mouth, Yugi! You've made me waste my one magical defense to save your worthless hide, and if I hear one more peep out of you about it, I'm liable to turn my wrath on you instead of these fools, understand?" Kaiba drew his card angrily (Wall of Illusions) and his life points increased further. The score now stood at: Kaiba: 1500/Yugi: 1000 – Blitz: 100/Terra: 500.
"I summon my Wall of Illusions in defensive mode (1000/1850) and end my turn by switching Battle Ox into defense mode as well."
Terra tittered quietly, "Quite a threat, Kaiba, coming from someone still on the defensive." She selected a card (Sword Hunter), "Perfect! I tribute my two weaker monsters to summon the Sword Hunter (2450/1700) in attack mode!!" The tall, muscular man clad in tons or armaments and holding two swords, appeared on the field next to Sanga of the Thunder, "And as he attacks and destroys your Battle Ox, Kaiba," The warrior-type rushed forward and sliced Battle Ox's head off. The body disappeared, and the head became mounted on a piece of wood in front of Terra, "It will increase his power to even more (2650/1700) than that of your Dark Magician, Yugi!"
Yugi gulped nervously and selected his next card (Magical Hats), "Well, I'll lay this one card face-down, and switch my Dark Magician in to defense mode." His life points increased by 500, making his life points go up to 1500 as well.
Blitz selected a card (Electro-Whip), "Ha! I play this magic card, Electro-Whip, on my Sanga of the Thunder, which increases it's stats to 3100/2400! Now," he pointed his finger at Yugi, "Attack his Dark Magician, and end any hopes that he might have of victory!" Hundreds of electric sparks flew through the air… and smashed into a magician's hat! Shocked, Blitz stared at the spot where the Dark Magician had just been, unbelievingly.
Yugi let out a short laugh, "My Magical Hats have protected my Kuriboh and my Dark Magician! You've attacked an empty hat, which means your turn is over!" C'mon Kaiba! We need something to turn this around!
Kaiba drew his card, concerned (for the first time) about the outcome of the duel, but remaining his cool, under-control self on the outside. (Graceful Charity), "Well, I gain 500 life points for my Solemn Wishes card, which brings me to 2000 again. However, I will gain another 500 by playing this Graceful Charity card!" Kaiba's Duel Disk 2 clicked and beeped, and he selected three cards (Monster Reborn, Anti-Magic Arrows, Dark Zebra). Good! Now, things are going to get interesting… "I'll discard two from my hand (Return of the Doomed and Queen of the Cosmos) and then play this magic card, the Anti-Magic Arrows! It will destroy all of the magic cards that you have on the field!" The magical arrows came flying out of Kaiba's new card, and stuck themselves through the mountainous surroundings that were all around, the deceased cranium of the once mighty Battle OX, and the spear held high by the large thunder beast on Blitz's side. All of it disappeared, changing the stats of both the monster facing Kaiba.
He sniggered to himself, "Lastly, I'll use this Monster Reborn card to revive the Queen of the Cosmos that I threw away with Graceful Charity!" In a bright flash of light, the most powerful female warrior in Duel Monsters stepped elegantly out of Kaiba's magic card. She folded her arms across her chest, smirking confidently. He directed his finger at Terra, "Now, attack the Sword Hunter, and knock the Earth Eliminator out of this match!" The powerful Queen faced her owner, with neither pity or recognition on her face.
As it was about to charge forward, Yugi held up a hand, "Kaiba, wait!"
The most renowned duelist on Earth stopped, glaring angrily at his 'Teammate', "What do you want now, Moto? I'm about to win this Duel for us, and you want me to wait? For what?" He tapped his foot impatiently, eager to finish off the duel.
Yugi sighed a great sigh of relief. At least Kaiba had listened to him this once, "If you attack Sword Hunter, then Blitz will use Sanga of the Thunder's effect, dropping your monster's attack points to zero! Then the Sword Hunter will tare your Queen to shreds, along with your life points!"
Kaiba snorted haughtily, "I'll duel as I want, Moto, so don't start preaching to me, got it? I can handle myself you know…" He looked absolutely lived, and spoke only in a whisper for his next sentence, "I'll end my turn here..."
Terra smirked confidently, "You needed a boy to teach you strategy, Kaiba? How sad…" Looking down at the new card she held in her hand (Maryokutai), Terra frowned slightly. This wouldn't help out too much, but sometimes the surprise effect it had would catch opponents off guard, "I summon Maryokutai in Defense mode (900/900). Hmmm… well, an attack would be foolish seeing as Kaiba's Cosmo Queen could intercept it, so I'll end my turn." The large, skeletal head with a humongous brain appeared next to her Sword Hunter, glaring evilly at Yugi with its bright, small eyes.
