And I Stand Alone
The so called 'balcony' they stood upon was not at all such a thing. Carved from a stone cliff the enormous castle had been built into the rock and these towers were no different. Other areas of the castle might have had areas where it would be safe to fall from... This most certainly wasn't one of them, and if she had to hazard a guess she would say they were at least 40 meters above ground. Though she doubted the others knew this (or cared, as she certainly didn't), it did not change the fact that they were currently dueling above the altered remains of a pair of towers that were meant for imprisonment...
The barred windows on the side that she'd spotted going up the staircase told her that much at least. Not to mention the clearly 'built above ground' stairs leading to it. Regardless of the location however, regardless of the wind that was now blowing so strongly that even her briefcase was shaking against the wall, it was time to fight. For Mokuba, and only him. Nothing more nothing less.
'DUEL!', they had cried, voices somehow carried through the ever increasing pressures of the wind. With that single word the game had begun, each of them staring the other down in an act that could almost be called a game in itself. The game had started; rather than the basic 'one monster' set up from before, the 'expert mode' would allow all five slots to be filled at once... She needed to test that option as well after all, and while she'd have much rather taken Pegasus by surprise with this... Well, she could at least hopefully catch her current opponent off guard. "Draw five cards from the deck holder," she explained, doing so as her own opponent mimicked the action. "And place them in the duel disk; set your main monster in the center." And as Yugi did just that, she flung the disk forward, her own 'first play' already made up. Her strategy would not be broken... "When that's done, throw them into the center of the field!" Not this time!
Of course, she thought grimly as her opponent tossed the wheel out himself, the chances were that somehow Yugi would manage to figure out how the device worked regardless... She narrowed her eyes as Yugi's 'Curse of Dragon' appeared, though given the shouts from the side and her opponent's face a smirk had to come across her face. 'Woah,' the 'mutt' was shouting from the side, surprise clearly evident in his tone. 'Is this... Expert mode?' As a matter of fact yes... Yes it was. The smirk grew as her opponent stared, regardless of the fact that her own main monster was currently weaker. After all... In this strategy...
"Hnhnhnhn... I'll start," she shouted, taking advantage of the boy's shocked silence. Behind her, a large metallic beast crawled out from a card, actions almost mirroring the dragon that Yugi had summoned to the field himself. Thick blade like wings spread behind the monster as she continued, still ignoring the shouts from the side. "My main monster, Ryu-Kishin Powered attacks!" As her opponent frowned, the smirk grew. He hadn't guessed yet? Well, she'd just have to show him what she meant... "Hnhnhn... Of course," she stated with a smug tone, "My cybernetic gargoyle isn't nearly as strong as your dragon... So..." Lets see... One two three... There. That one. "I attack that card," she shouted, the gargoyle behind her charging up a beam as its master pointed. "Powered Beam!" In one swift blast the beam hit Yugi's far left card, the card itself flipping to reveal itself as the 'Feral Imp'. As the card itself began to fade away into nothingness, she took her slightly more 'relaxed' pose and waited for her opponent's response.
Across from her, Yugi was frowning. Given his expression, it was fairly clear that he did not appreciate being the first to take a hit by a rule he wasn't aware of. "You can attack the cards directly," he shouted incredulously, Seto merely smirking in response. Of course they could... Did he expect anything else? Really...
He should have known there would be a catch. "Of course," she stated, the smirk still in place. Her exhaustion seemed to essentially melt away as she spoke, the energy from the duel filling her with focus. Even if it was just the beginning, even if she didn't know just how 'serious' her opponent was taking this... To duel against this 'rival' of hers again was in itself invigorating. "Granted," she continued dismissively, "There is a risk in attacking unknown face down cards; if it's a monster with higher attack points, I run the risk of killing myself!" The woman chuckled as her opponent's card vanished into nothingness, arms crossed. "But it looks like my instincts were correct," she continued with a dark and almost fox-like grin. "And because of that, I was able to take out one of your weak monsters!"
Her opponent continued to frown momentarily, before the expression shifted to his standard 'game face'. Hn! Looked like he was getting into it as well. And good... She wanted no less than an all out battle! "Are you ready Kaiba," he shouted, the woman bringing her arms to the side as Yugi's turn came up. "It's time to settle this once and for all!"
She snorted, eyes narrowed as her smirk lessened just slightly. "Hn!" Speaking of an all out battle... Her expression became more severe as she looked down to her opponent, eyes narrowed. "Yugi," she stated, the boy staring back with a frown in response. She had to make sure of at least this... That he knew this, even before the battle began. "Even though we're enemies in this fight, we share the same objective..."
Yugi nodded, eyes narrowed as well. "Beating Pegasus," he called with a frown, Seto appearing to 'look down' on him in response. That was right...
"Indeed... But," she continued, the smirk growing again, "If you really want to see Pegasus defeated, then you have no choice but to lose here to me!" As her opponent's frown deepened she continued, grimly recalling just how true her words were. After all, after the battle between Pegasus and Keith... Well... These words held their value in large numbers even without the battle taunt in play. "Because it is impossible for you to defeat Pegasus!" Regardless of skill...
The boy across from her tensed, as did a number of the 'peanut gallery' to the side. Though all of them appeared to be voicing their disagreement, it was effectively summed up by her opponent himself. "What..!" Surprised? Hn!
The smirk darkened into more of a frown, and she pointed toward the spinning duel disks at their feet. "Take a look," she shouted, her opponent staring down to follow her gesture as the frown deepened. "I invented this machine," she continued, the scowl darkening even further, "And only a person who knows how to use it to its full extent can have a chance of beating Pegasus!" As those around her continued to fix narrowed stares in her direction, the woman crossed her arms. "There's no doubt that Pegasus can, either through some sort of trick or 'psychic power' read minds," she continued lowly, growling as she spoke. "But Solid Vision cards hide your face and body from the opponent, and in addition to that there's a chance that the distance between opponents will take the player out of range of that power! This duel disk," Seto shouted, "Was designed solely to beat him... I will bury Pegasus with the same hands that built this device!"
Even with the silence, she knew what the reaction would be. Of course that wouldn't cause her opponent to falter; she expected no less really, particularly from this strange 'other side' of the boy. Said boy was snorting, a smirk across his face as he merely sent her that same determined glare from before. "Hn! Save the boasting for after you beat me," he shouted, eliciting a mental frown from the woman. Regardless of how much he took this battle seriously, and how much she herself was putting into this duel.. How the hell was she boasting- she was trying to say, quite clearly, that he had. No. Chance... Because of the technology! ...Granted, she was definitely going to prove that she was the better duelist, win this battle for Mokuba if not for herself as well... but nonetheless. "It's my turn," Yugi continued, Seto fixing the boy with a blank stare in response. "Continue the duel!" Well said.
For the next few moments Yugi merely stared across the 'balcony' with narrowed eyes, opponent following his gaze. The boy was staring at each card with evident suspicion, and Seto had to smirk in response. "Hnhnhnhn..." She knew what he was thinking... He was wondering if one of her cards was a power up for Ryu-Kishin. Wondering what other traps lay in wait for him, what other loop-holes this 'expert mode' gave.
Granted, there wasn't one that she had on hand for this particular moment of course... But nonetheless. It looked as though the boy had already grasped what 'expert mode' meant, and not a moment too soon. The 'sub card' slats on the side of course were meant to hold four 'face down' cards... But they were far from useless when used properly. After all, if they were spells or traps, the 'main monster' could effectively become unstoppable... She continued chuckling as her opponent's face darkened, before opening her mouth to speak. "What's the matter Yugi," she called out with a dark grin, watching as Yugi continued to stare with evident suspicion. "Come on! Defeat my Ryu-Kishin Powered!" The key in winning this sort of duel lay in two places, she thought to herself as Yugi continued to glare. One by reinforcing the main monster with multiple cards... And the other... "Hnhnhn... If you think there's a spell card among my 'side cards', then why not trust your instincts," she shouted loudly, smirk growing. Words held power... In everything and anything. With just a few words it would be easy to manipulate the opponent into making the intended move... "Attack! If it's a spell card, you'll only destroy it after all... But be careful," she added, disguised voice lowering slightly as dark smirk locked into place. "Some of them are monsters... And if you attack a powerful one, not only do I win but you lose lifepoints..."
It would be dangerous to attack something face down without thinking of course... Anything could be there, another monster, or a trap... And Yugi knew well to act on that, as any other duelist would do. "Alright," the boy shouted, Seto watching in silence as her opponent continued. Come on... "The only thing I can do is attack... Go, Accursed Dragon," he shouted, the hologram charging forward with a blast of flames from its mouth. "Attack Kaiba's gargoyle!" The dragon rose above Ryu Kishin, and in a few moments there was nothing but heat from the light resulting. "FLAMES OF HELL!"
