9. The Black Final
Yugi never got nervous before a duel. In the years that Téa had known him, she'd seen him nervous over a great many things: attention, public speaking, making new friends. In junior high he had barely been able to speak to any girl other than her. He'd definitely been nervous that night they'd first kissed. But never before a duel, no matter how high the stakes, no matter how strong the opponent, no matter whether it was a private duel with no one watching or a tournament played before large crowds, had she ever seen any signs of apprehension.
Dueling was like breathing to him and even knowing what most likely was coming, he was completely calm.
Good thing, too, because Téa was nervous enough for both of them.
"Please be careful," she told him for probably the hundredth time that day.
"I will."
"And fast. Just win it quick and end the duel."
"That's the plan."
"And—"
"Téa, stop!" He gave her an encouraging smile and put his hand on her arm. "I'm not thrilled with what these duels are doing to everyone, either, but it will be okay."
"I know. I can't help worrying, though."
While they were waiting for the duel to begin, Duke returned with some interesting news. Rex and Weevil had returned about halfway through Joey's duel, but instead of going to the beach to watch, they'd hung around the campfire.
"They just sat there," Duke told the rest of them. "It was kinda weird."
"What do you think they're up to?" Tristan asked.
He shrugged. "I don't know, but they didn't do anything except eat a little. Then a few minutes ago they came down here."
"I hate to ask, but will you keep an eye on them?" Yugi requested.
Duke nodded. "I plan on it. I don't know what they're up to, but I don't trust them."
Duke left and Kaiba, who was always interested in watching Yugi's duels closely, came over to join them. "You're not going to let this Shadow Realm nonsense throw off your game, are you, Yugi? I expect you to win this so I can face you in the finals."
Téa clenched her fists at Kaiba's skewed priorities and Yugi barked, "Don't worry, Kaiba. It'll take more than the Shadow Realm to throw me off my game."
Before long, it was time for his duel and Yugi took his place on the field opposite Alrik Cronhielm. Last duel of the day, then it's over, she told herself, shutting her mind off from the voice that tried to remind her that there would be the quarterfinals tomorrow, then the semi-finals after that, and the final after that….
As good as his word, Yugi started out the duel strong and aggressive, clearly anxious to win as quickly as possible. Alrik was good; very good, actually. He had a strong deck made up of dragon monsters and played aggressively. His very first move was to play Card Destruction, which forced both players to discard their entire hand and draw the same number of cards to form a new hand, thus forcing Yugi to immediately change strategies right off the top. But Alrik was playing Yugi Mutou, and no one could compete against Yugi Mutou, at least not in a tournament or a game where the outcome really mattered. She could count on the fingers of one hand the people who had actually ever beaten Yugi in an important duel.
Pegasus, but it was a timed duel and time had just merely run out, otherwise Yugi would've won, and besides, Pegasus had been cheating.
Kaiba, but he'd pulled a dirty trick by putting his own life in danger so Yugi had no choice but to refuse to attack.
Rebecca, but Yugi had surrendered when he should have won.
Joey, but that had been another life-or-death duel that Yugi lost on purpose to save Joey and then Joey had made sure it ended in a tie to save Yugi in return.
Rafael.
Rafael. That was the one exception, the one duel he'd just lost. No dirty tricks, no cheating, no surrendering. It was also the one that cost him the most; the duel where the Pharaoh had played the Seal of Orichalcos and in losing, lost Yugi's soul. She hadn't been there to see that duel herself, thankfully, but Joey, Tristan, and Duke had seen the end of it, and Joey's description of the way the Pharaoh had played had always chilled her heart. The Orichalcos had done something to him, made him cold and power-crazy.
And he'd lost.
Watching him now, as something similar crept over him and he became cold and merciless, she worried not only about the strange shadow power affecting his mind, but also about whether it might actually cause him to lose the duel. It shouldn't matter, she knew. If it was a Shadow Game, it clearly wasn't the kind where the loser's soul was sent to the Shadow Realm; Mokuba, Raul Pérez, Renée Carole, Kenan Bagatui, and Mako were all fine after their losses. But still, the way Pegasus had made this tournament into some kind of test, it seemed crucial that Yugi win at least his division championship. Of course, she wasn't sure they could trust Pegasus, but her gut was telling her that this duel did matter, and that Yugi had to win it or they would all be in serious trouble.
