16. Solidarity
"For the creator of the game, so far I have to say, Pegasus, that I'm not impressed," Mai scoffed.
He only had one monster on the field, Illusionist Faceless Mage in defense mode, with two facedown cards. She, on the other hand, had managed to summon her favorite card, Cyber Harpie, on her very first turn. True, she'd taken a two hundred point hit to her Life Points when she'd attacked his Illusionist Faceless Mage, which had originally been facedown, but her Harpie was still alive and well and she had Harpie's Feather Duster in her hand along with Amazon Spellcaster, Disappear, Harpie Lady Sparrow Formation, and Dark Witch. She played Harpie's Feather Duster, destroying both of Pegasus's facedown cards, then played Harpie Lady Sparrow Formation facedown and ended her turn.
"I'm not the one with a babysitter at my shoulder," Pegasus shot back, but Mai didn't take the bait. Turning to Serenity, who was standing on her left, her hand on Mai's shoulder, she winked at her. It was true that she felt awkward and even a little ridiculous dueling with someone standing right beside her like that—and Joey's little sister of all people—but she felt comforted as well. For the first time since they'd dueled on this island, she knew she was completely in control of herself, completely impervious to the darkness that surrounded her. For that, it was worth a little awkwardness.
When Pegasus failed to get a rise out of her, he drew. "Ah, now the fun can begin," he grinned, then played Red Archery Girl, a mermaid who lived in a clamshell, in attack mode.
"I think the Shadow Realm has sucked up your brains, Pegasus," Mai jeered. "Red Archery Girl only has fourteen hundred attack points. My Cyber Harpie will make clam chowder out of her."
"Not so fast," Pegasus clucked. "I also play my Toon World magic card. Sure, it costs one thousand Life Points to play, but it's well worth the cost." As soon as he put Toon World onto the field Illusionist Faceless Mage and Red Archery Girl turned into Toon Faceless Mage and Toon Mermaid respectively.
Mai rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I've seen your Toon show before and it's a little stale. Your Toon monsters aren't any more powerful than they were before and still aren't enough to defeat Cyber Harpie."
"No, but Cyber Harpie can't touch them, either, nor my Life Points," Pegasus replied as Toon Faceless Mage and Toon Mermaid giggled and jumped into his Toon World Book.
"What is up with that?" Serenity asked.
"Toon World is Pegasus's baby," Mai told her. "It turns all his monsters into Toons which can't be destroyed as long as Toon World is on the field. They hide in that book when they're not attacking." She'd need to get rid of Toon World to do anything else and now she was kicking herself for not saving Harpie's Feather Duster. She should have known Pegasus would likely play his Toons; not being ready for it was an amateur mistake and she was furious with herself for making it. But what was done was done and she had to move on. Fortunately, she had another card combo that would work, but it would be tricky to play, and that was if she drew all the cards she needed.
She drew Amazon Archer. Not what she was hoping for. She played her in attack mode then ended her turn.
Pegasus drew and played the Black Pendant magic card, equipping it to Toon Mermaid to make her attack nineteen hundred. She attacked Amazon Archer and Mai lost five hundred Life Points. Growling in frustration, Mai drew Amazon Tiger, which she played in defense mode.
When it was Pegasus's turn, he drew again, then stopped. "Cecelia," he whispered, looking at the card in his hand.
"What?" Mai said. "Pegasus, what are you babbling about?"
"Cecelia," he said again, the got a strange look in his eye. Looking up from the card to Mai, he said in a sort of strangled voice, "Mai? Is Yugi… no!" he cried, then smiled as if nothing had happened.
"What the—?" Mai stammered, shooting a bewildered look at Serenity.
"It looked like for a minute he was breaking free of Evan's control," Serenity whispered.
Pegasus laughed and whatever internal struggle he was having was over. He then played Gemini Elf, which immediately turned into two more annoying giggling female Toon monsters, a blonde and a redhead, with nineteen hundred attack points. Toon Mermaid then destroyed the facedown Amazon Tiger and the twin Toon Elves attacked Mai's Cyber Harpie. She still had her Harpie Lady Sparrow Formation trap, but it required at least two Harpies to activate and so far Mai had only drawn the one. Come on Harpies, where are you? she wondered.
