Disclaimer: See Chapter 1
Chapter 8: What Have I Done?
Smoke covered the field, a result of the stunning firepower of a single machine, the Barrel Dragon.
'Did I destroy it?' Tamashii asked himself as the smoke started to clear. 'I must have destroyed it. Nothing can stop the power of my ultimate machine!' But much to his dismay, and to Yugi's relief, Valkyrion stood unscathed by the Barrel Dragon's cannon fire.
"Looks like your Barrel Dragon's special effect failed you, Tamashii." Yugi said. "My Valkyrion is unharmed, and it still protects my life points."
"That maybe so." Tamashii replied. "But my Barrel Dragon can still attack. So I can still wipe out your Valkyrion, but I think I'll let it stay on the field. Seeing as how the next turn belongs to Sakura, I shall target her Dark Magician, so that she may not harm my partner's monsters."
"How very thoughtful." Sakura sarcastically whispered.
"Now, Barrel Dragon, destroy the Dark Magician!" Tamashii cried. Once again the cannons mounted on the machine dragon fired, and once again a large explosion appeared. Hitting its mark, the enormous blasts of energy decimated the Dark Magician.
"My turn's not over yet." Tamashii said. "I play this magic card, Ring of Magnetism. It directs all of my opponent's attacks to my Barrel Dragon at the cost of 500 of its defense and attack points."
"Why would you play that?" Yugi asked. "Now, your Barrel Dragon is vulnerable to my Valkyrion's attack."
"That may be true, but I'll quickly remedy that." Tamashii answered. "With this magic card, I'll show you both why machines are superior to all monsters. I play Paralyzing Potion. It only affects non-machine monsters, and stops the equipped monster from attacking. Your Valkyrion is useless now!" A maniacal laugh followed his statement. "To end my turn, I play one card face down on my magic/trap slot."
"Then I'll draw." Sakura stated. "And I summon a monster face down in defense mode. Then I'll play the magic card, Foolish Burial. This allows me to discard any monster from my own deck to the graveyard."
'I see. Sakura must be trying to power up her Dark Magician Girl in advance.' Yugi thought to himself. 'She's throwing away another one of her Dark Magician because she'll have a hard time summoning it to the field if she draws it. Furthermore, because it's taken out of her deck, she'll have better luck in drawing a card that she needs.'
"I'll place one more card face down and that'll end my turn." Sakura concluded.
'Traps won't help you now, little girl.' Kaede thought to herself as she looked at her two holographic face down cards. 'One of my two trap cards is called the Seven Tools of the Bandit, it'll stop any trap you throw at me. The other one is the magic card known as United We Stand. I placed it face down to bluff Yugi into not attacking me. I will play it when the time is right.'
"I also play a monster face down in defense mode." Kaede declared. "And to further boost Barrel Dragon's power, I'll play the field card called Mystic Plasma Zone. It'll raise the attack of all dark monsters by 500 points. This ends my turn."
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End of Turn 4
Yugi: 3600 (Valkyrion the Magna Warrior in attack mode)
Sakura: 7900 (1 monster face down in defense mode, 2 cards face down)
Tamashii: 7200 (Barrel Dragon in attack mode, Paralyzing Potion, Ring of Magnetism, 1 card face down)
Kaede: 6050 (2 Witch's Apprentices in attack mode, 1 monster face down in defense mode, 2 cards face down, Mystic Plasma Zone)
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Yugi sighed as he drew. This duel was not looking in his favor. 'Valkyrion can't attack now, so it's pretty much useless.' He thought to himself. 'If I dismantle him, he may be good for tributes.'
"I'll activate my Valkyrion's special ability, splitting him into three separate warriors again." Yugi proclaimed. As quickly as his magnet warriors had assembled into the great magna warrior, the giant monster disassembled back into its three divided forms. "Now I can tribute two of my magnet warriors to summon my own Dark Magician in attack mode!" The monster so loyal to Yugi once again appeared in front of him in the place of his Alpha and Gamma magnet warriors.
