Chapter 10
Give Up the Ghost
The White Lightning blast struck the hat on the far right, but nothing happened. No monster was destroyed, and Yugi's life points were safe. "No! That hat was empty!" the Kaiba imposter shouted. "One down, three to go, and this phony clearly has a terrible batting average." Rainbow said. "Here's hoping he'll miss again." AJ added. "Yugi'll beat that faker!" Mokuba shouted. "Your guess was wrong, guess wrong again and it will cost you." Yugi said as he placed another card face down, under one of the hats. "There are still three Magical Hats on the field and one of them holds a special surprise, just for you. If you destroy the hat that hides my Dark Magician, you'll practically win this duel. Choose the empty one, and it's my turn again. But I'm betting you'll pick the hat that conceals the trap card I just put into play." he continued. "A trap card?" the imposter asked. "Now, which hat will it be?" Yugi asked back. "You're taking a big gamble, Yugi." Joey said. "If he guesses right, it's over!" Tristan added. 'Wait, I think I know the next part of this trick!' Twilight thought to herself as the imposter made his move. "Blue-Eyes White Dragon, attack the middle hat!" he commanded, but no monster was destroyed when the blast landed, prompting Yugi to smile. "Well, now you've done it! Activated my trap card, that is. Spellbinding Circle!" Yugi shouted as the trap ensnared the dragon. "A Blue-Eyes White Dragon is normally unstoppable, but once drained of its energy by the Spellbinding Circle, it's no match for the full power of my Dark Magician!" he added as the dragon' attack power dropped to 2300 and the Dark Magician, back in attack mode, slayed the beast with its staff. "And that puts an end to your Blue-Eyes White Dragon." he concluded as the imposter's life points drop to 500. "Way to go, Yugi!" Mokuba shouted. But the joy was soon stopped when another Blue-Eyes White Dragon appeared in its place and blasted the Dark Magician to cinders, dropping Yugi's life points to 500, tying both players. "Not another one!" Tristan shouted as the imposter laughed. "And that puts an end to your Dark Magician. There are only three Blue-Eyes White Dragon cards in the whole world and they're all in my deck. Your grandpa had the fourth, but I tore it in half. But how could I possibly know that if I'm not really Seto Kaiba? You know, I couldn't believe it when you beat all three of my Blue-Eyes White Dragons with Exodia, but now, without that monster in your deck, there's absolutely no way you can win. Your move." the imposter said. "Everyone in Domino City heard about your duel with Seto, that's how this loser knows about it! That's not my brother, Yugi! I'm sure!" Mokuba shouted.
Back at the Kaiba mansion, Kaiba was ready to do whatever was needed to keep Yugi from losing. "I am now rerouting the data from field 146 at the Duelist Kingdom tournament. After that, we'll be able to confirm if Yugi Muto is dueling there." the computer said. "I'm sure he is. Now show me what you've got." Kaiba responded. "Here it comes... We're in! Now downloading duel data. You were right, Yugi Muto is in this duel." the computer said. "Can you show it to me on screen?" Kaiba asked. "My pleasure. I think the part you'll find most interesting is the name of Yugi's opponent." the computer answered, revealing to Kaiba that someone posing as him is dueling Yugi. "What?! Is this your idea of a joke?" Kaiba asked, unamused. "I never joke. Sensors indicate that the opponent opposite Yugi is registered as Seto Kaiba, and he's using your deck!" the computer answered, knowing full well that computers don't have a sense of humor. "Pegasus must've had his goons take my deck back at the cottage." Kaiba said, realizing that was part of the reason why they showed up to kill him. "The duelists are tied and the imposter has his second Blue-Eyes White Dragon on the field, Yugi defeated the first one using a combination of the Dark Magician, Spellbinding Circle and Magical Hats. He currently has 500 points left and no cards in play. It's his move." the computer explained. "But without Exodia, Yugi can't win! He has no other cards left in his deck that can beat the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, let alone two of them!" Kaiba responded. "Well, I hope you have a plan." the computer said. "Yes, but we've got to work fast. Yugi will lose on the next attack from the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, unless we decrease its power from here." Kaiba responded. "Can we do that?" the computer asked. "Oh, yeah. Upload a virus into that monster's holo-computer. That dragon is abot to get sick, real sick." Kaiba answered. "Standing by, but shouldn't we first wait to see Yugi's next move?" the computer asked. "We can't afford to risk Yugi losing the duel. Upload." Kaiba answered. "Viral injection underway." the computer responded as the virus was uploaded into the dragon's holo computer brain.