Hn... As both her opponent and the 'gallery' cheered at her 'loss', she smirked. It was... Interesting, she noted idly, how the 'normal' Yugi had suddenly referred to her as 'Kaiba-san' the night before, while the current dropped honorifics altogether... Strange, but interesting. She didn't have time to pay that mind however, she reminded herself. None at all. "Hnhnhnn..." The woman chuckled, looking toward her opponent with the same smirk she held from before. "I knew you would come at me without fear," she stated, arms crossed as the cheering faded. "It was worth taking that blow just to make sure of even that... Hnhnhnn..." Regardless of the shouts of 'he was just bluffing!' from the side, Seto continued chuckling. Bluffing was she..? Just watch... "My turn," she called, the smirk still set in place. "I draw a new card!" From below on the wheel, her main card had been tossed to the side, protected from the pressuring winds by the stone ledge around them. Looking over the card briefly, she turned her attention back to the field with a growing smirk. "Cards that lose in battle are flicked to the side to make room for other cards," she stated in an almost dismissive fashion, crossing her arms once more. No need to use this card that she'd drawn... It wouldn't affect anything further than the strategy she already had in place so far. "But while it's possible to reel the duel disk back in order to replace it," she continued, "I'm going to keep fighting with the cards I have!" At her words, the 'cards' before her shuddered, and her smirk widened into a grin. "Come out Swordstalker," she called, watching her opponent's eyes narrow again. The card flipped around, a demonic and apparently nose-less being appearing with a sword half the size of it's own body. Yugi's eyes were practically boring holes into the monster, calculating its every being.
Hnhnhn... He was probably wondering if she had an upgrade for the card... After all, Swordstalker was just as powerful as the Curse of Dragon, in attack power, and in level alike. "There's one disadvantage to attacking with a 'sub-card'," the woman stated, her smirk having vanished into a more netural gaze. Mind as well 'reassure' her opponent before the fall at least... "Magic cards and effects won't work on it, leaving the monster as it is... However," she added, quickly regaining her grin as an ethereal shadow appeared above the monster. "Swordstalker has the ability to absorb the anger of its fallen comrades, channeling their power into his sword..." The holographic shade seeped into Swordstalker's blade, and at Yugi's expression she continued to laugh. The blade was surrounded in the glowing light, and with the 20% bonus Swordstalker now had four hundred more points than the dragon... More than enough to deal the next blow! The smirk grew and she pointed her monster forward with a nod. "Hnhnhn... Go! Swordstalker!"
As the demonic blademaster swung his blade toward the dragon however, Seto's smirk plummeted. Yugi's chuckling now filled the air, and before the swordstalker's blade could connect with Curse of Dragon's neck the monster disappeared. Shit... He did that.
"What..!" Her eyes widened, and for a moment the field remained clear. "You monster dis-" She froze as one of the cards flipped around, Yugi smirking as the image became clear from behind her Swordstalker. Damn it... Why was it that he had just the right card to smash her strategies when it mattered...
"I activated this card," he shouted, the image of a spell clearly seen to those watching now. "The spell 'Shift! With this," he continued as Seto grit her teeth, the woman knowing full well what the damn card did, "I can replace your intended victim with a monster who's a little more well-matched.." She narrowed her eyes as the card on the far right turned around as well, Yugi continuing confidently. "Specifically the card with the highest number of attack points... The Dark Magician!" Familiar violet robes swirled from existence as the mage appeared from the card, quickly taking the place of the now missing dragon. "And now," Yugi commanded, the magician pointing his staff forward at his master's call. "Kill the swordsman! Black Magic!" In a show of 'black light' the stalker vanished, another hundred points disappearing from Seto's counter. Cheers for Yugi were again coming from the side as her opponent chuckled, filling the air in a twisted chorus that had her narrowing her eyes. Noise, noise, noise... She frowned however, expression softening as she listened close. Hang on... The frown did not appear to deepen in reality, but for a brief moment she found herself looking to the side with mixed confusion as the shouts continued.
Strange... Her eyes narrowed slightly, the woman noticing that for all the volume of the 'peanut gallery' on the side, something was missing... 'Hey Kaiba,' the woman of the group, 'Anzu', was shouting. 'Underestimating Yugi is the world's fastest way to lose!' She ignored the shouts, eyes skimming the small group in an instant before narrowing. For all the noise... The normally loud one was oddly silent. She wasn't sure how she knew that he would be the loudest... But it seemed wrong, to see nothing more than a neutral and possibly conflicted expression among the crowd of people cheering her opponent on. Strange... Why did this unnerve her...
The woman quickly recovered, mentally shaking it off. Whatever... It was nothing, and it didn't matter at the moment. She turned her gaze back to Yugi, the energy of the duel coming to a peak. Nothing mattered but this... Nothing mattered but this battle... She would still win after all... Nothing would change that! "Hnhnhnhn... Yugi," she stated with a smirk, regardless of the slight disadvantage she was now at. It would be easy to make a comeback after all... Easy! "Fighting you again..." The chuckling continued, eyes almost crazed in appearance as she regained her resolve to fight in full. She was going all out, no doubt about it... This was the one who had defeated her twice before after all, the one who had caused her company's stock to decline in the first place... Setting in motion the events that had her brother taken from inside her home! This battle... "You wouldn't believe how much it gets me going!" With one swift motion she retracted the disk, placing the card she'd drawn earlier on the side whilst drawing another. "I'll add a card the duel disk now," she stated clearly, before removing her third monster from the side. "And I'll switch the positions of the cards for a new main monster!" With those words she threw the disk forward, device landing to the ground within mere moments. The cards re-appeared on the field along side a misting figure without legs, her main monster hovering in the air with crossed arms. "La Jinn, the Genie of the Lamp! Now Yugi," she shouted, grin once more on her face despite La Jinn's 'apparent' lack of power in the face of her opponent's own monster. "It's your turn!"
Across from her, Yugi nodded, apparently disregarding the weakness and the possibility for a trap both. "Right," he shouted, pulling his disk back and moving his hand to the disk and deck. "I draw a card," he shouted, shifting a few cards around on the device. "And I set it in the duel disk... Battle," the boy shouted, tossing the wheel back into the center of the 'balcony'. As his magician re-appeared behind him, the mage sending his staff forward with narrowed eyes Yugi continued to yell across the ravaging winds. "Dark Magician! Attack the Genie!"
Seto's grin became darker, and with a low chuckle she stared her opponent down. All to late did Yugi realize what he'd walked into, eyes narrowed as she spoke. "Trap activate," she announced, motioning for her card to flip. The image and description both appeared to her opponent in full, before the object itself misted into sight. "Ancient Lamp!" As Yugi's face fell just slightly, the image of a clawed and four-legged lamp appeared before them. From it's position on the board the D-Jinn instantly flew toward it, taking refuge as it's opponent sent the black magic his way. "Your Magician's spells bounce of the lamp," she continued, watching as the magic did just that with grim amusement. Bolts of shadow bounced off the reflective lamp's sides, charging toward the opposite end of the field with no signs of stopping. "And hit your own cards!" With a thundering crack in the air, the card Yugi had replaced his magician with vanished completely, opponent wincing as his life points dropped. "Curse of Dragon is Destroyed!"
Hnhnhn... One step forward, one step back... And for her, she'd be getting still another forward! Across from her, Yugi's expression of anger had shifted into that of a dangerously eager smirk, the wind appearing to pick up more than it already had. "That," he began, eyes narrowed just slightly as they filled with a bizarre form of excitement, "Was amazing! ...To trap me!" The smirk widened, and as he looked forward to watch his opponent's next move it looked as though he might even laugh. "I applaud you!"
Applause? She snorted, grin closing back up into a large and cruel smirk. If that was all it took to impress him... Then obviously she'd overestimated him! Her eyes drifted over to the card she'd placed face down on the field, chuckling as wind pounded through her ears. Her blood was rushing and almost blocking out all sound from her, and the wind stung against her skin with a cold chill. Regardless of the cold however, she couldn't be bothered to acknowledge it... Things were just starting after all... And Yugi didn't know just what he'd be dealing with... Not even an inkling... He called that a 'trap'? HAH! The real trap was yet to come... The first card for the unbreakable strategy had been drawn, and in just a few more moves... "Hnhnhnhn..." She was unable to contain her laughter as the thought came to mind, though she managed to silence it after a few moments. With those cards, she would polymerize her three dragons for the ultimate monster! And nothing would stop her then...
From the side, the shouts continued, along side negative mutterings about their 'friend's opponent. Of course they had their 'doubts'... Didn't they always? Psh! What did those words matter in the end... Her smirk remained completely in place as she crossed her arms, eyes narrowing with mirth. She would prove them wrong soon enough, watch as their faces fell when she crushed their precious 'friend's strategies into dust... Looking across the field as her opponent continued to scowl, she watched the magic lamp mist out of view. The trap was over... "Are you ready," she shouted, her grin still in place as the lamp vanished from the field to leave the card in its wake. "It's my turn! The trap is over," the woman continued, her 'D-Jinn' reappearing at her side in the meantime. "The Magic Lamp returns to the disk, and the genie of the lamp re-emerges! Of course," she added, seemingly as an off hand thought, "It's no match for your Dark Magician... So for now," Seto continued, tone lowering to a seemingly impossible level as her monster turned its attention to the side of Yugi's 'field', "I have no choice but to attack your other cards! Go," she shouted, the genie behind her appearing to take a deep breath at the command. Time to get rid of the one Yugi had just placed... "GENIE FIRE BURIAL!"
