Chapter 10

The pyramid composed of dark magic stood in the center of the field with no where to enter, as Tea realized as she wandered around it. She could see nor hear anything coming from it, and clearly there was no way to dig into it. With Mokuba and Pegasus still at each other's throats and Duke amused by the argument, Tea seemed to be alone in finding what the matter was.

"Rotten kid!" Pegasus called him.

"Loser!" Mokuba returned the insult.

"Idiotic bug!"

"Fatuous lunatic!"

"Fatuous?"

"It means unconsciously foolish. Sheesh, you're way older than I am, and yet your vocabulary is pathetic!

"Are you calling me old?"

"I don't know, Gramps! What do you think?"

Duke was rolling on the ground laughing as the two continued to exchange insults. Tea, though not paying attention, heard most of the argument because of their screaming. She was not concerned with it too much however.

She was on the opposite side of the pyramid where the others were, when she looked up and saw a giant eye hanging on it. It was something she had not noticed before, so she looked at it closely. The pupil glowed with dark colors, such as black, purple, navy blue, and gray. At first, the movement of dark colors was all that Tea saw, so when her reflection suddenly appeared in the pupil, she couldn't help but jump a bit. After she saw her reflection in the pupil and nothing occurred, she turned around to walk away. She then felt her body being lifted in the air and being pulled back. She turned her head to see herself being sucked into the eye. Desperately, she flailed her body around, trying to make it stop. There was nothing she could grasp to prevent her from being sucked in.

"Eeeeeeeek!" she cried for help. She was able to get the attention of Duke, Mokuba and Pegasus and they ran to her cry, but it had been too late. There was nothing they could have done to save her. Her body was too high and out of their reach. They could only watch her body as it was pulled into the eye and disappear.

In the hall where Tea and company entered the dueling arena, Bakura, the dark spirit that inhabited his body present at the time, stood and observed them arguing and searching around the black pyramid. He had seen Tea in the city, and knew immediately she had been off to meet with Yugi, whom had the Millennium Puzzle. He had been hunting the Millennium Items for quite some time, and he was well aware that Yugi possessed several of them, especially after Battle City.

Over hearing their conversation with Mokuba, Yami Bakura thought for a moment and remembered this same tactic, trapping his enemy inside a black pyramid, being used once before. The name of the one who used it was not in his memory, but he could at least recall it. Thinking of the idea of working with this enemy, he decided to stick around to see what may be in store.

The smoke cleared as Seto stood proudly on his side of the field. His long rival was on the verge of losing the duel. With thirteen hundred Life Points and Yami's at a measly three hundred, Seto could easily defeat him at almost any time he wished. He had already planned on how he wanted to beat him however. Turning his own magical beasts against his opponent would surely make a wonderful closure.

"Get up!" he demanded, seeing Yami lying on the ground. Yami attempted to stand but could not and he kept falling every time he tried.

"Seto," said Yami weakly, lifting his head from the ground.

"Let me guess: You want me to stop this duel," he mocked. "No! I have you right where I want you, and I'm just moments away from victory! I'll enjoy the moment for as long as I can, and when the time is right, I will finish this duel."

As badly hurt as he was, Yami calmly lied on the ground and continued to duel. If he were to surrender, his Life Points would drop to zero, and couldn't risk losing them. Assuming the worst would happen, Yami began his turn. He had nothing in his hand that would defeat Kaiba's dragon, so he was stuck playing defense to protect his Life Points.

"Big Shield Guardnaut (300/2000) in defense mode," he said, almost whispering.

He ended his turn.

"An impressive two thousand defense points, but that is nothing compared to 5100 attack points," Seto drew his card and continued. "Well, this card shall come in handy later, so I'll place it face down. Now, attack, my Blue-Eyes!"

Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon attacked with its powerful blast of energy again. In one big shot, Big Shield Guardnaut was destroyed, and Yami again was left without a monster to protect his Life Points.

"Your turn," he grinned at Yami, still lying in a small puddle of blood. His shirt became soaked in the red liquid.

Yami drew a card. He had drawn a card that would stall him two more turns at least. And his Life Points would be safe that way.

"Watapon (300/200) in defense mode. Using its special ability, I can summon another level one to four monster onto the field, so now I also summon Kuriboh (300/200) in defense mode as well," he said and ended his turn. The pain was beginning to become unbearable.

"I congratulate you for summoning the best possible defense: My grandmother's cat's hairballs," Seto laughed. The two puffballs were among the weakest monsters in the game, but it was all he had left.

Because of the Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon, the pyramid was not as dim as it had been. The light revealed something to Kaiba that he had not noticed earlier, even though he should have. Seto looked at Yami's back, and on it was a stab wound. He had seen the one in the front, but assumed it was fake, but once he saw the one on his back, he realized his clown's direct attack had indeed transfixed into his opponent. He had been too busy laughing and mocking his opponent to see the actual attack from his clown, and see the dagger go through his body, creating wounds on both sides of his opponent. For the first time during the entire duel, he felt concern that something may be going wrong in this duel. He had felt pain, too, after all.

"That wound, it's..." Kaiba could not even finish his sentence he was so shocked. He could not hide his feelings of being worried about everything.

