MythCreatorWriter: Oh of course I've got a lot still in my bag of tricks! After all, I am a magician, am I not?:] I'll always try to add a twist to every scene… for this scene, it's mainly going to be Mokuba's side of things… although, even that isn't all that great in this chapter. It will be in the next one though! This chapter is epic but I don't like it all that much. I should probably revise my author's note too… but that only means that the next chapter will be totally awesome!(so will the next chapter of Severance too!) It just sucks that I'll be leaving this weekend and be gone for a week. I don't know how much writing I'll be able to get in… but hopefully that'll give me a TON of time to sit back and plan everything out. It'll be great! Thanks for the review!

WhiteAsukalover: WOAH, didn't realize I had not a lot of reviews for the last chapter. That's fine, it's rad. Thanks for yours!:]

Chapter 30: Checkmate

-S-

I was taught to be strong in the face of danger. I was told to keep cool when the going got rough. It was funny to be thinking of these things when I was staring at the very man whom had taught them to me from across the field. It was even funnier to watch him freak out and not even bother following the very life lessons he had beat into me. After seeing his worried face, I became more confident and sure I would win this. With or without that Exodia Necross on the field, I was still stronger than him, that much was for sure.

"Father, your plan to digitize the planet has been ruined," Noah's voice said over the intercom. Gozaburo looked pissed. I couldn't say I didn't like the sight of him quivering in his shoes, but I had other important matters in mind. I looked up towards the ceiling.

"Noah, tell me. Is Mokuba okay?"

"Yes, he's safe. Don't worry." I looked back down towards Gozaburo. Now back to enjoying the show.

"You can't be serious! How could you betray me?! And after that I've done for you!" Gozaburo yelled.

"It's a little something I like to call pay back." Gozaburo growled. I had to admit; I still hated the kid, but anyone who could tick Gozaburo off this much, couldn't be that bad, especially if he had promised me Mokuba's safety. "You used me and everyone around for your own selfish goals. Well, not anymore!"

"Noah, you must reconsider! If you call off the missile's attack, I promise you that we can rule the digital world together!"

"You're too late, it's over." I smirked. Gozaburo's plans had been ruined and his face had been priceless. I suppose this would be a good time to get back to business.

"Looks like you've failed again. So I guess there's only one thing left to do."

"Yes, I guess there is. Escape from this place. And since I don't have a body of my own…" Suddenly Gozaburo looked down, and his image changed completely. He took on the shape of some sort of purple flame demon as he shot into the air and came towards me with giant flaming claws, "I'll just have to take yours!" He thought he was going to take my body, just like that? I didn't think so. Somehow I had expected better.

"Not so fast." Gozaburo stopped just before he was about to grab me. I narrowed my eyes. "As a duelist, you can't just quit in the middle of the duel. If you want to prove your power, then you better get back in your corner and finish this. The winner gets to escape in my body. Then we can find out who really deserves to be president of Kaiba Corp." As a person who knew Gozaburo well, I couldn't be 100% sure that Gozaburo would follow through and play nicely.

Gozaburo withdrew from his giant form and returned back to the other side of the arena, changing back to his normal human form.

"Fine. I accept your foolish challenge! I'll make sure it's your mind that gets erased by the end of this." Gozaburo proclaimed, "Now it's my move. Exodia Necross, attack Seto's Vorse Raider right now!" Exodia Necross readied its attack, but I had a move of my own.

"I'll activate the trap card, Negate Attack! It stops your monster's attack leaving my Vorse Raider unharmed." His Exodia Necross couldn't be destroyed by traps, but I could still stop his attacks using them. There were more tricks to this trade than that old man was aware of.

"What are you doing? Don't you see that you're merely delaying your eventual defeat? My Exodia Necross is unstoppable, so just accept that I've beaten you this time." Oh, that poor misguided fool. He hadn't the slightest idea what I had in store for him.

"You're mistaken, considering your Exodia Necross is far from unstoppable. I've already figured out a way to defeat it."

"Really? Then do it, boy, I dare you." Those words would mark his defeat.

-M-

"That… didn't sound good." Joan looked over at me after we had heard the announcement of the virtual world's oncoming end. I was still staring up at the white wash sky, wondering where everything had gone wrong. More like how I was going to kill Noah next. I couldn't believe him! Taking my body and now destroying the virtual world?! I didn't care if he said he was sorry or not! I was still going to make sure I got out of this place so I could beat him to a pulp.

I started sprinting up the steps as quickly as I could. Fueled by only a few things, but the main one being revenge. I was going to make sure that Noah kid paid for everything he had done. I couldn't believe I had trusted him in the first place! I couldn't believe I had actually offered to make a BODY for him!

