Chapter Fifty-Two: The Final Battle Part 5

"Look! There's that freak show Anubis!" Joey pointed out. After a long harsh climb, the team had entered a large circular room with windows on all sides. The sky outside was pitch black and rain smacked against the windows as thunder rumbled and lightning struck, casting hideous shadows across the arena-sized room. Standing in front of a barred gate was Anubis.

"So Pharaoh, you finally showed up. It is long past time I destroyed you once and for all and take the power that is rightfully mine," Anubis greeted, "You do realize that this battle is unlike anything you have ever experienced right?" Yugi stepped forward onto the large stadium floor and activated his duel disk watch.

"We'll see about that Anubis! Yami and I defeated you once before and we will do it again!" Yugi said determinedly. Anubis smiled an evil grin and snapped his fingers. The whole room began to rumble ominously.

"What's going on?" Serenity wondered when each of Yugi's friends was sealed inside of colored crystals, trapping them.

"Joey! Tristan! Teá! Serenity! Ashley!" Yugi cried out. Yugi then turned back to Anubis.

"What have you done to them?" Yugi demanded.

"Your friends will make excellent sacrifices for our final ritual unless of course you win our match," Anubis grinned. Yugi's Millennium Puzzle began to glow as Yugi tapped into its power.

"Yu-Gi-Oh!" He cried and took on Yami's form.

"Anubis! You'll never succeed in your plan!" Yami shouted in defiance, "So leave my friends alone!" Anubis laughed.

"You're not in any condition to make any threats so if you want to save your friends and yourself, you'll duel me right now!" Anubis declared. Yami Yugi went into a battle stance and drew five cards.

"Fine, this'll be over quick anyway!" Yugi said as Anubis made six cards materialize out of thin air and float in front of him.

"Yes, and I'll start things off with a card face down and Terror Sphinx (2200/200) in attack mode!" Anubis declared, summoning a blue sphinx monster with a tiger for a head. Yugi drew a card and eyed Anubis wearily.

If I know Anubis, he likely has the Pyramid of Light facedown so my Egyptian God Cards are going to be useless in this duel. Yugi thought, recalling his last encounter with Anubis.

"I shall set two cards facedown and summon Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts (1500/1200) in defense mode and that will end my turn," Yugi declared, summoning his beast. Anubis summoned another card to his hand.

"I shall summon Familiar Knight (1200/1400) in defense mode," Anubis began, summoning the monster in a crouching position.

That's a card Kaiba would use! Why did he play that? Yami wondered.

"And now, I'll activate Terror Sphinx's special ability and have it attack my own monster!" Anubis announced. The teenagers gasped as Anubis' monster crushed the knight.

"Now both of us must summon a four-star monster to the field from our hands and I choose to summon Decayed Commander (1500/1000) in attack mode," Anubis declared.

"OK, then I choose to summon Big Shield Guardna (100/2600) in defense mode!" Yami replied, summoning his shield-bearing warrior.

"Then I'll activate the facedown magic card, Frontline Base, which allow me to summon Zombie Tiger (1400/1600) in attack mode!" Anubis continued summoning aa tiger covered in worn bandages.

"And now, I'll have Zombie Tiger form a union with my Decayed Commander, raising his attack power to 2000," Anubis added. Yugi and the others watched as the commander stood more closely to the tiger.

"And now, Decayed Commander, attack the pharaoh's Gazelle!" Anubis commanded. Yugi watched as Gazelle was slashed by the tiger then slashed again by the commander, destroying it.

"And now, I can activate the Zombie Tiger's effect, which forces you to discard a card in your hand to the graveyard," Anubis ended. Yugi glanced at his hand and discarded one card. He then drew one card and his hopes rose.

"Anubis! I sacrifice my Big Shield Guardna in order to summon Dark Magician Girl (2000/1700) in attack mode!" Yugi declared, summoning the female magician.

"Yugi! Wake up and smell the card ink! Your magician is weaker than Anubis' monster!" Tristan shouted from his crystal prison.

"The boy is right! Your Dark Magician Girl is far too weak to destroy my Terror Sphinx or my Decayed Commander!" Anubis pointed out.

"You're right that is until I play the facedown card, Magic Formula!" Yugi replied, revealing the spell card, "The magic contained within this ancient book will increase Dark Magician Girl's attack power by 500 points, making it stronger than both of your monsters!" Everyone watched as Dark Magician Girl opened the book and began to read, her attack points rising in the process. She then slammed the book shut and attached the book to a bag on her hip.

"Now Dark Magician Girl! Destroy Anubis' Decayed Commander with dark burning attack!" Yami commanded. Anubis stood unaffected as Dark Magician Girl attacked his commander, only to destroy his tiger, decreasing his life points by 500.

