6. Truth and Consequences
As Joey and Yugi dueled Rex and Weevil, Téa clasped her hands under her chin, knuckles white as she watched. She wasn't anxious about the outcome; it went without saying that Yugi and Joey would win. Both were far superior duelists to those two cheats. Rather, it was the terms of the battle with the disturbing condition that Yugi and Joey must attack each other whenever they lost Life Points and the dark game she knew was coming. She hadn't been as sensitive to actually feeling the darkness as the duelists were, but judging by the way Rebecca and Mai were both hugging themselves as if they had both just walked into a meat locker, this was not going to be pretty.
Fortunately, Rex was the first person to lose Life Points as Joey's Alligator's Sword destroyed his Gilasaurus for one hundred points of damage. "Ha! Now you have to answer a question," Joey shouted, victorious. Téa expected him to give Yugi a high five or some other sign of their teamwork, but they each were wearing that same dark expression they'd had in earlier duels.
Kaiba shouted out a question before either Yugi or Joey could say anything more. "Did you and Weevil cause that avalanche that almost knocked Mokuba and Téa off the cliff?"
"Yes," Rex said, without hesitation. Téa shuddered at his almost zombie-like demeanor. "We ran ahead of everyone else and went up a second path to the higher cliff. We pushed over one of the boulders to take out the path and separate most of the duelists from the rest of the passengers. We were supposed to do it before Yugi and Kaiba got there to keep them apart from most of the rest of the duelists, but it took us longer to knock it over than we thought and by the time we got it moving, Mokuba and Téa were the only ones who hadn't gotten past that point yet."
Téa was furious at this matter-of-fact recital of the mishap that could have killed her and Mokuba, but her reaction paled to that of Kaiba and Yugi. Yugi's eyes narrowed and he called out in a voice so deep and menacing she couldn't recognize it as Yugi's at all—it was all the Pharaoh's: "Why? Who put you up to this?"
"Sorry, but you only get one question for each Life Point loss," Weevil said almost cheerfully. "Now I believe it's my turn."
"Listen you two pathetic lowlife sacks of pond scum," Kaiba roared, "you will pay for this, do you understand me? And I'm not talking about in a duel, either."
Weevil's lips curled into a nasty smile and Téa couldn't help but think for once that she'd like to see Kaiba get his wish.
The next Life Point loss was two turns later and this time it was Weevil who lost two hundred Life Points. "Who put you up to this?" Yugi repeated his question from earlier.
"The Tjaty," Weevil replied.
"'Cha-what?'" Joey repeated. "What the hell does that mean?"
"It's an Egyptian title," Yugi replied. "It means the 'vizier,' the pharaoh's chief advisor."
"The Vizier, yes," Weevil confirmed. "The one who is here on the island. The one who sabotaged the ship to bring us all here."
"That's not a full answer," Yugi insisted. "Who is this vizier?"
"It was…" Weevil began, but stopped, looking confused. "It's blank. I don't know."
"What kind of answer is that?" Joey shouted. "How can you not know who told you to knock a boulder down a cliff!"
Weevil, looking as zombie-like as Rex had when answering his question, just shook his head. "We were told where to go and what to do to separate Kaiba and Yugi from the rest of us. But who told us is gone, his face is blank. He took our memory."
Téa shivered. This was getting creepier and creepier.
"Then we get another question!" Joey insisted.
"No," Weevil replied. "Fair is fair. I answered the question. It's not my fault it wasn't the answer you wanted."
"Never mind," Yugi replied, clearly furious. "My turn isn't over yet. Giant Soldier of Stone, attack Killer Needle!"
Weevil lost another hundred points and Téa frowned. Yugi and Joey seemed to be purposely chipping away at Rex and Weevil's Life Points slowly in order to give them more opportunities to ask questions. While she saw the wisdom in this plan of action, she didn't like it. Prolonging the duel seemed like a really bad idea.
"What happened to Pegasus?" Yugi asked.
"While everyone was watching the duels, we put the Millennium Eye in with his things where he'd been sleeping. We put in a note telling him we had the rest of them and to meet us in the cave in that first chamber with the stone tablets. We challenged him to a duel. A Shadow Game, and…" Weevil stopped, confused again. "We lost," he finished.
