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Fanfic Chapter 144: Sins of the Father Pt 2: Double Sacrifice
Episode Basis: Burying the Past Pt 2
Previously on Yu-Gi-Oh! It was a real battle royal on board Noah's floating fortress. Yami-Marik did battle with Noah's security force and proved that magic is truly mightier than machine. Yugi and his friends were battling Gozaburo's army of virtual monsters who had them pinned down. And Kaiba battled his step-father who had the ultimate monster: a dark version of Exodia the Forbidden One that can't be destroyed by anything. Noah was also involved in a battle: a battle with himself. And whether it was his own conscience or some of Mokuba rubbing off on him, Noah changed his mind and tried to save everyone from the satellite which had been redirected by Noah to destroy the floating fortress itself. But the control panel had been damaged beyond repair. Now with only ten minutes left before the whole place goes up in a towering inferno, the only hope for everyone lies within Noah. How can he do it?
"The virtual world is about to be destroyed," Noah said. "You have to escape before it's too late!"
"Escape, but how?" Tea asked.
"The real emergency exit is at the Domino Arcade."
"Can we trust him?" Amara asked.
"Trust Noah? No way," Joey said. "I trust him about as much as I can spit on him."
"We don't have any choice," Tristan pointed out.
"But how do we know this isn't a trap?" Harold thought out loud.
"I trust him," Yugi muttered.
"Let's go, even if the exit isn't there, it should give us a place to hide out," Duke commented.
"But how do we get past them?" Serenity asked pointing to the large army of monster amassing towards their location.
Amara drew a card from her deck. "If it works for monster cards, maybe…" She held the card up. "I activate Lightning Vortex!" Multiple lightning bolts began striking down the monsters. "Let's go, knowing Gonzo-buro, he has more of those waiting in the wings." They all took off.
Kaiba and Gozaburo, who were dueling at Kaiba Corp., also heard the announcement. Addressing Gozaburo specifically, Noah said, "Your plan has failed, Father!"
I guess Noah has some brains after all, Kaiba thought.
"How could you do this, son, after everything I did for you?"
"It's called payback. You left me all alone in this virtual world, now I'm leaving you! And you're about to be destroyed by your own weapon."
"Please reconsider, Noah, once I assimilate all of mankind, I was going to have us rule the virtual world as father and son!"
"It's too late! Even if I wanted to, I couldn't divert the satellite. Seto, don't worry about Mokuba, he's fine, just beat Gozaburo!"
"I intend to." Kaiba pointed at Gozaburo. "Looks like you failed again, Old Timer, now there's only one thing left to do."
"Yes, namely escape to the real world and since I don't have a body of my own…" All of a sudden, Gozaburo transformed into a towering flaming beast and made a beeline straight for Kaiba. "I'LL TAKE YOURS, SETO!"
"Just hold it right there!" Kaiba commanded. Gozaburo halted. "Just look at you, you're not even human, you're just a corrupt computer file infecting the system. If you truly want to prove your power, get back in that corner and finish out this duel! The winner will get to escape in my body."
"Do you really think you can beat me in time?" Gozaburo asked returning to his dueling platform and to his human form.
Kaiba looked up, "Noah, how much time before the missile hits?"
"Eight minutes, forty seconds," Noah reported.
Kaiba smirked at his step-father, "Plenty of time."
"Fine, now where were we? Oh yes, it was my turn and I was about to your attack your Vorse Raider with my Exodia Necross! Flame of the Dark God!"
"Reveal trap card: Negate Attack!" A whirling vortex absorbed the dark fire. "Trap cards may not be able to destroy Exodia Necross, but they can still stop its attack!"
"All you're doing in delaying your inevitable defeat. My Exodia Necross is unstoppable!"
"You're wrong, and I've already figured out how to defeat it."
"The Domino Arcade is only two blocks away," Harold reported. Suddenly Gogiga Gagagigo (1), a reptilian monster and Blowback Dragon (2), a dragon monster with a barrel for a snout appeared in front of them.
"Gyah!" Joey cried.