Toon Gemini Elf not only destroyed Cyber Harpie, taking one hundred of Mai's Life Points with it, but its effect randomly took one card from her hand and sent it to the Graveyard as well. They chose Amazon Spellcaster, which didn't seem like it would be a big help to her at the moment anyway, but her Life Points were now wide open. Toon Faceless Mage attacked, and she was down to twenty-one hundred Life Points while Pegasus still had three thousand. The twin Elves winked at her then disappeared into Pegasus's Toon World book, first the redhead and then the blonde. As they left, Mai noticed Pegasus watching the blonde with another odd look on his face. It was gone as soon as she was.
"What now?" Serenity asked her.
"We hope I draw something good or this is my last turn," she answered, grim.
"All right Short Stuff! That's the way it's done!" Joey cried, pumping his fist in the air as Rebecca's Luster Dragon made mincemeat of Rex's Two-Headed King Rex, taking three hundred Life Points along with it. Although he'd seen her duel several times in the past, he'd never actually dueled against her and certainly had never tag dueled with her. Her style was very different from his, very calculating and deliberate while he often would fly by the seat of his pants. But there was no doubt the little squirt knew what she was doing. Rex and Weevil were toast.
"It's my move," Weevil snarled. He had one monster in facedown defense position and two set trap or magic cards. Rex had one set trap or magic card, Rebecca had Luster Dragon and two set cards, and Joey had Rocket Warrior in attack mode and his Magic Arm Shield trap set facedown. He sacrificed his monster, which turned out to be Pinch Hopper, to summon Empress Mantis with twenty-two hundred attack points. He then used Pinch Hopper's effect to special summon Metal Armored Bug with a whopping twenty-eight hundred attack points.
"That can't be good," Tristan said, standing beside Joey with his hand on Joey's shoulder.
"We're cool," Joey replied, eyeing Rebecca. She gave him a short nod.
Weevil went after Rebecca first. "Metal Armored Bug, attack Luster Dragon!"
"Not so fast!" Joey shot back, activating his Magic Arm Shield trap. "I think today's menu for Metal Armored Bug is your own Empress Mantis," he grinned, as Magic Arm Shield forced Metal Armored Bug to redirect its attack from Luster Dragon to Empress Mantis. Weevil took a six-hundred point hit when Empress Mantis was destroyed. Weevil swore.
"Hey, watch your mouth, there's a lady present," Duke called out with a broad grin.
"All right Joey!" Tristan cried, removing his hand from Joey's shoulder long enough to give him a high-five. "You da man!"
"Way to go, Joey!" Rebecca called out to him. "Thanks for the save."
"Anytime, partner." Damn it felt good to duel while feeling himself again. "Now it's my turn," he said. He drew Blue Flame Swordsman. "Ha! It's my lucky day." He played Blue Flame Swordsman in attack mode. "I use Blue Flame Swordsman special ability to give fourteen hundred of his attack points to Rocket Warrior to attack Metal Armored Bug."
"You fell right into my trap, Wheeler!" Weevil squeaked. "I activate my trap card Parasite Worm, which destroys Rocket Warrior and gives you battle damage equal to Rocket Warrior's attack points. And since he was destroyed by an effect and not in battle, his invincible mode is useless."
Joey cringed as Rocket Warrior exploded and Joey lost a staggering twenty-nine hundred Life Points bringing him all the way down to eleven hundred. "You were saying something about it being a lucky day?" Weevil cackled.
"It aint over yet, Maggot-brain," Joey growled.
"I'm sorry, Joey, I had nothing to help," Rebecca put in, chagrined.
"S'okay," he nodded at her. "Next time." He set Celebrations of Creation and ended his turn.
