Chapter 3: From Champ to Chump

Horus walked up to Seto and Mokuba and attempted to shake hands with them, but they both refused the gesture.

"What?" Horus asked. "You don't even want to shake hands. Now that's just rude you realize that right."

"I've already had enough of you Horus and I've only spoken to you twice in my life." Seto said, "I just want to get this little duel over with so I can get on with my life."

"Suit yourself; let's get this show on the road then." Horus said.

He then proceeded to remove the P-Coat he wore and revealed an elbow-length sleeve Olive green shirt on. He wore a leather gauntlet on his right wrist. He then removed his sunglasses to reveal his eyes. When Seto looked him in the eyes, Horus's eyes glowed red as if they were ablaze with fire. His hair a dull red color as well and slicked back so his entire forehead was visible.

"Take your position Seto." Horus said as he pulled out a small box from his jeans pocket.

The box was made of gold plastic with a Velcro top. He opened the lid and pulled out a deck of cards. The cards were encased in sleeves that on one side had a picture of a close up of a dragon's eye. He then held the deck in his hand and spread out the cards so Seto could see the eye of the dragon staring back at him.

"Today you will see a dragon mightier than even your blue-eyes." Horus proclaimed

"Yeah right, my brother's the World Champ!! He can beat anyone, even you!!" Mokuba said.

As he finished saying this, he could hear a voice in his head that sounded like Shinobi.

"So your brother can beat anyone you say. Can you back that up? Remember, he's never seen anything like us." The voice said.

Maximus saw Shinobi looking at Mokuba intensely, walked over and whispered into Shinobi's ear. "Did you do what I think you did?"

"No! You know I wouldn't do that!!" Shinobi whispered in response.

Maximus only chuckled in response. Mokuba, startled from the voice in his head, decided to take a seat and watch the duel. He then heard the same voice again calling out to him inside his head.

"Would I Mokuba! Mwahahaha!!!" the voice said before fading out.

Yugi, Tea, Tristan and Joey all did the same. Meanwhile Seto and Horus climbed up opposite sides of the dueling platform and took their respective places.

"Let's Duel!" Seto barked out.

"And duel we shall" Horus said in his typical non-chalant style.

The holographic projectors on both sides of the field sprung out and activated and a spotlight overtop of the platform turned on while the background lights dimmed. All attention was now on the platform.

"I should probably tell you now." Horus started "Here at Game Sanctuary we play Duel Monsters a bit differently that the way you are used to. All of the main rules are still going to be in place, but instead of the standard 4000 Life Points we are going to be playing with 8000."

"Fine by me. It will give me more time to beat some sense into your thick head." Seto arrogantly proclaimed.

Horus just chuckled. The life point counters for both players were set to 8000.

"I'll start things off if you don't mind." Horus said.

He drew the standard 5 cards and when he drew his card for his turn he picked up the card, tossed it into the air and caught it on the way down.

"Get ready because here it comes. I summon Horus the Black Flame Dragon Level 4 in Attack Mode."

Horus placed the card on the board causing the projectors to render a large version of it on the field. Out of the picture on the card emerged the dragon. It did not look very menacing or even very strong to everyone watching. In fact it looked more like a hawk than a dragon.

Kaiba chuckled "That's your all powerful Dragon???!!!! It looks more like a little birdie than a dragon and it only has 1600 Attack points.

"There you go again Seto" Horus retorted "All about the power with you. You'll see though. This is only phase one!"

"Enough of this! Now I'll Summon Spear Dragon to the field." Kaiba said. He placed his card down and his own dragon emerged. "Spear Dragon, attack with Cyclone Blast!!!"

Kaiba's Dragon opened its mouth and fired a ball of wind at Horus's dragon. The ball of wind enveloped Horus's dragon and shattered it to pieces which quickly dissipated as the projectors registered the card was destroyed. Horus's life points also dropped to 7700 as a result of the attack. Seto's Spear Dragon then switched to defensive position after the attack.

"All right Bro!! Way to take out his dragon!!" Mokuba cheered from the stands.

Yugi wasn't so confident in Kaiba's victory.

"I wouldn't be bragging right now Mokuba, this duel has only begun and from the looks of things I'd say this Horus person won't go down without a fight."

"Cork it Yugi!" Seto shouted from the platform. "Haven't you had enough embarrassment for one lifetime? You've already been proven to be nothing compared to me. Do you honestly think this Horus chump will be any different?"

Horus looked as confident as he always was, despite the defeat of his dragon.

"Nice shot, I'll give you credit for drawing first blood" he said, "but you have no idea what you're in for."