'Thanks to Kaede's cards, my Dark Magician has an attack power of 4000 and can easily take out Tamashii's Barrel Dragon.' Yugi silently thought. 'That is, if there wasn't so many face down cards on the field. I can't risk attacking, seeing as how one of them may be a trap card that can seriously hurt me.'
"I'll end my turn." Yugi finally said, noticing Sakura's silence in understanding why he did not attack.
"You disappoint me, Yugi Moto." Tamashii smirked. "I would have thought that a duelist like you would back his title up with some action." His smirk widened as he drew his next card. "Alright, I'll activate Barrel Dragon's special ability again to destroy your Dark Magician." The massive Barrel Dragon aimed its attack onto Yugi's monster, firing its cannons again and again. The field was covered by a familiar smokescreen. As it cleared, Tamashii frowned to see that his Barrel Dragon's effect had once again failed him. "No matter." He said without worry. "I still have other methods of disabling your Dark Magician. Like with this magic card, Germ Infection!" Tamashii slid his newly drawn card into his magic slot. "Germ Infection is another magic card that doesn't affect machines, once again proving their superiority. With each turn, your Dark Magician loses 300 attack points, making it gradually weaker and weaker. And remember that I can still attack. So Barrel Dragon, attack the girl's face down monster!"
"Tamashii you idiot!" Kaede shouted out. But it was too late, Barrel Dragon had already fired on its target. As the blasts struck the face down card, an odd looking green monster revealed itself before shattering into its holographic pieces.
"You've just destroyed my Greenkappa monster, activating its special effect." Sakura informed. "Once flipped over, I can destroy any two face down magic or trap cards. And I choose the two cards that Kaede has face down!" Instantly, the two holograms in front of Kaede disappeared.
"Now it's my turn." Sakura said as she drew. "I'll play one monster face down in defense mode and that's all."
Kaede was not happy that her two face down cards were destroyed, not happy at all. But her frown suddenly faded as she looked at her drawn card. "This is the card I've been waiting for!" Kaede exclaimed. "This duel will soon be over! I play the magic card: Toon World!"
"Oh no!" Yugi shouted. "Not Toon World!"
"What's Toon World?" Sakura asked, quite unfamiliar with the rarer cards.
"It's a very rare and dangerous magic card." Yugi explained, recalling his duel at Duelist Kingdom against Pegasus. He remembered watching Pegasus's toon monsters quickly wipe out Kaiba, then having to face the insanely bent monsters himself. "With Toon World in play, Kaede will be able to summon very powerful cartoon monsters. I've only had very little experience against it so I do not know all the abilities of the toon creatures."
"Then allow me to fill you two in." Kaede smirked. "I summon the creature known as the Toon Summoned Skull (2500/1200) by sacrificing my face down defense monster." As the face down hologram disappeared, a very twisted version of the Summoned Skull appeared from the Toon World magic card. Its wacky eyes bounced out and in of its sockets as the creature made its entrance. "The Toon Summoned Skull may only be played if I have Toon World on the field and may not attack when it is first summoned. However, for the cost of 500, I can bypass your monsters and directly attack your life points. And because of the upgrade dark type monsters get from my Witch's Apprentice and Mystic Plasma Zone, My Toon Summoned Skull has more than enough attack points to destroy you, Yugi!"
Yugi stepped back in fear. If they could not counter the toon monster by Kaede's next turn, he would be finished.
"I end my turn for now, but next turn, this duel will be over." Kaede said.
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End of Turn 5
Yugi: 3600 (Dark Magician in attack mode)
Sakura: 7900 (2 cards face down)
Tamashii: 7200 (Barrel Dragon in attack mode, Germ Infection, Ring of Magnetism, 1 card face down)
Kaede: 6050 (2 Witch's Apprentices in attack mode, Toon Summoned Skull in attack mode, Mystic Plasma Zone, Toon World)
----------
"You may have been able to summon your toon monster." Yugi shouted as he drew his next card. "But we will find a way to destroy it."
'Unfortunately, I don't have anything in my hand that can stop her toon monster.' Yugi thought as he looked at his cards. 'During the last turn, Sakura managed to destroy the two face down cards that Kaede placed. And even with Tamashii's Germ Infection, my Dark Magician is still more powerful than his Barrel Dragon, seeing as how it's attack power is lowered by 500 through the effects of Ring of Magnetism. I can attack, but he also played a card face down. It could be a trap.'