"My move," Rex said, drawing. "HA!" he cried in triumph. "I summon Chitoptera and then use Polymerization to fuse it with Gilasaurus to form Horned Saurus. And on the turn Horned Saurus is summoned to the field, he can attack Life Points directly. Duel over, Wheeler!"
Téa paced back and forth in the cramped tunnel just beyond the ravine that separated them from the Chamber of Wedju. It felt like Yugi and Kaiba had been gone for days, but every time she looked at her watch, she was startled to see that only a minute had gone by since the previous look. Sometimes even less.
"How long has it been?" Mokuba asked. He wasn't pacing like she was, but he was leaning against the cave wall, his hands at his side, drumming out a staccato rhythm on the limestone.
Téa looked at her watch and groaned in frustration. "Three minutes."
"That's it?"
"Argh, I know!"
"How long do you think we should wait?" Mokuba asked.
Téa chewed her lip. "I don't know. I think… I think we'll just know. We'll feel it."
Mokuba raised one skeptical eyebrow. "What are you, a Jedi? You can sense Yugi in the Force or something?"
"Don't be stupid," she scowled. She stopped pacing and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. "But really, can't you feel the Orichalcos? It's everywhere."
"I don't wanna feel it," Mokuba replied, sounding nervous.
"Me neither, but I think it will change when the duel starts. They'll be feeding it then." She shuddered at the thought, then reminded herself it was only temporary. Opening her eyes, she looked at her watch again. Four minutes since Yugi and Kaiba had left. Blowing her bangs away from her eyes in frustration, she started pacing again.
"Téa," Mokuba said after she'd paced past him twice. "Do you really think it will work? Do you think we'll really be able to help Seto and Yugi?"
She stopped again and looked at him. "Yeah, Mokuba, I do think it'll work. I think the bond we have to them is stronger than anything, don't you?"
"I… I hope so," Mokuba said softly. "I know Seto can be kind of arrogant and standoffish—"
"Kind of?" Téa interjected, her eyebrows raised in amusement.
"Stop it, I'm being serious here!" Mokuba shot back, and Téa's expression softened in surprise. Though often defensive of his brother, he usually didn't object to good-natured teasing and would often join in himself.
"He's the way he is because of me, you know," Mokuba went on, "because when we were in the orphanage as kids he had to be hard and calculating to get us through, to protect me. It was even worse after we were adopted. Everything he's done has been to shield me from all the hardship he had to face. Everyone thinks he's so selfish, and I suppose that's pretty much true, except the real truth is that he gave up everything to make things good for me.
"You met our stepfather," he reminded her, then added, "Well sorta. Seto's warm and fuzzy in comparison to him. Seto kept Gozaburo focused on him and off of me so that I wouldn't have to develop that armor and be all cold and calculating just to get by, so that I could enjoy life and make friends and do all the things kids are supposed to do. Most kids think it's a bad thing when your father doesn't know you're alive, but in my case it was the best of all possible worlds. His money took care of Seto and Seto took care of me. Seto gave up his whole childhood so I could have one. To me, he's not selfish. To me he's the most selfless person I know and I just…." Téa waited patiently while he fumbled for words. "I never thought there would ever be a time when I could help him."
He looked down at the ground, his hands drumming on the walls again. "I really want this to work, Téa. I want to be able to save him the way he's saved me."
He looked up at her and she nodded in understanding. "It'll work, Mokuba. Besides, I think you've already saved him. You give him something to care about. You keep him from becoming Gozaburo."
He smiled at that, but it melted quickly into a look of apprehension. "But in his case, there's an awful lot of stuff for the Orichalcos to feed on." He pushed himself off the wall and went over to the edge of the tunnel to peer cautiously into the cavern. "How long has it been now?"
She looked at her watch again and groaned once more. "Five minutes."
"We should go," he said. "If we wait too long—"
"Not yet," she said, wanting to go every bit as much as he did but feeling down to her marrow that it wasn't time yet, that if they went too soon Evan would find a way to get around them. She'd know when it was the right time.
"Okay, Yoda, then when?"
"Soon."
