Ba-Ku-Ra!
By: Miss-DNL & RenagadeRexRider
Chapter 30: Flux in Determination
The King of Thieves tilted his head skywards as the great red serpent descended from the heavens themselves; it had been a long time since he'd seen the two-mouthed dragon god. A feeling of nostalgia came over him as he recalled his past meeting with the sky god urging Akefia to chuckle aloud to himself, "Been a long time Osiris…"
The feeling was brief however as he realized what this meant. His grin faded to a scowl as he looked down at the two duelists, keeping his scathing thoughts to himself, but still uttered a growl, 'You had better win Pharaoh…So I can kill you myself.'
Chuckling amusedly Malik appeared next to his puppet Strings in spirit form; this caught his opponent's attention. Now in full view to his opponent he gestures to the massive red dragon, "Let me ask you, Pharaoh…do you recognize this great beast?" He waited a few moments, letting out an expectant chuckle seeing the confused expression on Yami's face, "Your expression says no." Malik held his chin looking tauntingly disappointed, "That's too bad. You won't get the irony of Osiris destroying you." Smirking amusedly he shrugged his shoulders loosely, "Oh well."
Growling irately Yami cut a glare at his foe's spirit form, his tone demanding, "What are you talking about Malik?"
Malik actually blinked, holding a moment as if he'd come to some sort of realization. Eyes a fraction wider he tilted his head to the side, seeming to ponder the question, "What am I talking about?" Once more he shrugged saying, "Who knows?" Gaze turning cold he looked at him eyes half laden, voice musing cruelly, "You should ponder that yourself. It might be important to you."
Hearing his words and tone Yami stared at him wide eyed before tensing, his violet eyes narrowing at Malik. Hearing a growl coming from his opponent upon his worlds Malik chuckled fulling knowing he'd touched a nerve, one concerning the Pharaoh's memory, "Oh, did that sting? It looks like it did, but, prepare yourself. It's only going to get worse from here on out."
The Egyptian thief glared at Malik, irate with his chattiness before looking to the dragon again, matter of factly saying aloud, "That beast was once his monster of choice…"
'It was?' Ryo asked his yami as his eyes trailed over the seemingly never ending winding body of the crimson red dragon.
The spirit of the Millennium Ring nodded before a grin cut across his expression, "I've had the divine pleasure of killing it before."
His host's eyes widened at the spirit's bold declaration, and instantly believed his statement but no less looked down at the golden Ring in surprise, 'Really!?' He exclaimed through their link. Looking back to the dragon, feeling the pressure coming from it, Ryo couldn't help but say, 'That's amazing…'
"Indeed," Akefia agreed nodding with a prideful smirk on his lips. His smirk became a full on toothy grin as he recalled the raw power of his Ka, how it had triumphed over one of the Pharaoh's three supposedly unbeatable GODS, 'THAT is the true power of Diabound!'
For a moment Ryo was stunned knowing that part of the same Ka was in his deck and at his command. It was then he recalled how Diabound refused to attack him because Akefia was within his Ring. Would Osiris do the same for the Pharaoh? Unsure he asked his yami, 'If it served him you think it'll still attack him?'
Looking back to the duel Akefia hummed thoughtfully before giving his answer, "Truly? I can't say." He thought back to the reign of Pharaohs that he could recall, "The gods always served the current Pharaoh. So their allegiance does shift if I'm not mistaken," The thief shifted his lavender gaze over to the tri-colored Pharaoh, a spirit like himself, "and currently his majesty is really alive." He smirked to himself, "which means it might be a free for all."
"I know what you're thinking, but you can't beat it," Malik chuckled smoothly; his eyes narrowed a fraction, "not even you, 'Yugi'. Every duelist is powerless against Osiris's infinite attack power. Even you."
Both Yami and Ryo's eyes widened in shock, their thoughts the same, 'Infinite attack power!?'
"Osiris's attack is determined by the number of cards in a player's hand. 1,000 per card." Malik continued with a grin gesturing to his proxy, "Right now my puppet has three cards so Osiris's attack is 3,000."
||Osiris the Sky Dragon: Attack: 3,000||
"Now a duelist by the rules can only have 7 cards but," His grin turned dark as he looked at his puppet's deck, it was only a matter of time before he drew the card he need, "I have a card to lift that rule. Unlocking Osiris's true potential!"
