Ba-Ku-Ra!

By: Miss-DNL & RenagadeRexRider

Chapter 17 Duelist Kingdom: Let the Finals Begin

Pegasus grinned at the look of sheer confusion on Kaiba's face as his Toon Blue eyes easily dodged the attack, then readily and almost, or rather, mockingly explained the effects of Toon World, to which he grinned and proceeded to further the insult and injury as he activated his Shine Palace. In response the little toon dragon's attack grew 500 points which it flaunted in a cartoony muscle flex as it grinned at it's opponent.

/Toon Dragon: Attack:3500/

Pegasus huffed and eagerly issued his attack in full confidence, "Blue Eyes Toon Dragon attack! Burst Stream!"

Kaiba's eyes flashed and almost reflexively he flipped a card, "Negate Attack!" he shouted, and as he did so a vortex appeared on the field, swallowing the attack entirely, much to the Toon Dragon's shock. Pegasus, however, didn't seem to react much beyond his nonchalant manner as his turn was ended.

Kaiba grit his teeth, his eyes hardened tensely as realization hit, 'If that happens again my dragon will be destroyed.' He looked to his deck and reached determinedly, 'I'll stake our fate on this card!' With that he drew and just as immediately made his play, "Shadow Spell!"

Immediately black chains leapt from the ground ensnaring the Toon Dragon fully, much to the Dragon's surprise of having been caught, "Even your rubbery dragon can't squirm out of the Shadow Chains!" Kaiba watched the Toon struggle in vain to escape, the Shadow Spell's effect dropping its energy sufficiently. He grit his teeth, 'My poor Blue eyes, I can't let you live as a pathetic toon. I've to put you out of your misery…' he glared coldly at his opponent in a manner that reflected his disgust, "Prepare yourself…Burst Stream! The Blue Eyes Toon Dragon is killed!"

In a blinding blaze from his own Blue Eyes, the toon doppelganger was blown to bits leaving a hollowed sensation within the stoic duelist who's small victory, though sour, was made somewhat worse as he noticed Pegasus' completely unchanged grin as his lifepoints fell to 1200.

"You have a calm mind. I just felt the love you have towards the Blue Eyes White Dragon you have in your heart… as a game designer that is the greatest compliment." He said with a rather satisfied sigh before looking back across the Battle Box with a rather cruel glint in his eye, "It's my turn, I play this card. The Dragon Capture Jar!"

As soon as the dragon faced jar appeared onto the field, everyone observing the duel knew immediately things had fallen out of the proud duelist's favor. True to it's name, the jar easily drew his mighty dragon off the field and imprisoned it within itself, leaving Kaiba all but defenseless. Things were only made worse upon the following turns where Pegasus summoned his Dragon Piper, threatening the summon of yet another warped dragon and then his most devastating play yet. In one single play by means of another toon themed card named Doppleganger, he turned Kaiba's devastating Crush Card against him, effectively annihilating any and all monster cards over an attack of 1500, leaving Kaiba with only his Dark Clown at his defense.

Kaiba had only to look on in numb, dumbstruck shock as Pegasus played his final card; Bickuribox, an evil, crazed Jack in the box with an attack of 2300. He clenched his fists as the monster built up an energy ball, 'Mokuba… Forgive me. I couldn't save you… I still have cards, but I can't keep playing. I lost!'

With that, the Jack in the box fired its energy ball and destroyed Kaiba's clown along with the remainder of his lifepoints, leaving the entire room in silence.

Akefia however watched the duel with almost complete indifference before he huffed, "I expected as much. But what could I expect from the likes of him? He never was for anything weak…," he chuckled, some small part of him deep down almost enjoying the humiliating defeat, "Proved his downfall."

Ryou frowned sadly as he, despite himself, had expected the same results. Kaiba's own pride and love of power had crippled him… and now, as Ryou watched, he was going to pay dearly…

The holograms now gone, Pegasus hummed and reached into his jacket, retrieving a card. The smile on his face a chillingly normal one as he addressed Kaiba, who despite his loss still attempted to stand proudly in his corner, "Kaiba-Boy, you're a smart lad. You know what stakes I play for… In this game players lose everything. What's most precious to them… Even their very souls." With that he flipped the card around, revealing to Kaiba a blank face, "Penalty Game! Mind Card!"