Yugi selected his next card (Spell Binding Circle), "I'll place a card face-down on the field (Spell Binding Circle), and hide it in the last of the Magical Hats!" His life points rose again, changing the score to: Yugi: 2000/ Kaiba: 2500 – Earth: 500 / Lightning: 100.
Blitz selected his card (Drug Reaction), "I activate the continuous magic card Drug Reaction! With this card on the field, all magic and trap cards that increase or decrease life points will have their effects reversed, so every time either of you draws a card now, you'll lose 500 points! HA HA HA HA! Now, let's see how well it works, as Kaiba draws his card for this turn!" The Lightning Elemental continued to laugh, long and loud.
Ignoring him was an extremely difficult task, especially when one's life points were being lowly destroyed by your own card. Kaiba glared angrily at the card he had drawn (Raigeki), and his face brightened, "What luck! Who cares about strategy when you have cards like this! I'll end this duel right now by playing the Raigeki card, which will destroy all the monsters on my opponents' side of the field!"
Kaiba was rudely interrupted as his Raigeki card suddenly stopped trying to shower the field with lightning bolts, and only the weak, little Maryokutai monster disappeared, "What?! Why is only one monster destroyed?"
Terra chuckled, "Because, you fool, when a magic card is played I can sacrifice my face-up Maryokutai to destroy it and stop its effect. You have a lot to learn about Duel Monsters, Seto!"
Kaiba scowled. Nothing was going right for him in this duel! Why? Why was the universe so stacked against him? "Fine then, I'll end my turn here."
Terra selected another card (Dragonic Attack), "Excellent! I'll use this magic card, Dragonic Attack, to transform my Sword Hunter into a mighty dragon, raising his attack power by 500 points!"
As the card was raised onto the field, a large Chinese-dragon made of what looked like a mix of water and energy emerged from it. Roaring, it made a circle of the field and then dove straight at Sword Hunter, swallowing him whole. Then the water-dragon became a whirlpool, spinning rapidly with Sword Hunter in the center. The muscular man's armor fell away and his body began to twitch in erratic spasms. His skin became hard and scaly, his face and torso elongated as his limbs condensed. A new roar was mixed with the lingering sound of the water-dragon as the transformation ended. The whirlpool evaporated into thin air and the Sword Hunter Dragon landed on the ground, shaking it with the force of the impact. Where a man had stood was now a tan and silver dragon, with wings that stretched out behind it. It roared again and flapped its wings eagerly (2950/1700).
Terra held her arms out towards it, "Isn't he beautiful??" she cried, "Now go! Attack the Hat on the far left!!"
The dragon let out a furious attack of flames, which engulfed the Magical Hat and destroyed it. Just as quickly, the contents inside were revealed: a magic circle of deadly energy. Yugi breathed a sigh of relief as it attached itself to the Sword Hunter Dragon, "You've attack and activated my trap, the Spell Binding Circle! This will lower your dragon's attack power down to 2250, making it weaker than what it was when it started!"
Yugi pulled another card from his deck (Slifer the Sky Dragon). No good. Even if I could summon it, I don't have any cards in my hand! "I'll end my turn without doing anything." He watched as his life points decreased 500, back down to 1500.
Blitz drew his card (Riryoku) "I play the Riryoku magic card, reducing Kaiba's Queen to 1475/2450, and adding that 1475 I deducted to my Sanga of the Thunder (4075/2200)!" A glowing blue orb surrounded Kaiba's monster and sucked half of its attack points out of it and added the power to Blitz's monster, making it crackle with electricity. The cocky Lightning Duelist pointed his finger at the shocked Kaiba and shouted, "Now, Sanga, attack Kaiba, and eliminate him from this duel for good!" The mighty thunder beast shot forth a massive blast of lightning energy at the weakened Queen of all, intent on destroying it in one move.
Yugi gulped and saw his chance, "Kuriboh! Reveal and defend!" His tiny monster attempted to pop out of the top of the Hat, couldn't push its way through, got tired, and squeezed out of the bottom (barely). It hopped in front of the shock wave and was fried to a little, burnt ball of lint. It disappeared in a flash.
Kaiba glared angrily at Yugi, "I didn't need your help, so just mind your own business from now on, alright?" He looked down at the card he had picked up (Share the Pain), and grinned evilly, "First, I summon the Dark Zebra (1800/400) to the field! And now, since you so enjoyed inflicting pain upon me, Blitz, I'm sure that you won't mind if I 'Share the Pain'! HA HA HA!" The green magic card appeared on the field along with his malevolent animal, and two knives appeared out of the magic card.