"I'll be prepared" Seto responded "I'll end my turn by placing one card face down on the field. Go ahead and draw." Horus began to draw his card and Seto shouted "Reveal face down card Drop-Off!!! Discard your card to the graveyard"

Horus looked a bit upset at this play "You made me discard my Exiled Force. You stuck up jerk!!! You'll pay for that." He said

"Really, How??? I don't see any monsters on your side of the field. Maybe you don't have what it takes to beat a World Champion." Seto shouted to his opponent.

Horus chuckled even louder than before.

"Oh Seto, you're making this fun!!" He said. "I'll start by summoning Pitch-Black Warwolf in attack mode." There emerged on Horus's side of the field a wolf type monster with black fur, and a long spear for a weapon. His Attack strength was shown at 1600, the same the Level 4 Horus dragon. "Next up I'll give up 800 life points to use Premature Burial and revive my dragon." As Horus's life points decreased to 6900 a beam of light emerged on Horus's field and the floor quaked and broke open and the Level 4 Horus dragon emerged from beneath as though rising from the grave.
"Now Horus, Attack!!" Horus shouted, immediately Horus Level 4 opened his beak and released a stream of fireballs at Kaiba's Spear Dragon. Kaiba's dragon was destroyed immediately and shattered into pieces. "Go Warwolf, Impaling Thrust attack!!!" Horus's wolf leaped forward towards Seto and thrust his spear at him registering a direct attack on Seto's life points dropping them down to 6400.

As Horus's wolf returned to its position following the attack, a beam of light encircled Horus the Black Flame Dragon. The Dragon screeched and appeared to grow.

"What's happening?" Tea shouted from the stands

Horus explained the light around his dragon. "Since my dragon destroyed one of Seto's monsters it is now allowed to grow stronger. So say good-bye to Horus the Black Flame Dragon Level 4, and hello to Horus the Black Flame Dragon Level 6!!!!"

The beam of light encircling the dragon faded away, and when it had done so, Horus the Black Flame Dragon had grown. It now was much larger and fiercer looking. When it spread its wings and screamed the holographic projectors on the arena began to flicker wildly. After several seconds they flickered and shut off. Strangely all of the monsters and cards on the field remained as they were as if nothing had happened.

"Relax; it does that every time Level 6 comes out." Horus said. "So Seto, now I've got an even stronger dragon to play with. And his attack strength is 2300 so you might want to keep that in mind. I'll now set one card face down on the field and say your turn."

"My Move!!" Seto shouted he still believed that he would turn the duel around and defeat Horus. "I'll set down two cards and end my turn." He said

Meanwhile in the stands, Yugi and his friends were still in shock at the sight of Horus's dragon.

"So that dragon can grow stronger every time it destroys one of Kaiba's monsters?" Joey asked.

"Yes, and if that's it's Level 6 form I really don't want to know what will happen if that destroys a monster." Tea said

"Kaiba's in a bad spot right now. He has no monsters on the field and Horus has that dragon to contend with." Yugi said "I have a feeling that Kaiba really is going to be defeated horribly."

Horus began his turn "Let's continue shall we??" he said "I shall draw…."

"And as you do so I'll activate Thunder of Ruler" Seto interrupted "Looks like you won't be attacking this turn now thanks to my trap."

Horus just shrugged "OK!!" he said "I'll just Summon to the field Element Saurus in Attack mode. And let you go ahead."

Even with out the projectors the monster materialized on the field as if they were there. It too screamed loudly and fiercely.

"Now because I have a creature of Fire my dinosaur gains 500 attack points giving it a total of 2000." Horus told his opponent

"Would you cork it?" Seto retorted "I know what Element Saurus does; I am the World Champion you realize. And I think it's time to teach you that no one messes with me and the power in my deck. Your dragon still looks like a little birdie and he about to get even smaller."

"Well I think I know what you're going to do this turn." Horus said
"Good, cause here it comes." Seto replied "I draw." As he looked at his card he developed that same grin that he had when he defeated Yugi at the World Championships. "Well" Seto began "It looks like it's going to be even worse than you expected this turn. I activate, Autonomous Action Unit. By giving up 1500 Life points I can revive any monster from YOUR graveyard. And I choose Exiled Force." Seto's life points dropped down to 4900 and the group of warriors known as the Exiled Force emerged from underneath the floor just as Horus had done earlier with Premature Burial. Only this time the monster was under Seto's control. Now I activate Exiled Forces Special Ability, by sacrificing it I can destroy one of your monsters. And I choose your Dragon. Go Exiled Force; destroy Horus the Black Flame Dragon!!" One by one each member of the Exiled Force leapt forward towards Horus the Black Flame Dragon and grabbed on to him tightly. At this Horus screamed out "No one messes with my dragon. Activate Trap Card: Shift. This will allow me to choose another of my monsters to destroy in place of my Dragon. I'll give up my Warwolf. Sorry puppy, although you're cool and all it's a necessary sacrifice."