Suddenly the two monsters were destroyed. Noah's Spirit Monsters as well as the monsters he used in his battle with Kaiba (Shinato included) appeared in between the teens and the monsters.
"Hurry," Noah's voice called. "Those monsters won't be able to hold them off for long!" Everyone ran the rest of the length of the trip.
"I play the magic card Shrink which reduces your monster's attack points by 1000."
(EN: 2800-1400)
"Next I sacrifice my Vorse Raider so I can summon Luster Dragon #2 (3)! Luster Dragon, attack Exodia Necross!" The green dragon fired a multi-color energy beam at Exodia Necross which went through the dark monster and hit Gozaburo.
(G: 900)
(K: 4000)
"I've discovered Exodia Necross's one weakness: although it can't be destroyed, it can still take damage! Your monster may be invincible, but you're not!"
(EN: 1400-3800)
"A good try but too little too late. Exodia Necross, destroy his dragon with Flame of the Dark God!" The dragon was destroyed.
(G: 900)
(K: 2600)
(EN: 3800-4800)
Even though he lost 1400 life points and Exodia Necross now had 4800 attack points, Kaiba didn't look worried.
Yugi and the gang arrived at the Arcade. "Go to the dance machine at the back and stand on the stage. I'll upload you into your bodies," Noah instructed.
"All right, last stop, everybody out of the train," Harold cracked. "Women and monkeys first."
"Hah-hah," Tristan said sarcastically as Serenity picked him up and carried him onto the stage. The two disappeared. Tea and Duke went next.
Tea moaned and opened her eyes. Her body felt stiff, like she has been sitting for hours. She then realized where she was: inside a pod. The hatch opened and she climbed out. "I'm back in the real world."
"Tea!"
"Duke, are we really back?"
"I think so. Noah did come through after all."
"Thank goodness," Tristan said perched on top of his pod scratching his head and making monkey noises.
He was a human.
Serenity chuckled, "Tristan, you're not a monkey any more."
"Yahoo!" Tristan cheered.
"You don't look all that different to me," Tea said sourly. Tristan let out an accidental monkey squeak and face-faulted.
In the virtual world, Gozaburo's monsters had just finished off Noah's. Yugi and Harold summoned Dark Magician and Wingweaver and sent them into battle. "Joey, Amara, get onto the stage," Yugi instructed.
"See you on the other side, buddy," Joey said as he stepped onto the stage along with Amara. The two disappeared.
"All right, Harold, now it's our turn."
"Right." Harold stepped onto the platform.
"Yugi, wait," Noah called.
Yugi and Harold shared a look before Yugi said, "Its okay." Harold nodded and disappeared.
Joey moaned and sat up.
And hit his head on the glass case.
"It's good to be back in the real world," he groaned. The hatch finally opened up and Joey climbed out.
"Joey!"
"Serenity!" It was another tearful reunion for the Wheeler siblings.
"Good, looks like everyone made it out all right," Noah said. Joey and the others went over and immediately realized that Noah was in Mokuba's body.
"Noah, if you're here, where's Mokuba?" Amara asked.
"Back in the virtual world along with Seto. That's why I asked Yugi to stay behind."
"You did WHAT?" Joey shouted.
"Yugi, listen up," Noah said. "Seto's stuck in a duel with Gozaburo. I need you to go get Seto and bring him to the exit."
"But where are they?" Yugi asked.
"They're dueling at Kaiba Corp. I'll create a virtual shortcut for you."
"Yugi, hold on," Joey called out. "Let one of us go with you."
"No, you need to prepare the blimp for escape," Yugi argued. "Don't worry, I'll be fine."
"He is the King of Games," Amara said.
Joey sighed defeated.
A door appeared in front of Yugi. He opened it up and went through it.
"I have a question," Tea said to Noah. "Why are you helping Kaiba? I thought you hated him?"