Blitz looked on in horror as one of the knives flew forward and stabbed his Sanga straight through. The mighty creature began to implode from the force of its internal electricity. Within seconds it had destroyed itself, sending a rush of wind at the Thunder Elemental and a rush of blue energy to Kaiba's Queen, "What did you do?" He cried, trying to be heard over the noise of the holograms on the field.
Kaiba folded his arms over his chest and waited a moment as his Zebra was beheaded, "The 'Share the Pain' card allows me to sacrifice one of my monsters to destroy one of yours. Normally, you would have had a choice as to what one, but since you only had one, there wasn't much choice to be had. And now that my Queen has all of her strength back, I'll finish you off!" The Queen of the Cosmos held up a hand and a blast of red energy spiraled forward. Before it could impact though, another voice was heard:
"Sword Hunter! Defend!" The dragon-warrior flew forward and intercepted the attack as Kuriboh had done only moments before. The red energy hit the dragon's crystal scales and began to break the monster apart. In almost an instant, the dragon shattered into hundreds of pieces.
Terra's life points dropped to zero. The once strong woman fell to her knees.
"Mother!!" Blitz cried, rushing to her side, "Why did you do that??"
Terra looked up at him with a sad smile. "It's all over, Blitz. Surrender now and maybe we can escape with our lives before Lord Jetsu discovers our failure…"
"But…what about Fuego? And Howa?" Blitz demanded, tears welling in his eyes, "We aren't going to leave them to die, are we??"
"No, of course not," Terra said, getting to her feet once again, "Which is why we must move quickly."
"I understand," Blitz nodded. Then he turned towards Yugi and Kaiba. Grimly, he placed his right hand over his deck and bowed.
Kaiba was shocked speechless. Yugi managed to find his voice long enough to say, "You're…giving up…?"
"Congratulations, little Yugi," Terra said, bowing as well, "You and your teammate have bested us. Now we must leave you – do not expect to see us again."
"Wait just a minute!" Kaiba said, "You said the winners could take anything they wanted from the losers! So hand over your items!"
Terra and Blitz simultaneously removed their chains and tossed them at the victors' feet. Then with swish of their cloaks, vanished.
Kaiba scowled triumphantly and picked up the chains, each of which had two items attached. He tossed one to Yugi, "Here, I believe this will qualify both of us for the finals of this tournament. According to the rules, tomorrow is the last day for the other losers to collect their items, and anyone without all seven will be automatically eliminated. I'll see you then…" Kaiba walked off and headed up into the crowd to collect his cash from any of the losers that bet against him…
Yugi caught the chain and stuffed it into the pocket of his cloak. Then he pulled out the Puzzle. Yami watched wide-eyed, as Yugi reared back. Surely he wasn't going to break it?? Then, an intense force took hold of him and he was dragged into the puzzle. Without Yugi's support, he could no longer remain on the physical plane.
At that instant, Dedi landed cat-like on the ground in front of the boy. "Yugi don't!!" she cried, hurrying over to him, "Listen, I know your upset, but don't to anything rash!"
Yugi looked up at her and she was surprised to see his face wet with tears. "He wasn't there for me…" the poor boy choked, "I needed him and he wasn't there…"
"I know," Dedi said, "And I can't help but feel it was my fault. Yugi, I know how important you two are to each other, and if I'm only getting in the way…" She clenched her fists tightly, and took a deep breath, "I'll understand if you don't want me around. Just say the word and I'll be out pf your lives forever." She knew her hands were shaking as she stared down at the boy. The last thing she wanted to do was leave, but if that's what she had to do…
But Yugi shook his head. "No…I don't want him to be unhappy…here," he shoved the Puzzle into her hands, "take it, before I destroy him." Dedi could only watch sadly as he turned and fled the arena. She heard footsteps behind her and then the voices of Yugi's friends reached her.
"Hey…what happened??" Joey asked, coming up beside Dedi.
She handed Joey the Puzzle, "Please, get him to take this back…I have to go…" She surveyed the small group forlornly, "It was nice meeting you all…" Then she too fled the stadium, disappearing in the opposite direction that Yugi had gone.
"What was that all about??" Tristan asked.
"I think I know," Joey said, looking down at the Puzzle, "I gotta go talk to Yugi."
"You want me to come with?" Tristan asked.
"No offense, Tristan," Joey said, "but…this I something I need to do alone."
"Alright," Tristan nodded, "Good luck."
"Yeah, thanks," Joey said, putting the Puzzle into his pocket and heading off.
After he was gone, Tristan cleared his throat, "So…ladies…"
"Don't start," Tea said irritably.
"Wasn't startin' nothin'," Tristan said defensively as both girls rolled their eyes.