"You lost?" Yugi cried. "Then what happened to Pegasus?"
"We don't know. We lost and we were sent to the Shadow Realm. The next thing we knew, we were back here, waiting for you."
Téa gasped. They'd lost an actual Shadow Game and been sent to the Shadow Realm? Then came back? Then who beat Pegasus and who brought them back?
Yugi clearly had the same questions, but he couldn't ask them yet. He ended his turn and Rex drew. He played Giant Rex, which he used to attack Joey's Gearfried the Iron Knight, but Yugi activated Attack Guidance Barrier to switch the attack to his own Big Shield Gardna, which was in defense mode. Weevil, however, countered with Trap Jammer, which destroyed Attack Guidance Barrier and brought the attack back to Gearfried, costing Joey two hundred Life Points.
"Now you get to call an attack on Yugi," Weevil said with a smile.
Joey wavered, but only for a moment. He called on Alligator's Sword to attack Yugi directly. Téa squeezed her hands together harder, hoping that Kaiba was right and that the duel disks would not respond to an attack that was against the normal rules of play. However, Alligator's Sword did not hesitate. Bypassing Big Shield Gardna and Giant Soldier of Stone, it attacked Yugi directly. He lost no Life Points, but clearly the attack hurt him. He doubled over as Alligator's Sword slashed at him, and when it was over, he stood up and glared at Joey.
"It's not his fault, Yugi, don't blame Joey," Téa said under her breath, but Joey for his part didn't look all that concerned about what his best friend had just suffered.
"The shadows are affecting them again," Mai said from beside her. "If they keep having to attack each other, they'll be at each other's throats by the time the duel's over."
"Let's just hope when the duel ends, the weirdness does, too," Tristan said, sounding grim.
On Joey's turn, Weevil lost another hundred Life Points. Evan, who seemed to be getting the hang of how their strange side rules were working, called out, "Ask them where the food they stole is!"
"In Kenan Bagatui's backpack," Weevil answered before either Joey or Yugi could say anything, "and the rest of it is stashed in the Chamber."
"The what?" Joey asked.
"That's another question!"
Joey turned on Evan. "You wasted our turn at questioning them! Open your mouth again and I'm attacking you next!" Joey snarled.
"Joey!" Mai cried out.
"C'mon bro, keep it together! It's not you talking, it's the Shadow Game!" Tristan yelled.
Joey glared at Tristan, but didn't say anything.
Weevil, and Yugi each took a turn without anyone taking battle damage, though Yugi now had Gaia the Fierce Knight on the field after sacrificing Giant Solider of Stone and Big Shield Gardna, and then it was Rex's turn again. He played Monster Reborn to bring back Gilasaurus, then used Polymerization to fuse it with Chitoptera from his hand to form Horned Saurus. Horned Saurus's special ability allowed it to attack an opponent's Life Points directly when it is first summoned, so he chose to attack Yugi. This brought Yugi all the way down to two thousand Life Points. Yugi was doubled over again from the loss of so many Life Points at once and Téa cried out his name in distress. When he recovered, he looked furious and immediately took out his frustration by calling for Gaia to attack Joey. Again, no Life Points were lost in their side arrangement, but Joey was knocked to his knees.
"Joey!" Mai cried out and moved as if to go forward to him, but Tristan put a restraining hand on her shoulder.
When Joey rose to his feet again, he swore and gave Yugi a hard look. He then drew, sacrificed Alligator's Sword to summon Jinzo, then used it to destroy Rex's Horned Saurus. Rex went down to thirty-four hundred Life Points and Joey asked, "If you went to the Shadow Realm, who brought you back?"
"The Vizier," Rex replied. "Then he told us to challenge you. No…" Rex paused. "He told us to challenge Yugi and Kaiba. But… I had to duel Wheeler, not Kaiba. He… he'll be angry that I disobeyed him." He shuddered then and a shadow of fear crossed his eyes. As much as she couldn't stand Rex, Téa found this profoundly disturbing.