The King of Thieves gritted his teeth as he listened closely to what the tomb rat was expelling, "If he can manage to hold any number of cards in his hand. Then indeed it can become immensely powerful!"
"On the next turn the Nightmare Steel Cage will disappear, at that moment you'll be vulnerable to Osiris." Malik grinned tauntingly, "Now, 'Yugi', make your move!"
Feeling the pressure of his situation mounting on him Yami clenched his teeth, looking at his knight tensely, 'Due to Buster Blader's ability he gained 500 attack points when Osiris appeared on the field. His attack is 3,100 now.'
||Buster Blader: Attack: 2,600-3,100||
Seeing the cage the spirit of the Puzzle gritted his teeth, his monster's higher attack power meant nothing in his current situation, 'But because of this cage I can't attack! On the next turn Osiris's attack will rise again!'
"What's wrong Pharaoh?" Malik mocked in faux worry, pleased with Yami's tense expression he muses, "Has fear paralyzed your body so badly you can't even draw a card?" He huffed in amusement, flicking a hand to the side, "You can't attack but you can do everything else. Play face down cards or summon a monster." He suggested before leaning forward a bit with a grin, "At least pretend you haven't given up!" His grin turned scornful as he sneered, "Let me see you struggle in that cage! Let me see you squirm and shake as you futilely struggle! Kah-hah-hah!"
Bristling at the open mocking he was receiving Yami steeled he resolve to continue, 'I won't lose this fight!' Drawing his card he started his turn, looking his hand over Yami pushed two cards into the magic/trap slots, "I play two cards face down, and I summon Kuriboh in defense mode!"
With a shimmer of light the puny fluff ball monster appeared onto the field, utterly dwarfed by Osiris and its ally, tiny clawed paws over its head to ineffectively shield itself.
||Kuriboh: Attack: 300 Defense: 200||
Seeing the monster appear Ryo sweat dropped, grinning awkwardly, 'He's still using that card…' Frowning slightly he looked at the duel as whole, 'Next turn the fight will start again.'
Soon as Kuriboh appeared Akefia's eye twitched at the sight of it, the monster bringing up a very recent insult towards him. Quickly the thief's anger quickly built itself back up into rage, teeth gritted, bristling in enough anger that the Ring itself started to shiver. In sudden fury Akefia snarls viciously, "I will KILL him for that!"
Completely unprepared Ryo jumped a little at the sudden burst of anger from his yami. Further what he said puzzled him, it seemed to have come completely out of nowhere! Just barely did Ryo manage to keep himself from asking aloud, 'Eh!? For what!?'
"That damn comment he made at me!" The boy's yami barked in almost a reflex response, anger still very high. His growl was positively seething as he looked on, "That amongst other things will I make him pay for somehow or another!"
'Oh, that comment…' Ryo replied, recalling the insult Malik had made before leaving their previous encounter. Thankfully the thief's anger was distracted for the moment when Malik began to speak once more, pulling both he and Akefia's attention back to the duel, though a strong agitation from his yami remained.
With the end of Yami's turn the Nightmare Steel Cage began to disappear, leaving Malik grinning eagerly, "And now, the steel cage finally disappears. The steel cage that had been protecting you up till now." With the obstacle between it and its target gone Osiris closed in closer to Yami, letting out a roar signifying it was ready to attack once the cage vanished completely. The red dragon's thunderous roar whipped up a mini gale storm nearly prying Yami's jacket from his shoulders. Wasting no time Malik began his turn, "Now it's my turn! Draw!" Strings drew a card instantly rising the sky god's attack power, "Osiris gains 1,000 attack points!"
||Osiris: Attack: 3,000-4,000||
"Osiris attacks! Super-Conductor Thunder Force!"
The great beast's lower mouth opened, lighting up with a brilliant, blinding light before an intense blast of lighting shot from its mouth. Buster Blader's dark armor nearly washed white as the attack quickly closed in on it.
"I reveal my face down card!" Yami announced, a magic card rising upward on the field, "Lightforce Sword!"
'What!?' Instantly Malik recognized a card but was helpless to stop the magic sword from pinning one of his puppet's cards to the concrete ground. 'No!'
"I'm using this spell card to remove one of your cards from play!" Yami declared over the sound of Osiris's attack.