It was a close duel. At one point, Alrik had thirty-four hundred Life Points and Armed Dragon Level 3, Petit Dragon, and one facedown card on the field against Yugi's thirty-one hundred Life Points, Winged Dragon Guardian of the Fortress, and three facedown cards. Yugi attacked Armed Dragon Level 3, but Alrik activated the trap Interdimensional Matter Transporter, which removed Armed Dragon from the field until the end of the turn. Yugi redirected Winged Dragon's attack to Petit Dragon and Alrik lost eight hundred Life Points bringing him to twenty-six hundred.
"Why'd he do that?" Téa asked Joey. "He would've lost fewer Life Points if Armed Dragon had been destroyed."
"I'm guessing he's got Armed Dragon Level 5 and Level 7 and he's trying to summon them," Joey said. "If he gets Armed Dragon Level 7 on the field and sacrifices a high-attack monster, he can destroy all of the face up monsters Yugi has on the field that are less than the attack of the sacrificed monster, which could leave his Life Points wide open."
This did indeed seem to be Alrik's plan. On his turn, he sacrificed Armed Dragon Level 3 to summon Armed Dragon Level 5 directly from his deck. He attacked Winged Dragon Guardian of the Fortress, but Yugi countered with Spellbinding Circle, which kept Armed Dragon Level 5 from attacking.
"Awright, Yuge!" Joey shouted out, then explained to Téa, "That will keep Alrik from being able to summon Armed Dragon Level 7 because Armed Dragon Level 5 has to destroy a monster in battle first."
Apparently Joey spoke too soon, however. Alrik played the magic card Level Up, which allowed him to sacrifice Armed Dragon Level 5, thus destroying Spellbinding Circle along with it, and summon Armed Dragon Level 7 from his deck anyway. However, this ended his turn so he would have to wait until his next turn to use its effect.
Yugi played another facedown card, and then activated Ultimate Offering. At the cost of five hundred Life Points, either player could summon an additional monster. He and Alrik were now tied at twenty-six hundred Life Points each. He set one monster in facedown defense position, then sacrificed Winged Dragon Guardian of the Fortress to bring Summoned Skull onto the field. Téa wasn't sure what he was up to, as Summoned Skull had three hundred fewer attack points than Armed Dragon. Finally, he activated Pikeru's Second Sight, which required Alrik to show Yugi every card he drew for the next two turns. Sneering at Alrik in a way that made Téa distinctly uncomfortable, Yugi ended his turn.
Just end it quickly, Yugi, and be yourself again.
Alrik drew and showed it to Yugi. It was Fake Trap, which he immediately played face down along with a second facedown card from his hand. He then summoned Blackland Fire Dragon with fifteen hundred attack points and paid five hundred Life Points to use Yugi's Ultimate Offering card, which allowed him a second summon or set. He used it to set a monster in face down defense mode, switched Armed Dragon into attack mode, and then sacrificed Seiyaryu, with twenty-five hundred attack points, from his hand to activate Armed Dragon Level 7's special effect, destroying Summoned Skull. Yugi snarled in anger, but Alrik merely grinned and attacked Yugi's facedown monster with Blackland Fire Dragon.
"Exactly what I was hoping you would do," Yugi crowed, as the monster was revealed to be Old Vindictive Magician. When flipped from face down to face up, its special effect destroyed one monster on the field. Yugi called for Armed Dragon to be destroyed, but Alrik grinned again and activated his trap, a card Téa had never seen before called Ring of Nine Lives. Nine glowing golden rings appeared around Armed Dragon's neck.
Obviously even Yugi had never seen it before, either, because he immediately demanded, "What is that?"
Alrik explained, "Ring of Nine Lives is a continuous trap card that can only be equipped to monsters with specific summoning requirements, such as those that require Ritual Summons or the sacrifice of a specific card to the Graveyard. Armed Dragon Level 7 can only be summoned by sacrificing Armed Dragon Level 5 after it's destroyed a monster in battle, or, as I did, by playing Level Up. When Ring of Nine Lives is equipped to such a monster, it protects it for nine turns. One ring disappears at each of my End Phases. I am equipping it to Armed Dragon Level 7, so it cannot be destroyed in battle or by the effect of any monster, magic, or trap card. Battle damages are applied normally. Of course, as this was not a battle, there are no battle damages."
