MythCreatorWriter: I agree? Lol. Yeah, I don't see this duel as being as horrible and non-enjoyable as the rest, as I've said before, but also because it's really short. I mean, it's only 2 episodes(which I don't know if that's short for a duel or not, haha, but it seems short) but there's also the fact that during the Gozaburo duel, both episodes are very choppy because other stuff is going on which means the duel is even shorter because it's not a full two episodes. So it should be done in a jiffy!(just like how I got the first half of it done in one chapter with the ability to show Mokuba's POV too, so that's rad) I'm glad you notice that, I do put a lot of humor in my stories, it's just very subtle or within the seriousness of the mood, which I think makes it more funny and ridiculous. Plus, I say what everyone is ALWAYS thinking during certain scenes, "Um, can Noah even do that? I mean, isn't that cheating? No? No one's gonna call him out on that? Okay… cool…?" Yeah, the Gozaburo burning story… uh, so I came up with that on the spot. Actually my step bro helped me come up with that, and it's not gonna be in the other story because I'm already too far ahead in it and I can't go back. Which makes me sad because it would've made a fantastic scene(I could've replaced it with the Mokuba throwing up scene, hahaha) Oh well… I wish I would get back my inspiration for that story because awesome stuff is coming up and I wanna write about it!o Yeah, I work especially hard to come up with artistic chapter titles; trying to make them as in depth to match up to the name of the story and all. And I get those kinds of death threats a lot, hahaha, love ya too! Thanks for the review!

.Zira: I've totally seen your username before! Have you reviewed past stories of mine? Or maybe you recently favorited me… either way, glad to hear from you! Thanks for the review!

WhiteAsukalover: I'm always working as fast as I can!:] Thanks for the review!

AZ300: Story of my life basically… well, when dealing with my younger brothers that is. Hahaha, thanks for the review! I'm glad you're liking the story!

Chapter 29: Battles That Wage On

-S-

I wasn't scared. I didn't feel fear when I walked onto that platform and watched Gozaburo step onto the platform opposite from me. I didn't feel a lot of things one might feel when about to have the showdown of his life. This was the moment I had been waiting for, this was my chance to really prove to myself and to my step father that I was the best and always had been the best. And yet I felt… absolutely… nothing. I watched Gozaburo with a blank face as he shuffled his deck and placed it down.

"Do I sense nervousness from you, Seto?" I was far from nervous. I said nothing. "Well, if you're ready, then we can begin." I placed my deck down in front of me.

"I'm ready," was all I could say. The field in front of us brightened, indicating that the duel was about to begin. We both drew six cards into our hand. I didn't even look at them; I didn't know what to think next. I had a feeling Gozaburo would take the privilege of going first. I didn't care.

"For my first move, I'll play the card Painful Choice. This magic card allows me to pick any five cards from my deck, show them to you, and you get to decide which one goes to my hand while the other four go to my graveyard."

"I know what it does, Gozaburo. Don't take me for a fool." Gozaburo smirked.

"Well alright then, I have chosen my five cards." Five images of five different cards appeared in front of Gozaburo. I reeled back in shock when I realized that the cards he chose were the five pieces that went with Exodia, The Forbidden One. "Did you think I didn't do my research? I've made in-depth study of your deck and I know how to defeat you."

I remembered that day so well; the way that Yugi had defeated me… his Exodia defeating all three of my Blue-Eyes. I hadn't seen it coming. Gozaburo looked content with the reaction he was getting from me. I brought myself back on purpose and washed away the emotion on my face, replacing it with burning determination.

"That's in the past. Even so, it doesn't matter because I'm about to send four of those pieces to the graveyard." I stated. I understood the way that Exodia worked, once a player held all five pieces in his hand he automatically wins, but why would Gozaburo send all four of them to the graveyard? He must've been up to something, I concluded.

"Then what are you waiting for? Didn't I teach you that hesitation is a sign of weakness when facing your enemies?" Gozaburo replied with a chuckle.

"Alright then, I chose the Right Arm of the Forbidden One as the card that will go to your hand." I said quickly, watching all the others disappear off the field and into the graveyard. Gozaburo definitely had a plan in mind as he played out his turn.

"Alright then, I'll bring the Right Arm to my hand and I'll play one card face down in defense mode. That'll be it… for now. Soon though, I'll be the one who will be saying 'Checkmate'."

"We'll see about that, but for now, it's my move!"

-M-

"Could you move any slower?" Joan asked, walking backwards as she watched me drag my feet. I looked up from the blankly white ground and glared at her.

"Oh, I'm sorry, is this too slow for you? Maybe I'd be able to move faster if we could take a break! It doesn't have to be a long break, just a five minute break…" I said with frustration. Joan rolled her eyes at me.