'Nevertheless, we have to take the risk.' Yami thought to his alternate self. 'We must destroy the Barrel Dragon to give Sakura a chance to take out the Toon Summoned Skull. Even if Tamashii has a trap played, we can at least make him waste it on us.'
'You're right.' Yugi said as he prepared to attack.
'May the heart of the cards guide us.' The two prayed. "Dark Magician, attack the Barrel Dragon!" Yugi ordered. "Dark magic attack!"
"Not so fast!" Tamashii boasted. "Activate trap card: Windstorm of Etaqua. It forces every monster on the field to change its position, so it'll set your Dark Magician in defense mode, making it unable to attack!"
Still determined to win, Yugi turned towards Sakura. "We must get past their defenses before Kaede is allowed to attack with her Toon Summoned Skull." He told her.
"What's the point?" Sakura sighed, slightly surprising Yugi. "Your attack failed, and they have too many strong monsters. There's nothing in my hand that could get through their defenses. And unless you can change that, we'll lose this duel and our lives with it."
"Don't get discouraged, Sakura." Yugi said.
'Wait.' Yugi thought to himself. 'Sakura is definitely not the type who gives up. She's trying to tell me something. . . of course!'
"Alright, Sakura." Yugi said as he placed a card in his magic/trap slot. "Let's put the odds in our favor then. I play the magic card, Exchange! And I choose to use this card with you, Sakura."
"Good going, Yugi." Sakura said as she beamed a smile at him. The two duelists walked up to each other, showing their hands. "I'll take this one." Sakura said as she picked a magic card from Yugi's hand.
"And I'll choose this one." Yugi said as he picked a monster card from Sakura's hand, sure that she didn't need it. "I'll end my turn now."
"My turn again." Tamashii said as he drew his card. "And I'll start things off with a blast from my Barrel Dragon." He stuck a finger out and pointed at Yugi's Dark Magician. "Barrel Dragon, destroy his Dark Magician with your special ability!" The Barrel Dragon fired a volley of explosions, each blast aimed for the Dark Magician. Whereas the two previous times failed to succeed, the Dark Magician was not so lucky this turn. Having been hit directly by the Barrel Dragon's special effect, the Dark Magician shattered into thousands of tine holographic shards.
"No! My Dark Magician!" Yugi cried as his favored monster was destroyed before his eyes.
"Finally, it hit!" Tamashii shouted in excitement. "Now your life points are open to attack! Barrel Dragon, with an attack of 3600, attack Yugi's life points and wipe his life points out!" At his command, the Barrel Dragon charged its cannons and fired straight at Yugi.
"Activate trap card!" Sakura interrupted. "Magical Cylinders!" Two cylinders appeared in front of Yugi, intercepting the blast and redirecting it towards Tamashii, hitting him with full force and taking a large portion of his life points out.
"I can't believe it!" Tamashii gasped. "My life points are at a measily 3600 now and are tied with Yugi Moto's."
'Heh.' Kaede silently laughed. 'The rookie Tamashii should have known it was too risky to attack. It doesn't matter. It was good that he took the hit of the Magical Cylinders so my Toon Summoned Skull can attack without trouble. And as long as the fool has his Barrel Dragon out, he'll be taking all the hits instead of me. My toon monsters will dominate their life points in a matter of turns.'
"That had better be worth it, Kaede." Tamashii said. "I've done my part in this duel so you better finish them off. As for now, I'll end my turn."
"My turn." Sakura said. "And it's time to tip the duel in our favor."
Yugi nodded. "Do it Sakura."
"Right." Sakura replied as she drew. A grin appeared as she looked at her card. "First I'll special summon this monster in attack mode. Go, Fiend Megacyber (2200/1200)! Because if its special effect, I can summon this level six monster without having to tribute anything. Its attack power is also raised up to 3700 because it's a dark type monster."
"No! Now it's stronger than my Barrel Dragon!" Tamashii cried.
