DISCLAIMER: If you recognise it from somewhere else, it isn't mine.

Mime Control Part II

'It appears you're out of options, Pharaoh!' Marik crowed.

The Pharaoh was tense enough as it was.

'Thank to my Nightmare Steel Cage you can't attack. And in one more turn you'll be finished and your Millennium Puzzle will be mine.'

'Never!' the Pharaoh snapped. 'As long as I believe in the Heart of the Cards, you won't succeed in claiming my Puzzle.'

'Your misguided faith has completely pathetic when compared to the overwhelming power of my Egyptian God Card. But you'll see that firsthand in just one more turn when my Breeding Machine produces the third Slime Token, giving me enough monsters to sacrifice! Then I'll summon my great beast, an ancient creature of unbeatable strength to destroy you.'

YGO

'I'm surprised those cards haven't surfaced yet,' Kaiba said. He closed the laptop.

Mokuba turned. 'Me too. But if they had, our satellite system would have picked them up.'

'Well, then, maybe it's time for me to go out and find them on my own. My patience is growing thin.'

Mokuba hopped up. 'Relax. With all these Rare Hunter running around the City, I bet those Egyptian God Cards are right under our noses.'

Kaiba smiled in satisfaction. 'And once I have all three, I'll have the most powerful deck in Duel Monsters. I'll be unbeatable and, once again, I'll be known as the World's Greatest Duellist.' He headed off. 'Let's go, Mokuba.'

'Wait up, Seto!' Mokuba called and he hauled the briefcase after him.

YGO

'History maybe on your side, Pharaoh,' Marik said. 'But destiny is on mine as I draw closer to winning your Puzzle.'

The Pharaoh ground his teeth.

'And, once I possess it, only the final Egyptian God Card will be left to claim. When I do, then I'll be the Pharaoh. You're not worthy of the powers that lie hidden within you! So I'll take them! For as long as I can remember, I was taught to obey the Ancient Scriptures and to help my family protect the Pharaoh's tomb. Now I realise that your time as Pharaoh has expired and I must take your place. And your Puzzle is the key to your power!

In his mind, Yugi was feeling a little helpless. I wish I knew more about what happened in the ancient past. But, for now, I know that I can't let Marik win.

The Pharaoh drew.

'You can't attack.' Marik felt the need to remind him.

'I'll end my turn.' The Pharaoh added the card to his hand.

Marik sniggered. 'That's good, because your time has run out anyway.' He drew. 'Breeding Machine, create the third and final Slime Token!' The Machine activated and the third Token appeared between the other two.

'This can't be,' the Pharaoh said to himself. 'He succeeded!'

'Now, I have enough monsters for my ultimate sacrifice,' Marik announced. 'Finally, the time has come!' As he spoke, his predictions came true. 'The sky shall be shrouded in darkness!' He laughed in triumph. Lightning flashed, striking the ground, and thunder rumbled, heralding the Egyptian God's imminent arrival. 'Prepare to experience an ancient force like no other!' One lighting bolt came down to Marik's side of the field. 'As I sacrifice Jam Breeder and my three Slime Tokens…' The Machine exploded at the impact, taking the Tokens with it. '…in order to summon the beast of your Ultimate Destruction!' The pieces of the machine stopped in midair and then shot up into the sky in beams of white light. 'A creature whose power is absolutely limitless!' A vortex appeared in the clouds. 'Meet your maker, Pharaoh!

A hot white beam of light, much larger than the others, shot out of the vortex and it the middle of the field. Electricity crackled around it and the heat of it forced the Pharaoh back a step. He raised his arm to protect his face but only for a moment. Still, he watched as the monster took form.

'The last monster you'll ever see!' Marik continued crowing. 'The Egyptian God, Slifer the Sky Dragon!'

YGO

Shamee watched as Slifer the Sky Dragon descended. It was long and serpentine, with a red back and two mouths full of deadly-sharp teeth. And it was, Shamee knew, the largest Dragon in all of Duel Monsters. But there was just one thing. 'See, now, that's just wrong.'