Blackland Fire Dragon was destroyed by Old Vindictive Magician's special ability in Armed Dragon's place, and Alrik then attacked Yugi's Life Points directly with Armed Dragon, but Yugi activated his Dragon Capture Jar trap, which switched all face-up dragon monsters into defense mode and forced them to remain that way.
"That's the problem with relying too much on one type of monster," Joey told Téa. "If he's only got dragon monsters, he ain't gonna be able to attack Yugi at all unless he can get rid of that Dragon Capture Jar."
"But he can still use Armed Dragon Level 7's special effect," Kaiba criticized, "and with that Ring of Nine Lives, Dragon Capture Jar becomes a problem for Yugi, too. If Armed Dragon is in defense mode and can't be destroyed, Yugi has no way of getting at Alrik's Life Points. He's going to have to play smarter than that if he expects to beat me in the finals."
Téa rolled her eyes and observed to Joey, "So a stalemate until one of those trap cards gets destroyed or nine turns is up."
"Pretty much," Joey agreed.
Great, Téa thought. The last thing she wanted was to prolong the duel by nine turns. Come on, Yugi, get rid of that Ring of Nine Lives.
Alrik then played one more facedown card and ended his turn. One ring disappeared from Armed Dragon's neck, leaving eight.
Yugi drew a card and smiled malevolently. He played Black Luster Ritual, sacrificing Dark Magician and Kuriboh from his hand to do so. "These are useless to me anyhow," he scoffed, and Téa exchanged a worried look with Joey.
Two of his favorite monsters, she thought, and Joey muttered "Come on, Yuge, don't play that way. You can beat it."
With his Black Luster Ritual sacrifices completed, he summoned Black Luster Soldier to the field with three thousand attack points. Black Luster Soldier then attacked Alrik's facedown monster and destroyed it. It was Masked Dragon, which when sent to the Graveyard as a result of battle allowed Alrik to special summon any dragon-type monster with fifteen hundred attack points or less. He summoned X-Ray Dragon, which was immediately forced into defense mode because of Dragon Capture Jar. It had three hundred attack points, an astonishing three thousand defense points, and a special effect that forced all cards to be played face up as long as it remained face up on the field.
It was back to Alrik's turn. He drew a card and showed it to Yugi as required by Yugi's Pikeru's Second Sight. The card was Mystical Space Typhoon.
"There goes Dragon Capture Jar," Joey groaned.
Alrik then activated one of his two remaining facedown cards, which was a trap called Fruits of Kozaky's Studies. This allowed him to draw three cards from the top of his deck, look at them, and replace them back on top in any order. Thanks to Pikeru's Second Sight, he was required to show Yugi these cards as well. They were Mirage Dragon, Monster Reborn, and Chaos Emperor Dragon. With a victorious grin, he replaced the cards back in his deck with Chaos Emperor Dragon on top. He then played Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Dragon Capture Jar, but he left both his monsters in defense mode and ended his turn. Another golden ring disappeared from Armed Dragon's neck, leaving seven.
"What was that dragon he put on top?" Tristan asked.
"Chaos Emperor Dragon," Kaiba replied. "Not good for Yugi. It has three thousand attack points. When he draws it on his next turn, he can sacrifice it and destroy all of Yugi's monsters with three thousand attack points or less, which includes Black Luster Soldier. Yugi will have nothing on the field to protect his life Points from Armed Dragon. If he loses to that amateur…."
"He won't lose," Joey shot back through gritted teeth.
"He's short on options, though. That X-Ray Dragon keeps Yugi from playing any facedown monsters to defend himself, too. Unless he can stop Cronhielm this turn, the duel's over."
"So he needs Remove Trap or Dust Tornado or Mystical Space Typhoon or something that would get rid of Ring of Nine Lives so that Black Luster Soldier could destroy Armed Dragon Level 7," Téa mused.
"That won't work," Kaiba told her. "We already know that that last facedown card he played is Fake Trap. If Yugi tries to get rid of Ring of Nine Lives, Cronhielm just needs to activate Fake Trap and it will be destroyed instead."
"He'll think of something. He always does," Joey insisted.
"What about Swords of Revealing Light or Spellbinding Circle?" Tristan asked. "Something to keep Alrik from attacking?"
"They're both in the Graveyard. Swords of Revealing Light was in his hand when Alrik played Card Destruction and Spellbinding Circle was destroyed a couple turns ago," Mai reminded them.