The Chamber of Wedju was already starting to spin alarmingly around Yugi's head by the time Kaiba started off the duel. It's only temporary, he told himself. It'll be over soon.
The only sign that Kaiba was having similar difficulty with the dark atmosphere was that he was moving more slowly than usual. He drew his first card, then played Dark Blade in attack mode and set two facedown cards.
Is that all? Yugi thought, frustrated. Usually Kaiba's opening moves were quite dramatic. You're going to blow this for us, you—
He shook his head, derailing his own train of thought. It's the Orichalcos, not me. He drew and looked at his hand. Black Luster Soldier, Royal Straight, Counter Shield, Queen's Knight, Zero Gravity, and Witch of the Black Forest. Black Luster Soldier could come in handy later, particularly if Kaiba got Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon on the field, but he'd need Black Luster Ritual in his hand first. Queen's Knight and Royal Straight would be useful, and Witch of the Black Forest could get him King's Knight. He played Witch of the Black Forest in facedown defense mode along with Royal Straight and Zero Gravity facedown and ended his turn.
"Is that what you call an opening move?" Kaiba jeered.
"You should talk!" Yugi shot back, then tried to shake it off again. It's the Orichalcos, it's just the Orichalcos talking.
Evan laughed. "So these are the vaunted World Champions, the two to beat in any given tournament. I expected so much more."
"I haven't got all day, Evan. It's your move," Kaiba said coldly.
"At this rate it will only take a few minutes," Evan taunted as he drew. "Now let me show you how a Shadow Game is played. First I play the field spell card Necrovalley, which turns our entire playing field into a Graveyard. Spell, trap, or effect cards involving the Graveyard are negated and cards in the Graveyard cannot be removed from play."
Yugi grimaced. He'd been counting on Witch of the Black Forest's effect to get King's Knight out of his deck, but as it activated in the Graveyard, Necrovalley negated that effect. He'd have to draw King's Knight before he could special summon Jack's Knight and play Royal Straight.
"Oh, and did I also mention it boosts the attack and defense of all Gravekeeper's monsters?" Evan continued. "And, as luck would have it, I just so happen to have a few Gravekeeper's monsters. I summon Gravekeeper's Cannonholder in attack mode, which now has nineteen hundred attack points thanks to Necrovalley. I also play Brain Control. At the cost of eight hundred Life Points, I can take control of one of your face-up monsters for one turn. Since the only face-up monster is Dark Blade, I believe that's who I will control."
Brain Control appeared on the field, an ugly mass of gray matter with two hands coming out of it. The hands reached for Dark Blade and pulled him onto Evan's side of the field.
"Now, first I think I'll have Dark Blade attack Yugi's facedown monster, just to keep things between friends. Then Gravekeeper's Cannonholder can attack, oh, I think Kaiba's Life Points directly!"
"I activate the trap Zero Gravity," Yugi called out. This immediately changed Dark Blade and Gravekeeper's Cannonholder into defense mode, leaving them unable to attack.
"Well, well, the Nameless Pharaoh protects his successor. How touching," Evan said. "It won't last, you know. I know you can feel it, the power of the Shadows calling you."
"You mean the Orichalcos?" Yugi asked and was gratified to see Evan blanche. He didn't think we'd figure it out.
Evan recovered quickly, however. "Ah, so you discovered the source of our dark power. You don't think that will help you, do you? The Orichalcos is calling the darkness in your heart, feeding on your anger and your lust for power. You can't resist it."
"Where have I heard that before? Oh yes, it was Dartz. Ever hear of Dartz, Evan? He was the person who discovered the Orichalcos. He thought it was all powerful, but hmmm…" Yugi looked around, as if baffled. "I don't see him anywhere. I'm here and he's not. What does that tell you about the power of your precious Orichalcos stones?"
"I am well aware of Dartz and he was a fool. He had no idea what kind of power the Orichalcos contained or how to wield it. That Leviathan of his was nothing but a goldfish compared to the power of the Shadow Realm, but Dartz was too stupid to see it."