If Joey was similarly disturbed, he didn't show it. "And you don't know who this Vizier guy is?"
"It's like Weevil said, we don't know who it is; our memories are blank."
"Your entire brains are blank," Joey snapped, but he had to end his turn.
Weevil looked peevish as he played a monster facedown in defense position and Mai leaned over to Téa. "See that other facedown card? I'll bet it's a trap card he was going to spring on this turn, but now that Jinzo's on the field, he can't activate it."
On Yugi's turn, he played Polymerization to fuse his Curse of Dragon with Gaia the Fierce Knight to form Gaia the Dragon Champion. He also played Queen's Knight in attack mode. Gaia the Dragon Champion attacked Weevil's Insect Queen and Weevil lost two hundred more Life Points.
"Are the Millennium Items real?" Yugi asked Weevil.
"They certainly seem to be. We're using them to call Shadow Games."
"What do you know of Shadow Games? You were never involved in any before the Shadow Realm was closed two years ago."
"That's another question."
"Fine," Yugi snapped. He called for Queen's Night to attack Rex's Life Points directly.
"What the hell was that?" Mai breathed. "That's the worst tag dueling I've ever seen! Why didn't Weevil defend him with his facedown monster?"
"Because they're only in it for themselves," Tristan replied.
Téa felt some of the tension loosen. Weevil and Rex weren't cooperating well and Rex was now down to nineteen hundred Life Points. Maybe the duel would be over soon.
"Rex, how are you and Weevil involved in this? You were never involved in the Shadow Games before, except for when Bakura sent you to the Shadow Realm for stealing the Millennium Items. How do you know how to call a Shadow Game?"
"We… I don't know," Rex stumbled. "We… connect to them."
"You connect to them? What does that mean?" Yugi demanded. "You have no connection with the Millennium Items."
"I don't know," Rex repeated. "They… pull on us."
Téa looked at Mai. "That sounds like what Yugi described when he touched the Millennium Ring. Is that what happened to you?"
Mai nodded. "Pulling on me. Yeah, that sounds right. It was strange."
Rex couldn't explain further, so Yugi played a facedown card and ended his turn. Rex played a monster in facedown defense mode and another facedown card and ended his turn.
On Joey's turn, he attacked Weevil directly with Jinzo, bringing him down to one thousand Life Points.
"See? I told you those two only care about themselves," Tristan said. "Now Rex has had his revenge by not protecting Weevil this time. Those two morons should never tag duel."
"Where did you get the Millennium Items?" Joey asked Weevil.
"They were in the part of the cave with the stone tablets. The Vizier sent us to find them."
"Something else is weird," Téa said, leaning toward Mai and Tristan as a thought occurred to her. "Does it seem odd to either of you that even though Joey and Yugi are acting all creepy and dark and growling at each other over the direct attack stuff, they're still asking questions like they're perfectly normal? If they don't care about anything but power and all that, why do they care enough to ask the questions?"
"Now that you mention it, that does seem kinda funky," Tristan agreed.
Mai shrugged. "I don't know. Remember whatever this is doing, it isn't controlling our minds, just our emotions, bringing out anger and vengeance. Pulling it out, just like Rex said. But wanting power, feeding that anger, it didn't really change my goals, my strategies. Just how I played, if that makes sense. Joey and Yugi still want the same answers. Answers are power, too."
"I guess that makes sense," Téa said.
It was Weevil's turn and he played Leghul, whose effect allowed it to attack an opponent's Life Points directly regardless of any monsters they had on the field. He powered it up with the equip magic card Black Pendant, which brought it to eight hundred attack points. He attacked Joey directly, bringing Joey down to three thousand. Joey immediately attacked Yugi with Jinzo, knocking Yugi backwards. Téa held her breath, but Yugi didn't respond to Joey's attack and she exhaled in relief. Weevil then played Dian Keto the Cure Master to increase his Life Points to two thousand and ended his turn.
Joey was next. He played Little-Winguard and used it to destroy Weevil's Leghul and Black Pendant. Weevil lost six hundred Life Points, but sending Black Pendant to the Graveyard also cost Joey five hundred of his own Life Points. He immediately attacked Yugi with Jinzo again.