In a blast of apparent flames the card was incinerated, burnt remains revealing themselves to be the Swords of Revealing Light. That one... Good, she thought as she chuckled, relishing in the scowl her opponent now had. Without that card, she wouldn't end up in the same embarrassing lock-down as she had at Death-T... No 'three turn stalemates' this time! "Hnhnhn... My turn is over," she stated, moving her arms to her side once more. Next thing to cover... "But I can't leave the Ancient Lamp exposed like this... You'll just destroy it! So," she continued, waving her hand as the card flipped back over. Lets test this option... "I shuffle my cards!" The four cards on the field spun around each other rapidly, blurring into a single solitary line. They quickly slowed into four discernible shapes however, continuing to slow their pace before coming to a stop. Perfect... "Now," Seto stated with a laugh, grin widening to an almost fox-like state. "Guess which one is the lamp!"
Across from her, Yugi was now staring the cards down with a thoughtful frown. Now that the hand was shuffled, it was likely he wouldn't even attempt to attack... With La-Jinn and the Ancient Lamp on her field she had an unstoppable shield! And he knew that... After all, attacking the face down cards could be catastrophic, would be catastrophic! Not to mention, she thought with a slight grin, a small sword to hold Yugi off until the time was right. And even if the boy did attack, she mentally added, expression remaining unchanged even at the thought, he had just as much chance of hitting the lamp as he did her Blue-Eyes White Dragon! And when that happened, the Dark Magician would be long gone... Along with 500 of Yugi's life points.
Speaking of the boy... "It's my turn," Yugi shouted, eyes narrowed as he finally made his move. "I draw a card," he continued, looking over the hand as he pulled the disk back. "And I set it on the disk!" Tossing it out, the boy then crossed his arms and stared the woman down, saying nothing.
Nothing at all... Seto narrowed her eyes as the expression she dimly recalled from her previous matches against the boy came to mind, anger building in response. Was that it? Was that all he was doing..! "Come on," she shouted, eyes narrowed. He had to do something, anything! But she would not just sit by and watch him delay the inevitable! "Attack me! You'll fall into my trap regardless Yugi, so attack!"
Yugi was chuckling again. Damn it... Whenever he did that it was never a good sign. She grit her teeth, eyes narrowing as the chuckling grew louder. "Heheheheh..." The boy fixed her with the same confident smirk he had those times before, pointing to one of his cards and flipping it around. "Your Genie-Lamp combo is finished Kaiba," he stated clearly, the woman in question freezing as the card was revealed. "Spell card," he called, "The Eye of Truth!" The eye of- What! Agghhh... Of all the cards... "Heheheh... Now I'll see just which card of yours I need to destroy," he shouted, Seto watching as her cards flipped around in response to the spell. Play with her hand revealed... Damn it!
At least it was just this turn... Even so! With the reveal of her dragon, both her opponent and opponent's 'friends' both stared with shock. Scum... Revealing her hand was effectively the ultimate humiliation, her strategy was essentially there for all watching to see! In fact it probably was... Shouts of confusion and encouragement for the opposing player both filled the field, and Seto's eyes narrowed dangerously as she growled. The morons at the side didn't realize it... They couldn't tell why she had her dragon sitting on the sidelines... But if the expression on Yugi's was any clue, he did. He most certainly did...
She needed to draw Polymerization, so she could merge the dragons... She couldn't just attack with one, Yugi had already proven a strategy against that! She had no way of telling if he didn't already have it in place across the field... And if she lost even one of her dragons, then it was just as likely he'd bring it back to his own side! Her teeth ground at that thought, and as a growl continued to form at the back of her throat she clenched her fists. And to hell if she was letting anyone use her dragons... Wait and see, she told herself with grit teeth. She'd merge the dragons together and return the humiliation threefold!
Once again, Yugi's expression was shifting around from determined confidence and nervousness. Attack or don't attack... After all, though the cards were there, there was obviously something else hidden to the boy that she had in mind. In the end however, he apparently settled for the former of expressions, eyes narrowing as he calmed. "Alright," he called, waving a hand over one of his cards. The spell flipped forward, and as it faded from existence two boxes appeared. Shit... This one too... "Mystic Box of Death," Yugi cried, Seto growing slightly pale in the meantime. Shit... The boxes just surrounded Dark Magician and her Lamp. Her opponent continued to chuckle, the boy's arms crossed as swords began to impale the box on his side. "Heheheh... This might seem unsafe," he was saying, a smirk appearing in place of his earlier frown. The reverse was the case on Seto's own face, and her frown was threatening to become a complete rage-filled scowl. "But I'd like to perform a little magic trick, and I need a volunteer..." As the last sword impaled the side of the box, Seto found herself biting her tongue. God damned joke making scum... Did he know no bounds for the humiliation! "How about your card," Yugi was 'asking', the image of her now skewered Magic Lamp card appearing in the far off box as its door opened. And of course, that meant that in the second one... "And presto! The Dark Magician appears from the other one!" The door widened just as he said this, Dark Magician, calmly stepping out with his staff in hand.
And now he got a free attack. God... Damn it... All... "Gh..."
With those exact words, Yugi's Magician raised its staff toward her D-Jinn, free hand pointing forward in an almost insulting manner. "BLACK MAGIC," Yugi shouted, the D-Jinn easily fried by the resulting attack. "La-Jinn is slain!" Tch... Curse him... Curse him to the very depths of hell... Her combo had been slashed and slashed again, and now her lifepoints sat at below even half! "Kaiba," her opponent was shouting, the woman growling lowly in response. "I won't let you polymerize your three blue-eyes! I'll take our your life points before you even have the chance!" Well, so he had guessed...
Seto grit her teeth, before calming herself down. Had to calm down... Had to, had to... Why was she worried, she asked herself mentally. She could still win... She would still win! This... This was just a minor set back, something to humiliate her opponent further when she summoned the Ultimate Dragon to decimate him completely! A smirk appeared on her face with those thoughts, and she chuckled. "Hnhnhnhn... Just try it," she muttered, mood once more taking a turn for the apparently positive. She would win... If it was the last thing she did she would win... "But don't underestimate me Yugi," she continued with a dangerously 'positive' tone, appearing to sound more crazed than severe. "My formula for victory is more perfect than you think!" With the flick of her wrist the dueldisk was pulled back, Seto catching it neatly with one hand. "Let's go," she shouted, drive renewed once more. "It's my turn! And I draw a card!"
She looked over the now two-card hand she had, smirk growing as a plan came to mind. From her last draw she had 'Saggi the Dark Clown'... Obviously a weakling without his dark energy, so she wouldn't be sending him out in attack mode any time soon. But this other card... She chuckled darkly, setting the monster in the main slot and clicking the 'defense button' as the smirk grew into a grin. With this, she had a combo that would by far surpass her last one! "Go!" Visible recognition could be seen in Yugi's eyes as Sagi hovered before her other cards protectively. "Hnhnhn... As you can see," she stated with a smirk, waving a hand over her monster. "Sagi is in defense mode... Turn over," she shouted, crossing her arms and watching. The strategy was in place...
Thanks to defense, Yugi had no choice but to attack Saggi rather than the cards... And if he didn't move this time, then she'd simply keep laying the trap out until her Blue Eyes were ready! It was flawless... Completely flawless..! "My turn," Yugi shouted, pulling his disk back and drawing Seto's attention forward once more. "I draw a card!" Silence reigned over the field as the boy switched his cards around, placing both cards he'd had in his hand on the disk. What would he do... "I replace my main card with Gaia," he shouted, tossing the disk forward as the horseman appeared. Gaia? Hah! The same monster that had destroyed Saggi last time... Interesting. "And I attack Saggi! SPIRAL SABRE," the boy continued, round slices appearing in Saggi's form as Gaia charged. "The dark clown dies!" But not without doing as needed...
Hnhnhnhn... First move and the trap was triggered! This would go faster than even she had expected! "Hnhnhnhnhn..." From Saggi's disappearing form came the trap she'd rigged the monster with, the card appearing from beneath the monster in a synthesized pillar of acrid smoke. "Hnhnhnhahaha!" As the card's effect activated Yugi's monsters both began to disappear, the woman's opponent drawing back with a shout as it happened. "HAHAHAHAAA! Surprised," she asked loudly, a grin appearing on her face as her opponent's own expression fell considerably. "You can thank this! The Crush Card Virus!" She continued to laugh, waving a hand as the 'Virus Card' continued to infect the field completely. "I infected Saggi with this, so that once your monster struck it would activate! And now," the woman went on, grin growing wider and darker as she laughed, "It's not only infected your hand, but your entire deck! Now all cards with over 1500 attack points... All of your best cards will be useless," she continued, her grin growing to nearly crazed appearances, "I've destroyed your entire deck," she shouted, watching as her opponent's face fell farther and farther into horror. "And with that, your cards are as good as dead!" Not a single chance... Yugi didn't have a single chance of recovering from this..!