"I was wrong, Tea," Noah said shamefully. "I blamed Seto for my problems when he didn't even have any say in the matter. He was just a pawn of Gozaburo like I was. I believed that I needed a body to be complete, but now I realize that it's not a body that makes one complete, but a heart and soul. You all made me realize that. I guess what I'm trying to say is… I'm sorry, for everything. Yugi was right being alone for six years clouded my judgment."
"I'm sorry too," Joey said. "For what I said about you, you're all right, Noah." Tristan and Harold nodded in agreement.
"Four minutes to satellite attack," the computer reported.
"Hurry back to the blimp, I'll open the outer hatch for you."
Everyone started to run off but Joey stopped. He turned to Noah and said, "You're the only one who can get those three out of there."
"I know."
"I play Pot of Greed which allows me to draw two extra cards." He looked at the new cards he drew. "I set a monster face-down and another card face-down."
"How can you be so confident?" Gozaburo asked. "It's obvious you're never going to be able to summon a more powerful monster than my Exodia Necross."
"Never say never, you old fossil. You have a lot to learn about Duel Monsters. And the first rule is you never throw all your strength behind one monster. A true Duelist uses his entire deck."
The virtual doorway that Noah made for Yugi appeared in front of the virtual Kaiba Corp. and Yugi ran through it. "I hope I'm not too late," he said to himself. He summoned his Dark Magician and blitzed the monsters that were guarding the exit.
"Exodia Necross, attack his face-down monster with Flame of the Dark God!" The black fire swirled around Exodia Necross's fist and destroyed Kaiba's face-down monster which was Mystic Lamp (4).
(EN: 4800-5800)
As Yugi rode the elevator, he could hear Noah's voice call out to him to hurry. There were two minutes left.
"I'll give you one last chance to surrender," Gozaburo threatened. "There are no monsters powerful enough to beat my Exodia!"
Kaiba drew his Blue-Eyes White Dragon. "Watch and learn. First I play Monster Reborn to revive my Mystic Lamp and I'll use its special ability to summon my faithful servant, La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp (5)." A genie with yellow skin popped out of the lamp. "There's a reason that I haven't been able to defeat your Exodia Necross. I've been attacking its body when I should be attacking its soul. So I reveal my trap card: Soul Demolition. This lets both of us remove monsters in the opposing player's graveyard for 500 points a piece." He showed his graveyard which contained only Vorse Raider and Luster Dragon monsters. "But your graveyard has the five pieces of Exodia that give your Exodia Necross its power. First I'll get rid of his left leg which protects him from trap cards, then the right leg which protects from magic cards, followed by the left arm which blocks monster effects and the right arm which is the source of its powering-up ability…"
(EN: 5800-1800)
"Finally I'll get rid of the head of Exodia which blocks it from monster attacks." Has Kaiba sounded off each body part, Exodia's color changed to the original orange that trademarked the original Forbidden One. However, Kaiba lost over 2500 life points from that maneuver.
(G: 900)
(K: 100)
"Then I sacrifice my two monsters to summon my Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"
Gozaburo screamed in rage and horror.
"And that's checkmate." The Blue-Eyes opened fire and destroyed Exodia Necross."
(G: 0)
(K: 100)
Noah watched the clock. There was over a minute left before the satellite was going to attack. He looked at Yugi and Kaiba's sleeping forms. You two better get out of there fast before it's too late, he thought.
Gozaburo was stunned, "NO, how could I lose? My strategy was perfect!"
"Well that's what happens when you go up against someone who's superior to you in every way!"
"This isn't the end," Gozaburo said transforming into his flaming beast form. "I'LL ERADICATE YOU FROM EXISTENCE AND TAKE YOUR BODY MYSELF!" Kaiba gasped though he realized he shouldn't be surprised. Betrayal was Gozaburo's trademark.
"Kaiba!"
Kaiba looked down and saw Yugi standing by the elevator. Grabbing his deck, he leapt off just as his dueling platform exploded.
"Noah's managed to return everyone to the real world. We're the only ones left."
"Then let's get out of here." The Gozaburo monster lunged at them as Yugi shut the elevator doors. The two Duelists left the arena and came onto the roof of Kaiba Corp. building. Good thing too, because the Gozaburo monster burst from the arena destroying it in the process.