As Horus's trap activated Horus the Black Flame Dragon and Pitch Black Warwolf switched places with each other so that the Exiled Force now held onto the wolf and not the dragon. Exiled Force finally squeezed hard enough that it destroyed itself and Horus's wolf together.

"And that was only the beginning of your troubles." Seto barked out "Now I summon La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp to the field." A green cloud appeared on the field. Soon it developed into the head and torso of a man with large muscles and a long handlebar mustache. Seto then continued "Now my Genie only has 1800 attack points so I need to do something about your dragon. And that's what my face down card is for. Go Shrink!! Reduce his dragon's attack power in half!!!"

There appeared a glow around Horus's Dragon as the Magic Card took effect on it. But Horus began to screech wildly and fiercely as it attempted to resist the power of Shrink.

Horus shouted at his dragon "Fight!!!! Fight it off!!!!"

Seto ordered La Jinn to attack Horus's dragon. As the Genie approached Horus's dragon and proceeded to throw a punch the glow around the dragon faded away and the punch seemed to not even phase the great dragon.

"Horus, counterattack. Crimson Dusk!" Shouted Horus form his platform.

At once the dragon rose up and began to beat his large wings repeatedly until what appeared to be a cyclone made of dust was swirling around Seto's Genie. Once the storm was large enough the dragon released a stream of fire upon it, lighting the dust on fire and reducing the Genie trapped within the inferno to ashes and causing Seto to lose another 500 life points leaving him with 4400.

Seto could not believe what had just happened. "What's going on here!!!!? Your Dragon should be destroyed. How did you do that you cheater!!" he screamed

"Yeah, how did he do that?" Tristan said from the stands

Horus just smiled as the beam of light once again encircled his dragon. "Seto, Seto, Seto. You really disappoint me. I would have imagined that as the World Champion you of all people would have known that at its Level 6 form Horus the Black Flame Dragon has a special ability that makes him immune to all magic. And since he destroyed a monster in battle again, you know what that means!!!"

Mokuba could no longer sit back and watch his brother get beaten. He got up and ran to the platform

"Big Brother!!! I'm going to cheer you on from right here." He shouted from just below Seto's platform. But Seto was too distraught by the sight of Horus's Dragon growing again to worry about his brother's cheers. Seto knew that he was now in deep trouble and needed to do something quickly to stop it.

"Arggggggggggggh" Seto said growing frustrated "Fine I'll activate Pot of Greed and draw two more cards. Hmmmmmmm interesting. I'll set down these two cards face down and end my turn."

Horus smiled and began to laugh manically "I told you that you would see a dragon mightier than the Blue-Eyes and here it comes. Behold the ultimate form of Horus the Black Flame Dragon. I give you Horus the Black Flame Dragon Level 8!"

At this the beam of light once again faded and the dragon had grown ever larger. It was easily 20 to 30 feet tall and had a wingspan as wide and the entire dueling platform. As the dragon roared with life. Everyone covered up his or her ears except for The Saints.

"Wow!!" Tea exclaimed. "So that's Horus's ultimate form."

"I'm sure it has some kind of power that will blow Kaiba away." Joey said

Horus began his turn by once again flipping his card into the air and catching it on the way down. But Seto once again interrupted. "I'll play another Thunder of Ruler. Looks like I just keep escaping your grasp Horus. You may have a powerful monster out there, but you just can't do much to hurt me with it can you."

"I honestly don't care about power Seto." Horus retorted. "You know with all your talk about power it's kind of funny that I've been curb-smacking you all duel long. Where's the Seto Kaiba I know? Where's the guy who stopped at nothing to prove that he was the best in the world? Realize you cannot hide behind your traps forever."

"I'm just biding my time." Seto said. "It's all part of my strategy"

"I know your strategy inside and out Seto." Horus said "All you do is summon out powerful monsters and do whatever it takes to keep your opponents from summoning out anything that can stop it. While that's not a bad plan in itself, it's all you do and it's too easy to predict. I've got more combos and tactics than you can imagine. Only trouble is I can't show them all to you in this duel. So go ahead and show me what you've got."