Back at the island, Yugi was contemplating his next move. 'I don't have any monsters that can withstand his Blue-Eyes White Dragon. This could be it.' Yugi thought to himself. "This duel is over, Yugi. I'm sure we'll be hearing the fat lady sing right after your turn. I may have another Stop Defense in my hand ready to play, so whatever monster you pick won't be able to defend itself." the imposter said. "I play the Feral Imp in attack mode." Yugi said as the monster appeared, but that provided a momentary annoyance for Kaiba. "I wish Yugi waited a few more seconds before moving. Isn't there anything you can do to get that computer virus uploaded faster?" he asked. "We're already halfway there, this is as fast as it goes. Viral implant now at 60% but it doesn't seem to be working. The Blue-Eyes White Dragon is still showing no signs of weakness." the computer answered. "Something is wrong!" Kaiba said. Back at the duel, the imposter was ready to end the duel. "This is almost too easy." he said with a chuckle. "Oh, dear. Yugi can't lose! Not after coming this far in the tournament!" Fluttershy said with worry. "There has to be some chance he can beat the Blue-Eyes White Dragons again!" AJ said, hopeful. "But that was with Exodia, and thanks to that cheater, Weevil, there's very little chance!" Spike responded. "It's time, Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Attack!" the imposter commanded, but right on cue, the virus began to take effect. "What are you waiting for?! Attack!" the imposter shouted. But the dragon would barely listen as the virus spread throughout its body, and Kaiba had a back row seat. "The virus is taking effect! Blue-Eyes White Dragon's attack power is beginning to drop!" the computer said. "But it's still too strong, it has to get weaker, or it'll still beat Yugi!" Kaiba responded.
Back on the battlefield, everyone saw what was going on, and both duelists were in shock. "I don't believe it!" Yugi said as he saw the dragon's attack power drop. "What's going on?! My Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" the imposter shouted as the Blue-Eyes White Dragon began to melt. "What in tarnation is going on with that dragon?!" AJ asked. "I think, Yugi may be getting, some outside help!" Twilight answered. "This is Kemo to Pegasus. I hope you're watching, sir, cause we got a real problem out here!" Kemo said over the radio. "How did Yugi do that?" the head of security asked. "It wasn't Yugi, it was Seto Kaiba." Pegasus answered. "How?" the head of security asked, baffled by the revelation. "It seems that the real Kaiba, is still very much alive." Pegasus answered. Back at the computer terminal, Kaiba oversaw his handiwork. "The Blue-Eyes White Dragon's attack power is dropping rapidly. The virus implant is successfully disabling the monster completely!" the computer said. "Alright, now let's get to work on dragon number three." Kaiba said. "Standing by." the computer responded, until something happened and the screen froze. "What's the matter?" Kaiba asked. "We've been locked out by a remote terminal. Looks like WE'VE been hacked!" the computer answered. Suddenly, a pink rabbit with yellow shoes, red overalls and goggles came up on screen and danced around while saying "Hey, Kaiba!" over and over until more of it filled all three screens of the terminal. "It's Pegasus!" Kaiba shouted as Pegasus chuckled at his dining room table with a glass of fruit juice in his hand. Meanwhile, outside the Kaiba mansion, Pegasus' guards were ready to find and take Kaiba down and quickly bust down the front door of the mansion with guns in hand. Back down in the terminal room, the computer rebooted. "Attack power is holding now at 2000." it said. "But this should've worked!" Kaiba said. "The Blue-Eyes White Dragon is launching its attack!" the computer spoke. "No!" Kaiba shouted as the dragon readied to attack.