"I'll also lay one card face down in my magic/trap slot." Sakura continued. "Now I'll play the magic card that I took from Yugi when he played exchange. Activate Card Destruction! Every duelist has to discard their hand and draw new cards now."
"What are you trying to accomplish, little girl?" Kaede asked as she discarded her hand.
"Even if you can destroy the Barrel Dragon, you don't have enough attack power to take out Tamashii's life points. And then you'll also have my toons to deal with."
"That's where you're mistaken, Kaede." Sakura said, her grin growing wider. "I activate the trap card that I played in the beginning of this duel, Call of the Haunted! Now, revive the Dark Magician Girl (2000/1700) that I've just discarded! She gains an extra 300 attack points for every Dark Magician or Black Choas Magician in the graveyard. I count two of my Dark Magicians and one of Yugi's in the graveyard so Dark Magician Girl gets a boost of 900. And because she's also a dark type monster, she'll have the attack strength of 4400 now thanks to Kaede's cards!"
"Now she has enough attack power to take me out of the game!" Tamashii panicked. "I'm doomed!"
"How right you are." Sakura smirked. "Dark Magician Girl, destroy his Barrel Dragon!" The female magician pointed her wand at the mechanical beast and released her version of the dark magic attack, wiping her target out. "Now, Fiend Megacyber, wipe out the rest of his life points!" Sakura ordered without hesitating.
"NO!" Tamashii cried as the yellow armored fiend attacked. "My life points! When they reach zero, the device on my duel disk will. . ."
"I'm not finished yet." Sakura exclaimed, still in the heat of battle and not listening to the whining of Tamashii. "I haven't forgotten about your toons, Kaede. So I'll sacrifice my two monsters for my third and final Dark Magician." The third Dark Magician in her deck took the place of her two previous monsters. "Now that I have Dark Magician on the field, I can activate the face down magic card that I placed before we had to discard our hand. Activate Thousand Knives magic card! With this, I can automatically destroy any monster I want. So I choose to destroy your Toon Summoned Skull!" As the magic card was played, a thousand holographic knives appeared in front of the toon creature and skewered it without mercy, reducing its once twisted nature into a deathly silence.
"Hah!" Sakura laughed. "Take that! This duel is over now that. . ." Before she could finish her sentence, a large flash blinded her eyes, followed by a crackling explosion.
"My god. . ." Sakura gasped as the explosion cleared. Her hands clamped over her mouth as her eyes followed the floor line to where Tamashii stood. But the duelist was not standing anymore. Instead, Tamashii was laying face up on the floor; blood flowed from his arms, face, and chest. Duel Monster cards were scattered all across his bloody figure. His blank stare into the sky made clear that he was dead. "What have I done?" Sakura whimpered as tears began to form in her eyes.
"You did what you had to." Yugi said, hanging his head down. "But you mustn't dwell on this now. The duel is not over yet."
"I don't care!" Sakura sobbed, here eyes now streaming with tears of fear. "I just. . . I didn't mean to. . . I didn't want to." She set her knees onto the ground, reducing into a kneeling position of shock. "I killed him!"
"No, Sakura." Yugi said. "His death was not your fault. Tamashii was killed by his own crazy rules. You did what you needed to do to survive. Furthermore, you saved the both of us. There is no sin in that."
But Sakura would not listen. All she could do was crouch into the fetal position, sobbing on her arms.
"Please, Sakura." Yugi said, trying to calm her down. "We have a duel to finish."
"It is already finished." Kaede shouted. "How am I supposed to duel against you two by myself? Even in the little girl's saddened state, I am still no match for the both of you."
"So do you forfeit?" Yugi asked.
"Forfeit?" Kaede began to manically laugh. "Forfeit?! That would be against my master's orders. No I will not forfeit, you will not win. In fact, none of us will win today."
"What do you mean?" Yugi asked.
Kaede reached into her robes and took out another device, one that was similar to the grenade on her duel disk, but much larger. "You can guess what this is." Kaede said as she pressed on the device, starting what seemed like a timer set to a few seconds. "No one leaves here today alive!"
"Sakura, watch out!" Yugi warned. "It's a bomb!" But before Yugi could do anything, the device went off, catching both him and Sakura in the deafening explosion.
