Chapter 20
Yami, I'm getting seriously bored here. Yugi whined mentally.
~I know, Yugi, but I can't do anything about it. It's not like I want to be here, but we don't have any choice.~
We COULD just leave.
~Yeah, but this chick is crazy! She already cursed us, who knows what'll happen if we try to leave. Although, if YOU had just let me kill her earlier…~
Do NOT try to pin this on me! How was I supposed to know Laryssa was a practitioner of the black arts? And anyway, it's your fault for taking money from strangers!
~IT WAS A GODDAMN NICKEL!~
It's the principle of the thing. Yugi thought sarcastically.
~Oh, don't YOU start that crazy-talk on me.~
And DUEL MONSTERS? The one game in the world you cannot POSSIBLY WIN, and you challenge her to it!
~… okay, that MAY not have been my best decision. But come ON! She wanted to play checkers!~
SO WHY DIDN'T YOU PLAY CHECKERS?!
~… … … …~
WELL?!
~… … cuz.~
'Cuz'? 'CUZ'?! Well, of course! Why didn't I think of that! The PERFECT reason to condemn us both! CUZ!
~Listen, if you hate it so much, YOU duel her. You aren't cursed, you can do it!~
HA! Like I'm gonna get involved in YOUR problems? You made the psycho mad, you can deal with it.
~Jerk.~
Yugi and Yami were terribly bored. It had been over an hour and a half since the arena had been ordered, and until it got there they had absolutely nothing to do except talk to themselves. Oh, sure, there was The Dark, Foul, and Evil Sorceress of Chaos and Destruction™, but all she did was look at them for a few seconds, chuckle, tell them how she was going to kill them, and then turn away. Kaiba was curled up in a fetal position, but every time anything moved he would jump up and hiss like a startled cat. Tristan was just beginning to wake up, but he wasn't the man to turn to for intelligent conversation under any circumstances. Every so often the S.S.S.S.S.S. would show up, dragging some innocent bystander, and Kaiba would rant at them, and they'd leave. Life as usual.
"… … so, crazy weather we been having, huh?" Yami offered, desperately trying to start a conversation with someone other than his other self.
The Dark, Foul, and Evil Sorceress of Chaos and Destruction™ chuckled. "Indeed, pharaoh, as crazy as the horrible pain you will feel when I feed you to a pack of starving crocodiles! HEEEEEEEEHEE ::COUGH, HACK!::"
Kaiba leapt to his feet. "HSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!" he said. He then curled up again.
"oooooooooohhhhhhhh…" Tristan said.
Yami buried his face in his hands.
... I think the weather has been pretty nice.
~Aw, shut up.~
***
Not too far away, another person was resignedly waiting. But he was anything but bored.
I'm gonna die! Malik thought. It was the only thought he'd had for a while now, except for a steady countdown of how long it would take Isis to land the plane. In five minutes, I'm gonna die!
It was his own fault. He was the one who had been foolish enough to trap himself in a confined space like this, he should have taken some form of transportation that would allow himself a quick getaway. Now, Isis would take out her horrible punishment upon his soul, and…
Punishment? Soul? Horrible? HIS YAMI!
It was the perfect plan! His Yami was a psychotic, blood-thirsty maniac, surely he'd be able to find SOME way out of this mess. And even if he couldn't, well, he wouldn't really feel any pain his Yami felt. Tough for him.
Reaching deep into the recesses of his soul, the young Egyptian found the spiritual barriers that kept his insane other half locked inside the millennium rod… and eroded them, surrendering himself to the darkness. His hair instantly grew spikier, his pupils disappeared, and the Millenium symbol appeared on his forehead.
The newly free Yami Malik chuckled, a deep and horrible chuckle. Fire and Chaos rained from the sky. Terror filled the souls of the weak. The great and terrible evil roared, "AT LAST! I am FREE! Free to destroy all life, to claim the great power that is my right! For too long, I have been trapped inside that fool, while…"
Yami Malik stopped ranting and looked around in confusion. "What am I doing here? Why did Malik release me?"