"Hey, where are you going?" Joan asked, turning around and finding that I was several stairs ahead. She flew over to me and was hovering besides me.

"Where do you think? I'm getting out of here as soon as possible so I can KILL Noah!" I yelled, trying to out run her flying. It didn't work out so well, but I didn't care. I had one goal in mind and one goal only; getting out of this place. I wasn't going to let that missile hit until I was out of here and back in my own body.

"Kill him, huh? You're quite the murderous eleven-year-old, aren't you?" I didn't have time to listen to her. I wasn't going to forgive Noah for this. For once, I understood Seto's rage towards the people that turned against him. "Oh, you're ignoring me now? Fine, do as you please. But think about this; what will you gain from killing Noah?"

"A pleasure I so honestly deserve!" Joan blinked.

"Wow, that's creepy. Maybe you should consider giving the kid a break."

"Just shut up and stop defending him! Noah isn't just some kid; he's a devil of a person, just like his step father! And I won't stop until he gets what's coming to him!" I pushed myself harder in an attempt to go faster. I was going to get out of this place if it was the last thing I did. Nothing was going to stop me.

-S-

I drew a card from my deck and put it in my hand.

"I'll activate the magic card, Shrink. This card reduces Exodia Necross's attack strength in half." That brought Exodia Nexross's attack down to 1400 now. "Next I'll sacrifice my Vorse Raider to summon Luster Dragon. Now Luster Dragon, attack his Exodia Necross!" I commanded of my monster from below. Luster Dragon shot a blast from its mouth at Exodia Necross. It didn't destroy his monster, but it brought Gozaburo's life points down to 900. I smirked.

"So your monster does have a weakness after all, just as I thought." Gozaburo was enraged to hear this.

"What is it?! Tell me!"

"Even though your monster can't be sent to the graveyard, when it is attacked by a monster stronger than it is, you still lose life points. Your monster maybe invincible, but that doesn't mean that you are. I can just as easily defeat you."

"We'll see about that. My Exodia Necross still gains 1000 attack every time it battles with another monster, bringing it back up to 3800," That was an effect I hadn't forgotten and would be a tricky thing to get past, "Now Exodia, attack his Luster Dragon!" My Luster Dragon was hit and destroyed with one blow, bringing my own life points down to 2600.

"I think you know what happens next," Gozaburo said in reference to his monster's effect. Exodia Necross grew another 1000 in strength, now it had an attack power of 4800. This didn't look promising for me, but it wasn't impossible either. I could still win this.

-M-

Sweat was dripping down the sides of my face. Every step up felt like a march closer to the end. By this point in time, I was no longer walking up the stairs, but crawling on all fours. I was so tired and exhausted by this point that I took about an extra ten seconds or so to make it up each step, and with each one I passed, the time stretched longer. I was out of breath and already on the brink of giving up.

"Maybe it wasn't such a good idea running up the stairs like a maniac…" Joan said, floating along side me as I made my way up. I glared at her.

"Well maybe I was in a hurry to get out of the virtual world… just before, you know, it blows up…" I said between pants. I looked up at the top of the never-ending pyramid. Even after running up so many steps, the top didn't look any closer from where I was crawling.

"It's your own fault since you're too tired to even climb efficiently." I ignored her comment and kept staring at the top. It didn't seem closer at all… how could that be? How was that possible? I turned to Joan for answers.

"I've been climbing these steps forever and yet the top isn't any closer. How do I know it's even an exit?"

"You don't know." I narrowed my eyes. I wasn't in the mood for clever remarks, I wanted answers!

"How do I know you're not just lying to me just to steal my body in the end?"

"You don't know." I stopped climbing up the steps for a moment, turned towards her.

"How do I know you existed in the first place?" Somehow I expected the same statement, but instead my question was answered with another question. She stopped moving as I had, staring at me.

"Did I exist?" That wasn't a response I was thought I was going to get. Somehow I was more annoyed than confused.

"What do you mean? Shouldn't you know?" Joan shrugged.

"Mokuba… I'm just a virtual simulation of a memory. For all I know, I could've just been a figment from your past." I eyed her again. Now she was probably just messing with me. I felt like I had seen this once before, on a movie or something like that.

"Is that so? What next? I bet you're going to tell me now that I might not have even existed, or maybe you're going to say this whole thing is one bad dream and that I'll wake up in my bed, back home, and everything will be normal again. Am I right?" Joan was just hovering there, staring at me. She had been serious about what she had said… which didn't make me feel better. Suddenly I was completely lost again. Somehow I had wanted her to say all those things…

"It's easy to pass judgment onto others; it's easy to say a lot of things…" Joan slowly flew over to me and landed on one of the steps above me. She walked down so that we were standing on the same step; her serious face had not changed to any other expression. "What it comes down to is what you think. Sometimes you have to look inward at your own personal faults to fully believe and understand that you're human, just like everyone else." Joan put her hand on my chest. I looked at her hand and looked up.

