Disclaimer: No I do not own Yugioh.
Chapter 49: A Father's Love
Rikuo felt the pain...
The memories burned horribly as they played over and over in his head...
Because of him his father had died...
He knew that Daniel was trying to communicate with him, but he wanted to be left alone. He had cried so much that there no more tears left in him. He was tired of it all...
("Rikuo...you need to snap out of it. Yugi needs our help.")
("Father...I lost you...It was my fault...")
("ARGH! I'm sorry you lost your father and all but for the love of all that which is holy would you please at least let me take control!?")
("..........")
("Perhaps I can help?") A soothing female voice whispered from within the mind of the wolf demon. He barely registered her existence though.
("GAH! Who the heck are you!?")
("Daniel, may I please speak with Rikuo alone please?")
("Errr......I'd love to comply, but how exactly do I...leave?")
There was a sound like a steel wall coming up and the female voice brought its attention to the demon. ("Rikky, do you know who this is?")
Rikuo's eyes widened. ("How do you know my nickname? The only person who ever dared to refer to me like that was my moth...") His brain went numb as he put two and two together.
("Yes it is me Rikuo.")
("LIAR! My mother died long ago...")
("And you yourself died long ago too. Is it so unreasonable that I could be your mother's spirit?") Though the words should have been sarcastic, the voice somehow made them soothing to him.
("Mommy....") Rikuo felt tears fill his eyes again. ("It's my fault he died...I shouldn't have gotten in the way.")
("And is letting Sestros get away with it the way to accomplish anything?")
("What?")
("Have you forgotten where you are? You're battling to make sure that Sestros can never do this again. Perhaps it might be best to avenge your father while you still have the chance?") The presence and the voice it had disappeared.
Daniel's voice echoed out, ("HOW DO YOU PEOPLE GET INTO MY HEAD!?")
("Shut up idiot. We have a duel to win.") Rikuo had new resolve now. He was going to win this duel and send Sestros to the hell he belongs in.
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Giovan drew his two and pointed at Yami. "You're not getting off that easily pharaoh! Torture King Reborn, attack him directly and win me those God Cards! Kill HIM!!" The demon charged across the field, all too willing to comply with its master's demands.
Yami braced himself for the end. ("I'm sorry I failed Yugi.") He waited for the killing blow to come, but it never arrived. There was a clang and a roar of frustration. His eyes opened to see that a blue barrier had sprung up between him and the Torture King Reborn. ("What?")
"Sestros..." A gruff voice said to his right. "I cannot forgive you for this insult you have done to my family. I will kill you and burn the ashes. For my father...for my mother...for turning my life from one of a prince to one of your private killing machine...for all of it....YOU MUST DIE!"
Rikuo was done with the mind games and the pain of memories...those times could come later. ("Now it's time to kill this asshole.") "And to accomplish that I have activated my face-down trap card, Mirror Force! It negates your attack and reflects it back at your field, destroying all of your attack mode monsters in one fell swoop!"
The barrier shimmered and then peppered the dark-suited demon's field with energy, blowing his three monsters into oblivion.
Giovan growled in anger. ("How dare that insolent dog think himself above my power!!! I'll kill him for that!") "You think that this card in my hand cannot save me? Think again!" He slammed the card into his duel disk. "Go Mass Restoration! This immediately ends my turn, but also revives all monsters that I have lost!" His field was wreathed in darkness and when it cleared his three monsters had returned.
Yami smiled to his returned partner. "Let's take the Torture King down a notch." He drew and nodded to Rikuo. "Give me one turn and we will be able to take him down." His attention came back to his opponent. "I set my three cards face-down on the field and end my turn."
Rikuo smirked at Giovan. "Since I have been out for three turns or so, I'll just draw my three cards now." He drew three cards off the top of his deck and his newest plan immediately became evident to him. "I set one monster in defense mode and the rest of my hand face-down." Now he had a full field of magic and trap cards, a monster in defense, and his Wolf Demon Lord on the field. "End turn."
Giovan drew his two and slid them both into his duel disk. ("My best bet would be to attack Yami while his defenses are gone. Those three cards must not be traps or he would have played them earlier.") "Wolf Demon King! Attack Yami's life points directly!" The demonic wolf charged up a ball of phantom flame and spat it at the Pharaoh.