"Real," Yami completed Seto's sentence. "Took you long enough."

"Shut up!" Seto remarked. "At least I figured it out, didn't I?"

"You're a little late," he argued. Seto did not reply.

"I suppose there is only one thing left to do," he sighed, knowing his fun had been spoiled. "End this duel."

Which in his terms, meant defeating him. Yami could easily see what was coming. Seto was egotistical, and would want to make himself look as good as possible. Just as he had used in their previous duel, Kaiba would use a card to bring back three powerful beasts, only this time ones that belonged not to him. He knew what this card was.

"First, I will sacrifice my Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon to deactivate the trap card Gods' Forsaken Tomb!"

The dragon's body was consumed into the darkness of the Gods' Forsaken Tomb card. The light it had brought to the room burnt out, and the room again became dark. The Gods' Forsaken Tomb card that was on the field began to glow, looking like it was about to burst. Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon had been completely gone, sacrificed to destroy the trap card.

Neither Yami nor Kaiba had expected what would come next. The card Kaiba had sacrificed his great beast to destroy remained. It stayed on the field, its power still in use.

"What the hell?" Seto exclaimed.

His concern for the destruction of the card would become less after he heard a bubbling noise behind him. He turned around to see a large puddle of blood boiling at his feet. He looked at it with confusion, unsure of why it was there or how it got there. But when something began to rise out of the puddle, his confusion became shadowed by fear. Seconds after the rising began the figure began to shape out. It was a human body, muscular and tall, and the blood began dripping off his body, exposing his skin and clothes. Once all the blood had fallen off his skin, the puddle he stood on was absorbed into the ground and disappeared.

"Thank you, Seto," the incipient man said in a voice recognizable to Kaiba. Remembering this voice from a few days ago on Pegasus' Island, when he received his cards, Seto trembled with fear yet bafflement. "You have served me well, but I believe it is my turn now."

Seto was not short, but he looked tiny compared to this man. The buff man looked down on him and grinned. Seto had never been face to face with a man that was significantly stronger than anyone he knew. His large hands were almost as big as his triceps, and his feet as large as his calves. Seeing how much thicker this guy was compared to him, Seto thought about fleeing right then. He had taken too long to contemplate it, because no sooner had the man grabbed him by the neck and lifted him in the air. To him, Kaiba was featherweight, lifting him with ease. As hard as he could, he threw him hard to the ground. Seto's body, hitting the ground head first, hit it with so much impact his body bounced off the ground a little bit. Kaiba lied on the ground, somewhat away from the dueling field, unconscious.

Through all of this, Yami could only watch. He saw Seto easily shoved aside and this mysterious man, who seemed a bit familiar at first glance, stood in his place on the opposing end. He would have helped Kaiba if he could, but he could not and felt horrible because of it.

The mysterious man turned around and saw Yami where he saw him last: on the ground, alive and conscious. He would finally get his chance to confront the one he had been waiting to deal with. He had his target right where he wanted him and how he wanted him. The predator glared at his enemy and laughed.

"Oh my, 't has been long since I've seen you," he said. "Do you remember me?"

Yami could not come up with his name. As familiar as the man was to him, he could not recall his name.

"How sad, I suppose you do not, seeing how you have not answered," he sighed happily. "It is I, the all mighty Anubis."

Such a typical villain entrance, but it occurred to Yami that this was the God powered fiend whose tomb was displayed at the museum. Apparently, it was also the same fiend that he himself had defeated years ago. He had no memory of any of it, but research had spoke for itself.

"I guess I get no 'welcome back' or anything," he sighed. "Well let me be courteous by saying that it is good to see you after all these years."

Yami still lay on the ground, silent. Even though he could not remember the evil actions of this fiend, he knew that it was he responsible for all that had been occurring. There was no other explanation, and plus if his intentions were evil, as they had learned earlier, then all of these actions would fit in his category.

"What? Have you no memory of me?" he asked waving his arms. "I'm the God powered evil that everyone fears."

"I'm aware of that," Yami finally spoke. Everything had been so distracting that he did not notice his puzzle glow for a brief moment. "What do you want?"

Anubis began laughing hysterically and was aware of the glowing of the puzzle.

"For a pharaoh, you seem to be mindless about many things," he commented. "I would have thought my intentions were obvious, for they are the same as before, only with one minor detour."

Recalling what he had learned at the museum, Yami understood what it was Anubis wanted, and that was destruction. Destruction of the world, destruction of mankind, and destruction of his slayer: him.

The long arms of mummies reached to grab Yugi, but Joey and Tristan pulled him out of their reach just in time. Yugi was clearly distracted by what Anubis had said, and cared less about the mummies which would threaten his life. Joey shook Yugi's body, trying to get him to come to the sense of things.

"Yugi, wake up!" he yelled at him. "There are flesh thriving mummies out there, and you were gonna just stand there and let 'em eat you alive?"

Yugi finally came to his senses. He turned his head, looking at the human mummies. Of course he was afraid of them, but he understood that this all had to be stopped somehow. The mummies began closing in on them as Yugi tried plotting a way to escape the puzzle. Joey and Tristan put themselves in a fighter stance, ready to beat the crap out of anything that would come close. It would of course be useless to fight the living dead.