"What's the point of taking a break? Don't you want to get out of here? If I were in your shoes, I'd be running all across this place trying to get to that exit." I shook my head. It was no use trying to convince her otherwise. Even without the armor, Joan was a pretty hard headed person. Only a few moments ago I had hated her guts for ditching me before, but even now… I was still thankful for her company.

The emptiness of this place would've gotten to me otherwise. It was just nice having a friend of some sort to talk to. I decided I would try to pick up my pace and stop dragging my feet. Joan seemed to notice. She smiled.

"That's the ticket. We'll be there in no time now."

"Where is this place that you're taking me too anyway? I mean, is it still far away? I feel like we've been walking forever." Suddenly Joan stopped walking completely and was looking up.

"Actually, we might already be here. Look." She pointed straight ahead and I looked in that direction. I wasn't as happy as I imagined I would be to see the exit. I was more confused than anything else. I turned towards Joan.

"I don't get it. That's just a giant pyramid. That can't be the exit." And that's what it was. In front of us was a large, golden pyramid that was so tall, I couldn't even see the top from where I was standing. It was a different sort of pyramid though, but it looked like there was a kind of stairway going up the side of it. I turned back towards Joan. "How is that the exit? I mean, is there some doorway in the pyramid? Do we have to go down to the basement or something?" I asked. Joan shook her head.

"Oh no, we have to do the exact opposite."

"What do you mean?"

"You see that flight of stairs? Yeah, you have to climb those. The exit is right at the top of the pyramid." My jaw dropped open.

"You have to be kidding me… I can't climb that! I can't even see the top of that thing, it's so huge! There has to be another way… there just has to." I started twisting all around; looking for another possibly smaller pyramid we could climb instead. There had to be another exit. Climbing that thing would take so much more time than I was willing to spend in this place.

"Isn't there another nearby?!" I begged, hoping Joan really didn't expect me to have the energy to climb that pyramid after dragging me halfway across No Man's Land to even get here in the first place. But Joan looked serious about it. I frowned.

"You mean it? I really have to climb that thing to get out of here?" Joan put her hands on her hips as she gazed at the golden structure in front of us.

"Yep. This is the only way out," Joan smiled towards me, a gesture I was not expecting at all, "So you ready to do this? Do you want to get back home to your brother?" She was right. If I couldn't do this for myself, I at least had to be man enough to do this for Seto. After everything I suffered through, I should've been able to climb one pyramid, right?

I nodded my head.

"I'm ready," was all I could say. We both made our way towards the pyramid.

-S-

"I place one card face down and summon Vorse Raider in attack mode!" I said, placing the cards down in front of me. My Vorse Raider monster's hologram appeared below me on the battle field. I looked over at Gozaburo's side of the field. He had one card face down. There was a possibility it would be more powerful than my Vorse Raider, than again, knowing Gozaburo… he was probably bluffing. I decided to attack.

"Vorse Raider, attack Gozaburo's face down monster!" I commanded. I watched as my Vorse Raider sliced through Gozaburo's one defense. The card flipped and revealed itself to be the Right Arm of the Forbidden One, the card I had just allowed him to put into his hand. It immediately went to the graveyard. Now I was unsure of his strategy again.

"Why would you put that card on the field?"

"You're about to find out!" Gozaburo said with confidence. "Now that I have what I need, I can do this." Gozaburo drew another card from his deck and then placed another one from his hand onto the field.

"I'll activate Contract with Exodia." Now I was totally confused. I had never seen that card before. I didn't know what that meant for me. What could it do? Gozaburo began explaining himself, "Before I could activate this magic card, I had to make sure all five pieces of Exodia were destroyed. Next, I'll give up 2000 life points which will allow me to summon Exodia Necross." My eyes widened completely. I was freaking out.

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Gozaburo's face darkened.

"Seto, it's over, so prepare for defeat. I'm about to summon the most feared creature in duel monsters; the mighty Exodia Necross!" Gozaburo's life points went all the way down to 2000 as a huge black version of Exodia arose from the field in front of me; I noticed it was almost identical to the real Exodia. I was baffled and slightly afraid. I had never seen this monster before and I didn't know what it was capable of.

Then I realized it only had 1800 attack points. My Vorse Raider had 1900 attack points, meaning my monster was still stronger.

"Gozaburo, it looks like you've made a slight miscalculation, because your Exodia is 100 points short of my Vorse Raider's attack power. My monster is still stronger than yours!"

"Never judge a monster by its strength. There is so much more to duel monsters than just attack points. You should know that. Now Exodia, attack Seto's monster now!" What was he doing? Attacking me? But he wasn't strong enough… or was he? His Exodia Necross launched a punch directly towards my monster, whom retaliated by throwing his sword back at him. Both collided, but nothing happened. Exodia Necross was still on the field and Gozaburo's life points was brought down another 100, now leaving him with 1900 life points left.

