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Fanfic Chapter 61: Duel of the Dark Magicians Pt 2: Dark Magician's Sacrifice
Episode Basis: Master of Magicians Pt 2
Previously on Yu-Gi-Oh! Yugi walks into a tent and vanishes, spirited away to an unknown location by Arkana, a Rare Hunter who possesses a very familiar monster: the Dark Magician! Yugi and Arkana were set up in a Shadow Duel, whereby the loser would get hit by a dark energy disk and get his mind banished to the Shadow Realm. But thanks to a clever trick by Yugi, it was he who got in the first attack by getting his Dark Magician onto the field and then scoring a direct hit to Arkana's life points. But this isn't over yet.
"It's not too late to end this madness, Arkana," Yami-Yugi pleaded. "My Dark Magician has already taken more than half your life points. One more direct attack and your mind will be banished to the Shadow Realm!"
Arkana just laughed. Yugi obviously doesn't know a Master Magician's number one rule: always save the best trick for the finale.
On the outside, Tea and Yugi's Grandpa were running through the streets. "How could Yugi just vanish like that?" Tea wondered.
"Don't worry, Tea, we'll search every square inch of Battle City until we find him."
But Tea knew the truth. It must be that dark force that Ishizu told us about. They've struck and now it may be too late!
I have to protect my life points from another direct attack or I'm done for! "I play Mystic Tomato (1) in defense mode and I set one card face-down."
"My move," Yami-Yugi said as he drew a card. Arkana has a weak monster on the field, so if I summon another monster, I can mount an attack on his life points. "I play Beta the Magnet Warrior in attack mode! Attack him now!"
"Reveal trap card: Dark Renewal!" A purple coffin rose. "Dark Renewal takes one monster on each side of the field and transports them directly to the graveyard. But in return, it returns one monster that was lost by the cardholder, namely me."
Yami-Yugi immediately realized what Arkana's plan was. "You want your Dark Magician back!"
"Correct!" Energy tendrils sucked Beta and Mystic Tomato into the coffin. The doors shut. Then the coffin open again. "You're on, Dark Magician," Arkana announced. His evil Dark Magician emerged.
"You got your wish: it's Dark Magician versus Dark Magician."
"Simply attacking won't be good enough; you need to think more strategically if you're going to keep your mind."
Yami-Yugi knew that Arkana was right. He would need to find some way to aid his Dark Magician in battle. "I place two cards face-down."
Yugi's trying to one-up on me. I'll match him move for move. "I'll also place two cards face-down. Now what will you do?"
"Watch, I place another card face-down."
"I'll do the same."
"I'll place my last card face-down."
"And so will I, there, we each have four face-down cards and one Dark Magician. Now let's see whose strategy was better. I'll activate a magic card: Mystic Guillotine!" A large guillotine appeared.
"What does that do?"
"What does it do? It eliminates your Dark Magician, that's what!" Shackles lashed out and held the Dark Magician to the base of the guillotine. "Looks like its lights out for your Dark Magician!" The guillotine dropped.
"You'll have to find him first, Arkana. Go, Magical Hats!" The guillotine sliced one of the empty hats. The other three gathered together. "Now you'll have to guess which hat he's hiding under."
"No I won't. A Thousand Knives!" Several daggers appeared in the Dark Magician's hand. "These tiny daggers will zero in and destroy your Dark Magician!" The evil Dark Magician threw the daggers.
"Hold on, Arkana, I'll rescue him with Curse Breaker!" Both the Magical Hats and the daggers disappeared. "It cancels out all other magic cards in play!"
Next, they both ordered their Dark Magician into battle. "Dark Magician, attack with Dark Magic!" But that was pointless in that it only ended up destroying them. Both Arkana and Yugi brought them back with Monster Reborn.
"Looks like we're back to where we started."
"Yes, a stalemate," Yami-Yugi agreed. "Why don't you unlock these shackles so we can finish this duel with honor?"
"I would, but that's not what master Marik wants."
"What's going on, Arkana? Why are you working for a scoundrel like Marik?"
Arkana's face grew grim. "Look at my face, Yugi." He removed his mask.
Yami-Yugi gasped. His face was horribly, almost nauseously burned and scarred.
Once, I was known as the greatest escape artist since Harry Houdini. I had everything, fame, fortune, good looks, but most of all, I had her… Catherine! She was more than my assistant, she was my love!