Again Yugi took the attack with nothing more than a hard glower at Joey. Then before Joey could say anything, he asked Weevil, "You say the person who sabotaged the ship is the 'vizier.' Who is the master?"
Weevil's gave a snide grin, but his eyes behind his glasses looked lifeless. "Ah, finally, the hundred-million yen question. Who is the master? Who else? The great Pharaoh himself, of course!"
"What?" Yugi and Téa cried out in unison.
Weevil laughed, a dead, hollow sound and Téa clenched her fists. "You didn't think I meant your Pharaoh, did you?" he cackled. "I said the great Pharaoh, not the nameless one."
"HE IS NOT NAMELESS!" Téa roared, unable to contain her fury.
Yugi whirled around to face her. "You STAY OUT OF THIS!" he snarled at her, his face such a mask of rage that she took a step back in fear. She felt Tristan's hands on her shoulders from behind, steadying her. "I don't need you to run interference and I certainly don't need your divided loyalties!"
"Yugi!" she breathed and Tristan's hands gripped her shoulders harder.
"STOP IT!" Tristan shouted back, his voice almost as low and dangerous as Yugi's. "Just duel and be done with it!"
As Yugi glared at them, Téa felt a hand slip into hers. Looking down, she was surprised to see that Rebecca, who had been clinging close to Mokuba's side during most of the duel, now had wedged herself between Téa and Mai. The young girl's eyes were wide and her face was white, but she squeezed Téa's hand and pressed against her side. Whether she was seeking comfort from Téa or to give it to her, Téa couldn't tell, but she felt a wash of emotion that was both gratitude and protectiveness and she let go of Rebecca's hand so that she could put her arm around her shoulders and pull her closer. With Rebecca at her side and Tristan at her back still holding her by the shoulders, Téa felt strengthened. She returned Yugi's glare, a challenge in her eyes. You don't scare me. You're just a lie. When the shadows are gone, the real Yugi will be back.
Yugi took this all in before turning back to Weevil. "Explain yourself, Weevil!"
"The great Pharaoh," Weevil repeated as if it were self-explanatory. "Ramesses, of course!"
Kaiba chuckled mirthlessly. "Your master is a dead pharaoh? And I thought these dorks were lame."
"Oh, he's very much alive," Weevil replied, but he still had that creepy robotic tone that made Téa shiver. She felt Rebecca melt against her side. "As alive as you or Yugi. You didn't think Seto and old what's-his-name were the only pharaohs who could be reborn, did you?"
"Are you saying whoever cooked all this up is the reincarnation of this Ramesses guy?" Joey asked.
"Of course," Weevil answered. "And he's very angry with you," he continued, looking directly at Yugi. "First your ancient counterpart seals the Millennium Items so they cannot be used by future generations of pharaohs, and then when the Millennium Puzzle is finally solved, bringing back the Shadow Games once more, you again snatch the power out of his hands by surrendering the Millennium Items to the Millennium Stone and losing them under hundreds of feet of rubble.
"But Ramesses was the greatest of all pharaohs and his reborn self has every bit of his genius. He found a way to bring back the Millennium Items and the Shadow Games. He found a way to use an ancient darkness, even older than the Millennium Items. He used you, each and every one of you who has ever played a Shadow Game, and he has opened a path to the Shadow Realm itself. The more dark games you play, the wider the pathway becomes. Darkness feeds on darkness until a true Shadow Game could be called, against none other than the modern day father of the Games, Maximillion Pegasus.
"And now we fight in a Shadow Game that is still feeding the darkness, widening the pathway, making it easier to cross. When all of you have surrendered your souls to the Shadow Realm, the doorway will be open forever and Ramesses's power will be infinite."
"How do we stop it?" Duke called out.
"That's another question," Weevil scolded. "But… I'm feeling generous. I'll give you a bonus since Yugi's and Joey's souls will soon be a part of the Shadow Realm. The Vizier has opened the Shadow Realm on his master's behalf. Defeat the Vizier and the door will close again. But you won't defeat the Vizier. He carries in his deck Ramesses's personal Ka, Reshef the Dark Being."