Chapter 8: What Have I Done?
Smoke covered the field, a result of the stunning firepower of a single machine, the Barrel Dragon.
'Did I destroy it?' Tamashii asked himself as the smoke started to clear. 'I must have destroyed it. Nothing can stop the power of my ultimate machine!' But much to his dismay, and to Yugi's relief, Valkyrion stood unscathed by the Barrel Dragon's cannon fire.
"Looks like your Barrel Dragon's special effect failed you, Tamashii." Yugi said. "My Valkyrion is unharmed, and it still protects my life points."
"That maybe so." Tamashii replied. "But my Barrel Dragon can still attack. So I can still wipe out your Valkyrion, but I think I'll let it stay on the field. Seeing as how the next turn belongs to Sakura, I shall target her Dark Magician, so that she may not harm my partner's monsters."
"How very thoughtful." Sakura sarcastically whispered.
"Now, Barrel Dragon, destroy the Dark Magician!" Tamashii cried. Once again the cannons mounted on the machine dragon fired, and once again a large explosion appeared. Hitting its mark, the enormous blasts of energy decimated the Dark Magician.
"My turn's not over yet." Tamashii said. "I play this magic card, Ring of Magnetism. It directs all of my opponent's attacks to my Barrel Dragon at the cost of 500 of its defense and attack points."
"Why would you play that?" Yugi asked. "Now, your Barrel Dragon is vulnerable to my Valkyrion's attack."
"That may be true, but I'll quickly remedy that." Tamashii answered. "With this magic card, I'll show you both why machines are superior to all monsters. I play Paralyzing Potion. It only affects non-machine monsters, and stops the equipped monster from attacking. Your Valkyrion is useless now!" A maniacal laugh followed his statement. "To end my turn, I play one card face down on my magic/trap slot."
"Then I'll draw." Sakura stated. "And I summon a monster face down in defense mode. Then I'll play the magic card, Foolish Burial. This allows me to discard any monster from my own deck to the graveyard."
'I see. Sakura must be trying to power up her Dark Magician Girl in advance.' Yugi thought to himself. 'She's throwing away another one of her Dark Magician because she'll have a hard time summoning it to the field if she draws it. Furthermore, because it's taken out of her deck, she'll have better luck in drawing a card that she needs.'
"I'll place one more card face down and that'll end my turn." Sakura concluded.
'Traps won't help you now, little girl.' Kaede thought to herself as she looked at her two holographic face down cards. 'One of my two trap cards is called the Seven Tools of the Bandit, it'll stop any trap you throw at me. The other one is the magic card known as United We Stand. I placed it face down to bluff Yugi into not attacking me. I will play it when the time is right.'
"I also play a monster face down in defense mode." Kaede declared. "And to further boost Barrel Dragon's power, I'll play the field card called Mystic Plasma Zone. It'll raise the attack of all dark monsters by 500 points. This ends my turn."
----------
End of Turn 4
Yugi: 3600 (Valkyrion the Magna Warrior in attack mode)
Sakura: 7900 (1 monster face down in defense mode, 2 cards face down)
Tamashii: 7200 (Barrel Dragon in attack mode, Paralyzing Potion, Ring of Magnetism, 1 card face down)
Kaede: 6050 (2 Witch's Apprentices in attack mode, 1 monster face down in defense mode, 2 cards face down, Mystic Plasma Zone)
----------
Yugi sighed as he drew. This duel was not looking in his favor. 'Valkyrion can't attack now, so it's pretty much useless.' He thought to himself. 'If I dismantle him, he may be good for tributes.'
"I'll activate my Valkyrion's special ability, splitting him into three separate warriors again." Yugi proclaimed. As quickly as his magnet warriors had assembled into the great magna warrior, the giant monster disassembled back into its three divided forms. "Now I can tribute two of my magnet warriors to summon my own Dark Magician in attack mode!" The monster so loyal to Yugi once again appeared in front of him in the place of his Alpha and Gamma magnet warriors.
'Thanks to Kaede's cards, my Dark Magician has an attack power of 4000 and can easily take out Tamashii's Barrel Dragon.' Yugi silently thought. 'That is, if there wasn't so many face down cards on the field. I can't risk attacking, seeing as how one of them may be a trap card that can seriously hurt me.'