'That means Osiris's attack drops down to 3,000...' Malik thought with an aggravated growl, watching his God card's attack drop by a 1,000.
||Osiris: Attack: 4,000-3,000||
Seeing this happen the spirit of the Puzzle smirked victoriously, "Buster Blader evades the attack! Now he counters with his dragon buster blade!" Right on cue the big knight leapt high above the dragon's attack, his great sword held above his head ready to counter. Seeing his monster's blade poised to strike a hopeful thought bloomed in his mind, 'Yes! I can defeat Osiris!'
"Oh is that so?" Malik challenged seeing the thought that was so clearly on his opponent's expression. A grin cut its way onto his face as a blue blur flung itself in front of the offending knight's blade, "Not so fast!"
Yami stared in shock seeing his monster slash Revival Jam into slim droplets instead of destroying Osiris and gasped, "What!? The slime took its place!?"
"Keh-heh, you triggered my face down card." The rouge tomb keeper chuckled as he motioned to the now revealed Jam Defender trap card. "Now Revival Jam will block any attacks to my monsters. Of course Revival Jam will regenerate and be summoned back to the field!" Like before the watery blue slime monster reformed in no time flat, like it had never been destroyed at all. It still being his turn Malik played another card, "At this moment I activate this spell card. Cards of Safe Return! Now whenever a monster returns from the grave I can draw 3 more cards!" The mindless puppet playing for Malik drew three cards as instructed, "Now that my puppet has 5 cards in his hands. Osiris attack rises to 5,000!"
||Osiris: Attack: 3,000-5,000||
Reacting to the attempted counter the great red dragon turned its head to the knight and blasted him into nothing, dealing hefty damage to Yami's life points.
"Buster Blader is wiped out! Keh-keh-keh-keh! You can't beat god, Pharaoh!" Malik declared laughing loudly as the spirit's life points dropped.
Yami could only stare, stunned, as his dragon slayer vanished to nothing, barely registering his decreasing life points.
||LP: 2,100||
Watching more of the desert rat's strategy unfold the Thief King tightened his grip on his own arms, "Grr...So he uses the slime as an impenetrable shield to guard his god to increase its power." He gave the weak yet indestructible monster a hard glare, "Damn that thing is as hard to remove as a piece of filth on your sandal." His attention was pulled away when he spotted his archenemy's confidence begin to drop, causing a curl to his lips and utter a curious hum, "hm..?"
'Come on, Yugi...don't give up.' Ryo thought to himself worriedly, keeping hold of hope that he'd find a way out. Yugi ALWAYS found a way out!
Malik crossed his arms leering harshly at the spirt of the Puzzle while his doll gestured his opponent to move the duel along, "Come one 'Yugi', it's your turn!"
Yami shot the blond Egyptian a glare before looking his situation over, thoughts tense, 'I only have Kuriboh and a face down card, and nothing in my hand can help me..." He shifted his violet gaze to the card on the top of his deck, 'I'll have to bet everything on the next card!' Keeping his faith in his deck strong he drew his card, declaring, "My turn!" Looking at it Yami was momentarily surprised but quickly went into action, "Here I go! I sacrifice Kuriboh and summon Dark Magician Girl!"
A bubbly pink and light blue light gathered before a cutesy looking mage appeared onto the field with a flash, one hand holding her hat up the other holding her staff.
'A Dark Magician girl!?' Ryo thought in surprise, he hadn't heard of this magician before.
"A female sorcerer?" Akefia question aloud, he looked to her then the god; the difference in power by presence alone was still staggering. The thief frowned in slight confusion, "surely he doesn't think her parlor tricks will save him?"
Ryo looked to his friend; surely he was up to something, 'I guess we'll see...'
The appearance of a new monster caused Malik's grin to turn vicious, "You summoned a new servant. That activates Osiris's special power!"
'A special ability!?' Ryo exclaimed in his head, wasn't raising its attack with each card drawn enough!?
Hearing this, the King of Thieves eyes narrowed, not in the least surprised, "A god surely has one..."
"When the opponent summons a monster on their turn, Osiris attacks! Dealing 2,000 points of damage! The player them self isn't damaged. But the monster loses either 2,000 attack or defense! If it's any lower, that monster is instantly destroyed!" Malik explained tone becoming excitedly crazed as Osiris's lower mouth shut and the upper one opened, lighting building quickly inside the fanged maw.