Rikuo flipped his center face-down card. "Negate Attack will defend my partner for a turn from all of your attacks." A whirling vortex absorbed the blast and left Yami untouched.
Giovan growled. "Take your turn you human bastard, and know that next turn I will kill you."
Yami drew and shook his head at his opponent. "Don't jump to conclusions just yet Garlin. I still have plenty of moves left to deal with you. For example, I activate the card I just drew. It's called Magical Silk Hats. I'm sure you remember how it works, right?"
A black top hat appeared on Rikuo's field, landed on top of his Wolf Demon Lord and then split into four hats. "Now I will conceal the rest of my face-down cards underneath the same hat as Rikuo's Wolf Demon Lord. End turn."
Rikuo glanced curiously over at Yami. ("What could he have planned?")
("We're better off trusting him then doubting him.")
Rikuo drew. "I transfer all of the Magical Silk Hats to my partner's field." The four top hats floated over to in front of Yami. "Now I sacrifice my face-down monster to set a new creature in its place." He was about to end his turn, but something about the look Yami was giving him was sparking off a thought in the back of his head.
("He needs me to do something...what though?") Then he figured out what those three face-down cards with his Wolf Demon Lord must be. ("Clever Pharaoh...very clever...") "I'm not done yet though! Next I activate Monster Reborn on the Dark Magician!"
The corpse of the purple-robed spellcaster came back to its feet, fully healed from its previous wound. "Now I will conceal him within one of the Magical Silk Hats!" The Magician vanished off the field. "Now my turn is complete."
Giovan drew his two and glanced at his dwindling deck. He had expected the duel to be over by now. ("That doesn't mean that I am out of options yet though.") "Alright mutt, let's see how your little Magical Hat defense holds against the magic card Token Thanksgiving. This will take all token monsters off the field and increase my life points by 800 per token." Three of the four hats exploded into pieces of silk.
Rikuo- 8000
Yami- 3100
Giovan- 15600
Giovan smirked at the last remaining hat. "Torture Machine-Gauntlet attack the hat and wipe out the monsters inside it!" The machine spat out a storm of metal chains that engulfed the Pharaoh's field and his single defense hat. "Ha, good-bye!" The storm of chains around the hat stopped.
Yami smiled at Garlin. "You should have thought about how wise it would be to attack that has three face-down cards in it and two monsters. Because how can I fit one monster into a single hat?"
Rikuo caught on immediately. "Get ready to take quite a lot of damage Sestros."
Yami nodded. "Right. You see there aren't two monsters under that hat. There's only one." The chains from the Torture Machine-Gauntlet began to shudder. "And you just made it mad." Light began to pulse from out of the openings in the tomb of chains. Then in one thunderous explosion the chains were destroyed to reveal the new monster. It looked like the Dark Magician, but it had red marks along its face and its robes had become red and black. "Say hello to our all powerful fusion, the Dark Magician Lord." (3500/2500)
Giovan growled. "So one of the card's you had under that hat was Polymerization?"
Yami nodded. "That's not all I had under there though. You see I also had hidden a trap and another magic card under it. The magic card was Book of Secret Arts, raising our monster's attack points by 300." (3800/2800)
Rikuo wasn't sure how, but he knew what the other card was. "The other card was the trap card Duelist's Determination. That allows the owner of the monster to transfer half of his life points to the attack of his monster. And while the trap may be Yami's, we'll be using my life points to power it." (7800/2800)
Rikuo- 4000
In unison the two lifted their hands and pointed at the Torture Machine. "NOW.....HOWLING MAGIC BLAST!!" The Dark Magician Lord raised his staff/sword and a wave of phantom energy consumed the Machine instantly, blowing it to pieces that rained down on Giovan's field.
Rikuo- 4000
Yami- 3100
Giovan- 10800
Giovan clenched his fists and slapped his two cards into his duel disk. "I set these two cards face-down. Now go and take your turn!"
Yami drew and nodded to Rikuo. "You're up. Show him what you have."
Rikuo sneered as he drew. "Ready to lose the rest of your life points Sestros?"