I'd call it horrible, Sharee said. But how is it wrong?

I don't know how I know, but I do know that all three Egyptian Gods are the Pharaoh's servants and his alone. Calling one of them to fight against him is several kinds of wrong.

If that's the case, would Slifer really attack his own master?

It's been five thousand years and all memories of the events have been heavily shrouded. Until Slifer feels the Pharaoh's touch and realises he's his master, he won't recognise him. So, yes, Slifer will attack him in this duel but, if the Pharaoh manages to win, it won't happen again.

YGO

The Pharaoh stared across at Slifer. Though it was a threat to him, the God Card seemed familiar. He had a feeling he knew precisely how powerful that creature was. If he couldn't think of its weaknesses fast, he was done for. A fact Marik took great pleasure in reminding him off.

'You're finished, Yugi!' Oh, so now he was also addressing Yugi. 'Prepare to feel his wrath!'

'How can I stop it?' The Pharaoh quickly threw his arms up to protect himself as Slifer roared and sent out a mighty gust of wind. The Pharaoh growled in effort of staying in place.

Marik continued his grandstanding. 'You're staring into the face of defeat, Pharaoh. Slifer the Sky Dragon is one of the three most feared creatures in history – the Egyptian God Monsters. They cannot be defeated.'

'Every monster has a weakness, Marik,' the Pharaoh stated. 'And I'll find yours!'

'You're in no position to make threats. You're trapped in my Nightmare Steel Cage with no way to attack. And you're face-to-face with an Egyptian God Monster whose attack power is limitless. All you can do is watch it grow stronger.'

What did he just say? 'Stronger? But how?'

'Allow me to explain how Slifer works.' Marik held up the mind-slave's hand. His demonstration had something to do with the cards. 'The number of cards I hold in my hand determines what Slifer's attack power will be. And since I hold two cards it has two thousand attack points.'

'I'm afraid Slifer is still weaker than my monster,' the Pharaoh said.

'But this is just the beginning.' He took a card from his hand and held it up. 'All thanks to my magic card.' Marik played it. 'I activate Pot of Greed.' The card appeared on the field and flipped up. 'This card allows me to two new cards. Greed is good. I lost one card but gained two.' He held them up. 'Giving me a total of three cards and Slifer a total of 3000 attack points.'

Rat Rot. 'But in Duel Monsters, there's a limit to how many cards a player can hold. So Slifer the Sky Dragon has a limit to its strength.'

'Foolish Pharaoh,' Marik sneered. 'Don't you realise that every rule is made to be broken. I'm afraid any hopes you have of survival are completely in vain, for no one has ever defeated an Egyptian God Card.'

'Until now!'

'You're a fool! Slifer will wipe you out with one single attack. Then I'll take your Puzzle and send you to a place of eternal darkness: the Shadow Realm! Now, prepare to lose.' He cackled in his own self-confidence.

I gotta find a way to bring down Marik's dragon. Yugi sighed internally. My Buster Blader receives 500 attack points for every dragon on the field. So, right now, my monster is stronger than his Sky Dragon. With 3100 attack points, my Swordsman would slay Marik's Dragon with one swipe of his lance. But as long as I'm in this Cage, I can't attack and by the time I can attack his monster maybe too strong. Irritating, but Yugi was right.

'You see?' Marik was on gloating now. 'My Sky Dragon will only get stronger as I draw more cards.' He chuckled and the Pharaoh growled. 'When I draw on my next turn, Slifer will have four thousand attack points, more than enough to annihilate your Buster Blader and seriously damage your life points. Then, soon enough, you'll be out of my way.'

The Pharaoh growled.

'Your reign is over, Pharaoh!' Marik boasted. 'Hand over that Puzzle and accept the inevitable.' He laughed again, sure as the sun that he was going to win.

'Never! I'll trust my deck.' The Pharaoh drew.