"What happened? Yugi's attack should have destroyed the commander!" Teá wondered. Anubis laughed again.

"That's because you fools that Zombie Tiger took the blow, saving the commander," Anubis explained.

"Are you saying that Union monsters can combine with others and sacrifice themselves to save their partners?" Yugi asked. Anubis laughed.

"About time you figured that out pharaoh! And now, I'll take my turn by activating Pot of Greed, which lets me summon two cards," Anubis began, 'drawing' two cards, "I'll first place this facedown and summon a monster in defense mode and then switch my Terror Sphinx and Decayed Commander to defense mode to end my turn." Yami glanced at the cards nervously.

"That's right you soul-stealing scumbag! You should be playing defense because Yugi's gonna wipe the floor with ya, you got me?" Joey taunted from his crystal prison. Anubis turned to the duelist.

"Silence or I will send your soul plummeting directly to the Shadow Realm!" Anubis threatened icily. Joey froze up and huddled in fear as Yugi drew a card.

"Anubis, I summon Queen's Knight (1500/1600) in attack mode!" Yugi said, his female knight appearing next to Dark Magician Girl," And now, Queen's Knight! Destroy Terror Sphinx with your mighty blade!" Anubis didn't even flinch as his monster was destroyed.

"Dark Magician Girl! Follow up with dark burning attack and silence the Decayed Commander!" Yami continued, pointing at the intended target. Dark Magician Girl quickly leapt into attack when Anubis glared at his facedown card.

"Don't be so hasty Pharaoh because I play Magic Arm Shield, a trap card with which I can borrow your Queen's Knight and make it the target of your attack!" Anubis explained, activating his trap card. Yugi gasped as a tong device grabbed his knight and forced her into Dark Magician Girl's path.

"No, my queen!" Yugi gasped.

"Is gone!" Anubis finished. Everyone turned away as Dark Magician Girl destroyed the queen and cut Yugi's life points down to 3000. Yami Yugi frowned in anger as Anubis conjured a card to his hand.

"Pharaoh, I play the magic card, Card of Sanctity. It allows me both to max out my hand at six cards," Anubis said, summoning six cards to his hand.

"Fine. That lets me draw more cards too," Yugi replied, drawing five cards. Teá let out a sigh of relief.

Good, now they each have six cards. But Anubis still has Frontline Base in play. Oh Yugi. What are you gonna do now? Teá thought.

"Now, I'll play the magic card, Shallow Grave which lets both of us summon a monster back to the field from our graveyard in defense mode, facedown," Anubis declared, summoning a monster from his graveyard. Yugi looked into his graveyard and played a monster facedown too.

"Now prepare yourself as I sacrifice my three monsters in order to summon Andro Sphinx (3000/2500) in attack mode!" Anubis then added, destroying his three monsters in order to summon a lion headed, humanoid monster that wore blue armor and had razor sharp lion claws and a mane of wild yellow hair. Yami and Yugi winced at the sight of the familiar monster.

"It's lucky for you that I happen to have Quick Attack so go my Andro Sphinx! Destroy the pharaoh's Dark Magician Girl!" Anubis commanded. Yugi looked on as Andro Sphinx slashed his magician destroying it and 500 of his life points.

"Now, I'll place this facedown," Anubis finished, placing a magic card on the field, "You can begin begging for mercy!" Yugi looked on in worry at his deck then at his four imprisoned friends.

"One card," Yami breathed, "I need just one card. Please heart of the cards, guide me!" Yugi drew, his faith in his deck. Yugi glanced at the card and smiled.

"Anubis! I play the magic card, Graceful Charity which lets me draw three cards so long as I discard two from my hand afterwards," Yugi began, drawing three cards. He then placed two of his cards in the graveyard.

"Now, I'll reveal my Queen's Knight (1500/1600) and then I'll play Premature Burial! Using its magic, I'll pay 800 life points in order to summon the monster I just sent to my graveyard, King's Knight (1600/1400)!" Yugi announced, summoning back his gold-armored knight.

"Yes! When Queen's Knight and King's Knight are in play, Yugi can summon Jack's Knight!" Tristan recalled. Yugi nodded and he summoned the knight from his deck. Anubis growled in anger at Yami's move.

"You have three monsters with which to sacrifice!" He realized.

"Yes, but before I do anything, I'll activate the facedown card, Dust Tornado which will blow away whatever card you hid on the field!" Yugi replied, revealing his trap card. Everyone watched as Anubis' card, the Pyramid of Light was destroyed.

"Just as I suspected. You were waiting for me to summon an Egyptian God Card weren't you? Well, now I'll end this duel by sacrificing Queen's Knight, Jack's Knight, and King's Knight in order to summon Slifer the Sky Dragon (5000/5000)!" Yami declared, his three knights vanishing so Yugi could summon the red Egyptian God card. Anubis stared up in fear as Slifer let out a great roar.