"That is one hell of an ability!" Akefia exclaimed, and from what he'd seen standard summon monsters rarely had that high of defense adding with the god's sheer attack power… "That means that there is virtually no stopping it if you have weak defenses! One could totally be left at its mercy!"
'And Dark Magician Girl's defense is lower than 2,000...' Ryo thought grimly, if Yugi didn't do something soon…
"Summon Lighting Shot!" Malik ordered. Immediately a bolt of lightning shot from the great beast's mouth launching straight for the frightened sorceress.
||Dark Magician Girl: Defense: 1,700||
Seeing the assault Yami growled, "Face down card reveal!" Even with doing so the lighting crashed down where the female monster had been, seemingly destroying her.
"Keh-keh-keh, Seems your woman's life was cut short." Malik hissed smoothly, looking straight at his hated pharaoh.
"We'll see about that." Yami responded, seemingly undaunted by his monster's destruction. However, when the smoke from Osiris's attack cleared three black silk hats were revealed.
Recognizing what this meant Malik snarled angrily to himself, Dark Magician Girl hadn't been destroyed, 'Grr...Magical Hats!'
"Ah, safe for the moment..." Akefia said recognizing the magic card from previous duels, though seemingly slightly disappointed.
Ryo sighed in temporary relief, 'He managed to save her...' The white haired teen frowned once more, 'but he can't just keep hiding...'
Quelling his own anger for the moment Malik smirked, his words laced with burning venom, "Here I thought I could kill you quickly but, I guess you like being tortured. Not that it bothers me much." He said smoothly his sneering grin and tone returning as he continued to speak, "I wish you best of luck...though there's no point in struggling. Osiris will tear down anything you try."
The spirit of the Puzzle effectively ignored what the blonde said and continued his turn, "I play two face down cards and end my turn!" Two face down cards briefly appeared before two hats moved over them. All three hats then shuffled around.
Malik merely hummed thoughtfully at the development, unfazed, "So you hid the cards in the hats..." He said as he looked to Strings, the puppet drawing a card. Seeing what the puppet drew through his eyes Malik's expression looked briefly crazed but vanished into cold calmness. Looking back to his opponent he addressed him, "My puppet has six cards in his hand. By rules he can have no more than seven, any others get sent to the grave." Yami looked at Malik listening carefully to what he was saying, trying to guess where this was headed, "But, now he drew the card I need to lift that! Keh-heh, you know what that means right?" Seeing a look of realization on the pharaoh's face Malik ordered his puppet to play the card, "Permanent Magic! Infinite cards!"
'Keh-heh, the combo is complete nothing can stop Osiris now!' Malik thought to himself, now victory was well within his grasp.
Akefia growled as he heard Malik speak, "Infinite?!" His attention snapped to the slime monster then to all the other parts of the tomb keeper's strategy, piecing it all together in his mind, "With that slime in the way, infinite cards to raise its power and unable to summon any defense combines with that ability…It's...virtually unstoppable! He'd have to-!" Suddenly the thief's words cut off, a sly grin appearing on his expression finding one flaw in the desert rat's strategy.
'Yeah, hopefully he can stall till then...' Ryo replied to his yami via their mental link as he also caught onto the fatal flaw in the seemingly iron tight strategy. Now if only his friend caught on then they could keep their promise to each other. Hopefully Yami had a way to exploit it…
"Now battle phase resume." Malik stated as he scanned the hats before him. After only a moment he sharply pointed to one, "Osiris attack! The hat on the right!" Immediately the great dragon of the sky shot an attack to the designated target. As the attack neared Dark Magician girl was revealed underneath the hat causing Malik to grin jaggedly, "My intuition is sharp! The magician girl is blasted to bits along with the hat" To his surprise two cylinders appeared by the mage, one sucking up the powerful burst of energy with ease, "What!? Osiris's attack was absorbed by a tube!? What is this!?"
Pointing to his foe Yami explained the trap he'd set for him, "I hid my two face down cards under the hat along with Dark Magician Girl! Magic Cylinder and Spellbinding Circle! The cursed hexagram weakens Osiris and holds it in place!" One cue a hexagram spell circle appeared around the ever winding serpentine dragon, holding it in place as the second cylinder to aim, "And now Osiris's Thunder Force is redirected at it. It'll die by its own attack!" As the attack shot out of the second tube Yami tenses, uncertainty now showing in his voice, "Can I beat-a god?"