'Kaiba…' Ryou thought tensely as he watched, wishing there was something that could be done. He felt his grip on the banister tighten in anger as he saw, quite vividly, a white energy being stripped away from Kaiba that was immediately pulled into the blank card, the picture of a defeated Kaiba appearing on the blank face. The sight sent a surge of fresh anger through Ryou as he watched Pegasus look at it almost goadingly and tightened his shaking grip, 'Pegasus destroyed their family…'

Akefia watched the act through a half laden gaze that showed no indication that he cared for what he'd seen, and in truth, he didn't. He'd readily enjoyed watching the arrogant Priest fall, some memory in the back of his mind laughing gleefully at the sight. Akefia huffed as he looked to Pegasus, if anything the Priest had proven useful in some manner; he'd opened a glimpse of their opponent. Despite himself, Akefia admitted that he'd greatly underestimated the red clad man to begin with; the creatures he used had seen to that. But now both he and more importantly, the Boy, would know that if and when they reached him that there would be absolutely no room for feigned security….no matter how ridiculous. But then again, looking at where the hidden item was, there should not have been any such flaccid caution to begin with.

Akefia's thoughts came to a sudden halt as a strange shudder slithered through him, The Ring itself shuddering in response… the oddity had not been missed on the Boy either, who then turned to look towards his friends. Akefia felt himself bristle immediately… HE had surfaced…

"Pegasus! I won't forgive you for this! I promise I will defeat you!" Yami snarled heatedly, loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.

Pegasus simply grinned in his usual nonchalant manner, smoothing his hair back into place as he spoke, "Oh Yugi-boy, I'm so glad you care… but you have to win the tournament to earn the right to fight me!"

Yami merely glared back, head high in a rather regal manner although his voice was barely more than a growl, "I know that… But get ready! I won't be satisfied until I've destroyed you!"

Pegasus merely listened to the clearly angered youth before giving a brief chuckle in response, clearly unfased by the threat. He then smiled normally and addressed the audience, "The tournament championship starts tomorrow! It will be held at this duel arena! Out of four finalists only one of you will have the glory of facing me in battle!" He grinned as he read the looks on the two younger finalists and chuckled as he clasped his hands behind his back and left the duel arena, smirking as he mused silently to himself, 'Seems I've angered both of the other item bearers… I predict the finals will end with a duel between users~.'

'Only one of us will duel him in the end…' Akefia mused silently to himself as he followed his host's heated gaze after the man. He narrowed his eyes sharply as he watched the man disappear, a familiar sensation of foreboding prodding him as he shifted in his binds, 'And my gut says that losing even one duel against one of the lesser fools might be just as dangerous…' If he wanted the Items as bad as he himself did… there would be no room for error.

Meanwhile as the announcer explained the significance of the two cards required for the rewards, Bandit Keith strode off, grinning to himself, 'Heh-heh, none of those fucking wimps know what they're dealing with. None of them can beat Pegasus!'

Like an echo in an amphitheater a dark chuckle sounded in Keith's head loud and clear,{Yes~ Remember, during the duel with Pegasus I will have to change the link slightly to avoid him using me to find out our plans… but other than that it'll be no trouble.} Malik instructed smoothly, not wanting anything to stunt his plan… he paused at his own thought and hummed as he inspected the golden item in his hand absentmindedly before once more addressing Keith, {However… we may have to "talk" with the Ring bearer. He'll be trouble in the future with his Ring's ability.}

Keith smirked broadly at the mention as well as the hint, 'Ha-haha, sounds good to me!'

Back in the hall overlooking the duel arena the gang was being escorted elsewhere, still attempting to absorb what had just happened… the sight of Kaiba being removed had not helped that sensation in the least.

It was Jonouchi who finally broke the tense silence with the question of the day, "Have you figured out how to stop Pegasus from reading your mind?"

Yami simply shrugged and shook his head rigidly, "No." he responded as he crossed his arms looking to him, "I don't have a perfect solution to counteract Pegasus' mind reading… but just the same. I will Crush him!"

A large grin split Jonouchi's face at the answer, "Alright! That's the Spirit!"

Ryou listened in to the conversation as he hung towards the back of the group, still rattled by the events of the past few minutes; terrible images going through his mind in the wake of it all, ones he was now shoving as far back as he could to keep his spirits strong. Jonouchi's question rang quite clear to him and he hummed to himself with the troublesome thought, 'How are we going to stop Pegasus from reading my mind…? It's bad enough he made the game, it'll be more difficult to beat him if he knows what we're planning…'

Hearing the open thought, Akefia hummed thoughtfully as he sifted through what knowledge he had of the Millennium Eye. It's simple yet devastating ability was one he'd pondered over once before, but he recalled shrugging it off really… now however there was no simple matter of shrugging it off. He hummed thoughtfully and frowned, "There is no clear way… one would have to have one hell of a shadow over their mind to so much as hinder his sight." He paused at that thought and grinned as an idea hit. It was faint… but if done right there could be a way for the Ring to help counter the Eye, "Ah…? It's a thought, but one I'd have to personally put into effect to see if it would work." He chuckled at Ryou's immediate perk, "You understand however… I can't tell you."