"What's going on? Explain what just happened. My Vorse Raider should've destroyed it."

"My Exodia Necross cannot be destroyed by another monster. And in addition, it gains 1000 attack points every time it engages in a battle." That was going to make things… complicated. That brought his Exodia's attack points up to 2800 now. "Now don't you see? My monster is invincible, defeat is immanent!" I regained my calm composure and went to start my turn.

"Not quite, for now it's my move." The fact that his monster couldn't be destroyed was a tricky concept, but it didn't make his monster invincible. There were other ways of destroying monsters, and I knew all about them. "I summon Spirit Ryu onto the field." I flipped my trap card that was on the field too.

"Now I'll activate my Burst Breath card! This card sacrifices my Spirit Ryu and destroys every monster on the field with fewer than 1000 defense points. And because Exodia Necross has 0 defense points; that means your Exodia is destroyed." My Spirit Ryu was destroyed, my Vorse Raider remained on the field because of its 1200 defense points and Gozaburo's Exodia Necross… was still standing? But how? Gozaburo looked very pleased with himself.

"I see that you're confused, let me explain; my monster is granted special effects from the five Exodia cards in my graveyard. As long as the Left Leg is in my graveyard, no magic card can destroy my Exodia Necross and its Right Leg protects it from all of your trap cards. The Left Arm ensures that my Exodia is protected from the special effects of your monsters, and its Right Arm grants my creature the ability to gain 1000 attack points with every battle. And finally Exodia's head… this protects my beast from being destroyed by any of your monsters in battle."

I was shocked by all of this. I mean, it sounded like total bull shit to begin with, but now I just couldn't believe it! Even with the five pieces of Exodia in the graveyard, each of them was still powerful! I was starting to come to a brutal realization.

I couldn't destroy his Exodia Necross with magic, trap, or monster cards—making it… invincible.

Gozaburo's side of the field filled with his laughter.

"You may as well give up and admit defeat, Seto. There's nothing you can do to stop me!" I looked down at my cards in my hand and on my field. No… it couldn't end like this. It wouldn't, I wasn't going to allow it. It shouldn't end this way… that much I knew for sure.

"I refuse to be beaten by you…" I said in a low voice, looking down at my cards. I would do what I can for now to stay alive, and hope that a solution would come to me soon. "I place another card face down and switch Vorse Raider into defense mode!"

-M-

"You know what sucks?"

"What?"

"Having you watch me climb up a giant pyramid while you hover over each step without having to move a single muscle." Joan smirked as she batted her wings at me, almost causing me to fall over backwards. She flew forward and caught my shirt before I did. The annoyed look on my face, though, was unchanged. "Seriously, when did you become able to fly?"

"I told you, came with the promotion! And you know; you never truly realize how useful wings are until you come to situations like these… I mean, I could just fly around this thing forever…!" Joan said with joy, shooting up into the air and soaring all around. I frowned again, that was all I could do. She was so lucky…

"Attention! Can all of you hear me?" Joan stopped and looked up. "This is extremely important!"

"Hey, did you hear that?" She asked me. I had. It sound an awful lot like…

"Noah," I said quietly to myself, looking to the empty, white sky.

-S-

"This is a warning to all of you!" I heard a voice say over an intercom. I jumped a bit and looked up. Noah? What was he doing now? "Look, the virtual world that you're all in is about to be destroyed."

"Noah…" I said to myself.

"I'm so sorry for the way I treated you all, but now a satellite is set to destroy the main computer system. When that computer shuts down, the virtual world will collapse. You must escape or your minds will be lost forever!" I felt my body tighten, and suddenly it was harder to breathe.

So now the virtual world was going to collapse and if I didn't hurry… it would take my mind with it. And by the sound of Noah's voice, it didn't sound like we had much time.

We needed to get out of this place as soon as possible.

A/N: Can you feel it, guys? The excitement? The anticipation? The rush of blood to the head?? It's all just so intoxicating! I couldn't be anymore pleased with the chapter I just presented you with! I was so worried about time and how everything would fit, but everything worked out gloriously and it matched exactly the point I wanted to reach! Now hopefully the next chapter will work out just as well, but you can never be sure. The clock is not only ticking for our heroes, but also for myself! I feel just as much of the pressure as the characters do right now! I mean, I GOTTA WRITE THIS BAD BOY!(it's…going…to be…AWESOME!) Anyways, thanks for reading and for once, I can't wait for the next chapter!

P.S: Oh in talking about the chapter itself, I know I'm making Seto curse more than I usually do but I feel like it's appropriate given the fact that he's dueling against Gozaburo. Yeah, just thought I'd mention it. KBYE!