A soft chuckle came from Malik, appearing perfectly calm, "One word: No. Didn't you forget something? Revival Jam jumps in the way!" The blue slime ducked into the way, getting blown to miniscule bits by the god's redirected attack saving Osiris, "And the slime reforms! Thanks to the power of Cards of Safe return my puppet draws three more cards!" The puppet drew three more cards from his deck, bolstering the dragon's attack power, "Osiris's attack goes up by 3,000 again!"
||Osiris: Attack: 4,300-7,300||
"Oh, one more thing." Malik mused voice smooth with slyness, "The cursed hexagram only lasts an instant against a god. It'll disappear in one turn."
"Hmph, come on you bastard you'll have to think harder than that." Akefia growled, looking squarely at the former pharaoh. He had expected more from his greatest adversary, and the longer it dragged, the more in the corner the Pharoh became… The thought was beginning to greatly irk him.
His turn arriving Malik smirked confidently as the hexagram vanished and his puppet drew another card, "The circle is broken! And now your woman dies!" Blasting Thunder Force Osiris completely obliterated the Dark Magician girl.
||Osiris: 8,000-9,000||
Yami stared up at the great crimson dragon, whose power only grew, his confidence swiftly dwindling, 'I can't win...there's no way to defeat it...' Feeling hopeless the duelist slumped down onto one knee looking just about finished.
Seeing this sight Malik feels a prickle of excitement go through his physical body. An evil grin splitting his face before he settled it into a cold smirk, enjoying the all too pleasing sight, "Oh, now this is a wonderful sight. Keh-heh-heh." The former tomb keeper tilted his head to the side as if to get a better view, "Spent already Pharaoh?" He shook his head in mock disappointment, "I have to say...I'm disappointed. I thought you'd struggle more than this. Heh-heh, but this'll do just as well."
At first the King of Thieves was stunned silent by the sight but it was quickly replaced as his fists shook in fury, teeth clenched, "He's GIVING UP!? Of all the times I imagine this...he should be kneeling TO ME. How DARE he bow to this underground tomb dweller! A lowly SERVANT! Unacceptable. "Stand up you LOATHESOME BASTARD SWINE!"
Completely tuning out what his Yami ranted about, he determinedly focused on his friend, his only concern for the moment. He wasn't about to let him give up here, "YUGI!" He called out.
Not expecting to hear his friend's voice Yami jolted in surprise, turning his head he spotted his friend, "Ryo?"
'That damned Ring bearer!' Malik thought angrily, just now spotting the silverette himself. He narrowed his lavender eyes suspiciously at the third item wielder, 'What is he up too...'
Now having his friend's attention Ryo said what he knew he had to, inwardly he was surprised by the firm sureness of his voice, "You said you'd meet me in the finals! Don't let him get in the way of keeping your promise! Nothing lasts forever-nothing is infinite! No matter what it is! You never let anything beat you before don't let one monster stop you. Beat the god and meet me in the finals!"
A look of surprise briefly flickered on Yami's face at the normally timid boy's unwavering words. Seeing no signs of daunting from the white haired boy he felt himself give a half laugh, rising to his feet again, "Heh, your right Ryo I did make that promise...and I don't intend to let you down!"
Relieved to see his friend standing on his feet confidently again Ryo smiled elatedly, so much so he didn't notice his yami caste a glance his way, nor hear a faint huff come from him.
Akefia looked away from his host, ignoring his joyful surge of hope as his enemy stood back up. In all honesty the occurrence was bittersweet. Seeing him fail would have been well enough… but that was reserved for HIMSELF. For now however, he looked down at the tomb keeper and a smirk worked its way onto his lips, 'Watching you fail will be satisfying actually.'
Hey guy, sorry once again for the delay. I had finals and something happened that chapter 30 vanished...but forget the excuses. Here it is! Chapter 30! We've finally hit it! Man, LONGEST story I've written. Well half the credit goes to my great friend Renagade Rex Sphinx! We still have PLENTY. To go! Next chapter will be the last of this basic recap of Yami's duel with Strings and we can finally get to more awesome Ryo stuff!
Me: Ryo, Malik, Yami, Kaiba
Renagade: Thief Bakura
Chapter Written by me and edited by Renagade Rex Sphinx