This card may be able to help, but I'm still trapped for one more turn.

Nethertheless, the Pharaoh added it to his hand.

If I can hang on until then, maybe I can turn this duel around. I just have to trust the Heart of the Cards.

'This duel is far from over, Marik,' the Pharaoh said.

'How sad.' Marik mocked him again. 'You're finished. Just embrace it. You've had your chance to be Pharaoh. Now it's time for me to take over and rule the world.' He chuckled again. He did an awful lot of that.

Not if I can help it, Marik. It's my destiny to stop you! The Pharaoh agreed with Yugi as he pulled a couple of cards from his hand. 'I'll place these two cards face-down.' He set them in the duel disk and the cards appeared of the field. 'And I summon Kuriboh in defence mode.' The monster appeared on the field and emerged from its card. 'Make your move, Marik.'

'Yes! The moment has now arrived!' Again, Marik chuckled. 'Prepare to feel the wrath of an Egyptian God Card.'

The Pharaoh braced himself. Smoke began to raise from the bars around him.

'The Steel Cage is evaporating,' Marik said. 'Leaving you wide open for annihilation.' Sure enough, the bars slowly vanished until there was nothing left of them or the Cage. 'You are about to witness an ancient force so mighty it almost destroyed the entire world!' Marik laughed. 'You are powerless against Slifer.' The beast roared. 'Let's end this. I draw…' He did so. '…and since Slifer gets one thousand attack points for every card in my hand, now it's up to 4000.' The attack points shot up. 'Enough to incinerate your Buster Blader!' Slifer roared. 'And now, my Egyptian God monster, attack!'

With a roar, the attack shot out of Slifer's bottom mouth. It sailed across the field, heading right for the Buster Blader. The Pharaoh moved. 'You've activated my trap card.'

'Trap card?' Marik asked, sounding confused. That guy needed to spend less time grand-standing and pay more attention to his opponent's moves.

'My Light Force Sword.' The Pharaoh flipped up the card in question. 'This trap card allows me to slash one card out of your hand for the duration of the turn…' The sword shot out of the Pharaoh's card and crossed the field to hit one of the cards in the mind-slave's hand.

'No!' Marik yelled.

'…which lowers your Dragon's attack points back to 3000,' the Pharaoh said. 'Making it weaker than my monster.' The Blader jumped out of the way of the attack. 'Now, Buster Blader, swing your might sword and slay his Dragon!' The Blader charged. 'Your Egyptian God card is defeated.' Suddenly, the Revival Jam jumped in the way. The Pharaoh flinched back. He hadn't been expecting that.

'Not exactly,' Marik said. 'You forgot my Jam Defender is still in play, which means my Revival Jam will intercept all your attacks.' The Revival Jam reformed. The mind-slave took a card from his hand. 'And, from now on, this magic card will also be in play.' He set it and the card appeared on the field. 'Card of Safe Return!'

'Card of Safe Return?' the Pharaoh demanded.

'Yes,' Marik said. 'This rare magic card lets me draw three new cards every time my Jam Defender reforms itself.' The mind-slave took the cards. 'This brings the cards in my hand up to five, giving Slifer the Sky Dragon a grand total of 5000 attack points so far.'

'Five thousand points?' This was not good. 'Now what?'

YGO

Kaiba flew away from Yugi's friends. He had more important things to deal with than Wheeler right now. Like the fact that their system had finally picked up another one of the Egyptian God cards.

'More information is coming in,' his employee reported over the radio. 'The Egyptian God card was activated in a duel involving Yugi Moto.'

'Yugi?' Wouldn't you know it? 'I have a plan, Mokuba. That card will be mine.'

YGO

Marik issued the order. 'And now, Slifer the Sky Dragon, destroy his Buster Blader!'

Slifer attacked, the blast flying from his mouth. The Buster Blader was destroyed.

'And take a bite out of his life points.'

The Pharaoh growled as the energy shot over him and his life points dropped down to 2100.

