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

Double Duel Part III

'My Blue Eyes has arrived!' Kaiba was relishing the feeling of having his Blue Eyes White Dragon out on the field. This was no different. 'You're done. Thanks to my Monster Reborn magic card, I was able to bring my great beast back from the graveyard.'

'And this is just the beginning,' Yugi said.

'Heh!' Lumis glared at them.

'Kaiba and I make a powerful team and you two Rare Hunters are no match for the combined strength of our decks. And when we prevail, you will lead us to where you are holding Mokuba and the others captive!'

Kaiba smirked. 'Heh. I think what my partner is trying to say is that thanks to my superior skills, you're finished. Right?'

'Not quite,' Yugi said. A slow smirk crossed his face.

'Don't tell me you're still stuck on this "team-work" thing, Yugi.' Kaiba rolled his eyes. 'It's getting a little old. Listen up. Here's the deal. I'll win this duel on my own. And, if it's convenient for me, I might help you but don't mistake that for teamwork or you'll be very disappointed. I'm in this for Mokuba. Got it?' He couldn't have Yugi thinking he actually cared about him or his friends. 'And I will do whatever it takes to defeat these Rare Hunters and free my brother. I'm not about to lose.'

'Don't push that too much, Kaiba,' Sharee said. 'I might stop believing it.'

'Huh?' Kaiba glanced at her. What was that supposed to mean? He could think on it later. Right now, he had a duel to win. 'These fools don't realise: no one disrespects my family and gets away with it.'

'This isn't only about you!' Yugi snapped. 'My friends are in danger as well.'

'That's your problem, Yugi,' Kaiba said. 'I'm duelling for me.'

'But, Kaiba, you need my help and I need yours. Lumis and Umbra still have the upper hand.'

What a joke. Kaiba had his Blue Eyes out. The only one here who had the upper hand was him. With his Dragon out, defeating these two and saving Mokuba by himself would be child's play.

Lumis pointed. 'Your partner is right. You may have summoned your Blue Eyes White Dragon, Kaiba, but it's useless against the ultimate power of our Masked Beast. Our camouflage creature has two hundred more attack points than your pathetic Dragon. As soon as it attacks, your Blue Eyes will be gone!' He laughed.

Kaiba tensed. He'd forgotten about that.

'He's wrong, Kaiba,' Yugi suddenly said. 'You can destroy their monster.'

What? Kaiba looked over. 'I can?'

'Look, if you want to win you're going to have to trust me on this,' Yugi said. 'Like it or not, we're a team. And if you attack them with your Blue Eyes White Dragon, I promise I'll back you up. Trust me.'

Trust…Trust wasn't something that came easily to Kaiba. Ever since his parents died, he hadn't been able to trust anyone – except Mokuba, of course. Every other person had lied to him and betrayed him. They'd all wanted something from him, or they'd wanted something from Mokuba. Kaiba had been the only thing in the way those times. Now, though, Yugi was the one asking him for trust.

Kaiba ground his teeth. Is this some sort of trick? Why would Yugi tell me to attack a monster that's stronger than mine? I smell a rat.

'Attack them, Kaiba!' Yugi repeated himself. 'Do it!'

On the other hand, what could Yugi stand to gain from this? If one lost, they both lost. Yugi was always trying to save his friends. Why would he jeopardise that? Did Yugi have something up his sleeve? Thinking back, had Yugi ever even indicated that he might betray someone? The answer was no. Yugi didn't have to save both him and Mokuba from Pegasus, after all, but he did. He stood to gain nothing from it. Yugi had still saved them.

Kaiba smirked. 'I will, Yugi. It's not in your best interest to give me bad advice, cause you'd lose too.' He gave the order. 'Now, my Blue Eyes, attack their Masked Beast!' The Blue Eyes rose up and roared, eliciting a scream from Lumis. 'White Lightning!' The Dragon charged forward. It opened its mouth and the bright, powerful attack began to build in its mouth. This better work! The blast surged forth. It crossed the field and hit its target. The Masked Beast was destroyed. 'Your Masked Beast is gone!'

'That's not possible!' Umbra insisted.