The countdown reached zero. The missile that was contained within the satellite was released.
"The missile has been launched," Noah announced. "You two have to escape now!"
"How, there's no time," Yugi protested.
"Jump."
"Are you out of your mind?" Kaiba asked.
"YOU'RE NOT GETTING AWAY THAT EASILY, SETO," the Gozaburo monster said.
"I say we don't have much of a choice," Yugi commented. The two took a flying leap off the building. As the two Duelists reached half-way between the top of the building and the ground, a portal opened up. "Awesome, Noah opened up an exit portal for us!"
Noah laid himself down in one of the pods. "Thank you, Mokuba," he said. His pod closed just as Kaiba's and Yugi's opened.
"Mokuba!" Kaiba pounded on the hatch. "Mokuba, wake up!"
"Mokuba, I'm sorry for everything I did," Noah said. "Thank you, I'm glad I got to meet my brother."
"Does this mean you're not coming back with us?" Mokuba asked disappointed.
"Gozaburo is still out there. If he isn't stopped once and for all, he'll continue his plan. He's not human, remember? He can never tire. He must be stopped no matter the cost." Noah leaned down and touched Mokuba's shoulder, "Mokuba, you did more for me than you could ever believe. You restored my humanity. And now, I can be at peace with myself." Noah got up and turned to leave.
"Wait… will I ever see you again?"
"Perhaps," Noah said cryptically. He gave Mokuba a wink, "The strange thing about computer files is that more than one copy can exist. One way or another, you will see me again." And he disappeared.
When Mokuba opened his eyes, he saw Kaiba and Yugi leaning over him. "Seto," he cried. "Noah's still inside."
"There's no time to go back for him," Kaiba said. "We need to get out of here ourselves."
The missile reached the ionosphere. The fortress was in its sights.
"I DON'T NEED A BODY TO SAVE MYSELF," the Gozaburo monster decided. "I CAN UPLOAD MYSELF TO ANOTHER COMPUTER SYSTEM AND START OVER AGAIN!"
"I don't think so," Noah said appearing. He dwarfed the giant. "I sealed all the exits so we're both stuck in here!"
The computer voice kept yelling, "Evacuate, evacuate, missile inbound" as Yugi, Kaiba, and Mokuba ran through the fortress.
Mokuba asked, "Why did Noah have to return to that place?"
"To stop Gozaburo, I imagine," Yugi replied.
"Is everyone all right?" Kevin asked as he came up to Joey and the others who have returned.
"More or less," Duke replied.
"Where are Yugi and Kaiba?"
"They're still back there," Harold realized.
"We need to take off," a Kaiba Corp. employee said. "If we don't, the missile will strike us!"
"We're not leaving them," Tea said firmly.
"We don't have a choice," Amara pointed out.
Gozaburo clenched Noah in his massive hand. "WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU CAN STOP ME FROM ESCAPING?"
Noah disappeared and reappeared floating besides Gozaburo. "Have you forgotten, I can control this place too!"
"YOU WOULD CHOOSE THEM OVER ME?"
"Why not, at least they treated me humanely, not like a nuisance like you did."
"I AM YOUR FATHER AND I DEMAND YOU RELEASE ME NOW!"
"No, I'm here to make sure you don't harm anyone ever again!" His body started to glow. Noah held out his hands and digital bands held Gozaburo to the floor. "We are dead, Father, whether we like it or not, we are dead. It's time for the old Kaiba family to step aside and the new Kaiba family to take charge of Kaiba Corp." He embraced the neck of the beast. "It's time to put the rage to rest."
The Gozaburo monster let out an enraged howl.
"Look, there they are!" Tea pointed to Yugi, Kaiba, and Mokuba who were running towards the blimp which was beginning to ascend.
"Hurry, jump!" Joey called.
"I don't think I can make it," Mokuba said panting.
"Yes you can," Kaiba said picking up his younger brother and throwing him to Duke and Joey who got him. Kaiba himself followed.