We were going to be married until that fateful day. It was suppose to have been an easy escape trick. I practiced it over a million times! But as Catherine looked on, something went horribly wrong! The bomb that was supposed to have detonated the chain detonated the safe with me inside. The whole thing became a pile of flaming rubble! I survived, but at a price!
I lost my career and my movie-star good looks that day, and then I lost Catherine's love. I drove her away, Yugi! And by the time I realized what I have done, it was already too late.
I thought my life was over until I met him… Marik!
"He promised that if I could defeat Yugi Moto in a duel, he would help me win back Catherine's love with the help of his Millennium Rod," Arkana finished as he redonned his mask.
Yami-Yugi knew that the Millennium Rod had the power of mind control. He figured that Arkana thought that Marik would use the mind control powers of the rod to make Catherine fall in love with Arkana again. It was sad. "Working with Marik would only lead to more suffering, Arkana."
Arkana just laughed snidely at that comment. "It's a cruel, cruel world, Yugi. There are few things you can trust in this world and even fewer people. But I am counting on Marik to help me win back Catherine." Arkana gestured to a curtain and a light clicked on. The shadowy form of a woman could be seen sitting on a chair behind the curtain. "There she is, just waiting for me. Be patient, my darling," he said to the woman's shadow. "I just have to destroy Yugi in this duel and then we're off to Hawaii, or Tahiti, or wherever you would like to go."
Perhaps it's Arkana that Marik's going to use the rod on instead. "You're a fool to place your trust in a scoundrel like Marik. Instead, you should put your trust in yourself and your cards."
"They're just cards, Yugi, nothing more."
"That's where you're wrong, they're not just cards! My heart's in my deck and that's something you'll never understand."
"You're such a hypocrite, I know you rely on your Dark Magician, so I constructed my deck with one purpose in mind: to take your Dark Magician away from you!"
Tea and Yugi's Grandpa saw a Battle City duel with a large crowd gathered and thought it was Yugi. But the monsters, Twin-Headed Fire Dragon (2) and Mother Grizzly (3) were not part of Yugi's deck. "Nothing," Tea moaned. She was beginning to fear the worse.
Kaiba and Mokuba had opted to take a technological approach to finding Yugi.
"Still no sign of Yugi?" Kaiba asked one of his Bridge Bunnies.
"No, sir."
"Yugi's Duel Disk won't work unless it's connected to Kaiba Corp.'s Battle City computer or another compatible system. So if Yugi's dueling, they must be using their own internal dueling computer system. Search Battle City for every computer compatible with Kaiba Corp.'s dueling computer and make it snappy."
"Yes, sir," the Bridge Bunnies replied. A map appeared on the main screen with several red dots.
"Isolate any network that refuses to identify itself to our system." The seven red dots on the map were limited to three.
"I'll hit the streets. Let me know when you find him."
As Mokuba left, Kaiba pondered what the Rare Hunters, if it really was the Rare Hunters who kidnapped Yugi, would want with him if Yugi didn't have an Egyptian God Card.
"We are alone, far away from any prying eyes. Not even Kaiba knows where you are. When you lose your mind, you will be all alone, no help at all."
"I don't need any help for the likes of you, Arkana!"
"Oh, you will. It's my move," Arkana announced. "I place one card face-down. Ready for the Shadow Realm?" He laughed.
"I won't lose," Yami-Yugi simply said. "I place two cards face-down."
"This will mark the end of you, Yugi Moto! I activate a magic card: Beckon to the Dark! This magic card takes any monster and transports it directly to the graveyard."
"Hold on, Arkana, I'll counter that with a trap card: Mystical Rift Panel!"
"I knew you would do that, Beckon to the Dark was just a decoy to get you to waste your trap card. Here's my real trap: Nightmare Chains!" Chains bound Yugi's Dark Magician to a cross.
A/N: I'd just like to take this time out to relay an interesting observation made by Cody, the owner of "Poor Dark Magician really gets a lot of bondage in this one." I loved this comment so much I had to pass it along.
"Nightmare Chains binds a monster and removes him from play. Now with your Dark Magician no longer protecting you, you're wide open to a direct attack. Dark Magician, Dark Magic Attack!" Yami-Yugi cried out as Arkana's Dark Magician struck him down. Yugi's Dark Magician just looked on with helpless anger.