Giovan snorted. "Talking trash lost you your last duel."
Rikuo pondered that for a second. "Wow....you are right. I had better just finish you off quickly then." He flipped up his face-down monster. "So first let's make sure you can't interfere with us by using your trap cards! Reveal Jinzo!" (2400/1500) The metal monster appeared on the field and chuckled coldly.
Giovan's eyes went wide as all of his face-down traps were now useless to him. "No....This cannot be!"
Rikuo flipped up one of his face-down cards. "Let's make sure those cards never darken out door-step again. Go Psycho Shockwave!" Jinzo's eye lenses flashed bright red and then a beam of light shot across the field and slashed all four of Giovan's trap cards in half. "This overloads Jinzo's special ability and he destroys all of your trap cards on the field."
Rikuo flipped up another one of his face-down cards. "Now I activate the magic card Premature Burial to raise Wolf Demon Lord up from the graveyard at the cost of 800 life points!" The ground beneath him shook and the armored form of his monster reappeared on the field.
Rikuo- 3200
Yami- 3100
Giovan- 10800
"Next up is the magic card Replay! At the cost of half of my life points I may activate any magic card from my graveyard! So let's see you stop my fusion this time Sestros! Go Polymerization!" The magic card triggered and pulled the two monsters into each other. There was an explosion of light, and when it cleared the Steel Wolf General (3400/2000) stood where they had connected with each other.
Rikuo- 1600
Yami- 3100
Giovan- 108000
Giovan felt his control of this duel slipping away, and he did not like it all....
Rikuo sneered and flipped up his next card. "Now I activate the magic card Limiter Removal, doubling my Steel Wolf General's attack power!" (6800/2000)
Yami grinned at Rikuo. "Go and get your revenge."
The wolf demon's eyes could almost be said to be aflame now. "Oh I intend to! It's time to get that insult to my family off of your field! Steel Wolf General, attack the Wolf Demon King now!!" The metal demon lunged across the field and split the huge wolf down the middle, the halves of it crashing on both sides of Giovan.
Rikuo- 1600
Yami- 3100
Giovan- 7000
Rikuo watched as Sestros got more and more angry. ("That's right...blow your top and leave us with the necessary head-room to win.") "End turn." The Steel Wolf General exploded and in its place was the Wolf Demon Lord.
Giovan drew his two and he sneered. "Say goodbye to your monsters. And say good-bye to living in general Mutt." He slid his two cards into his duel disk. "Go Last Day of Witch and Exile of the Wicked. This will destroy all Demon and Spellcaster monsters on the field. That means you are finished!"
Yami and Rikuo both gasped as their respective monsters were completely destroyed. Not even enough was left of them for a corpse.
Giovan snickered and pointed at Rikuo. "Now you may regret lowering your life points by so much, Mutt. Torture Kind Reborn attack his life points and bring me back his soul!" The monster flew across the field, claws ready to gouge the wolf demon apart.
Yami stared in horror as the beast leapt down on his defenseless partner.
Rikuo just slid the card he was holding into his duel disk. "I discard Kuriboh, thereby negating all of the damage of your attack against me." The little brown furball appeared and instead of Rikuo, it was ripped in half. It didn't matter to him though. Unlike Yami he could care less what happened to most of his cards. "Your attack failed Sestros."
Giovan trembled in rage, his black aura of energy flaring bright and brighter. "You cannot dodge me forever! So take your turn Pharaoh and get ready for death!"
Yami drew and he already knew what he was going to do. "I play Premature Burial to revive the....." He felt a pull on his soul and suddenly he couldn't move. Through unblinking eyes he could see that Rikuo and Giovan had stopped moving as well. ("What's...going...on?") Even his thoughts felt sluggish.
("Reconsider your action, I beg of you.")
("W..hat....?")
("Please reconsider....")
Suddenly everything was moving normally, with Yami not skipping a beat in his words. "....Wolf Demon Lord from my graveyard!" There was a flash of light and the samurai demon appeared on his field.
Giovan's eyes widened in surprise. "What the hell are you doing? You understand that my monster possesses far much more attack power than yours, right?"
