Chapter 42

'Okay I can't tell,' Joey frowned, 'is Kaiba winning this duel or not?'

'Well if we were going by life points, I'd say yes,' Yugi loosely folded his arms. 'But every time things look hopeless for that girl she somehow manages to pull it back.'

'Yeah, I had noticed and now she's even gone and created herself a duel monster that'll be able to take out his Fairy Dragon next turn for sure.' He shot a look in Duke's direction. 'Please tell me Piper has something more powerful than that thing in her deck.'

'Well if she does, I've never seen it,' Duke shook his head.

'So what does she normally do when her Fairy Dragon's threatened with destruction?'

'I don't think it's ever been threatened with destruction. It's normally her trump card.'

'Great,' he rolled his eyes as he turned his attention back towards the duel.

'If you thought that card was going to save you, you're sadly mistaken,' Tristan's voice had all of Kaiba's arrogant confident tones, 'because I activate my face down card Cestus of Dagla, to give my Fairy Dragon of the Way an extra five hundred point power boost. So say goodbye to your Graveyard Masked Dragon and six hundred of your life points.'

As her monster was destroyed and her life points dropped to three hundred, Tristan's increased to eight thousand six hundred.

'Is it me or is Piper's deck designed to constantly boost your life points?' Joey cocked an eyebrow.

'You're right,' Duke smirked. 'I mean, if you ignore the whole power side to the deck, by keeping her life points at an impossibly high level is it any wonder no one's ever seen her lose?'

'It was one of the reasons I couldn't see my brother playing with a deck like that,' Mokuba pulled a face. 'I mean, I could see elements of his style in there in places, but nothing about the deck is built to his taste. This isn't the kind of strategy he would normally duel with.'

'But maybe that's the point,' Joey tilted his head to one side. 'I mean, if your brother really has been leading some bizarre double life, he'd want to build a deck that wouldn't completely give him away. And it would have been him building that deck, because at the time he built it the Flip wouldn't have had enough personality to have her own taste.'

'How long does it take for a Flip to develop their own personality then?' Duke shot him a curious look.

'It depends on the Flip and how important it is for them to have a personality of their own,' he could feel himself becoming awkwardly tense. 'But at the end of the day it doesn't matter how long it took for the personality to develop, all that matters is how strong that personality becomes. The First could never ban the Pure from using Flips, but all three sisters agreed they were always more trouble than they were worth. It's why the Pure stopped using them altogether in the end.'

'So then wouldn't the Pure have warned Kaiba before he created Piper?'

'I've no doubt she did,' Joey hardened his jaw line, 'but I don't think that arrogant bastard would have cared what she said because we don't share their memories; we haven't seen everything they've seen, we don't know everything they know. All we have to go on is what they tell us and... well even I have to admit I find myself questioning the First's opinions on things occasionally. So I doubt someone like Kaiba would have taken the Pure's warning seriously.'

With feelings somewhere between disappointed disapproval and curious concern, Joey turned his attention back towards the field. The redhead drew a card from her deck as the Graveyard Masked Dragon reappeared on her side of the field, this time with four thousand one hundred attack points.

'I lay one card face down and end my turn.'

'Good,' now it was Tristan's turn to once again draw a card from his deck, 'looks like this duel is over anyway. Fairy Dragon of the Way attack her Graveyard Masked Dragon.'

His monster did as it was told, but as the dust settled it was clear the redhead's life points had remained untouched.

'Waboku,' her voice lost its darker tones and went back to its almost playful manner.

'Fine,' Tristan gritted his teeth, 'I end my turn.'

As she drew a new card her Graveyard Masked Dragon reappeared, this time four thousand three hundred attack points strong. In one more turn it would equal Tristan's Fairy Dragon and then things would really get interesting.

'Well what do you know,' she smirked, 'Change of Heart; now this is useful. I think I'm going to use it to take control of your Fairy Dragon.'

'Go ahead,' Tristan folded his arms, 'without any monsters on my side of the field, it's useless to you anyway.'

'So, at least your life points will be wide open to an attack from my Graveyard Masked Dragon,' she grinned. 'Say goodbye to half your life points.'

