LazerWulf: Greetings all! Sorry this is so late in coming, but I just don't have the same amount of time that I used to. Between classes and homework, it took me a while to finally flesh out the duel for this chapter.

Seto: It better be good.

LazerWulf: Don't worry it will be.

Joey: Enough yappin'. Start da show!

Disclaimer: I don't own Kisara, but I own Lyn. I don't own Mokuba, but I own Abukom. I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, but I own this AU. I also own Max and Sam.

'Yami to Hikari'

'Hikari to Yami'

The Return of the Priest

Chapter 16: Spirits Are Always With You!


Lyn's POV

First, there were three Setos. Then, one of the Setos turned into a guy with a white mask and red hair. Finally, this white-masked guy claimed to be the father of one of the other Setos.

To say I was confused would be the understatement of the millennium.

"I still don't know exactly who you are," The Seto in the Egyptian garb (Seth, I believe is what the other guy called him), said, "but you are not my father."

"Oh, but in a way," the masked man replied, "I am. I was created when your father made a wish on the Millennium Eye, a wish born out of hatred for Akunumkanon and his son, a wish to make YOU the pharaoh."

"But that wish came true, didn't it?" Seto, the REAL Seto, interjected. "What do you want now? Why are you doing this?"

"It is true that Seth became pharaoh, but at the cost of part of the dark lord, Zork, being sealed away inside the Millennium Puzzle."

"Part of...?"

"Yes, it was a large part of him, but it was not all, for you see, I am a part of Zork. When Akunadin made his wish, the dark lord transferred a piece of himself into the Millennium Eye, and that piece merged with Akunadin to become me. So you see, I am as much Akunadin as I am Zork."

"So if you were the master of the Eye, how did you end up in the Rod?" Seto asked.

"I can answer that. Do you remember that scene I showed you, the one where he killed Kisara? After that, Akunadin took over my body and attacked the Pharaoh. With Kisara's help, I was able to overcome him, but apparently I was not able to eliminate his presence from the Rod."

"Yes, and because I had split myself into two different Items, you were able to keep me at bay. It wasn't until Marik came along that I was able to free myself. His hatred of the Pharaoh was similar enough to Akunadin's that I was able to feed off it and grow stronger. It was only that fool, Odion, who kept my powers suppressed, though I was able to indirectly influence Marik into trying to acquire the God Cards."

"But why?"

"Don't you see? My goal is, and always has been, the revival of Zork Necrophidius! Now that I have the Eye again, I am one step closer to being complete! Now all I need are the other Millennium Items."

"You want the Rod?" Seto sneered. "You can have it!"

"Seto!" Seth yelled.

"Ever since I got that stupid thing, all I've been hearing is 'Egypt' this, and 'Pharaoh' that, and frankly, I'm sick of it. Just take the Rod and leave me alone."

"A kind, offer, boy, but one that is unnecessary. You see, I already have the Rod because I already have you. What you see here is only a spirit form, visible only through the powers of the Shadow Realm. I'm still very much in your body, and if you want it back, you'll have to duel me for it!"

"Fine, then. If it's a duel you want, then bring it on!"

Seto punched in a sequence on a keypad and a large section of the wall moved away to reveal several Duel Disks on display. Seto took one for himself and tossed the other to Akunadin.

"Wait!" I yelled, unable to keep quiet any longer. "What about Tristan and Duke?"

"Ah, yes," Akunadin smiled, "those two. I suppose I could add their souls to the pot, but in return, you have to join us in this duel. We'll make it two versus one. How does that sound?"

"Me, duel? But I hardly know anything about the game."

"Leave her out of this, Akunadin, your duel is with me."

"But if I only duel you, then I don't think the stakes are enough to risk the power I gained from those two."

"...I'll do it."

"Lyn, wait," Anzu cried out. "You don't know what you're getting yourself into!"

I walked over to the wall and grabbed a Duel Disk. "I may not know much about the game, but I've watched my brothers play it enough to know the basics." I pulled a deck from my backpack. "They even made me a deck in case I ever wanted to duel them."

"Fine," Seto said, "just don't get in my way, and don't expect me to bail you out."

Who is this Seto? I thought. He's so serious. He's like a completely different person from the man I went on a date with.


Seto's POV

Damn it! Why'd she have to get herself involved in all this mess?

'Because she cares about her friends, and she cares about you.'

I glanced over to see Seth looking at me, an amused smile on his face.

'So, you're still reading my thoughts.'

'It's a bad habit, but maybe if you didn't think so loudly...'

'Shut up. I don't need this from you right now.'

'I'm just trying to help, and so is Lyn.'

'I don't need her help, and I certainly don't need yours, so just stay out of this.'

'Very well.'

"If you're done conversing with your yami," Akunadin stated, "I'd like to get this duel started."

"You could hear that?"

"Of course, I'm sharing your body right now."

"Hear what?" Lyn said.