"I'll end my turn." Yugi finally said, noticing Sakura's silence in understanding why he did not attack.
"You disappoint me, Yugi Moto." Tamashii smirked. "I would have thought that a duelist like you would back his title up with some action." His smirk widened as he drew his next card. "Alright, I'll activate Barrel Dragon's special ability again to destroy your Dark Magician." The massive Barrel Dragon aimed its attack onto Yugi's monster, firing its cannons again and again. The field was covered by a familiar smokescreen. As it cleared, Tamashii frowned to see that his Barrel Dragon's effect had once again failed him. "No matter." He said without worry. "I still have other methods of disabling your Dark Magician. Like with this magic card, Germ Infection!" Tamashii slid his newly drawn card into his magic slot. "Germ Infection is another magic card that doesn't affect machines, once again proving their superiority. With each turn, your Dark Magician loses 300 attack points, making it gradually weaker and weaker. And remember that I can still attack. So Barrel Dragon, attack the girl's face down monster!"
"Tamashii you idiot!" Kaede shouted out. But it was too late, Barrel Dragon had already fired on its target. As the blasts struck the face down card, an odd looking green monster revealed itself before shattering into its holographic pieces.
"You've just destroyed my Greenkappa monster, activating its special effect." Sakura informed. "Once flipped over, I can destroy any two face down magic or trap cards. And I choose the two cards that Kaede has face down!" Instantly, the two holograms in front of Kaede disappeared.
"Now it's my turn." Sakura said as she drew. "I'll play one monster face down in defense mode and that's all."
Kaede was not happy that her two face down cards were destroyed, not happy at all. But her frown suddenly faded as she looked at her drawn card. "This is the card I've been waiting for!" Kaede exclaimed. "This duel will soon be over! I play the magic card: Toon World!"
"Oh no!" Yugi shouted. "Not Toon World!"
"What's Toon World?" Sakura asked, quite unfamiliar with the rarer cards.
"It's a very rare and dangerous magic card." Yugi explained, recalling his duel at Duelist Kingdom against Pegasus. He remembered watching Pegasus's toon monsters quickly wipe out Kaiba, then having to face the insanely bent monsters himself. "With Toon World in play, Kaede will be able to summon very powerful cartoon monsters. I've only had very little experience against it so I do not know all the abilities of the toon creatures."
"Then allow me to fill you two in." Kaede smirked. "I summon the creature known as the Toon Summoned Skull (2500/1200) by sacrificing my face down defense monster." As the face down hologram disappeared, a very twisted version of the Summoned Skull appeared from the Toon World magic card. Its wacky eyes bounced out and in of its sockets as the creature made its entrance. "The Toon Summoned Skull may only be played if I have Toon World on the field and may not attack when it is first summoned. However, for the cost of 500, I can bypass your monsters and directly attack your life points. And because of the upgrade dark type monsters get from my Witch's Apprentice and Mystic Plasma Zone, My Toon Summoned Skull has more than enough attack points to destroy you, Yugi!"
Yugi stepped back in fear. If they could not counter the toon monster by Kaede's next turn, he would be finished.
"I end my turn for now, but next turn, this duel will be over." Kaede said.
----------
End of Turn 5
Yugi: 3600 (Dark Magician in attack mode)
Sakura: 7900 (2 cards face down)
Tamashii: 7200 (Barrel Dragon in attack mode, Germ Infection, Ring of Magnetism, 1 card face down)
Kaede: 6050 (2 Witch's Apprentices in attack mode, Toon Summoned Skull in attack mode, Mystic Plasma Zone, Toon World)
----------
"You may have been able to summon your toon monster." Yugi shouted as he drew his next card. "But we will find a way to destroy it."
'Unfortunately, I don't have anything in my hand that can stop her toon monster.' Yugi thought as he looked at his cards. 'During the last turn, Sakura managed to destroy the two face down cards that Kaede placed. And even with Tamashii's Germ Infection, my Dark Magician is still more powerful than his Barrel Dragon, seeing as how it's attack power is lowered by 500 through the effects of Ring of Magnetism. I can attack, but he also played a card face down. It could be a trap.'
