(A/N: I'm not getting nearly the reviews I was hoping for. Quite ironic that this fic was the one that was selected to be continued by fans' choice, though it's not as popular back in the days where it was all mush and no action. Oh well.
Oh, and by the way, I was asked by FiRe-BabiiE how come Atemu doesn't just go ahead and possess Yoh and do the Shadow Game that way. Fair question. And with fair question comes fair answer. Simply enough, Yoh doesn't have the Millennium Puzzle, Chibi Yugi does, if you remember way back to chapter 1. According to the Manga, which is where I got a lot of ideas for this fic already, the Millennium Puzzle has the power of union between light and dark souls, which makes sense considering the bits of evidence from the anime about the puzzle's power. So without the puzzle, sure Atemu could possess Yoh, but it wouldn't make Yoh any magically stronger as if he did have the Puzzle.
Well enough chit-chat, duel time.
Fangirls: "We want Yoh! We want Yoh! We want Yoh!..."
Drake: "Well I'm sure you do...")
Chapter 14: Magic and Wizards, Chibi-Style! (Part IV)
At the order of its master, the Blue Eyes White Dragon delivers its devastating burst stream attack to the only Shadow Monster Yoh has left, the Dark Magician. The Dark Magician vainly tries to block the attack with his staff, but his staff snaps in half. The Dark Magician is engulfed in a massive explosion, an explosion so large that it catches both Yoh and Atemu in a cloud of smoke. After the attack, everyone looks back on the area where the Dark Magician had stood. The Dark Magician had vanished, and in his place was a large, smoldering crater.
Both Yoh and Atemu stare back at Anna morbidly, hoping to see her one last time before the Shadows devoured her and their loss had been made official.
The black tentacles begin moving and enveloping Anna's arms, slithering over her arms like a snake on a tree branch. The tentacles wrap her arms up past her elbows and slowly proceed to finish their task.
"WAIT!" Atemu yells, as if pleading to the shadowy tentacles.
The tentacles continue to envelop Anna's limp arms, proceeding past her elbows, up to her wrists, showing no signs of stopping.
Yoh stares on faintly and falls on his knees. He is so hurt by what is happening that he can't bring himself to cry his eyes out like one would think he would do.
Atemu falls to his knees and continues pleading vainly to the shadowy tentacles. "Stop, this isn't fair!" Atemu begs.
The tentacles flow through the cage to envelop Anna's small and feeble hands. The tentacles proceed to head for Anna's neck.
"Stop it! Yoh hasn't lost seven monsters yet! Seto can't be the winner just yet! Yoh miscounted, and that's no cause for such a fatal end!" Atemu yells, continuing to beg the tentacles for mercy.
The tentacles wrap around Anna's neck and slither behind her head. All of Anna that remains uncovered by the monstrous tentacles is her face. The tentacles wrap over her mouth and circle around her head, ready to make one more pass over her eyes and enshroud the helpless little girl forever.
Yoh places his hands in his lap and begins pouting. "I-I-Iy wozdt... Annah... Iy-Iy-Iy'm sow sowee... Wiy dyd dys hayv tew happyn ta yew? Iy wuv yew..." (I-I-I lost... Anna... I-I-I'm so sorry... Why did this have to happen to you? I love you...) Yoh cries out to Anna, knowing deep down that she can't hear him, and is devastated at this detail.
Seto folds his arms and smiles widely. "Hehehehehehe... It's over for those two. Finally, now that Atemu is out of my way, I can proceed to rule the wo-" He stops his self ranting and falls on his hands and knees. Instead of powerful and mighty rantings, his speech is limited to shivers of fear and mutters to himself.
"Wh-what happened? What's going on? Mokie, where are you?" Seto panics. With all his strength, he stares up across the field, at Yoh and Atemu. "H- h-hey, what's going on?!" he whines. "Last thing I remember, I-I-I... Anna, I'm sorry!" he yells to himself.
The tentacles prepare to slowly cover Anna's closed eyelids, but right before the tentacles can wrap over the last of her, they stop and freeze up.
Atemu and Yoh both stare back at Seto, now on his hands and knees.
"Wud yew sey, Settow? Wiy yew apowogyzin ta Annah? Hau dew yew now hew?" (What did you say, Seto? Why are you apologizing to Anna? How do you know her?) Yoh asks Seto, shocked at Seto's change of attitude.
Seto tries to get to his feet, completely unaware that a Shadow Game had been played and that he had won it. He points at Yoh with a trembling finger. "Y-yo-you... You're that 'one' that Anna kept talking about..."
Yoh balls up a fist and wipes away his tears with his forearm. "Wiy ya now Annah?" (Why do you know Anna?) Yoh shouts at Seto, demanding an answer.
Seto walks towards Yoh, past the Blue Eyes White Dragons still lingering on his side of the field. He paces towards Yoh slowly, trembling at the knees. "You... Anna mentioned to me that there was someone very close to her. Is that you?" Seto says, still trembling and wobbling in his walk.
Atemu stares Seto in the eye and gasps. "Yoh! That's not Priest Seto, that's a different Seto altogether!" Atemu declares.
Yoh looks back in shock at Atemu's declaration. "Wud yew tawkin 'bowdt?" (What are you talking about?) Yoh asks.
Atemu continues staring at the innocent Seto. "While you were off miscounting rocks, before the Shadow Game started, Seto, the child not the priest, showed signs of breaking free of Priest Seto's possession. He mentioned that he apologized for what Priest Seto made him do. Seto and Anna apparently befriended each other while she was at the orphanage," Atemu recalls.