Her chuckling continued, and from the side angered shots could again be heard. Cheap, among other things could be heard of course... She expected as much. Eyes did not even drift that way however, not once. Though for a brief moment her grin had to appear more honest than crazed- amid the shouts that currently filled the air, that one voice from before was once more non-existent. Interesting... She didn't know why this stood out to her but it was strange. The 'dog' at the sidelines wasn't picking a side at all, only watching... Staring...
Now what was it that had him so attached to the 'middle point', his 'third option'? Seto turned her attention back to the duel, mentally shaking it off. Who cared what it was... All that mattered was that she was going to win this fight no questions asked! Her eyes narrowed in focus, the smile she'd had on her face becoming a dark smirk once more. This time... Regardless of the situation bringing them here not being what she preferred, regardless of Pegasus, of her brother's capture... This time she would make sure that Yugi knew true terror, knew true loss! Knew just what it was she had felt around the climax of her last duel... She would freeze his blood solid... Give him the same nightmares she'd had long ago... "Hnhnhnhnhn..." The glare from across the field intensified, her own smirk growing in response. Someone angry? That would only increase before the 'fall' in the end... And what an end it would be..! "It's your turn," she stated, crossing her arms as she calmed down once more. "Neither of us have a monster on the field... Draw two cards and set them in your disk for my next monster to destroy in an instant!"
Again, Yugi scowled, but nonetheless did as stated. Two cards were drawn, and for a moment he merely stared at both cards with a blank expression. At the sight of the boy discarding one with a scowl however, she had to chuckle lightly. And another one infected by the virus... What other reason would he discard it after all. Seto watched as the disk was pulled back, only to be thrown out with a crouched and growling white wolf.
Silver Fang. Defense mode. For a moment, she successfully held her laughter off but in the end it was no use. "Hnhnhnhn... Hahaha! The only cards left in your deck are complete junk," she said with a grin, moving to draw from her deck. And it was all her doing... Now that she had no 'active' monsters on the field, it was time to continue what she started. "It's my turn," the woman stated, pulling two cards from her deck. "I draw two cards!" She looked over her hand, smirking. Aside from the this spell card... The second Blue Eyes White Dragon was in her hand..! Seto looked over the field with calculating eyes, pulling the dueldisk back and shifting her cards around once more. She had Yugi running and hiding now, hiding behind now worthless cards in an attempt to block her wrath... But turn by turn, she thought with a grin, the cards she needed were gathering in her hands... And when all were there...
The second Blue-Eyes was set in the 'sub' section, the woman placing a different monster in the main section. The element of surprise would be hers again, and so would the battle! Tossing the disk out with a strength betraying earlier appearances, the grin on her face grew slightly more psychotic in appearance. "I play the Battle Ox," sh shouted, the armored minotaur appearing behind her. "Now go! Kill Silver Fang," she commanded, the monster rushing its opponent to slice it in two with the axe. "Axe Crusher!" More shouts from the side. Shouts of worry and of faltering faith... "Hnhnhnhn... HAHAHAHAHA!" Even Yugi's precious friends were losing their beliefs in the boy, how fitting before he lost..! "Don't think this is the worst Yugi," Seto shouted with a wicked grin. "I have much stronger ones coming... This is just something to keep you occupied!" Her chuckling died down, grin fading into a small smirk at the glare Yugi sent toward her. 'you...', he seemed to say. "Hnhnhnhn... It's almost pathetic," she stated with narrowed eyes, brushing a bit of hair from her face as the wind gave a particularly rough blast. Times like this that made her appreciate short hair even more... Unlike her opponent, who was somehow able to ignore the hair blowing into his face. "Even the Battle Ox, whose attack is less than 2000 has become out of your league..."
She was prepared for anything... Anything that might happen! Two Blue-Eyes were hidden in her 'hand', same with a negate attack should Yugi find a way out of the virus trap... And should anything else happen she had 'Gift of the Mystical Elf' to restore her lifepoints. Her hand was perfect..! She could not lose, she would not lose! For Mokuba's sake... And to prove her own power! Her victory had been decided long ago, before all of this! "Now Yugi," she shouted, her opponent currently staring across the field with a blank and possibly fearful gaze. "It's your move!" Yugi continued to frown, and her own grin grew. Hesitating..? Scared maybe? "Hurry up," the woman continued, the shouts from the side now dying down once more. "Play your next card so the Battle Ox can destroy it!"
Yugi merely narrowed his eyes at the shouts, before drawing two cards. Briefly, she frowned. Was that a look of triumph she saw..? No matter, she decided as the disk was thrown out. "My new main monster," Yugi was shouting, Seto merely smirking in response. "Griffor!"
"Hmph!" And she'd been worried... Pah! What reasons did she have to even flinch with the lockdown she had? "Griffor," she asked incredulously, the smirk growing into a dark grin. Another weakling... She might not even have a chance to summon her dragon at this rate! "Another useless shield monster... My minotaur will crush it and you'll be one card closer to your end!"
Her smirk dropped when Yugi as well began chuckling, her eyes narrowing as the boy spoke. Damn it... What now? "Except it's not in defense mode," he stated, before waving a hand over one of his cards. What..? Why the hell would he do something like th- "Horn of the Unicorn," Yugi cried, Seto gritting her teeth in response. Great. Equip spell. Aggggghh... "I combo attack with this card!" The horn latched itself to Griffor's head, and in a sudden pulse of synthesized thunder the monster launched its boosted attack. "GRIFFOR ARROW," Yugi cried, the Battle Ox's hologram misting from existence as her lifepoints took another hit. Remnants of the attack danced around the air before following behind it, Seto holding back a growl. "The Battle Ox goes down!"
Hn! More shouts... More cheers and insults filling the air with noise... Nonetheless, she'd prepared even for this hadn't she? "Hnhnhnhnhn... So you defeated the puny battle ox," she stated with a chuckle, those watching giving a confused frown in response. The card could only be activated after an attack... With this... "I almost want to thank you for it!" More confusion... Always prepare ahead of time, she knew that Yugi would do something after all... She smirked, still chuckling as she continued. "I probably don't have to tell you this, but if you switch your monster to Attack Mode, it remains that way until the beginning of your next turn... In other words," she stated as Yugi abruptly tensed, "Your monster is open to attack! Hnhnhnhn... I hope you made the right decision," she stated with a low voice, eyes narrowing. The advantage was still hers..! "My turn! And before I draw my cards," she called out, her spell card flipping around to glow with light, "I'll play this spell! The Gift of the Mystical Elf!" As Yugi reeled back in shock and anger, she smirked. This card would bring back more life points than she had before the attack... Not much but nonetheless. At least it meant she was closer to 1000 and she was 0. "Hnhnhnhn... Now I've healed from your little attack," she stated, pulling back her duel disk as she continued. "And since my field is clear, I can draw two new cards!"
And they were... Polymerization and Blue-Eyes. Her neutral gaze twisted into a far darker smirk reminiscent of even her duel at Death-T. All three Blue-Eyes were in her hand, as was the Polymerization card..! She placed the third Blue-Eyes in the center, clicking Polymerization into place at the side. With this turn she would play the first dragon... Merging them would take one more... Now... Her smirk widened into a manic grin as the victory she'd envisioned came closer and closer. Now he was at last at her complete mercy! "Come out Blue Eyes," she roared, sending the dragon out with a wide grin. White shimmering scales appeared in a blast of light, the dragon coiling in the air as it gave off a loud roar. As shock and defeat came over the faces of most watching, her grin grew. "This is it Yugi," she shouted, voice barely carrying over the roar of her dragon and the still increasing pressure of the wind. "Get ready... BURST STREAM OF DESTRUCTION! Die, trash!"
The resulting explosion blinded the field as Griffor's hologram seeped out of existence. Blue-Eyes returned to its position behind her, growling in an almost amused fashion at the sight. Of course, even though Griffor was complete trash on the field Yugi was still alive... Barely. "Hnhnhnn... A close one wasn't it," she asked, almost looking down at the boy across from her. "Good... Now it's your turn!" 100 lifepoints... That was all that stood between her and victory, her and her brother, her and Pegasus lucky-to-be-alive being.
Her opponent growled from across from her, drawing his cards before tossing his disk out with a new monster. "I play this in defense mode," he shouted, a stone golem appearing in a huddled position on the field. "My turn's over..."