"Next I'll play Monster Reborn and resurrect my Egyptian God Card, The Winged Dragon of Ra (0/0) in its 'Phoenix Mode'!" Yami added, weakening Slifer by 1000 attack points but summoning the large golden dragon.

"But how? How did you get Ra out of your graveyard?" Anubis wondered.

"Thanks to my Graceful Charity card, I was able to send my monster to the graveyard so that I could bring it back in time to finish you off! Now go Ra! Destroy Andro Sphinx!" Anubis roared in pain as he and Andro Sphinx were engulfed in flames.

"Now Slifer the Sky Dragon! Destroy Anubis with your thunder force attack!" Yami commanded. Slifer began drawing in electricity to its mouth and then with one earth shattering blast, struck Anubis, depleting his life points. The crystals encasing Yugi's friends dissipated, freeing them. They joined Yugi's side and looked at the kneeling Anubis. It was then Saria and Ryan joined them.

"How? How could I lose? No! You will not defeat me! Die!" Anubis roared, charging Yami.

"Not so fast!" Saria shouted, drawing her bow and nocking a Light Arrow into it. She fired it at Anubis, striking him in a flash of golden light, paralyzing him. Ryan then ran forward, Master Sword in his hands, and slashed Anubis multiple times. The spell then wore off and Anubis backhanded Ryan, throwing him towards a window. The window shattered on impact and Ryan desperately reached for the window frame and grabbed a hold of a weakened piece.

"Ryan!" Saria cried out.

"You meddlesome fools! I'll destroy you all!" Anubis shouted. Joey and Tristan rushed forward and tackled Anubis, trying to hold him back.

"Serenity! Ugh! Get Ryan!" Joey commanded, trying to maintain a firm grip on Anubis.

"OK!" Serenity called back and she leaned out the window to try to grab Ryan's hand. Serenity and Ryan stretched desperately, finding that they were just centimeters apart. Ryan held on with all his power but knew deep down he couldn't last.

"Serenity! I can't make it! I'm losing my grip!" Ryan shouted over the deafening storm. Serenity stretched further and got a weak grip only to find that Ryan's fingers were too wet from the rain to maintain a healthy hold. It was then Ryan lost his grip to a big gust of wind.

"No!" Serenity shouted. Ryan looked up as he prepared to die when a familiar noise filled his ears: The sound of the Courage X's engines.

"Ryan!" Came Becky's voice. The next thing Ryan knew, Becky hanging on a rope had grabbed Ryan's gauntlet-covered hand and was lifting him back towards the broken window.

"Looks like this is your stop!" Becky commented, dropping him back into the room. Becky then swung back and joined him in time to watch Joey and Tristan get flung back into the wall. Saria was trying to nock another arrow but Anubis grabbed her by the throat and began to squeeze. Saria struggled only to find her efforts were useless.

"You little sea rat! You're like vermin: Impossible to get rid of!" Anubis grinned, squeezing harder. It was then Anubis was hit in the back by several rainbow-colored beams. The force of the attacks freed Saria and allowed her to get away. She turned and saw her mother equipped with an arm cannon, which was pointed at Anubis. Anubis turned to the woman and glared at her.

"You fool! Modern technology has no power over me!" Anubis boasted. It was then he noticed Saria had gotten her bow back and she was charging magic power into another arrow. Everyone watched as rainbow-colored beams flew towards the arrow's head, making the arrow glow with ethereal light. With one flash, the arrow turned a bright silver color and it gave off a silver glow that paralyzed Anubis with fear. Anubis looked to his right to see Yami Yugi and Teá sending the beams from the Millennium Puzzle and the Medallion of Light.

"Anubis! Farewell!" Yugi and Teá shouted defiantly as Saria released the arrow, a silver trail of light following its path. The arrow struck Anubis in the heart and everyone stood mesmerized as the arrow made Anubis vanish, leaving the Pyramid of Light around his neck the only thing left of him. The group watched as the ancient relic fell from, smashing against the ground into dust.

"That's two scumbags down and one to go," Ryan sighed, straightening his silver jacket. He turned to his mother.

"Thanks for the help back there Mom," Ryan said, hugging the former Sage.

"Don't thank me. Thank your father for recreating the Sage Beam function on my old arm cannon. It looks like he got it working again," Becky replied, looking down at the cannon.

"Hey guys! The rain has stopped," Joey noticed. Everyone looked out the broken window and saw that the rain had stopped but the sky began to turn a deeper shade of crimson.

"Yeah, but this isn't over until we stop Damon so what do you say we go pay him a visit?" Tristan offered, popping his knuckles. The group nodded and went up a nearby staircase, preparing for their last battle with the Demon of Darkness.