'Nevertheless, we have to take the risk.' Yami thought to his alternate self. 'We must destroy the Barrel Dragon to give Sakura a chance to take out the Toon Summoned Skull. Even if Tamashii has a trap played, we can at least make him waste it on us.'
'You're right.' Yugi said as he prepared to attack.
'May the heart of the cards guide us.' The two prayed. "Dark Magician, attack the Barrel Dragon!" Yugi ordered. "Dark magic attack!"
"Not so fast!" Tamashii boasted. "Activate trap card: Windstorm of Etaqua. It forces every monster on the field to change its position, so it'll set your Dark Magician in defense mode, making it unable to attack!"
Still determined to win, Yugi turned towards Sakura. "We must get past their defenses before Kaede is allowed to attack with her Toon Summoned Skull." He told her.
"What's the point?" Sakura sighed, slightly surprising Yugi. "Your attack failed, and they have too many strong monsters. There's nothing in my hand that could get through their defenses. And unless you can change that, we'll lose this duel and our lives with it."
"Don't get discouraged, Sakura." Yugi said.
'Wait.' Yugi thought to himself. 'Sakura is definitely not the type who gives up. She's trying to tell me something. . . of course!'
"Alright, Sakura." Yugi said as he placed a card in his magic/trap slot. "Let's put the odds in our favor then. I play the magic card, Exchange! And I choose to use this card with you, Sakura."
"Good going, Yugi." Sakura said as she beamed a smile at him. The two duelists walked up to each other, showing their hands. "I'll take this one." Sakura said as she picked a magic card from Yugi's hand.
"And I'll choose this one." Yugi said as he picked a monster card from Sakura's hand, sure that she didn't need it. "I'll end my turn now."
"My turn again." Tamashii said as he drew his card. "And I'll start things off with a blast from my Barrel Dragon." He stuck a finger out and pointed at Yugi's Dark Magician. "Barrel Dragon, destroy his Dark Magician with your special ability!" The Barrel Dragon fired a volley of explosions, each blast aimed for the Dark Magician. Whereas the two previous times failed to succeed, the Dark Magician was not so lucky this turn. Having been hit directly by the Barrel Dragon's special effect, the Dark Magician shattered into thousands of tine holographic shards.
"No! My Dark Magician!" Yugi cried as his favored monster was destroyed before his eyes.
"Finally, it hit!" Tamashii shouted in excitement. "Now your life points are open to attack! Barrel Dragon, with an attack of 3600, attack Yugi's life points and wipe his life points out!" At his command, the Barrel Dragon charged its cannons and fired straight at Yugi.
"Activate trap card!" Sakura interrupted. "Magical Cylinders!" Two cylinders appeared in front of Yugi, intercepting the blast and redirecting it towards Tamashii, hitting him with full force and taking a large portion of his life points out.
"I can't believe it!" Tamashii gasped. "My life points are at a measily 3600 now and are tied with Yugi Moto's."
'Heh.' Kaede silently laughed. 'The rookie Tamashii should have known it was too risky to attack. It doesn't matter. It was good that he took the hit of the Magical Cylinders so my Toon Summoned Skull can attack without trouble. And as long as the fool has his Barrel Dragon out, he'll be taking all the hits instead of me. My toon monsters will dominate their life points in a matter of turns.'
"That had better be worth it, Kaede." Tamashii said. "I've done my part in this duel so you better finish them off. As for now, I'll end my turn."
"My turn." Sakura said. "And it's time to tip the duel in our favor."
Yugi nodded. "Do it Sakura."
"Right." Sakura replied as she drew. A grin appeared as she looked at her card. "First I'll special summon this monster in attack mode. Go, Fiend Megacyber (2200/1200)! Because if its special effect, I can summon this level six monster without having to tribute anything. Its attack power is also raised up to 3700 because it's a dark type monster."
"No! Now it's stronger than my Barrel Dragon!" Tamashii cried.