Yoh stares back at Seto, now having distinguished the personalities of the priest and the boy. "Yew... beefwendyd Annah?" (You... befriended Anna?) He paces towards Seto slowly, still uneasy at the thought that Priest Seto could take over at any time. "Yew dyd dat fowr Annah... Yew wew niyz ta hew. Wew, befow da evow speewyd tuwk ovuw, ennywey. ...Settow, iz idt? Tankz." (You did that for Anna... You were nice to her. Well, before the evil spirit took over, anyway. ...Seto, is it? Thanks.) Yoh says to Seto, walking closer and closer to him, stopping at where he stood in place.
Seto stops fidgeting and stares Yoh in the eye, nodding his head back and forth. "I-I'm so sorry, Yoh. I didn't want to have to pu-" Seto says before stopping in mid-sentence and reverting back to his nastier personality, the one controlled by the evil spirit.
Yoh steps back slowly and uncertainly at Seto, who he thinks he can trust. "Ew, Settow?" (Uh, Seto?) Yoh asks uncertainly.
Seto stares down at the ground and has stopped quaking at the knees. "hehehehehehe... In his flesh..." Seto mutters, having reverted back into being under Priest Seto's control.
The Blue Eyes White Dragon at Yoh's side roars at Yoh, who stands right beside it. The dragon lashes Yoh with its tail, throwing Yoh back to where he started, at Atemu's side.
Seto returns to his place behind his dragons. "Hehehehe... good Blue Eyes. Now as Atemu cleverly mentioned to the Shadows, you two can't lose until I destroy either your sacrifice OR your seventh monster, and stones will only carry the souls of monsters if they were on your person. So unless you're the kind that's stupid enough to carry pet rocks in your pockets, you have no monster, and after the Swords of Revealing Light expire, all three of my Blue Eyes White Dragons can tear you apart, ending the game!" Seto exclaims.
Yoh quickly slips his hands into his pants pockets, hoping to find a stone to serve as his seventh monster. "Gawda fiynd u stown, gawda fiynd u stown..." (Gotta find a stone, gotta find a stone...) Yoh mutters to himself. He finds something in one of his pockets and pulls it out. He takes the crumpled wad of paper in his pocket into his palm and stares at it. "Ak, naw gud, aw Iyz gawtz iz dys paypow skwap uv Annahz..." (Ack! No good, all I have is this paper scrap of Anna's...) Yoh says with despair.
Seto raises an eyebrow. "Hmm, so you found that? I manipulated this boy into telling Anna that it got thrown out, but you found it somehow. So what?"
Yoh and Atemu both grit their teeth and ponder to themselves of what to do.
Seto stares at the two with amusement. "You know, lying to the girl about the paper was rather amusing to watch. That little baby burst into tears! It definitely ranks as one of the things I've done since returning that are simply priceless. It almost ranks as high as possessing that pink-haired twit back at your home, eh Yoh?" Seto says, taunting Yoh and Atemu.
Yoh hears what Seto said to him, his anger building and building higher and higher. "Yew puzessd u 'pynk-haywd twydt', yew sey? ...Nou... hau kuwd yew?" (You possessed a 'pink-haired twit', you say? ...No... how could you?) Yoh gasps as an epiphany had just hit him.
Seto grins as he watches Yoh put two and two together. "Yes, it's true, I possessed her, too. What was her name? It was... Tabitha, Tamara, something like that, right? It was a blast. I actually got her to let me possess her to get rid of Anna so that she and you could be Shaman King and Shaman Queen, and I could tap both your powers to rule the world. But that compassion she had for you was only an infatuation, so that plan failed." He points up at what is left of Anna. "But Anna... that's a totally different situation. Whether you see it or not, she loves you deeply... Too bad you're going to be too dead to be there for her anymore..."
Yoh grits his teeth and grips the paper wad into his hand. "Settow... yew wedt aftow peepow kwowz ta mee ta twy an kyw Annah... Datz infowgivabow..." (Seto... you went after people close to me to try and kill Anna... That's unforgivable...) Yoh snarls under his breath. He stares at his fist, balled up over the wad of paper. "Budt iy gawd u deew fow yew..." (But I have a deal for you...) Yoh says confidently.
Atemu stares at Yoh, having some idea of what Yoh is doing, though is frightened out of his wits. "Yoh... please tell me you're not doing what I think you're doing..." he begs frightfully.
Yoh ignores Atemu entirely. "Wew, IV yor nawd tew skaywd, hau baut dys. Iy twow dys paypow wawd awdt tew da feewd, an dat'w bee miy sevynth mawnstow. Ownwee den kan yew wyn, sew dat pwetti muwgh meenz yew gawdt tew..." (Well IF you're not too scared, how about this. I'll throw this paper wad out to the field, and that'll be my seventh monster. Only then can you win, so that pretty much means you have to...) Yoh says confidently.
Seto begins cackling. "Mhehehehehehe... Ahahahahaha! Yoh, you're a lunatic! That wad of paper can't hold a monster, so throw it out and watch my dragons blow it away!"
The Swords of Revealing Light that bind the two Blue Eyes White Dragons disappears, and all three Blue Eyes fly into the air in a formation. They land in front of Yoh and Atemu and roar down on the two, ready to attack.
Yoh stares defiantly upward at the three Blue Eyes White Dragons and grins. "Heh, new swedt, iv datz aw yew gawdt..." (Heh, no sweat, if that's all you've got.) Yoh says to Seto and his three Blue Eyes White Dragons.
(A/N: You know what comes now, ANOTHER to be continued! This is most definitely torture to anyone who wants to see this get done (you know who you are). Oh well, I'll get there when I get there, ne?
Will Yoh escape the clutches of three Blue Eyes White Dragons? Can Yoh and Atemu save the child in Seto? Is Anna gone for good? Stay tuned and find out in the 15th chapter in this saga of Chibi Beginnings: Hoping For the Future...)