Yugi had absolutely no idea what to do until he saw the eye hanging above the platform Anubis' coffin lied on. The coffin was still there, and inside Yugi hoped he could find the weapon of his defeat, considering he had been buried with it.

"You got an idea, Yug?" Tristan asked, his back to him so he could keep track of the distance between the mummies and them.

"This is the biggest favor I could ever ask from you guys," he began in a sad voice. What he was about to ask was a long shot and risky, but he could think of nothing else. "Do you think we could somehow clear a path of mummies so that I could get to the coffin? There might be something in there that could help us."

"Wow, you're actually askin' us to beat the shit out of someone! Let's do it!" Joey yelled as he dashed into the crowd of mummies.

As hard and fast as they could, they punched at the mummies ahead of them, sending their fists through all sorts of body parts. No blood was spilled, but body pieces went soaring in the air from this. Their punches flew in all sorts of directions, and every time it hit a mummy. To their grief, even though they seemed to be damaging them, the mummies did not lay down and die. In fact, they continued moving after them, and the only time they walked away from them was if their head had been taken off their body so they could no longer see where they were going.

"Aim for the head!" Tristan yelled, which was easy for Joey and him, but not so much for the vertically challenged Yugi.

Eventually, Joey and Tristan had knocked enough heads off enough mummies for there to be a small, mummy free path for Yugi to get to the coffin. The second he saw the clear path, Yugi dashed through it and leaped into the coffin. Joey and Tristan continued fighting off the seemingly never-ending supply of undead.

Underneath the wraps of a mummy, Yugi searched for the weapon that defeated Anubis five thousand years ago. Just as he had suspected, the dagger, which the Egyptians would later call the dagger of fate, was in there. Surprised Anubis had left it in there, Yugi took it into his hand, holding it by the end of the blade, and stood up in the coffin, staring at high hanging eye on the wall.

"Wanna toss me that dagger, Yugi?" Tristan cried out to him as he fought off another group of mummies that came after him.

"I have a hunch," he told Tristan. "That eye, I think that might be our way out. That seems to be where all the power is being held, and it's probably the only thing that's keeping us trapped in here right now. If I can hit it, then maybe it'll set us free."

Joey and Tristan weren't all for the idea, but did not see how it could make anything worse. They signaled to Yugi to throw the dagger at the eye as they continued punching and kicking the mummies around them. Dagger in hand, Yugi held it by the blade and threw his arm back. He was about to let it fly when a light in the far right corner of the room went off. It blinded Yugi for a moment, and when the light disappeared, Yugi saw that another person had been pulled into the puzzle.

"Tea!" he yelled to her as her body floated in the air.

"Yugi, get me down!" Tea cried for help again. She looked down to see a hoard of mummies below her. "I take that back, don't let me down!"

The mummies below her watched her, waiting for her to fall into their hands. Joey and Tristan tried to make their way over there, but could not. They had become tired from all the fighting they had been doing, and there were just too many mummies in their way.

"Hang on!" Yugi told her as he looked back at the eye. He lifted his arm to throw the dagger, but was again stopped from doing so.

"Do not think I do not see what is going on in there," they heard Anubis' voice echo through the room. He was speaking to them through thought.

"You again!" Yugi yelled. "Now what?"

"You should not have thought I would let you wreck my plans so easily," Anubis indicated that Yugi's assumption about the eye being the source that kept them in the puzzle was correct.

"You're too late," Yugi was about to chuck the dagger when he saw Tea's body start to fall into the mummies. Once he stopped himself from throwing the dagger, Tea's body stopped falling. Anubis had control of Tea's body, and could let her fall any time he felt.

"I am no late, or should I say she is not late," he laughed. "Mortal, you can throw that dagger at the eye, but once that dagger leaves your hand, the girl leaves the air and she will have a nice fall into the mummies below."

Yugi's heart pranced. He was put in a situation had never wanted to be in.

"What makes you think you will even hit the eye? Are you willing to risk the life of a friend just for a chance to save yourselves? Why, what if you were to miss? Her body would fall into the mummies and surely be torn to shreds and eaten," he told Yugi the consequences.

It was more than their lives at risk. He knew of Anubis' plan, and if he were to escape, there was a slight chance he could possibly prevent it from taking place. But he would sacrifice an innocent life for only a gamble. Even if he were to succeed, it would all be a chance. It would be up to Yugi to decide if that was good enough.

"Yugi, remember our friendship..." Tea spoke softly.

"Tea, I'm sorry, but I don't think another friendship speech is gonna help Yugi make up his mind," Joey told her, still fighting off mummies with Tristan.

She knew that he was right. Almost nothing she could say would help him make his decision.

"Throw the dagger and cut the thread that holds your friend's life!" Anubis repeated over and over again, encouraging Yugi to throw it to increase the strength of his guilty conscience. Yugi wanted to cover his ears so he could not hear his voice, but he could not escape it. The grip of the dagger lightened, almost falling out of his hand. It was the worst, most difficult decision of his life, because it looked as if regardless of what he chose, somebody would lose.