Yami didn't seem disturbed at all by this fact. "I set my final card face-down and transfer control of the Wolf Demon Lord to Rikuo. End turn."
Rikuo stared at his partner like the other spirit had lost his mind. "What are you doing!? Why didn't you revive something stronger!?"
Yami smiled knowingly. "Because she asked me to let you end this right now. Which reminds me," He flipped up his face-down card. "Jar of Greed normally allows me to draw one card, but since I can I give the draw to you Rikuo. Now finish this madness so we can all go home."
Rikuo wasn't sure what Yami was talking about, but he was ready. ("So be it. This is the draw that determines whether I succeed or fail in my revenge.") He drew his first card and felt despair grip his heart tightly. ("Alone this card is useless to us.")
Daniel's voice reminded him. ("We still get one more card because of the Jar of Greed.")
("That's right, we do...") As his hand grasped their next card, he felt the tingling in his head of a memory...
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Entirius smiled to his almost asleep son. "Remember that you will always be the ray of sunshine that brought me back from the edge of insanity. No matter what ever happens remember that I will always love you and that you mustn't let anyone make you believe otherwise." He brushed a lock of his pup's raven black hair back.
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....and just like that he knew he would win. And he knew that his father's spirit was with him in this. He drew and as he looked upon the card, he bowed his head. "Thank you father, for trusting me with your weapon."
Giovan frowned. "What are you babbling about Mutt? Your father is long dead."
Rikuo eyes glimmered with something that he had never felt since he was a child, so long ago....peace. "I play the legendary weapon card Howling Sword." A golden light engulfed his field and the Wolf Demon Lord looked completely invigorated. "This magic card raises my monsters attack points by 1000 and then doubles it." Rikuo's voice still rang with calm. (6800/1000)
Giovan snickered. "That won't be enough..."
Rikuo slid the other card into his duel disk. "Now I play Lord's Ascension to transform the Wolf Demon Lord into something you will never be....a true king."
Giovan would have gone on a rant about how Rikuo dare oppose him, but.....
The Wolf Demon Lord was swallowed up in a torrent of golden light. "Sestros, my father is here to claim his revenge upon you." His voice began to rise in volume as a form could be seen within the pillar. "Now face him.....and see your defeat!"
The light faded and a magnificent humanoid with lines of red down his face and bare arms hefted the Howling Sword over his shoulder. He looked down upon Giovan with a look that promised it was over. "This is your end Sestros.....allow me to introduce the Wolf Demon Avatar (5500/3000) in attack mode! And because of the special effect of legendary weapon cards they follow their user no matter what transformations it undergoes, so therefore it is still equipped to my creature." (13000/3000)
Giovan stumbled back, eyes wide in true terror. "This cannot be!! I am the king!!! You cannot oppose me! I am god!"
Rikuo tiredly pointed at the Torture Kind Reborn and in a voice that carried with it the pain of millennia of sadness said, "Do my family a favor and just die already..." His voice rose in pitch as the Wolf Demon Avatar charged up a flaming brand of energy along its blade. "Wolf Demon Avatar, attack with Howling Sword Nova!!!" The golden wolf demon brought its weapon down and slashed the Torture King Reborn in half. It didn't stop there though, for it leapt forward and drove the weapon right into Giovan's chest.
Rikuo- 1600
Yami- 3100
Giovan- 0
Through now dying eyes Giovan stared at the blade protruding from his chest. He still couldn't believe the impossibility of it all. How could he have lost?
The Wolf Demon Avatar leaned up to his ear and whispered, "Because you delight in the torment of others. Because you are evil. But most of all......because you piss me off." And then in one last explosion of gold light Kilomet Sestros was gone, his soul banished from this realm for the rest of eternity.
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Rikuo looked at the spot where Sestros had been moments ago, tears flowing down his face once more. Right before he returned to his soul room to rest he thought, ("Finally I can sleep peacefully at night.")
To be continued...
Next chapter: Aftermath
Author's notes: And that is the end of the bad guy! Review with your opinions on the big climatic finish to season two!
Oh, and I'm open to any ideas about season three and what it should involve. I've left some lifelines along the way to help in case you want to look at them. Just think back to any parts where I had something mentioned but never followed up on it.