Defense... She'd ordinarily be amused by this, with victory so close in sight, but at the same time she wanted nothing more than this to end now... "Yugi," she stated, eyes narrowed as her expression became an almost neutral frown. This was it... The time had come. "From the moment I met you I've tasted nothing but the thirst of defeat... A hunger for victory that has since gone unsatisfied..." Her eyes narrowed, and with her next words all three of her remaining 'trump cards' came into play. "Until now... BLUE-EYES," she roared, voice echoing clearly over the wind as the three dragons she'd played began to swirl into one being. "POLYMERIZE!" The dragons continued to swirl, before the hologram cleared up to reveal three snarling heads atop an immense and white scaled body. "Merge and become the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!" As the roars sounded from behind, Seto had to laugh. The ultimate dragon flew over and before her, hovering in place above the center of the field. It easily dwarfed the golem before it, and even the three dragons who had created it would have shrunk in it's presence. "Hahahahahhaa! What do you think," she shouted, her opponent's face frozen with shock in the beast's presence. "Look Yugi... Isn't it beautiful? The world's strongest killing machine!" 4500 attack points, little more than a scrap heap for a defense... This duel was over! "Hnhnhnhnhn... Are you ready Yugi," she called, calming herself down and bringing her crazed grin to a smirk. Truly a wonderful sight, this dragon... She needed to focus though. Focus... "This weight I've carried," she muttered with a slight frown, those around having little response. Their shouts had long since died, and she could care less. "This weight of defeat that's been pulling me down since the day you threw it on me..." Her eyes narrowed, before the frown shifted into a dark smirk. "Now it's your turn to carry it," she cried, pointing her dragon forward. "And you'll crawl on the ground in humiliation! HERE I COME... BLUE EYES ULTIMATE DRAGON," she shouted, all three heads roaring in response to her cries. "ATTACK! ULTIMATE BURST!"
She didn't attack the defense monster this time. Not when Yugi could well have traps and spells set up for the dragon lying in wait, not when her monster was now vulnerable to a single hit.. In a burst of light Yugi's spell flipped around, misting out of existence as her opponent winced. 'Monster Recovery'... "Hmph," she muttered, arms crossed as the dragon returned to her side. "Nothing but a spell... But that's fine," she decided, eyes narrowed to slits as she stared her opponent down. If Blue-Eyes hadn't been taken out before, then he obviously had nothing else lying in wait... "There's no way out after all... Nothing will save you!" She. Could. Not. Lose. Not at all... She chuckled as her opponent froze, ignoring the wind that pounded against her. "Now Yugi," the woman shouted loudly. "It's your turn! If you aren't going to surrender," she continued with a wicked grin, "Then draw a card!"
Yugi was staring at his deck, eye narrowed. The look of defeat was there... It wasn't moving, not this time... As her eyes narrowed however, the cheers from the side filled the air once more. And this time... She gave a slight smirk, the expression almost feeling foreign as opposed to her general look. Hn!
The mutt was shouting now. In fact... At the moment he seemed to be the only one shouting, making his voice all the more apparent. "YUGI," Jonouchi was shouting, her opponent turning to the blond in response. They were all silent, all of them... Just listening as this mutt shouted at the top of his lungs. "We're almost at Pegasus' castle..! We worked hard to get here," the blond was continuing, deliberately turned away from Seto as he shouted. She couldn't see his face... "If you give up now... We'll never get in!"
More shouts, more words of encouragement. More noise... As she turned her attention back to Yugi, she noted that the boy's expression had shifted to that of a familiar determined glare. "Hmn..." 'I won't give up,' he seemed to be saying, the shouts from the others continuing as once again Jonouchi's cries faded to the silence he'd uncharacteristically held. Never giving up... Alright then... Her opponent drew his card, and Seto's expression shifted back into it's dark smirk. Come at her until the very end then! Let her crush that hope at full blast, in one move! And only one!
"Draw," Yugi shouted, pulling his next card from the deck. He pulled his disk back, setting something on the device before tossing it out. "I'll add this card to my 'subs' this turn... My main monster," he continued with grit teeth, "The Giant Soldier, stays in defense mode! And my turn ends!"
Good! Then she would destroy it! "My turn," Seto shouted, dark grin still in place. Alright... Four cards were in place; instinct told her to destroy those cards, but knowing Yugi at least one was a trap. Her grin vanished momentarily, the woman sinking further into thought. And wouldn't it be absolutely moronic to be caught in the same trap she did in her last duel... The spellbound circle from the last duel... A mental nod was made at those thoughts, and her smirk returned. Alright. She'd play it safe this turn... Or somewhat safe at least. "ULTIMATE BURST," she called, a simple head-tilt telling her dragon what to attack. White lightning coursed across the field to blast through Yugi's monster, and the smirk grew. Nothing but air where it had stood now... "The stone soldier is turned to dust!" As her opponent shuddered against the combined force of the wind and attack, she had to laugh. Interesting how 'expert mode' didn't seem to hold as much force as it had against the 'mutt' the night before... If it had, she'd have long since knocked Yugi off the side of the wall... Oh well. "What now," she taunted, manic grin in place as she stared her opponent down. "What's your next move? There's no card in the world that can defeat the Ultimate Dragon!" Not a single one could do it! And that was a fact... Not a one...
As she continued to laugh, her opponent merely glared and grit his teeth. Gradually, the laughter died down, much like the shouts from the side had ages before. "It's my turn," Yugi was shouting, eyes set into a determined stare. "And I'll bet my life on this card!" His life? She merely smirked at that, continuing her blank and narrowed stare. Useless... Draw any card, any card at all, not a single one would save him! His life bet would be made- "Hehehehe..." Why the hell was he laughing this time! Her smirk was replaced by a small frown, and her opponent's face quickly broke into a grin. "Kaiba," the boy stated, chuckling all the while as her expression dropped. "I just drew the ultimate card..." What! "See for yourself," he shouted, pulling the disk back. "I'll make this my main monster... And play it in attack mode!" The disk was thrown out, and before her eyes came what appeared to be a tiny ball of fur with enormous eyes. ...It couldn't even come close to being intimidating.
Wait... W..What..? She stared incredulously, blinking a few times. A joke... That had to be a joke... Ku..Kuriboh! In attack mode! 300 attack points made it the weakest monster in the game..! "Gh... Haha...Hahahahaha!" She attempted to laugh, to make this a joke. It had to be, it had... But why! Why of all things! "Grgh... Yugi," she forced out, gritting her teeth and finally banishing all thoughts of looking at the situation humorously. This play... "It's your right to give up... But to play KURIBOH," she shouted, face twisting into a wide-eyed scowl. "The piece of trash that is the weakest card in the entire game, the card that no one ever even bothers to put in their deck! WHY," she shouted, fists clenched. "Don't even think of treating this game as a joke!"
Her opponent merely snorted under her shouts, calmly smirking in response. How dare he... How dare he... "You're wrong Kaiba," he stated, voice somehow making it across the windy stage. "This is my trump card... And it will beat your dragon!" Impossible... That thing, beat Blue-Eyes? It couldn't beat anything, let alone the most powerful monster in existance! As she stared in shock, the boy across merely pointed his monster forward. Serious... He was serious..! She should be laughing at this, but why the hell did she suddenly feel cold... "Here I go," he shouted, waving a hand over the field. "But before that... I play the Multiply Card!" WHAT! She stared in shock, watching as the single Kuriboh abruptly began to divide in two, the two dividing into four, and within seconds...
"Th...There's hundreds of them..." And they were still going..!
Yugi smirked, and the air continued to fill with more and more 'Kuriboh' duplicates. "That's right," he stated, Seto merely watching in silence, attempting to grasp how one of her dueldisks, now matter how powerful, could emulate the number of kuriboh appearing before them. "Multiply duplicates monsters with 500 attack points or less... Hehehehe..." What the hell was he doing... What the hell was he planning with this... "You're right," Yugi continued, crossing his arms as the kuriboh swarm continued to grow. "This is a low level monster, with little attack power at all. But don't take it too lightly," he added, smirk widening to eerie proportions. "It has hidden powers which can overwhelm monsters stronger than even yours!"
An idiot... A moron... It couldn't possibly be... "You're a fool," she roared, snapping herself out of her shock. This meant nothing... Nothing! "For my Ultimate Dragon more opponents only mean more corpses!" This changed nothing... Nothing, regardless of the effect the pathetic hairballs had! "ATTACK," she shouted, dragon charging it's strike with all three heads. "ULTIMATE BURST!" The field was filed with light for a moment, only for a number of kuriboh holograms to invade even her field in the resulting explosion. "What..!" Shit... Shit! These things were multiplying too fast to...
"That's right," Yugi stated, face hidden behind the wall of kuriboh. "Multiply remains in effect far longer than one turn... And the moment it touches the enemy, or gets hit, Kuriboh explodes, leaving no damage to my lifepoints! Which means," he continued, Seto's face growing pale as the boy said this. "That your Ultimate Dragon can't get to me OR my cards!"
Gh... Wretched little things... She watched as the poor excuses for cotton balls continued to appear, easily replacing the ones lost in the attack. More and more and more... Like a virus, or even just a bacterial scum... Yugi chuckled at her shock, continuing as it came to his turn. "Hehehehe... My Kuriboh-Multiply combo won't stop until you destroy them all," he stated, Seto narrowing her eyes in response. "Of course... If you can wipe them all out," the boy was adding with a dark grin, "Then you can go ahead and kill me! But first," he shouted, Seto's eyes widening as her opponent continued. "I'll play my second trump card!" Second..! Damn it how many sets did he have on hand! "Here goes," he shouted, the kuriboh in front of him floating aimlessly as he shouted. "A three-part combo to destroy the three-headed dragon!"