(Y: 1500)
(A: 1500)
Tea and Yugi's Grandpa stopped to rest by a fountain.
"We've been over every square inch of Battle City and still no sign of him."
"I'm beginning to think that something awful has happened to him," Tea said. She then noticed someone in the distance. "Look, Mister Moto, its Mokuba!"
Mokuba, by that time, had noticed them too. "Mokuba, you have to help us," Solomon pleaded. "Yugi went into a tent and disappeared."
"I know. Kaiba just picked him up on our tracking screen. I'm heading over there right now."
"You lead and we'll follow," Solomon said.
"Okay, but let's hurry." The three ran off.
I can't let Arkana get off another attack like that again. "I summon Big Shield Gardna (4) in defense mode!" A long-haired humanoid hiding behind a large purple shield appeared.
"Then I summon Doll of Demise (5) in attack mode!" A smiling wooden puppet with a large axe appeared. "And now, the magic card that'll spell the end for you: Ectoplasmer!"
"What's that?"
"It's very simple, Ectoplasmer lets me drain a monster's soul into a concentrated form of energy known as ectoplasm. I can then fire that ectoplasm directly at my opponent's life points."
"But if you drain your monster's soul, they'll die!"
"Who cares, once I win and be reunited with my beloved Catherine,I'll have no need for them anyway." Arkana's Dark Magician suddenly didn't look too happy about that comment. "Now prepare to say your final good-byes, I'm about to drain your life points by draining one of my monster's souls away!" The Doll of Demise collapsed into a lifeless husk. The white soul went into the Ectoplasmer card briefly before firing it directly at Yugi. The blast of energy went right through Big Shield Gardna and struck Yugi.
The Dark Magician watched in horror as his master was struck down.
(Y: 700)
(A: 1500)
"Now do you see, Yugi? Monsters respond best to fear. You'll never gain their respect with kindness and trust, just look at what happened to your favorite monster." Yami-Yugi shot the Dark Magician a calm look as if to say to him not to worry. "At least my Dark Magician knows he's just a pawn." But if Arkana's Dark Magician did know that, it despised that fact that its master thought it was. "And like all pawns, he's got one last use. Now, Ectoplasmer, drain the soul of my Dark Magician and destroy Yugi Moto!"
Yami-Yugi made one last plead. "Stop this now, this duel has already gone too far."
"Not when I'm about to win, now, Ectoplasmer, drain the soul of my Dark Magician!" Arkana's Dark Magician gasped as its soul was drained into the card. Yami-Yugi's heart went out to it. "Now, fire!" The ectoplasm was fired again.
Suddenly Yugi's Dark Magician started to glow. To the Duelists' shock, Yugi's Dark Magician was also drained of its soul and blocked the soul of Arkana's Dark Magician from reaching Yugi's life points.
"My Pharaoh, even in death, I will always serve you."
The bodies of the two Dark Magicians fell to the ground and dispersed.
"Wh… what happened?" Arkana gasped.
"You're so busy disrespecting your cards, Arkana, that you failed to learn how to use them properly. While it is true that Ectoplasmer drains your monster's soul and fires it at your opponent, you failed to notice that the ability is available to both Duelists!" But deep down, Yami-Yugi was shocked too. Whie it is true that both Duelists could use Ectoplasmer, it would only work on the command of the Duelist who uses it. But Yami-Yugi didn't call for the Ectoplasmer. The Dark Magician chose to sacrifice itself of its own free will. But how was that possible? Could the Dark Magician be… alive?
"You may have avoided that attack, Yugi, but you're still one attack away from being banished to the Shadow Realm forever!"
To Be Continued
Duel Monster Database
(1)
Name: Mystic Tomato
Level: 4
Type: Plant/Effect
Attribute: Dark
ATK: 1400
DEF: 1100
(2)
Name: Twin-Headed Fire Dragon
Level: 6
Type: Dragon
Attribute: Fire
ATK: 2200
DEF: 1700
(3)
Name: Mother Grizzly
Level: 4
Type: Beast-Warrior/Effect
Attribute: Water
ATK: 1400
DEF: 1000
(4)
Name: Big Shield Gardna
Level: 4
Type: Warrior/Effect
Attribute: Earth
ATK: 100
DEF: 2600
(5)
Name: Doll of Demise
Level: 4
Type: Fiend
Attribute: Dark
ATK: 1600
DEF: 1700