"Now, Blue-Eyes White Dragon, time to obliterate him!" the imposter shouted. Everyone around stood in shock, worried that Yugi was about to lose. "I can't look!" Fluttershy shouted. "Yugi!" Kaiba shouted, and right then and there, as the attack fired, Yugi managed to hear him calling. "Kaiba?!" Yugi asked, Eye of Anubis aglow on his forehead, as the attack seemed to dissipate, leaving the Feral Imp unharmed. "It stopped!" Rarity shouted, causing Fluttershy to open her eyes. "More than that! Look at the dragon!" Spike shouted as the dragon melted even more before destroying itself, to the shock of the imposter. "This can't be." he said. "It's gone. But how?" Rarity asked. "It's a trick!" Kemo said in disbelief. Back at the terminal, Kaiba was as surprised as anyone else. "The Blue-Eyes White Dragon has been destroyed, but the virus was not responsible!" the computer said. "Then how? Did Yugi Muto somehow do this?" Kaiba asked. "How could he? It is your deck." the computer answered. "It's the Heart of the Cards! Yugi was right!" Kaiba said, now knowing that what Yugi said was true. "Heart of the what?" the computer asked. "Yugi told me that every Duel Monster has a heart, and every deck as the heart of the Duelist that built it inside. It's possible that the dragon, may have heard me! That's why it destroyed itself!" Kaiba explained. Suddenly, he heard the door being forcefully unlocked.
Back on the battlefield, the imposter was reeling in shock. "Why?! Why me?!" he shouted. "Why? Because, Kaiba is still alive! He stopped you!" Yugi explained. "SILENCE! I AM SETO KAIBA!" the imposter shouted. "Enough! Your charade is over!" Yugi retorted. "My brother is alive!" Mokuba shouted with glee. "What's going on?" Tea asked, confused. "It's like Yugi said, last time he dueled my brother, he showed Seto what the Heart of the Cards meant. This faker may have taken his deck, but the real Seto Kaiba is alive and well!" Mokuba answered. "I understand it now! So that means, if he sounds and looks like Kaiba, but with a distorted voice, that means he working with Pegasus!" Twilight declared. "Imposter! The real Seto Kaiba destroyed that monster! I know because I heard him calling out to me when it happened! Now, enough of your lies, we know you're not Kaiba! It's time for you to show us who you really are!" Yugi shouted. "I told you, I am Kaiba! Or, at least, I was part of him! The darkest part!" the imposter retorted as he began to transform into a hideous being. "I can see you don't recognize me, Yugi. I wasn't lying when I told you I was part of Seto Kaiba, the evil part of him that you sent to the Shadow Realm after our last duel. Now I'm back, thanks to Pegasus." it continued before laughing. "You're not a part of my brother anymore!" Mokuba shouted, while Tea and Rarity reared back in disgust. "Ew, it's hideous!" Tea shouted. "I concur! Repulsive!" Rarity added. "Talk about GRRROSS!" put in Rainbow. "I always had a feeling this duel might turn ugly, but I never thought THAT ugly!" finished Joey. Back at the Kaiba mansion, the guards busted into the computer room, but found the computer offline and Seto gone. "Sir, he got away." said one of the guards. "Search the grounds. Everywhere." the head of security responded. "It appears that young Yugi's nemesis, the real Seto Kaiba, has come to his rescue. I must admit that this little development is one twist that even I did not forsee." Pegasus said. "I have some bad news, sir. The real Kaiba has eluded us once again. You were right, he was using a terminal in the Kaiba mansion to access the Industrial Illusions mainframe. If I thought he was alive, I would've beefed up security." the head of security reported. "That's two escapes, Croquet, must I lock you away? Again? Get me Kemo on the radio." Pegasus responded.