Then he saw the cabin. And Isis.
The greatest darkness of all time screamed like a little girl.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!" ~MALIK! WHAT THE HELL IS SHE DOING HERE?!~
Malik chuckled spiritually. That's YOUR problem now, buddy.
~I… SHE…
I… YOU SUCK!~
Hey,
you're the one who wanted to screw her.
Now's your chance, lover boy! Go
right ahead… if you're into that whole 'black widow' thing. Of course, she'd kill you BEFORE you…
~I GET
IT!~ Yami Malik thought in a
panicked rush. "Oh, sweet Ra…" he
muttered. ~There has to be a way out
of here… I can't die like this…~
If there was a way out, don't
you think I would have taken it?
~… … … no. Because you never did have the backbone to do what needed to be done.~ Yami Malik thought, looking at the window.
NO. No WAY. There must be something else to do…
~Desperate times call for desperate measures.~ "GERONIMO!" he cried, and jumped out the window.
* * *
"Thanks a ton, Bob." Yami said as the TristanCorp. Technician finished installing the arena. "Seriously, you've helped out the fate of the world here."
"Yeah, sure. Just as long as that evil British kid pays me, I'm solid." Bob said jovially, then went back to work.
The arena was in, the gang was back, and it was finally time to get the revenge back on track.
I almost don't believe it! The arena is finally here! We can actually get this over with! Yugi cheered.
"True, Yugi. Speaking of which," Yami said, checking his watch, "I've only got about fifteen minutes until my next revenge, so let's get this show on the road!"
"GO, YAMI!" Tea roared.
"You can do it!" Joey cheered.
"Kick butt!" Mai added.
"I hope you both die." Evil Bakura said helpfully.
"AHHHHH! SCORPIONS ARE EVERYWHERE!" Kaiba shrieked.
"Y'know, sometimes I wonder about the wisdom of betting one's life on a card game." Tristan said.
Silence.
"BLASPHEMER!" Joey shouted, holding his fingers in a cross.
"TRISTAN, HOW COULD YOU?!" Tea shrieked.
"Tristan, have you forgotten the First Tenet of Yu-Gi-Oh!™?" Yami asked severely.
Tristan blushed. "Sorry. 'All problems, no matter how monumentally important, may be settled with a card game. ANYTHING, up to and including the souls of yourselves and your loved ones, is an acceptable wager for these games.' I don't know what I was thinking."
Yami smiled. "That's better. Now, Dark, Foul, and Evil Sorceress of Chaos and Destruction™, it's TIME TO D-D-D-D-D-D-DUEL!"
"Very well, Yami! It is past time for your eternal torment to begin!"
Dramatic music played, and huge images of the two combatants appeared in the air over a zoomed out view of the arena.
The S.S.S.S.S.S rode up, carrying a screaming Mako Tsunami and totally ruining the mood.
::SIGH::. Why do I get the feeling that the entire duel is going to turn out like this?
~Just because EVERYTHING that could possibly go wrong this entire week HAS gone wrong? … … … well, maybe this will turn out okay.~
Maybe. But probably not.
***
Not so very far away, Yami Malik landed.
Hard.
~Owwwwwwwwww…~
Hurry and get up!
~Malik… all my bones are broken… I'm in the most horrible pain imaginable… organs failing… blacking out… self-narration coming in short bits… unable to move…~
Isis will be landing that plane in five minutes.
Yami Malik burst to his feet and sprinted from his landing zone like a frightened deer.
***
Five minutes later, at Domino airport, barely a quarter mile from Malik's landing site, a plane landed.
Then it exploded.
In the center of the raging inferno, unharmed, stood Isis Ishtar, an expression of unfathomable fury on her aristocratic features. She glowed with unbelievable power, and the millennium symbol burned black on her forehead. She began walking calmly forward, and the ground burst into flame beneath her feet.
She said only three words:
"Malik. Must. DIE."