The cards were flipped around, and as each one was called out she found herself shaking just slightly. The wind was feeling more and more rough, her exhaustion catching up to her... 'Living Arrow' was first, Yugi was shouting. 'It lets me play one of my spells on your monsters! And because you like polymerization so much...' Voices were becoming dimmer, and her eyes stared wide and horrified as the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon was fused against its will. The ear-splitting roar pierced through the wind itself, dragon writhing in pain... "You... Y-You combined the Mammoth Graveyard with my dragon," she roared, watching as the monster began to decay from within. Blue-Eyes was light... Mammoth Graveyard was dark, a corpse! Merging light with darkness, matter with anti-matter, life with death...
They'd both die! "The tables have turned Kaiba," shouted Yugi, Seto's eyes not moving from her monster. Rotting away... Falling to pieces before her eyes... Becoming nothing, nothing... "The Mammoth had 1200 attack points," Yugi was saying, Seto ignoring his words as she ran over a solution, any solution in her mind. Anything... 1200... This meant that the dragon would lose 1200 each turn. Negate Attack could only block monster attacks, it did nothing against this..! "Well Kaiba," Yugi was shouting, the woman across from him slowly turning back with a growl. "Now you're the one losing!"
'This is what happens to people who lose Seto.' Only this time she wasn't going to be the one paying for it, was she...
Shouts from the side pounded through her ears. The wind howled and pushed against her, threatening to knock her to the ground as it had her briefcase. Holograms of these god-damned Kuriboh scum blocked her view of everything around her... She couldn't lose... She couldn't lose! "It's not over," she forced out, eyes narrowed. Never over... It couldn't be over, not if Mokuba was to... "IT'S NOT OVER YET," she roared, sending her rotting and pained dragon forward. "ATTACK, ULTIMATE DRAGON," she shouted, regardless of how pointless the situation was. "ULTIMATE BURST!" The dragon's attack had decreased, but it had no effect anyways. Minimal damage was done to the wall of kuriboh, and as she stared forward across the field she breathed heavily.
"Give up Kaiba," Yugi was saying with that smug smirk that she wanted nothing more than to rip of his face. "As long as my kuriboh minefield is here, your big, flashy attacks can't do a thing!" Vermin... Scum... Ultimate dragon was getting weaker, it couldn't make it through the wall... And because of the number of cards used in the fusion she couldn't play anything more... "I'll draw one card," Yugi was saying from across from her, the woman narrowing her eyes in a weak attempt to stare her opponent down. "And end my turn. Kaiba," the boy continued, Seto stumbling slightly behind the kuriboh wall as her dragon seemed to moan in pain. "This... Is Checkmate."
'This is checkmate,' she had said that day, and if she hadn't...
Rotting... She stared at the great dragon before her, watching it rot into an emulsified sludge on the ground. Once white shimmering scales were effectively a murky brown-gray, the dragon sitting at the ground rather than hovering proudly in the air. She couldn't lose... No! She couldn't lose, not again... Her locket dangled around her neck, pulling around her throat as the wind tugged at it. Not again... If she lost, who would watch Mokuba.. Who would...
'N-Nii-sama,' he'd said that day, somehow clinging to the facade she held. 'Nii-sama,' he'd screamed as she looked at him through the screen, fingers playing across the button controlling the holograms of the duel box. 'Help me... Help me..! I'm... I'm your brother aren't I..?'
Suddenly, she wasn't standing on the tower, surrounded by a swarming and thick wall of kuriboh anymore. Her body was there but in her eyes was another sight all together as they widened with fear. The tower, the wind, the noise, none of it existed. Nothing but darkness, herself... And the large and magnificent white dragon that was slowly rotting to mush. One head seemed bowed, as though crying but it had no eyes from which to cry. The other attempted to roar in pain, but without a throat or a lower jaw, all it could do was writhe its head and attempt a gurgled snarl. The third head couldn't even move, glued to its body by the mush that the muscles it once had beneath those proud white scales. Wings were rotting to nothing... Bones could be seen, muscles and tendons... And amid all of this, as the center of the beast began to rot, she could see through the great dragon's ribs. A hand reached out... And behind the bones, regardless of the flesh dripping past them, she could still make out a head of long black hair in the darkness. "NEE-SAMA," came Mokuba's cry, and through the acidic and dissolving body she could see the boy attempt to reach further. No... No no no no...!
"MOKUBA!" That wasn't her who had called... Instead someone else... Someone else whose voice sounded eerily similar, too similar to be falsified. Seto watched, shocked into complete silence as another her, a smaller one... The one she'd been years before, that day when everything had gone wrong... It was winter... The snow had been falling, and the tree was there, and as they looked around they had seen nothing but the truck... "MOKUBA," her younger self shouted, reaching forward as her brother's shouts were drowned out by collapsing flesh, the heads of the Blue-Eyes white dragon finally falling over the middle and leaving nothing but dissolving bones. "NO! NOOOOO!" The beast before her melted to nothingness, the ooze seeping away and resembling little more than a puddle. Even the skeleton became nothing but dust... Nothing but grains of sand blown into the wind...
She did this... Seto looked at her hand, eyes wide with terror. She did this... SHE DID THIS... Her hand was begining to melt away, and as she brought them to her face she realized that that wasn't the only part. Dust and bone... That was all they were, dust and bone and now that Mokuba was gone it was her turn...
"WHY," shouted the other version of herself, the girl turning on her older counterpart with a vicious snarl. "WHY DIDN'T YOU HELP HIM!" She couldn't answer, frozen in fear and despair both as she continued to grow weak. "CAN'T YOU EVEN PUT YOUR LIFE ON THE LINE," the girl shouted, eyes wide with rage as she managed to instill fear into a woman who was at least twice her own height. "EVEN A DOG DID BETTER THAN YOU," she raged on, fists clenched tightly as the shouts echoed about her. "SO WHY DIDN'T YOU, WHO SWORE TO PROTECT HIM, HELP HIM YOURSELF! WHY DIDN'T YOU DO ANYTHING!"
No... No... She shut her eyes, squeezing them shut. NO! This couldn't be, this couldn't... She hadn't lost Mokuba yet, she hadn't... He wasn't gone...
"Oi," came a shout from 'elsewhere', the woman still grimacing as her eyes remained tightly shut. "Didn't you come for a reason, S... KAIBA?" Who was that... "DON'T JUST STAND THERE," ordered the voice, Seto's breathing labored as she felt herself continue to almost sink away. Gone... Gone... They were gone... "IT AIN'T OVER YET!" Not over...
Eyes flung open, and she was again on the tower. The wind was pounding at her sides and the kuriboh continued to fly about aimlessly. Her coat barely kept her warm and her locket was tugging around her neck as though pulling her to a gallows. Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon was almost completely dissolved... It had only 900 attack points now, the same as her own 'life'... Her turn had been skipped over... By this point her opponent would be a fool not to attack... Seto's eyes fell, neither to an expression of fear nor of hate. She was here for a reason... The woman grabbed her pendant, gripping it tightly as her eyes closed over. A reason that she could not forget, not ever... Mokuba...
She turned, a light and confused frown in place as she stared past the wall of Kuriboh. Someone had shouted to her. Someone had shouted, and not with anger or fear... Yugi's 'friends' had mostly turned on the blond with confused stares... The blond however, had a confident if not worried smile in place, and she recalled his short 'cheer' with confusion.
Why... She stared, turning back to face the field. Why did he do that... She didn't need his help! She didn't need anyone to help! Her turn had been skipped over... Looking across the board, she found herself watching as the wall of Kuriboh was abruptly banished by their controller. It wasn't over... Never over but all the same, she thought as her logical side came to the forefront.
All the same... It was close. And the mutt... Jonouchi's words would have no effect on this. They were only words after all, nothing more nothing less. She stood alone, she fought alone... Besides... As 'she herself' had said...
'Even a dog did better than you.' She didn't need to look into that statement to know what 'she' had meant. "Elven Knight," her opponent was shouting, the call only dimly heard over the sound of the wind and her own rushing blood. Through rotting bones and slime emulated by her duel disk she could see the celtic guard grip his sword with a nod, ready for battle. "ATTACK THE ULTIMATE DRAGON!" 1400, taking down 900... One of the heads toppled to the ground win the elf's wake, and she stared at it dimly before looking across at her opponent. Over... It was over...
"...Yugi," she began, faded voice somehow making it across. She didn't want to cheat. She didn't want to lose either though... Only one thing... One thing to do, to make sure that one way or another it was fixed... 'Put your life on the line,' she'd told herself. She caused this... Mokuba was gone because of her... If she couldn't get to him... "The game has only just begun..." Her arms hung limply at her sides, and though her eyes were narrowed they were dim and almost soulless in appearance. "I lost 500 points from that attack.. So," she began, barely holding the diguised voice by this point. "Each of these bricks on the ground will represent 100 of those points." The wind continued to swirl, but rather than picking up it instead died down. "I will move back as many bricks as I have lost lifepoints," she continued, stepping backward as she counted mentally. "I lost 500 points... In otherwords," she shouted, voice and expression both betraying her otherwise desperate move. If she couldn't save him, then what worth did she have for him in this world? She'd said it herself... Hadn't she? "I'll move back five spaces."