What did this all mean? What could she possibly be trying to get across to me? I didn't understand how this connected to whether a person existed or not, or how it even related to whether I could trust her or not. She kept telling me to look inward, but to look for what? And on top of all this, I couldn't get Noah out of my head, along with all the terrible cruel things he had done to me. But what did this mean? What did ANY of this mean?

And suddenly it came to me. Almost like a shock wave of understanding.

"I get it now," I said, out loud, and unexpectedly. Joan looked surprised.

"You do?"

"Yes!" I declared, turning around and taking off back up the steps. Joan floated up and started flying beside me again.

"Care to share with the whole class what you learned?" I didn't look her way; my eyes were focused only on the steps in front of me. I shook my head.

"I can't right now. I have to get out of here; I need to get to the exit!" And off I went, with a full head of understanding, and a heavy heart. There was something that had to be done, and I didn't have much time left to do it.

-S-

Most people would've given up at this point, in the face of this seemingly indestructible monster. I wasn't like most people. I was better than most people, in fact. I drew a card from my deck and planned my next move.

"I activate the card Pot of Greed which allows me to draw two cards from my deck," I drew two cards from my deck and proceeded with my turn, "Next I'll play a monster face down and a spell card face down on the field. That'll be all for now." Gozaburo growled with frustration. I was getting to him, finally it had been turned the other way around. I was in his head.

"How can you be so confident when it's obvious that I have the advantage? You'll never be able to summon a monster more powerful than Exodia Necross!"

"We'll see about that. You have a lot to learn about the game of duel monsters; the first rule being that you should never rely on the power of a single monster to win a duel." Gozaburo ignored me. I was amazed by his ignorance. He really thought he was going to win this one. He was deathly wrong.

"Exodia Necross, attack his face down monster!" I watched calmly as my Ancient Lamp was destroyed and Exodia Necross attack rose to 5800. "If I were you, I'd be a little more nervous, son. Aren't you smart enough to see that there's nothing left for you to do?" I assumed he was done with his turn and drew a card from my deck. The Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Excellent.

"First I'll play Monster Reborn to bring my Ancient Lamp back from the graveyard," I said, "Then I use my Lamp's ability to special summon La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp to the field."

"And what's the point of that?"

"I'll tell you. There's a reason I haven't been able to destroy your Exodia Necross… I've been attacking its body, when I should've been attacking its soul," I brought up my fist into the air, "So now I'll activate the trap card, Soul Demolition, which allows me to destroy all the monsters in your graveyard at the cost of 500 life points each."

"NO! YOU CAN'T DO THAT!" Gozaburo yelled in horror as his graveyard was wiped clean of all pieces of Exodia. His Exodia Necross's color changed from dark black to its original golden brown. Gozaburo stood in total disbelief, staring at his monster.

"I can and I just did. Now without those pieces of Exodia, all of his effects are gone and his attack goes back down to its original 1800." Gozaburo gritted his teeth in anger. But I wasn't done; there was still one more card to be played. "Now that your monster is no longer protected, I'll sacrifice both of my creatures to summon my Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" I threw down my card and watched the field explode with light as my dragon came forth in all its glory.

"NO!!!"

"I'll attack your Exodia Necross with White Lightning attack!" My Blue-Eyes shot a beam straight on into Exodia Necross and I watched with utter delight as it crumbled to pieces and was destroyed. Gozaburo's life points dropped down to 0. I had won the duel. I looked up to see his frustrated face and found the need to only say one word to him as a proclamation of my victory.

"Checkmate."

A/N: DONE! Yes! This chapter is finally done! But before I get into anything, I have to say(this is totally a random add in, sorry if it doesn't match with the tone of the rest of my note), Joan was ANNOYING IN THIS CHAPTER. I mean, I don't know about you guys, but I was thinking I wanted to kill Joan more than Mokuba wanted to kill Noah! But maybe that's just me. I swear the next chapter will shine upon her character more lightly… Back the original note now- You know, I have to say. I was worried about it, I didn't know how it would go, if everything would fit… but only 200 words over and it ended wonderfully! I'm a little sad that I didn't get to complete the whole episode itself, but I had a feeling it wouldn't. This was a great way to end this chapter on, though. And I honestly can't wait for the next because, yep, you guessed it, NO MORE DUELS!:D Now there's only to be straight up fun, running to save their lives, and explosions in attempt to take their lives. DOESN'T IT SOUND GREAT?! I think it does! Thanks for reading! Stay turned for the next chapter!