Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!

Chapter 44: Yami and Shadow Pt.2

Kou's favorite monster smiled as darkly as he had begun to as it leapt forward to blow it's master's enemies apart. Just as Total Defense Shogun (1550/2500) had reached the Union of Giant Orc (2200/0) and Second Goblin (100/100) the miniature goblin on the giant ogre creature leapt in front of the blow and was blown apart in place of it's larger partner.

"Your very idiotic, Mr. Nandao." Shadow began to mock. "You should understand that Union monsters are of a different breed than most. If one of them is to be destroyed, then the other will protect it." Shadow snickered eviler than Kou. Kou glared with red glowing eyes and raised another finger to point.

"Why just use one monster, when I have two? Attack his defensive Orc (2200/0) Marauding Captain (1200/400)!" the second general of war stepped forward and slashed the still beast in half. "Now show me if you can keep up, or are you just hot air!" Kou snickered as Shadow drew.

"I've been waiting for this, Mr. Nandao, for your darkness to emerge." Shadow told the boy across from him, looking the single card in his hand over.

"Yeah, you just couldn't wait for me to start kicking your mystery-man-ass all up and down this realm, huh?" Kou asked sarcastically. Shadow slid his card into the disk.

"No, I was waiting for you to become what you are now, a creature of evil so I could show you my true power, for the demons of the night are merciful creatures, but other demons aren't." Shadow slammed his drawn card onto the monster slot and a warping bluish mist-like creature appeared. "Say goodbye to your friend, I summon Theban Nightmare (1500/500) in attack mode!"

Kou licked his lips. "Freshmeat." he muttered as Shadow raised a finger to point at Marauding Captain (1200/400).

"Blow his Marauder away my Nightmare (3000/500)!" The bluish mist wailed and swirled around the Marauding Captain (1200/400) on Kou's field until it blew apart with an insane cackle. "Did I neglect to mention my Nightmare gains 1500 attack points when there are no magic/traps on my field and I have no hand?" Shadow asked innocently.

Kou-5200

Shadow-7700

"Just finish, this duel won't have mattered when your dead." Kou told his opponent.

"Look around, I have nothing more to do Mr. Nandao. Boy turning dark didn't make you any smarter, but if you want me to say "End Turn' I'll say it. End turn." Shadow took a bow as Kou rolled his eyes, though they were glowing so fiercely you couldn't see them roll, and drew.

"I start by playing Card of Sanctity, which let's us replenish our hands to six cards. It also means you lose your monster's pump-up ability!" Kou smirked as Theban Nightmare (1500/500) grew back down into it's normal form, panting a bit from the decrease in power. "Now I also summon the deadly Fiend Mega cyber (2200/1200) by offering my Total Defense Shogun as a tribute!" The general of war was scrapped as a golden armored futuristic creature appeared with a glare. This was a move Kou would probably never do, scrapping his favorite monster like this. "Now Fiend Mega cyber (2200/1200) blow his best shot at defeating me away!" Kou commanded. There was only need for one punch and the nightmare was gone.

Kou-5200

Shadow-7000

"I assume this is my move, then?" Shadow asked. He didn't honestly care the LP count, his mission was near it's success. Kou nodded in affirmation to his opponent. "Then I activate the card that will seal your pathetic fate, Field Magic card go, Pandemonium, or Lair of Ten Thousand Demon Lords!" The world around the duel field became considerably darker and faces formed in the shadows, all whispering and roaring, fighting behind the veil of darkness they had become ensnared in. "Welcome to your tomb." Shadow stated.


Shisei glared at the only true obstacle of his opponent's that could make him lose the duel. 'Bring it!"' he thought. Yami smirked, performing his victory hand movements and finally pointing at Shisei.

"Now my beast, attack Shisei directly!" The Winged Dragon of Ra (4400/5600) didn't seem to care much for attacking Shisei, but it swept a blast of wind at him nonchalantly, as though bored by such an opponent.

"Activate: Scapegoat, giving me four defensive Scapegoat tokens!" Shisei slid a card quickly into his disk and a quartet of multi colored miniature sheep appeared. "One is more than enough to block you from an attack!" Shisei smirked as Yami frowned.

"Fine, then I end my turn." Yami stated. He knew he was in trouble now, Shisei's entire deck strategy was getting him to draw cards and then discard them before he could use them.

'He's already sent some of our best cards, including the Dark Magician Girl, to the graveyard!"' Yugi noted to Yami, as if he didn't know.

'I know, Yugi, but we can still win this!"' Yami thought to his counterpart as Shisei drew.