"I will" exclaimed Seto. "Now I'll activate my face down card Call of the Haunted. This will allow me to revive my La Jinn from the graveyard." There appeared on the field a gravestone, and a dark mist began to cover it. Slowly the green smoke of La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp emerged from out of the mist as if it had risen from the grave. Once the Genie assumed its form on the field, the gravestone disappeared. Seto then continued "Next I'll sacrifice him in order to summon Byser Shock." As Seto's Genie vanished in its place stood a large machine made of magnets. Its Attack Strength was shown only to be 800, which paled in comparison to the 3000 that Horus Level 8 possessed or even the 2000 that Element Saurus had. "Now Byser Shock's special ability returns my face down card to my hand, but that's fine. I'll just replace it facedown and activate the Magic Card Mind Control and take control of your dragon.

As the magic of Mind Control began making its way towards Horus Level 8, Horus shouted out from his platform "Activate Red Flames of Negativity" At once Horus Level 8's eyes glowed a bright red and fired beams of fire from them and destroyed the beams of Mind Control about half way across the arena. Once again everyone became shocked at the power of Horus.

"Did you guys see that?" Exclaimed Yugi "His dragon stopped Kaiba's magic card!"

"This guy really has got Kaiba right where he wants him." Joey said

Seto was furious. "What was that!!" he screamed

"Oh that." Horus said "Why that is the special ability of Horus the Black Flame Dragon Level 8. At this, his ultimate form, my dragon has the ability to negate and destroy any magic card I desire simply by saying so. So basically I can play magic and you cannot. It sucks doesn't it??"

"Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhh" Seto responded "You won't be laughing for much longer." Just then Seto became blinded by bright light. As he shielded himself from the light he began to hear voices in his head. They were laughing. Shortly after the laughing began the light disappeared and Seto had a vision. He was walking down a street and everyone was pointing and laughing at him. This greatly disturbed and angered him even more.
"I will not have people laughing at me!!!" he shouted.

Over by the nearby computer monitor stations, Maximus watched Seto's reaction to the vision. He began to laugh. Shinobi tapped his shoulder

"Why did you do that??" Shinobi asked

"Aww come on, I just wanted to have some fun with this too." Maximus answered.

Meanwhile the duel continued "Fine, let's see what you can do. It's your turn." Seto said. Horus drew his card. Seto did not interrupt this time, nor did he activate any cards. He just stood there grinning. Horus just looked at Seto with his usual look of confidence and proceeded. "Time to put you out of your misery. You've suffered long enough. I'll have Element Saurus attack your Byser Shock."

As Horus's dinosaur lunged forward to attack Seto sprung into action. "You fool!! Now I'm going to teach you why I am the best duelist in the world. I activate my Crush Card Virus!!! This will destroy every strong monster on your field, then in your hand, and finally in your deck!! The time has come to turn this duel around and show you that my skill is far superior to everyone else's. Especially yours Horus."

Seto's card activated and a pink cloud began coating both Element Saurus and Horus the Black Flame Dragon. Seto began to laugh manically just as Horus had done when the level 8 dragon emerged.

"Yeah!! Way to go bro! I knew you'd pull out a way to win" Mokuba shouted in sheer jubilation.

He felt that his brother was finally about to take control of this game.

"Uh-Oh guys. Kaiba's using that Crush Card." Tea said.

"This might be just what he needed to turn this around." Tristan said

Just as the cloud and completely enveloped both of Horus's monsters. There emerged on Horus's side of the field a burst of energy in the form of a sphere. This energy sphere floated out onto the field and began to absorb the Virus cloud away from Horus's monsters onto itself. The Sphere then exploded and Horus felt a shock run down his body. He gritted his teeth in pain and clutched his side for a few moments. His life points decreased from 6900 to 5400. Meanwhile Element Saurus, now free from the virus resumed its attack on Byser Shock. Element Saurus ripped its teeth into the metal frame of Seto's monster and tore it to pieces dropping Seto's life points by 1200 leaving him with 3200 left.

"NO!! NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! This can't be happening!!!" Seto screamed "What was that trick you pulled Horus????!!!!!"

"That trick is one of my favorites." Horus stated. "It's a Quick-Play Magic Card called My Body as a Shield. By giving up 1500 of my life points I can negate and destroy any card my opponent activates that has the effect of destroying one or more monsters on the field. Namely you're Crush Card. Now Horus!!!!!! ATTACK!!!!"

The dragon began to beat its massive wings and started to fly off of the platform. When it was a good 10 feet off the ground it held its wings unfurled and reared its head back.

Horus screamed "Black-Heart Fire Blast!!!" At this command Horus's dragon unleashed a massive burst of fire as black as night directly at Seto. The blast connected and Seto was sent reeling. He was knocked right off his feet and onto his back. He lost 3000 life points leaving him with only 200 left. The dragon then beat its wings and returned gently to the arena.

