Usual reminders:
Italics are thoughts or word emphasis. Bold is Malekos' speech.
Jessica bit her lip and stepped back until she could see most of Yami's body standing atop the floating island Noah had created for him. It was for 'privacy', to keep them all away from him. She didn't like it. She clenched and unclenched her fists as she focused on her breathing. Her anxiety had spiked and she didn't want to see Yugi in such a predicament, but Yami had made the decision and she had to assume that Yugi had agreed with it. The only way to reach the floating island was to tap into Malekos' power, and she wasn't about to risk it.
"You're starting this match with only 400 life points thanks to your friend Seto." Noah said, plugging his deck into the duel disk that appeared on Shinato's arm. "Taking his place was a mistake."
"Look, Noah, you overpowered Kaiba using deceit and betrayal. Then you used your virtual technology to turn him and Mokuba into stone! If you think that makes you a superior duelist, you're sadly mistaken," Yami growled. Jessica glanced at the statues of Kaiba and Mokuba one last time before turning her gaze back to Yami. She watched as Noah started refreshing his deck with new cards, orbs of light flying into it.
"Yugi's been involved with some pretty tough duels against some major wackjobs in the past," Joey said. "But I gotta say, this duel definitely takes the cake. Not only is Yugi almost out of life points, he has no monsters on the field. And Noah just merged himself with his deck master, Shinato!"
"That means Noah can crush Yugi with one attack! Then I'll be a robot monkey statue!" Tristan exclaimed.
Jessica growled but relaxed slightly when Téa called up to Yami. "Yugi, we're all here for you. I know you can save Mokuba and Kaiba and get us out of this place!" Yami glanced back at them, his gaze travelling over the statues of both Kaiba's and his friends.
"We believe in you!" Jessica called up to him, her green eyes blazing as he met her gaze. She held a hand to her heart. "Kick his ass for us!" She saw him smirk for the smallest moment before Noah caught their attention.
"Blah, blah, blah. Let's do this! Then I can silence your cheerleaders by turning them into statues!" Jessica growled at him. "Now just to be fair, I'll let you go first."
She breathed a sigh of relief. That's the best thing that could've happened. Now they have a chance to put up a defense. She heard Malekos hum in agreement in her mind.
Yami drew a monster card and placed Gazelle in defense mode for protection. Noah got cocky, but it was clear that he was not happy with what he drew. But it didn't matter because he was using Shinato to attack. Six purple orbs appeared and spun so fast that they created a flowing purple ring. It easily destroyed Gazelle, and Yami growled as he watched his life points drop to 200.
"It seems that Shinato's special ability has caught you off guard. See, when my deck master destroys a monster that's in defense mode, you lose half your life points. But that's not the only thing that happens, Yugi. It gets much worse. All of the life points you just lost gets added to mine!"
Jessica gasped and then growled, "How many special abilities does that damned thing have?"
"Yugi's still gonna beat the virtual stuffing out of this kid," Joey told them, his fist clenched.
"You were a fool to think you could defeat me. And now you and your friends are about to pay the price. All because you're defending the honor of someone who didn't even like you, Yugi."
"Kaiba and I have quite a bit in common," Yami told him. "We're both participants in an ancient struggle that dates back 5,000 years. And Kaiba and I have something else in common, something you'd know nothing about, Noah."
"Really? And what might that be?"
"He duels with honor and respect!" Yami clenched his fist in the air.
"Is that so? And you think that makes you both superior to me?"
"It makes us human."
"Well, you won't be human for long! Once I blow away what's left of your life points, you'll all be motionless objects! Do you honestly think you can win this with only 200 life points left?"
"Yes!" Yami's confidence sent shivers through Jessica, causing her to smile. "I'll take you down somehow, Noah! You'll see!" He drew and placed a monster face down in defense mode, ending his turn.
"Even your defensive monsters aren't safe! So you set them up and I'll just keep knocking them down." Noah drew a card and finally played a monster. It was a spirit monster. He then sent that same purple ring of orbs to destroy Yami's monster, but the Obnoxious Celtic Guardian appeared and deflected it. "What?! But your monster's weaker!"
Jessica smiled as Yami explained that monsters with 1,900 or more attack points can't destroy his monster. She frowned once more when Noah gained more life points via a card that allows him to call back his spirit monsters.
"You broke the rules again! You can't just call a card back to your hand," Yami accused, narrowing his eyes.
"That's where you're wrong. When Maximillion Pegasus was designing the game of Duel Monsters, his travels brought him to the mystical orient. Here he learned of the legendary spirit monsters, beings with otherworldly powers. So he based a series of cards on these beasts, giving them the ability to return to their owner's hand after every turn. How dare you accuse me of cheating, Yugi?"
Yami drew another monster card and placed it face down in defense mode. He ended his turn and Noah summoned another spirit monster to the field. Jessica grit her teeth when it destroyed the Obnoxious Celtic Guardian. But the spirit monster had the ability to attack every monster on Yami's side of the field on the same turn.
"Too bad, Yugi," Noah said as his monster attacked Yami's face down monster. "It's over!"
Yami smirked, "Yes, it is. It looks like you've fallen right into my trap by attacking one of Kaiba's favorite cards!" It was revealed to be Cyber Jar, which destroys all monsters on the field. "And since you moved your deck master to the field, your Shinato is destroyed as well and you lose the duel!"
Even as the gang cheered, Jessica stayed silent as she watched Noah fight the suction of Cyber Jar. It felt too easy. And she was correct when another one of Shinato's special abilities was activated, destroying Cyber Jar. Shinato disappeared, but then reappeared and dropped Noah on his own floating island. She clicked her tongue in contempt. "I knew it couldn't be that easy…"
"But how were you able to escape the destructive power of Cyber Jar," Yami asked.