'Our Masked Beast was more powerful than your Blue Eyes White Dragon.' Lumis searched for an explanation. 'You must've cheated!'

Yes, Kaiba was rather confused himself. Yugi would probably be the only one who knew what'd just happened.

'He's right!' Umbra's eyes were fixed on both of them. 'It's a trick!'

'Guess again.' At least Yugi explained without being asked. 'Your creature was beaten by Kaiba's Blue Eyes fair and square. Please allow me to explain, Rare Hunters. When I sent my Beast of Gilfer to the card graveyard last turn I activated its special ability. It reduces the attack points of any monster I choose by 500, and I chose your Masked Beast! Lowering its attack points to 2700 and making it weaker than Kaiba's Blue Eyes. And now, in case you haven't noticed, you have no monsters on the field to protect your life points so, when Kaiba attacks you again, you'll be finished.'

Okay, now it made sense.

'Kaiba.' Yugi addressed him now. 'You need my help more than you think.'

Kaiba growled lowly. That was just annoying. There was no possible way he could deny that, without Yugi's Beast of Gilfer there, he would've lost his Blue Eyes. That could have easily cost him the duel. Yugi's trying to take all the glory for defeating their creature, but it was my Blue Eyes that did all the work! And we'll win this duel thanks to me. He forced himself to calm down. It was about as successful as it usually was. 'Well, my turn is over. But this duel has only just begun, and the next time I attack you two will be begging for mercy. So go ahead and make your pathetic move, Lumis. There's no hope for you now.'

'We'll see about that.' Lumis drew, the grin on his face now looking forced. He still chuckled and played his card though. 'I'll place this monster in defence mode.' The card appeared on the field, face-down. 'Then I'll place two more cards face-down and that shall end my turn.' The cards in question appeared on the field.

Kaiba saw, out of the corner of his eye, Yugi muttered something to himself.

Lumis pointed at Yugi. 'And now thanks to my two magic Mask cards that are still on the field, Mask of the Accursed and Mask of Dispel, you lose 1000 more life points, Yugi. So go ahead and draw a card. Nothing can save you now!' He roared in laughter.

Yugi drew, even as his life points dropped to 1500. 'All right, Lumis, I'll place one card face-down.' The card appeared on the field. 'And then I'll summon Alpha the Magnet Warrior.' It appeared, and emerged from its card, in attack mode. 'Alpha, attack now!' His second Magnet Warrior charged across the field and destroyed the defence monster.

Lumis ground his teeth.

YGO

'There's no way these Rare Hunters are gonna get away with this, Téa,' Mokuba said. 'As soon as my brother finds us, those jerks are gonna pay!'

Téa was always amazed at the devotion and conviction between those Kaiba brothers. It was odd, considering how Kaiba acted towards everyone else. Sharee had once called it "indicative". Thing was, she never told them what it indicated about those brothers.

'I just wish there was a way to get in touch with Seto and let him know where we are,' he went on. 'But they took my laptop. I guess we just gotta wait it out. Sooner or later, he'll track us down.'

Téa looked up. She'd been trying to get out that window before. She'd fallen short by no more than an inch. She hadn't been able to see exactly how far, but, either way, it should be the way to get Mokuba out. 'Maybe there's a way for you to get to him.'

'Huh?'

YGO

The ropes had cut off Joey's circulation. The pins and needles had already passed. His hands and feet no longer had any feeling in them. He hoped Yugi would find them and show up soon. A voice outside made Joey lift his head. His eyes glinted as the door opened.

'I trust you've made yourself at home in there.' The man who walked in was tall and had some kind of weird tattoo down the side of his face. 'Rise and shine.'

Joey wasn't actually sure it was a tattoo. He ground his teeth. 'So what's the deal with all of this, you caped clown?'

'You'll learn what we have planned for you soon enough,' the Rare Hunter said. 'For now you are to keep quiet and do what you're told to do.'

They seriously expected that? 'Or what? You Rare Hunters think you're so tough, don't you? Running around in your dark hoods!' Joey lifted his head. 'Why don't you untie me from this chair and I'll show you what being a tough guy's all about, you tattoo-faced freak of nature? So what's it gonna be? Let me go now and I'll go easy on you.'