Ryou felt his pace hitch slightly in confusion by the Thief's words, unsure at first what to make of them… but after only a moment of thought he blinked and nodded in understanding, 'Ah I get it.'

Akefia huffed, glad that he wouldn't have to explain why to the Boy. He stalled when the Boy smiled and spoke to him, 'I trust you Akefia.'

The words were so simple and genuine Akefia found himself unable to respond with even so much as a smart remark. He simply replayed the words in his mind as if trying to comprehend them… He trusted him? He felt his mouth twitch at the thought… the Boy was most certainly a strange one… and very possibly a fool at that if he was so openly willing to put any true trust in him, The King of Thieves.

His thoughts were interrupted as Jonouchi spoke up excitedly, "Look at that spread! All right~ I'll just let Pegasus feed me~."

Akefia found himself staring at a large luxurious spread of food as they entered a large dining hall, his mouth involuntarily watering as he gazed out at it, 'Dammit now it really does suck not to have a body!' he thought irritatedly. As he tore his eyes away from the food his eye almost immediately locked onto the only actual decore in the room, which consisted of two paintings. His brows furrowed as his eyes lingered on one, 'That man…how odd…. I think I've met him before…' he thought to himself.

Ryou had also taken notice of the paintings, more so when he saw a visible twitch from Yami out of the corner of his eye. As he looked, it was a painting depicting what was most certainly an Egyptian man with icy blue eyes and was wearing a standard pale tunic and turban. Ryou's eyes widened as he spotted a golden item around his neck, 'An Ankh…Is that Shadi!? Akefia is that the Millennium Key?' he inquired curiously.

"Yes it is." Akefia answered as he stared at the portrait. So strange that it was so haunting in some way… he wondered for a moment if aside from the item it had any importance to himself, but he decided it best left to itself… it was important he'd remember later. As he thought this, their escort explained the significance of the portraits, which it turned out, had been painted by their host Pegasus himself.

'Pegasus met Shadi…' Ryou thought to himself almost mystified. But then again, it might not be so surprising given the Millennium Items were involved. He hummed, 'Could he have given him the Eye?' Ryou wondered.

Akefia hummed as he continued to stare at the portrait before answereing, "That is a possibility… I wonder if he might be some form of Tombkeeper… Wouldn't be surprising if he did give out the Eye."

Ryou hummed curiously for a moment pondering over the thought. But seeing as there wasn't too much but speculation going on, he then turned his eye to the opposite portrait which depicted a beautiful blonde woman, 'Wow…she's beautiful. I wonder who she is…'

"Someone of some importance to our "host"." Akefia replied with a shrug, not particularly interested.

Ryou continued to stare at the portraits a few moments more when their escort requested him and the others to take a seat at the table to which he readily obliged. Sitting down he tied a handkerchief around his neck as he was soon presented with a bowl of soup, which he eyed hungrily. Akefia however eyed it suspiciously, not at all for the idea of food served by their host.

Ryou paused, sensing the Thief's apprehension and hummed, now also suspicious as he began to carefully stir the soup around. As he did so he felt his spoon tap something hard making him furrow his brows, 'Something's in it?' he thought confused as he began fishing the object up. He paled visibly in shock as he pulled up a Millennium Eye… after a moment to shake off his shock he found it only to be plastic, but he was still nonetheless freaked out, 'Eheheh…I'm starting to think Pegasus has a few screws loose….'

Akefia had only the briefest of an excited shudder when he'd first seen the object, but had just as immediately threw it away by the clearly poor craft as opposed to the real thing… and the simple fact that the idea the real one would have been there was an idiotic one, "Perhaps so… what is it for?" he inquired as he gave the object a half curious glance.

'I'm not sure…' Ryou answered as he inspected it. Looking up he immediately saw that the other tournament contestants had likewise gotten a Millennium eye replica making him hum thoughtfully, 'Something to do with the tournament.'

As he thought this, everyone's attention was drawn to the sudden shift of what everyone had thought was only a painting, but now seeing the smiling face of Maximillian Pegasus it was clear it was a large monitor. As usual he smiled brightly as he addressed his audience, "Hello Everybody! How do you like my favorite soup?"

Yami, who sat nearest the screen held up the fake eye and glared at him sternly, "Pegasus, what is the meaning of these?"

Pegasus smiled and clasped his hands, obviously eager to explain his little game, "Oh that! That's part of the main dish! The heart pounding Tournament Entrée Bingo Game~!"

'Bingo game?' Ryou wondered curiously as the eccentric man continued eagerly.

"All finalists should have been given a replica Millennium Eye!" he explained before gesturing enthusiastically, "Now crack the eye open to find out who you'll be dueling tomorrow~!"