"Oh, nothing of any consequence, my dear. Young Seto here was just expressing concern for you."

"He was?"

"I was doing nothing of the sort!"

"Well, maybe not in so many words..."

"Enough!" I yelled. "Let's just duel. 4000 Life Points apiece sound fair? I want to get this over with quickly."

I shuffled my deck and slid it into my Duel Disk. Lyn did the same.

"Oh, where is my head?" Akunadin remarked. "I don't even have my deck, yet." He held out his hand and it was surrounded by a dark purple aura. Suddenly, my briefcase opened up and 40 cards flew from it and landed neatly in Akunadin's outstretched palm. "I hope you don't mind, but I'm borrowing a few cards from you."

"Go ahead. It's not like any of those cards will do you any good."

"We'll see," he replied as he shuffled his newly acquired deck.

"DUEL!" We all cried out as we drew five cards each.

LP:
Seto – 4000
Lyn – 4000
Akunadin – 4000

Drawing a sixth, I stated, "I'll start things off by playing Graceful Charity! Now I can draw 3 cards, but after that, I must discard 2. Then I summon X-Head Cannon in attack mode!"

X-Head Cannon
LVL: 4
ATK: 1800
DEF: 1500

"After that, I'll play the Continuous Spell Card Frontline Base! This lets me special summon one level four Union Monster from my hand once per turn, and I'll use it to summon Y-Dragon Head!

Y-Dragon Head
LVL: 4
ATK: 1500
DEF: 1600

"Next I'll activate Premature Burial, which allows me to summon the Z-Metal Tank I sent to the graveyard with Graceful Charity by paying 800 Life Points!"

LP:
Seto – 3200

Z-Metal Tank
LVL: 4
ATK: 1500
DEF: 1300

"Now I combine X-Head Cannon, Y-Dragon Head, and Z-Metal Tank to form XYZ-Dragon Cannon!

XYZ-Dragon Cannon
LVL: 8
ATK: 2800
DEF: 2600

"Finally, I'll set one card and end my turn."

"I'll go next," Lyn said, drawing. "I'll also play Graceful Charity, and then I'll summon The Agent of Creation – Venus in attack mode!"

The Agent of Creation – Venus
LVL: 3
ATK: 1600
DEF: 0

"Next, I'll activate Venus' effect. I can Special Summon as many Mystical Shine Balls from my deck as I want by paying 500 Life Points for each one. I think I'll summon 2 of them in defense mode."

LP:
Lyn – 3000

Mystical Shine Ball
LVL: 2
ATK: 500
DEF: 500

"Finally, I'll set one card and activate the Field Spell The Sanctuary in the Sky. This card protects me from all damage from a battle involving one of my fairy-type monsters. That'll do it for me."

"Ah, yes, my turn at last," Akunadin sighed. "I must say that both of you are dueling extremely well. However, it's not going to be enough. I'll also start my turn by playing Graceful Charity, and since both of you have been kind enough to lower your own Life Points, I'll pay 1000 of mine to activate the Spell card Confiscation."

LP:
Akunadin – 3000

"Now, Lyn, be a dear and discard the card in the middle, would you?"

"But, aren't you supposed to look at my hand first?"

"I don't need to. I already know that card is your Guardian Angel Joan. You were planning to sacrifice your two Shine Balls to summon her next turn, weren't you? I'm afraid I can't allow that."

"But how did you..."

"It's simple," I interjected. "He's cheating. He's using the Millennium Eye to read our minds, like Pegasus used to do."

"Pegasus...?"

"How right you are, my boy! Using this Eye I can see your every card, read your every strategy. There's no way you can win this duel! Continuing my turn, I'll summon Cyber Dragon in attack mode!"

Cyber Dragon
LVL: 5
ATK: 2100
DEF: 1600

"That's not fair!" Anzu cried out. "How can he summon a 5-Star monster without any sacrifices?"

"Idiot woman," Bakura retorted, "don't you know anything? Because Lyn and Seto both have monsters on their field and Akunadin doesn't, Cyber Dragon's effect lets Akunadin summon it without a Tribute."

"Correct! Now, my Cyber Dragon, attack Lyn's Agent of Creation!"

The dragon opened its mouth and shot a ball of lightning at Lyn's monster.

"Your Sanctuary protected you from damage, but I'm not done yet. I'll set three cards face down and end my turn. If you two think your face-down cards are going to be of any help, think again."

"My turn! XYZ-Dragon Cannon, attack his Cyber Dragon!"

With a blast from the cannon's barrels, Akunadin's monster was no more.

"I discard Kuriboh from my hand to negate the battle damage done to me."

"Where'd you get a Kuriboh? I know for a fact that I didn't have that small-fry in my briefcase."

"I put it there. You think those were forty random cards I pulled? I've been planning this duel for a long time, first chance I got, I made sure you had all the cards I needed to win this duel."