"It's quite simple, Yugi. Shinato has more than one power and before it was destroyed, that power was activated. Whenever Shinato is targeted by an opponent's monster, its ability of Reversal is activated, allowing my deck master to leave the playing field and return to its original position on the sidelines. In exchange, Shinato can not be summoned back to the field for the duration of the duel."
"That's a relief," Jessica sighed.
"That means you can't use it to attack me for the rest of the duel," Yami realized. "Now, thanks to the second ability of Cyber Jar we must each draw five cards. Then every monster we pick must be summoned to the field." He summoned two monsters in defense mode. "And now you must summon every monster that you have drawn, Noah."
"I don't have one!" This made Jessica smirk.
"Good, then it's my move!" Yami sacrificed his two monsters and was able to add a monster with low attack points to his hand. Then he summoned Dark Magician to the field. "You have no monsters on the field to defend you. You know what that means." He sent his faithful monster to attack Noah directly, and thankfully it was a success, sending Noah skidding backwards. "Noah, I've cleared out your monsters and taken a bite out of your life points."
"Yugi… How dare you humiliate me like that?"
"Humiliate you?" Yami pointed at Noah. "It's you who humiliated Kaiba and Mokuba just so you could prove to your father that you're superior!"
"I am. No one's better," Noah growled, glaring at Yami. "Yugi, I deserve to be rewarded for my unsurpassable power!"
"You must earn respect, Noah. Not demand it. It's true, perhaps your father should have recognized your talents. And maybe you have been treated unfairly." Yami then pointed up at the glowing sphere in the sky. "No one deserves to be locked away in isolation the way that you were by your father. However, that's still no excuse for the way you've been treating us, Noah!"
"That's enough out of you, Yugi! Watch this!" Noah drew a magic card and played it, and the image of Yami's Dark Magician was laying on the carpet that appeared on the field. "It chooses one of your monsters and allows me to summon one with the same number of stars." He pulled a card from his hand and slapped it on his duel disk, summoning several heads of vicious snakes. "Dragon, attack him now!"
The eight heads of the dragon fired at the Dark Magician, destroying him. The life points that Yami just lost were added to Noah, and he called back the dragon to his hand to add even more life points to himself. It was going to be a never-ending cycle if Yami wasn't able to figure out how to stop Noah from gaining life points back.
Noah laughed, "Poor Yugi. You only have 100 life points left now. It's only a matter of time before you lose."
"Come on!" Téa called out. "Don't let this kid push you around. We need you!"
"We're all behind you, Yuge!" Joey added.
Yami glanced over his shoulder at them. "Everyone's counting on me."
"Go get 'em, Yugi," Duke told him.
Jessica smiled up at him. "We believe in you!"
He nodded, smiling back at them, and then faced Noah again. "The safety of all my friends depends on my victory. So let's get on with this duel." He drew a card and added it to his hand before playing a different card. He activated Swords of Revealing Light, trapping Noah in a wall of glowing swords.
Jessica smiled as she listened to their friends give Yami encouragement, commenting about his good move. But something about the way Noah was staring down at them made her frown and narrow her eyes. She shifted slightly into a somewhat defensive stance, ready for anything Noah may throw at them.
"Pay attention!" Yami snapped, also not liking the look Noah was giving them. He summoned Kuriboh and attacked Noah's life points successfully. It wasn't a lot of damage, but at least he had fewer life points now.
"Your pathetic little puffball barely made a dent!" Noah told him. "Your dueling tactics are beneath me. You can swat at me with that dust bunny all day but I'm afraid it's not going to help you. And as soon as your Swords of Revealing Light are gone, I'll erase you, Yugi! And since you seem to be a much better duelist than Seto, by defeating you, I'll be proving my power over him." He drew a card and placed it face down in defense mode, ending his turn. "Now there's only two turns left and then I'm allowed to attack you."
"I still have time." Yami drew and summoned a monster in defense mode. He switched Kuriboh to defense mode as well. "Now go ahead and make your move, Noah."
"I will." He placed the card he drew into defense mode on the field. Then he placed another card face down. "Now it's just one more turn and then it's lights out."
"And I'll be ready," Yami told him. He placed a card face down and ended his turn.
"Well, Yugi. I think it's clear how this will end. On my next turn, you're going to lose this duel. Then you and your friends will be turned to stone!"
Jessica saw Yami glance down worriedly at them and she shook her head. "Don't listen to him," she told him. Téa threw her own encouragement at him.
"Your friends still think you can win. I guess they're more clueless than I thought," Noah told Yami.
"Come down here and say that!" Joey shouted, clenching his fist. "I bet you're just jealous because Yugi over here actually has friends and you're just a spoiled little brat who's angry at da world because somebody stuck you in a computer with no one ta hang out with except your sorry self!"
Even Jessica was taken aback by his outburst.
"Well, I think your friend made his point." Noah was unusually calm. "So now it's only fair that I get a chance to make my point." Jessica tensed, getting into a stance. She didn't like where this was going. "I've listened to your loud-mouthed friends insult me for too long now! So take this!"
Suddenly there was a flash of light that blinded everyone, as well as a scream from Duke. When she opened her eyes, she gasped as she saw Duke turn to stone before her eyes. "Duke!" She growled and glared up at Noah, her fists clenched at her sides. Now he was taking things too far. Malekos growled in her mind, silently agreeing.
Uh oh! Noah started turning people into stone. Now what will they do?