"What's that?" Joey asked. "I've never heard of it."
"Why am I not surprised?" Kaiba scoffed. "An amateur like you would have no reason to have ever come across a card like Reshef the Dark Being. It's a very rare monster. It can only be summoned by performing the Final Ritual of the Ancients. It has twenty-five hundred attack points, but that's not its main power. Once you've successfully summoned it, its special ability allows you to take control of one of your opponent's monsters for one turn. You can do this every turn you discard one spell card from your hand."
"Reshef the Dark Being will control your monsters just as Ramesses has controlled you," Weevil sneered, but still with that blank quality to his voice. "He has been controlling you at every turn, and all it cost him was a little bit of magic."
"Enough!" Yugi shouted. "If Ramesses—if he is even really who he claims to be—thinks he is more powerful than me, he is sadly mistaken. I will crush him. That's a promise."
"Not if I get there first," Joey said, "and in this duel it's still my turn. Jinzo, attack Weevil's facedown monster!"
Weevil began laughing again, this time without the zombie-like deadness. "You fell into my trap, Wheeler! You may have destroyed my Parasite Caterpillar, but now it has infected your Jinzo, encasing it in a Cocoon of Evolution. In three turns, it will become Poison Butterfly, costing you five hundred Life Points every turn! In the meantime, Jinzo is no longer able to protect you or use his special ability, so we can once again use trap cards! Exactly what I've been waiting for. And if you have nothing left, I believe it's my turn!"
Joey glared at Weevil while Yugi growled at Joey. Weevil activated his DNA Surgery trap card, which changed all monsters on the field to insect types. He then played his Insect Barrier magic card, preventing Yugi and Joey from attacking with any insect monsters. Last, he played one facedown defense monster and ended his turn.
Yugi smiled, but Téa found it chilling rather than reassuring. "Nice try, Weevil, but your strategies are as hackneyed and predictable as your insults, and I have more than enough skill to make up for Joey's mistakes."
Now it was Joey's turn to growl at Yugi. Téa clenched her jaw. While the rest of them were all known to give Joey a hard time about his impulsiveness both on and off the field, Yugi had never been anything but encouraging to his best friend. Yugi, please just end this and come back, she prayed silently. I can't stand seeing you like this. You're the one person who always has a kind word, is always supportive of your friends. Please end this NOW.
"Dammit, they're almost as bad as Rex and Weevil. They're not playing like a team," Mai said, the frustration evident in her voice. "You can't win a tag duel like this."
Nevertheless, however harsh Yugi's words, he did indeed have the cards to back them up. He activated Dust Tornado, which eliminated DNA Surgery, returning all the monsters on the field to their original types. Since none of Joey's or Yugi's monsters other than Joey's now useless infected Jinzo were insect types, they were free to attack. Yugi then set another spell or trap card—Téa wasn't sure which—and called on Gaia the Dragon Champion to destroy Rex's facedown monster, which turned out to be Balloon Lizard.
On Rex's turn, he summoned Two-Headed King Rex and destroyed Joey's Little-Winguard, bringing Joey down to twenty-three hundred Life Points. With only the infected Jinzo on the field, Joey was unable to fulfill the condition of his loss of Life Points and Téa was dismayed to see that he seemed annoyed by the fact that he couldn't attack Yugi.
"Don't worry, Wheeler. The next time you play a monster, you can attack Yugi right away," Weevil assured him.
As it was Joey's turn next, he did just that. He played his Time Wizard, which immediately attacked Yugi directly. With only five hundred attack points, however, it didn't faze Yugi much and he sneered at Joey in return. Joey then activated Time Wizard's special effect and spun its Time Roulette wheel. If it landed on a time machine, then it would activate, advancing the game thousands of years into the future and destroying all the monsters on Rex and Weevil's side of the field. If, however, he got a skull, it would self-destruct, taking all of Joey's and Yugi's monsters with it, along with half of their collective attack points as battle damage.
"Come on time machine!" Joey chanted while Yugi remained silent.
The rest of them shouted out encouragement, hoping for time machine. The spinner slowed and finally came to rest… on a skull.