"Hey, ugly! If I were you, I'd start worrying about what my big brother's gonna do to you when he finally catches up to you!" Mokuba shouted. Soon, Kemo got a radio message from Pegasus. "Pegasus to Kemo, Seto Kaiba has gotten away. Don't lose the little on no matter what." he said. "Understood." Kemo responded. "I guess I just don't know what to call you. I was thinking about monster, but I didn't want to insult the cards. It's your move. You've got a whole deck to go through and only one Blue-Eyes White Dragon left." Yugi told his beastly opponent. "You can call me the Mimic of Doom." said the being as he drew his next card. "I play the Grappler in defense mode." he continued as the creature, a level four, Water attribute reptile with 1300 attack points and 1200 defense points, appeared. 'He's just biding his time until he draws his last Blue-Eyes.' Yugi thought to himself as he drew his next card. "It's my turn." he said aloud. 'I'd play this card in defense mode, but he's likely got another Stop Defense in his hand ready to be played, so I can only attack. And with no defense, if he draws the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, I'm finished.' he continued in thought. "I'll set one card face down on the field and summon the Celtic Guardian in attack mode, as well." he said aloud before the mighty warrior struck down the Grappler. "Your Grappler's split!" Yugi finished as the monster disappeared upon destruction. "Parting is such sweet sorrow. Next, I'll place the Mystic Horseman in defense mode, and I'll also lay one of my cards face down, just like you." the Mimic of Doom responded as he put his cards in play. 'Face down? Is it a magic card like Stop Defense? Or is he setting a trap?' Yugi pondered before drawing. "Again, I'll lay a card face down and I'll summon the Mystical Elf in attack mode. Plus, I play this Book of Secret Arts card to raise its attack and defense power by 300 points!" he said aloud as the beautiful creature, a level four, Light attribute Spellcaster with 800 attack points and 2000 defense points, now increased to 1100 and 2300, respectively, appeared. "Hey! I have both of those cards!" Twilight said with a smile as the elf chanted a spell. "My turn is over." Yugi said.
"Patience, Yugi, for it will soon be all over." the Mimic of Doom responded as he looked at his hand. 'Yugi has two cards face down and three monsters. He must be trying to strengthen the Mystical Elf somehow to withstand an attack from my Mystic Horseman. But if I draw the final Blue-Eyes and destroy any one of his monsters, that will take his life points down to zero anyway.' he thought to himself. "Rarity, I find it hard to believe, but I'm liking the look on that thing's face even less than I did before." Joey said. "I never liked his hideous complexion anyway, darling." Rarity responded. "Wipe that smile off that ugly mug, Yugi!" Rainbow shouted. "Come on, loser! Make your move!" Mokuba yelled. "As you wish, Mokuba." the Mimic of Doom responded before drawing. "Prepare, for the Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" he shouted as he held the third and final Blue-Eyes up for Yugi to see before playing it. "Oh, no! That's the third one!" Spike shouted. "Don't worry, guys. My brother will help out, just like last time!" Mokuba said, unaware of what happened. "Dream on! Your friend's luck is about to run out. Just see for yourself. Unlike the last Blue-Eyes, this one's at full power and your brother's in no position to do a thing about it, cause we found where his hiding place is and now he's on the run!" Kemo responded. "I knew it! That THING was posing as the real Seto Kaiba, meaning he didn't kill himself like you said!" Twilight said. "More than that, it also means not to expect another miracle, cause this duel's about to end." Kemo responded with a laugh. "No, it's not! It's not over till the last card is played! And last I checked, Yugi still has 500 life points left!" Rainbow retorted.