'Do you surrender yet?' Marik demanded. 'You're finished! Slifer will only get stronger. And, thanks to my Jam Defender, you still can't attack, Pharaoh. For, if you do, I'll draw more cards and Slifer will grow even more powerful. Don't you realise there's no way you can win? Hand over your Puzzle.'

The Pharaoh just glared at him.

'Once my Egyptian God card finishes you off, your days as Pharaoh will be over.'

The Pharaoh looked at his hand and, again he had to agree with Yugi's thought-path. None of my monsters are strong enough to beat the Sky Dragon, so I'm gonna need the right magic card to do it. He looked at his deck. Come on, Heart of the Cards, guide me! The Pharaoh's jaw set in determination. 'Here I go! Now!' He drew and looked at the card he now held. 'Hm.'

Magic Cylinder. This card could do the trick. But it has to be combined with a magician card to work. At Yugi's thought, the Pharaoh looked at his hand. And I'm in luck, cause I'm holding the Dark Magician Girl. Although the Pharaoh hated the risk that card, he knew he needed to. Perfect.

'All right.' The Pharaoh shifted. 'I sacrifice Kuriboh…' A vortex appeared around the monster in question to he disappeared. '…to summon my Dark Magician Girl…' The card appeared on the field and the Dark Magician Girl emerged from it with a twirl and the need to push her hat back as it fell over her face. '…in defence mode!'

'By summoning a new monster to the field, you've activated my Dragon's special ability!'

Rat rot! 'Oh, no!' The Dark Magician Girl drew back.

Slifer's top mouth opened and energy began to build up. 'Its second mouth!' Marik laughed in malicious glee.

'Slifer is full of surprises.' But the Pharaoh had been prepared for something when he summoned her. Something had tugged at the back of his consciousness.

'Even if it's your turn, Slifer will automatically attack every monster you summon with its second set of jaws, wiping out 2000 points from whichever mode your monster is in.' Sure enough, the Sky Dragon was powering up an attack and aiming right at the Dark Magician Girl. 'So say goodbye to your Dark Magician Girl.'

'Oh, no. She only has one thousand, seven hundred defence points.'

'Slifer, attack!' Marik ordered. The blast sailed down out of his second mouth and headed right for the Dark Magician Girl.

'It's time for me to save my Dark Magician Girl,' the Pharaoh said.

Marik began his grand-standing again. 'It's too late! Observe.'

The Pharaoh activated his card. 'Why don't you observe?'

'It really is a pity that your Magician had to leave us so soon.' Marik still hadn't realised.

'Who said she's gone?' the Pharaoh asked.

'I did!' Marik snapped.

'Guess again.' The smoke cleared, revealing what card he'd played. 'I activated Magical Hats just in time.'

'So she's hiding inside of one of those hats?' Marik demanded.

'Not just hiding,' the Pharaoh said. 'She's inside, preparing to launch a counterattack.'

'Pharaoh, your monster's not strong enough. Not to defeat Slifer!' Marik laughed at him again. It was beyond tiresome by now.

'It's true that your Dragon is powerful, Marik, but I have faith.' The Pharaoh raised the two cards in his hand and played them. 'And so I place two cards face-down…' The appeared on the field and the Hats danced over them, hiding them from view and confusing which held them. '…beneath my Magical Hats.'

'Your Hats merely provide you with a temporary hiding place…' The mind-slave drew. '…and in the meantime, Pharaoh, I'll play my own magic card. And it will make my Dragon's power infinite! You see, Infinite Cards lets me exceed the six-card limit and hold as many cards as I wish in my hand.' He played the card.

Fear churned its way through his gut as he did the math. 'No, that can't be!'

Marik's smirk could nearly be heard. 'Since Slifer gets 1000 attack points for every card in my hand, now there's no limit to my monster's power.' He called out the attack. 'Slifer, unleash you Thunder Force on the right-hand Hat!' The Dragon attacked, releasing his blast on the Hat in question.