"Oh no!" Téa cried out as Time Wizard exploded. The infected Jinzo and Yugi's Gaia the Dragon Champion all disintegrated along with it. Joey's Life Points dropped by half of Time Machine's attack points—fortunately for him, the infected Jinzo had no attack points—and he went from twenty-three hundred to two thousand fifty. Yugi took a much larger hit, losing half of Gaia's twenty-six hundred attack points and dropping him to a mere seven hundred Life Points. On the bright side, as neither one of them had any monsters left on the field, they couldn't attack each other for losing Life Points.
At least not with monsters.
"Joey!" Yugi shouted in rage. "I am tired of being weighed down by your incompetence! Just stay out of my way and let me finish this!"
"Yugi, STOP IT!" Téa cried out in frustration as Tristan and Mai also shouted at him to settle down and Rebecca pressed even tighter against Téa's side.
Joey swore in response to Yugi's tirade. "At least I'm my own person. I wasn't some pathetic weakling who needed a dead spirit to come and make me a man!"
Téa sucked in her breath and covered her face with her free hand as Serenity shouted invectives at her brother, sounding more like she was his mother than his little sister. This was getting way out of hand. Yugi and Joey were best friends and they knew each other's deepest fears and insecurities and they could attack those places with far too much precision. She looked up, hoping the worst was over and Weevil would just take his turn and get on with the duel when out of the corner of her eye she saw Kaiba with something approaching amusement on his face. At this she couldn't take any more and she rounded on him.
"You think this is funny, Seto Kaiba? You think because friends are so beneath you that it's amusing to watch two best friends tear each other apart?"
Kaiba eyed her, his expression unchanged. "I think it's interesting. The truth comes out," he said, indicating the Eye of Truth above them with a tilt of his head.
"The truth?" she seethed. "You think this is the truth? There's no truth in anger and hate! It's nothing but poison! But what would you know? You drink that poison so much, you're immune to it!"
"Wait just one second!" Mokuba jumped in to defend his brother, but Kaiba cut him off.
"Fair enough. Although there's a lot to be said for developing immunities."
"I'd rather have friends. That's where you find the real truth."
Kaiba regarded her a moment longer with an unreadable expression, then turned his attention back to the game where it was Weevil's turn again.
Weevil sacrificed his facedown card, Pinch Hopper, to summon Armored Centipede. Then he used the special effect of Pinch Hopper, which allowed him to summon any insect monster from his hand when it goes to the Graveyard, to summon Millennium Scorpion, with two thousand attack points. He attacked Joey's Life Points directly with Millennium Scorpion, bringing Joey all the way down to fifty Life Points.
Yugi, Téa realized, was in even greater danger. He had only seven hundred Life Points remaining and nothing on the field to defend himself except one facedown trap or magic card. Armored Centipede's sixteen hundred attack points were more than adequate to finish him off and for the first time since the duel began, Téa was afraid Yugi and Joey might actually lose.
She should have known better. Before Weevil had even finished calling out his attack on Yugi's Life Points, Yugi activated his facedown card, which was Mirror Force. This destroyed not only Armored Centipede, but all the monsters in attack position on Weevil and Rex's side of the field.
Téa was about to cheer, but it died in her throat when Mai groaned, "See? This is bad."
"Bad?" Téa asked. "He just saved the duel!"
"Why did he wait to activate Mirror Force? He should've activated it before Millennium Scorpion attacked Joey. What possible strategic reason could there be to allow Joey to take such a huge hit?"
Téa's heart sunk. There was no strategic reason. On the contrary, it was a very bad move strategically. It was just mean. Deliberately mean and strategically unsound. Two things she thought she would never see from Yugi. "There's your 'truth,' Kaiba," she snapped. "Is this still interesting? It certainly isn't making them stronger." Then she thought, Dammit, Yugi, don't do this!
Joey was, understandably, livid. "What the hell was that about? Why didn't you activate Mirror Force before Armored Centipede attacked?"
"It doesn't matter," Yugi replied, a smug grin on his face.
"Doesn't matter? Don't forget, if I lose those last fifty Life Points, you lose, too."