"Why is it every time I tag duel with Yugi, our opponent feels the need to make it story time?" Kaiba griped. "Are we going to chat or are we going to duel?"
"Fine," Evan spat. He played one more card face down and it was Kaiba's turn once more.
Brain Control disappeared from the field and Dark Blade returned to Kaiba's side. He drew, then switched Dark Blade to attack mode and played Pitch-Dark Dragon, equipping it to Dark Blade to increase Dark Blade's attack strength by four hundred. He attacked Evan's Gravekeeper's Cannonholder, which was in defense mode, but Pitch-Dark Dragon's effect meant that Evan would receive battle damage anyway. Evan, however, activated his remaining facedown card, Draining Shield. This stopped Dark Blade's attack and gave Evan twenty-three hundred additional Life Points, equal to the amount of Dark Blade's attack strength.
Next was Yugi's turn. He drew Berfomet. He could sacrifice Witch of the Black Forest to summon Berfomet, which would allow him to get Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts from his deck to his hand, but without Polymerization to fuse them both into Chimera the Flying Mythical Beast, it wouldn't be much help. He still had Queen's Knight in his hand, but that wouldn't do much good against Gravekeeper's Cannonholder, either. He did have Counter Shield, however, and whatever facedown cards Kaiba had, assuming that arrogant windbag would lift a finger to help him.
No… we're on the same side.
HE'S A SELFISH, EGOCENTRIC IDIOT! I DON'T NEED HIS HELP!
Yugi tried once more to clear his head, but it was swimming. He had to focus on the duel. He played Queen's Knight in attack mode, then played Counter Shield facedown and ended his turn.
"Again, you disappoint me. I expected more from the infamous Pharaoh who ended the Shadow Games not once but twice."
"I'm not the Pharaoh," Yugi bit out. No matter how much Téa wishes I were.
"Whatever." Evan drew and then switched Gravekeeper's Cannonholder back to attack mode. "I play Gravekeeper's Curse, which automatically inflicts five hundred points of damage to my opponent's Life Points when it's summoned. Hmmmm, who to pick, who to pick? Yugi, I think."
Yugi instinctively raised his arm to cover his face as he was blasted with the direct hit to his Life Points.
"Then I sacrifice Gravekeeper's Curse to activate Gravekeeper's Cannonholder's special effect, which inflicts another seven hundred points of damage. Seeing as it was so much fun the last time, I think I'll choose Yugi again."
Yugi braced himself, grimacing, as another blast hit him and he lost another seven hundred Life Points, bringing him down to twenty-eight hundred.
"Now I'll send Gravekeeper's Cannonholder to attack Queen's Knight."
"And I'll activate Counter Shield, which allows me to sacrifice one monster on my side of the field and add its defense points to another monster's attack points. I sacrifice Witch of the Black Forest to add her twelve-hundred defense points to Queen's Knight's attack points, making her total attack strength twenty-seven hundred."
Gravekeeper's Cannonholder was destroyed by Queen's Knight and Evan lost eight hundred Life points, bringing him down to forty-seven hundred.
"No problem. I have Life Points to spare."
"But now you don't have anything on the field and it's my turn," Kaiba retorted.
"Not quite. I play the magic card Snatch Steal to take control of Kaiba's Dark Blade." Once again, Dark Blade drifted over to Evan's side of the field.
Then Evan ended his turn and Kaiba drew and his Life Points went up by one thousand. Looking at his new card with a broad grin, he said, "Evan, who knew you could be so generous? You do realize that as long as you have Snatch Steal activated, I get one thousand Life Points every turn?"
"I'm just giving that way," Evan rejoined.
"Oh, and speaking of giving, I believe that Pitch-Dark Dragon equipped to Dark Blade belongs to me. I'll be taking it back now and putting it in Defense mode." Pitch-Dark Dragon appeared in front of Kaiba crouching low in defense position. "Then I…" Kaiba continued, but stopped. He put his hand to his forehead as if suffering from a splitting headache. After a moment, he looked up again and said with much less brashness, "I play one card facedown and end my turn."