"Grrr... fine. I'll set one more card and end my turn."

"My turn!" As Lyn saw the card she drew, I saw her eyes widen in fear.

"Lyn, what is it? What did you draw?"

"Go ahead, my dear, play it. Play the card you were afraid to tell him about."

"Lyn, what's he talking about?"

"I sacrifice my two Mystical Shine Balls to summon Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"

Blue-Eyes White Dragon
LVL: 8
ATK: 3000
DEF: 2500

My head was spinning. Where did Lyn get a Blue-Eyes? I thought there were only four in existence. I have three, and I tore up the fourth one that Yugi's grandfather had, so where could she get hers?

Before I could say anything, Lyn declared her attack.

"Go, Blue-Eyes! Attack Akunadin directly!"

As the mighty dragon reared it's head back to deliver what would be the finishing blow to Akunadin's Life Points, Akunadin triggered one of his face down cards.

"I activate the Trap card, Negate Attack! This keeps your dragon from attacking me and ends your battle phase. As I see that you can't play any of the cards in your hand, I'll go ahead and start my turn."

As he looked at his new card, he started laughing manically. "Now you're in for it! I'll remove the Magician of Faith I sent to the graveyard and the Kuriboh I discarded from the game to summon Chaos Emperor Dragon – Envoy of the End!"

Chaos Emperor Dragon – Envoy of the End
LVL: 8
ATK: 3000
DEF: 2500

"Now I'll pay 1000 Life Points to activate its effect! It destroys every card on the field and in our hands and deals 300 points of Direct Damage to each of you for each card destroyed!"

LP:
Akunadin
2000

Chaos Emperor Dragon created a vortex that started absorbing all the cards we had.

"Not so fast!" I yelled. "I activate the Trap card Barrel Behind the Door to make you take all the damage I would have received."

"Ah, ah, ah! You're forgetting that I saw through this strategy already, and I've got the perfect counter for it! I'll also activate Barrel Behind the Door!"

"What!"

"And instead of directing the damage towards you, I think I'll send it towards Lyn, making her receive twice the damage she would have!"

"Not if I activate this!" Lyn revealed her face down card. "Pikeru's Circle of Enchantment protects me from all effect damage."

"When will you learn? I told you your face down cards wouldn't do you any good. I activate the Trap card Seven Tools of the Bandit! By paying another 1000 Life Points, I can negate your Circle of Enchantment."

LP:
Akunadin
1000

Lyn fell to her knees.

"No..."

"That's right! Now let's see here. I don't have any cards in my hand and only Chaos Emperor Dragon on the field. Seto has XYZ-Dragon Cannon, Frontline Base, Mirror Force face down, and Book of Moon in his hand. You, my dear, have your Blue-Eyes White Dragon and Sanctuary in the Sky on the field, and Mudora and Shining Angel in your hand. By my count, that's 9 cards, for a total of 2700 damage. Oh, but wait! You have to take twice that amount, thanks to Seto over here. That comes out to 5400!"

As Chaos Emperor Dragon finished absorbing all the cards, it turned a dark red and self destructed. When the smoke cleared, Lyn was lying unconscious on the floor.

LP:
Lyn – 0

"LYN!"

"Poor girl, I probably should have warned her about the penalty for losing a Shadow Duel."

"What have you done to her?"

"The Shadows have her, now. If you want her back, then continue this duel and beat me, if you can..."


Joey: What's dis? Is Kaiba actually showin' concern fer Lyn?

Seto: Go shove it up your...

LazerWulf: GENTLEMEN! That's enough! ((clears throat)) Now, first of all I'd like to thank Minor Arcana (or Toon Maha Vailo as she's know around Janime's) for her help with creating the duel. She created Lyn's deck and most of Akunadin's, as well as some of the mechanics which won't occur until the second half of this duel.

Next, I'd like to give a Shameless Plug for Kanius' much anticipated sequel to his mega-crossover series "YuYuGiDigiMoon: The Invasion of the Rajita", which can be found among my favorite stories. The reason I'm plugging it is not just because I'm the beta-reader, but that this story will feature, by my permission, of course, Lyn, Max, and Sam Stromberg. If you think you know them from reading this, let me tell you that I've given them a complete makeover for this new saga. The original heart behind the characters is still there, but the back-story is a bit different.

Finally, I'd like to say that, with the release of the Memory Arc dub, I realize that some of the names have changed slightly from the Japanese, "Akhenaton" instead of "Akunadin", for example, but I figure, if I can use "Anzu" alongside "Tristan", continuing to use "Akunadin" shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Seto: You'd think...

LazerWulf: Anyways, the next chapter should be out sometime soon. The thing that took so long with this chapter was actually writing the duel, but now that I have that all planned out, the next chapter will probably be out sometime before Christmas.

Joey: Until den, Review! (You might even get one o' dem fancy pants Review Responses if ya leave a signed one...)