The Rare Hunter lifted his hand.

'Hey! Keep your grubby paws off of me, will you? If you touch me, you'll be sorry!' Joey struggled against the ropes, but it didn't last for long.

Joey's world went black.

YGO

They had the boxes piled up again. This time Téa was not trying to get herself up to the window. 'Okay, Mokuba, this is the last one.' She handed him the box.

'Thanks, Téa.' Mokuba put the box on top.

Laughter through the door suddenly got her attention.

'I think I can reach now,' Mokuba said.

'Hurry up!' Téa insisted. 'Someone's coming!'

'Now's our chance!' Mokuba hopped up onto the top box. 'Come on. Let's go, Téa.'

Téa knew she couldn't get out. 'I'll stay. You go and find your brother and Yugi!'

The door opened. 'Hey, you!'

'Go!' Téa called.

'I'm going!' Mokuba grabbed the windowsill and hauled himself up.

The boxes fell…and so did Téa.

YGO

'Okay, Umbra,' Lumis said. 'Let's teach these fools a lesson, shall we?'

'All right!'

Shamee watched as Umbra drew. She knew, as Sharee did, that Kaiba's pride was the only problem here. If he put that aside and worked with the Pharaoh, instead of just next to him this duel, would already be over. They were the most skilled duellists in the world and the most powerful souls she'd ever encountered, she was sure. Pegasus had seen it too, in Kaiba at least. That was why he'd decided rather than simply killing him, he'd take his soul when he lost that duel.

Umbra looked at the card in his hand and then he set it. 'I'm gonna play Rogue Doll.' He laid the card and it appeared on the field, emerging from its card.

Kaiba scoffed. 'Don't you think that you're just a little too old to be playing with dollies, Rare Hunter? Especially ones that have such low attack points.'

Kaiba may have been too arrogant to think it through but Sharee was just as suspicious as Shamee herself was. Why play such a monster against the Blue Eyes in attack mode?

Lumis sniggered.

Umbra then, of all things, gave an offensive. 'All right, Rouge Doll, attack his Blue Eyes White Dragon now!'

Kaiba just smirked.

Shamee felt like he needed the prod. 'Kaiba, will you pull your head out of the sand and think? They've already displayed that they're not idiots.'

Kaiba didn't acknowledge her this time.

Lumis sniggered. 'It's time to activate the card I have face down!' The card in question flipped up. 'Mask of Weakness!' He laughed.

Kaiba suddenly saw the sense in her words. His pupils visibly retracted, even from the distance she was standing at. 'What is that?' he demanded. The card activated and clamped onto the Blue Eyes. 'What's your Mask doing to my Blue Eyes?' The Dragon roared in pain.

'Don't you know?' Lumis asked. 'Well, as its name suggests, Kaiba, my Mask of Weakness is weakening your Blue Eyes!' The Dragon's attack dropped to 2300. A second card flipped up and activated. 'And then I'll play Mask of Brutality, which gives Rouge Doll 1000 extra attack points, making it stronger than your Blue Eyes. It's all over, Kaiba!'

Shamee, knowing the Pharaoh had already set down a card against those ones, turned her gaze to him. After all, while Kaiba had been gloating through the whole duel, the Pharaoh had considered them genuine threats. He knew they weren't idiots and he knew, with Marik around, it wasn't going to be an easy duel – especially considering Kaiba's pigheadedness.

'Thanks to the magic cards, your Blue Eyes pales in comparison to my monster.' Umbra gave the order. 'Rouge Doll, smash attack!'

The Pharaoh acted. 'Not so fast, Umbra! There's two of us.' And it was clear they'd forgotten that. 'So I'll activate this trap, Mystical Refpanel!' The card flipped up. He waited for their grunts of annoyance. Kaiba looked pretty annoyed to be saved by him again. The Pharaoh ignored all that. 'Looks like you forgot you're duelling against a team and that trap card just saved my team-mate's Blue Eyes!' The card activated and the trap appeared on the field. The Mask of Brutality glowed.

'Hey, what happened to my monster's mask?' Umbra demanded.

The Pharaoh explained as it happened. 'My Mystical Refpanel takes the power of your magic card and transfers it to Kaiba's Dragon, which raises its attack points by 1000, making it stronger than your Rouge Doll.'