"I'll also lay one card face down in my magic/trap slot." Sakura continued. "Now I'll play the magic card that I took from Yugi when he played exchange. Activate Card Destruction! Every duelist has to discard their hand and draw new cards now."
"What are you trying to accomplish, little girl?" Kaede asked as she discarded her hand.
"Even if you can destroy the Barrel Dragon, you don't have enough attack power to take out Tamashii's life points. And then you'll also have my toons to deal with."
"That's where you're mistaken, Kaede." Sakura said, her grin growing wider. "I activate the trap card that I played in the beginning of this duel, Call of the Haunted! Now, revive the Dark Magician Girl (2000/1700) that I've just discarded! She gains an extra 300 attack points for every Dark Magician or Black Choas Magician in the graveyard. I count two of my Dark Magicians and one of Yugi's in the graveyard so Dark Magician Girl gets a boost of 900. And because she's also a dark type monster, she'll have the attack strength of 4400 now thanks to Kaede's cards!"
"Now she has enough attack power to take me out of the game!" Tamashii panicked. "I'm doomed!"
"How right you are." Sakura smirked. "Dark Magician Girl, destroy his Barrel Dragon!" The female magician pointed her wand at the mechanical beast and released her version of the dark magic attack, wiping her target out. "Now, Fiend Megacyber, wipe out the rest of his life points!" Sakura ordered without hesitating.
"NO!" Tamashii cried as the yellow armored fiend attacked. "My life points! When they reach zero, the device on my duel disk will. . ."
"I'm not finished yet." Sakura exclaimed, still in the heat of battle and not listening to the whining of Tamashii. "I haven't forgotten about your toons, Kaede. So I'll sacrifice my two monsters for my third and final Dark Magician." The third Dark Magician in her deck took the place of her two previous monsters. "Now that I have Dark Magician on the field, I can activate the face down magic card that I placed before we had to discard our hand. Activate Thousand Knives magic card! With this, I can automatically destroy any monster I want. So I choose to destroy your Toon Summoned Skull!" As the magic card was played, a thousand holographic knives appeared in front of the toon creature and skewered it without mercy, reducing its once twisted nature into a deathly silence.
"Hah!" Sakura laughed. "Take that! This duel is over now that. . ." Before she could finish her sentence, a large flash blinded her eyes, followed by a crackling explosion.
"My god. . ." Sakura gasped as the explosion cleared. Her hands clamped over her mouth as her eyes followed the floor line to where Tamashii stood. But the duelist was not standing anymore. Instead, Tamashii was laying face up on the floor; blood flowed from his arms, face, and chest. Duel Monster cards were scattered all across his bloody figure. His blank stare into the sky made clear that he was dead. "What have I done?" Sakura whimpered as tears began to form in her eyes.
"You did what you had to." Yugi said, hanging his head down. "But you mustn't dwell on this now. The duel is not over yet."
"I don't care!" Sakura sobbed, here eyes now streaming with tears of fear. "I just. . . I didn't mean to. . . I didn't want to." She set her knees onto the ground, reducing into a kneeling position of shock. "I killed him!"
"No, Sakura." Yugi said. "His death was not your fault. Tamashii was killed by his own crazy rules. You did what you needed to do to survive. Furthermore, you saved the both of us. There is no sin in that."
But Sakura would not listen. All she could do was crouch into the fetal position, sobbing on her arms.
"Please, Sakura." Yugi said, trying to calm her down. "We have a duel to finish."
"It is already finished." Kaede shouted. "How am I supposed to duel against you two by myself? Even in the little girl's saddened state, I am still no match for the both of you."
"So do you forfeit?" Yugi asked.
"Forfeit?" Kaede began to manically laugh. "Forfeit?! That would be against my master's orders. No I will not forfeit, you will not win. In fact, none of us will win today."
"What do you mean?" Yugi asked.
Kaede reached into her robes and took out another device, one that was similar to the grenade on her duel disk, but much larger. "You can guess what this is." Kaede said as she pressed on the device, starting what seemed like a timer set to a few seconds. "No one leaves here today alive!"
"Sakura, watch out!" Yugi warned. "It's a bomb!" But before Yugi could do anything, the device went off, catching both him and Sakura in the deafening explosion.