One... Two... Across from her Yugi's eyes were widening with realization, and shouts from the side held the same reaction. Three... Four... 'Oh my god,' came Anzu's shout from the side, Seto ignoring it. 'That means...' One step left, and without hesitation she took it, stepping up and backward, unflinchingly as the wind howled.
Five.
As she stood at the top of the tower wall, she refused to look anywhere else than toward her opponent. This castle... It was built into a cliff-face... She'd noticed it long ago. Forty meters high, at least...
'Put your life on the line...' she had said...
"I have nothing more to lose," she stated, tone frighteningly calm in comparison to her words throughout the entire duel as a whole. Put her life on the line... And she would. Gladly. "If you hit me again," she continued, ignoring the shouts as they raised in volume, "Then you win this game. And I die."
And she would gladly do so if it was all there was left. She could't reach Pegasus if she lost. Mokuba would be gone... Briefly, her eyes drifted over to the same blond from before, the teen's own eyes wide with fear. ...Hn. 'Even a dog did better'... Then... if that was the case...
As the wind swirled around her, she could recall something that someone had told her many years before, her own thoughts vanishing as the shouts continued to fill the air...
...Don't look down...
AN: And another chapter that I liked typing a lot~ Don't do it Kaiba! LIFE IS TOO GOOD.
Well... I'll admit that at the moment life royally sucks for you but... Well that's completely missing the point isn't it. After all, this is more a 'Well... Mind as well pay for the shit I've done to my brother if I can't redeem myself otherwise.'
And the hair insults return! So many stabs at Yugi's hair this chapter, wow.
In other news, aside from there being not much to say, her's a bit of an 'announcement' for you! One, for any TV-Tropers in the area, I made a page for the fanfic over here: http: / / tvtropes. org/ pmwiki/ pmwiki. php/ TroperWorks/ Skin Done out of both boredom (I was having some edit issues...), and a muse-reboot. (It worked by the way) Also because I was browsing the site and had to hit myself in the head every time I came across something that had me think 'Oh hey, this reminds me of...' Free for you to add if you like~
NOW THEN. Back to crap that matters!
More poll results! Mostly unchanged save for the fact that Female Set is again receiving votes (Rather, A vote.).
Crossdressing Female Set - 8
Obviously Female Set - 4
Male Set - 2
I'm pretty sure I was going to say more, but I seem to have forgotten... Foo.
Anonymous Review Responses
Hi Iona! It's very hard to find anything that isn't SERIOUS BUSINESS to Kaiba really... I don't think Kaiba really bothers with anything unless it's serious business. Oh well. Oddly enough, while she means all the insults, it's also got a few roots in attachment there... If you look really.. Really close. (Think grade two, with the kid that pulled the other girl's pigtails non-stop. Except more subtle and unknown to both sides.) You're right in that it's a culture thing though; remember, 'Nobody' equates to 'horse's bones'.
And OH MY GOD his/her obsessiveness over these cards... I actually toned it down in some cases! Kaiba gets... Really out of hand with this. Really. To the point where I had to keep reading the chapters depicted above to figure out if Kaiba had randomly forgotten what was more important; winning the duel against Yugi, or winning the duel to save Mokuba's life. It's a tight line... Particularly since, (in the manga at least), there's a good number of maniacal laughter scenes. Frightening ones I might add.
Then again, this is both a matter of 'I must beat you' and 'According to the past, losing means I die'... So it's probably a mix of immaturity and simple fear.
Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Section
The section that believes in knowing. Because knowing is half the battle you know.
The title of this chapter, 'And I Stand Alone' is a little bit of foreshadowing that really... Really hit me as I read through this duel. Reading the manga, you have to realize this; even with his Grandfather's life at stake, Yugi still had him there. In addition to that, he's fighting with the encouragement of all his friends, who have proven time and time again that not even death itself will ever stop that.
But Kaiba doesn't have squat. As shouts and cheers fill the 'arena', Kaiba's just standing there getting the shit verbally pounded out of him/her from the sidelines. This is even worse in the fanfiction, where she saw a picture that clearly said that Mokuba was among that group of friends... And since she hasn't seen or heard from him since waking up, there's no telling Kaiba if she's been 'replaced' or not, regardless of her genuine emotions in terms of wanting to save the kid.
It's really, really upsetting, particularly since, given that Kaiba literally has no proof other than theory that Mokuba is still alive, that there's still so much hate out there. Yea, Kaiba did some crappy things but... Well, case in point, Yami Yugi looks less scared about the possible suicide situation at hand than he does angry. This of course increases when Kaiba says that if the tables were turned, he'd just make the move regardless, but when you really think that's not just because it's winning against Yugi; it's also because winning means saving Mokuba's life.
Fact is guys... Kaiba had no support whatsoever until he bit the dust completely in this arc. And that just sucks.
It's hard to tell just what the towers Kaiba and Yugi are dueling on were; they could have been prison cells, given that starvation was an actual punishment (They'd actually seal you in a stone room. Ick. Case in point, no doors on the towers.), or they could be the remains of a 'Curtain Wall', an immense wall built around a castle to prevent assault. Curtain walls would have towers on them, which would have slits to fire arrows from... These slits can be seen from the side of the towers that Kaiba and Yugi are dueling on.
I always have to laugh at the reaction shots we get from Yugi and Co. when Kaiba's new technology is involved. 'Holograms of the cards as well as the monsters! THIS IS THE MOST HIGHTECH CARD BATTLE SYSTEM I HAVE EVER SEEN.'
Those are Yugi's actual thoughts, and I have to say... 'Y-Yami... Did... Did you not figure that if one could get the hologram of a monster that they could get the cards too?' Course, tabletop duels didn't really need a card to be hologram-ified, and Yami IS an ancient Egyptian spirit...
Expert mode..? I swear it, that was Takahashi's way of spicing things up for the Yugi-VS-Kaiba duel. It has to be it. Mostly because I don't know if Kaiba's pride would prevent him from dueling on 'expert' to test the system against Jou, or if the pride would say 'screw testing that part, just beat the CRAP out of him!' (Case in point, impossible defense-mode.)
Interesting fact; most of the cards that Kaiba and Yugi will use within the first three moves can be seen, what with the disk projecting their 'hand' so to speak. It's hard to tell what's going on, but either there's a rule that says 'PLAY ALL YOUR CARDS', or Yugi was just playing along with Kaiba's statements of 'play all your cards'. Can't tell... And it's probably obvious that I still don't get it...
Regardless, right off the bat for Kaiba's hand we can see the D-jinn, the Lamp that is used to power it up, and the Sword Stalker. The third card is blocked by Kaiba's body in the panel.
Yugi on the other hand has, aside from the Feral Imp, his Dark Magician (Why did he play Curse of Dragon then..? OH WELL.), Shift, and 'Eye of Truth'.
'Ryu-Kishin's name comes from 'ryu', or 'dragon' and 'kishin', which comes from the words 'ki' (Oni, english translation being 'Demon) and 'shin' (Kami, or 'god'). Basically, 'Ryu-Kishin Powered' means a powered up demon dragon god. HIHHH!
Somehow, this chapter turned into (from rather early on), Kaiba's more... obsessive... thoughts on Yugi. And I tell you, no amount of changing dialogue will... ...God. Holy crap. The amount of 'Foe-Yay' and suggestiveness in the dialogue is astounding. And so, so, SOOOOOO much more obvious when you make the one with obsessive tendencies a woman. Hell, at least in originals we have (for the most part) a fairly solid reassurance that the men of Yu-Gi-Oh are very much straight, no matter how twisted some of the lines can get. (Not to mention by taking a look at the uniforms Kaiba has for female employees during Death-T...)
But seriously! Seriously. Kaiba's obsessiveness can really promote an interesting image. Case in point, Pegasus in the last chapter.
In the manga, Kaiba says 'it was worth taking the first blow'... But she's already dealt damage to Yugi by this point, meaning she took the second hit and not the first. Weird... That's not the sort of thing Kaiba would screw up on...
Swordstalker's ability of course, isn't in the actual card game. This tends to happen with 'percent gains'... As a side note, I can't help but laugh at the image this provides. 'VENGEANCE MAKES IT STRONGER? NOOOOOOO! IT CANNOT BE.'
Those were Yami's thoughts, but at the same time, I can't help but say 'Yami, pretty much everything you did in the early chapters were as penance/vengeance for wrong-doings against your better half. STOP BEING BORDERLING HYPOCRITICALLLLLL.'
In another blatant show of 'foe-yay' and fuel for Pegasus' 'red string' comparison, the line that I replaced with 'It really gets me going!' was originally 'It makes my heart beat faster.' (Which looks hell-a suggestive in italics. Hehehe.)
So... So dueling Yugi makes your heart beat faster? In Japan this has notably less suggestiveness than in English. Case in point, friendship has love too, which is expressed in the much later 'Yugi VS Mind-Controlled Jou' duel... In Japanese, both manga and anime, Yugi says 'I love you'.
They of course cut this in the dub... (According to 4-Kids, gay is bad children.) Didn't even just replace it with 'you're my best friend' or something, they cut it. Whyyyyy... Anyways.