The attack of the Blue Eyes went up to 3300. 'Blue Eyes White Dragon attack!' Kaiba ordered. The Dragon roared and attacked. The blast crossed the field as Kaiba ground his teeth again. The Rogue Doll was destroyed.

'All right, Rare Hunters,' the Pharaoh said. 'Your monster has been destroyed.'

'Lumis, look what you've just done!' Umbra was quick to blame his team-mate as his life points dropped to 2000.

'What do you mean what I've done?' Lumis demanded.

'Because of you, I'm down to 2000 life points!' Umbra clenched his fist. 'So that's what I mean!'

'Oh, yeah?' Lumis demanded. 'Well you're blaming me for that? As I recall, Rouge Doll was your monster!'

How interesting.

What? That they don't work together well when they're losing?

Yeah. It's the perfect time…Shamee let her eyes flicker first to the Pharaoh. He was looking at his own team-mate. So he'd noticed too. Their teamwork was slipping as theirs was beginning to come together. It was clear in Kaiba's heart that he'd acknowledged he couldn't win this alone. Speaking of which, Shamee turned her gaze to Kaiba. I don't think I'll have to worry about that.

Umbra turned back to them. 'This battle is far from over! Your Blue Eyes may have defeated my monster this time but I have a card in my hand that will annihilate it for good!' He pulled a card from his hand. 'I place one card face-down and end my turn.' The card appeared on the field.

YGO

The Pharaoh watched as Kaiba took his turn.

'It's time to finish this duel. Let's go.' The Dragon roared behind him. 'Behold my Blue Eyes in all its fury! Prepare to lose this duel, Umbra! Blue Eyes, direct attack now!' The Dragon let its blast fly and it crossed the field, heading right for Umbra. 'Say goodbye to the rest of your life points, Umbra!'

The Pharaoh started. He realised, in the background, that it was more Yugi's worry than his own. Kaiba's making a hasty move and a selfish one too! He's so caught up in winning this duel on his own, he didn't even think about Umbra's face-down card. He could be falling right into a trap. The Pharaoh looked at the direction of the blast.

'I thought you'd try that!' Umbra activated his face-down card. 'So I'll activate this: Mask of Impregnability.' The Mask appeared on the field. 'It protects me from direct attacks for one turn. Oh, well. Nice try, Kaiba.' The blast hit the Mask and was stopped in its tracks. Umbra smirked. 'Looks like your Blue Eyes mirage failed!' He laughed. 'That was quite a predictable move, Kaiba, and one which I was well-prepared to deflect. So I have emerged untouched.'

But Kaiba was smirking himself. He turned to look at the other one. 'But what about your friend Lumis?'

'Ee?' Lumis sounded confused, however the Pharaoh quickly saw what Kaiba was doing.

'Yes, Lumis,' Kaiba said. 'Don't you wonder what would've happened had my Blue Eyes White Dragon attacked you instead of Umbra?' The smug look on his face got more pronounced. 'Would he have protected you with his magic card? Or would he have let you lose?'

Lumis looked sufficiently horrified. He then growled.

What's Kaiba doing? Yugi wondered in genuine confusion.

He's playing on the rift in their team. The Pharaoh easily explained it. He's widening it so that they're less of a team than we are and we can defeat them. Kaiba would rather do that than work together with us.

Kaiba went on. 'That's the danger in depending on someone else to help you when the reality is there's only one person you can trust: yourself. And if anyone tells you otherwise, they're lying.'

It had the desired effect. Lumis tensed and glared at his partner.

'What?' Umbra demanded. 'Don't listen to him! Of course I would've used my magic card to help you, even though I'm sure you wouldn't do the same thing for me, Lumis!'

Lumis growled.

Now I get it! The Pharaoh smiled in amusement as Yugi summed it up in his own words. He noticed that Lumis and Umbra were beginning to doubt one another's loyalty, so he's taking advantage of that and trying to destroy their team-trust!