"What's the matter, Kaiba?" Evan taunted. "Not feeling well? Orichalcos got you down?"
"I'm fine," Kaiba snapped, but he didn't look fine. He looked like he was having trouble staying on his feet.
"You do realize that since this is Asian rules, if Kaiba can't continue the duel, the team forfeits," Evan grinned.
"I've never felt better!" Kaiba insisted.
"Anyway, it's my move," Yugi cut in, drawing. Polymerization. Perfect. "I sacrifice Queen's Knight to summon Berfomet, whose special effect allows me to call Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts from my deck to my hand. Then I'll use Polymerization to fuse Berfomet and Gazelle into Chimera the Flying Mythical Beast. With twenty-one hundred attack points, that's enough to destroy your Dark Blade. Attack, Chimera!"
Chimera attacked Dark Blade, which exploded and dealt two hundred points of damage to Evan's Life Points.
Evan drew and played Card of Sanctity, which forced all players to draw until they each had six cards in their respective hands. Evan and Yugi each drew five cards and Kaiba drew three. Yugi now had Black Luster Soldier, Dark Magician, Dark Renewal, Kuriboh, Dark Magician Girl, and Rope of Life in his hand.
"Now I play Senju of the Thousand Hands in attack mode. Senju's special effect allows me to bring one Ritual Monster Card from my deck to my hand."
Reshef! Yugi thought, clenching his fist. "You still have to draw the Ritual Spell card before you can summon it," he reminded Evan.
"Yes, yes, I know how the game is played," Evan brushed him off. "Next I'll play Change of Heart to take control of Yugi's Chimera."
Chimera disappeared from in front of Yugi and reappeared across from him.
"That leaves only little Pitch-Dark Dragon, all alone." Evan looked at Yugi. "Ultimately, that's what we all are. All alone. No matter what you do, Yugi. No matter who you think you can depend on, in the end, you are all alone. Give in to the Orichalcos. Stop fighting it and you'll play better. You'll be stronger."
"I don't need your advice!" Yugi shouted, his anger surging. He did feel more powerful.
No! I can't… I have to fight it. Just a little longer….
"Why fight it, Yugi? Because you don't like who you become? You don't like how you treat your so-called friends? Look around you, Yugi. Where are your friends? There's no one to hurt. Drink in the power, let it feed on you, make you stronger. It's the only thing you can do when you're all alone."
"He's not alone," Kaiba grunted and Yugi could tell it cost him some effort to say it, although whether it was because of pride, the Orichalcos, or a mixture of the two, he couldn't be sure.
Evan laughed. "You're of no help to him, even with your five thousand Life Points. And just to make sure you can't offer any unscheduled help, I'll play my Heavy Storm card. It destroys all trap and magic cards on the field."
"No!" Kaiba cried, and Yugi saw that one of Kaiba's set trap cards was his Crush card. Had Evan attacked Pitch-Dark Dragon without destroying that card, it would have activated, unleashing a virus on Evan's deck that would have destroyed every monster with more than fifteen hundred attack points. With Crush gone, Pitch-Dark Dragon was of little value.
"Your Necrovalley is also destroyed," Yugi reminded Evan, and his own Royal Straight card as well.
"I don't need it anymore," Evan replied. He had Senju attack Pitch-Dark Dragon, destroying it, then sent Chimera after Yugi's Life Points, dropping him all the way down to seven hundred. "See what I mean, Yugi? In the end, you're all alone. No traps or spells to help you. Just you and your Life Points."
"He's not alone," Kaiba repeated. But whatever Kaiba said, Yugi did feel alone. The only thing he could feel was the darkness swirling around him, making him queasy. He could give into it, just let it flow through him and he wouldn't feel sick anymore, he'd feel strong.
Again, Evan laughed. "Kaiba, you can barely stand! You can't resist the darkness any better than he can!"
But Yugi saw that Kaiba had a strange look in his eye. "I didn't mean me."
"He meant us," came a voice from behind him, beside the stone tablet depicting Dark Magician.
Téa and Mokuba had arrived.