The Pharaoh tensed. 'You made a lucky guess, Marik.'

'You couldn't hide her forever.'

'This duel's not over!' the Pharaoh stated. The Hat was destroyed, but…

'It may as well be!' Marik gloated. 'Your monster is destroyed.' But then he saw the truth. 'What's this?' The Dark Magician Girl was still there, between the Magic Cylinders. Slifer's attack was being sucked into one, leaving his target unharmed. 'She's absorbing my attack!'

The Pharaoh clenched his fist. 'That's right, Marik. It seems you had forgotten, I also hid two trap cards under that Hat.' He pointed as the effects took. 'Magic Cylinder and my Spell-Binding Circle!' The Circle clamped around Slifer. 'So I'll weaken your Sky Dragon's power and then redirect his own Thunder Force attack right back at him.' As he said this, the Dark Magician Girl was doing it. 'Fire!' The blast crossed back to where it came from. 'Say goodbye, Marik.'

'Never. You can't attack me with my Revival Jam in play.' As he said that, the Revival Jam intercepted the attack and was blown apart. It began reforming again.

'So your plasma monster can even block redirected attacks?' the Pharaoh demanded.

'That's exactly right, Pharaoh.' He drew. 'Then it regenerates unharmed, which also means I can draw three new cards. So my Sky Dragon grows even stronger!' It's attack points shot up. 'Plus I'll draw again, giving it a total of over 8000 attack points.'

The Pharaoh stared in horror. 'That Egyptian God is unstoppable!'

YGO

'Precisely, and since your Spell-Binding Circle card has expired Slifer gains back more attack points, giving it 9000.'

Shamee ground her teeth. The Pharaoh was in very deep trouble. She knew that the Sky Dragon belonged to him, as did the other two. All the same they didn't know that – not yet. They didn't realise the one they would be attacking – were, in Slifer's case – was their true master.

Of course, the only way they'd know was if the Pharaoh held the card. Then they'd feel the touch of their master and then obey only him. But the only way that'd happen would be if he won and the Pharaoh couldn't attack. No…but maybe…the idea came into her head slowly.

Shamee's attention was suddenly diverted. She turned her head. 'Get stuck in traffic?'

YGO

'Now, Slifer, demolish his Dark Magician Girl!'

The Pharaoh watched in horror as the blast shot out of Slifer's mouth. He could defend his Dark Magician Girl with nothing. The Hats were gone and he didn't have the Mystic Box. The blast hit and she was obliterated. The Pharaoh's bangs were blown back a bit but he barely noticed.

Marik began gloating again. 'Behold, the ultimate five-card combination that makes me completely indestructible. When these five almighty cards are played together, they complete a strategy that cannot be defeated. My Egyptian God card will continue to grow stronger! And your attacks are completely useless.'

Sharp pain stung the Pharaoh's mind. He couldn't think of a way out of this. He fell to his knees. 'Oh, no.' He fell to his hands, mind racing. 'I can't let Marik win my Puzzle.' But he couldn't work out how to get out of this.

'Get on your feet, Yugi!' Kaiba's voice cut through his thoughts.

'Huh?' The Pharaoh looked up. 'Kaiba?'

Seto and Mokuba Kaiba were standing up on the barrier with Shamee, except the elder was standing away from her.

'Since when do you bow to your rivals?' Kaiba demanded.

Shamee was giving him a funny look. He could see why too. Kaiba called this bowing? He'd obviously never actually seen someone actually bow. But the point still stood. The Pharaoh scowled.

'Never.'

'Then get up and stop embarrassing yourself, so you can defeat this nobody and relieve him of his Egyptian God card. And do it now!'

The Pharaoh looked back at his cards.

'Don't let this punk win. You can take down Slifer the Sky Dragon. Just find out its weakness. Unless, of course, you've lost your touch. If you still have what it takes, then get up and prove it to me now!'

Kaiba probably wanted it for himself but…