Lumis was just glaring at his team-mate. He suddenly faced them, shaking in rage. 'This duel is over!' He took a few minutes and then drew. 'Now I'll draw.' He looked at the card he hand. 'The magic card, Pot of Greed. Thanks to this card, I can now draw two new cards from my deck, Kaiba.' He played the Pot of Greed and drew the cards he was allowed. He looked at them. 'Hm.' He took a card from his hand. 'I will play one card face-down.' The card appeared on the field. 'And then…I'll activate card exchange!' The card activated. 'Playing this card allows me to exchange my entire hand with that of any other duellist on the field.' He looked to his right. 'And I choose you, Umbra!'

'Huh?' Umbra looked nervous.

'If you're not going to use your cards to help me, then I'll simply take them,' Lumis said.

'How dare you!' Umbra snapped.

Lumis walked over. 'All right, Umbra, according to the rules we swap hands so give me all of your cards now.' He held his hand out.

'Here!' Umbra slapped the cards into Lumis's hand, his temper clearly foul.

'And now I will activate my face-down magic card.' Lumis did exactly that as he turned back to them. The card flipped up. 'Chosen One! If this works, you two are finished!'

The Pharaoh immediately realised what it was, and he didn't doubt Kaiba did too.

Lumis was gloating though, as he returned to his roof panel. 'I'll explain. First I'll place three cards face-down on the field.' He did so and all three cards appeared, in a circle. 'And in the centre of these three cards goes the Chooser.' The device appeared in the middle of the circle. Like most of their other cards, it had a mask on it. 'The Chooser will select one card at random. If it choses one of my two magic cards, all three cards go to the graveyard.'

'Those are my cards you're risking!' Umbra protested.

Lumis sneered at him. 'I'm afraid they're not your cards anymore, Umbra.'

Umbra gave him a hard glare. 'If this doesn't work you'll be sorry, Lumis.'

'Now, Chooser, make your selection!' Lumis ordered. As it started spinning, Lumis went on with his explanation. 'I forgot to mention that if the Chooser selects my third card, I'll be able to summon an all-powerful monster to the field without having to sacrifice a weaker monster first! And you'll both be finished.' He laughed maniacally.

Both the Pharaoh and Kaiba tensed in anticipation.

'It's starting to slow down.' Lumis said what everyone could see. 'It's choosing a card!' The Chooser stopped. A light shot out of the mask's forehead and hit the card it was facing. 'That's it!' Lumis chuckled. 'It's chosen my ultimate monster!'

The Pharaoh tensed. He saw, out of his peripheral vision, Kaiba did the same.

'Now the end is near!' Lumis crowed. As he laughed, the selected card flipped up on the field and the other two disappeared. 'I summon the Masked Beast Des Gardius!' The monster slashed its way out of its card and there it stood, long claws and three heads all woven together. Lumis crowed. 'It's unstoppable!'

Kaiba gasped. 'It's more powerful than my Blue Eyes White Dragon!'

The Pharaoh drew back, his mind racing.

'Very observant, Kaiba,' Lumis said. 'Des Gardius could demolish your pathetic Blue Eyes White Dragon with one swipe of its almighty claw!' He laughed.

Umbra looked at him. 'You're lucky the outcome of your move was successful.'

'Yes, and now Des Gardius has been unleashed. There's no stopping it! My masked creature is so powerful, you two pitiful duellists won't stand a chance against it. And when its through with you, your Blue Eyes will be in the graveyard and both of your Egyptian God Cards will belong to Master Marik!'

Oh, no! Yugi was frantic. We've got to defeat their monster, otherwise I may never see my friends again! But how can we take down something that powerful?

Lumis wasn't finished yet. 'And, now, the question is which one of you fools should I attack first? Decisions, decisions! I could attack you, Yugi, with your useless Magnet Warriors protecting you, I'd wipe out the rest of your life points. Then again…' His eyes shifted. '…there's Kaiba. I could attack your Blue Eyes and rid the field of that menace for good.'

'It doesn't really matter who you attack next!' Umbra insisted. 'It's only a matter of time before both of their life points reach zero, and they're sent plummeting into the Shadow Realm forever!'

The Pharaoh's eyes shifted back to the counter.

'Exactly!' Lumis crowed. 'So forget about rescuing your friends! They belong to Marik now!'