"Hey Seto, how was that??" Horus half jokingly asked his opponent. "Trouble is I can't finish you this turn, but don't worry. It'll all be over next turn."
Seto had one last chance to find a way to destroy Horus's dragon. He slowly climbed to his feet and drew his card, his face glistened with hope. It was Cyber Jar.
"It's not over yet." The defiant World Champion proclaimed. "I'll place this monster face down in defense mode and end my turn."

Horus drew his own card. He looked over at Seto Kaiba, the World Duel Monster Champion and said "Dude, I feel sorry for you. I summon Mystic Swordsman Level 2 in attack mode." The Mystic Swordsman was a young boy with purple armor and a sword. "Now I'll have my swordsman attack your facedown card. And since its face down in defense mode my swordsman's special ability kicks in, destroying your monster instantly without ever flipping it face up."

Mystic Swordsman ran up to Seto's monster card and with his free hand picked it up. He then proceeded to rapidly slash away with his sword until the card was reduced to shreds. At this Seto could hide his feelings no longer. His face was full of absolute fear. He knew that he was beaten and knew that Horus made good on his promise to show him what a true champion was capable of. Seto looked down at his deck and a single tear ran down his cheek. After about 10 seconds of silence he finally spoke up.

"Enough!! That's enough, you win!! You Win Horus!! I surrender!!! "Seto said rather softly. Placing his hand on top of his deck. Seto's life points dropped to zero and the duel ended.

Amazingly the hologram projectors turned back on and all of the monsters, including Horus the Black Flame Dragon Level 8 disappeared back into their respective cards. Horus scooped up his deck and placed it back into the gold box and returned the gold box to his jeans pocket. He then descended the platform and joined Maximus and Shinobi over by the computers.

"Good show as always Horus." Maximus said

"Aye, thank you my good man!" Horus responded "Hey Shinobi, how did we do?"

Shinobi looked over at the computer monitor for a moment, and then looked back at Horus. "According to the reports we got about 45 million." Shinobi then turned and saw Seto and Mokuba sitting together at the base of the dueling platform. Aww isn't that cute. The Kaiba brothers are being all cuddly with each other. Let's go traumatize them some more."

Meanwhile Yugi, Joey, Tea and Tristan were all speechless. They had just seen Seto Kaiba humiliated and driven to concede by a man who beat him in a Duel Monsters duel.

"See that guys, just like I said: They can make even World Champions cringe." Tea said

"I almost feel bad for Kaiba. I always wanted him to lose, but I never though I'd see someone come along and make him look this bad." Tristan said

"Don't pity that stuck up jerk." Joey said "He got exactly what he deserved. A whooping he won't soon forget."

The Saints walked over to Seto and Mokuba. Horus stood in the middle and Shinobi and Maximus were at his sides. The three stopped about three feet away from the brothers and looked down upon them scornfully.

"Buzz off Mokuba." Shinobi barked. Mokuba took several steps away Then Horus spoke

"Now you see Seto Kaiba. All of your so-called power amounted to absolutely nothing. All of your speeches about your superiority have failed you. You have just been beaten like a redheaded stepchild who took the last biscuit on Thanksgiving. Now I am going to allow you to keep your title of "World Champion" but this duel will haunt you forever, as a reminder that you can call yourself the best all you want. But there will always be someone out there that is better than you. Today I was that someone. If ever you desire a rematch with us, feel free to return anytime. But until you change your attitude and your style, you can expect the same results over and over."

Maximus spoke up "May I break the news to him?"

"Sure. He ought to know just how humiliated he really was today." Horus said

"And as a final note before you boys go on your not-so merry way." Maximus began "Using the magic of those computers over there we were able to broadcast this duel on Satellite Television. About 45 Million people just watched the great Seto Kaiba get beaten like never before. And tomorrow they'll all be laughing at you. Just like before."

Seto's eyes glowed with rage. "You sick twisted freaks!!! I'll make all of you pay for this!!"

He lunged at Horus but Horus raised his arm and showed Seto the leather Gauntlet on his wrist. At once Seto froze in mid-jump and began to feel something take over his body. It was as if Horus was controlling his movements. He could feel himself lose control of his body. He began to button up his jacket and tuck the tail through his crotch. He then grabbed Mokuba and his cards and headed for the exit. His footsteps could be heard all the way up the stairs. Maximus followed the Kaiba brothers up the stairs to the front doors as he had the key and needed to unlock the door for them to leave.

About a minute later Maximus returned to the basement and joined the rest of the crowd.

"Well the Kaibas have left the building." He reported. "And Seto certainly left with his tail between his legs I might add."