"I'm going to show you my real power now, Yugi. I play Replay on Card of Sanctity!" Shisei's LP split as he took a card ejected from his graveyard slot and placed it into his disk. Yami's eyes went wide, but he obliged and drew until he had the necessary cards in his hand. "Then comes Spell Reproduction on Card Destruction, but I must first drop these two cards, which means you discard two as well!" Shisei smirked as Yami did this also. "Face it Yugi, your not playing to my level!" Shisei laughed and followed the instructions he gave Yami.

Shisei-6600

Yami-8000

"I don't understand, how come your not worrying about decking out?" Yami asked with wonder.

"I have a special card, and you'll see it soon, don't worry, for now, worry about yourself!" Shisei set one of his drawn cards as he ended his turn.

"Then it's my move, be ready to lose, Shisei!" Yami drew and merely glanced a the card before he smirked. "I start by summoning the Skilled Dark Magician (1900/1700) in attack mode!" An apprentice mage figure appeared with a staff that doubled as a mace. "He shall blow away another of your Scapegoat Tokens!" The mage launched a miniature black magic attack at a green sheep. "Then my god card will blow another away!" Yami's Egyptian God followed orders splendidly, blasting another bored attack at Shisei's last defenses. "Make you move, but don't think you'll be winning!" Yami smirked.


Namia looked at the match with Joey standing by her side. "Whoa, you'd think it was Kaiba or you he was dueling!" Namia noticed. Joey smiled to her.

"Yeah, if you're a good enough challenge, then Yugi'll respect that. He's definitely not holding back against your friend there!" Joey stated. Namia nodded in acknowledgement.

"Of course, we all know he'll lose his title to Shisei." Namia stated. Joey glared, but they sat in silence as the exciting match went on.


Shadow placed yet another card onto his duel disk. "Now I will create an infinite army of demons, I summon Shadowknight Archfiend (2000/1600) in attack mode!" Shadow's new monster was a half dead creature that would have looked better in a Resident Evil game. "Guess what, I also equip my beast with the increment of your demise. I activate the equipment magic card: Mask of Brutality!" A dark glowing mask with an enraged face attached to the Shadowknight (3000/600) "This boosts the equipped monster's stats by 1000 attack points and it loses 1000 defense points! Now my Shadowknight will blow your warrior to the next realm!" The ugly and undead beast leapt and slashed Kou's monster in half.

Kou-4800

Shadow-7000

"Now you may go, not like one turn will matter much." Shadow stated as Kou smirked and drew.

"So your monster only deals half battle damage? Interesting, and if I'm right, you have to pay LP to keep those card you have on the field, seems odd to me." Kou stated with a darker voice than his own. Shadow didn't budge to show he heard his opponent. "Fine, be the silent one, I'll still mop the floor with you, I summon Sasuke Samurai #4 (1200/1200) in defense mode. I also set two cards facedown. End turn." Kou placed a monster, a yellow bodied mini samurai with a pike, and two brown back cards on his field.

"It is now my move. I draw." Shadow slid the top card from his deck and discarded Mask of Brutality. "I will rid my self of this nussance so I don't have to pay any LP. But I will also summon the Vilepawn Archfiend (1200/200) in attack mode!" Shadow's new monster looked only slightly less uglier than his Shadowknight.

"Archfiend monsters require you pay! Why did you skip out!" Kou glared as he realized his opponent was cheating Shadow snickered at his opponent's unawareness. "ANSWER ME!" Kou roared and some of the demons whispering behind him stopped as his eyes began to shift from red glowing to black and glistening.

"In the realm of Pandemonium, the Archfiend's needn't feed off of another's soul. It is their homeland, after all." Shadow smirked but Kou growled. "This will all be over soon anyway, I attack your Saskuke Samurai with my Shadowknight Archfiend (2000/1600)!" The first of the summoned archfiends rushed forwards again and slashed it's opponent's monster in half.

"Now you've done it!" Kou smirked as mini samurai blocked with it's pike. "My samurai requires I toss a coin and call it when it battles, I call heads!" Another giant coin appeared and flipped up, eventually landing on heads, as Kou predicted. "Now your monster is destroyed with mine!" Sasuke Samurai eventually was cut in half, but it's pike stabbed through the Archfiend as it blew apart. The Archfiend grabbed it's wound as a giant die appeared.

"Behold my monsters ability, when he's targeted by an effect, a die rolls, if a three is rolled…" Shadow stopped to watch his die result. Sure enough, despite having only a 1/6 chance of getting a successful roll, it came up on three. Shadow smiled. "now your monster and it's effect was wasted!" Shadow raised a finger, still having his Vilepawn ready and waiting to attack. "Now, Vilepawn Archfiend (1200/200) blow his LP into the ground! Direct Attack!" The deadly beast hurled itself at Kou, who activated a facedown card.