'Oh I get it.' Ryou thought as he turned the item in his fingers before carefully pulling it apart revealing a small piece of paper, which upon unfurling it he found only a simple letter "B" on it. Looking up he saw the others opening their Millennium Eyes and unfurling their own papers.

After only a few seconds Pegasus clapped his hands, "Alright, now show me the papers!" in a quick show of the papers he beamed excitedly, "Oh~! We have some interesting match ups!" Maximillian vanished from the screen and was replaced with a tournament match up screen, "First we have the tournament champion Bandit Keith vs the surprise upstart Ryou Bakura! It'll be veteran vs new comer that round. Second round is the new Duel Monsters Champion Yugi Mouto vs the lovely tournament goer Mai Kujaku!"

Upon hearing the match ups, everyone turned their eyes to their would be opponent, and Ryou gave only a glance to Keith who was smirking broadly, 'Looks like we're up against Keith first round. Bandit Keith… now that I think about it I've heard of him. He's a prize hunter. He goes to tournaments to win the rare prizes.' He thought stiffly not particularly liking the fact. Akefia however was glaring maliciously at Keith,

"Good… then we get to "Thank him" for his little game and returning my Diabound~." he finished with a sly grin. With Diabound now on their side, he would enjoy watching his beloved Ka humiliate the fool.

'Yeah…' Ryou thought as he listened to the thief's eager words and hummed, not fully object but not fully onboard neither. After carefully stirring his soup for any other foreign or unwanted items he began to eat hungrily, not having noticed how hungry he had actually had been.

After a while more of watching everyone eating their fill and conversing, Akefia became alert as his host and the rest of the gang were escorted to their rooms, carefully observing the way and keeping a sharp eye for anything of use or otherwise memorizing the way. Much to his immediate rage, the Boy's and Yami's room were just across the hall from one another. He shook in his binds in fury at the fact that he couldn't kill him and was now unable to avoid him by much… he could just feel his blood seethe… it nearly hit a boiling point when he heard the familiar voice of Yami address his host, "Bakura." Pausing, Ryou turned to look at Yami who also turned to look, "Let's win tomorrow and get everyone back."

Ryou looked on at the confident Yami before the two exchanged determined looks before Yami continued, "So beat Keith into the ground both for the others and for what he did to you!"

Ryou nodded once more determinedly at the encouragement, "I will."

Akefia, bristling and beyond annoyed, barely managed little more than a hiss through gritted teeth, "Won't need to worry about that now will we….?" He felt some relief when the Boy turned and entered his room. Akefia found his anger still intact, but it ebbed as he got the chance to focus on something else, and the room was something of impressive and served to do the trick rather well, "Ah? Not bad…"

Ryou was likewise impressed and looked around in awe, "Wow… it looks like a one person room from an expensive hotel."

Akefia hummed at the remark and at length let his eyes settle on the bed, "Wonder if the bed is actually comfortable. Rich people often have an odd liking for discomfort… it's weird as hell." He paused as his host locked the door and headed over to a small couch and table where he sat down and proceeded to take up his deck and separate his cards into three separate piles of monsters, traps and spells, "What are you doing there…?" Akefia inquired as the Boy examined each carefully and seriously.

'Planning a strategy. Pegasus said Keith was a tournament champion. It wouldn't be a good idea to go into the duel without a plan.' He explained looking to Necrofear, "He already knows part of the Necrofear strategy… he'll expect that, But,' he began as he took up a trap, 'He doesn't know all of it.'

Akefia smirked at the Boy's forethought, "Ah! A good idea~" he chuckled as he looked to Diabound who was sitting atop the pile, 'We'll be needing you soon my friend. And we'll see how well this Boy can do against a so called "pro"~."

Akefia watched the boy closely for several minutes that swiftly turned into hours. That fact alone impressed Akefia over his dedication to the task at hand, not once letting up and making sure that countermeasures would be set and ready for almost anything. In the short span of time, Akefia decided to learn a thing or two along the way and watched silently, listening to the Boy's not so private thoughts as he planned.

It wasn't until midnight that the Boy finally set his cards down and stretched out, 'I think that's enough…' he thought with a yawn. In only a few minutes Ryou had changed into his pajamas and was readying himself for bed when the sound of the door opening caught his ear. Immediately he froze, he'd locked the door hadn't he?

Looking to the door he felt himself stiffen tensely, hair prickling as Bandit Keith nonchalantly strode in, closed the door and effectively blocked his only way out, smirking widely, "Hey runt~."

Dun. Dun. DUN! Cliffhanger!

Lol okay guys we're DONE with the summarizing! For REAL! Now we can get to the good stuff~

Here on out this is stuff me and Renagade came up with so we hope you enjoy!

Renagade: Thief Bakura

Miss-DNL: Bakura, Yami, Pegasus, Kaiba, Bandit Keith, Malik

Please Follow/Favorite and Review~!