As Fairy Dragon of the Way crossed sides of the field, a black stream of light shot out of the Graveyard Masked Dragon's mouth, hitting Tristan directly and knocking his life points down to four thousand three hundred.

'I'm good,' her head ticked in a weird almost cocky manner, 'I think I'll end now.'

'Good,' Tristan drew a card, as his monster flipped back to his side of the field, 'time to show you how this is really done. Fairy Dragon of the Way attack her Graveyard Masked Dragon one last time.'

Again her monster was sent to the graveyard, her life points dropped to one hundred and his rose to four thousand five hundred.

'I lay one card face down and end my turn.'

'Looks like our monsters are finally equal,' the redhead grinned as the Graveyard Masked Dragon reappeared before her, 'time to clear the field of both I guess, Graveyard Masked Dragon attack!'

'You created a monster with the same strengths as Shadow Ghoul, but it also shares the same weaknesses,' Tristan began to laugh, as one of his face down cards suddenly activated, 'and I'm about to show you exactly what they are with this card, Soul Release.'

As five spirits filtered out of her Graveyard her monster's attack lowered to four thousand. Too late to call back her Dragon's attack, the redhead simply began to clap.

'Well done, you beat the dream. It's time for you and your friends to move on now.' A gate appeared behind her. 'But I'd keep the dueldisk if I were you; I think you're going to need it.'

'I believe it's time for us to have a little chat Kaiba,' Mai's voice grated into him, as the group made their way through the gate.

'This is hardly the time or the place for the type of chat you have in mind,' he turned his head away.

'Oh I beg to differ. In fact I think now is the absolute perfect time to have this little chat. And it will start with your honest answer to one bugging little question; are you Piper?'

'That's none of your business, Wheeler.'

'Oh no Kaiba, this is exactly my business,' Mai folded her arms, 'I'm a Mistress too, remember? And I know all about the Pure's Flip ability and quite frankly I'm more than a little disturbed at how easily you decided to Flip gender of all things,' she followed these words up with a perturbed noise and shuddering gesture. 'I mean, seriously Kaiba if you have some gender issues you need to work out that's fine, but the Flip is probably the most stupid, foolish method you could possibly use.'

'I don't have gender issues,' Kaiba glared at her, 'this was about hiding my identity and unfortunately this was the only Flip which would do that completely.'

'A wig and a pair of sunglasses not good enough for you rich boy?' Mai rolled her eyes. 'Or is that just too normal?'

'It wasn't just about hiding my identity,' he gritted his teeth, 'it was about getting out of my own head for a while. But I wouldn't expect someone as empty headed as you to understand.'

'You know she's going to be difficult to get rid of when you're finished getting out of your own head, right?'

'Why do you think I created a touch item for her,' he folded his arms. 'I'm not an idiot; I discussed the whole thing with the Pure first. I had to in order to get her to release that part of her power to me to begin with.'

'Well I'm glad to know she has enough sense not to just let you do this,' Mai rolled her eyes. 'But even so, I think you're underestimating just how hard she's going to be to get rid of.'

'I created her so I'll be able to destroy her,' Kaiba held his ground, 'there's nothing for you to worry about.'

'Who said I'm worried?' She gave a callous shrug. 'I just want to be there when the fallout of this stupidity happens; because, trust me, sooner or later there will be fallout.'

'What happened to the Pure isn't going to happen to me; I've taken precautions...'

'You don't get it, do you,' Mai cut him off, 'but then, you always were too arrogant for your own good.'

Before he had a chance to reply, the gate banged shut behind them and a familiar voice sounded.

'Who's too arrogant for their own good?'

On mass they all turned back towards the gate to see SK stood there staring at them in confusion.

'Jay,' Yugi and Covo both flocked energetically towards him.

The others soon joined them, leaving Kaiba stood on his own feeling a well of emotions rolling through him. To say he was disappointed would have been an understatement. He was more than disappointed; this was not the outcome he was hoping for after all the hassle he'd gone through duelling the redhead. He turned away from the group in order to hide any cracks in his composure.

'Tristan I'm sorry,' he kept his voice low so only he could hear it, 'but I promise I'll win you back. I promise.'