I have to help Yugi get on somehow, Tea thought as she looked around. She looked at Harold and had a brainstorm. "Harold, your belt!"
"Huh?" Harold looked down and realized what Tea was talking about. He took it off and handed it to Tea. She linked her other arm with Harold who linked arms with Serenity who linked arms with Tristan.
"Yugi, grab on!" Tea called. Yugi leapt up and grabbed the end of the belt. Everyone boarded. Kaiba shut the hatch just as the missile hit.
The virtual Domino flickered. Noah put all his power into holding his father down. The buildings began blowing up one by one until the explosions reached Gozaburo and Noah. They dissipated into pixels.
Noah's last thought: Farewell, my brothers.
The floating fortress was consumed in flames. Suddenly the flames took the form of Gozaburo in his monster form.
"YOU SHALL NEVER ESCAPE ME, SETO!" It boomed. "YOU CAN NOT ESCAPE YOUR GOD!" It chomped down on the blimp.
"I can't let the old man win," Kaiba said. "Mokuba, let's go."
"Okay," Mokuba said uncertainly.
Harold looked down at his Armlet. The blimp was shaking wildly. If they didn't put up some defense in time, then Gozaburo would get them.
He knew what he had to do.
Harold removed his Duel Disk and ran off, passing by Kevin, Ishizu, and Yami-Marik (who was smiling joyfully at the chaos being unleashed) as he made his way to the dueling platform.
On the top of the platform, the sky was almost literally lit up. Harold exited the elevator and leapt onto the platform. It's strange, he thought staring around him. Unknown to Harold, a familiar Egyptian eye-shaped emblem appeared on his forehead. I'm sensing a dark presence, driven by nothing but rage and greed. This… this is why I'm here, this is why fate has given me the Armlet so I could protect my friends from this dark force. And even if it costs me my life, I must protect them. "All right, you demon, your campaign of darkness ends right here and now. I will NOT let you harm the people I care about… the people I love… and even if it kills me… I WILL STOP YOU!"
"I AM IMMORTAL," the monster said confirming Harold's theory that the flames had personified. "I HAVE INFINITE POWER! WHAT DO YOU HAVE?"
He held up his arm, the one with the Armlet on it. "I have the power of light! Avatar Armlet, I call upon you! Unleash your full power!" The golden wrist band started to shine profusely. A golden ring appeared around the blimp blocking the flames. But the strength to maintain such a ring was quickly taking its toll on Harold. His vision got blurry and he dropped to one knee. Someone downstairs better do something fast, I don't know how much longer I can keep this up.
Kaiba ran into the control room. I won't be swallowed by Gozaburo's rage, he thought. He smashed a glass panel and the button inside. "Sorry, Old Man, but as usual, you lose!"
The blimp detached turning the zeppelin part into a high-tech jet which boosted away from the flames. Harold saw it out of the corner of his eye. Good job, Kaiba, he thought. I knew you had a heart. He breathed a sigh of relief and turned his shield on the bulk of the flames. The circle of symbols formed a golden disk which Harold, leaping off the blimp, used to plow through the flames to its very core. Harold saw a phantom image of Gozaburo. He put all his strength into the golden disk into the phantom image.
A huge explosion engulfed the zeppelin.
The End
Duel Monster Database
(1)
Name: Gogiga Gagagigo
Level: 8
Type: Reptile
Attribute: Water
ATK: 2950
DEF: 2800
(2)
Name: Blowback Dragon
Level: 6
Type: Machine/Effect
Attribute: Dark
ATK: 2300
DEF: 1200
(3)
Name: Luster Dragon #2
Level: 6
Type: Dragon
Attribute: Wind
ATK: 2400
DEF: 1200
(4)
Name: Mystic Lamp
Level: 1
Type: Spellcaster/Effect
Attribute: Dark
ATK: 400
DEF: 300
(5)
Name: La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp
Level: 4
Type: Fiend
Attribute: Dark
ATK: 1800
DEF: 1000