"Such a good dragon, wouldn't you say, Yugi?" the Mimic of Doom asked as the creature hissed and snarled. "This duel's about to end now! Go, White Lightning attack!" he continued as the dragon fired. "This duel's not over yet, Mimic! I activate Mirror Force, now!" Yugi retorted as the was stopped and the Mystical Elf was spared. "You turned over a trap card!" the Mimic of Doom shouted in surprise. "Mirror Force will reflect your attack right back at you!" Yugi confirmed as the attack returned to sender. "A pretty good trick, but I'm ready with one of my own! I'll use Negate Attack!" the Mimic of Doom said with a smile as he activated the card and the attack was nullified. "I think we each have a card like that in our decks! And he had one waiting, just in case" Spike said in shock. "That's right, kiddo. Negate Attack neutralizes any attack thrown at me, even if it's one of my own." the Mimic of Doom confirmed. "Now what's he gonna do?" AJ asked. But Yugi just chuckled. "It's time to finish this duel, with Monster Reborn!" he declared, bringing a look of happiness and surprise to everyone, mainly the Mane 6 because they knew they also had one in their decks, but shock and horror to the Mimic of Doom. "Oh, no! That allows you to revive any monster lost in this duel from either deck!" he shouted. "I'm glad you know the rules, now guess which card I want. Be reborn, Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" Yugi responded as Kaiba's prized monster appeared on his side of the field. "Fat lot of good that move's gonna do you, Yugi. Both of these monsters are evenly matched." the Mimic of Doom said, thinking that Yugi made a mistake. "Their attack powers are not the same." Yugi responded, shocking the being more. "You forgot about my Mystical Elf. She's been chanting a spell since I put her on the field, called Point-to-Point Transfer, it allows the Mystical Elf to transfer her own attack power to any other monster I choose." he continued. "What?! This can't be!" the Mimic of Doom said in disbelief.
"This move was inspired by your former host, Seto Kaiba himself. He showed me that you can alter the attack power of a Blue-Eyes White Dragon, but I'm raising the power of mine instead of lowering it like Kaiba did to yours!" Yugi explained. "This can't be happening! Oh, no! No!" the Mimic of Doom shouted. "Consider this a message from the real Seto Kaiba; YOU LOSE! Now, Blue-Eyes, OBLITERATE!" Yugi shouted as the dragon fired, turning its counterpart to ashes, dropping the Mimic of Doom's life points to 0 and blinding everyone. Right then and there, the girls and Spike all heard a familiar voice. "Girls, Spike, please hear me and listen carefully!" said the voice. "Princess Celestia?" Twilight asked. "Yes, Twilight. Listen very carefully, everyone, look to your left hands!" Celestia said with a sense of urgency in her voice. "Your cutey marks have been magically embedded in your left hands, hurry and use them in combination with Yugi's own magical power to send this foul creature back to the Shadow Realm from whence it came!" she continued as he voice faded. "Come on, everyone, concentrate your power on the Mimic of Doom and help Yugi banish it back to the Shadow Realm!" Twilight shouted as she and her friends raised their left hands at the Mimic of Doom, surrounding him with a rainbow light. "Get these wretched lights away from me!" he shouted as the rainbow surrounded his duel box. "Not a chance, Mimic of Doom! You spent your last moments in this world!" Twilight declared. "Pegasus may have helped you escape the Shadow Realm once, but it won't happen again! NEVER AGAIN!" Yugi shouted, the Eye of Anubis aglow on his forehead, as he banished the Mimic of Doom back to the Shadow Realm. "Pegasus, I sense that you're watching. Consider this a warning, nothing you send against me will stop me. And when we finally duel, believe me, victory will be mine! I'll win back my grandfather's soul, and you will pay for all the people you've hurt in the name of your sick little game! I'm coming for you, Maximillian Pegasus!" he declared as, up in the castle, the man he was speaking to watched as his screen glowed white and his glass shattered in his hand from the massive surge of magical power coming through the screen before the feed cut out.
"Yugi, you've developed your shadow powers quite a bit in such a short time, but when we finally duel, believe me, your Millennium Puzzle will be mine." Pegasus said with a chuckle. Back at the field, the light had faded and everything was back to normal as Yugi collected Kaiba's deck. "Kaiba..." Yugi simply said, grateful that Kaiba tapped into the Heart of the Cards to save him from being destroyed by the second Blue-Eyes. "That grim grinning ghoul ain't coming back anytime soon, huh, Yugi?" Rainbow asked. "I had a feeling that there was something fishy going on before the Mimic of Doom showed his true face." AJ added. "Don't celebrate just yet, we seem to have another problem." Rarity pointed out. "What is it?" Joey asked. "That creep took Mokuba!" Tea answered, causing everyone to worry. "Mokuba?! Mokuba?!" Yugi called. "I can't believe it! That big meanie must've taken him away while the Blue-Eyes White Dragon's attack had us blinded!" Pinkie shouted. "Now he's gone, taken again." Yugi added as everyone else called for him, but with no answer.