You know what, I'm going to stop addressing each and every little thing between Yugi and Kaiba here and effectively say that the entire duel could be compared to a flirting match. I AM NOT LYING. The constant banter between these two...
There's a reason why there's 'Ho-Yay' and 'FOE-Yay'. Hell, Pegasus got it from just knowing Kaiba! (Granted in the fanfic's case this was played for lul rather than serious..)
I love you Japan... Making even the most mundane things amazing... Whenever they throw the dueldisk (Well, not all the time but mostly) in the manga, they shout 'THROWING DISK!'. This is the same for drawing cards, but that's probably more for the following fact.
In the actual card game, your opponent has a right to know what's in your grave yard, what your monster does, and what the spell does. While this does get to ridiculous points with certain super-common spells, in some cases the anime and manga's habit of explaining exactly what the card says is fairly... Required. Because the opponent doesn't know what the hell is going on otherwise.
Same with drawing; the cards hide what each person is doing right now, and in addition, certain effects of spells and such are activated by the draw-phase. Hence why 'I attack' suddenly becomes so important... If it wasn't for the fact that you have to declare an attack when doing so, you could technically laywer-loophole your way through every trap card set to counter it. Rather, through anything that says 'when your opponent declares an attack'.
Funny thing about 'La-Jinn'; Genie comes from the word 'D-jinn'... Which... Means that this card is called 'Genie, the Genie of the Lamp'. OH LANGUAGES.
Speaking of such, there's a humorous translation error from the scans that I read when typing this fanfic. A few actually. The most notable? Yugi's name being replaced with Jonouchi when his life point counter shows up in this scene. And then later when Mokuba calls his own brother 'KAIBA' in the nightmare scene, meaning that he called his brother by his own last name, how awkward is that...
You can already tell that this section is going to be a long one! Yugi's line of 'To trap me! THAT'S AMAZING!'... Oh boy. Yugi yugi yugi, I don't care how good you are, it's not that difficult. Granted, he might be referring to the fact that you normally have to trigger a trap... But still. YUGI. Just because you're the King of Games... (Technically, he doesn't even have that official title yet!)
In the 're-cap' of the chapter of Kaiba's duel following the 'I'm going to polymerize Blue Eyes!' line, you see the words Strong! Invincible! Ultimate! appear behind him... And beside each one is the exponent '3'.
(Cause it's Blue Eyes to the third power! AHAHAHHA ok I'll stop.)
Kaiba... You really love that dragon don't you... You know what's even better though? This wasn't from translation. This was gratuitous English, which makes it ten-times as amazing.
The 'Eye of Truth's real life counter part is a bit of a kick to the pants really, given that it could have saved Kaiba's ass; as long as it's on the field, the opponent gains 1000 life points per turn. In the manga however, it isn't continuous; it only lasts one turn, which is why Yugi was only able to see Kaiba's hand for that turn. (And why Kaiba didn't get his lifepoints. Boo!)
Somehow, even though a card made of three blue-eyes shouldn't actively be known to the world when there were only four cards in existence, Yugi knows that Kaiba's gonna fuse the damn things together. Granted, at this point in the manga it looks like fusion isn't so much of a case of cards as it is an 'ass pull'... if the monsters are similar enough to combine then damn it, THEY CAN. And well... Three Blue-Eyes...
If you doubted Yami Yugi's inner asshole before, just re-read his 'Magic Box' lines... Seriously. 'Well, I don't think this is safe, I think I need a volunteer~ HOW ABOUT YOUR CARD.' Snark snark snark! Hoorayyyyy~
When the magic box spell is played in the manga, the Dark Magician waves his finger's in Kaiba's face, and is actually saying 'Tsk tsk tsk...'. This is more something that Jou would notice though, given that (in lieu of spoiler-less spoilers) the holograms are... Really just that. Which means all that happened was the Dark Magician popped out of the box and did his attack.
Unless you're Jou, in which yes, the Magician did an 'Ah-ah-ah~' to Kaiba. AHAHAHA.
On another note, Kaiba appears to react as though he's never seen this card before in the manga. I... Highly doubt that would actually be the case if he carries around a brief-case full of them. Something just tells me. Actually, he does this a lot. Now that's understandable in Pegasus' case, since Pegasus didn't show anyone those cards, but for common cards that Yugi has... Nooooo.
In the duel, Kaiba draws two cards before pulling the Polymerization gambit. HUH? Two? I'm pretty sure that's not allowed. Even if Yugi did it right after... (It's like his 'cheat' rule. 'You cheat, I cheat.')... And if they continued... Egggggghhhh I'm trying to keep the rules constant here you guys! STOP HAVING FUN/BREAKING RULES.
Hence why Kaiba drew a card earlier; the card she drew was Sagi, but since there was no room on the disk... No one knew it was there... Yugi did as well, while Kaiba was mentally monologuing through one of his turns (That would be when he got Multiply).
From what I can tell, 'draw two cards not one' is some kind of twisted rule here... For the sake of not confusing too many people however, I tweaked it; if you don't have a monster active on the field, draw two cards.
The original line from Kaiba when mentioning the 'weight carried' is 'This cross I've carried... The cross of collectible card game defeat...'
Um. Jesus anyone? Line was changed to make a bit more sense, and focus a bit more on the reason why she's there. Namely Mokuba. Not Yugi. MOKUBA. Also to avoid silly. (Seriously, a cross?) She's still kinda slipped into 'MUST WIN FIGHT' as opposed to 'MUST SAVE MOKUBA' here though. ... A lot.
Also, that line is worthy of the Abridged series.
For the sake of saving Yugi's ass and keeping the 'one card draw' rule, 'The Living Arrow' was pulled out in one of his two-card draws, and actually set earlier than it was in the manga. Course, Kaiba kinda destroyed one spell so that cleared up some room for polymerization later on...
Kaiba Kaiba Kaiba... Stop cackling like a maniac, it's frightening. Even with a bit of 'downgrade' on certain lines (The cross of cardgames? SERIOUSLY?), Kaiba's still eeriely similar to his/her Death-T counterpart for someone who just spent the last six months fixing that. Not so hard to fall back on psychotic tendencies when faced with 'THE ONE I MUST BEAT' I guess... (Hence the big 'OH SHIT I CAN'T DIE HERE' calm down as opposed to freak out that was used to show this wasn't really the case. Kaiba flipped out during the duel that's true. But then he/she really remembered just what was on the line, even if it was because of the scariest crap EVER.
Does anyone not see the potential for the worst nightmares ever looking at the result of Mammoth Graveyard and Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon? YIKES. At least Yugi was able to keep things from going too far though... (Before killing it completely. AUGH.)
And if that's not enough, Kaiba really does start to melt away 'Blue-Eyes' style when this nightmare scene occurs, manga and anime both. I even made it worse for the fanfic by bringing in a secondary fear; Kaiba's not sure whether or not she's been 'replaced' or not, and the fact is, she wouldn't be surprised, given her 'recent' behavior toward Mokuba.
When Kaiba snaps out of the 'nightmare', it's obviously of his own volition in the manga and anime. Not to say fem Kaiba wouldn't have done the same, but I figured since Jonouchi got a shout out to Yugi, he should do it for Kaiba... (So no, this isn't a 'one is weaker', this is just two events happening at the same moment. She would have 'woken up' regardless of Jou's shouts.)
Careful Jonouchi, you might come off as mistakenly gay if you keep looking at Kaiba the way you do... (As it is, you can bet that the others are all looking at him like 'Wait, did you just cheer for Kaiba? The one who's fighting Yugi? WHY.' (Well, Kaiba is fighting for a good cause here...)
Another interesting point, more Anime-to-Manga difference really, but whereas the Kuriboh stick around in the anime, they're banished completely in the manga. Well... You can technically send monsters right from the field to the grave so... I stuck with the manga.
Mostly because if those Kuriboh really were multiplying that fast, they would definitely swarm the field to the point where you couldn't see either player (And they did in this chapter), and that's just silly.
Watching the anime in question had me hit the pause button and double take when I saw someone in the window of the tower behind Kaiba (Just a little creepy). As it turns out, it was just Keith, who had taken that position in the anime to watch the duel. (In the manga, he was watching from the doorway and left the moment the duel was over.)
IRONY: The exact moment I was originally going to end the chapter (I wasn't going to have Kaiba's words to Yugi in the end originally) was where the commerical break on the anime went.
Also, here's a fun fact; Anzu's line, though obviously non-existant, is based on the expression you see on her face. It's hard enough to see her of course... But when you do, she's covering her mouth with both hands in the typical 'OH MY GOD...' pose. (For a woman at least... Guys not so much. Eh.)
Does it disturb anyone how much I enjoy typing Kaiba? Particularily in the most hopeless situation? Also, Kaiba isn't so much as saying outright that she trusts Jonouchi... Far from it in fact. More 'if she's gonna die here, then that mutt better realize that she will haunt his ass and make damn sure he looks after her brother', due to Mokuba actually liking the blond from what she can tell.
Well, that's it for this chapter guys!
Until next time~