"I activate Revival of Defenses, which let's me bring back any warrior monster with higher defense than attack from my graveyard. Though it will be destroyed without damage calculation if attacked, and it can't switch modes!" Kou's field was suddenly occupied by a defensive Shogun (1550/2500). With a smooth cut down the wearier Shogun's body, Kou's field was soon empty again. "Pathetic, I'm just getting warmed up and your lugging behind." Kou stated.

"If you say so, I set two cards facedown, make your last move." Shadow's set cards appeared and he motioned for Kou to go.

"I'll make it a last move alright…But it'll be yours!" Kou drew and slammed the card down into his duel disk. "I summon the Hunter with Seven Weapons (1000/700) in attack mode!" Bald and burly, the new mosnter appeared and glared at the demons across from it, it's eyes reflecting Kou's new hatred and ugly power. "Demon will be the card he gains attack points while facing, then my Hunter with Seven Weapons (2000/700) will blow away Vilepawn (1200/200)!" The beast easily obliged but Shadow activated a facedown card.

"I play the trap card, Bark of the Dark Ruler, and I chain it's activation with another Emergency Provisions!" two cards flipped. One of them depicted the same rations and another was an odd animal roaring. "Bark of the Dark Ruler allows me to pay 1000 LP and decrease your monsters attack points by 1000 for this turn, so long as I have a demon monster on my field. And you already know the effect of Emergency Provisions, which means my LP stay the same as you lose 200!" Shadow smirked.

"I activate my last facedown card, Blast With Chain, so my Hunter (1500/700) may have lost 1000 attack points, but he gained 500, so you still lost your monster!" Kou laughed but suddenly, a large group of brown fuzzy beasts intercepted the blows of all seven weapons from the hunter. "Kuriboh." Kou muttered darkly as Shadow discarded his mini demon.

"Correct, and if your done…" Kou growled but nodded. "Then I draw." Smirking, Shadow drew his next card.


Shisei was giddy as he looked at his opponent's field. Not giddy because Yami had nothing to defend himself, but giddy because he was doing what he had always dreamed. Beating Yugi Moto. Add to the fact that he was decking him out instead of going around the normal way and decreasing LP, and he was just plain happy. "I have to say, I didn't think things would go so well for me, Yugi!" Shisei pressed a card into his disk. "I activate Swords of Concealing Light!" Black blades with a shadowed skull rained down on Yami's field.

"What does that card do?" Yami asked one of the stupidest questions for the world champion. The black blades eventually made his monsters flip down and away from the light, even Ra couldn't take it.

"It flips all monsters facedown into a defense position, which will allow me the opportunity to win this match!" Shisei placed another card onto the monster slot. "I summon now the Sasuke Samurai #3 (1000/1000) in attack mode!" Shisei's yellow bodied Samurai appeared and smiled with glee. "Now I activate the Magic card Pot of Greed!" Shisei drew twice and smirked. "Ready? I play Gravity Axe-Grarl on my Sasuke (1500/1000) and then I activate Shooting Star Bow – Ceal, so my Samurai (500/1000) loses attack points but can attack you directly!" Shisei's monster launched towards Yami, jumping on his facedown god card and slashing cards from his deck at him.

Shisei-6600

Yami-7500

"Your monster makes me draw." Yami realized. He placed his hand trembling on his deck and drew until he had seven hand cards, just as Sei's samurai's effect stated. He gulped as he realized he had exactly four cards in his deck. 'I don't think any of these cards will help me, because the effect of magic cards only last one turn on a god card, next turn his Swords effect will be gone, but that Gravity Axe will still make me wait a turn. Giving me three turns to win!"' Yami realized. Usually a duel like this was over someone's soul or the fate of the world, but with a friendly little duel like this, Yami loved the pressure to win.

"You think you can overcome a strategy that hasn't been run against you?" Shisei asked as Yami looked at Obelisk the Tormentor in his hand.

"I'll do my best at trying!" Yami smirked and drew his next card.

To be Continued


Next time: The duels are fast approaching the finishing points. Will Kou, now back in his normal self with a few encouraging words from the "dead" Chiro, be able to stand up to the unstoppable power of the Ultimate Obedient Fiend? And can Shisei stand to be faced with two Egyptian God Cards, or will Yami be the first to crack from such a dramatic loss in his deck? Find out Next time on Duel Monsters: Maximum!

To john: I just have one question for you: Why aren't you an author on You sure have great tastes in stories…Well, except for Rex's (just kidding if your reading this Rex.) Sign up…NOW!