Were Yugi acting like himself, this was the kind of situations where he would probably rely on what he called "the Heart of the Cards." Yugi felt a great connection to his deck and had faith that he could draw the card he needed if he just believed. Téa used to think it was a funny superstition, like baseball players who wouldn't wash their socks because they thought that would make them hit home runs. Over the years, however, she'd seen Yugi pull the exact card he needed time and time again and she, too, had begun to believe that Yugi did share a connection with the real Shadow Realm monsters that his cards represented and that if it didn't actually allow him to draw the correct card, at the least it gave him insight into strategies that would work with whatever card he did draw. Once she had asked him to explain "Heart of the Cards" to her, and he'd talked about his connection to his deck as an almost visible thing, lines tracing between them like an intricate spider's web, revealing patterns and links between them that clarified strategies in his mind several turns before he actually needed them.
Right now, however, Yugi was not acting like himself. He clearly didn't care in the least for his cards and she doubted very much that the Heart of the Cards would guide him. Without it, could Yugi draw the card he needed?
Téa held her breath as he drew. He immediately played the card he'd drawn, which turned out to be Pot of Greed. Téa continued to hold her breath as he drew two more cards, then let it out again when he looked at his cards and then grinned at Alrik. He did it, she thought, he drew something he can use.
First he played Sangan in attack mode. Téa wasn't sure why; Sangan had only one thousand attack points and would be destroyed along with Black Luster Soldier if Alrik was able to use Armed Dragon Level 7's special effect and sacrifice Chaos Emperor Dragon. The next card he played was Secret Pass to the Treasures. "This allows me to attack your Life Points directly with a monster that has one thousand or less attack points."
"That will not save you," Alrik replied haughtily. "I have twenty-one hundred Life Points. You'll lose on my next turn."
"You won't get a next turn," Yugi said contemptuously.
When he played his next card, his strategy became clear to Téa and she gasped as she instantly remembered the last time she'd seen him—or more correctly, the Pharaoh—play it. It was the magic card Berserker's Soul and he'd used it to defeat Weevil Underwood in their Orichalcos duel on top of the runaway train.
"With Berserker Soul, I discard my entire hand," he informed Alrik as he did just that. "Then I draw until I get a spell or trap card. Each time I get a monster, I can attack with one of my monsters that has fewer than fifteen hundred attack points. As Sangan has one thousand attack points and can attack your Life Points directly…"
"You still need to draw three monsters in a row or you lose," Alrik retorted.
"Watch me," Yugi replied coldly, and Téa shuddered, remembering what happened the last time Atem had played this card, how angry he'd been at Weevil and how he'd kept attacking even after Weevil had lost and the Orichalcos had taken his soul. Yugi and Atem are the same now, and he's acting just like he did then. The Shadow Realm is affecting him just like the Orichalcos did then. Tensing herself, she readied herself to do what she did the last time: stop him from attacking after the duel was over.
If he made it that far, that is. If he drew a spell or trap in the next three draws…
He drew one card and showed it to Alrik. "Celtic Guardian." He ordered Sangan to attack his Life Points directly and Alrik got knocked backwards as he lost one thousand points, bringing him to eleven hundred.
He drew again. "Beta the Magnet Warrior." Sangan attacked again and Alrik was down to one hundred Life Points and was panting from the effect of the attack.
Yugi drew a third time. His lips curled into a malicious smile that made Téa's blood run cold. He turned the card and showed it to Alrik. "Dark Magician Girl."
Sangan attacked, knocking Alrik onto the ground and bringing his Life Points to zero. Before his Life Point counter had clicked all the way down to zero, Téa was on the field. She grabbed Yugi's right arm just as he drew a fourth card.
"It's over, Yugi, you won. You don't need to attack again!"
He made a move as if to shake her off, but then looked at her and she could see the change in his eyes. The anger drained away and he looked abashed. He dropped the card he was holding and as it fluttered to the ground, Téa saw it was a magic card, Magical Hats.
"I would've attacked anyway," he said, sounding dismayed. "I wanted to hurt him. For no reason."
"It doesn't matter, you made it through," she told him. "It's over."
"Yugi Mutou is the winner of the Black Division and will move on to the tournament quarter finals!" the referee announced.
"You made it through," she repeated, pulling him into a hug, "it's over."