Yugi gave him a look of contempt. "I already told you I have enough skill to make up for your weakness. This duel is over."
Weevil could do nothing more, so he ended his turn. Yugi drew and looked at his card. With a wide smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, he said, "Exactly what I needed. I summon Old Vindictive Magician to the field!"
He played the card he drew and the ancient, emaciated magician appeared on the field. Téa frowned. With only four hundred and fifty attack points, it was too weak to deplete either Rex or Weevil's Life Points. She also knew that its main advantage was its special ability, which destroyed one monster on the field. However, there were no monsters on the field and the card had to be played facedown and then flipped up on a later turn to activate the effect anyway.
"That's your brilliant duel-ending move?" Joey sneered. "Why don't I just hand Rex and Weevil my last fifty Life Points?"
"Oh, I'm not done yet," Yugi replied in complete confidence. "Next I will tribute Old Vindictive Magician plus Dark Magician from my hand to perform the Black Luster Ritual!" He played the Black Luster Ritual card and sent Old Vindictive Magician and Dark Magician to the Graveyard. "With this ritual, I call forth Black Luster Soldier!" Téa sighed in relief as a knight with midnight blue armor materialized on the field. With three thousand attack points, Black Luster Soldier was more than up to the task of finishing off either Rex or Weevil. "Black Luster Soldier, attack Weevil's Life Points directly!"
Black Luster Soldier attacked. The force of its three thousand attack points knocked Weevil back a good ten feet. His Life Points dropped to zero and the duel was over. Eye of Truth immediately winked out of existence above them. Weevil tried to stagger to his feet, but right away Téa knew something was wrong. His eyes rolled back into his head and he sank back down again, followed a moment later by Rex. Téa shuddered. As much as she disliked Rex and Weevil, she didn't like to see anyone banished to the Shadow Realm. But at least it was over.
Joey and Yugi, however, had other ideas.
"I still owe you two attacks from those Life Point losses, especially considering one of them was your fault!" Joey shouted at Yugi. He put a card in his duel disk and Gilford the Lightning, a warrior in dark armor and carrying a huge sword, appeared on the field. A level eight monster that usually required at least two tributes to summon within the confines of a game, Gilford had twenty-eight hundred attack points.
"Just try getting past Black Luster Soldier!" Yugi cried.
"I believe I will," Joey shot back. He slapped a second card into his duel disk and Graceful Dice also appeared. Graceful Dice rolled a two, giving Gilford an extra two hundred attack points. Now he and Black Luster Soldier were equal.
Before Téa knew what was happening, Gilford and Black Luster Soldier were attacking each other. In a normal duel, two evenly matched monsters would both be immediately destroyed, but in this post-duel Shadow contest, the two monsters continued to grapple with each other. Black Luster Soldier slashed at Gilford with his sword and Gilford blocked with his own. The two blades met in a shower of sparks that rained down on them. Gilford pushed Black Luster Soldier back and spun around, slashing at Yugi while Black Luster Soldier was regaining its footing.
Yugi was propelled back by the force of the blow and he clutched his chest in pain. Black Luster Soldier then hurled himself at Gilford, and both of them flew across the cavern. Those watching the duel scattered, ducking for cover as the two giant knights, clearly more than mere holograms, sent limestone and debris cascading down on them as they slammed against the cave wall. Téa threw herself down on top of Rebecca to protect the younger girl from the stones raining down on them.
"This is insane!" Mai shouted. "They're going to get us all killed!"
"Call off the attacks!" Kaiba roared. He was hovering over Mokuba, covering both of them with his long coat. But Yugi and Joey clearly had no intention of stopping. On the contrary, they were both hurling insults at each other as they pulled out more cards to summon more monsters.
Tristan and Duke were back on their feet in an instant. As one, they rushed toward Joey and Yugi like two linebackers in American football. Yugi was closest to them, and they both slammed into him with enough force to knock him into Joey. The four of them went tumbling into the lake in a splash of dark water. As soon as the duel disks went under, they shorted out and Gilford and Black Luster soldier winked out of existence. Without the glow from the monsters and other cards, the cave was dark once more, illuminated only by the flickering torches.